Hal Maclean's page

I once ran a campaign where everybody played tough dwarves and gnomes. After each and every one of them got swallowed by a purple worm and had to cut themselves out they dubbed themselves the "Tequila three"

(cuz sometimes you get the worm and sometimes the worm gets you... :) )

By the way, Hal, "7 Deadly Domains" is still my absolute favorite article since the relaunch. They're getting some use in a set of desert adventures I'm currently running. There's some evil NPC priests running around with lust and envy domains in their repertoire.

Ah, so that's how to include a quote, hit reply :)

Thank you for the kind words, it's nice to know that somebody found a use for something I wrote. In the original draft I included a largish chunk of adventure seeds based around the notion of "vice cults" secret factions within good and neutral churches working to promote one of the sins. The notion of ostensibly good aligned clerics actually undermining society really intrigued me. For instance, I think envy clerics were political revolutionaries ("think you're better then me just because you're king...")

If you ever need a quick and dirty reason for betrayal by someone "back in town" keep that in mind :)

As I mentioned above, a lot of the credit for the final shape of the article should go to Mike.

This one just started but it leaves me with that terrible foreboding of an evolving running gag.

In a recent game, after a number of arduous sessions battling their way up through a tower filled with dire bat riding derro slavers ("the flappers") and assorted minions the party finally came face to face with the leader of the group, an acid themed savant named Causticus. They were having a bad time of it, and it was starting to look like one of them might actually end up back at the temple in town as the latest contestent on "raise that body".

But then the paladin decided to summon his "war lizard" (don't ask...) "Jonesy" (seriously, don't ask...). Since Causticus was up on a balcony, enjoying cover and cheerfully conjuring mobile acid pits to chase them around the room he wanted Jonesy to appear on the wall above Causticus and engage him in melee to cut down on the spells. Jonesy has a climb speed, but the DC of the wall was high enough that he still had to make his check (taking 10 is all well and good if 10 +your climb skill exceeds the DC of the check :)), which he promptly blew. Jonesy fell, on top of Causticus, and the excited paladin just started yelling, "He lies on him! Passive resistance, go limp! He lies on him!"

This took Causticus out of the fight and prompted the mystic theurge to say "it's raining lizards" (to which everbody else in the relieved party chorused "Halleliuiah").

:)

I fear the lizard dive bomb could become a common tactic in the game...

And I really should learn how to cut and paste excerpts from other postings so that I'd know who actually asked the question. Sorry about that Chris (don't bite me, I like keeping my human shape during the full moon :) )

Theodore Geisel?

I prefer the story of Billy-Bob Flufferschmeit.

He's the guy who got 37 rejections and was then tarred and feathered by his creditors... :)

As to the question above from Calidore Chase (I have -barely- the technical competence to cut/paste an excerpt from the posting, but the secret of highlighting it afterwords, like the quadratic equation from my high school days, continues to elude me :) )

The feedback I've received from Dragon editorial staff varied considerably depending upon the temperament of the given editor and the amount of time the magazine's production schedule allowed.

The first two things I wrote, a long time ago, were during the tenure of Dave Gross. His rejections were personalized and remarkably detailed, including the mention about the improper formatting for things like magic items. They were about as encouraging as you could possibly make a rejection letter and still pass on the article. I believe he also made mention of "Elements of Style" and quite kindly suggested that I give it a look. Frankly, I'm amazed he took the time he did. After those two articles however, real life interevened and I went off in other directions for a few years.

By the time I made another stab at Dragon the era of the form rejection had begun. This was I believe during the time of Jesse Decker, with Matt Sernett as the associate editor. Something like:

"Dear Author:

Thank you for your recent submission. We appreciate the time and energy you put into it. Unfortunately it does not suit our needs at this time."

However, each of these letters also included a check list where the editor quickly noted the broad reasons for passing on the article. These included things like "shows an inadequete grasp of the rules" and "displays poor sentence structure".

(not sure why those two particular clauses come to mind so easily ... :) )

During this time however, I started to get the occassional request for a revision, mostly from Matt. He might say something like "We like the idea of non-magical books as treasure, but instead of a bunch of charts that allow the DM to create a library on the fly why not detail some books and present them for the DM to slip into an adventure?"

