Tysdaddy's page

(I originally posted this request in the Book section below, but someone suggested posting it here as well. So, have at it . . . )

To the brains . . .

I am in the process of writing a book proposal for a class at my university for a nonfiction book about my experiences in gaming.

I played some D&D as a kid, a very long time ago, and got back into it about three years ago in an effort to get my son out of his Yu-Gi-Oh phase. I wanted him to do something that took less cash and yet reaped piles of rewards in regards to imagination and creativity. My perspective is unique and I'm having a blast fleshing out my thoughts on the subject.

Here's my question:

Does anyone lurking here have any hard numbers detailing the growth of D&D in the past several years? I'd like to hear from some of the folks who run or contribute to Paizo publications if possible. How have manufacturers made the game more accessible for guys like me who want to get involved again, and for people who are checking out roleplaying for the first time? I have read the 30th anniversary book put out by WOTC, and I have come across an article from our local paper that ran when Dreamblade debuted, but there ain't much else I've been able to track down. So, I figured I'd ask my buds who hang on these boards.

As of right now, the book is simply fodder for this class. I have done some writing, but have nothing close to a finished manuscript. The main project is the proposal for the class. If I decide to go further with the project and actually send the proposal out, I'll let ya know. But the numbers and information I'm looking for will help me put together a more thorough proposal.

Any and all thoughts are appreciated.

Also, if there is a more appropriate portion of the forum where this should be posted, do let me know. This seemed like the safest spot for something like this, but it's so far down the main messageboard page that I hope it doesn't get lost.

Brian

To the brains . . .

I am in the process of writing a book proposal for a class at my university for a nonfiction book about my experiences in gaming.

I played some D&D as a kid, a very long time ago, and got back into it about three years ago in an effort to get my son out of his Yu-Gi-Oh phase. I wanted him to do something that took less cash and yet reaped piles of rewards in regards to imagination and creativity. My perspective is unique and I'm having a blast fleshing out my thoughts on the subject.

Here's my question:

Does anyone lurking here have any hard numbers detailing the growth of D&D in the past several years? I'd like to hear from some of the folks who run or contribute to Paizo publications if possible. How have manufacturers made the game more accessible for guys like me who want to get involved again, and for people who are checking out roleplaying for the first time? I have read the 30th anniversary book put out by WOTC, and I have come across an article from our local paper that ran when Dreamblade debuted, but there ain't much else I've been able to track down. So, I figured I'd ask my buds who hang on these boards.

As of right now, the book is simply fodder for this class. I have done some writing, but have nothing close to a finished manuscript. The main project is the proposal for the class. If I decide to go further with the project and actually send the proposal out, I'll let ya know. But the numbers and information I'm looking for will help me put together a more thorough proposal.

Any and all thoughts are appreciated.

Also, if there is a more appropriate portion of the forum where this should be posted, do let me know. This seemed like the safest spot for something like this, but it's so far down the main messageboard page that I hope it doesn't get lost.

Brian

Just wondering if anyone has taken the time to check out the recently-published Dungeon Master for Dummies book. I flipped through it whilst at my FLGS, and thought it might be a good read for a new, young DM, my son for instance. I know that much of the material is abridged and "dumb"ed down from the DMG, but still . . .

Any and all comments are welcome and appreciated before I whip out the debit card.

My son came to me the other day and asked if I'd help him fork out the cash for a new PHB. When I asked him why, he showed me his copy, and the thing is indeed banged up good. The front cover is nearly off, its corners are worn round, and there are various spill marks and whatnot on the cover. The inside is still intact, however, and the binding seems to be holding; no pages are loose or falling out. I beamed with pride and told him, "Hoody-Hoo! You're indeed a true gamer! Congratulations!"

His blank stare spoke volumes.

I tried to explain to him that a banged up PHB is a sign of a true gamer and that he should be proud to carry his to the table each and every chance he gets. It shows he's actually read it and used it, unlike some of his friends who buy the book but never really dive into it and learn how to play the game and take advantage of the nuances of the rulebook. His response?

"Yeah, but it's ugly."

I hoody-hooed even louder and he walked away confused.

Let's help this young man take some pride in the fact that his PHB is indeed "used" and he should be proud.

Just a note: I did make sure the book is still useable. The pages are intact, as I stated earlier, and there is no damage that I can tell to the inside of the book. I know some of you are sentimental, and would surely endorse going out and getting a new copy ASAP at the first sign of wear and tear. But the point is that a used book is a sign of a "used" book, and he should be pleased with his copy.

So share your stories here, and thanks for helping out. Also, if any of you have any ideas that would help repair or enhance the damage to the outside, do share. He did have a book cover on it for a long time, and blames it for much of the damage. It was one of those stretchy book covers like you can buy at Staples or Wal-Mart every August when going back to school.

I look forward to reading your replies.

Kudos regarding issue #136's Campaign Workbook article on magical fungi. My group of adventurers are currently tromping their way through Jzadirune in the Shackled City campaign setting, and these spores may just have to find their way into a dark hallway or two.

