TPK Jay's page

We are looking for one or two players to join a 4th edition D&D campaign starting at the beginning of November. The 4 in our group are in their late-20’s to mid-30’s and enjoy playing unique characters with strong personalities. I have been DMing for over twenty years and create campaigns with plenty of action, intrigue and role-playing.

We typically play sessions the first three Sundays of every month from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, but are somewhat flexible (especially with advance notice). We are hoping to find serious players who mesh with our style and schedule.

If you are interested, contact me at: myrmidon73@hotmail.com

We are looking for one or two players to join a 4th edition D&D campaign in early October. The four in our group are in their late-20’s to mid-30’s and enjoy playing unique characters with strong personalities. I have been DMing for over twenty years and create campaigns with plenty of action, intrigue and role-playing.

We typically play long sessions the first three Sundays of every month from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, but are somewhat flexible (especially with advance notice). We hope to find serious players who mesh with our style and schedule.

If you are interested, contact me at: myrmidon73@hotmail.com

When one of my players agreed to take the helm and DM the Savage Tide, I was delighted at the chance to play. I determoned I wanted to play a Swashbuckler-type character. Now that I've had a chance to study the Swashbuckler class, I feel it comes up a little short.

Our group has always been open to experimenting with house rule variations of ther classes, so I could probably pitch some changes to the DM. Perhaps replacing some of the class abilities with feats or something.

Has anyone else had similar experiences with the Swashbuckler?

Picture the scene...

Your group has gathered for their first session of some high seas pirate-style adventure. They've all prepared by watching Pirates of the Caribbean ten times. They all think they're the only ones clever enough to create a carbon copy of Jack Sparrow as their character, except of course your group's answer to Weird Pete (c'mon, you know your group has one too) who's planning on playng that dork with the fake eye... as a wizard no less.

You pull out a CD and suggest some mood music. They all smile and wink at each other knowingly, assuming you've brought the PotC soundtrack, except of course Weird Pete who asks if it's Isaac Hayes. You hit play, and they all stare at you in shock for a few minutes, except of couse Weird Pete who is singing to himself ("Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks..."). Someone asks, "is that Bono?"

http://www.epitaph.com/artists/album/493

So I've been looking around for miniatures that might be suitable for PCs in the STAP, and I haven't found many pirate/swashbuckler style miniatures out there. There are plenty of undead pirates, and quite a few good-looking lady pirates, but the male pirates tend to be old and used-up cats with missing appendages and zz top beards--not exactly the 1st level PC I had in mind.

Does anyone know of some untapped resource for nice-looking swashbuckling minis?

I've been eagerly checking the mail box every day for a while now, but my copy of Dragon 345 has not yet arrived.

I was pleasantly surprised today when I came home from work and found the final issue of the AOW in my mailbox... I haven't had time to absorb the entire thing yet, but I did go strait for Kyuss... and his two and a half page stat block.

All I can say is this: DM's, find your players, hug them and tell them anything you always thought you'd have time to say someday... cause when Kyuss hits their characters, I have no doubt it'll be so hard the players will feel it! And if they survive, they will never forgive you for it.

So I had this thought while driving home from dinner, when I spied a van with the liscence plate "Kyuss." I did a double take, noticed his gaming bumber stickers and couldn't help but smile. My hat's off to you sir (or madame)!

So many people are playing the Age of Worms, I think we need T-Shirts and Bumper Stickers to tell the world. Picture it... "My character destroyed Dragotha, defeated Kyuss, and prevented the Age of Worms... and all I got was this lousy T-shirt (bumper sticker, coffee mug, whatever)."

Much as I love killing off characters (my name says it all), for some reason my players are less than thrilled by it. Years ago, while playing through RttToEE one of the characters was killed and raised, then because they were a level back, the wound up getting killed again, and again. The fourth time the character died, the player said "screw it, Darian will just kick up his heels in the afterlife and let a more worthy adventurer save the world." Then the player made a whole new character (that never really fit as well) that wouldn't be 7th running with a pack of 11th level characters. Ever since that day my entire group has lived in fear of falling into the "Darian Pit."

Since a more recent PC fatality, I've come back to that old problem. Is the penalty for dying to harsh? There's no way around the level loss until True Resurrection (which costs 25,000 gp). Back in 2E all you lost was a Con point when you got raised. I recognize that in 3.x the idea is that the act of coming back from the dead is a taxing experience and it takes some time before you regain your strength, but perhaps the level loss isn't the best way to depict this as you never really get back to full strength.

Here's what I'm kicking around: When the character returns from the dead they they lose 100 xp per level (unless its a True Res) and they gain a negative level, that Restoration cannot remove, for a set number of days depending on the spell used to revive them (say 10 days for Raise Dead, 5 Days for Resurrection, 1 day for True res), at the end of which they are back to normal.

I'm curious about opinions. I don't want to make coming back from the grave to be a piece of cake, or cheapen the impact of such a death, but I don't want it to wreck the fun for my players either.

I know Filge has made a few appearances on these boards already--as well he should, being one of the most provocative villains I've seen in a while--but I was wondering if any groups have done anything more with him. Here’s my group’s experience with everyone’s favorite necromancer.

His zombie dinner party and idealized statue of himself made him seem like a lonely and pathetic man to me. So when the group got him down to a smattering of hit points, he fell to his knees blubbering and begging them to spare his miserable life. When the heroes did just that he told them they would always have a friend in the Free City. They sent him packing sans-spellbook, told him to change his evil ways, and gave the matter little more thought.

