Locke1520's page

I began mine on Patchwall 15th (right about mid-month) and intend the Flood Festival to begin at about a quarter of the way through the next month (Ready'reat, I think). Most of the background I've read suggests that the flood season begins in late autumn/early winter, so that timeline seemed to work best for me. We're now on campaign date Patchwall 21st, and are about to begin Drakthar's Way, so it seems to be moving along at the right pace.

Thank you VedicCold,

I was also looking at Patchwall (like the 11th). The Flood Festival is still giving me some grief. I've read the same things about late autumn/early winter but given the that the next Lunar Festival is so close it seems that the festival season would be rather long. I may have to check real world weather/seasons and see if I can't stretch the time into the next festival realistically. Of course I may not stretch it either and have the festivals remain close anyway. I'm still undecided. Any other suggestions out there.

Where'd you get the Greyhawk Calendar and lunar cycles??? I'm looking to add this flavor to my ongoing SCAP campaign...

When 3.0 launched I picked up the D&D Gazetteer rembering fondly Greyhawk games of old--then barely used it. So now several years later I finally found use for it. Unfortunately the calendar info only takes up about a page of the book.

http://paizo.com/store/games/roleplayingGames/d/dungeonsDragons/roleplaying Games/wizardsOfTheCoast/greyhawk/v5748btpy7azp

My copy of the 1st ed Gazeteer is MIA at the moment but I bet it likewise has the calendar and lunar cycles and Paizo sells it in PDF download.

http://paizo.com/store/downloads/wizardsOfTheCoast/aDAndD1/greyhawk/v5748bt py7meh

I like your way of thinking about hit points in general. As far as the Phantasmal Killer, I don't see a problem. The high level character is just tougher mentally after seeing and doing the things they have done to get there.

The healing is a little bit tricky though. I supose you could say that levels are like energy and it requires more to "refuel" a PC than a commoner.

I kind of think that there is more than just fatigue involved with hit points dispite the lack of penalties-- sorta like in action movies where they don't seem to get tired even after all the punishment they take. More hit points are more like a generic number value of how tough and skilled a character is, so it works.

I agree completely.

I'm ready to begin running the Shackled City this Friday. While I opted for a generic setting I am using the Greyhawk Calendar and lunar cycles. So I am curious when other groups playing in Greyhawk started their campaigns and when they set the Flood Festival to occur.

I;ve heard this argument alot, and I don't know that I agree. Many people say the current rules are not realistic, but they are. I think the big misunderstanding is what constitutes a "miss." A Plate mailed fighter may have a High AC, but you probably don't miss him much; you ar emore likely to be parried or have the armor deflect a blow. This aspect combines both defense and damage reduction. Similarly, Hit points are not a gauge of actual health, neccessarily. They are your ability to endure damage and fatigue from battle, including the ability to "roll with a punch."

Either way, the Defense/DR system to me does not seem more 'realistic'. It is an overcomplication.

I agree with your assessment of the current AC system however the Defense/Dr is not that complicated I play d20 Star Wars also which uses that very system and for us it is no more complicated than the standard AC system.

I don't think either is "more realistic" than the other. Each is just different from the other and I would keep the AC system if just for the sense of the game's history.

I would also like to see the inclusion of flaws, but with a different approach than is normal. White Wolf made a simple and yet dramatic change to flaws with the release of the new WoD system. You earn a small XP bonus when you are able to succeed despite your flaws. Basically earning xp for overcoming a challenge. I'd like to see a D&D version of that rule that maintained game balance even over the long haul.

The fem-bot exploded

I am also pleased to hear about the format change. While the after map was cool I think someplace entirely new will be more useful. Thanks.

Neil Gaiman's "Two Plays for Voices" is astounding, as are his Warning: Contains Language, and the Neil Gaiman Audio Collection.

Two Plays is an awesome pair of stroies brilliantly done and superbly cast.

While not "radio show format" Audio Rennesance (I think)did several full cast sci-fi and fantasy audio books that are excellent. The unabridged Ender's Game and the subsequent series by Orson Scott Card are great recordings and I love my copy of Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett.

