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 Recent Posts
Thanks guys! That means a ton. I am sure going to miss Dungeon. Anyways, I hope that game went/is going well Orcmonk! -MiKe P.S. Just to make an attempt at substance in my post, below is my favorite quote from the play test. Though bear with me, these things rarely translate: “I’m not talking to a sword. That’s impossible,” said Vaz. “Hmmm, maybe you should try something easier. Like, start with a dagger and work your way up?” suggested Kia. “Oh shut up Kia.”
Hi Michael, was Sosias a homage to Piers Anthony's Sos the Rope by any chance? It's a book that's been languishing unread on my bookshelves for many a year. Miph-not-melf, Coincident I think. I hadn’t heard of it, but I just googled it and I think I’ll have to read it now! There was also a Dungeon issue which included an intelligent magic mirror that created clones of people. That’s gotta be the mage-hating mirror Glimmerpane, Hal’s awesome Critical Threat article in Dungeon #127. I’m with the Mad Arab on this, I loved it’s subtle, gradual take-over agenda. -MiKe P.S. Thanks DMFTodd! Hopefully “War of the Wielded” can find a home in your awesome index.
Wasn't there an adventure a while back with an intelligent animated rope as a minor villain? That one cracked me up. He was utterly ruthless, a base, irredemable creature- but he was a ROPE whose main goal was to find ways to increase his length and therefore power. It makes me chortle, even now. Freehold, I think you might be referring to Sosias, an intelligent rope of climbing and entanglement from “Home Under the Range” in Dungeon issue #134. I’m glad people remember him!
Yes, an investigation of stolen antique weapons is a really solid hook. While the PCs might be suspicious, only later will they be able to properly connect it to the rash of dueling throughout the city. (Wish I’d thought of it . . .) I am going to tie this adventure into my Waterdeep series. I know my players will be beside themselves with all the magic swords for them to use until....I tell them they have to destroy them. I might actually get some dice or books thrown my way. Thank you Michael for this great adventure and the extra info. I did think the Oquon were a little under staffed in the weapon department. Thanks David! Best wishes with the Waterdeep series! I’m not surprised some material couldn't make the final cut, there’s so much good stuff that has to get packed into Dungeon before its final days. I was just happy they were able to find room for the adventure at all. -MiKe
Thanks a ton for the encouraging words on “War of the Wielded” there guys. I give full credit to the editors who had the savvy to locate the adventure in Sasserine. On the off-chance anyone is interested, I’ve posted a few extra Oquon weapons on this thread here. If anyone does manage to drop "War of the Wielded" in their STAP campaigns I’d love to hear a bit about how it played out. The original playtest was just bizarre and I've been getting a few interesting reports. -MiKe
(Possible Spoiler alert) Further to Ukos post, below are a few extra Oquon weapons from “War of the Wielded”. You will have to forgive me though as I can't quite format this right. Aügrin the Ashen Maul: maul of the titans; AL CE; Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 14; Speech (Common); 120 ft. vision and hearing; Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +9; Ego score 10.
Oquon operative wielding Aügrin the Ashen Maul:
Gahn “The Shredsickle”: +1 adamantium vicious keen sickle; AL LE; Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 10; Speech (Common, Giant, Goblin, and Orc), 60 ft. darkvision and hearing; Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +8; Ego score 12.
Oquon operative wielding Gahn the ‘Shredsickle’:
*Footnote: The original Gahn was the stubborn Oquon commando on p.27 that the Cabanites recruited Lady Akanara to assassinate. As she was ultimately quite successful, there’s a bit of a rivalry there between those two weapons as well. **Footnote: During the original playtest, during the four-way fight in the Marshalling Dome, Gahn was the one weapon with the sense to focus in on eliminating the Kogoloxen. We had to be careful, because he proved to be really quite good at finding its flank. One solution is to have Larcos Dengrim (the ex-paladin) make use of his Shield Other spell to protect the Kogoloxen and keep it in the fight in the Marshalling Dome until the monster's job is done. This however, increases the chance that Larcos will sacrifice himself to end the war. Smolderspike: +2 flaming longsword; AL NE; Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 10; Speech (Auran, Common and Ignan), 120 ft. vision and hearing; Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +7; Ego score 9.
Oquon operative wielding Smolderspike:
*Footnote: Smolderspike was part of an Oquon team which, depending on events, might track the PCs to the Corroded Caves and attempt to ambush them after they try to leave with the Kogoloxen in their ironwood cage. If so, it becomes imperative that the PCs do not let Smolderspike get word of Larcos' plot to the other blades.
