Starfinder Society Faction Pin: "Dataphiles" [RPG]

This is "Starfinder Society Faction Pin 2 of 5" according to the packaging, and comes with the slogan "Dataphiles: Knowledge is Power."  I like the design of this one: circuitry creating a vaguely humanoid outline.  Like the others, it seems to be high-quality metal ("colored enamel on Black Nickel antique plating" according to the manufacturer) and the butterfly clasp will keep it from falling off one's shirt.  There's not really much else to say about it, but I'm happy to display it when running my Stephen Hawking-inspired Dataphiles PC, Professor Reivax Kipe.

Starfinder Society Faction Pin: Second Seekers [RPG]

Currently, slotting this little pin in the promotional boon slot gives a Starfinder Society PC a once per session bonus to a skill check.  I prefer the shirt d20 reroll, but I still prop this up for my self-medicating Solarian.  This butterfly-clasp pin has the logo of the Starfinder Society Second Seekers faction on what the manufacturer calls "colored enamel on Antique Silver plating."  I don't know what that means, honestly.  I'm also frankly baffled by what the logo is supposed to represent; it's kind of a curved thing floating under a square-thing with a slot in it?  Really, I have no idea, though that's not the pin manufacturer's fault.  The back of the packaging says "Second Seekers: A New Way Forward" and labels this Starfinder Society Faction Pin 4 of 5.  It seems like a quality product.

Pathfinder Tales: "Pirate's Honor" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

The "pirates" sub-genre of fantasy fiction isn't everyone's favourite, and it wasn't mine going into Pirate's Honor.  But consider me converted!  Chris Jackson writes one of the very best Pathfinder Tales novels I've read yet, and he does it by establishing a fully-characterised core crew, writing breathtaking action scenes, and showing off hard-earned nautical knowledge to add a dash of realism to the fantastic.  I learned a lot about an aspect of Golarion (its shipping lanes, sea battles, and port towns) that I never paid much attention to before, and I can see the appeal of a campaign involving those aspects of the setting.  This is definitely one to seek out.

SPOILERS

The novel is centered around the exploits of a pirate ship named the Stargazer.  Although its crew are definitely pirates and criminals, they're more of the roguish-scoundrel types than the bloodthirsty "walk the plank" type.  The main crew members are well-drawn and memorable.  Crew members include an inventive gnome quartermaster, a (more traditional) surly orc bosun, and a suspicious new elf first mate.  The core relationship is between Captain Torius, a rakish human, and his navigator/astrologer, a "lunar naga" named Celeste.  A major subplot running throughout the book is the ebb and flow of the pair's relationship, full of love, jealousy, mistrust, and (due the narcotic effects of naga venom) addiction!  It sounds weird, but trust me, it works.

Pirate's Honor isn't just a big episode of The Love Boat, however.  The action scenes are big, bloody, and page-turning exciting, whether they take place on sea or land.  The main plot involves the crew of the Stargazer executing a complicated ruse in order to get revenge on a crimelord named Benrahi Ekhan who set them up to get arrested by the authorities.  I admit I was a bit confused on exactly how the plan was supposed to work, but I didn't worry too much about it because the rest was so enjoyable.  The villain is suitably despicable but not one-dimensional.  Jackson paid close attention to the lore of Golarion, and probably added to it significantly with his description of several locales around the Inner Sea.

I definitely want to read more about the crew of the Stargazer.  Pirate's Honor is one of those fantasy novels that exceed the expectations of RPG-fiction, and become strong books in their own right.

Starfinder: Alien Archive [RPG]

The Alien Archive is the first Starfinder "monster book."  It includes  sixty different creatures.  Although GMs would be the natural audience for a book like this, players can get a lot out of it as well because no less than 21 of the creature entries have rules for running them as PCs.  In addition, several of the entries introduce new weapons, armor, or other magical items.  The book is structured pretty much like you would expect, with a short introduction, a whole bunch of creatures in alphabetical order, and then some (very useful and important) appendices.  I'm going to go through each of these sections, but first I want to highlight the overall design and look of the book: it's absolutely gorgeous.  The full-colour artwork is uniformly excellent and fits the "feel" of the Starfinder universe perfectly, the intelligently-designed footers and page borders make it very easy to tell where you are in the book at any moment, and the layout of the creature stat blocks and description makes the text very readable.  Paizo is one of the best in the business at this part of RPG publishing, and their attention and expertise to detail (not to mention investment in quality artwork) shows here to full effect.

The book starts with a two-page introduction that has a couple of different topics.  First, there's an explanation that the aliens given special rules to allow them to be played as PCs have often been scaled back in power from the same aliens when played as NPCs by the GM.  This makes sense from a game-design perspective (because otherwise many of the playable alien races would be overpowered), but it can be somewhat disappointing as a reader to stumble on an alien that seems awesome only to realize that, if you want to play one, it's abilities will be significantly nerfed.  Second, there's a "How to Read a Stat Block" section that explains each line in a creature stat block.  Most of this will be pretty familiar to readers of Pathfinder Bestiaries, with some minor distinctions, like only showing ability score modifiers (not the scores themselves), only showing usable feats (not ones that are "built in" to the statistics), and the disappointing omission of the little one-line description in italics that I used to read out to players when they encountered a new monster.  Another minor difference is that instead of having little symbols that define monsters by environment, the Alien Archive has little symbols that identify them as "Combatants", "Experts" (skillwise), or "Spellcasters".

