|
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Paizo Pathfinder® GameMastery® Planet Stories® Paizo Games | |||||||||||||||||||
| About Paizo Messageboards News Paizo Blog Help/FAQ | |||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 Recent Posts
My deck finally arrived today -- so naturally tomorrow night's game got canceled. D'Oh! One thing I notice, going through the deck, is that the cards seem to average somewhere in viciousness halfway -between- x2 and x3. The implications of which, it seems to me, are:
I certainly agree that being able to choose between two cards opens up tactical options, no question. But at the moment, if I were invested in a x3 weapon (and only cared about pure combat effectiveness), the deck as written would probably make me inclined to find a x2 weapon with a higher critical threat range. Maybe give x3 weapons a flat "+3 damage to result" across the board or something? I'm still pondering the math in my head. And we haven't gotten to the table yet, so in-play experience might change things. -The Gneech
My wish list includes the follow: These are both very good suggestions. Anything that helps keep from wondering, "What were you THINKING?" ;) -TG
BTW, anyone from the original Blue Box remember when they got so cheap they took out the dice and put in "chits". That was my first version (purchase at Toys R Us) and I had to find my first "hobby store" (mostly model trains) in the mall and spend and extra five bucks to have dice. That's me -- my first d20 was 20 small cardboard rectangles that you were supposed to draw from the box. I'm pretty sure that makes me an old gamer. -The Gneech
I don't have a lot new to add to what's been said, but I want to add my voice to the chorus of "Don't do it!" First-time GMs really need to start small. I heartily applaud your insistence on beginning at 1st level. If I were you, I'd also ask five (or six) volunteers to make a separate group, with one of THEM running. -The Gneech
That sounds like an interesting way to house rule the deck. Please, make sure to post back on how that works out. Having still only seen the on-site preview so far, I was wondering about that myself. I mean, if I had a x3 weapon and my choices were "Triple damage, but you drop your weapon" or "Normal damage and your target suffers humiliation and may only attack you (Will negates)" -- I'd feel pretty hosed either way. So I would say that triple damage weapons should add a multiplier to the card -- maybe instead of choosing between two. I am also contemplating a house rule of giving the players the choice of either drawing a card, or just rolling the standard extra damage for their crit. -The Gneech
I wouldn't expect Pathfinder's dragons to end up differing much at all from the classic ten chromatic and metallic dragons. They've remained pretty much the same for 3 decades, and that's not by accident. . . . It's foolish to make sweeping changes to something that's that well-loved. Y'know, now that I actually read that quote out of context ... "dragon ... 3 decades ... foolish to make sweeping changes to something that's well-loved" ... I think -- THINK mind you, don't know -- that JJ may have actually been talking about something ELSE here. -The Gneech
I enjoyed and quite a lot of mileage out of Brainy Loosemuscles and the late Dorl Tavyani (from "Vanity"), as well as the King's Players from "And Madness Followed". Brainy Loosemuscles, mainly because he was such an over-the-top thug. I voiced him like Mr. Gumby from Monty Python, and the players all loved it. Dorl Tavyani, not so much just the spectre of him who the players actually encountered, but more his role as a historical figure. Building on his legendary status (as described in the adventure), I have peppered the campaign ever since with more sites and relics related to him. And since the players know what an utter fake he was, it's become something of a running gag for them to foist these relics off on a particular collector they know and despise. The King's Players, I liked just because they were so unusual. Instead of the standard Megalomaniacal Evil Cleric or Insane Wizard, the idea of a band of sinister (yet attractive and popular) bards who are putting on a play being a world-threatening evil, is just cool. My campaign BBEG is Evard, as well, although he's more or less completely different from the version of him that appeared in Dungeon, so he probably doesn't count. -The Gneech
I dunno, I think -Dungeon- has had a pretty good history of including interesting NPCs and social situations. Not that I wouldn't love to see more, mind you -- but given the nature of writing adventures for as wide an audience as possible, that's a big task. The best and most compelling RP situations are ones where your character has ties both to the setting and the specific characters involved -- and there's no way an adventure designer can know your character to tie them in! The best way to set up RP opportunities in the context of a single adventure, it seems to me, is by supplying rich background material ... which is what I gather a lot of the "not the actual adventure" part of each Pathfinder release will be. -The Gneech
Kids and D&D: try Collectabeast the D20-ification of the "Gotta Catch 'em All" philosophy :) Actually, that looks like fun. :) -The Gneech, unapologetic Pokemon-liker
What d'ye do with a yellow kobold?
