Re: Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk

Re: [greytalk] Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk
Sunday, October 7, 2007 2:55 AM
From: "basiliv@cablespeed.com"
To: greytalk@canonfire.com

Now that I've finished it, I'm recommending it even more. Great stuff.

Also, I just found a bunch of the maps available at higher resolutions on the Wizards site: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ag/20070812a

On Tue Oct 2 16:44 , Marc-Tizoc "Gonz�lez" sent:

Since I haven't read it stated here, I think all GH fans should purchase this product immediately.

Not only is it one of the only recent GH publications, it was, as Jim said, obviously produced with love and respect for the setting.

Because of that, I think GH fans will find it entertaining, interesting and inspirational regarding their own GH campaigns, regardless of what game system they use.

MTG

basiliv@cablespeed.com wrote:

It's more reminiscent of Return to White Plume Mountain than, say, Return to the Keep on the Borderlands. What I mean is, it's set years after the original module, rather than just being a revamp/expansion on the original.

Expedition is more of a campaign, with story threads leading the PCs back & forth between the Free City (and the Green Dragon Inn) and the castle. It provides more of an overall plot and less of a catalogue of brief room summaries like the original. I really liked the original, and there's quite a bit of goodness in there that isn't covered in Expedition, but the areas it covers are more fleshed out and are tied to the otherside world better than Ruins was.

But as far as actually comparing the two, so far I think they've stayed fairly true to it. There are definitely several areas that are straight out of the original, but with some changes you might expect by advancing the clock by twenty years. I'm not quite done reading it yet (starting chapter 5 ou of 6 now), but I think the surprises it holds will be more value than the rehashing. Very obviously a product of love for the campaign setting. :-)

On Mon Sep 24 19:00 , "Michael Weber" sent:

Has anyone had the chance to compare this to WGR1, Greyhawk Ruins?

Savage Tide campaign -- session 1

[greytalk] Savage Tide campaign -- session 1
Monday, October 15, 2007 10:25 AM
From: "Scott"
To: greytalk@canonfire.com

While waiting for one friend to start his Expedition to Castle Greyhawk campaign, I have begun playing in another friend’s Savage Tide campaign. I will share my spoiler-ridden observations here.

SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!

The first session did not, from my perspective go well at all. Our DM had stressed how our live sessions were going to be strictly for adventuring and we were to do our role-playing on his messageboard. I understood from this that the campaign would then start with the standard dungeon crawl, so I brought my seven-year old son along to play, who always enjoys killing monsters, but few of the subtleties of gaming.

Instead, we were presented with a mystery to solve. All the guys loved seeing the handout, a hot portrait of our sponsor, Lady Vanderborne. The harbormaster, or rather, his right-hand man Vark, would not let her onto her own ship, the Blue Nixie, and she wanted to find out why. If it had been the ghost of Captain Redbeard keeping her off the ship, this could have been a Scooby-Doo mystery. We all split up to look for clues, with the plan of meeting back up two mornings later to compare notes. My character planned to pass himself off as one of Vanderborne’s creditors and interview the harbormaster about repossessing the ship, or at least touring it for an evaluation. To do this, my bard found employment with one of Sasserine’s moneylenders and gained a tabard and seal that identified himself as an employee, bought fancier clothes to complete a disguise, and filled out the required paperwork to see the harbormaster, but was dismissed with a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” comment. Meanwhile, my son was entertained with a barroom brawl where he got to kill someone. Almost more disturbing was how much he enjoyed having his character drink beer.

The real trouble for me started on the next player’s turn. Our DM was using home rules for social class, and one of the PCs was of unusually high birth. Where I had a long-term plan for getting on board the Blue Nixie, he just walked in with the other party members, bullied his way past the harbormaster, and got right onboard the ship. I had refused to come, believing their plan would fail and my plan would be needed as back-up. After all, our DM had given us an investigation. The direct approach seemed the wrong way to go about it. Turns out I was wrong – you really are meant to rush onto the ship and kill everyone aboard it as if the ship was a mini-dungeon. I missed out on everything. My son’s character hopped onboard a rowboat and made it out to the battle just in time to participate in the very end of it. The battles on the ship were laughably easy, with the one on deck against the crew taking five rounds and the one with the monster below deck taking only one round. My son and I had missed that the battle was over and were waiting for round two!

This is “Savage” Tide? More like Anemic Tide, I thought. We did not even stay for the last half-hour.

Quest for the Octychs, Prologue

[greytalk] Quest for the Octychs, Prologue
Sunday, March 9, 2008 7:23 PM
From: "basiliv@cablespeed.com"
To: greytalk@canonfire.com

After a long hiatus into Mystara, my group has decided to switch back to my Greyhawk campaign. Since it's been close to a year since the last adventure on Oerth, I've started writing up campaign recaps for my players, and I thought I'd share with the list.

