Koldoon's page

Lilith wrote:

farewell2kings wrote:

It must be nice to live in a temperate-cool area. If we opened the garage door in the summer time, it would be like opening a convection oven. In the summer, we huddle under air conditioning vents with ceiling fans going full blast (which is kind of like a strong breeze, so we have to keep our notes on clipboards.)

In the spring, we have dust storms, so the only time we could comfortably play outside is in the winter, when it's 60 degrees.

The one thing I don't miss about Texas - the summer. Especially muggy, sweaty, sticky San Antonio summers. Ick.

Of course, in Bend, I get hot, dry, fire-filled, dusty, smoky summers. One extreme to the other. We have a problem with wildfires up thisaway....It was trying to SNOW earlier today, but now the sun is deciding to shine. As we say up here, if you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes.

I live in Dallas, Tx, and having grown up in Gainesville, Fl I thought I knew a thing or two about heat. But every afternoon in Florida all summer a big thunderhead grows up and rains away the day's heat. It's still muggy grant you, but the evening becomes bearable.

In Dallas, Tx, you can walk outside at 8:30 at night in July and a hot wind of 95 deg fahrenheit hits you in the face. Not muggy, but you can poach eggs on your porch step. I could never have in my wildest ravenings conceived such an oppressive heat.

That brings me back... you're right, the heat in Texas can get quite oppressive. I used to live in Houston, and the humindity there just made it oppresive.

Sorry... this weekend was hectic and I didn't get to emailing them out. A few of you did email me about the index, and I'll try to get it out this week... I just need to add the CWs in the most recent issue.

- Ashavan

Koldoon wrote:

Issue 114. I suspect several of us have our own indexes of these articles, but I don't know of a publically accessible one.

- Ashavan

Good to know, now hopefully I can gather all the back issues I need and create a publicly accessible one.

I don't mind mine being made available... I just don't have an appropriate place to put it (aside from werecabbages, and that only covers a small fraction of the writers). Send me an email at neddiheht (at) yahoo.com and I'll see if I can get mine updated this weekend and send it to you. It's an excel file, just as a note.

It'll save you a lot of flipping through issues.

- Ashavan

Talion09 wrote:

On a slightly different topic, anyone hear word back about a query lately?

I got word a few days back that one of my Campaign Workbooks is slated to show up in #137. w00t.

They must have just done the CW notices for that issue, as I also got notice that one of mine will grace that issue. Still doesn't bump me high enough to challenge Russell Brown, undisputed King of the Campaign Workbook, but hey.

- Ashavan

I've been focusing on CW articles lately, and one resource I would love to have is an index of all the CW articles that have appeared so far, so I don't duplicate work or waste my time developing an idea that is very similar to one that was published.

In what issue was the Campaign Workbook section published for the first time? My buying habits on Dungeon have been spotty over the last few years, so I only have a few issues to go on. I'm buying back issues, but if someone has every issue since CW began, and can just quickly throw something together, it would be a huge help.

Issue 114. I suspect several of us have our own indexes of these articles, but I don't know of a publically accessible one.

- Ashavan

It should be noted that the reason issue 112 is available in PDF is that the issue has SOLD OUT, at least that is my understanding. This is a distinction not shared by most other issues. I imagine, therefore, that it must have been a very popular issue.

That said, I'll admit it is also one that I haven't read, so I can't comment personally on the adventure. But for people asking why... clearly that sort of dungeon crawl DOES sell. At least when a gamer celebrity authors it.

- Ashavan

I dunno, DeClench - a 33% success rate seems pretty good to me. :)

Zherog -

Yeah... that seems pretty good to me too! My adventure queries all seem to end up as tattered shreds under the gray render's feet!

- Ashavan

Here is the 2nd adventure query that got rejected today:

---
"Preliminary Research"

General Information: This Eberron mid-level adventure is designed for 4 6th level PCs.

This is actually quite good - I would try to use a little less passive voice, but I suspect that you would have made it to the meeting with this one if they didn't have something similar.

- Ashavan

I must add; the game does look great; great animation; pretty good power displays and all that; is a lot of fun at first; it just gets very weary on you after eight months or so.

I really can't speak to that, as I haven't had the game for that long. Right now it's still very fun.

- Ashavan

yeah thought that the baphomet article would scupper any minotaur ecology. two other ideas i had were the goatkind and the clockwork horror (my preferance).

