January Paizo Order

I have Christmas/birthday gift certificates to spend. I am going to place an order with Paizo sometime in January. I am going to get some Star Wars accessories, some card sleeves, a few PFS scenarios (old and new) and some more area effect templates for sure. I may get some more stuff but I am still shopping.

If you would like to add anything to the order, please let me know. As in years past, I will be able to get my 15% subscription discount as well as an additional 10% holiday discount. This is for anything Paizo (physical or electronic) and anything physical from other companies. Besides your order, I will also need the money for whatever you may want.

PACG Playtest in January

I have received the playtest cards for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Skull & Shackles. I have sorted the cards and have made the corrections that have been provided so far. We should be all set to play on 1/7/14.

This time around they sent all playtest leads all of the cards in the set. We have been assigned chapters 5 & 6 to play. That is 10 scenarios we agreed to play. We will need to build our decks and will likely only get one or two scenarios completed on the first night. I expect that we will only have 4 weeks to get our playtesting completed.

Sarah and I have been playing a 2-player test with the base set and will likely do chapters 1 & 2 as well.

Next few weeks

It looks like the Skull & Shackles Pathfinder Adventure Card Game play test is still delayed. They are currently targeting the play test to start 12/23/13 and end 2/2/14. Because the December holidays fall on Tuesday this year, that will give us the month of January to complete our 13 scenarios. I think this can be accomplished as we already have experience with the game.

I will keep you posted as I know more.

That leaves the next couple of weeks free. Looking for suggestions as what you want to play.

As always, we can play some PFS. I have a new tier 3-7, three older tier 1-5 and several tier 5-9. I also still have a module which is good for characters leveled 3-5. We also could start The Dragon's Demand. I will be running this in campaign mode (home game rules but PFS credit). That will require everyone to have a 1st level character created.

DD character creation guidelines:

Charters should be 1st level. For ability scores use a 25 point buy. Hit points will be max at first level. Each level after will be average for you hit die plus your constitution bonus. You will have 150 GP to buy your starting gear.

I can also run some Star Wars: Edge of the Empire. I can run the second adventure from the Beginner Game with everyone playing the pregens that they played before or I can run the Free RPG Day adventure with different pregens. I have more material which you can build your own characters for but that may require a session just to get that done.

I am not ready for HEX but I could run All For One but I suspect that we have the same character creation problem.

Looking for some input.

I am shooting to have Christmas cookies for the gang on 12/17/13. I know that some of our semi-regulars have not been by in a while. Even if you cannot play, you might want to stop by to get a treat.

PFS Tomorrow

Tomorrow I will be running a new Season 5 Tier 1-2 PFS scenario, The Confirmation. This adventure can be played unlimited times with a 1st level character and once with a 2nd level character. It is constructed to change each time it is run so your experience may be different each time it is played.

It does have two distict sub-tiers; 1 and 2. If the party has an APL of 1.5 exactly you can pick which sub-tier to play otherwise you play up or down as dictated by rounding the APL to the nearest whole number.

This means you will need a 1st or 2nd level character to play tomorrow. There is a slight benefit for playing a 1st level character with 0 XP. It is by no means a game changer but it is kind of cool.

Hero Lab Update

...has the playtest classes in it.

PACG Playtest Delay and Announcement

The new Pathfinder Adventure Card Game playtest has been delayed a couple of weeks. It lookslike things will not get started until early December and run through mid-January.We are signed up to do 2 chapters. I do not have any details beyond that.

It was announced today that the new set will be based upon Skull and Shackles. Here is a link to an announcement - http://nerdtrek.com/pathfinder-adventure-card-game-skull-shackles/. The official Paizo announcement has not hit the site just yet.

Tomorrow 11/12

I will be phoning it in.  Via Skype.  From the Intarwebs.

class guides

This is the link to the class guides on Paizo's site..

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2m612?Guide-to-the-Class-Guides

There is some good info here. Most of them are color coded, so you can see the better feats, skills, etc that are choices when designing a character.

Tuesday Fun Fund is Almost Empty

Our Tuesday gaming fund is almost empty. It is not an emergency yet as we do not have any purchases planned but we are currently at less than a dollar.

Plan for the Rest of the Year

Bruce is ready to run the next level of Thornkeep but we as players are not quite ready. The adventure is for tier 5-7 and the last one is for tier 6-8. It looks like David needs two more XP to get Penny to 5^th level. Once that is achieved, everyone will have at least one qualifying character and everyone can continue with the same characters that have played through the other levels.

Here is how I propose that we get there. We will finish up Murder’s Mark at the start of next week. I do not expect that it will take more than 30 minutes including paperwork. I then have two tier 3-7 adventures; season 3’s The Midnight Mauler and a brand new season 5 scenario You Have What You Hold. I expect that will take us the next 2-3 weeks to complete. After that Bruce can run Thornkeep (and folks should have qualifying characters for the last installment).

After that I will plan to run The Dragon’s Demand. We will play this in campaign mode. It is designed to take characters from 1^st to 6^th or 7^th level. Folks will need to construct a non-PFS character.

Here are the character creation requirements:

Charters should be 1st level. For ability scores use a 25 point buy. Hit points will be max at first level. Each level after will be average for you hit die plus your constitution bonus. You will have 150 GP to buy your starting gear.

That should give folks around a month to get their characters made.

I will look to run the Shades of Ice scenarios (tier 1-5) and Fangwood Keep (Tier 3-5) sometime next year. If character levels are still a problem we may need to run some more low level stuff before playing Fangwood Keep.

Slight Change in Plans for Tonight

I changed my mind. I will start running Murder's Mark, a Tier 1-2 module for PFS credit tonight instead of Fangwood Keep. That means that you need either a 1st or a 2nd level PFS character to play.

Reconsidering Next Week/Future Planning

It seems that we have a couple of different goals in mind. David needs at least 2 more XP for his 4th level character to be able to play the next level of Thornkeep which is tier 5-7. Bruce, Dave and Alan all need some XP for 1st level characters.

If I run Fangwood Keep, looking at the character levels for the players, it appears that running a 3-5 module may be problematic for some. Bruce only has Jack at 5th level and Dave has no characters.Kelly, Kara and David all have 2 or more characters at 4th or 5th and Alan had his cleric at 5th.

Do you guys want me to plan something else? We are short on low level material but we do have some. I have 3 tier 1-5 scenarios that are a series which none of us have played or run. I also have a level 1-2 module which none of us have played. We have one tier 3-7 scenario which none of us have played.

There are 3 tier 1-5 scenarios and 2 tier 3-7 scenarios which Bruce and I have played. If he were willing to run them, I could use some/all of my GM replay credit to play some of these again.

Do you want me to proceed with Fangwood Keep with Dave and possibly Bruce playing a pregen? Would you preper that I run the module Murder's Mark (Tier 1-2), then Shades of Ice scenarios parts 1-3 (Tier 1-5) and lastly Fangwood Keep (Tier 3-5)? This path would allow new and current 1st level characters to achieve 4th level. This would take about 2 months to achieve.

Credit from The Dragon's Demand will take a 2nd level character to 6th and a 3rd level character to 7th level.

I want to set the group up to have fun and success. Selfishly, I also want to enable situations where other folks can run. We have a bunch of Tier 5-9 scenarios available. Dave has two prepared to run and I have at least a dozen more. Tier 7-11 we have at least 2 dozen we can play.

Thoughts?

