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Thanks, Corey...you rock! :D

Corey Young wrote:
Antithesis wrote:


Uhmm...anybody out there?

Sorry about that! We're still digging through things that came in on the 4th. :D

A replacement Dungeon #149 is on its way!


Uhmm...anybody out there?


Hello!

First, the good news: I LOVE Dungeon #149! I have been waiting ever since my amazed 12-year old eyes saw "Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth" to see a full statistical breakdown on Iggwilv...and you guys delivered the goods! Great job! It's everything I'd always imagined, and so much more! I'm especially pleased as, at Origins '06, when I met Erik Mona and he told me that my favorite archmagess would be making an appearance, he said there were no plans (then) to Stat Block her. Glad to see you had a change of heart!

Now, the bad: my issue is torn! It's not a horrible defect, but a very noticible one, the same. Any chance I can swap my old one out for a new one?

Thanks for filling a 25-year hole in my gaming history!

carlos a.s. lising

P.S.--> Add my name to those who will be saddened by Dungeon/Dragon's passing. I think that WotC will rue this decision; I know, for my part, I've not bought any of their products since the move was announced. Coincidence?


EP Healy wrote:

I'm trying to get info on Cholerix. Based on some web sources, it looks like the primary source material is in MMII, page 30. Also, BOZ has stated that Cholerix is an yugoloth lord. Unfortunately, I'm in Iraq and have no access to MMII. Can anyone give me the 411 on Cholerix? I'd appreciate it.

ephealy (at) ephealy (dot) com

EP,

"Anthraxus is the most powerful daemon on the Lower Planes, but his position is challenged by other unique daemonic beings, the chief of which are Bubonis, Cholerix, Typhus, and Diptherius, along with others unknown or unrecorded by scholars."
an excerpt taken from the Monster Manual II

This is the only mention of Cholerix in Monster Manual II. If you want more information on Anthraxus, though, check out Gary Gygax's "Gord the Rogue" novels, in which (if I recall correctly) he plays a significant part. Hope that the info helps! Stay safe in the sandbox! :)


Wolfgang Baur wrote:
walkerhound wrote:
BOZ wrote:
as i had mentioned elsewhere, v3.0 sheens are available on the Creature Catalog site.
don't suppose i could get a link to this creature catalog site?

It's over at ENWorld at http://www.enworld.org/cc/, but has its own section.

And I'm writing a clockwork adventure called "Steam & Brass" for a small audience of patrons, complete with a steam golem, new constructs, a gear priest, you name it. It's part of the Open Design project.

Because it has turned into a rather big module, only the people who donate will get a copy. But it might be just your sort of thing.

Wolfgang,

Will it be set in Greyhawk, like much of your other work? (Please say yes!)


Luke Fleeman wrote:

My point was that a setting does not need a 40 dollar hardcover to be "alive" or "supported." You can make everything yourself, and use existing material. There is this general environment amongst many GH fans that "WotC doesn't put out X books per year, so they hate GH. And they are trying to kill it."

Its just not true. There is support, and you can be involved. And if you don't like it, there is a wealth of GH material out there to use already, so use it.

I think I understand what you mean here, and you make many great points, but I also slightly disagree with you. When I think about a setting being "alive" and "supported", I think of settings like as Eberron and Forgotten Realms--in such cases, you can expect new material to be released in regular intervals, with salient new information about the unknown recesses in each gaming world. The products being released for these books have gorgeous artwork, professional production qualities, et al.

While it's true that Greyhawk is being supported in Dungeon (and Dragon, I suppose), when it comes to WotC...I'm not seeing anything that fits *my* definition above of "alive and supported" (which, of course, you're welcome to take issue with--everybody's definition I'm sure is different). Living Greyhawk doesn't really fit that bill, either (you may or may not disagree here; looking though some LG scenarios though, the quality and professional acumen put into each varies wildly).

For me, bottom line: I can't see Greyhawk as "alive and supported" unless I see it getting the same kind of treatment as Eberron and FR. You're absolutely right, though, when you say you can use what you want, make up what you want, and that there's already plenty out there. All that is absolutley true. Further, I agree with you in that WotC isn't trying to *kill* Greyhawk--as far as I'm concerned, they're just making a business decision to go in a different direction (a bad one, sure, but that's just one guy's opinion). Still, in the end, I want more in the way of "official" support. And I think that I dare say that most Greyhawk fans would like that, too.

Your milage may vary, of course.


Stebehil wrote:
Antithesis wrote:

F2K,

Don't forget the "Greyhawk Wars" boxed set that came out a while back. It was 2e, I know, but if you want something semi-official, that wouldn't be a bad place to start. At least it would be tailored to the Flanaess!

IIRC, Greyhawk Wars was specifically tailored to the "official" war situation after the events in "Howl from the North" and "Five shall be One" - the outcome is documented in From the Ashes. Greyhawk Wars had a map using single countries as tactical units, not hexes. I think this is too specific for F2Ks needs ?