Stop telling us and start sending the ideas to Wes!

- Ashavan

I like CoH and CoV.

That said, if you are having problems with a newer game, you may very well have trouble with CoV, which has more stringent requirements than CoH.

I enjoy both games, and don't get bothered by the repetitiveness too much... but then, I was raised on PacMan.

I do wish that travel powers came earlier, as much of early play is dedicated to running from area to area to do missions... travel powers (available at 14th level) cut this considerably.

Character creation is great fun and the options are truly spectacular. In addition, characters can go on missions for additional costumes at 20th, 30th and 40th levels. And you can go on a mission to get a cape at 20th.

As I said, I enjoy the game immensely and would recommend it... but I do hear the complaints voiced earlier about repetitiveness from a number of people online.

It depends to some degree on your expectations. The game is very combat focused, and combat tends to be a little repetitive.

- Ashavan

You don't own copyright for the original material, so you don't have the right to republish any conversion you make of it. OGL only gives you the right to republish something from the SRDs.

However, if you don't make any profit from the conversion, such as if you post it on a message board or your own website, then it's fair game.

Jonathan -

There's a special exemption for conversions from previous editions done in a certain way. It's on the wizards website.

- Ashavan

i was thinking of doing an ecology article on minotaurs although im sure this must of been done before. any idea if thats so?

Minotaur was last done in issue #116, I believe.

Not within the last 100 issues, so it should be fair game for being done again.

- Ashavan

My thoughts exactly Koldoon. I save my axes for the orcs, rail guns for my power armored drow police, and a heightened dismissal for Outsiders (unless the PC's gear looks tempting enough). Besides I think everyone is just tense because we're all forced to painfully await the complete psionics for next month.... ugh... waiting painful... maybe I won't go there, cause that might just be me.

You're not alone, I'm waiting for that too. Soon.

- Ashavan

Bocklin, what have I said that would require support with sales figures?

I am stating what is presented by WotC. There are more sourcebooks for Eberron than FR post 3.5. There are more D&D miniatures. The last and next RPGA campaigns are Eberron. The Retailer Kits and first 30th Anniversary dungeon crawl are Eberron. D&D Open is Eberron. Online dungeon delves are Eberron. The first D&D MMO is in Eberron.

Even the generic are easier to incorporate into Eberron, as shown in the Player's Guide to Eberron. The last time Greyhawk was expanded in Chainmail it had more technomagic than Eberron.

You are correct about circles. We are sitting in one with primarily Greyhawk fans right now based on post responses.

I won't dispute that WotC is providing a lot of support for Eberron... it's a new setting without a core group of historical supporters, and clearly they want it to take hold. I do, however, dispute that this means they intend for it to replace their other settings.

Also, the fact that a lot of young gamers play World of Warcraft and other such high magic games (and I'll take your word for it that they are high magic, as I've never played them) - many probably have. But others are being introduced to D&D without such prejudices, by uncles and aunts and parents who grew up loving the game... and they may not all share your love of Eberron.

For the record, I like Eberron, and I think the player's guide, precisely because it provided a route for all the "generic" capstone elements, is one of the best buys for people playing Eberron.

That said, your tone is dismissive of campaign settings that have a much larger fan base than Eberron does. You make assumptions about WotC plans, and frankly most of us here can only speculate about those. Rich product support for new settings is normal. Forgotten Realms enjoyed similar support when it was new, as did Ravenloft, Planescape, and Spelljammer - though I never felt Dark Sun did. I hope Eberron sticks around. I like it. But as I like several settings, I also hope that generic adventures with occasional conversion notes and very setting specific adventures remain the norm.

- Ashavan

Hello All!

I am currently co-writing "Ecology of the Rust Monster" for an upcoming issue and I wanted to include some of the most harrowing tales of encounters with these metal munching menaces straight from the mouths (keyboards?) of us players.

Do you have a harrowing/fun/heart-breaking/rage-filled anecdote about an encounter with a rust monster in your game (as a DM or player)? Were you left in nothing but you're loincloth? robbed of your holy avenger? Reduced to a sobbing babe, your tears mixing with the rust of your very favoritist piece of steel? If so, use this thread as your shout-out, and let us all know.

I will be selecting a couple of short excerpts from these Tales of Rust and Doom to include in the Ecology article as a Sidebar...in other words you will be in Dragon magazine! That's cool.

