Mr Baron's page

I have my PDF!

I am a huge fan of werewolves, so this is a great supplment! As I was skimming through this, it seems like wolfweres would also be a good fit.

Holy crap! I just downloaded the file, and it is sweet! Very nice job! The castle is very very nice. I really like the nods to gothic horror & to Ravenloft. Even if I do not run the AP, I would still like to run the castle as a mini-adventure.

Can't wait to really read through it this weekend!

Cheers!

Sadly, there are some of us that are old enough to actually remember that episode on Happy Days...yikes!

PS...I remember when the network was doing the promos for the show, I was thinking, "what the heck are they thinking? are the ratings that bad?"

Mary Yamato wrote:

A fair number of people felt the AP suffered for this, but I understand the need for such a strategy early on. I had been hoping, though, that CotCT could take more risks in that regard.

Judging by the numbers we're seeing on Pathfinder 1 year later... the strategy was the correct one. We've exceeded even our highest expectations with Pathfinder's success at this point, and that means going forward we CAN do some more unusual stuff. In fact, I suspect that the early campaign in a year (the AP that runs from February through July) will generally be the one where we do an more exotic or unusual Adventrue Path, and the latter campaign (August through January; the one that debuts at Gen Con) will generally be a more traditional one. Which is why we decided to go with AP4 being set in Katapesh and to have it have a more exotic "Egypt meets Arabian Nights" feel and to hold off the more traditional AP we had planned for Cheliax to take place in late 2009. (NOTE: Just because AP5 is currently scheduled for Cheliax doesn't mean that won't change... but AP4 being in Katapesh is locked in at this point.)

James, I like this approach. Basically every year we get one traditional AP and one exotic/non-traditional AP. I think its a good mix. I also agree that the GenCon AP needs to be your Flagship AP for the year, as that will be that gets a lot of attention.

PS...looking forward to hearing more about AP4!

It might be fun to have an easter egg hunt of sorts in every AP series. or it might be too distracting.... but I think we all like to find hidden things that the writters put in their works.

Count me in as a fan of the journal. I really like the idea of serial fluff. I am thinking that as time goes on, the content, consistency & writing will get better & better.

Excellent news! Hopefully there is even more good news to follow shortly! :)

MarkusTay wrote:

Lisa Stevens wrote:

Actually, read clause 11.2, which I am quoting below:

"11.2 Survival. Sections 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 (together with all other provisions that reasonably may be interpreted as surviving termination of this License) will survive the termination of this License."

Ugh!

Nevermind.....

Who in their right mind would sign such a THING?!

Exactly. It's kinda like putting your company on red and spinning the wheel, hoping it doesn't come up black.

-Lisa

When I first read this I thought, its like putting your company in the Red and then hoping to goes to Black!

One question to the Paizo staff;

When is the formal announcement? :)

I am really looking forward to seeing this one!

PS...my guess is that this will be a 2009 release that will align with the Aug PF RPG release. I can't wait to see the 2009 line up!

I think balance is very important.

However each of the classes should still feel and play differently, not play the same but just have different feats/abilities. Monster challenge ratings should mean something and relate to how the level of difficulty. I think as you add splat books, classes become unbalanced as the power levels grow beyond what the game was built around.

I am going to add my comments as I think this is an important element of the game that needs to be addressed.

As many of the posters have noted, what makes high level gaming (levels 15+) challenging is the number of options, and the number of activities that can be going on at one time. The record keeping can really bog things down, especially for large groups. I think this is a real weakness of 3.5.

A couple of notes:

1) I thought that AD&D played very well at high levels, as high level characters had a controled number of options, and it seemed that combat moved along and did not get bogged down. This is partly due to no feats, no splat books, and fighter types only had a base of 2 attacks a round (UA increased this to 5/2). This makes a big difference in the speed of play.

2) I think the old paladin build is on the right track. Abilities are front loaded, and then additional abilities are spaced out at higher levels. The basic issue with D&D is that low level characters are too fragil and high level characters have too many options. I think front loading character builds and spacing out the high level additions might actually result in better game play.

3) IMO, the sweet spot is 5-12. After that the game starts to break down. I am ok with Paizo taking a chain saw to abilities/feats/BAB after 10th and start spacing them further apart. An extreme suggestion would be to scale back BAB's, and dump the 4 attack/round progression and limit this to 3 attacks per round through 20th before adding 4 attacks.

