theneofish's page

This looks like a fantastic product. Underdark, one of my favourite things!

Can I just clarify though? It doesn't mention at the $150 level about receiving the 6 print copies of WoW; it only mentions this under the description, where it says 'you may receive print copies of all six'? Is this definite or contingent upon something? Why is it not mentioned in the pledge levels?

Thanks!

I have a feeling that the answer is no, since there aren't hardcover reprints of the APs(aside from RotR AE), but it can't hurt to ask. I'd just much rather have a handful of hardcovers than have a ton of softcovers. If only for the fact that hardcovers are typically more durable and can take much more sustained use before falling apart. But it's also be nice to just have just a single reference book for multiple things, so long as those multiple things make sense to be in the same book.

And I think the answer will be 'no' for the same reason that Paizo (quite rightly, IMO), won't even entertain a discussion about further AP compilations. Once the possibility is even raised, existing stock is dead in the water for a percentage of buyers, and holding dead stock is anathema to a healthy business.

Wait till it's all sold through, is my guess.

Pitching in here with my tuppence ha'penny worth (that's 2 cents I guess for you US folks); I say lose the fiction. I've been a subscriber since Serpent's Skull, never read it, never will. Nothing against it, but it's not what I buy gaming product for. I have NEVER wanted fiction in a gaming product, and that goes back to 1st Edition. Nothing against fiction at all. Everything has its place, but an adventure game product isn't it. I'm a published writer, I can do my own, thanks. What I'm not is an adventure designer. I've read tons of fantasy, I've got tons that I haven't read queued up, and tons more on my Amazon wishlist. I don't care what fills the space; I understand maps / adventure expansions aren't practical, but to be honest I'm happy for any kind of crunch - more monsters, more ideas, perhaps extra info on locations in the adventure, more anything. I must admit, when I first bought Serpent's Skull I assumed the fiction was going to be that - the storyline of the AP fictionalised, which I thought might at least give me a couple of ideas. When I realised it wasn't it seemed to have even less point, and I was baffled at its inclusion other than a fairly cheap way of filling the page count.

In a way the Adventure Paths are an amalgam of what Dungeon and Dragon used to be, but to my mind I'd rather it was more of the Dungeon plus crunchier articles from Dragon, than the fluff. I've no time for it - to my mind it's plagued gaming products for years. I realise I'm an extreme case - I don't even like flavour text in rulebooks - but I'd rather get at something that helped me at the gaming table. I play rpgs because I have an imagination; I can visualise adventures, create characters and immerse myself in an ongoing, complex storyline. The help I need for that is for someone to provide the skeleton, not flesh, bones and formal attire as well.

I'm aware James Sutter has said up thread that it's a risk to drop it, and for commercial reasons Paizo have to balance the folks (like me) who keep buying even *though* the APs have fiction, against the folks who'd cancel if they didn't, but seriously? How many people on here buy the APs for 6 pages of fiction, and would cancel their sub if it went? Has anyone in this thread so far - even those who really, really like the fiction - said they'd stop buying if the fiction was dropped? Where's the sense in that? That must be the most expensive six pages of fiction on the market.

The Adventure Paths are to my mind just about the best ongoing gaming product out there right now, and I've got no doubt at all that when D&D reappears in its new guise there'll be a monthly adventure sub built in. I suspect there will be a fiction component there too, but I'd like to see Paizo having evolved to the next stage before then.

Well, you could always stat him as an 'unknown' Runelord, since it's established that in some cases the ones we know and love replaced previous incumbents of the role - ie,

I'm doing something similar with a long term villain in my own campaign, which will explain how he ended up powerless and expelled to another world.

Paizo are already handling this:
- PFS has a meta-setting (the Pathfinder Society) which allows everyone to develop their characters as 'pathfinders in Absalom' with an internal coherence that does not need to be forced.
- PFS seasons now have meta-plots which allow casually play and a sense of involvement in epic events.
- PFS regularly has series of 3 or 4 linked adventures which build to a larger plot and are tied to the season plot.

