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  1. JonMonster

    How do I do this?

    I'm trying to put together a different sort of character for my next campaign. I have this vision of a gnomish tinker-type character. He's a blundberbuss wielding alchemist. So you've got your typical gnome tinker running around in a leather smock with aviation goggles and fingers black from...
  2. JonMonster

    Final Issue of Dragon

    A 128-page advertisement for WotC's Digital Initiative. Or would that be a 128-page advertisement for Paizo's Pathfinder?
  3. JonMonster

    "d52" Diceless Resolution Mechanic

    Card counting throws an interesting loop-hole into it as well. If you can remember that those other aces have already been burned you know that you've got one auto-win card in your hand. If you can remember how many face cards have already been thrown then you have a better idea of how...
  4. JonMonster

    To Sail the Sunless Sea

    If you do decide to make the sea large enough for wind, give some thought to where the air comes from and where it goes. This being fantasy I suppose you could change things up as much as you want and hand wave the explanation, but you'd get a lot more versimilitude if you pick a fairly...
  5. JonMonster

    Help me design two cultures, stat.

    If they live on the border of monster infested hills they would wind up with the bones of some pretty fearsome beasts. I'd suggest that they incorporate the bones in thier weapons. If you want to demonstrate that these ogres are tougher than average everyday ogres point out to the players that...
  6. JonMonster

    Ridiculous amount of buffs

    If they repeat the same tactics over and over have the bad guys figure out a counter strategy. In my campaign they'd get to use this three or four times before it started to backfire on them. Here are two ways that jump to mind. Have your bad guy doing some scrying and communing to find out...
  7. JonMonster

    Party Magic Pool

    Sure. That's part of the give and take of the game. I can't tell you how many times I've tossed a throw-away item into a hoard just to add some non-gp value and then had a player latch onto what I considered fluff and turn it into something really cool. While part of the fun of the game for...
  8. JonMonster

    Party Magic Pool

    You say that like its a bad thing. But I'm not sure this is railroading. Is it railroading if they find a key today and the chest that it opens next week? Hardly. Perhaps I was a bit overdramatic in my suggestion that you tell the players that a lot of the niche magic items they encounter...
  9. JonMonster

    Party Magic Pool

    Let 'em sell it and then almost immediately hit them with a situation where they'll wish they had a flying combat mount. If your players are anything like I am as a player you'll have to do this three or four times and then explain to them what you are doing. Then explain it again using small...
  10. JonMonster

    Alternate B2: Keep on the Borderlands

    Yeah, now that you mention it, I guess it is. Huh. That make a lot more sense than my own take on it being a version of the trials of Odysseus. Either way, it's not a perfect fit as The Warriors is more of a journey from point A to point B and I see a revised KotB as more of a playground for...
  11. JonMonster

    Alternate B2: Keep on the Borderlands

    I've always wanted to run KotB as a modern day adventure in the spirit of the movie, The Warriors. I picture a neighborhood on the wrong side of the tracks. A neighborhood of large squalid housing projects, each of which is the turf of a violent gang of thugs. The orcs and hobgoblins become...
  12. JonMonster

    Name That Portal! (Win A Free Book!)

    Small Press United
  13. JonMonster

    Designing a campaign...

    Generally speaking, the location of any city built before 1950 was based on real and tangible terrain benefits. New Orleans and Philadelphia were perfect harbor towns., San Francisco is perfectly poised to control all of the Bay Area commerce. Denver (I believe) is positioned as a gateway near...
  14. JonMonster

    Suggest stuff for the Easy Campaign

    I seem to recall something about an ocean of blood caused by the grave of a god. You could twist this a bit and make it an inland sea. Perhaps a water titan was slain there and now it is the center of a large desert. The only things that live in the area are too dark and twisted to care much...
  15. JonMonster

    [Brainstorming] Old-timey fantastic New Orleans-esque city campaign

    The temptation you'll face is to make all of the NPC organizations different crime syndicates. Resist this temptation. Once you have two or three of them fighting for control over the various markets any more just becomes needlessly complicated. Instead create two or three unique...
  16. JonMonster

    Awesome encounter - help me keep it going

    You've done the bandit scam with these guys. I'd make sure that the next scam they run isn't another bandit scam. Two quick ideas that pop into my mind are running a shady inn and a benevolent cult. I'd have them own and operate a place called, literally, The Shady Inn. The leader professes...
  17. JonMonster

    Your favorite reverse-cliche character type (or other game element)?

    Closest I got was the wannabe paladin. A young, dumb and full of faith guy who was desparate to prove his valor and honor and chivalrous ways. He was book smart but really naive and usually wound up insulting the wrong noble or 'saving' a member of a con artist ring instead of thier victims...
  18. JonMonster

    Best system for a Pulp/Indy game?

    d20 Cthulhu - Strip out the Mythos (or not) and you've got a lean, mean and cinematic system. I'd start out the characters at 6th level, though as 1st level CoC characters are tissue fragile.
  19. JonMonster

    [Amalara]Playtesters needed

    Amalara is in the process of creating a series of 1st level adventures for D&D3.5. We are looking for volunteers to test-drive 3 to 5 setting-neutral adventures and provide us some feedback. If you are interested, e-mail the author, Jon Mollison, at thejonmonster@yahoo.com.
  20. JonMonster

    Best way to distribute free adventure

    I'd like to thank everyone for the response and the kind words of encouragement. I've sent out copies to everyone who posted. If you didn't get yours, or if you'd like a copy but don't want to post your address here feel free to send me an email. That's, "jonmollison hat hawaiiantel dot net"...
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