wakedown's page

Since my group returned to gaming about 5 years ago, we have gamed exclusively in Greyhawk, and probably seen almost every core WOTC class outside of the Incarnum classes and the Factotum class, and a couple of the Psionic classes. The most popular Psi classes in our group have been the Psion, the Ardent and the Pyschic Warrior.

Among the players, there is definitely skepticism at the Psionic classes, but I'd equate the same initial skepticism to the Book of 9 Swords and the Incarnum classes - where its the player (or players) who dig into the book cover-to-cover that establish the comfort level to play the class.

Pessimism grows if the player struggles to play the class (the random element of the Bo9S Crusader for example slowed down gameplay). Optimism grows if the player excels at playing the class (Psionics seem to be used in a round much faster than even wizard spells do, perhaps because a Psion is much more likely to spend power points on a power, knowing that if they had to, they could use that power again later without resting, versus a wizard who expends that 1 3rd level spell, knowing he'd need to rest to use it again).

I know our top psionic player really likes the psionics system, and is probably the LEAST rule versed player, so she likes it very much due to the power point system being much simpler to grok (like mana) than having to feel like she'd need to min/max a Wizard and deal with scribing scrolls or crafting wands to augment Wizard play "properly". So strangely enough as it exists printed by WOTC, it gets a thumbs up from the most junior player.

One of the favorite parts of Psionics is that as introduced, it has the same level of detail as Wizard Schools and Cleric Domains. In that you can pick a Psion and have ~8 flavors to look at (i.e. Psychokinesis, Psychometabolism, etc). Having the 'specializations' is a very exciting part of the system.

We use the rules that Psionics is just another form of magic, so things like SR apply, and you can use Detect Magic and Detect Psionics (for example) interchangeably. I think this is pretty important to make it easy to run, otherwise a DM might feel like there's too much effort to refit a printed adventure to allow psionics, so if I were to rewrite it, I'd tend to eliminate specific things like "Knowledge (psionics)" or "Psicraft" or "Autohypnosis" from the mechanics - and lets something like "Concentration" take the place of Autohypnosis.

I'd be all over buying a Paizo update - mostly because I think our gaming group needs to feel a similar breadth of options in the Pathfinder products to the 3.5 WOTC products. Our group loves the period when we do character creation, which is always spurred by the appearance of more core class options. Our group tends to be somewhat "purist" and will wait for a Paizo version of a class, and stick to the printed Pathfinder core classes until an update appears. Getting some updated core classes in time for Council of Thieves for example, is what acts as a genesis for "oh I want to make THAT" and creates demand for a new campaign for 1st level characters.

Tough encounters so far...

Stepping into Theldrick's temple. Bad crowd control by the party resulted in them facing all the cultists, the skeletons, the tieflings and the dire boar in a single pro-longed battle. As cultists ran low on HP, they ran off to get help and were successful in doing so. Our 4-man party was down to a single member squaring off against the last tiefling, narrowly avoiding a TPK.

The grimlock cavern with the cliff. Again, bad crowd control in the first grimlock room sent a grimlock running for help from the krenshar-master grimlock, and the party split into 2 pairs. One finishing off the grimlocks in the first room, and the other pair facing the krenshars and houndmaster. A failed save vs fear from the krenshar sent one of the party members climbing down the cliff to escape (since the grimlock was blocking the other exit), bringing the archers into the fray as well. Once again, near TPK.

The encounter with the invisible stalkers (we just finished that last weekend) was also a tough one, especially since they were down to 3 members actively trying to fight them off (with the 4th member being Ixiaxian speaking the password). They ended up fleeing the encounter completely, and avoided some deaths since the cleric took the spell 'Close Wounds' and used his immediate actions to stop a few killing blows. I had the stalkers not pursue them as they followed their instructions to the letter (versus if they pursued, it would have been a TPK for certain).

Everything else, WC and Blackwall were pretty easy going. Shukak was a good battle, but noone dropped in it.

I'm still ruling out anything ToEE-related, a lot having to do with the fact they already have a RtToEE.

My best guess so far is...hmmm... remake of L2, and the 'inn' is the House of Abraham? Now THAT would be a cool remake to work on!

Hmmm...

Maybe after all Eric's hard work on Diamond Lake, WOTC finally realized the potential of other areas of the Cairn Hills region in 3.5e and we are finally after decades of pent up demand, going to see a highly detailed hardback on Innspa!

(mmmm, or not)

I'd rule out a faithful recreation of original TOEE... (a) it just seems too dungeon intensive for Eric, and a faithful recreation wouldn't really feature the Welcome Wench as much as the hint let's on and (b) if he was doing just Village of Hommlet, he also might find that a bit too mundane... I'd keep guessing.

I do hope if it's an adventure, we can see a little smack-down rivalry between JJ's Red Hand and whatever Eric is working on!

I thought someone leaked this somewhere on another message board. He's working on a new super mega module called "Return of the Flumph King"... it's supposed to come with an audio CD that includes sounds of mating Flumphs to help players get in the mood. I guess that's what JJ is calling "neat"?

;)

Haha... I forgot to mention the scene of my players in the Egg room.

Once inside the players (not the characters) began to discuss the advantages of keeping a black dragon egg, perhaps remembering back to when they had the baby owlbear in their custody. I remember specifically answering if they could squeeze the egg into their Heward's Handy Haversack. I finally reminded them this was the egg of an EVIL dragon and they finally decided to destroy it since they didnt want to leave it behind. Of course when they finally destroyed it, only 2 PCs were left on that side of the water-filled tunnel.