But to be fair, that the modules are available for Pathfinder society play is somewhat irrelevant. They're produced for a much wider market - ie, the general gaming public - and I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of those don't have any knowledge of organised play. They look at the products on a game shop shelf for what they are, not whether they're legal / helpful for PFS. And that market return is clearly indicating that larger and more involving modules are what they want. I'd be interested to know what % of the 3% cited above sell to people who want them for organised play.

I think the clear intention is to capture a wider slice of the general gaming population.

The announcement I saw on the magazine made it look like they were going to cover a very wide array of RPGs. I mean, a BUNCH. I don't believe fans of primarily one or two RPGs (i.e., Pathfinder, Traveller, D&D) are going to commit to a magazine that has a significant amount of content for RPGs they don't play.

I can't imagine it lasting beyond a few issues if it doesn't focus in on a few core games and hope to get the players of those games to invest in it. How many folks on these boards are going to support a magazine that is, say 20% Pathfinder content?

I can't help feeling you're correct on this. The more game systems you support, the more fragmented the buy in. Rightly or wrongly, I don't buy stuff for systems I don't run, no matter how good it might be, or how many great ideas I might garner from other articles. That's certainly what stopped me subscribing to KQ. My loss, sure, but that's the way it is. Are there any successful multi platform mags for rpgs?

In my book, pick one market and sell the best stuff to it. Or, if you want to be cosmopolitan, don't do it in one product.

theneofish wrote:

People who 'don't like the dungeon-centric nature of SS' should sit this one out, in the same way folks who don't like horror, or urban, or pirates have sat out others. That way, really, the AP line retains something for everyone.

Just want to point out that I agree and said as much in my post. In case I wasn't clear, I'm glad Paizo is keeping things fresh and don't expect everything to always work for me. Given the nature of this thread however, I thought I would also mention what I found lacking in SS.

You totally did, and I apologise if any part of my post came across as a criticism of your opinion. Really, I commend you for your evenhandedness, I just wanted to express a heartfelt 'noooooooo!' to folks expressing a dislike for the whole concept of the AP. For aspects of how it's been executed, sure, I don't have any problem with that, I just don't want Paizo to take away an overall feeling of negativity from the posts because an extended dungeon crawl is what some of us here have been crying out for (and with regard to Mike Shel's post - I've noted the change to the modules with glee and am definitely going to subscribe to the line now).

Much as I like diplomacy and urban exploration, a couple of my players are just not up to it, and they're really only happy when they've got a corridor, a secret room, and a monster to hit. Takes all sorts, and other elements of roleplaying I'll be weaving in and out of the AP for the benefit of my other players. That's where my job comes in.

I don't like this AP, but not because I'm bored per se. Individually I've actually really enjoyed most of the volumes - particularly The Asylum Stone and Beyond the Doomsday Door. I have two main complaints though. First and foremost, I don't like the dungeon-centric nature of SS. I prefer one or two main dungeons per AP with the others being smaller and more interspersed with roleplaying elements, travel, etc. Up until now every AP has followed this pattern, so I understand that SS is an effort to mix things up and throw a bone to the mega dungeon crowd. It just so happens I'm not in that crowd.

And that's really exactly what it is, and is why I'm enjoying it so much. As James has stated, APs offer a variety of styles of play to satisfy different players. Our group wasn't interested in Pirates or Far East, so although I kept up my sub, we sat the adventures themselves out. This is a hark back, not only to Paizo's early years, but also to the 'traditional' dungeon crawl. That's never going to be to everyone's taste, but for those for whom it's an ideal mix of 'dungeons and diplomacy', I think we shouldn't begrudge either the idea or the execution of the AP. People who 'don't like the dungeon-centric nature of SS' should sit this one out, in the same way folks who don't like horror, or urban, or pirates have sat out others. That way, really, the AP line retains something for everyone.

Like others here, I'm not sold on the Pathfinders though. In my campaign I have a powerful and longstanding NPC family who have been targeted over the last few years by a powerful and unknown enemy. So, the matriarch of the family has hired the party to take up Sheila Heidmarch's quest, but covertly do so for her with every intention of siezing the Sihedron when it's complete. We'll see how that plays out, but really, the point is that a creative GM doesn't need to foreground the Pathfinders or require undying loyalty towards them from the team.

