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Last night the collected editorial staffs for Dragon and Dungeon got together, along with Sean Glenn (senior art director), Sarah Robinson (Dragon's graphic designer--i.e. the person who makes it pretty), and Kyle Hunter (of Downer and Undefeated art director fame). What did we do? We played D&D of course! With Erik Mona as DM! In Greyhawk!
Talk about your awesome roleplaying experience! My character did three notable things last night: Went last in the initiative order (despite my +6 initiative bonus), took the first damage of the campaign (3 of my 6 hit points), and used my 1337 ninja skilz to avoid a horrendous death.
Others in the game can tell your their exploits, if they so choose. Hey look, it's a chance for us to tell you about our characters! Isn't that thrilling? ;D
...wait...where did everybody go? ;)
More info, please!
Where did the characters start out (region, city/state, etc.)? What races are represented by the party and/or nationalities?
What was the story behind the first adventure? How did Erik hook the party into taking on the mission/quest?
I love Greyhawk. No matter where the adventures take place, there's just a great classic swords and sorcery feel to it. Since I only own 3 of the Gord novels, I like reading about other Greyhawk campaigns to help influence my own Greyhawk campaign -- to give it a "shared" Greyhawk feeling where I know others have been as well.
Director of Game Design
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More info, please!
Where did the characters start out (region, city/state, etc.)? What races are represented by the party and/or nationalities?
What was the story behind the first adventure? How did Erik hook the party into taking on the mission/quest?
I love Greyhawk. No matter where the adventures take place, there's just a great classic swords and sorcery feel to it. Since I only own 3 of the Gord novels, I like reading about other Greyhawk campaigns to help influence my own Greyhawk campaign -- to give it a "shared" Greyhawk feeling where I know others have been as well.
I can tell you that my light hearted bright eyed tried a roasted wolf leg (I do not recommend.. too much fur) and got a chance to use his keen dwarven engineering skills.
:-)
Gar Blitzhame
Jason Bulmahn
Associate Editor of Dragon
I can tell you that my light hearted bright eyed tried a roasted wolf leg (I do not recommend.. too much fur)...
Oh, I wish I could have seen m.k. mc's expression for that one.
Mike, I bet you thought that kind of stuff would stop happening in game when you left here, huh? :P
Remember, we only torment the ones we love the most. :D
/g
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And my creepy goth cleric managed already to save someone from bleeding to death and creeped out the party paladin at least once. Haven't managed to brain anything yet with my morningstar, alas, but I'm sure I'll get the chance again next Thursday.
skitter skitter...skitter skitter...
Gigz, I have only one word for you: :P
And my creepy goth cleric managed already to save someone from bleeding to death and creeped out the party paladin at least once. Haven't managed to brain anything yet with my morningstar, alas, but I'm sure I'll get the chance again next Thursday.
Creepy goth cleric? More details, Please!
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Creative Director
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Details on the creepy goth cleric? Let's see... she worships Wee Jas, carries a big sack of something, wears studded leather armer and wields a morning star and a shield. And that's all I'm ready to reveal at this time, cause her other secrets have yet to be revealed to the other players in the group, and I have a feeling some of them read these boards...
And if she ends up looking exactly the same as a cleric that may or may not end up being illustrated on the cover of Dungeon #124, I assure you it's completely cooincidental.
Details on the creepy goth cleric? Let's see... she worships Wee Jas, carries a big sack of something, wears studded leather armer and wields a morning star and a shield. And that's all I'm ready to reveal at this time, cause her other secrets have yet to be revealed to the other players in the group, and I have a feeling some of them read these boards...
And if she ends up looking exactly the same as a cleric that may or may not end up being illustrated on the cover of Dungeon #124, I assure you it's completely cooincidental.
Cool. Reason enough to get Dungeon #124 right there. Don't worry... I'm sure you get to take her out "clubbing" ;) soon enough.
Details on the creepy goth cleric? Let's see... she worships Wee Jas, carries a big sack of something, wears studded leather armer and wields a morning star and a shield.
