I was paging thru the Dragon article request board and thought it might be a neat idea to open up a similar thread for Dungeon. We pretty much do this already on various threads, but a more centralized place might prove useful. I will get it started:
1. I would like another 1st level Eberron adventure, preferably not set in Sharn.
2. I would like to see some more Eberron material preferably not set in Sharn ("Tension Rising" was a good start).
3. More Styes please!
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Well, there was a recent request in the mail-in column in Dungeon requesting more epic modules. Other than that, I would like to see some alternate / ad-hoc XP-focused modules. That is, modules which are focused less on the dungeon-crawl and more on situational experience, skill use, intrigue, etc.
Murder mysteries are good, but all too often, the mystery is just an excuse to fight a series of bad-guys.
I love the 9th (8th published) installment of Shackled City for this. It's got some combat, but it's really not about the combat, and the end goal is not to beat the bad-guy (I'll stop there lest I start spoiling).
And non-crawl doesn't always mean non-dungeon, either. I'd love to see an adventure that challenged the player's default idea that going underground means that it's time to kill.
Given all the dark, dark adventures in the recent issues of Dungeon I wouldn't mind something a little lighter and humorous, with a lot of interesting NPCs and roleplaying opportunities. I'm not saying something as goofy as "Old Man Katan and the Mushroom Band," something like "The Devil Box" would be perfect.
Oh yeah, someone get Willie Walsh out of retirement.
Well, there was a recent request in the mail-in column in Dungeon requesting more epic modules. Other than that, I would like to see some alternate / ad-hoc XP-focused modules. That is, modules which are focused less on the dungeon-crawl and more on situational experience, skill use, intrigue, etc.
Murder mysteries are good, but all too often, the mystery is just an excuse to fight a series of bad-guys.
Speaking my language.
Creative Director
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There probably won't be any Chainmail's Sunderd Empire adventures in Dungeon.
I certainly would love to run a Ravenloft adventure now and then. There's a few questions we need to work out about how to handle it, and of course we'd need Wizards' approval (not that I don't think they'd mind).
We've got quite a few non-dungeoncrawl adventures in the near future. Issue #141 in particular should please fans of adventures that feature a LOT of roleplaying type stuff.
As for humorous adventures... they're the hardest ones to get in print, because humor is the hardest thing to write well. I'm not a big fan of the "yuk yuk" variety of humor (such as adventures filled with puns, or things that feature rust monster dentists or other blatantly goofy things). "Home Under the Range," "The Devil Box," and "The Menagerie" are great examples of humorous adventuers. I'd love to see more submissions along thisv vein.
..."The Menagerie" are great examples of humorous adventuers. I'd love to see more submissions along thisv vein.
I liked The Menagerie quite a bit and I once read an extremely funny story about a group that went through it - but I did not think it was particularly funny in and of itself.
As for humorous adventures... they're the hardest ones to get in print, because humor is the hardest thing to write well. I'm not a big fan of the "yuk yuk" variety of humor (such as adventures filled with puns, or things that feature rust monster dentists or other blatantly goofy things). "Home Under the Range," "The Devil Box," and "The Menagerie" are great examples of humorous adventuers. I'd love to see more submissions along thisv vein.
I never thought of "Home Under the Range" as a funny adventure, though I could definitely see how it could play out that way. "The Menagerie," perhaps... though maybe that is just the effect of the cartoonish artwork and the collection of offbeat monsters that the PCs encounter.
I thought the "The Devil Box" was the only adventure you mentioned that was purposely written to be humorous. I laughed out loud a couple of times when I read it. I love humor tinged with horror and darkness (I'm a big Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel fan), so "The Devil Box" was perfect for me.
As a long time reader I think what the magazine needs most is more adventures from this hot new young blood - Nicolas Logue (Spelled with no "h" by the way).
I think his adentures are really really something. His grasp of NPC personality and motivations as well his remarkable ability to weave wildly innovative storylines, along with overall mastery of structure and form make him a top notch writer.
My only request - more Nick Logue...
