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So, if I get this straight, the only way to successfully open the gear doors in Jzadirune without using the appropriate key is to,

1) Detect the trap (using detect magic or some other means)
2) Disable the trap (using a successful Disable Device check)
3) Unlock the door (using a successful Open Lock check).

Otherwise, if a player succeeds at #3, the door opens, stays open, and the trap activates.

I hope that makes sense, and I haven't over-thought this whole door thing. I just want to make sure I run it right, and fairly, for the players. They do enjoy a challenge, so I don't want to fudge on the way the doors are intended to work.

Thanks for all your thoughts, and keep the corrections coming as necessary.

Believe it or not, there is not one rogue in the bunch! The closest thing is a dwarf artificer, who wasn't there when the group took their first steps into Jzadirune. His character slept in, and hopes to rejoin the group once he drags his carcass out of the rack. He's a dwarf, too much drinking, all that. Ha!

Anyway, we do have an elf and a half-elf in the bunch, but so far not much luck in finding the secret doors. They are an unfortunate lot so far. The cleric of Kord got stabbed twice, once by the skulk in Ghelve's, and once by one of the skulks in J4. It's hard to beat their hide rolls, even when you're trying to pay attention. They searched J4, found nothing, decided to ignore the tunnels, retreated back into J3, and kicked the rock out of the door, sealing the room off. Then decided to examine J5, assuming that if the gnome in the party simply said the letter J in gnome, the door would open. Well, gas filled the area and they all took damage. That's where we had to finish, and why I asked the question about the doors.

They are not without options, but they are starting to get worried . . .

I've seen many CR bags at my local gaming store, and I'm sure for those guys, it's a staple. Some have been playing for years, some are kids who get the bags from their folks. Either way, they are not scarce here in Indiana.

The funniest dice "bag" I've seen in recent memory accompanied a young kid who's been playing at the store for a couple of years now. It's a plastic shark with a zippered mouth, the kind of thing you'd buy at a zoo or dollar store. It's ugly, bright blue, and his d4 keeps getting wedged in the tail. We give him plenty-o-grief, but he keeps bringing it. Very amusing . . .

OK. I admit it. This may be a very stupid question, but here goes:

The gear doors in Jzadirune are locked, right? They can't be opened successfully (meaning NOT triggering the trap) unless PCs have the proper key, or they succeed in a search AND disable device check. Do these doors have any kind of knob or handle PCs can grap to try and open the doors? If they set off the trap and survive, do the doors remain closed, or do they get them open?

In other words, is there a way to get through these doors successfully without the keys, which are spread very randomly around Jzadirune and difficult to find?

My PCs are second level, and there are eight of them, but none of them are very good with the disable device thing.

Just thinking out loud here, trying to plan ahead.

All thoughts (even, "yeah, you are stupid!") are welcome.

What if Keygan saw the appearance of the adventures as a chance to make amends? The skulk is hiding up the stairs, out of *sight* of Keygan, so what if he dilly-dallied around and composed a note, asking to speak with the adventures out of the shop. Then he let them in on what he knows and sends them in to enter Jzaridune and rescue his familiar? This would be an interesting twist, help him save some face, and make some friends in the process.

I see Keygan as someone who wants to get out of this terrible situation, and will do what it takes to come out with some integrity intact. As someone wrote, he would make a great friend to have as the campaign progresses.

Keep the thoughts coming . . .

My group has run one session of SCAP and have now split up. One group, led by a player who's a junior member of the town guard, currently on hiatus to help find the missing children, is standing guard at the orphanage. The rest of the group plan to visit Keygan at sun-up to see if he will come and examine the locks at the orphanage.

Keygan is a LN character. His familiar is being held hostage by the denizens of Jzadirune. I've read and reread this encounter many times, and there are several ways this could go. My group is quite diplomatic, and I can see them convincing Keygan to accompany them to the orphanage. Why wouldn't he just say something like, "Examine a lock? Sure that's my specialty!", then leave the shop, confide in the PCs on the way there, and nudge them in the direction of the secret door in the back of his shop? I don't think the skulk will follow him if he leaves, or will he? Wouldn't Keygan see this as a chance to make things right, and perhaps even lessen any possible ramifications of his actions if the PCs are successful? Being lawful, he may feel inclined to hand himself over to their mercy, but if he's as shrewd as described, and sees a way to end his "captivity" and come out ahead, why wouldn't he take it.

