Kirth Gersen's page

In the face of contradictory info, I always go back to the creator: E. Gary Gygax. His two "Greyhawk Adventures" and bunch of "Gord the Rogue" novels detail a number of trips all over the (pre-wars) World of Greyhawk (although, due to copyright issues, all the place names are changed in the later books to things that sound suspiciously like the original ones, but just aren't quite). Granted, these books are fairly clicheed and not all that well written, but if you want descriptions of Greyhawk (and especially of the Free City itself), why not get them "from the horse's mouth," as it were? They may be out of print, but Amazon is sure to be able to hook you up with some used copies. If I remember correctly, the titles are: Saga of Old City; Artifact of Evil; Sea of Death; Night Arrant; City of Hawks; Come Endless Darkness; and Dance of Demons.

Try using Wee Jas's rivalry with Iggwilv...

Thanks for the reply; I did indeed read it with enjoyment!

Unfortunately, even despite the useful idea you provided, Iggwilv's interest has, alas, sort of been "used up" for me: after DMing Tsojcanth (not to mention the infamous WG-7 spoof dungeon, and also a "Return to the Caverns of Tsojcanth" that I later wrote), I also read EGG's "Gord" books in which Iggwilv is of course a major character. Not to scoff at your suggestion--far from it!--but I was kinda thinking more a Yog-Sothtoth thing for the plantation owner.

Wee Jas I've never done much with.

Chris Manos wrote:

Not so much a celebrity, but I loved the 'card of grey material' used as a book mark in the library in Vanderboren Manor.

Yeah, that and some of the other "trophys" were a pretty neat little homage to old school stuff....Wish I could place where I saw the others.

FH

The tasloi (V17) are from "Dwellers in the Forbidden City," mentioned elsewhere in the message boards. Some of the stuff in K8 sure sounds familiar, but I'd need a lot of help to place it...

Pick up Three-Dragon Ante. Good game with all kinds of flavor.
I will use it to game out any gambling or casino type encounters. There is a way to actually use your character's stats to effect the game also.

FH

Thanks for the recommendation; I'll have to check it out. In the meantime, I've got the mechanics down (an actual game of chemin-de-fer: not as good meta-game-wise, but a lot of fun), but I still lack the campaign "fluff" at this point. I'll just keep an eye out for a good place later in the AP to insert a game of chance against Vanthus (the players are guttons for looking the big baddie in the face before knocking him off).

Erian,

Great minds think alike!

I have to admit that I'm a big fan of letting the players roll their own dice, even in cases where you don't necessarily tell them what it's for right away. You might also consider an Eberron "action point"-type of system, in which spending an action point helps them avoid taint they don't want... after all, where would Star Wars be if Luke had no choice but to join the Dark Side, because YOU rolled poorly for him?

I've actually played D&D using Victory Games' 007 (skill-based) rules. In 3.5E I've tried eliminating x-class skills, and also combining similar skills (Hide + Move Silently = Stealth, etc.), as previously posted. All these options worked extremely well for one reason only: becuase there were no dungeon crawls. Characters without Diplomacy had no chance; I designed urban (and often espionage- or investigation-based) adventures where a broad skill base was a prerequisite for survival. Sorcerers in those situations are so much worse than wizards that I cringe at the comparison.

If your players love James Bond movies, try one of these options, and develop the adventures accordingly (the NPC police chief is inclined to let you go, because you beat him at baccarat at the casino the night before; the ethnic kobalds opt to tell you useful info because your Appraise check recognized the bizarre spices in their cuisine, and you passed the Fort save to avoid becoming sick eating it; etc.). Tell me if it isn't more fun than the usual power-gaming, for a change.

My gripe with the new one was the unwritten "bring a lot of 2-handed power attack grunts with adamantine weapons to guard your main rogue, or TPK on every encounter on the lower level occurs." Did anyone else find the 3.5E Tzolo's Guardian way too much for any party that wasted a character on anything else? Wiz/Sor: useless; SR too high. All warrior-types: useless, no adamantine weapons. They can't even flee, because the thing follows them.

I have no gripe with a straight dungeon crawl; I grew up with the 1st ed. But, realistically, the 3.5-E version only works if you have multiple waves of invaders that can somehow pass on what they learn to the next group before they get knocked off (and in that case I could see it being VERY cool).

I also had one where characters passed through a gate near the Rift Canyon to a planetoid where grimlock slaves mined IOUN stones for their illithid masters (grimlock guards were mounted on Large basilisks, and purple worms inhabited the planetoid interior); upon returning, the PCs were ambushed by a githyanki patrol (who were keeping an eye on the mind flayers) and brought to a githyanki fortress for interrogation by a psionic Knight-Inquisitor...

Sorry..."Lemmiwinks."

