Gatewalkers AP: Book 3 Chapter 3 Recap and GM Insights

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!

Against the Aeon Throne: Book 1 – GM thoughts

Ages ago, I grabbed a good chunk of the Starfinder RPG off of Humble Bundle. As a system, it’s always fascinated me: Magic and sci-fi with a healthy sense of humor mingled with world-shattering threats to keep things interesting. When my Abomination Vaults game ended, I asked my pool of players if anyone might be interested in magic and guns in space.

I got an enthusiastic response. The players were all experienced with RPGs, with everyone having experience with Pathfinder (some 1e, some 2e, some both). Only one player had ever played Starfinder, though, so we were still readying ourselves for a learning curve.

The party:

Trox Nanocyte
Vesk Vanguard
Kitsune Witchwarper
Dirindi Operative
Human Mechanic + his artillery drone
Lashunta Technomancer
Lashunta Envoy
Kasatha Mystic

Yes, it’s a large party, but we operate on a quorum system. If four players can make it, we play, and assume the other PCs are off doing something else. So far, though, games have hit at least 80% attendance, so we’ve still had a large party on average!

Thoughts on moving to Starfinder 1e

First off, I’ll say that everyone in the game has loved Starfinder, and I’m kicking myself for not starting a game sooner. This fun world has been sitting on my shelf for years!

There have been a few hiccups that, while not insurmountable, would be worth considering for any other group looking to try SF1e out.

Experience is a double-edged sword. The group is made up of highly experienced players, but sometimes this tripped us up. SF1e rules are similar to PF1 and PF2, but they’re not the same. The first few sessions had us mixing in rules from the Pathfinder systems at random until we got serious about looking everything up.
Starship combat threw us for a loop. I’m sure an experienced group could have tackled the few starship combats in Book One in under an hour. We took an embarrassingly long time. For book 1, I wanted to use the standard rules, but moving forward, I may move to the cinematic system from Starfinder Enhanced.
Some habits needed to change. Loot is less valuable in SF1e. If you’re not going to use it, you should probably leave it. Also, one cannot get by just swinging a vibroblade. You need a gun in space.
Encounter balance is… different? Because our group was large, I thought I’d rebalance the encounters so that everyone would get a turn. Except, when I ran the numbers through a calculator, it turned out I didn’t need to adjust anything. I still need to look into how the system is balanced, but in practice, the encounters were perfectly fine without adjustment.

Thoughts on Book 1

Spoilers ahoy after this point!

Dear lord, this book moves fast. Looking at our recordings, it took us 19 hours to finish book 1. Had we been more experienced, I’m sure that would have been closer to 15. A book of an AP usually takes us closer to 24 hours. Some might say that having a larger group made it move faster, but I’m not sure about that, since it also slowed us down (more abilities to look up, more pauses to ask about a mechanic, etc).

Also, this AP has a much slower leveling curve than others, which has been a boon for a new group. You only hit three at the end of book 1, while other first books have you ending at 4. I have to say, I was impressed with how much the crew could do at super low levels, so I’d say this is system where you probably don’t want to skip the early levels with newish players.

That said, I do feel like Against the Aeon Throne is a good candidate for a speed-run. You’re gated between books, so players can’t sequence-break the encounters. The low levels mean the players wouldn’t be getting too much of a power boost, but they could churn through some encounters faster, and have slightly better odds of accessing some lore and paths that are locked behind skill checks. It could turn the AP into something closer to an adventure if your group isn’t looking to invest in a long-term campaign.

I’ll probably be back here soon with thoughts on book two, because we’re darn close to finishing part two. Like I said, it moves FAST.

Gatewalkers AP: Book 3 Chapter 2 Recap and GM Insights

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, so there are spoilers for the end of Book Two. Part two will include my thoughts as a GM, so there are major spoilers for the AP overall.

Check out the playlist here if you want to watch the previous episodes.

Recap

This chapter features a trek across the unforgiving High Ice as the players make their way to the Nameless Spires. Though they’ve been given some tools to help them survive, it’s still a relentless journey that wears down not only their bodies, but their minds. Every day is a struggle to push forward, and the ice isn’t as uninhabited as they might have hoped. Every night is a battle with Osoyo, who sense their approach and tries to reassert his dominance over his former thralls.

