William Simpson's page

Our party found a Magic Bane (human) strength longbow. Humans are my favored enemy. Do the bonuses stack? I say yes. My DM is not sure. He is leaning towards no, but can't sight a source for saying no.

I think the bonuses come from two different sources. Favored Enemy bonus comes from having studied humans,their strengths and weaknesses. I know where to hurt them, and how to interact with them. Bane weapons is a magical enchantment placed on a weapon by a wizard. It uses Summon Monster I, something the ranger cannot duplicate.

For the record, my character is a half-elf, so if I could not wield it because it burns or hurts my human side, I would understand that. Bane weapons could possess powers that absorb into the weapon itself. Also, it should be noted that I wield a great sword, and in 12 levels of play, have only used my bow about a half dozen times. However, I would like to hear some opinions, in case I wanted to add this ability to my favorite 2-handed weapon.

On a personal note, Glenn Lord lived and worked many years in Pasadena, Texas. It was here that he decided to retire. I work for the Pasadena Public Library, and always meant to look him up and pay him visit, if nothing else but to thank him for his efforts to get Howard's works noticed. I hope his family realizes what a role he played in promoting Howard's work. I honestly believe that we would not have Conan or Kull or many of the fantasy works today if not for the efforts of this man. He will be missed.

(From Locus Online)

Agent, editor, and publisher Glenn Lord, 80, died December 31, 2011 in Pasadena TX.

Lord is best known as a champion of the works of Robert E. Howard, and acted as agent for the Howard estate starting in 1965. Lord worked tirelessly to keep Howard’s work available, and brought many of his unpublished works into print. In his journal The Howard Collector (18 issues from 1961-73), Lord included rare and unpublished work by Howard, along with news, essays, and indices. He produced a special final edition of The Howard Collector in summer 2011. Lord wrote a landmark work on Howard, The Last Celt: A Bio-Bibliography of Robert Ervin Howard (1976); co-edited Robert E. Howard: Selected Letters: 1923-1930 (1990, with Rusty Burke & S.T. Joshi); and edited Robert E. Howard: Selected Letters: 1931-36 (1991). He received a World Fantasy special convention award in 1978, was guest of honor at the Centennial Robert E. Howard Days festival in Cross Plains TX (2006), and guest of honor at PulpCon 36 (2007).

Glenn Richard Lord was born November 17, 1931 in Pelican Louisiana. He discovered Howard’s work in the early ’50s when he read collection Skull-Face and Others (1946). Lord devoted himself to collecting Howard’s fiction, poetry, and letters, eventually amassing a huge collection of Howard’s material, including hundreds of then-unpublished stories, most of which he helped shepherd into print.

William Simpson wrote:

How do you handle multiclassing? I use Pathfinder rules. Do you have something specific in mind?

I was asking because some GM's assume you were already training for a class while other would make you find someone of that class to train you.

One last question. Did you ever decide how you would handle combat? I noticed on the portal you were trying to decide between different methods.

No, you don't really need someone to train you. I would want you to work it into your character background. You could have grown up poor, and thus had sticky fingers, but never became a thief until much later. The only exception might be if you were one class, and decided to become a wizard later. Since the training for that could take years, I would work it into your background an increase in starting age. You started to train as a wizard, fell away from your studies, and took it up later.

As for combat, I am still working out some of the kinks. Combat can go as fast as people post. Or one combat can take a few days. At this level, I usually speed things along by taking a normal course of action for the character. And I have a combat tracker to keep track of actions, spells, hit points, initiative, etc.

If you are interested,go to the website and ask to join. I can then send you an invite.

William Simpson wrote:

I still need 2 more players. A fighter type and a rogue type. Must be able to post every couple of days (at least). The more you post, the more XP you get.

I have a ranger I have always wanted to play. He will probably have to multiclass at some point to fit my vision of him, but he can do damage, and disable traps from day one. In short I can do some fighter type stuff, and rogue stuff. I am willing to redo my multiclassing order to fit in now if it helps me get a spot.

How do you handle multiclassing? I use Pathfinder rules. Do you have something specific in mind?
What is your point buy method? 15, or 16 if you use the hero point you get at first level.
How open to you to nongood characters? no evil. prefer no CN
What books are allowed<---This is important because he is pretty much already created. I just have to redo the background story to match savage tide. Pathfinder rules found online, so run anything by me first.
What level would I be coming in at if I get picked up. 2nd (they are just starting out)

We actually game on the site on this link:
http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/greyhawk-rules-savage-tide

I still need 2 more players. A fighter type and a rogue type. Must be able to post every couple of days (at least). The more you post, the more XP you get.

