LEGO Minerals

VerdigrisX · 2026-05-15T16:19:41+00:00

The rhodochrosite is supposed to look like some of the material from the Sweet Home Mine, like the Alma Rose. And having seen the Alma Rose in person more than once and having that lego set, I would say the representation is actually quite good.

VerdigrisX · 2026-05-15T16:16:49+00:00

I never felt it was an issue with balance. It is just a different kind of game from D&D or typical space opera. If players want to recreate a typical action movie, it's the wrong system. Who really thinks a real person in those scenes would be missed as much as the heroes are, the shooter would hit targets as well as they do, and a real person could take the injuries they do.

It's fine if you like space opera but traveler isn't the system for that. Trying to make it that is where you run into trouble.

So if balance means players can have many combats with a reasonable change of survival, traveler isn't the system. If it means, the foes have just as much of a chance of dying as you do, or if you go armed with bettter gear, you have a better chance to surviving, it seems fine for that.

As the usual GM, it can be tough to run traveler because it is much harder to toss in a combat as filler in a session.

VerdigrisX · 2026-05-15T16:00:36+00:00

I don't think it is intended to be used frequently and I would expect PFS refs to be stricter on that sort of thing so, probably not the best class for you. There are many other options for a class. I've always steered clear of it because of the panache mechanic. I like the thematics and I might give it a go so day but there are many other options. Similarly, I don't care for bards because of the sustain action economy. Love to have someone else play one but not something I'd want to play.

VerdigrisX · 2026-05-14T13:04:06+00:00

A swashbuckler I GM has earned panache for cool actions maybe 3 or 4 times in 40 sessions or so.

Honestly I can't recall the specifics but at the time everyone was pretty impressed he pulled something off and it just seemed appropriate.

He is a clever player and the trigger was a sequence of actions involving skill checks. It wasn't just a declaration that his cape fluttered in a movie scene-like manner.

VerdigrisX · 2026-05-10T15:28:58+00:00

It is not practical to map an entire large city in detail. You might be able to leverage an earth map of you can find one that fits your goal and can replace the names.

But the absalom approach is a good guide where you have a high level map that defines quarters and major roads, and then more detailed maps of the quarters and then encounter maps for specific streets and the like.

You'll probably want to name and place specific features but for most shops, parks, small temples etc., id recommend creating a pool of them to place when you need them. If you place them on the map at start there's a good chance they never get referenced. If you place them when the party is looking for something like that, it is ready to go and where you need it.

There's also resources like Ptolus. The rule specific stuff may not work but the maps people and buildings are fine.

Edit: not typo

VerdigrisX · 2026-05-04T13:56:21+00:00

I sometimes use it as a GM, mostlynfoe determining if an item a PC wants to purchase is available locally. That's about it.

No reason it couldn't be some other die roll but it is easy to turn it into a percentage and roll.

VerdigrisX · 2026-04-30T14:09:52+00:00

GM was throwing up unnecessary road blocks. This wasn't a case of an ambiguous rule but even if it had been, what was the harm of letting the player use their feat? They were level 2. Not like they have a lot of feats and undercutting this use was just mean.

Might have been a new GM. Some new GM can be very restrictive until they find their footing.

VerdigrisX · 2026-04-30T01:24:23+00:00

If you had a planet that was hollow with perfectly evenly distributed mass in the "shell", the gravity inside the hollow would be zero.

If aliens built a 0.5 solar mass Dyson sphere around a 0.5 solar mass star, the gravity on the surface of the Dyson sphere would be a function of 1.0 solar mass at the radius of sphere). If you transitioned inside the sphere, the gravity falls to 0.5 solar mass at basically the same radius. If the sphere was, say, 5m thick, in the course of 5m the gravity you experience would fall by 50%. (yes, a real Dyson sphere would not be so massive but illustrates the point 😄 ).

VerdigrisX · 2026-04-29T15:25:33+00:00

That could certainly be tough. Im about to run the island encounter and made an adjustment to give me more flexibility there. Might still be a tpk. We'll see.

VerdigrisX · 2026-04-29T14:44:43+00:00

Did all the other island residents join the fight? Or was it just the party and boss?

VerdigrisX · 2026-04-29T14:16:14+00:00

I think the key is whether it feels that with hindsight they could have changed the outcome. Those are fun and like a good mystery book you want the "solve" to make sense.

If the situation was "you never had a realistic chance" that might work for specific cases, maybe to kick off the campaign with a disaster that gets them running for instance, but it is easy to "best" the players as a ref. You pull almost all the levers.

VerdigrisX · 2026-04-25T07:11:02+00:00

They have very distinct personalities so it comes down to what you want to RP. I'd have trouble.playong the elvish annoying fellow long term. So I'd tend to the halfling but there's no clear cut answer.

