evilash's page

... if it keeps subscribers happy, it's a win for all of us.

Especially if it can bag you some free pizza, right? ;)

Too bad Netflix doesn't seem to carry it. :(

Well, it is available on DVD from the European online store cdon.com, at least in the Nordic areas. The problem with that though is that it only have swedish subtitles, so you would have to know how to read swedish or speak icelandic.

Yeah, an AP in Land of the Linnorm Kings would definately be fun. Good inspirational material for that one would be the Icelandic Raven-triology, Hrafninn flýgur (The Raven Flies), Í skugga hrafnsins (In the Shadow of the Raven), and Hvíti víkingurinn (The White Viking). The first one is the best and a real classic.

Reminds me of the microprose game Darklands from 1992.

Go to Darklands

Yeah, that was my thought as well. Fixed the linky for you...

1) Do you plan to convert to the new edition of D&D?

Yes, I will probably convert in due time. What I mean with this is that I will convert when I start to run a campaign using the new rules. Since I'm currently running a Savage Tide campaign that will take about 1,5 more years, and after that will probably run a Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign, this means that the earliest I will convert is in about 3,5 years.

2) If Paizo converts its RPG products to 4.0, how will that affect your purchasing patterns for our products?

In no way whatsoever.

3) If Paizo does not convert its RPG products to 4.0, how will that affect your purchasing patterns for our products?

In no way whatsoever.

I'm guessing that xxx is actually the Harrow Deck which is listed among the equipment in the guide.

That said, we ARE testing a little of this type of action out with the Guide to Korvosa. While Curse of the Crimson Throne will contain everything you need to run the campaign... that assumes the PCs don't get distracted by something else in Korvosa. If you have the Guide, you'll be set; if you don't, you'll need to do a lot of work or improvising to keep up with the distracted PCs. We'll see if people embrace the concept of extra supplements for an Adventure Path or if they hate them pretty soon, in any case.

I for one think it's better that you release supplementary source books rather than supplementary modules. The source books are useful even if you don't plan on expanding the campaign with side treks, the modules are not.

I would have to go on record as saying I have very high hopes for the new Arc. I’m excited about it, in the way I was about Age of Worms. That excitement just never took hold for Savage Tide or Runelords, but I have a good feeling about the coming six-pack.

While I really like ST I kind of agree about RotRL. It's not that it isn't a good AP, because it is, it's just that it doesn't feel great to me. I think it can in some way be contributed to everyone involved still trying to get used to the new format, as well as some of the volumes (especially PF#3) suffering from the double workload with the last issues of Dungeon.

Anyway, enough rambling. I too look forward to this AP, and I suspect that it will be the one I'm running when we're done with STAP.

My party looked down at the Jade Ravens as well, so when two of my party members (a goliath cleric to Kelanen and a human scout/ranger) wanted to join the Zelkarune's Horns I decided that Tolin and Zan where there in the same errand and that they where the ones my party members where going to fight to gain entrance to the affiliation. Lots of name calling ensued and in the end each side placed a wager of 1000 gp on the outcome of the fight.

The fight then started with the goliath cleric knocking out Zan in the first attack, resulting in loud cheers from the rest of the party. But then it was time for Tolin to make his move, and not only did he hit the goliath cleric, he managed to land a crit knocking him out in one blow. The scout put up a bit of a fight, but in the end Tolin prevailed with 2 hp left.

Now the party have a bit more respect for the Jade Ravens, just in time for it to disappear again when they rescue them and Lavinia in Vanderboren Manor.

There's a new poll up with the top 5 choices from the previous poll.

And the link.

I think it's pretty clear from your desciption that these player's don't have the attention span to play an entire AP. Even if you managed to motivate them somehow, the campaign will probably crash and burn at some point just because the players lost interest. My advice is to give up on the AP and continue with one-shots instead.

Now, it is not your fault that this situation occured, or even the players. It's just that playing an adventure path requires commitment, both from the players and the DM. If the players aren't prepared to commit to the campaign there's really nothing you can do about it.

Now, the question is... does this mean that the covers for Second Darkness are going to be black? I certainly hope so :) (I guess that speaks to my black soul)

My guess is that if there's enough demand for something like this they will release it under the GameMastery name instead of under Pathfinder. They have stated in other threads that Pathfinder are going to be exclusively 6 issues in 6 month cycles.

I must say that I really like the covers for the first two volumes of Curse of the Crimson Throne, especially the one for Seven Days to the Grave. Any chance of seeing the full picture for that one in a blog entry?

