Darkwar Trilogy by Glen Cook
The following rules are written with apologies to Glen Cook for any inaccuracies.

( Darkwar d20 rules )( Darkwar d20 rules )

Yes, we know about 4.0.

And no, we don't like it.

So, we decided to to refine the 3.5 rules by taking the best from some of the games out there, playtested what it would be like to add them to D&D, then realized that it made sense and made the D&D stuff work, even in modern and futuristic worlds.

Now we can take our dwarven cleric to outer space, and yes, that cleric can use a computer and drive.

The advanced and basic classes from D20 Modern were axed, and instead we used the D&D classes, called "Archetypes" in our games (but still operationally the classes) instead, however, we did use the Occupations from D20 Modern.  Instead of Hit Points we now have Vitality/Wound Points (a la Star Wars RPG), and then, through more discussion and a bit of playtesting discovered that crits are handled very differently, heh heh... hah hahahhahahhh... ahem. Well, there had to be a reason we called it "Hell Mode".

And it puts the capital "D" back in Dragon.

Anyway, if anyone wants the full run down of what we did swing me a comment and an email or something that I can send the PDF's to.

I do digital sketches, paintings, and can even help you design a character.

PRICES (each price is per subject; two subjects=doubled price)
- Bust sketch: $10
- Full-body sketch: $20
- Bust painting: $30
- Full-body painting: $60

ADDONS
- Complicated armor, wings, or other time-consuming accessories: $10-$30
- Simple backgrounds (sorry, no fancy backgrounds, character designs don't need 'em): $10

Contact me for a quote or to order: callmedot (at) gmail (dot) com

Cross-posted to lots of places.

I restarted my campaign on Saturday. We finished the Key of Destiny Dragonlance campaign module a year and a half ago, and so now we're going to start on the next two modules of the campaign. I had a whole opening game figured out, but between players changing their minds about major magic items and other players not making it due to Ike, and a loss of several characters due to e-tools issues, forcing us to remake them from scratch... well, I had to improvise.

( What I learned... )

(X-posted to lady2beetle)

Hey, guys!

I came across an article the other day about Soveriegn press losing the rights to Dragonlance and Dragonlance.com. I've been trying to dig up some more information, but all I can figure out is that Wizards of the Coast did not renew the license with Margaret Weis et al. Okay, that happens all the time I know, but what troubles me is that every post I read says that no one at Sovereign Press knows what WotC has in mind for Dragonlance, just that it doesn't include them. And since I've heard nothing from WotC about Dragonlance in the past 8 months, I am worried. They already have Forgotten Realms and Eberron... but they wouldn't let Dragonlance die... would they?

Edit: Yes, I know that 4th edition is a big factor. I mean, when they didn't renew the liscence for code monkey publishing to sell e-tools, it made sense, and now WotC is creating D&D online to replace what e-tools did. I had assumed that because Sovereign Press had dragonlance, we would have to wait until 4th edition became open reference to get any 4th edition adventures. Now, I suppose it's possible that WotC is claiming Dragonlance so that it *can* reproduce it in 4th edition, but since we've not heard anything about it, I'm worried that they aren't planning on doing anything of the sort. And if that's the case, why did they take the liscence from Sovereign Press? What harm could it have done to let Sovereign Press continue making 3rd edition products? Basically, my fear is that WotC is being selfish and letting a good campaign die so that they can suck the most out of their pet projects. Does that make sense?

Good Monk Build?

In my game, my girlfriend is playing a monk, she's already 4th level but we're using the retraining optional rule from the ph2, so that's not a big deal.

The killer thing is her stats. We did point buy, and her lack of int and dex makes her unable to take some feats that would other wise kick ass.

stats(15,10,12,8,16,8)

(She hasn't distributed her +1 stats bonus for being 4th level yet.)


For feats right now she has Imporved Init (1st) and versatile strike (3rd)

Anyone know of anything she should take or any ideas for what prestige class she should do?

She plans on grabbing a level of fighter for the feat and d10 (naming it as her half-elven favored class) at some point, and putting her 4th level ability point into str.

I suggested taking wild talent and bulking up on psionics.

Any ideas?

I'm starting my campaign this week, and I'm a little nervous. I have a few changes that I want to make based on ideas that I got from reading up on other GM tactics online (specifically "How to awesome up your players"). I'm hoping you guys can offer me your advice as well.

( I want to make 3 small changes to the way that I've run previously. )

Do all of these things sound acceptable to you guys?

... the True Neutral Dark Elf Wizard in the party want to avenge the death of an Elven NPC that he called friend.

Plot. I haz it.

Ok, so I'm going to be running a game soon, and I've got a weird concept going. Really just looking for input, and this might take a bit, so... ( Read more... )

First of all, thanks to all of you who offered thoughts and suggestions on my previous post. You've helped a lot and I'm feeling more and more confident about this. I'm currently thinking of started with something like "The Secret of the Windswept Wall", or The Sunless Citadel or The Forge of Fury, or maybe a combination of the three and using those events to place an item in the PCs possession that will draw them into further adventures.

Anyway, the real point of my post is that I've been playing some old nostalgic PC games and thinking of how some of the basic traps and challenges that you find there could be translated into some unique D&D traps. So far I have ideas from Might & Magic VI:

*Bones with treasure that curse PCs when dug through
*Trash with (minor) treasure that disease PCs when dug through (I know this one isn't unique)
*The doors from Goblinwatch - 6 doors in a row down a hallway with 16 buttons (4x4) labeled A through P. Each button opens one door and closes another one. Correct solution: NILBOG (goblin, backwards) (using some variation of this idea)
*Wells that offer temporary (or permanent?) stat bonuses - seriously, what intelligent PCs will drink from a well in a dungeon?

From Diablo II:
*A mob of weak monsters (i.e. skeletons) with a larger monster around the corner raising the weak ones

And from NWN: Hoards of the Underdark:
*Portals (maybe invisible?) on the ground that teleport individual PCs to other parts of the maze/dungeon, possibly sepparating the party.

I realize that these are not unique (by definition, since I got them from video games), but they are still ideas. Are there any other ideas for simple but creative traps and challenges that you can think of to suggest?

And to finish off my post, I have a question. In thinking about the DCs and saves involved in these challenges, I began to think about illusionary floors. I thought that the rule with illusions was that you don't get a save until you "interact" with it. Does that mean that if the player doesn't specifically ask if the floor is solid, they won't get a save until they are already stepping on it? And by then it's too late? Or would it be a reflex save for the first poor sop to step on the illusionary floor and a will save to disbelieve it afterwards by everyone else?