I’m not sure I understand how taking over crime solves crime. Lets say he takes control of the drugs trade, a professional burglary racket, and the white collar crime property scams. Does he then… stop these operations? Or does he try and turn them into Robin Hood style outfits? How does that work with drugs? I agree its supposed to be Punisher + Kingpin. I just don’t understand how those two fit together.
Miogomo - does anyone have any more thoughts on what exactly he is a "crime lord" of. His overall goal is like the Punisher. He wants to murder evil-doers within the city, as the Watch is incapable of this. To protect himself, he builds a power base of ghouls, and will also murder those who get in his way, like Grimwold. So far, so good. But... when he's not murdering his enemies he also is a crime-lord. What sort of crime? And why? His overall goals are just murder and vengeance, so running a drugs gang or a racketeering scam doesn't really help him. And why would the other gangs of the city want to ally in any way with someone whose primary goal is basically to kill them. I'm all down with the Magnificent Bastard trope and the PCs allying themselves with him. I'm just a little confused on his day-to-day activities as an NPC.
The timeline doesn't work for me. And the Radiant Festival is only really relevant for Book 1. This is what I did: * Book 1: Radiant Festival. Spring Year 0. Normal Weather.
Literally did this session yesterday. I've added quite a lot of content here, lots of it inspired from Gangs of New York, Peaky Blinders and the 1930s facist movements. The group are investigating the Washboard Dogs anyway, based on the conclusions to book 2, and they want to arrest them for slaving to the murder cult, among other things. They asked around in a number of pubs, accidentally met Maurissa, who directed them to the alley fight. Giord was later arrested, pretty much as per the book. In our campaign a huge number of goblin refugees have arrived, following the 2nd burning of the Chitterwood after a failed Isger rebellion. So the Diobel Sweepers has swelled in numbers and Berleth is something of a revolutionary, leading rallys in public about how a "new form of slavery" is sweeping Absalom. The Washboard Dogs are part of a wider "Teal-shirts" / "Absalom First" movement and gatecrashed a Sweepers rally, with it turning into a huge public brawl, many dead on each side, and most of the watch (except our heroes) taking the side of the Tealshirts, beating down on the Sweepers and other goblins. The rogue element in all this is the Infector, who has been planting bombs and poison elements all through the city, with the watch and the rest of the public assuming this is the Sweepers due to the alchemical connection. Anyway, the PCs met Maurissa for the 2nd time, at a copper smelting factory, surrounded by 40 of her goons, and realised that wasn't the time to bring her in. [Pretty much as per the module scene, except minus the bridge. Are there bridges in Absalom?] She gave them the location of the Sweeper's base and now they are arguing about whether they should raid and arrest Berleth or not, or whether that is playing into the hands of their enemies. The PCs have no interest in allying with Maurisa. She is clearly a villain. Even the promised "information about the murder cultists" holds no weight, if she wants to plead with that after an arrest, fine. But no deals outside of a cell. So I'm going to need a similar base to the Schoolhouse for a Washboard Dogs raid. I'm thinking of an underground lair, which would tie-in with communication to the Twilight Four cult, but it does double down on the evil-ometer. A smelting factory would also be good, as might be a large pub, or something similar (though we've had a lot of pub fights already). It needs to be working class, memorable, and a little bit dirty. Anyway... module is good stuff and I'm enjoying it so far... It has a good city feel.
Finally got my copy after some delays with UK Distributors, and just finished Agents of Edgewatch Module #2 in the same week. I’m running Edgewatch long and fat, about 4 months per module, and this book is absolutely fantastic. There is soo much stuff, plots and NPCs and ideas virtually on every page, that there is more than enough to keep my cupboards stocked for another 4 modules. For those that are looking to buy the book, I would totally recommend it, wether you are Edgewatching or not. I would describe it as a gazateer of people, locations, factions and plot ideas within Absalom. So if your constructing your own adventure, or bulking up an existing one, you can flick through, grab some ideas and your ready to go. It is much more DM friendly that the previous softcover edition, and all in all, a much better book, not just because it is bigger.
keftiu wrote: Not to pick a fight, but: you wouldn’t allow Magus and Summoner in a Strength of Thousands game? (I'd include Magus, Bard and Summoner as full casters, ie, they get new spells every level. At least, I think so, I didn't do the playtest, so I've not actually seen the PF2E implementations of Magus and Summoner, but I'm assuming they are similar to PF1E in concept. It's academic anyway - I'm not running SOT right now).