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, here's some links:
Edge of Anarchy cover
Seven Days to the Grave cover

I think all of us who has selected the monthly shipment option are in a similar situation, so a date when the orders will be shipped would be very much appreciated.

if they must wear shoes it should be leather sandals at the most.

Actually, I think that halfling footwear should be spats like in the picture, if anything.

As the kids would say, "OMG!" Furry, barefoot halflings are back!

Well, he is a halfling and not a kender...

(He's not just a freak, right? This is the standard for halflings, at least in Varisia?)

It doesn't seem like it. On page 64 of Pathfinder #3 there's another furryfoot.

I'm using DM Genie for my STAP campaign, and I used it for my SCAP campaign as well. Exactly what kind of information are you interested in?

I don't really NEED to get my stuff right now, it's just so damn hard to wait!!

Yeah, I know. I just started STAP (we're about 2/3 through TINH), so I really don't need the stuff for another 2-3 years. But that doesn't prevent me from wanting it NOW... I guess that shows what excellent work the folks at Paizo are doing.

I'm in the same situation as you, and from what has been said earlier (during the shipping of PF #1 to European subscribers) the PDF downloads will not become available until you are charged for the product. You will not be charged for the product until it is ready for shipping. So, we will have to wait until the monthly shipment is ready for shipping before getting access to the downloads. Granted, it's a bit frustrating, but I can't argue with it making business sense.

The map folio problem held back a bunch of orders and now that Gary has that fixed, we can finish shipping out #5's.

That was what I guessed, since I have selected the Monthly Shipment option.

To our European subscribers,

Unfortunately, it is still too early to give up on your Pathfinder #4. Please give them a couple more weeks to reach you. If you get notification that Pathfinder #6 is getting ready to ship and you still haven't seen #4, let me know at that point and I will get a replacement put in with that shipment.

Thanks,
cos

PF #4 arrived today in Sweden, so everything is good :)

Careful there. With the Snapshot tool, you're taking a screenshot of the pixels that happen to be displayed, at whatever the currently displayed resolution is, which may mean a lower quality result.

Well, in Adobe Reader (I'm using 8.1.1) under Edit > Preferences > General > Basic Tools you can select Use fixed resolution for Snapshot tool images, which will then allow you to set a fixed resolution when using the tool. Personally I have it set to 420 pixels/inch, which is enough for my needs.

Guys, it is still too early for me to make a declaration about when or if we'll switch Pathfinder to 4.0 because we haven't seen the OGL and we haven't seen 4.0.

I appreciate that people are curious about the timing on this. I sympathize, because if there's one person who wants to know what we're doing more than you do, it's me.

We will let you know when we know.

I wasn't actually looking for a commitment one way or the other. I was actually just curious whether receiving the new rules in January or February gives you enough time so you have the option to convert Second Darkness to 4th ed IF you decide to do that.

Has anyone in Europe received Pathfinder #4 yet? I'm still waiting in Sweden.

Assuming we move forward, we ought to get a look at the rules by the end of the month or the first couple weeks of next month.

I do not expect the SRD to stipulate that third parties must use the core pantheon of gods. Quite the opposite, in fact.

--Erik

IF you decide to convert to 4th edition, which will in that case be the first Pathfinder Adventure Path that uses the new rules?

Evil Ash is of course from Army of Darkness... I've been using that name on different forums for quite some time.

"Shop smart, shop S-MART!"

I use Flip Mats for battle maps, which is working just fine. Most rooms are quite fast to draw and more complicated ones I just draw beforehand.

For minis I use counters for my monsters. The counters I manufacture by taking images from the Dungeon online supplements, the galleries on WotC's homepage, and other sources. I then trim them in Gimp so they are square and then paste them into a Word document where I size them to slightly below 1 inch for Medium creatures and then give them a thick black border. I then print the Word document on cardstock paper in a color laser printer and cut the individual counters. Has worked wonders and are a big hit among the players.

I'm starting up TINH tonight, and my party composition is as follows:

* Llanvar Lidu, male human conjurer and nephew to the Sasserine Lidu's. Background: Noble Scion; Archetype: Royalty; Traits: Fatalistic, Loyal.

* Vyzira Kelir, female human scout going for Dervish. Background: Drifter; Archetype: Daredevil; Traits: Energetic, Bold.

* Solomon Pallbar Yu, male draconic forest gnome sorcerer. Background: Artisan; Archetype: Theorist; Traits: Flamboyant, Energetic.

* Sinay Saragastus, male human factotum going for Chameleon. Background: Ascetic; Archetype: Sage; Traits: Connected, Charming, Calm.

