Blake Ryan's page

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Has anyone done or toyed around with the idea of a massive invasion?

An example in fiction could be the Riftwar Saga by Raymond E Fiest.

One side would have a huge cabal of wizards and open a portal for their troops to invade the other side.

They would start somewhere remote to enable them time to gather geographic staging points for the later large invasion.

I thought if it was the Tian-Xia vs Taldor they could start near Maheto or for Varisia they could start invading near Kaer Maga.

This could also be used to spice up an area that you feel is underused (Nex, Rahadoum or Druma).

On the flipside they pcs could be Tian Xia clansmen defending from some Cheliax infernal cult or Shackles Pirate raids encouraged by Serpentfolk.

Thoughts?

Well the game progresses along my plan of Temple of Elemental Evil followed by Against the Giants in Nex.

The temple is set in a scrub filled valley on the edge of the Mana Wastes. The moathouse was converted to a 1 level dungeon ruin a full day north of the temple in sandy desert.

The PC's heard about the 'Grand Nexus of elemental power' from papyrus scroll notes in the moathouse.

This is the third time I have ran the TOEE in my 22 years of gaming, it this time it has started rather differently -

- Here's an except from my game journal about what happened -

Wandering through the overground courtyard and straight up to the entrance of a massive grey building lined with stained glass windows and gothic arches.

'We can renovate this place along with the gnome ruins once we take over' declared Byson the Minotaur Druid.

Petal the Elven Dervish smiled seemingly pleased with the idea, but the others were less sure.

Argotz the Magus used magic to read some glyphs imprinted on the massive double doors. Immediately he felt pain in his mind and felt a great need to stay away from this place.

Petal was in tune with the dramatic music in her head and started to climb they large bricks and imbedded gargoyles up onto the roof. She was thrown a rope to secure and soon the rest of the group joined her on the roof all except Mubutu the lion, who decided to have a good nap.

Making their way across the roof they found a 20ft wide stained glass skylight. Should they sell it intact they could make a good 1000 gold pieces however instead they decided to lasso a gargoyle statue and drag it to the skylight to drop through it. Just before it dropped through Ronwen weaved gnomish tricksy magic to make the statue glow with light.

The glowing gargoyle statue smashed through the skylight and kept going down into the well beneath it. It kept going into the darkness, so our heroes figured it was pretty deep. As the group cautiously climbed down ropes some hyena-folk known as gnolls started firing arrows at them.

After searching for an area less developed by adventure paths, I settled on Nex.

One messageboard post mentioned using Expedition to Greyhawk Ruins in Nex, and I liked the idea of using older modules.

So my campaign plot will go like this -

Temple of Elemental Evil - Replace the moathouse with a desert ruins. Place the temple itself on the edge of the Mana Wastes.

Instead of Zuggamatoy I will use one of Rovagug's many spawn.

After the temple they will be requested to aid villages in the western savannah from giant raids, leading into Against the Giants.

Not sure how I will link that to Greyhawk Ruins south of Quantium but i'll figure something out by then.

- During the 'moathouse' initial ruins the PCs ran into some scorpion-gnomes I call Ninazu. These were created by Nex as soldier-workers, but they were too obsessive so he banished them far beneath the surface years ago.

Hundreds of years later they have clawed their way to the surface and infect people with their eggs when they attack. They are subject to the Bleaching if they stop reforging the world into their amber-catacomb nest.

As the heroes travel and explore they will find a rising number of these Ninazu infestations and must deal with them, so they are the recurring foe and my reason why Serpentfolk haven't made a huge comeback in this areas underdark.

I may have the giants start raiding people as their own lands are under attack by the gnome-scorpion Ninazu.

So that's the short version, is all this feasable?

Gooday

I was planning on a witch/dragon disciple build.

Say I go Witch 1st-5th giving me 1st-3rd spells.

Then take 3 levels of Dragon Disciple, giving me 2 lots of +1 existing, taking me to 1st-4th level spells.

THEN I go back to Witch for multiple levels.

At what Character level do I get 5th level witch spells?

eg do i go through 2 levels of more 1st-4th spells after the DD levels, or get 5th spells on my first witch level after the dd levels?

The only restrictions I can find on Summon Natures Ally is the environment must support the creature, so you couldn't summon a dolphin on land etc.

The other restriction is your alignment must be similar to the creature summoned.

While the GM is within their rights to restrict magic to fit the world, consistancy is important. So Summon Monster should have similar restrictions.

However people with ranks in Survival or Knowledge Nature would know about certain creatures, so perhaps the GM and Player could sit down and list a bunch of creatures native to the PCs starting area.

To keep that consitancy people could not create items without having encountered one before or heard/learned about it via ranks in Knowledge Arcana, Religion or Spellcraft.

Herolab is great for creating characters and villans. It's regularily updated with all the paizo books.

Hexographer is great if you want to design your own maps and works on any PC that uses java.

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This may have been done before but I couldn't find anything so here goes -

In many online games such as WOW and Everquest there are combination items, where each item has powers but if you have several items in a set you gain additional powers.

Here's what I had in mind -

Celestial :
Celestial Crown : Detect Evil 60ft Radius. 2 Pieces = Protection vs Evil 60ft Radius. 3 Pieces = Daylight and Holy Smite at will. Must be Good aligned to use.
Combination Items : Celestial Armour and any Holy Weapon as Corebook.

Dwarves :
Moradin Battle Axe : +2 AB vs Goblins, Giants and Orks. 2 Pieces = Keen. All 3 = Tremorsense constant & Detect Evil 60ft radius constant. Must be a Dwarf or Dwarfling (Halfling/Dwarf crossbreed) to use.
Combination Items : Dwarven Plate and Belt of Dwarvenkind - As Corebook.

Elves :
Bow of Corelleon, +2 AB vs Abherations & Magical. 2 Pieces = Double Range. All 3 = Speak with Plants and Detect Snares/Pits constant. Must be an Elf or Half Elf to use.
Combination Items : Cloak of Elvenkind and Boots of Elvenkin : As Corebook.

We played Temple of Elemental Evil with 2nd edition rules, was great. We had soooo many people hunting us it made us laugh when they just kept coming out of the forest. Out of the hills. From everywhere! :D

Had alot of TPK with Night Below, Tomb of Horrors, Ruins of Undermountain.

Pools of Radience and Curse of the Azure Bonds never really took off due to player infighting.

The first five Dragonlance modules were good but players did not want to deviate from the books they loved so much.

