Hojas's page

I plan on making my pc's talk to Neff and the proper authorities if the players are interested in spending the time and gold to purchase the observatory. It is going to be so great to see their faces when Ilthane reduces it to ashes.

woohoo! The mailman just dropped off the 1st issue of my new sub :) I can't wait to read the last installment! This is so much better than painfully waiting for the mag to show up at my FLGS. I really like the shop though, so I will continue to buy Dragon at the full cover price from the fine folks at Game Depot in AZ.

Meepo is out of control! List of things that he likes to chew: Big rocks, Glass, Concrete, Light bulb........

My 1st sub to dungeon in my life will be starting with 135. I am so excited about opening my mailbox and getting the final AoW issue!

Brodequin- Methods of Execution CD
Abscess- Damned and Mummified LP vinyl
Sanity's Dawn/Magrudergrind- split 7" vinyl
Necro- The Prefix for Death LP vinyl

Meepo might be the one :)

zeech??(sp?) Pretty soon I am going to call him "he who cannot be named"

Name your dog Cosmo.

I'm particularly partial to Cosmo. It's a damn good name.

That is funny because I called him cosmo for a couple hours but it just wasn't sticking, so I decided to post here for help. It's driving me crazy calling him "come here" and "no" all the time. Balor seems cool, but I wouldn't mind a cute name either. If anyone wants a pic, please e-mail me at aarecording@hotmail.com

thanks to all of you for your help, Paizo board clan is the best!

I am calling him all these names to see if one sticks haha

I just got another dog, but I have been struggling with names! Help! male Pit Bull, D&D related name, his big sister is named "six"

The sound effects for Tiamat were hilarious :)

arghhhhh...i forgot haha I will have to catch the easter special :)

I feel the Koga's pain. Hojas has OD'd before but luckily made his stabilization roll and now leads his old group through dungeon AP's :) otyughs(sp?) not drugs!

Just take a look at the "sphere" room in White Plume Mountain for a unique spin on the dungeon crawl. I have noticed that some of the newer adventures are using the 1st edition style of those old puzzle rooms, except they are putting that much thought in to the adventure as a whole. My players seem to love running around underground as long as there is a logical reason to be there in the first place.(seems like most groups on these boards are the same)

Remember, the game is called Dungeons and Dragons for a reason. I get happy when I see the words "dungeon crawl". It hasn't evolved in to a negative term for me yet.

I only caught the last 5 minutes :( The beholder was great. I finally got to see a glimpse of the DM at the end too haha I only saw a few episodes as a kid and that was a long time ago. I hope this wasn't a one-shot deal.

I just ordered the 1st item pack. I can't wait to see them.

The players in our group were very interested in the Seekers organization.

Perhaps the players learn the Seekers are interested in a weapon at White Plume Mountain, and run the downloadable adventure. You can find it at the WotC web site and it is converted from 1st edition to 3rd edition. Perhaps they even find/buy a map to the mountain with the Dragotha reference.

I really want to tie in the revised White Plume Mountain somewhere in the AP. It would be great to have a PC or 2 score a legacy weapon, and snagging them from the infamous White Plume Mountain would be amazing. If you run it, please post how it went :)

ALE! ALE! ALE! *much rejoicing

Actually, it's Vincent Furnier, according to Allmusic. Alice Cooper was the 17th century witch the band communed with via Ouija. I still have a copy of ythe old 70s Marvel Premiere that featured an "Alice Cooper" adventure. Something about rescuing a snake from an insane asylum.

Nice! I thought I was the only one that actually cared enough to own that comic. Nurse Rozetta even makes an appearance. Alice has "retold" the seance story many times in his career, but the version he gave to Geraldo Rivera is my favorite variation of all time.

edit: is the Marvel Premier a short story? I have the full length marvel Alice comic.

I just need to say this. Paizo staff has won me over to the card idea. I will keep an open mind to the randomized aspect because of the sheer variety and equal commonality (did I just make up a word?) of the cards. I think this product could be a real boon to DM's trying to inject a bit of tactile flavor. I have used props for decades in the game and I love the idea of handing a player what they found instead of trying to come up with a unique description of the 85th longsword that they stumble across.

