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Hi, I've been trying for a week or two to process my items in the above-referenced order. The system keeps putting my items in the sidecart for delivery with my May subscription for PACG, but I'd like to get these shipped now, not in May. I tried to change the shipping option from "combine orders" to "ship as soon as possible", but that set of buttons is greyed out on my page. Please change that order to ship as soon as possible. Thanks!
In the past, I've used a free anti-virus/malware package called "SUPERAntiSpyware", which effectively killed that trojan (or one similar). I also run Malwarebytes, already mentioned above, as a backup, and occasionally that picks up one or two remaining items. H.
My group switched to Pathfinder at the time that the Core Rulebook was released but, as the DM, I chose to focus on continuing to make the game fun, not on making sure that we were adhering to the new rules. That is: 1) I announced that we were going to be using Pathfinder as of a certain date (as the DM, I didn't want to wait for a new campaign), and I began studying and implementing the rules changes, but I didn't sweat anything in particular. If initially we used a V3.5 rule instead of a PF rule, I just let it go and kept the game moving, but made it a point to look up the rules between sessions. Each week, I discussed any rule differences/changes with our players as we gathered prior to our next game session. I still do this. 2) We made it a point to look up the rules in PF during our games (both by me, as the DM, and by my players), but didn't let it slow us down. If the rules changes weren't immediately obvious, we used the V3.5 set that we were familiar with, moved on, and made notes to study the PF rules later. This became easier as time went on, and we no longer need to reference the rules as much. I always reference the online PFSRD with a laptop during each game session, particularly for feats and spells, but again, I only spend a few moments referencing each rule. Anything more than a paragraph or two gets put on hold, gets studied between game sessions, and discussed before the next game session starts. 3) I left it up to the players to research any new PF character class that they wanted to switch to. Then, when they decided on a class, I familiarized myself with it and a week later, allowed them to roll it up and begin using it in play. I still allow classes from V3.5 into our game, but I scrutinize each and sometimes make minor adjustments to the class to better conform to PF. I've not noticed anything gamebreaking, but always perform a web search before allowing them into the game. The key to all of this has been to relax, accept the fact that you'll play the game with a combination of V3.5 and PF during a bit of transition time, and focus on having fun. Being correct with the rules has taken a back seat to having fun. We've ended up following PF rules very closely, but allowed it to occur over time, not in one big cataclysmic event. J.
Ditto! Kudos! I'm happy to send you guys my money. :)
+1 I love Paizo products! They've kept my game going ever since they took over Dungeon and Dragon, and have given me many hours of reading enjoyment. Well Done! Hurm
Our group uses Oovoo (a free download) to add two remotely-located players into our game, rather than being limited to one with Skype. We use Oovoo for video and Skype for audio because Oovoo allows the extra video signal while Skype's audio quality is superior. We have no performance problems running both programs simultaneously on one laptop, although one must mute Oovoo's microphone input to avoid feedback echos while running Skype. Being able to use these programs to bring in long-distance gamers is excellent! Our game takes place in Pennsylvania (with anywhere from 3 to 6 players) and we add one player from New York and another from California. We don't use Maptool or any other VTT, but instead just move around a detachable webcam to show the maps/minis/players. Technology is wonderful and in this case, it works very well. Hurm
Hello, I've changed my payment method for this order; please re-try. The wait is more horrible than the anticipation. Thank you,
To whom it may concern, A week or two ago, I changed my credit card due to expiration, but after doing so I don't think that it triggered the delivery of AP #26 (since I did not receive an email or product). Please press the button to send me AP #26. I'd hate to miss it! Thanks,
- A computerized character generator that provides PDF's of character sheets for printing and emailing;
Hurm.
I run a campaign with six players (sometimes more): three long distance players using webcameras, and three players in person. Each of the long distance players has a computer-webcam setup and I have a laptop with webcam at our table. We use Oovoo (a free videoconferencing application) for video because it brings up separate images of each long distance player on a single screen, thus everyone can see everyone else. We use Skype for audio because the Oovoo session doesn't seem to handle both video and audio too well. I have a detachable Logitech webcam that includes a built-in microphone so that I can move the camera around to show images of the map and minifigures, or of other players, or of the monsters/maps/items/whatever. Sometimes we'll move the camera to show the DM for a while. Sometimes we'll hang the camera for an overhead view of the map with minifigures. Sometimes we'll sit the camera right on the map to give a first-person view of the areas. Our long distance games actually go pretty smoothly. Here are some thoughts about why this works for our group: - The Oovoo & Skype combination seems to eliminate audio problems, which can really kill the gaming sessions (as someone pointed out above).