Then there's the Ashmantle angle, mentioned in the HC. Is Ashmantle actively staking out Keygan's shop, waiting for him to screw up and spill the beans? Would he track them to the orphanage and then plug Keygan before he can talk?

Then again, maybe the PCs will notice the curtain, remember the note, and pay Keygan a visit once they are all back together and can get on the same page.

There are so many ways this could go, and not all of them involved beating up Keygan and looting his shop. I guess I just want to make their interaction with Keygan realistic and not so rigid and "by the book."

All your thoughts, and quickly as we will be playing on Sunday, are appreciated.

Let me just say that I love your messageboards. I came here specifically for the Shackled City board, but have begun to browse around a bit and contribute elsewhere.

One thing I'd love to see implemented is the ability to subscribe to certain threads so I can be notified when someone has posted a reply. It's quite a pain searching all the topics, and remembering where I posted in the past.

Keep up the great work!

My bad. I was thinking of the price increase that accompanied the special "Dragon" issue, with Tiamat on the cover. Sorry.

I was led to believe by the folks at my FLGS that the price increase was for this specific issue, since it's a special issue and all. I guess we'll see . . .

My characters began play at a Three Dragon Ante tournament hosted by Skie and being held at the Drunken Morkoth Inn. After the tournament, they went to hang out at Skie's for a bit. When one of the PCs asked about other shops, specifically one's that sell antiques, Skie sent them to Tygot's. Since the path there runs relatively close to the path that might have been taken by the cleric as he travelled between the orphanage and his temple, they began the encounter there, in some nameless alleyway. It was a cool way to start, and got them in the right part of the city.

Check out http://www.dguys.net/heroforge/. It's robust, excel-based, and updated often. We use this *almost* exclusively around my place. When you save a file within the program, it saves to a .hf file that can be easily sent to your DM. He can then open the character in his HeroForge and see what you're up to. Been using this for a while, and vouch for it completely. Enjoy!

Isn't this why we play this game?! Very cool story, and mega-kudos to your warmage/warmage. Give him a big high five from me.

I must put in a plug for index cards as well. I started DMing again about a year ago, and find that index cards help me immensely. In addition to the cards to represent the NPCs and monsters, I have my players fill out a card before each session that includes their character name, real name, AC (in all it's various states), current HP, Spot, Listen, saves, and feats. In this campaign, I also have them include their local trait and it's benefits. Then, when initiative comes up, I write their number in the upper right-hand corner, put all the cards in order, and we're off and running.

I did one campaign where I had a character who liked to dominate almost everything they encountered, and he was quite good at it. In this case, I just gave him the card and let him run with it. Very convenient for him AND me.

I also have nearly all the stat blocks scanned and ready on my computer, under each characters name, that I can load with a click. It takes LOADS of time, but it's worth it in the end.

Ha! Now that's funny. Reminds me of something I actually did once. A player at my table wanted to argue about a rule, and wouldn't quit, so I threw the book at him. Literally. A hush settled over the group as all eyes looked down at their dice. I went out and had a smoke, came in and apologized, and we had a meet-Jesus speech about arguing with the DM. I can admit when I'm wrong, and often do, but persistent arguing that encourages the same must be squashed quickly.

The player was my own son, which made it more troublesome for me. We had a chat on the way home, and he still loves me. But he doesn't argue much about rules anymore, especially while in the middle of a game. The whole situation has developed into a bit of a running joke in our group. "DON'T go there! Books HURT!"

I've run into this a time or two myself. I just got back into D&D a couple of years ago, my attempt to get my son out of his Yu-Gi-Oh, spend-more-money-to-win phase and into the realm of imagination and companionship. Being the "wisest" of the bunch, and the one who owns most of the books, I get to be DM all the time. I tell them that I will not argue about rules. I WILL make every encounter a chance for them to shine, learn how to "role"play, and earn some cool swag. Instead of waiting for them to argue, I ask questions. "Can you get your sneak attack if you just walk around someone and stab them?" It makes them dig into the books and justify their actions. When we play with the whole group, I am fair, but always right. I am learning while they are learning, so they feel useful and smart as well. It's fun.

I do have one player who likes to tweak and tweak, on and on, and plays some cool characters as a result. I reward his hard work and systematic thinking by killing him quickly ;-) No, really, I try to spread the love around, but give him his moments to shine. He has become a quality player, and I'm proud of him. He's my son, after all.

