Bignutt's Pathfinder Log

Final updates to Bignutt's Pathfinder game.  What a ride that was!  What have we learned?  The Wargate doesn't care for meddling Pathfinders...

Return of the Kobold King

Shadow grips the Darkmoon Vale as we return to Golarion.  This is the adventure log for this Pathfinder campaign, brought to you by your fantastic GM, Bignutt!  We'll enter adventure summaries and other important info here when it comes to light in the campaign.

In this campaign we will continue of the original Pathfinder adventure paths, and become very familiar with the basic rulebook.  This is our first real foray into Golarion, so

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Cast of Heroes

At the outset of the new campaign, many new heroes join the party to replace those who have fallen.  We'll update this roster to be as current as possible.

Updated 7.15.12

1. Brother Mentok
2. Kaleb

I'm fairly certain everyone else is dead, if not they were playing a brand new character.

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Session Log

1. Death of the Kobold King - A party of adventurers forms in Falcon's Hollow to explore the ancient ruins in the Darkmoon Vale.  Inside, they fight to recover the village's children from the clutches of an evil cult.  This adventure took place mostly during the last campaign, and the first session of this one.  From the ruins in the old forest, very few of our brave band live to return to the surface.  
2. The Burning of Falcon's Hollow - It doesn't take long for things to get out of hand when several militant clergy of Iomedae travel past the outskirts of Falcon's Hollow.  In short order, a few important people find themselves dead, and the town has to summon up the entire militia in order to deal with the rampaging worshippers of the goddess.  In the process, a few buildings burn.
3. Night at the Inn - Another set of adventurers is put in an awkward situation at an inn, which leads to threats of severance of toes and legs.  After a short spat in the inn, the sheriff demands the party stay the night at the inn...
4. The Assassin Vine - The next morning, a treasure hunter accuses the party of destroying his magical map, and tries to have local law enforcement intervene.
5. Death to Pathfinders - The party rejects the Pathfinder Society by cutting off a head or two.

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Updates

Updated 7.15.12

1. Kaleb has returned to Falcon's Hollow with the children safely!
2. Kaleb and Brother Mentok survive the campaign!

The Adventure Path! with Bignutt

He's back!

That good ol' boy, Bignutt, has been running around here for the last few weeks talking about how his game is going to rock out.  Well, I'm here to tell you we had a blast in the first session (even though we nearly had a Total Party Kill).

This campaign will continue the story presented in the Pathfinder Adventure Path modules.  Our players will note we began this last year, and you can check out our log for that adventure here.  The current campaign has a new page on this site, which you can view from States of Play on the right or you can just click right here.




This time, we're going to have a whole new set of characters to meet, and we're going to explore some party configuration options.  It will be interesting to see players with the same classes develop abilities and carve out thier own niches in the party dynamic.  With seven to eight players on average, some of the encounters can get rather grandiose.

Bignutt's got some neat toys for us to play with too.  More on this in good time, but let's just say we're accessorized for the season!

We'll see you on Game Day!  Oh, and one more thing...

The Knights of Ozem are coming to Darkmoon Vale...

What Lies Below!?

The Darkmoon Vale

It is the Age of Lost Omens.

The old empire of Azlant has fallen beneath the ocean.  The god Aroden is dead, somehow destroyed on the eve of his deific return to the world over one hundred years ago.  Ruined civilizations dot the globe. In the lands that border the Inner Sea, a sense of exploration and discovery is driving civilization forward from the precipice of oblivion.

This is Golarion, the world of the Pathfinder Chronicles.

You will venture forth, into the Age of Lost Omens, to the continent of Avistan, in the country of Andoran, on the northern side of the Inner Sea.  There we find our group of intrepid heroes traveling through the land known as the Darkmoon Vale, where strange things are afoot.

Darkwood is a magical hardwood that is prized and rare.  It is something very important to the people of the Vale, and the Lumber Consortium whose influence is felt througout the entire area.  There are two towns of note: Olfden and Falcon's Hollow.  Olfden is a larger town, and Falcon's Hollow is a rustic backwater on the edge of the woods.

Numerous cutyards line the trees, and the Lumber Consortium estimates there may be twenty or so years before the entire forest has been destroyed.  However, a large number of factors are beginning to slow down production...  

Wide Overview

The Valers (natives of the Darkmoon Vale) divide the land into three areas:  the Uplands in the south, Lowlands in the middle and the Highlands in the north.  The most important part of the area is the Darkmoon Wood, which  is the largest concentration of the fabled darkwood in all of Andorhal.  It was once part of the Arthfell Forest, but the constant logging over years and years separated them by miles.

To the North, the Vale is bordered by the mighty Five King's Mountains, the ancestral home of the dwarfs.  Foothills in the Highlands border the Vale and Five King's and lead to the volcano called Droskar's Crag.  The volcano has been largely dormant for quite some time, but is always burning ash and steam whenever it is beheld upon the horizon.  To the South is the Elberwick Rise, a large, rising plateau upon which sits most of the Arthfell Forest.

