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Journeyman Greytalker
Joined: Jan 15, 2002
Posts: 165
From: Seattle
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Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:42 pm
Favorite Living Greyhawk Scenarios
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What are some of the best Living Greyhawk scenarios you've seen?
My favorites so far are the Absolute Power adventures by Iquander (River of Blood and As He Lay Dying), but there's an AWFUL lot out there to choose from. Which are gems? _________________ ~basiliv
I didn't design the world,
I merely facilitated its creation
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Apprentice Greytalker
Joined: Sep 08, 2002
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From: Finland
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Thu Jun 02, 2005 10:30 pm
Re: Favorite Living Greyhawk Scenarios
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basiliv wrote: |
What are some of the best Living Greyhawk scenarios you've seen?
My favorites so far are the Absolute Power adventures by Iquander (River of Blood and As He Lay Dying), but there's an AWFUL lot out there to choose from. Which are gems? |
Lot's of them to choose. Let see.
I still think that game of TSS4-04 Crossfire was my best module experience so far. Many other Splintered Suns meta-regionals I also rate very highly such as TSS3-07 Lance of Osson and 'Trust or Treason' series (TSS3-01 Stonecunning, TSS4-01 Verdant Trail & TSS5-01 Ten Minutes).
Regional modules: I cannot much comment Naerie regionals much as i've written half of them so far (expect to say that NAE4-03 stinks to high heaven) but I like NAE4-04 Prince of Idee as it very much has the 'wheels within wheels' feeling of Greyhawk. Author has also managed to slip some quite questionable material past the censors and I always like that
Mainly I play in Onnwal (UK) and i've liked their modules very much. Two-parter ONW2-07 Marooned I still have fond memories about.
Core Modules: I've liked 'Running With Baatezu' series (COR3-17 When Orcs Attack, COR4-09 A Tiger? In Ahlissa!, COR4-14 Sympathy for the Baatezu, COR4-18 It Never rains in Nyrond) and wait to play the 5th part (COR5-15 All Roads lead to Rauxes). From the newest ones COR5-02 Voice of Reason has been my favorite (same guy who wrote Trust or Treason series btw).
From older modules I enjoyed COR3-04 By Cunning and Forced Cause, COR2-03 Amids the Mists and Coldests of Frosts. COR3-19 Folly might not be everyone's cup of tea (I did not enjoy it that much) but I do recognise it was extremely well written.
Of course there are many modules I did not like playing, some of them are still playable so I don't say much about them. One retired Onnwal regional for example had two fights (back to back) without much plot and a whopping 77gp reward of all APLs.
One retired Splintered Suns meta-regional had a very interesting plot but essentially nothing that PCs could do other than let it roll onwards and most sorry bunch of assassins (who did not have even a change to succeed in lower APLs).
COR3-09 Face Value is a classic example of total railroading and on it's follow up I have nothing good to say either.
However, usually my play experiences have been very positive. Oh, and Dullstrand modules always seem to be total gems, no matter what. DUL4-01 The Gift is one of the best modules i've played and the plot is only about capturing a wild horse and taking to a guy as birthday present!
S.H, Ahlissa (Naerie) webslave
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Journeyman Greytalker
Joined: Jan 15, 2002
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Sat Jun 04, 2005 6:12 pm
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Thanks much Simpi, I'll check 'em out! _________________ ~basiliv
I didn't design the world,
I merely facilitated its creation
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Grandmaster Greytalker
Joined: Aug 05, 2004
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Sat Jun 04, 2005 7:09 pm
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Just a note. Folks will doubtless remember the "Isles of Woe" rhubarb from awhile back - their rising etc. Looking through some old Dragons and Dungeons there are at least a dozen descriptions of these events in various issues. I think this is canon - published by the IP holder. _________________ GVD
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CF Admin
Joined: Jan 09, 2004
Posts: 404
From: Stansbury Park, Utah
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Sat Jun 04, 2005 7:42 pm
LG Adventures
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I agree with Simpi that COR3-09 Face Value is one adventure to avoid. As are COR3-16 Lerara and COR3-14 Hunt for the Rogue.
My personal favorite Cores have been: 3-13 The Traitor's Road, 3-15 Nine Lives (with an awesome creature at the end), 4-02 Stone Man's Puzzle, 3-01 The Hidden Fortress, and 4-16 The Frozen Spire. CORS4-04 Mad God's Key was fun, too. I judged it for three groups, it was ss popular here. Too bad it's sequel, COR4-12 Key to the Grave was not as good. It was a real frustrating "mystery" for PCs. I liked COR3-17 When Orcs Attack, too. But others around here did not like it so much. The advenure make a small, but good effort to describe Eastfair. I am in the group of people that did not like COR3-19 Folly. I thought E-squiggle was dumb, and I am just not a Zagyg fan.
The Nyrond region has had some fantastic adventures. Too many to list here, but check them out HERE.
As is the case in most RPGA games, the judge will make or break the experience. And there are some adventures that require an experienced GM to make them work (COR4-17 The Real Hero Blues being one of them).
