[Fat Goblin Games] Tech So Good, it's Fantastic!


Product Discussion

Liberty's Edge

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The Iron Gods Adventure Path brought technology into the fantasy realm. Also, I've heard there's this movie trailer out the other day about a space fantasy story of some sort...

For those of you who want a little more circuit and lightning in your fantasy, Fat Goblin Games is here for you with Call to Arms: Fantastic Technology!

Call to Arms is a book line for players and gamemasters alike. Each book focuses on a different type of item, expanding rules for those items and adding everything from new mundane and magical examples of the item to new character options related to the item. Call to Arms: Fantastic Technology brings new eras of scientific advancement into your setting, including rules, setting, and plot options for researching and developing new technologies and applications. New kingdom-building rules let rulers build their fantasy nations into technological juggernauts, and new crafting rules help engineers bolt and tape technology onto their favorite mundane and magical weapons and armor. New setting concepts ease the gradual introduction of tech into fantasy worlds, gremlin-tainted crafting materials offer new ways to “curse” technological gear, and new artificially intelligent item options help get digital life out of its shell and into your sword. Capped with a new artifact, new legendary item abilities, and new feats, Call to Arms: Fantastic Technology makes it easier than ever to add super-science tech to classic swords and sorcery.

This represents the first product out of the Call to Arms line's Open Call that FGG did a few months ago. You'll get to read the work of some of the newest names in game design, along with some great old hands. Don't wait another minute! Go check it out!


Typo in product description:

Call to Arms: Fantastic Technology wrote:
New ways to intergrate technology

I live the cover.

Is there a page count?

How many new items?

Just one cause of glitches?


I love it so far.

I've only scanned through it, but I really low that technological advancement is in it and it is all integrated with the kingdom building rules.

As I said though I've only scanned the book, and based on my scanning I can say that I'm surprised that the technology level doesn't go higher. The highest being almost ready to become a space faring civilization. I actually expected to see this push into Space Opera levels of Tech.


This sounds like a lot of things I've been looking for. I can't wait to get hands on it.


Typo in post:

ObsessiveCompulsiveWolf wrote:

Typo in product description:

Call to Arms: Fantastic Technology wrote:
New ways to intergrate technology

I live the cover.

Is there a page count?

How many new items?

Just one cause of glitches?

Pretty sure that should be "love".


Let me know when it's up on Paizo.

So how much does this interact with the Technology Guide's charge system?

How advanced does this tech get?

Are vehicles or armor covered?

How much melee tech? Related: How much melee tech where str is relevant?

Liberty's Edge

ObsessiveCompulsiveWolf wrote:


ObsessiveCompulsiveWolf wrote:


I live the cover.

Is there a page count?

How many new items?

Just one cause of glitches?

Pretty sure that should be "love".

Don't be too quick to judge. If I had an arcane lightning hand, I'd probably announce it on gaming forums too. You might live the cover.

Also, it's 46 pages. If you see Garrett Guillote around, be sure to let him know how much you're enjoying the book.


Richard D Bennett wrote:
ObsessiveCompulsiveWolf wrote:


ObsessiveCompulsiveWolf wrote:


I live the cover.

Is there a page count?

How many new items?

Just one cause of glitches?

Pretty sure that should be "love".

Don't be too quick to judge. If I had an arcane lightning hand, I'd probably announce it on gaming forums too. You might live the cover.

Also, it's 46 pages. If you see Garrett Guillote around, be sure to let him know how much you're enjoying the book.

Good point! Given my propensity for all things gauntleted, I may well live this soon! Though likely without the arcane aspect. Must keep myself pure and free from the taint of the arcane after all...

Thanks for the heads up. At that price point it is likely comparable to the Technology Guide, although there are components that won't see much use...


Malwing wrote:

Let me know when it's up on Paizo.

So how much does this interact with the Technology Guide's charge system?

How advanced does this tech get?

Are vehicles or armor covered?

How much melee tech? Related: How much melee tech where str is relevant?

Any answers to my above question?