I should introduce her to Maggie Cinders, my broom-flying, pointy-hat wearing witch who is devoted to Wee Jas. Maybe they could go shopping or meet for tea or something.
I'm adding to the requests for more info on this campaign and its characters. I plan to run a Greyhawk campaign in the future and I'd be only too happy to get inspiration from the Paizo staff (not to mention one of the authors of the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer)!
I know you don't want to give away too much, but hopefully you'll feel like sharing as material gets declassified.
I'm already looky forward to Erik's next editiorial.
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I'm adding to the requests for more info on this campaign and its characters. I plan to run a Greyhawk campaign in the future and I'd be only too happy to get inspiration from the Paizo staff (not to mention one of the authors of the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer)!
I know you don't want to give away too much, but hopefully you'll feel like sharing as material gets declassified.
I'm already looky forward to Erik's next editiorial.
Well, Erik saw this thread and said we can say a few things. So, sans spoilers, here is what I can tell you:
• The campaign started in Diamond Lake.
• The first adventure is taking place nearby. The opening scene took place in an abandoned house.
• I'm playing a mute weaponsmith trained as a ninja from a monastery a few hours' walk outside of Diamond Lake.
• Erik is, as you might imagine, an excellent DM. :D
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Creative Director
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I'm 98% likely to write up an in-character journal of the campaign, mostly so I can keep track of what's going on and so we'll have a recap of the previous week's game to remind us where we were. If there's interest, I can post the journal to the messageboards here for everyone to check out.
All right, I suppose its about time for me to chime in. I am also playing in this campaign, and the first session was terrific. I wrote an incredibly long character background for my guy, which, of course, probably means he will die in the first six weeks of the campaign.
Lets see, to sum him up in a couple of lines (minor spoilers follow), he is a halfling sorcerer who's father was at least part red dragon. His mother was a prostitute at a local brothel, which was later turned into an organization called the Emporium. Basically its a combination of a brothel and a freakshow/circus sideshow.
Anyway when he was about a year old his father returned to the brothel and brutally murdered his mother. After which the proprietor of the Emporium claimed ownership of my character. The proprietor had witnessed my mother's murder and (accurately) described my father as a bestial monster with red skin, red eyes, and long claws. Sensing an opportunity for profit he had my character's skin magically dyed a deep red color, and then inscribed it with demonic looking sigils (think Darth Maul here). After which, he turned him into a sideshow attraction for the next 15 years.
He escaped from the circus, and joined the campaign, looking for a way out of town. As you can imagine, he has some issues.
I will probably also be doing a campaign journal, strictly from my character's perspective, and would be willing to post it if there is sufficient interest.
If psychology existed in a fantasy world, I swear that most player characters would represent prime candidates for therapy...
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Contributor
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There seem to be a lot of characters in this goup...
Yeah, there are some characters all right...and some of us actually roleplay! ;D To really answer your question, there are currently eight of us.
James Jacobs and Jeremy Walker from Dungeon, Wes Schneider, Jason Bulmahn, Sarah Robinson, Sean Glenn, and myself from Dragon, and Kyle Hunter from "Downer" and Undefeated.
Wow, if Dungeons & Dragons had an All-Star Team, this would be it. I can't tell you how jealous I am (and likely the rest of the D&D gaming world) to see a line-up like that and wish I were playing a PC in that game world.
Has Wil Wheaten or Vin Diesel called you guys up yet to find out if there is room in the group? :)
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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It is a bit intimidating, to be honest. On Monday, young Jeremy Walker wondered aloud if I may have miscalculated the damage on a critical from a Large wolf during a fairly intense combat. That was, for those of you counting at home, three full days after it happened.
So yeah, the pressure is on to get things right.
That said, it's a great group, and almost everyone in it is a bonafide expert in the rules. We actually spent remarkably little time talking about rules issues during the game, which is exactly as I would prefer.
I also play in Monte Cook's weekly Ptolus campaign, which is full of ultra-experienced game designers like Monte, Bruce Cordell, Christopher Perkins, and Jesse Decker. Those guys know the rules better than just about anyone I've ever met, but we spend almost zero time dealing with rules issues at the table.
