Librarians & Leviathans

Necropolitans, episode 70: Hair is indestructible, hands are not

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Fri, 22 May 2026 20:58:00 +0000

The Necropolitans’ attempts to understand their situation are complicated by the arrival of an extratemporal monstrosity, which is more or less entirely Jaal’s fault, in Episode 070: Hair is indestructible, hands are not.

Nathan was away for this session, so I took the opportunity to have Jaal whisked away by temporal peculiarness to explain why he wasn't answering all their magical questions. He'll be back soon. The Hounds of Tindalos are much less scary to undead creatures that are immune to virtually all of their abilities, which is an omission I would correct in future if I cared. But so is virtually everything else. Anyway, the party have been fairly cautious about time nonsense since this session. Which is to say, Iris threatens to kill Jaal whenever he talks about doing The Ritual.

In retrospect, "Have you spent much time underneath fir trees" is one of those questions that probably sounds quite strange if your childhood didn't involve frequent hikes up various Welsh hills with conifer plantations on them, and the proximity of the Formby pinewoods, and so on. I think my players are a fairly urban lot, as opposed to "technically suburban but the farms start one street over and my family really like country walks". At the time this didn't occur to me at all, but I have often been perplexed by other people's responses to perfectly normal things like "we weren't allowed to go there because of the quicksand" and "but it was a Wednesday so all the shops were shut" and popular fears that the river was radioactive.

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)
Episode 067: Or we'll come and eat you and your children (start of Road to Rachikan)

Necropolitans, episode 69: Is the octopus aggressive?

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Thu, 21 May 2026 20:08:00 +0000

We learn that fish generally fail to understand languages, in Episode 069:Is the octopus aggressive?

I really liked the concept of this: a fight taking place on land against opponents who were apparently underwater, with the environment ambiguously between the two. The players seemed to enjoy it as well.

You might wonder about the Ironheads, and in fact, I do know exactly what happened to them and why. The players intended to try and reunite him with his surviving clan members with a trip to Ustalav, but they got distracted. Maybe it'll come up some time.

I enjoyed Jaal idea of using the genie's power to whisk NPCs away to safety. They ended up teleported to a forest hundreds of miles away. I rolled to see how that worked out, and... well, not all the NPCs made it back. Years later in real time, Jaal's player has learned what happened to them.

Spoiler: one of the NPCs he lost ended up becoming his grandmother.

"It's a big fish, it's not a clever fish."

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)
Episode 067: Or we'll come and eat you and your children (start of Road to Rachikan)

Necropolitans, episode 68: I should have stayed inside my wall

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Wed, 20 May 2026 17:48:00 +0000

It was necessary that at some point the undead PCs should run into exactly the wrong person, as they do in Episode 068: I should have stayed inside my wall.

The results were... not quite what I expected, but I was happy enough for it not to end up as a fight. There was enough of that going on as I mashed the results of their various readings of the magical book into a single weird whole. This dwarf is called Arvale Mucklebrow, and I do eventually get to reinsert him into the campaign as an ancient dwarf, to my delight.

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)
Episode 067: Or we'll come and eat you and your children (start of Road to Rachikan)

Necropolitans, episode 67: Or we’ll come and eat you and your children

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Tue, 19 May 2026 17:18:00 +0000

The Necropolitans learn the importance of public relations, and experience further book-related inconveniences, in Episode 067: Or we’ll come and eat you and your children.

"I don't think anybody can help Jaal." -- Nathan.

I did not make up the things that local people would logically be terrified of! Those are legitimate, canonical campaign-setting details of the ancient mythical horrors that villagers in this region would all have heard about in their childhoods. They just happen to closely match certain members of the party!

I enjoyed the botched attempt at subterfuge by Iris and getting to flesh that out as something just totally unrelated to the party. Everyone in the world has their own concerns, and even when they're suddenly suspicious about something you did, their suspicion might be pointed in a completely different direction. This is part of the world being a living place, bigger than the PCs. There's a time for the PCs being the most exciting thing that ever happened in a village, and a time for them being a minor hiccup in somebody's routine.

Sudden Transpositions

And then... they're somewhere else. Yes, this is book-related shenanigans.

Okay, cards on the table: the campaign gets distinctly weird here on account of them travelling back in time. This is for a reason! In hindsight I was merely setting myself up for further complications and difficulty remembering what has happened during the campaign, but it made sense at the time. And the books gave me a pretext for suddenly moving them to an entirely different part of the world, over a century in the past.

