MerricB's page

G'day, all!

I just received Dragon #352 in a brown paper envelope (with a paizo address sticker and my address pasted on).

This was a bit of a surprise to me, as #349 only arrived last week in its regular polybag (and I assume #350 and #351 are "in transit" as always - I'm yet to miss an issue).

I was just wondering if there had been a problem that I didn't know about that Paizo had kindly corrected and somehow had the issue arrive a lot sooner than normal. :-)

Cheers & thanks,
Merric Blackman

Just a (happy) note that my Sorcerer on Black Dragon repaint has finally arrived! (Now, if only I had a regular SoBD to compare it to...;))

Of course, I'm yet to see the first magazine of my dual-subscriptions, but you've got to love the US postal service. And the Aussie postal service. And the (so-called) connections between the two. Dragon #345 should be the first to arrive, I think. Hmm. Oh well, I'm not panicking yet.

Thanks to everyone at Paizo for setting up the SoBD promo. It's something I'm very happy to have.

Cheers,
Merric
DDM News Guy

I have occasionally noted that I seem to run combats faster than other DMs. (Well, at least the ones that complain about combats lasting a long time in 3.5e!) This may also apply to the Age of Worms campaign - not that I'm complaining that much.

My group gets to play once per fortnight, for about 3.5 or 4 hours a session.

After 18 sessions, we are halfway through "A Gathering of Winds", with the 6 PCs at the brink of 11th level (if they aren't there already).

It's been a lot of fun, but I was wondering if you're taking the campaign faster(!) or at a more leisurely speed then we are.

Cheers,
Merric
DDM News Guy

I've recently been running "The Hall of Harsh Reflections" with my Friday night group, and, unfortunately, it suffers from that fault of some modern map-makers: 5 foot wide corridors.

Although there is some justification for saying they're more realistic, in actual play they just mean that some of the party can't do anything.

This is made more prominent in any group - such as mine - that has six players. If there is more than one PC that has focused on melee, then those PCs have to sit out the combat.

An exception to this was in Mike Mearls "Three Faces of Evil" game, where the many intersecting passages in the Vecna maze allowed more freedom of movement.

Can we please stop having maps with 5' wide corridors?

Cheers,
Merric Blackman

I've just finished play of EBK. It took us two 4-hour sessions.

Whispering Cairn took us 3. Three Faces of Evil took us 4.

Have other groups found the adventures took similar durations to complete? Longer? Shorter?

Cheers,
Merric

Hmm.

Is it my imagination, but are the Lizardfolk besieging Blackwall keep really weak compared to 5th level PCs?

I was needing natural 20s to actually hit the lead PCs.

Things were made easier for the PCs by an Entangle spell. (Yes, the Lizardfolk needed a natural 19 to free themselves if they failed the initial Ref save).

Sadly for the Lizardfolk, their leader was one of those caught by the entangle spell (nat 18 to break free)...

Cheers,
Merric

G'day!

Well, my group has completed Three Faces of Evil, and I've now distributed three items of legacy to them.

The first is a legacy holy avenger. One of the PCs is playing a paladin, whose family once were knights of the Shield Lands, but since the nastiness of the Greyhawk Wars have been living in exile. The PC's father died during Iuz's invasion, and his sword was couriered to his family. Unfortunately, one Balabar Smenk intercepted the courier and slew him, taking the sword (and various items of jewelry) for himself. Spoiler: As the PCs have just caused Smenk to be disgraced and arrested,. the legacy holy avenger has been found amongst his things, along with the courier's message.

The second is an item of my own creation called the Staff of Dragon Tears. I originally created it for the party's sorceress, but she died during TFE. So, it's been changed to be applicable for the party's replacement wizard. The staff was found amongst the things of the Faceless One, a minion of Vecna. At present it seems to be a masterwork/+1 quarterstaff, that gives arcane spellcasters +2 to Spot checks; the item is of a blackish wood, with a golden claw holding an amber orb in which a dragon's eye occasionally appears...

The backstory for the Staff involves a elven wizardess and her gold dragon lover. Although the elf is long since dead, the gold dragon is now one of the seven who serve Bahamut! The final legacy ritual will require the wielder to go before him and submit to his judgement at how well they've followed the path of Good. (I expect that, for Age of Worms, it'll be pretty positive. )

The third item I didn't expect to be giving out. However, during the final battle of TFE against the Ebon Aspect, the barbarian slew it pretty much singlehandedly with his masterwork greatsword (and a tanglefoot bag and a 5' corridor). I ruled that the essence of the outsider has strangely interacted with the blade. Allustan noticed the changes, and suggested a ritual to the barbarian - this awakened magic within the greatsword, and it is currently a +1 greatsword that deals +2 damage against outsiders.