It can be done, and with a little work and patience, it actually brings those long-distance friends back into the game! Hurm.
I'd absolutely pay for the following Paizo-quality books: - Epic rules. I want options for my player's high level characters (i.e. those characters who've reached 20th level). They don't want to retire, especially if Paizo manages to streamline high level play in Pathfinder! My players want to continue their stories.
Hurm.
I would like Epic Level for my group (I'm the DM) to be all about options in that it would present a variety of ways to advance characters beyond 20th level. The options mentioned above all sound perfectly reasonable depending on which paths the players would like to take their characters--and which challenges the DM would like to throw at them. For the players, referring to other thoughts from previous posters: - Do you want to advance your character in stats? The book should provide rules (and alternatives) for how to do it, including the things which a character would need to perform/acquire in order to exceed the normal boundaries of racial physiology and fantasy world "physics". Same for epic prestige classes. - Do you want to advance your character to demi-god status, or perhaps eventually become a god? The guidebook should provide options and alternatives for doing so, possibly by completing quests that are of amazing impact on the world/cosmos. There should be plane- and cosmos-shattering advancement criteria to gain some of these benefits. I envision that any ascension to demi-god or god status would also require followers. A separate "Deities and Demigod" book might be needed here, but basic rules for a bridge to godhood could be provided. - Do the players want to lead kingdoms, build alliances, establish knightly orders, run an assassin's cartel? Some options for this would make sense, especially for playgroups that prefer less superhero and more court intrigue. For the DM of epic play, I'd need two things: - A campaign guide for Golarion that provides a sandbox view of the cosmos and the planar worlds that my players would interact with at epic level. What amazing vistas does epic play open up? What would be the major threats in this sandbox? Who would need help? Who enforces "the rules"? - Adventure ideas and plots! What would epic players do? If players could "bend time", what historical events could the players go back and change, and what impact might this have on the world. What gods need help, and with what sorts of challenges? Anyways, just thoughts.
After our first rollicking, frenzied, knock-down, drag-out, shouting match of a game last night, my family has declared the Battlestar Galactica game our current favorite, hands down. This game is a keeper, and it'll be in the front of my bookcase on the easiest-to-reach shelf. Here are a few highlights as to what made the game so much fun for us: 1. The game is essentially a team vs. team game, humans vs. cylons (i.e. androids), although the members of the cylon/android team may not be fully known until the end of the game. I find games that require teamwork, as opposed to "every man for themselves", are much more involving, and this game really gets the players interacting. 2. The cylons/androids want to kill the humans, as you might expect, but the mechanics of the game allow the cylons/androids to remain disguised as humans while they attempt to sabotage the efforts of the humans. Thus, it's sort of a detective game, like Clue, as the human players try to identify the cylons/androids. We had a huge amount of fun trying to figure out who was a cylon while accusing everyone else of being cylons! There was lots of finger-pointing and excitement. Trust no one. 3. There was enough action and involvement that no one became bored while waiting for their next turn. Each player's turn tended to go slow, expecially since this was our first game, but after a few turns everyone got the hang of it and the pace picked up. Everyone had different jobs to do, but all players were involved in assisting--or sabotaging--everyone else, so there's not really any downtime. Each turn there was a new crisis to overcome, whether fighting robots aboard ship, engaging in ship-to-ship battles, or repairing damage, or... Well, you get the idea. 4. Finally, if some of your friends lean towards the theatrical, there can be an element of roleplaying to the game as you take on the personas of the Battlestar Galactica characters. Roleplaying isn't necessary, but if you are a roleplayer at heart, then you can have a lot of fun with this, especially if you've watched the Battlestar series. Even if you haven't watched the series, don't worry, the roles are fairly generic to the science fiction genre and it's easy to use your imagination. Two of our players had not seen the series, but enjoyed themselves immensely as our admiral bellowed out orders, as our fighter pilots screamed for backup, and as the politicians, well, pontificated. Some of our group hammed it up and that only added to the game's intensity and silliness. This game comes with my highest recommendation. Give it a try.
Here is a link to a thread on EnWorld that is a thoughtful discussion of further refinements to skills and skill consolidation. Hurm.
Those are some excellent highlights, Sean! I have a question for you. When you use the critical hit deck in your game, isn't it a bit harsh on the players when they are on the receiving end of a critical hit? Over the course of the campaign with dozens of battles, I'd imagine that each of the players would take quite a few nasty hits... Where in the campaign are your players? Have you finished it? Thanks for the tip about Occipitus. I'll take a look at the notes for Occipitus on the RPGenius website since I also am looking to give that environment a much stronger feel as a strange otherworld. Within the next couple of sessions, my players will be quite surprised to find themselves looking for Alek in the ToEE. Hurm.