However, even after I rewrote that one to his notes it still came up short and got spiked again (this time with a form rejection... D'oh ). But the story has, from my perspective anyway, a happy ending, with the benefit of hindsight I took a look at that article last fall, and realized that the only thing worth saving from it was the title. So I rewrote it completely and tried it over at Dungeon as as Campaign Workbook, which led to "Essential Works" my first appearance in that magazine. So nothing is ever a complete loss if you learn from it.

Eventually Matt moved into the editor's chair, and, since I had achieved a kind of critical mass in rejections, things started to click. I pitched this idea called "Seven Deadly Domains" and it piqued Matt's interest (enough to stick with it despite the first draft :) ). He passed it over to Mike McArtor and we bounced three or four drafts back and forth while it took shape. Mike was great, full of useful and interesting suggestions, and I found his feedback quite helpful not just for that particular article but also for the insight it gave me into the editorial mind (a strange and fearsome place indeed).

This was during the relaunch era, and the staff was quite eager to find people willing to write stuff for the specific monthly features they wanted to include. Using my tremendous mental acuity I mostly choose the features that were to disappear most quickly in the ensuing months, including "Adventuring Tricks", "Player's Tips" and "Heroic Feats". However, since the staff needed to fill these holes they were more then happy to ask for revisions from me, which led to even more feedback and useful suggestions.

Mike and Wes were simply amazing during this time, devoting lots and lots of time to whipping my articles into shape, and dealing with my particular quirks as a writer. For instance, I've got a problem with passive voice, so Wes decided to try "boot camp" (as he called it :) ) and insisted that I write articles without any passive voice in them at all. That's not as easy as it sounds, but, the need to snake my way though sentences, contorting the words to eliminate every speck of passive voice proved very interesting (you've actually got to be someone who enjoys revisions to understand why that's fun :) ). I got a lot better at chopping this stuff out.

(although it may be that I've sometimes been known to be the kind of person who backslides from time to time...)

So, to answer the question way back on top, generally, with the exception of one or two aggravating moments that inevitably occur in a monthly magazine, I've found the Dragon staff extraordinarily helpful. To put things in perspective, I've dealt with a some other, non-industry, magazines and the Paizo guys are head and shoulders above most of them. I won't tell tales out of school by naming names, but some of the editors out there in the big bad world are pretty savage with their rejections.

(you haven't lived till you've gotten a rejection haiku... :) )

I shudder to admit it but (if you count requested revisions) the first twenty things I wrote for Dragon got rejected (yeah, 20). The reasons they didn't make the cut fall into a number of broad categories. They were either:

(a) Really bad

(b) displayed a poor grasp of the format (italicize those magic items!)

(c) Presented wildly unbalanced rules

(d) All of the above

If someone as thickheaded as me can figure it out anyone can :)

On the topic at hand, out of the thirty-two ideas for feature articles I submitted in the latest round a grand total of five were given the greenlight, and there's no guarantee that any will actually make it into print.

The competition is Darwinian. If you don't enjoy writing these articles for themselves you're likely going to be disappointed.

Sidestepping any kind of feuds that may develop from this thread...

I let my subscription to Dungeon lapses just over a decade ago when I realized that I wasn't really getting anything out of it anymore. I loved some of the adventures/regular writters (especially Willie Walsh, the master) but I liked writting my own adventures (and as the pile of mostly unused issues grew I started to fear an "magalanche").

When I heard about the new format for Dungeon I resubscribed, pretty much solely to get access to those intriguing "Campaign Workbooks" and "Backdrops". Since then I've also enjoyed a number of the adventures, mainly treating them as resources and idea fodder. While the name escapes me at the moment that one involving the giant, one eyed frog especially comes to mind.

So, Dungeon's new format has brought at least one canky old timer back into the fold.

A few quick things to keep in mind based just upon the PHB:

(1) Druids can summon a new animal companion with 24 hours notice. Whenever possible scout out or research the adventure locale and get the companion that most suits your needs for that particular adventure (scent ability, aquatic, a fast mount,etc).

(2) Keep those spontaneous casting of "summon nature's ally #" in mind, it makes druids the best conjurers in the game. Use your allotment of buff spells to make these creature's tougher (maybe take Augmented Summoning if you have the spare feats) and send them in as your enforcers.

(3) Druids also make fantastic scouts/guides. Wildshape lets them go anywhere, and they have a nice selection of travel spells which they can cast on the rest of the party (up to and including animal shapes) to take them along for the ride. They've also got the right skills (Spot and Listen) and class ability like pass w/o trace (is it still called that?).

