Ylissa's page

For me it was The Evils of Haranshire (Book I of the Night Below campaign for 2e). Well written and with enough adventure nuggets to really flesh out the setting. Book II was also good in most ways, except that the end of the book could become a slog.

Coming Full Circle (for CoC) is also pretty good - its a refreshing change from what people expect from a CoC game. Actually, on the subject of CoC, The Killer Out Of Space and The Evil Stars (from Cthulhu Now) are also very memorable. Ooh, last CoC one is Tatterdemalion.

Are you running the Kraken as a combat or as a SC? I would be tempted to run it as a SC, with the goal of keeping the ship afloat as long as possible. More successes would lead to more supplies and/or crew making it to shore.
As for the attrition - denying extended rests may be they way to go. Either as an effect of the island (though heavy handed) or due to the curses of normal travellers - insects, vermin, jungle sounds. An outdoor survival SC may be appropiate here - the number of successes determining the amount of rest gained (and the resoures restored).

Its been a while since I last ran my 4E Scales of War campaign, and the numbers may be off slightly, but your comment about the Drider Battlelord did bring something to mind. At the late-Heroic tier onwards I did see the damage output drop off. Using the monster generation rules, with a rule of thumb of level+8 average damage for a standard attack, did reign things in... so in the case of the L15 DB instead of D12+8 (average 14.5) I would be going with 2D12+15 (average 28, including a 25% bump for being a Brute). This really began to make foes dangerous, made the attack denial powers that characters had feel like a real benefit and try to match the increased healing capability that is available. A quick eyeball of defences and modification to level+12 (with +2/-2 if a strong or weak defence) means most creatures can be effective with minimal modification... as you get used to it you can do it on the fly, to reduce preparation.

Solos however, as I am sure you know, tend to be major overhauls.... ;-)

You may not be able to influence their behaviour - but you can adapt to it. Perhaps E6 is the way to go? As its basically just choosing a feat after hitting the level cap, that should cut down their work substantially. You could also have them produce a feat plan at character generation - so when they do gain a feat they can just check the plan and know what they are going for (unless they have another feat pop in their heads). It increases the pain at character generation, but should mean after that sessions run smoother.

When the DM gives you grossly unbalanced dark-folk only magic items, make a dark-folk character.
Or at least look into ways/means to gain the dark-folk subtype (if possible).

FWIW - I have run into this on IE7 (7.0.5730.13); but swapping over to Firefox (23.0) on the same machine the spinny appears briefly and the page then loads. On both browsers, cookies are enabled.

Golarion will have more ongoing support...

Glorantha - its actually fairly flexible theme wise; especially when you look at the different cultures. Want a classic Glorantha game? Lunor occupation of Sartar. Something more medieval? Look to the Monotheists. Something more oriental? Look to Kralorela. It is also good for themed campaigns, based on culture, race or religion.
Would game system make a difference to your choice? Also, player familiarity may be a guide - if they are used to Golarion, maybe Glorantha would be a change?

Reasonable handy site -
http://glorantha.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
- though it does highlight there is a lot of stuff out there for the setting, possibly fragmented.

I think the bane of Solos are Controllers... I am running SoW at the moment and have a group with a (dex based) Druid and (illusion based) Wizard. Compared against non-Controller parties, they are able to really limit their opponents, freeing up the other roles to do their jobs very effectively.

In a normal encounter the Druid may be able to limit a single foe, whilst the Wizard may be able to lock down 2 or 3 with area attacks, but it takes a lot of planning and co-ordination to do this and normally at least some of the opposition avoid the controllers.

In a Solo fight... the Druid can happily use single target lockdown which affects all of the foes (1 Solo) they are fighting (instead of simply a single standard). The Wizard is in an even happier place as his area powers are hitting all of the foes (1 Solo) every time.
As long as the party leave enough space for area attacks to avoid friendly fire, the Solo is controllered off the table.

It may take a bit longer than you have to spend, but 'The Rain Wilds Chronicles' by Robin Hobb has an interesting take on the DD in the form of Elderlings. Her 'Liveship Traders Trilogy' also has some information on them as well.

I am not familiar with the adventure, but FWIW I think this is a good opportunity to replace a combat encounter (easy an throw away in 1e/2e) with a skill encounter. This culd be a mini skill challenge that covers questioning the enemies (who may have been overcome, or surrendered) as well as working out how the PCs could use the traps themselves - and what group could resist that? At the end, leave the players to decide what they do with the 2 guys. In a complex of traps and ambushes it may be a good change of pace.

I would just tell him to check with the DM.

