varianor's page

I don't think that they're breaking rules. They have already explained the variability of different word processors and how they count. Nobody's going to litigate over <i>an</i> entry being 208 words depending on how you count. The top 32 entries will win on their merits. Personally I think this level of insight into the process is great. There's a high level of transparency here, and that's excellent. I've never seen that in a contest before.

It does say "one of the suggestions" not "You Vill DM Zis Vay Und You Vill Like Itt!".

logophylia wrote:

Question: Will the advancing author(s) published in connection with the entry they submit for the next round ?

Yes. The "anonymous" portion of the contest will end with the revelation of the top 32.

However, will the next 32 entries also be sanitized? In other words, the 32 winners will be made public, but when (if?) they submit their next entry, will we see who wrote the entry or not when it comes time to vote?

The relevant issue is "How long is the stage two submission?" If you have five days to write 2500-3000 words, it's doable. If you have five days to write 10000 words, that's a high bar. If it's 25,000+, better not have a day job or better call in sick. :)

Offend a judge? Like how? Does that mean my Clark Peterson Little Pony Saddle of Animal Empathy +2 or my Wolfgang Baur Tome of Ghoul Turning Tips or my Erik Mona Amulet of Knowledge(Greyhawk) -5 was a bad idea?

If it were me I would have bought the +5 amulet. ;)

(Just kidding. I know it's a typo, but I couldn't resist.)

Horror is very hard to achieve with a jaded audience. Because your audience (the players) have seen numerous scary, aweful and gorey movies and TV shows, their potential appreciate was already numbed. Plus you're playing a game where they are expected to win, and horror is all about the method of your failure.

So, the easy answer is to write a normal adventure where you build suspense slowly, until you get to a horrific end. For example: I once created an adventure with a barbarian tribe making sacrifices to evil gods. The PCs found them to kill them, and realized that they were sacrificing their own women and children. Once they got to the room with the final confrontation and it's door alarm made of the intestines of a living prisoner (he screamed when they opened it), it worked out okay.

However, don't expect them to get actual fright at the table. At best a little frisson of appreciation will happen.

The meat of the commentary though probably won't come until after the chaff gets winnowed. I am looking forward to that part!

I'd be delighted to have Clark Peterson (or the other two judges) drop comments on my items. After their other work is done of course. :)

Good luck to 32 of you. :D

Seriously, now's the time to kick back. Speculation will still run rampant here.

I watched half an episode when my daughter forced me too. Okay, "asked" with the Puppy Dog Princess Eyes. Other than that, never seen the thing.

I have used the Arcane Evolved versions of Hero Points now for a long, long time. They are very similar as stated above, except that you can use them to interrupt the order of combat to take a full set of actions as another option. I like them a lot, and try to hand them out when the players deserve them.

The other thing I've been doing for a while is giving myself Villain Points - on a 1 to 4 ratio to player Hero Point usage. Seems to work out well. The villain's about to get waxed and I drop a chip. (Oh yeah, I use poker chips as HP tokens. Good visual reminder.)

This has been answered before, but there's a lot of posts so it's easy to miss. All the submissions had any identifiers scrubbed.

I will second the thanks to the great folks at Paizo for the opportunity and to the excellent judges!

Which points up one of the underlying discussions about pricing. You can price an item by the book, then eyeball and go "It costs <i>how</i> much?" Then you have to decide if you're going to cut that price because no matter how cool it is, a PC would rather have a +5 weapon for less.

Method A: Do nothing. Wait until game night. Grab random minis and throw together some encounters. Surprisingly, this works well sometimes. When it doesn't, it does suck.

Method B: Flowchart the adventure. Look at various ways in which the PCs can approach what's going on and where they might go. Prep 50% of the options before I run out of time. At least one time in four, PCs go exactly where you never thought of. Two in four, they go after stuff you haven't prepped. One in four, they go right where you want. Then you really make them beg for mercy.

Method C: Make a map. Think up a few encounters. Read some books that might have some monsters I want to use. Jot down a few notes. Two days later scrap most of it. Start over. This time make some terrain or props to go in the adventure. Consult with a knowledgeable friend on a couple possible twists. Read a book instead of finishing prep. On game day, get a great idea, jot it down, and rush through the process of getting all the pieces of it together.

By the way, it sounds like I'm being a tad facetious, but I'm not....

Excellent. I recall that one came first. I'm still fond of Poisoncraft due to the many excellent options, but either will serve you well.

You may find this site helpful:

http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html

The chart lays it out pretty well. Sumer precedes the Akkadian empire. For what it's worth, there are writing systems pre-dating both Sumer and Akkad. Here's an article with a picture of the Harappan symbols:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/334517.stm

Some scholars believe that true alphabetic writing originate with the Egyptians. Can't find the article right now, but I read something about 5000 year old language that they found. There's some evidence that symbols older than the Harappan ones were used in China as long as 8000-9000 years ago. The debate, I think is far from settled.

