jylan's page

Thanks for the reply. I think we're really going to have to put our heads together on this one. As of yet i havent decided on a location for Diamond Lake but i was tending to think of somewhere to the north of Corvis. Not to sure if i will use it as a replacement for the free city or not. I have just ordered the World Guide and Lieber Mechanicus so i am waiting on them. I think it might be a problem with Dragotha and Kyuss. Dragotha i could see being possibly a child of Lord Toruk, maybe even giving it a mechanical 'twist'. Kyuss though i'm not to sure of yet. I will keep you posted as i think of new ideas and on the state of play. Thanks.

I know that a while back i said on a thread somewhere that i thought it would be almost impossible to run this in IK. Well i have had a change of heart and would really apreciate some help from anyone who has attempted it so far. What have you changed or substituted and where have you set it in the IK? Thanks .

Has anyone else ever played this adventure? I know its long out of print but i rank it as one of the greatest ever, up there alongside TOEE and COTSQ. Its the first one that i ever played in as a novice figher 18 years ago. I have also DM'd it myself in second ed and enjoyed it even more. It has such memorable npcs such as Menlo Seccord who even now means a lot to at least one of my players. I would love to see this done for 3rd ed. In my oppinion it has everything that makes an adventure a classic: Plot, Character, Location and a real reason for the pcs to want to finish it. Brilliant!!

Just thought i'd mention a player of mine called Dave. Dave is a VERY inventive individual. He played a character called Lassiter who was an elf from another world. A fighter pilot by trade, he came to Greyhawk many years ago and ended up near Cauldron. All through the campaign he has regailed his companions with tales of 'the coming war', which refers incidently to a githyanki invasion that i plan to happen eventualy. Lassiter is a survivor from a previous invasion of his home world. Lassiter has been very inventive throughout the campaign, the highlight being him trying to strike a deal with some drow they met to provide him with giant spider carcasses so that he could create mobile spider tanks for himself and his colleagues. At one point he wanted to drain the caldera lake of Cauldron and turn it into a huge spider farm but shelved this when i mentioned how deep the lake was. He has had an ongoing projest to create a flying machine called a flit which works in a primitive way and has amazed his companions. Both Lassiter and the rest of the group have befriended a mimic called Bob who now serves as a valuable henchman and mobile disposal unit. And lets not forget Daves other pc, the wizard Lum, possibly the laziest man alive. At various points in the campaign he has volunteered himself as a test subject for novice wizards to use as a practice target for their sleep spells. So to Lassiter, Lum, Drinnin the Bruce Lee of monks, Bannor the paladin no one loves, Galdar the uptight cleric of St Cuth and Corian who got them all into this mess in the first place i say STOP IT! I can't take any more!!
Just kidding. Thanks to Dave, Doug and Dan. You make it all worthwile and so much fun. Lets hope for more in the Age Of Worms.

I would realy appreciate any sugestions as to possible places that other parts of the rod of Fraz-urb'luu could be located. If possible I think that they should be in relation to areas that the pcs will be visiting during the AOW.

I forgot to add that the Catobalign demon is from the Oerth journal that appeared in Dragon a while back.

jylan wrote:

Not to sure of the ins and outs of this yet but seeing as they worship the prince of deception and lies i may go with the cultists duping the pcs into recovering parts of the demon lords staff, not realising what it is they are really doing.

Yeah, the "Demonomicon of Iggwilv" articles are some of my all-time favorites in Dragon. This idea works great, especially if the PCs think they're gettint the Rod of Seven Parts. I'd go from that angle. Have Allustan regale the PCs early on with tales of the Wind Dukes (if the PCs don't have the Knowledge skills to know themselves), then introduce a mysterious bald figure, dressed in blue robes of ancient design whose clothing always seem to be caught in a mild wind. This character convinces them that with the Age of Worms fast approaching, the time is ripe for new heroes to again take up the Rod of Seven Parts to do battle with this new evil. As things go on and the PCs (surely) notice that things aren't exactly what they seem (probably when they notice that the "Rod" seems to look funny, and that pieces of it are held in defended sanctuaries of good), have the cultist make up convincing stories otherwise ("a little known fact of the tale of the Rod's destruction was that during this battle the Rod absorbed some of Miska the Wolf Spider's chaotic essence, infusing it partially with the power of the abyss. If we construct it fully, I should be able to remove this taint with your blessed assistance.").

