veector's page

You can't go wrong with Basil Poledouris and his boombastic, over-the-top Conan soundtrack. RotRL goes "epic" in FotSG, you gotta match that with appropriate muzak !

In like fashion, try the "Alexander" soundtrack from the movie with Angelina Joline and Colin Farrel.

An awesome post with cool 3D terrain!

GREAT JOB! I used to run a couple of events using this kind of stuff at GenCon. It's definitely looks like a labor of love!

And if they players don't appreciate it, feel free to kill 'em all!

I think for myself it's a little bit of the same thing as the previous poster.

I've actually gotten more experienced at identifying personality types to the degree that I can usually tell from early on which players will be more difficult to deal with and which won't.

Another aspect I've learned is the critical value of age in social situations. Maybe older folks have more patience for the variety of personalities that might play D&D, but I find that older players generally have a higher capacity for adapting to or tolerating players with extreme personalities.

I'd encourage you, which I assume you might have done already, to read anything on the concept of social intelligence.

Daniel Goleman & Social Intelligence

Entropi wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

It doesn't hurt the plot of Runelords TOO much if the players know that a Runelord of Greed is in there, and in fact that can help to build anticipation.

Yeah, I guess they are even more excited now. And I guess they needed to get back at me after Xanesha delivered at TPK to them last monday, and figuring this out was a small victory for them. But still...

How do you continue after a TPK?

In my case, all the characters died except one. He skipped town because he was afraid a certain Ms. X would come after him.

So the rest of the players made up a new party. Since the beginning of Hook Mountain doesn't necessarily need to have the characters familiar with the sihedron rune and all that's gone on previously, the new party can proceed just fine. But you will need to introduce a character (for me it's the runaway PC) who can fill the new characters in on the full story.

Players, especially my players, don't read on.

** spoiler omitted **

Good ideas. Here's another one:

I'm running a second group through one of the AP's and they're approaching a well known possible TPK encounter. The first group survived...just, and I mean just! My question is what do you do when a TPK happens?

Having invested time with a group getting to know the locals from the base Town it would seem pretty much like game over if a TPK happens after 2 parts of a 6 part adventure path.

How do you guys cope with this situation?

If you're speaking of a certain clock tower, I have had this happen and can provide some specific ways of dealing with it.

A TPK only says "Hey, guys, I win! Wasn't that fun?" and encourages the players to find a new DM.

I disagree. Sometimes TPKs are unavoidable. Why should players get any rewards if they made a colossal mistake or the bad guys are incredibly powerful? I feel like the flow of the story that the players must overcome EVERY SINGLE bad guy right at the moment that the bad guy makes an appearance is unreasonable. Reasonable players know that sometimes the bad guys win, and sometimes they win really big.

I never meant to suggest that the DM should be looking for ways to have a TPK happen, but if the players are aware of a danger, are unable or unsuccessful in avoiding danger, and a suitable story for new characters exists, then a TPK isn't a horrible thing.

And, as far as players caring about their characters. There's a difference between enjoying a character and getting emotionally involved with a character. Players who get overly emotionally involved with their characters are not good to play with in the long run unless their characters never die.

My group has encountered this problem many times. We have since started using a DM screen full time. The players don't want their characters to die and neither do you, especially if you have an investment in resources, contacts, etc. The screen is so you can fudge your rolls of course, so I hope you have a poker face or at least can fake one. If the party is doing so poorly that you can see your party laying in pools of their own blood, this is where the fudging begins. A critical fumble, or a series of missed attacks can save the day.

As a long-time DM, this is the way to go. The problem is the DM MUST AND ALWAYS be the arbiter of who lives and who dies. DMs must give their allegiance to the story, not always the characters.

In other words, the DM could at any time introduce an encounter advertently or inadvertently that could kill the entire party. Characters must die at certain times to remind the players that death is a part of adventuring and that they're taking real risks.

However, characters dying all the time is no fun. So the solution, as the DM, is to decide when character death is warranted.

Did the PCs make a critical mistake that results in an encounter too difficult for them? Kill off one PC, maybe chosen at random, to illustrate their error and let the rest escape.

Do the PCs approach the highly powerful evil creature's lair without some trepidation? Let the PCs win the day but kill off more than one PC to remind them of the dangers of the BBEGs.

If, like in some adventures, a certain encounter commonly results in a TPK, ask yourself, is it a good point in the story for a new batch of adventurers to show up and take up the cause? If the creation of new characters doesn't kill the flow of the plot, let it happen to make a dramatic statement.

And last but not least, NEVER, under any circumstances, play with people who get emotional about their characters dying.

veector wrote:

crmanriq wrote:

There is a somewhat mostly complete (all rules in place, but formatting and cross linking is a work in progress) srd for pathfinder at http://pfogc.com (also available as http://pfrpg.com).

