To be honest, I'm not all that sure either. I have grown up in a north-eastern US fishing village, and as such have a fair bit of knowledge about boating and some marine life, but don't know much about coral reefs, which I imagine Thunder Reef to be. I see them as a gathering place for aquatic animals to make homes and feed. Picture yellow and pink coral, of the sea sponge-like variety, growing near rocks and maybe a few shipwrecks. The idea was mostly for sea creatures with sonic properties, the reef was a loose idea to combine them. But, i was originally picturing it as existing as a barrier, to naturally protect from ships, as part of a remote island's ecosystem. I hope that helps a little. Go to Comment

You've got a deal. Go to Comment

Very nice.

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Ditto; I take it visitors would rarely be surprised by the inhabitants.

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Ditto; I take it visitors would rarely be surprised by the inhabitants. I'd like to see a bit more about the ecology and climate; not being very knowledgeable about aquatic environments, I'm having a hard time envisioning how all this would fit together. Go to Comment

Nice idea, I'm editing the Thunderstones again soon, but they'll still fit into this series you have here.

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My hat's off to you, sir, for this clever twist on two separate posts.  Sound has always been a fascinating medium to me, and discord can be just as potent as harmony.  As an exercise, how would you feel about a joint effort to expand both subs?  I will consider your reef and add at least one idea, in the hopes that you will do the same for my woods. 

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Agitato Dragons -

Agitato dragons bear a strong resemblance to sea horses, and are considered bad luck by the locals.  Like magpies of the sea, these palm-sized water-dragons spend their time scouring Thunder Reef for unguarded thunder jewels to add to their watery hoards.  Often seen carrying (or dragging) a jewel in its long, prehensile tail, these critters cause no end of trouble for divers and sailors alike.  For one, the silly creatures startle easily -- any unexpected noise (of which there are many),  forbidding entity (ship, diver, predator), or large shadow (even their own!) will cause them to drop the jewel to the sea floor with a resounding boom.  As if this weren't bad enough, the tiny pests can build up a dangerous cache of thunder jewels that can stun wildlife within a mile-wide radius, and even sink small vessels if allowed to go off.  For this reason, sea merchants who must pass through Thunder Reef regularly will hire brave (or deaf) souls to seek out these hidden caches and disarm them.

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Neat! The aquatic equivalent of the Singing Woods! I like it!

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racket gulls

gulls that when startled or when mating give of such a noise that any creature in half mile radi will go cover there ears in pian

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cool

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they should look like dragons
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thunder turtles turtles that can emit thunder

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I like it. There's a good deal of flavor in this little adventure, and I find kobolds to be a personal favorite of mine when dealing with lower level adventures, due to their ability to be a lot more dangerous than their stat blocks would typically indicate. I like the little bit with the sleeping dragon and it will cause the adventure to fit very nicely into my current campaign. 5/5 Go to Comment

Update: Wow, I got a lot of information in there for only a day's work. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have over the years. I'm plum tuckered, or whatever. Thanks for reading. Go to Comment

Let me start off by thanking you for taking the time to read my lengthy submission and providing me with a lot of useful feedback, now I will attempt to address the questions and curiosities:

The Hag: It has been a long time since I have bothered to read an entry on a monster, aside from the visual description and statistics. So you may be right. But, if I had to describe this hag's motives, reasoning, and give background to her, they would be as such - A swamp denizen who decided to a attempt control over the lizardlings of the area. She had heard of the Great Sleeper and told the typically not-too-bright and unorganized lizards that she could communicate with it via dreams.

The Sleeping Dragon: Ah, yes. That is a point I have honestly never elaborated on. I suspect that my thinking has been along the lines of a red herring. The Dragon is an illusion, or disguised beast, placed by the human settlers of the swamp to keep the lizards from out-right attacking them. This seems to have worked, as the lizards are preparing for the day their dragon awakens.

The Opposition: I run a tough game, but not impossible. The idea of this quest is a one-shot adventure, yes. I have run this adventure with players of a party of always at least 2 characters from levels 1 to 5, in D&D 3.5 and/or Paizo's Pathfinder.

The gator I use is a typical gator, no stat changes from the core rules. It is tough but not usually deadly (except when they left it tied up in the entrance and it was free by the time they made their way back). T

he lizardmen are typically easily defeated. The smart kobold is trouble, in my games he has been a level 1 Barbarian with a masterwork spear. So, he can hit (with a decent bonus) and he can survive (with a lot of hitpoints for a kobold), but his damage is minimal.

The ogre is typically the biggest problem, I won't lie, he has never killed anyone but has severely weakened them.

The hag has potential to take out a character with a low Will save almost immediately, but if closed in melee will be more focused on killing the attacker with claws.

Yes, I run a tough game. And usually tougher than normal on a one-shot.

The Community Chest: I've considered the Monopoly jokes myself, but never had a player make them during the session. As for the "half of a chest," I always figured it was a weak old object that splintered at an angle, allowing for some to used to carry the remaining treasure further inside the cave. And, I don't think I was clear with the treasure burning. The lizards were not burning the coins, only melting the gold-leaf off of the chest.

Oh, and yes, it is hard to tell what was the village's and what wasn't. But, the village can help with that and is honest.

Let me know is that clears up most of your questions. Again, thank you. Go to Comment

That was what I initially attempted to put together, but the adventure as I had planned it didn't fall into the theme exactly and altering it too much felt wrong. The 5RD format does seem to be rather natural, doesn't it? Go to Comment

I will clarify: there is a passage from room 2 to 5. Room 3 is a side-passage with the clever kobold. If the players were to ignore the kobold and go to 5, from 2, they would encounter the trap in 7. But, that little bastard can be quite goading. Thanks for the read and vote! Go to Comment

I didn't design anything intentional to weed out undesirable players. It just seemed to naturally flow that way. I've found players that mesh with me, and I find it easy to GM for, and others that I wouldn't want to play with.

That said, I do prefer running heroic games. Ones where the players play characters that wouldn't run off with the treasure.

I also find that this adventure has plenty of room to surprise me as well, which I enjoy. Like when they try to tame the crocodile, or interrogate the kobolds. Go to Comment

A very good campaign. 5/5

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