Fandael's page

I am working on a homebrew world, in which a race inspired by Fetchlings live in the Prime Plane near a portal to the Plane of Shadows. They use their racial abilities to run caravans into the Plane of Shadows and bring back goods, substances and items which they then sell in the Prime Plane (their town acting as a trading hub where races from the Prime Plane travel to barter for their goods).

My question is: What sort of goods, substances and items would they be bringing back with them? That can survive on the Prime Plane without decaying too quickly (or able to be preserved in some way)?

Oil of Shadow, Shadowweave Cloth and stuff sounds fun but also very generic. I am looking for inspiration for something a little more elaborate and intriguing.

If you can, please suggest:
1) name
2) its function or uses on the Prime Plane
3) what it comes from or how it is made on the Plane of Shadow (e.g. is it a body part, a local plant or mineral, a crafted item etc.)
4) approximate worth / volume or quantity

:-)

In my game, the mage has been apprenticed to a local school of fire wizards. To advance from Ember (apprentice) to Flame (full mage), he needs to first complete The 5 Trials / The 5 Tests.

But what should they be? It should be low-level but not easy or without danger. And preferably something that requires more than simple attack rolls, skill rolls or casting of a spell or cantrip.

I am looking for something that will make it a good story but also will not side-treck the entire party for weeks. Something that we can say happen during Downtime but which will add to the character's story and give me a chance to interject some additional NPC's, quest clues, background stuff, plot lines etc.

The generic names would of course be something like:

The Test of Guile
The Test of Strength
The Test of Will
The Test of...?

But what sort of tasks would the apprentice be required to perform for the wizardly order? Something that would make them see him as fit to join them and be initiated into their secrets?

In a few days, my PCs will find themselves in a fort assaulted by giant creatures akin to shambling mounds or earth elementals. I want to set up a fight in which the PCs help defend the walls using balistas or other siege weapons to prevent the assaulting force from smashing down the walls.

Any advice on how to spice up such a battle? I am a little worried that it will degenerate into reloading the balista a lot of times, so I was thinking about mixing groups of smaller creatures in with the giant ones. But what else can be done?

Basically, I want to do sort of a unique "mini-game" before it probably turns into all-out desperate melee when the fort is about to fall. I am inspired by lots of the online games out there, where you have different defensives and you need to use them correctly to prevent the opposing force reaching your base, if you know what I mean.

Any ideas? :-)

If a blind master fencer (example) is wearing Tremor Boots with a radius of, say, 20 feet - how many of his penalties for his Condition: Blinded would then be removed would you say?

As far as I can tell, he would not suffer the miss chance to striking other creatures in melee but which/how many of the other penalties would still be in effect?

Several times in the past 6-8 months, various Third Party Publishers have announced calls for submissions in the "Compatible Products from Other Publishers" forum here at Paizo.com.

However, not all readers are frequent enough visitors to spot these open calls and so have missed their chance to participate in them.

A while back, we had a discussion about having a single sticky thread at the top of our forum where open calls and other contests could be cross-announced. One reader suggested that I post here in the hope that Paizo would see this and grant us our wish :-)

Suggested text for the opening post of such a sticky thread:

Headline:
Announcement thread for 3PP Open Calls

Post:
This thread is intended as an easy reference point that allows forum users to see, which Third Party Publishers currently have Open Calls open to participation.

Do NOT post your open call only in this thread!

If you are a 3PP, create your own separate Open Call thread and simply announce it here with a link to your thread.

If you are a forum user and spot a new Open Call, please feel free to drop a link to its thread as a post in this thread.

That way, each Open Call will have its own thread for announcements and questions, but anytime you visit this forum, simply referring to this sticky thread will tell you if there are any new Open Calls that you have missed.

Good luck and have fun! :-)

Here's a thought: from time to time several companies put out an Open Call for freelancers. In the past months, we've seen Kobold Press, Raging Swan Press and Jon Brazer Enterprises do it, and maybe there have been more that I have missed.

I know from reading the other threads mentioned that there are always a few who don't see such announcements until it is too late for them to participate.

So, my suggestion is to make a single sticky thread in this forum, where companies can cross-announce their Open Calls? They'd still run their own threads about their individual open calls, but this way anyone can browse the sticky thread and easily get up to speed with any current open calls.

What do you think? :-)

Just a bit of "office gossip": http://seankreynolds.com/misc/a-new-chapter-indiana.html

I am looking for GM information regarding the Plane of Shadows and Fetchlings and came across a reference for the Shadowsfall setting by Jon Brazer Enterprises.

It sounds interesting, but in the product line I can only find a player's guide and the Book of Beasts: Monsters of the Shadow Plane?

Does a book for GMs about the setting exist?

I apologize if this has been asked a million times before, but I was unable to find an answer by searching.

What do you do (as a 3PP) if you need to copy the Section 15 of a product you use something from (under the OGL), and you don't have access to said product?

