Craig Clark's page

It would be hard for me to lump sci-fi/fantasy together and stick to four so I will cheat and do four of each...

Science fiction

Neuromancer - William Gibson
Dune - Frank Herbert
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Foundation - Isaac Asimov

Fantasy

Song of Ice and Fire - George RR Martin
Lord of the Rings - J R R Tolkien
Swords - Fritz Leiber
First Law - Joe Abercrombie

Also very good sci-fi series: Iain Banks Culture series, Neal Asher's Polity, Richard Morgan's Takashi Kovacs, Arthur C Clarke's 2001 series.

Fantasy: Steven Erikson Malazan series, Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastards, and Roger Zelazny's Amber.

There are certain authors that don't seem to be able to constrain themselves adequately... (Hello Neal Stephenson!) I invariably like their earlier work better than their later because it isn't until they are successful that their editor's seem to give them free reign.

As other's have suggested these books could have been fantastic if condensed into 10 books. Spin off books such as New Spring could have filled in any gaps, but then again some authors probably just can't work that way.

In a way I think its much similar to the success of Star Wars first trilogy versus the second trilogy. Sometimes absolute creative control doesn't result in the finest piece of 'art'.

I might post up my notes to it one of these days.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Timecrimes is a low budget Spanish film (subtitles) that you can watch instantly if you have Netflix. Its a modern day SciFi time travel story that actually holds up fairly well to plot-hole scrutiny.

I give a definite second to Rogue, splendid direction and acting in a horror film.

The Class is worth a look if you have any interest in things outside of the US. It's a docudrama written by a French school teacher based on his experiences at a very rough school in a poorer area outside of Paris. He is also the main actor and none of the students are professionals.

[
This is doubly interesting, because Downer artist Kyle Hunter actually designed the "look" of the ethergaunts. I described to him what I was seeing in my diseased brain, and he did a sketch that we provided to our handlers at WotC, who then provided it to the artist who did the final piece (a dude named Puddinhead, if I remember correctly).

I told the story once on my old blog, which is now readable only via archive.org.

Here it is!

Sadly, Kyle's original drawing is no longer available.

Apologies to James.

David Fryer wrote:

I don't remember that one. Which book is it in?

3.5 Fiend Folio. Same book as ethergaunts and shadar-kai.

Longevity is generally measured by the accuracy of your aim and not how many bullets you spray into the air.

I am always amazed at how few of the posters from the Dungeon/Dragon days are still around actually.

Please, please do. Make sure not to buy a "small".

I certainly hope there is a wager involved somewhere...

Less recently, Idoru, by William Gibson, made my least favorite list. Great story, with lots of potential, and interwoven plots, for about 9/10ths of the book.
"Hey kids, we're going to Disneyland! [He stops the car somewhere in the middle of Arizona] I changed my mind. Get out of the car. [William Gibson...

A complete piece of drivel (and I don't use that term lightly) that I read recently was "Dies the Fire" by SM Stirling. I didn't have any expectations whatsoever for that book (purchased before boarding a flight) and it took quite a bit of will power to get through the whole thing.

Now that Peter Jackson isn't such a fat a$$ I think he could probably take JJ "Dyn-O-Mite!" Abrams out without much problem.

Or is this a fight about which one is a better director? Less geeky?

James Jacobs wrote:

Xuttah wrote:

What kind of giant is that? It looks upset!
Very good, as usual. Looking forward to owning these books.

The cover of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary features a marilith demon, a troll, and a bunch of goblins. The troll, as you can see, gets a pretty big revamp to its look in Pathfinder...

What?

No more skinny green pickle-nose trolls?

Poor Poul Anderson... some of us still love you!!!

EDIT: And BTW, that is one Abyss of an underbite!

No Nick, with a reply like that your point is to harangue anyone who does not leap to join you in expressing the same degree of sympathy as you embrace.
If you feel incapable of making a moral judgement because you feel you cannot make a moral decision over a situation you are not actually expreiencing, that is you.

I don't begrudge anyone being proud of our military and giving kudos where it is due. (To take down three targets on the water within seconds of each other is beyond what is normally required, exceptional skill, no doubt about it.) But I guarantee you none of those SEALS did any spiking the ball celebrations or chest thumping after the fact.

Sometimes this bull*cough* penchant for equating patriotism with which football team you cheer for is rather infantile and disturbing. I was in Somalia in '92, I was part of the landing force that encountered idiot reporters as soon as we were at the landing zone. I can only imagine how much more &!%$ed up the country is now compared to then.

