Doc_Outlands's page

With the skill issue I for one do not think the the current Pathfinder skill list works to well for any thing above mid to late 19th century tech.

Have you looked at SGG's outstanding work with modern-day skills in their Anachronistic Adventurers series?

excellent. Excellent. Looking forward to this...

"I can't believe you made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

Therein lies the "Super" part of Super Genius Games.

Incidentally, despite showing a 0b filesize, the file downloaded and was in my directory later. How odd...I think someone has a datamancer on staff. (Dibs on that word, btw.)

The Vanguard needs more lovin'! I've been reading through it today and it satisfies my need for a Pathfinder Warlock. (for now, anyway)

Interestingly, despite showing 0b for a size, the Archon pdf *is* on my hard-drive. I just printed it out.

So I added a few more to the library today. See if you can spot the anomaly...

#1 With a Bullet Point: 6 Archon Feats
Download
778 KB
#1 With a Bullet Point: 7 Shadow Assassin Feats
Download
676 KB
#1 With a Bullet Point: 7 War Master Feats
Download
727 KB
[PFRPG] The Genius Guide to the Archon
Download
0 B
[PFRPG] The Genius Guide to the Shadow Assassin
Download
1014 KB
[PFRPG] The Genius Guide to the Shaman
Download
2 MB
[PFRPG] The Genius Guide to the Vanguard
Download
502 KB
[PFRPG] The Genius Guide to the War Master
Download
563 KB

Yes, eagle-eyed viewers, there is NO FILE for the Archon? Gotta nudge RPGNow about that...

I laughed out loud when I saw the Cyalume stick in WimP:Part Deux! That was a *great* addition.

Genegineer rings as a very neutral, scientific-oriented class from a sci-fi setting.

Fleshweaver sounds (to me) evil (or just sinful, ymmv) and magic-based.

or if I can safely blow my money on pizza and snacks.

... or the light bill...

Here's today's list:
1 x #1 With a Bullet Point: 10 Subschool Augmentation Feats
1 x #1 With a Bullet Point: 12 Alternatives For The Rogue's Trapfinding Class Ability
1 x #1 With a Bullet Point: 5 Machinesmith Feats
1 x #1 With a Bullet Point: 7 Feats For The Undead
1 x Advanced Options: Fight Like A Pirate
1 x Houserule Handbooks: Spell Points
1 x Ranger Options: Knacks of Nature
1 x SGG Presents: A Brace of Pistols
1 x The Genius Guide to Horrific Haunts
1 x The Genius Guide to 110 Spell Variants Volume 3
1 x The Genius Guide to the Mosaic Mage
1 x The Genius Guide to What's in my Pocket?
1 x The Genius Guide to What's In My Pocket? Part Deux
1 x [PFRPG] Advanced Options: Extra Evolutions
1 x [PFRPG] The Genius Guide to Another 110 Spell Variants
1 x [PFRPG] The Genius Guide to Dream Magic
1 x [PFRPG] Ultimate Options: New Arcane Discoveries
1 x [PFRPG]The Genius Guide to Divination Magic

There's a few more I may get, depending on what things get lined up...

You could also look at GRC's Modern Path for something closer to a straight modern set-up.

email away!

I'm having to double-check carefully to be sure I don't end up buying products I already own... but there is plenty I need, so I'm making my list, oh yes indeedy!

What I'd like to see from SGG:

#1 – Support yourselves! Look at your products that, if someone else had released them, you would write support material for and do it. Words of Power seems to be a popular one in this area. As Natan mentioned, my group would love to be able to use WoP as the default basis for all magic use.

#2 – Expand yourselves! Do more of what works – things like alternatives to core class abilities and more mythic menageries.

#3 – Weekly products and bullet-points – Keep it up if you can keep it awesome. I love seeing the new stuff coming out, even if I can't use it immediately – some stuff has been so cool I bought it just to have it.

#4 – PCs as animated objects – I think Alzrius is onto something. How many kid-movies have major characters that are animated objects? This product could be a great way to introduce kids in the single-digit age range to the concept of RPGs. Brilliant.

#5 – Anachronistic Adventurers – Honestly, this is the area that has me the most excited. Finish off the class books. Give us a book of new archetypes to work with (Puppetmaster comes to mind as one that could have been in Luminary or could work well across several classes). An “Anachronistic Settings” book would be handy, showing us examples of how to use our shiny, new AA goodies, covering settings like “Barsoom,” Lost World, and Dark Continent and how they differ in style. A vehicles book would be nice, although the extant template rules seem flexible enough to allow at least one member of any group to create a vehicle pretty much on the fly. The vehicles book could be coupled with an equipment book that provides either an enormous selection of firearms, a standard set of firearms with rules for modifications to the stock models, or a fairly simple yet robust firearms creation system. This book should also explore how magical enhancements and technological enhancements parallel as well as diverge. A full-blown AA/Modern game would be awesome, hopefully followed in short order by a “Star Warden” sci-fi game (to borrow your own reference-name for it).

