Pathfinder 1E Advice for way of the wicked?

[Mr.E_Danger]

Still in transit, my party mowed down White Tusk and his hunting party, leaving a lone survivor on his canoe with no paddle. They continued north, running into the ice demon, which didn't last very long. Dropped the munitions off at Fire Axe's camp and headed to the southern shore of Lake Tarik. Instead of an open fight, they talked the captain into sleeping on the ship once more, where our wizard turned invisible and murdered the captain. When the rest of the sailors found out, they were eventually put down as well. Burned the ship and continued on.

Once in Aldercross, the party set about selling some loot, buying a weapon or two, and listening to some rumors. It was getting a bit late, so at that point it was a good time to stop.

Spoiler

concern 1: they really enjoy leaving people alive. not really the biggest thing, but certainly something has happened in just about every encounter. I really tried to express the need for sneaking and not leaving witnesses, but must not have done a good enough job.
concern 2: I tried to point out how large the tower structure is and that it's manned by more soldiers than Branderscar was. I am thinking i did not do a good enough job describing to them that they need to sabotage the tower and weaken it, as well as open the main gate for Fire Axe and his horde...

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Two things...

1. Looks like a brief delay on book 4 to mid July, according to the author on the Paizo forums.

2. I've created a variant template for half fiend...the half-daemon. It's here:http://www.enworld.org/forum/pathfinder-rpg-discussion/326040-half-daemon-template.html

I plan to use it for

Spoiler

Grumblejack

if the event occurs at the

Spoiler

Horn.

 

[gdmcbride]

[MENTION=64209]Aberzanzorax[/MENTION]

Spoiler

Good idea for Grumblejack. I like that template! It adds a big pile of daemonic flavor that the PCs can carry with them almost like a souvernir of the Horn.

[MENTION=6687532]Mr.E_Danger[/MENTION]

Sounds like a very cool session!

Spoiler

Myself, I would try one more time to emphasize to them just how big this tower is and that it has ONE HUNDRED SOLDIERS PLUS OFFICERS in it. If the PCs still don't get it, well... one failed assault should bring this home. One failed assault is unlikely to be a TPK particularly if they attack from the south. Remember that Talingarde is at peace and not expecting trouble from that direction. It would likely take the garrison some time to gear up and hunt down the repulsed attackers, giving your PCs one more chance to adopt a more subtle strategy.

Regardless, I look forward to hearing about your next session.

Game on, my friends.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games

 

[Joshgenti]

Well, my group just started Way of the Wicked. And so far they're loving it. I made a blog to chronicle their efforts, so far they've made quick work of the guards in the main keep. Managing through speed, skill & guile, to down the guards before any alarms went off. And they're well on their way to freedom.

I must tip my hat to Gary for a truly wonderful product. I've purchased books 1, 2 & 3 and I am just thrilled with them, both in quality & content. I am not surprised that Book 1 is up for an Ennie award. It certainly deserves it. Also, the artist, Michael Clarke deserves a congratulations. One reason I bought book 2 so soon, I was hoping for art work & a more detailed write up of Knot 7. I wanted to play them up more in book 1. And I was not disappointed. The art work was beautiful, as always and will make a fine addition to expanding the role-playing during the "Manor" scenes.

 

[gdmcbride]

Joshgenti,

Thanks for the kind words. Glad you're enjoying "Way of the Wicked". I'll try to stop by from time to time and read your blog.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games

 

[triqui]

Well, my group just started Way of the Wicked. And so far they're loving it. I made a blog to chronicle their efforts, so far they've made quick work of the guards in the main keep. Managing through speed, skill & guile, to down the guards before any alarms went off. And they're well on their way to freedom.

I must tip my hat to Gary for a truly wonderful product. I've purchased books 1, 2 & 3 and I am just thrilled with them, both in quality & content. I am not surprised that Book 1 is up for an Ennie award. It certainly deserves it. Also, the artist, Michael Clarke deserves a congratulations. One reason I bought book 2 so soon, I was hoping for art work & a more detailed write up of Knot 7. I wanted to play them up more in book 1. And I was not disappointed. The art work was beautiful, as always and will make a fine addition to expanding the role-playing during the "Manor" scenes.

I'll start my WotW campaign in October, and I have bought the 4 books so far. Go ahead, you wont regret it. It gives you cool ideas for alternative campaigns (vampire clan instead of Asmodean cult, for example) and develope the NPC quite a tad, which may be helpful to introduce a few hints in the low levels about what will happen later. It's a good Adventure path with totally deserved reputation.

