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Rise of the Runelords (PF1)

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Rise of the Runelords (PF1)

Unread postby icycalm » 09 Dec 2020 20:34

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This is the thread where we coordinate the Rise of the Runelords campaign being undertaken by group D&D2.

To start off, I should tell you that Paizo releases "Player's Guides" to every one of their campaigns. This is another innovation of theirs: TSR never did that. Maybe WotC does it today, I am not sure. But either way, I am ambivalent about the idea. On the one hand, it's good to have a SEPARATE pamphlet to give to players with the basic knowledge their characters should have at the start of the adventure, like common knowledge of the area and its past etc. Having it separate means you can distribute it to the players without having to photocopy from the adventure's pages, plus it looks cooler with all the illustrations than copy-pasted tidbits from the adventure. But the problem is that the pamphlets produced by Paizo that I have seen so far are rife with spoilers. They are fantastically produced, and I wish I could hand them out, but it'd be a bad idea. So I will be sharing content when appropriate in each adventure's or campaign's dedicated thread, editing the text where necessary to remove spoilers, or even entirely rewriting it if need be.

Now the Runelords player pamphlet includes some tips to the players for character creation mixed in with tons of spoilers. The whole thing is about two pages, and it explains the REASON for every tip. I.e. it tells you EXACTLY WHY you'll need each ability that it tells you to strongly consider getting for your characters. So what we'll do instead is that I will give you the abilities without the reasons. You're not obligated to pick up any of these abilities, but you are strongly recommended to have them in your group.

Giving tips in advance of adventures is not normal in D&D. Almost no TSR products did this, and in the rare exceptions those tips were nowhere near as detailed and extensive as Paizo's. Obviously, this policy of theirs is anti-immersive and spoilery, but since I've never run their stuff, I don't know how possible it is to successfully complete their campaigns when you ignore their tips. So, for the first campaigns, I will be presenting you the tips until I figure out if I can dispense with them in future campaigns. Plus, most of our players are beginners, and beginners do not normally play massive campaigns as their first adventures. But since that's all that exists in Pathfinder, pretty much, we have little choice. Plus, we want to play cool stuff, and this stuff is the coolest. So our beginners are definitely in over their heads with these campaigns, and could use any tips they could get. Here are your tips then, specifically for Rise of the Runelords.


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CHARACTER TIPS

  • Knowledge (history) and Knowledge (arcana)
  • Access to powerful magic at higher levels
  • Knowledge (dungeoneering)
  • Racial low-light vision or darkvision [icy's note: i.e. there are races that have intrinsic low-light vision and you should consider having at least one of them among you]
  • Skills that aid in bypassing traps, wards and misc. protections
  • Giant-fighting skills
  • Characters who are good at dealing with natural threats and excel at finding their way in forests and mountains
  • Mount skills

Discuss between yourselves which of these abilities you want your party to have, and how you'll apportion them among your roster. You can use your Discord channel for these discussions. Questions to me should be posted here, but before you ask, make sure that you and your teammates have exhaustively searched the Core Rulebook for the answers. It is your job as the player to know those rules inside and out, and it's my job as DM to know that book plus hundreds more, so don't offload your work to me unless it can't be helped. That said, I will be sure to pay extra attention to beginners for the first few weeks, until they're no longer beginners.

So the above tips are the first part of the contents of the Runelords Player's Guide, the spoilery part. The second part is not spoilery. The second part is pretty cool, actually. As the pamphlet says, "Characters made for this campaign should have reasons for being in the town of Sandpoint". So what the second part does is give you a range of reasons, and the players choose among them so as "to help your character feel like a part of the world and the events of the campaign". Even better is that these backstories, called "campaign traits", give your characters bonuses. And even better is that there are more traits than characters in your party, so you'll have some interesting choices to make. Discuss these choices among yourselves, also taking into account your races and classes, and once you've made your choice post it here for me. (But wait until you've rolled your character first, so you know that the character is a good fit for the trait.)

Note that if you have a very explicit character and backstory in your mind that doesn't fit any of these traits, you're not obligated to take any of them. You won't get the bonuses, but D&D is about far more than just bonuses. So pick a trait only if you find one that sounds cool to you and you wouldn't mind having it.


CAMPAIGN TRAITS

Eager Performer: Hearing that Sandpoint had a theater rivaling those found in large cities like Magnimar and Korvosa, you decided to try your luck getting stage time there. After sending a letter to Cyrdak Drokkus requesting an audition and not hearing back, you’ve taken it upon yourself to travel to Sandpoint and meet him in person, trusting your force of will and charming influence will get you what you want. You gain a +1 trait bonus on checks for any one Perform skill. Additionally, choose any one spell of the enchantment school; its save DC increases by +1.

