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I think I can add more info with that. First if 'Game Space' can take PNG files, then you have a couple of options. If we can upload PNG files to Game Space, the sky is the limit, really. I get the impression that won't be the case, however, because they'll want to sell us packs of minis, among other things. :) For the record, even if you give us the option to create our own stuff on here, I'm sure lots of people would still be willing to buy the products you offer in the store. I would, if it's quality.
It just feels more like an actual table top game if you can't see the white background to the tokens, at least to me. Then it's like looking down at a mat with physical minis. It's a small thing, but I think the goals of a good VTT should basically be to: 1) Make it feel like you're actually sitting around a table playing the game with real people. 2) Enhance/alleviate the tedious parts of table-top gaming (running combats quickly and efficiently for example). I look forward to seeing the products Paizo offers through the Game Space. It sounds like it's going to be a little less customizable than some of the other VTTs out there, but if you can put out quality stuff it'll be worth a few bucks to save a lot of time building the adventure. Anyone who has used, say, Fantasy Grounds knows it can be a very lengthy process to create quality adventures.
A token is basically an image with a transparent background. If you do this with an image of a miniature from, say, the Pathfinder Battles line, it really looks like a real life miniature that you are placing on a table-top. The screenshots I've seen so far of the Game Space all have character portraits (like Sara Marie's forum avatar). To me, this was one of the really cool features of playing on a VTT. In real life, I often don't have the *exact* mini I needed for a game, and I would just substitute an appropriately sized mini to stand in for the creature. With a VTT, as long as I have time to prepare beforehand, I could simply go browse WoTC's miniature gallery and make the tokens I needed with an image editor.
Hmm. . . in game STUFF. Not necessarily extra gear, land, faster xp gain or anything of that nature, but flavor/fluff. I think it would be cool if there was an in-game story reward that had some kind of visibility for those that went in at certain levels of funding. I understand the balancing act the devs have to play with making enticing rewards versus having a certain niche of players with an unfair advantage. It's difficult. That being said, Paizo and Goblinworks employ some of the most creative people in the gaming industry, so I don't think it's beyond them to come up with some rewards that emphasize the rich setting we'll be playing in. The Tech Demo kickstarter rewards seemed to revolve around this concept, but the rewards from this kickstarter are just a little. . . mechanical. It seems like someone took about 10 minutes to figure out what we'd get for contributing. Maybe that's judging them a little harshly, but Paizo has set my expectations for Pathfinder related products pretty freaking high. That's a good thing!
I'll throw my 2 cents in, here. I ponied up for the first Kickstarter, but I'm waiting this time around. I was a little underwhelmed by the in game graphics from the demo, but hey, it's a tech demo, not a finished product. I get that. My thing is, they had the first kickstarter to make something that they could pitch to investors. Mission accomplished! Great job, and it sounds like they did in fact gain some investors. I think it's a little unreasonable to continue to ask the fan community to continue to fund a project this large and expensive, and that is so far from completion, without some better rewards. I guess I'm just waiting to see how this develops. With other kickstarters I've funded, there's been more instant gratification involved. There was nothing in this kickstarter that just made me say "HOLY CRAP zomg, gotta give my money NOW!" I don't know if it's even possible, but I'm kind of hoping they sweeten the deal. I'm not saying I won't fund this, but I'm definitely in "wait and see" mode.
The Magus in the group is going the finesse/dervish dance route. It might be interesting to have a tag team like that, and I could optimize for dex instead of having dex and str. I hate it that the inspire courage is self only though (although having it as a move action is awesome).
Well it will probably cause more problems than it will solve but why not play a paladin? Good social skills, limited divine casting and they can tank. I don't really have a good reason not to, other than I've just done it before and want to try something different. But yeah, it's a good suggestion, Paladin would fill all those roles (and be OP while doing it).
Hmm. . . I've never played an Inquisitor. Do you have a build/archetype you'd suggest for this group?
