Allen Stewart's page

Turin the Mad's other crowning achievement encounter of 1st edition was when he greased 7 out of 8 characters (one of my two characters was the lone survivor) with a Wu Jen Lich and a bunch of Oni, in that ill-fated encounter for Heward's Bogus Mystic Organ...

And while I'm at it, a recent (2014) player character whoopin' of note was in the Hidden Shrine of the Tamoachan. I allowed one player character a "free Resurrection" on the spot. Said player was very happy about that. Within five minutes I greased his same character again when he was running to try to catch up with the other characters who had left him behind when he bought the farm the first time :)

In today's session of the current homebrew campaign, there were EIGHT (8) PC Fatalities. The group first laid the smackdown on the forces of Baron Pondsludge, who then teleported himself and his pet gorgon (advanced 12 HD gorgon) into where the PCs were perched up on top of the castle where they could shoot at Pondsludge's floundering mooks. Pondsludge's gorgon Petrified 3 out of 4 spellcasting characters, and it looked bad for the PCs, but knowing what was in store for the group later, I opted to take it easy on them, lest the day turn into a total debacle. Pondsludge had his hand on a boulder that was set in a catapult ready to be fired. An NPC conveniently poured Soverign Glue onto the Baron's hand, and then kicked the release lever, and sent Pondsludge flying with the boulder that his hand was super-glued to. The PCs then mopped up the rest of the invaders.

The group then went to the haunted isle to grab the unguarded treasure. The treasure wasn't so unguarded however, and though the PCs looted it, the guardian caught up with them when they were hauling the loot back across the lake. Our old friend Scorch the Dragon sent a fiery blast at the PCs (who were Water Walking across the lake), and killed the PC Sorcerer. Had I been able to dispatch the PC cleric, it would have been an unmitigated disaster, as the Water Walk would have then folded, and all PCs present would have ended up in the drink. The survivors of the initial blast however all banded up together in the burning boat, and teleported out, leaving the loot to sink to the bottom, to be recovered later.

Lastly, the group attempted to investigate a reported dastardly activity by their chief villain, and at the same time help an elderly man who was about to be bumped off by his next of kin for his extensive fortune. I really can't do justice to describing the encounter without going to extensive detail, but long story short, after a lot of Role Playing, Flavor Text, and diabolically lulling the players into a false sense of security on my part, the PCs arranged to escort the constable to meet with the old man in his house. They did so. The entire group was actually stupid enough to be convinced to cram themselves into his small (20'x20') study. To the PCs dismay, (and not a single player present even raised an eyebrow or asked a question/made a check) to detect disguise or anything else (though most were spelled up at the time), the main villain threw Dust of Sneezing and Choking into the air, screwing everybody in the room. Though every PC affected made their saves, all (save 1) were still Stunned for 14 rounds.

The villain, his helper, and Haru's Sorcerer all had Necklaces of Adaptation, so they were not harmed by the dust. The villain's helper then cast Maze on Haru's sorcerer, leaving the other 7 Player Characters unable to take actions or move, and they were subsequently sliced and diced, one by one, for the next seven rounds. The villains then set the entire place on fire and walked off to celebrate.

The group was glued back together by the remaining PC and a helpful NPC, and then went off to obtain the sacred flame. They began a battle with a number of Druids and 2 Efreeti, and we concluded the session while combat was still ongoing.

We played on Feb 13, and there were (0) PC fatalities, but don't fear, there will be likley at least 2 as SOON as we start this coming Saturday. I've got my ducks pretty well lined up, and when we start on Saturday the 27th, I (the GM) will be first up on the initiative order, and the heads are going to start rolling, when one of my star villains starts swinging the falchion around. I'll post the results ASAP after Saturday.

Yesterday's session ended up with One (1) additional PC fatality, as the mysterious villain darting in and out of the fog via spring attack, led into the villain (hidden by fog) taking a 5 foot step and using a full round action to carve Mr. D's PC druid into lasagna. Just prior to that happening, the PC cleric had teleported (travel domain) the king and a fellow PC fighter to safety, as the plan was to grab the king and get the hell out of dodge. Just after the king & co. teleported out, the PC wizard managed to dispell the fog (control weather spell), and the remaining PCs (who couldn't at that point leave) elected to tangle with the now revealed villain. Haru managed to disarm the villain, and then attempted to sunder his backup weapon (at his side), and was unsuccessful. (My players seem to have these mysterious adamantine weapons cropping up at the oddest times, specifically when I tell them I'm going to try to sunder their weapons... Anyway, where was I, the Resident Artist's Paladin PC connected with three Smite attacks on the masked villain, and the druid's animal companions each scored hits on the villain as well. On the villain's action, I had the option to carve Haru into pieces (and by the look on the player's face, he knew his number was up if I had done so) but I was down below 25% of my remaining HP, and I was not confident with a 24 AC that I could survive a full round of the Resident Artist Paladin's Smite attacks to heal myself up, so the villain tipped his hat, flipped his cape of the Mountebank, and disappeared in a puff of smoke; to torment and obliterate the PCs at another date and time...
The PCs were made nobles for rescuing the king, and the Resident Artist was selected by the other players to play the Baron PC. After a brief interlude, traveled north to their new barony, and began the task of trying to put the barony and its people into working order. The PCs will need to do so, if they plan to fend off the upcoming attack by the army of the nefarious Baron Pondsludge, who has every intention of making them the shortest lived barony in existence. Their first big task was to obtain the loyalty of the northland people of Holling by dealing with the local menace (the creature Horogoth) who was slowly exterminating them. Haru's Paladin, the Resident Artist's Paladin/Baron, and Sean's Fighter did 350 HP of damage between them in just one friggin' round (with NO Critical Hits to boot), and Mr. Horogoth proceeded to hit the floor like a ton of bricks...
That's where we left off... See you in two weeks...

