tadkil's page

tadkil wrote:

tadkil wrote:

Cosmo wrote:

tadkil wrote:

As my credit card has been charged for this month's shipment, when can I expect access to my pdfs?

Thanks as always for your timely response.

You credit card has not yet been charged, however the order has been authorized.

As always, your PDFs will become available when the order has been charged and is shipped.

Thanks,
cos

You're right Cosmo. Saw it post on my account. It was the authorization.

Can we break out my Bestiary and ship it with whatever else is ready right now?

BUMP!

If I didn't know better I'd think everyoen was clamoring for thier Bestiary!

:-)
BUMP!

Cosmo! Dont get Tad angry! You never know what corporate pimps are going to do!

Cosmo wrote:

tadkil wrote:

As my credit card has been charged for this month's shipment, when can I expect access to my pdfs?

Thanks as always for your timely response.

You credit card has not yet been charged, however the order has been authorized.

As always, your PDFs will become available when the order has been charged and is shipped.

Thanks,
cos

You're right Cosmo. Saw it post on my account. It was the authorization.

Can we break out my Bestiary and ship it with whatever else is ready right now?

If I didn't know better I'd think everyoen was clamoring for thier Bestiary!

tadkil wrote:

As my credit card has been charged for this month's shipment, when can I expect access to my pdfs?

Thanks as always for your timely response.

You credit card has not yet been charged, however the order has been authorized.

As always, your PDFs will become available when the order has been charged and is shipped.

Thanks,
cos

Can we break out my Bestiary and ship it with whatever else is ready right now?

As my credit card has been charged for this month's shipment, when can I expect access to my pdfs?

Thanks as always for your timely response.

Mine showes up Thursday at 1:25. My wife called me.

I pay for UPS ground.

All of that said, there's no reason your player can't be a Taldan worshipper of Iomedae. Maybe he's from a secret line of crusaders who worship her still (as a replacement for Aroden) and long for the days of Ancient Taldor and her noble crusades. Maybe he's the son of nobility who rails against the fact that Taldor ignores the obvious dangers of the Worldwound. There are still plenty of options for an Iomedae-worshiper in Taldor, even if the Empire doesn't spend a lot of time venerating her.

She is running off to join the Crusade rather than become trapped in a forced marriage. It's both a personal act of rebellion and of veneration.

Thanks for the feedback. It helped this player find the voice for her character.

As DM, I'm looking forward to digging some skeletons out of this closet...

Joshua,

How is Iomedae viewed in Taldor? Does she have any sort of following? Is her Chelaxian heritage a stigma? Is she seen as competitive with Aroden and perhaps viewed with less enthuusiasm than one might think?

I am trying to place her in my Mendevian crusade campaign. One of my players wants to be from Taldor and a worshipper of Iomedae. We're trying to build his paladin in line with canon and were wondering what the role of Iomedae was in Taldor.

Also, how much does Taldor contribute to The Crusades in Mendev?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Tad Kilgore

I worked with ZG and directly for Dustin Clingman and Dave Arneson back before Dave got sick. I wrote Riders of Hak for them.

Anyhow, Code Monkey works under ZG's license, and has permission to do 4E as a result.

This is a rework of the classic campaign (and the first fantasy campaign) under their stewardship and Dave's direction prior to passing. It will be interesting to see what they do.

I imagine we won't get the WoTC designer take on this until we get the DMG 2. However, I've been playing with this as a monster template.

Largest issue I see right now is hot adjudicate a rage daily power when it is deployed on a monster.

I have fiddled with several ideas:
1) Leave it be and transfer it straight over
2) Have the rage sustain on a minor
3) Make the rage work like other daily powers for the purpose of a template, that is, work for only the first active round.

Any thoughts on this?

One word: Lightsabers.

The force won out...

Childhood rocks.

tadkil wrote:

because I have this ridiculous six figure income job

in YEN?

Matthew Morris wrote:

That said...

Coming soon from Hermitage productions. Charred Donations! First in a 6 part series! Follow the adventures of four heros as they have to stop a batch of evil gnomes from razing the town of Glasstip!

(just kidding, put the pack o'Lawyers away, please)

It's too late. We have a lich attorney already drafting a C&D letter. A C&D of horrible, outrageous mind-bending horrors -- one that once it is read will drive you insane with the sheer illogic and skewed mathematics that the Elder Ones have to offer. Once recieved, you will be a gibbering wreck, incapable of saying anything other than "Cthulhu ftaghn! Ia! Ia!"

(This is known as our "polite" option. Please inquire into other Lich attorney services when you call 1-800-LICH-SUE, including the truly nasty stuff.)

