Mordun77's page

Too bad, I was looking forward to the day I could renew my Pathfinder Charter subscription. I can understand Paizo has a lot invested in PRPG, and they do not want to lose focus.

I just hope at some point they have the resources, and the will, to publish for 4e as well. Now that the GSL allows OGL and 4e, I can't see them ignoring the 4e market forever.

I really loved Paizo's products for 3.5. I hope they will do either conversions of the Pathfinder series that are already out (cheaper development) or start a new line of 4e adventures.

Please Paizo, I want to give you my money but you make it so hard!

I've bought a 12-month subscription. I can't complain about the content in Dragon, and Dungeon can be picked through for individual encounters, or at the very least, new monsters. The compendium is very handy since it has details for books I don't own, like the swordmage, or the genasi and drow. I get fewer entertainment hours/dollar going to the movies or renting a DVD, so I think it is good value.

Too bad the CAN$ has sunk below par again though!

I've come to this conclusion when comparing Pathfinder modules vs Dragon adventures: Pathfinder is a joy to read, but the verbosity makes it harder to prepare and run as you wade through all the detail. WotC adventures tend to read very blandly, but actually running them is a breeze. I use both for different reasons.

I'll be getting the year subscription. Its the cost of a DVD rental a month, for more pages than a typical splat book. And I've bought many splat books that have seen 30% or less of the pages used in my campaigns, so the odd article that I can't apply directly doesn't phase me. The extra tools are icing.

The Compendium has already shown its value, as I can cut-paste powers onto power cards (http://www.dnditalia.it/pcg). Plus, as each new NPC, monster, and magic item is added (including those from the magazines) its value only increases. It will become a very useful library in the future.

#1 and #4. Not going back to 3.x if I can help it. I think a poll like this on these boards is going to give a false reading since most of the 4e players have already left.

Thanks Alison for your help. I've always found Paizo to be an excellent company, with top-notch products, service and people. I find myself in the very odd position of wanting to buy from a company, just can't find a product! ;)

Hopefully in the future there will be some 4e support, even if it is limited to the odd stand-alone adventure module. There is a lot of good-will towards Paizo, including those moving to 4e. Help us help you!

Awaiting patiently,
Andrew

Same here - I've sent Customer Service an email (order #988674). The timing of this double batch seems a little - suspicious - shall we say.

Sneaky sneaky - trying to slip in the start of another AP with the conclusion of CotCT... They must figure some people, like myself, were waiting to finish CotCT to cancel their subscriptions. Maybe they think if readers get the first issue they'll want to collect the remaining 5?

I'm in the opposite camp from the OP - I don't think PfRPG can go far enough to make the changes required and still maintain backwards compatibility.

The basic system math does not work outside the 'sweet-spot', which is impossible to fix without major upheaval. AC, HP, SR and BAB still will not scale correctly in PfRPG.

Iterative attacks (which slow the game down to a crawl), cannot be removed. I had a recent encounter from Savage Tide with over 40 attacks in a round! This is atypical, but not unheard of, and will only get worse as the campaign progresses.

You won't be able to balance the martial classes with the full spell casters if you keep the spells without major changes.

Vancian spell casting still exists.

Monsters still require an incredible amount of cross-referencing (especially spell-like abilities, have bloated statblocks with too many abilities they would never a) choose to use b) live long enough to use.

The shear number of dice required to roll for some attacks will not change significantly enough to improve game play. I don't think you should ever, ever have to roll more than 8-10 dice in a turn.

I love Paizo's work. I like the people that work for the company because the are accessible and pay attention to their fans, and their products are top-notch. I was (and still am) angry at WotC for taking back Dragon and Dungeon magazines, and I've enjoyed the Pathfinder APs to date. Their community is generally friendly and intelligent. I wanted to like Pathfinder RPG, but to maintain backwards compatibility their hands are tied, and they can't make the fundamental changes the game requires, in my group's opinion. 3.5 is simply too complex to run at mid to high levels and still be fun at the table, and PfRPG isn't going to fix this.

