RedRobe's page

I started my second run of AoW two weekends ago. This time I've put a different spin on it by setting it in a d20 Modern Supernatural/Dresden Files world. I'm trying to boil down each adventure to some key scenes that would fit into an amalgam of the two settings. I'm only allowing humans to start, though other templates such as vampire and werewolf may be available later on depending on the course of the game. I'm using the Pathfinder skill system and feat progression. To spice up some of the classes, I'm also allowing the incorporation of certain class abilities. For example, the Mage will get the Wizard's class abilities as well as the ability to specialize which replaces the Mage's class abilities. I'm using hp/wound points to allow for quicker healing. Divine classes with healing spells will not be allowed as I am trying to keep to the grittier feel of Supernatural as much as possible.

The characters (all human) are: Daniel Riverbend - Dedicated 3/Shadow Hunter 1; Leon Cooper - Fast 3/Gunslinger 1; and my GMPC Nicodemus - Smart 3/Mage 1 (Evoker). After some background discussion and much hilarity during the car ride, the trio of hunters made their way to Diamond Lake, New Jersey with plans to investigate reports of a haunted iron mine. I've decided to cut the entire "Whispering Cairn" dungeon crawl and focus on the characters dealing with a ghost, the old farmhouse, a possible bar fight, and the creepy, early 1900s observatory on the hill.

So I've tinkered with the idea of doing a Savage Tide d20 Past conversion, but I'm already doing a d20 Modern/Urban Arcana campaign, and want to do something different when that wraps up. So, I've gone back to trying to convert the campaign to the Star Wars Revised Core Rules. What I would like ideas for are locations (Sasserine, Farshore, Scuttlecove, etc.), classes for NPCs (Lavinia, Vanthus, Harliss Javell, etc.), and what to do when the campaign goes to the Abyss. I've already tossed around the idea that "Demogorgon" is an evil organization instead of an entity in itself (kind of like Cobra). They primarily work with biological engineering and cybernetics. The Savage Tide itself will be a bio-engineered version of the rakghoul plague. I'm thinking of setting the campaign during the beginning of the Dark Times just to add a bit of tension from the presence of the Empire, and also to have some stormtroopers to waste. Any ideas you all may have are welcome. Its very early in my redesign phase at this point. Thanks in advance!

So, in my spare time, when not creating cities, NPCs, and adventures for my homebrew D&D world I have yet to run, or my Urban Arcana campaign, I've considered converting the Savage Tide AP to d20 Past. It will be set in the "Age of Adventure" setting, and will include most of the races and monsters from Urban Arcana. If anyone has had experience doing this, or running the STAP in general and would like to contribute suggestions, warnings, or other ideas, please feel free. My greatest concern if I ever get around to running this AP is what to do when the PCs need to travel to the Abyss. Should I find a suitable wrap-up point before that, or should I treat it like World's End or Davy Jones' Locker in Pirates and just go with it? Thanks in advance!

Hello, all. I am currently developing a homebrew world and I want to tweak a few classes for flavor and variety. I'd like to develop a druidic version of the Favored Soul. I WAS going to keep it simple and tweak the flavor by including druidic weapons for "Deity's Weapon Focus" at 3rd level and allow for faerie/dragonfly wings for "Wings" at 17th. However, after some thought, I decided it would be more fun to change the Special Abilities and try to incorporate some of the druid's traditional abilities, or perhaps some variations on them. I like the Aspect of Nature wildshape variant on page 67-69 of Unearthed Arcana, but am unsure as to how/when to incorporate it and keep the class balanced. I also don't want to reduce five Special Abilities to one. I also would like to stick to the same levels at which the Favored Soul gains Special Abilities. I would appreciate any feedback any of you fine folks may have. Thanks in advance!

Has anyone out there encountered any material on the game mechanics for a Shannara-style airship? These ships use sails to absorb sunlight and transfer the energy into crystals built into the hull to provide lift/propulsion. If anyone has created their own home-brew rules, that would be very helpful as well. I'm still in the process of designing my hybrid Star Wars/D&D world, and want to use airships that aren't elemental powered nor zepplins (sp?) Thanks in advance!

OK, so on order #771938 I tried to use my remaining Dungeon subscription issues for two back issues, and I entered them as my choices, however, it charged me for both issues and shipping. I goofed and accepted charges. Can I have my order cancelled and re-entered with the transition issues and not be charged anything? Thanks in advance!

So I've been working for some time on a Star Wars/D&D hybrid and have been stuck on how to handle the Jedi class and Force powers. In my notes so far, the Light Side and Dark Side of the Force take the place of a pantheon of gods. After a trial run using Jedi and Force Powers as-is, I've decided to switch them out for a class and power system that is fully compatible with D&D: the Favored Soul class and divine spells. I know its not a direct analog, but for the purposes of what I want to do, it seems like it will work. However, I wanted to switch out the Favored Soul's class abilities for some that are more in line with Jedi class abilities. Any suggestions anyone has are most welcome. Thanks in advance!

Has anyone had much trouble running the encounter with Darl Quethos' band? Has anyone changed out any of the group? I decided that I didn't want to muck things up with an efreet riding a huge nightmare so I replaced it with an 18th level warforged fighter/juggernaut. Hopefully my characters will gain some levels in the next couple of adventures. They're currently 13th (6 PCs) and will finish up SoLS next week. I'll probably find some way to grace them with another level before the start of Prince of Redhand.

Anybody had any luck converting D&D modules to a modern setting? I used part of the 3.0 module Forge of Fury when the PCs went on a rescue mission to find some missing college kids who were LARPing in the Appalachians. The students ran afoul of the critters in the main cavern area in that adventure. Any suggestions on which modules you used and how you did it would be great. Thanks!

