Uri Kurlianchik's page

Hi!

A friend and I have created a web comic inspired by stuff kids say during D&D games. I think you guys may find it amusing :)

RATS! is a game about talking rats trying to reclaim the world humanity has stolen from them thousands of years ago. Now, a war against everyone and everything costs quite a lot of money, so we would really appreciate your support. To this end, we've set an indiegogo, which is like kickstarter, only for rats. Come check our videos, art and excerpts.

We promise you that this is not an ambush...

There, follow me! .

I'm running a Hunter: the Reckoning campaign and the players just went to Afghanistan. I was wondering if you had any ideas for suitable adventures to run in this setting? Also, are there any sourcebooks dealing with the area?

Presently I'm ripping off the Objective, but I fear it won't be enough :)

I'm working on a literary and art project that seeks to transform real Israel into a fantasy setting based on Jewish, Arabic and contemporary culture. I think this will be interesting for many folks, because for better or for worse, "Israel" is a place that is mentioned on the news all the time, but which didn't make it into the fantasy discourse until now. Also, many people expressed interest in fantasy settings which are not based on medieval Europe or Western culture, and this project is certainly a step in that direction.

Tales from an Israeli Storyteller is a cycle of 20 short stories and novellas born from exploring the most iconic locations in Israel. This is the story of the Israel you don’t hear about on the news – the Israel where a rabbi creates a smartass golem that comes back to haunt him during an unholy ceremony on Mount Meron, where talking animals search for justice among the demons and spirits of Ein Gedi, where a Bedouin hero confronts an evil book in the caves of Qumran, and where one clueless efreet keeps losing his wife in the Negev desert. In addition to stories, the book also includes dozens of paintings by Israeli and international artists.
While some of the characters are hard to meet, all the locations are real and very accessible, making this book a guide to some of the coolest places on the planet as well as an exploration of a modern fantasy setting inspired by the folklore and mythology of one of the oldest (and youngest) countries in the world.

For more information on the project, feel free to visit my IGG (which is like Kickstarter, only for non-Americans)

Will you assist a weary storyteller to finish his journey by throwing a couple of coppers into this project? Surely, the old gods of the Levant won't forget this when they make their triumphant return, commanding an army of golems, ghouls and genies!

Hi all!

I didn't post here since the late middle ages but now I'm back :)

I'm author of the D&D Kids tutorial series that was published on Wizards of the Coast this year and which now moved to geekcentricity. If anyone remembers, I'm also the author of Murder in Oakbrdige...

A lot of people told me that they liked the funny table talk quotes that came along with the articles on Wizards. To oblige them, I uploaded the best table talk I collected this year as well as some choice anecdotes from colleagues and friends to a new site - DNDkids. Gamers with quotes of their own are more than welcome to submit their funny (or scary) stories. "Funny D&D stories should not linger and rot inside one brain but entertain the whole community," is our motto (which I just made up).

There are also anecdotes from the table, tips on gaming with kids, adventures and creatures created by kids and so forth. Presently only mine, but I'd love to hear from teachers and gamers around the world about their experience of playing RPGs with kids.

Anyone interested in gaming with children, either because they want to share and improve their gaming experience or because they found the previous articles amusing, will hopefully enjoy DNDkids as well. Also, funny quotes - com'on, let's share!

P.S
A few nice memories from the table...

Kid 1: Can I make up my own God and worship him?
Kid 2: You won't be the first one to do so...

Kid: What's the difference between eladrin and elf?
DM: Eladrin is to Elf what British is to American.

Kid 1: Oh cruel world!
Kid 2: The world is not cruel, it's the DM who is cruel.

Kid 1 (playing a warforged): Why doesn't anybody love me!
Kid 2: Because you're running on Microsoft Vista. If you ran on Linux, everybody would have loved you.

Kid: Hephaestus is a smith, not a warrior. He only makes swords, he doesn't fight with them. It's the same like McDonald; they only make hamburgers, they don't fight with them.

Kid: What happens if you try to fail and then roll a 1?

Feel free to add your own!

Hello good people,

Does anyone know of any hobby shops in Zurich?

Thanks.

