Count Buggula's page

Lanx wrote:

John Napier 698 wrote:

Not necessarily. Now that Mac and Linux platforms have been unlocked, those games need to be developed as well. The Mac has a different processor and system architecture than a Windows machine, not to forget a different OS as well.

Actually, the Mac has the same processor as most Windows PCs.

Sorry, I don't keep up with platforms that I don't have.

Macs have run on the exact same Intel CPUs that run Windows and Linux since 2005. If you really haven't kept up with any of those platforms for well over a decade, why in the world did you feel the need to tell people of the difficulties in porting a game to them?

Similarly, Assembly hasn't been used for game development in decades. It's been stated repeatedly and from the very beginning that Kingmaker is being developed in Unity, which, as has been mentioned, is as easy to cross-compile as "push button, receive bacon". Even if they weren't using Unity, by using other modern programming libraries such as OpenGL and SDL, it's still relatively simple to write a game that can be developed with very little extra work to play nicely with all three platforms.

From one of the Devs on Reddit: "One of your companions is a bard, documenting your quest."

Lem? I hope it's Lem.

(or Ameiko Kajitsu...)

As awesome as Ameiko would be, there's definitely no lore-friendly way that would put her all the way over in Brevoy. She's busy enough in Varisia and

I believe the OGL does not allow for Video games, will the game still be somewhat recognizable as Pathfinder?

It's possible they've decided to go the copyright route instead of the OGL route. The OGL might not allow video games, but US Copyright law does. So while the game couldn't say it's OGL compatible, it can use the mechanics without fear of a lawsuit from Hasbro.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, but I've at least done some research on the subject outside of wikipedia.

Copyright does not protect the idea for a game, its name or title, or the method or methods for playing it. Nor does copyright protect any idea, system, method, device, or trademark material involved in developing, merchandising, or playing a game. Once a game has been made public, nothing in the copyright law prevents others from developing another game based on similar principles. Copyright protects only the particular manner of an author’s expression in literary, artistic, or musical form.

Material prepared in connection with a game may be subject to copyright if it contains a sufficient amount of literary or pictorial expression. For example, the text matter describing the rules of the game or the pictorial matter appearing on the gameboard or container may be registrable.

Should be "rogue," not "rouge." At least, I *think* that's the case...

It's CLEARLY giving us painting instructions. Has to be painted red. Probably a special for Curse of the Crimson Throne.

If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?

Think about how this would come across out of the internet.
Would such behaviour be apropriate there?

What, like keeping track of batting averages or pass completion rates? Like managers keeping track of employee job performance based on sales, customer feedback, or amount of work completed?

I also think that a lot of this leads to closed eliticist circles.

Posting rates don´t make good roleplayers.
Good GM´s might have abandoned some games. Or perhaps the players abandoned them.

I only partially agree. Yes, posting rates don't make good roleplayers. Case in point, I'm in a game that's been going on for almost 4 years and moves quite slowly (we've just started the second book), but I think has some amazing roleplay scattered throughout.

What this information CAN do is properly set expectations for player and DM. If you're the kind of player who (like Oladon) likes really fast paced games and has the ability to run through an entire AP in less than a year, you want to know that the other people you're playing with can actually keep up. And if you've got a busy life and know that you can only occasionally visit the site to post, you want to know that the game and story aren't going to constantly run away from you.

And while I could understand a DM abandoning a game or two among many others due to group chemistry, real life issues, or whatever, I would be extremely hesitant to join a game run by a DM who's disappeared from the last 6-8 consecutive games they've tried to run.

I had very good games with people who were completely new to this board.

Some others with a lot of postings abandoned my games, because of whatever. I think one can get a very wrong impression from such statistics.

