Dice

HolmesandWatson's page

Organized Play Member. 900 posts (1,758 including aliases). 1 review. No lists. No wishlists. 1 Organized Play character. 4 aliases.


1 to 50 of 91 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | next > last >>

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Last month over at BlackGate.com, I put up the first of a two-part essay that includes 25 tips on Dungeon delving.

Creighton Broadhurst of Raging Swan Press came up with the list and I added some thoughts about the first dozen. Part two is coming soon. Comments on the items welcome.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Tactical Mastery Tip #2 - Define the Objectives. The mission and goal, once defined and analyzed, will contain distinct places where progress can be measured.

As step one was 'Know the Goal,' defining the objectives seems like a reasonable second step. What are the steps to achieve the goal.

A party is going to play Forge of Fury (just about my favorite 3rd Edition module). The mission is to find forged by Durgeddin in the monster-infested dwarven hall of Khundrakar.

The goal is to recover the weapons and escape the hall alive.

The first objective is to gain entrance to the hall.

There are a couple different ways - none easy. We'll say the party managed to get in through the front door (yeah, sure). The next objective is probably to get across the chasm that no longer has a rope bridge across it, the Orcs having destroyed it in retreat.

If the party manages to get across, a new objective is set.

Each such objective should take you one step closer to attainment.

It's not exactly paint by numbers, but the objective should generally be stepping stones to the goal - maybe with the order jumbled a bit.

Next up is 'Make, and Follow, a Plan.'


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I came across this today:

Clerical spells, including the druidic, are bestowed by the gods, so that the cleric need but pray for a few hours and the desired verbal and somatic spell components will be placed properly in his or her mind. First, second, third and even fourth level spells are granted to the cleric through meditation and devout prayer. This spell giving is accomplished by the lesser servants of the cleric’s deity.

Fifth, sixth and seventh level spells can be given to the cleric ONLY by the cleric’s deity himself, not through some intermediate source. Note that the cleric might well be judged by this or her deity at such time, as the cleric must supplicate the deity for the granting of these spells. While the deity may grant such spells full willingly a deed, or sacrifice, atonement or abasement may be required. The deity might also ignore a specific spell request and give the cleric some other spell (or none at all).”

It's from a version of the Player's Handbook - not sure which edition. I enjoy running across stuff I'd either never noticed or didn't remember from previous D&D iterations.

The idea of a quest to gain an upper level spell is great! Necromancer Games' 'Raise the Dead' supplement had some adventures related to raising a dead character - instead of just paying some gold and moving along with all the same gravity involved in buying a horse. It made it an event.

I like Gygax' idea of having the character some how "earn" the spell, rather than it just being a flat reward for leveling up.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

The amount of product for just $15 is amazing. Freeport alone makes this a deal. There's a lot of cool stuff in this offer: much of which I already had. But it was still a great purchase for the rest. Highly recommended.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Creighton Broadhurst of Raging Swan Press had another good post. He listed 8 Tips for Beginning GMs.

1 - Everyone at your table is there (hopefully) to have fun.
2 - At the table, you are the ultimate arbiter about how the game is run.
3 - For your first adventure, keep it simple.
4 - Accept You’ll Get Stuff “Wrong.”
5 - Prepare: Be as ready as you can for the game.
6 - Delegate: You don’t need to do everything.
7 - If You Need Help, Ask.
8 - Relax and enjoy the game.

You can click on the link to see his comments on each item. What do folks think? And what would you add to the list?


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Was digging into the history of T1 - The Village of Hommlet over the weekend. That was some interesting reading. I'm going to posit (in another Black Gate post) that there were two reasons (one business, one gaming) that The Temple of Elemental Evil was delayed so long.

Step 17 coming this week. Then we'll explore some other parts of the book. I've also been reading Gygax' book on GMing, but it's not as smooth.

My post on S&W vs. Pathfinder has turned out to be the second most read post of the entire year over at Black Gate. I've started putting together a similar post looking at reasons to make the opposite choice (personally, I LOVE character creation and all the options).


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Skeld wrote:

I've never heard of Matt Finch or his four zen whatevers, so I have no opinion on it other than it sounds like more gaming-related naval gazing.

