Topic: Xa-ar issues (spoilers! Players should back of this thread)

[Terry K. Amthor]

I must say that I love reading about your adventures in Xa-ar!

[DangerMan]

I must say that I love reading about your adventures in Xa-ar!

Good. We like playing it as well. Some players miss opportunities for social interacting problem solving (ehr... influence skills / roleplaying), but I guess thats on me as the GM. They also got sidetracked by the whole jewel slime well-thing and thought it was imperative that they locate every singel well. Now Im planning to speed things up, after the bridge caves - should they survive it. Without railroading them too much (which is hardly possible with this group) Im hoping to have the get the last titlepage from Raathmaruiig, restore the Isle of lost magic, wreak havoc on Ulor and the priests tower and then hopefully destroy the orb of unlife.

We've been at it for some 25ish sessions now and IMHO thats a lot to GM and players to go through. Time for a change of scenary.

I'll tell you this, however, the (power)players just love the loot!! The magehunter (lotana) cant stop talking about that helm to go with his two(!) swords (luckily he has broadsword as primary weapon). Not looking forward to them wielding the uncold/unheat sowrds, though. 

[RandalThor]

I think it goes like this. The platform is a circle 700 feet in diameter. The platform is covered by an anti-magic field that extends 50 feet beyond the edge of the platform, i.e. 800 feet in diameter, and 100 feet in the air above the platform floor. This field covers the entire platform except in the absolute centre where there is a circle of 100 feet in diameter which it doesn't cover. So, travelling in to the centre from the outside at 400 feet from the centre you will reach the edge of the anti-magic field; at 350 feet you will reach the edge of the platform itself, at 175 feet the ring of eog pillars and at 50 feet you will reach the end of the anti-magic field.

Sorry to be a bit late on this but, it specifically says 350' diameter, not radius. So, the platform is 350' across from side to side, not 700, right? See below, emphasis mine.

There is a 350´ diameter ring of eighteen, 20´ tall black eog pillars, which creates an anti-magic torus extending fifty feet from the edge of the platform on the outside and on the inside beyond a clear area in the center about 100´ across, and up to 100´ high.

So, unless a previous sentence has said that the ring of eog pillars are set well inside the edge of the platform, the platform itself is also 350' in diameter. Right?

But, I too get a donut shaped ring (300' wide by 100' high) out of the description.

[Voriig Kye]

Ok, so as planned we finished the campaign last week.
All in all we met 66 times, for about 4-5 hours of gameplay, with many sessions running longer. 5 of those times we met to discuss character creation, making them unrelated to the campaign, but may give you an idea about the time needed to discuss everything with this particular group of players.
Also, 3 sessions were to create the initial characters, with 2 more around mid-campaign to create new characters because of a near TPK.
In case you are interested, the original party contained:
- Lotana Mentalist, distant relative to Yaalc Muul, who ended up finding the crown and the Horn Sword. This is the only character that survived the TPK by shadowing and stalking out of the scene. From level 1 to 10 by the final adventure.
- Mah-Ilari Ranger, shapeshifter warden of the forests, slain at level 6 by a nasty crossbow critical from a Quaidu figther. We are using fate points, but all were burned trying to escape from the shards of Dir in the session previous to this one.
- Mah-Ilari Magician, living in the Ginh Tarn monastery after running away from the Iron Wind town she was raised in. Head severed at level 5 by a Messenger (sent by Valaan) that had come to clean the scene where the party was fighting the previously mentioned Quaidus.
- Laan Mana Molder, from the land of Haalkitaine, following rumors of the Isle of Lost Magic. Fell at level 5 by failing a spell during the encounter with the Messengers, was taken prisoner and never seen again.
- Lotana Layman, specialized in wood-crafts, creator of the Dir wagon that carried the first and second parties. Downed by a Messenger with the rest, captured and lost at  level 5.

Then by spending 2 more sessions they came up with a SWAT team to take on all quaidus and messengers they could find:
- Jameri Warrior Monk, master of the Bow, also Beastmaster by means of training package. Ended the campaign at level 9 accompanied by a battle boar and an ovir!
- Duranaki Essence Monk, provider of the magics. Using the "self to touch" talent, she was constantly buffing the party with incredible powers, and both the Iron Wind and Ulor armies were trying to capture her for her abilities. Completed the final adventure and ended up at level 11.
- Umli Priest of Reann, almost a fighter in disguise. Armed with spear and polearm, and making extensive use of the stunning spell and the Shadow Mastery spell list, he reached level 9 at the final session.
- Ky'taari Shao-Lin Monk, a strict follower of Ginh, although the greatest damage dealer in the group. Obtained level 10 after the final battle.

