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I have to say that it really disappoints me to lose my beloved Lantern Lodge. Dr. Gol was just starting to get himself established in it to. It's going to be hard to find a lodge that so perfectly suited a half-orc monk of Cayden Cailean. Well maybe Grand lodge, but their prestige awards are sooooo bland... (whine)
And this is also is completely ignoring the point that Not only did those magazines provide origional content FAR beyond the caliber of WoTC regular writers (not including the ones they pluck from Paizo), but they were pretty much an add for all D&D content. Really, would any of us even CONSIDER getting something like Magic of the Incarnum or Three Dragon Ante if Paizo was not there to explain why it DOSEN'T suck? Furthermore they were publications that allowed young writers and DMs to share their ideas ona trully grand scale. Because Wizards can't be so stupid as the think a website for gaming will get as much coverage as a magazine. I seen Dungeon and Dragon even at Borders and other news stands/bookstores. How many people will be check out the website for D&D content outside of the devoted fans, how many will even KNOW about it? And what about Dork Tower, Nordwick, my god... what about DOWNER!?!? I'm syaing allthis to be bitter, but it's just... I can't make sence of it. Its just so wrong. Sigh. Still, I will try to look foward to Pathfinder when it comes out... Oh and James, this dosen't give you an out from posting Tyralandi's campaign journals, I'm still going look forward to their updates, as haphazard as the may be.
Its just wrong, when i DM the males play males and the females play females or they dont play! So dose that mean every NPC is (Insert whatever your gender is here)? Kinda odd don't cha think? Sorry, a little cheap fun at your expence, but it dose get to what I was going mention. As stated by others who have been DM's, we are in a sence, kinda transvirtual by nature depending on how involved you get as an NPC. It's just roleplaying and a bit of creativity. I mean some one has to play the barmaid with the hidden information, or the cut throat assasin and his illithid master, or the amazon queen, or that old begger dude, etc. Same goes for players, in fact I'm sure that there are groups that might think it MORE akward not to have at least one character of the oposite gender ("Dude, what's with the sausage fest" etc.) That's just the irony and humor of variety. It's a different experience every time. Dosen't mean anything. I think everyone should also try DMing at least once as it ussually requires playing with and opposite your gender, and would probably help keep some understanding when playing the opposite gender.Although on another note: if you think about it, were also inevitable playing god as a DM, but dose that mean we're maniacal gluttons for power? No, of course not, ...yes.
While the idea dose not seem too appealing to myself, after some thougt I could kind of understand where you think it could fit.
wait, no, they're shadow pearls. ok, false alarm people.
The florida gators haven't even one the super bowl. No way they beat Conan.
Conan vs Ash (Evil Dead/Army of Darkness) - Result: Conan, but Ash is to cool to get on conan's blacklist. Conan vs Chuck Norris - Result: Chuck Norris could win but would
Conan vs St. of Killers(PREACHER comic book) - Toss up as both could and have killed god and both prettymuch kill anything they hit. That and again, the wolrd would proably end before the fight was finnished. Conan vs Any Character from Dragon Ball Z - Obvious victory because even if it took him multiple hits to kill them, they would be too busy screaming themselves into a crater to accually fight. Conan vs Guts (Bezerk Manga) - Another Tossup though since they're both swordsmen, the entire world would not end, just most of Europe.
I agree with you, good fantasy IS out there and is a child is determined enough, they can and will read it. What I was trying to point out is that the book could serve as a stepping stone for someone new to fanasy. If after reading X amount of fantasy they decide "Eragon Sucks" that is fine. It would be their opinion and they are more than welcome to it.But two points I have to make on your argument is, 1. Not all these books, as well written as they might be, most of them don't hold that much in the public spotlight with the exceptions going to the Tolkien and Narnia series. I admit that if I was not forced to read it in 6th grade I would have never even heard of A Wrinkle in Time (though I'm glad I did get to read this) and I have never even heard of the Dark is Rising. The other point I think would best be taken from a scene in the movie Jarhead. Towards the end the Iraq war ends after only a few short days. The main character sits in the sand feeling frustrated and useless. Suddenly he hears the Rolling Stones' "Paint it Black" blaring from a passing chopper. In a cry of utter frustration he cries "That song's for Vietnam, DON'T WE EVEN GET OUR OWN @^$&*$%^ SONG!?!?" The point I make of that example is that while we may have a longing for stuff from back in the day as we get older, when we are young we like to look for that which is newer and more likely relevent to our own mindsets and intrest. I also don't think you should short change children. Even a child can figure out that a story from the 20th century did NOT rip-off a story written in the new millenium.
