Jesse Cole-Goldberg's page

"If only it was a trash bag of LaCroix cans..."

Thrint from Larry Niven's works are worth investigating in this vein.

As to footman:
Basic longer term services from the modern core book
Bouncer 6
Bureaucrat 10
Informant 7
Police officer 10
Legal services 10 + lawyer's Knowledge (civics) ranks

and from the menace manual:
BUYING SERVICES
Sometimes a hero just needs someone to do the work for him. Sure, the hero could drive himself across town, locate a missing person, or get the blueprints to a casino’s vault—but if time is tight, what does it cost him if he pays someone else to do it for him? When a hero buys services, the GM can use these rules to arrive at an asking price and a bare minimum price. In most cases, the arrived-at cost is per task that the GM-controlled character performs on the hero’s behalf. For example, if a hero pays a cab driver to follow another car, the cab driver expects one lump sum of cash, regardless how many Drive and Spot checks he has to make. Hiring that same cab driver to be one’s personal chauffeur is a bit different (see below). These rules are specifically for buying services, as opposed to labor that results in tangible merchandise. Paying someone to build a car for you is, in essence, no different from buying a car—even though all that’s really happening is that you are paying someone else to make Craft checks on your behalf.

Determining Cost
Every service has an asking price and a bare minimum price. The person providing the service starts by asking the highest price he thinks his services are worth, expressed as a Purchase DC. This number is equal to the GM-controlled character’s total skill modifier for the appropriate skill, multiplied by 1.5, rounded down. If two or more skills apply (such as with the cab driver example above), multiply the average of the skill modifiers by 1.5 to arrive at the Purchase DC. If no particular skill seems to apply, use the character’s Profession skill modifier. If the Purchase DC is fewer than 2, the character refuses to take the job—or takes it, then badly bungles it. For example, assume the cab driver has a Drive skill modifier of +7 (including ranks in Drive, his Dexterity modifier, and the +1 competence bonus he gets from having selected Drive as one of his blue-collar occupation skills. Multiplying this number by 1.5 yields a Purchase DC of 10.5, rounded down to 10.
Table 7–1: Purchase DCs in the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game book shows that the cabbie asks for $120 to drive a hero around for the evening. If the hero asks the driver to tail someone, the cab driver’s Spot skill modifier (only +2, all from his Wisdom bonus) comes into play, averaging with his Drive skill modifier to yield a Purchase DC of 6. Since his low Spot skill modifier could cause him to fail, he can’t ask as much.

A hero can attempt to negotiate a lower price with an opposed Diplomacy check. For each point by which the hero beats the supporting character’s Diplomacy check, the Purchase DC drops by 1. But for each point by which the sup-porting character’s Diplomacy check beats the hero’s, the Purchase DC goes up by 1. You can take 10 or take 20 on this check (as can your opponent). No retries are allowed. Haggling the price in this fashion can never reduce the Purchase DC to fewer than the supporting character’s skill ranks in the relevant skill (or average ranks in the relevant skills), multiplied by 1.5, rounded down. This is the bare minimum price; doing the job for less starts costing the character money.

As to the lincoln post earlier, saw this at ubcon as an event:

Savage Presidents: Second Term
Join the time-displaced U.S. Presidents once again as they continue to fight evil through space-time! Now with more dinosaurs and lasers! System: Savage Worlds

Game Master: Rafael Kobayashi

Attendees will need: D20 Dice Set

Minimum/Maximum Attendees: 3/6

http://mcarchetype.wikispaces.com/Mechagolem+Commander

Not PFS, but interesting nonetheless

For reference/ inspiration along these lines I recall three works from Atlas Games D20 Penumbra line: Dynasties and Demagogues, Crime and Punishment, and Love and War. I believe Green Ronin may have had some systems in some of their historical D20 supplements as well.

Appeals to Rule Zero to fix all broken aspects of a rules system published and sold as a rules system logically equates to "why the hell did you buy a rules system in the first place if you don't actually need any rules?"

It is absurd on its face. You bought rules because you wanted rules.

A rules system should be judged on whether or not it works on its own not on whether or not the people who buy it will bother with fixing all the broken bits because they like the publisher, or because they have warm fuzzy nostalgia about playing in a long-retired previous version of the rules system.

Just recalled this in reading your post, and thought it might add an interesting perspective in the rule zero discussion. The following is attributed to Gary Gygax,

Recalling a 3.5 Eberron homunculus variety, that was craft oriented the Dedicated Wright, thought I'd mention it fyi even though is takes a different direction than your vision:

Stats

in Eberron context:

Eberron Wiki

Hey all, I try to check in on Nick and his projects once every bit and had this to share. Here's to hoping he finds time and resources to satisfy all involved, as his work and DM'ing are phenomenal and he's a friendly guy to boot.

From a post towards the end of the chain here from someone who knew him from his UK university gig:
Geek Related.