To come on to Paizo's website and make broad statements about foreign affairs and belittle others comments only shows how clueless some people truly are.

2. Having not read the book, I was a bit confused when Ozymandias beat the pulp out of Rorschach and what's-his-name near the film's end. I was sure that he had found a way to Manhattan himself, thus enabling such a scrawny guy to kick so much butt. But then it turned out he was still just a smart guy, and I scratched my head for a moment.

Yeah his athleticism definitely didn't come across in the movie. He had the smart thing and the pretty boy thing going on but...yeah. Not that I expect much consistency in a movie where any shlub can go out and single handedly dispatch a gang of senselessly violent thugs just by putting on a halloween costume.

Randy Dorman—The Palace in the Ashen Wastes
Eric Bailey—Hecataeus: Sanctum of the Colossus

It's all about what have you done for me lately, I think this round is the most important for how well someone will perform in the next round. Body of work -- not so much.

Malgana the Twistwood Lich
Hecataeus, Master of Constructs
Derinogen, Aristocratic Mage

Didn't vote for anyone I voted for last round.

Valeros: "Mutilated?!! Whaddaya mean there ain't no such thing as an Elven mohel?"

To the web deity of Paizo, can you fix my "Gamers in Need" thread in the off topic discussion area? Not sure what happened, it seems to be there when you do a search but not when you browse the boards.

Gracias.

This is reposted from a message board that I frequent, if it is posted any where else on Paizo's boards then my apologies. I know what a great group of gamers there are on the Paizo boards so I thought some people might want to chip in:

Hi, I got asked to forward this information to the local gamers/comic geeks. If this in any way violates any terms of this forum please pull it immediately with my apologies.

CARLA AND LANCE HOFFMAN, video gamers, table top players, comic book geeks, SCA members, and all around wicked nerds. Carla works at a local comic book store and keeps a comic review blog. They live(d) in Montecito a small town near Santa Barbara California. They are truly awesome people who you would find at any good con.

Unfortunately they have had some very bad fate dice rolls lately. On Thursday Nov. 13, 2008. (About 6 days ago.) Lance and Carla were caught in a flash fire/wildfire that overtook them as they were fleeing their home. Fortunately they have survived.

Badly burned they drove themselves out of the fire and to the Montecito fire station and from there were taken by ambulance to a Santa Barbara hospital. They are in stable condition but both have suffered sever burns on their arms and legs and Lance has 3rd degree burns on his head.

Their house was incinerated by the Tea Fire, the huge fire burning around the cities of Montecito and Santa Barbara. It is my understanding that the house was rented and they had no renters insurance. They lost everything. Ever game, every game system, their laptops, everything. They have no clothes, no beds, nothing.

For more information you can check this blog: Newsrama blog
Here is the official announcement about the fund: Tea Fire Burn Victim Relief
Here is the news report on the couple: News article on Noozhawk

I know money is tight right now but if you want to help your fellow gamers there is a few things you can do.

Send a donation to:
The Lance and Carla Burn Fund
Santa Barbara Bank and Trust
1483 East Valley Road
Montecito, CA 93108-1248

Even donations as small as 10$ would be most appreciated.

If you can't send money you can repost this call for help in your own blog/webpage/myspace account. If permissible you could post it on other gamer forums and let others know that two sweet gamers need help. If you are in the SCA please let the locals know that these two need help. Get the word out to others who might be in a better position to give.

And finally you can pray. I know many of us don't usually do that but please keep these two lovely people in your hearts and minds and thank the Power(s) that be for getting them out of the fire and ask them to continue to care for them. They are lovely individuals. They are doing better but they still need our best prayers to avoid further disaster.

At the risk of digressing from the thread further, what would or could an attack on the Pacific coast of the US have accomplished?

We just had 8 years of Dick "Darth" Cheney, so I think I will take a pass on that one.

It can certainly be addicting, being shot at and having explosives lobbed at you, it gets the adrenalin pumping.

Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane is great fun as well, but spy-rigging had to be my favorite, just google it. The joys of being a scout/sniper (HOG) in the Marines.

Go back to the Powell endorsment, a friend of mine brought this to my attention. How does it help Obama's campaign to portray John McCain as Bush's third term when he has been endorsed by the most visible face of the "steady drumbeat to war" that Democrats kept bringing up?

And to be honest no body gives a 'rats left chicken McNugget' about the Iraq war right now. "It's the economy stupid", not Ayers, not Wright, not Farakhan, I think the McCain campaign is coming unglued.