Family Ties: While not ethnically a Varisian, you have been raised among Varisians and they consider you one of their own. Furthermore, you managed to get in good with a group of Sczarni and consider them your new family. After being run out of the last place your Sczarni family camped, you tracked down a friend of the family in Sandpoint—a ruthless thug named Jubrayl Vhiski at the Fatman’s Feedbag. During your time with the Sczarni, you learned a few tricks of the trade. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (local) checks and Knowledge (local) is always a class skill for you. In addition, you begin play able to speak and read Varisian.

[icy's note: The Sczarni are Varisia's gypsies. The above trait doesn't mean you're one of them, it just says that you've befriended some of them. You can read more about them here: https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Sczarni]

Friends and Enemies: One of your family members, perhaps a parent, cousin, aunt, or uncle, helped Daviren Hosk put down a group of goblins near Sandpoint. Since then, your family member passed away, but not before telling you about that day and the offer Daviren made her should she ever be in need. Once you make it to Sandpoint and meet up with Daviren Hosk at the Goblin Squash Stables, he gives you one of his best steeds and all the necessary accoutrements as gratitude for your family member’s help: a heavy combat trained horse, a military saddle, saddlebags, bit and bridle, a month’s worth of feed, and lifetime stabling at the Goblin Squash Stables.

Giant Slayer: Your family’s village was plundered by giants in the wilds of Varisia, leaving nothing but a smoldering ruin. After the destruction of your village, your family trained for combat against giants to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again. Since hearing of giants mobilizing throughout the countryside, you ventured to Sandpoint to help the town prepare for a possible incursion. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Bluff, Perception, and Sense Motive checks and +1 trait bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls against creatures of the giant subtype.

Goblin Watcher: You grew up in Sandpoint staring off the cliff across the Varisian Gulf. Spending so much time there at Junker’s Edge watching the goblins below as they scrounged through the discarded junk and seeing what they made out of the garbage, you developed an eye for spotting the most useful and valuable discarded items. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Perception and Appraise checks, and a +5 trait bonus on Appraise checks to determine the most valuable item visible in a treasure hoard.

Hagfish Hopeful: Ever since passing through Sandpoint when you were a child and hearing about the contest at the popular tavern known as the Hagfish, you wanted to take that coin purse as your own and carve your name on the ceiling beam above the bar. Training yourself to choke down indigestible food and drink water a pig would refuse, you’ve built up quite a strong resistance to all things putrid and gross. You gain a +2 trait bonus on Fortitude saves against disease and poison.

Merchant Family: You are related to one of the four noble families from Magnimar who founded the Mercantile League of Sandpoint. You either grew up in Magnimar as a cousin in the Valdemar or Deverin family or were born and raised in Sandpoint. Education in running a business and years of looking after the family enterprise have given you a knack for trade. You increase the gp limit of any settlement by 20% and can resell items at an additional 10% over the amount of gp you normally would get from selling off treasure.

Monster Hunter: Perhaps you came to the Varisian Gulf in search of the Sandpoint Devil, or maybe you followed fisherman’s tales of Old Murdermaw—regardless, you’ve ventured through Varisia to hunt down famous monsters. While they have all eluded you so far, you made it to Sandpoint to research and restock before heading back out into the wilderness. Because of your training, you gain a +1 trait bonus on attack rolls and weapon damage rolls against aberrations and magical beasts.

Scholar of the Ancients: Growing up with your nose in books, you’ve had a great interest in past cultures and ancient history. Furthermore, having grown up in Varisia, you know the monuments dotting the landscape belong to an ancient civilization known as Thassilon. From your life of study and dogged research, you’ve pieced together the language and partial history of this once-great empire. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (arcana) and Knowledge (history) checks, and begin play able to speak and read Thassilonian.

Student of Faith: While you have personally dedicated your life to a single deity, you study all religions and mortal faiths. Upon hearing that the town of Sandpoint recently completed a cathedral dedicated to the six deities most popular in the area, you had to see the place for yourself, and have arrived in time for the consecration of this holy edifice. Because of your strong faith and broad range of study, you cast all cure spells at +1 caster level, and whenever you channel energy, you gain a +1 trait bonus to the save DC of your channeled energy.
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Unread postby icycalm » 09 Dec 2020 23:41

Your party starts play in the region of Varisia. Only recently settled by colonists from the Chelaxian Empire, the wild frontier of Varisia is composed of rural communities, independent city-states, cyclopean ruins, and uncharted wilderness.

Varisia has no central government. It is a collection of independent city-states that each holds sway over a small collection of towns and villages, while the wilds on the edges of their territory (including most of the area on top of the Storval Plateau) is claimed by the Shoanti. Varisian politics is dominated by the competing aims of criminal Riddleport, ambitious Magnimar, and traditionalist Korvosa (the latter being the starting point of the D&D1 group). The neutral Kaer Maga is often discounted altogether, and its inhabitants prefer it that way.

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This map represents what your combined characters know about the region (I have a far more detailed and accurate version). Your group begins in the small city of Sandpoint at the southwest (and D&D1 begins in Varisia's largest city, Korvosa, in the southeast).

