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I finally scored a Dungeon #70 and Dragon #252!!!
If you think that Wolfgang Baur did a spectacular treatment of elevating ghouls above craven graveyard vagabonds, you should see the magic he can weave in the deep underground. Phenomenal work...
Have you ever wished there was something more? Have you ever considered submitting your own adventures for publication? I would sincerely consider checking out Mr. Baur's Open Design Project web site. Great things are afoot and you could be an integral part.
Feel free to drop me a line if you would like some more information: DitheringFool at gmail dot com
I don't have either issue, Dragon or Dungeon. As a big fan of undead creatures, what in particular did Mr. Baur do for ghouls? And is this "open design" project linked in some way...?
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I don't have either issue, Dragon or Dungeon. As a big fan of undead creatures, what in particular did Mr. Baur do for ghouls? And is this "open design" project linked in some way...?
Yes and no. The Empire of the Ghouls project is thematically similar to the Kingdom of Ghouls adventure. However, I wouldn't go so far as to say they are linked. I do not believe this is a direct sequal and you do not need to go hunt down the Dungeon #70. If you follow this link there is short synopsis.
The original Kingdom of the Ghouls is an underdark adventure for mid-level characters. The party stumbles on a city of intelligent ghouls with a nigh unstoppable army. The scariest part about the original True Ghouls is that they have THAC0! Now Mr. Baur did a conversion of the True Ghoul for the Age of Worms adventure path if you're interested...
this is positively the BEST adventure ever written for dungeon hands down. period. i have run it close to 5 times and it never fails to bring down at least one or 2 PCs. one time it led to a TPK. there are no more mundane ghouls IMC because of this. every ghoul has class levels and my players are deathly afraid of any ghouls that come against them. Thanks Mr. Baur. there's also a version of the true ghoul in the libris mortis, only it's called the gravetouched ghoul. check it out.
braiiinnnssss........
Alright then. I have Dungeon 70. Not to be nasty, but other than the obvious 3.5 update, why would I want another underdark ghoul adventure?
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Alright then. I have Dungeon 70. Not to be nasty, but other than the obvious 3.5 update, why would I want another underdark ghoul adventure?
Let me put it this way: You get what you pay for.
The Open Design Project is two things. First, there is the end result, a professional adventure writen by an industry giant. Second it is a journey. Open Design is just that, the entire design process opened up for you to see and influence. You get to see creative spurts and frustrated rants. You get watch art and maps evolve. It's all there.
More specifically, the Empire of the Ghouls adventure is a stand alone adventure that could be dropped into any campaign. However, I don't think it would take too big a stretch to run it as a sequel to The Kingdom of the Ghouls. The original was published in 1998. A lot has changed since then...the game itself has changed twice! I bet this will be quite a ride.
Also, Wolfgang has stated that he's not even looking at the old adventure, he doesn't want it to influence the new project. I'd compare Empire of Ghouls to the old Dungeon adventure like Old Battlestar Galactica is to the new Sci-fi channel version - a re-imagining of the concept from the ground up using today's toolbox (3.5 edition & OGL).
Not to mention the insight on the project from Wolf, Open Design #2 was my first & I found this part fascinating, and the input you, as a patron, have on the project.
I just signed on to the Open Design project. Personally I think the new "Empire of the Ghouls" adventure will be fantastic.
Firstly it will be about 60,000 words long (it works out to roughly 128 pages I think) so it will be much longer than the original "Kingdom of the Ghouls" adventure.
Secondly the fact that it is a 3.5E adventure saves you all the trouble of having to convert the old one.
Thirdly, most of the benefits of the project (at least in my opinion) is seeing the adventure as it evolves along the way. Wolfgang keeps the people who have signed on as patrons to the project constantly updated about its progress. The patrons also get to vote on various aspects of the project so that they get the final product that they want. This is very different from your normal product that you buy of the shelf at your local gaming store. You actually get to influence what's in the adventure. In addition to this Wolfgang writes several essays about the project along the way (along the lines of his Dungeoncraft articles) that only patrons get to see.
If that isn't enough for you, also think about everything that Wolfgang has learned about writing adventures since he wrote Kingdom of the Ghouls almost 10 years ago.
Please note that I'm not connected to Wolfgang in any way. I just think that more people should know about this project.
Please also note that the only way you will be able to get this adventure is if you sign on as a patron to this project. You won't be able to buy it from your local game store or anywhere else. It is for patrons only.
Olaf the Stout
Just to be fair, I'll note that Mr. Baur has not yet determined whether he'll be doing "The Empire of the Ghouls" or "The City-State of Zobeck."
One of the immediate benefits of becoming a patron is that you can help tip the scale towards the product you want him to produce.
Personally, I voted for the ghouls.
Just to be fair, I'll note that Mr. Baur has not yet determined whether he'll be doing "The Empire of the Ghouls" or "The City-State of Zobeck."
One of the immediate benefits of becoming a patron is that you can help tip the scale towards the product you want him to produce.
Personally, I voted for the ghouls.
You are correct. I believe at last count the Ghouls were slightly ahead in the voting. Wolfgang has said that he will give an update on the voting in the next day or so.
Olaf the Stout
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Intrigued by the concept, I too just signed up for Wolfgang's Open Design. The idea of opening the process up to patrons and inviting them to discuss and influence it all is just something I couldn't pass up.
Personally while Empire of Ghouls does sound like an interesting adventure, I voted for City-State of Zobeck for the clockwork and shadow magic and all the other nifty crunchy bits. Come join and vote!
Intrigued by the concept, I too just signed up for Wolfgang's Open Design. The idea of opening the process up to patrons and inviting them to discuss and influence it all is just something I couldn't pass up.
Personally while Empire of Ghouls does sound like an interesting adventure, I voted for City-State of Zobeck for the clockwork and shadow magic and all the other nifty crunchy bits. Come join and vote!
Boo, hiss!!! :-P
At the last count the Ghouls were ahead in the voting by 3 votes - 162 to 159. If you Ghoul supporters haven't signed up yet, now is the time to do it. The Ghouls need your help to defeat the evil forces of Zobeck!
Olaf the Stout
The Ghouls have moved further ahead and Wolfgang is close to calling it in favour of the Ghouls.
You won't be able to get in on this project for much longer. If you're interested I would sign up now or you may miss out.
Olaf the Stout
Ghouls has now been confirmed as the project. Anyone that would like to join as a patron only has until the 31st of March to do so. This adventure won't be available to the public. The only way to get it is to be a patron on this project or a future Open Design project (if there is a future one).
Olaf the Stout
Only a couple more days for you to sign up for what promises to be an extremely cool adventure.
Olaf the Stout
yep; love ghouls; more ghouls the better; ghouls and gnolls are my favorite choices of mid level mobs to build adventures with; but have done that for years so now it Frogs; more and more Frogs; Fear the Frogs :) Woot Frogs and Ghouls and Gnolls o my :)
Just to correct my previous post, "The Empire of the Ghouls" will only be taking new patrons until March 30th and not March 31st as I stated in an earlier post.
Once this date has passed no new patrons will be accepted. It may be reopened to new patrons once the playtesting stage has passed but this is not guaranteed. So if you really are interested you only have a couple of days to sign up.
Olaf the Stout