Greg A. Vaughan's page

Zherog wrote:

Chapter Nine: Faiths of the Desert

So is this an exploration of an Egyptian style mythos? Mesopotamian? pre-Islamic Arabian? Islamic? A new fantasy desert pantheon? Something else?

How big is this section?

We've got Egyptian and Mesopotamian/pre-Islamic covered in other FGG/NG titles. I'd call this one closest to Islamic in feel. It w3ill of course fit in with the other desert pantheons in our Lost Lands setting.

I don't know the page count off hand, but it's a good-sized section. It also summarizes the Egyptian and Mesopotamian pantheons at the end as well.

Greg,

I love this adventure and I think overall you guys did a great job in updating it.

However, if you are planning on putting out a free pdf with errata on the FGG website, it should also include the map of the shrines to Muir and Thyr which is in the original Tomb of Abysthor adventure but is missing from Stoneheart Valley.

Got it. I have forwarded this info to Skeeter to see if we can get that done. Thanks!

I have generally been impressed with the ONS series having run Scorned for one party already.

Scorned! (ONS5) is a pretty cool adventure by Nick Logue and Lou Agresta. I was super happy we were able to save it from the slush pile of the old Dungeon Magazine and get it into print. It's a lot of fun (for those who haven't seen it).

Yep, definitely another shameless plug.

It's on page 9. It's kind of subtle, so I can see how it got missed during the art order process, but the more I look at it, the more I think furries. Check out the shady one hanging out round the corner. Is he a lookout? Is he selling drugs? I just don't know.

The Caliphate is 2 or 3 thousand miles due east of Tsen across the Isthmus of Irkainia in the Ashurian Desert. It's just across the Free Sea from Khemit.

My base assumption is that all players take my name in vain. If they don't, they should. ;-)

I think those are reasonable assumptions. The only question would probably be on the Chaos Rift, which I think could be considered mountain terrain in places too, depending on where one is standing.

I allowed my players to teleport out but only after putting in a full day's work as it were. Since they didn't have to slog across the Desolation to reach safety, they didn't have to worry about holding back resources and withdrawing early. How did I get them to put in a full day's work? Through a combination of shaming them personally and making sure life was hell for their PCs whenever I thought they were phoning it in. :-)

Thanks, tempestorm!

If you look at the faces especially the warrior they just look a bit too european and not arabic to me is all. Yes, it has the Arabian Nights feel, I agree, but more Disney with pale skin and eyes and noses that are more 1954 than 2014. Even the pictures of the men with beards reminds me of a 1950's movie. I am not saying that the art isn't VERY GOOD, it is. It just looks Disney to me rather than a Iraqi/Afghani appearance. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to be PC here. He just looks more like Aladdin than Saladin! Please, I am not trying to make an issue of it, just answering the question. The people look more gentile than semetic is all. But if Lawrence of Arabia is what they were going for, OK.

You never know how an artist is going to interpret an art order, and while the art is great, I agree with you, it's not a straight semetic feel. Though I think many folks would not even think to notice that level of detail, and when you're simultaneously reviewing dozens of art pieces for multiple projects sometimes if you even notice something like that you just sigh, say good enough and move on. So your observation is legitimate, it's just probably beyond the scope of what our budgetary and staff limitations are capable of.

For an especially hilarious WTF example check out ONS2: Death in the Painted Canyons by FGG (yes, this is a shameless plug). It's a GREAT little desert adventure set in our Lost Lands region called the Caliphate -- pure Saladin, in other words. The cover art is, of course, our generic ONS series cover, so I'm no talking about it. So let me begin with I LOVE this adventure. Ken Spencer (of Northlands Saga fame) did a great job in capturing the culture and environment, and developing it was a lot of fun. The art order did not go through me, so I never saw the interior art until I received my own copy of the adventure. I start thumbing through it and notice one picture that catches my eye. What do I find? FURRIES!!!!! I kid you not. I don't know if it was intended as a joke, was a mix up from an art order from another company, or what. All I know is that there is an illustration in the Arabian-themed adventure I developed that can only be described as furries. Don't believe me? (Of course, you don't!) Go here and buy it to see for yourself. (See how I did that?) ;-)

Greg

Dang it! I thought we got all the supplemental stuff added in when we published that book. Sorry about that. We may need to add a free pdf to the website to cover it.

On another note, when this book first came out some Necromancer Games purists very legitimately took umbrage at the title because the Stoneheart Valley is not a geographical feature that had been mentioned before in this or any other product by NG.