In book 1, the agents meet the assassin Cass Hamish in the House of the Planes who tells them that she was tracking a mark who vanished into the Dreaming Palace, but that Ralso's gang connections make the place off-limits. 1) There is no further suggestion of who the mark is (eg, amount Pratchett's victims). Any suggestions as to who they were and why there was a hit on them? This is Absalom, not Qadira. I would assume that assassination is a fairly rare thing, and putting a hit on someone is serious business. 2) I'm not sure the gang connections bit makes that much sense. Ralso was a gang member, but she left that life behind to move across the city and join Pratchett. (Indeed, some of her old friends are trying to get her to rejoin her life of crime). Why would a gang declare that the hotel is a "safe zone" and that they would enforce that for Ralso? Which gang is it? (We have a ton of gangs listed in book #3, is it any of them?). Does Pratchett know? Does the gang or gang actually enforce this, eg, are they staking out the hotel looking for dodgy people going in and warning them off?
I agree with all of Deriven Firelion's points. I'd also like to add what other people have said in that completing the heist to get "The Princess is in another castle..." as the reward I think is a terrible payoff. All that work without material award. Yet the heist is cool. It could be a fun roleplaying activity. It just needs editing. I've got tons of homebrewed side-quests in my campaign. As well as the murder plot, there are slave gangs, and drug gangs, and watch corruption, and simple thievery jobs. So I'm happy moving the heist into a side-quest with a different reason and different macguffin to get. Any suggestions on what that could be:
Vorsk, Follower or Erastil wrote: Personally one I would love to see is a three part "mega prison" escape. We've already got Abomination Vaults as a megadungeon though. Obviously I'm but one customer, but I prefer APs with variety: roleplaying, investigation, combat, politics, exploration etc. Rather than big dungeon crawls.
keftiu wrote:
I agree that Unity should stay dead, but as an aside, Unity wasn't a "He" in our campaign, they were a non-binary character. A Father/Mother. I think that works quite well for an evil AI. I also had Casandalae be the original android on the Divinity that Unity would use to walk around in, whenever the crew needed to take the ship's computer offline. And Helion was a self-bootstrapped process (ie, a "daemon process") that Unity had created and given life. This gives a nice Holy Trinity vibe to the three. You have God (Unity), Jesus (Casadalee) - both her own person, and originally the avatar of God, and the Holy Spirit (Helion) - both it's own thing, and originally a formless subcomponent of God.
I actually do like the sound of it. I'm running Agents of Edgewatch now, but in a year or so, I'll need a new AP, and having been inside a city for so long, it will be good to have a pure wilderness adventure on offer. Stretch our legs so to speak. Plus I like the idea of a 3 volume AP. But I want plot rather than a big dungeon crawl, and I prefer 1-10 rather than 11-20, so Vaults and Ruby Phoenix don't do it for me. Frozen Flame gives me a nice way to try the 3 volume approach.
Iron Gods 1 was awesome. Iron Gods 2 needs:
While still keeping what was good about the first one, eg, - roaming around the country
I like to think of Numeria as the four "zones" in that map, and link them back to real world places to get a feel for flora/fauna. Felldales is like the red desert in Wyoming, Utah and the Grand Canyon. So coyotes, wolves, goats, and other semi-mountain creatures. This is supposed to be the most dangerous zone, so it's the area I most associate with dinosaurs (all kinds). Hyenas and lions, while not common in Wyoming, seem like a good fit here. Sovereign's Reach and Numerian Plains are more like the great plains of the midwest. So bison, pronghorn, wolves (again), etc. The Numerian Plains is the most fertile of these two regions, so larger animals such as deer, elk, wild horses, etc. Sovereign's Reach is more of a fallow wasteland, so more small rodents such as voles, ferrets, snakes, etc. Soveriegn's Reach should be pretty gloomy and foreboding, so less birds as well. Sellen Hills is a fantasy version of the Scottish Highlands (or, I guess, New Zealand, which basically is a fantasy version of Scotland). So deer, bears, grouse, wolves (again again), boar and other game, sheep and goats, etc. Less North American animals.
