Hi,
Can you please cancel all of my subscriptions:
Pathfinder Lost Omens
Pathfinder Rulebook
Pathfinder Society
My employment status has changed necessitating some cost control.
Thanks
Search Posts
As the owner of a small business, I know how hard it is to keep cash flow up enough to keep everyone employed right now. So I want to order some stuff to put some bucks in Paizo's pockets now to make payroll and rent. 1) If I pre-order is there a way to pay now? It looks like I don't pay until they ship, and I'm willing to prepay. 2) If I order multiple copies of the 2e Core rulebook to give to a couple of players who can't afford it, does it automatically have my name in it or can I have someone else's name in the pdf even if they don't have a Paizo account. Trying to figure out how to help out. My main employment is in a business that is not affected by this craziness, so I think I can afford to help.
I'm GMing a welcome-back-to-role-playing group in a couple of weeks with a large group of six. The last time they played it was Forgotten Realms 3.5, so Pathfinder will be somewhat of a shift for them. I was planning on running the Darkmoon Vale series initially, but one of the players has actually played recently, and he's played the Kobold King adventures already. So I was looking at running The Dragon's Demand, but placing it in the Darkmoon Vale area because I really like the area much better than the middle of the Verduran Forest. ***MILD SPOILERS FOR THE DRAGON'S DEMAND and DARK MOON VALE BELOW*** The one weakness I see in TDD is the lack of fleshed out NPCs for role-playing and, most importantly, the lack of meaningful factions, tensions and long-term political intrigue. For instance, I really want to play up the Lumber Consortium vs Fae vs former Noble families (who see the LC and say "told you so".) There is just so much more potential in the DMV area! I would then weave in both plots to help with the pacing of the TDD since it is a bit free with XP. I love the idea of having a lot going on with both the fae conflict, the werewolves and the impending dragon fight. I'd love to hear thoughts or suggestions on how to integrate TDD into DMV. I was trying to decide between combining Belhaim into Falcon's Hollow, but that seems a waste since both are interesting, very different and well-done villages. But that means I'll need to place Belhaim somewhere nearby so that the PCs will get pulled into the Falcon's Hollow portions of the adventure as well. So I was thinking I'd make them be not far apart (a handful of miles,) with Belhaim being the former holding of the local noble family and Falcon's Hollow being the working town of the Lumber Consortium. Since some noble families kept a bit of their former wealth, they could still live in the area as the 'landed gentry' and be the representatives of the area in Almas. Has anyone tried to integrate them? Anyone run both and have thoughts how they could work together?
Potential Problem Statement: Crafting is a limited path, usually dominated by the first players to rush up the crafting tree. In a game without soul-bound items, the game will eventually fill up with low-level crafted items, making it difficult to become a successful crafter later. Possible Solution: Make crafted items able to be 'Soul Threaded' only once. After the first threading, any subsequent owners (either through trade or looting,) cannot thread that item. This would have the effect of ensuring there is an ongoing demand for crafted items, as un-threaded items can be lost (out of the game) upon death. It is a nice item-drain for crafted items!
Since Unity has the ability to use crowd-sourced assets, might it be possible for people who pledge for a Tavern to design their own and submit it for approval? I can understand if the texture set would have to be from the standard palette. But it seems that someone who was talented could both help out with development and customize their tavern a bit. Or maybe just the inside if it is going to be another 'zone'? Is that dreaming a little too big? (Not that I personally can afford a tavern-pledge, mind you...just asking.)
The Oracle's Elemental Body states that the light level next to the Oracle is increased one level up to normal light level. It does not state a limitation or a level of the effect. Does this overcome magical darkness from the darkness spell for the 10 feet?
