ArielManx's page

It occurred to me that people working on 3P material that are looking for an established publisher to work with might like to work with someone more locally than just email/phone correspondence, so instead of me going around checking various websites for 3PP locations i figured id start a thread here so they can individually post their cities, states and contact info if they so choose so we can have a sort of index.

I'll edit this post to keep up

4 Winds Fantasy Gaming is headquartered in Great Falls, Montana. Our freelancers are from, literally, all over the country and the world.

All of our contact information is on our website. Email is the best way to get in contact with us.

Connie
4WFG

This is something I stared in Facebook page and LPJ Design blog that I thought should be brought here: I am thinking about doing a Pathfinder project and paying out 4 cents a word for writers. That is A LOT more than I normally pay (Remember small PDF publisher here). Am I crazy to think like this? I am looking to hear from the Pathfinder and Paizo fans on this.

As a fellow small-press publisher, I certainly understand the desire to pay writers more. If money were no object, we'd be paying all our contributors far more than we currently do.

Unfortunately, money is always an object. Obviously there are far more financial outlays to the business than just paying contributors - especially once you start talking print products. You have to spend money to make money, but you also can't afford to bleed yourself dry.

So ultimately, the question isn't whether you should or shouldn't increase the pay rate for your writers. No one in their right mind would say writers should be paid less for quality work. The question should really be, can your company afford to pay the writers more without sacrificing in other areas - artwork, editing, layout, etc? (I don't know how much of those things you do yourself, in-house, and how much you have done via work-for-hire.)

If you spend the bulk of a product's budget on the writing, and are then left without enough money to get art for the product, or hire a good editor, or do proper layout, did the product really benefit?

It's a delicate balancing act we all strive to maintain. If you've figured out a way to make it work, go for it, man.

Connie
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming

Early in my writing career at Geek's Dream Girl I was very good about coming to the Paizo forums and posting the links to my weekly column here. Then I somehow kept forgetting to do it. D'oh.

This week's column is part nine in my series on romance in RPGs, What’s Love Got To Do With It, Part IX: When Love Fades.

Want to catch up on the rest of the series, along with the rest of my columns? (I write mostly about RPGs, but also good sci-fi/fantasy books and geeky crafts, among other things) You can find all my columns on my author page.

Connie Thomson
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming

WHAT DO YOU MEAN GAMING HAS NO WINNERS?

I guess we have been playing this game wrong for years LOL

"I won Dungeons and Dragons! And it was ADVANCED!" :D

What is competitive gaming?

The title is a reference to the GOLD series, in which RPGs are a televised event, with live and TV audiences, that people play professionally. In that world, gaming is a competition - in our world, it is not (or at least shouldn't be).

It isn't about "winning" (Charlie Sheen isn't involved - we can't afford him) or beating anyone - it's simply about being the best you can at gaming or GMing, about succeeding at your goals as a gamer - #1 of which is almost always having fun!

Connie
4WFG

and our own Lilith!!!!!

Yes! We're thrilled to have Lilith on board. :D

Connie Thomson
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming

In my last campaign, the PCs came across a young king that was apparently very fond of women - several women, at that. Attracted to one of the PCs, he... propositioned her. Having her own motives for conceiving a royal heir, she went through with it. And so, with a few percentage rolls made up on the spot by our last GM, now we have a week-pregnant PC.

Now, the GM Hat is back on me. This had all started as a joke, but I saw that it had some definite roleplay potential - but the roleplaying isn't a part of it. Pregnancy is definitely not in the Core rules anywhere, and it's apparent that within a month or so, the PC will be physically affected.

Her character isn't the type that would retire just because she is pregnant, so obviously the child will be in constant danger. So, what kind of effects should pregnancy eventually have on the PC? Anybody ever have something similar happen in your campaign?

As Dark Mistress pointed out, this is something I've written extensively on in my Geek's Dream Girl column (here here and here). I've also had the experience of playing a pregnant character twice (the same character, several game years apart). I won't repeat the entirety of my columns on the subject (because I want you to go read them, of course!) but I'll sum up a bit to answer your question.