It's not that they're amazing, it's that the list is quiet. ;-)

We play 3.5 Edition, but set in a pre-Wars 576 CY Flanaess. This whole campaign idea was inspired by Erik Mona's adventures "River of Blood" and "As He Lay Dying", so if you're reading this Iquander, thank you. :-)

P R O L O G U E -- "WHERE AM I?"

Four adventurers awoke within a cave. The first was a halfing sorceress name Bitola, a wanderer who liked to disguise herself as a human girl for any benefit she could ring from it. The second was Ulgret of the Fruztii, a Suel-blooded man commonly known as a Frost Barbarian. He possessed an incredible ability to recover from wounds, coupled with a strange dislike of sunlight. Third was Ithilor, a rogue from the olven nation of Celene. This sylvan elf did not consider himself a fighter, but his mobility was a boon to his companions. Last was the company's holy man, a cleric of Olidammara. A renowned tavern brawler in his own mind, one too many mugs to the head caused him to forget his own name -- his friends called him "Preach".

As each member of the party looked around, they found that they had no idea where they were. Worse, each realized that their memories were gone, with only childhood dreams remaining. As this frightening thought took hold they saw each other, and there was recognition. Although none remembered why or how, they each knew the other, and knew they were among friends.

A noble-looking human entered the room and asked after their welfare. Each of the companions immediately knew him as Tellek, another old friend. After making them comfortable, Tellek asked them to reach under their pillows, to retrieve the envelopes found there. Each contained a letter, and each companion recognized their own handwriting. Even more convincing, each recalled a childhood memory they had never shared with anyone. The letters then explained that they voluntarily had their memories erased, for their own protection, and that they would be restored when he time was right. The letters concluded by advising what the party already knew instinctively; they should trust Tellek, and each other.

Tellek told the group that they would receive prophetic help in finding their course of action. He apologized for not being able to provide any more detail, but gave assurances that he would do everything in his power to help them. He then asked that they follow him into a neighboring chamber of the cave.

A fire lit the far side of the room, but it was otherwise dark and difficult to see. A strange voice spoke from the darkness, alternately sounding like two voices and then one. Introducing themselves as The Sisters, the voice(s) told the adventurers that they should proceed to the City of Dyvers, to seek a locksmith named Theldrat, and to obtain that which he held most dear.

Puzzled by this entire affair, the party was given some guidance by Tellek. On their way out of the cave, Tellek informed them that he was a holy warrior in the service of Pelor. He would do what he could to aid them, using his church's reputation and his family's influence to make contacts where needed, to perform research, and to provide magical communication between the party and The Sisters. He told the adventurers that this cave lay a few miles south of the village of Hommlet, and told them the safest route from there to Dyvers. Showing them the road, he returned to the cave.

Re: Castle Greyhawk - 100th page!

Re: Re: [greytalk] Castle Greyhawk - 100th page!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007 3:47 PM
From: "Gary Gygax"
To: "Joseph Elric Smith" , "The GREYtalk Discussion List"

Greetings Seekers!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Elric Smith"
To: "The GREYtalk Discussion List"
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 3:41 PM
Subject: SPAM: Re: [greytalk] Castle Greyhawk - 100th page!

> we always did and still do, wonder what the sage was smoking to say you
> didn't apply the damage twice
> ken
>
> Gygax is to Gaming what Kirby was to comics
> Alas poor Elric I was a thousand times more evil than you
>
> Slice N Dice: Game and Pizza Parlour
>
> WWBYD What would Brigham Young do ?
> Blog http://www.aeonity.com/arioch
> http://www.geocities.com/J_Elric_Smith/Index.html

Count on the silly fellow not asking me about it, for additional damage from
a bouncing lightning bolt was certainly contemplated when I write the spell,
and O always applied that in play.

Cheers,
Gary

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and
give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16
========================================

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Michael Weber"
> To:
> Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 6:09 AM
> Subject: RE: [greytalk] Castle Greyhawk - 100th page!
>
>> From: Thatotherguy
>>>--- Michael Weber wrote:
>>>> From: "M B"
>>
>>>>>congrats on 100, scott! i love the bouncing lightning bolt, that
>>>>>is a throwback that i guess 3rd edition magic dropped. very cool.
>>>>
>>>> I thought they dropped that in 2nd edition?
>>>
>>>In 1st Edition AD&D bouncing lightning bolts still only do damage once
>>>if the same bolt hits the same target twice. All because of the speed
>>>of the bolt. Chain lightning, however, gets around this. The question
>>>was answered in a Sage Advice or similar column.
>>
>> Oops! We always applied damage twice in our first edition game.
>>
>> I rather liked the random target factor of the original chain lightning
>> spell and the fact ot could hit the same target multiple times.

