Itchy's page

Thanks!

I noticed that after issue #1, there are no Paizo exclusive covers. Are those over?

Alice: If you are looking to continue the story, I strongly recommend listening to the Know Direction Paizocon 2016 Pathfinder Compatible Publishers Workshop podcast. Looks like it's PaizoCon2016 number 040.

Here's what (I recall) you can do: Anything you write as a follow up to what is currently published will need all new NPC's. For instance, if you want Knivy Ivy to continue as an NPC, she cannot without Gary's Permission. However, you can introduce a new, eerily similar NPC for the players to meet. Also, you won't be able to reference any proper nouns from Throne of Night. You won't be able to use any art from Throne of Night.

I'm not trying to discourage you, I'd love to see your work. But I don't want to see you get in trouble either.

Of course he had to say "his or her salt," while I wonder if V's sex will ever be revealed at the end of the series, here's hoping it won't be!

Agreed. I'm hoping that we never find out.

I think it's good to see V having regrets. It's a reminder that most real people generally don't make huge sacrifices to save the world. They make huge sacrifices to save the people that they care about.

Now that I look up the definition of Body Horror, I think that the second greatest film of all time: Alien is both Body Horror and Cosmic Horror. Ack! Lines are blurring. *cough* It's *cough* a little of both.

Argh! Why does my chest hurt so much? *cough cough* What's that bump stretching just beneath my ribcage?

Oh, gods, not again!

I respectfully disagree with Jaws being labeled a "Slasher Horror Movie." It's definitely a thriller (without Michael Jackson and the Zombies which fit in the body horror setting).

I'm honestly not sure what category it would fit in. Perhaps "Greatest Film of All Time." That's where I put it, followed closely by Alien.

Despite my minor disagreement, thanks for an awesome list. There's a lot of films and books here that I want to check out!

Nottinstory located in the Molehill Mountains. Awesome.

Itchy wrote:

Is this the map of the asylum in the first part of Strange Aeons?

What Adam said. I will tell you that one of the sides is very similar to the entry section of the Asylum in the first part of Strange Aeons, so you can use it for some of the early encounters.

I'll take it! I'll take any reduction in drawing when I'm running an adventure. I've been using gaming paper for my Carrion Crown game and it's super convenient, very affordable, but also time consuming.

Thanks for the quick answers!

Correct, the +5 is added to the attack roll. The part in parenthesis gives you damage. This Goblin Warchanter's shortbow does 1d4+1 damage. The x3 is your critical hit modifier.

Example 1:
Goblin Warchanter (GW) attacks the fighter.
You roll a 12 on your d20. That hits an AC of 17 (12+5) or less. If she hits, you roll your 1d4 and get a 2 causing 3 (2+1) damage.

Example 2:
GW attacks the fighter. You roll a 20 on your d20, that's an auto hit and threatens a critical! You roll your d20 again and get a 5 which hits an AC of 10 (5+5). That's not enough to hit the fighter's AC, but you STILL HIT. You roll 1d4 and get a 2 doing 3 (2+1) damage.

Example 3:
GW attacks the fighter. You roll a 20 on your d20, that's an auto hit and threatens a critical! You roll your d20 again and get a 15 which hits an AC of 20 (15+5). That's enough to hit the fighter's AC, confirming the critical hit! You roll 1d4 THREE TIMES and add the +1 damage to EACH ROLL. You roll a 1, a 3 and a 4 doing a total of 11 damage (1+1)+(3+1)+(4+1)

Edit:double ninja'd! I'd recommend reading the combat section of the Core Rulebook twice before your first session. Also, go to the PRD and print out copies of any feats or spells used by the NPC combatants so that you can be sure to have them on hand.

Is this the map of the asylum in the first part of Strange Aeons?

Perhaps make him an alchemist. He has captured a virtual zoo of other lycanthropes. He harvests their saliva, and injects people with it after biting them (without transferring his own curse).

It would be nice to have a section mentioning that this is a Horror-themed campaign and not a standard Heroic campaign. It would help to reiterate the player's expectations for the campaign. I know that this is somewhat the GM's responsibility too, but it would be nice to have it reiterated in the Player's Guide.

