terrainmonkey's page

"i run an adventure every year, called "the horror of Dunwich." this involves a witches coven ruled by a night hag that uses her dreamwatch ability to suck the people of thier health in thier dreams. the PCs are tasked with destroying the witch and her coven in order to release the town of the unholy menace. the first part of the story brings in the mists of ravenloft and puts the PCs in an alternate dimension they cannot escape from until they destroy the witch.
the first encounter is in a tavern with whatever they fear most destroying them utterly, then they have to go about finding out more information to destroy the menace.

there's a haunted church with a ghost priest, a farm house with fields inhabited by a scarecrow that flings flaming pumpkins at them, a group of ogres that work for the coven, and swamp bogarts that terrorize the PCs as they are making thier way through the haunted fens in search of the coven. it has been a rousing success the 4 times i have run it. if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask."

Hmmm, that sounds really fun, you wouldn't mind expanding would you?

well, it all started with an idea to run a halloween based adventure for a one shot at a party one night. most of the prepwork was done in about fifteen minutes after deciding a few things. here's how i went about deciding what to do:

i first decided on what i didn't want: no undead, no vampires, no necromancer wizards, and no dark castles on a hill. for this one, i wanted to go with some standard halloween icons. witches, cauldrons, and a haunted town. i looked at all the hags in the MM and decided on a night hag, who haunts dreams. hags live in the swamp, so i put a swamp nearby my town, which i called "Dunwich". night hags usually use ogres, so i came up with 3 who took over a farm and were shape changed into human farmers by the hag. the leader of the ogres had the hag eye. with this done, i remembered a picture i saw of a scarecrow throwing a pumpkin head in flames, and decided i would make that a guardian for the farm. one more thing to have to deal with after i set up the clues and sent the PCs on their way.

since this was in the fall, the leaves were coming down around our house, and three days before i ran this adventure, i was blowing the leaves with a high powered blower and noticed that if i angled it right, the air would make the leaves look as though something was burrowing underneath them. when i came back to that thought, i decided on the swamp boginns. these are little evil fey that live in the swamps and harry travellers by throwing stones at them, jumping on thier back and biting, stealing equipment, and generally making the PCs' lives a mess.

i decided to give the night hag a Nightmare, because i thought it would be cool. i also gave her a hut in the swamp and another 2 witches to act as apprentices and to add to her dream haunting ability. one thing about this, was that i was telling a story more than following the rules, so i made a few things up to enhance the story instead of playing by the exact RAW. one thing i've always thought as a DM is this: "Never let the rules get in the way of the story." basic canon if you ask me.

anyway, then i just sat back and put all these things together, threw in a couple of details here and there, and wah la! done. all in about 20 minutes on a sheet of graph paper. then, i thought for a few minutes about the intro, and got it in a few minutes. i'll post that later on.

i run an adventure every year, called "the horror of Dunwich." this involves a witches coven ruled by a night hag that uses her dreamwatch ability to suck the people of thier health in thier dreams. the PCs are tasked with destroying the witch and her coven in order to release the town of the unholy menace. the first part of the story brings in the mists of ravenloft and puts the PCs in an alternate dimension they cannot escape from until they destroy the witch.
the first encounter is in a tavern with whatever they fear most destroying them utterly, then they have to go about finding out more information to destroy the menace.

there's a haunted church with a ghost priest, a farm house with fields inhabited by a scarecrow that flings flaming pumpkins at them, a group of ogres that work for the coven, and swamp bogarts that terrorize the PCs as they are making thier way through the haunted fens in search of the coven. it has been a rousing success the 4 times i have run it. if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.

yeah, though i don't run ebberon, both of these adventures will make it into my home brew campaign. excellent writing all around. will there be a third?

oh yeah, and Mr. Logue, excellent DMing there with the youtube video. i see that you make an excellent DM. i bet your players are spoiled. Good Work!

28. "Hey, Abelard, I dare you to call that half ogre over there a whimp."

yeah, i don't have that panel in my magazine. was it supposed to be a two page? or was that a joke?....

:)

anyway, i think i'll make abelard my next PC for the pathfinder campaign a freind of mine is going to run. we'll see how long he lasts in that one.

okay, so i've noticed that the iconic palading Abelard has been grossly mauled, beaten, stabbed, fileted with acid breath, folded, spindled and mutilated over the past three years since the iconics have come out. i was hoping to see something different with the iconic gatefold cover for 150, but that seems not to be the case. here we see our beloved paladin getting his butt handed to him by demogorgon.

this is a demon he should be doing great against! he should be OWNING demogorgon! here's an enemy that represents everything that abelard is against, evil, chaos, and a desire to bring down humanity and throw it into a state of savagery!

but what do i get instead? another beaten up abelard picture. come on folks, with the last issue, you would think he would be given a fighting chance, a heroic victorious stance upon the vanquished foe of the hated demon prince..... but no. last issue, you couldn't even do that....

how did this guy survive, being the unluckiest paladin ever. i notice tyralandi scrimm goes unhurt in all of the pictures, yet still maintains her girlish figure... unfair, is what that is...

come on, abelard lovers, sound off. raise objection and have the picture redone, i say! who's with me?!!

hey,

here's a map of the first part of my campaign incorporating these maps. Mr. West, i want you to know these are for personal use only and i've givne you credit for the design. i don't want to have any misconception that i am taking credit for your fine work. i couldn't help but transfer the scans to my corel draw program and working on it, adding new things, etc. here's a link to the site where it is.

http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f127/terrainmonkey/?action=view&curre nt=landsofmysterymap1.jpg

if this doesn't work, just go to photobucket.com, and look for terrainmonkey. you'll be able to find it, i'm sure. i'll try to detail some more in the coming days, but i have a lot of work to do outside of adding and creating maps so i may not be as quick on the draw as one would hope.

my basic campaing idea is to have th illithids and the drow try to take over the surface realms by dominating the local human and elven tribes to war against each other just to sow terror and war among the races they hate so much.

edit: just copy/paste the URL above and take out the space between the e and the N in current. i don't know why the boards do this....

curse you Mr. West! You have succeeded in making me take the task of looking through all of the back issues i have for the maps associated with the world. I just got this today, and already i have hundreds of ideas for this map. AARRGGHHH!! just as i was about to start Pathfinder! i now have a new campaign world thanks to you. :) great work all around, with every map. i only hope you'll be putting out more of these areas, and maybe with the help of the fans here, i believe we may just pull it off! again, you have added much more to the entire d&d experience through the years with your evocative and powerfully artistic cartography.

actually, i'm one of those who doesn't want a lot of giant types in the AP. save the fire, frost, hill, cloud, and storm giants for WOTC worlds. IMC giants are descended from titans, and there are no classifications. there are different types but they are all from the same racial stock. full giants, half giants, fomorians (mutant giants), cyclopskin, and ogres. putting all the different types in the AP would make it feel like the "Giants in the earth" series fo modules from waaaay back.

here's my top 3-

100, because the cover was so new and different from all the other ones, and really stood out as one of the best ever done. i stared at that pic for hours, wondering how they did it.