Stefan

Your recollection is correct. Still, I'm saying that it would need significantly less "retrofitting" than a non-Greyhawk war system would.


farewell2kings wrote:

My GH campaign is nearing a massive war. I want to do the following:

Several of my players also play strategy games. I want to use a modified strategy/board game to "play out" a war in Greyhawk, at about regimental or battalion level.

I want to play out the battles in this game over the Internet, between gaming sessions.

I would use the 30 mile hex maps from the original GH set to resolve this war, keeping track of all unit locations at my house, with me feeding the players intelligence via e-mail and allowing them to deploy their troops, make their moves the same way, thus creating a nice fog of war.

I'm quite willing to modify an existing medieval combat wargame system to fit my needs...but my question is--what game system would you guys recommend? I vaguely remember playing a medieval tabletop wargame with hexes and counters back in the early 80's, but for the life of me I can't remember the name of it.

I don't want to get into tactical nitty gritty too much. I'm thinking one turn = 1 day....something like that. Any ideas or feedback?

F2K,

Don't forget the "Greyhawk Wars" boxed set that came out a while back. It was 2e, I know, but if you want something semi-official, that wouldn't be a bad place to start. At least it would be tailored to the Flanaess!


sad_genius wrote:
I think those who "really love" Greyhawk had best be careful lest the pressure on a fellow fan to be our Lawful Good Messiah gets a bit much and he decides not to bother any more.

Excellent point, Sad Genius.

Of course, we're all really making a big presumption that we're right that it IS Castle Greyhawk in the first place, hmm? I recognize that this was mentioned above, but it's a really salient point and bears repeating.


Actually, I tend to agree somewhat with Yamo, though with considerably less vehemence. I see his point about authenticity, and question the timing of the speculated release. I am still filled with anger and revulsion about the way EGG was bullied out of his own company and bereft of something that he virtually created out of whole cloth.

However:
1) We have been promised Castle Greyhawk by EGG for over two decades, as I recall. How much longer must we wait? There is something to be said for striking while the iron is hot;

2) Were it not for Erik and his passion for Greyhawk--would the possibility of a product like Castle Greyhawk (and the potential for future products that it promises) even be possible? I think not;

3) Erik has released some great work that stands on its own. Is it EGG? No. Is it great? I would say so. I trust him as much as I trusted Carl Sargeant, at least.

Bottom line: this makes me uneasy, sure. But the Greyhawk fan in me tells me that this is a good thing.


farewell2kings wrote:

"I cast holy storm on it....so that IF we do have to fight it, it'll be whittled down some." (paraphrasing his exact quote)

(This particular player has been playing D&D since 1976 or so)

Well, dumb s*@~....by attacking it he negated the power of the fiendish cloak. The dinosaur attacked and the party had to flee to avoid getting wasted. Archenemy lives, life gets a lot more complicated for the allies.

The player has the audacity to b!%~~ about this!! "My character would have known not to do this" "I'm an experienced player, I would have never had my character do this had I known all the facts!!" (NO s*@~!!!!)

I came into this thread late, but this particular anecdote caught my eye.

I do so love "Experienced" players who make mistakes and then fall back on lame excuses like this one. Stick your guns, Farewell2Kings. There is a distinct difference between "Experienced players" and (as I read Gygax call them once) "Expert players". "Experienced players" make this mistake within their first year of gaming. "Expert players" have learned from that mistake--and then play with a little more aplomb in the future.

I'm suspecting you have the former--and definitely not the latter.

antithesis
(an "Experienced Player" who still makes lots of mistakes--but will admit them, learn, and move on)


farewell2kings wrote:
That is cool!!!

Yeah, I think it is, too. I'd like to be a spectator to one of those games to see what it was like being a 12-year old playing again (though I'm of the impression it was probably pretty embarrassing!).

I know this has nothing to do with the current thread, but, I wanted to share this with you, too. Speaking of light-hearted games, provided you guys can keep a secret: I'm working on a "top-secret" project for Christmas this year. My wife is a HUGE collector of all things Classic Pooh (none of the Disney schlock--strictly the old-school A.A. Milne stuff). As one of her Christmas presents, I intend on springing a campaign for her based on the 100 Acre Wood.

Her character's name? Why, of course a young ranger lass named "Robin Christopher".

And of course, she has a silly young bear cub animal companion, who shall remain un-named.... ;)

antithesis


Heathansson wrote:
Maybe Elric of Melnibone can summon them all one day as avatars of the Eternal Champion to beat some Duke of Chaos' head in.

I'm hoping that Mordenkainen just gives me the go-ahead to go "mano-y-mano" with Rary and Robilar. Going out in a blaze of glory like that would sure beat sitting in a lonely spire with all the retainers, just fading to grey until history forgot us. :(


farewell2kings wrote:
Wow....27 years.....with that kind of scale it's easy to imagine someone actual child playing in the same campaign that their parent played in. I'm sure that's happened to someone already, particularly to the kind of people that frequent these boards.