Don't get frustrated. Give them a heckuva ride, let them crit all they can, and then go home knowing you helped shape some mighty roleplayers.

I do agree with you. With what I paid for this book, there should have been a CD inside with every single picture and map featured in the book. Scanning takes time, resources, ink, and can ruin the binding of the book. There should have been separate files you could open for each character which included their stat block, and other pertinent information. So much is scattered throughout this book that keeping track of it all is a full time job. I am very thankful for those who have taken the time to put some of this stuff together and posted files elsewhere, but searching takes time as well, and, really, the ones who created this very cool world should have been the ones to take the time and provide these resources.

The new Monte Cook Ptolus book will come with a CD featuring all the important stuff in files you can use on your computer. It will be spendy as well, but also a very cool investment.

Don't get me wrong: I LOVE the HC of the SCAP. I had never heard of the setting before seeing the hardcover (I've only been back into gaming for a couple of years) and I am extremely impressed with the richness of the setting and can appreciate the amount of work that went into putting it all together in one volume. But it takes work to organize it all and get it together in a way that helps me as a DM. The last thing I want to worry about when crouched behind the screen is finding the stats for an NPC or trying to flip back and forth in a book of maps. I know, it's the old-fashioned, traditional, some would say purist way of doing things, but we have the technology to make the job easier. A little help in that department goes a long way.

Problem is, the guard is at the orphanage. The only folks visiting Keygan will be the cleric of Kord, maybe the monk, and that may be it. The others who didn't stay to guard the orphanage are loner types who have other things to do before rendezvousing at the orphanage.

Assuming the visit to Keygan's will be early in the morning, maybe the skulks won't be so attentive, he'll slip out with the adventurers, plead ignorance when examining the locks ("Yes, I installed them. No, they haven't been tampered with. See ya.) and then slip away forever. Of course, there is the little thing with the familiar, but if it'll save his hide, he may just vanish.

Thoughts?

Your hardcover should have come with a booklet of maps glued into the back cover. It includes the floorplans for both the Lucky Monkey and the Tipped Tankard. I couldn't found these maps aavailable for download anywhere, so I took my booklet and scanned the pages so I could use them on my laptop, and so my booklet wouldn't get mangled from overuse. If your hardcover didn't come with the booklet, then someone got to the book before you did (maybe one of your player ;-)

Thanks for the comments. I greatly appreciate them.

Just to clarify my initial post, this isn't my first time DMing; I've DMed several different campaigns, one for beginning players at the FLGS, and a higher-level campaign set in Saltmarsh, from the DMGII. I've also done some one-shot stuff with my boy and his friends. This is just my first time DMing for this particular group, which I've participated in as a player for over two years. While I'm not necessarily new to DMing, I am humbled every session. There is so much to learn, and most of my players know that I'm not all about the "rollplaying" but rather concentrate much more on "roleplaying." It's a great learning experience for younger players, as the older ones have the opportunity to teach the young guys a thing or two about staying in character.

We are a diverse group; three fathers, our four teenage sons, one pre-teen son, and my 30+ sister who's quite new to roleplaying.

As far as splitting up, this group has a tendency to do that, and they never learn. Ha! Oh, the memories I could share.

In this case, they figure that maybe Keygan can shed some light in the lock situation at the orphanage, since he is an expert and all. Their plan is for the ones at the orphanage to stand guard throughout the night, to prevent further abductions, while the other group heads to Keygan's at first light and seek his counsel. Should I have Keygan play dumb and go along with them to the orphanage? There, perhaps he could fess up and reveal what he knows, without the threat of the skulk on the balcony overhearing.

They did very little chatting with Gretchyn, even with a young member of the guard present, so they know nothing of the Striders. Any ideas are appreciated.

Well, after a month or more of planning and prepping, my Sunday group has finally begun the SCAP campaign. Here's the starting roster:

Ixen Vur Hesjing - Male Spellscale Sorcerer (Wyrm Blooded) He's got Profession - Gambling, so he's a hoot at the table.

Leyena Lathenmire - Female Half-Elf Swashbuckler (Nobility) Raised by the Lathenmire's before learning of her true heritage. She works for Gurnezarn now. Ha! Payback is a bugger!

Gunthar Hammerhand - Male Half-Orc Barbarian (Mark of the Beast) He's the son of a smithy, good at "bending and breaking steel."