Yesterday's session of the current homebrew campaign, saw one (1) PC fatality. The PCs stormed the castle in an attempt to thwart the 'evil Steward's attempt to seize the throne. In the first of two combat encounters, the PCs persued the steward and the kidnapped king, and proceeded to mop the floor with the steward's elite guards. The steward then confronted the PCs, boasting that they were too late to save the king. The steward was then killed by the real villain, and the PCs who stood onlooking promptly saw the entire large chamber (over 100' square) obscured by impenetrable fog (via a Guards & Wards spell), and the PCs then proceeded to fumble about through the fog (limited vision to 5 feet in any direction) in search of the bound king before he was further harmed or killed. the real villain proceeded to begin to stalk the PCs through the fog, and when we left off for the afternoon, had killed the Drow Rogue PC, via a critical hit with a Falchion on a Power Attack. One of the PCs (a fighter) located the king, but can't at present find a way of exiting the chamber, and can't locate his fellow PC spellcaster(s). The other PCs are frustrated and fumbling about trying to find their comrade & the king, and a way out of the chamber. I suspect that even if the PCs can conglomerate together, and send the king out, via magic, that some or possibly many of the PCs will get 86'd because they themselves won't be able to get out of the room. the villain has Spring Attack, which allows him to move, attack, and then move again into the fog, and out of the PCs view, making him largely unassailable to their attacks, as the villain's Stealth rank is better than most of the group's perception checks, and the 1 PC who likely could have spotted the villain, (the rogue PC) is now deceased.

It's snowing - and in the Washington D.C. area we've already gotten more snow than we have in nearly a decade. It won't stop until sunrise or so tomorrow morning. The weather talking heads are already figuring this storm is going to set new records.

It will be interesting to see how many people are driving around in this stuff today and tomorrow. Hopefully, no one that doesn't have to be. I mean really, just *how* important is it that a convenience or grocery store be open (a) when they're already decimated in supplies anyway, and (b) there's more than a FOOT of powder everywhere. Is that couple of hundred bucks the store might make on the sorry souls that slog to the stores in question worth risking life and limb to get to and from?

It is quite pretty and calm outside though, almost no real noise except that of the snow itself.

I was 'snowbound' for 2 days...

And I believe I still hold the "most player characters killed in the first session of a campaign" record between the two of us.

Aahh, Deathbugs. Good times, good times...

Alas, yes you do... those blessed Deathbugs...

I think we jointly hold the record together for the most in one session (12) last year when your Kraken took out 5 and Sir Sean and the wicked cleric took out 7. How the guys must look forward to your return:)

