Hope springs eternal in the hearts of GM's around the world! I feel sure that the Overload will be out when it is ready. Then the boards will explode with "we waited all this time for this!" posts regardless of the amount of material or the quality of the product. It seems to me that no release ever lives up to its build-up in the minds of many posters.
Ah! The one-eyed avatar! Each post from you makes me fonder of your avatar :) Thanks again Erik and to the rest of the guys there!Rel is the single, coolest addition to Maure Castle.
But how would you wink with one eye? \)
Well... I guess you (bl)ink? lol!
So when do we get to see the Overload?
So when do we get to see the Overload?
LOL, best post evar.
So when do we get to see the Overload?
This week ;)
This week ;)So when do we get to see the Overload?
Will you be holding your breath?
Will you be holding your breath?
Actually, I will :)
I have every faith that Dungeon's staff is moving as fast as they can on it. I'm also benefitting from not starting the campaign until late this month (or maybe even September).
I've said before that (so far) AoW brings back everything that was good about the old GH adventures/supplements -- I think it'll be worth the wait.
Regards all,
Jack
Will you be holding your breath?This week ;)So when do we get to see the Overload?
*Gasp*... *cough*! *cough*! *cough*!
Sorry, I could not hold one more day...
It would be nice if someone at Paizo could collect all the names and email addresses of those who have posted at least once on this Thread and send them a warning email when the Overload is online. It would allow me to stop checking Paizo's website every other hour. Me, sadistic? Nooooooo!! ;-)
Bocklin
*Gasp*... *cough*! *cough*! *cough*!
Sorry, I could not hold one more day...
LOL!
It would be nice if someone at Paizo could collect all the names and email addresses of those who have posted at least once on this Thread and send them a warning email when the Overload is online. It would allow me to stop checking Paizo's website every other hour. Me, sadistic? Nooooooo!! ;-)
Bocklin
How 'bout them actually emailing the thing to us? :)
Jack
How 'bout them actually emailing the thing to us? :)Jack
LOL! Actually that's not a bad idea...am sure once AOW overload becomes available, dungeon mag's site would crash of the number of hits it'll get!
It seems to me there is no clear cut way on how to get the party from Diamond Lake to the Whispering Cairn. I mean why would they go there? The article just seems to start with them at the entrance to the Cairn. How did they get there? I am hoping the Overload thing answers these questions.
(Mad laugh) My mom just put me in a white coat and locked me in the computer room, so I can be kept comfy while I wait. It should be out Wednesday and if it isnt, she said their are some nice men coming over with a big needle, lol joking, but It's closer to the truth then I'm comfertable with...
It would be nice if someone at Paizo could collect all the names and email addresses of those who have posted at least once on this Thread and send them a warning email when the Overload is online. It would allow me to stop checking Paizo's website every other hour. Me, sadistic? Nooooooo!! ;-)
Excellent idea. Will do.
By your command,
-rob
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Great! Hey Robert - my wife gives you thanx for this!!! She's already mad with me running to my computer at least six times a day only for checking if this "whatever you're waiting for, I am sure it doesn't help getting my work done here" stuff, which translates into "AoW-Overload".
At least, I can relax...
Thanx again!
wow, really doin it? Sweet, pick me, pick me!
...Will do.
By your command,
-rob
Wow.
Now, Rob, send me $10,000...
Jack
...By your command, -rob
Sweet, email notification, *and* an homage to the original Cylon empire!
End of line...
AAA, why wont this stupid thing come out! I'm wasting my summer. For the last few days I've been sitting at my computer waiting, sometimes I try playing
World of Warcraft to get my mind off it, but I'm to distracted and die. So now I sit next to my computer watching T.V. or reading, clicking reset every ten min. on the Dungeon Homepage. When AoTWO 2 comes out, please tell us when it comes out instead of a few weeks before, I'm going mad. lol
Creative Director
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It seems to me there is no clear cut way on how to get the party from Diamond Lake to the Whispering Cairn. I mean why would they go there? The article just seems to start with them at the entrance to the Cairn. How did they get there? I am hoping the Overload thing answers these questions.
