After you little "quest" in Highforge, I decided that you guys might not know what all you can do in town. So here is a list of some of the things (granted that it is not every things, but I am just trying to give ideas)
1) Buy crap
2) Sell crap
3) Exchange gems
4) Hire mercs
5) Steal crap
6) Kill crap (murderer)
7) Listen to old farts talk politics (fun fun)
8) Watch a public execution (Medieval T.V.)
9) Bug the begger
10) Buy a hoe
11) Buy a whore
12) Become a whore (gotta get money somehow)
13) Pick up some random plague (Bring out your dead!)
14) Listen to rumors (Every RPG has rumors!)
15) Burn stuff (I worked 7 days on making this town and you guys burn it in 7 minutes...)
16) Beat people up
17) Pretrend to be poor (Oh wait, you guys ARE poor right now!)
18) Start a riot
19) Appraise crap
20) Get drunk
21) Start a bar fight
22) Get killed
23) Get arrested
24) Get raped
25) Get buried alive
26) Get kicked out of town
27) Get cursed by that random witch you pushed
28) Breath in the "fresh" air (*cough cough*)
29) Get stoned (by an angry mob)
30) Be stoned (By a magical Stone spell)
31) Pretrend to be a stone (live performance)
32) Do drugs (You saw this coming...)
33) Jump off of tall buildings (just kill yourself and get it over with)
34) Sing a song to the public (Hopefully they will pay you to shut-up instead of killing you)
35) Tell stories of your great adventure (you might want to leave the murder part out)
36) Get all of your stuff stolen and not notice it until you feel a draft (where's your pants?)
37) Pretend to be an upstanding citizen
38) Drink that crappy water!
39) Play cat and mouse with the town guard
40) Play hide-and-go-seek with your party
41) Play Cops and Robbers
42) The Answer to life, the universe, and everything
43) Start a war (what, with yourself?)
44) Dig in the garbage for free food!
45) Break crap
46) Play craps
47) Go to a party
48) Go to a party that you are not invited to
49) Go to a party that you got kicked out of
50) Claim that you have a party in your pants
51) Go to a festival and pretend that you are enjoying it (lots of fun imagining others having fun)
52) Buy a house
53) Build a house
54) Start a buisness
55) Go bankrupt
56) Take a crap in the drinking water (everyone else does!)
57) Actually care about some random townsperson's problems
58) Get married (and thus end all possibility of getting married in real life)
59) Steal from a begger
60) Orphan a child
61) Eat at Joe's
62) Go bug the old magic farts for spells and crap
63) Go bug the thieves guild for fences and crap
64) Go bug the church for your gods and crap
65) Count the bricks on the city wall
66) Look for local contests!
67) Look for that save point
68) Open every chest you see. It's not stealing! This is an RPG!
69) The numbers you multiply to make 42
70) Destroy the local economy
71) Destroy the local food stores
72) Say that you are the hero and people need to worship you (good luck on that)
73) Not important
74) Roll in the hay
75) Give up adventuring and join the locals (after all, you suck at this)
76) Beg for some hero to teach you his/her ways
77) Come across an old nemesis
78) Go to the local Pokemon Gym so that you can get your next Badge
79) Go to the Pokecenter to heal your Pokemon for free.
80) Sleep at an inn (NOT FOR FREE! BWAHAHAHA!)
81) Walk around with Hobo signs saying "The End is Nere!"
82) Offer to shine people shoes like a hobbo.
83) Bully people
84) Gamble
85) Go to an auction
86) Trade your expensive crap for other expensive crap
87) Buy horses
88) Get lost
89) Ask for directions (like they will help)
90) Get lost after you asked for directions
91) Roll a 20 to get yourself back on the right road (was that so hard?)
92) Buy maps (the question is, am I gonna make them???)
93) Buy souvenirs ("I <3 Specularum" shirts are on sale now!)
94) Find crap
95) Get a pet
96) Get a life
97) Pay your respects
98) Save the day....again
99) Get born (wait, you are alive now, so how will that work?)
100) Ponder why there is so much crap in this city.
Okay, so maybe all of that isn't serious, but some of it may be helpful....maybe.....
Monday, January 26, 2009
How Many Monsters am I Fighting?
The rules of DMing require that I be vague. Yes, I can be specific sometimes, but many times I cannot be specific. For example, if you are mapping a dungeon, I will be vague unless you take the time to measure every room you are in. I will be around the mark, but I will almost always be slightly off it. This also comes around when you guys are fighting monsters. Many times I will not bother telling you how many there are. Of course when the numbers are small (1-6) then I would probably tell you how many there are. I will also tell you how many there really are if you have the time to count all of them. However, if you are suddenly dropped into battle, or if there are far too many to count in one second, then I will use a vague description. As the battle goes on, you will figure out how many there are, but in a quick description of it's size I will using these vague descriptions.