Like Hu5tru said, the Book of Erotic Fantasy did outline some great guidelines for the game-stat effects of pregnancy on a character. For our games we've also created charts of chances for morning sickness, mood swings, food cravings/aversions, etc. We also include a chance of spell failure for casters, as the baby placing a poorly timed kick to the ribs can ruin a spell.

I found the role-playing challenge of a pregnant character to be a lot of fun. She had to find another way to get around once she couldn't ride a horse anymore - she's a wizard, so she would ride atop a floating disk, holding her horse's reins and letting it pull her along. She was well-protected with magic items, but did sit out a lot of battles, or at least held herself far to the back. When the babies came (it was twins the first time), after a few weeks the whole family hit the road together with the rest of the party. I had to be creative in figuring out ways to keep the children safe, but it was manageable, and the depth the experience added to my character made every challenge worthwhile.

Ironicly Connie of 4 Wind Fantasy Gaming recently did a 3 part blog series about this very topic over at Geek's Dream Girl. You can find a link to her author link with all her articles HERE.

it was a interesting read and you might find it helpful.

Thanks for the plug, DM! :D (Made a little edit for ya for the name of the website!)

Connie
4WFG

For those following this series of articles, my fourth installment just went up: What’s Love Got To Do With It, Part IV: Your Taboo Is My Vanilla. Possibly NSFW, if you don't want the boss looking over your shoulder and seeing mention of vampire sex. :D

Connie

ArielManx wrote:

You're absolutely right that romantic roleplay can eat up a lot of time with one player while the others sit and feel like a fifth wheel.

I have to cry BS on this. Splitting the party does exactly the same thing. If you try to argue against splitting up the party you hear cries of anti-realism. But it is somehow more realistic to ignore such a fundamental part of being human?

If your group never splits up the group under any circumstance, then you have a valid argument. Otherwise, I see no reason allowing some romance is any more disruptive then letting the Rogue to scout ahead.

Step down off his wooden box which once held soap products and slides it under the couch for safe keeping.

OK, I worded that poorly. Splitting the party does indeed do exactly the same thing. Anything that focuses on one or two characters does the same thing. I even made note of that in my first article on the topic. Most players can occupy/entertain themselves while other players have the GM's attention (if they can't, give them a yo-yo or something).

When it's romance that has the spotlight, I think that sometimes, players who aren't involved - and also aren't entirely comfortable with the romantic bits - end up feeling like they went to the movies with a couple of friends, and those friends started making out, and he's stuck sitting there beside them because they're his ride home.

Personally as a player, I'm far more entertained watching the bard try to pick up a bedtime companion than paying attention to the ranger going out on his own to hunt. I agree, CourtFool, romance is no more disruptive than anything else. I'd never ignore it in a game.

That's cool, a well done book. For this topic would be very nice. Most are either silly Book of Nympho or what ever the mongoose one was called. It was ok but tongue and cheek. or BoEF which will serious strayed off the path I felt and finally that netbook... yeah that one. So a good one has a place.

Anyways look forward to what ever 4WFG does next regardless.

Thanks DM! :D I don't know when we'll get it out, but obviously you and rest of the fine folks here at Paizo will be among the first to know. :D

I am on a forum specifically for sexual role playing, so I have no problem including romance or even taking it 'all the way'. Now, obviously, I am a little more 'free spirited' than a lot of other gamers. So when I run a game, I let the players dictate how far they are interested in taking things. Most of the recent groups I have played with skirt the issue. Back in my military days with my buddies, it was mostly R rated. One of our characters was almost always dating one of the Playboy playmates.

Which forum is that, CourtFool? (If it's not a safe link to post just give me enough clues to find it on my own.)

For several years I played in a PbP fantasy/magic university game that was very sex heavy, so you could say I'm a pretty free spirit too. I totally scale it back with other players who aren't as comfortable with it as I am.

Huh small world, I almost went to Gen Con to be a booth babe for the book back then. I talked to... ug forget his name about it. But ultimately I wasn't able to afford to go to Gen Con.

Just weird to know we likely posted in those forums and I had not clue now you guys was involved in that. Kinda like finding out someone you work with went to the same school as you at the same time and you didn't recognize each other till now. :)

Go figure! Were you going by Dark_Mistress there too? I think I was going by the handle MakesRainWoman back then. I'm sure we talked there at least a few times. I used to spend a lot of time on those forums.