One of our party is a Lizardfolk from Droon. So I'm planning on briging "Oggy" in early, once per book, as a recurring NPC. I like the "Pontiac Bandit" in Brooklyn 99, who recurs once per season for one episode, then leaves so the PCs can carry on with other quests. It's a good formula. This is what I have so far: Book 1: A lizardfolk warrior-princess arrives in town, demanding an escort from the PC and his "minions". Disgusted at the weakness that is displayed (which includes a patrol shift in the Miss Absalom Beauty contest at the Radiant Festival), she leaves to explore the festival on her own, returnining with Oggy as her new boyfriend, saying he will win the Irorium for her. Oggy will cause some minor issue for the PCs and immediately become disliked by them. -- Book 1 / Book 2 downtime interlude ---
Book 2: ??? Book 3: ???. Book 3 finale: As written. Ie, it is revealed that Oggy isn't just a douchebag, but actually a terrorist. Any suggestions for missing appearances for Oggy, preferably with said warrior-princess? Generally escalating the stakes, in both drama and his douchbag-ness, without requiring an actual fight to the death. One other thing to note, is that Oggy is "just under twice the height of a lizardfolk". Lizardfolk are 6'-7', making Oggy 12' tall. He is totally massive! There is a picture of Sajan (the iconic monk) fighting him, where Sajan looks just a bit smaller, but in reality Sajan wouldn't even reach up to Oggy's waistband. Oggy is intelligence = 8 though so he's not clever, but he's not a monster. Just a REALLY big dude. I think if Oggy is to be wandering around the city, and not locked in a cage like a monster, the two lizardfolk accompanying him will probably need to look after him. Perhaps one of them is his lawyer, and the other his manager.
Berekiel wrote: Because my players don't like the investigation a lot and don't propose alternative investigation lines but I see it a little difficult to know where to start I don't understand that. This is the Watch-AP. Does that not imply that there would be lots of investigation, and by choosing this AP, are your players not saying "I like investigation". I'm totally down with Naurgul - I've been adding a lot more investigation to the AP so far.
OmegaZ wrote: So I'm at the House of the Planes, maybe 1/2 done with that part, and the party has NOT picked up on the missing people thread. I keep mentioning missing people and folks who haven't come back home and co-workers who never showed up the next day but...nope. Just going along with the flow. This is gonna be hilarious. Perhaps... When they get back to the watch station, Lavarsus has just had a meeting with the Watch Commanders where he's had to present his current crime stats including open cases. He looked terrible in front of his bosses, and has once again been reminded that Edgewatch are one of the worst performing forces, despite significant investment leading up to the Radiant Festival. He's been told that if he, Lavarsus, cannot manage crime in his small district, especially during such an important period, then perhaps his position should be reconsidered. So Lavarsus is now super pissed. And you know what they say about sh*t flowing downhill.
A call back to Crypt of the Everflame would def tick some boxes regarding sequels, building on existing content, a call back to the heritage of PF1 (Everflame was the the very first published PF1E module). It would also fill the requests for a Razmir AP. Everflame was Nirmathas + Razmir, so presumably we would start by building on the outcomes of Ironfang Invasion and then migrate over to "do" Razmir. Interesting hypothesis, even if completely wrong! :-)
As a Foundry VTT user, what I really want are token packs. Bestiary token packs, with a variety of colours/options for each monster. AP Token packs. Module token packs. NPC / GMG Token Packs for when I go off-script. The PDF2Foundry module already does a great job of allowing import of module PDFs into Foundry, so re-buying all the PDFs in a VTT (especially for AP Subscribers) doesn't seem like a good value proposition.