I have to say _every_single_Dungeon_Magazine_adventure i've played and ran went great. There were ways to tie in several characters backgrounds/motivations and the description captions were vivid but not verbose.

Out of all of them the most memorable are Ravenloft's Baron's Eyrie & Sea Wolf, also Pyramid of Jenkel & School of Nekros were most enjoyed.

I've had trouble with clashes in style in the past, monty haul vs low magic, no background/motivation vs detailed character tie in to the plots etc.

The best thing you can do is advise them at the start of the campaign, and ease them into it.

Tell them 1-the fantasy world is home to all sorts of creatures, some encounters will be equal, less and more powerful than they are. Sometimes they will have to run away or hide. Remember the five senses though, so they may hear or see the giant dragon long before it is in striking distance.

Tell them there is a plot or plots, but they can deviate from this if there characters background, personality and motivation guides them to do so. Your role is to balance an entertaining game which can mean scraping or altering a plot to make it fun for all.

Tell them part of running the world is cause and effect. If you help merchants from bandits word will spread and your reputation will increase. But the evil cult trying to take over the kingdom may see you as a rising threat. Characters do not live in a vaccuum.

Lastly tell them that they may die, but there will be ways in game to get resurrected or reincarnated. However it will not be easy so be cautious. Your character cares about their own life after all.

Knowledge History and Knowledge Religion are class skills, so you could aim for a scholar role. Make yourself a skilled advisor.

You already have Tea Ceremony, Dancing and Sense Motive, so could be a Geisha. Maybe take a few ranks of Diplomacy and be a spy.

You have Acrobatics, Climb, Escape Artist, Perception, Stealth and Swim, with your Lawful Good alignment you could be a Bodyguard or Sacred Temple Guardian (troubleshooter)

The adventurers do not live in a vaccuum.

General adventuring will damage clothes and armour. It will also cost in food, water and ale.

You could apply a general expenses rule such as 20gp*level*week, to cover costs.

This money will go back into the community and give a temporary boost to the economy, much like when towns have a yearly festival/sporting event.

Since adventurers do spend alot of money, this will attract bandits/thieves to the area (short term problem) and if the economy is boosted enough it will attract large scale conquerers, be they monster or power mad demihumans.

Yellowdingo is right in that unless a community trades, is must be totally self sufficient, which is unrealistic.

A town may have a mine, river for fishing and grain for the mill, but trade these goods with another town for lumber or cotton. As soon as any of these resources are threatened (and thus taxes not going towards the regional ruler) then adventurers are called in. What I am saying is adventurers are not just called in to save lives, but to keep the economy and current rulership afloat.

Gooday

When I try to do a search in the messageboards it fails.

I start here - http://paizo.com/paizo

enter a topic, change search to Messageboards, then press Search.

It goes to here -
http://paizo.com/search?q=greyhawk&x.x=0&x.y=0&includeUnrated=t rue&includeUnavailable=true&what=messageboards

then after 10 seconds it goes to here

http://paizo.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Store.woa/wo/guest/46.LongResponsePageS enderID

All other websites, email and online games are fine for me so I know it is not a problem with my connection.

Yes I have tried flushing my temporary files, using automatic and manual DNS in my modem.

Limited magic options -

1 : Only Heroic Tier powers work.
2 : All spells have a percentage chance of failure or side effects.
3 : Arcane and Divine Powers/Magic is gone, and people start getting Psionics (like Dark Sun, everyone has a wild talent)

4th edition terms might mean everyone has 1 At Will and 1 Daily power from Psionic or Primal power sources, in additional to normal powers.

Very different Greyhawk, gritty stuff.

Don't forget this one -

http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdow nloaddetails&lid=183&title=The%20Dark%20God

Donnald - That sounds great.

Slave lords, Giants, Drow. Lots of bashing Chaos and Evil for fun and profit.

Yellowdingo - Daemon/Yugoloth Dinosaurs might be likely minions of Tharizdun.

Here's some links on Tharizdun you might find useful -

http://www.canonfire.com/wiki/index.php?title=Tharizdun

http://mux.net/~ulmo/greyhawk/tharizdun.html

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20040510x

From memory the Scarlet Brotherhood kidnapped the Prince of Veluna to prevent his marriage to a Furyondy Princess. (paid by Nyrond to prevent a powerblock in the west) The Prince was taken to the Temple of Elemental Evil.

However it's your world, if you want Mordekainen behind the kidnapping and aiding Kas and then Robilar then go for it. He was travelling companion of Robilar for a long time.

Another option is this -

Iggwilv is the daughter of Jaran Krimeah, of the Ring of Five.

Jaran is from the Great Kingdom, and he and Iggwilv are the only living members of the former house of Rax.

Now Jaran is the Exalted One, Mage of the Valley.

This means Jaran has been kicking around Oerth for quite awhile, and would have become a shade after fathering Iggwilv, or perhaps not...

Mordekainen is not the only force for good/non evil in Greyhawk.

The kingdoms of Nyrond and Keoland continue to strive to fight back the forces of evil. Every good aligned Cleric on Flanness tried to make the dark times brighter.

Remember this is in the middle ages so there is no quick communications and even magic users don't use communication spells every day. Thus it's easy for evil to isolate an area for nefarious purposes.

If you set your Greyhawk after the Greyhawk Wars, the setting is already pretty dark, with Scarlet Brotherhood influencing many countries in the south, and Iuz conquered many countries in the north.

Yes you could have Mordekainian as a recurring NPC, either as manipulator (befriends pcs, then sets them again various groups then eventually the PCs work out what is going on) or as just plain troublemaker, constantly giving rival groups/people information against eachother.

While this act would not make the world collapse quickly, it would seriously hinder good and neutral aligned countries and groups ability to cooperate effectively against evil.

If you want further reason for Mordekainens villany, perhaps he is related to Tasha/Iggwilv? Son of Iggwilv, half brother to Iuz.

You don't want to give the good guys no chance at all, you could have Druid circles with Ranger agents aid the commonfolk and travellers, perhaps in alliance with their roguish friends the Rhennee. Likewise you could have groups of Lycanthropes as temporary allies to PCs, they don't like the evil cults but have their own agenda. This leads to a more Shades of grey feel.

Either pre or post Greyhawk wars, most of the time the adventurers and commonfolk respond to evil acts, so the town is already raided, the princess already kidnapped, so Evil has the initiative and started the events rolling before good responds, and this makes the world a dangerous place to start with.

Okay so the party are a group of musicians travelling the former lands of the Great Kingdom in Greyhawk, with a secret mission to help the commonfolk, preserve lore and remove the influence of evil.