::Nick realizes he is not logged in under his one of his several shameless self-promotional fake usernames and begins to panic...he tries to cancel the post, but f!*~s it up and hits "submit" instead. A dread cold spreads through his bowels as he realizes the enormity of what he has just done and he begins to shake uncontrollably as he reaches for the "edit" icon...but then his mother barges in (not respecting his privacy as usual) and drags him away from the computer to take out the garbage...why is life so cruel, gentle readers?::
***Don't sweat it Nick, I don't think anyone noticed. ;-)
Anyway, I'd like to see some Forgotten Realms adventures that take place in regions not already 'played' to the hilt.
Like the Sharr, Vaasa, the Border Kingdoms (Ed's writing his heart out filling in that region), Vilhon Reach, Aglarond, Rashemen, and Thay.
And also being a fan of Eberron, I agree with adventures not necessarily in Sharn. How about something going on in the Eldeen Reaches, Shadow Marches, Q'Barra, Karrnath, Thrane, Aundair, or Zliargo.
And while not a fan (but also not a detractor of) Greyhawk, let's see some stuff placed in the rarely seen corners of the Flaeness (sp?) Hope I didn't upset anyone with not remembering or not spelling that right. :-(
I'd like to see some short 2-4 page encounters. My gaiming group can usually only meet for about 2-3 hours and attendence is revolving, not everyone can make it. Shorter, one-shot "encounters" with a splash of story, set up and RP. Many of my games are: "Yo we got 2 hours here, let's run something."
Short encounters would be perfect for that.
As a long time reader I think what the magazine needs most is more adventures from this hot new young blood - Nicolas Logue (Spelled with no "h" by the way).
I think his adentures are really really something. His grasp of NPC personality and motivations as well his remarkable ability to weave wildly innovative storylines, along with overall mastery of structure and form make him a top notch writer.
My only request - more Nick Logue...
::Nick realizes he is not logged in under his one of his several shameless self-promotional fake usernames and begins to panic...he tries to cancel the post, but f~~%s it up and hits "submit" instead. A dread cold spreads through his bowels as he realizes the enormity of what he has just done and he begins to shake uncontrollably as he reaches for the "edit" icon...but then his mother barges in (not respecting his privacy as usual) and drags him away from the computer to take out the garbage...why is life so cruel, gentle readers?::
Logue shamelessly tries to hijack another thread where Devil Box is mentioned once more...and fails.
Logue attempts to hide guilt of hijacking a Vaughn thread and fails...happy days!
I always felt that here might be a sequel (or maybe better - a prequel) in the Devil Box, it's nice to know some people still think fondly of it:)
Logue shamelessly tries to hijack another thread where Devil Box is mentioned once more...and fails.Logue attempts to hide guilt of hijacking a Vaughn thread and fails...happy days!
Richard "the Third" Pett brazenly attempts (and fails) to divert attention from the fact that Nick Hlogue does indeed have an "H" in his real name, though his stage name of Barbara Stanwick does not.
In the confusion a majestic air subtyped dragon devours all the praise aimed at "The Menagerie" while promising more exciting, dangerous, thought-provoking and humourus adventures in the future (Editor willing) both alone and with an assortment of multi-national were-cabbages (one even lives in Vegas). Praise devoured, the noble dragon thanks his supporters (those who have the Accolyte of the Green God Prestige Class - whose sole prerequisite is a in a $8 dollar membership charge, and a small annual fee) leaps aloft and leaves the two bitter combatants, still bashing away at each other, to fight over the remaining dust.
The future is this way folks,
The Great Green God
I was paging thru the Dragon article request board and thought it might be a neat idea to open up a similar thread for Dungeon. We pretty much do this already on various threads, but a more centralized place might prove useful. I will get it started:
1. I would like another 1st level Eberron adventure, preferably not set in Sharn.
2. I would like to see some more Eberron material preferably not set in Sharn ("Tension Rising" was a good start).
3. More Styes please!
Ah ha! A thread topic!
Working on one of the above. I'll let Richard puzzle out which one.
GGG
Given all the dark, dark adventures in the recent issues of Dungeon I wouldn't mind something a little lighter and humorous, with a lot of interesting NPCs and roleplaying opportunities.