I attribute the resurgence of Old School Gaming and retroclones to the fact that Old Guysnwere nostalgic for that thing they played when they first started gaming, the fact that the thing they were nostalgic for is long out of print, and that the OGL can be interpreted in such a way to allow enterprising individuals to recreate that thing (with maybe a couple "improvements").

When I talked about people turning this into a wedge issue, I didn't necessarily mean you. This topic comes up a lot. Old School and "modern" gaming are still fundamentally the same. Only the mechanics (and rules codification) are different. PF has so many nods and callbacks to OD&D that it's humorous. People playing Old School games and Pathfinder are still doing basically the same thing. The differences are (mechanical and) small. Laborious discussion amounts to making mountains out of mole hills.

I don't agree Old school games and Pathfinder differences are small. Compare it to watching a college football team, running a wishbone, play a team running a run and shoot - they're both football, but they're sure as heck not similar.

You could at least read the Black Gate post that is the basis of this whole thread. Matt Finch's distinctions are the core of it. You aren't going to change your mind, but you may end up acknowledging some of the points.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Skeld wrote:
Are you getting paid for clicks? If you want to have a discussion here, why don't you post the substance your article here instead of pimping some third party website?

No, I don't get paid a cent. It's a really long post to put up here (well over a thousand words), and I can't incorporate graphics here. So, I refer to the OP.

Skeld wrote:

I don't get why people try to drive a wedge between "old school gamers" and "modern gamers." I started gaming in 1985 and I run games basically the same as I did then. The mechanics are different, but we had different games with different mechanics back then, too.

The things that have changed for me are:
Time - I have a lot less of it, so I leverage published adventures/campaigns instead of creating my own stuff;
Money - I have a lot more of it and I can afford to buy gaming books, miniatures, maps, tools, etc.;
Technology - I have a tablet that I can store all my books on and access the internet.

Beyond that, I still use pens/pencils, paper, dice, and imagination. That's like 95% of it.

-Skeld

Talking about something isn't 'driving a wedge' unless you take a tone that makes it that way. I don't think I did that.

The game isn't played the same as it was. There wouldn't have been the movement for retroclones if the two styles were the same. Do you disagree with Matt Finch's four 'Zen Moments'?

I'm not saying either S&W or Pathfinder is better. But I'm working on a follow-up post that looks at a more modern approach in light of the OP. Running a S&W game and at the same time re-reading the PF rules for the next campaign, beginning at character creation ,there is a difference in approach and play. Just as there's a difference between playing an MMO RPG and a pen and paper RPG.

Football and baseball and basketball are different than they used to be. Stuff changes. I play Pathfinder and Swords & Wizardry. You can like different approaches and even try to merge them, like Creighton Broadhust talks about in his blog.

But the distinction is there and I find it interesting enough to write about.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Have no fear - I'm not taking a break from the thread again.

I'm going to be contributing to a new RPG column for BlackGate.com (I already write a mystery-themed one there) and I'm getting some stuff together before launch in a couple months. Today I was working on a post related to game balance/level appropriate challenges. I'm both for and against it.

Though I use Goodman Games' 4th Edition module, Forges of the Mountain King as an example of ridiculous unbalance at the beginning.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Terquem - gamers at my S&W table act like they're 12 years old some time. I think that's as close as we'll get!


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Haven't had a chance to digest the most recent posts, but welcome to Quark Blast.

And stuff like "magical tea time" and "story stick" is kinda snippy. We've maintained a positive tone, even while disagreeing. Let's keep it that way, please.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

I'm in a discussion thread here with some grognard with a scary name...


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Digitalelf wrote:
DrDeth wrote:
Hah. Oddly I had a PC who could boost the party thru oratory and I gave part of that speech a couple of time!

What’s he that wishes so?

My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin.
If we are marked to die, we are enough
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honor.

Seeing Kenneth Brannagh give that speech in Henry V made me a Shakespeare fan.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

RAGING SWAN PRESS & CREIGHTON BROADHURST

Creighton Broadhurst runs Raging Swan Press over in the UK. They've put out a TON of stuff for Pathfinder, and have expanded to 5th Edition and some OSR stuff.

I've got a couple dozen items, from his campaign setting to modules to GM aids. Consistently high quality. 'Retribution' is one of the best first level adventures I've ever seen and 'Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands' is a great homage to ToEE's The Moat House.

Creighton has his own blog and he writes some pretty cool old school commentary. Such as this one about Timeless Advice from the Keep on the Borderlands.

