D&D General Jennell Jaquays Appreciation

[Plaguescarred]

One of my favorite sourcebook from her is The Savage North, which she inspired me an AD&D campaign set in that region back in the days!

 

[Reynard]

Ok, so I hereby formally coin the phrase "hi-jaquaying a dungeon" which means, um...wait a sec..."to find an alternate path through a dungeon that the DM didn't anticipate, thereby foiling their carefully laid plans."

"hi-jaquaySing"

 

[Bill Zebub]

"hi-jaquaySing"

That's when a Bard does it.

 

[dragoner]

I ran this a while back with Mythic Constantinople, using Cyrene in North Africa as a substitute location for Thracia, it is still a great adventure.

 

[Lyxen]

I ran this a while back with Mythic Constantinople, using Cyrene in North Africa as a substitute location for Thracia, it is still a great adventure.

View attachment 149625

I see Mythras in the background, great choice, I have a personal friend at the Design Mechanism, best DM and roleplayer I've ever met, and a bit sad that they lost the RQ license. And the combination with Caverns of Thracia should indeed be awesome.

 

[dragoner]

I see Mythras in the background, great choice, I have a personal friend at the Design Mechanism, best DM and roleplayer I've ever met, and a bit sad that they lost the RQ license. And the combination with Caverns of Thracia should indeed be awesome.

Indeed it was; I like Mythras a lot, though I feel that the adventure could be run with 5e just as easily. Mythras is a bit more deadly, as a fact Thanatos was the ruin of the party here, which 5e would have been easier on.

 

[not-so-newguy]

I'm always here to show appreciation for her. That Catacombs and Campaign Guide was my first teacher to be a DM.

This book is the reason why I bought graph paper and a college ruled notebook

 

[delericho]

Though I have become a big Judges Guild fan in the ensuing years, my first experience with her work has to have been the Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide. This was the first really good advice I came across about DMing.

Yep, that book is probably the best "how to DM" guide I've read, and is probably the single best RPG product I own.

 

[not-so-newguy]

Has anybody ever done a "let's read" for "Campaign and Catacombs?" I just dusted off my old copy and decided to start reading it

 

[darjr]

Has anybody ever done a "let's read" for "Campaign and Catacombs?" I just dusted off my old copy and decided to start reading it

Oh please? I dunno if it’s been done but I dint recall.

 

[Nikosandros]

Oh please? I dunno if it’s been done but I dint recall.

Add another vote for that...

 

[cbwjm]

I like how positive this thread is. I see too many other threads that just seem to be people sniping at each other but so far, it seems everyone just has positive things to say about her work.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I didn't discover The Dungeoneer until much later, but what strikes me is how ahead of its time it feels. You read the articles and could expect them to have been published 5-8 years later in the mid 80s, not the late 70s.

I am extremely grateful to her for her work in the Dungeoneer, because it set the path for adventure construction. And I love her art. As a bonus, she's a genuine great human being as well.

It sounds like the deluxe compilation from Goodman Games coming out might have a bit of that in it.

I've studied her work a lot in pursuit of designing highly engaging and playable dungeons. Has she ever thought about publishing her thoughts on dungeon/map design??

2e represented such an evolutionary jump for my gaming, and that book is no small part of the reason why. It's a book that got me thinking about what it meant to be a DM, what my responsibilities were, and how to be better.

Yep, that book is probably the best "how to DM" guide I've read, and is probably the single best RPG product I own.

 

[darjr]

Loved this by her.

 

[Nikosandros]

I didn't rembet it was by her. I also think it's a great piece.

 

[the Jester]

We shouldn't fault people for needing to learn, and we should applaud them for doing so.

Yes; I myself only learned not to use deadnames in referring to transitioned people before they transitioned a few months ago, in another thread that discussed Jennell. A lot of the issues around trans identity just don't occur to a lot of us, because until very recently, they've not come up in the public discourse very much at all. Most of us have a lot of learning to do.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Cool, I get to talk about a supplement nobody ever talks about!

One of the supplements Jennell did for JG was the Book of Treasure Maps. You know how the random tables in many games occasionally tell GMs to put a "treasure map" in a trove? What, are you going to just come up with one on the fly? No, it's going to take you time to construct. Rolling that result is an exercise in creating more work for the GM.

So, Jennell made a book with several "treasure maps" in it, each one with a location and encounters pre-built. Need a treasure map? Pick one you like from the table of contents and put it in a previously-unexplored part of your game world. Done.

Later, TSR tried to do the same thing with slick-looking products similar in name and scope, but for my money the scenarios in the original are fantastic, much better than any similar books.

I also appreciate the LARPers / cosplayers getting a photo on the cover.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

That rawness to Judges Guild is a big part of their charm for me. It also meant that they weren't afraid to get weird. While D&D was shedding the wildness of 70s fantasy, they still embraced it.

Also, yeah, that cover!

Later, TSR tried to do the same thing with slick-looking products similar in name and scope, but for my money the scenarios in the original are fantastic, much better than any similar books.

I also appreciate the LARPers / cosplayers getting a photo on the cover.

 

[aco175]

I was watching a review on You Tube about the 5e Rappun Athok from a couple years ago and the reviewer was talking about the maps and said that they have a lot of good 'Jaquaying' going on. Thought about this thread.

 

[darjr]

Jennell shared that her profile photo is a cover for the Dungeon! board game that she made but it wasn’t used because TSR was purchased by WoTC and plans changed.