Brian Carpenter's page

RadioLab is the best science podcast produced. Listen to the episode on parasites. Absolutely amazing.

Excellent news, Scott. I'll looking forward to reading your conversion notes.

Per page 30:

1)Select new class level. You must already qualify for this based on previously gained abilites, etc.
2)Apply Ability Score increase due to Character Level gain.
3)Integrate all of that classes' abilities from that level and roll for hit points.
4)Add new skills and feats.

Unfamiliar Moon by Vance Gilbert.

Have they released the locations for the US yet? It's barely a week away and I'm not sure what stores are participating.

Thanks Cosmo!

You guys and gals in Customer Service do a great job.

At the beginning of August, I subscribed to the Pathfinder AP, Modules and Companion lines. When I subscribed, I chose the one month shipping option and chose to start my module subscription with Beyond the Vault of Souls. I received an email last Tuesday notifying me that an order of mine would ship soon (Order #1221744). I noticed that the Beyond the Vault of Souls module is set to ship, but I don't seem to have the Crypt of the Everflame module showing in my shipment. I checked the My Subscription section of the paizo site, but it isn't even listed on future shipments. The next module I have listed is Carrion Hill in November. I'm really looking forward to Crypt of the Everflame and would like to get it as part of my subscription.

Could you please check into this and be sure to include it in my next shipment?

Thank you.

Despite this being a RPG forum, when I first saw the thread title I thought it was about tensors.

Does FantasyCraft use iterative attacks or spells per day/spell slots?

I'm thinking no, but can someone with the book confirm?

Well, I just reupped my Pathfinder AP subscription, in no small part thanks to the description of this module. The whole idea of the play sounds so fantastic that I just had to see what it was all about.

I wanted to finally give my feedback on the new format since I recently finished reading through Robots Have No Tails.

Overall, I find the push to make the product more "pulpy" a welcome change. I think that it can help to distinguish it from the traditional sci-fi fantasy mix on the shelves. As a reader, the size was never an issue and in fact it felt much like the recent trade paperbacks being pushed by publishers.

I rather enjoyed the two column format and I know that places me in the minority. The style lends itself to the feel of a pulp magazine in which the stories were originally published (I have no idea if this is true, but it felt that way). It didn't have any detrimental effect on my ability to read and enjoy the story.

The artwork is welcome addition and I can't wait to see more of it. Art always seemed to be part of the planetary romance/sword and planet genre, be it interior illustrations or fantastic covers. I enjoyed the work both on and in Robots Have No Tails.

The paper stock was rather flimsy. The quality of the product suffered due to this, especially in light of the price. In fact, after my wife finished the book, I asked her about the same issues I've outlined above. She had no issue with any of the formatting either, but when I asked her what she would pay for the book (her not knowing how much it cost), she replied "No more than $6." She was a bit surprised when I told her how much it cost and made it clear that she would never have purchased it in a bookstore. Thankfully, she doesn't care what I do with my entertainment budget, and she's always happy to have more books to read.

Hope this was at least a little helpful. I plan on continuing to enjoy and support the line in the future.

It is out (for real this time), and it is awesome! Very easy to use. It's going to make tweaking and creating monsters so much easier now. I'm really excited. I've just been playing around with adjusting monster levels and it's easy as pie. The builder does all the work for you - you just have to adjust the level. I now plan to put all my monster creations in this builder.

This is one of the best tools for DMs to ever come out.

And I can't help but think that this is going to make conversions of Pathfinder material so much easier.

This is fantastic news! While the DDI certainly had some stumbling blocks at the beginning, it has provided the best dollar value out of all of the gaming purchases I've made this year. I'm really enjoying it and can't wait to get a look at the Monster Builder tomorrow.

Well, our next sci-fi book club book is Kindred by Octavia Butler, so I've started that. Very well written so far and I like how she's using the time travel as a metaphor for slavery. Least that's how I'm reading it.