#67 was a great one because of the astral planar adventures, the githyanki fortress adventure (i ran this one about 8 times for different parties during the mid 80's) and the sword fedifensor, which became one of the "Swords of the Nine Kings" (hey, gimme a break, i was 14) these swords were meant to slay different lords of the underworld, including one of the lords of hell, which i also later on used the rules for the 9 hells.

but by far the one that got the most use later on was 252, with the information on "True Ghouls" by the great WB. this one beat out some of the greats because it came out with dungeon issue 70, and the "Kingdom of the Ghouls", possibly the best written adventure ever. this one added so much to my campaign world, i think i've run this adventure about a dozen times for different parties and almost every time, the outcome is different. without the ecology article it wouldn't have been the same. i can't seem to say enough great things about this one.

#52 was my first. a friend showed me the mag when i first started playing and this one was great! the boris picture with the fey dragon seemed alive, there was so much going on there, as with all his paintings. after that, i just couldn't wait to get the next one. when my parents gave me a subscription a year later i was anxious at the beginning of every month, and couldn't wait until the next one came out. i'm gonna miss the old bird.... anybody here feel like someone just killed their best friend?

I love the iconic sorceress. Will you do more with her tatoos than just make them ornamental (by which I mean: do they do cool stuff)?

Didn't you already do an iconic elf rogue for Dungeon.

Half-orc barbarian? Bah! Halfling barbarians unite!

hear hear!! halfling barbarians are scrappy, mean, tenacious bastards in a fight. half orcs are just brutes. halflings are so mean, they'd bite your kneecaps!

and you really can't make a melee ranger, i've tried. every one i've ever done over the past 5 years has always died after 2 or 3 levels. it's best to make a 2 wpn fighter, the'll survive longer at least. but with a d8 hit dice and usual low con scores, don't expect to build a tank. in a pinch, between a cleric and a ranger, i'd take the cleric.

I think an important piece of the art isn't Vanthus, but what's under his feet: a swath of sail cloth with a wyvern on it... is the party's companion since the third adventure (second if you go by the meeting) no more?

actually it looks like the iconic paladin Abelard, the doomed one that's getting beat up in every picture you see of him. some of his punishment in the art of AOW is pretty nasty. in this issue, he looks like he's taken a right heavy beating... bwah ha ha!

If that doesn't pan out (or even if it does), I may consider self-publishing individual maps on my website (when I get it updated) or in collected books of new maps, or both. There seems to be enough interest from the fans to make such a product successful, so it's only a matter of finding the time to work on the new maps.

The Maps of Mystery are certain to continue; I'm just not sure where.

count me in as a buyer. i'd love to have a big book of your maps. heck, you could even put one together right now with the volume of work you already have.

SCAP, i have no experience with but of what i read it didn't really seem too great. i'm sure the writing and all that were good, and the maps looked cool but my party wasn't interested in running it and i didn't have all the adventures anyway.

AOWAP: this looked like a good path. if you like undead and lots of small dungeons, lots of travel, and preternatural horror elements, this one is for you. seemed a little like railroading most of the time, but the villains were cool.

STAP: This one rocks! by far the best of the three. the main villain is kewl, dastardly, and by far the best villain in any dungeon magazine. the adventures are rock solid, exellently written, and a return to the isle of dread. old schoolers will love this one. lots of adventure, swashbuckling action, beautiful settings, adventures on the high seas, beautiful maidens that need rescuing, oh the list goes on! This is what happens when you have a great plot, great writers, and beautiful maps. of the three, i would run this one. i'm on the 7th adventure with my party now, and they can't wait to get to scuttlecove. they may just regret that decision though... bwah ha ha!

yeah, i went with the goblins as well. love those mouths, and the background signs are great. (big fat guy eating a big mutton chop, pixie riding a cat)

top 10, and a lot of these are old school

10. Iuz

9. the Githyanki lich queen, who my party pwned in 4 rounds of combat. (i hate bigby's crushing fist)

8. Warduke, just because he's so cool in a 14 yr old reminiscent sort of way

7. Rary, the traitor

6. King Snurre

5. Flame

4. #3's wife, the suel lich queen

3. The king in White, the lord of the Ghouls (thanks wolfgang)

2. acererak, the great devourer

and finally:

1. Vanthus Vanderboren. this is what is really cool about this guy: he's the main villain in the first episode, and for what he does to the party, and his mocking superority, what he does to his family for power, the badass look when they finally meet him, the back story, the RP potential. this guy has everything. i love playing this guy to the hilt. he's got clear motivations, he's selfish, mean, despicable, cruel, and does it with a panache that cannot be equalled. he's utterly ruthless and sell's his own family out for power. this is a guy who would kill his own grandmother if he could make a buck. he's unapologetically evil. he has totally embraced his evil and cannot be redeemed. he enjoys it that much. whoever wrote this guy deserves a pat on the back. thanks for creating a bad guy my players can't wait to destroy utterly.

the gold kobolk is actually named Keestag the jester. born as a mutant, he quickly became the outcast and was chased out of the tribe, along with the kobold who birthed him. so it was that these two lived in the wilderness, until Keestag reached maturity. during their life together, his mother would sing him to sleep with lullabys and words of comfort. he remembered all those songs, and when he was old enough he left her wilderness home to get revenge on those who had sent him away.

when he came back, it was as if a sign was given to the tribe. he was the "shiny prophet", the story teller, the bard who sings to the tribe about the importance of gold, of yellow shiny-shinys. the king keeps him around to tell stories, sing songs, and regale the tribe with stories of the wilderness, and the lands of humans. he is now the dragon prophet, the one who would lead them to the shiny gold. so far he hasn't been forthcoming (because he doesn't know where it is, and he's afraid if tells anyone the tribe and the king will kill him. it is only a matter of time before he is discovered, but with help from his illusions, he's always pointing the way to the gold. only there is little to be found and it turns to iron when the spells wear off. this has made some of the kobolds suspicious, but they are too daft to realize he is only hiding the ore with illusions.

