The queen has a negative reaction when seated next to any beautiful women. Because the king and queen sort of have opposing requests about the king sitting next to women, I opted to only listen to the king.

Also, I like the idea that the King will ignore wherever you ask him to sit; he will just walk to the head of the table and seat himself. Go to Comment

Ahhh, good old combinatorial optimization. But in reality, this specific logic problem is more complex because you can have specific goals such as making specific guests happy (or intentionally ruining the day of a specific guest while making sure everyone else enjoys themselves). While the overall score is certainly a combination optimization problem, the actual results and benefits of the seating arrangement give you a choice of outcomes that can supersede the benefits of optimizing the score. In other words, you might want to make sure Count Hobran is happy regardless of who it insults because doing so will ensure that you can marry his daughter. So who cares if the king dislikes you for planning a poor seating arrangement. Go to Comment

Seating guests to optimize an assassination attempt. This is good stuff! I particularly like the idea that some of the guests could be spies. Proper placement of the spies could gather valuable information. Go to Comment

Lots of fantastic plot starters here. The could be easily used as a side plot or as a full-fledged evil corporation. The stories and setup can easily spawn hundreds of new ideas and problems.

I have been working on an idea where a LAISC-like entity participates in medical experimentation. This computer, with the help of some big upgrades, begins using self-replicating medical nanobots to play out the ultimate experiment on the human population. Using GaMa, I have a well-defined company to make my dreams come true! Well done. Go to Comment

This is a really cool idea. There are quite a few grammatical errors, but I still got the idea. I especially like the twist that the "good" nastro is more or less a happiness-monger who will bring pleasure and happiness to others in the short term without any consideration for the long term consequences. Very nice manifestations of true Chaotic Good and Chaotic Evil.

Some questions for you:
1. What is a nastro? You describe its motivations and its siblings, but what does it look like? Is a nastro just a cosmically mutated human that is otherwise normal?

2. What creature gives birth to two nastros and two snub-nosed, alligator-faced, gorillas in a single birthing? Could this be the consequence of rape by a specific type of demon?

3. Yin and Yang. Do the nastros feed off of reversing the deeds caused by each other? One feeds off of providing happiness, and the other feeds off of causing sadness. The two could infinitely feed off of tipping the scale back and forth. This could easily explain why the nastros stay near to and protect each other because there is no better source for them to feed.

4. How do the nastros manage a normal life with a nastrobeast following them around?

5. Since the nastros are so interconnected, what would happen to one if the other should die?

6. What would happen to a nastrobeast if its nastro died?

7. Do the nastrobeasts share the same intuition as the nastros? Do they know when either of the nastros are in trouble and come to the rescue? With the "good" nastrobeast ever help the "evil" nastro?

8. If two "evil" nastros met, would they join forces for mutual benefit? Since they feel the emotions around them, the most attractive place for an "evil" nastro would be the target of another "evil" nastro. Do the "good" nastros work the same way? Go to Comment

I love the idea of a big scary beetle being the mentally abused victim of an old man. I couldn't put my ideas for this sub down fast enough once I had it worked out.

The beetles do share a hive mind, but they are still each unique. Because I wrote this sub as a narrative, I didn't get into the ecology of the beetles, but I haven't stopped working out their life cycles and natures. So I'll write a lifeform sub for them.

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If you take out the parasitic brew, you could easily have a goldmine of a hidden plot that adventures could interact with regularly and never know it.

Richard's motivation is to build himself a castle using the beetles as his fear-controlled minions. He is as addicted to power as he is to the Nectar. By removing Richard from the equation, the beetles would have no motivation to build a city.

