hellacious huni's page

I carry all my dice in a transdimensional space that floats about two feet behind me. It's like my safety blanket. When I'm sleeping they rematerialize and sloop into my milk, oh you dice, how can I stay mad at you?

Although, unimaginably horrid beasts try to escape every time I reach for a d8. Oh well, it's just like every time I call one of my uncles.

You took the words right out of my mouth. The moment I saw this setting my mouth began watering just thinking of all the roleplaying possibilities. I would absolutley love for someone to come out with a D20 Ravnica source book. That would make my day.

Righteous! I like the recasting of the Fates in "leaders of the resistance" roles. Do they count as god engines? Are they from the deadworld or recent emigrees? Will you also include the Furies?

I also like the idea that the dead god engines can be found and used or still manifest effects like the floating monoliths. (They're WAY creepy and cool by the way.) What happens if you create a construct out of dead god engine parts? Can the connection to the one god be re-established? (I'd actually recommend the answer be "No" or "Not until a whole lot else is fixed first". This could provide a long term goal for players and makes for one of the really unique aspects for this world.)

Sorry for the delay. They do not count as god engines, they are slightly different, almost like angels or demons if you will. They are half emigree half native (again think angels that were the original guardians but had to leave because of the curse). I may include the Furies.

The Diety Engines are all screwed up on this plane but that doesn't mean their power has left, quite the opposite. When a Diety Engine is destroyed it created a flux of energy likened to a nuclear bomb blast. The effects may not be felt physically but rest assured that on some level the magic of the place has grown extremely volatile because of the death. So making a golem of Diety Engine parts would probably end up as a terrible mistake as the the golem would be wild and tameless. In a sense the connection with a dead Diety Engine can be reastablished but never like it was before.

What is more likely than the reassembling of a dead engine is the transport of an alive engine to this plane. Which would probably be one of the Druids's first concerns as that life would have a hard time taking hold without any "mother nature" to guide it.

This campaign would be rather cleric-centered, not only because of undeads but also such spells like create water, create food, purify food&water, remove disease...all which should be very useful. Barbarians or other survival-oriented characters who could cope on harsh environment would be useful too (not to mention the muscle). Rangers and druids would be a challenge to play in a world with little to no nature...(of course it could be a motivation of a druid to travel around, spreading seeds and trying to get them to grow...). Bards, of course, would be close to useless (Bardic knowledge in completely alien world? Diplomacy? Yeah right) and rogues too shouldn't be first choice...craft skills would be useful since there would be very few shops around.

Hmm, this does have a certain scifi feel in it...not to mention that first outposts and settlements would probably be a bit "wild west".

The only thing you have to remember is that Divine magic is either weak or completely useless in most areas of this plane due to the dead gods and/or lack of links to gods on other planes. So undead would be greatly feared and in some parts of the plane nigh unstoppable.

That is where the "gun witches" come in. Lead by the "3 Fates" Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, they are bringing the balance of life back to the old kingdoms, one moaning zombie at a time. They create bullets made from pieces of the dead gods and are one of the only groups on this plane having any sort of success in turning back the tide of undead. Clotho, the weaver, teaches the art of "spinning" - using bullets to create temporary channels to the positive energy plane, she is the eldest of the fates and most severe. Lachesis, the seamstress, teaches the art of "drawing lots" - using the anarchic nature of god bullets to create grandiose and powerful effects, she is sometimes called the "Alotter" and can be found tending to the wounded and telling stories of a time when the land was not filled with pain. Atropos, the inexorable, teaches the art of "cutting" - intense gun play that pushes the physical limits of the body to extract supernatural results, she is sometimes called the "Scissorhanded" and can be found in the heart of battle, never slowing or giving quarter, she is also the most passionate of the three and many join the Gun Witches because of her charisma.

That's vicious Magdalena, you make me fear for my PC's! But lovely, lovely ideas. Escpecially the fact that the undead have been in stasis all this time until the first settlers show up. And how cool would it be to run into a city completely populated by nothing but intelligent undead and constructs. Rainbows and handholding I tell ya!

Zombie flumphs! Lol! That is something special, something to tell your grandkids about.

And as to the newly discovered undead rot: How about an adventure hook from an intelligent undead who finds herself suddenly decaying and needs the PCs to reinstall the cleansing curse that also prevents anyone from coming into the plane (probably unbeknownst to the PCs).