Just as the journey seems likely to break the heroes, they enter The Dreaming with Snowy Owl. There, they witness a tearful reunion with Sakuachi’s grandmother, who seems to have been waiting for them. She helps them recover the last of their missing memories, offers them a final boon, and then moves their hut to within a day’s walk of the Spires. Osoyo must be resealed soon, or all of Golarion will suffer.

Jorge, Don, Ricardo, James, and Daton: I love you all, but you need to LEAVE this post now! Spoilers ahead!

GM thoughts

This is probably the second most griped about section of Gatewalkers. Personally, my players and I enjoyed it, but I made some modifications (shocking, I know).

Pre-rolling: In another AP I’m running [Frozen Link], there’s a section that requires rolling on multiple tables every day. I knew this could get fairly tedious and might lead to the players not seeing some of the cooler encounters. So, for this section, I pre-rolled every day. For the most part, I stuck to what I rolled, but in a few cases, I swapped in an encounter I knew they’d enjoy (my players love a good beatdown).

One thing I wish I had done was figure out how I was going to track expedition points ahead of time. If I were to do it again, I would have kept track of the total points rather than zeroing them out at 8 points. It’s less ambiguous, and I’ll take recalling my timetables from third grade over trying to figure out bad accounting.

Another change I made was killing off Seshu, the grandmother, in order to patch up a few plot holes. The first hole is why Seshu didn’t give poor Sakuachi the full details before she left on her journey. I played it off as Seshu not having the full details herself until she was sent to the graveyard. The second isn’t from the books, but from my players: Our Champion had been searching for his wife this whole time, since she was gone when he returned from the Missing Moment. Guess who else was dead?

I swear, I’m not usually this wanton with the death, but this dream was the last chance to tie up his personal plot neatly. Sorry, Jorge! I promise, I’ll let the next spouse live!

Looking forward

Up next is the last chapter of the AP, which still feels unreal. This AP moves fast if the players stay on task, but is still chock full of different backdrops and challenges.

Gatewalkers AP: Book 3 Chapter 1 Recap and GM Insights

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, so there are spoilers for the end of Book Two. Part two will include my thoughts as a GM, so there are major spoilers for the AP overall.

Check out the playlist here if you want to watch the previous episodes.

Recap

In this chapter, the PCs finally made it back to Ustalav! In the town of Lepidstadt, they made a beeline to Dr. Ritalson’s manor, only to find that they had just missed him. Not to worry, though! The staff invited them to relax for a few days and recuperate from their journey, and perhaps even talk to some of their fellow Gatewalkers who had arrived just before them.

Of course, the gang decided to do some breaking and entering instead.

To be fair, it was clear that something was off in the mansion, which lead to them finding a basement filled with horrors. They realize that Ritalson had not only been spying on various Gatewalkers in their dreams, but also killing them and using their memories to increase his own knowledge and access to power.

They ran off to confront him before he could return, knowing that he is no longer their biggest problem. Ritalson had been working for someone… Osoyo.

Jorge, Don, Ricardo, James, and Daton: I love you all, but you need to LEAVE this post now! Spoilers ahead!

GM thoughts

Honestly, the biggest danger in this chapter is the players themselves. If they’re not suspicious of Ritalson by now (and good lord, they should be), and they take the week to chill out, they could very well end up with their brains in a jar. Hey, at least there’s a new party upstairs they could take over…? But seriously, if your players haven’t twigged to the good doctor being kinda sus, drop some hints in their lap to get them looking around.

The ‘dungeon’ of the chapter was also quite good, and perfect for ripping out and adding to your own campaign. It’s rife with places where you can add in your own plots, and if you’ve needed a place to get some infodumps out of the way, there’s a place to find heap of journals and research. You would just need to update two rooms to fit your campaign, unless your main baddy is also a big psychic whale.