I loved reading that. The original genesis of the adventure was from an old campaign with a similar theme that I never got the chance to run. If such a game takes place, please let me know how it works out. -MiKe
There’s also a few in Complete Divine. Another possibility is that there are a couple Oquon weapons from “War of the Wielded” from some deleted scenes that were cut for space (#149 was a tough, tough issue to scrounge for word count in!) I could ask the editors if there’s any problem associated with posting them here. My personal theory for the relative dearth of intelligent magic items is that it’s a real devil assessing the true EL for low-mid level encounters that might include them. Their ability to perform certain acts independently makes it dangerously tough to acurately gauge their impact. They really are like extra creatures. That’s too bad because I think they’re tons of fun in-game. -MiKe P.S. Hastur, Mephibosheth definitely looks like an entertaining persona!
Non-Renewal of Licence. Some say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery. But perhaps the fine folks at Paizo can take solace in that it turns out there just might be one greater form. Anyways, I’ve been a fan of Dungeon for so long now that a part of me remains convinced (all evidence certainly to the contrary) that Dungeon will still, one day, be back in my mailbox. I don’t know when or in what form, but I’ll look forward to #151, be it from WOTC, Paizo or from some dedicated fans in the back of a truck. In any event, thank you Paizo for looking after my favourite magazine for as long and as well as you did. (And thanks to the Dragon folk too of course – you rock too). As for Pathfinder, I can’t wait. If Dungeon ever had a shortcoming, it was that it was simply too small. And this new campaign setting sounds to be off to a fine start already: “The Skinsaw Murders”?, “Hook Mountain Massacre”!? Sounds terrific. “Burnt Offerings” here we come. My dice will be ready. -Michael
Hey thanks Hojas! Sounds like you ran a mighty fine game there. Somedays you ride the Terlen, somedays the Terlen rides you. . . I don’t know if my next piece will ultimately grace the pages of this fine magazine, but if it does, the current draft contains an obscure Terlen reference. (Somebody’s gotta send those poor killing machines some love).
Good eye! As a 1st-level evoker with a strength of 10 and a medium-size, Naegauth has a BAB of +0 and a grapple check of +0. (Not exactly her forte it would seem. . .) Sounds like you might be at the Stampede scene! Hope you get some crushed bug in a crevasse! Naw, send the PCs over the side instead.
Well I got my #142 and am reading through it and I was wondering if anyone has had a chance to play Masque of Dreams yet? It is great to be back to the Lost City, be it ever so found. In particular, the adventure looks like an interesting way to bring a new party together to kick things off: "Oh, us? We all met at an oasis party, with most of the guests under a drug-induced haze, while being raided by goblinoids for sacrificial slaves. You know how it is. I recollect the crab-cakes were terrific." I think I will give XP awards for players who come up with particularly interesting masks for their PCs. I also suspect one of my players in particular will be disappointed if his PC doesn't manage to consume some elixir of fantasy of his own and get to ham up his own delusions. Chapter One may call for some Mountain Dew (Yes, we're wild and crazy). Finally, Durakka just rocks. Beware getting pummeled by bugbear women. Yikes! Just say'in is all. Good stuff GGG! Keep bringing it.
Wasn't Warduke in an old expert rules dungeon called Quest for the Heartstone? Just for the sake of obscure footnotes: Warduke might not meet the spirit of a Black Hat from his appearance in "Quest for the Heartstone" alone. He was actually, believe it or not, a pre-generated character for use as a PC to stomp the module's villains. You could actually have Warduke in the same party as his nemesis, Strongheart, which given the illustrations in the mod, the author seemed to have intended. (For example, if you can picture the cover the pair are fighting side-by-side) I vaguely recall reading elsewhere that the famous pair were to have had a falling out after Warduke was 'affected' by the Heartstone and became further twisted still. If there's such a thing as Warduke cannon, this might not qualify. I don't mean to say he's not an old school Black Hat though, I am sure he was a notorious villain in many a campaign or perhaps other source material. -MiKe
I liked The Menagerie quite a bit and I once read an extremely funny story about a group that went through it - but I did not think it was particularly funny in and of itself. Any chance that was this thread? I know I laughed quite a bit playing "The Menagerie". Humor is one of my favorite parts of the game. Though my normal game is decidedly more grim. As an aside, I find that 9 times out of 10 humor happens spontaneously rather than resulting from a planned encounter. It's tough to engineer in a game setting. Not to say there aren't examples where it's been pulled off.