Next Week's Game

Next week I will start running Fangwood Keep. It is a Pathfinder module. When it is run for PFS credit it is tier 3-5 and grants 3 XP and 4 PP upon completion. I expect that it will take 2 to 3 weeks to complete.

This should provide the opportunity those who want or need to raise their character a level before Bruce runs the next level of Thornkeep (which is 5-7). If anyone wishes to play a 4th level pregen the can assign the credit to another character once it hits 3rd level for full GP or a 1st level character with the GP reduced to 1398.

 Need information from last week:

Please provide your character name, number and faction from last week's adventure. I could guess for most of you but it seems better coming from the source. I need this to complete your chronicle sheets and report the scenario.

Ascendance Day Boon

There is a new PFS Holiday Boon: Ascendance Day.

Check it out at http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5lfdu?Ascendance-Day

I will have chronicle sheets tonight.

Future Planning

Here is what I have in mind for our gaming future.

Next week

Next Tuesday, 10/8/13, we will play a tier 1-5 PFS scenario, The Stolen Heir #5-04. This would be a good opportunity to play a new character to expand your stable. Some of you have an XP credit from playing We Be Goblins Too! which have been assigned to an as of yet undefined character. You must have a character ready to play by the time we start next week. (That means do the work before you arrive.)

New HEX Characters

Because it will be very difficult bordering on impossible to accomplish, I will not even try to keep the XP the same for your ne HEX characters as that of your old characters. I think I am comfortable allowing you to have 30 XP beyond that from character creation for your new guy. Once everyone has a new character completed, and I have had a chance to review them, I will schedule some more HEX.

The Dragon’s Demand

I plan to run a new Pathfinder module, the Dragon’s Demand. This will be a several month adventure which will take your characters from 1^st to as high as 7^th level. I am willing to start running this as soon as 10/15/13 but folks will need to have their characters made. We can play this continuously from beginning to end or we can play it in parts with other stuff in between. We will see how things go. There are three chapters in the module. Chapter one will take you from 1^st to 3^rd. Chapter two will take you from 3^rd to well into 4^th. Chapter 3 can take you from 4^th to 7^th.

Character Creation: Charters should be 1^st level. For ability scores use a 25 point buy. Hit points will be max at first level. Each level after will be average for you hit die plus your constitution bonus. You will have 150 GP to buy your starting gear.

The Hook: A man named Silas Gribb offers you a job as caravan guards. You will start the game in north central Taldor within the Verduran Forest traveling south from the city of Wispil, a gnome town which provides most of the kingdom’s woodcraft and timber.

PFS Credit: We will be playing this adventure in Campaign Mode. This means that you will play a non-PFS character but you can assign PFS credit for playing to a PFS character or characters of your choice. (You could make your character to be an alternate version of your PFS character if you like.)

At the completion of the adventure, there are three chronicles that can be earned and applied to PFS characters. The first is for characters leveled 1-3. The second is for characters leveled 3-5. The third is for characters leveled 5-7. These can be applied to the same character or multiple characters. If applied to the same character you will earn a bonus chronicle which can be applied to a 2^nd, 4^th or 6^th level character. Each chronicle is worth 3 XP, 4 PP and has gold, boons and items available upon them.

In my estimation, the optimum way to apply these chronicles is to a 2^nd level character. You would apply the 1^st chronicle (taking you to 3^rd), then the 2^nd chronicle (taking you to 4^th), then the bonus chronicle (taking you to 5^th) and lastly applying the 3^rd chronicle (taking you to 6^th).

Campaign Mode

For Dragon's Demand, Skull & Shackles, et al...

How much difference would it make to your monster-pumping if we dropped the bonus HP at 1st and:

30 points (epic fantasy +5) OR
your old school method of highest of 4d6 reroll 1s? OR
25 points ?

HEX - Becky's Diary Updated

I have added a new entry into Becky's Diary.

Check it out at https://sites.google.com/site/zombiehomepage/Home/zombie-s-hex-page/rebecca-s-diary.

 

Next Tuesday

Due to the events at the end of our last HEX game, everyone will need to create an additional character.

Dave, David, Kara and Alan need to make a new character from the Hollow Earth. These can be from the surface or a Hollow Earth native. If anyone is interested in making one of the NPCs into their character, let me know. Currently there are Professor Rookwood, an academic, Marion Rookwood, based on the Scion of Atlantis sample character, and Uncle Boris, a mad scientist.

Bruce, Kelly and Corey need to create a new surface world character.

Please build you new characters as starting characters. I am still working on how much XP to grant you after that.

Bruce has agreed to run some PFS starting next week. He will run the next level of Thornkeep, The Enigma Vault, which is a tier 3-5 adventure. I expect that this will take the next couple of weeks to play. This should give me time to get a plan together for HEX and you all to make your second character.

HEX Page Updated

My HEX page has been updated. It can be found at: https://sites.google.com/site/zombiehomepage/Home/zombie-s-hex-page

• I updated the table of contents.

• I added the experience for the adventure we just completed.

• In light of the events at the end of the game, I have broken the characters into two groups. I have also started new sections to track experience moving forward.
• Margo’s photos page also has an update. A new drawing has been posted. It was scanned and added as attachments at the bottom of the page. Her page is linked off the main HEX page or directly here: https://sites.google.com/site/zombiehomepage/Home/zombie-s-hex-page/margo-s-photos

HEX - Becky's Diary Updated

I have added a new entry into Becky's Diary and I added a table of contents to the page for ease of navigation.

Check it out at https://sites.google.com/site/zombiehomepage/Home/zombie-s-hex-page/rebecca-s-diary.

HEX Page Updated

My HEX page has been updated. It can be found at: https://sites.google.com/site/zombiehomepage/Home/zombie-s-hex-page

 

• I added a table of contents for easier navigation.
• I have updated the character table, adding information for Alan's character. 
• I added the picture of Bruce's mole machine model.
• Margo’s photos page also has an update. A new drawing has been posted. It was scanned and added as attachments at the bottom of the page. The slideshow is now also working. Her page is linked off the main HEX page or directly here: https://sites.google.com/site/zombiehomepage/Home/zombie-s-hex-page/margo-s-photos

Tomorrow's Game

I am still planning on running HEX tomorrow. So far I have only gotten a copies of Corey's, Kelly's and Bruce's characters.

I have heard from Kelly that he will not be able to make it. Is anyone else planning to miss the session? If I need to prepare something else, I would like to know sooner rather than later.

Will Alan have his character ready? I have not heard anything to indicate either way.

More HEX Next Week

We will be continuing the HEX game next week.

I would like to get copies of your characters so that I have them for reference when game planning. I do not need your copy but I would like a copy. I would also like to do some error checking and I also may be able to provide some suggestions for improvements and/or advancements.

My HEX page has been updated. It can be found at: https://sites.google.com/site/zombiehomepage/Home/zombie-s-hex-page

I have updated the character table, adding new players/characters and moving some missing in action players/characters. I have validated and updated the XP. With the 7 XP awarded last week, the characters should now be at a total of 72 XP.

Margo’s photos page also has an update. Two new drawing have been posted. They were scanned an added as attachments at the bottom of the page. I am also trying to add a photo viewing gadget (That is still a work in progress) but the two new “photos”can be seen there too. Her page is linked off the main HEX page or directly here: https://sites.google.com/site/zombiehomepage/Home/zombie-s-hex-page/margo-s-photos

Becky’s journal has an update. I updated the text and at the very bottom of the page is a word document. Her page is linked off the main HEX page or directly here: https://sites.google.com/site/zombiehomepage/Home/zombie-s-hex-page/rebecca-s-diary

Return to HEX Next Week

We will be returning to our HEX campaign next week. We will be picking up where we left off more or less. Please be sure to have your characters.

