Ensigilled's page

and gave off

the lisping dwarf

"KWATU! VEWATA! NIKTA-A-A----ACHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Our group had the same problem in RotToEE. The DM resolved it by increasing the number of monsters - though we were also doubly penalized at first because he was also maxing out their HD. It sounds to me that you are doing all in your power to ensure that your players are getting what they deserve. Besides, it sounds like you are also on the first adventure. Remind them that they won't find any Holy Avengers or Portable Holes in an adventure that's designated levels 1 to 3.

made of bratwurst

that stood testament

"Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!"

enormous pie fight

and soils himself

Most recently one of my players brought the game to a halt when I purposely caused a spell to fail in order to prevent them from exposing too much of a future adventure. Later in retrospect, I realized that she was metagaming, using my generously distributed player version of the map to gain info her character had no way of knowing.
Incidently I usually sidestep a lot of disputes by appointing the most or second-most knowledgeable player at the table as game ombudsman, in order to properly word arguments in favor or against a ruling. But the metagaming in the above case was subtle and flew past both of us.

Cheating and Metagaming - A worthy article for Dragon

Wouldn't be much of an Age of Worms without some of the little wigglers now would it? Unfortunately the worms are central to the overall theme of the campaign, but its your game dude. I don't know, you could have your PC's attack a spawn of Kyuss and when they hit it candy and confetti explode from it's chest.

I keep getting -Orc with morningstar-. Not ncesssarily a bad thing, both because the grimlocks that make up Erythnul's sect sport morningstars, and you can never have enough foot-soldiers for when the PCs let Filge in the party and he fully intends to set them up...oooops!

Thanks for the quick reply.

The way I see it, once Filge starts talking, Lanod Neff would see this as an opportunity to disgrace Smenk. So he'd want to have Cubbin arrest Balabar, only Smenk has already fled!

As for the cultists, the Church of St. Cuthbert, being lawful, would certainly inform the Sheriff, and the Sheriff would very likely inform Neff. That is, unless Cubbin was a member of the Ebon Triad or had some connection to them. Assuming he's not, Neff would learn of the cultists and would then have to make a decision about what to do about them. Obviously, Cubbin's men can't take them out, so he could go to the garrison (which he might do if he felt they were a real threat to him). Perhaps, he would rather have the PCs scout the place out first, before he does anything...hasty.

1) Smenk would silence Filge if he got too vocal.

2) Neff is not there to rock the boat. Only in the face of overwhelming scandal would he act out against Smenk.

3) The lawful churches and the the garrison would not act out against the cultists without overt evidence. Your players may have allies and friends within their circles, but their hands are tied to do anything until the PCs can turn something up.

4)The true forces in law in DL detest the sheriff, reckognizing that he is Neff's lapdog. And Neff would balk at sending soldiers into the Dourstone Mines at the word of a lowly band of adventurers. It's counter-productive in Neff's eyes.
5) Gelch Tilghast and Luzane Parrin are more likely to conspire against Smenk. Arrange clandestine meetings with them if your players are in the mood for subversion and general cloak-and-daggery. They could ask the PCs to poke around the Dourstone Mines.

One of my players had become obsessed with finding out what lay bwyond the impassible collapse in chamber 3 of the Whispering Cairn. She is a druid, and apparently unimpressed with the other numerous draws of the dungeon, applied her daily alotment of spells to solving this riddle.
She approached the cave-in and stated that she was casting SOFTEN EARTH AND STONE (pg 280). I quickly reviewed the spell and told her that she achieved no effect beyond softening up a few feet of stones and digging through to find more stones barring her way.
This caused her to accuse me of cheating (because she admitedly glimpsed at the area beyond when I held up the map once), caused me to dodge a pencil thrown at me, and ultimately resulted in postponement of the game until next week. AND THEY WERE SO CLOSE TO Z'S TOMB!
After a night of reflection, I've come to the conclusion that I was technically, if not thematically (probably not a word but...)right in denying the party access to the chamber and pulling out AGoW prematurely. Still, the spell is a tricky one to read. My arguments are as follows -

1) SOFTEN EARTH AND STONE explicitly states that "When the spell is cast, all natural, undressed earth OR stone in the spell's area is affected."
The word "OR" suggests to me at least one or the other. The cave-in is most likely comprised of both.

2) Furthermore, it strikes me that this spell is designed for a solid two-dimensional surface, say the ground under one's feet. While it can affect depth (1 to 4 feet) it seems unlikely that the collapse would be affected greatly due to it's density and the variety of it's makeup.

3) The campaign states that it would take weeks to tunnel through. Even if the PCs in my campaign could alter the physical makeup of the collapse wouldn't it still be as difficult to tunnel through? All they did, in essence was turn 20 tones of rubble into 20 tons of clay.

Please my fellow DMs, my campaign needs your help. I look forward to reading your numerous and various responses.