I was very vocal in voicing my dislike of this product, but due to the dedication of Paizo's staff in trying to explain all the myriad details, I have been educated and find that my early opinion was wrong and came from an uninformed stance.
Sorry to run the Paizites through the ringer, but I'm glad you guys took the time to address the concerns out there.
I still hate the term "randomization", but I think this is one of a very, very limited times when the concept works.
Thanks again Paizites!

FH

Amen brother! I think the Paizo staff should also understand that a lot of us freak out when we see the word "random" because of those &%&*%&*% minis that so many of us only use for our weekly RPG games. I get so mad when I think about the money I have dropped on the minis for my AoW campaign. I swear to god I am going to go light my pile of "young masters" and "Fiendish T-rex"(seriously, a &&^%$# dinosaur as a huge mini???!!) on fire right after I finish typing this post. I might as well start using "homies" in my campaign. Back to the topic though, I like the cards now too!!

Cool! I am from Phoenix(alice's hometown) and I always thought it was Vincent Cooper :)

edited for speeellling

Ale for all involved!! *taps keg of dwarven ale

Thanks to Takasi, I have lost what little interest I had about Eberron. :(

Our AoW group has 5 pc's, but we usually only have 2-4 bodies a session. It has been fun for the players to run a couple characters at once, and it's great to watch the personalities of these characters be developed by the whole group. It seems like there are horror stories all over these boards about having a DM-run NPC that pops up now and then to save the day, so I haven't even tried that approach yet.

It all started with the red box and keep on the borderlands. I remember trying to play with some friends from church who had some older brothers that supposedly knew how to play, but all we did was color in continents(islands, etc..)on giant sheets of paper. A couple years later I was lucky enough to have a neighbor who actually knew how to DM, and he ran one session of Isle of Dread for me and a couple of other kids to shut us up for awhile. It was the greatest session ever! It felt so amazing to actually be "playing" D&D. Ahhh....The good ol' days!

I am thinking for example of the oft maligned Warforged. Some people just dismiss them as "robots" or "manga droids", but their backstory is very sad and their current outlook very gloomy. I don't know: there is something of Frankenstein's sad monster in these sentient constructs that makes you want to hug them. ;-)

Thinking of them in those terms might help me enjoy the MMORPG a little more.

Things are getting clearer....Obscuring Mist fading...maybe these things are good after all....

Paizo has been the best thing to happen to D&D in ages, but I have a sneaking suspicion that randomized item cards(and other randomized role-playing aids) will be one of the only "mistakes" that will be remembered in the future. Not bad at all when compared to all the "mistakes" of previous editions of the game. The cards do look great though and I will definately be buying set one. Buying something for five dollars in the hobby shop is good for everyone, but it would be even better to buy a five dollar pack of item cards w/o worrying about doubles etc..

I think Eberron has more than enough story and history, it's the other things in the setting that seem to bother most of us that grew up playing AD&D. It just looks more like Gamma World than D&D to me. I am sure I would enjoy playing or DM'ing in Eberron for a change of pace, but I don't think it would have the "feel" of D&D that I have become comfortable with. It seems like AoW is working perfectly in Eberron for quite a few gaming groups though, so it must not be too far off the charts from the core-books. The key is for all of us to have fun playing in any setting!!!

Ouch! My players will be meeting with Filge soon and I hope they have better luck than all the other TPK'd crews I have been reading about. Thanks for all the tips, I will be using Hi-liters, notecards, etc..

wow! I seriously thought the random thing was a joke at first and then I realized it isn't April 1st yet. FH put it best-- I am in my 30's and also have the money to throw around at good products so why aren't the companies taking full advantage of this fact. I hate it when I get hyped about something only to have the initial stoke reduced to ashes by the evil lord of randomization.