Resting in a natural cove along the cliff-lined Lost Coast region of Varisia, on the edge of the Varisian Gulf, Sandpoint is a small city that exemplifies the diverse people of the country. While only about thirty miles northeast of the city of Magnimar and technically under its rule, Sandpoint benefits from its isolated position in its ability to remain fairly independent. The most striking feature is the ruined beacon of the city that extends high above the cliffs of the coast, reflecting the ancient empire of Thassilon that existed here centuries before the present town was settled.

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We'll find a way for you to note on the map the locations you discover. Of course I have the map that tells me exactly what each building is. You only get the main ones here that everyone in the area knows.

Note that we've already started playing, and you need to keep an eye on this thread and follow my instructions.
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Unread postby icycalm » 11 Dec 2020 03:35

Two more trait choices for you, from the Varisia, Birthplace of Legends sourcebook:

Sandpoint Faithful: As a faithful adherent of Abadar, Desna, Erastil, Gozreh, Sarenrae, or Shelyn, you’ve come to the Swallowtail Festival to celebrate the consecration of Sandpoint Cathedral. You gain a silver holy symbol of your chosen deity, and so long as you worship that deity and openly wear his or her symbol, you regain +1 additional hit point every time you receive magical healing.

Thrill Seeker: You’ve grown up in or around Sandpoint and are the heir to your family’s modest farm, shop, or fishing boat, but you’ve always dreamed of more. Searching for a taste of excitement, you’ve come into town to participate in this year’s Swallowtail festival. The thrill of danger grants you an additional +5 feet of movement during the first round of any combat. Additionally, you begin play with three star candle fireworks (see Ultimate Equipment).

You have unlocked neither the Varisia sourcebook, nor the Ultimate Equipment rulebook, but I'll give you whatever you need from them to use the above traits if you choose them.
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Unread postby icycalm » 20 Dec 2020 20:27

I've updated the Sandpoint region with one more marker and some text for that marker and the city. All the players should read the text before the start tonight to get an idea of the region.
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Session 1 - Til's account

Unread postby recoil » 22 Dec 2020 04:49

Rise of the Runelords - Burnt Offerings 1 with recoil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzsQPlE ... PWcT9Qpixx

Chatlog: http://vault.dndbattlegrounds.net/teams ... ion-1.html


Today was the day of the Swallowtail Festival in the town of Sandpoint, my hometown. Looking for some excitement and fun, I headed out from my shop to the Sandpoint Cathedral to take part in the day's festivities. Upon arriving, the balance beam contest caught my eye and I tried my hand at it, but lost to a half-elf female. Feeling defeated, I decided to partake in the free lunch. After licking my wounds and feasting on a delightful curry-spiced salmon and early winterdrop mead, I decided to enter a hide-and-seek contest. I won... barely... among children and inebriated adults.

At sundown, Father Zantus took the stage to speak, but was abruptly interrupted by a woman's scream. Goblins had invaded, their unnerving battle song audible all through town. Across the church square from me, I saw two goblins clamber over a cart and ambush an unsuspecting barbarian. I rushed towards him, but I spotted a black-robed man being attacked by a goblin nearby. Without thinking, I drew my bow and shot at the goblin but missed. The tiny wretched creatures were harder to hit than I thought. Fortunately, the man wasn't helpless, he muttered something and positioned himself out of harm's way; soon after, a brown-robed man fired a magic missile, heavily injuring the goblin. These men were wizards! As I was amazed at these serendipitous circumstances, an arrow whizzed past me: a ranger was also here ready to fight! Meanwhile, as the four of us were finishing off this goblin, the barbarian across the square impressively cleaved through both of the ambushing goblins in one smooth motion.

After the three goblins had been dispatched, the humans regrouped and began searching for more goblins in the square. Suddenly, a cart exploded into flames and a gang of goblins with torches burst forth in a frenzied state brought upon by the warchantress accompanying them. Before I knew it, the goblins had once again rushed at the barbarian who was now laughing uncontrollably due to what seemed like a spell the warchantress had cast on him, but even in this state, the barbarian managed to dodge the onslaught of attacks. Behind me a man appeared with crossbow in hand and fired at a goblin hidden behind another cart. I followed suit and missed my shot. The hidden goblin had noticed me, bolted towards me and lunged at me with his dogslicer, wounding me. Meanwhile, the ranger and the wizards were scrambling for an advantageous position on the platform in front of the church to no avail. The ranger had missed his shot, the brown-robed wizard had taken a nasty spill off the platform after fleeing from the warchanter, and the black-robed wizard was only beginning to find his footing on the platform. With the laughing barbarian in the background, it all seemed like a bad joke. I was beginning to have doubts about whether these humans and I would survive the fight, but before I could think of fleeing, the thrill of the battle had taken hold and I knew what must be done. I held fast, waiting for the moment to draw my blade and strike the goblin before me...
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Unread postby icycalm » 22 Dec 2020 17:30

Great summary, recoil. Keep them coming.

