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In our campaign, Ghelve was arrested and one of the PCs defended him in court. It was a good opportunity to bring out some of the other nobles in town - Lord Vhalantru, the town magistrate, and Ike Iverson, who prosecuted the case, and some of the other nobles.

Of course, the facts of the case were against him ("you traded people for a rat?"). If he had come forward when he realized what was going on, that might have been a mitigating factor, but he didn't. However, some good rolls by the PCs led to a victory of sorts for Ghelve. He had to pay fines, but was also barred from locksmithing.

My party knew a fair bit about Zenith, and used negotiation to get across on the boat. However, they were plenty nervous, and had itchy trigger fingers. When they got inside the entrance, and more guards showed up - who weren't hostile, but were belligerant - the party attacked.

However, if they had continued to negotiate, I would have had the Kuo-Toa take them all the way to Zenith. Then they would have had a fight with Zenith and just a few Kuo-Toa guards (to make it interesting). The high priest would have remained behind.

Aushanna would have appeared, at the statue, after the party was in with Zenith. Not knowing what was going on, she would have taken a few rounds to find out, only teleporting in to Zenith's room just in time to keep the fight "interesting"...

I don't like stifling diplomacy. It seemed to me that the Kuo-Toa revere Zenith. If the party could come up with enough bits to string the K-T along, and make them think that they were there to help Zenith out, then the K-T would take them to Zenith in the hopes of getting more religious insight from him.

Possibly the party could even have diplomacied Aushanna and Zenith...

Anyway, that's not how it happened for us...

Use the spell "Modify Memory" (Bard 4, PHB 255). Character returns to party remembering the happy reunion between father and son, and the grouchy wizard who made them teleport back right away (or better yet, have them teleport on a couple of the wizard's random errands to other cities, as an excuse why he was pressed for time). He doesn't remember the group of high-level baddies who bushwacked him... but maybe he will start remembering things (dreams, etc) in the future. A good way to foreshadow events and give the characters some idea of what they're up against.

I don't remember if there is a Cagewright Bard, but you can always invent one. Also assume that the wizard had time to do a Sending to set everything up.

You don't want to just kill the guy's character, or take him out of play for a half-dozen modules. Nobody likes that. What I'm really suggesting here is rationalizing DM fiat -> you don't want a certain thing to happen, so find the reason why it doesn't.

Steve

Well, so what if they arrive at the Splintershield Clanhold, and Davked is not there? "Wow, that's weird, I was sure he'd be here!" They teleport back to Cauldron.

Of course, then the party is going to want to find Davked. Now the Cagewrights have to come up with something. Perhaps "Davked" turned aside on his journey to go to a local hotspring that is reputed to have healing powers. The Cagewrights set up some illusions or whatever is required. Remember, at this point they are _much_ higher level than the PCs, so you can probably just gloss over it.

Now the party (or just the relative) teleport in there, hand Zenith over to "Davked". If they don't want to, have a few of Adrick Garthun's dwarven thugs on hand to add some "persuasion". The party may end up suspicious, but that's OK.

Have fun!

Steve

Ouch. I'm stunned and unable to parry.

I've been subscribed to Dungeon since #19, even when I wasn't playing D&D it was still fun to read. Kudos to everyone who's worked on Dungeon, from Barbara Young in the beginning to James Jacobs and the Paizo crew today. You produced a magazine that just kept getting better. To have quality yanked in favour of ... insubstantial plans ... seems very short-sighted. Perhaps WotC's module sales haven't been good...

With the quality of modules that have been coming out of Paizo, I'll certainly be trying Pathfinder.

A few thoughts on Pathfinder:

- Greyhawk - yes, please try to get the license!

- I'm really not sure I have the energy for yet another campaign world.

- Ads - ads aren't necessarily a bad thing, they keep the price down, and they keep people like me informed on products that are out there.

- Comics - I hope you keep having comics. Go OotS!

- I was hoping for more Maure Castle. Maybe you can just call it Eruam Castle?

Best Wishes,

Steve

I changed it so that the high priest broke his neck falling down the front stairs of the temple - a "tragic" (and unlikely) accident.

I had the second in command be a member of an adventuring group that got wiped out in the Underdark, just before the high priest died. This helped to highlight the high attrition rate of adventurers in Cauldron.

***

age: 34

Been playing since about '84, so 21 years.

I've been reading Dungeon since the mid-teens, and have been subscribing since issue 18, I think. I managed to pick up all the back issues, too! For value, I'd have to say Dungeon can't be beat.

