vance's page

Not at all. Check out Sleep. A higher level version that turns someone into a frog after one or two failed saves, and which ends once a save is made, certainly seems like it'd be in line.

Well, 4E is designed against 'stacking' or 'non-fixed' effects for powers. So a spell design, keeping that in mind, would seem to be all or nothing.

Granted, monster powers are often exceptions to this, but that ALSO seems to be a design caveat - the MONSTERS get the bizzare and non-samey abilities.

(1) Your insults undermine your argument;

(2) You misspelled "tomorrow" and "committed." Petty of me, but pedantry is a two-way street.

Size creep. At the moment, I want to scream "Pick a size, and stick with it!" because after set after set set of size creep, AtG started to shrink the figures. Can we please get consistent? :)

Sometimes I just wonder if the sculptors get bored.

wow ... just, wow

Welcome to the real world. Given how Sebastian has stalked and hounded me since i signed on, given HIS language, and HIS antics, and his THREATS, why should I feel differently?

If he's not happy with my impression of him, it's his own damn fault.

Congratulations; with that comment your credibility went to zero. If it weren't there already...'cause, you know, if you plan on arguing law with a LAWYER (lawyers?) then you'd better do your homework.

And I'm not thinly veiling anything, I actually think he's a walking waste of flesh that would do the world a favor if he commited suicide tommorow. And if you think I would feel terrible if he actually did, it would ONLY be because he didn't change his ways rather than give up. Either way, the world would be better off.

I hope this clarifies the situation for you for the future.

Is there anything like a petrification effect? A ranged entangle?

Vance, you have no idea what you're talking about. A public performance is a specific statutory category of right under the copyright act.

Now, the Copyright Acts HAVE been updated sense, largely to cover a lot of 'specific-case' situations, such as cable distribution, internet, and so on. And, while you're right that there exists NOW the specific language to cover these situations, it wasn't always there, and the findings were that they were, in fact, a form of redistribution.

Chapter 5 of the current Copyright Act, which handles specific infringements, do not specifically refer to 'public displays' in the language, nor does any other relavent act according to http://www.copyright.gov . Oddly enough, the only thing coming CLOSE would be the bits on 'phonorecords' in Chapter One.

But looking over the Act, ALL IP infringements clearly require a transferrence of the IP from one person (or persons) to another in some capacity. Are you actually arguing otherwise?

When do characters start getting magic powers like that?

Once case I was involved in dealt with a public performance of the work. There was no distribution of the work and no allegation of distribution. But since public performance is one of the rights specifically protected by copyright law, it was sufficient. All you have to do is pull up the Copyright Act to see the bundle of rights that is protected.

You should really give up pretending to be a lawyer on the internet - it ain't working.

This again is completely false. I've been involved in successful infringement actions against people who aren't distributing anything. And I don't use the RIAA as a copyright source (and I don't know anyone who would).

And, to cite Sebastian's MP3 stance, those usually have LOST on actual court challenges (where the defendant chose to fight rather than settle). Indeed, that's explicitly why I said I wouldn't cite the RIAA for anything when it comes to copyright law.

In any event, I think you misread my post. You said Copyright only covers "distribution". Period. That's false.

Copyright law doesn't SPECIFICALLY allow me to photocopy the entire PHB and use the sheets as wallpaper in my garage. But, as bizzare as it is, it's 'fair use', personal, with zero redistribution potential and zero damages to WotC.

The thing to keep in mind is that Copyright law is not an absolute when it comes to fair use. But, if you're taking an entire copy of a work in a redistribution effort specifically to deny proper compensation to the copyright holder, as per what this thread has discussed... that's called 'piracy' and in no way, shape, or form, could be considered 'fair use'.

Same poop, different millenium.

Oh hey, who wants to talk about Polymorph, and not be lectured on why they're wrong not to love everything about 4E?

'Cause I'd like to talk about Polymorph and how it could be implemented to maintain the fantasy feel without being unbalanced, as soon as y'all are done feeding the troll.

It really depends on what you want out of Polymorph, but I think that the 'turn the opponent into a toad' spell is covered. "Toad Morph" as a mid-level power that has a save appropriate to the level, lasts until end of encounter or until the victim can break the magic. Abilities reduce to that of a 1HD monster.

