Search results

Issue #12: Under The Lake - Episode 1 of 5 29th of December, 2002 Issue #12 Under the Lake Four days ago, we set out into the Mourning Marshes, searching for the clan of Disease ratmen who attacked Kratys Freehold. We planned to attack them while they were weakened, having sent their...

On the flip-side, answering 'how can you make sure the party always explores a good percentage of your dungeon?'... On one of my earliest home-made dungeons, I had a party wander through my maze with uncanny quickness - nothing like the paladin's, above, but uncanny. They missed my favorite...

Without regard to 'recent publishing date', I'll nominate three of my all-time favorites. Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon (1988) - excellent character development, plot which avoids cliche, absolute masterpiece. (Book 1 of a three-book trilogy) The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster...

We've used that system (Janx', above) in our campaign. Found it worked well if the overall party size is small, and the number of "named characters" is low, but we were trying to 'break apart' units each time a PC or named NPC interacts with them. We had a lot of named characters, which meant it...

1 week hiatus Sorry to leave the group in the lurch, as it were, but RealLife(tm) beckons - I'll be out of town without internet connection this next week. Next story update: March 15th, when we'll start with Issue #12: Under the Lake

Issue #11: The Lizard Men and the Duck - Episode 5 of 5 When we’ve all sheathed our weapons, Miriel hurries to Paks’ side. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she inquires with genuine concern. “I’m not injured,” Paks answers, “But I feel very weak. It’s tough to hold up my shield.” As Miriel checks...

Issue #11: The Lizard Men and the Duck - Episode 4 of 5 The next morning is the first day of Madrer, the month of Harvest. It is Corday, Corean’s Day. Miriel awakens before dawn, as Goldpetal had the night before for Denev’s Day. She slips out into the swamp to perform a special ritual and...

You know, I've never stayed in a bad campaign long enough to match some of the horror stories posted above... but I had a great "bad RPG experience" at a con one evening. The game was the "Star Trek RPG", and the game had what sounded like a promise-filled premise: three groups of PC's with...

Issue #11: The Lizard Men and the Duck - Episode 3 of 5 The next morning, Goldpetal gets up early and goes out to do his private rituals, planning to wake Paks to go along and guard during the later ones. Paks, a light sleeper, wakes as he slips out, and she follows him, taking only enough time...

Yes, definitely. The 'mage, drow, elf' campaign start placed backstory for each of the characters in the foreground. That's also what I'm hoping to address using Belbarrus' methodology. (Adolescents in same village, etc.) - solving that the 'trust each other to begin with' part, and also...

Beautiful! I like it! It covers a number of good points: why the party has to work together, why there is urgency about it, and even why the players aren't 100% familiar with the world: a lot can have changed in 12 years... That sounds very memorable!

Issue #11: The Lizard Men and the Duck - Episode 2 of 5 The lizard men seem to know the swamp extremely well, and they guide us around the dangers. The column moves much more quickly than we could by ourselves. We travel for about three hours with no incident, until we come to a stand of big...

Wow! I'm working on a "start of a campaign" currently, and that is exactly how I see the first session starting. I've been working on ways to flesh that out. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with that idea, and that someone else whose been down that path decided it was a successful start...

A mage, a drow, and a ranger... The least successful campaign I ever ran was the one where I did the least "railroading". The players wandered aimlessly, setting few goals for themselves, without feeling like they were part of anything "epic", and the game felt extremely stagnant. I changed...

What are the best starts to a campaign which you've ever been in, either as a player or as the DM? What campaign starts have you participated in which beat "You're all sitting in a bar one evening, when...." cold? I'm looking for detail, setting multiple plot hooks, and explaining why the...

Issue #11: The Lizard Men and the Duck - Episode 1 of 5 15th of December, 2002 Issue #11 The Lizard Men and the Duck We are deep in the Mourning Marsh, seeking the home of the tribe of ratmen who attacked Kratys Freehold. After two days of slogging through the swamp, we camped on the only...

We were all trying to figure that out! As Paks' player, I knew that there was nothing we had which could resurrect a dead character. However, we had one item which I didn't know the powers of - the Tear, which my internal memory of the prophecy was "At your darkest hour, remember Madriel's...

Issue #10: "I hate the swamp" - Episode 5 of 5 It is nearly dark when Chuck finally finds a larger dry spot. It’s on slightly higher ground, with a few trees, off to the side, several yards off to the side of the army’s track. We’re all exhausted, and when Chuck looks around the clearing and...

Issue #10: "I hate the Swamp" - Episode 4 of 5 We push our way further into the swamp. Though the army seems to have followed a fairly dry route, there are numerous points where we have to slog through water at least knee high, and we are all spattered with mud. The trail of the ratman army is...

I'd echo that advice. I'm playing a paladin in one campaign, and one of my favorite parts of it was spending several hours explicitly writing up my paladin's personal Code, bearing in mind my diety's beliefs - balancing mercy with justice, balancing honor with intelligence, etc. After spending a...