Did the rust monster eat your stuff? Tell Uncle Nick all about it...

So you were the lucky chosen one. I suspected as much. I'm afraid I don't have any tales of doom to tell you, as in 27 years of gaming, I've never encountered them as a player.

If it will help give you ideas, I can post my rejected outline to werecabbages for you to peek at.

- Ashavan

I should also add... my husband was almost ready to quit D&D when Eberron came out.

It's hooked him back in, and as a D&D fan boy myself, I'm rather happy about that!

- Ashavan

I'm predicting that Eberroon will be (deservedly) dead and buried within about 3 years. Anyone want to start a betting pool? Of course, we'd have to screen for age; can't have the kiddies who are under 18 doing something bad like a little gambling. Or is it 21? Damn, I can't remember!

This is really sad... people betting on the demise of a setting the WotC seems to have gambled quite a bit on. Please note, Eberron dying will NOT bring back Greyhawk.

I keep on hearing that Eberron sucks because Greyhawk is great. I'm not sure I agree. Don't get me wrong, I like Greyhawk. I like FR. I don't like the current execution of the FR books, however... I much preferred the original series of FR supplements.

My husband DMs a group of six. We're all over 30 and far from the target demographic, but frankly.... I love Eberron, and I think the rest of our group enjoys it too. I read the books and I don't feel (as I do frequently for FR) that I'm reading a dry and dusty history book that makes me want to fall asleep.

Is it perfect? No.

But it's damned k00l.

I like kalashtar and the Inspired and the Lords of Dust. I like the imagery of the broken bridge between Karrnath and Thrane. I like the lightningrail and the mournland. I think the airships could have seen a better execution, but that won't stop me from using them. I like dinosaur riding halfling warriors.

I'm saddened to see people betting on Eberron's demise. It's a good setting. I don't understand why so many people have to rag on it. They can't just say they don't like it. They have to try to make it bad. And it's not.

Feel free to say you don't like the setting. That's fine, everybody has different tastes. But saying it's bad...

I've read an awful lot of posts that talk about how bad Eberron is, and they all seem to boil down to "I just don't like the setting." I wish people would just be honest, say they don't like it, and not feel a need to try to tear it down to prove that it's bad. You don't need to prove it's bad to justify not liking it, okay. When you do that, it makes those of us who do like it feel pretty crappy.

- Ashavan

Title says it all I think...besides Magic Missile please.

I think Enlarge person can be a real nice spell party wise.

I like Sleep, Burning Hands, Color Spray and Mage Armor.

You can tell my bias a little here... Mage Armor is good because it helps keep the sorcerer alive, the other three all potentially affect multiple targets.

- Ashavan

I don´t remeber too exactly how it started, but I was always a bookworm, reading stories from the (now deceased) german author Michael Ende, starting with his books for children , and migrating to Neverending Story (thats how the title would translate, I´m not aware if there is an english translation) and Momo, both having been made into movies (The Neverending Story movie is awful...)and both being fantastic books, if not your typical fantasy.

The book has an english translation.

I would say the movie was incomplete, rather than awful, as it ends halfway into the story. The completion, the second movie, definitely qualified as awful.

- Ashavan

I'm all for new dice and those are k00l, I'd certainly be in for a few sets if paizo were to carry them.

- Ashavan

Ok, does anyone know what the current average wait time is to hear back about a query or campaign workbook submission?

I submitted my first two on March 13, and I'm not holding my breath or anything, but I am wondering when I should reasonably expect a response back...

Talion09-

Wait for campaign workbooks varies radically. I have two critical threats (these are in the same category) that I submitted in January and February of 2005, over a year ago, that I haven't heard anything on (except that they'd received them).

Several that I've submitted since have already been through the full process and been published in the magazine.

As for queries... if it's an immediate no (and don't feel bad about this, as many of the published authors here have it happen to us all too frequently... the gray render can be cruel to vulnerable queries with too few ranks in Tumble) then you should hear fairly quickly, within a month or so. Otherwise you must wait for the submissions meeting, where the few greenlights will be issued. Even then the wait can get fairly long... I've waited as long as three months after a submissions meeting to receive my rejections.

Forget the ones you've already submitted... focus on writing more - the trick is to constantly have something awaiting the editors' approval... it's a useful cushion against the gut wrenching pain of the rejections.

