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Tell you what. I plan to hit the Party in the Plaza clad in a dark gray t-shirt with a skull and crossed swords on it (Calico Jack's Jolly Rodger). If you want to talk STAP come on up and say hello! Ditto for me. Okay, I don't own the same shirt and I'm 50/50 about about the Party in the Plaza (every year the previous year was better). I'll be in the board game hall most nights. Look for the Dust Bunny signage and ask for Josh. I'm the big, bald guy. Or one of them, at least.
Gen Con Stink? What's that?
So we don't interfere with game-y goodness, I suggest Wednesday night, Sunday afternoon, or any day during the 4-5 pm dinner break. Personally, i game through the party, which has been a let-down of late anyway.
I was a little worried about running LD. I didn't think I could do Golgismora justice and give the PCs as vivid a picture of the city as I had formed from the reading. I needn't have worried, it is running excellently. I want to thank the poster who jokingly wrote he was going to re-create the city by mixing legos and ground beef and throwing them down on a battlemat. That phrase painted a vivid and memorable image for my group. I treated the fungus forest in Tlaloc's crater as a mine-field; rather than mapping out the different types of fungus, I had the PC's make a Reflex save (DC 15) for every 10' travelled. A fail indicated some sort of fungal or mold interaction, usually something exploding with poisonous spores or acid, and many with a secondary save (Fort to avoid poison or disease). I wish I had made a chart beforehand (% to determine effect, amount of damage, and relevant DCs). Casting Hero's Feast in the morning allowed the group to aviod many of the efects. For the truly creepy aberation feel, I added some monsters adapted from my years playing Gamma World. I came up with some more building descriptions and dropped them in at every opportunity. And every poor skill check was explained away with flavor description; I turned a failed move silently check into an involuntary gasp of horror as the PC's hands sunk into the "flesh" of the building she was peering around. All the players and thier PCs can't wait to finish up and go home. All but one, that is: the Dwarven Necromancer/Fleshwarper, on his way to becoming an aberation himself, feels he found a new home. Thanks James and crew for a great setting. It really stretched my DMing skills to the limit without breaking them.
I'll be there. Just say when.
just my opinion... While outright slavery would be illegal in Sasserine, I figured that there would be "virtual" slavery in two forms: indentured servitude (like in colonial America), and predatory employment (1880-1920 industrial America). Sasserine seems to be an "anything goes as long as it makes a profit" city, that clamps down just enough to avoid being evil. Not that they think evil is wrong, but there is no long-term profit in it.
(though he'd get caught in the interior, the same way the players will I don't want to spoiler too much, but I think the main encounter area in HTBM mentions what happens to flying creatures near there. Have him take Tavey's place (like he could avoid it if he winds up there alone), and delay the timeline until the rest of the party arrives. Meta-game, he'll learn an important lesson about splitting up the party.
This is more of a general question. My PCs are itching to get back to Sasserine so that they can spend some of thier hard-won loot. I had a rules query from the cleric: Can he cast wind walk (he can currently take 3 people with him), reform, then cast wind walk a second time in order to cover all the PCs, cohorts, and the huge-sized familiar at once? Or will the second casting negate the first casting? They plan on bringing some "Quall's feather token - boats" to give them a place to sleep at night. I like the ingenuity and, as a DM, I like how this keeps the party in one location (I hate when they split up, and only one half gets to adventure while the other half waits impatiently for thier turn). But this just feels like a cheat. Opinions anyone?
Don't have any stats, but it sounds bear traps would work. Also magical or alchemical "land mines" would work as well. Set it and forget it, as Ron Popiel would say. SOunds like he will be a memorable character.
I wish I had thought of that. In our group, DMs rotate between campaings and I am itching to play again. I probably won't get to for another 6 months. We just ended ToD. Plus, the independent and power-hungry nature of my players is bleeding into their characters. They are all old-school, and its hard to keep NPCs alive long enough to provide plot-hooks.
Tonight my group is just about to finish the end battle in ToD. Assuming that all goes well, the PCs will gain possesion of a Shadow Pearl. Smart PCs will avoid it like the plague. Of course, not all PCs have that self-preservation gene. The necromancer/flesh warper wasn't in the party for BG, and if he gets hold of it he might detonate it to "see what happens". I'm not 100% sure he would see the results as a "curse". I am wondering what other groups did with the pearl after defeating V.
