Recent content by Jon_Dahl

It seems that people here don't like the example about lying which is mentioned in Lawful and Chaotic bits. Let me try to explain: It doesn't matter if it's about lying, buying socks or writing haikus. My primary goal was to point out that lawfuls should do things consistently or not do them at...

delericho and haakon1, both of you have good points. Unless I already had agreed that these are the alignment rules for my game, I would certainly adjust them. Delericho's extremely concise and accurate descriptions are brilliant.

Originally these were meant to be a translation for the convenience of my players, but I noticed that they became a bit more expansive than the original SRD text. These are already accepted by my players so there's no turning back, but I just wanted to share these with you. Comments are more...

I'd love a trial by combat, but duelling or anything of the sort is not allowed in the kingdom. This game is set in Greyhawk. The challenges would be appropriate for the level. Not too easy, not too difficult. I have it figured out and I've done my math. The four elements are a reference to...

In my game, there's a Fleshwarper (PrC found from Lords of Madness) who wishes to have an official position (guildmaster in an Adventurers' Guild), but the church of Saint Cuthbert is convinced that this is necromancy and refuses to listen to reason. A knight (aged half-elf NPC) is willing to...

Just take a look at the Monster Manual. It's universal that all creatures have the following ranks: A sergeant leads a group of 10-20 men. I think 20 is kind of too much, so I tend to go with 10. Sergeants are usually 3rd-level characters. For every 3-10 sergeants there's a captain. Captain is...

Well, yes... Some of our players have very strong personality. It's very interesting actually and someone might be able do an interesting psychological study about our group. It gets very interesting when two leader types are playing together. Synergy is certainly needed. It would be...

The great news is that my players managed to play the whole scenario through with a gold-medal-winning performance. I didn't give them any additional clues: no bored wife or a collapsing street was necessary. They simple handled it purely by their wits and guts. I've been thinking about this...

Great thread! Fantasy theology and related issues are always close to my heart. Let’s see… Killing a God… Well, gods aren’t all made from the same mold. Some were born gods and some were made gods. If someone is made as god, usually you can unmake it. Sometimes this process can be so difficult...

This is the winning post. Why didn't I think of that?

A few posters have mentioned that I put the entrance somewhere else. But it's not that simple. In that dungeon there's the corpse of the father of an important NPC. There is also the corpse of a previous PC. The NPC will not rest until he finds his father and he will not help the PCs in their...

There was no diplomacy check because the persuasion was too brief. There were grounds for a rushed diplomacy check, but I felt that would've been unfair to roll it since the chance of success was very low (a huge penalty). It would've been rolled only by request. The husband was Indifferent...

Within the game-mechanics, how would you resolve the following dialogue? "Let us in. We want to check your house." "What?! Hell no!" "Please reconsider." "NO!" "Ok, bye then." (end of conversation) I see a few glaring problems with the diplomacy skill: 1. It requires at least a one minute of...

I don't know too much 4e, but I guess the problem was that the players had chosen to make "dazers". They could've chosen to make a party of enchanters and charm the villain, or assassins and assassinate the villain. In your example of Darth Maul, both would have been anticlimactic and...

I would write him an e-mail, explaining everything. In this way it's easier to make sure that your words are soft enough and your friendship will endure. Face-to-face it's easier for things to escalate. He will read your e-mail and maybe have some kind of reaction: Cry a river, Gomer Pyle's...