- Ashavan

Seems like the Gatekeeper is pretty good at rending peoples queries. I wonder what its stats are...mmmm?

I actually think that in the last 12 months its become more and more difficult to get published in DUNGEON, not because the editors are getting meaner (or jaded), but because the number of people submitting to the magazine has gone up, and the general quality of the queries has gone up as well.

Could be lean times ahead for a few of us!

I would attribute this to the AP as well, as that means at least one adventure in every issue is solicited rather than accepted from a query - lessening the number of slots remaining by a third.

- Ashavan

Though to be fair Koldoon, A monk's fighting prowess is partially linked to his Wisdom bonus, so you could say their's an association (albeit a tenuous one). Of course, designers (particularly FR designers) seem to love linking abilities together in items for powerful NPCs like Storm Silverhand or Elminster.

I might accept that, if the item can only be used by monks (thus requiring a use magic device check for others). And I would require the crafter to have monk levels as well.

- Ashavan

I understand the point you are trying to make regarding the different bonds between wiz/sorc and a ranger. However, your example of your personal pets is lacking. I mean, if you were to remove the collar on your iguana in a location it finds attractive, how long until he runs off to do what he wants? Same with your snake. Pythons tend to not move around so much but Im sure that, given the opportunity, he would rather slither up a tree than hang out in your burlap sack.

For an ordinary animal you may be right, but for a familiar you wouldn't need a leash, the bond would be enough.

Likewise, a familiar is likely to prefer the company of the wizard/sorcerer that it's bonded to and be unlikely to go slither up a tree, even if such a position would be more comfortable.

Familiars are NOT animal companions... and you needn't fear them running off like a pet.

- Ashavan

Would you, as a DM, give an NPC or allow a character to make an amulet of natural armor and wisdom? What about natural armor, health and wisdom? For a monk, an amulet of wisdom and mighty fists?

TS

No - amulets seem to me to be single function, or the few that have multiple functions tend to have related multiple functions. An amulet of natural armor and displacement - maybe... the two are reasonably related. Natural armor and damage resistance.... maybe, again the two are reasonably related. But natural armor and wisdom seem to be too different for this to be reasonable.

Also, given that I would not give such a device to an NPC, it goes without saying that I wouldn't allow a PC to make one.

- Ashavan

I started reading the series with my then girlfreind a few years ago. I do enjoy the early books i even enjoyed Narcissus in chains but i think it is getting to be more about sex than plot It certainly makes me not want to buy the hardcover versions or any at all at times maybe i just feel this way but what does anyone else think is it just sex now or what

I had high hopes after Obsidian Butterfly, where the sex was more in the background, that she was returning to storytelling, but that fell apart, sadly.

The last two books have been relatively feeble attempts to hold the sex scenes together. *sigh* it started as such a good series too!

- Ashavan

I guess my other query ran interference for you - the render slayed it today. :(

Congrats on getting to the next stage, Timault.

You're in good company Zherog....

I'm trying to pull the shredded tatters of my queries together and see if there is ANYTHING I can salvage from them... I should note that I managed successfully to salvage a campaign workbook and a critical threat from the last batch, so I'm hoping to manage something similar here.

- Ashavan

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I have an "Ultimate Dance Party" compilation album in my CD player at the moment.

The one in my car is a bit of an eccentric mix of what used to be called "Alternative" and "Easy Listening"

- Ashavan

Sebastian wrote:

Just because WotC quits supporting GH doesn't mean that it is, or will become, dead. The setting had high level friends capable of returning it from the great beyond.

My fear (though I hope I'm wrong) is that it might very well become dead :(

WotC owns GH lock, stock, & barrel. While opposition to the setting is usually fairly inoffensive, sometimes their policies have crossed over into overt hostility. I think that, if they believed FR or Eberron was suffering financially, they might pull the plug quickly and aggressively (though Living Greyhawk would likely be left unmolested).

Some thoughts :)

Jack
GH fan since before many of you were in diapers...

Here's my suggestion -

WRITE A LETTER - not an email, not a typewritten business letter, but a handwritten letter on that quaint stationary you can get at any decent stationary store (or even the hallmark store).

Businesses and governments set little store in mass produced email petitions and form letter drives, but handwritten letters show a level of concern among customers that they tend to at least give consideration to.

