1crazyDM's page

Hmm...there are a LOT of truly great ideas, advice and so much more from some DMs (I'm old school so it's DM for me)here. I have to admit that since I started running games way back in'78', I've almost never used modules, adventure paths or hardly anything published. I've read a LOT of them but always had this silly, stubborn streak in me that made me wing my own adventures. Initially, when I run a game, whether it's for a new group or a well-seasoned group of players, I have a few notes as to where they are, important organizations, NPCs and some other details. I have a GENERAL idea of where the party is starting but I love it when the party just takes off on one hell of a tangent that I NEVER saw coming. A case in point; years ago, a group of players that included a guy playing a mage was hired to recover an ancient book of magic from some ruins deep in a black, foggy swamp. The party recovered the tome & were on their way out when they came across a pyrohydra that was fighting a bunch of korax (aquatic orcs)near some ancient, collapsed ruins. The hydra also noticed the party and even though they weren't allies with the korax, both sides realized that if they didn't cooperate, both parties would die. After the battle with the dead hydra was over and only one korax left that had sworn a life-oath because the mage had saved his life, the mage asked what the ruins were. I told him that it was an ancient, collapsed temple. Well, silly me! My player asked WHO the temple was devoted to and off of the top of my head, I said Isis. Little did I know that my friend was a huge fan of egyptian lore. Knowing that 1.Isis was a goddess of magic & 2. the current deity of magic was Mezron, he asked what had happened to Isis and where she went. Well, this was when the party was about 5th level. By the time that question had been answered, the party had reached 15th level and had discovered that the god Mezron had made a deal with Asmodeus to entomb Isis within a great circle of corrupted stones of power on the 9th layer of hell, backstabbed so to speak by Mezron so many decades ago. My gaming philosophy is simply this; if it's not fun, why are we (including you, the GM) doing it? After all, your players could be doing any number of things but have chosen to spend time in a shared alternative reality. I just wing it for about 90+ of my games and it seems to have worked pretty well so far. Remember, you're games are like mind-movies and the PCs are the stars so make it a good one! One more important note. ALWAYS keep a notebook nearby just to jot down great ideas, names and other info that pops into your head. If you don't, keeping those ideas around is almost like trying to keep smoke within your closed fist, they fade.

28. fighting on a rough iceberg near a collapsing ice-wall
29. On a chain bridge to a hellish keep over an active volcano
30. on the back of a great whale that's about to dive undersea
31. fighting enemies while swinging from vines or ropes above a terrible chasm.
32. fighting on top of a lily pad while predators from below notice the activity.
33. fighting on top of a great blimp that's also being strafed by enemy forces on winged mounts.
34. chasing down enemies on top of a great tree canopy.
35. chasing down an opponent while aboard a small, frail raft in a very swift, icy river.

Spelljammer! Yep, I use the spelljammer series in my Kalan'Drean campaign. Right now I've got a couple of new playing groups since I just moved but I'm looking forward to using spelljammer again. I know that pathfinder has their different world hardcover book out but since I've never even seen a copy (yet!), I'm not sure about their take on this issue. Spelljammer rules really aren't too tough to alter and change to pathfinder for any experienced DM (I'm old school so DM it is!). I always look at my games like a movie producer and try and put the PCs in as the stars. Just think of what it would actually be like to travel off-world in a spelljammer ship? Of course, you're probably going to want to change the 'helms' at least, the magic-using ones that are the default system that is used to something a little more workable, perhaps make them as magic items of great value. Personally, I also use a couple of books put out by perpetrated press known respectively as Arsenal & Factory. If you can get a copy of them, by all means so do! They're out of print and have been for going on over 10+years with no way of getting in touch with the original writers/creators. Here's a couple of links for you though. Arsenal: https://www.amazon.com/Arsenal-System-Weapons-Guide-Sourcebook/dp/097213580 4 Factory: https://www.amazon.com/Factory-Compendium-Computers-Dweoware-Roleplaying/dp /0972135812/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0972135812&pd_rd _r=SA94YH6JXZEKPH990B42&pd_rd_w=IWkQN&pd_rd_wg=7HWX6&psc=1& refRID=SA94YH6JXZEKPH990B42

There's a lot of great advice here already. Consider this; when you're DMing (I'm old school so DM it is), look at your games as movies with your players as the stars. How would you SEE such an event happening? Now, take that into account and just IMAGINE the damage an ancient red dragon's breath would do to anything around them. Just look at their damage pool of dice and then compare that to ANYTHING they breath on! If you were a townie, what in the heck would YOU do if you knew a dragon was going to attack the city? Just imagine the chaos and also describe the effects of a nearby breath weapon attack. What does it SMELL and SOUND like? Adding more senses in there makes it a lot more REALISTIC to the PCs and also will probably brand that encounter in their mind & their memories (both PCs & players) as well. The more detail you add (just as long as you're not dumping a couple of gallons of flavor text into each sentence that is), the more realistic and vivid you will make it to your players. Sure some players may just want to reduce it to a series of dry calculations and so on but I never run my games that way. Adding sensory info and 'fluff' to the game sparingly can really make a huge difference to your draconic encounter. Also think of it this way. If you've ever watched or even been a part of an armed conflict where a region, perhaps a whole town or more was destroyed by modern weapons such as bombs, explosions and so on, what does that LOOK, smell and sound like? There's a reason why the game was originally called Dungeons & Dragons. Dragons should NEVER be an easy kill nor a casual encounter! I hope this helps.

I was looking for some good info for putting spelljammer into my campaign and I have to say I wasn't disappointed. There are some really great ideas. If anyone's seen Treasure Planet, it immediately reminded me of spelljammer. I've used spelljammer before and adopted the use of energy/magic weapons for use in my campaign. Firestars are an enchanted type of magical gem that is mined by the Voidminers guild (mostly dwarves) who have a corner on the market for such crystals. They are charge-based and can be used for magical firearms. If anyone has ever seen the two books made by Perpetrated Press known as "Factory" and "Armory", you'll realize they have some really cool ideas that are based on the D20 rules system. It doesn't really take much work to incorporate them into the pathfinder system. They also have some cool prestige classes as well as some great ideas on the core classes (remember it's D20 not pathfinder). New spells, feats, equipment all awaits those willing to take a look. As far as miniature use, I've used the small ships from the Pirates miniature game and they worked just fine. With a little creative energy and elbow grease, one could even come up with some spelljammer ships such as the deathspider, the nautaloid, the hammership (my favorite) and the various elven ships amongst others. Thank you once again, for some seriously outstanding and original ideas to all involved and I'm definitely going to incorporate some of the stuff I've read here into my campaign. Gotta love the Scro as really nasty bad guys!