See, part of the long-term goings on are Things With The Stars. But why hasn't anybody else worked this out? Well, for one thing, canonically, the best group of astronomer-astrologers in the world fell apart and largely took their own lives after... it's complicated, a prophecy turned out really badly and they found something that the setting never discloses when they tried to find out more. And you could just shrug and say, well, some sages maybe worked some things out and everybody forgot. Or, right, like me, you could create an elaborate backstory for a sage who did work it out and got banished for talking nonsense, and ended up in a distant part of the world, and whose notebooks were all in a castle that is canonically destroyed by a massive earthquake a hundred years ago.

Nobody else has seen what she wrote, but with the power of time travel, it can turn out that you stole those notebook before the castle was destroyed! For your reading pleasure, I include my backstory below...

The Saoc Connection

The current campaign year is AR 4709, in the normal timeline.

Canonically, the Saoc were a group of extremely talented astrologer-astronomers in the country of Lirgen. Lirgen was largely destroyed after prophecies of Aroden's return in the AR 4600s failed; instead, in AR 4606, a colossal and permanent storm formed, devastating the nations in that area and submerging much of the land. Following that, the leadership of the Saoc made a voyage into the storm's heart to try and uncover its secrets. On returning, they took their own lives.

Rajelsis Coor was a Lirgen astronomer following the Saoc tradition. She ended up exiled and travelled extensively, ending up in the distant town of Edgeside Keep, in the Porthmos Gap region, on the far side of the continent. She died around AR 4550. Her granddaughter is the librarian at the actual Keep, and Rajelsis' books have ended up there as the only significant library around.

Coor's books include a research journal describing (and demonstrating) increasing astronomic similarities between her current period and reconstructions of some records of the Cyclops kingdom around AR -5200, which is to say, roughly 9700 years ago, and importantly, about a century before a meteor strike wiped out most of the civilizations on the planet. Coor expresses a strong interest in studying the Cyclops prophecies of that time.

Later, Coor mentions gaining entrance to a temple archive in Hyrantam (the Emerald Temple), and investigating the prophecies and star charts of the oracle there. According to her notes, her findings support her theory but she made enemies during her studies.

Further notes include hiring ships to visit the seas above lost Ghol-Gan (the Cyclops capital), and a hired sea-elf aquamancer who bound deep-sea creatures to search for clues in the ruins. According to Coor, information was unsurprisingly extremely limited, but she discovered a few scraps that appear to support her theories.

In 4522, Coor reports falling foul of political realignments that left her family in strong disfavour, and a few weeks later, having an attempt made on her life. She is charged with embezzlement along with several relatives; the journal is rather ambiguous as to whether this charge has merit. They are exiled from Hyrantam and she gradually makes her way into Cheliax, then along the coast to Taldor. At some point she meets and falls in love with a Taldan noble, and ends up settling in the Porthmos Gap. The librarian and her parents kept the books, but had little interest in the subject, only in their familial value. Adnoi Coor, the current librarian, donated the books to the Edgeside Keep archive but they’re far outside most people’s interests and haven’t been read to any significant extent.

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)
Episode 067: Or we'll come and eat you and your children (start of Road to Rachikan)

Necropolitans, episode 66: Boneshatter, Boneshatter, Boneshatter

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Mon, 18 May 2026 16:43:00 +0000

Makoa now has one solution to all problems, in Episode 066: Boneshatter, Boneshatter, Boneshatter.. Weird undead template things that I did continue to make life more difficult than necessary. There is much levelling-up and some attempt to work out how Cheliax, and especially its rebellious provinces, actually work.

Boneshatter is one of those spells - you get some at every level - that is simply extremely good for most combats. Like most such spells it does so by having an effect even on a successful saving throw, and a nasty one: on top of hefty damage that works against most living and undead creatures, it applies exhaustion (on a failure) or fatigue (on a success). A fatigued creature can't charge or run, besides minor stat penalties; an exhausted one has larger penalties and also moves slowly. The condition lasts for minutes per level, while the average combat lasts for less than a minute. Some monsters and NPCs are designed to lean heavily on charges - rhino-type monsters, feline beings that can attack multiple times on a charge, creatures that inspire their allies by charging, mounted combatants - and simply being targeted by this spell automatically negates those abilities entirely.