More oddness with 2ed: 1. A lot of us struggled with trying to make the one-minute combat rounds work in a coherent way. Yech! 2. Why play an ordinary fighter when virtually every other warrior-type class offered superior combat options and color. 3ed really rescusitated the fighter. 3. None of the power gamers wanted to play a human - so many other races offered so much more and without draw backs. I don't think game balance was as strongly entrenched in the game designer's consciousness as it is now. (Or alternatively, the tools to implement it just weren't as readily available.) But 2ed was the best we had and we loved it! We suddenly had something more than the generic cleric and started to care about our deities, wizards had this new school specialization thing. Non-weapon proficiencies were helping us to customize our characters better than ever before. Good times indeed. It's just that there may be even better times ahead.
Thanks Sebastian, Any other map-issues that might still be kicking around are probably my fault. Hopefully, the adventure will still present an enjoyable session (or two). Looking back at this, two of the three wards, "Warning Cry" and "Black Tentacles" are actually only triggered by the presence of non-gnolls. Though, admittedly, once triggered there is nothing to prevent the tentacles from lacerating every gnoll within reach into blender product (I suppose that could potentially even be incorporated as part of a party's strategy). The third set of wards, "The Smear" can be triggered by gnoll sentries, but since it's primarily on the howdah roofs, it's unlikely to occur, unless the party is whipping-up some serious chaos with a roof-top battle. Anyways, this thread brought back some cool memories for me, so thanks. I hope the H'Jyord (the adventure's Big Bad) didn't go down too quick for your players' PCs and that "Beast of Burden" was worth the extra time you invested in the maps.
Here's the thing, Huge minis are only suitable for Epic play. It's right in the rules :) True, and apparently a 200 point warband cannot include a creature over 140 points. Nevertheless, it would be cool to get a buddy together and face-off the 'Sorcerer on Black Dragon' against an entire, well-costed 200 point war band (even though there might also be a problem with the Sorcerer on Black Dragon costing extra points for having to act as its own commander). I sorta got the huntch that that's what the R&D gods were toying with when they decided to make it exactly 200 points. I'd opine on the outcome of such a duel, but I fear I'll be punted to another board!
M.Balmer, You didn't miss it - area 5 (the pod) is missing from the maps of the Kadtanach on p.81. And, I think "Beast of Burden" pre-dates web enhancements. So, as far as I know, we're out of luck this time. However, since I have the luxury of the pre-publication maps stashed in an old dresser drawer maybe I can help. If you can envision the beast, the giant, wooden, sphere-shaped, open-topped pod actually hangs off of the back-left corner of the base platform of the saddle. The pod should nestle in-between the beast's left hind leg and its tail. The sphere is slightly suspended, similar to the hanging rear saddle basket in area 4. Looking at the maps on p.81, you would not be able to see the pod on the sketch of the beast itself because the sketch only shows the right side. Maybe it would be visible if the sketch was translucent, but then the beast might not look as intimidating. Looking next at the 'top-down view' map of the saddle, go to where the number "2" is on that map (the map's upper left hand corner). Just add a 15 diameter circle to that corner, approximately about the same size as the circle used to represent area 7. The rear-left corner of the deck would jut a bit overtop of the circle. Unlike most of the other map locations, there are no magical wards on Gnu-Dalcom's pod. The pod interior is simply a pool, approximately a foot deep in the center. The walls are filled with wood-shaped crannies, littered with nasty looking plants. A few of the crannies actually contain potion gourds if I recall correctly. And of course there is a lengthy creeping plant wrapped around the inside of the pod (the assassin vine). The spatial relations for this mobile dungeon were particularly challenging and, since there's a lot going on in the adventure, word count limitations necessitated that some of the spatial descriptions had to be abbreviated in some spots. Hopefully that won't detract too much from the adventure's enjoyment. I recollect that in playtesting the DM used a plastic dinosaur from time to time to help orient the players. As long as we're sort of on the topic, I should throw in my biased two cents that I thought the cartographer's work was great, particularly the high detail maps of the different howdahs. -MwK
does anyone know of any adventures in which the PCs are accused of murder, or another crime, and most work through the court proceedings? if anyone could point me in the right direction, i'd appreciate it. thanks. This might not be quite what you are looking for, but you might try FRE 2: "Tantras", by Ed Greenwood, a 2nd ed adventure, which is the second installment of the Time of Troubles trilogy. In the opening chapter the PCs likely need to stand trial in Shadowdale for the murder of Elminster, following his sudden disappearance at the conclusion of "Shadowdale", the first installment. It's been quite a while since I've read either adventure. But I do recall that for reasons of plot, the court scene is heavily scripted. So although the PCs get a cool role-playing opportunity to defend themselves, they regrettably don't actually have much ability to affect the trial's outcome. There is though, if I recollect, a most entertaining debate as to whether the PCs ought to be be burned or impaled with sharpened stakes. Ah justice. . .
