emirikol's page

KEEP ON THE BORDERLANDS
wtih 8 year old, 6 year old and me. My 6 year old has GMed several times through his own creations and now my 8 year old says she wants to be the 'narrator.'

Key things: They bribed the lizard men with fish and got some recon on the spiders and where the dead elf was at. They also didn't fall for the bandits' ruse that they were simple hay farmers (because they discovered that there was a merchant tied up and buried in one of the haystacks). All offenders were brought to justice and put in the Keep's jail.

I've been using the "Vanquished" rule from Arcanis where the enemy doesn't die when they reach 0, they just surrender or are "defeated." For monsters, yes, they die. For humans, I'm doing the "bring them to justice" bit.

On to the caves of chaos next session.

jh

5 year old is still going strong on playing. My 8 and 10 year old's have slowed down on interest.

We did the were-rat/duergar caves in Fighter's Challenge today. I made the Water Naga friendly and had it eat the BBEG..my kids are starting to see the point in allies.

Pathfinder TOTAL ROME! ;)

jh

My 5 year old made his first dungeon:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/167876/vaughn%20dungeon.jpg

His concepts come out very close to those of the other dungeon, but he added attitude to the an orc that was right next to the dragon.

jh

We just enjoyed the final 2 pages of "Border Watch," an old Greyhawk Adventures scenario.

Valeros and Ezren, now 2nd level, got a little help from the Ogre when they bribed him with watermelons (nice unique solution ;)

jh

So far, I let them each buy a dice set of their own and Santa got them the mini's for xmas.

My goal this year is to get with DMFTodd and play some more PFS. (and it is helped by the fact that the Beginner Box Pathfinder Society boxed set adaptation guide is out too) http://paizo.com/products/btpy8qev

jh

emirikol wrote:

They also would not play characters of the opposite sex, so I needed to change Valeros to a "girl."

Works great!

Is her name going to be "Valerie"?

Good thinking :)

They're actually pretty good with coming up with names. My older one plays free realms (the reason why we're not playing PF right now) so she's used to long names too. Goes way beyond what we had as kids: "Do you want to play conan or merlin?"

jh

Having the ability to put character images into the character sheet is CRUCIAL for my kids. They are very visual.

They also would not play characters of the opposite sex, so I needed to change Valeros to a "girl."

Works great!

I think its presentation sets a new standard for game presentation as well. It reminds me of the sheer amount of grotesque, disorganized, bulk that otherwise gets put into games.

Starting with the solo is something Ive not seen well done since Star Frontiers back n the day and Paizo hits the nail on the head.

Now add the Hero Lab character generator and its even better.

jh

I think my 5 year old is a natural GM. He's already drawn and populated his own dungeon with goblins, orcs, more goblins, a manticore and a dragon.

Of course the dragon has an ac of 15 and only has 12 hps..and the manticore, he decided, only has 8 hp and an AC of 10. He didn't want HIS character to die.

Ah, game balance..it's taught at such an early age these days :)

Go the kids the painted mini's this morning and got a great big "YEA!!!" from all of them [the kids that is..the mini's just collectively groaned about at least being thankful to not be misfit toys]

jh

Have any of you entered the data for the Iconics yet? I'm hoping not to have to type it all in again...

Jay H

I'm still waiting for the $40 flat fee.

First, thank you Hero Lab for releasing this. My kids and I thank you.

Second, what's up B.L.? This product is free and it covers the Boxed Set 100%.

Everyone don't forget to thank Santa! :)

jh

..Also, I don't mean to imply that anyone's wife is a bigot or discriminates against nerds..I just wonder if people are facing resistance. :)

Jay H

emirikol wrote:

teach them to shoot guns

[threadjack]You should do that too![/end threadjack]

Well, that's coming eventually too at our household..but I'm surprised that people in this day and age would be "against" letting their kids play tabletop rpgs. Certainly, they won't bat an eye when they play video game rated "M", but holy crap, playing D&D with your dad, now that's crossing the line!

Is it because a particular mis-understanding parent doesn't want them associating with certain types of people (i.e. flat out discrimination) or do they just yank the husband's chain in some kind of power-struggle? Surely in this day and age, this must be a joke? We are in the new millennium of tolerance and equality towards spouses after all :)

I learned long ago that my wife has no interest in RPGs (yet, she dresses up for Bunco the dice game..go figure), so she's got nothing on me when I "attack the darkness" or "lightning bolt! lightning bolt! lighting bolt!" the giant.