Check. (I hope).
;)
GGG
I've spent the last few days reading thru my collection of magazines and came up with a couple more requests:
1. Another Oriental Adventure...but I want Tito Leati to write it. "The Palace of Plenty" is one of my favorite adventures from this year.
2. Variant monsters. One of the greatest strenghts of 3/3.5e D&D is the rules for tweaking monsters. Advancement, class levels, templates are all great, but I really dig when standard monsters are given a little tweak. Change a variable here and there those pesky metagaming players are faced with a headscratching opponent. Some examples that come to mind, are the mephits in "The Hateful Legacy" and the lacquered mummy in "The Coming Storm" (Greg A. Vaughn seems to be pretty good at this), the Sickstone Earth Elemental in the "Caverns of the Ooze Lord" is another good example.
3. I mentioned in another thread how much I liked the usage of material from the Dragon Compendium, well, that also extends to material from Dragon and Dungeon. A cool idea is a cool idea and if it has a place, I wouldn't mind seeing it again. An example is one of the diseases from "The Stink" (Greenblight) appearing again in "Caverns of the Ooze Lord."
I've spent the last few days reading thru my collection of magazines and came up with a couple more requests:
1. Another Oriental Adventure...but I want Tito Leati to write it. "The Palace of Plenty" is one of my favorite adventures from this year.
Check (sorta). I am not Tito Leati, and while the adventure is very "oriental" it is not set in what many would consider a standard oriental setting. Hope you brought your "Tao of Pooh." Oh and beware the evil shape-shifting objectivist.
2. Variant monsters. One of the greatest strenghts of 3/3.5e D&D is the rules for tweaking monsters. Advancement, class levels, templates are all great, but I really dig when standard monsters are given a little tweak. Change a variable here and there those pesky metagaming players are faced with a headscratching opponent. Some examples that come to mind, are the mephits in "The Hateful Legacy" and the lacquered mummy in "The Coming Storm" (Greg A. Vaughn seems to be pretty good at this), the Sickstone Earth Elemental in the "Caverns of the Ooze Lord" is another good example.
Oh definately check (a lot).
3. I mentioned in another thread how much I liked the usage of material from the Dragon Compendium, well, that also extends to material from Dragon and Dungeon. A cool idea is a cool idea and if it has a place, I wouldn't mind seeing it again. An example is one of the diseases from "The Stink" (Greenblight) appearing again in "Caverns of the Ooze Lord."
I'll have to double check (no pun intended;), though at this moment I would have to say no. Still I think I averaged pretty well all things considered.
Oh, and that previously posted "hope" has been confirmed.
The incredibly psychic (since all this stuff was written like months ago),
Great Green God
I suppose that STAP will probably fill the bill for waterborn adventures for the next year or so, but I'm down with more adventures that use Stormwrack, if it's possible.
I'd also like to see some "frostfell" adventures--the last ones I remember that fit into this theme date from before 3.5e.
Finally, a cheer for more Oriental Adventures. I liked both Tito Leati's "Palace of Plenty" and Greg Vaughan's "Coming Storm" precisely because they used some Asian themes without being set in a stereotypical Asian setting, and would be easy to fit into any campaign world that has some kind of vaguely "Oriental" region. Medieval Japan with real demons and Rokugan (i.e. Medieval Japan with some random admixtures of other "Asian" stuff) are all well and good, but I'm much more interested in stuff that breaks out of the fixation with Japan and explores other ideas.
I suppose that STAP will probably fill the bill for waterborn adventures for the next year or so, but I'm down with more adventures that use Stormwrack, if it's possible.
I'd also like to see some "frostfell" adventures--the last ones I remember that fit into this theme date from before 3.5e.
Finally, a cheer for more Oriental Adventures. I liked both Tito Leati's "Palace of Plenty" and Greg Vaughan's "Coming Storm" precisely because they used some Asian themes without being set in a stereotypical Asian setting, and would be easy to fit into any campaign world that has some kind of vaguely "Oriental" region. Medieval Japan with real demons and Rokugan (i.e. Medieval Japan with some random admixtures of other "Asian" stuff) are all well and good, but I'm much more interested in stuff that breaks out of the fixation with Japan and explores other ideas.