Overload will help in the same way that the Diamond Lake backdrop helps; by presenting more information about the region surrounding the area. The party's reasons for going to the Whispering Cairn should come naturally out of their makeup and their character histories. The assumed lure is the fact that Diamond Lake's a terrible place and that one of the PCs discovers this old forgotten cairn that's SURELY filled with treasure.
One of the things that we're trying to do with Age of Worms is to give the PCs the feeling that they're driving the story, not that they're just following orders given to them by NPCs. There's still some of that in the campaign, but not nearly as much as in the Shackled City campaign (which had NPCs handing out quests even when the PCs were the highest level characters in the area).
Excellent idea. Will do.By your command,
-rob
Wow! Thanks, Rob. That's really kind of you.
I sure now feel better and less stressed. Sound stupid? Yeah I know, that's what waiting has made out of me... ;-)
So, thanks a lot!
Bocklin
I'm starting to think that AoW Overload ranks up there with Weapons of Mass Destruction.
No, no ... really .... it's here somewhere...just another day ... no really....
It seems to me there is no clear cut way on how to get the party from Diamond Lake to the Whispering Cairn. I mean why would they go there? The article just seems to start with them at the entrance to the Cairn. How did they get there? I am hoping the Overload thing answers these questions.Overload will help in the same way that the Diamond Lake backdrop helps; by presenting more information about the region surrounding the area. The party's reasons for going to the Whispering Cairn should come naturally out of their makeup and their character histories. The assumed lure is the fact that Diamond Lake's a terrible place and that one of the PCs discovers this old forgotten cairn that's SURELY filled with treasure.
One of the things that we're trying to do with Age of Worms is to give the PCs the feeling that they're driving the story, not that they're just following orders given to them by NPCs. There's still some of that in the campaign, but not nearly as much as in the Shackled City campaign (which had NPCs handing out quests even when the PCs were the highest level characters in the area).
I certainly hope so. Right now it seems much like the adventure begins with them all entering the Cairn. Whereas I would like there to be a clear cut reason for them going out there, how they know about it. Perhaps some intrigue leading up to it.
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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You're not going to get that in the Overload, which includes a detailed campaign outline of all 12 adventures, tons of stat blocks for Diamond Lake, additional information on the region surrounding Diamond Lake, and conversion appendices for Eberron and the Forgotten Realms.
The "hook" is this: Adventurers from the Free City come to town looking for riches in the Stirgenest Cairn. The heroes, residents of Diamond Lake with a reason to want to leave, know that the Stirgenest Cairn is empty of treasure, but know of another cairn that probably does contain some unplundered goods. They pull together to raid the place in hopes of raising enough funds to get out of Diamond Lake (which after all is a bit of a hole).
If that hook doesn't work for you, the Diamond Lake backdrop provides literally dozens of NPCs who might put the PCs on the path. If one of the characters is tied to the garrisson, perhaps Valuks Dun or Tolliver Trask put them on the scent of the Cairn, having discovered its location on one of Dietrik Cicaeda's old maps after their curiosity was piqued thanks to the arrival of the Free City adventurers.
Or maybe the superior of a PC cleric's church suggests that the PCs check out the cairn.
Or start the thing in a tavern, with a conversation with one of the three adventurers from the Free City.
If none of these ideas work for you, perhaps a thread asking for specific advice would be in order?
--Erik
It would be nice if someone at Paizo could collect all the names and email addresses of those who have posted at least once on this Thread and send them a warning email when the Overload is online. It would allow me to stop checking Paizo's website every other hour. Me, sadistic? Nooooooo!! ;-)Excellent idea. Will do.
By your command,
-rob
Thank you Rob!! Thaaaaaaaaank you! WOTC is slacking on their D&D website, they're still in July... "Tee-hee-hee!"