(Possible spoiler of sorts - from someone who read the original) Also, it will be interesting to see the size of the conversion. Somehow, they packed the original adventure, which feels like an absolutely gigantic dungeon, into 21 pages. With the level of detail today, plus the new 3.5 stat blocks, it's gotta be a massive piece. Imagine the stat block for T's guardian.
Hmmmm, a wereplatypus is a most dangerous summoning. You must be a most powerful spellcaster to invoke a power of such magnitude. Perhaps you are even in fact THE actual Luke Fleeman of arcane legend. Regardless, I trust you will have plenty of silver egg cups on hand and perhaps even a cold iron spatula, just for good measure. Do not let it talk its way outside the boundaries of your summoning circle. Do not let it bamboozle you with its quasi-reptilian features, for it is a mammal and a lycanthropic one at that. . . .Yeah, I gotta agree. In particular, that illusory map was a cool feature.
Drsparnum: Thanks for posting Rannyn's Log, it was a fun read. Hojas is right, players who invest time and creativity like that make DMing all the more rewarding. Also, your idea of adjusting the time it takes for a scarab beetle to intervene in the final combat based on the total number of bugs successfully herded into the final cavern really appeals to me. It rewards "better herding" strategies. It sounds like a number of the people I talked to also spanked poor Rider and Gorger in the Pools of Pain. The Rider and Gorger fared really well in play testing, I swear. Hojas: I hope your players' PCs get to use their "secret weapon"! -MiKe
"The Statue Gallery" by Johnathan Richards in Issue 93. A Side Trek with some very nice touches and a sultry villain. The Nodwick cartoon is fun too. (Level 9) "The Menagerie" by Matthew Conklin in Issue 126. A lighter Side Trek, with the objective to capture, instead of kill, the eclectic monsters on the loose. (Level 6) Whatever you play, have a great session! -MiKe
Thanks for the good vibes Dimonic! Much appreciated. I was happy to be along side Matthew Hope's spooky "And Madness Followed" and that other obscure adventure path thingy by that relatively unknown Jacobs guy featuring some undead dragon. If you ever run "Home Under", it would be cool to hear how it goes (or from anyone else for that matter). I agree with you on the setting specific vs. generic adventures debate. It's all good to me too. -MiKe
I'm trying to get in contact with Mike Shel, the author of Dungeon #37's adventure "The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb." Mike; if you're out there reading this board (or if you know Mike and can get him to contact me), please drop me a line at james.jacobs@paizo.com. Oh man! Only good things could come from such a reuniting. Shel rocks! (Rocks is still good right? I'm not very hip. Er, are people still "hip"?) MST has already been raved about on these boards so I won't repeat it here. OK, I will - but I'll keep it short. Suffice to say by the time you are done running MST and the PCs actually find a way to exit the tomb, the PCs (if alive) are ready to dance and celebrate their basic ability to breathe. Moreover, the players themselves feel like they have just finished immersing themselves in the study of an engaging and very creepy ancient culture. Love the Jezulein! I recall having seen periodic reference to Mike Shel being out of touch with Dungeon for sometime. I wonder, does he even know that MST was #1 on the list of Top Dungeon Adventures that Dungeon published last year? James, I wish I had the contact info to forward to Dungeon, but this is just a posting from another fan.
I find that with any lengthy project I go through cyclical phases. Admittedly, too often, there's the short lived "This-is-pure-genious-I-am-a-generic-diety-who-deserves-his-own-planar layer-phase", which is shortly followed by a "Nobody-will-read-this-crap-I-should-voluntarily-fail-my-stabilization-chec k-phase." Sometimes I alternate a few times before falling somewhere in the middle. I think that the reality is that at some point you start to get too close to an idea and it becomes difficult to appraise it critically. Holding perspective is particularly challenging with the fantasy genre when the line between 'something innovative' and 'painfully over the top' can blur deceptively quick in-between sips of a Dr. Pepper. One thing you might try, rather than hitting the delete key irrevocably, is to just save your work for another day. An idea which stymies one day, might fire up another time, especially if it suddenly finds itself ready to be combined with another concept. Just my pensive musings on a Friday. . . Have a good weekend all. -MiKe
Um, yeah, about those 'results', I can explain. Well maybe not. But just remember, we all agreed: it wasn't my fault! Or at least not entirely. . . -MwK P.S. Welcome to the boards KevlarKnight. P.P.S. Wingclippers = good good stuff Wereplat!