First off, why CAN'T I disagree? Is it now a crime to play devil's advocate? My whole argument was that certain opinions and yes, probably your post most of all, were making heated arguments that we really didn't need. To put it another way, there were alot of mountains that seemed to be made out of molehills. Furthermore, if the arguments I brought up were taken into account that's fine but that dose not appear to be the case in some of the post I read, which is why I posted my reply in the first place.More power to you. Just because someone is a critic, that does nto make them a "bad guy" or "pretentious." They have the job of studying and reviewing movies/books. You may not want to hear it, but someone does- that's how they get paid. A critic is just a guide. This is a person who has an expertise in the field. They don't criticize to be mean- they do it to further the field and improve overall quality by giving warnings. And that is fine if you want to read them. I was only stating that I PERSONALLY feel that most crtics are a bit full of themselves and as such, not relevent to an average shmo like myself. Quite frankly I wasn't even trying to raise an argument on that one so why are you trying to start one?
Well Mr. Freeman, you sir are a jerk and I mean that in every sence of the word. Did I ever once mentioned your name? No, in fact I never mentioned anyones name as this was never meant to be directed at anybody. The most direct I ever got in my post is the words "some of you" but again it was never meant as a directed attack, but something to catch the attention of those the arguments seemed more relevant to. I said what I said simply because I wanted more of a balanced argument than the cry for a lynching, Which I note Mr. Freeman you seemed to be at the head of.You want my argument in a nutshell, fine here it is:
To anyone else if my post seemed like an attack I apologize, that was never the intent. I just wanted to raise some questions and state some oppinions. Luke Freeman, you however I will not apologize to. You took my post and used it to make a personal attack on me. I accept critisism but your reply was just uncalled for.
Apparently trying to put up my entire reply all at once is a no go, so consider this part one.
Accually I was only trying to point out the irony and that saying it was a rip-off of starwars was more of a case of the frying pan calling the kettle black. Another poor defense for plagiraism stemming from the misunderstanding of the difference between "inspiration" or "theme" and "stealing." How? Just because something is similar dose not make it a ripoff. From my understanding, the plot in Erragon is not like LotR except that it is fantasy. If a few names were made based off of other characters, it dose not make them rip-offs if the Characters are nothing alike. If Erragon was a ranger who refused the throne but then reclaimed it later. Yes, that would be argument for plagurisim. But from what I understand that is not the case. The story from what I gather is about a farm boy who finds out that he is the last in a line of dragon riders and uses his abilities to liberate his home kindom. Not really the same as LotR. It DOSE seem similar to the first starwars, but I'll get into that later. What constitutes stealing then? So unless the Story is EXACTLY the same, it is not a ripoff? Please. When did I ever say that? Again I was simply trying to point out that it's easy to find similarities. Hell, without even reading the book and only going by the movie trailer, I can find similarities to: the movie Dragonheart, the game Drakengaurd, Starwars, The Princess Bride, The Lion King, The Lord of the Rings, Final Fantasy, etc.I would like to point out that if Eragon dose seem to much like starwars, mabey it's because Lucas used a very cliched plotline. (See the link that Balron was gracious enough to put up in his post which appears before my own, it can probably explain this better than I.) Please see the links above, and read the umpteen reviews offered in this thread. There has been an uproar, for some time. Just because they are not out lynching Paolini doesn't mean no one cares. I never said that no one cares, I would be an idiot to think that. My whole argument was that if it was a direct plagurisim, as you seem to argue it is, it would have gotten alot more coverage. And I don't just mean among the Sci-fi or Fantasy comunities, I'm talking the unwashed MASSES here. It would have been argued in the media and in the public areas where everone goes. Not just the messege boards of Fanta/Sci-fi fans. Because the works you site are popular with EVERYONE, and pubilic attention would be unavoidable.From what I understand, the authors of these works (or there families in the case of Tolkien) are not calling out Plagurisim, so why should we try and bring out the lynch ropes?
