Marcus o' the Green's page

And I vote for a Planar one at some point-
I remember Planescape always did a good job of even having 1st level adventurers heading out to some pretty surprising planes sometimes...

Dying to see Golarion's planes in general-
So thrilled that y'all tapped Shemeska to write your planar sourcebook...

M

Folks, sign me up for a ride on a mammoth.

One more vote for Eric.

Pathfinder fiction has been greenlit, and the fires of the juggernaut are being stoked as we speak. I can tell you that you're almost certainly not going to see any books in 2009, but beyond that...

Dude, dude, dude!!!!!!

Suh-weet!!!!

Hi Elaine!
Yes, I continue to be a one-man cheer factory. Yes, it's sometime nauseating. ; ) Alas! But I truly am happy to find you here in Paizo-land...

Various Emissaries of the Runelords:
Okay okay okay okay. You guys are doing a fine job of convincing me to subscribe.
Here's my biggest concern. The building I live in, although great and glorious in many ways
(http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/783/413985.JPG - no kidding- though clearly the WHOLE place is not mine...)
has these tiny, rinky-dink, aluminum *sparrow-coffins* for 'mailboxes'. Mail gets jammed into them by raging barbarians (okay, postal workers) - and stuff gets beat up all to hell.

And one place where I am quite the fanboy is this: I like my stuff pristine. Hate scuffs and dings and all. Especially on such high quality stuff as the Paizo offerings.

So um- does stuff come in big cardboard boxes, or what?

God knows I'd like to support Paizo- so if they get a bigger cut from subscriptions, I'm interested...

Whoops, I totally just thread-jacked. Sorry!

Back on topic:
Elaine, if you have time, I bet we'd all love to hear what bits of the Golarion world you find especially intriguing: any particular nations, races, legends, demon lords, gods, etc. As a creator, what's been setting your mental wheels a-whirring? (Not necessarily that you're gonna then write tales about it, just curious as to what's esp. caught your fancy...)

M

Abandon hope, all ye who enter the

You should totally get a subscription. At least for this adventure path in which Elaine's work will appear. You'll get the pdf's free when your hard copies ship, which is sometimes three weeks before they are available to purchase individually or before the books hit brick & mortar stores. And the subscriber discount off cover price more than covers shipping in most cases. Do it, Marcus. Dooooo iiiiittttt!

You are like the emissary of the Runelords of Greed and Envy and Avarice and I don't think I can resist your cunning blandishments much longer!!!! MUST...EXERT...WILL-POWER....

OK, rather than take a nap like any sensible person would after two solid days of chapter revision, I read the first Channa Ti installment. I'm hooked: pulled me right in, and not only made me stay awake but passed the "made me forget I was reading" test.

Did you read it from the PDF?- man, I'm tempted to pay for that right now- though I know I'll end up (-happily) plopping money down for the hard copy, too...

When I heard that Elaine Cunningham was coming aboard for Golarion fiction, it was yet one more sign to me that Paizo is doing so many, many, many things dead-right.

(Yet another sign- 'Shemeska' i.e., amazing Planescape guy, writing the Golarion Planes tome. HOLLA.)

Elaine Cunningham is just fantastic. Picking up someone's stray copy of Daughter of the Drow was what got me into D&D (and now Pathfinder - I don't deal with that *other* company anymore) as an adult. And oh, how fun it's been!

Elaine is also a fantastically considerate person in terms of the time and the thought she gives to readers in forums like this one. We're lucky to have her, and thanks to the OP for thinking up this thread!

Anyway- I cannot WAIT to read to read about Channa (Channi?) Ti!

((Elaine- this is Marcus from the Lillith anthology, btw. Been meaning to write you for FOREVER, OMG. I'll buzz you off-thread. And- seriously- I was *so* excited when I heard you were going to be writing in Golarion. YES!)

-M

I really really like this one.

Yes, way too much is going on- but it had really cool sh** in it, REALLY cool- and I think if you took all the giant & mammoth mount-type stuff, made those the thrust of the module- boom- it would be killer.

Given that ALL the proposals submitted are going to need some pretty extensive revision- it's not a problem to me that much would need to be chopped from this one. The other entries just put me to sleep- which was a shame- 'cause I really really REALLY liked Kevin's last two rounds (though I did also really like Eric's last round, too).

The other proposals don't stick in my head AT ALL. After having read all of them- I honestly couldn't tell you what all goes on in the other 3, they've already gone the way of short-term memory loss, but this one I totally recount, in detail.

Okay- yeah, I too thought the opening hook here was weak ---why not just have an undead mammoth come stampeding into the marketplace?- ((because the giantish burial ground has been desecrated)) - that would get PCs' attention really fast! Frankly, I kind of tuned out the whole plague/plant aberration angle- and just got off on all the gianty goodness.

