Galdor the Great's page

Hi Sean, how are ya?

I was perusing your profile recently and came across a couple of interesting things that I was hoping you could elaborate upon.

For those not inclined to click the link above, here is the text of Sean’s profile:

My two questions are:

I've played a lot of World of Warcraft, and there are things tabletop RPGs can learn from WOW, but you can push that too far.

What are some of the thing that tabletop RPGs can learn from WOW and what would be pushing it too far? I have never played WOW and don’t know much about it so could you kindly provide examples from tabletop RPGs that do these things?

I design RPGs so people can have fun playing a roleplaying game.

Since you put an emphasis on role, I’m guessing you didn't want readers to accidently read roll. Is this error common enough that it is necessary to distinguish between the two types of games? Also, I’m not quite sure about the meaning of rollplaying game. Are you referring to a game that has no story and the game is entirely resolved through dice rolls? Like Monopoly or other board games?

Thanks for your time. Looking forward to hearing from you!!

Details for the Complete Saga blu-ray can be found here.

According to this...

Based on some of the comments from Star Wars continuity thread it seems that some of us aren't pleased at all with Episodes I-III.

If you were given an unlimited budget and total creative control to remake those movies, what would you do?

Would it be something as simply as casting the movies differently, or perhaps removing some of the internal inconsistencies? (thanks for the link, Erik)

Would you gor for a re-write of the script but keep the basic story the same or would you go in a completely different direction.

Keep in mind, that anything that we would do differently, shouldn't contradict the established lore from Episodes IV-VI.

Thanks for your ideas!

Oh, and as appealing as it may be to say something as simple as keeping George Lucas as far away from the production as possible, I'm looking for something a little more constructive...

DOH! One disparity I forgot to mention was the age of the Old Republic:
Obi-Wan said that it has been around for a 1000 generations, while Senator (or Chancellor, don't remember his title at the time) Palpatine said the Old Republic is only 1000 years old. So, unless a generation is only 1 year...well, you get the idea...

In the comics, this discprepancy was retconned by the Ruusan Reformation.

Has anyone tried the 4th edition version of War of the Burning Sky aventure path offered at Enworld? Any reviews you'd like to share? Thanks!

I'm looking to get some feedback about your favourite 4e adventure, available only through DDI. Any DDI exclusive adventure will do, though please shy away from the Scales of War adventure path. Nothing against SoW, but at 19 adventure in length, it's a little too big for me.

I would normally start off a thread like this sharing my favourite 4e adventure with you but since I don't have much experience with 4e adventures, I have no feedback to give.

Along with the adventure name, please also include what you like about that particual adventure that sets it above other 4e adventures.

Thanks!

Is anyone aware of a conversion of the U1-U3 modules to 4th edition? Thank you.

DO you think updating the Ro7P to 4th edition would be feasible? Since alignment, as far as I know, no longer has a mechanical effect in the rules, would the whole Law vs Chaos thing no longer apply?

Would it be feasible to have the Rod act as a weapon in a different type of versus? For example, Gods vs Primordials, Shadowfell vs Feywild, or the World vs the Far Realm.

...this was unleashed on the world...

Has the content for PHB3 been added to the character builder yet? If not, does anyone know when it will be added? Thank you.

Any speculation on what PHB, DMG, & MM 4 will contain? Will they focus on a new tier of play? (Levels 31 - 40)

Or do you suppose they will contain strange, whacky new rules to sort of "freshen up" the game as people have become familiar with the exisiting rule set over the previous three years?

Among the Paizo Messageboard regulars (and irregulars), I'm aware of a couple of scientists - a geologist & a biologist. Are there any other scientists frequenting these boards? Are you folks doing anything really cool you'd like to share?

Anyone heard of this? Thoughts?

Your parents warn you about this when you're growing up. You watch the training videos so you can avoid this situation. You hear about this happening to other people but you don't ever think it can happen to you. Yes, I'm ashamed to admit it...(this is so embarrassing, I have to put my confession in a spoiler)

The little bastard wasn't just in the microwave, he was in the door of the microwave! I mean, seriously. How do you explain that to your loved ones? I have a theory as to how the little fella ended up there but since it's quite technical, I'll spoilerize it.