The letter should:

State that you are a customer, preferrably a repeat customer, and give examples of products you have purchased (and perhaps those you intend to purchase).

State your grievance clearly.

Ask them to remedy it (preferably stating concrete actions you'd like them to consider taking)

Provide contact information for them to reach you.

Convince your friends to write too. Make the letters brief, but personal - why greyhawk is important to you.

--
Seriously, I worked at the statehouse in Massachusetts for a little while, and the legislators always gave special attention to handwritten letters.

- Ashavan

I had this problem to some degree in the Saltmarsh adventures... the characters would have been way too powerful after the first several if I hadn't made adjustments.

Also, the number of creatures encountered is often so high as to skyrocket the EL -- which also often needs adjustment.

That said, they emerged from U3 just over 6th level, which isn't too far off.... and they barely snuck out having discovered the information they needed for the town to mount its attack. I would say for balance that U2 was the most difficult as characters would be much too high level if they had taken a hack and slash approach to this module... they lucked out and chose (inadvertantly) a path that led them to the chief, who was willing to listen to them (based largely on a stellar intimidate check from the party's main fighter at just the right time).

- Ashavan

I also had bad luck with Winning Races submissions. I made a race of glacier-dwelling people that got rejected because it was too similar to the cold terrain book that came out soon after, and then Winning Races was scrapped after I submitted another race.

I figure they scrapped it in part because new races aren't that useful. You can take a feat at any point in your career, but you can only take a new race when you start a new character, and even then the DM has to find a way to explain why you've never seen any Diaboli or Raptorans or Repentants before in his setting.

Winning Races wasn't exactly scrapped - they'll still run it as a feature if they see submissions of an appropriate quality at an appropriate time.

I love new races, but I understand the humanoid with animal head problem. Unfortunately, the further you get from this concept the more difficulty a DM has in bringing the new race into the campaign.

- Ashavan

My complaint is this - In the first paragraph is "With some adaptation, this adventure can be played in any urban environment regardless of setting". I STRONGLY disagree! Obviously Mr. Logue's (or whomever's) idea of "some" and mine differ vastly. It's a wonderful adventure, as I already stated but much of it hinges on the rail station - NOT an easy thing to adjust to your standard medieval setting!

SirMarcus -

I have to suspect that he had an idea of how it might be converted. He regularly reads the boards, hopefully he'll stop by and offer suggestions.

On the other hand - "some" is an evil word, because "some work" means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

That said... even if Nick doesn't have any ideas, you've got a board full of folks who may be able to give you suggestions (I would myself, but my husband runs our Eberron game, and I don't read the Eberron adventures because he's intending on running us through many of them).

- Ashavan

Marc Radle wrote:

I would LOVE to see The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh updated to 3.5. I love that module (as I may have said once or twice before :)

Seems perfect for the WotC online freebies they have been doing and consdering the example town in DMGII is Saltmarsh....what are they waiting for!?

I think this was the first adventure I ever used for DMing AD&D, simply a classic. If I remember correctly the stirges made quite an impression on the PC's.

While I'd love to see it done officially, I suspect they'll avoid it because it's part of a series.

- Ashavan

I would LOVE to see The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh updated to 3.5. I love that module (as I may have said once or twice before :)

I wouldn't think it would be too hard to update, since the monsters were fairly basic. Maybe I'll take a stab at it myself one of these days ...

Marc -

I've done a conversion, and I have to say that it was NOT an altogether easy one. Almost every creature is a humanoid with class levels, so it was quite time consuming. Worthwhile though! the party really enjoyed it.

- Ashavan

I have a bit of a skewed perspective, as I started at age 6!

That said, I would ease him into it, introducing the rules slowly.

My brother introduced his youngest (who was about 10 at the time) in a game that only included family members - his other two children, myself, and my husband.

You might want to start with a game that is more storytelling and less rules based - Changeling from Whitewolf (which uses the Vampire rules set) would fit the bill, and has the advantage that childlike wonder is a part of the game at the outset... though the setting is out of print, I'm sure you could find a reasonably priced copy on ebay.

Last year, for my birthday, one of my friends bought me the box containing PC games "Dragon's Lair, Dragon's Lair II, and Space Ace". I must admit, I don't play with it much, but it's just so damn cool to own it.

(I must of spent at least a million dollars in quarters on those games at the arcade!)