Me too. But statistics are just statistics. They're numbers, and can be used for good or bad, depending on who's reading them. I can't speak for others, but I would start with the numbers and then seek clarification to either confirm or explain any meaning I try to take from them. For example, if I'm starting a game and looking at applicants, if I saw someone with an amazing character background and writing style but had stopped posting in the middle of their last game 3 years ago with no explanation, I wouldn't dismiss them by default. Instead, through PMs, I might find out that the player had been in a terrible car accident or illness, and now that they've sufficiently recovered they're trying to get back into the game.

Awesome. Welcome to my game.

As motteditor mentioned, numbers never tell the whole story, they're just a tool. Use the tool correctly and get the whole story.

Hayato Ken wrote:

-I´m extremely uncomfortable with non-Paizo members tracking other people´s posts here. That feels like a crass violation of trust and privacy to me. I´m pretty sure there are more than enough other people who don´t like this! This can come off very jerkish.

So you're upset that someone looks at statistics on a public forum where anyone can do the exact same thing. Google does it. I could see being upset if this was a private forum or if your PMs were being tracked, but this is public and open to the world.

Yep. Sorry, but once you decide to put your words in a public forum, any assumption of privacy is forfeit.

Wes: Greeeeeeedy

Me: …I *do* have a Sihedron tattooed on my leg.
Wes: Touche...

But did you get it at Paradise in Turtleback Ferry?

Find yourself in a combat situation where you feel useless? In Pathfinder, there should NEVER be an instance where you feel useless or can't contribute something to the party. Instead of just holding your action or waiting it out, here's some suggestions:

Aid Another - Granted you have to be within melee range of the bad guy in order to give the bonus. So if you're squishy and afraid to go toe to toe with the enemy, always carry a longspear or similar reach weapon. Stand behind your stronger friend, make that attack roll vs AC 10, and your buddy gets an automatic +2 to his next attack. Oh, and those bonuses stack, so other party members can help out too.

Cantrips - Since they're unlimited use, all casters should prepare at least one that will be useful in combat. Ideally, two offensive: a ranged touch attack that deals damage and something that doesn't require an attack roll such as flare or daze. If you're a spellcasting class that has limited access to offensive cantrips such as cleric, spend your time buffing your party with Guidance to give them a +1 to their attack. Even at higher levels, doing a small amount of damage consistently with Acid Splash or Ray of Frost (due to only having to make a touch AC, which are often absurdly low) is better than consistently missing with your crossbow.

Domain Abilities, Bloodline Powers - While they're not unlimited like cantrips, they're usually still available in sufficient quantity to get you through an adventuring day (especially if you've been using some of the other above options). Don't forget that many of these powers are offensive and use them liberally.

Skills - Bards and Sorcerers, don't forget one of your primary stats is Charisma. There's plenty of opportunities to Feint and Demoralize the enemy during combat.

Splash Weapons - If you still find yourself with nothing to do after all that, carry around some Alchemist's Fire, Acid Flasks, and Holy Water. Just don't hit your friends with them.

Feel free to add your own suggestions here for unusual or often forgotten ways to help out in battle.

I blame Cosmo for making our healer cast the 3rd natural 1 in a row on a cure spell.

Cosmo, seriously this is nuts. Now he's cast his fourth 1 in a row on a cure spell, and now my Paladin also rolled a 1 on her Lay on Hands!

This isn't funny anymore, people are going to die! Make it stop, Cosmo!

I blame Cosmo for making our healer cast the 3rd natural 1 in a row on a cure spell.

I blame Cosmo for the Paizo website being slow today.

In my group, I shamelessly accept bribes of all sorts (sushi is a weakness), but I think it's understood that the return you get is in karma (and an all around happier GM). Maybe the dice will be nicer to you. Maybe I'll subconsciously pick someone else to attack.

I've made it very clear to my players that I play a straight game and pretty much just go by how the dice roll. So while I'll happily accept a bribe, it's with the understanding that I still might kill if the dice decree it.

Or in other words,

Player --> Bribe --> GM --> Dice Gods

The problem is poor game design.