PART VIII - The Aftermath Having rescued Gwen’s Relics and recovered the merchandise. . . Er, let me try that again: having levelled much of Gwen’s Relics and destroyed virtually all of the merchandise (the shocker lizards thankfully got away), The 20 Strong had much to answer for. Fortunately we reminded the GGG this was a one-off play session and not a campaign. In response, he lavished us with gigantic amounts of treasure and oodles of XP, at least I think that’s what he was muttering as he left shaking his head. Thanks to GGG for running a great event. I hope you all enjoy playing “The Menagerie”. -MwK P.S. Although the rumours of a “The 20 Strong” Reunion event next year are widely unsubstantiated, I remain full of hope. If so, be careful, for no doubt aggressive recruitment will take place.
PART VII - The Big Bad: The Ravid! The 20 Strong then staged a short intervention with Seraphina, during which they carefully explained the inherent drawbacks of large area effect spells in small rooms, using very tiny words, such that even Vrodish was nodding along thoughtfully. However, no sooner had they finished when Seraphina promptly went back up the stairs and tossed off a few more fireballs into the next room. I believe she was attempting to illustrate a counter-point. I wish I could tell you Kian wasn’t dumb enough to have followed her back up the stairs but I can’t. Instead, let me just say he has yet to save up for that headband of Intellect he keeps talking about. The party did, all, however (somehow) survive. Apparently there was supposed to be a climactic fight with a Ravid in which the party faces off against a deluge of animated objects. This encounter though was lost in the epicentre of the inferno blasts, as was much of Gwen’s Relics. However, on the plus side, Vrodish reported that Roasted Ravid went well with a white wine. (Just kidding, Vrodish doesn’t actually drink wine).
Good Lord...why do I see this ending with the player's standing before the smoking ruins of the shop, patting an innocent by-stander on the head and saying "Think nothing of it, Citizens. We fight this evil for YOU!" I see you are familiar with the exploits of The 20 Strong. . . Nevertheless, Gavgoyle, I give you my personal assurance that The 20 Strong once again endeavored to adopt a “surgical” and conscientious approach to all combat encounters going forward.
PART VI - The Big Bug At this point, The 20 Strong realized that, despite their solemn vow to Elgeen, the shopkeeper, they had in fact, thus far, turned every monster they encountered into a blender product. As such, The 20 Strong promised one another that they would re-double their efforts to capture the next beastie alive. Upon advancing up the stairs to the next level, The 20 Strong encountered a room thick with cobwebs. Recalling their earlier clue from Elgeen that a giant spider was loose in the store, the party decided to formulate a plan that would enable them to. . . . Suddenly Seraphina tossed off a fireball in the centre of the room. I don’t wish to be hyper-critical here, but let’s just say there’s a reason Sorcerer’s rely on Charisma and not Intelligence as their primary ability stat. As you would surmise, there was a really big boom and a lot of flames. Seraphina herself was blown backwards down the staircase. Kian caught her before she hit the ground. Actually, I should not complain. This was a good moment for Kian. Not only did he actually get to use his evasion ability and perform a studly catch, he had a chance to show-off his ‘divine metamagic extended lessor vigor spell’ (trademark pending) which (eventually) healed Seraphina for 32 points of damage. Not bad for a level-1 spell. (Distant coughing noise is heard which sounds vaguely like “power gamer”.) Meanwhile Vrodish and Rimbener bravely inspected the charred remains of the room and after counting eight crispy legs without an abdomen, concluded that, once again, Gwen’s Relics’ “merchandise” might not be fully recoverable. Hopefully Gwen’s Relics carried insurance with coverage for errant adventurers. Since fireball is an arcane spell, it certainly wouldn’t be excluded under a provision for Acts of Gods. Interjector: “Hey! I read “The Menagerie” in issue 126 and there was no giant spider in it! You’re just making this crap up! And that’s without making comment about your unnecessary and anachronistic reference to property insurance.” Me: Hey, I said it was the Director’s cut. We had extra monsters. Apparently the Paizo staff had to cut the spider in the actual magazine. As for the insurance reference, I can’t argue.
I have fallen behind on my installments. PART V - Episode 3: Revenge of the Rust As those of you who have read issue 126 know, there was a dark mantle in the adjoining room. But short story shorter, the poor little guy was a but a snack for Kian’s bag of tricks tiger. There was “some” collateral damage to the store room, but nothing of note I assure you. (“Um, back in the bag Tony.”). The Rust Monster behind the dark mantle, however, proved a much greater challenge, as once Vrodish figured out what it was, he decided it may in fact be the only monster in the multi-verse which truly terrified him. That was the first-and-only time, Kian, Rimbener and Serephina had ever witnessed the treat of seeing Vrodish flee. Stripping off his few metal items, Kian boldly sallied forth to fill the point position deserted by Vrodish. Hey! Monks are good for something: fighting rust monsters! However, the rust monster proved far the more clever than Kian. It simply doubled back, found another entrance and attacked Vrodish and the rest of the party from the rear. Rimbener and Seraphina, though, responded just as quickly and proved up to the task, lasering the poor beast to death with a multi-colored shower of magic missiles as they maneuvered behind the cover of the magic shop’s remaining book shelves. After all, it’s not just whether you win or lose the fight, it’s how cool you look doing it.
