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Sovereign Court

So, I'm running my group through Rise of the Runelords and the party just got to Thistletop, and, well half of them fell to their deaths on the rope bridge. One PC was captured by Nualia and her gang, while another PC has escaped back to Sandpoint.

Now I'm thinking of how to continue the campaign. I reckon that Nualia, upon discovering that her plans were known about from the captured PC, would accelerate her attack on Sandpoint and without the PC's there to save the town, would almost certainly win. So maybe I should start the campaign again in Magnimar, with the Skinsaw Men going around the town killing folk while the story of an army of Goblins burning Sandpoint to the ground filters into town. Any advice?

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Hey guys. I'm about to DM a game of Council of Thieves for my local group, but I have a question about a possible players handout. Namely the Westcrown: City of Twilight Chapter in the Bastards of Erebus. I've had a look through it a few times, and nothing really suggests that it'd be inappropriate for my players to read, other then the brief stat lines of course, but those are easily changeable. So, am I missing something important, or can I give that chapter to my players and not worry about spoilers?

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So, Peter F Hamilton's 'The Evolutionary Void' just came out, and I finished it off over the weekend. First thoughts..

Wow. Exemplary end to the trilogy, with him really showing off his excellent skill at writing epic space opera. More detailed thoughts, and spoilers below!

Spoiler:
I was amazed at how well he wrapped all the plot lines together, with everyone converging in the void. Plot twists, while still surprising, are signposted a tiny bit before hand, so there's no sense of things creeping up out of nowhere. The Deterrence Fleet is just as badass as everyone thought it'd be, but the solution to getting rid of it was equally brilliant.

The Accelerator Faction really proved to be great villains, with thoroughly insane plans and the ability to see them through to fruition, and it really feels like the 'good' guys have to work and sacrifice to get the victory they needed, though they still get a happy ending! Various characters get to be just as awesome as always, with High Angel and Paula Myo taking the cake. We even get little snippets of The Cat's crimes, and jeez.. I really, really shouldn't like her, but she's just too damn charismatic. And I like the bad girls. Plenty of characters from the The Commonwealth Saga pop up for cameos, which is always a nice bit of fan service, but thankfully you don't need to read them to follow along.

So, anyone else got through this one yet? Go get stuck into the Commonwealth Saga if you've not yet!

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So yeah. Seems my finances aren't as sorted as I'd hoped, and the bank is throwing more obstacles in my way. So, without a credit card, I'll have to sadly cancel the subscription.

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That's a lot of books. But anyway, I now exist in the world of the financially solvent, so in addition to finally processing these orders, can I get them combined somewhat to minimise the shipping costs? I think combining 1294477 and 1320898 might be possible, but 1335331 is already rather large.

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RNC spend $2k on Lesbian Bondage Club

Aaaaah. Now that's a story! Seriously. If Michael Steele admitted to being there and enjoying the show, he'd be awesome. Maybe he could spin it as an outreach programme?

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Well.. seems that EA are actually kind now. They've released Command and Conquer, C&C Red Alert and C&C Tiberium Sun + Firestorm as free downloads. The downloads are ISO files, so you'll need a reader for them, but there are installation instructions, as well as legacy patches available at any good C&C fan site. Good luck commander!

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Saints Win! SAINTS WIN!

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On my recent trip to my local Waterstones, I saw a interesting trilogy of books that quite appealed to me, called the Mistress of the Empire series by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts. The descriptions looked good, and it ticked many of the boxes I look for. Female protagonist, lots of politics, intrigue and the like, but I've never read a Raymond E. Feist book before now, so I've no idea what he's like. So some recommendations would be nice before putting my money down and devoting a while to reading them.

So, has anyone read them? From the looks of them, they work as an individual trilogy without having to read the other books in the Riftwar cycle, but it'd be nice to know if I should read them first. Any advice would be muchly appreciated!

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Teaser Video

Yup. Looks like my money's gonna disappear again this year. Hurray!

