farewell2kings's page

I never had difficulty changing the rules when they seemed a bit silly. Quite honestly, I doubt my players would ever make their own traps like that, they're always in way too much of a hurry and will use spells instead.

50 weeks + to make a simple trap? Give me a break....since you guys are talking about using a bunch of skill synergies to make this trap making rule more realistic in the time department, why don't we just cut the construction time by a factor of 20 and the cost by a factor of 10....3.5 is a great game system, but it was written by fallible humans.

Man, I'd hate to be in yawl's (that's Texas for you-plural) shoes. I have about 2 dozen Dungeon magazines from 2001-2004 still in polybags that I haven't even read yet!! I will run my next campaign in Cauldron, using the AP Hardback that will be years out by then. Age of Worms will probably be run right around the time I retire from my first job, in about 8 years. I hope to have more time to DM after that.

I just got done running the party in my game through a modified version of the "Forest of Blood" from issue #103, which was very well received and highly entertaining.

Our D&D time is about 6 hours every 2-3 weeks. I guess one good thing about nursing homes in 20-40 years will be that a bunch of D&D generation folks will be there and I'll finally have all the time I want to play and run D&D games....(just kidding folks)

I believe you are referring to the "Dreamer" NPC class presented in issue 132. Maybe Paizo has a back issue or you can check e-bay. Picking up the Dragon CD archive of the first 250 issues might also prove valuable, but the 5 CD set is pretty expensive now.

5-10-576 Near Berlingford The party decides to take the victims back to Berlingford. As darkness falls, they hear the deep growls and howls of very large wolves nearby. The party decides to try to take the 1 mile walk back into Berlingford as dusk falls. On the way back, they are ambushed by orc savages affected by the blacktooth fungus. Drak is knocked unconscious in the viscious melee, but the party defeat 8 orc savages in a very tough fight. The party comes back to Berlingford to find the town had just been attacked by large wolves. The party’s sudden appearance causes suspicion from the mayor, but Lariya the Witch says the party is telling the truth. The party is insulted by the town’s mayor’s behavior, as he questions their sudden appearance whenever an attack has occurred. The PC’s go back to the cabin a mile up the trail to spend the night. During the night a heavy thunderstorm moves in.
5-11-576 Near Berlingford In the morning, Lariya the Witch contacts the party and asks them to help the town. She tells the party that she suspects Kazok, a former member of the Council of the Pines, as having kidnapped the Council of the Pines and being behind the madness caused by the blacktooth fungus. She tells the party that she can probably prepare a cure if she can examine the blacktooth fungus growing in its natural environment, and asks that they contact her if they find the fungus growing in the caverns where she suspects Kazok as hiding. The party returns to town and commissions the blacksmith to make more silver arrow heads for them before they head to the caverns. An argument between the party members ensues about the wisdom of staying behind in Berlingford to await more arrowheads and silver weapons, or whether they should just go attack the caves right now. The decision is made to attack immediately. Prior to leaving, Silver scouted around the town and made contact with Felinal, the “awakened” local wolf pack leader who confides in her that many of the members of his pack were corrupted by the blacktooth fungus and that he wants them freed from the caves. He also tells Silver that two of the pack members that succumbed to the fungus were pregnant and he wants the puppies back for his pack. She agrees to try. Upon arrival at the caves, the PC’s are immediately met with a strong force of savage orcs and an ettin, whom they defeat after a fine melee battle. Upon entering the caves, they are ambushed by the feral blink dogs Kazok had corrupted. Kazok himself enters the fray and slays Loganarius with a flame strike, which also caused much equipment damage to the other victims of it. Even though Silver’s sword is pitted with fire damage, she still managed to close with Kazok before he could cast another spell and slam the sword into his chest, which had already been peppered with arrow fire from Aria and a flame spell from Drak. The party managed to free all the puppies, most of which had not been affected by the black tooth fungus. They brought Lariya up to the caves and she examined the fungus for a possible cure. The two remaining members of the Council of the Pines were also freed and taken back to town and caged until a cure could be found. The puppies were returned to Felinal and the group stumbled back into town that night, exhausted from their day’s work. Loganarius’ body was wrapped in linens and put into a coldroom for now.

5-14-576 Berlingford Lariya develops an herbal cure for the blacktooth fungus affliction. The cure takes several weeks to work fully, but she manages to restore Dravis and Shella, the surviving Pine Council druids. Dravis casts “reincarnate” on Loganarius, who manages to return as himself, human. 3050 xp.

Yes, I'd buy that too....best of Dungeon converted to 3.5 and sold in hardback? Yes!! I'll also buy the AP hardback when it comes out, even though I have all the magazines.