Few: 1-4
Several: 5-9
Pack: 10-19
Lots: 20-49
Horde: 50-99
Throng: 100-249
Swarm: 250-499
Zounds....: 500-999
Legions: 1000+
I got these descriptions from a game. This game was one of my favorites when I was young. As such, much of my thinking has been altered because of it. I cannot guarantee that when using these words I am using them to describe the numbers listed here (for example, if you are attacked by bugs I might say "A swarm of them attacks..." even though there are only 25 of them), however I will use these numbers often enough that you should be able to recognize them. Again, as the battle goes on, you will be able to detirmine (with maybe a slight error) just how many you are up against. However, in the confusion of battle, you won't just know it off hand.
On another note, I severely doubt you will be fighting a crowd numbering greater than a horde. No matter what level you are and what you are fighting, it would be crazy to pit you against such numbers (unless, of course you CHOOSE to fight said numbers). I will try to use vague number expressions when describing armies (hundreds, thousands, ect.) Also, counting a size of an army is very difficult to do. In some cases you would have to do tricks, like counting campfires, in order to make a guess at how many there are in an army. You will pretty have to figure out ways of guessing army sizes yourself.
Few: 1-4
Several: 5-9
Pack: 10-19
Lots: 20-49
Horde: 50-99
Throng: 100-249
Swarm: 250-499
Zounds....: 500-999
Legions: 1000+
I got these descriptions from a game. This game was one of my favorites when I was young. As such, much of my thinking has been altered because of it. I cannot guarantee that when using these words I am using them to describe the numbers listed here (for example, if you are attacked by bugs I might say "A swarm of them attacks..." even though there are only 25 of them), however I will use these numbers often enough that you should be able to recognize them. Again, as the battle goes on, you will be able to detirmine (with maybe a slight error) just how many you are up against. However, in the confusion of battle, you won't just know it off hand.
On another note, I severely doubt you will be fighting a crowd numbering greater than a horde. No matter what level you are and what you are fighting, it would be crazy to pit you against such numbers (unless, of course you CHOOSE to fight said numbers). I will try to use vague number expressions when describing armies (hundreds, thousands, ect.) Also, counting a size of an army is very difficult to do. In some cases you would have to do tricks, like counting campfires, in order to make a guess at how many there are in an army. You will pretty have to figure out ways of guessing army sizes yourself.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Maps of Mystara I
In my "On Cervders" post, I made some references to the land of Mystara and some locations you might not be familiar with. I decided I should dig up some maps for you guys. You know what would be neat? If we could figure out a way to print out some of these maps on some large paper somehow.
This is a YouTube video that gives a general intro to Mystara and to Southeastern Brun (which is the area where you guys are located at). There are a few things I need to point out about this video. Any time they say West, they really mean East (early additions of this game fliped the compass back and forth. In other words, some books have Mystara's West as our East. We have Mystara's West as our West to make things easier on you guys). Another thing you will notice is how he pronounce some of the names. Generally, I just have use pronounce things the best we can. Normally, whatever comes out first will stick. When he talks about The Five Shires, he will use the word "Hin". "Hin" is just a slang for halfling. I think that is everything.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTesyZDmo3Q
This is a map of Southeastern Brun (it may have errors, but for now it is all good). I like this one as it contains several names and places.
http://pandius.com/Known_World_Sea_of_Dread_8mph.png
Here is a legend.
http://pandius.com/legend.png
Here is a map the shows Alphatia in relation to Brun.
http://pandius.com/dawn-alphatia-24-original-colours.png
Here is a map of Alphatia
http://pandius.com/dawn-alphatia-24-original-colours.png
Here is a map of the waters east of Brun (no names)
http://pandius.com/72.png
Here is a map of Mystara (kinda looks like a satellite map)
http://pandius.com/myst3d.gif
Here is a map of Mystara (Most of the names are correct, but the boundaries are not.)
http://pandius.com/outer-world-grid.png
Here is a map that TSR made (it is small, but when I can get the map in my book scanned, I will see about putting up here)
http://www.mystara.fr/maps/mystara/outermap.jpg
Hopefully, I can find more maps for you guys to use. What would also be great if I could buy a map from TSR. They have maps for Mystara, but buying them from ebay would cost like $40. Bummer.
