Pathfinder Lead Developer, Frog God Games. Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber. Pathfinder Society GM. 1,697 posts (1,702 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 1 Pathfinder Society character. 4 aliases.
SO there's a convention in Dallas called NTRPG Con that's held June 7-10. Its been going on for years and it is oooooolllldddd school. By which I mean they play 0e and 1e with games run by people named Erol Otus and Frank Mentzer, and Jeff Dee. Seriously old school from the classic heyday of the game. I bring it up because I had never heard of it until last year, and this year I and most of the rest of the Frog God Games folks are going (in all fairness Bill and Matt Finch have been going for years, but it's new to me).
So why do I bring it up. Well, for the first time ever, as far as I know, there are going to be Pathfinder RPG games at NTRPG Con. I know this because they've graciously allowed me to run them. So this gets to the heart of the matter. I'm going to be running the forthcoming Mires of Mourning adventure soon to be released by FGG. So far it's only been run in part at ReaperCon last year, but this year I've got 12 hours of slots allotted to it, so it shall be revealed in its entirety.
So here's the deal. It came up for registration last night and MY TABLE IS NOT FULL!!!! Okay it's been less than 24 hours, but those guys like Mentzer and the rest have to beat players back with a stick. Plus I thought it was really cool of the convention to give a "new-age" gamer a chance to break into their venerable gamers club.
Therefore, I am making this heartfelt plea: If you are in the Dallas area or will be in the Dallas area around June 9, come to NTRPG Con and play in my PF game. I've got to look good for these veterans so they don't call be FNG and yell at me to get off their lawn. The Con is only $40 for all 4 days and the games themselves are free; you just have to register for them online. So if it's in any way in your wheelhouse and you've got some time to kill around then, come on down and play in my game! But first go online to NTRPG Con and register to sign up for it.
Just to clarify in the interests of full disclosure. I am running a pre-release FGG adventure for PF RPG, not a Pathfinder Society Game. I hope to see you there!!! :-)
I didn't want this to intrude on the Sinister Adventures thread dealing with the re-emergence of Nic Logue and the fate of Razor Coast or otherwise detract from it, however several people there have mentioned a desire to see more of Messrs. Agresta and Logue in print. I talked to Lou about it, and we thought this might be a good time to let the cat out of the bag while people are looking for something like this rather than later when it might slip past interested parties unnoticed and cause them to miss out on it: [/long preamble]
Forthcoming this summer from Frog God Games is a new adventure by Lou Agresta and Nicolas Logue. It is completely written and sitting on my hard drive right now going through development, so this isn't just vaporware. Ideally I'd like to have it out by Paizo Con (and somehow talk Lou into joining us at Paizo Con), but we'll have to see how long the printing and layout takes with the backlog that Slumbering Tsar has created for us before we'll know for sure.
Just so no one gets the idea that Nic has been secretly co-writing adventures on the side while all this has gone on, this is actually an adventure that the two collaborated on years ago for Dungeon Magazine but that got the axe when the print magazine went away. After sitting in a dusty digital box all this time, it has finally found it's way to the light and will feature the craft of Mr. RPG-FEMA Agresta and Mr. Hook Mountain (OMG I'm still having nightmares!)Logue.
So look for SCORNED from Frog God Games later this summer.
ST14 has gone through its edits and is back to Chuck to complete the final layout. It won't be posted for sale until Bill returns from vacation in a couple of weeks, but it is the final chapter of the Slumbering Tsar Saga so I wanted to take this opportunity to give you a heads up.
As you may or may not be aware, the entire subscription to the Slumbering Tsar Sage (pdfs of all 14 chapters plus a limited copy of the hardback) is available through the FGG website at talesofthefroggod.com.
As Bill has indicated, anyone who purchases this full subscription gets their hardback signed by himself and me plus some special bonus material. He has also indicated that once ST14 goes up for sale, the subscription option will no longer be available. You will still be able to purchase the hardback through Paizo or our website, but the limited signed copy with bonus material will not be available any longer. Since ST14 is about to be posted for sale soon, I wanted to give everyone a reminder and last chance to get in on the special limited bonus edition. We will not be doing reprints of it.