The core of the book (120 pages), of course, is the creature entries.  Each entry gets a full two-page spread.  The advantage of this is that many entries include multiple stat blocks (such as Space Goblins getting a CR 1/3 "Space Goblin Zaperator" and a CR 2 "Space Goblin Honchohead"), there's room for the aforementioned new items or PC racial traits, and there's a *lot* of description.  This last thing is probably one of my favourite things about the book, as the writers could go into much more depth on each creature than if they just had one-page entries.  The background/description sections are full of flavour and setting lore, and I saw some great adventure hooks buried within some of them.  The obvious drawback of two-page spreads for each entry is that it does limit the overall number of creatures in the book, which is already slim (a topic I'll talk more about below).

As for the creatures themselves, I guess it's not really practical for me to go through all sixty of them.  Some general observations:  1) They struck a reasonable balance between (re)introducing some Pathfinder creatures into the new setting (like Dragons, Drow, Elementals, and Goblins) without turning the book into just an updated Bestiary.  The vast majority of creatures in the book are new.  2) Despite being an "alien" book, most of the creatures are roughly two arm/two leg/one head humanoids.  There are definitely some exceptions, such as my beloved barathu (floating jellyfish-like creatures, one of which I'm running through Dead Suns), skittermanders (six-armed over-helpful little creatures that have become Starfinder's break-out hit), and exotic threats like the tech-devouring "assembly ooze" (cooler in theory than in practice).  3) Even with a relatively small spread of creatures, some entries are pretty unimaginative and fall flat: I'm looking at you Formians (generic ant creatures), Grays (generic mysterious aliens), Mountain eels (eels . . . on mountains!), surnoch (forgettable giant worms), and the Swarm (generic bug monsters).  4) The book somehow manages to handle, incredibly concisely, some entries for creature types that should take up several pages: all of the chromatic dragons, for example, are included into a single two-page spread (through the use of templates), and all four of the basic elemental types and sizes are summarised through similar means in just two pages.  I admire the economy of space, though I worry the templates don't include enough special features to make a white dragon play significantly differently than a blue dragon (for example) or for a water elemental to really seem different than an air elemental.  5)  A few of the creatures are large enough to post a threat to entire starships, and have been given additional stat blocks for starship combat.  6) The creatures are heavily skewed to the low to middle levels of gameplay.  There's only one or two creatures each for CRs of 13 or above.

Appendix 1 weighs in at a hefty 17 pages and provides a GM with instructions for creating custom monsters and NPCs.  There's a nine-step process which includes selecting an ability score array, creature type, special abilities, etc.  The process is designed to be quick and painless, and operates on the premise that what's important from a player-facing perspective is what cool things a creature can do during an encounter rather than whether it has precisely the right amount of skill points or one too many feats.  This was a conscious decision by the Starfinder designers, and is a big break with the D&D 3.5/Pathfinder model which operated under the premise that monsters/NPCs couldn't "cheat" (so a Level 5 Wizard NPC couldn't have more spells than a Level 5 Wizard PC "just because").  The choice has led to criticism from a lot of GMs who prefer the Pathfinder way.  I almost exclusively run pre-made adventures these days so I haven't used the monster/NPC creation rules in the Alien Archive myself.  Perhaps the only problem I've noticed is that monsters and NPCs can seem very "samey" because they're not built organically with real strengths and weaknesses (there's never a Level 6 creature running around with a 10 KAC because it's slow and doesn't wear armor, for example--it'll have a fixed KAC of 18, 19, or 20 depending on which array is chosen).

Appendix 2 (five pages) provides the rules for summoning creatures in Starfinder.  It introduces the Summon Creature spell and the associated tables for what exactly can be summoned for each level of the spell.  One of the differences from Pathfinder is that a spellcaster must decide, ahead of time, which four creatures they're familiar enough with to summon (instead of being able to summon anything on the table).  In addition, there are some alignment and class restrictions on what can be summoned, which is an intelligent limitation.  I personally hate summoned creatures, animal companions, and familiars, so anything that can be done to curb the abuse we see in Pathfinder is welcome as far as I'm concerned.

Appendix 3 (two pages) provides 16 new templates (called "Grafts" here) that can be applied to creatures to change them up a little.  A couple of these are familiar from Pathfinder (like Celestial, fiendish, and Giant), but most of the others are new for Starfinder (like Cybernetic, Synthetic, Miniature, and Two-Headed).

Appendix 4 (7 pages) is the most important of the appendices, as it contains what every GM will need to reference frequently: universe creature rules.  When a stat block says a monster has Blindsense, Grab, or Undead Immunities, they'll need to turn here to figure out exactly what that means in mechanical terms.  Some of these rules will be very familiar to Pathfinder GMs, but there are enough little differences that it's worth reading the entries carefully.