Would it be too contrived to say I like the official D&D soundtrack?

I don't think so. I haven't heard it but if you like it cool. I was surprised and impressed by the music CD WotC included with the Sharn book. I've used it several times.

Also I like CD's with nature sounds and no music. I used to make extensive use of these to set the scene. I have a Thunderstorm CD I plan on using to begin my Shackled City Campaign. When they enter the Dungeon I'll probably switch to the Eberron CD.

My other game favorite is Holst: The Planets.

Sci-Fi Fridays (SG-1, Atlantis, Battlestar) has me on the couch every Friday night--sometimes for both passes.

Law and Order. All three surviving shows--never got around to watching Trial by Jury. But I watch loads of the others although usually in reruns on USA and TNT.

My Name is Earl. Jason Lee is very funny and the writing is good enough that this would still be a good show with another actor. Together the writing and Lee however it is a devastating 1-2 comic punch. Sort of Touched by a Redneck: sweet and funny stories in which a moron tries to make the things he's done wrong right and somehow succeeds.

Also for many of the reasons listed by others above I'm watching Monk and The Dead Zone.

What I'm looking forward to:
According to a recent TV Guide article the rights to a series of books I like (alot) has been picked up by Nicholas Cage to produce for Sci-fi. Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. If you haven't read them, they are a cross between the old noir detective novels (Sam Spade / Phillip Marlowe) and horror fantasy. Harry Dresden is a Wizard and he investigates all sorts of paranormal crimes. It has the right mix of dread and dark humor and could make brilliant TV.

If handled right.

Any more that can be a big "if", but I am looking forward to it none the less.

That's what I'm watching and what I hope I'll be watching.

a giant contact

I am wondering if anyone else has thought about using these with SCAP? If so what do you have so far? If not, anyone interested in working on such a thing with me?

I haven't had a chance to look at the new Waterdeep but I would be interested in something like that for my game.

If I get the chance to research the layout and mechanics of the Waterdeep orgs. I might even be willing to help craft a couple for Cauldron.

around and around

Another thing to note about the super-anything syndrome and 3.5: With the commoner classes in the rules actual heroic classes now denote rare heroes of exceptional ability not just people who have been kicking around for too long. Not all members of any race are going to progress at the same speed.

The real thing that has always governed NPC power (at least in my games) is what makes sense for the story and the power level of the PC's. I've had (NPC) veteran heroes who in thier prime might have been a 5th level fighters or higher who due to age (I know strictly by the rules this is wrong) are now 5th level or lower warriors.

Unlike a PC, NPC's need not follow the strictest interpretations of the rules. Instead they need to be dramatic and believable.

The question is: What is most dramatic for this adventure? Super Elf or Venerable commoner.

A friend of mine was running D&D while using the magic system from the d20 Sovreign Stone game. I didn't play in the game but the players told me that it worked really well and were having a blast. I took a look at the book and the system seemed really good.

Basically it's another spells as skills. But the DC's can get insanely high. The way it works is say that your spell has a DC 45. You roll your caster check (I forget how it works precisely) and get a total of 18, that's round one. Round two you roll a 12 for a total of 30. Round 3 you roll a 16, 46. On round three your spell goes off.

Again I don't remember all of the details and the Soveriegn Stone books aren't in my collection but if you are looking for alternate spellcasting I'd say they are well worth checking out.

That might be a good idea...if all 44 were good. Who's to say all the adventurers were of a good alignment?

The antics of one of the evil ones could be a fun side trek.

I really enjoyed this thread and it got me to thinking about my own game. I opted for a more familiar feel on the local coinage. I did borrow Delvesdeep's hollow center for some of the coins.

Official Currency

Platinum: Celestial—This octagonal coin bears an eight-pointed star on one side and a winged angel on the other. Signifies the crown’s divine right to rule. Commoners have little reason to see or talk about such wealth and thus this coin has no other commonly used name. Some children of nobility have been known to call it a star but this is usually outgrown pretty quickly.