You're not going to get that in the Overload, which includes a detailed campaign outline of all 12 adventures, tons of stat blocks for Diamond Lake, additional information on the region surrounding Diamond Lake, and conversion appendices for Eberron and the Forgotten Realms.
The "hook" is this: Adventurers from the Free City come to town looking for riches in the Stirgenest Cairn. The heroes, residents of Diamond Lake with a reason to want to leave, know that the Stirgenest Cairn is empty of treasure, but know of another cairn that probably does contain some unplundered goods. They pull together to raid the place in hopes of raising enough funds to get out of Diamond Lake (which after all is a bit of a hole).
If that hook doesn't work for you, the Diamond Lake backdrop provides literally dozens of NPCs who might put the PCs on the path. If one of the characters is tied to the garrisson, perhaps Valuks Dun or Tolliver Trask put them on the scent of the Cairn, having discovered its location on one of Dietrik Cicaeda's old maps after their curiosity was piqued thanks to the arrival of the Free City adventurers.
Or maybe the superior of a PC cleric's church suggests that the PCs check out the cairn.
Or start the thing in a tavern, with a conversation with one of the three adventurers from the Free City.
If none of these ideas work for you, perhaps a thread asking for specific advice would be in order?
--Erik
Nice ideas Eric. Thanks. I have a crazy way for the PCs via an NPC in the party to get rid of the brown mold in the Lair of the Architect... But anyways, thanks again.
You're not going to get that in the Overload, which includes a detailed campaign outline of all 12 adventures, tons of stat blocks for Diamond Lake, additional information on the region surrounding Diamond Lake, and conversion appendices for Eberron and the Forgotten Realms.
The "hook" is this: Adventurers from the Free City come to town looking for riches in the Stirgenest Cairn. The heroes, residents of Diamond Lake with a reason to want to leave, know that the Stirgenest Cairn is empty of treasure, but know of another cairn that probably does contain some unplundered goods. They pull together to raid the place in hopes of raising enough funds to get out of Diamond Lake (which after all is a bit of a hole).
If that hook doesn't work for you, the Diamond Lake backdrop provides literally dozens of NPCs who might put the PCs on the path. If one of the characters is tied to the garrisson, perhaps Valuks Dun or Tolliver Trask put them on the scent of the Cairn, having discovered its location on one of Dietrik Cicaeda's old maps after their curiosity was piqued thanks to the arrival of the Free City adventurers.
Or maybe the superior of a PC cleric's church suggests that the PCs check out the cairn.
Or start the thing in a tavern, with a conversation with one of the three adventurers from the Free City.
If none of these ideas work for you, perhaps a thread asking for specific advice would be in order?
--Erik
Any hints as to the content of the Eberron conversion stuff? There was already some in the #124 online supplement.
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I have another question for those of you that have run or are running "Whispering Cairn". I used the plot-hook of the PCs wanting to leave Diamond Lake and as the adventure is coming to a close for my group they are pooling their money to do just that! From the tombs they have more than enough money to buy a coach to the Free City and sell their most expensive loot. Given the simple lifestyle most of them are used to the characters can easily live the rest of their life off the gold they make. How have other DMs dealt with this?
My players, in addition to desparately wanting to leave Diamond Lake, also feel that those that have the means to make things better (i.e. the mine managers) only make things worse.
So, when the players discover that the managers are up to foul play, they were more than anxious to bring them down. They're hoping that if Greyhawk discovers how poorly these mines are being run, and the coruption that exists, that they will send people to run the mines in the name of the city, like the silver mine.
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I have another question for those of you that have run or are running "Whispering Cairn". I used the plot-hook of the PCs wanting to leave Diamond Lake and as the adventure is coming to a close for my group they are pooling their money to do just that! From the tombs they have more than enough money to buy a coach to the Free City and sell their most expensive loot. Given the simple lifestyle most of them are used to the characters can easily live the rest of their life off the gold they make. How have other DMs dealt with this?