Just in case you were interested and hadn't heard how that was explained, you can see the (very rough draft) of the Gulf of Akados map that shows what the Stoneheart Valley is and how it fits in relation to the other Necromancer Games and Frog God Games products at the current Frog God Games Kickstarter (the link is here). It is provided as a sample of what the regional map coming out as a stretch goal with the Lost City of Barakus KS will look like, though it is actually a part of the previous book Sword of Air due out this summer(Barakus will have a map showing a different region just south of the sample one).

brvheart wrote:

As far as I read grapple you can move someone at half speed when grappling and need not pin them. That is just my read though. Even with all the clarifications, grapple is still a mess!

Yes, that is my understanding as well, but can only move after the grappler has maintained the grapple (i.e. used a standard action to maintain once a grapple has been established). There is no need to pin, although (just to make this more confusing) it says in the dark custodian entry: "Once the dark custodian has an opponent pinned, it attempts to drag him away to devour him in peace." Ugh.

The dark custodian was originally 3.5 before being converted to PF, so the grapple confusion/fun got expanded to encompass both systems during the conversion process. I'd recommend ignoring the word "pin" and replacing it with "maintained the grapple".

Dangit, Tom! I've been working up a The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly game as a con event for a few months, and now you've gone and beaten me to it. It's okay, I was wanting to use it a Reaper Con (I think their theme is Old West this year), but I don't think I'm going to be able to make it. So you can have it I suppose. :-)

Guess I should have mentioned it earlier. ;-)

I think that sounds about right, but Lou or Nick could probably say better.

Oh, and by the way Greg, I love the sample Gulf of Akados Region map that you drew by hand.

Thank you! And while I appreciate your compliment, let me just assure you that the final version from Robert Altbauer looks A LOT better. My goal on these campaign maps is to channel the old Greyhawk folio maps in their look and feel, and Robert has nailed it. Can't wait for you all to get to see the final versions!

I own the original Barakus book, but the reason it is confusing is that the book has two versions of the same Wilderness map, one with tags (p. 58) and one without tags (p. 6).

That's a good point. I was thinking the poster map that came with Barakus was a wilderness map. I just went back and checked and realized it is the city map that is on the poster! I had forgotten.

So let me revise my early statement:

For the color regional wilderness map, it will be much the same level of detail as on the sample Sword of Air regional map that is linked to the KS update.

For the black and white poster map, my assumptions were incorrect. I don't know what exactly is going to be on it (whether surrounding wilderness or city or what). That is a decision that Bill will make, so I'm not sure.

Sorry about the confusion.

Will the maps be player friendly (i.e. not show any secret DM stuff) or is it designed mainly for DMs to use when they are preparing the adventure?

Personally, I'd be more interested in a player friendly map.

Assuming you're talking about the regional map, that's a difficult question to answer at a regional scale, since we're not talking about secret doors and traps at that scale. The map will be primarily a GM map but should still be fairly player friendly. It shouldn't show any secret citadels or anything, but most adventure sites tend to be known by local cartographers. It'll show labelled areas but won't have numbers areas.

The Endhome area poster map should be the same one from the original book as far as I know.

Belishan sucks the life out of everything, doesn't he?

That's just how he roles.

(See what I did there? Because it's an RPG and that's how he roles? Oh... okay, nevermind...)

;-)

DaveMage wrote:

justmebd wrote:

You'd be surprised at how good the WiFi is in Rappan Athuk. Tsar, not so much.

Probably due to Tsar's stupid pall!!!!!

:)

It is annoying - you need to get all the way to the top of the Black Gate just to get a signal. Problem with that is once I get up there I find myself staring out east into the wasteland and begin having daydreams of conquest.

Go figure.

It's because Belishan is hogging on the bandwidth on the wifi.

(Way late, I know...sorry)

Then there's whispers that the Ebon Shroud could bust out in the relatively near future. I also hear that Northland Saga stuff is good. I'm almost overwhelmed in a good way!

Hi KDM, just a quick update for you. Ebon Shroud is still on the table as a future project, but I don't think I'd call it anything like the relatively near future. Let's say it's on my wishlist and Nick and Rich have both expressed interest, but there are still a lot of ducks to line up in a row. I'll keep people posted for further developments, because I really want to release it but it's still in a "don't hold your breath" phase at the moment. I am committed to it though. Razor Coast establishes Ebon Shroud as part of the same game world, and Razor Coast is in our Lost Lands setting, so I have already created a place for Ebon Shroud there as well even though the book hasn't been written yet. So it's got an official placeholder as a future product and is a part of our long-term plan.

We should have an announcement about the Northlands Saga this fall after we've got some of this summer KS stuff off our plate, and I am currently actively working on it so it is not on the backburner or anything.

