New Article: Psychic Phenomena of the Flanaess

Welcome back Greyhawkers. Up today is another Canonfire.com Postfest article involving the theme of Psionics. Our author this time is no stranger to the call for a Postfest. Kick back and read Psychic Phenomena of the Flanaess by Argon. 
Argon writes:
"When we think of psychics many see mystic guru's or followers of Zuoken from the Baklunish lands. Many of us never think of haunted locales or psychic impressions left behind by those whom walked the Oerth before us. In this treatise you will be exposed to such psychic impressions and their affects on those who fall prey to them."

This article is a boon for Greyhawk DMs experienced with psionic rules, yet it can also be beneficial to those who don't normally use psionics but are looking to throw an ancient, mysterious presence at their player characters. Good luck!

READ THE ARTICLE HERE

New Article: The Order of the Illumination of the Soul

Howdy Greyfolks, it is time for another Canonfire.com article Postfest! The theme of this season's postfest is Psionics. First up is a gem from MasterArminas who has recently been very active in the community writing some good Greyhawk material. His offering is entitled, The Order of the Illumination of the Soul. MasterArminas writes:

"Psionic powers and the practitioners who use them are not unknown in the World of Greyhawk. Often referred to as mind-mages by the common people there are many who view the wielders of these mental arts as heretics and witches."

This is a fully realized and useful psionic organization that has been worked into the existing history of the Flanaess. Thus dungeonmasters with psionic characters can quickly implement this Order into their own Greyhawk campaigns. Enjoy!

READ THE ARTICLE HERE

4E Steading of the Hill Giant Chief

I don't know how this one almost slipped past me, but over at Wizards of the Coast there is a new adapted module in Dungeon 197 based on Gary Gygax's 1978 classic Steading of the Hill Giant Chief. As usual, you will need a D&DI subscription to download this 20+ page module. Chris Perkins the senior producer on this module is evidently a big fan of the Against the Giants series and has been wanting to adapt them since 4e started. He writes:

"In reimagining “Steading of the Hill Giant Chief,” I’ve inflicted some violence to the maps and encounters to make the adventure a fun and balanced 4th Edition experience, acknowledging that this creates some mapping challenges for Dungeon Masters with limited tabletop space. I hope that DMs with fond memories of the original read this latest incarnation and feel the same overwhelming desire to run the adventure as I felt back in 1980, when I read Gary Gygax’s adventure for the first time."

Objectively this version of the Steading is well composed. The stat blocks don't over power the rest of the content. It seems the evolution of 4e's module design process has improved. Much like the original there is plenty of places to search and discover like a good old dungeon crawl, there is fabulous loot to be had, and there is enough new twists here to even surprise someone who has played the original. The cartography by Mike Schley is top notch as well.

Written for PCs of 12th to 14th level, the module starts off with four different "hooks" called major and minor quests that PCs can try to achieve, for example freeing dwarven slaves or finding an abandoned temple. This cleverly gives PCs something to do beyond just hack and slashing their way through the Steading. Perkins has also chosen to retain one of my favorite parts of the old module, the random chart of mundane treasures found in giant's bags. Thumbs up there. I have to mention the module makes no specific reference to the World of Greyhawk not that it is necessary or relevant to an adventure that has always been iconic enough to work in any setting, but it would've been a plus. I will tease however that the module has a couple Greyhawkian easter eggs, so there is that (sorry gang, no spoilers). All in all the module is worth a look provided you have the subscription to get it. For Greyhawk completists who aren't into 4e like me, the adaptation is not too thick that it can't be retrofitted to previous editions on the fly.

As Chris Perkins mentions in the document, this is only the first of a series that will adapt all three of Against the Giants mods to 4e. So yes in Dungeon 199 there will be Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl and in Dungeon 200, Hall of the Fire Giant King. But before you call Perkins lazy, there is a new chapter preceding those that has me intrigued. Dungeon 198 will debut "Warren of the Stone Giant Thane". I can't wait to see what comes of this one, I'll keep you updated.