I am personally not going to support pfogc.com until they take the horrific banner ads down.

http://www.d20srd.org/ doesn't have ads. Why should their site?

Interesting. In what way would you "support" the site if the banner ads were gone? The banner ads are up in the hopes of making enough revenue over the course of the year to pay for the domain name.

BTW, if you are a member of wikidot.com (free registration), the banner ads go away entirely.

Well, there are banner ads, and then there are BANNER ADS. The ads on this site interrupt the flow of the content to a degree that makes it extremely annoying to use the site. That's just my personal opinion.

Disenchanter wrote:

I personally gave up scouting in any game because I never got the information I needed from the GM to make an effective scout run. Any time I asked a pointed question about certain circumstances, I'd get wrong or even conflicting answers.

Such as? That's information authors should know.

But it's not worth putting into a module where word-count is at a premium. Do you add 200 or so words to address concerns only 10% of your audience will have? Or do you add that same word count to explain in more detail what the BBEG's tactics are.

I think the important thing here is to put the whole situation in perspective.

#1 Is the DM trying to create a challenging combat oriented campaign or a deep roleplaying/story-driven campaign? If it's the latter, it's likely that your two play styles are not meshing very well.

#2 Even if the DM is trying to create a challenging combat oriented campaign, the DM has a multitude of creatures/characters to worry about, not to mention all the other tricks from all the other ponies, err... characters in the group.

As a DM, what I look for most when recruiting players is similar play style, similar personality temperament, and similar sense of humor. If those aren't there, it's usually not much fun playing, so why bother.

I have been very fortunate that I have found all these elements in my group now.

There is a somewhat mostly complete (all rules in place, but formatting and cross linking is a work in progress) srd for pathfinder at http://pfogc.com (also available as http://pfrpg.com).

I am personally not going to support pfogc.com until they take the horrific banner ads down.

http://www.d20srd.org/ doesn't have ads. Why should their site?

Entropi wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

It doesn't hurt the plot of Runelords TOO much if the players know that a Runelord of Greed is in there, and in fact that can help to build anticipation.

Yeah, I guess they are even more excited now. And I guess they needed to get back at me after Xanesha delivered at TPK to them last monday, and figuring this out was a small victory for them. But still...

This is when you go "and if you all pitch in a few bucks, we can get the mini in enough time to have it painted by the time you face him, same for any other minis that may come out of this path directly."

GMTA Cpt_kirstov! Actually, I'm paying for it, but still, Runelord of Greed... don't make him be the bad penny (literally) on the battlemap.

You know there's something to be said for the benefit of species diversity. The Bella Sara ponies just seem like a multitude of different versions of the same thing. Kinda like goblins, bugbears, hobgoblins, etc...

In my travels I have recently come across more than a couple ex-military guys who game.

I don't have any military experience but I do have three guys in my current game who are. I just wanted to give a salute to all of you in the military and invite you to post a reply if you are currently in the military or are ex-military.

PLEASE!!!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!!

My first real hint of playing D&D was in first grade (1979) when my friends and I played the board game "Dungeon!".

Gary - we remember you on this day. Rest in peace.

It's always hard on anniversaries. You hope to one day let the day pass without being sad.

veector wrote:

It's kinda begging for combat rules to be drawn up.

Um, helloooooooo! 4e.

Pony Warlock?

Damn... those are some sweet lookin' ponies! Gonna have to say that Bella Sara is definitely winning at this point.

Except... they don't have an actual game to play with the minis. You just collect them right? It's kinda begging for combat rules to be drawn up.

Also... I want to find the person who's responsible for the blurbs beneath each of the minis. I'm starting to think there's some dark sinister message hidden in all those cheerful blurbs.

Where is their legal representation anyway? Out crafting a BS-SL (you can either read that as Bella Sara System License, or the other way)?

I don't think this thread needs any more explanation.

Mairkurion {tm} wrote:

I'm not sure which version of the name stuck, but I like Zatharos.

My favorites I have used are Sindoran Kazeneema Bugbear Samurai/Ninja/Kensai, Vinny Diego the rogue, Bizzy Fangle the wizard of mangle! (Gnome illusionist), Gabrial Vangotha the Hunter of the Dead (2nd edition fighter/thief specialty setup), and Alabaster Ramathorne the Third Bard and Great Wizard (Duel classed 2e bard 7/Wizard 19) But those are my favorites from my games.

Bizzy Fangle the wizard of mangle +1

Paul Watson wrote:

Yes, Hollywood should apologise. Right after it apologises to Britain for making our actors always play the bad guys, AND for claiming British triumphs as American ones (U571, I'm looking at you).

