Tambryn's page

Basically, the adventure included with the playtest kit is simply not the kind of adventure that I enjoy playing or running any more (despite my incredible memories of this particular location). There was a time when I had all weekend to play and a long dungeon crawl was awesome. That was a long time ago.

So, I asked myself where I could find a good adventure that I could adjust easily that allowed me to playtest the rules in a few hours? The most logical answer was a PFS module.

I have been very busy with school for the last year and a half and haven't kept up with all the modules released (I am not eager to see exactly how much it will cost me to catch up ;)). So I am asking for advice from you guys. What recent modules do you think could fill this bill? Ideally it would have an interesting story, not feel too railroady, have at least one interesting locale, and a variety of encounter types.

Thanks for your help. I look forward to hearing your ideas.

Tam

The title sums it up nicely. I have pretty much already decided not to create a feat that allows one of my player's rogue character to intimidate mindless undead. There are a few reasons why I won't be doing this but I would still love to hear other views about how fair I am being and whether or not other GMs out there would have made the same decision.

1st - Allowing a rogue to intimidate mindless undead, even if the feat justifies it by describing some positive energy use, just seems to be stepping on the cleric's toes. The feat as imagined so far would basically grant unlimited uses of turn undead, by the rogue.

2nd - The implacability of mindless undead just seems too classic a trope to turn it on it's head so casually.

3rd - Given the nature of the first couple chapters of CC, this ability could be pretty unbalancing.

Now, I understand that the player wants a character they feel is effective and valuable, and I want that for them. I am more than ready to allow them restructure the character into something they feel is more effective. First of course, I want to make sure they understand that there are and will be more opportunities for social skill use.

What do you other GMs think?

Shane

I recently learned that I won't be able to attend PaizoCon this year. Part of the program I have applied to actually starts this summer. Can I sell my Badge and Ticket?

If I can, can I also just email Paizo's customer service people and have them transfer the items to someone else?

Thanks for the help.

Shane

I would love to start a collection.

Tam

First, I get the love and desire for new classes. So for this exercise I am proposing that instead of 3 new classes, what if Paizo went with only one? What would you want them to fill the freed up space with?

For my exercise I am going to pretend they went with the Ninja.

Instead of the Samurai and the Gunslinger Paizo could have included . .

Ninja clans (with sidebars describing where they could be located on Golarian), special ninja weapons, cool ninja alchemical items, ninja npcs ranging from 1st through 20th level, archetypes for the ninja (if it were a base class), a gamemastery section devoted to the ninja and how to best incorporate them into your games, and a section describing ninja and their roles outside of oriental settings. So instead of 3 classes we get 1 with a lot more support beyond the class description.

Mass combat rules - not your typical mass combat rules but rules to help a gamemaster handle PCs in a mass combat situation.

Fighting Schools (with sidebars describing where and how they fit into the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting.

I hate that I feel a couple disclaimers are in order. But these messageboards have changed a lot in a few short years.

I know that the UC class count is set. This is an exercise.
I understand that you might not agree with my premise, this thread isn't for you. Feel free to start a "why Paizo should have put 10 new classes in UC" thread.

All that said, what do you think would have worked as substitution material for a couple of the classes in UC? Maybe the version of UC that you prefer only has one class, but it's the Gunslinger or Samurai.

Tam

The other PDF thread reminded me to post this.

Recently a player at one of my PFS tables showed me a PDF of a book that he had gotten from a friend out west (we're in Arkansas). The PDF was of course legally neither his or his friend's. Now this player is new to roleplaying so I can believe that he was either completely ignorant about PDF piracy or just testing the waters. I gave him the hard line, i.e. "This is a stolen book, you need to buy your own copy, you can't use anything from that book at my table or that of any other PFS GM until you have your own copy and you should delete the PDF." This player assured me that he would comply and I intend to monitor him to ensure it happens, or he'll find himself without a table to play at. I am happy with the situation's resolution as far as this player is concerned.

My issue, and where I would like advice, is how to approach the issue of someone's watermarked PDF being distributed in the first place. I didn't write down the original owner's info, but I am confident that I could get it with little or no fuss. Unfortunately I don't know the circumstances surrounding his PDF being pirated and don't want to assume the worst.

I could just email him and let him know what is going on. Or I could just turn the info over. The latter option seems the most likely and effective. What do the paizonians think?