Update 4/25/2021: Fixed broken link to this adventure. I recently found Wizards puts all their old eDungeon and eDragon issues on DMsGuild.

Merry Christmas

To everyone in the gaming community, Happy Holidays. May you all get your heart's desire, but don't forget to sleep with one eye open because someone else in your party might steal your cut of the loot! ;)

-mortellan

Sea Princes #17: Grog and Guns

Sorry for the delay folks, I've had plenty going on with Needfest and all that. Last time we saw the crew of the Bird of Prey they had cleared a wrecked galley of some Drowned Ones and had enough time to search for any left over goods. Nothing good can come of an orcish galley though. Here is the protagonists:

Victor Emmitt Hammond (rogue, aspiring to shoot stuff)

Araxo Tydan (rogue, aspiring to conspire stuff)

Cuahtehmoc aka "Cuahto" (ranger, aspiring for riches)

Brother Pickles (cleric, aspiring for the afterlife)
and Henri Morgan (rogue, aspiring to be captain)

 

Not much was found in the hold of the crashed orcish galley save a tattered flag, (dark blue field with a black skull) and several wax sealed barrels. A few of them as the crew guessed correctly, turned out to be the most revolting orc grog in the world and it was thus thrown overboard. One would swear it caused sharks to be repelled and dead sahuagin to rise to the surface. The other barrels were much more of a haul, all bore the marks of the weaponry foundries of the South Province of Aerdy. The crew was refitted with any small arms found from that cache and sail was set in haste to Scant.

 

During that short leg of the voyage, those with zombie bites began to show symptoms of the dreaded "shakes" (Dexterity loss). Brother Pickles, who had bit a zombie with his own mouth inexplicably was fine, but the rail thin Mr. Hammond and the wiry Olman, Cuahto were both affected. Though initially shaking and in danger of falling from the rigging, Cuahto recovered fast with the aid of the ship's surgeon Caine the Despised and soon retreated back to his crow's nest to admire his new dagger and the gems secretly recovered from the galley.

 

The shakes hit Victor so badly that the poor boson could not perform his duties and was kept in his hammock below deck under the less than sympathetic care of Caine. Whispers of plague circulated among the crew and young, gullible Big Tomas was nearly conned into throwing Victor overboard until Captain Rennaud stepped in and dispelled their superstitious fears. Vic would recover slowly but he had suffered so much he wished he were dead. Cuahto meanwhile, was ratted out by someone to Skullbreaker the quartermaster about finding loot aboard the galley and so for not registering the gems (the dagger was his by rights of spotting the ship) he received a dozen lashes in front of everyone. The unconscious Olman went back into the care of Caine.

 

In the lawful port of Scant, capital of the Iron League nation of Onnwal, the Bird of Prey entered the great harbor and as the crew made to resupply, the captain and his still sore and healing officers went into town to search for the sage Lockard Meek and perhaps buy some new gear. The city of Scant is known for its martial craftsmen; dwarves, gnomes, clerics of Fortubo, and adherents of Daern and Murlynd. Here to the protagonist's delight was a chance to acquire blackpowder weapons that are so storied in the southern seas. Most of them spent considerable savings in the forges of Scant including the captain who added a second light cannon to his caravel. Cuahto also consulted the artificers about his dagger found in the eye of an orc pirate. Marked with the sigil of the Iron League and stamped with a stylized "B" he found out the weapon was a magical crafting of a locally renowned wizard named Bigby. A rare treasure indeed. Now armed with these newfangled weapons, the un-proficient sailors went back to the actual job of finding the sage.

 

The estate of Lockard Meek was located and his servants told them he was gone, on an expedition to ruins in of all places, the Amedio Jungle. A colleague named Olfon Trebus was watching over Lockard's place and happily consulted the captain and crew about their search for the maker of the strange map. It seemed deathly important to Captain Rennaud to find Meek to the point he would go to the jungle and find him. Inspired by the chance to see the jungle, Trebus, a sage of botany was pressed into coming along. The voyage would soon resume southward again....

