Krail Stromquism's page

Jason Bulmahn (and Paizo devs) as for making the character sheets accessible, doing it after the fact is a huge pain, but it can be done: google 'Adobe Accessibility Training' you may be able to do it via Acrobat Pro, depending on how the sheets were made.

Also keep in mind Aria accessibility standards and W3C web accessibility standards to help make all your products and your site as screen reader friendly as possible.

The more you make these things part of your normal workflow the better you'll make it for all your end users.

I know Paizo goes out of its way to be inclusive to a wide range of audiences, making sure your site and your products are accessible (and by this I dont mean you can use it on your phone) to all of them means a lot. Please dont let it be an after thought. Thanks

Leo Glass!!!! Hooray and congrats from a current UNL employee! Great to see someone jumping off the Big Red Wave and chasing their dreams!!!

Im a little crazy, but this is what Im currently playing in WotR.
Oracle (Lore) 1
Paladin of Arshea 7
Ranger (TangleBriar DemonSlayer) 1
Mythic: Guardian/Marshall

This build is a CHR for everything build. Its probably pretty cheesy but its a lot of fun.
Human: Charming, Reactionary
Paladin 1 - Fey Foundling, Noble Scion of War (CHR to init)
Oracle at 3rd - Sidestep Secret (CHR for Dex to AC, Ref saves), Extra Revelation: Lore Keeper, Knowledge Skills become CHR based
Ranger: favored Enemy Evil Outsiders +2
Other Feats:
Greater Mercy, +1d6 to LoH if target isnt afflicted with the Greater Mercy focus. Seeing as how this will be you, its a must. getting an extra die, means at least 3 more HP and maybe up to 8!
Slayer's Knack: This is some cheese. Taking a level of Ranger, and at higher level, you get this for Evil Outsiders and double your crit range. Its insane. Keen for free more or less. In WotR its a nobraniner. As is getting Bane: Evil Outsider on your sword ASAP!
I just took Celestial Obedience: Arshea, for a +4 on Diplomacy rolls if target could be attracted to you, that stacks with Charming for a total of +5. At 9th level, I've dumped everything into CHR, have a Headband of Alluring Charisma, so my CHR is at 24 (+7). My Diplomacy is +21 (or +26 if possible attraction). Not bad.
Smite Evil is really nice, +7 to Hit and AC. really nice.

For Mythic, I may have broken/misused it? At least in HeroLab, when you take Mythic Paragon it treats you as +2 to your tier in ALL regards, including HP. So taking Guradian with Mythic Paragon got me 15HP. I also took Extra Mythic Feat and went Dual Path: Marshal.

That was probably less than optimal. Absorb Blow and Decisive Strike as Call/Order.

In my build taking the Armor feat for light armor is actually worth it. It removes the Max Dex from the armor, so i can keep pulling max AC from it. its within one point difference between +1 Full Plate and +1 Chain Shirt, plus I'll have 30 ft move.

The Paladin+Fey Foundling makes you nearly unkillable, in and of itself (at least in Society play). Oradin all CHR build adds to that, my saves are all +15 or over, +9 to Init, LoH 10/day for 3D6 (4D6 greater mercy). Its pretty nice.

The BIG downside? Im so Evil Outsider focused, its tough killing your average human cultist!!! Maybe not tough, but man, it takes a long time! I only have a 16 Str, and no Power Attack or anything to increase damage. But against EO, I can dish it out!

Tiefling is very nice for the racial level bonus, you could have some crazy LoH!

Most of the other players have taken Mythic Power Attack/Deadly Aim. Theres a power that removes your range increment penalty, our Zen Archer is taking that.

Hope that helps! Its a fun AP. Good luck and remember: A.B.D.E. Always Be Detecting Evil! ALWAYS!

Hi,
My last two AP shipments arrived damaged.
They both look as if they were bent with damage to the center of the book. But the last shipment with AP 95 & 96, Anvil of Fire has a large tear in the top of the spine where it got crushed.