Unfortunately, this means I will be dropping my subscription to Pathfinder APs after the last part of the Crimson Throne arrives and moving to 4e. :( I hope at some point Paizo supports 4e as well as the PfRPG, even if it just a few stand-alone modules (surely it isn't THAT hard to write for two systems!). I will be sure to check out Necromancer's AP, and only hope the same Paizo quality can be found there.

Good luck with PfRPG!
Verys Arkon

I would actually love to see Dark Sun brought back. It was certainly the most unique of the 2e settings, in my mind, and the 'point-of-light' philosophy works well there. I wouldn't expect them to try and cram all the 4e assumed setting fluff - such as the tieflings and dragonborn history, or the Feywild for example; it's a distinct campaign setting. I would only hope that they would 'reset' the setting back to the original boxed set, and not the revised version.

The problem with TSR's approach to multiple settings was that they tried to support them all at the same time, and stretched their resources. WotC is focusing on 1 campaign setting a year, with a meaty Campaign Guide and Player's Guide, and a fairly lengthy adventure. Then they move on to the next setting, and let Dragon or Dungeon DDI articles flesh out the settings. I'm sure they would sell more Dark Sun campaign setting books then say, yet ANOTHER FR location splat book like the Shining South.

If you find a place to host it on the net and you feel it is ready for public consumption I'll add a link to it in the Pre-release Rules Compilation Preface, and the OP over on EnWorld.

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=221806

Cheers,
Verys Arkon
PrRC compiler

My group has been making good use of these online supplements too for tactical maps. I've been using Adobe Illustrator to File>Place pages from the .pdf, then ungrouping and removing the clipping mask to remove the footer, header, or text I didn't need.

I used to rescale the maps so 1 square=1 inch and then print them off onto multiple 8.5 x 11 pages and tape them together as a battle mat, but lately we've been using Smithworks' Fantasy Grounds II (www.fantasygrounds.com, and no, I don't work for them ;). I use a laptop running the DM license connected to the TV running a player version of the program to display the map, and players pass around a wireless mouse to move their character's tokens. It is wonderful for measuring ranges, area of effect, zooming and panning over large distances, etc. FG also has a handy 'masking' feature that lets you use 'fog of war' so they can't see the whole map. It also saves a lot of printer ink!

Many thanks! These supplements really do make my life as a DM a little easier!

There is an article in Dungeon #114 - Exploring the Isle of Dread (pg40), by Gary Holian that has some very useful information on the Olmans and the Isle, if you can find it.

Mordun77 wrote:

Hi, the same happened to me. Dragon 355 came before 354. Could I get 354 sent again? The same thing happened with 352, but 353 arrived without a problem. Not sure what's up with Canada Post?

Sure going to miss Dragon and Dungeon, but I think I'll try out Pathfinder if it has the same quality production value and similar content.

Thanks!

I'll get you a replacement. Don't forget to swing by the Transition Page to explore your options for the remainder of your subscription after the magazine comes to an end. It appears that you will be able to roll your remaining issues into getting the first seven volumes of Pathfinder if you wish.

Thanks,
cos

Done and done! Seven volumes is great - just enough for the first complete path, and 1 more to get me hooked on the next one! :)

Hi, the same happened to me. Dragon 355 came before 354. Could I get 354 sent again? The same thing happened with 352, but 353 arrived without a problem. Not sure what's up with Canada Post?

Sure going to miss Dragon and Dungeon, but I think I'll try out Pathfinder if it has the same quality production value and similar content.

Thanks!

Thanks for the replacement Cosmo - customer service like this is why I'm sticking with Paizo.

Hi, the same happened to me. Dragon 355 came before 354. Could I get 354 sent again? The same thing happened with 352, but 353 arrived without a problem. Not sure what's up with Canada Post?

Sure going to miss Dragon and Dungeon, but I think I'll try out Pathfinder if it has the same quality production value and similar content.

Thanks!