(4) One final thing, always, always, always, cast lots of goodberry spells and hand the berries out to your allies. It lasts 1 day/level, each berry is good for 1 hp of healing and I think you can eat half a dozen or so each day. It's like giving everyone a free healing potion.

And that cleric article was bonny and inspiring one indeed :)

While I believe it's possible to do a pacifist article for each of the classes (for instance, monks can do nonlethal damage with their unarmed strikes) you soon start to feel like you're repeating yourself.

If I ever return to the idea (and Mike wants more of them...) I think I'd instead offer up some new class abilities rewarding a character for embracing a pacifist lifestyle. Particularly if I tie them to the scale of the pacifism.

If you want to make up a pacifist sorcerer -or any character for that matter- just make sure you cover all the important issues.

First, define exactly what you mean by pacifism. Like vegetarianism pacifism appears on a continuum, the greater the extreme you choose the harder it will be to play your character:

Total non-violence-dealing harm to another bruises the soul, so you refuse to hurt any creature by word, act or deed, and you do you best to prevent others (including allies) from doing the same. This not only means you would never make an attack roll (even against constructs or undead) but you also refuse to help -and may even hinder- your fellow party members in battle.

Will not kill-you refuse to take the life of a living creature. This means you can still fight constructs and the like but if you face living opponents you must either do nonlethal damage, grapple or something similar.

Bystander-you refuse to harm another, but would never presume to dictate someone else's path in life. This means that while you might not use a weapon, or cast a fireball spell, you have no problem with using "buff" spells or even summoning monsters to fight on your behalf, just so long as you don't shed to blood yourself.

Once you define the nature of your pacifism next take a long look at your character's class abilties, including feats and skills, and find a way to make your character both:

(a) Fun for you to play and

(b) Not too annoying to everyone else at the table

Sorcerer's are all about the spells, and since once made your selection is pretty much "set in stone" it's not that difficult to make a pacifist sorcerer that meets these criteria.

Your best bet is to go with a sampler of "buff" spells (mage armor, bull's strength, haste, etc) to make you popular with the rest of the party and throw in some charms and illusions to give you something to do in battle. If your pacifism permits take some summon monster type spells too and send them in as intermediaries.

Similarly, look for ways to use your familiar, as a scout, a distraction, a potion delivery vehicle, etc (invisibility comes in handy to keep it alive :) ). Once you hit sixth level think about taking Improved Familiar and upgrading to something more powerful.

Your weapon selection and AB isn't that great to start with, but a crossbow, used for nonlethal damage (look for ways to get around that -4 on attack rolls ASAP like merciful weapons), still gives you something to do each round.

The key is to treat pacifism as an interesting challenge to overcome as well as change of pace for a character concept. Find a way to make it work for your character and for your party.

My $0.02 (such as it's worth).

Impose a stringent word limit (e.g. 1500-2000 max) and try to include as many worlds as possible, ideally one article for each. Make sure that while these articles give something nifty for the diehard fans of that world it's also easily transferable to home grown campaigns (and maybe even make that a mandatory sidebar for the writer). This has a few advantages.

(1) It won't alienate those already reading the magazine by dedicating 1/12th of their subscription to stuff they can't readily apply to their campaigns.

(2) It should hopefully increase newstand sales of that particular issue as non-readers (including cranky 1st and 2nd ed types who might "come home" at least for one issue and perhaps even take up a subscription again).

(3) It gives the reader lots of interesting ideas for "change of pace" adventures and/or characters (e.g. "One nightmare in Ravenloft" where the DM uses a hypothetical Ravenloft article as to basis of a one shot adventure in the demi-plane of dread that takes place while the PCs sleep, without needing to scrap his current campaign).

All that being said...

Long live Spelljammer!!! :)

Great minds, great minds... :)

I was going to make my own pitch for a voodoo article once I got on top of some of the stuff that I've already got firm deadlines attached.

A couple of suggestions if you're interested.

(1) Voodoo cleric domains

(2) Zombie template (they're still alive right, just kind of "brain wrecked", sort of like the yellow musk creeper zombie in MM 2)

(3) Possession Feats (not exactly the right name but can't think of a better one right now) Voodoo rituals often involve making a person a vessel for one of the gods, endowing them with superhuman abilities themed on that god's portfolio, so why not offer up some feats for people who've gone through the ritual and kept some tiny portion of that divine energy?