Another was Two Reasons I Love Resource Management

And The Concept of CR-Appropriate Challenges is Too Ingrained in our Minds.

He plays Pathfinder, but he's got old school sensibilities (he was a Greyhawk writer).

I get his posts through Raging Swan Press on FB, but most are from his website, CreightonBroadhurst.com. He reprints blog posts, which brings lots of neat stuff up.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

This is from Gygax' book on Game Mastering. His first listed reason why campaigns fail is 'Disaffection with the Game Mastering. And among the reasons for that is the following:

There is also the "GM as adversary" problem. Some Game Masters place themselves in such a role, seeing the campaign as a GM-versus-players situation. This remnant from other game forms is highly destructive to player interest. If the GM contrives to be an opponent of the players and their characters, then the characters are short-lived, they have no ongoing relationship to the milieu, no prospect of betterment, and the players have no fun.

After all, the GM in the multiple roles as Arbiter, Moving Force, and Referee has all the power necessary to effortlessly "defeat" the players of a game. However, the Game Master thus assures his or her own demise too, for the group just melts away, leaving the "killer GM" alone with his brief moment of triumph. One of the things a Master GM must never be is a direct and personal adversary.

Which goes with Alzrius' assertion.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

In light of Shifty's recent comments, I copied this from a new thread, 'I miss Dragon Magazine.'

"I have probably 80 to 85% of the hard copy issues they published, and I miss the monthly magazine I waited so eagerly for. And I particularly loved the 1e and 2e issues, because they not only included articles on mechanics but historical articles about different things, unlike the 3.x issues that dealt mainly with mechanics.

And the covers! Oh, the covers! Every cover told a story in the 1e and 2e editions."

Someone else commented they wish issues were available online...


2 people marked this as a favorite.

BTW - if someone is interested in getting some Pathfinder-related content published, Pathways, a free ezine, is up to issue 17 and has some interesting stuff. Quality varies by entry, but it's a useful vehicle for amateur contributions and probably a good entry point.

And good to see Deth back.

Err...


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Shifty - I get it. While I don't find Pegasus (from Judges Guild) worth going back to, I still peruse some Dragon articles once in awhile. There was pretty high quality stuff in it.

I'm not the biggest WotC fan, and they don't strike me as the kind of company to put back issues, or a lot of articles from said issues, online for free. So, unless you've still got your copies...

I do have a pdf (somewhere) of the Dragon Compendium Vol 1. That's got some neat stuff.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Rereading this thread. There is some FANTASTIC stuff in here. I am thinking of talking about some of Gygax's steps in a series of posts over at BlackGate.com.

I think I left two steps undone. I may add those in

Best discussion thread I've ever been in.


3 people marked this as a favorite.

Part One of 'Of Necromancers and Frog Gods' is up over at BlackGate.com.

It's a history of Necromancer Games. Part Two will cover Frog God.

A third post will look into The Lost Lands. I touch on them in Part Two, but there's so much to talk about, I had to spin it off into its own essay.

I've been backing the kickstarters since Razor Coast and love what FGG is doing.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

FUNDED! Come sign on and help make the Stretch Goals with two days left. Frog God Games produces top quality product for Pathfinder. If you have ANY interest in a Viking/northern themed campaign, you're unlikely to ever find a better one than this.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Possibly the most significant RPG kickstarter project ever is going on now: Shannon Appelcline's Designers and Dragons

Applecline published a book just a couple of years ago covering the history of role playing games. It's about impossible to buy.

It is being updated in a MASSIVE four volume version covering the seventies, eighties, nineties and two thousands.

As usual with kickstarter, there are different funding levels with different rewards. I signed up for $15, which gets me pdfs of all four volumes.

Even though the KS has almost a month remaining, I've already received the pdfs for the seventies and eighties. Each is about 400 pages long!

I've read the seventies and it was really something. Of course, the origins of D&D is extensively covered, but you can read about Traveller, Judges Guild and Dave Hargrave's Arduin and much more.

He traces relevant issues through the decades, so the seventies book covers some matters into almost today.

Lisa Stevens wrote the intro to the nineties and I'm sure Paizo features prominently.

If you are at all interested in old school gaming or the development of RPGing, you will absolutely get your money's worth.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

I'm blocked from the D&D webpage that hosts these walkthrough comics, but click on this link to see some very cool depictions of classic D&D modules.