Kelly - Please contact me if you have questions about making your character. You will have XP to add but if you can have your base character ready by the game, we should be in good shape.

David - Please let me know of any artifacts/resources that your character currently has on hand.

Bruce - I looked up the medalion and rings. They appear to have been tools/plot devices to the adventure where they were found. They have no apparent immediate use but they could play a role in a future situation. For example, the medalion is made of orichalcum.

Because I do not remember style totals, I will give each established character 4 Style points to start the session. Kelly will get what is dictated by character creation. Remember that you can earn more Style each session by doing extra stuff to make the game cool. Some examples are Becky's Diary, Col. Sharpe's Action Reports, Margo's "photos", building a lego diorama related to the game, etc..

If you can send me copies of your characters befor Tuesday, I would appreciate it. I would like to review the them to make sure that I remember what everyone does.

Revelations of Mars Kickstarter Add-ons and Pre-order

Does anyone else want to preorder Revelations of Mars material? I can include more add-ons to my Kickstarter pledge until 9/6/13.

Add-ons include:

+6$ Ubiquity dice (9 dice)
+$15 Sample character prints (paper, 8.5"x11")
+$20 Hollow Earth Expedition traveler's edition (softcover, 6"x9")
+$20 Revelations of Mars Ubiquity dice (nine dice plus dice bag)
+$20 Revelations of Mars GM Screen (hardback plus adventure booklet)
+$25 Revelations of Mars Style chips (50 Style points)
+$40 HEX PDF package (PDFs of all five books)
+$40 additional Revelations of Mars book (hardcover, 8.5"x11")
Paper Maps

• +$10 one map (paper, 11"x17")
• +$18 two maps (paper, 11"x17")*
• +$25 three maps (paper, 11"x17")*

* If you are already getting a paper map as part of your reward package, adding a second map is +$8 and adding two additional maps is +$15.
Canvas Maps

• +$40 one map (canvas, 16"x25")
• +$75 two maps (canvas, 16"x25")*
• +$100 three maps (canvas, 16"x25")*

* If you are already getting a canvas map as part of your reward package, adding a second map is +$35 and adding two additional maps is +$60.

My pledge and add-ons will get me a book, the PDF of the book, 2 sets of Mars dice, the GM screen, style chips and 3 paper maps.

If you wish to preorder on your own, contact jcombos@exilegames.com

My HEX page updated

I have updated the my HEX page. Not much to add but there is some new artwork and I moved things around a bit. Take a look and tell me what you think.

https://sites.google.com/site/zombiehomepage/Home/zombie-s-hex-page

Gaming plan for next week

The current plan is to finish up We Be Goblins Too! for PFS credit. It will likely take an hour or so to complete.

After that there was talk of me running some HEX, specifically picking up where we left off a few years back. I am game but I need to make sure that everyone has a character. I know that Bruce, Dave, David, Corey and Kara had one. The question is, do you know where they are?

Some other folks will need to make characters. If that is you, please come prepared with a character concept. As the party is currently in the Hollow Earth, you have the option of playing a Surface World character or a Hollow Earth character. We should be able to get you functional characters in a short amount of time. If you have a character concept before the game, post it here or send me an e-mail. I can help make suggestions on how to fulfill your concept.

If anyone wishes to swap out their original character for a Hollow Earther you can. According to my records, the PCs are currently at 65 XP.

I expect that we may only get an hour or so of HEX next week but I should have enough to continue another week. After that I have some work to do to construct some further adventures. (I have ideas but I am not sure that they are fully baked yet.)

Gaming Tomorrow

Who plans to be there tomorrow night? I know that Bob and Dave will not be there. David is now likely. How about the rest?

Depending on who plans to be there will determine what we play.

New PFS Pregens

There are 14 newly formatted pregens for levels 1, 4 and 7 now available. They represent the 11 core classes and the 3 classes from Ultimate Combat. They can be found here: http://paizo.com/download/pathfinder/PFS-Pregens.zip

I have not compare these to the NPC Codex versions to see if there are any differences. These appear to have replaced the older versions.

PFS Season 5 Faction Status Reports and Adventure Tracking

I copies all 8 of the PFS Season 5 Faction Status Reports into a single document. You can find a copy here: https://sites.google.com/site/zombiehomepage/Home/zombie-s-d-d-pathfinder-page/Faction%20Status%20Reports%20-%20Season%205.docx?revision=1

I also uploaded my current copy of our PFS Adventure Tracking spreadsheet. It can be found here: https://sites.google.com/site/zombiehomepage/Home/zombie-s-d-d-pathfinder-page/Adventure%20tracking%20Grouped.xlsx?revision=5. I will update and repost this document after Gen Con. If there are any corrections that need to be made or if anyone wishes to have their adventures tracked per character which currently are not, please let me know and supply the needed information.

Year of the Risen Rune Chronicle with Faction Boon

There is a new PFS boon announced last night. You may apply one chronicle to each character that qualified. It grants a faction specific boon for your character. It can be found here http://paizo.com/download/pathfinder/PZOPSS04XX-Chronicle.zip

I will try to print several of these so that folks can add them to their characters before the next time we play.

I can tell the following characters qualify from the sessions I have run. You may have played and/or run games which qualify your characters.

Corey - Phi-torr and Sebastian Creo both qualify for Andoran.
David - Al GoBoom and Zaldon qualify for Andoran. Tamara and Penny qualify for Silver Crusade.
Kelly - Bellis qualifies for Grand Lodge. Fabbl qualifies for Qadira. Dominic qualifies for Silver Crusade.
Kara - Grunda Mofunda qualifies for Andoran. Zhen Lao qualifies for Grand Lodge.
Bob - Glorindin qualifies for Grand Lodge.
Alan - Gizer qualifies for Silver Crusade.
Steve - Karorgrarbag qualifies for Andoran and I suspect that so does Max based upon games you played at Gen Con 2012. I am not sure about Thraddius.
Dave - Sven qualifies for the Shadow loge. Li Hua qualifies for Silver Crusade. I suspect that Scawny Jax qualifies for Andoran based upon games you played at Gen Con 2012. Not sure about where your GM credit went.
Bruce - Izzy qualifies for Cheliax. Elis qualifies for Qadira. Jennifred qualifies for Taldor. I believe that Otis qualifies for Andoran. Gooter earned prestige with 3 different factions and it was not clear if he earned 6 with one. Not sure about where your GM credit went.

I qualified with 7 characters; Simon with Lantern Lodge, Maltok with Shadow Lodge, Mikhal with Cheliax, Stragen with Andoran, Sir Kalten with Taldor, Bront with Grand Lodge and Lorik with Silver Crusade.

Star Wars: Age of Rebellion Beta

I know that we have hardly played Star Wars: Edge of the Empire yet but the next installment of the Fantasy Flight RPG experience is coming our way soon. Check it out: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=245&esem=1

I am hoping to score a copy at Gen Con.

Next Tuesday

Bruce plans to run Song of the Sea Witch a tier 3-7 adventure next Tuesday. As long as you have at least 3 players, he will be able to run the adventure.

Dave and Keith will not be there for sure.