I was looking at the first few posts in this campaign journal, and I noted that in the very first session, I said almost nothing of "how it happened." I thought I'd regurgitate what I do remember of the afternoon before I forget it entirely.
I admit that I used a homebrewed encounter rather than the opening one in the Whispering Cairn. I wanted something challenging to 'kick off' the campaign, and admittedly, it went off far better than I had anticipated.
I had some brigands holed up in the entry tunnel to the Whispering Cairn. The encounter made use of "torchlight." The characters present could only see 'shadowy light' beyond 20 feet of a torch. Thus the 1st level CE Halfling Ranger "Jack Mangler" was able to hide, while his buddy, a 1st level CE Gnome Wizard waited hiding a little further down the hall. The PC ninja (played by Sir Hexen Ineptus) had crept ahead, perhaps about 30 or 40 feet ahead of the other 2 characters present. On the surprise round (no player made the check to see Jack hiding), Jack splattered the ninja PC with his battle axe, and put him below 0 HP. After initiative was rolled, the Gnome Wizard went, and dropped a Sleep spell on Torsin's wizard and Haru's Psion characters. Torsin blew her save, and took a nap, and Haru got hit by Jack before he could do anything, and was left with 2 HP. Haru opted to run away, leaving the other two characters to their fate, (both of which were short and undoubtedly painful).
Haru (player) then went to town, and came back with the new characters played by Ineptus and Torsin (who like their predecessors, were a ninja and a wizard respectively). Ineptus also had a 2nd PC in tow (a Fighter, which the group badly needed). And a 5th character was played by a player 'the Kid' who had arrived late. All PCs were 1st level.
The bad guys had not been idle in the PCs absense, and had set up a pit trap, which though none of the PCs initially fell for, later proved a huge problem when the PCs tried to retreat and couldn't get back over the pit quickly. The PCs tangled with the Gnome Wizard and two other 1st level evil PC brigands (Jack & a CLR 1). Perhaps the biggest problem for the PCs was that they again did not have adequate ranged weapons (for firing down the passageway to soften up the bad guys) nor any Sleep spells. When combat did begin, the Gnome Wizard once again cast Sleep, and 1 or 2 of the PCs went down for Nap Time again. The bad guys (who did have several light crossbows between them) were partially successful in softening up the PCs before they got to the brigands, and melee ensued. The encounter ended with 3 of the 5 PCs either asleep or at negative HP, before the two remaining PCs fled to save their own skins. Jack and the brigands finished off the 3 downed PCs who were left behind.

One should never forewarn one's players that the kid gloves are coming off until they are at the table, concerro.

And I rather think that Allen would have little problem with another "Killer GM" on the boards. Age of Worms is certainly an appropriate adventure path to gleefully litter the campaign history with heaps of broken (characters') corpses.

I'll second Turin's above remarks. I do hope for more Killer GMs. My campaign journal was done in part for precisely that reason, to give a nod to the early editions of the game, and inspire the daily doses of PC demise that often accompanied it. Thus, you and/or your GM, whoever he/she may be, have my blessing to grease away every last PC in sight. Just do us the favor of writing about it in painstaking and gory detail, if you please:)

** spoiler omitted **...

SPLENDID

Scheduling - and battles with the unkillable Real Life Monster - forces delay of the campaign's continuance until early January 2010.

Sometimes, the monster that no one can overcome... Glad to hear that Da Pimp is back with your gang. He's MIA with my crowd...

Maroons, the lot of 'em.

:) Would you have it any other way? I wouldn't:)

They are SO eating arrows in the back of the head at some point.

:D Yes they are indeed.

Any one else gotten themselves killed off lately?

You beat me to the punch.

They wisely cooked up a ruse of joining the frog prince's merry band of killers, and went in to be evaluated by the prince and his cronies. The PCs made the necessary Diplomacy checks, and even thought to bring a gift for the frog prince and a parchment with the written terms of their offer of service. The PC wizard put an explosive runes on the parchment, and when the Frog Prince's senchal opened it, it went boom, and combat ensued immediately. The PCs targeted the Frog Prince and his ogre cleric minion directly. Meanwhile all the mooks and flunkies of the frog prince aided and helped out the prince's two bodyguards, one of whom (the gnoll archer, who 86'd Cap'n Jose's PC in the 06-07 Age of Worms campaign) managed to perforate the flying wizard to the tune of about 100+ hit points, and turned him into swiss cheese, before said PC wizard then plummeted and went splat upon hitting the ground. The PCs subsequently killed the frog prince and his ogre cleric. The gang also put the gnoll archer bodyguard down to negative HP, but for some reason elected to spare the gnoll who wasted their own wizard, and turn him into a scroll caddy... and the DM rejoiced mightily:)

I first made the discovery of the cyclops' massive potential when stating up a harpy. Turin explained the concept of the non-primary class (which I knew of in 3.5, but didn't make use of it at the time), and I used it in creating two harpies. Then given the success of the harpies, and out of sheer curiousity, I browsed the bestiary book looking for other monsters to use in similar fashion, and there the cyclops was, staring at me;) My players will live to rue the day:D

Brilliant as always, and nasty to boot.

I have plans for an undead-based campaign in the distant future, presumably after I finish Savage Tide. I shall keep your information for future reference.

Yes, Turin is brilliant as always. You can also get tons of undead-type references in the Age of Worms issues, if you don't have them already...

So I've decided to kill one of the characters in my ongoing game. The player in question über-munchkins and always pushes to go a little further, gain a few more advantages.

Now while I don't really mind munchkining, and a little power-gaming, this has started to ruin both my enjoyment of the game. Especially since he sulks and pouts whenever I make a ruling that he thinks has an adverse affect on him. To make matters worse its no use talking to him about it.

