Mrannah's page

I have been under the impression that the d20 OGL was independent of WotC, but i'm seeing some indications that some of the companies, notably the dungeon crawl classics by goodman games and Troll Lord Games, that they are having to discontinue their d20 lines (and in the case of Troll Lord, it distinctly appears that this is not a voluntary decision.) have i been under a misconception and the d20 license is being revoked?

Is this something that was forcing the construction of the Pathfinder RPG? I really get the feeling i'm missing something here.

We all know there have been some wonderful books from the earlier editions, we all know many of us are hoping to stick with OGL or 3.5, many of us are going gangbusters with Pathfinder, and many of us are blending what we like from each to our own game....

As a DM, i use multiple works to build my adventures, including several pdfs from first and second edition.

Any projections on how long we'll have to wait until the print runs and rights issues are settled on the 3.5 books and they become available in pdf format? i know it's gonna be a while, just wondering if anyone else is mulling the idea over yet....

I'm slated to convert the remainder of my dragon and dungeon subscriptions into pathrinder, for three issues. I signed up for month to month with pathfinder, paying for nine months, to bring it up to a fiull year. however, when i review my 'issues left' in pathfinder, it indicates four issues, not twelve. did i do something wrong?

I can't seem to find the base stats for a hoopak, its melee damage, its range, it's ranged attack increment and damage, etc.

Just got this module, and it looks great. may make it part of my campaign, depends on the tweaks it needs to fit. However, the module has a different description on its back and interior than the sales blurb here on the paizo page. The module on the paizo page sounds good, too, clearly Hyborean in nature. Does anyone know anything about the module that they describe, what name it has, if it was released, etc?

Hiya---

You had expressed an interest in sitting in on a Fantasty Grounds gaming session or two (this was a little while back). My group has been on hiatus for a while, but is expected to resume play next week, with our first session on the first sunday night in November.

You are more than welcome to sit in on at least one of these sessions if you wish, and we can discuss the program's functions as the game advances, if you'd like.

I am giving you the advanced heads up because I am using a fairly good sized SRD ruleset that takes a while to load. Thereby, we can arrange a 'meeting' in my FG so you can load the token and rulesets that I use.

Let me know here, and I'll post a followup with my email so we can coordinate that. (and please nobody else get silly with my email when/if i post it, i have enough spam already without you guys signing me up for crochet groups and the like---*g*)

Has anyone compiled an index of the monsters from and in the various WotC products? Wanting to know before i start working on one with the books i have...*looks at the stack*

My campaign has been on hiatus for a while, and is about to resume, though not completely unscathed.

I had done two things that in hindsight i know were flawed DM rulings, and they complicated each other. I let the party have more magic items than would normally be appropriate for their level (5 at the time) and i let them pretty much find whatever magic items they wanted from the DMG as long as they had the 'in book' money for it (they were in one of the three largest cities for thousands of miles, i reasoned first that if the items were available commercially, this would be one of the places for it, with a delay factor based on the gp value.

So the party is now equipped with considerably more than i would normally have considered appropriate. I did not think it appropriate to just take the items back, so instead i began with the assumption that the party so equipped can start facing tougher challenges, upping their effective Party level. We also were dealing with a higher than '4 pc' party, the theoretical standard espoused in the rules standard for determining appropriate challenges. a six player group, so equipped, i felt, could be treated effectively as at least a seventh level party. The average party level had hit six at the time of the break, and one of the party is not going to be returning at the resumption of the game.

So, five overequpped sixth level characters...i think i'm not out of line in treating them as an effective eighth level party. Any feedback? Or am i just rambling again?

In this letter, the writer made some interesting observations, but in my opinion, he perhaps didn't make is case as well as he may have liked. He cited White Plume Mountain as one of his favorite modules of all time and the poem/clueset that helped the players in his campaign sort it out as they went through, first coming to understand the relevance and then trying to apply interpretation to the remaining portions of the poem to prepare for what lay ahead. He cited that such hints and foreknowledge can help the players keep focused on an adventure.

Then he stated that he felt that very few if any of the adventures in Dungeon magazine have featured such. Maybe i'm looking at things a bit differently, but I seem to recall that there has usually been some way of gaining advance insight into the flow of a module in adventures published in the magazine more often than not. perhaps information easy to misinterpret, but information is generally available. And if it isn't, a DM can easily structure such information to give to the pcs when integrating the adventure into the current campaign. I've yet to encounter a module that i can plug into my campaign without some tweaking, this being just part of it. That is, no doubt, at least to some extent, a reflection on my DM style and on the fact that my campaign is a homebrew world and everything has to be examined before inclusion.