Robert's actually listed in the credits of the book in the "thank yous". :D

Thanks for this, Connie.

You're welcome! Thank you for reading! :D

I think it's also one of the most difficult parts of separating the player from the character. The obvious problematic situation is when you have a female character played by a heterosexual male player, being in a romantic role play scenario with a male character played by another heterosexual male player. If you can't separate the character from the player, this could get awkward or repellent for all parties. If you can, it can be a rewarding role play experience that adds depth to the characters.

True. I also think the face-to-face aspect of a tabletop game is one of things that makes it awkward for some. When you're playing WoW, it really doesn't hit you that the hot night elf chick is actually played by a guy. At the table, it's impossible to ignore that the cute halfling rogue is being played by the burly bearded dude sitting across from you. Or that the very handsome male wizard is being played by a girl. Not everyone can get past that sort of thing, but it sure opens up more roleplay opportunities if you can. (Like I need to tell you this, Sean... :D )

I agree with the sentiments of the articles. We are happy to describe actions of violence because it is easy to depersonalize them. To handle romance in-game both the GM and players have to be a lot more comfortable with both themselves and the people around them. I firmly believe that women make the best GM's when it comes to this style of play, as a general rule.

Well done however, it would be nice to see more RPG books either include or have supplements for running games that didn't hinge on "killing things and taking their stuff". The most popular RPG's seem more and more to be board games - a reversal is due.

S.

Thank you! I think you're right about the depersonalization of violence. Romance is harder to detach yourself from, probably because it's something most of us have experienced or hope to experience in real life. I think a large number of gamers have been lucky enough to live without true violence affecting them personally, and it is something most people strive to avoid in the real world, so detailed descriptions don't strike a personal chord.

I love a good hack-and-slash as much as anyone, but I'd much rather have deep roleplaying experiences, myself.

Well, I do have a trick for romances in some games. I call it the "Action Movie Romance".

One of the fastest way to get in a little side RP is to crank up the tension in a situation is when flirting happens in the middle of a fight. A handsome/beautiful rival or ally makes advances as a free action on their turn. Keep it simple at first, but be obvious about it. Flattery, inuendo, etc. Lay it on thick, some players need a clue bat to catch on.

Now, I'm not saying this first encounter clinches it. By no means. But rather it's the prelude for other inactions both inside and outside of combat.

Say: A Princess Adventurer makes a pass at PC1 during a fight to save her father in scene 1. Post fight the PC's are invited to court for a formal dinner and thanks. After the rest of the PC's have their reward have the Princess away (or in front of) her family make another pass at the PC. (Again, don't do a open call just a solid pass.) Next scene the PCs are dispatched to deal with whomever the assassin is and the Princess shows up to 'support and advise'. Build the tension. Finally, in big battle at Assassin hide out Princess takes 1 round of combat to pull the PC to the side and plants a big one before going off to slaughter someone else.

It's Hammy, goofy, but works almost every single time to establish a in game romance of PC to NPC. PC to PC, well that's up to the players.

I like it! Sometimes hammy and goofy works really well. Real-life romance can be pretty hammy and goofy anyway. :D

For me the problem with romance is the problem with other highly personalized roleplay opportunities. It takes a significant amount of roleplay time (at the table) and is limited to a single player. If I as a dm invest in a romance for one of my characters, it requires alot of 'screen time' if you will. The attraction, courtship, romance needs to be roleplayed (i am a fan of doing roleplay in detail and not in generalities). But during that time unless there is a love triangle, or something of the sort only a single player is engaged. In a larger group like mine (we have 10 members and 7-8 per session on average) any roleplay hook that only deals with a single character is problematic.

Edit:
As an aside I do think roleplaying romance can add alot to a game, and it is definately a part of lots of classic fantasy stories in literature, and movies. It has been a positive part of several campaigns I've been in. It just seemed to me you didnt really attend to the idividual nature of romance roleplay in your articles.

