Occam's page

I would settle for an official release of the original animated cartoon classid on DVD, and they won't even give me THAT!

The D&D cartoon is coming to DVD soon.

I think you are misunderstanding my point. I don't necessarily want to see a D&D novel literally translated to the screen (although the Dragonlance Chronicles series is a good choice), and I certainly do not want to see the actual game mechanics displayed on screen. That's silly.

What I want to see is a film or television adaptation of a story set in one of the core D&D worlds. Sure, I like most of the pre-existing fantasy films out there, but none of them are actually set in Greyhawk, the Forgotten Realms, Krynn or Ebberon. Those worlds are what makes D&D what it is, at least in my opinion. Sure, they're full of cliches, but what isn't these days? Are you seriously saying that under no circumstances would you like to see a good film that just happened to be set in any of the pre-existing campaign worlds?

I'm with you. No, you don't want a filmed version of an actual D&D game. But there's a lot of storytelling potential, filled with rich backstory, in the established worlds. Movies based on the Driz'zt stories (which I've never read, but I hear tell they're quite popular), or the original Dragonlance Chronicles, could be great, done right. Focus on story and character, with combat and magic as accent (which is probably the reverse of most gaming experiences).

And baudot mentioned an Eberron TV series... A cool idea, given sufficient budget.

Overdue Library Book

...Regardless of the plot hook selected , the group of PCs travels to Vestein’s tower. There, the players find the tower no longer occupied, but certainly not empty. Vestein’s research enabled him to open a small gate within the tower. Bizarre from the other side took over the tower. The PCs must fight their way through the extraplanar creatures. On the top floor, the players encounter the gate; they also locate the book, though several pages are missing. The players seal the gate, recover the book, and also recover Vestein’s journal...

General Information

Overdue Library Book is a generic world adventure designed for 13th level PCs. The players start in a major city before traveling a few days distance to Vestein’s tower. From there, they discover the gate and grimoire, destroy the gate, and uncover the insane wizard’s plan. Quickly, the players must travel back to the city, locate the wizard, and thwart his plan before catastrophe can strike.

I think this sounds like a promising adventure (notwithstanding the editors' reluctance to feature mad wizards). The main thing I missed from it was more description of the challenges the PCs will face, and how they might overcome them. More details on monsters (examples of creatures using the pseudonatural template), the nature of the gate and how it's sealed (and how the players could find that out), that kind of thing. It just seemed like you zipped through the most exciting part of the adventure for the players, the part that would define the experience for them (and the part that might sell it to the editors).

The intelligent book is awesome, though.

Okay, I'm ready for it... really I am. Here's my query for Into the Icy Depths:

In a certain land, on a certain day came certain disaster. The mayor had wished, out loud, for a cool breeze. Many in town wondered at the result - had their mayor unknowingly been blessed (or cursed) with great power? Wonder soon changed to terror as the rare blistering heat became suddenly something else. A cool breeze was the least of the town’s worry, for the breeze was not cool, but cold - frigid, icy. Soon the hail started, and then snow, and by mid-afternoon the town stood buried under it. The snow melted the next day, but what came with it, that did not depart.

That last sentence confused me when I first read through it; I thought the climate had returned to normal, only to find the lake was frozen in the next paragraph. I'm still not sure if that's what happened. Maybe something like:

Soon the snow started, and didn't let up until the next morning. After the townspeople dug themselves out, they found that something other than freezing weather had come to their town that day...

The multiverse harbors a great secret - one known to few sages in any realm. There is no one single Baba Yaga.

I'm with WerePlatypus on this, I would consider excising Baba Yaga entirely. I think BY is very cool, but I also think this detracts from the focus on what is a great setup, engaging story, and interesting antagonist all by itself. You don't need Baba Yaga to make this a compelling adventure; plus, it saves a lot on word count.

Leaving out the Baba Yaga connection opens a few holes, but those are easily filled in.

The children know about the stair because the Baba Yaga follow a strict code that prevents them from harming certain children - as such her minions have left the children alone.

