This blog post should be about the Rybonator YouTube Channel & or the Easy Roller Dice Co. Kickstarter for the Self Standing Microfiber Dice Bags.

This blog post should be about the Rybonator YouTube Channel & or the Easy Roller Dice Co. Kickstarter for the Self Standing Microfiber Dice Bags. 

My Rise of the Runelords Campaign Session 0: We Be Goblins!

So, I'm starting a new campaign, using Paizo's Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path. The first session was a prequel session adapted from the We Be Goblins! module. Since this is a play report, there will be significant spoilers. You have been warned.

Players:            Chandra            Mrs. Gogangles the Flamey, goblin sorcerer

                        Ben                   Mogmurch, goblin alchemist

                        Lucas                Chuffy Lickwound, goblin rogue

                        Richard             Poog of Zarongel, goblin cleric

                        Erica                 Reta Bigbad, goblin fighter

            The adventure was run mostly as written, with some minor changes to the backstory and ending. The mention of the failed raid on Sandpoint was removed to make this a viable prequel to Burnt Offerings. An additional dare was also added so that every PC was able to participate in one.

            The players read each other’s’ songs while I got set up. Once I was ready, I sang the Licktoad’s song, and read the adventure background to them, changing the bit about the failed raid on Sandpoint to rumors of an upcoming raid.

            The PC’s met with the chief, were given their mission, and the feast began. Everyone partook in the fermented apples, and Chuffy failed his save, becoming very intoxicated (luckily due to his Pustular trait, he wasn’t actually sickened). Shortly after this, the party received their first dare, “dance with Squeely Nord”. Chuffy, in his drunkenness, was more than eager to oblige. He failed his first ride check, but rolled a natural 20 on his reflex save, so I ruled that he was not thrown from the piglet. He made the rest of his checks without any failures.

            The next dare was my custom made one, “hop across the stumps”. I said there was a small bog lying immediately next to the village, and that there were several stumps jutting up out of it. There was green slime growing on the surface. I did not use the same slime in the CRB; this one would simply cause 1d6 damage per round if the participant fell in, and damage would stop if they escaped by making a DC 10 swim check. To make it across the stumps required a series of 3 DC 15 acrobatics checks. Mogmurch was the participant, and made all checks without fail thanks to downing his jump extract before attempting the challenge. He received a skyrocket from the chief as his reward. This was the same skyrocket that would usually be provided to the PCs before the journey’s start, but I decided to make it the final dare reward instead since there was an extra PC and I didn’t adjust the encounters accordingly.

            The next dare was “eat a  big bag of slugs real quick”, and Mrs. Gogangles was the participant. She had several failures, as she was attempting to spit out the poison bladders, and it came down to the last slug and the last attempt. She decided to just go ahead and swallow it whole, and was able to get it down. Unfortunately, she failed the save to resist the poison, ending up sickened. The other 2 challenges were completed with no failures, Reta participating in “hide or get clubbed”, and Poog partaking in “the rusty earbiter”.

            The party headed out the next morning with Chuffy about 15 feet ahead of the party as a “scout”. He failed his perception check to see Lotslegs Eats Goblin Babies Many, and was nearly ambushed as a result. Luckily, Mogmurch, who was next in line, saw the spider. Mogmurch rolled 1^st in initiative, and threw a bomb at the tree the spider was hiding in. He critted on his roll, causing the tree to fall, and nearly crushed Lotslegs in one attack. The spider was pinned, at 3 hp, and was quickly finished off by Reta.

            When the party found Lotslegs nest, things got interesting. They split the gold evenly ( threw an extra gp in so this wouldn’t be an issue), and agreed that Reta could have the crossbow, but fought over the rest of the gear. Mogmurch successfully appraised the pearl, and attempted to bluff on how much it was worth. He failed.