Either condition also entirely prevents barbarians from raging; since almost every barbarian ability (particularly the offensive ones) relies on being in a rage, this effectively turns a barbarian into a warrior with some extra hit points. There are few other things that can simply turn off an entire class, beyond somehow trapping a spellcaster in an antimagic field. So it's great for squishy targets (with poor Fortitude saves and low HP, who'll suffer a lot of damage) and for combatants (who'll be inconvenienced by the side effects even on a successful save, and in some cases are crippled by it).

Oh, and of course, you can guarantee that something becomes exhausted by simply casting this spell twice. While that is two spell slots, it doesn't matter how tough the target is. Assuming it doesn't have spell resistance that shrugs off your spell entirely, two castings will halve its speed, render it incapable of raging, prevent charging, and impose a hefty penalty to attacks, damage, Reflex saving throws, and defences.

Between scaling damage and a hampering condition that remains useful at high levels, it's a very good spell. When looking at other spells available at the same level (especially to the wizard, who gets it as a 4th-level spell) it is simply far more flexible and widely useful than the alternatives. To me, this suggests some kind of imbalance. There is virtually no situation where casting boneshatter on an obvious important enemy is not one of your best options. Even by the time you have disintegrate and so on, you'll then have enough lower-level slots available that throwing a boneshatter is relatively cheap as well as effective!

Anyway, Makoa's player makes ample use of this spell for a while, but he is reasonable and does not use it for absolutely everything.

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)

Necropolitans, episode 65: But would that not set fire to the villagers?

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Fri, 15 May 2026 13:43:00 +0000

Our friendly neighbourhood undead are called in to deal with a landshark problem, in Episode 065: But would that not set fire to the villagers?.

I like this kind of thing: some ordinary folks doing a thing and needing help, expressing gratitude for their help in small and community-focused ways. It's not epic adventure, it's not grand treasures, it's offering a feast and showing the PCs some of their local traditions and making them part of the world. These villagers are going to tell tales of this day for generations.

There need to be more fights involving helpless bystanders that the PCs need to worry about or protect from things. This gets increasingly hard as adventures take place in far-flung places with few or no inhabitants. It's one of the few ways to rein in PCs from using powerful AoE abilities, and to force them to pay attention to things that aren't the optimal target - while PCs can blithely ignore weaker enemies that either can't hit them or whose HP damage is trivial, they can't do so if those enemies are attacking innocents.

"I'm feeling like I'm owed something." - a classic, reusable Jaal quote.

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)

Necropolitans, episode 64: Running at x4 speed forever

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Thu, 14 May 2026 13:15:00 +0000

I am forced to lay some ground rules on things that might mechanically possible for our undead PCs but would also be quite silly, in Episode 064: Running at x4 speed forever. The session provides an example of why that sort of thing might be best avoided - you could miss plot hooks!

It becomes increasingly clear as I progress through this campaign that Pathfinder is in no way designed to cope with undead PCs. This is about the most extreme case, but it also highlights the... unwisdom of allowing all kinds of weird and wonderful entities as PCs who accumulate immunities and special abilities, especially in combination with class features that do the same. Makoa, for example, is a sacred necromancer (a third-party class that we agreed was very thematic), and one version of the class allows you simply become undead. Even explicitly removing the immunity from mind-affecting effects (which I personally think should be true for all free-willed undead), that is an extremely potent set of abilities in ways that aren't obvious, like... being able to travel across the world at twelve times the expected speed because you don't need to sleep, rest, or eat, and are immune to almost every hazard of travel.

"No, I'm not going to say that. It's better if I just leave it with that evil laugh."

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)

Necropolitans, episode 63: Some interesting books

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Wed, 13 May 2026 13:09:00 +0000

A very short episode discussing the various books Jaal's found, in Episode 063: Some interesting books.

There are distressingly few weird magical books in this setting, something I feel should really be changed. There are wizards! There should be thousands of weird magical books that might have unfortunate side-effects! I've both GM'd for and played characters who are very book-focused and it's a missed opportunity both for characterization and for poor decisions.

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)

Necropolitans, episode 62: Nice, big, warm dwarf

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Tue, 12 May 2026 12:41:00 +0000

The winter hag is finally defeated and we can move onto comparative theology, in Episode 062: Nice, big, warm dwarf.

I enjoyed the Winter Toad, one of the little NPCs I had fun devising. He is his tribe's priest responsible for appeasing Brrr'korprrr't, a minor god of bad luck and catastrophe, and propitiates Brrr'korprrr't by ensuring enough of those things happen somewhere that it doesn't feel inclined to inflict them on the boggarts. He's not a bad person.