Speaking of looking around, I loved the investigation in this chapter. There are so many clues to find if the players are keen to dig for them. My players aren’t even done yet! Some of the clues are housed in books that they managed to take with them, so they’ll be doing a lot of reading on the road.

Looking forward

We have the big trek over the ice! I think I’ll be pre-rolling most of the encounters to streamline my planning and dead air on the stream. Also, I want to make sure they have the encounters that will hit home the hardest, so… maybe those dice are going to be a bit loaded.

Gatewalkers AP: Book 2 Chapter 4 Recap and GM Insights

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, so there are spoilers for the end of Book Two. Part two will include my thoughts as a GM, so there are major spoilers for the AP overall.

Check out the playlist here if you want to watch the previous episodes.

Chapter Four recap

Chapter four takes place in the long abandoned city of Domora, former home of the Godcallers of Sarkoris. The PCs, determined to help their baby Godcaller fulfill her destiny, branch out over the city to research what they can. After a fair amount of mucking about, they realize they need to investigate a cistern that may contain the magics and lore she needs. After a chat with the spirit Ruun, they run a gambit of challenges, finally allowing Sakuachi to transform into a white owl, her soul bonded to the god of old. They all agree to return, finally, to Ustalav to check in with their patron.

GM thoughts

Okay, seriously, if you’re a player in my stream, DO NOT KEEP READING. Don, James, Jorge, Daton, Ricardo, CLOSE THIS TAB.

Investigation. The players enjoyed the investigations in this chapter, which had a nice balance between lores and skills to keep everyone busy. It helped that each investigation included clearing out some nasties, so even our meatiest-headed characters were vital to moving forward.

Cistern. Most of the cistern was perfectly fine, but the challenges themselves were a bit samey. I decided to spice things up and change two of the encounters. Rather than two stone owls, room F12 had two Griffons, and F7 had two Elite Giant Mantises. I kept F11 the same because the stone owls are kind of cool.

Sakuachi the owl. In the book, Sakuachi keeps her human form… but I decided to just use the owl and give her some limited telepathy. Any powers she has in the book have also been stripped for now, since the players aren’t hurting.

Overall book thoughts

This AP is probably amongst the lowest ranking of the Paizo 2e APs, and it does have some flaws… but flaws that I think are easy enough for a GM to solve without rewriting the whole book.

For me, making Sakuachi a ghost and killing off her party helped fix many of the issues with book two. Also, putting Skywatch in a different plane helped focus that particular chapter. Without it, the whole book hinges on the players helping this random group of strangers out. My players will happily follow plot hooks, but I could have also seen them just leaving and going on their way.

Now, if homebrew is your bag, this is a book that you could absolutely remove and replace with your own adventures! All you really need to do is make sure the players get back to Ustalav, so if you want to do a roadtrip-style adventure, that would totally work. Just make sure they don’t get to Ustalav under-leveled… or do, and watch the struggle bus kick off. It’s your circus, you do what you want with your monkeys.

Looking forward

I am very excited to get back to Ustalav. It’s been on the players’ to-do list for months. They also love investigating and chatting with NPCs, so I think the mansion is going to be fun for them.

Some complain about the long overland travel section, but I feel like it fits perfectly with Lovecraftian mythos. Creepy travel in a hostile landscape with no way to go but forward? Chef’s kiss. Man loved him some unforgiving expanses.

Gatewalkers Book 2 Chapter 3 GM Insights

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, so there are spoilers for the beginning of Book Two. Part two will include my thoughts as a GM, so there are major spoilers for the AP overall.

Check out the playlist here if you want to watch the previous episodes.

Chapter Three recap

You know, it feels like we were just here. When I say this book moves fast, I mean it! Heck, as I’m writing this, the players are a good chunk of the way through chapter 4.

The majority of this chapter takes place in the Medevian city of Egede. Once bolstered by an unending crusade, this town has fallen on hard times without the influx of money and patrons on their way to take on the World Wound. The party had to contend with a paranoid population that had fallen sway to the ‘Committee for Moral Rectitude.’