We have a Warblade in our STAP campaign (currently level 6), and I've had mixed opinions of the class. Initially, the Warblade was cleaning up in the areas where melee combat was occuring a lot, which was making me worried. It was consistently doing 50-75%+ damage. We don't have any other 'pure' martial classed PCs (a scout/ranger, rouge/wizard, and a cleric), so the warblade isn't outshining other player's melee focused characters in our particular campaign. In fact, the rest of the party is glad to have a damage dealer that allows them to play to their own characters' strengths, rather than having to worry about doing direct HP damage. Also, the warblades lower AC (lowest in the group), and tendancy to trade accuracy and defence for offense (Power Attack, Punishing Stance), ballances the massive damage potential.

Then as the campaign has gone on (we are doing Sea Wyvern's Wake), the real weakness of the Warblade has shown itself - it is great at melee combat, and thats about it. This is partially due to the players choice of focus, but it is a part of the class as well I think. In interaction encounters, the Warblade doesn't have the skills (except for intimidation!), and in ranged encounters (thinking especially of a recent ship-to-ship combat) it was twiddling its thumbs while the wizard and scout exelled. It isn't particularly good at doing anything the other classes do (though the swordsage and crusader trade offensive capability for broader range of actions). The warblade's player revelled in the earlier melee-centric encounters, but now that the focus has shifted in this particular phase of the AP, the player is feeling less useful.

I'd say allow the warblade - it is a focused fighter. Allow it to do what it does best, and let the player worry about relying on the rest of the party to do their jobs where the warblade is pretty much useless.

Mordun77 wrote:

Hmmm, Issue 353 (which is excellent!) arrived today before 352, so I have to assume it is AWOL. How could I go about getting a replacement?

Thanks in advance
Mordun
Calgary AB CANADA

I'll get a replacement 352 shipped out to you.

Thanks!
cos

Many Thanks! If only more companies had service like Paizo!

I'd like to add my vote for a few shorter adventures too. I'm running STAP right now, and it is fantastic and my players love it. That being said however, I cringe when I think how long it will take to bring it to conclusion

(2 five hours sessions a month, give or take, and it takes about four sessions a magazine x 12 issues = 2 years! And even at that I sometimes feel I'm rushing my group).

I have some budding DMs in my group that would love to do a one-night game. Even the shorter adventures in Dungeon would take 3-5 sessions (for us, anyway), or almost 2 months away from STAP.

I envy these people that play every week or more, but I'm guessing there are a lot of people in the hobby that find life getting in the way, and like our group, just can't play 10 hrs a week.

I know that short adventures take less time for a DM to write from scratch, but that isn't really helping our new DMs.

Perhaps once in a while Dungeon could opt for two shorter adventures instead of one longer one, to off-set the APs and multi-issue arcs.

Hmmm, Issue 353 (which is excellent!) arrived today before 352, so I have to assume it is AWOL. How could I go about getting a replacement?
Thanks in advance
Mordun
Calgary AB CANADA

Yes, I've been using Darkmaiden's Dance as well. All the PCs were crew on her, and have known each other for at least a short while on-board prior to the start of STAP. The ship was forced to dock after an encounter with a turtle dragon, and the captain asked the PCs to help his friend Levinia with a little problem she was having...

I've also worked up an 'affiliation' (PHBII) for the ship that all the PCs belong to, in addition to one affiliation they have in Sasserine (I ignored the 'second affiliation is at -X' rule this once).

The PC's convinced the captain of Darkmaiden that there would be loot at the Kraken's Cove (BWG) and they took her instead of hiring another ship. The captain has claimed the Sea Wyvern (he aspires to build a fleet himself), but the PCs will, I expect, have the run of the ship when they are ready and have a high enough affiliation score.

The maps of mystery are always useful, and I hope Dungeon keeps them coming.

Many thanks!

I was wondering the same thing...these supplements are very useful indeed. Dungeon should be commended for integrating the power of the internet with their magazine. I hope this trend continues.