Locke1520's page

Or you could run a mini series to tide your PCs over until the launch of Pathfinder. Dungeon has run several good short arcs recently such as the Istivin trilogy ,let the players build mid-high level characters and go at it for a couple of months.

*edit* Oops, I forgot you said they were new players. the higher level play might not be the best plan. That said I think if you run the Shackled City with the player's abilities in mind you may find that it'll work out okay. Nobody in you group will know if you pull a few punches in the beginning.

I had read on the White Wolf site that Monte Cook was working on a WoD setting but that was a while ago and until reading this thread today I had no idea he was working on a d20 WoD. Interesting.

... another fantasy movie that totally caused me problems at the gaming table was Krull. My brother asked me what weapon I wanted my fighter to use, and I wanted to use the Glaive, "see it only costs like 10 gold, and does 1d12 damage, but how come it doesn't give any range for it?"

Wow I remember having that same argument with some of our players who wanted to throw their glaives in combat. I finally had to pull out one of the books with all the polearms pictured in it (the original Unearthed Arcana if memory serves) then one of them wanted to argue that it had to be a misprint citing Krull as a more reliable source. Ah good times.

My first thought would be that there probably isn't a way to hide magical auras mundanely and keep the item close at hand. But there is Nystal's magic aura.

IMC it is common for the PCs to try and detect magic on closed and locked chests. Early on I decided that detect magic would prove somewhat unreliable in these cases depending on the number of magical items and the strength of their auras vs. the thickness of the chest. You could consider something similar.

As for never getting the drop on someone with arcane sight the spell doesn't reveal intent. Enemies will just have to be that much more clever when dealing with "the hero with the glowing blue eyes."

I am no rules sage and my books are not handy however here is my 2 cents.

It is my understanding that in order to ready an action to attack a spellcaster before he casts his spell you still have to beat the target's initiative. Since you are "ready" your attack is (like the quickened spell) nearly instant. It should come down to who won the initiative.

Given that:

• The RAW don't seem to specify what spell speeds can be interupted (implying that all spells can be interupted by a readied action)
• Damage has no guarantee of causing spell failure
• and a character needs to give up his higher initiative (now acting on the lower initiative)

If your DM is running the SCAP from the HC and you want to add something to your character ask about the trait options rather than adding on the minotaur template. There is a cool one in which one of your ancestors was a black dragon called wyrm-blooded. One of my PCs selected that trait and has been having a blast with it she was an orphanned dwarf and began the game with the reputation of the Demon of Lantern Street.

I think I'd have Ike do it. Drakthar isn't his ally after all and if you've played him up as a jerk you can use this moment to make him really stick it to the characters while he can claim to be "doing the right thing" for the city.

Locke, can you tell a fellow DM a bit more about the creatures and locations in the story (in spoilers, of course)?

Sorry I would have posted sooner but saddly I had to work.

Okay so I rushed out (and way across town) this morning and picked up D0: Hollow's Last Hope. I have to say that this is one of the highest quality modules I've ever had my hands on. In addition to the pretty full color layout I really like the statblock, trap and magic item layouts.

I'm looking forward to running this as a one shot (currently running SCAP) and as a preview of the Pathfinder campaign I'll be running next. I'll let you know how it goes.

I've taken a short hiatus from sci-fi/fantasy and right now I'm reading the Sleeping Doll Jeffrey Deaver's newest suspense novel.

Greyhawk will always be my favorite, with the Realms running a close second. I'm really warming up to Eberron, but GH has my nostalgic heartstrings and always will.

Greyhawk has my nostalgic heartstrings as well but I run a little cooler on the Realms.

I like parts of it (Cormyr and the Dalelands primarily) but it's so darn big and far to detailed for my taste. You can't swing a tired cliche without smacking an iconic character upside the head.

I ran it for a while once and my players having read all the books itched to meet all of these big favorite characters. It was daunting coming up with reasons why Elminster, Drizzt, or some other epic hero was too busy to save the PCs the trouble of saving the world.

The next time I ran it (3.0) I declared at the onset that the novels and cannon beyond the campaign setting book were all Bard's tales and legends. Imagine my PCs shock and horror when they met Elminster the sage: Expert level 5 and Elminster wasn't his name but a title.

The game was fun but I'm glad to be running Greyhawk again and feeding my Eberron adiction for just a little while longer until Pathfinder consumes my gaming budget.

1. Greyhawk / Shackled City (although mine isn't particuarly heavy on GH cannon)
2. Eberron
3. Planescape

And I'm looking forward to running Golarion particuarly Varisia with Rise of the Runelords. I suspect that Paizo's new campaign may just jump into my number 1 slot.