When I ran it, the PCs quickly gave up trying to damage the ship and went after the crew. Once the ships got close enough for boarding, it was over quickly. I would definately power-up that encounter. This is the only encounter the PCs have that day (in game), so they are at full strength. Plus, they have a few powerful NPCs helping them. The other side is a group of experienced pirates, so they probably know how to use thier ship to good advantage. I gave them a cover bonus as they shot at the PCs from behind barrels and through the railings. Also, they have had some training working as a group. By employing loaders, I doubled the rate of fire for thier balista. I suggest, but failed to do this myself, that you boost the pirates magic until they can trade spells with the PCs at range. Otherwise a few fireballs will wipe them out in no time.
I wouldn't be too concerned. I am also running a large party, though not as large as yours. The PCs will fall behind by splitting the XP more ways, but they make up for that in the sheer amount of damage they can do (or healing they can suck up) in one round. Plus, the farther behind they get, the higher those XP awards will be. The game is self-balancing that way. If your party does not work together well, you might want to selectively edit some creatures out of the STAP and replace them with a larger number of lesser creatures. The vrocks in the next chapter were vicious. If your party works together too well, you might want to add some meat-shields (lower level henchmen) as a distraction to beef up some encounters.
SPOILERS... (funniest thing yet to happen)
Background: Malancathet (or however its spelled) went to great lenghts to get Urol Furroll the map of the Tamochan ruins so that the PCs would get the Tooth of Azuth. There were some statues outside the basilisk lair in those ruins, mainly as a warning to the PCs that something was up. I had arbitrarily decided that these statues were the remainder of the party of the guy that sold the map to Urol, and so they were Malancathet worshipers. I figured that way I could feed the PCs some information if they decided to "be noble" and rescue them. The PCs carted them away to Farshore, where they are still waiting for someone to figure out how to "undue" the whole turned-to-stone-thing. The group leader is even eyeing them as potential henchmen, since they will be SO GRATEFUL for being saved.
I am looking for advice to handle a potential issue in my STAP campaign. This is more a general-rule question than a STAP one. One of my players is running a mage pretige-class (I forget the name) that allows him to uber-buff his familiar by using grafts. It is rapidly becoming the equivalent of a front-line fighter. If a familiar dies, a mage has to wait one year before summoning a new one. My question: if his familiar dies, can it be ressurected or otherwise brought back to life? And will it still be his familiar, or is the link between them broken? The familiar is currently a huge toad. Thanks in advance for any help.
How about Halflings now? In 2e halflings were unusual in that they had no evil gods. The closest was the gnomish god mentioned before, The Lurker Down Below or something. I would assume that holds true for demons as well. Halfling demons just aren't that frightening. If you retro to plump Hobbit-like halflings you could do up some sort of halfling glutton demon.
I love the Eagle and Jaguar Warriors (they were updated as prestige classes in a Dragon not too long ago, if I remember right - one of those issues focusing on the old TSR campaign settings). It's changing the subject a bit, but does anyone know which issue these were in?
My party rogue, for reasons not known, let it out of the hold in the towards the end of the big fight (move action to open the hold, then move action to climb into the rigging, then free action to laugh at the rest of the PCs). It tore the fighter a new one, but the swashbuckler cut some ropes to drop sail on deck. Everyone but the Rhagadosha and the *grappled* fighter made a reflex save to dive out of the way. It was then a simple matter to tie it up. It was definately NOT a simple matter to get the pissed-off fighter free. The rogue would not come down from the rigging for quite a while.
I have been customizing treasure, but scrolls and spellbooks are the most difficult due to thier fragile nature. I like the idea of upping the automatic spells/level. I will take my wizard character aside and offer him two choices: either an automatic 4 new spells/level or a feat to allow INT modifier to the base 2 spells/level. We always considered the rules for researching new spells a method for creating *new and unique* spells. It had not even crossed my mind that you could use those rules to duplicate existing spells. Also, I will halve the cost of researching new necromatic spells on the island, considering the zombie culture. When I started the STAP, I didn't realize the lack of opponent wizards. For anyone still pre-SWW, you may want to give the PC a warning to buy scrolls. If they have a contact in the Witchwardens or the Seekers, this would be the best place to get that advice. Thanks all for the good ideas!