In other news, I've found half a dozen locations from Rise of the Runelords in TaleSpire. Most seem to be from the second adventure, but there is one from the first, near the end. Try to avoid looking at them if you're browsing TaleSpire assets. It will say "Rise of the Runelords" in the title.

We'll probably use all of them. They all look to be of good quality.
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Unread postby icycalm » 22 Dec 2020 17:57

Found more Runelords material on TaleSpire, including VERY early stuff, like stuff you might get to within a few weeks, so I advise D&D2 players to NOT browse TaleSpire slabs. All other groups can browse, but still avoid clicking on the Runelords stuff because if D&D2 fails the campaign, it might be possible for another group to continue it.

Not sure if we'll be able to use the early stuff unless one of you can contact the developers and get a beta key for yourself. All we need is one key. I contacted them, and they seemed positive at first, but I guess they must have googled me and got scared. It's worth the effort of a bunch of people contacting them separately with separate pitches, in case we manage to snag a key. Then you give me the key so I can run the game, and I buy you the game as a gift when it releases on Steam. Think about it.

Either way, don't browse slabs because the mere name and picture of the locations will spoil the campaign for you big-time.
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Unread postby icycalm » 05 Jan 2021 12:26

DM-made Rise of the Runelords trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvpW0eVMgXs

The first and last parts are epic. The middle part with the real-life mountains etc. is crap. Also worth pointing out that he picked the same track I picked as the Pathfinder theme music, which I think is fitting since this campaign is the very first Pathfinder material published (the goblins in the Fantasy Grounds PF theme are from this campaign).

It's obvious he's using the same template as the Curse of the Crimson Throne trailer guy I linked earlier today [ > ], but I've spent an hour looking for it and can't find it. They both say they are using Adobe After Effects, and the Curse guy who is a little more forthcoming with info further says he used "Motion Array" templates, googling which led me here: https://motionarray.com/browse/after-effects-templates

Since there seem to be tens of thousands of them, I still haven't managed to find the particular template they used. I am going to post in their comments and ask them, and I'll keep looking. If anyone can help in any way, either with finding the template(s) or working with After Effects, let me know. I'd love to redo those trailers substituting our characters in and getting rid of some of their inferior material and replacing it with better stuff. If I can get good at this, I'll produce trailers for at least the campaigns we play.

And don't bother looking for a War for the Crown trailer. There isn't any. It's a much newer campaign after all, so nobody has got around to it yet. If I find a good template and learn to use After Effects, I can get dan to send me material and script, and I can put together the YouTube's first, and best, War for the Crown trailer.

Note that Paizo began producing trailers for their campaigns starting with the penultimate 1E campaign, the 23rd one: Return of the Runelords. They are decent, but nowhere near as epic as the fan-made trailers I linked today, which in turn will be inferior to what I will make. So I really want to make this happen.
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Unread postby icycalm » 15 Jan 2021 17:52

Pathfinder: Welcome to Sandpoint
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wkY_RPttgc

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49-minute video that introduces Sandpoint. Incredible production values, you'll feel like you know the town after watching it. Those of you who, like recoil, want to be town locals, or even region locals, should watch all of it. It's required viewing. Everyone else don't have to watch it, but it will give you a tremendous amount of flavor. It's like being there. So consider watching it even if you aren't a local. As for how you'll know all these things: your local friends in the party told you about whatever piece of information you end up using (like the location of a tavern, etc.)

The video is made from the perspective of a band of newcomers to the town being introduced to it by a local, but most of you aren't newcomers, nor a band at the start of the game, so don't take this video as your characters' viewpoint, but rather as the viewpoint of some OTHER band of newcomers arriving for the festival.

Lastly, the video assumes the festival hasn't taken place yet; in fact it is set right before the festival, so I should have given it to you before the first session. However, I just found it, so there's nothing I can do about it. At least I am glad I didn't find it six months later.
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Unread postby icycalm » 15 Jan 2021 22:19

On second thought, we can make the video canon if we say that it happened to ONE of you. Choose one of you to be a stranger traveling to town for the festival, and as the video shows you pay Finley to show you around. In the process, your character gets to experience everything that happens in the video, meets all those people that he can go back to and reengage later, and has Finley as a contact on top of it. The only thing is that we have to take Finley's fee out of your character's money. Going by what was said in the video (where Finley asks for "10 more"), and after checking the Core Rulebook to see what prices various kinds of services cost in Golarion, I am setting the price at 40 cp. Let me know who wants to have taken this tour, and I'll take the money off your sheet. recoil is ineligible because he's local, but everyone else is eligible because I checked your campaign traits and none of you are locals to Sandpoint (and you all can easily afford the fee).