The product lineup that I'm personally working on right now in order is:

Sword of Air (specifically Lost Lands development of it)
Barakus (specifically Lost Lands development of it)
The Northlands Saga (still about 50-100k words to go with over 300k written--I think, going off the top of my head)
The Blight (Richard Pett is still hard at work on it)
The Lost Lands Campaign Setting (work in progress)

As for being overwhelmed in good way? Yay! That's what we like to hear!

So I wish the owners of Frog the best, and suggest there's a growing market out there for how to run and manage a successful Kickstarter from the gaming angle. Or better than that...courses and classwork combined, and it's never bad to hire the occasional consultant.

Just a quick clarification in case there is any confusion on this thread.

There are two companies being talked about here that have very similar acronyms.

FMG = Fire Mountain Games - producer of Way of the Wicked and the KS about which this thread was started.

FGG = Frog God Games - producer of Rappan Athuk, Razor Coast, etc. and has been mentioned a few times on this thread as well.

It looked like Ruggs may have gotten them mixed up (unless I'm misreading his post, which is a possibility), but either way I just wanted to make sure folks recognized the distinction.

Thank you, that is all. :-)

What I really need, thanks to the deadliness of FGG adventures, is a PDF listing pre-made starting equipment packages for all levels and classes.

It's funny now that you mention it. Whenever I want to run a really old-school campaign or run such a game at a con, I like to go to the foldout map of the old Basic adventure B4: The Lost City and make the players select one of the three pre-generated equipment packages for themselves. I don't know how well that translates to assisting vs. FGG deadliness, but I think it's really cool and prevents a lot of the Batman effect that can pop up with a PF game even at 1st-level.

3) The party has no idea as to what the statue is for. They've done there best to destroy it with no luck. It might be that I've missed giving them some hints but I don't think so.

Is there anything before the Crooked Tower that would help them clue into needing the statues?

The pentagram on the Plateau of Orcus and the whisperings of the midnight peddler are what should clue them in on needing the statues, plus the fact that they seem to be popping up over and over again. But if they don't take them the first time, the statues shouldn't be going anywhere. They can always come back later to pick them up (hopefully they took good notes on where to find them).

The names on that list are all top notch. You should try and get Neil Spicer in on this as well, I've really enjoyed his AP stuff since he hit the scene.

Good thing I budgeted for FGG "Big Books" this year.

I'd love to get Neil, but between writing for Legendary Games and Paizo, I think he's pretty booked up right now.

Greg, I wrote the 2002 D&D Open at GenCon, and the original version of the final encounter with the Gargantuan Red Dragon was so deadly, the guy running the tournament leveled the whole encounter down and took out the surprise attack from the Dragon.

I think you and the other FGG guys would've been proud of the design.

A man after my own heart.

And it was a dragonnel that ate Skeeter, not a black dragon. Sheesh!

Question about the map... there's a good sized map in Splinters of Faith... does that reside somewhere in the Lost Lands? Or is that a setting of it's own?

Splinters is Lost Lands.

He then ruled that I drowned though when I swam down the wrong tunnel afterward and the that the rest had never happened.(buzz-killer)

Thanks Laric, I'm really just dropping in between boards study sessions, but it's good to check in.

Coup de grace in their sleep...how unimaginatively Philistine. ;-) No, I turned one of Bill's patented super-complex, party-killer traps against all of them in such a way that it left only me alive. Good times. [snicker]

Greg is the lead developer on both. Richard wrote Blight, and Ken wrote NS. But Greg is making them "froggier"

Rich wrote/is writing about 95% of Blight. He's got a few guest writers for specific adventures. I did one, a couple yokels by the names of Logue and Hodge may have some involvement...

Ken Spencer wrote about 75% of Northlands Saga (the campaign guide and 6ish adventures). Since he started his full-time gig at Cubicle 7 he gave me his outlines and left it to us to complete the last adventures. They will be done by a combination of me and a few other writers. Owen Stephens was looking at being in on it but then had the big switch to Green Ronin so I've had to do more shopping around, but it will all be faithful to Ken's original vision and writing.

I'm estimating both books at around 500,000 words at this point, which is roughly Slumbering Tsar size (550,000 words).

By the way, if you liked Ken's Caliphate setting in Death in the Painted Canyons you'll see it getting more love in our future "Desert Kingdoms" book along with Khemit, Ashur, maybe Alcaldar, and Khartous from the new Dunes of Desolation book (coming out in June I think), though that one is still a ways out. All are, of course, part of the Lost Lands.

Khemit and the Mesopotamia stuff are both Lost Lands. It'll make sense when you see how, don't worry. Really the only things that aren't are the JG stuff and Rob Kuntz's Maze of Zayene series.

