Robert Head's page

http://www.aeolia.net/dragondex/

http://paizo.com/dragon/products/issues/specialIssues

Just the covers of these old Best of Dragon issues make me all squishy inside.

How green is your mutant?
- rob

Check it out and let us know if you have any suggestions.

By the way, this isn't documented for you yet, but you may use any of the BBCode tags you can use on our messageboards in the body of a product review.

Also, you can add a one- to five-star rating to any review, or just provide a rating and not write anything if you choose.

Hi all, especially Robert.

Hi!

On another thread I mentioned that my long posts were "timing out" and you indicated that should only happen after a full hour. I didn't believe I had spent quite that much time on any of those posts, but I've had the problem on another thread that I'm certain I didn't spend more than 20 minutes writing. Fortunately, I copied my text before submitting, so nothing was lost.

Hmm. There are some other possible technical explanations for why this might happen occasionally, such as if we roll new code or if the site or server cycles while you are composing a post. If it's happening consistently, as you seem to indicate, then it's possibly a general session management issue. Anyway, we'll keep looking into it.

PS - I'd still like e-mail notification of posts - I know that has been on the "to do" list, but it would be swell.

Noted. : )

First of all, the "real" world is pretty awesome and full of exotic creatures.

The best designers do their homework and make monsters both cool and with some reasonable semblance of the real creature it's based on. Designers who are basing a creature on a real-world animal and don't do their research are both lazy and foolish.

Ants are another one, they are perceived as having poisonous jaws. This is bulls**t! Ants are closely related to bees and wasps many of them have stingers and others spray poison.

I'm *not* a professional entomologist, but common experience indicates that some ants can deliver poison through a bite. I'd be very surprised to learn that zero ant species can do that. Technically, they don't have "poisonous jaws", but the game effect would be the same.

The Blacksmith is Dwarven male Expert 8. This two sons Exp 2)work the forge with him while his wife (com 4) grows mushrooms in the basement. his Daughter (com 1) has aspirations of being a druid. He charges base price for non combat goods, but can craft armor and weapons at +15% to PHB price on a commission basis. Otherwise the only weapons he ever has in stock are knives and the occasional dagger.

Thoughts?

Good stuff.

Hey, here is another idea. How about having a survey section set up so that you can only vote once per account, that would let people rate what features were the most important to them. That way people could see what other readers really felt was important and it would allow you to get a constant update on the pulse of the reader.

We did a large survey in September and October.

Granted the survey results are not publicly available, but you can rest assured that the voice of the people is a big factor in what gets or stays in the magazines.

Cheers,
Rob

Hi, folks.

I'm not responding to anyone in particular, but this is just a reminder to steer clear of personal attacks.

This thread has a great healthy debate going. That's a good thing. Let's just keep the focus on the topic and try to avoid a flame war over conflicting personalities. : ]

You all rock.

Many thanks,
- Rob

"Be excellent to each other."
- Bill and Ted

Once again, allow me to suggest that we turn down the accusations and turn up the courtesy, please.

Many thanks,
- Rob

First I'd like to just mention that when I write a long post (say, spend more than 15 minutes on it), the "submit post" will often fail and I'll be taken to the online store. If anyone from Paizo knows why that happens, I'd appreciate it if it could be fixed.

So, I was writing a fairly long post last night before I left for the game in which I am a player, but it was lost.

Your session times out after one hour of inactivity. If you want to compose super long posts, you can work around this limitation by composing in a Word processor and pasting it in when you're done.

If you firmly believe it is timing out in less than an hour, please let us know at tech.support@paizo.com

Best regards,
Rob

Why DUNGEON? (I'd actually like to hear from Eric on this), and really hope the answer is not "We wanted to water down the game content of this great magazine." of cource I'm sure it will be much more politically correct in its wording. After all, aren't store baught cupcakes better if they have that fluffy three-inch high blue iceing?

If the answer was "It gets ASEO to come back to the site every day", that'd be good enough for me. : )

- rob

Hi, folks.

I'm not responding to anyone in particular, but this is just a reminder to steer clear of personal attacks.

This thread has a great healthy debate going. That's a good thing. Let's just keep the focus on the topic and try to avoid a flame war over conflicting personalities. : ]

You all rock.

Many thanks,
- Rob

"Be excellent to each other."
- Bill and Ted

One wonders how this impacts remaining subscription issues.

I really hope this isn't true.

I mean I just renewed my subscription, and I just recieved issue #10 in the mailbox yesterday.

And they seemed to have picked up more advertisers, and the content is better than ever.

http://paizo.com/paizo/news/v5748eaic9jvb

Exactly what is the name of this innovative business practice Paizo has been using lately where its Editors and other big guys subtly insult their customers. Honesty, there is no reason for Paizo employees to get involved in this argument. Read our arguments and make your decisions. But everytime you chime in with support for one side, your hurting your cred with the other. Hating "Wil Save" might not make people stop buying the magazine, but getting message board pwned by a Paizo employee certainly will.

No offense intended. I simply pointed out that more people like it than not. Folks asked for evidence. Medesha provided some. I appreciated not having to do it.

Obviously, nobody on either side of this discussion is "right" (including me), so no judgement either way.

