Great Green God's page

I thought it was the collaborative work of several posters on these here boards...

Third post.... and you got it right. As I recall Shroomy you were one of the many folks who looked in on the initially public creation session. Well here's the nearly ripe pseudonatural-fruit of our labor as taken from Dungeon 144's preview section.

The Distraction, by Tim Hitchcock

A band of settlers awaits certain death upon the vicious blades of massing gnoll hordes. Can the PCs distract the ravenous army long enough for reinforcements to arrive? A D&D adventure for 3rd-level characters.

Vile Addiction, by Stefan Happ, Stephen S. Greer, B. Matthew Conklin III, Tom Ganz, and Ashavan Doyon

A horrific drug has seized the population of the strange city of Exag, yet confronting its source only reveals the true extent of a dire new threat. Part one of the three-part Seeds of Sehan Campaign Arc, this is a D&D adventure for 8th-level characters.

Backdrop: Exag, by Stefan Happ, Stephen S. Greer, B. Matthew Conklin III, Tom Ganz, and Ashavan Doyon

Explore the ancient streets of Exag, a secluded city whose secrets and mysteries are among the oldest in history.

City of Broken Idols, by Tito Leati

The central mesa of the Isle of Dread is taboo to the locals, a place shrouded in mystery and cloaked in rumor. The time has come to confront what dwells atop the island's savage crown. A Savage Tide Adventure Path scenario for 13th-level characters.

Fishing season is almost over and the sharks are here (dah-dum... dah-dum)

-GGG

... one where the pc's stay the night in an apparently untended inn with an overgrown garden only to find in the next morning they have all been shrunk to lilliputten size due to some magic crystal in the garden.

Folks have tried to submit this type of adventure in the past, but Paizo always seems to nix stuff that just flat out does things to the characters (you are short, you are an animal, youare dead, etc...) -unless you are named Kuntz. At first I thought you were all down with that, and then I read this....

A good adventure should have interesting twists without being trite or cheesy and follow the gaming rules in the game. No items or effects that couldn't be recreated for example.

So giant toilets and munchkins are okay so long as it follows the rules and is not silly??? Huh? Okay so which is it? To each his own, but I can live with both (well, okay maybe not the toilet adventure it sounds a bit crappy if you ask me ;). Rules in my opinion where made to be broken for dramatic license reasons. And nothing kills the fun of the game more than slavish devotion to rules.

If you are looking for a good mini-me adventure it can be found in Goodman Games DCC Escape from the Forest of Lanterns by Steve Greer, which just came out a couple of weeks back. It's sort of D&D meets Muppet Babies (or X-Men babies if you're all HARDCORE!) Fun read, fun adventure, and the opening alone has more future adventure hooks than a boating and fishing show.

GGG

The last time I was this antsy was about a month before my son was born. Dungeon 145!!!

Kinda cool eh? This I think marks your first official feature-length piece (seeing as how you penned the great bulk of the backdrop). Congrats. Course you also got that solo horror piece in the Dungeon pipe too now.

GGG

Well now that the pseudonatural cat is nearly our of the bag, I have collected together all the essential salts of this thread and cast my special version of raise dead on it.

GGG

Great Green God wrote:

Both proposed (Mystara, 3 different queries). Now all you have to do is chant a lot and it will come true. ;)

Not that I'm actually complaining or anything -- Mystara has to be my all time favourite campaign setting -- but where do you come off having the chutzpah to hawk not one but THREE queries based on an OOP property? I am awestruck at your pure audacity....

.....and am sitting here praying that at least one of them gets by both the gatekeeper and the grey render! ;-)

:-j

One look no further than the first adventure in Dungeon 142 by yours truly, also known as one of the cool writers Steve Greer references above.