Here's the main hole I found. You'll need a reason for the marzanna to leave the children alone without falling back on folklore. Maybe. There might be other ways to do it.

most creatures encountered by the PCs will be between CR 2-5.

I love this. You've managed to come up with a wonderfully creative adventure concept, with interesting monsters, for low-level characters.

The adventure is suitable for a party of 4th level. A party that insists upon killing the final monster is liable to die. The Baba Yaga in this adventure is beyond the capability of the PCs to defeat in combat unless they get very lucky, or are very clever. Again, a bard, cleric, or PC who has chosen to invest in social skills - Diplomacy, Bluff, Intimidate, etc. will prove an asset in dealing with Baba Yaga. Can the PCs persuade the witch to release the child? Or will Irina lose her daughter to the terrors of the outer planes?

I agree with some others, it feels like a letdown not to be able to fight the hag. Also, the diplomacy option is interesting, but the proposal doesn't provide enough information about what the PCs could use as leverage in a bargain. We need a bit more information about the marzanna's motivations, and the PCs need a way to acquire something (not necessarily a physical item) in the adventure that she wants.

Comments on "The Burton-Char Winter Bazaar":

First of all, it seems like a generally cool idea, with plenty of variety in the types of challenges facing the PCs.

Once they have the mirror, they must meet the thieves at the rendezvous point, where chaos erupts as the true guild appears and forces the PCs to flee. The PCs have the contact person and city where the mirror is to be delivered and the guild sends a cutthroat crew to retrieve the mirror for the carnival.

I don't like that the PCs are forced into flight, and it doesn't seem necessary. If you assume the PCs must flee, then you have to give the thieves' guild's forces overwhelming might so that the players get the point (since IME, most players default to fighting before considering retreat). It seems like it'd be more fun to make the fight a tough one, but winnable if the players are skilled and the PCs are lucky. That makes the choice of whether to fight or flee an interesting one. Make sure the guild forces can't overwhelm the PCs in a single round, but can make their prowess known quickly, so that the PCs have time to make that choice with sufficient information. (So probably no spellcasters, just a straight-out melee.) You don't want to sucker them into a TPK.

Monsters include: Humanoid thieves of various levels including a troll rogue with animated skeletons for support...

This looks like at least a CR 7 encounter. Isn't that a bit too much for a 3rd-level party?

Now ya’ll can rip me. Here’s my latest bomb.

Wow, Tim, that was a great-sounding adventure proposal. I hope you get to do that in some venue.

I had heard about the proscription against half-dragons some time ago, but not some of the other mentioned in this thread: no evil cults, no hidden villains, no borgs, etc. Is there a compiled list of these somewhere?

I would love to see Oriental stuff rehashed, but noticed that there is something in the pipeline with regards to Wizards in the future.

I haven't seen anything more than vague hints with uncertain interpretations. Has something more concrete been let out?

Kara-Tur, Zakhara, the Hordelands, Maztica... give me more! The only major region of the Forgotten Realms where I *don't* have adventure plans is Faerun.

I'll add my vote for a suggestion already mentioned by Erik, a compilation of Oriental Adventures material. Please! I'd have to go through my back issues and get a page count, but it might even make sense to compile both Dragon's and Dungeon's OA material into a single volume.

A few random items:

pp. 55-56: Fire gen should have 1d8 HD, water gen should have 1d8+2 HD.

p. 82: Kong soo treats the monk's hands as a Large weapon for disarming. Shouldn't it be +1 size category, similar to lung soo?

p. 203: I think this was already mentioned, but ghastly creatures should have a CR of "Same as base creature +2".

p. 231: Middle of 2nd column, in "Analysis" paragraph, "10" should be ".10".

I don't really get how the battle dancer's Dance of Death's Embrace works. The dance itself is a full-round action, and then the battle dancer does +2d6 damage on each attack against the designated opponent, plus auto-confirmed criticals. Does this effect apply for a certain number of rounds after performing the dance, or does the full-round action of the dance include an attack of some kind?