#the bane of our gm's existence

[atomeja]

we started our third wrath & glory campaign a couple months back and my character this time around is a lexmechanic called DK-80 ("Decay")

[iphiloupe]

"Habanera"

[A small oneshot based on the events of a VTM campaign called Sang & Vin, part of a Bordeaux By Night chronicle created and set up by our GM. His version of BBN was originally loosely based on the one made by @.secretsofthemasquerade, then branched off into his own version that no longer bears any direct relation to it. All characters except for those of the party members (the Toreador Tristan, the Gangrel Vulture and the Ventrue Jane) belong to him.]

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 

Although the expression at its core speaks true, it was unfortunately often not the case for Clan Toreador—and Oscar Wilde, himself a notable member, seemed to have forgotten that when he wrote those words.

The art and beauty that the Roses swooned over was one of widespread appreciation among them; it was their art, their aesthetic. Clanmates who decided to find magnificence in things far stranger or grimier were never taken seriously, or in more severe cases forced to adhere to a disgraced antitribu outside the safety of the Camarilla sect.

Appreciation of classical beauty was key to the Toreadors' entire existence and Clan functioning. It was a necessary bane and compulsion that drove their free-spirited and vain nature inside and out.

It was only understandable those they Embraced into their Clan were of a similar mindset—and if they were as talented as they were handsome in face, well, then that was simply a bonus.

Tristan was no exception, his nickname Soleil d'Or earned through both physical and artistic means. With long, curling golden locks and a musical prouesse able to put far more than a couple of thrushes and nightingales to shame, he could awaken anything he wanted, whenever he wanted, and do so with a brilliant glimmer and glow.

A true Toreador, and the accidental nature of his Embrace was soon forgotten as he strived to prove himself worthy among their ranks—and despite his youth and inexperience, seemed to be doing so relatively well.

Therefore in the tent, his gaze had unsurprisingly first landed on Maurice, the second eldest of the Logralle brothers, all three hailing from the rebellious and outcast Clan Ravnos.

He was tall and well built, a fact he was openly proud of. Bold choices of clothing as well as the way he purposely flexed his arm defined his muscles and the thick veins straining against his pale skin. Well kept hair and a thin, trimmed beard as dark as ink took a number of years off his immortal age, and his dark, long lashed eyes were the kind that would make any mortal—and admirative Kindred—fall into a lusty daze. Everything shrieked of danger. They were good looks made to hunt the living and manipulate the dead, and succeed in doing so. 

Both blessed and cursed with a magpie-like fondness for beautiful treasures, it wouldn't be the first time a Toreador was left to drink up Maurice's image with that instinctive, soul-quenching thirst known only to their Clan. It wouldn't be the first time someone would want him as a muse for a love-stricken poem or song, a lavish painting or a paragraph of detailed, passionate prose. 

In hindsight, it likely explained why he seemed to be more than simply begrudgingly tolerated in the Toreador-dominated Elysium.

Tristan's intense focus on the tall, dark and handsome Ravnos was therefore nothing but an instinct, one of the many the Embrace had burdened upon his shoulders. 

Yet, something felt wrong.

While his soul was consumed with beauty, his body was with something else entirely. It was a strange, magnetic pull that routinely dragged his attention from one Ravnos to another. 

That other being Luc Logralle, the youngest of the trio.

The one who was nothing like his brothers.

He had neither Maurice's handsome features nor the authoritarian disposition that the eldest, Romain, had rippling through every flash of malice darting across his eyes. He hid behind unkempt hair, salt and pepper locks of black and gold matted together or cut unevenly, a shoddily shaved beard and an overall negligent and uncared for appearance. Thinner and shorter than the two others, he seemed to fade into the background in their presence, even when the situation at hand involved him directly. Draped in patched up, scratchy cotton clothes hanging limply over his frame, he was nestled in a chair half-cloaked by shadows, silent and out of sight.

Maurice spoke well, his voice just as sharp, cool and handsome as the rest of him. Luc said nothing. Tristan had practically forgotten what he sounded like, the only thing he could recall being the slight grate tearing at the edges of some syllables.

To any accomplished Toreador musician, it would be enough to turn their nose up and discard him in disgust. Tristan on the other hand found himself dreaming of managing to replicate his timber on the strings of his guitar.

He also liked the Ravnos' silence. 

He liked…everything about him.

Luc was invisible, inconspicuous, nothing in the grand scheme of things or in the eyes of those who knew of him.

And yet it was a Toreador, of all the Kindred in the Camarilla, who noticed him. 

Who took interest despite the lack of aesthetic worthy of the Clan of the Rose's tastes.

Who felt something burn.

