Alex Putnam's page

So yeah, USPS dropped my AP volume on my porch Saturday during a rainstorm, and neither knocked or rang the doorbell. By the time I noticed it, rain had soaked through the cardboard mailer and into the AP.

Despite drying it for four days, it's still semi-soggy, and the interior's a mess, with most of the interior pages crinkled:
Photo link

How would I go about getting a replacement?

Thanks,
Alex Putnam

Well, it's official. I no longer need to kill PCs with monsters. I can just drop a stack of a half-dozen bestiaries on their players instead. :P
(Would also work on minis. Players are considerably harder to replace.)

Consider classic encounters such as fiendish kraken, hydras that are actually amalgams of all linnorms published to date, prismatic spray elementals, greater pugwampis, and some kind of evil clown demon (include the creature's stats in the appendix in case you want to use these in multiple encounters). When mapping this area, depict at least one chamber that can only be represented accurately by printing out the map and twisting it into a non-Euclidean Mobius strip.

I think I just heard Bill Web weep black tears of character-murdering joy.

*coughshamelessselfpromotioncough* Excuse me, hayfever. Dragonmech has some interesting concepts, but really doesn't balance for a full party without major tweaking. That is, one PC gets the giant robot, and the rest of the party gets...umm...not the robot. The height/weight/size comparisons also will need some tweaking to fit the more regular 3.5/PFRPG assumptions. That said, I definitely used it as a starting point for designing a mech vs. kaiju adventure, In Iron Clad. Just don't expect a simple straight "update the skill list and hit die" sort of conversion.

In Golarion:
The Adventurer's Armory prices eyeglasses at 5 gp. "Also known as spectacles, eyeglasses compensate for poor vision or magnify small details".

For comparison with the Florentine pricing, a mason is a hireling earning 1-3 gp/day, so if anything, eyeglasses were likely overpriced to get a nice round number. Or these could represent a nicer example with fine-quality glass crystal.

Speculation:
Who should have them, or where should they be available? Given Golarion's kitchen-sink but largely Renaissance level of technology (full plate and rapiers), eyeglasses should be readily available anywhere that has a semi-literate public. Remote, wild, and untamed areas likely don't have them, but then again, it's going to be hard to buy ink and spellbooks in Mammoth Lord territory anyway. Any townsfolk/bourgeois/tradesman should be able to readily afford them, and farmers or commoners could certainly save up for them or acquire a lesser-quality example.

(>•^•)>

For some historical context, on our Earth:

•Handheld magnifiers were certainly in use in the High Middle Ages. Friar (Roger) Bacon, the same dude famous for his formulation of gunpowder, did a study of optics as part of his Opus Majus that aped even older works.
•Hand-held or rivet-frame eyeglasses for farsightedness (convex lenses, think () shaped) were certainly in use by the 1350's. Tommaso da Modena painted a cardinal, Hugh Saint-Cher wearing them. At this time, they were likely an "early adopter" innovation only for the wealthy or those whose livelihood depending on writing: clergymen, barristers, and the educated.
•Renaissance Florence, known for its glassmaking, started churning out eyeglasses in the 1400's (including possibly concave lenses) and from there they spread to the rest of Europe.
•By the 1500's, basic reading glasses were common enough that there were street peddlers and boxes of eyeglasses available.
•Also in the early 1500's, "thread loop" glasses offer the first real way to anchor eyeglasses to the ear.
•The 1600's sees a boom in newspapers and news pamphlets, and with it, a mass of people to read them.
•Bifocals date from the 1760's, popularly attributed to that Ben Franklin fellow, and they could be custom-ordered ~1780's.

Style: Note that early eyeglasses would not have the spring temples. Instead, the earliest had a riveted joint that would hold the glasses (hopefully) by friction on the joint. Renaissance glasses resemble what we would call today, pince-nez, and the variety in materials meant softer frames could be pinched around the nose. In the early 1500's, "thread loop" were invented: essentially, there was a cord at each end of the frame that would go around the ear, with the cord adjusted to fit. The modern temple eyeglasses were invented ~1730 by a British lensmaker, Edward Scarlett, who advertised them.
Round lenses were more or less universal until the late 1700's. Note that most of these styles were not sturdy enough to march into combat with, so during the Renaissance (e.g. the English Civil War), soldiers largely stowed them until in camp. Eyeglass cases have been around since at least the 1400's.