These appear to be being shipped via an unholy union of UPS and the USPS. The post office actually delivers it. Sometimes bringing it to the door often stuffing it into my mail box.

Is there some way to get better protection for the APs? I collect as much as I get the APs to play, so getting damaged product is disappointing.

thanks,

healingish= Oradin! Human Lore Oracle with Fey Foundling and Scion of War (Init) Feats. Reactionary Trait. Get extra Revelation choose all the Chr based stuff. Then go Paladin. You will have insane saves. Good HP and be able to Lay on Hands yourself or cast Cure Light Wounds and keep yourself and others in the fight. Focus on CHR, CON and STR. SUPER SURVIVABLE!

Damager = Human Alchemist (RageChemist/Vivesectionist) for two levels, take the Extra arm, then all barbarian (armored hulk, or Inv Rager are best bets). Focus on STR, then CON. At level 3 you can have your Str mutagen and RAGE going and have an insane Str. Use a 2-handed weapon (lucern hammer for reach) and have that extra arm using a shield (tower). Using a Feral Mutagen and Fiend(??) totem with get you 2 claws and a Gore attack for up close melee. its bonkers! Dont forget power attack. mutagen and rage will give you +8 Str. a Ragechemist Mutagen will give you an extra +2 str. So if you had 20 str to begin, you'd have a 30 str! with a two-handed weapon that will obliterate things! AC should be pretty good too. Full Plate +shield + Natural Armor.
There could be a way to switch into 2-handed fighter for 3 levels to get x2 str to attacks, but probably not worth leaving the rounds of rage behind. this is a pretty gross build, Ive seen it ruin PFS scenarios, as this character walks thru every combat.

Thanks for taking time out to answer questions and an even bigger thanks for sharing your talent with all of us. Your evocative work has given a sense of style to Pathfinder and breathed a real sense of life into the people and creatures you illustrate.

I haven't scoured the thread but do you do any of the online media for your reference/morgue files? Like pinterest? Do you livestream any of your work? if so what are those channels?

I know you are a busy guy, but is there any chance of you doing a run on the Pathfinder Comic? You mentioned wanting to work more with the ACG iconics and it'd be cool to feature them in their own six issue series, kind of like the Origins series now maybe?

thanks again!

When do you think there will be an article break down for art assets? Any ideas?

They must've forgot the aqueous coating, perhaps?
http://printingwiki.org/?tag=aqueous-coating
usually that will protect the inks so you can cut and bind stuff without smearing or ink transfer.
I imagine thats what the pages look like, lots of transfer and smearing from where the bindery machines grabbed them. This is something that should've been caught WAY early on in the process. during cutting, they shouldn't have ever been shipped. As a designer, this is the single most horrible thing that can happen to you. Getting a big box of product and finding its all messed up. I feel for you all! No fun! Glad to see the company step up and pay for the reprint.

So then do characters with lower than ten wisdom not have faith, or do things for their faith? Being able to cast spells and being willing to die for ones faith are totally separate. As ones a measurable mechanic in the game while the other is an RP angle, or personality trait. There's a disconnect there in some respect. Anyway, a random thought. Are low wisdom NPCs never played as religiously fervent or motivated?

Sounds like devolved Arshea cult.

In general it should come down to how you view sources of divine power. If divine power comes from faith, then nearly everyone could cast divine spells. So in general, it should be more than faith, or perhaps wisdom doesn't reflect belief but adherence to ones faith/deity/philosophy?

If you don't want evil characters as PCs that's your call, having nonevil PCs worshipping evil deities could be really interesting, as long as they are going to be ready to RP repercussions of their choices. In the Golarion one would have to guess 20-30% of a deities followers are not of the same alignment as the deity itself, so it shouldn't be unheard of to meet evil deity worshipping clerics that aren't out to murder everything or working to better communities, in their own skewed way.