But- although I have pretty big changes I'd want to see happen in this adventure- at least I can tell you what it's ABOUT. It's fricking exciting, man! Anyone who can pull out that kind of pulp splendor, this late in the day in the history of fantasy RPG- come on- that's noteworthy!

The other proposals- what's going on in 'em, man? Would I want to see them made into next year's Clash of the Kingslayers? Regrettably, no. (Props to Neil for a great title though.) Dragonrest and the Fey Queen just don't strike me as *exciting*. This one has buckets of excitement. It just needs pruning.

Anyhoo...

Hmmmmmm.

Well, I really didn't expect to vote the way I think I'm going to vote.
I so wanted it to be Kevin because I thought his last two rounds were OUTSTANDING.
And I still might vote for him.
But the adventure proposal- Dragonrest- hmm. I just couldn't get into it.
Haven't particularly been a fan of Neil's, though god knows he's super-talented - though I actually like his adventure over Kevin's, though I really *disliked* the theater lair last round.

But frankly, I stopped reading both proposals pretty early on, because I just couldn't into 'em. (Ditto Boiling Beast, though it had some great bits.)

Honestly, I think I like Mammoth Lords the best- though I 100% agree with the judges- way, way, too much is going on for a 32 page adventure, and I didn't much like the opening hook. But the frozen giantcraft funereal boat- oh, how I do love that! And many other bits beside. Yes, too much is going on- but if you kept it more giant-focused, perhaps- I liked all the stuff pertaining to the giants the best...

I liked Vashkar well enough- and I really did love dude's Hecataeus lair- so- we'll see.

Jury's still out.

Either Eric or Kevin though. (And I'm sure Neil will get RPG writing gigs out of this contest, regardless...)

I'll post my official vote later...

Good advice from the OP- and I'll second his call for awesomeness.
Obviously, y'all's submissions need to work as adventures, and your grammar has to be correct, and your word-count, and alla that- but- come on, you guys are the Top 4 this year- you all know what not to trip over in terms of basic basics. (And the OP gave great advice re. additional pitfalls).
But that said, you - you the competitors - also have to be having FUN too. If your submission is boring YOU, chances are good that we'll be bored too.

Last year, I always liked Christine's entries because I always thought she was mining some deep poetry from her heart-(and yes- she also had *excellent* game design!)- and ditto goes for my fave contestant for this year. Don't be crazy and gonzo just for the hella of it- but please, please have PASSION. Again- if you're bored, chances are, so will I be- and if you're painting-by-the-numbers- I'll probably sense that too.

What I love about Paizo's offerings is the fun, the passion, the juice, the zest they have.

In short: Be tangy, and ENJOY yourselves!

Here endeth the lesson.

All right- I went with 26 Paper Street (hands down)
and Hecataeus: Sanctum of the Colossus (i.e., the first H. lair)

I was bummed not to give Randy Dorman a vote- cause I've liked his other submissions- but I just enjoyed the other two lairs more, ultimately. Here's hoping Randy gets plenty o' votes to advance to the final round anyway...

And as to Eric Bailey and Kevin Carter- excellent work, guys!

26 Paper Street for sure-
(I'm so glad I can give a vote to Malgana's creator on this round, too, with absolutely no hesitation)

But now I'm torn between the first Hecataeus crib
and Vashkar's den of dour delightlessness...

Decisions, decisions...

M

I don't recall my exact reactions to Malgana from round 2, because I think stopped reading almost right away- I just couldn't get into it at all- and ya gotta trust your gut.

But this time? Aw dude! I loves me some Malgana. I can totally picture the Pathfinder module she'd appear in- the art, the maps, all the Paizo-ey goodness. That's gotta be a good sign, right?- that your entry is already making me eagerly visualize the published adventure?

And it's always inspiring to see growth and evolution. I like Malgana that much *more* because I *didn't* like her in the last round. That shows that you listen to people, that you're smart, you think on your feet - and - if I were an editor/publisher - would convince me that you would be very agreeable to work with.

I like Malgana, and I like Hecataeus. I hope you both go on to do really cool things in the RPG field, both during and after this contest.

One hands-down vote from me, yo.

M

That's your call. I just wanted to be sure that the exit polls thread had that info though.

Yes- excellent idea!

According to the voting booth sticky, you get four votes.

I think I might just stick with these three- they're the ones that really stand out, IMHO.

Me likes (in no particular order):

Malgana!
Hecataeus!
Vashkar!

I will join the rousing chorus of "Meh."

(Do people outside of the Order of the Stick actually say 'meh,' though? And yet- it's such a great interjection...)

These villains all (well, almost all) seemed f-l-a-t. Even the four I voted for I wasn't doing any cartwheels over - not by a long shot.

