Craig Clark's page

You weren't.

Bastard.

And Craig Clark, I feel appropriately burned. I take it you're waiting for the Ouija Kid write-up I've been promising for ages?

Any other requests?

The Age of Worms Adventure Path outline has eaten most of my "personal" writing time over the last couple months. I trust the wait will be worth it.

--Erik
(Who also has a blog, but it ain't public just yet.)

Well Kyle does have links to your web page, Erik...err what will be your web page...

I would love to see anything that was excised from the LGG, if thats possible, I remember seeing some stuff on WoTC's boards a long time ago about Vecna and Sulm. But I too struggle with balancing my hobby with my work, so no worries about the time frame.

Once you get caught up on the story line it certainly made the comic that much more enjoyable. There was just too much going on.

Thanks for the Downer pages!

Now if only a few more Dungeon guru's could get their acts together and put up their long ago promised personal files to their web sites...

"Retconned?"

Whatever. All I want is something I can print up so I can carry a few pieces of extra paper with me to my games instead of two entire magazines.

(Egad! I'm a minotaur!!)

There is almost no way that LG is going to use all the feats exactly as written. Not sure if some will be changed or some will be omitted but my guess is that they won't be exactly the same as in Dragon. Unfortunate, because the cooler ones are the ones that everyone will want to take and munchkin their characters with.

I take it these are being retconned for the masses? My guess is that Troll Blooded probably didn't make the cut...

Maveric28 wrote:

(Frostburn, anyone? Talk about limited appeal...)

Awwww...

Frostburn appeals to me, at least! ;-)

Frostburn is my favorite supplement for 3.5 so far. The idea for it seemed pretty limited but it actually had a wide range of useful stuff. And some very classic updated monsters.

My only disappointment with "Lost Temple of Demogorgon" was the lack of any locational setting information or map. I realize that we just got a Greyhawk map, but a little more info on Irongate and a local level map ala Istivin adventure arc would have been welcome. But hey I am a greedy Greyhawk player so I will live.

--- sort of treatment for someplace in FR that hasn't really been detailed at all or for a very long time.

That was a joke right? You guys do realize there are setting sourcebooks for FR coming out several times a year?

Something you guys might want to sell is those Tac-tiles battle map tile thingies. Saw someone using them at a Con but was never able to find them anywhere. Looked really cool.

I was wondering when the "Wesley Sux!" column would rear its ugly head. A two parter no less.

I guess his material is getting thinner and thinner, too bad, I certainly could have used 6 extra Maps of Mystery.

I have to say I also was not impressed with the art in the latest. Hopefully this was a holiday lull, everybody wants to go on vacation issue.

As far as the completion of Greg's trilogy it seemed a little bare bones to me, as if too much was cut out in the first two and nothing was left in the last one. Not sure how this could have been fixed, perhaps expanding the drow to their own adventure and living Malgoth for the fourth and final chapter. It was a little bit of a let down.

Thanks, Craig. :) I probably will, if I am being honest about it. When I went to the store to get a copy of Dungeon 118, I sort of had a shopping spree. :/ All those pretty games to go with my pretty map. :) I know what I got probably won’t fit in the Hyborian Age but Greyhawk is elastic. I think I am doomed to be a GreyHeretic, however, as I just can’t see some of the 3D&D options fitting in Greyhawk Classic either, but unlike the Hyborian Age, I do not think Greyhawk really has a style guide in its source material beyond a certain “here there be medieval fantasy” feel, that feels like it could be real if dragons etc. actually existed.

Glad you are going to give it a shot. :-) So far, for my game, I have limited prestige classes to existing Greyhawk groups. Order of the Bow Initiate is tied to the Gnarley ranger's...etc. That sort of thing. There are also some interesting prestige classes that fit quite well for what used to be specialty priests in 2nd edition. I guess thats what appeals to me so much about 3E, it's very open to interpretation and everyone's vision of Greyhawk is just as feasible as anyone elses. Also glad you were able to pick up a copy of 112, I wasn't a big fan of the original but the eccentricities of the module seem to make more sense in 3E. Anyway, hope you can keep yourself away from Sims 2! :)

Hey, Erik, is there any possibility of the Maure Castle maps ever being made available as PDFs? I'd love to easy access to them without mangling or cutting up the magazine. :-)

Ari Marmell
aka
Mouseferatu
--Rodent of the Dark

www.mouseferatu.com

I certainly second that. I put the maps into a laptop so this saves me from flattening the magazine when scanning them in.

Hopefully this will get clarified soon, obviously I am rooting for some new setting information for Greyhawk... the more detailed the better.

My sources on the situation (mainly rumor and innuendo) have the feeling the LG and it's Triads don't want Dungeon stepping on their toes.

Lets hope cooler heads and the huge fanbase of Greyhawk win the day.

As much as I hate to admit it, I'm not familiar with Folly, or the Dungeon of Bleeding Walls, not to mention a few others on the map. I was wondering of these were flushed out locations, or just mentioned in a Gazetteer. I'm pretty sure the Egg of Coot was never flushed out.

ASEO out

Folly was the setting of a pretty decent adventure by the Head Brothers in Living Greyhawk. I think it was a Core scenario and probably still available. The two main NPC's are very well written and memorable but the adventure itself is very "zany" because of its ties to the eccentric Zagyg and the sorts of experiments he did to create the "town" of Folly.

Highly recommended if you want to run or play in an LG adventure.

As I predicted after the third month Wil's running out of material quickly. In fact in the latest Dungeon there was so much other great stuff I completely forgot about Wil's column until my third or fourth perusing. At least before I was interested enough to read the first few paragraphs.

How about a monthly Up On A Soapbox with Gary, Rob, Dave, Zeb... whoever has something interesting to say. I realize Wil needs to eat, but if he can afford to drop money in Vegas then he must not be too bad off.

If nothing else how about a full page Map of Mystery every other month?

Oh, yes! With respect to 2E, it was never anything but 1E’s cousin. I think of 2E and 1E as essentially the same game, that being 1E, but then I started with 1E and just kept on in that vein with 2E. It was 3E that was a departure for me; one which really turned me off until Conan.

I had a long hiatus from 2E and basically picked up playing when 3E came out. 2E to me became less of a "look what we fixed from 1 edition!" ("Zeb" Cook) game than a, "look at all these great kits and add on books that we are trying to make money off of edition!"

Certainly I don't subscribe to the dwarven wizards version of Greyhawk that is the Living Greyhawk campaign. But it is nice now to be able to easily model things that already existed in Greyhawk without tweaking 1E rules. Knights of the Hart and the Baklunish elementalist don't have to be created "outside" of the rules as in 1E.

I know that Rob and Gary don't see things this way, and in some ways the rules do seem overly restrictive to DM's that love a freeform game. But being generally lazy (I do buy Dungeon!), every rule that I have at my disposal means less time devising a mechanic specifically for that in my campaign.

I will say that 3E is more work in the beginning, especially for DM's of course, but certainly I think it is a better platform for Greyhawk to build off of, anyway I hope you can give it a try. :-)

Reading this I could only think how sad that QSamantha missed Maure Castle, Dungeon 112. Certainly my largest highlight for Greyhawk in 3rd edition rules so far. Hopefully she can search that one out.

Also 3.5 is more "Grey" than 2nd edition IMO. 2nd editon turned me off from D&D for quite some time, but I know I am in the minority. Most gamers I meet seem to only know 2nd edition and Forgotten Realms now. My lost fond memory of 2nd Edition was Zeb Cook introducing it at a local convention and playing Ravenloft with Tracy. It all went downhill after that.

Anyway I also would like to thank Erik for turning things back to 'hawk after a long hiatus.

I've cut out the adventures from each magazine, and put the sheets into those clear plastic sleeves that preserve the paper. Admittedly the sleeves take up alot of room, but the 11 adventures overfill a 3 inch three ring binder. Just a note of how big the book would probably. Although alot of the info is proboably repeated or updated, NPC stats, and city descriptions and such.

Although I haven't done this with the AP, I do scan my adventures into a program called DM Genie. I use a free OCR program for the location descriptions and then html tag these to the scanned in map. Its very easy to do with the program. And no I don't have any affiliation with the product or anything its just a really cool tool if you have access to a laptop when you run your adventures. Highly recommended, it especially saves your books and magazines from wear and tear. It includes all open source stuff and is pretty easy to add the newer books like Complet Arcane with OCR.

It remains to be seen, honestly. If I get my way it will be "set" in Greyhawk but easily adaptable to the Realms or Eberron, with appendices of conversion notes for each.

I may not get my way. It is not 100% up to me.

--Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dragon & Dungeon

Well lets hope you get your way then, Erik. My Dungeon subscription is pretty much contingent on Greyhawk content and so far I feel the magazine has been well above my expectations.

I know that the first AP was very much on the fringe of known Greyhawk, and the second is supposed to take place in more prominent areas of the Flanaess. Will we get the same amount of background info on the AP areas, like the current Istivin 3-part series? I certainly hope so...

Certainly would like to see more of these in Dungeon, went back the other day to scan through my LGJs and found a lot of good plot hooks and adventure ideas.

I use DM Genie, very cool app that is as complex as you want to get. It certainly isn't the best character gen product, (My players use Shannon Greene's excel sheet generator) but I encourage DM's to check it out.

Paul McCarthy wrote:

I gotta ask a question. Why did they choose Wil Wheaton to do this article?

The reason we didn't have James or Erik write the column was two-fold. They both already get to speak in the editorial, and they spend all their time developing, editing and writing other articles for the magazines. Best not to pile more work on those two, because if they explode and go postal, I'm only one wall away.

Sean Glenn
Art Director Dragon and Dungeon magazines

I actually find Erik's columns pretty similar to Wil's. I realize that Erik is usually pushing his agenda and pointing out upcoming issues of interest but he generally has good bits of gaming nostalgia that I find worth reading. Just my opinion, but Wil's column has already become pretty derivative. Certainly not a subscription breaker for me but I think as time goes on he is going to become more and more strained for material. Bi-monthly? Map of Mystery?

Any truth to the rumblings that these have been pushed back? Dungeon 118?

At least one thing is for sure. Wil's stuff is getting read by all of us...love or hate it.

Actually I don't hate it, I simply found myself flipping back through the magazine after a couple of paragraphs. If there is one fatal error that a writer can't have its failing to capture his reader's attention.

I don't think RttToEE would have made my top 30 let alone the top 10. Nothing against Monte Cook but it could have been so much better than it was, it really took the original ToEE in the wrong direction I think.

I was pleasantly suprised to see B4 in the top 30, I didn't realize it had a following, I loved that module.

I also think G3, D1-2, D3, Q1 could all stand on their own.

I also wouldn't have put S3 in the top 5.

A1-4 could have stood on their own, and certainly should have been represented in the top 10.

Just my two bits.

I didn't have anything against the column at first but now after the third month I think I am seeing a trend that is boring me. Maybe it would be better served to have the column every other issue?

It just seemed to me Wil is already straining for nostalgic material.

Subscribers!

There really is no need to fret about subs being late. The post office handles magazines like they have no priority whatsoever. That is why you are likely to receive them on a day when your coupons and other rags do not come in the mail. Its more or less, as there is room available. You should see what happens to advertising in the mail not addressed to anyone. These can sit at the carrier's stall for a month before getting out to the street.--seasonal carrier.

I know this isn't why mine was late, I got absolutely no mail on Friday and my issue plus junk mail on Saturday.

Well they must have changed printers once again because I have never received mine this late before. I hope this isn't another cost saving measure, because its bound to backfire with fewer subscription renewals.