To the surprise of anyone who’s seen the questionable moral choices of an adventuring party, the group quickly proves themselves to be beyond reproach. Unsurprisingly, this required the judicious application of violence, but if we’re being fair, the other side started it. Now able to rest in peace, the party got a letter from Dr. Ritalson (remember him?) congratulating them on their progress, commenting on their new companion, and paying the party for their efforts thus far.

With their newfound reputation and money, they manage to get a caravan to Kenabras, the only lead they have at the moment when it comes to Sakuachi’s mission. They don’t get far before they’re distracted by a falling star, which their seer interprets as a sign. Breaking off from the caravan, they make their way across the healing wasteland to find a strange insect burrow. Inside, they fight terrible beetles and the crusader they either obeyed or controlled. After rescuing some reclaimers, they finally get a clue as to where they should be going: Domora!

Okay, seriously, if you’re a player in my stream, DO NOT KEEP READING. Don, James, Jorge, Daton, Ricardo, CLOSE THIS TAB.

GM thoughts

I keep saying it, but seriously, this book moves fast. If you’re a GM who only prepares what they think they’ll need for the next session, push yourself a little harder. Players who follow the plot and don’t wander off for side adventures will quickly churn through the available content.

Another warning: The plot heavily depends on following Sakuachi’s lead. If they’re fighting that, you need to find another way to get them to that falling star. Heck, put it on the way to Sarkoris rather than 200 miles off course, and maybe have a few caravaners kidnapped. That way, they can’t avoid it, and the party will get their lead for their next destination.

Finally, Ghost Sakuachi is still doing great, plot-wise. Nothing has required her being physical, and she’s still able to deliver plot points as needed. The only hiccup is the players trying to use her to scout, which I haven’t allowed so far due to how strategic my players are. However, if your party is a bit more chaotic, she could help players think ahead.

Looking forward

The investigation in Domora is already underway. I really love that this AP has included actual investigations, which fits well with my group and the themes of the adventure. They’re also a decent blueprint on how to do investigations that aren’t just a series of die rolls. Leads lead somewhere that the players have to check out and interact with, which allows everyone to participate.

Looking towards the next book, I expect that one to go quickly as well, save for crossing the ice. I’m most looking forward to them finally getting back to Ustalav and putting all the pieces together.

Gatewalkers Book 2 Chapter 2 GM Insights: Smooth Sailing

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, so there are spoilers for the beginning of Book Two. Part two will include my thoughts as a GM, so there are major spoilers for the AP overall.

Check out the playlist here if you want to watch the previous episodes!

The second chapter of Book 2 opens with the players looking out over a great frozen lake with no way to get across. True, they have a raft, but that’s certain to be eaten by the storm-tossed waves before they get too far. Their only option is to scour a ship graveyard and hope something is still seaworthy enough to get them to civilization.

Making their way through wrecks that could barely suffice as kindling, they find a ship that looks amazingly whole. They board her, only to be attacked by the machinery itself. Happily, the captain appears and calms the ship down. Unfortunately, he’s a ghost, though less mad than those on other ships. He agrees that if the crew can get his ship free of the magical ice surrounding it, he’ll sail them to wherever they want. They just have to make nice with a naiad queen.

So, once again, solving everyone else’s problems other than their own, they make their way to her temple, and after clearing out some of the denizens, they convince her to share the ritual that will remove the ice. After some stomach-clenching rolls, the group succeeds and is able to sail into the lake and towards Egede.

Of course, it can’t be all smooth sailing. Along the way they encounter psychedelic bubbles that, at best, force those who inhale them to have hallucinations. At worst, they drive people mad, and they encounter a whole ship of people who apparently took in a deep breath. The party received a worrying glimpse into their lost memories before being set upon by the specter of Osoyo.

They survived, finally coming to the costal town of Egede, where they bid their captain farewell as he finally takes his ship and his crew to the great beyond.

GM Stuff

Okay, seriously, if you’re a player in my stream, DO NOT KEEP READING. Don, James, Jorge, Daton, Ricardo, CLOSE THIS TAB.

This chapter, in spite of having a lot in it, went by fast. Seriously, I almost forgot to write this blog post. As of this writing, the party is almost done with chapter 3! So if you’re a GM who only preps one chapter ahead, maybe reach a bit further for this book.

