Thread: Abomination Vaults: Compendium
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March 10th, 2021, 00:36 #21Ultimate License Owner since 2011 and FG GM since 2008
Game Systems: 5E, Pathfinder, Starfinder, Call of Cthulhu, RoleMaster, C&C, Pathfinder 2, Old School Essentials
Home Page: ShadeRaven Sorceries (Blog, Fantasy & Campaign Stories, Cat Tales, and more)
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March 15th, 2021, 16:57 #22
Huh, though I already posted this but I must have forgotten to hit post. Anyway:
Further feedback - the diagonal double doors in A9 are, with apologies for the strong wording, awful to move through. Characters very easily get stuck on the "wall" between the doors. Every time the party had to move back and forth in that area I had to take control of their characters and manually drag them through, and even then it took me a bit to figure out which parts of the doors you could actually move a token through.
I also noticed that the horizontal double door near the top of the servant's quarters - apologies I don't remember the room number - has sort of the opposite problem. There's no "wall" between the doors, and players can see through them while moving past.
On the other hand, though, I tried out the reference manual and it's amazing. That instantly got pinned to my shortcuts bar and I found myself constantly bringing it up during game. A+.
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March 15th, 2021, 17:01 #23
I moved your post to the DLC issue reporting thread - which is where it should be. This thread is not about reporting issues with the FG conversion of Abomination Vaults, it is a thread regarding GMs sharing information for running the series.
Everyone - please make sure you post in appropriate threads. There has been a lot of posting in the wrong thread recently and the original intent of the thread soon gets lost.
Now, back to this very useful thread about GMing the Abomination Vaults AP in Fantasy Grounds...Last edited by Trenloe; March 15th, 2021 at 17:16.
Private Messages: My inbox is forever filling up with PMs. Please don't send me PMs unless they are actually private/personal messages. General FG questions should be asked in the forums - don't be afraid, the FG community don't bite and you're giving everyone the chance to respond and learn!
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March 15th, 2021, 18:59 #24
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Regarding GMing Abomination Vaults, how do other GMs handle giving players information about how to disable hazards? Given the number of haunts and other hazards they'll encounter throughout this adventure, I've been wrestling with this question.
Consider the haunt in Room A11. If the party notices it before it triggers (successful check from the doorway, for example), I might say something like, "You see a sticky, still-wet blood stain on the floor, which seems to be tainted by a foul spiritual presence. You think it might do something if you move closer." Player 1: "I don't move into the room. How do I deal with it? What are my options?"
They're not yet in Encounter Mode because they haven't done something to cause the hazard to use its reaction yet. Do you:
(a) tell them, "That's up to you. Tell me what you want to try."
(b) tell them, "Roll any of your skills you think might apply and I'll give you information if you choose the right skill." - then set a DC but secretly conclude that only certain skills will work (Religion, Thievery, Occultism(?), Spirit Lore(?))
(c) tell them, "Roll [insert skill options]" and set a DC.
(d) tell them, "You can tell that you'll need to exorcise it using Religion or carefully scrape away the blood using Thievery." - giving them the two skills noted in the Disable language of the hazard.
And then same question if they've already triggered it and are in encounter mode.
Basically, do players get to know what the Disable options are automatically, do they have to guess based just on what the GM tells them about what they're seeing, or do they make some sort of check to figure out which skills might be useful? I've wrestled with this in GMing other PF2 APs and haven't come to a conclusion on how best to handle it, so I'm curious what others think.
This interrelates with Fantasy Grounds, since it also impacts whether, and when, I would reveal the "Hazard" icon on the map. At what point does the party know they're facing a Hazard? Some Hazards (like haunts, particularly) look at lot like creatures (ghosts, poltergeists, etc.) Should the party know they're facing a Haunt rather than a creature? Or is that part of the challenge/mystery?Last edited by rhollander10; March 15th, 2021 at 19:09.