I'm currently in a Kingmaker game, trying to decide what class/build to play. Here's what we've got so far: Gunslinger (Musket Master)
The obvious choice would be a battle cleric - someone to flank with the magus, and provide some divine spells. In fact, that's what I'm playing now, a dwarven battle cleric of Cayden Cailean. But, I'm not entirely satisfied with this, and am looking for alternatives in case my character dies (or I just decide to switch him out). I would point out that we have no characters with developed social skills (or even decent charisma), something I think will be a real detriment in Kingmaker. I'm thinking Bard, but having trouble finding a build that I really like. I think combat wise the Archer Bard stands out the most, but we already have two ranged. . . A battle oracle would be more of a charisma based version of what I'm currently playing, but I'm just not really feeling it. Suggestions?
Is it really "expected to release in 2013"? I wasn't expecting it so soon (I would have confidently predicted such a pace was impossible).I don't think we've said that anywhere... Yep. I tried to pin them down to an alpha test date based on the reward, but Ryan Dancey quickly pointed out that they simply had to pick a date for purposes of Kickstarter. ;)
Welcome aboard!
Man. . . this is going to be EPIC! I got excited when I read this. Almost enough to play a good guy.
A few questions: Why are the elves in your group so hardcore? You're obviously very different in mindset from the typical frolicky, "let's love everyone" sort of elves. How did the BLC get started down this path? Any connection to the elves of Kyonin? What's your diplomatic situation with the established Elven kingdoms? What does the BLC think of Drow?
@Kevin Cannell, I expect you won't really get any relief on this subject until the blog on Assassination Contracts. However, Ryan explicitly stated that Assassination Contracts basically required systems to allow Assassins to circumvent the negative effects of being a criminal - with respect to getting into NPC Settlements and such. So, I wouldn't worry too much. Yeah. . . I definitely felt better after I saw his response, and am looking forward to the future blog. ;) I'm also looking forward to an eventual blog on player kingdoms' laws/tax systems. I've been excited ever since I saw we'll be able to set up systems ranging from Karl Marx to Ayn Rand.
I'd like to see options available to player kingdoms on how they're going to deal with lawbreakers, rather than have automatic, across the board, in-game mechanics. If you were to put this in place across the board, though, you'd essentially be bringing law and order to a setting that is designed to be a wild frontier, with pockets of kingdoms representing vastly different ideas. I think what you described could be a template that was available to a player kingdom that wanted a lawful good society with a strong emphasis on deterring criminal activity.
It's funny, every time evil shifts for criminal acts are brought up, there is always a few people that argue against it, with obvious underlying goals to make acts that negatively impact other players less risky. I know that, personally, it's the Law --- Chaos axis that concerns me a lot more than the Good --- Evil. I plan to play an Assassin. I don't want the completion of Assassination contracts to make it harder to be an Assassin. In other words, if there are in-game mechanics that make completing an Assassination contract an automatic criminal (and arguably chaotic) act, and further mechanics that penalize a chaotic criminal from taking future contracts. . . that's a self defeating model. The mechanics of the game should support the underlying RP elements, not serve as roadblocks. It's not about justifying being a griefer, it's about being able to play out a character concept.
Fulfilling an assassination contract should not be an automatic criminal act, if criminal acts are going to be used to shift a character along the axis to Chaotic. Period, point blank.Did you read something from GW that said that the criminal flag would be used to affect the law-chaos axis? I read that normally, *failing* to fulfill a contract would tend one towards chaos. I also read that fulfilling an assassination contract (that is, killing someone in return for payment) would be a criminal *and* an evil act, but we'll get more on assassinations later. From my reading of today's stuff, yes, assassins would still be LE. No, Ryan didn't specifically say that breaking the law would shift a person on to the Chaos side of the scale, but it was pretty strongly implied. From the section on Alignment:
From the section on The Long Arm of the Law:
So you see, he uses almost identical language to describe the effects of being both a criminal and being Chaotic Evil. And it makes sense that breaking the law would shift you towards Chaos. I mean, that's the very essence of unlawful behavior. I think we can safely assume the two are tied together.