one of these days, though....

yeah, i'm on board with the whole chris west thing. count me in as another fan.
sure, rob's stuff is great, and NG style maps would be beautiful, but christopher west's maps are so friggin nice looking.

okay, so i would go for a pre painted mini if there were lots of them, with dynamic poses. no random! i don't buy the dnd minis because of that. you don't know what you're getting, and most of the time you can't even use them, or have to proxy if you run out. (is that a bullywug or a sahuagin? i'll use this lizardman to represent the yuan-ti, etc.) uggghh.... and the paint jobs. i just won't go there. if that's your thing, great. me, not so much.

so if you are going to do minis, make sure to get good sculptors, put 4 or 6 in a blister or a box of 10, for a good price and i'm sure they'll fly off the shelf. people want value and quality. since you've given them both with this new direction, keep it up.

okay, here's why i'm upset, and it's probably the same reason a lot of us are. this is what WOTC is saying to thier customers:

"We weren't making money on these magazines, your opinions and thoughts don't matter, we can't really reveal anything about what we have planned, and we don't care what you have to say about it anyway so just be quiet and let us tell you how to play the game. you won't hear from us for a week or so because we're too scared of our customers yelling at us for such a bad marketing decision."

paizo has said, "don't worry, we lost the license, but we have something in mind, here's all new content, from great writers, artists, and cartographers. stick with us and we'll lead you into a brand new world of adventure and excitement. we're coming up with new plots, new monsters, a new setting, and maybe we'll let you contribute to it so its a shared world. in fact, we've got the next 6 months planned so you don't have to wait for new material. sure it costs more but you're getting a quality product. and we'll explain it as best we can by LISTENING TO OUR CUSTOMERS and responding to thier wishes and needs like a good company should."

hasbro did the same thing to Avalon Hill, now the d&d line is going to suffer. whether or not the magazines were doing well isn't the case. they were the flagship mags of the hobby. i didn't know about d&d 25 years ago until i saw a copy of Dragon at a comic store.

this explaination is just a bunch of "we remember the good times, i like teryaki, and don't worry, we've got it handled. just wait, we'll get around to telling you in a few days when you calm down." it was the wrong way to handle it, and they upset a lot of people in the process. Paizo handled it perfectly. they told us what happened, then told us how thing were going to go. i'm excited to see pathfinder, and read about all the new stuff that's going to add to my campaign world.

WOTC can go suck it.

i would so buy them. lots of them. i like the gritty, cartoonish look. i've always loved Wayne's artwork, and its a different take on the typical greenskin goblinoid model that has been used thousands of times before. more fairy tale-ish.

for the longest time i've been using the GW night goblins as the ones in my campaign. i haven't used orcs for a while because of the whole LOTR thing but if this is the general direction for humanoids, i can't wait. the orcs in my games are always feral, evil and monstrous, wicked grey skinned chaotic evil creatures (as they should be). if this is the general shape of things to come in pathfinder, then you have a fan for life.

i'm with the group that says this isn't a big price to pay. most gamers i know would happily pay 20 or 30 bucks (or more) a month for quality product. it's going to be easy for me now since i don't have to pay WOTC any more. for the past 3 years, dungeon has given me more content and material for my campaign than all the new splatbooks, monster manuals, and environment guides put together. i think there are a lot of folks who gladly pay and support paizo now. besides, i make a hell of a lot less than 100k, and i'm not complaining. just drink a few less latte's and you'll do fine. :)

so i'm looking at the blog and that wayne reynolds picture comes up of the goblins, all fang and red eyes and burning the houses with glee and i just can't wait until the first book comes out so i can use these evil nasty looking things! (whew!) if this is the state of things in the pathfinder adventures, you've got a subscriber here. can't wait until the look for the trolls and ogres and giants comes out. i can't begin to imagine what these will look like with Wayne at the helm. great work, and kudos for getting him to do the artowrk. maybe now you can get lockwood on the art staff. huh? please? hmm?

by the way, who is doing the cartography for the pathfinder series? christopher west perhaps? please? pretty please with goblins on top?

just wanted to let all of you at Paizo know, i will be following everything you put out from now on. i cannot in good consience buy anything from WOTC any more. the king is dead, long live the new king. the adventures you guys have put out in the past 3 years have added more to my campaign than 30 years of tsr/wotc. my angst with that company has been steadily growing for the past 5 years, and now i'm over the top with this decision. i have been collecting both magazines for a number of years, and i will remain loyal to those who have made it great. every month you have put out consistently high grade product, that seems to have been written with heart in mind, not money. i only wish WOTC could see it. while i understand things change, this is going to spell a disasterous change for wizards. now all i have to do is convince my sister to get me a pathfinder subscription for my birthday in september. probably won't be too hard.

to all the writers (nick, wolfgang, richard, james, and others), editors, artists, cartographers (primarily mr. west) etc. at paizo who have made my gaming experiences over the past 5 years more rich and dynamic, i give you my salute. thank you for many fond memories, and many happy ones in the future. you have a customer for life. WOTC just lost one. forever.

"Lessee... Last of page 57 and beginning of page 58. Man, I laughed so hard when I saw that. I guess I'm a complete Messageboard Geek (tm).

i just got the reference. oh man, he really got you there, nicolas. now all you have to do is write a great adventure to get your revenge. good luck!

advance slaymate.....

frantic writing... harpies think you're adorable. awww... how cute.

and speaking of cute, oh my god, tyralandi is yummy. makes me want to go to the porphyry house myself. hawt isn't the word. speechless, that's it. OH MY GAWD!

okay, there is no question as to the one true master of adventure design now. Richard Pett has won the contest between himself and that upstart Logue. Using JJ's setting, he had really made a delicious adventure for killer DMs (i'm one of those, BTW)! and the setting itself is beautiful. one could run an entire campaign just in this one place. it is so rich, pwerful, and devilishly majestic, i don't know where to start a party out in this place. boy oh boy, can't wait until the PCs in my party get there.

you know, i am really envious of the players in your campaigns sir. envious indeed!

keep up the good work!

sorry nicholas. really, i am. do try harder.

jeremy--

if you were talking to me, that is an article i wrote for a webzine about 6 months ago. it never got off the ground so i decided to post it here. sorry if i offended or didn't make it clear where it came from. yes, i wrote it, and no there is no plagiarism going on here.

This is a long post, but it generally follows along with how i work things as far as villains and other folks.