This is one of the neatest graphical D&D things I've come across in awhile.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Welcome to all the new posters, and I'm glad to see mendedwall back.

I think that archetypes are one of the best aspects of Pathfinder. They really add a lot to the player options without "going gonzo." My first choice for a character is usally an Urban Ranger, so I've bought into them. I think they've been more of an asset than entirely new classes.

Regarding roleplaying fully and correctly, I think a distinction can be made between the background given the character and the 'mechanical' choices.

Mechanical Race/Class/Archetype result in a certain range of characteristics. They are broader than they used to be: as mendedwall referenced, the Cleric can be a lot of different things (I'm still trying to adapt to them using swords). And a half-asimar is certainly different than a gnome. But there are rules aspects of races, classes and archetypes: guidelines that the game itself sets. Let's think of these categories as the skeleton for the character.

Background But the 'fluff' background can be virtually anything. Emotions, experiences, lineage: things from outside the rulebook form a set of clothes for the character, fitting over the skeleton.

To RP the character as Gygax is talking about, the player should factor in both the mechanics and the background. Doing one but not the other would seem a variation from the character and not properly fulfilling this Step. Now, it's a game, and if it's more fun that way and doesn't ubalance/'ruin' things, maybe so what? But to play properly and fully, both the skeleton and the clothes need to be considered.

Gygax has a section on character creation, which we'll get to outside of the 17 Steps.

I really need to get The Ultimate Campaign book. I had to pick between that and Mythic Adventures, going with the latter. I found Mythic to be rather disappointing and not of much use to me at all.

As for fantasy books, I'm re-reading Glen Cook's Black Company series. I think it stands out as rather original (albeit, certainly a bit dark). It's also COMPLETELY different from his marvelous hardboiled fantasy series, Garret PI. That Cook could write two completely different series' so well is a testament to his ability.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Danubus wrote:
I wish they would make a Neverwinter Nights like game for Pathfinder where we had a builders client so we could make our own game worlds/servers. I would make a number of places based in Golarion. We did this with the original NWN for Faerun. Over at a roleplaying group called A Land Far Away.

They're too busy backing a Player vs. Player death feast in Pathfinder Online....


2 people marked this as a favorite.

I'd like to see some One Night Stands, of varying levels, that incorporate a couple of things from other RGG products. the BBEG is from Mythic Menagerie, or a Kobold King. Some items from the other guides. I like Felgar the Goblin King. More easy to run adventures that point to another RGG product would be fun and feel like it's part of something bigger while still being a stand alone.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Because the blindingly obvious occasionally hits me in the head (my wife will say not nearly often enough), it occured to me that most readers/participants in this thread probably haven't read the book and might be interested in what's in it. While I'm drawing from the whole thing, this thread is focused on the 17 Steps to Role Playing Mastery. But Gygax really talks about a lot of stuff. Here are the headings in the Table of Contents:

What Is Mastery?
1 Role-Playing: The Foundation of Fun 17
2 The Master Player 24
3 The Master GM 41
4 The Group: More Than Its Parts 57
5 Rules: Construction and Reconstruction 77
6 Searching and Researching 104
7 Tactical Mastery 120
8 Designing Your Own Game 138
9 Mastery on the Grand Scale 153
10 An Overview of Progress Toward Mastery
Appendices
Appendix A: Organizations and Regional Groups
Appendix B: Annual Conventions Featuring Role-Playing Games
Appendix C: Professional Periodicals Serving the Role-Playing Game Community
Appendix D: Role-Playing Games and Products Currently Available, Their Genres, and Their Publishers
Appendix E: Glossary of Terms Used in This Work and in the Gaming Community

After discussion finishes on the actual 17 steps, I'm going to add a few more posts about other things Gygax talks about that weren't really part of the Steps.

This book is absolutely dated; but it does talk about a broad range of RPGing elements. Chapter 10 has a little circle diagram of mastery progress I'll have to upload and link to.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

On a moderately related note: it's a shame that AEG has shown zero interest Pathfinderizing their d20 stuff.

The Accordlands setting (four books) may be my favorite of all third edition settings. The storyline for the dwarves, the non-standard elves: it had a lot of cool things in it. And some of their supplements, like 'Mercenaries' were good reads.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I played awhile in a Neverwinter Nights persistent world that had quite a bit of player interaction, role playing and non-combat/adventuring activity. That felt like more of a tabletop RPG to me.