The most commonly heard complaint about the Alien Archive is that it's just too short for its price.  It's $ 39.99 for just 159 pages, while a hardcover Pathfinder Bestiary is 328 pages and a $ 44.99 retail price.  I think the criticism is fair, and I wouldn't blame people for choosing to instead get the $ 9.99 PDF.  Apart from its length/price, however, this is a really strong book full of gorgeous artwork, strong writing, and a good array of various creatures.  It's definitely worth picking up in one format or another.

Pathfinder Society Scenario # 8-19: "Treacherous Waves" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I played Treacherous Waves in a play-by-post game with my “caveman shaman.”  This review is based on that experience and reading the scenario afterwards.  The scenario features some really interesting and well-developed NPCs, a rarely-visited setting, and plenty of opportunities for PCs to stretch their investigative, role-playing, and combat skills.  In short, it’s an all-around strong scenario with only a couple of (relatively minor) flaws.

SPOILERS

Treacherous Waves takes place on the Plane of Water in the air-breather city of Vialesk, with the PCs given transportation there off-screen.  Waiting for them is a local aquatic ranger named Lileone who can have a very minor or surprisingly useful role in the scenario depending on how the PCs interact with her.  At a minimum, Lileone tells the PCs that they’ve been summoned by a local Pathfinder agent named Zahra.  But if the PCs make an effort to befriend Lileone, they can call upon her help in several ways throughout the scenario.  It’s interesting and unusual to have something of potential significance happen before the briefing, and I like it.  (I have absolutely no recollection of Lileone from playing it, and I think maybe the GM just skipped to the actual briefing). 

Zahra herself is an Undine and the artwork of her is very good.  GMs, show the players the artwork—it really helps with immersion!  Anyway, Zahra explains why she’s summoned the PCs.  Recently, she led an expedition out of Vialesk, planning to investigate a huge school of jellyfish called the Lambient Bloom.  Zahra suspected that some fragment of the elemental lord Lysianassa’s power was hidden in the Bloom.  But before they reached it, the expedition ran into streaming currents of toxic algae and were sickened and forced to turn back.  Although most assume Zahra just got the group lost and stumbled into the algae, she thinks something very different: that the expedition was somehow sabotaged!  She gives the PCs a list of four expedition members/suspects to question.

At this point, the scenario begins its investigative phase.  The suspects include an ocean giant named Honoke, a brine dragon named Razethka, an aquatic elf named Tsomo, and a selkie alchemist named Yuka.  It’s a great mix of creatures; very different than the PCs are likely to have encountered before, and thus a good opportunity for a GM to show off their role-playing skills.  Beyond the four suspects, the PCs can also travel out to the site of the toxic algae and do some other things.  I like how allowance was given to the GM to be flexible in different routes of investigation the PCs might take.  My shaman PC’s ability to talk to sharks, for example, came in very handy and was supported by the scenario.

Interestingly, what the PCs don’t know is that they’re on a strict time limit once the briefing is over: something catastrophic is going to happen in exactly 24 hours!  I normally really like time constraints as they’re a good way to add some consequences to the PCs’ actions and reward those feats or special abilities that speed up things like research or gather information checks.  With this one though, I’m not sure if it’s really fair to hold the PCs to a time limit that they can’t know about until well into the session.  My guess is that it probably doesn’t matter unless they decide, for whatever reason, to spend a lot of time resting.

Sooner or later, the PCs should start to suspect that Tsomo might be behind the sabotage.  In a cool twist, Tsomo has been masquerading as his own assistant and is actually an evil vigilante malenti (essentially, an elf with shark features)!  Tsomo is working for a big bad (who doesn’t appear in this scenario, but I assume recurs throughout Season Eight) to use alchemical supplies to create an explosion in Vialesk’s central forge, the Glass Pit, to crack the dome around the city and flood it!  That’s the fate that awaits everyone if PCs don’t put things right within 24 hours, and is a suitably epic crisis that I’m impressed the scenario actually contemplates happening.

The first combat encounter of the scenario will be with either some sahuagin sent by Tsomo to eliminate an unwitting accomplice (the alchemist, Yuka) or against the same monsters inside Tsomo’s warehouse.  (The artwork of the sahuagin on page 12 is great.)  The warehouse encounter holds crates full of very volatile alchemical supplies, and setting the entire building on fire wouldn’t be hard. 

The PCs by this point are expected to have discovered Tsomo’s plan and realize that he’s weakened the dome around the city in eight places.  A series of skill checks, each taking some time, are necessary to find and repair the flaws.  I don’t think this was integrated into the scenario well and felt very out of place when I played it.

Next up, the PCs are expected to try to defeat Tsomo, but he leads them on a Chase.  Here, the PCs have to try to slow him down by using the environment against him, and there are some fun and clever choices.  The GM is given some sound guidance on how to be flexible when PCs want to do things that aren’t listed as options during each stage, and the consequences of the Chase are satisfying (it affects how many reinforcements he’s able to gather at the climax).  Chases can oftentimes feel very forced, but I think it was done about as well as possible in Treacherous Waves.