As a Dungeon Master (DM), one of your main problems is the creation of effective Non Player Characters (NPCs). In this article, I will provide a few helpful hints on how I go about designing NPCs to help, hinder, and harm my Player Characters (PCs). I have been DMing for well over 20 years, and a lot of what I will show comes from my direct experience with what has happened at the table over these many years. Having said that, this is just a guide on how I create and use NPCs at my table. Your experience and methods may be different from mine, and if they work for you, great. However, I am under the opinion that everything may help and every DM, even myself, can improve. Hopefully, this article may help even the veteran DMs out there create effective opponents for his or her game.
First, a few facts: In all of the aspects of adventure design, from maps, campaign settings, monsters, plot, and story, NPCs are without a doubt the primary building block of any successful D&D game. They account for well over 90% of the interactions your players are going to have with your campaign world. From the lowly commoner to the Evil Bad Guy (BBEG), these NPCs form the focus for creating an exciting and memorable game experience for your players. Without effective NPCs, your game world falls flat, and leads to a boring experience at the table for your players. We’ve all played in games where the NPCs were just carbon copies of the same person, with dead, flat uninteresting voices who impart information like reading the text of an Encyclopedia. I think we can all agree that these games are not very fun to play in, and usually a group dissolves after a few sessions. It is this writer’s hope that this article helps you avoid this outcome in your own games.
Remember this fact when creating an NPC: Good characterization comes from motivation. This bears repeating. Good characterization comes from motivation. Even as your PCs have motivations to go adventuring, so too do your NPCs have motivations as well. The second factor when creating NPCs is the rule of Cause and Affect. I’ll deal with that later. With these two rules of NPC creation, you are well on your way to create effective opponents that your players will remember for years to come.
First: Motivation. Every person in the world has a motivation for living their life. This is equally true in the game world setting. Every commoner has things to do for their own survival. Every bad guy, monster, and god has something that gives them purpose in life. The primary motivation for any NPC is survival. Obviously. Secondary to that is where the PCs come into play. For example: An NPC blacksmith has to put a roof over his head, has to pay apprentices and workmen, has to buy materials, and make a profit to keep him through the lean months. When adventurers come to call for him to build certain weapons, armor, and affect repairs, he has to keep his motivation in mind at all times. This is far different than the BBEG necromancer king, who wants to rule the world and make a plague that turns people into flesh eating ghouls. Still, the Necromancer King has the motivation to survive, but his secondary motivator is to create the plague. This leads into the Cause and Affect rule.
Cause and Affect: let’s break that phrase down into its component parts: What is the Cause of the NPC, and how does that Affect the PCs? Knowing these two facts and integrating them with Motivation is half of the creation process, and only takes a few minutes. In fact, the steps I use when creating an effective NPC is to first find out the motivation for that character. This leads to the cause, which then answers the question of how this cause affects the characters.
Now I hear you asking, how do I come up with a good motivation? I usually start with the basics and work up from there. Usually the 7 deadly sins is a good beginning. Greed, Lust, Envy, Sloth, Wrath, Vanity, Anger. Now for you common citizens that populate the cities and towns of your world, these are not effective motivators, as they will probably never affect your PCs in any remarkable way. With the exception of greed, most NPCs the characters meet will never need any other motives than that. These are your basic commoners, shop keeps, smiths, tavern masters, innkeepers, etc. and are simple window dressing, flavor text if you will. For your NPCs who are plot hooks, you need to delve a little deeper into their psyche to make them more effective. Here’s how I go about doing this.
I’ll use the example of Lord Fauntleroy Du Chambert. This gentleman was a con man. His primary motivator was greed. His Cause was simple, the garnering of wealth. He came from a noble family in another part of the world, but his father died and left no money in the will for Fauntleroy. The family was disgraced and he had to sell the family estate for a pittance and decided to make his name elsewhere in the world. How could I make him Affect the PCs in my campaign? Easy. They had just cleared out a ruined manor house, and were in the process of reconstruction to use it as a base of operations. Fauntleroy was in town when he heard about the manor from one of the workers at the tavern one night, and decided to set up a scam on the players. He fabricated the will, naming himself sole executor of the manor, and decided to approach the party with the forged document in hopes they would move out and give him access to the manorhouse.
This finished the majority of the NPC creation process. This then leads into the rest of the method of creating effective and memorable Characters, the meat of the matter. Most of your NPCs will be simple as far as stats are concerned. Most of the time I don’t even worry about stats for characters unless they are going to be in combat. Your basic characters such as commoners, smiths, etc. are not going to be melee types so there is no need to go to the extra trouble of creating their abilities and skills. 99% of the time, these will never come into play anyway. That doesn’t mean they don’t have personality. This is what I find to be the most trouble for new or young DMs, giving their NPCs a personality that is memorable to the players. Fortunately, there are several inspirations in the world for personality quirks, turns of phrase, speech patterns, and etc. One of my inspirations for effective characters is the book by Robert Cambell, called “The Heroe’s Journey.” This lists several archetypes to go by when I need an effective NPC. Some of them include the Mentor, the Comic Foil, the Damsel in Distress, and the Shadow. This is a great book for effective story creation as well, which is something I may discuss in a later article.
Another form of inspiration is TV and movies. And I’m not just talking about TV shows like Buffy, Angel, and Battlestar Galactica, or fantasy movies like Hawk the Slayer, Willow, and Beastmaster. While these are good shows and movies, they represent a small window of the available resources I suggest using as inspiration when it comes to effectively portraying NPCs at the table. Watching shows like the Sopranos, Deadwood, M*A*S*H, and Everyone Loves Raymond, has given me more inspiration on character personality than a show like Xena or Hercules. Movies like Howard’s End and Sleepless in Seattle gives me more than watching a movie like Excalibur. This is not to say that the movies and TV shows I have listed are bad, but I would suggest that by broadening our horizons past the typical Sci-Fi and Fantasy genres may give you more insight on creating characters with more “bite” if you will. The second inspiration is books. Now, I’m a big fan of R.A. Salvatore’s works, and I love Dragonlance chronicles. Lord of the Rings, love it or hate it, is an inspiring trilogy. But these are not the only muses I go to for ideas. I have been known to take examples for characters out of the works of Shakespeare, Tom Robbins, Stephen King, and even the Bible.
Another source of ideas is just looking out the window or going to the mall and watching ordinary people. I have spent many hours in restaurants listening and watching other patrons to see how they act, react, and speak. Even the people in your lives, your family members, friends, and co workers have personality traits and quirks that you can use as inspiration. I have used many friends and relatives as NPCs. My father is a Minister, and I use him as inspiration for the main High Priest at the Temple of Io in my campaign. I have used My brother as a valiant knight named Andre’ Monforque who met the players one time, and later turned into a bad guy as a Blackguard they had to bring to the light of reason to defeat.
Yet another way to make your NPCs memorable is through quirks and props. The first is easy. By describing an NPC with a scar across his neck and giving him a raspy voice, you give him something for the characters to remember the next time they meet him. Perhaps this person is just a blacksmith who had an accident a long time ago and speaks in quick sentences to lower the pain in his throat. He speaks in short sentences and can get his message across with a minimum of verbiage. Perhaps this is one of the main minions of your BBEG, one who will be met several times in the campaign. After the first few times, if you speak the same way, the players will remember, giving him a nickname like “Wheezy”, or “Rasper”. But they will remember him, nonetheless. If one of your players is a wizard who needs to see an apothecary, having that man scratch his beard a lot and speak with a lisp will make him more memorable than Apothecary 1A, seller of potions.
Sometimes in game, if I have an NPC that I wish to use over and over, I will use props such as a long black jacket, or a cane with a gem on it, or a particular pirate hat, or feathered cap. Now, I’m not saying to dress up for the game every week. This is something that I do on occasion to make an important NPC. For your average commoners, smiths, etc. I don’t usually dress up or give them anything but an unusal accent or certain phrases. But for the BBEG, I sometimes will don a dark jacket, a cloak, or some other prop that the players will associate with later on. For example, I have a politician in my game, Lord Kassivus Vaille, who rose to power over a city through skullduggery, assassination, and by buying nobles in his rise to power. The players don’t know this yet, but he is a rakshasa. The first time they met him, I was wearing a long black jacket with a lion pin affixed to the lapel. The jacket was a Christmas gift, and I found the pin at a consignment shop for $1.50. However, every time after that, when the players meet him, I put on the jacket and for a few moments, “Become” him if you will. I had a great night once when during the game I left the table and put on the jacket and came back. They all groaned, “Oh man, watch out. Vaille is back. What do we do now?” They started worrying and getting their guard up because they knew he was a bad guy by that point, as Vaille had done a lot of things to hamper the players since they first met him.
These props need not cost you more than 5 or 10 dollars, and you can find a lot of them at places like consignment shops, dollar stores, and second hand stores. A simple 50 cent scarf at a second hand shop makes an effective prop for Princess Janikka, and makes her more memorable than Princess 1A, Damsel In Distress. Just a simple pair of reading glasses and an old bible written in German I found at a used bookstore are a couple of props I use for a man named Daxtoor the Scribe, and every time I put the glasses on, thumb through the book for the appropriate part where my Flavor Text is, the players know they are going to hear a good tale and this brings them that much more into the gaming experience. This also helps to get into the character. Don’t forget, you are role playing too, only you have more roles to play during the game. Using props helps you stay in character.
The next way of creating effective NPCs is through the use of voice. I touched on this earlier in the article with the example of a flat robotic voice for every NPC the players meet. By adding variations, slang, accents, and turns of phrase, you can make your average Joe Smith into Josephus the Blacksmith, who uses the phrase, “...and Bob’s yer uncle,” or “…and that’s how you do it in Ostford.” Like the example above, Lord Fauntleroy Du Chambert, I spoke in a Haughty British voice (which I picked up from a history teacher in college) with my head held high, and used imperious mannerisms to create a character that the players loved to hate. This was a far richer game experience that night than if I had gone with a stale flat monotone voice, or my own normal way of speaking, to portray Fauntleroy. This goes back to the inspirations of movies and television, and real life. By watching and being an observer of people, you can get a better idea of how to use different voices and mannerisms for good NPC portrayal.
Now, all of the above is not going to happen overnight. There’s a question: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” and the answer is “Practice, Practice, Practice.” For every NPC I aim to create, I practice their mannerisms, speech patterns, voices, and general look at least a few hours for ever game. I am lucky to have a background in drama, so I know what it takes to act to a certain degree. But anyone can do it. All it takes is a little effort, even without being on stage or taking any acting classes. Just the ability we all have to mimic other people is enough. By practicing a style of language, a quirky mannerism, or the way people talk and act, you are well on your way to create an effective NPC that the players will remember for years to come. Give yourself a little time. Becoming a good DM doesn’t happen overnight. Though some take only a few months to create a great game, others may take years.
So, to sum up the effective NPC creation process, remember the following basic facts and you are well on your way to designing characters that your players will remember for years to come. First, find a primary motivation for said character. Then, ask yourself what Cause this character has, and how it will Affect your PCs. Then, decide what mannerisms, voice pattern, and phrases this NPC uses when dealing with your PCs. Decide if your NPC is worthy of a special prop or two. Then, practice, practice, practice, and when game day comes, you will have someone your characters will talk about for years to come. “Hey, remember that Lord Fru-Fru guy we always had to deal with who tried to take away our Manor house? That guy was a jerk! Who did he think he was, trying to scam us like that?” Perhaps in the next article, I will explain how to give statistics to these NPCs. Hope this helps, folks.