It should also be mentioned that he was attempting to double-cross the rest of the party when I out-double-crossed him...and the rest of the party. All for three wishes, baby!

He shot me with an arrow and had just leveled from 2 to 3 while I was still 1st, so I had no means of reciprocity that did not involve getting my butt handed to me...no means save genocide, that is! >:-)

slitheringly amd sweatily vile.

Heh heh.

Now he is talking about GReg

I think that may have been the first time Bill was running a game and had to retcon an event to say, "okay that didn't just happen," after I eliminated the entire 15-person party--just to kill Skeeter.

In my defense, I merely betrayed him back...but WAY better.

Razor Coast is a part of FGG's overarching Lost Lands campaign setting, the major difference being that Razor Coast has been released and Lost Lands as a whole has not. That said, Thanael is correct, Razor Coast is basically its own setting within a setting. Much like Northlands Saga has been for FGG and The Blight will be when we release it as well. Also, of these only Razor Coast has been released as a cohesive, self-contained book to date. So you can give it some love if you want. :-)

Any sign of the Northlands Saga? Been waiting for this for a while now, it seems to be stuck on book 4 :)

Northlands is still progressing. I'm currently going through Sword of Air continuity with Bill and building the Lost Lands world map for June to reveal to the company (campaign setting to follow probably next year). Then Northlands is next on the list to turn full attention to.

However, it has not been lying fallow in the meantime. There are four more adventure completed and on my desk to date, plus additions to the first four to bring them up to date with the Northlands campaign guide. Oh, did I mention the campaign guide was also done? Not sure that I did, but it is.

In other words, there is a lot of Northlands stuff coming up in the not-too-distant future. I've still got to get another handful of adventures cranked out, and then we'll be releasing the whole thing as a giant hardback campaign setting/adventure path--all 100% Lost Lands canon, of course. :-)

Dunes of Desolation is through Lost Lands continuity (man, it's going to be making some big additions to the world--it's already spawning the need for a sequel Desert Kingdoms book).

Sword of Air wilderness map is about 80% done, just going through some of Bill's last bits and making it fit into the big picture (hint: it fits VERY well). In fact the Sword of Air will reveal for the first time the Stoneheart Valley (yes, it actually is a valley) in its entirety and how it fits into the world context of the Lost Lands. The hardest part of doing this map was limiting its size so it didn't show too much of the world in order to stay on task for the adventure it's supporting.

Lost Lands world map is about 60% done. It is still on track for its prototype to be be unveiled to the full FGG crew at North Texas RPG Con in June. Unfortunately my boards exam is just a couple days later, so I won't be able to hang around long to show it off and wave it's banner so to speak. But I suspect, Bill and the Froggy Crew might be willing to give some sneak previews during the week.

Greg--is this the Black Gate I disentigrated at Paizocon?

Nah, you just disintegrated the front door to the Crooked Tower. I just let on like it was a big deal. ;-)

Wow! A Greg Vaughan sighting! Welcome back! :)

Hi DaveMage! Just in between test cycles at the tail end of Christmas break madness. I wanted to stop by and say hi before diving back in to the trenches again. Someday I'll get to come play again...someday... ;-)

Oooh! That's Shiny, Greg. Can't wait to see it!

Thanks, Liz. :-)

Yep, S&W version too. :-)

Thanks for the great review, James! I'm glad you guys are having fun with it.

Great review, Endzeitgeist! Thanks a bunch!

Two comments:

1. While it is fair to mention that it does not support the mass combat rules of Ultimate Campaign, I must point out that it was completed before Ultimate Campaign was out, so we were not able to use it. Which brings up Point #2 in regards to that and all the questions there have been about NS5.

2. The end of piece-mealing the awesomeness that is Kenneth Spencer's Northlands Saga has come. I don't have a set date yet, but hopefully later this year, Frog God Games will be releasing The Northlands Saga Complete. What is The Northlands Saga Complete you ask? Why it is two books in one. The first book is the Northlands Saga Campaign Guide, an extensive look at the many kingdoms huddled around the frigid North Sea, their peoples, their gods, a gazetteer of their towns and countrysides, extensive regional encounter generators, new PC races, feats, magic, and archetypes, and a host of new monsters. The second part of The Northlands Saga Complete is The Northlands Saga adventure path: NS1-NS10. A complete adventure path following the course of the PCs' wyrd through the harsh Northlands. It will include reissued NS1-4 updated with material from the new campaign guide plus some new encounters added just to spice them up, plus NS5-NS10 as all-new adventures to continue the players' epic campaign. Oh, and did I mention that included with the adventure path is NS0, a triple-length adventure for levels 1-4 to bring your PCs up to the 5-7 level range presented in NS1? I don't remember if I did or not. Oh well.