This impressed me, from an early voter in Florida kfm1964:

"I'm a middle-class white guy living in Jacksonville, Florida. I've got a wife and two kids. Because the kids had no school today, I took a vacation day from work, and took the kids downtown to vote early. Fifty-nine minutes later, two smiling children and I proudly sported "I Voted" stickers.

But I didn't vote for Obama.

I voted for my ancestors, who believed in the promise of this country and came with with nothing as immigrants.

I voted for my parents, who taught in the public schools for decades.

I voted for Steve, an acquaintance of mine from Kentucky. (Killed by an IED two years ago in Iraq).

I voted for Shawn, another who's been to Iraq twice, and Afghanistan once, and who'll be going back to Afghanistan again soon -- and whose family earned eleven bucks a month too much to qualify for food stamps when the war started.

I voted for April, the only African-American girl in my high school -- it was years before it occurred to me how different her experience of our school must have been.

I voted for my college friends who are Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and yes -- Muslim.

I voted for my grandfathers, who worked hard in factories and died too young.

I voted for the plumber who worked on my house, because I want him to get a REAL tax break.

I voted for four little angels from Birmingham.

I voted for a bunch of dead white men who, although personally flawed, were willing to pledge their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor, and used a time of great crisis to expand freedom rather than suspend it.

I voted for all those people and more, and I voted for all of you, too. But mostly, I voted selfishly. I vote for two little kids, one who has ballet in an hour, and once who has baseball practice at the same time. I voted for a world where they can be confident that their government will represent the best that is in this country, and that will in turn demand the best of them. I voted for a government that will be respected in the world. I voted for an economy that will reward work above guile. I voted for everything I believe in.

Sure, I filled in the circle next to the name Obama, but it wasn't him I was voting for -- it was every single one of us, and those I love most of all.

Who else is there to vote for?"

A little smaltzy, but I don't see Colin Powell's name anywhere in there.

Be sure to click on the door multiple times...

Palin in the oval office.

The reason I mentioned it as an issue is because if the current designers are coming up with the sort of logic that allows them to either redact the history of the game to the point of ignoring two settings, or simply forgetting to check the publication dates, then it suggests a reasonable concern with what other elements of the history of the game...

There is a reason it was Manzorian and 'Free City' in Age of Worms, marketing guys don't like it when you prop up dead product lines.

Although I am not a subscriber for the magazine Games for Windows, I am guessing there aren't a lot of Windows XP tips in that periodical anymore...I am thinking they pimp a lot of Vista now, just a guess though.

It all depends on how you define campaign setting. It's not an unambiguous term. So crying that the phb goes out of the way to be insulting about Greyhawk is hard to take seriously (and kinda petty).

I finally got a chance to play 4ed and to be honest it isn't a bad game. I also enjoy the occassional game of Talisman, Descent, and Runebound. And that is exactly what 4ed seemed to me, a hybridized version of those games. Whether you consider it a more complex board game or a streamlined RPG/Wargame it certainly isn't another step in the progression from 1st edition. It simply isn't THAT game anymore.

You can say it is simplified and easier play, or you can say it is watered down and no longer your cup of tea, I don't think those view points need to be so disparate.

I do like some of the systems from 4th ed. and plan on moving them into my 3rd ed game, but I don't think I would ever run a campaign length game with just 4th ed.

In my game I narrowed the human's ability to two abilities based on sub-races (+2 Int or Cha for race X) so they players are forced to think a little more about which sub-race of human they want to be.

It also boosts the half-elf a little because they don't have this restriction.

I think one of the largest prohibitive factors to both the fighter and the monk at higher levels is their loss of iterative attacks based on 3.5's full attack rules and movement in combat.

Obviously this becomes even more of a factor with the monk because one of their main abilities is their extra speed and one of their main combat abilities is flurry of blows.

I think the monk needs a couple of things, first they should have an ability that allows them to tumble and leap during a charge which would increase their mobility and combat ability, I would even go so far to say they should be able to leap just about anywhere and at any time as a charge in place of "x" amount of movement. It only makes sense that they should be the most mobile 'fighter' in any party.

Also the flurry of blows should be able to be beefed up at later levels, whether this is with ki strikes or magically augmented 'fist wraps' or whatever you want to say. Each of the blows should have a different option during a full attack. This would be especially be usefull if it somehow increases the utility of the additional iterative attacks ala fighting style feats or Bo9S.

Anyway they defintely need something more, but I don't think they need a whole re-build.

I agree that rangers should be more disposed towards archery than two-weapon fighting, but I like that they have a choice.