(4) Character Tweaks-A quick sidebar where you offer up a bit of flavor for each of the core eleven classes (new names for class and/or abilities, maybe mention some ways to make them more suited to a voodoo campaign)

(5) A voodoo campaign (an obvious one I know): something for the DM, notes on how to create a campaign that uses voodoo elements.

I snooze, I lose... :)

Good luck!

One thing I always have problems with is continuity, reminding my players about the important events in earlier adventures. Sometimes this could be an important NPC or a critical bit of forshadowing so sometimes I go the extra mile to make sure they remember.

In one campaign I used a really awful bard as a way of ensuring some continuity. He would make up songs (to the tune of old sit com themes) about their earlier adventures and, since everyone in the campaign except my group loved his work, these would follow them everywhere. Whenever I wanted to remind them of something they'd hear a peasant singing a reworked version of the intro the Cheers, or All in the Family, or Gilligan's Island (boy did they hate that one :) ).

They started keeping very detailed notes...

Of course, the fact that I my singing voice makes the croaking of frogs sound pleasant didn't help...

I also once introduced a xorn as a NPC, modeled upon Scooby Doo. They could get him to do just about anything if they offered a "Xorny Snack".

I even included a doppelganger villain who "would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling adventurers."

New editors=new opportunities.

(and sometimes they change their minds too :) )

If I'm really intrigued by an idea and the relevent editor passes on my initial pitch I put it into my "someday" file and console myself with the thought that I can always try again later on.

It's best to keep an eye on the magazine though, cause sometimes they reject a pitch because they've already got something similar in development.

I may have inadvertently created a running gag in my group's most recent session.

One of my players, after his character's second death (a monk who kept on trying to go "mano a half-orco" against monsters with reach) decided to make up someone new rather then get him raised again. Rather then start over a first I said he could do the average party level, and this gave him enough to start off with a character with a prestige class.

His experience as a melee fighter type a little sobering he decided to go for an archer, and made himself an Order of the Bow Initiate.

I looked over the character sheet, and noticed the class and level abbreviation, "OBI 1".

"You're an OBI 1?" I asked.

"Yup." he said, blank faced.

"If you call yourself Kenobi I'm going to smack you..."

His face lit up, and for the rest of the session it was "These are not the orcs you're looking for" or "If you strike me down I...".

self-inflicted "pun" ishment... :)

On the subject of tone, especially the amount of humor "in game" how many campaigns out there include running gags that JUST WON'T DIE?

I've got a few that immediately spring to mind...

"Meep"-A very old one, originally my invention to denote the plight of a poisoned/paralyzed ranger. I told him all he could manage was a pitiful "meep". He turned that into a one word language by altering his tone and inflection. Since then it's become a short hand distress call (and I've seen people hold entire conversations with just that one word).

A ghoul rages through the group, leaving several characters paralyzed, and they begin discussing strategy...

"Meep?"

"Meep" affirmative grunt.

"Meeeep" plaintive wail.

"Meep" soothing tone

(these conversations can last for quite awhile :) )

"And that's not a euphemism"-Something that if added to a phrase almost automatically turns it into a double entendre.

(sounds weird I know, but try it sometime)

Wizard, "I may need to recharge my staff of power"

group chorus "And that's not a..."

Only one of my group has asked to take a flaw (and he's the uber min/maxer so it set off my alarm bells right away :) ). I can't remember the name off the top of my head but it was the cleric flaw that applied the arcane spell failure for divine spells too.

(yep, on his way to becoming a mystic theurge so he never intends to wear armor anyway :) )

I've been DMing him for almost 20 years now, so I'm used to his tricks and I take them into account when I write my adventures. As long as everyone has fun what's the harm?

Personally, I've enjoyed all of those flaw articles, I like the way you think and in the right hands they could really help give shape to a character.

On a related note, have you ever thought of doing flaws for characters with monster ancestors? There's a lot of shapechangers and other creatures who could theoretically interbreed with a human or elf or dwarf. The legacy (or taint) of such an ancestor could linger on in the blood for many generations, occasionally producing a throwback or or a mutation.

(aranea, doppelganger, dryad, genie, hag, harpy, etc)

Mike, your truck needs washed?

Don't know if my garden hose will reach all the way to Washington state.

Maybe if I point the nozzle straight up on the air ...

Mike, remember that time I saved your life in 'Nam?

(yeah, yeah, what have I done for you lately...)