Am I alone that my wife can be a non-rpg'er and still NOT be a bigot against us nerds wanting to play a father & kids game of good ol' Pathfinder?

jh

My wife doesn't roleplay either and I'm not going to sit around hoping to convince her or wait for her approval. I grabbed the kids and the boxed set and we started playing :)

I also take them to the game store to play so we're around other people. I've always liked that feeling that other people were jealously watching us have a good time while their own kids sat at home :)

You could tell her: It's either I teach them to shoot guns or play RPGs and boardgames. Which is it? ;)

jh

Another interesting game. We played Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh today and I ran it as a bit of a Scooby Doo adventure where the Illusionist at the end "would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids." I've kept the kids at 1st level for several games now (as well as for an adaptation of the WFRP3 scenario, "False Pretenses"), but I feel it's time to level them up. They've also attained a bunch of gold so I may give them 2-3 optional items to purchase in town.

Another thing is that I'm taking the "non-human" approach to bad guys. I have the bad guys run off more than get killed and have lots of surrenders where the players get to bring the baddies to town for jail. Seems to work well.

jh

For everyone who’s planning to pick up the Beginner Box, we've got great news. We’ll be releasing a new version of Hero Lab that’s designed exclusively for the Beginner Box before Christmas. The even better news is that we’ll be offering it for FREE!

This streamlined version of Hero Lab will allow you to easily create, save and print characters using the Beginner Box classes, as well as the new class introduced in the Beginner Box Player Pack. Hero Lab’s intuitive interface will quickly walk you through all the stages of character creation and validate your character meets all its requirements. With Hero Lab, you’ll be ready to play after only a few minutes.

For GMs out there, we’ll also be including monster stats from the Beginner Box and the GM Kit, giving you all the information you need to quickly create your NPCs and encounters. Hero Lab’s Tactical Console will also be available to help you run encounters during the game. Cut down your preparation times and spend more time playing!

Hero Lab for the Beginner Box will be available on both Windows and Mac. Stay tuned for future announcements on our website and newsletter as we get nearer to officially releasing this new tool before the holidays.

Jry, thanks! My daughter has been scribbling ferociously and I've been looking for an excuse to try out hero lab before I buy the full version :)

jh

Here is a very good free online dungeon painter (superbly easy to use):
Online Dungeon Painter

If any of you make some maps, please link them up!

jh

That's always just whatever the family dynamic is.

We're doing black fang with some friends tomorrow. We'll shoot for a 2 hr session this time. We'll see what we get :)

jh

>>1) I haven't purchased the BB yet, but I have downloaded the PDFs. My son and I already play Axis & Allies, so I think he'll enjoy it if the learning curve isn't too steep.

My question is: From the time you open the box, how long does it take to actually start playing the game?

If you've run or played pathfinder, you can just have the kids grab a character and then start reading the "Solo" adventure. That's about 2 minutes. When it comes to rolling, you start explaining only what you need and go from there.

If you don't know how to play Pathfinder, then you're going to need to play the solo yourself first and read through the GM's guide (2 days to let it soak in).

>>>2) Is anyone's daughter playing? If so, does she like it? Does it seem like she'd stick with it?

Here's the deal with kid-girls: They pick girl characters. The same is true for boys - they pick boy characters. Here's to hoping there will be dual-artwork on future stuff! When I run talisman, I have printed out pictures of girl fantasy characters (Fiona from shreck, Xena, etc) taped over the male images on the cards..otherwise the kids would not choose those cards.

As to the themes (in my 30 years experience of running convention games for girls, gals, ladies and my own kids): Dungeons generally do not appeal to girls as much as interactive stuff. One of my girls enjoys the "imagination" part of it, the other one isn't really interested in RPGs.

My boy..yea, he just likes to kill monsters and cause cave-ins and make stuff blow up.

jh

..

The beginner box will not be the "downfall of Paizo" for having "two systems." Not having AOO's and the horde of complex rules munch will not "kill paizo" and pathfinder will not move to obscurity. This is just alarmist talk from old rumors circulated as to why and how Lorraine Williams personally ran TSR into the ground.

Now, back to the original topic: thanks guys for running the bash's. We never did get a chance to make it down (too much kids stuff with Halloween and childhood going on :) I too would like to eventually see some of those scenarios (no hurry) :)

jh

Something that we parents quickly discover playing with the kids: When do things with our kids, they love us more, we love them more, and we understand them more.