When the rogue in the group picked up a hammer and finally cracked it open, the worms began to spill out. His immediate reaction? Flee the scene... yep, you heard it... they let the green worms infest every last egg. At this point I was thinking evil DM thoughts of how to potentially make them regret this tragic decision.

Amazingly, the PC wizard became heroic, using his Fly spell and 2 wands of Burning Hands to zoom around the egg chamber and utilize all of his charges to kill the spawnlings single-handedly, since I ruled they were too small to reach him and had the ceiling go about 20' up from the floor.

Same here. I had Hishka request the PCs remove both Shukak and Ilthane's kobolds. From Hishka's perspective wouldn't he/she (it? darn genderless lizard) assume that if Shukak was defeated that Ilthane would just groom another cohort to lead the tribe, and see that Ilthane was really the biggest threat to the tribe's existence? Hishka wouldn't want to kill Ilthane's minions directly - if the party is responsible then in the chance that Hishka crosses Ilthane's path, he can indicate the PCs were the cause of the destruction of Ilthane's plans, and act in the best interest of the Twisted Branch, even if that meant sending the black dragon hot after the party's trail (which is exactly what we want, right?)

When I provided my group with the campaign background information, I included the Red Death, and one of them (the wizard apprenticed to Allustan) came up with that both his parents died from the Red Death. He sort of built in a possible path to hate Incabulous, seeing him as the root cause of his less-than-ideal life.

This has yet to materialize fully, as I'm still debating whether or not having this related to Kyuss is just "too much" in terms of trying to tie sub-plots together, or if I want it to even be anything of consequence in the campaign.

Next session should finally see my group getting into the doppelganger lair. I went ahead and coerced a player into playing the part of the Ixiaxian, and he's done an awesome job being "creepier" the past sessions as the group pursued some player-initiated tangents in the Free City.

My general question is that I'm looking at Sodden Hold and trying to rationalize Ixiaxian waiting until the mirror room to reveal that he is in fact a doppelganger, obviously by dropping the bomb when the player announces he is attacking another player (or similar).

A few parts where I'm concerned:
- There's the part where the party will get into the hallway with all the rooms that have pairs of doppelgangers potentially inside. Would Ixiaxian actually fight these doppelgangers to the death just to turn on the part in the mirror room? Or perhaps he suggests non-lethal damage as an approach?

- Would he do anything special with regard to the invisible stalkers or the octopus?

Any insight as to what others have seen done here would be great...

Aberzombie wrote:

Hoorah! Congrats to James! Definitely well deserved. And personally, I think you should go with zombie kenku and dinosaurs. Of course, that's just me.....

Yes, fiendish zombie kenku pirates and dinosaurs all around I think. Hmmm, "Dungeons & Dinosaurs?"

Congrats JJ.

I think my group has spent about 4 sessions pretty much focused exclusively on Diamond Lake play having nothing to do with the AP adventures.

I ended up detailing the Spinning Giant considerably due to the players choosing close ties with the garrison. One of the players worked really hard to get a job as their cook, before he ended up having to quit after spending immediately needing too much time off...

Since the garrison came into play, the stats for the lieutenants, Tolliver, Velias, etc were all important. I've seen a lot of DMs make use of Melinde, must be something about female paladins.

Allustan's stat block was useful, as one player was his apprentice and wanted to learn spells from his master. Allustan has quite a few good ones too. His 1000gp mirror sounds like it may get some use at some point too.

Joten-Hunter - Experienced giant-hunters from the Yeomanry, Geoff, and Sterich have learned much about their prey, and put all of it into use.

We just did this last night as the group finally finished off Ilthane's kobolds.

Afterward, the group of 5 players I ran through was very interested - "was that part of the module?", "that was really cool", etc. The guy that played Santos did an amazing accent and kept telling Walton how smart he was. Folks were literally on the floor when they asked "Where is he from?" and "That accent sounds familiar". When the spawn got loose, and the players got a chance to interact with the worms, they all said it felt like they were in the movie Aliens. :)

Markessa!

Not sure if it was mentioned, but you can get some mileage out of some of the Star Cairns - Lyzandred - Doomgrinder series as well. These seem to be cheap on eBay (like 2 or 3 bucks each) - at least they were for me.

The maps inside are some of the best for the area around Greyhawk, and can help you liven up the area outside of Diamond Lake for the AOW AP.

It only seems right to me that folks in this area know about the Mistmarsh along with Felnarix, Greysmere, Ogremeet, Storm Keep, etc... of course most of the 3 modules above are sparse on those details, forcing you to grab a boxed set like FtA...

Mad God's Key is my favorite. Issue #114. The first installment of Age of Worms is good, too.

Too bad the sequel is a Living Greyhawk adventure... I'd love to see it in Dungeon.

A 14th level thief or mage has all the ranks he needs to pick the really hard lock or cast the really powerful spell. The 7th level thief / 7th level mage cannot pick the lock or cast the spell.

I know a friend of mine was trying to have a character very similar to Conan, and ended up with levels in rogue, barbarian and fighter. He was definately not munchkin, he was just trying to capture the flavor of what he wanted... the character seemed fairly comparable to another level 7 character despite the spread... which wasn't intended to max out a specifical skill or ascend a certain feat tree... just get the right mix of skills available to solve problems.

I'm wondering if it has something to do with a certain group of slavers from a certain peninsula.