Wow, you ought to get Starbucks or Jolt Cola to sponsor you!!

I'm lucky if I get one hour of game prep in a week!!

5-7-576 Dedermont’s Keep
After spending the night in the now cleared keep, the party decided to go back to Dorr. Loganarius returned from his forest excursion and rejoined the group. Shortly after leaving the keep the party was attacked by 4 centaurs led by two members of the Council of the Thorn. A vicious exchange of arrows followed, but Silver and Aria were able to convince the druids to cease the attack. The rangers did some quick talking and told the druids that they didn’t know that they were helping to free a Royal Pathwarden Keep, they said they thought they were just killing monsters. The druids broke off the attack and eluded the party. Silver tracked the centaurs however and the party started following the tracks south towards the Druids’ Grove. Mardack eventually confronted them and told them to go to Boss Fromm’s camp in the Hestmark Highlands, as he did not trust their explanations.

5-8-576 Dorr
Back in Dorr, Aria and Silver made contact with Laeridon Redleaf, who provided them with a map on how to get to the Redleaf estate, seeing how Aria told Redleaf that she was a cousin of his sister-in law. Aria also gave a 100gp donation to the local alms house.

5-9-576 Dorr
The party leaves Dorr this morning, but noticed that the two companies of Medegian regulars that had been camped around the town have left. The regulars have gone east instead of west and are apparently attacking the Council of the Thorn in the Wailing Wood. The group headed south to Ruoyna’s Den, where they ate lunch. Silver spoke to Bear about the conversation she had overhead between him and Lt. Morningblade several days earlier. Bear stated only that there are some members of the Medegian military who have sworn loyalty to the See of Medegia for generations and that the Overking hasn’t always been evil.

5-9-576 Sharpaxe Copper Mines
The party spends the night at the copper mines of the Sharpaxe Clan. They notice that four elves, claiming to be from Sunndi, are helping hide and disguise the approaches to the mine, as the dwarves are anticipating hostilities in the coming months.

5-10-576 8 miles west of Sharpaxe copper mines
The party comes across the small woodsman town of Berlingford that has been plagued by a strange disease that turns its victims feral and blackens their gums. The party discovers that a strange smelling subterranenan fungus might be to blame and begins to investigate. Their trail leads them to a cabin just outside the town, where they fight and kill a wereboar named Remus.

Sounds cool....gonna sell more of my old AD&D stuff on e-bay so I can buy some of the new cool stuff! Sorry, I'm an avid golfer and all my mad money goes towards chasing the little dimpled white ball....I just got $15 for an old copy of Temple of Elemental Evil...how much was that campaign workbook??

I think that all criticism 3.5 has taken in this thread could be alleviated by simply adjusting your campaign's house rules. For example, while I use all the feats and skills in my campaign, most of the prestige classes simply are not available. I also use the rule from D20 modern that if you take damage that exceeds your CON score in one hit, you have to make a DC15 Fortitude save or be knocked down to -1 hit points.

I also don't use a lot of the newer, weirder monsters. I like traditional adventurers vs. trolls, ogres, etc. I've never been a fan of oozes, extraplanar creatures, weird plant creatures or some of the more comic-book like monsters....so I just don't use them. I don't think you need weirder creatures to keep the players interested...you need good plot lines.

The game "feels" like old AD&D....the flavor is there. The game mechanics are cleaner and easier to use....I think this game allows more "focus" on role-playing than AD&D, IMHO.

I'm sure there's some good stuff in the new Dragon magazine, but I just can't get myself to pick one up.

I got a Dragon magazine on accident after bidding on an issue of Dungeon that I missed on e-bay. It just left a bad taste in my mouth---the new artwork--the colors---all the names I didn't recognize.

...and yes, that Dungeonpunk thing is just a total turn off. I realize that teenagers and 20 somethings spend money on gaming, but the new format just doesn't fly with me, and I'm spending more money on gaming now than I ever did 25 years ago. (mainly because I have a job)

I read the old Dragons from my CD archive and from my old back copies for nostalgia mostly....while listening to Saga, Rush and Triumph and wishing I had my 1976 Ford Granada back......anyone remember cars you could actually work on yourself?

I'm only half-way kidding. I subscribe to Dungeon, because I like 3.5 and the adventures are good, but the amount of "content" for 3.5 is just too overwhelming and I'm just going to stick to the 3 core books, probably for a really long time. I just didn't see enough in Dragon that would interest me, but I renewed my Dungeon subscription for 2 years.