What would my fellow CoT GMs suggest I do for a "hunt the shadows" session tonight? I've got a group of 6 L2 PC who have decided they want to hunt the shadows on the streets. How would you guys do it? Some questions I would like to hear some input on are: -How common are the shadow creatures (what chance of encountering one on a given night? I've seen the random encounter table, but would love some input.) - How would you run an encounter to make it spooky? - What other creature do you think is really likely (the random encounter table seems a bit fantastic for a city street imho.) - Do you have any cool shadow creatures to suggest beyond the garm? Any thoughts or experiences would be great...I'm not as ready for this evening as I'd like to be!
This is likely obvious to most people here, but I don't know how to interpret this: Weapon Finesse specifically calls out that Natural Weapons are considered light weapons for the purposes of applying Weapon Finesse.
You are trained in using your agility in melee combat, as opposed to brute strength.<br> A Monk's unarmed attack states that the attack is considered a Natural Attack for spells and effects that enhance either. A monk's unarmed strike is treated as both a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons. So, does Weapon Finesse apply to a Monk's Unarmed Attacks?
It shipped April 16 and is still a no-show (thanks to USPS). Can I get it added to my next shipment, perhaps? Thanks!
I've still not received AP21 from order #1162458 (shipped April 9). I think that makes it 45 days now. I did receive the replacement AP20 shipped via UPS with AP22 (very quickly, I might add.) But AP21 is still MIA.
I'm working on 3d versions of the Monastery from HotCK. I'm not done yet, but thought I'd share where I am so that others can use, or (even better) contribute to the effort if they are so inclined. The purpose of this is to be able to show the players different views of the structure so that we are all working off of the same mental model. I'm a relative 3d novice, so this isn't professional. Feel free to use this, modify it (please share!) or add to it as you like. I'd love to find a group of DMs who find this useful and are willing to collaborate on a 3d version of Kelmarane (since the players will spend many sessions there.) This link will take you to my MediaFire Folder with the five files:
As you can see, I had to make my own intepretations of some things, as the descriptions where never designed to be architecturally rendered in 3d. And some things I modified slightly just for personal preference. Also, I haven't had the heart to put the holes in the roof yet, but that's in the plans. The textures are not very good, as my Sketch-Up material library is weak. Also, there is not furniture in it yet. So if anyone wants to knock out some of the furniture then I'll be happy to include it in the file. What is really missing is custom textures for things like the wall carvings. If someone can do line art for that I'll turn it into textures. I did make the stained glass in the Chapel using the standard Sarenrae image modified to make it very low-rez (I hope that is ok...please let me know if that isn't considered "fair use" James!). If you are just interested in checking it out in 3d, Sketch-Up is free from Google. Be warned that this is a HUGE file with textures, so it taxes my mid-ranged PC when all the goodies are turned on in Sketch-Up.
I've been working on an image of the initial wagon fire in VUE, but I've run out of time to get it done for this weekend's game (due to business travel.) So it is incomplete (no people, camels and missing the tent and a couple of wagons yet), but I'll post it in case it inspires someone. If someone wants to make some Poser images of Almah's crew I'll be happy to stick them in and render it! I have the tent and camels, but really got stuck on the people part. I'd hoped to get working models of them all done, then easily create scenes to show my players to help them visualize what I'm describing.
I have an email that says it shipped on March 31 via USPS Priority Mail. Given that it is USPS, I was prepared to wait quite a while before I sent out the all-points bulletin on this, but 10 days on a 2 - 5 day shipment seems to be my limit. Any way I can check to verify that this shipped and is actually still in the USPS system? Or did one of my sneaky neighbors steal it to run his own secret campaign? Inquiring minds want to know!