Now that you mention it, it does seem like the Brits are always the bad guys in movies.

That's what you get for ruling the high seas with an iron fist for 300 years!

Yesterday an aide to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad demanded that Hollywood apologize to Iran for such unfair depictions as Not Without My Daughter and The 300. So what do you think? Should Hollywood apologize to Iran?

Sure, right after Iran apologizes for depictions of westerners in its movies.

For the record, if you ever watch movies from outside the United States, the depictions of Americans are usually less than flattering to say the least.

What's good for the goose... well you know.

Is this like... roleplaying in the world of Office Space?

I want a +5 Vorpal Red Stapler.

Wow... you do present a difficult problem.

My first reaction, honestly, was that this is not the right adventure for people who aren't really into D&D.

If you're committed though, I'd say play up the rolepaying encounters and get the players to really FEEL the setting. A second suggestion is to try not to plan out what the monsters will do too much. A lot of danger comes from GM's who play "thinking" monsters. If you run the encounter locations as is without incorporating monsters from other nearby locations (those who heard combat) you should be able to pull this together.

Someone needs to start a "veector vs Paizocon... FIGHT!" thread just for old times sake.

;-)

Awh... you remembered. :)

I'm not trying to fight, I'd just love to attend something like this and my wife lets me out of the house only a few times a year for gaming.

Maybe if you could elaborate on Bellevue, WA as a fabulous tourist destination?

I know everyone likes Paizo. I like Paizo! But as I get older and responsibilities to family become more important, time away from the family gets more valuable.

So my request is simple and I may get completely shot down.

Can we fold a lot of the events and hoopla like you're doing for Paizocon into GenCon? Are they going to be the same things already?

Just a request.

I'm really not trying to be a killjoy here.

I found this encounter to be somewhat underdeveloped.

** spoiler omitted **

I'd agree, but since it is a barracks, it's designed to pack in the occupants for sleeping and assume they're not here for anything else. So, if 12 Ogres are really here, I would assume some are lazing about outside the building.

I don't think your group is strange at all. My group has pretty much gone according to the AP without trying anything weird.

I think the only thing they did that was unorthodox was going down the well at the Foxglove Mansion. They bypassed alot but were eventually successful.

Paz wrote:

The best one I heard was a wizard called 'Zinfandel the White'.

I like that a lot!

+1

Gafferty McStabyu - from a post-adventure writeup/newspaper. I need to remember that name for my next rogue character.

Bring it! In game or in print, whatever type of game (video game, computer game, tabletop rpg, board game, you name it).

Some of my personal faves:

Thok - The Gamorrean Guard character from a Star Wars fighting game on PS1.

Bucklethander Grimstone Puck - A gnome character I played for 1 game session.

Dire Penguin! Now that is a monster just squealing to be written up!

carborundum wrote:

Awesomely brilliant!

(Can't wait to see your Stone Giant Fortress!) :D

I'm waiting for the Ogre-kine estate! That'll be something to see with mini's.

If you're talking about the Graul Homestead, just got finished printing it out and cutting it up using my regular mapping technique.

I'm gonna save more projects like this for environments where 3D really matters.

Awesome work sir!

Again, it was there in context. My first post provided the links. His reply was selections from those links. My response was others selections from those links.

I apologize if I came off high-handed, I didn't see the links. I found them in your earlier post. Sometimes it's hard to notice something is a link when it's embedded in a sentence and the colors aren't identifiable enough.

It is not so much accommodation, but an expectation of others accepting the supremacy of particular religious, or philosophical, beliefs. I have as little desire to live under Puritan (or similar) Blue Laws as I do to live under Sharia, or to live under PETA dictated dietary laws.

What then when such objection is turned into a free speech and religious persecution issue? How are my rights not being infringed by the assertions of such groups?

Too many, like those students at Columbia, seem willing to ignore that in pursuit of their own agendas, and I equally oppose them.

I think many people don't understand that the first amendment rights to free speech and religion are not absolute rights. They are constrained by what society and, in many cases, what the courts interpret those rights to be. You can't yell fire in a crowded theater. You can't have human ritual sacrifice as part of your religion. And I personally believe that a woman should uncover her face as part of society's need to practice a certain level of security. Should we accommodate these women by having another woman validate her identity against an identity card? I think that's a fair compromise and doesn't put too much of a burden on society. We should do as much as is realistically possible to accommodate all religions.

Honestly, I think many Muslim groups try to work within the common law to find a compromise, but the examples here are definitely those who believe that their religious needs must override societal standards. I don't think that their point of view is fair whether or not they believe in the supremacy of their beliefs.