I do have a question regarding Cutedrop. If a character fails their will save, they see this pod as either a cute little pet or a baby member of their own race. Does this mean that the other party members will see the pod for what it really is, and think the victim crazy? I only plan to have one, at the most two, pods drop and try to make a link with a couple of my characters. Also, can the bond only be forged between a single pod and a single PC, or can a pod influence two PCs? That would be interesting indeed, watching them both coddle the little pod and fight over who gets the honor of caring for it at night. Ha! Oh, the possibilities for some seriously funny roleplaying are birthed in this article.

Keep up the great work!

She-who-must-be-obeyed and my four kids got me a new kitten for Father's Day. What a surprise, since my wife seemed to be against the idea a while back when I was begging and whatnot. But here he is, and he's cute as a button.

Now the problem: What to name the little bugger? Aside from the obvious (a certain drow's frisky feline companion, who's a female, if I'm not mistaken) let's brainstorm some fantasy-inspired names for him.

All suggestions will be considered. If I get a bunch of cool names, I'll put them on a list and roll the bones.

Have fun!

OK. I admit it. This may be a very stupid question, but here goes:

The gear doors in Jzadirune are locked, right? They can't be opened successfully (meaning NOT triggering the trap) unless PCs have the proper key, or they succeed in a search AND disable device check. Do these doors have any kind of knob or handle PCs can grap to try and open the doors? If they set off the trap and survive, do the doors remain closed, or do they get them open?

In other words, is there a way to get through these doors successfully without the keys, which are spread very randomly around Jzadirune and difficult to find?

My PCs are second level, and there are eight of them, but none of them are very good with the disable device thing.

Just thinking out loud here, trying to plan ahead.

All thoughts (even, "yeah, you are stupid!") are welcome.

My group has run one session of SCAP and have now split up. One group, led by a player who's a junior member of the town guard, currently on hiatus to help find the missing children, is standing guard at the orphanage. The rest of the group plan to visit Keygan at sun-up to see if he will come and examine the locks at the orphanage.

Keygan is a LN character. His familiar is being held hostage by the denizens of Jzadirune. I've read and reread this encounter many times, and there are several ways this could go. My group is quite diplomatic, and I can see them convincing Keygan to accompany them to the orphanage. Why wouldn't he just say something like, "Examine a lock? Sure that's my specialty!", then leave the shop, confide in the PCs on the way there, and nudge them in the direction of the secret door in the back of his shop? I don't think the skulk will follow him if he leaves, or will he? Wouldn't Keygan see this as a chance to make things right, and perhaps even lessen any possible ramifications of his actions if the PCs are successful? Being lawful, he may feel inclined to hand himself over to their mercy, but if he's as shrewd as described, and sees a way to end his "captivity" and come out ahead, why wouldn't he take it.

Then there's the Ashmantle angle, mentioned in the HC. Is Ashmantle actively staking out Keygan's shop, waiting for him to screw up and spill the beans? Would he track them to the orphanage and then plug Keygan before he can talk?

Then again, maybe the PCs will notice the curtain, remember the note, and pay Keygan a visit once they are all back together and can get on the same page.

There are so many ways this could go, and not all of them involved beating up Keygan and looting his shop. I guess I just want to make their interaction with Keygan realistic and not so rigid and "by the book."

All your thoughts, and quickly as we will be playing on Sunday, are appreciated.

Just wanted to let you guys (and gals) know how much I appreciate the messageboards. I came here specifically for the Shackled City board, and it has helped me greatly. Kudos!

Here's the question: Is there a way to be notified when someone posts a response to a topic I start or reply to? Now that I've begun posting on other boards as well, and as I'm getting old and forgetful, I often can't remember where I last posted. When I log in, I try to search around for my topics, but often can't find them all.

Keep up the great work at Paizo. Love the OOTS stuff, all the cool stuff in Dungeon, and I'm eagerly awaiting the HC of AoW. Should be very cool indeed. I may even have to subscribe one day. Just can't seem to justify it when bill-paying day comes around.

Well, after a month or more of planning and prepping, my Sunday group has finally begun the SCAP campaign. Here's the starting roster:

Ixen Vur Hesjing - Male Spellscale Sorcerer (Wyrm Blooded) He's got Profession - Gambling, so he's a hoot at the table.

Leyena Lathenmire - Female Half-Elf Swashbuckler (Nobility) Raised by the Lathenmire's before learning of her true heritage. She works for Gurnezarn now. Ha! Payback is a bugger!

Gunthar Hammerhand - Male Half-Orc Barbarian (Mark of the Beast) He's the son of a smithy, good at "bending and breaking steel."

Zook "The Badger" Turen - Male Gnome Bard (Child of Jzadirune) He's a distant relative of Zook the Great, a recurring character in many of our campaigns, who retired from adventuring and married Skie. Nice twists there, that's for sure.

Arthas Ironbrand - Male Human Fighter (Dream Haunted) He's a junior member of the town guard, soon to take a leave of absence to investigate the abduction of the kids from the orphanage.

Khaliid - Male Human Cleric of Kord, Luck Domain. An obsessive gambler with an itch for gold, so he can tithe of course.

Tork - Male Dwarf Artificer, no local trait. He dabbles in armor augmentation and despises being short.