I'm on an Urban Fantasy kick right now and would like some suggestions on what to pick up. I'm eagerly awaiting Dresden Files 9: White Night and want something to hold me over until April. I've started the Repairman Jack series with The Tomb, but its not quite in the vein I'm looking for. I'm a Charles de Lint fan as well but haven't had an opportunity to read his newest full-length novel. The Anita Blake books aren't really what I'm looking for either. Sorry to head those series off before their suggested, but I don't want to waste anyone's time. Thanks in advance!

My group started the SoLS last night and have been through the audience with Manzorian. They asked questions regarding Dragotha, rakshasa overlords, and Katashka. My question is this: what should they know now about the Age of Worms after having spoken with the archmage? I'm concerned I've left something out. Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Can anyone direct me to the thread which details Kyuss' origin as an Aerenal elf with Mark of Death? I'm starting Spire of Long Shadows and would like to review it before beginning. Thanks in advance!

So Wednesday night saw my party fly to Diamond Lake upon the back of the party Druid/Master of Many Forms in huge griffon form. They received a sending spell from Allustan who warned them of a black dragon destroying the town and told them that he was holed up in the Whispering Cairn. They bypassed the town and went straight for the Cairn. They landed long enough to ready their gear when Ilthane flew from a small grove of trees nearby, around the back of the Cairn toward the PCs. They spotted her, the druid/momf charged in wingy troll form (which had pounce as an extraordinary ability. He hit all the attacks and also dazed Ilthane for a round. This was followed by the warforged who also charged and hit, as well as a flamestrike from the party cleric/exorcist, and another hit from the troll and wf. Ilthane never acted and went down like a chump. She muttered "Ilthane take you all" as she died. The 5 PCs were at 11th level and I ran Ilthane as written. Hopefully the rest of the adventure will be more challenging. Anyone else have similar experiences with Ilthane?

I've been out of the comics loop since February or so (haven't bought any and Wizard subscription ran out). Has volume 3 of the Ultimates started yet? I'm really looking forward to Joe Madurera's (Battle Chasers, Age of Apocolypse)run on the series.

So I saw over at the WotC D&D site that the D&D Cartoon will be out on DVD in December 5th. Not only that, but included with it will be a hardback D&D game supplement based on the Cartoon: stats for the characters, their magic items, and monsters/villains, too. Its like I'm 6 again on Saturday morning. Can't wait till 12/5/06!

OK, so I'm running AoW in Eberron, and my players killed Bozal Zahol and the ulgurstasta (resulting in a PC death). They've won the Champion's Games. Raknian is running with his tail between his legs. They've got some pretty incriminating evidence against Raknian (pile of ulgur-goo, dead tiefling, zombified Lahaka, invoice for their own assassination and appropriation of necromantic doomsday scrolls, and the Apostolic Scrolls themselves). The chase is on, and they've called in a favor from the ir'Tains to get help tracking them down. I want to involve the King's Citadel, but don't know how long it would take to get them riled up, how much evidence they need to go after Raknian, and how long it would take Raknian to leave Sharn? Would he use teleportation? Would he take a lightning rail/airship? Would he hire the doppelgangers again to pose as a decoy while he escapes another way? Have any other DMs come upon this situation, and if so how did you resolve it? The PCs are leery of getting in trouble with the law, but they want Raknian brought down. Thanks in advance!

I'm currently running The Champion's Belt. The party has been through Day One of combat and are into Day Two, resting. we're three sessions in (3-4 hrs per session)and they don't seem to be thinking of possibilities of what to do/where to go. They almost were to the point of, "Why not just let the Scrolls be activated and wait to take on whatever comes about." I looked at them dumbfounded and said that they'd be risking the lives of thousands of people if they didn't try to prevent the Ulgurstasta from appearing. I even gave a replacement PC a hook that he was an adventuring companion of Ekaym Smallcask and friend of his sister and he was the one who approached the party about finding Lahaka. They spent forever trying to come up with a plan to leave the Coenoby. They explored the underwater tunnels in the pond in the Titan's House, and the Druid/Master of Many Forms went sneaking about in chameleon form. The changeling artificer finally decided (with much reluctance) to seduce a guard for a favor. They timed their sneakery with a distraction provided by the guard involving one of the other teams, this was only for the "harlot" who came in and wanted to "look around." He didn't know that she was a changeling and took a whole group with her. This took 2 hours...

So, now I come to the point where I ask you other DMs for advice. How do I get them on the right track without railroading or having the DMPC always asking questions of them to get them to rethink a problem that has them stumped? I was told by one of the players that its easy for me to think that they're missing the obvious or making it harder than it has to be because I already know the solutions that will work. My point is that they're not trying hard enough. They're a great group, but just don't do much more than wait for me to present something to react to. Suggestions? Comments?

I'll be starting The Champion's Belt tonight, and I was wondering where Bozal Zahol's powers come from. It says cleric of Kyuss, but in Eberron, Katashka-Kyuss isn't a god. Is it still OK for there to be a cleric of a non-god? We saw what belief could produce in TFoE (Ebon Aspect), so I'm assuming it wouldn't be much of stretch to see an uber-being like a rajah bestowing divine spells. Any insight would be much appreciated.

In the letter written by the Faceless One he writes, "We must find the worms and the undead hosts that carry them. If they are not here, then we must send agents to the Rift." What exactly is the "Rift" that he mentions. I'm pretty sure its the Rift Canyon, but I'd like clarification and/or opinions. Thanks!