Encounter-wise, everything was fairly straightforward. None of the fights left the crew anywhere near a TPK, and none of the encounters left them confused. In fact, the hardest thing they ran into was the ritual. It took a few goes, but finally, they succeeded. If your players ranks are low and you don’t want the ritual to just be NPCs rolling dice, consider having the naiad queen handwave it. After all, if the ice isn’t lifted, they’re not going anywhere!

Finally, ghost Sakuachi is still working out fine! Thought I will say that the players are desperate to make her a statted NPC, I play up that she’s barely holding on to the material plane at this point in time. There are spots in the AP where her team could have stepped win with skills, but this group is fairly well-balanced, so can handle pretty much anything that comes their way.

Looking forward

While I’m enjoying book 2, I’m really looking forward to everything coming together in book 3. The mystery, finally talking to their patron, and the trek across the icy planes: It’s going to be so good.

Pathfinder 2e Adventure Paths: My GM and Player Recommendations

Every few weeks, someone on r/Pathfinder2e asks for thoughts on what AP their group should run. In the spirit of “I’m tired of writing out my response every time”, I figured I’d make a blog post about it instead.

Yes, I mostly blog to save myself time later.

What I’m including

I’m including every AP that I’ve at least experienced part of, either as a GM or a player. I also include how I ran it (since I sometimes like to switch things up and run APs in a non-conventional way).

I’m not including Adventures, even though I’ve experienced a few. Maybe a blog post for another day!

The Adventure Paths

Agents of Edgewatch

Role: GM
Game type: West Marches
Status: Mostly completed

I ran Agents of Edgewatch as part of a West Marches game, which worked shockingly well. I had to move the main elements of Book 1 to our town, but they were fairly easy to transplant. For later books, I added teleportation circles to the town that were only active for those working their way through the adventure. This did require removing some bits, but no one missed them.

I enjoyed running it so very much, and it’s one of the rare APs that I find myself wanting to run again. It’s full of so many fun set-pieces, and being set in Absolom could give players a chance to really branch out during the adventure. If your players do like to wander, grab a copy of Pathfinder Lost Omens: Absalom, City of Lost Omens. It’s filled with lots of hooks and little details that can bring the campaign to life.

That said, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: The first part of the book has you working as guards who make their money by getting it off of the people they’re guarding. I highly recommend just paying them to keep the peace, rather than taking the property of the people they’re policing.

If you want a high-level review of the cool encounters, check out my blog post about stripping AoE for parts.

Abomination Vaults

Role: GM
Type: Standard
Status: ~~In progress~~ Done!

This is hands down one of the best APs I’ve ever run. I’m going to put a huge caveat on that statement, though: I love dungeon crawls, and so do the rest of my players. There’s something very satisfying to me, clearing levels one by one, plunging deeper into unknown depths. Not every player is into this sort of set-up, though. Players really, truly need to understand that they won’t be leaving Otari, and that the thing they will be dealing with for ten levels is the dungeon. The dungeon does switch up themes as you go, but you’re not going to some exotic new locale or running into a town of completely new NPCs.

That said, you are fairly close to Absolom so a lenient GM could work in some sidequests there. My players never bothered, opting instead to order what they wanted through a weekly caravan. Like, I said, we like dungeons.

From the GM side, you should either grab the modules already on your favorite VTT or settle in for a lot of prepping. Because players can go any direction, you can’t just prep the ‘next few’ areas. Once they’re near a floor, you should have it ready to go. On the flip side, this AP does allow you to be more passive as a GM. Most of the time, I was sitting back while the players discussed where they wanted to go next. I didn’t have to run complex social encounters or dinner parties, and most NPC interactions were limited to just one NPC. It’s a pretty chill experience until it’s killing time!

Some warnings:

Quarters are tight, so limit bodies. This means discouraging too many minions. It can work, but if everyone has a wolf, someone is going to be sitting in the hall in some encounters.
Emphasize that the players should not go down until they’ve cleared most of the floor. They will get their butts handed to them.
Rest is important! If the party is low on resources or sitting on a nasty disease or curse, they should go get that fixed before moving forward.