Part of that is because everyone knows their stuff, but a major part is that everyone respects one another. Most of us honor the cardinal rule that "the DM is always right," even if the call isn't exactly what's in the book. If something comes up, it's better to deal with it outside of the game session, as nothing stops the fun faster than getting into an argument about how fast a character can slide down a knotted rope (to quote something that's going to come into play three seconds after we start playing tonight).
We may very well see the first casualty tonight. The gloves are about to come off. "Pegging" the encounter levels for a party of eight players is challenging, and I'm afraid I may be erring on the side of lethality.
What a strange feeling, to be afraid and gleeful all at the same time.
--Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dragon & Dungeon
...We may very well see the first casualty tonight. The gloves are about to come off. "Pegging" the encounter levels for a party of eight players is challenging, and I'm afraid I may be erring on the side of lethality.
Oh oh oh! My money's on Mike! His string of "First to Die" characters is legendary.
Just remember though, Mike's character dying usually has little to do with the lethality of the campaign, so don't use that as a marker.
gigz
Founder of the m.k.mcartor Fanclub
;)
Being in an environment that gives us full access to every D&D tome in print *at work* but not during play, our DM frequently encounters the "Three Days Later" rules consultations. I feel for you Mr. Mona.
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"Part of that is because everyone knows their stuff, but a major part is that everyone respects one another. Most of us honor the cardinal rule that "the DM is always right," even if the call isn't exactly what's in the book. If something comes up, it's better to deal with it outside of the game session, as nothing stops the fun faster than getting into an argument about how fast a character can slide down a knotted rope..."
This quote should be set in stone.
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Contributor
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Oh oh oh! My money's on Mike! His string of "First to Die" characters is legendary.
Just remember though, Mike's character dying usually has little to do with the lethality of the campaign, so don't use that as a marker.
Death and doom indeed!
The session last night began with the party split into two groups: a group of five and a group of three. The group of three were down below in the main chamber, and had just accidentally opened a passage.
A PASSAGE OF DOOM! DUN DUN DUN!
Those of us who were in a corridor above the main chamber scrambled down our knotted rope to aid our beleaguered comrades. Two of us went a little too fast. Vyth (my character) easily made it down 30 of the 40 feet of rope and decided (so he could move to aid his comrades 6 seconds later) to Tumble down the last 10 feet. He made his Tumble check and only took nonlethal damage. "Only" being relative, he took 6 points of nonlethal damage (way to roll high, Erik) and fell unconscious. Gar (Jason's character) failed his Climb check and tumbled 40 feet, landing on Dram (the absent Kyle's character). He was still up, however, and joined the fray.
In the course of the battle, Wes's poor paladin (Abelard) did what a paladin is meant to do (stand between the monsters and his companions) and paid the ultimate price for his valor.
Gar later named our group Abelard's Band in homage to our fallen companion.
At the end of the combat, only Taan (Sean's character) remained standing. The rest of us lay unconscious or in pools of blood (and Abelard was dead). When Vyth came to, he and Taan carried everyone back to our base of operations and then Taan went to get help.
That opened a can of worms that cumulated with a backwoods hick sheriff's deputy interviewing Taan. A masterful lie satisfied the deputy and a couple days later we headed back to the cairn.
In the second combat of the night a monster mauled Taan, but Taan's god decided it wasn't time for him to die and reality warped to allow him to survive. Later, another monster brought down Vyth, who quietly bled to death in the corridor. Fortunately, being a devout and pious follower of the Lady of Perfection, Xan Yae warped reality and held Vyth's precious lifeblood within his body until his friends could aid him.
Such divine mercy would not have been necessary (and in fact we could have all survived the night) if Fate had not cursed the dice of the PCs and blessed those of the DM. Erik, being kind and merciful, realized this and made the executive decisions to un-critical-hit Sean's character and to let mine make his 9th and final stabilize check.
Yay! A blood bath! :D
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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I didn't help things that the party was down two characters in the final fight and I made a couple of critical tactical errors that beefed up the bad guys beyond belief. I had to keep telling myself "hey, that's why we're playtesting."