I also wanted to fill you in on what sort of bonus material will be in the limited edition book. Bill has dropped hints here and there, but since I'm working on it right now, I'll just come out and say it. The bonus material is an additional adventure chapter that takes place in Tsar after the completion of the epic saga's 14 other adventures. I think it's turning out pretty cool as I write it, and if you're a long-time Necromancer Games or Frog God Games fan, you're definitely going to want it. It ties in some world lore that people have been itching for for years. I'm not going to spoil it but trust me, if you've followed Frog God Games and/or Necromancer Games in the past, you are going to want this chapter. And if you haven't been following the FGG/Necro world, it's still pretty cool bonus content with a signed edition. We're anticipating that the Slumbering Tsar Saga book may be the largest RPG book ever printed (I believe it will far exceed our own Tome of Horrors Complete once it goes through final layout) plus it's benefiting from over a year of messageboards errata that we are compiling and incorporating to catch the typos and work out any kinks that were discovered in the individual adventure releases. Trust me, you are not going want to miss this.
So look for it on our website and don't miss out. And if the subscription is not for you, remember you can always purchase the regular edition of the hardback here at the Paizo store once it is released.
As we enter the final wrap-up stages of putting this book together before it goes to layout in a couple weeks, I have just completed compiling its Table of Contents. Obviously it is sans page numbers at this point, but I thought I'd give you guys a little teaser for those who are thinking of checking this book out, so you can see exactly what is in store. This TOC is for the PF RPG version (the S&W version is still underway).
Also, as a reminder the preorders for the book will end June 30 so we can get the numbers into the printers. Preorders can be made at talesofthefroggod.com.
I talked to Bill this weekend and received some big news in regards to The Tome of Horrors Complete (PF and S&W editions).
In order to have the books available by Gen Con, we are closing the preorders after June 30th so we will know how many of each to print. We will likely print a few extras, but the books are going to be fairly expensive to print on anything other than a large scale, so there is unlikely to be a reprint (not impossible, but there would have to be a huge demand to justify the cost). So while the pdf will remain available, those hoping to catch a physical copy other than through preorder could have difficulty finding it. There have been some copies ordered for distribution through Noble Knight and Troll and Toad I believe, but again due to its prohibitive cost I don't believe that there will be very many on store shelves. Frog God is just a little company, and this is hugemongous book, so we can't just flood the market with copies without knowing how many will sell or not.
So I just wanted to let you all know; no rush and no need to panic, but we did have to set a hard date on which to end preorders so we can actually print the book, and I wanted to make sure you all knew with as much prior notice as possible.
"Frog God games is pleased to announce Tome of Horrors Complete
This book will be released in 2 formats; Swords and Wizardry and Pathfinder. It will consist of a huge volume encompassing all three Necromancer Games Tome of Horror volumes. Release date is Summer 2011, and retail price is TBD. This will be hardcover release. This massive Tome will contain almost 1000 monsters retstatted and reworked for both game systems, all in one place.
This is the largest, most comprehensive monster book ever released. Each monster is individually illustrated.
I know, I know, the Desolation is a beast of a puzzle to put together if you don't already know what it's supposed to look like, and it's the central focus of the first three adventures of the Slumbering Tsar Saga from Frog God Games. All I can say is that when I first designed it to be one book it was my intention for it to be a poster map.
Well, after much customer feedback and tapping the esteemed James Keegan (of Wayfinder and KQ fame) for another of his extraordinary pieces of art, Frog God is providing its first free download (I say first, I don't know if there will be more or not, but I do know that it's the first), a players' map of the Desolation (no doubt pried from some unlucky sucker's dead fingers where he was found out in the muck) that can be distributed when your PCs first arrive in The Camp and start asking around about that Big Wasteland sitting in the settlement's backyard. Or make them build it from clues as they quiz the locals and dig for information. Do whatever you want with it; it's yours and it's free!
Ideally it would have been put into the ST1: Edge of Oblivion adventure, but that has already been released and gone to print. My intention is to include it in the big combined book when the whole thing is released at the end, but until then download it for free here.
Slumbering Tsar is live at Frog God Games. The purchasing codes should be completed this week allowing orders to be placed, and the first adventure updated to PF RPG goes on sale May 15th for $2.00!!!
1 part sandboxy wilderness, 1 part sandboxy ruined city, and 3 parts sandboxy dungeon crawl (did I mention the sandbox aspect?), the Slumbering Tsar Saga can take your old school campaign from 7th level to 20th and above. Plus it features artwork by the Paizoboards' own James Keegan who has been featured in Wayfinder, KQ, and other fine venues.
I had a much more detailed post prepared, but it was eaten when I tried to post it, so head on over to Frog God Games (scion of Necromancer Games) for more info.
