Agreed. This is a useful summary and checklist of things to do, that can be branched off of or simply used straight up when designing items.

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Ear plugs (or being deaf) would help the user. Localized silence of some kind wouldn't necessarily work, because then the targets wouldn't be hearing it either. Go to Comment

Update: Cheka's comment reminded me that I somehow forgot to include the third, extremely minor effect (not sure if it really qualifies as a benefit, but there it is) that the flute has. Deeeeerp. Go to Comment

Wow. I'm loving these. They remind me of one of my favorite creatures in sci-fi: The Mindworm. Psychic predators that feed on the agony and fear of their prey as they rip them to shreds. Very nicely done. Go to Comment

I think this shows promise, but as others have already said, it seems a bit short for true usability. I like the demonic shadow, and would love to see more detail for it as well (after all, it's inevitable that it be encountered when visiting realm).

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Remember, without surprise there is no anticipation. Without anticipation, one loses a significant portion (in some cases, all) of the enjoyment from activity.

Every minute of every day is that stretch of time right after a break when you have nothing to look forward to except more of the same crap you've been dealing with all day. Nothing new, nothing fresh, nothing exciting. Drab. Dreary. Boring. Go to Comment

I never read Dragon Magazine, so I'm not sure how well done Nogard was, but I certainly appreciate the compliment! Go to Comment

Dear Cthulhu, yes. I had to stop writing every so often and do something cheery. This thing is depressing. Go to Comment

I like the overall feel of this. It reminds me of some of my favorite submissions: The Lost City of Akelor, The Field of 10000 Skulls, The Mountain of Boats, etc. It's got a good solid history to it, and contains enough content to be a recurring location. You can use it for any number of plots, and it provides those plots with a minimum of effort thanks to the details and history.

Very nicely done.

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I don't really have huge heapings of praise to express, though I wholeheartedly enjoyed the thoroughness and deeply thought out nature of this system.

Very well done.

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Only voted Go to Comment

Thomas Silverlight: Knight of the White God

Back in ye olde dayes, I would roleplay at a site on MSN Groups called Final Fantasy Breakdown. Very loose system, almost entirely freeform roleplay. After a while, we stiffened it up a little, and I think we ended up strangling it with too much complexity. Regardless, Thomas Silverlight was born in these strange times of upheaval, when the system was changing around willy-nilly. He was what we called a World Walker, someone who through some means ended up shifting from the realm of his birth to that of FFB.

He was something of a classic holy crusader. He'd stand up to evil creatures and amoral PCs alike, usually getting his rear handed to him from the second grouping, simply because he was a late-comer. That never stopped him from doing it though. He was always searching for the divine weapon that he had lost when he was thrown between worlds, and had the shade of a particularly powerful demon constantly hunting him. He never got to do much that was noteworthy, but he still remains my favorite character, simply on his concept.

He was brought back last year under the guise of another character, who had been hit in the head during a nasty storm and went amnesiac, but has lain unworked with for a while. Go to Comment

I would contend rather that it simply gets overlooked. The Industrialized world doesn't rely on stars to the extent that ancient cultures did, and so we don't even think to consider how the people in our games would view the night sky.

And that should then make you think: what else might we be overlooking or downplaying the importance of, thanks to our modern lifestyle? Go to Comment

I like this one. It's came up on the 'random' box a while back, but I didn't have time to read it, so it's been sitting around in a tab waiting. Finally got to it today, and I like it. I think it's quite useful, especially as a potential GM. Unfortunately, it seemed to me that it was a bit short. Perhaps we could flesh it out more sometime? Go to Comment

Coming back to this a year later, I find that this is a very good write-up, and recommend it to even experienced GMs as a brush-up on how they GM. Go to Comment

Interesting. A basic evaluation and application of one of the most commonly overlooked things in roleplaying. Good post. Go to Comment

"Can be any type submission but it only counts if it is in the next 10 submissions and has the identical number sequence of 2 or more digits. "

57 57 qualifies, imo. Go to Comment

I'm absolutely captivated by this submission. I'm not sure exactly why, but it seems like the perfect combination of elements. Very nicely done.

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You beat me to this idea, and man am I glad you did! I was considering something roughly akin to this as a sidenote submission to enhance my own quest idea, but your implementation is much more detailed and thought out than my own. Kudos! Go to Comment

This is quite eye-catching. I love the idea of the quickly shifting thorns protecting inherently magical stones that possess nifty properties. The randomness of the stone effects is almost detracting from the idea, up until you remember that this tree only grows and thrives in areas contaminated with chaotic magic.

One thing I might like to see is the life-cycle of the trees. Do normal trees start slowly mutating into Augment Trees, or do seeds from normal and Augment Trees fall to the earth and soak up the contamination themselves, sprouting and growing as Augments instead of normal trees? Go to Comment