At first, Tristan wondered if it was guilt. 

That was the reason they were here, with Jane held at the sharpened point of a machete, the calm and domineering nature of the Ventrue slipping by the minute as Maurice's weapon came closer; Vulture watching on in animalistic, paralyzed fear; and Val—the Gangrel's Sire—simply standing back and letting it all unfold. 

It was all to solve a misunderstanding. 

A misunderstanding that involved a car accident and a fit of panic. 

A fit of panic that had had them crush Luc under the tires of the Ravnos' own car.

Twice.

It of course took more than that to kill one of the Kindred, and Luc seemed to have healed overday without a single scratch on his person pertaining back to the incident. The memory of the ordeal, however, had become a prominent scar on each of them, and on the wider peace reigning in Bordeaux.

The humanity Tristan still had in him would understandably feel something, remorse more likely than not.

But this was not that.

This was something else.

It carried a smouldering sentiment unlike anything Tristan remembered feeling in his unlife, but close enough to be more than familiar to him. Something bleeding through a crack in his aura from a time long gone, infused with the wild, rich taste of life. 

Of humanity, however distant.

He could get drunk off the feeling alone, the nostalgia of a time and a being he had forgotten he missed, smoother and sweeter than the most delectable of mortal blood. 

Luc's eyes burned with fire, too; dull enough to stay somewhat subdued, yet still dangerously active, ready to strike.

The thick, heavy presence settled around Tristan's head gripped his shoulder and his heart with cold, clawed grasps. 

Tristan leaned into them.

Yes, it was the Ravnos' contempt searing him clean open, a stake in the heart and tearing down his torso. 

It was the savage beauty of an unbridled hate, the passion of a frustration bottled up and itching to be released with the strength of the Beast. It was the anger that bled through theatrical tragedies, into the brash red paint streaks slapped across a dismal canvas of war and chaos, and in dry, scarily precise and detailed words that could cut harder and deeper than any blade. It was the cold control Luc seemed to have over it, so unlike the fury he let loose when they had first met.

Tonight, away from blinding headlights, suspicious red drugs and failed diplomacy, Tristan truly saw him.

Luc took note of him right back.

The moment they crossed one another's stare was brief, but it was enough. It was enough for the Toreador to question everything, from his perception of beauty to the justice being dealt out before them both. 

An agonizing urge to say something, to beg, climbed up his throat, but fell off his lips as nothing but a forced breath from deceased lungs.

Run away with me.

The words were strangled in their cradle. 

Luc kept staring. He didn't move, as immobile as a marble statue Tristan would have been all too happy to carve if he had been blessed with the skills.

His presence frightened him—Tristan couldn't tell if it was because he loved him.

Love, something he never thought he'd feel again. Not obsession, as his Kindred self replaced it with in his unlife, but love. The soft, human affection that came and went when it pleased, that flew high and proud like a capricious, rebellious bird, that surpassed the boundaries of aestheticism and appreciation of superficial beauty. 

Not obsession.

Not obsession, but just as soul-consuming and difficult to cast aside.

It was one sided, he was sure of it. Luc's glare was focused far more with deep interest than a form of intoxicating passion, but it was close enough to make Tristan's dead, withered heart beat again. 

The dark entity continued to writhe and slash at his being, but for the first time could not cloud his senses. 

Another force was already there, just as powerful, just as consuming. It took control. It strangled him with bright colours and the suffocating scent of roses, rich enough to make him sick, strong enough to break his will into two.

He shouldn't have been feeling any of this. It was a direct offense to the dark laws the Kindred's souls bowed down to.

Yet, Toreadors better than any others knew the sentiment had been romanticized by mortals and immortals alike.

L'amour est enfant de Bohême

Il n'a jamais connu de lois

Tristan finally understood not only the words but the soul of Bizet's "Habanera". He felt every chord of its melody pump through every single one of his veins, every strum stirring them back to a vibrant warmth he had never fathomed he'd feel again.

Love—if that was truly what it was—conquered all, even the living dead.

[stonelarkquetzal]

Quotes from Pathfinder

“They’re kind of a weird white-haired, gray-skinned...thing. Orcs tend to be pretty muscular. Think Scorpia but hair and skin kinda like Double Trouble” - Talking about Ekaro, our genderfluid half-orc paladin.

“It’s a satyr marionette(Mother of Puppets) in a Distortion forest.” -me comparing stuff in our campaign to the Magnus Archives, which I’m the only one in our group who knows anything about.

“Well, well, well, how the turns have tabled” - Ekaro, after the rest of the party has been dropped down a well that magically appeared after she said “did Timmy fall down the old well?”