Liberty's Edge

I just pinged the author to drop by when he gets a minute to answer your question. Apologies for the delay.

The Fattest Goblin tells me the book should be available in this neck of the Internet come Monday.


Hello all,

I worked as Line Developer with Garrett, so let me try to answer various questions you have all posted, in lieu of whenever Garrett shows up!


ObsessiveCompulsiveWolf wrote:

Typo in product description:

Call to Arms: Fantastic Technology wrote:
New ways to intergrate technology

I live the cover.

Is there a page count?

How many new items?

Just one cause of glitches?

I'm glad if you live or like or love the cover. The Fattest Goblin will be pleased to hear this as well.

46 pages, with around 6 of those pages spent on Cover, Back Cover, OGL, an ad for SoV, etc.

As to the "number of new items" --- too many to specifically count. Though in part, that's because much of it is using old items (from the Guide made by Paizo) in new ways... but Call to Arms books are meant to include a LOT of new options --- and that includes everything from new weapons, new armor, new tools, and even Garrett's take on Technological Intelligent items, "cursed" items relating to "glitches" and how to treat technology as artifacts and to bump up their power-levels to artifact level, etc. (one new Artifact too).

Adding to the existing ways things can glitch, Garrett offers additional method involving the classic WWII-style gremlin ;-)


Hark wrote:

I love it so far.

I've only scanned through it, but I really low that technological advancement is in it and it is all integrated with the kingdom building rules.

As I said though I've only scanned the book, and based on my scanning I can say that I'm surprised that the technology level doesn't go higher. The highest being almost ready to become a space faring civilization. I actually expected to see this push into Space Opera levels of Tech.

It IS designed to work with the Kingdom Building rules from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Ultimate Campaign. I think Garrett did a really good job with that.

As to "how far it goes" -- the rules go up to and include space stations, satellites, and rocket ships, but also has android factories, and how to build your own graviton reactors, nanotech labs, etc.

I'd argue that the rules are all these for War in the Stars level Space Opera --- though again, you might need to rely on Paizo's Guide for some specs.

We went back and forth on the naming convention for Tiers, and we technically call the last one "Atomic Age" but that's as much about getting into modern fission, to futuristic fission, gravitons, and the like.

Properly handling interplanetary or interstellar travel will require an entirely extra book I think... though if you all like his book enough, maybe I can convince him to write it ;-) The Fattest Goblin and I would publish it!


Malwing wrote:

Let me know when it's up on Paizo.

So how much does this interact with the Technology Guide's charge system?

How advanced does this tech get?

Are vehicles or armor covered?

How much melee tech? Related: How much melee tech where str is relevant?

This book is designed to work as a companion piece to Paizo's Guide. As such, the charge system is... integral.

As for how advanced --- it builds on and around and in the Guide... so everything from rules for making monofiliment "swords" to what kind of "effects" both good and bad you get from having a blade made out radioactive material :D

As for how much is melee -- Call to Arms: Fantastic Technology plays a lot with the idea of "if my barbarian came across a few pounds of explosive --- what could he do to modify his weapons to take advantage of it?" --- likewise, if I had say a broken graviton gun, and then took it apart and used the pieces, could I get a benefit for say my axe or hammer? The answer, according the our book -- YES!

Armor and armor mods are covered.

Vehicles are outside the scope of the book --- again though, Garrett said he had ideas ;-)

Oh and a lot of the weapon mods could rely on strength.


Malwing wrote:
Malwing wrote:

Let me know when it's up on Paizo.

So how much does this interact with the Technology Guide's charge system?

How advanced does this tech get?

Are vehicles or armor covered?

How much melee tech? Related: How much melee tech where str is relevant?

Any answers to my above question?

Sorry it took a bit to get some answers. I can try to lurk on this thread for a bit over the next few days --- but with any of our Call to Arms books, anyone can feel free to PM me about questions!

We try to load up to paizo.com and d20pfsrd.com, but RPGNow.com/DriveThruRPG.com has our books first.

Call to Arms: Fantastic Technology will also be available soon in print (PoD), if you prefer to "own" a copy of your books too.