The big final battle takes place on a weird ring that surrounds a pool of water (and portal).  There are sharks in the center pool, while Tsomo and (potentially) some sahuagin allies stand on the ring.  I remember playing the scenario and wondering what the heck the sharks were for, as it was obvious that as long as the PCs stayed out of the water, they’d be no threat.  After reading the scenario, I realized the GM had completely missed a periodic hazard that threatens to knock the PCs into the pool.  It would have made the final battle far more exciting, and is a lesson not to always blame a scenario for experiences at the table.  Apart from that possibility, for a scenario set on the Plane of Water, there’s actually very little need to have skill in Swim or the ability to breathe water. It’s somewhat disappointing, even though I acknowledge that scenarios have to be written for characters of all types. 

As an aside, the scenario makes frequent reference to a campaign setting book, Planes of Power, and I’d recommend a GM get the book before running the scenario in order to get the most out of it.

Overall, Treacherous Waves looks like a pretty solid scenario with an excellent mix of role-playing, skill challenges, and combat.  It starts a bit slow (I find that early combat or drama gets players into the game quickly), but should provide an enjoyable experience.

Pathfinder Society Quest: "The Urge to Evolve" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

The Urge to Evolve is unique among Pathfinder Society Quests in that not only did it first appear in an issue of the magazine Kobold Quarterly (Issue # 23) but, unlike "Ambush in Absalom," it was not made available separately as a free PDF on the Paizo website (though its associated Chronicle sheet was).  Fortunately, the issue is still available on the KQ website for a $ 4.99 download--a bit pricey for a single one-hour quest, but the rest of the contents of the issue might be to your liking.

Anyway, The Urge to Evolve is a Tier 3-7 Quest that is worth no gold, xp, or fame (which is why it's not reportable, and conditions incurred aren't permanent) but it does have some (frankly minor) boons.  It plays very quickly, even for a Quest, as there's only the barest amount of role-playing and only a single location and combat encounter.  Set in Magnimar, it has a touch of Golarion flavour.
I ran it the other night at high subtier, and although I can't say it's really worth the extra effort needed to track it down, it's kinda fun for a PFS completist like me.

SPOILERS

The Quest begins with a very short briefing (and handout) from Venture-Captain Sheila Heidmarch.  The Lodge in Magnimar has received a series of messages recently sent via the whispering wind spell, and are apparently coming from a scholar of ancient Thassilon named Estani Sulemi.  Sulemi has been kidnapped, and says he's going to be sacrificed and consumed if not rescued quickly!  He's able to give his location as a warehouse in the Ordellia district of the city.

The PCs have no trouble finding the warehouse (represented naturally by Gamemastery Flip-Mat: Warehouse).  If they're particularly skillful, they might be able to get in quietly, but chances are they'll bust in and make a lot of noise, giving those inside a chance to prepare.  The kidnappers are a pack of bugbears (murderous goblinoids) led by Silvgadwer, a barghest (an extraplanar monster that grows more powerful the more it consumes sentient creatures!).  Silvagadwer is disguised as a normal goblin at first, which adds a nice twist when he finally transforms into his true form.  The choice of flip-mat makes the encounter more interesting, as the crates and the loft complicate the PCs' ability to navigate easily.  Barghests are actually pretty dangerous, with a lot of hit points, DR, and (most importantly) the ability to use charm and suggestion spells on weak-willed PCs.  Indeed, the only time things got really dicey for the PCs when I ran the Quest is when one of their own got charmed.

Once the kidnappers have been defeated, they can untie the bound and grateful Estani Sulemi.  The scenario ends with his gratitude.  In terms of boons, there's a choice: either the ability to roll twice and take the better versus a fear effect, or the aid of Estani in the form of a small bonus to a skill check while in Magnimar.  The first is far more likely to be of use than the second.

Anyway, that's The Urge to Evolve.  Don't expect much, and you won't be disappointed.

Captain Atom (DC 1987-1991) # 41-50 [COMICS]

Things get metaphysical, Plastique makes a return, and the title enters its final year as we cover Captain Atom # 41-50.

In Issue # 41, Adam celebrates his birthday with Catherine Colbert, but when things head to the boudoir, he can't go through with it because he feels like he's cheating on his wife Angela (who died years ago during the hero's jump through time).  In order to get some closure, C.A. enlists buddies like the Red Tornado, Silver Shield, and Chester King to help send his soul/astral self/mind to the quantum field so he can see Angela again and say goodbye.  But something goes wrong, and he gets stuck there!

If there was one DC Comics character I never ever would have guessed would guest star in an issue of Captain Atom, it's Death from Neil Gaiman's Sandman series.  But there she is in Issue # 42, and C.A. finds himself in a purgatory-like realm where he has to overcome his sins in order to move on.  He's ready to head for the afterlife, but gets turned back because an evil spirit has taken up residence in the body he left behind on earth: the evil villain Nekron.  It's a really weird storyline for a title like Captain Atom, but not per se bad.

Issue # 43 concludes the story arc, as Cap gets his body back but not before a sweet farewell to Angela.  Actually a good issue, considering how far out of the wheelhouse it is.

