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Not kickstarter... I can't resist a kickstarter! Oh well, at least I have a few months to save up... I'll just go and sob in the corner until your ready to take my money! Thanks for the support. This one is going to be a AMAZING revamp of the original setting to make sure everything we did before and did work, getting them to work and work right. Better yet, getting things we did real well and do it even better. Plus there will be more amazing artwork to go with this setting. I hope to have artwork for Lylith and the various higly important NPCs coming in the next few weeks. This will be the premiere survival horror / post-apocalypse setting for Pathfinder rules set.
After kicking around many names for the Obsidian Twilight update, I came up with Obsidian Apocalypse and this one kind of sticks with me so we are going with it. We have also created a all new logo for it and if you are interested in seeing it, check it out here. I have also decided that this will be a Kickstarter project that we will be starting September. Here is the new website page we have build for Obsidian Apocalypse and you can check back regularly for updates and things we have planned for this re-release. And just to start your interest in Obsidian Apocalypse we are planning to add five more powerful and evil NPC characters to the setting including Lylith; former angel and love interest of Zebadiah; now fallen angel / succubus hybrid and consort of the vampiric lich Calix Sabinus. Fun time ahead and thanks for the support of Obsidian Apocalypse.
This came up with a few friends of my while talking so I had to ask the Paizo fans. What would you like to have: 16 all new monsters OR 16 all new monster templates? Now this is information is specially going to be used for our for the upcoming revamp of Obsidian Twilight, which we are now calling Obsidian Apocalypse, but I think fans and publishers might find this interesting. Please discuss!
The 2012 Memorial Day $1 Sale has now officially started!!! Go get over 500+ products at very low prices. Exclusively at RPGNow.com
[LPJ Design] The 2012 Memorial Day $1 Sale May 25th – 28th There are a lot of people going around claiming to have a Memorial Day sale, but there is ONLY ONE 2012 Memorial Day $1 Sale!!!! It’s the sale that happens only once a year for. It’s the sale that has the best deals for PDF products you can imagine. It’s the sale you can’t pass up! It’s the 2012 Memorial Day $1 Sale!!!! If you have been saving your money wait for these great deals, now is the time to brake open your piggy bank and spend it!!! The pricing is as follows: All products with a price range of $1.01 to $4.99 are ONLY $1!!!
This sale runs from May 25th until May 28th. Start putting products in your wish list to save money on. Save money and get what you want for cheap!!! Exclusively at RPGNow.com
Seriously, I've used the same PDF for CreateSpace POD printing and Lightning Source printing via RPGNow. And then I take that same PDF, optimize it, and use it for the PDF release. I been doing layout now for 20 years and LS set-up requirement are unlike any I have every seen, espcially when I use them thru RPGNow/DriveThruRPG. I'm confused as to needing to relayout at all. I have heard that from a lot of designers I know. If Lightning Source is the most restrictive (and it sounds like they are), do the original layout with them in mind and save $75... The only problem with that is it cause problem if you have or are using other POD services like Lulu. Color books in Lulu work exactly the same as there B&W book so you can submit one file for both versions. LS doesn't work that way and you have to submit two different files. What do you need to do direct to Lightning Source that's different with the RPGNow POD interface? As I recall when setting it up, the only issue my PDF had was that it wasn't a particular PDF standard, so I re-exported from InDesign in that format and everything was golden. I sent the same exact file to LS direct and RPGNow/DriveThruRPG at the same time. The finished LS version was sent to me in about 2 weeks and was 100% correct. The RPGNow/DriveThruRPG took near 6 weeks to get a copy sent to me. Th file had to be resubmitted twice (they said there were issues with the file) and when it can back to me was printed incorrectly and had several issues with transparencies on images. The file that were sent were the SAM FILE for both, so I don't know what RPGNow/DriveThruRPG is doing with my file but I know something isn't right. Here is something to think about also, RPGNow/DriveThruRPG is taking roughly 50% of the cost of a print book with their percentage and the cost to print, with LS direct I just pay the print cost which can be as low as 20% of the cover cost. Would you rather have 80% when you sell direct OR 50% when you sell there another party?