Speaking of Ravenloft, I see some of the Diety engines seeing the cleansing curse coming way back when (prophecies and all that jazz) so I'm positive a couple of them were smart enough to hide in time release Demi-planes of their making that are quite soon going to expire and dump them back into this empty plane.

Well, depending on the exact nature of the devastation and your preference for the race, Warforged! If the disaster only destroyed life, then constructs would have survived. The intelligent ones would have become dominant, especially since most competition would have been undead, which are weak vs. constructs (typically). Now, constructs could rule huge swaths of the world.

I think that's a pretty kick butt idea, but I feel that even constructs would have been effected by the death of magic on this plane. Maybe they could be gowing haywire now, but I don't think they would have survived in any normal sense of the word.

A quick word on dieties before I give you a city from the dead plane setting: gods in my world were not exactly living beings nor were they constructs, they were called Diety Engines and they connected the arcane and divine magic users to the one true God. Those links were severed during the catastrophy when all the engines were obliterated.

Here is a city from the Dead Plane: Narthex, City of Eyes. It is a city that sits atop a rip in the aether that leads to the Shadow Plane. Most of its structure is actually comprised of the dead diety engine. Dark stone rises from the fields of newly grown low grass and Narthex's towers serve as a kind of sundial in these flats.
Narthex is dimly lit in the daytime from all the towering black brick that blanket dark alleys and even darker shops that sell strange and curious items. In the night the lanterns flicker low and the denizens of the city (if they are smart) retire until morning behind locked and barred doors.
There is no gate into Narthex, no paths or steps that lead to its heart. One must be accepted by those who run the City, the Arrens, and they will part the black brick like silk curtains for those they wish to enter or leave. This is a Portal City and the Arrens, dark cloaked, bird masked acolytes of the dead engine, control the life flow of Narthex completely. No one goes hungry in Narthex, if you are hungry the Arrens feed you. There is no crime in Narthex, if you commit an unlawful act the Arrens will find you. There is no sleep in Narthex, the Arrens will enter your slumber and steal what is most valuable to them, your dreams.
Some consider the City's architecture beautiful, with its massive arches and exquisitly crafted stained glass windows. But the most defining feature of Narthex is the monoliths. They are dark rectangular stones that stand on end and hover inches from the ground, dripping painted white eyes, watching from two sides. They slowly move along the streets and bridges, the crowds part before them and they can be seen in the sky, between the towers. Nobody knows what purpose they serve but neither does anyone question them, the Arrens allow them and that is all that matters.

hellacious huni wrote:

I think the only real problem with D&D is the same problem that can exist in any hobby or entertainment: the proclivity to let the hobby eclipse your life. I think this is what some churches and religious people respond to when they see that their kid stops caring about anything other D&D. Yet, I've see the same problem manifest itself with videogames, comics, collectibles, and movies.

...and religion.

MI

I completely agree, sometimes people forget that balance even extends to things that may seem to be the most important in their life. Everyone has met the "Flanders" Christian (hey-diddly-doodly) that only seems to understand religion or things church related and forgets that 98% of your their life takes place outside of a church with non church going people. The Bible actually says for Christians to be the salt of the earth, which means the thing that gives this place flavor, and mostly what I see is flavor being taken away.

Hell ya..I love the whole idea. Any chance you live in South Carolina and need some additional PCs Huni?

Alas I digress...As far as inhabitants, did you ever get into Ravenloft much? They had one of my favorite bad guy groups: Cannabilistic Kender. Very vile, nasty, heartless little bastards that looked almost identical to the fun loving pranksters of dragonlance. I can see a horde of these maniacal little barbarians streaming out of the mountain ranges to reek havoc on the newly established masses.

Rage

I would love to have you in the game Rage but I live in San Diego, CA. As for the Cannabilistic Kender, they probably wouldn't be natives of the dead plane because nothing survived the catastrophy, but if they somehow paid their way through a portal (or heck, took one over) then they would love the wide open spaces.

No reason why the gatekeepers wouldn't charge to travel both ways. Probably monetary/local currency to leave to the deadworld (gold rush mentality...ya gotta spend a little to get a lot), but to get back... that's where the price really picks up! Rare goods, items of art, science, or thaumaturgy not known on their homeworld, spell componants that can only be gleaned from dangerous beasts that still live on/in the deadworld. It could even be a unique item that the gatekeeper needs for a plot on or against the homeworld itself "You want to come home? Then you WILL find me the Obsidian Teardrop of Kallu-mata or you will join the bones of this dead realm!"