What I've decided to do then is to off his character and I've even got a pretty good plot reason to do it, something that really makes sense. Basically I'm going to send an assassin (I can't quite remember the name just now but it's a doppelganger organization led by an illithid in Northwest Fearun) to kill him and I need a sure fire way of doing it. The party is 9th lvl and the character in question has kick-ass saves so all death effects are troublesome.

I know this is extreme but it beats a confrontation that only going to end badly and I don't want to kick him out of the game.

There are frequent player's character fatalities in the games I run. If I can help it without fudging dice rolls (which I never do), then the "squeaky wheel gets the grease", and I'll tell you that there is No Need to be timid or appologetic about it greasing a munchkin player character, Repeatedly. In fact, the only ones I feel even a tinge of guilt about thrashing (even though I still do it) are players who play legitimate, by-the-basics characters. Munchkin players are trying to get an edge, above and beyond what the conventional game affords them, and you're merely giving them a taste of their own medicine. They ought to expect as much, given how they try to exploit the rules and continually push the envelope. I think it is appropriate to repeatedly grease the muchkin characters, because logically, intelligent villains with some knowledge of the group of characters is going to deal with the biggest threat posed by the characters, First, and not after, the munchkin character has had time to shred them.

And it is my hope that all of the rest of you, kindly, RP-heavy GM's will do likewise! In the long run, the munchkin players will be better off by learning to enjoy the game by sticking to the rules and avoiding looking for an edge over the GM and their fellow players, as well as adopting a "team approach". The muchkin player's attempts to "get an edge" puts the rest of the characters in more frequent jeopardy, because the GM has to up-gun the monsters & villains to keep pace with the munchkin character(s). In the long run, it's better for all if the munchkin player characters 'bite the dust' repeatedly. Greasing their characters is a simple and easy way to give the player(s) the "cause & effect" understanding that their attempts to gain an advantage which their fellow players don't have, puts them at greater risk, and makes the game less enjoyable for all. I don't think you need to have some deep conversation with your player(s) in question to try to pursuade him/her not to play a munchkin character. Rather, just grease him/her repeatedly, and they'll get the message.

To agree with Black Dow and Razz, More Linorms! Also, I'd hope to see some of the types of monsters featured in the Age of Worms and Savage Tide adventure paths (examples: Koprus, and the various Kyuss-type critters-assuming they're not copyrighted)...

At the risk of sounding like I'm giving a shameless plug; the current Pathfinder bestiary is the best monster book, bar none, that I have seen since the 1st edition d&d monster books.
Though I would like to see another bestiary, I for one, am not desirous to see endless streams of new, stupid monsters enter the game. WoTC made a common practice of that during 3.5's count 'em FIVE monster books. If Paizo sticks to the model that the current bestiary has pioneered, then they'll have a great product on their hands.
It is my hope that any future monster book will contain the longstanding monsters from the d&d game that didn't make it into the first bestiary (which spactactularly had a good percentage of them).

The most recent homebrew saw One (1) player character fatality. The boys went about attempting to solve a quest of obtaining ingredients for a rare elixir. They opted to take the 'infamous shortcut' rather than the long road, and while traveling through the 'Bleak Forest', happened upon a group of harpies. Two of the harpies were 7th level cleric and druid respectively. The gang was ill prepared to combat the aerial opponents, and made use of numerous fireballs to blast the lesser (CR 4) harpies out of the sky. The two tougher harpies (only a paultry CR 8.5 each) each sported 156 HP, the advanced monster template, & 7 levels of spellcasting ability. I wholeheartedly encourage all aspiring killer GM's to check out the "non-favored class advancement" for monsters, as it adds only 1/2 a CR per character level you give them). You'll have your players screaming in no time:D I'll attempt to post the stats on the harpies soon. The guys gradually whittled the druid harpy down, eventually dropping her to less than 78 HP, meaning she was forced to land and was then beaten by the PCs into unconsciousness. The cleric harpy however perforated the PC wizard character with numerous arrows, including one confirmed crital hit, and the wizard PC was greased most heinously:D The subequent encounter saw the PCs tackle a CR 10 Cyclops (with advanced monster template, 8 levels of cleric & and about 275 HP with bears endurance). My players were yet screaming again, but they came up with a few clever ideas, and defeated el' cyclops...

That was good for a laugh. Feel sorry for the guy, but hey, there's always Reincarnate. ;)

somehow humor makes it a bit more pleasant for all. and, as the joker says, "if you gotta go, go with a smile."

Comments like Allen Stewart's - that WotC shouldn't release supplements like this, and instead just release adventures - just strikes me as very founded in a lack of understanding of 4E. There are adventures and adventure paths, and those are nice. But hardly what everyone wants - the players, the customers, are much more excited about new books that give them more options, more concepts, more ways to play. And those books work without adding to the rules of the game - splitting up the basics into dozens of books was one of the issues with 3.5, and one reason why WotC has avoided that in the current edition. Trying to castigate WotC for their current release system - while trying to portray that system as something it decidedly is not - would seem to be just looking for something to complain about, rather than being a legitimate comment by a player of the game...