Anyway, just a few thoughts. Back to my regularly scheduled lurking. Happy gaming. _________________ Don (Greyson)
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Journeyman Greytalker
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Sun Jun 05, 2005 11:08 am
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I liked Plea from Beyond the Grave. Played it with Timmy! judging and then ran it (taking 5 1/2 hours or so) later and had a blast. DC 30+ disguise checks are fun...
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Journeyman Greytalker
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Sun Jun 05, 2005 2:43 pm
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Wow, thanks folks, lots to choose from. A few questions though:
callmeAndydammit, do you have any idea what the code is for Plea from Beyond the Grave?? If not, do you know what year, is it COR...?
Quote: |
Just a note. Folks will doubtless remember the "Isles of Woe" rhubarb from awhile back - their rising etc. Looking through some old Dragons and Dungeons there are at least a dozen descriptions of these events in various issues. I think this is canon - published by the IP holder. Shocked |
GVD, I apologize, but I don't understand what you're saying. Are you recommending the Isles of Woe series, or just stating that it's based on canon, or...? And are you saying it's by Mr. Holian??
I'm sure I'll have more questions in the future, but for now I'm off to try to track some of Simpi and Greyson's suggestions down. _________________ ~basiliv
I didn't design the world,
I merely facilitated its creation
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CF Admin
Joined: Jan 09, 2004
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From: Stansbury Park, Utah
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Sun Jun 05, 2005 4:03 pm
Here ya go
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basiliv wrote: |
... do you have any idea what the code is for Plea from Beyond the Grave?? |
basiliv, it is ADP1-08 Plea from Beyond the Grave by Nick Tulach. It is an old Adaptable from Year One, which might make it really hard to find. Adaptables were kind of Core - ADPs were adventures that could be altered by Traids to conform to an individual region's theme. They were are available for play in any region. There were different Time Unit costs based on your character's Home Region and where he or she was playing it.
Here is the adventure's abstract: "A poor, lost soul is locked away from his final peace. His efforts to avenge his family's deaths have cost him his life, and now must haunt his tower until he can achieve a symbolic victory over his murderers. Can you free him from his torment? An adventure for characters levels 1-6."
Speaking of Mr. Tulach, is the author of the notoriously dreadful Ether Threat story arc in Tenh.
I hope this helps. _________________ Don (Greyson)
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Apprentice Greytalker
Joined: Sep 08, 2002
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From: Finland
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Sun Jun 05, 2005 10:05 pm
Re: Here ya go
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Greyson wrote: |
Speaking of Mr. Tulach, is the author of the notoriously dreadful Ether Threat story arc in Tenh.
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??? Ether threat story arc included following modules as far as i'm concerned:
COR2-08 Echo By Stephen Radney-MacFarland
COR2-11 Escape from Tenh [COR2-11] By Jason Bulmahn, David Christ, and Stephen Radney-MacFarland
COR2-13 Into The Dying Lands By Jason Bulmahn and David Christ
CORS2-02 Isles of Woe By Chris Tulach, Jason Bulmahn, and David Christ.
COR3-02 Return to the Isles By Chris Tulach
COR3-10 Sepulcher of the Wizard King By Jason Bulmahn and David Christ.
COR3-12 Endgame By Jason Buhlman and David Christ.
CORS3-02 Dust of the Dead World by Circle.
So I don't think Nick Tulach was the force behind that arc and even so I don't think the modules themselves were bad, I actually enjoyed quite a lot of them. And it also gave us Paul Looby's excellent 'Children of the Dust' trilogy as a follow up and who knows what next happens in Tenh.
Tulach (Nick) did gave us a COR4-05 Crystal Caverns of the Cairn Hills which has a very good module somewhere in it but was let out completely half edited and plot wise I know players who saw it as real-world political allegory and decided to go completely against the supposed route of the module.
S.H, Ahlissa (Naerie) webslave
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Apprentice Greytalker
Joined: Feb 09, 2005
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Mon Jun 06, 2005 10:33 am
Re: Here ya go
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Greyson wrote: |
basiliv, it is ADP1-08 Plea from Beyond the Grave by Nick Tulach. It is an old Adaptable from Year One, which might make it really hard to find. |
Not so really hard.
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Joined: Apr 29, 2005
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Mon Jun 06, 2005 12:42 pm
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Absolute Power Series is terrific -- Erik Mona
Cor 3-13 Traitors Road is a good solid foray into the bright desert
the Brendingund series is superb
Much of the rest, particularly those Core modules published within the past two years is pretty bad and not at all creative
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Apprentice Greytalker
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Tue Jun 07, 2005 5:49 am
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trollwad wrote: |
Much of the rest, particularly those Core modules published within the past two years is pretty bad and not at all creative |
I would not say so. Certainly every year we will have the likes of Face Value, The Letter or Crystal Caverns but in my opinion most of the scenarios are at least entertaining. Fitting a groundbreaking and out of this world creative module into an RPGA guidelines is not that simple (believe me, i've written several modules).
