Daeglin's page

Along the video game line, there was the "Thief" series. I could see that in Eberron.

Rambling Scribe wrote:

Does anyone recall if this was ever placed in a game world, and if so, was it a retrofit?

Return to the Keep on the Borderlands put the Keep and Caves of Chaos in Greyhawk (in the Yeomanry, I think), but it was not only a retrofit but a pretty lame one too, if I recall.

I thought I remembered it being in the Hold of the Sea Princes, but if not, it "bordered" on the two on a trade road between. Keep does tie in to the "points of light" thing - it's the classic example of that genre. We played what amounted to a minicampaign in the Keep back in 1e. Great times! Like others have said above, initially it had no setting and eventually was placed in Mystara like all basic D&D, and that might give it the edge over Hommlet.

Not angry. Regarding the magazines, disappointed. Regarding 4e, neutral, mildly interested. I had the rare opportunity this morning to walk my daughter to school. Overheard a small group of ~8 yr old boys talking about "hit points", "fire strike", and "leveling"; it finally hit me that I really am not the target audience anymore. The end of the print magazines is the end of an era for me. D&D is an old friend, whether from TSR or WOTC, and I will likely buy 4e out of loyalty and interest, (old friends get latitude for bad behavior, i need latitude myself sometimes). I suspect I'll never play though.

While I'm looking forward to OS 10.5, for some reason web countdowns seem a little ominous to me now...

Interesting system. Some aspects are similar to a Magic Use skill (subs for Spellcraft) in the Black Company Campaign Setting d20. An example is here. BCCS is a bit more sympathetic in its damage for failure in that the caster has a "buffer" of spell energy to protect against damage if they choose not to use it to increase the chance of making the DC, and the damage they take is nonlethal.

I've been reading Dungeon since the single digits. Heck, I played through the adventures in Dragon before Dungeon. I've read a lot of adventures, more than I could ever play. So far, I can only comment on Pathfinder #1. In short, it is quite above average. The writing is excellent. They're are plenty of areas where people can go "off the map" and into they're own adventures. There are suggestions for bringing them back if you're not ready for that. Good characterizations. I didn't get as much of the "railroading" sense that I did in some of the later parts of the last AP.

My biggest praise and my only two criticisms are with the production. Production value-wise, this is the most attractive adventure book that I have ever scene. I am in awe. The criticisms, small type and small maps (and I'm not yet old enough to need bifocals). Obviously the small type allowed more info per page count and its hard to complain about that. Makes me wonder if smaller stat blocks will be possible in 4e. The maps are beautiful and qualify as art just as much as the pictures, I'd just love it if they were bigger. I've heard that eventually they hope to have web enhancements, including maps without labels, so I expect that will take care of that concern for me.

Bottom line, this product is a generation ahead of anything else out there. Pick up at least one issue yourself to decide.

I tend to stick to d20 variations rather than learning and converting other rule systems for my game (yeah, I can hear the groans already). I think Midnight and The Black Company Campaign Setting introduced some interesting concepts mainly in the magic systems and less so alignment. I just picked up some secondhand Iron Heroes stuff and would like to get my hands on Iron Kingdoms. I heard that Thieves World d20 did some interesting things with spell failure but I never could get into the original series so I'm not sure how much effort I want to go to picking up the setting.

While I'll always look bad fondly on 1e, I think the last 5-7 years will be considered the Golden Age of gaming. There really is a wealth of material out there, both in d20 and alternate systems. Its a great time to try out other things.

Mine is a snow leopard. For some reason I was expecting a squirrel...

Seems like a good idea to me. They're finishing up with 3.5, so they'll release this compendium that gathers together what, after a lot of experience with the system and a lot of supplements, seems like the best information to put together for running the game. Kind of a going-away present, really.

I agree. While it seems popular right now to direct a lot of hate to "evil management" at WOTC, the group handling the D&D brand is not large, they're all gamers, and for most of them 3e has been there life. I think the Rules Compendium is a nice gift for those customers they know they're going to lose. I'm gonna pick one up.

I agree - I would love to see minis of the creatures you are creating... The creepy little attic creature would be first on my list....

Even when I just see the avatar, it gives me the willies. I think it was adding the doll that really cranked it up a notch. Brilliant! Who came up with that?

BenS wrote:

I had looked into this about a year ago and got worried reading about problems printing pdfs w/ True Type fonts (IIRC).

I've had a KQ author complain about printing out the PDF on a Mac and getting some of the headline characters "piled up" on top of each other.