I think once you're in the 200,000 gp plus range, it should almost be an artifact....

That was part of it, although technically alter self can't transform a human to a tiny creature, and polymorph is really too high level. Plus they're both arcane. I really saw this as a druid item, designed for them to spy in and around human settlements. But then the darkvision and dimension door abilities (while excellent for spying) don't feel very druidic, and it's not like druids especially need a power boost.

I think there's also room for a discussion of item creation here. The above illustrates it perfectly. There doesn't have to be an exact correspondence between a spell effect and what an item does. (Witness the items in the DMG that don't match up significantly.)

I make setting purchase decisions independant of system, so no. I'm still waiting for 4E to come out though before deciding anything.

Ishtar is an Akkadian (Babylonian) version of Inanna. Inanna is a Sumerian deity. The Akkadians kept her name in religious texts, but IIRC fused her with their own deity Ishtar, and details of her myths were absorbed by Inanna or vice versa. The wiki articles on the subject are decent starting points, but if you are really intersted you'd have to get some scholarly texts. For game purposes, you can certainly treat them as one and the same. :)

Druaga may be a name that was changed for D&D.

Erregal and Ereshkigal are husband and wife, god and goddess who rule in the underworld according to some Sumerian myths. The story of the jewels of Ishtar where she descends into the underworld, slowly taking off her jewels until she is naked, is a precursor to the Persephone myth. (She wins the release of her lover Tammuz for half the year.) Along the way (IIRC) she enounters keepers of the gates of the underworld. One of them may have a similar name to Druaga but it's been 20 years since I read that myth. Can't find the version I remember online.

Nergal is the Akkadian god of the dead. It's not a cognate.

Now, Captain Druaga is a character in Mutineer's Moon by David Weber. Virtually all of his characters from the Empire are named from Babylonian/Akkadian/Sumerian myth. So it's quite possible that there is a mythological figure by that name.

Sorry, I don't think that's very helpful.

That sounds like fun. Run it as a couple round adventure. Each round you have to design one or more things before running the game based on them! I'd participate. (Well not at Gen Con. 2008 is already booked. But pick another convention!)

Bulk purchase of Shuul is not out of the question....

There is an excellent resource available on this subject. It's called Poisoncraft, from Blue Devil Games.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2718

Basic item appearances are listed for almost ever wondrous item in the SRD and are more of a description. I consider history and non-unique ability descriptions fluff.

Seconded. It's tying them down to a realm or place or specific individual that eats up verbiage. I think in D&D parlance it starts to move them toward "artifact" and away from "magic item". The exception? Murlynd's spoon. Though what's wondrous about daily gruel is still a fun philosophy question!

Are criticisms allowed in this thread? I'd love to see people's comments on my item.

I would certainly think so. :)

Jackdaw's Talon

This item is prized by druids and scouts who need to keep watch over a town or outpost. The Jackdaw's Talon is made of tree roots twisted to form a small bird's claw, hung on a simple leather necklace and decorated with a couple black feathers. Once per day, it enables the wearer to wild shape into a raven as if the character had the wild shape class ability. (Characters who already possess the wild shape class ability can use this ability three times per day).

While transformed, the character retains the ability to speak any languages they already know, and gains the ability to speak with ravens. The transformed character also gains darkvision to 60', a +5 insight bonus to Sleight of Hand checks, and the ability to use dimension door 1/day as a spell-like ability (at CL 7). Each transformation lasts for two hours, although the user of the talon can cancel the effect early.

Moderate transmutation; CL 7th; Craft Wondrous Item, reduce animal, air walk, wild shape ability; Price 10,000 gp; Weight 1 lb.

This has nice descriptions. I can visualize the item easily. I wonder if the point of confusion with your reviewers is probably that it allows a limited use of wildshape per day instead of simply providing a limited alter shape or polymorph effect that turns you into a raven. Mechanically, your version works fine. I'm not sure why you've required air walk on the list of spells since wildshape includes the ability to change into flying creatures? Without it, you could place this as CL 5th not 7th, allowing its creation earlier.

I like it fine as an "I can scout" amulet.

My favorite article was the Belphegor, demon prince of laziness and invention. However, all of it from the Ed Greenwood article to the Ecology of the Barghest and the cartoons now moved over from Dragon and Dungeon were all good!

I bought two boxes at Gen Con. They work well for providing a visual of walls (which I always thought were lacking in my dungeons). I did find that 5% of the plastic hinges broke as I was connecting them, which I was a little disappointed in. However, I'm going to contact the manufacturer and see what they will do. For a second gen product, I would recommend weighting the bottoms of the freestanding doors a little. The wall sections are fine. I definitely intend to keep using them. Someday I'd like to see a T intersection piece and a crosspiece, but that's not a detraction from a decent product.

Pathfinder is fading empires, rising warlords against the backdrop of an ancient empire, parts of which rest uneasily....