P.S
Bad people can answer the post too.

The hide armor is the worst armor in the PHB, and yet for some reason it states that it’s favored by druids (despite being inferior to studded in every respect).
Does anybody know if such armors were ever used in real-world history and were they really that awful?
Does the hide armor has any redeeming features whatsoever?

Does anybody have any cool ideas how to insert new PCs into an existing campagin and what to do with the characters of ex-players? (provided the new players won't simply take the old players' character as is...)

Thanks in advance.

O great and noble masters of the boards whose wisdom shines upon our meager land like the light of thousand ruby stars, hearken your humble servant and aid him with thy infinite knowldge!.

In my campagin there is a large jungle where orcs, savage drow (a-la-Eberron) and human savages lead a cannibalistic war for control over an area of ancient ruins believed to grant mystic powers (which the PCs happen to need to save their brother).
Now, I decided to make a tribe of exiled half-bloods hated by all.
Half-orcs and half-drow are easy, the question is the orc-drow crossbreeds, how should they look? What abilities should they have? And do they taste like chiken?

Thanks in advance,
UriK

I was wondering how realistic the heroic fights we see in movies and fantasy novels are. Are you familiar with any instances in world history when a very small group of mighty warriors (less than a dozen) inflicted great damage on a far larger group or mob, or when one man killed dozens?

Without the use of modern weaponry, of course.

Do you think that this case and this person person are related?

Hail again O noble gamers!

A player in my group claims to be playing a barbarian but in fact he is far closer to a thug; big, stupid, lazy, violent, greedy and extremly cowardy (he NEVER charges and actually hid behind a girl's back once...) and his character is like that too.
Anyway, so I have been thinking what would be the attributes of the thug character, not the thieving type but the "me-break-you-like-a-twig" type, the big bad brute who is at heart at coward but also a sadist and well... a thug.

So, what do you think, what will the thug core class look like and what feats and features are best suited for him?

Most Humbly,
Uri.

Me and a friend had an argument about the class of Howard’s Solomon Kane - I claimed he was a paladin and my friend claimed he was a rouge/fighter. What do you think?

Hail O wise and noble sages of the boards whose glorious erudition shines brighter than the myriad stars of heaven!

I am in need for ideas for very short adventures (about 1.5 hours) for very young players (9-12 years), preferably fantasy.

Thanks in advance,
Uri.

Hail O learn'd gamers!

I am running a campagin where the players play classic D&D Orcs and I have two questions for you:

A) Does anybody know where I can find adventures designed for evil characters (say, a dungeon crawl where you fight dwarves or something like that...)

B) Does anybody has any cool ideas for Orc adventures, because honestly after 14 sessions I am washed out.

The players are: an honorable but fanatic shaman apprentice (LE--> LN), a vicous but cowrdly bully (CE) and a nature-loving animalist (CN-->CG)(a person who thrives to imitate animals) and they are all siblings.

Humbly,
Uri K.

Did anyone here ever run an Aztec/Inca/Maya-based campagin? How did it go, what special rules/monsters/plots did you use?

Thanks,
Uri

O learned sages of Eberron, hearken!

Suppose someone had his dragonmark peeled off from his back and then raised (or simply survived the unpleasent experience), would he still be able to use his magic or would it be forever lost to him?

Nightshades. The scariest and most mysterious monster in the book.
Where do they come from? What do they want? The book seems very keen on describing how they smell: "On open grave on a winter's morning" (as opposed to an open grave on a summer midnight?) how they feels: "cold" (very), and what they're made of: "Equal parts of darkness and absaloute evil" (gotta be real heavy...) but that's about it.

Never has been said so little about so much for so long.

Does anybody has an idea where do these cool undead come from? How do you create one? What are their aims? What do they do on their spare time? How come they are the only monsters in the book who are left a total mystery?

Hallo all,

I have a question for the rule-lawyers and the learned sages of the community.
Can a victim of Otto's Irresistible Dance cast spells with only verbal components? The spell's description says that the victim can do nothing but caper and prance but my player (whose character's life depends on it) claims that it refers only to movement and that the victim can still speak freely.
What do you think?