She turned sideways three times and disappeared, lost like a line in the sand when the ride went out of the driveway, and the sand went out of the man like a sandbag goes under the water when the Katrina cleaned up a good place to leave and a good time for leaving, so she turned sideways three times and never feared. Go to Comment

Trying to contribute made me realize how hard it is to make sense all the time. 5/5 for giving my subconscious a chance to type something once in a while. Go to Comment

What does he do with the eyes? I'm picturing an eye-ball studded monster that he keeps in a trashcan somewhere, close at hand, in case he ever has to unleash it at some overcurious snoops. Go to Comment

If they don't last long enough, just bring more of 'em. Bring ten in the dungeon. Heck, bring thirty. If they eat light, they probably won't leave any messes in your pockets. Go to Comment

I like the sun.  Everyone likes the sun.  It'd be a pretty cool centerpiece for any campaign.  Or dinner table.

I'm left wondering, though, at the nature of Unthar.  He/It is a being of godlike power and sentience, but all of his ambitions? seem to resemble the motivations of a gerbil I used to have: escape my cage, run around for a bit, and then get caught and put back in.

I'm not bothered by it.  Gods are supposed to be inscrutible, sometimes.  But the sub leaves more room for development, which I am thankful for.

Maybe Unthar actually has the mind of a gerbil?  Maybe he's friendly, naive, and just wants to hang out with his siblings?  Or maybe he's plotting thier murder (I would like to see the suns fight in the sky, please)?

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I like the origin story too. Players wouldn't care about all the thought you've put into this, but I can imagine an NPC wizard having a lot of fun lecturing the PCs about all their uses.

Odd physics question: Are they an information destruction paradox like black holes might be? If it sucks in all the light from a dim TV screen and emits a flat, monochromatic, invariant light, it seems like it would.

Not that paradoxes have ever stopped anyone. Go to Comment

I'm a big fan of "boss fights" where the boss doesn't have 15 different abilities. I can imagine the PCs racing away from one or three of these guys in order to cross a bridge or get within range of a trebuchet. Especially when they can move through a fortification like a chainsaw through chicken soup. Or fighting to open a dam before X is destroyed.

Though, they are scary powerful, the water- and forest-weaknesses mean that the PCs don't have much room for creativity if they want to destroy one. And the weak-trees-business feels a bit arbitrary.

Why were they fighting over the corpse of the duke? Did he have jellybeans in his pockets? And it roars, too. They seem to react like they have emotions, even if they don't. I imagine them like terromantic janitors, who sigh and grit their teeth they witness littering. Or, god forbid, someone CUTTING ROCKS into bricks and then STACKING THEM. That definitely counts as an impurity. Go to Comment

Wewt. I'm glad you guys like 'em. Go to Comment

Update: Added links, some small rewrites, clarifications. Go to Comment

I love bottom-of-the-ocean things. I really like the idea that they literally never have to leave their homes, thus allowing them to be the ultimate xenophobes. They wouldn't even open the door if their sibling was outside asking for help. The internet and wireless golems are another masterful touch.

What were they doing before they constructed the Langarshuu? Could other species use the Langarshuu? I’m assuming they have some form of population control (unless they are dying out), so how do they pick their mates? There must be some way to tell the more desirable Usholal from the less.

The biggest problem though, I think, is how to integrate the Usholal into a game that is already centered on the Brave People and the Cauda.

Would they ever invade the surface world? I can imagine them setting up a terrestrial mining camp entirely built and staffed by automata. It would cause great alarm and confusion to see what appears to be intelligent golems constructing each other.

People who are paranoid about the outside world usually strive to be informed about it, just so they can condemn it for being wicked/dangerous. Shouldn’t they have a source of news about the outside world? Either something factual like CNN or something ignorant like the National Enquirer? I imagine them being either very well informed or sadly delusional. Only one of these involves sypbots.