I did want to take a moment to comment, however, on White Plume Mountain, also, not meaning to put down anyone's opinion who has enjoyed this module. I have great respect for White Plume Mountain and its place in D and D history, but I did not care for the module itself, nor do I agree with the letter writer, Mister Royal, in his statement that the weapons were 'not usable.' The weapons are a bit specialized and may not readily fit into any campaign, but they were three amazing weapons and can create a great many adventuring possibilities just as the players try to learn the 'ins and outs' of each of the items and deal with, or remove, the items from play accordingly. That being said, I have to say that I (and i realize i could well be in the minority here) found the module itself to be uncomfortable and awkward, a series of tricks and traps that the players had to 'jump through hoops' for the rewards of said items. The dungeons were not laid out in what i considered a logical format, it was a clearly manufactured environment existing solely as a series of tests. The creatures are placed with no rationale as to their presence (and in a supposedly abandoned place, how are they kept fed and present until adventurers stumble along?). It always strikes me in such 'test to prove yourselves' adventures that if there isn't a rationale behind why the creature/challenge is in place beside the test, then the issue hasn't been fully thought out, and that was the taste that stayed with me in White Plume Mountain. I saw a lot of people's 'first dungeons' with a more haphazard style to them, but that, in the end, was what it reminded me of, most. Not saying the traps and challenges weren't reasonably clever (i'll never look at the concept of 'no friction' the same way again) but it never really made enough sense to me to include it in any of my campaigns.

Just my two copper pieces' worth

Someone had posted a request for an 'unadulterated' copy of the picture of Graz'zt and Iggwilv in one of their tender moments from a Dungeon Magazine in the past. This pic appears in the Fiendish Codex, and you can find it in the relevant art page on the WotC web page.

If you didn't know that the cloak he was putting around her shoulders was a sentient and unhappy artifact, it would almost be a tender image.

In my current campaign, this last Tuesday night, the party did something that floored me. totally and completely. One of those moments that, when I remind them of it at the end of the campaign will make their jaws drop. BUT THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY DID!!!!!

They walked up to one of the NPCs they just met and right after 'hello' said just about the worst possible thing to this person that they could have, and they won't know this until the final adventure in the campaign! It's one of those where i'm so glad we play online using Fantasy Grounds, because I don't think my poker face could have kept me from showing my reaction. It's one of those things where you want to turn to someone and tell this person about it, but the only people who would fully understand just how insane this action was are the players. I cant' tell them, it will ruin a large sub plot of the campaign, I can't tell anyone else. Fortunately, my players don't read here, but even in that, i'm not 100 per cent sure they won't stumble across it.

Has any DM run into a similar situation?

Here's what happened (SPOILERS FOR MY CAMPAIGN, PLAYERS DON'T READ BELOW THIS LINE)

The campaign revolves around the events in Hadrach Vale, one of six countries in the Mehari Empire. The Vale is approximately as large as France, and for the last six hundred years, has been in a state of mild extortion by a red dragon who extracts an annual tribute of goods and or services. In exchange, the dragon does not prey on citizenry or livestock within the Vale, and protects the Vale from any other large monsters or armed incursions. The Empire puts up with this for two reasons: first, the Dragon is very efficient at its side of the bargain, and second, it has actually been able to eliminate any 'dragon-hunting' units sent against it, treating them as armed incursions.

What no one knows is that one of the reasons the Dragon has been so effective against any smaller units trying to hunt it is that it is not one dragon but two, identical twins born from the same egg, who have bonded and cooperated. One always stays hidden, polymorphed as a human and living in the capital, becoming involved in the background of the political scene and adventurer's guilds and keeping an eye on potential dragon hunters. They change the appearance of this one from time to time to allow for generations, one 'person' disappearing in some calamity or another, and replaced by another, the dragons alternate in this duty, and they keep their hoard growing and enjoy their strange, almost lawful life.

So guess what member of the Hadrach City Adventurer's Guild Council they walk up to and say almost immediately "Someday we're going to kill the Dragon"......

Guess who just got put on a list....

it actually works very well for me...they'll get commisions that are going to surprise them with how tough they are....

My own current campaign, set in my own world, is using a conceptual outline leading towards an 'adventure path' feel. I have left most of the adventures only loosely sketched this time, and several sections unwritten yet, modifying the campaign events to fit the growth and development of the player characters in my campaign. I always tried in the past, and this time as well, to have some idea about the 'retirement level' adventure for the campaign (This one is going to wrap up around level 20, not going to epic levels). And this time, I do have a specific idea for the conclusion of the campaign.

I'm not going to reveal too much info at this point on the off chance that any of the players in my campaign are reading these boards.

But I look at several of my past campaigns....the three full campaign Adventure Paths from Dungeon, and their endings...and I'm forced to wonder if I may have gone off-track slightly.

Demon princes, gods, fallen devas turned to demon princes.....

and i'm trying to close a campaign at 20th level with a Great Red Wyrm in a deathtrap dungeon (with a few twists, granted)...there are moments I worry that I've created the campaign equivalent of Mayberry.