1. You seem to be looking at the craft price, not the cost.

2. The formula is for a 5 charge item, since the cape is once per day, you must divide it by 5. WHich makes it come out to exactly the right price.

EDIT: Anyway, if you want an item with unlimited use, use the "USe activated or Continuous" section, and remember to account for the duration of the spell modifier.

Where does the 5 charge item come from? I could not find it anywhere.

{EDIT} Ooops. Senior Gamer moment. It's Right below that.

Okay, I am a little confused about the Magic Item Gold Piece Value chart in the Pathfinder SRD.

For Command Word Items, the formula is Spell Level X Caster Level X 1800 to find the base cost. I am assuming cost to make.

The example they give is for a Cape of the Mountebank (used ONE time per day).

Caster Level is 7 (they have 9th). Dimension Door is a 4th level Spell. So, 7 X 4 X 1800 = 50400 (which is 10 X the base amount listed!)

Should the formula not be Spell Level X Caster Level X 180? Am I missing something?

I am trying to figure out the value of an item that is not portable, but casts a Divination Spell Once per day. It will also some other minor powers. (mostly help with Knowledge checks)

Thanks for any help.

One of my online players has taken this. Right now, I am interpreting it that he can hold it for 1/rd per level, but once he screams that ends it.

Still looking one player to play a Mage/Sorcerer/Warlock type.

I would like to play a 3.5 version of the Factotum eventually classing into the Chameleon Prestige class, they have the same abilities as the rogue and are also skill monkeys, If you would be ok with this I believe that I already have an obsidian portal account though I have not used it in years.

I have played DnD since late 90s and have been playing Pathfinder since it came out, I have never played 4.0 because I have never had any friends that have wanted me to try it. I have played many PbP and have even tried my hand at DMing a few.

I'm going to have to say no. I have already accepted someone who will play a straight rogue. But just so you will know, I would have said no to my regular players. Sorry.

I would love to throw out a rogue...I have played pathfinder and d&d for a while now I am in a few pbp campaigns and dm a few. I also already am on Obsidian Portal. I have yet to play the Savage Tide.

With all that being said,
Fenrus Fallenbridge Halfling Rogue
Fenrus was raised on the rough streets of Sasserine. Being small in stature he was always picked on and bullied. One day a noble happened upon Fenrus stealing some bread while Fenrus managed to slip away the noble followed the young man. Once Fenrus stopped the noble asked if Fenrus would come and work in his house as his eyes and ears. Fenrus perfected the art of being unseen as well as gathering information. With the noble's resources Fenrus was able to bribe people and was always aware of what would happen before it actually did.

Great concept. I sent you an invitation.

I'll look through the OP site a little better.

Been playing D&D sense about 92/93, though we started with my brother in law running us through first edition stuff. Played second, third, three.five, and several offshoots of three and three.five (arcana evolved, d20 modern). I'm in one PbP game and just started dming my own. In person I play a lot of evil and semi disruptive characters (with DMs who are good friends and are familiar with my quarks) but online I go for more team work oriented characters. I own the mags and have read through them when I got them, but never ran Savage Tides, and honestly can't remember much about it other than some references to the big bad scary guy at the end.

Going to put up my shadow bloodline sorcerer tonight, after tweeking her a bit.

You can email me at hotspur8@yahoo.com

I still need one more player, to play a rogue, or someone with a few rogue levels. The game WILL NOT be on this message board.

I'll look through the OP site a little better.

Been playing D&D sense about 92/93, though we started with my brother in law running us through first edition stuff. Played second, third, three.five, and several offshoots of three and three.five (arcana evolved, d20 modern). I'm in one PbP game and just started dming my own. In person I play a lot of evil and semi disruptive characters (with DMs who are good friends and are familiar with my quarks) but online I go for more team work oriented characters. I own the mags and have read through them when I got them, but never ran Savage Tides, and honestly can't remember much about it other than some references to the big bad scary guy at the end.

Going to put up my shadow bloodline sorcerer tonight, after tweeking her a bit.

Email me and I will send you an invite.

Sorry, I misunderstood. If you're not running on these boards, I'm going to have to bow out. I'm in too many games already to have time to check more than one website on a daily basis. Thank you for considering me and I wish you all a good game.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. Thanks for looking though.

Okay, looks like I got one more than needed, but that's good. Since you all seem to have experience with PbP, it can only add to my game. Plus, Savage Tide can be tough.

So if each of you will go to the Obsidian Portal website, and join, you can then send me your user name so I can invite you to join my campaign.