Obviously, I can't reproduce the issue on my PC, so I ask the Mac geniuses: is this a common problem related to TT fonts? Is there any fix for it in the PDF format?

I hate fonts. I don't understand them. At all. So I take a simple approach. One suggestion is to choose "Print as image" from the Advanced option after choosing Print in Acrobat (File -> Print -> Advanced -> Print as image). Its not the best cause it doesn't let you know why the problem is happening, but hey, if it gets the job done...

Adobe gives the following advice. But I don't think it often helps. :(

My understanding is that these problems can arise from any point in the pdf supply chain from pdf creation, download, reading, and printing. Maybe someone with some publishing experience and Macs can be more helpful.

Edit - Printing as an image can take a looong time.

I was reading about Villain Classes in "Mastering Iron Heroes" by Mike Mearls. I wonder if some of the ideas about speeding encounter creation for DM's in 4e will be based on something similar. Has anyone actually used Villain classes in their campaign? Does it make encounters seem repetitive?

Replacements, both.

I assume my originals are somewhere in Windsor, ON, with every other Canadian subscriber's.

Just read your Giant Poster mssing thread. Got excited that mine might show up soon, but sounds like your replacements were sent out before they realized the scope of the problem and went for the "systemic correction". Oh well. At least there's the pleasure of knowing that at some point I too will have the chance to hold and read one last really well put together Dragon. Enjoy your mag :)

I got mine with my missing issue 358 just the other day. It was postmarked sept 11 (that one month in the mail, a new low for the US and/or Canadian postal service).

Could you clarify? Did you receive the "original" 358, or was it a replacement with the poster from 359 added? If its the original, Vic Wertz might like to know.

MacBooks should receive a speed bump the first or second week of November as well, if not sooner, FWIW.

Rez

Ahh. I wondered why Staples has instock MacBooks on sale $200 off.

That's weird, my last post has gone missing. I mentioned a particular color laser printer I was thinking about...can anyone else see that post?

Nope. Must have been chewed up.

Erik mentioned some of the "hot" wars Paizo had in the works for Golarion. Any info on potential "cold" war adventure sites?

Ive tried Moosehead a few times,unfortunatly I still think it should be renamed to moose piss. Not trying to disparage anyone just my opinion.

That's just part of its charm ;)

Didn't Malhavoc sell Iron Heroes to another company? Would that limit Mearls' ability to use ideas from his own book? I wonder if WOTC has to limit comparison to Iron Heroes for legal reasons and therefore would play up the TOB connection instead. I would prefer 4e to be based more on Iron Heroes style than TOB if possible (ever since Fatespinner's description of a theoretical 4e battle scene "Power Ranger-style" in another thread, I've been having nightmares).

I think the signs are pointing to psionics support in 2009 (possibly in a PHB 2 since indications are that they'll have a new PHB with new "power sources" each year).

The most promising quote, however, is from Chris Perkins' blog... So, Andrew Finch came to me this morning with a great idea for what could be done with the d20 Modern magic and psionics subsystems, based on his experiences playing Force-users in the Star Wars RPG Saga Edition....

Interesting. I'm going to have to go check out what d20 Modern has for psionics. I suspect your predictions will be spot on.

Moosehead - I'm a good canuck
Guiness - first three sips are heaven
Rickers Red - if I'm drinkin' straight from the pitcher ;)

If you're only going to be using it every once in a while, I'd strongly consider getting a color laser rather than an inkjet. The inkjet will be much cheaper initially, but every inkjet I've tried tends to clog if it's not used regularly. (I've heard exactly the same complaint from other inkjet users.) Sometimes the clog can only be fixed by replacing the print head, which rapidly increases the effective cost of the printer. Note that color laser prices have dropped precipitously; I've seen them for under $300 new. An additional upside is that the color laser will print much faster.

The biggest downside to lasers is that their color quality is lower than that of inkjets; this is particularly noticeable in artwork and photos.

HTH

I would agree completely with Doug. I have an 867MHz G4 with Mac OS 10.2.8 and am also hoping to upgrade to a new iMac soon :)

I had an inkjet but only printed color once or twice a month - ended up replacing dried out ink cartridges ($20-35) every few print jobs. Upgraded to a color laser printer with higher upfront cost but lower cost over time because haven't had to replace the toner in 4 years. I have an older color HP laser, most HP's work with Macs but not all, double check before you buy. What version OS 10 do you have? Not all new printers will work with less than 10.3 - again, double check the box. If you are buying a new Mac for sure soon, it will have OS 10.5 (releasing in Oct sometime) and you might want a make of printer that will update their drivers to match - check the company's website before you buy to see if they have announced support.