That would be so awesome!!!

Probably scar my kid for life, though.

Not mine, we gave my daughter a cthulhu plush when she was a toddler and now that our son is nearing the same age I suppose we should get him his own stuffed monster. A Pathfinder goblin would be ideal.

For quite some time now I've been using fixed HP but our chart is a bit more generous. We've been using the same point assignments (*with additional entries)that appeared in the Living Force Campaign Guide.

d4=3hp*
d6=4hp
d8=6hp
d10=8hp
d12=10hp*

The characters after all are heroes and the added HP are not unbalancing.

It's funny you should mention that line Saern I bet that has been in thier minds. My suspicious mind has come up with another reason WotC might have been interested in reclaiming the Dungeon / Dragon Licenses.

What is the likelihood of seeing new online material being compiled in hardcopy format - perhaps an annual magazine, book or compendium?

Sounds like a great idea! In fact, it’s been part of our plans all along.

WotC will also be able to print material from the last 5 years. So perhaps they'll be bringing out more volumes in the Dragon Compendium or additional Dungeon Classics. Age of Worms and Savage Tide? I don't now what the licensing for the Shackled City looked like but I am more than certain WotC will be able to make a great deal more money by publishing the subsequent Adventure Paths in house.

So I guess my question is: Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I'm certain that anyone involved in writing the APs will be happy to have thier work published in the more durable format but what about the boycotters?

Locke, yellows have been written up as desert/beach dwelling wyrms since 2 ed.

You are correct I tend to keep to the prime 5 and tend to forget the others. Thanks for the reminder.

*edit* Are the yellow part of the SRD though?

Or perhaps there are also good kobolds? A society of thier own from a distant time or place in the past who are now the slaves of the "true" kobolds.

I vote for a new yellow dragon type. Given all the other re-imagining perhaps the basic dragons would also need some new thoughts which might leave room for the yellow Dragon by environment.

Yellow - Desert
Green - Forest
Blue - Sea
Black - Swamp
Red - Mountain / volcanic

Adding the extra chromatic dragon gives a reason for the yellow Kobold.

Please continue to talk about what you like and dislike of dragons as they exist in D&D today.

I dislike the strict alignments on any race especially dragons. One of the things I would really like to see is an alien psychology. These are exceedingly long lived reptillian monsters who have an innate tie magical forces. How do these traits factor together into a dragon's personality.

Also good explanations for classic draconic qualities would be nice: such as why dragons horde treasure. Some of these questions were answered in the Dracnomicon but that isn't OGL so I'd love to see these traits factored into the new draconic concepts.

And when the kids are grown and I'm no longer living in the nursing home one of those Cash in the Attic shows can auction off all the gaming books and accessories. The procedes can send my great-grand-kids to college.

Even if the books are essentially worthless my heirs can make up for it in volume.

This is hardly an OGL thing; most monster books are filled with far more misses than hits, IMO.

Too True.

About the number of used OGL monster books: Too many monsters "dilute" the game. Could you list some kind of "Paizo canon": e.g. ToH I - III, advanced bestiary...

I agree that too many monsters can dilute the game but I would rather Paizo didn't blanket list Monster books as canon. As was said before not all OGL products are created equal, the same goes for monsters in a single book. Even if each moster is perfectly balanced stat-wise it may not "feel right" for the setting. I'd like to see an evolving canon list of monsters that flow from a resonable number of sources in an manner that builds on the setting.

Not that I actually need to *see* the list, that's just how I would prefer the setting to develop.

Dude, if what they have offered now isn't enough for you you probably are better off to just grab the refund in October and be done with it. Check out Pathfinder when it hits the stores and make a decision then. The subscription rate will most likely remain constant for some time. I'm not trying to be snarky or anything but what you are asking for doesn't seem likely now.

Exactly.

God forbid I try to get the value I paid for out of my money...:-\

it would be great if Paizo can honor your request. But really, you're asking for an awful lot. Paizo did NOT cancel these two great magazines and are offering to:

(a) Give you back your EXACT refund
(b) As an apology bonus your refund +20%
(c) The deal on Pathfinder (the line they hope will fill the void left by Dungeon and Dragon's sudden departures).

A Full Refund +20% seems like 20% more value for your money. Your three-strike ultimatum seems a little misplaced.

