Ragnarok

Re: Kill the Dude with the Thing Huzzah for Monty Python. Funny scene.

Re: Norse Hero PC builds- feedback welcome Oh believe you me, I am fully aware of the Mage-Tank. Back in the days of D&D, I once played a half-celestial cleric wearing magical mithril full plate and shield, with several stacking spells and rings. We were fighting a demon once, and I had donned all my armor and cast everything before the battle. This is roughly how the situation went: GM: The Demon lunges at you. What's your AC? Me: 30. GM: *Blink* *Blink* Oh. Well. The demon stumbles awkwardly past you, does a double-take at you, and somewhat confusedly moves on to your companions. All the time, I was blasting him with holy fire. I agree that, if Jax wears physical armor, he should not have magical armor in addition. I will continue brainstorming ways to limit the armor combo. But trust me, I know what I'm doing

Re: Who was WWII's most important leader? I agree with SuperPheemy. But above all, Churchill goes at the top of the list. I shudder when I think of what might have happened had some of today's politicians had been in their place. Stalin tried negotiating with Hitler. Look what that got him. Chamberlain tried appeasement. All that did was buy Hitler more time.

Re: Bat-People An interesting concept. Do folk in your setting view these creatures as monsters, or are things like this fairly common. I know you said they were viewed as evil, but I guess I'm wanting to know if fantastic creatures like this are prevalent in the game world. Such a PC would be an effective scout for areas of darkness. Also would be pretty handy as a night sentinel too. Socially awkward at best, though. But, for things that have to be done at night, they would be quite handy, especially since they can fly.

Re: Site with lots of fantasy battlemaps Nice. Repped and bumped.

Re: Norse Hero PC builds- feedback welcome Only the heavier or stiffer types of armor, such as plate, would meaningfully interfere with gestures. As Jax has leather armor, it would not hinder him in his casting for most encounters, especially if the armor is left open at the joints. Also, an unarmored caster is begging to be slaughtered, unless he really has some good tricks up his sleeve. Trust me, Jax will need that armor, especially when your enemies realize that the guy throwing ice everywhere is doing some serious damage. I have a bit of a problem with the misconception that casters don't need armor, and that as long as you have a "tank" in your group no harm will come to the lighter types. This is a misconception based from computer games like WoW, I think. Sure, the "tanks" are able to slug it out with most baddies, but they have their strength and armor to rely on. The other folks have to survive by using their wits, their skills, and their mobility. There is no easy aggro mechanism, and mages certainly have to do more than spam fireball. Let me put it this way...would YOU go in to battle wearing nothing but your PJs? I didn't think so...

Re: What is Your Favorite Item? I have an amusing story to share. About 5 years ago, I was playing as a wood elf ranger in a D&D campaign my buddy ran for about a year. The way I played this ranger was heavily dependent on stealth and guerrilla tactics. At the onset of nearly every engagement, I would conceal myself when possible, wait for our enemies to become focused on the fighter types, then pop up and run around behind their flank, slicing and dicing as I went, wreaking all kinds of havoc on the enemy mages and squishy types. One day, the GM had us run in a sort of skills test appropriate for each of us. For example, the fighters would get a test of strength and endurance, the mage had a magic skills test, and I had a kind of obstacle/ropes course in which I had to demonstrate balance, cunning, and speed. The GM had informed us that there was a magical item awaiting us as a reward at the end of our respective challenges. So, when I reached the end of the course (after nearly falling into a river of lava, mind you) I saw a ring on a pedestal. Foolishly, reveling in my success, I joyfully snatched up the ring and put it on. To my great dismay, I quickly discovered that the ring was, in fact, a cursed ring. The ring had caused me to shrink to the size of the gnome, magically given me a pair of bright, guady pants with jingly bells on them, and caused me to glow brightly. The pants could only be removed by a Wish spell. This ring had effectively destroyed my character's play style. Considering that all the other members of the group had gotten helpful magical rewards, I was rather angry at the time, but it makes for a great story. I actually had started to think about using it in some rather hilarious ways, but I never got a chance to use them as the campaign ended shortly thereafter.

Re: Non-humanoid races? I have not been a GM for a game which featured non-humanoid PCs. I think it would be an interesting change, but I have yet to find anyone who is capable of pulling it off. Playing a believable non-humanoid takes an incredible amount of creativity and devotion to pull off. That being said, the two closest things I've seen are centaurs and "beast-men."

Hello everyone. The purpose of this post is to request your aid in helping me develop a broad pool of Norse/Germanic mythological creatures/locations/themes to choose from for my Norse campaign in the Spring. I know a fair amount about these things, but in order to foster a more diverse and well-rounded gaming experience I would like you to contribute some of your knowledge and input on these things. Basically, I would appreciate if you came up with a few examples from three categories of Norse/Germanic mythology: Creatures, Locations, and Themes or Elements. Here are some of the ones I already have in mind: Creatures: Alfar (Elves) Dvergar (Dwarves) Trolls Giants Dragons Draugr Sea Serpents Locations: Fjords Mountains Underground (Caves, Underground lakes, etc) Themes: Seemingly invincible heroes or monsters with a specific weakness Strange creation myths (Dvergar being created from the maggots of Ymir's corpse) Thank you for your help!