Yes, it accually says the elevator dose not rise, this is why it breaks and crashes.
Well first on the whole "Erragon is ripping off starwars" issue, that I keep seeing poping up.
We see idea, we like them, we try and use them with our own ideas. Why? Because there have been so many ideas that have been thrown into the public that it's hard being "creative" these days. Granted some of the arguments off Erragon ripping off LotR seem pretty strong, but while I have not read the books but I do know the plot is not seven individuals representing the elves, dwarves, Men and small folk go to throw an object into the volcano in the middle of the villan's kingdom. So the author used names from famous books to inspire his own names. Are the characters word for the same as those they rip off? I don't mean just names, but mannerisims, race, dilect, pesonality?
And further more, for those that think the book is cliche or un-origional. Yes, perhaps for most of you who I can only assume have been reading fantasy for X amount of years and I KNOW have been playing D&D for X amount more, it probably is cliche. But remeber that it's a CHILDREN's fantasy. Plots that may seem tired and cliche to you or me probably won't seem that way to some 10-13yr old who hasn't read a drop of fantasy their entire life. The ironic thing is that I'm not even a fan of the series. However when people give reviews like this without even taking things like the above mentioned, I feel I must disagree, or at least argue the point. As for the movie, I heard it sucked, but I don't listen to critics because I find the Pretentious and quite frankly I never asked for their oppinion in the first place. So I probably will go see it and if it dose indeed suck, I'll shrug, say it was my choice, and go see Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny. Besides, if fantasy fans have anything to be pissed about it should be the fact that NewLine is NOT going to let Peter Jackson dirrect The Hobbit movie.
Well I will not tell you how to run your game, but do remember this. No church of the three ebon Triad Gods considers the Ebon Triad sound, in fact they down right think the thought is hearasy! If you have Hextorites, they are different than ET Hextorites. etc. The whol middle of a revolution thing could be neat if played right but if messed around to much it might cause problems story wise (like why there would be a champions games in the middle of a revolutionary war.) Dosen't add up.
Well I might as well add my own ideas. Instead of someone causing a cataclysmic event, mabey it occurs more... naturally? Perhaps the threat of a new ice age thrust our heroes in a race to save the planet though some means. Perhaps our PCs could try to accomplish this through more unconventional means (like opening a portal to the plane of fire or something). Perhaps this would bring about very dangerous creatures (like any of the abominations in the Epic Handbook, I especially liked the one that was bassiaclly a walking arctic continent.) Or perhaps that death of magic that Boccob is always trying to pervent accually begins to happen and it's up to our PCs to stop it, or at least stave it of another millenia or two.
I'm sure that Saint Cuthburt would really enjoy seeing a city of sin and things (read: Gomorrah) be destroyed by a contagion spell. From observations I have seen, Erythunul is a savage god worshiped by more savage species as a god of slaughter. Laying traps would be okay so long as the end result is a bloodbath (like the traps the Grimlock set in TFoE). I may be stretching it here, but another way to thik of it is Erythunul as a sorta pseudo death god. If Nerull is the god of death and Murder, Erythunul would be the god of bloody genocide or any type of murder you'd expect in a cheap slasher flick. As for St. Cuthbert, he is a god of law and retribution. Personally I alway kinda figured his church akin to that of an old, old school christian church. Hellfire and brimstone, plauge on the non believers, etc. I personally have to go with what Delfedd said including the Gamorrah example.