You're absolutely right that romantic roleplay can eat up a lot of time with one player while the others sit and feel like a fifth wheel. This is something I plan to address in a future column (I can't write everything at once or my columns will be too long to read in one sitting... :D ). Would you mind if I quoted this post and your screen name? This may not be this week's column, but it will be sometime in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, Dark Mistress sums up a pretty good way to handle things:

Kolo - What I have done in my own games is this. Try to keep that to a minimum at the table. As far as how much time is devoted. Obvious sometimes it can't be helped. But if I can work it, I do something like this. End the game with the PC's in town just getting back. Find out what their plans are and do a little prestuff.

If a PC looks to hook up with a barmaid or stable boy, the I try to between game session do most of the RPing out in emails then. Then at the next game session we play out the public parts IC that the other PC's see, often glossing over some of it. Like Andy and the barmaid sit in the corner and talk, after awhile they start to make out. Just give a IC overview lacking most of the details that the other PC's can see.

I find that works pretty well, it is not perfect but it seems a good balance between having it and making it work. With out dominating large chunks of time at the table.

This method of handling romance keeps it from dominating the game and making everyone else feel left out.

Of course my mind went to... so when is 4WFG going to make a product about this now written by Connie? :)

It's on my list of things to write! :D

In all seriousness, I've had ideas for a number of romance-related RPG products for some time. No estimated release dates or anything, but there will be some out from 4WFG in the future.

*Salutes* very well done, and well said. Far too many people laugh this sort of Role Playing off, when it can bring a great deal of depth to the campaign, fleshing out the characters in new and interesting ways.

Thank you! And thanks to Sharoth and Steelfiredragon too! :D

My third column on this topic just went up this morning:

What’s Love Got To Do With It, Part III: Roll For Random Sexual Encounter?

(In other words, are rules needed for romantic elements in RPGs?)

Enjoy!

Connie

About a month ago I was hired as a Geek Life/RPG writer at Geek's Dream Girl. While my weekly columns so far have been on an assortment of geeky topics (you can read them all here), for the last two weeks I've been writing on one of my favorite topics: romance in tabletop RPGs. And while I'm encompassing all RPGs, you all know I'm a Pathfinder girl! :D

What’s Love Got To Do With It: Romance In Tabletop RPGs
What’s Love Got To Do With It, Part II: Bringing In The Lovin’

Part III is coming up next week!

Connie
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming

(Mods - move this post if you think I've posted on the wrong section of the board. I wasn't sure where it fit best!)

I imagine the announcement of 3rd edition has thrown a wrench into this.

Luckily, it hasn't. :-) Green Ronin will be updating the M&M Superlink License to "Super-Powered by M&M", effective January 1, 2011. Since we weren't planning on having this product out until March 2011, we're good to go there. Super-Powered by M&M is actually going to make things easier for 3PPs, which makes us happy!

Work is continuing on our first M&M product, and while we will have to wait on seeing the new 3rd edition rules for finalizing stats and other crunchy bits, we're not anticipating a delay due to the edition change.

Connie
4WFG

Mine's a Forgotten Realms reference. Ariel Manx was the true name of Midnight, the wizard who took over the mantle of the goddess Mystra during the Time of Troubles.

It's somewhat obscure, but there have been a few forums and other sites where I've been unable to use the name as it's already been taken.

Well, then how about the BAB progressions for the Pikeman, Righteous Rager, and Roughhouse? They're all

1 +1
2 +2
3 +3
4 +2
5 +2
6 +3
7 +3
8 +4
9 +4
10 +5

I'm assuming you meant them all to be full BAB classes, but something got mixed up in copy/paste and then never caught in editing.

That is a valid error that indeed should have been caught in editing the original manuscript (which I just checked, and that's where the error lies) and wasn't caught by either Robert or me. We will consult with Ryan on what he intended it to be and will make changes for the PDF and future printings.

Thank you for pointing that out!

Connie
4WFG

pointing out a lot of things that aren't truly "typos"

As the editor of this product, I feel I have to say something here. A typo, as defined by Wikipedia, WordNet Search 3.0, and Merriam-Webster Online, among others, is a typographical error, such as in spelling, due to a slip of the hand or fingers of the typist, or other mechanical failure. "Or" when "of" is intended, or "43" when "42" is the correct number, is a typo.

Nothing that you've pointed out so far in your breakdown of Chapter 2, prestige class by prestige class, is a typo. Something that you think could be worded better is not a typo.