And I know of AoC used to have an RP server (they just keep contracting, sad to say) and there is some RPing in various MMOs.

But I do think that someone who "grew up" as, or is primiarly a console/MMO RPGer has a very different orientation to what we're calling RPGing (in light of the Gygax book) than a tabletop/PbPer.

A deeper look (which I'm not going to do here) would look at whether the 'average' player of each type has different approaches to in game death, time required to level up, complete quests, solo vs. group play, etc. I don't think Gygax mentions solo play anywhere in this book: he views RPGing as a group, social activity to accomplish a common goal.

It is not uncommon for a tabletop session to consist entirely of walking around town, buying stuff, checking out different inns, shops, group talk, etc.

Now, an MMO is a different beast, just as you can spend a lot of time setting stuff up in a book that you cannot do in a movie. But how many MMO sessions could go an hour or two of that type of stuff, with no combat or questing? Probably not many. Just distinguishing the diferent orientation of the players.

And welcome to the thread, Matt.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Itchy wrote:

What is the Frog God Games setting called?

-The Lost Lands?
-Stoneheart Valley?

Anyway, I think it's one of those. I'm having a brain fart at the moment.

-Aaron

The Lost Lands.

No campaign book yet, though it's in the works (with a bunch more stuff, like a setting book for the whole Northlands Saga).


1 person marked this as a favorite.

So, re-read the first sixty posts in this thread. I think, because I was immersed in "running the thread" and actually writing each entry, a lot of the commentary didn't completely sink in. There's some EXCELLENT stuff in here. I hope folks pick this back up. And that I can finish it this time around.

I'm working on a post about the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game (which I love) in the context of Gygax's concepts. It's an interesting RPG hybrid.

And since starting this thread, I've played a LOT of Age of Conan, which has given me some insights into the MMORPGer, who is a very different animal from a tabletop RPGer.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I'm a backer and have no concerns that GR will get this out in a timely manner. This and Freeport a few months apart. Woohoo!!!

For those who could use some monster templates in the short term, Book of Monster Templates will whet your appetite. I also think you'll get a better appreciation for what templates can bring to your game.

I wouldn't have backed this KS if I hadn't bought Rite Publishing's book. Now I understand the versatility of monster templates.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Sepherum wrote:
Huh. 3/10 for lima beans. 5/10 for silver. 8/10 for adamantine. Acceptable losses.

No one should EVER die for lima beans....


1 person marked this as a favorite.

While I'd most like to see a story about a group of Knights of Ozem on a quest to find some artifact that will let them put Arazni to rest, I'd settle for something about dwarves.

PF has got to be the least dwarf-centric fantasy RPG I've played. Which is a shame because the Dwarves of Golarion and the Golarion history have some fantastic stuff.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

"How Does Pathfinder Online Achieve This Compromise?

Pathfinder Online offers many opportunities for "sanctioned" PvP designed to allow people to engage in positive PvP. There are war and feud systems designed to allow player factions to push forward their objectives through combat, a Stand and Deliver system to allow for banditry, factional warfare to let players who just want to fight engage in combat against similar players of opposing NPC factions, and outpost raids for resource competition and those looking for a high chance of player resistance.

Un-sanctioned PvP results in a lowered reputation. Unlike many other game's this isn't entirely preventing you from engaging in NPC outside what is considered sanctioned. The fact that there will be justifiable reasons for killing outside what the mechanics can measure is accounted for. But there shouldn't be a need to do so as frequently as someone killing for killings sake would, which is why lowering reputation comes with stronger and stronger penalties as it drops further and further."

I play two MMOs and am a dedicated Pathfinder fan. Your last paragraph is the key to the PvP issue: will the penalties be severe enough to prevent 'jerks' who just want to go around killing other players? All the posts on the boards, explaining why PvEers (like me) will like PFO PvP, are moot if the penalties aren't harsh enough to discourage the behavior. Maybe they will be. Based on the history of MMOs, I'm skeptical.

If PFO PvP doesn't end up being different enough to satisfy those who don't like PvP, then some people just won't play the game. No big deal for either side (I can keep playing other MMOs), as long as PFO's player base, without potential players like me, is big enough to sustain the game.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Pratchett bores you? Wow.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Freehold DM wrote:
Actually I really would like to see a book on taverns and bars and inns for golarion...

