Dear Richard (can we call you that?),
I just wanted to ask you a short question about the upcoming "Fields of Ruin".
What type of location is that, culturally? Has it been designed as a Dwarven/Elven/Human/Non-descript ruin?
And, also, what kind of hooks do you have for those who'd use it in a RPG campaign? Is it just "let's got there and loot" or do you have a suggested storyline in the accompanying booklet?
In advance, thanks a lot for your replies!
Bocklin
(just giving it a bump, in case I get more lucky today)
Dear Richard (can we call you that?),
I just wanted to ask you a short question about the upcoming "Fields of Ruin".What type of location is that, culturally? Has it been designed as a Dwarven/Elven/Human/Non-descript ruin?
And, also, what kind of hooks do you have for those who'd use it in a RPG campaign? Is it just "let's got there and loot" or do you have a suggested storyline in the accompanying booklet?
In advance, thanks a lot for your replies!
Bocklin
Absolutely, it's much nicer than things I get called by certain Dungeon writers.:)
OK Bocklin, just bear in mind that this is my first attempt at a wizards product so I'm not sure how they work in terms of post-draft editing.
Fields of Ruin is set in a creepy collapsing keep on the edges of a huge battlefield filled with twisted briars wrapped about the bones of the dead. The keep itself hides a dark secret beneath its ageing dying form.
The adventure was generic when it left my computer, and bearing in mind that wizards are doing campaign specific stuff elsewhere I'd assume that was still the case. As for a theme, well the keep is hosting other treasure hunters some of whom have suffered at the hands of the keeps dark masters. You'll find a variety of enemies that presently find themesleves in the unfortunate position of having to call the Keep of Fallen Kings home...
There are plenty of hooks which involve the PCs, I'm not one for just having 'seek the treasure' intro's although of course some people love that style and you have to write with that in mind as well so you'll get a variety of hooks and plots. There are suggestions as to how to run the adventure from each of these standpoints. Also of course the product can be used for skirmish play with four nice maps.
I had great fun writing this, and I loved playing about both with the backstory and the way the fortunes of those within the keep change.
Rich
Hi Richard,
Thanks a lot for the reply, it's great that the Paizo board give us such an easy access to you guys.
You make it sound quite interesting and I think that I will try it. I was unsure about the game value I could get out of such a product, but you somehow said the things I was hoping for.
Thanks again!
Bocklin
Richard, for what levels is the adventure designed? Also, Do you think this might fulfill my need for encounters set in Old Almor (Greyhawk)? For example, I imagine the Keep of the Fallen Kings to be similar to Onyxgate in Almor.
Richard, for what levels is the adventure designed? Also, Do you think this might fulfill my need for encounters set in Old Almor (Greyhawk)? For example, I imagine the Keep of the Fallen Kings to be similar to Onyxgate in Almor.
Hello Amaril
Fields of Ruin is aimed at 8th level characters, and yes, I lke the sound of Almor if you're setting it in Greyhawk, the devastated area would suit it well.
Rich
Thanks for the response. I'm looking forward to this product very much. I really like the battlemaps and have started laminating my collection of the previous Fantastc Locations maps.
Speaking of which, I just got a notification that my copy of Fields of Ruin just shipped. :)
I couldn't care less about the battlemaps. We don't play the miniature game. We do USE the miniatures for the game though. I think the question was posed on this message board: do people buy based on author alone?
I just ordered my Fields of Ruin accessory because of two words: Richard Pett. (I also ordered the Red Hand of Doom, incidently).
Congratulations on this work for Wizards, Richard. I wouldn't have bought this module if it were written by anyone else.
Thanks everyone, I hope you like it. Extracts from the module are available here.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060407a
I'd also recommend you have a look at Voyage of the Golden Dragon by Nick Logue which also appears this month, and keep your eyes peeled for a Forgotten Realms adventure by Greg Vaughan coming out in the autumn. It's hats off to Wizards for inviting us to do some work for them, and an even bigger thank you to Erik for recommending us. I'm sure Nick and Greg would join me in asking you to let Wizards know what you think of our stuff, we're all obviously keen to be involved as much as we can whilst carrying on submitting work for our favourite magazine.