I'm proposing some Indian mythos advenutre action tomorrow! Ramanayana-esque stuff with a slight taste of Temple of Doomish flavor.
I want to do more China-related stuff too, but don't know how much call there is for it.
I suppose that STAP will probably fill the bill for waterborn adventures for the next year or so, but I'm down with more adventures that use Stormwrack, if it's possible.
I'd also like to see some "frostfell" adventures--the last ones I remember that fit into this theme date from before 3.5e.
Finally, a cheer for more Oriental Adventures. I liked both Tito Leati's "Palace of Plenty" and Greg Vaughan's "Coming Storm" precisely because they used some Asian themes without being set in a stereotypical Asian setting, and would be easy to fit into any campaign world that has some kind of vaguely "Oriental" region. Medieval Japan with real demons and Rokugan (i.e. Medieval Japan with some random admixtures of other "Asian" stuff) are all well and good, but I'm much more interested in stuff that breaks out of the fixation with Japan and explores other ideas.
I'm proposing some Indian mythos advenutre action tomorrow! Ramanayana-esque stuff with a slight taste of Temple of Doomish flavor.
I want to do more China-related stuff too, but don't know how much call there is for it.
Chinese inspired adventures have always been underrepresented in OA D&D history, so I would like to see more of these types of adventures included in the future. An India flavored adventure would be very, very cool.
I really like D&D adventures that break out of the European/Medieval Fantasy mode, which is one of the reasons that STAP is so appealing to me. I wouldn't mind seeing East Asian, Indian, Central Asian (hey Dragon is revisiting the FR Hordelands), Middle Eastern, Africa, North American, and Mesoamerica themed adventures. Now, I'm not saying that these should be featured all the time, but it would be a nice change of pace. I remember when David Howery published 1e and 2e edition adventures in Greyhawk and the Dark Continent settings. Those were very cool and provided a unique spin to D&D.
Peruhain, I'm currently revising an adventure manuscript that features frostfell elements. Is -30 F cold enough for you? (I just hope that none of the regulars pitch something better (!) though, as the full manuscript has been looked at once. I should get the revised script in next week.) Some of the other requests are touched on in it, too.
Awesome eric! I look forward to reading this in the fine pages of Dungeon!!! :-)
Is there any demand for one-time adventures not meant to be folded into an ongoing campaign? By a "one-time adventure," I mean one that WILL end by the end of the evening's session, no matter what. I write a couple of these each year to handle those throw-together evenings when we've got guests who are not part of our campaigns, or just to run with our regular group for a change of pace. A friend likewise runs one-time adventures on Halloween night and at Christmas time each year, with suitably ghoulish and festive themes.
One-time adventures are story- or concept-driven adventures, rather than character-driven ones. They're necessarily quite short - three or four encounters, tops. Mine frequently feature short mysteries leading to bloody climaxes. They usually involve pre-prepared characters, often conforming to a well known and readily accessible stereotypes to make them easy to play. (Upon occasion, I've given a character or two backstory secrets or individual objectives far more specific and deadly than I'd suggest to a PC in an ongoing campaign.) The players take bigger chances with these characters because, no matter what happens to them, they won't reappear after the evening is over. (Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose, I guess.)
A one-time adventure could be a killer adventure in which only one or two players are expected to survive. An example: A one-night plague of hungry zombies falls upon the land during the night with no stars in the sky. A zombie bite leads to a quick death and immediate rising as a hungry undead. We ran such an adventure several Halloweens ago, and it was fantastic. Of our seven players, six became zombies (which the players still controlled, in a mindless and often comic fashion) and went after the last one alive. She made it to dawn - by the skin of her teeth - and survived.
A one-time adventure might focus on the occurrence of a single event or goal that, if it occurs, renders further adventuring unnecessary. The adventure I summarzied in the Halloween adventure thread was one of those.
