On a related note: I don't get to use Electric Boogaloo anymore and it makes me sad.
Yeah, there is a fair amount in Appendix N that I could not get into then, and more that I cannot read now. I suppose in his defence there was a very limited amount of fantasy literature to draw upon at the time. You would settle for something that had a few good ideas, even if it was not particularly well written.Gardner Fox, Lin Carter, a good reminder that Gygax took shits too.
Be brave! Continue to use it and reclaim it from those fucknuggets!On a related note: I don't get to use Electric Boogaloo anymore and it makes me sad.
What does this have with Nunnery. Also, my cat doesn't appreciate you talking about 'crushing puss'.I'm pro Crushing Puss and Playing Sports.
To be fair I read one of his earlier works when he was translating Tolkien into English, and so of course it was a pale imitation of Lord of the Rings. With a lot more sex. Also, post-2010? I thought most of his stuff was written in the 20th century.Not ole Guy, too? Were all those cover blurbs a lie? He seemed semi-literate, an accomplishment in post-2010 fantasy.
On the other hand, I don't think those were the authors he pointed out as having extra merit. And yes, even Gygax isn't perfect (just look at WG4).Gardner Fox, Lin Carter, a good reminder that Gygax took shits too.
Bwahahahahah. Most of it is boring. The Black Cyst is great. But yeah, I re-read it not long ago and I could easily see why the younger version of me was eager to sell it to a friend.Waitaminute, you don't like WG4?? I don't want to derail this thread - we gotta take this outside, bro.
Seriously, the Black Cyst is the most interesting part of the adventure and you have to perform all these rituals to safely enter it. There is no clue anywhere else in the adventure for how your characters are supposed to do this. Are the players just supposed to guess that they have to put on the purple robes and wave the censer etc? This was a weak addendum to S4. I did like the way old Monte tied it into Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil though...Bwahahahahah. Most of it is boring. The Black Cyst is great. But yeah, I re-read it not long ago and I could easily see why the younger version of me was eager to sell it to a friend.
I think the point was for parts of the dungeon to be missable. This sort of thing was not limited to WSG4, IIRC a lot of temples and artifacts operate by random guessing, and think of the short list of ways to damage a demilich. Not everything about Gygax is to be emulated.Seriously, the Black Cyst is the most interesting part of the adventure and you have to perform all these rituals to safely enter it. There is no clue anywhere else in the adventure for how your characters are supposed to do this. Are the players just supposed to guess that they have to put on the purple robes and wave the censer etc? This was a weak addendum to S4. I did like the way old Monte tied it into Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil though...
Sacrilege! Burn the unbeliever!Not everything about Gygax is to be emulated.
You're right. He has referred to it as "a genius module" and a great template for high-level adventures. His module "The Mortuary Temple of Esma" is heavily inspired by it.Huso likes WG4 as a meat grinder for high-level characters. (A Blue Bard blog post IIRC---but I may have the module confused with Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth ).
Ah, but the demilich is not an open ended challenge, the listed ways to kill it are called as the only ways it can be killed. The Black Cyst has only one way to open it, so it is not open ended. These are not only closed challenges, but the proper solutions are obscure, not hinted at, and not acertainable by logic. At best they are a tax on spell slots so you have to take a bunch of divination spells, although often I am not sure how the divination spells would help.Not disagreeing -- but at the opposite extreme should a demilich leave around clues on how to kill it? One of the points from the recent Ben L article that I liked: open-ended challenges, admitting of no pre-given solution
Is your cat fat? I do not see any merit in cats unless they are hefty chonkers.What does this have with Nunnery. Also, my cat doesn't appreciate you talking about 'crushing puss'.
That explains the instinctive hope I felt when I read his blurbs. I just bought Under Heaven and I assumed he'd started a decade or so earlier but it turns out he's at the end of his ropes too. Hell and Tarnation!To be fair I read one of his earlier works when he was translating Tolkien into English, and so of course it was a pale imitation of Lord of the Rings. With a lot more sex. Also, post-2010? I thought most of his stuff was written in the 20th century.
No but it's in Appendix N so he should answer for that. Lin Carter is dreadful and Fox is a comic book writer. Wolfe, G. Cook, Fletcher Pratt & K.E. Wagner is where it's at.On the other hand, I don't think those were the authors he pointed out as having extra merit. And yes, even Gygax isn't perfect (just look at WG4).
Designing puzzles without solutions is pretty damned easy to do (only half the work!).just more fascinated by the "weird" notion of designing a puzzle (homebrewed dungeon) without an a priori known key.
Sounds like a job for quick and dirty random tables put together madlib style.The question is then, can one, while wearing The Designer Hat, get good at crafting situations that encourage this?
You are a genius.Also, I really want to make salt-risen bread now, so I can butter it on both sides, drizzle honey on it, and have it with black tea, lemon, and milk for breakfast. Also, salt-risen bread is a pain in the ass to make.