This is a YouTube video that gives a general intro to Mystara and to Southeastern Brun (which is the area where you guys are located at). There are a few things I need to point out about this video. Any time they say West, they really mean East (early additions of this game fliped the compass back and forth. In other words, some books have Mystara's West as our East. We have Mystara's West as our West to make things easier on you guys). Another thing you will notice is how he pronounce some of the names. Generally, I just have use pronounce things the best we can. Normally, whatever comes out first will stick. When he talks about The Five Shires, he will use the word "Hin". "Hin" is just a slang for halfling. I think that is everything.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTesyZDmo3Q
This is a map of Southeastern Brun (it may have errors, but for now it is all good). I like this one as it contains several names and places.
http://pandius.com/Known_World_Sea_of_Dread_8mph.png
Here is a legend.
http://pandius.com/legend.png
Here is a map the shows Alphatia in relation to Brun.
http://pandius.com/dawn-alphatia-24-original-colours.png
Here is a map of Alphatia
http://pandius.com/dawn-alphatia-24-original-colours.png
Here is a map of the waters east of Brun (no names)
http://pandius.com/72.png
Here is a map of Mystara (kinda looks like a satellite map)
http://pandius.com/myst3d.gif
Here is a map of Mystara (Most of the names are correct, but the boundaries are not.)
http://pandius.com/outer-world-grid.png
Here is a map that TSR made (it is small, but when I can get the map in my book scanned, I will see about putting up here)
http://www.mystara.fr/maps/mystara/outermap.jpg
Hopefully, I can find more maps for you guys to use. What would also be great if I could buy a map from TSR. They have maps for Mystara, but buying them from ebay would cost like $40. Bummer.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
On Cervders
This time I decided to do something of my own creation. It is always good to know what random nightmares I can toss at ya. Cervder is pronounced like "serv-der". I was hoping that this would be shorter than the other, but darn it all, my imagination just keeps going. I guess this is a good thing...
There are two species of Cervders. One species can be found on the continent of Brun south of the Arctic Circle and East of the Borea River. The other species can be found on the continent of Skothar in the land west of Nentsun Plateaux. What you would call them will depend on what continent you live on. If you live on Brun, you will call Brunian Cervders "Cervs" and the Skothran Cervders "Big Cervs". If you live on Skothar you would call the Skothran Cervders "Seders" and the Brunian Cervders "Lil-sevs". Obviously, the Skothran Cervders are larger than the Brunian Cervders. Elves, Dwarves, and other humanoids normally call the Cervder something more literal, such as "Brain Golems" or "Brain Zombies" (the reason for these names are literal will be explained later on). However, there is no set name for the Cervders among Elves, Dwarves, and other humanoids. Goblins, however, always call them Cervders if they even bother at all. Cervder, you see, is something of a swear word among Goblins. People who live on the continent of Davania or any of the many islands found in the ocean will call Cervders by the name the locals tell them (if they never heard of Cervders before) or by their given name (if they know of Cervders). There are no other variations of the Cervder name.
Cervders are magical constructs. They are made from spiders, brains, and arms. Though they use the arms as legs, they are capable of using them as a normal person. The eyes and jaws are that of a spider (one that is long extinct normally). The rest is mostly brain. The brain grew during the fusion of these objects. The Brunian Cervders stand about two feet tall. Rarely are there ones that are three feet tall. The Skothran Cervders stand eight to twelve feet tall with the average at ten feet 6 inches. The Brunian Cervders have web sacs. They use to web for carrying objects, getting around, and for their lair. The Brunian Cervders' venom can only paralyze. They are made to paralyze small creatures like Goblins, so they are not as effective on humans. The Skothran Cervders do not have web sacs. Instead, they are able to run as fast as a horse. They have, however, poison sacs. Their poison is a strong as a Black Widow Spider. This means that a person who is unable to resists its effects will be dead in around ten seconds without medical aid. The jaws on a Brunian Cervder are not large enough to do much damage to people. They mostly tear and bite. The arms of a Brunian Cervder are rarely used as weapons. The Skothran Cervders are far stronger. Their jaws can cut a man in two with just a single bite. Their arms are strong enough to shatter bones in a person. They sometimes use their arms in order to attack those behind them. Cervders are not very bright. They will attack almost anything that are not too big, or does not outnumber them too much.