So far they have raided a Zilchus (wealth, corruption) merchant caravan while disguised as Hextor (war, massacres) cultists.

Then they travelled to another city and raided a Nerull (murder, underworld) temple and burnt a large chunk of it while disguised as Hextor cultists.

In both places they have spread rumours of Hextor cult attacking Zilchus and Nerull temples. Two of them have rolled well with ventriloquism and disguise rolls. The other two have not disguised themselves much.

I should point out they are in the capital of the Northern Aerdy Kingdom, where Hextor is the state religion. They have avoid many patrols of Hextor thugs in the city so far.

However on the way back from the Nerull temple raid they ordered four 44 gallon barrels of oil and had a bunch of peasants carry it back to their tavern along public streets...

Now it would be easy for the Nerull cult to summon some undead thing to track them down and slay them. Likewise the Hextor guards could find out where these oil buying travellers are staying and arrest them.

However I don't want to kill them even though they've been clumsy. I'd rather throw them an interesting curve ball or two that may allow them to escape if they use their opportunities.

Perhaps the Hextor cult admires their chutzpa and tells them to raid another enemy temple or be banished/arrested?

Ideas anyone?

I can see them using an amulet.

Commonsense should be applied, eg a four legged animal could not run with two legs wearing boots of speed, however any hooved animal could wear horseshoes of speed/zephyr.

In my games I let them use no items, but as a counterpoint i'd give animal companions, pets and familiars a perception roll vs TN 15 for detect magic, dimensional anomolies and time distortions. Those with Tremorsence or Scent get +4 to the roll.

This does not mean your sheep familiar knows that the wizard on the hill is casting fireball, only that there is dangerous magic to the east.

Back in 2nd edition days I would go completely freeform. I'd look at what the world notes are for Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms, the characters would do whatever they wanted and I played the World/NPC's accordingly. Often this resulted in a drunken riot and the characters being given a mission or be thrown out of town. The characters had no background and hung around eachother because they were drinking buddies and seemed to have the same bad guys attacking them.

Later on I tried large adventures like temple of elemental evil, undermountain etc, but found players got bored of anything longer than 3 sessions, so broke up those larger adventures with side missions and tied in their backgrounds into the plots more.

Back in the 2nd edition days I would combine world alot, in one game I had greyhawk across the sea from forgotten realms/kara tur, with mystara on the other side of the world and hollow world in the centre.

I had alot of games go sour due to players bring work frustrations into the game and using any excuse to fight in the game. I tried to interveen but sometimes people are determined not to be civil. After several years of this I made it clear that characters do not have to be buddies, but they can find in-character reasons to hang around eachother, or atleast seperate into two groups for safety-it's a dangerous world out there.

Dungeon magazine adventures were always well recieved, far more than published stand-alone modules. I also would take brothers grimm stories and make it into an adventure. Because the laws of physics and magic were often fast and loose in those adventures they were great for a break in the dungeon bashing/questing routine.

These days I generally have 2-3 plots going at the same time. If they choose to ignore events in one plot or campaign area then I will determine if those events are dealt with or escalate and have to be dealt with later. The PCs backgrounds are always tied into the plots, so they call get multiple turns in the spotlight over the course of the campaign. I stick to one world and let the players know of houserules at the start.

Points of tension between nations can be from differences in values, religion and trade.

Eg an elven nation of natives who follow the aztec gods can value trees for being a sacred part of the universe, and stop human or dwarven loggers.

You can go outside the normal races and have wolfpeople natives and tengu/kenku oriental nation.

You will need a few trade towns located between nations where alot of trade, espionage and crime occurs.

One of the nations could use barter instead of coins, one of them could use slaves or atleast have a servent social class.

If you keep the geography very similiar you can use the features that are there, eg tornadoes in the mid west, snow storms in the north, hurricanes in the south east.

You could even have a Pathfinder version of Mt Rushmoor :P

Your Half Dwarves are great.

The awesome beard feat bonus could apply for dwarves, half dwarves, derro and duergar. If your game world has a particular long time enemy of the dwarves (typically) goblins then the feat bonus could apply to them too.

If there is alot of them I guess you'd have a history of human-dwarven interaction and cooperation in one region in your game world.

Could have some feat where they sing or chant their lineage during duels or battles. Boost to morale or Will saves.

In the past I made up Dwarflings, Halfling-Dwarf crossbreeds which I have included below in case you are interested.

- Dwarflings

Dwarflings have one Dwarven parent and one Halfling parent. These unions are typically result in an agile and perceptive child with their Dwarven parents determination and hatred of goblinoids. Dwarflings are presumed to be Dwarves or Halflings by Humans, and equally are accepted by Dwarven and Halflings.

Dwarflings are stockier than most humans, usually about a foot shorter. Their skin tends toward tanned or darker tones, and their hair all shades of brown. A Dwarfling's ears are pointed, and their arms and legs have abundant hair.

* +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, –2 Strength
* Medium
* Hatred: Dwarflings receive a +1 bonus on attack rolls against humanoid creatures of the orc and goblinoid subtypes due to special training against these hated foes.
* Hardy: Dwarflings receive a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison, spells, and spell-like abilities.
* Keen Senses: Dwarflings receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception skill checks.
* Languages: Dwarflings begin play speaking Common, Dwarven and Halfling.
* Defensive Training: Dwarflings get a +2 dodge bonus to AC against monsters of the giant subtype.
* Darkvision: Dwarflings can see in the dark up to 60 feet.

Height : 3ft 8 “ +2d4’. Weight : 140lb + (2d4*5lb).
Age : 30 + 2d6 Bb/Ro/So, +3d6 Bd/Fi/Pa/Ra, +4d6 Cl/Dr/Mk/Wi
Middle age : 70, Old : 110, Venerable : 180, Maximum : 180+3D20.

> Protect the weak. Uphold the law. Heal the sick and infirm. Strike against corruption wherever it's found.

That's pretty good as is.

To me a Paladin can indulge in a vice such as gambling etc, as long as it does not interupt his duties. Naturally they are not to over induldge as it will affect their effectiveness. But they are warriors not catholic monks.

They can backhand a smart mouthed bandit but not torture one. They must not gain success or pleasure from the pain of others.

Protect the weak - Sometimes this means attacking the enemy, sometimes this means defending the attacked. Experience and the tactical situation will govern which is the best current option. They will be called upon by king and church to assist if commonfolk are threatened.