Watching this line of fiction develop, is like standing in front of my Grandfather's book cases when I was 8. I read so much of them, but clearly not enough. Thanks for a second shot at some of the books I missed in my youth.

A stand-alone RPG? That's a risk of a different color, but it's not outside the realm of possibility once we've got Pathfinder launched and have settled into a nice little non-magazine RPG publishing business.

Good to see. The work you folks have done with this line of stories needs to be recognized.

Kids love Jar Jar.

I have attempted to make a case that Jar Jar is the harbinger of the apocalypse, but they reserve that role for the Emperor Zerg. They are inflexible on this point.

Kids these days!

Damn. Well I respect their right to defend their IP, but I was buying BOTH! Both, because I have this ridiculous six figure income job and I am a total geek.

@#$%!

More $$$ for Paizo I guess.

Folks,

Anyone heard the logic behind killing Wizards killing pdfs?

It's annoying to me. I really like the searchable function on pdfs.

Anyone know if this was about protecting IP?

Sorry if we've already mulled this over someplace, I have been crazy busy at work and am just getting plugged back in.

AAAAAHhhhh. I love these boards!

Hold it. This thread has a tradition to uphold. We need to get petty and mad at each other and start blaming and being genuinely snarfy!

Come on! Stop being mildly civil.

Descend into chaos and spite!

We can do it!

Running Rise of the Runelords in conversion

KIA: Dashiva, Dwarven Ax Wielding Ranger
KIA (then raised): Flavius, Tiefling Paladin of Cayden Cailean

Shakti: Tiefling Warlock
Gaius: Tiefling Warlord
Coldwind: Elven Archer
Gisella: Elven Cleric of Desna

As to running large parties, 4.0 seems built for it. I find my bandwidth is much broader running 4.0 monsters. The equations of design are less convoluted, and as a result, the tactical execution of the bad guys is more straight forward. Sometiems this gets forumlaic, but the speed and ease of play, have been clear offsets.

My only major complaint about 4e is the lack of fluff, There is barely enough background material to hang a short adventure on let alone an continuing campaign and power and monster description are almost non existent.
The majority of books for 4e are of high quality and very useful but continue to skim on fluff. The only 4e books I haven’t got are Draconomicon because I don't use Dragons in my games and Dungeon Delve because I don't want pre-made dungeon crawls. I would prefer pre-made dungeons/maps that I can stock with my own monsters, traps and plots.

I miss the 2E monster entries...

Not to threadjack, but I'm converting CotCT. It's going quite well.

O

And tadkil, it's hardly pirating. I wouldn't put it out there unless I meant it to get used, in whole or in part. :)

The idea being that ranger and companion become more like mated predators than master and sidekick.

ShinHakkaider wrote:

I don't play 4E and am not a fan of it at all. That being said I see the functionality of this product and after flipping through it in store I may pick up the PDF of this product and change the monsters back to their 3.5 counterparts to use for my games...

Coolio. I'm doing the reverse with Pathfinder mods, inserting 4E monsters for 3.x creatures.

It's a hackfest. It has its uses as modular component in a larger campaign. Interesting designs and some tactical challenges that the right group of players will love.

Just another tool and far from the best one. Passable for what it is.

Fluff: That's what Pathfinder is for!

Seriously, I have been converting 4.0 over to Pathfinder with great success.

Some of the 2.0 books were made from teh best fluff, and I haven't reall seen any writing yet that captured that spirit. The exception being Pathfinder.

There's a very good world for you and very ggod people liek scott Betts and myself who are always willing to chime in with our $.02 on stuff.

If you get a chance, check out Scott's conversion thread in the RoRL area of the boards. His blog rocks.

I am running a 4E conversion of Rise of the Runelords and one of my trio of Tieflings is Star Pact. She and I have spruced her up with the Wish Upon a Star from [b]Dragon/[b] 266. The party mix is Tiefling Warlord, Elven Cleric of Desna, Tiefling Paladin of Cayden, and an Elven Archer Ranger. She has focused on Charisma based powers and also picked up powers from other pacts that make sense.

Shakti is all about mobility and cursing everything in sight. She plays up close to the fight behind the defensive cup of the defenders and fighters. Her Charisma is maxed at 20, and she has a +1 Wand of Witchfire, +1 Deathcut Leather, a +1 Amulet of Protection and a Polyglot Gem (Thassolonian). By constantly cursing every opponent she can, she constantly feeds additional +1 into her to hit change. Likewise, the leaders often target her with the benefit of any bonuses they get to hand out.

