It's pronounced boo-LAY!'s page

Water World
Constantine
Dragonheart

And in reverse, there is a movie that I think I should like, but I just hated.

Braveheart

Bulette

My initial thought would be to just stand your ground, and let the players leave if they don't like it. If you let the players have as much power as they are having, it creates an adversarial situation, where the DM is AGAINST the players, and it compromises your ability to provide a good game.

I've been in your situation though, and I know it's not a simple thing to do, especially if your players are friends outside of the game, and your friendship would be hurt if they left because you didn't let them run the show.

Another thing to do would be to let someone else DM for a while. That will not only give you a rest from their complaints, but allow someone else to see how difficult a position you are in.

Neither of those choices are easy though, especially if your players don't want to compromise. The bad news is that with the situation you are in, the only course that is going to easy is to keep doing things the same way you now, which is going to make you resent your friends and hurt your relationship with them in the end.

Good luck to you. Remember, making a difficult decision and regaining an appropiate amount of control over the table will result in a better game in the end, because you'll have the respect and eventually the trust to do things that result in a more seamless experience.

Bulette

OMG what happened? I know he had 3 kids, and Matthew is the oldest.

I also have a Matthew, who is only 3, but nightmares of me losing him rob me of composure at times.

Does anyone know what happened? I'm so sorry.

Bulette

Us: We have a core group of players that meet every other Friday, and we're about to begin the Rise of the Runelords campaign. We play from 630p-12a in north seattle, around 105th and Aurora.

We are a little fast and loose with the 3.5 rules, and value flavor over mechanics. We're also huge on pop-culture references, and simply a reasonable group of men and women.

No smoking no drinking no pets.

You: We're looking for 1 or 2 people to play in the above game. You should have a modicum of intelligence (following the request at the end of this post is a pretty good litmus test), good sense of humor and not be a power-gamer. Pop-culture literate a plus. Age and gender doesn't matter.

Despite how that sounds to me when I read it, I swear we're not stuck up or elitist. We've just been burned before by having people join our group that didn't fit in.

If you're interested, email me at DMG(all spelled out)@gmail.com
Let me know what kind of gamer you are, and one gaming situation that you enjoyed and why.

Thanks,
Jon

I apologize in advance for the "do you know who I am?" nature of this, but I feel it's relevant to what I'm going to talk about. I am the organizer of the Seattle Dungeons and Dragons Meetup.com Group a group about 500 strong, and as such I kind of consider us Paizo's "hometeam" club.

I am definitely interested in 4th edition, and I'm certain to pick up the books when they are released, but having had our group's resurgence come along with 3.5, I can say that many, many gamers in the Seattle area are going to be sticking with 3.5 for a while.

My home campaign is 3.5 right now, and I've got material written in the 3.5 ruleset to play for years. I think that this edition (3.5) is going to see more players not upgrade than any version of D&D that came before.

With 4th edition, I'm going to be doing something I've been thinking about for a while, that I haven't had the guts to do to my group with 3.5. I'm going to severely limit the amount of sourcebooks my characters can draw from. With 3.5, we all have so many books that to do so would be taken as an insult. They spent all this money, they want to use the books. I know as a DM I can always limit the available sourcebooks, but I've never had a strong reason to. The reason has been creeping up in importance, and with 4th edition I'll have the reason and the opportunity.

So we'll dual-system. Many players play two systems. Our two systems will be 3.5 and 4th edition. For me it'll be based on what modules I want to run. Pathfinder and Wolfgang Baur's Open Design project are at the top of a short list of things I want to run, and they are both written using 3.5 rules.

Enough rambling. I think that if Paizo goes to 4th edition, my group will mostly go to 4th edition, with a few exceptions. If Paizo stays with 3.5, my group will stay will 3.5, with many fewer exceptions.

Jon Kinarthy
Organizer of the Seattle Dungeons and Dragons Meetup
Boardmember for Emerald City Gamefest

Geeklabel
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Gamer: The Podcasting
PCGamer podcast
Pulp Gamer
7th Son podcast novels
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WotC's D&D podcast
2d6 podcast
Dice Make Bonk

We should revive this. :)

I'm going to be starting Foundations of Flame tomorrow night, and I'm wondering how much info about the mechanics of evacuation points I should give?

Part of me doesn't like the idea of them knowing the city is broken into 5 parts and they have to earn enough points in each part to consider the city evacuated. Another part wants to explain it all, so they're in on the "mini-game".