Damn Don Bleuth!!!

Ultradan

I have that too, and every once in a while I'll play. For some reason I always prefered space ace to Dragon's Lair though.

It sounds fun, Ashavan, but there are a few things I found confusing - though maybe if I tried to remember more of the Eberron history and stuff it wouldn't be. ;)

Why does Zorlan d'Cannith attack/harass the PCs, when they're there on business of his (her?) house?

You hint at there being something special about Taint - being imbued with tainted arcane energies - but you never come out and say what sort of taint. What impact does it have? How, if at all, does it make him different from other 'forged? How, if at all, will it impact the PCs' interaction with him? Defining the source would go a long way to clearing up these sort of questions.

What is Dagger's interest in Taint? Is it just because he's rescuing a fellow warforged, or is there some other interest?

Using Living Spells is good - I like me some Living Spells. :D I recently tossed a living unholy blight at my PCs. :devil: As cool as they are, they're especially fitting for the Mournlands. So that's definitely a nice touch.

One other thing I see missing is the section that describes what the PCs can expect to receive. How much of a reward do they get from Merrix? What other sort of goodies can they expect? What sort of enemies can they make? Friends?

Anyway - that's a quick look, and the first things that struck me. Hope you find it useful. Some of that stuff (like Zorlan) might not be an issue to somebody who knows more about the goings on in Eberron.

-- John

Zorlan and Merrix d'Cannith are rivals... each controls the activities of the house in different parts of Eberron.... essentially, Merrix is stepping on Zorlan's toes with this expedition.

I was intending Taint to be a warlock, but to include other possibilities for DMs who didn't have the Complete Arcane book.

I frequently gloss over the rewards unless they are significant (ie. something other than gold pieces) and I probably shouldn't.

- Ashavan

Sadly, I'm afraid none of mine made it past the gray render this time. Here's my favorite: An Eberron adventure titled "Taint of the Mournland"

In a small dank cell of a military outpost in the Karrnathi town of Vurgenslye, a warforged lies inert. Imbued with tainted arcane energies during his creation, the living construct awaits an unknown fate. Can the PCs rescue him before rival Cannith forces or the Lord of Blades can claim him as prize property?

A messenger approaches the PCs with an urgent mission. His House Cannith signet ring and the glimmering trail of a dragonmark that extends just enough onto his hand to be visible reveal him as an agent of that House. He offers the PCs a hefty sum to rescue a warforged from the small town of Vurgenslye in Karrnath. If the PCs seem sympathetic to the warforged’s plight, he reminds them that the living constructs have few rights in Karrnath, which still treats warforged with disdain, relegating them to a life of indentured servitude. Otherwise he emphasizes the gratitude of his House and his employer. He provides as few details as possible, offering only that the warforged has been beaten to the point of being inert, though alive, and that the rescue must occur soon. His employer will pay for passage on the next airship to Korth.

A disheveled House Cannith intermediary meets the PCs in Korth. Obviously recently beaten, the man reveals that the mission has become more complex. Enemies of Baron Merrix d’Cannith have been alerted to the PCs objective, and they must hurry if they intend to accomplish their rescue. He directs the PCs to the small town of Vurgenslye. There, he tells them, Major Vorik Ochem has detained the warforged Taint along with a small House Cannith retinue.

En route to Vurgenslye, a small force of Cannith operatives under orders from Zorlan d’Cannith ambushes the party. Zorlan controls Cannith interests in Karrn and has ordered the PCs detained for questioning. The PCs will need to evade or defeat them to get to Vurgenslye. Once there they find the town in a state of alert. Two rival factions have beaten the PCs to the mysterious warforged, and an angry Major Ochem demands answers. One force clearly originated with House Cannith, but this faction, though successful in their prison break (leaving, curiously, all the detained House Cannith retinue dead in their cells) met with a serious setback.

While trying to elude Ochem’s search parties, the Cannith retinue (ordered to Vurgenslye by Zorlan) suffered ambush at the hands of Dagger, an agent of the Lord of Blades. Dagger has crossed the river to the ruined town of Dollen on the River in the Mournland. To rescue the mysterious Taint, the PCs must either elude Ochem themselves or convince him they pose no threat to Karrnath and should be allowed to pursue Dagger across the river.