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Continued from the Reagan thread, as that's a nice little thread that I don't want to spoil any further with this rubbish.

Crimson Jester wrote:

Top five causes for the civil war

1. Economic and social differences between the North and the South.
2. States versus federal rights. as I mentioned above
3. The fight between Slave and Non-Slave State Proponents.
4. Growth of the Abolition Movement.
5. The election of Abraham Lincoln.

So while slavery was an issue it was not as others have sought to hard to prove and have fallen down trying to, the one and only issue. It was not even the top issue. In fact in many ways it was as a side effect of the changing culture at the time.

1. Economic and social differences between the North and the South. (The Industrialised North vs the Agricultural South, primarily based on slaves.)

2. States versus federal rights. (Yes, the right to keep slaves)
3. The fight between Slave and Non-Slave State Proponents. (Obvious)
4. Growth of the Abolition Movement. (Obvious)
5. The election of Abraham Lincoln. (Obvious)

So even taking that list, it all comes back to slavery. And with the Articles of Secession from various states stating, quite clearly that the reason for their secession was due to slavery, it seems your arguments don't stand up.

I've previously listed the Alabama Conference on Secession, The Texas Article of Secession and Stephen's Cornerstone speech, all of which state the fear over Slavery being ended as the reason for the South's illegal secession from the Union. No other reasons are given, at least until after the war ended, when suddenly the 'Lost Cause' myth comes to the fore, mainly to save face.

I'd also point out that the Slave owning states were only too happy to run roughshod over 'States Rights' with the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

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Woo, Football! (That's proper football, or soccer for my colonial friends)

Anyway, the draw for the group stage has been done, and the teams line up as so.

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece
Group C: England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile

Excellent group for England, and we should win that group. Group D and G look well tough though.

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This movie could be subtitled 'The Anti-Twilight', and it certainly seems to be a proper vampire film. No sparkling, vegetarian wimps here, but vicious bloodsuckers being vicious in a very bloody way. Looks like it's a guaranteed r-rating film, but seems to have an interesting plot. Namely, Vampires make up 95%+ of the population on Earth, and they are running out of human blood. Add in some proper acting support from Sam Neill and Willem Defoe, and this might be a winner.

Thoughts?

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Obama wins the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

BBC News wrote:

US President Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Committee said he won it for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples".

The committee highlighted Mr Obama's efforts to support international bodies and promote nuclear disarmament.

Mr Obama's spokesman said the president was "humbled" to have won the prize. He said he woke Mr Obama up when he called with the news early on Friday.

Incredibly impressive this. The Nobel Committee made it clear that it was for Obama's intentions, rather then his actions so far, but I'm sure we all hope he can follow through on his intentions and make the world a more peaceful place.

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EA recently announced that they were making C&C4, for release sometime next year. The announcement trailer looked rather cool, with Kane meeting the GDI heads to propose some sort of alliance to deal with the environmental problems the Earth is facing.

Then I read this preview article for the game, which brought about quite a few surprises. Namely getting rid of the C&C trademark of base building, harvesting etc, and replacing it with a control point system, along with a large crawler type vehicle that spawns all your units. I'm rather surprised to see these big changes to the game, given that I liked building my base!

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Game Geeks 112: Pathfinder RPG

Lucky him, getting the book early. Grrh. Watching it now, but the reviews by him are usually very good, and he covers a lot of games.

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While I completely understand that Pathfinder is going to be compatible with 3.5 books, and that I could easily drop a monster from my 3.5 books into combat with PC's using Pathfinder rules, there are going to be plenty of options in those 3.5 books that my PC's are going to use, not least feats and PRC's. This is especially a problem when I look at all my Forgotten Realms books.

So basically, I was wondering if we'd get a conversion document giving DM's some advice as to how to convert between 3.5 and Pathfinder, and when we might hope to see one?

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So, on the chat room just now we were discussing how classic pictures would be improved by adding in the Iconics. Which seemed somewhat amusing, and hey, if any of you artists wanted to make something like this up, it'd be pretty ace to see. Anyway, the pictures we thought up were this.