To summarize, at the higher levels, less may equate to more fun!

one of my favorite monsters from the Pathfinder collection!

and yes I am shouting and my boss is telling me to be quiet!

NECRO FULL COLOR TOH PATHFINDER VERSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THAT TOTALLY ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!

:)

yeah, looks like my issue shipped yesterday. I should have it by the end of the week.

Bummer about the server. I always look forward to the chats :(

No update for me either. For this issue, I changed to 2 day shipping, so I am hoping it ships within the next day or so!

I like the ideas presented. I am a proponent of PFRPG = D&D 3.75. Fix up the issues with 3.5, adopt some of the 4th rules/standards as appropriate. I get the feeling that with 4th ed, WotC did try to incorporate some of the more common house rules along with trying to make it a more streamlined system.

The movement system 1-2-1-2 or 1-1-1-1 is not a big deal for me.

Its great to see that Northwest is being read again, he was her favorite Male Character. And I am not a serious trekkie, as is my son and husband, however we all agree that Northwest is more like Han Solo,

and Catherine felt that way as well. I was fortunate enough to know her and love her, she was my step-mom, until I was grown up I did not realize who she was to the world. She was mommy to me and a great one at that

She was always gracious, and if she still was here today she would politely say thank you in a very modest voice for reading and enjoying her work.

Carole Ann

Thanks for posting Carole! Its always great to see a family member post and provide insight into the author's work. I finished the book a month or so back, and I really enjoyed it. NW felt like Han Solo to me, but clearly he was more than just a space smuggler.

Good read!

I got'em. So far I have just skimmed through them. Will spend more time this weekend on them.

James,

Looking forward to seeing these ideas in print!

Here are my thoughts:

1) In general it feels like it eats up a lot of space that could be better used. I do not need delve format for every encounter.

2) I do not like the delve for simple encounters. For the climax encounter or for a complex encounter which there is a large fold out map included, I think that is fine.

3) For tournament play, I can see how the delve format could work to create standardization of play.

4) For play testing encounters, I can also see how this can lead to standardized feedback.

5) In the large super large hard cover modules, I definitely do not want to see a delve encounter for all the encounters. I want more fluff n' crunch. I will say that the delve format was ok in Ravenloft, but was terrible in the other hard cover books.

6) I liked the format in Red Hand of Doom.

Here is my list of things I like about 4th ed:

1. Minion rules. I really like the concept.
2. Wizards having a magic attack that they can use every round instead of using a crossbow. I hate the idea of a Wizard running out of spells and then being reduced to a crossbow sniper.
3. Simplified monster write ups.
4. The concept of being "bloodied."

Game of Thrones..

I am near page 300...really good so far! I can not believe I did not pick this one up earlier.

Glad to help :)

Rob, the owner is a good buddy on mine, and he has had these two copies sitting in his shop for about a year. I told him that I would be posting on the message boards telling everyone that he had two copies. Hopefully they will find new homes. Ptolus is really a great product. The layout is beautiful!

Cheers!

I wouldn't say that the D20/OGL companies are taking over, but I would say that Paizo has really taken advantage of the current market dynamics. They have built up a great relationship with their customer base, they have several income different streams, they put out quality products, and they are including the fans in the development process of their new flagship product (PF RPG). This all works in their favor. I am not sure that their sales numbers will surpass WotC, but they should be able to carve out a respectable market share this space.

As a fan, I am very excited about their upcoming launches. I am also excited about their partnership with Necromancer. I hope that the partnership will yeild great results, as I think this will ultimately be good for gamers.

are we there yet? are we there yet?

:)

I will probably end up checking the site like every 10 mins.

1) Pathfinder DM screen
2) Pathfinder MM
3) Pathfinder version of ToH
4) Pathfinder Book of Bad Guys
5) Large vinyl maps (cities, regions, etc..) for Pathfinder.
- I bought one for Ptolus, and I used it quite a bit for my Ptolus campaign. The paper maps are good, but they show wear after awhile.

1) It would be really cool if you have moon calendar to show the phases of the moon (or moons), with the appropriate adjustments included to figure out in any given year what the moon phase is.

2) Anniversary dates of famous events/battles.

3) Birthdates of famous/infamous people

Mike McArtor wrote:

BenS wrote:

Anyone know what happened to Roger Moore? (No, not the actor) That man was old-school goodness!