Zook "The Badger" Turen - Male Gnome Bard (Child of Jzadirune) He's a distant relative of Zook the Great, a recurring character in many of our campaigns, who retired from adventuring and married Skie. Nice twists there, that's for sure.

Arthas Ironbrand - Male Human Fighter (Dream Haunted) He's a junior member of the town guard, soon to take a leave of absence to investigate the abduction of the kids from the orphanage.

Khaliid - Male Human Cleric of Kord, Luck Domain. An obsessive gambler with an itch for gold, so he can tithe of course.

Tork - Male Dwarf Artificer, no local trait. He dabbles in armor augmentation and despises being short.

Iziak - Male Wood Elf Monk (Wyrm Blooded) He's our youngest player and playing a monk will be a stretch for him. So far, he's doing great! I'll be a hoot to see how he handles being Wyrm Blooded. His eyes sparkled when I told him about it after he rolled his percentile dice. Cool kid!

Yes, it's a large group, but they are a great bunch of players. This is my first time DMing for the group, and they are excited to be along for the ride.

I began by having the characters rounded up at the Drunken Morkoth Inn for a Three Dragon Ante tournament, sponsored by Skie's Treasury. She fronted the money for the entry fee, and loitered around their table as they played the game for real, in character. It was a cool way to start the campaign. Got the players thinking about their characters and how they would react to the others in the party.

After the party, Skie invited them to her store. She shared her wyvern story, then told them about the discount offers to adventuring parties. Skie is out doing some marketing and it's paying off greatly!

When one of the PCs inquired about other antique places in town, she pointed them toward Tygot's. Along the way, they heard the scream, and the adventure began. They intimidated the thugs easily, who escaped only to be captured later by another group of guards sent after them by the junior guard in our party. He had hoped to question them, but after hearing Jenya's offer, and her insistence that the local guards not be informed of the party's mission, he plans to ask for a leave to go on a "vacation." Should be fun!

The party accepted Jenya's offer, then promptly split up, one group to the orphanage to secure a watch over the place, and one group to fetch Keygan and bring him to the orphanage to examine the locks. That is where we left off.

All in all, it was a fun day. These guys don't like to stop and ask too many questions, preferring instead to act on impulse. We'll see where it goes from here. Keygan's should be especially fun.

Comments are appreciated.

To the braintrust,

I am getting set to run the Shackled City Adventure Path with a group of players I game with on Sunday (currently my only real day off; Ugh!!!). For the most part, all the characters are cool and fit in nicely in a generic setting. One of my players, however, really really wants to play an artificer, which is found in the Eberron CS.

I have very little experience with Eberron, and do NOT want to set the adventure there. After looking through the description for the class, it seems a bit too geared toward that particular setting; some of the magic is based on the use of dragonshards, and there are other things that rely on action points. The action points won't be hard to work in; a simple percentile dice roll should cover most things nicely. But what do you think? Will this class fit in this rather generic setting that tends to lean toward Greyhawk?

Any and all thoughts/suggestions are welcome.

BT

Thanks Jason for the note, and the confirmation that I'm not going blind in my old age. I returned the damaged copy to my local store and they plan to replace it when they get some new ones in next week.

Keep the great issues coming!

Just picked up this issue at my FLGS, and several pages were washed out and impossible to read. Pages included 20-21 and 32-33. Both were the first pages of two prominent articles. Ugh! Hopefully, they have another issue on the shelf that is readable. Is this a known issue with this issue (sorry) or am I the only poor soul to suffer this fate?

Keep up the great work everyone! I can't wait to read this issue.

Very cool info, everyone. And no, no one is hijacking the thread, so no worries there.

I like the idea of giving the players a trait to start off with, and then requiring an interesting backstory. The guys in my group often don't think about backstory, and I want to introduce that in this campaign. Make them think a bit and perhaps earn some bonus XP.

Keep it coming!

B

Maybe this is an argument AGAINST playing online?!

Hilarious!

B

Yeah, that has been one of my main goals in running my group on Friday nights. I have been using Saltmarsh, as presented in the DMGII, as their base of operations, and my players all have a sense that they belong there and care about what goes on in and around the city. I enjoy "roleplaying" way more than "rollplaying" and that's what I'm trying to teach the kids in my group. They used to get bummed when a session went by with few rolls of the dice, but now they are starting to warm up to the idea of interacting with NPCs who are now trusted friends or bitter rivals. Cauldron is every bit as rich as Saltmarsh, and that's why I love this path so much.