GENERAL SOLUTIONS THAT WORK WHEN YOU ARE UNABLE TO REMOVE THE PLAYER FROM YOUR GROUP:

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Ask him to DM to see how much time and effort goes into it (though he may just put no effort into it at all or railroad).

Set out formal rules for your players; what rulebooks can be used at the table etc (thanks to Valegrim for this suggestion).

Limit alignments (particularily if two PC's alignment's clash- such as LG and CE). Incidentally, in the case of this player, we forced him to become true neutral. But now he has decreed that he is taking the Assassin PrC next time we level up, so he won't fit the alighment requirements (any evil). Any suggestions? DM should just stop him as it conflicts with AL?

Any player being violent to anyone else (regardless of whether the "victim" is the DM or not) should be evicted. I was talking to some guy today who said that this same player had threatened him with a knife (from the situation is sounded partly in jest) at a Magic: the Gathering tournament.

Make everyone realise that the DM is boss, and as such is allowed to run the game however he wants, whether that means limiting PrC's, feats ("but it's out of Song and Silence!"), rolling behind the screen or even fudging rolls (if its for the good of the game).

If they are munchkins, just up the EL to suit.

If the player's getting really uppity, just have something bad happen to him, EG: Paladin order hunting him down and making him repent, getting magic item stolen etc.

Rule discussions are held after the session- what the DM rules goes.

If worst comes to worst- critical fumble. (thank-you, Ultradan!).

Hillbilly Devilspeak- "I quit my job!"
N.W.A- "always into something"
Carcass- "Tools of the Trade"
and the list goes on and on....

Making mental note now... Even though we are a long way from zyr I know I will forget.

Yeah, this can be a tough one. As long as the other players have your back, you should be able to defuse the situation with their help. Hopefully you can solve this without any parent/teacher involvement and get right back to the gaming!

Your site is great! I am running AoW in Greyhawk and the great city maps and information is going to help me tremendously. I grew up playing in Greyhawk with the 1st and 2nd edition modules but never realized it haha

My D&D character name in high school and every mmorpg that I have played. The name came from Zig Zag papers, they used to say "32 hojas" on the side. A dumb name that only a high schooler would pick, but it has stuck for years now. I remember a dwarf came up to me in everquest and said "Did you know your name means leaves in another language?"

In regards to the D&D online game, I was skittish about buying it as well-I saw Eberron and groaned, but bought it at the constant nagging of a friend and have been blown away by it. A few of my friends have also not bought the game for the same reason-they were hoping for Greyhawk or FR. The gamefeels more like generic D&D than Eberron, so buy it, you won't be disappointed!

The game has been fun, but the Eberron flavor has been too much for me. Maybe I would like it more if the Bionic men looked a little more like Colt Seavers.

But I forget things too - Like in the resting room for the workers in the beetle section of the WC - I forgot that everyone in the room should have been fatigued. So the party didn't quite get it when I said "Suddenly, a great wave of weariness washes over you", AFTER the fight with the beetle. There was much "Okay, who set off the trap?"

I did the same thing :( haha

It's always the little things that make a DM shine, and I missed a couple of big ones during my gaming session last night. The party was about to face the Grick/sphere trap in the whispering cairn and meet the ghost of Alastor Land. Even though I had planned all week for this encounter, and really liked the idea of Alastor busting the PC's chops while they were in action, I still forgot to play it out that way. I got caught up in the excitement and didn't even realize I missed it until the PC's were on their way back to Diamond Lake with the bones and a smile on their face. I guess I need to start using notecards to remind me of the important details for every encounter. What do all the great DM's here on the Paizo boards use to keep track of everything?

However, nothing in D&D would make me happier than an expensive $60 600 page HC GH update....I'd preorder that SOB and anything else GH as fast as I could type in my credit card number.

Make that five! I don't think the "powers that be" would let Greyhawk products fall in to the hands of bad writers. The logical choice would be the paizo staff and I can only wish for a Greyhawk HC penned by Monahawk. I have been finding more information online about the setting, but for an old gamer that hasn't followed the history for the last 20 years it can be hard to put all the pieces together. I have to admit that it has been a lot of fun trying though!