Just caught this, brilliant news! Exactly what I wanted from the modules line. I will definitely be able to justify taking out a sub now.

And thanks for the comments folks - about to start Shattered Star this weekend and very much looking forward to the Sacred Necromancer being part of the mix. Scott - thank you; can't wait for more products from Zombie Sky.

That will be a massive boon, thank you!

Glad you're enjoying the class, theneofish! Yeah, as Cheapy said, we followed the spell schools explicitly, so the cure spells are not on the default necromancy spell list.

The psychopomp can heal using their channel energy, but they don't get the cure spells, I'm almost positive without it in front of me (since they're more about the incorporeal than the corporeal). The chirurgeon, however, does get the cure spells with the healing lore whisper. (It would be a simple matter to allow the psychopomp access to the healing lore whisper by a house rule since they can already channel positive energy. Or even create a new field based on healing.)

We'd love to hear how it goes playing the class! :D

Thanks for the elucidation Scott! This is a great product, and I'm looking forward to getting the character integrated into the party. The group will be without a traditional cleric, so healing options will be shared between this, a bard, and judicious use of wands and potions. At the same time the party mage is pretty clueless, so I was also hoping that it would be able to pitch in with some arcane strength when required. This fits the bill perfectly.

Do you anticipate any future support for the class in the way of new options / archetypes or paths? Also - and a bit of a 'dream on' one for me - any likelihood of Hero Lab files? Our group relies pretty heavily on this, and we usually stick only to 3PP classes etc that we can utilise in this way. This one was just too cool to pass up, but it would still be a massive bonus.

Thanks again - and as others have said, love the artwork.

Hope I can help. The sacred necromancer gets all necromancy spells. For whatever reason, the designers of 3rd edition made Cure Light Wounds a conjuration (healing) spell, rather than a Necromancy skill. Alternatively, they for some reason made Inflict Light Wounds a Necromancy skill, and not a conjuration spell.

Basically, it's an issue that's been in the game for a while, where the "evil" version of CLW is a different school of magic.

I believe that the Psychopomp calling gets the cure spells, but as necromancy spells. This was a decision to allow some calling to get the healing spells.

Excellent, that's what I'd hoped; it's a Psychopomp one of my players would like and it seemed counterintuitive not to let the good guys get healing if the bad guys got Inflict. Now you've explained it I can see it's based on existing logic, however faulty. I will amend my game accordingly - very useful, thanks!

I would definitely up my subscriptions if there were a cheaper option. I wait for everything to hit the UK, and then get from Orcs Nest or Amazon. I keep up the AP sub because I want to show support for Paizo, but I just can't justify the cost beyond that.

Hi Scott; bought the product over the weekend and it gives me exactly what I need. Great stuff! I'm a bit confused with the Spell List given at the end though. I may have missed something as I haven't read it too thoroughly yet, but it says the Sacred Necromancer has access to both divine and arcane necromancer lists. However, in the spell list at the back it only gives the 'evil' variant; ie, Inflict Light Wounds etc, not the Cure version. Is this the case even for those who choose a calling that channels Positive Energy?

I started my last campaign in the middle of a fight, which the party had lost / were losing. Stairs down into a dungeon, desperate rearguard action with party members separated; handed each character a card with a description of what they were facing. One guy was barricaded in a room, slumped against the wall wounded with the dead body of a colleague next to him that he'd dragged in. Told him the sounds of hammering on the door had died away, he had no idea what had happened to the rest of his group, and he needed to stop the bleeding. Another two had been separated from the others and beaten back up to the entrance. Another was trapped in a corridor with enemies at both ends. Just thought up a combat scenario for each of the six, and let them take it from there.

Skritz,

We have included a number of options in the Trickster that would suit the alchemist quite well actually. This was something I kept in mind when doing a lot of the initial design. Also note that these are not all of the path abilities that will be included in the final book. I will be ensuring that every class has at least a few options when it comes to selecting a path.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

I'd just like to circle back on this as a point. Love the document, but will move onto more specific things when I've had a chance to digest it properly. My main concern at this point is that the paths do seem slanted more to the base wizard / cleric / rogue / fighter mechanic, and in fact seem to be weighted more toward fighter options of one theme or another. I guess to a degree that's because myth and legend itself is slanted towards mighty feat of arms rather than, say, exploration or investigation, but I'll be interested to see to what extent the final product allows other outlooks / classes to really get their day in the mythic arena.