An idea that is forming right now is to have Jenya explain that if they visit 5 major locations, and working with those as "hubs" do everything they can in the areas surrounding them, that should be enough. The five locations would be the Lantern Street Orphanage, Blue Crader Academy, The Cusp of Sunrise, the Docks, and Town Hall. They never made a big deal of learning the layout of the city when it came to specific building locations, so it's easy enough say that those sites are roughly equidistant from each other. That way, rather than arbitrality saying they are in the NW quadrant of the city, we could say they are evacuating the area around the academy, and once they have done all they can with all 5 area, the city is as completely evacuated as they can get it.

I'd to hear critiques of that, as well as any other ideas anyone has.

Thanks!

Bulette

I couldn't hope for a better list and advice that that.

Thank you both very much.

Bulette

My DM cancelled on me, and I need to run a group of 4 through an adventure tonight and next week.

Can anyone suggest an adventure that is appropriate for 4th level PCs (I can scale the adventure if that sidebar exists) that I can run on short notice? I'm at work and won't be able to look through the adventure before I sit down at the gaming table tonight...I'm going to have to ask my wife to grab some issues on her way to pick me up this afternoon on the way to the gaming location.

I have most copies of Dungeon from 90-105, and all the copies after that. Undead a plus.

Thank you, oh awesome paizo community!

Bulette

I appreciate the reply, and understand.

I was very pleasently suprised when I saw the guide for sale at PAX, and snapped one up. It's nice.

Thanks!

Bulette

I already pay to have Paizo ship Dungeon to my house each month, and I want to buy the Savage Tide Player's Guide, but the shipping costs are as much as the guide costs!

Can you just slip it into the bag with the Dungeon magazine?

Thanks,
Bulette

Zherog, thank you so much!

I am looking for a three-adventure arc that takes place in Waterdeep. I'm pretty sure vampire's were involved. I believe it was just before or during the Age of Worms AP, but I'm not sure. Does anyone remember this adventure, and if so, what issues did it appear it (or begin in anyway).

Thank you very much for helping me out here. :)

Bulette

Archade, I knew I could count on your.

Pyrix, bless you! That map rules.

Thanks to everyone who responded, I feel confident about tonight now.

Bulette

I'm running the plain of Cysts encounter tonight, and I'm at a loss for how to run it.

I have some maps, but the whole plain is like 130x80 5' squares, and there's no way I have that much. I want them to be able to keep track of where they've been, so when they get TP'd back they don't have to start from scratch not knowing where they've been before.

How did you run the encnouter, or what advice do you have for me to run it? I'll post how it went when I can.

Thanks so much.

Bulette

It's not to scale, but I've got a .jpg of Jzadirune made with Dunjinni. You can blow it up if you want.

email me if you want it.

dungeonmastersguide @ gmail . com

James, thank you so much, and thanks for the email.

Crazy, don't worry, it's not typical. 99% of the time they're on the ball. No need for threats my good man.

Bulette

I was going to post this yesterday, but my wife made me come home from work to look for it first. :)

I am also in Washington state and havn't received my issue 128 yet.

I'm in the same boat as GGG, I don't need it right away, but I do want a complete Adventure path. :)

Please and thank you.

Bulette.

I have them, I made them myself.
Email me and I'll send them to you.

dungeonmastersguide AT gmail DOT com

CS, thank you so much, but someone suggested I take screenshots of them and then paste into MSpaint.

That worked.

Thanks very much for your support though. You're like the King of this website!

Bulette

I don't know how to convert PDF to JPG.

I need the images for a play by post handout.

Does anyone know where I could get a .JPG image of the 3 handout sheets that make up the kidnapped victim list?

Thank you very much,
Bulette

I have removed the spoilers from the description.

Cheers!
- rob

Impressive

-Bulette

Yeah, just happened last Friday too.

In Flood Season, fresh into 3rd level, they stumble into the kitchen 1/3 dead :)

They got very lucky though, they were able to put Tongueater to sleep. I thought it was going to be a lot worse.

Bulette

I've tried my hand at it, but I'm not very adept at creating modules from scratch. I'd definitely playtest them though. :)

Bulette

Ok, we actually played again!

Friday night, 13 people showed up. A couple new people, a couple people didn't show. We split into two groups, with me taking 5 people.

Then we started Flood season.

It was a pretty simple setup, Jenya asking them to investigate and giving them some background on the Flood Festival.