So I've been working on my descriptive lexicon for HotCK by looking at photos of different deserts and badlands to get a feel for the landscape. I've uncovered a lot of very interesting types of badlands, such as the desert badlands of Egypt's Black Hills, the Anza Borrego Desert in California, and Oregon's own Badlands near Bend. So, what do most people see as the landscape around Kelmarane? The description in the adventure pretty much leaves it up to the GM to interpret "rugged hills." It is likely technically a desert, so is very dry. But that doesn't mean it is without plants or is even sandy. The different ways the area is described is:
So, what is the area like? I am assuming it is like the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. Here are some pictures that I am using for inspiration:
I'm struck with the image of very dry mountains and slopes, dry "bad lands", but a lot more vegetation in the river/stream valleys. I think the village of Kelmarane will also need fields of stuff other than Pesh to survive, and am assuming it will be along the river and upstream of the town. Food fields will likely be managed with terraces, so that water can be diverted into small plots for watering and the slopes near the water source can be utilized. I'll add more as I find them (as much for a single place for my own reference as anything else.) Join in if you like (or have comments, of course.)
Warning: Spoiler for both Legacy of Fire and Pathfinder Society Organized Play Adventure #14! Since I can't kick off LoF at our annual gaming retreat due to the shipping delays, I've devised a starter adventure using one of the PF Organized Play adventures (#14). In order to get them to Katapesh from... Spoiler:
...Sedeq, I was going to have Father Jackal's agent get the final statue and run for Katapesh. I was wondering if we can get a brief sneak peak at Father Jackal to make sure I'm not doing irreparable harm to the story line.
I love the name "Father Jackal", so I'm assuming that he is a 'player' that might have an interest in acquiring stolen Osirian artifacts...and doesn't mind killing to do so. I was going to have his agent killed by a rogue Templar of the Five Winds (because the statues are important somehow...don't know how yet), but have Father Jackal believe the PCs did it. Clearing their name with FJ would be their initial motivation to go on the mission to Kelmarane. Does anyone know anything about him or will one of those "in the know" give us a synopsis? Thanks!
In preparation of trying to run a campaign based on, to my understanding, Persia, I've been collecting and reading books on Persian history and culture. I really, really want Katapesh to feel like a world apart, not just 'Tolkien with Sand and Camels'. ***** Obviously, 1001 Arabian Nights is a must read. *** I've also read a short book called The Cat and the Mouse: A Book of Persian Fairy Tales. I'd give it a "somewhat interesting, but not required" rating. But at $0.99 for the Kindle addition it was worth it. I haven't checked, but it might be available on the web someplace for free. ***** My favorite so far is Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia: With Notes on Russia, Koords, Toorkomans, Nestorians, Khiva, and Persia . It is a travel-log written by the wife of a British Ambassador to Persia. She describes her travels through Russia, Georgia, what is now Afghanistan. She goes into great detail on life and customs in Persia. It was written in the mid-19th century, but I think the cultural info, the tone and especially the little anecdotes are all simply fabulous for someone who wants get a westerner's view of pre-industrial Persia. Due to the period, there is a quite a bit of Islamic culture in there, but is surprising how much Persian culture survived the arrival of Islam. I give it a huge five-star rating if you are into that sort of thing. Here's an excerpt: Spoiler:
October 29th.–
HERE then we were at length in Persia, the land of Cyrus, Darius, and Alexander. We think of the millions of Xerxes, the Great King; we contemplate the barren scene spread before the eyes, and ask where they all came from. Sterile indeed was the prospect, and unhappily it proved to be an epitome of all the scenery in Persia, excepting on the coast of the Caspian. A desolate plain, or rather valley, bounded on each side by rocky or chalky mountains still more desolate–not a tree visible excepting the few willows, poplars, and fruit-trees surrounding the villages thinly scattered over the waste. Such is Persia and her scenery in general, excepting that sometimes a fine village is to be seen smothered in immense gardens, orchards of the most delicious fruits, and vineyards. These bright spots are, however, not numerous; and the curt description of a Scottish traveller of what he saw in Persia is not altogether devoid of truth. According to him, the whole land is divided into two portions–one being desert with salt, and the other desert without