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JcDent posted:By the way, would it be OK if I wrote up a miniature game at some point? IDK hownbad it is mechanically, but the writing/fluff is, welll... it was released in 1996 and one of the three devs is wearing a trenchcoat in tbe group photo.  Also I have some unique stuff I need to dig for in the piles of stuff littering my apartment and only by promising to bring it forth can I be sure that I'll actually search. Teaser: two original DnD adventures written by the Israeli publisher of TSR in the 90's. E: E: found some scans online. First module: The Moon Women, or The Lunar Women if you prefer.  Second module: War of the living statues.  By popular demand fucked around with this message at 23:31 on May 31, 2018 |
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May 31, 2018 22:56
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 04:35 |
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Both of the modules are nothing to write home about, but I figured that since they are almost unknown I should review them. They are not well known in here either, a quick search found them for sale on some FLGS, the page was set up in 2009 and no one paid the price yet (100 ils and 40 ils for a damaged copy)
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May 31, 2018 23:27
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I'm gonna start with some background info. Dungeons and Dragons The Dream Lands campaign setting (All of two modules) Unfortunately there's scarce little information on the internet about the author and the publishing company, but I'll do my best. From about 1989 until the mid 90's Mitzuv was the sole franchise publisher of TSR and some other gaming and book companies. Other than D&D and AD&D Mitzuv also published fantasy and SF novels as well as gamebooks from Steve Jackson Games, mostly Fighting Fantasy. The writer and producer of the modules is Geva Perry, who translated many of the books published by Mitzuv and was by all accounts one of the first gaming and post-Tolkien* fantasy nerds in Israel. Both adventures are set on a vast continent called Nulimis or Nolimis (Hebrew is a funny language) in the setting of The Dream Lands. Map to come later. *The Hobbit was first translated into hebrew in 1976. E: it's 02:20 and I just took Ambien so let me quickly summerize the back blurbs before I turn into a frothing racist and you guys can decide which I'll start with. Lunar ladies: Empress Elvira(sic) tasks the PC's with recovering the stolen enchanted staff of fertility back from the amazon women of the moon (and they seem to like fetish cloths). War of the living statues: The Baron is missing! The search party is missing! The king hires you to figure out just what is happening. "The king thinks that the baron intends to rebel against him, but the true occurrences are stranger, more horrible and dangerous by far!" By popular demand fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Jun 1, 2018 |
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Jun 1, 2018 00:10
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Sure, Hebrew has Diacritics which, Wikipedia will explain change the way certain syllables are pronounced. The fun bit is that we rarely if ever use diacritics anymore, and so Geva is leaving me to decide how each name is pronounced. Theoretically the empress could be called: Alvira, Albira, Aelvira. But Geva is an unimaginative hack, so I'm going with the obvious fantasy nerd reference. I really think that he named the continent Nolimit and changed the last letter. By popular demand fucked around with this message at 01:13 on Jun 1, 2018 |
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Jun 1, 2018 01:11
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Dungeons and Dragons The Dream Lands First up the world map, taken from the second module as that's the better version.   the map is filled with silly and unimaginative names such as Pyromount(transliterated), cities named Gold, Silver, Electrum, and even some regions plainly named Good, Evil, Chaos and such. I invite any Hebrew fluent person who feels like listing them all to pitch in, if no one does then I'll get back to this after doing both modules. quote:The game "Dungeons and Dragons" has gone through a long way in Israel. I still remember the first days, to Carol Dalcanho, the inner illustrations artist. and a shout out to Ol' Gary Gygex. *This is true, in the early 90's RPG's were sold mostly at computer and bookstores. there was a market crash of sorts in the mid 90's, and at the early 00's new FLGS's started popping up to fill the niche. and now: The Lunar Ladies the module starts with a page of some generic starter GM tips; this adventure is for 4-7 character 12-16 level party. a note that it was first played at Israeli Dragon Tournament in Purim 1991. quote:About this adventure and the land in which it takes place up next: the Tismanian empire (that crescent shaped isle in the upper right and a bit of land bordering it) By popular demand fucked around with this message at 11:56 on Jun 1, 2018 |
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Jun 1, 2018 10:46