So of course, I unplugged the microwave since I didn't want to hurt the cute little guy. I don't know if they have a sufficiently evolved nervous system to feel being boiled from the inside out, but either way, it prolly ain't a happy experience. So I left the microwave unplugged and the door open for the night and when I went to check on it the next morning, there were no critters in the door! Nor in any of the other danger zones of a microwave. It seemed that either I or the earwig had outwitted the other, though I haven't quite figured out which of us is more clever.

So I plugged the infernal machine back in and went about a normal day of microwave use. I love my microwave. The next morning, the little bastard was back! In the door! Maybe he never left, but rather found some sort of nook or cranny to hide in. Anyway, the microwave got unplugged for another day. Not just for the sake of the little wiggler but for humanity's sake too!

I mean, what if my microwave turned the harmless little guy into wigzilla or something? What then??? I mean, if he only grew to the size of a small dog, then I could use his pinchers to open jars & cans & whatnot. But any bigger and it could be the end of the world as we know it.

But wait! No need to go on a looting spree and break out the zombie apocolypse gear. It's been a few weeks since the original incident and there have been no more "earwig in my microwave" sightings. It could be that the little fella has gone off to romance some ladywigs or perhaps he's in the basement trying to convert the spiders to his cause (whatever his cause may be). But rest assured, the destruction of the human race has been delayed. For a while.

I'm more of a Jean-Luc fan myself, but some of these are quite funny.

LINK

What President Obama has to say on the topic

Whereas Congress recognizes the historical tradition of ethical values and principles which are the basis of civilized society and upon which our great Nation was founded;

Whereas these ethical values and principles have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization, when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws;

Whereas without these ethical values and principles the edifice of civilization stands in serious peril of returning to chaos;

Whereas society is profoundly concerned with the recent weakening of these principles that has resulted in crises that beleaguer and threaten the fabric of civilized society;

Whereas the justified preoccupation with these crises must not let the citizens of this Nation lose sight of their responsibility to transmit these historical ethical values from our distinguished past to the generations of the future;

etc...

link

I will be purchasing a new computer (laptop, to be precise) in the next year or so. Should I get one sooner with Vista or wait until Windows 7 is released? I don't mind waiting until about 6 months after the launch of Windows 7 so Microsoft can iron out the major bugs.

I guess my question should really be something like: What will Windows 7 do that Vista can't? I currently use XP so I don't know much about Vista other than what I've learned from the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials.

Thanks for your input.

What do you call a man hanging from a wall?

What do you call a man floating in the water?

What do you call a man lying on the floor?

Hi There,

I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the correct section, please point me to a more approrpiate area to ask this question if I'm in the wrong place.

I've heard many people on these boards state that Paizo offers the best adventures, both for the content of the adventure itself, plus the style & presentation. Unfortunately, I haven't had the pleasure of finding out for myself.

Can you fine folks please provide me with what you think is the best Paizo adventure? I would prefer a stand alone adventure rather than one out of an AP, but am willing to entertain any suggestions you may have.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Is the Manual of the Planes a general overview of the new 4e cosmology with seperate books coming out for each section (ie. a book on the Shadowfell, another on the Feywild, etc)? Thank you.

Does anyone know which races & classes have been confirmed for PHB3? Thank you.

Any ideas as to which Demon Lord will grace the cover of MM3? I vote for Jubilex.

...I have calculated that using only PHB1 & PHB2, there are 6580 possible race/class/paragon path/epic destiny combinations.

Anyone care to confirm or dispute?

Was there a 3.x equavalent to the 2e Complete Book of Humanoids?

Thank you.

...those that understand binary and those that don't.

After a long hiatus from Battletech I'm looking to get back into it. The problem is, I don't own any of the books, maps, miniatures, or anything. Browsing around the internet I've discovered that Total Warfare seems to be the latest rule set. So, my question is, if I buy Total Warfare will that contain all the rules I need or will I also need to buy the Introductory Box set? I'm aware that Total Warfare is just the book, it doesn't come with maps or miniatures or anything additional - I'm ok with that. But is it a complete rules set in iteself?