Uphold the law/Strike against corruption - They do not have to arrest every single corrupt person. But they will advise them of the error of their ways, suggest alternatives and lead by example in their own behaviour. Paladins will inform their allies and their church of the corrupt situation. They will offer mercy and try to arrest people, but if people fight to the death then so be it. Naturally if they have to kill someone to stop them killing others (right now) then they will do so.

Heal the sick and infirm - Some time healing the sick is required as part of their duties, other times guarding a plague area to stop others getting ill is required. The paladin may send for clerical aid to an area while investigating a plague cult nearby and thus preventing further illness.

In the games I run : I do not allow magical items shops or sale/buying of items to wizards. Items are always given or loaned in return for quests. The item is reward or price of a favour done, so this prompts another adventure to tie into the main or sub plot.

I use dreams, superstitions, crystal balls, animal recognising planar beasts etc, so that magic is everywhere in different ways, not just X spell/item does Y effect. There should be much about the world that the characters do not know, but through interaction with people they can find out.

These things encourage alot more interaction within the party and with NPC's. NPC's and PC's nearly always have quirks, even if it's just an accent or mild addiction. I always tell players not to play Lone wolves and to find reasons in game to work together. They do not have to be best buddies but atleast work in small teams. Going anywhere alone in a world with magic and monsters is suicide. We make it fun.

In the games i've played in : One was a homebrew world with only 5 arcane casters, one of them was a PC. The tech level was bronze age, with a few new iron tools. There were heaps of dinosaurs and Psionics was more common than Divine magic. There were healing herbs taken from Rolemaster, but they were rare. We used alot of nets, alchemists fire and poisons to hinder opponents. It was great fun.

Then of course there is Darksun. No metal items and you have to be careful who you trust. We stuck together like glue, always watching eachothers backs as everyone tried to swindle us. We managed to help a few people, but half our adventuers we had to flee and come back. But we had a lot of laughs that campaign. We made it fun and had few normal items let alone magical ones.

What you can do is this -

Most of your forces hide, with a few guards defend and pretend to go unconcious once attacked several times.

Once the group of attackers is inside your keep, hit them on multiple sides with Black Tentacles, Confusion and Ray of Enfeeblement. This should enable them to be captured. Can throw in some tanglefoot bags for good measure.

If they need a lifeline to get out, perhaps the Hobgoblins and/or the Hire-swords are sick of their employer and want allies to take over this place.

Also one of the slaves could be cleric or druid who can heal PC's if sufficent diversion is created.

Why capture them? well the main baddy needs slaves or maybe just someone to talk to. Music or fine tales may gain the PC's favour.

For a twist the main baddy could capture the PC's, then ask for help. You see this powerful undead guy rocks up once a month and demands a few slaves and checks how the undead troops here are progressing, threatens the main baddy to animate him if more slaves are not gathered...

Another twist is the main baddy is gathering forces because he used to belong to a guild of nasty wizards, and some of them have setup bases in the area. The baddy may be the thing that is stalling a major incursion of planar beasts like slaad or githyanki?

Both Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms have spells and items named after famous casters.

If people want something like Greyhawk's militant neutrality or famous mages involved in the worlds affairs then they can put them into the game. They can use the Greyhawk npcs or create new ones.

If people want something like Forgotten Realms mythals, weave/shadow magic, and high amount of high level mages running around then they can put that in the game too.

During any game the players can create characters who start academies, teach custom spells to followers. In later games characters can learn these spells and study at that academy.

GM's can do the same with NPCs, hell players can assist the GM by creating NPCs for campaign use, whether they be contacts of their own characters or not.

We liked a character in a game so much we decided to use the name in other games.

The first Dekland was Satyr rogue-fighter.

Dekland always talked in the third person, eg - Dekland likes shinies!

Deklands achievements were as such -
- NPC's would at first not understand who Dekland was talking to, thinking he was referring to someone not there. This happened atleast once per session.
- Starting a fight with frost giants for referring to the giants as 'sissys' for having braided beards.
- Party slayed a Black Dragon. Dekland put its head in the guild ran by the Black Dragon's sister, a Red Dragon (both children of Jormungand, World Serpent)
- Learning to play magical panpipes while skipping around people trying to talk about serious stuff.
- Trying to take the Red Dragons loot, setting off a Meteor swarm trap. Dekland made every roll to avoid damage. Everyone else and the building was totalled.
- Finding a flying cauldron. Which he would play panpipes in while circling people trying to talk about serious stuff.

The odd thing was he was very good in combat, dual wieling and good with traps. He disarmed three seperate Chamber of Blades traps after other people stumbled into them.

The group enjoyed this character so much, we decided to put a Dekland in every game. Each of them is... not all there...

Another former Dekland was baboon familiar of the parties Witch.

- Due to some fantastic rolling, the party gave Dekland a crow bar to bash enemies with, because the party kept getting caned.
- Due to some even worse rolling, the party gave Dekland bandages to stop them bleeding to death.
- A bunch of wild Baboons threatened the party, Dekland stood up and acted fierce to challenge their leader, the party acted like Baboons bowing down to Dekland to reinforce his position. It worked.

Another current Dekland is a bard-singer.

- His priorities are socialising with women, singing, adventuring. In that order.
- Sometimes he spends entire combat rounds just admiring himself.
- He always talks in a suave voice and dresses in formal clothes.

Another current Dekland is a Tengu female, reincarnated from Dwarf male.

- He was found marooned on an island living in a large crab shell, he's been there for years and the local monkeys frequently threw coconuts at him.
- This Dekland does talk in the third person. And refers to Elves as Skinny Dwarves and Gnomes and Little Dwarves.
- This Dekland makes cunnning suggestions like 'let's put the ocean to sleep so it dreams and forgets to make us wet so we can get off this island'
- Later he became a witch, made peace with the monkeys and took one as a familiar. He then spent some exp to make it see invisible and have wings.

I'm going to run the Shackled City series with my group.

Currently playing Age of Worms in another group.

I am setting the game at 590 CY, with Cauldron in the middle of the Flinty Hills between Nyrond and Bone March.

Cleverness could be a feat or ability that familiars get at certain level or hit dice.

Once gained this allows access to other abilities or feats, such as sense astral or reconstruct.

Foxes like most animals have far superior sense of smell and hearing than humans, and like most animals in my view should get +2 to +6 depending on the situation.

I'm pretty sure Gord met the Catlord in Gary Gygax's Gord the Rogue greyhawk series.

But Stebehil is right, you can have different sorts of catfolk all over flanaess, as long as none of them are common.

Cougars and Snow Leopards in Rakers, Yatils, Hraak Forest and Burneal Forest.

