Basiliv's page

Unfortunately, wee cannot add non-subscription items to subscription orders at this time. This in a feature that we are working on bringing to our subscribers, but it is not yet available.

Thanks,
cos

Okay, no biggie. Thanks for the prompt reply!

Hullo,

Would it be possible to add a Harrow Deck to this order? I don't mind waiting until they're both in stock.

Thanks,
~Jim

Basiliv wrote:

Vic Wertz wrote:

There's still time to add it, but it has gone off of the in-stock sale, so it's only 10% off instead of 50%. Do you still want it?

Yes please. Thanks for double-checking!

~Jim

Done!

LOL! You're too fast. Ignore my other post, this works just fine. :-)

Thanks much for your help!

Has anyone tried the stand-alone Harrow game yet?

I'm an avid BoardGameGeek, and I'm curious how the card game is. If it's at least Three-Dragon Ante good, then I'll probably pick it up. If it's no better than Inn Fighting, then I'll have to pass.

Sadly, I'm starting to have serious doubts about ever getting to run anyone through Curse of the Crimson Throne, so I'll need another reason to find space in my game closet for Harrow. *sigh* :-(

Hello,

It looks like I somehow managed to delete two items from my cart when I placed this order, when I only meant to delete one.

Is it possible to add the Noble's Handbook (Green Ronin) to this order again? If it's easier to cancel the order and make me place it again, that works for me too.

Thanks for your help!
~Jim

I actually emailed Gary a couple times with Greyhawk questions, and I couldn't have asked for a friendlier, more personable response.

Cheers My Gygax, you've brought so many good times to so many people...I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Noon PST?

I, too, liked the temples to evil gods just to placate them. However, I didn't really see anything that made me think the general public tended toward evil.

I think your entry repeated itself too many times, "draconian" and "plague" were the worst offenders, but there were a couple times that you used the same phrases at the beginning and end of a single short paragraph.

But I liked the mistrust toward dwarves because of their immunity to the disease, that was a nice touch.

I have a couple of suggestions:

1) I love the idea of demi-gods ruling floating city-states with unique orders of priests but you need to focus on them more. I think if you left out the more campaign specific info this would allow you to provide more detail about the cities, politics between them, and their various attributes. Specifically I was hoping for more details about the cities, their titan demi-god rulers, and how they are different. I would have mentioned the other cities just as an enticement to explore.

2) I wanted more info on the races. How were the races affected by this massive war? Are they the same or have they changed? I was really hoping for more info on the vadween and the hidden. I think they could have been tied in a little bit more which would have added some rich flavor to the setting.

The entry was little rough but there were a lot of great ideas in there. Good job.

Edit: Oh, and what makes the Living Cities living?

Took the words right outta my mouth. I also think some of your background helped, but a little less campaign and more country would have made this a stronger entry.

There's little that I specifically dislike about this one. I wish you'd done more with the isolation from the main kingdom, especially in a present-day sense.

I'm not a big fan of half-dragons; my taste even uses half-fiends sparingly. Despite that, I loved the pact, the prince fleeing his fate, etc. It would have been helpful to have an organization noted as helping (or at least rumored to be helping) the prince, or some other tie-in to get PCs involved in the action.

I think a lot of entries are missing a bit about everyday life in the kingdom, like trade, humanoid relations, strife with neighbors, intrigue, etc. What's a low-level PC to do here? The druids were a nice touch, but some more adventure hooks would be nice for those not yet ready to take on demons or government.

I read your comment about the dwarf-elf war, and I've gotta say that putting a twist (or different races) on this would have really helped. You could have, but unfortunately you didn't.

Having said that, I think your idea about humans nuking the dwarves and elves for their own survival is gritty -- I like it. These are the descendants of those people, so I don't see a problem with the modern inhabitants honoring that.

But as much as I like your backstory, I think you needed more current events. The Sanddudes were pretty cool, we needed more of that type of detail. More DM secrets, more conflict.

I like the base idea, I just think you needed to think more about hooks for adventures/campaigns.

I have to agree, this really is a city with some footnotes on the surrounding region.

Language and grammar issues aside, I would've preferred more intrigue among the villages...to be honest, I agreee that a total rift might have been a better choice. Half-cities on either side are very vivid images, and require less smoke and mirrors to explain away.

