Pathfinder Flip-Mat: "Dungeon" [RPG]

I've played through a couple of scenarios using the Dungeon flip-mat now, and I'm very happy with it.  There's a wide variety of rooms that allow for almost anything a GM might need: long hallways, fountains, pits, rooms with multiple levels, a small maze, crypts, statues, and more.  It's also, if you look closely, incredibly detailed with cobwebs in the corners, cracks in the floor, mystical glyphs near some kind of artefact, etc.  The color palette is dark to fit with a dungeon-delve theme, but the grid-lines are easy to see and there's a good use of the available space.  The foldable, wet & dry erase nature of the mat makes it easy to use.  When it comes to a classic dungeon crawl, this one is hard to beat.

Blue Devil # 21-31 & Annual # 1 (DC Comics, 1984) [COMICS]

Finishing off my read-through of Blue Devil, last discussed here.

Annual # 1: Styled the "Blue Devil Summer Fun Special," the first (and only) Blue Devil annual throws in the works!  Blue Devil is showing Marla some new props for the second B.D. movie when evil wizard super-villain Felix Faust shows up to steal a magical artefact from the workshop.  Blue Devil gets some help from The Demon, Phantom Stranger, Madame Xanadu, The Creeper, and (once it breaks free from Faust's control) the Man-Bat to try to get it back.  There's even an appearance from  Black Orchid as well.  It turns out that Faust stole a demon egg brought back from the shoot on the island where Nebiros first appeared, and the egg grows into a simulacrum of Nebiros for the big battle.  The ending is funny, with the seven heroes joking about a future team-up--I'd call it Justice League Weird!  There's some fun little extras as well, including a pin-up, a schematic of the B.D. suit, and even a pull-out board game.  I loved annuals and the grab-bag of stuff that went into them when I was a kid.

Issue # 21: Sharon is annoyed with Cassidy, as a planned date turns into him hanging out with his buddies.  She drives off angrily, only to have her car eaten/stolen by a monster machine named "Roadmaster."  It turns out that Wayne's uncle has been using Roadmaster to steal cars so he can repaint and sell them.  In order to take on Roadmaster, B.D. needs some souped up wheels, and Cassidy's stuntman friends (and the Trickster) put together "The Devilmobile!"  It's goofy fun.  There's a subplot about the need for B.D. to get from L.A. to the east coast, so a road trip is in order for the next couple of issues.

Issue # 22: "Las Vegas Lunacy" promises the cover, and it's the return of the silly alien duo Jorj & Leni from Issue # 6.  A bounty-hunter seems to be after them, but it's all a misunderstanding.  A very cartoony issue.

Issue # 23:  A cool cover shows Blue Devil grappling with Firestorm while a blurb promises "Five villains too!"  While Cassidy and Wayne are on their road trip east, Firestorm suddenly crashes onto the highway (following events in his own book).  Firestorm's being assaulted by Bolt, Mind Boggler, Hyena, Multiplex, and Slipknot in a super-villain beatdown.  The bad guys then turn to take on Blue Devil in a story unfortunately continued in Firestorm's own book.  My guess: sales are flagging, and team-ups/cross-overs are being uses to try to shore things up.  In a subplot, the second B.D. movie has been shut down.

Issue # 24: A good villain, the Toyman, appears in a very cliché story involving robotic Blue Devil action figures going haywire.  We do learn that Cassidy has an older sister, Frank.  The letters page says the creative team is going to be a bit more serious and try to avoid so much parody and silliness, but as the next issue shows, change takes time.

Issue # 25: You don't often see special issues for St. Patrick's Day, but this eminently skippable story is one of them.  The "Faerie Liberation Front", leprechauns, magic seeds, and Jimmy Olsen combine for a very goofy tale.

Issue # 26:  A new villain, the Green Gargoyle, appears in a story that involves baseball.  There's a couple of funny bits, but I can understand why people aren't buying the book.

Issue # 27:  Funny animals, including "Godfrey Goose", take the cover and give the lie to any promises to less silly stories.  I think the writers have trouble finding the right line between weird and downright goofy.  The story involves an old cartoon character coming to life (Roger Rabbit style).  It's a bit better than it sounds.  There's a lot of talk in the letters page about the "upcoming" Blue Devil Summer Fun # 2, but sadly it never materialised.

Issue # 28: Earlier in the series' run, there must have been a contest where readers got to win a chance to appear in the comic.  This issue has the lucky kid's appearance in a super-goofy tale about a little green alien setting balloons free because his spaceship resembles a balloon.  On the letters page, the editor announces a "new direction" for the book, with fewer silly one-shots and a more sustained narrative.  But the writing is on the wall, and time is running out.

Issue # 29: This is one of the best issues of the second half of the series, as it achieves the perfect balance between weird and funny and establishes its own style.  The story involves strange things happening in the House of Weirdness because the house itself is allergic to Blue Devil.  The letters page promises "big changes" starting in Issue # 31.  I guess cancellation is a type of change . . .

Issue # 30:  A double-sized issue featuring the Flash's rogues gallery.  It's fun seeing them in a Blue Devil story, and the story ranges from Gorilla Grodd's hidden city in Africa to an amusement park.  Alas, the letters page announces the official cancellation with next issue.

Issue # 31: Another over-sized issue, as a surprise birthday party for Blue Devil turns to Hell . . . literally!  It's a framing story for a flashback tale that, I'm guessing, was an old inventory story they wanted to use up.  The story doesn't make much sense, but there is an appearance by Madame Xanadu, and that's always a plus.

Despite some problems, I really like Blue Devil.  The character is visually interesting with a fun concept ("weirdness magnet") and exciting powers.  Dan Cassidy is given an appealing personality and a solid supporting cast, and the setting (a mix of Hollywood and the House of Weirdness) is great for all sorts of stories that are different than the Gotham/Metropolis/New York norm.  As the series shows, it's hard to get the tone of a Blue Devil story right, and it's easy for weirdness to slide into Saturday morning cartoon silliness.  But in the right hands, there's a lot that could be done with the character.  It's a pity the character has never received another chance at a solo series.

Pathfinder: "Playtest Rulebook" [RPG]

Yes, I know you've all been furiously clicking the refresh button on your internet browsers, waiting for my review of the 2018 Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook.  Stop tweeting at me folks!  The review that follows is just in time for you to travel back in time prior to August 2019 and get insight into what the then-forthcoming second edition of Pathfinder will have once looked like.