Okay, I'm also going to add this simple spell created by my good friend Jim Rupel, who was murdered by his wife four years ago...she's serving life without parole. Jim was my one of my best friends and a great DM. Most of his PC's and major NPC's live on in my campaign so I can somehow give him some immortality. Rest in peace, brother.

Name: Ground Fire
School: Evocation
Descriptor: Fire
Secondary Descriptor: None
Level: Sor/Wiz1
Components: VS
CT: 1 standard action
Range: Medium 100'+10'/lvl
Effect: 25 square feet/lvl fire
Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: Ref 1/2
damage
Spell Resistance: Yes
Material Component: none
Focus: none Description: Causes ground to erupt in fire, any creature caught in area must make REF save to take 1/2 damage. Spell does 1d4 pts of damage +1 pt/lvl, +10 maximum. Spell area can be configured into any shape caster desires. Anything flammable in area will probably catch fire. Created by: Jim Rupel

Name: Store an Item
School: Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 2
Components: VSM
CT: 1 standard action
Effect: 5' radius
Range: Close
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes, if object has SR
Material Component: Stoppable container
Description: This spell causes all items within the area of effect to shrink so that they may be put into a container. The container must be able to hold at least 1 cubic inch of matter. When cast, smoke surrounds the objects and sucks them into the container, which must then be closed. When reopened, all the items reappear. The Store spell must be recast to put the items back into the container. Only non-living objects can be affected. Disintegrating the container destroys all the items within. The items inside are held in stasis and re-appear exactly in the condition they were when the spell was cast. Some mages use this spell to pick up hot lava, fire, acid and then use the storage container as a missile weapon. However, for the storage container to break reliably, there is an inherent danger of breakage while being carried, making that a very risky practice. Putting Store an Item items into a bag of holding or any other extraplanar space has a 1% chance per hour of causing the item to disappear. Taking Store an item vials into an extraplanar space that can hold living objects only has a 1% chance per day of causing a failure. The odds are not cumulative. There is also a weight limit of 20lbs + 5lbs / level of the mage. Created by Bruce Campbell (not the actor)

What an awesome thread this is....I just kept rotating the Conan soundtracks and threw in LOTR when it came out, but I got so many ideas here--very cool....Mr. Bose--welcome to the World of Greyhawk, ha ha.

I like listening to early Rush when I'm working on stuff for my game, but Geddy Lee's lyrical style (screeching) back then doesn't do much for actual in-game play. However, "The Necromancer" from Caress of Steel always gets my creative juices flowing when I'm having writer's block.

Okay, Cory's pathetic excuses about spending time with his wife and family are okay after all, me being such a big softie. While Loganarius didn't get XP for the last adventure, I'm not going to drop him out of the campaign.

The same thing goes for the rest of you alcoholic, middle aged and grey haired members of my gaming group (applies to all of you except my lovely wife of course). If you want someone else to play your character while you're bleeding out in an emergency room or whatever, just make sure they have a copy of your current character sheet. I trust everyone's role playing ability enough to do an adequate job.

Gregory,

prickly fussbuckets at

PRICKLY FUSSBUCKET---sounds like a good idea for a future Critical Threat, Erik. It's always a dreaded encounter when they rear their head at work or at home....or in forums, he he.

Now here is an idea for enhancing the value of the magazine and maybe making the good people at Paizo a few more bucks-which I'm sure they richly deserve.

How about an "enhanced subscription" to Dungeon. For $59.95 a year, along with your hardcopy magazine, you get all the NPC and monster stats presented in the magazine in PDF format (I like to put my NPC's and monsters on 3x5 cards for quick reference during the game, so this would really help me out). You also get all the maps as pdf files with all the labels and numbers removed so you can pass them out to your players more easily.

Along with your mailer, you get a monthly e-mail with the "enhanced" contents included. I'm sure some sort of encryption protocol could be set up by the propeller heads so that the PDF could only be opened by the recipient who paid for it.

I would pay $25 to $40 extra a year for my subscription if I just got all the NPC's and monster stats electronically so I could make my little 3x5 monster cards before each game.

Just a thought.

I totally agree with Steve Greer's comments. I had been playing AD&D since 1980 (started playing at age 13) and it was okay, but when I picked up 3.5 PH and read it cover to cover I was really impressed on how consistent and easy to learn 3.5 was.

I truly believe if 3.5 had come out in 1980, the hobby would have been even bigger during its heydey of the early 80's.

I'm extremely happy with it. My old AD&D books are on the bookshelf for sentimental value.

My daughter would absolutely be horrified to try D&D, since it is something that grown-ups do! She's 12. My son is 2, so he's still too young.