And Aberzombie's chronic Spelljamophilia aside :) it could be a really fun angle to have have some of the former inhabitants who managed to survive come back.

"Then you WILL find me the Obsidian Teardrop..." I LOVE IT! Those bastard wizards, that's how they getcha! Instead of the theives stealing bread off the carts they would be trying to sneak past the gatekeepers and into the portals.

"What's this? A street rat?" Says a gatekeeper.

"I just want to get home to see me pa sir, please sir, let me go. I don't have any money to get home."

"Ah hah hah hah. No money? Well street rat I'll send you home! GORDY! Gordy, set the portal to the lower planes, I've gotta send someone home! Heh heh."

And as to the returning civilization, has anyone ever read "The Wheel of Time" series by Robert Jordan? They could be like the Seanchan, all uppity with an inflated sense of entitlement. Everybody would be all, "Who the hell are you?" And they'd be like, "We live here!"

Hellacious Huni,

I was a little taken aback by your mention of your personal homebrew solution to the D&D pantheon of gods because it is exactly the same thing I do! All "lesser gods" maintain the majority of their powers, etc.; but they are all ultimately subservient to the One True God (through which all true power and authority exists) - though like you said some rebel and/or act independently. Most lawful good gods in my homebrew are in reality just aspects of the One True God, though not all clerics recognize this fact. Like you, I impliment this system for my own satisfaction and have no problem with others playing differently.
I further find it frustrating and irritating how misconceptions and biases are enflamed and bantered about by christian "experts" who know nothing of which they speak. In the end, though, I don't think it really matters. I mean, you wouldn't be mad if a certain segment of the population was totally against the game of football or baseball; so why care if they rob themselves of the joy of role-playing? Ultimately, it's their loss.

You're right SirMarcus, but it's funny how nobody will ever tell you that you are going to hell for loving baseball.

I think the only real problem with D&D is the same problem that can exist in any hobby or entertainment: the proclivity to let the hobby eclipse your life. I think this is what some churches and religious people respond to when they see that their kid stops caring about anything other D&D. Yet, I've see the same problem manifest itself with videogames, comics, collectibles, and movies. Really (once again) it comes down to parenting and the attitude you approach the game. If you let you child do nothing on the weekends and weeknights but play D&D then you're probably setting your child up for a fall. If you find yourself thinking of nothing but the next D&D game, if you feel it is consuming your life, then maybe you should take a little break. I suppose that advise serves for just about anything you can become obsessed with, even women (or men).

I would also recommend d20 Apocalypse as a good resource with the settlers replacing survivors.

I can see where limiting Divine magic would be thematically appropriate - all the local gods are dead and the rest should at least have a hard time manifesting if not being cut off entirely.

The rationale for limiting Arcane magic would depend heavily on what the local source for it was. If it was inherently part of the world, it could be non-existant or fractured after the apocalypse - working in some places but not others (or working completely differently in different locations like Wild Magic). If Arcane magic came from a diety (or dieties) it would no longer work at all (the source being destroyed)unless a settler brought a new source of magic with them...

Hmm... Dark Sun, but fighting over magic sources instead of water. That could be very cool and way nasty - sort of like cut-throat space exploration.

Fighting over the magic sources...hmmm, that's a great idea. Now that magic is dead (or near dead) here everyone would be fighting over the last places where magic can manifest.

Dragonlvr, any help would be much appreciated and your idea of charging admission to gain entry into this plane is indeed in this campaign only in reverse. You see, the planeswalkers who originally set up these portals have grown rich and cruel off of all the settlers and adventurers coming through the portals that they now charge a steep fee to leave this plane. Cities have sprung up around these portals and now only the upper class have access to them. It is now only a dream for the lower classes to ever be able to leave deadworld.

Aberzombie: man-o-man, you and Spelljammer...you two should get a room. But, great ideas none-the-less, especially if some of the civilizations were advanced enough to leave the planet before the catastrophy, they may be arriving back now a la "Planet of the Apes" and after seeing everything dead going, "You did it! You really did it! Damn you!"

Gamma world sounds like a real interesting idea, ASEO. And Marc, I love the idea of all these aberrations deciding this plane is ripe for their race. Maybe a beholder outbreak...who knows.

