Itchy's page

As a beekeeper, I was very glad to find an avatar that fits me.

Given that the title of the Strip is "Happy Ending," I'm guessing that this is Elan's illusion.

See the Oracle's answer to his question: OOTS 331

-Aaron

This isn't quite an answer to your question, but, you might be interested in checking out Swords and Wizardry from Frog God Games. It's a clone of the original D&D rules. My understanding is that it is very rules light. The publisher has said that he plays it with his young children. He started them at 5 or 6 years old, if I remember correctly.

FGG also publishes a lot of their adventures in both S&W and Pathfinder rules, so you could pick up both copies a product and compare the two. They also published Tome of Horrors in S&W, so you'd have a TON of monsters to run players against if you write your own adventures.

My group is going to be starting Carrion Crown in a few sessions. These look to be very useful! I'll tweak them a bit to fit our group, but this is a huge boon to me! Thanks!

-Aaron

I just finished the book this weekend. It was a lot of fun! I enjoyed that it addressed some important life issues/ consequences without being "preachy" or feeling like the issues were shoe-horned in.

I lent it to a friend of mine who I think will enjoy the book!
I've been loaning out the Pathfinder Tales books quite a bit lately. It helps to know that I have digital copies, so if I never get the physical copy back, I can still read the book.

-Aaron

What pretty art!

-Aaron

So now there is a Paizo.com exclusive cover which looks more "Saturday-Morning-Cartoon-ish" than the original cover which fits the art style of the comics better.

Can we get any insight on why that choice was made for the Paizo exclusive cover? I know that the Paizo covers have been homages to different generes or movies (Jaws, Ghostbusters, Spiderman, etc). Is this an Homage that I just don't recognize?

I'm trying to decide which cover to get. I can only afford one. Since I have Paizo exclusive covers for all the comics, I'm leaning toward this one, but it just doesn't seem to fit as well...

-Aaron

I like the new cover! Who is the artist?

What is the cat with velociraptor claws?

-Aaron

I am around page 340 in the book right now. Now that it's warm, I'm reading real paper books again! I am really enjoying the character interplay in the story, especially the way that the story deals with certain issues.

It's good to see big ticket issues like these in a fantasy novel, but not presented in a really "preachy" way.

-Aaron

Wowee that's a lot of extra downloads sitting in my downloads folder, many of them I'm very excited about!

-Aaron

Edit: Figured it out now. The shiny Goblin icon and Goblin Squad title only shows up here in the Goblinworks forum. Well, Goblin Squad shows up on my profile page too, but nobody ever goes there.

Mark Moreland wrote:

Woot! I can't wait for more Elyana adventures.

+10

Absolutly loved "Plague Of Shadows." Totally stoked for a sequel. :)

I don't care if it's a mock up, that's an awesome cover! I also am very excited to see another Elyana/Drelm adventure. Despite all the Pathfinder Tales novels that have come out, Plague of Shadows has been in my top 4 since the very beginning.

-Aaron

What about an infiltration and rescue? The Irregulars infiltrate some sort of slaving operation in order to save a kidnapped prince/princess/merchant's progeny, and take down the leadership. A sort of fetch the Macguffin and assassinate the leadership quest.

I've recently began to read some of the pathfinder tales novels. I want to know if there is an order that I should be reading these in. Specifically is there one that deals with background of the characters in World Wound Gambit. I'm only in about chapter 4, and it seems that they all keep referencing a previous adventure. If I'm missing something then I'd like to read that first before I continue this novel. Thanks in advance.

As James Sutter said, there's no novel before Worldwound Gambit. To answer the broader question, there is no chronology to the Pathfinder Tales. All of the tales are set generically in "The Present." Unlike the Star Wars EU books, events in one book have no lasting effect upon the world that will turn up in other books. There are some that have sequels, thus generating their own "chronology," but that's about it.

For example, Prince of Wolves is before Master of Devils is before Queen of Thorns; but that's because they are all about Varian Jeggare and his bodyguard Radovan.

The Worldwound Gambit preceeds Blood of the City, though the books are barely related. If you like The Worldwound Gambit, read Blood of the City next. I think it's one of the best books in the Tales line.