No, I'm just saying it's extra cost. Rite Publishing released Frozen Wind a free PDF adventure back on Halloween last year with many downloads since. We decided to make it available as a POD printed book at Lightening Source and it took some fairly major changes to the original layout (alteration of the page borders, resizing of some illustrations and reformating tables) - it was from a page layout point of view, a lot of work to finally conform to the printers needs. Well I let you in on a little secret I learned recently about Lightning Source. If you go DIRECTLY to LS and pay the $75 to have them do the POD of your book, you DON"T have to do all the re-layout work. Let me say it again slowly so you can let this sink in: If you go directly to LS, and NOT use a service like RPGNOW, and pay the $75 to have them do the POD of your book, you DON"T have to do all the re-layout work. I initially tested this with a book I sent to POD, but going directly with LS does cost me $75 per book title set up. Now while I don't like to pay the $75 for each new title I have to send to them, I do like that I can call my contact at LS directly, he answers my phone calls and questions directly (a sales guys that actually knows printing?, talk about a winning combo) and most importantly FIXES MY ISSUES. Now that means you can't sell PDF & POD combo at RPGNow or DriveThruRPG, but you could sell them at Paizo.com minus their cut or directly at your website where you don't have to split the money with anyone. How you like them apples?
Why not? I do right here.
We just placed TWO all new Iconics (A Kalisan female Witch and a Human Female Machinesmith) for our NeoExodus: A House Divided Campaign setting at our website. We have them for both 3rd and 5th level to enjoy in your home games. And once again, thanks for your support of LPJ Design, NeoExodus and Third Party Publishers.
I want to tank everyone who has been nice enough to comment in this thread. Being a publisher I know that PDFs are the most cost effective way to run a successful business. But I find it interesting also how many people who say they only want "dead tree" version of products. Something to always think about.
[Threadjack start] Sorry to bother, but I am hoping I can get a better more detailed response to your comment. I don't understand why the print version is "better" (my emphasis) than a PDF version? Most likely due to the nature of print, the product will cost at least double and sometime more then it's PDF version. Since the information that is being delivered is the same and just the method of delivery is different, do you think paying double or more the cost of the product delivery is a OK? Don't want to put you on the spot with your answer, just trying to understand better as a 3PP of Pathfinder material ans what customers want.[threadjack end]
I'd just like to note one thing from a legal point of view... in this thread, you've only ever referred to stuff as "PFRPG," which is totally fine, and exactly the right thing to do if commercial publishers are to be involved in the organization running it. Given existing licenses, an alternative org play group would only be able to use the actual "Pathfinder" trademark if the whole thing were done under our Community Use Policy, which would mean it couldn't be run by a commercial publisher, and nobody could ever charge money to play. Well here is a question that I think you might be able to answer or at least lead us in the right direction. Since this has a lot of legal issues attached to it, would Paizo even consider developing a system where 3PP could approach Paizo with a "living campaign" and handle the back end support while the full front end it done by the 3PP? What I am think similar to what Paradigm Concepts' Living Arcanis did with the RPGA. Something like this IS possible and is already proven to work.
Well does this have to be a "formal" thing like PFS or could we just agree to a list of thing that we might do in writing and philosophies of creating adventures? Maybe more them more story driven (a la Adventure Path) but make the "successes" and "failures" mean more to those involved. To me, I get the feeling PFS adventures have more the "play and forget" aspect to them.
The funny part to this post for me is that 3pp are NOT trying to "pull you out of PFS". Why would we want to? That would not be good business for us. The more people that play Pathfinder means the more potential customers for us all. Making Pathfinder MORE successful only helps LPJ Design MORE. Think of it like ice cream, vanilla is the most popular flavor but not every one likes vanilla. Some like rocky road, strawberry or chocolate. But they all help sell ice cream, which in turn helps them all grow stronger. WOTC's RPGA supported several 3PP companies "living campaign" (See a list of them here) back end infrastructure, while the companies help expand niches in fantasy that WOTC/RPGA might not find to be profitable if they did them. If I was Paizo I would create something that 3PP could use their back end. Sign 3PP to a exclusive Paizo.com only deal to do use their back end system, charge they 50% sale of their online adventures do do online sales and make a OGL version of the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play that 3PP must follow to make their "organized Play campaigns. Set minimum number of adventures that must be released and if the sale don't hit a certain numbers they can drop the 3PP from the services. Extra money for Paizo, more exposure of Pathfinder, and even better relationship with the 3PP. Who would want this?