To answer your question ASEO, every type of environment is represented in this world, but everything living (including plant life) has died. So cities stand where they once were completely uninhabited (with treasure intact). The life that I cryptically alluded to come from rips in the aether that lead both to the plane of shadows and the negative energy plane. They were the first to claim dominance on this world but have yet to grow into true power houses. By the way, with all the negative energy floating around the undead have grown strong and onry.

One idea I am tossing around is not allowing any Arcane or Divine magic and making all my PCs pick classes from the new Incarnum book from WotC. Incarnum is dispersed life energy and what better place for that than a world filled with dead gods.

Yeah, love the idea of the formians coming in and laying claim to the largest ant hill they've ever seen.

I'm starting a new campaign set in a completely abandoned, lifeless plane and needed some ideas for monster, adventures, etc.

The main thing I wanted to know is if anyone thinks any of the adventures in recent Dungeon magazines could be converted to this setting.

Let me give a slight overwiew:

Couple hundred years ago bad guy says, "You know what? I'm going to kill every living thing on this world including myself. None of us deserve this place." He succeeds.

200 years later some planeswalkers discover a completely abandoned place with silent cities, quiet young forests, regrowing from the destruction, deserted villages, and lots and lots of undead.

So adventureres begin to filter through the portals in and set up frontier towns to reclaim the treasures that need only be plucked from this dead world. A settler mentality forms and the once dead plane is becoming a place of hope for travelers who wish to carve out a piece of land for their own.

But unbeknownst to the planeswalkers who discovered this place and the adventurers who came after, there is still life hiding in the cracks, and it wants its world back.

Any help you can give will be much appreciated!

I'm starting a new campaign set in a completely abandoned, dead plane and needed some ideas for monster, adventures, etc.

The main thing I wanted to know is if anyone thinks any of the adventures in recent Dungeon magazines could be converted to this setting.

Let me give a slight overwiew:

Couple hundred years ago bad guy says, "You know what? I'm going to kill every living thing on this world including myself and my gods. None of us deserve this place." He succeeds.

200 years later some planeswalkers discover a completely empty, desolate world. Silent cities, wild young forests regrowing from the destruction. And undead, lots of undead.

So adventures from all over begin filtering through portals, setting up frontier camps to reclaim all the lost treasures just waiting to be claimed. Lawlessness prevails and a settler mentality begins to take shape. This deadworld becomes a place of hopes and new beginnings for travelers looking to carve out a piece of land for themselves.

But overlooked by the planeswalkers and the adventurers alike is that there is still life hiding in the cracks of this place, and it wants its world back.

Any help you can give would be appreciated!

hellacious huni wrote:

This is giving me a brain cramp, I'm finding that I have no idea how you would calculate straight line movement with a hex map. Can somebody explain this concept to me?

The squares or hexes are there to make it easyer to calculate how many feet your character has (or will) move. The actual path your character takes, say on a charge, is actually a straight line you can trace between your starting point and your finishing point. Your character doesn't REALLY move to the center of each square (or hex).

Ultradan

AHHHHHHHHHHH...brain cramp easing.

My problem with it was that it is also available to Sor/Wiz! The two best spells in that article, Loresong and Tune of the Dancing Weapon, are BOTH available to Sor/Wiz without even a level difference. If 'song' or 'tune' are a part of the name, shouldn't it be a Bard only spell?

Yeah, it sometimes seems that even when the Bard gets hooked up it ends up being a shallow victory because the Wiz/Sor are right there getting all the benefits too. Come on guys, let's really make people want to be a bard, sweeten the deal, you know?

On top of that, how do you calculate diagonal movement with square grid? This has always stumped me, I've always just treated it like a five foot move.

This is giving me a brain cramp, I'm finding that I have no idea how you would calculate straight line movement with a hex map. Can somebody explain this concept to me?

Or maybe just a couple new mags(I know that's asking alot, but it is a good idea) call them something along the lines of Sewer(dungeon) and i dont know about modern dragon...

I'm not sure if I would buy a magazine called "Sewer"...

The one thing I would say is that please be mindful of those around you though. Some people really just don't understand, and they really are well meaning, and calling them stupid zealots or morons doesn't fix the situation. They may really be good people honestly worried about you, and may even get a better image of the game if you take the time to ask them WHY they have a problem with it.

Oh, and just to pass the blame around, don't forget there were just as many liberal psychologist damning D&D as there were conservative fundamentalists in the 80s, and oddly these are the same ones making hay on video games now. THOSE kinds of people aren't covered by my above "be understanding" caveat becuase they know they are just trying to...