Just food for thought

Blood of the Moon 39
great idea!

Brock is a highly trained operative, throwing in some rogue or a bard archetype wouldn't hurt. Also maybe assimar?

I'll likely talk to this person and the event coordinator at the same time. Put forth my issue and go from there. I suppose I'm thinking of it in terms of if this happened in the work place, how would I handle it. I'd talk to the person and then our supervisor so it all on record. Who knows how many times the person has been taken aside and asked to not do X-behavior by a coworker, or in this case another player.
I'm really glad to see all the great responses to this and know people really take the hobby seriously. I'm of the mind that we all become ambassadors for the game whenever we are playing and should make sure its the best possible and positive time for everyone involved. It looks like you all are out there doing exactly that.

They were a player at the time they did this, but they do DM on occasion. I'm new to this group so I'm still getting my bearings with who is who and how involved in PFS this individual actually is. Most disappointing is this person has a really solid grasp of the rules and tactics, just not the spirit of the game.

I like to think of PFS as being the bet of what RPGs should be, so I was kind of shocked when a player and sometimes DM used the "homos" twice while we were playing. PFS is a public event, and at least in my mind everyone should feel welcome, and not be subject to this sort of language. So how do you handle these sorts of comments? This wasn't from a young person either, and it made it worse in my mind that we were playing at a table of relative young and new comers.

Am I overreacting to this? I'm of the mind do what you want in your home games, but be on your best behavior when at PFS events.

With your permission and time willing, I'd like to make an edit/pass on it and see what I come up with.
If/When it happens, I'll send you a copy to check out.

For sure, go for it. What I have is a feverish first draft, I need to go back through and trim/cut and firm up the tense. I knew I was mushing that as I wrote it, but just wanted to get it out on the page. I'll give it a good overhaul here sooner or later. My online pbp game is only on day four, so they are a ways off from encounter poor Mr. Ivy.

good luck and thanks for the feedback!

I really liked the idea of Arron Ivy and all of the stuff that happens on the island, but there wasn't a really good way to get that info to the PCs within the narrative, so I decided to flesh out his time on the island by leaving behind a diary of sorts. Its actually the Infernus' manifest. I also built in a minor sort of feat for the PCs that study the manifest.

I thought I'd share. Let me know what you think. Feel free to use it in any way you want.

LINK: The Infernus Legacy

thanks

Why not try using a paper grocery bag and make an old school book cover, then you can just slip the map into the front/back pocket created by the cover? Then you arent 'damaging' the book at all. Just an idea.

There are a lot of movies too that you can watch The Bride with White Hair 1/2 comes to mind. Theres one with an 8-tailed fox character as well I can't recall its name though. good fun stuff! Are we going to see an 8-tailed fox any time? Or some handsome monkey kings? I hope so! Or some Eunuch prestige classes? I hope not!

In the end its up to the DM. I would hope that the reason they run games is to have fun. Killing a character when they are down can make sense some times but in general sin't really cool. Now having said that I've cast Hold Person on someone and had them CDG'ed repeatedly, was there PLENTY of time for other PCs to come and help? Yes. Did they? No. Did the PC end up dying no, he eventually got help, but made 3 or 4 rounds of save or dies (from a 3E game). Was he super pissed? Yes. Not at me but at the Player who ignored his obvious life threatening plight.

From a game/story perspective it can make sense if a BBEG does it, I suppose. I tend to lean towards the unconscious character lending a sense of urgency and distraction into the fight. Player X has to get to Player Y before he bleeds out, these situations tend to lend a bit of drama and excitement to things. If you always kill the character its just grim and hopeless anytime you fall, that doesn't sound like fun to me.

Also remember PCs are special. Special and crazy adrenalin addicted, greedy murder machines that almost always kill everything in their paths. They tend to do things a certain way because of necessity and the inherent weirdness of the game. Monsters and NPCs aren't the same way, most of the time, so having them behave in the same fashion is weird. In certain specific cases yeah sure, but as a rule of thumb no.