Thank you.

Has anyone ever tried this?

...rather them push himself up, he pushes the Earth down. Is this true?

Has anyone heard if the second round of core books will be sold as a set or will I need to buy the books individually? Thanks!

Has anyone read The Case for Mars by Robert Zubrin? This book shows the "correct" way of planning and implementing a manned mission to Mars. I won't go into detail of the specific technologies mentioned, mainly due to the fact that the book came out in the mid-90s and I'm not sure if the technology mentioned is any more or less feasible now than it was a decade ago.

Chapter 5: Killing the Dragons, Avoiding the Sirens talks about some of the current objections to a manned Mars mission. The hazards listed are Radiation, Zero Gravity, Human Factors, Dust Storms (on Mars), Back Contamination (if Martian life was to be found), and finally Zubrin explains why the missionto Mars doesn't require a build up of assets, or prequel missions, to the moon.

Zubrin's essays on these topics can be found by doing some internet searches for Robert Zubrin, Mars Direct, or by going to the Mars Society website.

I don't claim to have any relevant knowledge in any of these fields to support or deny the claims but Zubrin does make some valid points.

I strongly suggest that anyone interested in a manned mission to Mars check out his book.

EDIT: This post is copied from a post I made in another thread last year...

I would like to create a Left 4 Dead type adventure using 4e rules, and since I suck when it comes to designing monsters, I’m hoping you folks can help me out. The adventure would be Heroic Tier, for characters of 3 - 5 level. Here are some ideas I have come up with (it’s probably necessary that you’re familiar with the Left 4 Dead video game to get the gist of what I’m referring to):

All Infected (including Special Infected)
- aberrations rather than undead

Common Infected
- Minion
- low move speed but get a speed bonus to charge attack
- low perception unless PCs are within a certain radius (perhaps they have a perception Aura - cannot sense PCs outside aura, automatic detection within aura)

Hunter
- Skirmisher role
- should have a nice bonus to Athletics as they are able to climb with ease and leap great distances
- bonus to Stealth
- primary attack would be some sort of At-Will pounce &knock prone attack

Smoker
- Lurker role
- 20 square range touch attack with his tongue
- should be strong enough to reel in a typical Medium creature with its tongue
- tongue attack has recharge of 4 - 6
- Athletics & Stealth bonus

Boomer
- Artillery role
- not sure if bile attack should be Close Blast or ranged Burst
- Boomer bile summons a Horde
- bile attack would have a recharge of 5 - 6
- Athletics & Stealth bonus

Tank
- Solo Brute
- Large
- incredibly strong
- Athletics bonus, no need for Stealth
- really good at smashing people, places, & things

Witch
- Elite Controller (wise players give the witch a wide berth so as to not disturb her. If she is placed in a choke point, then the PCs’ movement choices on the map are restricted)
- incredibly fast
- knock prone attack

Horde
- Gargantuan swarm composed of Medium creatures
- bonus for Athletics, no need for Stealth
- berserker-like behaviour (bonuses to attack and/or damage)

Please make any comments or suggestions. If someone else has started a conversion along these lines, please point me in their direction. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Has anyone heard any rumours (or facts) about what will be in DMG II? If not, anyone care to speculate?

In the episode of MASH "That's Show Biz", the Ellie Carlyle character (played by Amanda McBroom) plays a song on the piano in the Officer's Club that Charles really enjoys. Does anyone know the title or composer of that piece? Thank you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Canadian_parliamentary_dispute

Harper used the word separatist so often, I thought I was listening to Count Dooku give a speech to the Trade Federation, the Techno Union, and the InterGalactic Banking Clan.

‘Where did I put those Spaarti cloning cylinders...’

Any other Canadians out there want to send a letter to the Governor General informing her that we’re ready to rule...I mean govern, Canada?

"So, Galdor, what makes you so great?"

In grade nine I made the academic honour roll the first semester.

"Hmmm..that's good, but not great."

This one time in gym class in elementary school we were playing some sort of game involving balls and one of the balls hit a long bamboo pole that was propped up in the corner for some reason. This girl was standing near the pole as it fell over and she would have been hit on the head but I ran over and caught the pole first. Plus I got a splinter from the pole.