As for AoW and BoVD together at last, I'm planning to use a feww ideas from it (including drugs and maybe a few Vile spells and such). If you play it up as a gritty mining town and make the villains who are part of this apocalyptic cult truly evil, it helps the PCs fee like real heroes. I say go for it. [/QUOTE
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Ok time for an update. I now have a few miles to the east of Diamond Lake, a secluded mausoleum, that sits alone on a small plateau. The mausoleum stands watch over a grave yard that is in turn surrounded by a 6' high stone wall. Within the mausoleum resides a group of cultist who venerate Dispater. Now this is taken from the write up on the cults of Dispater in BOVD. I have kept things similar to how it is written but have fleshed out the mausoleum and changed the cult leader to a human called Keldar Squint. Keldar knows a lot more about the nature of the mauosoleum than he reveals to his thirteen cultists. Filge knew of the mausoleum but he also knew that it was off limits for grave robbing, a reason that the 'good people' of Diamond Lake allow a cult of Dispater to exist so close to their town. In fact Keldar and his cultists guard a great treasure deep below in the maze like crypts. A fragment of the rod of Fraz-urb-luu is kept safe there, the only portion not held by the forces of good or balance. Dispater himself sent it here when it somehow came into his hands. Now it is guarded by traps of a devious and fell nature as well as a Catobalign demon trapped here by trickery and wards of power.
Allustan can tell anyone who asks him all that he knows of the mausoleum:
1. That it is under the sway of a cult of the dread Dispater.
2. That this is the closest settlement to the mausoleum.
3. If the mausoleum was any closer to Greyhawk then it would probably have been eradicated by now.
4. Yes, the cultists do serve an evil power, but they have never bothered anyone and in fact they make quite good watchers of the dead,(a fact that Allustan puts down to them probably worshipping Wee-Jas as well.((Wrong)).
5. Allustan believes that the cultists are guarding something that is kept hidden below the mausoleum.
6. This something has always interested him but he has never been able to find out what it is, apart from the fact that it may have something to do with the Wind Dukes.
Now after a few more levels are gained the PCs encounter the blue robed individual when the y visit Allustan, for whatever reason. He is sat with Allustan in his study. A faint breeze is blowing here moving the odd sheet of paper. Allustan has a look of mixed delight and shock on his face. HE explains that the blue robed stranger has finally put the pieces together for him. It turns out that he has been meeting on a regular basis with the blue robed man, for some time now and they have finaly discovered what it is that is held below the ancient mausoleum to the East of town...One of the fabled pieces of the Rod of Seven Parts! Of course it must be freed from evils hands as soon as possible...
But of course things are not what they seem. The blue robed man who calls himself Gust is actualy a follower of Fraz-urb-luu and has been entwining Allustan in a web of deception for a while now.
He tries to get the PCs to aid in the 'Rods' recovery but if not will resort to his back up plan...the trio of rival adventurers...

jylan wrote:

Personally I would love to see a full treatment and history on Iggwilv herself. Since she and Gratz are the parents of Iuz I am sure that there must be loads of cool stuff that could be included. Plus she has had links to a lot of other adventures and sourcebooks to do with Greyhawk. I know that she isn't a demon but come on; she imprisoned Gratz for a while so she must be worth it!

Jylan, there was mention a while back by the Paizo boys of further treatment of Iggwilv to appear in Dungeon later this year. So, maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Thanks for the info Steve. I look forward to it.

I am considering running an Iron Kingdom version of the Age of Worms adventure path. I feel like the mood and atmosphere of Diamond Lake lend themselves quite nicely to the SteamFantasy aesthetic.

If anyone else is familiar with the setting, do you have any suggestions for the elements that are not obviously translated? These include: the Wind Dukes, the Chaos Lords, the elementals in the Whispering Cairn, the 3 gods involved in the Ebon Triad.

Thanks in advance.

o

This is probably one of the most difficult conversions that you could attempt. I have DMd an Iron Kingdoms campaign quite recently and my players had loads of fun, some even saying that it was the best ever. I had never seen them put so much thought and characterisation into their pcs before. Anyway my suggestion would be to not even attempt a conversion. Believe me; i've tried. I had the same thought in regards to the shackled city but after weeks of trying i just gave up. The I.K just doesnt have the right 'ingredients'. E.g : A limited number of gods, only one other plane( infernals); the list goes on. I agree that it has got the right tone but i think that it belongs in its own niche setting really.

I think Gygax may have used the name Poxpanus as one of several disease fiends (the Plaginate) who followed Anthraxus in the later Gord the Rogue books. Is that where you got the name, or is it from a mythological source?

--Erik

Well spotted Eric. The name Poxpanus does indeed come from the Gord books and was actualy a servant of Infestix/Nerull in a temple in the city of Dyvers. The book in question was City of Hawks. As a side note it seems a shame that all of the stuff to do with Infestix, Anthraxus and all the other demons (daemons?) of their ilk seems to have vanished from D&D lore. Their was always something unaturaly old and creepy about them from what i can recall from 1st edd.

Deep below the mine lies an old temple, sitting all forgotten in darkness and decay. It is infested with numerous slimes and molds and traps riddled with disease. The digging of the now departed miners as well as the dares of the children have awakened Poxpanus from his dormancy and he now stirs in the depths below. Pcs may find small snippets of details regarding local legends about the bogeyman but thes will prove widely inacurate, painting him as some mischevious sprite and not a demonic black pudding.Possibly local miners may know the most about "'ol poxpanus, the lurker below".