The rule of thumb is to have fun, your group/community decide on what that means. Talk with your group and figure out what everyone is comfortable with. Its one of those things you don't want to find out after the fact.

What about Eric the Cavalier from the D&D cartoon, he was absurdly arrogant and full of himself, all the while he was a complete coward.
Being a coward doesnt work so well in playing but you can look at it from another viewpoint, Eric is compensating for his cowardice, his fear of people not liking him thus never letting anyone know the real him and letting them not like him for being an arrogant braggart. So then decide what is it that your cavalier will be compensating for? Fear of intimacy? Fear of true friendship? Physical endowment (that could be really hilarious actually)? Or some other pain in his past? Mother/father issues? Abandonment.

anything really. Not quite as easy as the rangers "An Aberration killed my pet dog when I was a boy!" Favored Enemy trope, but there is plenty to draw from. The key is letting the party know it so they can stomach it in game.

You have to be almost over the top so people enjoy it and its funny instead of coming off jerkish.

Theres lots of things that are possible here.

First is your BBEG a total loner? He was doing all this on his own? No back up? No Retainers, no house magician or cleric? A smart BBEG would have a network of cronies, at the very least. If he/she is a good BBEG than he/she is paranoid, as all BBEG are! Having a cleric or magic user coming around once a week to cast Pro from X spell on you or Detect Magic or lots of other spells that would lead to discovery of the Domination. Even someone with a high Sense Motive that just asks the BBEG point blank have you been charmed or dominated? would catch them in the lie. What level/class is the BBEG?

I'm pretty sure the president of GE has a lawyer come in every morning and grill him to see if hes been replaced with a doppleganger. Its actually very commonplace in the higher echelons of corporate America.

other things:
- If either the Enchanter or the BBEG goes into a rope trick, BOINK! dominate ends, then the BBEG could take measures;
- Anti-magic zones;
- BBEG has any spell X cast on him that ends the Dominate (this could be by some rivals attacking him that cast Dispel Magic on him, or an ally in the fight against those rivals that cast Protection on him.

So it seems you've either been far too lenient with the Dominate and saves (if you had fixed the lottery and had the winning numbers, don't you think that telling them to someone would go against your nature? After all its your goal thats taken years to put into place & complete) or haven't thought out your BBEG very well. People, good or evil, do not rise to power completely on their own, it just doesn't happen, in RL or our beloved fantasy games. Sit down, think of how the BBEG became who they are and that should help find a helping hand in resolving this.

It seems like you dont really want to 'fix' the situation, if thats the case then decide how you think your players will react to this swarthy Enchanter, and finding out hes known what was going all along. Either they will think its awesome, and will give the Enchanter a run his money as the new BBEG or it will all blow up in your face and you'll have a bunch of players/friends all pissed at you.

Maybe get extra Doritos for that session.

You can build a really effective sniper mixing Ninja and Fighter. I did a few different mixes of the two for a 10th level character. This one is F7(Weapon Master)/N3

feats are:
Deadly aim
Many shot
Point Blank Master
Point Blank Shot
Precise Shot
Quick Draw
Rapid Shot
Snap Shot
Weapon Focus
Weapon Specialization

Dirty Fighter -Trait
Surprise Attack - Ninja Trick

+1 Long Bow (+3 Str) with Deadly Aim is +17/+12 at 1D8+14
a key piece of Equipment Sniper Goggles, cant recommend those enough, Ranged SA at any range, plus +2 to each SA dice within 30ft.

I built a F4 (Brawler)/N5 member of a proposed ninja group, it relies on Teamwork feats, the entire party would pretty much have these feats.