            Now, at this point, Chuffy was standing behind Mogmurch, and Mrs. Gogangles was behind Chuffy. Poog and Reta were about 10 feet in front of Mogmurch. Chuffy wanted to sneak attack Mogmurch, and Mrs. Gogangles wanted to cast burning hands. I had Mogmurch roll a perception check to see if he heard them about to attack (and therefore not be flat-footed), but he failed. I had everyone roll initiative, and Mrs. Gogangles came out on top, followed by Chuffy, Poog, Reta, and finally Mogmurch. She cast burning hands, and hurt Chuffy quite a bit thanks to him failing his reflex save. Mogmurch saved for half damage, but his pouch containing his fireworks and bombs caught fire. Chuffy ran over to where the as-of-yet unclaimed potions were lying on the ground, about 20 feet away. Poog and Reta spent their turns running as far away as they could from Mogmurch, as they saw that his pouch where he kept his explosives was on fire. Mogmurch threw his flaming pouch backwards towards Mrs. Gogangles, who kicked it back at him on her turn. Chuffy chugged a random potion, hoping for a cure potion, but instead got the bear’s endurance potion. Poog and Reta each rolled perception checks to see if they could spot the pearl that Mogmurch dropped, but failed. Mogmurch finally put out the flaming pouch before the explosives went off, but the pouch itself was ruined. At this point everyone agreed to stop attacking one in other, so I let them act in whatever order they wanted. Chuffy chugged another random potion, this time getting a cure moderate wounds which brought him up to full health, and held on to the 2 remaining potions. Reta and Mrs. Gogangles started searching for the dropped pearl, and spotted it at the same time. I had them roll initiative to see who got to it 1^st and Mrs. Gogangles won. Mogmurch went over and claimed the bag of candy. Overall, this killed about 45 minutes of game time. An hour, adding in the time for me to set up the tiles for the next encounters (we use Heroscape tiles). Usually, I wouldn’t allow things to get this out of hand over treasure, but everyone was having fun with it. They all also assured me that this was because of their alignment being NE, so hopefully I won’t have these problems once we get the actual campaign rolling (this also makes it clear that I will definitely be banning evil alignments for this campaign).

            Moving on, they came across the ship, and saw Stomp the horse at the same time as he saw them. Poog got 1^st in initiative and threw a javelin. He critted, dropping Stomp to 1 hp. Reta finished the horse off with her crossbow. Chuffy was the first to go up the ramp, and saw the wasp nest trap. However, he jumped over the tripwire instead of disabling it. Everyone else did this as well, except for Mrs. Gogangles. She failed her perception check to see the trap, and also failed a sense motive check to determine why everyone else was jumping. She triggered the trap, but everyone made all saves, so no one was affected.

            Minor note here: it seems I inadvertently mixed up the rooms of the ship. I had the galley as Vorka’s cabin, and vice versa.

            Once they were all aboard the ship, Reta let everyone know that there were dogs about, thanks to her Dog-Sniff-Hate feat. Before they went any farther, Chuffy downed his Dragon Brew Gourd, and everyone prepared themselves for a fight. I went ahead and had them roll initiative, and Chuffy went first. He moved up a few feet, spotted Tickletooth near the railing on the second deck, and used his 1^st breath attack, dropping the dog instantly. Poog was next, and he rounded the main cabin, saw Scabtongue, and used a fire bolt, dropping that dog as well. With the fight over, Poog’s player Richard had to stop to get some sleep. Poor guy had been up for 36 hours and was falling asleep while we were playing, so I took over as Poog.

            At this point, the party decided to bypass the lower cabin, and move on to the upper deck. Mogmurch and Chuffy stopped to snack on the remains of Tickletooth, while Reta, Mrs. Gogangles, and Poog went to look in the upper cabin. There, they found Vorka in the middle of a meal (she was munching on Scribbleface’s arm). I don’t recall the exact details of the battle, but early on Mogmurch joined the fight, and Chuffy looked in the small room, saw how crowded it was, and went to explore the lower cabin, where he torched Cuddles with his breath weapon, dropping the pooch in one hit. At some point, Vorka was shrank via Mogmurch’s reduce person extract (it was getting late, and I didn’t want to take the time to explain extracts don’t work like that). Poog was eventually swallowed by Lord Licktongue, whom Poog fire bolted from the inside. Reta and Mrs. Gogangles finished off Vorka with their dogslicers (Mrs. Gogangles had the Gorge of Gluttons). Mogmurch lit his skyrocket, and shoved it into Lord Licktongue’s moutn, and the frog exploded with Poog still inside. Poog was amazingly still standing at 2 hp.