It does raise some interesting questions. A large temple dedicated to the God of murder, assassination and thievery with people regularly going in to worship. Even in a city of religious tolerance, surely some questions should be asked. Do the Watch have an open file on the temple? Do need a warrant to enter (presumably). What precautions does the city place to ensure there isn't actual murder or paid for assassinations happening in the temple? It suggests they have some high level political cover, even with the libertarian attitude of the city laws.
James Jacobs wrote:
OK, cool. That gives us some rails to speculate :-) For me, the biggest Numeria thing missing in Iron Gods is the Kellid Tribes. They are all detailed quite extensively in Land of Fallen Stars, but really only get walk on cameos in the AP. The exception is Kevoth-Kul of course, but he's not really a tribesman any more, he's more a thrall, despot and city-dweller. There is a whole module's worth of plotline with a "unite the tribes" style story, where the growing rift between the indiginious peoples and the hardy settlers can be healed, before it develops into something worse. (At least 1 module, maybe more). We also didn't get enough dinosaurs. I'm not sure what the plot of dinosaurs are (do they need a plot?), but, yeah, more dinos. Preferably ones that you can ride and have laser guns fitted to them.
I agree - Numeria is done. I think an Iron Gods sequel would be the planet-hopping one. Casandalee and technology would be involved, as would Eox, but not so much Numeria. (As an aside, I've always wondered what the relationship is between Eox and the Whispering Tyrant. In my head-canon, Tar-Baphon made contact with Eox early in his career, and has learned a lot of his secrets from them. I've been meaning to run a high-level Mythic standalone for ages, where the PCs go to Eox to prevent the rise of a second Tar-Baphon).
My top choice would def be an "Impossible Lands" AP set across Nex + Geb + Mana Wastes. For 1st Edition APs, there seemed to be a good balance between "traditional" APs with dungeon bashing and "high concept" APs. I'm definitely in the latter camp. An Impossible Lands AP could combine themes of magic, politics, a bit of technology, and general weirdness. Geb would be an obvious bad guy, but that could just as easily be subverted. Both Nex and Geb present an alternate vision of human society, both how we live and who we are, you've got elements of transhumanism. Both regions have a stratefied society with have's vs have-nots and there is an ideological battle, with shades of the cold war as well (not to mention the fallout for that in the mana wastes). I quite like the "Tour of the Region" format that was used in Carrion Crown, Iron Gods and others, where we explore different parts of a region using a plotline that keeps us moving. There is easily enough content across those three zones to do that.
I agree, that doesn't make sense. Guilds are not just price-fixing schemes, nor are they just labour unions. Guilds set standards across their trade, which benefits buyers (knowing a level of quality) and sellers (as a central hub for buyers). You're importing 500 tons of Jalmerayan spices to sell across the Inner Sea region. Do you buy from random ship captains selling boxes of Abadar-knows-what (probably laced with sawdust) or do you buy from the Absalom Spicing Guild? If guilds don't exist, then who sets standards? It could be the state, but Absalom tacks towards Libertarianism not Statism. The state is small and largely gets out of the way. And if standards don't exist, then why buy in Absalom? You'll just get ripped off.
Brinebeast wrote:
I think this is the best approach. I'm not interested in understanding the minuatae of business law within Absalom. That doesn't help us tell stories (usually). But I think that something like whether a person can own two shops or businesses, or whether a shop or business can be owned by two people is significant and high-level enough that it needs to be understood (especially in an AP where the PCs are all policeman). My take is that is not the case. (In particular Mudfoot points out how it wouldn't work anyway, as ownership can be edited at point of sale). Absalom is a city of trade. Its real-world influences are a mix of London, New York, Amsterdam and Istanbul. Companies, Banking, Markets (and Stock Markets), Services, Commodities and Goods - all these are essential in creating a 'trade goliath' which is what Absalom is. The city is likely to have all of these elements, and it's laws (by it's oligarchy rulers) will be designed to ensure the trade engine continues to spin. Therefore corporations / companies / trade agreements are all possible, and all exist in Absalom. There are just some price-fixing and anti-monopoly laws that can be brought to bear if needed, to ensure the engine doesn't stall.