I think her powers are:
Dire Radiance
Eldritch Blast
Dreadful Word
Curse of the Dark Dream
Ethereal Stride
Hands of Ibhar

The archer/ranger has more raw power, but her funk has been quite useful at times. Dire radiance and Curse of the dark dream have been used to great success, in that she has been able to set up other attacks by other players, or forced enemies to take damage. She often slides the paladin's marked target away from him with her daily, and then sustains it. She follows up with Dire radiance. This causes the target to either attack someone other than the paladin taking damage form him or take the damage from her Dire Radiance when he closes to attack the paladin. Likewise the rest of the party makes a point of doing the same and forcing more damage. It's consistent funk. Shakti lays out 1d10+5+1d6 pretty much all the time when she isn't uncorking other craziness on me.

She's fun, but she's really fun because she roleplays her character as a bit crazy, and shameladen over her impure (human) blood. The nuking part is secondary.

A 4E Conversion

Name of PC: James Burkett
Class/Level: Flavius of Cheliax, Tiefling Paladin of Cayden Cailean 4
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: The Wraiths in the Crypt (the spirits of the architects of the statue)
Story: Flavius stepped forward to bear the brunt of the undead assault, so his compatriot, Gaius the Warlord, could withdraw. His friends watched in horror as the wraiths swarmed him and struck him down each time he tried to rise. Slain, his spirit rose and attacked his one-time colleagues. When learning of his death, his parmour and close friend Ameiko, paid half the cost of the ritual that brought him back to the land of the living. Collections taken from the regulars at The Rusty Dragon, Cracktooth's, The Hagfish, Risa's and The White Deer generated another 43 gp in mixed coin.

Upon his return Flavius reinvested the 43 gold at the establishments identified above, claiming that the spirit of Cayden brought such generosity his way. The least he could do was offer the coin back to his friends in Sandpoint as a drunken tithe to the drunken hero.

Soon after he rejoined his comrades as they descended back into the depths of Thistletop in search of an ancient evil...

A 4E Conversion

Name of PC: Peter Chen
Class/Level: Dashiva, Dwarven Ranger 2
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Sinspawn and Erylium combined led to his death. a Crit at 2 hp is enough...
Story: With the party out of healing Dashiva placed himself in an aggressive position of attack trying to slay the last Sinspawn. Sadly, the bloodied creature turned upon him and tore out his throat. Sandpoint buried him in state, and Belor Hemlock gave the eulogy.

This is a little off-topic, but I have had ZERO problems converting Paizo stuff over to 4E.

Golarion is an amazing setting and translates very well into 4E.

Goodman's stuff has always been a bit hack-n-slashy for my tastes, although I really appreciate Harley Stroh's work. He did some great stuff for 3.5 Blackmoor.

I'd start with D0, D1 and D 1.5.

Got a couple of ideas. Just need time.

As a newspaper guy, I have to say this is good work.

And you all spoke well for us!

Without looking at my Monster Manual I'm not sure if there are creatures with similar capabilities, but I think that this creature might have a very good chance at killing a PC with little chance to respond.

The situation I imagine is that one of the PCs becomes bloodied, and the carrion swarms quickly using their encounter power on the PC. Depending on luck the character, I think, could be easily knocked out quite a bit into the negatives. If there is a healer up next they could bring up the downed character. On the other hand, if the dying character's turn comes up next, I believe that they would be the target of the swarm's aura attack, quite possibly killing them.

Again, I'm not sure of my assessment, it is just a thought I had when I looked it over.

I think a safer option given how all the swarms in the group can attack and focus their attacks on one target, is to make the damage more on par with the beaks and talons attack something more like 1d8+4.

Another option is to reduce the shift from 8 to 4, so that every Swarm in the fight can't bum rush the PCs.

I'd like to create a moment of horror for the PCs, not generate an autokill.

Can you guys give this a once over? It looks like my players will be about 5th level when they hit this encounter. Planning on five of these as a wolf pack design.

Your feedback is appreciated.