Wiggz wrote:

I have to admit that I find it pretty ironic how blase Pathfinder in general can be (and should be) about large scale violence, demon summoning and whatnot... but then gets somewhat prudish when it comes to sex. I'm not saying gratuitous sex needs to drip from every advanture, nor even half of them - but if there was ever an opportunity to do so, I would think that an iconic lust-themed villian might be the it.

That kind of fits into the phrase, 'Cut off a breast and get a R. Kiss a breast and get a X.'

I really don't think this is particularly down to Paizo, it's the fact that they're operating in a (mainly) US cultural environment, and that's very much the dominant mindset that they have to operate within. Action hero killing bad guys with sword / gun / whatever is fine, but woe betide the product that promotes sex, sexuality or nudity as a human norm. You have to be realistic here. Paizo manage to skirt many different sensibilities admirably. Like James says, the leeway is there if you want to take it and run with it, but if there were to make it more overt then they risk alienating not only part of their market, but also the stores that are a large part of their lifeblood.

Presumably something manufactured by Blackbook though, for the benefit of their customers, and thus unlikely to form part of a Paizo subscription.

Having said that, they look gorgeous, and I would snap one up without hesitation if Paizo were to produce something similar.

Mine is now being held at the post office because I have to pay charges??!!! Books are exempt from VAT in the UK. What the hell are these charges? Not happy at all. Waiting to see what is going on...

Mine got through ok - stuff from Frog God always has, but it seems to depend on where you are. Bear in mind, however, that whilst books are VAT exempt, gaming materials are not so it often depends what the label says. I always ask folks shipping things like cards to put Books on the label. RA says 'Gaming Books and Accessories' so you may have been stung with the 'accessories' part.

The postman thrust a large box into my hands as I was leaving this morning - I cannot WAIT to get home and open it! As an added bonus I'm working from home tomorrow; the likelihood of there being any actual work done is minimal :)

A little higher level (7th), but I can't recommend Citadel of Pain from Gaming Paper Adventures highly enough. It's a great, self contained and absolutely fascinating module, containing all the battle maps you'll need to play. Available in print or pdf here at Paizo.

Shipping notice arrived this morning! I am a very happy bunny :)

Big news on the KS coming soon as well--we are going to "give back" and we will have a very special endorsement I think:)

Wait, what?! Another Kickstarter? Did I miss something? My wallet is going to cry, and I'll be living on bread and water for a year.

Thanks for the response Shane, that's gone some way to alleviating my concerns - I'm glad to hear we will get to see some previews. I tend to agree with your last statement - now that Kickstarter has been demonstrated to be such an effective tool for getting RPG products into the marketplace, I think the number of Pathfinder items is only going to increase, so I guess now is as good a time as any.

I still think it's a big ask, but you are aware of that, and on the plus side it looks like an innovative product, which isn't something that's easy to achieve these days. Best of luck with it.

Excellent advise. Under normal circumstances I would take it, but the release needs to be before Halloween or it just doesn't make sense.

Being thematic and all that.

Reading the description, it sounds like you've got a lot of great ideas there, but between Rappan Athuk, Bleeding Hollow and Companions of the Firmament, not to mention a ton of upcoming Paizo goodies for July and August, there's no way I've got the finance or inclination to take a plunge on an unknown quantity. It's also six times the funding level of Bleeding Hollow and Companions as well, which is a BIG ask when you're not willing to demo any of your material or writing chops up front.

I urge you to reconsider, and take all the excellent advice offered above. Put out a pdf of some of the monsters you say you've been working on since April, or a couple of the locations in Restingdale. Anything to demonstrate that you've got what it takes to justify $6000. And, I'm going to have to say it, the word is 'advice', not 'advise'. That's a different word. Normally, I wouldn't be crass enough to point that out, but you're asking the market to take your ability to write on faith, so you need to make sure spelling and grammar is of a professional standard.