Koelbl, you really are about as impartial as a card carrying DNC member (Democratic National Committee). There's no "lack of understanding of 4E" here. WotC isn't trying to avoid using the same model they used in 3.5., for 4E; on the contrary, they're doing exactly the same thing that worked in 3.5. They're releasing (on average) 1 book per month. What do you think those books contain? Do all those wonderful new 4Ed books just contain illustrations and cut outs to use on your maps, or flavor text? Or do they contain more rules? You call them "options, concepts, and more ways to play", all of which amount to 'rules'.

DDI basically solves this problem. You can get the rules for any new book with that tool without owning the book. It's not an inconsequential expense, but it's still far less than buying each and every book.

The DDI, (if it can indeed do what you have suggested) would be a very helpful tool, in that, people wouldn't have to own (much less haul around) every book in the game, just to know the necessary & applicable rules, and have them at your fingertips when you need them.

As to the 'race' books, never owned them nor allowed them, and in agreement with you there.

Last Saturday, during the latest session of the current homebrew campaign, there was One (1) character fatality, and yet Another incident of GM temporary insanity (mercy towards a player's character). The characters (several of them are knights, including 2 paladins and 2 fighters) went to recover a stolen signet seal of a nobleman, and at the same time re-apprehend an escaped villain that had been busted out of prison some weeks before. The lads located the place where the villains were hold up at (there were 8 player characters present, and a few animal companions). All the PCs were 8th level. The four villains present were a 8th level Wizard, an 8th level cleric, a CR 6 Minotaur of Legend, and a 9th level Vampire Fighter.
The PCs entered the abandoned ruin, learned how the activate the magic mirror, and entered a small pocket dimension, where the bad guys were holed up. As the bad guys had some advance warning that hostilities were imminent, they had a couple of rounds to prepare.
The player's characters were somewhat hampered in that once one entered the mirror, he/she became involved in the combat, (not all the PCs entered at once), and the PCs who went in first had a rougher go at it. Haru's famour character Thorgar was talking a lot of smack to the vampire, and my moment of temporary insanity (compassion) came when I unexpectedly critically hit 'Thorgar' with the 8th level cleric who was wielding a Scythe. After doing 83 HP in one shot with the scythe, 'Thorgar' was down to 12 HP, and could have been slaughtered by the vampire he was talking smack to. Ultimately, forebearance won out and I let the blowhard Thorgar and his now-less-than boisterous player off the hook.
The minotaur of legend put the Resident Artist's fighter down into the negatives, and likely would have killed him. The resident artist also 'sued for pardon', and I gave him respite also. This respite however only lasted for about 5 seconds, as the evil wizard 'Maloccio Scarecrow' dropped a fireball (maxamized via a lesser rod of maximization) to the tune of 48 HP on everyone, and the downed fighter ended up at about -60 HP.
The PCs then dropped the minotaur and forced the evil cleric down to about 5 HP left, at which point the remaining two villains (wizard & vampire) decided to beat a hasty retreat.

The second planned encounter didn't occur due to time constraints. Next session will see the 'delayed Halloween special' served to the PCs, and I hope to hear some screaming from everybody present.

Ummm....

I am such a Paizo fanboy, but I am seeing some hypocritical talk here.
Paizo is tossing out race books too. Yes Paizo seems to focus more on adventure paths, stand-alone adventures, society stuff and all that but arguably the adventure paths have feats, classes, equipment, etc. that all add tons of stuff to the game. And they are hitting with race books and guide to XXX area books. If anything Paizo has a more ambitious publishing schedule than WOTC. It's just that they aren't bloating the rules as much, they are smothering the adventure arena.

I mean come on, some people like things, some don't. If you don't like it then ignore it instead of pointing a finger and attacking.

I think adventure paths, stand alone adventures, and the like, are precisely what the company should be cranking out. By keeping the rules system relatively managable via a small number of 'core books', you can then justify the additional material, as it doesn't add to the basic rules of the game. When you've got the 'basic/core rules' of the game spread out into literally dozens of books (as 3.5 did), a GM can't then feasibly officiate the game without: A.) owning all the books (and then somehow managing to locate a rule in question on the fly), or: B.) banning the book(s) which tends to irritate the players (particularly the munchkins who buy all the splat books) and then want to use them.

The rate with which WoTC is cranking out the new books would seem to equal, if not exceed 3.0/3.5 editions in pace. In the first 12 months of 4.0 (beginning with the release of the PH/DMG/MM) there were a total (counting the PH/DMG/MM) of 15 books. I think this is fairly obviously done for financial reasons, pure and simple, and that was the main reason for 4.0 edition in the first place. I anticipate that this will have the same unfortunate effect as did 3.5, of creating a game in which either the GM gives in to his players and allows the dozens of books and the hopelessly complicated rules that each addition injects into the game as they expand upon the existing system; or holds the line, and listens to his players wine on a weekly basis for more splat books. Stick with Pathfinder man.