Also worth recording in this thread that danjiro's and Jameson's characters are leaving the campaign (and the D&D2 group) to form a new group with two more players, group D&D4, and start a new campaign, Ruins of Azlant. I will give you appropriate text in the chatlog at the start of the next session that explains how you get separated.

Let me know here asap who wants to have taken the tour, so I can wrap up this loose end.

Edit: Another thing I will need is a brief paragraph from each of you detailing where you are from, what your background is like in terms of family etc., why you are in Sandpoint, and your plans for the future. DM these to me asap on Discord, and after approving them you can post them in the forum. All this has to happen before the session starts, otherwise we'll take as long as necessary at the start of the session to get it done.
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Til's bio

Unread postby recoil » 16 Jan 2021 05:16

Born to an adventuring Elf from Kyonin, Til spent his childhood years moving from place to place until his father finally found an opporunity to settle down. His father's final adventure was in aiding the establishment of a new settlement in the wild frontier of Varisia, Sandpoint. After Sandpoint was established, his father started a weapons shop to support his family and to help the adventurers exploring Varisia. Having heard tales of adventure from his father and the shop's customers, Til longs to live such a life.
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Unread postby Some guy » 16 Jan 2021 13:28

I'd like to be the one that took Finley's tour, however when we started the first session I said I entered town via the Sandpoint Bridge but the tour starts at the Northgate. We could either retcon the first session, change Finley's tour or just have shock or shubn take the tour.
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Giovanni's bio

Unread postby Some guy » 16 Jan 2021 14:02

Giovanni grew up in the countryside roughly halfway between Sandpoint and Magnimar. His father is a rogue currently serving a long sentence in Magnimar for his various crimes, his mother died shortly after giving birth to him. Giovanni has two older brothers and an older sister that blame him for his mother's death and bullied him throughout his childhood. His father, however, does not blame him. Giovanni never really took an interest in thievery but instead turned towards books and magic, later becoming an apprentice apothecary. He traveled to Sandpoint to study the Thassilonian ruins, get away from his siblings and to possibly be employed as an apothecary.
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Martus's bio

Unread postby shock therapy » 16 Jan 2021 14:13

The son of a Magnimar merchant, Martus was sent at a young age to study at an Abadaran monastery to learn the intricacies of trade and one day to return to Magnimar with the expertise to help his family business flourish. Martus proved a capable student of both sword and ledger and was eager to return to his family when, on the eve of his departure from the monastery, the voice of Abadar spoke to him clear as day. He must devote himself to the church, spread the word of Abadar and bring order, industry and prosperity to the wild frontiers of Varisia. Sending what gold he had saved to his parents, Martus began his training as an Abadaran cleric, assisting with community projects and town planning committees throughout the hamlets and farmsteads of Varisia. Eventually his dutiful service was noted by the church, and he was sent alone to the Sandpoint Swallowtail Festival to witness the new cathedral's consecration and contemplate how Abadar's grace could be best applied in the frontier town.
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Unread postby shock therapy » 16 Jan 2021 14:15

I'll claim the tour since Martus is on a fact-finding mission for the church, having never personally visited Sandpoint before, and only vaguely explored the docks in the first session.
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Victor's bio

Unread postby shubn » 16 Jan 2021 20:58

Victor grew up in a small community of farmers, fishermen, blacksmiths and woodworkers, south of Galduria. His father, originally of the Tamiir-Quah Shoanti tribe, taught him and his two older brothers the ways of the Shoanti, often bringing them to the Fogscar Mountains and Churlwood to hone their survival and fighting skills. Sent by his father to look for any dangerous work he could find in order to start applying his skills and gain combat experience, Victor set out for the small town of Sandpoint.
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Session 2 - Til's account

Unread postby recoil » 12 Sep 2021 05:03

Rise of the Runelords - Burnt Offerings 2 with recoil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kqMjhi ... PWcT9Qpixx

Chatlog: http://vault.dndbattlegrounds.net/teams ... ion-2.html


Before I could draw my blade, the ranger and the wizard with the hawk chased off the goblin in front of me, and I lost sight of them in the chaos of the battle, never seeing them again. I started to succumb to my wounds feeling a bit dizzy and dazed from that close encounter. I stumbled over to the platform, managing to draw my sword as the cleric ahead of me rushed over to the barbarian's side. I tried climbing the platform for a better view, but the strength wasn't in me. Instead, I made my way over to the barbarian's side attempting to aid him in battle, slashing wildly at the goblin before me but missing. Sensing that I was not quite fit to fight anymore, the barbarian stepped in to guard me and handily dispatched the goblins in front of me with assistance from the cleric and black-clothed wizard. Not wanting to miss out on all the action, I got in sight of the goblin bard and sheathed my sword. Before I could even imagine an arrow through the unpleasant creature's skull, the barbarian leapt into action and vanquished the bard, and the battle was over.