With regard to the ranger I think they better either go long or stay home.

It needs something to majorly overhaul it similar to the barbarian, otherwise why not play a fighter that can track stuff?

It might even be wise to give them a grab bag of abilities to choose similar to the rogue, except the spell abilities would be druid/wild shape based, and the fighter abilities would need to be something cooler than what you get from the rogue talents.

The ranger in 3.5 always struck me as a 2nd edition character that was hand waved at because the developers were afraid to mess it up.

Gruumsh doesn't strike me as the sort of deity that likes shmansy pansy druids with flowers in their hair running around.

Joey Virtue wrote:

Does a creatures mouth count as a Dangerouse Situation like swallow whole?

It might.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Which is to say I love the idea! But an automatic grapple check in this case to cling to the behir as it tries to fling you off the cliff is probably a good idea.

Roman wrote:

It may also be useful to give characters who take a level of their favored class +1 skill point per level (instead of the +1 hit point per level...

Great idea. This gets at what being in your preferred class is better than adding hit points. I agree that hit points seem to be going up quite rapidly.

I did not want to come out and say it quite yet, but this is a change I am seriously considering right now. Each bloodline would have a list of spells, and you would get to choose one every time you gain a new level of spells (4th, 6th, 8th, etc). I like that, but to give them a bit of a bit more balance, I might drop all those levels by one (that is they can choose a bonus 1st lv spell at 3rd, 2nd lv at 5th, etc).

I realize that some folks would really like to see their progression change. Right now, I am not willing to make that change. The sorcerers benefit has always been more spells, just at a slightly slower progression. You may disagree, but right now, I am sticking with this concept.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

I am also leaning towards giving them 3/4 BAB, otherwise they completely lose their flavor as a slightly buffer spell caster. (Seeing that wizards now have the same hit die.) Plus this would give them a reason to use their touch attacks in melee.

As for her hair, yup. Our gnomes are fey; and one way that manifests is in their skin and hair colors.

So even outside of Golarion it isn't all that "gimped".

I have to say I am very disappointed with Pathfinders Take on Paladins. You have failed to address some of the the major flaws in the class and instead have opted to add some shiny special abilities and call it good.

About the only thing I think is probably a no-brainer change is to give the paladin (and ranger for that matter) the same access to 0-level "at will" spells. I hope to see this in the future.

The Wis-based casting doesn't seem to me to be a big deal, the boost in turning is more than enough "oomf" for the class.

28 point buy plus humans getting +2 ability boost kind a sinks the whole stat argument in my opinion.

Ahnald - "Eef you take away my d12 Ahh will put you-ah puny 'ed between my tie's and crus' eet like a g'ape!"

NORTHWEST OF EARTH:
Composition is nice, but too static form my taste.
He should be on the attack and not backed into a corner.
Again the colors are too subdued.
No sense of Place!
THESE ARE PLANET STORIES!!!

I think PS needs to go a little Gonzo with the covers.

I have no problems with this at all, has anyone started playing with 1st level characters lately?

Every time I start a new campaign I reminded that 3.5 really only "works" from about 4th level through 12th level. 1st level characters are too fragile and 13th level characters are too "wonky".

I for one think the power creep makes perfect sense especially if you combine it with the slower XP progressions.

Half-elves were always a disappointing race in 3.5 and I like the +2 to any ability score schtick but with humans getting the same bonus it pretty much nerfs the half-elf once again.

I also don't see why humans should get proficiency in any one weapon, something seems off to me there. Perhaps Weapon Focus with any weapon from the simple weapons list? What's to stop every human to lug around an exotic weapon at 1st level?

I think to redress things humans should lose the +2 ability boost and half-elves should keep it.

Also as a side note the Pathfinder system actually makes multi-classing rogues even more powerful at 1st level since the skill choices are only effective at 1st level.
A 5th level cleric/1st level rogue will have 4 skills (+int)
A 1st level rogue/5th level cleric will have 10 skills (+ int)
A 5th level rogue/1st level cleric will have 10 skills (+ int)
A 1st level cleric/5th level rogue will have 4 skills (+ int)

I like what they are trying to do with skills but I think some sort of compromise between automatically maxing the skills and putting points into them would work better. Perhaps all skills are auto cross-classed max ranks (half CL + ranks purchased + ability score) and every level you get X number of points and every 3rd level you get one more skill?

Something needs to change either way.