Tam

I will be in Houston for a couple days starting tomorrow afternoon. If there were one game shop in Houston that was a must-visit, which would it be?

Tam

For all Pathfinder players in the LR or surrounding areas. I ran two society scenarios last weekend at Imagine! Hobbies & Games and they went great. I intend to use this thread to announce continuing society events.

The next two PFS events will be on Friday the 14th and Sunday the 16th, both from 2-6 pm.

If you would like to participate you can find more information at . .

IMAGINE! Games & Hobbies
8122 Hwy 107 N, Suite C
Sherwood, AR 72120
501-833-DICE (3423)

There is a sign there near the Pathfinder products and signup sheets at the counter. Just ask any of the employees, they know me and can point you in the right direction.

Or if you have any questions you can contact me directly at
shanelwalden @ yahoo.com

Look forward to seeing you there.

Tam

I know this has been asked and discussed a couple times over the years, I only ask again because I am torn between subscribing and supporting my FLGS.

It hasn't been such an issue until recently as my local game store owner has really stepped up his support of Pathfinder and organized PFS play overall.

I will end up canceling all my subscriptions I think. If only there was a way to get subscriber benefits through my local store.

Like one download coupon per physical copy that the game store could give to people who purchase the books.

Tam

Can we use post flagging to draw a good post or idea to the attention of Paizo employees?

Tam

I am going to blame this one on my wife.

I just recently got to start running regular PFS scenarios at my local game store. I didn't want to waste older PFS cards that had went unused from a few months ago, so I used them up this weekend. The problem is that a card that should have been cut from the sheet was not and I accidentally gave it to a new player. He is fully understanding of this, and I gave him two new chronicles that are filled in except for his character's PFS number.

Can I correct this by just giving you guys the sign-in name and email that he registered to Paizo.com with and the number he should have?

Thanks for the assist.

Tam

Can we make them? If so how?

If we can't make one can we request one?

I think polls might help us get a clearer picture on some topics regarding favored products and such. There are many times that I wonder how many people support or dislike a certain idea though their presence and views go unnoticed because they are not as vocal as the minority.

Tam

The title basically says it all.

I really want to support my game store. I feel guilty that I don't, especially since it is providing us a place to organize and play our society games.

I remember discussions off and on over the last couple years about investigating ways to provide subscriptions through retailers. Has any progress been made on this front?

It would be worth it to me to pay a little more to get a pdf on cd with each item.

The cost is not what keeps me torn between the two options though. I would readily pay full retail for the books.

It's the pdfs. I use the pdfs so much. I extract maps and images to scale and print battle mats, handouts, and images to show my players in both my home game and my society games. I use them when I travel, which I do often enough that not having them would be a burden.

What do I do? Please tell me we are getting near to having some kind of alternative that includes local game stores in the process and profits.

It is hard to actually quantify the value of local game stores when it comes to supporting and encouraging the health and growth of our hobby. I very well might have gotten four new players into PF just this evening because of the audience my game store gives me access to.

I really hope that our only options don't continue to only be two that come with their own significant disadvantages.

Tam

I just looked at Hyrum's sticky for the first time. I will be reading the 3.0 play rules through again shortly.

The only way this varies from the rules it updates is that you no longer have to slot 0 a scenario if you want GM and player credit right?

If this is the case I like it. It seems a simple way to encourage more people to GM.

Shane

I am going to put together a poster to advertise PFS at my local game store where there is currently no PFS activity.

Has anyone else done this? It would be great if I could steal someone else's creation whole cloth, but I don't mind putting in the work if no one has.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I'll be mining the community use images for material, though I am happy to use anything else that I am pointed toward.

I know that images put up in the blog can be used by non-profit sites like the pathfinder wiki, but can they be used by me to advertise PFS?

Tam

It seems just a little while ago that I was asking for organization of the My Downloads area. It was probably actually about a year or year and a half ago, and you guys did a great job. And, as it always seems to go, here I am asking for a little more.

There don't seem to be too many paizo Products that I don't end up owning a hard copy and pdf of.

Is there any way your products in the My Downloads section can be organized by type like Chronicles, Campaign Setting, RPG, Adventure Paths, Society, Modules etc? Even just another level of subheadings like you are using now for the different publishers, just within the Paizo Publishing section, would do the trick.

Thanks for the consideration.

Shane

Determining odds of outcomes for standard die combinations is pretty easy. My question is about how to determine the odds if you rolled two different dice and took the higher result.