Combat Expertise
Gang Up
Outflank
Power Attack
Precise Strike
Sap Adept
Sap Master
WF Sap
WSp Sap

With a 20 str you'll do 1D6+15 with Power Attack, like above poster said you can pull 6D6+6 Sap damage on a flat footed opponent. Take Pressure Points or Bleeding Attack, for something extra. With Gang Up and Outflank you'll get SA all the time at a good bonus to hit.

We also have a proposed party of Monk/Ninja/Fighters that are focused on Imp Trip and Vicious Stomp, add on Gang Up and Paired Opportunist a party of these guys is gets ridiculous. anyhows, lots of choices and things to think about!

From a marketing standpoint, Hasbro is a juggernaut, with unlimited coffers, if they were to do the smart thing, then 5E would look exactly like Pathfinder, it would weaken Paizos brand and lose them lots of money, which being the smaller fish they cant afford to do, and thus begins their slow spiral downward, not having enough money to put out top quality products in a timely fashion pushes them further out of business.

The the pessimistic side of me, and thats only if Habro wants to play hardball. I've read that they want to do something for all editions of D&D, and I can't believe they mean some Rosetta stone RPG book that transfers any edition character into 5E, cant be done. I take that to mean that they will develop products for every edition, or close to it, 2E and onward.

Paizo just needs to keep doing what they are doing and try things here and there, like minis, and keep putting out great looking and well written products. They cant become reactionary, thats where hasbro is now and they are likely to do it wrong, or just make things worse for themselves.

The hiring of Monte Cook means that they may very well be trying to clone Pathfinder, thats really the worst case scenario for Paizo. If they do that it means Hasbro is trying to put Paizo out of business.

this is just an ugly spell. It leaves too many open what ifs.
Better just to house rules it out.

To throw thing totally off the rails, what if you focus on Str/Int and Elven Curve Blade or Nodachi Kensai? Go for Extra Arcane Pool and focus on damage output and keen weapons. Once you hit 4th you can use AP points for max damage or bumping your crit mod, make sure to take Anatomist trait. Power attacking (with Furious Focus) you should have some great damage, you could be casting shield on yourself and enlarge, by 7th you could have Keen Edge and wading into a fight with 15-20 x2 with 1d10+(10to18) depending on your Str and item build out, confirming crits on 14-20 and being able to boost it to x3, with around 9 AP points if you take Extra AP feat.

That seems really fun. That takes it in a FAR more martial direction with less focus on spells, which is what the Kensai is geared towards.

Is this totally weird? Just an idea.

Travel Domain and Step Up would be really good, like people have said. Being the Caster killer is a really good fit for Inquisitor and with those you can get to them and stay on them very easily.

There is no reason not to sit down with your group and talk about the characters and roles you are thinking about playing. That might help you narrow things down or focus on how you want to flavor your Inquisitor. They are a fun class. Like the guy I made I envisioned him as a militant gardener "Why aren't you composting!?!?!" perhaps thats silly, but its all about the flavor you want to bring to the table. Maybe take a look at the god you're following and that can help guide things as well. you said above "Melee-focused CG Inquisitor of Cayden Cailean with Travel domain."
Arent there some feats that would suit Cailen pretty well? Or take a level of cavalier for the boasting power? Just throwing that out there, muddying the waters a bit. Maybe do Cav at 1st then switch to Inq? that might be silly.

good luck!

Perhaps first take into consideration the combat style or role you plan to take in your group. That can change things up a lot. What are your ideas on the theme of this character?

The Teamwork feats are really great and it would be great to focus on those especially Precise Strike +1D6 damage, Duck & Cover, Paired Opportunist.

I recently made a 5th level inquisitor to see what the class could do.
I took Precise Strike, Weapon Focus, Power Att and Cleave and Improved Initiative.

You'll get your WIS bonus to your init, plus DEX plus Imp Init, I had a +10 to my Initiative. Not bad!

I looked at the available Domains from APG and chose Growth, which allowed me to use Enlarge. You could easily take Growth as part of the Plant Domain, so choosing Gozreh would be logical, and give you access to Trident.