In my experience as a GM of all 8-9 years of 3rd/3.5 edition and Pathfinder since then; the "monster PC's" are ALMOST ALWAYS the preference for power-gaming players who are looking to get an 'edge'. During the times I've been a player in 3.0/3.5 as opposed to a GM, I've played "normal, standard book characters" and found them satisfactory: one, for the tradition & simplicity of the game; and secondly, the game is built around the basic types of character races. If I as a player or a GM want to have a fair and reasonable expectation of what a fair and reasonable challenge is for my 5th level character, then I can get that with the system in place. If I'm playing a monster with reduced levels, I am often either too underprepared, or (more frequently) overpowered because of the Special Abilities and resistances/qualities that my character produces. I agree with Jacobs (not a sycophant either) that the basic game should be tailored to the basics. I dont' want Dragon PCs straight out of the gate, if ever, in the game. There's just no need for them. Sadly, these over-the-top PCs are becoming the preferred norm for the munchkins and powergamers.

Regretably that's probably the case. It comes and goes in doses however. In 06-07 during Age of Worms, I was wiping the PCs out in droves, but at times I'd actually feel bad for the players as well. I had to really push myself to maintain that needed level of harshness to give the players the character demises they needed:) Sometimes its hard to grease the PCs. Try though I might otherwise... I can't totally shed the humanitarian in me...

In this past Saturday's home brew campaign, there was One (1) PC fatality, and another instance of temporary GM Insanity (a.k.a. generousity). The PCs handled Malathrax the Abhorred (a CR 10 Red Dragon) that had been polymorphed into an equal sized dragon, that was pink in color with bright yellow spots and baby blue back spines, but was in all other respects a CR 10 red dragon. The PCs were very formidable, and I had my bout of temporary insanity/generousity when I let some 'Nat 1' rolls on Saves vs. Massive Trauma (for 50+ HP damage in one attack) slide. As a result, Malathrax had to run for his miserable life. The lads then handed one of my Dark Druids and his Umbral/Shadow folk their butts in ONE miserable round. Truly sad. Lastly, the guys had their hands full when they ran into a Vampire and her spawn. The vampire managed to dominate Haru's star character "Thorgar" who Haru is using again, and had him defend her against the REsident Artist's Paladin PC. "Thorgar" is on his 5th or 6th incarnation, and I'm starting to feel like I'm in a DR. Who game of some sort... The vampire 86'd the PC Paladin after Haru's PC Thorgar softened him up. I stupidly and foolishly allowed the dying Paladin to make a 'Gawd Call' to break the vampire's domination on Thorgar, and they PC Cleric eventually managed to turn the Vamp and sent her running away like a 5th rate tourist...

Last saturday's home brew saw my players get the better of things. After they each got a hefty reward for rescuing the princess, their characters then defeated several malovelent knights, namely, the Privlidged Sir Charles Regal Fauntleroy of North Shields, the "rotten" Sir Reginald of Ewing, Sir Thomas "Less Than" Worthington, Sir Guy of Gastonbury, and Sir Arthur Belling. No PC casualties occurred, and the knights were forced to quit the field after Sir Belling got 86'd and Haru's cleric character Diplomacized the leader Sir Charles Fauntleroy into quitting the field...

The players who played Fighter type characters then competed in a 32-kinght jousting tournament. Unlike the last jousting tournament I had for the guys back in May/June of thie year, two of the Players defeated all my superior (higher level and skill) knights and both PC fighters made it to the final, one then beating the other. They all had a good laugh at my expense, as my fantastic (and wonderfully illustrated,-see my page on Deviant Art under 'Killer GM') went down in defeat, one after another, including my defending champion.

The PCs then torpedoed 'Baron Rankle', who had been holed up in his tower for the past 150 years. The baron was an EL 10 (the characters were all 7th level) Awakened Gelatinous Creature, with 8 levels in cleric. Sadly, the druid player character surprised me by shrinking his two stupid large bear companions and getting them up into the tower, and the bears proceeded to give the Baron some hugs, and the baron was subsequently sliced and diced in cruel and inhumane fashion by the murderous PCs, invading his home...

There are undoubtedly some old timers who do prefer the RP heavy game, but I suspect that their penchant for such 'evolved' in the aftermath of 1st edition, as 1st edition offered little RP-heavy material for them. Maybe they got tired of hack-n-slash. Apparently I'm stuck in some Freudian stage, and never got past it...