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Hey! I've been out of town for the past week (and still am!) so I'll try to answer as many questions as I can. Sorry for the delay!

Hark wrote:
As I said though I've only scanned the book, and based on my scanning I can say that I'm surprised that the technology level doesn't go higher. The highest being almost ready to become a space faring civilization. I actually expected to see this push into Space Opera levels of Tech.

Lucus nailed it here. The systems to convert Pathfinder to full-on spacefaring settings start to stray outside the scope of the book, which was to be a companion to the existing official tech rules. That's not to say there won't be a follow-on that might create all-new systems to handle that, but my goal for Fantastic Technology was to make a companion to the existing systems, which assume a terrestrial society. Those spacefarers don't have much tech beyond what's implemented in the existing rules, however; aside from space flight, you could probably model tech-era Androffa pretty well between the official rules and Fantastic Technology.

That said, Fantastic Technology does provide vehicle propulsion options theoretically capable of escape velocity. It takes you right up to the brink, it just doesn't give you hard rules for actually travelling in space.

Hark wrote:
Just one cause of glitches?

Technically, yes; we provide a way to corrupt the source materials of crafted tech, which adds a failure-triggered timeworn state in the result. It's like "cursing" a tech item in a non-magical way.

Many augmentations also invoke the existing timeworn/glitching rules at lower magnitudes. Cheap augmentations essentially behave as badly as timeworn technology.

There's also an "Undocumented Feature" legendary item power that can make a technological artifact glitch like a timeworn item, but lets the wielder choose the glitch.

Finally, there's a feat that lets you immediately punch a glitching item to avoid a glitch or force an extra charge from an item. Because of course you should be able to do that.

Malwing wrote:
So how much does this interact with the Technology Guide's charge system?

Quite a bit. The new tech items and augmentation system use charges, but don't require batteries; they have integrated power supplies that can potentially recharge from a source, battery, or spell. (There's a few exceptions, such as atom tech, which is effectively persistent.) There are suggestions on new ways to implement and manage the charge system, though.

Malwing wrote:
How advanced does this tech get?

The tech level is the same as what's in the Technology Guide—lasers, plasma, gravitons, nanites, etc. The new content provides ways to implement that tech level in new ways, and the tech tree helps you build a kingdom up from an earlier tech level, but there's no new tech levels provided.

Malwing wrote:
Are vehicles or armor covered?

Armor, yes! Augmentations let you add technology to armor, from holographic disguises to ion tape reinforcements.

There aren't any new vehicles in Fantastic Technology, but it does provide new combustion and fusion vehicle propulsion options.

Malwing wrote:
How much melee tech? Related: How much melee tech where str is relevant?

The augmentation system was built in part to make more technology available for melee, thrown weapons, and bows, since most of the tech guide's weapons were firearms. Most of the augmentations can be added to melee weapons, and the book includes examples like a graviton warhammer (which scales damage up a size increment without changing the weapon's physical size) and atomic two-handed sword (deals radiation damage).


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Garrett Guillotte wrote:
Finally, there's a feat that lets you immediately punch a glitching item to avoid a glitch or force an extra charge from an item. Because of course you should be able to do that.

Fonzarelli's Percussive Persuasion? :D


And Call to Arms: Fantastic Technology is available now on Paizo.com!


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Can I convert my katana into a High Frequency Blade Metal Gear Rising style?


Are there rules for hacking? I assume not, but doesn't hurt to ask!


More importantly, will there be a print version coming soon?


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Cheapy wrote:
Are there rules for hacking? I assume not, but doesn't hurt to ask!

It does not appear so. Computers and the like weren't well covered in the Guide, and Garrett expanded more in terms of combat applications, than other ways.

If I can convince him to write a follow up, I'll make sure he considers this angle as well! There's a lot to think about (from the existing e-pick stuff for electronic locks to how to handle computers in general, etc.)


Insain Dragoon wrote:
Can I convert my katana into a High Frequency Blade Metal Gear Rising style?