I'd just like to comment on the issue of western culture colliding with Islamic scripture and sayings of the prophet.

The aforementioned incidents are really a case of differing values and differing expectations when it comes to culture. One of the questions I would have for the taxi companies is "Are taxi drivers considered to be independent businessmen and do they have the right to refuse service to anyone without reprisal?" If so, then it's up to the taxi driver.

However, I personally don't think it sets a moral example to refuse service to a blind person when it is common in this culture to have a dog to guide you. I would say the taxi driver is erring on the more stricter side of religious doctrine (he certainly has a choice, just saying that it's forbidden doesn't mean there aren't exceptions).

As to alcohol, it's the same thing. I know of one Muslim who used to run a convenience store and sell alcohol. His business did fine, but once he started obeying Islamic scripture and stopped selling alcohol, his business dropped off so sharply that he had to give it up.

In a more personal example, I'm Dungeon Master for my group and I as my players not to drink alcohol while we game. It's my house so they respect that. I also have a restriction on pork. Technically I'm not allowed to buy it for anyone, but when we order pizza, I try to console myself by saying as long as I don't pay for it, it's fine.

I think with any religion or culture, we have to decide what is moral and acceptable. When I run into conflicts with the culture at large, I have to decide what my limits are and what repercussions my decisions will entail.

In the circumstances mentioned by Samuel. I feel like the taxi drivers have the right to refuse the service, but they should also evaluate if they are in an appropriate line of work if their religion is going to clash with what they are expected to do. Society can't always make accommodations for everyone's religious beliefs, especially when your beliefs are in the minority.

veector wrote:

And I definitely agree that those posts are much better than simple citations of scripture without citing a source.

The source was readily viewable on the page linked to.

I was referring to your prior post responding to CourtFool regarding dogs vis a vis Islam. I thought your follow up posts responding to me where you provide the source was better. I didn't see a reference to the Quranic source in the first posts.

And I definitely agree that those posts are much better than simple citations of scripture without citing a source. Taking issue with how religious beliefs affect others in daily life is significant to everyone.

Thank you for a more comprehensive response.

veector wrote:

You know it's very difficult to debate religious scriptures when:

#1 The quoted passages are a translation.
#2 Text can be translated in different ways from Arabic to English
#3 Some scholars even disagree about the meaning of the original Arabic

So, if you are going to quote stuff like that, it's appropriate and honorable to bring scholarly interpretations of the quotes who can put those in context.

Even I, as a Muslim, am not educated well enough in the Hadith you have quoted to know the source, whether it is an accepted Hadith, or whether the translation is accurate.

Well, then, we can close all the religion-centered boards, since all the original Abrahamic texts are translations.

I will now accept the Nobel Prize for Peace.

I think the important thing is that if someone is going to post or quote religious scripture, they should do it at least with an air of intent not to make light of such scripture. I didn't see that in this case. I just suggest we take these things a little more seriously.

veector wrote:

Too late.

Well, for what's it's worth you have my apologies for offending you. I was riffing on CourtFool,not Islam.

Thank you. Apology accepted.

veector wrote:

Evil Monkey wrote:

something very offensive

Seriously. Maturity?

Seriously. joke. I find all religons good joke fodder, don't take especial offense dude.

Too late.

something very offensive

Seriously. Maturity?

Pie of course. Cake is too fluffy. I feel like I'm eating bread.

You know it's very difficult to debate religious scriptures when:

#1 The quoted passages are a translation.
#2 Text can be translated in different ways from Arabic to English
#3 Some scholars even disagree about the meaning of the original Arabic

So, if you are going to quote stuff like that, it's appropriate and honorable to bring scholarly interpretations of the quotes who can put those in context.

Even I, as a Muslim, am not educated well enough in the Hadith you have quoted to know the source, whether it is an accepted Hadith, or whether the translation is accurate.

David Fryer wrote:

Okay, I'm got to take this completely off topic. I know that Barack Obama is a charismatic guy and everyone is taken with him right now. Today there is an article on Time.com about which is the favorite soft drink of the Obama White House, Coke or Pepsi? Haven't we reached a point of absolute craziness with Obama coverage? When is it too much, and why do supposedly serious news outlets engaged in reporting this kind of minutia? Isn't there anything else going on in the world that they could cover?

BUT WHICH IS IT?!? TELL ME!!! I HAVE TO KNOW OR I WON'T BE ABLE TO SLEEP OH GOD WHICH IS IT?!?!

Pepsi, he's from Chicago.

Talking points for 2010:

8 billion dollar maglev from LA to Vegas....

If anyone else knows LA, this could be a HUGE moneymaker for LA and increase travel to Las Vegas considerably. However, it would also be the biggest party train evah!