As to who the heirs are? I can't say about EGG, but I'd say Paizo has become the gaming heirs to Howard's throne, and WotC seems to be the heir to someone else.

An excellent and thoughtful post. I concur. D&D to me has always been something with lots of Conan, Leiber, Tolkein, Cooper, etc. I particularly like the fact that you set this forth without using the term "anime" as I think it made your point stronger.

What didn't you send in? What's your single-A team item or items that you cooked up but didn't submit? Here's some of mine:

Cat Stick

With this magical silvery willow switch, you may strike or touch a person and instantly turn them into a cat! (Unless the victim makes a Fort Save DC 13 to avoid the transformation.) They turn back into their normal form one hour later. They have all the attributes of a housecat save for hp, Int, Wis and Cha, which remain the same. (The transformation does not heal any hit points.)

Faint transmutation; CL 5th; Craft Wondrous Item, alter self; Price 30,000 gp; Weight 1/4 lb.

Friend Whistle

This tiny wooden noisemaker lets you magically call your friends. If you blow upon the whistle while thinking of one person that you know, they hear the whistle no matter where you are and know that you are in danger. Making the sound is a standard action.

Faint transmutation; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, message; Price 1000 gp, weight n/a

Sack of Socks

You may reach into this innocuous looking grey bag to pull out a sock of any size, shape, color, pattern or material that you need. Once per day you may pull forth a pair of socks that duplicate the effect of any single 0 level spell when both are worn. The caster level is the wearer’s caster level, although any touch spell must be delivered with one bare sock and not the hands. After magical use, the socks unravel.

Faint conjuration; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, mending; Price 500 gp, weight 1 lb.

Robe of Useless Items.

Everything you don't need in a time of crisis.

Cool! I used that item at ICon this year and at Gen Con. The PCs actually made really good use of it too.

How about the Booger of Flicking? Grosses out everyone it hits, making them temporarily nauseated. Or the Utterly Movable Rod. You even look in its direction and it whings around the room like a superball on speed. There's so many possibilities. :D

The combat aspect of message boards has some different challenges than f2f games. Here's a couple points:

Keep an initiative tracker where the PCs can see it. Either repost periodically through the combat thread or have it visible.

Have an OOC thread and/or encourage spoiler tag use for questions about rules, comments, etc.

If you use flavor text descriptions heavily for the action, make sure to explain in said spoiler posts or OOC thread what actually happened so the players don't question it. Example: I've often described the results of straight hp in a colorful way ("you cleave deeply into his chest, wounding him badly, and leaving a steak of blood") and you have to make sure to tell people at first what happened. Also, I find it's nice to post criticals if you're rolling for the PCs and give it a better "oomph" in the description.

Move rules debates out of the fight entirely, but be prepared to retcon stuff. Make sure your players are okay with this and that you explain what you're doing. (This is like making a mistake at the table. But it can stretch for days.)

Always end combat posts with a question and/or a note indicating who is next in the order. This is a good point for non-combat posts as well.

Find out how players want their characters handled if they will be away without Net access for a significant amount of time. That way you can determine actions and not slow the game for days.

Have players using abilities, spells or taking actions spell out their mechanics for you. Example: "I'm casting flesh to stone[srd link], CL 14, Save DC 18."

The biggest problem I have found for me is having separate notes that I can get to easily. If you find yourself posting from work, but your monster is on paper at home, you have to wing it sometimes.

My old account mysteriously vanished. Not that I posted here much in the past two years, so I started a new one!

A different option: the spell deals damage once per round whenever a character affected by it takes an action. That automatically requires a Concentration check (see the SRD). These spells are little powerful IMO compared to core, but they have some built in limitations. The greater version probably needs some more tweaking to avoid killing someone who fails a save.

Splinter
Level: Drd 2
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One creature
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Reflex negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

With the snap of a twig, hundreds of tiny wooden splinters fly onto your target, piercing his skin with many little barbs. When the target takes a standard action, the barbs cause pain and 1d6+1 per caster level damage (max damage 1d6+20).

Splinter, Greater
Level: Drd 5
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft. level)
Target: One creature
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Reflex halves
Spell Resistance: Yes

As per splinter except that the spell causes the target 1d6 per 3 caster levels damage (max 6d6) ever time the target casts a spell, attacks or takes a standard or move action. If the target makes the save, they take half damage, and the splinters do not stay in the skin, ending the spell after one round.

Indeed! A boxed set of remnants would be good.

I wonder how many people have submitted total? Not that we'll find out until the end of the contest. I think the internet submission format has probably enabled more submissions. Anyway, mine's in.

Thinking about it. The inspiration hit me at the same time as the wondrous item for the entry. Every day more little details come to mind. However, putting it to paper now? Too soon.

I think that could be an excellent article or articles. I for one would love to hear from each of you what you took away from the discussion.

Wait. How about a redacted transcript if this was email or IM? :D Please?