I commented last session that this is the longest combat I'd been in to that point, and it continues. It might still be the longest combat of the entire campaign. While I don't actually want combats to last for hours of real time (genuinely, I tend to find the combat the least interesting part of the game, which raises enormous questions about my choice of system - but then it was my first time running a campaign, or Pathfinder! It's just carried on for a long time!) on this occasion the combination of planning, luck, and the PCs having a still relatively limited list of absolute bullshit they could pull made it possible to keep the major antagonist alive for an extended period and to significantly hinder Iris' ability to transform everything into a fine paste.

Obviously, this doesn't last. This particular option (and a very large list of other control options) only existed because the PCs were still mostly restricted to travelling on the ground. Once they reach the point of being able to fly constantly, and do so, this spell and many others become irrelevant and the GM's options to block or otherwise inconveience them dwindle yet further.

You'll notice in this session the players asking what spell exactly the hag is using to get out of Iris' reach. This happens a lot; I think it's a feature of the "system mastery" that Pathfinder emphasizes. Whenever I use a mildly interesting ability, I know full well the players are jumping onto the Archives of Nethys to read up on exactly what it does and how it might interact with other abilities, and indeed, planning ways to overcome it. At times this can be annoying, and perhaps I should ask them to stop. It sometimes plays into a behaviour I've noticed where the PCs instantly use the optimal counter to anything the opposition does, because the players have just read up on the exact mechanics and spent the time until their turn cross-referencing against all their own abilities to find what works best, rather than just trying to react naturally. We are too far into the campaign to feel like it's reasonable to ask for a change of tack, though. They enjoy the mechanics and the tacticality.

"I just need some... clarification." About 60ccs of nice, fresh clarification...

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)

Necropolitans, episode 61: You're also grappled, oh boy!

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Mon, 11 May 2026 12:41:00 +0000

The frantic defence of the hotel continues with the assistance of the merchant and her infernal companion, as Iris desperately attempts to get out of a hole, in Episode 061: You're also grappled - Oh boy!.

My voice sounds extremely odd in this for some reason. I assume weird audio stretching/squashing. It's another combat-focused session.

In this session we apparently agreed that Iris' eyes are all black now, but we clearly changed at in our minds because she's continued to have different coloured glass eyes for several years.

"He's pretty much an open book, it's just a very complex, deep book."

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)

Necropolitans, episode 60: Spooning the guy in the bed

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 21:57:00 +0000

The undead continue to bother the innocent inhabitants of a remote hotel during a blizzard, in Episode 060: Spooning the Guy in the Bed.

Jaal's cryophobia becomes deeply inconvenient in these circumstances, and he resorts to extreme, one might suppose illegal, measures. Otherwise I'm pretty sure this episode is fighting and more fighting, so if that's not your thing, you might want to wait for the next. It's hard to remember exactly what happened as I write this, seven years later and months after editing the audio. Sorry.

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)

Necropolitans, episode 58: This is why you don't trust the dog.

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 14:49:00 +0000

The Necropolitans accept an offer to join their new acquaintance in an inn, which will surely end well, in Episode 058: This is why you don't trust the dog.

"I have so many spells I need to transcribe into my spellbook and I haven't got around to doing them." Yup, this is the fate of the wizard. In my defence, if the PCs will insist on relentlessly running from plot hook to plot hook without pausing to breathe, that's what happens!

"I feel like you can probably guess the weaknesses of a creature made of ice."

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)

Necropolitans, episode 57: Yup, it's Hair Time.

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 15:20:00 +0000

The Necropolitans enjoy an extended coastal walk, in Episode 057: Yup, it's Hair Time.

There is some undoubtedly fascinating discussion of journey times and navigation. Quite a bit of fan noise from Ollie which I couldn't entirely remove, sorry. Reality continues to be a bit weird thanks to everyone reading, to which I can only say: reading is magical!

I quite enjoyed friendly devil Makepeace and am still hoping to find a way to shoehorn them back into the game.

"There is what I'm going to describe as a faint spang from Jaal."

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)

Necropolitans, episode 56: I'd rather be in control of the rope

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 19:03:00 +0000

Apologies for the background fan noise etc. from some bits of the recording, and also me cutting out randomly at some points. Internet was baaaad.

We're in Cheliax now! The wizard is a dog now, and continues to read books, to my secret delight, in Episode 056: I'd rather be in control of the rope.

Iris is getting used to some... physical changes (she is now, mechanically, a Petrified Maiden). They debate which way to head towards Riddleport, and whether to use the wizard as a beast of burden (a wizard can do just about anything, after all).

"By the way, if he starts casting a ritual, hit him over the head for me."
"Er, sure thing. I trust Iris more than this dog."

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)

Necropolitans, episode 55: Stereotypical alchemist slash

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Sun, 13 Apr 2025 16:35:00 +0000

If you'd been wondering what happened to Makoa, here he comes again! in Episode 055: Stereotypical Alchemist Slash. Bit sniffly this session, soz.

Since Ollie was being tight-lipped about it all, the other players had no idea what was going on with him or whether he'd show up again until this point. Talk about splitting the party...

I will of course never forgive Nathan for Jaal's actions in this session.

"You're lying in a bush, looking at the stars."
"I can smell someone just cast magic, cos I can do that.""

"I blame Jaal nonetheless; he was involved."

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)

Necropolitans, episode 54: There's nothing wrong with multiple boats

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Sat, 12 Apr 2025 11:27:00 +0000

You know, tentatively sounding people out as potential allies for your secretive organisation and tentatively sounding people out for a date sound pretty similar a lot of the time. We confront Favoured Enemy (Chinese Internet) and Iris gets a lovely visit from her family, in Episode 054: There's nothing wrong with multiple boats.

Mechanically, Iris has the Nemesis feat, which is objectively the best story feat and should rarely be permitted. We agreed it was a good fit for Iris' backstory though so it's a good opportunity for Becca to actually play with it. This means I need to regularly have family agents harass her, which reinforces her background and is a nice synergy. Her mother hasn't got a good appreciation for what Iris is now capable of, and is still sending mooks to retrieve her 'wayward daughter'. Things will escalate.

Familiars? Surely the PCs would not collect familiars and other cute animals.

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)

Necropolitans, episode 53: I know there's magic on her hair

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Sat, 12 Apr 2025 11:10:00 +0000

Being in China makes internet hard. There's also some fan noises and possibly a hairdryer, I don't even know. Horrible things live in sewers, it turns out, in Episode 053: I know there's magic on her hair.

"I summon a hellhound, I douse it in blood. Come with me, Hell-en": wizards who are definitely Good.

Things about listening back to your own games literally years later is that you sometimes have absolutely no idea what is going on. What are people fighting? Ohhhh.

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)

Necropolitans, episode 52: As someone who has magical hair

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Sat, 12 Apr 2025 10:59:00 +0000

Hellknights versus Librarians! Evacuation is underway and new friends are finding out interesting and suspicious things about each other, in Episode 052: As someone who has magical hair.

I'm generally sceptical about traps because they're overused in implausible places in situations where the people setting the traps would be exposed to them. This is the sort of place where traps do work: you're clearing out of a place and you trap everything to mess up the people coming after you and destroy evidence of your activities.

If you're an extremely devious secret operative you stack a whole set of traps together and set them up so that people trying to get away from the first trap will set off the next one. Innocent is extremely devious and has no scruples whatsoever.

This episode sees the players playing NPCs because I wanted them to enjoy seeing their adversaries suffering, but not simply sit around while I rolled a bunch of dice. They seemed to have fun.

"And then proceeed to make this place perfect" - never put a wizard in charge of anything.

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RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)

Necropolitans, episode 51: Pretend to Set Myself On Fire

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 16:41:00 +0000

It's like a heist film, except you're infiltrating both sides and the plan is "fight our way in, don't need to fight our way out" in Episode 051: Pretend to Set Myself On Fire.

Conventional wisdom is of course to not split the party. This goes double for "don't join opposite sides of the same fight", but I'm sure it'll work out just fine. Jaal would never turn evil.

Probably.

I mean, can you imagine it? A wizard? Turning evil?

Anyway, hilarious armour-related misunderstandings aside, this worked out smoother for the PCs than I might have expected so kudos to them.

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RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)

Necropolitans, episode 50: We are not getting Iris into a onesie

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 21:59:00 +0000

"Me? I'm a Hellknight. A knight of Hell. Hellknight equals me, geddit?", imply the party, in Episode 050: We are not getting Iris into a onesie.

I promise this entire thing was coincidental, which made it all the more delightful to me. I did however give misleading information about Totally Innocent, since I hadn't allocated her stats at that point. The ambling around in town making up content for PCs is honestly a lot more my speed than combat, as will become increasingly obvious as the campaign goes on.

"You tried to summon a volcano! ...which I don't know about."