Speaking of value, and the previous comments about cost of the game, I remember in the '80s the hardcover books were $15-20 (Cdn). Now they are about $30 (Cdn) on Amazon. So the price hasn't quite doubled, in 20 years. That's not too bad. However, WotC puts out a lot more hardcovers a year (though almost no modules) now.

So I'd say that to get into the game is probably easier/cheaper than it was in the 80s, for a player. For a DM, it can get pretty expensive if you are using one of the published campaign worlds.

Steve

Hey James,

First, I'm loving the Shackled City Path! And I think it is great that you're getting user input to make it better, rather than just slapping them together to make a quick buck!

Here are a few of my ideas:

1) Earlier you mentioned changing the Kopru ruins to something else. In my version, I'm making all the local "ancient" ruins Spellweaver ruins. This leads up nicely to Karran-Kural, and the spellweaver aiding Embril near the end.

2) In my version, I've separated the groups trying to open the gate to Carceri, and the group trying to free Adimarchus. My idea is: the Cagewrights are using Cauldron, the Last Laugh, Kazmojen, the Ebon Triad, etc. The as-yet unnamed group trying to free Adimarchus is using the Cagewrights, hoping that in the confusion the expansion of Carceri to the Prime Material they can get in and free Adimarchus. I'm thinking that the group trying to free Adimarchus is a coalition of demons fighting Grazz't. You could even have a deep-cover agent of Grazz't helping the party out, right until the very end, when they've defeated Adimarchus.

3) They'll (the free-Adimarchus-ites) need someone who can get the smoking eye template as well. I guess that's Kaurophon. I never really liked him, he was a bit too random. I'd prefer someone the party knows, someone who can more easily convince them to get to go off to Occipitus with him/her. I still haven't figured this out for my campaign...

Maybe try to tie the Hags into this? Maybe they were trying to manipulate Alec so he could get the Smoking Eye, and then with his reduced Wisdom, he'd be easily controllable (this idea is not mine, don't remember where I read it)?

4) I've replaced Celeste with Thifirane Rhiavadi. I know you've said you'll not change Celeste, but it's just my $0.02.

5) I was disappointed with the big new Greyhawk map having Cauldron on the water (loved the rest of it, though). Why? Why not have Sassarine in that nice little bay just slightly south, and have Cauldron a half-dozen hexes south, inland. Then you can just flip north-for-south (ish) on that area map in Flood Season, and it all pretty much works out.

6) It'd be nice to have some suggested locales for Toril and Eberron.

7) I occasionally thought that a population of 4500 adults seemed low. I don't really have anything to back this up. Just something to think about.

8) You mentioned fleshing out Cauldron more, especially in terms of industries. Obsidian gets mentioned a few times. I included a booming mining industry (including mithral, which is a help to the cagewrights, especially after Triel waylays some shipments to Sasserine). For flavour (no pun intended), I included coffee and exotic fruits. I had just been to Hawaii, and was reminded that some of the best coffee in the world comes from small plantations on the sides of volcanos in tropical locations. Also, it stands to reason that Cauldron has to import most of its foodstuffs.

9) I also recommend having an additional (collapsed?) entrance to Jzadirune, or a way for the Dark Creepers to get there (how did they get there? It seems that they were there before the Skulks showed up?).

10) Try to introduce some of the baddies from LoO and 13 Cages earlier, for flavour?

11) If you provide some downloadable maps, I'd like one that is high-res, not too dark - suitable for printing BIG! Maybe one that is blank, and one that has major non-secret locations on it. Stores, temples, taverns, city buildings.

12) Where's the town market? I put it near all Maavu's stuff.

13) Maybe have more stores at least mentioned (don't have to be statted out), just so that they can be tossed in. "Oh, you need some expensive clothes? Try X on Obsidian Ave NE, or Y on ..."

Keep up the good work!

Steve

Here's what I plan to do (it's a rationalization, there's no justification in the rules): Because of the fragment of Celestia existing in Occipitus, Occipitus is not a "true" Abyssal plane, and therefore the Hezrou's aren't native. Therefore the banishment part of Blasphemy doesn't function.

I plan to make a few creatures native to Occipitus, including Adimarchus and the corrupted angel (I forget his name). Oh, and anyone who acquires the smoking eye template.

Steve

The store seems good, I'm still browsing around to see all the stuff! It sometimes seems to load a bit slow, though the paizo messageboards are worse.

I've been thinking about buying a battlemap, so I was browsing your selection. However, there is no indication of the size of the mat. It gives the scale of the squares/hexes, but not the length/width of the map.

Thanks,

Steve