Seconded. Necromancer Games' 'The Book of Taverns' tried too hard to be unique or bizarre, but it was a cool idea. A book of establishments like Darkmoon Vale's Gold Falls Inn would really have some mileage. The Campaign Setting line would benefit from an inns/tavern tome.


3 people marked this as a favorite.

$20 for Tsar is the best RPG deal I have seen since I started playing D&D in the seventies.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Couldn't get the tables formatted here. You can see this post in formatted pdf form at: Night of the Necromancer I recommend clicking the link and reading it there. I'll update the pdf as appropriate.

The Night of the Necromancer scenario is intended for characters that have completed Perils of the Lost Coast or Burnt Offerings.

A necromancer has set up a foul laboratory somewhere in Sandpoint. In and around the town, above ground and below, undead are plaguing the innocent and the church of Sarenrae has even discovered traces of a small cult. The heroes must stop this necromancer before his minions destroy the town.

Setup: Remove all Human Cultists and set aside. They are only used as Henchmen.

Do not individually build the Monster and Item parts of Location Decks in this Scenario. Remove the specified items and pull random cards to reach the required number of cards for the number of players. Then shuffle and distribute the appropriate number to each Location. I’ve included tables to help.

Monsters
Remove one Skeleton, one Ghost and one Spectre for a one or two player game. In addition to those cards, remove one Ghoul (3-4 players) and one Shadow (5-6 players).

Players Remove
1-2 Skeleton, Ghost, Spectre
3-4 Ghoul
5-6 Shadow

Pool the monster cards required as shown in the table below. So, for a two player game, randomly select eight monsters, add the Skeleton, Ghost and Spectre cards removed before hand, shuffle and distribute the eleven monsters per the Location Cards.

Players Total Removed Random
1- 9- 3- 6
2- 11- 3- 8
3- 17- 4- 13
4- 21- 4- 17
5- 25- 5- 20
6- 29- 5- 24

Items
Remove one Codex. Randomly select the appropriate number of items, shuffle with the Codex and distribute Items per the Location Cards.

Players Total Removed Random
1- 4- 1- 3
2- 6- 1- 5
3- 7- 1- 6
4- 9- 1- 8
5- 10- 1- 9
6- 11- 1 11

Players: Location
1: Sandpoint Cathedral
1: Glassworks
1: Woods
2: City Gate
3: Catacombs of Wrath
4: Desecrated Vault
5: The Old Light
6: Deeper Dungeons

Villain: Pillbug Podiker (the necromancer)

Henchmen: Human Cultist, Ancient Skeleton

Each time a henchman is needed, alternate between adding a Cultist and an Ancient Skeleton. So, for two players, add a Cultist; three players, an ancient Skeleton; four players, a Cultist, etc.

During This Scenario: Any player with the Codex in their hand adds one to their check to defeat a monster or henchman with the Undead trait.

For any monster with the undead trait, replace a Magic requirement with Divine.

Reward: Each character chooses to select a blessing, item or weapon. Look through the appropriate deck from the box and take the first item found with the Divine trait as a gift from the Church of Sarenrae.

Misc: The Catacombs of Wrath significantly increases the difficulty from two to three players. It can be switched with The Desecrated Vault or The Old Light to make things a bit easier. Likewise, switching the Woods with the Farmhouse reduces the difficulty level.

Replace Poison with Negative Energy throughout (thematic only: does not affect game play).

Wanted to do something undead-centric. Suggestions and feedback appreciated!


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Pratchett is one of the few authors whose works make me laugh out loud. He has had some fantastic quotes, both in books and from him directly. One of my all time favorites:

Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

If you like Pratchett, you might enjoy Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. The book, the author's read-aloud version and the BBC radio drama of it are all great.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Boys of summer is a fantastic book


2 people marked this as a favorite.
LazarX wrote:


You're also making the common assumption that many erroneously do, that Gygax got much of his setting ideas from Tolkien, whereas he was far more influenced by the likes of Fritz Leiber and Moorcock.