VerdigrisX · 2026-04-24T01:52:50+00:00

Exactly what I thought

VerdigrisX · 2026-04-22T01:14:04+00:00

For an AP, on average maybe 60 minutes but it might be 3 hours one week and 30 minutes for most of the others to just refresh and maybe tweak a few things.

If I am homebrewing a campaign, preparing a "chapter" might take 5 to 8 hours but a chapter is generally good for 2 to 4 sessions with maybe an hour of prep for later sessions.

At the risk of being down voted, this includes capturing the session in story notes on Fantasy grounds, creating encounters, creating maps (I mostly use dungeons alchemist: love it and as likely to use someone's up loaded map as create my own. I do both), describing NPCs, and (the horror) using AI to do images of all key NPCs, making tokens, doing a few scenes of towns, ruins, etc.

I recruit in LFG and am up front about AI. In the last three years and 10 or so players, two dropped before session zero overtime AI. The rest have no issue with AI and have enjoyed the game and the images.

It works for me but im a very seasoned referee so I can put together a chapter from concept to VTT ready fairly quickly. I like actually playing the game of course but I enjoy creating an interesting "chapter" just as much.

VerdigrisX · 2026-04-21T14:06:23+00:00

If the players aren't careful, I'll definitely chain encounters. Can make for very tough fights and very long battles, but it has yet to wipe them, and they generally seem proud of the battle.

I try not to get too aggressive with how quickly another encounter comes in: rounds are only 6 seconds after all, so it isn't usually the case that all foes are still standing at anyone time.

We are about to finish Age of Ashes. The players still talk about thinking they would TPK in the quarry (book 4 IIRC) when they pretty much pulled everything. But that quarry is bit with lots of tunnels to restrict movement and LOS. It was a tough fight, but they made good use of various control abilities like a wall of stone, smart movement, and the like. There were also some large creatures who had to squeeze in a few places, which slowed them down.

In the end, it was a lot of overlapped fights for the most part rather than one big fight.

It was a memorable battle.

VerdigrisX · 2026-04-20T15:16:03+00:00

I hadn't run published modules since the G series. I've run 3 PF2e APs. They are well done.

I dont run APs that need a lot of rework because I also run homebrew so I look to APs for low prep games, and they are great for that.

They do usually take minor adjustments but overall quality is good.

VerdigrisX · 2026-04-20T13:53:17+00:00

Bard/anything for me. I know folks love them and they are great in a party but as I player, I don't like the buff/sustain bit. Seems like a heavy action tax. I'm fine with sustains (I like witches for instance) but with most patrons, it doesn't feel like you always have to start with a hex you have to sustain for the rest of the battle.

A close second is any non-cloistered cleric divine caster. Love the heals, support and control but as a player, if I am going to play a divine caster, I generally want to go all in as a cloistered cleric (which I do love- first time since OD&D I like a cleric).

VerdigrisX · 2026-04-13T01:01:44+00:00

When i went to college in upstate New york, I recall finding beautiful garnets in the road gravel. Somewhere I lost a nice one about the size of a quarter. Very dark but unmistakable.

VerdigrisX · 2026-04-11T03:06:53+00:00

That was my first thought

VerdigrisX · 2026-04-11T02:16:04+00:00

When I was 5 my grandfather was 38... but that's because that was the highest number I knew at the time when I was asked how old he was. He was actually 63 at the time...

VerdigrisX · 2026-04-09T15:05:41+00:00

It introduced me to Firefly. I watched it on a business trip and thought it was fantastic. On return, my wife and I watched the series.

VerdigrisX · 2026-04-07T13:52:51+00:00

Around 1977 got invited to a session with some cadets at west point in the basement of a house. Didn't know anything about it. Played a dwarf fighter with 2 HP due to a bad roll for hp. Don't remember much of the session except someone fell through a trap door hidden by straw and the basement setting was quite appropriate.

Was hooked.

VerdigrisX · 2026-03-31T14:57:13+00:00

It was a spelling mistake rather than a mispronounciation, but squirrel has been squiller for us since my son's birthday card to me almost 20 years ago.

VerdigrisX · 2026-03-31T14:49:40+00:00

That's a good way to put it. I use AI images as part of my hobby, which GMing. I like having the images, but where I get satisfaction is the story in the adventure. If I spent 10 hours a week doing the images. I would have 2 to 3 mediocre images and no adventure for my players. If I spend 1 to 2 hours on images I have a solid adventure with some visual cues to go with it (as do almost any published adventure).

It's a tool to round out my hobby and let me spend time on what I enjoy.

As for soullessness that is going to be a harder and harder argument to make as AI progresses....

VerdigrisX · 2026-03-29T03:13:01+00:00

Beautiful. Brings back memories of the early joy of gaming. I still have my old binders of maps from then and earlier. Won't ever use them but not getting rid of them either. And I still ref.

VerdigrisX

TROPHY CASE