So that's the news. I don't know exactly when it'll release, I just managed to get other projects out of the way so I could devote the time to this one a couple months ago, but here's where it stands:

Campaign Guide (60,000 words) - DONE
NS0 (45,000 words) - DONE
NS1 (2,500 words added, 17,500 total) - DONE
NS2 (2,500 words added, 17,500 total) - DONE
NS3 (20,000 words) update nearly done
NS4 (20,000 words) next to be updated
NS5 (30,000 words) - DONE
NS6 (15,000 words) - getting started this month
NS7 (15,000 words) - half done
NS8 (15,000 words) - 90% done
NS9 (15,000 words) - pending
NS10 (15,000 words) - pending

I want to have the whole thing written before we start giving release date details since it dragged out so much as a series, but it is the project that is currently on my plate, so rest assured it is coming. It should weigh in at around 400-500 pages or so, I'm guessing. And maybe we'll even get to add in some of that Ultimate Campaign siege stuff. :-)

Anyway, I don't want to take the spotlight away from Endzeitgeist's excellent review, but we've been quiet on this topic for a long time and I wanted to let everyone know where it's headed and that the end is near! Thanks to everyone who has enjoyed the Northlands Saga so far, and here's to many more adventures there!

Greg

Everything associated with the project has already been written. There's a little adjustment and tweaking going on here and there but the actual writing for all if it is done. Even Frank Mentzer's bonus adventure has been turned for development. If May is the timeline thought we would be able to get it out, then that is probably accurate barring printer delays or something like that.

We don't want to drag this thing out a long time. Folks have been waiting long enough for this, and we want to get it into their hands as fast as we possibly can.

Depending on the actual printing time, I don't think May is unrealistic. It has been written already. It's just in the develop/layout stage, and we continued working on it throughout the KS. So May is our intention.

What's that soccer player guy so upset at Nick about anyway?

Okay, now that all is said and done on this mighty Razor Coast endeavor, the punchline is APRIL FOOLS!!!!

I kid! I kid!

(runs for shelter before the rocks start pelting him)

Seriously, though. A gigantic thank you to everyone. Obviously (but worth repeating), this could not have been done without you the fans. All the good intentions in the world from Nick, Lou, and Frog God Games could not have gotten this done without all of you getting behind the project. Razor Coast needed to see the light of day, and now thanks to all of you it will. I'm not ashamed to say that I was nervous at the very beginning wondering if the project would fund or not with all of it's inherent costs, but you have made a true believer out of me (or, I should say, "truer" believer, if there is such a thing). So again, a great many thanks to the fans of game, of Nick and Lou, and of FGG. And, of course, a very special thanks to Paizo and the many, many 3PP who jumped in to make this a success. I could not be more amazed at the outpouring of support this project received. Here in a few months when the books ship to everyone and yo get to hold your crisp new tome and piles of extras in your hands, I hope you all appreciate just how big a deal you were in making this happen and just how much we truly appreciate every one of you. It can't be said enough.

Greg A. Vaughan
Creative Director
Frog God Games

Just an NS update for those interested: NS5 and the NS Campaign Guide are both sitting on my desk awaiting development as soon as this big piratey white whale will get out of the way.

brvheart wrote:

I am hoping for the Players Maps as we already have all 4 of the Northlands Saga. Just got the last 2 for Christmas for the wife.

Ditto. A sweet bonus for backers who haven't explored the Northlands Saga yet, but I've bought all four and am waiting to pull the trigger on the fifth. What: is that Vaughan guy busy with some other project....?

Hahaha! You kill me H&W! No, seriously....

Just started developing one of the stretch goal adventures now that the main book is principally done. Oh my gosh, it is good. I don't know why there isn't an RPG just called Richard Pett. He's insanely good. It could be a hybrid of the one that would be called Nicolas Logue and would have a lot of similarities but with some of the words spelled weird and the z's called zeds.

Seriously, these adventures...not just the main one (which is truly amazing and groundbreaking in its presentation and mechanics for play) but the supplemental materials and stretch goals are really awesome. I feel so privileged just to be able to get the tip of my finger in this (if for no other reason than I get to read it all in advance...woohoo!). If you can't, you can't, and if it's not your thing, it's not your thing, but if you are on the fence and just aren't sure if you'll like it, let me pile on along with the others who have chimed in and say "You will!" I don't say that lightly. This really is an outstanding product that I wish I had written.