I also loved the monks, and the wizard "tours" -- but something similar could have been done with a complete rift. I think you've got some great ideas here, and I'd love to see what else you can do.

I like the were-elephants, but it's not enough to sell me on its own.

There were definitely some sentence structure issues, and maybe that bugged me more than most. I loved the threat of being raised as undead, especially when combined with cultural taboos -- nicely done. I had the same problems others did with "Under New Management", but I also liked the time spent on current/recent events.

I especially liked the "beneficial rulers" mentioned by another poster.

"Okay, aside from the roads, and the aquaducts..."

Oh, and I agree that the spelling should match the pronunciation more closely. Sorry.

I love the absorption of other cultures, and the inquisition-type aspect you've got going.

But I think you should have focused more on the inherent intrigue here. With 1/3 of the counselors from the people, military, and clergy, it's ripe for conflict. What would have been great would be to continue with the Roman influence...bribery, assassinations and double-dealing are an acceptable part of the culture, but citizens need to follow cultural rules of taste and "propriety". Then again, maybe I've watched Rome too recently...;-)

Unlike other responses here, I like the Scarlet Brotherhood-like racial purity you've got going. I can understand why it doesn't appeal to some folks, and maybe giving the country a bit more evil slant would make that more acceptable. *shrug* To me, it makes villains that much more despicable.

I like your entry, but more guidance on current adventure possibilities would have made this stronger.

Lots of great stuff here, but I've gotta wonder what everyday life is like in Iskandria. Are they completely self-sufficient and isolated, or is there a flow of trade? With all this treasure, I'd be surprised if neighboring nations haven't tried invading already...or have they?

Great stuff, and definitely on my short list so far.

For what it's worth, I'm not familiar with the FR pantheon, and probably wouldn't have thought to Google the name either. So there. ;-P

I think more on the way the Malarites interact with their neighbors would have been nice. Does Tarkimet see much action? You mention that only Kulkeran has peaceful contact with the outside world, but some expansion on what kind of contact there is would have helped. Others mentioned the oddness of making this place 100% hobgoblin, and I think more on the interactions might have made this a more user-friendly location.

I love the crater and the god, but again, how other nations/religions currently view these clerics would have been great.

I also agree that the names with common suffixes is a nice trick.

Hmmm...I definitely think this would have worked better as a specific region of a larger nation, with some interaction included between the blink dog "state(s)" and the other races.

Obviously a novel concept, and I love that you did something with blink dogs. This is only the 3rd entry I've read, so I can't comment yet on whether or not you've got my vote. But you've severly limited the useability of your nation by forcing:

A) Use of the country as a destination instead of an origin for PCs
-or-
B) PCs to play non-standard races. Yes, someone pointed out that players could be goblins or gnolls, but still...

This is currently on my "maybe" list.

I loved the idea of magical winter coming to a jungle, and I agree with Erik that the idea of using all those arctic beasties is very appealing.

But I also agree that too much was spent on the history. More talk on conflicts between the city-states would have been great, especially portions that players can hear about. The trade and commerce of the nation were well thought-out, and I think the potential for adventure is high here. If only the elven reaction wasn't so cliche...but I liked the visual of tatooed, jungle-dwelling elves.

Lots of good stuff here, still in the running in my book.

I'm slow outta the gate, this is the first entry I've had a chance to read.

I can only really mirror what others have said here. I love all the crunch, really helpful for a DM. I wouldn't have a problem finding adventure here for PCs, but I agree that more conflict built into the entry would have strengthened it.

I love it when different levels of Knowledge check results are provided, and I definitely got a good vision of the peoples through your description of holidays, weapons used, painted wagons, deities, etc. I think more description of the interaction between the nomads and the ex-slaves would have been nice...do the slaves live in constant terror of discovery, or do they successfully deter raiders, or have they struck a bargain with some tribes for either protection or "protection", or...?

Overall, I really like it. You've got some good writing skills. Whether or not it gets my vote will depend on the other 31, but you're definitely in the running.