Classic cover to Issue # 44, probably the best of the series.  Plastique has been spotted in Paris giving a demonstration of her powers to the Queen Bee of Bialya, but she's having trouble controlling her explosions and is getting sick.  Captain Atom, as head of the new Justice League Europe, gets sent on a mission to bring her in.  He does so, but promises to do everything he can to help her.  Poor interior artwork here lets down an okay story.

A good story's in Issue # 45.  The subplot of the return of the Ghost has been appearing in the last several issues, and this time it involves General Eiling's subordinate Allard, who was kidnapped, "escaping" and returning to the military.  But Allard has been brainwashed into hating Eiling.  The plot fails, with Allard realizing he's been duped (after it's too late).

I think maybe Issue # 46 was one of those evergreen "filler" issues that creative teams usually put away just in case they can't make a regular deadline.  It's a team-up of Captain Atom and Superman against an alien named Kylstar that has abducted them, and is very old-fashioned.  I guess there is some ongoing story development, as it sees Major Force leave the solar system to join Kylstar, and Adam reunites with Peggy at the end.  Still, it's a weird issue, made more disappointing by the fact that it's the unceremonious end of Cary Bates' four-year run on the title.

Issue # 47, written by guest writer Sarah Byam, is actually really good despite being a standalone story with no real connection to any other storylines in the title.  It concerns a cult leader in Cambodia who is converting thousands of locals to his cause with the help of an Agent Orange-like chemical buried near his village by the U.S. government decades ago.  Captain Atom, his son Randy, and a local guide have to investigate without getting their own minds altered by the toxin.

Issue # 48 features a cool cover, as Captain Atom has to return to the quantum field/astral plane/whatever to try to retrieve Red Tornado's essence.  The best part of the issue is a subplot featuring, of all people, General Eiling's father visiting a local bar for an annual tradition where all the surviving members of his World War I unit assemble.  It turns out, he's the last one still alive.  It's sad, excellent writing.

Issue # 49 has "The Trial of Plastique!"  There's a nice recap of her past comics appearances.  Captain Atom does his best to get her acquitted (but fails) because apparently they really lurve one another.  It's a bit of a hurried storyline, but that's comics.

The big Issue # 50 has the Ghost's long-planned attack finally coming to fruition, aided by a veritable army of followers and underlings.  There's an attempt to have the brainwashed Babylon and Gos murder Dr. Megala at Randy's wedding, but Gos breaks free and helps Atom save the day.  Both sides then assemble for a massive battle, with Plastique even released from prison to help Atom out.  It's a satisfying wrap-up to years of storylines, with the Ghost defeated for good and Atom going on national television to come clean about the government-aided lies he's been telling.

By this point, we've strayed pretty far from the political/military intrigue that marked the series' first few years and made it such a different super hero book than the norm.  The issues after Bates leaves aren't all bad, but they're certainly less interesting and memorable.

Starfinder Collector Pin: Starfinder Logo [RPG]

The Starfinder Collector Pin: Starfinder Logo is a nice little "deluxe enamel logo pin" with two butterfly-clasps on the back so it's unlikely to come free by accident.  The lettering is a bright yellow and really pops.  The pin comes in a baggie attached to a little cardboard insert, the back of which reads:  "Strap in and Blast Off!  The Starfinder Roleplaying Game puts you in the role of a bold science-fantasy explorer, investigating the mysteries of a weird and magical universe as part of a starship crew."  I can't disagree with that description.

So the pin seems pretty well-made for what it is.  Now I just have to figure out what to do with all these pins I'm amassing--maybe put them on a jaunty sash like the nerd equivalent of Boy Scout merit badges?

Pathfinder Map Pack: Secret Rooms [RPG]

The first thing that strikes me about Pathfinder Map Pack: Secret Rooms is that the title is something of a misnomer.  When gamers think of "secret rooms," they think about the lever in the closet that reveals a secret treasure vault or the innocuous-looking stone wall that can be pushed through to reveal the staircase down to the next level.  But what Secret Rooms has in it for tiles are just traditional dungeon fare: stone rooms, all but one of which has a visible entrance/exit.  About half of the tiles are essentially featureless rooms, and I'm a bit biased toward the set in a negative way because both of the PFS/SFS scenarios I've used it in have done so featuring tiles that aren't much more than square boxes I could have drawn myself in ten seconds.  But to be fair, some of the tiles do have other types of dungeon decor, like treasure chests, a sewer channel, a burial vault with bones in the alcoves, and some cool demon-looking statues.  Two of the tiles have squares with odd geometric patterns, which could maybe be adopted for some sort of pressure plate puzzle.

I know dungeon-themed flip-mats and map packs are Paizo's highest sellers and they've probably used up most of the good titles already, but "secret rooms" was just a poor descriptive choice.  This is simply a map pack containing traditional dungeon tiles.  There's nothing particularly good or bad with it, so I'll give it the uninspired "meh" rating.

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 60 [RPG]

[1 Abadius 4708 to 16 Abadius 4708]

Veznutt is an old friend
of Jinkatsyu's parents.