Carrion Swarm Level 5 Skirmisher
Medium natural animate (undead, swarm) XP 200
Initiative +12 Senses Perception +6;Low-light vision
Swarm Attack aura 1; the carrion swarm makes a basic attack as a free action against each enemy that begins its turn in the aura.
HP 63; Bloodied 31
AC 19; Fortitude 15, Reflex 19, Will 17
Resist half damage from melee and ranged attacks, 5 necrotic; Vulnerable 5 against radiant, close and area attacks
Speed 2, fly 8 (hover)
mTalons and Beaks (standard; at-will) *Necrotic
+8 vs. Reflex;1d8 + 4 damage plus 5 necrotic damage
M Blood Frenzy (standard, only usable on bloodied opponents; encounter) ) *Necrotic
The carrion swarm shifts up to is full move and attacks a bloodied foe: +10 vs. AC, 3d6+5 +5 necrotic damage and opponent is stunned (save ends).
M Flyby Attack (standard, recharge 5-6) ) *Necrotic
+6 vs. Reflex, 1d8+4 plus 5 necrotic; swarm may attack any individuals along its move. It does not provoke. Each target may only be attacked once each round by each swarm.
Alignment Evil Languages —
Str 4 (-1) Dex 18 (+6) Wis 15 (+4)
Con 15 (+4) Int 2 (-2) Cha 6 (+0)

Has anyone seen guidelines for how to include the consumable and alchemical items in the Adventurer's Vault in treasure parcels?

I have been trading out healing potions for the equivalent cash value of other consumables as I build parcels.

Not finding a specific rule and I think I must have missed it.

Sorry, just thought of something else, and since it's slightly tangential, I'm puttung it in a seperate post.

Would it be feasible to have a Skill Challenge where the loot received is dependant on the success or failure? Say for example if they succeed they get the level 5 item, if they fail they only get sayt he level 3 item, but the difference is still made up by the end of the level (say after the boss fight at the end.) They'd still get the same over-all treasure, but one of the benefits of succeeding in the skill challenge is being better equipped for that coming boss fight?

Feasible? Yes/No?

Convincing the High Priest of Torag that a +2 suit of dwarven Plate is central to your ability to thwart the advances of an orc horde would make for interesting roleplay.

Thanks

This is a great character concept and your DM is a champion for seeing that.

There's not really a balance issue here as you will always be playing a ranger. the issue is really HtH focus or ranged. The Dm has to throw a little more gear at the party, but as long as everyone understands it is in supoprt of this concept, and the actual available items never exceed DMG guidelines, you should be fine.

Thumbs up here.

I agree that the term fluff has got to go. It's too bunnys, sunshine, and rainbows for me. I propose we use the term meat to describe non-rules elements and the word bones to describe rules. Bones you chew on, meat you enjoy.

Let me begin by saying this is a well written post and some very good thinking. There are a couple of points I want to discuss further, however, and a couple of points I disagree with. All in all though, a very good post and a pleasure to read as well as to respond to.

I would argue that due to a good number of the people they cut, and the fact that they cited DDI as performing below expectations, WotC might have been experimenting with the idea of converting D&D to a purely digital product, but that this experiment is failing fast.

And why wouldn't it? People already have enough MMOs to choose from, including one called D&D that people have pretty well rejected already. You can't make D&D into WoW and expect it to be wildly successful. Besides, WotC has never been particularly good at creating electronic products. They aren't a software company. As someone who used to work alongside the Dev team, I know that they were experienced programmers and developers who were constantly frustrated because the business side knew paper based games, not electronic ones, and as a result, didn't give them what they needed to be successful.

For the record, I think Paizo could do this very well by forming a partnership with someone like D20 Pro or Battlegrounds. This site is a fine portal and generates fair traffic. Likewise, Paizo content is stellar and in RPGs, content is King.

D&D as a player acquisition product? Give me a break. D&D has always been niche. It just happens to be niche with a wide fan base that enjoyed fad status for a while and otherwise has been built up over thirty years. And that fan base is turning their back on it faster now than ever before. 4E is competing not only with 3E, but also with 2e and 1E, and 4E isn't doing so well. People like the sacred cows they're so fond of killing off, and while younger players will filter in as always, you shouldn't change the entire flavor of your product just to try to bring them in. That's New Coke. It failed. Evidence is surfacing that 4E is failing too.

As to evidence that 4E is failing, please elaborate. I am not disputing this, and am not surprised by that. I'd just like more detail.

I know numerous gamers personally. These aren't people who hang out on message boards or are names on products. These are people who have doctorates and work at universities, and are project managers for companies you've likely never heard of, and are librarians, and restaurant workers, and engineers, and military personnel. Of the whole lot of them, many own the 4E books. Of them, I know one guy who actually likes the game and plays it. Everyone else is either playing 3rd edition, a D20 derivative, or some other game entirely.

The success of 4E ultimately doesn't come down to the total number of core books you sell in the first few months, but in whether or not you can continue selling supplements for years after the edition has been released. So far, based on the people I know in the real world, and on the reports I've read from the retailers, and from the simple fact that I can review the game honestly and impartially and come away feeling that it's sorely lacking that I think 4E and the D&D brand in general is in deep, deep trouble.