These can be enormously fun to run and play because there's little downside to undertaking otherwise preposterous risks. You can play out a "Ten Little Indians" plotline, or turn all the characters permanently into insects or oozes, or undertake all kinds of stories impossible in an ongoing campaign. Does anyone else love these inherently terminal adventures?
Would DUNGEON consider such an adventure?
- Ted
A one shot, zombie apocalypse adventure would be awesome, though I think it would be best to include notes on how to adapt it to a campaign.
Well, I'd say more Adventure Paths, but I think you've got that covered. I'd also ask for more new creatures, but it sounds like you've got that covered. I'm pretty darn happy with the magazine lately. On top of all that, I wouldn't mind seeing...
1. More extraplanar adventures, preferably on some of the lesser-used planes like the Negative Energy Plane, Pandemonium, the Plane of Mirrors (go nerra!), the Temporal Energy Plane, etc.
2. Add one more vote for more epic-level adventures.
3. More critical threats of classic characters, like Warduke and Evard. Those are fun!
4. Adventures involving ethergaunts, chronotyryns, nerra, and rilmani.
5. Any revisits to classic adventures, like you've done with Maure Castle, Isle of Dread, and Mud Sorcerer's Tomb, are always welcome.
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Creative Director
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]1. More extraplanar adventures, preferably on some of the lesser-used planes like the Negative Energy Plane, Pandemonium, the Plane of Mirrors (go nerra!), the Temporal Energy Plane, etc.
Check.
2. Add one more vote for more epic-level adventures.
It would be nice. We're still hunting for some good submissions, though; epic adventures are hard to propose and even harder to write.
3. More critical threats of classic characters, like Warduke and Evard. Those are fun!
I just commissioned a critical threat of one of the oldest D&D villains; hopefully we'll get him in the magazine by next Spring!
4. Adventures involving ethergaunts, chronotyryns, nerra, and rilmani.
We're working on some of these. There's a chronotyryn appearing in Downer, lately, althoguh that's probably not what you're looking for...
5. Any revisits to classic adventures, like you've done with Maure Castle, Isle of Dread, and Mud Sorcerer's Tomb, are always welcome.
Check. We've got at least two new nods to classic adventures (not actual remakes in the vein of Maure Castle, but fairly substantial anyway) in the next four issues.
How about solo-adventures or a how to adventure for first time DMs?
Maybe a planescape or adventures set in darker settings Iuz or starting out as slaves?
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Creative Director
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How about solo-adventures or a how to adventure for first time DMs?
Maybe a planescape or adventures set in darker settings Iuz or starting out as slaves?
No solo adventures in the foreseable future. And Dungeon isn't really poised in a position to cater to first-time DMs; it's a niche product in a niche hobby for a game that's been around for years. And frankly, WotC's already covered the "first time DM" adventures, I think, with the excellent Basic D&D boxed set and the Dungeon Master for Dummies book (which is filled with adventures that cater to the first-time DM).
Planescape-themed adventures, though, we will be doing. It's why we got Wolfgang Baur (who's got more than a few planescape products under his belt) to write the 11th installment of Savage Tide, which is all about plane-hopping. We've got a few other adventures in the works that have a strong planescape feel as well.
Much goodnes...
Great! I don't mind Downer, but yeah, I was thinking more in adventures for the ol' timebirds. :)
Keep up the good work!
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As a long time reader I think what the magazine needs most is more adventures from this hot new young blood - Richard Pett (Spelled with an "h" by the way).
I think his adentures are really really something. His grasp of NPC personality and motivations as well his remarkable ability to weave wildly innovative storylines, along with overall mastery of structure and form make him a top notch writer.
My only request - more Richard Pett...
See? Underneath it all, he's one of the Styes Guys.
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Creative Director
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Lankhmar is an incredible, awesome setting, and one that's inspired me for years (as, I hope, should be evident from issue #139's "There Is No Honor"). Unfortunately, the Lankhmar license is no longer held by WotC, so we can't do an adventure set there.
We've run several "low-magic" adventures, actaully. But we don't really call them out as low magic when we print them.