They got to the Lucky Monkey, and like many groups, they split up. The druid and her snake went to the side entrance, while the rogue and wizard went to the front, and the fighter and cleric tied up the horses in the stables.

By the time the druid, fighter and cleric got into the main room, the rogue and wizard already had their hands full, and a conjured web was in the middle of the room holding the thugs. Two thirds of the way through the battle, the very drunken woman stumbled from the stage and joined the fray, and well as a dishevled man and woman from one of the curtained-off rooms. Then just as that was winding down, someone decides to go into the courtyard, bringing the baboons into the game. Well, one of them went to -4, but she stabilized, and they were eventually victorious. Wounded and drained, they decided to continue on, and as luck would have it, they made a beeline for the kitchen. As the night ended they opened the door to the kitchen and got a full view of the grisley scene with Tongueater, the 3 baboons and Sarcem's severed head hanging on the wall.

That's where pick up next week, and I'm slightly concerned that they aren't going to make it. But we shall see...

Bulette

Nah, that was great!

I'll post what happens tonight as soon as I can.

Bulette

I agree Molay, I am starting Flood Season tonight, and Archade just started Life's bazaar last night.

We both have journal threads, why don't you start one yourself, and we can keep track of each other's campaigns and get ideas and stuff.

Bulette

Excellent! How many hours did that take?
I remember in one of the playtests that were written about in Dungeon Magazine, after only four hours they have found the door to Jzadirune, but it took my group 1.5 sessions of 5 hours each to get to that point.

I can't wait to hear more. Tonight's my D&D night, so I should have something new in my journal tomorrow.

Bulette

Come on... Surabar SPellmason a rogue?? I don't think so... I thought he was an earth elementalist, waasn't he?

Nanmaniac

You know, I didn't think of that. Good DM'ing there I must admit.

I have a tednancy to defend the published material, but other than that rogue thought, or changing the weapon itself, I don't see any options that haven't been mentioned.

I posted a longer version of this is the duplicate post, but I'll put it here too :)

I don't think Alakast is underpowered at all. Just put it in the hands of the party rogue, get your flank on, and you're doing 7 dice of damage per hit, 8 if the rogue is 9th level.

It's probably better than anything else they have.

Put it in the hands of the party rogue, get flank and it'll do 7 dice of damage, 8 if the rogue has reached 9th level.

That's an average of around 24-28 damage.

I don't know that she needs to reveal anything.

Maybe if they earned F&F's trust, and earn Shensen's trust, Meerthan will make himself known. But I think Shensen would know better than to start giving up secrets just because they saved her life. She can show gratitude without having 'loose lips'.

I think my first party was halfway between 6th and 7th at this point.

My second party hasn't even started the adventure this is in yet.

very nice!
I can't wait to hear about Life's Bazaar. Especially how they get Keygan's confidance, the two groups I've run through Life's Bazaar did things so differently.

Bulette

The three things that come to mind all involve a little DM intervention.

1. Decide that the Hezrous isn't on his home plane.
2. He has already used the ability 3 times that day.
3. Roll again on the encounter table.

I don't think I'm adding anything you haven't thought of, but it is your decision after all. Consider it for the sake of the adventure. I haven't read TotSE yet, but I imagine it'd be very hard to adapt the adventure to the party being sent back to the PMP, or even to different planes.

Let us know how it turned out.

Bulette

Well, number one is Bulettes, of course.

After that, hmm.

Anything unimposing (kobolds, goblins, hobgoblins, orcs) with class levels.

Puzzles. (I know, not really creatures)

lessor undead (Skeletons, zombies, ghouls)

other PCs.

I call him....

Bite, the Bulette!

But, but...It's not pronouned bullet.

:)

In other gamer Connection forums, when people post in a uniform manner it's easier for all involved to find people.

In the title of the post, please enter your Country or State, then your Region or City, and then a short message about what you are looking for.

Examples:

NY, New York, Eberron!

France, Paris, Looking for players.

UK, London, starting a d20 Modern campaign.

Thanks for your time, and I hope that this new board brings gamers together in great ways!

Bulette :)

That was an excellent description GJ, not to mention an exciting encounter.

What bypasses 5/silver?
Masterwork doesn't I believe, but do +1 weapons?
Silver of course.

Thanks,
Bulette

Well, in one way, you could say that Friday's session was a success. 10 of the 12 people showed up, and that's only because the other two already had made their characters the night before.