Seeing the new Marut in the Underdark DDM got me thinking about how it might be fun to run an Inevitable in a game at some point, hunting down someone avoiding death, breaking an oath or denying justice...

Does anyone out there know if any Dungeon adventure features an Inevitable they could direct me to for a little creative inspiration?

Finally arrived in the mail here today in California.

My group didn't jump in the first elevator and went ahead and turned it and ended up fighting the swarm and slasher (or rather upon seeing it, running for their lives).

Upon their return, since the hole was open (after the fought the slasher and beetles), they just dropped right down.

Maybe it seemed safer since it was "open" ?

Our group finally got to the grick encounter last night, and I ran it as written... sounds of metal rubbing metal and it popping up next to one of the folks on the metal balls and surprising him. One of the group tosses the shortsword to him (having identified it the previous day), and he stabbed at the grick, actually rolled a 20, and almost killed it. The wizard used one of his magic missiles and the grick was toast. The fight didn't even make it to a second round!

Might have to do with your players. I was floored when one of my players (playing a wizard) picked up all the elemental languages - Auran, Terran, etc. He's been quite happy to tranlate the whispers.

I've actually been tempted to swap out Erythnul for Incabulous a few times. Quite a few of the players built up their backstory with some deaths due to the Red Death twenty years back. It just seems fitting that a priest of Incabulous was involved in some way... this'd probably require too much tweaking to 3FOE.

I'm wondering if the adventure path uses Incabulous at all with a tie-in here...?

I hate to sound harsh about Dragon's current state as I've been a subsciber off and on for half of my RPing career. Right now it doesn't appeal to me and in some sense, having Wormfood in it seems like a marketing ploy to get dupes like me to buy it. Dungeon on the other hand, is worth every penny I've paid for it in subscriptions since 1986.

If I had to organize the party, I'd push that we use:

Drake, Tromble, Sprout, Zilas and Amur

If we used six, I'd add Mykul.

I'd make the cleric's affinity to his deity more obvious, or even offer the option of 2 clerics of fairly different gods, or a cleric or druid as options. If this was the case, the 6 person party could have included those two.

For a pre-set scenario, I'd take a sorcerer over a wizard, since I'm sure the sorcerer spells will be set to the ones that are needed. :) Plus they're just more fun if you know it's a one shot session and you're only 1st level when the two classes are fairly the same par. To create more interest here, maybe mention their favorite spells.

Sprout seems quite useful - the only rogue option, and deadly with a bow!

Haven't seen this topic brought up yet...

When did everyone start the adventure? Or was the day/year even relevant in your campaign?

I started mine (like I do almost every adventure) on the last day of Coldeven, with the next day being Growfeast. The party has spent the first 3 days of the festival poking around the cairn. I'm playing it like any other day in DL, most of the celebration was on the first day, and took place almost all in doors as I have the townsfolk naturally dividing themselves up among the hotspots. Day 4 is Cuthbert's Day which led to some interesting fun.

I have been elusive on the year with the group. I know the module publishes with a date ~CY595 and has set some material events such as Red Death in the 570's. I've been mulling with dropping this back 12-13 years to right after the Greyhawk Wars...

What's everyone else done, if anything?

I ran into similar issues. One of the characters is an impoverished citizen of Diamond Lake. Fully aware of the rival adventurers, he has contemplated that instead of risking his life with the party, perhaps he can profit more from selling the information about the Whispering Cairn to Khellek's crew.

He bumped into Tirra and started off by suggesting he knew of another Cairn with treasure and what's that worth to the thief.

I had her fiddle around with 1gp and probe a bit, flirting along the way figuring she could get the information with a crooked smile. The player didn't talk, figuring 1gp wasn't worth it.

In my mind, the rival adventurers have probably had all kinds of folks try to sell stuff to them - "yeah I know of another Cairn with lots of loot, and maybe a dragon... I'll sell ya a map for a few gold" and are wary of any offers now. In fact, their first reaction is that any such information is 99% likely to be fake.

However, if the group starts showing up with magic items... that's another story (which has yet to occur)

I see no issue with PCs leaving the Cairn and going back to town - it often creates a nice mix between dungeon and urban setting, where the PCs get a chance to roleplay more in town.

The module is pretty tough and the players could use Allustan's knowledge checks (they have on their own taken to creating sketches of any symbols/glyphs). Most of the tough encounters (such as the swarm/slashers) have caused players to go negative HP.

When I look back at the history of all of our playing at 1st level, the group has loved the nature of going back and forth between town and the dungeon (i.e. Hommlet and the Moathouse). To them this is classic gaming. Keep the 'dungeon' changing - maybe the dead wolf corpses attract a new occupant? Maybe some bandits trail them to the caves? If the frequent resting starts to make things too easy, thats a very easy problem for DMs to solve. :)

No reason you couldn't have a few hundred goblins in the Lortmils - they are quite expansive. Expansive enough to hide some ancient cities and valleys.

You wouldn't probably find an organized goblin army, but then again would you find that anywhere?

Plenty of corpses from the Hateful Wars CY498-510 to make fodder for undead. You could have skeletal dwarves, orcs, all kinds of interesting undead.

Use this link instead :)

http://www.storyarc.com/storyarc/fileDownload.do?id=1062

To make things easier, I finally just hosted the PDF online. Use the following link to download...

http://www.storyarc.com/storyarc/fileStream.do?id=1062

Just saw this thread... I'm sure this has either been mentioned or dispelled because of the impact to production costs.