Not sure what you mean. 4e has Fireball, Black Fire, and Meteor Swarm which are all fire based big bang spells. Is it because Fireball no longer scales with level?

The fantasy is gone, and gone in the name of 'game balance' and 'tactical board-game' play.

I never thought I would say this, but I preferred Gygax's vision.

In any event, the courts sided with Blizzard.

EULAs about just having a piece of software generally aren't considered enforceable for numerous reasons.

Reproduction does not have to be public, and there does not have to be distribution for infringement to occur.

And I have no reading of the law that would say otherwise. Granted, i suppose some idiot could try to argue it (like the RIAA would want to do), but then lies the fact that copyright is usually a civil court matter, and not a criminal one, and that you would have to establish some concept of damages... which would be laughed at.

Apologies for hijacking the thread, but what do you see as the biggest holes in D20 Modern?

Actually if you open the book, start at page one and just go all the way to the index. :)

Facism, Pinback? Are you flippin' serious?

Dear God, people who write material actually want to be able to feed thier children. Holy crap, that's just plain evil. Hitler and Franco obviously had a hand in this! I hear that WotC plans to start raiding private homes for illegal PDFs and line up perpetrators for execution without a trial!

Or, maybe, you just admitted to the world you don't give a rat's anus about the people who made the game you pretend to support, and have the whole attitude of 'hey, I'm entitled! It's a game, dammit, and I can't live without it, and that $25 for the PDF is just UNFAIR!' I mean, it's food, shelter, and D&D PDFs, right?

Or food last? Which is it, I'm honestly confused now.

I think the points raised in the past few posts are what bugs me about 4E the most. In the name of 'balance' from a board-game perspective, we're not going to do fantasy anymore. Everything is mechanical, precise, fixed... it's a math game more than it's ever been.

I remember when getting fireball for the first time was really cool.. now it's just another power in a long list of them, and not really all that different from anything else.

I just feel that the obsession with board-game balance, we've lost far, far too much of what made D&D special.

I have to say that it's fairly weak for a feat, but I think it's done to avoid the mass modifier stacking that 3.0 and 3.5 had.

Just to prevent any misconceptions about this, there is actually an overview document of the AP similar in format to how Paizo does it.

I bring in to many newbs to play this way.

I am not going over to the 3e board to talk smack. I am here on the 4e board agreeing with those that are looking to fix the problem.

The point of the thread is to find in-system alterantives or 4E house-rules for polymorph for those who miss it - NOT complain about how terrible 3E was at all times.

Sure because their buyers don't buy crap and they don't take risks on small time publishers. That is true for everything they stock and not just games.

And Barnes and Noble and Borders take risks on small publishers all the time. It's just that they don't do it with games, which is a niche within a niche within a niche in their store.

Seems to me the barriers to entry into the market are pretty low, however.

But if you want into, say, Barnes and Noble... you're likely screwed. :S

It could be argued that their muscle keeps out products from retail outlets (and, certainly, TSR did this in the day).. but.. we're such a small product niche that, who the hell would really care?

Well, you know, it's just that I'm really tired of being nice, and would REALLY like to learn to be a total selfish prat online. I don't think I'm really pulling it off well, though, so .. could you give lessons? We can work here, I'll go through paypal for you, and we'll determine rates based on results.

Which does not matter if they buy product.

[QUOTE]Which simply indicates that financial and critical success does not always coincide. Love them or hate them those movies hauled in some serious bank.
Actually, they didn't. By the time of the third prequel, most people who invested in the franchise lost a boatload of money. (And, though it took in a goodling amount of case, Sith is believed to have LOST money when all's said and done).

But, that's not the issue. You can not build and sustain a legacy with a 'uber-loyal unquestioning fanbase' and no one else. That's why you have to listen to the critics.

An anti-trust monopoly doesn't need to be the 'sole player', just the 'one player that dictates terms to the market'... and, well, WotC could qualify under that.

Was it really that bad of a thing to do? SirUrza supplied the community with something valuable and effective for typing up documents, almost capable of replicating a 4th edition book's font. (The almost excluding the elusive Vecna font, which I cannot find anywhere) Honestly, it wasn't a jerk move, it was a commendable move if anything.

First, the fonts are illegal. They were taken from illegally redistributed PDFs of the core books. They were spliced from the PDFs in a method that's already been found, in court, to be illegal.