I agree completely, most people, if they actually sat down and read the rules or played a game would realize that not only is D&D only as bad as you make it, they would probably have fun.

I think calling them zealots or morons would be sinking to their level. Most of the time it is true, they are trying to do the right thing, but at the same time they are lashing out in fear of something that they don't understand. But that opens a whole other can of worms when it comes to isolationism within religious spheres best left to a different thread on a different board.

One more story: Back when the old boxed set of Hero Quest came out, my biological father (not my stepdad) took one look at the wizard on the cover and said, "No way." But all I could think about was those cool plastic minature furniture and goblins. So I tricked him into thinking it was a version of monopoly. He never quite got the connection between Monopoly and Hero Quest and I never let him in on the secret.

If you've had to pull any covert ops to play D&D tell me about it.

It sounds like everybody hasn't had too many bad experiences, that's cool. I have had some hellacious moments (no pun intended).

The pastors at the Christian school I attended for most of my youth had got ahold of one of my Magic The Gathering decks and had been passing it around for a week having meetings about it. They finally pulled me into the principles office in the middle of class.

"Jeremy, do you know what 'SUMMON MONSTER' actually means?" They asked.
"Yeah, it means magically creating a creature," I answered.
"No, it doesn't. It means summoning a demon." And that wasn't even a deck with a Juzam Djinn. At that point I was told I wasn't Christian for playing Magic and that they would be having a meeting with my parents. Luckily my parents are kick ass and didn't trip. Sometimes I still like to imagine the looks on those youth pastors faces when my parents told them they would be pulling me from the school.

It's funny how riled up people can get if you just mention spells or magic. Personally, as a Christian, I've even been a little standoffish when it comes to the pantheon of gods in the D&D canon, so I created a little variant just to make myself feel better (not that it was necessary). I made all the gods into "Diety Engines" in my games that are actually linking devices to the one true God. The engines have personality and can make decisions independently of God (some have even rebelled) so, in effect, nothing had to be changed in the rules. Now some of the Clerics in my homebrew acknowledge that they worship engines and some don't, but most admit that there is a higher power.

Sorry, forgot to write something.

Have you ever had to compromise with your parents because they thought D&D was evil? What about your church? Has anyone ever judged you as an evil person for playing D&D?

I won't get into the sordid details but let's just say the whole Mesmer and the Mesmerteers was sick and depraved on an unbelievable level. Strangely, Minnie seemed to think that this was perfectly normal and acceptable. It got very uncomforable after that (as this guy was in his 30's and we were all about 16yrs old and younger) and we ended the session quickly.

Yeah, sometimes you run into those players or DMs who just get a little too into the sexuality of their character. You find yourself sitting at the table looking at all the other players while the player in question goes off: "And then I do this, and then I'm all, awww yeeeah..." All you can hear is the crunch of a cheese puff in the ensuing silence.

The crazy DM codenamed "Drugs" that I had when I was playing cyberpunk was very much the uncomfortable sex DM. I was playing a female character and he would constantly have NPCs trying to get me into bed and molest me in some way or another. He would even pace around the table and brush my shoulders as he was playing the part of his NPCs. I've been afraid to play a female character ever since.

Thank you Zherog, that's golden advice.

Cool. It worked. Gray boxes here I come!!!1

Chris Wissel - WerePlatypus wrote:

On the other hand, here's an idea . . . maybe Paizo could come up with thier own unique campaign setting. . . pieces of it introduced each month for a year. In Month #1, you introduce the base classes in a long feature article. . . then Month #2 you do a Map overview and basic history, Month #3 is a list of Prestige Classes, Month #4 is a new spell school with a big batch of spells, and so on, until after a year's worth of articles, you have an entire campaign book in the pages of the mag. . . then you could also use Dungeon for a couple of crossover aventures in the new setting. Then a hardcover.

If it's really good, maybe it could generate that same excitement. Heck...

Hey! That's an interesting idea! :)

You could tie it into the themes of given issues pretty easily too. e.g. The October issue traditionally deals with undead so that's the perfect time to present new undead monsters/rules/lore tailored for that campaign world.

The caveat would be to make sure that anything produced is easily to convert to other settings (mandatory "In your Campaign" sidebars).

The other caveat being that this just might be the final push that sends one or more of the editors into some kind of catatonic state :)

Of course, since as I recall you're the guru of that "thousand adventures" thread there's a simple solution...

