Tim Hitchcock's page

What about Greg Vaughn's Slumbering Tsar? When do we get Slumbering Tsar?

I heard the good news earlier, Congrats Brandon!

I look forward to once again seeing your genius at work.

buzzby wrote:

Does there happen to be a Mac version in the works?

Not currently. I know you'd prefer a native Mac application, but we're currently Windows only.

That being said, Hero Lab works quite nicely in a VM. In fact, we'll be demoing it at GenCon on ancient Mac Minis. :-)

Great adventure and our group had a blast with it. The dog sledding was a great addition and really made for some fun situations. Especially when the party was on it's way back down!

I also took the liberty of making some props that added a lot to the adventure. Here are some pics and descriptions of what I did. Be sure to click on the photo and check out the descriptions for tips on how to do them yourself!

http://s808.photobucket.com/albums/zz10/pic_dumpster/

Supah nice pics Noel!

You are fun man to carve up the Galaxy with!

Tim,

Thanks for the info. That was a totally awesome game-- the highlight of my Gen Con.

Chad

Tim you and co conspirators pulled off an amazing job !!

It was a blast just to watch the semi controlled chaos of the game and observe the interaction between *EVERYONE*.

** spoiler omitted **

I hope the success of this past event opens up even more of this type of 'organized play'.

Hopefully some easter eggs and hints of the next interactives can be placed within some of the PFS scenarios leading up to the next event; something cool to tie in groups of mods.

Cheers to you, Josh and all the rest that made the events a smashing success !!

And next Con, Cry Havoc and Let Lose the Contributors !!

Noel Para Baron Anthony of House de Leon Joya

Does anyone know of a virtual tabletop that can be run on a Mac?

Oh and while it costs money, it gets a lot of support.
It comes with 2 player slots free, and you can buy additional slots.
Once I master it, I'll probably purchase enough slots so I can run an entire game with full players.

It runs on Windows Mac and Linux

Hey, never played PFS before just homegames. Looking at playing a few sessions at GenConOz. I have a nice concept for a cleric of Pharasma but I am worried that he won't be terribly useful except as a support character. Little armour, just a dagger, no Str, more of a pure spell caster with a few social skills.

How important is it in PFS to be optimised and how much is character flavour? I know in RPGA you would just about get shot for coming to a con with a non combat orientaed character.

All in all though the PFS mods are pretty solid when it comes to providing role-play challenges.
In fact, faction missions are almost entirely role-playing.

Daigle wrote:

Wow, you kept Greg out later than Hitchcock. That has to be a record.

Tim left before I even got my table started.

Asgetrion wrote:

The Jade wrote:

I attained my lifelong dream of meeting Cosmo and he did not disappoint.

Er... meeting Cosmo? A lifelong dream? Now, Vic or the infamous SKR... those two I can understand, but Cosmo?!? ;P

Dear Sir,
Cosmo is very cool-

GRU

Its all in the detail and the fine print man.

Hail Cosmo!!!!!

To everyone who played in and help run this even at this years Gen Con.

My most sincere thanks for your eagerness, willingness, support, and forgiveness in helping us get an extremely ambitious interactive off the ground, and by Saturday.. flying.

This was my first big event, and I cannot thank everyone enough for chiming in with feedback and input, as well as the work wonderfully talented GMs who put so much extra effort into making sure some of our early mistakes were caught and corrected. Also, much thanks to all the players who weathered through Friday nights game rough start and offered advice and assistance to make Saturday's event so stellar. I appreciate everyone good faith and support.

With everyone's support, it increases the likelihood of more of these types of ambitious and unique events, as well as the experience writers, organizers and GMs need to make them run more effectively.

Oh and for those teams that gained the extra boon Defender of Absalom-
It provides +2 on all future Diplomacy checks in Absalom.

Again,
my most sincere thanks!

Tim Hitchcock

During the Betrayal of Absalom interactive at Gen Con, my character played a pivotol role in the defeat of the Shrouded One and won a +2 Defender of Absalom bonus. Any word yet on what that does?

Chad

I just pulled the official answer from one of my old e-mails, where the Boon first arrived.

Defender of Absalom is a permanent Boon that gives the PC a +2 on all future Diplomacy checks in Absalom.

Thanks for playing!
Tim

Tim Hitchcock wrote:

Flumphs are the Greatest Monster Ever!!!!!!!!

How could anyone hate the flumph?
That's so UN-Dungeons and Dragons.

They are the platypus of D&D!!!!
I ask you, what would the world be like without the platypus?

This is a travesty!

SOMETHING MUST BE DONE TO SAVE THE FLUMPH!!!!!!!