Whenever I've DM'd, I've made changes to my player's campaigns so that it was "My Campaign". My players have now been playing through the SC campaign for two-and-a-half years of play and I've made a few substitutions that have worked out very well. Here are a few of my changes (at a high level). I'd be VERY interested in hearing what other substitutions and changes other DM's have made that have generated a lot of player enthusiasm. 1) Life's Bazaar - Played through as is. The team had LOTS of fun in Jzadirune and then a knock-down-drag-out fight with Kazmojen in the Malachite Fortress. On www.theRPGenius.com website, there are a number of files which add wonderful color and flavor details to the city of Cauldron! 2) Flood Season - Due to a player death, our team instead trekked off to Sasserine in search of a rez (I used the "City State of the Invincible Overlord" from Necromancer Games, and it's a VERY fun and unique place for players to experience!). The players then went on a quest into the Amedio Jungle to earn the 5,000 gp for the rez (using "The Elephant's Graveyard" adventure from Dungeon Magazine #15). When the team arrived back in Cauldron, they went hunting for a Wand of Water Control in Richard Pett's "The Styes" module. 3) Zenith's Trajectory - I first ran our team through The Demonskar Ball - from DelvesDeep on www.theRPGenius.com. It was a HOOT! And our players had wonderful opportunities to interact with many of the Cauldron personalities, including Lord Valanthru. Our team then followed the Zenith module verbatim until they entered the Underdark on their way to the Shrine. At this point, I replaced the small Kuo-Toa temple in the original SC module with Gary Gygax's "Shrine of the Kuo-Toa" module D2 (with key SC campaign locations and encounters cut-and-pasted into the shrine). My player characters met up with Gygax's Svirfneblin team early in the adventure and they agreed to work with each other to invade the Shrine. And instead of a few battles in the original Zenith module, the players were involved in HUGE battles across Gygax's Kuo Toa city. It was epic. 4) Demonskar Legacy - My team battled through the tax riot and also the fire elemental attack, and are now making their way to find Alek Tercival. Alek is imprisoned in the starry mirror, but the starry mirror is in a midlevel section of Monte Cook's "Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil" module. When my players arrive in Hommlet in a session or two, they'll know that something's up... I have a couple of players who are well aware of historical D&D modules such as ToEE and have played the ToEE computer game, so my PLAYERS will have an idea of what might be coming, but their CHARACTERS will be a bit surprised. Hurm.
- Paizo's Shackled City adventure path (with flavor enhancements from theRPGenius.com website)
Hurm.
My team has definitely leveled faster than the SCAP called for, so I've adjusted my campaign as I've gone along. I've scaled up the opposition so that the battles have been more challenging (based on the notes in the magazine) and I've also cut the XP to 75%. Hurm.
The problem with this is that the beta doesn't come out until Summer 2009, so now I'll have to order the 2 books of Experimental Might along with the Pathfinder RPG softcover. Darn it! How do I hide those purchases from my significant other? Vic and Monte, do you have any suggestions? And to get back to the original poster's question, has anyone figured out how well--or not so well--the Books of Experimental Might fit with the PF RPG alpha? Hurm.
Black Bard, My party also just handed Zenith over to Vhalantru! As you've said, it will be such sweet DM justice to see the look on their faces when Vhalantru is unmasked, and to hear them say the words: "We've been had!" :) When I played out DelveDeep's banquet, I had Vhalantru agree to "sponsor" the player's group and provide them with potions of healing. My players think that Vhalantru is one of the few NPC's that they can trust and they often visit him to discuss their next move's. They are playing right into Vhalantru's clutches! Hurm.
Another option for the LL guildhouse is to use the map and some of the defense strategies of the Lotus Dragon guildhall from the first chapter of the Savage Tide AP in Dungeon #139, "There is No Honor". It's a great layout and can easily be modified for Cauldron. I had the smuggler's pond area open onto the lake in the center of Cauldron. Hurm.
One quibble that I've had with 3.5's Search skill, and now Pathfinder's Perception skill is that a rogue is able to spot traps and secret doors from 10 feet away or more (depending on available lighting). I contend that an ingenious villain with access to talented craftsmen might hide some traps and doors from sight by hiding or disguising their mechanisms and seams, and these features would only be detectable if a thief senses them by touch (effectively requiring the thief to move within 5 feet of the target). Therefore, as a minor change to this skill, I'd like to see an entry that adds detection of traps and secret doors by touch. Obviously, to detect by touch requires that the rogue be within armslength of the trap or secret door and should provide a DC bonus, possibly as much as +5 or more. Perhaps if the thief misses his Touch Perception DC roll by 10 or greater, then the trap might be set off? This change would eliminate the arguments by my rogue players that ALL traps and secret doors can be detected at a range of 10 feet. Hurm.