I think it's funny because when I was a kid, one of the reasons I played D&D was a little bit for the "shock" value it brought to adults....my, how times have changed!!

I think that all the ideas you guys have posted here about how to make the game appealing to your kids are very good and I'll keep them in mind if and when the opportunity presents itself.

5-6-576 Dedermont’s Keep-Northern Wailing Wood Loganarius left the group after the battle with the displacer beasts, vowing to return after he took care of a urgent matter. As the group entered the palisaded keep, the kobolds fled the area and the soldiers pursued. The party entered the keep and defeated the dire rats gorging themselves on the old corpses. Hanor suggested retreating to replenish spells, but before the party could retreat, the harpies from the keep came out and started their attack. Hanor and Silver were captivated by their song, but thanks to Drak’s scorcing blast and Aria’s accurate arrow fire, the two harpies were driven off, heavily wounded. Out of spells, the party retreated into the woods to rest and replenish their spells. In the afternoon, the soldiers had returned, having killed five of the fleeing kobolds, but the rest managed to escape. Terba Morningblade ordered his troops to contain the perimeter of the keep, while he joined the party to help explore Dedermont’s Keep. The party clears out the keep and find out what happened, the attack of the council of the Thorn and the subsequent release of the monsters and the death of the Pathwardens. The party also finds out that Major Dedermont is captured by the Council of the Thorn. Morningblade rewards the party with 500gp each and a +1 chain shirt recovered from the keep. He advises that he’s going to report to his superiors to find out what they want to do with the Council of the Thorn. Morningblade notes in the group’s charter that the rendered honorable service to the Army of the See of Medegia. Aria realizes that Major Dedermont and the Royal Pathwardens of this area are the same organization that is attempting to subjugate the elves and woodsmen of the Grandwood Forest on behalf of the Overking. 1200 xp each.

I started reading Dragon in 1980, subscribed briefly from 82 to 83 and have purchased sporadic copies since then. I haven't purchased any since 3rd edition came out. I subscribe to Dungeon.

Looking at my Dragon CD archive, the 1980's were definitely the glory years of Dragon.

I don't have an opinion on recent editions, as I haven't read one and don't really plan to. Just running the adventures in Dungeon is going to keep my gaming group happy for years.

I've always found Dungeon a good buy. Even the adventures that I don't use in their "pure" format, I use for their NPC's, their settings, the maps, whatever. I may chop them up to my liking, move them, change around whole portions of it....that's almost more fun than writing my own "Saturday Night homebrew"

I modify all the adventures to fit my campaigns. I ran Greyhawk back in the 80's and again now, with the Realms from '87 to about '98. When I don't use an adventure, I "borrow" the NPC's, maps, settings, villages, towns or any other cool idea and use them to populate my own campaign setting.

I actually don't care for the critical threats, the maps of mystery, the other "filler" stuff in Dungeon. I also don't like the "side trek" adventures....not that I don't use them, but the adventures are always appreciated.

Certainly some are better written than others, but being one of those "working" people, Dungeon is a time saver that allows me to be a better DM. Quite honestly, I'm not sure I could put the effort into DMing that I need to and I really don't know whether or not I'd actually run a D&D game if it wasn't for Dungeon.....'nuff said on my end.

The cartoon was in the AD&D DMG 1st edition. The adventuring party was playing "Papers & Paychecks."

"The first thing we do is kill all the lawyers" William Shakespeare

"Let's not forget the bureaucrats"

That would be cool. If I hadn't been a Dungeon subscriber already, I would have definitely purchased the 4 magazines that had the Greyhawk maps in them.

A City of Greyhawk map would be great. I downloaded the CC2 version off the Wizards website, but it would look better printed out BIG!

Farewell To Kings is my favorite Rush album title---not my favorite Rush Album (Moving Pictures, 2112). I've used this title for various Internet things for many years...I was P.O'ed that somebody else was using it on E-bay!!

When they turn the pages of history
When these days have passed long ago
Will they read of us with sadness
For the seeds that we let grow
We turned our gaze
From the castles in the distance
Eyes cast down
On the path of least resistance

Cities full of hatred
Fear and lies
Withered hearts
And cruel tormented eyes
Scheming demons
Dressed in kingly guise
Beating down the multitude
And scoffing at the wise

The hypocrites are slandering
The sacred halls of Truth
Ancient nobles showering
Their bitterness on youth
Can't we find
The minds that made us stong
Can't we learn
To feel what's right and wrong

Cities full of hatred
Fear and lies
Withered hearts
And cruel, tormented eyes
Scheming demons
Dressed in kingly guise
Beating down the multitude
And scoffing at the wise
Can't we raise our eyes
And make a start
Can't we find the minds
To lead us closer to the Heart

(kind of makes you want to play D&D, doesn't it??)

