Saltmarsh OOC Chat

[JadedDM]

All of the stuff I just listed were things we picked up before we were captured, but never decided what to do with them.

[Jenara]

I dont think Brax took anything if i recall....

[Breila]

Then I make a quick DM ruling: Since there was downtime for the party, everyone can decide if they want their character to have taken or exchange any of the weapons or the chloroform.

The party won't need any money on this trip, and there was no buyer for the jewellery, so I rule this was left somewhere safe in Saltmarsh. Did anyone really pick up the clothes? They would be with him/her then. Searos never said he would take the box of coins, and Vee left the room after him, taking a handful out, so the box with the rest will have been taken by the militia.

[Breila]

To give you an idea of the cliff: this is what it might look like once you've managed to get down. It will be a different kind of rock, a little less brittle.
Can you spot the trail? It's quite large, actually, about three feet wide in this area (there were other parts where it was just one foot wide).

[Breila]

A note on the world where this game takes place:

It is listed among the "Greyhawk games" because when the group started, Elvenoff who was GM then hosted it there. Then he disappeared and Jenara took over using the "Saltmarsh" module which is set in no particular world. Now I have taken up the staff and I realised that I find it very difficult to get info about Greyhawk. Scrolling through page after page of a wiki is no fun for me. Also, some of the things I read don't add up, like the calendar.

So I decided to ignore the "Greyhawk" bit and let the adventure(s) take place in a world that little by little takes shape in my head as the game progresses. Perhaps in time, I will even post maps. I'll keep a few Greyhawk features that have already been mentioned during the game, like the two moons that have resonant cycles.

The ship mentioned in the Saltmarsh module seems to me a little too advanced for a purely medieval setting, and we have distilled spirits playing a role, so the "feel" of this world is more Renaissance (15th-16th century). But I'll keep it without firearms. After all, gunpowder had been invented in China for a long time, but not used for arms...

Saltmarsh and Dunreese are on the West coast of a continent or large island, on the Southern hemisphere of a yet unnamed world. Hence it will get colder the more South you go, and Vee's warmer homeland across the Azure Sea is further North.

[JadedDM]

The original idea was that we'd swap DMs now and again, in the way that Jenara was first, and you were second. Are we dropping that concept now? Because if not, things could get messy when the next DM takes over.

[Breila]

This is not going to be a fully fleshed-out world. Just a way to keep things consistent and with a flavour, to make it more than just following modules. I keep track of names of places and so on, and would hand this material to anyone who should wish to take over mastering this group.

The post was more of a caveat to explain why things I write will not match with Greyhawk material, for all those who know that world well.

[Breila]

Sorry to leave you "hanging in the air" now that combat has just begun. It has turned out that this weekend is the only chance for us as a family to visit my parents and sis until at least October, so we're leaving. Luna and I are going to be back in Tueaday.

[JadedDM]

(OOC: The module was written for another edition, so I had to use an analogous saving throw to the one used there. The effect of the hag's horrific appearance in the module is not paralysation, but loss of strength.)

I was going to ask which edition it was written in, but I've already deduced it myself. It was 3E, right?

Here's how I guessed:

In 1E and 2E, the cat/fish like creatures are called sea lions (meant as a pun of sorts), but the SRD for 3E lists them as seacats instead, which is the term you used to describe them.

In 1E and 2E, a sea hag's horrid appearance induces a saving throw vs. spell, but in 3E, it's a fortitude check. And a poison/paralyzation/death magic save is the closest thing to a Fort check in 2E.

As someone who has run modules in editions they weren't originally designed for (Pod-Caverns, Sarcophagus Legion and Chronicles are all written for 1E), I would recommend looking up the monsters in the 2E MM to see how they work. Sometimes monsters abilities or stats change radically between editions. (Dragons, for instance, are pretty easy in 1E, really tough in 2E, and downright ridiculously overpowered in 3E.) Plus, it's a lot easier to look in the 2E MM and see how they work then trying to translate them from 3E to 2E directly.

Just some friendly advice from one DM to another.

[Breila]

Thanks!

I've been muddling through somehow, not easy because I don't know any other edition than 1 or 2. Just trying to keep things consistent somehow. So I will not use the Sea Hag's evil eye as described in the 2E MM, but as it is described in the module, to keep the powers more balanced.

[Robbo]

I'll take the double headed axe and one of the fine longswords if nobody wants them. Would we have had the chance to Identify them in town to see if they are magical?

[Breila]

Well, there was just one day in town and no one mentioned looking at the treasure, so I'd say it waits for you all in a safe place in Saltmarsh.

[JadedDM]

Brax has lost more than half her hit points in this single attack, she must make a system shock save to survive.

Is that a house rule?

(Also, if the seacat hit Brax with both paws, shouldn't it have used its Rend attack then? I also notice neither seacat is using its bite attack this round.)

[Jenara]

Its in the DMG if I recall, I use it myself...

Here goes nothing!

[JadedDM]

Is it? Where? I've never seen it, nor can I find any reference to it now.

I know there is a rule that states if you take 50 or more damage from a single attack, you have to save vs. death magic or die instantly. That's as close as I can find, however.