The articles in Dragon gave me an idea for a bit of background to feed to my players. Those who grew up in Diamond Lake know of a legend about the abandonned mine(area32) It concerns a bogeyman that is said to haunt the mine called poxpanus. Local children dare each other to enter the mine. I am planning on there being a long abbandoned temple to Jubilex deep below the mine. Poxpanus is real and is a thrall of Jubilex, possibly the one mentioned in BOVD. It may well come to haunt the pcs as they progress through the campaign. I intend to develop the site more fully in time.

What lies beneath the mine at area 32. In my campaign i am having some of my players who grew up in Diamond Lake know of a childrens tale about a bogeyman called poxpanus that is said to dwell deep in the mine. The children dare each other to venture into the mine but they cant get far due to it being collapsed. Poxpanus is real and i am developing him as arecuring bogeyman that may well haunt the pcs throughout the campaign. They may never know what it is but the will certainly have an interesting time trying to find out.
What he is in my campaign is a Thrall of Jubilex similar to the black pudding out of the BOVD. This may well be developed further yet, it just depends on how my players deal with things.

Dyvynarth wrote:

Archade wrote:

How about some Devils? I know it's called the Demonomicon, but ...

It seems that demons get WAAAAAY more treatment than devils ... I'm running a campaign circling around Levistus (and his attempts to get free), and there are precious few monsters, articles, and details on the Baatorians ...

On that note, how about the mysterious pre-devil natives of Baator and the non-taanari demons. We've seen a few non-taanari, but there have only been rumors of the pre-devils.

Demons do get WAAAAAY more treatment than devils in the magazines. I see 2 reasons for that. The first is that Erik and I are obsessed with D&D demons. The second, and more important one, is that there's a finite number of devils in Hell, and they've all been quite detailed (most recently in the Book of Vile Darkness, but also back in the day in Ed Greenwood's awesome Nine Hells articles in Dragon). Personally, I'm more interested in filling in the blanks for those poor demons who fell through the cracks. There's got to be more to Baphomet than being the minotaur boss and being able to spray unholy water out of his mouth, for example.

That said... I'd really like to read an article about proto-devils.

Ok with that James but surely I am not the only one who craves more stuff on Iggwilv herself. Any chance of it, maybe as a seperate article?

My personal must-see list:

• Demogorgon
  
• Orcus
  
• Graz'zt<sp>
  
• Lolth
  

Yes, I want to see another treatment of Orcus. H4: Throne of Bloodstone was semi-cool, and the picture of the stronghold rocked, but it has an odd atmosphere, and I'd like to see Dragon's new standards of excellence applied.

I also want a similar treatment applied to Lolth. Perhaps Dragon can resurrect her from old hat to sinister demon queen once again?

Personally I would love to see a full treatment and history on Iggwilv herself. Since she and Gratz are the parents of Iuz I am sure that there must be loads of cool stuff that could be included. Plus she has had links to a lot of other adventures and sourcebooks to do with Greyhawk. I know that she isn't a demon but come on; she imprisoned Gratz for a while so she must be worth it!

Id like to see loads of information on these clasic Gygax characters

Has anyone else ever wondered why there is never any mention of Gary Gygax's Gord the Rogue books? For anyone thats never read them they concern the life story of a young thief called Gord who grows up in Greyhawk. He goes on to become achampion of Balance in the war to stop Tharizdun being released. I have always wondered why we have never seen stats for Gord or the other characters in both Dragon or Dungeon. The likes of Curly Greenleaf(half elven druid), Chert(barbarian), Gellor(bard) and many others would make fantastic Npcs as would Gravestone/Unron Nalvistor/Beanpole/Graves, possibly one of the crepiest and deadly servants of Nerull ever . What do others think? I'd especialy love to hear some feedback from some of the guys at Paizo.

Thanks for the replies guys. I realy like where you are taking my Fraz-urb-llu idea.Question for James here: Any reason why the Book of Vile Darkness isn't used more in adventures submitted to Dungeon? I for one think that it is a fantastic piece of work, pssibly one of Monte Cooks greatest!

Hi. Im after a few new players to join our group. We play on a regular basis on a tuesday night. At the moment we are just about to start the new Age of Worms campaign.
You can contact me at neil.mantle@bfwhospitals.nhs.uk

Just wondering what others think about using bits of the Book of Vile Darkness in the AOW? We havent started the campaign as of yet but i am planning on tweaking it a bit to make it more 'mature'. I plan on adding a few spells here and there to some of the Ebon Triad members in TFOE, as well as using the rules for drugs in the Emporium. I feel that Diamond Lake has got just the right kind of gritty realism about it to handle these modifications. I also plan to have a side plot running involving a demon worshiping cult of Fraz-urb-lu, hidden in an abbandoned building somewhere in the town. Not to sure of the ins and outs of this yet but seeing as they worship the prince of deception and lies i may go with the cultists duping the pcs into recovering parts of the demon lords staff, not realising what it is they are really doing. The article in Dragon has a lot of good hooks to it , especially dealing with the cultists.

I'm new to the board but have a quick question. Where exactly in greyhawk is Diamond Lake located? Just so that i can create somu pc backgrounds really.