My PCs failed all knowledge checks on the wind duke glyphs, so they have no idea what name to give in the last room. Allsutan is heading to the Free City to check out the chronicles of Chan for them, and in the meantime, he's asked them to look into the rumored cultists. This way they'll get into 3FOE, and potentially even finish it before Allustan gets back with the info they need to finish plundering the WC. Don't know if this will cause issues with plot down the road, but that's how things have played out.
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my players finished the cairn and gave the baby owlbear from the land farmhouse to Kullen as a bribe. They have a character with vow of poverty in the group so they didn't get enough treasure to leave diamond lake. In fact, the halfling in my group rebuilt the mine house and wants to take out Smenk and rule the town. He has no intention of leaving Diamond lake. Hopefully the rumors I hear, that after 3foe diamond lake is not important anymore, are false. The town is so rich with flavor that the characters are more interested in it than any mention of green worms...
I have another question for those of you that have run or are running "Whispering Cairn". I used the plot-hook of the PCs wanting to leave Diamond Lake and as the adventure is coming to a close for my group they are pooling their money to do just that! From the tombs they have more than enough money to buy a coach to the Free City and sell their most expensive loot. Given the simple lifestyle most of them are used to the characters can easily live the rest of their life off the gold they make. How have other DMs dealt with this?
While this is the initial hook, I don't see this as the PCs ultimate goal, rather as a way to introduce them to the profession and lifestyle of being an Adventurer. If, after the Whispering Cairn, the PCs DON'T feel like being Adventurers . . . then the campaign is over, plain and simple.
I guess that if you wish to continue the campaign, maybe they can get jobs in the Free City as clerks, security guards, and laborers. Doesn't sound very fun. :)
Will the conversions be one-pagers or will they be longer?
Will we see conversion notes specifically for 125 in Overload? Here's a quote from the Keith's Eberron notes in 124:
"The Ebon Triad reveres the Shadow, the Mockery and the Keeper-though they have a very different view of the Keeper than the Restful Watch. This cult will be explored in greater detail in the second installment of the adventure path."
Do the conversion notes have more info on the Keeper?
And will we see conversion notes on all of the adventures or just in Overload?
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Creative Director
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my players finished the cairn and gave the baby owlbear from the land farmhouse to Kullen as a bribe. They have a character with vow of poverty in the group so they didn't get enough treasure to leave diamond lake. In fact, the halfling in my group rebuilt the mine house and wants to take out Smenk and rule the town. He has no intention of leaving Diamond lake. Hopefully the rumors I hear, that after 3foe diamond lake is not important anymore, are false. The town is so rich with flavor that the characters are more interested in it than any mention of green worms...
Diamond Lake plays a small roll in part 3 ("Encounter at Blackwall Keep") and a larger role in part 6 ("A Gathering of Winds"). There's no real reason you can't continue to keep the campaign focused in Diamond Lake at other times, but the PCs will have long commutes to the adventures...
If your PCs are getting too comfortable in Diamond Lake (and I'm not sure how that's possible) there's always plenty of ways to convince them to leave in search of adventure elsewhere. Excessvie taxes, excessive corruption, excessive plague, excessive boredom...
As for that Vow of Poverty... that thing's trouble. It's popped up in about half the campaigns I'm playing in currently and it tends to put a really strange skew into the game that I, personally, am not too fond of. The players who have characters who have taken the Vow of Poverty seem to be having a blast with it though, so what do I know? ;)
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They have a character with vow of poverty in the group so they didn't get enough treasure to leave diamond lake.
Vow of poverty at level 1? Ouch! :( not a great fan of that feat at the best of times, let alone for a starting character. Only really seen it in play twice -- once too weak (low level monk) and once too strong (high level monk/cleric).
At least by the end of 3FoE he should be up to 5th level so will no longer be at the point of just dieing all the time!