"A bit of defence here for Nick. He disappeared of the scene in 2008 to take a new job over here in Britain as head of a university department. Now I know people are upset about his leaving the project but you have to understand how hard running a whole uni department is, never mind one that is underfunded and understaffed. Nick threw everything he has into his teaching and has changed the lives of all the students here at E15. So all though you all hate him, he is the hardest working man and greatest friend I have ever know. Unfortunately the university pushed him out and now he’s off to Hawaii so maybe he’ll have time to write there."

Some inspirational browsing...

Snake plate, with spikes, undead variant

Steampunky top armor

The initial idea reminds me of Brotherhood of the Wolf's armored antagonist, surprising movement combined with armored fury.

Dawnforge from Fantasy Flight Games may be your recollection. Aye, that's the one. I could not find anything but novels on Lilith's Oathbound though.

FYI from the book's back cover text "DAWNFORGE was chosen as a semifinalist from more than 10,000 submissions in a worldwide setting search. Explore these pages and find out why!"

Hydro wrote:

Ahh, so the very finalists (with their ten-or-fifteen page setting bibles) never went anywhere, but those eliminated earlier retained their rights to the setting?

More likely they paid a token amount to WotC for the rights to publish the runner ups.

Found a link for Morningstar, but still looking for the others. I remember Forge being in the title, and had a viking-esque figure standing on a boat.

Dawnforge from Fantasy Flight Games may be your recollection.

DISTORTION HARNESS
Aura faint transmutation; CL 5th
Slot chest; Price 8,000 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
This strange vest is decorated with an elaborate geometric pattern, whose impossible twists hurt ones eyes if examined closely. It activates when its wearer attempts to squeeze into a narrow space. The patterns of the garment twist and jerk the wearer’s body into extradimensional folds, compacting them to fit the space. Movement into a narrow space that is at least half as wide as the wearer’s normal space is as normal. Moving into a space less than half the wearer’s width has the normal effects of squeezing, each move is counted as two squares with an attendant -4 to attack rolls and AC. The wearer can squeeze into even smaller spaces, but must use the Escape Artist skill (DC 30) which takes at least one minute (possibly longer and requiring additional checks), during which time the wearer cannot attack, takes a -4 penalty to AC, and loses any Dexterity bonus to AC. This does not allow the wearer to squeeze through spaces their head does not fit through.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, reduce person; blink Cost 4,000 gp

Madgael wrote:

Is the term "illithid" still verboten because it is part of the fluff for the non-OGL "mind flayer"?

WotC doesn't just own the name, they own the monster. Using a different name for the same monster is no different than republishing a book with a new title.

Two of the protected content monsters seem to be heavily influenced by earlier sci-fi/horror creations

Displacer beasts from A.E. Van Vogt's Couerl, a creature in the Voyage of the Space Beagle.

And mind flayer's inspired by a Brian Lumley cover illustration.

Links for those interested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeurl

Gygax on enworld re: Illithid

Also, folks have noted the mind flayer similiarity to Larry Niven's Thrint, but Gygax specifically countered this in the link above.
For the link happy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrint

But its theme was perhaps a bit more tightly tied to its effect. I get the whistle, and frankly I cant think of a better item at this moment but I get the sense that there was another choice.

This got me thinking about tradtional "scare evil spirits" instruments, bells and gongs.

For a one-encounter version you could use firecrcakers, another traditional festival item.

Suggested by a friend of mine upon seeing this list.

Odishon
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0235198/

Thanks for this thread all,
After reading through it I bopped back to Paizo, over to Planet stories, off Henry Kutner's Dark World to his "Mimsy Were the Borogroves" on to Science Ficition Hall of Fame Volume One, and from there to Stanley Weinbaum's "A Martian Odyssey".

In reading the wiki entry for said, I read these lines:

"Before, aliens had been nothing more than plot devices to help or hinder the hero. Weinbaum's creations, like the pyramid-builder and the cart creatures, have their own reasons for existing."

Thought I'd share a 1934 sci-fi analog.

links:

Planet Stories Dark World

Mimsy Were the Borogoves

SciFiHallofFame V1

Martian Odyssey

Just in case it helps, I thought I would drop a note asking if there was a chance the holiday sale prices being gone today, the 31st, was an oversight. I was going to place an eleventh hour, make that twelfth month, eleventh hour, order and my cart suddenly got much heavier.

Here's to hoping, and in any case, happy new year.

Best regards,
Jesse Goldberg

Green Ronin Blowout Kudos:
My first two installments have arrived, beautiful, well-packed, and frugal seeming. I love the smell of gaming books in the morning...
Thanks for your time and effort.

Now to add some more work,
Order # 640716:
If you can change this to ship as they are available, rather than all at once, I would be most grateful. Also if the Black Company book is lilely to be gone for good, please let me know so I can pursue other channels.

Again thanks for the service and the updates, from the floor, IT, and management. I appreciate it.