TTFN,
IMHO GGG IIRC AKA BMC3 ;)

I'm delighted you've proposed a truly integrated set of adventures and look forward to seeing them in print! I've tossed in a couple queries for adventures working on the cinematic-scene format in which each encounter develops or turns the plot. But I'm an unpublished newbie still finding my feet, which makes me an unlikely source. I would love to see adventures with this measure of complex resonance from those -- like you -- with the experience to make them sing. My players live for such adventures!

That's actually the problem with writing an adventure like that - I have no idea what any given GM's player characters are like. It's sort of like writing a screenplay to movie and not being told anything about the main characters. Are they kind and sensitive? Are they diplomatic, combative, proud, rich, lowly, gregarious, or loners? Are they a senetai superhero team, are they all student wizards, are they all dwarves, or are they all dvati duskblade/soulblades with the multi-headed template, and feats taken from some third party publisher? I don't even know how many characters in some instances is this a one-player to one DM game or is the DM playing to a crowd?

That said it is possible to lead the party along. Giving a players an encounter similar to something they have some cultural touchstone to does a lot to get the story rolling in the direction you want. Most of us have seen dinosaur movies growing up so we can almost instantly relate to the idea of giant dinosaurs on the Isle of Dread and how the characters should act. In short, it is possible to write something tight storywise and yet still be general enough for most people's tastes. It s all a matter of giving the players an in to the situation -a task that is split between the module writer and the gamemaster.

GGG

I'm not John Simcoe, but the easiest fix I can come up with is to just bump the yaun-ti's base Intelligence score by a point or two giving him some extra skill points to use on Use Magic Device. It's not like the PCs are going to be able to tell the diffence, regardless as a GM you are perfectly within your rights to alter the adventure to suit the group's style of play and to enhance everyone's communal enjoyment of the game.

Another possible fix would be to eliminate the offending wand and rely instead on potions.

GGG

I'd like to see a plot-driven, brilliant adventure in which each encounter is a turning point. In cinema, there's no such thing as a scene that doesn't either provide necessary exposition/background or, more often and better yet, advance the plot with a change in expectations. If a scene doesn't do one of these two things, it's both meaningless and, by definition, not a scene.

I'd like to see an adventure with a thrilling premise that's founded on a similar screenplay-like structure. It should be free of encounters whose sole purpose is to fight a nifty bad guy or fight in an exotic setting. Not that I don't want oodles of combat and exotic settings! But each encounter in a neat place, trap, or duel-to-the-death, or its resolution, should be a plot point. I want an adventure in which each encounter drives the PCs forward to some new clue, exposes a new fragment of the big picture, reveals an unexpected connection or deeper understanding of the moving force behind the scenes, doubles back to give second meaning to something already discovered, or changes the direction of the storyline altogether.

"Siege of the Spider Eaters," "The Weavers," and several of the between-AP mysteries resonated with some of this kind of storytelling. I'd love to see one of our luminary authors show us something new building this tight, overarching structure up to a grand climax of profound closure.

Got that covered too in a collaborative multi-part arc proposal. It's not all that profound, but it is tight.

I really want that one to move forward too. That's not to say that I don't want the others to do so as well, but that this one is special if only for its structure, theme and mood.

GGG

why does the sea seem to call me every time you tell me to "go fish?"

Go fish. You've only got two months left.

-GGG

I'd like to see more flavourful adventures which make use of the FR major strength: Flavour and a rich history.

Greetings,
Günther

You know that sounded like the beginnings of about three proposals there. Why not send them in?

GGG

I'd hope to see a Far Realm/Cthulhu-related adventure soon.

I'm submitting a query for one, and I believe that others have said the same....