Don't say 'I am not sure, why don't you check with the DM' as that would give him the ego boost he is looking to score off you. Dealing with him then becomes the responsibility of the DM who (I assume) has known him for a longer period. Either he wil quiet down (as he knows that the DM will not stand for his shenanigans), the DM will deal with him, or he keeps pushing the DM and the DM boots him from the game.Either way, you are not engaging with him, so its less grief for you.

If he then starts trying to press the 'Why do you tell me to check with the DM, but answer other peoples questions' point, tell him to check with the DM for that too - I think the DM will be able to give him some guidance by that point! ;-)

One thing, I'd like to ask, however, is, if someone has the chance, can anyone explain the aspect of Tiamat? The numbers just don't add up, and they both appear in the same book. If it's multiplied times four, that's even a larger problem. As a 17th level creature, she's been given 1,030 hit points (Tiamat herself is given the "correct" amount of 1,610 hit points for her level 35, based on the old rules). The I can't figure any possible permutation that gets me higher than just under 900, leaving a nearly 100-hit-point gap.

Ok, from my hazy recollection of the section of 'Creating Monsters' in the DMG, a Brute has (10 + (10 x level) + Con) HP.

This 5x HP rule for higher level Solo's was later changed, so that a Solo of any level has 4x the HP of a standard creature.

I would advise consulting the relevant DMG section as my memory may be off.

MoN is a great campaig, but it may not fit as a one-off (unless you just do the first chapter and see if there is interest to expand into the full campaign).

For classic 1920's 'The Haunting' (included in the rulebook I think) is a rite of passage for many.... I would also suggest looking at 'The Haunted House' - unsure what book it appeared in but its a personal favourite.

For the modern day setting, I always have a soft spot for 'The Killer Out Of Space' and 'The Evil Stars' from Cthulhu Now.

I think Salanor is now Wizard 6/Stormcaster 7, whilst Gimgrim is Cleric 11/Fighter 2.

How about an update on the class/levels for the other characters, just to fill in the blanks? You did an old version in the 'Tell Me About Your Party Composition' thread.

Dragon Warriors - a fantastic little game. Featuring a simple unified system, 4 paths of magic (8 if you include the separate elementalists), magic item creation rules, numerous scenarios including 2 campaigns and a well worked setting similar to 10th century Europe - all packed into 6 Octavo size paperback books!
Perfect for tucking into a schoolbag for those lunchtime campaigns...

Ars Magica - the game that got us out of the dungeon and into character-driven, political-heavy gameplay. Again, a great mythical Europe setting, great magic system and (of course) Grogs!

Have a look at Complete Psionic - IIRC, Ardents use Wisdom for their powers and gain powers at the rate of a Psion. They are limited in what powers they can select from their mantles, but the cleric side will allow the flexibility. Divine Mind may also fit from a roleplaying viewpoint and can make for a more combat orientated character.

I am unsure how it is getting -15; the 3.0 rules applied a -1 per 5lb of gear... but even if it used that, with 60lb that would only be -12. Unless it then (incorrectly) added in the armour and shield ACP.

I would advise the following -
1. Remove the armour and shield, note down the gear weight and Swim penalty;
2. With just the armour added back, note down the gear weight and Swim penalty;
3. With just the shield added back, note down the gear weight and Swim penalty.

Post the results back up here and we may have a better idea. But it does seem very odd!

Sorry, should have mentioned I was looking for feedback for a non-psionic game.
Has anyone ever seen this spell cast on a creatures? If so, what was the target?

Reviewing my Warmages spell list recently, I realised it includes the Shatter spell. Whilst I have seen the spell used a lot for shattering objcts, it struck me that I cannot recall the spell being used on a creature...

Targeted against a crystalline creature (of any weight), shatter deals 1d6 points of sonic damage per caster level (maximum 10d6), with a Fortitude save for half damage.

What exactly is meant by the phrase 'crystalline creature'? Are we talking creatures made from glass, or creatures with any crystalline structure (such as rock)?

The pillar room was irritating. In most parties it is likely that some people have the skills to hop from pillar to pillar, but some people will have to rely on fly (normally the armoured characters). This will trigger the Elementals, and being forced to fight Air Elementals in such a room should provide a higher XP award due to the difficulty of the terrain.

The mist ensures that anyone falling is in real trouble, as they can be picked apart by Elementals without being able to get aid from ranged characters such as spellcasters.

The crumbling pillar and the illusiory pillar are traps and should be rewarded as such.

The adamantine-plated doors are just bad adventure writing. If you put 1" thick gold doors in an adventure would you expect players to try and devise ways to take the doors? I think for most groups the answer would be yes!