--
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Merisiel and Ezren in the American Gothic picture by Grant Wood.
The Last Supper, with all the Iconics. (Though who gets to be Jesus is up for debate!)
Abbey Road, with Valeros, Seoni, Merisiel and Kyra.
Birth of Venus by Botticelli, with Seoni as Venus.

Any other fun suggestions from you guys?

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So, it's not long until the 40th Anniversary of Mankind stepping foot on another celestial body. Which, if you ask me, is a rather impressive feat.

Seems rather appropriate therefore, that NASA have released photos of the landing sites, taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, currently orbiting the moon, which show quite clearly the landing sites, the landers themselves, and in the case of Apollo 14, various footprints around the landing site. These are very impressive images, and can be found here.

I figured I'd share them with you. Anyone here old enough to remember the landings themselves?

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Figured I'd post this on a separate thread, so I wouldn't get in the way of the love-in on the main thread. But I do need to get this off my chest.

Transformers 2 is a horrible, horrible film. It is an abomination of cinema. It fails as an action film, as a summer blockbuster or a sci-fi film. It's one success is perhaps being worse then the first film. Oh, and advertising. So two successes, perhaps. Go Michael Bay, who seems to lack any artistic talent or worth, and is perhaps duking it out with Uwe Boll for worst film maker ever. (Though, to be fair to Boll, he has to raise the money himself for his films. Hollywood seems happy to give Bay all he wants)

Let's take it first as an action film. The camera consistently shakes in every action sequence. That's when we aren't treated to filters, lens flare, obscuring smoke or other things designed to obfuscate the view of the action. Quite why this occurs I don't know, but it does. Not that you'd be able to tell which robot is which during combat, as with the exception of Prime and Bumblebee, the rest seem to be the same dull gunmetal grey. That's of course when you actually get a close in on the action, given that most of it seems to be from the view of the US army as they fight from a distance.

Oh, and it's 150 Minutes long. Which is 2 and a half hours. At least one hour of which is entirely unneeded. It would seem as if Editing is something other movies do, or perhaps no one had the balls to tell Bay to cut something (Like, I don't know, the mass of dick, f*@& and ball jokes throughout the film. I'm not a puritan, but jeez, this is a kids movie!). You have many scenes that make no sense. Scenes that do not move forward the 'plot' in any way. You have too many human characters who's role in life seems to be comic relief, most of which plays on racial stereotypes.

Speaking of the plot.. well, what can you really say? There isn't one. At least, other then a plot that was written up in two seconds on the back of a napkin. There are plenty of moments that break even the tenuous hold the film has on it's internal logic. (Oh, Boombox can turn into other stuff now? Robots are born from organic eggs?)

Now, the film could have been turned into a moderately decent action flick, if Bay had decided to focus on the Robots beating each other up, rather then the myriad of human characters. But he doesn't, which is a shame. Though worse is his treatment of Megan Fox as nothing more then T+A for the masses. She may be a talented actor. She may be a decent actor. She might be an acceptable actor. We don't know, as she doesn't do anything in this film other then shove her ass at us.

Speaking of the human characters, the focus on them pushes the Transformers themselves into second billing in their OWN MOVIE. This is insane, given that as the Transformers themselves have voices, personalities and character, we don't need the human story to hang the film on.

No doubt many will excuse it as 'Oh, it's based on a toy commercial. What do you expect?'. Which is just about as pathetic a comment as I've ever heard. Michael Bay spent $200 MILLION on this film. And we get this, a film that fails on multiple levels? Sure, the source material isn't perfect, but we can get source material that consists of a rich guy who dresses up as a nocturnal animal and hunts bad guys due to missing his parents and turn that into the Dark Knight. Hell, the cartoons and comics at least hit good pulp sci-fi levels, so is it too much to ask that a film that has $200 MILLION spent on it at least beat that? Apparently it is. And apparently that's what people want. There are film makers and scripts out there that could actually do some good with a tenth of that money, and make films that are truly memorable.