I really wanted to love this book. I really did. I enjoyed the first 100 pages tremendously, laughing out loud a few times and thoroughly enjoying the prose. And then, it j.u..s...t ... s.t..a...r...t....e....d ... ... s..l..o...o...o...w...w...w...i...i....n....n....g ... ... ... down. I probably shouldn't have been reading it just before going to bed every night. Anyway, I never got past about page 250. Hurm.
Two years in and I'm still running it for a group of 8! We play once a week for 3 hours and my players are just now finishing up Zenith Trajectory, so we probably have over 2 years left to go. I don't have plans to convert to V4 but will buy it and study it for easy-to-implement improvements. I'll also pick up the Pathfinder RPG and study that as well. My group is more likely to convert to Pathfinder than V4 because Pathfinder is supposedly backward compatible, so we'll see. Vhalantru Lives! Hurm.
I just finished reading the first book of the Erevis Cale Trilogy (I know, I'm way behind with this series...) and immediately ordered the rest of that trilogy and the first two books of the Twilight War. It's definitely fun to read of the exploits of Erevis Cale and his buddies, and they're unique enough--and seem deep enough in character--that I'm intrigued. In anyone's opinion, should I also purchase the "prequel" novels, the Sembia series? I suspect that having read "Twilight Falling", I now know quite a bit about Erevis's adventures in the first series. Thanks!
I've had great fun purchasing and reading books that were recommended in the "If you Only Read One Book..." thread, so I thought that I'd start a similar thread for short stories. What short story have you read that flared so brightly in your mind that it rivals even full-size novels? What was about the story that left you pondering for days? The elegant storyline? The tight pacing? A flawed character? A briefly-explored thought that could've filled numerous volumes? You're free to recommend novellas as well, but try not to toe that line too much. :) Oh, and if you can remember, please be sure to mention within which compilation or magazine you found these gems, especially if it's not a well-known author. I'll start with a couple. You'll note that I most enjoy horror tales... The Autopsy by Michael Shea. A memorable protagonist encounters something horrific. Gruesome and intense. Can be found within "The Dark Descent" horror story compilation on ebay or Amazon. The Raft by Stephen King. It was made into a movie which was actually very good for a King translation, but the book was far more intense. I immediately had to re-read it. This short story was brutal and King has a knack for getting you to like his characters just before he drops the hammer. The Mountains of Madness by Lovecraft. Yes, this is a novella, but I believe that it's his best story overall. Being alone in a place that you cannot escape generates terrific dread. Have fun
*** SPOILERS BELOW -- PLAYERS STAY OUT! ***
If you have a rogue in your party, you could have a couple of Jil's guild members confront and escort him/her to a guildhouse (or a dark alleyway, if you prefer) to meet with Jil. Jil will announce herself as Cauldron's leader of the thieve's guild and will warn your rogue that she's been watching him/her and that any thief in Cauldron needs to apply for membership in the Last Laugh, followed by an initiation. This will later lead to some interesting roleplaying problems for your rogue and party, especially when the team assaults Jil's stronghold. I think Jzadirune, the skulks as they are etc..could be too easy for them. What could i do? Give one rogue level to each skulk? What would you do if you were me? At most, I would add a couple of skulks. But even better, have your skulks set up a number of areas where the skulks ambush the party, then run and hide and ambush them again. This harrassment by the skulks will be great fun for both you and your group, especially once your group figures out that they can easily beat the skulks, but can't seem to catch them or avoid the ambushes. Hurm.
