Castinus Fulvio's page

With the announcement from Kobold Press today, I wonder how much longer it will be before we have an announcement of some kind from Paizo?

I found this, and it makes grim reading.

For me the VTTs are the weakest link.

https://arbiterofworlds.substack.com/p/the-perfidious-treachery-of-wotc?utm _source=substack&utm_medium=email

Will they do this? Well it's a terrible business decision, legally a gray area, it will trash what little good will they have left after a year of substandard books and some high profile scandals in the gaming industry. So yeah, this is absolutely going to happen because the people who run Hasbro are greedy jerks.

You think?

The managers of WOTC believe they have an opportunity to transform their business from being a content publisher with some effective and well-established competitors, to being the operators of a subscription based, microtransaction funded, closed platform with no competitors.

They want online tools to be the future of most of the players in this hobby, and they see a way to dominate that platform, and take most or all of the value within it, at the least effort/ cost to them.

They want to be the Amazon/ Spotify/ Google/ of this market. They are quite prepared to upset existing players and creators, and bankrupt existing competitors, in achieving this.

It's not personal - it's business. It's been attempted twice before (TSR and 4E) because it makes sense to try, and it could succeed. And now they think they have the dominant player base and online technologies to have a better chance than before.

Do I like this? Absolutely not. But they are not fools. This makes sense from their perspective and they will do deals/ invest legal fees/ spin PR/ lie and deceive to make this happen. We need to understand their objective and motivations clearly, in order to try to achieve ours.

Belafon wrote:

I am a very cynical person, and on top of that have had conversations with (though am not friends with) people who make a living in corporate legal gray spaces. In particular the space of “we know what we are proposing is legally wrong, but not wrong enough that we could be disciplined for trying it.” And what they do is try to make the cost-benefit analysis from the viewpoint of anyone they are taking advantage of come down to “we would probably win in court, but even if we did it isn’t worth the effort it would take. Let’s just accept what they are offering.” Think of health insurance horror stories you have heard.

From that viewpoint, it’s worth it for Hasbro to try to push the boundaries. Because there is a huge set of roadblocks to be thrown up to encourage settling and acceptance.

1) Who has the money to fight this in the first place? Paizo and maybe a couple of other companies.
2) If a lawsuit is filed, we can file for a preliminary injunction forbidding them from using the OGL while the lawsuit is ongoing. Don’t know if we will get the injunction but if we do, we win. There’s no way they can survive for the years we can drag this lawsuit out if they aren’t publishing. They will have to settle.
3) If we don’t get the injunction, we start a laborious discovery process. Whatever we can do to drag this out and hike up their legal costs.
4) After a month or so, once it’s clear this is going to take a while, we propose a settlement. We drop the lawsuit, they publicly agree to accept the terms of the 1.1 OGL. In a contract covered behind an NDA we privately agree not to require any money from them(or just a pittance), regardless of how much they make.
5) This is actually what we’ve been after all along! Once Paizo and a few other big publishers have publicly accepted 1.1, we’ve reset the expectation and everyone will agree to 1.1. Thanks to the NDA’d contracts we aren’t making money off the big ones (for now) but we have set that bar for everyone else AND for

...

Fully agree - good summary

Paizo has had 20 years to plan for this - it must be something they put a great deal of thought to, build their work around, and consulted knowledgeable professionals on.

All the things we are now looking at more carefully (eg what is the legal meaning of 'authorised' in the context of the OGL), they must have formed a view on long ago.

I really hope that they, and the other 3rd party creators out there, have a plan that might ensure we remain a healthy, diverse and broad hobby. Rather than the sterile, monopolistic, cash cow that Hasbro are hoping to create.

Hasbro is a corporation with pockets deep enough to spend $140M acquiring DND Beyond, and a plan for earning that back with a profit. This is a serious threat to our hobby.

Well that all got quite scipy rapidly. I look away for a few posts, and you guys are up to your armpits in assassins!

Castinus waits for a moment, then withdraws his hand, disappointed.