I recognise the fact that each year we get few badly written or simple railroad modules (Face Value, Lerara, etc), a number of average modules (Forlorn memories, Desecreators of the Lord's Tomb) and a number of very good scenarios (Atonement, Amids the Mists and Coldest of Frosts, By Cunning & Forced Cause, etc.). All in all the situation is pretty good in my opinion.
Personally I did not like Brendigurund series that much (played three parts) but perhaps I just had a bad DM and need to read through the scenarios on my own time to judge them better.
S.H, Ahlissa (Naerie) webslave
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Novice
Joined: Jan 06, 2005
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From: Espoo, Finland
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Tue Jun 07, 2005 7:11 am
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For what it's worth, I liked both Crystal Caverns of the Cairn Hills and Hunt for the Rogue. The latter may be just because I have a soft spot for modrons.
The best modules I've played were Atonement, the Splintered Suns metaregionals Crossfire and Ten Minutes, and the Naerie regionals Return to Gefjon and When Nightingales Sing...
Really, the only module I've seen that was irredeemably bad was The Letter.
This must not be confused with modules that are irredeemably evil, such as... well, everything by Creighton Broadhurst and Key to the Grave. The modules are well-written, but there's a sense of a malign intellect behind it all, and the faint sound of giggling at the edges of hearing whenever a PC dies.
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Apprentice Greytalker
Joined: Aug 10, 2002
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Wed Jun 08, 2005 2:52 pm
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jejeje...the silk room in Madīs God Key and the unexpected Vampire in Key to the grave....
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Apprentice Greytalker
Joined: Sep 24, 2001
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Fri Jun 10, 2005 5:11 pm
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Lererra is really good as are some of the Verbobonc mods. I think my favorite is Return of the Grand Duke a Geoff mod. I also liked Dorakka one of the Iuz metaregionals. I never played 2e City of Skulls but a friend said some of the material in that module reminded him of Dorakka.
For the record, I've written Tropical Intrigue and 2 intros a Geoff one and a Furyondy one.
Mike (McKeown) _________________ "I waste it with my +12 Hackmaster" - Dave
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Apprentice Greytalker
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Fri Jun 10, 2005 10:30 pm
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Qstor wrote: |
For the record, I've written Tropical Intrigue and 2 intros a Geoff one and a Furyondy one.
Mike (McKeown) |
Will there be a follow-up to Tropical Intrigue this year or next?
Lerara does not have a bad story, far from it, it's just pretty much a railroad all the way. Nonetheless, a decent DM can make it into a memorable experience, at least for low-level parties. A follow-up would be nice though.
S.H, Ahlissa (Naerie) webslave
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Apprentice Greytalker
Joined: Sep 19, 2003
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Sat Jun 11, 2005 7:00 am
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I've not seen nor run any of these, but they sound like an interesting resource. I'm assuming I have to join the RPGA to have access to them?
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Master Greytalker
Joined: Jun 29, 2001
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Sat Jun 11, 2005 9:03 am
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Tee Hee
There was a "follow up" to Tropical Intrigue.
The Keoland regional module Tomb of Tloques-Popolocas.
It is retired now, but we already know what they dug up. But nobody wanted to stop by the Gradsul museum and see it.
The sequel to that is available, and the third module is coming out this year.
(I didn't write any of them, I just approved the initial story arc plot.)
Oh, and yes, anything written by Creighton Broadhurst IS irredeemably evil.
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Sat Jun 11, 2005 11:10 am
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Samwise wrote: |
Oh, and yes, anything written by Creighton Broadhurst IS irredeemably evil. |
Though legend says that when certain creature in Key to the Grave at APL2 was mentioned even he said "That's a tad bit harsh"
Seriously, I like all his modules but for some reason i've always 'eaten them' (expect Blood on Bright Sands). One of the funniest ones to run was meta-regional intro module TSS3-07 Prisoners of the Calling Mines where PCs start their careers butt-naked, chained to each other and under the whips of half-orc overseers.
The boss fight in that module was Allip There was a magical weapon to be discovered in the module though, along with one shot magical abilites for each character.
btgrover: Yes, you need to join and then you get access to 20 Core modules a year and up to 8 regional/meta-regional modules a year. You cannot get access to other regions modules, at least legally but you can play them if you travel (or go to one of the 'open' slots in GenCon).
S.H, Ahlissa (Naerie) webslave
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Apprentice Greytalker
Joined: Sep 24, 2001
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Mon Jun 13, 2005 4:57 am
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Simpi wrote: |
Qstor wrote: |
For the record, I've written Tropical Intrigue and 2 intros a Geoff one and a Furyondy one.
Mike (McKeown) |
Will there be a follow-up to Tropical Intrigue this year or next?
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I hope to get around to it. I have an outline that I need to send to Creighton. )
I just sent a Furyondy mod draft to the Triad and I'm writing an interactive for a con I'm running :)
Mike
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