Over on D20Saves, I’m running Gatewalkers, one of the latest APs from Paizo! From the official website:
After they walked through that glowing gateway, nothing was ever the same. A band of characters become paranormal investigators to determine the cause of a global amnesic episode. Their quest takes them to lands near, far, and outside this reality altogether. Along the way, the characters meet fellow “gatewalkers,” defeat alien monsters, and explore strange realms touched by the Missing Moment. And when it comes time to learn the grim truth of what happened to them on that fated summer night, what then?
Warning: The first part of this blog will cover what happened in the stream, for the entire AP throughout!
Check out the playlist here if you want to watch the previous episodes.
Recap
After battling the frozen wastelands of the High Ice, the group finally made it to where it all started, and where it would all end: The Nameless Spires. Though whispers called to them through the ice, promising their heart’s darkest desires, they forged ahead with their ghostly companion and the spirit guide Ruun, hoping to lock Osoyo away once more.
Though the fights were difficult, they managed to make it to the inner sanctum, where they were able to seal the prison once more, though it cost the sacrifice of the dream seer and her guide, along with their deviant powers.
After, they were able to return to what was left of their lives, now with their missing memories firmly intact.
GM Thoughts
This final chapter gave us a gratifying end to a wild Adventure Path. The PCs finally got all of their memories back, and got to face off with the threats they had been tracking for fifty sessions.
Being fully transparent, though, I screwed up one encounter. In the Spires, the party is supposed to run into a creature that has taken the appearance of Ritalson. I missed that part, and didn’t realize until I was running the encounter that I should have put a different token down. Oops! It didn’t change much, though, since the players would have killed him on sight, anyway.
Looking back over the AP and how I dealt with the Sakuachi situation. I still stand by my decision to kill her and her party off, but now, I wish I’d attached her geas to one of the PCs. It would be a risky move (what if they die, or the player quits the game?!), but I think it would have lead to the last encounter having even more weight. Maybe the players would have a shared geas? That would have avoided any PC feeling like the ‘main character’ as well. That also starts to step on the toes of player agency…
I think it really comes down to the group. With my players, I probably could have plopped that subplot in any of their laps, and they would have happily become a god-caller. Other groups may not react the same way. It comes down to knowing your players.
Finally, for any future GMs of Gatewalkers, I strongly recommend that you look at the Follower rules from Battlecry!. The AP has several encounters that end with the players having an NPC follow the party, and this can wreck encounter difficulty fast. I have a feeling this could have been rebalanced by only allowing the NPC in battle if a player takes the Captain archetype. I say this because there was never an off-ramp for any of the NPCs you pick up, which can lead to a HUGE party if you’re not careful.
What next?
The group is starting to run Strength of Thousands… and I’m not the GM! Huzzah! I get to play! I’m down to only GMing three games!
Katie Plays Games 