greensquire's page

Thanks for all the thoughts folks! Some great concepts & advice. I'll be able to find out tonight exactly what their intentions are, as they shall be finally finishing off Jzadirune & (hopefully!) moving down to the Malachite Fortress. I'm just hoping that they will be happy to claim Jzadirune & not it AND the MF!! hehehee If they decide that the MF would be greater as a base of Ops, I can assure you that the random encounters from the Underdark will be enough to push them back up to Jzadirune! I'm cool with the idea of them having Jzadirune, but not so cool with the idea of them claiming the Malachite Fortress....

But, as I said, thanks for all the great ideas & advice!!

Greensquire

Well, I gotta say, for what you guys call a $60 hardback (as in SCHB), ends up being about $100 in Australia. Now, don't get me wrong I bougth SCHB as soon as it landed here, & my group is enjoying it a great deal - almost as much as I am enjoying running it.
Needless to say, the concept of a hardback (or even a boxed set) for AoW is all good to me. I have all the issues of Dungeon & would be happy to run it from there...
But, for my two-cents worth on the topic, I'd love to see a boxed set that expands on the whole campaign setting (as in a NEW setting!). Hard back releases of SC, AoW, & now the Savage Tide, would be great, but all of them can be placed in the same setting - the City of Sasserine, Cauldron, the Spire..... all these things could be placed into a basic D&D campaign setting.

Now, I know that it's a LOT easier to insert information into a product that allows you to adapt the adventure to your own campaign (mostly settings that are already in existence - FR, GH, Eb...). I am also aware that the "default" setting for D&D these days is Greyhawk (& I have a lot of love for GH!), what with the basic pantheon etc... BUT! What of a 'core' setting where Sasserine is the capital? Where the City of Cauldron is known across the land? Where the history of the world involves what was done by the Spell Weavers, Yuan-ti, Dragotha, Kyuss, etc.

Just a thought....

Either way, I am happy to wait until a Hardcover of AoW can be released properly, without the need of errata, corrections, reprints & the like. Whether it be 600 pages or a thousand, I can wait!

Hi all, I've been talking to two of my players, & one of them (half orc Barb turned Cleric of Gruumsh), has come up with the idea of turning the newly cleared out Jzadirune, into the partys new base of operations. Now, I'm not one to poo-poo an idea if it's a good one, but this got me to thinking...
1) Can the city above claim taxes on those who live in Jzadirune?

2) How easy/hard should I make living in Jzadirune? These guys are about to hit chapter two, & will not be able to "stay at home" to maintian Jzadiruen.

3) Should 'The Vanishing' still be in effect for any new magic items created in Jzadirune?

4) What are the chances of the gnomes returning to claim their ancient home? (I'd say slim-to-none, considering what they went through!

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Cheers.

walter mcwilliams wrote:

The subject says it all any chance we will see it by xmas? I started SCAP during the magazine serial stage, and loved it. The HC pushed it up another notch. I wouldnt even consider starting age of worms until the HC is released. Hope to see it soon.

Walt

There will be no Age of Worms Hardcover releasing this year, unless some sort of miracle occurs. We'd love to do it as a hardcover eventaully, but not so soon after the last adventure appeared in the magazine and (more to the point) we need permission to do so from WotC first.

you guys take your time! That way, when we DO get an AoWHC, we'll known that it's been done right!! And we WILL get one........Don't go making a lier out of me now kids, I'd hate to have to bring a few of my Aussie friends over there to kick some butt! The SCHC was great & I am sure that WotC will gladly agree to do a HC for AoW !AND! ST aswell - when the time is right, of course...

Keep up the EXCELLENT work & don't forget us folks down under like to play too!

I always tell the players that it is their job to decide why they're a group. While you can put them together, most things a DM does are fairly contrived.

>>SNIP<<

It does work out.

As far as how they all know each other, it depends quite a bit on starting level. If you start at 3rd level or so, they have a fair amount of past history, so they can already be an established group. It often works better, simply because a 1st level character hasn't done anything - so most backstory is about how they haven't done anything or met anyone yet.

I agree! We've just finished off a campaign & everyone has agreed to give the Shcakled City a go. I told the group that they needed to do two things once they created their PCs:

As it turns out, one of the rogues has hired some of his friends to help out with a scheme of his to become a proffesional gambler, & make as much cash as possible. Two of the PCs are childhood friends. Another two are related (cousins, which ties four of them together), & the other two are out-of-towners that need to earn a living....
Considering that this is the first time I have asked them to do it, I was happy with the results - but we'll see what happens as the adventure kicks off!
They have between them the following:

1) Half-orc Barbarian (Has known Human Rogue for years, player intends to cross over to cleric)
2) Dwarven Barbarian (Out of towner, player intends to take Dwarven Defender)
3) Human Rogue (Has known half-orc for years, childhood friend of halfling rogue, cousin of half-elven fighter, player wants PC to achieve Noble status)
4) Half-elven Fighter (Cousin of human rogue, player intends on multiclassing as sorceror)
5) Halfling Rogue (Childhood friend of human rogue, player just likes to have fun)
5) Human Ranger (out of towner, player considering what to do with PC!)

Yup, hitters & stabbers, the lot of them! I hope that they make friends with the Church of St. Cuthbert in Chapter one, or they are going to regret not having a cleric of their own!!!

ciao!

The Isle of Dread! Castle Amber! Heck, even The Keep on the Border Lands!!! All of these (& quite a few more!) were my introduction to the game, many, many (dare I add another many?) years ago!

The first two APs have been great, & the concept of doing a whole AP based on & around the Isle of Dread excites me VERY much!

I know, I know, way too many exclamation marks in this post, but I'M EXCITED!!!!!

Apart from this classic adventure setting getting a major overhaul for the AP, I'm also excited because what became the 'Mystara' campaign setting was also the first setting that I based my DMing career in. I ran PCs through everything from The Keep on the Borderlands (using Threshold as the Keep), Rahasia(sp?)(smack dab in the middle of the Dymrak Forest), & The Lost City (based in The Emirates of Ylarum) to the newer Nights Dark Terror(awesome for a starting adventure!). As they progressed my PCs saved the world by defeating the 'Master of the Desert Nomads' in his 'Temple of Doom', before they sailed south & encountered the huge "giant lizards" of the Isle of Dread!
Even after getting them up to using the old Companion Level books, & then starting over again with the AD&D 2nd Ed rules in the FR setting, we all reminisced about how the halfling that ran away in terror because of a dinosaur, was probably now a feral barbarian riding around the Isle of Dread on a raptor & terrorizing the local natives!

The Isle of Dread setting was also the first time that I had a PC kill another because of magical influnces - so you can imagine how happy I was to see the basic D&D Kopru listed in 3rd ed!

Anyhoo, dinosaurs have their place in D&D mythology - look at the random encounter charts from the original FR setting - dinosaurs are everywhere in the Realms! Handled right, a dinosaur crashing through the underbrush can make an adventuring party scream "DRAGON!!!", & use up all their magic (& HP!!), before the real dragon shows up! Oh yeah baby, dinosaurs under the control of a dragon - smacks of overkill, but hey, what a challenge!

So I guess from the above, you might say that I'm in favour of dinosaurs in a campaign setting. They are an alternative to cliche monsters. They add to the feel of a tropical/lost world setting immensely. And besides, one would feed a family of dragons for a week! ;o)

Bring on the next AP guys! I for one, can't wait!

PS: Master of the Desert Nomads & Temple of Doom might be a good idea for an AP too!! heheheheee