Tambryn's page

We should extend an invitatioin to Andy Collins to frequent the Paizo boards.

Tam

I'd rather see a new cosmology than a thinly-veiled rehash.

here here

Tam

I will here compare cover prices. Not exact I know.

Pathfinder cover price 19.99 x 12 = 239.88

Dragon and Dungeon (7.99 x 2) x 12 = 191.76

If my math is off I apologize. And of course your individual may be different due to how much your subscription that you traded in cost and wether or not you intend to purchase retail or subscribe. But the added cost for me is worth it for the following reasons among others.....

I and my group will be getting in on the ground floor of a new campaign setting.

The quality of product paizo produces is unparallelled in my opinion.

I will not just be buying an awesome campaign produced by the industrie's best authors and production team, but also running for my group a set of adventures with a support structure like no other.

For me the extra 4.01 each month is nothing compared to the depth my games reach with the added material and feedback I have access to here at paizo.com. Not to mention the free pdf that will be an immense aid.

Just my take though.

Tam

Can anyone tell me which issues of Dragon had articles detailing methods by which specific monster parts could be used to augment spell casting.

Thanks

Tam

The uses for the monster body parts included in ecology articles would be cool. I actually have a player who just revealed to me his desire to use the choicest(sp?) parts of certain creatures as reagents to help power and augment his spells. Now I will have to hop over to the Dragon forum and see if anyone can remember any articles in past issues along these lines.

Tam

You guys have done awesome. I was over at the OOTS site and read Rich Burlew's announcement, which then (after a few moments of stunned disbelief wherein I almost forgot to breath) led me back here to get the scoop. I went one day without checking the messageboards and the entire world turned upside down. But it didn't take me very long to see that there really wasn't that much to worry about. You folks here at Paizo, as always, have things well in hand. I honestly believe that there is not another publishing house out there that would have done such an incredible job of handling this transition.

Thanks

Tam

I understand a least a few of the issues with a new startup. But I can't imagine anyone in a better position to do this than Paizo. From their experienced staff to their established relationships with distributors and their street cred with gamers around the world. Who could do it better?

Tam

haha....... "street cred"

I hope this hasn't already been asked, and if so I apologize and am happy to be pointed to the correct thread. But why not? I would happily purchase subscriptions to both the magazines and Pathfinder.

Tam

The preview keeps saying "This movie is rated R due to graphic violence throughout" or something similar. I kept wondering if this was more of a marketing ploy and less a warning.

Tam

I knew by watching the preview of this movie that the Persians would be portrayed as monsters. I knew that light skinned Spartans would be the heros and the darker skinned persians the villians as soon as I saw the king kick the persian messenger down a well in the preview.

I then CHOSE to go spend my money and enjoy it. This is not a reflection of my personal politics. I do not feel an upwelling of pride in my breast and imagine the film as an allegory of the west's superiority over the east. I was entertained. Period.

If the modern decendants of the Persians were to make a movie demonizing the west or america specifically I would not get upset or take it personally. I might even watch it and laugh at the ignorance of any of my fellow americans who did take it to heart.

Ever since seeing Zulu Dawn as a kid I have been afraid of black people in large numbers. Not the same I know, but in this one instance I can't help but let my ignorance shine.

Tam

It commonly comes from a Judeo (Jewish) tradition, most omit the lower case "o" when referencing the Almighty.

Can you tell me why?

Tam

Why type G-d and not God? Just curious.

Tam

Or maybe a flesh golem that slices off part of itself and grills it for you. A very expensive delicacy.

Tam

M M M M M.............

Imagine the looks on your player's faces after they learn that the delicacy they have been dining on is in fact fattened and boiled halfling, lightly salted and covered in a plum sauce.

Tam

The charlatan looks cool and as a prestige class would work very well with this character concept. But the article I am trying to find was one that listed many different alchemical items and compounds that in some way imitated or reproduced magical effects.

Tam

I think I remember a chemical substance that you could smear on an item to discern if it was magical or not.