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Dungeons and Dragons The Dream Lands The Lunar Ladies The module proper begins with this gorgeous piece of art:  after that there's a three paragraph description of the Tismanian empire: 800 years ago one kingdom started to absorb its neighbors peacefully or otherwise and today the empire is a union of various kingdoms and domains. this was a short summery of background-not-appearing-in-this-module. player's background: Tismanian views on gender roles are rather regressive which pisses off the goddess of fertility, Caroline. The priesthood of Caroline and the struggle for equal rights again, will not impact the adventure in any way. Hundreds of years ago an empress had no male children, she prayed to Caroline for male heirs and the goddess gave her a magical staff that will give her the ability to choose what gender the baby will be born as. BUUUUT Caroline is still a vindictive goddess, and so if the staff is not in the empress' possession than no males would be born ANYWHERE in the empire. the possibly NSW staff: https://i.imgur.com/At6mxXh.png this awful sidebar is plastered on every single page. the staff was magicked away by a nation of warrior women (no word on how the empress knows whodunit), who wish to weaken Tismania for future conquest. I'll detail the Lunar Ladies when we get there. The empress is to be executed for losing the staff in one month because we need a deadline, I guess. Empress Elvira calls for the characters in secret and promises 12,000gp and a magic item each for the job. Part the first: the journey south to Moonland(transliterated)  After two days ride (no significant events, just some merchants and travelers SIC) the party reaches The Magic Forest, here they notice a trail of gold coins!  the trail seems like it was caused by some unnoticed hole in someone's bag, after 200 meters it comes to an opening in the ground- anyone taller than a dwarf must bend to enter. This is of course the world's most obvious trap and the party is assumed to take the bait hook line and sinker.  This handsome fellow is a monster called a Goldshitter, which is transliterated. goddamit Geva you loving hack. It hides behind some trees and rolls a bolder for 8D10 damage into the lair and then enters through a secret entrance to finish off the survivors. quote:Goldshitter It can attack two different characters with its claws then bite another with a 2D10 poison which keeps effecting until cured (says the only effective spell is Cure-all but I don't have the rulebooks so I'm not sure which spell it is) Reward: 8,000 REAL gp and a +2 double handed sword. As you may have guessed other than the treasure in the lair all other coins are monster droppings and while indistinguishable they disintegrate in 3 hours. Next: Day 2.
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Jun 1, 2018 16:43
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Dungeons and Dragons The Dream Lands The Lunar Ladies Day 2  Generic forest description, then it starts raining and everything turns muddy. Each character has a 1 in 6 chance to notice a quicksand pit, I guess we're on foot now but the module doesn't say. Anyone in the pit sinks up to their neck in 6 rounds and will then drown in 2 - 4 rounds unless helped, while this is going on two Mud Golems join the fun (no treasure).  Eventually the party reaches a shallow river, beyond which they see the City of Magic (it's mentioned the city is 2km away for no reason). Day 3 The city of magic is only described as a Magocracy which is part of the Tismanian empire, other than that the GM is told to come up with whatever. Day ~9  After 5 days riding the party gets to Philosophy City, capitol of the land of Philosophy. On the way they encounter a patrol that demand 30,000gp tax to continue, those are of course corrupt soldiers and the players are supposed to figure this out somehow. no advice beyond "this doesn't have to end in a fight" quote:Commander Day ~10  The city of Philosophy is full of universities and "People who like very much to 'philosophize'", The GM is told to imagine a land based on the mind and schooling and knowledge, if your loving peanut brain can grasp the concept! (doesn't say it but that's what I feel he's saying) There are experts aplenty that charge upwards of 2,000gp for information the info you can buy is: 1.A geography lesson on Moonland which is completely useless as you got a map, thanks for the gold sucka! 2.Lunar Ladies culture and politics, the single useful bit, unless the players wish to join LL society is also revealed when the party gets to Moonland. 3.The best route to take. note that any deviation from said route forces the poor GM to create absolutely everything. Day ~ 13   Between Philosophy and Kozor the party is attacked by a giant Purple Worm. Does it gain surprise? is there a chance to detect the worm? Geva isn't telling. Next: the city of Kozor.
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Jun 1, 2018 20:01
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Chaos orks are not a thing, however there are some groups of orks who were influenced enough to break out of the Waaagh psychic connection and fight for their own goals (which are inscrutable to normal orks). Also a mad shaman who built a throne of skulls but isn't sure who's supposed to seat on it. As far as humans are concerned they are all common orks.