My PCs have just spent a month running around outside of Farshore gathering resources for the upcoming battle at the end of ToD. They have approximately a month left in-town to tidy up before the invasion. I am looking for ideas for events in-town to showcase and resolve the power struggle between Manthalay and Lavinia. I thought I'd fish for ideas from other DMs.
That's just what I needed. Thanks.
... Have Rowyn approach Lavinia to offer her belated condolences... it'll be setting the knife to twist when the PCs read the love letters later. That is GREAT! I wish I had thought of it. IMC, the PCs fled and rested after the room with the illusionary wall and the crocodile. They came back the next day at full strength, with help and minor buffs. I had them met by a lotus-dragon-wannabe kid (an expendable) who brought them to meet with Rowyn. I re-speced Tavey for this role (he became the cabin boy because his old job died with the Lotus Dragons). Since the PCs were full strenght, I moved Rowyn and Gut Tugger up to the sparring-room ambush. This made for a tough fight, but added to the previous day's work the guildhall was pretty much cleared by the time it was over.
Malcanthet went through an awful lot of trouble to get the Tooth of Ahazu into the PC's hands. Will this minor aftifact have any specific affect on the game later, or is it just part of a general plan to "beef-up" the PCs so they can succeed? All it seems to do is to grant a bonus on grapple checks. My group's grappler just bought the farm fighting Slipknot Pete, and the player brought in a new character. I don't think any of my other players will want to use it. If it is important, I can rig the game a bit to encourage its use. If it is not important, I will just leave it to the PCs, who will probably put it on the next ship back and sell it in Sasserine. Any advice?
Anyone have an answer for the Resurection question? That's the first I've heard of it and there is interesting potential. Also, if a necromancer or cleric stops controlling or looses control over his undead creations, will they just continue with thier apponted tasks? For example: You animate two zombies to have them work the bilge pump. You later lose control when you animate a ton of cannon fodder in the boss fight. Will the first two
I have a necromancer in my group and I'm trying to predict his affect on the labor market of farshore. Thanks.
I just ran the encounter with Temauhti-tecuani (I won't spoil it for those not in the know), and I just had to tell how my group handled it. PCs are always throwing a curveball to the DM. One of the finesse fighters (a swashbuckler mix) managed to be the first one targeted. He tried to duck for cover and go full defensive. Didn't work. He got swallowed whole. He didn't have a dagger on him to cut his way out, but he did have a jar of "shark repellant" purchased way back in Sasserine. When I gave it to him, I tried to emphasize how noxious the stuff was to keep him from using it too often. He played on that to try to sicken Temauhti-tecuani, and dumped his remaining 8 applications. One low Fortitude save later and the swashbuckler exited the way he went in. The captain, another finesse fighter, took advantage of time Temauhti-tecuani was nausiated to run up his back. When Temauhti-tecuani recovered, he was still hungry. The party tank was the closest and she too was swallowed whole. The captain was hanging on with one hand and wailing away with the other, taking his frustration out on Temauhti-tecuani. He was cursing. What he actually said is inapropriate and a spoiler, but it ended with the word "ship." (Anyone that has gotten this far in the game will understand) Next up was the tank. She didn't have a light slashing weapon, so I ruled that her bastard sword would only be partially effective in the confined space of Temauhti-tecuani's gullet. She was near death and things were looking grim. She took a quick look at her character sheet to assess her options. That's when she noticed the Quaal's Feather Token - swan boat. She activated it INSIDE Temauhti-tecuani. The watching (spoiler deleted) think the captain conjured the boat, instantly killing Temauhti-tecuani. Gotta love those players!
no spoilers here The cover of the player's guide has a rather pirate-y looking lady swinging from the rigging of a ship, along with the details of a port city. I don't think it is revealing too much to say that there is an aquatic element. Still, you should be okay.
A halfling or gnome on a riding dog can go just about anywhere a human or elf can. He will need help climbing. Plus, he can safely be tethered to the deck of a ship. A horse, while not impossible, I see as being problematic. (spoilers) A horse will be useless in a large part of TINH, and most of BWG and SWW. Once you reach the Isle o horse will be slightly more useful, but a jungle-oriented mount would be ideal. Just my 2 cents.
