Black Dalek's page

I got this book in PDF, and I wonder about it. I see a hi-res version in the "root" directory, with the date 01-14-2010 in the file names. There's a sub-directory called "9onbf" which contains a hi-res AND low-res version, with the date 02-16-2010 in the titles. Is there a reason there are two hi-res versions in there? Is there a difference between the "root" and "9onbf" versions? What does "9onbf" mean?

Is Greenbelt close enough for you? If so, you may want to check this thread.

Also, you might want to try the Family Game Store in Savage Mill. On that website, click on "Calendar" and you'll see a big schedule of games running there.

Is Greenbelt close enough for you? If so, you may want to check this thread.

Also, you might want to try the Family Game Store in Savage Mill. On that website, click on "Calendar" and you'll see a big schedule of games running there.

You also might find some possibilities in this thread.

You might want to look into some of the following threads:

Thread 1

Thread 2

Thread 3

Thread 4

Thread 5

Is Greenbelt close enough for you? If so, you may want to check this thread.

Also, you might want to try the Family Game Store in Savage Mill. On that website, click on "Calendar" and you'll see a big schedule of games running there.

I only got the "Terror of Tumbledown" adventure, and I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but a glance at the map in the adventure shows that...

EDIT: I added a spoiler tag for players.

I just bought the PDF, and downloaded the "Lite–One File per Chapter" version.

I know that this is a very minor point, but are you aware that one of the files is titled "PZO9226 078-101 Ch2 Irrisen-Eastwall"? I'm sure you meant "Lastwall".

I could just rename the file myself, right? I haven't noticed any interfile links.

You may want to try some of the contacts provided in some of the more recent posts in the following threads:

Thread 1

Thread 2

Thread 3

Thread 4

Where do you work? I, myself, live in Pikesville and work in Columbia. While I doubt that my current job, family life, and community commitments would permit me to game these days, I'm always hopeful of finding a game that fits my schedule. Maybe someday, someone will organize a game in "Legends" in Towson, for instance. Recently, I visited The Family Game Store in Savage Mill for the first time. They have a room for running games. There are some RPG campaigns running there now. I looked on the schedule of that site (here's the calendar), and inquired about the Thursday-night Pathfinder game, and the Tuesday-night 3.5 game, which apparently are full. But maybe someday soon, someone will organize something else.

Thanks, DeathQuaker.

...I went to a new store that's just opened up...

What store is that?

You may want to try some of the contacts provided in some of the more recent posts in the following threads:

One thread

Another thread

Yet another thread

Hagerstown? Well, this is probably too distant from you, but just in case it helps, here's a relevant thread:

Pathfinder MD / Northern VA

Black Dalek, Graphic Novelty is closed--at least, the last time I passed the store on Thames Street back @ November 4 or so, it was empty.

Gee, that's too bad. :(

One thing is kind of funny, though (although I'm drifting a bit off-topic.) I'll never forget the time I hoped I'd actually get to play at Graphic Novelty. That was what prompted me to get the PFRPG Core Rulebook and Bestiary I... at Legends. Hey, they said that they'd match any price I found on the internet, so I just printed out some pages from dragonstrove.com, and got those two books cheaply. And while I was at it, I got a set of dice, and also a Paizo map pack and flip-map, just to see what those were like. And there were other times when I went to Legends to get other gaming stuff. So when you say that Legends is your go-to place, I can hardly argue, can I?

Have you heard of Graphic Novelty? It's at 1712 Thames St. Baltimore MD 21231. That's in Fell's Point, for all you locals. Their phone number's 410-522-0215.

Two years ago, they mentioned a Pathfinder game going on there. Link. Last year, they mentioned that the game was still going on. Alas, I could never make it. But maybe you could give them a call?

Hey, I'd be open to a Paizo get together in my area. I live about a 5- or 10-minute drive away from Tov Pizza. And it IS good.

As GM's we get these wonderful backstories but sometimes in the thick of things we don't deliver as much of it as we could.

