'Fane of Scales' appears in 'The Black Egg' adventure. It's the dungeon that contained the Black Egg.
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Screw the players.
The Diamond Lake Ga'ars, named after the ugliest, most inedible fish ever, native to Diamond Lake.
Hmm, this could take some doing. See, I was never happy with the idea of Racknian being a bad guy. It was so blatant and I have the sort of players who may or may not 'play along' with the story. They may join in the games to get closer to their adversary, but at the same time, they would really like to kill him in his sleep. So I made Loris the good guy and Okoral the focus of the villainy doings. Bozel and Okoral were working together to sacrifice Racknian to the Ugster. I made Okoral into a delusional psychopath who worshiped the ground Racknian walked on. Okoral had been with Loris for years and saw age creeping in on the focus of his obsession. So, as a favor to Racknian, Okoral worked with Bozel to 'grant' his hero eternal life. He also killed one of the player's love interests and gave him her head in a box, a la 'Se7en' "What's in f'n the box!?" Yea, the players killed him right quick.
I think the adventures ware spot on! I absolutely despised the Grauls so much, I want to run it just so my players can slaughter them and make the bad images in my mind go away!
You raise several points, good sir!
I've played both. Here's my judgment;
Both allow you to play as whatever you can imagine, subject to DM/Admin approval
Both are played by people around the world
Both are fantasy based.*
Both are played with friends.
D&D is face-to-face with friends who you know.
Both allow endless hours of entertainment.
D&D is customizable to the individual.
D&D requires fairly complex rules knowledge
WoW, you play with people from all over the world from all walks of life.
D&D uses your imagination, every roll of the dice a myriad of attacks and parries all in your head.
WoW is a world that is both lush and filled with color and with vibrant scenery straight from Hollywood.
D&D uses dice.
Both result in Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.
WoW will eat your soul.
WoW requires a hefty startup and subscription fees.
My opinion; I prefer D&D over WoW simply becasue it's more complex, customizable, I'm in charge of the game and more personal.
Long Live 3.5!!! >.<
I got it off BitTorrent initially, but then I found that you could get the PDFs here. The BitTorrent files are scanned - the pdfs here are much better quality and jeez five bucks each - $60 for all 12 magazines. Chicken feed. I have downloaded EBK, and I'll get the others as I need them.While I appreciate the enthusiasm and the fact that you did eventually pay for the files... it's probably not in best form (or the wisest move) to admit to downloading copyrighted material illegally. Especially on these boards. Cause that hurts my feelings. You hurt James' feeling. Mean.Oh, by the Gods, I want a AoW Hardcover! I just don't trust WoTC anymore with something I love. I feel like I was in a relationship with 3.5, then they cheated on me with 4.0! How can I trust again after such a betrayal! *Read Pathfinder* Oh, Paizo, you'll never leave me! *WARNING: The above was both weird and in jest*
Yea, giving you her head in a box was a stroke of genius on my part.
Okoral: Waldo, I have a gift for you. But I want Brock to open it. Brock: *Opens Box* Waldo: What's in the box, Brock? Brock: *Look of horror* Waldo: What's in the damn box, Brock!? Okoral: *Laughing*
You want to know what's funny?
"No, your not doing it right, like this!"
W00t!
Something WoTC hasn't considered;
I'm sorry, I'll clarify.
Not a subscriber, but a longtime reader.
Your work was greatly appreciated and I sincerely hope the best for all of you.
So, what about these Forums? I imagine they will be gone soon enough?
If there was one thing I could do, it would be to kick Wizards in the collective shin for this terrible, terrible fumble.
I think they're evil.
Now what the hell am I supposed to do?!
If they took the magazine rights away, okay, I could deal, but discontinuing it all together? That's terrible! These magazines have been a a part of the hobby almost as long as Role-Playing has been around! They're a staple!
WHAT THE HELL!?
Your Gods, while powerful, will all rot away eventually. Only the rot itself, The Wormgod Kyuss, is eternal.
Hell yes!
Warduke!?
As to what I have to say about meeting new players in the middle of a dungeon; "You seem trustworthy. Would you care to join us on our noble quest?"
Here's an article on Warduke. Combined with what was given to us in Dungeon #105, this should be everything there is about him. Not much is known about the man in the helm, so anything that is known should be documented here. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/alumni/20060414a&pf=true And the Wikipedia article; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warduke
Vampires are awesome.
Warduke as he was created in Dungeon was more of an homage to the original printing, not really up to standards for 3.5, especially with the amount of magic and power that PCs have. To make him truly a threat, you would have to go over his stats and equipment and deck him out as a PC; equipment, rolled stats, supplement rules and all. Warduke should never get punk'd, he should be the one punking. If a fight with the Dukester ends with no less than 1-2 PC kills, then something is wrong. The man makes his living killing adventuring parties for goodness sake! Not even the dice should come in the way. Warduke is an event, not a random encounter to be pwned.