I'm a bit worried about the heist here. It's a cool set piece, I get it. Ocean's 11, Mission Impossible, cue funky music, a plan within a plan and nervous tension on those skill checks. In any other module, that would be great. But the PCs are Cops here, and being told to break into a legitimate business without a warrant, because they suspect that a warrant will be refused (either due to corruption or lack of supporting evidence), to steal property. Essentially they are being told by the quest giver to go rogue and break the law. They aren't secret agents, they have to abide by the law. What if they just say "No?". That seems quite likely, especially if some of them are Lawful coppers. Even if they were to recover the evidence, the nature of how they got it could collapse any case they make, and that's pretty obvious. For those that have run it, how did the setup go?
Billiam8817 wrote:
Yes, I think this part needs some editing as a DM. They have been supplying people to a murder-cult to be killed. It's fairly obvious that the murder cult is into murder. Have they been kidnapping these people? Are they innocents or rival gang members? Why were they doing this? I think if Maurissa is to be the Magnificant Bastard trope, and be like "No worries mate, let bygones be bygones, eh?", then the DM will need a strong angle on why this should be OK.
How about this? I'm going to do a few of these per AP, I think. Some small changes and edits. I've renamed it to "Eyes Over Absalom" (which sits better on the British tongue, than the very American "Eyes On.."). Rather than purely a rumour-rag, I see it more as an actual newspaper, which is used by it's owners to stir up their own agenda. The name is slightly fascist, so I've cast it as a right-wing rag, like the UK Daily Mail. I've also added a reporter character, the gnome Cherry Cogsworth, as it doesn't really make sense just to have Reginald doing all the leg-work. Oh, and the Dreaming Palace is renamed in my universe to the Delightful Daiquiri Hotel. (If we're going to valence-swap Terry Pratchett, may as well throw in another Pratchett reference while we're at it). Other Easter Eggs = Olansa Terimor is the "Building Lord" which is the commonly used name of a character in the Lords of Waterdeep Board Game. The icons at the top are Starstone Catherdral and Azlanti Fort. Thorgrim Hastily's buildings are all stamped as "Hastily Made...", etc. In regard to the long term plot: Spoiler for GMs only: it doesn't make much sense to cast the agents as heroes, and then suddenly flip this to make them villains. That's not how media campaigns work. You don't push one narrative with the intention of doing an about-face, rather you drip feed the campaign you want in the first place through a steady diet of lies and spin. So the paper will be unrelentatly ANTI- Edgewatch and ANTI- Wynsal from the beginning.
One of the advantages of doing this is that Ralso can probably be saved now. She's a bit of a confusing NPC. She has all this backstory of being a troubled kid, taking a few hard knocks and making some bad choices, ultimately ending up as a side-kick to Pratchett. So when I first read though, I was like, "Oh, this is interesting. Is there a possible redemption arc here?". But no, as the module is written, she is totally broken and evil beyond any level of saving, which seems like a waste. In fact, as she fights to the death and doesn't really want to negotiate, without edits, I would expect that most parties deal with her as another random monster, with her backstory going to waste. By toning down the rest of the crimes, this opens her up to being a more interesting NPC, perhaps one that could be turned against her master.
I'm starting Agents of Edgewatch next week and have been reading through all the mods, doing the usual pre-campaign uber-prep. I'm pretty pumped, it looks like a great AP full of good set-pieces, interesting dungeons, a great setting/concept and lots of opportunities for players to riff off their characters. That said, for a Watch-themed AP, it seems to be missing a few key elements that I'd want to see. I favour a maximilist printed-AP-as-the-skeleton approach, so I'm already working on new content to weave these elements into my campaign. I'm curious to see what other DMs are doing, and what ideas people might have for having these elements. Investigations and Actual Police Work
Police Corruption
Politics, Legailities, Bureaucratic conflict.