Re: Norse Hero PC builds- feedback welcome

Re: Random cave maps Awesome resource! I'd rep you but the rep machine isn't letting me...

Re: Would you ever allow a Large character as a PC? I would allow it. But you can be sure that he'll take a load of disadvantages related to his size. Besides, just because someone is really good at combat doesn't mean they're equally good at other things.

Re: Classic Fantasy

Re: Classic Fantasy Stealing shiny things from dragons... (Beowulf, The Hobbit) Having an impenetrable hide save for one small spot... (The Ring Cycle, The Hobbit)

Re: How many hero spoils the plot I tend to vary minion strength on the effect I want to achieve. For example, if I want to make the heroes feel like they're the deadliest force in the land, I'll throw insignificant mooks at them. If I want to make the heroes sweat a bit more, I'll throw in tougher guys. And for those times when the heroes need to be humbled, I'll throw in an elite. I think that heroes who are used to taking everything out in one swing get an overinflated sense of power and get bored easily. Sometimes you need to show them that they're not the big dogs sometimes. With that said, I like to play around with different minion strengths to throw the heroes off their guard. For example, let them run around chopping mercs in half to make them feel powerful, then put them up against an elite. Also works in reverse: let them regain a sense of power after they've been thwarted a couple times. In any case, my gamers have to work for their sense of prestige.

Re: Norse Hero PC builds- feedback welcome For Tinner, or Jax as he now wants to be called, I think we can afford to shave a few things off. 1. Fast draw - out of all the things on there, this seems the most unnecessary. He doesn't rely on his shortsword that much, and if he knows what's good for him he'll let the beefier guys take up the front line, giving him time to react. Cost - 3 points. 2. The spells probably could all be looked at. Of course, we agree on having the bracelet and the sword be the foci for his spells. We could also afford to tone down his ED from Protection from Ice. 3. Cold Feet - Since he didn't specifically request it, we can probably dump it if we need to. Cost - 2 points. 4. Sense Magic - He didn't request this one either, and if we can dump it then there's half of the points we are over. Cost - 12 points. So, there are at least 17 points we can get away with dumping. If, in the process of your spell-crafting you are able to do away with more than 8 points, then maybe we can keep some of the flavor stuff like Cold Feet. We shall see.

Re: Mount Up! Buying Mounts in Fantasy HERO! Very cool. Repped.

Hey folks. As some of you know already, I am running a Norse-themed fantasy campaign in the Spring. I need your suggestions on different social/political structures for the various clans and races. I'd like to remain historically accurate with the human clans, but pretty much everything else is fair game. What I've got so far: -the Norse noble system (King>Jarl>hersir>thane>bonde>thrall) -basic chieftain system (chieftain>seer>warriors) -basic monarchy -tribal system (shaman/warlord in absolute control) Any other suggestions?

Re: No Horses For You

Re: Classic Fantasy Monsters: -addiction to a certain substance that boosts their power, but when taken away, they are weak (some type of herb, or magic) Scenery: -underground lakes, rivers, and waterfalls, with some sort of ambient light created by phosphorescent fungi Magic: -some type of magic that has a great effect on another. (i.e. holy magic versus undead)

Re: No Horses For You Right. I don't think Gregg or I are advocating the automatic "just because it's magic" style. I think what we both realize the need for logical explanations of things, just that fantasy, as a rule, lies outside "normal" human logical reasoning, and as a result, more things are explained by magic. Of course it helps to integrate reasoning into magical things, and to try to have a story behind as much as you can, but at some point some things are impossible to explain by science.

Re: We Loves Us Some Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs No, I haven't read it. Sounds like an interesting read, though. I'm always looking for new ways to break up the stereotypical mold of fantasy races. Thanks, man. Maybe I'll have a chance to look through it when I return from the U.K....

Re: Ships of the Dark Ages and Medieval Period Of course. Where else would I get bacon?

Re: No Horses For You I see what you're saying here, and I agree. I think a big part of fantasy is....things happen which cannot be explained logically (at least by our standards now.) I think that's part of the appeal. Of course, you don't want to go over the edge and overindulge, but as long as you keep it within that boundary, I agree.

Re: We Loves Us Some Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs Another thing I'm trying in my campaign is the replacement of the orcs. Instead, trolls fill the orcs' traditional role. Granted, I did tweak the traditional concept of trolls a bit. Instead of the giant, lumbering beasts like the cave troll in Lord of the Rings, the typical troll in my campaign is about the size of the Predator, and about as muscled. Instead of Predator's weird jaw structure, trolls have extended lower canines, like Warcraft orcs. They have hair, often arranged in almost Caribbean styles (dreadlocks, etc). They have a more organized social structure, best described as tribal, with a shaman or warlord at the top. Essentially, they have roughly the same social structure and numbers as the orcs, but they're bigger and tougher. Should be an interesting challenge for the PCs.