Tigers and Jaguars in Amedio Jungle and Hepmonaland.

If you want to have them from another world/plane, Iggwilv could have brought some through several hundred years ago during her conquest of Perrenland.

If you want to have them migrate from elsewhere, across the Hellfurnaces from the Celestial Imperium, or up from Amedio Jungle.

Dwarven sorcerer would be interesting to play, can see them as elemental earth or fire easily. Likewise a celestial sorcerer allied to the dwarven churches.

So they might not start with an 20 or 18 charisma, but even with a 14-16 they are still effective.

In the past I have played dwarven fighters, rogue (assassins), paladins and my current dwarf is a rogue/witch who talks in the third person and tells his friends about his strange dreams. How you play is more than just stats after all.

It's rare to find players with female dwarves, I think this is because many games/novels in the past have given them beards. Also in popular culture/media the 'so called' beautiful females are slim and tall, not stocky.

Dwarves work hard, value friendship and tradition, they would make steadfast companions, an important asset in the unpredictable world of adventuring. If you got captured you know your dwarven allies would tirelessly work to free you again. If you had a joint project you know the dwarf ally would do atleast their share.

I will say that in the past my players have played every dwarf as religious and with a crafting hobby-bordering on obsession. But then every elf they played worshipped a nature god and were vegetarians too. Each time I tried to point out alternatives to the sterotypes, but they seemed to want to play and enjoy the standard.

I played and ran in many games of 2nd edition during the ninties.

In all of them the house rules were 1-no level limits, everyone can multiclass and 2-everyone can dual class, just need prime requisites for the 2nd class.

No one minded to dwarves can't be wizards and gnomes can't be druids stuff, but exceptions were allowed if people had a good background story.

I think the original idea of level limits were due to massive lifespan, but long life rarely impacts the game, where campaigns generally go for 1-3 years of character time.

The system was okay but not perfect, Thac0/turning undead you want to roll high, skill rolls you want to roll low.

The non weapon proficencies was odd in that once you learned a skill you were generally awesome at it, there was no middle ground.

I could reel off the stats for most classes and monsters off the top of my head in those days, except the Saving throw tables which were all over the place.

So the streamlining of attack bonus, skills and saving throws from 2nd to 3rd was good idea.

I agree that the 2nd edition box sets were good, I loved Forgotten Realms grey box, planescape boxset and original greyhawk gold box set (might have been 1st ed).

One change to 3.0/3.5 I didn't like is so many NPC's in canon books and gamers in general were changing class to get a special ability, which to me is metagaming. Changing class should be a life-career change, thus roleplayed and built into the story-plot.

In 2nd and 3rd edition games we generally used the rule that you can only have 3 classes total. What I am saying is people didn't plan their characters builds, eg race/class/feat/stat/item combo from the start, they just made up a character with race/class, and took each level and adventure as it came.

We did run some 2nd ed games with 3.5 saving throw tables, they worked fine. Likewise you can use the 'Keep initiative for the entire combat' rule to save time.

the no humans thing reminds me of Pan's labrynth or The Labrynth, lots of bipeds but none are the same

very interesting thread/concepts here, I may try it myself someday

I agree that scent should be a give away for any lycan detecting any other lycan.

If you want to make it harder to detect eachother, two options

1 : Perception tn 15 check for other lycans and creatures with scent ability, regardless of moon phase.

2 : 3 days either side of the full moon (or other phase if they go full lycan on waxing/waning etc) the beast within can be smelt by other lycans/creatures with scent.

Sense motive could be used to sense unease during a full moon or close to full moon, but the tn would be 20, not something that anyone should or could notice with ease.

The Greyhawk gods were in the 3.5 Players Handbook.

It's true Greyhawk had moments of effort and neglect from the industry over the years. The majority of generic and forgotten realms adventures can be slotted into Greyhawk with only minor changes.

One of the things that makes Greyhawk different is active/militant Neutrality, they don't sit around waithing for good and evil to fight, they have their own plans and agendas.

Most of the classic modules were originally ran and set in the Greyhawk setting. Eg-Tomb of Horrors, Temple of Elemental Evil, White Plume Mountain, Decent into the Earth, Against the Giants etc.

Some are available here for free -
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b

I bought the Greyhawk books and adventures back in the day, but also bought spare copies recently on ebay. Most of the sellers are in the UK and US, so postage should be cheap if you are there.

You can find alot of information about Greyhawk here -

http://www.canonfire.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

http://melkot.com/

And at the bottom of this page.

http://www.holdfast.org/downloads_greyhawk.htm

Plus you can google Greyhawk Maps and find plenty of stuff.

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Hope this helps.

One of the children may not have been brainwashed completely, and be willing to give information to the PCs in return for helping them escape.

Another option is have a local King or Druid circle have agents in the area, helping people escape and keep an eye on the slavers. This is just to tie the plot to the area so it's not just PCs vs the Evil guys.

For background you can also tie in the PCs, so one of their siblings, mentors, fellow guild members etc gets captured by the slavers.

If you want to start the game with a bang, have the PCs start by being captured and inform them they were sent into the area to investigate.

I could not find much information on the history of monster races and demi human kingdoms in canon lore, so tried to work in balanced series of kingdoms that fought over time.

Most of these clashed with Dwarves and Elves, then later the Baklunish, Suel and Oerid peoples who migrated from the south west.

The idea is you can have these races trying to reclaim their ancient birthright, still pursuing old enemies, or just nesting in ancient ruins that adventurers stumble across. Traces of the ancient kingdoms can be found in libraries of Keoland, Greyhawk City and Rauxes.

Locations of Elves, Dwarves, Drow are straight out of Greyhawk Gazetteer.

Demon, Red Dragon, Drow, Fire Giant alliance is in Against the Giants (G1-3).

The other alliances and having large ancient kingdoms is my own work.

The idea of having ancient reptilian races is not a new idea, Dr Who did it and then Forgotten Realms did it.

The Devil vs Demon alliances work into the Bloodwar.

The other two alliances just add spice to the mix. The Yuan'ti one based on similar nature, the Mind Flayer alliance is based on useful minions.

Naturally you will find small groups of any of the mentioned races wherever you like in Greyhawk, but the major kingdoms or large groups will be found in the listed areas, or near them.

Gooday

I was tossing around some ideas for the hidden non-human history of Greyhawk. What the other beasts and humanoids were up to before the big Baklunish, Suel and Oeridarian migrations.

Comments, thoughts, suggestions welcome as always...