The Reflex save progression on the crowd displeaser is at most a design flaw (though I'm assuming Ryan intended it to be the way it is). A typo in that table would have been something like a Ref save of +3 at level 4, +4 at level 5, and back down to +3 at level 6.

I'm not sure how "1/2 crowd displeaser's level" is not specific enough. Any other class feature in the core rulebook is worded that way; for example, the DC on the cleric's channel energy ability is stated as "10 + 1/2 the cleric's level + the cleric's Cha modifier". If the class name is stated, it refers to the levels in that class; if it says simply "character level", then you would use the full character level.

"Parcours" is the original French spelling from which "parkour" is derived. Using that spelling is not a typo.

I realize I may be sounding anal and/or defensive here, but when a review is put out saying there are "unfortunate typos" in something, but there actually aren't, that gives the reader of the review a false impression of our product. Granted, your review is otherwise glowing, and we greatly appreciate it! And if you had simply said, "I don't like the way some things were worded," and given examples, that would be just fine - that's your opinion, and I won't dispute it. But saying there are "unfortunate typos", when there aren't (at least none that you have pointed out, and if you do find an "if" instead of "it" that made it past Ryan, Robert, and myself, I don't consider that unfortunate), whether as a simple matter of incorrect semantics or an attempt at brevity (I do realize you're limited in reviews for word count), is something I have to take exception to. :-)

Connie Thomson
4WFG

The new KFC Double down: Two pieces of cheese, two pieces of bacon, and special sauce between two fried chicken breasts. As delicious as it is, it's like a coronary infarction conveniently available at the drive-thru (yes I tried one...I couldn't help it). How the hell can anyone wonder why Americans are obese when we have s@*! like this? It's like the fast food industry is plotting the demise of the populace at large with their delicious fatty offerings.

Oddly enough, according to this, nutritionally (ahem) speaking the Double Down is not much worse for you than a Big Mac, just saltier. You could eat three of them and still be taking in fewer calories than in a single Quizno's Prime Rib Cheesesteak (though damn, that sub looks tasty...ooey gooey cheese...).

Not that I would recommend three Double Downs in one sitting. Blarg.

I fully admit I still eat too much fast food, but that's my fault, not the fast food industry's. I'd like to blame them, but Sonic really doesn't make me come in for my cheeseburger (the works, but no onions) and tater tots with a big-ass cherry limeade...that's all me and my own weaknesses... :-)

Very cool i really hope this book goes well. My one request is run the spectrum from one end to the other. Basic fairly mundane stuff, like asprin plants to ones that do real healing. Also I personally would love to see more everyday uses. Birth control for example, hang over cure etc.

Like Ragu, "It's in there!" (Am I dating myself with that old commercial reference? I may be. Damn.) We will definitely be running the full spectrum, from minor things like aloe to herbs that can do some serious healing, and I personally would not dream of putting out an herbalism book without birth control herbs.

Glad you're excited, DM! We are too.

Connie
4WFG

Some questions:

Will this book have information on poisons, even if that's just certain types of berry or flower?

Possibly, but more than likely it will be more of a warning ("Be careful with this plant - the leaves heal, but the berries are poisonous!") than information about making poisons. Poison stats will be included for those plants that are poisonous.

What about a rundown of necessary equipment?

Yes!

Will it have herbs and plants from all types of environments (desert, shore, mountain, etc.)?

Also yes!

Will it have prices?

And yes, yet again! :D

Connie
4WFG

Vissigoth wrote:

...

Go with no art. If you can't afford good art definitely go with no art.

I often wonder why PDF publishing RPG companies (Paizo included) don't offer text and map only PDFs of their supplements at a reduced cost. I would buy these in a second. Bad art (at least art that I don't like) can ruin a product for me immediately. In fact, this almost happened with Rise of the Runelords after I saw the art in Burnt Offerings. A no art reduced cost PDF should always be an option.

Speaking from a publisher's perspective, making a no-art version of a product requires a full second go at layout. It isn't as easy as simply deleting the art out of the original version, because the text is wrapped around the art - remove the artwork and all your formatting is off. The neat way that you had the full stat block for an NPC in one column? Gone. The table within a spell description suddenly spills over into the next column, so you have to move it. And where before, every chapter ended neatly at the end of a page with little to no white space, you now have maybe a quarter page of text spilling onto a final page and all that ugly white space left over, so you have to try to free up a quarter page of space earlier in the chapter.