Gold: Sovereign—This round coin bears the face of the current monarch (or deceased monarchs depending on the age of the coin). The Sovereign is also known as a “Crown,” but this is more of a commoner’s term than a merchant or nobles.

Silver: Eagle—This round coin bears the Royal Eagle Crest, also known as a “Pound” for it’s value is roughly equal to the price of a pound of iron. Pound is the more common name of the coin among dwarves and smith’s. A few other common laborers have begun to use the term as well.

Copper: Penny—This round coin has a circular hole in its center. Originally the purpose of the hole was to increase the size of the coin without increasing it’s cost as a way for the crown and the aristocracy to appear more generous to the common laborers who were growing increasing discontent with their poverty and hunger. The nobles had underestimated the intelligence of the commoners who were quite accustomed to valuing coins by weight and thus the uprising the nobility had hoped to avoid was not delayed at all and became known as the Penny Rebellion.
After the uprising the copper coins continued to be minted with the hole in the middle, which allowed a person to thread their coins on a string and wear them in a convenient loop.
The Official Crown issued coin bears two shafts of wheat that cross at the “bottom” of the coin and curve up around the coin’s hollow center. This hole in the center has jokingly been referred to as the coin’s “caldera” leading locals of all classes to refer to the penny as a Cauldron. The previous Lord Mayor obtained a writ from the crown to mint legal coinage featuring a volcano rather than the traditional wheat. Both coins are considered legal tender.

Special Money: When the Lord Mayor’s minter unveiled the first of the new coppers he also made a mere 5 sets of special “collector cauldrons.” These commemorative coins were minted using the new molds but copper, silver, electrum, gold, and platinum were the metals used to make a complete set of five Cauldrons. Each of these sets came in a velvet lined rosewood box. Only the whereabouts of three sets are currently known. Two were stolen several years ago, however, dozens of sets have turned up on the black market. One authenticated set sells at Tygot’s Old Things for in excess of 300gp a price greatly reduced by the counterfeit sets available on the black market. A less scrupulous merchant could probably sell a set to the right collector for 5 to 10 times as much. Oddly due to peculiarities of law each coin regardless of actual value is only legally worth in tender the value of a single copper piece.

Otherwise the coinage values are as listed in the Player’s Handbook.

I've been searching everywhere for this map pad but can't find it anywhere.If anybody has any suggestions I would appreceate them.Thank you in advance for any help I get.

How about the PDF?

I played in a game ages ago set in Greyhawk (before Greyhawk Wars) which the DM had church politics at the center of the campaign. Two of us were playing church knights (paladins + now forgotten kits) dedicated to Pholtus. Since we were the two most regular players our story sort of took center stage.

The big enemy was Iuz. but we had as much or more trouble with factions of our church. Some were traitors, many were wealthy churchmen lining their pockets, but most were trying to do what they thought was right but they were all getting in our way.

It was very similar to the plot of David Edding's Elennium trilogy complete with the election of a new head of the church and the rise of an evil god.

Unfortunately the campaign died before we even broke 10th level. When Greyhawk Wars was released our DM ran the boardgame to resolve some of the war but the rpg never fully resumed.

+++++

I am now running an Eberron Game with a Paladin of the Silver Flame and a Cleric of the Undying Court. Each of these folks will definetly see conflict from within thier own churches.

It's not just Good Vs. Evil, it's how does good best fight evil? And, not everyone of a faith (even if the same alignment) always agree.

Morale dilemas just make good storytelling.

BTW-I would regard jiggling and ripping open to be radically different. :)

Locke1520 wrote:

So please if you are one of the folks inspecting the collectable mini packages before you buy, please stop. You are only hurting the reputation of the hobby and making it harder for others to get gaming stuff from the chain bookstores.

Now, where in my righteous indignation did I possibly leave room to implicate me in this scam? It was my first box of plastic minis! I'm the one b!~&%ing publically about the break-ins. Why, if I were a professional mini package jiggler I'd be hiding in the shadows plotting my next jiggle.