Aha! "South Park": gotcha. But (shudder), not even Vanthus is THAT low... or is he?

Ma Ketta and her twitching brood of misbegotten psychopathic offspring?

Oh, man... now we can start a whole new message path for "who's the father of Ketta's Kids!"

You get to hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to twice your constitution score before you start having to make Con checks to prevent drowning. After your 'free' rounds of held breath are over, you have to make a DC 10 Con check every round, which increases by +1 DC for every subsequent round.

In the words of Frank Drebin: "I know that... now."

Man, where were you when we were all drowning? Seriously, though: thanks, everybody, for the replies. And, ultimately, my players are more interested in baccarat rules than in Swim checks... Is there a casino in Sasserine where they can bilk Vanthus out of his ill-gotten gains?

Lemmywink!!!

Lemmywink?

Erik / Blackdragon, thought I'd throw some ideas your way...

- The Shadowshore Watch is likey controlled by the Olidammara/Worgul faithful. Even if the other districts have "standing armies" in the district watch, it would be fun to see the seedier side of town being dominated by a church instead.

- Check out the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust. You should come up with a lot of ideas for groups of thugs controlling sections of a town.

- The plantation owners tied to Sunrise will likely have some retainers / men-at-arms. It might be interesting to see the dynamics between the city watch and those out "on the fringe."

Yeah, I've always liked Brust (I ran a campaign recently in which the proliferation of Morganti weapons among PCs became a major political issue). I'd also be interested in any ideas about a James Clavell ("Tai-Pan")-style triangle trade in Jeklea Bay.

I hadn't even considered the plantation owners, but you're totally on the ball there. Imagine, as a Sasserine side-track, what would happen if one of them started using zombie field hands and/or skeleton guards (for example), and the church of Wee Jas (with tacit Dawn Council backing) objected? There might even be a summoned demon in a barn (a la Lovecraft's "Dunwich Horror") ...

Cool post, EP. Thanks.

I've played without strict alignment rules since the 1st edition. In your case, instead of "detect evil," you might have an Oriental Adventures-type "detect taint" ability and/or spell, for example (I had similar house rules dealing with demonic influence, especially important for wizard characters who aspired to Epic levels and wanted to take shortcuts to get there). Overall, if you like, you can easily have unique characters sworn to some obviously "aligned" god or demon or whatever... without all the other characters getting dragged into that type of a codified system.

As an extremely self-disciplined person who nonetheless rejects traditional influences, I've always had a problem with the law-chaos axis in particular. And, realistically speaking, how many people are actually "evil" as opposed to selfish and/or lazy? And how many high and mighty "moral" people cause nothing but evil in the real world?

Ever since I saw "The Matrix," I've wanted to make a 10-level Astral prestige class (+1 Str, Dex, Con per level while astrally projected only) and play a Matrix-style campaign where characters project for Astral missions, with Githyanki (also with PrC levels) playimg the roles of the film's "agents" ... the campaign never quite got off the ground (too focused), but if the idea is of use to you, I submit it for your enjoyment.

And she'd be perfect for this adventure path--maybe as somebody's moll. If Paizo doesn't include her, I might just have to anyway... although, on second throught, she'd be a bit old by now. (Says to grandson: "I was already a Slave Lord by the time I was your age!")

I have to admit, I really liked "Champion's Belt" and especially "Wormcrawl Fissure," too. I used the latter as part of an ongoing campaign (not as part of the AoW), and it was a big hit. (Those were my 1st two issues of DUNGEON, convincing me beyond any doubt that a subscription would be well worth the price. Mr. Mona and Mr. Jacobs both really set the bar high.) "Savage Tide" is even more reason to rejoice.

Ditto all that, and more. They've got the balance just right between new-edition action and old-school nostalgia. I haven't been this excited about D&D since sometime back in the 1st edition.

Cool celeb's every Savage Tide needs:

1)Rautheene
2)Phoebus
3)Lassiveran the Dark
4)Slippery Ketta (she swum away, I tells ya)
5)Valerius--HE should be on the rum bottle
6)Gormadoc--the quest for the elephant
7)Wolverine (just kidding--movie coming out and all)

I second the motion for Slippery Ketta! Glad to see I'm not the only one reminded of the Slave Lords adventures by this AP!

Blackdragon,
Man, I love that idea; hope you don't mind if I borrow it for my campaign as well? (Not that message boards are copyrighted material, but I like to give credit where it's due.) I've been running rogue-based campaigns for so long that it's hard to get into the sword-and-spell mind set all at once, and your gimmick is just what I need to keep the Rogue/Bard character investing points in Knowledge (local)-- maxing that out has already been more use to the party than max ranks in Swim.

