Asberdies Lives's page

Q1 was flat. it felt unfinished or rushed to publish. i had to do too much rework to make it fit.

I couldn't agree more. Q1 was a headshaker, in my opinion. I ran the series a few years ago, and tied Vault of the Drow into The Harrowing from Dungeon 89 or 90. I found it a fitting and ironic end to the campaign that, in defeating Lolth's traitorous daughter, Laveth, in the Demonweb, the party was actually helping Lloth.

My personal favorite in the series, as far as how it was played, was G3 - Hall of the Fire Giant King. My players and I actually rented a cabin in the mountains for a weekend to play through it. On the 2nd night, the party was huddled in a dead-end cave on level 3, some of them dead, with a red dragon at one end of the exit tunnel, a gorgon on the other end, King Snurre and his elite guard yelling in various abuses, and Eclavdra and her drow watching on. The players were utterly depressed and hopeless. I thought the campaign was over. It's amazing what a hopeless situation does to creativity and the survival instinct. These guys actually got out of it.

It's the near-death encounters that I remember most, and G3 had a few of them.

Awesome. When I read this module and questioned (in this very thread, actually) how characters are supposed to survive it, I had that friggin tapestry in mind. I would love to hear the players' reactions to the room that charms visitors into throwing whatever is at hand into that crushing well.

This is great reading ... keep the posts coming.

Too bad, cause I have a thing for liches. You left out some of the meatiest details! How did the lich-queen kill 4 out of 6 of them? It sounds like the party just waltzed in and killed her.

After the recommendations here and from the Slush God (F&SF's John Joseph Adams), it seems like I have no choice.

I've gotten about 10 friends to see the movie based on my glowing recommendation. Half of them loved it, 4 thought it was OK, and one hated it (inexplicably dislikes violence and profanity), so I hate to build it up too much. But I can't help it. It's a great movie. I saw on Yahoo that critics and viewers are giving it great marks. I guess 1 out of 10 ain't too bad.

I don't mind some fantasy fluff here and there. I know that WoTC needs books that will sell on a mass scale and maybe mesh with some related products, but those older modules are absolute classics. When you talk about Descent Into the Depths of the Earth, you can see the half-smile and starry gaze of us thirty-something geeks who remember that adventure so fondly from the 80's. I've had the module since I was 13, and it's become something of a D&D icon for me.

Then the book comes out, and I am assaulted by the idea of a quipping, thong-wearing fairie, a talking hell hound pelt, and a beaver, a frigging BEAVER, Paul, fighting the infamous, reclusive lich that spawned my screen name. I was more than angry, I was disappointed. Something sacred had been violated. Someone just lent me the new Tomb of Horrors book, which was written by a different author. I think I'm looking forward to reading your book more.

Paul, there's actually a Book Review thread in the main Paizo messageboard. I'll check this book out. After the absolute joke that was made of the Descent Into the Depths of the Earth and the Queen of the Demonweb Pits books, a good, gritty adventure book would be very welcome.

Just saw this movie on Saturday... oh BOY is it fun! One of those movies you have to go see multiple times to get all the jokes 'cause you're laughing too hard the first time to hear them all.

I saw it for the 3rd time on Sunday, and it completely holds up. With the combination of laughing and thick accents, it's impossible to "get" everything on the first (or even second) try. I brought 4 friends and they all loved it, and for my girlfriend, who does not typically enjoy horror or zombie flicks, it was her second viewing. Maybe I'll spring some Day of the Dead on her next weekend.

James - you've got some red on you.

It makes sense that Deathwatch would detect a standard illusion, since it detects life. But I think it's reasonable to expect that advanced illusions that create smell or heat, for example, should be able to fool deathwatch.

I'm annoyed that the party that I DM has started using Detect Magic instead of actually searching for treasure. At higher levels, almost every treasure has some magic in it. The players will begin to eventually become suspicious that every chest hidden in every module is coated with lead, or that the villains cautiously stash magic and coin in different places.

Man, what a trip down memory lane. It's difficult to differentiate between the best adventures and the most nostalgic ones, but in the end, what difference does it really make?

Keep on the Borderlands. I know, it's a no-brainer, but we all cut our teeth on that one. I still don't know how "Bree Yark" relates to "Hey Jude". I love that goblin guard that watches the cave entrance from a rack of the tribe's trophy heads. There's something about those beginner adventures, where one arrow can change the course of an adventure.

Against the Giants. Man, oh man, what a bloodbath. Infiltrating three giant lairs, the first full of drunken brutes, the second guarded by alert, intelligent frost giants, and the last being a nearly impenetrable volcano, where the slaves and minions (nearly 100 trolls!) are as deadly as the owners.

