Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 lurking_shadow Feb 24, 2008 15:54:43	Hello people. I’m interested in hearing about your experiences regarding rhulisti, rhul-thaun, and life-shaped items in your home campaigns. For instance. Have you ever DMed a campaign with a rhul-thaun halfling PC, or personally role-played such a character? Have the Rhul-tal (great life-shaped artifacts), or the Last Tree ever figured in your games? Have the PCs ever come into contact with the halflings of the Jagged Cliffs? Have they ever acquired life-shaped items? And so on. I ask this out of simple curiosity, and also because these themes will eventually crop up in my own home campaign. Lurking
#2 Zardnaar Feb 25, 2008 1:27:31	My PCs recovered a lifeshaped communications device. Most PCs shouldn't even know abpout the Rhul Than or Rhulist.
#3 lurking_shadow Feb 25, 2008 12:03:27	My PCs recovered a lifeshaped communications device. OK? Interesting. How did they find it, and what did they do with it? Did they realize what the device truly was? Most PCs shouldn't even know abpout the Rhul Than or Rhulist. I certainly agree. As I mentioned in another thread, one of the PCs in my campaign is a rain-cleric halfling in the service of the Last Tree. Neither the character nor the player knows anything about the rhulisti or the Blue Age. So far, I've only vaguely hinted that there's a lot more to the halfling race than one might guess, and that they were somehow important in the past. The other PCs don't even know that much. One is human, the other is New Race (amnesiac). I plan on revealing Athas' secret past slowly, during the campaign. Lurking
#4 Zardnaar Feb 25, 2008 12:12:38	OK? Interesting. How did they find it, and what did they do with it? Did they realize what the device truly was? I certainly agree. As I mentioned in another thread, one of the PCs in my campaign is a rain-cleric halfling in the service of the Last Tree. Neither the character nor the player knows anything about the rhulisti or the Blue Age. So far, I've only vaguely hinted that there's a lot more to the halfling race than one might guess, and that they were somehow important in the past. The other PCs don't even know that much. One is human, the other is New Race (amnesiac). I plan on revealing Athas' secret past slowly, during the campaign. Lurking One of the PCs guessed what it was as it was basically a villip from Star Wars New Jedi Order. I ripped it off from the Yuuzhan Vong which use bio technology. A halfling rain cleric contacted them via it as she had the other half of the device. I used parts of the adventure from the revised boxed set
#5 xlorepdarkhelm_dup Feb 25, 2008 12:15:16	I had a Rhulisti invasion I ran. I borrowed heavily from the Yuuzhon-Vong from Star Wars for ideas on the Rhulisti that did so (I tend to think that the Yuuzhon-Vong idea had been influenced in part by the Rhulisti, esp. since Troy Denning helped with the Star Wars race/new Jedi Order series of novels). They were *not* friendly. They were invisible/blind to psionics. They were highly aggressive, and they had a lot of bioengineered weapons and tech at their disposal. That said, they tended to really have some issues with dealing with arcane magic, particularly dragon magic that could drain life energy from the lifeshaped/bioengineered creatures directly. But yeah, 10,000+ years is a long time for a race to be separated from its homeworld. A lot changed. There wasn't too many of these Rhilisti invaders, but there was enough to make the campaign become serously dangerous. The Rhulisti were able to re-secure Tyr and Bodach as their "beachheads", reactivating a number of lifeshaped creatures that have been dormant under those cities respectively. The people trapped inside Tyr became forced labor for the Rhulisti. Sadira was flayed publically after finally being captured (at night, when she was weakest). The Rhulisti destroyed the Pristine Tower after seeing how it had been "corrupted" by Rajaat, and was no longer worthy to be part of their "holy crusade". It put the party at an impossible position of actually trying to enlist the help of all of the Sorcerer-Kings (including Dregoth which they personally ticked off earlier by preventing his godhood spell), as well as any defilers they could muster to attempt to use the Rhulisti's biotech/lifeshaped devices against them. There even was an effort on the party's part to enlist the aid of the Tohr-Kreen Empire... which after losing half the party in the process, rather than getting the support of the Empire, they instead ended up loosing the Tohr-Kreen onto the Tablelands...
#6 Zardnaar Feb 25, 2008 12:23:42	I had a Rhulisti invasion I ran. I borrowed heavily from the Yuuzhon-Vong from Star Wars for ideas on the Rhulisti that did so (I tend to think that the Yuuzhon-Vong idea had been influenced in part by the Rhulisti, esp. since Troy Denning helped with the Star Wars race/new Jedi Order series of novels). They were *not* friendly. They were invisible/blind to psionics. They were highly aggressive, and they had a lot of bioengineered weapons and tech at their disposal. That said, they tended to really have some issues with dealing with arcane magic, particularly dragon magic that could drain life energy from the lifeshaped/bioengineered creatures directly. But yeah, 10,000+ years is a long time for a race to be separated from its homeworld. A lot changed. There wasn't too many of these Rhilisti invaders, but there was enough to make the campaign become serously dangerous. The Rhulisti were able to re-secure Tyr and Bodach as their "beachheads", reactivating a number of lifeshaped creatures that have been dormant under those cities respectively. The people trapped inside Tyr became forced labor for the Rhulisti. Sadira was flayed publically after finally being captured (at night, when she was weakest). The Rhulisti destroyed the Pristine Tower after seeing how it had been "corrupted" by Rajaat, and was no longer worthy to be part of their "holy crusade". It put the party at an impossible position of actually trying to enlist the help of all of the Sorcerer-Kings (including Dregoth which they personally ticked off earlier by preventing his godhood spell), as well as any defilers they could muster to attempt to use the Rhulisti's biotech/lifeshaped devices against them. There even was an effort on the party's part to enlist the aid of the Tohr-Kreen Empire... which after losing half the party in the process, rather than getting the support of the Empire, they instead ended up loosing the Tohr-Kreen onto the Tablelands... Sounds great- was this the space halfling invasikon idea about the wanderer returning? I like Star Wars novels but the NJO tended to suck with a handful of exceptions such as the Aaron Alliston ones and a few others. Vong Halflings LOL.