There's a thread somewhere around here where I've been keeping track of all the chronologies, but I don't have a link to it on hand. A quick search should turn it up.

-Aaron

Perils of being a subscriber.

*opens box* "Hmm, I didn't realize how thick it was when I read it."

I've run into that problem too! For me it's becoming, "This book is too big to hold in one hand on my 30 minute walk to work. I'll just read it on the iPod Touch." I have several Tales books that I have not opened the physical version of.

That's why I started my gamer lending library at the location where we meet. We have a growing shelf of sci/fi and fantasy fiction for folks to borrow. It has resulted in one other GM from the group subscribing to the Tales line.

-Aaron

How about the rest of the campaign that Lieutenant Sturgeon refers to in this one? Andorens releasing slaves? That's something I can sink my teeth into. Almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Rambo: First Blood Part II.

It would be nice to see a bit of history about how this ragtag group got together, too. That can easily be handled in flashback (like in the Firefly episode Out of Gas).

-Aaron

Someone mentioned that the balance of power has just shifted?

New comic on new website... sort of

-Aaron

Excellent! I liked that over the four chapters, each character got a little bit of a chance to shine. The teamwork was fun to see, and the story ended with a bang!

This last illustration was excellent, though for some reason, I pictured the lieutenant as bald (death's head smile). The expression is excellent. He really looks just a touch mad.

I'll pick this up when it gets converted to ePub, I would also very much enjoy seeing these characters given a chance to REALLY wreak some havoc in a novel.

-Aaron

I'm not gonna say who the transgender iconic is, but I will say this—it's not a curse, and said iconic is not trying to "return to his/her birth gender."

My money is on Ezren for the transgender iconic. Just look at the art for the Girdle of Opposite Gender. It's only a "cursed item" if you didn't want the change.

Huh. That's an interesting idea for a character development quest...

-Aaron

I, for one, have really enjoyed the series and the characters. I wanted to see more of Lini, but I have a soft spot in my heart for gnome druids. My favorite character I played in a homebrew was an amazingly overpowered 3.5 gnome druid.

I'm looking forward to the continuation of the series with the different artist.

The art for Dark Waters Rising was not bad. I felt a strong anime/manga influence in it, but I thought it was fine. I'm in it for the story, and I've been enjoying the story!

-Aaron

Awesome! My group will be purchasing this set.

-Aaron

I downloaded my digital copy this morning. I will start reading it... soon.

-Aaron

I know. I really wish I could have come up with a better solution. The clicking to see what's connected helps. Grabbing a bunch of encounters and people in which your players are interested and dragging them off to the side makes it easier to see to what they connect.

When I tried to do this on paper it was the size of my 7 foot table and still unreadable. Nearly everything really is connected to everything in a web. It might just be better to trust the manuscript and follow along.

However, seeing what connects to whatever you are prepping that night gives some backup ideas on what else you might want to prep.

I really am disappointed I couldn't make it more useful in the time I had. I'm no xmind mavin either. :(

This makes me glad that I supported the Realmworks Kickstarter. As I recall Razor Coast will be included for the supporters. My impression is that tracking things like this is what Realmworks is MADE for.

-Aaron

Downloaded! I have not had a chance to read through it yet. However, I did glance through. I enjoyed the insertion of pictures of the minis that you used. After glancing through, I went back to the kickstarter page to look at what is coming in the mail...

That's a LOT of minis that will be arriving on my doorstep! I may try to run this as a one shot just to play with a bunch of them.

-Aaron

Since this book was published in early 2011, it has remained in the top 4 of my personal, informal, unwritten and ever changing ranking of the Pathfinder Tales line.

I just read on Howard Andrew Jones' blog from March 22nd that he turned in the manuscript for the second Elyana/Drelm novel! I don't know how long it will take to turn that manuscript into a book in my hands, but it's one step closer!

In the meantime, he has also published two Asim/Dabir novels set in 8th Century Baghdad. The first is Desert of Souls, the second is The Bones of the Old Ones. Desert of Souls was quite good. Now that it's warm enough to hold a book while I walk, I'll have to check my local library for The Bones of the Old Ones.

