Happy Cake Day!
Search Posts
I am very interested but could only do it on Mondays.
I just wanted to say thank you to all the new players.
Hey Mooshy, this looks fun.
Wow Sees, that is awesome. Is it possible your scales are telling more of a story? Perhaps you were destined to be the nest-mother because you have both Black and Red scales? Maybe the All-Eater was female and Gorlaug is the father? That is why Krispa brought the egg to you?
Sorry for butting in but I have been a long time lurker/fan from one of Mooshy's other games. I agree that the rat rave is awesome and if Witchmother is half as good as Wolfmother it will be a shame to have to kill them. Go listen to Joker and the Thief by Wolfmother. (Back to silent lurker mode) thanks.
Does anyone have an idea for where and how we can keep track of important information we uncover so everyone can see it and share it? I am looking at Google Docs and think we could share-edit stuff in there. Or maybe there is a website already made for this kind of thing?
Well Sees is turning out to be quite snarky and it fits well with her big sister/only female roll she has going. And I guess I can under stand her mood swings if that hint she is hiding unborn eggs in her travel bag is true! Ha Ha that would be quite a secret.
As for the invalid remark, Smoog can seem preoccupied and overwhelmed with all that new techno-magic sh!t rattling around in his head, but actually I just missed that word. Good plan huh Hegh? we will see, haha.
I think Halloween and weekend football might have distracted quite a few people. It will probably start up again soon. Welcome aboard.
Yes, Halloween! For those of us who enjoy donning the façade of others, this is a busy day. I will probably not post after noon PST. I will catch up tomorrow.
I am really liking the diverse and colorful personalities being fleshed out in the group. Has anyone heard from Fssst the Firestarter? Fssst has such interesting potential as well. Hope he can catch up if he is still on board.
Smoog was mining at the time of the attack and was caught deep underground in a cave-in. Alone and lost, Smoog wandered thru forgotten tunnels, tubes and causeways of the mountain's underbelly trying to escape. Finally he stumbled on one of the dragon's minor treasure chambers. Inside he discovered gadgets, gizmos and do-dads of strange design and materials. Being the "smartest" of his brood-brothers, Smoog chose these over the gold and gems; deciding that he had been meant to find these. After all no one else was using them. He saw their power and knew he should claim it. (O.K. he took a little gold also, who are we kidding) Smoog had no way of knowing that this was actually an ancient Dwarven workroom from days gone by when Dwarves owned the mountain B.G. (Before Gorlaug). Along with several working gadgets were some manuals and tomes describing the Gadgeteer/Artificer trade. Smoog could kind of read so he took these as well hoping to learn more about his new life calling.
It's great to see Kaidan getting some love. It's enough to draw me back to the Paizo boards after a bit of a haitus. As you are preparing a campaign, I agree with the suggestions so far offered, especially starting with getting in the mood by absorbing inspirational media. Personally, I would decide on the type of campaign before getting too deep into the weeds on sourcebooks, as there is simply so much out there to use and the campaign style will help winnow out some of the stuff you don't need. I'll try and keep on eye on this thread to see where you take it. :)
Glad you approve of the Korobokuru! In hindsight I am actually surprised by how many other settings make them into a dwarf variant. When I was researching them for the book, I was struck by how unlike dwarfs they traditionally are. Especiall when there is another race that fits their nature so much better. Let us list the ways... they are short, live in holes in the ground, are adapt at not being seen when they don't want to be seen, hate conflict,... I could probably be talked into doing a Korobokuru racial book, though at the moment I have another project on the front burner, so it won't be right away if it comes, unless of course someone else 'volunteers' to put it together. The kitsune race is adapted from Scott Gable's Red Jack book from Zombie Sky Press (credit where it is due). Again, the goal was to make them closer to the actual source material, which I think the Paizo Kitsune deviates quite a bit from.
Oh I didn't know that about the kitsune. What better than to make a party and see? I will wait for the player's book to get the whole package though. By the eay, is the bestiary still comming? I would love to do a bestiary for Kaidan. But there are currently no concrete plans for one. That does not mean that we won't make such plans in the future, but nothing can currently be promised.