I mention this because I'm currently running Carrion Crown. Everyone is having fun, but nobody is afraid for creeped out. There's a ton of joking at the table (humor breaks the mood of horror games). Essentially, the group has decided to play it as a heroic campaign. I've resigned myself to this, so that I can have fun too, and I'm enjoying it. It was just really cool in the first few sessions when the players really WERE creeped out about what was going on.

It's funny, my Northlands Saga and my Borderlands books arrived one day apart. Northlands is HUGE!! It really IS nearly Tsar Sized. That will make it a difficult one to read in bed...

It's a spell, so I ordered it, and that means I have a crazy story for it. We're looking at the treacherous teleport ruse spell. Seltyiel partied up with Mel, Oloch, and Damiel for an adventure and told them he was going to teleport them all back to safety. They all thought he was casting teleport, even Damiel with his high Int, but it was actually treacherous teleport, leaving the other three in a prepared cell that Seltyiel rigged to set off an antimagic trap to hold them, thus allowing him to make off with all the loot for himself. But he couldn't help but send himself nearby to gloat (even though he could have gone far away), so he better hope Oloch can't bend those bars!

Interesting! I saw that this is the same party that we are seeing in Hollow Mountain. I figured that this picture was the moment after the end of that comic story arc. :)

Sweet! This will be a lot of fun to read!!

A couple observations:
The first bullet is missing a word. Perhaps the dungeon is populated by Grey Maidens?

Which of the characters will be getting Thrown in the "Updated illustrations of classic Curse of the Crimson Thrown characters?"

84 backed projects, only ToN and one other have "burned" me so far. As TriOmegaZero said, the others are behind, but moving). I hold out hope that ToN will finish. The other was only a $5 or $10 pledge, so I decided to NOT buy coffee one week to make up the loss. :)

I tend to back safe Kickstarters (Reaper Miniatures, Frog God Games, Cheapass Games, CoolMiniOrNot), so I have had a good experience with it.

If you decide to Kickstart a project, Kevin, I promise you that I will look it over and make a decision based on whether I would want to run the adventure. To copy Papa DRB:

Q1. If I wrote an Adventure Path, would you legitimately support it?
A1. Yes, if it looks like something I would want to run.

Q2, If I did this, what level would you want it to go up to?
A2. 1-20 would be nice, but I've got enough material to fill in the higher levels if it doesn't go that high.

Q3. Is having it supported with Hero Lab files a deal maker?
A4. No. I DO use Hero Lab and it would be nice to have the files, but I can make most of them. Supported with Realm Works MIGHT be a deal maker if it's something I want to run. However, that's probably a lot more work for you.

Q4. Some APs, like Castle Whiterock, have pregens. Would you want these added?
A4. I don't care either way. I have only ever used ONE pregen and that was because I had a visitor gaming with us. I gave them a choice of pregens to play that one night in order to save character creation time.

I'll third the Raging Swam Dungeon Dressing books because they are that awesome.

From Goodman Games:
-Grimtooth's Ultimate Traps Collection. It is coming to retail soon (once the KS backers get their copies). It's systemless, so GM's can set their own DC's for the traps. Also, it's a hoot to read!
-GM Gems. This is a book of tables and essays written by GM's for other GMs centering on three main factors: Urban Adventures, Wilderness Travel and Dungeons. The mechanics in this book are for Dungeon Crawl Classics, but there's not much mechanics in here, it's mostly ideas and strategies.
-Monster Alphabet: This book is a series of tables from A to Z that gives you ideas to modify monsters. Again the mechanics are built around Dungeon Crawl Classics, but everything they mention can be converted from the Bestiaries (or just made up on the fly).

Frog God Games:
-Bill Webb's Book of Dirty Tricks: This is a controversial one. If you do all of what he recommends all at once to your players, you might lose some or all of them. BUT: he's a long time GM with good advice on clever ways to deal with some problems that GM's will face.

Here's hoping the KS funds. $35 is not a huge investment for some fun little products!

Yet another reason to feel sad that they took the spoof covers away from subscribers and whacked up the price.

I'll admit that this surprised me too. I didn't always understand the spoof covers, but I enjoyed them.

At least we'll get them all in the hardcover compilation!

Thanks!

We are planning a "gaming corner" in our basement. One of the early additions will be a set of steel shelves for my gaming collection. Since I also have all the FGG Hardcovers (The Blight is the first one I decided to pass on), they will get a considerable amount of that shelf space.