We gathered in front of the cathedral and exchanged names. The wizard was Giovanni. The cleric, Martus, and the barbarian was named Victor. The introductions were cut short as Father Zantus exited the cathedral and thanked us for our help. As expected of a high priest, he healed my wounds, tasked us with finding survivors, and immediately returned to tend to the wounded inside. We began discussing our next move, but a scream and frantic barking echoed from the north and our party rushed forward into the danger. We soon arrived to the source of the noise, spotting a new group of four goblins with one riding atop of a kind of hideous goblin-dog. As if a god of combat were guiding us, we all agreed to attack the mounted goblin. Immediately Victor and I charged in after it. Victor swung high at the rider and I swung low at the dog. Though the goblin swiftly dodged Victor's greatsword, the dog was not so aware of my blade and sent its rider tumbling to the ground. As Victor finished off the rider, I turned around to assist Giovanni and Martus who were now face to face with two goblins. The three of us circled the two goblins with Martus and me forming the front while Giovanni supported us from behind. In the middle of our heated clash, I suddenly heard a blood-curdling scream. I took a peak at Victor behind me, in front of whom was a fine mist of blood; he had eviscerated another goblin in a rage. Soon after, he charged in to aid us and showed me why he'd won the strength competition earlier in the day. He easily cleaved through the two goblins we encircled. We had survived another battle, but we all waited with bated breath expecting more to come. But this time it was truly over.
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Unread postby icycalm » 12 Sep 2021 16:59

We will begin keeping a detailed calendar in today's session. As it says in the beginning of the first chatlog,

Rise of the Runelords wrote:The Swallowtail Festival begins promptly, as scheduled, on the Autumnal Equinox, which this year falls on the 22nd of the month of Rova.


So the day is Rova 22. Specifically, evening of Rova 22 is when the goblin raid ended in the last session, and today's sessions begins.

What is the "Autumnal Equinox"?

https://study.com/academy/lesson/autumn ... ation.html

Study.com wrote:The autumnal equinox is a natural phenomenon that occurs each year in late September and marks the start of the fall season. There is an equal length of daylight and darkness as a result of the celestial equator matching up with Earth's equator.


So Rova 22 is the equivalent of "late September".

What's the Sandpoint and Varisian climate like at that time of the year?

Straight from the horse's mouth:

James Jacobs, Creative Director wrote:It's more like winters in Seattle. They get cold; snow is not uncommon, but it's the rainstorms and windstorms in winter that'll get you. It's not nearly as far north as Alaska; that's more like the upper Lands of the Linnorm Kings.

In any event, the Pacific northwest was very much the model for climate when I designed Varisia.


https://paizo.com/threads/rzs2ld0e?Wint ... Varisia#25

James Jacobs, Creative Director wrote:All three of those cities (Magnimar, Sandpoint, and Riddleport) are close enough to all pretty much work the same as Seattle.


It's so awesome that the setting's creator posts in the forum and directly answers all sorts of questions the DMs have. Impossible for this sort of thing to have happened in the '90s when I started playing.

So there you have it. Fall in Seattle is what the southwestern Varisian climate is like, where you are now located.

I have some cool surprises connected to that coming up in today's session, so look out for those. And there will also be an Ultimate Edition "Dungeon Master's Guide" chapter connected to all this. Maybe even tonight after the session if I can keep myself awake to write it.
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icycalm
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Session 3 - Victor's account

Unread postby shubn » 08 Jan 2022 01:23

Chatlog: http://vault.dndbattlegrounds.net/teams ... ion-3.html


As the battle came to a close, I found myself hankering for more, yet relieved, as the damage the nasty creatures had managed to deal to the town in such a short time was nothing to deride.

The nobleman who'd been hiding throughout the battle behind a rain barrel emerged and introduced himself as one Aldern Foxglove. Seemed like a good fellow, said he was staying at the Rusty Dragon and asked us to drop by sometime and he might have a reward for us as thanks for saving him. Our newfound friend Martus proposed to accompany the man to the inn, in case more goblins were about, and he accepted the offer. I figured I would join, since I had no lodging for the night.

On the way to the inn, it became obvious that the townspeople weren't interested in continuing the festival, retreating to their homes to recover from the day's horrors, many of them taking the time to thank us for helping out.

After we arrived at the inn, Aldern thanked us, then excused himself to his room. As he went upstairs, Ameiko, the spicy young innkeeper, came to us, and offered us free accommodation for a week as thanks for repelling the attack. After some pleasantries, and the elf, Til, leaving us to check on his father, I attempted to woo the lady, which did not go over well. Ah well, you miss all the chances you don't take.

Upstairs, Martus the cleric offered to heal the wounds we had sustained earlier. Good man. We then parted to our respective rooms for the night.