Btw I know I'm speaking alot about class power and such here when you just wanted input on the background story. I just wanted to consider the repercussions of how your world interacts with specific classes in PFR. I love the setting and have greatly enjoyed using it in my game. I only wish to help you make it easier to understand and more PnP compatible with PFR. It's funny to me because I never thought of it as a PnP but as a full setting. Apparently I was wrong about this, but in a good way. I think making the setting more PnP may be a direction we are planning for this upcoming update.
So now I ask this. In a world ruled by the undead wouldn't a cleric be either a huge target always hunted by the strongest of foes or a God? I mean 1 Cleric and 1 Paladin together would be able to lay waste to vast hordes of the free mindless undead that surely rome the world looking for food. When you look at it that way there becomes no reason(other than pure roleplaying) to play as any class other than Cleric or Pld. So with that I think heavily restricting clerics in this world is kind of neccesary. Well you have to remember the premise of people can get accidentally trapped there from other worlds in a various of way including teleport /dimensional travel mishap. People that "grow up" on Obsidian Twilight know to hide their class abilities if they are a Cleric or Paladin. Also while Clerics and Paladins are quite powerful in a setting like this, they have to rest while the undead don't have to. You can only smite or turn undead so many times a day.
Louis Porter Jr. Design has just released Armada: Expanded Sea Combat and Rules Sourcebook (PFRPG). This product expands on the material in the Skull & Shackles Player’s Guide. Here is information on this product: In roleplaying games, there are no two words that go together better than pirates and ships. A motley crew of piratical archetypes, abilities and equipment have been rounded up in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and with the release of the Skull & Shackles Player’s Guide, naval combat has sailed to the forefront of gaming. To add to the great work done in that player’s guide, LPJ Design presents Armada: Expanded Sea Combat and Rules Sourcebook. This sourcebook offers new possibilities to players and game masters alike engaged in naval-based adventures and battles. This sourcebook contains: • Five All new Ship types including Catamaran, Khemetic Barque and Steamboat
Time is ticking down! You have less than 60 hours to help us reach our threshold. Please help and make your donation here!
The new Obsidian Veil has the effect of absolutely barring the divine traffic of souls and prayer, such that no individual deity can see into, hear, or gain power from their followers on the world. We have handled the issue of divine gods and their access in a very unique way (which isn't talked about here) but you still do get access to your divine spells and abilities.
Add to that the fact that a collaboration Campaign Setting might detract from the individual campaign settings, I'd rather see the individual worlds exist in continuity parallel to each other, but that's just my 2 cents. Cheers! DING!!! You got that one RIGHT on the head. I don't want to create ANOTHER CS. I have two (three if you count the upcoming Pirates of the Bronze Sky) and that is two too many to keep doing regular monthly releases. Now What I would think would work well is to "swap villains" in CS a la X-Men / Teen Titans or Avengers / JLA. I would find it interesting to see how other CS would deal with the NeoExodus terrorist group, Folding Circle would do in Open Design's Midgard for example.
You know what, I would like to work with Open Design on creating a new prestige class or even as an Ranger archetype: Headhunter. I would base it as a actual Maori headhunters with some cool magical effects. A headhunter is always looking to take heads, shrink them and use the shrunken head them as magical item. I can see a LOT of cool ideas with this class.... I might have to give Wolfgang a call...
What sort of responses do you want? Anything and everything. 1. I could point out that referring to high-level characters jars me out of the otherwise in-world description of the rest of the piece. That's a pretty nit-picky thing. That's OK. 2. I could point out that the end result is very similar to an idea I had independently for a campaign (except mine was demons rather than undead). As such, I'm afraid that if I ever run that campaign, my players will think I'm ripping off Obsidian Twilight. Please! We are all stealing something from everyone. 3. I could point out that the event seems so suddenly and overwhelmingly catastrophic as to be unbelievable, and the end result is so depressingly horrifying that I can't imagine ever wanting to play in that campaign world. You'd need to give me a really good reason to even pretend to be living there. For Obsidian Twilight it is more of the sense that you are trapped there. It is Survival Horror we are presenting here. I'm guessing these aren't the responses you're looking for. All comments are thanked and welcome. Thanks again.