The first weeks of the new year go by quickly as each of the adventurers prepares, in their own way, for the invasion they know is on the way.  Salma researches the weaknesses of dragons in Ilsoari Gandethus’ archives, and helps his teammates by making multiple magical trips to recover and sell the wagonload of treasures discovered at the Kreeg Clanhold.  Jinkatsyu trains hard to increase his stamina and has a fruitful encounter with an old friend from some years past: Veznutt Parrooh.  The aged but spry gnome is intrigued when Jinkatsyu mentions Jorgenfist, and relates that he’s heard rumours that stone giants have recently built a fortress called that in the Valley of the Black Tower in the Iron Peaks.  Parooh promises to try to track down a good map of the area, but from memory says one could travel to the Storval Stairs and head east to reach the Valley.  Meanwhile, Ava spends her time helping out at the Cathedral, and earns the deep gratitude of all who work there.  Nerissa returns from some extremely dangerous solo expeditions spent scouting for any signs of approaching giants, having successfully fought off goblins, wild boars, and even bugbears.  She found no signs, but rumours continue to run rampant in the area of people spotting giant-sized footprints, smashed trapper’s cabins, and the like.  Kang spends most of his time hunched over his portable alchemical laboratory, concocting a slew of new and old recipes to fully outfit his teammates for the battle to come. 

 Early in the month, the adventurers hold important meetings with Mayor Deverin and Sheriff Hemlock.  Deverin is resistant to suggestions that Sandpoint be evacuated, saying it would be a huge undertaking to move (and keep safe) so many people, and that, try as they might, a sizable number of the residents would never leave just because of largely unsubstantiated rumors.  Salma persuades her, however, to see if she can get people to assemble in the town’s stone buildings on 17 Abadius so that, if a dragon attacks, they’ll be away from flammable wooden buildings.  Mayor Deverin also says she’s been able to get a small contingent of reinforcements from Magnimar, with the cover story that they’re in the town for a “joint training exercise.”

A later meeting with Sheriff Hemlock is equally productive.  Hemlock is determined that the town won’t be caught off-guard like it was when goblins invaded during the previous year's Swallowtail Festival.  He discusses the placement of the Town Guard, the Citizen’s Militia, and the Magnimarian troops at the most likely invasion points. Jinkatsyu has the foresight to realize that the units need a good way to communicate with each other, and arranges for each to be outfitted with whistling signal arrows.

The adventurers stay on watch during the night of 16 Abadius, just in case the invasion comes a day early, but all is quiet in Sandpoint.

[17 Abadius 4708]

Just as she promised, Mayor Deverin comes up with a plan to get the residents of Sandpoint to congregate in stone buildings (like the Garrison, the Cathedral, the Town Hall, and even the old Glassworks factory) without panicking anyone by telling everyone there’s a special “town drill.”  In the doldrums of winter, most residents are happy to take part in a break from their routine.   The adventurers decide to take up position at Tanner’s Bridge, hypothesizing that an attack is most likely to come from the east.

Despite their "primitive" weapons and clothing, stone giants 

are intelligent and have a strong (if skewed) sense of honour.

At the first blush of sunset, Kang’s uncanny eyesight allows him to see something that the others miss: silhouettes of enormous figures on the nearest tors, heading for the northern entrance into the town!  Kang’s warning gives everyone time to prepare, and he and the other adventurers head there to reinforce the strongpoint where Sheriff Hemlock has taken command.  First blood is struck as a hail of boulders begin to rain down on the North Gate.  The invasion of Sandpoint has begun!  Three massive stone giants, difficult to see clearly in the waning light, call out taunts, perhaps hoping to lure the defenders out of their fortifications.  None fall for the trick however, and the return fire of dozens of archers (blessed by Ava’s magic) proves that the battle will be hard fought on both sides.  Just as the bloody giants draw their clubs and start to charge, Salma’s spellcraft spoils their plans by encircling them in a ring of blinding energy!  Two of the giants can only stumble around, while the third is felled by a long distance explosive hurled by Kang.

The defenders’ victory at the North Gate couldn’t have come at a better time, as, seconds later, a signal arrow is heard from Tanner’s Bridge, indicating another group of giants is attacking.  The adventurers race back to their previous position, only to find that here, the Town Guard has been overrun: instead of having a defensible chokepoint (in the form of the bridge), the giants are tall enough to easily wade through the waters!  And worse, they didn’t come alone—a trio of massive bears covered in matted fur and bony growths are chasing recalcitrant townsfolk!  The rush to the eastern side of Sandpoint is disorganized—instead of responding as a unit, the adventurers arrive in ones and twos and quickly risk catastrophe.  Kang’s dragonfly wings give him speed and manoeuvrability, but the giants’ skill with hurling massive boulders soon leaves him bruised, shaken, and ready to retreat!  Ava arrives, seconds too late to save local tanner Larz Rovanky from being torn apart from one of the massive bears. 

Dire bears are larger, more aggressive,
and far more deadly than their lesser cousins.