"Worth a try I guess. So ... the Armillary Tower?" He wipes off his arm and heads off to whatever horrors lay ahead.

Castinus does his best to translate the complex lecture contempraneously - "He says that..." Please read the spoiler above

Castinus looks at the others, "That was... facinating. But maybe quite useful. What say we head to the Armillary Tower to the rear of the observatory next?"

He looks back at the pool... "Maybe one more?" He copies Reginald and plunges his hand into the silver substance and gives the name: Ossoryol, Master of Lenses & Optics.

"By the Gods - what horror have we here?" Holding his nose against the stench Castinus ignores the pile of 'discarded' bodies to approach the pools, kneeling down to examine the coppery plaques. "Hmmm..."

linguistics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

"Nope - makes no sense to me. I'll try this..." He reaches to his belt and a smooth ebony rod about 4 inches long, attached by a leather loop. He concentrates, and... "These are proper names with grandiose titles. The three cleaned inscriptions are: Aulus, Observant Councilor Most High, his speech on solar calculation, Lesson 3 of 6, Ossoryol, Master of Lenses & Optics, the Master’s final lecture on celestial alignment, Part the All, and Erinthander, Grand Provost of Spheres & Glyphs, his platform on the implications of solar sigils & wards, Lesson 2 of 3. That stone-mounted plaque" he points across for the others, "includes instructions for a summoning ritual. Apparently, if a living person reaches into the waters with bare flesh and calls forth a specific person by name and title, the pool forms a mercurial likeness of the individual for the length of the requested lecture." 1 use of wand of Comp Lang

He leans back and looks across at the casters. "What do you think? Would it be safe to summon one of these folk? Maybe they might have an insight to share on this place and how we escape it?" He thinks, "I will be able to understand their speech, if we do so within the next ten minutes. But which do we choose, and is it safe to do so?"

spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Castinus explains his understanding of the rather dark magics powering the pools via the corpses' blood, and that we do not know how much power remains. "I think that if we needed to recharge the pool, we could use the fresh blood of either a gillman, or a skum. Maybe even the villagers..."

He looks at the others for their assent, a hint of the sharp excitement of Castinus shining through despite their grimm circumstances, "Who wants to summon a lecture for long-dead Azlant?"

Castinus barely has time to react as the old man / horrific creature lunges out at Ischell, only to be torn to shreds in an instant by Parvaz and Aaftaab. From the far side of the party he steps back in horror - "What's going on - what is that?"

know dung: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Rule of 2 works for me

Castinus picks at his rubbery face with his gloved fingers. He turns to the others as they march to their next challenge, "I'm not a fan of these new changes. If we make it back to the shore I shall vow to leave the ruins of ancient Azlant alone for good..."

The investigator/swashbuckler/occultist's shoulders dip. His morale appears to be suffering a slump.

We know that Castinus/Shardra will not be rejoining us for this scenario

But I'm cheering from the audience!

(though maybe I'm cheering for the Aspis society this time...)

Once the team have retreated to a safe distance from the strange fero-phage creatures, Castinus takes a peek into the books. He swiftly pushes them to one side drawing a blank.

linguistics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

"What I don't understand is how they devoured copper books, if they are rust monsters?" He shrugs. "Where next? I vote we try there..." [ooc]

Castinus points one rubbery fishlike finger at B4.

No problem! Sounds like you are juggling there - at least the kids are back to school this week...

On a separate note, my 16-year old son this weekend started playing rpg's with his mates for the first time. Should I be proud, or condemned for parental neglect, for not protecting him from this addictive, geeky hobby?

Snow in Texas? That must be inconvenient, when you are all wearing a stetson.

dotting as a spectator!

"Metal-devouring creatures? Whatever next..." a horrified Castinus blurts through his now enlarged, rubbery lips. Looking down at his twin rapiers he hastily backs off out of the chamber, swapping out his magical weapon for his less valuable, masterwork weapon.

"I'll leave this to you fliers then, " he calls, sotto voice, from some distance.

Castinus scouts a little ahead, approaching cautiously, eyes peeled for danger...