Then right on to Descent into the Depths of the Earth, watching the players get more frustrated and literally homesick the further they delved into the earth.

And it was equally fun to have them walking the streets of an underground city teeming with demons and evil in Vault of the Drow, on a blackmail-induced quest by one Matron Mother to destroy another.

I completed that campaign with the Dungeon adventure The Harrowing (Issue 89 or 90, I think), instead of Queen of the Demonweb Pits. The former felt like a true abyss, while the latter felt like a comic book.

The Gauntlet (UK2, I think) was a nice surprise, with the characters investigating and reclaiming a small keep that has been overrun by a gnoll warband. Of course, they immediately had to defend the keep against an invading army demanding the release of their fire giant king's daughter, who is locked somewhere inside.

Ravenloft was fun. That was maybe the only adventure I DM'ed where the players were genuinely scared. The flooded hall that contained no treasure or information, but DID contain a submerged swarm of zombies set the mood.

The Pharoah / Oasis of the White Palm / Lost Tomb of Martek series was fantastic. I love the irony in spending 3 modules trying to kill the demon you accidentally freed at the beginning of the first.

The Tomb of Horrors was so long ago, we barely knew the rules, but I do remember the beefy fighter falling victim to the "opposite" curse of the sceptre, turning him from a lawful good man into a chaotic evil woman.

Plume Mountain was a great, classic-style adventure. An evil, life stealing sword, a giant crab in the midst of a semi-protective dome surrounded by boiling water, a sphynx with a riddle, and a waterlogged inverted "ziggurat" teeming with giant crayfish. Nice.

Great topic. I should bolt before I get fired.

I've tried to read it piecemeal, and have never been impressed, but these posts have convinced me to get all of my magazines in order and read it through.

Thanks everyone.

WARNING - SPOILERS for Brookhollow and Tears for Twilight Hollow

I completely agree that there is nothing quite like really surprising your party with a bad guy. A few years ago, my group of players was going through Hall of the Fire Giant King, and they found a prison wherein was shackled a beautiful female rogue that had been caught by the fire giants. The party ignored D&D Rule #2 (don't trust any beautiful female NPCs) and not only freed her, but left her on sole guard duty while they slept to recuperate from a particulary harsh battle. She stole all of the treasure they had accumulated from the Hill and Frost Giant lairs, which was conveniently stowed in a portable hole.

From that day, the players don't trust NPCs. The first adventure in the current campaign was in Brookhollow (a Dungeon adventure from a few years back), where the town priest was exposed as an evil schemer that was confronted in the evil catacombs beneath the church. They are now 9th level and are going through Tears for Twilight Hollow, where a town is threatened by evil and the high priestess asks for the characters' help. After meeting with her (and detecting no evil or bluffing), the group went to the inn to strategize. The first question raised was "So I guess we need some kind of concrete proof before we kill her?" The second was "I wonder where the entrance to the catacombs is?" My only recompense is infusing some toughness in lieu of mystery. A cheap DM trick, yes, but a worthy one.

Alas, I am now forced to find another source for maps of fire houses, movie theaters, and the Millenium Falcon to insert into my Underdark campaign.

Like a lot of gamers, I started playing D&D in the early 80's as I entered adolescence. To this day, some of my love for the game is based on nostalgia, crazy D&D superstition, the importance of creativity over physicality, and the excitement of introducing new people to the game. Wil's article hit all four, and I thouroughly enjoyed it. I always like reading other people's experiences with the game. Given that I don't always have time to read through an entire adventure, it's great to be able to pick up the magazine and get a quick fix, usually by reading the editorial, reader feedback, a critical threat, and now the Wil Save article.

I hope Wil Wheaton includes some of the gaming experiences he has as his children work their way through their first campaign. Although some of my players are the mental equivalent of an 8 year old, it would be interesting to see how younger folks face dilemmas.

I'm pretty much exclusively the DM with my group. None of them has ever run the game before. My people are pretty trusting, because I've done nothing to betray them. I don't grin evilly when they get killed, and I always congratulate them if they make it out of a sticky predicament. I have never rolled dice in the open because I want the players to strategize based on the action, not the dice. Imagine what happens when a golem trudges in and whacks their best armored character with a roll of 3. It's no longer just a hit, it's a reason to bolt. Likewise, if some daunting-looking foe swings and misses with an 18, those characters aren't going anywhere. If I roll a 20 or a 1 at a critical or questionable moment, I'll show the die to them to avoid the eye-rolling.