 And just as the others arrive to do battle amongst the tombstones of the Boneyard, the situation escalates.  A dragon descends from the clouds and strafes the Garrison with flame!  Shouts can also be heard from the Town Square, as giants have apparently breached the perimeter and are running wild through the streets!  Nerissa recognizes one of the screams as coming from Sister Giulia, but the amnesiac warrior has her own problems, locked in hand-to-hand combat with multiple massive foes.  She somehow manages to tumble away and follows Kang’s instructions to head for the Town Square.  Ava uses her magic to help Jinkatsyu get some distance from the attackers, but escape looks unlikely.  And then, to make a dangerous situation even more perilous, Salma evokes a tremendous blast of cold at the ascending dragon.  The dragon isn’t severely hurt, but now its gaze falls squarely on the wizard and her companions!

Salvation for Sandpoint is balanced on a knife’s edge, and the situation looks bleak—can the adventurers turn the tide?

----------------------------------------------

Director's Commentary (January 13, 2018)

One of the optional subsystems I'm really glad I incorporated into the campaign from the beginning was Downtime from Ultimate Campaign.  It helps organise what each PC is doing when there's time away from adventuring, and it's a very fast straightforward system to use.  I do think some of the options are over-powered (like getting hit points and experience points for relatively low amounts of gold), so I have instituted some house rules so those options don't outshine every other.

The PCs had some very good suggestions to the town leaders about preparing for the invasion.  I wanted to show that the leaders were sensible and taking reasonable precautions (players quickly scoff at NPCs who are played as stupid just to preserve the plot), while also still allowing the heroes their chance to shine in the invasion.  In order to speed things up at the northern gates where the NPC archers were, I just reduced the giants hit points by a fixed percentage to represent all of the arrows raining down.  It worked well.

I'm glad I had a lot of time to prepare for this session, because there was a ton to do in terms of drawing out maps ahead of time, getting minis for everything, making notes on the round-by-round breakdown of the invasion, etc.  Although it was impossible to grid Sandpoint to scale, I did have flip-mats prepped for all of the planned battle sites with notes on the distance and travel time between each one.

This session covered the first part of the invasion, and it was fantastic.  Ending with the dragon swooping down and the PCs in trouble was a great cliffhanger.

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 59 [RPG]

[31 Kuthona 4707]

In the middle of the afternoon, Salma is confident she’s memorized the features of her room at the Rusty Dragon.  She heads out to find Ava, and soon learns that the grippli is visiting with the mysterious Nerissa at the Sandpoint Cathedral.  Still weak from the assassin’s poison, Nerissa repeats her claim that she has no idea why she was attacked and little memory of her life previous to washing up on a nearby beach.  Father Zantus comes to check in on his patient.  He gives Salma a long, curious look with a flicker of recognition, and Salma hastily identifies herself as a newcomer to town named “Silva.”  Father Zantus is hesitant, but finishes his examination of Nerissa and then departs, mentioning that it’s nearly sunset so everyone needs to “take the necessary precautions."

Jargie's known for telling wildly amusing
and inconsistent stories about how he lost his leg.

Ava is intrigued at this cryptic warning and spends the remainder of the afternoon trying to find someone to explain what Father Zantus meant.  Most of the residents she asks change the subject or simply walk away, but she manages to persuade one person to speak: Jargie Quinn, proprietor of Sandpoint’s preeminent seafood restaurant, the Hagfish.  Even the normally voluble Jargie is reluctant to speak, but Ava is just so cute and small that he can’t refuse her aid.  He explains that tonight is known as the Night of the Pale, when the spirits of the departed walk the land.  Jargie says anyone with a lick of sense barricades themselves indoors with certain symbols on the door to keep the dead from entering.  Ava takes a look at the symbols and discerns that they’re holy Pharasmin runes telling spirits that they’re not invited.

Madame M'vashti is the
oldest resident of Sandpoint.

As Ava finishes her examination, the sun begins to dip below the horizon and ominous bells toll from the Cathedral.  The adventurers hastily convene as all the townsfolk begin locking their doors.  Salma takes refuge inside the Rusty Dragon (as does Nerissa within the Cathedral), but Kang, who is wavering, is addressed by an aged Varisian woman standing across the street.  The woman, known to locals as Madame M’vashti, tells Kang that she’s read the Harrow and that there’s something Kang needs to see tonight—he needs to realize the full implications of his past failures, because “da’ bad man comin’ gonna be more powerful din before.”  Before leaving, she alludes to having foreseen that she won’t live out the month.  Kang decides to see things through in the town square, and Ava and Jinkatsyu bravely accompany him.

Hours pass as the night grows darker and colder until, near midnight, the adventurers hear the sound of hundreds of people marching.  A ghostly procession approaches, led by the solemn visage of Father Maelin Shreed of Turtleback Ferry.  Accompanying him are hundreds of townspeople of that doomed village.  Almost all of them pass by the adventurers wordlessly, but the spirit of the town’s innkeeper, Cesten Orlandi, stops slowly and faces Kang.  “You could have saved us!” he moans over and over again, growing more and more vehement each time.  Kang is overwhelmed by the psychic assault and collapses into a coma!  The procession continues as Ava and Jinkatsyu try to awaken Kang, but with no success.  The last figure in the procession is that of the town’s schoolteacher, Tillia Henkenson.  She says in a wistful whisper, “tell him we understand and forgive . . . but worse is coming, and he has to be ready.”  When the procession is finished, Ava and Jinkatsyu carry the unconscious Kang to shelter to wait out the rest of the long night.

