Tiaximus's page

For the last... twenty years or so (since the middle of high school), I have been the DM for about 75% of the games I've been in. I like the role, I like trying to challenge players, I like making fun stories.

I just don't enjoy being a DM any more.

To preface, we don't have a lot of people who have either the confidence or time to run an adventure. One has a lot of anxiety, two have time-consuming jobs and personal lives, and the last isn't feeling it (I understand that and sympathize).

Most of the games I run end up with players doing really... strange things. Making wildly inappropriate tactical blunders (you ran in the MIDDLE of the people fighting each other?), ignoring clues (yes, the burning golem is IN FACT immune to fire), or stopping flat dead in their tracks and staring at each other. Actually that last one is the primary source of aggravation.

I absolutely understand that the problem could be me and my expectations. In fact, I think it has to be.

When I play in games with these people, the games are a blast. We destroy enemies above our level, figure out puzzles halfway through, and continually make forward movement. I am not necessarily the reason for this--I almost always play support. I want the fighter to be the fighter, I want the rogue to be the rogue, etc.

But when I DM, I almost feel like I have to run the NPCs as the actual heroes or nothing gets done, and that just feels... cheap. I'm here to tell you a story about your heroes, not have to tag along on the NPC's heels...

Any thoughts on things I can work on, bad habits I might not be aware of, or ways to improve my DM style? I may not have given you a lot to work with, but I'm happy to answer questions.

I just want it to be fun to DM again.

What duration takes precedence over the other?

For example, I cast polymorph any object on a boulder to turn it into a cat. Then I cast flesh to stone (instantaneous) to turn the cat into stone.

Does the timed duration of polymorph any object run out and the cat statue turn back to a boulder, or is the boulder forever a cat statue? (Timed vs. Instantaneous)

How about casting carry companion? I make good friends with the 'boulder' cat, turn it into a cat statuette (permanent duration).

Does the timed duration of polymorph any object run out and trump the permanent duration of carry companion, turning the cat into a boulder and invalidating carry companion completely? (Timed vs. Permanent)

Been searching all over the place to see if anyone has any ideas about this and no luck so far.

Tiny creatures that do not somehow have reach have to enter a creature's square to attack. Say that tiny creature (a familiar perhaps) is invisible from greater invisibility. It is attacking a creature (or using aid another to help his companions).

If someone wants to attack that invisible creature, they have to target that square if they do not have some way to actually see the creature (see invisibility, for example). If they attack the square, do they risk hitting the non-invisible creature?

For that fact, if the non-invisible creature attacks it's own square to hit the tiny invisible creature, does it risk hitting itself?

Yeah, sounds like a terrible/wonderful idea, depending on who you are.

I'm running a couple of friends through Age of Worms combined with Carrion Crown, and since they are only two characters, we've worked up a system to make them gestalt (with three classes instead of two) and organize the experience points in a logical fashion.

Basically, the players begin as a normal gestalt, with two classes. As they gain experience, they can spend it in either track--one of the two classes levels on the Fast experience track, the other uses the Medium track. This way, the massive amount of experience they gain by being a two-man team is both useful and doesn't push them so far ahead that the game becomes more-or-less trivial. The third gestalt class comes along on the slow track (and I'm considering making the first level cost 1,200xp to buy into (3000/2.5).

It has worked out pretty well so far--the players have been more focused on pushing up a single class for the moment so they they have ample hit points. I'm thinking of encouraging a soft limit--the classes can't be more than two levels ahead of the next slower xp track.

Just figured I'd put that out there and get some opinions on it. It can make for some really oddball characters (though they are putting classes together that make sense for the characters). In the end, failed saves and action economy will likely be their downfall, but with all three of their saves being high, it might not be as fast or common as I'm expecting.

In a fit of goofy GM insanity, I decided to combine AoW with CC. AoW is the main focus (considering it surpasses CC in level/content) with the CC content adding additional fun, experience, and loot.

I figure the extra experience will make the players a bit higher level, but I really don't mind them thrashing a few weaker monsters here and there. Makes them feel heroic. Then again, there are 6 players in my game, so they will likely be more powerful than I am expecting, but that's fine.

With the CC content, I'm changing the Whispering Way to the Ebon Triad and pretty much re-writing the areas and encounters to reflect this. In AoW, the Ebon Triad was just a front for the Cult of Kyuss to gain power and hide their activity. I'm using the CC modules to flesh out the Ebon Triad and give them more depth. I imagine that, after their part in helping further Kyuss' release, they still continue on their agenda--the big players in AoW don't care about the Ebon Triad continuing their attempts to merge their three gods since it isn't affecting them. The end of CC is changed to mirror the Ebon Triad's desire to raise their Overgod.

