Isuru's page

Good to hear. The more hats contributors wear, the easier it will be to bring it all together.

There's no such thing as redundancy in a fanzine, only enrichment.

Just reading the Battle Scion PDF and found the layout and art elements lovely.

A layout template could make this zine look great, even some scrapped elements and re-purposed experiments from a freelancing professional would go a long way... If only we knew a talented layout artist...

The myth names are great suggestions, but Yggdrasil is the 'sleipnir' to beat in this race due to thematic fit and iconic imagery ('cause tree motifs are cool).

I look forward to reading this.

Will the new psionic dragons have a theme like the core dragons (Metallic, Chromatic)?

In my head, "Hrym" sounded like the momentary reverberant metallic chime of when a sword is drawn, that slight tuning fork hum. If that's the case, I found it a clever name for a sword.

Congratulations to Christina, Dawson, and the Misfits.
Funding successful at an aesthetically symmetrical $9119, hitting some great stretch goals along the way.

Almost there.

Pitched in what I can to help, plus the bonus material is simply voluminous.

Congrats to the Kobolds!

Long awaited and most worthy of the anticipation.

I stayed up far too late browsing through the digital version despite having an early start the next day.

Looking forward to this.

Skeeter Green wrote:

Isuru wrote:

Hey, they have a Level 7B. I guess I can lower my pledge now... :)

Tsathogga's minions are not pleased by your humor.

Repent!!

SG, unpleased minion of the Frog-God.

:-)

Watch out, that's the smile of a predator right there.

"It's too late!" said the fly in the frog's mouth.

Hey, they have a Level 7B. I guess I can lower my pledge now... :)

To be fair to T5, many upper-middle tiers offer little more than a title. Those middle tiers offer no substantial material product beyond the book. That's quite a hardcore fan-base.

Traveller also doesn't have a comparable offering to a subscription plan for an expansion built into their Kickstarter. At something like 230 subscribers already in for an additional $50 each, that's somewhere between $11k - $12k of RA's total that's not the immediate primary product, but will instead be completed after the main RA product ships.

Then let's not forget the backer discount on FGG's catalog of Slumber Tsar, Black Monastery, and Tome of Horrors, etc. Traveller isn't offering an extensive library of already published books. There was a significant uptick of pledges the day the FGG discount become a backer perk (again, at least double digit thousands). Don't get me wrong, that move was genius. I decided to snatch up products I wasn't even considering. Well played Frogs, well played.

Beyond a broad category and perhaps a few characteristics, the two projects aren't comparable. That both are racing each other for the record of print RPG is a good sign the various segments of the greater community is alive and well.

It's still there for now:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ag/20060607a

A PDF of these maps would be highly unlikely given the recent policies of WotC. They withdrew PDFs from most (all?) retailers. Paizo may sell the maps, and even commissioned them for Dragon, but WotC ultimately holds the rights to all things FR.

Also, WotC is currently supporting the new version of the Realms set after the Spellplague, which is a century and several major events removed from the setting depicted in these maps. If anything they would sell the current setting map before the previous edition one.

Back on topic, does Midgard's shinny old Mammon get his due in this book?

A sloth soiree without inviting Slothulhu or Slothoggua?

You will all despair when they rise from their ... slothful slumber ... in S'loth'leth. Oh, no, it's happening ... their influence ... emanates from the depths. It's affecting our minds!

Some standard utility spells, read magic, detect magic and more advanced versions, even identify, legend lore, etc. Also arcane mark, for flavor more than anything.

Definitely the Light and Darkness line of spells, including dancing lights.

The "protection from X" spells.

Grease, Invisibility, Lightning Bolt, Haste/Slow.

I will say that I only seem to see these types of discussions come up when dealing with Asian inspired settings. . . never with European settings, that always take liberties with naming conventions. In the end, SM is a fantasy setting, and I'm not willing to change names we used for years to appease a few that don't particularly like it.

+1

If this is considered bad, then all the typical western fantasy settings that butcher various European languages, living and dead, deserve death sentences. Golarion or [Insert favorite setting here] included.

Even if a company or designer attempted to use the actual languages in the setting, the tiniest mistake would get them mountains of corrections from fans. By that logic, why not just write the book in the native language the setting is inspired by, the text, the mechanics, all of it.

One part Aragorn, one part Beastmaster, equals two parts awesome.

Actually, didn't he have a trained horse? In the movies at least.

Regarding Forgotten Realms elves, people seem to take all the wrong impressions from them. It's true their history is full of hubris and folly, but so is the history of dwarves or other races and especially humanity. Humans in the setting in particular have some of the greatest screw-ups, Netheril, Imaskar, etc.