I think that Tome of Horrors Complete, Slumbering Tsar and Northlands Saga alone will nearly fill a shelf! Okay, maybe not quite, but it feels like it!

-Aaron

Cool! Dot!

Actually Itchy, dunno exactly how small juvanile hissing cockroaches are, but my tarantula has started refusing to eat crickets of the standard large size (think she has become to used to the same prey item over time), I would happily pay you some gp + cover shipping for some of the "overflow" young/small hissers to try as feeder insects (just don't tell the kids).

Plus I can work on that thing I have with roaches giving me the skeeves, I know it is irrational of me to let them freak me out, but they just do, maybe exposure therapy plus possibly starting a colony would cure me of me of that.

Not a problem, we have LOTS of overflow population. Also, the kids will be happy knowing that they are going off to feed another animal! Nature is what it is. :)

What size are you looking for. Babies are about .25" long, most of the young ones I'll be able to easily catch will be around .5" - .75".

First thing we need to check out is the legality of mailing them from MA to NY. Some states have really funny rules about that and won't allow Hissers to cross into their borders via USPS (FL for one).

The other thing that I need to look into is a shipping container. I need to find a supplier who sells medical device Styrofoam coolers and their shipping boxes in small quantities.

Send me an PM to keep this on my radar and I'll start looking around online tonight.

Are you going to have a Patreon Project for the Winter Plug-ins? If so, I'll seriously consider supporting it!

Are there plans to Hardbind the Winter Plug-ins in the future? If so, I want a copy of that too!

Fringe cases are always going to be fringe cases.

Most Hellknights are not paladins. Some paladins are Hellknights. The overlap on that venn diagram is not especially large, but it canonically does exist.

Hellknights are fanatics. Paladins are also fanatics. In some orders, some members are capable to making their fanaticisms align. This is not commonly the fast track to the echelons of paladin or Hellknight power, but it can happen. Those that can straddle both worlds are uncommon exceptions, but interesting for being exceptions. They are also likely to face unique challenges to both their faith and their allegiance.

If you can imagine exceptional ways in which a Hellknight might also be a paladin, go ahead and add paladin-Hellknight to your roster of characters to play.

If you can't or otherwise don't like that idea, don't.

It's your game, include/exclude whatever you want.

I had a long discussion about this with my GM. Mechanically Paladin/Hellknight is awesome! I nearly made my Hellknight a Paladin with the idea that I would be playing him as a Lawful good paladin instead of the more classic lawful good paladin.

I'm not sure that made sense. Essentially, the conclusion we came to was that a Paladin that joined the Hellknights would be significantly more focused on the Lawful aspect of his alignment than the good aspect, to the point that he would be borderline neutral. Ultimately, I decided to make Fighter the base class.

I know it's not exactly about the TV show but...

I was really into this story when I was reading the audiobook. Then I found out that disc 2 of 3 was non-functional. I could not get it to operate in any CD players. I let the library know when I returned the book. 3 months later I saw it back on the shelf. The problem was not fixed, it was still just an audiobook with the middle third missing. :(

More on Order of the God Claw please! I'm playing an Order of the God Claw Hellknight in Rise of the Runelords. :) He is loosely based upon Javert from Les Miserables. It's been a lot of fun.

This will be in my cart for sure, I like the Hellknights and find them intriguing.

I'm guessing that this is a parody of an iconic comic book cover, but I don't know comics well enough to recognize it. Can someone let me in on the joke?

I'm guessing that this is a parody of an iconic comic book cover, but I don't know comics well enough to recognize it. Can someone let me in on the joke?

I've been enjoying the battles that go on in my Hisser tank. The males fight for territory by hissing and charging each other. It' hilarious!
It's also fun to watch the larger roaches trying to shake off a smaller roach that is clinging to their back. They shake their abdomen back and forth rapidly, while the little one does his/her best impression of a rodeo cowboy!

Woo Hoo! I just sent a PM to Jason Nelson and I will soon be the evil GM owner of a copy of the Mythic Monster Manual!

Mike, thanks for your generosity in this. I love to see more 3PP products at gaming tables.

Good thing that you have avoided those tarantula hairs!

I will warn you, however, that it MAY be in your best interests to get a scorpion that has been devenomed. There was once, when its tank was being cleaned out, that it almost connected with that tail.

Monitor lizards are awesome. They don't require much upkeep, not anymore than a cat anyway. You can even train some of them to use a litter box.

