Ghul's page

Fellow gamers,

My apologies in advance if it is not approprite to mention it here, but I'm selling my signed and limited Edition copy of Shackled City (101/300) on eBay if anyone is interested. It's signed by Mona and Jacobs. Thanks and take care.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8724085560&rd=1& amp;sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

I'd say the '83 World of Greyhawk box-set is the bible for all things GH, but I tend to be old school.

The resources you choose to obtain really depend on what year you want to base your GH in. If you want to go pure Gygax, go with my suggestion above, find it on eBay or whatever. The setting takes place in the year 576 CY.

If you want to go further ahead in the GH timeline, pick up some of the other supplements mentioned in the above posts. The Adventure begins is one of my favorites. As is Player's Guide to Greyhawk. And of course, the Living Greyhwak Gazeteer is the quintessential resource for GH year 591 CY.

Yes, more prestige class. Just perfect my campaign. I love variety in my games and I want tons of it. Always surprises, always more options for my players, and always more options for me when I make NPCs and monsters.

Don't hate on the crunch people. Not everyone is so professional and gets together in teams everyday, getting paid for it, to come up with new crunch material to bring to the game that's balanced enough to play. Fluff is way easier to create, since all you need is a---*gasp* oh no...a freaking IMAGINATION!

*gasps* Oh my...does such a thing exist in a D&D game anymore? I sure hope so...

IMO the imagination of the player is being crunched by power-gaming options upon options -- new feats, skills, spells, and prestige class galore.

I disagree with your assessment of imagination vs crunch. Of course, this is subjective, but I believe that creating "crunch" materials, while tedious, is not nearly as challenging as setting up a campaign with characters that breathe verisimilitude. I am tickled pink by the Shackled City HC, but this Dragon compendium I will not pre-order. I'm not saying I won't buy it; rather, I'll check it out at my FLGS and then decide. I'm just not excited about more character options. I've got volumes of them that I'll never use, nor will my players.

Give me the Greyhwak Compendium!

Chef's Slaad wrote:

why not make them cauldronites? It makes your job as a GM easier. You can introduce a lot of locations and npc's beforehand. And it will give you the opertunity to introduce more (and a wirder variety of plot hooks.

In addition it makes the events in the story more personal. The PC's are more motivated and have more at stake.

I had my PC's start out as Citizens of Cauldron. They were so incensed by the abduction of children from the Orphanage that they started investigating the crime before ever even meeting a cleric of Cuthbert.

Good point. As an added incentive, I'm thinking of making one or more of the characters be former orphans from the orphanage -- the helpful hook to make it all seem more personal. Thanks for the input though. Hell, that's why I'm posting! Beer!

--Ghul

Ghul wrote:

Hello,

But I can't seem to find a lot of good info on Sasserine, unless it is somewhere in the book that I haven't found yet...

--Ghul

Sasserine is one of the elements that have been intentionally left blank to allow DMs to insert the AP into their home campaigns - make of it what you will :-)

Perfect. I intend to do just that. Thought maybe I was missing something somewhere.

--Ghul

Hello,

I was considering starting my Shackled City campaign in Sasserine. My logic being, if the characters are not from Cauldron, then my players can't pester me about what their characters know about the city and its history and politics. It will allow for more fun exploration of the city. But I can't seem to find a lot of good info on Sasserine, unless it is somewhere in the book that I haven't found yet...

--Ghul

Ghul wrote:

Celeste (pg 131) definately looks Suloise.

I don't know -- just trying to add a little flavor to the game. Any thoughts?

--Ghul

according to the hardcover she's some sort of a celestial, although I can't recall what type. Of course, in a previous life she could have been Suloise or something.

Thanks. I'm working up a player's handout booklet for my group that will flesh out several aspects of the campaign, such as the Cauldron region, a few historic tidbits, and some background info on the Hellfurnaces, the Amedio, and the Jeklea Bay.

But the primary way in which I plan to add some Greyhawk flavor into my Shackled Cuty campaign is by limiting racial choices. For example, mountain dwarves will be more prevalent than hill dwarves, stout halflings more common than lightfoots, etc. Most humans will either be common (mixed) or Suloise blood. But there will be some Olman, Touv, Amedian, and Flan about, too. There will be some half-drow, and the gnomes (rock) that reside in Cauldron enjoy a proud history. And so on. There is alot more to it, but I don't have it in front of me at the moment. If anyone is interested in what I come up with, maybe I'll post it on the SCAP resources page. Or maybe post it here, first, and get some feedback before it's set in stone for my group.

--Ghul

Hello,

In an attempt to add a bit of Greyhawk flavor to my upcoming _Shackled City_ campaign, I was considering adding human subraces to a few of the NPCs. For instance:

Anna Taskerhill (pg 96 SCHC) could be Baklunish by the look of her.

Cora Lathenmire (pg 97) could be Suloise.

Actually, when I look at the picture of Ankhin Taskerhill (pg 128) it looks like the nobleman could be of Touv descent, which would make Anna half-touve, hence the dusky skin tone.

Celeste (pg 131) definately looks Suloise.

I don't know -- just trying to add a little flavor to the game. Any thoughts?

--Ghul

Edge of the Amedio Jungle is also where I was putting mine. There's even a little volcano on the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer map between hexes U1-78 and V1-77. The SCAP map does show jungle on both sides of Cauldron where the big map doesn't, but big maps are sometimes wrong on those little details.