As far as my being a passive-aggressive jerk... I can't say that that's my self-image, but it's probably true. : ]

Kind regards,
Rob "just the Web guy and definitely not a big shot in the gaming industry" Head

Down again this morning for, it looks like, about two hours.

Fixed now.

- Rob

So. No need for further discussion. No need for further posts on the topic. Wil Save is a hit with readers. Eh, Rob?

We love the discussion. That's why we made the messageboards.

8)
rob

FOR 'Wil Save': 49

AGAINST 'Wil Save': 19
DON'T CARE: 11

Thanks, Medesha. You rock.

As Medesha has demonstrated, the evidence, for what it's worth, is on the boards here.

Plus, all the... you know... super secret information we have here at Paizo. : )

Cheers!
Rob

I had Jenya try to raise Sarcem as soon as she reached 13th level, but his spirit elected not to return. Remember the dead always have that option...

Yup. One of the best ways to handle such issues is with the old "his spirit elects not to return."

BTW, Resurrection is cheese.

- rob

Word.

It seems to me like a magazine should focus on providing features that a clear majority of its readers enjoy.

As it turns out, that describes Wil Save pretty well. Most people like it.

Commence flames and accusations... : )

I've been thinking about buying a battlemap, so I was browsing your selection. However, there is no indication of the size of the mat. It gives the scale of the squares/hexes, but not the length/width of the map.

We are still working on product descriptions and images.

As it mentions on the product pages, just email webmaster@paizo.com for the particular product you have questions about and we can work on getting better descriptions from the manufacturer.

- Rob

...and verily, the site was repaired, and I have ordered.

Thanks for having pleasantly long-term persistent shopping carts. Nice.

Excellent.

Glad we got it fixed for you. And thanks for coming back!

: )
Rob

Fixed.

I'd like it more if it was working today... it's b0rked in Opera and IE - specifically, it's not possible to view the cart, so it's a bit difficult to check out and buy the stuff I crave.

Aaah!

Aaawwwooooogha!
Aaawwwooooogha!

Should be fixed momentarily...

And of course we sell them here on Paizo.com as well.

Down this morning.

Back again.

Regards,
- rob

You are correct. Assuming you are talking about the "cartoon" style drawings of classic D&D monsters found here and in the pages of Dragon and Dungeon, they are indeed the excellent work of Kyle Hunter.

Good stuff, huh?

Yup. What he said.

Free action instead of a move action to retrieve.

Still a standard action to drink.

However, I dont expect to buy anything from the store any time soon. I think my LGS has pretty much everything I need. Now if I ever want anything they don't have, I'll be sure to look you over.

Glad to hear you have a good LGS. Our primary goal is to serve folks without one, or who can't find what they're looking for there. So check us out when that happens. 8 )

Out of curiosity, how do you manage inventory? I assume you don't stock every item on sale. So how does it work?

We've got some of Santa's elves chained up in the basement cranking out product as we need it.

BTW, here's something we didn't expect.

Our most popular new products right now are...
Nope, not core D&D books.
Nope, not the latest TCGs.
Plush toys.

Yes, really.

Who knew?

The store has been live for a few weeks now. What do you guys think?

Like it? Hate it? Got a reason?

We're adding little fixes and tweaks and features all the time, but I'd love to hear what you guys would like out of the store now and in the future.

- rob

The ironic part is that we started talking about how in his VERY FIRST article, he said he doesn't play D&D anymore... :/

You mean his first article where he talks about starting a campaign for his step-son?

We were wondering why someone who'z not even playing the game anymore is writing the article...

I’m not on the Dungeon staff, and I’m just guessin’ here, but possibly because he *is* a D&D-playin’ celebrity geek and has one of the most popular blogs on the web?

Whenever I see him on TV (back in ST:TNG and today on celebrity game shows and whatnot), he strikes me as embarrassingly awkward and self-conscious. But he’s apparently delightfully aware of that.

Wil Save too dorky for you? No problem. I understand. Personally, in regular life, I'm an Olympic swimmer and rock guitarist who spends his nights fending off amorous groupies, so Wil's column doesn't speak to me at all. But it probably strikes a chord with some other gamers.

If nothing else, Wil Save gives us all a reason to come to the messageboards, which is cool with us here. : )

I like it!

Grrrr. Our servers were down this morning.

All's well now.

Happy shopping!

- Rob

The best, albeit unofficial, way to search for Dragon contents is:

http://www.aeolia.net/dragondex/

And thanks for the feedback! We are always looking at ways to improve the features of the site.

Try searching on http://www.aeolia.net/dragondex/

It's unofficial, but an excellent resource.

The new store looks good. I was just perusing it after getting your email advertising.

Well, thanks! We like it, too. 8 )

As Gary mentioned, the messageboards, and indeed the whole site, are completely home-grown. We didn't buy any of the functionality.

Future improvements will come from future development and feedback from folks like you who frequent the site. So keep the feedback coming!

best regards,
- rob

A article in the magazine where celebrities talk about D&D would be pretty cool...

Like "Wil Save"?

That's the first thing I read in Dungeon. : )

Wil Wheaton may not be as sexy as Vin Diesel, but he's a bona fide famous dork and proud of it!