Search results

The World Tree model is the only time the Realms have had a unique cosmology that was specifically designed with the setting in mind. As barebones as the model is, I find it the most natural fit for the world of Toril. Yes, as others have pointed out upthread, Greenwood originally used the...

The two tales that are the likeliest inspirations for the D&D shadow are Clark Ashton Smith's short story "The Double Shadow" and A. Merritt's novel Creep, Shadow! Merritt's novel is of course included in Appendix N, while CAS is somewhat notoriously missing from the list.

Yeah, I find it hard to interpret this attitude apparently shared by "many people" as anything other than a "Know your place, trash" type of sentiment. Gygax just loved Jack Vance and the "big three" of Weird Tales, all of whom used obscure or archaic terms in their fiction. That Gygax's...

Well played, Rich, well played.

I would be amazed if the following excerpt did not serve as an inspiration: The intruders went forward, feeling that impulse which leads the victors to exult over a vanquished enemy. Malygris sat unbowed and upright, his black and tattered fingers clutching the ivory chair-arms as of yore, and...

I think Melan just won the thread.

My friend's stout Northern barbarian once coined the phrase, "The enemy of my enemy is in my way."

In addition to what Celebrim wrote about pride, you might want to consider the Black Númenóreans. The Mouth of Sauron is said to be their descendant, for one.

My list! Character classes (any number) Armor class and hit points Random character generation Class and level more important than character stats Challenges for the players rather than the characters Environment as the star of the game Rules as guidelines for the referee

:) That's wonderful. I don't really have anything to add except that I miss Gary too, and that it's heartwarming to read people's recollections in this thread.

For background music, I would go with pure ambience rather than structured songs. Have a listen to the first 10 minutes of Nurse With Wound's Salt Marie Celeste, which is basically an album's worth of deliciously black drone: YouTube - Nurse with Wound - Salt Marie Celeste 1

lol Orc = Pigface Marauder Rakshasa = Tigerhead Magefiend Troll = Slimegreen Vilespawn

I think that much should be obvious to everyone. My only objection was that when I gave examples of compound words that I personally think are evocative, someone suggested that I didn't actually realize they were compound words.

What. The OP objects to horrible compound words, not compound words in general.

Mind flayer > illithid > mindflayer Other than that, I agree completely. Rivendell, Blackmoor and Greyhawk are cool fantasy names. Vicejaw, Godplate and Fightbr... sorry, Battlemind are not.

Some of Coil's stuff (the Love's Secret Domain period in particular) is more than well suited for a dark future: YouTube - Coil - Windowpane

No mention of Suicide yet? For shame! YouTube - Suicide Mr. Ray

The short descriptions detailing a number of Athasian creatures here might be helpful.

Thank you, that's really interesting. I'm not saying that the first draft would have necessarily been better, but it would definitely have highlighted the utterly alien nature of Athas if bazraags, the nikaal and the rest would have been presented as default player character options.

I'd love to know what races were in the first draft.