Illithid

Gonzorgo's page

Organized Play Member. 9 posts (11 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 3 Organized Play characters.


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Christopher Dudley wrote:
I was leafing through the old Al Qadim books a couple months ago and pondering translating those kits as archetypes. The problem I saw was that the kits were really not that impressive WRT game mechanics. I remember them as being much more dramatic.

Like most of the 2e kits, the Al-Qadim ones largely fall into two categories: the ones that are best expressed as backgrounds, and the ones that work as subclasses (Askar would be a background, IMO, whereas the Hakima would be a subclass).

And like most 2e kits, the power variance from one to the next could be dramatic.

The real issue is the kits that basically made a character into a completely different class; the sha'ir, which completely changed the way a wizard worked, and almost anything from the "Complete Sha'ir's Handbook."


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A wizard/thief combo that isn't an illusionist or "trickster" and prepares spells instead of being limited in how many they can know. I don't understand why this isn't a more popular concept, since it's pretty much been my favorite since back in 2e.


The biggest problem I ever had with 2nd edition was managing all the people who wanted to play in my campaigns. I started playing in 1994, began DMing shortly after that, and at one point I was running three separate groups, in three separate campaigns, each playing at least once a week. It was glorious.

Nobody I ever played with ever had any issues with THAC0; it was a little counterintuitive, but if you could add, you could manage it OK. After a couple of times, everybody had it down. I do think that the DM had a much greater impact on the game in second edition that in third, and definitely more than in fourth. So much relied on the DM's ability to make stuff up on the fly.

A minor quibble was a lack of consistency; not only in the rules systems, but also in items and spells and such. But like everything else, the final call was up to the DM, and what the DM ruled went. As a DM, one advantage of the hodgepodge of rules systems is that you could make pretty much anything work.

When 3rd edition rolled around, it definitely made the game simpler. The universal mechanic used for all actions was great, and prestige classes were a great idea. I think the only concept out of 4th edition that I really liked was the idea of ritual spell spells. Some character concepts of mine from earlier editions would have landed much closer to my ideas if ritual spells had been an item earlier.

I tell you, though, I miss the greater degree of open-endedness of 2nd edition, and the fact that there wasn't am attempt to have rules in place to cover every possible development in the game. I liked that magical items could be kept very rare and mysterious without it crippling the game or the characters. I also think that balancing classes by the xp needed to level works better than trying to pretend that a fighter and a wizard of equal level will ever be at the same power point. The only way to make that work is to make all of the classes mechanically identical, which was the 4th edition approach.

I also vastly prefer the multiclassing approach of 2nd edition. Some character concepts make no sense as one-class-at-a-time advancement.


Anarch of Xaos wrote:
As for planar cosmologies, as a hardcore Planescape fan, I write off the "new" FR cosmology, the Dragonlance cosmology, and others as simply the only way a Clueless can grasp the planar truth of the Great Ring. They are the Clueless, afterall.

As you will, but it's worth noting that the Dragonlance cosmology was developed in 1983-84 to be distinct from the Great Wheel, and it was Spelljammer (and later Planescape) that tried to shoehorn everything together. Dragonlance has never worked as or been intended to be part of the Great Wheel, any more than Dark Sun was. Or did you decide to let your planewalkers visit the Burning World as well?


Cosmo wrote:

Bone & Ath.

There is not a way to track shipments of subscription issues. Nor are shipments shipped via USPS Priority mail trackable.

However, I have sent replacements to you both for issue #137.

Thanks,
cos

Hey, thanks. As I have mentioned, I have a had a number of difficulties with issues arriving much later than expected, and you have always sent replacements . . . and then the original issues arrived. Because they seemed to always show up, just later than expected, I wasn't going to ask for a replacement until I had received #138.

But as always you are wonderful, and I thank you greatly.


DogBone wrote:

Paizo,

A couple of weeks ago, I posted the fact that I had not received Dungeon issue 137, and asked if it was running late. I have recently received Dungeon #138 in the mail, but still have not received #137!! In addition, I placed an order, number 653624, which was shipped 10 days ago. I still haven't received it. What I'm asking is: 1) Can I get a copy of Dungeon issue 137, and 2) Is there a way to track my order 653624 to see if it's still in transit, or if it has been lost?

I am also very interested in whether we can track the issue shipments, as I have not received issue #137 yet either.


Mine comes from one of my favorite NPCs I ever made up. It has appeared somewhere, in some incarnation, in every campaign I have run since 1996 or so.


BrotherD wrote:

I like subscribing to magazines. If there's a magazine that I like and want to support, I'll subscribe to them in a heartbeat. And, sure, sometimes I'll get a neat exclusive (like that dope dragon mini!), and a lower cost-per-isse price, but I do kind of expect the magazine that I subscribe to to ship their magazine to me in a timely fashion.

The Paizo website states that the latest 'Dragon' shipped 7/5. Tomorrow is 7/19. I know it can take awhile to ship things sometimes, but if I can order 'Monster Manual IV' from RPGShop.com and get the book in three days, I don't quite understand why it takes so long to get my 'Dragon' magazine sometimes.

I appreciate being able to get the magazine earlier than when I'd be able to get it if I'd rely on the newstand to get it, but it does seem excessive to have to wait this long.

Does anyone else have this issue with getting their magazine late/later than they'd like?

All the time. For some reason, I generally receive mine about two to three days after the "arrives on newsstands" date they give. I have no idea why, but it's pretty annoying.

For example, I have not yet received Dungeon #137. And this kind of delay happens all the time.


James Rivera wrote:
I currently have 15 Issues left in my Dragon Subscription and only 2 in my Dungeon. Would it be possible to transfer 6 of the Dragon Issues to the Dungeon subscription as they are the same price? I would like to have my two subscriptions end/renew around the same time. If so, how do I go about requesting this? Thanks for your time responding!

You could convert your Dungeon subscription to a month-to-month when it expires, and then juat wait until your Dragon subscription is up and then renew both on a yearly plan at the same time.