* Aukan Tooth Ogolakanu, male goliath cleric (Kelanen). Background: Tribal Origin; Archetype: Wanderer; Traits: Brutal, Exotic, Vengeful (giants).

* Cayden Vhor, male human fighter. Background: Soldier; Archetype: Challenger; Traits: Bold, Carefree, Disciplined.

The background, archetype, and traits are from Player's Handbook II.

Dungeon #149 arrived today from Cerberus. Finally all missing issues have arrived :)

I use CUT-TO scenes in my game (I'm an ex-Star Wars GM and I can't stop doing it), and would like to touch on it there. I picture him in a small row boat, the sun beating down on him. His skin all dry and sunburnt.

Well, as blue_eyed_paladin said above Tides of Dread briefly describes what happens to Vanthus (in the introduction to Part Two: Raiders from Rats End).

So the cutscene could play out like you desribed above, but instead of the demon turning up the scene pans up towards the horizon here a red sail is starting to show.

But as the Phanatons were "right about to be attacked" by the one-eyed T-Rex, we all got the feeling those things were frozen in time until we go to those places.

The same elements that you are complaining about here certainly existed in both AOWAP and SCAP. The reason you accepted them in AOW, but didn't in STAP probably has to do with that you found AOW more compelling and engrossing than ST. From what I can tell after having read both APs, AOW is more heroic and cinematic than ST. Maybe your group are more comfortable with such a campaign than with a more nitty'n'gritty campaign like ST?

Alas, another point that really blew my enjoyment out of the alleged "free", "planning" and "strategy" some people seem to see in that module were the many contrivances. The most dashing example would be, when we started planning the defense, mystically all decent weapons had vanished from Farshore. No ranged weapons, no longspears.

And what a coincidence, after chopping off the head of some "random" critter in a single-room dungeon:
"Look! the Weapons that Farshorians were too stupid to bring with them! Although we saved the cargo from our and Lavinias ship!"

This you have to chalk up to your DM. First of all, one of the reasons that some weapons "vanished" were that they were destroyed in the attack on Farshore. Furthermore there's nothing in the adventure that says that there's no ranged weapons or longspears in Farshore.

Also, it's part of a DM's job to decide what his/her players would enjoy and what they wouldn't. That's one of the reasons that I decided to skip AOW in favor of ST, since I estimated that they would enjoy that campaign more than AOW. And in conclusion, if a DM discovers that his/her players don't enjoy a campaign he/she is running he/she should never be afraid to ditch it, no matter what work has been done on it.

Since I'm from Sweden where most of us are godless heretics I really haven't experienced this with D&D and other RPGs. This doesn't mean that we don't have a vocal moral minority that gets off on condemning things they don't understand and know nothing about. During the early 80's for example it was violence in movies that where the Root of All Evil, and a lot of classic movies with graphic violence were actually banned until about a decade ago. The latest target is internet poker, which they claim traps young people in gambling addiction even though there's no statistics supporting this claim.

The common trait for all moral minorities seem to be that they act like the preacher's wife in the Simpsons ("Will someone please think of the children?").

Well...

Furthermore I must say that it sounds like your DM didn't feel constrained by the frame of these two adventures. And you yourself where quite happy with the campaign until you found out that the events where scripted.

My advice to you, and everyone else that feels the same, is that sometimes you just have to relax and enjoy the ride. And the Savage Tide is one heck of a ride :) So stop overthinking everything and enjoy the bang up job your DM is doing.

I don't think it's a bad idea to have a generic pantheon in the core rulebooks. What I don't understand is why they mix deities from several different settings, some of which will be reprinted in later 4ed supplements. They say in the article that deities like Heironeous and Hextor have no flavor, but that's only because there's no backstory for them in the core books. If they use Bane as a generic deity he will lose his flavor as well, since any new players will be unaware of his story, unless they purchase the FR setting.

To get the flavor they are looking for without having to publish a history for their generic pantheon they should instead use deities from real world beliefs. I mean, there are plenty of gods to choose from in Egyptian, Roman, Greek, Norse, Celtic, Slavic, Sumerian, and Hindu mythology. And the bonus is that they come with all the flavor they want...

Well, I know for a fact that I will be playing 3.5 at the end of 2008. The reason for this is that I'm just about to start up a Savage Tide campaign, and I expect it to run at least 2-3 years before we're done. I won't change edition mid-campaign.

Anymore info on when the replacement copies will be sent out?