Keep in mind that because of the TPK, and the inherent slow progress of the adventure because of the 5 players and 2 mascots, and lots of haste/adrenal speed users, I had to cut the Orb plotline out in order to stop the campaign from lasting forever. It took almost 2 years of RL to finish.

In the final adventure, after reaching the summit of the tower with the Wand of Light, the Wand of Earth, the Lotana Helm, lots of Bracers of Uniting, crystals to spare, and more magic items than they could remember, they chose to call an Essaence storm that enveloped Ulor to the south completely, and also went as far as the city of Nirima to the east.
Then, almost ready to leave, they found a super buffed Valaan reclaiming the items (and the magic monk) claiming that HE had set things up all along so they could be victorious. After some threats the battle began, but...
in the first round, before Valaan's action, the mentalist spend TWO fate points and some lucky dice, and got to Valaan's mind, enough to make sure he was no danger to anyone.
Despite that, the demigod cried for help to mom, who sent 2 Dancers to help in battle.
I toned them down a little bit to make it even, but in the end, with just some minor cuts, the party survived.
After Valaan confessed he knew where the captive party members were, they decided to kill him and start planning their next move, to march against the Iron Wind and rescue their friends, but that is another story.

This post is long enough as it is... of course there are lots of things to comment on related to the campaign, so if Terry or any of the GM's running it want to ask about something in particular, just do and I'll write some more.

[DangerMan]

Sounds like you had lots of fun. 66 sessions is a lot, more so considering you did not do the orb-part. Did that mean you took out the uncold/heat-swords as well? What about Rathmauriig?

How did you handle the near TPK? Players made new characters at the same level as the dead ones?

My players are now in the warded circle in the waterfall cavern. They found out about the shards, anti magic field and the ward - and flew down to the tree, after the mythic casted "no sense" on everybody. The shards sensed them as they touched the ground, but due to the "no sense" spells they cannot see, smell or hear them. Players proceeded to use phantasm to attract the shards and fired at them from within the circle, but did minimal damage. PCs made a successful demon lore earlier on, so they know most of what is to be known about the shards. They are now contemplating how to kill them of(!), but no one has thought about looking for hidden treasures under the salufus tree..... makes me want to scream...

[Voriig Kye]

If you want to prevent them from ripping the tree from the ground, explain the peaceful and holy presence of the tree, and how it keep the shards at bay, maybe suggesting that the nearest non dangerous locate hidden would be near the pool... ;-)
The uncold was never mentioned because they didn't need to reach the Guardian Circle of Song. They knew about the place and intended to go there, but it was surrounded by an Ulor camp who where trying to get inside. Since they already had enough crystals and the jewel well from the caves, it was not strictly necessary for them to go. I skipped the Tev Yu'um scene since they had all the required items to activate the storm on their first visit.
Raathmaauriig was mentioned, mainly because the Lotanas knew about him, but they never tried anything against him, he had killed all the royal guards after all.
After the TPK, I let them create new characters, allowing them to start them between level 1 and that of their dead characters. Most choose to start at level 4, so as not to be so far from the surviving mentalist but having a chance to "grow", with the transition to level 5 being the last one requiring only 10.000 xp.
Although the second party was a combat machine, filled with powerful battle techniques, they had almost no lore nor perception skills, most of them only got 2 ranks in spell lore and 1 in demon lore by level 10! So lots of time were spent not understanding the things happening around them, but once combat began, they always knew what to do. The campaign ended with them having no idea what a shard was, who the earthwardens were, and they couldn't even understand how to eat the salufa fruit once obtained, so they left it there to keep it from going bad.

[Terry K. Amthor]

Love the summary Voriig!

[DangerMan]

Which attack table do i use for the shards? It says "lbc" on the NPC chart?

[DangerMan]

I dont get this part from C&M either:

Fortunately, because Shards must decide where to start, turn, or stop seconds ahead of time, they can be ambushed even while moving; one needs  to know their exact path. Once the Shard stops, of course,
any readied attack will serve quite well. With a successful orientation roll, an adventurer can react to the Shard’s pause, then, assuming the dauntless warrior does not swal-low a dice or two, he or she can fell the pitiless creature.

C&M 1995, p128.

Can someone explain this to me? Please assume I am a four year old goblin with an RE stat flaw.