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Centaurs – Small villages within Furyondy, Shield Lands & Nyrond. Centaur ruins are 1,000 to 3,000 years old. Records of Fighting vs Duergar (Furyondy) & Bubgears (Nyrond)

Dwarves – Lairs and Ruins 500-800 years old. Separate kingdoms in Crystalmist Mountains, Griff Mountains, Yatil Mountains, Onwall. Fighting vs Frost Giants (Griff Mountains), Fire Giants (Crystalmists), Sahuagin (Onwall).

Elves – Lairs and Ruins 300 to 5000 years old. Celadon Forest, Adri Forest and Celene. Fighting vs Yuan-ti (Celadon), Kobolds (Adri Forest), Bugbears (Pale).

Gargoyles – Rakers, Yatil Mountains. Separate kingdoms. Gargoyle ruins are 1,500 to 3,500 years old. Alliance with Dwarves (Yatils), Fighting vs Frost Giants (Rakers).

Lizardmen – Wild Coast to Dreadwood. Tribal kingdoms. 3,000-20,000 years ago. Vandrheim. Records of Fighting vs Drow (Hellfurnaces), Centaurs (Furyondy).

• Demon - Tanar'ri allies – Drow, Fire Giants, Hag (Any), Minotaur, Red & Black Dragons.

Drow ruins are 500 to 4,500 years old. Spider symbols and designs throughout. Records of fights vs Lizardmen (Pomraj), Surfaces raids vs Elves (Celene) and Suel Imperium (Sulhaut Mountains).

Fire Giant Kingdom of Brennaheim was 1,000 to 10,000 years old. Flame and Destruction symbols and designs throughout. Records of fights vs Dwarves and surface raids vs Humans. Alliance with Drow (1,000-4,000 years ago). Lairs within the Crystalmist & Jotens Mountains

• Devil - Baatezu allies – Aboleth, Duergar, Frost Giants, Medusa, White & Green Dragons.

Duergar ruins are 1,000 to 6,000 years old. Slavery and War symbols and designs throughout. Records of fights vs Dwarves (Rakers), Elves (Cairn Hills), Surface raids vs Kobolds (North Kingdom).

Frost Giant Kingdom of Kaldrheim are 1,500 to 10,000 years old. Ice and Winter symbols and designs throughout. Records of Alliance with Duergar (Rakers, 2,000-4,000 years ago), Fights vs Dwarves (Griff Mountains) and surface raids vs Ogres. Frost Giant lairs within the Griff Mountains & Rakers Mountains.

• Mind Flayer Empire - Illithid often have Bugbear, Hook Horror & Umberhulk minions.

Bugbears – Ancient Kingdom from Duchy of Tehn to Theocracy of the Pale areas. 2,000-20,000 years ago.
Records of fights vs Centaurs (Nyrond), Elves (Pale).

Mind Flayer-Illithid ruins are 3,000 to 30,000 years old. Slavery and darkened sky symbols and designs throughout. No light sources throughout. Capture slaves for food and work force. Fights vs Yuan-ti (Bright Desert). Original empire from Lake Quag to Lortmills to Rift Canyon.

• Yuan-ti Empire – Yuan-ti often have Kobold, Mephit, Naga & Sahuagin minions.

Kobold ruins in Ahlissia from 3,000-15,000 years ago. Records of fighting vs Duergar & Elves.

Sahuagin ruins are 1,000 to 20,000 years old. Rough cut caverns half or all filled with water. Carvings to sea beasts. Records of invading Aboleth (Lordship of the Isles), Fighting vs Dwarves (Onwall), Yuan-ti alliance. Sahuagin lairs within the Sea Barons, Azure Sea, Aerdi Sea.

Yuan-ti empire was from Hepmonaland to the Bright Desert to Adri Forest. Ruins are 10,000 to 30,000 years old. Serpent & feasting symbols and designs throughout. Aztec pyramids, bladed weapons, transmute prisoners into warped beasts. Records of invading Elves (Celadron Forest), Mind Flayer (Bright Desrt). Yuan-ti lairs in Amedio Jungle, Beneath Ahlissia, Hepmonaland, Vast Swamp.

Been thinking about this, so here's my revised take...

- Gargoyle -
Neutral - Magical Humanoid (Earth)
Speed 40 ft., fly 60 ft. (average)
Senses: Darkvision 60 feet, Low-light vision.
Languages Common, Dwarven, Terran.
Environment Any, usually Cities & Mountains.
Organization solitary, pair, or wing (3–12).
Treasure - Standard.
Spell like ability - Once per hour - Alter Self, 10 minutes duration. This is limited to stone or rock like texture. So they generally turn into different sorts of statues, piles of bricks, fountains, garden benches, earth elementals (apperance only).

Gargoyles were created long ago by the Dwarves as guardians against their many foes. Over time Gargoyles left and infiltrated many towns and cities. They still sometimes ally with Dwarves against Dragons and Giants. Gargoyles tend of focus on PC race and Humanoid activity, caring little for other Planes of existance, plants or animals.

Gargoyles are Bards. Level as per Hit Dice. Gargoyles have skin in all shades of rock and stone. Their eyes glow when they show strong emotion. Gargoyles can eat anything and are just as active during night or day. Gargoyles are often overconfident and love collecting objects.

Gargoyles capture intelligent foes for information. Gargoyles are often affiliated with thieves guilds, or run them completely. They thrive on gaining knowledge, and sharing it for a cost. They have a weakness for Gems and the promise of information. Gargoyles often talk to statues, believing them to be trapped elders.

CR 5 : 2(D10)HD Small 4ft,
Attributes - 10 Str, 14 Dex, 10 Con, 8 Int, 6 Wis, 12 Cha.
BA +2 / +2 Claw/Claw D4 / Fort +3, Ref +5 Will --
DR 3/Magic, Silver, Holy. SR --
Feats - Flyby Attack
Skills - Bluff - (+1), Diplomacy - (+1 ), Fly 2 (+4), Knowledge Local 0 (-1), Perception 0 (-2), Spellcraft 0 (-1), Stealth - (+2), Survival 2 (-2)
2 Bard levels : Typical Spells are Daze, Ghost Sound, Message, Read Magic. Comprehend Languages, Disguise Self, Sleep.