Dave you may want to send Bruce copies of Kara's Hero Lab characters Grunda Mofunda and Zhen Lao in case they are needed. Technically she could play Simone Dickenson too as she is 7th level (1 away from 8th) but I expect that they will play subtier 3-4.

Other Significant PFS Changes for Season 5

Besides the ITS, from my reading of the new Guide there are a few other significant changes happening with Season 5.

Faction missions will be going away. Instead you will play to your factions season goal and the mission goal. I am not sure mechanically how this will work. Starting 8/15/13, this applies to all previous season scenarios as well.

GM stars now supply a bonus to rerolls granting a +1 bonus for each star. You must show a copy of your PFS membership card to receive this bonus. You can print a copy of your card online from your My Pathfinder Society page. You still need a shirt or folio to qualify for a reroll.

The way that Average Party Level (APL) is calculated has changed again. Divide the total number of character levels by the number of characters in the party. You should always round to the nearest whole number.

• For scenarios written in Seasons 0 to 3, when the APL is in between subtiers, a party of six or seven characters must play the higher subtier. Parties with four or five characters must play the lower subtier. In the fringe case where there are no players that are high enough to have reached the subtier level (such as a party of six 3rd level characters), the group may decide to play down to the lower subtier.
• Seasons 4 and 5, scenarios are designed for six characters and contain instructions on how to adjust the scenario for four-character parties. When the APL of a table is between two subtiers (like APL 3 for a Tier 1–5 scenario), a party of four characters must play the lower tier without any adjustments for party size. A party of five to seven characters whose APL is between two subtiers must play the higher tier with the four-character adjustment.

This leads to the next change; gold. The Max gold earned per scenario has changed. If your character is playing out of tier, either up or down, they will receive the average gold of the two subtiers. That means a 3rd level character playing in a tier 1-5 will receive the same gold playing either subtier.  This is being done to address some issues with wealth balance and play up/play down bullying.

EXAMPLE 1: If a party of 6 characters (levels 2,3, 5,5,5,5) played a subtier 4-5 the 2nd and 3rd level characters would receive the average gold between tier1-2 and 4-5. The 5th level characters would receive the normal tier 4-5 gold.

EXAMPLE 2: If a party of 6 characters (levels 1,1,2,2,3,4) played a subtier 1-2 the 3rd and 4th level characters would receive the average gold between tier1-2 and 4-5. The 1st and 2nd level characters would receive the normal tier 1-2 gold.

Lastly, all conditions gained during an adventure, except for permanent negative levels, ability drain that does not reduce an ability score to 0, and conditions that provide no mechanical effect, must be resolved before the end of the session; if these are not resolved the character should be reported as ‘dead.’ This is a softening on the position taken a few weeks back regarding a forum discussion about Baleful Polymorph.

New PFS Inventory Track Sheet

There is a new requirement starting with Season 5 of PFS that every character have a completed Inventory Track Sheet (ITS). You must track any item you purchase 25 GP or higher. You may track other items which are of a lower cost. You need to track the chronicle where you made the purchase, the chronicle where you sold the item or the chronicle where you expended the item.

This is being done to assist in GM character auditing and because they are making changes to the chronicle sheets to remove the items sold/conditions gained and the items purchased/conditions cleared boxes. This will be replaced with a notes section. Purchases will be tracked on the ITS and the GM will put a comment like "items purchased -XXXX GP - See ITS #X" in the notes section and initial it. Purchases may be made at the end or the start of a scenario. You must start using an ITS per character starting 8/15/13.

You can have different ITS for gear, magic items, expendables, etc. if you want.

You are not required to retroactively track your purchases for each character but you can. I completed an ITS for each of my 10 characters going back to when they started. It took me a little over an hour to complete the task. No character required more than two sheets so far.

There is an ITS being published at the back of the new Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play. You can use that one or you can make your own. Here are some examples that have been doctored up.

Original - https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8K2RGe8rb1QaVdKS3hja2twNm8/edit
One Column with resource and page - https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8K2RGe8rb1QaUoyNkZjQWxmSkk/edit
One Column with resource, page and fame - https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8K2RGe8rb1QRmVxb2pRMWNxeGc/edit
All Wands and Ammunition - https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8K2RGe8rb1QY0VFYUdNOHNFMm8/edit
All Wands/Ammunition with fame- https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8K2RGe8rb1QaUoyNkZjQWxmSkk/edit

If you are going to Gen Con, you will see this change implemented immediately.

PFS FAQ Updates

Lots of new PFS FAQs. Check them out at http://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/faq

One that I found interesting:

Are races such as tieflings and aasimars considered as half-human in Pathfinder Society Organized Play?

Yes

Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play V.5

The new version of the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play was released today. I goes into effect starting 8/14/13. If you are planning to play PFS at Gen Con, you may want to look it over before then.

There are new rules for faction missions and prestige. There are changes to pregen play.  The will be retraining rules. all sorts of stuff.

Check it out at http://paizo.com/products/btpy84k4.

A copy of the Inventory Tracking Sheet can be found here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8K2RGe8rb1QaVdKS3hja2twNm8/edit?usp=sharing

It is also in the back of the guide.

Revelations of Mars Kickstarter Ends 3:00 PM on 7/31/13

There are only a couple of days left to contribute to the Kickstarter for Revelations of Mars. The campaign ends at 3:00 PM on 7/31/13.

Check it out at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2085348754/revelations-of-mars.

The project is funded. The book and many cool accessories/add ons will be created. There is some good value in the pledge levels.

Currently the stretch goals are going toward additional adventures. The more that get funded, the more likely we will get a chance to playtest them. There will be an adventure in the book itself. There will be one included with the GM screen (and free to many backers). There will be one for funding both RoM and Space 1889. The first stretch goal adventure is funded and the second seems likely. That is five adventures! If there is a funding surge over the next few days, we could be looking at more.

Big Sven

Every mornin at the Lodge, you could see him arrive
He stood six foot six and weighed two fortyfive
Kinda broad at the shoulder and narra at the hip
And everybody knew you didnt give no lip
to Big Sven

Biiiiiig Svennnnnn
Big bad Sven

Nobody seemed to know where Sven called home
just drifted into Absolom and stayed all alone
He told lots of stories - not quiet or shy
and dont you pass him by and not say "hi" to Big Sven

Well the ladies say he's an Ulfen dream
and he fights his fights like a steam machine
a crashin blow from a huge right hand
sent many Aspis agents to the promised land
Big Sven

Biiiiiig Svennnnnn
Big bad Sven

He slogged his way through dungeon grime
where monsters roared and Pathfinders cried
Clerics were praying and rogues moved fast
and everyone thought they'd breathed their last
cept Sven
Through the dust and smoke and a pit to Hell
walked a giant of a man Pathfinders knew well
When all the other agents had dropped with a groan
like a giant oak tree, he stood there alone
Big Sven

Biiiig Svennnnnn
Big bad Sven

When all the monsters were a mess-made-of
The wizard cried out "there's a light up above"
and the Pathfinders scrambled from a would-be grave
They had made it through another close shave
thanks to Sven
with carts a-laden they headed to town
leaving behind a rumble way down in the ground
smoke and gas belched out of that Gate
but they made it to the Venture Captain - not too late
for Big Sven

Biiiiiig Svennnnn
Big bad Sven

Now they might re-open that horrible pit
trusting Sven to take care of it
There are few things that can stay his hand
Known throughout Absolom as a big, big man
Big Sven

Biiiig Svennnnn
Big bad Sven
Biiiiig Svennnn
Big bad Sven.....