[1 Abadius 4808]

In the morning, the two adventurers carry Kang to the Cathedral to consult with Father Zantus.  The priest suspects Kang is suffering from a spiritual curse of some kind, but can provide little in the way of explanation as to what the long-term effects of it will be.  Ava decides to consult with Salma.  After a quick magical jaunt to the Kreeg Clanhold to collect some of the spoils of war left there, Salma arrives at the Cathedral and examines Kang.  His vast erudition allows him to recall the details of a rarely-cast spell that shatters the curse and jolts the tiefling back to consciousness!  All Kang can remember of the last several hours are constant, recurring visions of a dam bursting and himself drowning, over and over and over again.  He’s obviously shaken by the experience.  Kang’s recovery is accompanied by that of Nerissa, as her body’s ability to recover from the assassin’s poison has been dramatically accelerated by Ava’s divinely-fuelled intercession.

 As the adventurers leave the Cathedral, they’re met by Bosk Hartigan, Sandpoint’s Deputy Sheriff and primary criminal investigator.  Bosk explains in his gravelly voice that he’s been left in charge since Sheriff Hemlock is out trying to verify the claims that the adventurers made to the mayor yesterday.  The grizzled veteran goes on to say that he’s managed to link Nerissa’s attacker to a boat that’s still tethered to the docks, and that, given everything that’s happened, he’s willing to work with them if they want to accompany him on the raid.  The adventurers agree and, after a (relatively fruitless) discussion with Jodar Provolost about the town’s defences against invasion, meet Hartigan at the docks.  Ava runs to Sandpoint Savories, where Nerissa works, and persuades her to come along on the raid.

The sword is enchanted to leave vicious
wounds in the flesh of humans!

The adventurers approach cautiously, with Salma possessing the body of a wharf rat and leaving her own body to slump to the ground, alarming Hartigan.  Kang, Nerissa, and Salma huddle around the door to the boat’s cabin while Kang searches it for traps.  Having pronounced it safe, he opens the door only to trigger a trap as dozens of flasks of alchemist fire drop from the ceiling of the cabin and explode!  Nerissa somehow escapes without even being singed, literally running over the water to reach safety.  Salma’s possessed rat is obliterated.  Kang is burned, but bravely dashes into the blazing ship to see if anything can be recovered.  He finds a secret compartment containing a mask and a sword, and manages to make it out of the inferno alive.  As the residents of Sandpoint start a bucket brigade to keep the fire from spreading to the docks, the adventurers examine Kang’s discovery.  The mask is insect-like, with antenna and long mandibles, while the sword is cruelly serrated.  Nerissa feels like maybe she’s seen these items before, but any concrete memories are lost in a veil of fog.  Salma’s spells identify each as heavily-enchanted (and quite valuable) items.  Unfortunately, both items are seized by Bosk Hartigan as evidence pertaining to the original crime, and, despite Kang’s protests, they’re taken off the adventurers’ hands.

After returning to their inn for a brief respite, discussion turns to how to prepare for the expected invasion of Sandpoint.  Kang and Salma decide to see what they can find out about dragons, since the intercepted message mentioned that the invading force would include one.  The two have little difficulty persuading local legend-keeper Ilsoari Gandethus for permission to use his museum and archives for research.  Meanwhile, Nerissa and Jinkatsyu decide a sparring match would be a good way to see if Nerissa is able to use the weapons that washed up on shore next to her.  At the Red Dragon, Ameiko clears space in the common room so that her patrons can be entertained by the duel.  She has to call the match, off, however, after Jinkatsyu inexplicably fumbles his way through his opening moves, appearing to be more harmful to himself and the audience than his opponent!

-----------------------------------------

Director's Commentary (January 1, 2019)

In the Golarion calendar, this was the Night of the Pale, a holiday where the spirits of the dead are said to walk.  I couldn't find much about it online, so I improvised a few things.  I think holidays are an important way to make a setting believable and realistic, so I like to incorporate them whenever I can.  Here, as you can see, I really wanted to bring home the depth of the failure to save Turtleback Ferry and set up ominous foreshadowing that even worse things could happen if the adventurers don't get their act together.

The explosion aboard the assassin's boat was a pretty exciting scene, and I was impressed that they were able to find the hidden trapdoor even with the fire raging (Kang's fire resistance helped, of course).  I would have handled some things differently with the Red Mantis if I had some of the setting material I have now, but at the time all I really had to go on with the group was their entry in the Pathfinder Wiki.  I'm always annoyed at myself when I mess up established setting lore.

Jinkatsyu's duel with Nerissa has become an infamous moment in the campaign.  It was intended just as a bit of fun, but when Jinks' player rolled *three* natural ones in  a row, I had to make a big deal of it.  Even now, something like forty sessions later, people in Sandpoint talk about how terrible a swordsman Jinks is despite all other evidence to the contrary.

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