I hope that you all will be patient with me, as this is my first fully PbP game. I think it could be a lot of fun.

FYI: You may notice a rogue already on the list of characters. One of my players wanted to change to a cleric from a rogue. I can now have him discard that character once we get started.

Just an update. I would prefer players with some experience, especially at PbP. Though that is not a necessity. I would also prefer that you have not played the Savage Tide Adventure Path. I think it would be more fun that way.

Just a little background on myself. I have been playing D&D (mostly as a DM) since August, 1979. I have moved from D&D to 1st, then 2nd, then 3.0, then 3.5, and stopped with Pathfinder. I did not do D&D 4.0. For personal reasons, I just did not want to go there.

My biggest accomplishment was to publish an article on Dragotha, the Undead Dragon in Dragon Magazine. I still have the check stub. I made, I think, $80.

I'm interested, and will happily play a wizard/sorcerer/witch of some sort to be the arcane caster type...though I've a few questions.

I went to your Obsidian Portal site, which led to another bulleton board. I looked around there a bit, and all in all, I couldn't find any sort of character creation rules. Did I miss them or are they not up yet?

Another question, on the discussion board I came across a section of house rules. Most of what I saw wasn't houserules per se, but discusions on how the rules in the book work...are the interpritations in that section what we should expect for this campaign? Cuz I'm a little leary of joining a game with some of those as president. A creature with lower than 9 int can't initiate a flank? Does this include PCs?

I'm not trying to sound hostile, or tell you "you're playing wrong", though I am curious now as to what I may be getting myself into.

I used the other bulletin board because it allows for better PbP. I have 2 campaigns listed. A Pen and Paper campaign I concluded around late April, early May. That is the one with the house rules. I think we decided that only animals (below 3?) Intelligence could not flank. But don't worry about things in that campaign.

The other campaign is the one we will be doing: Savage Tides.

FYI: Most of the information on the campaign can be found on the Obsidian Portal website, especially the Wiki. Does that answer your questions?

I too would like some guideline to character creation. I am at work currently and the obsidian portal is blocked on my network.

Just FYI to the DM: I am able to most multiple times per day as I have computer access nearly 24/7.

Another quick question: Is this Dnd or a Pathfinder conversion?

It is Pathfinder, but if you want to play a 3.5 character (modified for Pathfinder), run it by me. For example, I still like the 3.5 warlock.

I'd be happy to take up the party face/ arcane user. I would think sorcerer would fit me well. Are there some specifics you would be looking for in such a character?

Someone who is good at diplomacy/gather information. If you have ranks in Local history as well. Plus, should be able to buff and use combat spells to players advantage.

OK, I'm interested. I'll make up a rogue for you, but what would you need to know to consider me?

How long have you played D&D?

I am trying my hand at PbP, since I do not always have time for a regular gaming (in person) session. I have already recruited 4 players. Three are from my regular gaming group, and one is a friend who lives out of state.

As the title says, this will be primarily following the Savage Tides Adventure Path, as outlined in the last 12 issues of Dungeon Magazine. However, there will be ample opportunity to explore other ruins and locations. One of these places will be Freeport, City of Adventure. We will be using the Pathfinder Rules, although I will accept some D&D 3.5. We will also be using the SLOW Advancement system, so as to prolong the campaign.

More information is available on my Obsidian Portal Website:

Go to Obsidian Portal

As I stated, I am seeking two players. Right now, the party has 2 fighters (Ranger and Fighter), and two healers (Druid and Cleric). So these two class types are closed. What the party needs is a rogue and a magic user. Preferably someone with diplomacy and charisma skills. I want to keep the party at 6 persons maximum.

Please send me a message or reply to this thread if you would like to be considered. I would like to start August 1st, with a small dungeon just to get everyone acclimated. Any questions, please ask.

Can someone explain why elementals have fewer hit dice in the Pathfinder SRD? For example, a CR 7 water elemental (Huge) has 95 hps (10d10+40). In the 3.5 SRD, they have 152 hps, 16d8+80 (152 hp). They also seem to have lost 2 points of constitution in the conversion. With the Pathfinder characters being beefed up (over standard 3.5 characters), does it make sense to lower the hit dice yet award the same experience points?

I have ordered most of the Planet Stories for my public library. The Pasadena Public Library (Pasadena, Texas) now has 19 of the 21 books that are currently in print. The Seattle Public Library, which is the largest system closest to Paizo, only has 5 of the 21 titles. I hope they will become very popular. I intend to display them as part of a classic SciFi series of books.