Price: ~1460's: "Ordinary “run-of-the-mill” spectacles cost the buyer just 2 or 3 soldi (shillings). Middle priced ones were selling for 6 to 18 soldi. The finest examples with quality crystal/glass lenses and gold or silver frames were priced at 1 ducat (the equivalent of 82 soldi). So who could afford them? As an example, a mason from Florence in the 15th century made 17 soldi per day so multiple pairs were frequently ordered."

References of Early Eyeglasses in Action:
—?, ~1488 "The scholar, Periander in his library with printed text." (Periander being a 6th century Greek scholar, depicted contemporarily.)
—Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen, <1500: "The Ill-Matched Lovers" Note the box of glasses on the bottom-left.
—Rembrandt (yes that one), 1624: "The Spectacle-Pedlar". Note the old peasants are the ones trying on the glasses.
—Rembrandt, 1627: "Parable of the Rich Man.
—Adriaen van Ostade ~1600's "A vendor of spectacles showing his wares to a woman at her spinning wheel, while her family look on" Etching of earlier Dutch original.
—Article on Rivet Spectacles
—Broadsheet of Historical Styles, ~1760
—Pragmatic Costumer blog on Renaissance Spectacles.

[...]

Hope folks enjoy this book as much as I did writing it.

@Drejk - Yep the Moss Lich is in there. Personally, I think the pic is quite cool. Then again I am loving the artwork throughout the book. :)

Glad I got to contribute to the stretch goals, and yes, the color art is fantabulous. :D

Yoink!

Seconded! Thanks, Daigle!

I'm putting in a tentative RSVP for the AFK E&E in Renton, although I may be closer to 7:00-ish than 5:00 on the dot. (I do not partake of the Book of Faces).

And even considering they snuck in the announcement after I'd glanced at the PaizoBlog for today, congrats!

And the big bill I was fearing finally cleared, and family in the area offered room and board, so looks like I'll be able to sneak up to the People's Democratic Republic of Cascadia once again.
Can't afford both PaizoCon and GenCon though. :<

I think there is an error in the axe of forced life. As it stands it removes DR/piercing but not DR/slashing, a far more common dr for undead. Anyone from the writing team want to weigh in on that?

If I recall correctly, it's intentional. Note the type of damage an axe deals. :)

Taken together, these books promise to serve up a broad array of possibilities across every element of the game where mythic can introduce something new to your game...i.e., stuff which even long-term, experienced players won't be able to anticipate. So, personally, I think it's well worth the investment. It should really broaden the possibilities at your gaming table. Hopefully, like-minded folks come out to support us in a big way. And, additionally, by doing so, you can also incent more 3PP team-ups like this in the future.

But that's just my two cents,
--Neil

Sorry, Messrs. Spicer and Nelson, but as a freelancer and potential 3PP myself, after the hassle and heartbreak I've had over Deep Magic, I'm opting out of this KS.

There are plenty of things that are fine as closed content. Keeping the spellbooks closed content makes sense to me. Most of the sidebars are plot/story based, or specific to Midgard, and that's appropriately closed.

I'm hoping that most of this is an oversight, and can be rectified at the same time you're fixing (other?) typographical errors. Or maybe all other publishers have to do to use such content is request it, and permission will be freely granted. I guess I'll find out.

Sadly, I don't think it's in error, as Kobold Press/Open Design has a history of being bizarrely mix-and-match in their Open Content and Closed Content otherwise, something I noticed way back when Sunken Empires came out.