Speaking as a GM, I must make the marginally relevant comment that even if you wind up unable to convey the backstory to the players, the backstory serves an important purpose: it gets the GM interested enough to want to run the adventure. The Pallid Plague certainly had that effect on me!

I remember reading an article (which, alas, I can no longer find,) on wizards.com, which said something like "It's amazing how many adventure writers - even professional ones - make the mistake of putting too much background in the adventure. The players will never learn all that information."

Well, maybe the reason so many writers do it is because they feel it's not a mistake. It sells the adventure to the GM, and that's the one deciding whether to RUN the adventure or not. That's what I loved about so many old "Dungeon" magazine adventures, and why I ran so many of them. It's true that the players seldom learned much of the backstory, but at least I, as the GM, understood how the run the NPCs.

And just once in a while, the PCs just happen to interrogate the right person, or ask just the right question, and - Wow! - it was all worth it.

During the NFL 1st round draft? Well ok maybe there is not a ton of crossover between gamers and football fans :) beyond me and a few guys I know.

I was once involved in an (unsuccessful) attempt to start a gaming group over these boards. In the middle of that, there was a message, right here, that included the following:

Sunday afternoons from 1pm and on are a no go until football season is over obviously.

Oh yeah. Obviously. When does football season end? January? February? I don't even know.

Black Dalek wrote:

I bought this PSS for one simple reason: It seems to give the PCs a chance to make peace with fey. Up until now, every fey-related Golarion adventure I heard of involved twisted fey doing horrific things. Good fey need some love!

That was certainly an intention. In fact, my original pitch centered much more around this aspect than the final version, but if that's what you're looking for, I think you should be able to play these elements up in both official and unofficial PFS play. I look forward to more thorough feedback and a review after you've had time to read the scenario in more depth.

Okay, I read the scenario. I didn't mean to imply earlier that I would write a review - I'm not a good enough judge of RPG material to write one - but I'll say this: I'm giving The Pallid Plague two thumbs up. Way up.

I'd say it's the best PSS I've seen (except that's pretty meaningless, as I've seen only three others.) I bought the scenario just to READ it, so I'm surprised to find myself wanting to RUN it. I'm even - without fully willing it - coming up with ideas how to incorporate it into my campaign. (I have no interest in the Pathfinder Society - neither the real one nor the fictitious one - but this adventure can work without it.)

I was a little disappointed, despite Mark's warning, that...

...or maybe - here's a thought - the pixie could JOIN the PCs, and I could compensate for the extra power by using tier 3-4 stats instead of 1-2. Hmmm... Oh, the possibilities! Is that the sort of thing you had in mind, Mark, when you said "play these elements up?" Do you have any other ideas of how to do so? Anyway, I consider this kind of inspiration to be a sign of a good adventure.

Oh, and thanks for telling us why you picked your name.

Sorry for the threadjack, but... is there some rationale for when you post as yoda8myhead, and when you post as Mark Moreland?

And while we're on the subject, why did you choose the name "yoda8myhead" anyway? No offense, but it's a pretty strange name, even for an internet pseudonym. I've always wondered about that.

1) Fey are involved and are the initial targets of the plague.

Yes, exactly.

I bought this PSS for one simple reason: It seems to give the PCs a chance to make peace with fey. Up until now, every fey-related Golarion adventure I heard of involved twisted fey doing horrific things. Good fey need some love!

(I haven't had a chance to read much of it yet, so this isn't a review.)

Uninstall Adobe Reader 7.0.5 and get the newest one. For some reason I an willing to bet that there is some reason that you don't do that. Not sure why, but I have seen older versions have real problems newly rendered adobe docs. You might not have any choice but to do this.

Yep, I wound up downloading Adobe Reader version 9.3.0, and now my PDF looks fine.

(Although I still wonder why 7.0.5 should fail to display Crypt of the Everflame, when it was still able to display all my other PDFs...)

And yes, I hesitated to do this, as it's generally frowned on in my place of work to download programs on one's own, rather than asking the network team to do it, and I could hardly demonstrate to my co-workers how 7.0.5 was failing.