On a related note, my 10 year old daughter said to me, "Dad, you're really good at playing this game. How come you know so much about it?"

I told her, "Because I was practicing a whole bunch of years so I could be good when I finally got to play with you kids."

:)

jh

To the new GMs and players of new GMs out there? How is it going?

Jay H

My 10 yo will be DMing me and my 5 yo through Black Fang's Dungeon in a little while. It is his first DMing experience.

I'd like to hear how it goes for a new GM. I think I started GMing around age 11, but had no clue how to fill in the blanks of the outside world. (like the keep on the borderlands).

SPOILERS

My daughter just had her character feed 25 gp to the gold elemental and tell it to leave. (online download scenario). I had the elemental leave.

It's amazing how kids can think outside the "just kill it" box ;)

They were both captured by the giant black widow and spun into webs..I did a dramatic pause and a fade to black. I went and got a drink of water.

.."BUT DAD!"

..and then I had them wake up in town, having been rescued by the dwarf miner that they were nice to earlier.

I ran the demo/solo from the Hero's guide for my 10 and 5 year old (my 8 year old watched). Both of them just came home from school today wanting to play again. I think we're going to head in the mine from the supplemental before doing the main scenario.

Note: I had the goblins get 'wounded' and run off rather than the usual murder-n-take-their-stuff approach ;) We did kill off the skeleton king

I'm also cutting out the magic items from the print outs and handing them to them so they don't have to write down and reference.

Jay Hafner
Lakewood, CO

Players wanted for WFRP 3e group (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay).
We've got three and are looking for 1-2 more regular, local players. (Local meaning commute less than 30 minutes to Lakewood). We play 3 Thursday evenings per month. RULES TAUGHT/Noob's welcome. We play the rules-lite version with a good amount of combat and character personality roleplay, but bits welcome.

Please respond at the MEET-UP: http://www.meetup.com/Denver-RPG/

Characters welcome!

Jay H
GM

Liber Fanatica is an established fanzine for the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay game. We are beginning production of issue #9 and are seeking 3rd edition articles, illustrations, and scenarios.

LF is a great way for burgeoning authors to get noticed or just burn some creative oil. Current issues are devoted to the 3rd edition of the game.

If you are interested, please join the inner sanctum by proposing an article at the guestbook:
www.liberfanatica.net/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=15

Thanks,

Jay Hafner
Lead Developer for Liber Fanatica #9

Discussion and campaign group is set up. Potential new players can try us out.

If you want to check out more, look here:http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/lwgamers/?yguid=256670040

Hi,
I'm putting together a new gaming group for Wednesday OR Thursday nights a couple times a month (about 3 games a month). I will be GMing Pathfinder (D&D3.75), Warhammer ROLEPLAY, All Flesh.., Call of Cthulhu, etc. depending on what you guys are interested in for campaigns. I'm leaning towards Pathfinder's new CARRION CROWN path and WFRP short campaigns such as The Gathering Storm.

Group meets in LAKEWOOD from 6:45-10:45.

Player age is 21 and older.

If you are interested, please respond to this post.

Thanks!

Jay H

If we play Pathfinder it will be: Carrion Crown == From the whispering shadows of haunted Ustalav an ancient evil rises to grip the world in a new age of horror!
Amid the mists of this land of dark superstition and dread secrets stand both those who would defy the return of evil and those who would seek its terrible favor. Can the heroes discern their allies from their enemies in time to save a tortured realm from a tyrant’s return? Pathfinder’s darkest and most frightening campaign ever sets the heroes against the agents of Golarion’s most notorious villain, the Whispering Tyrant, in a terrifying trek across a land of lurking horror and ancient mysteries.

We've got three players on board now. I'd like to get to 5 players.

Campaign: THE GATHERING STORM

Off nights we plan to play Call of Cthulhu, AFMBE, and/or Savage Worlds (Solomon Kane).

If you don't hav ethe Player's Guide, you can find pregen characters at:
Liber Fanatica Pregens

Thanks!

Jay H

Our group plays Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Pathfinder. We are seeking a couple more players to round out our group. If you are new to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, no big deal; rules taught.

LOCATION: LAKEWOOD, COLORADO

DATES: WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY NIGHTS 2-3 TIMES PER MONTH

TIMES: 7PM TO 10:45 PM

Please email me with interest and respond here too:
hafner.jay@gmail.com

Thanks!