Got mine last night. Good stuff.

got mine

Down to 4 hours! Looks like we'll be getting two additional floor-plans *and* a new anchor-store! The mall keeps getting bigger!

27 hours to go and stretch-goal #3 has been reached! The mall will have two more standardized floorplans! Have I mentioned the mall is 2-story?

Fabled Environments has a free product available here if you've never seen their work before.

We have a free download on DriveThruRPG/RPGNow that you can take a look at to see our quality. That map doesn't have the layers features that we use now due to an old version of Adobe that was used. If you like what you see, but are still on the fence and would like to see a map with layers included, send me an email- charles (at) fabledenvironments.com

(please note - I have no connection to FE at all other than being a satisfied customer and a halfway decent cheerleader of good products.)

Less than 48 hours... This from Charles:

@Michael-It might be helpful when talking to folks to let them know that when the map is available to the public, it will be more expensive than the $10 pledge level and availability to the general public will be delayed by 2 months from the release date to the Kickstarter backers. Maybe that would encourage more folks to participate?

If you have any suggestions on sites or orgs that I should contact about the Kickstarter, then let me know.

The kickstarter is only $20 away from adding two more store floorplans. I've already pledged as much as I can to this project. Please don't make me cry by falling short *sooooo close* to this extra goal! I have budding NCIS agents who are gonna NEED new store floorplans to demolish soon!

One week left to participate in the kickstarter! At this point, the mall map is funded and any further support pushes into the stretch-goals. The first two of *those* have been met and the 3rd is within easy reach. If you like using the Pathfinder rules for modern gaming via GRC's Modern Path or SGG's Anachronistic Adventurer line, you need to check out Fabled Environments. They have a free title available on DTRPG so you can see if their draftsman-style artwork is a good fit to your gaming table.

corrected link

Fabled Environments has a kickstarter drive going to fun a rather large-sounding mall map right now.

[url]http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1359478628/fabled-environments-a-two-st ory-mall-for-tabletop[/url]

Also check out DTRPG for their other products, including a free sample product.

Great! Nice to know I'm tracking correctly, even if I *am* impatient. :D One thing that tripped me up - under "size," a vehicle can carry one creature of its size, but the wolf-based bike has driver/passenger. I just assumed this was a case of "the GM can adjust this as he sees fit." (My inner Car Wars player is cringing at being able to fudge like that!)

I might modify my jump-pack into more of a speeder-bike, since you have plans in mind for how jet-packs etc are going to be handled. Also, I'm looking at the Giant Eagle for a smaller family-type air-flitter or small modern-day plane like a Cessna 172.

There's a gap in the flying movement options, specifically a vehicle that has to keep moving every turn or it falls. Winged craft have stall speeds and fly as long as their current speed > stall speed. LTA like dirigibles stay aloft as long as their lifting device is functional. Rotary-wings and vectored-thrust aircraft have the Hover feat. Certain aircraft designs, particularly science-fiction designs (and the main one I'm thinking about is the Dark Trooper jump-jet from Battlefront II, so it actually will come under a different set of rules, but...), have no aerodynamic body to keep them aloft (wings/rotors, gasbags, etc) and have to deliberately keep moving to stay in the air. IE: "This vehicle has no stall speed and no hover capability and falls out of the air if its pilot doesn't make a Ride check to maintain control of the vehicle." A very special case, I'll grant! And, really, more likely to occur with science-fiction designs than modern-day designs. Any ideas on how to handle Twin Pod Cloud Cars and the like using this templated animal system? (Genius!!)

Love the vehicle creation rules - I'd been looking at building vehicles as characters, but the SGG system looks to handle what I wanted far more elegantly and effectively than the approach I was considering. So here's my first attempt, a jump-pack based on an eagle. Y'all who are good at these things, eyeball this and see if I did it right or mangled it horribly, please!

***

Dextian Bro’s Jump-pack
(Eagle Vehicle) CR 1/4 (1/2 -1 light alloy -1 limited fuel +1 template)
XP 100
Medium light-alloy vehicle
Init: Driver
DEFENSE
AC: 14 plus driver, touch 10 plus driver, flat-footed 14
(+4 armor)
hp: 5 (1d8+3, x.66 alloy)
Saving Throw: +3 plus driver
Defensive Abilities: hardness 0 (light alloy)
OFFENSE
Speed: fly 80 ft. (avg); no stall speed, pilot must move every round or begin falling
Melee: none
STATISTICS
Passengers: Driver (1). Does not give partial cover.
Fuel: Jump-pack can operate for one hour before needing fueling.
Ability scores: Str 14; Dex 13; Con 16; Int 2; Wis 15; Cha 7

Applied “Giant” template to Eagle, using “rebuild” rules.