I appreciate the information I found on the first website mentioned above. Apparently others feel the same way, and have gone to great lengths to make Cauldron a living part of this campaign.

Thanks again, and keep the thoughts coming!

B

Thanks for the websites, guys. I'll check them out in a bit.

I should have clarified that I have been DMing since I've started playing again. I ran a Friday night gaming group at my FLGS. We wandered in and around Saltmarsh for over a year and caused all kinds of mayhem and madness. I also have been leading a beginner's group for the store, teaching young and old alike to play D&D. So, this won't be my first time behind the screen.

What I'm looking for are your experiences in leading players down this adventure path. I know that is very general, but any and all comments will be generous food for thought. So, keep your comments coming, and know they are appreciated.

B

Greetings one and all!

First, let me say how impressed I am with this book. I got back into playing D&D a couple of years ago when my boy hit the right age and I got tired of buying Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Wow, how things have changed! I hadn't rolled the bones in more than fifteen years, it's good to be back, and Dungeon magazine has been a big help in getting me back into DMing and enjoying the game again. This will be the first MAJOR campaign I've DMed and I'm lookig for some advice.

I probably won't start running the campaign until sometime in May, so I have some time. I've downloaded the stuff from this site, I'm in the process of reading through the book, and I'm taking some notes to keep my mind on track. I've also perused this forum and have found some excellent information. It's especially cool to see some of the guys who worked on this campaign chiming in. Shows they care, and I appreciate it.

Have any of you come up with some house rules that have worked for you? How about specific limits regarding character creation? How did you introduce the campaign, and what were your first moments like? These are the kinds of things I'm interested in reading about. Any cool websites devoted to this campaign? Any helpful documentation regarding this city full of NPCs? Whatever. Throw it my way, and you may help someone else in the process as well.

I appreciate all your thougths in advance.

Well, the games went off without a hitch. From the recent issue of Dungeon, I pulled the hammer toss, tug-of-war, archery, and I designed my own marathon where the PCs had to race through a nearby woods. They encountered a Grey Render, there protecting some local furries, and they ran right by him. Several characters took home the red belt of Kord (they were the local sponsor of both the games and the team of PCs) and earned much fame and fortune.

All in all, it was a great time. I checked this forum Friday min-morning, and there weren't any replies at that time, so I went with what I had. But the ideas you've thrown out will come into play most definitely when the games roll around again next year.

Thanks to all, and happy gaming!

Greeting from Saltmarsh!

I am running my weekly campaign tomorrow night and, in honor of the Olympics, the local Temple of Kord will be hosting a series of contests just outside the city walls. I got the idea of a series of games after reading the Campaign Workbook section of Dungeon #132. There are some cool games mentioned, and I'm working on developing a marathon/obstacle course for my team of PCs to participate in.

I need some help brainstorming some additional games. Most of the ones mentioned in Dungeon are strength-based, and will work quite nicely, but I'd like to come up with some additional games geared toward my Dex-heavy PCs.

All suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Let the games begin!

[Dum . . . Dum . . . Da Dum . . Dum . . Dum . . Dum . . .]

T

P.S. I'm using Saltmarsh as it's presented in the new DMGII. My group is using it as a home-base for an ongoing campaign of mayhem and destruction. Just FYI for your old-schoolers out there. Peace!

Sorry if it sounded like I was complaing. It's just the first time I've tried to use the online content, and simply wondered when it would be up.

The Age of Worms looks interesting, but I was hoping to do the Juiblex campaign. I will wait patiently for the online content, and I appreciate the replies.

For this Friday, in honor of the Olympics, I plan to use the games information listed in another recent issue in the Campaign Workbook session.

As a new reader of Dungeon, let me state that I LOVE the magazine. The content is more than helpful to a newbie like me, and I appreciate all the hard work the powers-that-be put into each magazine. Keep it up!!

Peace. . .

T

So, I'm new to this forum, and to Dungeon magazine. So, if this is a stupid question, please forgive me.

I would like to run an adventure from #132, but when I logged on here to get the downloadable stuff promised in the magazine, I noticed there is only stuff available up to #130. How long do we have to wait for each issue's downloadable content to be posted here?

I'm sure it will be worth the wait, but I'd like to do the campaign this Friday night.

Thanks for the info.

T