so i just picked up the Three Dragon Ante cards and was reading my copy of the latest update to Ravenloft. In there, you can use the 3DA cards for fortune telling at madame Eva's place. my PCs are all only 10th level, and i decided since i really didn't like "the lightless Depths" adventure too much, i am going to skip the majority of it and run the City of Broken Idols instead. now, this is a higher level adventure and there are places where there could potentially be a TPK if they don't watch out. so to give them a few hints about what they might be up against, i wrote out a bunch of different prophecies about some of the main plot points/items/etc. that the PCs might find or face. Below is a list of these, and the cards corresponding with them.

so, this is what you do if you have the cards. take out 4 each of the gold, silver, copper, red, black, blue, and green. this is the draw pile. you also need the Dracolich, The Priest, The Druid, and The Dragonslayer. These are the face cards. Then, take out Tiamat and Bahamut.

Set up the 4 face cards in a circular pattern, with the dracolich at the top, the priest on the right, the dragonslayer on the bottom, and the druid on the left, across from the priest. then, put the two cards, tiamat and bahamut face down in the center of the others and leave them for the last.

Pick one card from the draw pile and place it on each card, face up. then, pick another card for each one and make it a crossing card. this gives you 2 cards per face card. it's up to you whether or you have two or not. it depends on how muych information you want to give the PCs. If you get two of the same card, just read another one of the fortunes of your choosing.

The Missionary—Card: The Priest

Face Card message:
“The servant of the Sun is shown in shadow. He seeks help in the dark places under the earth.”

Cards Explanation
gold “You will see him in the hidden rest of the followers of the sun.”

black/blue “There is darkness about him. Trust not the mask he wears.”