Ooooo... what's they like? The Necrotic Warrior class is based upon the kind of ninjas one sees in movies such as Shinobi: Heart under Blade, or the Ninja Scroll anime. They are warriors powered by negative energy and can choose particular paths: Brawn, Bone, Poison, Shadow, etc. They have limited and thematic spell-casting and can perform supernatural feats based upon their path. The Poison path, for instance, makes their touch (and kiss) poisonous. The Brawn path allows them to make themselves stronger and stronger, but at a cost of health (at higher levels they can drain other people's health to power their own strength.) A portion of the class was included in the Curse of the Golden Spear trilogy, but the full class will be in the Player Guide.
The player's guide is coming out next. It is currently in editing. Most of what is in the player's guide, however, is already in this book. The intent of the player's guide is to have a book the GM can hand to players so that they have some knowledge of the world, but none of the secrets, and so they can build characters without having to constantly ask the GM for his book (so basic racial information and some of the more appropriate classes). The one thing that is in the Player's Guide that I could not fit in the GM's book was the Necrotic Warrior class, which I have been trying to get into a book ever since I first designed it for the Curse of the Golden Spear trilogy.
Are there those who are able and willing to carry on after regrouping, or will the company need to be shut down, or is that a decision yet to be made? As far as I know, and I am not speaking from any sort of position of authority, only as someone involved with Rite, it is the latter. The funeral was only yesterday and it was agreed by those of us who freelanced for Steve that it would be wrong to ask Miranda her intentions with the company without giving her a proper amount of time to mourn and collect her thoughts. Those of us who have done work for Rite, several of us, most certainly have plans to continue producing product in one fashion or another. There are also some works which were in the pipe for Rite already, in various stages (editing, writing, etc.). How that will all play out though is not yet certain. Please give it a little more time for things to be decided.
After Steve's funeral today, I jotted down a set of thoughts about Steve, which I have shared elsewhere, and thought I would here as well, in his memory. In Memory of Steve Russell: When I learned that Steve Russell had been killed in a tragic car accident, I was at a loss to know what to say about Steve. There were so many things that I could say, but I didn’t know where to start, or what would be important. I had been in the middle of writing a proposal for a project for Steve that morning, and the first and only thing I could think of was that he would never get that email; you never know when a conversation will be the last you will have with a person. But beyond that, I had nothing. So I waited.
I was blessed to be scheduled to be near enough to Dayton to make both the viewing and the funeral for Steve. I introduced myself to his sister and wife. Miranda, Steve’s bride, pointed out the various books that Steve had published which they had put out for people to see. Around the books were scattered dice, a Babylon 5 hat, an Ennie award and down on the floor was a large “miniature” dragon, about twelve inches tall. A few of the books were some I had been involved in helping bring to fruition. In particular, I noticed a copy of Coliseum Morpheuon on the leftmost table. I had a suspicion what I would see if I opened it, and I was right. I knew that copy. On the inside front cover was my scrawl, next to that of Clinton Boomer’s. I remembered signing that book. I had met with Steve in Reynoldsburg on the east side of Columbus for the purpose of signing a set of those books. We met at Arby’s. My wife and kids spent the time browsing the nearby Half-Price Books. It was the first time we were to meet in person. It was a rather momentous occasion for me, and I think for Steve also, as it was his first physical “book” to come out of Rite Publishing (though not the last). Some months earlier Steve had asked me if I thought I could finish up Coliseum Morpheuon, a patronage project that was meant to be a high-level adventure set on the Plane of Dreams. He had a mess of material, but it was unorganized and while plenty of background material had been done, the actual adventure had not been written. I am not sure why Steve thought I could do it. I had, at that point only done one other thing for him, a small book co-written with Trevor Gulliver. Steve suggested he needed another 15,000 words, all he could afford to pay for. I ended up doing about 60-70,000, a great deal of editing, and a full organization of the book. I worked at it for about a month, solid. Steve could only afford, when all was said and done, what he had agreed to pay me, but I would do it again. Because when it was done, there was an actual RPG book, in print, with my name on the cover as a co-author. It was the fulfillment of a life-long ambition. Steve Russel gave me that opportunity. He did that for many of us, and it was one of the things that made him so special, though certainly not the only thing, nor the most important thing.