Sorry that was my bad. I had intended that part to be more rhetorical and certainly didn't mean to implicate you. My mistake *hangs head*.

I actually should have adressed that bit to anyone reading this list who might be inspecting before they buy. Although I hope that no one on this forum is doing that.

Again my apollogies.

My guess is that most of the culprits are shoppers--although not shoplifters. I work in a bookstore and most of our collector miniatures are openned but not stolen. I am the only gamer on staff and doubt the other employees have the knowlege or interest in gaming to pop open the packs. I can't speak for other bookstores out there but I suspect the gamers on staff are far outnumbered by the gamers shopping the stores.

The problem is that some people who wouldn't otherwise steal seem to think it is okay to rip open a pack to see what is inside before making thier selection. This practice does two things:

1. We can't sell the open packages. Who wants what someone else has rejected?

2. The company sees the stock sitting in the inventory not moving and decides to cut back--on the entire category.

So please if you are one of the folks inspecting the collectable mini packages before you buy, please stop. You are only hurting the reputation of the hobby and making it harder for others to get gaming stuff from the chain bookstores.

He didn't have to be kidnapped again, why make it so complicated? Adoption would be a simple and subtle way to obtain the boy without drawing undue attention.

If the PC's have close enough ties they might hear about Terrem's fortunate adoption by a "nice" family from Sasserine who learned about the boy and his while visiting the city shortly after his rescue by the PC's.

This plan would be an insideous and effective way to obtain the boy for the soulcages.

, the busted i-pod,

I would also like to see modern, future or Star Wars content in the magazines but I think that it is unlikely to happen while maintining their exclusivly D&D mission statement.

Perhaps the staff of Dungeon could slip in some d20 Future with an update of the Expedition to Barrier Peaks and even include a side bar of how to use the adventure or information in campaign settings other than Greyhawk like the Forgotten Realms (little change), Ravenloft(it came from outer space horror), Eberron(who knows how that would work) or even Modern America.

Or maybe a special d20 Modern Annual Issue of Dragon.

the cyclops returned

a flow of

As long as it worked and your players are having fun, you did the right thing.

That said, in my game the pause in the action would have forced a new initiative. Basically making this a new encounter.

I was thinking of using Devil Box from Dungeon #109 and pieces of the published adventure Speaker In Dreams as part of the Flood Festival.

That's an interesting idea I'm going to have to pull out Speaker in Dreams and take another look at the Flood Festival.

orphans looted his

The best place to start is to study the PHB and DMG cover to cover.

Then, subscribe to Dragon and Dungeon. : )

Dispite the shameless plug--he's right my best gaming dollars to date are spent on those two magazines. It also depends on what it is you want kind of game you want to run. If you want to run in a specific world get that world's campaign setting. To that end the Shackled City is awesome if you want to run a campaign of ready to run adventures.

to Tasha's Hideous

So I say tell your wife not to worry. She should brush that dust off those dice and get gaming. The kids will be fine, your companions may help out more than you might suspect, and she should certainly have a good time. :-)

I agree. I run an Eberron game and my wife and I both play. The beginning of each session while we game our toddler colors (at her own table), sits in our laps (especially mine since I have all the minis), or plays by herself in the gaming room until bedtime -- at which point, since I DM, we take a half hour (or occasionally longer) break for bedtime. This system works well for us when we play at home. On the rare occasion we play elsewhere we work out something.

The only thing I warn against is content...Make sure you are comfortable with the content of your game as far as your kids go. We've found that while our D&D games are tame enough, I no longer play games with clearly adult content, like the World of Darkness, at least not while my daughter is around.

--But I digress: Dust off your wife's dice for her and clear a spot at the table.

Out of curiosity, how strict were people with races they allowed, as the city seems to be based purely around "normal" races?

My character creation guidelines limit players to the PH races and although I am not running SCAP in Eberron I am allowing the new Eberron Races.