CR 8 : 5(D10)HD Medium 6ft,
Speed 40 ft., fly 60 ft. (average)
Attributes - 14 Str, 12 Dex, 10 Con, 10 Int, 8 Wis, 13 Cha.
BA +5 / +7 Claw/Claw/Horns D6+2 / Fort +4, Ref +5 Will +1
DR 6/Magic, Silver, Holy. SR 10
Feats - Flyby Attack, Hover
Skills - Bluff - (+1), Diplomacy - (+1 ), Fly 3 (+4), Knowledge Local 3 (+3), Perception 3 (+2), Spellcraft 3 (+3), Stealth - (+1), Survival 3 (+2)
5 Bard Levels : Typical Spells are Daze, Ghost Sound, Message, Read Magic. Comprehend Languages, Disguise Self, Sleep. Detect Thoughts, Invisibility, Tongues.

CR 13 : 8(D10)HD Large 8ft,
Attributes - 18 Str, 10 Dex, 10 Con, 12 Int, 10 Wis, 14 Cha.
BA +8 / +12/+7 Claw/Claw/Horns D8+4 / Fort & Ref +6, Will +2
DR 9/Magic, Silver, Holy. SR 20
Feats 4 - Flyby Attack, Hover, Multi Attack, Improved Initiative
Skills - Bluff 2 (+4), Diplomacy 1 (+3), Fly 6 (+6), Knowledge Local 3 (+4), Perception 4 (+4), Spellcraft 4 (+5), Survival 4 (+4)
8 Bard Levels : Typical Spells are Daze, Ghost Sound, Message, Read Magic. Comprehend Languages, Disguise Self, Sleep. Detect Thoughts, Invisibility, Silence, Tongues. Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Illusory Scrupt, Scrying.

Use Alternate Bards as APG - Archivist, Detective and Sandman.

In Golarion, they were guardians of the Tar Taargadth empire. And as the Empire broke appart they seized atleast three of the flying citadels. Many Gargoyle clans can be found within the mountains and cities of Katapesh, Kyonin, Druma, Molthune, Osirion, Thuvia.

In Greyhawk, they were guardians of the Suel Empire. And as the Empire fled the Invoked Devastation, they seized some of the portals and fled to the eastern lands. Many Gargoyle clans can be found within the cities and mountains of Duchy of Geoff, Theocracy of the Pale, Sterich, Hold of Stonefist, Duchy of Tehn, Yeomandry.

Gooday

I always though Gargoyles were under used and would make a good elder race for a fantasy world. So here's what i've used in the past -

Gargoyle
========
Menacing bat-winged humanoids with stone-like skin and horned heads.
N Magical Humanoid (Earth)
Speed 40 ft., fly 60 ft. (average)
Senses: Darkvision 60 feet, Low-light vision.
Languages Common, Dwarven, Terran.
Environment any.
Organization solitary, pair, or wing (3–12).
Treasure standard.

Gargoyles were created long ago by the Dwarves as guardians against their many foes. Over time Gargoyles left and formed their own lands but sometimes ally with Dwarves against Dragons and Giants. Gargoyles never ally with Dragons or Giants, and care little for religion.

Gargoyles are Wizards. Level as per Hit Dice. Gargoyles have skin in all shades of rock and stone. Their eyes glow when they show strong emotion. Gargoyles can eat anything and are just as active during night or day. Gargoyles are often overconfident and love collecting objects. They capture intelligent foes for information and to practice their magics on.

CR 5 : 2(D10)HD Small 4ft,
Attributes - 10 Str, 14 Dex, 10 Con, 12 Int, 6 Wis, 4 Cha.
BA +2 / +2 Claw/Claw D4 / Fort +3, Ref +5 Will --
DR 3/Magic, Silver, Holy. SR --
Feats - Flyby Attack
Skills - Fly 2 (+4), Knowledge Arcana 2 (+3), Perception 0 (-2), Spellcraft 0 (+1), Survival 2 (-2)
2 Wizard levels : Typical Spells are Color Spray, Grease, Obscuring Mist & Ray of Enfeeblement.

CR 8 : 5(D10)HD Medium 6ft,
Speed 40 ft., fly 60 ft. (average)
Attributes - 14 Str, 12 Dex, 10 Con, 14 Int, 8 Wis, 6 Cha.
BA +5 / +7 Claw/Claw/Horns D6+2 / Fort +4, Ref +5 Will +1
DR 6/Magic, Silver, Holy. SR 10
Feats - Flyby Attack, Hover
Skills - Fly 4 (+6), Knowledge Arcana 4 (+6), Perception 4 (+3), Spellcraft 4 (+6), Survival 4 (+3)
5 Wizard Levels : Typical Spells are Color Spray, Grease, Obscuring Mist & Ray of Enfeeblement. Hideous Laughter, Invisibility, Scare, Web. Stinking Cloud & Ray of Exhaustion.

CR 13 : 8(D10)HD Large 8ft,
Attributes - 18 Str, 10 Dex, 10 Con, 16 Int, 10 Wis, 8 Cha.
BA +8 / +12/+7 Claw/Claw/Horns D8+4 / Fort & Ref +6, Will +2
DR 9/Magic, Silver, Holy. SR 20
Feats 4 - Flyby Attack, Hover, Multi Attack, Improved Initiative
Skills - Fly 6 (+6), Knowledge Arcana 6 (+9), Perception 6 (+6), Spellcraft 6 (+6), Survival 6 (+6)
8 Wizard Levels : Typical Spells are Color Spray, Grease, Obscuring Mist & Ray of Enfeeblement. Hideous Laughter, Invisibility, Scare, Web. Stinking Cloud & Ray of Exhaustion. Black Tentacles & Stoneshape.

In Golarion, they were guardians of the Tar Taargadth empire. And as the Empire broke appart they seized atleast three of the flying citadels. Many Gargoyle clans can be found within the mountains and tunnels of Druma, Galt, Kyonin, Molthune & Nidal.

In Greyhawk, they were guardians of the Suel Empire. And as the Empire fled the Invoked Devastation, they seized some of the portals and fled to the eastern lands. Many Gargoyle clans can be found within the mountains and tunnels of Crystalmists, Griff Mountains and Yatil Mountains.

Spell focus = +1 on DCs for all Saves for that school.

From the APG : Focused Spell = if the spell effects more than one creature, choose one target and they get their DC to resist is +2.

You could use Heighten Spell feat for your illusions.

Your GM may allow a situational modifier if you take time to cast the spell, so 2-3 rounds instead of one, add more detail etc and gain +2 to the DC?

Many of my players have done the 'charge in, ask questions later' style in many games.

They do it less than they used to because I started doing things like having dead remains of creatures near the bad guys lair, also putting traps in the area.

Creatures that live in groups will assign roles, even if temporary, such as scout/lookout or guard, they will setup traps or for something simpler just bang on large metal gong or pot to raise the alarm.