"Ok, what have you done for me lately?"

I'm named after a great warrior.

A small, green, three toed critter shuffles out of the swamp, "Wars do not make one great." Greenie shuffles away.

"Even if wars did one make great, you're only named after a great warrior, you're not a great warrior yourself."

I see your point. Ok, so...ummm... let me see...there was the time I...no, that's not great. Oh yeah! How about...nope, that's not great either...

"Galdor, I'm sure you're great. Maybe you need time to think of something you've done that makes you great."

Or maybe I'm not so great after all. Maybe I should change my name to Galdor the Not-So-Great...but I don't know how...

"Maybe you could choose a really great avatar!"

Now you're jsut trying to cheer me up. Let me wallow in all my ungreat glory.

"Oh Galdor, I think you're great. Just look at you, you're a great looking guy/girl/plant/boxspring/or whatever you are."

Really? That's awfully great of you to say.

"Yeah, I'm great too."

I'm going to post this now.

"Why?"

*shrug*

I have a few ideas for a new campaign setting and would like to get your feedback.

Once upon a time...

There was a group of wizards that ruled a realm, a magocracy, if you please, which bordered on a large body of water. These wizards were generally benevolant and loved by most. They created a constitution which governed the actions of all those that chose to live & work in their realm.

Every so often the wizards would draft a new constitution with updates for old laws or adding new laws. Everyone was happy and life went on. Then there was this one time that the wizards made a third constitution. It was quite evolutionary with its new laws and new way of doing things. The new constitution brought many new citizens and denizens into the wizards' realm.

Unfortunately, the new constitution, while good over all, had some major flaws. Only two short years after publishing their third constitution, the wizards released another very similar, yet different, version. So as to not upset their loyal population, the coast dwelling wizards called it the third-and-a-half constitution. Some people grumbled at the small length of time between the third and third-and-a-half constitutions but others generally saw the changes as a good thing.

Now, these wizards are ruled from afar (or perhaps near - it's hard to say) by an empire. This empire, while not evil (though I'm sure there are some evil folks within the organization), liked to generate gold pieces. The best way, in their mind, to generate this cash flow was to come up with a new constitution.

This empire was strange and they spoke strangely and had strange customs. For example, having a brother was extremely important. That, coupled with their habit of using slang or contracting words, begat the following common greeting, "Hey man, do you has bro?"

A while later the fourth constitution came out and it had a great effect on the people of the realm. The laws were drastically changed, some said, and it was nothing like previous constitutions. The realm was divided and could have engaged in civil war.

Thankfully there emerged from the chaos a leader, or a saviour. This leader/saviour was very intelligent and she had great charisma and wonderful ideas.

She said (in fact she must have the gift of foresight for she said the following comments prior to the fourth constitution being released), she said that while she was sure the fourth constitution would be great and she wished the wizards well with their new laws, she was convinced that the third-and-a-half constitution still had merit and should be allowed to flourish for many years to come.

She decided to form her own break-away realm and continue to leave peacefully under the third-and-a-half constitution laws. She drew a great many people with her and for the first time in the history of the world, this magnificent leader asked the people what changes they wanted to see with the laws.

The people rejoiced and submitted ideas by the thousands and new laws were created and old laws updated and the people were once again happy...

Or were they?...

So, what do you guys think? Before I forget, I should mention that the leader of the new realm's name was lost to anqiquity but the people referred to her as Leader & Saviour. The people of this new realm couldn't decide if she was a Leader or a Saviour so they abbreviated the words and combined them into her new name, "Lea-Sa"!

1. I didn't notice anything about size restrictions when using a power to push, pull, or slide someone. Maybe I missed it or could a hafling really shove a dragon out of the way?

2. Is there a mechanical difference between a passive and an active perception check? One would think that a character that is actively seaching for something/someone would get some sort of bonus over another character that just happens to walk by...

Thanks for your help!

Has anyone updated the 2e adventure to 3.5?

Simple question...what are the odds of rolling 86 on 10d10?