Things will be more gentle next week.
But Wes's guy is still dead.
--Erik Mona
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Director of Game Design
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Who were the bad guys (besides the DM :) )?
Regarding the situation with the tumbling i suppose you guys started at 1st level.
Have you gained levels at the end of that session?
By Moradin's Beard I hope so...
I can't keep counting on criting giant beetle monsters and hope to survive.
Gar Blitzhame
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Creative Director
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My recap for the first session ended up being about 2000 words; I haven't started writing the recap for the 2nd one we just did last night but it'll probably clock in at 1000 words at least. In any case... when I start posting them to these message boards I'll try to remember to post a link or a note or something here so everyone can check them out. It'll be a bit before I start posting, though. Look for them to appear in 2-3 months.
I'm hoping we hit 2nd level too. Those extra hit points and that extra cleric spell will really help!
Was it a difficult decision to have Gods interfere and save characters or do you have that kind of stuff happen regularly in your campaign? Props on Xan Yae inclusion anyway (I just read Baklunish Delights and now have the Monk in Greyhawk pinned down to a T).
M
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Contributor
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Was it a difficult decision to have Gods interfere and save characters or do you have that kind of stuff happen regularly in your campaign? Props on Xan Yae inclusion anyway (I just read Baklunish Delights and now have the Monk in Greyhawk pinned down to a T).
The gods thing was just me telling a story. It really came down to Sean's character getting critted for more damage than he could have survived at full health and Erik saying, "Hmm...that's too good for 1st level characters...you're not critted." My character survived because in the course of 9 rounds I never made a stabilize check and nobody could get to Vyth to staunch his wounds. Erik felt the encounter was a bit too tough for six 1st level characters so he ruled that my character made his final stabilize check.
But yeah, Xan Yae is my favorite Greyhawk deity. So when Erik said I could play a ninja but only if he worshiped Xan Yae it was like Erik telling me I could have ice cream but only if I put hot caramel sauce on it (and sprinkles). :)
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So I realized I should stop scooping Erik on topics for his editorial. Thus, I shall do for this campaign what I do for Jason's Eberron game.
I bring you...quotes!
Jeremy, as Demon Boy: "Wine? I've heard of wine. Is it good?"
Erik, smiling, as Allustan (an NPC): "Oh, you should try it."
Multiple NPCs to Sean, as Taan: "Don't look like any elf I've ever seen."
(I think that's the catchphrase for his character now.)
Sean, as Taan: "I think this cheese is dosed."
Jeremy, OOC: "Are you sure that wasn't vile damage?"
Sean, OOC: "This is the last time I forget to cast mage armor on myself."
James, as Tyralandi, after Taan was attacked under water and emerged with only 1 hp: "It was hard water."
The most notable thing my character (Vyth) did last night was to hit in combat... for the first time... ever. I pointed that out to the table and James said something to the effect of, "Well let's see how much damage you do." Ha! Max damage (8 points). In the following round Sean (Taan) cast a spell (dealing max damage as well) and brought down that monster. Yay for me (and Sean)! :)
Couple of quick notes.
I finished my second journal entry before the game last night, it clocked in at 2700 words or so, the first one was about 2600. I really enjoy doing these journals, but probably won't be able to keep up the word count as we continue.
Never fear, the journals (both mine and James's) will be posted on these boards eventually (probably edited slightly) but we can't do it yet. Why not? Well since Erik's adventure will be published in issue 124 as the first adventure of the new Age of Worms Adventure Path, we can't give away too many spoilers. At least not yet.
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So we finally got to play again last night. Here are some quotes I found humorous and boards-appropriate enough to post. Keep in mind it took most of the session for us to become loopy and start throwing out funny-ish quotes.
"Abelard's band is not about greed. Well, it is about greed, but not individual greed."
"Ah! It's a wire mother!"
"If something bad is going on in Diamond Lake, you can bet that Ballabar Smank is up to his fat lips in it."