“You yeeted the well out of existence.” -GM

One of the pebbles now in Elam’s chesthole is a transformed well. Rather like we have a cup that was once a bookshelf. And a tiny bunny that was once a giant scorpion. -GM and all the players

“You look around and see you’re on a hill-less treetop....wait....a treeless hilltop. Yeah, that.” -GM

“Even though YOU, servant of that WENCH Iomadae...” the Black Fae to Ekaro, who flips her off, player using this meme as a reference.

“Ah the blade of evil’s bane...which I picked up in a shop in the Shadow plane.” -GM

“Weapons fly back in and are able to commence stabby-stab this turn.” -GM

“Ring of Shooting Stars, I’ve been waiting for this! I’m gonna use all three shooting stars.” *sings ala Martina McBride* “It’s Independence Daaaay” “OMG are you really using the shooting stars on July 4!?!?” - Ekaro, me, GM

Fusion attack - Surprise Limit Break Tango - FLAME STRIKE SHOOTING STARS!!!

[cyberkevvideo]

Throne of Night - New Special Material: Gunzarak (True Mithral)

In Book 2, the (unfortunately) last published book for Throne of Night, we were introduced to the concept of “true mithral”, also known as gunzarak. It was a special processing of mithral that allowed you it to mimic some of the properties of adamantine. We even got a really interesting weapon in the form of an axe. We were also given a minimal amount of lore that this style of processing was a closely guarded secret to a specific clan of dwarves, and that its secret had long been lost over time.

Sadly, that’s all we got. It can be assumed that in Book 3, where we see the party finally find the lost dwarven city, that we would get either a sidebar or even an appendix that explained what true mithral was, and its pricing for armor and weapons. Sadly, this would not be the case. At least as of today’s entry.

Today, I’m going to give you my rundown on how I would have released it. I would like to say that I did not come about these numbers willy-nilly. I contacted some friends and acquaintances from the table top industry, who far more adept and knowledgeable at this kind of thing than I (not to mention decade long veterans) , and had them give me their opinions, then I went marketed it to more than a half-dozen players to get their take on it.

As always, for space reasons, I’ll be cropping the encounter build.

All images shared here were done by the forever fantastic and amazingly talented Michael D. Clarke, aka SpiralMagus

I do not have a Patreon or a Kickstarter, but I do have a Ko-Fi  page (linked) for those who are looking to support me monetarily. There is no pressure  or obligation to do so.

Finally, before I get to it, I hope everyone’s  staying safe right now.

Deep within the Zaraketh Mine, after solving a dwarven puzzle, what appears to be a mithral greataxe can be found by the party. To their astonishment, it’s actually an axe made of a new special material, gunzarak.

The provided lore says: But for all the dark elves’ skill in working this strange metal, it was in the forges of Dammerhall that the dwarves learned the secret of elevating mithral to its full potential. They could create an alloy that was lighter than aluminum, stronger than adamantine, as perfect a metal as this world has ever known. This was gunzarak (in dwarvish lit. the true gift of the earth) or “true mithral”. Even the drow had never seen its equal and it was Dammerhall’s gift to the world. Even today, centuries after the last sword of true mithral was forged, many a dynasty counts among its greatest heirlooms these dwarven blades and armors.The secret of making ‘true mithral’ was lost with the fall of Dammerhall. The dwarves too jealously guarded their secret and when calamity fell, the secret was lost. Perhaps there will never again come forth a smith capable of making gunzarak. Perhaps this jewel of dwarven lore is forever beyond the kin of mortals.

As written, the magic axe reads as thus:

The Axe of Horath Rocknose Aura moderate conjuration and transmutation; CL 10th Slot --; Price 27,320 gp; Weight 6 lbs. DESCRIPTION This is a +1 keen dragon-bane greataxe made of gunzarak (true mithral). It counts as both being made of adamantine while possessing the weight reduction of mithral. For the purpose of damage reduction it is considered as both an adamantine, silver and magic weapon. CONSTRUCTION Requirements Craft Arms and Armor, creator must know the secret of working true mithral, keen edge summon monster I; Cost 13,660 gp

Given its stats, it’s obvious that this was to be a major boon in Book 3. It can also be assumed that if the axe is shown to the stone golem blocking the secret passageway to Dammerhall, that’s part of the key needed for bypassing the guardian.

From a designer stance, this item has a few issues in the math and wording, but that’s okay. What’s important is that you can still discern its capabilities and what the author was trying to convey when he made it.

With what’s provided, and a little reverse engineering, we are able to deduce that, theoretically, gunzarak is worth 775 gp/lb. This is a little more than 1.5x what mithral costs (500 gp/lb.). That sounds reasonable enough.