As an old DM that is new to 3rd edition, this exact topic has been bouncing around in my head for weeks. I think this thread finally cleared it up for me though. My big concern was the threat range(19-20 etc..) and if you scored a "hit" and a possible "confirmation roll" on a nat19 when the target's AC is 20 or above. I understand now that a roll of nat19 only results in a possible "confirmation roll" if nat19+bonus is a high enough roll to hit the target's AC. Someone above mentioned that we are making this more complicated than it is, and that is exactly what I have been doing. Of course I could be totally wrong now and think that I have it right...

Call me a sucker for the classic dungeon crawl. For some reason I never get bored running these underground adventures.

Free ale to the 1st poster that mentions something besides politics and christianity! *taps barrel of dwarven ale

Right now I am running the Age of Worms by the book for my group's first experience with 3.5 edition. The players are getting ready to meet Alastor next session and will be heading back to town soon. I have always liked the feel of 1st and 2nd edition AD&D and I am hoping that this campaign can be low-to-mid magic like those early adventures. I have given out treasure from the adventure "as written" and while I am sure that the players need these items, it was hard for my group to grasp(and keep track of) how many magic items they were finding. Hopefully I can limit this a bit with some careful planning and a little luck. I want to run some side quests in this campaign and hopefully add a journey to white plume mountain for a couple of rare(??!!)magic weapons. I might start a thread in a couple of weeks to harvest ideas from all of you fine folks. My official response to this thread is that I prefer low to mid magic campaigns. (set in Greyhawk of course)

1. Burn Victim-Baptised in gasoline CD
2. Disgorge(MX)-Forensick CD
3. Conan soundtracks
4. Pretty Little Flower/Unholy Grave Split 7" record(on the turntable fools!!)

I listen to every kind of music that is humanly possible as I run a recording studio in AZ. I love the Conan soundtracks for the D and D sessions. The other bands aren't good for playing d and d except for some combat now and then or to portray the sound of meeting pazuzu himself.

If I'm lucky, I'll have a surprise for everybody by the weekend. (SCA Event this weekend, so I may be out of touch until next week.)

the suspense is killing me.....

Wicca, bleh, don't get The Koga started on Wicca..

Heh, The Koga has never EVER come across that problem, and he's got tons of Christian friends, infact, thier parents like The Koga, they think he's a good example, smart, and very Christian-like.

Meanwhile, when they're not looking, he calls himself a Satanic Preist, and awaits the day The Illummanati takes over and assumes thier New World Order..

He tried to bring it to thier attention subtely, by wearing a Triquetra. (Which means triple aspect of the Goddess in Wicca, but also means The Beast to Luciferians because it looks like a 6 three times.) They didn't even notice, but then again, the symbol was on a little poster of "Christian cults", so they just assumed The Koga was one of those wierdo Jehova's Witnesses or something. HE CAN'T WIN! >: \

But, no matter, he flexes his evil muscle, like when Crystal wouldn't go out with him but flirted with him and crap, if it wasn't for her, The Koga would've never met any of the church goers or her dad or anything, who all liked him..

Crystal: You better stop being mean to me or i'll tell everybody your secret. >: )
Koga: Go ahead woman, The Koga has been betrayed a thousand times, and it only deepens his desire to be one with the shadows! Tell everyone and thier mother, that way, after they've done retaliated, they come to the relization that thier children, God, and themselves would not have had to be exposed to such trash had you not been a little *Koga says the H word! Well actually W, but whatever* and invited him into thier lives. You you are to blame, you danced with the devil! Or atleast one of his followers, so by all means, enlighten the masses. >: D

Needless to say, she kept her mouth shut. Evil is all about being pessemistic, and the great thing about being pessemistic is you're either proven right or pleasently suprised.. >: )

As for D&D, they don't really care, they just think it's some lame game nerds play. (Which is more...

Sorry guys, I think this is the greatest post ever! Dig deep and you might find things hidden beneath the surface.

It's a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there...Oh wait, I do live there
:(