Iziak - Male Wood Elf Monk (Wyrm Blooded) He's our youngest player and playing a monk will be a stretch for him. So far, he's doing great! I'll be a hoot to see how he handles being Wyrm Blooded. His eyes sparkled when I told him about it after he rolled his percentile dice. Cool kid!

Yes, it's a large group, but they are a great bunch of players. This is my first time DMing for the group, and they are excited to be along for the ride.

I began by having the characters rounded up at the Drunken Morkoth Inn for a Three Dragon Ante tournament, sponsored by Skie's Treasury. She fronted the money for the entry fee, and loitered around their table as they played the game for real, in character. It was a cool way to start the campaign. Got the players thinking about their characters and how they would react to the others in the party.

After the party, Skie invited them to her store. She shared her wyvern story, then told them about the discount offers to adventuring parties. Skie is out doing some marketing and it's paying off greatly!

When one of the PCs inquired about other antique places in town, she pointed them toward Tygot's. Along the way, they heard the scream, and the adventure began. They intimidated the thugs easily, who escaped only to be captured later by another group of guards sent after them by the junior guard in our party. He had hoped to question them, but after hearing Jenya's offer, and her insistence that the local guards not be informed of the party's mission, he plans to ask for a leave to go on a "vacation." Should be fun!

The party accepted Jenya's offer, then promptly split up, one group to the orphanage to secure a watch over the place, and one group to fetch Keygan and bring him to the orphanage to examine the locks. That is where we left off.

All in all, it was a fun day. These guys don't like to stop and ask too many questions, preferring instead to act on impulse. We'll see where it goes from here. Keygan's should be especially fun.

Comments are appreciated.

To the braintrust,

I am getting set to run the Shackled City Adventure Path with a group of players I game with on Sunday (currently my only real day off; Ugh!!!). For the most part, all the characters are cool and fit in nicely in a generic setting. One of my players, however, really really wants to play an artificer, which is found in the Eberron CS.

I have very little experience with Eberron, and do NOT want to set the adventure there. After looking through the description for the class, it seems a bit too geared toward that particular setting; some of the magic is based on the use of dragonshards, and there are other things that rely on action points. The action points won't be hard to work in; a simple percentile dice roll should cover most things nicely. But what do you think? Will this class fit in this rather generic setting that tends to lean toward Greyhawk?

Any and all thoughts/suggestions are welcome.

BT

Just picked up this issue at my FLGS, and several pages were washed out and impossible to read. Pages included 20-21 and 32-33. Both were the first pages of two prominent articles. Ugh! Hopefully, they have another issue on the shelf that is readable. Is this a known issue with this issue (sorry) or am I the only poor soul to suffer this fate?

Keep up the great work everyone! I can't wait to read this issue.

Greetings one and all!

First, let me say how impressed I am with this book. I got back into playing D&D a couple of years ago when my boy hit the right age and I got tired of buying Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Wow, how things have changed! I hadn't rolled the bones in more than fifteen years, it's good to be back, and Dungeon magazine has been a big help in getting me back into DMing and enjoying the game again. This will be the first MAJOR campaign I've DMed and I'm lookig for some advice.

I probably won't start running the campaign until sometime in May, so I have some time. I've downloaded the stuff from this site, I'm in the process of reading through the book, and I'm taking some notes to keep my mind on track. I've also perused this forum and have found some excellent information. It's especially cool to see some of the guys who worked on this campaign chiming in. Shows they care, and I appreciate it.

Have any of you come up with some house rules that have worked for you? How about specific limits regarding character creation? How did you introduce the campaign, and what were your first moments like? These are the kinds of things I'm interested in reading about. Any cool websites devoted to this campaign? Any helpful documentation regarding this city full of NPCs? Whatever. Throw it my way, and you may help someone else in the process as well.

I appreciate all your thougths in advance.

Greeting from Saltmarsh!

I am running my weekly campaign tomorrow night and, in honor of the Olympics, the local Temple of Kord will be hosting a series of contests just outside the city walls. I got the idea of a series of games after reading the Campaign Workbook section of Dungeon #132. There are some cool games mentioned, and I'm working on developing a marathon/obstacle course for my team of PCs to participate in.

I need some help brainstorming some additional games. Most of the ones mentioned in Dungeon are strength-based, and will work quite nicely, but I'd like to come up with some additional games geared toward my Dex-heavy PCs.

All suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Let the games begin!

[Dum . . . Dum . . . Da Dum . . Dum . . Dum . . Dum . . .]

T

P.S. I'm using Saltmarsh as it's presented in the new DMGII. My group is using it as a home-base for an ongoing campaign of mayhem and destruction. Just FYI for your old-schoolers out there. Peace!

So, I'm new to this forum, and to Dungeon magazine. So, if this is a stupid question, please forgive me.

I would like to run an adventure from #132, but when I logged on here to get the downloadable stuff promised in the magazine, I noticed there is only stuff available up to #130. How long do we have to wait for each issue's downloadable content to be posted here?

I'm sure it will be worth the wait, but I'd like to do the campaign this Friday night.

Thanks for the info.

T