My gaming group seems to stick to D&D pretty tenaciously, but we sometimes take a break to play board games. Usually, it's Monopoly, since we don't have that many other board games. Thus, I'm looking for suggestions as to what board game(s) you all think are worth the money. My gaming group and I have played many of the games listed above, and we like many of them, but we've now gotten hooked on 2 games not yet mentioned. "Duel of Ages" is a team vs. team game (up to 4 or 5 players per team would be about the most I would suggest) that plays like a merger of a light rpg with a miniatures game with a capture the flag mentality. Each player assumes unique characters from different time periods with different capabilities, gathers items, undertakes challenges and quests, all while battling the other team. It never plays the same way twice and generates a lot of laughs and competition. It's our favorite game, hands down. Our other game, "Prophecy", is a quasi-rpg boardgame wherein each player takes a standard fantasy role (e.g. wizard, rogue, etc.) and picks up equipment, money, and magic items while traveling around the board and trying to get strong enough to fight the endgame demons before anyone else. I'd say that it's similar to Talisman, but with improved mechanics. It's great for the fantasy-loving crowd and if you like Talisman, you'll have fun with this one! Hurm
I've skimmed the Pathfinder RPG alpha document and have seen a few changes that will help to speed combat, but I'm hoping that the final version of the Pathfinder RPG will include some concepts that are specifically intended to speed up our game. Combat at levels 10+ tends to bog down into tedious comparisons of rules and statistics and I feel that this is one of the main reasons that DM's and players avoid mid-to-higher level games. I have not seen this (i.e. Speeding up combat) stated as an objective of the Pathfinder RPG, but I believe that this ought to be a key design consideration if we're to consider this RPG as a next step in the advancement of our roleplaying game. Perhaps there's no avoiding some slowdown in a game as complex as D&D V3.x, but any rule changes should be examined as to how they impact game speed (perhaps this is already occurring, and I've simply overlooked the efforts). So far, what I've seen that may help are: - Streamlined Grapple (less referencing of rulebooks)
But these changes in themselves may not dramatically improve the flow of the game. My gaming group already follows and uses a number of time-savers to speed up our game (e.g. we avoid side conversations, the players knkow to pay attention, we use a whiteboard to visibly track initiative, we pre-calculate all weapon attack bonuses, we use condition cards, etc.) but I still find that my games tend to slow most often in the following areas:
Thoughts?
I was never thrilled with the ending scenarios for Shackled City and have instead inserted the ending scenarios for Savage Tide. I changed a few clues to make it fit (e.g. deleted the pearls in Savage Tide to the Shackleborn in the SC Campaign, etc.) and am VERY excited about having my players go up against the Demon Lords for a few truly epic sessions. Hurm.
Here we go: 1. BladeRunner
And then: - Almost anything by Alfred Hitchcock
Hurm.
Just had a TPK in Bhal-Hamatugn in the Zenith's Trajectory scenario! The team of 9 PC's ranging from level 7 to 9 noisily fought their way into the temple, alerting all of the soldiers and whips, then marched directly into the main shrine area. Usually this team of 9 PC's has little difficulty walking through the battles, but the lightning bolts and mobs of soldiers took them down even before Aushanna arrived. Rather than give up on the campaign, I offered the players the option of "reloading from a prior save". :) They're having so much fun in the campaign, and wanted so much to strike back at the temple (knowing that they should've been a bit better prepared), that they jumped at the chance. SIDE NOTE: Since I have 9 players, I've usually had to beef up each encounter in the campaign to provide something of a challenge and, even in doing so, my players usually only struggle for a few rounds until they size up the situation. In this case, I modified the encounter by adding a cave troll (enslaved by Mangh-Mictho) who stormed into the battle on round 5, and also liberally borrowed areas, creatures, and color from the legendary "D2 Shrine of the Kuo-Toa" module by Gary Gygax. Hurm.
That is excellent work, Robert! I am absolutely amazed at what you're doing! I've been running the Shackled City campaign for my players for well over a year now, and it's sometimes difficult to give them a feel for the city with a map and verbal descriptions, but your efforts look like they'll be a great help. I intend to print off a few of your screenshots so that they can "see" the city. Well done! Whenever you have time, I'd be interested in seeing screenshots of any of the key city locations. Many thanks for that peek!
I've been keeping an eye on the Savage tide adventure path and, for most of it, I haven't been very interested. I'm not a big fan of pirate adventures. But now, with the incredible "The Enemies of My Enemy" module which delivers interactions with Orcus, Igglewilv, Charon and the river Styx, and other legendary demons and a High Noon endgame showdown with Demogorgon, I'm considering grafting that ending onto the Shackled City campaign. The ending to Shackled City campaign was good, but it didn't really wow me. The Savage Tide ending certainly ups the wow factor! My PC's are only now entering the Zenith Trajectory module of Shackled City, so I have time to make this happen. On the surface, it appears that this might be a relatively good merger. Consider: - The ending of Shackled City brings the PC's into contact with Adimarchus, a split personality demon (sort of), similar in some ways to the two-headed Demogorgon scenario (as much as I can tell at this point without being able to yet read the Savage Tide ending).
Thoughts?