Basiliv wrote:

Great thread, I wish I'd seen it sooner. I'll bite:

** spoiler omitted **

Sorry for the delay Basiliv. I like the idea of absorbing skills, but I don't really have a clear picture of how everything fits together. It seems like it should take much more than a full-round action - I imagine that the person giving the ranks in the skill should have to wear the item, and then the skill ranks would be transferred over to the wearor. The activitation also seems odd - it feels like the activation should be the absorption of the skill and then that skill can be used immediately thereafter for a fixed period of time. Also, the way it's set up, Joe Rogue with 1 rank in search could make a successful check to find a coin his buddy the wizard hid. Then the scarf would grant a +10 Search bonus to Joe Rogue. Alternatively, Jane Rogue, who has a +10 to Search, would gain an additional +10 to the check.

Finally, I think the cost is off. An item that gives a bonus to a skill should have a cost equal to the square of the bonus times 1,000 gps, IIRC. That would give...

Thanks Sebastian. Patrick and I discussed that a bit, his take is to scale the bonus. Definitely some food for thought...I might have bitten off more than I could...well, absorb. ;-)

I tried to stear clear of this bookkeeping, but I think the real answer is to grant a bonus equal to the ranks absorbed, and allow those to be divided however the wearer wishes. Patrick said he thought the original skill user should get a save...but I still disagree. You're not preventing them from doing anything or affecting them in any way. I look at it like a detection spell, which allows no save.

In any event, thanks for the feedback, it definitely helps!

Basiliv wrote:

Thanks for the input!!

Patrick Walsh wrote:

Hmm. I'd also make it tiered at +2, +4, and +6 bonuses.

I'm not sure how that would work. Would you mind elaborating?

Make a +2 version that only works if the source has at least 2 ranks in the skill being copied, a +4 version that only works if the source has at least 4 ranks in the skill being copied, and a +6 version that only works if the source has at least 6 ranks in the skill being copied.

The +2 version allows access to most skills as most folks with a skill (or at least know to have a skill) will have at least 2 ranks in it. The +4 and +6 versions allow better skill levels but at the expense of fewer available sources. Doing it this way, the +8 and +10 versions can be included without breaking the game as access to master level NPCs should be rare.

Using the "try it and see if it works" method is probably the best way of doing this. That way the DM does not have to tell the PCs how many ranks an NPC has and it becomes a game of "how far can I push it and still get a result?"

With the rank limits and the WILL save, I like this item.

Thanks much for the feedback, Patrick, I really appreciate it.

Thanks for the input!!

Basiliv wrote:

Great thread, I wish I'd seen it sooner. I'll bite:

Scarf of Skills

I see 3 issues here:

1) Useable at range against others with no save.

I'm not sure that you're using it *against* anyone...I thought of it as a detection spell, which allows no save.

3) The spell prereq's seem excessive and do not bear upon the effect created.

I based this on Gloves of Swimming and Climbing -- 2 skills increased, requiring both cat's grace and bull's strength to create. Since this increases the bonus on ANY skill, I included the whole suite of spells.

You already mentioned a need to specify spell slot, so I didn't repeat that. I'd reduce the bonus and require that the original skill holder have at least that many ranks before it would work.

This was the part I wrestled with the most, so I welcome the feedback. Let me share my thought process here:

- Sharing skills within the party is an obvious use for this, but it could also be used to absorb skills that none of the PCs had. How would the PCs know how many ranks an NPC has? I suppose I could have gone with a "try it and see if it works" mechanic, especially with no save involved.
- My original thought was that the scarf increased the bonus to equal the number of ranks absorbed, but that's a lot of book-keeping. So I tried to find a balance there by using a flat bonus.
- +5 is great if it's constant, but since this will absorb any skill at all, I thought I should tone the power down with limited uses....which makes it less appealing as DCs increase with level...

Maybe I should have gone with +5 useable more times per day??

Hmm. I'd also make it tiered at +2, +4, and +6 bonuses.

I'm not sure how that would work. Would you mind elaborating?

I tried to make it more than just a replacement for Brew Potion by having it produce 2d4 potions for each potion created, but you are right that is the true power.

Oh, I completely misread that. Woops! Definitely makes a difference, and more sense.

If you've got some time, I'd love feedback on my Scarf of Skills (on page 10 of this thread). :-D

Clark - would you critique the item I didn't submit? I got talked out of it by a friend and it was reviewed more positively than the item I did submit (the watch that let's you take extra actions).