Farewell2Kings,

Although I have no children, the DM of the long-running game I was referring to has a light-hearted game that he runs for two of his young children. So, yes, it does happen. :)

antithesis


Heathansson wrote:
Dude, Lilith has a site for npc's around somewhere. He should totally be there. Any pc that's been played for like 13 years can drink out of MY canteen.

Heathansson,

I actually considered submitting the character sheet after reading your post...for about three seconds. You have to understand the context of the character, I guess. Playing one character for thirteen years...a lot of stuff happens that isn't really "stock" stuff. As an example, do you remember how hard it was to raise an ability score back in the days of 1e (when I started him off)? Though it's stock and trade in the game now, it WAS damn near impossible, really. But there is a scenario in WG4 ("Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun") where it can actually happen (when you eat of the proper fruit, near the dread Black Cyst). To most 1e gamers, if they would look at your character sheet and thusly see a "19" sitting there, they would probably be aghast. Yet, it could be legitimately done.

13 years, lots and lots and LOTS of playtime = a LOT of "non-stock" stuff. Custom magic items galore, researched magic spells, researched EPIC spells...the whole nine yards. When I looked at the character sheet, considering a submission, I thought to myself "just about everybody who sees this character will think this is Monty Haul city". I really don't want to be perceived like that, so I decided to just keep it to myself. It's hard to really "get it" without the proper context. At least, that's what I thought.

antithesis
(who found out that a 1e Magic-User imbibing a Potion of Speedcasting and who gets a lucky roll on the Potion miscibility table can stick around for a long, LONG time. Just consider it....)


The Jade wrote:
Your post makes me want to write up a campaign just to rouse your character from his long grey sleep. I'm sure we could find something challenging enough to keep him on his feet.

Jade, if you're serious, drop me a line at antithesis@comcast.net :)


As a DM, when I was in the military, in 1991, I began a campaign (Marvel Super Heroes) that has not ended to date. Back then, we played every day--long, deep-into-the-night sessions, too. When I got out in 1993, my game went to PBEM as a means to span the distance between myself and my players (and I "ported" it out to College, too). So, in total, that's 15 years of HEAVY play! :O

The thing I'm most proud of: when my college buddies and I graduated and went our seperate ways, we continued to keep in touch, and I learned that they had carried my campaign over to their own games, as well. So I almost feel like I "spawned" a whole gaming universe of my own. A small, humble one, to be sure--but it's probably my crowning achievement in my own little personal history of gaming.

As a player, I played my original World of Greyhawk character for 13+ years of on-and-off play. Ironically enough, the advent of the 3.5 edition forced his retirement. My DM and I worked hard to translate his stats over to the new system and, quite frankly, after a few exploratory 3.5 sessions he proved just too powerful for regular play any longer (I'm all for Epic play and all that, but for us, it just wasn't working). We placed him into the "hallowed NPC" status that I'm sure a lot of you other players have characters in. He was retired sorrowfully and I have not been a player since.

Well, this post ended on a much more depressing note than I expected. :P


Personally speaking, I would *really* like a moritorium on ANY new books for about 3 months. Call me a killjoy, but I'm rapidly becoming overwhelmed by all the new material WotC keeps cranking out on a seemingly-by-the-minute basis. As a DM, I'm really having trouble keeping up with the latest and greatest. Plus, I'm really starting to feel like we're getting to this point:

Player to DM: Okay, I'd like to crosstitch the aurumvorax pattern that we bought on our last trip to Rauxes.

DM (quizzical): Uhm, okay. You DO know that your character is falling from the dragon's mouth into that pit of acid, right? Plus with the Wind Wall he just cast, uhm...you *might* find it hard to thread the needle.

Player (smugly): Oh, no prob! Just consult table 7-1 in the DMG v2654! They've got a chart telling you exactly how it should break out....

Again, call me a killjoy--but do we really need rules for all this stuff???


Steve Greer wrote:
Check out the Farshore backdrop article in issue 143 for something close.

I'm sorry. I cannot accept any pale imitations when it comes to giant apes. There is only one Oonga! ;)


Steve Greer wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:

Kopru: Yes; they're inexoribly tied to the Isle of Dread mythos and will play an important role in Savage Tide. MMII's suggestion that they're related to mind flayers can stay a suggestion, though; Kopru are not related to mind flayers (at least, not in Savage Tide).

Ixitxachitl: I hope they'll be in the campaign at some point. They worship Demogorgon (and have done so since the early days of D&D), so it makes sense that they'll show up at some point even if they aren't specifically tied into the overall plot at this time.

Rakastas: Will probably not be appearing in Savage Tide. The Isle of Dread is already pretty full of intelligent creatures, and rakastas seem a little "tacked-on" to the island. Especially since there's not a heavy mammal-based theme for most of the isle. There's a chance they may show up in a cameo, but we won't know for sure for some time.

Phanatons = check

Kopru = check
Ixitxachitl = check
Rakastas = nope

Plus...
Tyrannosaurus (one really, really tough one)
Araneas
Were-jaguars
Leech Swarms
Couatl
Dragon Eel
An Avatar of Camazotz, the Olman bat god
And much, much, more...

