John Simcoe's page

POINT NUMBER ONE -- Halflings. I love them. Beyond humans, they are the race I play the most. Heck, my EN World handle is Mighty Halfling.
One of my favorite 3.5e niches they have is their thrown weapon/sling bonus. I've built two different characters around the bonus.
Anyway, I'd love to see it back. It's a great little thing, and I'd especially like to see the Throw Anything feat the core. (Which, right now it is)
The idea of the little guy whupping his opponents with a sling or dart harkens back to David & Goliath, and that's a great image for Halflings. Likewise, it shows that Halflings (described as sometime slaves) know how to make due with what they've got. But there's also a mechanical reason: Halflings are slow in combat and frail. Allowing them a bonus for thrown weapons/slings keeps them safe. (Of course, those Save Bonuses are a big help, too!)

POINT NUMBER TWO -- Since we haven't seen a weapons chapter yet, let suggest this to you: Make a bunch of the thrown weapons qualify as Ammo, rather than individual items. This helps A LOT when you're buying magic items and helps counter the "you attack by unarming yourself?" theory. By making darts, throwing knives (not daggers) and shuriken ammo, you help a lot with "restocking fees." Perhaps you can make the sheaths/cases/straps that house these weapons the magicked item, and the "holder" simply charges the item.
Additionally, to further help weapon throwers, you could make a magic set of gloves that imbues what's being held (or any item from a specific weapons group) with a bonus. Yes, that how to get weapon throwers to match the sword-swingers.

OK, I know this has been a D&D troupe for years, but why are Dwarves associated with axes? If they're "miner folk" than have them adapt their common tools for their primary weapons -- The Hammer and the Pick.
You've already got the Hammer part -- The warhammer is listed among those in the Weapon Familiarity.
Now let's just drop the axes and add picks! Yep, picks may be low on damage, but their crit modifiers make them a lot of fun -- then add in your suggested changes to the Fighter, where specific weapons get expanded crit ranges, and the Pick looks even more fun.
So how about it? -- Out with the Axe and in with Picks!

Leave the axe for the half-orcs and the humans! They're the ones that like chopping things down!

Hello,
I got Dungeon 150 in the mail today, but there's a major binding mistake. Every page after 114 is bound in at a 45 degree angle, making it look like it's a triangluar shaped magazine.
Can I get a replacement?

Hello all,
I've published two of my rejected Campaign Workbook items on my blog at www.ComicsOnTheBrain.com.
You can read about Six Cave Perils by going here: http://www.comicsonthebrain.com/index.html/208
(Rejected because it overlapped too much with already established rules)

You can read the "Hit List" by going here:
http://www.comicsonthebrain.com/index.html/205
(Rejected because it added extra rolls to combat)

I wrote both of these some time ago, and I'm not terribly attached to either. Still I thought they were worth posting.

Does anyone have any rejections they'd like to post? I'd be happy to host them. You'd be credited, of course.

I love the idea of critical threats. Pre-packaged, ready-to-go opponents complete with motivation, background and a really cool portrait can help spark the imagination of DM.
A "CT" can be used as the basis of a whole campaign, work as an underling for a DM's own BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy) or help a DM with a single encounter or stand alone adventure.
But the one thing "CTs" don't have is a lot of utility -- unless the DM is willing to do the work to reverse engineer them or advance them up to the game's encounter level.
That means its harder to use a "CT" as an ongoing villain. If you take the time to figure out what a "CT's" skill points are at 3rd level and he's published at level 16, with cross-classing that's a heckuva lotta work.
The big problem is space. Right now, "CTs" get just two or three pages. The new stat block eats up even more space.
I would propose giving the "CTs" two more pages, one of which is dedicated to statting the character at 6th, 12th and 18th levels (mostly to help people understand the character's feat selection).
This format would allow the DM to advance the "CT" as his players advance.
Additionally, the description could also provide a list of goals the "CT" has for low, medium and high levels. These could include equipment goals, "knowledge" goals and professional goals.
So where would this extra space come from? You could rotate it back and forth between Maps of Mystery, slightly shorter adventures and skipping one Campaign Workbook article each month.
I know this general idea has been brought up before, but I hope the folks at Paizo consider a change.
With this adjustment, Critical Threats would quickly rise to the top of the most-sought after (and most contributed) mini-article you run.

Hello all,
Below, you'll find my rejected adventure proposal to Dungeon. I'm NOT posting it to garner any support for publication. It's been rejected, and that's that.
I'm posting it because the prime villains in the adventure are closed content, so since I can't get it published in Dungeon, I can't publish it anywhere.
So, I offer it to you messageboarders for your enjoyment. Maybe you'll pick up the idea for your campaign, maybe you won't.
I'm also including my entire "proposal letter" for aspiring Dungeon writers. I must say that there are some incorrect things here, according to the latest suggestions from the Dungeon staff. Namely, put your actual proposal on a separate sheet from your cover letter.
The proposal letter:

I'd like to submit the following adventure idea for publication in Dungeon.
I have previously written for Dungeon, including "Racing the Snake" (Dungeon 105), "Buzz on the Bridge" (Dungeon 110) and "Throne of Iuz" (Dungeon 118).
My next submission is a series of short episodic adventures called "Phases of the Rat." These connected mini-adventures can be used as a sort of ongoing sidetrek (or sub plot) to a larger series of adventures, such as one of your Adventure Paths. This series is designed to run in a single issue and at the length of a standard single adventure. “Phases of the Rat” covers 1st through 5th levels, but can be scaled to a higher level range with ease.
This adventure will be about 8,000 words long and require six small maps.
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Here are the basics of the adventure:
A colony of evil moon rats -- magical rats that grow more intelligent, cunning and devious during various cycles of the moon (Monster Manual II p. 151) -- has nested underneath the city. It wasn’t long before the colony soon was discovered by a moon dog (Book of Exalted Deeds p. 179). The moon dog found their magical taint made them quite tasty, and he continued to raid the colony for months and months for snacks.
Not surprisingly, the moon rats got fed up with the raids and decided to fight back.
Their first plan – adopting a gray render (Monster Manual p. 138) – failed when the creature proved to be no match for the moon dog.
As they seethed about their predicament, the rats discovered that the city’s primary gnomish temple has an Apparatus of Kwalish hidden inside.
The rats continued brood about the moon dog until they hatched a plan to steal the apparatus, a device they could use to destroy their new arch enemy. Their grand scheme requires a lot of help though, as moon rats can’t learn skills. So over time, the rats end up recruiting a motley crew of creatures, including vargouilles (MM p. 254), an oytugh (MM p. 204), a small band of hobgoblins (MM p 153), wererats (which will be perfect for throwing the PCs off the trail of the moon rats) (MM p. 170) and a shambling mound (MM p 222).
The PCs come into the story as the plot gets started and pick up pieces of it over the following months. At each full moon, they uncover a new piece of the puzzle. By their fifth encounter with the rats, the creatures are on their way to hunt down the moon dog, who enlists the adventurers aid in the climatic battle between him, the swarms of rats, their purloined Apparatus of Kwalish and the now-recovered gray render.
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Here is the “Moon-by-Moon” breakdown of the adventure...
Full moon A (level 1) – As the PCs are strolling by a business in town, the moon rats secretly spring a trap against an exterminator who has been unwittingly pitted against them. The PCs help the exterminator – who says he’s on a job for an alchemist and adds there’s something different about these “vermin.” They’re smart he says, and he pleads with the adventurers to track them down. The characters investigate and watch as the rats scramble up to the rooftop and dash away. The adventurers follow, and go along a trap-filled roof-top chase that ultimately leads them into the den of several vargouilles. The rats trail leads them to a drainage pipe that’s too small for anyone to follow.
Full moon B (level 2) – A month or so later, the moon rats raid the potion maker and steal his all of his potion stock. The exterminator contacts them about it, wherein they trace the rats path down into an abandoned building. There, the rats have set a collapsing-floor trap that sets a wounded otyugh against any interlopers. Once again, the rats use a distraction to escape through an impassable area.
Full moon C (level 3) -- Many weeks later, the potion maker finds the PCs again, saying that the rats held him captive and forced him to make dozens of Comprehend Language potions. As they worked with him, they asked him a lot of questions where they could “make metal.” He told them of an old iron furnace outside the city. There, the rats have recruited a hobgoblin and his tribe to create some finely designed cogs and gears under the moon rats careful supervision. These mechanical parts are then sold to some evil elves (who won’t be referenced any further, but can be used as an additional adventure seed) in return for cases of mushroom spores. The hobgoblins were paid with oodles potions for their work.
Full moon D (level 4) – A rancher complains that his cattle are disappearing. The PCs follow the clues to a sinister abattoir where a half-dozen wererats are butchering all sorts of livestock. They trim the meat off and drop it through a hole in the floor. The PCs enter the hole and find it leads them to an otherwise sealed-off sewer chamber housing hundreds of mushrooms beds that are feasting on the sliced meat. A successful Alchemy check or Knowledge (Nature) check reveals these mushrooms can be used to create a powerful poison. The mushroom beds are guarded by a shambling mound who is partially fed by the meat. Once again, the PCs find one small entrance way that only rats could scamper through.
Full moon E (level 5) -- The PCs wake one morning to find that the local gnomish temple was ransacked after the gnomes were knocked out by a gas (made from the ground up mushroom). The trail leads them into the sewer. There, they find several pointers. Following the trail back, they find a planning room used by the rats. The sewer planning room contains details about a troublesome creature they’ve been trying to exterminate -- a moon dog. Their method? They’ll be using the Apparatus of Kwalish that the stole from the temple and their pet gray render. The adventurers track them to the moon dog’s lair and help it fight the legion of rats, their Apparatus of Kwalish and the adopted gray render.
Note: These mini adventures need not happen every 30 days. Greyhawk, for example, has two moons, so full moons would likely occur twice as often. Likewise, these episodes could be stretched out over a year or more.
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So there’s my submission, I look forward to hearing from you about it.
Best,
John Simcoe

The Dungeon crew said no to this for two primary reasons: (1) It assumes that PCs will be returning again and again to the same city. (2)It assumed a fairly regular pattern of leveling on the PCs' part.

Wait, wait ...
I did find "Sci-Fi" the Sci-Fi Channel's magazine in the list, but I ain't buying that.