How about solo-adventures or a how to adventure for first time DMs?
While solo adventures had there place in Dungeon 15-20 years ago (and I played both solo adventures that were published back in the 80s), I think computer/video RPGs have pretty much removed the need for them (and, quite frankly, does them better). I know I would not want to see one anymore.
3. More critical threats of classic characters, like Warduke and Evard. Those are fun!I just commissioned a critical threat of one of the oldest D&D villains; hopefully we'll get him in the magazine by next Spring!
Baaaargle.... If it ain't Bargle, so help me I'll come over there...
Is it Bargle?
See? Underneath it all, he's one of the Styes Guys.As a long time reader I think what the magazine needs most is more adventures from this hot new young blood - Richard Pett (Spelled with an "h" by the way).
I think his adentures are really really something. His grasp of NPC personality and motivations as well his remarkable ability to weave wildly innovative storylines, along with overall mastery of structure and form make him a top notch writer.
My only request - more Richard Pett...
Heath, this hurt me so deeply...
;-)
I liked The Menagerie quite a bit and I once read an extremely funny story about a group that went through it - but I did not think it was particularly funny in and of itself.
Any chance that was this thread?
I know I laughed quite a bit playing "The Menagerie".
Humor is one of my favorite parts of the game. Though my normal game is decidedly more grim.
As an aside, I find that 9 times out of 10 humor happens spontaneously rather than resulting from a planned encounter. It's tough to engineer in a game setting. Not to say there aren't examples where it's been pulled off.
James, I'd like to see more epic level stuff. I know you said they're hard to propose/write, they tend to take up a lot of magazine space with their high word counts and you need to see more decent proposals. Given all that, here's my question: would a two or three part epic level campaign arc be considered if it met your criteria?
I would really like an adventure set in a relatively untapped Ruins of the Suel set in the Sea of Dust, complete with ancient suel items and loaded with forbidding magic better left unearthed. The Forgotten City itself would be wonderful, though I imagine beyond the scope of 1 adventure.
We aren't interested in running an epic campaign. One epic adventure a year is enough. Truth be told... epic-level adventures simply aren't popular enough to justify anything more often.
Fair enough. Thanx for the quick reply.
I would like to see an Eberron adventure set in the Eldeen Reaches or the Demon Wastes using Taint rules for the latter.
I would like to see an Eberron adventure set in the Eldeen Reaches or the Demon Wastes using Taint rules for the latter.
I'm familiar with the Taint, as introduced in Oriental Adventures, as well as the optional Taint rules from UA/LoM. Is this what you're talking about? Or is there a specific Eberron corruption that goes by the same name?
A one shot, zombie apocalypse adventure would be awesome, though I think it would be best to include notes on how to adapt it to a campaign.
Good luck with the zombie adventure, Ashenvale!
Hey, thanks guys! I'll take a crack at it. I hope I can come up with something as exciting as you imagine it might be!
I would like to see an Eberron adventure set in the Eldeen Reaches or the Demon Wastes using Taint rules for the latter.I'm familiar with the Taint, as introduced in Oriental Adventures, as well as the optional Taint rules from UA/LoM. Is this what you're talking about? Or is there a specific Eberron corruption that goes by the same name?
They revamped it a bit in Heroes of Horror. They seperated physical effects (corruption) and mental effects (depravity) into two seperate lists. Additionally, you gain a bonus feat for each level of taint you progress. Heroes of Horror also presents spells, magic items, monsters, and prestige classes that involve the Taint rules.
Player's Guide to Eberron suggests the Demon Wastes in Eberron have a Taint effect using the rules in Heroes of Horror.
I would like to see some very low-magic adventures. Fighters and thieves can be prominent in such settings, especially at low levels. Have the PCs and the foes make use of mundane, nonstandard equipment.
I just sent in a query regarding having the PC's try to use basic materials (bunks, trees, etc.) to jury-rig defenses.
I would also like to see something set in high mountains. Have the characters battle enemies and the effects of thin air.
I just submitted my first manuscript for publication - a high level romp in a high-altitude environment (fingers crossed).