Each race or group paid for their arrogance (including virtual extinction for the Netherese and Imaskari ethnicities), getting knocked down a few pegs only to climb up again. For elves and dwarves they were kind of on their way out in the 2e and 3e era, that's how far they fell from their previous dominant positions.

Also, the folly of the elves is used to highlight that when the stereotypical arrogant elves were in charge, their empires have a tendency to fall. Myth Drannor was at the height of power in the reign of the Coronal who welcomed humans, dwarves, halflings, gnomes and other races into the kingdom, but after he passed (and his heir died) did the elven leadership not cooperate with the other races and Myth Drannor fell. Some elves fought besides the other races trying to preserve the kingdom, but they couldn't succeed with the divisiveness.

Same thing for the Crown Wars, different tyrannical elven dynasties going at it, gobbling up smaller elven kingdoms into mega-empires, then it all fell when they escalated the violence and dark magic with the other side. Been some years since I've followed FR lore, but I recall the leadership who perpetuated these massive wars are not looked upon in a positive light by mainstream elves of the setting. Except for the dark elves who became drow and embraced it.

It's interesting how the history meant to reflect upon these issues with some measure of complexity (for a fantasy setting) is instead reduced down and taken as a baseline stereotype for the entire race as a default.

Isuru wrote:

Savant + Legends of Midgard ... ?

Not really. We are using it to describe a homebrew class that is closer to the original meaning of the word "savant", that is - a person of learning; especially : one with detailed knowledge in some specialized field (as of science or literature). These guys are hoarders of knowledge and they are using it to influence the world and bring certain events to fruition.

Sounds like an interesting direction to take the word concept.

Though with "Savant + Legends of Midgard" I was referring to the (potentially) upcoming Legends of Midgard supplement from OD and whether some support can be worked in for the KQ Savant class since it uses legendary archetypes/tales as a source of power and Legends of Midgard addresses exactly such sources.

Savant + Legends of Midgard ... ?

Off the top of my head, the classes introduced in KQ include, Savant, White Necromancer, Elven Archer and Shaman. Am I missing any?

Any of those would be a great class for expansion on the New Paths line.

A Clockword wizard could be fantastic fun.

Some ideas in response to Marc's shaman design article on the KQ Blog include a spontaneous counterpart to the witch and a prepared counterpart to the summoner. The latter in particular I think could fit well with the theme of the Wasted West in Midgard.

Dave Gross wrote:

Who painted that awesome cover?

It IS awesome

Indeed. I like the way the colors set a certain mood.

Rite Publishing wrote:

We have another 5 star review at the Ten letter blog

I subscribed. Is there an option to get print and pdf at the same time.

Ditto.

Hey, you know me, I'd be up for pitching it. But not next round. I've already got something cool lined up with the Overlord.

Upon reading that I realized Christina's alignment is soul-breaking, madness-inducing Neutral Evil.

Good to hear about the discussion we're going to get in the upcoming weeks.

@Steve Geddes: I've seen this done with other projects on Kickstarter (including big ones like the Double Fine Adventure), it's something you can contact Wolfgang about and I'm sure he will work something out with you. He's been organizing patron projects since before Kickstarter ... was (kick)started.

Nearly full funding in two days will do that. It's a virtual surefire success. Congrats, looks like this one took off and will be another memorable project.

What WILL you all do in the full month and change until the final funding deadline? ;)

Or play on the 'United' bit to create a football style crest, like Manchester United or Newcastle United

+1

A crest in the football team style would be classy and fitting.

Sketchpad wrote:

I'm a bit bummed about not getting a Bestiary 4 ... but I hope that this will have stats for some of the Pathfinder Tales characters ;)

I hope they absolutely do not ever stat out the Pathfinder tales characters. That was the first step the FR that lead to alot of stupid things.

But I am so happy this book is coming out instead yet another book of monsters.

Too late, I think some official PF Tales characters have stats floating around somewhere.

Novel character stats should be fine, there were many more factors leading to FR's issues other than character stats.

They're also great for a colorful morsel of setting development, going back to what Eric Hinkle said above about NPCs having lives too.

They could be heirlooms, treasure that spawns other adventures, musty dangerous tomes in a forsaken library, or as a set of notes passed down from student to student in an arcane college (how I came to realize the potential of the UC spellbook when I saw a game designer use one that way).

Spellbooks are more than the sum of their individual spells, they tell a story of the person or persons who put them together.

Never pre-ordered, so I'm not out any money, but RA could potentially earn my money if it is released someday and depending on the usual factors (content, cost, physical or electronic product quality, etc). I'm in support of you guys finishing it up.