            The group gathered the treasure, and headed back to the village. Upon arriving, they saw “a pointy-eared longshank” (Tsuto Kaijitsu) leaving the moot hut, escorted by Slorb. Slorb waved them on into the hut, where they gave the chief the fireworks. He gladly accepted them, and told the group he had a new mission for them. The longshank was asking for assistance in a raid on Sandpoint, which members from all the local goblin tribes were taking part in.

The Goblin Song

Since the We Be Goblins! adventure was given out over the weekend, here's my version of The Goblin Song. Enjoy

Caster Gun

Inspired by the anime Outlaw Star, the caster gun and caster shells:


CASTER GUN
Aura Faint Divination CL 3rd
Slot None; Price 13,140 gp
DESCRIPTION
This strange looking pistol fires caster shells. If the user does not have proficiency with firearms, they receive the usual -4 penalty to attack rolls made using the caster gun.
CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, identify; Cost 6,570 gp

And here's a link to the Caster Shell write up provided by Chrono_Nexus from the Paizo message boards. My personal suggestion, would be to lose the spell level cap if you are going to use my write-up of the caster gun. His version of the shells as written allows any firearm to use them.

The image is property of Blind Squirrel Props.

An Explanation (of sorts)...

It started back in November. I found myself walking through a ruined wasteland, and the next thing I knew I was shot in the head. After miraculously waking from that I found myself running from a horde of zombies. I tried to get away but they just kept coming. Finding a place to hide, I read a story or two to pass the time. With the zombies gone, I began to explore the world. I eventually came across two magic swords, but was forced to leave them when the zombies came back. I fled through a portal, and find myself in some sort of laboratory. After being put through a series of tests, I finally found another portal, and have come back home.

Ok, so seriously, I've been through quite a bit in the last few months, and blogging was pretty low on my priority list. First, I moved to South Dakota from Texas, where I thought I had a job lined up. Turns out it was only half true. I got here, the guy said the job fell through and he'd call me when he had something. I was out of work for a month and a half. I finally get a call, get pulled on for 2 weeks, and then when that job was done, I was told he wouldn't have anything else for me until spring. So, I got a different job. I'm now back to working at Walmart, and now I'm overnight. I currently have no gaming group, and attempts to find one in this area have proven futile, as the only people who would be willing/able to play can't work with my constantly shifting schedule. So, I fell back into video gaming. Recently, however, I've joined Paizo's message boards, and gotten the itch for Pathfinder again. So, I will be getting back into posting again, though I can't promise an update schedule. Already have the next post in the works, hopefully will be up within the next couple of days. Hell, if all goes well, it may be up later today.

Hiatus

As I am the process of getting settled in my new home, Finding the Path is going on hiatus. I am not sure how long this will last, but it will be probably around a month at the least.

Tools of the Trade Part 2

Sorry about the massive delay in posting. My vacation has turned into full blown moving after receiving a job offer up in South Dakota. But enough about my personal life, on to what you people come here for.

Terrain (continued)
So last time, I praised the Heroscape terrain. Now, as I said, Heroscape terrain works best for outdoor environments, so what to use for the great indoors? Well, there's a few options, all of them good. You could just use the Heroscape terrain, like I usually do.
Option 2 is Gaming Paper. Gaming paper is essentially a non-laminated non-erasable battlemat. It comes in rolls that are 12' by 30". And here's the big selling point. It's only 4 bucks a roll. Pretty good deal. Yes, it could be a bit of a pain that you can't erase it. But on the other hand, you can save any map you draw on it. Perhaps you may revisit that location.

Moving on, we have the traditional gaming mat. Easy to use, wet-erase, reusable, they have become a must-have for many DMs. Don't think there's much to say here. Be sure to shop around to find 1 for your needs and price range.
Finally, we have dungeon tiles and poster maps. Dungeon tiles are a pretty neat concept. A bunch of tiles you can put together to build your own dungeon. However, I find them to be more trouble than they are worth. They slide around and they are never punched out exactly right. Poster maps are great. They always have great art, and you never have to worry about the scale being off. However, the 3rd or 4rth time you use the same one, it kinda breaks immersion.