Does anyone know what happened to Sword and Sorcery Studios? They produced many good d20 products, including Scarred Lands.

Thanks for the tip. I might consider this for myself, but the library has specific vendors we can order from. They do look pretty good, though.

William Simpson wrote:

Any chance of getting these into planet stories? They are sometimes hard to find in new paperback form. I order scifi for a public library, and I would like to order a new set. I understand from Wikipedia that the first 5 volumes are no longer copyrighted in the U.S.

If it's okay for me to say here, you can get the series from the Science Fiction Book Club collected in 4 volumes.

SFBC - Barsoom

Good to know you are at least considering it. Thanks.

It's something we've considered repeatedly, and it's not out of the question, but it's kind of a dicey proposition for us, as those books have been reprinted so heavily... in general, we prefer to bring back books that folks haven't heard of but should, rather than try to go toe to toe with major publishing houses over the same public domain books. So we'll see!

Any chance of getting these into planet stories? They are sometimes hard to find in new paperback form. I order scifi for a public library, and I would like to order a new set. I understand from Wikipedia that the first 5 volumes are no longer copyrighted in the U.S.

I've read the first one. It's quite enjoyable and I've been picking them up here and there along with E.C. Tubbs's Dumarest of Terra series. The Scorpio books are being published by a small company, so I'm not seriously considering them right now.

--Erik

That's too bad about the Scorpio books. Looking on Wikipedia, it looks just like the kind of stuff Planet Stories was made for. I did some checking, and these are omnibus editions available only through Amazon. Good news though. According to the publisher, they are trying to publish all 52 books (Wikipedia says there are 53). The latter books of his were published in German and not translated, so at least now they will be published for the first time in English. It looks like a great set, with the stories similar to the Mars books by Burroughs.

I should note that if you're looking for pulp-era fiction in the Howard vein, I strongly suggest picking up C. L. Moore's Black God's Kiss, which is available now. Most of the stories therein were written in the mid 1930s, and many of them were published in Weird Tales magazine alongside work by Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and H. P. Lovecraft.

It'll help to tide you over while we all wait for Almuric.

--Erik

Thanks for the information and input. I am sure negotiations for these things sometimes take longer than anticipated.

Anyone know why this has been delayed again? I have really been looking forward to this and other Planet Stories, but if they are going to keep delaying printing, then it does not bode well for this line of products. Since I am familiar with Howard's other works, I thought I would get Almuric first, so I could judge the quality of the print and recommend it to others. I could have started with the Anubis Murders, but Gygax is not my favorite author, and I wanted to read more of the pulp fiction from the time of Howard. Gygax is a newer author. I wanted to read some of the older ones.

1. Have you purchased a Planet Stories novel or anthology yet? If so, which one(s)? Almaric by Robert Howard. Still waiting for it to be published. As a librarian, I order all the Sci Fi books for my public library, and these are on my list.

2. What author in the Planet Stories line most interests you? All of them.

3. Please list the following genres in the order you would prefer that we focus on in late 2008 and beyond:

Sword & Sorcery
Sword & Planet
Horror/Gothic Fantasy
"Weird" Fiction
Jungle Tales
Lost Worlds Tales

4. What can I do to get you to buy more Planet Stories books? Offer free online content. Example, if you could give 3.5E stats for the main characters and monsters, say in pdf form.

5. If we offer a monthly subscription with, say, a 30% discount off the cover price, would you consider subscribing? Yes, but depends on how cheap I can get it from Amazon or other vendor. Would really consider it for the library. We thrive on standing orders because it cuts down on the time needed to select and order.

Could the art used on these covers be sold as prints by Paizo, or by the artist (Andrew Hou, I believe)? I would love to have several of these based on what has been posted (especially Black God's Kiss).

I second the motion. Well worth having.

Akers is interesting. I got about two-thirds of the way into "Transit to Scorpio" last winter, and it was better than I expected. All of his books are available in e-format somewhere or other on the internet. Some of the later ones were only ever published in Germany, as I understand it. Akers died before finishing the final volume, something like the 43rd book.

I think it would be fun to get the rights to a series like this and release them very rapidly as a side project, but Planet Stories would need to get a lot more popular and profitable for me to seriously consider it.

You all can help with that, of course.

--Erik

I will do my part. As a librarian, I order books for my library, including the SciFi/Fantasy section. I intend to order as many of the Planet Stories as I can. Please encourage your local libraries to consider ordering these books. I still intend to buy my own copies of many of the books, if not all of them.