The T-Rex will wander off when it has a full stomach (two medium creatures); so add a few more snacks (er, survivors) on the beach. Not only will this tone down the encounter, but it adds to the atmospere of danger. Add even more 'squishies' (npc survivors) and make the PCs play baby-sitter. Offer an XP bounty for every npc that reaches farshore, then try your best to kill them off. Let a few live, of course. Then add plenty of random encounters (I usually skip these) and a few more gargoyle ambushes to up the XP.. Make sure to give them time to rest before the final Orlangu encounter, or at least tone it down a bit. It will be a slaughter.
Are the affiliations coming back into the plot, or are they demoted to background RP? I don't see any mention of them beyond the fifth adventure except the Olman one. Also, some of the affiliation benifits are not practical outside of Sasserine. Will there be an update with Farshore benifits? Thanks.
Orlangu's lair was great, especially the candle trap. My group eventually started lighting the candles with a torch tied to a stick to avoid the 5' blast. But they blew out the candles to stop the curse. Twice. They had to start over each time. I made it slightly tougher, ruling that the same person who lit the candle also had to be the one that sat in the throne. They eventually resorted to tying up one players cohort so that he could only move one arm, and only from the elbow. He was carried from torch to throne, and is not happy. And after the fiendish monkeys, the necromancer player is busy researching the rules to make a skeletal horde. Great times for all.
WHERE does it say that someone else must create the tattoo? I’ve not read anything saying the Totemic Demonslayer doesn’t create them. The places on your body best suited to tattoos are not the places most accessible to giving yourself one. Plus, for something like that, I picture some kind of ceremony, lots of chanting, and a guy who can draw it *just right* Second point, Jakara can’t be the only Totemic Demonslayer in the IoD; the PCs could meet or see one earlier on. True, but at the beginning of COBI it is plot-rific. Also, giving a PC the Detect Demons power too early can ruin some of the "just what the ** is going on here, anyway" vibe. I am super-impressed that James answered so quickly and so well. Knowning that the last adventures aren't "on a timer" is a relief. It will also give my players a chance to craft nifty items first. Thanks, James! I am leaning toward a home-brew version of the revamp options in PHB2. After the first level of Totemic Demonslayer, a player can choose to 'convert' an earlier level every time he adds a new one. For example, the 13th-level the character may be F13. Next level he is F13/Td1. Next level he "converts" to F12/Td3. This can lead to out-of-control power gaming if I'm not careful, which is why I'm fishing for ideas.
Toede was a hobgoblin, but there are indeed bugbears in Krynn (but no orcs). You can change the half-orc in BWG to a half-ogre and give him fewer character levels to keep the CR intact. I can't find half-ogre stats in 3.5, but I remember one from the Twins trilogy. You could make something up. Don't get too caught up trying to stay true to the books (or campaign sourcebooks). In D&D there is always something new lurking in uncharted territory just off the map.
I just got the April Dragon and...wow. I love the new presige class. I have two players IMC who will love it. The problem is that plot-wise it doesn't get introduced as an option until COBI when the players are 13th level. It is a 10-level prestige class. If the campaign ends at 20th, players won't be able to finish the progression. Also, if levels 16-20 take place in the Abyss, who will be on hand to give the player his tatoo? How is anyone else planning to handle this?
Let's assume that the seven are working overlapping extra-long shifts of 16 hours total a day. (not much for a sailor to do during downtime at sea except cause trouble, plus every extra hand takes more space and eats more food which could be used to transport valuable cargo, and his pay comes out of the bottome line). Let's also assume that the navigator doesn't do much physical labor. That leaves us with 6 active crew at 16 hrs/day for a total of 96 man-hours per day. The lookout doesn't need to know much sailing, so undead work great here. Subtract 24 hours out of your labor total leaving 72. You need a captain or appropriate subcommander 24 hrs/day. Subtract this "specialized" labor and that leaves 48 man-hours. It says somewhere that not all the crew needs to have ranks in profession-sailor. I figure the 'general labor' needs one professional at all times directing the hands-on work. Take away 24 "skilled" hours leaving 24. So, to sum up, running the ship takes 48 "unskilled" hours and 48 "skilled" hours of labor a day. Undead can work 24 hours a day, so labor can be seperated into: 3 sailors (1 with enough ranks to captain, and one with enough ranks to allow the captain to sleep)
Of course, you would be at a penalty during extreme situations. When all hands are on deck (storms, battle, etc) you are short by two people. You may want more undead to pad the numbers. I suggest you crew with zombies. They look alright from a distance and skeletons have pointy bits that can get caught in the rigging. ;)
What book explains city stats? I understand GP limit and population, but what about the rest? In Sasserine it didn't matter because the PC's were relatively poor, but my group is about to limp into Farshore with tons of gold and no supplies. (Okay, not tons, but a lot.) Thanks.