salt. Fruit, nevertheless, is abundant and cheap, owing to extensive cultivation in the neighbourhood of towns. Near the villages corn is so widely cultivated that extensive plains of wheat and barley are spread on all sides; for desolate as looks the soil, all it wants is population and water to make it fruitful. Sometimes the traveller passes for miles through a plain, or over mountains far remote from human habitation, covered with aromatic plants, from which the most delicious spicy odours are exhaled. Yet the general aspect of the land is one of extreme barrenness; one may often, and very often, travel twenty or thirty miles without seeing a habitation or a blade of verdure; and in some parts of Persia these distances amount to hundreds of miles. From whence, then, did the enormous hosts of yore proceed–the millions of the weeping Xerxes? Greek and Persian exaggeration and bombast, in which both nations are still supereminent, might account for much; still the country must have been in a very different state from what we behold it to admit of even a distant approach to the numbers recorded by historians as having marched to the invasion of Greece. The incursions from Tartary have no doubt contributed to reduce the country to its present depopulated state. Blood marked their track: above all, the generals sent by Chengeez, the leaders of the Moghul hosts, seemed to have been incarnations of Izraeel and Israfeel, the Angels of Death. Submission or resistance seems to have been equally fatal; and slaughter–the indiscriminate slaughter of the young and the aged, of man and of woman–was the lot of the wretched population in both cases. In this way the inhabitants of the immense city of Reï, near Tehran, were exterminated. Toos, in Khorassan, suffered the same desolation. Hostile armies, and the slow though sure hand of oppression, have laid waste these lands, and reduced them to a scanty population, or, to a dreary solitude, where the useless wandering Toork and Lek erect their miserable habitations. There's also such nice bits of information as the prices, general treatment and social structure of slaves in the region. I was quite surprised to see the differences in prices for different ages and genders of slaves. And that many people in the region would ask to be sold into slavery in hopes a better life! Also, the Kindle edition is <$4 if you are lucky enough to have one :) *** Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings - Considered the quintesential Persian book. It is poetry (in the original language) and difficult to read, but the bit that I've been able to get through is interesting reading. I haven't purchased it yet since even the Kindle version is expensive, but there are several excerpts of other translations available on the web. Just thought I'd share some things I'm reading. I really am enjoying the Glimpes of Persia book. Anyone finding other good sources of cultural info on the region?
We play our face-to-face games using a projector and a VTT software (RP maptools), and I've always been able to find good stock maps for use with the Darkmoon Vale stuff I've been running. But as I prepare for LoF and other games in Garund, I find that there is a dearth of good public domain maps for desert and arab/persian/Mediterranean-type settings. I've made a few maps myself when I needed something special, but even the map objects that are available have a distinctly 'tolkienesque' bias. I'm particularly looking for nice battlemaps done for city streets in Sothis and Sedeq. I've modified (extensively) the Grandmaster Torch adventure for the PF Society to be the kickoff of my LoF campaign (in lieu of having it in time!) There are a couple of maps in that, but not near enough for any type of sustained adventuring. If anyone is aware of a good reservoir of more appropriate maps and/or map art, please pass it along. Also, as people create maps appropriate for the setting please share them with others! I'll do the same. :)
I'm planning on running LoF as the alternate campaign to our group's RotRL campaign (so the original DM and I can split some of the workload.) Trouble is, we are having our annual geek-week retreat in early March, and I'd really like to get the campaign kicked off during that game-fest. With the tight time-line between the LoF release and early March, I'd like to get the players thinking about their characters now. So I'm looking for feedback on how I might present the LoF setting in my "call-for-characters." Would you recommend a party composed of mostly people from outside of Osirion and 'Pesh? It seems that the cultural diversity of Katapesh is part of its exotic nature, so I would imagine it would be best to have characters drawn from all over Golarion. What would your "advertising copy" for the campaign include? If anyone wants to take a shot at it, I'd love to see your efforts. If any of you "in the know" want to share some clue's to the opening stanza's of the AP, that would be helpful as well! ;) |