Start a "Dragon Campaigns" thread and see what happens :) It might be interesting to try and design a campaign collaboratively.

I'm sure there are other ways than just the message boards to get a collaboration going, but hey, why not use the methods at your disposal to steal a few ideas...hehe heheheh...eheheh he...eh...um, what were we talking about?

Nope...

Alright, let me try:

DeadDMWalking Wrote:
""Just to teach people how to quote, it is very easy.""

DeadDMWalking left a pretty long post up above (wish I could quote it but I don't know how to create that snazzy grey box with "DeadDMWalking wrote"). I agree whole heartedly with your summation of themes and how the cohesiveness of the magazine is also the draw of the magazine.

Someone said that it would be too difficult to do themes because you would have to be soliciting articles but I ask, how did they do it before so well? Why is the darkness issue (#322) so tight and put together and thematically binding? Was it magic? Did the articles on darkness just accidentally get put together in the same issue? Did the editors slap their foreheads and say, "Dang! That worked out pretty nice fer an accident!"

I know that's not what happened. They planned. They planned and they might just have solicted. But gawd! That was a good issue! And honestly, I couldn't really tell you which individual articles were even that great in it (besides 'The City of Lanterns', that kicked some major butt), all I can remember is that it fit so tightly in its theme that it became instantly usable in any campaign that uses darkness (i.e. every campaign). Not only that, what campaign doesn't have the shadow plane in some way or form in their campaign? There are golldang spells that refer to the plane for Pete's sake!

So, in summation, we have a good magazine with internal organs and flesh and pretty eyes and nice fresh breath but no skeleton.

Give a good magazine a spine and it becomes great.

Mr. Wereplatypus...I think you are on to something! This is genius, not only is it genius but my wallet just flew out of my pants, eager to spew forth its money for such a thing. Now I know that all the editors of Dragon have a real crush on Greyhawk, and don't get me wrong, they have made me a believer, but I would love to see a fresh, shiny new campaign setting wrought by the same people who bring us the quality articles now present in Dragon.

The Githyanki city in limbo would be a pretty kick but city to detail. I'd love to see it.

Or how about, One of the Celestial Cities where the gods live, ya know?

And thank God for that Farewell2Kings, if it wasn't for cops like you, Ninjas would fill this country up like roaches! Carry on Captain, carry on.

I just used Abyssal planes as an example. I think Dragon kicks major butt, don't get me wrong, I use it constantly and always, never fail, find something interesting to use, but, I find that I get near orgasmically overjoyed when I see an issue that sticks to a theme and runs with it, it just tickles me.

I think that is what a lot of readers of Dragon are saying when they are calling it fragmented; Dragon can at times seem a little mealpiece, a little like a jumbled attic filled with interesting treasures rather than a gleaming shop with a big sign outside the door that says, "Todd's Scroll Emporium" or "Oranimus's Incredible Musuem of Shadow Artifacts".

You might feel that you'll end up pushing yourself into a corner if an issue comes out with a theme that nobody cares about yet there are simple solutions to such a problem:

1. It is okay to pick broad themes, (like the "evil" issue or the "creature" issue. You don't have to narrow yourself down, thereby reaching a wider audience.

2. From experience, even things that I haven't been interest in (like the celestial planes) have suddenly caught my eye and imagination because they have been detailed in a creative way. Count on the fact that all it takes is good articles and it really doesn't matter what they are about, as long as they are creative and imaginative.

Here are a few examples:

Recently you ran the alchemist's fire article which was a really fun read. It would have been that much better had you included an Alchemist prestige class or alchemically powered magic items or a focus article on the Craft(Alchemy) skill(etc., etc.). And then, just as DeadDM said, Class Acts might have had an alchemical theme where you show how every class can benefit from alchemy or alchemical items.

Also, you occasionally run Demonicon articles, why not make the whole issue thematically based around that article? Include demon hunting weapons, classes, maybe a couple shops that might either be rund by demons or run for demons(etc., etc.).

It just seems like the potential is there to make Dragon this incredible resource for deeply exploring a few aspects of the game rather than being a pretty good resource for scraping the surface of many, many aspects of the game.

That is what I would like to see.

I agree whole-heartedly with DeadDMWalking, the Dragon issues that managed a thematic cohesion have always been the most enjoyable issues.

