terraleon's page

It would be more than a slight change, but personally i would like to see durations be seperate words. It would cut down on total word count and be a bit more versatile with less work.

I'm going to point this out, just because.

What we're discussing are the only two words of power you need to do all of this...

Ars. Magica.

It does all of this, right now. Boom. Done. Been done. Still doing it. Won the 2005 Origin Award for best game.

Now the WoP is different, but similar to Ars.

To convert the Pathfinder WoP/magic system into a kissing cousin of Ars is not a small task, but one I think is possible.

-Ben.

Yes lets make WIzardfinder even more WIzardfinder.

I find this sentiment humorous, if only because I find Pathfinder wizards to be stunted, frustrating mockeries of what RPG wizards can be...as if you had asked me to play soothing, beautiful music, and then handed me a kazoo.

-Ben.

Check your PMs, Dale.

-Ben.

My issue lies in the structure of the material. I want to give it more attention, but its current format is a hot mess. It may be well developed, but its presentation makes it nearly inscrutable.

-Ben.

just because it's driving me nuts, the word you want is "piques," not "peaks."

-Ben.

Unless you're using latin...

Alright. I'll bite.

-Ben.

I would say you want to do a search of this forum for the ...three? threads (that went quite detailed) on exactly this topic.

-Ben.

Nicely done. I'd love to see a collected bundle in a single file, or possibly grouped by themes like undead, draconics, goblinoids-- but I guess that depends on the intended ambition. As it is, it's a perfect little bump for jolting your game.

-Ben.

I said it there, but I'll say it here, too...

"Yggdrasil," as the fanzine would connect all aspects of Midgard to other bits.

It's nice and straightforward, and evokes a lot of easily recognized imagery.

-Ben.

I think that:

a. I believe there is a separate thread for tracking errata, probably in the Pathfinder forum, not in the compatible products forum.

b. They are probably furiously pushing away at the material for release at Gencon, and so this is going to rank pretty low on the priority list.

Given those two points, I'd say you want to push it to the proper forum, and then let it simmer until after Gencon. Really, you know what's there, so it's less of a vital issue, when you look at it, especially compared to say, getting the next book out the door.

-Ben.

Permit me a moment of snark...

I had this problem, then I went back to Ars Magica. ;)

Snark concluded. :D

-Ben.

I'm pesky like that, Lou. :) And I'm always looking for methods to improve my craft, so I like to see what others are doing. Sounds like this'll be great to get in hand. :D

-Ben.

If you have time, begin to lay the groundwork for the Coliseum by placing the agents of the different patrons in the characters' circles. Give them reasons to create competing relationships. Maybe they owe Ghostdance something, but they're working for the Pasha as ringers on a third patron's team.

Ask the players to define aspects of the characters hopes, aspirations, goals, and maybe show NPCs who know how to manage Dreamburning-- perhaps even presenting them with a couple embodied dreams as treasure, letting them get a taste of what they can do with Dreamburning.

You could build up a potential situation where they will need victory in Coliseum to overcome whatever threat you've posed to their homes/world/legacy/loved ones. This gives them a solid investment in successfully participating within the Coliseum environment. Laying a few hooks to pull them into the town of the Coliseum is a good plan, too.

Pick up a few of the the Faces of the Tarnished Souk (or the pregenerated patron teams) to build some rivalries against creatures with the CR to stand up to a couple of the party. Lay the groundwork for their competing interests and establish their relationships with favors, stolen moments, and unrequested assistance.

If you're looking at the metaplot, consider the possibility of running Down the Rabbit Hole to give the characters an edge against the Khan. But that's going to open them up to some serious (potential) opposition from the Khan.

That's what I can think of off the top of my head. Hopefully, Matt Banach, Justin Sluder, Jonathan McAnulty, and Clinton Boomer will weigh in here, too.

-Ben.

Hope that is clearer, terraleon! :-)

Much. Thank you, excellent food for thought. Sounds like elements from work on Snows of an Early Winter were implemented in this. It'll be nice to get my treeware. :)

Thanks,

-Ben.