What do they do for fun? There are entire industries in America that only work to entertain us. And the Usholal seem like they have more free time than we do. Philosophy? Beat Poetry? Lagarshuu Starcraft ? Automata sports? Battlebots comes to mind. So does “I bet my automaton can steal more fish from the Brave People than yours can.”

How far does the Lagarshuu extend? Miles? The planet? The universe? If the network has to be supported by pylons or relay stations along its length, parts of it might need to go near or across land, something that could bring them into conflict with other races.

Also, most fish are found on the surface, near land. I can imagine the Emperor Whale-size automata going on week-long fishing cruises and returning with a bellyful of fish. That could also bring them into contact with the surface folk.

Keep posting more from this aquatic Tarrod setting, Maggot. It gets me wet.
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Wow. Turns out I though way too much about this while eating lunch. Go to Comment

This is a fruitcake of goodness. Tongue-in-cheek games aren't for everyone, but along that vein, Teleleli (which syllable do I accent?) is awesome.

And it even has stuff that serious campaigns can steal. "The Court of Miracles" and the "Good Guests"? Those are the candied, rum-soaked cherries on top. Go to Comment

Now this is awesome. It's very well fleshed out and answers all the immediate questions about JWI. It manages to stay interesting despite unsexy phrases like "industry leader". I'd like to see more posts that cover the suppliers or subdivisions (since JWI seems like more backdroppy than foregroundy, if that makes any sense). Have there been no scandals? Go to Comment

Teleleli seems like a wonderfully creative place. Nothing is ever generic, and the gods are no exception. But where's the write-up on Numen Mari? Go to Comment

Despite being very stubby, a flooding swamp has a lot of potential. It's crowded, chaotic, and wet. It does need something extra, though. Jellyfish or hydromantic trees or something.

Oh, and a shipwreck here would be an excellent variation. No dry place to sleep, no fresh water, and beasties in the water. Go to Comment

Google the homunculi of spermists. The staff was made in a past age, pre-history, to allow the creation of similcra even after men had run out of tiny men inside tiny men inside tiny men.

The world has been ending in a series of half-apocalypses of geologic upheaval and incomplete societal restarts. The homunculi issue, real or imagined, is a threat of the distant past. Go to Comment

This has the potential to be an extremely dangerous piece of paper, and I wouldn't spring it on the PCs without some sort of warning.

A PC who started reading the pamphlet would quickly start making Will saves of increasing difficulty, with failures causing a morale penalty. After losing 5 or so, the PC should become suicidal. Even after the PC finishes reading it, they continue making Will saves as long as they think about it. If they want to stop thinking about it and put it out of their head, this requires another Will save, and even then, their mind might wander back to it at some later point. Magical means might be necessary to make them forget it completely.

I really think that contents of The True Nature are best left undescribed--most people have their own ideas about what the most depressing thing is. If you insist, though, you could sprinkle in nihilist creeds, "God is Dead" quotes, or the depressing parts of determinism.

It really is just words on a paper. A poem can invoke emotion. This one can evoke a LOT of emotion.

I don't have a specific force that inspired Avool. I agree, though, that SOMETHING should be behind it. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Go to Comment

Update: I edited the worm section and added a new section for DMs that details how a non-magical curse works. Go to Comment

Woot and thank you. Praise is golden.

@Echo: Good point. The PCs could also get in on the Vega-impersonation if they were so inclined.

In my campaign, veglins were actually introduced immediately after Vega had been killed, and the whole world was celebrating. The PCs were not very involved with the killing of Vega, but even they took notice when they ran into strange goblins stealing alchemical ingredients and claiming that Vega had been commanding them to do so in their dreams. Plus, after they had unveiled the veglin threat, a lot of the common folk revered them in much the same way as Hactor, simply because they had overcome a related (if much smaller) threat. Go to Comment

It's also a good way to re-use your battlemaps, since the towers are all nearly identical. Go to Comment