terrainmonkey's page

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?!!

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?

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.

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.

okay, so i think perhaps a bad thing has happened in my campaign. last night, we were playing the SWW adventure, and during a fight with rowyn on the deck of the ship, a lightning bolt was thrown and he was in the way. he had come up to the deck to see what was the meaning of being awoken at this late hour, and the party wizard cast, the bolt hit kelani, and caught him in the blast as well. then while he was trying to crawl away with barely 2 hp left, the mage threw a fireball in the same area and toasted him and rowyn both.

now what do i do? i told the mage PC that his spells would hit merivanchi also, and he said, "the guy's a bother, forget him, collateral damage, i always say."

any ideas? does he really need to live? advice and suggestions are welcome.

So I’ve decided to start posting about the STAP I’m running for a group of co-worker friends that insisted I start a campaign for them. Having read the first three issues and liking what I saw, I decided to just start it off and see how it goes. There are 4 players in the game, all of them with less than 1 year combined total d&d experience, so I figured I would take it easy on them for the first few levels and start them off slow.

The PCs are the following:
Nayro—grey elf wizard, specializing in illusion spells, recently released from a gnome illusionist in Sasserine

Garvin Thresk—Elven rogue, who grew up in Sasserine living on the streets after his parents died.

Druss Huskarlsson, champion of the Fenris tribe, an outcast from Vostland, who came to Sassering to regain his lost honor in the arena of the city. Fighter

Rel Astaar, Wood Elf druid, who came to the city to find his missing father who was last seen in this area.

The party started as a simple pick up game one night, showing the players how to make up characters, roll dice, make skill checks, and general basic rules. The game started with no one knowing each other, or having met. Druss was coming out of the Tinted Tankard Tavern when he heard a scream from a nearby alley. Opposite the inn stood an apothecary/herbalist shop where Nayro bought supplies. As he was leaving that area, he heard the same scream. Garvin, behind the tavern, relieved himself and heard the scream, as well as guttural shouts from a half orc. “Get in the bag, ya saucy harlot!”
Druss, ever a lover of violence, drew his greataxe and charged into the alleyway. Three men, and one half orc, were stuffing someone into a bag, and punching that someone to make her stop screaming. This angered Druss, and he charged one, slashing high in order to take his head off. He was successful.
Nayro came into the alley, cast a color spray and knocked one man unconscious, while Garvin shot another man with an arrow at close range and knocked him out of the fray. The only one left was the half orc. He fought with Druss for a moment, but at the end of it, the barbarian slashed open his gullet and took him down. The half or pleaded for mercy, surrendering, all the while reaching behind his back for a dagger. Garvin saw this, and placed an arrow in the half orc’s temple before he could draw the weapon.
Nayro asked, “Why did you do that?” to Garvin, to which the rogue responded, “look.” And revealed the hand still clutched on the dagger.

Then, they opened up the bag, and revealed a young girl, perhaps in her late teens, with blonde hair, a ravishing beauty and grace, wearing a wealthy noblewomans gown that left little to the imagination but covered all the delicate spots on a woman. She introduced herself as Marguritte, the daughter of a wealthy noble in Sasserine. She would take the party back to her father’s estate for a reward. The thieves were from a group called the Lotus Dragons, and there were rumours of a grand conspiracy that may be coming soon. Her father, Danton Monforque, held stock in various shipping concerns and perhaps they would have held her for ransom, “and something else.” She shuddered at the thought.

That night, they received a reward of 50 gp and a free stay and meal at the monforque house. They also met with a ravishing beauty, Lavinia Vanderboren, who joined the Monforques at dinner. After hearing of their tale, she was impressed, and hired them to do a job, locate the blue nixie, and bring back a signet ring left on the boat. To this they agreed.

Continued later.

so i have started the STAP for a few friends at work who are newbies to the game. i think only one guy has ever played, and for a few months time at that. we've had three sessions so far, and are only now up to the point of the parrot island tunnels. the entire group is having a great time. This is a fun AP to run, and here's why:

1. Every adventure is filled with action, adventure, 3 dimensional villains with clear cut motivations and believable back story. my players now want to kill vanthus next time they meet him, and can't wait for that event.

2. the sense of foreshadowing, and how every adventure leads into another one, which increases the dramatic tension and flow of the overall plot. just the first 4 adventures alone are filled with moments of harrowing excitement.

3. at times, there is space for side missions and other quests not even related to the main plot. the other APs seemed to be "railroading" the PCs from one part to the next with no break for other things. also, the adventures are so long, they will probably take 4 to 5 sessions each for me. this is great since i work a long series of shifts and have little time for game prep. it's great to just sit down and open up my magazine and start back up where we left off.