I doubt I'll ever enter an RPG Superstar because "me + game mechanics = teh epic fail" - but boy, cool villain *concepts*?? I got those coming outta my ears.

Sigh.

Still- you Superstar 32 are in an Olympic-like competition, and just being in it speaks well of you, so...props, y'all.

I am a little blue, though, that - like other posters here have said - Round 3 is merely going to be the Captain "Crunch" version of a bunch of pretty zzz-making Dramatis Personae.

Oh who am I kidding- this contest is still a total blast- and I'm excited to be following it right from the start this year...

My five faves, in no particular order:

Boundary Chalk (love it!)
Key of Closed Doors
Dust of Weighty Burdens
Twintone Flute
Veil of the Midnight Vigil

To me, these 5 have the uncluttered elegance of the proverbial 'basic black dress,'
plus they're each hella useful

Items that I think would be great for locales or NPCs:
Lordly Pavilion
Desna's Triptych of Threefold Wisdom

I also like Cirroc's Marvelous Crossing

but congratulations to EVERYONE

Ooh, me likes, me likes!
I'm not a game-designer at ALL, so can't speak to the issues others (esp.the judges) brought up re. number of uses, et. al.; I just like the idea of whipping out a stick of chalk that turns 2d lines into 3d walls!

Congrats!

Whoa do I feel dumb.
I had to read 2/3s of the posts here before I could figure it out. I'm still unclear. Some of it's me, but...
Some of the wording is def. clunky, with unclear referents.
"With a command word and placed in an area no greater than 12' in any dimension, an upright door is created to fill the space." -
The subject of the sentence only appears after 19 other words (incl. two weirdly coupled dependent clauses)- and when it does appear, it's in the passive voice.

I'm still not sure I'm getting the mechanism of the object right (in fact, I'm sure I'm *not* getting it totally right) - but I envision something more along the lines of:
"When used with a command word, the key creates an upright door in an unoccupied area no greater than 12' in any direction."

Anyway- I love the poetry of the idea, and its utility; I'm just still a bit befuddled.

Regardless- this is a cool entry!
Congratulations!

Kick ass, you 32 folks!
How exciting!

The Lavender Lil error popped up because we didn't have time to do as detailed cross-referencing between products as we'd hoped to do. The version of Lavender Lil presented in the Second Darkness Player's Guide (the version with a stat block) is the correct one.

Excellent. You guys are sublime. Muchas gracias.

~M

Yes more male aasimar and tiefling beefcake would be well welcome.

In all seriousness (actually, I *am* serious about the above) - one of the reasons I dig Paizo- one of the *many* reasons- is that no one seems to have an aneurysm when the very existence of queer people is mentioned. I started an LGBT thread on the WOTC thread 3-4 years back and the level of discourse- was- um- low.

I way appreciate Paizo for putting in some LGBT characters. I had this conversation with Mr. Mona at the same time, '04 or whenever- giving him a shout-out for mentioning the same-sex attraction of some Greyhawk character, I believe it was. This was in Dungeon mag, I think. I told him it was the first matter-of-fact queer reference I could ever remember in YEARS of D&D consumption - let alone a tolerant one. And Paizo's been continuing the good effort, with several characters here and there.

Yet another way Paizo proves itself to not be completely clueless, wrong-headed, and hidebound- like certain other companies I could mention...

Also- what's up with Lavender Lil?
Her class, levels, and alignment vary fairly significantly between the Pathfinder Companion and Shadow in the Sky itself. (I prefer the CN bardic version of her, btw.)

Continuity errors, or do the changes mark the discrepancy between player info and GM info? I'm guessing the former, but...

My queries and quibbles aside, I love love LOVE all the Pathfinder products, esp.all the Adventure Path bits. Y'all are doing such a great job, ever more important in this time when D&D 4E stinks to High Heaven. IMHO.

Go, go, Golarion!

~Marcus

OMG OMG OMG OMG

Shemeska rocks.
Paizo just keeps on scoring one coup after another.
All the best things about D&D living on- now Planescapey goodness too.

Can I get a 'huzzah!' ?

Lilith wrote:

Montalve wrote:

so all people using smurf get smurfed?

Smurfably true!

Ooh, I want to smurf this a try. Did it work? Am I blue?

Blue indeed...

Montalve wrote:

so all people using smurf get smurfed?

Smurfably true!

Ooh, I want to smurf this a try. Did it work? Am I blue?

In Katja's room:
Buzzzz zzzz zzzzzz.

Surprisingly- it's not the sound of bedbugs, or snoring- it's the sound being made by an implement in her dreams, a gleaming new woodchipper, with the words "Carlotta" and "Kenny" painted on the side...

But wouldn't a woodchipper make excellent chum out of people? I am not saying it would be chef-grade stuff but it would be efficient.

Hm. You're right. Okay, back to the drawing board...