When they realized someone had hired doppelgangers to kill them after arriving in the Free City, Filge was at the top of the suspect list for a while. They talked about looking for him, but never did. They were very surprised to find him waiting tables via Tenser’s Floating Disk at the Free Dinner on the eve of the Champion’s Games. He explained that he was indeed trying to turn over a new leaf, and as such was having trouble finding respectable work. My group felt bad for him so they pooled their money and gave him a 100gp tip, telling him he would do well to bet on them in the games.

During the fight with Pitch Blade, the party wizard fell. Filge saw it all from the stands and snuck under the arena to help. He explained that the only cleric in town that could restore their ally in full was the High Magus of Boccob, he offered to sneak out and have their friend resurrected. They were a little leery of forking over a 2000gp “offering,” but they agreed. After realizing there would be no way to smuggle the mage’s whole body out, Filge (being Filge) suggested cutting him into smaller pieces for easy transport, and eventually they hacked off a single leg for Filge to take to the temple. The group is now in his debt.

I am considering having him play a role in helping people escape the arena once the apostle is revealed, and possibly even joining them in Redhand when they assume the thrones. Anyone have any other plans or suggestions for a reformed Filge?

OK, I recieved my copy of Dragon 339 today, and still no Dungeon 130. I guess its safe to say it's lost in the mail. How does one request a replacement? I need my Dungeon fix...

My group will soon be meeting with Eligos to learn what he's uncovered. I know that when Eligos mentions the spawn are the most well-known of Kyuss's creations they'll ask about the others, and I'd like to have at least a few examples for them. The Spawn of Kyuss and the Ulgarststa both specifically mention Kyuss in their descriptions; I was wondering if anyone knows of any other undead, from any edition, that are known to be the creations of Kyuss?

I realize this is a long way off, but I was wondering of anyone had any thoughts beyond the campaign. My group has never managed to get characters past 16th level, so when I told them the adventure path would take them to 20th, they were pretty excited. Then they started asking about epic level, even though they just started 3FoE.

It never hurts to plan ahead, so I got to thinking about it, and I had an idea which could tie in nicely. It looks like little will be done with the Rod of 7 Parts in the AoW, so since I have the old boxed set, I was thinking of making an epic level version of that adventure.

Some time after the heroes defeat Kyuss and his minions and assume the throne of Redhand, they recieve word that Tenser (Manzorian) has been researching the piece of the rod the heroes gave him. He fears that the Queen of Chaos has found another segment, and with it may find the others.

I figured I could have one or two pieces on the distant reaches of the planet, perhaps converting the adventure with the cloud giants to titans. Then taking them to Sigil and the outer planes to find the other pieces, before finally confronting a souped up Miska (and maybe the Queen herself) on Pandemonium.

What do you think?

I have been gaming with more-or-less the same people for fifteen years. We’ve always agreed that we have a really strong group at the core—-similar play styles, similar interests, even similar politics—-we’ve weathered a lot of tough times over the years, and we’ve stuck together thanks to our mutual love of the hobby. But lately the fire seems to have gone out.

Long gone are the mad weekend-long sessions of our early 20’s, but for almost ten years we’ve been playing weekly. During that time we’ve mostly had long-running (1-2 year) campaigns, with a sprinkling of one-shots for flavor every now and then. In the past year and a half out campaigns have grown shorter and shorter—never ending with finally beating the recurring villains, but rather when people complain they are bored with their characters. During this time our gaming frequency reduced to a few weeks of play, followed by a week or two off.

When our last game fizzled out, I suggested we remake a group of characters we played a few years back that we always talk about, who never really got to a decent level. Folks seemed excited about the idea (one player wasn’t with the group during the original campaign, so she was neutral). By this point we were playing every other weekend or so. At the start of a campaign I always insist of three uninterrupted sessions to build momentum, and I suggested we try playing 2 out of 3 weeks. Everyone agreed and we made our plans.

The first and second sessions went great. Then the next week had to be canceled. Then we played again. Then we found out that the next seven weeks were out because one party had plans every weekend (legitimate things like weddings, bachelor parties, and a trip out of town). The rest of us were not pleased, but we understood.

After the long break, I made sure everyone was ready to go, and was assured that no further problems were expected. We played once, and then the same party canceled for the following week. They then announced they had to leave in the early afternoon the week after that, so we got together in the morning so we could actually get a full half session in. Then they told us the week after that was booked too. The week after that another member of the group told us we’d have to do a half session again, because something came up, and he would only be free for a couple of hours the week after that. And now the couple that has canceled so frequently may have something the 3rd or 4th weekend of the month, but they won’t know for a while.

I’m pretty annoyed with a certain couple, but I’m really trying to keep my cool. I sent an email around, asking everyone to please check their schedules and see if they saw any other problems coming up. I pointed out we’ve played 6 out of the last 16 weeks.

The response I received said: “maybe we only game every two or three weeks... If that's not cool with someone, then we should stop because the likelihood of endless available Saturdays is nil.”

I have fought off the urge to respond, because my response would almost assuredly be one of anger. At this point I’m seriously considering moving on, maybe taking the other player or two who seems—albeit less so than me—annoyed by all this. But I really hat to walk away from all the years of history we this group.

Advice would really be appreciated.