Space 1889 Kickstarter

Here is another Kickstarter that folks might be interested in:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/440453703/space-1889-sf-role-playing-in-a-more-civilized-tim

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

More information about the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game was provided on the Paizo blog today.

http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5lezr?The-Pathfinder-Adventure-Card-Game-Meets-the

There is a game demo video and a link to the rule book which contains the play tester credits.

Here is a snapshot with the names:

Sven's Prestige Award

Sven has a Shadow Lodge Prestige award (No One Left Behind).  What happens to it now that he changed to Lodge ElGrande?  3 PP - poof gone?

What is Menace?

The Menace From Beyond RPG is a cold-war survival horror game of monsters, aliens, and commies. It runs on the Ubiquity Roleplaying System that powers Hollow Earth Expedition and many other great games.

Check out the official announcement here: http://www.siegetowergames.com/2013/03/05/what-is-the-menace-from-beyond/

Menace will be brought to us by Siege Tower Games (http://www.siegetowergames.com/). A bunch of free playtest material is available on the site. There will be a Kickstarter which is tentatively scheduled for an early 2014 campaign launch.

Hollow Earth Expedition Campaign

It has been brought to my attention that we have not played our Hollow Earth Expedition game in almost 4 years. We have playtested materials for Exile Games and my adventures for Gen Con but we have not played our own home game in way too long. This shocked me. This campaign may have been the most memorable and fun one we had since the old Champions games. Almost everyone was engaged and into their characters outside of the sessions.

We have run through most of the good adventures that folks have put out there and I have tried my hand at a few. I feel that I have gotten to know the system much better than before and I am now very comfortable creating adventures and the associated crunch that goes with it (rituals, artifacts, npcs, etc.).

I would like to get back to running on some frequency. It may be only a few sessions at a time but it will be a start.

I am thinking of using my original material. The question is do you want to try to continue with your old characters or do you want to start fresh? Depending on what we decide will determine the direction we need to take. We could pick up where we left off, start some time down the road or start over completely. Kelly, Alan and Bob do not have current characters. If we stay with the old game, this could open up Hollow Earth natives as play options. If anyone wants to retire an old character and start a new one, the same option would apply.

We will still playtest for Exile when they ask. I expect that we will get a shot at some of the Mars content. We have some other Ubiqity playtesting for Menace that I would like to try as well.

This will also give us another option other than PFS especially if we get 8 or 9 players (Steve and Corey are still out there.)

Thoughts?

Ordering Star Wars: Edge of the Empire

Does anyone want me to order them a Star Wars: Edge of the Empire rule book? I found them for $38.97 rather than the list price of $59.99. I also found dice for $9.72 rather than $14.99.

If I can get the order over $100, the shipping will be free.

I you are interested, let me know and bring money tomorrow night.

Tomorrow's Game

Does anyone other than Alan plan to miss the game tomorrow? Trying to determine if we will complete what we started last week or if we need to play something else.

LOLZ

It's funny cuz it's true:

http://www.weregeek.com/2013/07/05/

New Firefly Role-Playing Game Coming

Looks like Margret Weiss will be releasing a new version of the Firefly RPG. Randy ran the old one, Serenity. We also played at Gen Con one year. I picked up the main books in print and and have them all (supplements and adventures) in PDF.

The games sound very similar. Here is a brief description from their blog page:

"the Serenity RPG was based only on the movie and the game rules were Cortex Classic. The Firefly RPG is based on the TV show and the game rules are Cortex Plus. Our development was heavily focused on the television show and streamlining the game rules so that it'd be super easy for any Browncoat to play."

What is the interest level from the group in playing this? Looks like they plan to release the Core Book in February 2014 and start releasing 10 digital oneshot adventures beginning in September 2013.

Check out some information about it here: http://www.margaretweis.com/creative-directions/what-s-in-the-gencon-exclusive-find-out-now

I am going to pre-order a copy of the preview book and pick it up at Gen Con. That will give me a free PDF after the convention and a 20% discount off the rulebook. (Buying directly from them also gets a copy of the PDF of that book.)

Revelations of Mars Kickstarter is Now Live!

Check it out: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2085348754/revelations-of-mars?ref=live

Pathfinder Guides

besides the class guide I've mentioned before:
 http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2m612?Guide-to-the-Class-Guides

I found a great 'Trait' guide:
 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dVQA-uI740Hh8vq-zsnbHV6UwJg-4QKlpmkxBEmCdhA/edit

Fun Funds Are Low

It is not an emergency but our Tuesday Fun Fund is getting low again. I plan to purchase 2 more PFS scenarios next week which will bring us down to about $3.00. I plan to contribute some cash to the total but I was thinking to do so after Gen Con.

The list of contributions and purchases are listed on the blog (upper left corner).

Related question - I do plan to run the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire game in the near future. I think it will be fun. The only issue is that the game uses special dice and the books will not be available electronically. I will be getting a copy of the rules, the GM pack (extra material, screen, adventure, some more dice and another adventure. The retail price for all of that from the manufacturer will be around $125 plus shipping (might be able to do better from another retailer or obtain without shipping). Not sure how easy it will be to play with only one rule book and 2 sets of dice. Would we consider using money from the fund to buy adventures or other game materials so we can play a new system? Books are $60, dice are $15, GM kit is $20 and the first adventure is $30.

Next Tuesday and planning ahead

Next week I plan to run Way of the Kirin. It is a Season 4 scenario for tier 3-7. This is the Lantern Lodge finale story. I expect that we will play the sub-tier 3-4.

Alan (cleric) and Bob (sorcerer) only have 3rd level characters. Kelly has three 4th level characters (monk, barbarian/sorcerer, paladin). David has two 3rd level characters (oracle and summoner). Kara has a 4th (barbarian) and a 5th level (cleric) character. Dave has 4th (oracle) and a 6th level (figther /bard/dragon disciple) character. Bruce has a 4th (gunslinger) and a 5th (samurai) level character.

Things to keep in mind:

• Within a couple of weeks, I will be running Rivalry's End a Season 4 scenario for tier 3-7. This will be the Shadow Lodge finale story.
• Post-Gen Con, Bruce plans to run Thorn Keep - The Enigma Vault which is tier 3-5. The next level afetr that is Thorn Keep - The Dark Menagerie which is tier 5-7. If you have limited characters, you will want to have at least a 4th level character when you play the next level so that you make 5th to play the next and hopefully 6th to play the last level.

After I run Way of the Kirin and Rivalry's End, we currently have limited options left for starting characters and characters between 3rd and 5th level. Once we get folks to 5th level, we have a bunch of material, and when everyone is 7th level, we have even more. We have hardly tapped the potential of the mid-to-high tier material available.

Here our our near-term options:

Scenario # 2-15 - Shades of Ice - Part I: Written in Blood Tier 1-5 (1XP)
Scenario # 2-17 - Shades of Ice - Part II: Exiles of Winter Tier 1-5 (1XP)
Scenario # 2-19 - Shades of Ice - Part III: Keep of the Huskarl King Tier 1-5(1XP)
Scenario # 5-01 - The Glass River Rescue Tier 1-5 (post Gen Con) (1XP)
Module - Fangwood Keep - Tier 3-5 (3XP)
Scenario #3-16 - The Midnight Mauler - Tier 3-7 (1XP)
Scenario #4-09 - The Blakros Matrimony - Tier 3-7 (1XP)
Scenario #5-02 - The Wardstone Patrol - Tier 3-7 (post Gen Con) (1XP)

I have a couple of tier 1-2 modules that I can run if we need to play new characters. Playing both will get characters to 3rd level.