 

Game notes: I know I've referenced before that I was going to for the first time break taboo on blackpowder weapons in Greyhawk. Their cost and rarity still make them inferior choices to standard D&D weapons of course. It's all for the piratey flavor of the campaign you know? FYI, I am using the stats for blackpowder weapons straight out of the 3.5 DMG. Now if they could just get their hands on a spyglass...

 

 

Greyhawk Comic #314: Needfest Special 2011

Praise Pelor! Just in the time for the holidays, it's the seventh (and hopefully last) installment of my traditional Needfest Specials. Over the years it's been fun writing and putting these lengthy comics together, and every year I swear I have nothing left, but then the holiday spirit inspires me at the last minute to entertain the Greyhawk masses. If you are not familiar with the Needfest Specials try the Greyhawk Comics link at the top of the page or check out a couple of my personal favorites here:

A Needfest Story (Where Kas obsesses over getting a new magic sword for Needfest)

How the Gruumsh Stole Needfest (A classic tale of jealousy and revenge)

Lastly, I'd like to give a special Needfest thanks to Maldin's Greyhawk for hosting the entire Greyhawk Comic collection. Now without further ado....here is this year's Needfest Special! Enjoy!

CLICK HERE TO READ

Ring of Five Questions: James M. Ward

Welcome back Lords of Greyhawk to another installment of the Ring of Five Questions! Last time we put the wise and scholarly greysage Jospeh Bloch into the ring. This time however, I have summoned a legendary personage here to answer the five questions, Drawmij himself: James M. Ward. Mr. Ward is best known for his nearly two decades of work with TSR which included the classic sci-fi game Metamorphosis Alpha, post apocalyptic Gamma World, and the incomparable Deities & Demigods. Of course in Greyhawk circles he will forever be remembered for the excellent hardback sourcebook Greyhawk Adventures. More recently James has worked with Troll Lord Games and this year has embarked on starting his own RPG company along with Tim Kask and Frank Mentzer called Eldritch Enterprises. Okay, enough backstory, let's get James into the Ring!

Q1. I'm sure you know your way around the Darlene map. Which part of the World of Greyhawk is your favorite?

James: I have many fond memories about the city of Greyhawk and Greyhawk Castle. Gary made that part of the country come alive and I had the honor of learning how to play the game working with the people and places in and around Greyhawk city.

Q2. I ask everyone this next one. If you could be any one Greyhawk deity which would it be?

James: I am a Greyhawk deity, although I won't say which one.

Q3. Your hardback sourcebook Greyhawk Adventures is a classic. Was there any content or ideas left out due to space or editing?

James: I always work from very exact outlines. Everything in that book was planned to a T and nothing was left out or not added at the last minute. I had a lot of work in its creation, but I designed the product and it came out in budget and on time.

Q4. You're well known for your scifi and post-apocalyptic games. Do you approve of Greyhawk's history of genre mixing or should have it been solidly medieval.

James: That's an excellent question. Gary could do no wrong in my eyes. If he wanted to put a buried spaceship in his game I was happy to playtest it and get almost killed several times. I was extremely lucky to be part of his play testing group as he was designing his classic adventures. While lots of gamers know me for my science fiction, I've written more fantasy products than scifi ones. I like to do both.

Q5. Which module or book do you look back on as most influential to your more recent work?

James: Over the recent years I'm extremely proud of my Troll Lords products. TAINTED LANDS is fantasy horror and OF GODS AND MONSTERS is about various pantheons of gods, heroes, and creatures. Like everything else I grow better with the more experience I get in writing products.


* Have questions of your own for James M. Ward or other old school authors? James can frequently be found on the forums for the fansite Dragonsfoot. Check it out.


Update 4/25/2021: Eldritch Enterprises must be defunct, or their website. Either way, broken link removed.