Like PsychoticWarrior I'm not trying to be snarky either but these guys are bending over backwards for us. If you think that because I have "Pathfinder charter subscriber" next to my name that I'm not PO'd that WotC decided to cancel the magazines then you would be wrong. I am PO'd but not at Paizo. Take the 20% and apply it to the GameMastery modules or wait until October when your Dungeon Subscription finally expires for your refund.

As for your Past history with Paizo some of us liked the transition to monthly and some of us liked the addition of Polyhedron. Unfortunately they can't please everyone. I'm sorry that you weren't among the people who enjoyed those changes.

As far as your face to face conversation with Erik: we don't know what happened behind the scenes, whether WotC forced the addition of Poly or if the decision was just made to after you spoke to him at GenCon. My experiences with the staff of Paizo have always been very possitive and honest. Erik probably had no reason to suspect that the magazines would change otherwise he would have likely talked about the exciting new things that would be coming to Dungeon (even if he couldn’t discuss what those changes might be).

So if Paizo can not accommodate your needs remember they are not trying to screw any of us and not all of us will be totally satisfied by anything any company does.

Andrew

*edit +20% in Store Credit oops*

Unfortunately I feel like Paizo needs to do something a tad different if they want to stick out in the mini market.

Having seen the metal minis Paizo has already produced I think they already stand above many of the minis out there in quality if not selection. On top of that I've seen nothing like the Complete Encounters anywhere else in the d20 market. So if they needed to create a niche they may already have one especially if they start making the Complete Encounters tie into the stand alone adventures and the Pathfinder series.

So no promises on prepainted plastic, but if there is enough interest in the unpainted metal minis, I think we can get those done rather quickly.

-Lisa

Truth to tell I hadn't even expected prepainted. The prepainted would be cool and I'd buy them (I've bought a ton of the WotC minis). The prepainted minis reduce my work load for game prep but I'll paint my own and happily especially if they come sooner than later.

And seriously I think it would be cool to see a Complete Encounter set with the Goblins.

not to mention the pulling of the raveloft license last year from White wolf

Or the Gamma World License from the same.

Speaking of the new goblins...How long before we can get our hands on goblin minis? Perhaps a Complete Encounter with a typical goblin warren or some such thing?

I thought werewolves propagated by biting...

Best not to go there...

Which reminds me 5 werewolves one street...Note to self avoid Heathansson's neighborhood during the fullmoon.

Congrats to you and your wife both. Best Wishes.

Elsewhere, while Phil was suffering,

I like the Initiative Cards from the Game Mechanics esp. the blank ones. Just fill out the forms print and play. I tend not to use cards for initiative anymore but as a convenient way to keep the statblocks at my fingertips. For Initiative I have switched over to the GameMastery Combat Pad.

A few years ago I ran an epic style campaign in which the PC's primary patron was a greater celestial.

The factions of celestials and fiends had once long ago been engaged in a terrible war. When the war ceased there were rules laid down. These rules were like Geas and not able to be circumvented by mere whim and were laid on all the hosts of heaven and hell.

One of the principle rules was non-interference in mortal affairs and of course both sides had loosened those bonds somewhat but the angels didn't do as well as the demons. So it was often the patron sending them here or there to thwart the other sides "cheating" stretching her own bonds to do so.

The PCs had a blast as she would do showy world shaking, magic stuff but would still depend on these little guys to do the real work. She also provided each PC with a unique minor artifact that would help. neither her special gear or her favors really tipped the game too much in the PCs favor because the bad guys cheated bigger and I always knew what both sides were up to.

Also any time the PCs began to lean on thier patron too heavily there was another esoteric rule or oath preventing her from helping in a big way. Often once the PCs achieved a moderate level of success she could sweep in and lend a small hand.

My players loved the game and never seemed to feel over shadowed.

When I was first planning to start Age of Worms last May, I read through all the adventures and saw that it was very important the PCs remain on track, level-wise, or I'd be adjusting adventures constantly. Being a new father, I was wanting Age of Worms to reduce my amount of prep time. So, I did something blasphemous... I abolished experience points!

I did the same thing in my Shackled City campaign. How are you handling item creation? My characters are just reaching the levels where they are considering making thier own items and I was curious how another DM might be handling this.

The Doctor called

I might be interested. What kind of campaign are you thinking of? Do you have a setting in mind or general info if it's a homebrew?

What are you going to do? :)

Mine (I have two) are both still good too (for now). I think I'm going to recopy if just for the lie flat feature of spiral binding. I'm concerned that once I start using it during play that I'll stress the binding and while a rubber band could keep all the pages in place I can see the whole thing being a mess. Finally it's easier to copy a smaller amount now than what you have now AND what you add in the months to come.