The highlight of the night (at least for me) was Kyle's rendition of Vyth, my character. :)
I play the damn lethal Dram Cicaeda, master of the confirmed kill. He's a Scout, from the Complete Adventurer; your typically lanky 17 year old with a ghile suit, and a deep love of running around, killing things. Imagine the Special Forces guy from the commercial, lining the bad guys up in his sites, spending days hidden in the brush. Apropriate for his low charisma, no one in the party ever seems to remember it was 8-12 points damage from his skirmishing long spear that has polished off a number of nasties. Someone should mention that Diamond Lake seems increasingly like Deadwood. Hookers! Gambling! And oh, the profanity!
• I'm playing a mute weaponsmith trained as a ninja from a monastery a few hours' walk outside of Diamond Lake.
Whaha?
Ninjas in Greyhawk?
Oh, the blasphemy!
If only I still attended Greytalk, Erik would never live that down :D
Where is Diamond Lake in Greyhawk? Never heard of it. Is it an Erik 'special' town?
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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The editorial in Dragon #331 explains my thinking about whether or not to allow Mike to play a ninja in my beloved World of Greyhawk. You'll have to look there for the full story.
The upshot is that at the end of the day I decided that letting a player play a character he was really excited about was more important to me than maintaining the "structural integrity" of Greyhawk. I further decided that the fact Greyhawk could not, as written, accommodate a silent killer like the ninja was a flaw of the setting rather than a feature.
A mysterious group of stealth assassins tied to a local monastery to Xan Yae (which will be called simply the Twilight Monastery in the published campaign) seemed appropriate, so I let Mike play a member of that group.
We don't refer to his character as a ninja in the game other than when discussing one of his class features or something, and he doesn't wear the standard black ninja outfit made famous by acting legend Sho Kosugi.
That said, if I were ever to consider having the current adventurers illustrated in the magazine (a highly likely prospect) I might decide to discuss the issue further with Mike, since I think the character would work visually in some sort of outfit that reflected his ninja nature without necessarily bringing with it the specific earth cultural philosophy and doctrine inherent to the genuine article.
When I was a kid I read a D&D-styled comic book called "The Adventurers," and one of the characters therein was a ninja thrown pretty much willy nilly into a "generic" western dark fantasy environment. And, for whatever reason, it worked.
I grow increasingly liberal in regards to my interpretation of fantasy as modeled by Dungeons & Dragons these days, to the point at which "it's set in Greyhawk" is really the only reason why I don't have guns in my game.
--Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dragon & Dungeon
if I were ever to consider having the current adventurers illustrated in the magazine (a highly likely prospect)
sweet
We don't refer to his character as a ninja in the game other than when discussing one of his class features or something, and he doesn't wear the standard black ninja outfit made famous by acting legend Sho Kosugi.
OMG! Someone else who knows (let alone remembers) Sho Kosugi!!!!
He and Monkey Magic (I think you Americans know it as 'Journey to the West') were my idols from about 10yo to 12yo :D
Ladies and Gentleman, I give you the crazy little side-show freak in all his glory, Jeremy Walker's Demon Boy! http://superunicorn.com/diamond_lake/demonboy.jpg
Ladies and Gentleman, I give you the crazy little side-show freak in all his glory, Jeremy Walker's Demon Boy! http://superunicorn.com/diamond_lake/demonboy.jpg
Kyle, that is unbelievably awesome!
I don't remember all the sweet 1st-level gear everyone carries, so all invovlved need to either post character descriptions here, or e-mail them to me. And Mike, you already owe me a six pack for your little bronze dragon, sonny!
Here is the illo of our intrepid scout, Dram Cicaeda. http://www.superunicorn.com/diamond_lake/dram.jpg
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Contributor
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I don't remember all the sweet 1st-level gear everyone carries, so all invovlved need to either post character descriptions here, or e-mail them to me. And Mike, you already owe me a six pack for your little bronze dragon, sonny!
I sure do! Someday I'll even remember the kind of beer you like and where I can purchase it. So... here's a nice place to remind me of those two facts in one convenient location. ;)
Here is the illo of our intrepid scout, Dram Cicaeda. http://www.superunicorn.com/diamond_lake/dram.jpg
That hat!