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I think should be the next thing Paizo really develops. In Greyhawk there's a signature city (Free City of Greyhawk) and a signature mega-dungeon right next to it (Castle Greyhawk). In Forgotten Realms there's a signature city (Waterdeep) and a signature mega-dungeon right next to it (Undermountain). In Golarion there's a signature city (Absalom) and a signature mega-dungeon right next to it (The Spire of Nex). It seems to me that after a decade of material on Paizo's campaign setting they oughta get Erik Mona to either let someone else work on his beloved Spire of Nex or find the time to do it himself.
TPK in Pathfinder Society last night. 5 Pathfinders got killed in 3-09 Part 1. Spoiler:
In the grande finale the Pathfinders faced off against the Barbarian Yeti in the Temple of the Cloud. The was the first to go: A hit in the surprise round Staggered her and she Withdrew (to avoid an AoO), falling to -1, 30 feet from the BBEG. The was next, and the only PC to completely die, going 3 points below his CON score. For some reason the decided to stand toe-to-toe with the BBEG after the Pally fell. He dropped to -4 the next round. That left the and the , both backing away and hoping to finish the BBEG off from range or flee. They were sooo close. The BBEG charged and (on a roll of 50/50 from the DM) went for the Bard, who fell to -1. The gun-boy had a choice, full Withdraw or take One Last Shot just in case -- the Pathfinders knew they were close to dropping the BBEG. The gun-boy missed. The BBEG dropped him. -10. So, 1 PC ALL dead, 4 PCs mostly dead.
A few years ago I decided I wanted to play at an occassional Convention. But I sure as heck didn't want to go to a Con to play a pregenerated 1st level PC! So I'd have to grind out a PC or two through the RPGA. The local RPGA was active but extremely boring D&D. I'd been spoiled with 25+ years of creative Homebrew. So I sat through months of banal RPGA games and built up a PC to 7th level (just short of 8th) and two 3rd level PCs. I figured I could take my almost 8th Lvl PC and run him once or twice a year at the big Cons and for quite a few years just play the best levels at Conventions. And three weeks after I felt I had a perfect PC for Cons, the bastids at WoTC cancelled the mags and a few months later killed D&D. The months I spent playing the worst D&D of my life all went down the toilet. I no longer had a "perfect level" PC for Conventions; WoTC had officially, irrevocably, pissed in my cheerios. --------------------------------------------------------------------- So now that Paizo has resurrected D&D I want to try again. I wanna start going to the occassional "Big Con" and play D&D in the Pathfinder Society. But I wanna play in the fun levels. So I have to become -- no, I get to become a Society Member. But there's nothing here locally. Please help. What is the first step?
-W. E. Ray
The only problem with Rez is that he always seems to post right after me with better stuff. (Usually specifics about Dungeon since I don't have my mags with me when I post, just my preternatural memory). For serious. He was right about one thing though, I am a great guy. (Admitedly, I didn't really look at the number of levels for the Monk/ Rogue to see there was only 2 levels of Monk. Oops. A dynamic encounter, though, still seems the best way to handle the situation. Put some non-combat challenges, and, yeah, lots of little monsters instead of one or two high-CR monsters. -W. E. Ray
I didn't think about it until DougDoug's post, but the Boards seem to be a good place to narrow down a list of candidate scenarios for an annual compilation. How many folks list the ones he does? I'm sure there's a good handful everyone agrees on. Then Paizo just has to figure out the cost of making them and how much they think we'd buy 'em. Maybe once a year, instead of a Pathfinder Module, you guys could do a single volume AP sized annual of "The Best PS Scenarios of 09." -W. E. Ray
The problem I see here is that the Monk is Hugely better than the other PCs in this fight (Though I don't know what the PrC for Kord can do). Whatever encounter you throw at them, make sure each PC can do something. You'll have to design a dynamic encounter; one or two of the PCs will fight while others will be doing something else to peripherally help the fight: maybe the arena floor has levels, or something, and a PC can try to figure out how to control the levels to favor the other PCs. Then you're coming up with a CR for a monster just for the monk and maybe one of the other PCs who can fight with no equipment. The others get an "encounter" designed more like a trap or something. -W. E. Ray
What are the chances that Paizo will occasionally compile a collection of The Best Of Pathfinder Scenarios and make them available in print? I'm not a fan of PDFs. But I'd like to see some of these scenarios. I can certainly understand not printing them all; that would Not work. But what's wrong with a TSR Jam 1999 or a C1, C2, or S4 -- tourney modules that got some serious love? Couldn't we have a Pathfinder Society Annual with a 1/2 dozen or so adventures? (Or something?) -W. E. Ray
Thanks! LOL'
I just haven't gotten there yet. I feel really stuck to west Bradenton with my tight work schedule. -W. E. Ray
WoooHooo! I was beginning to think I would have to form a group, which, considering my schedule, wasn't likely to happen. Are you in any game now? If not we may have to recruit. My work hours are pretty tight (67-69 hours at IMG) but I think Saturdays may work out for me. Keep in touch; we'll try to figure out something. Oh, are you East (by I75) or closer to the gulf (like me)? -W. E. Ray
The Skinsaw Murders #2 in Rise of the Runelords "Carnival of Tears" Burnt Offerings #1 in Rise of the Runelords "Tower of the Last Baron" As it happens, the Shackled City Adventure Path Hardcover is on clearence for, like, $22 or something ($40 off) -- it's non-mint with some skuffs or dings or whatever but you can find it on Paizo's On-Sale page. -W. E. Ray
I may consider getting The Great Beyond eventually but right now I'm very happy with my Homebrew cosmology (and don't want to add). Actually, it's not that I'm against adding -- I add to my Homebrew everytime something's published that I like -- it's just that it seems that when some fluff is published that is already well-developped in my Homebrew (Libris Mortis), I really don't like it (cuz it's so different, non-compatable). And I have a handle on my cosmology that I really like. Still, it is Paizo Publishing so... -W. E. Ray
In Miami/ Broward County there's lots of restaurants with names like Spanish Placinta. It's really frightening. The first time I saw one I thought the restaurant owner had spelled something wrong on his restaurant sign. Then I started seeing it elsewhere. It was frightening. It's still frightening. -W. E. Ray
I haven't gotten The Great Beyond. That's why I missed that. .