Take 1d6 & 1d12, if I rolled both and took the higher result what would be the chances of each result between 1 & 12? What about 1d12 & 1d12?

Also, how do you determine these odds?

Thanks,

Shane

Why would anyone choose Dazzling Display as a feat other than to meet the prereq for another feat? It seems that you can do the same thing with the Intimidate skill.

Tam

I just started using Hero Lab to track my player's characters. One of my players has a druid and I found a quirk I want to check here about before heading over to the HL messageboards.

This character chose a cleric domain (fire) instead of an animal companion for his Nature's Bond. In the program it is listing Fire Dart instead of Fire Bolt as his domain ability. Could they be working off of a different errata than I am? I checked both erratas for the core book available here and could not find this change.

Thanks for your assistance.

Shane

I had heard tell that PFS GMs at PaizoCon and other conventions would get some kind of store credit for volunteering. Is this the case?

Shane

This was mentioned in another thread and I thought it might be interesting to explore it further.

We all know the classic "monsters killed my family and burned my village" motivation. Yes it has been overused as a justification, but it is still powerful when used properly.

Two of my other favorite motivations to justify having a favored enemy are bounty hunter and soldier. One of my rangers cut his teeth is the wars against the greenskins so Orc was a natural favored enemy choice. Another is essentially a half-elf manhunter.

What ingenuitive and creative ways have you used or seen used to explain a ranger's favored enemy?

Shane

I would love to know every reference they have been mentioned in. What are you other GMs doing with them in your games?

If you post something other than a page reference that might pose even a small chance at spoiling something please include it in spoiler tags.

Thanks for any ideas and references you provide.

Shane

It appears that I have lost the index card that you so graciously provided me you contact information on. Please contact me when you get a chance. Your options for accomplishing this are many and varied. Everything you need is in my profile and I am also available on facebook.

Not only would I like to participate in a couple of your FG PFS games, but I am also very interested in that program that you mentioned that might allow me to run FG games despite the fact that I am using an air card.

Also, thank you very much for the slot 0 games and I look forward to playing across the screen from you again.

Shane

There was a lot that rocked about PaizoCon for me.

I played in or GM'd no less than 10 games from Thursday night (yay Nani) through Sunday night (Pharoah rocked, and I so called the pumpkin bombs). It was quite the marathon. Haven't had that much near continuous gaming since the insane games of my school years.

The goblin brains were great.

I get to at least lay eyes on a lot of industry luminaries. I didn't pester them too much. Didn't want to be "that person". But it was cool seeing them. Bulmahn is a hoss.

I met some really great people. I was flying solo for the Con and even though I wasn't part of any of the groups that were there many people went out of their way to make me feel welcome. Auspicion and Squeak were great (mooched free rides from them a couple times to Seattle and the Crabpot). And there was this almost complete game group from North Dakota (North Dakota? I know right. Who would have thought?). It was great hanging with them and they seemed like the kind of game group that most people want to be a part of. I can't remember everyone's name so I won't embarass myself by trying, but you guys rock. Hit me up on facebook. Everything is in my profile.

Among the Dead is a great adventure. I regret that I was near passing out and trying to run it around 1 or 2 am Saturday. It was still great. Get a GM to run it for you if you haven't played it.

I love that I got so much GMing in. You can learn a lot by watching and playing, but you learn and grow the most I think, by doing. And it is always nice to be reminded how a natural 20 confirming a natural 20 crit threat can ruin your BBEG's day.

Touring in Seattle was great. There was the Pike St. Market with the original Starbucks, all the open vendors, and Golden Age Comics and then the Seattle Aquarium, Iver's, the Underground Tour. And I can't leave out that rocking toy store off of Pioneer Square (that frog is still tripping me out). Thanks Jason, for meeting us down in the market, that was pretty cool and that pasta was some of the best ever.

The Crabpot and the meet and eat were awesome. Wow did I gorge on some crab, shrimp, oysters, clams, mussles, and on and on. There was even someone at my table taking butter shots, well, at least one. Nothing but respect.

So overall it was awesome and I can't wait to do it all again.

Please post your own personal favorite moments. I will no doubt have more to add once I am fully recovered.

Tam

Just now. Room 302. Thought I would take advantage of this free computer before the rush.

Tam

I am creating a quick reference for the Summon Monster 1 monsters to be used by any Summoner at the table while I run MotFF. I can't seem to find the stats for the viper. I found snakes in the Bestiary but neither of the two examples seem apropriate.