I wrote more about Abomination Vaults in its own post!

Fists of the Ruby Phoenix

Role: Player
Type: Standard
Status: Complete

This is one we streamed over on D20Saves with a group of experienced players. It was an absolute blast, and delivered on what it promised: A bunch of heroes entering a fighting tournament and accidentally saving the world. There’s a fair mix of social and combat as well as some traditional combats, so you can’t afford to create a group of one-trick ponies.

This is a high-level AP, so it’s not one I would throw at new players. You really should know what you’re doing with your characters and running complex encounters.

Strength of Thousands

Role: GM, then player
Type: West Marches, then stream
Status: Started, abandoned, started again!

This AP didn’t work quite as well in a West Marches game, so it was abandoned fairly early. I did read the first part, though, and it’s left me aching to either run or play in this one for legit years. How can you resist a Magic School AP? Also, book one had one of the best collections of NPCs I’ve seen in an AP ever.

Thankfully, one of the GMs over on D20Saves has agreed to run it for us, so I’m getting another crack at it!

Quest for the Frozen Flame

Role: GM
Type: Speed run
Status: ~~In progress~~ Done!

I’ve been blogging about this AP book by book, so you can check out my previous posts here. In short, it’s a great AP for players who are down for a wilderness campaign that focuses on surviving, exploring, and building a following. I want to be clear, though: When Paizo said it was a wilderness campaign, they meant it.

Some suggestions:

Have a spreadsheet ready to keep track of renown and followers gained. You don’t want to have to backtrack and figure it out because suddenly it matters at the end of a book.
Dear lord, use ABP. The loot is sparse.
Make sure players know they can take downtime to craft items they might need. They will not have access to cities. In fact, the players in my game are in book three and just heading to their first major encampment.

Gatewalkers

Role: GM
Type: Standard
Status: ~~In progress~~ Done!

This is another game that’s being streamed on D20Saves. We’re currently in Book 2, and it’s been a wild ride. Book one especially has a lot of hard lefts that no one in the party predicted. This is a great AP for people who happily follow plot hooks, but may be a struggle for a party who resists going with the flow. Also, some of the fights are deceptively hard. If your party is too squishy, you’ll run into trouble quickly.

I have a series of GM posts about prepping and running this AP if you want a more in-depth review.

Stolen Fates

Role: Player
Type: Standard
Status: In progress

And other D20Saves stream! We’ve only just begun, but so far, it’s been an intriguingly weird adventure. Amusingly enough, we’ve had more gates in book one than we had in all of Gatewalkers. In fact, I feel like this would pair well with Gatewalkers as a follow-on adventure to get the players to level 20.

And that’s it!

I’ll update this post as I finish / start new APs. For now, this is the complete list as of July 2024! Rankings are highly subjective, if I were giving out awards:

Favorite overall: Abomination Vaults
Most likely to run more than once: Fists of the Ruby Pheonix
Most modded: Gatewalkers
Most niche: Quest for the Frozen Flame

Gatewalkers: Book 2 Chapter 1 done!

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, so there are spoilers for the beginning of Book Two. Part two will include my thoughts as a GM, so there are major spoilers for the AP overall.

Check out the playlist here if you want to watch the previous episodes!

Book Two opens with a bang. Unlike other Paizo books, there’s no gap between books. One moment, they’re on Castrovel, escaping from an interplanetary battle, and the next, they’re in a strange observatory with a rattled seer asking for help from whatever is currently beating down the door.

The gang has found themselves at Skywatch, though not quite on Golarion. Somehow, they’re on the Ethereal Plan, the plane that lies between all other planes. It’s not completely hopeless, however, as there’s a gate right outside of town that will probably get them back to the Material Plane. They just need to collect the seer’s party from various points around the ghostly Skywatch.