Darkmoon Plain is the largest area of the Vale, and is also called the Lowlands.  The place is ridden with geological activity such as geysers, mudpots and other such events.  The activity happening below the earth near the volcano means that most of the events on the surface are irregular, but quite common.

The area's largest river, the Foam, is ridden with rapids, waterfalls and alligators.  There are but two fords and a single ferry (at Falcon's Hollow) to cross the foam, and no boat can negotiate the nasty rapids upon the tormented waters.  The area's waters are the main danger, but certain sorts of nasty creatures such as naga and other aquatic monstrosities see a golden opportunity for lairs in this area.

In the east, the Wolfrun Hills are made up of series of rocky, rolling rises that are topped with trees and rimmed with basalt.  There are tons of wildlife in the area, including pack animals such as the (you guessed it) wolves that plague the area.  The monster-ridden peaks of the Aspodell Mountains to the west mark the tenuous border between the kingdoms of Cheliax and Andoran. This mineral rich area is patrolled vigorously by the Aspodell Rangers, who work to clear out the beasts that infest the land.

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Bignutt's time as GM is over for now, but that doesn't mean the adventure is over!  

We'll be giving him a short break from the mad responsibilities of Game Mastering for the rabid gamers here at the Wargate, but what's happened to our brave adventurers?

We'll be picking this game back up when his time comes around again, and he's left us with a doozy of a cliffhanger!  When we begin anew, the game will pick up where we left off for several months of Pathfinder action!

Angbornh, Boris the Beautiful, Brother Mentok and the rest are beneath the ruins in the forest, searching for the remaining children.  The impression they have is not good - the children were to be sacrificed to the worthless and conniving god of the kobolds.  The party is strong, and it's members won't rest until they see justice done.


There are questions that need to be answered.  Why are the werewolves helping the kobolds?  Which evil god do the kobolds truly worship - could it truly be the dwarven god of toil and suffering?


Can our warriors act fast enough to prevent a tragedy, and perhaps avert a supernatural disaster?

Only time will tell!

D&D Realms: Pathfinder

It's been a while since we've booted up the ol' Dungeons & Dragons, like - since before 4th Edition was announced.  I don't really remember my last D&D session, but it must have been some time in early 2006.  As I remember, the Dungeon Master had a hard time of working my companion and I into the game.  Apparently, his group was not quite used to our "tactical" and "aggressive" playstyle.  His group dissolved, which left just us.  So we started playing Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay instead.  As I recall, it might have been Forgotten Realms.   Or maybe not, but last I heard that particular DM has been playing 4th Edition for a long time now.

I know there are differing schools of thought on the subject, but I'm going to let you know that I simply consider Pathfinder to be a different edition of Dungeons & Dragons.  It's pretty much the same.  The rulebooks have a lot going for them, being as pretty as they are...they are color, glossy, hardcover and well formatted.  That last bit, for me, is the best part.  Just the same, it's pretty much good ol' D&D.  So, why are we all up in it?

Pathfinder is sort of a psuedo-3rd Edition, and I consider it a campaign setting like Ravenloft or Spelljammer.  It has it's permutations to the ruleset, conveniently located in the rulebook.  Imagine that.  The Golarion campaign setting has had a plethora of materials published in slick looking books, which brings us to the crux of the matter.

Why play this particular edition / setting when we also play 2nd Edition, 3.0 Edition, and 4th Edition?  I don't know if you've taken a look at 4th Edition lately, but it's not looking so good.  You probably somehow disagree with me on that, but hey.  Whatever.  The point isn't whether it's selling, look at the design of the line and the products.  You have to have a PHD in RPG History to decipher where to get to have the amount of material you're used to in your games.  Even then, you'll probably decide to go with 4th Edition material that isn't even in production anymore.

The main reason that Pathfinder is just as (if not more) relevant that the other editions that will be running is that it's alive.  It's breathing.  What I mean by that heavy metaphor is that it's currently in production by the parent company (those responsible!), and more material is on the way. That alone is incentive enough to get into this new edition.  Add to that an entirely new world with it's own themes and twists, and that's a lifetime's worth of adventure.

Not only that but at least two of our Game Masters will be using this ruleset to run their games.  One will be set in Golarion, the official setting of Pathfinder Adventures, and the other will be a homebrew campaign set in the Stone Age.  We'll get to use a lot of the published campaign material, and other material from 3.5 Edition.  Oh yeah, did I mention?  Pathfinder is backward compatible with most material from 3rd Edition, so there's a lot of material that can be used to add further permutation to the game experience.

I don't feel that this edition replaces any of the older editions, or even the newer one.  Rather, it adds to the spectacle.  We play so many settings and games here at the Wargate, it would be remiss of us not to include all the portals to other places that Pathfinder offers.  As a campaign option, it's concise and well organized.  There are a lot of attractive campaign materials, and 3rd party publishers are back via the D20 System Resource Document and Open Game License.

Long live Dungeons & Dragons.