The lack of Open Content in Deep Magic just strikes me as lazy more than anything. Chapters 1, 3, 4, 7, and 8 are basically an Unearthed Arcana of additional variants and content: spellbooks, variants, magic items, schools, arcane discoveries, feats, new words of power, constucts, undead...closed, closed, closed. Even if it's reprinted or reworked versions of Midgard-related content, good crunch should be able to stand on its own.

Between this and the frustrating hassle it took to merely get the Backer Spells credited to their authors, it's made me hesitant to purchase anything else KP, despite how much I love it. It's also the reason I opted out of the Mythic Mania kickstarter. How much of that will be Closed Content? Why pay for patronage and the opportunity to contribute if your contributions go unrecognized?

I'll be honest, this drive seemed shorter when I was 13 years younger, had more time, and had gotten more sleep in the 6 weeks beforehand.

I got to do the same drive backwards three years ago, taking my late grandfather's 1991 Chrysler New Yorker Salon gunboat from Seattle to OKC a few years back. There is always more of Wyoming.

Also, with Owen gone to Seattle, and Greg Vaughan in medical school, I'm slowly working my way (by default, apparently) towards becoming THE MOST POWERFUL FREELANCER IN OKLAHOMA BWA*cough*. Oh, wait, no...there's that Steve Helt guy in Tulsa. Greater Oklahoma City metro, perhaps?

[Steeples fingers.]

I hope you all enjoy the latest issue of AQ!

I'm going through the dead tree edition, Mike, and it is pretty darn smexy yet again. But will it be as awesome as #6? We shall see. ~_^

To clarify, banquet tickets are not sold out. They are temporarily disabled while the eTicket issue is being resolved. The remaining tickets will go back on sale when we have that issue resolved.

Then that may change things, possibly. Depending on available financing, of course. Any way to get a notification when things are fixed?

Hmm. Not sure this is the right venue, but ...

The 3-Tailed Vow feat says your tama 'replaces any bonded object' you have.
1. If you're a wizard or sorc (Arcane), does this mean your tama gains the abilities of your bonded object, or does it mean your bonded object ability simply ceases to function?
2. If it's the latter, what happens to a Vanguard who takes that feat? He no longer has a bonded weapon, which means most of his class features just went down the tubes, doesn't it?

1. If you're a wizard/sorcerer, you would essentially transfer your bonded ring/staff/rod/whatever's power to the gem or jewel. You could still mount it on a ring or a necklace, but it would be the tama itself being the focus, not necessarily the mounting or the whole unit.

The intention was for it to be a iconic/thematic additional requirement, not a "screw you over" mutual exclusion for those already dependent on special items for their mojo. And likewise, kitsune with the feat have to honor the letter of a rule or vow, not necessarily the intent. So, fastening a tama to a bracelet or necklace or embedding it into a staff to make it harder to lose or steal would be perfectly in line with the fluff. ~_^

Hmm. I'm curious if there are racial variants here? I always thought INT was a better fit than CHA for Kitsune.

...
Looks like they didn't fix Magical Tail either ... it's cool, but not eight feats cool.
Still, looks like a worthy buy.

Since the original post was gobbled by the change in product codes, for a disclaimer/apologetic, the concept (for better or worse) was not to meddle with anything that Paizo had already released for kitsune crunch in the ARG, but only to build on it from there. :)

Orcs, Kobolds and Goblins of Golarion, honestly, rather baffle me. I don't know what the thought process behind them was. I suppose I can understand goblins as a key monster of the Pathfinder brand, but the other two...are there really more players who want to play kobolds than, say, drow?

I can vouch for kobolds being popular at my table. They have a reputation for guile over raw brutality, and being the eternal underdogs/mooks even moreso than goblins. Drow have comparatively less appeal as PCs in my circles.

I burned a significant mount of money and leave from work dealing with medical issues in December/January, so it's going to be iffy. Especially having already missed the banquet tickets. :<
May attempt my first GenCon if I can shanghai a co-conspirator.

Ahem, if I might sneak in here and give my two CP.
@Hayato: It's possible but unlikely to see a Kitsune of Golarion book for the same reason there's not been a "Strix of Golarion" or "Duergar of Golarion" book. Although the kitsune stats have been reprinted in the ARG, the core RPG books are setting agnostic and fluff-light.