***
I think requiring the vehicle to be the size of the operator doesn't work in the realm of worn vehicles like jet-packs and such, but that's what I went with, RAW.

way ta go!

My son walked up, saw the design, and started yelling, "We're relevant! We're relevant!*" Imagine my surprise when I saw the t-shirt was designed by the same person...
(*Nodwick quote from old Dragon issue)

I now have 5 lovely Bullet Points pdf's to experiment with. The "Shoot yer mouth off" thread has gotten me to thinking on a few things... and I needed the Bullet Points to see how they were put together. In case things came together in my head and all.

And then a feat to use Magic Weapon to put weapon properties onto weapon-type spells... There's three feats, give or take.

Will these work for characters who use magic items (or technology) for flight? I can see Aerobatics coming in handy for an armored bounty hunter who uses a jet-pack, for example...

excellent - that's what I'd hoped you meant!!

Basically, you could turn any shield property into a feat for the shield spell and war-wizards would love it. That would be my "cinemagic" idea on a single-spell scale. So, to find something more... unique and flavorful...

And I reveal my woeful ignorance - is arcane artificer a distinct class and if so, where is it? (been working on modern stuff and action figures far too much recently)

Just a stray thought... can these (SHOULD these??) be mixed with the modern firearms rules from AA:The Enforcer? I mean, a dimensional capacity 1911??

Haunts.

"Cinemagic" - cinematic magic, like the Fireball feats for implosion and knockback. Nothing says "puny fighter" like a fireball that sends you hurtling through the air! Ideally, this would be in a format that allows the new ability to be applied to any spell of a given type.

A way to apply magic weapon abilities to weapon-type spells. "Flaming Magic Missile," "Thundering Scorching Ray," and the like.

Scrying feats.

:thumbsup:
This product has been on my wishlist for quite a while - now it is downloading. Thanks!

If you play GURPS, have a look at my first spaceship design using the GURPS Spaceships rules – [url]http://boryla.tripod.com/freebies/spore.pdf[/url] – and let me know what you think.

I have a couple of players who have all-but-eidetic memories. Altered descriptions of standard monsters is a must for playing with these guys. My advice? Never pull back the curtain on your magic. ;)

I confess to not having appropriately acquainted myself with the APG's contents yet. I'd missed this neat trick as well.

Kydeem, was that armor in a Dragon article? I remember a Dragon article full of nifty armor options including one that I think is the one you are referencing. I remember it because I decided it was ideal for an arcane caster - wear armor normally, "blink" it off to cast, "blink" it back on when not casting. Very much an adventuring mage's solution to needing more armor while avoiding the pesky ASF!

I think Slenderman is going to be a long-running bit of weirdness in my campaign - something the PCs NEVER solve or even understand. Heck, I doubt they'll ever actually face off against him directly. (wait, there's a pun there...ugh!) Slenderman will be a sidenote they encounter on other adventures, from time to time a red herring and occasionally an involved - but only in a sideways kinda/sorta way - actor in their dramas.

And I know for FACT if you create benders, I'll have a whole new campaign fire up! (aigh - another pun!) In fact, that one there might get a couple of non-gamers I know (ok, one is a computer/console gamer) to give Pathfinder a go. Very cool!

Why did we cast Animate Dead on this one

Because Mogart was providing us with closure. DM caught the player in question admitting he was cheezing the game and toasted him for it. Bravo!

Mogart, good job! I only just found this thread and read it thru in one sitting. Oh, and my players will soon loathe animated bear traps - perhaps almost as much as they loathe kobolds with phalanx fighting and tower shields...

I got partway into your post and had to bring it to the attention of one of my players. Here's his response:

Hey, this one of Doc's players.
He asked me to look over this because I've played dedicated snipers and sneaks before, and I have a talker in the works right now.
In my opinion, this character has been built almost exactly along the lines of the concept. Naturally, I would have done things a little differently, but I'm a different person, so that's no surprise. I do have a couple of comments to make, but these are only my opinions and recommendations. Please feel free to disregard them, if you are so inclined.

I think your low Constitution score plays into this concept nicely. A frail character is more likely to want to avoid combat, and to remain at longer range when combat starts. Your Hit Point total is pretty good for your level and hit-die type, so I wouldn't worry too much about being too easy to kill.