To do something like Crisis, you would need to get several 3PP aligned working together in basically some type of AP where we have to agree on a supreme villain BBEG who is the central master evil. You would also need to get a group of writers who not only have to work together BUT need to work with each of the involved 3PP to make sure individual worlds "flavors" are correct and it is all unified. Then you have to get artwork, editors AND layout people and all that goes with that.... Best of all how would you sell it? How is the money broke down? Just some crazy thoughts of mine.
I would call that a Crisis...on Infinite Earths...
This is it!!! We are down to the wire! Only FIVE days left to submit to this project. DOn't miss out on a great gaming opportunity! Please help and make your donation here!
Here is the the reworked changes and explanations of what what happened in the Obsidian Twilight setting that was submitted to us. I want to get people's opinion on it. Enjoy! Obsidian Twilight: Changes to the world of Abaddon when the Meteor fell When the Dark Star fell, it brought with it a massive amount of negative energy, intermixed with wild and uncontrolled magical energy from unknown stars and the emptiness of the void. From the moment it hit the atmosphere, to the second it struck the world, and in the minutes, days and years thereafter, that energy has roiled through the planet and wrought catastrophic changes on the planet, beings and very magic that permeated the world. The first thing that happened was the complete disruption of the dimensional field of the planet. Pocket dimensions tied to the world imploded, sucking in massive amounts of wild and negative magic, and annihilating all within. Bags of holding and similar items became conduits for killing blasts of dark, matter-twisting magic as they were ripped asunder. Teleportation spells and those that traversed dimensions found themselves transported through a miasma of ripped dimensions, negative energy, and chaotic magic. Teleporters and plane shifters seeking to flee the disaster were ripped apart in transit, and the exit and entry points became holes in space that disgorged massive amounts of destructive magical power, in many cases destroying the places and people they were fleeing from and fleeing to. Lastly, a wave of wild magic spread with the shockwave around the world, disjoining magical items and spells and making them centers of attraction for magical energies. Those laden down with items and spells of magic, or in magically defended abodes, were ripped apart by explosive wild magic and negative energies as their spells failed en masse. In particular, those flying and who thought themselves out of danger found themselves in often very long distance falls even if they survived the destruction of their magic.
The combination of planar trauma and negative energy temporarily prevented the flow of positive energy, meaning that healing power was almost completely lost. Uncounted numbers of people perished from wounds that a mere short time before would have been magically healed away. Those attempting to channel such powers found themselves instead plugged into uncontrolled negative energy that often killed them and all those nearby when invoked. The living perished by the millions, and in the dark storm of negative energy, arose by the millions. Even uncontrolled minor undead have a hatred of the living, and the powerful undead now had next to no resistance to their strength. Bodies erupted out of graveyards shorn of their blessed protections, those slain by cataclysm twitched and rose to their feet, and turned to prey upon the living. The saviors of the living during this time period were a highly unlikely pairing – the ghouls and their ghastly masters, and the vampires.
Other undead, not tied to such corporeal appetites, had no such qualms. Still, the intelligent among them realized that undead do not reproduce themselves, it takes the living to generate more undead. As the monstrous egos of the undead lords and masters began to clash, and their armies to take shape, the idea of replacing fallen minions stirred a pragmatic and ruthless desire to shepherd living assets, and so living survivors were corralled and rounded up to serve as breeding stock for a new generation of undead. Free-willed and roving undead possessed of no desire but to hunt the living were themselves hunted down by undead to safeguard their own sentient humanoid cattle. Surviving members of the living were gathered up to serve as breeding stock and slaves, or slain and converted into more undead minions if they resisted. The combination of wild magic and negative energy that swept the world inflicted catastrophic harm on the ecology. In combination with the lack of sunlight, the only plant life that survived was that which mutated to being able to endure on the energies of death and rot, and fungi which could survive on the decaying plant life around itself. In so doing, many of the plants turned poisonous or inedible to normal creatures…or became predators themselves. Body and spirits inundated with necromantic and wild magicks, even sentient creatures began to change and adapt. Elves, ever part of the environment, changed with uncanny speed to reflect the new world they lived in, or rarely managed to defy it and cling to an old, non-existent paradigm. The dwarves fought the change with vicious willpower, and succeeded only in cursing their entire race. Gnomekind’s emotional links to the First World were crushed under a tide of negative energy, giving the entire race a black mindset and affinity for the undead. The Halfling race degenerated from a lucky, easy-going race of content folk with ties to the land, into feral, seemingly cursed savages clawing for survival. Humankind shifted and split. Those shepherded by ghasts and vampires, or clinging defiantly to ancient ways, grew tough and resistant, veritable fountains of life energy their masters found appealing, and making the best of cattle. Those who survived under the cares of wights, mummies and other undead were born with affinity for negative energy, almost half-undead themselves, dispirited and grim souls slaving away until their masters decide to turn them into undead. One free race of Men underwent a mass magical ceremony forever branding themselves with evolving tattoos to resist the necromantic powers around them.
