Recent content by religon

Always be careful in love. You might get burned. You have all your various fire traps to choose from... flaming pits, pressure-plate triggers fiery blast etc. Enchained elemental guardians. I like old paintings as gates to pocket dimensions for a wizard's tower. Curses and poisons. Mirror maze...

In an old Dragon magazine (#42), James Ward published an adventure insert called _The Mansion Of Mad Professor Ludlow_. I have not payed nor can I attest to the quality. It is a haunted house-type adventure with modern teens as the PC's.

This PDF has some good ideas for city adventure hooks... and currently on sale (not associated w/ author). http://www.rpgnow.com/product/202572/CASTLE-OLDSKULL--City-State-Encounters

One of my more well received creative environments was simply a moon castle. My fantasy moon and the castle had a spongy, rock-like surface. I had it inhabited by the Great Race of Yith, but that had little to do with the environment. The trick was that you got there simply by climbing a...

A more light-hearted swamp adventure might be the ticket. Old Man Katan and the Mushroom Band (Dungeon #41). After Old Man, I might transition away from the swamp as the adventures can be overly claustrophobic if multiple swamp adventures are run sequentially.

Same as other characters… treasure + party monster kills + besting other challenges + role-playing bonuses. (Except for role-playing, xp was split evenly evenly… regardless of contribution… like in the old days.) He wasn't a pacifist, but he was hard to motivate into violence. Violence needed...

No. However, I did play a character… a ranger… that had a strange religious conversion. He went from a paranoid, borderline psychotic to a serene, holy warrior in a very short span. Not a pacifist, but really sought to avoid violence after his conversion experience. The other PC's were a...

Dragon magazine #120 had a 1st edition Charlatan class… thief, beguile, poison, disguise, potions, read magic and cantrips. While not the intent, the cantrip effects could be non-magical.

Here is a 5e conversion for B11: The King's Festival… https://entirepartykilled.wordpress.com/2016/02/21/b11-kings-festival-adaptation-for-5e/ I have run it with older versions of D&D. It played very well. It was not nearly as massive as B10, but it is a good product for novice players… or...

I did run Pharaoh of the DoD series before Isle of Dread once in much the manner not-so-newguy suggests. I ran it set in Ylaruam. I ran it in the late-1980's before the Nithian connection had been fully formed in Mystara. It worked well. My map to the Isle of Dread was from a priest's personal...

Two that have been converted to 5e come to mind… Keep on the Borderlands and B11: The King's Festival. I would consider either to run before B10. Like B10, they take place in Mystara's country of Karameikos. Bridging B10 and X1 is tougher. I would consider L2: The Assassin's Knot before X1. I...

I use a path-system with B/X… essentially at 4th level the character class allows specialization like 2nd Edition kits. Luck is a path available to thieves rather than an attribute. Re-roll once per play session so long as it is not a life-or-death roll. Also +20% for games of chance or other...

I largely agree with others. Retiring characters after the old college try is an expected part of the game. Suicide conflicts with the presumed self-interest of the character. Only through extended role-playing after tragedy would suicide be within the spirit of the game. The "good faith"...

I would agree with Celebrim on all points save a need for too many answers up front. I start with common RPG tropes and practical stuff. Nature of dragons. Nature of goblin-kind. Non-human nations. Nature of Elves and similarity to Tolkien's version. Gates and portals... how they work and how...

One way of doing this is to consider Time as two elements. A 5-E system could be Light, Dark, Blue, Was and Will Be. Blue... or a better name... would constitute vapors, air, water, liquids, etc. A sort of binding element. Fire could be a manifestation of light. Earth could be a manifestation...