Anyway, thank you everyone, for your replies.

Thanks for the quick response!

I actually wound up downloading Adobe Reader version 9.3.0, and now my PDF looks fine.

(Although I still wonder why 7.0.5 should fail to display Crypt of the Everflame, when it was still able to display all my other PDFs...)

I already posted this problem on the "Website feedback" forum, and got many "unofficial" answers from helpful Paizo-messageboard-goers, yet I wonder if "Customer Service" would be a more appropriate forum for getting an answer from a Paizo customer service representative.

So here's my question again:

I just ordered and downloaded a PDF of Crypt of the Everflame. When I open the PDF, Adobe Reader tells me "Cannot extract the embedded font 'IFMSCF+PrioriSansOT-Bold'. Some characters may not display or print correctly."

Sure enough, almost none of the text is readable - the letters look like dots.

Please help!

(In case this is relevant, this is Adobe Reader version 7.0.5. I have ordered many PDFs from paizo.com before, and never had this problem until now.)

I just ordered and downloaded a PDF of Crypt of the Everflame. When I open the PDF, Adobe Reader tells me "Cannot extract the embedded font 'IFMSCF+PrioriSansOT-Bold'. Some characters may not display or print correctly."

Sure enough, almost none of the text is readable - the letters look like dots.

Please help!

(In case this is relevant, this is Adobe Reader version 7.0.5. I have ordered many PDFs from paizo.com before, and never had this problem until now.)

How are you for Tuesday nights from 6:30-10, in the Odenton area? Depending on which way you go home from work, that might be better or worse.

Odenton is just little out of my way, but the real obstacle there is the hours. 10:00 is much too late for me. My family life being what it is, I could NEVER stay out that late.

But thanks for the quick response!

Are you speaking of Comics to Astonish? That's the only such place I know of in town. I haven't been there in years, but I don't collect comics (other than TPBs of year-old story arcs) anymore.

Yes, that's the place. The comics I collect are TPBs of story arcs MANY years old, and I found Comics To Astonish was a good place to find them.

I live in the dead-zone between Baltimore and Washington, where there isn't really a game store worth the name within a 45-minute drive.

I WORK in that dead-zone. (Columbia, to be more precise.) Do you know of any RPGs being run in the area?

(And just in case you're interested, there's a comic-book store near my place of work, with tables where people play HeroClix and MTG.)

I work in Columbia. I'm not optimistic about being able to play in D.C., but I thought I should put this info out there, because I'm looking for an RPG group, especially for 3.5 / Pathfinder.

I know nothing about organized play, but it sounds kind of formal to me... anyway, Rockville and College Park are a bit out of my way, and N. Virginia certainly is. But if anyone wants to start a game closer to Columbia or Laurel, I may be interested.

I'd like to know too. I live in Pikesville, but I work in Columbia.

I, too, had this problem when I downloaded files last week. Is anyone looking into this problem? (I was thinking of paying for some downloads this week, and some knowledge of this issue could affect my decision...)

As for the bigger question, we are always updating our system to keep up with current demand. For example, we are making some changes to the personalizer today that should definitely help.

Great! Thank you! (Of course, I read that reply only AFTER I bought TWO downloads! So much for being a cool customer. But I'm still having the same problem, so it's good to know that you're working on it.)

I'm able to get my downloads after a halfdozen tries (per file). I've basically had to fight the Personalizer whenever I download anything since August.

I, too, had this problem when I downloaded files last week. Is anyone looking into this problem? (I was thinking of paying for some downloads this week, and some knowledge of this issue could affect my decision...)

Hazel... are you still looking for players? I'm trying to get involved in a weekly pathfinder game.

Hap

I can tell you this much: When I went to Graphic Novelty and talked to the guy working there, he said that the GM running the Pathfinder game was fine with someone just walking in (sometime between 6 and 7 PM) and joining.

(If only I could BE that someone...)