I've been happy with the quality of color prints, though like Doug says they aren't as good as inkjet (think of color business brochures you might get as an advertisement). If you have high standards, get the sales guy to print out test pages for you on the models you're considering. The newer HP color lasers are smaller than my beast and go for around $300 for basic, $400 for network capable.

Good luck!

My biggest fear about the whole "cool new abilities each level" bit is that I don't want combat to turn into an episode of "The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers":

I was starting to get psyched on some of cool new things we might see in 4e. This is the first time I have felt scared.

Chef's Slaad wrote:

yeah Mike, you can't just make a comment like that and then leave us hanging.

But it's so much more fun (for me) if I do. :D

Of course, sometimes its fun to spill the beans. And we can keep a secret... ;)

I would be shocked, amazed, and beside myself if the 4e R&D team consulted Monte about anything.

Monte Cook has definitely said that he is not officially involved in any way with developing 4e. But given his relationship with Chris Perkins, Bruce Cordell and Mike Mearls, wouldn't it make sense for them to mine their history together for ideas, even if its not active involvement? For example, Monte's Just One More Thing Before I Go... sounds really close to some of the info released on 4e spellcasting. He did another essay on grading feats to allow some advancement every level. His blog entry on meeting with WOTC just before GENCON has a between-the-lines "interesting times coming, it's not my fault" sense that makes me think that,at that point, he knew 4e was imminent, or at least the Gleemax related component.

His prediction (in 2006?) about the coming of 4e is just, well eerie. And I hope that WOTC has read it and his thoughts on the OGL.

Basically, I think Monte Cooke is a smart guy and a real good game designer. Some of the guys designing 4e will hopefully take advantage of their history with him to incorporate some of his ideas, whether from with Mike in Iron Heroes, other Malhovac products or his personal campaigns.

Just wanted to clarify what I meant earlier.

Mike Mearls published an Iron Heroes supplement that had some stuff in it about converting between the core classes and his setting. I was flipping through it a few weeks ago in a used bookstore. Unfortunately, I don't recall if he went into the amount of detail you're probably interested in, but I don't think so.

Okay, on reflection, this is not a very helpful post. Sorry.

Mike Mearls is the primary author of Iron Heroes and Monte Cooke was given credit for "creative design", which I would guess to mean that he and Mearls talked over some concepts which Mearls breathed the life into.

I suspect Monte Cooke has been a bigger force behind 4e than most people suspect. If you're a reader of his blog and essays, a lot of the 4e changes announced are things that he has discussed over the past year. Among the designers and developers are guys that respect him, and he talks about visiting WOTC for them to bounce ideas off of up to and including just before the GENCON announcement.

Having played in Monte's campaign, maybe Erik Mona might recognize some elements of 4e having come from there (once its published).

Also, Bruce Cordell has obviously always had a real soft spot for psionics, and with him being a lead designer of 4e, I think there's a good chance he'll be trying to protect his "baby".

Ooops. He's not a lead designer, he's on the development team. My bad.

Ever since I read about psionics in the 1e appendix, its had this definite cool factor that "plain ol' magic" didn't always convey. Like other things in 1e though, I could never get it to balance. Similar to other posters above, 3.5 really seemed to get it right for me, and I hope they are able to keep the flavor in 4e. I suspect the "Vancian" aspects that were applied to keep psionics balanced with the magic system will have to be modified to match whatever they do with the new magic system, but there are two things that keep me hopeful that they'll keep psionics on the right track.

With Eberron being a main setting, they have to address psionics early (likely in tandem with core rule creation) because psionics is so firmly entrenched in a major plot branch of the setting (Sarlona and the Riedrans/Kalashtar). Also, Bruce Cordell has obviously always had a real soft spot for psionics, and with him being a lead designer of 4e, I think there's a good chance he'll be trying to protect his "baby".

EN World reports only two things on psionics and 4E. First that psionics will not be core but will eventually be supported. Second, Bruce Cordell has said that psionics will work as a "power source", that can be added to the core three (arcane, divine, martial).

To me, that sounds like they plan to follow the format they have created for magic in terms of how psionics will work.

James Wyatt has said they're advancing the timeline by two years, but that there won't be major "shakeups". I'll try to post the link.

link

Ok what if:

During some Recent Unpleasantness, some epic adventurers managed to thwart the plans of the Prince of Demons, resulting in his destruction. Total chaos (hee hee) reigns in the Abyss as every demon lord scrambles unsuccessfully to claim his crown. The Blood War is abandoned; the demons just stop showing up as any semblance of organization degenerates in battles between themselves. In fact the very Abyss rises up in rage at the loss of its Prince, ramping up the feral nature of its creations.