Here is a very, very brief synopsis of the changes I've made to incorporate these two:

The Whispering Cairn/Haunting of Harrowstone:

Ravengro and Diamond Lake have been combined and remain in Ustalav, east of Celiphas (which replaces the Free City). I kept the name Diamond Lake since I liked it better than Ravengro. The Restlands is much larger due to the high mortality rate of the miners and high influx of new miners. The cemetery spills out into the surrounding hill(s), making the idea of spontaneous rising undead even scarier with so many dead. The church of Pharasma is tasked with the upkeep of the Restlands. To tie in Harrowstone, the prison was used by many of Ustalav's cities to dump their prisoners; the mine managers purchased the majority of the prisoners' sentences as cheap labor and left the more heinous prisoners to rot in the prisons.

I got rid of Trust points completely. Now that the town is larger and more tolerant of outsiders, Diplomacy checks are the main way to get info you need. Plus, if the players don't immediately head to Harrowstone, they might lose a lot of trust points. Also, I found them unnecessary. You could keep them and just offer several ways to increase them (especially now that the town is much larger and could have many more opportunities to gain more), but I don't think trust points are a good idea in a place basically run by corrupt mine managers and such.

Allustan and Lorrimer are now a duo of sages in town. Allustan has advanced parkisons (an idea I got from another post on these forums) so Lorrimer helps take care of Allustan (even though Lorrimer is older). Allustan attends Lorrimer's funeral and Kendra offers to look after Allustan--she lives out of town (likely in Carrion Hill or Caliphas) and feels bad that she hadn't spent much time with Lorrimer before his death and hopes to hear stories about him from Allustan. Also, as a burgeoning spellcaster herself, the mages' library allow her some time to study away from her duties at home.

I added an entry to Lorrimer's journal the mentions him finding the Whispering Cairn and exploring it briefly, and I hint at him finding some familiar reliefs on the walls (he finds the bas reliefs of the PCs fighting the war agains the Spawn of Kyuss as noted in the module A Gathering of Winds through the portal to Icosial's tomb). He also left directions to it, noting that it was interesting but altogether unhelpful to his research on the Ebon Triad. Since the characters in the bas relief are the PCs, this adds another reason for them to be in his will (albeit a very loose connection they likely won't figure out for a long time). The unholy books he has in his trunk are replaced with holy texts sacred to Lamashtu (The Skull of Mashaag, a treaty on the skull that speaks Lamashtu's will), Norgorbor (The Man Behind the Mask), and Zon-Kuthon (left the same).

Lorrimer's will included the mining lodge from the wormfood article in Dungeon #333. I rewrote it as Lorrimer's old manor house he left to the elements after he took up care of Allustan several years ago. This gives the players a place to stay instead of in Diamond Lake, and is also a great place for Lorrimer's zombie to visit while the PCs are resting. And if your players include several ladies in the group like mine does, you might find they like the D&D aspect here (Design & Decoration). They spent a couple of game hours buying supplies and fixing the place up (as best as they could without any Craft skills).

The players now have an option to go to Harrowstone or to the Whispering Cairn. The news in town is that a group of adventurers (Allustan and his crew) is seeking cairns to plunder, so they may go there first out of greed to keep the others from gathering their precious XP and loot. All the while, the effects of Harrowstone's hauntings are affecting the town, so Allustan and crew may go to Harowstone and stir up some trouble there (or the GM can just let the players fight all the monsters and get the loot in both places).

The course of the adventures remains the same for the first modules--just depends on what order the players want to finish them. If they go after the Whispering Cairn first, it is nice to give the PCs some extra time (perhaps making Gibs take longer in-between possessions). Also, Kullen makes a great NPC to replace Gibs with, since they will have a run-in with him later, and the group of townsfolk that harass the PCs at Lorrimer's burial can be replaced with Kullen and his gang. That makes this encounter a lot tougher, so consider having Father Grimburrow present at the burial from the beginning (although having Allustan at the burial adds a lot of firepower in case the encounter turns violent). Alastor Land and/or Filge can give the PCs plenty of info on Harrowstone if they are having issues with that area.

So with Lorrimer's will, the PCs have a whole month to explore both Harrowstone and the Whispering Cairn. They may even have time to explore the Dourstone Mine and complete the Three Faces of Evil module (I encourage doing that first). After that, they will head to Lepidstadt (which basically is the same distance away as before) and hit the next modue, Trial of the Beast.

I will type up the rest of the AoW/CC combo and post it up later! Suffice to say there are a lot of big changes to Wake of the Watcher in particular. I have more changes to the town and I might post a more in-depth list later.

In a fit of goofy GM insanity, I decided to combine AoW with CC. AoW is the main focus (considering it surpasses CC in level/content) with the CC content adding additional fun, experience, and loot.

I figure the extra experience will make the players a bit higher level, but I really don't mind them thrashing a few weaker monsters here and there. Makes them feel heroic. Then again, there are 6 players in my game, so they will likely be more powerful than I am expecting, but that's fine.