I plan to use a few weeks in July to playtest my HEX stuff for Gen Con. I need at least two weeks and maybe three for that. We might get in one or two more PFS games before Gen Con.

Alan plans to miss the session on 7/9/13. Does anyone else have planned absences coming up?

Skull & Shackles Adventure Path is Now PFS Sanctioned

The Skull & Shackles Adventure Path is now PFS sanctioned. This means that we can play it for PFS credit in one of two ways:

1) with in tier PFS characters adventuring through select portions of the adventure path.
2) in campaign mode, using home game rules and characters (I am ding this with Rise of the Runelords for my Saturday game). Players receive chronicles as if they played a pregen and can assign them to existing or new characters per the rules outline in the Guide to Organized Play.

The PFS credits are 3 XP and 4 PP (plus gold, boons and items available) per chronicle and are awarded for the following tiers:

Book 1 - tier 2-4
Book 2 - tier 5-7
Book 3 - tier 7-9
Book 4 - tier 9-11
Book 5 - tier 11-13
Book 6 - tier 13-15

If folks are interested, we can look at trying this out after Gen Con. I think that campaign mode works the best but it can be a commitment. An adventure path is made up of six 96-page books.  This one takes characters from 1st to 14th level. We will have new miniatures in July and I already have pawns and some ship maps.

Undead Unleashed

Who is interested in preordering the next undead Pathfinder miniatures mini–set? The set includes 12 sculpts and a box coves with 24 single figure boosters. There are 4 new sculpts, 3 of which are common. Check out the Paizo blog previews for more details:

 http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5levk?Pathfinder-Battles-Preview-Unleash-the-Undead

http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5lewf?Pathfinder-Battles-Preview-More-of-the-Undead

Next Week - The Night March of Kalkamedes

I will be running The Night March of Kalkamedes, a tier 1-5 Season 4 scenario next week. What subtier we play depend upon what character you want to play.

To help you decide, here is what folks have available:

Alan, you should play you cleric so that you can get to 3^rd level and qualify to play in the tier 3-7 adventures I plan to run between now and Gen Con.

Bob, your character is currently 3^rd but only needs 1 more XP to make 4th. You can play your sorcerer or start a new guy.

Kelly, you have Kazmuk (monk), Bellis (barbarian/sorcerer) and Dominic (paladin). All are 4^th level. Kazmuk is 1 XP away from 5^th. You also have the choice of starting another new guy.

David, you have Tamara (oracle) and Penny (summoner) who are both 3^rd. Tamara is 1 XP away from 4^th. You also have the choice of starting another new guy.

Kara, you have Zhen Lao (barbarian) at 4th. You also have Ting Ting (monk) at 1^st with 1 XP. You could play her or you could respect the character into something else if you would rather she be another class. You also have the choice of starting another new character.

Dave, you have Li Hua (oracle) at 4^th or Helmet (ranger) at 1^st, with 1 XP away from 2^nd, or you need a new guy.

Bruce, you know what you have going on. Goonter (gunslinger) is 3^rd, Kermit (fighter) is 2^nd and Jack (samurai) is 5^th. You then have a slew of other 1^st level characters available.

Readied Actions

Apparently we have been doing Readied actions somewhat incorrectly.

It is a standard action to ready and you may perform a standard, move, swift or free action when the condition is met. A 5-foot step can be performed as part of the Readied action as long as no other movement (not move action) was performed in the round.

This means you can move 30 feet to the wall by a doorway and state that you will attack the first creature that comes through the door.

Tomorrow Night

I am planning to finish up Master of the Fallen Fortress tomorrow night. If there is time let over, Bruce will either run a quest, The Urge to Evolve, or begin the next Level of Thornkeep.

I am expecting Bruce, Dave, David, Kelly, Kara, Alan and Bob. Is anyone not planning to make it?

I would like to know if I need to change the plan.

Tengu Pirate

Check out this guy. He is from the upcoming Skull and Shackles miniatures set.

http://paizo.com/image/content/PathfinderBattles/20130524-Jakaw.jpg

Next Several Weeks

Alan will not be able to attend next week and Bob is scheduled to work. (He will let us know if he gets the day off.) David plans to be back for next week.

Based upon who we know will be there for sure, Bruce, Dave, David, Kelly, Kara and Keith, I think that we should plan for the following:

- Next week (5/28) Plan A - Dave runs one of the tier 5-9 scenarios I provided him (Season 3, The Ghenett Manor Gauntlet #3-03 or The Immortal Conundrum #3-10 or Season 4, The Green Market #4-06 )

- Plan B - Bob plays a level 7 pre-gen if he is able to attend.

- Plan C- Keith runs tier 1-5 The Night March of Kalkamedes

- Week after (6/4) - Keith finishes running Master of the Fallen Fortress and Bruce is prepared to run the quest The Urge to Evolve to cover if there is remaining time for the evening.

- Following 3 weeks (6/11-6/25) - Bruce runs tier 2-4 Thorn Keep - The Forgotten Library. Everyone should have a character that qualifies to play this and once we have finished, everyone should have at least a 3rd level character.

- Tuesday's in July through Gen Con - Keith runs HEX playtest of Temple of the Spider Cult and super-HEX From the Case Files of Manhunters, Inc. I want at least a night for each. Also plan to run both tier 3-7 Way of the Kirin and Rivalry's End. Both need to be completed prior to Gen Con to get the "cool" end of faction boons for Lantern Lodge and Shadow Lodge characters. Way of the Kirin is released next week on Wednesday and Rivalry's End is scheduled for release at the end of June. If you have a Lantern Lodge or Shadow Lodge character within tier, you will likely want to play then in these end of faction stories. It will be a tight fit with the holiday and the pre-Gen Con Tuesday but with 5 to 7 possible sessions we should be able to fit in everything.

Does this plan work?

Next Tuesday

We will finish up the Veteran's Vault at the start next week. After that, I will run Master of the Fallen Fortress. It is a short module which can be played by 1st and 2nd level characters. It will earn you 1 XP and 1 PP. Hopefully we can get both completed during the time available. The only one that will need to play a different character will be Dave.

David will not be there for sure. Is anyone else likely to miss the session?

This Tuesday

Who is planning to attend this week? Trying to decide what we will be playing.

Next Week

We wrapped up the fisrt level of Thornkeep last night. Bruce is ready to run the next level but it is for characters leveled 2nd to 4th. Everyone except Alan has a character that will qualify. He needs two more XP to achieve that. He could play a 4th level pregen but I think he would become more vested if he played his own character.

I have a couple Season 4 scenarios (Tier 1-5), The Veteran's Vault and The Night March of Kalkamedes, that I could run to get some more experience under a few characters' belts. Assuming the same characters, that would take Alan to 2nd and Kara and Kelly both to 3rd and Dave to 4th.

David will miss a session in two weeks and he is respecing his pregen cleric into a summoner.

I also have two 3 XP modules that I could run which are tier 1-2. Long story short, I can run for the next few weeks until Alan has an approriate level character and then Bruce could pick up with Level 2 of Thornkeep.

OotS Minis

It looks like there are now four Order of the Stick minis available.