Cervders were made in 416 AC by an Alphatian wizard named Dervan Ullit. The Lycanthropy Epidemic of 400 AC were causing servere strain on nations worldwide by spreading the lycanthropy and vampirism curses at alarming rates. Alphatia was funding several new programs to help people during this epidemic since it was Alphatian wizards who accidently made the epidemic. As people have not yet developed means to combat such large numbers of Lycanthropes and Vampires it was becoming increasingly difficult for nations to provide protection within their own borders. Dervan Ullit came up with an idea to limit the threat of Goblins. He created a creature that would hunger for goblinoid flesh. He used human brains to make it easier to program it for hunting Goblins. He gave it the spider aspect because Dervan thought the spider to be a perfect hunter. He gave it the human arms because the creature wouldn't balance out otherwise. He tested the creature on Brun first. It appeared to be a success at first. He used a larger spider for Skothar since the Goblins there are fiercer than the Brunian Goblins. He was about to create a Cervder for Davania when he received orders to cease and desist. His Cervders were not acting as they should. They did hunt Goblins, but they also hunted anything else in the area. The human aspect of them gave them an even greater urge to eat creatures. There was nothing Dervan could do to remove this creatures as their spider aspect allowed them to reproduce into large numbers. In the end, the Cervders did their job. They hungered Goblins more than other creatures, so they would nest in areas where the Goblins could be found. This gave a little bit of breathing room for people of those areas. Some Goblins protest the creation of these creatures outright. Most protest violently. Most of the Civilized Goblins protest them by claiming them to be inhumane. They search for compensation for the damages received from these creatures. People today can still make Cervders. The notes Dervan took can be found in Aasla's library on Alphatia. It is considered an act of necromancy today since it requires a fresh human brain.
The Cervders in Brun hunt in large packs. There are any wear from twenty-five to a hundred of them at a time. This is because Brunian Cervders are not very strong, and they need to hunt in large numbers in order to make an effective hunting party. They work together to make quick strikes in hopes of snagging one or two creatures for their hive. They will not fight for long. When they see that they have gained a body, or when they see that they are loosing to many, they will retreat. It is ill-advised to pursue them as they will normally retreat straight to their hive. These creatures are easy to kill. A person can kill one with a single stroke most of the time. The Skothran Cervders are another story. They tend to hunt in groups of one to three. They are hard to hit as their vitals are located mostly on their belly. To effectively hurt one, a person would either have to get underneath the Cervder (which can puts the person in danger of being trampled by the arms), or to figure out a way to flip the Cervder (which puts everyone around it in danger as it will thrash its arms wildly about). These Cervders will sometimes fight to the death. Most of the time they will try to run away when they see that they are being overpowered. It is usually hard to catch one of these Cervders. They will normally ambush a group, grab one of the group, and run away with that person in their mouth. If they failed to grab someone, then they will stay and try to grab another. If they are hunting with another, then the mate(s) will join the fight when they see that the male Cervder had failed in grabing some food. Skothran Goblins tend to avoid fighting these things when possible. They would even go as far as hiring people to deal with them.
Where there are Cervders, there are Goblins. Where there are Gobins, there are Cervders.
There are two species of Cervders. One species can be found on the continent of Brun south of the Arctic Circle and East of the Borea River. The other species can be found on the continent of Skothar in the land west of Nentsun Plateaux. What you would call them will depend on what continent you live on. If you live on Brun, you will call Brunian Cervders "Cervs" and the Skothran Cervders "Big Cervs". If you live on Skothar you would call the Skothran Cervders "Seders" and the Brunian Cervders "Lil-sevs". Obviously, the Skothran Cervders are larger than the Brunian Cervders. Elves, Dwarves, and other humanoids normally call the Cervder something more literal, such as "Brain Golems" or "Brain Zombies" (the reason for these names are literal will be explained later on). However, there is no set name for the Cervders among Elves, Dwarves, and other humanoids. Goblins, however, always call them Cervders if they even bother at all. Cervder, you see, is something of a swear word among Goblins. People who live on the continent of Davania or any of the many islands found in the ocean will call Cervders by the name the locals tell them (if they never heard of Cervders before) or by their given name (if they know of Cervders). There are no other variations of the Cervder name.