Wow--Tina--that much effort? Type up your log as a wordpad document and then cut and paste the text into the post. That way you won't lose it and you also have a permanent record.

I'm only going to mention RPG's and board games:

Axis & Allies

Star Trek the RPG--by FASA (we're modifying it for d20 and have already bought d20 modern and d20 future)

Settlers of Cataan

Risk: LOTR edition

It encourages it, yes. It's easier to make magic items and there is no HP limit and no limit to how far you could potentially make your to hit bonuses go.

Having said that, Tambryn is very correct about it being a choice. I think in 3.5 DM's have to be more careful about handing out magic or allowing it to be created.

I started running my first 3.5 game (after 25 years of AD&D) late last year and it's been a learning experience for me. I like the system--I think if the original D&D had been this easy to learn the game would have attracted even more players back in the day.

I think PC's shoot up levels too fast initially. My next campaign will tone that down....it only took 6 gaming sessions for my players' characters to reach 4th level. I'm putting a slight brake on XP awards because I don't want them to be higher than 7th level by the end of the year.

I may not force this party to retire their characters after 12th level like I used to do, so I may gain more experience running really high level games, but you can bet it is still not going to be Monty Haul.

I don't have any problem with cliches. Neither do my players. Give us good adventures with well designed locations, traps, NPC's and monsters, and we're all good to go.

I've only found maybe a half dozen adventures in Dungeon that I didn't like and even then I was really only nit-picking.

I've subscribed off and on since the beginning and I plan to stay subscribed now that 3.5 has rejuvenated our whole group's gaming.

What is your favorite RPG that you've ever played that is now out of print? Maybe you'd play it again if it came out as a d20 game?

I'll start off:

SPACEMASTER BY I.C.E. (very cool Starship combat system)
--played this game a lot in the early 90's--

Star Trek the RPG by FASA (everything S.T. since then has sucked)

Top Secret (D20 modern is pretty good, but the original Top Secret Boxed set with the "Sprechenhaltestelle" module has a place dear to my heart)

Space Opera (first RPG I tried other than AD&D back in my sophomore year in high school (1982)) Kind of corny, but it had dogs and cats as alien races and a hellaciously complicated combat system. I still liked running a space marine though.

Gangbusters by TSR (only played this a few times, but the setting was fun--first game I played a bad guy in)

and my all time favorite OOP RPG:

Twilight: 2000 by GDW (this game kicked butt, we played it almost exclusively in 1985-86--Pirates of the Vistula and the Free City of Krakow were two of the most fun adventures I ever played. The combat system and coolness under fire ratings were pretty good. I would most certainly buy this game--could be put out as an extension of d20 modern. But please, re-design the vehicle combat rules a la Twilight 2000. Oh, I forgot the module--Lone Star, Red Star where San Antonio is occupied by a Soviet airborne division. We spent the entire summer of '86 refighting the Texas Revolution and kicking the Russkies off the Riverwalk!!

1. Zulu
2. Das Boot
3. Saving Private Ryan
4. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
5. Aliens
6. The Man Who Would be King
7. The Wind and the Lion
8. Monty Python Search for the Holy Grail
9. Winnetou Movies (in German only)
10. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Honorable Mention: Big Trouble in Little China (God, I laughed my a** off!!)

I agree with you on that one---maps without any DM info on them that the DM can use as handouts would be good.

I do that for my home designed games. I create the map with CC2. Once I'm done with the players' map, I print it out and then I add the DM key and other confidential stuff.

The title will only show up when you're posting to the Dungeon messageboards. Posts to forums such as Dungeons & Dragons, or Website Feedback, won't show the avatar title since those boards aren't tied to a particular magazine.

I suppose we could amend the avatar title to say "subscriber, Dungeon" in those other boards.....

Thanks Gary

How come some people have "subscriber" next to their message board nickname when posting? I have a subscription to Dungeon until issue #140 which I've "linked" to my account (as a matter of fact, I extended it through this site just last week), but I'm still not given that lofty title--does this limit my access to site features somehow?

Thanks!

Yeah, I also forgot to mention that you guys had the dwarven miners destroy the elf-slayer spear (Alkarg), for which you got bonus experience points. Oh well, can't remember everything, which is one of the reasons I wanted to set up this thread--with thanks to Paizo for letting us do it.

Funniest moment in recent years in my D&D campaign:

Arn, the half-ogre with an INT of 5 was finally convinced to take the knocker off the door he carried as a shield because he could never run more than a few dozen feet with the shield in his hand because he had to stop and yell: "Who is it?"