#7 xlorepdarkhelm_dup Feb 25, 2008 12:30:42	Sounds great- was this the space halfling invasikon idea about the wanderer returning? I like Star Wars novels but the NJO tended to suck with a handful of exceptions such as the Aaron Alliston ones and a few others. Vong Halflings LOL. I borrowed the idea from the space halfling invasion. Basically, I had it that the messenger had some Rhilisti in stasis (three of them). When it crashed, they were brought out of stasis, they then found Bodach unoccupied. Once there, they were able to contact Rhulisti from further in space, a single warship arrived, the Rhulisti had searched for millenia for their "Holy land", their homeworld which had become lost. Once they arrived, they subjugated the Rhulisti that called out to them, and then began a capaign to reclaim their homeworld. The warship did not call any other Rhulisti to help, they wanted the honor and distinction for finding and reclaiming the homeworld themselves without any others taking credit. The best part was that the party went to investigate the Messenger's crash. They found the damaged/opened pods in the crater, and were the ones who helped revive the three Rhulisti (who looked somewhat like halflings wearing some strange suits, and were a bit taller than an average halfling). They even helped these Rhulisti find and get into Bodach. So, in effect, because of their interference, they basically helped with the chain of events leading to the invasion. Now personally, I liked the NJO series for Star Wars, I like how it turned the Star Wars galaxy on its ear. I like how it threw a lot of confusion and uncertainty into everything.
#8 Zardnaar Feb 25, 2008 12:46:51	I borrowed the idea from the space halfling invasion. Basically, I had it that the messenger had some Rhilisti in stasis (three of them). When it crashed, they were brought out of stasis, they then found Bodach unoccupied. Once there, they were able to contact Rhulisti from further in space, a single warship arrived, the Rhulisti had searched for millenia for their "Holy land", their homeworld which had become lost. Once they arrived, they subjugated the Rhulisti that called out to them, and then began a capaign to reclaim their homeworld. The warship did not call any other Rhulisti to help, they wanted the honor and distinction for finding and reclaiming the homeworld themselves without any others taking credit. The best part was that the party went to investigate the Messenger's crash. They found the damaged/opened pods in the crater, and were the ones who helped revive the three Rhulisti (who looked somewhat like halflings wearing some strange suits, and were a bit taller than an average halfling). They even helped these Rhulisti find and get into Bodach. So, in effect, because of their interference, they basically helped with the chain of events leading to the invasion. Now personally, I liked the NJO series for Star Wars, I like how it turned the Star Wars galaxy on its ear. I like how it threw a lot of confusion and uncertainty into everything. I like the idea behind the NJO just a few of the books were average and awful. Started off alright and then went downhill. The series seemed to suffer from TSRitis though (ie lets wreck everything a'la Darksun, Dragonlance and 4th ed Forgotten Realms).
#9 xlorepdarkhelm_dup Feb 25, 2008 13:06:21	I like the idea behind the NJO just a few of the books were average and awful. Started off alright and then went downhill. The series seemed to suffer from TSRitis though (ie lets wreck everything a'la Darksun, Dragonlance and 4th ed Forgotten Realms). Sometimes, a fresh start is a good one. I actually like what was done in Dark Sun and Dragonlance. I never cared enough about Forgotten Realms to know one way or another.
#10 Zardnaar Feb 25, 2008 22:04:30	Sometimes, a fresh start is a good one. I actually like what was done in Dark Sun and Dragonlance. I never cared enough about Forgotten Realms to know one way or another. Point but in Athas case the setting had only been out for 2-3 years before they drastically changed it. It wasn't the change I disliked but more the pace of it. Didn't care that the Dragon died but they got rid of alot of SK's as well very quickly.
#11 xlorepdarkhelm_dup Feb 25, 2008 22:37:08	Point but in Athas case the setting had only been out for 2-3 years before they drastically changed it. It wasn't the change I disliked but more the pace of it. Didn't care that the Dragon died but they got rid of alot of SK's as well very quickly. I dunno, I liked that it established there was a status quo, and then the status quo got shaken up. Sure, it was quick, and sure there was a lot of problems with TSR, but I really like how it worked out for Dark Sun. I honestly have a hard time imagining the stagnant, and in my opinion very dull setting prior to the events of PP as being anything I'd want to run a campaign through.