What, no Oonga the Giant Ape? I feel gipped! ;)


Greg,

Just so's you know, Shahng is one of my favorite NPCs *ever*. Man, did she kick some booty on my PCs when we ran this... :O

Just hadda tell ya.... :)


I'm so geeked about getting one. I was SURE they were going to sell out and I was going to get shut out!


Ender_rpm wrote:
I walk my cats on leashes. It works pretty well over all, you just have to start when they are wee kittens. We travel by car a good bit, and they love getting out of the carrier at rest stops

Ender_rpm, I have a purebred Bengal, and I've heard of people that do that with that particular breed--but mine must be more up Heathansson's alley than yours. She's pretty willful and hated the collar when I tried it out!

Then, I didn't try it when she was a kitten, as you suggested. Maybe therein lies the key.


Heathansson wrote:
I said this on another thread about dmpc's; dmpc's don't have to be yesmen. And I guess neither do familiars. I think a cat is perfect for this. Cats always do whatever they want to anyway, and we are their pet humans, or in their language, "ridiculous oafish bald monkeys." So if there ever gets to be a problem with the change cat breaking the game, one question: have you ever seen anybody walking their cat on a leash? Why would a change cat do everything its master told it to?

Anybody that owns a cat probably (as I did) nodded sagely as they read your post, Heathansson. But now that you've told me what "meow" translates to, I'm gonna *glare* at that damn cat...! ;)


Saurstalk wrote:

I've been running an online campaign for over two years now. I've had some attrition from the original four players ... resulting, as of recent, to just one player. Even more recently, we had a total party kill. (Walked brainlessly into an ambush ... thanks even to failed "use your brain" checks for my NPCs in the group.) In any event, we want to pick up where the other party just died, but in so doing, need to have people willing to wade into a campaign midstream. Because it is online gaming, and generally not IMing, it is definitely more slow moving than table top gaming, but exciting nonetheless. If you are willing and able to drop a post or two (or three) a day regularly and you are interested, then please let me know.

Here is both fluff and crunch concerning the campaign:

First - crunch.

I use 3.5 rules and the campaign is set in Forgotten Realms .. Silver Marches to be exact. I'm pretty open to any type of character being played ... just so long as they are playable in a group. (I do incorporate LA.) I'm okay with people rolling up character abilities instead of point buys. I use the DMG table 5-1 to assess starting gold for players of higher than first level and also grant each player one "gift" befitting that character - be it an item, knowledge, etc. I also use Action Points. I encourage some thought be put into a character's past and portrait and award each accordingly. As this campaign is sort of mid-swing, I believe that the PCs will need to have some familiarity with one another. I'm also open to people roleplaying more than one character if they are willing. (The only twist to playing more than one character is with the initiative roll. For however many characters a person plays, the initiative roll is the average of rolls for all those characters .. applied to those characters.) Eventhough my campaign's based in Forgotten Realms, I'm open to other splat books being used, including Eberron, Oriental Adventures/Rokugan, etc. In my campaign setting, psionics are different than...

Sounds interesting! Please contact me at: antithesisNOSPAM@comcast.net (removing the NOSPAM, of course) with some more details!


office_ninja wrote:
1) Not really. I made up Manzorian's items that he trades for the Rod of Seven Parts, and I had the ranger's pig animal companion eat some illithid tadpoles and gradually become an abereant pig, but other than that I've stuck to the script.

A pig animal companion!!! I *love* it! Was this your idea, or the player's idea? Very cool and different....


The White Toymaker wrote:
Fake Healer wrote:
I try not to say "no" to Player's ideas. I do limit them to certain books so a Frenzied Berzerker Ferret couldn't happen, but a rogue ferret could if the character jumped through a hoop or 2 for me (take a certain feat- leadership or improved familiar come to mind) and maybe strip down the class abilities in some cases. A player hates to hear "no". I hate to hear "no". I want players to feel like their ideas can happen even if I have to tweak em to make it balanced.

That was my own inclination, as well. I would allow a familiar to gain class levels if the character took Improved Familiar (to allow a more open-ended bond between Master and Familiar) and Leadership (to account for the added power of effectively gaining an improved Cohort). Sure, it would make for a pretty beefy Cohort-Familiar, relatively speaking, but that would be a pleasant change of pace from the Order of the Stick "pop familiar" that shows up when you need to make a Spot or Listen check. The only time I've ever even bothered summoning a familiar was when I played a Dread Necromancer and got an Imp familiar as a class feature. I made him stay in Hawk form all the time bought a proper outfit for going Falconing. Otherwise it's hard to come up with a good enough use for a familiar that it's worth the risk of losing experience when they die.

Also, anything that provides an incentive to stick with a base class rather than hopping out at the first opportunity to take a "+1 Spellcasting" prestige class is a Good Thing in my book, and I could see a Cohort-Familiar being a good way to help fill in gaps at the mid to later levels if a party didn't have enough players to cover all their bases.