Garrett gives a pretty solid reply in the Product Discussion thread to this question, but short answers:

I'd use the monofilament weapon augmentation, likely adding either laser or plasma for some of the other effects of the high-frequency blade.

I don't know the weapon from the game well enough to finely tweak the specifics, nor am I sure what you really want to do, but reading the description of the high frequency blade, I'd see monofilament and plasma covering its description.


RCM wrote:
More importantly, will there be a print version coming soon?

YES!

It will be PoD (Print on Demand). The Fattest Goblin is awaiting proofs I believe and it should be available... soon?

I'll try to post everywhere I can when it becomes available!


Yes! Thank you, I'll be looking forward to it!


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Lucus Palosaari wrote:
Cheapy wrote:
Are there rules for hacking? I assume not, but doesn't hurt to ask!

It does not appear so. Computers and the like weren't well covered in the Guide, and Garrett expanded more in terms of combat applications, than other ways.

If I can convince him to write a follow up, I'll make sure he considers this angle as well! There's a lot to think about (from the existing e-pick stuff for electronic locks to how to handle computers in general, etc.)

This! I don't want to nail anything down too firmly yet for a followup, but I'll wager computer and AI character rules will be marquee topics.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Lucus Palosaari wrote:
Malwing wrote:

Let me know when it's up on Paizo.

So how much does this interact with the Technology Guide's charge system?

How advanced does this tech get?

Are vehicles or armor covered?

How much melee tech? Related: How much melee tech where str is relevant?

This book is designed to work as a companion piece to Paizo's Guide. As such, the charge system is... integral.

As for how advanced --- it builds on and around and in the Guide... so everything from rules for making monofiliment "swords" to what kind of "effects" both good and bad you get from having a blade made out radioactive material :D

As for how much is melee -- Call to Arms: Fantastic Technology plays a lot with the idea of "if my barbarian came across a few pounds of explosive --- what could he do to modify his weapons to take advantage of it?" --- likewise, if I had say a broken graviton gun, and then took it apart and used the pieces, could I get a benefit for say my axe or hammer? The answer, according the our book -- YES!

Armor and armor mods are covered.

Vehicles are outside the scope of the book --- again though, Garrett said he had ideas ;-)

Oh and a lot of the weapon mods could rely on strength.

That is very reassuring! The original technology guide, while wonderful, felt like it was mostly armor and guns.


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This from the Product thread:

Lucus Palosaari wrote:
...as we have over a dozen more books planned in this line.

Lucus - I see from your profile you have a bunch of Call to Arms credits - can you tell us if any more of these are future/tech related?


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Picking this up this week.


Oceanshieldwolf wrote:

This from the Product thread:

Lucus Palosaari wrote:
...as we have over a dozen more books planned in this line.

Lucus - I see from your profile you have a bunch of Call to Arms credits - can you tell us if any more of these are future/tech related?

Hey Oceanshieldwolf --- sorry I missed your comment till today.

I have two Call to Arms books focused on firearms, but they expand rules for Early Firearms, so that you could have detailed rules for everything from the earliest discoveries of simple explosive powders to handgonnes of the Middle Ages, to the development of matchlocks, wheelocks, snaphance, flintlock, and percussion cap firearms, all the way up to the earliest forms of riffling, etc. and including a real-world all-pressurized air powered rifle --- but stops just shy of the "advanced" firearms.

Otherwise --- no. None of the other books currently in the Call to Arms line are "futuristic" but seeing as how well Garrett's book has done, I'm liking to be twisting his arm for more soon.

There a ton of additional Call to Arms books in development, from "just needs layout done" to "they told me they'll have it written in a few months". None of those though are "future" tech either....


Brother Fen wrote:
Picking this up this week.

We hope you like it, and would love additional feedback about it, the line, etc!


Lucus Palosaari wrote:

YES!

It will be PoD (Print on Demand). The Fattest Goblin is awaiting proofs I believe and it should be available... soon?

I'll try to post everywhere I can when it becomes available!

Any news on the print version yet?

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