If you're paying someone to do layout, and want them to make a second version like that, they deserve (and if they're professionals, will ask for) additional pay. Even if you have the layout done for free (I do our layout for our print products, and believe me, I don't get a paycheck!), that takes an additional amount of time that often can't be afforded. And I'm sure most would want to pay less for a no-art version, but seeing as the art was already procured for the original (we already had to pay for it), and it took additional time (and possibly money) to make the no-art version, we as publishers could end up losing money on the no-art version.

Connie
4WFG

We at 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming are excited to announce one of our upcoming products, The Apothecary's Handbook, focusing on herbalism and basic pharmacology in a fantasy setting. We don't have a firm page count or release date yet, as this one is still in the early stages, but we anticipate a PDF at least 40 pages long, and it should be ready to go sometime this summer or early fall.

I talked more about it on our Facebook fanpage.

Connie
4WFG

For our weekly journal on our Facebook fan page, I wrote about the work involved in putting out one of our print books, from start to finish. You can read it here.

Connie Thomson
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming

I was hoping the alchemist was going to fill the elementalist role. Alchemy traditionally deals with the classical elements (air, earth, fire, and water), and mixing multiple elements could lead to additional substances.

We have elementalist wizard options in our recent release, "Paths of Power" available right here on Paizo.

Just sayin'. :-)

Connie Thomson
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming

re: artists - Check out deviantART as well.

A good place to start your search on dA is the dA Club hiredeviantARTISTS. It's a very small subset of the number of artists on dA, but all of them are interested in work, and all have profiles with examples of what they can do.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I am a member of this group myself, but for artisan crafts - if I could draw, we could sure save on art for our books!)

Connie
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming

Oh! What are some of the major frustrations you've encountered as publishers?

For me, there have been a couple frustrating things. One is the amount of time I could be spending creating, writing, doing layout - the fun stuff! - that instead I spend doing bookkeeping, paying bills, running to the post office and the office supply stores, keeping track of inventory, etc. When you start a publishing company, you know that you're going to have to do all those things - especially when your company consists of just two people at the "headquarters" (i.e. the room in our basement we call our office) - but it really eats up a lot of time and energy. I am not at all looking forward to getting everything ready for our taxes this year, mainly because of the time it's going to take away from writing.

Another frustration is the number of well-meaning friends who keep popping up out of the woodwork "volunteering" to "proofread" for us, because they caught one or two typos in a finished product that were missed by Robert, myself, our writers, and our editor. If it hasn't been caught by 5 sets of eyes, we can't afford to take the time to have a 6th set read through the whole thing, or we'd never get the products put out, and we also can't afford the money to pay a proofreader on top of an editor (because rare is the "volunteer" who truly wishes to go unpaid somehow!). There was a thread on this very topic directed at Paizo not long ago and I was so happy to see the Paizo people saying the same thing! We love that our friends are enthusiastic, and appreciate their offers, but...

Connie Thomson
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming

The 4Winds book on classes coming next month apparently has the Elementalist Wizard

That's correct! :-) We will present the Elemental Wizard class options in Paths of Power, which we will have out in November.

Connie Thomson
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming

I thin they like spell casters

Well, we do like magic, yes. :-) Not all of our products will be as magic-heavy as our first two books, though.

Connie Thomson
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming

You've blessed the Pathfinder RP with the Book of Arcane Might and the Book of Divine Magic and I'm grateful.

So when is the Book of Martial Might going to be made available?

You may find our upcoming release, Paths of Power, to be useful. It's a book of new base, prestige, and NPC classes, a number of which are martial in nature. You could easily pull feats, skills, powers, equipment, and the like from the new classes. We should have Paths of Power out in early November.

We don't have a specific "Book of Martial Might" in our 2-3 year plan.

Thank you for your interest in our products!

Connie Thomson
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming

I was wondering if there is some sort of releases schedule for Pathfinder 3rd party [printed] material.

We maintain a product release schedule on our webpage, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming.

Our next print product will be Paths of Power, a book of new base and prestige classes. We hope to have the print book available in early November.

Connie Thomson
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming