Slay Vampires! Dungeon Crawl Levels 1 to 10! Learn to Play PF2E!
The remote island settlement of Talmandor’s Bounty is thrown into chaos as a strange magical effect plunges the region into shadow.
About the adventure
Recruited as research assistants in anticipation of a rare celestial event, the PCs arrive on a remote island in the remnants of Azlant. While there, a column of shadow erupts from the sea and washes across the sky dimming the sun and unleashing shadowy monsters. Investigating the dangerous anomaly, the PCs discover a ruined Azlanti prison inhabited by vampires and learn that the column of shadow was only a test run for an ancient vampire planning to use Azlanti magical technology to blot out the sky, shielding the dangers of the sun so they can escape their island prison and reunite with their lover from the times before Earthfall. The Shades of Blood Adventure Path is a three-part dungeon crawl campaign that will bring start at 1st-level characters up and end at 10th level by its conclusion. This Adventure Path takes place on Ancorato, an isolated island in the middle of a vast ocean. The island lies within the shattered remains of the Azlanti continent and is home to the small settlement of Talmandor’s Bounty. Ancorato is situated along the Arcadian Wake, a trade route from Avistan to Arcadia.
Game themes
$20.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Monday – 11:00 PM UTC
3–4 Hour Duration
3 / 5 Seats Filled
GAME MASTER
James
he/him
5.0
(68)
Each player will be charged when a session starts.
Report Adventure
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(68)
4 years on StartPlaying
490 games hosted
Highly rated for: Storytelling, Creativity, Teacher
Average response time: Under 1 hour
Response rate: 100%
About me
Hello my name is James, I have been in the hobby for almost ten years and have been a Game Master for several games a week for the last four years. I have a very wide spectrum of interest's and am always interested learning and trying out a new game systems! While I usually prefer to use pre-published campaigns as opposed to homemade I have recently both authored and ran several of my player groups through a custom setting based upon World of Darkness. I have successfully ran over three dozen modules from diverse variety of game systems including but not limited to Pathfinder 2e, Starfinder, Shadow of the Demon Lord, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4e, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Call of Cthulhu 7e, Delta Green, Trail of Cthulhu, Savage Worlds and Vampire the Masquerade. I am always eager to learn new things and meet new people.
View Profile →Reviews (68)
Proficiencies
Players say this GM is great at:
Storytelling
Creativity
Teacher
Joshua
Played 166 sessions
I haven been playing with James for going on 2 years and have been in a number of his games, ranging from Call of Cthulhu to Vampire the Masquerade to Traveller, even Deadlands. James is a hardworking & knowledgeable GM, He takes the games he runs seriously, and prefers when players are willing to become somewhat invested in the story or solving the mystery. He was actually the first Person who GM'd for me in all of the games above, and I have learned a lot and had loads of fun while playing with him.
Benjamin
Played 155 sessions
He successfully draws your character into the setting while tying into other characters well. Well spoken, detailed and keeps you in mind through each part. You are in excellent hands and should expect a very good time.
Mandy
Played 136 sessions
Made it super easy for a beginner like myself to join in games. Was very informative with lots of visual aids that helped set up each scenario. He works with his players to create interesting and engaging plots. James is really good about remembering to give every player a chance to be part of each session. He was super helpful getting my character set up
Gregg
Played 125 sessions
Very good with newbies/beginners to the game in question and the various devices for playing it (foundry/forge/discord etc). Excellent at encouraging character development and roleplay. Sets the "mood" of the game story very well.
Ian
Played 118 sessions
James is one of if not the best GM's I've had the pleasure of being a player for in fact im in both of his games at once because of how much i love his GM'ing style. His incredible story telling matches perfectly well with the amazing environments he produces in one of the campaigns ive joined with him which has been more mystery focus the enviroments and tensions have been nail biting with so much freedom on what to do, i was even able to find something out that none of the other players did, kept it to myself for character reasons and its almost like im on my own personal story within the story. James is also amazing with player freedom as well, doing as much as possible to mesh the story with the character you want to create and want to play. One of the things I appreciate the most based on my personal enjoyments with the game is the combat with james is always dynamic. One time a horde of ghoul goblins where surprised with an interference of their ritual, the party gathered around me the champion for safety but instead of all of them crowding around a choke point with me infront of the party they started running. I chased after one to get a quick kill but as fast as they ran away they ran back into the fray getting in the faces of the cleric and summoner. Man did that make me feel stupid but in a really good way. Overall James is a stellar GM and I couldn't reccomened anyone more to play pathfinder with.