Slumbering Tsar is live at Frog God Games. The purchasing codes should be completed this week allowing orders to be placed, and the first adventure updated to PF RPG goes on sale May 15th for $2.00!!!
Okay, I've just finished reading the adventure and associated articles (got bogged down in some other stuff for a while there), and I think I've addressed all the errors and questions that have been raised. However, if I've missed something or someone notices something else, please shoot me a question on this thread or one of the others and I'll keep on eye out for them.
I have finished my first reading of Skeletons of Scarwall and noticed that a few errors had crept into the text and maps. So I thought I'd list them (and their fixes) here to save folks the trouble later. This is just what I've noticed after a single read-through, so it is by no means exhaustive. If you find any others, let me know, and I will update the list.
Of course, spoilers abound.
Here's what I've got:
Page 23 the descriptions of Pegg and Loute are slightly twisted. Pegg is the short one with a wooden leg, and Loute is the tall one with grotesquely long arms.
Page 24 under the Lords of Scarwall, it mentions that Belshallam was once a favored mount of Kazavon. Strike that, Belshallam came along much lter, and the two never actually me.
The map on page 26 shows a letter "A" narked in room 4, seeming to indicate tat the chamber was a barracks.The letter "A" should not be there. Room 4 was a defensive chamber.
Room 22 was left off the map. The lone western tower on the page 34 map with atrapdoor in the floor labeled "T1" is room 22.
On the map on page 34 the roof of the observatory at the west end of the castle (room 14) should be composed of rose-tinted panes of glass, not shingles like the rest of the roof as it is drawn.
The map on page 40 shows a trapdoor in the ceiling of one of the rooms labeled "24." There is no trapdoor in that room.
The map on page 40 has two rooms labeled as "24." Only the central room is room 24. The southern trapezoidal room labeled "24" is actually room 29.
The map on page 40 shows the balconies labeled as "25" as having stone railings. There are actually no railings on those balconies.
The map on page 40 shows an unnumbered trapezoidal room at the north end of the keep opposite the one that is incorrectly labeled as "24" (see above). This unnumbered room is actually room 26.
On the map on page 40, there should be a secret door in the south wall of room 28.
The map on page 40 shows a trapdoor in the floor of room 32. This shoukld be removed. The only access to room 32 is by climbing or flying.
The map on page 40 also makes it appear as if room 32 is "open" with only a stone railing around it. The central cupola should have solid walls pierced by two doors leading out onto balconies. The balconies should have the stone railings.
On the map on page 34 add a secret door in the alcove behind the statue in room 37.
On the map on page 34 the hallway marked as room 28 should be room 38.
Not to sound too egomaniacal here or anything, but in a world of Nic Logues and Richard Petts one feels that one must beat them at their own self-aggrandizing game. Out-Pett Pett, so to speak (that doesn't sound very good when I read it aloud actually, but you get what I mean).
Now some of my naysayers (namely those that reside across vast reachs of ocean) might mention that I am the chief abuser of self-aggrandizement of all, and I suppose it could be said that such is true...when one looks at it "from a certain point of view" (thank you, Obi Wan Kenobi, for giving us all that most-excellent argument of deflection). So since "from a certain point of view" I feel like I can say I'm at best the second-worst shameless self-promoter (without feeling the need to put forth any other viable candidate), I will remain gleefully oblivious to all such arguments.
So moving on from all that unpleasant business on to the topic at hand. It is a simple statement of logic that Paizo regularly features products from WotC (and other publishers) at the top of the homepage complete with a blurb, and that with the release of The Twilight Tomb I have now been published by the above-said entity, it, therefore, stands to reason that The Twilight Tomb should be featured atop the home page of the Paizo website. It's a simple 1+1+1 = The Twilight Tomb. How can you argue with that? Add into that, the fact that both Richard Pett and Nic Logue have previously been published by WotC and yet failed to think of this idea, and I think the answer is irrefutable--The Twilight Tomb it is.
Now it's true, that I receive no royalties for said adventure, but if it should reach platinum status in sales then there is a chance WotC might someday throw more work my way and I can finally achieve my lifelong dream of owning a solid gold rocket car off of the ridiculous wages thrown at freelance adventure-writing (I actually blush to think about the amounts, and we never even get random drug tests like those poor professional athletes).
That having ben said, I think the answer is once again obvious, Down with Logue and Pett....I mean put The Twilight Tomb on the home page.
