JAB Rocks. That is all.

[JustinA]

You know, that would be a heck of a logical magic item: A statue or something in the local temple that begins speaking when certain types of disease are present in the town, even if they're not yet contagious.

The other magic item that would be plentiful would be plant growth talismans. With just one such talisman being used once per day, you could increase the productivity of roughly 285 square miles of cropland by one-third each year. Any village without one or more such talismans is basically shooting itself in the foot.

Justin Alexander
http://www.thealexandrian.net

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The other magic item that would be plentiful would be plant growth talismans. With just one such talisman being used once per day, you could increase the productivity of roughly 285 square miles of cropland by one-third each year. Any village without one or more such talismans is basically shooting itself in the foot.

That's so valuable, I would assume it would be held in the possession of the local authorities -- and withheld from communities that step out of line.

That, in turn, would also set up the commonly seen archetype of the local druid as a threat to the local social order: "Why do we need to listen to what the distant (and unlikely to send lots of troops) lord when the local druid can keep us in plant growth spells just fine?"

 

[Treebore]

That's so valuable, I would assume it would be held in the possession of the local authorities -- and withheld from communities that step out of line.

That, in turn, would also set up the commonly seen archetype of the local druid as a threat to the local social order: "Why do we need to listen to what the distant (and unlikely to send lots of troops) lord when the local druid can keep us in plant growth spells just fine?"

Sounds to me like you have the seeds of a great plot.

 

[JustinA]

That's so valuable, I would assume it would be held in the possession of the local authorities -- and withheld from communities that step out of line.

That, in turn, would also set up the commonly seen archetype of the local druid as a threat to the local social order: "Why do we need to listen to what the distant (and unlikely to send lots of troops) lord when the local druid can keep us in plant growth spells just fine?"

Congratulations, you win the Nifty Award for the day.

Seriously, that's a really great idea you've got there.

Justin Alexander
http://www.thealexandrian.net

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I'm a huge, rediculous, almost sick fan of all things zombie.

It has nothing to do with roleplaying but if you haven't already checked them out, I highly recommend Walking Dead and Marvel Zombies by Robert Kirkman. They're incredibly great comics for anyone and surely for a zombie fanatic!

 

[JustinA]

It has nothing to do with roleplaying but if you haven't already checked them out, I highly recommend Walking Dead and Marvel Zombies by Robert Kirkman. They're incredibly great comics for anyone and surely for a zombie fanatic!

Hmm... I'm a big Robert Kirkman fan (as a result of Invincible), but I've been kinda hesitant on Marvel Zombies because it looks like nothing more than an exploitation. Kinda reminds me of the vibe I got from Warren Ellis' RUIN back in the day.

Justin Alexander
http://www.thealexandrian.net

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Hmm... I'm a big Robert Kirkman fan (as a result of Invincible), but I've been kinda hesitant on Marvel Zombies because it looks like nothing more than an exploitation. Kinda reminds me of the vibe I got from Warren Ellis' RUIN back in the day.

Justin Alexander
http://www.thealexandrian.net

What do you mean by exploitation? Marvel Zombies is humorous, just-for-fun story. It's nothing to take seriously. (At least I don't think so.) The first series of it is definitely worth checking out (but the Army of Darkness crossover and prelude stories have been subpar). I never read RUIN. I guess that's a suggestion not to?

 

[JustinA]

What do you mean by exploitation? Marvel Zombies is humorous, just-for-fun story. It's nothing to take seriously. (At least I don't think so.) The first series of it is definitely worth checking out (but the Army of Darkness crossover and prelude stories have been subpar). I never read RUIN. I guess that's a suggestion not to?

I'll have to check it out, then. The advertising copy I had seen made it look more like "let's destroy the Marvel Universe for the shock value".

Much like the Star Trek movies eventually eradicated any shock value to be gained from destroying the Enterprise, Marvel and DC have long since worn out the shock value (for me, anyway) of destroying, raping, killing, or zombifying their characters.

Justin Alexander
http://www.thealexandrian.net

 

[Beginning of the End]

It's interesting you should mention plague. A few years ago I wrote up several submissions for Atlas Games' EN ROUTE II. A couple of them ("Lure of the Serpent" and "Purple Storm") got accepted, but my personal favorite at the time -- a piece called "The Black Mist" -- was rejected.

"The Black Mist" featured a magical plague designed specifically to work around the typical limitations of disease in bog-standard D&D and produce an effect much like the black death... but a black death spiced up in all the ways that only true fantasy makes possible. Looking back over the manuscript now, I can see why it was rejected: I struggled long and hard to figure out how to squeeze the entire scenario into the word count for EN ROUTE II and the result is disjointed and kind of scant on detail.

But now that you've brought this little scenario back to the forefront of my mind, I think I know what my next RPG-related project is going to be. Right now I'm wrapping up the final touches on the forthcoming Rule Supplement 1: Mounted Combat, but once that's done I think a quick clean-up and expansion of The Black Mist is in order (if it can be so managed).

Justin asked me to drop by this thread and mention, for the sake of anyone still keeping an eye on it, that Mini-Adventure 2: The Black Mist has now been released by Dream Machine Productions. He'd like to thank everyone for participating in this thread and giving him the impetus to put this one together.

He's got a blog entry talking about the development of it. You can also read our press release, look at the handouts from the book, or, of course, buy it.

 

[jdrakeh]

Justin asked me to drop by this thread and mention, for the sake of anyone still keeping an eye on it, that Mini-Adventure 2: The Black Mist has now been released by Dream Machine Productions. He'd like to thank everyone for participating in this thread and giving him the impetus to put this one together.

He's got a blog entry talking about the development of it. You can also read our press release, look at the handouts from the book, or, of course, buy it.

Thanks! I'll be certain to check this out when time/finances permit!