Destro Fett's page

Some GM's don't want to waste the time or effort in having to review material for approval, create house rules, or try to judge the balance of a rules mechanic. Many GM's just stick to the golden rule of listing the rulebooks they allow, and then just accept all the rules presented in the books as canon.

Such a GM doesn't have much business running a game in the first place. If you like to play as monsters so much, why don't you try sitting behind the Dungeon Master's screen instead of the- what's the word I'm looking for... "lazy" GM you're suffering under now?

Well one of the reasons is that it's not supposed to be "definitive." One of the goals is to have it be compatible with other people's versions (City of Brass has been around for some time, after all). Of course, this doesn't help people who have no preconceptions, but there ya go.

More than fair enough. And don't get me wrong, it's a great issue. Wolfgang Baur wrote a very cool chapter on the location. A few maps by Rob Lazzaretti could have helped stretch it into it's own campaign, though. Just putting it out there, you know, if you guys wanted to do a Pathfinder Companion - even after Legacy of Fire has run it's course... ahem.

No map for the City of Brass for this first definitive "tour". What gives?

You on a Mac or PC?

Sweet sweet conversions... thanks guys.

Does this have d20 stats as well?

I'm utterly baffled that they'd put themselves behind a product in which the animators were clearly dead last on the priority list.

They highlighted it on the store blog, but other than that I haven't seen any overwhelming praise of this from Paizo's staff - so I wouldn't draw such assumptions. Whether or not this movie is swill (and it is), you can't blame a trusted and well-stocked distributor like Paizo for carrying an industry standard product.

After all this time this is what we get? Unreal.

-DM Jeff

No, DM Jeff... what's unreal is that we can expect at least two more.

Guys. guys, please... this is Marvel.

It's a clone of Steve Rogers made by the Jackal.

Anybody seen Legend?

Or the Dark Crystal?

...

Anybody?

On a similar note, the Dark Horse run of Conan right now is rad.

Hate to break it to you, but I also lump that same art in with used toilet paper. Why? Because it all looks the same to me.

It's pretty cool you still subscribe to a publication you think looks like crap.

What if he was actually Aragorn, son of Larry?

That would be really lame, wouldn't it?

What I´m concerned about is the working conditions for the workers in China - the wages and the workplace conditions. And the environmental hazards that are handled somewhat nonchalantly in China sometimes. I don´t want to say that all chinese factories are modern slave-workers places and don´t give a damn about environmental damage, but there are huge differences. Some are, some aren´t.

Playing devil's advocate here...

But if these are legitimate concerns, isn't the notion of Role Playing a waste of time? There are real world injustices that need to be fought.

I have been playing with 3.5 rules and have never touched the 3rd edition book of the FR setting.

Man... have you been missing out. Those books are some of the best in terms of both art direction and content.

I dare say, the rad presentation of the Realms in 3rd Edition is one of the things that made the transition easy for me from AD&D 2nd Ed.

Not a lot of fantasy stuff yet, but I'm working on a few things in the hopes of getting into the game.

Dude, that baby stepping out of the cage is nightmarish. Right on.

They'll let you continue writing them until you start growing horns and breathing smoke.

But wouldn't that make JJ more qualified?

I'd like to just say "Ni!"

I don't know any kids who were arround to even see 1st edition book. 1st edition guys are old and crusty like my self 30+ at least.

I don't literally mean young people. But this whole quagmire is aging all of our inner children.

(I really don't trade Pokemon cards. That was sarcasm. Now, if you have some Star Wars Decipher cards, we can talk).

Let's put it this way: I'm a geek. An internet-savvy geek. That site, at this point in time, makes my head hurt. I can't possibly imagine taking the time to decipher its mysteries.

I'd rather spend time writing emails to old gaming buddies.

Or better yet - let's all start trading Pokemon cards.

(Note: there was no Eberron in 1st Edition).

Dude, I still know kids stuck on 1st Edition...

Wild magic and dead magic are cool.

So are portals.

And Dracoliches.

And Red Wizards.

And Waterdeep.

And the rest.

Got any preview images for us?

I'm on a Mac... RIGHT NOW!

Now, we might be on to something here.

Two words:

Britney Spears.

I gave this some thought...

Remember when 3rd Ed. came out? Remember how much the 2nd Ed. had been reduced to lame alternate rules sourcebooks and unnecessary (nay, uninteresting) supplements?

People were excited about 3rd Ed. Some still are, under the guise of 3.5.

I don't need a 4th Ed. I don't want it.

I blame Eberron. There... I said it.

Good point, DD. It reminds me of how obsolete my West End Star Wars books are at this point.

I find it strange that other table top RPG companies can put out multiple editions of games and no one complains at all.

Which companies are you speaking of, pray tell?

People are complaining because there's nothing wrong with 3rd Ed. Wizards equates lack of sales with a stagnant product - I equate it with the over-indulgence associated with a "collectible" market. Those D&D minis, while cool, herald the downfall of modern gaming because of their inherent ties with a twisted "collectible" consumerism.