Another time (in 1982) I ran a game where the novice players all decided that iron rations were too expensive and they purchased about 2 dozen live chickens to take with them into the dungeon. Unable to afford cages, they tied the chickens in a line and pulled them along, squawking and clucking as they went.

The first combat was predictively chaotic, with squawking panicked chickens getting underfoot, feathers everywhere, etc.

The worst thing was the spawn of very bad puns that plagued that particular campaign from that point forward. We had a rule that bad puns could be punished with the offender being hit with thrown dice, a practice that subsided greatly after the first d30's came out.

Marc,

This is a very entertaining thread and it would be a very cool campaign to play in. I've enjoyed reading it so far and hope you keep it going.

F2K

Marc,

I agree--once the PC's "feel" like their characters can't be beaten easily and they "feel" like their characters have achieved something (like lord status, High Priest) or whatever--I've had very few players resist the offer to retire the character and start over--especially when their new character is tied into their old campaign somehow (the child of a PC, some other connection).

I then usually turn the old PC into a patron---and sometimes even allow old players to unretire their PC for a special game session---like when enough players can't make the regular game.

In those cases, I might offer that the players unretire their favorite "retired" PC for a special one time game--and I usually run them through some high level Dungeon adventure that I've modified so it can be finished in 5-6 hours.

I think players find it a lot easier to swallow to have one of their favorite killer PC's retired when they realize that the PC is still going to play some sort of role in the campaign.

I've never run a "power game" and only played in one "once". By once, I mean that I quit the game after one gaming session when the DM started me off at 17th level just so I could keep pace with the rest of the players.

From the onset, I limit XP awards, when I run a published adventure all the treasure awards are cut to 10% of published amount (and the PC's still get a lot). Right now, my players are 4th level and there is one magic weapon in the party and 4 masterwork weapons. Each PC has about 500-1200 gp in disposable wealth, which is a lot, but leaves the players hungry.

I just converted to 3rd edition last year and I'm still getting used to the system, but I already know that I plan not to use 90% of the magic items listed in the DMG.

I've also never DMed a party past 12th level. After that, the players get "encouraged" to retire their PC--maybe settle down, build an estate, become an elder statesman semi-NPC and if they want continuity--have their children become the new PC's. I make it very clear that if they want to continue "adventuring" at that high level, their PC's life expectancy will be very low. In most of my campaigns, by that level, the PC's have made so many enemies, political and personal, that if they're not super-careful, they will be assassinated or ambushed by some pretty nasty creatures--that's not me getting vengeful, that's just the NPC's in my campaign world not putting up with crap from PC's and having a long memory.

Remember that PC's with a long string of victories against bad guys are going to make lots and lots of long-term enemies, who may band together to do them in. My NPC's and factions are not static, they function in the background like any other organization, they learn--they get wise--they find a way to get payback.

Any of you who have pissed off a local cop in your town may find that the whole Police department now has it out for you--players know that in my campaign if they take out the high Priest of Hextor in Town XYZ, they will find that the whole Church of Hextor will probably make it their personal quest to see the whole party roasted on a spit.

I find that this is the best way to limit "power" gaming. Power goes both ways.

Well, Cory informed me that he's not keeping the log for this campaign, but for Brian's Star Trek game....oh well. For my players, what I will do is post a synopsis of the game here after each gaming session and then you guys can add your two cents in between games. I would like you post your PC's perspective of what happened, if you want. I may award some extra XP, at least 50 for a parapgraph, maybe up to 150 for a really entertaining post, but not more than that.

Synopsis from last game:

5-4-576 Hestmark Highlands near copper mines

Ambushed by 4 ogres, the party suffers a lot of damage from the beasts, but manage to slay them. Tracking the group back to their lair, the final ogre is killed there and the lair plundered. The party arrives at Ruoyna’s den in the afternoon and finds a merchant train encamped there, where they sell some of their mundane plunder.
Later in the evening, Lt. Terba Morningblade and a reinforced squad of Medegian regulars arrive to begin a recruiting drive for the summer’s campaigning season. Drak buys the Lt. a bottle of wine and tries to get information out of him about what’s going on, but doesn’t find out anything beyond the usual planned raids in the Hestmark Highlands to fight the Sunndi and bandits. Lots of travelers arrive at Ruoyna’s den and the party spends the evening gathering rumors and hanging out with the locals. Bear asks Silver to light the bridge lanterns, but she finds one of the Royal Pathwardens gravely wounded on the bridge. She brings him back to the Den and he is healed up enough to state that Dedermont’s Keep has been overrun by monsters, trolls and others. Lt. Morningblade sends an immediate courier to Dorr to get reinforcements and states that they are setting out in the morning to go to the Keep. The party offers to help out (for a reward) and Morningblade agrees.