Jay H

Correction, we will be playing the Death's dark Shadow campaign as the group fills out.
[url]http://chaosorc.com/images/WFRP%20Deaths%20Dark%20Shadow.jpg[/url]

. NEXT SESSION SCHEDULED!
. Sunday February 27 11am - 3pm at Mythplaced Treasures in Lakewood
(---NEW PLAYERS WELCOME!---)

Scenario: Karls and Scents ~~~~ Your grim band of heroes finds themselves in the southwest corner of the Empire,where the Grey and Black Mountains collide, and dangerous passes lead the foolhardy and ambitious into dangerous foreign lands. It begins in and around the township of Kreutzhofen and leads the party north through the valleys of Wissenland to a climax in Nuln. It involves merchants, nobility and,of course, the Dark Powers. It also has a light, musky scent, with a hint of spice and a caress of violets. (Part 0 of the Dying of the Light Campaign)

Please RSVP (yes/no) so it get's posted to the Meet-up!HERE IS THE MEET-UP FOR THIS WARHAMMER FANTASY EVENT

Thanks,

Jay Hafner, GM

We need a Lead Developer for LF8. I headed up LF7 and am willing to stay on as assistant editor, but I need someone to step up and take the reins to keep everyone to deadlines, encourage production, and get creativity out of people.

We've already got articles coming in, and I'd love to see this continue to ride the WFRP official release waves.

If you're even REMOTELY interested, please email me at: hafner DOT jay AT gmail.com.

http://liberfanatica.net/

FOR THE EMPIRE!!!

Jay Hafner

Ok, we're set to start Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd edition games at Mythplaced Treasures in LAKEWOOD. Games will be on either Saturdays or Sundays and will run for 4 or so hours. We expect to meet 2-3 times per month.

I'll be running an ongoing series of one-shots in a campaign (Living-style), so players can drop in and out as necessary and new players should be able to join at any point. HERE IS THE SCHEDULING MEET-UP

Character generation: Standard rules except you can choose your career instead of random generation and humans cannot have a starting characteristic of 5. House Rules are here If you do not have the Player's Guide or Core Rules, let me know and we'll get you set up at the game.

If you are interested, respond here with preferred day and character idea. Later saturdays and earlier sundays are my what I can do.

Jay H
Mythplaced Treasure's Weekend Store Hours
Fri - Sat: 10:00 am - 8:00 pm
Sun: 11:00 am - 6:00 pm

We are also running Pathfinder Society games. Check them out at Rocky Mountain Pathfinder Society Yahoogroup.

jh

I don't really understand how the attacks vs Target defense work. There seem to be two ways you can do it and I'm not sure which one is the right one. In the rules it says that a weapon attack is an easy check, meaning you add one challenge die. It also says that you throw in misfortune die equal to the target's defense rating.However, it also suggests that attacks can be opposed checks, in which case I'm assuming that you compare the target's attack score to the defense rating (as per standard opposed check rules) then you would add challenge die to the roll depending on the difference in the scores.Is that right?Would you also still add misfortune dice for each point of defense?Which way do most people do this?What is a characters defense rating? Is it determined entirely based on his armor and shield?

Example combat:

Reiklander soldier, strength 4, with hand weapon
fighting a Bretonnian solder in mail shirt with a toughness of 3

Reiklander soldier's attack dice pool:
1 red die (in one reckless stance)
3 blue dice (remaining characteristic dice)
1 purple (always)
1 black (mail shirt 1 defense)
1 yellow die (because he's trained in weapon skill)

On a melee attack with a single success, the soldier does 9 points (4 str + 5 weapon damage rating).
Total soak by the Bretonnian is 5 (toughness + 2 armor soak)
so 4 points damage get through to the Bretonnian.

I highly recommend the following rules summary pages (they're excellent): http://www.gitzmansgallery.com/WFRP3_Resources/Docs/WFRP3/WFRP3%20Rules%20S ummary%20-%20Universal%20Head%201.pdf

Jay H

..

What's the benefit of a masterwork holy symbol?

Masterwork thieves tools give a benefit to certain checks. Which are affected for holy symbol? Turn undead?

jh

Here are my first few recommendations for doing some creative work and honing your skills. Who knows, it might get you famous.

RPG Superstar (these forums..during contest time): http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/rpgSuperstar

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3E: Liber Fanatica Fanzine (*seeking scenarios*) http://www.liberfanatica.net/Forums.html

Sharkbytes: (Savage worlds fanzine): http://www.peginc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26135

I looked for a Call of Cthulhu fanzine, but I couldn't find the Whisperer anymore ;)

etc.