Even if these guys love the journey, and even if i make it a fabulous challenge for them...I don't want the players going up to other gamers after and saying 'yeah, we retired at level 20 by taking on and taking out the Dragon of Hadrach Vale' and having the other gamer respond 'so? you fought a dragon?'

Has anyone else had any problems with wrapping up a campaign with a climactic foe that, even if an appropriate challenge, didn't quite have the 'pizazz' that you think players expect in the denouement?

I just did the survey you had posted, and I noticed something that kind of depressed me. I have been unemployed for the last year or so, and the answers I gave on purchasing patterns I put in reflect my current (almost nonexistent) budget, not the purchasing patterns I would be using if I had the disposable income I would have if I were working.

*Heavy sigh*

You could probably easily triple my purchasing notes otherwise.

The campaign's second session began with five players. Durgan (James) was unable to join this time, a connection problem (which will be addressed between he and i during the intervening week before next session). Umbra joined the other characters as they consulted one another in the front room of the tomb. After a brief round of introductions (Umbra and Bo'rak were prior acquaintances, so the introductions went fairly smoothly). Once they were out of the way, the party went to explore the remaining empty room. Umbra, the rogue, found a trap in the stone chest in this room, and managed to disarm the chest, albeit barely. While the party sorted through these items, the undead resident of the tomb caught up to the party and attacked. Effectively a coffer corpse (for those of you remembering this first edition fiend folio monster), he charged, unaffected by anything other than magic weapons, only one of which was in the party. Eventually, he was brought down by the very weapon that had rested on his chest as he slumbered in his uneasy death. The party then decided to try to find the hobgoblin's lair from the map they had left behind.

They arrived there shortly before dawn, and managed to take down the two guards at the entry with almost disturbing ease. Because the rogue did not have darkvision, she reluctantly let the orc take the lead as they moved in to explore the cave, she right behind the orc, the rest of the party not much behind them.

Sadly, the orc had no chance to detect the trap and triggered it. A deadfall that drops a cieling block down to four foot height left Borak barely standing and Umbra dying at his feet. A quick application of the healing skill stabilized her, but with no healing magic, they were forced to withdraw and made for the nearest trade road to try to find healing.

They found a waystation shortly after finding the trade road, and bought the services of a cleric who was travelling with a merchant and staying there. The cleric agreed to travel with them, just as one of the mages parted company with the others (Mordante the warmage opted to start a new character to aid the party's balance). The game stopped at this point as the party identified the magic items over the next few days and rested up. The game will resume at this waystation in the next game session, and the players will find themselves confronting the complications of the waystation.

(Good thing i already had something planned here, so the party has something to do here before they go back to the hobgoblins' lair, assuming that is their course of action.)

I'm hoping to have some money soon to get a suppliment to help me with NPCs and the like, but it seems to me like these two products tend to do the same thing, just different approaches. Or am I missing something, here? If they are working at the same purpose, which one would anyone here recommend?

I have to admit that, although i enjoyed reading the entries, at first, i wasn't overly impressed with the Age of Worms. Part of it was a bit of apprehension about Kyuss himself, as his spawn were never my favorite undead creatures. But i've enjoyed them, and i sat down and reread all of them (so far) back to back, and when viewed as a whole, i have to admit that i like the Age of Worms a lot. I think it's a fantastic campaign, and i look forward to dming it in the near future. hell, i wouldn't mind playing it, though that's always a challenge, trying to play a campaign that i've read objectively.

Paizo has, in my opinion, matched and exceeded the Shackled City, no small feat. Cauldron has a sense of single setting feeling that the Age of Worms doesn't quite, but the Age of Worms has a chance for the players to grow as individuals against one amazing backdrop and a feeling of being involved in something truly epic.

just got my copy of 133 (three days after it was mailed, and exactly one week after i got my copy of 132), and the map on p 75 appears to be missing a number. I'm pretty sure that the room the connects to rooms 9,11,12, and 13 is the missing room 10. The ladder alluded to in the text, however, is not shown, either, and i'm trying to figure just where the ladder is supposed to be, so that it connects to the fourth level, and where on the fourth level it connects.

otherwise, another fabulous issue!!

Long story, I have my own campaign world, but I am considering submitting some works to Dungeon Magazine for consideration, and would like to include appropriate notes for conversion to Eberron, Greyhawk and Faerun settings. I have, however, been out of touch for a few years and am reaquiring some books, and have none of the current hardcover sourcebooks for the Forgotten Realms. The Campaign setting book from a few years back was 3.0 edition, would that be a good point for such conversions, or should i look to the more recent players guide, or some of the other sourcebooks, and if that, which would you recommend?

thanks for your consideration on this, folks.