Cervders are magical constructs. They are made from spiders, brains, and arms. Though they use the arms as legs, they are capable of using them as a normal person. The eyes and jaws are that of a spider (one that is long extinct normally). The rest is mostly brain. The brain grew during the fusion of these objects. The Brunian Cervders stand about two feet tall. Rarely are there ones that are three feet tall. The Skothran Cervders stand eight to twelve feet tall with the average at ten feet 6 inches. The Brunian Cervders have web sacs. They use to web for carrying objects, getting around, and for their lair. The Brunian Cervders' venom can only paralyze. They are made to paralyze small creatures like Goblins, so they are not as effective on humans. The Skothran Cervders do not have web sacs. Instead, they are able to run as fast as a horse. They have, however, poison sacs. Their poison is a strong as a Black Widow Spider. This means that a person who is unable to resists its effects will be dead in around ten seconds without medical aid. The jaws on a Brunian Cervder are not large enough to do much damage to people. They mostly tear and bite. The arms of a Brunian Cervder are rarely used as weapons. The Skothran Cervders are far stronger. Their jaws can cut a man in two with just a single bite. Their arms are strong enough to shatter bones in a person. They sometimes use their arms in order to attack those behind them. Cervders are not very bright. They will attack almost anything that are not too big, or does not outnumber them too much.
Cervders were made in 416 AC by an Alphatian wizard named Dervan Ullit. The Lycanthropy Epidemic of 400 AC were causing servere strain on nations worldwide by spreading the lycanthropy and vampirism curses at alarming rates. Alphatia was funding several new programs to help people during this epidemic since it was Alphatian wizards who accidently made the epidemic. As people have not yet developed means to combat such large numbers of Lycanthropes and Vampires it was becoming increasingly difficult for nations to provide protection within their own borders. Dervan Ullit came up with an idea to limit the threat of Goblins. He created a creature that would hunger for goblinoid flesh. He used human brains to make it easier to program it for hunting Goblins. He gave it the spider aspect because Dervan thought the spider to be a perfect hunter. He gave it the human arms because the creature wouldn't balance out otherwise. He tested the creature on Brun first. It appeared to be a success at first. He used a larger spider for Skothar since the Goblins there are fiercer than the Brunian Goblins. He was about to create a Cervder for Davania when he received orders to cease and desist. His Cervders were not acting as they should. They did hunt Goblins, but they also hunted anything else in the area. The human aspect of them gave them an even greater urge to eat creatures. There was nothing Dervan could do to remove this creatures as their spider aspect allowed them to reproduce into large numbers. In the end, the Cervders did their job. They hungered Goblins more than other creatures, so they would nest in areas where the Goblins could be found. This gave a little bit of breathing room for people of those areas. Some Goblins protest the creation of these creatures outright. Most protest violently. Most of the Civilized Goblins protest them by claiming them to be inhumane. They search for compensation for the damages received from these creatures. People today can still make Cervders. The notes Dervan took can be found in Aasla's library on Alphatia. It is considered an act of necromancy today since it requires a fresh human brain.
The Cervders in Brun hunt in large packs. There are any wear from twenty-five to a hundred of them at a time. This is because Brunian Cervders are not very strong, and they need to hunt in large numbers in order to make an effective hunting party. They work together to make quick strikes in hopes of snagging one or two creatures for their hive. They will not fight for long. When they see that they have gained a body, or when they see that they are loosing to many, they will retreat. It is ill-advised to pursue them as they will normally retreat straight to their hive. These creatures are easy to kill. A person can kill one with a single stroke most of the time. The Skothran Cervders are another story. They tend to hunt in groups of one to three. They are hard to hit as their vitals are located mostly on their belly. To effectively hurt one, a person would either have to get underneath the Cervder (which can puts the person in danger of being trampled by the arms), or to figure out a way to flip the Cervder (which puts everyone around it in danger as it will thrash its arms wildly about). These Cervders will sometimes fight to the death. Most of the time they will try to run away when they see that they are being overpowered. It is usually hard to catch one of these Cervders. They will normally ambush a group, grab one of the group, and run away with that person in their mouth. If they failed to grab someone, then they will stay and try to grab another. If they are hunting with another, then the mate(s) will join the fight when they see that the male Cervder had failed in grabing some food. Skothran Goblins tend to avoid fighting these things when possible. They would even go as far as hiring people to deal with them.
Where there are Cervders, there are Goblins. Where there are Gobins, there are Cervders.
Winter Break is over, time for D&D
With Winter Break coming to an end, I think we should get back to playing D&D again. Lets meet next Saturday if you can. That is Jan. 17th. We will meet by the fountain at the normal time (2:00 P.M.) We won't be playing this time, and it will be a short meet as we just need to recap and see when we should play D&D this semester.
By the way, I am intending to get a good bit of D&D time in during the Summer.
Be sure to leave me a message telling me if you can make it or not. Also, does anyone know how to contact Atrem? I know Ziek has his home phone on his calculator.
By the way, I am intending to get a good bit of D&D time in during the Summer.
Be sure to leave me a message telling me if you can make it or not. Also, does anyone know how to contact Atrem? I know Ziek has his home phone on his calculator.
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