Dragon is just a bit fragmented now and I think DeadDM makes a good point when he says it would be more than nice to be able to know exactly which issue dealt with the Abyssal Planes (or what have you) rather than having to search through 20 issues going, "I swear it was in one these issues."

Sorry, Bloodhawke, not Blackhawke.

Wow...

Blackhawke...I might never have believed that such a person could exist if I hadn't met numerous versions of this person at gaming stores and comic shops.

One has to wonder, do these people ever actually find themselves in situations where they absolutely, positively need five knives and nails to shoot out of their gloves. I mean, hell, I would wear that stuff if I was constantly attacked by ninjas, but let me check again.........nope, no ninjas.

Steve, in my time as a gamer, it seems that the "smells-like-crap-24-hours-a-day-guy" is ubiquitious to this social scene. It would be funny if it wasn't encountered so often.

Get this, I was at a gaming convention a little while back and on the program, in tiny letters down at the bottom, there was a sentence that read:

"And all attendees, as a reminder, please bath or shower at least once a day during the five day convention. Please keep other's comfort in mind."

Why did they even have to write this?

Is there any other industry convention where you have to tell your attendees to bath regularly? I mean, I doubt at RV shows there is fine print on the program that reads, "Oh yeah, and please wash your ass." It just doesn't happen.

Gamers are strange...

Most of my players are too busy trying to keep up with the rules (they're all pretty new) to think about being too wierd. But I did have a strange DM once...

I was in 6th grade and my friend, let's call him Drugs, was starting up a Cyperpunk 2020 game. I had always been into
Sci-Fi, so I agreed. Two of my other friends, John and Ben, came along, and Drugs brought us down to his mom's basement where he had the gaming table set up. He wasn't a bad DM but everytime we did something that he didn't want us to do, like kill an NPC that we weren't supposed to or dodge bullets that we weren't supposed to (John went kind of crazy with these cybernetic dexterity boosters) he would throw his dice against a wall, yank at his hair, scream obscenities, and light up a joint. He would pace the room with his joint and mumble to himself, "I knew this would happen, I just knew it!"

Later, when he asked us to play the Star Wars RPG, we all declined.

I know you're probably looking for adventures but definitely check out Stormwrack, it'll get your juices flowing for the high seas.

The Town of Stillsquall, Tuesday night,

Jason: I finish my cheese log and jump across the street so that I'm on top of the witch's house.

DM: It's more of hut with a thatched roof, not very sturdy.

Jason: Ok. I'll jump on top of it now. (rolls a 14)

DM: Alright. You made it across the street but when you landed on top of the hut you broke through the thatch and landed on top of the witch. She takes (rolls) 6 points of subdual, knocking her out.

Ting picked himself up off the ground and looked down at the knocked out witch. Ting laughs to himself and claps his hands together in victory. But then someone bangs on the door. It's Daisy's next door neighbor, Gam the Meat Trader.

"Daisy, you all right? What was that?"

*Ting speaking in faux female voice*
"Um, nothing. It was just a meteor, no big deal." (rolls bluff check and Gam rolls sense motive. Ting rolls decent and Gam rolls poor)

"Meteor? What in the...alright, well alright. grumble grumble witches and grumble..."

Ting searches frantically for poison before anyone else can show up. (rolls terrible search check)

DM: Wow, you can barely find your own @$$ with two hands and a flashlight much less poison.

Jason: I'm gonna try again. (rolls bad)

Ting keeps on getting fascinated by shiny lights that seem to sparkle through the hole in the roof, he just can't seem to pull himself to search the place.

Jason: Can I take a ten?

DM: Alright, I'll allow it. (I consult paper behind the screen even though I know he needs a twenty to find the loose boards in the floor) You find a have drinken bottle of something that could be a potion and a bunch of herbs, it looks like this witch is more into cooking then real witchery.

Jason: Son of a - Ok, I'm gonna roll again. (rolls a 1)

Ting, suddenly feeling the ill effects of the cheese log, begins to feel dizzy and during his search tips over one of the witch's concoctions sending a smell into the room that makes Ting feel sick to his stomach (Jason becomes nauseated and the witch wakes up.)

"Alex is that you?" The witch said, groggily.

"Um, yeah. It's me, Alex. Where's your poison?" (rolls bluff and Daisy rolls sense motive, Ting wins)

"You want poison Alex? What fer? Your a cat, cats don't need poison," witch said and rolled over trying to stand up.