Some additional backstory that didn't fit well with the narrative: Richard was obviously the merchant nomad from two hundred years ago, but in the "brief exchange of violence and words" Richard actually wounded the mother beetle. The beetle pleaded for her life and offered the Nectar's secret in exchange. Richard left after the storm, but he soon returned to the lure of the Nectar, and he eventually threatened the mother beetle until she submitted to building him a city so he would never have to leave the Nectar of Life. Living forever by the power of the Nectar, he forced the beetles to build him a paradise, and any travelers were just more potential minions to him. Go to Comment

Thanks Kassy. I intended it to be a "one-shot" adventure that could be played out in a single night but could still offer long-term influence such as making friends of the beetles or becoming addicted to the Nectar. Go to Comment

Update: Spelling error fixed. Go to Comment

It's not a question of power. The beetle simply doesn't like pain (or maybe the beetle is smart enough to know that any injury on an open circulatory system could be fatal). Once the beetle gets hurt, it begins to fear for its life and will do anything to survive. So the strength of Richard or the beetle is not the issue; it is more about Richard's abusive use of fear over years that has completely subdued the beetle. The mother beetle doesn't have the determination to stand up to Richard.

Besides, if the beetle ever injured Richard, he would only need to drink some Nectar of Life to recover his strength and return to fight again. Go to Comment

Good questions. The beetles are blind at birth, and they easily risk freezing at night if they don't have a body to keep themselves warm. After the beetle kills it's host, it will fuse its own "spinal cord" into the host's unused brain and tap into the cranial nerves (for facial movement), the ocular nerves (for seeing through the host's eyes), and the cochlear nerves (for picking up auditory stimulation). After a few weeks with a host, the beetle will slowly begin growing into the new body and gaining more access to the nervous system granting it better control over motor skills, sensory input from skin contact, and speech. Without a host, the beetle is blind, deaf, mute, and insensitive to feelings, so the beetle relies on the host's ability to provide these functions.

The beetles can target a host through keen scent and using ultra-fine hairs on its face to pick up vibrations and heat waves that humans naturally give off. Go to Comment

Update: Added Freetext Go to Comment

These things are scary! Imagine hearing a fluttering sound behind you. You turn around to feel something snagged on the back of your neck. You brush it off and turn again to see this black vampire hummingbird with white circles around it's eyes staring back at you with blood dripping from its syringe-like beak. You leap to your feet in surprise only to find yourself feeling faint as the warmth of your own blood trickles down your back where two more were still feeding. You take a defensive stance as the surgeonbirds hover just out of reach, waiting for as long as it takes for you to let down your guard again. Feeling faint from blood loss and being watched by the white-circled eyes of the vampiric predators, how long can you stay awake?

5/5 Go to Comment

Update: I started this with 10 simple riddles from an old video game, and I'm running out of steam to finish it. Any suggestions? I will give contribution credit to anyone who significantly helps. If you don't want to post the answer to your riddle in the open, you can send me a PM, and I will post it the same way I did the others. Go to Comment

Update: Added several more riddles, but can't get to the answers yet. Power is failing. Updates soon. Go to Comment

Mega thanks to Moonlake for finding a link to a ton of inspiring riddles. The first 10 are from Warlords Battlecry 2. The last 13 are inspired and modified from the link Moonlake found.

These riddles are not intended to be complicated. My players like coming across the occasional riddle-spewer, but they don't like waiting when the riddles are so hard that only one person could possibly figure it out. Go to Comment

Kassy, I'll send you the answers in a PM :) Go to Comment

Fantastic submission! I can't wait to actually use these and give my inns the little extra fluff that will keep my players coming back.

Two more that I would like:

Daddy's girl: This barmaid is the owner's daughter. She doesn't take backtalk and she is quick to judge. She has no problem throwing a tankard of ale in a patron's face, and she is likely to not care what you think of her. She is sociable when not busy, and she is both intelligent and attractive. But beware, if you tango with her, you have a very intolerant, overprotective bar owner to deal with. Surly types are usually banned after the first visit.

The Foreigner: This barmaid is from a distant land and usually a different race. Half-orc or gnome girls often have difficulty finding and keeping employment so they commonly turn to being barmaids. Used to not fitting in, they ignore most insults with dignity, but when the trouble starts...well think of it as a dam breaking. There is a lot of pent-up frustration here. Go to Comment

OK. It didn't vote for me either. Kassy, I share your puzzled look.

Edit: In retrospect, I have simply failed to understand how to post comments. I'll do better next time.

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The Ring of Protection has been around since magic rings began with GG. However, I like the extra backstory and description. It creates a reason for the ring rather than just MinMaxing your PC. The idea that each ring has very little effect but can be stacked with other rings is a clever variation. The concept is very transferrable. Well done!

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