As long as you guys continue to produce the high quality we all have come to expect and appreciate, I'm sticking with Paizo for the long haul. If that means supporting a Pathfinder RPG, I will certainly do that, and if it means converting to 4.0 I will do that as well.

As for the immediate plans for 4.0 I do not intend to converting for the next 3-4 years. I'm just now preparing to start running STAP, and I will use the 3.5 ruleset for the run of that campaign. In fact, I find it kind of comforting to know that there will not be coming out new splat books every month, and that the books we currently use will also be the ones that are used throughout the campaign.

If and when we convert to 4.0 we will probably not buy any of the books, but will in that case instead use the SRD and any 4.0 products from publishers we know produce high-quality content. WotC and Hasbro are NOT among them, but Paizo is.

Yeah, I know she's a ghaele, and if I'm not mistaken she was specified as bard 4 in AoW. Have they advanced her further from that, or given her any special abilities outside her class or race?

I'm about to start Asylum with my gaming group. After I'm done with the Shackled City AP, I plan on starting up a Savage Tide campaign with the same group.

So, I wonder if some friendly soul could supply me with the stats for Celeste from issue #149?

Well, one thing you can do is to capture each room from the PDF with Snapshot Tool, paste it into Word or similar program, and then resize it so that it has the right scale. Then you can print out the rooms as dungeon tiles.

Personally I use flip mats, I don't think it takes that long to draw the general outline of the room. If it's a really complicated room I draw that room in advance, since I have several flip mats.

...waiting for 149 now. Hopefully it will arrive soon and I can try to forget the last 3 months...

QFT

I've added a couple of the church affiliations from Complete Champion and the Restenford Guild of Insurers, Solicitors, and Beggars (now the Shadowshore GoISaB) from PHII.

An update here from Sweden. Dragon #358 arrived today in an envelope from The Place for Games. It was addressed with my name and all, so I have no idea why it has taken so long.

Updated status:

Dragon #358: Arrived.
Dragon #359: Arrived.
Dungeon #149: MIA.
Dungeon #150: Arrived.

I ran the first session of my Shackled City campaign on September 20th 2004, and we're currently preparing for the final chapter of the campaign. Although some of the players have dropped out of the campaign and others have come in, 3 of the original players still remain.

Current party:

Belem: human male wizard/cleric/dweomerkeeper and high priest of the Cathedral of Wee Jas.
Heion: grey elf male wizard/initiate of the sevenfold veils/archmage.
Kalian: grey elf advanced adventurer melee fighter (i kid you not, he has 7 different classes at level 18), brother of Heion.
Martigan: human male fighter/knight of the chalice/pious templar.
Etzende: human male rogue/ranger/fighter and crossbow sniper extraordinaire.

After we're done with this campaign the same players will participate in my upcoming Savage Tide campaign.

Dungeon #150 and Dragon #359 has arrived safely in Sweden. Dungeon #149 and Dragon #358 are both still missing though, but CS have been informed.

Don't email CST until next week on older issues. Thanks!

OK, now it's next week, so I just sent an email to customer service about Dungeon #149 and Dragon #358. As I've stated before, I live in an apartment building so any issues sent out without any name will not reach me.

EDIT: Oh, and for anyone who still cares... TPFGs web site is now "temporarilly [sic] suspended"...

Not sure what you mean here, because I can extract material from my PDFs. Sure, the document is password protected, but the protection still allows you to print, edit, and copy from the document. When I read your post I even opened the document and tested this just now, so I'm 100% sure you can extract images and text from the PDFs.

A) Convert! I am ready for a new D&D.

B) 3.5 or Bust! I'm sticking with the man what brought me.

C) We'll see. Need more information.

Well, it would have to be A, B, and a bit of C for me. I like some of the stuff I've heard about the new edition, and other things I'm not so keen on. On the other hand I'm currently preparing to run Savage Tide, and I won't be converting anything mid-campaign. When I'm done with that the new edition will have been out for a couple of years and at that point I will probably use the current (at that point) edition of the game, even if I decide to run a 3.5 campaign like Rise of the Runelords.

Also, a deciding factor for me is what direction my software support is going. At the moment I'm using DM Genie and is quite happy with that. If there's no available software support to handle stuff like combat and the like (unlikely though) I will probably wait until it's available.

Status for me here in Sweden

Dragon 358: MIA
Dragon 359: MIA
Dungeon 149: MIA
Dungeon 150: MIA
Pathfinder 1: Arrived here a couple of days ago.

If any of the Dragons or Dragons were sent without any name they will have been returned to sender if that was possible to determine.