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Dubyamn

So my money is on Kurtz not knowing how high a powergamer can get his find trap skill cause "19 plus my modifier" would elicit nothing but blank stares from any GM I've played with.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
If my player said "19 plus my modifier" I'd use that as a 19. Even though the argument will ensue, it'll teach the player to do the damned math himself.
 
Shegokigo

Shegokigo

I wouldn't be surprised that his knowledge of D&D is that old and he'd have done no research prior to writing up that idiotic remark.
 
HCGLNS

HCGLNS

What's idiotic is that a module that is only ever brought forth to test the best of munchins and was designed in 1979 (AD&D) has somehow been streamlined into 4th edition (2008) without any work and has also had the same done for 2nd ed (1989) and 3rd ed (2000).
 
D

Dubyamn

HCGLNS said:
What's idiotic is that a module that is only ever brought forth to test the best of munchins and was designed in 1979 (AD&D) has somehow been streamlined into 4th edition (2008) without any work and has also had the same done for 2nd ed (1989) and 3rd ed (2000).
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It does kind of fall apart under the weight of it's own mythology doesn't it?
 
Reverent-one

Reverent-one

HCGLNS said:
What's idiotic is that a module that is only ever brought forth to test the best of munchins and was designed in 1979 (AD&D) has somehow been streamlined into 4th edition (2008) without any work and has also had the same done for 2nd ed (1989) and 3rd ed (2000).
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Yeah, I noticed that too. That's the sort of thing I'm willing to accept if a decent story comes out of it though (like I would a magical d20 that sends people back in time or something). But at the moment, it's only "eh".
 
sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

I went through one EPIC dungeon back in the early 80's that would put this module to shame. It was designed for tournament play. You took in 4 PC's and 100 porters and support NPC's. Whenever your PC was killed you drew a support player, named him and kept going. After burning through 50 names I named my random cleric "Next." He ended up being the only character to survive the dungeon.

Then the method for teleporting out, killed "Next."

The DM ended up killing EVERYBODY. Damn it was fun.
 
Null

Null

Frank said:
Oh Jesus, you guys are nerding WAY to hard now.
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When his whole storyline revolves around a module being an epic challenge, about a subject that he and his audience should be more than passingly familiar with (seeing as Kurtz was part of WotC's 'celebrity' 4E party with webcasts and so on), it shouldn't be hard to get it right. And it doesn't help that it shares a name with a newbie-level product.
 
Reverent-one

Reverent-one

The newbie level product is someone's homebrewed adventure. It's a bit harsh to expect Kurtz to know the name of every adventure someone on the internet ever came up with.
 
HCGLNS

HCGLNS

I don't find it harsh that he didn't know about it. I do expect a professional story teller that is embarking on a multi-week story arc based around something that will clearly generate interest and possibly branch off into a future revenue stream to spend a minor amount of time and google his idea first.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Homebrew modules are like fanfics. I find it hard to fault him for that. If it were an official, "canonized" module then yeah...
 
Null

Null

Hmm, okay, I thought it might have been a 3PP adventure, but then again, Wizards probably wouldn't want one of their official players using a 3PP product. That doesn't appear to be the case here, so okay, that can slide.
 
HCGLNS

HCGLNS

Shegokigo said:
Why even write about some fanfic module instead of something cannoical then?
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He isn't. He has created a brand new module in his own mind that fills the role for his story but can't be bothered to google if anyone else had already used the same title.

For the purpose of his strip all he needed to do was take one of the already existing modules that already suit his needs exactly and tweek their title for satire.

Temple of Elemental Evilness
Tomb of Horribleness
etc etc

But by not doing so, he has encouraged people to see if his Mines of Madness is a real module and find that it's a rather nice homebrew. Heaven forbid he envision his D&D readers actually want to play his epic module and take the simple step of using a unique name.

Remember that Simpsons Episode where Principal Skinner explains to Apu about his idea for a novel? Sort of like that.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
HCGLNS said:
For the purpose of his strip all he needed to do was take one of the already existing modules that already suit his needs exactly and tweek their title for satire.

Temple of Elemental Evilness
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I would have gone for the Tabernacle of Essential Evil.
 
Frank

Frank

HCGLNS said:
I don't find it harsh that he didn't know about it. I do expect a professional story teller that is embarking on a multi-week story arc based around something that will clearly generate interest and possibly branch off into a future revenue stream to spend a minor amount of time and google his idea first.
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Jesus, this thread has seen it's fair share of finding absolutely anything to shit on Kurtz for, but this may take the cake of nitpickiness.
 
S

Soliloquy

You know, as long as we're nitpicking, I'm going to nitpic your nitpicking. The module you linked to isn't called "Mines of Madness." It's called "AT the mines of madness." Clearly a different module there :p

That said, this storyline seems to be full of more wasted potential than the infamous paintball arc. He set up a scenario that promised deviously clever ideas and exciting action (have any of you guys read the tomb of horrors sourcebook? That in itself is an entertaining read), and instead we get players squabbling and "oop the traps are hard to find herp derp."
 
S

Soliloquy

So, new comic is up... why does this storyline feel like it's being written for people who have never heard anything about D&D in their lives? I've never even played a single game and I know enough to not think that falling on a gelatinous cube is a good thing.

Also, the punchline for today's strip? It's only different from the punchline of yesterday's strip if you've never read a single piece of D&D-based before and ALSO don't know enough english to understand the definition of "detect" unless the word is... repeated a second time or something..
 
Shegokigo

Shegokigo

Decided to go to the site, just to see how bad the punchlines really are.
This is what I see being advertised for one of his main characters:

First there was Neck Beard. Now there is Neck Cleavage!
11.jpg
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

Kurtz isn't just using a tired gag punchline, he's literally recycling/plagiarizing himself. I recall the exact lines, "You said there were no traps" and "I said you detect no traps" being spoken by Francis and Brent, when Brent was DMing.
 
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