Tam

I have always thought it would be cool to play the imitation spellcaster that has no real magical ability and usues Science and Stage Magic tricks to imitate magic. I remember an issue of Dragon that had an article covering this topic or something similar. What issue was that?

Tam

Actually, now that I think about it, this may be the charge for the backordered t-shirt that I have been waiting for for a while. If this is the case then I apologize. Thanks again.

Tam

Thank you for your response. As always I am impressed with the speed and quality of Paizo's customer service. Another issue has arrisen though, which I think may be related to this one.

Yesterday, $22.03 was charged to the account I use for purchases here on paizo.com by Paizo Publishing. I can see no record of this charge in my account and have made no new purchases. Additionally, as I had no plans to make any purchases soon, there were no funds in the account, resulting in the predictable NSF charge.

Your thoughts please.
Tam

I just read an e-mail letting me know that a back ordered t-shirt would be shipping soon to my previous mailing address. Once I was released from active duty I changed my mailing address and assumed that this change would apply to the back ordered item as well. I hope I have caught this in time.

Thanks

Tam

The third character is:

Merka

Born and raised in the Azure district of Sasserine, Merka was bred to be at sea. Her father was captain of a ship, the Rose, and she crewed on it as soon as she was old enough to be a help instead of a hindrance. Her mother, Asiltrai, tried to teach her to be a lady, but the constant influence of her father Elion erased all efforts that she put into it. Her name means "wild rose" and she lives up to it in any way that she can. When her father's ship was destroyed by a storm, and he was lost at sea, she was devastated. She tried crewing on a couple of other ships, but found she had lost her heart for sailing. She began doing as her mother asked and acting a lady, but she knew she couldn't do it for long. Fortune came her way when a rich, but lesser noble, promised her anything if she would allow him to court her. She used him to get enough funds for a ship and a crew. She captained her ship, Elion's Pride, for many months until her crew turned on her and mutinied. They left her to die on an island and there she stayed for over a year. She was finally able to leave the island by crafting a raft from some debris and sailing out to sea where she was rescued by a passing merchant ship. She has just recently returned home, hoping to find her mutinous crew, but they have not returned since she last left. Whether they are merely steering clear of Sasserine or something has happened to them is unclear, though not a single person she has talked to has any recent news of them. She has lost most of the contacts she forged in the Noble District, as her "benefactor" spread the word that she was a lowly adventurer instead of a lady to be, but she feels no real loss as she was using them only for the money for the ship. One night while walking home, she was startled as a young human bolted straight past her. She was then bowled over by a halfling and an orc, and when she looked at them, she thought that they were people from her ship so she took off after them. She found them as they corned the young man by a shrine in the Cudgel. She climbed atop a nearby canopy to watch them and see if they were indeed men from her ship. Suddenly a dwarf rushed in and she swooped down from her perch to join in. They beat back the two thugs, and she found they were not from her ship. She has enjoyed the company of Ragnor and Jormund up until now, but again she is feeling that she cannot stay much longer. She needs some excitement in her life and is waiting for that chance.

Mine was The Blind Colt.

Tam

I think, but am not absolutely certain that the Spell Compendium has some Invocations within its pages.

Tam

My love for the english language started when my uncle forced me to transcribe the entire Tracking entry for the ranger class from the old player's handbook.

I was 8.

Tam

Yeah, I remember well the laughter that poored from my players when I mispronounced Brazier, or Sconce. I had looked the words up and had a working knowledge of their deffinitions, but it was then and there that I learned the importance of the pronunciation guides.

Tam

I want this adventure path to be one of those experiences that the players will look back on with fond memories years or even decades from now. The best way to accomplish this I think is to make sure the characters and their players are as involved in and as much a part of the story as possible. I already have a few ideas of how I will make this happen, and I thought I would plumb the depths of knowledge and experience here for additional ideas.