I'd like to start a thread regarding options regarding rejected scenarios.

Although rejected scenarios oftentimes need a lot of work, I don't believe that they are a wasted effort. If they can't be worked into the PFS circles, what about other options?

There are a lot of fan-sites (D&D, PFS, and other game systems) that can be a good places to work on and finish a current project that you feel has merit. I think simply working on your skills and building your reputation for future projects, including and especially for future submissions for Pathfinder Society Scenarios, could be very valuable.

Please post locations where you feel these would be useful for budding authors and rejected scenarios.

Thanks,

Jay H

My cavalier has two-weapon proficiency and exotic wep prof for bastard sword. What's the penalty for attacking with both a bastard sword and the light crossbow in the same round?Is there an AoO?

jh

Do I get a penalty for firing into my own melee if I'm using both attacks against the same opponent? ;)

Do I get a +1 elevation bonus for being mounted? (Isn't this the case all the time against footmen?)

jh

My cavalier has two-weapon proficiency and exotic wep prof for bastard sword.

What's the penalty for attacking with both a bastard sword and the light crossbow in the same round?

Is there an AoO?

jh

How would this work our in general? Would it come into play enough to make it work it? I was planning making a agility based fighter with high dex and high int that specialized in finesse based maneuvers. Maybe even use the dervish dance chain.

You're wondering if this will be useful in Pathfinder Society scenarios?

Considering the dungeon-crawl mentality of most scenarios (even though experience isn't gained through combat alone anymore), I'd say that any combat specialist type would be very useful.

jh

Is there an official rule that says you have to use the most recent version (same for feats)?

I'm just going to want to be ready to deal with this with only an official rules quote when players bring this up.

Thanks,

jay H

Is the Urumi still a reach weapon in PFS? - p.209 (PF campaign setting)

Thanks,

Jay H

I recently started up a new group here in Northern Colorado. Our other local group was only supplying the southern area.

Here's what I did:
* Put up advertisements at all local game, comic, book and hobby stores (rip-off tabs). headline: PLAYERS WANTED. I stuck a D&D and Pathfinder logo on there and asked people to meet new players. You could bank on the "sick of 4e and want 3e back?"-type of approach occasionally too.
* I put online advertisements on the major groups: enworld.org, Wizards.com, Paizo.com, Rpg.net. I put a NEW advertisement each time I run a new game. This is crucial. Create excitement and regularity. Nobody wants to join a one-shot-the-cancel type of group.
* created a NEW yahoogroup and post to the local major meet-up group for denver.
* MADE all of MY regular gaming group join
* gathered good friends from the local gaming conventions
* invited the local major game store and book store owners to play
* keep ONE seat open for new players at all times (we have players who will sponge up spots no matter where they play)
* challenged the other local group to run games in my area
* drug people away from LFR. There are a lot of people who are unknowingly 'trapped' in 4e and who long for 3e. Find them and they will play.
* play on TUESDAY NIGHTS when most people are free rather than weekends (especially bad in the summer).
* I'm also challenging my players to GM for ME. That's not been hard actually as most of them don't mind running a one-shot..even the noobs. Once we've got several GM's, I can start adding tables. We've consistently had 6-7 player tables (6+noob npc/pc).

My long term goal is to just join this group up with the other major local group, but until I can ensure that there will be games out there for ME, in my area, I'm going to just keep on keeping on ;)

Best of luck,

Jay Hafner
Lakewood, CO
..

******************

Another question: would the game break without ability score bumping magical items (and spells)?

Jay H

My cavalier's mount has the Improved Overrun feat. My cavalier does not have Improved Overrun. Is my cavalier subject to AoO's during an overrun by the mount?

jh

I'd like to see more non-magical classes and /not/ more playable races. Instead of more races, they could emphasize background and traits more.

I can see the interest in additional classes however. Things like the Monk, Druid, and Bard are so one-track that it's like having three /fewer/ classes ;)

jh

One of the giant flaws (?) of D&D (3.5 and earlier) was it's enormous dependency on magical items to balance the characters at medium and upper levels. Does Pathfinder still have this flaw, or are the characters more balanced?

Thoughts?

jh

emirikol wrote:

Thanks. I did that category the same as it is listed on the Paizo pages from the actual scenario blurbs. How would it look if I added sub-tier?
Jay

It should be like Tier 1-5 Sub-Tier 1-2, 4-5

Ah yes.

[EDIT: done]

Thanks,

Jay