Well, I visited Graphic Novelty, and I decided that the trip is just a bit too far, and the time just a bit too difficult to fit into my schedule. It's a pity. Believe me, I will always regret not going. If you meet any players who live or work near Pikesville or Columbia, I'd like to know.

So I'm DYING to know: What did I miss?

How many people showed? How many games were run? Did they go well (those that you witnessed)?

I'd ESPECIALLY like to know how the people there planned future meetings. Is the plan to continue every Wednesday from 6 to 9? Are there other groups planning to meet at other times? (I'd be ESPECIALLY interested if some group was planning to meet on Sundays...)

Oh, and another question. What are Graphic Novelty's store hours? (I tried calling the number, and just got a machine.)

Expletive.

Hazel monday, after your last post, I actually got my hopes up that I could go. But there's a family event this Wednesday night.

I need a shoulder to cry on...

Listen, hazel monday, please do me a favor. Could you keep me updated? Of course, if there are many games going on at Graphic Novelty, I can't expect you to keep track of all of them. However, if you happen to know about one game going on, and its schedule, and whether it might have any openings for a player, I would very much like to know. Maybe you could post that information to this thread. Or maybe you could direct me to a website, or something, where that information might be listed.

While I'm not optimistic about my ability to go, I'm curious about a few things.

1) For how many hours does a weekly session run?

2) I've played 3.5, but I know very little about Pathfinder RPG. Even if I were to download the rulebook right now, or study the SRD, I wouldn't have enough time to learn it well enough and create my own character in 2 1/2 days. Is that a problem?

I would ask more questions, but the answers to my first 2 might dash my hopes for going, so I'll stop at 2 for now.

I wrote to my friend. Here's his reply:

Unfortunately, I am permanently "tired" of the whole RPG process.

Sorry.

I'm wondering now about other avenues. For instance, DeathQuaker mentioned this demo at Legends on December 5th. Like I said, Saturdays are out for me, but what about you?

Also, have you tried - or perhaps I should ask if I should try - to advertise on other forums? For example...

Giant in the Playground's "Finding Players (Recruitment)" forum

RPG.net's "Gaming Gatherings" forum

I can't think of any others offhand...

Anyway, if you do find something, please post it here! I'd like to know.

Hi. I'm probably not the kind of player you're looking for, but I must post because I'm hoping I'm wrong! I live in Pikesville... but I work in Columbia, so weeknights might be difficult. Furthermore, I have a lot of family obligations and community commitments, so my availability is decidedly limited. Friday nights and Saturdays are out of the question (except, maybe, late on Saturday night.) Like I said, I'm probably not the player you're looking for. But... a few hours on Sundays might work.

Furthermore, I have a friend in the neighborhood who might be interested. He quit playing after a three-year campaign, saying that he was tired of RPGs... but that was a year and a half ago. Maybe he got "un-tired" of it since then. But Friday nights and Saturdays are out of the question for him too (again, with the possible exception of Saturday nights.)

As for my résumé, I have years of experience with 3.0, and a little with 3.5. I don't have Pathfinder RPG, nor any experience with it, but I've been meaning to try it.

Hi. I'm probably not the kind of player you're looking for, but I must post because I'm hoping I'm wrong! I live in Pikesville... but I work in Columbia, so weeknights might be difficult. Furthermore, I have a lot of family obligations and community commitments, so my availability is decidedly limited. Friday nights and Saturdays are out of the question (except, maybe, late on Saturday night.) Like I said, I'm probably not the player you're looking for. But... a few hours on Sundays might work.

Furthermore, I have a friend in the neighborhood who might be interested. He quit playing after a three-year campaign, saying that he was tired of RPGs... but that was a year and a half ago. Maybe he got "un-tired" of it since then. But Friday nights and Saturdays are out of the question for him too (again, with the possible exception of Saturday nights.)

As for my résumé, I have years of experience with 3.0, and a little with 3.5. I don't have Pathfinder RPG, nor any experience with it, but I've been meaning to try it.