However, Razor Coast uses event encounters that are tied to player actions and location to increase dramatic intensity. In an investigation-style adventure each location and encounter is designed to present clues to solving a puzzle, rather than cinematic storytelling. Thus while the matrix of encounter locations and encounter events can be used that way, Razor Coast is more oriented for sandbox adventuring with strong storylines.

Don't get me wrong; I believe that any adventure in which events are as important as locations could benefit from the techniques used in Razor Coast, and in the right hands this model could be used to make an incredible mystery adventure! Just remember that Razor Coast has been designed for swashbuckling-pirate daring-do, and exact duplication of the form may not work as well. Rather the concept of how the adventure works as a cohesive whole would be the model to build new adventures from.

This is an essential insight missing from your review. You call it the "pinnacle" without explaining what merits the distinction-- the review would benefit particularly from the first paragraph, just because this is too vague:

Razor Coast is to modern game design what Ravenloft was as an innovation only bigger.

And really, if you would expound further, I'd appreciate it.

-Ben.

just because this has a special place for me...a bump and a reminder--

no reviews yet? :) Come on now, let us know.

-Ben.

Well done, sir!

I'm not sure if this poll closes down today, or it's closed... if it's not, you should go vote!

-Ben.

@Turin: I believe Nick Logue is back to writing.

I don't know who he's writing for, but I *do* know he's writing. :)

And I'm glad to see him back at it.

-Ben.

It looks like folks are also, with the exception of Wolfgang Baur and Monte Cook (although I know Wolfgang has written for them, I'm not sure about Monte) mentioning *just* Paizo authors.

Not fishing, but I'm trying to make sure I have the scope of the question right.

Was that intentional?

-Ben.

Still time to vote for your favorite! :D

The winner will appear in an upcoming project...perhaps one full of spells! ;) Who doesn't like more spells?

-Ben.

Back up now!

As thematically appropriate, allow me to offer my thanks second to those of you who vote for necromancer's ripost as their favorite.

Dang, now I have to watch for the remise, followed by the balestra, and ready my stop thrust. ;)

-Ben.

I have no idea what the OGL state of this book is, but Zombie Sky Press also has the Sacred Necromancer.

-Ben.

HUZZAH!

We've hit the target! Looks like Glass is going to Gencon!

See you there...

-Ben.

Pretty good?!?!?!?!

PRETTY GOOD?!?!?!?

Sheesh! ;)

Well, I've only gotten to see a few pages yet, and I like the trade dress, I know the cartography's gorgeous, and the couple pieces of art I saw I really liked. :)

I'm being cautious, but it is looking like a knockout, if it's all in line with the few pages I saw (and I'm guessing it is).

I know the stories in it are top notch. ;)

-Ben.

It's coming along well. I know that initial layout is complete, and looks pretty good-- but they're knocking off the rough corners and making sure it fits in the proper pagecount. Preorder is available at Koboldpress.com

-Ben.

If you did not read the feedback from Valhalla Calling, allow me to summarize.

"While you need to know your background to properly write your pitch, do not write your pitch full of background. Focus on the action of the characters."

Caveat: Unless you can incorporate the background into the action, in which case you already knew that.

-Ben.

Wow! (I've been saying that a lot in the last two days)

Two days in, and the project's at $1330!

The Internet makes me grin right now. I might manage to pull this off after all! Here's hoping I get to bring you Gencon...

-Ben.

Thanks, Jim! I appreciate the support!

-Ben.

About 12 hours in, and we're a third of the way there! :D

You know you want to check out Gencon, virtually!

-Ben.

Hot diggity! Two days left. I'm hoping my entry makes the cut. :)

-Ben.

Alright.

Here's the deal.

I got picked up to be one of the Glass Explorers but I'm not sure if I can swing the pricetag on the hardware.

But that's just it, I want Glass to show you what Gencon is all about. It's that cool. Trust me, I've been there for the last six years.