Fulfilling an assassination contract should not be an automatic criminal act, if criminal acts are going to be used to shift a character along the axis to Chaotic. Period, point blank. Only if the assassination occurs in an area that has laws against murder should this be a criminal act. Lawful Evil is the fundamental alignment for an Assassin. Any mechanic put in place that undermines this shows a clear lack of understanding of the entire concept from a historical standpoint, and as put forth by the PFRPG prestige class. I'm really hoping that we just got the fast and dirty run-down of assassination contracts, since Ryan Dancey knows he's going to do an entire blog on the subject. I could go on and on with this topic, but honestly, Blaeringr has said it all and said it well (many times over).
To me, the last freedom (You have what you hold) seems to trump everything else in a very realistic way. For example, if you're able to charge a toll for crossing a bridge, and no one is strong enough to *make* you stop, then what? That's why these are just guidelines or general social understandings. Law is the language through which government speaks, and government is nothing more than a societal monopoly on the sanctioned use of force. In other words, it all comes down to force. If there's nothing in place to enforce the other freedoms, it ends up being all about strength of arms. I think the people of the River Kingdoms understand that on some level, and that's why "You have what you hold" is listed as the most important freedom.
And my blade might have a different take on your life expectancy.Indeed... are you unfamiliar with the River Freedoms? If so, you'd be wise to learn them. I was a slave. I am now free and will remain so.The Hellknights of Fort Inevitable might have a different take on that. . . Every business venture has it's inherent set of risks. :) Not that I think they'd ever put in the mechanics for slavery in PFO (although it's a well established part of the setting).
Obakararuir brought up a great point in another thread. There exists a loose set of "laws" (more an understanding, really) between the people of the River Kingdoms. These are known as the River Freedoms. Given that this is our sandbox, and we can do as we wish with it, are these rules that you'd like to see stand?
Good interview. Kind of funny how they kept messing up the distinction between Paizo and Goblinworks, but I guess that's to be expected with employees working for both groups. It was interesting to catch a glimpse of the condensed sales pitch of the game that would likely be given to a potential investor (at least that's what it sounded like to me). Somebody contact Sheldon Adelson, Goblinworks can offer him a better return than he got on his last investment!
@Obakararuir - This was the basis of my opinion, mainly. Thus the "glorified librarians" remark. It's just hard to imagine a group with these goals surviving a rugged frontier like the River Kingdoms, or even wanting to come there, for that matter. Maybe I'm thinking too much in terms of the Kingmaker AP. I know it's not the Veil's stated purpose to "take things over," or be "in charge" of the River Kingdoms. . . but that's kind of the point, right? I mean, why else would anyone choose to live in the River Kingdoms? If you're out here, you're probably either running from something, or you think you can carve out your own little fiefdom. Usually it's a bit of both, and that's why there are so many bandit kings.
... the idea of a bunch of glorified librarians... running around in charge of the River Kingdoms... just seems... WRONG! I'm just waiting for the "we take what we want because we can" chartered company that has yet to rear it's ugly head. . . Of course, there needs to be more to it than that, but that's the heart of the river kingdoms mindset. I guess it's way early still, but I would think a group like yours would be the exception, not the rule.
Alright, so you guys have put a LOT of effort already into your chartered company, and it looks like it will be great. THAT being said. . . I feel almost obligated to oppose you. There's just something about the idea of a bunch of glorified librarians (yeah yeah, I know, you do more than just read books) running around in charge of the River Kingdoms that just seems . . . WRONG! I keep trying to imagine your group in my tabletop Kingmaker game. I might have to see if that breadmaking business is hiring. . .
They've included the goal of $100K in addition to the 2,000 backers. A good move, considering how easy it would be to create additional accounts with different emails, and contribute $1 from each of them. Lots of backers is important to show enthusiasm, but the cash is where the rubber meets the road! |