I feel that the Dodge feat is a good choice, because that +1 has saved my bacon surprisingly often. Taking this over Precise Shot is not a “bad choice.” To me, it speaks of a character who has not trained in shooting around her allies, or who *has* and is simply afraid that she will hit her allies anyway, thus losing the benefit of her training in actual combat. That's just me role-playing the lack of a feat, giving an in-character reason for mechanical choices.

In reviewing your skill selection, I noticed that you have *no* ranks in Sense Motive *at all,* which means that the only bonus to Sense Motive checks the character has is the +1 from her Wisdom modifier. The +3 class skill bonus is, after all, only gained if you have at least one rank in that skill. A talker should have ranks in Sense Motive, and it should be maxed out if your primary role is the Face of the Party. Also, if an opponent gets within melee attack range and tries to use a feint against you, having Sense Motive maxed out makes it much harder for the feint to succeed — and take away a good portion of your AC. In your case, the DC would become twenty instead of fifteen.
I would suggest dropping a few ranks each from a few of your less-than-necessary skills, and transferring those ranks to Sense Motive. Personally, I would drop two ranks each from your Knowledge skills, thus gaining six ranks to drop into Sense Motive.
As a side-note on your skills, I like that you maxed out Linguistics. Being able to speak twelve different languages means that you are more likely to be able to talk through a situation.

Final note: I like the concept, I like how it has been built, and I want to know how it works out at the table.

Wow.

Just...
WOW!

This will no doubt get worked into my upcoming Modern Path campaign. Very creepy indeed. Slenderman takes a round of buckshot to the face and collapses behind some piece of furniture...

...only to NOT be there when the PCs maneuver to check the expected corpse. In confusion, they look around and see Slendy passing a window, carrying the child they are supposed to be protecting. Sweet!!

Also, a very well-written and presented product! I agree, this felt like a product I should have paid for. I saw only a very few misspellings and punctuation errors - in fact, I have found far more errors in products I *did* pay for! You've done a great job on this - kudos to you!

Question about the Exorcist archetype in this book - does the Exorcist affect haunts in any way?

Just tagging the thread.

Now that's just creepy... Excellent!!

I lobby hard for the use of Dreamscarred Press's psionics in any game or project I know of that is contemplating psionics. I really need to get me a copy, since I'm starting up a Modern-day supernatural campaign...

While I was looking at some other SGG products, one of my players happened to see Dream Magic on the screen. "Now *that* would be cool!" says he. Weeeeeell, now! In case you've missed it, I'm setting up a modern-day campaign a la the tv show "Supernatural" and a dream-world adventure might be just the thing...

Actual unique Dreamscape monsters would have been appreciated as well, rather than two templates to make dreamscape creatures. (Though the templates are easy to use and a nifty start.)

I was looking at eidolons over the weekend and I think you could design some pretty freaky/scary Dreamscape monsters using eidolons and their evolutions as a guide.

Hm. The Genius Guide to Denizens of the Dreamscape. Hmmmmmmm...

Probably late-80's. Makes the PCs have to actually GO SOMEWHERE to conduct research, rather than relying on Goooooogle. :D

It will start there, but I don't know that it will *stay* there. It may well turn into the PCs' "home base," depending on how well they do - I can see the Good Professor's daughter (to be remade as a Witch, I think) acting as an anchor-point/librarian/lodgekeeper for the PCs should all go well. One of the next adventures will be a modernized "Haunting of Soldragon Academy."

Harrowstone will grow in age, likely being placed in western Pennsylvania some 20 miles off the beaten path. The facilities will have originally been a prison during the War Between the States, later converted into an asylum and then into a prison, falling prey to the backstory events some time in the very early 1900's. The events of "seventeen days ago" that kick off the module occur as detailed.

That's the current plan, anyway...

And so it starts...

Beyond the Veil

This is the blog I'm starting up for the campaign - there will be spoilers, so if you are going to be a player in an adventure listed in any entry's title, don't read it. Otherwise, I'd love folks to read and offer comments. That way, I can keep otherwise scattered, disparate threads herded into a manageable entity.

The first entry is a GM's overview of setting up the new campaign - what I plan to accomplish, what gaming resources are approved or pending, etc. A second entry will be happening very soon, dealing specifically with questions and thoughts on how to modernize Harrowstone.

Brandon - THANK YOU for your commentary on this thread as well as sending me here from my own questioning thread. VERY helpful as I gear up to run haunts! These things look like a lot of fun... (says he who ran an underground adventure using only a lit candelabra sitting on the battle-map, blowing out candles as magical light-sources faded... just as the vargouilles attacked...) (yes, I think Harrowstone and haunts might just scar- erm, be remembered by my players for years to come!)

Aux - I'm very interested in your ideas, as I was wondering about doing something like that myself.