Average intelligence creatures can use alchemists fire, tanglefoot bags, smokesticks in combat, and trap the area before combat to hinder the enemies.

Magical creatures can use spells like Color Spray, Entangle, Grease, Hold Person, Obscuring Mist, Ray of Enfeeblement, Silence. All of these spells are low level.

Hinder is the key word here, if PCs find themselves with penalties to multiple abilities then they will rethink their actions. This will take the emphasis off Damage vs Damage effects, and make people use stealth, detection spells and perception.

For example, an Average Int creatures gets it's minions to pour oil on the entrance tunnel floors of its lairs, then tells them to light it if anyone comes in. Simple, non expensive and non magical.

Your NPCs can want to capture the PCs instead of just kill them. They may want to recruit them, interrogate them, or glaze them in honey before roasting during the evil festival. The point is they get captured and thus have a chance to escape, but also a chance to learn about the bad guys (if they have the same language).

The flip side is they will need opportunities to get in the lair though, so to disguise themselves as goblins they need the goblins to go on patrol and ambush them, the goblins can not stay in their lair forever. If they are more devious they could poison the goblins food/water supply so there needs to be a river or stream nearby, which could also be an entrance point not trapped.

Gorbacz - with your list it's fine but i'd leave out 10 and 11. People can find out about that stuff during the game, and it may not even come up for many sessions.

With races, i'd mention the different races and how they are pcs and npcs, thus sometimes not allies and even enemies, but this creates roleplaying opportunities.

I would not go into too much detail about any one god, but mention there are multiple gods, and highlight the contrast eg god of war, goddess of sun, god of undead etc. Each god/goddess has favoured creatures and areas of focus and locations of influence.

Dinosaurs... Pteranodon chase them into the cover of the trees. Then when they hear the roar of the waterfall they might miss the roar of the approaching Tyrannosaurus.

Maybe Naga or Yuan'ti on some aztec temple with umberhulk in cages, ready to eat the slaves given to them to appease the dark gods.

For some intrigue, perhaps the Rakshasa and Yuan'ti are fighting over the jungle lands, with kobold and lizardmen tribes caught in the cross fire. A Rakshasa 'guide' in disguise may aid them several times before luring them into a trap.

There should pretty much be some terrain/environmental modifiers in each situation within the jungle area.

Perhaps Nature magic could be augmented or hindered by the environment.

For example an entangle spell would be at -50% duration and area of effect in a sandy or stony desert, but fire spells in the same area would be +50% area of effect and duration.

You could even put in a Nature Attunement feat for Fey & Elemental sorcerers, whose Arcane magic would be effected as above once they have taken the feat.

Alternatively Druids, Rangers and NPC animals and plants can choose a favoured terrain, so a desert ranger in the desert terrain gains +50% area of effect and duration for all magics.

The plants and animals in the area where nature magic has been performed could grow quicker and healthier, so nature magic users can spot where other nature magic users have been.

You may also wish to strengthen the social aspect, say 90% of Rangers work for the Druid circles, who sent them on missions against devatators of nature. Likewise nature churches all have a non aggression pact for first encounters.

My take is this -

Series/Adventure Path : 2-5 adventures linked by theme, location and/or major player-groups.

An example would be Desert of Desolation trilogy or Avatar Trilogy.

Campaign : The story of a group of PCs going through 2-3 adventure series. Series 1 would start first and be tied into half the PCs backgrounds. Series 2 would start mid way through the first Series and be tied into the remaining PCs backgrounds. Series 3 will start after Series 1, and the effect on major players and locations from Series 1 will effect Series 3 greatly.

An example would be Dragonlance, the PCs can get split into 2-3 groups and travel all over the continent with the overall theme of war.

Megadungeons such as Myth Drannor, Undermountain or Castle Greyhawk while long adventures with the same PC group are not a campaign, but can be made into a campaign with thought out tie ins for PC background & motivation (eg why they are going in there repeatedly).

Dekland the Satyr.

Str 14, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 16. Rogue 3.
Talkative and helpful, Dekland is always around when something is happening. His pipes cause Hideous Laughter. Dekland plays his pipes often, but only invokes the spell on them for special occaisions. Dekland will hop and skip around people during important situations.

Dekland always talks in the first person, so every sentence starts with 'Dekland thinks', 'Dekland would like to know', 'Dekland says'

For a high powered game, give him a Cauldron of Flying which he potters around with.

3.5 game set on Shadow World (Rolemaster world)

My Wizard/Priest Human female 'Becki' travelled back around two different continents doing odd jobs for various rulers and churches. Her comrades were a cat person rogue, human male cavalier, human male soldier and elven ranger.

During the campaign on three occaisions Becki was approached by an evil wizard who wanted some other bad guys out of his way. So she negotiated for more reward money from this wizard and edited the mission details to her heroic comrades. The players were shaking their heads at how evil Becki's contact were but their characters knew nothing.

Our heroes did remove many humanoids and local level threats and gained reputations as regional heroes. Becki even bought the PCs a house to stay in. What she hadn't told them was she slew all the previous occupants.

Now Becki worshipped the sea/storm god and during one trip between lands we were followed by sea wolves. Pretty sure it was an adapted Dungeon magazine adventure.

So the sea wolves are following us since Becki was sacrificing chickens every day to appease her deity. Crewmen started going missing and we spotted a seawolf one night so considered our options.

Becki's plan was this - Fill wineskins with air and let the armoured cavalier float on them, tied behind the boat as a decoay. When the sea wolves would attack him we would blast them with lightning bolts while he bashed them. The other players knew that lighting would go off as fireball radius in the water but the Cavalier didn't know that. I was laughing at how stupid the plan was but they went for it and it worked.

It was fun playing the double lives, she never worked against the party and often helped them.

This post - On Extraordinary Individuals and Appearances

sounds really cool, reinforces that background should influence personality and not just stats/abilities.

Re-No gods. Reminded me of Ancient Egyptians. Powerful people claimed to be pharoahs or god-kings, but were not actually immortal.

Following that line of thought you could reintroduce followers from 2nd ed D&D where most classes got followers as they went up levels. Or perhaps D6 Henchmen or Followers per level above 5th. Extra D6 for important quests etc.

As for the Planes, it could be like Ancient Greek mythology, its all one massive world, and Hades is far in the earth and Mount Olympus is high in the mountains, but both still on the same plane.

I'm thinking bronze age technology would fit in well with this, a few large cities but mostly small farming villages and miles and miles of wilderness.