One? One! That sir is an insult! ;) I have no less than three proposals featuring those sorts of themes!!! And if that's not enough check out the previews for Dungeon issue 145... Can we say 3-part arc?

ia ia Dungeon!!! I'm giddy already.
G-Cube

Spot on. As the usual GM for my group I have had to play hundreds of characters over the last 22 years and had to learn how to play female characters by extension. Telling my mostly male player groups "there are no women in this entire campaign" is not usually an option. Since then I create characters (both PC and NPC) with an eye toward realism and genuine character. I have found that if you can manage playing a character realistically (and by that I don't mean that you have to write a novel about thier experiences in kindergarten, but rather that you know their goals and what motivates them) that your other players will tend to start thinking more about their own characters and about their role-play. Eventually this can lead to some cool moments that you would never expect. I had a group characters meltdown after years of real time gaming after over hubris. Something like hubris bringing down the heroes is not a novel idea, except perhaps in role-playing where it should be an obvious hazard.

To answer the question about in character romances between same-sex hetrosexual players' characters, yeah it happens. In fact over the years I've made it a habit to use my own RP femine wiles to subvert numberous PCs into doing what my character wants them to do, and just as often the character is being sincere to throw folks off, but I'm a manipulative bastard like that.

GGG

Religious Zealots and the danger they can bring to a cosmopolitan setting....

A feif ruled by a LE tyrant- is he better the what is defends his lands from? Especially if he has the backing of the churches?

I tried both of these a couple of years back in one submission. It was about an aristocrat arms dealer who started a needless war just so his guild could make a profit, by using a bunch of xenophobic religous fanatics, and a foolish, stubbornly self-righteous monarch....

Unfortunately I was told Paizo does not do contemporary political allegory -especially now (2005)....

I think that's scarier than any Great Old One,
GGG

Great Green God wrote:

That's great I loved that adventure! It broke so many conventions. That's awesome. It's even more awesome that given the time frame we might even be sharing that issue. Now I've got even more reason to be excited.

GGG

Hey that would be neat! I suddenly feel like we're siblings wide-eyed with the anticipation of Christmas morning just hours away. "Man, 6am will never come!"

Just answer this Tim, are you looking forward to issue 147? I know I am.

GGG

I would love to see an adventure set in Mystara.

An adventure centered around social upheaval would be interesting.

Both proposed (Mystara, 3 different queries). Now all you have to do is chant a lot and it will come true. ;)

GGG

I agree! This is a very tasty way to kick off a campaign!

Awww, guys you shouldn't have. Thanks. :)

Good luck Double C.

-Triple G

...but it's tough to watch someone essentially attempt to defend willfull and continued ignorance (not just because that person is one of my fellow countrymen, but also because they share my profession).

I feel the same way about the President here in the U.S. except I want to be snide and rude.

I think the poet Richard Hamilton of the Detroit Pistons said it best, "If it ain't rough, it ain't right."
GGG

Fuzzy? Why, not at all, my temporally uninverted friend!
I, much like Merlin, just happen to be youthening. It's an unfortunite side effect of a college prank involving a sleeping werewoof, a 10 kilowatt generator, Nair, and an odd device marked, "property of The Republic of Galifrey Water Management District, if found return to 112 Baker St. apt B, London, Britto-Cyberman Empire 68200-1525."
Post #3,274.

There's two "L"s in Gallifrey.

Just waggle his tail,
GGG

Thanks Festivus! Another revelation-style one from my wife and I should hit print in the May-ish time frame.

That's great I loved that adventure! It broke so many conventions. That's awesome. It's even more awesome that given the time frame we might even be sharing that issue. Now I've got even more reason to be excited.

GGG

Thanks for including "Masque" in your AP (I'm sure my official notice was lost in the mail or something). Anyhow consider this link your official web enhancement. I'll be curious to hear how it goes.

GGG

The magazine staff has many vices, but payola is not one of them... as I'm sure hordes of disappointed contributors can attest.

PREACH IT BROTHA!!!

Amen to that,
GGG

Kirk would spill the beans.

I know...go fish...

Fish and Beans?... That's crazy enough it just might work!

GGG

I really enjoyed the recent Siege of the Spider Eaters adventure, probably because of the big revelation point when the party realized what was going on.