Or,

During some Recent Unpleasantness, the plans of the Prince of Demons succeeded beyond even his expectations. A tide of savagery powered by the effective destruction of an entire world (?!!?) wiped across the Abyss in such massive amounts that any shred of higher thought was wiped from all but the most powerful of demons.

Devil angle would still need to be explained.

..Of course, when TSR tried to rationalize rule changes with The Fate of Istus, it freakin' drove me nuts...

A positive thing I'm hoping to see is a reworking of familiars. I haven't been following 4e threads closely to know if its been discussed by WOTC, but David Noonan did say in a podcast prior to the 4e announcement it was something they wished they could redo after 3.0 was released. My experience seems to be that people either don't bother with familiars, or the familiar ends up popping in and out of existance like in the Order of the Stick.

Workin' my way through the Dresden files

I am also still waiting for confirmation.

Vic, Cosmo, or Lisa: I keep seeing on these boards that other Canadians who did not receive 358 and the poster have already been given confirmation (either by email or in the forum threads) that they will be receiving replacements.

So why haven't I? Are you waiting until you actually send them out the door before confirming?

Once again, I did NOT receive 358, nor did I get the poster with 359.

Every time I ask, Vic says "Be patient, we're looking into it, Deimodius" but then i see the next day another person has a confirmation.

So, Vic, Cosmo, or Lisa, can you please confirm, will I be receiving replacements for 358 and the poster, or do I need to ask for my money back?

Thanks.

I know its tough but I think more than just a bit of patience is going to be required. This is not a problem that can be rectified by Cosmo popping down to the warehouse and dropping a few mags in the mail. The first few notices, maybe. But we're talking every subscriber in a whole country now. They have to come up with replacements if the originals aren't located. They have to coordinate reshipping to alot of people. If they don't figure out what happened the first time, how can we be sure the second attempt at sending stuff out won't go wrong as well? Vic has repeatedly said in a number of threads that they are looking for a systemic approach to correcting this problem rather that by individual subscriber.

This is a huge "oh crap" situation for any company to deal with. Paizo has proven itself time and time again to be customer oriented with excellent service. Instead of looking for a resolution on a daily basis, consider checking on it weekly. Paizo has earned my trust that they will eventually resolve this situation to my satisfaction.

From Latin squamosus, from squama ‘scale’.

1. Covered with, made of, or resembling scales; scaly.
* 1658: In the squamous heads of Scabius, Knapweed, and the elegant Jacea Pinea, and in the Scaly composure of the Oak-Rose, which some years most aboundeth. — Sir Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus (Folio Society 2007, p. 180)
* 1973: We spread the papers on the least squamous section of the floor and lay down; the smell was not so bad at ground level. — Kyril Bonfiglioli, Don't Point That Thing at Me (Penguin 2001, p. 133)
2. (anatomy) Of or pertaining to the squamosal bone; squamosal

Ah. My mistake. Lacking a classical education, my latin is limited to the igpay atinlay variety.

Does squamous actually have a meaning associated with scales? I've only ever heard its use as a pathological cellular diagnosis of types of cancer ex. squamous cell carcinoma of the lumg. Aboleths strike me as being somewhat cancerous, while unusual maybe its an appropriate description.

Thanks Cos

Shipment arrived yesterday. Unfortunately, no D0 Hollow's Last Hope in the box, even though it was listed on the "in this package". Other items all accounted for. I know these things happen, no big deal. The part that bugs me is paying the customs fee for something i didn't receive. Come to think of it, its the first time i've had to pay a customs charge for an order even though your Custom Declaration note was filled out as it usually is.

When you send D0, up to you if it is seperate or included with one of my subscription sets.

Your older OS also probably explains why you're seeing problems in Preview when others aren't—Preview has been updated a lot since your version (3.0.9 is current).

OS 10.2.8 is holding me back from updating Stuffit or Preview any further. I love Macs but a fact of life with them is that newer OS versions always have some significant innovations, and once you get behind, all your software stays behind too. Doesn't matter, there's always a work-around, and I'm happy. But if my wife is reading this, we still need a new computer.

fray

You were right. Downloaded a copy through Safari and Stuffit was able to expand it no problem. Weird.