Steve was good at making people feel good about their work. He would be critically honest of things that weren’t good, but he had an eye for what was good, and he was able to tell people when they had done a good job. That’s not actually a common talent, though you would think it might be. All that came back to me when I saw that book there with my signature in it. *** I met Miranda for the first time at Steve’s viewing. It was obvious, as is the case with most of us men, that Steve had married up. I think Steve knew it too. He seldom referred to his wife online by name. She was referenced as “She-who-is-amazing.” It seemed obvious that he was quite in love with her. It was also good to meet Steve’s sister, who he had so often praised publically for the work she did for their family. There were a goodly number of people at the funeral for Steve; they had to keep bringing in chairs for the ones that kept coming in. I suspect a fair percentage were family. Family seemed important to Steve, and many of the photos posted on the arranged boards near to the other mementos of Steve’s life were of Steve with family. Photos with his niece and nephew were especially touching and there was obvious mutual affection visible in them. One of the most heartbreaking things, after learning Steve was gone, was learning that he was going to be a father. I think he would have been a good father. I suspect he had been happy to have the opportunity. His niece, Eryn Gardner (I may be misremembering the spelling of the name), wrote a very touching letter about her uncle, which was read at the funeral. Among other things, she commented that she thought that, in addition to being a good brother, uncle, and son, Steve would have made a good father. So I am not the only one to have that thought. While on the topic of family, one of the things I always appreciated about Steve, a thing that resonated with me, was that he was a dutiful son. I think the world needs more dutiful sons that respect and love their parents. His mother’s death affected him greatly, as it should have. I think it obvious that he wanted to be closer to his father to help take care of his dad. *** Speaking of the pictures that were arranged around the funeral home, one thing I thought about during the service for Steve was that he was very good at smiling. I appreciate that because its not one of my talents. Steve smiled a lot. Most of the pictures of him, it seemed to me, were of Steve smiling. He had a good smile. *** I mentioned Steve gave people opportunities. I’ll say more about that. Rite Publishing’s DrivethruRPG pages list 472 different products for sale. I wrote or helped or contributed to at least 30 of those products, which include several things I am still rather pleased with. Each one was a chance to do something I really enjoy doing. As I said before, Steve gave me that opportunity. I was not alone. Steve did a lot of the work for Rite himself, but it was not a one man show. He had the help of editors, artists, lay-out persons, and writers. He had, I think, an eye for talent, and a sense of good ideas. Steve was a decent writer in his own right, but the best things he offered were not always his own work. The Demolished Ones, Lord’s of Gossamer and Shadows, Coliseum Morpheuon and several others that could be mentioned were ideas others had which Steve facilitated, or ideas Steve had which he gave over to others to work on. Steve recently listed the top 10 items he had produced in reference to the first 30 days of sales. Only #10, 1001 Spells, was a book Steve had personally written. But Steve was happy to let others shine, and he encouraged others to produce good stuff for him. Many who wrote in memory of Steve have commented on the encouragement Steve gave them, and the opportunity he provided for them to work in the RPG industry. Steve also gave me the opportunity to go to GenCon in 2011. Me and my wife both, courtesy of Cubicle 7, who had published Coliseum Morpheuon in book form for Steve. Steve had told them I could GM. As I recall, I had been running games at Origin. I had asked Steve if I could do so under the auspices of Rite Publishing, and he had agreed. I have ended up running games for at least 5 years at Origins, representing Rite, though operating on my own in planning, arranging, etc. But that year, as I remember it, I had run one game, after which a player had gone and bought several books from Steve. It was some such. Anyway, he had been asked to find GMs for Cubicle 7, and he had proffered them my name. I ended up running Airship Pirates for them, as well as One Ring. I fell in love with One Ring, and was meh on Airship Pirates. My wife spent the Con working the Cubicle 7 booth and became quite chummy with the designer of One Ring, which was the hotness that year, Francesco Nepitello. It was an opportunity and experience that we would not have had, without Steve. *** Creative people all have