Everybody loves to hate Hellknights, they're completely designed for it, so they're a great adversary to throw in. If there's some kind of Hellknights-versus-X conflict going on, PCs can dive in with fair confidence that X is the side they want to pick. Well... mostly. Given the name of this blog, you can probably guess that I'm going to be with the people who aren't banning books.

"When in doubt, blame the GM. That's the best way to stay alive."

"The people in this house, however, passed their Perception check, and are Not Home."

This session involves a lot of the players dispensing useful lore I didn't know, which I will exploit in future. An ideal arrangement.

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)
Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream (start of Trouble in Cheliax)

Necropolitans, episode 49: Mint Ice Cream

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 20:30:00 +0000

Jaal wakes up in a bag, in Episode 049: Mint Ice Cream.

The surviving Necropolitans trek across the desert, wondering what has become of Makoa. Alternative Truths re: global history cause a breach in party trust as they approach the Chelish outpost of Corentyn. Looking almost exactly like a Hellknight turns out to be both a blessing and an inconvenience. An NPC who will become one of my favourites makes her first appearance.

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RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)

Necropolitans, episode 48: Dunno what that means but that sounds good

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 18:44:00 +0000

We find out what Makoa's been up to in the mysterious realm beyond the portal Episode 048: Dunno what that means but that sounds good

Until I listened back to this for this blogpost, I had completely forgotten about the "immortal troll occultists with external memory backup" concept. I really need to get back on that. As always, talking to players brings up a ton of intriguing ideas.

The creatures of the Nameless City are patiently waiting for the time when their selves can reunite and they can reform their living civilization. What exactly that means is ambiguous, deliberately so. It's probably a long way off happening during the timeframe of this campaign, though. On the other hand, who knows what PC intervention might lead to?

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)

Necropolitans, episode 47: Have you gained flesh?

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Sun, 25 Aug 2024 19:45:00 +0000

Iris is left with an unconscious wizard as the great brass door of the Nameless City closes, in Episode 047: Have you gained flesh?

Makoa's player here publicly chose to reveal absolutely nothing about what happened after stepping into the portal because it was simply too good to dispense out of character. It will be really quite a long time before any of them find out what happened out of character, let alone in-character.

Iris explores the orb-library in search of an explanation as to what's happened to Makoa, and what's up with Jaal's new ritual. Jaal spends some quality time en sac, as it were. The twisted space of the Nameless City deposits Iris in another of the secure transit chambers (as completed by Jaal and Makoa).

The occasional puzzle for the players is fun, but coming up with them and trying to make them interesting and make some degree of sense in-game is a bit hard work. I can no longer find the original notes or map I used for this... from what I remember, Iris' puzzle involved identifying and selecting the appropriate schools of magic to match certain challenges. The 'safer' part involved working out how the puzzle works, and the second stage involves choosing suitable schools to deal with the problems at hand. For example: using illusion to distract the serpent-thing with a illusory prey.

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)

Necropolitans, episode 46: More like rapidly-travelling bike

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 20:01:00 +0000

Follow me now through the glowing void-portal under the forgotten city of a long-dead species, and discover what became of Makoa, in Episode 046: More like rapidly-travelling bike.

I had thought about this before the session, and had some idea what the creatures' civilization would look like, but a lot of this was improvised. Luckily, I'd already planned out an approximation of what the creatures were and what was going on with them when I was planning the journey into the Nameless City. This was a chance to share some of my thoughts with a player, which is always fun.

Maybe one day we'll see Susurration and Alchemical-Reaction again? Who knows. I rarely have much idea what's going to happen a month from now, even in real life.

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)

Necropolitans, episode 45: I am going through a midlife crisis; I cannot fight a Hound of Tindalos

noreply@blogger.com (Shimmin Beg) — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 19:59:00 +0000

Roleplaying illuminates the human experience, echoing the real-life situations we encounter or the unfamiliar lives of other people, and allowing us to explore and play with them safely, and I think it's fair to say everyone will find something deeply relatable in Episode 045: I am going through a midlife crisis; I cannot fight a Hound of Tindalos.

Those of you who saw this coming, congratulations! Everyone else, we've learned a valuable lesson today about gazing through untold billions of years through the occult rituals of an antediluvian civilization.

Direct Links

RSS feed for all episodes
Episode 001: Character Generation
Master list of episodes
Episode 007: Screaming blue murder from his waist (start of Castaways)
Episode 023: Everyone knows that mummy octopi are not scared of cooking (start of Nautical Shenanigans)
Episode 027: The crumpling noise you can hear was Book 2 (start of Nameless Ancients)