Bountiful Sapling

I'm obviously not Clark (what a relief for him!), but I'll give you some feedback on your un-submitted item.

I like the theme and feel of it, nurturing a plant for an effect. Two months is a long time, but how big a price this is will depend upon how much of that 2 months must be actively spent nurturing. This should have been spelled out.

Theme and feel aside, I like the anti-exhaustion effect. But unless I'm missing something, the "true power" of this item simply replaces the Brew Potion feat...that said, I also like the alternate potion form you provide.

Headdress of the Shaman

The line about the myths seems out of place. If this is supposed to be an item to enhance nature summoning, then the undead/planar description just doesn't seem to fit.

Agreed.

The enhancement is similar to the corpsecrafter feat from libre mortis (+4 str, +2hp/hd), so you have a minor affect (talk to the ally you summon) and a pseudo-replication of a feat.

Not to mentioned Augment Summoning, from the PH. My current wizard PC loves this feat. :-)

Looks like I'm falling behind on my feedback karma (been getting but not giving). Better start digging through the thread now.

I'm in the opposite boat, Ken, so I'd love some feedback on my Scarf of Skills. :-D

Guardian's Amulet

I don't see anything immediately wrong with it, but it didn't really suck me in, either. Sorry.

Just to toss mine out for some feedback (I think I did some minor edits when posting, so I'm not positive this is word for word what I submitted):

Vest of the Magma Rage

This rough hide vest is adorned with stitching in primitive fiery patterns. Anyone wearing this vest gains fire resistance 10 (30 for greater vest). Barbarians, however, are able to unlock its true potential. A barbarian raging while wearing a vest of the magma rage can choose to encase himself in a burning shell of rock. This grants a +4 enhancement bonus to armor class and deals 1d6 points of fire damage to all adjacent creatures (+10 armor and 3d6 fire damage for greater vests) for the duration of the rage. Additionally, raging barbarians wearing a lesser vest of the magma rage can cast a fireball as a 5th level sorcerer centered on himself once per day. Greater vests of magma rage allow a raging barbarian to cast a fireball as a 10th level sorcerer three times per day, again centered on the barbarian.
Moderate (lesser) or strong (greater) evocation; CL 5th (lesser) or 10th (greater); Craft Wondrous Item, resist energy, fireball; Price 34,000 gp (lesser), 160,000 gp (greater)
(Price based on Ring of Energy Resistance, and 70% cost (due to class ability based) for fireball and armor bonus. 1d6/3d6 fire dmg was eyeballed)

After I submitted, I realized I should have clarified how the fireball affects the barbarian. My initial thought was to be immune, but then I realized, what the heck, this is for barbarians, let them take the damage. :) So I would tack on:

"The barbarian only has the vest's fire resistance to protect him from the fireball, although he is able to make a Reflex save to reduce the damage as usual." or something like that. Denying the Reflex save might make some sense with physics, but is probably too mean. After all, if a wizard dropped a fireball at his feet, it would work the same way.

But I would love any feedback from judges or anyone. Not passing the first round doesn't mean I can't improve my...

I think whether or not the barbarian is immune is your call (different flavors, really), but I agree it should have been addressed either way.

But I have to admit that nothing about this item screams "barbarian" to me. Aside from your statement about it being available while the barbarian rages, this could have just as easily been geared toward dwarves, fighters, etc. I think this could have helped a lot, to tie the item more strongly to its theme.

Hope that helps!!

Great thread, I wish I'd seen it sooner. I'll bite:

Scarf of Skills

This dull gray scarf of fine silk can duplicate most skills. As a full-round action, the wearer can cause the scarf to absorb a skill successfully used by a creature within 30 feet.
The scarf can only absorb one skill per day, but once absorbed it is retained until activation via command word. For one hour after activation, any uses of this skill requiring a check are granted a +10 competence bonus. During this time, the wearer is treated as trained in the appropriate skill, even if she had never invested any ranks in it. If 24 hours have passed without activation, the scarf can absorb a new skill, replacing the one previously stored. The scarf can only absorb skills requiring a skill check.
Faint transmutation; CL 5th; Craft Wondrous Item, bear’s endurance, bull’s strength, cat’s grace, eagle’s splendor, fox’s cunning, owl’s wisdom; Price 6,250 gp

-------------------------

I hadn't realized that a creative name was so important, so that's an obvious flaw. Also, it might be obvious, but since I didn't see any scarves in the SRD I should have probably specified the body slot it used.