So now I don't know what to do. We have 11 players and 1 DM, and I don't want more than 8 players. So we're looking for a another DM.

I won't bore you with those details, but rather bore you with details of how I'm going to introduce 6 characters to the 2 existing.

If you'll remember, the original group saved the children and most of the adults, defeated Kazmojen and chased away the Dark Creepers/Stalkers. One of them died and another contracted the vanishing. 3 of them left to get a body raised, the other 3 stayed to find a cure for the vanishing.

Now there are 2. The vanishing was cured, and the remaining 2 invited to a dinner being thrown by the Mayor for their heroic deeds. When they arrive (which they haven't yet), they'll find out that the dinner is to honor the Stormblades, who are as yet unknown. At that dinner, the 2 will be met by a group, some of whom are members of the Stormblades, who want out because of the leaders moral views on certain things. Hopefully that will lead to the reformation of the group, and Jenya will have someone to send to The Lucky Monkey to rescue Sarcem.

I'll let you all know what happens after the game, 03-04-05.

Bulette

I began running AP1 last Weekend and i had a lot of fun.

But i got a Question about Terrem i couldnt solve yet.
The Child wears the mark of Carceri and is Evil
Is he Evil because of the mark or is he evil from his own
Charachter?
And the mark is invisible.
Could a Mage detect it with see invisible?
What would happen if a Paladin would check on the Child?

How did other DMs solve that Situation ?

I remember reading in the adventure that the mark was naturally invisible, and so any means of seeing invisible things would make one able to see it. But if the mage just made himself invisible, that wouldn't give him any special powers to see invisible stuff, so that wouldn't work.

Chef's Slaad wrote:

Here's an idea on inserting details:

Sarcem is in Sasserine at this point in the AP. You should definitely have the PC's meet up with him when they're there to have Kedoyn raised. If they're travelling with Ruphus, chances are pretty good they'll go to the temple of St. Cuthbert. You should probably work in a reason why Sarcem isn't raised after flood season, though.

That's actually a pretty cool idea. In that one trip they should get to see both Sarcem and the Lucky Monkey before they're destroyed. Maybe you could make a big deal about the Church using the last of its raise dead power (diamond, scroll, whatever) to raise the party member so that's why they can't raise Sarcem now. If they're at all thinking beings, they should feel a little guilty about that...

I raise a toast to lost opportunities.

The fourth one was still in Cauldron with the two that are staying.

I am thinking of having Ruphus send a message to Jenya about the 3 leaving (they all RP'ed their leaving in different ways), and then decide to stay in Sasserine for a while.

In better news ... I joined a couple online groups, The Seattle Dungeons & Dragons meetup.com group, and the Seattle Gamers Assembly yahoo group, so I'm flush with gamers. It looks like I may actually get too many people (right now 12 people are interested (counting me and the two returning players), and I'm thinking of splitting the group into two, as some of them want to run RPGA sanctioned Living Greyhawk games.

I'm not counting my chickens though, we will see how many people actually show up this Friday. The only people I am sure are showing are myself and my wife(who has never played any RPG in her life), the two returning players, and one other(the host).

Good luck! I'm in the opposite boat -- I have 6 players, and a waiting list for 3 more. Are you anywhere near Hamilton, Ontario?

Nope, Seattle, Washington

Since Friday, I've went to a gathering of D&D players (courtesy of meetup.com), received a few nibbles about the game, confirmed that the remaining two players want to continue, and found a place for our next session, which won't miss a beat, it'll be the same day we normally play.

How's that for fortunate, huh?

I'll post again next weekend, after the session.

Ack!
Since the last time I posted, I found out four of my group are not coming back.

One is having a baby,
One wants to have more free time,
One is that person's husband,
One is the husband's friend.

In a frenzy I posted on about 6 different websites looking for people. We shall see if this campaign survives. If it doesn't, I'll just start again with some other group. This is the second time I'm running it, and the first time last four modules.

Bulette

Sorry to post off-topic, but I gotta say, nice handle Blix.

"black as midnight, black as pitch. Blacker than the darkest witch." -Blix

Speaking from a position of foggy recollection...

There are githyanki modules in recent Dungeon issues I think.
Didn't #100 have a big one, and in the last 30 issues there have been one of two githyanki-themed issues I believe.

We're going to find out, as my party meets him in the last couple sessions.

I suspect that they won't suspect. But I'll let you know.

Sorry, I meant NEXT couple sessions.