Another question I have about affiliations, is that while I like them and I like that they're included in STAP, is there any benefit to be gained from affiliations once the PCs reach the Isle of Dread and the outer planes? After all, how would the affiliations know what the PCs are up to? (OK, that's two questions.) Well I can't say much about the other affiliations, but I'm sure the church of the whirling fury will be very helpful later when fighting the hordes of the abyss, and is probably the quickest path to the Knight of the Chalice.
I happened to like alot of the ties to GH and the Suel people that were added in this article. It gave me insight I was always a little sketchy on and it pointed out exactly why Wee Jas is not a boccob Nerull clone.
Well recently we had our first casualty in the game. Where - Wispering Carin, main lantern room. Who - Zyzics - Human Warlock lvl 1 Cause of death - Was rend in twain by a Mad Slasher.
Logic dictates that while he wished that he would become a dragon, he never specified "permenetly". Perhaps give him his dragon body, but at the most in-opportune time, change him back. Yeah, you could call it things like cruel and underhanded. That is because you are a meatbag, and hence, naturally flawed.
Mabey not, but it dose give ideas for possibilities that DM's never thought of. They're just examples anyways.
Two things wrong with this. One, drow DO have a code of conduct. It goes like this: Women over men,Spiders over all, and killing is not a crime if your not caught, but it is a great joke at a party when you brag about it later. Second, Ninja have a code of conduct, though it's more along the guidlines of:
That being said while they might not hail from japan, Drow a natural born ninjas as the are naturals in the shadows and they have no ethics to speak of. now if you were thinking of SAMURAI, that would be a different story, although how you could confuse a samurai and a ninja is beyond me as it's like comparing a nuetral evil rouge to a paladin. P.S. lower your caffine.
4 1/2 month session in an origional campain world that had everthing from a cleric that tried to lie to his god (and I mean, right to his face), a half-elf that drank an entire platoon of dwarves under the table, a regular injoke about how mithral shirts are the gay shiney club shirts of D&D, the adventuring group that started a world war on accident, a drow curse, a "death effriti", the most annoying familiar EVER, a midget that like to zap people, calistenics (that's exercise!), a siant that tunred traitor, and a sweet young wizard and her mimic friend.
Well I can understand, being a strait male myself, your conundrum. Quandry. Dielema, whatever. So here are some rules. First rule, Show her LoTR first as all women love the LoTR films. It's like a rule or somthing. Second rule, say that D&D is kinda like that, only in dice form. If she's response is positive, procede to step 3. If it's negitive, step 4. Step 3 is simply playing a game of D&D with her. help her make a character and start her with a simple one on one game (orc & pie anyone?) DO NOT bring her into the gaming group imidiatly as this can seriouly disrupt the game since she dose not seem to know about gaming in general. If she is positive to the one on one games, bring her to check out an accual gaming session.
Step 4. Well, if your at this point, then it's not going to work out. Sorry, it won't. Your inner gamer will be in ever conflict with your iner cave man as long as you are in this relationship. At this point, I have only this much advice left. Bro's before Ho's
Also I would like to add at this time under ANY circumstance should you let here see the Dungeons & Dragons movie she'll be turned off gaming faster than a CR 1 Trap by a 30th lvl Rouge. Gawd that movie was bad. PEACE!
My first choice would be the Orcs and Half-Orcs. Besides getting a +2 to strength (a benifit to ANY melee class), they're just so crazy fun and chaotic. It provides interesting roleplaying options, and chances for hilarity. Second would be Dwarves. Bless the those short-stacked lovable boozers. And Humans would be third. Cause... the're humans. They're everywhere. Elves seem to much like flower eating bonus bunnies. Drow heros seem a bit TOO common thanks to Salvatore wrote relms books. Plus they're supposed to be evil. (They're also supposed to be chaotic but they fail when compared to orcs.) Halflings didn't really seem interesting really.
Gnomes are freaky. period. I don't care what abilities they get. They are freaky and they scare me.
