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I wanted to echo the recent blog post and give praise for Andrew Hou's artwork. Aside from Wayne Reynolds (who deserves every bit of it), the artists don't always get the props they deserve. Hou's artwork has consistently stood out for me in the pages of Dragon and Dungeon, and I am thrilled to see his talent continue to grace the products of Paizo.
Cool! This will be my first Pathfinder character's weapon of choice...
...unless of course the starknife is cooler. Anyone up for some crazy speculation? What would we like to see for the goddess of dreams and the stars! (I can tell right now that I'm gonna like her.)
I enjoy new, crazy material. That's just the way I am. I love psionics and Eberron and "psionics in Eberron" and the Far Realms and anything that challenges my imagination. Frankly, I would be bored to tears in games that are intended to be historically accurate. Nothing at all against those that enjoy those games or are itching for a trip down memory-lane, I'm simply stating my position and hoping that there are others like me. Not everyone will agree with my views, and that's fine because we can just arm wrestle later to see who's right. In the meantime, I'm challenging all you writers that want to see new, crazy material to submit it. I know it's tough. Writing for the margins is risky, and only so much risk is acceptable. Though, if there's more of an interest shown, then maybe we'll see some of the material we want. Of course, then it won't be in the margins and we'll have to find something else to champion. ;D So here's the thread. What crazy stuff do you like in "Your D&D"? I would love to see: Psionics -- Of course! New material. Incorporation into non-psionic articles. Mythology -- The Demonomicon articles are great most definately, but how about some brand-new ones? Spin some mythologies for new "uniques." Maybe some psionics incorporated in. Planar -- New locations. Not tied to pre-existing worlds (not even Eberron). Strange -- Just bizarre creatures, locations, hooks, systems, items, whatever. These are a few things I'd like to see more of (I'm rushed, so I'll add more later). How about you? Come, let's talk of new things, shall we? When my own proposals -- I'm sorry, *IF* my own proposals get rejected, I will be writing them up anyway and doing something with them. Maybe I'll post some here, so feel free to add to our repertoire of the crazy. Cheers and good luck! ^_^
I have seen other's comments and I have had my own internal debates, and I am still undecided. What do you prefer? On one hand, we have adventures (or features in Dragon for that matter) that are deeply rooted in a given setting. These can be incredibly rich experiences for those gaming within that setting but sometimes less than useful for those gamers of another setting. [greater use to fewer people] On the other hand, there is the generic approach. These adventures (or features) are intended to have broader appeal. They may be dressed in a specific setting, but they have little or no setting-specific depth and are easily ported to a different setting. The risk here is a less-interesting environment. [lesser use to more people] Personally I've gone back and forth on my preferences. I like well-written generic adventures for the exact reason that they are easy to place. However, I also love adventures that delve into a specific setting. Here's where I admit that I have no love for FR and great love for GH and Eberron, and therefore, FR specific adventures are generally less-than-useful for me. My current preference is for several generic adventures with periodic setting-specific adventures (maybe 2:1 with a rotation on the setting). The important part, though, is that the setting-specific adventures should be immersive with the setting; I just don't see the point of generic adventures pre-set in one of the 3 worlds. What do you prefer?
I thought I would start a critique thread for the latest issue. The intention is to provide a space to comment objectively on the recent issue’s adventures in a constructive and friendly way. My own contribution to this topic will include an (x/10) rating of each adventure based on how much I enjoyed reading the adventure and how well I envision it in play. My hopes are that we can use these criticisms – good and bad – to improve our writing and our understanding of that “perfect adventure” we all strive to create. It can also serve as feedback for the editors. As fair warning, this is coming from someone whom has not yet gotten a proposal accepted. The Beasts of Aulbesmil (2/10) It is hard to place the type of this adventure. On the surface, it seems like a murder mystery, but the entire town already “knows” that Cloten has something to do with their problems – mystery solved. It could be an urban adventure but there are precious few NPCs with little to distinguish them apart but for name and few places to visit. That leaves us with a wilderness version of a dungeoncrawl. That is certainly a genre that deserves to be written, but there is nothing in this adventure that makes me want to play it. Cloten was not given much personality to speak of and is not satisfying as a villain. The part with the orcs feels detached and unnecessary. The climax (fighting Cloten) will have likely already occurred before the PCs see the orcs or the even the owlbear and I doubt that those encounters would prove satisfying for my players. The story is also surprisingly linear barring the red herring of the owlbear. Though it tries to give the PCs the illusion of choice, it is a bit too transparent. I view this adventure as a gritty murder case in a rural setting. As such, the adventure would have tracked better and maintained its gritty tone by dropping the fantastic and extraneous (i.e. the owlbear and the orcs) and expanding the options in town (i.e. more NPCs with deeper personalities). Cloten could have been better accommodated with more personality and a more drawn-out fight that builds to the revelation of his affliction. I will say that I appreciate that this adventure is generic and uses only OGL material, as far as I can tell. In the end though, I felt unsatisfied due predominantly to dry writing and a plot that is not compelling. I simply was not ever excited while reading this. The Hateful Legacy (7/10) I have to admit that I was *very* excited by seeing the giant scorpion and dinosaur fight on the opening splash. Unfortunately, that led to minor annoyance, as there was no such fight detailed in the adventure. This is a solid, well-written adventure. I have only a handful of minor criticisms and one larger complaint.