Tim, you're confused. Something's been eating your thoughts.

PS** spoiler omitted **

They are a reflection of every geek out there whose ever be made to feel like a dork for playing D&D. Its one thing to move on, but truth be told. You had the damn Blue Book!
and you had the Fiend Folio... ANd until you've added them to Shadow Run, CoC, and Marvel Superheroes... you just don't know flumph.

They are universal. They're like air. They fit anywhere.
Try that with a orc.

LONG LIVE THE FLUMPH!!!!

Flumphs are the Greatest Monster Ever!!!!!!!!

How could anyone hate the flumph?
That's so UN-Dungeons and Dragons.

They are the platypus of D&D!!!!
I ask you, what would the world be like without the platypus?

This is a travesty!

SOMETHING MUST BE DONE TO SAVE THE FLUMPH!!!!!!!

Given the choice, I prefer no mats and no minis.

I pretty much only use them when I GM Pathfinder Society Adventures, basically because in Organized Play players can get testy, especially players you don't know. Even then, I often ask if the players want to go matless.

When I GM my own campaigns, I never use them. My formal excuse is that I don't have room for them at the table- my game usually has some 15+ players. But really, I just don't like them.
My real problem with minis and mats is simply thatI feel like they depersonalize the experience of the RPG.

To paraphrase my brilliant buddy Brendan Victorson,
Instead of the action being face to face, its continually broken up by people looking at the map and counting squares, to its face to mat to counting squares to face.

There's no secret method to ditching the mat. Just ditch it.
Keep looking your players in the eyes, move the action around the table as fast as possible to engage everyone, and they'll love you for it. Players will start to tell you, "I want to get behind the guy and use my sneak attack" or "I try to flank", or "I take a five foot step to the nearest opponent." It actually makes the combat more narrative from the players perspective, and 3.5/PRPG rules work great for that type of stuff.

Get good enough and you can pretty much play anywhere at anytime.

nice!

I actually had a gleeful murderous goblin song for Blobog in House of the Beast.
One which PCs could hear echoing about in the darkness.

If I can figure out where I hid it in my hard-drive, I'll post it

Thanks Tim.

Might have to grab that module and read the events and see if I'm going to include the module or just focus on D0, D1, D1.5, and D4.

Hi,

I've just read through the D0, D1, D1.5, and D4 modules. It will be great fun running my players through them.

I noticed something odd at the start of D4 regarding the town stats.

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks

I've had the book for a few years now and I think its really cool and I've used a number of concepts from it. That said, its got some rules in it that while they work great in the context of the setting do not work well outside a Nyambe campaign. The most hazardous being the Defense rule (as most of Nyambe is too hot/primitive) to wear armor. Also I thought some of the PC races could have been stronger as they're essentially Africanized versions of standard races.
I might add that I noticed Erik used some of the critters in his last AP mod. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that they look pretty balanced and I've also had fun with a few of them (though admittedly, I haven't tried them all out)

Tim Hitchcock wrote:

Penny Sue wrote:

Yeah I got burnt on the maps! So I printed them out (same complaint as you) and thought I would just cover up the stuff they shouldn't see.

A solid fix for this is to make your own prop by simply re-drawing the map on a scrap piece of paper. I mean, all it really needs to be a line or two with a couple of Xs on it, the scale can even be off as its a player map and therefore bound to have certain inaccuracies.

True; but isn't the point of having all of the wonderful art work in the modules so that you can share them and use them as props to paint a more vivid picture?

A module is for more than just the DM; it's for the players too. I want to share with them much of what makes it great which includes the artwork.

Tim Hitchcock wrote:

Of course... it makes things more fun.

No really, it says slop. I can't figure out why there'd be hog chow on the ground.

Tim Hitchcock wrote:

Still, if they're aware of the effects of altitude (being as they notice it before entering the danger zone) a smart part will pick up on the foreshadowing and try to prepare/make accommodations to deal with it.

I'll admit I've not read the altitude portion of the DMG in awhile, but I don't recall a way to mitigate the effects of high altitude.

Go Sensei Go!!!!

Tim Hitchcock wrote:

NotMousse wrote:

Osprey is a venture captain.

One would hope....

AFAIK Osprey has never been declared as a venture-captain. More like an associate to the Pathfinder Society.

Why is there slop in the Maw?

Prepping this for run this weekend and I've gotta ask. Aren't there a whole lot of checks going on in this mod?

1 save every half hour to see if you become fatigued, then about a dozen handle animal checks across a 7 mile sledding course, and again if you want to come down.