Re: Alternate Economies

Re: [greytalk] Alternate Economies
Wednesday, August 15, 2007 7:29 PM
From: "Chris Anderson"
To: "Paul L. Ming" Cc: greytalk@canonfire.com

Another dissenter here. Paul's reasoning below matches my own.

Realistically, prices tend to rise around PC's in direct proportion to the amount of nice equipment they have. Almost every merchant I have tends to size up PC's and view them as walking coinage, so there's a gold rush mentality when the PC's come to town. It makes for a nice time, wonderful accommodations, the best food, and a burning need to replenish those purses fairly often by adventuring.

Merchants tend to have one price for PC's and another for locals, too.

-- Chris

On 8/15/07, Paul L. Ming < pming@northwestel.net> wrote:
Hiya.

I'm one of those 'dissenters' who don't find the AD&D pricing too out of whack. I mainly rationalize it by saying that the economies of countries is quite heavily influenced by "adventurers". In modern day analogies, what if every 25th person could go out and make, legaly, $1,000,000.00 over the course of a weekend. He could do this every weekend. After a couple of months/years of this, his 'hauls' wouldn't be just $1 million a weekend, but $10 million or more. Suddenly, the value of 'money' would drop. People who were not 'adventurers' wouldn't see much actual money because the actual 'dollar value' would be way above their means...they would resort primarily to barter. A farmer might give a carpenter a half-dozen chickens in exchange for the carpenter building him a new wheel barrow. The inn keep would give a free meal to the gardener who cuts the lawn, trims the hedges and trees, and thins the rose bushes. Actual coin wouldn't be used nearly as much as labour/barter.

As long as I keep this in mind, I don't have a problem with the economic situation in my games. In my games, a 'typical' NPC might make 3 to 5 gp's per month (lantern lighter, porter, stable hand, etc.). A more 'professional' NPC would double or triple that (scribe, page, carpenter, blacksmith). And a 'specialized' NPC even more (armorer, alchemist, engineer, etc.). In this way, when the PC's come back to town
with 700gp's each, they will be *very* rich. They can live like lords for a couple of months. And, IMHO, this is what PC's generally do. The role of "adventurer" in my game campaigns are pretty rare. My games are also "low-powered" type things, where a master wizard is of unthinkably high level (at least 6th!). ;)

Paul L. Ming

Thatotherguy wrote:
> As I said, from what I've seen. If you feel differently, feel free to
> present a defense. I would be interested in hearing it.

Re: Question to the List

Re: [greytalk] Re: Question to the List
Wednesday, November 14, 2007 12:59 AM
From: "basiliv@cablespeed.com"
To: greytalk@canonfire.com

Sorry, I also forgo about:

- Below the Tomb of Horrors (Dragon #249)


On Wed Nov 14 1:57 , sent:

Here are some other thoughts that you might have already considered:

- Any of the "Return To" series from '98
- House on Summoner's Court (either the Shadis or Oerth Journal versions)

...and here are few older Dungeon issues with adventures set in GH (just the ones I happen to have):
- The Wrath of Keraptis (Dungeon #77)
- Kingdom of the Ghouls (Dungeon #70)
- The Ruins of Nol-Daer (Dungeon #13)
- The Shrine of Ilsidahur (Dungeon #10)

On Tue Nov 13 21:19 , "Chris Anderson" sent:

I like the idea of the Maure Castle stuff. I especially like it, since my players ran through WG5 back in the day... I assume the Dungeon adventures build off of that, but do not duplicate it?

Hm, L3 is another possibility. I don't have it, but where there's a will, there's a way.

I don't have anything against FR, but I only bought sourcebooks rather than modules. Is there anything you're thinking of in particular?

Thanks, guys. I appreciate the advice.

-- Chris


On Nov 13, 2007 3:28 PM, Tim Mooney wrote:

In regard to: {Disarmed} Re: [greytalk] Re: Question to the List,...:

>Other folks on the list have mentioned that they were in the process of
>converting the Maure Castle adventures from Dungeon magazineback to 1E.
>Since I run 3.5 games, I didn't really follow that, but I got the
>impression it was an ongoing effort.
>
>Maybe you can use what they've already converted?

That's a great suggestion for the last parts of the campaign. There will need to be several modules before that, though, to get the characters high enough level to play them. The Maure modules are on the level of Tomb of Horrors as far as how deadly they are, but there are generally more monsters than there were in the original ToH.

One possibility for at least one low-level adventure is Len Lakofka's "Deep Dwarven Delve", if you can get your hands on it. It's original 1E, and very few people have played it because of its publishing history.

I'm not sure if the group of old-timers has much experience with any of the early Forgotten Realms modules, but it might be easier to convert the backstory of some of those to Greyhawk than it would be to retroconvert 3E/3.5E modules back to 1E.

Tim