Yeah. I'm putting together a campaign workbook for my players and the map situation is a little bit off. On page 26 of the SCHC, look at the map. Cauldron is at the middle, and the Lucky Monkey looks like it is about thirty miles away by the scale of it. The Lucky Monkey is supposed to be a roadhouse on the long road to Sasserine. But then when I open up my new Paizo map of WoGH, the cities of Cauldron and Sasserine are about half a hex away from each other, and a hex is supposed to be 30 miles.

I can't have Cauldron and Sasserine be 15 miles away from each other. It kind of strips the frontier aspect from Cauldron. I want to establish the kind of mood and tone that makes the PCs feel they are far from other cities and on their own in the wilderness of Oerth.

I don't know. I'm going to make a judgement call and say Cauldron and Sassering are about 60 miles away from each other. M'kay? And in that kind of terrain, it could take several days travel by foot.

How do you space Cauldron and Sasserine in your campaign? Input appreciated!

--Ghul

LOL...I had a feeling it was something like that. I did just notice that there are two stat blocks for her. That will give me something to work with. I will use e-tools and make a level matrix. Then post it at a later date.

Mortex,

Yes! Please post your results, as I see Jil being a recurring character in my campaign, too -- that is, if my crazy PCs don't kill her at some point.

--Ghul

A couple of my PCs are interested in aquiring a place of their own. Specifically, Ghelves Locks. Poor Ghelve has mysteriously vanished.Anyways, they've ben informed that this will require scheduling a meeting with the minister of deeds, none other than Lord Vhalantru. The question is how much of their hard earned gold will this cost them?

I was thinking along the same lines myself, but on a lesser scale. Say the PCs were to share a residence in Cauldron -- where would it be, most likely? Looking at the map, I'm not sure where to place them. Ghelves Locks seems a bit too conspicuous to me.

--Ghul

I just got mine from UPS and it looks great!

Rooster

And mine arrived in New Hampshire early this morning. It is by far the finest book in my substantial collection. Gaming is going to be good for a year with this thing. The mint shape this book is in now will *never* last. It will be battle worn with beer stains, pizza grease, and who knows what else. :-)

--Ghul

I almost never get my magazines until they've been in the stores for at least a week.

Unfortunately, we have little control of magazine delivery times. *All* subscriber copies ship from the printer at the same time; once they enter the postal system, it comes down to the post office, and the biggest factors in delivery times end up being your local post office and your mail carrier. If your magazines are consistently late (meaning, for US customers, that it takes more than two weeks after we ship to arrive), you might want to consider having them sent to a different mailing address, ideally one server by a different post office.

I can attest to this. I live In New Hampshire and my buddy lives in Massachusetts. Our two towns border each other. We both subscribe to Dragon. My Dragon subscription arrives about one week after his, consistently. I'm sure it's the Post Office.

--Ghul

I've got 'em in MM3. Mmmm 1-hit-die CR 1/2 birdies.

Which issue of Dragon was that in? Thanks.

Sweeeeeeet. (If I may say so myself.)

And, hey, let me know if you have a favorite D&D mini that you'd like me to add as an avatar image.

I'd have to go with the Meepo figure from the DnD basic set, which I'll be playing with my son this summer. Meepo make nice!

--Ghul

Hey now.

I have placed a pre-order for Shackled City HC right here at Paizo for $59.95 + $6.77 shipping. A steep price, but one that I'm willing to pay for starting a new Greyhawk campaign series.

But FRP is pre-selling the same book for $47.96 + $4.95 shipping.

I love Paizo and what they've done to improve _Dragon_ and _Dungeon_, but that's quite a price difference!

Now, that being said, I understand that FRP would sell an item like this as a "lead-in item" at slightly over cost, just to get you ordering on their site, possibly buying other merchandise.

*However*, I think it would be nice if Paizo offered a discount to current subscribers to one or more of their magazines when said subscribers are pre-ordering other Paizo products. It creates goodwill and strengthens customer loyalty, IMO.

Happy 4th!
--Ghul

Hey now.

I have placed a pre-order for Shackled City HC right here at Paizo for $59.95 + $6.77 shipping. A steep price, but one that I'm willing to pay for starting a new Greyhawk campaign series.

But FRP is pre-selling the same book for $47.96 + $4.95 shipping.

I love Paizo and what they've done to improve _Dragon_ and _Dungeon_, but that's quite a price difference!

Now, that being said, I understand that FRP would sell an item like this as a "lead-in item" at slightly over cost, just to get you ordering on their site, possibly buying other merchandise.

*However*, I think it would be nice if Paizo offered a discount to current subscribers to one or more of their magazines when said subscribers are pre-ordering other Paizo products. It creates goodwill and strengthens customer loyalty, IMO.

Happy 4th!
--Ghul

It looks like it may be a few weeks before I can run the Whispering Cairn. . . so in the meantime, I’ve been developing an alternative ways to help out the 4 PCs who will be trying to survive it.

The following idea (when we finally get to start) uses the Wormfood article in Dragon #333. I thought I’d post it as an alternative, since so many people are having problems with certain parts of the first adventure.

Thanks. This is perfect. I was concerned about my players' characters surviviing the swarm encounter. This should set them up well. Also, my new campaigns have a long standing tradition of the first encounter being stirges. Bravo!

--Ghul.