I'll really appreciate the feedback!!

I was starting to wonder...I never received an email about this. Your explanation makes sense, but it might be a good idea to let subscribers know.

Then again, maybe my email just got lost. :-)

Just wondering if there's an ETA on shipping the pre-orders for this yet? I'm just anxious. :-)

Thanks much.

I loved the reference to Lascer. By pure coincidence, one of the back issues I received for my transition was Dungeon 92, with The Razing of Redhand and the Shadow Shoal.

Seeing the tie-in was great, very cool.

Looking forward to getting my copy of Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk!!

The abilities and traits for Tanar'ri are in the Monster Manual. The other two are indeed detailed in Fiendish Codex 1.

Sweetness, thanks Mothman!

Great issue guys, bravo. I nearly teared up reading the farewells from Jason, Mike, Wes, and Erik. And how cool was Holian's "Treasures of Greyhawk"? Yeah, Gary!

But I have to admit that I've been looking forward to this Apocrypha article the most. And so far it's wonderful...but it seems to be missing something (unless I am, which is entirely possible).

All demon lords are one of the three known demonic races, and thus the creature gains the loumara, obyrith, or tanar'ri sub-type as well, along with all the abilities and traits for that sub-type.

The article then goes on to discuss the Forms of Madness for obyriths...and that's it. There's no mention of the abilities or traits for the other two sub-types, it just moves on to discuss Hit Dice.

Are these in Fiendish Codex I? If so, that makes perfect sense. If not, any chance of posting those on your site? :-)

I just figured the only way to end my confusion was to ask -- no big deal. I can't wait for Pathfinder guys, please keep up the great work!!

Also, while I loved this article and hope the series lasts forever (*grin*), I hope it hasn't replaced the Demonomicon articles. Those were just delicious.

Give us Greyhawk fans an article or two.

Here-here. I thought the article was great, wonderful details...though I'm not sure where it leaves Wee Jas, and unfortunately, I doubt the series will last long enough to cover this. It'd rock, to be sure, but I don't see the series lasting several years.

Here-here! I'm actually trying to come up with a way to integrate it with Mona's "River of Blood" adventure. :-)

Very good stuff.

I want to start by saying how much I love Dungeon. The last few years have been top notch, and I'd like to thank the Dungeon staff for providing me with my favorite gaming products over the last couple years. I look forward to each issue much more than I do with new releases by Wizards.

Still, I have a request to make. Would it be possible to place each map a page or two further into the adventure? Sound weird? Lemme splain by example.

In the new issue (#128), pg 49 has the map of the Arena's Understructure...and only rooms 1 & 2.5 on the same page. So for rooms 2.5-15, I've got to turn back 1-2 pages if I want to refer to the map. The same is true repeatedly:

Champion's Belt:
- map for rooms 16-23 on pg 51, room 16 descr on pg 52.
- map for 24-32 on pg 53, descr for room 24 on pg 54.

Shut-In:
- maps are on page 23, descr of room 1 on pg 24.

Fireplace Level:
- map for V1-8 on pg 90, descr of rm 1 on pgs 91-92.

Now, I'm perfectly aware that we're talking about a 1 page map compared to room descriptions that span several pages. I'm also not trying to be picky, so if it were always 1-2 pages I wouldn't be posting this. It's the periodic need to turn (for example) from page 59 to 53 to view the appropriate map that I'd love to avoid. My personal preference would be to place the map in the center of the appropriate group of room descriptions, rather than making the reader turn back so far.

Pretty please??

Just some flavor for you to mull over, Tankred, but in prior editions of the game clerics of Wee Jas were pretty rarely involved with undead or even resurrections. Regarding undead, here's an excerpt from the "From the Ashes" boxed set:

She is a protector of the dead, and her priests are only rarely allowed to command undead creatures, having to commune with Wee Jas to see if this is acceptable to her.