I'd like a feature called something like 'Dungeon Aid' and it includes a full color 'tile'. Not unlike when the magazines included D&D miniatures tiles. But instead of a semi-official DDM, just a page that has no set dimensions (it could be 5x5, 10x6, etc).

The tiles should be very inventive (please no Infernal Altar or Rubble Filled Hallway) and things that can inspire creative gaming. I suppose I would tend towards ones that are where tactical gaming might be necessary.

Example #1

One of the players was escorting some free slaves through a hostile city (while they were all disguised) and ran into the city watch, who promptly brought them a Temple of Hextor, where a cleric cast Zone of Truth to perform an interrogation. The room was a large room with a long table flanked by many chairs. Since this room was used for all sorts of meetings, there were supply cabinets, etc.

While the room was mundane, the feature would theoretically include suggestions or seeded ideas for use of the 'tile' - i.e. the above one could be used for interrogation when officials catch the PCs, or maybe it could be used for a town council meeting where one of the council members reveals he's a BBEG and combat ensues.

Example #2

Eventually combat here moved to outside the temple onto the steps that led up to the double doors. I actually had it such that there were 3 sets of stairs, a large wide one, and two side stairs, where in between there was a planter and statues. The players ended up creatively making use of everything in the combat. Here the 'seeds' would include of course how we used it (combat at a temple entrance) but also perhaps where a town official is making a speech and assassins strike?

So to summarize, a usable tile (not for DDM though) which is maybe 1 or 2 pages, and a list of good ideas for making use of the tile... the good ideas are the key to inspire DM creativity.

In a world where magazine text content competes with electronic content, these are the things that motivate people to buy printed copies (oh I gotta have that tile since it fits so perfectly into my campaign and beats drawing it out with markers).

More examples include:
- Deck of a boat (seeds include pirate attacks, a docked boat where an exchange is being made, etc)

- Gambling den (seeds include a hand gone bad, PC's disguised as a merchant being detected)

- Balcony (includes a baron speaking to a crowd and an assassin, a BBEG using dimension door to get up to it)

- Kitchen (chase through it for many reasons)

- Jail Cell and Surrounding (PCs could be watching a prisoner during a prison break, or hear about an in progress one)

etc etc etc

I've actually had Auric frequent the Spinning Giant (as I wondered the same thing).

The sweet thing about this is the other garrison folk don't take poor Auric too seriously and have been sarcastic in talking with him. Of course poor Auric doesn't realize they're sarcastic just yet, so he's playing along with them. "Why yes I am a very mighty warrior..."

I've justified this to myself in that Dobrun has talked his men into talking it up with Auric, hoping he will leak info about the group.

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Edit: I didn't see Mona's post first before I replied - I could have sworn it was something about needing interns...:)

I didn't take Auric as the type to frequent the opium den? I pictured him as being fairly shallow and maybe even hyper?

I think I'm the same way whenever I invest a good chunk of time into any specific location. For the past year, I've had a pretty sizable adventure path running through Safeton, and ended up with a ridiculous amount of detail for the town and all the players had planned to come back to it at some point since it ended up feeling like 'home'.

The same thing is prone to happening again with Diamond Lake! I'm anxiously awaiting the Overload to see what I'd need to do next...

After last session I ended up with a handful of more NPCs, which I usually try to keep in pretty good detail, here they are in case anyone else wants to use them in a bind...

Moras
Moras (Human Fighter3) works as a guard for the Able Carter Coaching Inn. In his late thirties, he has lived his whole life in town and seen much of the events of Diamond Lake, and is most often commonly requested (or recommended) by those traveling to meet with Luzane Parrin (and is actually requested by the matron herself while traveling). He is an excellent source of information regarding some of the gossip of the mine managers (especially Luzane and Chaum Gansworth), able to tell about how Luzane’s husband died around the time that Balabar was courting her. Moras has a round tanned face and a wide moustache and thinning reddish-brown hair. While on guard duty, he wears a chain shirt and carries a masterwork longsword.

Ilmoaneam
Ilmoaneam (Goliath Commoner1) is a goliath who has taken on the name Strong Digger and works in the mines of Balabar Smenk where he earns barely enough money each day to satiate his immense appetite. Ilmoa is not terribly bright (in no ways indicative of goliaths as a whole), however this has helped many of the locals see goliath’s in general as less than intelligent as a stereotype (of whom only members of the Bronzewood Lodge or Garrison really have seen otherwise). He is a tremendously affectionate and kind-hearted guy who enjoys simple past-times. He is easily recognized in town, his 7’4” frame standing out of most crowds. He has very little information on the town dealings (‘I make 8 commons a day and live in a big room with a buncher other fellas’) but serves as a way to help goliath PCs empathize with the town’s current affairs.

Jenna
Jenna (Female Human Commoner1) is one of the workers at the Spinning Giant. Jenna grew up in Diamond Lake and has a good relationship with the members of the garrison, where she coyly winks at or flirts with them, seeing them all as good men. Her buxom, blonde presence is quickly recognized as she engages in stories and rumors with the garrison folk while working. She lives onsite at the Spinning Giant, her family long since passed away during the Red Death.

Renault
Renault (Human Expert3) is one of the two cooks at the Spinning Giant, alternating shifts with the other so as to keep it open 7 days a week for three meals a day. With a thin, well-groomed moustache, he favors precision in every meal he prepares and can be caught measuring out ingredients several times before adding them. This has left his food with little day-to-day variety but extreme consistency, which most of the garrison men favor as part of their routine. Renault favors precision in all things, and for relaxation will organize the kitchen at the Spinning Giant, labeling every item with detail. He is fairly short, about 5’5” with his black hair showing a touch of gray. Renault also lives in quarters at the Spinning Giant.