As it is, Warduke has claimed three PCs in my campaign from previous games in the same campaign world and I am positive that when he shows up in Aow, the same results will be repeated. He is truly a feared force in the world and his threat sends shivers up the rubbery spines of my players.
No. We would much rather have the AoW Hardcover.Myself, would give my firstborn to Paizo if they made it so I didn't have to lug all those magazines around all the time. Between the adventures in Dungeon and Wormfood in Dragon, I'm reaching my max capacity to carry around. A hardcover would be so convenient. *Dreams of not sugarplums, but AoW hardcover for Christmas*
Let me just say that Kenkus with crossbows, secret doors and ambushes will bring a Nam' like effect to your players.
That is the greatest idea I have ever heard! *Ganks*
Anything involving the Duke is a good thing. As it should be, player blood must be spilled by his blade.
That's too bad, man. My players loved it. To each his own. I did change 3FoE a bit, so I guess I can't really talk about the adventure as is.
--Revamped tactics for all enemies
So, yea, as the adventure was printed, there were several glaring problems.
In between "Assault on Blackwall Keep" and "Hall of Harsh Reflection", currently playing in an adapted "Expedition To Castle Ravenloft"
Brock Samson (Human, 7th Lvl Fighter) Waldo (Male Kobold, 3rd Lvl Rogue, 4th Lvl Fighter) Kalindara (Female Dragonblooded (Song Dragon) Half-Elf 6th Lvl Sorcerer) Charles (Male Half-Orc, Monk 3, Rogue 3) NPC: Kristine (Female Human, 7th Lvl Cleric of Anubis)
This is Diamond Lake!
I disagree. 'Three Faces', while complicated, was one of the best adventures in my opinion. The main NPCs, The Faceless One, Grallak Kur and Theldrick, are memorable, it's the best opportunity for the players to enter the political world of Diamond Lake, it personally introduces Smenk (Best NPC Ever Award winner) and it offers and excellent smokescreen against the true plot of the AoW. The labyrinth was done so well, I found it simple to run it. My players are all under twenty years old and have never taken psychotropic drugs, but they were having Nam' flashbacks with the Kenku dropping in, attacking, and disapeering into the maze. My players have ceremonially named Kenkus the 'Vietcong' of D&D. Lots of memories and encounters, I think 3FoE is one of the best of the low level AoW adventures. Fear the Crows of Nam'!
Who's your star lineup, huh? Who are the NPCs you love the most, the one who inspires you to think devious plots against the players and ways to slip a cameo in later on in the AP?
Give us your list of you favorite NPCs and just why you love them, also, how about an example of how they've tested your player's patience and HP limit. 1# Kyuss The man himself.
#2 Balabar Smenk I like to think of him as 'The Man' in Diamond Lake. Keeping you down, the biggest hater around. He's proved to be a thorn in my players side. Not only was he the one who sent the players into Dourstone mine in my game, but when they survived and killed the Ebon Aspect, he used the evidence to paint Dourstone a demon worshiper, buy his copper mine for next to nothing, corner the copper market in the area and come out of it as a town hero, he also has the players under his thumb since he owns the lease to their Observatory lair and has helped cover up illicit deeds to be used against them later. So how about you guys?
This is certainly the kind of neck breaking twists I love in my game, but it also makes the players, Manzorian and everyone who knew Allustan look stupid, as previously mentioned. What about instead of Lashonna and Allustan being the same being, what about Lashonna showing up to the fight with a dominated Allustan in tow, using him as a shield against the players? 'Put a favored NPC in danger'
As you can see by my avatar, Smenk is indeed one of the est NPCs to come out of an Adventure Path so far. So many ways to screw the players on both the economical and political front, so little time to do it in. Instead of a flat rate, consider a lease or renting fee. That keeps the power in Smenk's hand and he can hold it over the players when he needs to apply pressure to them oir they simply displease him. I would say a 500 GP a month should be fine considering the amount of treasure the players get in the AP. Just keep track of time spent IC, and it and it should work out fine. That amount would be enough to make it an investment and have it be a point of pride to the players to own such a property. Of course, this is Smenk we're talking about. The threat of eviction should always be in his pocket as well as the fact that he should have a copy of the key for himself. This is Smenk after all.
If you don't want to keep track of IC time, look up the 'Stronghold Builder's Guide' I personally don't have that book (to my great displeasure) but it should have rules on how much a piece of property of that size and utility should be worth. On a side note, I remember someone saying on the board that to replace the telescope should be about 5,000 GP.
Warduke.
Did the same thing here. Ravenloft works surprisingly well with AoW, so much so that it just screams to get together. "You got Raveloft in my Age of Worms!" "You got Age of Worms in my Ravenloft!" Here's the deal; After returning to Diamond Lake from Blackwall Keep (and settling things very diplomatically with the Lizardfolk) the players are enjoying some rounds in there favorite watering hole, The Spinning Giant.