their own unique way of going about things. We don’t always see eye to eye. Some of the ideas I floated past Steve he didn’t think would work, and some he floated by me I thought were a bit off. I worked on his anyway when he asked me to, making them as good as I could under the guidelines he gave. He in turn sometimes let me experiment on my own. Things tended to work out. I remember after he had just finished up doing 1001 spells he was ready to take a little break from his 101 series. He asked if I wanted to do a month. I said yes, enthusiastically. I had a great idea, from a previous book of doing a whole series of cursed items and 101 of them seemed like just the thing. He gave the go-ahead and I gleefully churned out 101 Malevolent Magic Items. I found out after, in a passing comment he made, that he had thought the idea would never really go over, but he let me do it anyway. I got to do the book I wanted, and when it was well recieved, he acknowledged he had been wrong. He was generous that way. Steve had strong opinions, but he could and would change them, if necessary. And when some of his own pet projects failed to pan out, he was not so stubborn as to refuse to change course. Which of course allowed him to focus on those things that were actually successful. Because, while not all of his ideas were good ones, several of them were very good. ***** The funeral for Steve ended up being a good one, as such things go.
There were several touching eulogies offered by friends and colleagues of Steve’s at his funeral. I had thought about the possibility of speaking on the drive from Columbus to Dayton, and what I would say, if offered the opportunity. Many of the thoughts I had are recorded above.
People are creators, made in the image of a Great Creator. We build. We plan. We dream. We imitate the One who created the worlds, children playing at trying to be like their Father. Our efforts are pale imitaions of the real thing, but that does not make them without value. There are many ways to go about this act of creation. Some people build furniture. Some people paint. Some people do pottery, or sew clothes, or cook food, or invent. Some write music, or compose poems, or shape metal or invent new gizmos and gadgets. And some people dream up worlds. Steve was a dreamer of worlds. Fantastic worlds filled with fantastic creatures, danger, heroics, and magic. He gave many of us the opportunity to do the same. There’s something of the divine in that activity. It’s a good thing to do, this act of creating, a heritage of our shared humanity, and while, like all things, it can be misused or abused, it’s a noble endeavor with a rich tradition in which to walk. I am glad of the opportunity to have walked it a time with Steve. He will be missed. His absence leaves the world just a little less bright, and a little emptier, bereft of his smile.
Steve's sister has shared a link to a memorial fund for Steve's family.
In answer to two rules ambiguities End raises...
Animating a tree using a quickening point is a standard action unless you have the Swift Tree Call feat, which allows you to do it as a swift action.
I think the next issue should be out anytime. Steve has already posted the cover image of it over on facebook.
Towers, using the Harrow deck published by Paizo. 3 Dragon Ante has already been mentioned. Chess and draughts would both work. Go also. Various dice games have been popular the world over and are surely played in Golarion. There's also a myriad of games in the mancala family that you could look up which might make for good games to adapt.
I think you are talking from the vantage of hindsight. There was a period when there was no communication, no apology, and a great deal of angst. It just managed to get resolved eventually. The moral of which is, things can change. What seems a catastrophe now might get resolved down the road a bit.
MEx100000000000! Now, if you just commit to buying that many copies, I would start work on it tomorrow. :D If there were to be adventures focused on just one race at a time, which one(s) would you like to see given priority? My brain is naturally full of treants at the moment, but there's quite a collection of races to choose from at this point.
Now available here at paizo.
You know you’ve always wanted to play a treant, crushing pesky orcs underfoot and casting down wizard;s towers. Now you can, with Rite Publishing's In the Company of Treants. Begin as a young near-sapling and grow your treant as you gain in power until you are one of the true giants of the deep woods. This supplement gives you not one, but THREE playable Treant races, a dozen extensive class archetypes, a paragon racial class, and even an NPC treant class for the GM on the go. Now you can build a variety of treants, starting from 1 HD and leveling them all the way up to 20 HD. Build a treant party and start a treant campaign. This is the book to do it with!