As long as they keep us buying the same regurgitated material, we won't have to worry about wasting our time with new concepts. Look at the Expedition series - sure, it's great... but there's nothing new. Those hardcover modules are cool, but they reiterate the notion that the gaming industry is out of ideas.

And this Gleemax business... sign of the Apocalypse. Mark my words. End of gaming as we know it.

It was quite rad.

I hate using miniatures, so the format doesn't help me one bit.

I know what you mean, but I don't feel the same way. 3.5 encourages if not demands a physical representation of the encounter for the combat rules. When I first began playing, under 2nd Ed., the one thing that frustrated me most was a vague notion of what the encounter really looked like in a 3D space. The best DM in the world can describe it, but there's no room for doubt when it's right in front of you. Plus, minis these days rule.

and maybe that's the point of this new format, to hold our hand and not give us any room to play around with the material on our own. That said, as a huge Greyhawk fan, I will purchase this, but I don't have high hopes for its usability.

The point probably is a hand-holding, newbie friendly format. But the DM is still in charge of the material at the end of the day. I'm with you on the spatial issues though. Less material sucks.

Get some Harlan Ellison in there. Some obscure stuff. Pleeeeeze.

ensanguined

Righty-o. Summon the ghouls.

"Grave Robbing: Is It The Only Way?"

In light of the recent Kobold Quarterly / Paizo connection and Wolfgang Baur's fetish for all things clockwork, what about a clockwork-themed set? Magical technologies that is. I'm thinking Lantan here... Anybody?

No Yuan-ti, but what about "Serpent People" as devised by Robert E. Howard (of which Yuan-ti are obviously a rip off)?

On a similar note, will we ever see another Dragon Compendium?

First off, the content is top notch and I'm proud to be a charter subscriber. Can't wait for the next issue. But I had a few comments/suggestions:

- Most of the hyperlinks in my PDF don't work, which is frustrating for two reasons; not only am I interested in what the dead links originally had to offer, the reminder of not being able to use them is very prominent since the formatting utilizes a box around the text instead of something less obvious like bold or even underlined text. Maybe a list of the URLs in the ToC or an issue index would at least help bypass the technical difficulties.

- The Underdark Encounters page is rad. I want to start using it, even though I don't have all of the referenced books. Therein lies the rub - you (WB) mention a potential online posting of the abbreviations, but it would have been cool to actually have that available in the zine. Although most of us are savvy with the net, I don't want to have to rely on it once I've purchased the zine. (Granted, I can do the research to figure most of it out, but it's a little thing that would go a long way).

I don't mean to gripe. I'm just excited to see the KQ grow.

Thanks.

Do it.

James Veneminn, the Gemini Killer from The Exorcist III. One of the best performances by anybody, ever. That guy still gives me the creeps.

Academy Award winner Brad Dourif, who by the way should have been in Tim Burton's Batman Forever as The Riddler, which of course never happened...

"Smell The Glove"

Human sacrifice is about more than spilling blood, and the players must make a choice about whether or not to finalize it.

I'm totally with you on this. But the outcome still looks like a good deed to me in the grand cosmic scheme of things.

And I must say this is a rather interesting and worthy debate. Thanks for bringing and keeping it up.

Bestowing boons on one's fellow man is not heroic if the price is murder, much less forcing a single soul into oblivion or unwilling service.

One last thing...

Murder is the illegal killing of one being by another. Unless they killed the sacrificial lamb in the first place, the PC's aren't committing murder here.

There is no Campbell-esque heroic "victory" if a soul is offered up against its will to the gods or other powers in order to save mere lives. Bestowing boons on one's fellow man is not heroic if the price is murder, much less forcing a single soul into oblivion or unwilling service.

We'll agree to disagree on this one. It's entirely speculation of course, but those "mere lives" could have more of an impact on the great wheel than one soul. I don't think it's as black and white as you suggest.

But riddle me this: if a paladin kills a Lawful Evil goblin in the name of his god, is it righteousness or murder? (Ask the goblin and I'm sure he'll tell you the latter).

In any case, this isn't CoC... it's D&D, typically meant to be the adventures of heroes, those who may be conflicted but usually take the good and honorable path.

I for one love a Lovecraftian element in my D&D game. To intimate that D&D consists of only "good and honorable" characters is to ignore many of the stories that inspired the game. Elric of Melnibone, Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser, Conan... all of these seminal fantasy characters were less one-sided. You don't have to be a paladin to be heroic.

In a well-known quote from the introduction to The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell wrote: “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man."

Completing the sacrifice and saving Dramsburg seems to fit that profile of a hero.

No I'm not kidding. We're talking about a fictional universe with a mythos of powerful gods and fantastic creatures, which does not abide by the rules of the real world. Moral values are creations, dependent on people's feelings and goals regarding themselves and others or on their belief systems.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying it's the right or wrong thing to do. The original killing may not be morally or ethically sound considering a Good alignment, but finishing it for the greater good certainly is in my opinion. And (in game) this is not a "alleged" good - simply put, the people in Dramsburg will be spared if the hound is stopped. It's a tough choice, but I don't see how evil is a part of it.