It appears that most posters are of the opinion that creating In-game- Shakespearean role-playing sessions with the local tavern barkeeper, or having self-discovery sessions-where you 'really get in touch with your character' during the game represent the "modern or sophisticated game/gamer". I think that those preferences are in NO way superior to those of us who still favor old school, slaughtering everything that moves in a dungeon, simply for the hell of it, and taking it's gold.

If it's theatre or drama I'm looking for, I'll turn on the t.v., or listen to my clients.

Add John O'Bir, Guiseppe Ottovianni, and Pulsar to that list...

Ferry Corsten is overrated...

Though I grew up on Mozart and Beethoven, when I first heard trance about 6 or 7 years ago, I was hooked immediately and irrevocably. Tiesto is perhaps one of the two or three best known trance DJ's, but I have yet to find anyone who really digs his music.

If you buy most trance CD's/downloads by a good artist, they will contain numerous remixes of the music of other artists. trance DJ's routinely do remixes on each other's music. This is the easiest way to get exposed to the sound of various artists. Additionally, there are a few DJ's you should look into specifically, in my humble opinion:

Paul Van Dyk-probably the most popular trance artist/DJ out there, and has the best take on music (both his own and the music of other artists that he remixes). His music (particularly from the 2003 album Crush and afterwards) are second to none.

The Thrillseekers (Steve Helstrip)-particularly Night Music Volume 1.

Kyau and Albert-Lots of good stuff from these guys.

Kuffdam and Plant-and from these guys...

I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding here. WotC isn't referencing a classic adventure out of a desire to market the new product to an old crowd - they are doing so because they fondly remember the old classic, and want to produce something that is in the same vein in homage. I'm sure they would be happy if it then appealed to older players, but they aren't going to cut out other audience members in order to do so. They aren't going to set the adventure in Greyhawk, when they can instead continue their adventure trend of placing it partially in the default 'Points of Light' setting, and partially leaving it open to be transported into any DM's campaign as they see fit.

Sure, I think having some 'easter eggs' and similar would be a nice touch - that can easily be done without costing the adventure anything. Not having read the new adventure, nor the original, I can't really comment on any similarities or references. But I think it is a shame to dismiss this as a 'cheap gimmick', rather than recognize it for what it is: an acknowledgement of the past by gamers who enjoyed the original work, and wanted to create something new in the same spirit.

Actually they are referencing the classic adventure "G1-2-3 Against the Giants" out of a desire to market the new product to an older crowd. If you don't deem it as such, I doubt I can convince you, given your usual opinions on all-things-WoTC. While you may deem me presumtuous for making the suggestion regarding the name's use for marketing purposes, unless you're some sort of mind reader, I don't think you can definitively vouge for the author's intent when he/she/they came up with the title either.

Turin, is Da Pimp carting around henchman and a wagon AGAIN, like he's done several times before at low character levels? Or is he actually risking his tail like any other respectable rogue/wizard PC?

Matthew Morris wrote:

I take it from the comments that there's no Greyhawk connection. Sad really.

This can't come as a surprise though. Greyhawk hasn't been important to WotC for 8-9 years now. Given the sparse nature of the background for the adventure it shouldn't be that hard to add in some Greyhawk elements.

When WoTC is referencing a classic adventure, in this case 'Against the Giants', in order to market their new product; then I think they ought to do so plainly and overtly. We as readers shouldn't have to "add in" our own material to tie the new product to its original source or campaign world. In the WoTC "Return to" adventures of the late 1990's and the 3rd/3.5 editions, each referenced the original product and its campaign world (Greyhawk) in question. I see no reason why that tradition can't continue. After all, by the use of the new product's name, and the connotation that it carries; the people whom WoTC are marketing this product to, are players who can remember the original adventure in the first place. Newer players to the game, who didn't experience Against the Giants previously, wouldn't recognize the reference, and thus wouldn't be swayed to buy the product for that reason. So why use the reference to the old adventure to market the new adventure to newer players? Simple. It's designed to market the product to the older players of the game.

While I don't buy 4th edition products, and haven't played 4th edition since 2008, IF, WoTC would market a product like this with actual connections to the original product and the history of the game/Greyhawk campaign, I'd buy it. As it is, the name of the new adventure is ultimately a cheap gimmick that references the glorious past of the game, but then utterly fails to deliver any actual ties to that glorious past it references after you've bought it. Sadly, this has become a common occurrence for WoTC since 4th edition arrived.

Outstanding work on those stat blocks Turin. Again.

To both of you, I have an existing Pathfinder group of 6 players (usually 5 attending on a given week). If you're inclined to drive down to Woodbridge, Virginia, we play every 2nd Saturday, from 11 AM to 4 PM. If you have any interest, just post to that effect.

Ah, well, then the *cough*dragon*cough* perhaps will not be necessary then ...