[NicholasHMCaldwell]

Which attack table do i use for the shards? It says "lbc" on the NPC chart?

Typo - lbc should be lcb (light crossbow)

Best wishes,
Nicholas

[DangerMan]

Which attack table do i use for the shards? It says "lbc" on the NPC chart?

Typo - lbc should be lcb (light crossbow)

Best wishes,
Nicholas

Typo was my own doing. Thank you! I should have been able to figure that one out, though.

Oh, and the best wishes should go to my players who dont know when to let go of a fight...

[Terry K. Amthor]

Beware of wooden pedestals,
thrones hewn of ancient woods unbright.

(five lines missing)

And if there should be a stone,
Run and seek safety in open light.
For with a glow and a mist of rouge
there will be no right.
First Six, then one, then all will war,
the land torn by blight.

— Journals of Ugus Fost TE 4166 (last entry)

This is only in the GM handouts for Xa'ar; it is a file that comes with the PDF of the book, but if you only bought the print copy, it can be downloaded for free. http://www.eidolonstudio.com/Shadow_World/Links_files/Xa-ar_handouts.pdf

[NicholasHMCaldwell]

I dont get this part from C&M either:

Fortunately, because Shards must decide where to start, turn, or stop seconds ahead of time, they can be ambushed even while moving; one needs  to know their exact path. Once the Shard stops, of course,
any readied attack will serve quite well. With a successful orientation roll, an adventurer can react to the Shard’s pause, then, assuming the dauntless warrior does not swal-low a dice or two, he or she can fell the pitiless creature.

C&M 1995, p128.

Can someone explain this to me? Please assume I am a four year old goblin with an RE stat flaw.

Essentially the intent is that if you can predict where a Shard wants to move (either by various situational awareness combat maneuvers or through anticipations/intuitions-style magic), then you can arrange to be at that place and ambush it if you're fast enough. Alternatively if you're that good, may be you should arrange to be Somewhere Else.

Best wishes,
Nicholas

[DangerMan]

I dont get this part from C&M either:

Fortunately, because Shards must decide where to start, turn, or stop seconds ahead of time, they can be ambushed even while moving; one needs  to know their exact path. Once the Shard stops, of course,
any readied attack will serve quite well. With a successful orientation roll, an adventurer can react to the Shard’s pause, then, assuming the dauntless warrior does not swal-low a dice or two, he or she can fell the pitiless creature.

C&M 1995, p128.

Can someone explain this to me? Please assume I am a four year old goblin with an RE stat flaw.

Essentially the intent is that if you can predict where a Shard wants to move (either by various situational awareness combat maneuvers or through anticipations/intuitions-style magic), then you can arrange to be at that place and ambush it if you're fast enough. Alternatively if you're that good, may be you should arrange to be Somewhere Else.

Best wishes,
Nicholas

Thanks, but I still dont get it. I can see how intuitions could work, as it allows the caster to see into the future. I cannot, however, see how a non spell caster could use skills like situational awareness to predict where a shard will end up.

[Terry K. Amthor]

Shards are difficult to run for a GM, no doubt about it. If you are outdoors in a forest, they are basically unhittable. But if you are in a confined space, you may be able to determine a logical place where a Shard may stop to fire, and have your weapon (probably a missile weapon, as Shards do not melee, so they are not going to stop near a PC) trained on that spot. On the negative side, the Shard is stopping to fire at something (probably a member of your group). This can be determined as much by the player as a roll, and of course there is luck involved. However, if you have your bow ready and aimed in the general area where a Shard stops to fire, you should be able to get a simultaneous missile shot off.

[DangerMan]

Shards are difficult to run for a GM, no doubt about it. If you are outdoors in a forest, they are basically unhittable. But if you are in a confined space, you may be able to determine a logical place where a Shard may stop to fire, and have your weapon (probably a missile weapon, as Shards do not melee, so they are not going to stop near a PC) trained on that spot. On the negative side, the Shard is stopping to fire at something (probably a member of your group). This can be determined as much by the player as a roll, and of course there is luck involved. However, if you have your bow ready and aimed in the general area where a Shard stops to fire, you should be able to get a simultaneous missile shot off.

Aye. We're on the same page now. Thanks.

[Terry K. Amthor]

Glad to help. Shards are intended to be terrifying and powerful; they are demonic constructs from the First Era after all. They can move (and stop) so quickly that they are a blur, and PCs who have not encountered them before should be confused and overwhelmed.