Over the past month, I’ve had multiple discussions with some fellow game designers, as well as a bunch of players that I know. The reason being is designing special materials is a balancing act that many aren’t very good at. The conversations went from “treat this like a magic item and make the lowest cost be 1.5x the price and add the highest base, or at least add an additional percentage to the total price” to “adamantine in Pathfinder 1e and 3.5 was overpriced, so unless that gets fixed, you won’t get a proper price for this material.” What was also mentioned was that it was nice that this replicated both mithral and adamantine as a whole, like a magic item, what was special about it? What made it its own material that people would covet? Sure it was both mithral and adamantine, but you could find magic items that would made things better and cheaper, or even psionic powers or spells that could do it better, for cheaper, and not have any sort of weaknesses short of being dispelable. “True silver”, another special material (from Paizo), is processed to the point it was immune to rusting effects, so why wouldn’t true mithral have something similar, if not exactly the same? Again, all valid arguments.

In the end, after all the conversations had completed, this ended up being the final numbers and abilities. As such, I’d recommend the additional property be added to the axe in Book 2.

Gunzarak (True Mithral) Mithral that's been masterfully refined and processed, making it lighter than aluminum and stronger than adamantine. Armor: Heavy and medium armor are treated as one category lighter. ACP is reduced by 3 (to a minimum of 0), Dex bonus is increased by 2, and ASF is reduced by 10%. Grants untyped damage reduction 1/— (light), 2/— (medium), 3/— (heavy) Weapons: Ignore hardness of less than 20. Considered adamantine and silver with regards to bypassing DR. Special: Always considered masterwork. Immune to rusting effects. Hardness 20; Hit Points 30 per inch Armor Costs: Light (+6,000 gp), Medium (+15,000 gp), Heavy (+22,000 gp) Weapons and other items: 775 gp/lb.

It shouldn’t need explanation, but just in case, “rusting effects” include that of rusting monsters and the rusting grasp spell. Also, true mithral isn’t adamantine, even if it counts as such, so it won’t have the same ‘hit points per inch’.

I know that some people are going to argue that it’s way too cheap, but it’s honestly not. Adamantine is way too overpriced, and you fail a single save against a rusting effect and that PC is out their armor. Not to mention, given any other price point, you’re better off taking mithral armor and wearing a belt of Con for the additional hit points or something that can regenerate your heal in some way. Anything else would just be considered a waste of money. I know, the players I talked to schooled me pretty hard in that regard, and broke down the math. Not to mention, if you allow 3PP products in home games, a psychic warrior with the biofeedback power has DR 2/— for 1 minute/level, and can augment that to make it even higher. If you can turn that same power into a permanent magic item, it costs 8,000 gp to buy, but only 4,000 gp to make. It’s about being practical with your money at higher level, and crafting items takes a long time when it’s in the high, high thousands.

That said, if you feel it should be significantly higher, like say: Light armor +6,500; Medium +16,000; and Heavy +28,500 gp, which were the original prices I was suggested to go with, then so be it, but don’t be surprised if the party tries to sell the items for something cheaper and more practical, and bank the rest of the gold. Even more so if they’re playing with the kind of GM who is very strict about the wealth table, and being even 1 gold piece over it means you’re “broken” and no longer allowed an allowance until such time that you become high enough level to earn gold again. And, yes, those GMs absolutely exist, and players take that into consideration when it comes to their purchases. I will mention that my original prices were actually lower (14k and 20k for medium and heavy), but I was quickly talked out of it.

Again, this is what the decision came to be after multiple conversations with fellow TTRPG game designers (most having previously worked for Paizo) and players who’ve all played in very confining and restricted wealth games. In the end, we were all able to walk away happy. I have absolutely no idea how much Gary originally intended this material to cost, and I’m more than curious, but he had connections with Paizo as well (namely the director and lead designer, Jason Bulmahn), so it’s possible that our numbers aren’t all that different.

Segway: For anyone curious what a more practical cost for adamantine would be, Purple Duck Games published it as 750 gp for light weapons, 1500 gp for one-handed, and 3000 gp for two-handed. Armor was 4000, 8000, and 12000, respectfully. When it came to gunzarak, it was quoted as likely being 6000, 12000, and 18000 for the different armors. Weapons would probably start at 800 gp, to make it more of a round number, and different from adamantine. Mithral was also dropped to 350 gp for light weapons, 700 for one-handed, and 1400 for two-handed. Armor was 1000, 2000, and 3000. It sounds cheap, but the new Pathfinder 1.5 system they developed removed arcane spell failure.