After glancing over the summaries and information provided about these projects, I'm interested in both, so count me amongst your potential market.

On whether to separate out a bestiary/alienary, it all depends on the cost to monster ratio. If it's a decent sized offering with a reasonable price, then perhaps some customers will initially purchase only the alienary for their own games/setting and be introduced to the KUG setting that way, etc.

Also the acronym KUG has a certain (odd) ring to it. I would like to see it worked into the final name of the setting line somehow. Reminds me of TORG (The Other Roleplaying Game) and Thedas (THE Dragon Age Setting).

Congratulations to Mr. Daigle and the Kobold crew.

That's a hefty roster of monsters.

Somehow I always hear about new issues here before I get my subscription notice... :)

Same here.

This issue seems packed.

Really want a look at the shaman class. It's one of the most persistent concepts to show up in the many game editions but varies greatly from edition to edition or even within an edition.

A combination of the previous edition Warlock and the Binder would be an interesting addition to what is presently available. Have the eldritch ray and limitless, spell-like invocations inspired by the Warlock; then dire pacts giving flavorful abilities at intervals inspired by the Binder.

While the previous edition warlock gained abilities at level intervals, those had limited variety outside of the pre-established fiendish pact archetype. I agree with others above, draw inspiration from the sorcerer bloodlines, oracle revelation/curse, and witch hexes/familiars. Make the pact their unique class feature differentiating them from others, their source of power (demons, devils, fey, jinn, aberrations, celestial, nature, otherworldly, etc). I would also prefer not to see another traditional spellcaster, but spin the pact and invocations into a magic subsystem based on the existing system like the original Warlock invocations.

Archetype wishlist:
- Blast-oriented warlock, eschewing other abilities.
- Invocation/Spell-like ability focused, but weaken eldritch ray. This one almost feels like a traditional caster.
- Pact bound warlock, pact heavy to detriment of everything else.
- Eldritch Melee type. Can't let Soulknives have all the fun.

A solid line up and wicked cover, I'm going to keep an eye on this.

While its been going on a while its still available for patronage Questhaven Campaign Setting

Good to know, considered it but then thought the time passed already. I'll consult with the incorporeal and nebulous gods of expendable resources.

It should be Legacy of Fire (5 of 6): The Impossible Eye.

Link

Hoping this makes the next goal to give it more room to delve into the topic.

Sad to see the movie under-performing here. The media latched on to the story of an expensive domestic flop of colossal proportions in the news cycle and it doesn't matter if the international receipts puts it closer to even.

I saw it this weekend and thought it decent enough. It certainly deserves a sequel more so than many other movies that became franchises.

Top of my head, Clash of the Titans was terrible, in my opinion, although I'll have to admit Wrath is looking much more interesting if just for the titans and what they can do. Sorry, getting off topic.

Mark me down as interested.

The current total is $12,020 with 53 hours left.

If this reaches $12,500 by the end the final goal kicks in, adding a 16-page standalone mini-adventure by Wolfgang Baur himself.

The project would then weigh in at 160-pages of total material (128-pages + 16-pages pirate society + 16-pages mini-adventure).

The project is in its final week of funding.

The current total is $130 away from the next expanded goal: "A complete pirate secret society writeup with leaders, monsters, lair, ships, and nefarious plans, a 16-page standalone mini-expansion for all backers".

A Captain level patron, or any equivalent, would push this over.

Saw this on the front page and I logged in to check the status.
Immediately I saw "You purchased this product Friday." (12/09).
All is well.

Thanks for this. The influx of daemons came in handy last night.

Cheapy wrote:

I can just imagine Steve going "Oh, so that's why it hasn't sold so well..." :)

Lol.

I had a couple bad river crossings on oregon trail, does that count?

Depends on if you had dysentery?

This one looks cleaner and higher quality than the previous ones.

Also I noticed 3 new Open Design books that I can't find info about on KQ web page. Is that add the first news of these new books or am I just crazy and unable to find them?

The books in question I mean are Journeys to the West, Seven Cities Guide, and Wasted West Guide. From the ad on page 12.

Those books aren't released yet. Seven Cities Guide and Wasted West Guide are players guides for the Midgard campaign setting. This thread has an update on their status: To KQ/OD Forum.

Seems they're lined up for editing/layout right behind Dark Deeds in Freeport and maybe something else.

Journeys to the West is the most recent OD project still in the funding stage via Kickstarter. Link: Journeys to the West

It's great, check it out.

I must say, I like the name of the class. If it is everything the description says, it's a very fitting name.

I also like the color theme of Purple Duck Games' products, very distinctive, good choice.