No problem, James, with keeping the robot-like folks in the game, but as I recall, the original modrons weren't manifested from Nirvana even though they were from there. That kind of fluff just wasn't written back then. And later in 2E the Great Modron March seemed to me to be something someone in Mechanus started -- a non-modron Power "created" them and sent them out to gather info. And then later Tenebrus used them. So there is history of Powers "creating" or "using" the robot-like creatures. It seems that the Powers behind the modrons / inevitables, etc. don't disappear until 3E when the Inevitables just appear in Mechanus from the gears and assembly lines of the Plane, preset with instructions and programming. Just to reemphasize, though, I was just throwing out an idea that may make that part of the Golarion cosmology a little more open to all gamers, even those who don't like robot-like stuff and wan't more "standard" swords & sorcery in their LN Plane. It's no biggie. -W. E. Ray
If we're just open to throwing out ideas (I like formians, btw), why do the LN paragons have to be mechanical-like, automaton-like C3POs?! Lawful Neutral doesn't mean robot-minded! For those who love the Inevitables, Modrons and other mechanical-like outsiders, can't a LN paragon race create those instead of "The abstraction of the Plane" manifest them? This way, for those who enjoy the robot-people, they've got the Inevitables. For those who don't like that kind of "sci-fi" / mechanical stuff, they've got a race of outsider-gnome-like creators: effigy masters and such. -W. E. Ray
Paizo stands for "not being forced to swtich to a game system you dont like" I am so glad the RPG Gestapo did not come over (to) my house and burn all my old books. Yeah, we all got lucky on that one -- the Gestapo realized that if they handled their PR and Customer Service that badly they'd never be able to burn all the old books. They'd have to settle for burning all the old PDFs they could get to. -W. E. Ray
As wacky as it initially seems it could make for some interesting "moral" adventure hooks: the PCs learn the magic that turns smurfs to gold. Will they kidnap smurfs and turn them into gold? Or better, they learn someone has kidnapped smurfs and must either rescue them or try to steal the golden smurfs their own. What if each golden smurf would fetch 10,000gp?! Would you turn your familiar into gold and sell it? -W. E. Ray
Verisimilitude Think of it more as "the subconscious suspension of disbelief" -- you know it's not real; you don't really believe it's real -- but you subconsciously "suspend" that disbelief. (So you can enjoy it) You're watching cartoons, say, and you know that rabbits don't really stand erect or have speech: they can't say "What's up, Doc?" You know that you can't really take the two barrels of a double-barrel shot-gun and tie them in a knot so that it backfires on the pig that's trying to hunt wabbit. But you totally buy into it.