Dice
Ah, dice. They can be an addiction. I've even heard them referred to as gamer crack. The set of dice I've used for the past 3 years are Crystal Caste Dwarven Metal dice. They're pricey and I probably spent way to much on them, but I love them. Crystal Caste also has their unique Crystal Dice. Most of my players use Chessex dice. Gamescience has the technically best dice you will find anywhere ever. And Q-Workshop has the coolest looking dice I've ever seen.

Coming soon: the introduction to the Walmart inspired dungeon!

On vacation

So no post this week. So go check out the blogs I'm following. Seriously. They actually have useful info and I don't yet.

Tools of the Trade Part 1

Well, short on time this week, so here's one of those generic tools of the trade posts everyone seems to do.

DM Screen
I know plenty of DMs like to roll their dice in the open. I, however, usually don't. Not to hide rolls so much as to hide notes. I use the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Deluxe Dungeon Master's Screen. Honestly, I don't reference what is printed on it much. Most of that info is already burned into my brain. However, I do usually have adventure notes printed out and paper clipped to it.

Terrain
Battlemats are great. Be they the do-it-yourself kind or the beautifully-done pre-illustrated ones, they make gaming with miniatures a breeze. However, I usually use Heroscape tiles for my terrain. I love the customization you can do with them. Yes, they are a hex grid instead of squares, but I honestly find that to be easier. No diagonals to worry about and circular spell areas fit better. I'll admit, the Heroscape tiles work best for large outdoor enviornments, but they can work for indoors to. When this was still fairly new I picked up the first master set for around $40, and an online search turns it up anywhere form $32 to $50 now, so it's a pretty good investment for some cheap 3d terrain. Not to mention the master sets come with several miniatures that you can use as long as you aren't overly concerned with scale (they're slightly larger than D&D minis). So here's some examples of what you can do with Heroscape terrain:

This is one of the scenario maps with the original master set.

This is one of the maps buildable with the newest master set. Yes, those are Drow, this is a D&D themed set. By the way what you see there is every terrain piece in that set. If memory serves correctly, the only mini missing is the black dragon. Not a bad deal for $20.

Lord of the Rings, anyone?

Ok, a note on the next few pictures. These are made with who-knows-how-many different sets combined, and you'd have to spend stupid amounts of money to recreate them, but they are pretty awe-inspiring.





Well, I've got to run, so part 2 coming soon.

__________________________________________________________________________________

All of these images were taken from various sources via a Google image search. To find out where they came from right-click and select properties. Those people own and have whatever applicable rights to the images.

In the beginning...

...there was wargaming. From this came a ruleset called Chainmail, developed in part by a man by the name of Gary Gygax. Him and another man, Dave Arneson, worked together to create a new ruleset, one in which the players took control of individuals, rather than units of troops. This, in time, became known as the much beloved game, Dungeons & Dragons. From our beloved D&D eventually came another game. Not quite new, since it took the main concepts of the 3.5 edition of the game and refined them, but different enough for it to stand alone: thus the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game was born. This blog will mainly deal with that game.
My name is David Slade, and I have been playing the Pathfinder RPG for over a year now, since the final version was initially released. I have been playing D&D 3.5 edition since 2006. So, yes, compared to most of the D&D or Pathfinder bloggers out there, I am a relative newcomer to the hobby. However, I think I have knowledge to impart to the blogosphere that someone may find useful. So to start out, here's a little about myself.
I am from North Texas, and as I have already noted, do not have a lot of experience (relatively speaking) with tabletop rpgs. I served for nearly 3 years in the United States Air Force, which is where I first got into rpgs. I have served as the primary DM for my roleplaying group since August of 2007, and nearly every one of my players were introduced to the hobby by me (only 3 weren't, one of which is my wife.) I have thus far DMed or co-DMed 4 different campaigns, and am in the process of planning a new one, which will be the first in a homebrewed setting for my group.
Some things to look forward to on this blog:

• Details of my new homebrewed world
• Various NPC's and villains to steal for your own game
• At least a couple of new monsters
• And hopefully a guide to converting monsters, and maybe even entire adventures from D&D 4E to Pathfinder (I have done so for my own games, but I need to look over WotC's policy so they don't shut me down)*

I hope to update this blog once a week. Probably between Tuesdays and Fridays (sorry that I can't give a more definate answer, but my days off change on a weekly basis.) Thanks for reading, and adventure on!

*Ok, so it seems I can't do that according to the GSL.