I think it's a reasonable idea, and would also help with their backlist. I subscribe to the Doctor Who audio series that Big Finish produce, and when you start your sub, which is for six or twelve months, you can specify which of the 160 odd releases you want to start your subscription with, and it carries on from there.

One issue I could see would be if you subscribed to part one of AP n, and then it turned out that, say, part three was out of print. Off the top of my head you could have the option to take the pdf and carry over the credit for the price difference, or skip to the next available volume.

I don't know how much extra work it would entail, or what the implications might be for the current AP volumes though.

Something I never noticed before, Alexandrian Creations has some homebrew Rappan Athuk material over here if anyone is interested in some old 3.5 material. :)

Wow, I read that blog regularly, and I've never noticed that material! Thanks, that will be some more fun stuff to pitch in!

I have to say, I think it just doesn't work. Every time Wizards or TSR started up another game system, it gradually withered on the vine, and was eventually cancelled, no matter how good. Alternity, anyone? I also think it would have much the same effect as bringing out another setting would - simply lower sales for Pathfinder. Are there lots of people out there who currently aren't customers of Paizo, but would be if they produced a SF or Wild West or Steampunk system? I really doubt there are enough that fall into that camp to support it on its own, which means splitting the existing fanbase. Really not wise, IMO. A successful business isn't about being all things to all people, it's about knowing who your customers are, and serving them well. And if ever a company served its customers well, it's Paizo.

Other systems - don't go there. Until Wizard's gives them the license for Greyhawk, anyway :)

U not big Amazon with his cheap oversea shipping, I knwo that, but 70$ is to much. Heavy books from small Frog God Games r cheaper than Paizo.

I don't believe that's the case. I paid $68 for Slumbering Tsar postage to the UK, and I believe that Rappan Athuk will be much the same. It's painful (and the reason I don't take out any subs other than the AP, or get my hardcovers from Paizo), but that's the way it is. I really don't believe there's a cheaper option - if there was, I know Paizo would have found it.

This also doesn't come at a good time for me - I can't justify adding this on top of my Rappan Athuk pledge, so I'll just be picking up the standard edition from my FLGS - but that doesn't detract from the fact that this is an awesome product, and kudos to Paizo for bringing it to the collectors.

A working metal latch? Seriously? That's so cool.

Is it possible to pledge with Paypal?

Amazon Payments only I believe; ready to be corrected if not.

Average pledge value $265, what an enormous testament to Frog God, the team and the products. I am so glad to be supporting the latest iteration of a company that began with that free download of Wizard's Amulet. I remember thinking when I bought the first Rappan Athuk module, 'Great product, but there's no way they're going to last long enough to get to volume three, bet I'm going to be disappointed again.'

Thrilled that I would have lost that bet.

Dotting for serious coolness.

The other thing to bear in mind here - as several people have pointed out, Traveller are selling an entire game, Frog God just one darn adventure. That means that for Bill and Co, this is something that can be repeated again and again. I know I'll be happy to sign up to another FG product in a few months, just as soon as my bank manager - who also happens to be my sister-in-law, so I don't want to upset her - recovers, so let's see which rpg company has raised most funding on Kickstarter this time next year.

I'm going to finish up some polish on the first session tomorrow and post it publicly on the KS. I agree with you about that, sorry I am lacking sleep atm thank you for setting me straight Neofish. Thank you for that suggestion and I hope the quality is something you would like to see on your table :)

No problem, thanks for the response! I shall read with interest.

ShadowcatX wrote:

Do you have any other previously published products?

No, I do not. This is my first module that I will be publishing. I will put up a sample of the first chapter as a backer's only update when I hit either 50 backers or $500, whichever comes first. If the book seems too expensive, I'm sorry. That only gives me $2.50 profit per book with the current printer. Hopefully you will be interested in the pdf, even though I have not published anything before.