There are three characters, here are two of their backgrounds:

Jormund Moorindal
Jormund is a child of little importance determined to rise above his station. Born to Mashem and Elana Moorindal, a mage of little power and lesser known instructor at the Thenalar Academy, Jormund seemed destined for a life as the servant of a noble or at best an assistant to his father. At the age of 4 Jormund began to display the innate magical abilities of a sorcerer, much to the delight of his magically minded father. At the age of 10 Jormond was enrolled in the schools and arcane institutes of the noble district where he quickly began to develop his natural skill. Jormund’s low social standing and natural skill set him apart from the other children, who taunted him for both. Having few friends and feeling insecure about his skill, Jormund threw himself into the study of magic, its origins and its deeper workings, quickly becoming a skilled wizard as well as a talented sorcerer. When Jormund was 16, he decided to take part in Sasserine’s annual city festival. Ignoring his parent’s advice and his instructor’s misgivings, he decided to venture out of the noble district in order to give an arcane display in the Cudgel district. After a successful and gainful show, he was accosted by two thieves looking to make an easy days pay. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, Jormund promptly made a run for it. During the resulting chase Jormund’s pursuers managed to catch the ire of an elven woman, causing her to join in the frantic chase after the young mage. Jormund quickly fond himself out of breath and trapped in the alley beside a shrine by the two thieves, he was saved solely by the intervention of the elven woman and the dwarven caretaker of the shrine, and that was how Jormund Moorindal made his first friends, Ragnor Flamingbeard and Merka Cartel. In the following years Jormund spent more time outside of the noble district with his new friends and slowly cultivated a desire to leave the city and explore the world in an attempt to expand his education and his understanding of the ways of the arcane.

Ragnor Flamingbeard
Though Ragnor is not an official resident of Sasserine, he has spent a great deal of his life there. He was raised among his clansmen in the mountains close to the city, but from an early age he knew that his life was not in the Temples or the mines. His father, Rurik Flamingbeard, was a priest in the clan's Temple of Moradin and an influential member of their monastic order, the Hammerfists. His mother, Megthala, also served in the temple along with most of his siblings. Ragnor grew up in the temple and, at the urgings of his father, joined the priesthood of Moradin and the Hammerfists, where he excelled at both. He enjoys the discipline of the Hammerfists, and is a devout believer in Moradin, but he feels something calling him away from his home. When he became of age, he was given the option to take the responsiblity of a Shrine of Moradin in the Cudgel district in Sasserine, which he accepted more out of a need to leave than of any pious desire. He has been doing this for the past several decades, but now he has new acolytes there to run the more mundane aspects of maintaining the shrine, giving him more time to do what he really desires, adventure. Though he carries the favored weapon of Moradin, he feels much more comfortable using his ancestral waraxe, used by his father and his father's father before him, and his own two fists. He keeps in contact with his family, though it has been months since he has sent or recieved any word from home. He lives close to the shrine, and one night while leaving the Shrine to go home, he was astounded to see two thugs mugging a human male. He rushed in to help the man, and was even more surprised when an elven woman swooped down from a low canopy to join in the fray. With the help of Merka Cartel, the elven woman and the man, Jormund Moorindal, they beat back the would be thieves and have developed a friendship. He gets up every morning and does his prayers, which consists of a combination of meditation and a physical workout.

I will post the third character background for your perusal as soon as I receive it.

The characters are gestalt as there will only be three of them and I already have a few NPCs to toss in here and there.

Thanks in advance.
Tam

I believe that pirates is made by wizkids.

Tam

I hope that in this movie I will be able to feed the fantasy need that I failed to quench with the likes of Narnia or Eragon.

What has everyone heard about this? Has anyone read the books?

Tam

My roleplaying experience system works thusly:

All combat experience points are divided in half. One half goes into the party RPXP pool. The other half gets divided further in half, with a quarter of the combat XP going directly to the character most influential in that creatures death and the last quarter going into the COMBATXP pool.

At the end of the evening the COMBATXP pool is divided evenly amongst everyone. The RPXP pool is divided by twelve (however many players I have times three). Each player gets three votes and is not allowed to allocate any more than two votes to any one given character. Each vote is worth 1/12th the RPXP pool.