As I was drifting off to sleep, I heard loud footsteps coming up the stairs and toward our rooms. I carefully opened the door and peeked out, ready to fight off the intruder if need be, but it was only Sheriff Hemlock. He thanked us for our help fighting off the goblins, and gave us an account of the events since. Apparently, most of the goblins had fled north, and the ones who hadn't were captured and interrogated. All they were able to gather from the interrogations, however, was that the goblins had been given the order to destroy the town, and that their apparently human leader was on some secret mission to the graveyard. At that moment, Father Zantus came up the stairs, filling us in on the graveyard situation. The former head priest's vault had been forced open, and Sheriff Hemlock asked us to join him in investigating it.

After putting on our armor, walking north through the rain, and making our way through the cathedral and the graveyard, we arrived in front of the vault. The door had indeed been forced open, and the ground around the place was churned up.
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Session 3 - Til's viewpoint

Unread postby recoil » 08 Jan 2022 01:49

Rise of the Runelords - Burnt Offerings 3 with recoil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMhRM3r ... PWcT9Qpixx
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Unlocked Shalelu Be Food?

Unread postby icycalm » 08 Jan 2022 02:04

She heard them before she saw them.

“...Bones be cracked, flesh be stewed"
“We be goblins! You be food!”

Shalelu’s lip curled in a half-conscious snarl at the song. She crept closer, slipping from the forest to a knot of gnarled old pear trees that the farmer, or more likely the farmer’s great-grandparents, had planted by the house. Under the tangled branches, heavy with ripe fall fruit, she peered at the singing goblins.

The barn was already burning. Judging by the height of the flames leaping from its blackened roof, the farmers must have brought in the fall hay, and it was now blazing merrily behind a ring of dancing goblins. At least there weren’t any screams. Any animals in the barn either had escaped, or were already dead.

The fire’s grip was closing around the farmhouse, too. Burning arrows studded the roof. The eaves were smoldering, the wooden shingles beginning to glow from beneath like a red dragon’s scales—and even as Shalelu tried to assess how much longer the house had, she saw the curtains twitch before an upstairs window. The brief round shape of a face peeked out through the glass. It vanished almost as soon as it appeared, but it was enough to tell Shalelu that someone was inside.

Well, that tore it. Not that she needed much of a push where goblins were concerned.

Smoothly, with the ease of long practice, Shalelu broke from the trees and shot the first goblin. Even before her first arrow hit, she had another flying. Two goblins fell, one clutching at an arrow in his red-gurgling throat, the other with a feathered shaft sprouting from her eye.

She shot a third before the rest reacted. As the third goblin fell, his screech cut off by the arrow bisecting his windpipe, the survivors spotted the elf. A frozen instant passed between them. Shalelu felt a flashed hope that the goblins’ cowardice might drive them to flee, even though she stood alone—but no. Their wavering morale caught and steadied as the biggest goblin leaped toward her, brandishing a rickety but sharp-edged dogslicer.

“Brave, brave warriors! Warriors of the Mosswood! Kill this elf! Kill her!” the big goblin howled. As a battlefield speech, Shalelu felt it was uninspired, but whatever it lacked in creativity, it made up in volume. Certainly the goblins seemed to think it did the trick, because they all came rushing at her in a shrieking, knee-high mob of red eyes, needle teeth, and swinging dogslicers, simultaneously absurd and deadly earnest.

The shouting champion at the head of the mob was the most ridiculous of them all. She wore a decapitated toy horse’s head impaled on her spiked helm, with puffs of woolly stuffing flapping around her enormous ears. Her cloak was as green and moldy as any other Mosswood goblin’s, but she’d trimmed it with dogs’ tails: poodles’ dirt-stained pompoms, curly blond spaniels’ plumes, a mastiff’s grizzled stub. Another tail hung from the pommel of her dogslicer.

It would have been a mistake to dismiss the goblin as a joke, though. People died for such mistakes. That toy horse’s neck was smeared with real blood; those tails had been collected from real dogs, and some of them looked like they’d been big and fierce. The grisly kneecaps that served as the goblin’s pauldrons were real flesh and bone, and from their ragged edges had probably been chewed off human legs. Maybe live ones.

That was the danger with goblins, Shalelu thought. You laughed at them, thinking they were stupid and big-headed and preposterous, and then they slashed your ankles and pulled you down and cut your throat before you realized that they were, actually, serious as murder.

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She wondered whether someone had made that mistake with these goblins. They’d been in a fight recently. Several were limping or favoring wounded sides and limbs. One looked like he’d narrowly dodged a spell; a burn scar streaked black across his forehead. But the goblins had survived, which meant maybe whoever they’d fought hadn’t.

A small mystery. If she survived, maybe she’d try to solve it.

First she had to survive.

Shalelu aimed past the charging champion and shot two more goblins, wounding the first and felling the second. Then the champion was on her, and Shalelu had to skitter back, slinging her bow behind a shoulder and drawing her shortsword. She feinted and retreated back toward the farmhouse. The fire was spreading, and she didn’t have long to save whoever was in there.