Sorry, folks. I've been a bad gamer. Back now and doing penance. Btw - the feckless teens will NOT end up in a woodchipper. This being an Innsmouth-tainted locale- they'll end up as chum...or some other maritime-themed slurry...

Hey- I'm here- and before leaving for work today I got Katja ready for bed, on the other thread. the evening of Day 1.

Shenzoe- I'm psyched to see you're going to join the campaign! You called it right: DM Wicht is AWESOME. It's a great campaign...

-M

It has been over a week since any player posted :/

*sniff* Are you there?

Sorry O Stalwart GM!

I blame Nyarlthotep.

Always.

But I'm back and rarin' to go.

-Marcus

Reading that just made me lose a few points of sanity.

OMG, you're right. I just read the initial entry more closely: 'wrinkled, gray-bearded...'. Oh, who knows. Maybe Katja's a gerontophile...

Katja Jay wrote:

I know that in Call of Cthulhu players are supposed to get to the bottom of everything, ...

Minor correction - PCs are supposed to try to get to the bottom of things. Success is not guaranteed. :)

Good point. I shoulda said, "In Call of Cthulhu, PCs TRY to get to the bottom of things, which they may or may not do, but they WILL successfully go insane."

This made me chuckle. Gods bless YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ftld7Ohojg&feature=related

I both metaphysically AND literally live in your heart.
~Just some of the many special powers the Old Ones have seen fit to bless me with.

Katja is game.

Fun for all
http://www.geocities.com/steerp1ke/David_Ehi.html

This from a guy who routinely RESPONDS to spam letters very humorously.

The most beautiful marriage of Nigerian email spam-scam and Cthulhu one might ever hope to see. It could inspire a whole campaign!

Ah, cool, thanks.

What was the Amazing Engine system?
I must have been too busy fighting the crazed ankylosaurus on the Isle of Dread to have caught that the first time around...

M

I turned 37 last month. It's all about The Keep on the Borderlands, baby!

Hey, where do you all live in RL? I'm in beautiful San Francisco, though I grew up in Atlanta...

M

Quick, Katja, make a Sanity check or be drawn into the web that is Scientology.

Edit:

Marcus:

If you have other commitments on your time, fair enough, and thank-you for posting to say so, rather than leaving us in the dark about it. Brandobaris walk with you in whatever direction your path is currently taking you.

Thank you! May Yondalla bless the party's path! And may Urdlen keep his stinking claws far, far away!

~M

Charles, I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll be able to be in this game after all (though I'll certainly be lurking!). As a player, I realize I wouldn't (currently) be able to give the campaign the time it deserves.

My apologies for any inconvenience I've caused.

~Marcus

In all seriousness, if it's cool with you, I'll happily take your suggested skill values for Katja, wholesale.
Thanks, Wicht!
PS I'm loving this campaign so far...

Hey Marcus, I finally got around to looking at the math for Katja and noticed you need to work on your skills. In fact they look suspiciously familiar... :)

I blame Katja. She didn't have a lot of positive role models when she was growing up...She hasn't yet learned that stealing is wrong...

How are we coming with getting ready to start? Not that I am trying to pressure anyone. ;)

Yah! My halfling war-dog is chomping at the bit...

M

If I'm in, an DM Charles allows, I'd like to be mounted an a bad-a$$ war dog! Go, Hin K9 Korps!

That's if I'm a paladin.

If I'm a druid I'd prob. choose an animal companion over a mount. A druid riding an animal doesn't seem right... But a halfling druid with a bear cub companion? Sweet!

M

Hi!

I am up for playing (i am the one that charles 25 was waiting for!!)
sorry i took so long to reply!!

i would like to play a half orc babarian

he is a foundling who was raised by a gnome, pehaps he can have come from the same vilage as the other gnomes

his race as far as he is concerned is 'dopted giant Gnome'!

think a cross between forrest gump and the guy with healing powers from "the green mile"

he will be good aligned and very protective of his fellow gnomes
a bit of a gentle giant who when nessasery goes into a rage to defend his friends!

he considers himself diplomatic, in a villge of gnomes he always got his way (it helps being 10 times the weight and 2 and a half times the height of everyone else!)so he thinks he is good with people!!

he always quotes his mama!! (apologies to forrest gump fans!)

does anybody want dibs on being his adoptive sibling?!!

i will play him as honerable and herioc but not reckless, if anything he takes time to come to a decision as he finds the world very difficult to understand!!
if bombarded with to much info he simply mentally shuts down!! or goes into slow mode!!

if asked what he does for a living he will say farmer, he is a good farmer!!!
and he is a gnome!! does anybody want to argue with him!!

what do you think? any comments welcome!!

his name will be gnomish of course!!

Rav

This totally cracks me up! Sounds like a great character...

M