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March 15th, 2021, 19:44 #25
I don’t put the hazard icon on the map until they truly realize it’s a hazard, or when it’s triggered (if complex or has a physical presence) and I don’t just use an H token. For this example, when it actually gets triggered; before that I’d primarily use option C - if the players ask what they can do then I’ll ask them to make appropriate recall knowledge checks to try to know what this might be - as mentioned in the Core Rules hazard section related to magical hazards. I know it’s not a magical hazard per se (it doesn’t have the magical trait) but it’s a complex hazard and is very, very similar to a magical hazard.
The same once it’s triggered, but the PCs will need to use an action to recall knowledge.Private Messages: My inbox is forever filling up with PMs. Please don't send me PMs unless they are actually private/personal messages. General FG questions should be asked in the forums - don't be afraid, the FG community don't bite and you're giving everyone the chance to respond and learn!
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March 15th, 2021, 20:16 #26
I handle it as a Recall Knowledge check. Knowing how to disable a hazard is definitely a "piece of useful information". If the hazard hasn't triggered yet, I'll adjust the DC and the information I give in the same way that I adjust the DC if you find signs of a monster that isn't physically present.
Of course this is often somewhat moot as my players have a tendency to blunder into hazards haplessly... they walked right into the room with the bloodstain without a care in the world...
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March 22nd, 2021, 02:00 #27
Post session update:
This is a really really good campaign for the dynamic lighting/vision rules. The dungeon environment and the twisty, maze-like layouts benefit hugely from FGU's lighting. Literally once per session I have had party members get themselves into trouble because they couldn't see each other and made bad decisions based on lack of information. I highly recommend anyone running this campaign make use of these features if possible.
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March 24th, 2021, 14:03 #28
Added the link to the second in the series to the initial post and a section specific to the Hand of the Devil (found HERE) that offers some thoughts on this addition to the adventure path. Enjoy!
Ultimate License Owner since 2011 and FG GM since 2008
Game Systems: 5E, Pathfinder, Starfinder, Call of Cthulhu, RoleMaster, C&C, Pathfinder 2, Old School Essentials
Home Page: ShadeRaven Sorceries (Blog, Fantasy & Campaign Stories, Cat Tales, and more)
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July 21st, 2021, 01:03 #29
For starters, the third and final in the series can be found in the store. You can find it here.
You can find my notes on it in this post: Eyes of Empty Death Compendium
One additional note I want to add to this final entry in the series and the series itself. Since lighting and some of the evolution of LOS has continued during my efforts to bring this to Fantasy Grounds, it inspired me to go back and try to update all the entries in the Adventure Path. One of the aspects I decided to give some effort in was trying to include specific handlers of imbedded, but not detailed, hazards within the series. So, for example, if entering a room causes dread, but it's not a Hazard (given a stat block), I've tried to include a pseudo-hazard entry for it to handle the automation of it. Hopefully, this will aid GMs as they proceed through this AP.
I've also tried to go back and examine all the doors, barriers, and similar features to cover things like locking or vision (such as a wall of force you can look through but not pass through while active). Hopefully, what I've come up with will work for all involved.
And yes, I've tried my best to put in all the LOS and Lighting to bring these levels to life. I think it was worth the effort for those who enjoy employing those features.
As always, I welcome all feedback and hope anyone who gives this series a run enjoys it!Ultimate License Owner since 2011 and FG GM since 2008
Game Systems: 5E, Pathfinder, Starfinder, Call of Cthulhu, RoleMaster, C&C, Pathfinder 2, Old School Essentials
Home Page: ShadeRaven Sorceries (Blog, Fantasy & Campaign Stories, Cat Tales, and more)
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July 22nd, 2021, 00:30 #30
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ShadeRaven, if you put in the Lighting for the first module of the AP (which I'm currently running), is there something I need to do to get your lighting effects added to my current game? Will that update automatically when I run regular updates on the FGU launcher, or is there something else I need to do to get those added to my existing maps for AV#1?
Thanks for all your hard work!
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