But instead, we get Michael Bay to teabag us all. Twice. To the tune of $200 MILLION. For two and a half hours. Hurray for Cinema!

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We need some, after all! We don't get the whole company down, but we are getting Logue, Pett, Schneider and Wenhem. (Logue and Pett will probably cancel each other out though)

Anyway! Reason number 1. Curry Night! That's right, a whole night of curry. No doubt we'll be suffering for it afterwards, but hey, it's totally worth it. Curry is, after all, the British National Dish.

Speaking of Curry Nights, there's one thing that always has to go with it, and that's Reason number 2. Beer! Proper beer too, not the watered down American stuff. Beer is mandatory when you're having a curry, so your mouth doesn't burn out, so it's good we have some good stuff over here.

Reason number 3 though, and the one that should make Lilith jealous, is that I'll be bringing some McVities Digestives. This does of course mean that we'll be having lots of tea, which we have to, by law, drink everyday.

Also, I'll be there. :D

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So, rather then being depressed about all the remakes being mentioned on the other thread, I figured I'd be positive about something, and discuss original films. (As in, not a remake, sequel or something based on a book)

The last original film I watched recently was Gran Torino, which I felt was a really good film from Clint Eastwood, and had new ideas and a new plot. Something I really appreciated as a lover of films. I do want to see Drag Me to Hell soon as well, and I'm hoping there are some more films later that are new coming out this year.

Anyone seen any good new films recently? Or looking forward to any?

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I've been reading both the Legacy and Knights of the Old Republic comic lines, and greatly enjoying them. KoTOR is really fun, but Legacy is a fascinating era, with many great characters and organisations. I mean, the Imperial Knights are just fascinating. Anyone else reading them? If so, what do you think?

I also wanted to see if anyone had any advice on what comics to get next. I've been thinking of getting the Tales of the Jedi line, along with the X-Wing line. Those are rather helpfully collected into a number of Omnibuses, which should make them easy to get. Any suggestions guys?

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So, yeah. Mass Effect 2. Sequel to the best RPG for this current generation of consoles.. and not that I really have to say much, but anyone who's played Mass Effect knows how much this game is going to rock.

Anyway, there was a new teaser trailer released today for the game, showing off some of the new alien species, planets, combat and

Spoiler:
Shepard stranded in space, walking through the torn apart Normandy

The teaser can be found here.

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So, I've been reading both the Star Wars Legacy comics, and the Knights of the Old Republic ones. I'm up to Claws of the Dragon for Legacy, and Knights of Suffering for KoTOR, but I know what happens after in both, so don't worry about spoiling me (though others might!)

I am really enjoying those two series. They feel very 'Star Wars' to me, much more then the Clone Wars series. Now, what I want to know is if it's worth getting any of the other comics. The set I've been looking at are some of the Omnibus ones, namely the Tales of the Jedi set and the X-Wing sets. Tales of the Jedi looks quite epic, and how can you go wrong with X-Wing's? :D

So, what I'm asking is has anyone here read any other Star Wars comics that are worth recommending. Or maybe we could just talk about Legacy and the KoTOR comics?

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Couple of questions. Firstly, as they are on offer, which ones are the best to get, and the most useful for people?

Secondly, as this is one for the British (or Europeans). If I order them from Paizo, am I going to get hit with a customs charge? Normally when I order from Paizo, I don't get hit with one. Those orders are usually books though. However, the one time I ordered some dice and the Grey Maiden's T-Shirt, I got hit with one. The only difference I could see was that the 'Games' box was ticked on the customs decleration. So, has anyone over in Europe ordered some and been hit by a customs charge? If they do, I might have to start looking for them at UK based stores.

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Right here. New terms and everything.

Also, Morrus over on EnWorld posted up a letter he received from WoTC detailing the changes.

EnWorld, Morrus wrote:

Publishing friends,

I just wanted to let you know that the revision of GSL that we announced back in August 2008 is going live today (it should go up around 4PM PST). I have posted a copy for your reference.