I'm backing three Pathfinder projects at the moment, and always have room for a good quality hardcover. I'm not really concerned about the price since I know how high print costs are, but you're asking for quite a lot on faith. Why provide a sample of the first chapter only to backers? Wouldn't it make more sense to demonstrate the quality of your work to the whole community in order to generate interest? What's the point of just impressing people who have already pledged? I'm not being critical, just interested in the thought process, because it looks like you don't have enough faith in your own work to let it speak for itself. Free samples are generally used in marketing to gain new customers, not just appeal to existing ones (cf. Free RPG Day).

800 Backers is the big one for me. I'm already getting several dice sets, and I have a metric ton of dice already. The GM Journal and the Gods & Demons appendix would also be nice...but I NEED six more bonus levels. Besides, the journal/appendix goal will almost certainly be met if the RA Subscription goal is met.

Totally agree. I wouldn't think twice about taking out a FG subscription for bonus content (although I'm already panicking about what other awesomeness they have lined up and aren't telling us yet which I shan't be able to afford but will undoubtedly need to have). 10 backers a day, it's possible. Come on!

Essentially, no AP is "too far in the past" for us to take on. Paizo's APs have legs that far outlive their original release date. The problem is, we can't take them all on at once. And, when we do tackle one, we try and make sure we give it multi-product support so the releases hopefully synergize a bit and widen everyone's experience enough that they'll pick them up as a set rather than onesie-twosie.

Thanks for the detailed explanation Neil, that all makes perfect sense. Hopefully we can look forward to some of the older and arguably less popular APs being supported further down the line, once Legendary Games springs back into life and there's a firmer product schedule.

Another update on future products: I finished penning the first installment for the next AP series, which we can hopefully announce at PaizoCon. Just because I've finished the written turnover doesn't mean it'll be available right away, though. Our layout and art experts have to do their thing. And, most of them are locked in on completing the Gothic-themed plug-in material we did for the Carrion Crown AP.

Still, there's more around the corner...

Did anything ever happen on the suggested Serpent's Skull plug ins, or is that AP now too far in the past to be worthwhile?

But yeah, thank you! I'll PM you about details.

We have lift off!

Pure luck - read the post about five hours after it went up, checked out the Kickstarter, realised it was only $20 off the target, and bam! Great looking product, so more than glad to add it to my pledge list. Miniature is a bonus :)

Whoever lifts CotF off the ground by hitting $1000 or more will get, regardless of your backing level, a Reaper miniature painted by me. You can pick from either a Dragon or a Griffon.

That would be me :) Awesome!

Hobbun wrote:

I see what you are saying, and I am by no means saying the extra swag hasn't swayed anyone to put in higher pledges.

But all that extra swag costs money. Extra money that comes out of their company.

At this point I think it's coming out of the money that people are pledging, since we've shattered the original funding goal, and the record for a crowdfunded RPG book, with no end in sight.

Yeah, I don't think it's really coming out of the company, at this stage - that would only happen if they put in stuff that wasn't covered by the amount they'd raised, and I think the team are savvy enough with their budgets for that not to happen. The only thing I would be concerned about would be goals that needed resources in terms of time, things that actually stretched their ability to service or deliver. I definitely don't want them to compromise on quality, or work themselves to the point of exhaustion and / or never wanting to hear the word 'Kickstarter' again. However, I don't feel that they'd do that. I trust FG to only put stuff on the table that they can deliver, and deliver well.

Great, thanks. Cannot wait to get my hands on this. Looks like I'll be picking up Raxath'Viz as well :)

Is the adventure prequel 'The Reaping Stone' a print or pdf only product? And, frankly, a hardcover of Bleeding Hollow sounds too awesome for it not to happen.

I think we've kind of reached that tipping point. If you do a search for Hero Lab on the Paizo forums, you'll find that 8 different 3PPs have already begun releasing products with Hero Lab data files. There are at least two more 3PPs that I know are working on their first data files for release in the near future (including the aforementioned Open Design). In addition, Paizo has publicly stated that they are in the process of migrating from their in-house "Spreadsheet of Doom" over to Hero Lab. So you'll definitely be seeing a lot more HL data files accompanying 3PP products in the months to come. There's just a bit of spin-up time involved that needs to be soldiered through, so please be patient while the freight train gets up to speed. :)

We've also got a new product in development that will be released late this year called Realm Works. It focuses on campaign development and management. So you'll be hearing a lot more about that in the months to come.