You are forgetting the jailbait cabin "boy" ... Tavey Nesk, who is obviously pretending to be a boy ... look at the picture in #142 and tell me I'm not right. Tavey's definately a boy. He looks just like Jonathan Taylor Thomas as Tom Sawyer. Of course now that I say that, everyone's probably going to have him eaten by dinosaurs just to erase the image.
One of the core books or world-generic supplements has rules for playing a ghost after you die. I think it gives you a cap to the number of additional levels you can add after death. The rules seem perfect for character death near the end of a story-arc or as a stop-gap measure until a new PC can be brought in. I don't remember which book, but I'm sure someone else does.
I'm not even awarding XPs as such, just telling them when they level up based on story benchmarks. Going by story benchmarks can cause problems with item creation feats and spells with XP costs. How do you handle this?
Cool! I tried to sound like a pirate, and it automatically changed me words to Elmer Fudd. Don't know how that is done but it is neat. Mildly annoying, but neat.
Arrgh! Some salty dog be changin' me words 'round. Strike me for a lubber if I ever be speakin' words like tha'. Well now, I'd be madder than a gob what got deck duty firs' night inta port, w'all his mates goin' t'town while he stands watch on an emp'y ship; 'cept he what done it makes me sound all proper and pirate-y like. Probably meant t' make me sound 'phisticated to the ladies, belike. So sail on, says I. Pound away on dem plastic keys 'n' make me talk like th' g'tlemen I coulda been, t'ings bein' diff'ren', not the cur what I am t'day. An' thanks. Save a pint fer me, and tell th' ladies I be down when me watch is o'er.
One of my players took profession-shipwright. Also, you may want to make a rule for players trying to use profession-sailor in place of rope use. IMC, I let them sub at a -5 penalty in most instances.
Most methods to save the party are one-trick ponies; if you use them a second time with the same group they feel cheesy. If used cafefully, though, they can be very satisfying. My first idea is to let all the players die, but retro it into a premontion-dream-sequence. Make some changes to the adventure as written for the second go-round so that it isn't exactly the same as before. Reset to the last appropriate point (probably the last time they slept, unless the warning came from an especially powerful source). Then you have to write in a powerful force (mage, god, outsider) that has a particular interest in the party or its goals. You don't have to reveal who helped them right away, though. Another classic is to have the PCs killed, but anyone not reduced to -10 is taken prisoner. The next adventure will be a prison break. Anyone who actually died rolls up a new charater sans gear and is a fellow prisoner. Dragon just recently ran a great prison-break adventure but I forgot what it was called. You can also look at the old adventure A3 (or A4) Escape From the Slavers Den for ideas. I'm sure there will be many more great ideas coming from other DMs and players.
One of my players chose the name Merivanchi for the players guide, and we settled on him being a nephew of the family. He was an overweight mage. The PC died right at the end of BWG, struck down by the bullywog cleric in the final fight. The player decided roll-up a different character to cover some tactical holes in the group. I had the Merivanchis' raise him and send him along as an NPC bodyguard to his cousin Anver. He has become a major thorn in the side of the group. The same player in on his fourth character, although one death was his choice. He had an elven rouge turned into a pincushion in the Lotus Guildhall (scouted ahead and decided to attack alone rather than report back), the Merivanchi mage described above, and a human duskblade, struck down with a combination of mummy-rot (long story) and vine horrors in SWW. The duskblade was reincarnated as a female dwarf (he WANTED me to roll for gender). Since he doesn't like playing cross-gender, he asked to bring in a new character. The old one was eaten by the T-Rex in HTBM. I feel like I'm picking on him, but he is having a blast. Currently he is a feral lizard-man druid they met at the start of HTBM (running from that same T-rex). One other death in BWG. The party fighter was killed in one round by the half-orc pirate. She got better, though (resurected). So, in summary:
Okay, my bad. Apparrently my idea didn't go over so well. All I can say is that my group would appreciate it, and that I have liked similar ideas in the past as a player. This just goes to show that there is a wide range of playing styles supported by the rules; and that is the beauty of D&D. But in my defense, I try to never punish the PCs. In my view, D&D is a game where the players are supposed to win, but you have to give them just enough set-backs and risk that the victory is satisfying. Too hard is no fun, and too easy gets old fast; the balance is different for everyone. Once you find your group's balance, though, you get campaigns they talk about for years.