We saw a dog-sized monitor lizard at the free zoo (Petco) a few years back. It was not for sale, they had brought in some folks to let people see some exotic pets and (believe it or not) discourage folks from buying pets they were not prepared to own.

They had a full grown red tailed boa, a full grown ball python, a small (3-4 foot long) American alligator and the monitor lizard on a leash. My son was excited to get to pet all these animals.

In another 5 or 6 years when my kids are older and I'm retired from my National Guard, I'll probably start pushing to get an emperor scorpion (with the venom sac intact). I'll do the required research first, of course, but I've wanted one since I was in high school.

As I said before, I may see if we can pick up a giant millipede in the meantime. I think large arthropods are a lot of fun. I also love that my kids view spiders and insects as creatures to "save from the house" rather than as things to squish.

Figures that I ALSO got a 1 the day before the low roll wins, then I get a 17. o_O Congrats to all the winners so far! Thanks taig for your generosity!

Nice Itchy!

Actually had an Egyptian praying mantis for a while as a pet, but alas, he has a bad molt and didn't make it, insects are tough sometimes as pets, but really worth the neat factor (and some are just lovely to behold).

I will be trying mantids again in the spring, but having them shipped in winter here in the NE of the US is not a good idea in general.

You are probably not that far from where I live (relatively speaking). I'm in Central MA. If you want some free Hissers, send me a PM and we can work out over email a day/time/place to meet.

Weirdest thing I've seen yet in our Hisser population: We found on roach that looked odd. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a hermaphrodite. There was a light line down the middle; the left side was female and the right side was male. They are sexually dimorphic, so it was quite apparent. Weird, but apparent.

@ Itchy, Actually the giant millipede may interest you and the kids then, being neat and odd, but quite harmless (unless you eat it).

And that is why Kilrex, we keep those in our pan...I mean securely closed tanks...

We considered getting a giant millipede when we were looking at the cockroaches too. We went with the more economic Hissers. That's an option that I haven't thought of recently. Perhaps I'll bring that up to the family during the new year. :)

I'd love a Goliath Beetle too. The world's heaviest insect! Ack! I just looked them up, the adults only live about a year.

@Hiding in the Closet: That's even more awesome!

Emperor scorpions are very hearty and easy to take care of, some of the other species are more delicate, and can be dangerous (such as the bark scorpion)

Tarantulas vary greatly as well, though the good old rose hair tarantula is generally a pretty easy house guest.

I think you are correct Itchy, considering changing to those for a while for Doubloon, she does not seem as interested in feeder crickets lately, afraid she may have become to used to their presence in her enclosure. I removed all uneaten insects after a day or so, but still, such things happen.

Part of my rationale is that the Hissers are great pets for the kids to interact with, a scorpion or tarantula would not be. My children are still young (first grade and younger), so I'm nervous about them interacting with any venomous animals, even an "even tempered" arthropod. I know that tarantula bites and emperor scorpion stings are essentially no worse than a wasp sting (unless you have an allergy), but, my kids are young.

I would be interested to see how an emperor scorpion handled an adult Hisser though. That would be neat to see!

@Hiding in Closet: That's awesome! I remember reading Koko's Kitten in elementary school. Very cool that your mom got to work with her (even indirectly).

I believe they are officially known as spotted roaches, and do not appear to be able to climb glass. Still researching them.

Probably Blaptica dubia, a popular feeder species that cannot climb glass. Hmm... Maybe I'll see if I can pick some up. They sound like they would be fun to raise.

I briefly considered getting a Tarantula or a Scorpion to help control my Hisser population, but they seem like they would be a lot more work than the roaches are. I haven't done much in the way of research, though.

Seriously impressed Itchy, and I must admit, cockroaches are the one creature I am a bit uneasy around. Will have to work on that (my pet tarantula will be upgrading to Island roaches as feeder insects soon).

If you've got a Tarantula, roaches should be nothing!

I've not heard of Island Roaches. If you are looking for feeder roaches, I've heard that you want to look for a non-glass climbing species (such as Dubia or Discoid roaches).

Hissers are glass climbers, and we have had escapees from our tank. If you want to raise hissers, look online for plans to build a hisser enclosure in a 5 gallon bucket. It's the most secure way to raise them.