What I hate most about those adds is not the art work (which is kinda poor), Nor the concept (I send in what I would like to do and wait for a responce to wether I accually acomplished anything). What I hate most is the pompus attitude in alot of the adds, expecially recently. I really thought the "Video game vs. PBM especially stupid. I mean, first the thought that sending in turns in the mail will lead you to curing cancer is lame. Also, I don't know about you, but besides playing Tabletop RPGs I also enjoy playing videogames and I'm sure I'm not the only one, so the concept of insulting me dose not compel me to try PBM. The thought that it will get you chicks is also stupid, and the add with the woman seducing the guy into trying PBM is also stupid. Basically just about all the adds are simply stupid.
I recomend the Disel Boy's - The Dungeon Master's Guide.
This is more of a running gag in my group more than any campain. Basically during one of the first adventures I ran with my group, one of the party's rangers managed to obtain a mithral shirt. One of the other players made the comment
A couple of others. "The Miget zaps you for (insert random offence by a stupid player here)"
What they don't mention is that she gains fast movement with a good tail wind. And can pick up signals from up to 50 miles away!
Sorry to be a stickler, but 1.) You can't commit Seppoku because your not samurai. Seppoku is for nobles do to the fact that it requires a "second" to remove the head after the deed is done, or if it looks like it's about to end too soon. the best you could hope for is...2.) Harikiri. It's spelled and pronounced Harikiri. (Ha-Rl^e-K^e-R^e)
Ahh, my bad. I've only read about the lattanease gnomes so that's where I got the idea. But honsetly, who could be crazy enough to make something like that besides a latan gnome?
Figure I should add my two cents to the Jar. Personally I always looked at D&D as a gathering, some watch Football and scarf down doritos with their freinds, I prefer to run campains and scarf doritos with my freinds. The whole point of a game is not to tell a story or get the highest character, it's just about haveing fun while your doing it. Granted their can be times when players get difficult, but that's what the DM is for. Example: I have one player that is UBER munchkin. The guy is contantly trying to fiugre out ways to bend rules and exploit them so I do things to counter it. Like going with traditional dice roll for stats as opposed to a more popular points system as this throws some wretched Chaos into his carefully crated plans. Adapting is what's most important for a DM no matter what his play style. Examples: I have one guy who always like to play the stereotypical fighter... who happened to be a halfelf. All he wanted to do was fight with his claymore and get drunk at bars and hit on barmaids. Fair enough, so I had a dwarven adventuring party challenge him to a drinking contest, using simple fortitue rolls for every drink they took. This led to some amusement as it's proably the only time in the history of D&D that a half-elf has ever drunken an entire party of dwarves under the table (his rolls were 19, 20, 20, 19, 18, 19, 18, and 20 I kid you not!!). I granted him a permenant +1 natural bonus to fight off the effects of alchahol cause honestly, that was too cool a feat NOT to have gotten some type a reward. Another time the party attacked this Desert prince because they just didn't like the guy and he gave them a dirty look.(Well there was a little more history to it and it was somewhat ok 'cause they were all chaotic, except for the cleric who was of St. Cuthbert 0.o!?) and proceded to smite the prince's caravan respectivly. The prince got away and some party memebers were hurt but not to badly. When they later ran into an Orc mercenary they had befreinded later they told him waht happened though neglected to mention that they started the fight. The mercenary then proceded to reveal he was a prince of a nation of Orcs and then declared war in their name.
"For every action their is an equal but oposite reaction... that tends to screw the players over at DM's discretion." But it's all in good fun. ^_^
All the "Billy Goat tri-fecta Toll clause": when in doubt, point them at the bigger target.
Interesting: Extremely lucky rolls, or do you get max hit points per level due the difficulty of the campaign?Sorcerers & Wizards get d6 hit dice in Erik's campaign. Which is as it should be, as far as I can tell. Those poor classes need SOMETHING to keep them alive... I can see sorcerers having a higher hit die since they don't spend all their time with their nose in an old tome, and it balances out their hangups with meta magic feats, I mean a full round for any spell feat just kinda throws it off balance with the wizard. oh and um... UPDATE THE DEMONBOY JOURNAL!!! ...please? ^.^
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