You could tweak this even further and not choose a god, and dedicate yourself to Growth and employ a Reach weapon. Enlarge yourself, increasing your reach even further and take Combat Expertise and Paired Opportunist +4 to Att of Opportunity, Gang up would also be really nice with this.

The good feats are Teamwork feats that you can use independently of your party and the old stand byes like Weapon Focus, Power attack and Imp Init.

The important things are to use your Judgment and pop of Flame of the Faithful, once youre high enough level pop off Bane on round two and start the Inquisition! You can deal out some really crazy damage. Good luck!

Great podcast guys (and CherryPi!) I really enjoy it.
I was listening to some of the first casts and liked how you came up with better ways of implementing NPCs or certain aspects the adventure that didn't jive right. Could that be something to expand on?

Take an idea that is weak or perhaps clumsy and refine it and tell us how it was implemented in your games. This could range from spells, equipment or even to prestige classes.

Oh, or actually use some of Research's character builds in some games and see how they do. Could be a good follow up to those. The Order of the Viper Monk/Druid build was pretty crazy!

Keep up the great work!

Has anyone compiled an updated list of spells from the APG for bloodlines found in the Core rule book?

I haven't yet and wondered if there was one that already existed.
There are some obvious ones like Fire Breath for the Draconic Bloodline.
What other APG spells should show up on Core book bloodlines?

Any thoughts?

Dear Customer Service,

My unicorn died yesterday and I really can't go on playing D&D, it's just to painful.

While I have enjoyed that level of quality in these products, especially Wayne Reynolds art, I can't play any longer.

It is with deepest regrets that I ask you now to cancel my Pathfinder Subscription.

I hope that in time I can move past this traumatic event and enjoy life again. Please give my best to all the staff that have given of themselves to create the Pathfinder series, especially the fantastic artist Wayne Reynolds.

Is everyone aware about the new postal rates for periodicals (they include a 'shape' aspect to the rate)? Developed by Time/WB and the USPS, I beleive.

For small publishers its a huge cost increase. anywhere from 11% on average up to 25% increase on postal rates. Add on the increase in paper costs, and it really makes it hard for small publishers.

anyhow, enough shop talk.

Are there going to be any info injected into the Adventure Path book thats more of the realm of Dragon magazine? Like New equipment, spells, PrC's and that sort of thing?

14 is a good price, but 20 plus tax is a killer. If I get this it'll have to be thru subscription and not at the LFGS.

I could probably talk myself into this just for all the glorious Wayne Renoylds art work! GLORIOUS I SAY!

well, back to work

The most important thing is to make sure all info presented is balanced and always be aware of power inflation. Avoid repetition and reprinting info.

If you follow those rules than just about everything you publish should be useful, at least usable, by the readers, no matter the subject matter, setting or idea.

At the core: Write Good Rules.

the rest will follow.

What about the 3rd level Rahjas spell that was insanely overpowered? Does anyone think that was a stinker? Beats a much higher level spell and lasts for days/level.

Is there anyone checking these articles for balance?

S.Glenn,

"Play gets all it's art for free", the minis article was a good representation of using existing art. One would think the relationship with WoTC would foster a more open use and approach with at least some of their material.

"Krail, Perhaps you'd like to open up some of your work to a public forum?" What GD doesnt have their work on a public forum? I do a lot of web and flash based stuff (see below link). Crits are just part of the territory. I've never been one to get bent outa shape over it. You take it into account, judge the source and see if and how its applicable. Its been my experience that 50% or more of the design work that gets doen never sees the light of day. Why? Cause the clients got a vision. It doesnt matter if youve done great work, if the client doesnt like it, you scrap it and move on.

http://www.mythdrivinglegend.com (wow, this needs updated!)