Aggis
Aggis (Human Commoner1) will quickly seek out any newcomers to Jalek’s Flophouse in the evening, hoping to find a new friend through which he can find himself a free meal. His gaunt frame is emphasized by his long gray hair and bony limbs. Balabar pays him only a handful of coppers each day and Aggis prefers to live at Jalek’s as opposed to with the others that live in the mine manager’s workhouses – this is mostly due to Aggis’ pathetic personality and strong odors. Aggis only real friend is Durskin, whom he will occasionally head out into Diamond Lake and fish with, sometimes catching an odd black-skinned eel, which he will feast over with the sailor. Despite his life, he is optimistic, only complaining about his joints.

Chimmer
Chimmer (Halfling Expert2) hails from Elmshire, where he owns a small canoe which he called Birdy and fishes the shallows of the Midbay. He will travel to Blackstone, Steaming Spring and Diamond Lake to bring his excess and try his hand at some games of chance with the profits he makes. He is one of several merchants that bring fish to the town since the lake has become so polluted, and he will reinforce this point (‘if it wasn’t for ol’ Birdy and I, you folks’d hardly see any o’fine filets to be munchin’ on). Chimmer will also discuss his other soft spot, which is relaxing in the hot springs of Steaming Spring, and discuss this as well (‘ain’t nuttin like a dip in an ol’ hotpot at Steaming Spring to make ya feel jus’right’).

Four characters starting at first level. All background information was 75% the credit of my players too!

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Morgan – The second son of the second wife of a minor noble who made his name as a wine merchant, Morgan has literally disappeared from family affairs (and responsibilities) and stayed briefly with a woodsman cousin where he had a brief affair (his tenth such) with a dryad (and explained the Nymph’s Kiss feat), who manipulated him into killing a woodcutter. Morgan was swept into Diamond Lake when he pitched in to help a guard fight off a handful of creatures assailing a coach containing none other than mine manager Luzane Parrin (he immediately began to woo her despite her informing him that she was to eat with her current interest later that night).

Thalluun – A goliath nicknamed ‘Sure Grasp’ for his climbing skills unjustly exiled from his tribe when the chieftain wished to prevent a developing relationship with his daughter, he hit the road with plans to return and prove his courage and worth. Along the way he befriended an injured wolf named Nanva and has taken up work in the Spinning Giant, having replaced their previous night duty cook (with his 7 total ranks in Profession ). He is anxiously preparing a meal tonight, as he has been requested to cook Luzane Parrin’s birthday meal by Chaum Gansworth (as he’s somewhat of a fad in town at the moment).

Graylic – A half-elf and son of two wizards who passed away during the Red Death when he was only five years old. He now lives with his aunt, who creates minor herbal concoctions that are sold at the Emporium for a pittance and spends his time copying books for the likes of Allustan and Benazel the alchemist. He has gotten along well with Benazel as they both share a love for alchemy and transmutation (Graylic prefers to think in how he can alter the parameters to solve problems and has proven himself as a worthy challenger at dragonchess by exploiting little known rules).

Damion – the eldest son of one of Diamond Lake’s few families, he keeps a cautious eye over the affairs of his younger sister as has driven off many callers. Recently of age, he has been apprenticed to the town carpenter and wainwright where he works away on furniture for the mine managers or wagons for the mines or Able Carter. In his spare time, he has made a number of items including a doghouse for his dog Lester. He has also recently taken up swordplay with his best friend (an apprentice to Ostler the smith) until wolves killed his friend. His complacency in Diamond Lake has been shaken by the inaction of the sheriff to even give a rat’s ass. The future for him is wide open (as he is a fighter with an 11 strength, and many points elsewhere).

As I finally got down to running Whispering Cairn, I actually ended up 'running Diamond Lake' for most of the night as the players focused on character development and NPC interaction.

One of the players was the 'fourth son of a noble' from outside of town (I suggested his family was from one of the manors south of Greyhawk as shown on the maps from the boxed set). He rolled into town with only 3 orbs to his name, and after having met up with the other players (who all live in various spots throughout town), decided to get himself his own place for the night.

Following up on leads on places to stay, he checked out Jalek's and was promptly disgusted at it's conditions, his 'room' lacking even a door or a bed (and I included a chamber pot, which was full).

His other lead was the Able Carter, where he learned a room for the night was 1gp. He ponied up the cash, and after a meal earlier in the day was down to a handful of commons.

I'm pretty sure I'm reading the town right in that there are really only 2 places to stay - Jalek's and the Able Carter. I know gnomes can probably crash at Tidwoad's (I'd allow a particularily diplomatic character that option perhaps as well).

Has anyone else played such that other options in town in between are available? (i.e. 5sp a night). I've turned the Emporium, Lazare's, The Spinning Giant, The Hungry Gar and The Rusty Bucket into pure nightspots, with no lodging really available for non-locals. I figure there's not a whole lot of visitors, and the two mentioned above essentially corner the market. It has had good results too, since that player is keenly motivated to find a quick way to make some cash.

Thanks again for the typo catches, I found a number of others as I used the list...

I also have these tables too (since Overload is next week)...