5-5-576 Traveling

15 Medegian heavy infantry lead by Lt. Morningblade, Drak, Silver, Loganarius, Aria and the dwarf Hanor set out for Dedermont’s Keep. Silver gets annoyed with the Lieutenant because his pace of travel doesn’t allow her to do a proper job of tracking. By night fall the group is within a few hundred yards of the keep. Silver and Aria do an excellent scouting job and locate two orcish tree sentries and locate the guards upon the palisades. A plan is hatched for the morning assault and the group makes a cold camp that luckily goes undiscovered. During the night, the Medegian soldiers carve out a simple battering ram and attach four 200’ ropes to a small tree trunk they cut down.

5-6-576 Dedermont’s Keep—northern Wailing Wood Without much further ado, Silver and Aria take out the orc tree sentry and the group rushes the back of Dedermont’s Keep. The soldiers formed three groups—one to pin down the sentries on the palisades with crossbow fire, one to rush the palisades and throw the rope loops over the palisade tops and one to push the lever (tree trunk) the ropes were attached to, which was inside the tree line 50 yards away. The PC’s also closed with the wall, firing at the orcs on the palisades. Drak cast a summon swarm on the palisades as well. The plan went well, the palisades came down but not before two displacer beasts and two trolls attacked the group. 4 soldiers went down in the battle and many were hurt, but the four creatures were put down within about a minute. Hanor healed the Medegian Lieutenant, who was knocked unconscious by one of the displacer beasts.

The game ended with 11 combat effective Medigian heavy infantry, the wounded Lieutenant and the party members ready to enter the compound through the breach in the palisades that they created. 2 Medegian soldiers are permanently KIA and 2 are too wounded to continue and are staying behind with the mules and gear 200 yards away. 1100 xp for each PC.

Cool! A RUSH-inspired campaign!

Hey, I'm glad somebody out there noticed. F2K is not my favorite Rush album musically, but it's my favorite Rush album title.

This is going to be the thread for the Farewell2kings campaign. Right now the action takes place predominantly in the See of Medegia and Hestmark Highlands area. The players have already completed several house-designed encounters and have completed Module "Citadel by the Sea" published in Dragon magazine 22 years ago and have also finished "Ever-Changing Fortunes" from Dungeon #85.

I plan to use as many Dungeon magazine adventures as possible, as I have little time to design adventures. Hopefully a cool theme will emerge, I'm going to run this game a little looser than my past games have been.....although throwing some politics in is always irresistible.

Here's a rough outline from my own notes on events so far:

Date Location Activity

4-13-576 Pontylver Silver (human female ranger), Locke Cole (human male rogue), Loganarius (fighter, human male) and Drak-Arath Taranial (elven male sorcerer) hitch a ride on an unguarded wagon train headed west for the village of Irian. One of the wagons throws an axle and the PC’s defend the wagon overnight against brigands.

4-14-576 Irian PC’s arrive in Irian, loosely banded together, end up traveling to Engemild’s Vineyards, to be hired by Elder Engemild to root out a small goblin infestation nearby. Prior to that, Sgt. Mern of the Irian militia showed them a sketch of the bandit lord at area 7 (Pontylver Environs map), but Logan slightly offended Mern by his demeanor. 225 xp each

4-15-576 Engemild’s Vineyards PC’s help drive off goblin raiders on vineyard territory. Drak takes ill and fails to participate. PC’s helped by Herban Engemild and two house guards. Next morning, raid goblin caverns and kill/capture 15 goblins with Herban’s help. Get reward and healing potion each from Elder Engemild. 800 xp each.

4-15-576 Engemild’s Vineyards Drak recovers from his intestinal illness and while the other PC’s are off hunting goblins he finds two orcs spying on the winery. He kills one and drives off the other and with help from Torsten Engemild and four winery employees, track the orcs to the ruined keep of Jawarl Avignon, where six orcs attack the group. One winery employee is slain and Drak is knocked out, but the group carries the day and Drak is reunited with his party members at the Vineyards.