I'm flipping the Eberron designer credo: "If it has a place in Eberron it has a place in D&D."

Warforged are extremely rare and are the product of a bygone age, shifters seem to fit region's history, and changelings and kalashtar blend in with humanity.

Again all are rare less than 1% of the population but heroes of the PCs calibur are rare as well.

I'm deep in the planning stages of a Shackled City campaign and have been reading some of the posts about how hard the campaign is and the numbers of PC deaths are rather daunting.

I'm currently running an Eberron game and I'm very pleased with the Action Points rules from the ECS and Unearthed Arcana books and I plan to keep using them as we begin the Shackled City.

I'm wondering if anyone else has been using these rules an if they seem to have any impact on survivability in the campaign.

anyway, Locke1520, this mark on blade thing is really cool i think! the idea of having a prestige to wielding those blades or maybe even givin a +1 diplomacy in noble environment to those who wield them, would also add a funny element to my game! thanx!

No problem. Let me know how the Diplomacy modifier works out. I've been going back and forth on that idea myself.

Once I finished running The WotC adventures I ran an adventure that was comprised of three seperate stories. I let one of my players whose character had died durring "Grasp" to read the middle module of the Shards trilogy from Dungeon and allowed him to meet up with the rest of the PC's in Stormreach and hitch a ride home to Sharn as the sole survivor of a group who had undertaken the chore to acquire the Heart of the Scorpion. (He made his character with the usual restrictions I place on my players for doing so but got to enter play with the Heart as a bonus.)

The two published adventures I used to create this larger story were Steel Shadows and the third chapter of the Shards of Eberron trilogy. Both of these adventures take place in the cogs and so fit smoothly together requiring only minimal tweeking because of the heat issues. My biggest change was to use the heat to increase tensions in the cogs making everyone more suspicious and irritable. The third story was a personal one for my group that was intended as a distraction and really just a teaser for the next dungeon crawl.

Anyway the setup worked well although the PC's only scored a partial victory: They took care of the portal but after a deadly altercation with a significant NPC and his underlings from Steel Shadows the PC's went to ground and the killings continued.

The groups warforged was hit particuarly hard when his "brother" (I made them from the same forging) Ash was killed.

I totally agree with Dryder about Whipers though. To be honest, I found that not only did it not really fit the series, the ending made no sense to me. So I just cut it completely and harvested all the best encounters for my own use.

I however do not agree. To each their own, of course, but I did run Whispers.

#1 There are alot of fun encounters to harvest. Foremost for me were the crashing airships and the lightning rail encounters.

#2 Whispers of the Vampires Blade may not have been overtly part of the trilogy but it did let the DM (if not the players) know what the bad guys were up to. And if the PC's are observant they get a chance to see that when the changling dies at the climax of Grasp of the Emerald Claw. Look at the AP's not every adventure screams to the PC's that it is part of the arc but each builds part of the story for the DM.

#3 The trilogy was not just about the creation pattern but also to act as an introduction to a whole Eberron Campaign--of the DM's creation. (I could be in error but, the last I checked Grasp of the Emerald claw finished the prepublished arc from WotC.) Whispers gives the PC's access to the Dark Lanterns, Brelands intelligence service. My PC's will be meeting these folks again as well as Lucan and his sister. Probably at the same time Xulo is restored by House Cannith, just to bring it all together a little tighter. I'm going to wait a bit longer so that they have the chance to go: "Oh, Yeah! Those guys..."

#4 The ending worked for us. We had a blast and the PCs even got to bring thier man back alive . . . er . . . well. Point is we had fun.

But that's just my opinion run all three. And if not at the very least read all three before you make up your mind. The middle adventure may not be for every group but we had a great time and it has left me with some excellent threads for going forward.

ripped apart the

Yes, diseases are living organisms. So, using that logic, paladins are immune to tigers, as well.

The worms must also be a curse, as Remove Curse works. Also, they are a poison - Neutralize Poison effects them.

But your average tiger doesn't infest it's host. It simply rends it limb from limb and feasts.