So help a fella live the dream. Come with me to Gencon on the Coolest Virtual Gencon Project Ever!

-Ben.

Ley lines are discussed in the Midgard Setting. Incantations are covered in Zombie Sky Press' Incantations in Theory and Practice. There is a rune magic system offered in Kobold Press' Northlands (Runes) and Pirates of the Western Seas (Aboleth Glyphs).

-Ben.

Where it gets dicey is when the product gets... innovative... with the game rules. New feats, new classes, new monsters.. those range from easy to moderately complex to do in the editor, depending on exactly what any special requirements are, or what the special benefits do. More significant new materials.. such as new rules systems (ex. psionics) or whole new categories of magic items (ex. SGG's Runestaves and Wyrdwands) would need LoneWolf to build changes into parts of the underlying game system that are not available in the editor

This is a major element. As a designer, I want to find spaces that not well developed and create rules that expand those spaces-- because people are paying for me to use my imagination, not just crank out gruntwork for them. For instance, vehicle templates are a feature in Pirates of the Western Seas, or a three stage template. Neither of those two things is terribly feasible or straightforward with HL (which I'm not even sure addresses vehicles). Same with creating things like Rune Magic, or incantations. New classes, as long as they're not too exotic, are feasible, but they're a serious labor of love. (I double dog dare you to try putting the Luckbringer or Time Thief into HL-- I'll pour the congratulatory drink myself.)

Sure, it can be done, but look at the base that was thrown out there for HL material-- it's low. ($1 to $2) The HL material needs to be written, tested, reviewed, and in someway packaged before it goes out. There will likely be art requirements-- head shots or monster portraits. Just spitballing the costs, maybe you get a coder willing to do it for $75. Perhaps your tester is willing to work for PDFs, but to be sure, call it $25. Your editor needs to be able to look at the finished PDFs/text/html and work with them. That's going to be a rare soul, just a hunch. But we'll call them another $50. I'm completely lowballing-best case-ing it here. Maybe three or four small pieces of art you can't crop/adjust/pull out of the source material, for another $100. That's about $250 for a small project with mostly straightforward code-- if they'll indulge my example, like the Legendary Games Imperial Heroes.

Setting a price point on that...I'd probably put it at $5, but that's without the benefit numbers publishers more readily know. The real sticky point is that time necessary to put things into code and then test it, and how those skills should be valued.

-Ben.

It is not a small effort, and I come at that conclusion as someone who's spun up some HL material for a 3PP, then tested, then revised, and still trying to get the other deadlines accounted for.

It is a great tool, and if you wanted to get in with a 3PP, taking payment in product for conversion into HL, I would be pretty certain you'd find yourself awash in great stuff.

But that's an endeavor, no joking. If it was all you did as a freelancer, it'd still keep you busy.

-Ben.

Sub Rosa #12 has arrived!

Oh, sure, you might have suspected something terrible happened, and maybe there was an experiment gone wrong in the laboratory. But we rode out the event just fine, and bring you the wisdom of our collective experience in this issue of Sub Rosa!

What does that include? I'm glad you asked!

Once more, Sub Rosa brings you sixty pages (60!) of Ars Magica love. We've got adventures new and reenvisioned from veteran authors Jérôme Darmont and CJ Romer. We have more of Gerald Wylie's Storyguide's Handbook (now with tables!) and a look at the Kievan Rus by newcomer Elliot Smorodinsky. Ben McFarland brings you a Redcap companion you'll never want to leave home and ways to make your magi live longer. Mark Lawford's saga of Vulcanis Argens continues and Mappa Mundi looks at the books of other systems for inspiration with a pair of reviews that will have you making for your FLGS. We've packed this issue with all new and swoon-inducing artwork from the talented and generous Angela Taylor, Barrie James, Jason Tseng, and Patrick Demo. Under the Rose and David Chart round out the issue with News from the Line.

And to top it all off, we've got a super secret surprise waiting for you on the back cover. Trust me, you're going to want to know the shape of things to come.