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Table 1-A. Generic NPC Encounters
01-04. Member of cult of Wee Jas from middle of the lake
05-08. Member of Bronzewood Lodge outside of town
09-11. Member of Twilight monastery outside of town
12-30. Native of Diamond Lake (random profession)
31-54. Named NPC, roll on Table 2
55-70. Mine worker
71-75. Thugs who work for one of the mine managers
76-79. Traveler (i.e. merchant, random trade good or profession)
80-84. One of 24 workers at the smelting house
85-99. One of 4 guards working at Able Carter Coaching Inn
90-95. One of 7 apprentices to Osgood
96-00. One of six grey elves (male and/or female) that work with Moonmeadow

Table 1-B. Emporium Encounters
1. 1d4 mine workers here to see freak show
2. Mine worker here to visit the Veiled Corridor and has saved up quite a bit to do so
3. Halflings of Curlyfoot party staying at Able Carter here for freak show
4. Deputy Jamis here to visit Veiled Corridor
5. Balabar Smenk with attaché of guards to visit Veiled Corridor
6. Thug of Balabar Smenk here to find latest gossip to relay back to Balabar
7. Mine worker who feels he has a special trick to join the freak show
8. 1d4 men from garrison who are hoping to visit veiled corridor without word getting back to rest of garrison
9. Prominent merchant who comes to Diamond Lake to buy from mine managers
10. Khellek, looking for female companionship for the night in Veiled Corridor
11. Tyrol Ebberl, here to seek the freak show at night
12. Sheriff Cubbin paying a visit to Zalamandra to ask how things are, and maybe stay for a spell upstairs
13. Lanod Neff, discussing matters with 1d4 merchants and showing them about town
14. 1d4 travelers from Greyhawk looking to check up on mines
15. 1d4 merchant guards looking to watch freak show
16. Rogue of Olidimarra looking for a romantic evening upstairs
17. Wife or girlfriend of mine worker looking for romantic inspiration from fortune told by Chezbet
18. Mine worker who has a crush on Chezabet looking to get yet another fortune telling
19. Sadistic follower of local Cuthbert (random day job) who comes to watch Tom Shingle the contortionist do ‘painful things’ to himself
20. Rastophan and/or Todrik here for freak show

Table 1-C. Feral Dog Encounters
1. 1d4 unemployed denizens who reside at Jalek’s Flophouse
2. Halflings from Curlyfoot party staying at Able Carter looking to watch dog fight
3. 1d6 mine workers here to drown their sorrows
4. 1d6 members of caravan delivering odd goods to Diamond Lake
5. Tirra, looking to challenge some men to games
6. Khellek (1-2 on 1d4) or Auric (3-4 on 1d4) looking for Tirra
7. Benazel, trying to sell a potion to a dog owner to enhance it’s performance
8. Fester Trollump, having caught a wild animal and looking to sell it into a fight
9. 1d4 dog handlers talking it up and looking to run a match
10. Merchant looking to establish trade and supply Feral Dog with his brand of alcohol
11. Lanch Faraday looking to witness some barbaric dog fighting
12. 1d4 sadistic members (with assorted day jobs) of Cuthbert’s flock looking to see animals attack each other since they enjoy the sight of injury/pain
13. Kullen, along with Rastophan, Todrik and Merrovinn
14. Deputy Jamis and 1d4 guards, looking to spot a reason to expect a bribe
15. Sheriff Cubbin and 1d4 guards, looking to spot a reason to expect a bribe
16. Jierian, looking to find someone entering or leaving whom he can guilt into coming to service
17. 1d4 members of garrison who for whatever reason, don’t frequent Spinning Giant with other garrison members
18. Rontabont Mur, from Blackstone, too cheap to go anywhere else
19. Durskin, by self in corner, smelling of urine and alcohol, here to drink cheap
20. 1d4 thugs looking to pick a fight with an easy target

Thanks for the catch on the duplicate #12, maybe it just means that Deputy Jamis and Lazare's daughter have a 'thing' going on, and you'll only encounter them together.

I'm still just impressed that we received pretty good info on 63+ NPCs in Dungeon 124! Crazy! Nice work Erik!

While waiting for the Overload download, I threw together a NPC list that I could roll for random NPCs on (I just reroll if I don't like what comes up) and also refresh my memory on who is who. It's going to lose formatting here, but I can email the PDF if anyone wants...

I use AEG's Toolbox product for random non-named NPCs, which I'm not including here.

--

Table 1. NPC Encounters
1-30. Native of Diamond Lake (roll on table 4 for details)
31-54. Named NPC, roll on Table 2
55-70. Mine worker
71-75. Thugs who work for one of the mine managers
76-77. Traveler (i.e. merchant - roll on Table 3 for trade)
80-84. One of 24 workers at the smelting house
85-90. One of 4 guards working at Able Carter Coaching Inn
90-95. One of 7 apprentices to Osgood
96-00. One of six grey elves (male and/or female) that work with Moonmeadow