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To start off, it might be good to talk a bit about the book as a whole package.  The cover is amazing, and I have to give Wayne Reynolds credit for both exceeding the original Core Rulebook art while paying homage to it with another epic battle against a dragon.  This book is long for a playtest document: 428 pages!  One might plausibly argue that it was too long for most players to digest during the very short window in which playtest reports were being evaluated; though, on the other hand, it's best for the designers to get as much feedback as possible about every aspect of the game.  Similarly, this is not some sort of bound print-out--this is a professionally laid-out book with obvious devotion paid to attractiveness and readability.  The folks at Paizo are probably the best in the business at this aspect of publishing, and the amount of time they spent on a book that was destined to become a forgotten curiosity just a few months after release is impressive (and maybe a little sad). The artwork inside is a mix of color art re-used from previous Paizo products alongside new B&W sketches of the Iconics by Wayne Reynolds.

The book is written in very precise, technical, and frankly awkward language.  I know this structured approach is designed to avoid ambiguity about interpretation of rules, which is important, but it makes the book read like a computer programming textbook.  I'm also not a fan of the glyphs used throughout the book--I find them confusing and unhelpful.  There's also a lot less setting flavour than I would have expected considering that one of the major decisions Paizo made was to integrate their rulebook line with their Golarion campaign setting.  Things are still kept pretty generic (with a few exceptions), which is a missed opportunity.  As a sort of overall first impression, I wasn't excited or inspired but I what I read.  There wasn't a lot of "I can't wait to try that out!"  I'll also go ahead and note that my view of the playtest rules as a whole are probably coloured by my experience with the Doomsday Dawn adventure (reviewed elsewhere), which didn't go so well with my group.

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW

An editorial explains the overall purpose of the revision to PF1: to streamline play while still offering a wealth of options.  I can't really argue with that as a design goal.  The section contains the usual "what is an RPG?" section for newcomers, with a few paragraphs on inclusiveness that seems to irk some people but looks perfectly fine to me.  The character generation overview is very clear and thorough.  One of the things old-school players may note is a general abhorrence of randomness: everything is structured and you won't need any dice until you actually start playing the game.  It's not my preferred approach, but the RPG industry seems to be moving in that direction.  Anyway, this section is a strong introduction to the goals and basic concepts in the playtest rules.

CHAPTER 2: ANCESTRIES AND BACKGROUNDS

In the Playtest Rulebook, "ancestry" has been substituted for the more loaded term "race."  The gist of the idea stays the same, as characters are selected from the usual array of human, dwarf, elf, gnome, and halfling.  There's one new addition to the list, goblin, that touched off a massive debate in the Paizo forums because in PF1, goblins were almost uniformly pyromaniacal evil creatures, and their inclusion here seems more of a marketing gimmick than anything.  In addition, the old races of half-elf and half-orc no longer receive their own write-up in the playtest but are instead a subset of the human ancestry.

Ancestries also work mechanically different than races did in PF1.  Although there are a few fixed features of each ancestry, the vast majority of mechanics are chosen by the player from a list of "ancestry feats" unique to each ancestry.  This starts the common characterisation of the playtest as  "everything's a feat."  The problem from my point of view is that the ancestry feats system doesn't differentiate from biological features (for example, giving an elf bonuses to Perception because they have keen hearing) versus cultural features (for example, giving an elf bonuses with elven weapons).  This means, depending on player choices, some elves have keen hearing and some don't, which sort of undermines the point of having advantages and disadvantages premised on race/ancestry to begin with.  It also creates clunky storytelling because characters get one ancestry feat at first level, one at 5th, one at 9th, one at 13th, and one at 17th--which means (for example) my gnome may have no idea how to use gnome weapons until suddenly that part of his ancestry inexplicably kicks in at level 13.  There is a good infusion of Golarion-specific flavour in the description of the ancestries.  Humans are all treated alike mechanically, but there is a one-paragraph description of different ethnicities in the setting.

Another big change in the playtest rules is the inclusion of backgrounds.  Every character gets one background, and the background grants two ability boosts, a bonus skill feat, and increased proficiency in one knowledge ("Lore") skill.  The backgrounds are very broad and generic, like "Street Urchin" or "Warrior."  Backgrounds are replacements to the traits system of PF1, and, while I acknowledge there were way too many traits, backgrounds are very boring and forgettable.  Traits could allow you to do really interesting little things to assist in a variety of character builds, and were also often grounded in the regions, faiths, or cultures of Golarion.  The background system here is something fine for an introductory game for newcomers to RPGs, but lacks the flavour and depth of the old traits system.

PCs in the playtest get only 1 bonus language for having a high Intelligence, but the problem of "everyone speaks Common anyway, so why do languages matter?" still hasn't been solved.

CHAPTER 3: CLASSES

The classes in the playtest are exactly the same as the core classes from PF1, except for the addition of the alchemist.  I thought this was unfortunate, as it would have been a perfect opportunity to show some real creativity and originality to freshen up the game.  There's nothing here that made me say "wow, I never thought about being a xyz before!"  As with ancestries, the classes offer some fixed elements (hit points, bumps to saves and skills) but are mostly sorting devices for a selection of abilities that players can choose.  Every other level, characters get a "class feat", and these are unique to that class--so there's a big list of alchemist class feats, rogue class feats, etc.  It does allow for a lot of options in build.  A lot of the classes get special powers which require "spell points" to use--I'm not a fan of the terminology, though I understand having a consistent standard across the board is better than PF1's penchant for giving a point-based resource pool with a different name to seemingly every class.

I should mention that, although officially alignment is still in the game, its importance has been reduced dramatically.  Instead, classes with some sort of moral restriction have a new mechanic called "anathema" which is designed to better describe the restrictions and penalties for breaching them.  Given the enormous controversies in past decades over alignment, it probably is time that a better system was developed to give players more guidance.  There's little if any mention of Golarion in this chapter--it's almost like the ancestries chapter was written by someone who liked the setting and the classes chapter was written by someone who didn't.

There's no way I can give a full summary of each class, but here's a quick and dirty rundown of some things:

* Alchemist: Alchemists actually get skill with alchemical items instead of ersatz spells like in PF1, which is a change for the positive.  The class still has the incoherence of also having a bombs and a mutagen feature, which I think overeggs the pudding.