Okay, you guys have convinced me. I think I'll allow it, presuming my PC is willing to give up the Feats for it (FYI, he's thinking of a Changecat (old-school Greyhawk creature) with some class levels). I think the idea of letting the players have a little more influence on the game is more persuasive than sticking to rules that are somewhat nebulous in the first place.

If, however, this is addressed in Sage Advice (as has been mentioned above) before I get to allowing it, I may have a change of heart. ;)


Shroomy wrote:
I checked the SRD and there are no rules precluding a magical beast from gaining class levels. There are also no rules preventing a familiar from gaining class levels after it becomes a familiar (there is a rule stating that a new familiar has to start as a normal type of animal). I agree that this is a murky area and is depedent on a DMs judgement; if I thought about it more, I may require the spellcaster to take the Improved Familiar feat rather than the Leadership feat.

Hmm. This may be a question for a "Sage Advice" column. James or Erik, what do you guys think?


Sven wrote:

Ok guys, this blows but I would like to know if something similar has ever happened to some of you...

Iesterday I got my first batch of War of the Dragon Queen minis and I got lucky!
Aspect of Tiamat right on the 3rd one!
But, after a few seconds of drooling oer it, I just realised something was wrong...
The damn thing was lacking the Black Head!
I don't know, but my best guess is that someone just forgot to put it n, or maybe it wasn't glued enough to toe neck.
In aniy case, I have Tiamat-with-black-stump.

Has something similar ever happened to you guys?
is there any hope that i colud get back a spare black head to glue on my mini?

This shouldn't be the way to treat the Dark Queen!

Wow, that *does* blow. I had to get mine from an auction site. I wonder if maybe you could write a nice e-mail to Wizards with a photo of your headless Tiamat...perhaps in the spirit of customer service they'd do something for you?

Maybe you got *really* lucky, though. Check the rest of the figures in that box...maybe one's using a vorpal weapon??? ;)


Ender_rpm wrote:

Um, no. It is a magical beast, but its abilities are dependent upon it being a familiar. If it takes class levels, it stops being a familiar and becomes a character (Or cohort), at which point it goes back to normal progression for its animal type. And, as we all know form thorough study of the MM, animals advance by hit die, not class levels.

(I only now cuz one of my players wanted to do it. I didn't trust him, and the rules did not support it. Its still the DMs call... )

Thanks, Ender. Just for my reference, where does it say that by taking class levels, the snimal would stop being a familiar? I really tried to find a clause like the one you're citing, but i was unable to.

Fake Healer wrote:

I am picturing a bard/bird familiar that tweets a little tune to inspire the party. Awakened animals can take levels, right?

Barbarian/badger, Rogue/rat(sneak attack, baby!), and a Monk/monkey just sound too good to be true.

Yeah, I figured it was too good to be true, indeed. Still, I couldn't find anything against it. By the way, I was only thinking of a Cat with a couple of Rogue levels. You think much more deviously than I! :)


Odd question for the group: can familiars gain class levels?

I understand that, to qualify as a familiar, you have to be a normal, natural animal (unless we're taking the Improved Familiar Feat into account...but that's a whole new ballgame). Still, after adventuring with her wizard/sorcerer for years, should we be giving XP to familiars as if they were NPC henchmen/cohorts? And if so, when they level up, can they take character classes?

I've never thought of that before until tonight. Maybe I'm missing an obvious rule, but I can see no game mechanic that prevents this. Even if it's kosher, I'm still not sure I'd allow it--an Epic-Level Wizard's familiar would have a stat block most PC's would kill for--but the question still begs answering.

Thoughts? Speak up rules-gods.... ;)


I vote for a bio of Wilva *herself*, actually. I know that there's some degree of mystique around her--as when she's appeared prominently in the past (S4, WG6, Return of the Eight), her stat block has never actually been released. That's cool, but I want more....

::SAVAGE TIDE SPOILER FOLLOWS::

When I met Erik at Origins, he said that her encounter in the upcoming Savage Tide AP would just be a role-playing activity (i.e.: no stat block). Still, I think that a real full-length article (no one page "Critical Threat" treatment, full Wayne Reyonlds art, etc) on the Witch-Queen of Perrenland would be awesome for this old-school Greyhawker!!! :)

*sigh* Ah, perchance to dream....


James Jacobs wrote:

Frankly, I'd be shocked, stunned, and amazed if we sold out of the extra Savage Tide Player's Guides before everyone who wanted them got a chance to get them.

In any case, let's try to remain civil on the boards here. I understand the point of view that it sucks to miss out on promos just because you can't get to Gen Con, and we're doing what we can to make sure everyone who wants a shot at this product to get it.

James,

I apologize if my skepticism concerning the promo overstepped the bounds of civility (I was trying to be polite; I'm not quite sure where I misstepped). I will withhold my judgement until I see how everything plays itself out. Perhaps I'm worrying over nothing and you'll have plenty left over. I just don't want to get "frozen out", and I'm sure you can appreciate that.

Farewell2Kings,

I knew you were just trying out some levity with your comment about Glock and it wasn't lost on me. Your anecdote just seemed an apt note for me to piggyback my feelings about the promo onto. If it seemed like I was criticizing you--I apologize. I certainly didn't mean that by any means.