Second, he put it up as a response to the font I put up which was legal and free. It was a big middle finger.

How would you like if you posted up an article and someone said "go HERE for a better version of the this article!" ... how would you take it? Just curious.

So, yeah, jerk move.

CourtFool wrote:

What? I am sorry. I did not hear you. I was downloading Urza's cool font pack.

Burned.

Give me a break. It was an a!@~&&~ thing to do, and I guess that I'm more upset that I was surprised.

Very true. I don't miss polymorph because it was powerful -- I miss it because it's cool :(

I never really found 'balance' to be an important issue in gaming. If it IS an issue, then that's the GM's job anyway. Keep the system RESONABLE, and you'll be fine.

Are you sure we're not already there?

I had forgotten about Gamma World 3rd edition. It took what, a 64 page softcover book included in one of the adventures to only partly fix it?

meaning what? If he produces Tengar manor for 4e lets say, he couldnt make Tomb of Horrors for pathfinder?

And, as I said, this wasn't the only direction from which the rumor flowed. (And, sadly, echoes a comment from WotC a couple of months ago about the nature of the GSL.)

But it will a representative sample (if not the entire population) of the hard core dedicated 4e players and GMs that would be highly likely to buy future products.

It would pretty much be the most worthless, self-selecting sample group you could pick.

(This is nothing new, check out a Star Wars board about the prequel trilogy sometime...)

I don't get it, "Clark Lives"... his most recent post on the Wizards Forum is from June 27th, almost a month old. Were some additional messages from him on that thread deleted?

So you expect they intend to turn Dragon into a cheap form of pay-for-playtesting scheme?
I would not put it past them.
I also would not expect it to be particularly effective, as once Dragon goes subscriber only they are going to have a very limited pool providing feedback.

I was promoted.

Right. He was clear on some support but over all the GSL isnt what he wants. And his emails are unanswered. But he'll be doing something.

But, on middling authority, I've been told that WotC actually legally threatened Clark, personally, over terms of the GSL and the continuance of any other product lines, and that's what's causing all the delays.

I do not know if this is true, and Clark has not (and should not) verify this. I have also heard of other cases of the same sort of antics coming from WotC's offices in regards to 4E material.

That's why (according to this rumor) there's been such a huge chilling effect on announcements and licencees.

BUT Wotc's forums are down again, so we'll have to wait on that.

Granted, though, it was more middling. But he had a LOT snarkier comments (already posted) past that one, and they're seperated by a number of days. I'm just saying that I wouldn't cite that Clark's statement there was indicative of his continued 4E/GSL support.

That's not really a specific issue here, though. The GM should always fudge for the betterment of the session, and that, as you say, was something the GM was entirely in control of.

Not quite the same as a spell that a player's character would know innately.

Well, the trick here is simple...

Is my main product (or products) strong enough that the people who would sign on the OGL for the system would not feel a need to bypass those products?

I think the big problem with d20, particularly d20 Modern, was that the answer was 'no'. After all, no one reinvents the wheel if it's already round enough. d20 had many gaps, and d20M was... embarassing, in a lot of respects. Each BEGGED for third parties to flesh it out.

Okay, that's fine, but when someone has already rewritten 80 percent of your game... that last 20 percent doesn't seem like much work, and the OGL just backfired on you.

Me either. Ah well...

It's tiresome, and it's killing the hobby. If new players can't join a group due to elitist prejudice, then they will go do something else. Then, when your group falls apart via death, divorce, parenthood, job pressure or relocation, you won't be able to find a group, because all the players who would have formed one got driven away from the hobby by insular covens of fatbeards.

There are so many good fan-made character sheets online that I've always been a bit surprised that people buy character sheets to begin with.

I suppose we should be thankful that they didn't say "The Bard will appear as an EXTRA in the Character Sheets pack!"

I understand that the DD isn't even as powerful as vassal on that department (hell, I've played with it a little to know). But it seems like that if you cannot physically do it, or show it, on the DD, then it's not in the 4E rules.

I agree. The 3.5e character sheets were great, and impossible to print out on many home printers. The 4e ones (from what I've heard) are pointless.

The character sheets have never been popular or good sellers, no matter the edition. They've always been among the 'first pirated' of works out there. Why not build a smidgeon of community spirit by making it an outright FREEBIE on their site?