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...
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
I find this character overpowered and was wondering how to give him disadvantages.
He's a war troll with a ring of acid immunity.
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)
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...
Epic level in Greyhawk? That's like 15+, right? :D
ROFLMAO
Couldn't be more true! :P
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!
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.
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
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?
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.
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.
It was fun though...and to think it all started with a little moathouse and a Temple...
Good times, Muahahahahahaha!:D