Some may attack me as a fanboy (which actually I'm not), but I'm willing to give WoTC the benefit of the doubt for the time being. They've actually done some pretty interesting things over the past 5 years or so that have drawn my interest back into the RPG hobby: e.g. the OGL, licensing to Dungeon/Dragon to Paizo, licensing DragonLance to Margaret Weis, and they've published dozens of sourcebooks, splatbooks, and product extensions (yeah, a few stinkers, but also some fun stuff!) that have drawn me back into a hobby that I had dropped for about a decade. You can argue that WotC is now reversing a lot of their strong decisions in the past by cancelling licenses and whatnot. I am terribly saddened to see my Dungeon and Dragon magazines discontinued (I've been collecting since 1979). And yeah, maybe some recent books haven't been what I had hoped, but the effort they're making and the risks that they're taking may actually turn out better than we imagine. - So I'm watching the (U)GleeMax site to see what develops. I'm disappointed so far, but I'm probably not the target audience...
Our RPG hobby may be changing (and we all hate change), but it still appears to be thriving. Hurm.
Add my vote. I LOVE the Ptolus environment and would purchase or subscribe to some interesting adventures based in that setting. Hurm.
Jil will be interacted with whether they notice her or not. I'm assuming she and the Last Laugh Guild play a big part in an adventure later down the road (which one is it?). As for Alek Tercival, he'll be interacted with as soon as they return to Jenya for their reward (unless he's not supposed to be there at the time?) I'm sorry I haven't read far enough ahead to see where it's all going, but the seeds must be sown! And the Stormblades will be there when they first want to "visit a shop". Sarcem will possibly be met on the road to Cauldron as well. Lots of things going on, for sure. Akounite, it appears that you're well on your way now. To answer your question about Jil, she is actually not met in the storyline again until the party invades the thieve's guild many modules later. But here's what I'm doing with her: the rogue in my party was "recruited" by the Last Laugh (join us or die since you're a thief and this is our territory) and is now just starting to have second thoughts about the nature of the guild. It's an interesting moral dilemma that my rogue player is struggling with since the player is occasionally sent on errands that are more evil than neutral. My player's rogue has been interacting with Jil and other guild members so later, when the party invades the guild hall, it'll be quite interesting. This is a tricky setup, and not every DM would want to do this (some have introduced a second neutral-aligned thieve's guild for their players), but so far it's added some fun dynamics to my game. I have one last tip for you regarding Shackled City; it's more of a general DM tip, but one that is extremely important for this campaign. Start making NPC sheets for your players that they can keep in a binder. I scan/print the image and name of the NPC at the top of the sheet, leaving the rest of the page blank for player notes. There are so many important NPC's in this campaign that I recommend taking this extra step to help your players get organized. It's worked very well for my group. As my players have occasionally come across these NPC's, they've pulled out the sheets and remembered exactly who's who in the city, when they've met in the past, and what their interactions have been like. My players' NPC notes are no longer scattered across months (real-time) of pages within a notebook, but consolidated according to NPC, and it makes it easy for them to associate the face with the name. Occasionally I've read the flavor text, but most of the time I try to put it into my own words. I've found that my group of players tends to lose interest whenever I read scripted text, no matter how enthusiastically I read it, and they pay much better attention when I speak in my own voice/words. Your mileage may vary. Hurm.
I arranged for my team to meet him on their second visit to Jenya. Alek had been meeting with Jenya to discuss church business, so he greeted everyone and said that "Jenya had been saying good things about them." My group of players were 7 strong, so they did not need Alek to join their cause, but as mentioned, it is important to keep Alek separate (since he has some personal issues to work out in later chapters). I could envision Alek showing interest as the players progress in Jzadirune or the Malachite Fortress. Perhaps he meets them as they emerge from one of their battles? Or maybe he hears from Skie or Ghelve that the team has discovered or sold some interesting loot and goes out of his way to ask the players some questions about what they've found? As Oliver suggested, it may also be excellent to introduce Alek to your group by having him approach them to congratulate them on some good deed such as the rescue of the children. Sean Mahoney's idea is very cool! I wish that I had thought of it. :) Hurm.
