Brenigin's page

I interviewed Raymond Feist for a radio show several years back, when he was promoting Talon of the Silver Hawk. What I found most interesting, as a gamer, was that the initial Magician/Silverthorn/Darkness at Sethanon trilogy grew out of his own love of RPGs.

My memory is a bit patchy, but I seem to remember that he was involved in a group involved in very, very early computer RPGs, which themselves were influenced by D&D.

I still think Magician (a book I love) is one of the most self-consciously D&D books I've read outside the Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms series.

Hey, I can see your assassin.

Here's an idea: replace Detect Evil with a bonus to Sense Motive that increases with Class Level.

A healthy balance is the key. My wife and I had a few issues when I spent far, far too much time on D&D. Not playing time though - it was mostly (over)doing my preparation.

Luckily, despite my urge to create a vast backstory and screeds of detail for my campaign, I finally twigged that my players didn't care. They were seeing maybe 10% of that work. Out of the 5, maybe 3 wanted to ground their characters in the story properly, but they never needed the breadth and depth of info I'd slaved over. The other 2 just really wanted to 'kill stuff' and blow out the stress from their day jobs.

So I cut right back on all that extra time spent not with my wife.

I also made a conscious decision to cut out PC gaming. At least my D&D night is a social experience where my wife can wander in and out, and chat to the guys etc. PC games may as well be me locked away in a black box for 10 hours. I tried getting her to play a few times, but while she had fun she has the attention span of a 2 year old at times, so se'd just want to go off and do something else mid-game.

Key things I've learnt as a married gamer with a kid:
- Give time AND HELP to your wife and kids first. You know the old line about nothing turning a woman on more than seeing a man doing the dishes? Gamings easier when you've accumulated some bonus credits.

- Have a space for game stuff, keep it tidy, and if you bring stuff out, make sure it goes back. Then she won't feel like it's slowly swallowing her house.

- Get your kids some plastic minis. It will keep their mitts of the metal ones you slaved over for hours.

- Stand up for your hobby. If she thinks it's a bit weird, or silly, or nerdy, make it clear that it matters a lot to you and you will NOT allow it to be used to tease, belittle, or embarrass you.

- Game with people who, if they don't have kids/spouses, at least understand the pressures that come with family life.

And finally, the golden rule:

NEVER, EVER, EVER SPEND MONEY YOU DON'T HAVE, OR THAT IS NEEDED FOR BILLS/GROCERIES/KIDS, ON GAMING STUFF. EVER.

Good luck!

The "Living..." concept debuted in the Forgotten Realms with the RPGA's Living City. It's not like it doesn't have a solid claim to it...

I live practically on the other side of the world, in New Zealand, and Paizo have been as helpful, polite and reliable as if I'd been 2 minutes down the street.

Just out of interest, does anyone know where Hugh Cook lives these days? When he first got published, he lived just outside my hometown of Whangarei, New Zealand. I was at high school and thought it was AWESOME that a noted fantasy writer lived near by. He was in the news for a while back then, but I never did hear where he ended up...

I think a point that might have been missed by a lot of people is that Dungeon and Dragon were expensive to produce, and didn't make anyone any money. In fact, while we as fans probably assume that the 2 magazines are the core of what Paizo do, the reality may well be that producing the 2 magazines is more of a millstone around their neck that keeps them from other, more profitable game-related production.

If WotC do itright, many of the same folks who got published in Dragon and Dungeon will still be getting published therough the WotC subscription site. Paizo won't be fighting an uphill battle to win rack space, against FLGSs that don't want to carry the mags, and a at times unreliable postal service.

Glass half full view? We will have 2 companies producing more focussed, high quality gaming goodness for us.

I'm just excited about that nude Modron on the new issue.

But seriously: in regards to your study, what do you make of the male figure on the cover of 326, wearing less than the female? Is he more/less suggestive? And is he submissive because he is beind her, shielded from the goblins?

I had a Forgotten Realms geek moment a restaurant with my wife, because the cabarnet sauvignon we were drinking was called Tempus Two. "How I appropriate," I thought, "It looks like blood and it's named for the Lord of Battles!"

I explained that to her. She stared blankly at me, then broke eye contact. Quickly.

My group is begining Sea wyvrens wake soon and I recently handed out Lariss vanderborens journal for hte PC's to study. One of them told me privatly that he has played through the old X1 1st edition module the Isle of dread. I was wondering if this will hinder the campaign by giving him Out of character knowledge/spoilers about the plot? I havent read X1 so Im not sure... anyone know?

No. X1 is significantly different. The only thing he'll have over the others is to maybe, when they encounter a Phanaton, be able to go "hey, it's a Phanaton!"

My tricky situation is a player who, whenever the party fights a large monster, wants his character to get on the critters back. He reckons he should be able to use Tumble for this, I can't decide how I should rule it. Any ideas for the next time the Bard says "I mount the Bluespawn Thunderlizard"?

I friend who works in magazine publishing recently told me that, regardless of the niche, research shows that numbers on the cover will sell magazines. Be it "7 Marauding Monsters!" or "30 New Ways to Please Your Man!" or "We Rate the Top 10 Modems!", for some reason it holds true.

Edit: I see somebody already pointed this out. In that case, replace the above with: What he said.

I'm a copywriter. I write bad ads for a living.

Byron Zibeck wrote:

Any chance we could get the deity conversions for Sasserine? That's all I need to get my players started on chargen.

Our main concern is also converting the gods. Is there an existing Greyhawk/FR god conversion guideline already set? Anyone got a useful link on that?

If you have the FRCS, it's somewhere in the first chapter I think...the human ones are as follows (choose an option based onthe context). Of course, the STAP conversions may not neccessarily stick with this, and it doesn't cover the non-Core Greyhawk gods:

Boccob = Azuth/Mystra/Savras/Velsharoon
Ehlonna = Mielikki
Erythnul =Cyric/Garagos/Malar
Fharlanghan = Selune/Shaundakul
Heironeous = Torm/Tyr
Hextor = Bane/Loviator
Kord = Lathander/Tempus/Uthgar
Nerull = Cyric/Malar/Talona
Obad-Hai = Silvanus
Olidammara = Oghma/Sune/Tymora
Pelor = Ilmater/Lathander/Torm
St. Cuthbert = Helm/Hoar/Tyr
Vecna = Shar/Velsharoon
Wee Jas = Azuth/Kelemvor

I have a player who's character is a CN Sorcerer, and he does a great job. The character's actions are very much driven by "what's in it for me?", meaning that while most of the party (generally NG) happily agree to the usual heroic quest opportunities, the CN guy always makes sure he can leverage some benefit out of it - be it monetary gain, a favour owed, a promise kept, etc.

Towards those he has learnt to trust, he is generally 'good'. Anyone he doesn't know or hasn't yet 'got a handle on', he acts either stand-offish, overly suspicious, or extremely charming depending on the circumstances. When something stands in the way of his goals - i.e. a captive with-holding information - he tends to be extremely...pragmatic. When he can get away with it, he uses his intimidate skill to the fore with threats of torture (which he occassionally carries out if other party members aren't present.

The player in question handles his alignment very well, and makes a nice counterpoint to the CN bard who (equally well) plays the alignment as reckless, selfish and incautious.