Check out Elan and Haley:

http://morlandstudios.com/store/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=1431

http://morlandstudios.com/store/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=1428

If you missed them previously, here are the links to Roy and Belkar (& Mr. Scruffy):

http://morlandstudios.com/store/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=1416

http://morlandstudios.com/store/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=1421

It's Been Awhile...

...since I looked at Mr Welch.

1550. The Dirty Harry 'Feeling Lucky Punk' speech doesn't work with a longbow.

1582. I need to stop telling new players bards were the original prestige class.

1599. There is no prize for having the prettiest werewolf.

1603. I am not El Vago the Gay Blade.  (Should we make an exception for Randy?)

1612. There is no such thing as Boobs +1.  (Maybe that's why Jon quit)

1620. I will not use the druid's chakram to play frisbee with his dire wolf.

1636. Animals native to Australia are not eligible for my druid's companion.

1653. The power gamer would appreciate me not bringing the book with the rule he is grotesquely abusing.

1662. No starting a mosh pit in a leper colony.

1671. Before entering the dungeon I will take off the "I'm with tasty -->" tabard.

1682. Snufficate is not a real way to kill somebody.  (...again, exception for Randy?)

1694. Debauchery is not a stat.

1709. Even if its really cool, no throwing dry ice on the water weird.

1721. The minute the GM figures out my Inquisitor is Lennie Briscoe, he dies.  (Exception for Bruce?)

1752. No summoning octopi to make the sleeping paladin explain all the hickies.

1790. Can't find the villain just by casting power word stun in the bar and see who's still standing.  (I've done this)

1864. Even if paladin starts with P and that rhymes with T, it doesn't stand for trouble.
1865. No wasting Music Man references on a 10th grader.

1878. Elves are not all backstabbing, untrustworthy weasels, but you never hear about a dark gnome do you?

1896. Even if they have blond hair, blue eyes and are proud of their physical perfection, Aasimir don't appreciate Seig Heils.

1958. Dwarven breast milk is not 180 proof.

2010.  Improved tax evasion is not a real feat.

2032.  If I ever trick the DM into telling us the only way to make money mining is to work the shaft, all my characters die.  Not just in this game either.

2070. The spell is "Heat Metal", not "Detect Piercings".

2083.  'Fifty Shades of Grey Dwarves' is not the new Duergar sourcebook.

2129.  I will refer to the other player's sidekick by her name and not just "Your make believe Chinese lesbian girlfriend."

2141.  After clearing out the dungeon, I won't animate all the dead orcs and leave behind the copper pieces so the next party won't be totally disappointed.

2153. The "fur" and "lust" domains shall never meet.  (Exception for BOB)

PFS Tomorrow - Thornkeep

Bruce has agreed to run the first part of Thornkeep - The Accursed Halls starting tomorrow. This is is a multi-session adventure like a module for 1st and 2nd level characters.

Kelly is planning to make a 1st level Paladin.

David is making a 1st level character but I am not sure what it is going to be.

I expect that Dave will play his 2nd level Oracle.

I have a 2nd level Rogue and a 2nd level Ranger.

Corey has a 1st level Ranger.

Kara has a 1st level Monk and a 1st level Barbarian.

Obviously, anyone can make a new 1st level character if they want to but try to have it ready when you arrive. Otherwise a 1st level pre-gens are available. There are the 7 available on the PFS site (Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, Ninja, Gunslinger and Samurai) and there are the 11 available from the NPC Codex (Core Classes - the 4 duplicates are slightly different from the PFS site.)

Many PFS Announcements

There were several significant PFS announcements made today on the Know Direction Pathfinder Podcast 61: PFS Special - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmKTE6XGxyc&feature=c4-feed-u

Here are my notes.

Adventure Paths

They will keep releasing chronicles with current APs if appropriate and working backward chronologically with older APs. Sounds like they are only looking at one done under Pathfinder rules. For example, Wrath of the Righteous may not work for PFS because of the new Heroic rules.

Pathfinder Tales

New chronicles with multiple (four) novel single use boons on a single sheet. Opportunity to earn a permanent effect. Changing to one chronicle per player but it can be share among characters. The permanent effect will have to be assigned to a single character.

Wealth

Lower level characters playing up gets wealth of lower sub-tier. Higher level characters playing down gets the wealth of lower sub-tier. Characters between sub-tiers will get the wealth for the sub-tier that they actually play.

Factions

Lantern Lodge ends with Way of the Kirin scenario. LL characters that play it will receive a Thank you boon.

Shadow Lodge end with Rivalry’s End scenario. SL characters that play it will receive a Thank you boon.

Characters in those factions can switch to one of the remaining factions at no penalty. Can no longer play those factions starting with Season 5 (Gen Con 2013). Impacted characters keep faction traits and prestige awards.

More factions could be on the bubble for Season 5. No faction is safe.

Season 5 will not have traditional faction missions. Overall faction goal will need to be completed to earn extra stuff/boons. Certain scenarios will be keyed toward certain factions. Prestige points will be earned for completing the main mission and for a secondary mission.

Older season faction missions will no longer be required. May be publishing a reference for main mission and secondary mission for all previous Season 0-4 scenarios.

First Steps Scenarios

First Steps Scenarios will be retired Gen Con 2013.

Pathfinder Society Quests

Still on hold. Kobold Quarterly is no longer going to be published. Need more time to figure out how to handle.

Taxfest 4713 AR Boon

A new PFS holiday boon was released today. I will bring copies for tomorrow night's game.

You can check out the details here: http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5leo5?Taxfest

Perils of the Surface World is at the Printer

Perils of the Surface World is at the printer but the PDF is now available.

Check out the cover:

The book contains four adventures: Miracle Stone of the Amazon, Frozen City of Terror, Legacy of Evil and Five Talons of the Jade Dragon.

The four sample characters are: Pious Inquisitor, Polar Explorer, Occult Researcher and Secret Agent.

Next Tuesday

Dave plans to run a season 3 PFS Scenario, The Haunting of Hinojai, next week. It is tier 5-9.

Who is everyone planning to play?

Other than playing a 7^th level pregens, I think the following are our options:

Bruce : Elise – 8^th level (Witch), Jack – 5^th level (Samurai) , Jennifred -5^th level (Magus) or Izzy – 6^th level (Inquisitor)

Corey: Phi-Torr – 6^th level (Fighter)

David: Zaldon – 7^th level (Fighter) or Al goBoom- 8^th level (Alchemist)

Kara: Simone Dickenson – 7^th level (Bard)

Keith: Straggen Wolfrunner – 7^th level (Rogue), Sir Kalten- 9^th level (Paladin), Mikhal – 5^th level (Magus), Lorik Lightbringer- 6^th level (Cleric) or Simon the Swift- 6^th level (Monk)

Kelly: Frabbl – 8^th level (Druid 7/Bard1)

If all 6 players show up, we will have to add +1 to the APL to determine which sub-tier we will play. I expect that will place us in the high tier or in a position to choose. I will play whatever the party needs but I would like to play one of either my Rogue, Paladin or Cleric as all ore on the cusp of gaining a level.

Tieflings and Aasimars: not humanoids

Tieflings and Aasimars do NOT count as human or even humanoid.  They are not affected by things like Charm Person and Enlarge Person.  A ranger would have to take Outsider (native) as his favored enemy to get the bonus vs Tieflings and Aasimars.