They spy the Spinning Giant again. Did they get turned around somewhere? They enter, but notice that their bar is not the same. It's inhabited by quite people who won't make eye contact and gypsy-like people calling themselves Vistani. Yes, I used the old-school, "The mist takes you" hook. Maybe it is rail-roading, but my players said they wanted to go to Ravenloft and by Gawd, I'll give them Ravenloft!!! ((It also helped it was Halloween night on our annual midnight session. Creepy music and all!) My players are veterans and they know full well what is going on, but they keep their OOC knowledge to a minimum, acting concerned and worried about not just where they are but what the hell happened to their bar!? A letter arrives from a wounded Vistani, telling them that the Burgomaster of Barovia needs help. The instant he mentioned 'Unkillable Zombies", "Zombie Plague" and "Worms" my players are out the door faster than you can say, "Would you like another bite, Mr. Zarovich?" Arriving in Barovia after an attack by Werewolves, the players run into what appear to be Kyuss spawn much like the one at Blackwall keep. (I used the Infected Zombies from Ravenloft, just changing their appearance to be worm-ridden. I made them Immature Spawn of Kyuss, hardier, but lacking the offense of their adult counterparts.) Much like the post before me, I had the Priest Danovich change his son into a form of Kyuss Spawn, a huge worm much like a mix between and Overworm and an Ugster. Changed the abilities and named it a Worm Mother, a creature that creates Kyuss Worms like a living incubator. Wanting to focus more on the Age of Worms than anything else, I took out the Ireena plot hook. I realize that this is sacrilege to someone who loves Ravenloft as much as I do, but it serves it's purpose and my players, veterans, were caught off guard by my including the Worms into a classic adventure they already know much about. They really don't know what to expect next, exactly what I was going for here. The players just got their reading by Madam Eva, changed from her Hag background into something my players would feel more comfortable around.. They are notorious for killing anything that even remotely looks like a bad guy, to catch me before I can screw them over with a double-cross, so I had to be careful to portray her as a friend. The plot is as follows; someone named Mother Maggot (You know who) has given Strahd fragments of the De Vermis Mysteriis (my campaign's version of the Apostolic Scrolls) to Strahd and offered a deal; if he begins creating Kyuss undead in Ravenloft as sort of a barracks, he will be given consideration when Kyuss takes his place in the campaign pantheon. As a God, Kyuss offers Strahd not only freedom to go between Ravenloft and the Material Plane at will, but also the chance to be his new herald (In my game, Dragotha is slowly breaking free from Kyuss' will and has proven to be a liability, much as he was when he left Kyuss' armies without a commander when his phylactery was stolen.)
The players must steal the fragments of the De Vermis Mysteriis (You Lovecraft people out there know what I'm talking about. Merle Prout 3:16) and ruin Strahd's plans to aid Kyuss and create an army of Spawn to overun the Material Plane with.
So, what do you think? Hit me with your best shots, I can take it! >___<
I liked 'Gathering of Winds' but as with all the modules in the AP, I hacked it apart for my own whims.
How about 'Old Embers Never Die' from Dungeon #100?
While not a bad idea drama-wise, it doesn't fit Raknian's character. The whole reason he is doing this thing is so he can become immortal. I thought of that as well. What if, by sacrificing himself to the Apostle, he is raised as a Favored Spawn of Kyuss (Or Death Knight as is written).I can't imagine anything more frightening to my players than having the Apostle regurgitate Raknian in a gout of acid, his skin scoured and burned away, covered in writhing worms and his eyes burning with green, unholy flames with an army of wights at his beck and call.
Who doesn't want to unleash a medieval version of "Dawn of The Dead" on their campaign world?
Sorry about that. ^.^;;
Rastophan- a wiry goon from the southern swamps, his clumpy black hair hangs down over his large eyes, giving him a sullen look. He rarely speaks and gets most of his guidance from Kullen. Todrik- This corrupt fighter was born into servitude to Garavin Vesst, and views Balabar Smenk as his savior from a life in the mines. He has short brown hair cut into a flat-top. An angry red scar marks the left side of his sneering face from the forehead to the tip of his chin. Merovinn Bask- This bald, ill-tempered wizard simply can't believe that his debts forced him into servitude in the first place, and views each day as an absolute disgrace. Bask is by far the rudest of Kullen's gang. The only friend he ever had was the unfortunate Skutch. (The man killed by the Owlbear, who's arm the PC's find) Skutch- No description
You know your in trouble when...
*Happens after the party finds out about the Seeker's involvement in the Whispering Cairn* Kobold Rogue: Hey, didn't that ring we bribed Kullen with have the same symbol? Kullen: *Busts into Spinning Giant after having gotten the hell beat out of him by Kellek and crew*
Kobold Rogue: ....uh-oh. *Kobold Rogue now has raging Man-imal on him*
I thought of this as well. I love the legend of the Vaati, I think it's one of the best story lines in D&D lore.
I had to go through the entire thing anyway. I wanted Diamond Lake to be fully integrated into my home brewed world, so I basically just filled in the holes, cut out what didn't fit and handed the played a typed up copy of the Diamond Lake handout specially made for my world.
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