One of the real power killers for a fighter is their dependency on iterative attacks to deal damage at higher levels. Having a fighters mobility in combat increase at certain levels would do a lot to correct this. (5' step becomes a 10' step at X level, 10' step becomes 15' step at X level) would do a lot to fix that issue.

Seeing how there is a flying skill, how about the aarakocra...

Just don't call them birdborn or featherborn, or something else lame (and copyrightable).

These are more or less in order of dislike:

1. Why warlock, warlord and no druid, monk, barbarian, or bard. (Screams lazy to me.)

2. Wizard basically functions as a sorcerer did in 3rd edition.

3. Clerics seem to be too watered down now.

4. Magic missile requires a roll to hit...(why not make it a lesser orb spell and make magic missile autohit for a higher level effect?)

5. I like the idea but not the implementation of negative hitpoints and dying.

6. Not sure I like how weapons are being differentiated. (+to hit versus damage potential)

7. I don't like the idea of having to subscribe to DDI to get certain content.

8. I don't like their marketing model nor their modification to the OGL to create the GSL. (I am assuming it is far more restrictive.)

9. Most of the fluff I have read.

10. Some of the power mechanics seem almost impossible to explain with regard to a low fantasy, low magic setting.

These are more or less in order of their importance to me as a DM.

1. Character power is no longer reliant on magic item cost/treasure limits making low magic (some might say realistic) settings easy to run.

2. Skill system has been streamlined so that EVERY character can utilize them effectively.

3. No more throw away classes... (No longer only 5+ player games can have a warlock or monk or bard, etc.)

4. No more bogus multi-classing rules (You can be an effective mage/priest without taking a prestige class that is built for it.)

5. Monster/NPC builds are no longer dependent on the character ruleset.

6. The game stays viable and fun after 12th level.

7. Magic items are no longer constructed and forced to conform to an inaccurate cost vs utility mechanic. (I am hoping this turns out to be true.)

8. Characters no longer have 'useless' levels, oh boy I got more hitpoints at 5th level, "Where's the beef?"

9. More feats, and feats are more intertwined with character power choices.

10. Gnomes are no longer a PC race. (Heh heh)

Just finished this yesterday and I must admit I was worried after the second story but things picked up from there and I am glad I stuck with it. (I pretty much skimmed Black God's Shadow.)

Just received the Northwest Smith in the mail so I will start that next!

My grandfather had a huge collection of old pulp dime novels that I grabbed after he passed away so it's cool to see some of this stuff in print again.

Yes, the allowed weapons may not be exhaustive. Characters may have additional weapon choices or weapon training from other sources or whatever. But the weapon restrictions on the abilities actually are exhaustive and so we actually do know that the class won't support thugs and knaves using clubs, saps, hammers, maces, spears, bows, axes, or broadswords.

-Frank

(Personally I always thought a rogue using spears and two-handed swords to sneak attack was @#!*&^$% anyway.)

In D&D this is what save-or-die effects do: through random fate you can just die. There isnt a change to realize that maybe you should retreat, or even a chance to gauge the threat. Its instant.

The problem with the article is that he is basing his contention that the math makes this all possible with 4th edition when in reality removing all things that are "save or die" is the main reason. And to then go on and make a case that you can truly have fun knowing that rolling a '1' will never ruin your day is simply a false assumption.

In the opening of the article he mentions that a 'cursed' item changed his character into a woman. As far as I know there is nothing in 4th edition that would make me believe that this couldn't still be the case and in the end wouldn't that ruin the fun for your 'hero' just as much as rolling a '1' and dying would?

The article is garbage and completely lacking in anything that would make me think 4th edition is good or bad.

1) Do you plan to convert to the new edition of D&D?

2) If Paizo converts its RPG products to 4.0, how will that affect your purchasing patterns for our products?

I would undoubtedly start up my Pathfinder subscription again. I have little faith in WotC ability to put out a decent AP type of product (i.e. Red Hand of Doom) for 4th edition, without the folks from Paizo writing for them.

3) If Paizo does not convert its RPG products to 4.0, how will that affect your purchasing patterns for our products?

Somehow my previous post from when I voted got lost...

Really I was very torn between this and Christines entry, I finally decided to vote for Christine just because hers was the more polished entry and I think either of you would make a great RPG Superstar.

If I was voting for the overall body of work you would have won hands down, from Bereket to the Catspaw, Rothang's Rest, even the Ebon Flame in the first round was one of my favorites.

And to be honest my favorite adventure idea was the Cliff's of Shattered Glass, even if the adventure outline didn't quite come out as well.

Anyway, congrats on some great work and continued success in the future.