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Jun 1, 2018 21:59
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In 40k lore Orks are both very hard and very limiting for warp entities to possess, and so it's almost unheard of.
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Jun 1, 2018 22:02
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Some Tau are also mentioned to develop some aggressive behavioural problems the empire can't explain. Point being: Chaos can be a veeeeery slow trickle when it cannot outright overwhelm, give it a few centuries and you may see a big change. By popular demand fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Jun 1, 2018 |
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Jun 1, 2018 22:10
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JcDent posted:Probably because he's the biggest and he's da boss. Spoiler: it doesn't get any better. The other module is mildly more interesting. Also I'm surprised no one commented on the stupid staff sidebar yet.
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Jun 1, 2018 23:07
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You don't have to stare at it while you read and translate terrible prose masquerading as background information. After awhile you'd want to ram it up Geva Perry's arse. Not in a good way.
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Jun 1, 2018 23:16
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I'm not getting what you mean. If you want to see me getting more and more angry about the state of Israel that is a different concept of D&D. (The Israel and Palestine thread) Otherwise I don't get what you are saying.
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Jun 2, 2018 06:05
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Dungeons and Dragons The Dream Lands The Lunar Ladies In Kosor city, Kosor land. The only thing mentioned here is a festival for the local king's birthday. The party can waste some time Lancing, Boxing and wrestling for rewards of 500-2000gp. You are drat right those are weakass incentives to waste a day on. Day ~13  In order to get to the city of Culture the party must climb the Mountains of Specters (not many specters to report) and enter "The Road of Death" which is a passage. It's stated that the journey takes a day of riding and seven days of mountain climbing, and then it a bit confusingly tells you that the climb to the cave takes an hour. No events are listed in between. we get: 6 turns a climbing / D20 o' rolling/ Dexterity level a checking/ D6 damage a rolling for every meter of falling.  The Road of Death. (notice the sideways view map on top) The cave was built by magic and only spells of 4th level and above function inside. A.Entrance (left side) Dark, have to crawl into the second chamber. B.The statue room. 1st character checks Dex on a D20 to not get bonked by a falling brick (2D10). next characters just have to declare that they avoid the trap. the room contains two ivory statues depicting "strong and cruel warriors" both have a silver key on a chain around the neck, which must be used to get onward. you can actually avoid fighting the obviously animated statues by switching their chains with a bit of rope and something to weigh it. Indy is shaking his fist somewhere. otherwise each statue only attacks whoever took the key ignoring any other attacks, should the character fall down the statue retrieves the key and gets back into place. 2 Statues AC -4 HD 14* HP 100 ATK 2 Damage 3-18/3-18 Move 30 (10) Saves as warrior 14 Morale 12 Alignment neutral XP 2300 Immune to mind effecting spells and non-magical weapons. C.Cobwebs of the spider the party has to enter in single file to this room which only matters if the forward guy is stupid enough to disturb the cobwebs before everybody gets in. anything touching the cobwebs attracts the spider and the web is immune to anything but magical fire (60HP). funnily enough, there's no mention of the spider noticing the web burning so I assume you can just bypass or surprise it. The Spider of Horror AC -2 HD 18* HP 118 ATK 6 Damage 1-10 + poison Move 40 (14) Saves as warrior 18 Morale 12 Alignment evil XP 3150 poison does 2-20 damage (save for half damage) treasure: Bastard sword +3, Plate armour +2 and a staff of counterspell D.it's bullshit puzzle time (The enchanted traffic light, yes really) on a massive you-must-solve-this door there are five coloured buttons a scroll nearby describes them thusly: Red - passage White - nothing Black - life Blue - items Yellow - clothes Green - barrier there is no green button, can you guess the solution? the entire puzzle is figuring out the descriptions omit the word 'no' (yes 'no nothing' is correct in Hebrew) Red drops a barrier between the last room and this white does nothing black releases poison gas 3D10 every round (save for half) if room C is open you can just wait it out. Blue transports everything but worn items to room G Yellow transports worn items except magical armour to room G Green (pressing blue and yellow at the same time) opens the door and the barrier if it's down. E. The Obstacle Rooms first up is a room which automatically seals as the entire party has entered and then it heats up, adding another D6 on every round unless someone had the foresight to hold the door against closing. the door to the next area needs to be damaged by cold spells (25HP) to break down. now the party is assaulted by 7 Spectral Hounds, but at least there's no bullshit blocking the way. F.Exit An items transported are lying on the floor here in case the party is unarmed against the hounds, Unless you have the 'Faded' debuff from the hounds' special attack, can't pick up items than. Day ~21 The City of culture. a single paragraph notes there's plenty of entertainment around. Nothing special happens, the GM can amuse himself by creating stuff. Next: The City of Ruby and the Ruby Mountains
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Jun 2, 2018 08:46
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As I said, completely unimaginative. If nobody translates the map names by the time I'm done with the second module then I'll do it. You all deserve to read every bullshit name.