I thought about making it glow in the presence of outsiders, but that would be pretty pointless, as the paladin is actually an Aasimar, and it'd be glowing all the time. Perhaps only for evil outsiders...

As for powers of the weapons:

The legacy holy avenger is described in the WoL book.

The Staff of Dragon Tears will grant damaging spells (magic missile & fireball), along with many metamagic rod-like effects.

Alden's Greatsword will primarily be just a powerful magic weapon; although my notes suggest that cause fear (5th), enlarge person (9th), see invisibility (10th), haste (12th), darkvision (15th) and dismissal (16th) would be its other powers; although circumstances may change that.

Cheers,
Merric

*Finally* I have WoL, and I'm making plans to integrate it into my ongoing campaigns. As one of those campaigns is Age of Worms, I thought it'd be worth posting my plans here.

First, I have a aasimar fighter (moving towards paladin). To him, I'll be giving the Legacy Holy Avenger, with a backstory that it belonged to his grandfather and his family before him who were Knights of the Holy Shielding before falling on bad times... which explains why the character is in Diamond Lake. One can't fall much more on hard times! This will be presented as a heirloom in the near future.

That's fairly easy to integrate.

Second, I have a elf sorceress. To her I'm giving a Item of Legacy of my own creation, the Staff of Dragon Tears. (You can find my working description of the Staff's powers here: Staff powers)

I think the best way of introducing this staff is to have it in the Vecna temple of "Three Faces". Backstory on this staff involves a elf sorceress, a gold dragon, heroic deeds, and eventually the sorceress's death and the dragon going off to serve Bahamut.

There may be a third Item of Legacy to come. I'll have a look at what the group might like.

Is anyone else using WoL in the AoW game?

Any comments?

I'd just like to congratulate Erik Mona on his promotion to EIC of both Dragon and Dungeon Magazines.

I'd also like to congratulate Jason Buhlman on his appointment as Dragon Associate Editor.

Well done both of you - I'm very optimistic about the future of both magazines normally, but this is fantastic news.

On the other hand, perhaps I should offer commiserations to Erik, who has just seen any free time he might have left wander away into the sunset... ;-)

Erik, you've been dropping hints about this recently: What are your plans for Dragon Magazine?

Cheers,
Merric Blackman

Well, in a little under a week, I'll be taking my regular D&D 3.5e group to the Isle of Dread to play through Torrents of Dread. This will be the third time they've visited the Isle, and they might imagine, as 8th-10th level characters, that they'll have an easier time of it.

Probably not. :) I've just been adapting the module for 9th level play (adding 3 levels onto most of the encounters). Some of the encounters might possibly be just a bit tough now...

An Advanced Tendriculos with Grapple +37 and 246 hit points?
An Advanced Gelatinous Cube with a DC 25 Paralysis and 175 hit points?

Hehe. We'll see if I can't live up to that "Killer DM" name that some people think I have...

I love the premise of this module. The characters haven't encountered the Kopru on their previous trips to the isle, so it's a good lead in to the Dark Secret of the Isle.

One thing that I noticed while doing the conversion was that there were a great deal of combat encounters and not really that much role-playing or traps/tricks in the module. Something of a pity, as I like more balanced modules.

OTOH, my players will probably love it.

Kudos to Greg Vaughan for writing it, and for Erik and the rest of the Dungeon staff for printing it!

Cheers,
Merric Blackman

Congratulations on another good issue! Dungeon #115 came in last week and I picked it up at the same time as Frostburn, a pleasing synchronicity.

Reading over my letter published in this issue, I find it quite ironic that it was so atypical of my normal, optimistic style. (It greatly amused my friends). Oh well, perhaps some day you'll publish a more positive letter...

To find a Frostburn-themed adventure the first in the magazine was a real treat. Frostburn is shaping up to be a worthy supplement, and to find you'd printed an adventure that combined it with the World of Greyhawk! Fantastic!

Rob Lazzaretti's maps were much better than the annoying Maure Castle maps, but I find myself in a minor spasm of Map Rage again: Where is the scale for the wilderness map on page 18? Although I can probably work something out from the adventure text, it'd be nice to have something actually printed on the map. Conversely, the citadel maps were clear, used an appropriate scale and aligned to the grid. Thank goodness!

Chris West's maps were absolutely excellent, though.

I'm really looking forward to some of the things you have planned for the future of the magazine - especially the poster Greyhawk Map and the new Adventure Path. Good luck for the future!

Cheers,
Merric Blackman

My FLGS here in Ballarat tells me that Dungeon #114 should arrive in the next few days. Hopefully by tomorrow. :)

I want to see this new format for myself... I've had enough of reading about it! I especially want to see the material on the Isle of Dread, as my current players really want to go there again. (Their PCs have visited twice, and still haven't finished their original quest for the black pearls!)

Best wishes,
Merric Blackman
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