With the CC content, I'm changing the Whispering Way to the Ebon Triad and pretty much re-writing the areas and encounters to reflect this. In AoW, the Ebon Triad was just a front for the Cult of Kyuss to gain power and hide their activity. I'm using the CC modules to flesh out the Ebon Triad and give them more depth. I imagine that, after their part in helping further Kyuss' release, they still continue on their agenda--the big players in AoW don't care about the Ebon Triad continuing their attempts to merge their three gods since it isn't affecting them. The end of CC is changed to mirror the Ebon Triad's desire to raise their Overgod.

Here is a very, very brief synopsis of the changes I've made to incorporate these two:

The Whispering Cairn/Haunting of Harrowstone:

Ravengro and Diamond Lake have been combined and remain in Ustalav, east of Celiphas (which replaces the Free City). I kept the name Diamond Lake since I liked it better than Ravengro. The Restlands is much larger due to the high mortality rate of the miners and high influx of new miners. The cemetery spills out into the surrounding hill(s), making the idea of spontaneous rising undead even scarier with so many dead. The church of Pharasma is tasked with the upkeep of the Restlands. To tie in Harrowstone, the prison was used by many of Ustalav's cities to dump their prisoners; the mine managers purchased the majority of the prisoners' sentences as cheap labor and left the more heinous prisoners to rot in the prisons.

I got rid of Trust points completely. Now that the town is larger and more tolerant of outsiders, Diplomacy checks are the main way to get info you need. Plus, if the players don't immediately head to Harrowstone, they might lose a lot of trust points. Also, I found them unnecessary. You could keep them and just offer several ways to increase them (especially now that the town is much larger and could have many more opportunities to gain more), but I don't think trust points are a good idea in a place basically run by corrupt mine managers and such.

Allustan and Lorrimer are now a duo of sages in town. Allustan has advanced parkisons (an idea I got from another post on these forums) so Lorrimer helps take care of Allustan (even though Lorrimer is older). Allustan attends Lorrimer's funeral and Kendra offers to look after Allustan--she lives out of town (likely in Carrion Hill or Caliphas) and feels bad that she hadn't spent much time with Lorrimer before his death and hopes to hear stories about him from Allustan. Also, as a burgeoning spellcaster herself, the mages' library allow her some time to study away from her duties at home.

I added an entry to Lorrimer's journal the mentions him finding the Whispering Cairn and exploring it briefly, and I hint at him finding some familiar reliefs on the walls (he finds the bas reliefs of the PCs fighting the war agains the Spawn of Kyuss as noted in the module A Gathering of Winds through the portal to Icosial's tomb). He also left directions to it, noting that it was interesting but altogether unhelpful to his research on the Ebon Triad. Since the characters in the bas relief are the PCs, this adds another reason for them to be in his will (albeit a very loose connection they likely won't figure out for a long time). The unholy books he has in his trunk are replaced with holy texts sacred to Lamashtu (The Skull of Mashaag, a treaty on the skull that speaks Lamashtu's will), Norgorbor (The Man Behind the Mask), and Zon-Kuthon (left the same).

Lorrimer's will included the mining lodge from the wormfood article in Dungeon #333. I rewrote it as Lorrimer's old manor house he left to the elements after he took up care of Allustan several years ago. This gives the players a place to stay instead of in Diamond Lake, and is also a great place for Lorrimer's zombie to visit while the PCs are resting. And if your players include several ladies in the group like mine does, you might find they like the D&D aspect here (Design & Decoration). They spent a couple of game hours buying supplies and fixing the place up (as best as they could without any Craft skills).

The players now have an option to go to Harrowstone or to the Whispering Cairn. The news in town is that a group of adventurers (Allustan and his crew) is seeking cairns to plunder, so they may go there first out of greed to keep the others from gathering their precious XP and loot. All the while, the effects of Harrowstone's hauntings are affecting the town, so Allustan and crew may go to Harowstone and stir up some trouble there (or the GM can just let the players fight all the monsters and get the loot in both places).

The course of the adventures remains the same for the first modules--just depends on what order the players want to finish them. If they go after the Whispering Cairn first, it is nice to give the PCs some extra time (perhaps making Gibs take longer in-between possessions). Also, Kullen makes a great NPC to replace Gibs with, since they will have a run-in with him later, and the group of townsfolk that harass the PCs at Lorrimer's burial can be replaced with Kullen and his gang. That makes this encounter a lot tougher, so consider having Father Grimburrow present at the burial from the beginning (although having Allustan at the burial adds a lot of firepower in case the encounter turns violent). Alastor Land and/or Filge can give the PCs plenty of info on Harrowstone if they are having issues with that area.

So with Lorrimer's will, the PCs have a whole month to explore both Harrowstone and the Whispering Cairn. They may even have time to explore the Dourstone Mine and complete the Three Faces of Evil module (I encourage doing that first). After that, they will head to Lepidstadt (which basically is the same distance away as before) and hit the next modue, Trial of the Beast.

I will type up the rest of the AoW/CC combo and post it up later! Suffice to say there are a lot of big changes to Wake of the Watcher in particular. I have more changes to the town and I might post a more in-depth list later.