How come? Because if it's animated you automatically -- subconsciously -- accept that it's a Looney universe. Think about it, do you think to yourself, Well, that's just a sitcom set; it's not a real house but 3 flats decorated as walls lashed together and there is no 4th wall at all, just a camera & mike... They're not really married they're just actors reading lines, etc., etc. If something happens in that movie or cartoon or D&D game or whatever that throws your mind out of its "suspension of disbelief" -- if you stop and think Hey, that can't be real, you've lost your verisimilitude. That's verisimilitude. I hate the lame ass definition "appearance of realism" -- it's not good enough. Everyone's "level" of verisimilitude is different. For me, for example, when I saw the movie From Dusk Till Dawn, I spent the first 1/2 of the movie thinking it was about 2 crooks escaping and running to Mexico. (I hadn't seen any previews; I didn't know what it was about.) When all the sudden vampires started showing up I was furious! I hated it. My verisimilitude was totally broken. You don't put vampires in those kinds of movies. I almost walked out of the theatre -- only I was my friends' ride home and we did pay those stupid movie prices. Men in Black was the same for me the first time I saw it. Again, I don't have a TV; I hadn't seen any previews; I had no idea what it was about. I knew it was big; everyone was talking about it. The opening minutes of the movie I was really excited -- Tommie Lee Jones as some kind of CIA or something officer on that old desert road with a bunch of illegal Mexicans -- that was a heckuva intro... Then all the sudden it's some kinda silly alien movie with Ghostbusters-like aliens. WTF?! I did walk out of the theatre that time, dragging my girlfriend (who wasn't into movies anyway) back to the house. As a gamer my verisimilitude was lost in "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks." D&D is for swords and sorcery in my mind -- NOT lasers and flying saucers! Lashonna, a Silver Dragon Vampire! -- OMFG, are you kidding me?! -W. E. Ray
No contest here.
Others:
Ooh, also the baby Crystal Dragon (of Chris Perkins) who gets into mischief by lobbing snowballs at some dwarves as a prank -- I think that was "Dwarven Delve." Old Man Katan. (And his incredible marching mushroom band.)
-W. E. Ray
Yes. As far as I know...
So, ask your DM. -W. E. Ray
I don't get it. Your point is? The point is that, like Taliesin, all things Vancian never die... They move to Asia; they get sent to Ravenloft; WotC tries to kill them but true gamers ignore WotC while Paizo, etc. support them -- And all things Vancian come back, never really dying.(Jack is still alive, right?) Arodin, unfortunately, has nothing to do with Vecna. Or Jack Vance. Or Vancian Magic. Or Taliesin Hoyle. So he's dead. Even if we find a Hand and Eye. RIP Arodin -W. E. Ray
Check Issue 70 & 71 or 72. 70 has "Maze of the Morkoth" for some good stuff. But the one you really want is 71 (or 72) -- one of the best covers Dungeon ever did: a Baddie from the Elemental Plane of Water mussin with the Prime. Good adventure, takes place in the Plane of Water, one of the best covers ever. -W. E. Ray
I remember when I cracked 100 -- a huge milestone because I don't play on computers (I don't surf; I've never posted on any other site; I don't have FaceBook or MySpace; I've never even played on You Tube!), anyway, I started a Thread asking who had the most posts. I didn't know that folks had already made that Thread a couple times. It was back when Heath, of course in first place, was at about 8K posts. -W. E. Ray
It's been a good year or so since I've seen it, maybe this is a good place for someone to post a link for "The first ever Paizo Messageboard Post" -- the is there anybody out there 1st post. Maybe with all the new traffic that's joined the Boards recently we can track down that mysterious First Poster. -W. E. Ray
A Paladin in Hell is one of the top ten or so adventures ever written. It is a crime that it didn't make it in Dungeon's Top 30 list. I'd say it's Cook's best. I think it's stronger than "The Harrowing" (though that's a close call) and it's certainly stronger than Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil.
-W. E. Ray
I say we kidnap Monte Cook and make him do the hard work. Heck, we wouldn't have to kidnap him -- I'd pay him! Get him and Baur (with the Open-Design) to do it. We don't need to kidnap Monte; we need to kill WotC and their belief that D&D is their intellectual property (heck, they don't even play D&D anymore) so that Cook and Baur can redo it without changing the names. -W. E. Ray
I like to assume that the vast majority of the world is capped at level 6 Wow, I'm not a big fan of this. It makes the PCs too powerful and more importantly, the world too unrealistic. Lemme tell ya, the king (or whatever) of a huge city in my world is gonna be powerful -- maybe a 20th level Aristocrat with 6 (or so) levels of Expert and, heck, even a couple levels of Adept. He'll have Epic Leadership and his Cohort will have Epic Leadership. And they'll have some nobles (or whatever) with some serious PC class levels and PrCs. -W. E. Ray
It depends. If you play as close as possible to the book then find out the cost of teleporting and the financial resources of the NPCs; then determine if they reasonably have the ability to teleport regularly or rarely. If you play liberally then decide if you want your NPCs to be able to teleport when they want. If you game like most and want to stick with the raw as long as it doesn't break stuff or slow gaming down, do the math and see what the result is; if you don't like the bottom line think of a legitimate reason to change it. ------------------- In my game, PCs & NPC enemies use different spells/ spell levels than NPC non-adversaries. So, for them, spells and their levels make sense based on their effect on the community, not how they affect game play. For PCs, a unseen servant is legitimately first level, but for the average person that would be a hugely powerful spell. Think of it, you can have your unseen servant clean your house, light street lanterns, etc. That's gotta be like a 6th level spell for all its important uses. It's just not that important for PCs fighting orcs. Think about it. Make a PC librarian. Make his spell list. Determine which spells are more "powerful" (more useful). -W. E. Ray
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