4-16-576 Near Engemild’s Vineyards PC’s begin exploring the old elvish fortress of Jawarl Avignon, captured and converted by orcs 300 years ago, and then expelled by the Duke of Medegia some 150 years ago. Orcs have re-infiltrated the place and are searching for an orcish artifact elven slayer spear, the PC’s find out. The exploration party consisted of Silver, Drak, Loganarius and the dwarven teamster Gruntar and the elven ranger Aria. Gruntar had been running supplies to the vineyard and decided to tag along in case the PC’s need to have treasure hauled away for a fee. Aria knows Silver from their work in the Grandwood Forest. Aria had been tracking the goblins that the PC’s defeated the day before and she joined the group to get rid of the orcs in the stronghold. Locke Cole had to return to Pontylver briefly to complete an “errand” but stated he would return shortly to help liberate any treasure found in the stronghold. Drak and Silver got in an argument about what to do with 6 kobold slaves of the orcs that the party found. Drak wanted to use them as trapspringers, but Silver wanted to let them go because they had already provided all the information they knew. The situation ended up in a fistfight between Drak and Silver, which Silver won easily. The kobolds were freed and left, quite amused by what they had seen.

4-17 to 4-18-576 Javarl Avignon Party consisting of Drak, Silver, Loganariuis and Aria continue their exploration of Javarl Avignon; moving into the first dungeon level and cleaning it out of giant rats, a few orcs and a wererat. Drak is blinded by the wererat sorcerer and the party has to retreat to get his vision returned. Silver stays and keeps watch on the dungeon to make sure no one escapes with the magical spear that is supposed to be inside. At Irian, the party looks for the cleric of Hextor that runs the shrine there but does not find him in town. Instead, they make contact with Lt. Terba Morning blade and his patrol. He questions them about their adventuring writ and allows them to get one issued on the spot when it is apparent that they do not have one. Terba cures Drak’s blindness with a scroll in return for a magical crossbow, for which he also pays 500gp. Terba’s contact with the party was neutral-friendly, but since Engemild vouched for them, Terba was satisfied that they are not brigands. The party finishes exploring the 1st dungeon level and stands ready to descend to the 3rd dungeon level. 520xp each.

4-19-576 Starday Jawarl Avignon Party finishes exploring the lowest level, consisting of Drak, Silver, Loganarius and Aria. They recover the evil orcish spear “Elfdestroyer” and return to the winery, collecting their 600gp reward from Elder Engemild. XP 1000 Party spend the night at Engemild’s estate, planning to go to Pontylver the next day. They hear about Dorr and its large elven population and that Ruoyna’s Den south of there is a safe place to stay.

4-20-576 Irian Party goes to the small town of Irian and manages to sell a lot of their plunder. They decide to forego going to Pontylver and decide to travel to Dorr instead

4-21-576 On the road About 24 miles west of Irian, the party spends the night in a farmhouse that had been ransacked by unknown creatgures. Confronted by the Medegian Army in them orning, they find htat an unknown group of worgs or werewolves might be responsible.

4-23.576 On the road

4-24-576 Dorr Make contact with Arb and Erian, the dwarvish and elvish clerics (elderly) who run the Alms House. They put the party in contact with Akara, the kobold from “Ever Changing Fortunes” and the party discusses about whether or not to help. Party stays at Darkmantle Inn, make friendly contact with Thulla Axebiter. Aria makes a substantial donation of 80gp to the alm house.

4-25-576 Road to Ruoyna’s Den from Dorr Party leaves for Ruoyna’s Den, led by Akara the kobold. Ambushed on the way by Krista Ferns and her bandits, the party kills most of the bandits, including Krista Ferns, and leaves 4 alive, bound, but with battleaxes and shields nearby. The party arrives at Ruoyna’s Den and sells their booty to a traveling merchant. When Bear learns of their quest to free the dwarves, he gives them healing potions and free stabling for their animals.

4-26-576 Copper Mines near Ruoyna’s Den Party enters via water caves back entrance. Defeat the kobold tribe after their Chief offers a truce after the party killed over half the kobolds. Kobolds are told to leave before the party gets back. Party negotiates the water caves and defeats three tough troglodytes at the back entrance to the mines. 1300 xp
4-27-576to 5-3-576 Copper Mines near Ruoyna’s Den Party retreats to heal up and re-enter the cavern. Defeat troglodytes and free dwarven slaves. Given award of a masterowrk metal or stone object crafted by the dwarves, plus the service of Hanor Sharpaxe, a 3rd level cleric of Moradin, for a year.

Cory, I hope you keep a better log than this, otherwise you ain't getting your 10% XP bonus!!

I always wondered if the editorial staff for Dungeon gamed. Very cool--I love Greyhawk, I switched to 3.5 last year and re-started my original Greyhawk campaign from 1982....2 returning players (weighing twice as much, more than twice as old, and with a heck of a lot less hair) and 4 new players....restarted my Dungeon subscription too....