-Aaron

PS: If you have not downloaded the Plague of Shadows wallpaper, Here it is for you!

Thanks for the vote of confidence Nitro! If the stars align, there's a great deal more to this team of half-crazed commandos then I could possibly get to in a single serial.

Let's align those stars! Now, how do we go about doing that? Where are Asim and Dabir when you need them?

-Aaron

I'm going to second this request. I'm planning to run Carrion Crown and pawns would be extremely useful!

-Aaron

Rachel F. Ventura wrote:

We got some in. I don't think Erik's list made it in. Chuck and I spent the whole night getting files loaded for the printer. I will have the new PDFs up soon. Takes a while to load to all the pledge levels.

*stops putting together second errata list*

But, but, if you only let me know earlier that I could have had an impact, I could have found so many errors for you!

:-P

Keep that errata list going. All the pdf users will thank you with all our hearts!

-Aaron

That artwork is one of the best I have seen yet. That's just beautiful! It reminds me of the gnome druid I played for my second PC.

The first paragraph of this chapter has some great imagery. I love the descriptions. The action throughout is fun and flows well.

I am really enjoying this story and looking forward to more.

It has a bit of a "Western" feel to it. Part of that is the terrain. Part of it is that every time the Lieutenant addresses the group as "Irregulars," I hear an echo of "Regulators! Mount up!" in my head.

Now I want to go watch Young Guns.

-Aaron

Voted!

-Aaron

VDC, to help all those GM's give you more specific advice, what sort of game are you planning to run? Are you running an online game or a face-to-face table game? Homebrew? Adventure Path? A mix of both? Are you looking to run a fairly "railroad" campaign (GM's story driven)? A more sandbox campaign (player choice driven)?

Both GM's at our game table use Herolab. You can try out the Beginner Box version for free. I use Herolab on my netbook as my character sheet when I'm a player. I don't bother to print the character sheet anymore, I just play straight off the netbook.

I use Combat Manger on my netbook for running initiative order. We are looking at putting Combat Manager on an old laptop and putting it on a screen that everyone can see to be our digital initiative tracker. One of the really nice features of Combat Manager is that you can use the tabs to quickly look up spells, feats, and other rules.

Keep d20pfsrd open as a rules reference. I find that it's faster than looking in a rulebook.

We use Google hangout to bring in people who can't be physically present. It has worked very well for us. I was able to play in Connecticut while I was at a short school in Tennessee.

Raging Swan Press' Dungeon Dressing-line is EXTREMELY useful for any GM, so is their "So what's the..."-series. They provide all those little details that help a world come to life.

I'll second this statement for any GM. These products are a font of ideas that can be dropped into a description or lead to adventures/ sidequests.

-Aaron

Something I would like to see in an errata is a page number to go along with the condensed stat blocks when referencing re-used creature/npc's/etc instead of just referencing an encounter name or "see appendix". It would be nice for those of use who only can afford the PDF, which is a lot more annoying to navigate.

This is a really good idea!

-Aaron

You Frogs Rock! You rock hard! Also, you make really pretty books.

It will be much easier to run when the Herolab files are out, but most likely they will be out before I get a chance to run this.

-Aaron

I can't see the images at work, so I'll vote when I get home this afternoon.

-Aaron

I like it. Love the cleric being called Chaplain!!

I didn't catch that! That's great! When I was deployed we always called our chaplain "Chappy" or "Sir."

-Aaron

I really like this. The writing is not stellar but it is passable and the main character is engaging. I might purchase this as my first pathfinder tales.

I dislike the fact that the main character draws his 4'feet longsword from his back. Unless he is 13 feet tall or have 9 feet long arms that is pretty much impossible, and too say the least the attempt itself would look ridiculous.

To be fair, elsewhere in the book, the author addresses your complaint about drawing a sword off the back. Rodrick admits that it is awkward as all get out to draw a sword off your back, but it looks cool to wear it there. Since he is more concerned with looks, he wears the sword on his back.

Also, he and Hrym have an arrangment for open country travel that makes it much easier to draw the sword off his back.