Example: If I needed the mandragora I can see at d20pfsrd that it comes from Tomb of Horrors Complete by Frog God Games, but that product is sold out, so I have no way of getting my hands on it to see which products the ToHC draws from and list in its own Section 15? (which I have to copy into mine if I use it).

The Section 15 of d20pfsrd also seems to only list all the products referenced on the site, but not show how they are connected.

Any input would be much appreciated! :-)

For the past six months, I have been happy to receive and read the newsletter from Gamer Lifestyle by Johnn Four. He also did two free e-books on strategies for being a 3PP that I found very useful.

Today, Johnn writes in his newsletter that his business will be changing in 2014:

"As mentioned a couple weeks ago, I won’t be emailing you much for awhile. I’ve got some business courses to take and a couple new projects spinning up (including a business analytics book, Productivity Quest, and my first published standalone RPG adventure!).

Fare thee well,
Johnn

P.S. I’ll be taking down the public Gamer Lifestyle blog and various parts of the site soon. Non-members, feel free to scoop anything on the site into Evernote or whatever system you use for storing content offline."

I am not 100% sure that Johnn will be taking down the free e-books, but in case you are interested in 3PP publishing of your own RPG stuff, you should grab them now - just in case.

For the download go to: http://www.gamer-lifestyle.com/

Have fun and enjoy! :-)

Already posted this in the Advice board, but maybe it is appropriate here? At least I hope for some more answers :-)

If you were to introduce players unfamiliar with the CMB/CMD-rules to some fun/interesting encounters featuring wrestling/grappling/unarmed combat, which monsters would you select and why?

If you can, please give examples at different CR intervals, such as:
CR 1-5
CR 6-10
CR 11-15
CR 16-20

Or whatever suits you.

I am looking for monsters that pose an interesting challenge specifically in unarmed combat! :-)

If you were to introduce players unfamiliar with the CMB/CMD-rules to some fun/interesting encounters featuring wrestling/grappling/unarmed combat, which monsters would you select and why?

If you can, please give examples at different CR intervals, such as:
CR 1-5
CR 6-10
CR 11-15
CR 16-20

Or whatever suits you.

I am looking for monsters that pose an interesting challenge specifically in unarmed combat! :-)

In case some of you are fans of the old (some would say original) D&D world of Mystara (a.k.a. The Known World, the Gazetteer series), you may remember the fantastic Voyage of the Princess Ark series, detailing the adventures of a sky ship and its crew in strange lands?

The original creator of the Princess Ark-series, Bruce Heard, also masterminded a lot of the creation of the rest of Mystara, including writing the Principalities of Glantri and Orcs of Thar.

Now, almost a generation later, Bruce Heard is at it again with a fantastic new creation: The World of Calidar, full of wonder!

A kickstarter ends in 5 days but a few days ago the system-less World of Calidar campaign setting reached an interesting stretch-goal: Adaptability to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game! The adaptation will be done by former TSR designer and editor Thomas M. Reid!

So, if you are a fan of Bruce's prior creations or just want to check out the marvelous new world, don't miss checking out the kickstarter and get some of the great offers including extra maps and more!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ambreville/world-of-calidar

:-) Jesper

I finally got my hands on Indesign and have started playing with the layout for some future products.

In the design options, I have to chose between the sizes A4 and 'Letter' (which is a US standard size I guess?)

Any advice from experienced 3PP's on which size format to chose for 3PP products (pdfs) and why?

Much obliged! :-)

I suppose this discussion could also fit in the general roleplaying forum, but I am asking from a game/setting design point of view:

How would you handle tracking PC Honor scores (from Ultimate Campaign) in a setting where different cultures have widely different codes of honor (and thus views of the PCs' actions)?

Is it possible to keep track of a hero's Honor, if it is different from one region/culture/nation to another?

Or would you rule that Honor applies to a PC's "home culture" and that when traveling among all other cultures the PC is viewed as a strange foreigner whose effective Honor can never rise above e.g. 40?

How would you apply varying Honor Codes in a campaign setting - if you had to?

Hello folks

Jens (the other game designer at Blood Brethren Games) and I had a talk the other day, which set some thoughts in motion for me. We are still working on a number of products to be released by BBG, which for various reasons won't become an LLC until January 2014.

Anyway, our talk resulted in a sort of a mission-statement, a "WHY-we-do-what-we-do-the-way-we-do-it" and that explanation has three parts: Rules, Usability and Story that all come together as a whole.

So, over the last couple of days this has inspired me to come up with some kind of triangular logo for the company, so I just wanted to ask if you know if there is a bunch of 3PP's with triangular logos already?

Any input is much appreciated! :-)

I find myself in need of some help from the 3PP community in understanding a few of the mechanisms of the industry better, so I hope some of you will help me shed some light on this.

For about six months now, my buddy and I have been working on a series of products for Pathfinder. We have paid close attention to all the great advice here on the forum and tried to learn as much as possible.