I would like to see more adventures along those lines.

You know I don't think I have one of those.... I guess it's back to work.

Thanks for the suggestion,
GGG

I would like to see adventures that use the following words more:

proboscis
propensity
marzipan
tureen
condescending

I'm sure the clever writers for Dungeon can probably find more words, too.

But only in the title right?

GGG

As I've mentioned previously, I'm a total junkie for "fix the town" games, where characters face tasks that can be dealt with through a combination of combat prowess, skill use, and diplomacy, and treasure might be used to build a library, strengthen the militia, or restore a church, rather than dumped into a +2 longsword.

That is so a speach given by one of my villains.... I hope you get to read it sometime in the future.

I would like to see the occasional entry with a more traditional, fairy-tale-esque fantasy feel to it, replete with centaurs and satyrs, giants and dragons, questing knights and fair maidens. I know knights, dragons, and princesses are supposedly the tiredest cliches in the book, but I've rarely played in a game where characters actually fought a dragon, or were even geographically close to one, and I've never been part of a game that literally rescued a fair damsel in distress (or a dude in distress, which would actually be somewhat preferable :) ).

A game that focuses on a particular nonhuman cultural setting, such as a village of elves or gnomes, could be an intriguing departure from the human-dominated scenarios most adventures offer.

Must... not... spill... beans....

The Kirk-like,
G... G... G...

I'd just like to say that I loved this adventure and Michael Kaluta's artwork was stunning. The elixir of fantasy, the masks and the deranged party-goers all make for a surreal Midsummer Night's Dream kind of adventure. Unfortunately it got cut a bit too much, IMO, and the ending falls a little flat after a great first half. I don't own the original X1-whatever, but I'd really like to see a whimsical non-dungeon conclusion to this excellent piece.

More wacky - I prefer to call it faery-tale - adventures like this would make my day. I agree with you about the dreaminess of the artwork. It really does fit the adventure well. Just like Tony Mosely's spoon eating rust monster in my previous foray.... Note to the Powers that Be: Sean Glenn needs a raise!

Also, I think Kaluta's artwork would fit a Third Edition version of Planescape to a 't'. His watercolours have exactly the kind of dreamy, otherworldly feel required for the planes.

Thanks for the comments Krypter. Don't blame the cutting process too much though, I left the end pretty open, figuring it would happen out in the desert somewhere rather than at the base of the pyramid as it did. That might be cool for a campaign, but magazine articles demand closure.

Mr Kaluta's work and James Ryman's cover were pretty awe inspiring, and I was very happy to see them attached to some of my work.

If you are looking for more whimsey check our Goodman Game's/Steve Greer's "Escape from the Forest of Lanterns" which should be out now. Also I have something clogging the pipe at Dungeon that might fit the bill as well but, that's probably a ways off. In the meantime I should be breaking my wacky stereotypical form in about four months time....hehehe.

GGG

I run FR, so there was nothing in the Mieville articles that helped.

For the record I really hated the Shanarararara issue of Dragon at first, but even in depths of that overwritten world I found a spark or two. I personally think that this Dragon far surpasses that one even though I've never read Mieville.

I'm also a big fan of cross-pollenization. Taking cool things and putting them together to make even cooler things. It doesn't always work but you at least have to try. The idea of one end-all-be-all campaign setting that doesn't allow for growth or innovation sounds like to me like the eventual inbred deathknell of said setting.... Forgettable Realms might not be my favorite established setting, but it never seemed to be so purist that it couldn't adapt when it needed to, but perhaps I'm wrong.

GGG

Razz wrote:

I can't really take any of the new races or monsters and throw them in an FR campaign. First off, they have no place their. Second, it'd be unofficial. Third, my players won't know it but I'll know they were taken from someone's own unique world and dumped into the Realms.

Canon police! Canon police!

Actually, Dragon is official D&D - everything is approved by WotC before it's published. Since the MM1 isn't an official FR product, I'm assuming you allow core into your FR campaign?

I'm assuming you allow core into your FR campaign?

It's not allowed in.... It's "dumped" in.

Razz is entitled to his opinion like everyone else, though I think dumping anything in a campaign without smoothing over the rough edges is a bit silly even with things as common as orcs.

You know it, I know it, and the American people know it,
GGG

In a word, GREYHAWK. Preferably something significant that actually moves the Non-Living Greyhawk campaign setting forward. Something like a 2nd Greg Vaughan trilogy would do nicely. Set up in Iuz's lands would be even better.

I'd like a few 'lost city' adventures set in obscure places like the Sea of Dust and places off the standard map. Greg Vaughan was the first to plow ground in this area with his "the Coming Storm" I hope to see some ruined temples or cities of the Suel in the former Imperium become classics that we speak of for years to come.
Incidentally, props to GGG and his nod to B4/Cynidicea several issues ago...

To echo the sentiments of another previous poster, more classic updates. Dwellers of the Forbidden City would be good. I'd be very satisfied with the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, the original Lost City (B4), or X4/X5 Master of the Desert Nomads/Temple of Death... probably a fool's wish...

Allen,

Thanks for the props. Hopefully I can earn them again in four months time. That and you really gotta stop reading my Known World-loving mind. Hopefully, fools' wishes come true.

GGG

Dang it! When is that proposal meeting?

Great Green God wrote:

I tried that once with a lumber baron who's twisted longings led him to do unspeakable things to dryads, who's homes later became furniture for his office....

It was killed in committee for going a bit too far.

G-Cube

Same story here, only with a marderous baby made from his mother's blood (all of it).

I liked your idea alot, BTW, I think I'll use it in my campagin...

I wonder if there is anyone depraved enough to publish our ideas...

There are always those ::shudder:: were-cabbage thingies I keep hearing about....

-GGG

DUNGEON MAGAZINE #145 ....The Savage Tide Adventure Path surges forward in “City of Broken Idols,” a foray into the center of the infamous Isle of Dread. “Vile Addiction,” the first installment of the new “Servants of Sahan” three-part campaign arc, leads the PCs into the vices of the Far Realm. A Backdrop for Exag: City of Clay supports the new series. “The Distraction” puts the PCs behind the enemy lines of a gnoll army.

This was repeated somewhere else but given the "Mythos" and "war" themes tossed about in this thread I thought it best to re-paste it here. Just a couple of months away....

GGG

So three more collaborative adventure arcs, and then I think I'm done until after the meeting.... Seriously, do you think the Eds might just cherry pick their top 10 or so adventures and let the rest go even if they thought they were ubercool? In which case more proposal shopping becomes counter productive?

Thoughts?
Gx3

I wanted to call it Francois de Munchkin but then I though it would be too obvious...

What about Max Twinkitude?

-Tad Peckish
Think I'll go eat

I've said it before and I shall say it again! More vile adventures: Lovecraftian terrors! Full frontal nudity! Unspeakbly terrible crimes! Inhumanly twisted desires!

I want adventures that will make Clive Barker sigh: "Man... it's just isn't right..."

I tried that once with a lumber baron who's twisted longings led him to do unspeakable things to dryads, who's homes later became furniture for his office....

It was killed in committee for going a bit too far.

G-Cube

I would like to see were the characters need to break out of prison or even jail.

Try Nick Logue's "Chains of Black Maw" Dungeon adventure if you haven't.

G
G
G

More battle/ war themed adventures where the party are the focal point of a big clash....

Working on a collaborative proposal.

A covert ops type adventure where the party have to rely on stealth to break into somewhere.

This Spring or Summer.

GGG

PS The question though is, what are you working on? There's only one sure way to get the adventures you want.... ;)

Correction. To quote Yoda,"There is another."

more seaborne and underwater adventures

more ...planar adventures

Also circling the same black hole. The latter actually made it to the point of singularity.

Triple G

I'd like to seem some more adventures with a Cthulu feel.

Currently swirling like so many blind idiot gods about a certain black hole....

G3

It's part of a progession. You need at least two.

G-Cube

Hmmm. 1,139 (counting this one). Just wait until GGG and The Jade chime in... mercy!

A mere 1,260 (going back to when Wil Wheaton wrote for Dungeon). I'm betting The Jade's at nearly double and that F2K is at least 1,600. So you see Steve, I am memorable without being too talkative.

;)
G to the Three

Yesterday I had the very nice feeling of an acceptance email in my inbox. My Campaign Workbook submission was accepted and will be in issue #145. It's the first, so I'm going to ride this feeling, right up to my next rejection. :D

Congrats The. Here's to many more!

GGG

Now that we're all kind of established, uh, when are we going to try and merge into some huge Voltron-like superbeing?

Too late! It has already happened!!! And soon, very soon now, your player characters will be able to join this amalgam as well....

Hahahahaha!
GGG

Might I also suggest the Goodman Games module "Escape from the Forest of Lanterns" which just came out. Its written by Adventure Path alumist and all-round excellent adventure writer Steve Greer. The introduction to this module alone allows an almost infinite number of permutations. Also check out the golden 1st edition oldies it's based on: "Dungeonland" and "Land Beyond the Magic Mirror" both by Gary Gygax. Both are availible for download here on this site.

::Aside to The Powers That Be:: There, I pimped the site, will you now please let Mike go to GenCon this year?
GGG

OK. Let's give this one a good nudge. begins rolling this bloated thread to the top of the thread mountain.

"Push Sisyphus! Push!"

G
G
G

I miss Erol Otus. He was the coolest ever. Sorry kids, but Wayne Reynolds just can't hold a candle to him.

He and a number of other good artists could, and Erol would go up like kindling; in my opinion anyhow. Nostalgia I think is the main draw and while I like his work I would put folks like Parkinson, Diterlizzi, Elmore, Caldwell, Brom, and Reynolds ahead of him in my personal line up of artists heavily associated with the game (even ones who have to draw formless abberations). Art though is subjective, so to each his own, but there should be little doubt that third edition (like it or not) belongs to Wayne, just as Erol's art still owns the beginnings of D&D.

GGG

Nice job Steve. Baby-PCs will be the new Tiny Toons in no time.

GGG

Does it got rakastas?

Just jokin'.

How 'bout a Cuh' Thew Lew?

Worse. Go fish.

;)
The Hyperdimensional G-cube

Another week gone by.... I guess it's time to start submitting again. ;)

GGG

Best wishes and good luck to you, Gavgoyle. I'm not going to Origins. I had planned to go to GenCon this year, but the odds are rapidly going against me due to work schedule conflicts.

Dude! You where bringing the buzz - I probably can't drink anymore... dang. ::kicks a rock and curses the heavens::

-GGG

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've been on the boards because real life is a silly, poopy kind of beast. My contract wasn't renewed with the Army (one of several, so nothing personal), so I've been in a flurry of sending of resumes and trying to pimp myself out to the museum and curation world. It's not the best of all job markets out there, anyway, so it's just been frustrating. I'm looking for temporary situations around here right now and I have some local (non-archaeological/non-curation) jobs to tide me over until I find something in my career path. The silver lining is that my contract was set up so that January is a severence month, so am able to fully devote myself to the search. Pimpin' ain't easy!

On much more enjoyable news, I've decided that I'll be going to Origins in July. Anyone else planning on going? The end date for the early-bird price is January 10, so there are a couple more days for early registration. My in-laws live about 12 miles from the convention center, so it's a great staging area for me...oh yeah, and to see them. Anyway, I've missed the community and the comradery of the Paizo boards and wanted to give a mini-shout out.

Brain the size of a planet.... Typical.

-Marvin