Scuttlebutt has it that he got fed up with the industry and wants nothing at all to do with it.

That is definitely our loss, if true. But he gave us a lot of great years, and I'll always be thankful for that. "The Day of the Dwarf" FTW!

Dragon issue #42 will always be one of my favorites. "The Day of the Dwarf" was just an amazing article. 25 years later folks are still talking about it!

Excellent! :)

Although, the suspense is killing me...I feel like a kid at Christmas!

I have have combined my shipments to match my pathfinder subscription and I have switched to UPS. My UPS shipments always arrive on time and in good shape!

Fat Ogre Games & Comics in TX has 2 copies left.

www.fatogre.com

WOW!

And here I thought that Monte was giving up game design. He just keeps coming back :)

Awesome news!

On second thought, this is REALLY, REALLY AWESOME news!

August 2009 will not come soon enough!

Will there be a 3.1 release of just 3.0?

1) Pathfinder PRC....I would not mind seeing a couple of different flavors developed

2) Hellknights - I would like to see more on this one.

I am hoping that PF RPG feels like D&D 3.75. An improved 3.5 with some of the better 4th ed ideas included. I like 3.5, but there are some areas that need work, and I think there are some good ideas in 4th edition.

Well said James!

I am hoping that when all is said and done, what we have is an improved 3.5 ed with some specific flavor fluff thrown in as well as some optional rules added to enhance play. I do think there are some general areas which are well recognized that need some updates, and these are the areas that I am expecting Paizo to address. I am not expecting a complete re-write of the rules.

If I want to play something that is very different, I will play 4th ed.

I have been thinking about this ever since Pathfinder was announced. IMHO, Pathfinder is a much better product than the old Dungeon & Dragon magazines. Sure there was some things I liked the magazines, and I do miss the nostalgia of the old Dragon magazines, but Pathfinder is a better product.

As an aside, the current content of the online magazines is terrible. Hopefully WotC will be improving it.

I am thinking that the blue skin is used to provide color separation and contrast from the black background. I am good with it. Too much black and grey dulls out a cover art.

Thanks for the write up! Hopefully this event will become annual, and I will have another change to get out there.

Cheers!

"And look at that crossbow! You can't get into the good-guy meetings with that kind of accessorizing going on!"

That's what I am talking about! I am totally digging the look. Nice job guys. :)

Will it be shipping out next week? That would really rock!

I think this makes me 158. (hopefully a GenCon 09 purchase!)

I will be buying the hard cover, but probably just downloading the Beta. I suspect that I will be running a PF AP using the PF RPG rules in Sept 09, and if this comes to pass, I will probably be buying a couple of additional copies for my group.

I have really been impressed with the monsters in the Pathfinder series. All have been excellent. My top 3 as follows:

1. Tatzlwyrm - I love this beastie.
2. Rune Gaint - Massive, just massive...
3. Raktavarna - After reading about this beastie, I now lock up my steak knives ;)

Other favorites:

4. Harridan - I just like this one. She's a brute!
5. Reefclaw - I am thinking about boiling up a bunch for my next session! Nothing says spicy like a bunch of these guys.

Happy B-day and many more! This baby is off to a good start!

Lini looks great! Nice job on the art work.

Good thread...a couple of comments:

1. I think there is some good middle ground between a very open campaign structure and a very linear one. Too open and I think the players start wondering what they are suppose to do. There has to be an initial hook to get them going in the right direction. In my campaign I just finished (modified Ptolus campaign, and they ended up picking the NoD scenario), I fed the players several plot hooks, and let them decide which one to follow.

2. For Adventure Path design, I think the key is to give them several leads to track down. As long as they have some choices to make, it will not feel like they are getting railroaded. I also like the idea of side adventures to throw at the party, just to mix things up and break up the linearity of an AP.

3. I think James is spot on when he says that most folks will not run the Pathfinder Adventures, but they still read them. The Delve format is challenging to read through. I like the Delve format for complex encounters, but I do not need it for all the encounters in the module.

4. I really like to DM, and I have read through quite a few modules. I do not mind playing through a module that I have already run through. For me, its the enjoyment of the group, and the shared experience.

Both Doom of L and Vault of LK are excellent modules, and are two of my favorites. IMHO, I think there are tons of role playing opportunities in both and I think they have a good mix of both role & roll.

I would be up for a Pathfinder Tome of Horrors, with the 3.5 ToH monsters updated for PF RPG in full color!