The gang is more than up for the challenge as they navigate non-Euclidian streets and beat up everything from bandits to dragons to find all of the stray party members. Everyone gathered, they make their way to the gate, activate it, and find themselves back in the Material Plane…

And all of their new companions dead. The party members they had spent a week saving vanish, with only the Seer, Sakuachi, just barely able to hold onto her form as a ghost. Horrified, they realize that a dark presence had reached out to Skywatch and yanked all who were there through to the Ethereal plane, leaving their bodies behind to freeze to death.

The party agrees to take on Sakuachi’s quest, realizing that they share a common enemy.

GM Stuff

Okay, seriously, if you’re a player in my stream, DO NOT KEEP READING. Don, James, Jorge, Daton, Ricardo, CLOSE THIS TAB.

Ethereal Plane

In my last post, I mentioned that I planned on switching book one to be in the Ethereal Plane rather than ‘weird, but still on the Material Plane’ Skywatch. This worked seamlessly with the overall feel for the AP, and even made the issue of navigating Skywatch more intuitive. It also focused the players’ energy on getting out, rather than pointing towards an exit but saying they couldn’t go there yet. They knew they probably needed Sakuachi’s crew, being all mystic, and they knew that they wouldn’t leave until all of their people were accounted for.

Killing off Skywatch

The bigger change I made in this chapter was killing off all of Skywatch. I had a few reasons for doing this:

Adding what’s essentially a second party to the team was too many moving parts for me
I wanted the PCs to take personal ownership of the quest, since that’s what moves the plot along at several points
It ups the stakes for the group from “let’s poke at mysteries” to “oh crap, this thing is a danger.”
I was worried about another Hubert situation, where they’d take an NPC’s sheet and turn them into an absolute monster in combat.

The players took the reveal in stride and happily took on Sakuachi’s quest, with her trailing behind them as a ghost. Of course, they still made the case that she could have a sheet, but I shot that down. I still expect them to break the plot with her, but it shouldn’t be quite as bad. Also, looking forward, I think she works best as a spirit. Her companions don’t serve a purpose, and for the most part, she’s chilling in the background. Might as well make her see-through!

The rough timeline I gave the PCs once they were back on the Material plane:

Everyone was at Skywatch in the Material Plane for their own reasons. Matz for treasure, bandits for banditry, Sakuachi for her quest.
All at once, everyone was pulled into the Etheral Plane, leaving their bodies behind.
Bodies froze to death over time, since fires went out eventually.
Whatever did this left tendrils of Blackfrost behind.
It’s implied heavily that this Osoyo jerk may be responsible.

Important to know

I’ve finished reading Book Three, and there’s a detail I skimmed over that I wish I had hit harder. The PCs will run across the former denizens of Skywatch later, but in prepping book two, I hadn’t realized that they were still around. So, if the players investigate, leave hints that the whole town left some months ago, heading north.

Also, if you plan on killing everyone off like I did, make sure Matz gives those last details to the PCs before they leave! Otherwise, they won’t know where their next plot hooks are.

Looking forward

After looking at how the rest of the plot pans out, turning Sakuachi into a ghost works pretty darn well. Most of her mission can be easily transferred to the PCs, or maintained with her being a ghostly presence.

I’m super duper looking forward to some of the set pieces, such as the mansion mystery. Hell, I’m even looking forward to the trek across the ice! Some people have complained about it, but if you’ve ever read Lovecraftian works, you know they love dumping the doomed protagonists into a desolate landscape where the only way is forward.

Gatewalkers: Book one done!

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, so there are spoilers for Book One. Part two will include my thoughts as a GM, so there are major spoilers.

Check out the playlist here if you want to watch the previous episodes!

The last chapter opens just after the players have learned that they were all wrong: They’re neither in the First World nor in some underexplored region of the Mwangi Expanse. They’re on the wrong planet! The gate they jumped through landed them on Castrovel, the planet NEXT to Golarion. Just as they were getting their head around the problem of getting home, they accidentally inflicted the elf-killing curse on their best hope of getting back.

Thankfully, she’s only mostly dead, so they take on the task of restoring her and exploring the weird world of Castrovel, which honestly deserves its own AP.