Rolling behind the screen doesn't foster distrust in my game, it increases the tension (like when I roll and just stare wide-eyed for a few seconds), and allows me to "shave damage" on occasion. Treating the players like fodder, like each dungeon is designed to kill them, fosters frustration and distrust. Instead, treat the dungeon as a challenge to be beaten, and express that to your players in small doses. My guys are completely addicted to the game now.

P.S. It sounds like the entire problem was spawned by a bad DM. Maybe some good DM'ing can turn your guys around, but expect the old DM to be defensive if they like the game better with you.

We believe we have fixed this bug as of about 30 minutes ago. Please let us know if these problems continue to persist.

Cheers!
- Rob

Last week, I tried to post a message in the Books board on the main site, and was booted out to the main page when I hit "Preview". Today, I signed in and responded in the Dungeon / Maure Castle thread and the same thing happened. The first response was a long one. The second was only a few minutes. Neither was posted or able to be recovered by hitting the Back button. I believe the system logged me out.

I ran the adventure a few weeks ago for some friends in L.A.

Barmy,

I'm assuming your players were of the appropriate level to play the adventure. Did they die often, or at all? The party that I currently DM is 10th level, and this is my first campaign under the new rules, so I can only guess at how powerful and capable they will be at higher levels. I can't picture these guys making it, and since every death basically sucks away a level (at best), a few tough encounters would be enough to send these guys screaming from the Castle. It is the players' first campaign under V3 rules as well, and they are tracking about 1 level below an adventure's recommended level (meaning at 9th level, they are solidly challenged by an 8th level module). But even with an extra level, I still just see them spattered all over the walls of Maure Castle.

What say you?
Chuck

I can't wait to see <I>Shaun of the Dead.</i> Have you seen the British TV comedy show Spaced? It stars Simon Pegg (who shares a writing credit with his costar, Jessica Stevenson) and was directed by Edgar Wright. Very funny stuff, with plenty of genre references.

Jenny

I haven't seen the show, but Simon mentioned at the Q&A that the idea for Shaun of the Dead was spawned from an episode of Spaced with a dream sequence in which one of the characters was caught in a real game of Resident Evil. What makes the movie so great is the writing. I would love to get my hands on a few episodes of Spaced.

Heck, since it's fairly standard, the whole thing could be abbreviated as well:

Detects: Priest (E:Strong, Weapon:SEnh, Amulet:FTra); Assasin (Spot12, Dagger:SEnh, E:S), Loud Croaking (Listen8).

Great idea! I'll take it a step further - use symbols for the recurring words: an ear for Listen, an eye for Spot, a gas gauge-like meter for the strength of the aura (1/4 tank for Faint, etc.), and maybe even symbols for the different schools of magic. Then you just need a key at the beginning of the magazine to define the symbols. The only text would be the descriptors for people / objects.

Or I guess I could just read the adventure a few times in advance like I'm supposed to. VIVA TOOLS FOR THE LAZY!

I loved this movie! It joins Mr. Vampire and Evil Dead 2 in a trinity of horror comedy. We'll have an interview with Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg in an upcoming issue.

Fantastic! These guys were extremely funny and witty in the Q&A. One question I didn't get to ask is what their favorite horror movies are. Another is if they blame the American audience for the sudden abundance of "fast zombies". I'm sure they are huge fans of D&D zombies. Partial moves only, baby.

On a recent trip to England aboard British Airways, I was delighted to find that I had a choice of 8 movie channels to watch. One of the choices was 'Shaun of the Dead', a British romantic comedy centered around an infestation of zombies in suburban London. What followed was one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, and an incredible zombie flick to boot.

I brought some friends to a free screening in Philadelphia last night, and was relieved to be able to laugh out loud without risking upsetting a small fleet of flight attendants and sleeping travelers. The director, writer, and star of the movie had a Q&A after the screening, and talked about how much they love the old Romero zombie flicks, which is completely obvious in their movie. The writer's first words to the audience were: "Who agrees with me? Slow zombies good, fast zombies bad?", which was met with a roar of approval from the packed theater.

If you are a fan of zombie (shambling, not kickboxing) movies, comedy, romance, drama, or England, see this puppy. The release date for the U.S. is September 24. Cheers!

I'm getting ready to run Maure Castle for my group. Any experiences or suggestions from those who have run it already?

Yep. Get a good supply of body bags. I actually haven't run it, but I just can't imagine how a party of 4 of even the hardiest 15th level characters makes it through this. Mr. Gygax is a cruel, cruel man. You should post the highlights of the adventure - I love hearing about the high level stuff.