As the negative tides of magic settled down, the ravaged dimensional barriers lost their ability to serve as conduits for travel. While passage from outside could be punched through the Obsidian Veil, it proved impassable in the opposite direction. The making of dimensional hidey-holes, teleporting, and similar dimension-afflicting magic decayed into either extreme short-termness, risked exposure to wild death energies prowling the Obsidian Veil, or were sharply limited in distance. Called creatures brought through the Obsidian Veil found themselves stranded and unable to return home, their essential natures rapidly and forcibly changed so that even death or destruction would not send them home, but instead kill them forever. Summoned creatures fared even worse, with their true selves being called and hurled into battle by callous spellcasters, and only the end of the spell returning them to self-control. For those extraplanars brought forcibly here, those who survived their first battles and the almost inevitable turning on their masters spread rapidly into the wild, and quickly intermixed with the native wildlife, to the point that Summoning extraplanars as breeding stock and food became a common practice. Such creatures were hardly free of extraplanar influences, which spread to those that consumed them. Outside the Obsidian Veil, spirits and entities marked the world as a black hole that all who responded disappeared into, and could only be gathered in by brutal force. The new Obsidian Veil has the effect of absolutely barring the divine traffic of souls and prayer, such that no individual deity can see into, hear, or gain power from their followers on the world. The souls of the departed do not pass the Obsidian Veil to other worlds, but either dissipated into the ravaged world-aura of the planet, or were infused with negative energy and returned as the motivating forces for yet more undead. Minions sent inwards to assess the situation were unable to return home, to the point where the divine are unsure if anything lives on the world at all. The chaotic and negative energies of the world have had a temporizing effect on the outsiders brought in here, redefining them less as extreme representations of their alignments and into more mortal mindsets and views. Knowing they can be slain forever on this world, and there are no more of their kind coming, as well as being severed from the radicalizing influence of their home planes and greater entities thereon, has resulted in behavior unthinkably ‘mortal’ in term and view from the outsiders trapped here. They, too, have been herding and capturing mortals, with an eye towards creating progeny that can carry onwards if they themselves are slain…while instinctively furthering the cause of their alignments and also giving themselves emotional subsistence upon which to feed.
So I am setting here talking with friends and they asked me a great question that I am asking to all the 3PP out there: As A 3rd party publisher, who would you like to team up on a project? For me it is kind of easy because I am kind of doing it right now: Dreamscarred Press and adding psionics to Obsidian Twilight using there system. What about you other 3PP?
Partly because in some earlier drafts they received machine tricks at odd levels. However this changed but the text did not. I left it in mainly for the enventuality of printing the "Extra Machinetrick" feat. This feat would allow you to essentially spend a feat to get things a little "earlier" than you normally would. Obviously it has not been printed yet but it's something to look forward to in the future. I expect that we will be adding EVEN more material of the Machinesmith to the upcoming Quartermaster Handbook we are making for NeoEoxdus. Think of it as our specialized version of the Ultimate Equipment for NeoExodus.
is there going to be a feat for extra tricks as well? alchemist, witch, ect do have a feat for extra abilities so it seams appropriate to have a feat for extra machinesmith tricks as well. other than that, i really love the new pdf. We don't have any plans for it currently, but if we do more add-ons for this class, they will be focused for use with our NeoExodus: A House Divided setting.
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