Most of my posts around here focus on the details of the Tempest Campaign Setting, the official setting of SyncRPG, but I also happen to be a GM myself. I recently got back into the gamemaster's chair to run my Legacy of Fire game after a months long delay (yay day jobs!), and the period of time away helped me to appreciate SyncRPG with a pair of fresh eyes. It helped me re-experience the joy of finding how convenient, fun, and easy the site is. So in that vein, here are three things about GMing with SyncRPG that I re-discovered and think are exciting and awesome.



CR 8 Sand Kraken 0 Toggle Statistics XP 4,800 N Large magical beast Init +4; Senses tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +11 DEFENSE AC 21, touch 9, flat-footed 21 (+12 natural, -1 size) hp 100 (8d10+60) Fort +12, Ref +6, Will +4 OFFENSE Speed 10 ft. Melee 10 tentacles +13 (1d4+5 plus grab) or bite +8 (2d6+2) Special Attacks constrict (1d6+5) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (20 ft. with tentacle) STATISTICS Str 20, Dex 11, Con 23, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 1 Base Atk +8; CMB 14; CMD 24 (can't be tripped) Feats Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (tentacle) Skills Perception +11 SQ camouflage SPECIAL ABILITIES Camouflage (Ex)

Because it remains buried until it attacks, it takes a successful DC 20 Perception check to detect the presence of a sand kraken before it attacks. Anyone with ranks in Survival or Knowledge (nature) can use one of those skills instead of Perception to notice the sand kraken.

Tentacles (Ex)

The only part of a sand kraken that is normally exposed is its tentacles. For combat purposes, the creature's tentacles are treated as separate weapons. A single tentacle has an AC 20 (touch 14) and 15 hit points. Once a tentacle takes more than 15 hit points of damage, it is destroyed. A sand kraken can no longer use the destroyed tentacle to make attacks, however the loss of a tentacle cause the creature no other penalties. Furthermore, damage dealt to a tentacle does not count against the creature's total hit points. Lost tentacles regrow in 1d4 days. ECOLOGY Because it remains buried until it attacks, it takes a successful DC 20 Perception check to detect the presence of a sand kraken before it attacks. Anyone with ranks in Survival or Knowledge (nature) can use one of those skills instead of Perception to notice the sand kraken.The only part of a sand kraken that is normally exposed is its tentacles. For combat purposes, the creature's tentacles are treated as separate weapons. A single tentacle has an AC 20 (touch 14) and 15 hit points. Once a tentacle takes more than 15 hit points of damage, it is destroyed. A sand kraken can no longer use the destroyed tentacle to make attacks, however the loss of a tentacle cause the creature no other penalties. Furthermore, damage dealt to a tentacle does not count against the creature's total hit points. Lost tentacles regrow in 1d4 days. Environment warm deserts Organization solitary Treasure none Description The sand krakens are dangerous creatures encountered only in remote wastelands. A sand kraken keeps its body well concealed, buried deep in sand or loose rock, and inaccessible to most attacks. The creature never moves from the place where it digs its first burrow and once it settles in, will never again see the light of day. The only parts of a sand kraken that are usually seen are its tentacles, and by then it is often too late. Sand krakens are omnivores, but prefer meat to any other food. Once it captures and kills its prey, it pulls the carcass down into its sandy lair, and devours it with its great central maw. For this reason, a number of scholars speculate a biological relationship between sand krakens and dustdiggers. For most of its life, a sand kraken remains dormant and silent, buried several feet below the surface of the ground. When it senses prey its tentacles swiftly rise to the surface. A sand kraken uses its initial attacks to immobilize its prey by constriction. Each tentacle has its own secondary brain, and can attack independently. While tentacles can be harmed and severed, the only true way to kill a sand kraken is to dig it up and destroy its body. Source: Sand Kraken from the Tome of Horrors Complete, Copyright 2011, Necromancer Games, Inc., published and distributed by Frog God Games; Author Erica Balsley.

Quickly turn stat-blocks into macro-enabled NPCs

SyncRPG makes it extremely easy to prepare NPCs for game time. Like, really, really easy. There are three ways to upload NPC stat-blocks, but my personal favorite is the “raw text” upload. Just copy the stat-block from the PDF of the module and paste it into the “raw text” tab, check to make sure the lines line up correctly, add an ID for some art, hit “Add This NPC,” and you're done. You have a working NPC with all the standard VTT macros enabled and ready to go. Drag-drop it into the VTT and start rolling. The whole process takes less than a minute. These days, I can stat-up an entire 64-page adventure module for the VTT in under an hour. (See this tutorial for more info on adding NPCs)

CR 1 Gnarluza 1 Toggle Statistics XP 400 Female Orc Rogue 2 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Race Guide 222)

CE Medium humanoid (orc) Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +5 DEFENSE AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +2 Dex) hp 19 (2d8+7) Fort +1, Ref +5, Will +0 Defensive Abilities evasion, ferocity Weaknesses light sensitivity OFFENSE Speed 30 ft. Melee masterwork greataxe +6 (1d12+6/x3) and shortspear +5 (1d6+4) Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. STATISTICS Str 19, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 8 Base Atk +1; CMB +5; CMD 17 Feats Toughness Skills Acrobatics +5, Climb +7, Intimidate +4, Perception +5, Sense Motive +5, Stealth +5 Languages Common, Orc SQ rogue talents (bleeding attack), weapon familiarity, trapfinding +1 Description Gnarluza is an orc rogue 2 that is intended to be used instead of the kobold rogue 2 in room 8 of part 3 of Paizo's D0: Hollow's Last Hope. When I ran the module, I placed it in the Three Rivers Valley of Ironhull (Tempest Campaign) so an orc was more appropriate than a kobold.

Collaboration and Sharing

In addition to being easy to stat-up NPCs, SyncRPG makes it super easy to collaborate and share your creations. With Collections and Tags, it is super easy to share assets with your friends. For example, I ran Paizo's D0: Hollow's Last Hope last year. You can find the non-standard NPCs in my collection here (site members only). You can do this for any module, even an original one that you write yourself, and sharing the VTT-enabled resources becomes as easy as sharing a link. Play a lot of Pathfinder Society? You could save a ton of work by dividing up the workload and working with friends and other GMs. SyncRPG makes collaboration and sharing super easy and fun.

Quick-run and Ready Resources

Finally, I enjoy an open-style of play, which means that I try to give my players the freedom to drift pretty far from the rails of an adventure. This means that I often need to have access to VTT assets, like maps or monsters, that don't necessarily appear in the module I'm running. SyncRPG makes it much easier for me to roll with things when my want to go their own way. Did they go into a forest and meet a wandering monster before I had time to prep it? No problem. I just drag the wilderness ruin map into the VTT and keep things moving along. SyncRPG had drastically simplified the general preparations necessary to run the style of game that I like, and it makes the whole experience easier and more fun. For most general things, it's now as easy as search, drag, and drop. I love that it frees me to focus on what matters: writing adventures and making better and more interesting worlds to explore. (See this tutorial for more info on ready-run maps)

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