I'm curious. How did you handle Journey's End in SWW? An airship would sail right over unless the PCs want to explore. But to answer your question, crash the ship. At least temporarily. While nothing in HTBM is critical, it does give 2 levels worth of XP before the next chapter. Plus, while not critical, it does foreshadow demogorgon's role pretty well.
I am quite sure that I would rule that a corrupted, chaotic, evil artifact like a Shadow Pearl would have the potential to do bad things to someone trying to "read" it. I once had my character (a pixie) cast Detect Evil in the Temple of All Consumtption from TOEE. He passed out, awoke marked by Tharizdun, and had to make a wicked DC save anytime he used Detect Evil again. The psion should suffer something similar. Since Demogorgon is a two-headed demon-prince with two personalities, perhaps the psions mind should split in two and a second minor personality emerge. The personality should be useful but evil, like the Tooth of Azuth (or whaterver that artifact was called). It should also get stronger the closer the PC comes to Demogorgon. Maybe the second mind has a psionic character class of 1/2 the PCs level, and manifests in any fight against domogorgon or his minions. This should not prevent the PC from taking any actions on his own. Instead, the other personality will launch mental attacks against the party or boost the baddies. There should be the constant threat that the other mind will take control. Maybe the PC will need to sleep tied-up to prevent betraying the party? And the other mind will probably need to be shielded to prevent direct contact with its master. To end this the PC will have to kill demogorgon, or to maybe he will have to pledge his soul to an equally powerful protector. As far as useful goes, the alternate personality has a vested interest in keeping the PCs body alive (because it wants to eventually become the dominant personity). Maybe this manifests in a stat boost, a save bonus, an alertness bonus, or some "extra" psychic power with no point cost. Yeah, you could work with this. And it teaches the player an important lesson about trying to read an artifact.
THANKS. With the terror bird stats, I can easliy rework the baby dino encounter and I can up them for the cave enterance. I got my hands on MM2, so the baby dino will be an ankleosaur (I like the tail slap as they try to help) I figure about an hour tonight with the arenea. I can boost the dire birds stats for the cave enterance (that was one tough encounter). The cave complex info you gave is more than enough to work with until tonight's finale, which is the puzzle door to the outside. Throw in some foreshdowing for the bar-ilgura and I think I have about five hours of playability without any serious re-writes. If it is going too fast, then I can increase the NPC drama in the middle (I managed to stick them with extra NPCs anyway) and add that gargoyle ambush at the end to fill up the remianing time nicely. Sweet!
I am DMing HTBM tonight immediately after work, and I brought the wrong magazine with me. Can anyone offer any advice or remind me of impoprtant encounters? We already fought the T-Rex on the beach and suffered a midnight Terror Bird encounter. Tonight's agenda was going to be: 1. The encounter with the baby diploducus in the clearing (any idea what I can swap put for stats?) 2. The encounter with the arenea (should be okay) 3. The encounter with the nesting terror birds at the cave mouth (need some stats or an alternate encounter) 4. The cave complex itself (this is the tough one) I was already going to replace the 2-key door with a custom puzzle, and luckily I have that with me. I remember the room with the bridges and the colossul centipedes. Does anything else need to happen in the caves? How long was that first passage? What does the are immediately south of the door look like (I seem to remember a sandy beach, then a road leading off hugging the cliffs. My resources for tonight: Dungeon 141, MM1, DMG, PHB, and 20+ years experience. Most other books will be avaiable once I reach the game site, but are not available now. I have until 5:30 central time. Thank you all.
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