Difficult Decisions
I guess a lot of the above four categories spill into each other. Some side-quests that are cases with difficult decisions are totally possible, and political issues can be caused by police corruption. So they aren't too hard to create. But I'm also interested in more structural changes to the AP, like moving Hunting Lodge 7 to the Starwatch HQ and having the Token Guard be in league with Flakflatter (and the ones assaulting the precinct), as well as bringing in more high level corrupt NPCs to head up the conspiracies. A lot to discuss certainly. Any thoughts, friends?
Dominion of the Black makes sense. And they are also in Iron Gods, which is our other Sword and Planet AP. So, some kind of sequel to Iron Gods would make sense. Something involving Casandalae/Androids or maybe first contact with the Kasatha's. Eziah, the mage who lives on the sun, would be a great character to use as he is more fantasy than sci-fi. There is also the liches of Eox who are, in the Pathfinder time, presumably not full on spacefarers yet. I like the idea of an existential threat to Golarion. Having it frozen in a ball of ice is cool. Although we already have "The Gap" in Starfinder, and presumably the plan is that is, like Aroden's death and the 2nd and 11th Space Marine legions, a "THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK" in the lore. I think there is definitely room for another Sword and Planet AP that doesn't tread on the toes of Starfinder, but is more Sci-Fi than Iron Gods. There is a big enough gap there.
You could also run Carrion Crown book 4, Wake of the Watcher. It is arguably more suited to Strange Aeons than Carrion Crown. Its set in Illmarsh, just nextdoor to Thrushmoor, is 100% lovecraftian and has direct ties into some of the events in Thrushmoor Terror. You would obviously need to tweak a few things. It probably makes sense to insert it between Thrushmoor Terror and Dreams of the Yellow King, so you’d need to adjust the CR downwards significantly. There is probably an argument to be made that removing half of Strange Aeons book 4 and Book 5, inserting WotW, before Yellow King and adjusting all CRs appropriately would be a stronger narrative with the same length.
Shivering in the cold, what appears to be a dirty and hooded beggar steps out from the shadows, casting aside its ragged cloak. What looks out is a horribly withered face, flesh sagging with sores and infection. Two inky black eyes leer from sunken cavities and where its mouth would be is a long curling tube puffing with smoke. Living Drug, Shiver CR 2
----- Defense -----
----- Offense -----
----- Statistics -----
----- Ecology -----
----- Special Abilities ----- Shiver Cloud (Su) As a standard action once every 1d4 rounds, a living shiver can exhale a 10-foot cone of gaseous shiver through it’s hideous maw. Any creature that fails its save is immediately affected by shiver, as if ingested. The affected character will have to make an addiction check, as normal (see GameMastery Guide, page 236 ), however the wide dispersal of vapors provides a +4 bonus on this save. Breath weapon—inhaled; 10-ft. cone; save Reflex DC 12; frequency usable every 1d4 rounds; effect special. The save DC is Charisma based. Hallucinogenic Dreams (Su) A living shiver can communicate via telepathy but can only do so using vivid images which are plucked from the recipient’s memory. A living shiver can use it’s telepathy to attempt to bend the will of a sleeping subject within its telepathic range. This functions as a charm person spell (DC 12), except with a 24 hour duration. A target that succeeds at the save cannot be affected by that same living shiver’s hallucinogenic dreams for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma based. Unnatural Courage (Ex) A living shiver is immune to fear. Since their discovery in Korvosa 4708 AR, scholars have theorized on what caused the creation of living drugs. Some believe them to be magical experiments gone awry, perhaps the results of illicit research at the Acadamae. Others believe them to be a self-evolving phenomenon, born as a manifestation of the corruption and vice within a city. In combat, a living shiver prefers to ambush its prey, sending the unwary to sleep with its shiver cloud ability before finishing off those that remain using its claws. Once it has sent one or more people to sleep, it uses its hallucinogenic dreams ability to convince them to submit to future clouds of shiver, delighting in the spread of addiction and suffering. Living shivers prey on the weak and the poor. They have few motives, other than to spread shiver dependence, hardship and ill. Living shivers have been known to be manipulated by others, generally in promise of more victims. Ultimately though, they are capricious, with no sense of loyalty or consequences, and such agreements usually end in disaster. Living shivers are but one form of living drug. There have been reported sightings of others such as living pesh, and the much more deadly living scour.