Table 2. Detailed NPCs
1. Allustan Distinguished brother of Lanod, wizard from Free City and so called ‘smarted man in Diamond Lake’, protects brother’s position. Was apprentice to Manzorian in Greyhawk but left due to too many politics amongst wizards. Philosophical, book-smart.
2. Amelliante Old friend of Luzane’s mother who watches her estate, female sorcerer uses wand of magic missles, is paranoid and sees a dagger in every shadow
3. Ariello Klint Halfling sorcerer who wields displays of fire at Emporium
4. Auric Human gladiator wears leather girdle with haunting female face (champion’s belt of Free City Arena) and fancies self as leader of trio of adventurers that includes Khellek and Tirra
5. Balabar Smenk Most ambitious and manipulative mine manager in town, hopes to monopolize mining in town by forcing others into bankruptcy. A coven of hired goons surrounds him at all times, and rumors say he has powerful friends in Greyhawk.
6. Benazel Talkative half-elf alchemist and wizard oversees smelting, makes minor fortune selling potions
7. Bitris Ruthek female dwarf council from Greysmere works with Dulok
8. Chaum Gansworth Youngest and most cautious mine manager in town, sympathizes to Luzane to join her and Gelch vs Balabar. Currently refuses to take sides as he is pragmatic and unsure of any current play.
9. Chezabet Alluring woman who reads fortunes at Emporium
10. Constance Grace Top earner at Midnight Salute, in pay of Lanod Neff and passes information up for blackmail fodder, unlikely to survive the month
11. Curlyfoot Party Band of seven halflings from Elmshire staying at Able Carter
12. Dannath Daughter of Lazare reminds her father of her mother and her loss due to Diamond Lake politics
12. Deputy Jamis Rght hand man of Cubbin, eminently bribable and subtly hostile, likes the way things are in Diamond Lake
13. Dietrik Cicaeda Middle aged chief cartographer, sole legal authority regarding issues of land ownership, his maps and journals are highly valuable, inner circle of Tolliver
14. Dobrun Trent Lieutenant of third of garrison, male half-elf
15. Dulok Blitzhame Dwarf that leads group from Greysmere that purchases iron ore, often dines with Lanod Neff and is a strong friend of Ragnolin (not knowing his relationship with Ebon Triad)
16. Durskin Retired marine who lives on deck of his boat and smells of urine and teams with flees
17. Ellival Moonmeader Regular gambler at Lazare’s known as “The Prince” since he is a minor noble of Celene. Aloof and sees other mine managers as vulgar. Blonde, well-dressed, keenly intelligent yet reclusive. Two cooshees named Kanemar and Tatae.
18. Fester Trollump Permanent guest at Able Carter Coaching Inn, who raps badgers and sells pelts to noble named Henway during monthly trips to Greyhawk, tries to keep a low profile
19. Filge Deranged necromancer holed up in observatory, with pet owl familiar named Merrowahn, wears a bird skull on leather strap around neck, uses syringes on self as potions
20. Galuth Grobadore Male dwarf councilor from Greysmere works with Dulok
21. Garavin Vesst Former mine manager, bankrupted by Balabar and died last year, branded employees (among them Kullen, Rastophan, Todrik and Merovinn)
22. Gaspar Thin, balding man with upcurled moustache works at Emporium as attendant
23. Gelch Tilgast Dominant mine manager ten years ago, but has given up position to Balabar as he got older. Currently puts enormous effort into building alliance against Smenk that includes Luzane.
24. Golot Half orc brute who ensures people pay who lodge at Jalek’s
25. Lanod Neff Governor mayor, lecherous, eager to solidify power and keep mine managers in line, exerts will through Cubbin
26. Guld Tortikan Chef at Hungry Gar thinks he is best cook in town
27. Hameneezer Hard working cleric who manages day-to-day affairs of church of Cuthbert, almost always found within
28. Jalek Halfling who runs cheap, seedy lodging, lives in apartment on roof and is rarely seen
29. Jierian Wierus Bombastic orator, cleric of St Cuthbert, endlessly preaching common sense, honesty and self sacrifice with over-the-top delivery, reinforcing a life of suffering is good
30. Khellek Balding, dark-haired human wizard wears high collared red cape, fastened with skull clasp, member of Seekers, an shady organization of corrupt archaeologists and adventurers, is in town to seek out missed chambers in local cairns. Frequents Lazare’s for relaxation.
31. Kullen Albino half-orc barbarian, leader of Balabar Smenk gang, known for legendary rages, carries a burly magical greataxe. Frequents the Feral Dog for relaxation.
32. Kurlag Imposing half-ogre bouncer of the Emporium
33. Lanch Faraday Half-elf, brutal portly ostler of Lakeside stables prone to moodswings, oftens takes it out on horses, bribes Cubbin to stay off his back
34. Lazare Owner of Diamond Lake’s most cultured nightspot, a cozy gaming parlor, exudes quiet sense of class, former dragonchess champ from Greyhawk, used winnings to purchase a mine with family, but failed in political game, selling mine to Balabar. Wife died during this struggle.
35. Luzane Parrin With recent faltering of mine yield, clings to a hopeful relationship with Chaum. Inherited mine from her mother as one of town’s preeminent mine managers. Husband died two years ago mysteriously, during time when Balabar was courting her (despite her marriage).
36. Manlin Osgood Coarse, unfailingly polite human with bald head and walrus-like moustache, always remembers a customer’s name and greets them with a hearty handshake and slap on the back, forges works with distinctive “O”
37. Melinde Female paladin, charming priestess who hopes to one day run Diamond Lake chapel, with no hurry to assume the responsibility acting as Dun’s closest advistor. Reputation as excellent with her sword, she excels at dragonchess and can frequently be found at Lazare’s. Takes on all challenges and craves excitement. Red-haired, wears white and blue robes over a slim suit of chainmail.
38. Merovinn Bask Bald, ill-tempered wizard can’t believe debts forced him into servitude, views each day as disgrace, very rude, carries mwk crossbow, known to use wand of enfeeblement, color spray, sleep spells and has pet weasel named Rascal
39. Merris Sandovar Scout lately of Bronzewood Lodge, inner circle of Tolliver
40. Mikkela Venderin Lieutenant of third of garrison, female human
41. Montague Marat Proprietor of traveling sideshow that joined Emporium, abandoning Diamond Lake three years ago, but leaving behind a dozen employees
42. Nogwier Cleric of Obad-Hai laeds Bronzewood Lodge
43. Purple Prose Ravishing female elf proprietor of house of Midnight Salute, stresses discretion amongst her workforce, is practical
44. Ragnolin Dourstone Dwarf of formerly impeachable ethics, now under sway of Ebon Triad, left home 50 years ago after intentionally collapsing part of family mine at Greysmere. Greed drove to establish several mines around Diamond Lake and success attracted the Triad who forced him to provide access to one of mines for silence about his part in the intentional mine collapse.
45. Rastophan Wiry goon from southern swamps, long blank hair hands over eyes making him look sullen, rarely speaks, is guided by Kullen, dual wields l.sword/s.sword, wears magic chain shirt
46. Rontabont Mur Copper miner from nearby Blackstone who has come to talk to Gelch Tilgast, boorish self-interest and whining, may come into conflict easily with others, staying at Able Carter
47. Shag Solomon Quaggoth “wild man” from northern pine forests, frequents opium lounge at Emporium, wears gentleman’s clothes that contrast to his claws and teeth, very cultured
48. Sheriff Cubbin Corrupt sheriff of Diamond Lake, town assumed his appointment was a joke, boisterous alcoholic, takes key interest in the extraordinary
49. Skutch Deceased, dying to owlbear at Land farmstead, member of Kullen’s gang
50. Taggin Owner of Diamond Lake’s largest general store, doesn’t want to get involved in business of others. Just shy of middle age, dresses stylishly for his class, handlebar moustache and full receding blonde hair, he treats women especially politely.
51. Tidwoad Gnome and cantankerous jeweler who befriends other gnomes, hails from Grossetgrottel, on retainer for Balabar and Chaum to keep an eye out
52. Tirra Vivacious, copper-haired attractive female elf rogue wears a form fitting red shirt that exposes a well-toned stomach, accented by tight black leather pants and knee-high boots. Frequents the Feral Dog, enjoying the high male hormone levels there.
53. Todrik Corrupt fighter born into servitude to Garavin, views Balabar as savior. Red scar marks left side of sneering face from forehead to chin, wields guisarme and wears banded mail
54. Tolliver Trask Aging garrison commander respects laws and process, trusts his three advisors
55. Tom Shingle Boggle contortionist works at Emporium
56. Trovost Skunt Lieutenant of third of garrison, male human, who regularly exploits his authority
57. Tyrol Ebberl Man who runs Captain’s Blade, likes to gossip, absolutely fanatical about weapons, always showing them with enthusiasm, asks endless questions about affairs
58. Valkus Dun Tolliver’s best friend, chief cleric of Heironeous and spiritual advisor to Tolliver, took assignment in Diamond Lake with zeal and is an activist, instills within garrison a duty to villagers, suggesting they can make a difference. Tall, handsome with dark brown hair and long sideburns, with strong brow that always gives him a serious look. Wears full plate with twin swords, a mighty bastard sword and a long sword rumored to be magical. Shares many opinions with Jieran but they can’t stand each other.
59. Velias Childramun Aging priest who has lived his whole life In town, handles most of healing of garrison temple, effective father figure, expects small donation to chapel in return for healing
60. Venelle Woman who makes bows, arrows and has chaotic, messy shop, claims to have a touch of elven blood and has friends in Bronzewood Lodge
61. Vulgan Durtch Chief smelter, one of the richest men in town, whom few know about, and rumors suggest sinister motives for his seclusion
62. Zalamandra Owner of Emporium keeps a file on customers and wields the knowledge politically
63-00. Reroll