"Bully cats! Bully cat's have been beating me up!" Ting says. (rolls bluff check Daisy rolls sense motive)

"Oh, ok. Revenge is a dish best served cold you know..."

The witch crawls over to a loose board and pulls out a small black bottle with a red skull on it.

"Here you go Alex."

Ting grabs the bottle and crawls out the window in haste eyeballing his new treasure.

(end of Ting's mini mission- next mini mission to come)

Here is the start of a campaign based around chasing a dirty, low down scum named the Grackle into and out of numerous Dungeon magazine adventures. Enjoy the love!

1st session:

The Port Town of Stillsquall, Tuesday

I ran a small individual side quest for each individual character before the campaign in the Town of Stillsquall, introduced in "A Box of Flumph" (issue #118)

Also, keep in mind that I asked all four of my players to think up a terrible thing that the Grackle did to them so that they have motivation for revenge.

Jason- Playing Ting Num Padu (1st Level Vanara Ninja- race from Oriental Adventures)

Ting (aka Monkey Man) wanted poison for his shurikens, so he did what any Ninja would do when trying to find a rare and dangerous, probably illegal, poison: asked around town. Stillsquall's not exactly a well groomed or exotic trading town so everyone looked at him with a, "What the hell would you want poison fer?" kind of look.

Gather Information check DC 15 (rolled a 10, which brought him to Howell's Cheese Logs and Cheese Log paraphernelia).

"Hey man, it's too early to be askin fer poison. I can get you a cheese log! Would you like that instead?" Asked an NPC named Howell who just so happenened to own "Howell's Cheese Logs and Cheese Log Paraphernelia" (going out of business).

"You know anyone, anyone at all that would have poison, Mr. Cheese log?" Asked Ting.

"Well, Cheese Log's not my given name, the name's Howell Baker, but it flatters me that you would think so. So, I'll tell you what, you buy one of my cheese logs and I'll tell you where to get poison."

*buys cheese log*

"Alright then. There's a witch at the edge of town who's got all kinds of $*!% like...oh, I don't know, black magics, and er...poison and all. Now go on, git! You're scarin away my customers!" (not a single customer in sight)

So Ting made his way to the edge of town and found a surly, ugly-as-sin witch named Daisy. She wouldn't have any talk about poison and slammed the door in Ting's face.

Jason: Ok then, I am going to climb to the roof of a nearby building and wait until night.

DM (me): Alright, you do know there are people on the street and that they will see you climbing up onto someone's roof.

Jason: Yeah, I'll just tell them I'm a meteorologist or something. (rolls good)

DM: Ok, you say you're a meteorologist and because most of the population of Stillsquall are hicks they hear a big word and don't question it. Some even say, "Well, it's about time!" and wander off with a confused look on their face.

(to be cont.)

Tell you what Mr Hitchcock, I will start a campaign journal just for you called "The Grackle". Go over to the campaign journal message boards today and it will be there.

By the way, my sincere compliments on many fine adventures, but I must give an extra bow to the fact that if the PCs play "Box of Flumph" just right, they can actually own the ship The Grackle was using for smuggling. I loved that!

Yeah, I love the metallic heart. The player could be all, "I'm comin' Elizabeth!"

Ahhhh...rejuvenation vats. They have a lovely rejuvenation vat room at club med where you can just sit back, relax, and regrow lost limbs. Also fine bloody marys.

If you lay concrete or have ever laid concrete I apologize, I was not implying in any way, shape, or form that people who lay concrete are less of people.

This apology has been brought to you by Snickers, "Why wait, have a Snickers."

Apology not available in Tennessee, sorry Tennessee.

Tony, don't kid yourself, drywalling is the thinking man's construction job. It's not like you lay concrete!

[If you lay concrete or have laid concrete at any time please accept my apology, the above statement is not meant as an insult to concrete or concrete layers in any way.]

[Apology brought to you by Snickers "Why wait, have a Snickers."
Apology not available in Tennessee, sorry Tennessee.]

I think that is interest too Mr. Sutter. I think you'll find that it unintelligent people tend not to like D&D (at least tend not to be DMs). I'm not saying only smart people play, I'm just saying it takes a certain level of creativity and good old-fashioned smarts to really use your imagination to the degree that D&D asks you to (that is one of the reasons why I don't use minatures, I only use generic colored game pieces so that it forces my players to really use there minds when it comes to the action of the game).