The Duyfken is a reconstruction of a 17th century ship. However, it's pretty bloody close to how I picture the Sea Wyvern. Thought I'd share.
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I have to admit, I don't like Kopru. Flat out don't like 'em. Don't like them for a number of reasons - their maneuverability is too limited, they have improved grab (grapple monsters get boring for me) and their one trick - domination - is all or nothing and easily countered with a first level spell. I think they are one trick ponies. Fortunately, Dragon's own Erik Mona's fanboy obsession with China Mieville has come to my rescue. The article on Bas Lag includes a fantastic CR 5 version of the Grindylow. Now HERE is a perfect critter for the STAP. Comes with 4 levels of Sorc built in, can fly, swim and has pretty decent combat abilities without relying on grappling. Easily customizable. Whack on another 4 or five levels of sorc and you have a very decent caster. What creatures have you switched out and why?
I emailed Customer Service on this, but I thought I'd post here as well. Sorry to be a pain. I just received issue 341 in the mail, but I never received 340. What should I do?
Started taking a look back at the last five issues I have of Dragon, 339-336 and ahead to the next one I await in the mail, 340 and something has really started to annoy me. The Ecology section. With 340, that will be six straight months of non-core creatures, 5 of which are from the MMII. Does Paizo have an overstock of this book or something? Why is Dragon continuing to shill for a book that is barely 3.5 edition? Unless I happen to own this book, which I don't, these articles, with the exception of the Spawn of Kyuss, are completely and utterly useless. They are six page advertisements for a book that's two or three years old. I can accept the occasional article from non-core sources. I might grumble a bit, but, I can live with it. But SIX STRAIGHT ISSUES? Come on, that's a lot too much. There are a number of ways that you could make the Ecology articles useful without resorting to trying to sell more WOTC books. Considering the large number of OGL D20 monster books out there, it would be zero problem to pick an OGC critter, publish the stat block and do an Ecology of article of that creature. IIRC, there are now THREE Tome of Horror books, all of which are OGL. Never minding any of the other publishers out there. Another option would be to go the same route as the Spawn of Kyuss article. Give us a new critter, complete with stats and an Ecology article to go with it. Great! Unique critter that my players have never seen before. Bloody fantastic! Please, the "advanced creature X" stat-blocks are pointless. Woopee! I have one creature, not creature type, just one critter that I can either reverse engineer to get the base critter or only use that stat-block with the article. If you're going to publish the stat block for an ecology article, at least publish the base stat-block. Otherwise, it's just another waste of space, same as the whole article. I really enjoy the Ecology articles. They are one of my favourite parts of the magazine. They're usually chock full of goodies to torture my players with and, occasionally, have some goodies for my players as well. Please, please, stop flogging the Monster Manual 2. I didn't buy it when it was new and six months of pointless ecology articles aren't going to change my mind.
Had a bit of a thought. I've been seeing lots of bandwidth on the forums about how this or that thing takes up too much space in the magazine or wishes that the other thing could have taken up a bit more. How's this for a solution? Similar to Dungeon, Dragon starts cranking out online supplements to the magazine. Things like stat blocks, expansions on articles, perhaps some material that was cut from the magazine due to space constraints could end up here. Maybe a couple of examples of semi-iconic characters using the "class acts" material. Tack on a page or two of artwork from the magazine, and I think subscribers would really go for this. That way you get to load up lots of crunch, which does take up a fair bit of space, into a .pdf file without worrying that people will complain that the magazine is glossing over the fluff. Things like the recent "Ecologies stat blocks" requests could be put in here. Just a thought.
Just got me issue 334 in the mail. Yah, I know, old news. But, anyway, I would just like to say that this is one of the best issues I've seen. Greenwood's article on Crimmor is bloody fantastic. Excellent work on creating a city that really lives. I only wish I was running my urban campaign again so I could use this. Super work. On a second note, my players will hate you forever when the goblins of their current adventure will discover the joys of fire siphons. {Insert maniacal laughter here} Oh yeah, we're going to have a hot time on the old town tonight. I usually rank any book I pick up by the number of ideas will see use in my campaign. The previous best was 331 with three articles that saw immediete use (I'm still loving those polearms). I count 4 from 334 - The Simurgh and the Mosiac Golem, Krakens (which will make an appearance in the World's Largest Dungeon sometime in the future), Alchemists fire and the Janissary. Bloody fantastic work guys. Keep. It. Up!
The World's Largest Dungeon needs the world's largest adventuring group! Picture it - group after adventuring group each challenging the WLD at the same time, possibly interacting with each other, competing and co-operating, all seeking the same goal: ESCAPE! The idea is simple. Groups will run over OpenRPG sharing forums on Shadows of the Dragon. Dungeon Masters will have a dedicated forum which is only available and accessable to DM's. Each DM will also have a forum to run a game. A final forum is also available for DM's and players to share ideas, stories and comments and as a place for potential players and DM's to meet. To be completely honest, right now the call is more for DM's. Players are usually fairly easy to come by, but DM's are more of a rare breed. My goal is to have five DM's plus myself up and running by the end of the summer. More is better of course, but this is my personal goal. If you are interested, either PM me at Shadows of the Dragon or email me at WLDDMHussar at Hotmail dot com. Check out the site and introduce yourself. We will be adding to it constantly, and there should be lots to see. And now, here's an update on my World's Largest Adventuring Group project. We now have, including myself, three DM's concurrently runnign AEG's World's Largest Dungeon. My campaign is starting it's fourth session, Dokujin's campaign is starting very soon and a third DM, P9, is just getting off the ground. If you'd like to join in any of these games, all played over OpenRPG, stop on by and say hello. As an added bonus for DM's, Sean Reynolds of The LeGames is now offering two free PDF's for every DM of the WLD that signs up. If you sign up as a DM in the World's Largest Adventuring Group, you will recieve 17 Magic Weapons and 17 Magic Armors. So, check out the site, and sign on up. I'm still hoping to get 5 DM's by the end of the summer and I'm almost there. My end goal is for there to be a WLD game being run 24/7 over OpenRPG. But that's a long way down the road.
Something I've realized in my time surfing through the various boards and talking to other gamers. Gamers, despite a real interest in fantasy, typically don't have a clue when it comes to things medieval. Web boards are replete with people honestly expounding the virtues of a 25 pound sword, or armor so heavy you cannot walk, or longbows with a 150 pound draw weight. I see this fairly often where ever I go. I think a one or two page feature in Dragon might go a long way to helping the situation. Every article could focus on a different, historically (fairly) accurate element that comes up in the game. Obviously weapons and armor would be a good start, but even other things like manufactured goods, basic items like lanterns and backpacks, even trail rations and sanitation issues could be focused on. I don't know about anyone else, but I think a page or two every month would be well spent on this sort of thing. |