I'm not sure what the idea was here but I'd love to hear it.

But seriously, the skill checks have fun consequences (at least I think so). They almost work like a combat, as they're used to adjudicate the sled race/combat. Think of them almost like a grapple check. They're (deliberately) low enough that it shouldn't be too difficult for most player. And as usual, only hit you Player up with the checks if the failure would result in a serious consequence.

As far as the altitude rules go, I didn't write them. Though the check is each hour (not half hour). The actual length of the "Dragon" is only 8-miles, so really I imagined PCs would be making this check once on the way up (which given the uneventful nature of the journey should serve more a mood device than an actual threat), and another time during the actual adventure, which could make things scary. Still, if they're aware of the effects of altitude (being as they notice it before entering the danger zone) a smart part will pick up on the foreshadowing and try to prepare/make accommodations to deal with it.

At least, that's the way I pictured the adventure.

You can probably get away with describing the initial trek to the base of the Dragon as super exhausting because of the altitude, and suggest that the adventurers rest up a but before hitting the upper part of the trail- which is bound to be more grueling. Again, use the environmental factors as fore-shadowing and to set the mood, not punish PCs with tons of superfluous Fort checks.

Yeah I got burnt on the maps! So I printed them out (same complaint as you) and thought I would just cover up the stuff they shouldn't see.

Osprey is a venture captain.

i just played it.
i do think there's a few problems.

expecting you to go back and loot everything for the sled chase encounter, after being chased by a horde of monsters, is a little greedy and can foul up some pathfinders with their quest / spite some people for loot.

the curse on the ice is a bit much. requiring a few spells to remove, and not giving any in-game source to go get the healing from, is an instant drain on the party/player resources. the mods already advance players quickly in levels. forcing them to constantly drain their funds for restorations, break enchantments and the like, is nasty. if anything stat down the mummy rot curse to be ability damage instead of drain.

the gp for the 6-7 tier is also about 800-1000gp lower than another 6-7 tier i've seen. some consistency with the tiers / rewards would be nice. the 6-7 tier feels like it was supposed to be a 4-5 tier, and looks like the gold was initially intended to reflect that.

the cold environment difficulties are a bit much, making dc 15 fort saves every half hour of travel. i haven't looked at the mod yet, but the gm skipped over those, having us make them every day we were up there instead to save time.

other than those gripes, i had a lot of fun. i enjoy the moving chase fights. i feel the pacing of the adventure was slow then very fast but that could have been the gm.

real life keep whooping my butt and keeping me stuck at home.
One day I'll get out there and run a game for you. Promise.
The Tier thing however, check with your GM I used a spread sheet for the loot, (which I just double checked) and I'm went a little heavy on the rewards (unless it got edited down).
Basically I didn't figure PCs looting every body, so I tried to give a lot of the bad guys decent gear.
The ice DCs are straight out of the SRD. Personally, I think a few of those rules need to be looked at for organized play. Not everything translates as one might hope (In all honesty, I probably would have forgotten to call for the check every half hour.)

As far as being vicious about healing and stuff... I kill players. I am nasty, so if you survived, pat yourself on the back. I think I drowned half the society with Hydra's Fang.
People hate me for it. But this is an ugly business.

Gnomes? Gnomes do get a chance to speak with animals, but burrowing only. Dogs, according to my knowledge, are not burrowing animals in the D&D sense. ;)

Maybe I missed a part, but

** spoiler omitted **

Okay, that is THE scariest avatar I've seen to date ::shudder::

The Whistle and the Drum

Alexandria

Last but not least, we've got t-shirts

I'm really looking forward to getting this one - Tim is an awesome writer and I can't wait to see what his vile and ravaged mind has come up with this time!

Long time no see. Shaved "the Logue" yet? (he needs a good shave) or have you decided to quarentine him to the otherside of the island?

I was DM:ing this scenario and I have to concur. This one is definitely in the top 3 of Pathfinder Society Scenarios so far. The backstory, pacing, encounters, etc. etc... all of it spot on.

Some minor criticism.

As Deussu already mentioned, the map has the encounters written on it even though the scenario suggests the PC are given access to it. I had to customize it using a felt tip pen and a photocopier before I could hand it out.

Another (slight) problem is this: The scenario assumes at least half the party has ranks in Handle Animal. Granted, the DC:s arent't that high, and most groups include rangers or druids, but still. My group included two halflings so I made the sleds a bit larger to fit the musher, one human passenger and one halfling each.

Good form, Hitchcock.

The Handle Animal thing... I just wanted to give back to the gnomes, ranger, and druids out there. Rock on nature folks!!!!!!!