Tell 'im that he's got to put 'is pants on
Bree-yark! A lizardey dog man
(Next verse...) -The Gneech
Actually, we're looking into doing just that, including ads/catalogues in each package that gets shipped from our warehouse. Presumably, that would include Pathfinder as well. So one way or another, news will still reach your doorstep. :) That sounds good. :) Maybe a "Paizo Newsletter" kind of thing, blurbs or mini-reviews could be worth a look. -TG
Agreed. I'm certain all of us are contuining to boycott talking until things are made right. This vow of silence has had a strange effect at our gaming table. We now use sign language. When the players get excited and start throwing their arms around wildly to channel some of their upset or glee over a die roll you can really hear the strained nose-whistled breathing of the heavyset guys. It's kind of chilling.Does anyone else find it ironic that a thread named "Stunned speechless" has 364 posts (as of now)? Well, you're not supposed to be playing at a table anyway. Don't you know? It's all online these days. -The Gneech ;P
I like the sound of it as an extra, but it seems kinda labor-intensive for the Paizo folks. Even if it was all database-driven, it would require a massive amount of work to do it for every would-be customer. That said, the occasional "subscriber bonus pack" (maybe of a miniature or some other smallish thingie) would make my toes tingle -- but after the firestorm caused by "subscriber-only" content in Dungeon, I would expect Paizo to be very wary of such a thing. I do love my Dragon-subscriber "Sorcerer on Black Dragon" tho. :) -The Gneech
So how are subscriptions going to Pathfinder? I know you can't give exact numbers, but are they good, better than you thought, below what you expected... ?Actually, we have been floored by the very positive response so far! Quite a few people have transferred credit over and a very strong number have become Charter Subscribers. The numbers keep growing every day. To say we are pleased would be an understatement. Thanks for everyone for your faith in us. Also thanks to everyone on the boards who jumped in and helped to sell Pathfinder to somebody on the fence. Sometimes it feels like we have a thousand customer service reps! :) It's called "good karma". ;) -The Gneech
It may be that they do -- I don't have one in front of me now and can't say for sure. I do remember being frustrated at the lack of AC breakout in something I was running recently, but I think that may actually have been in the Dungeon Crawl Classics line. My poor achey brain can't remember now -- still getting over last week's shock. -The Gneech
One suggestion: Downloadable PDF version, mebbe? Weeks later, perhaps, so as not to step on the toes of Free Game Day. I'm going to try to get to the participating LGS (unfortunately, it's not particularly F, so I avoid it), but I'm glad to know that if I can't, there'll be an alternative. -The Gneech
Overall I'm not keen on "races" of dragons -- I prefer them to be unique. Some should be wyrms, all coils and oozing acidey death ... others like massive yellow-scaled crocodiles with baleful lamps for eyes ... still others enormous golden-red, fire-breathing winged terrors. Having said that, I also realize that's a lot of work to pull off -- and a recipe for everybody recreating Smaug time and again. So in practice, the good old metallic/chromatics are probably a good way to encourage diversity in their own way. But in an -ideal- world, yah -- all dragons are unique! -The Gneech
Putting in my vote for "Howardian sword-and-sorcery" here! "Rana Mor" was a staggeringly-awesome example of this.Count on it. By the way, if you're into the old-skool sword-and-sorcery, I highly recommend checking out what's coming down the pipe over at Planet Stories. There's certainly some very interesting stuff there! I'll keep my eye on it. :) -TG
"And Madness Followed" was all about bards having their day! My group will certainly never look at bards the same way again, I can tell you... -The Gneech
These things have to grow organically to really work. They can set up figures with intent to be The Big Deal (e.g., The Runelords) -- but the ones that will really make a lasting impact will be the ones you don't foresee. Think of it as the Snoopy Syndrome -- Charlie Brown's cute lil' dog was a very minor supporting character when "Peanuts" began, and by the end it was practically "The Snoopy Show (With Charlie Brown and Friends)". The same thing will happen with Pathfinder, I expect. :) -The Gneech
Maybe merge the products into a single one, that has "the next installment of Pathfinder" and "some other adventure" back to back -- with the subscription to that product? I'm actually very curious as to why Paizo didn't do it that way in the first place. :) -The Gneech
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