The adventure is in three parts if you consider Zorgus separately. The encounter with Zorgus is quite thrilling and serves as a great first encounter. This leads into the cliff dwellings of the ogres. This is the bulk of the adventure and is solid. The end follows with the Kazgorva confrontation. A criticism arises here with regard to the presence of the ogres. Since Kazgorva took such great pains to erase his once allied giants as is mentioned in the background, why would he, and his servant Zorgus, suffer the presence of the ogres now? I could not find a rationale expressed anywhere, but I may have missd it. The same goes for the harpies toward the end. These relationships seem inconsistent with Kazgorva’s reason for existing. The final fight with Kazgorva and Urgush is well done; the encounter and antagonists are well developed and interesting. My only minor quibble is that Urgush is the same power level (CR) as Kazgorva where my sensibilities demand that this mere *servant* be less powerful than his master (especially since Urgush is smarter and prettier). Of course, the adventure ends with the looting. A major part of that is a new minor artifact that has little, if any, use to the PCs and no connection with the adventure, so I have to wonder why it was included. So far, this has been a very solid adventure with only very minor complaints. My *big* criticism of this adventure is a compound one. This is a site-based adventure. There is nothing wrong with that as long as there is a compelling reason to be there. I will admit now that I prefer adventures that are event-based or at least partially so. Unfortunately, the adventure also gives me the feeling that the important stuff has already been done and there is nothing left of import for the PCs to do. The Hateful Wars are over; the armies destroyed; the deadly, hurricane-force gas locked away; and Kazgorva perished only to spend his days in undeath languishing in a mud bath and not bothering the world. There is no history-making here for the PCs, just damage control (if used as written). All of this likely reflects more on my taste in adventures than anything else and simply means that I would have to change a quite bit prior to use. Overall, this is a very good adventure. In my opinion, it is overly mired in its own details and it lacks a certain empowerment for the PCs. However, it is well written with some well-developed antagonists, a solid flow of action, and a *great* use of environmental hazards (geysers and the deadly gas). The Prince of Redhand (10/10) Wow! This is the adventure I have been waiting for. It is of course an installment of the “Age of Worms” adventure path. Though it is difficult to evaluate separate from the overall story, I think that this is a great adventure on its own and owes no greatness to its association with the AP, which I think is an important distinction to make. The more customary portions of the church, the Well, and Ilthane’s lair all have motivations tied to the previous parts of the AP. That said, they are all short, exciting, and concisely achieve what they are intended to achieve. Well done. That leaves us with the party. This is where the adventure *really* stands out. This portion is easily tailored to any campaign as the partygoers can talk about whatever you want them to. The real gem here is the mechanic of the party – a series of “party games” – and the concept of the Authority Points. This is a great opportunity for some lengthy roleplaying. I was taken aback at first by the decadence and perversity of some of the party-games until I realized that that was how I was supposed to feel. However, maybe some mention should have been made on PC opposition to games such as the Corollax shoot and the cockatrice fighting. There is a bit on how the prince would react if offended though which is very important. The NPCs are beautifully developed and unique. The party is splendidly open-ended: the PCs could be poisoned by the prince, they may disrupt the party and be hunted down by the Angels, or they could close the party having a wonderful time. I am curious to put my players through it just to see how the party goes. I will close by saying that this adventure is *very* well written. The words flow smoothly and on pace. This was a true pleasure to read. ------------------ I encourage you to provide your own review or to simply respond to mine. Please take these comments as they are given – as friendly criticism – and forgive me if I offend. I can only hope that everyone can someday review my own published work. :) Cheers.
It's recently come to my attention that, in the way-back, Dragon ran the occasional Cthulhu-related articles (I'm guessing when WotC still supported CoC D20). As my collection only goes back to around #275, I was hoping that someone(s) might be able to help me find these articles and which issues they're in. **Anything even remotely Cthulhu-related will do** So far from other sources I've found: #138 ("The Black Book and the Hunters")
On a related note, is that CD of collected early Dragons commercially available? I've not been able to find it in the Paizo shop. Thank you.
So I'm back into gaming after a long hiatus. Now in the role of a DM and interested in writing adventures in Greyhawk, I am a bit stuck. In the "way back," I was merely a player and we focused on homebrews. I never journeyed behind the scenes (as the DM) and then I stopped playing for years and missed a lot (including all of Planescape). I am now DMing and running both homebrew and Eberron bits. While I love what we're playing, I would like to know more about the Greyhawk that I mostly missed and is still getting support at least at Dungeon. As I've started querying adventures to this mag, I also wanted to be better able to write in Greyhawk and, also, to be better able to use the Greyhawk adventures that are published in Dungeon. Then along comes Paizo and offers up the PDFs of old material -- great! After all that rambling, what I'm trying to ask is: ...where should I start? What are the most important bits to Greyhawk? There's a lot of material at the store, which do I want? Which sourcebooks are essential to knowing (as much as anyone could know :) ) that which is Greyhawk? I also have an interest in the Planescape material if anyone has opinions on that (and I've been on the boards long enough to know that many of you DO :) ). Thanks in advance. ;)
Due out July of 2006 according to Amazon. I've been on the boards enough to recognize all of the authors' names. ;) Very nice. |
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