“Uruvuu Kneebiter will wear your head!” the big goblin crooned at Shalelu, sweeping her dogslicer low.

“Uru-who?” Shalelu snorted, straining to sound nonchalant. That goblin was faster than she liked. “Do you fancy yourself one of the big heroes? Should Vorka and Ripnugget cower and whine at your name?”

“They will!” Uruvuu hissed, and leaped.

The elf kicked at the goblin, but to her astonishment, Uruvuu jumped over the kick, grabbed her leg, and bit her, sinking her filthy teeth into Shalelu’s leg just above the knee.

“Get off!” Shalelu slashed down at the goblin, hacking one of Uruvuu’s grisly pauldrons in two and cutting a deep gash into the champion’s shoulder. Uruvuu just lifted her head and grinned up horribly, her teeth dripping red.

“I’ll eat you,” the goblin snarled, and bit Shalelu again.

Shalelu swore furiously. She couldn’t get Uruvuu off her leg. If it had just been the one goblin, Shalelu could have made short work of her — but there were far too many of them, almost a dozen, and not just Mosswood, either. She spotted warty Licktoad goblins and tattooed, reed-wearing Brinestumps, and wondered: what are they all doing together? The tribes did not easily ally.

But the question seemed to float far away, untethered to the violence on the ground. Shalelu was losing too much blood, maybe going into shock. She slashed at a leering goblin and ripped his abdomen open, spilling his guts wetly into the barn’s blowing ashes, but still there were too many, and still Uruvuu was gnawing at her knee. Is this how it ends?

Overhead, the farmhouse window slammed open. Strange pale leaves floated down. No, not leaves, Shalelu realized, even as she cut another goblin’s throat so savagely that its head flopped backwards, limply, over the gouting stump of its neck. They were pages. She recognized the illustrations.

Pages from Erastil’s Book of Common Prayer, ripped out by the handful. Someone had drawn crude goblin faces in thick, sweeping strokes over each one. The ink was still wet enough that the faces stuck lightly together when they kissed.

But they drifted apart, falling, and when they came down over the fight, the goblins broke apart in total pandemonium. “The words! Words! Stolen out of our heads! You see them! Take them back! The cursed words! Burn them!”

Frantically the goblins grabbed at the ink-smeared pages, thrusting them into the barn’s blaze. They forgot about Shalelu entirely, each one vying to grab and burn pages of precious, stolen words. Even Uruvuu shrieked in terror, blood bubbling through her teeth as she elbowed her kin aside to snatch up her own pages.

Shalelu cut down another two goblins in the confusion. Then the rest, realizing that they were outnumbered—or, at least, were now facing Shalelu with odds no better than six to one, which seemed to count as “outnumbered” to them—fled, screaming, from the bloodied elf and the still-falling rain of pages around her.

“Thanks,” Shalelu called up to whoever was in the farmhouse. Her leg felt like murder. She pressed a wooden wand against the wound, gritting her teeth until the magic flowed forth to heal her. Then, testing her weight gingerly, she looked up to the window. Already she could hear the goblins shouting and arguing as they tried to regroup in the wood, and see the red reach of flames spreading across the roof. “You’d better come out. We need to get to Sandpoint before they come back.”

More than safety, Shalelu wanted answers. This attack was unusual. Fractious rival tribes allied and attacking humans far outside their normal territory. Champions striving to make new legends for themselves. She’d been hunting the local goblins for years, and she’d never seen them cooperate like this.

Something strange was afoot. And whatever it was, this was just the beginning.
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icycalm
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Unlocked We B4 Goblins!

Unread postby icycalm » 23 Jan 2022 02:39

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Battlegrounds wrote:As whelps of the Licktoad tribe just out of their swaddling cages, a group of goblin characters are just beginning their careers of mischief and mayhem.


You unlocked this at the end of your fight with the goblins during the Swallowtail Festival raid. It's for four 1st-level goblin characters.

It's just a 16-page adventure, so it gives 16 EP, and can probably be completed in one long session. It's an easy way to unlock Evil Mode, and moreover it has a sequel that's a prequel to the Jade Regent campaign and therefore unlocks it. So some team must tackle it at some point in order for that campaign to become available.

There are a bunch of goblin sequels after it, but I won't spoil the number or names of the adventurers. Some party will just have to unlock them one by one and see where they lead.
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icycalm
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Unlocked Dungeon Alchemist!

Unread postby icycalm » 05 Apr 2022 17:12

Same deal with the War for the Crown campaign. Go here for the full details: https://culture.vg/forum/topic?p=35300#p35300

Everything I said there applies here, and in this case it's recoil's character who has unlocked the program because he owns a small shop in Sandpoint. I will be making the shop for him, as I'll be making Robo's manor, once I have finalized the placement of the grid on the respective towns in Fantasy Grounds, so that I'll have the exact square footage.
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