Maybe he's got something alive in him inflicting regular damage by nibbling... this would account for an (effectively) lowered regeneration rate, and would allow in the case of an ice troll for him to look something like an aquarium! You could even name the little parasites, like party mascots. Later, when the troll hits his full regeneration, you rule that his immune system kicks out the critter(s), or that they die, etc... (OK, maybe that's a bit goofy, but no more so than having an ice troll character in the first place.)

"Forbidden City" was definitely a classic-- no goal of saving the world, no "end boss," etc.; you just explore the ruined city. Way cool. I suppose with stop-offs at the Isle of Dread and the Shrine of Tamoachan already scheduled for this adventure path, a revisiting of "Forbidden City" would be a bit much to expect, though. Maybe they'll import the character of Horan (?) and his Leomund's Chest somewhere along the path, though. That'd rock.

After the first adventure, we're now:

BEL AMI: Male darfellan Bbn 2/Ftr 1, junior Zelkarune's Horn;
KELLDARK of the Green Cloak: Male half-elf Rogue 2/Bard 1;
EMMELAINE: Female human Cleric 3 (Ehlonna); and
SILAQUI: Female elf Wizard (transmuter) 3, High Citizen of Sasserine and secretly an ardent acolyte of the Church of the Whirling Fury as well.

The group is a bit elf-heavy, as we're coming out of a long-term campaign set in elven lands (under invasion by the forces of Graz'zt-- hope nobody tires of demon lords too easily!), and it's hard for everyone to get their heads around the fact that it's OK to be other races, especially in Greyhawk. The darfellan has on several occasions been a god-send for the group, and Kelldark's Knowledge (local) and Gather Info skills have been quite indispensible ("Hey--I know that guy!").

The avolakia clerics in the Tabernacle of Worms-- no, really, I'm serious! They spotted us through the guardian overworm thingies outside and were all waiting inside with readied flame strikes, all of which ended up directed at my wizard. Six 10d6 damage spells against a guy with d4 HD, poor Reflex saves, and no evasion are hard to take, especially when 5's and 6's keep coming up on the dice. Payback for my excessive use of his wand of fireballs at lower levels, I'm sure. In comparison, Dragotha himself was a pushover--but by that point, we had Balakarde's advice to help us plan tactics. That whole adventure was one of the coolest I've ever played.

Right on about the drowning, but not the speed, I think (not that it matters now; the gaming is done!):

"Make a Swim check once per round while you are in the water. Success means you may swim at up to one-half your speed (as a full-round action) or at one-quarter your speed (as a move action). If you fail by 4 or less, you make no progress through the water. If you fail by 5 or more, you go underwater.
If you are underwater, either because you failed a Swim check or because you are swimming underwater intentionally, you must hold your breath..."

Good catch, though, and thanks for the reply. Where are the rules lawyers when you need them during play? Anyway, people I game with are more likely to demand a random table to roll for Rowyn's bust size (sigh).

Can't wait... and thanks again. I'll get off of this post now, in deference to players who actually figured out the other escape routes (whacks self in head)... Erik out.

Mr. Jacobs,
I love it! Many thanks for the throughtful (and quick!) reply, and please forgive me my rant. Excellent--the solutions you suggest remind me of "ZORK" (which, as I'm sure you recall, was all problem-solving and no action). This crop of characters will have to either get over their repugnace to loot the dead, or else kick their brains into high gear for the rest of the path.
So--I take back my negative comments, wholeheartedly. And I would like to go on the record by publicly acknowledging your mastery--when it comes to adventures, I believe you may have an edge even on Lawrence Schick and Bruce Cordell (my previous idols). Most heartfelt thanks for this adventure path (the Lotus Dragon HQ invasion was probably the most exciting low-level scenario I've run in a couple of decades), and most of all for bringing me back to the magic of D&D like it was when you and I were starting to play (at the same point in time, if not in space). Cheers!

I mentioned this already in the DIFFICULTY post, and in a letter to Mr. Jacobs: TPK, repeatedly, trying to swim out from under Parrot Island through the sea caves (N.B. all characters have max ranks in Swim). After the second try, I had to cheat to give them any hope of survival at all. Am I misinterpreting the water hazards rules? Length of time of held breath was no problem, it's the check at -1/round (underwater) and automatically begin to drown if you fail by 5, and 5 checks (minimum) needed to get past.

TPK -- twice. There is NO WAY through the sea tunnels under Parrot Island for non-aquatic races: DC 15 Swim (at -1/round for being underwater) for at least 5 rounds (70 ft, of tunnels at 15 ft./rd for Spd 30 characters). Characters with 15 Str and max cross-class ranks in swim have a 1% chance of making it, if I calculate correctly (remember, if you fail by >5 you immediately start to drown). I finally had to stop, take a deep breath, and declare that the Darfellan could tow the others (one at a time) on a rope. Good thing the Darfellan player hadn't opted for a half-orc, or they'd all be dead again!