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Jun 2, 2018 09:27
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Some possibly interesting new: Turns out that the Mitzuv company is still run by the Perry family, they moved on and became a consultation firm. I just left them some massages asking to interview Geva or Guy. More details as they come.
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Jun 2, 2018 15:19
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Dungeons and Dragons The Dream Lands The Lunar Ladies Day ~22 Ruby City, capitol of the Ruby Mountains region Before even entering the city the party is pounced upon by two adult red dragons. Why? Who knows. There are two paragraphs of background on Ruby, completely irrelevant such as how everything is built out of red mountain stone. I'm sure the Lunar Ladies are just itching for backstories on random cities. Day ~25 the Forest of Electricity. Enchanted trees that work like tesla coils, 18 turns of rolling a D20: 1-4 lightning hits close to a character 5-9 a mild hit to a character D10 damage 10-14 direct hit to a character 2D10 damage 15-20 explosion. everybody rolls D20 against Dex or 2D20 damage The GM is encouraged to allow characters covering in thick clothes or whatever to get some protection, so there's that at least. The party now takes a boat ride, paying 500gp per person and 700gp per horse. All is well until the second night when a Dragon Turtle attacks. 3 sailors (warrior 1) and the captain assist the party. quote:Captain Roark Day ~28  Moonland - inner sea the party is to beeline it directly to, let's call it City of Luna. 5 days where they have a 1 in 3 chance to encounter a hostile Lunar Ladies squad with a leader and 50% chance of a priestess too: quote:Warrior Moon Lady (5 appearing) Lunar Ladies are -2 to saves against spells and take double damage from magical sources Also every morning noon and evening there's a 1 in 6 chance for random encounters: 1- Fembutterfly (I'll tell you about it later) 2- LVL 12 mage with an obsidian golem 3- beholder 4- adult green dragon 5- 8 giant rats 6- 2 malfras nighttime only gets one roll (still 1 in 6 chance) 1- 3 of that spore thing that looks like a beholder 2- 6 ghost dogs 3- banshee 4- poltergeist 5- 3 crystalline things whatever they're called 6- giant manta ray so 5 days of suck.  first day in moonland the party meets two women with a man who look exhausted, they relate how the Lunar Ladies killed every able bodies man with them while leaving the women and a one-eyed one-armed man alone. they also tell about the magic vulnerability. these by the by those are noted to be adventurers from Femininia, so there. what happens to them after the info dump is not mentioned. second day in moonland tall grass is actually Grasping Grass! and 10 scorpion men appear because gently caress you. third day in moonland is uneventful (except random encounters), at night a Treant possessed by an Odik. forth day just rain until dawn the next day fifth day a Drolem, at evening the city of Luna is finally in view. Day ~33 (I hope no one revealed the mission or the empress loses her head) the city of Luna. All males in the party have to use magic to appear crippled, then the party pays 500gp a head to enter. The city is ruled by women who maim every male baby because evil feminists? the party gets a room in a boarding house overlooking the palace, from which the queen can be seen leaving at night and entering a sekrit entrance! I'm stopping here for now, but here's a new monster:  quote:Fembutterfly (the Hebrew name is stupid too) .5 meter tall, weaves herself a cocoon at night. these creatures subside on human and demihuman hair, they attack with two knives attempting to shave off your beautiful neckbeard! they try not to kill so I guess you can just lie down and take it. "therefore in most cases they'll they will try to attack women as their hair is longer" they also got some magical abilities, such as charm person twice daily. they speak common, elf and Halfling.