Rich
Thanks everyone, I hope you like it. Extracts from the module are available here.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060407a
I'd also recommend you have a look at Voyage of the Golden Dragon by Nick Logue which also appears this month, and keep your eyes peeled for a Forgotten Realms adventure by Greg Vaughan coming out in the autumn. It's hats off to Wizards for inviting us to do some work for them, and an even bigger thank you to Erik for recommending us. I'm sure Nick and Greg would join me in asking you to let Wizards know what you think of our stuff, we're all obviously keen to be involved as much as we can whilst carrying on submitting work for our favourite magazine.
Rich
For me the most exciting thing about this is that we will have some new people writing for WOTC and not the usual suspects. Shall we call you the Next Generation? :)
That'd be lovely, but we'll see how it goes. I'm not counting any chickens, there are a lot of very good writers working for WOTC and as much as I'd love to do another job for them, competition is very, very fierce. Just doing one adventure for them is an honour, as is getting in Dungeon, especially these days.
Back to the submission involving something very hungry...:)
Rich
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I just picked Fields of Ruin up at my FLGS today, and it does look like a Fantastic Location, indeed. I have'nt had the chance to do an in-depth read, but there are some spiffy looking badies to make the player's day really crappy.
Almor looks like the perfect location for plunking it in Greyhawk. And the (battle)maps are beautiful.
I'm looking forward to see Nick's offering! And, although I don't care much for FR, if that "Hateful Lego-set" guy is writting it, I may have to pick it up, as well.
Oh yeah, I wrote it and it's as "Hateful" and "Lego-setty" as anything out there...more than most.
Hi Greg,
There has been a bit of confusion around the title of the FR module you wrote.
On amazon.com it is called "Citadel of Glass" and on amazon.ca it is "The Twilight Tomb". Both have you listed as author (albeit with a spelling mistake) and have the same ISBN.
Do you know where that title confusion could come from? What was it on the manuscript you handed in?
Anyway, if you care to spill the beans a bit about the module's location or plot as well, I am sure that there would be a bunch of doodling candlekeep scribes coming over to the Paizo Boards for the first time just to read your words! (and Mystra knows that it is difficult to convince this old lot to leave their familiar grounds).
Bocklin
PS (to Richard Pett and potential buyers): Got "Fields of Ruin" yesterday and it's definitely worth my money! I hope to get a bit of reading time over Easter and discover more, but the bits I could bite on before going to work were nice and juicy.
PS (to Richard Pett and potential buyers): Got "Fields of Ruin" yesterday and it's definitely worth my money! I hope to get a bit of reading time over Easter and discover more, but the bits I could bite on before going to work were nice and juicy.
Huzzah! Looking forward to your comments, don't forget to let those lovely chaps at wizards know if you like it, they may throw me another some time.
I'm sure Gorg Vroon will get back to you about his FR stuff soon Brocklin.
Rich
I like how the old fogeys got asked to write about ruined ancient battlefields and tombs. The young master gets a brand spanking new airship rising like a Pheonix!
:-)
I need to get to a gaming store! I gotta pick up Grammar of Ruin and devour it! I am totally going to run it for my gaming group...so they can see how all you old, old people play the game. ;-)
Congrats Rich and Greg!
WotC: The Next Generation...I was a Deep Space Nine fan myself, I don't I was even born yet when Next Gen came out...
Thanks, Greg!
I understand that you can't say anything (NDA, etc.), but your post made me hope that this Twilight Tomb has something to do with the Star Elves and the Yuirwood. Would seem plausible from what you say, but that's maybe wishful thinking on my behalf.
Could you maybe tell us for which level or level category the adventure was designed?
By the way, I dropped some excerpts of your post over at Candlekeep. If you feel like adding anything or discussing with the FR-folks over there, you can find it there:
http://www.candlekeep.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6143&whichpage=2
Thanks again for your reply!
Bocklin
I like how the old fogeys got asked to write about ruined ancient battlefields and tombs. The young master gets a brand spanking new airship rising like a Pheonix!
:-)
I need to get to a gaming store! I gotta pick up Grammar of Ruin and devour it! I am totally going to run it for my gaming group...so they can see how all you old, old people play the game. ;-)
Congrats Rich and Greg!
WotC: The Next Generation...I was a Deep Space Nine fan myself, I don't I was even born yet when Next Gen came out...
Sigh...
See what you've done now Vaughan, he's off on one of those hands in the air 'sir sir me me me! I'm the best sir me! Pick me first me I'm best!' routines again...
