Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Let's read the entire run
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5974381" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Dragon Issue 286: August 2001</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>part 3/7</p><p></p><p></p><p>Creatures of the four lands: Now we get to the meaty stuff that's most plunderable for use in other games. Monsters and items. Let's see if these are sufficiently different to add to your D&D game, or just reinventing the wheel with a different paintjob. </p><p></p><p>Skull Bearers are corrupted druids, although they've become outsiders rather than undead. They can fly, use a good selection of spells, generate terror, and are a bugger to detect magically. At low levels, they're big boss material, but there's also enough of them that you could wind up facing a whole team of them at higher level. </p><p></p><p>Mordwraiths seem suspiciously like ringwraith expys. They're cloaked so you can't see what's underneath, scary, can sense you without using sight, and use green fire in all sorts of unpleasant ways. Sounds fairly familiar, apart from the green fire bit. Why mess with a winning formula? </p><p></p><p>Moor Cats look suspiciously like Cringer from He-man, and can blur themselves to become even harder to spot and hit than regular cats. Like most cats in fiction, they're mysterious, smart, and may obey you if they feel like it, but can never truly be tamed. Good luck staying on their good side. </p><p></p><p>Rock Trolls fill the role of the big and tough looking, but ultimately dumb mook enemies a PC will soon be able to mow down as they level up. They're all about the honorable combat, which is pretty easy to exploit. You'd probably have better luck trying to maintain a friendly relationship with a tribe of them than you would orcs, and that's something. </p><p></p><p>Shadowen are another unpleasant supernatural beastie. They're the product of magical experimentation, possess people, drain their life-force, and are all-round unpleasant when they do take over. Since they have fast healing and incorporeality, it's near impossible to fight them without magic. So when they take over, they of course make magic illegal and promote witch-hunts against those who use it. That's a sensible evil plan if I ever heard one. </p><p></p><p>Mwellret are shapeshifting lizard men. While not stupid, they're one of those races that thinks they're inherently superior to everyone else, and this means they might not use their powers as smartly as they could. This is alway a flaw worth exploiting. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Relics and artifacts: While the monsters can fit into a D&D game and not feel out of place at all, the magical items of this series are a little trickier to incorporate. Most are artefact level by D&D standards, and even the weaker ones have dangerous side-effects. This makes it clear that it's not a place where you can just load up with an arsenal of bling and expect to solve your problems that way. Let the players beware if they encounter any of these in their game. </p><p></p><p>The Sword of Shannara is the namesake of the series, bringing truth to all around it by detecting lies, piercing illusions, and forcing people to accept themselves for what they truly are. Which is ultimately a good thing, but not particularly pleasant for those who have to go through it. As a macguffin to drive stories, it seems quite a good one, as anyone who's even slightly morally ambiguous is going to have something they don't want made public, and be wary of it's wielder. </p><p></p><p>The Black Elfstone is another exceedingly powerful device, able to detect, absorb and reflect magic fairly reliably. However, gaining all a creature's magical powers is very bad for the sanity indeed, so a sensible user will skip that part. These items all look like they're going to be balanced primarily by danger, rather than limited in power like D&D ones would in the new edition. Giving them to your players may well take them out of play before too long. </p><p></p><p>Blue Elfstones come in trios, and only work with one of each, and even then they only work for elves, with a 50% chance of working for half-elves. They also have a fair chance of burning you out with repeated use. God, magic can be finicky. I find myself longing for the reliable touch of science. </p><p></p><p>The Mirrorshroud is exactly the kind of thing the sword of Shannara is designed to deal with. A cloak that lets you shapeshift into someone the target trusts and read minds to help you keep up the facade? Very little good and a lot of unpleasantness can come of giving someone the power to do that. Even knowing it exists and people are willing to use it will be corrosive to the trust that keeps a community together. </p><p></p><p>The Stiehl is one of those lovely intelligent weapons that takes over it's wielder, using them to fulfil it's perpetual bloodlust by sharing some of the lifeforce it drains in an addictive manner. Unless you're a skilled professional assassin, this is very unlikely to end well for you. But to the weapon? No biggie. There's always another sucker who thinks they can handle it. </p><p></p><p>The Sword of Leah is very similar, only working for the other side. It's special powers are all about kicking demon ass, but it's still addictive, and with a tendency to make you go berserk. If there's no-one to talk you down, you'll probably sacrifice yourself saving the world, or wind up killing your friends when you run out of enemies. Designing intrinsically good things is a lot harder than making evil ones around here, it seems.