I have DMGII and Revenge of the Giants

[gribble]

Gatetowns can be anywhere, and they are basically towns built up around the gate to a certain place. Due to seeping planar energy, the gate-town and surroundings "takes after" (to varying degree) the place where the portal leads.

Nice. Seems fairly compatible with 2e Planescape fluff.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Okay, I'm about to get tarred and feathered by the Planescape crowd , but...

Did they get rid of that ridiculous idea of the dabus communicating only in visual rebuses? Of all the goofy details of all the settings back to the earliest days of D&D, I think that was one of the ones that I absolutely hated the most. It made it absolutely impossible for me to take the dabus seriously, and it actually damaged the entire Planescape setting in my mind. I really find the idea that stupid.

To this day, I won't play in a game where the DM insists on including dabus unless he drops that aspect, because it ruins the immersion that thoroughly for me. (Fortunately, it's never come up.)

 

[Elbeghast]

Okay, I'm about to get tarred and feathered by the Planescape crowd , but...
(...) I really find the idea that stupid.

To this day, I won't play in a game where the DM insists on including dabus unless he drops that aspect, because it ruins the immersion that thoroughly for me. (Fortunately, it's never come up.)

That bad of a challenge to your suspension of disbelief, heh?

I like the idea of the dabus, personally.

 

[Mouseferatu]

That bad of a challenge to your suspension of disbelief, heh?

'fraid so. And I can deal with some truly out-there, wacky stuff in my gaming fantasy. It's just that, for me, the dabus fall smack dab into that area where I find something both so stupid in concept and so nonsensical even in the most wahoo fantasy that it completely takes me out of the game (or book, or whatever).

 

[hailstop]

Looks like the updated rules available for download @ wizards.com. So a bit too easy (IMO). Lots of good advice and great examples to improve your skill challenge-making.

When you have all 7 pieces, it's (amongst other things) a +7 mace! Poor elemental that gets critted by that. +7d10 damage

So does each piece have it's own power? Does the Rod have a personality that develops as it's put together or does it not have one at all?

 

[Quickleaf]

What sort of traps and hazards are in the DMG 2?

 

[frankthedm]

'fraid so. And I can deal with some truly out-there, wacky stuff in my gaming fantasy. It's just that, for me, the dabus fall smack dab into that area where I find something both so stupid in concept and so nonsensical even in the most wahoo fantasy that it completely takes me out of the game (or book, or whatever).

I think the Dabus would fit well into a setting with Terry Pratchett style irreverence,

 

[gribble]

Did they get rid of that ridiculous idea of the dabus communicating only in visual rebuses? Of all the goofy details of all the settings back to the earliest days of D&D, I think that was one of the ones that I absolutely hated the most.

As much as I loved PS, I kind of have to agree. It's not that I hated the idea as much as you obviously did, more that often the implementation used rebuses that contained "modern" visual clues, which I often found kind of jarring.

I guess they had to in order to communicate with a modern audience, but I did find that it would jar me out of the fantasy vibe a bit.

 

[Rechan]

Okay, can someone explain what a Dabus is and what Mouse is going on about?

 

[MerricB]

Okay, can someone explain what a Dabus is and what Mouse is going on about?

Dabus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rebus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I never really investigated Planescape, but I agree entirely with Mouse - especially as it's an idea that fails utterly at the game table. You ask the Dabus a question. What is the DM doing? Trying to draw a rebus to reply with? Huh?

Cheers!