Oh no hang on, he was being kind for a bit near the end, how does that work?
Rich
He's got the spelling of 'grammar' off to a tee though hasn't he Greg...
Arfarfarfarfarfarf.
Rich
Hey, hang on a minute...
While it may list me as ASEO, I am in no way related to the ASEO that is listed in the title block now that the friendly FBI fellows have drawn me into their witness relocation program. I will say that while there was a failed attempt on my life by someone yelling "Hateful Lego This! You Richard Pett fanboy!". I can not be sure of who the masked assailant was. Although there can’t be that many Uni the unicorn, from the old D&D cartoon, masks still around. Especially one with "Demon Slayer" poorly scrawled on its forehead in what looked like red crayon.
I will say for those interested, there is a reason that I roll all my dice as a DM in front of the players. Just because another DM and author had my halfogre character swallowed whole by a Tar Dragon and then proceeded to vomit me out because I was doing more damage from the inside, and then kill of my character during a session I missed due to travel to China to adopt my daughter, I would in no way used hexed dice against that author in a game where the tables were turned and I was the DM. I would also point any blame on multiple TPKs in said author’s adventure partly on a case of brown vs black color blindness of said author...
As for being a mean DM…I think we should look at the accusing player…one who brought a Paladin of Heronious into Richard Petts Age of Worms Prince of Redhand adventure. One who to vaporize the “friendly plot device ghoul” in the playtest before he could so much as say “hello”. One who managed to lure the rest of the party into a small boat and attempt to navigate treacherous shoals even though none of them had any sailing skills or nautical skills of any kind. In his defense, they couldn’t stay on the Island, as in the playtest of Prince of Redhand it leaked flammable gas which he had managed to ignite. At least as they floated aimlessly in the bay, their way was lit by a huge column of flame. And don’t even get me started on his behavior at the Prince’s Party…we can just say that everything he was served there was poisoned…repeatedly.
No, I think a mean DM would do something truly foul, truly evil, truly vile. Like put an assassin in a secret compartment in the back of an outhouse.
Well, my escorts say that it is time for me to change locations once again.
The poster formally known as ASEO out
Rich, from the sound of his posts I'm starting to think Nick is some cocky 12-year-old that cranks out Eberron adventures during recess. I feel like I'm 80 every time I read something of he writes. You never should have started calling him the "young master". Now we'll never live it down. Darn these whippersnappers and their freakishly-high IQs and video game skills.
I was going to write something else...but my memory just isn't what it used be.
Bocklin, I think that it was 4th-level without looking at my notes (which I know I left around here somewhere along with my bifocals), however I don't know if that might have been adjusted or not. Based on the playtest, probably easier to just raise the level than change all the encounters.
Anyway, thanks for the interest. I'll go have to check out Candlekeep.
That post above mine is making me suspicious. Hmmmm.... So whose charred corpse was that in the outhouse?
Maybe all that time in Candlekeep is why you need those bifocals gramps. Try installing a few everlight lanterns old timer before you get some cataracts. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go enjoy another bowl of alphabits before I absorb my afternoon cartoons and pump out another two books before my 8:00 pm bedtime!
Blame it all on the ritalin!!!
I think Nick should be grounded for a few months, and banned from his computer for a while so we can write some Eberron stuff in his place.
I know Greg, that young master thing was all my fault - we're just Doctor Who nuts so it seemed a natural thing to call the dang pesky kid in the first place, of course I can see now it was a stupid thing to say and made him all cocky.
And by the way, just to clarify the situation with next months Dragon, it's not me that's written the ecology of the dracolich article with Greg Vaughan, it's that imposter Raymond Pett, a cad who would stoop so low as to co-write something with Mr Grammatical Error himself. Raymond is nothing like me, and thinks writing an adventure where the PCs play gas spore paladins would be really cool, so as you can see, no similarity at all.
Just thought I'd clear that up, a disclaimer will be on its way on the dragon messageboard too just to make sure no one makes the same mistake Erik did.:)
Rich
I think Nick should be grounded for a few months, and banned from his computer for a while so we can write some Eberron stuff in his place.
NOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOO! EBERRON IS MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! :-(
Now I have to go change my diaper again (apparently I am regressing). Thanks a lot Raymond.
Now I have to go change my diaper again (apparently I am regressing). Thanks a lot Raymond.
Now that's a scary image.