Also just finished Lord of Spiders from the Planet Stories line. Ugh, I wish I'd read another Brackett book instead. Consider me done with Moorcock's Burroughs pastiche. Still plugging away at Game of Thrones and looking to start Storm Dragon by James Wyatt next.

Brian Carpenter wrote:

Thanks for the domain info Larry. It looks like Calistria can be well represented by the Love, Trickery and Vengeance domains.

After briefly glancing at the Love domain in Divine Power, I don't think that Love is a great match for Calistria. It seems to be more ... caring for others than I would attribute to Calistria. I would think that a power connected with her would be more likely to allow you have damage dealt to you be redirected at a willing ally than the reverse.

I was also thinking this morning about how much I liked D0, D1, D4 and Falcon's Hollow. It would be cool to see another "sandbox" style setup with a few adventures supporting one of the region books from the Chronicles line.

Thanks for the domain info Larry. It looks like Calistria can be well represented by the Love, Trickery and Vengeance domains.

I've noticed the lack of high-level (13+) modules and wished there were more available. I'd also like to see a sequence of linked modules. As an example, I've always been a fan of the Desert of Desolation series published by TSR and I fondly recall the Istvin series of adventures from the Paizo Dungeon Magazine days.

Gah. I really can't wait to get this. I haven't been looking forward to a book release like this for a while. I'm playing a cleric of Calistria in our 4E Pathfinder game. Any chance you could tell us how many domains there are or even possibly list them? Pretty please.

Just finished Dune for my sci-fi book club and it was a fantastic read. I'm seriously considering moving on to the second book.

Now I have to finish Robots Have No Tails (Yaaa for Planet Stories!), A Game of Thrones (last months book for book club), and Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life.

Brian Carpenter wrote:

Gen Con is right around the corner and I was wondering if the discount described above would apply to old books purchased at the Paizo booth? I know that you guys have us ring out through the online system, but I wasn't sure if it would still apply.

My understanding is that yes, it does apply.

Additionally, subscribers will be able to order older Planet Stories books at a substantial 15% discount off the cover price as an added benefit of subscribing. We hope this new discount structure makes it easier for collectors to pick up volumes they may have missed from earlier in our series.

Thanks to all the people that worked on this and to Paizo for distributing it to those of us that couldn't be there.

I've had issues too, especially in the mornings here (Ohio).

Hey P.H., how is your game going? Are you still playing through SD and converting it?

If it weren't for the Map Folios, you'd probably still have me as a Chronicles subscriber. I cancelled my sub when the Second Darkness one was coming up and I haven't reupped it since I knew the Legacy of Fire one would be along next. Instead, I've picked up a PDF or two from the line.

To be clear, I don't see the Map Folios as inherently poor products, they just happen to be a product that I don't have a use for. Instead, I'd be interested in a product that provided battlemats for key encounters contained in an adventure path. I'd be willing to pay between $20 and $30 for four to six color double sided battlemats that I could use at various points in the AP.

Currently reading A Game of Thrones for my book club. I have a week to finish and I'm on page 300. Hope I make it!

After that, we are reading Dune and since my summer break starts, I'm planning to add The Ginger Star to my list before tackling Dune.

This is fantastic news! So fantastic, that I subscribed from my iPod Touch while lying in bed last night.

The changes you've implemented (most notably the bi-monthly schedule) were exactly what I needed to take the plunge. One book a month was a bit too fast considering the other reading material already on my bookshelf. Tossing in the very generous discount certainly helped too.

Thanks for taking the steps to make this line even more appealing. I think I'll pass on the link to my sci-fi/fantasy book club.

I'd dropped my subscriptions to the Pathfinder AP and Chronicles about two months ago, so I took advantage of the sale to catch up on some of those missed products. In total I grabbed:

Guide to Absalom
AP #19: Howl of the Carrion King
Dragons Revisited
E2: Blood of Dragonscar

Put me down as another fan of Dark Sun. I ran it for three years back in the late 90s and our group had a fantastic time. I never got into it much during 3E, but I would love for it to show up in 4E.

Wasn't there a 4E Dark Sun article released in an issue of Dragon?