I love Skip Williams to death -- one of the top 5 game designers ever. But the battle mat and seven-hundred-and-fifty-five thousand feats, traits & class abilities that were eventually built into the d20 system that slow life down to a sloth, plus the 37 thousand iterative attacks, all make for the ********* combat EVER.

Want your Players to pay attention?
Throw away the ********* battlemat!

I completely disagree. I think the problem is simply players not bothering to learn the mechanics of their own characters. While it's true that there are insanely huge amounts of choices, those are chosen when you level up your character, you don't have all of those choices during every round of combat. Your own character isn't gonna have more than 20 or so feats and abilities, and I don't think it's unreasonable to ask that players take the time to read and remember what those abilities are. For spellcasters, granted there's more options, but you don't have the entire spellbook to choose from every round. You select them every day when you rest. And if you're a spontaneous caster, you have much fewer spells to learn.

All of those abilities have been trickling in tiny bits at a time since level 1, giving players ample time to learn them one at a time instead of trying to memorize the whole thing at once. Unfortunately there's not much a DM can do about this. It ultimately comes down to the time and interest a player is willing to invest in the game.

Are you kidding? Life happens, especially for the GM. I know how much work it is keeping a PbP game going (which is why I'm not currently running any) so don't get down on yourself. You're doing fine.

As long as you're not in combat, yes

Your whole argument here is based off the assumption that "like combat" is only modifying the word "threat" and not also "distractions". The problem is that the English language could allow both interpretations, and SKR has provided multiple examples of when you should be able to take 10, such as jumping over a pit, whether filled with lava or a bottomless chasm, sneaking past guards, etc.

There's plenty of distractions other than the task at hand that I could think of that would play into reasons not to take 10, such as trying to climb a cliff in the middle of a thunderstorm (because the thunderstorm has nothing to do with climbing the cliff).

Now you mentioned something in your lava example that I could agree with. If you're trying to cross a pit of lava on a 6" beam, normally I'd say go ahead and take 10. But if you're really close enough to the lava that the heat is dangerous, requiring a fortitude save or something, then I completely agree that the heat constitutes a distraction and you can't take 10.

But if the only "distracting" thing about your task is that it looks scary or dangerous, you can still take 10.

The woman in our gaming group have graciously allowed a few of us men into their circle and I think it's been successful. Of course, the only men playing are husbands of other gamers, so I'm not sure if we could even be considered true gamers. Probably just coming along to support our spouses.

They have even let me GM for several years now, but I'm sure that's just some equal opportunity quota they're trying to fill. I see no other reason why they'd put up with me in such a role.

I have written a song.

perform(sing): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14

Ahem.
I know the gutter and I know the stink of the street
Forty-five years I have pressed through this festering heat
All you tall ones who towered above me
You who gave me the smack of your rod
Now I give you the gutter
I give you the judgement of god!

flash, slash, glisten and gash
he will ravish you, dwarf barbarian
split! Pirknok just bit
Give him more to bite, he's a hungry fiend
sing, savor the sting
as he severs you, dwarf barbarian
slice! come paradice
hail his majesty! Dwarf barbarian!

Bows.

Ok, Paizo must be trolling you. They caught on to what you were doing and fudged the rolls. I mean, statistics are never that perfect!

I was thinking that the current evil/good and law/chaos system doesn't really work. Well, at least the evil/good part - most people don't fight over law and chaos as much but all it takes as a look at any one of the alignment "discussions" on the forums to realize the current model leaves too much room for interpretation.

One of the reasons this came to mind was from a discussion about playing evil characters, and the realization that just because they're Evil (aligned) doesn't mean that they're evil in every possible way. In a similar manner, people who are overall good often have a "fatal flaw" or at least some kind of weakness. Real people are very multi-faceted, and interesting characters should be, too. Unfortunately in the world of Pathfinder, we have spells and abilities that are designed to specifically target concepts such as Evil, Chaotic, Good, and Lawful. These are tangible properties of a person and central to the game mechanics. So any changes need to still work within that framework.