Also a revised SRD, logos, and updated FAQ are being posted to: http://www.wizards.com/d20

Highlights include:

* Removal of section 6, which set terms & conditions for 4e compatible product lines that may have been previously published under the Open Game License (OGL).

* Inclusion of a provision for a “Notice of Termination”, allowing publishers to end their use of the GSL at their choosing. This includes the addition of a 6-month inventory sell off period after executing a Notice of Termination.

* Modification to imagery clause that clarifies use derivative art work.

* Additions to the SRD from Player’s Handbook® 2, Monster Manual® 2, and Adventurer’s Vault™ including:
o Barbarian, bard, druid, and sorcerer class options
o Alchemy, alchemical formula template, and alchemical items
o Vehicles, mounts, and the vehicle template
o Disease template
o Demons, devils, rust monster, metallic dragons, duergar, and over 50 other monsters

I hope you find the revisions to your liking and I want to thank you for your patience as we revised the GSL.

Sincerely,

Scott Rouse
Sr. Brand Manager - Dungeons & Dragons
Wizards of the Coast LLC

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Simple question! As I'm hoping to get all six Pathfinder products sent in one order next month, does that mean you'll pack them all in one of your boxes, rather then the cardboard envelope? I ask as I've discovered that those boxes are rather good at storing all my Pathfinder books. :D

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If someone had told me two years ago that I'd ever consider EA to be a good thing for gaming, I'd have laughed in their face. That was of course back when EA were doing nothing more then churn out sports games. (I can't have been the only one who felt pretty worried when EA bought Bioware either)

But in the past year or so, EA have actually started impressing me with their new approach. Sure, the DRM nonsense is a huge black mark against them, but that's a whole different discussion. I've been impressed mainly by their new games, particularly their willingness to try out new concepts. Dead Space and Mirror's Edge were two top quality games, and actually contained lots of new ideas. Hopefully EA will stick with those new titles, and keep encouraging new ones.

However, the act that impressed me right now was EA admitting that 'they've learnt their lesson over release dates', and aren't going to release all their games in November. Something that has to be a good thing for us gamers. I mean, in my job I get free rentals of games, along with a discount on new purchases, and I've still not played all the really good titles that were released around November 2008. Besides, spreading release dates around might just ensure that firstly, games aren't rushed to ensure release before the holidays, and secondly, we've something to play all year round.

So, what do you guys think? Have EA really turned a corner, and are slowly becoming a decent games company?

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Another positive review of the Pathfinder Campaign, by the same guy who did the recent review of the PFRPG. Nice to see Pathfinder getting some publicity and good reviews.

Watch it here

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As a little companion piece to the 'General State of Science' thread I started, and as part of a quest to learn more about what life in Golarion is like, I figured I'd ask a series of questions about the laws of Golarion, mainly in those areas around the Inner Sea (as they are, for the most part, the more 'civilised' areas of Golarion). Naturally, there will be differences depending on where you talk about, but I'm sure there can be an overview of sorts.

I will point out that I am not a lawyer, or even a law student, so my knowledge of how the law works is rather limited. If someone who has more knowledge of that wants to weigh in on my questions, feel free. That means you, Sebastian. ;)

How developed is property law? Which nations actually treat people's property as private?
How is inheritance handled? Is it the First Son always, or something more advanced?
What about adventurers. How does the law treat them? Can private citizens walk around with weapons, or do they need to be registered? And by extension, do adventurers need to be registered?
Now for international relations. How are they handled? Are there embassies dotted around the various capital cities, and how common are they? How is extradition handled? Are there rules in place, or are such extraditions handled on an ad hoc basis?

Thanks in advance for any answers!

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Looking through the submissions that have been posted for the various PFS open calls, it seems to me that many people are struggling with the Active Voice vs Passive Voice. I know that I'm one of them! I rather struggled with it during my attempt at a submission (not that I sent it in)

So, with that in mind, I looked up what they were, and found an excellent guide to them, which I figured might be helpful to share with people. This is from the BBC News Style Guide PDF. (And if you can't trust the BBC to have good English, who can you trust? The French?)