Tam

So, I tried to report an event for the first time and there was an issue that required the admin to contact me. I am going to brainstorm what the issue might have been and you guys can let me know which seems most likely.

Two of the players in this scenario were using unassigned PFS numbers and pregen characters. For these players I did not insert a dash and then character number after the PFS number. They didn't have factions and the names I gave for the characters were their pregen names.(This seems like a potential issue to me now that I think about it. If it wasn't there would be a whole lot of Kyras and Ezrens floating around.)

The third player had a PFS society account but hadn't yet registered his character. He should be doing this shortly so it shouldn't be an issue much longer.

The fourth player, myself(I am reporting this session on behalf of my wife), shouldn't have had any issues.

Maybe the problem is that I am reporting my wife's session while logged into my account.

What do you guys think?

Tam

I ran this last night but noticed when I was filling out the chronicle sheets that there was no chronicle #. Is that an issue?

Tam

The sweet lady down at Office Depot messed up my print order so I ended up with a couple extra printed, bound, and covered copies of the material I will be using at PaizoCon. I immediately saw this as an opportunity to share the love and save some other PaizoCon volunteer GMs some of the hassle and cost that I went to.

I have extra printed copies of . . .

Advanced Player's Guide Final Playest x1

Character Traits Web Enhancement & Guide to PFS Org. Play, bound together x1

Master of the Fallen Fortress x1

Guide to PFS Organized Play x2

Delirium's Tangle and Among the Dead, bound together, x1

Please don't post claiming one of these if you are not running or otherwise using it at PaizoCon. Especially for the items that cost money. These all have my information watermarked on them. My intent is not to save you money by pirating from Paizo, but instead to help someone who already has bought or been given them and is running or using them at the Con.

Also, please only lay claim to what you need, I hope to spread the love as far as possible. I will put a post it note on each with the name of whoever wants them and bring them with me to Seattle.

Tam

I am hoping that there is a game store nearby that I can sneak off to and score some Free RPG Day swag.

Is there?

Tam

If there are only three people in our gaming group that are interested in the organized play portion of PFS will that work? Two of us plan on rotating DM duties. The three players that aren't really interested in the organized play portion and will never be attending cons will probably use pregens or their own characters. The problem is they really don't have any interest in tracking their characters within the organized play system and have even less interest in registering with paizo.com.

Will this work and is it acceptable?

Tam

What kind of laundry wash facilities can I expect? Do they provide a cleaning service? If my only option is a small laundry room, are their enough washer's and dryers that I won't have an impossible time using them while the hotel is fully booked?

I would prefer to pack a few sets of clothes instead of five and just wash them. I would also prefer not to pack dirty clothes in my bags for my return flight.

I look forward to benefiting from you experience.

Tam

If you were playing in a Society Scenario, how would you feel if the DM used the following house rule.

"A circumstance modifier, up to a +2, is available to anyone who describes their character's actions in a manner sufficient enough to give them an advantage. Your opponents have this option available to them as well. If your opponents act in a way that grants them this advantage the only way to counteract it is to descriptively neutralize their advantage. Other than the the modifier to your action, this rule has no other in-game effects."

I.e. The goblin you are attacking is keeping one of the tavern's stools between you and it. The stool hinders your attack enough to grant the goblin a +1 modifier to its AC.

This could be countered by the character kicking the stool out of the way before attacking the goblin.

This rule is not meant to eat up the character's actions but instead to reward desctiptive play. As long as the action only results in the circumstance modifier then it does not use up a move or standard action and is only what I consider a "descriptive action" which is basically a free action.

As a player, how would you feel about this? As a DM, is this something you would use?

Thanks,
Tam

I remember there being a +2 or -2 circumstance modifier specifically mentioned in the 3.5 PHB. I use this all the time to reward player ingenuity and show that enemies aren't always stupid. My assumption so far was that it had been included into the PFRPG by default but it appears I am wrong. I can't find it anywhere. I'll keep using it but does anyone know if it is mentioned in the core rules anywhere?

Tam

Why are players not allowed to add bonuses for masterwork tools and the like to their Day Job rolls?

Tam

I can see that in a PFS Scenario a wizard doesn't need to pay the purchase price of a scroll in order to scribe it in their spellbook. My question is if this is only the case if they are doing the research and writing the spell into their book during the session? Do they have to pay the purchase price if they want to do this between sessions?