*cough* Perhaps not, but they'll nonetheless run into the "pink dragon" on (I think) October 17; and our favorite dragon, "Scorch" will see action against the PCs in late January or early February of 2010...*cough*

Many thanks. I have the sinister critter in my maniacal paws at this moment. I expect to team him with Cardinal Devious during the big confrontation slated for December of this year. The PCs will be level 9 at the time of the encounter in December.

I'm starting to work on the next post, which I think will include the "Return to Against the Giants" (TSR Silver Anniversary) series of adventures for the Walking Death Machine (WDM) character group which we completed in 1998-1999. Two previous trips into the 'G' series apparently weren't enough for me (the player), and I needed a third-time charm against those giants.
This campaign included not only the standard G1-2-3 module adventures updated to 2.5 edition status, but also included the purging of all the significant towns and localities scattered all over Geoff. Gorna had previously been liberated by the WDM, but the rest of Geoff was still firmly under giant control.
The adventure concluded with what Turin and I dubbed "G5" which was the assault on the Cloud Giant citadel in the clouds (Incidentally, "G4" was the battle with the WDM and Snurrensen & his fire giant army). The events of that adventure in the clouds, sent Turin and I to Richmond Virginia, to have Wizards of the Coast Editor John Rateliff, settle a rules question that held the future of the Walking Death Machine in the balance! How's that for drama!!! I'll post the detailed account in the next few days if possible...

Fantastic Turin. I always enjoy your stat blocks. They never disappoint. They should have you working at Paizo.

Sir Ineptus[/i] Male Human Cloistered Cleric 1 (Knowledge, Repose and Rune domains), Lawful Good

An interesting change for him.

Doesn't kiling the mounts drop the riders on their heads, and make them waste an action standing up?

The riders can make successful ride checks not to fall prone when their mounts die, (which they both did).

So do the dead PCs get resurrected, or do the players get new characters?

(Umm, and I hope you remember to award the knights appropriate XP for defeating a group of PCs, (they killed them or made them run away) even if they don't get a story award for completing their nominal mission.)

I chucked the PC's a bone and had a helpful NPC arrive afterwards to glue their butts back together, cast Wind Walk on them, and deposit them where they needed to be. I gave them the option of using new characters. None of them went for it (and I assumed they would not, which I have "loosened up" on my limiting raising deceased characters. Turin and I are amongst the few who routinely roll up new characters).

I have to say that the maps replacing artwork is one of the things I hate the most about the delve format. When they posted the art gallery for the book on their website the other day there were only about 12 pictures- for a super module that seems ridiculously low. Seeing map after map showing were the bag guys should start sucks the life out of an adventure for me. If anything makes 4E feel like a video game, it's the delve format of adventures they publish, which is essentially one combat encounter after another where all the monsters just stand on their little map spots waiting for heroes to come kill them. I want to like the 4E adventures, but it really isn't working out for me. I wish paizo was making 4E adventures. Fortunately, the 3E stuff is easy enough to convert. That being said, I did run the 4E version of Last Breaths of Ashenport (from digital dungeon), and I enjoyed that so maybe I just actually have to get past the lack of art and such and try to play them.

PH, not only do I agree with your thoughts on the 'delve' format, but the artwork from the giants product you mentioned are all lousy. WoTC's taken frost giants from their traditional viking-appearing norm, and depicted them as something I'd expect to see on a Pokemon or Yugio card. That said, at least WoTC is Attempting to reference the 'classics' in this adventure, even if there is no tie-in to Against the Giants from 1st edition days.

And the Council of Thieves is slated to officially begin tomorrow afternoon - huzzah and huzzah!

Now, all I need are a few bad judgment calls ...

Let us all pray there are many...

In Paizo chatroom parlance:

:shock:
:wow:

The knights in shining armor (the PCs) made some significant blunders which handed me the encounter. I'm not one to let the PCs off the hook in a major encounter when they've made silly errors. Their main error occurred in round 3, when the PC fighter & paladin decision to charge the evil knights, in an effort to finish off their horses (thus denying the evil knights any further use of their "spirited charge" attack). While this was a good idea, the horses should have been finished off from a distance via missile weapons. As a result of the PC fighter & paladin's charges, the PC fighter & paladin did finish off the horses, but on the subsequent action of the evil knights, the PC fighter & paladin (who were now right next to the evil knights after dropping their horses) each ate a full round of attacks from the evil knights, which resulted in the hands-down best PC fighter being killed outright, and the Paladin being heavily hammered. At that point, the encounter swung completely the other direction, and my sinister knights subsequently proceeded to tag team the remaining PCs, one per round, until the last PC (in fact the aforementioned Paladin) bravely ran away with the princess. As that accomplished the goal of the encounter, the PCs effectively won the encounter, albeit at a considerable cost...