I would also like to see new editions of the works of Clifford Simak and L. Sprague deCamp (non-conan works),as mentioned above.

Any reason this has been pushed back till December? The listing for Amazon still says August (which was the original publication date). I just ordered it from Amazon two days ago because it was supposed to be coming out on the 15th of August. Is the whole group of books being pushed back?

Here's some involving Zarn Kyass, the "Blue Duke" (page 155).

"Once the elementals are slain, Zarn uses multiple cones of cold to put out the fires if they still rage."

First, being an ogre mage, he only gets one per day.
Two, if he took the time to polymorph into a human fighter, I doubt he would blow his cover by casting Cone of Cold.
Three, if he did not care about his cover, and could cast multiple cones, wouldn't he have done it against the fire elementals in the first place?

Erik,

I was very pleased to read your editorial in Dungeon Magazine. The article on Dragotha actually appeared in issue #134, June, 1988 (you had #135 listed). But your editorial did bring back many fond memories of my sometimes futile attempts at getting published. I have at least one rejection letter signed by Roger Moore. Dragotha was an interesting creation for me, considering I don’t ever recall playing White Plume Mountain. I typed the article on an ancient artifact called a typewriter. (Actually, I think my mother typed it because she was a better typist.) What I would have given for a computer with Microsoft Word. When the article was finally published, I had just graduated from Sam Houston State University, and was looking forward to graduate school. The 80 dollars meant a lot at the time. After reading your editorial, I pulled out an old copy of what I sent to TSR, and noticed that it contained a cover letter, as well as a story attached to the article. The story seems lame now, but I thought it was pretty cool at the time.

Although I have never published another article, I have kept busy with D&D throughout the years. I even made the switch from 2.0 to 3.0, then 3.5. I have had many campaigns since my first in 1980, and only one of my players is older than I am. But we still have fun. Professionally, I have earned two Master’s degrees, and I am currently a Reference Librarian at Pasadena Public Library in Pasadena, Texas. Twice a month for the past year, I have helped our teen librarian, Mike Saperstein, initiate teens into the world of D&D. I finally get paid to play. I can’t think of anything better.

Just thought I would drop you a line and say thanks for the memories.

William Simpson

I am running a 5 character party set in the World of Greyhawk (my favorite.) They just finished Drakthar's Way.

I have:

Human, CG, 5th Cleric of Vogan (soon to be a Stormlord)
Human, CG, 5th Warlock
Human, N, 2nd Rogue/3rd Sorcerer
Human, N?, 5th Fighter (Archer specialist)
1/2 Elf Drow, NG, 3rd Swashbuckler/2nd Fighter (soon to be dervish).

I have a system of disadvantages in my game, which hinders the individual party members, but they also get benefits and roleplaying xps. Example, the cleric has claustraphobia, so the dungeons are usually not somewhere he wants to be. The warlock is an 11 year old street urchin with a tail. The rogue has a greed problem.

Since my group is mostly adults with hectic schedules, I streamlined the money handed out. Now players get a portion of what each character would have at their level. Example, since each is 5th level, each will have 9000 gp in money and items. Of course, they must subtract for any magic items they buy. And if the thief or any other member takes something or makes extra money, this is a bonus.

I started everyone at 2nd level. They cleared less than 1/2 of Jazradune?, all of the Malachite fortress, and almost all of Drakthar's way.

I am running this adventure now (3.5) and they have cleared the caverns. I have a question about Scarlet Children. On page 64, it says they take normal damage from electricty, but on the same page, it says they have electricity resistance 30. Which is the case? Something that is immune to fire, cold, and electricity is hard to put down. Thanks for any help.

Yup; I agree about the kuo-toa ghosts. If I were to rewrite "Scarlet Tide" today, I'd either reduce the number of rooms in the Crown or I'd come up with more varied encounters to take place in there. As it was, I was pushing the wordcount limit for the adventure into the stratosphere, though. My advice for anyone who runs the adventure is to stop throwing the less powerful kuo-toa ghosts at the party once fights with them start to get boring, and spice thigns up with some other undead or constructs of kuo-toa design.

Yeah... looking through that adventure again... WAY too many plants and ghosts. Sorry about that! ;-)

I got a subscription notice on the 8th of April via e-mail. It said I had 2 issues left. Got another one on the 3rd of May. It said I was down to one issue. I understand one was mailed on the 23rd (still waiting for arrival). So I renewed for 12 issues. I checked today to see if it had gone through, but instead of having 13 issues (1 left plus 12 new), it said I only had 12. Did I lose an issue by renewing? Am I missing something?