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Activity is interesting. Where you can, write sentences with subjects that are doing things, and not subjects that are simply receiving actions upon them. Compare these two sentences:

• A meeting will be held by the company’s directors next week.

• The company’s directors will meet next week.

The first is an example of what grammarians call the passive voice; the second is the active voice. Don’t be put off, it’s really very simple.

Active voice: A does B.
Passive voice: B is done (usually by A).

The active voice will help give your scripts some vitality and life. It can also make a weak sentence more emphatic and give it greater impact. Compare these examples.The first is in the passive, the second active:

• There were riots in several towns in Northern
England last night, in which police clashed with
stone-throwing youths.

• Youths throwing stones clashed with police during
riots in several towns in Northern England last night.

The there is, there are construction is overused.Why waste time stating that something exists when you could get on and describe the action?The imagery in the second version is so much more vivid and powerful and helps the audience to imagine what went on.

Sometimes, though, the passive is better.

Active: A rhinoceros trampled on Prince Edward
at a safari park today.

Passive: Prince Edward was trampled on by a
rhinoceros at a safari park today.

In this example, the focus of the story is Prince Edward, not the rhinoceros, and it is the royal name you probably want at the beginning of the sentence because that is where it will have most impact.

Governments, politicians, and officials of all kinds love the passive because individual actions are buried beneath a cloak of collective responsibility.They say mistakes were made instead of we made mistakes, and use phrases such as in the circumstances it was considered and it will be recognised that and it was felt necessary that. Used in this way, the passive takes the life out of the action and distances it from any identifiable source.When things go well, the minister or company chairman or football manager says: “I decided on this course of action.” When the response is less positive, this becomes: “It was thought to be the right thing to do at the time.”

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I hope this helps people!

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Would it be possible to combine these orders, so that I might save on S&H? Thanks in advance. :)

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The series 'Game Geeks', which is a YouTube show that reviews various niche RPG's, recently reviewed the Pathfinder RPG Beta. Rather a good, positive review, and its nice to see some publicity for the Beta.

I think he keeps mispronouncing Paizo though, heh. Its a good little series though, plenty of reviews of games you might not have heard of. Worth checking out.

Game Geeks #83 Pathfinder RPG Beta Playtest by Paizo

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As a wannabe Philosopher and someone who's generally interested in science, I've often wanted to have characters in my games who at least express some similar interests. However, its difficult to do this, as I can't just draw upon the real world, given that the real world never had to deal with the implications of actual magic upon the sciences.

So, my question to you guys is this. What is the general state of science in Golarion, in all the various fields of study? Just a time period for comparison would be nice, though I'm guessing it's roughly around pre-Enlightenment times. Though I do have a few more specific questions.

Is the theory of Evolution around? Does Evolution even exist in Golarion?
Does anyone have any ideas about non-Euclidean geometry?
What about the Mind/Body problem? How is that dealt with?
Do people know about atoms?

I do of course appreciate that these issues are of little relevance for a fantasy RPG, but they are of some interest to me, especially as my PFS character is a bit of a scholar. So thanks in advance for any advice in this matter.

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So yes. WoW, that game that rules the internet, released a little expansion pack recently. You may have heard of it.

No doubt some of you have wives, husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends and best friends who have fallen pray to Blizzard's evil policies of sucking money, time, life and the very soul out of people. I myself have several friends (and one girlfriend) whose only response these past two days have been 'Can't talk, raiding' or 'SHUT UP, WoW time!'

This is sad. The best way to deal with it, surely, is to have a support group and tell each other our stories of abandonment. So share already! Cause I need support. :(

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Hey there CS guys. :)

My issue with this order isn't related to the finances (which will, of course, be sorted out in due time), but its this. The order has both items I've already been sent (and arrived) and new items. I just want to check that I'm not about to be charged for those items I've already gotten again!