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Jun 2, 2018 17:53
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Speleothing posted:Two points: 1. The adventure never heard of balancing or consistency 2. The whole mission is covert, hence my note that people should not blab about it.
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Jun 3, 2018 00:36
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I think that we all have learned over and over again that while you play in universes that GW made you must tailor them the gently caress out to fit your needs. poo poo ain't one size fits all, it's only made in an archaic pattern that fits no one particularly well.
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Jun 7, 2018 23:07
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I think we just found the level of simulationist pettiness that would make even Phenix Command puke.
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Jun 9, 2018 22:39
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Nicely done.
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Jun 9, 2018 23:34
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What if I got him in a pit and I'm pouring a flask I've filled in my spare time?
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Jun 10, 2018 00:29
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the Situation became manageable? Good for him, it's time to put the party lifestyle behind.
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Jun 11, 2018 16:33
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they can still adopt though, a magister lord opening an orphanage is a kickass concept.
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Jun 12, 2018 19:54
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I noticed all this clamoring for the two awful Israeli original modules and I'll get back to them soon, I just got some real world stuff to do.
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Jun 13, 2018 17:46
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So many wasted words until the 'game start' content that would be better served by "after the Fall the remnants of humanity gather in the Last City, menaced by the legions of hell" This is the unwanted unskipable intro to a bad 90's pc game.
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Jun 14, 2018 04:38
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Like, making a game setting bible is great and all, but maybe don't include it in the game, and definitely don't force people to read through to verify that you included no salient information in it. If I had to read a longass history booklet before starting Fallout I'd probably delete it immediately. Which is why the game starts with "war, war never changes" and just lets you explore the setting at your own pace.
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Jun 14, 2018 06:47
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How and when did Wick pull his head out of his rear end? This fills me with hope for the human race.
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Jun 19, 2018 17:08
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Pity they kept the name 'the crescent empire' it's kinda lazy when everywhere else gets a nice historical name.
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Jun 20, 2018 00:01
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So more the crescent empires, definitely an improvement.
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Jun 20, 2018 00:59
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That's the best that the Prince of darkness got? They could have gone the whole "last kingdom on earth" route and actually have is debate if being ruled by the antichrist is better than just submitting. Are they actively choosing the most boring timeline?
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Oct 21, 2018 23:12
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how many pages are spent on this tedious unskippable cutscene?
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Oct 22, 2018 01:59
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Now that's a messiah I can get behind! Please continue with the review, I'm dying to see how much more engaging ideas get just tossed aside in favour of pointless worldbuilding.
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Oct 22, 2018 05:05
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Night10194 posted:A Recreation of a figure obscure enough that no-one actually recognizes him as a Recreation, created by the supreme nerd computer for fun. Go for L.L.Zamenhoff ,A personal favourite of mine and a staunch pacifist.
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Oct 22, 2018 05:48
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All this time that I didn't know about The End's plot and world crafting I imagined it to be all about self discovery or some interesting poo poo. It was better not knowing.
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Oct 29, 2018 17:40
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I wonder if any system includes that WW2 purpose built silenced pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d12AjvEsaHg
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Nov 3, 2018 14:17
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My favorite part from a review of an official Aberrant adventurequote:Now, from that brief summary, you can hopefully appreciate that the four factions are diametrically opposed both in aims and beliefs. However, this is a fact that appears not to worry the scenario writers at White Wolf, for the blurb on the back of the Superviser's Screen campaign book cheerfully proclaims: "...enables players to jump into the action as Aberrants, Utopians or agents of the sinister Project Proteus." And when I later got a chance to browse through the thing I confirmed it was as badly conceived as can be. in a boring way.
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Nov 7, 2018 20:01
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sure, but only because the adventure in question is an insipid waste of paper.
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Nov 7, 2018 20:17
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I could never figured out why all those whiny highborn Teragen didn't just take some followers and settled outside somewhere outside the solar system instead of bitching about being not getting respect for being superior.
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Nov 10, 2018 18:53
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 04:35 |
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that's forty years down the road though. Bitchboy prime is lonely and hoping to be vindicated, what excuse do the rest of them have to not start scouring the galaxy for possible planets and recruiting baseline humans to the cause? there's never a shortage of willing lackeys to a man who can fly.
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Nov 10, 2018 20:01
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