My players, serious roleplayers the lot of them, really like this system.

Tam

The Old One could do it.

He was the leader of the original foot ninjas from the TMNT RPG.

Tam

Weta?

Tam

Can anyone tell me the percentage breakdown of the individual possible results using both the 3d6 and 2d10 methods, or maybe point me in the direction of a sight that breaks them down?

Tam

In the papers that the PCs and Lavinia find in her family vault there are drawings of strange creatures from the Isle of Dread. I am not familiar enough with the Isle, so what strange creatures beyond Tyranasaurs and Velociraptors can be found there and be sketched out in Lavinia's mom's notes. My players will want to know, and I would like to be prepared. Thanks.

Tam

I like the fact that the character's bonuses and stats will play a greater role than previously and that they are less likely to fall prey to a TPK due to a rash of really poor roles.

Tam

So, I will finally be able to get my Savage Tide adventures started and am considering using the 3d6 bell curve variant from Unearthed Arcana. I want critical fumbles and successes to be more rare but more exciting when they do happen. The characters will be gestalt, and I will be also using the Defense Bonus and Armor as Damage reduction as I think they will help with the tone of the story.

For those of you who have already ran the first adventures, what do you think? Any opinions and constructive criticism is appreciated.

Tam

I am considering this method for the next game I run.

Everyone roles 4d6 dropping the lowest number 6 times. All these numbers go into a group stat pool.

There are then 6 rounds wherein everyone rolls a d6 to determine order and in that order pick the highest and then the next highest numbers.

Everyone would start with similarly powered characters but they would not be so "cookie cutter"

Any thoughts?

Tam

You are so fricken right about Umbra. Best adventure ever........ EVER.

Tam

TOG
Mutants in Avalon / After the Bomb
DC Heroes
Dawn of Eana
Star Fleet Battles
Talislanta
Twerps
Robotech
Dangerous Journeys
Ramlar

I thought I would only list the games I had played or ran that I did not see listed above.

Tam

So, under Fate's initiative system, everything happens simultaneously. Those people with a higher initiative do not necessarily act first, but find themselves in a better position to react and adjust to the actions of their enemies. I like it.

To handle the paradox issue, I would say that if you have to adjust your action you can do so but one move equivilant action has already been spent for that round.

Just my take.

Tam

I would say that the value of each has a lot to do with, besides those differences already listed, the environment that you playing in. I imagine that Scouts face serious disadvantages in cramped dungeon-like or tight urban quarters whereas the rogue would deffinately shine in these locales.

Tam

I got it. If getting it takes you to a another design diary by Selinker. I enjoyed this one a lot more because it fed my unearned sense of superiority.

Tam

If I was protecting someone who was targeted by a Spiritual Weapon could I intervene and block the Spiritual Weapon. We had this situation come up in a recent game and I ruled that someone trying to interfere would grant the target 4 points of cover. But we also use the hit the cover optional rule.

What do you think?

Tam

I do not have my books handy, so if there is an obvious solution to the following issue, forgive me.

I was running a game last night where the player group faced off against a squad of Hobgoblin soldiers in the woods. I allowed one player, whose character was absent from the conflict to play the squad's sergeant. My issue is this.

At the onset of the combat the party cleric cast spiritual weapon at the Hobgoblin sergeant. The sergeant, it's player thinking fast, instructed one of the Hobgoblin regulars to interpose themselves between him and the sword. To in effect, kill the spiritual weapon. The regular did not have an issue doing this until a couple rounds later when the spiritual longsword struck him when it's attack role was within the 4 points that he was providing the sergeant.

What do you think of this? Is there anything in the rules that expressly forbids this? Have you seen this situation before?

Thanks for the input.

Tam

You can always have him killed and devoured by whatever did the killing. Or carried off maybe.

The dragon snarls at the rest of the group with the character in his mouth, daring them to try and steal his meal. The the huge beast takes to the wing, happily chewing on his snack mid flight, crimson droplets of what was once their companion raining down on the group.

Tam