Green/red “Death and villainy I see in his wake. He is truly damned.”

silver/copper “His allies are many and, when darkness comes, show themselves to be noble.”

The Bow—Card: The Dragonslayer

Face card message:
“A weapon of light is held in the vault of the sun and moon.”

Cards Explanation:
Gold/red “Follow the three gods around the heavens. The stars, suns, and moons
Illuminate the path.”

Blue/green “Three gods of the ancients command the elements. They all must be
copper Appeased ere the weapon of light is given.”

silver/black “I see a city of pyramids ruled by the three old ones. Their vault is to the South.”

The Lord Of Madness, Khala—Card: The Dracolich

Face card message:
“The Tentacled Thing will be found in the chamber of pearl. His vile host is legion.”
Cards Explanation
Blue “Past the pit of volcanic mud lies he who sees with many eyes.”

Green/gold “The King of madness gazes at his enemies and brings fear to The heart of the most courageous.”

Black/silver “Beware his deranged bile he spits from fanged maw. Acid and Weakness pollute the hearts of those most worthy.”

Red/copper “The guardians of the King are beasts of fang and fin. All feast on The skins of sacrifice.”

Taboo Island—Card: The Druid

Face card Message
“Your travels take you to the temple of the old ones. Those who live near this place name it taboo.”

Cards Explanation
Red/ “All are cursed who go to the temple. Fiends of horror and fang rule its
Reaches.”

Blue “The land is watched by the horror lizard made giant by tainted waters.”

Black/green “The temple of the ancients is watched by the king of madness and his
Foul skin eating servants.”

copper “In the cursed village lie the guardians of wind and sky. The beasts of the
Island hold this place in their thrall.”

Gold/silver “Trust those of snake and wing. They will show you the one true path
Of light in the dark places under the earth.”

Other Cards: read these after the others have been explained. have one of the PCS (randomly rolled) pick one or the other, and read the following: "Now, one among you must pick. bane or boon, help or hinderance! Choose one of the two cards in the center. either will lead to glory, or certain death for all!"

Bahamut: “This is a boon. The platinum king is soon to return. He is want of
A kingdom, and glory will follow with him.”

If this card is drawn, then during combat in of the taboo island temple and the fight with the aspect, every PC will get a sacred bonus of +2 to AC, To hits, Damage, Skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws as long as Khala is alive. This stacks with any other bonus of this type.

Tiamat: “The five headed queen watches over all. There is only darkness here.
Your quest is doomed.”

If this card is drawn, then during combat with the aspect, every PC will get a profane bonus of -2 to AC, To hits, Damage, Skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws as long as Khala is alive. This stacks with any other bonus of this type.

When the Tiamat card is drawn, the fortune teller instantly ends the reading and grabs up her cards, says “This reading is done!” and runs off to get away from the PCs. As she runs away, the Tiamat card falls down and lands in the muddy ground in front of the party, a solemn reminder of the curse that is upon them.

so with this in mind i hope to give my PCs a few heads up in areas where it might be difficult. use them if you want and let me know what the reaction to this is. if i've done a bad thing here by letting a few things of info out, i'm sorry. i just played this out last night, and wanted to get some feedback from other people who are running it. anyway, just a thought.

yeah, uhm... i just got the idea from him. i didn't see it first. didn't want to give that impression, sorry.

however it did give me fodder for an upcoming adventure i'm planning on running for one of my 3 groups. thanks!

1. Tiamat
2. Bahamut
3. Klauth
4. Flame
5. Dragotha
6. Lashona
7. Regiarix from the Red hand of Doom module, just because that picture is so friggin kewl. reminds me of some of the old 1st ed module covers, which Hackmaster has enhanced a bit.
8. Garyx
9. Tygarun from the Red Hand Module.
10. brazzemal

story to follow, i have to get my campaign notes.

not letting me edit. if the above link doesn't work, take out the space between the v and e in vecnatomb.jpg.

hope that helps.

okay, so i took 3 maps and threw out a few ideas on paper about a bad guy and some ideas looking at the maps.

the adventure name is "In the Hands of Shadow" for PCs level 10-13.

here's the stats for the BBEG i have made up, just a normal human with a strong connection to the negative elemental plane. he's the cult leader for a cult of vecna named "the Shadowhands". lately, priests of cuthbert have been missing. little do they know that the Shadowhands have been using the crypts underneath the very temple of Cuthbert to cary out thier vile rituals to death in the name of Vecna the Undying.

The cult has some help from other higher ups in the church. the tavernmaster Kalvan Rundeyo, is a fighter 3/cleric of vecna 5, and is the second in charge of the cult.

a noble, Danton Crystavich ARI 4, is a fine upstanding citizen on the surface and wishes to run for town mayor one day. he is actually in thrall to this cult after they learned about an affiar with a "woman of the night" who later died accidentally during a scuffle between her and Danton. this information would not do him well should it get out. it would ruin his marriage and his social standing in the community, so he allows the cult the use of his basements and crypts. in return they keep information about him out of the public eye and are in the works to increase his odds of winning the upcoming elections. this would serve the temple well to have a noble in thier command.

Here's the basic rundown for the BBEG, Livor Theldusci.

Livor Theldusci—high priest of Vecna, cleric 3/necromancer 3/mystic theurge 7
Hp: 5d8+8d4 (48 hp)
Human, elite
St 8
Dx 13
Cn 10
In 16
Ws 15
Cha 13

Saves:
F: 6 3 9
R: 4 1 3 8
W: 11 2 3 16

Feats
Spell focus necromancy
Greater spell focus necromancy
Fell drain*
Fell animate*
Tomb tainted soul*

Bracers of armor +2
Amulet of natural armor +2
Cloak of resistance +3
Attacks: +6/+1
Dagger (mwk cold iron +1, cold, unholy) Vecna’s Icicle 34304 gp
Total attack bonus: +5/+0, dmg 1d4+1d6/ or 1d4+3d6 against good
110,000-
85304=
24,696 in other gear

Spells:
Wizard S/D: 4/6/6/5/4/3 This includes the specialist necromancy spells/ day
Cleric S/D: 6/6/6/4/4/3 This includes domain spells
Skills: Know Arcana +16, Religion +15, Nobles +7, planar +8, diplomacy +11, concentration +18, Decipher script +12, heal +5, sense motive +9, spellcraft +18

* These are from the book Libris Mortis

here's the maps i used. i updated the guildport map with the encounter locations as on the maps for the temple and the catacombs.