Obviously, play this as you'd like in your own campaign. But this will give you an awful lot of leeway for regulating what your player can get away with. "Sorry dude, Wee Jas just doesn't go for that." ;-)

Also, I can't speak for how your players react, but if my players stand there getting clobbered without regrouping or retreating, then they get what they deserve. But my players realize this going in. ;-)

As for a solution, this scenario has no urgency to it (as mentioned earlier). If your party's getting their #!@ kicked by the sonic attacks, the easy answer is to retreat. There's nothing in the text indicating the Wind Warriors will pursue them very far. Wait a day, have the party cleric memorizes a Silence spell or two and the problem is solved.

I've gotta agree with Airwalkr. Well said, I couldn't put my finger on it like that.

Look at the first two campaign settings for D&D: Mystara and Greyhawk. Both were very much designed to allow each DM to make them his/her own (that all changed with their 2nd Edition revamps, but let's stick with 1st Ed). Little more than outlines. I'm not saying that's what everyone should do, but most 1st Edition modules were written the same way. "Here's the combat situations, now you just need to fit it into your home campaign."

Alright, this thread's been hijacked enough. ;-) You are now returned to singing the praises of Mr. Mona.

Well, just because something was 1st Ed doesn't mean it's good. So you definitely could have read some bad adventures. Then again, maybe it's just nostalgic for me. ;-)

I guess the classic 1st Ed feeling for me is the puzzle room, the item in Room A that you have to use to get past Room E, the strange items of ancient magic (you know, where your wizard isn't just saying "oh cool, Boots of Spider Climbing"), the mystical food and drink that no character in their right mind is going to consume, the list of choices where half are bad and half are beneficial...there was just such a sense of danger and The Unknown back when most us had no idea what a drow was, nobody knew what was going to work against this particular dragon, and you could either love or regret a choice with no clues to guide you. Sure, it wasn't fair. Sure the DM needed to come up with the role-playing on their own. But the modules took you to dark and mysterious places where you never knew what to expect. I think The Whispering Cairn achieves that as well. It's the best of both worlds.

For the record, I'm playing 3.5, and I really enjoy my dungeons making sense, and I'm all about some good role-playing vs roll-playing. Still, there's something special about the old days, and anything that captures that feeling is a wonderful thing in my book.

Between the Diamond Lake backdrop, all the wonderful 1st Ed feel to this adventure, and the Campaign Seeds that make my mouth water, I can't wait for the rest of the Path.

Now I'm off to read the Chambers of Antiquities...this issue is too good to be true.

Seriously, standing ovation from me. Wonderful job!!

Not really sure why the Preview is showing my post twice...I even cancelled and started over. *shrug*

ASEO wrote:

"3. While under “The Tunnels” it mentions that the red lantern is in area #20, in area #20 I found no mention of the lantern."

Maybe you should re-read the room description...;-)

"6. Area #19 is noted as being completely submerged. If the stairs from #18 descend at a 1:1 rate, then the floor of #19 is 10ft below #18. If all areas have a 20ft ceiling, and the water starts halfway down the stairs, then the water in areas #19-22 should be only 5ft deep with 15ft of air above. Is this correct?"

Yup, good point. The easy fix is to just make the stairs 15'-20' long, depending on what races your PCs are.

Back to reading. Like ASEO said, wonderful stuff!!

Quick question about room #7. I'm not trying to nitpick, I just think maybe I'm not understanding the clue indicated in the adventure.
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I don't understand the part about the extended fingers providing a clue. Isn't the sarcophagus pointing toward O when the PCs arrive? So wouldn't that mean the fingers were pointing toward I?? *scratches head*

Sorry for the confusion.

I believe the "Scaling the Adventure" sidebar will be in the online supplement. Sorry, dude.

I love the new Greyhawk maps, absolutely wonderful. But PLEASE make sure that my address label is not affixed directly to any future sections of the map! It came off no problem, but it could have been ugly.

I know a lot of hard work went into these maps, so please talk to the shipping folks to make sure we can appreciate them in all their glory. Thanks much.

I just wanted to take a second to say just how much these articles rock. Nice chunky mouthfuls of exactly the sort of things my campaign needs: NPC fences, informants, and dealers, the contents of vacant buildings in my town, cool doors, bridges, and fountains to spice things up, etc., etc., etc...little one-shot interesting tidbits that really make my life a lot easier.

Kudos to all the authors so far, but a special thanks to the Dungeon staff for printing these for me. PLEASE keep it up, I need a ton of these things. ;-)