Ghoul King Gruul (Meme's Legion)
Played 83 sessions
Really flexible and dedicated to delivering a high-quality experience to both new and old players alike.
Character creation
Creating your character
You were hired as a research assistant to an astronomer who was hoping to study a stellar eclipse, a rare astronomical phenomenon. You arrive at Talmandor’s Bounty and take part in the preparations for an excursion into the jungle to study the event at an ancient Azlanti observatory—and then things go poorly. Can you help figure out what caused the column of shadow and put a stop to it? All player characters will be created together over session zero, using backgrounds from the player's guide.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
For this Pathfinder game I will be using two platforms, discord for voice/messages and foundry for dice rolls/character sheets. Equipment-wise players are expected to bring a desktop computer or laptop with a stable internet connection and a working microphone. Voice chat and the majority of text messages will be done through a discord server, I will provide the invitation link to the server when players after join the game. It is preferred that players have a noise free environment or set push to talk when there is much background noise. All Player’s need to play this campaign is a computer that can run Foundry VTT and a working microphone. Owning the actual rulebooks is not required because most of the rules, spells, items, and abilities are already a part of the Pathfinder 2e Foundry Module which is regularly updated or easily accessible on sites such as Archives of Nethys. Knowledge of pathfinder 2e ruleset and/or lore not preferred but not required. For those interested in purchasing the rulebooks, this campaign will be primarily utilizing the Remaster Core rulebooks. Knowledge of Pathfinder lore is not required to enjoy this adventure path.
What James brings to the table
Hello, my name is James, I am a full term college student and started managing campaigns close to five years ago. I started hosting games professionally on StartPlaying more than one year ago. My first introduction to role playing games was Dungeons and Dragons 3.5, but the first game that I ever got to be a game master for was Pathfinder 1st edition. So Pathfinder 2nd edition holds a special place in my heart as the first real game that I got to experience right after its release in 2019, since then I have run the Beginner Box, two modules, and an entire adventure path. Foundry VTT is a great tool and has made running the game much smoother. The game is not for everyone and does require a decent amount of experience to run properly. Paizo’s adventure paths can make for great campaigns and I have played through a number of them in my time gaming. However, even the shorter ones require a decent amount of dedication in order to complete. How many times have you been part of a group and it fell apart due to scheduling? I’m happy to announce that because of Start Playing that I have been able to game almost every single week since I started. It is still my goal as your game master I promise to provide you an engaging, thoughtful, and dynamic experience each week. My greatest strength is my ability to adapt to the wishes of my table. My DMs are always open and my response times are lighting fast, so don’t hesitate to ask me a question.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Platforms used
Safety
How James creates a safe table
Most of my sessions have at least one 5-10 minute break and then typically there is time to discuss events that happened in the session afterwards. Pathfinder 2nd edition is a dungeon fantasy roleplaying game. While styles vary between groups and campaigns, it is often described as “swashbuckling fantasy adventure”, which means that there are lots of exotic locations and magical themes, and that conflicts are often resolves by defeating an enemy through force of arms. Compared to more recent releases, Shades of Blood is more of a classic Adventure Path most similar to Abomination Vaults in its focus on dungeon crawling. With this being said, there is more examples for solving some conflicts without the use of might of sword or spell. There is some investigation and exploration based play that unravels over the course of the Adventure, but for the most part is the background story. On rules, what I will say is that I am a GM who prefers Rules As Written style of judication and will adhere to the most up to date rules, at the same time I prefer to keep the flow of the game moving as opposed to stopping everything to look up the rule.
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