A Couple of Pages from "The 20 Strong" Family Album Herman has kindly agreed to let me post some of the character illustrations he did following the "Menagerie" play test event. Assuming I am capable of posting a link properly, such that you can at least paste it into your browser, below is a picture of Rimbener. Rimbener is demonstrating Adventuring Tip No.67: Never venture into a battle without your windchime (don't ask). http://www.telusplanet.net/public/luchong/images/rimb1a.jpg And here is one of Kian, proving yet again the axiom that all pet owners truly do look like their pets. Dammit, he even matches: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/luchong/images/kian1a.jpg I will hit Herman up to see if he has one of Vrodish or Serephina. I know he is a busy guy though.
PART IV - A Membership Increase! At this point, the exuberance of our overly keen gaming group, combined with GGG’s entertaining DMing style attracted the attention of a few onlookers and lamentably, the paparazzi. Since we were short handed, and GGG was, perhaps, somewhat underwhelmed by the quality of his current roster of players, we invited one of the observers to play. Hence, allow me to introduce: Serephina: Human, female sorcerer 6. Once thought to be a lost member of the 20 Strong, Vrodish, Kian and Rimbener were elated to discover that Serephina, their Sister-in–arcane-arms, had in fact survived the fiery mishap thought to have spelt her doom. The 20 Strong, however, might have been less elated if they had realized Serephina’s fiery mishap was but the first of many of what would become known as Serephina’s routine pyromania. For those of you keeping track and are now wondering how Serephina could join us after we sealed the doors from the inside, well. . . just make something up involving the fact that she’s a sorcerer or better still, the conversion to 3.5. If you can’t, you really ought not dwell on it. After a quick exchange of the secret “The 20 Strong” handshake with Serephina, the party dared to delve deeper into the magic shop.
PART III - Episode 2: Attack of the Chickens Once sealed inside the magic shop, The 20 Strong put their highly-polished group tactics to work: “Vrodish, you go first.” Don’t knock it till you try it, because dammit it works. Mere minutes after he began ‘gently’ combing book shelves and assorted arcane oddities, the deadly dwarf had a run in with the first cockatrice. Doing his best impression of Colonel Saunders-with-an-Axe, Vrodish criticalled the first chicken before it could try to turn him to stone with its dangerous bite. A second cockatrice landed on a nearby statuary and attacked Kian. (We later clued-in that the statue was, in fact, an innocent store customer). Kian predictably relied on his bag of tricks and drew out a Large warhorse. While the powerful steed was not able to deal with the cockatrice per say, it was able to panic and pummel the statue into a few shattered pieces. Fortunately, Vrodish was able to rush over and down the second cockatrice before Kian was forced to do his best permanent impression of Rodan’s “Thinker”. After this minor set-back, Mr. Ed was quickly sent back inside Kian’s bag of tricks. For his part during the frenzied melee, Rimbener, always an invaluable contributor during any combat, was able to take the time to locate and carefully compile the spell components he needed. Looking around, the 20 Strong determined that most of the store front had been demolished within the first five minutes of their entry inside Gwen’s Relics. But why worry, how expensive can it be to replace darkwood shelving?