At one time, $25 would buy you the rule books and dice, some paper, and a couple of writing implements. This was all the hardware needed to play. A little time, imagination, and enthusiasm was supplied by the participants. The reward was a thoroughly entertaining evening of voyeuristic escapism. Today a player can spend $300, or more, without getting a fraction of the materials needed to play the game.

Interesting to note $25 in 1980 is roughly $62+ now. So even with only 3 core rulebooks "needed" to play ($81 on this site a mere $32.50 c.1980) I think given improved prodution values we're getting a heck of a lot more for our money. As for the ease of the rules I think the language usage alone simplifies the current version game, and with the d20 system almost exclusively relying on a single die mechanic it is my opinion that the current options add more than detract.

Yes, there are rough spots but when in doubt roll a d20 add what makes sense and (always) hope for high results.

Of course this comes from someone who has purchased every supplement I could afford for each incarnation of the game since I started playing over 20 years ago. So perhaps I'm a bit biased. ;)

This could be great. I'm interested in joining a game if Paizo can get this online.

20th level demihumans of any class.

Okay I'm a big fan of 3.5, for me it is every bit as flexible if not more so than any of the previous editions.

In addition to all the character options I prefer having players make skill checks (trained or untrained) to ability checks. In actual play it is much the same but allows for characters to be unique and still heroic.

3.5, in my opinion, has more advantages over 2nd edition than disadvantages. The drawback compared to 2nd edition, as such, is that there are more options. Where before a mind flayer, pixie, or centaur would be only in the purview of the DM, now the DM has to worry about what sort of crazy ideas the players will come up with. This can be overwhelming. Metagaming is more prevalent (I think), since the rules are applied universally - the players now understand how monsters work even if they aren't DMs. Power creep is also a factor, though this has always happened (Player's Option: Skills and Powers anyone?)

How about Kits from the brown Complete X books? Before Skills and Powers 2nd ed had serious power creep issues. Some players I know complain that 3.x has too much power creep particuarly in prestige classes but at least Pretige Classes have entry requirements.

I enjoyed playing in the previous editions but I prefer the new system.

Just finished Perdido Street Station and have plunged right into The Scar.

I too have not yet recieved my copy.

I had to vote Eberron but . . . only one?

Eberron
Greyhawk
Planescape
Ravenloft

Even Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia (both chock full of Christian symbolism) can come under attack by the religious zealots who have never read them.

Ironic, since both CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien were Christians, Narnia is intentionally allegorical, and there exist several letters by Tolkien talking about Christian elements in LotR.

Ironic sure but sadly it is all too true. I manage a bookstore and hear some of the goofiest narrow-minded rhetoric. For example I recently had a woman tell her daughter to put down a Narnia bookmark because it was evil. She then turned to me and expected support when she said to me, "I don't know why they let people make that devil stuff." I made the mistake politely pointing out that actually The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is bible "allegory." As if I had provided the support she had been looking for she responded with, "Exactly it goes right against the bible."

My point is you never know when someone is just going to misinterpret everything you say just so it fits into his or her preconceived notions. While I doubt this child's parent is as dense as my customer, it's just best to try to not confuse the issues.

I would also suggest more of a role-playing club approach it is less inflamatory to the vocal minorities that are most likely to give you grief. And while much of the advice on this list has been sound there are a few innoculous details you might skip:

Clerics and Paladins. While these classes represent good in the game--they worship gods that are not the christian god, and to worship any one other than God(even in pretend)is evil and devil worship. It falls under the insideous seductive allure clause of the "Thou Shall Not Play Dungeons and Dragons" commandment. So unless you have set your campaign against say the historical backdrop of the Crusades and the PCs are European I would just drop this approach it might do more harm than good.

Likewise exercise caution with literary references: Harry Potter to many is capital "E" evil. It supposedly seduces a younger and younger audience into black magic and witchcraft. while nothing could be farther from the truth you don't want to have to spend time defending all of your judgements. Even Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia (both chock full of Christian symbolism) can come under attack by the religious zealots who have never read them.

The best advice I can offer is keep focused on the learning aspects. Answer any of the parent's questions as best as you know how, keep your cool, even if they attack you and your activities and roll high on that diplomacy check.

misnamed anorexic halfling

tangled nest of

There's always itunes if your willing to drop 2 bucks an episode.

while absently munching

On DVD now: Supernatural

Shows to watch for: Eureka, Jericho, Psych.

(or maybe Graceland)