* Barbarian:  Every barbarian now gets a "totem", which is a sort of symbolic focus that determines special abilities and anathema.  The playtest offers Animal, Dragon, Giant, Spirit, and Superstition totems.  Oddly, there's no incorporation whatsoever of all the lore from the Inner Sea that would be fantastic here: Shoanti tribes, for example.

* Bards: They are now "occult" spellcasters, which is a really strange idea since "occult" means secret/hidden and bards are all about performance and visibility.  They're also full 9-level casters instead of the traditional fighter/wizard/rogue "jack of all trades."  A new concept in the playtest are a selection of "muses" that each bard is supposed to be devoted to--but they're very generic and don't do much.  Again, a missed opportunity to integrate setting lore.

* Cleric: Overall, very similar to PF1.  There's the same "Core 20" list of deities, there are still domains (though some have changed), and their primary focus is divine spellcasting.  Clerics (and all spellcasters) get fewer spell slots per day--no more than 3 for each spell level--which is a positive change to reduce the sheer versatility of spellcasters compared to martials.

* Druid: Druids are now "primal" spellcasters, and their anathema still includes metal armor.  Every druid now has a "druidic order" they belong to, but again they're pretty generic: Animal, Leaf, Storm, and Wild.  The orders provide a special power and additional anathema, plus some bonuses with class feats.  I wish they had been more flavourful, but the general concept sounds fine to me (and gives the game plenty of room to expand).

* Fighters:  All of their class feats are combat-focussed, which makes them very one-dimensional, unfortunately.  Many of their feats also complicate the new simplified action economy in an unfortunate way.

* Monk: In the playtest, monks are all about different "stances"--like "crane stance", "dragon stance", etc.  Some things that used to be built into the class, like stunning fist and skill with special "monk weapons", are now optional class feats.  Some of the special abilities are really cool and dramatic.

* Paladin: In the playtest, Paladins still have to be lawful good and follow a code of conduct (written in terms of an order of priority, which was a clever way to avoid moral dilemmas--though I think moral dilemmas are really interesting!).  Some of their special abilities depend on additional oaths, which is a mechanic I like.

* Ranger:  They're spell-less in the playtest, which is something I think fits the concept much better.  They still get animal companions and, through feat choices, can specialise in archery or two-weapon fighting.  There's a particular focus on wilderness traps, but I don't think the mechanic actually works that well.  In sum (having played a ranger during Doomsday Dawn): fine, but kind of bland, really.

* Rogue: They get the controversial Dex to damage along with frequent increases to skills and sneak attack w/ add-ons.  Fairly similar to PF1 in terms of basic concept.

* Sorcerer: Sorcerers still use bloodlines, but in the playtest the choice of bloodline determines which spell-list the character has access to, including the divine list!  A lot of their powers revolve around increasing the power of spells through concentration.

* Wizard:  Fairly similar to PF1: prepared spells, specialisation schools, a focus item, etc.

CHAPTER 4: SKILLS

Skills have been condensed to just seventeen--far fewer than PF1, but the consolidation looks pretty reasonable.  A more significant change is that there are no longer  skills points (ranks); instead, there are four levels of proficiency (untrained, trained, master, and legendary) and each level gives a very small difference in the PC's bonus when using that skill.  The difference between being "untrained" and "legendary" isn't actually that big numerically, so the randomness of the dice could create some surprising results.  However, some uses of some skills are "gated" behind different levels of proficiency.  I prefer the gradual increases of PF1 as more intuitive and straightforward (while acknowledging there were too many types of bonuses that could elevate things to ridiculous levels).

The descriptions of the skills and their respective uses are very clear and specific, though the DCs are very discretionary--a problem that could lead to the "treadmill" effect (where GMs increase the DC to do the same thing at different levels of the game, so players never really feel their characters are getting better at anything).  Other changes include the addition of critical failures (something I've long house-ruled into PF1), a much-cleaner and easier to use system for crafting, and the surprising integration of the Athletics skill into the combat portion of the game.

CHAPTER 5: FEATS

Characters gain a small number of "general feats" and a large number of "skill feats" as they level up.  A lot of the feats here speed up the number of actions it takes to do something, but sometimes in ways that complicate the otherwise-simple three actions/round premise.  There wasn't a lot in this chapter that was particular exciting, though I did like the level 15 "Scare to Death" feat--on a critical success with Intimidation (and a failed Fortitude save), the victim just drops dead!  I wish there were more fun, flavourful things like that.

CHAPTER 6: EQUIPMENT

One of my favourite things about the playtest rules is the rarity system used for mundane equipment, magical equipment, and even spells.  This gives the GM a much better system for determining how "exotic" they want their game to be, and in a way less likely to require extensive house-ruling and ad hoc judgments.

Some other changes to the way equipment is handled is the adoption of the Bulk concept from Starfinder, because apparently adding more than whole numbers is too hard for some gamers.  The currency standard shifts from gold to silver, which is one of those "changes for the sake of change" that really annoy me--what does it matter?  Equipment can now take a certain number of "dents" before breaking (kind of weird for shields), and there's a ton of new traits for weapons that add both depth and complexity to the system.  Switching grips takes an action, and is going to lead to some really pedantic arguments in encounters.  In addition, critical hits do different things depending on the weapon's type.  I could get behind the changes, though I do wonder if Paizo has strayed from its goal of speeding up and simplifying the game to draw in a broader audience.

CHAPTER 7: SPELLS

Spells still work fundamentally the same way they did in PF1: there's still prepared vs. spontaneous casters, slots, spell lists for different classes, schools of magic, and spell components.  Magic can still do anything and everything, though the playtest goes some way to curbing the martial-caster disparity by reducing the sheer number of spells that casters get.  One of the innovations I really like is that each spell, even the non-damaging ones, has a sliding scale of success, which will lead to some more interesting and less-predictable outcomes during encounters.

A new type of spell, rituals, are included--these require multiple characters to get involved (not just spellcasters) and can do very powerful things but are very risky for everyone who takes part.  There's a ton of story possibilities with these.

As an aside, the teleport spell has had substantial reductions in distance and accuracy--a positive change, in my opinion, that stops the "scry & fry" tactic and preserves overland travel as a viable expectation even at higher levels of the game.