Antithesis


farewell2kings wrote:

If it's good enough for an Austrian gun maker, it's gotta be okay for Paizo to do the same.

Perhaps it's "okay", I'll allow, but I have to confess that I kind of agree with Christopher on this matter (although perhaps not with as much vitriol). Perhaps I'm looking through glasses that are tinted with "I'm not going to be able to make it to GenCon, I can see these selling VERY quickly at Paizo.com IF they even make it that far--I'm very likely going to have to buy one on eBay for quadruple the price" and I'm not being objective enough. I dunno.

My two coppers, anyway.

Antithesis


James,

I appreciate that you did what you could to make the print run large enough. Hopefully, there'll be one left for me (who just subscribed *less than two weeks ago* to Dungeon for the first time) when they go on sale.

Antithesis
(who is beginning to have visions of having to make an eBay purchase in the very near future. :( )


James,

I, too, cannot make it to GenCon. James, if you have ANY input on the print run of this supplement, please make sure it's large enough to accomodate the MANY of us who will have to order it online subsequently.

Thanks,

Antithesis


Fatespinner,

Gotta have the chainmail bag in there somewhere. For my wedding (since my closest friends are all gamers), I gave my groomsmen all chainmail dice bags--and got one for myself. Call me sentimental. ;)

antithesis

Fatespinner wrote:
Antithesis wrote:


There IS a rationale to this. I don't want the nice steel dice damaged by the chainmail, hence the leather. I don't want the chainmail eating up my new bookshelf, where I keep the bag, hence the soft Crown Royale bag.

...why don't you just use the leather bag by itself? I'm just sayin'...

On the topic of the post, none of the people in my group use CR dice bags, despite the fact that we are all over 21. In fact... none of us use dice bags at all. Since only myself and one other person actually OWN dice, we just bring our big ol' dice box with us when we game and share the wealth with the other players. I have seen quite a few CR dice bags in the past, however, and I would certainly say that they're a staple.


My dice bag:

Dwarven Steel dice in a small, black leather bag. The black leather bag is held in a larger chainmail dice bag. The chainmail dice bag is, finally, held in a Crown Royale bag.

There IS a rationale to this. I don't want the nice steel dice damaged by the chainmail, hence the leather. I don't want the chainmail eating up my new bookshelf, where I keep the bag, hence the soft Crown Royale bag.

All this to say that I vote for Crown Royale Bag = Gaming Staple. But not an EXCLUSIVE staple, anyhow. :)


Kendrik, I couldn't have possibly articulated my feelings any better than you did on this matter! I, too, have a 20-year+ campaign ongoing...and I'm watching characters that were in the first or second "generation" of my setting being completely outstripped (in terms of XP and overall power) by relative striplings in the 3.5 world. In the AoW finale, I remember text saying something to the effect of "the PC's, at this point, should be more powerful than [sic] TENSER...."

! :O !

Ahh, our instant gratification society.... ;)

Kendrik, Lion of Ratik wrote:


It's quite delicate in this case. My GH campaign has been running for nearly 20 years now, and I find it hard to change every fundamental in the world because D&D edition changes. Most of the new rules where introduced smoothly, except for the experience rules, which make me feel much like a video game.


Douge,

How far is "a little bit"? Is Painesville (Lake County) too far?

antithesis

douge wrote:
Actually I live in Northfield, but I am willing to drive a bit :P A little about me: 35 yrs old, been playing since the original edition of AD&D, played most campaign worlds. Favorite module: Ravenloft. Favorite classes: cleric and rogue. Drop me a line if you have a game or want to get one started! douge@nls.net


No way I could forget about Cloaks of Displacement! I play a Wizard when I'm not DM'ing....

Saern wrote:
Antithesis wrote:

Daren's Instant Fortress...Cloak of Displacement/Cape of the Mountebank...Staff of the Magi....

I had completely forgotten about Cloaks of Displacement! One item, and everything has a 50% miss chance against you.

God, magic items are so addicting... they really should put a warning on them.


I'm a sucker for Figurines of Wonderous Power--and I'm sure either a Stone/Obsidian Horse or a pair of Golden Lions would be excellent companions for your fighter. Don't underestimate how powerful these sort-of-overlooked items can be!

Daren's Instant Fortress...Cloak of Displacement/Cape of the Mountebank...Staff of the Magi....

*sigh* Pardon me...was I drooling? Or was that just the PC in me? ;)

Phate wrote:
I think the title explanes it all, but basicaly what are your favorites? Im needing ideas for a new charactor and unable to think of anything fun to buy, My charactor is a Human Fighter, most likly going to with 2 weapon fighting so any ideas will be helpful.


Don't forget that there IS official game material detailing the lands to the east of Oerik, across the Solnor. This continent is called "Aquaria" (or "Aqua-Aerdi", alternatively) and it was first introduced in the RPGA R1-4 series of modules--to be later repackaged as I12 "Egg of the Phoenix". Created by Frank Mentzer, it was subsequently given "official" blessing by Gary Gygax as being placed in the World of Greyhawk.

I only bring this up as this is where a large part of my personal campaign setting is placed! :) Hope it helps you, though....

antithesis

Grimcleaver wrote:
Looking at the Greyhawk map it occurs to me that there's a great swath of the map southwest of what's detailed that is just outlined. In Faerun these would be places like Kara Tur, Mazteca, and Al Quediim. I was wondering if there's similar product dedicated to the shadow parts of Oerth, or if its all just unexplored territory. I'd be interested to know what's known and what's left to be discovered. Thanks.


Heathansson,

::heh:: I'm that guy, too. I suppose that's why I reacted as scathingly as I did. Far too often, I suppose, I'm forced to defend my campaign of choice to people that really know little about what makes it so dear to me.

We're two of a kind, I guess. I'm a 36-year old man who hasn't played in a ongoing campaign since college (a dearth of players here in NE Ohio, it seems!). Upon hearing about its release, I *swore* to myself that I wasn't going to get into 3.5e. I was still reeling from late-2.5e's treatment of the Greyhawk Setting and saw the new edition as little more than a WoC money-making venture that really had little to do with the spirit of the game I loved. Then, one of my old players that I really respect let me know he was playing the new game--and that it was far BETTER than any previous edition. That gave me pause. Then, when I saw "MAURE CASTLE" on the cover of Dungeon...well, the rest is history.

I guess I fit the profile. :) But still, I did my due diligence. I wouldn't have made such a significant financial commitment (well into the $2k, by now) blindly. I learned as much as I could online (and yes, sometime through pirate .pdfs; for the sake of an earlier post, I find them an excellent resource in *deciding* what to buy and what I deem to be junk) before getting back into the hobby. Ultimately, I chose to do so.

I do not regret getting back into the game, even without players (yet!). My only regret is that I saw all the high-quality Forgotten Realms books being published, with their beautiful artwork and slick production--and I figured that Greyhawk would *certainly* have its day, as well. To this day, I am disappointed. I have commented on this in an earlier post in this thread. As of now, my only hope is that Erik Mona continues to get promoted in the WoC heirarchy and continues to promote the Greyhawk setting as he has with Paizo.com.

We shall see what comes now.

Again, sorry for the venom, Hethansson. I was being far too sensitive and reactionary.

antithesis

Heathansson wrote:
Heathansson wrote:

See, here's what Dungeon and Dragon magazines do. They're honey pots. You got a 30-40 y. o. guy with disposable income, who has been away from rpg's since college...

...OR..., he sees the Isle of Dread, picks it up, maybe talks to a buddy at work who "hasn't gamed in years, God I'd love to game just once..."so both these shmucks go down to the game store and between them shell out for a PHB, MMI,II,III, a DMG,....
I know, because I'm that schmuck. Ignore me all you want; but I think you took what I said totally out of context.


Heathansson,

You have my sincere apologies. That's why I asked you to modify your statement before! I took your statement grossly out of context. Mea culpa.

antithesis

Heathansson wrote:
Ian Holladay wrote:


There's a vocal Greyhawk fanbase out there, but it seems that on these boards at least it's the same dozen or so names carrying the torch...

This is who I was responding to with that line Antithesis; sorry, sarcasm. Friendly fire! Friendly fire!

No it just seems like once a month somebody shows up here quoting sales figures as the final evidence that Greyhawk is vanilla, Greyhawk is played out, Eberron is the wave of the future.


"Fanboys". "Banal existence." "Schmucks." Would you like to add any more incisive, inflammatory epithets to lend your opinion any less credence than you already have?

Please ignore my above invitation to explain your earlier statements. I think I understand where you're coming from now. Consider yourself summarily ignored.

antithesis

Heathansson wrote:

See, here's what Dungeon and Dragon magazines do. They're honey pots. You got a 30-40 y. o. guy with disposable income, who has been away from rpg's since college. He walks by the newsstand, sees the green demon head, or the isle of dread, or whatever from the halcyon days of youth, and says, "I gotta pick this up."

I'm sorry, a warforged on the cover...he has no idea what that is. He walks right by the Dungeon magazine and continues his banal existence without rolling another polyhedral piece of plastic.
OR..., he sees the Isle of Dread, picks it up, maybe talks to a buddy at work who "hasn't gamed in years, God I'd love to game just once..."so both these shmucks go down to the game store and between them shell out for a PHB, MMI,II,III, a DMG, and they go up to the game store guy and ask, "hey, is there any um... world of greyhawk stuff?" Now, here's what you go to the market analysts at Hasbro with.


"12 old stodges on the Paizo board waving the Greyhawk flag".

How magnanimous of you to acknowledge our meager existence!

I respect your opinion, Heathansson, and I would tend to agree with you in that the empirical data I'm seeing (based off of what people are interpeting from search engine numbers--hardly an accurate measure, IMHO) can't be positively said to be a direct indicator of Greyhawk being more/less popular than any other D&D setting. Still, I fail to see how your opinion is so much more valid than theirs/ours that it entitles you to denigrate their/our particular tastes.

Perhaps I'm not understanding where you're coming from. Maybe you'd like to explain to me what you meant by the sentence I quoted you on above. I'm specifically interested, in that I was one of the individuals to make note of my particular preference for Greyhawk. I would dearly like to know what you know about me personally that entitles you to cover me with the blanket epithet "fanboy".

antithesis

Heathansson wrote:
I say buy what you want, free country; just when people come around with a semester of freshman eberronomics under their belts, popping off about the eternal wisdom of WOTC's marketing team, or the 12 old stodges on the Paizo board waving the Greyhawk flag, and in my opinion trying to prove that their fanboy love is the "new face of D&D" with unsupported pseudoscientific quasieconomical conjecture veiled as evidence, I get a little rash, and I start itching.


To support Tatterdemalion's point, I managed a bookstore (Barnes & Nobles) when the "Justicar Series" Greyhawk Novels were released. Imagine my disappointment when I watched them sit and collect dust on the shelf (aside of the ones I bought, of course), month after month after month...all the while seeing Forgotten Realms novels fly off of the racks next to them. :/

I'm unashamedly a Greyhawk guy and I always will be. I'm jealous as hell of all the support that Forgotten Realms has gotten over the last two decades (particularly with the 3.5 era)and that has really led me to hate the setting completely and unreservedly. Childish and unwarranted? Perhaps. But it is what it is, the same.

But more to the point of the thread, my outlook on WoC ever supporting Greyhawk to my satisfaction is wholly pessimistic as well. It was noted by a previous poster above that the LGG sold very well; it would seem to me that, then, it would be completely logical business to support a clear financial winner with more products of the like. Still, nothing.

My only choice throughtout all of this is to support Greyhawk in the only way I can: within my personal gaming campaigns. With all spite intended--hell, I've done it for about fifteen years without any real support. Why should things change now?

Tatterdemalion wrote:
Lilith wrote:
Is there harm in putting out a single Greyhawk hardcover and seeing how sales perform? If they perform well, would it then warrant a further look into expanding and updating the Greyhawk line? That decision isn't in my hands, neither is the one to even do a Greyhawk hardcover. If a hardcover didn't do well, then they've only put their money on that one book and not banked everything on a nostalgia trip. *sarcasm sarcasm*

I've become quite convinced that D&D is a vehicle to launch high-profit, low-investment spinoffs -- in particular, minis and novels. GH has historically shown no ability to do so. Thus I remain pessimistic and depressed :(

IMO. I've said this elsewhere -- sorry for the repetition.

Jack


Scoti,

1. I would place my stats as follows Str 12-2=10, Dex 16+2=18, Con 14-2=12, Int 18+2=20, Wis 12, Cha 13. The Intelligence is a must and the extra Dex AC Bonus will be helpful to your mage's survivability, as will be the slight Con bonus to HP. I recommend the high Dex over Con as I feel that not getting hit in the first place takes priority over surviving hits you DO take...especially when the alternative number placement only nets you a single extra HP in the first place.

2. I'm with Fake Healer in that you should wait until the opportunity comes for you to select Improved Familiar before taking one. To me, it's well worth the Feat slot. If you feel the need to take one immediately, though--go for whatever fits the "flavor" of your character. I'm partial to cats or ravens, myself.

3. Spell selection is entirely dependant on the composition of the rest of your party, in my opinion. I strongly believe that the single most important factor in surviving low-levels (ESPECIALLY for a mage) is teamwork. If you have more than one fighter in your group, for example, don't be afraid to think a little outside the box and select lots of buff and defensive-type magic in order to complement your front-line guys (and lessen the burden on your cleric, allowing them to concentrate on praying for healing magics).

Of course, that being said, magic missile and mage armor are almost must-haves. Still, I'm sure you see my point.

Have a good time with the campaign!

antithesis

Scoti Garbidis wrote:

I am getting ready to start a new character. This will be my first Wizard PC EVER.

My rolled stats were pretty awesome. 14, 16, 14, 13, 18, 12. I am currently placing my rolls as follows;

STR: 14-2=12
DEX: 14+2=16
CON: 16-2=14
INT: 18+2=20
WIS: 13+0=13
CHA: 12+0=12

I am pretty set with those abilities but welcome advice about where to use my rolls, what familiar to take, what spells to choose. I will get 8 first level spells in my spellbook and I will be able to use 3 a day thanks to my high intelligence.

Just let me know what you think and I will post my final character when I start the new campaign.


Scoti Garbidis wrote:

Antithesis,

I figured i could reply with my webpage also. Not nearly as advanced along as yours and am slow updating it. I am trying to keep a game log online but am already 3 sessions behind.

Anyway, here it is: http://www.geocities.com/rockstar1979/

Scoti,

I really like your website! I like how you used minis for the art (in most cases). Plus, your list of available Prestige Classes is nice and comprehensive (with your permission...I just may "borrow" that idea). I'm betting your players are having a good time!

Antithesis

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