Unfortunately, we have very limited access to sales figures etc. on which to base our own projections and therefore make reasonable budgets for our coming products. And herein lies the problem. Maybe my math is all screwed. Maybe I am just having the wrong expectations. But with the numbers in front of me, I can't see a way to even manage break even - even in the longer run?

Based on information from the forum, I have collected the following advice and information:
- Don't skip the art, good art will more than earn the cost back
- Expect quality art to cost $50 from sources such as DeviantArt
- A rule of the thumb says 1 art piece per 3 pages in short products, per 5 pages in longer products
- If you sell 200 copies of something, it is a hit. Expect a lot less for most products
- Expect to have to build your brand, success and sales over time (naturally)

So, I did a quick calculation of a 30-page product with 6 pieces of art and a nice cover piece (worth two normal pieces). That's $400. Add to that $80 to pay off on a license for CreativeCloud. My own time is not added. It is still $480.

With a product price of $5, Blood Brethren Games earns approx. $3 per sold copy, times e.g. 150 copies, that is still only $450!?

So, I'd really like to ask the experienced Third Party Publishers how this all adds up. I expect to have to earn loyal fans and customers and most likely have a negative income on the products for a while, but with these numbers I find it really hard to see how - even down the line - a product can break even or turn a small profit?

Where am I wrong? Is the art too expensive? Is the product too cheap? Are the sales estimates too modest?

I'd love to hear how entering into this business was for some of you guys and any input you might have on how to go about price setting, establishing the first 5-10 products and the company brand/fan base as such.

Any feedback is much appreciated! :-)

Thank you,

Jesper

Adding up all the effects and bonusses of various building types in an entire district grid (36 lots) using the Ultimate Campaign rules can be a bit tedious and if you are mapping out a Metropolis with 101+ lots it can be quite a bit of work.

So, I was wondering: is there any interest in a game supplement with pre-generated district stat blocks? For example a caravan/market district, a harbour/warehouse district, a cathedral/upper class district, a military district etc.?

This way planning out a large city or Metropolis can be done district grid by grid, not lot by lot?

The idea could expand and include stat blocks for pre-generated villages, towns and cities of various sizes?

The supplement would include lists of what the settlements contain but leave the actual distribution/layout of buildings and lots to the reader.

Hi all

Blood Brethren Games is well underway with our first couple of products, but we have hit an interesting dilemma; how to handle having GM-eyes-only material in a supplement that potentially both players and GMs can buys and use?

Example: Let's say we are cooking up a series of new spells but also include 5 adventure hooks that can be used with each spell. How would you handle that in a product?

Would you make a Section 1 for all readers and a Section 2 for Game Masters only?

We discussed that but that solution leaves something to be desired because a GM reading the supplement would have to do a lot of flipping back and forth between sections during the read.

Any bright ideas on how to handle this?

Many thanks in advance!

:-) Jesper

Hi there!

Since my first post here in the forums last Saturday, I have been going through a lot of the excellent advice shared by the community in a number of (very long) threads about 3PP, Section 15 of the OGL, marketing tips and much more.

However, I have not yet found any discussions of how to divide one's work between Open Content and Product Identity, and how to mark parts of it as either one or the other.

Now, from what I understand, anything based on OGC automatically becomes OGC as well? To my understanding that means that if Blood Brethren Games were to release, say, 10 new feats or the Rogue class - that game supplement would automatically become OGC because feats are a part of the Pathfinder roleplaying game system?

But what if I create something more like "fluff" - like 10 generic town shops with history, descriptions and a stat block for each shopkeep? The stat block would be OGC, I take it, but the rest I could mark as Product Identity, just like Paizo marks "locations" as PI, correct?

If these understandings of OGC and PI are basically correct, I'd like to ask the 3PP community: how and when do you like to use one or the other? Is there a special benefit to keep in mind to making as much as possible either OGC or PI?

Let's assume Blood Brethren Games releases a supplement with 10 town shops - if it is released as OGC all of it, that means any other publisher could take any and all of the shops and put them in their own setting supplement and publish it and make money on it, correct?

I would really like to hear what is standard practice in the industry. Since Blood Brethren Games is very new and still in the process of securing a Pathfinder Compatibility License, it will be a while yet before we are ready to introduce our first products, and I would really like to learn from the many great people and companies, I have seen comment and help this past week.

Sincerely,

Jesper
Blood Brethren Games

Hi there

Hope someone here can answer this question for me:

If I create a Pathfinder-based game supplement and want to make it available via e.g. RPGNow.com, I need to acquire a Compatability License for my product from Paizo, correct?

Will I also need to get some sort of approval/license from Wizards of the Coast, or include a copy of the Open Gaming License that Pathfinder is created under, in my product?

Basically, I am just having trouble figuring out all the legal requirements to be able to publish e.g. a rules supplement with new spells, feats or something for Pathfinder?

Any help will be much appreciated!

Sincerely,

Jesper Andersen