Blue Dragon Lair: Metal & Magic RPG Highlights
The Blue Dragon Lair focuses on fantasy gaming online and offline, highlighting the ideas behind the adventures. If the pages are not loading here on tripod our site is also hosted by GCN, Global Communications Network, and our games are played in GCN chat. It is free chat that can be installed and run on GCN by going to the chat program download. The gamers that started this chat also play in MSN messenger and may later post a forum within MSN groups if our games begin to divide into alternate groups. Although it is hard for me to guess just how long we have held sessions in messenger, I know that it has been over half a year. Our game of choice is Dungeons and Dragons, which I will highlight here. Though our edition of choice is somewhat different, we do play the 3rd/3.5 edition game in our online group. You can find us on GCN in the Role-Playing Games chat category in a room titled DND3e. We would call it the Blue Dragon Lair, but the role- players online often need to know that we are playing a serious game of D&D rather than a free-form dialogue RPG. You can join us in MSN messenger by adding my MSN address to your messenger contacts as manhoo3000@msn.com.
Dungeons and Dragons has been around for a long time, probably longer than a large ratio of its core players. I have put together a little PDF of my own to help learning players with their characters. I lovingly call it the Dungeons & Dragons 3e Companion Guide! Lol!! You are welcome to share it and revise it however you like. It is usually under revision in my mind in some way.
Roahik's Song and Chapter 1 are excerpts from my personal writing, which you can be sure to see more of as it nears completion. The book was finished until I decided to add a lot more to the plot. Now I have put myself about two-thirds the way through the expanded plot, but I won't post the brunt of it until it is done, just a taste.
This topic came to me as I was searching for an idea that would interest all D&D gamers. Just how many different ways can monsters come to populate a dungeon? Just how can a dungeon go from a low level dungeon to a higher and even to a highest level dungeon? What manner of monster ecology could lead to such events, and what events would be involved?
On pages 79 to 82 in the 3.5 Dungeon Master's Guide (122 to 126 in the 3.0) we see the tables for random dungeon encounters, but how many ways are there for a dungeon to change. How might a dungeon that characters conquered on first level become a dungeon that challenges when they are on twentieth level, and what remnants are there of that dungeon's history?
Lets just take a good look at what chain of events would occur if a dungeon were to evolve from a first level dungeon to a twentieth level dungeon according to the 3.5 DMG (Dungeon Master's Guide). Look closely at the 1st level dungeons list and compare it to the 2nd level dungeons list.
The first thing you will notice is that 1d3 medium monstrous centipedes on the first level list changes to 1 huge monstrous cenitpede on the second level list. Perhaps this could mean that the other centipedes were offspring born in the dungeon, making their way out of it when they could. Eventually, only some of the parent centipedes remain. That would also mean that one associated encounter with the location of the dungeon in the surface wilderness is the presence of monstrous centipedes. Another possibility is that the larger centipede is simply a differently related species.
Notice that 1d4 dire rats becomes 1d4+1 fiendish dire rats, the were rat, and the rat swarm. Giant fire beetles disappear, probably by feeding one or more of the other creature types on either list. Small monstrous scorpions disappear, probably because they had to be driven off by all of the other creatures to make the dungeon a might bit less deadly. The small monstrous spiders disappear, but are not replaced by larger ones. This I would guess is because the other occupants of the dungeon would realize that the spiders can grow larger from one generation to the next when well-fed, so perhaps they decided to get rid of them as quickly as they could.
Dwarf warriors and elf warriors are replaced by halfling warriors.
The darkmantle, krenshure, and lemure disappear. Goblin warriors are replaced by hobgoblin warriors. Kobold warriors remain from the first level list to the second, solely because kobolds live in mountains and dungeons are in mountainous or mountain-like rock, one could presume. Human warrior skeletons are replaced by an owlbear skeleton. Commoner zombies disappear, probably because they were once human and the other creatures would eventually kill them off. 1d4+1 tiny viper snakes changes to 1 constrictor snake or 1d4+2 tiny viper snakes. Orc warriors goes from 1d3 orc warriors to 1d3+1. The stirges and the spider swarm disappear.
As you can see there is the opportunity to make dungeon encounters lists with a strategy. Where did the monsters come from in the first place? Where do they continue to come from? How do they fight or get along? What is their total population? Keeping track of total population of a dungeon can be important. It can determine whether or not one monster competes with or replaces another. If you have a list of dungeon encounters, even if it is just one list or if it is twenty, you can email it to manhoo3000 @cinci.rr.com and I will see to it that it gets posted here.
You can also submit your lists of mixed magic items, magic items that are not listed in different variations in the DMG and other gamebooks.
It doesn't have to be a gamebook, not even more than a few sentences or whole paragraph. If you have an idea for an adventure and would like to post it feel free to send me a line.
You can also discuss with us modified rules you have made, and/or use or have thought about using. Believe it or not there are some who modify the rules more than even Wizards of the Coast (makers of modern Dungeons & Dragons.)
While this site is new and our group is small we will be undergoing more of the initial construction than the constant construction. Eventually all the content on this page will be divided into separate pages and categories, so just think of this as the construction page for now. If you have any ideas or know how to make pages for web sites such as this and would like to participate just contact me at your earliest convenience.
This page was made by 1stPage free software and from the knowledge shared free at w3schools.
To make your own free 50mb web site on GCN go to the home page and log in with a GCN screen name.
Check out my new website for family online publishing at www.pegasustree.com!