Actually I was having this same problem at the end of last year and thought that it was fixed but apparently its back again. I dunno maybe they get low on ink between Oct. - Jan. time frame?

Maybe my Greyhawk expectations have been lowered a bit the last 15 years...

But short of printing them on toilet paper I would be ecstatic just about whatever they looked like.

When I read about how the Maure family treated with demons and in fact explored those planes of existance it got me thinking about the eight pointed star and how it might relate as it is suggested in the adventure to other demi-planes or outer planes. This would be very cool to create a singular planar touchstone for each of the eight points with the Planar Handbook rules. I don't know if we will ever see more development with Maure in Dungeon (I certainly hope so) but I was wondering if anyone else has ran with this and what they have done with their individual campaigns with regard to the carving of the eight pointed star.

I love the S1 cover, pretty cool. Its funny how iconic some of the old modules have gotten even though the art work wasn't that great.

I live in the Pacific Northwest and usually get mine a week or more after the ship date.

Yup; the 1st quadrant of the Greyhawk map is scheduled to appear in issue #117 of Dungeon. The next three quadrants will follow in the next three issues.

As for locations; the map is gonna have a lot of tags, and some of those will be locations featured in adventures that have appeared in the magazine.

Very cool!

Thanks.

Just curious if these are still planned and what issue we will see the first one.

Also will we see Cauldron and other locations on the map?

Just curious, and eagerly awaiting them.

I would go for the 2 option.

Maps of Mystery is my favorite feature in Dungeon. I am not a big fan of a single map split between different issues. If Chris West need 6 pages to map out a dwarven stronghold let him have it.

Not trying to hijack this thread (I think everyone loves the Map of Mystery) but is there more than two maps to the dwarven stronghold? I loved those maps.

I personally haven't tried to follow or read this mainly because it seems to rely a lot on what has gone on before. I also am not high on the artwork. I do like the four panel quarter page comics that are generally pretty amusing I forgot the name of the one with the mushroom. Two pages for a comic that is hard to follow doesn't seem very useful to me.

Personally if it comes down to content I say axe "Downer" and keep Wil Save. I have only subscribed to Dungeon for going on three years now but I honestly have only read "Downer" twice. I guess Mt Zogon is more my cup of tea. If you can't get the gist of a comic in a few panels let alone several months worth then its storyline is wasted as far as I am concerned.

I know that one of the columns in the new format usually discusses various example encounters perhaps some of the Maps could be tied to those, otherwise I favor option 2 with the map taking up a full page.

I am glad they still are being considered because I think they are a great tool for the DM particularly the generic plop down anywhere maps.

Here's my opinion on Wil Save. I have no problem with a column devoted to the personal aspects of gaming. I have no problem with Wil and think he has a nice writing style and something to say. My problem is that he has the exact same viewpoint on gaming that I do and I think most gamers have, so it really doesn't offer me anything new. So does it add something to the magazine? Yes. But wouldn't a column about gaming from an outsiders viewpoint be more interesting? I think so. Just a thought anyway.

I personally didn't get much out of the Map a Weeks. The maps in Dungeon seemed to be more usefull but maybe thats just me. Hopefully these will come back if they are gone.

Are these still part of the mag? I thought they were great and ran a two session ad lib adventure using the Dwarven Mine and Dwarven Stronghold maps that my players loved. I hope these are still around with the new format.

The Blackmoor adventure sounds really interesting. One of those areas of Greyhawk I have never ran an adventure for, very cool.

Tantalizing Hint Time:

#1: If we do compile the Shackled City Adventure Path into one book, there will definately be additional content and maps and encounters.

First off, I am not a big fan of the Shackled City Adventure Path. I guess you need to buy into the whole thing or not and I guess I like my Dungeon adventures piece meal where I can plop them into an ongoing campaign or use them as side treks. That being said I hope that if they do decide to put these together they sell it on the web site as a separate printing like the Living Greyhawk stuff. I don't want it to take up one of my regular issues of Dungeon.