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 5974381, member: 27780"] [B][U]Dragon Issue 286: August 2001[/U][/B] part 3/7 Creatures of the four lands: Now we get to the meaty stuff that's most plunderable for use in other games. Monsters and items. Let's see if these are sufficiently different to add to your D&D game, or just reinventing the wheel with a different paintjob. Skull Bearers are corrupted druids, although they've become outsiders rather than undead. They can fly, use a good selection of spells, generate terror, and are a bugger to detect magically. At low levels, they're big boss material, but there's also enough of them that you could wind up facing a whole team of them at higher level. Mordwraiths seem suspiciously like ringwraith expys. They're cloaked so you can't see what's underneath, scary, can sense you without using sight, and use green fire in all sorts of unpleasant ways. Sounds fairly familiar, apart from the green fire bit. Why mess with a winning formula? Moor Cats look suspiciously like Cringer from He-man, and can blur themselves to become even harder to spot and hit than regular cats. Like most cats in fiction, they're mysterious, smart, and may obey you if they feel like it, but can never truly be tamed. Good luck staying on their good side. Rock Trolls fill the role of the big and tough looking, but ultimately dumb mook enemies a PC will soon be able to mow down as they level up. They're all about the honorable combat, which is pretty easy to exploit. You'd probably have better luck trying to maintain a friendly relationship with a tribe of them than you would orcs, and that's something. Shadowen are another unpleasant supernatural beastie. They're the product of magical experimentation, possess people, drain their life-force, and are all-round unpleasant when they do take over. Since they have fast healing and incorporeality, it's near impossible to fight them without magic. So when they take over, they of course make magic illegal and promote witch-hunts against those who use it. That's a sensible evil plan if I ever heard one. Mwellret are shapeshifting lizard men. While not stupid, they're one of those races that thinks they're inherently superior to everyone else, and this means they might not use their powers as smartly as they could. This is alway a flaw worth exploiting. Relics and artifacts: While the monsters can fit into a D&D game and not feel out of place at all, the magical items of this series are a little trickier to incorporate. Most are artefact level by D&D standards, and even the weaker ones have dangerous side-effects. This makes it clear that it's not a place where you can just load up with an arsenal of bling and expect to solve your problems that way. Let the players beware if they encounter any of these in their game. The Sword of Shannara is the namesake of the series, bringing truth to all around it by detecting lies, piercing illusions, and forcing people to accept themselves for what they truly are. Which is ultimately a good thing, but not particularly pleasant for those who have to go through it. As a macguffin to drive stories, it seems quite a good one, as anyone who's even slightly morally ambiguous is going to have something they don't want made public, and be wary of it's wielder. The Black Elfstone is another exceedingly powerful device, able to detect, absorb and reflect magic fairly reliably. However, gaining all a creature's magical powers is very bad for the sanity indeed, so a sensible user will skip that part. These items all look like they're going to be balanced primarily by danger, rather than limited in power like D&D ones would in the new edition. Giving them to your players may well take them out of play before too long. Blue Elfstones come in trios, and only work with one of each, and even then they only work for elves, with a 50% chance of working for half-elves. They also have a fair chance of burning you out with repeated use. God, magic can be finicky. I find myself longing for the reliable touch of science. The Mirrorshroud is exactly the kind of thing the sword of Shannara is designed to deal with. A cloak that lets you shapeshift into someone the target trusts and read minds to help you keep up the facade? Very little good and a lot of unpleasantness can come of giving someone the power to do that. Even knowing it exists and people are willing to use it will be corrosive to the trust that keeps a community together. The Stiehl is one of those lovely intelligent weapons that takes over it's wielder, using them to fulfil it's perpetual bloodlust by sharing some of the lifeforce it drains in an addictive manner. Unless you're a skilled professional assassin, this is very unlikely to end well for you. But to the weapon? No biggie. There's always another sucker who thinks they can handle it. The Sword of Leah is very similar, only working for the other side. It's special powers are all about kicking demon ass, but it's still addictive, and with a tendency to make you go berserk. If there's no-one to talk you down, you'll probably sacrifice yourself saving the world, or wind up killing your friends when you run out of enemies. Designing intrinsically good things is a lot harder than making evil ones around here, it seems. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Let's read the entire run
Top