anyone else have any ideas, go ahead an post em, maybe we can make this a community adventure. just for kicks.

obviously these maps are christopher west's. i am only using them just for a demonstration here as to what can be done with his great designs.

http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f127/terrainmonkey/?action=view&curre nt=vecnatomb.jpg

if the above link doesn't work, get rid of the space between the V and E in vecnatomb.jpg

"It seems that not only the MOMs are connected, one of them is also connected to a non-MOM map from dungeon magazine. The Temple of Vecna map from the Core beliefs: Vecna article directly connects to the Ancient catacombs MOM. Was this the only one that did this?"

thanks for the idea. i'm working on something maybe all of you can help me with. more to follow, but i am using both of these maps for a special project. just to show what can be done with CW's maps.

here's how i do it. high level clerics IMC are rare, and only found in big cities, of which there are only 5 or 6. you also have to bring 200,000 gp, and this includes 1,000 gp/level of the victim in diamonds.
the process takes 24 hours, and when the victim is raised, he loses a level AND a con point permanently. he starts off with xp equal to the beginning of his new level, and cannot get it back with greater restoration.

okay, i'll bite.

first off, you seem to be reading my mind, mr. west. Every time i have DM writer's block (and many of you know what i'm talking about) all i need to do is flip through a few of my old back issues of dungeon and WA LAH! there it is, a map that is perfect for my next adventure. it doesn't matter if the characters are out in the desert and there's nothing around. what, those old tomb ruins from issue X? sure, perfect! the slaver's stronghold ruled by a pirate king? oh, i remember, there was a walled town in a jungle map not long ago, i'll use that.

inspiration, sir. that's what you give us. i'm sure many of you have read about various adventures i've used with your maps. the icicle tower was a masterpiece, the pirate caves doubly so, and one can go on for hours with all the ideas for the latest set of interconnected goodness.

now, what i want is a tutorial on how you do these wonderful maps. that would be great for all of us digital mappers here. ashenvale, would you agree?

SWW-

So the party then goes to the arena and has a fight with a bunch of different goons, monsters, and such. everyone thinks Druss is a great warrior and he's been wanting to get back to the arena so he goes in. everyone bets on him. the first few matches go alright, with a wyvern and some other beasties. Then, druss goes up against one of the arena champions that has been undefeated.

An ogre spiked chain fighter. well.....

this one didn't go so well for Druss. he got pummeled for massive damage every time he tried to get inside the ogre's reach. finally, he looks on his character sheet and says, "oh yeah, i have a spear. i'll throw that at him." for the record, this is the one and only time druss has ever used his spear.
so, he throws the spear.

nat 20.
confirmed.

the spear goes through the ogre's neck, and as he's flailing around, Druss goes up to him and starts hacking away. the ogre is still up, he tries deperately to get reach, but Druss never lets up and keeps on him. moving and hacking, and never lets up until the ogre finally falls.

they made a bunch of money that night.

After the arena, they went back to lavinia's mansion and she told them about going to the isle of dread. they decided to join in. she asked them if they had another boat and they told her about coming back in the Wyvern. after a couple of weeks of downtime, they loaded up the boats for a 3 month tour...

During the two week downtime, the party rogue met Mr. Merivanchi, who was buying last minute items for a grand going away feast. the rouge was out looking for a mark, found one and promptly did a pick pocket roll (nat 20) then fled into the crowd. Avner never knew what hit him. an easy mark...

So, imagine the hilarity that ensued when they finally found out the guest list and who they were going to be travelling with.

i think some have already read what the rogue did to merivanchi so there's no need to go into details. just suffice it to say he has made it a point to make Avner's life a living hell.

So they set off, have a few adventures along the coastline, the cleric of heironeous had a bug in his stomach they had to fight, then crew memebers kept falling overboard for some mysterious reason. riggin lines were being cut, there were no suspects. food poisoned in the night, and all other misfortunes hounded the PCs for about 3 weeks until they found the stowaway. rowyn kilani.

after a quick battle, which left Druss in the water hanging on for dear life, they killed her finally.

At the lsot ruins of tomoachan they went into the caves, fought the displacer beast, then the gibbering mouther, and then the will-o-wisp creature. they negotiated with it to kill whatever monster was in there, (i don't want to give anything away, because this is a plot point others may not know about.) suffice it to say they found a bat idol that seemed out of place there. but they took it anyway and left.

then, they went back to the ship, continued on thier voyage and had more fights with pirates druing the trip. there was a storm of epic proportions that got them to the island in ruins. they lost thier precious gold and other treasures, washed up on shore, and then were promptly attacked by a gigantic lizard creature. again, don't want to give away spoilers here.

Bullywug Gambit

All i can say, is savage monkeys RAWK! the PCs went out to kraken's cove, fought some monkeys on the way, and picked up a freind, named Robert Franco, or Bob as they call him. Hes a grizzled old navy man with a game leg and a penchant for pretty women and bottles of rum. Bob is now thier captain, as he fights with the strength of a lion. he's a twin cutlas wielding madman in combat.

so the party fights through the caves with the savage pirates and meets up with the pirate captain Jarviss harvel (sp?) they negotiate with her, she tells them about the assault on vanderboren mansion and then they head off to go rescue lavinia.

When they get to sasserine, they meet all kinds of unusual characters during the Wyrmfall festival. (i never ran the age of worms, and i'm using the mythology of my world. thus the name change. this is an anual festival in my lands that happens on the year the the first king of Drakkengard, Angus the Dragon King, died fighting Tiamat and her consorts at the battle of Firestorm Peak over 100 years ago.)

So the PCs meet up with a beligerent gnome and Druss gets in a fight with him. at first he feels pity on the little guy and tells him to go away. the gnome just keeps pushing, calling Druss a hairy ape, questioning his masculinity, and finally tries to bite Druss' leg. well that's when he just had it, drew his great axe and was about to start swinging when the rest of the party grappled him and dragged him away. Then a half orc came out, get into the middle of things and dragged his gnome freind away.

"Was that guy a boss or something?" Will (the player of Druss) asked me. "he had some cajones for a 0 level gnome."

The party also fought the stilt walker assassins and dispatched them with relative ease. then on to the vanderboren mansion.
They went directly to the bedroom, got in a fight with a bunch of guards, and finally with the big bullywug cleric who proved a bit more difficult than most normal pirates. they rescued lavinia, the jade ravens, and killed all of the rest of the pirates and bullywugs that were there.

This whole adventure further solidified thier hatred of vanthus.

okay, so it's been a while so here's an update.

so the PCs have been through a lot since we've been playing and here's a synopsis of what they've been through.