So why are you waiting?

***
As always, if you'd like to pick up an issue of Sub Rosa, send $4.50(US) for single issues, $13(US) for a troupe issue via paypal to marklawford@gmail.com send and an email to subrosa@distantlandspublishing.com once you've completed your order. We're working to change this arrangement, and we'll post as soon as we have a better option. We've been somewhat preoccupied with things we cannot talk about, but you're going to love. We promise. Swear it, even. By our talismans. Trust us on this.

Four years into this, and you still need convincing? We've put together a short preview here!

Our policy of providing a free copy of issue #13 the first three reviewers of issue #12 still stands-- if you've got #12 and want #13 for free, let us know what you thought of this issue. Post your review and send us an email to subrosa@distantlandspublishing.com. We'll hook you up this summer. I expect these are going to go quick. ;)

-Ben.

I, too, eagerly wish to register a set of 3PP events, with GMs and adventures and Pathfinder goodness, so that attendees might romp through Midgard. ;)

When will then be now?

-Ben.

There is no Bibliography. :(

Awwww, man. :/

-Ben.

It's written for OSR. By "RPGPundit," who is likely an internet personality on RPG.net, if I have to guess. There are four reviews there:

first (this one says more OSR than Indian myth)
second (notes some missteps, but likes it)
third (excited for it, loves it, wants it in print. Thought the setting was solid)
fourth. (felt knowledge of the source material shines through, an excellent introduction to the mythology)

Looks like I'll be picking it up.

-Ben.

I'm largely interested in whether it's got a good bibliography-- that might be worth the price of admission alone.

-Ben.

Anyone looked at this? I picked up Infinite Futures, and it was rough. I've got reservations about this because of it, but the source area intrigues me. I'll have to think on it a bit, unless there's someone out there who's read it.

thanks!

-Ben.

This is the regular issue with a living campaign. It was even worse for Living Greyhawk, were you would lose the chance to get the rewards for a scenario if you ran it before you played it. Fortunately, PFS gets that right. We've had some boons available to GMs who run, too, and that helps. For some, it can be a matter of time, but I think that idea of "run 1, play 2" is a good idea.

-Ben.

Huzzah! This is out! :) Thank you for posting it up.

And now I can no longer compete in RPG Superstar. :D

In case you're curious, this is a book of 10 fantasy foes with details about their motivations, desires, and hooks for short- and long-term stories. While meant for Ars Magica, it's good for any fantasy game.

-Ben.

I also liked the carrion crawler and the umber hulk. They could still use the carrion moth though.

The Midgard Bestiary (for Pathfinder) has the Death Butterfly Swarm. They might work for you.

-Ben.

So my biggest wish of a AP monster still missing from a Bestiary is VOUIVRE, in my own opinion I would cut the wings from the creature, and it really needs another artwork.

We have these. They're called wyverns or drakes in Bestiary 3. If you take the wings off of them, they're the drakes out of 3.5. Maybe they called it a vouivre in The Twice-Damned Prince to take the environmental aspect out of it.

-Ben.

137 posts, and no one's said it.

April Ryan?

Longest Journey.

Longest Journey, Dreamfall.

and the upcoming Dreamfall Chapters.

Good, because the binding on this book always sucked. If you find one in tact its because the GM hated the rules and kept it hidden away.

-Ben.

I'm curious, too. I'm wondering what folks think of it in this iteration. :D

-Ben.

I do not have the details available yet, because I have to submit events for this convention, but to do that, I need a pool of GMs.

I have no idea what's available yet for support-- but you'll certainly be seeing some adventures and pregens. We will get that sorted out and taken care of as it shapes up, but for now...

If you're going to Paizocon and want to run a some Midgard events, please email me:

brickk@gmail.com

Subject: Midgard Convention Support

And I'll get you in the pool and then good to go as we get closer.

We will, of course, work with you and your convention schedule so that everyone's playing and helping in the most optimal way.

Looking forward to your replies,

-Ben.