The items on this order that I've already got are:

PF 14
PF 15
Gods and Magic
Elves of Golarion
LB1
LB2
Hungry are the Dead (D4)

The items on this order that are pending are:

PF 16
Into the Darklands
The Pact Stone Pyramids

Thanks in advance for any help with this. :)

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So, on the Paizo Chat Room, we were just discussing the nature of villains and how the three big bad's we've seen so far are all of the 'Destroy the World' motivation, to various degrees. (Karazoug and Ileosa could be classed as 'Rule parts of the World, destroy others', for instance).

This, I suppose, is one of the bad things I've seen from Paizo. While I've no complaint about the big bad characters themselves, as they have all been intriguing characters, it's odd that Paizo would choose to have the same overarching motivation for three (and from the looks of Legacy of Fire, four) big bads.

Given Paizo's skills with characters, plots and general adventures, this realisation was a surprise for me. I find antagonists that have more complex motives to be the most memorable characters possible, and I point to the KoTOR 2 trio of Sith Lords, along with the antagonist in Fable 2 as examples. Really though, I'd just like to see an adventure path that deviates away from 'Save the World' plot, though I feel that having a main antagonist who doesn't want to destroy it would be a start.

Thoughts guys?

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Colin Powell Endorses Obama

Well, that just about wraps that up. President Obama it is.

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Hey guys.

With Halloween coming up, I've been looking at running a brief horror game for my group. With that in mind, I've been looking at the 3.5 module Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, or the Pathfinder module U2: Hangmans Noose.

Anyway, in this thread I'd like to talk about Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, and moving it into the world of Golarion. I've got some ideas on sticking Castle Ravenloft in Ustalav, and using the Harrow deck for the reading, but I'm wondering if anyone on here has any other ideas on how to run it? Has anyone run this module, or know of any good resources for this module or Ravenloft in general?

Thanks in advance guys for any help you can send my way.

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Yay! New Halo 3 game.

Looks like you'll be playing as one of the ODST's. Trailer looks awesome too, and Mr ODST has a new weapon.

Here's the press release.

Press Release wrote:

To the delight of devoted fans across the world, at the Tokyo Game Show Microsoft debuted Halo 3: Recon, developed exclusively for Xbox 360® by acclaimed developer Bungie. This new chapter in the Halo saga lets you experience events leading up to the epic story told in Halo 3 through the eyes of a new hero in the Halo universe.

The stand-alone expansion, set to release in fall 2009, extends the award-winning Halo® 3 experience with hours of new campaign excursions and multiplayer gameplay. In addition, attendees were given an all-new glimpse of the Xbox 360 exclusive strategy game Halo Wars from Ensemble Studios. The campaign mode provided a thrilling taste of the revolutionary gameplay and new perspective of the Halo universe. Enjoy the full experience when Halo Wars hits retailers in early 2009.

Game Details

This new chapter in the Halo universe includes the following:

* All-new campaign content: The Halo 3: Recon campaign is an intriguing side story that takes place during the terrifying events leading up to the Master Chief’s return to New Mombasa in Halo 3. Experience the fate of Earth from the brand-new perspective of a special forces ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper), adding a unique outlook and new gameplay elements to the events that unfold in the trilogy’s finale. While the feel of this new chapter greatly resembles that of previous Halo experiences, Halo 3: Recon will require you to employ more elements of stealth and cunning than ever before.
* Prepare to drop: Known for their courage, valor and, at times, insanity, ODSTs are among the fiercest UNSC soldiers, priding themselves on being the first unit deployed into hostile situations. While not as large or supernaturally gifted as their Spartan comrades, these "Hell Jumpers" more than compensate with their ferocious attitudes and unwavering nerve.
* Expanded multiplayer collection:No Halo experience would be complete without groundbreaking multiplayer content, and Halo 3: Recon gives fans more of what they love. With exclusive new maps and expanded Forge options, Xbox LIVE® Gold members will find more multiplayer content than ever before with Halo 3: Recon.
* Ever-growing community options: Enjoy all the great Halo 3 technological innovations, including Saved Films, screenshots, Campaign Scoring, and four-player co-op. All of the new multiplayer maps fully support the Forge editor, offering endless gameplay customization possibilities.