TINH-- fought through the parrot island caves, then went to see the taxidermist. he negotiated for them to release him and was promptly killed by an arrow through the chest as he tried to leave. the party fought some thugs, went down into the lotus dragon hideout, and then killed a bunch more thieves there. found rowyn kilani and negotiated with her, before the whole thing got messed up and broke out into a fight.

Double critical on her pet, arrow through the eye by the druid and the resulting damage pretty much meant the arrow exploded bits of lizard brain matter all over the room. (i do a version of critical hits with mulitple 20s. the druid player, Robbie, rolled a nat 20 to hit, then a nat 20 to critical, then rolled another nat 20 to do 4x damage. then he rolled 2 away from max damage. this guy is hot on the dice.)

that was the end of that adventure. Rowyn got away.

well, all i can say to the CE=NPC thing i have is that it is how i've always played. this is supposed to be a "heroic" campaign, and i somehow don't see killing someone because of hatred a "heroic" act. thus, my heavyhandedness. this is the way some people run thier campaigns, period. you do it differently, and i do as well. and never the twain shall meet.

i've been DMing this game well into 3 decades. i think i know how to run things, and this policy has always worked for me. unless i run a game where i allow evil alignments, in most normal games i don't allow any evil at all. this game has always been, for me anyway, a quest of good versus evil. to give you a hint, most of my PCs are lawful good clerics, fighters, or paladins. so when someone in my game decides to murder someone because of hatred, i think that kinda seems evil. now, i don't want to get into an alignment debate, so please don't hijack the thread.

i think we've settled some things, so i guess we'll see how it goes thursday night.

"her Strength improves by 1 to 10"

okay, so you actually created a fighter with a 9 strength? wow.... okeydokey. good idea.

okay folks, let's not all gang up on Tool, here. he came here asking for advice on a certain act he was going to carry out and i think he got it. he's actually a good player to a certain extent. he comes up with some bizarre stuff at the table and some of it actually works out to his benefit. this is one of those harebrained schemes that i thought he needed other input for, so i sent him here to ask other folks. other folks that had more play experience than he did.

now, about metagaming. yes, i hate it, and have told him about using out of game knowledge and so far he's been good about it. besides, i told him if he does use anything he gets from here, i will change everything. and if another PC dies because of something he did, he would probably get beat by that player. i have a couple of rough and rowdy guys at the table. in fact, one of the players, who sits directly across from Tool, carries a switchblade, a couple of other knives, and puts them on the table to get into character. he ahs no compunction to whip one out if he feels the slightest bit offended, and tool knows this.

but please, if there is anyone to blame for looking for spoilers in this case, it was me for sending him here. i've got this situation under control, and we have yet to discuss the whole situation and come to some agreements. but whatever the decision i'm going to let the dice fall where they may and go from there.

this is positively the BEST adventure ever written for dungeon hands down. period. i have run it close to 5 times and it never fails to bring down at least one or 2 PCs. one time it led to a TPK. there are no more mundane ghouls IMC because of this. every ghoul has class levels and my players are deathly afraid of any ghouls that come against them. Thanks Mr. Baur. there's also a version of the true ghoul in the libris mortis, only it's called the gravetouched ghoul. check it out.

braiiinnnssss........

yeah, i'm thinking i'm going to end this thread here and now. the purpose of it has made its mark. thank everyone who has admonished my player. i appreciate it. :)

when he first brought thisup to me i told him to ask people here what they thought of the idea. i'm happy with most of the responses. so this is what's going to happen.

1- if he tries to pull this off, he will find that the merivanchis aren't just stupid nobles. they actually have class levels. even if by yourself you manage to kill both of them like you are thinking, i will instantly turn your alignment to chaotic evil. no ifs ands or buts. sorry, i like being heavy handed that way. when you become evil in my campaign, i take your character and use it as an NPC. there is no negotiating with me on this. i have done this in the past with other players and i'm not about to stop now.

2. suspicion for the murders will fall upon lavinia, since she is the only one who benefits from their deaths. evidence will be sought after, and you can be sure that she will send the jade ravens to find out info. there WILL be a cleric who can cast speak with dead, and they will find out the murderer within days.

3. if you are still there, your character will be taken out into the central square and hung. without trial. within minutes after you are caught. period.

4. roll up a new character. or leave the group. those are your options should you take this path.

merivanchi is a bastard, no doubt. his uncle means well but has a bit of flawed thinking about the natives, the way farshore should be defended, and his son is unsavory. this is how it's meant to be. they also have power in sasserine, and there are family who would like to know how he died and what happened. i can assure you the rest of his family will be tough, and will send a group of tough people down to farshore to take matters into thier own hands.

i hate to be so heavy handed about this, but it must be done for the game to continue at an enjoyable pace fore EVERYONE in the group, not just one person that wants to WIN at the game instead of join in the team narrative as a whole.

wow, that was quick.

so i'm Toolbag's DM. when he first brought this up to me, i didn't know what to do. i mean, after this adventure they are on is over, the merivanchis don't really factor into the whole thing too much. my party, like most probably, has hated the whole merivanchi family from the beginning. so i figured i would go ahead and stat him out and see how the kid does against him and avner.

i did tell him it would be an evil act, but since he's Chaotic Neutral he may or may not decide it's in the best interest of the colony to take out lavinia's competition for mayor. without her knowing of course.

oops.

so here's how you could play it off. he could have been told to go out into the wildnerness around the cove to gather supplies, explore, do whatever, while the real business was going on between the captain and vanderboren. he was outside the blast radius and didn't know what was going on. how he got to sasserine could be another story. maybe he found the ship and was afraid when he saw the adventurers and hid out on the ship until then, hiding in the hold.

or you could just say he was a kid from another boat altogether. easy as that.

sorry, i don't allow the spells from the SC. there's plenty in the phb and phbII for me. i find most of those spells are cheesy as hell, or broken in some way. i'm sure there are many that aren't, but in the end it's fine for me not to use the book.

and drew, please, do me a favor. split up the party, i want you to. (evil grin)

shoot, now we're going to have to create a pearl of invisibility purge....

lets see here, get the koprus involved, and some help from richard pett (who is clearly an enemy to mr. Logue). we need a pretty big radius, probably about 10 miles or so.

we will find you, and make you one of us!

hey, not everyone who votes posts, mr. logue. there are still die hard fans of the ghoul king out there who don't want to add to this. just suck it up and move on. you'll have no satisfaction otherwise.

bwah ha ha HAH!!!!