I hope this subtle post is viewed in the true spirit of humility and world peace that it is intended and with this gesture we no longer have to endure any more frightening wars with foreign lands like England or Hawaii.
The AoW adventures have gotten a lot of press (and are certainly deserving), and I suppose it's just the nature of the beast, but I wanted to start a thread and invite comment on the other adventures in these two issues. I have to say that in my opinion an already-excellent magazine has really stepped it up with these latest outings.
I think Kevin Carter's "Ill Made Graves" is great. I love the viking flavor (especially the GH viking flavor) in it. I know there have been viking-style adventures over the years, but I can't think of any that have captured the feel as well. The whole Beowulf homage is great and seemed to even be an homage to another Beowulf homage. It reminded me of "Eaters of the Dead" by Creighton ("The 13th Warrior" to the uncouth churls out there). Anyway, an excellent adventure and especially ingenius in its use of the artifact's powers that activate in different areas of the dungeon.
As to Nic Logue's "Chimes at Midnight" I must begin by saying that while I'm not in the "I hate Eberron" camp and think it is an extremely creative and cinenatic-feeling setting, it never really appealed to my style of play. I have the books and think they are some high quality stuff (Keith Baker has a great mind), and I've enjoyed the previous Eberron adventures in Dungeon (in the sense of "that's nice but I'll probably never use it"). However, I think Nic has hit a homerun with "Chimes". I haven't even finished it yet and I'm hooked. The plot, the villains, the setup, it's all top notch. I find myself thinking how can I adapt this out of Eberron to use it. And then find myself thinking that perhaps I should just use it Eberron as intended. Obviously his WotC adventure coming out later this year is going to be a hit if it's anytjing like "Chimes", and I suspect he's likely to have a long and prosperous career writing Eberron (as well as AP and other stuff, of course). Well, that's enough gushing. I was just startled by how interested I got in this Eberron adventure.
Okay moving on...
Chris Wissel's (I believe) first outing as a full adventure, "Wingclipper's Revenge" is also great (see no Word-of-the-Day calendar, ASEO!). It's great greatness is greatly enhanced by the fact that is so enjoyable to me when arguably fey adventures and forest adventures are my least favorite kinds of adventures (not that there's anything wrong with them, they just seem to have been the most abused in the past). It has a neat story, a wonderfully horrid motive, and Nightshade Hold is a cool, I mean, great location. Chris's imagination is so good I mainly spend my days lurking on the boards looking for his posts to steal ideas for adventures from him (my wallet thanks you, Chris).
Finally I come to Campbell Pentney's "Caverns of the Ooze Lord". This is a nice horror movie stuffed into an adventure. It could have been twice as long and still been just as interesting. I kept looking back to the title page of this grim tale to make sure it hadn't been written by Richard Pett. Congratulations to Mr. Pentney (and the future Mrs. Pentney, I suppose) on a wonderful adventure. Reading it was like walking the streets of Dunwich.
Well, it has finally happened. One of my adventures (The Hateful Legacy) and one of Richard Pett's adventures (I forget the name just now) are finally running head to head in an issue of Dungeon.
There was some discussion of this over on the thread for Dungeon 118--Shadows the the Abyss with Richard Pett chiming it. Frankly I chose to take high road, but then Mr. Pett got downright caddy and made some unflattering remarks about my grammar. I chose to point out a few of his own foibles, and evidently he decided the gauntlet had been thrown.
Well, if you've been over to that thread you can see that the banter has gone back and forth a bit about the relative merits of our two adventures. So far, a cursory examnination I think would reveal: The Hateful Legacy--great; Prince of Redhand--not so good.
Some outside parties have become involved; Koldoon/Ashavan appears to be firmly in Mr. Pett's camp having been won over by his phony British charm (I think he actually lives in Cleveland, but that's just me). Anyway after a few rounds of this Mr. Pett cried foul in a personal e-mail to me and claimed I had homefield advantage since it was on a thread dedicated to one of my own works. Once again I chose to bow to his churlish demands and move this over to a more neutral site. The result is this thread that you see before you.
Here Rich and I will duel over whose adventure is superior, and I will, of course, prevail. Nonetheless, even though very few of you have actually seen either of these soon-to-be-released adventures please feel free to add your comments. As I see it, it looks like a great opportunity to have a Let's Bash On Rich Fest...I mean a spot of jolly good competition (as my worthy adversary would say)
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