When creating your character, instead of simply choosing your alignment from the current array, you're presented with a list of 7 vices and virtues (inspired by Rise of the Runelords). For each pair, you select if this is a vice, a virtue, or not strongly aligned. While you could make a very boring character by having no vices or virtues, the more that are selected, the more interesting the character will be. A character with at least 5 virtues is considered Good aligned, a character with at least 5 vices is considered Evil, and anything in-between is Neutral. An 8th, separate trait takes care of the Lawful/Chaotic axis.

The Vices and Virtues are as follows:

Lust / Purity
Gluttony / Temperance
Greed / Generosity
Sloth / Diligence
Wrath / Kindness
Envy / Charity
Pride / Humility

Now every new character has personality seeds that aid in roleplaying. Instead of an ambiguous I'm a good person, you have specific traits that shape how that character will act in many situations.

These can also be used to track alignment shifts. Spending night after night drinking heavily at the inn might shift a character from Temperance to Gluttony, ultimately affecting the overall alignment. Almost all character actions can be tracked in this manner to adjust alignment, if needed. Thus, spells such as Atonement still have their place and purpose, but it's now easier to track when and if an alignment change needs to take place.

Thoughts? Comments? There may be other consequences of this change that I haven't considered. I'm happy to hear feedback.

Music for Rise of the Runelords
Background Music
Skinsaw Murders - Mood Music
RotRL Background Music
Mood Music for FotSG
Skinsaw Murders mood music

Also, a buddy of mine created a few tracks:
RotR Soundtrack
And while those links no longer work, I have the files in question here:
St Ogre's Inbred Banjo Brigade
The Stone Giants

I ran screaming to Pathfinder to recapture the feel of what DnD is to me. I'm entrenched in it thanks to the fantastic Paizo staff and that's not going to change, but it will be nice to also support a healthy DnD as well again.

I wish them well.

I agree completely. From what we've seen so far, the new D&D may well be a decent system. Unfortunately for WotC, I don't really see anything in it that would convince me to leave Paizo and the game I love after years of bad business practices and abuse from WotC (I'm talking about telling everyone that liked 3.x that they were doing it wrong, pulling the 3.x pdfs, etc).

Having been burned by them before, and having found a company that I like to support much more, it won't be a game for me. That doesn't mean you'll find me bashing the system or people who enjoy playing it.

Count Buggula wrote:

An effective wizard has prepared enough options to always have something to bring to the table without knowing beforehand what kind of foe he'll be facing. That includes both damage and save-or-die/suck.

For a single encounter, sure. For a series of encounters without rest...YMMV.

I don't see why it makes any difference. You still don't know what kinds of foes you're going to encounter throughout the day when you prepare your spells in the morning. What happens when you prepare nothing but save-or-suck spells and then have 5 encounters that day consisting of a horde of monsters that happen to be immune to them? Gee, we sure could use a fireball right now...

Petty Alchemy wrote:

I don't understand why fighting styles should be realistic in a fantasy game with wizards running around doing all sorts of silly things. If they get to be jokers, why can't fighters?

Anyway, here's a picture of a Maasai warrior with two shields. I don't know the history of this culture at all, I'll admit. This came up on google: http://www.stepuptravel.org/article/user/bushadventures/re-learning-communi ty-through-traditional-maasai-skills

I maintain that peculiar weapon styles should have a place in RPGs though.

Seems to be something funny with that URL... nothing coming up for me.

BUT! That's exactly the type of thing I wanted to learn about. If there's a Maasai two-shield fighting tradition... AWESOME!

Link fixed

NeonParrot wrote:

MPL, I am trying to convert some earlier edition characters to PF. Some of the game mechanics don't fit too well, either for the items or the skill set. I needed the whole finesse/dex thing cleared up. I guess I don't see anything obvious about making a skilled fighter over a simply strong one.