PART II - OUTSIDE THE STORE Dawn broke (Repair DC 25). Kian began his morning meditation ritual interrupted only by the sweet sounds of Vrodish’s use of the chamber pot. (Regrettably, I did not make that scene up.) Thankfully, Vrodish soon left to go drinking. It was, after all, well past sunrise. Rimbener determined that after The 20 Strong’s last adventuring debacle he had run out of material components for Hypnotic Pattern, his only useful level 2 combat spell (Nobody accuses Herman Lau of being a Power Gamer). Naturally, the respected advice and counsel of Kian lead to a decision to procure more components at Gwen’s Relics, a local store with a veritable cornucopia of goodies for spell-casting types. If only the 20 Strong had known that they were, in actual fact, the victims of a plot hook. Despite their courtesy of scheduling their attendance during statutory business hours, when Kian and Rembener arrived at Gwen’s Relics, they were surprised to find the shop was closed. Something was definitely amiss, a sizeable crowd flocked outside the store. Most were rivited by the tales of a nutty fisherman racing among them as he insisted over and over that monsters were lose inside the store. (For those of you following along diligently with your copy of the mod, the nutty fisherman in question would be Javers Ibbelbbek, the NPC who triggers the untoward events in the adventure’s backstory.) Concerted crowd control efforts were undertaken. Kian and Rimbener urged the flocking bystanders to move back so that The 20 Strong, the trained professionals that they are, could handle this crisis (“Who ya gonna Call?”). Fortunately Kian and Rimbener made what was perhaps their best decision of the day: they waited for Vrodish to join them. Also fortunate was that before entering Gwen’s Relics, the party took the time to speak with Elgeen, a store employee who had also recently arrived on the scene. In so doing, the 20 Strong engaged in some essential intel gathering. The 20 Strong quickly learned that the magic shop had imported several expensive critters: cockatrices, shocker lizards, a dark mantle and even an exotic giant spider. . . More importantly though, Elgeen impressed upon the 20 Strong, in no uncertain terms, that it was critical to ensure they did not damage “the merchandise”. Rimbrener looked at Vrodish patting his axe as he frothed at the mouth (it might have been beer froth), then he looked at Kian’s bag of tricks with a Rhino horn, half popping out, and promptly assured Elgeen it wouldn’t be a problem. Then, after a deep strategy session, the party settled on the front door as its subtle choice of entrance. Wiser still, Kian concluded The 20 Strong could best protect the innocent bystanders clustered outside of Gwen’s Relics by sealing_the_door_behind_them. It’s this kind of prudent thinking that makes Kian so popular with his fellow party members. Stay tuned. . .
(Yes! I just noticed my intials sort of look like the short form for Masterwork. Suddenly I like 3rd ed. even more.) THE MENAGERIE PART I: Overview This year's Origins convention hosted a “play with a creator” session in which Great Green God ran his contest winning, Side Trek adventure, “The Menagerie”. As most of you know, “The Menagerie” is now immortalized in Dungeon Issue No.126. I had the privileged of attending this session, which GGG called his “Director’s Cut”. The following is an assortment of half-truths and overly grandiose statements, loosely based on the actual play session. Because I am such a busy guy (read “lazy”) I expect that I will post this in installments. Well, I am excited. So without further adieu, Ladies and Gentlemen may I present : “The Menagerie: The Directors Cut”. Also known as, “GGG, could I take that turn back?” THE PARTY: THE 20 STRONG First, permit me to introduce you to the party: the well known band of “The 20 Strong” (current membership roster: 3). As you may deduce from their title, The 20 Strong have experienced chronic misfortunes and recruitment has become something of a challenge. The inducement of a free +1 anarchic toaster-oven no longer works like it once did. This is not to say that the current roster is anything less than astounding: Vrodish: Male dwarven barbarian 6. ‘Rage without a cage’, Vrodish brings exactly the right amount of subtlety and charm needed to navigate a delicate adventure like “The Menagerie”. He also brings a very big axe. That axe, by the way, frequently proved to be an exceptional problem-solving tool. Vrodish was played by Todd Hankinson, a runner-up for the Dragon Prestige Class design competition. Whenever the party strategists brilliantly conclude that it is to the party’s tactical advantage for their opponents to become dead, Vrodish is called to the forefront. Rimbrener, AKA, The Living Lantern: Male half-elvin rogue 2/sorcerer 4. Capable of both plot advancement as well as common sense, the Living Lantern is the glue which holds The 20 Strong together. Hmmmm, perhaps he then shares some of the blame . . . Rimbrener was played by Herman Lau, also a runner-up for the Dragon Prestige Class design competition. Coincidentally, Herman happens to be a kick-*** artist. You gotta see his stuff! Kian: Male, human cleric of Xan Yae 4/Monk 2 (Sacred Fist Wannabe). One of the 20 Strong’s founding members, Kian brings. . . well heck, I am not sure what Kian brings to The 20 Strong outside of his dubious claim to be a founding member. Despite his diatribes about the benefits of discipline, Kian rivals the chaos caused by Vrodish, largely brought about by his frequent abuse of his power gamer tan bag of tricks. Dare I admit it, Kian was played by myself. Yes, yes, this will work. How could a finely balanced party such as this do anything but succeed against the paltry challenges presented in “The Menagerie”? Stay tuned. . .