Goblet of Liquefied Cognition
This ornate oversized silver goblet is wrought with runes and letters in a profusion of languages. When written words are placed in the goblet, for example through a letter, parchment, or runic carvings, the text detaches itself, liquefying into a sweet wine. This liquid can be drunk, granting the imbiber knowledge of the text itself.
In all cases the originating text/pages are destroyed, and the knowledge gained fades after 24 hours. The goblet can be used 3/day and requires two hands to use. Construction
Probably my favourite item from my (500+) votes. It's just so cool. I disagree a little bit with the judges (and others) comments that it is a one-use item. DC 40 Perception is far from difficult at the level where PCs can drop 30K on a non-combat magic item. Yes, it means that in a low or mid level game, it is likely to be one shot, but for 10th level or above (which lets remind ourselves is 1/3 of an Adventure Path), I can see groups saving up to get this for their nautical based campaign. Obviously Skull and Shackles is a fit here but other campaigns as appropriate. It's a party-bought item rather than an individual one, and we don't see enough of those.
Clark Peterson wrote: You guys are not seeing the bottom 25% over and over. There are just that many mediocre items. Its the same every year. It is not too hard to sort the submitted items into a keep and reject folder. I dont think the keep folder has ever been more than 100 items, usually about 60-80 or so. The potentially really good ones are pretty easy to sort from all the rest, as you folks are seeing. So if you have 48 or 50 keepers, and you likely havent seen all the items, thats about right. Then from the keep pile we pick the top 32. Seriously, it has always been pretty easy to pick the 60-80 really good potential winners from the batch of submissions. That's why I have always said this first round is not about finding the best item, its about finding the 32 contestants for RPG Superstar. From among the 60-80 keepers we find the 32 items by the 32 authors who have the mojo to win even if their submission is not perfect, because the submissions are not perfect. I'm sure that you guys are discussing next year already, but it seems that this approach could also be reflected in the public voting. As you say, the goal is not to rank ~1000 items in order, it is to find the top 32. And as you say, that is hard, but selecting the top ~100 is easier. The public voting has been great fun, but in terms of man hours for the greater good, it hasn't been very efficient. Perhaps a two stage vote next year where you can vote "Keep/Reject" on every item once, and those with enough votes progress to a Condorcet style second stage vote. Given that the public has shown it is prepared to put huge amounts of man-hours into this process, making those man-hours more efficient opens up other options for you. For instance you could have the "design a monster" stage as the open round 1. Each read and vote will take much longer, but with an initial Keep/Reject, the public will only be doing the Condorcet paired-voting on the really interesting and cool monsters.
Dan Jones wrote:
The belt of battle was overpowered, especially at high level. The 3 charge use was essentially a minimised timestop (9th level spell) where you rolled 1 on the 1d4, usable once/day, for only 12K, with half of a (stackable) Improved Initiative thrown in as icing on the cake. I played in many Living Greyhawk games where people were equipped with 3 belts of battle, one for each combat of the day. When your item is being bought like that, and is a cookie-cutter solution to almost any fight, something has gone wrong.
Joseph Valoren wrote: I've seen my item three times now. I don't really know how many items I've voted on, but I've done so for hours and hours over the last week, to the point that there are some entries I've literally seen more than twenty times. I haven't seen a new item in days. I think I might be done, honestly. You have a rather appropriate avatar then...
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