I'm pretty familiar with most of the older versions of D&D, and I have to say, I can't recall any of them that let you deal your Dex in damage. The closest I can remember is the 3.X Swashbuckler who could use Int for damage.

Especially pre-3rd, it was all Strength all the time--Weapon Finesse didn't even exist.

Pretty sure you can do it in 4th edition - maybe that's where he's coming from? Of course, the abilities are completely meaningless in 4th, since you can also use your CHA for attack and damage as a bard, for instance.

Arnwyn wrote:

Kthulhu wrote:

Rebels are just terrorists that history looks back upon fondly.

No.

Yes.

If the "rebels" win, they get to erase the proof of any terrorist-like activity on their part.

If the "terrorists" are defeated, then the side that won displays their actions in the worst possible light, including terrorist-like actions they may not have actually engaged in.

Absolutely not true. There are very specific definitions that can be applied to terrorists. In the case of the rebel alliance, they are a uniformed military organization with a clear chain of command, and in no way can be described as terrorists.

If you want to argue semantics, you can then decide if their military actions break any rules of war, or if they even should be held to the Geneva Convention, but it has nothing to do with terrorism.

For example:

The Japanese Empire pre-emptively attacked a US military target at Pearl Harbor during WWII. Did they kill civilians in the process? Yes, but their target was military. Just like the rebellion, they were uniformed combatants. Whatever you feel about Imperial Japan, I don't know of any historian who has called those actions terrorist.

I will look into this when it's out of course but I've never even heard of Goblinworks or whatever they are called.

You've never heard of Goblinworks because it's a newly founded company. Brand spankin' new.

All I know is that small budget MMOs don't seem to do well. Because of this I'm trying to not get my hopes that high. Big budget MMOs like WoW and Rifts or one from a better known developer would probably shake off some fears. I'm not saying the current developer isn't good or can't pull it off, just some MMO veterans like me are wary.

Good luck, I really want to see this become one of the heavyweights.

I'm tired of seeing this over and over again. As soon as people hear MMO all they think of is Everquest/WoW/Rifts/ToR. Reset your brain to remove any preconceived notion of what an MMORPG is and just take the part about it being lots of people playing online together in a role-playing game.

Start with Minecraft. Add way more players, fancier graphics, a bit more rules and structure to handle all those extra players and the crazy stuff they're bound to try to do (griefing), throw in some NPCs and Quests, and the kingdom building rules from Kingmaker to allow for player-driven towns, cities, castles, etc.

That's what I envision this to be. It's still an MMORPG, but has nothing to do with WoW and its clones.

Torches are absouletely required in another multiplayer sandbox game, Minecraft. Which I hear is doing QUITE well.

3) Darkness is unnecessarily punitive to those who play at a set time each day. If you typically play during the daytime hours, your play experience will be less frustrating and more enjoyable than someone who plays primarily at night.

That's assuming in-game time is mapped directly to real world time, which is not the case in any RPG I've ever played. Usually there's many day/night cycles in-game for every 24 hours real time, so the time you choose to log on and play is completely a non-issue.

Also, count me in as someone who LOVES real darkness in games due to the increased immersion factor. For instance, I installed mods in Morrowind to remove almost all ambient light at night and in dungeons, then had a great time sneaking around in total darkness. Made for fun gameplay decisions about whether to see or not be seen.

Also, totally not an MMO or even an RPG, but Doom3 had some of the best darkness ever.

Well, Ryan's already given me a good first impression just by popping on the forums and reading and responding to us. That alone earns major kudos in my book.

Jiggy wrote:

It's likely the developers feel that most questions about Take 10 are sufficiently answered by the core rules themselves and therefore don't merit further attention.

I think it's less that they feel the rules are clear in every circumstance, and more that they like leaving some things somewhat vague so that each DM can tailor it to his game.

For nosig:

Time required to take 10:
Sean K Reynolds (Developer): "Taking 10 requires only as much time as making one check."