My players are right now running through Zenith's Trajectory. I have both the magazines and hardcover, and I occasionally use some ideas from the RPGenius website. Having had some experience with the first few modules, here are a few suggestions to enhance your group's enjoyment. *** Minor Spoilers Below *** 1) Get a poster frame (with plexiglass or glass cover, if possible) to encase and display the poster-size map of Cauldron. You'll refer to that map often. I added little post-it markers (cut into arrows) on the map to highlight key locations such as Ghelve's Key Shop, Jenya's Church, and Skie's Treasury. I also printed off the excellent, additional details of Cauldron from RPGenius's website that describe the various sections of town, and I marked off those sections on the map. This really helps your players to become familiar with Cauldron as their home. 2) Definitely have your players iteract with Jil during the streetfight encounter at the start of Life's Bazaar. My players didn't notice her on the rooftop (it was an optional encounter if they noticed her) and it would have been nice to introduce them as a foreshadowing of later encounters. 3) Early in Life's Bazaar, add an encounter to have your players meet Alek Tercival (perhaps as a mentor for a paladin in your player's group?) and have your players interact with him whenever they return to Cauldron. It would be natural for Alek to be found occasionally meeting with Jenya when the players go to see her. This sets up some later events. 4) During Life's Bazaar or Flood Season, add a couple of nuisance encounters with one or two of the Stormblades. Perhaps they run into them in Skie's Treasury? This will generate some fun competition and animosity early in the campaign that later boils to a head. 5) Enjoy the adventures in Jzadirune and the Malachite Fortress! For a little spice, orchestrate a few ambushes by the skulks, dark stalker, and goblins/hobgoblins. My players had a great time in these early adventures. That should get you off to a great start! Hurm.
I've been DM'ing for quite a while and use many of the tips that have been mentioned above. Here is one other tip that I'll add to this mix. HELP ORGANIZE YOUR PLAYER'S INFORMATION FOR THEM
One last note about this binder. I also create a separate page for each key NPC (and a few red herring NPC's) that includes a picture of the NPC's face and name, and I store this page in their binder for them. This dramatically helps them to remember these NPC's and provides a place for them to take notes about their interactions with him or her. This is particularly helpful if your campaign has numerous NPC's. Once I provided them with this binder, my players immediately became protective of it and adopted better recordkeeping methods. All that they needed was a gentle nudge in this direction. Hurm.
Lustmord. For D&D Horror, try his "Heresy" CD.
Very creepy stuff. Hurm.
I notice that James did state "Best Adventure ever published by Dragon", and not by Dungeon Magazine... :) Hurm.
My players are now beginning the final battle(s) in the sunken church in the Styes adventure (Dungeon #121) and are in a somewhat difficult predicament. I'm seeking some suggestions as to how to manage the upcoming battles to both make them thrilling and to avoid a TPK, if possible. Here's a summary of the situation:
HOW DO I MAKE THE BATTLE EXCITING WHILE AVOIDING A TPK?
Does this seem like a reasonable approach? Any other ideas? Hurm.
IDEAS ON MADNESS As we strengthen the impact of Adimarchus' madness upon the Cagewright cult and nightmare scenario, It's also worth plotting to allow madness to have an impact upon our PC's. I've decide to pillage and convert some ideas from a Call of Cthulhu module (i.e. "The Truth Shall Set You Free" by Bruce Ballon) and use them as the party gets closer to Adimarchus. Here's the briefest of a summary of some effects that can be used. THE ONSET - Make a DC25 wisdom roll for the party. Whomever fails would begin to experience symptoms of madness and the DM informs the character(s) that they have fallen into a catatonic state for 1d3 days. In actuality, the PC's have learned something of Adimarchus' madness and torment, but that knowledge is so awful that they have repressed the information. When they awaken after the 3 days (or after a Cure Disease spell is cast) they remember nothing. Any character who failed the initial Wisdom roll is subject to additional Wisdom rolls, one per week thereafter. If the characters pass the wisdom roll in the future, then they lose the symptoms until another failure. Each time a Wisdom roll is failed, the DC is increased by 1, thus the character becomes more and more subject to increased madness. GENERAL THOUGHTS ON ROLEPLAYING MADNESS - The key is to use skill rolls. The affected character(s) will misinterpret stimuli and be fed odd ideas by the DM. At first these ideas would be minor. They slowly grow in intensity until suddenly the character realizes, "It's all real!" At that point, only the DM knows that the player character is psychotic. - A player may eventually begin to believe that his or her character is not sane, but the player character is not so lucky. For example, the DM says that a player's character is convinced that his friend is about to pull out their sword and attack them, and the character then realizes that this friend is actually a demon (or doppleganger). The player decides that the character does nothing. Knowing the character would be freaked out for not trying to defend himself/herself, the DM increases the DC of the Wisdom check for Madness (or alternately could lose a point of Wisdom). EARLY SYMPTOMS: The afflicted start to notice that things are a bit odd. They notice some people staring at them, or think that they are being laughed at when they hear someone giggle, and so on. Sometimes in the morning, with failed CON rolls, they feel somehow "insubstantial" for a few minutes. At other moments during the day, with a failed WIS roll, they get the impression of viewing the world as if it was a painted backdrop. They now experience deja vu a few times a week. The afflicted are otherwise functional, and able to maintain their adventures. - The afflicted could start to have more intense symptoms, perhaps becoming convinced that they have developed psychic/psionic powers. This may include voices in the shadows, Watchers dressed in black with strange masks, and images of death. LATER SYMPTOMS: The afflicted encounter a Mysterious Friend (an imaginary friend who only is seen by the character and feeds the character (false) information). This friend would explain the (false) evils of their current situation and outlines a plan to save the world. LATEST STAGES: The character responds to hallucinations and delusions, and will likely try to kill individuals from his past who he now considers demons (dopplegangers). With the help of the Mysterious Friend, the afflicted will also attempt to gather followers to challenge the forces aligned against Adimarchus, and in fact will be forming a cult dedicated to freeing the demon. This path would present unique roleplaying challenges, and may threaten the end battle with Adimarchus since the afflicted character would not want to kill the demon, but rather only free it. I'll need to think about this a bit more to ensure that it's a logical series of events, but I'm sure that the end result will be a very memorable and dramatic campaign ending. Hurm.