I know Tolkien has been quoted as saying folks like Robert E. Howard, Poul Anderson, Moorcock, Liebert, etc were greater influences on D&D. That always struck me as "He doth protest too much." I do think he had multiple influences. But if you read Tolkien, and you look at the early editions of D&D, that seems like a silly assertion. It seems more like a smart guy, who had been sued by the Tolkien estate for blatantly ripping off 'hobbits,' avoding more such lawsuits in the future.

In a totally unsolicited opinion:

I love the Tolkien world and creation(books are a bit sluggish upon re-reading), and Moorcock's eternal champion saga is simply epic. I've struggled re-reading Lieber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series: the words don't flow.

He had a few flaws, but Robert E. Howard is simply the best sword and sorcery/fantasy author ever. The fact that he was spinning the tales he did circa 1930 - almost before the genre was even invented, makes the stories even more amazing.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

You might have seen today's Google Doodle (Jan 31). Today is the 94th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's birthday. If you're not familiar with him, Robinson was one of the greatest men of the 20th century. He (and Branch Rickey) profoundly changed America.

You can read a very short piece I wrote about him here. But you will be rewarded if you look into his life a little deeper.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Orthos wrote:

It's more my incomprehension of the bizarre mentality of "I am the GM, I get to decide what everyone plays".

The most restrictive I've ever been, or ever played under, is "you must play an official Paizo class - no 3rd party or 3.5 stuff". The idea of a GM saying "you must play X, or not play at all" is bizarre and foreign to me, and the idea of it just pisses me off.

I go the other way entirely. The more freedom the GM gives on classes/races, the more they are responsible for knowing/running. It's not like GMing is a paying job. I only want to allow what I'm comfortable knowing/learning and have time to deal with.

For me, I hate clockwork stuff and don't like guns. Why would I want to put so much time and effort into something I won't enjoy? It's like picking a module to run that you know you don't like.

Having said that, telling a player he can join the game only as a cleric is kinda restrictive. There's not really any choice at all.

I view offering restrictions like saying "You can buy any car here in this Toyota dealership." Telling a would be fill-in he can only play a cleric is like saying, "You can only buy THIS car."

I get that you would let the person buy a car at any dealership...


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Lou, Bill, Blondefrog (I just realized I don't know her name..): Scott over at Zombieskypress would like to donate his A Pirate's Life pdf to the cause. He contacted me because I had suggested he get involved.

(I cause more chaos and confusion...)

Could you guys email him at scott@zombiesky.com to work that out?

Also, Creighton Broadhurst at Raging Swan Press should be Iming one or more of you about donating something.

Stretch goals shall fall like Caribbean ports before the jolly roger..


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Add me to the list of fans. Well reasoned, fair minded and descriptive: I put great stock in EZ's reviews. Hope there's a thousand more.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I emailed the folks at Raging Swan, 0One Games and Zombie Sky Press and asked about kicking in one of their pirate-themed pdfs to sweeten the pot. Raging Swan and Frog God are my two favorite Pathfinder 3pps.

I definitely like Dead Man's Chest. But Glades of Death is one of my favorite third edition supplements. It's full of cool stuff to incorporate into Golarions' Darkmoon Vale campaign.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I haven't read this yet, but EnWorld is a quality blog, so I'm guessing it's got some good stuff in it:

Admiral 'o the High Seas


3 people marked this as a favorite.

Apologies if this comes off negative. Not my intention since I am a backer and want this to fund. It's a suggestion for a backer group that isn't being fully appealed to (so I think, anyways...).

I saw that yesterday's sweeteners involved adding pdf copies to book purchasers (I'm paraphrasing).

I'll toss out again that there's a big gap of nothing between $50 and $110 for those of us who are just .pdfers. And increasing to $110 to get a book I don't want isn't exactly an incentive (I know a couple .pdfs have been added to $110 since inception, but it's still the same concept).

Some type of .pdf incentive to the $50 backer, (likely involving .pdfs already being included at what I'll call 'book buyer levels') might raise some more money.

I LOVE books: I've got well over a thousand of them in my house. I just don't really need any more of them. Nor does my marriage...

I was initially interested in the supplemental adventures and almost didn't back this project because I couldn't get them without buying at book levels. But I'm a Frog God guy so I went for the two .pdfs.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

The tabs currently on a thread for a PbP campaign (Discussion, Gameplay, Characters, etc) are useful. It would be nice if another tab could be added for the GM and/or players to keep a campaign log or journal.

Thanks!

1 to 50 of 91 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | next > last >>