Is the action I'm performing a distraction?
Sean K Reynolds (Developer): "Let your players Take 10 unless they're in combat or they're distracted by something other than the task at hand. It's just there to make the game proceed faster so you don't have big damn heroes failing to accomplish inconsequential things."

I'm also going to link to this thread every time I ever see another take-10 thread pop up in here. Happens ALL THE TIME.
Can I Take-10 on opposed rolls, like Stealth?
Sean K Reynolds (Developer): "It's really no different than being a lazy player with a +9 Stealth rogue who thinks he can take 10 on a Stealth check past a guard because he thinks the guard is just some +2 Spot loser... except he doesn't know the guard is actually an important NPC with a +10 Spot. You take 10 when you believe an average roll will succeed; if it turns out that belief is wrong, you'll suffer the consequences."

Thank you SO much for posting that and saving me from having to argue back and forth with BNW about what constitutes an immediate threat. The last take 10 thread was ridiculous.

Seriously, I'm going to print this out and take it to every PFS game I play in. In fact, just last week I was playing and decided to take 10 on something and had to explain "No, that's the rule for take 20. Take 10 doesn't work that way."

Comeon people. "Immediate danger" does NOT mean "risk of failure." Quit trying to shoehorn take-20 rules into the take-10 mechanic. They're completely different rules with completely different sets of mechanics. A take-10 can almost ALWAYS be used out of combat, regardless of the skill.

I've always thought that PC Classes should be completely separate from anything in-game. For example, you can be a member of a company of rangers without actually taking class levels in ranger. You could join the thieves guild as a rogue or a bard. You can be a member of the city guard or a soldier in the army with any number of classes, such as paladin, warrior, fighter, ranger, barbarian, etc.

So I don't get why the rule trying to tie the Assassin's Guild to the Assassin prestige class. The skills themselves are just that - skills. It's a tool, and can be wielded for either good or evil. Your combat stats on your character sheet don't in any way force you to be either. In my mind, it was a mistake to leave the 3.5 enforcement of an Evil Alignment and to kill an innocent just to take the prestige class. Requirements to join an actual in-game or campaign organization? Fine. But keep it out of the rule book.

It's honestly one of the few things I dislike about PRPG, and would hate to see the Ninja PC Class so tied with anything that only has its business in a campaign setting book.

Classes should be sets of skills that support a wide variety of diversity in character and play types within those bounds.

This is AWESOME. As soon as I got the player's guide I sat down and brainstormed how to come up with a fitting Belmont whip-wielding vampire killer - and finally settled on Inquisitor. They have enough martial prowess to make it work, and enough divine magic to fit the flavor. I mean...you can make your own holy water.

The biggest win though was the ability to add the "bane" ability to your weapon. Using it is about the only way I could imagine making the whip (even scorpion) not completely suck - and it can make it great against undead AND other monsters.

And as far as music goes, check out OCremix. Loads of great free Castlevania music:
NES Castlevania
NES Simon's Quest
NES Dracula's Curse
SNES Super Castlevania IV
PS Symphony of the Night

I've wanted to play a paladin of Erastil ever since I first read his description...and I've never ever been interested in playing a paladin before. I could imagine a family man who had his own farm out in the sticks, then lost his home, wife, and children in a brutal goblin/bandit/evil monster attack - so he takes up his bow and vows to fight back against that evil to protect the rest of his community.

After reading through this thread (the whole thing!) I don't think there's any reason to suppose that the role couldn't be swapped, and have the wife be the sole survivor who then sets out on adventure. If you need any reason as to why he or she didn't settle down with a new partner in the community, you could say that the experience left him/her emotionally scarred to the point where a simple family life wouldn't be feasible (at least not anytime soon). And I honestly don't think anyone in the community, or any Erastilite priest would look down on such a widow for taking up they bow/sword at this point and adventuring. Erastil would certainly give his divine blessing on such a paladin.

Given the proper context, I don't see Erastil as being either sexist or anti-adventuring. Come up with a plausible explanation and you can make it work.