CHAPTER 8: ADVANCEMENT AND OPTIONS

This chapter includes the rules for levelling up a character, which is very straightforward.  The playtest version of archetypes are introduced here, and they're very different than PF1.  There are regular archetypes (cavalier and pirate), "prestige" archetypes (Grey Maiden), and, in the biggest change, "multiclass" archetypes (Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, and Wizard).  The inclusion of the multiclass archetypes means that the PF1 method of multiclassing by taking a level in a different class doesn't exist.  All of the archetypes function by requiring class feats to instead be spent on archetype feats.  I'm not really sure what I think, but I do like the new archetypes better than the new Background system.

There's a short but important entry in this chapter on animal companions.  The "pets" system is much cleaner and better balanced in PF1.  In this new system, it takes actions by the PC each round to command animals, which helps solve the action-economy advantage that pets had in PF1 (not to mention that a lot of animal companions used to be tougher than some martials).  There's also a new "work together" mechanic which allows the animal companion to contribute to combat success without having to run through a full suite of actions for them.  I'm a big fan of the approach here.

CHAPTER 9: PLAYING THE GAME

This is an important chapter, and there's a lot here.  Some of it I've already averted to: every d20 roll you make in the game (whether skill checks, attack rolls, saving throws, etc.) has a chance for a critical success or a critical failure, and all of these rolls follow the same "levels of proficiency" system I talked about back in the Skills chapter.  It's an attempt to bring added consistency to the system, and although it looks a bit weird at first, I think it's a pretty elegant way to streamline the game without losing complexity.

The most well-known change from PF1 is the switch to a "everyone gets three actions a round" concept.  The PF1 distinction between different types of actions (standard, move, swift, immediate, free, miscellaneous, etc.) is gone.  The advantage of the new system is clear, even if it's not quite as straightforward as it sounds (you can't just cast three spells in a round, for example, because now each component of a spell requires its own action, nor are you going to want to attack three times in a round because there's incremental penalties for trying).

The death and dying rules have been changed significantly from PF1 in a way that's so complicated I don't even want to try to summarize it.  The PF1 method with negative hit points is much better in my opinion.  I know, I know, some people don't like negative numbers . . . but we shouldn't have to dumb down a game to cater to the lowest common denominator.

Hero points are now a core feature.  A lot of groups used various versions of the hero points mechanics as house rules in PF1.  They're pretty powerful here in the playtest, though they require a lot of GM discretion.

A major change that I'm not a fan of is the idea that there are three fixed "modes" of play (Encounter, Exploration, and Downtime).  I don't actually mind downtime being a separate thing (it's good to have a system in place for when adventurers aren't actively adventuring), but the way Encounter vs Exploration mode is articulated is very clumsy and leads to weird, forced results.  This is another example of how I never heard of groups having problems with the distinction in PF1, so the "it ain't broke, don't try to fix it" precept should have been followed.

CHAPTER 10: GAMEMASTERING

This chapter gives advice to GMs, and fleshes out a lot of things that most GMs already do.  Rules for weather, environment, and hazards (formerly known as traps) are also included here.

CHAPTER 11: TREASURE

I've already talked about my love of the rarity system.  The playtest has another system that proved very controversial: resonance points.  The idea here is that each PC has a certain number of these, and each magical item that they use (are "attuned" to) takes up a resonance point.  The goal was to reduce the "walking Christmas tree" effect of characters wearing 20 magic items, and it also allows for the elimination of the "item slots" idea.  I think it was more trouble than its worth, and the way Starfinder just sets a fixed limit (two, I think) on wearable magic items is much easier.

Snares get a surprising amount of attention here, which I guess is important since rangers can get a lot of special abilities in setting them.  I don't mind the concept, but I'm not convinced they're very practical in most gameplay.

Instead of magical weapons and armor getting fixed bonuses (a +1 sword, for example), the playtest introduces the concept of runes.  These are swappable and give the item they're attached to a special power.  It's very video-gamey, and I guess reminiscent of how Starfinder handles weapon fusions.

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This is a big book (428 pages), and I've unfortunately had to skip over a lot.  To sum up though, I'd say as a physical product the book is really impressive for a playtest document--even a playtest document that people had to pay for (unless they wanted the free PDF).  There's a real mix of things I love (the rarity system, the three-action economy) and things I loathe (Backgrounds, the Dying rules, etc.).  I think the biggest surprise for me back when I started going through the materials is that PF2 was not going to be a mere update or streamlining of PF1 (like Starfinder was, though in a different genre).  Instead, PF2 was going to be a whole new game, and this playtest made that very clear.  Whether that's a good or bad thing, of course, is up for you to decide.

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 77 [RPG]

[7 Calistril 4708 continued]

Hounds of Tindalos are otherworldly predators 

from beyond the bounds of known reality.

Having easily overcome several dangers in a hidden complex dating to ancient Thassilon, the adventurers decide to press on through one more room before retreating to rest.  Believing that the set of immense bronze doors at one end of a hallway must lead to Mokmurian’s throne room, they decide to open a plain set of stone doors at the other end.  Inside, they see a strange room whose rough angles have been smoothed over even more than the rest of the complex, featureless except for another set of doors to the northwest.  Yuzo advances in and sees an uncanny sight.  Seemingly standing in the middle of the air, dozens of feet off the ground, is a gaunt, long-limbed quadruped with huge, soulless eyes and a toothy maw!  Just looking at the creature causes an image of the creature slashing and biting to flash through Yuzo’s mind, and when he looks down at his chest, he sees deep, bloody gouges!  The others press forward to help, only to realize that there are two more of the strange hounds in the room.  

Kang’s bombs again serve to dispatch his foes, but the noise of the battle alerts the inhabitant of the adjoining chamber.  The northwest doors suddenly burst open, but only a billowing cloud of fog can be seen.  The voice of a stone giant rings out, one quieter but more eloquent than the others the adventurers have fought before: Mokmurian!  The unseen mastermind behind so much of the woe that has befallen the adventurers in the past months welcomes them to a final battle for the fate of Varisia!  But rather than face their quarry, the unprepared and panicked adventurers decide to run for it.

Back in the “deathweb cave,” the adventurers hurriedly discuss plans and eventualities.  Paranoid that Mokmurian may be scrying on them, the group is on edge.  They resolve that, in the morning, a showdown must be held.

[8 Calistril 4708]

The adventurers prepare with their best abjurations and return to the chamber where they found the strange hounds.  They push through into the chamber beyond, only to find it uninhabited!  They have clearly found Mokmurian’s study, as neatly organized stacks and piles of books, arcane trappings, and more are all over the room.  On a table stacked high with more books, a message has been left for the adventurers: “I await you in the library.  Where my journey began, and yours must end.”