4. Vanthus is just one of the greatest villains of all the adventure paths. he is by far the best NPC bad guy i have seen in the pages of Dungeon in quite a long time. I can't wait for the PCs to meet him on parrot island, and thier reaction to his mocking taunts. this guy is my Iago, with a host of machiavellian plots, a great back story, and a future filled with selfish motivations of greed and power over all. if his parents had just given him the estate, it would have been easier for them.

5. the maps are stunning, great to look at, easy to use, and trouble free. they seem more lush and vibrant for some reason. i don't know if that is on purpose, or just because of the printing process, but they are very well done.
anyway, i just wanted to say Excellent work guys! this is one i'm looking forward to running for the next year or so. beautiful work.

okay, so i've run the first two adventures of the STAP and one thing is abundantly clear to my PCs. Vanthus is the main BBEG. so they've already discussed that the next time they meet him they are going to keep him alive to face justice. they find it really bizarre that they haven't met him yet, but have heard all kinds of bad things about this man. they know he's evil, and that he will create havoc later on.

Failing that, if he somehow dies, they will burn his body, spread the ashes to the four winds and make it so he cannot return except from a high level wish spell. either that, or take him back to a large city and hire a mage to cast Imprison on him.

my question is this: What happens if they keep him alive? the crimson fleet will probably keep doing what they need to do, but the story with lavinia will not go forward, and Vanthus won't turn into a death knight. my party seems to think that if they keep him alive the savage tide will stop with him.

now, i know we have the whole demogorgon thing and a demon prince can do anything the DM wants to drive the story forward, but they have some pretty elaborate plans of what to do when they meet him.

i've told them they are metagaming, but they actually came up with a valid argument. "we've heard this guy is doing bad things and is responsible for many deaths, whether he pulled the trigger or not. we just want to bring him in for justice and keep him alive. we've heard stories and rumours and even documented history of people doing bad things in the world and coming back from death. we are going to stop this from happening again."

so what's the ramifications of this? ideas? thoughts?

here's a map of the dungeon he's going to be defending: he's in room 14.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f127/terrainmonkey/bahamutdefiled.jpg?t=1 163777915

hello folks--

This is actually a question for the creators of the STAP, because i have different locations than the ones listed in the adventure path. first off, i do have an "isle of dread" location on my campaign world, but it is infested with the ruins of a mind flayer civilization, as well as horrid beasts from the Far Realms and the possible tombs of one of the Great Old Ones.

I know the campaign starts in a city named sasserine, but there really is no area in my campaign world that i can place it. i'm sure i could change the name of the city to one in my campaign world, but that would probably undo a lot of history that i have written. i really want to DM this adventure path, so i have two options i guess.

1. run it as a stand alone adventure path, with no relation to the events in my own home brew campaign. the only thing wrong about this is that i know my world. i've DMed it for over 25+ years, and it would be difficult for me to actually do this. is there a way to just run the adventure as written without going through this process? i really don't want to have to change gods, locations, etc, just to run the adventures.

2. change the city names, the god names, and take about 2 or 3 hours of time to change the names in every adventure before running it. i work two jobs and have little time other than one night every couple of weeks to plan and run adventures for my group. right now they are involved in a plot to stop the summoning of a greater demon lord, Fraz-Urb-Lu, and i see little way to get them involved in this plot. the only thing i can think is that i would stop the current campaign and start this one up. alternatively, i could get new players and start a new group.

i'm at a loss. from what i have read this AP is going to be the best of the three, and i'm really excited about it. my sister is giving me a subscription to Dungeon for my birthday, and it just so happens that the STAP will be over near the end of my subscription run. i really want to run this but i am having problems with this. also, my players come here often and read. i don't want them hitting any spoilers so i can't really wait until i have every one of them to run it in a year for fear that they will metagame.

am i being paranoid or OCD about this? what should i do? suggestions are welcome.

so, i was reading the campaign article recently on how to run marathon games and i got to thinking about the old days when we used to do this all the time. ahh... the good old days when we didn't have jobs, families, chores, errands, etc. When we could stay up all night on a saturday and play our favorite game.
my question is, has anyone run marathon games recently? i'v been thinking about doing this with my current group, as we are all getting together in september for a weekend. One of my gaming buddies is goig to be getting married to another gaming buddy, and there will be 8 of us there who haven't gamed together for about 8 years. What adventures in the magazine do you think would be good for a 12 hour session, with average level characters around 8th-10th level. I'm letting them make these characters on the fly there, as it is only going to be a one shot type of adventure, just for old times sake. any ideas?