I'm personally hoping that one of the new maps will include Blood Gulch. Oh yes.

Sovereign Court

I read Jason's blog today, where he discussed Prestige Classes in the 3.5 DMG, and I made the following comment.

One suggestion might be to just remove Duellist, Eldritch Knight and Blackguard from the list of prestige classes and eventually turn them into full base classes.

After all, all three are rather standard character archetypes, and shouldn't really be prestige classes.

We've been discussing this on the Paizo Chat room too, and I figured I'd post on here so we get more ideas from more people. My idea, slightly more matured now after that debate on the chat room, is this. Firstly, remove Blackguard, Duellist and Eldritch Knight as PrC's. Why should they be removed? Because they are character archetypes. Prestige Classes should be Prestigious, not used for character archetypes, which ideally should be base classes.

After removing those classes as PrC's, they should be turned into Base Classes, like so.

Blackguard: This one can become one of two things. An Alternate Paladin, with the alternate rules written directly into the class. So, you'd have a paragraph in the Paladin write up that says something like 'You can also choose to play an Anti-Paladin/Blackguard etc. In that case, switch every ability that mentions good to evil, change remove disease to cause disease etc.' This would have the clear advantage of saving space.

Or, a full class could be created as an Evil Paladin. My problem with this is that it'd take too much space, for what would possibly be an almost carbon copy of the Paladin class.

Duellist: WoTC have already published a Duelist like base class, namely the Swashbuckler. I think that one made for Pathfinder would be good, especially if Nick Logue made it. A Fighter/Rogue isn't really suitable for the Duellist archetype, as anyone who's read the Three Musketeers books can see. A proper Duellist is a mix of light or no armour, light weapons and lots of charisma, flare, panache and flamboyance. A Fighter/Rogue can't do all that.

I am highly confident, looking at things like The Art of the Duel Indulgence, that a really good class like this could be made for Pathfinder.

Eldritch Knight: This is the tricky one. A proper gish should really be available from Level 1, in my opinion, but I'm not sure how it can be done. I liked the Duskblade class somewhat, but I think we can do better. Just got no idea how to!

So, thoughts from you lot? Should Duellist, Blackguard and Eldritch Knight remain PrC's, be changed, or removed and turned into base classes?

Sovereign Court

Hi there. Quick question about the exchange rates. Basically, what exchange rate does Paizo use for £-$? Is it the one our credit cards use, or something else?

Just want to know so I can figure out exactly how much all my Paizo goodies would cost. :)

Sovereign Court

Alright. I've been converted to the use of minis in games after GenCon UK, where the PFS games I was in used them to good effect. So I want to use them in the PFS games I'll be running with my own group.

However, I have no minis. Which is a bit of a problem. With that in mind, I figured I'd start something on here. Namely a list of minis for the various PFS modules. But with my aforementioned lack of experience with minis, I'm going to ask you guys for ideas and suggestions for minis to use for the monsters/NPC's in the modules.

I'd prefer to stick with DDM for now, but if there is, lets say, a Reaper Mini that fits perfectly, then by all means suggest it! I'll start off with one I've found.

Silent Tide:
DDM-Blood War-Skeletal Reaper Perfect for the Black Echelon Operatives.

Sovereign Court

Quick question. Given that there is just one item to be delivered this month, the Second Darkness AP Volume 2, would it be possible to push it's delivery back till next month, in order to save some money on shipping, which is international for me!

Sovereign Court

Spoilers Alert! Don't come in if you're going to play the PFS.

Well, I'm planning on running one of the four modules for my home game of PFS, and it's entirely possible I'll be having quite a few new players involved. With that in mind, I'd like a good module for new players, one that won't overwhelm them too much. Of course, it'd be good if I had an idea for a module to keep till last in this run of four, so the players can get to second level before starting.

Feel free to spoil me with details, I've played in all four modules.

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