The bizarre creatures known as Shining Children harbor 

many secrets--the greatest of which is their origin.

In a hurry to do battle before their powerful protective spells wane, the adventurers rush to the immense bronze doors out in the main corridor.  The doors bear a huge, mirrorlike silver inlay of the Sihedron, but lacks any obvious hinges, handles or locks save for a single tiny star-shaped indentation at the center of the larger star.  Salma’s divination spell discerns that the door radiates both conjuration magicks and a strong mystical lock.  Ava casts a spell to negate the lock, but triggers a cascading effect: the door’s surface becomes suffused with a dull gray glow that rapidly brightens into a near-blinding intensity before a strange figure seems to float out of the door’s surface.  The figure seems humanoid but sheds such harsh, blinding light that it can’t be seen clearly!  Salma, Yuzo, and Kang find their retinas permanently burned out by the light.  Jinkatsyu managed to avert his eyes in time and, with Yuzo’s grasping aid, succeeds in destroying the creature.  Salma shows her unprecedented access to almost every known magical tradition by casting divine spells to cure the blindness of her allies.  And then, knowing that trying the door again might summon another one of the creatures, she reduces a large chunk of the wall next to the door into dust!

The time has come for a fateful battle against Mokmurian—but will it end with a bang, or with a whimper?

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Director's Commentary

The PCs fled the first time they encounter Mokmurian here, which was unfortunate.  It might have been an exciting, interesting battle compared to what happens in the real showdown next session.

When plausible, I try to make sure situations don't stay static when PCs press forward and then retreat.  I figure it gives the enemies a chance to prepare as well.

Salma's archetype, spell-sage, really is overpowered because (out of combat) it gives free access to so many spells that it renders the cleric redundant.

Next Recap

Pathfinder Flip-Mat: "Warehouse" [RPG]

I've used the Warehouse flip-mat a couple of times now in Pathfinder Society adventures, and I'm very happy with it.  It's generic enough to be used in multiple adventures while having enough detail to be realistic.  One side has a warehouse with a holding yard out front and a maze-like interior formed from stakes of crates.  It'd be a good HQ for a thieves' guild, for example.  The other side shows a warehouse along the docks.  I like the loft in the middle building here, as forcing the PCs to charge higher ground with only one access point can be a fun challenge at low levels (especially when javelins are raining down on them as they try to deploy grappling hooks!).  Like all Paizo flip-mats, this one allows for wet and dry erase.  It's an excellent, functional flip-mat that GMs will get plenty of use out of.

Pathfinder Player Companion: "Advanced Class Origins" [RPG]

Advanced Class Origins is a 32-page, full-color book devoted to the “hybrid classes” introduced in the Advanced Class Guide.  A major goal is to integrate these setting-neutral classes into Golarion while simultaneously providing some flavourful additional options.  You can judge the cover art yourself (pretty cool in my opinion!).  The inside front-cover is a map of the Inner Sea with little icons depicting where hybrid class characters might originate from.  Not a great use of space, as the textual descriptions inside the book are clearer and more specific.  The inside back-cover lists all of the archetypes available to hybrid class characters from either the Advanced Class Guide or this book, and which regions (if any) those archetypes are tied to.  Again, not especially useful since all it does it provide pointers to the relevant section in the ACG and in this book—it’s not like it’s compiling information scattered across a dozen books.

The opening pages of the book are a “For Your Character” section (summarising what’s in the book for each of the hybrid classes, an index (which is kinda silly in a 32-page book), a two-page section that offers a one-paragraph summary of where in Golarion the different hybrid classes might be found (unnecessary since the material will be repeated later in the book).  We’re not off to a good start, four pages in.  There is a useful sidebar summarising which prestige classes from the Core Rulebook or Paths of Prestige that hybrid class PCs might qualify for.

The body of the book essentially consists of a two-page entry for each of the hybrid classes, followed by two-page sections on new feats, magic items, and spells. I’ll move relatively quick through the class entries, embracing the joy of bullet points.  I should preface this section of the review by saying that I haven’t played most of these classes except Shaman (though I’ve GM’d for Bloodragers, Swashbucklers, and Warpriests), so my ability to evaluate new mechanics are necessarily limited.  The class entries generally introduce one or two new archetypes and a couple of (generally super-weak) traits.  The best part of each entry is the discussion of how the classes can be tied into the setting.

·         Arcanist: The discussion of arcanists in Golarion is really interesting, showing how the vast majority of people don’t know (or care) about the different between arcanists and wizards.  The idea that two of the Arclords of Nex (millenni ago) were arcanists is intriguing.  There’s a new archetype introduced here, Twilight Sage, that’s designed for necromantically-oriented arcanists from Geb.  One of the archetype’s abilities, Twilight Transfer, is very cool—you bring a creature back to life by draining the life of another!  The section contains some new arcane exploits, as well as two regional traits (“pathetic”, according to my notes).

·         Bloodrager: There’s an interesting bit about how bloodragers from the Hold of Belkzen most commonly have the undead bloodline, with links to a figure from Curse of the Crimson Throne.  The section has two new bloodlines, Black Blood  (which looks powerful) and Kyton (which has a very flavourful but mechanically weak ability called Unnerving Gaze). 

·         Brawler: The entry for brawlers links them heavily to gladiatorial combat in the Inner Sea.  There are two new archetypes, Ulfen Beast-Wrestler and Winding Path Renegade, but the latter is incoherent in its flavour.  Of the two new combat traits, Absalom Bouncer is almost laughably weak (a +1 damage bonus with unarmed strikes to do non-lethal damage), while another called Failed Aspirant is okay (1/day you can do a combat maneuver without provoking an attack of opportunity).

·         Hunter:  I still don’t really get the concept of a Hunter as distinct from a Ranger, but I guess that’s a problem with the class and not this book.  However, the book doesn’t help, as the archetypes it introduces are bland and forgettable. 

·         Investigator: There’s a new archetype called Lepidstadt Inspector that has a good concept, even if it’s mechanically inferior to the basic class.  There’s also a few new investigator talents.

·         Shaman: Introduces the Mammoth spirit, which I have to give some love since my “caveman shaman” Gurkagh is from the Realm of the Mammoth Lords and sometimes invokes it.

·         Skald: The Bekyar Demon Dancer archetype is pretty rad (if you don’t mind some demon-worshippers in the party), and there’s also a Belkzen War Drummer (they use the drum-beating clubs to break heads!) and a Dragon Skald.

·         Slayer: The entry does a good job giving some examples of how Slayers fit into the setting.  I like the niche the Pureblade archetype fills—they focus on slaying aberrations that arise due to the strange alien technology in Numeria.  There’s also a Sczarni Executioner archetype and two new Slayer talents.

·         Swashbuckler: I’m not a fan of the class, but the Shackles Corsair archetype has some fun abilities while the Whirling Dervish archetype fits in well with Sarenrae’s focus on redemption.  I like the cinematic possibilities of the Lion’s Audacity trait—your PC yells “Charge!” and all of your allies get a bonus to attack and damage if they charge with you.

·         Warpriest: Two archetypes. Liberty’s Blade for PCs from Andoran and Mantis Zealot for worshippers of Achaekek, that, according to my incredibly descriptive notes, “aren’t very good.”  I hope no one reviews this review!  Also, a couple of new blessings for the Scalykind and Void domains.

The two pages of feats are an odd mix of the super minor (a feat that lets bards get a +1 to attack and damage for 1 round if they identify a creature) to the super good (a feat that allows Dex to damage for rapier-wielders).  I’m guessing that if we could somehow run the numbers, Know Weakness isn’t as popular among players as Fencing Grace.  Some better editorial control would have been good here.

The two pages of new magic items have a good mix of flavourful items.  I like how well everything is tied into Golarion setting lore, even if in practice most players don’t pay attention to those bits.

There are nine new spells in the magic entry, though, surprisingly, only a couple of specifically-restricted to the hybrid spellcasting classes.  One spell, Arcane Disruption, could be a game-changer during certain encounters if it lands—if the target fails a save, they have to make Concentration checks every time they cast a spell.

That’s the book!  On the whole, I think the “fluff” or “flavour” is really good. I have a better sense of how the hybrid classes “fit” into Golarion after reading it, and I imagine a lot of players could craft better backstories if they use it.  The mechanical options aren’t as balanced as they should be, though admittedly it’s a hard goal to achieve in a game as large and sprawling as Pathfinder.  In the end, if you like the hybrid classes and play them regularly, this is a good purchase.

Starfinder Society Scenario # 1-31: "Treading History's Folly" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I ran Treading History's Folly at high sub-tier using the four-player adjustment.  The scenario is a key part of the Scoured Stars meta-plot that drives Season 1, and thus shouldn't be missed by players who are interested in that storyline.  As a standalone scenario, however, it's only average.

SPOILERS

There's a lot I like about Treading History's Folly, but one of the things that really irks me is the briefing.  The PCs are recruited for a secret meeting with Jadnura (the newly-returned-former-and-maybe-current First Seeker) and explicitly told not to mention anything to Luwazi Elsebo or any of the faction heads.  I don't know why the scenario would expect the PCs to blithely go along with this, as many will have a lot more loyalty and established bonds with Luwazi than with newcomer Jadnura.  In addition, the reasons given for the secrecy are vague and unconvincing.  The frustrating thing is that there's nothing the PCs can do but give in, as there's no discussion about what happens if they refuse to join the untrustworthy kasatha who led the entire Society into utter disaster just a couple of years ago.

Anyway, Jadnura tells the PCs that he wants them to revisit the place where he first found the artefact called the Tear that allowed entrance to the Scoured Stars system.  He says that by retracing his steps, the PCs may discover what mistakes he made that led to the catastrophe.  It's a mission that amounts to little more than "go, poke around, and see if there's anything interesting there; it'll only take a couple of months' of your time".  I actually kind of like Jadnura, but this scenario makes me wonder why he was ever the First Seeker to begin with!

The PCs need to take a starship to Kukanou-2b, a moon orbiting a gas giant deep in the Vast.  What the PCs don't know yet is that this moon is the adopted homeworld of the mentrasi, a race that was one of the eight (along with the izalguuns and others) that fled the Scoured Stars (from Bastiar-2, for those of you who played the first Special).  Unfortunately, Kukanou-2b was seismically unstable, and the entire race was wiped out from devastating earthquakes and volcanic explosions.  That's a lesson, folks: do a deep geological scan of a planet before resettling there!  When the PCs arrive on Kukanou-2b, they have no difficulty finding the underground tunnel and campsite that Jadnura used during his visit here years ago.  Intriguingly, they also find a set of footprints that are very recent--who else is here?

The first encounter is an underground battle against "haunted elementals," which are essentially earth elementals possessed by the souls of mentrasi who are bound to the area.  The backstory to this scenario is really interesting.  Long ago, as the seismic disruptions continued to grow in strength, one of the underground mentrasi cities, a place called Xaharee, sought to use magic to bind themselves to the moon in order to live out the apocalypse.  Unfortunately, as these things tend to do, the magic didn't bind their bodies--only their souls.  Now Xaharee is a cursed city, haunted by the spirits of the mentrasi who lived there.  It's these mentrasi spirits that animate the earth elementals.  The battle isn't a difficult one, but it is interesting to see monsters with both undead and elemental immunities.

One of my favourite little things about Treading History's Folly is that as the PCs continue through the tunnels, any PC with the "Abysshead Download" boon from # 1-06: A Night in Nightarch has all of their electrical devices suddenly trigger to play loud death rock music.  The sounds then cause a cave-in!  I've been waiting for that fun boon to come into play for a long, long time, and I thought it was used well here.  I wish more Chronicle sheets had those little "landmines just waiting to be stepped on" boons.

As the PCs approach a secret door leading to the underground city of Xaharee, one of the remaining spirits tries to bond with a PC to see why they've come.  This isn't a hostile act, and if the PCs go along with it, they'll find a very useful source of information (and language translation).  The city itself is visually . . . underwhelming.  With the caveat that only the "downtown district" is still intact, the flip-mat used to represent it (Village Square) just doesn't have the right feel at all.  Similarly, the description of buildings given in the text does not match their visual representations on the flip-mat.  We can certainly expect players to use their imaginations, but in this instance I think a custom map would have been preferable.

Exploration of the ruins of Xaharee reveal a library and a museum.  Both, but especially the latter, are essentially exposition-dumps.  The lore itself is really interesting and integral to the Season 1 meta-plot, detailing how the races of the Scoured Stars system worshipped a god called Kadrical, but how the so-called "Sleeping God" sought to protect his worshippers by erecting the golden shield around the entire system.  We also learn, for the first time, about a jinsul herald (for lack of a better term) of Kadrical named Dhurus, who turned to evil and tyranny.  When the golden shield briefly lowered, the mentrasi and the other races fled the system to escape Dhurus.  There's a lot here that is critical to understanding later elements of the Season 1 plotline (including the capstone special).  Unfortunately, the extensive lore is dropped on PCs through exhibit after exhibit in the museum, and I think it's just too much at one time.  I'm all for backstory and setting lore, but as the GM I felt it really bogged down the adventure.

Two things liven up the exploration of Xaharee.  First, there are the usual security robots that get activated.  I've decided that security robots and vesk mercenaries are for Starfinder what ghouls and street gang toughs are for Pathfinder.  Second, and much more interesting, is that the PCs receive a distress call--from Iteration-177!  They find the incapacitated android nearby, though it won't explain what happened to it or, beyond generalities, why it has come to the moon.  Iteration-177 explains why the mentrasi spirits are trapped in Xaharee, and asks the PCs to set them free by destroying the magical obelisk in the town square.

The big finale for the scenario requires the PC to conduct a ritual to disrupt and destroy the obelisk while fighting off the mentrasi spirits and haunted earth elementals that it summons to defend itself.  I remember it was a solid encounter, as the PCs had to constantly choose whether to go after the obelisk or the creatures it was summoning.  Assuming the PCs succeed, the trapped mentrasi spirits go off to their just rewards, Iteration-177 mysteriously disappears, and the PCs can report back to Jadnura the discovery that there's a deity sleeping within the Scoured Stars (and that the jinsul are being led by one of its heralds!).

I think I would sum up Treading History's Folly by saying it's one of the scenarios that's really important to play to get a full picture of the Scoured Stars storyline.  That doesn't mean it's fantastic on its own, but it reveals a lot of backstory that gets developed in subsequent scenarios.  The problems with the briefing, the choice of flip-mat, and the heavy lore-dumps are things that mar its overall quality, however.

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 76 [RPG]

[7 Calistril 4708 continued]

Having penetrated to the very depths of Jorgenfist and into a structure clearly dating to the days of ancient Thassilon, the adventurers cautiously explore their surroundings.  It’s clear that even the powerful preservative magicks imbued in the stonework have started to fail, as many passageways are choked with rubble.  Oddly enough, the places where the walls meet the floors and ceilings have been smoothed away and rounded, leaving not a single corner or hard angle visible.

With Yuzo taking the lead, the adventurers move into a room almost nauseating in its flickering dimensions!  To Yuzo and Jinkatsyu, it looks like the room is starting to grow, but the others realize the truth: they’re being shrunk!  From out of the shadows an obese hill giant whose body is covered with scars in the shape of Thassilonian runes charges forth with unnatural speed, his overdeveloped muscles bulging against his seemingly too-tight skin!  Once again, Kang and Salma’s fireworks save the day.  When the smoke clears, Salma remembers reading in a crumbling manuscript about creatures called Runeslaves—giants fleshwarped by Thassilonian magic into powerful but short-lived servants.

Natives of the Elemental Plane of Fire, 

forgefiends are attracted to metal and gemstones.

Jinkatsyu and Kang start looking at a pair of stone doors to the southern part of the chamber when another threat suddenly manifests.  A massive iron-skinned fiend whose short arms and razor sharp claws seem friendly compared to the massive, fire-filled maw that splits its belly in two!  It seems to glide right out of the stonework, but Kang’s special concussive bomb knocks it on its back, and Jinkatsyu and Yuzo are able to destroy it before it can even get to its feet.

Thick, acrid smoke pours forth from an immense, twelve-foot tall cauldron in the next chamber that causes Jinkatsyu and Yuzo to double over, retching.  A hulking brute with a skull-like face and glowing blue runes carved into its forehead stands sentry.  Salma identifies it as a stone golem, and knows that her magic can’t affect it.  But nothing stops Kang’s bombs, and although Yuzo is battered by the golem’s attacks, it soon crumbles under the force of repeated concussive blasts.  Using Yuzo’s magic decanter, Kang douses the flames under the cauldron and puts an end to the smoke.  Yuzo is in favour of a strategic retreat, but Kang’s confidence persuades the group that they should continue forth.

Those slain in battle by the Headless Lord 

rise minutes later as zombies!

Following the worked stone passageway to the east, the adventurers come across a chamber containing a dozen preserved bodies of ogres, trolls, and hill giants, all wearing suits of armor and staged as if rallying for war.  As the group starts to pass between them, five of the corpses suddenly animate and attack, led by a headless zombie lord!  Yuzo and Jinkatsyu are affected by its uncanny presence and flee in mortal terror, but Salma manifests arcing chains of fire to devastate the lesser undead, while Ava’s column of holy fire and Kang’s bombs finish off the leader just as it’s trying to summon more zombies to battle.  Salma remembers hearing a tale of such headless zombies: that their maker can carry the head around with them and “see” what the body sees!  Have the adventurers been spied on by Mokmurian during the battle?

After tracking down Yuzo and Jinkatsyu (who fled into darkness), the adventurers continue on.  They’ve taken the best Mokmurian has to offer and have barely broken a sweat!

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

Director's Commentary

This was one of those sessions that was just combat after combat, as all the rooms leading up to Mokmurian contained a different threat.  The AP did a good job detailing each of them and making them interesting and unique, but the PCs just completely wrecked their foes.  Often I'd spend 45 minutes in prep getting the encounter for one of these villains ready, only to have them go down like chumps after a round or two at the table!  Some of them, like the forgefiend, I would like to see or use in other campaigns.

Next Recap

Pathfinder Comics: "Worldscape, Volume 1"

NO SPOILERS

This hardcover collection includes Pathfinder: Worldscape Issues 1-6 (a complete story) along with almost 50 pages of back matter such as variant covers, character profiles, some new game mechanics (like archetypes), and a fold-out poster map.  The comics are real winners--the story is great, the characterisation of the Iconics is spot-on, the new guest characters are interesting, and the artwork is of a higher standard than many of the earlier Pathfinder comics.  The back matter, however, is far more of a mixed bag, with the encounters particularly lacking.  Still, on the whole, I'd definitely recommend this one.