Tam

Can anyone tell me if the new GameMastery map, Swallowed Whole, will be used in any of the Con's planned scenarios? I am trying to decide if I need to have it ready for pickup at the Con or not.

Tam

Who will be arriving Wednesday night or afternoon? I should be there by around 3 or 4 Wednesday afternoon and would love to get an adventure, boardgame, or some good ole socializing in that evening. I am hoping to participate in and not necessarily run a game on Wednesday evening because I don't want to burnout on running games during the long weekend of running PFS scenarios.

Up for anything. Who will be around?

Tam

I know other threads like this have come and gone, I only waited to post until after I knew for certain that I wouldn't have to cancel my con attendance. If there is someone that is still looking for a roommate at the Bellevue, I am your man. My intent is to fly up Wednesday evening and fly out Monday afternoon. If I have to get a room outside the Bellevue I will but having one that near would be oh so much more convenient.

For the record I am clean and tidy and will be happy to pay the full rate for the days that I am there and any roommate is not, i.e., if I arrive a day early and stay a day late. Hopefully that will help alleviate any schedule conflicts.

Tam

I had hoped that I would never be the person to post a message like this to the Customer Service forums. Only moments after placing order 1438948 I realized that I shouldn't have, so I need to cancel it. I had hoped that there was a cancel option on my orders page, but alas there is not.

Please help me out.

Tam

Basically that. We were considering take a few days and coming down but have heard so many rumors about oil that I want to hear the truth from someone who lives there.

If you reply please mention where you live and what beach you are refering to.

Thanks for your assistance.

Tam

How much interest is there in a Dresden Files PBP? I would really like to set one up and get it going but I first wanted to guage interest before getting to other details like character creation.

For those who may be interested, I would want to keep the player number to 4 or less. I look forward to working with the players to create the character they want within the scope of their aspects.

Tell me what you guys think.

Tam

I am really only making this post to see if Paizo's forums support Fudge and Fate-like systems that use Fudge dice. It could be really cool to run a Dresden Files PBP.

It appears that it does not support straight fudge dice so I will try d5-d5
1d5 - 1d5 ⇒ (2) - (1) = 1

Does anyone know? Seattle springs to mind but that may just be because of its association with Wizards and Paizo in my mind. Also, even if it isn't the largest, does your hometown have a large and thriving game community?

Tam

In the same vein as another recent post, here I am curious how everyone is storing their Flip Mats. I have been considering this issue for a while and didn't really think to ask on the forums until I saw blu4lyf's post about storage for the Map Packs. I am thinking about purchasing an artist's portfolio like what you see here.

I prefer to store the mats unfolded so that they lay flat when I need to use them. How do you guys store your mats?

Tam

Is it possible that my subscription copy of the Pathfinder Chronicals: Guide to the River Kingdoms was somehow lost or otherwise mixed up? I have recieved other items that were part of my March shipment. Products like the CoT Map Folio and the NPC Guide. I brought this up in another forum and Lisa mentioned that the Guide to the River Kingdoms shipped in February. I am unable to figure it out why I don't have my copy. I have no doubt, though, that you guys will resolve my concerns with your usual speed and aplomb.

Tam

This is for those of you who volunteered to run PFS scenarios last year at PaizoCon. At what point did you find out what scenarios you would be running? My mind is going through all the ways I could prepare for the games to help keep them smooth and interesting. I hope to avoid bundling up all my flip maps and minis. I fear that the only way to accomplish this is to know some information about the scenarios prior to flying to Seattle.

Tam

I am considering trying to run an adventure at Paizocon. It will most likely be something using the Savage Worlds system. This will be the first time I have run a convention game. I am hoping that those of you with more experience will be willing to share it with me so that I can be as prepared as possible for con specific considerations.

What do you guys recomend by way of adventure design and preparation that might differ from a home game?

What do you wish you had know before running your first convention game?

Tam

I want to run a shorter scenario to get some newer players in step with the rest of the group before moving on to chapter two in the Legacy of Fire AP.

Is there a Society Scenario that you guys would recomend that would fill this role well based on your experience with it? The group is still in a reinvigorated Kelmarane.

Tam

I think it came out in the mid to late '90s.
It had a solid black cover with gold lettering. Bible like.
The game took place after the day of judgement and the players were the meek who inherited the earth.
Biker gangs and weird cults.
Animals no longer respect man.

Man I just can't remember what it is called.

Tam