I've begun studying everyone's proposals for strenthening A's links and foreshadowings. This is good stuff and I'm planning to pinch a number of these ideas to ensure that my players begin, at a much earlier stage, to see hints of the real power behind the challenges that they've been overcoming. - I love the idea of a madness cult and slightly altering their special abilities and spells (and RP'ing elements) to better hint at A's involvement - The change for Dry'yrd to be insane and for his (its?) second head to speak of Adimarchus is brilliant! That provides the PC's with a wonderful clue. I may follow with slight alterations to other Cagewrights, but I'll need to noodle a bit further on this. OTHER THOUGHTS I've decided to create a short nightmare level for the PC's to adventure through and escape from, prior to their actual trip to Orthrys, on Carceri. This would represent a world-altering effect of Adimarchus' insanity and Dark Myrakul's torments. The effects shouldn't impact Occipitus since the PC's now rule that plane, so I'm considering having effects play out over Cauldron, or perhaps have the PC's battle through a nightmare/dream (or maybe adding a few lower levels to Skullrot). The intent of this nightmare level would be to impress further upon the PC's that there are powerful insanity magics at work and to hint at the demon/angel schism of Adimarchus. Hurm.
As a sidequest prior to Zenith's Trajectory, I ran my own party through "The Styes", as recommended by Chef's Slaad above. They were sent by Jenya to travel to help Refrum, the town's cleric, recover a wand of water control that was stolen by "the Lantern Man" and ended up in Mr. Dory's possession (later found within Mr. Dory's cabin). The party found the wand of water control after defeating Mr. Dory, but have decided to follow through with the remainder of that scenario, which includes battles with an aboleth and a juvenile kraken. I was cautious with the levels and numbers of combatants, but the party did very well since they're pretty creative in using tactical advantages to bolster their character's capabilities. Upon the player's return to Cauldron, I then plan to have them invited to Delvedeep's Demonskar ball (where they'll have lots of fun confronting the Stormblades). Hurm.
I added 1 to Greyhawk and 1 to FR. Hurm.
If a battle ensues, and if the giant makes an intelligence check and notices that the weapons are providing the characters with a great advantage, I'd have the giant attempt to sunder those weapons. But then again, I'm a despicable DM... Job.
I'm not even close to getting there yet (my players are currently in Zenith's Trajectory), but I have begun gently foreshadowing two main plotlines that will take the characters into epic levels. 1) I'll use the Incursion writeup from Dragon and Lich Queen's module from Dungeon 100 (scaled up) to play out a gith invasion that the characters must stop. 2) My campaign is running in Greyhawk and I've inserted Vecna as the key demigod who's been puppeteering the Shackled City events. Ultimately, the characters will have a showdown with Vecna using ideas from the "Vecna Lives!" and "Die, Vecna, Die!" adventures. 3) Just for fun, I've also tossed in Baba Yaga encounters (she's masquerading as Celeste) here and there, and the players will occasionally need to ask her for help and perform quests for her. Hurm.
I'm reluctant to dump water on anyone's parade, but I would just like to express my opinion since not everyone's needs are similar. Maps of Mystery do nothing for me. I certainly appreciate the exquisite maps that Christopher West provides, but have no use for the Maps of Mystery since I usually run Dungeon modules which come with maps and I have no problems drawing up small maps for any unique campaign needs that arise. Since the Maps of Mystery take up only a single page in Dungeon, I have no problem seeing them occasionally and won't launch into a tirade (as a few other messageboard posters did regarding a certain author who used to be published on the same pages now occupied by those Maps of Mystery). Hurm.
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