*Sigh*
Long backstory, so please indulge me...
My girlfriend is one of my players and has been obsessed with the druid class ever since Neverwinter Nights allowed her to be a shifter. But her second fovorite aspects is the ability to handle and befriend animals. Of course, these abilities shine through at the higher levels when a druid can actually do them effortlessly. At the low levels it can be quite dangerous to stick out your hand at a snarling dire-whatever and allow it to sniff you, doubly so for magical beasts who technically fall within a druid's range of expertise, but are a lot harder to befriend. Her attempts up until last night proved disasterous
A while ago we were playing "When Black Roses Bloom", an old Ravenloft campaign I converted to d20. The group arrives at Soth's castle, decimates the first skeleton, b-lines it to the stables where veterans will know lurked a Nightmare...
"Oooh horsey!" she proclaimed, and despite my warnings of flaming nostrils and obvious hostile intent, proceeded to offer it some hay. She died.
Then, in another campaign, the party was raiding Darkhaaven (another buzz-word fot the Ravenloft alumn) when the party encountred and slew a mimic. Moments later they encountered another suspicious chest. Wisely my girlfriend threw it a coin, which the chest devoured, confirming that it was indeed a mimic. Unwisely, her character stated in a deteremined voice, "I want one." and proceeded to offer it another coin, this time in her open palm.
Pieces of her flew here and there.

Now we come to Age of Worms, which, if you're familiar with the encounters in "The Whispering Cairn" calls for the party to make an in depth search of the Land's Family Farm. There the party encountered the enraged mother owlbear. I dreaded what was going to happen. Sure enough, my girlfriend the druid discovered the baby hiding under a hastily piled barrier. There I sat, helpless to do anything but tell her about its soft pelt and big black eyes. She did that "awww" face women do. Then, I thought I had found the solution. I made her roll knowledge nature, where I revealed to her that; while UNTRAINABLE, owlbears can fetch up to 3000 gp from nobles in the Free City looking for guardian beasts. I revelled in my own cleverness. I had sewn the seeds of party greed and peer presssure. The awkward baby owlbear would soon be guarding some old money pit and the adventure could continue.
"Im not selling my Boo-Boo!" she exclaimed. (By the way, the idea of a six-foot half-orc druid saying this was too much)
"Boo-Boo?" many said in unison.
"Yeah, Shawdi Boo-Boo."
We laughed.

((OOC)) In character

With poor Thezra still recovering from being weakened by the gas trap, the rest of the adventurers, ((Mazeanoff the human bard, Travis the human fighter, and Ghalia the aasimar druid)) decided to see what they could see for themselves. After effortlessly dispatching a swarm of vile beetles and a pair of giant bombadeir beetles, the party found their progress in the Cairn obstructed by a dark flooded chamber. seeing no other way around the water, a coin was enspelled for Travis to carry and Mazeanoff lit a torch. Ghalia's aasimar eyes could see perfectly in the lightless room. The group sloshed warringly into the water, doing their best to both be on guard and not to disturb the serenity of the place. Despite these efforts, an insane water elemental sensed their presence and struck from the concealment of the water.
It lashed out at Mazeanoff, dropping his torch to the water. Travis turned nigh simultaneously, but was at a loss of what to do. Mazeanoff lashed out, but missed. The water elemental reciprocated and hit poor Mazeanoff in a vital area. The bard slipped beneathe the water.
Wasting no time Ghalia collected the bard and dragged him off to safety. Travis swore for his indecisiveness and rushed the watery fiend. His sword, which had saved him many a time, this time, failed him. The elemental, more enraged than before struck Travis. The fighter's eyes closed and he slipped below the water. And with him, went the remaining source of light. Ghalia found herself sorely pressed indeed. She managed to administer a potion to Mazeanoff a,d just barely brought her club to bear when the elemental slammed her hard. The party had been overmatched. Guilt and despair crept into Mazeanoff as Ghale slipped beneathe the water, her head gashed open. Alone, in the dark and without an ally or prayer, poor Mazeanoff there witnessed things one should never see...

((Fret not for poor Mazeanoff - as his player was not there that night he was not sacrificed. He was Deus Exed out of the Whispering Cairn, but when he awoke was unable to speak and his hair had turned stark white. A vital lesson in combat I find. When you have the highest initiative, ACT! As for Travis and Ghalia, they were recovered by colleagues at the Bronzewood Lodge who swore to avenge the druidess. Ghalia was burned on a sacred pyre in a ceremony held by Nogwier. Travis's funeral is next game. He had to be prepared by the clerics of Wee Jas))

They have just struck the deal with Alastor Land. The druid among my players nearly killed the poor ghost after she got some lucky rolls. The rest of them got malevolenced for the druid's impudence. They should make contact with the owlbear and the gang in the next game.

I've been playing horror-themed campaigns for years. I've found that simply remaining serious and not bastardizing the mood with giggling and out-of-game conversations ads realism to the session. Furthermore the truly scary things always happen in the background. Disappearances are always good for establishing something wrong - but one of the missingis different from the rest. Sure the PCs find 8 of the missing 9 in the kobold lair - but when they find the ninth in the cellar of the Inn, cut up and strung up like some macabre jabbering marionette do they see what true monstosity is about.
Of course gore is only one facet of horror and arguably the cheapest one at that.
I once unnerved a player by locking him ap and having one of the king's enforcer's go down to the dungeon to pay him a little visit. He merely sat there, sizing the dwarf up while smoking his pipe. The usually boisterous Baradaq merely sat there as well waitnig for the stranger to break the silence. He did. He produced a broken bow and told Baradaq that his master was dead and left.
Miguel, my player was unnerved.