Oh! If the cat's out of the bag-of-tricks on that one, let me say I was one of the privileged who got to enjoy the "play with a creator session" with Triple G at Origins where he featured his Side Trek in advance. G3 described the version we played as the extended Director's cut. I really look forward to seeing it come out in Issue 126. If time permits, after the issue hits, I'll post a summary of the Origins' game session, just in case any one is interested in how the adventure's premiere went. (There was a particularly colorful mishap involving area of effect spells, but it wasn't my fault!) I understand another one of the session's players, Herman Lau, is preparing sketches of the party. We shamelessly tried to coerce Eric into joining our gallant, if undisciplined, band, but there was a small issue arising from his editorial foreknowledge of the adventure's contents contrasted with his lack of knowledge of where the session was actually being held. Anyways for those of you who are interested in such things, GGG is a particularly animated DM who has a real knack for spontaneous description. A good time was had by all, and I suspect you will all too when his adventure comes out. How was that for an unsolicited plug? -MiKe P.S. Pardon the off-topic post!
I am going from memory here, but I recollect Dungeon once published a letter to the editor asking why is it that Dungeon (and Dragon) were filled with ads for heart disease: are we an identifiable group at risk? (Ulp!) The response was something to the effect that there was no actual intent to target gamers per say. The ads were used as space fillers because the ads themselves were catchy and clever. (But not to say that the substantive message was any less important.)
One of the recurring themes which has come out over the past few months is that word count is at a premium. Dungeon cannot be all-things-to-all-people-all-the-time because of the logistics of space restrictions in a magazine. Obviously the solution is to simply get an extradimensional Dungeon with a ridiculously expanded space, similar to a bag of holding. But since I am told that idea has already been discarded as impractical due to its effect on the cover price, I am forced to consider other ideas. Below is my modest proposal of how we might scrimp and save a few words in Dungeon. Not very many, I admit, but I get the impression that we are at the point where every syllable saved might help. One of my very favourite sections of the magazine is “tactics”. People often talk about what they read first in each issue, but for me, I usually scan my swanky new mag for the bold heading “tactics” to see if the writers or staff have inserted something nasty or clever I can use, and they usually have. With 3.5 ed, it’s common to list which spells are cast in advance by villains before the battle. This leads to the inevitable question of whether the buffs are already in the stat block. Stat block seers can usually figure it out by reverse engineering the stats, but it’s often too time consuming when one is in the middle of a game. To solve this, the author usually sacrifices the word count to tell you directly. I.e. “Lupe the Sorcerer casts Bull’s Strength, which is included in the statistics block.” or “If Lenny the Cleric of Kortes hears the PCs on the stairs he uses his scroll of magic vestment, and so the DM should increase his AC from 10 to 11.” Here’s my thought: what if instead of writing out what tactics modify the stat block, we instead just mark it with a superscript symbol? I.e. Just, "Lupe the Sorcerer casts Bull's Strength -symbol-." I unfortunately can't draw superscript on on the message board to illustrate, but it would look similar to how we mark domain spells in stat blocks with the snazzy, upper case “D”. (Like a footnote people, you know what I mean) One symbol would mean “already factored into the stat block” and the second would stand for “not in the stat block and the DM must add it.” It would save space and more importantly it would avoid those unfortunate times when a DM accidentally buffs the NPC twice or not at all. There is, of course, a downside. We’d be introducing yet more obscure symbols in a game which is already working overtime in order to be inclusive to new players. That alone makes me wonder if this could fly. But hey, if it helps make room for a few more lines of flavor text or more space for a sidebar, maybe its worth a consideration?
Warning - Tangentially a Spoiler for Issue #122: Hey thanks Richard. That means a lot coming from Mr. Styes and the Devil Box himself. Er, I didn’t mean for that to sound like the name of a College rock band. Now I see that in addition to being a great writer, you, as well as DMFTodd, also have impeccable taste. I worried a lot about the ‘fake roper’ causing players to waste valuable spells or other resources early on in an adventure which potentially has limited rest opportunities. (Sad, but I lose sleep over these things) But in the end I couldn’t take it out - it’s too fun to see if the PCs will beat on a stalagmite. MiKe P.S. Thanks for your encouragement Ashavan, I may get the hang of posting yet.
Thanks for the review DMFTodd. I am glad you enjoyed Final Resting Place. It meant a lot to have the opportunity to contribute to the same issue as talent like Mike Mearls and Tito Leati. A Zone of Truth spell however, compels me to confess that the Dungeon staff took the original manuscript for Final Resting Place and cast bless, prayer, haste, and reduce (edit) on it, the results to which it owes a number of its better qualities (and possibly an improved attack bonus). Since this is my first post to this esteemed board, I should seize the opportunity to say I have really enjoyed reading everyone’s posts since I first became a lurker. This is a great community brewing. MiKe P.S. Have I just lost my lurker status?
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