Now that we talked about the scenario a bit another issue was brought up.

The remorhaz, according to MM, has a special ability called 'heat'. Navdi didn't use this ability (it certainly would have fried all of our summoned creatures). Considering the whole place is on ice, and the heat ability deals a whopping 8d6 points of fire damage, it might not be wise of this remorhaz to get all furious and melt the 'ground' underneath it.

Also as a note the advanced remorhaz does not list this heat ability. Tim Hitchcock, could you clarify? This 8d6 will possibly fry many many pathfinders and their equipment.

Oh and thanks for all the praise out there folks!!! I shall try my best to maintain...

A Great adventure. “House” is exactly “somewhere you’d want to explore”. Maps are crying out “Ravenloft”, or “ToEE”, but with more playable scales. And Mr. Hitchcock did so without losing variety of encounters. I’ve been playing since era of 1stEd, and although I'm enjoying to read this board almost every dary, this is my first post on this board. “House of the Beast”(and “Howl of The Carrion King”) made(or forced) me to do post. Congraturations to Mr. Hitchcock and Paizo staff! I’m very much looking forward to running this adventure(though it must be at least half a year later, because I’m currently running Savage Tide for my players.)

** spoiler omitted **

Tim Hitchcock wrote:

Respond? Hell, I was asking cause you live close enough that I could even run the damn thing for you.. except you know all the spoilers.

doesn't mean that you can't run a preview for him and yoda8myhead for the next one you write... I'm sure they would love to playtest whatever you need :)

And presto... the entire thread turns into:

"How to Run Hungry are the Dead for Dummies"

But seriously Sean, thanks for addressing a number of people's concerns with the mechanics an all.

I try to keep encouters as concise as I can, which means you must pick an choose certain elements to retain and exclude. Sometimes that gets confusing, especially when you choose to do something left of center using familiar format- such as using a Trap stat block to flesh out something like a trap, but not really a trap. 3.5 is a real rules heavy game, which means it does get sticky. I am however a firm believer that if a rule gets in the way of your game and makes it unfun, you need to run over the rule with a truck.

Tim Hitchcock wrote:

James from NYC wrote:

I can't fit my review in a measly 2000 character count so I'll post the entire thing here:

Thanks James! Glad you liked the Mod!!!

BtW where in NYC are you? I'm in SI right next to the ferry terminal.

Cool! I live in the West Village.

It's great you guys are so active on these boards. You listen to your customers... and you respond!

:)

I can't fit my review in a measly 2000 character count so I'll post the entire thing here:

BtW where in NYC are you? I'm in SI right next to the ferry terminal.

Hello.

Chris Mortika, the reviewer in question here.

Tim, if you felt the need to talk, why didn't you shoot me an email?

What is this? Stealth marketing? I had no idea AEG was even doing RPG products anymore.

Looks like a solid work and a ton of previews shows that AEG isn't afraid of putting the goods out.

So ... how is it? So far I've only seen one mixed review.

-The Gneech

I kind felt like the reviewer missed the point on how many of the elements in adventure were constructed, and without looking into why I laid stuff out the way I did, chalked it up to poor understanding of the d20 system.

Perhaps its just me, but I kind of think if there was anything in the adventure that pushed the mechanics envelope too hard (or poorly), Sean would have caught it during his editorial pass. Niether is Sutter a slouch in the mechanics department. So really, with all the editors that took a pass at the text (and there were plenty of revisions), I think the reviewer's comments weren't entirely accurate.

Anyway, if you like Falcon's Hollow, slightly gross undead, and a dungeon crawl- that's what the module does.

Admittedly, It's probably more than a little frustrating for rogues, being as there's a lot of undead (no back stab), and...

I could definately talk it up more for you, but I'll assume you want someone else's opinion aside from mine. I mean seriously, I'll have only good things to say about it. However I've kinda been feeling the need to say something about a few of the charges of that review.

Does anyone know more about the location of Falcon's Hollow and Darkmoon vale in the world of Golarion? I think it is kept intentionally vague as located "in a remote forest" for modular compatibility with other settings, which I appreciate; however, I am curious as to where in the world it is located. I am considering using the D series of modules as a jumping-off point for my exploration of the world of Golarion, and I'd like to know where it's situated.

Psionics means Science Fiction period. There is no basis in real world legends for it and there are a whole lot of monsters in the game books that would be horribly disadvantaged against a Player Psionicist.

All that aside, the question should be.. do these rules work and are they fun?

I also disagree that the current psionic system is all that unbalanced, and if Paizo is talking about a new book- the option remains for adjusting some of that balance.