I encourage you to check it out!

-Aaron

Use the wolf statblock unchanged and describe it as a small (size Medium) bear.

-Aaron

Definitely enjoyable, an action packed start. It's nice to see some characters that seem to be solidly in the Good side of the alignment pool!

-Aaron

I'll have to spend a little time looking for conventions in my area to see if I can find out where she will be.

Even better, I'll glance at her webpage periodically to see if she has any announcement there. I notice that I missed a Portland, CT appearance on March 9th.

Thanks for the kick in the tuckus, Dave! :)

-Aaron

It has been far too long since I've visited New England or the UK.

I don't remember where I got the impression that Elaine Cunningham was a Northeastern US local, but when you get the chance to come out our way, if you can swing convincing her to attend a book signing too, I'll bring my copy of Winter Witch along with all my Radovan/Jeggare books (except the most recent, I'll buy that one at the retailer).

I will have to look back through my old posts. I remember chatting with someone on the boards who works at a B&N in Worcester, MA...

-Aaron

I was glad to see Norret back in another story, I really like the character. It was interesting reading the story from the viewpoint of his brother. I think Mr Murphy managed to give it a different tone than the previous stories, by using a different style.

As other mentioned before, I’d gladly read another novel with Norret, or better, a book.

If you are absolutely starving for more Norret/Orlin fiction. You could pick up the Reign of Winter Adventure Path that is currently being released. Each book has a chapter of the Norret/Orlin novella that Kevin Andrew Murphy wrote for the AP.

I haven't started reading it yet because I'm waiting for the full story to come out, but I did glance in enough to make sure it was a Norret/Orlin Tale. When I get the last book, I'll sit down one night after the kids are asleep and read the whole thing through. Which reminds me that I need to do that with the novella in the Shattered Star AP...

-Aaron

Reviewed here and on DrivethruRPG.

I honestly did not expect pages and pages of tables to keep me interested!

-Aaron

I'm in on faith based on the rave reviews for Way of the Wicked. I'm looking at PDF only right now, though the signed print versions are tempting.

Herolab files as a stretch goal would REALLY sweeten the deal. A poster would be awesome too.

-Aaron

Awesome! Congratulations Dave and the Pathfinder Tales Line.

Now if we could just get a book signing in the Northeast (preferably New England area), I'd bring my books (and buy a new one at the retailer).

hint, hint

-Aaron

Like rkraus2 said, change tactics. Take some spells that deal damage other than your element, but flavor them to fit the element.

For example, describe your magic missile as icicles (or miniature fireballs or acid droplets, or lightning bolts) shooting out of your fingers.

Or...

Describe your summoned animals as being made entirely from flames (or ice, or stone or wind). There's no mechanical difference, they are not dealing elemental damage, they just fit your element.

Magic Weapon: describe it as a coating the weapon in ice or fire.
Spiritual Weapon: Describe it as a weapon composed of ice or fire.
etc...

Be creative and have fun with it.

-Aaron

That explains why Rodrick doesn't have boots of water walking in the book.

I KNEW Hrym didn't want to go on a crusade!

Liar's Blade is now in my top 4 favorite Pathfinder Tales, along with Blood of the City, Deaths Heretic, and Plague of Shadows.

-Aaron

I was going to recommend Crypt of the Everflame, but now I say check out Hollow's Last Hope first. Why? It's free! If you read it and don't like it, you can spend money on Crypt of the Everflame.

-Aaron

Pathfinder Chronicler is an option, or you could submit them for consideration to Wayfinder magazine. The latest issue's deadline is just a week away, but they come out twice a year.

Shadowborn is absolutely correct.

Question:
I'm sure that the comic will not be available digitally, since that is sold elsewhere by Dynamite Comics (if I remember correctly). However, would it be possible for subscribers to recieve a digital copy of the GAMING Material only?

-Aaron

I'm excited for when my hardcover trade paperback arrives. I want to read the whole story without needing to change issues!

-Aaron

Now where do the Pathfinder Society seasons fit into the timeline? :)

Right there amongst all the books that take place in the "Present."

That's my guess, but then, I don't play PFS.

-Aaron