Getting back to the original subject though, in Book 3, the party was supposed to discover the art of how to process the mithral, and I would bet that like in Book 2, the axe the PCs find is a key to a safe or another puzzle, that has that exact formula for how they’d do it. As to what that process is, I’ll leave it up to the GM. Their game, their rules. They would know best how it should be done in their own home games in their own home world.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

With that, the “Throne of Night” AP is complete. At least for now. All the known monsters have been identified and given stats (or linked to stats), the gunzarak is fleshed out a little more, an alternate race (that we should have seen in Book 3) was provided, a couple of extra monsters were added for additional encounters, more items were designed or showcased, and Mike’s fantastic art was shown off. Not to mention an entire AD&D adventure converted to Pathfinder 1e to help anyone finish their game without having to rely on books that don’t exist, and still give the AP some sense of finality. If there’s any more than that, I’ll do them as they come by may. At the very least, there’s more than enough to do your own game and give it a respectful ending.

If anything more if required, I made a resource page and posted a link on the Paizo forum for everyone to access. It has all of the relevant posts, additional adventures that could be used, suggestions and ideas from other GMs who homebrewed the rest of their own game, etc. A treasure trove of information for anyone needing it.

I thank everyone for coming with me on this journey.

[thestickchick]

Here's how my week of training, writing, teaching, and miscellaneous Filipino Martial Arts-y goodness went.

What have you been up to this week? THE WEEK DAY-BY-DAY: Saturday:  Mr. Chick woke up puking up everything he'd eaten for the last two years, so I took Younger Daughter to our city Easter Egg Hunt in the morning, then I went to Kobudo in the afternoon.  After running through the bo, tonfa, and nunchaku, we worked on sai most of the session. Sunday:  Mr. Chick weakly recovered enough to attend a session with Hock Hochheim, so I spent my day in chores. Monday:   Morning gym.  Went to Arnis class at Hidden Sword.  We're counting down to our black belt test so we're working hard on various stuff we'll cover on the test. Tuesday:   Morning gym.  Taught class at Mid-Cities Arnis, working on stuff like anyos, and block check counter, and sinawali inserts, and whatnot.  Jacked up my left knee a little bit so I had to take it easy. Wednesday:  Skipped the gym and slept in (again - knee was not feeling super great).  Class at Hidden Sword.  Worked on the Anyos - especially Anyo Apat (so grateful I don't have to do the bane of my Arnis Anyo existence, Anyo Lima!), and then block check counter stuff. Thursday:  Morning gym.  Taught class at Mid-Cities Arnis.  Worked on teaching the kids Empty Hand Tapi-Tapi (we are working hard on the brush-grab-strike concept) and in the adult class we worked on interrupting sinawali flow and what might come next. Friday:  Morning gym. Taught class at Mid-Cities Arnis.  It's Friday, so we baked pies. Juuuussstt kidding, we did stick fighting like we always do.

Also on Friday, April 14, Grand Master Jack Hogan of Hogan Karate International died after a long and hard fought battle with cancer.  My martial arts career was heavily influenced by students of Jack Hogan's, and he will be sorely missed.

Bruce Chiu, myself, Jack Hogan and Mr. Chick in January 2009

BLOGGY GOODNESS:

Here's the original content I posted this week: Monday:  Magic and the Martial Arts Wednesday:  3 Tips For Parents to Choose a Martial Art And here's what I re-shared this week: Tuesday:   What's in Your Gear Bag? Wednesday: Why Study Double Sticks at All? Friday:  Instructors and Students Dating OTHER STUFF THAT I SAW/DID: This post is not actually NEW-new, but I just saw it this week.  This very blog was included with other very fine blogs, including +Joelle White, in this list of Martial Arts Bloggers to Follow.  Neat! I think everyone knows about the United Airlines fiasco that's been headline news all week.  Lots of martial arts schools have been jumping on that badwagon ("United Defense").  Here's Master Ken doing it:

New post at The Martial Learner: Are Your Social Skills Killing Your Martial Skills? Details were finalized and we have a new seminar that Mid-Cities Arnis will host (in partnership with Hidden Sword Martial Arts).  It's on Mother's Day and I can't think of a better present for mom!  Here's the event details over on Facebook:  STICK and STEEL Seminar with GM Art Miraflor and Professor Dan Anderson

FINAL THOUGHTS OF THE WEEK:

I will be spending my day working on Arnis and kobudo, and later, we're going out to Bridgeport, TX to help my teacher instruct a session on Arnis for empty-hand instructors looking to learn what we do as add-on programs in their own schools.  It'll be a long and fun day. Happy Easter, everyone! So what did YOU do this week?  What did you train? What did you teach?  Did you see any really cool martial arts stuff online?  Let me know!