To get back to the original point of the thread, i looked at both with Preview (2.0) and Adobe (5.0). To summarize:

Firefox download - unable to expand with Stuffit, able to unzip on a PC, pristine viewing with Adobe, header text present with Preview but colour backing changed to black and blocky.

Safari download - able to expand with Stuffit, pristine viewing with Adobe, header colour/graphic normal but header text missing.

So in my situation, i'll be downloading with safari and viewing with Adobe. And revelling in Pathfinder goodness.

Daeglin did you download using Firefox?

If you did, try downloading with Safari.
I had the same problem and the Safari download worked perfectly.

Yeah i did use Firefox. I'll try your suggestion and post the result.

Unfortunately, Stuffit seems to have a keen hatred for our PDFs, which sometimes ends with an empty folder and no PDF.

As Vic has advised before: "Instead of opening the .zip file with Stuffit Expander, try control-clicking it, then from the contextual menu, chose "Open with >" and select "BOMArchiveHelper.app". This triggers the unzipping utilities built into Mac OS X, which are a bit more reliable than Stuffit Expander.

If this works, you can change it permanently by control-clicking a zip file, choosing "Get Info" from the contextual menu, and under "Open with:" selecting BOMArchiveHelper.app, and then clicking the "Change All..." button."

I actually had this problem, and BOM did the trick. If it doesn't work for you, please let us know!

Thanks for the suggestion Corey. Went looking for BOM but found out it didn't get added to the OS 'til 10.3 and I've got 10.2.8. Its ok though, unzipped it on a PC (what do you know, thing is useful for something after all) and transferred it back to my Mac. Once I convince my wife for a new iMac, I'll follow your suggestion :)

My initial impression of "Burnt Offerings" is the pdf looks great. Can't wait for my hard copy to arrive!

I haven't been able to get to the Preview stage yet. The zip file seemed to download fine but Stuffit only expands to an empty folder. I've been assuming its 'cause I'm still running 10.2.8 with Stuffit 8.0.2. I was going to try unzipping on a PC but had a better idea. Now using it as a reason to try and convince my wife we need one of those new yummy iMacs. I don't think she's buying it though.

I think i'd go with E. It's not a goblin, the ranger doesn't get his bonus, and he knows he's not getting it, but he doesn't automatically know why. He knows it looks like a goblin, maybe smells like a goblin, but its instinctive movements aren't right, it doesn't respond to him as he knows his favored enemy should, its vital spots don't seem to be so vital. Player pissed off and confused? Good, so is the character.

I would consider the ranger being aware that he's not getting his bonus as a sign of how well he knows his favored enemy. The barghest can't "fool" him even if its to his advantage in terms of damage to be fooled. He knows its not a goblin, and then the Knowledge check would be the tool to correctly id it as a barghest. I might allow Knowledge (nature) since its something pretending to be his favored enemy (and its likely to be a higher skill for the ranger rather than Knowledge (dungeoneering) or (the planes).

Mentioned this in another thread but here it is again. Canadian subscriber. No 358 received. 359 showed up in plastic but no poster. In comparison, Dungeon 150 arrived same day, same kind of plastic wrap, and did include the poster map of mystery.

Boy this must really suck for you guys to have to fix.

For a really different take on Dark Elves, you could look at some books by Elizabeth Boyer from the late 80's, early 90's (The Curse of Slagfid, The Elves and the Otterskin, The Thrall and the Dragon's Heart). She modeled her elves (the Alfar) on Scandinavian mythology. The Alfar were divided into the Ljosalfar (Light Elves) and the Dokkalfar (Dark Elves). The Alfar are very similar except that the Dokkalfar are sun-sensitive having lived underground for ages and there magic is cold-based. The Ljosalfar live above ground and are fire wizards. In Boyer's books, Dark Elves were either the tyrants to be overthrown, evil schemers against the ruling light elves trying to bring down an eternal winter (so they could comfortably live above ground) or semiundead/shapechanging wizard/bad guys for bumbling Sciplings (humans) to overcome.

Definitely a different flavour than the Drow, but an interesting "real world" take on Dark Elves, especially if you like Norse Dark Age settings. Hmmm... Drow, trying to bring on an eternal winter to block out the sun so they can live aboveground again... a new Pathfinder plot?

From other threads, sounds like there may be an issue with a new shipper in Canada. My 358 hasn't arrived. 359 did show up but... no poster. If you think 358 may still come, no problem i can wait. I know you guys will take care of it one way or another. If its easier, you could always ship stuff with my Pathfinder subscription.

Not to jump the gun, but is Pathfinder going to go through the same shipper...