Anticipating that the casters will be interested in the floating esoteric scripts he takes an overwatch position with his back against one of the stone alcoves.

"Floating books? I'll cover you whilst you investigate..."

... with each new adventure she added to her evergrowing catalogue of locations, wonders, and treasures that she would one day collect and store within the Hao Jin Tapestry as her own version of Abadar’s First Vault.

Aha ! Nice. That's a neat idea - make the Tapestry make a lot more sense. Is there a canonical story as to what happened to her?

EDIT: I cheated and looked it up :(spoilers, obviously)

Count me in - I'll be bringing a newbie Level 1 PFS character though. Probably a warpriest of Pharasma, though am open to rolling up something else depending on fit.

Castinus votes to try B2 or B4 ahead of the phase spiders...

To be fair, neither way makes any sense. 20210203 sorts properly on a computer.

I do this too!

I have a couple of low level characters that could stretch their legs too. Druid and Wizard

hey...if you're doing lower lvl characters for PFS, i have a couple on the go...just wrapping up Heroes for Highdelve...i'll do some lower stuff with you...

I do have an urge to try out PF2E on here. I have been DM'ing Age of Ashes in real life (well, VTT now...) and have yet to experience 2E as a player. Might anyone here be interested? If not, would be delighted to do 1E instead.

On that last point, I'd be interested to hear your views on 2E, given that you are clearly hardcore players of 1E. Have you given it a try?

Tim

Thank you, Tim.

I’m sorry that my slow, slow GMing hasn’t allowed Castinus the burst of XP he needs.

Not at all - Castinus was never going to catch up.

Castinus retrieves a cloth and cleans his rapier, carefully wiping it down before looking up with a wary expression. "I'm with Robyyn on this. We don't know what that space is for, or what it does, but those creatures are dangerous. We are all in the grip of an advancing ... curse? disease? We don't know. I'm all for taking risks if it's to gain advantage, but until we eliminate all other possible solutions to our malaise, I vote we leave the spiders alone."

He looks around the group, assessing the others' views.

Hey guys - it feels we are in danger of losing momentum in this game. Let's try to pick up pace on postings - this is a challenging combat but I am keen to see this story play out.

Weaving his madly-elongated arms [ooc]longarm, 8 rounds remaining] in front and around his body in an elaborate defensive posture, Catsinus watches warily for his opportunity to strike...

[dice=prepared action: strike if within 10' of a foe]1d20+8;1d6+6

Castinus waits nervously for their opponents to act. "What's keeping them, witches? What are they planning?"

Weaving his madly-elongated arms [ooc]longarm, 8 rounds remaining] in front and around his body in an elaborate defensive posture, Catsinus watches warily for his opportunity to strike...

prepared action: strike if within 10' of a foe: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 241d6 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

Sorry guys - have been locked out since the w/e. Will post later tonight.

Activating his quick runner shirt Castinus makes a dash out of the tent to join the others, utilising the advice from the floating witch to evade proximity to the hidden spiders' talons.

full withdraw, quick runner shiort extra move

Outside, back to back with Mist, he breathlessly awaits the next attack...

Castinus watches first the spiders, then Mist, disappear. "Dammit!"

Intending to prepare a strike upon the creatures the moment they emerge from their ethereal cover, he remains wary of the reach of their long, probing limbs. He steps 5' back towards the group, and swigs a concoction of his own design. At once his limbs elongate, and his rapier swishes through the air up to a full 10' from his body...

5' step, std action to cast 'longarm', move action to look about nervously...swashbuckler's parry and ripost if a spider appears within 10' reach

parry!: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13
parry!: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 91d6 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

pants.

Castinus looks on with caution in his expression...

Happy New Year everyone - good riddance 2020 !

Happy New Year everyone - good riddance 2020 !

Merry Christmas guys - thank you for sharing this story with me in 2020.

Have a peaceful break, and here's hoping 2021 has fewer unpleasant surprises for us all than 2020...

Merry Christmas guys - thank you for sharing this story with me in 2020.

