Corian of Lurkshire's page

Well, we have a few of them now. Logue adventures, I mean. And seriously, may they keep coming. Logue goes where nobody else dares to go. He inserts scenes that wrench your gut and thereby shows us what evil is, and thus why adventuring is important. He has created a wide variety of scenarios, from one in a courthouse to long wilderness epics. Say what you will, but they are always, ALWAYS, memorable.

Don't hate him for it, people. You are not going to die from a little extra gore or visceral evil. Your characters might, however, but if they do it will be something to talk about in years of gaming to come.

He writes well, has a clear and effective presentation, and makes believable NPCs. No matter his chosen subject, you can't fault him for quality. His created monsters and such are always original and interesting.

Three cheers for Nic, long may he reign as evil overlord! And people, feel free to sign in as minions of Logue the Dark. This thread is provided for your convenience.

(Thought you might need to hear this, Nic.)

There, it's done. 36-something sessions after beginning, we've come through Thirteen Cages. And for the moment, that's all we're going to play. I always felt the last two chapters felt tagged on to the end of the campaign, that really happened with stopping the cagewrights.

It's been a long time, with two non-remedied PC deaths, a huge amount of memorable moments, and a long slog through fights at higher levels. Now, ending the campaign before level 20 meant some players objected, and for their sake I will consider playing through Asylum too. And to mark its difference, I will insert a five-year time jump before that.

Anyone have opinions about Asylum, as an adventure? Tips for making combat smoother?

Whew. I am still somewhat shell-shocked with ending it. It's been a long project...

I have played this game since 1st edition, changed system with it through 2nd and 3rd, including mainly the Forgotten Realms and Planescape lines. I consider myself knowledgeable about rules and even a considerable amount of the fluff produced for the game so far. I have been rather sceptical of what I've heard about 4th edition so far.

I recently read the 4th edition preview book Worlds & Monsters, and it surprised me that it made me feel better about 4th edition.

The book details the "key conceits" that were the basis for the work on 4th edition. Many of these were Eberron basics as well (no surprise there), such as no formal alignments, PCs are different, deities are more distant, and so on. Most of these, I agree with and have used to good effect in my campaigns. Others were things I had been thinking about for a good long while, such as No unnecessary symmetry (why an ooze mephit or a plane of ooze?). It is also a stated idea that fluff has a central place in the game, perhaps leading to fewer books containing only generic feats, spells, prestige classes and monsters.

Let's face it: Over thirty years, the game has accumulated baggage, in the form of odd decisions, stupid design elements, and weird rules. If they can change a bit of those, that should improve things. I was even more impressed with the ideas they presented regarding cosmology. Sure, the Great Wheel is gone, but if there is anything from it that you really want, it's generally there somewhere. Losing the erinyes is perhaps not the worst thing that could happen. Yugoloths are now demons, and should no longer lose out on coverage due to being Neutral Evil, not Lawful or Chaotic.

However.

It is entirely possible to lay a good foundation for a work with good principles, and then destroy it all in execution. And seeing what they have decided for Forgotten Realms, it seems to be the case. In effect, they are wiping the setting out, including most NPCs, with a 95 year time jump. Even so, they are keeping Elminster and Drizzt, Waterdeep and Cormyr intact, probably for business interest of those names. They even changed the FR pantheon to conform to the generic pantheon.

If this is the execution to expect from D&D 4th edition, it's a pile of dumb, as someone put it. If not, perhaps we can hope that in a few years, we sit in a web discussion somewhere and grumble about the upcoming 5th edition, swearing never to leave our beloved 4th edition.

From what you have seen, which scenario seems likely to you? And keep it civil. Extreme words have no place in a serious discussion.

Since there seems to be quite a few new people starting this path, I thought it might be a good idea to have a place to point out jarring logical problems, so that us oldies can help new DMs watch out for various things.

The main goal is not a place for more foreshadowing or more linkages, it's for stuff the PCs point out to you when you run the game, and possible fixes.

So, to start off: Two things in Flood Season.

1) Considering the time scale, Triel Eldurast must be on her way to Cauldron from the Lucky monkey when the PCs storm out to help Sarcem Delasharn. There is only one road, and the PCs are likely cautious. So why don't they react when they meet her? The easiest solution is that she too is cautious, and takes great pains to hide when the PCs pass by. Then again, that's not too easy in full plate...

2) The module states clearly that the Kopru ruins are located well beneath the surface of the water in the crater lake. The ruins have a lake that is connected to the crater lake. The ruins could be pressurized, but the passage the PCs take to get down there should bleed off the air pretty quickly. The best fix is not to have a connection between the lakes. =)

Anyone else?

Just played through the beginning of Lords of Oblivion with my players. Sure, it says resistance is somewhat underpowered, but I really couldn't have imagined this would happen.

It took them THREE ROUNDS to destroy the Last Laugh hideout. Utterly, completely and hideously. Everyone inside was red paste over the walls or had surrendered. Jil was captured. The house was a burning ruin. Not one of them had taken even the slightest bit of any kind of damage.

Even worse... they pondered actually just detonating the house from the outside, then going in to find the kidnappee's body for raising.

*shudder*

Anyone else with similar experiences of this episode?

When I first saw the image of Seoni, the iconic sorceress, I felt that it was an odd image for a first level character. Admittedly, it's going to be the same image for the entire level progression, but it still felt strange. However, looking then at the writeup in PF #1 of the Runelord of enchantment, Sorshen, I had a sneaking suspicion that Seoni's image originally was meant to be of Sorshen.

Any thoughts?

Having recently read the excellent ecology of the Keeper article, I thought about the groupings of the keepers. These make up a good summary of odd mysteries of the D&D universe: the Apotheosis, the Draeden, the Final Gate, the Iron Flask, the Maze, the Mists, the Gray Path, the Seven Parts, the Ur-Fiend, the Unliving God, and the example character's grouping: the Colorless Pool.

So, with what we all know or can find out, what are these referring to? I have a good idea about many of them, but it would be exciting to see what you guys can come up with. In many cases, the challenge is to see what the associated mystery is.

So, open floor. Take one mystery, see if you can develop it, if there are good sources for this, and how to use it in a game?

And this is spoiler marked for a reason.