Adventuring in D&D 3.5

D&D 3.5 is my fantasy role-playing game of choice. I started with AD&D 2nd edition, but my real regular games started with the release of D&D 3rd edition. With the coming of 3.5, we upgraded, admitting that the changes were generally good, though we grumbled a bit about replacing books.

So, now we're holding on to 3.5 edition, despite 4th having come and gone and 5th edition (or just "Dungeons and Dragons") now out on the shelves. Stubbornly holding onto our books, and hoping they don't fall apart. Thank Wizards for the SRD and the OGL. A nice html conversion of the SRD. Pathfinder? Should we find the Path with Paizo? Maybe, we should give it a try (I ran it once for the kids) the next time we start a new campaign.

We have a number of DMs running in different worlds. My game features my personal creation of Tirotha. Tirotha started from a reading of David Eddings's Elenium, I liked the ideas of the various orders of knights, disconnected from the rule of their countries. I took this idea, upped the number of orders from 4 to 7 (Because more is better!) and created the Duchies of the human Kingdom to be home to those orders (which eventually became 8, because I have to have exceptions to everything and one Duchy got a 2nd order). I stole the idea of two nations of Elves from Dragonlance, so had the ancient elven empire split by a war with the humans. I also always felt each race should have an entire pantheon of their own, rather than just a patron God, this led to an overly large list of religions. Check out the map of Tirotha that I first drew by hand and then drew up in AutoRealm, a mapmaking tool.

When last we visited our heroes in Tirotha, they were protecting the town of Ekkert's Gorge from an attack by strange elemental creatures of pure wind. Such notable heroes as Avry, the psychic warrior, Cassius, the Fist of Hextor, Oken Sunn the magic user, and Ted a man of many paths. They had previously defeated a mysterious necromancer, mutilating livestock. Will the mysterious stranger who offered to help them solve the mystery prove trustworthy? or an enemy? (An enemy, of course)

Do you like to use a battlemap, but lack the time, money or skill to collect and paint miniatures? I use this page of blank paper standups and copy appropriate images on to them. Print them out, fold them to the triangle shape and tape (or use plastic stands).

Or check out the first draft of my "Ancestor Speaker" class. A 20 level full spellcaster, it is intended to represent a religious leader of a barbarian tribe, with a focus on worshiping ancestor spirits, rather than a god. Without the armor proficiencies of a cleric, or shapeshifting abilities of a druid.