Yes. Expect some announcements regarding Planet Stories next week.

I have to honestly say that the cover alone has me interested in buying this book. If the insides are half as cool as the front, I'll be one happy gamer.

Merilon wrote:

savage wrote:

Yeah, I'll third that. I'm getting paranoid since GameMastery's Sewers Pack was dissapointing.

I agree. This sounds awesome, but I'm afraid I'm not gonna buy it blindly. Even a couple minimized pictures to get an idea of what they look like would be awesome!

We definitely need to fix that. It might take us a little while, but look for images of every tile in every map pack to be added to the site in the near future.

All right then. I'll see if I can't apply my own brand of nerdy muscle to the local stores around here. After all, I see them carrying those Doc Savage and Shadow reprints, so Planet Stories should be a natural fit.

I've been trying to find the books in my local bookstores, but with no success. Neither Borders or Barnes & Noble seem to carry them near me. Is that just their choice or can I pressure them to carry the line?

That's actually a cool idea Matt. It reminds me of some of the monsters in the Birthright campaign setting. There was THE Gorgon or THE Medusa which made them terrifying and great threats for the players. I'd like to see how Paizo would reimagine some classic monsters as unique creatures.

In addition, I'd love to see yugoloths done by Paizo. I was so disappointed that WotC didn't offer us a Fiendish Codex III for them. I'm not sure how Paizo plans to fit them into their cosmology though. Also, please provide a reworking of elementals. I have never liked the "lump of element" idea, as fighting it with weapons seems silly.

Wow!

I had no idea this existed. Our group is currently playing a 4E campaign in Golarion and this will be a fantastic resource for our game. I'll be sure to share it with our DM. Thanks to everyone that contributed and Paizo for allowing this to happen.

I suspect that we MIGHT do companions about organizations some time, and some organizations are self-selecting for certain types of classes. Also, if we were to do a companion on, say, The Lands of the Linnorm Kings, you could expect to see a lot of barbarian stuff in there.

"The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)" by Weezer.

Thanks for your input everyone. I think I'll pick it up soon.

Hey guys,

I'm intrigued by the idea of the Knights of the Old Republic campaign setting. I'm a fan of the movies (original trilogy more than the new ones), but I've never looked into the expanded universe. If I wanted to get a resource that would let me learn more about the setting of KoToR, is this a good buy?

Finished The Forever War (great book!) and I've decided to read The Secret of Sinharat quickly before our next book club selection, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin.

so....a player of mine really liked Calistria. She fit in the best with his concept...except he is the antithesis of lust.

He is a middle-aged man, once a shiver addict, who disguises himself as an old man and a beggar. He is very much into the revenge for our fair city thing, though, and sets up alley-way shrines to the Goddess of Trickery. His class: cleric (though he might take some rogue levels at some point).

Where would he fit in with the church as a whole?

I teach physics (College Prep, Honors and AP) to juniors and seniors. This year, I've also been asked to teach a semester of computer programming.

So has anyone been able to incorporate anything they learned from gaming into their teaching curriculum yet? I thought I'd ask since a friend and I were just having one of our "Everything I need to know I learned from gaming" moments...

Finished The Traveler by John Twelve Hawkes and am now moving on to The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

It was in the August 1979 issue... not sure about the number off the top of my head.

On a related note - I think that most of the people who are "outraged" (not my term) by this are just sick of the "my edition is better than yours" arguments that have been littering the internet for the past several months.

It only stokes the edition wars fires...and from an "official" source too. For shame. I am extremely happy with Paizo for consistently taking the high road here.

Saul Vancaskerkin is neither a theologian nor a planar expert and has no knowledge or interest in the finer distinctions of the Lower Planes. As a result, he doesn’t care that succubi are actually demons rather than devils and would be considered mortal enemies of the latter.

Personally, I found both of them (WotC's and Paizo's) funny.

-The Drow Runes and Demon Runes from Chapter One of the Second Darkness AP. Could they please get made into avatars. Because it would be cool to have a Pathfinder Demonlord's rune as an avatar!