There, the PCs encounter some of the many dangers of the Mournland as they search the few intact homes in the ruined town for Dagger and Taint. They face vicious warforged zealots and living spells as they attempt their rescue. If they succeed in their quest, they must elude Zorlan’s operatives and escape to Sharn, where agents of Merrix await them in anticipation of Taint’s arrival.

A Dungeons and Dragons adventure intended for 4 players of 4th level, “Taint of the Mournland” should run between 9000 and 10000 words. It requires three maps: an area map showing Korth, Vurgenslye, and Dollen on the River; a map of Ochem’s outpost and the immediate area; and a map showing portions of the ruined city at Dollen on the River.

All I can say is ouch.

None of my three current proposals made their Tumble checks.

Might post to Critique my Query thread later.

These will definately show my age:

Tunnels of Doom on the Texas Instruments TI99-4A computer (random dungeon generation, 4 characters, turn-based combat with pixels), anyone remember that one?

Eye of the Beholder III

Might and Magic (world of Xeen) LOVED THAT GAME!!! Why don't they make turn based combat games with a full 4-6 person party, anymore? I loved using all the different spells and stuff.

Also liked Stronghold (the D&D one, with the medusas, stone golems, and spore clouds, more stategy game but I liked the empire developement.)

And yeah, can't wait for Oblivion also.
BTW I am 35 in case you wondered.

FH

Might and Magic rocked. Especially the first one.

- Ashavan

Anyone know when the next meeting is?

They typically run about every three months, so my bet is on mid-to-late April.

- Ashavan

Has there ever been an Ecology of the Naga. That could be pretty cool. Although with all the different types of Naga it could also be reeeeeaaaaallllllyyyyy looooooonnnnnngggg. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Also, I wouldn't mind seeing an Ecology of the...

-the Sphinx
-the Ettercap
-the Manticore
-the stirge (being from New Orleans, I have a soft spot for anything resembling a giant mosquito)

The Dark Naga has been done, and most serpent races, including the naga, have been treated in Serpent Kingdoms.

Sphinx was in issue 244
Manticore was in issue 153
Stirge was in issue 239 (and prior to that in issue 83)

All of those issues were some time ago, but the existence of a prior article can make it much more difficult to get an ecology article past Wes.

- Ashavan

Have started on redoing the maps for KotB in Dundjinni. They're looking pretty swanky so far, will do some post-editing in Photoshop when I'm done (and will post links to share when I'm done).

I look forward to seeing them!

It's sad to see such hostility to a new Campaign World. I like Eberron, and I play in a weekly Eberron game. Frankly, I haven't submitted a lot of Eberron ideas to Dragon because I figure if they want Eberron stuff they'll commission Keith Baker to do it.

I also get nervous about what new books will be coming out and how I can place articles within that framework without getting hit by the "that'll be covered in XXX book from wizards due out next year" syndrome.

I am always thrilled to see Eberron material in Dragon and hope they put more of it out.

- Ashavan

*blushes*

I Didn't know we had a king. I though we were an autonomous collective!

This does sound like a great Idea, Dan. I'd love to have some tables like these too. I wonder if I'd have a better chance at getting an adventure proposal accepted if I generated it randomly from the tables you and Ashavan come up with.

Russell -

You've gotten twice as many CWs in as anyone else... it's amazing! If you have a secret to your seemingly endless supply of ideas, I'd love to hear it! ;)

As for adventure proposals... I haven't had great luck either (crosses fingers for the three currently in the black hole) so I feel your pain.

- Ashavan

I'd like to see any groups fully fleshed out on the table (if you can meet a bunch of goblins led by a L3 fighter and a L5 adept - stat 'em out).

That part is harder to do than you think... the campaign workback format doesn't have room for much more than 3 stat blocks of any size. Remember that an average stat block runs somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 words, and can easily get to four or even 500 words. With a 1250 word format, the writers have to keep stat blocks to a minimum in Campaign Workbooks.

This makes standard humanoid creatures with class levels the most difficult things to include - unless you use the default stats from the MM. Any creature from a non MM source would have to be stated out, and therefore would use one of those three slots. I suppose in a very low level encounter table four stat blocks might be possible, but that word count gets real tight real fast.

- Ashavan

My understanding is that races requests could still be pitched as feature articles.... which means you'll probably wait for a fair length of time to hear back on them. That said, submitting sooner is almost always better than waiting, unless something similar was published very recently.

- Ashavan