Epic level Greyhawk

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

zombiegleemax

Feb 26, 2007 21:19:23
I'm starting an Epic level Goodman games adventure (can I say that?) and am going to set it initially in the City of Greyhawk.

Anywhere I can get a good map of the city, complete with locations, etc, plus information about npcs?

I'm starting it Wednesday so am in a bit of a rush...
#2

ripvanwormer

Feb 26, 2007 22:31:59
Greyhawk was detailed in the City of Greyhawk boxed set (which doesn't exist in PDF form, and later sources mostly replace it, but I'm mentioning it for completeness), in The Adventure Begins, and at Maldin's website. There's some more detail in various issues of Dragon, Dungeon, and the Living Greyhawk Journal, but those are the main places.
#3

paladin2019

Feb 26, 2007 22:50:20
Epic level in Greyhawk? That's like 15+, right? :D
#4

paladin2019

Feb 26, 2007 22:54:41
In all seriousness, there aren't many epic level characters in Greyhawk. A handful of current and ex-members of the Circle of Eight, Eclavdra (according to ELH), Robilar, Jaran Krimeeah, a couple of demigods and quasi-deities, that's about it. Very few heads of state exceed 15th level. Your characters will be leaps and bounds ahead of pretty much everyone.
#5

zombiegleemax

Feb 26, 2007 23:00:39
Yip, so I'm planning the Circle of Eight to be 'away on business' when the badness happens...

The adventure's called: 'Belly of the Great Beast', and really lends itself to the location of Grey College, etc.


Dramatis Personae:

Moi: DM

War Troll (MM III) lvl 21

Sorcerer/Arch Mage lvl 21

Druid lvl 21

One undecided player lvl 21


Countdown to game on Wednesday night
#6

Mortepierre

Feb 27, 2007 6:50:46
A war troll walking in broad daylight in the City of Greyhawk? That's going to turn a few heads...
#7

zombiegleemax

Feb 27, 2007 10:14:49
Bingo:

I find this character overpowered and was wondering how to give him disadvantages.

He's a war troll with a ring of acid immunity.
#8

Mortepierre

Feb 27, 2007 12:13:13
He's a war troll with a ring of acid immunity.

Why am I not surprised..

Well, why did you allow it in the first place? Simply require players to use PHB's races, problem solved.

I swear, so many players go for strange templated subspecies these days (not to mention racial levels), it's a wonder there are still humans around.

What they all fail to realize is that, despite the "coolness factor" involved, most of the people they'll encounter will treat them as freaks (at best) or as true monsters (at worst). They'll no doubt perform admirably in the wilderness or in the middle of the Abyss, but how do they expect to handle a shopping visit to the local town?

Sure, they're strong enough to win a fight against the local militia but if they fight, then the whole town will reject them. And if they don't fight, then they'll end up in jail (for belonging to the "wrong race") or banned from the town. I guess they could always walk into town and take by force what they need but that will only brand them as criminals.

Smart players will quickly get frustrated by this, as should be! They must learn that bad choices = bad consequences (although some campaigns are set up to handle a wide variety of races, such as Planescape for instance)
#9

zombiegleemax

Mar 01, 2007 18:01:38
Wartroll gone.

Anyhap, here's how things went:


The month of Flocktime, day 28, 591 CY:


Hoardes of travellers from all manner of nations and climes, poured in unorganized jumbles into the free city for trade and adventure, during this season in which the roadways remained frozen and large scale travel was possible...


The mighty heroes began the campaign one-half mile outside the Free City of Greyhawk.

...amidst desert camel caravans, horsemen, black skinned elephant riders from Hepmonoland, and the smells of spices, unwashed bodies, exotic perfumes and much dung....


It was actually quite funny to have such high powered characters wait in a huge line up for days to enter the city, quite afraid to break and rest by the side of the roadway for fear of losing their place in line.

And being a good DM, I punctuated their disatisfaction and current predicament with add libbed sounds of sheep flocks baying, eastern-styled singing, and muttered curses from the people pressed in tight circles around them.

(They especially liked it when the elephant in front of them would periodically get confused and frustrated, often blocking the roadway for long periods of time.)

When our heroes finally arrived in the city, most of them managed -through very heavy bribes- to get logging at one Sleeping Dragon Inn...

...while the epic level druid chose to sleep just within the walls of the free city...with the flocks, snake charmers, bickering merchants, sights, sounds and smells...

...all for loyalty to her dire tiger companion, whom she didn't wish to leave behind.

As the week passed then, the sorcerer of the group spent time getting items specially crafted at various locales around the metropolis, the psionist kept darting off to the astral plane to make some sort of sancturay or other, and the fighter enjoyed evenings spent with the academics, student snobs and young elites of Greyhawk at the Broken Staff Tavern -where incidently, the food is good but expensive, illusionists frequently duel for the delight of the crowd, poets poet, musicians wale out new and hip material, and etcetera.

...whilst the druid spent her days petting a dire tiger, and consuming such interesting delights as dried snake and camel milk breakfast from those exotic vendors.