With the core focus of the setting as the Inner Sea Region, Paizo's been intentionally cautious about venturing off the map. It took years to get supplements about the Dragon Empires, and then they were shorter softcovers and also tied and timed to both the PFS metaplot for the season and an adventure path, both of which are the major bed and butter for the brand and setting as a whole.

Lisa Stevens has said several times that one of the lessons learned from the TSR days is not to split your audience, and to some gamers, "Asian"-themed setting material doesn't jive with their table's preferences. Paizo's kitchen sink/compartmentalization and "test the waters" approach are a method to give spice and variety without splitting up their core audience.

So for the same reasons there's not been a hardcover on Ilbydos or player companion on Vudra, it may be a while before Paizo dives back into Tian Xia whole hog. Or not. I'm not privvy to Paizo's plans. Much. :)

<Shameless Plug>
I can't offer you kitsune-in-Golarion stuff except as a "what I would do for my game" suggestion as a fellow fan. I can, as a 3PP freelancer, offer some non-Golarion-IP deliciousness that builds on what Paizo has already laid out for the fox folk:
Rogue Genius's Races Revised: The Kitsune Clans.
The original Super Genius version netted a nice review from Endzeitgeist. ~_^
</Shameless Plug>

That said, nothing wrong with making noise and showing Paizo there's interest in a topic. They do like listening to their customers. :)

As a person who had to deal with a talkative otyugh at PaizoCon, I applaud the editorial change.

I think I contributed to three different things with happy blue links in their names. Thanks again, Liz!

A big thank you again for setting this up Kyle.

Drat, and this is the first year I'm able to go. I'll just have to snag a nice little Shadowsfall book.

RSVPing again (sans Facebook) for two, as previously mentioned.

2 people to RSVP now that my co-conspirator finalized his plane tickets, sir Kyle.

As a fellow Okie freelancer, hats off to you from the OKC metro. I just got back from a business outing to Claremore myself. :P

Mr. Goodman, I've sent a formal query to your info@ email address.

Interesting. Not entirely certain how minutely discerning the requsition is (as I personally have more experience in the writer/developer side of the ring), but it's interesting to note the implication of Goodman Games expanding into 3pp Pathfinder.

Congrats, Scott. I look forward to seeing what else lumbers out of the Zombie Sky pits.

Thank You, for the kind words Jon. The OKC area is in full PFS mode currently and we have a good growing group.

Is there any information about said group available? There's been one PFS Game Day Event in the OKC metro this summer (at GameHQ) and it was hosted by some of the Tulsa area folks.

Thanks again for your hard work, gents. When some of my 3PP stuff finally gets around to seeing the light of day, I'll most certainly give a thumbs-up for it appearing on the d20pfsrd.

KoboldQuarterly blog had stats for chicken familiars. A pirate witch or oracle might find those useful.

The Fearsome Power of Chickens cannot be denied. Nor their relative availability on seafaring vessels for the wizard, witch, or druid on a budget. Cheers!

John; just send me $4 if in the US for shipping--I thought I had emailed everyone:)

Bill

I put in an order back on the 9th of May, was only changed the $89.99 presale despite choosing a shipping option, and hadn't seen any other contact other than the "PDF is downloadable" message.

Is there any more information available on the Pathfinder Developer position at this point in time? Is it still open at this point or would there be any estimated date by which a decision might be made? I sent in my application package in December, and am still very interested in the possibility of working for Paizo.

On a related note, I will be in the Bellevue/Redmond/Seattle area from the 29th of April through the 4th May; if possible, I'd love the opportunity to drop by and see the Paizo offices, and possibly chat with someone about what the company is like. Who might be a good point of contact for such a visit?

Thanks for your time,

Alex Putnam

Actually, the familiar version is kind of cool, in weird peasant-wizard sort of way.

Isn't the PC term these days "hedge wizard"?