I'd encourage you to research roach species. They are misunderstood and maligned in our culture, but they are relatively harmless. Essentially the only way to get sick from one is to let them walk over your food or to put a live one in your mouth (I don't recommend doing either of those). There are feeder species that you can raise that don't survive well in cold climates and that can't climb glass. Once you pay for a few breeders and get a population going, you'll never need to buy crickets again.

When I was a kid my brother wanted a talking bird for his birthday. But the bird didn't like him. The bird adored me however and I was able to teach it some words like "bolt wants a cracker" (yes my brother gave it that silly name) , "pretty bird", and "brothers are dumb". It would only come to me so no one else was allowed to let it out of its cage. It alsolutely loved to sit in the branches of my mom's potted trees. It was a bit of a crazy bird, dive bombing the family dog and exploring the whole house.

What kind of bird was it? A parakeet? A conure?

When my son was 2 we decided to get a freshwater fish tank and get gold fish. When we started looking into all the WORK that goes into properly keeping goldfish, we took everything back to the store and said "No thanks." That started our hunt for a proper apartment dwelling pet for a toddler.

We settled on Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. They are tough enough to survive toddler handling. They don't bite. They don't carry any transmissible diseases. They are educational. They are beautiful. They are self replicating, so if the toddler squashes one, you've got more. They are durable, so if you or your toddler forgets to feed them for a few days, they'll be okay. They are tropical, so they die if they escape (I live in New England. Winters are too harsh for tropical roaches). They don't fly. They are also edible. We have tried them, but it is difficult to get over our own cultural issues with entomophagy.

We bought 6 of them through mail order. When we lost count at 300 or so, we took them to a reptile shop, selected 13 adults to restart the population, and donated the rest to feed the reptiles. It's time to contact the pet shop again to reduce our population...

A few years ago, my wife took some to the "petting zoo" at our church's Harvest Festival. They were a big hit! The kids loved them! She also brought a bunch of frozen then seasoned and baked sub-adults. They were all eaten and some folks came back for more. :)

If anyone in the Central Massachusetts area wants to get some Hissers, send me a message and we can work something out. If you don't want a breeding population, I can give you adult males. They'll live a couple years before you need to come back for more.

I consider myself lucky that a lot of third-party publishers provide me with gainful employment, so I thought I would give back to them *and* give away free stuff to you.

Here's how it works:

Post in this thread indicting your interest in getting a free PDF (or PDFs).

Indicting my interest? I didn't know interest in 3PP was a crime? If it is, then I'm an outlaw! Count me in! And thanks for your generosity!

Based on what we are seeing in this blog, I'm guessing that they will start with Rise of the Runelords. I would really like to see [ICarrion Crown added sooner rather than later, mostly because I'm RUNNING a Carrion Crown game right now.

Depending upon how quickly this comes out and the prices, it will likely strongly influence what AP I run next (or if I start up a second gaming group).

I'm not a big Kickstarter fan (just buy at retail when/if it releases)...

... but I backed this. Absolutely.

I love FGG.

Also, of ALL the companies Kickstarting projects out there, FGG has a GREAT track records of getting their books published. They continue communicating with backers after the project closes so that we know what is going on.

Sometimes there are delays (there almost always ARE with KS projects), but they are great at communicating the delays and keeping the backers informed.

In short: Backing a FGG KS is a very low risk venture.

Asked and answered, apparently! I wonder if one of our lovely moderators is now a backer?

Noooooo!! The moderators can fix the title. Herald Frog should have the honor of starting the thread for this campaign. Also, I already deleted it, so your link just points to the messageboards now.

Sorry. :(

It took me too long to get the thread started! I'll see if I can delete the one that I started.

I am backer #1. Now I need a shower...

Also note: Pett's last name is misspelled in the Thread title. If Herald Frog cannot fix it, could one of the moderators please fix it? Thanks!!

Edit: deleted the thread that I had started for the same kickstarter.

Wow. Thread Necromancy. I pulled some ideas from the boards here for my game. AA and Professor Lorrimor were friendly rivals in their youth. Friendly enough that Kendra calls him "Uncle Advion." She and AA traveled with the party on the way to Lepidstadt and then went on to Caliphas.

My players were initially distrustful of AA, but Kendra swayed them. We'll see how it goes. She is going to be the one that AA tries to turn into the Whispering Tyrant at the end of the AP.