As a DM who's had probably too many adventures in the Cairn Hills...

The Breningund series runs...

COR1-02 The Reckoning
COR1-05 Breningund's Bride
COR1-07 Breningund's Blood
COR2-02 Breningund's Brood
COR2-09 The Final Reckoning

I've only run The Reckoning. There's an encounter at The Last Chance Inn which is noteworthy. I've had this as a long time as a common stop for PCs on their way to the Cairn Hills, so it's developed a bit of legendary status.

Dugneon #114 Mad God's Key is a great adventure, featuring some great parts of Greyhawk (such as Barge End). It also has the players heading into the Cairn Hills to go 'cairn-delving'.

Dungeon #87 Cradle of Madness is another great adventure giving you some Greyhawk/Cairn Hill goodness to work with.

There's also always the trilogy of Star Cairns, Doomgrinder and Lyzandred. There's a handful of references in here too.

The players really ate up the adventures in #87 and #114 though, and have been a pair of my favorites since adulthood returning to the game.

I don't think it's a coincidence that those Dungeon magazines are selling well.

When I heard about Maure Castle, I got off my arse and bought the first issue of Dungeon since 1992. At the time, I figured I was just buying that issue as a fluke.

Then the Greyhawk maps came out, and I admitted to myself I'd be making a trip to the local store to buy 4 more issues.

Then I started reading the message boards and saw Erik suggesting much more Greyhawk was to come.

I immediately subscribed for a year and eagerly look forward to each issue.

Hoping to start running AOW in a couple of months once the group reaches a few milestones in Slavelords. They are just about to encounter Markessa, and I'm quite excited. :)