I'm not a fan of WotC's business practices, but I genuinely like a lot of the people who still work there. I don't want to see them lose their jobs. Chris Perkins, James Wyatt, Bruce Cordell, Rich Baker, Bill Slavicsek, Rob Heinsoo, Kim Mohan, and others - all very cool, very intelligent guys who really do have the best interests of the game and its fans at heart. They just happen to have made a game I don't care for - kind of like the Beatles' White Album, and yes, I did just compare them to the Beatles.

Ultimately I don't know if the D&D brand will survive this. My gut instinct is that the edition will fail within two years and the brand will be shelved for five to ten years, then brought back out once they feel there is demand for it again. If that happens, my prediction is that rather than have one company with one huge RPG brand out there, the vacuum would be filled with numerous smaller companies. The demand for roleplaying games will not simply disappear because the giant has fallen. There's a pretty sizable fan base out there that likes spending money on new RPG products. That won't go away just because D&D does. In the process, these currently small companies, like Paizo, will have a chance to grow like never before because they will no longer be living in the shadow of D&D.

I very much agree with your analysis of how D&D will be handled if 4E chokes.

So the point of this long rambling post is that I don't think that the failure of D&D would be the death of the industry. Maybe some of those guys I mentioned earlier could reform a new company that will make a new RPG that will be good enough to keep them and a few others employed full time. I do think that getting D&D, or at least the roleplaying industry in general, out from under the weight of a huge corporate entity would be a good thing for everybody involved - the customers and the professionals. I just think that getting there will be a painful process.

Of course, all this could be more a symptom of this this more
than anything else.

This report goes on to highlight one important, but nearly overlooked fact:

If you want the D&D brand to remain strong and to succeed, buy an Easy-Bake oven.

Anyone want a cookie?

Hasbro does have a piece of everything cool. Including Nerf.

tadkil wrote:

It certainly looks like they have gone further into their org chart than they have before, and are eliminating some talent with longer histories, so this points to some sort of strategic realignment. Consequently, I am not surpised to see a purge in their digital chain of command. It's apparent they are behind schedule and have not executed to expectation. For example, Gleemax.

This is sorta off topic, but I always hear people talk about how Gleemax is such a failure. What was it intended to do? I always just assumed that it was where they hosted their forums.

I think... it was supposed to be an online gameboard form multiple platforms. It was also supposed to be a gamer "myspace".

Others may have more to add on this topic.

Prepare for Judgment, Blasphemers!

EileenProphetofIstus wrote:

Sure, if you go into it with that frame of mind and are fending for yourself and not supporting a spouse and children. If you have a family that needs to be taken care of and desire steady employment than "No" WOTC wouldn't be the most stable company to work for. Hopefully these people will stay in the industry if they want to and find more secure employment.

If you go into rpg development professionally, you should go in with exactly that frame of mind. The number of people who can make a living at this are miniscule, particularly compared to the number that would like to make a living. If you want a stable job and secure employment, rpgs are not the career path you should pursue. Even with the layoffs, WotC has been one of the few places people can make a living in this industry.

The lay-offs suck, but job security and stability are not the reasons people go into this industry.

Just like folks who choose to pursue careers in acting or in movie production, broadcast news or in game developement, this labor pool is a buyer's market. It is cruel. It is brutal.

I feel sorry for tehse folks becasue much of thier work has been outstanding and has brought a good deal of joy into my life. However, they are birght and smart and agile ro tehy would not be where they are.

Look at what Vic and Lisa and Monte Cook and Zeb Cook have gone on to accomplish with their careers. It will be painful for them, but they will endure and bounce back.

tadkil wrote:

James Martin wrote:

How many hands does Wizards have to bite before we stop feeding them?

Looks like the software company model to me.

Hire new talent. Strip all their ideas, make it your I.P.

Fire them.

Hire new talent. Strip their ideas, make it your I.P.

Fire them.

Etc.

While the layoffs are a recurring thing, it's far from the "churn-and-burn" strategy you describe. After all, Jonathan Tweet had been at Wizards since 1993, and Julia Martin had been at TSR even before that. I'm not sure exactly when Andrew Finch started, but '96 would be my estimate.

However, these layoffs also purge a wave of individuals who seem to have been hired to fill a tactical short-term product development need.

This is ultimately an entertainment industry, and operates along the same brutal dynamics of hiring and firing as software, or movie production, or TV. Creative people are very vulnerable and only as protected as their last product or their patronage.

His fiction is ok. Just that.

I appreciate his writing much more after reading the stuff that Pazio has re-issued as it really has provided some historical context for me.

It's worth a read, but will not knock your socks off.