One thing I'd like to note is the Demon Stone piece, I loved it, design wise. People have been saying it doesnt really belong, or shoulda had some crunch in there and that may be true. The thing to remember is the game industry (PC, Consoles, mobile) make gagillions of dollars. Thats not scientific but its true. More spent on games then on movies. If theres ever an overlap to draw in new readers its Electronic games. Silicon Sorcery is always on of the best features, Chocobos are awesome and Demon Stone was cool but could have used some crunch in there to make everyone happy.

"rather than coating every page with parchments and jewels and graphic junk. I'm not into special effects and filters and such." Life is more than just lens flares, yes its true. Im not suggesting for a moment of doing an over the top Limborache layout. Just by doing different parchment BGs and have them match a theme, good, evil, elf, orc or whatever and then dropping in a phat graphic on top would be both simplistic and unintrusive but also lend to atmosphere and nostalgia. When art isnt available then youve still got cohesion for the article and the reader aren't feeling 'gipped' (sp?) Even if it was scaled back to a header at least you have a way to set tone. you know?

Anyhow, all this talk of work makes me want to do training pieces for recursive computer programming!

Cheers!

SeanG,

I think I posted over on EnWorld that the only Mag I could think of that used 'white space' was Play, the big difference (HUGE difference) is that they lay in a really nice juicey graphic in it and it sets it off. In the Dragon we see that 50% on the time. The intros that work or feel OK are the ones with a graphic stuck in there and the jilting ones are the ones with just text set off by a snow field.

I dont thnk the fonts an issue at all.

Mastheads, I dont actually mind Dungeons but wow is dragons bland, snoresville.

hey...wait...theres a kid crying out side...fell on scooter, hell live.. anyway.

Not only am I a D&D dork but I'm also a high falutten Graphic Designer, for about 6 years now and from where Im standing your moving away from your goal and not towards it.

A fantasy game mag should look and 'feel' like a fantasy game mag, new readers may find it accesible but wont find it engaging because theres little to emerse themsleves in. As GDs we should know that the content isnt going to hold people there its how good the content looks and how it makes the reader feel. I know your editors and writers arent going to like that, but its true.
As AD was this your plan for the new look or was it suggested elswhere?

So spring for some awesome mindblowing art and put it in that whitespace and you'll be a LOT better off.

PS I loved the demon stone and product section, at least visually, I wished the entire mag could look like that.

tmcdon,

I concur my good fellow or fellowette as the case may be.

Any idea in design is worth a try, sometimes things dont work and you move on to something else.

I'd like to know more about the process. Are ideas mocked up and then gone over in comittee? Or is there a sole person responsible for implementation? PS, InDesign, Illustrator? or other suite of programs?

Also, examples of this sort of design thats been succesful?

anyhow

SEAN GLENN!

Sooo, uh can you post some of your teams design influences? Websites or mags that led you to use this exciting new fresh paradigm thats so totally awesome.

In particular, can you explain what you mean by this: "The new layout of the magazine was created to make reading the magazine fun. By opening up the articles with some white space, we have a lot more freedom." Sounds like boardroom mumbo jumbo, dontcha think? Arent we past that?

How is white space more 'fun'? what 'freedom' does it give you, besides always being able to meet deadlines?

Dont turn this into a Fox News thing and cherry pick what posts you reply too, either. 80% of the posts gave a thumbs down to the white space layout and the one post you reply to is in the minority of those that actually liked, which I'd love an explanation for.

Anyhows,

just some straight up questions from a Print/Web guy.

Thanks for your time,

I've already email you directly on this but I'll chime in here too!

From a graphic design standpoint this is freshman level stuff. Extremely rudimentary. Demos Stone was the only articale that had any meat to it. Whats with all the white space? Its wasting your advertising space and comes off as a corner cutting cop out. For me its very irritating. Maybe now one else cares and would prefer just straight text.

Can your G.A.s post their reasoning behind this design? Or, as I suspect, whoever cooked it up explain what they are going after?

Modern, clean, or what?

-blah