Remove Disease means that it for the purposes of the rules a worm infestation is a disease thereby making paladins immune. Unless Remove disease handles tigers in a way I missed.

I would go so far as to say that if you are somehow immune to the either one of the other two effects I would allow that immunity to protect you as well.

Not that I disagree with Mr. Jacobs' sentiments here or anything, but in the interest of accuracy, I feel it should probably be mentioned that in the cases of San Francisco and Pompeii, the danger only became obvious AFTER the cities were built. NOBODY saw Mt. Vesuvius's eruption coming (well, technically, they did, but only about a day before it happened, when smoke started pouring out of the summit...).

I'll concede that in a rational world: A world of science (like ours) there are too many unknowns to make such a venture seem safe. In D&D however I don't know that I think the examples are at all wrong given the nature of magic.

The problem is narrative thinking. Players (DMs too)have the privilage of narrative thinking which is a kind of meta-game thinking. Simplified: "A" causes "B" or "C", but "C" makes a better story so "C" will obviously happen. In this case a dead volcano will errupt because it makes a good story.

If, in a D&D setting, an experienced and legendary earth elementalist says "This is a dormant volcano it and will stay dormant naturally forever," people will (and should) take his word for it.

As James Jacobs pointed out the elementalist would have been right if the Cagewrights weren't up to their teeth in evil schemes under Cauldron. Thus, the city's impending destruction is unforseeble (even with elemental and divination magic)to the people who live in that world.

So in effect, although we as players can see what is coming the characters should not be any more aware of their danger than those people who built Pompeii or San Francisco.

Higher quality isn't always reflected in game stats but in character perception. In my campaign he is the best source (read most likely to have what the PC's want)in masterwork weapons.

I sell the masterwork weapons at standard price increases (thus normal price+20% then add the masterwork cost modifier) and for the "mundane" stuff I maintain the +20%.

Whether masterwork or normal, it is a status symbol to own a Gurnezan blade. Gurnezan's weapons are more attractive and higher quality just not at a level that can be quantified in the rules.

In the context of the game world fighters in the know would choose Gurnezan's smithwork over another (given the funds). The wealthy will choose his work just because it has his mark on it (and they can afford to pay).

I have also carefully placed weapons bearing Gurnezan's mark in a few places to reinforce this perception of status.

Has anyone already thought something up to use the Weapon of Legacy rules on the quarterstaff Alakast?

Well here are the crunchy bits for the one I plan to use in my game once we get that far. I haven't fleshed out the story bits or the legacy rituals yet.

Alakast
+1 evil outsider-bane Quarterstaff (good aligned for damage reduction) (both sides)

7th level: Creature Compass: Evil Outsider
8th level: See Invisibility(CL5)
10th level: Magical Cipher (detect magic, read magic, arcane mark at will)
12th level: +2 evil outsider bane (both sides)
13th level: Break Enchantment (CL11)
16th level: +3/+2 evil outsider bane
17th level: +3 evil outsider bane (both sides)
18th level: Wizardry 2
20th level: Wizardry 3

(use table 4-6 WoL p186 for determining personal costs)

In my 3.5 Eberron campaign I use a modification of The Game Mechanic's optional rules for resurections.

http://www.thegamemechanics.com/freebies/TGM_DeadHeroes.asp

I fudge ocasionally, but I have a bad habit of rolling LOTS of natural 20's while DMing (too bad it never seems to work so well while I'm a player) and a very wide narrative streak. PC death by lucky kobolds every other session would be bad for stories. As for APs . . .

I would hope that the writers of the Adventure Paths would have taken the durability of the campaign into acccount when they wrote each of the modules. In the old days modules were frequently written in a DM vs. the Player's mentality and the challenge was to finish a dungeon not to finish a story.

I think the current trend of using RPGs to tell stories whether an AP or home brew campaign encourages some fudging either to finish the story with some of the characters intact or to make sure that when the heroes go down they go down in glory.

A good death can be a story of it's own.