Have a peaceful break, and here's hoping 2021 has fewer unpleasant surprises for us all than 2020...

Castinus runs his free hand over the unfamiliar contours of his evolving (devolving?) face. "I'm all for moving fast. Let's solve this puzzle and begone. I want no longer on this cursed isle than necessary to return to me my familiar form."

He ponders Sara's words. Turning to the others in the group, he asks, "So, do we head first to this... silver man? See what additional intelligence we can gather there before taking on Gerlach and persuading to release this curse? "

Castinus sighs in irritation - nothing here on this island is going to plan.

He sifty imbibes a concoction of his own design casts 'Longarm' and moves up, rapier ready to strike.

Castinus now has reach so if a cloaker moves through a threatened square he will get an AOO He is also readied for a parry and ripost combo...

Castinus Fulvio wrote:

Castinus is truly shamed as everyone else including the casters moves up.

The bulk of a witch's abilities are only effective within 30'; we have to move up. We're casters, but we're also in your face. Also, hoping my IC chastising wasn't taken personally. Robyyn isn't a friendly fellow.

No offence taken ! Castinus is a mastermind architype, and also more fragile than others in the party. He's playing this one tactically...

Castinus readies a charge should either of the two nearest cloakers swoop down to attack the party, within 60' of his current position...

charge!: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 221d6 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Castinus is truly shamed as everyone else including the casters moves up. Or, he'll pick up the pieces when they get area-effected...

"What new horror is this?" Castinus looks on in horror as the gill-woman is engulfed by the dropping tooth-mat.

know dung: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24

"Oh hang on, yes that's right, these abberations are known as Cloakers. They are a ray-like creature which opens a toothy maw and leers with glaring red eyes. Behind it whips a menacing tail of segmented bone. Yes, that's right, horrible. Castinus tries to recall and relay to the others all he knows of their special attacks...

Castinus draws a dagger, planning ahead in case of of being swallowed whole, and readies a rapier thrust should the creatures come within attack range.

rapier: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 191d6 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

"Let them come to us! Pepper them from range!"

Castinus considers the gillmen slaving like automata at the manual labour. He glances down at his own now sjighly webbed fingers."Nothing I have seen here bodes well. We need to make progress with the elimination of this threat, and should leave no avenue, or canal, un-explored in our efforts to confront whatever fell dread is behind it. I say we venture into the dark. Are you with me?"

Castinus slaps and jabs at Mist a number of times with the wand:

not sure how many HP down youare - I leave it to you to roll

Next steps - e are at B3; Castinus votes for area B5 next. Continue our counter-clockwise circuit around the island; evade the will o'the wisps; leave the ominous ziggurat in the centre until last... do you agree?

"Based on the observation that we ourselves appear to be transforming into a more piscine form, I suspect the same happened to this poor soul. It would seem advisable to inventory our supplies for breathing underwater. What resources do we have between us? Spellcasters, are you able to help out here?"

Castinus has Air crystals x2, Flask of recocoction ('Deepmarket Deception' Boon); 2x Sponge Potion of "touch of the sea";
2x Sponge Potion of "Air Bubble"; Scroll of Water Breathing.

Castinus warily approaches the blob of floating water in the centre of the room. He pokes his rapier inside, and, if there are no remaining hazards apparent, will ask Ischell to grasp his armour whist he holds his breath and pokes his head inside. When this is done, he opens his eyes underwater to see if there is anything remaining inside the sphere. If the water is too murky, he feels with both arms and the rapier for something his eyes cannot see.

Another targeted shot flies from Castinus' bow, readied for the moment when the beast's tentacles re-emerge:

readied attack, miss chance low is bad: 1d200 ⇒ 421d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 241d6 ⇒ 6

Roybnn's miss chance, low is bad: 20% miss: 1d100 ⇒ 94

Fort save DC 17 please, or 7 STR damage on top of the 4 suffered previously (see post above)

Castinus lets fly with an arrow aimed as near to the muscular mass behind the tentacles as he can see outside its watery hiding place:

twang!: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 191d6 ⇒ 6