SPOILERS

Alright, let's get into it!

* Issue 1: Our core four Iconics (Merisiel, Kyra, Seoni, and Valeros--sorry Ezren!) have finally tracked down the veiled master Thulgroon (from past volumes), but he somehow shifts the entire party somewhere . . . else!  The four are separated, and this issue tells what happened to Valeros.  In a delightfully/awfully graphic combat, he deals with some brigands before an awesome four-armed ape bursts out of the trees and starts a bone-breaking bearhug.  Who, of all creatures in the world, comes to Valeros' rescue?  Freaking Xanesha (from RotRL) is who!  You know I love me some continuity.  But Xanesha hasn't saved Valeros out of the kindness of her serpentine heart.  Instead, she takes him as a slave-gladiator to fight for the entertainment of the evil Empress Camilla in a city called Shareen.  And who is Valeros' first opponent?  Freaking Red Sonja is who!  Valeros is holding his own until he notices that Merisiel seems to be part of Empress Camilla's entourage--and that's when Red Sonja stabs him through the chest!  It's a corker of a first issue, that's for sure.

* Issue 2: This one starts with Seoni awakening in the jungle.  There's an exciting solo battle against a jungle lion, and then a great introduction to Fantomah, a jungle goddess that surely has the death domain.  Fantomah explains that Seoni is in a place called the Worldscape, an artificially-created demi-plane that draws in legendary heroes and villains from three planets: Golarion, Earth, and Barsoom.  Whoever possesses both a certain sceptre and crown will be able to rule the Worldscape, and Fantomah and her allies (Thun'da, a classic jungle hero, and Tars Tarkas, a Green Martian) want Seoni's help in recovering them.  One snag is that Ruthazek, the Gorilla King of the Mwangi Expanse, is also in the Worldscape--and he's on the evil side!  Again, a very strong issue.

* Issue 3: Kyra's the star of this issue, and it's a great presentation of her point of view.  Kyra finds herself in the city of Shareen, and after being betrayed by someone she was trying to help (Mordred!), she finds a real ally in John Carter, Warlord of Mars.  His introduction is awesome and hilarious.  It turns out that John Carter is a co-leader (along with Red Sonja) of the resistance against Empress Camilla, and the issue ties in nicely to Valeros' storyline from issue # 1.  The Iconics are starting to come together, and the plot will be moving quickly soon.  I'm glad we got a chance to see these characters on their own, however.  It's a good testament to the groundwork of previous volumes that each of these Iconics has a real personality and distinctive voice.

* Issue 4: Merisiel is the last Iconic who needs to be featured, and this issue reveals that this isn't the character's first trip to the Worldscape!  When Merisiel led a band of thieves (and long before she met the other Iconics), she was transported there, had a love affair with a cool sky pirate named Phondari (another pulp character, I assume), and ended up working for Queen Camilla and stealing for her the sceptre before returning to Golarion. It's a nice twist and provides some good insight into Merisiel's character.  At the end of the issue, the Merisiel from the "present" appears back in the Worldscape and she's asked by Queen Camilla to steal the crown from "the king".  It's a nice surprise who that turns out to be. Completely unrelated, there's a fun little line about legendary Pathfinder Durvin Gest having been in the Worldscape as well at one time.

* Issue 5: Valeros, Seoni, and Kyra join the resistance, and the revolution starts.  There's a ton of action in this issue, but still room for some nice character development.  Merisiel however, seems allied with Queen Camilla.  Has she abandoned recent loyalties for older ones?

* Issue 6: "The king" is Tarzan!  The heroes rush to protect his jungle camp as Ruthazek sends armies of gorillas after the crown.  The good guys win, of course, (with Merisiel's help) and there's another cool appearance by Fantomah and a nice send-off for Tarzan.  The Iconics are returned to Golarion seconds after they left, with no memory of what happened and with Thulgroon having escaped again.  But Fantomah promises Merisiel that she'll remember and return to the Worldscape when the time is right.

It's a really satisfying, well-told story.  The artwork, as mentioned, is excellent.  I don't have a lot of natural affection for the pulp characters featured here, but their inclusion in the stories worked out well.  It's not always easy to mash-up genres and characters, but here it all flowed nicely.

Now, on to the back matter.  Here's what's included:

* Variant Covers (20 pages): Every issue was originally released with a few different variant covers, and they're all reproduced here.  There are fewer spoof covers in this volume compared to some previous ones, as most of the artwork focuses on the pulp characters.  It's cool to see Tom Mandrake's interpretation of some of the Pathfinder Iconics.

* Encounters (6 half pages): Although previous volumes gave one or two pages each to encounters, here each encounter is presented in just half a page with a grid-map that's too small to use in actual gameplay (minis won't fit) and a paragraph that gives some suggested set-up and potential enemies.  I'm not as much of a fan of this new style of presenting encounters, as they don't really save GMs any time.  These are really more like very general encounter ideas than a ready-to-go package.

* Character Profiles (circa 12 pages):  The following pulp characters get full stat blocks and backgrounds: Red Sonja, John Carter, Thun'da, Tars Tarkas, and Tarzan.  I personally thought Thun'da's background was interesting (a classic lost valley hero), while Tars Tarkas' background was too long and Tarzan's was pretty bland.  Milage will vary here, but I don't imagine too many campaigns actually integrating these characters.

* Crunch (circle 10 pages): Several new mechanics options are presented here, some of which could be quite handy if your have a flexible GM: 1) A new ranger archetype called the Sword-Devil (a very powerful spell-less ranger); 2) A new race, Green Martians (overpowered for most games); 3) A new fighter archetype called the Warlord (a very niche archetype for unarmoured warriors skilled with weapons from the planet Barsoom); 4) Another new ranger archetype, the Jungle Lord (no armor, *lots* of animal companions, looks good)

* A fold-out removable poster:  One side is a scene of the pulp and Pathfinder heroes drawn by Reilly Brown; it's okay, but nothing remarkable.  The other side is an encounter grid titled the "Ruins of Kho."  It looks really cool (I wonder if it's from one of the real flip-mats?), but again the gridlines create squares too small to use for actual minis.  Unless you want every combatant represented by something no larger than a thumb-tack, this just doesn't work.  Frustrating.

In sum, we have six strong issues but some problems with the back matter.  Pathfinder: Worldscape isn't a perfect collection, but I do think it's worth buying and reading.