 

[almagest]

Started a campaign for WotW using Maptool. I've got a cleric of Urgathoa (tried expressing that they'll likely have something to do with Asmodeus at some point, as he's the main evil god of this campaign, but the player wants to create undead and Urgathoa fits the theme better), a rogue with the burglar archetype, a totem barbarian, and a witch. They managed to break out fairly easily, and were doing well until they opened the door leading to the garden, and were spotted by a guard on patrol. One failed bluff check later and the alarm sounded. I staggered a couple encounters (guards, Blackerly + guards, guard dogs + guards, Mathias) to drain their resources and get them to panic a little. Grumblejack went down (stabilized but unconscious), and the PCs left him. Each PC went down at least once, as well, though none died. When things settled down a bit, they stabilized Blackerly (who luckily for them was still alive) and used the runic F brand to brand his face. They stabilized him and repeated this process over and over until he was finally killed. Mathias happened to reach them at the end of this process.

One thing I would do different next time is send Mathias in with some guards for protection. They managed to take him down fast, even being drained of almost all their resources.

Overall, we're all enjoying this AP so far. Hopefully the players start moving away from the "let's murder everything, ever" interpretation of evil and move towards bigger and better goals.

 

[triqui]

Fooly Cooly, the issue isn't the spell book. I agree, there are multiple spell books a motivated wizard can... "acquire".

It's not having an Arcane Bond, which forces such a hard concentration check for a 1st level wizard. Now, after they break out, it's not horribly hard to get. You need a masterwork item & 200 gp. Not hard to come by. But for that first adventure, it wouldn't be very fun for the Wizard PC.



Drathir, I hate the idea of just telling someone "don't play a wizard!" it's a core class & a necromancer specialized wizard fits so well with an evil game.

I'll think it over. If the wizard PC goes with an Item for his Arcane Focus, your suggestion of having the guards keep it is probably what I'll go with. In fact, I think the corrupt Sergeant finding it when the wizard is searched & "procuring" it for himself would work well. And further highlight the colorful, corrupt nature of the NPC. Also, it would lead the PCs to his hidden stash of goodies in search of the Arcane Focus item.

Thanks for the advice. And I'd be interested to hear if anyone else had this problem.

one possible solution is talking with your wizard player and make him choose a bonded item that can be kept in a prison. Maybe a bone through the nose, a cord around the neck, or a headband.

alternatively, your wizard player could smuggle the bonded item into the prison in the same way people do in real jails. Up to the ass. Just remember him *not* selecting a Staff

 

[triqui]

I have only read the 32 page preview. What do you mean by limiting your players will prevent disappointment? are you saying that certain classes won't work for this (obviously not a paladin)? I was thinking of running this at some point in the near future.

Evil campaigns tend to finish as a treacherous pvp fest. By limiting them somewhat (lawful evil tendencies, etc) you can make the campaign safer.

If you can trust the players to play mature, this is not really needed. But it is a good advice to have, as players tend to forget basic social skills when they roleplay an evil bastard necromancer.

 

[Joshgenti]

I ran into a bit of a self-imposed problem.

My group is currently causing all kinds of mischief in Aldencross (Act 4: Book 1) and once they found out about Sir Havelyn's past (They got a really good knowledge Nobility roll or else maybe a diplomacy check to gather information, don't remember which) they were very interested about the death of his wife. They did find out with their check that she died in child-birth, but they weren't sure & wanted to investigate. They already knew he felt guilty about something (from the rumors) and assumed it was her death, in particular, being involved some how.

Since Sir Havelyn is the "Lord of Aldencross" I figured (without thinking) that he'd likely have his wife buried near the town he is the lord of. What I didn't take into account was the following:

1) Sir Havelyn is probably Lord because he's running the watch tower so the town probably comes along with it. So in fact his family's crypt or at least his wife's remains would likely NOT be in Aldencross but probably down south somewhere.

2) My group is EEVVIILL. No keeping people alive, no nice talk. Nope. Just evil. They killed the Sargent in Act 1 by branding him. In the mouth. They're evil. I've had to tone it down to keep the recommended PG-13 rating. So of course they found out she was buried & they immediately wanted to desecrate her grave.

So, I tried to handle it this way. Fortunately only one guy went searching, the sealthy rogue elf, who's super LAWFUL, little Evil. He found the crypt, broke in & before he could bust open the coffin, I had Thorn show up & stop him. And told him he could not tell the rest of the group. Citing clause 2 of the PC's contract. (This PC is super Lawful & so will honor it)

I did this for one reason. If Thorn didn't stop them but found out after the fact, he'd likely destroy his own knot, all of them, given his backstory. That's the one button that I could see Thorn responding to savagely.

Does that seem an alright way to handle it? Should I leave it as is? The guy was on his own & I handled the end off to the side, so I can change it without alerting the whole group. And the one guy is very good about separating in-character/out-of-character. So I could change it.

Maybe have Tiadora stop him instead of Thorn? Tiadora has the spells & would do Thorns bidding (I think, but it is Thorn's love & I'm not sure the back story between Tiadora & Thorn, maybe she wouldn't care about that, or maybe Thorn wouldn't want to reveal his "human" side to the handmaiden...

Maybe let the PC grave-rob & assume Thorn cares more about his revenge then the remains of his love (not sure if that's in character for Thorn...)

Just looking for suggestions on how to un-screw myself.