Then one day, just as everyone was getting comfortable with things...

giant blue eggs started falling from the sky, screams were heard in the streets, and black smoke began pouring from the much esteemed Grey College down the street...
#10

lordthavian

Mar 22, 2007 15:08:37
Epic level in Greyhawk? That's like 15+, right? :D

ROFLMAO
Couldn't be more true! :P
#11

maldin

Mar 23, 2007 0:38:01
I (Maldin) am an epic level resident of the City of Greyhawk, of course! As well, your fighter may not be aware, but your psionicist would likely be interested in knowing that the Broken Staff Tavern has psionicist serving staff, with a secret link to the City's psionics school. Check out my website for more info about the school, as well as an interior map and description of the Broken Staff Tavern (it started out as an important locale in my home campaign before I wrote it into the LGJ article).

Side note (and pet peeve)... I've not seen this thread before, so I'm guessing it was moved from another board. Could the moderators that move threads around please at least put a note (post) saying "Moved from xxxxx..."?

Denis, aka "Maldin"
============================
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
Loads of edition-independent Greyhawk goodness... maps, magic, mysteries, mechanics, and more! Including loads of information about the City of Greyhawk, of course!
#12

ripvanwormer

Mar 23, 2007 3:49:47
I've not seen this thread before, so I'm guessing it was moved from another board.

I don't think so. It's been on this board since I first responded to it on February 26.

I wondered why you hadn't contributed anything to it. You must just have missed it.
#13

pauln6

Mar 23, 2007 6:40:32
Epic level in Greyhawk? That's like 15+, right? :D

I've had the same character since 1990 and I'm still only level 9. Our oldest and most powerful pcs from 1990 and 1991 are levels 12 & 13 respectively. The Greyhawk timeline (581 - 587 CY and counting) is moving slower than real time but I 'm starting to keep track of time more efficently by using the random weather generator.

I get by as a DM by dividing all 3e xp awards by 4 and then awarding some bonus xp for roleplaying, good ideas etc.

And yes, the players moan like hell, although they do accept that they will become epic one day - most probably when they are in their fifties :D
#14

zombiegleemax

Mar 23, 2007 15:10:31
I've had the same character since 1990 and I'm still only level 9. Our oldest and most powerful pcs from 1990 and 1991 are levels 12 & 13 respectively. The Greyhawk timeline (581 - 587 CY and counting) is moving slower than real time but I 'm starting to keep track of time more efficently by using the random weather generator.

I get by as a DM by dividing all 3e xp awards by 4 and then awarding some bonus xp for roleplaying, good ideas etc.

And yes, the players moan like hell, although they do accept that they will become epic one day - most probably when they are in their fifties :D

Jeez, do you guys get together biannually or something?
#15

pauln6

Mar 24, 2007 3:55:13
Lol - actually we play about 3 times a month. The campaign is so old it started off as a 2e campaign don't forget - and my character started off as a thief, then changed to a zero level wizard (using 1e UA rules) and had to work her way back up again.

I spend a lot of my time Dming, which is my pc is lower level. She's also been screwed by the fact that she was a 2e shadow mage, which disappeared under 3e. The latest version is a rogue, sorcerer, shadowcaster, noctumancer to try and fit in with the background the character had in 2e, which also means that her magical abilities pretty much suck now.

However, I had lots of modules I wanted my pcs to play and I couldn't see the point in advancing them at the standard rate when they would become too high level to play them. If a DM wants a long term campaign, the current system of advancing 3 levels per adventure just doesn't work.
#16

paladin2019

Mar 24, 2007 14:00:27
If a DM wants a long term campaign, the current system of advancing 3 levels per adventure just doesn't work.

I don't want to start a rules argument here, but unless your adventures consist of almost 40 balanced encounters, your characters shouldn't advance that quickly. ~13-1/3 balanced encounters/level gained is what the system is built for.
#17

grimshofhighsorcery

Mar 24, 2007 21:01:38
LOL oh Thavian:P you say that, but you were one of the players in my game. Yes we had an epic level Greyhawk game. We had a Deveraux(Elf Druid20/Ninja1/Wiz3), Thavian Ezmirr(Half-Fiend Wizard 22), The Survivor(Human Rogue 22) and Lazarus Draconus(Half-Red Dragon Orc Fighter 23). It can be done, but epic level in Greyhawk can be hard. It was fun though...and to think it all started with a little moathouse and a Temple...
#18

pauln6

Mar 25, 2007 17:33:27
My hope is to convert GDQ into an epic level adventure as the culmination of the campaign - I'll probably run a Vecna Lives first and have Vecna win, then run GDQ as a way to set things right (I haven't thought it through yet but I'll see how it enfolds). Giving class levels to the giants, involving the Sakhut, and adcancing Eclavdra and her minions to something closer to 3.5 epic levels might work. There's also a lot of info on the LG Geoff site about the gradual liberation of Geoff and I think that incorporating some of those elements as well might make a good mix.
#19

thanael

Mar 26, 2007 14:38:15
Eclavdra's epic stats are in the Epic Level Handbook.
#20

lordthavian

Apr 02, 2007 13:36:11
It was fun though...and to think it all started with a little moathouse and a Temple...

Good times, Muahahahahahaha!:D