GM Stuff

Okay, seriously, if you’re a player in my stream, DO NOT KEEP READING. Don, James, Jorge, Daton, Ricardo, CLOSE THIS TAB.

The good

The players loved the Castrovel twist. They threw themselves into interacting with the local denizens and figuring out how to get back home. Also, in what’s extremely rare with experienced players, none of them saw it coming, but didn’t feel like it came from nowhere. Bravo, Paizo.

They also had fun in the dungeons in this part of the book, which are fairly unique and evocative. There’s a long-abandoned library that’s utterly alien in every form. There’s an encounter set on the back of a mythical beast. And hooooboy, that final battle is one that no one was expecting. You could take this chapter and plunk it in any adventure for a fun bit of weird.

Oh, and that last fight? Holy cow, that was a lot of fun. If you plan on GMing this, figure out in advance how you’re going to do the transitions, because it’s well worth doing well for the full impact.

Some warnings

It’s assumed that the players hand a cursed key over to a particular elf, who will immediately be struck down. 90% of the chapter involves helping to cure her. If your players have started suspecting that the key they’re carrying is dangerous, I would think about how you’re going to rebrand those encounters. I wouldn’t skip them, because they are a ton of fun, but they do need some reworking when it comes to why the players are doing them.

Also… Hubert. I’m currently reading book three, and I’m fairly confident there’s no off-ramp for this NPC. With my group, the players ended up reworking him as a beastkin fighter, but not every GM wants tagalongs. If you’d prefer to keep the party to just players, I’d recommend either having him stay behind when they gate out of the First World, or maybe stay with the Oatia (Castrovel elves).

Other thoughts

SO MUCH HAPPENS IN THIS FREAKING BOOK. Seriously, it feels like two books worth of material. In a way, I wish they had spread it over two books, because Castrovel was a ton of fun and could have been mined a bit further.

Having prepped book two and started book three, I’ve realized that I want to do some overhauls. It’s a perfectly fine AP and could easily be run as-is, but a few tweaks never hurt.

First, I’m adding more planes. The first book has you jumping around so much that I was disconcerted to find out there were no jumps (at least that I recall) in book two. So, I’m adding one by putting Skywatch in the Ethereal Plane.

It explains why everything is weird.
It created a more focused goal: Escape the plane.
It explains why contact was cut suddenly (everyone got sucked into another plane).

This required fewer updates than you might think. Using Deep Dream Generator, I used Deep Style to update the maps. Uploading them, I didn’t even have to update the dynamic lighting!

The next thing I’m doing is…

Killing off Sakuachi. Kind of.

Look, before you judge me or think I’m going hard on Paizo, I’ll say the NPC godcaller is FINE. Yes, guiding her on her vision quest is a bit on the nose, but I’ll take ‘too direct’ over ‘wait, how do I get my players to this random area where all the plot is?!’ any day. It’s just that I know my players. If you give them an NPC, they’ll want to give that NPC levels and bring them into combats and outfit them, and she has BODYGUARDS.

Y’all, they made the freaking hedgehog a legit BEAST in fights.

I could say no, but I’d be saying no over and over again. So, instead, I’ll pull an Ozymandias.

Motivational Meme format:

Ozymandias stands before two figures. "'Do it?' Dan, I'm not a republic serial villain. Do you seriously think I'd explain my master stroke if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it thirty-five minutes ago."

Subtitle: Time Management - Do it 35 minutes ago.

They get to run around with the spirit caller, still fleshy, in the Ethereal plane, hunting for a way out and tracking down her people. Once everyone is together, they leave through a gate and…

Look back upon a wrecked city. The Godcaller and her guards are ghostly apparitions, stunned as the party is. The bodyguards fade, with nothing keeping them attached to the material plane, but Sakuachi stays… barely. She has a job to do, and less time than ever to do it. And she can’t do it herself.

The party is nudged to retrieve some items off of her body (which can be found near the telescope where they met and where the Space Elves lost contact with her) and continue her quest, with the oddly timed approval of the Professor.

I mean, they’ll probably still ask if they can give her levels as a Ghost archetype, but at least I’m not dealing with the bodyguards anymore.