They have a language between themselves, and with the other races, it is a matter of empathy, an expressive range of neighs and wickers, and charades. The partner says what he thinks is being expressed, and the battlesteed agrees or keeps trying. Not as much information gets across, but still a lot. Go to Comment

Axlerowes, interesting plot idea, I may try to work it up into a scenario someday.

sverigesson, they took the updated strain of horses, the battlesteeds, and continued to refine them. Somehow, along the way, they discovered that the battlesteeds were different from regular horses. I can see a young Catfolk archer or something who starts to get the idea that his horse is trying to tell him something. Perhaps the Catfolk is also a bit of an empath and he realizes that it really *is* trying to communicate with him. A story there, I am sure.

Go to Comment

Cattle of the God! I don't think that the Sun God is a very nice person. Your writeup is very well done.

Go to Comment

Ick! A real curse for the Fountain of Youth syndrome! The only thing I would change is the Time Mites infecting the body of the nearest living being. A curse that can affect you without you doing anything is a plague, not a curse, imho. 4/5

Go to Comment

Very useful. I don't have halflings in my world, but many of the gifts can be translated over to my world anyway. Thanks. 4.5/5 Go to Comment

Fascinating. I had not come across that post when I made this one, CM. Thanks for the info. Go to Comment

Glad you liked it. Perhaps you could detail some of the ways that the tiny soldiers could be used to add some more detail to them? Go to Comment

Oops! Forgot that bit. To be free of the curse, all they have to do is fulfill their oath. The Arch-Mage never specified 'which' High King they had to fulfill their oath to. I'll have to go back and edit that. Thanks, Echo. Go to Comment

Update: Changed the sub to show how to end the curse. Go to Comment

Laughs are good, too, Mike JS. Glad you liked it. Go to Comment

It isn't really "Cursed"; it just doesn't work right and the Shield is awkward and clumsy in the hands of another. It's part of the Royal panoply and doesn't work if captured, etc. Would there be a better way to show that?

I'll work on more of the Shield's history. Can it be put in later? Go to Comment

Pieh, the reason is that I have a scenario arc that I'm running. In the first scenario, the PCs are sent by one of the high priests to find the heir to the throne or the Empire will finally collapse. They find a young man that they discover is the grandson of the last High King, who went to find the Crown of Destiny. They persuade him that he is the heir and he agrees to come with them. He has been learning how to be a hero and a high king as the PCs, including the paladin, help him find the Armor of the King, then Cut-Steel, then the Shield of Hope. They are now helping him find the Crown of Destiny, and then help him regain the throne, with the Anti-Imperialists trying to block him at every turn.

Gwydion Tamsen (the heir) is a GM NPC that is very charismatic and the group has adopted him as little brother/protege/liege. The Shield is a quest item, which is why it only works for the royals. That's why I have Fly To The Four Winds disperse the items. First, there was no heir other than a craftman's son who had no idea that he was the heir. Secondly, if it returned the items to the palace or someplace like that, they would have been destroyed. And lastly, I needed them to be available for the quests.

Now, how must of that should I put into the sub for the Shield of Hope? I do plan to write up Gwydion as an NPC and link it with the Shield, but that will take longer, since I don't want to bore my readers with scenario trivia and will need to do a lot of work to make him a good NPC.

I do totally agree with you that most items that are not quest items must be usable by the PCs. Otherwise, why go find them?

What about things that started out as something from some other person's idea (not a Strolenite, but something from another scenario, etc.) that I have expanded on and put into my scenario? Can that be written up as a sub, perhaps with acknowedgements for the other person's work? Go to Comment

Euu! Endlessly falling but never impacting! After awhile it would be full of corpses and insane people! A gruesome trap, if I ever saw one. Go to Comment

Maybe have a self-heal on the shield? As well as a high level of damage reduction on the shield itself so weapons don't bite so hard?

Racial insults? Such as "Come on you orcish moron and get what's coming to you!" "You wimp! Is that the best you can do? My grandmother hits harder than that!"

The gift of a trickster god?

Perhaps get one character to draw the foe's attention while someone else gets around behind him to corncob him? Go to Comment

Awfully powerful. I would hesitate to give it to one my PCs because they could then make anything: money, magic swords, potions of resurrection, ???

But it would be good as a quest item, where the PCs have to go to the cave/mountaintop/? to get an item that they need. Perhaps have the PCs have to pay with exp.points or some such thing. I think I'll put it into my world that way. Go to Comment

This is beautiful. I love it. Very well done, Pieh. Go to Comment

A neat critter. Not very powerful, but fun and original. I like it. I'll add them to my world.

How do you 'turn them on and off'? Go to Comment

Very useful sub. It gives me all kinds of ideas for my players. Thanks, Cheka. (4/5)

Also, thanks Pieh, for showing how to link subs. How do you know what the ID number of the sub to be linked is? Go to Comment

Very good. Something to give my players pause when they find it. Go to Comment

As it is right now, it is mostly a list of names and unbeatable superpowers. Not much use as it is. I would try giving each one a 2 or 3 paragraph backstory to say how he came to be that way and how he uses his powers. Try to include things about why he is that way. My players *love* to do an end-run on me and convert or otherwise neutralize my badguy. I think they like that even better than taking him down. You don't want that to be easy (unless it is part of a continuing scenario-arc), but if they discover that it is possible, they will try really hard to make it happen, with all kinds of roleplaying stuff going on, and everyone has fun.

Also, be sure that he is not too powerful. Of course, that depends on the power level of your players, but a samurai that removes 95% of a hero's health in one shot is pretty damn powerful. Or the rat that can not be harmed- arm him with a knitting needle and he'd eventually be able to kill anyone. Or the hunter with a powerful gun that always rolls criticals?

To my way of thinking, a villain should be 1) very hard to take down, 2) do enough damage to make the hero worry, and 3) have some weakness that can be discovered through roleplaying and/or research. In my experience, an unstoppable villain, or one with a blow-them-away attack will not be any fun for your gamers. They want a challenge, not an unstoppable tank or a Monty Python rinky-dink. 

Go to Comment