Prepping for the hardcover compilation - errors, edits, and suggestions?

[Obryn]

The 20th level power was meant to be:

Minor action, super-charge your weapon
Standard action - shoot for 3d8+Dex (or whatever)

next turn Standard action - shoot for 4d8+Dex

next turn Standard action - shoot for 5d8+Dex, then it blows up at the end of turn dealing 5d8 damage in a burst

Is that low-powered? It's been a while since I paid a ton of attention to the player side of powers, since I'm mostly making monster stats these days. But the idea was to deal some bonus damage, and then have the ability to deal a lot of damage by getting close, dropping your gun, and running away as it explodes.

Hmmm, yeah, that's really weak for a 20th-level Daily power. It only deals damage without other effects, takes up a Minor and 3 Standard actions, and you're disarmed for the rest of the battle at the end of all that. I know that my own player doesn't look at the explosion as a benefit, but as a pretty serious disadvantage.

I think it could be enough if there were side-conditions and Miss damage; like the first shot adds Ongoing 10, the second Dazes, and the third Stuns (all save-ends).

Alternately, my gut feeling is that allowing each of those attacks to be Minor actions (limited to 1x/round) would also be enough. So the blaster starts going crazy and shooting in all directions before exploding.

As a final option, simply upping the damage by like 2-3 dice each stage and adding Miss damage may be sufficient.

 

[efreund]

Somewhat related to that area:

On the way up the Lance, there are a series of memories or ghosts of people that the PCs have killed. One of them is Kaja Stewart, who (in that scene) shoots herself in the head, as an allusion to the ostensible suicide she committed in book 3. But in the republish, she never dies, and simply moves to Slate.

 

[RangerWickett]

Ha. Right.

 

[Ualaa]

I don't mean to rush you... but do you have a time frame for the release of this installment or for the final hardcover compilation?
I'm eagerly awaiting the complete series, and think my players will greatly enjoy this one, once it's ready.

Thanks for the awesome adventure path.

 

[RangerWickett]

I currently have 53,000 words of the final adventure written. I've got about four stat blocks to design, and then maybe 10,000 words of denouement to wrap things up. Then we can go to layout.

In the meanwhile, Frank is laying out the NPC cards and premium handouts.

But I won't give a timeline, because my capacity for undesired procrastination and weird like getting a bedbug infestation has taught me better than to set expectations for people, lest I disappoint them.

 

[efreund]

I'd like to suggest that the campaign is already "ready"

It's a long, long beast, and the sorts of things happening in Adventure 13 aren't going to impact your ability to prep and run Adventure 1. The campaign takes place over three Acts (Act I is adv1-5, Act II is adv6-9, Act III is adv11-3), and I could certainly see not wanting to start a given Act without that Act being complete. But Act I has been completed, regroomed, and published as a hardcover compilation a for couple years now.

The Act I hardcover comes with a great GM's Guide that explains where the plot is going, summarizes all of the later adventures, and otherwise "lifts the curtain" on what's going on. It should be sufficient to prep. (It's also got a very detailed Player's Guide, which already includes references to things that will happen in the later books.) This isn't like a Paizo module, where they're just writing it as they go, and aren't quite sure how it's going to end up. I got burned starting Kingmaker early, so I know where the fear comes from. I guess I'm saying "this one's different"? (Besides, as a comparison point, the ZG Act I has more page count and longer play time than your standard 6-book Paizo AP (if you cut out the latter's fiction-journals)).

As a fellow GM (I'm currently nearing the end of adv3, and I started last fall), I would recommend you to buy the Act I hardcover and take the plunge. No need to wait for this sequel volume to come out.

 

[efreund]

Then we can go to layout.

Are you jumping straight from the release of adv13 to the hardcover, or is there an interim wait in there? Ya know, fun stuff, like pretending to "wait for more community feedback", while you secretly work on more Rock Rackus adventures?

 

[Elfshire]

I always thought the use of the word "Act" here was kinda confusing.

The campaign consists of three Acts.
Acts consists of several chapters.
Chapters consist of... several Acts.

I started thinking of the "larger" Acts as "Books" instead, but now there's only two actual books, so I guess I'll just live in confusing nomenclature! XD

 

[kcannell]

As a fellow GM (I'm currently nearing the end of adv3, and I started last fall), I would recommend you to buy the Act I hardcover and take the plunge. No need to wait for this sequel volume to come out.

I'll second this. I am GM'ing the pathfinder version, started last fall, and we're right at the end of Book 3. The amount of detail in these adventures is unprecedented - it'll take your group a while to get through them. Go for it now!

 

[kcannell]

Holy thread resurrection!

Alright, we're mid Adventure 8, and I need some help with understanding the layout of the Lance of Triegenes. So the brown block in the middle is a dark crystal flooring. What is the golden diamond in the middle?