Also, sorry for the slow down in my posting - I'm trying to finish up a book I am two years late on, have four adventures to write this month, vacation to prepare for, classes for preaching camp to prep, including writing test, five bulletin articles to get done, and 9 sermons. I should be good so long as I don't have to suddenly frame Gildor for some murder or other on top of all that, but May is shaping up as being full...
It also seems a little counter intuitive to share your design ideas with others, but I guess you just share your secondary ideas to practice the writing, correct? Thanks again, I really appreciate your feedback! I would advise you not to be overly proprietary with your designs. Collaboration tends to make game design better, not worse; and most creative types aren't going to "steal" your ideas. If they are truly creative, they have ideas of their own. What you will tend to find is that the mutual feedback creates new ideas.
Submitting for posterity... :) Abiding Light
I am looking forward to the day when I am no longer qualified to participate, though it still would have been nice to make the top 32 before it happens. But if it happens that this year is the year I become ineligible, I won't complain. :) I'm not sure its a problem to be upset about. But it doesn't sound like you're necessarily too close to the line yet Solspiral. The kickstarter is a non-issue. Starting your own company is more of an issue, but if its a small, non-full-time thing, you are likely alright. And Pathfinder compatible, as you surmise, is not the same as having a Paizo design credit.
This is true. I have never made the top 32, but one of my items submitted was deemed good enough for inclusion into Ultimate Equipment. So not being chosen for advancement is not necessarily indicative of your talent or the quality of your entry (though being chosen does certainly look good on a resume I understand). As I have said for several years now, if you don't make the top 32, look for others entryways into the writing side of the business if thats what you want to do. (Of course this particular pep-talk really belongs to Wednesday's discussion.)
Now that voting is over, I would just like to say that I read half the items half as often as I would have liked and liked less than half half as well as they deserved. Good job, all six hundred or so who entered this year, and good luck to the top 32 in the rounds that are to come.
Shame there isn't a list of culled item... We could start to openly say a few things about some of them (which hopefully were culled). Unless the writer requested such feedback, it would be generally bad form to do so. Minor asides is one thing, outright discussion is something else.
I just saw my own item, and after reading and comparing it to the item it was matched with I felt justified in up voting it. In other news, a dog bites a man. :D I await the one among us who admits the other item was better than our own and they down-voted their own creation. ;)
I would urge contestants to realize that the 300 words is neither a requirement nor a quota. And if your item is 300 words long you should normally, imho, consider how you might consolidate your verbiage. Sometimes you can't, but most of the 250-300 word items I have seen could have been vastly improved through more concise language and less prose. I can understand thinking an item missed an obvious power. But I have not yet seen any I thought were really hurt by being shorter rather than longer. If it happens, I would have to think that it's an exception, not a rule.
Good item that could be great with one tiny extra power that makes so much sense given your description. You used under half your words you had room to take it to the next level!I actually prefer it if they stop while they are ahead. More than one item I have seen has been ruined by that one extra, unecessary power. Do you mean a misstep for a character who is shopping? Or for a designer? In both cases I would have to politely disagree with you. As a player and Dungeon Master I prefer items that are evocative and cool over those that are demonstrably mechanically superior (i.e. munchkin); though useful and evocative is a sure win. But items that try to do everything are not as much fun as something that does one quirky thing well. For writers and designers, I would encourage elegance of style and economy of words. Simple and to the point is easier to read, and, when keeping manuscripts to word-count is a useful skill to have.
Good item that could be great with one tiny extra power that makes so much sense given your description. You used under half your words you had room to take it to the next level! I actually prefer it if they stop while they are ahead. More than one item I have seen has been ruined by that one extra, unecessary power.
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -4 Strength; +2 to any One Ability: Smurfs, being tiny, are physically weak, but they have an innate grace and charm all their own. Each smurf develops their own individual strengths as they mature. The +2 to any One Ability may be added to those already modified.
Smurfs
Smurf characters have the following characteristics.
|