I came across this argument on the boards and someone pointed out one of the alternate racial traits for Aasimars, Scion of Humanity:

"•Scion of Humanity: Some aasimars' heavenly ancestry is extremely distant. An aasimar with this racial trait counts as an outsider (native) and a humanoid (human) for any effect related to race, including feat prerequisites and spells that affect humanoids. She can pass for human without using the Disguise skill. This racial trait replaces the Celestial language and alters the native subtype."

Why anyone would take that is beyond me, but this is what proves the point.

Next Tuesday

As is often the case, the question of what we want to play next week is upon us again.

If we want to continue playing PFS, I have a Tier 1-5 scenario from Season 4, Severing Ties, that I can run. I am familiar with the material and could easily have it prepared for Tuesday. (This one should be able to be completed in a single session.) Bruce also has Tier 1-2 Pathfinder Online: Thorn Keep - The Accursed Hall. (That one will take 3 or 4 weeks to play.)

Looking toward other games, I have a bunch of stuff in the works.

I would like to playtest my Gen Con adventures. One is HEX and should only take a night to play. The other is a Ubiquity-based Supers scenario. That might take a couple of nights to play. I still need  some time to pull all my materials together. I am targeting April for these.

There is also the new game, The Menace from Beyond, which I have been a part of. We will start having playtest material very soon. You can check out details more at http://www.siegetowergames.com/.

All For One is still on the table once everyone has characters completed and I would like to run Long Arm of the Hutt for Star Wars: Edge of the Empire (but I need to finish reading the adventure first).

Free HEX .pdf

You can download a free copy of the HEX Core Rule Book tomorrow, 2/14/13. It is a one day thing.

Check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/exile10.

Tonight

We will be playing The Golden Serpent, PFS tier 5-9 scenario tonight. Dave is running. It sounds like we will be playing down.

I will be playing Lorik - Cleric 5. David will be playing Zaldon - Fighter 5/Ranger 1. Kelly will be playing Frabbl - Druid 6/Bard 1. Bruce still has a choice between witch, samurai or inquisitor.

Will Corey be attending? If so, he will be playin Phi-Torr - Fighter 6.

Next Tuesday

Dave has volunteered to run a season 3 PFS scenario, The Golden Serpent #3-24. This is a tier 5-9 scenario.

We are likely to only have 4 players (Bruce, Keith, David and Kelly). If we get Corey or Kara it will be a bonus.

I have 4 characters that I can play; Straggen - 7th level rogue, Sir Kalten - 9th level paladin, Lorik - 5th level cleric and Simon - 5th level monk.

Bruce has 3 characters he could play; Elise - 7th level witch, Jack - 5th level samurai and Izzy 5th level inquisitor.

David has 2 characters he could play; Zaldon - 6th level Fighter (5)/Ranger (1) and Al goBoom - 8th level alchemist.

Kelly only has Frabbl - 7th level - Druid (6)/Bard (1).

Unless everyone plays their highest level character, we will likely be playing the lower, 5-6 subtier.

We Be Goblins Too!

New adventure (free) and miniatures ($2.49 per single goblin booster) coming for Free RPG Day.

Check it out - http://paizo.com/paizo/news/v5748eaic9q9j?Paizo-and-WizKids-Team-Up-to-Unleash-a-Goblin and http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5leex?Pathfinder-Battles-Preview-We-Be-Goblins

The set contains 12 goblin sculpts (7 repaints and 5 new ones). I am planning to order at least one 24 booster gravity feed display. It is priced at $41.99 per display plus shipping. That will make it about $2 per mini. If anyone is interested, let me know so that I can order the right amount.

Tonight's game

I would like to finish up the Golemworks Incident tonight.We still have to finish the mop up of the last combat and then resolve the death of Fabbl and the healing of Max.

Any idea who will be there tonight? Will we get Steve for one more week? Will Corey be available?

Dave is planning to be late. We might want/need to do something else until he gets there.

Tonight

Do we have a headcount for tonight?

I plan to finish up The Midnight Mirror module.

PFS on 1/29/13

I have decided to run The Golemworks Incident #4-3 on 1/29/13. This is a tier 5-9 scenario. From my records, the characters available to play are:

Steve - Max Plano – 8th Level Rogue or Karorgrarbag – 6th level Sorcerer

Bruce – Elise – 7th Level Witch or Jack 5th Level Samurai or Izzy 5th Level Inquisitor

Dave – Scrawny Jax – 9th Level Summoner or Fantasticleez – 7th Level Cavalier

David – Zaldon – 6th Level Fighter or Al goBoom – 8th Level Alchemist

Corey - Phi-Torr – 6th Level Fighter

Kelly - Frabbl – 6th Level Druid/1st Level Bard

Kara – Simone Dickenson – 7th Level Bard

As this is a season 4 adventure, it is designed with 6 characters in mind. If 6 or 7 folks show up, my guess is that the APL will be around 7 which will put you squarely in the middle of the two sub-tiers. You will need to decide if you wish to play up or down. If only 4 or 5 show up it looks like you will be APL 8 and will play up with the modifications as appropriate.

PFS Next Two Weeks

We should complete the Midnight Mirror module next week, 1/22/13. I do not expect it to take the entire evening but it could depending on how things go. I will fill out the chronicle sheets during the session. (Whichever character you are playing is likely to level-up.)

For his last session for a while, Steve has requested to play a scenario which he can play Max Plano. With that in mind, I will plan to run a Tier 5-9 PFS scenario on 1/29/13. (Which one is still TBD.) Everyone should have at least one character within that range.

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire

I have purchased the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG Beginners Box. I expect to have it in hand at the end of the month. It comes with an adventure and 4 pregen characters. Another adventure and two more pregens were made available online. I think the system might be fun and the box set would allow us to learn the game as we play. The box only comes with one set of dice but they do have dice roller apps available. You can learn more here: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3811

The Core Rulebook, dice and a DM kit come out in the spring. If we like the game, I will consider picking it up. Check out the announcement here: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3878

It seems that this is going to be the first of three RPG settings in the Star Wars Universe. Not sure if they will be seperate games or the same core rules with different setting material and character options.

Next Few Weeks

Before we started the Pathfinder Adventures Card Game Playtest, we had started the module, The Midnight Mirror, for PFS credit. We are about half way through and based upon how we tend to play, I expect that we have at least two weeks worth of adventure left.

Here are the complications:

 - David will be back next week but Kelly will not be there.
 - David is likely to miss the week after next.
 - Have not heard from Kara or Corey in a while. If they do not attend, the group will be down to 4 players for the next couple of weeks.
 - January 29th will be Steve's last regular session with us for the next year or more as his shift is changing at work.

I would like to finish this module up before Steve is unable to attend.

The characters that everyone was playing are:

Izzy - Bruce
Sven - Dave
Karorgrarbag - Steve
Kazmuk - Kelly
Zaldon - David
Sebastian Creo - Corey
Grunda Mofunda - Kara

If we manage to finish in the next two weeks, what would Steve like to do for his last week?

Next Tuesday

With the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game playtesting completed, I expect to get back to some RPG action next week.

I was looking to continue the Midnight Mirror module that we are playing for PFS credit. The only fly in that plan is that David will not be able to make it. (He has Army stuff next week.) Do you wish to continue that adventure without him or do we want to play another scenario which we can start and finish next week?

David plans to be back the following week (1/15) but is likely to miss the week after that (1/22).

We likely have 2 more sessions to complete the Midnight Mirror.

What would you like to do?