VoP is one of those things (like simulacrum) that I'd like to like but feel needs about 16 pages of errata & clarifications! :)
Because of the lack of players I always have to play a PC/NPC with the two other Players. I found the Vow of Poverty to be extremly handy because that character doesn't argue for the fancy magical items. Although he does want to take most of the Gold to build a orphanage for the children that have lost parents to the mines. So they are always still looking for work in Diamond Lake because they are more greedy for the magical items than gold.
Hah and Erik thats funnier because the NPC is a Ninja too. LOL
So they don't die so easily we now use Gestalt characters too. The only problem with that I have to change all the encounters to Gestalt too or just raise thier level.
In our campaign, personal debts involve far more than money.
Aldrich, a dwarven ranger, cares for his father after a battle with a choker forced retirement.
Sledge, a warforged paladin, is honoring the dying word of a Silver Flame cleric to journey to Diamond Lake and help bring the town's church back under control of the theocracy of Thrane.
Doc, a human cleric of Dol Arrah, respects Velias Childramun and must fulfill his priestly duties.
Caliban, an elven wizard, spends his indentured days casting prestidigation to clean Moonmeadow's ship, The Lamikan ("Eternal Swan").
Vallen, a dwarven rogue, has no obligations. He was in town temporarily on an engineering job and found the PCs in the second session after their hireling quit. He's basically a mercenary, and this group is the best job he can find.
The group is currently "on vacation", taking a few days off from their daily routines to outsmart the newcomers in town (Kellek's group). They're in the middle of the WC now.
After they are done, Smenk will instigate 3 Faces of Evil. If they don't do the job for Smenk then other mine managers will approach them.
After that, Allustan is going to "free" all of them in return for service to him.
My characters started with the prescribed gold for 1st level (PHB) and bought crappy equipment. And, the wizard had an "debt" towards Allustan for apprenticeship and an above-average spellbook. By the end of Whispering Cairn, the repaid the debt, fixed the "Mine House" (you should see the result, they were almost more excited about that then the adventure itself ... congrats to the author(s) for coming up with that idea, I wish I had thought of that a long time ago) and finally bought a few healing potions (that came in short during the adventure) ... and VOILA money-wise they are back to where they started from ... not a copper piece left :) so they have a lot of motivation for the next instalment ... I like the "Tax" suggestion ... they are going to scream murder ... I can't wait ... Plus I'm probably extort them for the deeds to the house ... I'm evil!
I don't know that it'll keep me from checking incessently, but you can put me on the email list as well, please.
Hereby requesting addition to the email list by virtue of having read all 300 plus posts on this thread, and yet still having made my Fortitude save to avoid adding my two cents.
Sweet Mother of Pearl! As a business, when a company offers an item and publishes it in print as to when it will be available but yet falls down on the job to deliver something then that is a failure.
Forget if it is free or not. My subscription to Dungeon is not free and for magazines of this sort that take advertising it is over-priced.
I imagine I will get posts of "then do not subscribe" and the like of those that have yet to hit puberty let anyone run a business.
The magazine is a great magazine but obviously is lacking resources to fulfill the commitments it has made to those that pay their bills.
So please no more post from Paizo about it will be this week or in a few days etc. Just post a final date and then release the product!
We can do this guys, lets hit 400!
I too would appreciate an email :)
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I'll do my part.So, what's the latest word on last week's ETA .. for last week. I.e., what's the ETA now?
The ETA is..."sometime THIS week"...I've simply given up pointing out the insanity of it all and have just started talking about AoW itself since more information (both from the publishers, and DMs running the campaign) about AoW seems to be coming from this thread then we'll likey ever see in the Overload...shoul it ever appear :P.
Only one more to reach 400!
My group has a fighter using Vow of Poverty as an experiment. As a human he used both 1st level feats to take Sacres Vow & VoP. His fighter bonus feat was 2 weapon fighting to make full use of his quarterstaff. So far he has kicked butt. but time will tell ...