I love the sound of this, looks very exciting.

I know that Super Genius Games has hired someone to work on theirs. I saw Open Design was looking for someone on the Wolf Lair boards and I think someone volunteered. I think Rite Publishing has someone delivering some of theirs as well. I also know there are folks on the Wolf Lair boards that are doing their level best to add 3PP content, myself included. I will qualify and say that mine are a little short on the functional side, getting the pre-reqs in, but not...

And those efforts are much appreciated. I guess it's just a case of reaching a critical mass with the product, so that such content becomes the norm rather than the exception.

I very much like the suggestions around expanding the information beyond simple bestiary entries (not that they're particularly simple, but...). Sure, new Demon Lords etc are always welcome, but definitely more detail on their domains, specific locations, and variant uses for their abilities and agendas. More stuff like the 3e Hordes of the Abyss - rules for possession and exorcism, demon crafted items designed to entrap mortals, devilish contracts, how the brave, greedy and foolhardy summon and treat with nether planar beings. More on unique beings - servants of the greater lords and ladies that could be used to challenge lower level parties (note, not 'low' level, just lower than the upper echelons needed to battle DC20+), examples of plots and campaigns undertaken on prime material realms, rules for demon hunters and devil slayers. What about lower planar constructs and machines? And just how does the economy of a town or fortress in the Abyss or Nine Hells work? I mean, I find it hard to imagine these beings living in any kind of normal society. How would such a place function?

Also, and this is kinda hard to quantify, I want these places to be strange. Back in the days of 1e I would leap on any mention of other planes, of the inhabitants thereof that occasionally showed up in places like Vault of the Drow. They radiated otherness, something weird, alien, inhuman and malignant, and really stirred my imagination. And then along came Planescape which, for me, just didn't succeed in conveying that convincingly. It was just another adventure location that 1st or 2nd level characters could - with a bit of preparation - head off to. Heck, they even lived there. To me, that just demolished what was different and forbidding about the lower planes. Going there should have been tantamount to suicide; only the high level, or incredibly lucky, could hope to venture there and come away unscathed. In fact, in all likelihood, no-one could hope to come away unscathed in some way. Much of it should have been too much for mortal minds to even contemplate (of course, eventually, that arena was usurped by the Far Realm). I'd like to see those inhuman vistas beckoning again from the edge of madness and evil.

I mean, really, all kinds of stuff. That's just off the top of my head. Personally, I'd be quite happy to immerse myself in a hardback on the subject, because I'm darned sure it would get more use than many others on my shelves, but that's just me.

What I would like to see is other 3PP producers of stuff, in my case specifically LPJ, include a link on the PDF to a file I can import into HeroLab so I can use the feat (or whatever) they've written without personally having to figure out the most elegant way to create it. I'm an old-school procedural guy, so if it doesn't look like FORTRAN or PL/SQL I've got to break out the books.

Whilst I agree that it would be great to have greater 3PP support for Hero Lab, it's also true that then they would have to spend time figuring out how to create it in the HL editor. Just because they're publishers doesn't mean they're any more familiar with HL than you are. Maybe it behooves them to learn in order to provide a more attractive product, but then it's also reasonable for them to charge more for their pdfs in return. Is that something you'd be happy with as well? Would everyone? Would the loss of sales (based on the fact that not everyone uses HL) be compensated for by an increase in sales to HL users? Just sayin'.

What I'd like is some more comprehensive documentation on creating custom content. I don't really want to scrabble around on YouTube, or search messageboards for tips to find how to do the one thing I want to create (currently needing to set up Wee Jas owing to a planeshifted Greyhawk priest visiting Golarion). It's such an awesome product that I really feel it deserves a separate tutorial package. Maybe that would cost, but I, for one, would find it worth it.

Well, like Wes said, I wouldn't mind seeing more on Demons and Devils, and would love to see these returned to at some point. One 64 page each just serves as an appetizer!

It's a fantastic achievement that, as silverhair2008 said, is as much a reflection of the esteem in which Frog God is held as anything else.