Shadewest's page

I will curse, but not out, my cable company.

Moving tomorrow. I might be net free for a while, so bot me if you need to.

d24 shouldn't be too bad. d3s can be found as a d6 double 1-3 for like 50¢ each. d5, d7, d14, and d16 are pricey. I believe only Gamescience makes them. Msot of those dice can be faked without too much trouble.

Goodman Games' Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG will be using these dice. Here is a discussion on how to get around them.

To me it feels more like the clubhouse. We're all gamers, even the Paizo staff and we're all just hanging out, taking about and even playing games. Very relaxed. I certainly don't get that sense from WotC. There, it feels like the mods are behaving like camp counselors and the general public is the kids. If a real WotC employee posts something there, we're expected to be star struck. Paizo remembers they're gamers first. They're not the only company that does, but they get more of my respect because they're one of them.

My LIttle Pony is a Hasbro trademark, so April Fool jokes aside, that's a task for That Other Game.

Thundercats would be awesone, though.

This is one of those questions where the answer is , "If you have to ask..."

The pro-story folks are on the PbP threads, actually playing the game.

My one fear would be that high level characters couldn't handle challenges thrown at them of appropriate CRs. The ideas definitely have the old school feel though. Maybe that was part of the feel, that feel of getting mauled by pit fiends, balors, and dragons? :)

Yes.

Or a Demilich.

In a more serious line, it was a larger part of the DM's job to know what his players could handle. Even now, CR is best used as just a guideline. Old school challenged players, not just their characters.

Pathfinder is a safer choice. Dungeons & Dragons is also a title from a competing comic publisher. Hasbro is more likely to try to make a stink about trademark infringement than Paizo. Lisa, Vic & the gang are just as likely to geek out at the reference as the rest of us. Good news for Paizo, since it gives them free publicity.

The whole point of the article is to get an old-school feel. The article is dead-on, to me. the oldest old school ability score generation is 3d6 in order. There was some provision to buy your prime requisite up at the cost of other ability scores, albeit at a 2/1 or 3/1 basis, depending on the class and scores.

Then we changed it to best 3 of 4d6.
Then we decided to re-roll 1's
Then we decided to allow players to arrange as desired.
Then we decided to give a mulligan if scores were still too low.

No, Best 3 of 4d6, reroll 1's, arrange as desired, is more than flexible enough for old school.

Once in a game of Munchkin RPG, we all wanted to take advantage of the half-race rules, so everyone in the party was a half-sibling from the same mother: the Honorbach brothers:

Founder
Tooker
Hadder
Lefter

I use Paizo's PDF price on their core books ($10) as a way to sell my books. I offer a $10 discount so that my customer can "get the PDF for free." Try it; it works every time. I also offer a 20% discount on all preorders of published RPG product. This keeps my price near what Paizo is offering (and other online retailers) and gives customers a chance to shop with me.

Pathfinder RPG products are by far and away the number one selling RPG product in my store. Sales in those products, and the player base those sales create, are largely responsible for the large amount of side line sales that my store has (maps, dice, minis, etc.).

In no way is Paizo competition. The person who goes to their site to buy the "cheaper" products from them will end up shopping with Amazon if Paizo enacts policies that even their pricing model out with brick and mortar stores.

I say this to store owners everywhere: showcase your store and offer different reasons besides product sales to turn your customers into a loyal purchasing base. You exist to serve them. They do not exist to shop with you. You need to provide a reason for them to shop with you. Find that reason (and more like them), and you will gain customers who will support you.

Thank you for this. I wish more game store owners understood this. It's basic retail marketing, but my local stores would rather give their pathfinder customers attitude than take advantage of this. One shop marks up Paizo an extra 10% above MSRP, another barely carries any. Once I would buy something every time I walked into a game shop, even if it was just single die. No more. Now I won't so much as buy a soda from their vending machine. They lost me as a customer, not due to Paizo's business practices, but their own.

20 and 19 on the dice! The damn monsters caught all the dice mojo!

With respect, Jocundthejolly, I have to disagree. I think this has the potential to appeal to both the nostalgic in the Pathfinder crowd (those of us who have lived through the evolutions of the game from white box or red box to, eventually, PF) and the Old School Reniassance group, of whom there are enough that several small companies produce current material. I know I have downloaded the Beta and will pick up a copy when the final version is printed.

I think this is the audience that GG is going for. In addition, they are trying to imitate Paizo by creating a "living" rules system, published in-house, to support their modules line. The market is smaller, but there is a market for it.

I'm glad to hear there've been changes. Could you articulate them?

This rule in particular stands out for me:

Recovering the body: If the body of a dead ally can be recovered, there is a chance the ally may not be truly killed. He may have been knocked unconscious or simply stunned. If a character reaches a dead ally’s

body within one hour, the dead character may make a DC 10 Luck check when his body is rolled over. On a successful check, the dead character was badly injured but is not permanently killed, and the ally is able to keep him alive. The “dead” character was simply knocked out, stunned, or otherwise incapacitated.
Once an ally shakes the downed character
awake, he recovers to 1 hit point. The character is groggy for the next hour (-4 penalty to all rolls) and sustains a permanent injury of some kind, reflected as a permanent -1 penalty to Strength, Agility, or Stamina (determine randomly).

This goes into effect after a PC has already bled out to death.

The Critical charts have also been made a little more forgiving. Don't get me wrong, it's still gleefully vicious, but mostly to 0-level PCs. Remember, too, it's still in beta, so if you have thoughts share them!

(Characters with 3d6 in order stats and rolled HPs wouldn't be Pathfinder characters.)

Not RAW, maybe, but it could be done. It might be interesting...

I've played through a couple of sessions now. My old friend Dieter, who's written for Goodman, was the first referee, and he was well-versed in the game system and mechanics. We were all experienced gamers who knew and liked one another.

We had a great time, somewhat in spite of the game system.

The blow-one-roll-and-your-character's-dead philosophy runs strong through the game. (Indeed, you're discouraged from *naming* your character before it survives to second level.) Even playing at the stratospheric 4th level, a single botched saving throw will kill your PC.

This can lend a kind of Paranoia-style giddiness to the campaign, as you watch characters perish. It can be fun, but it rewards a certain academic detachment uncommon in a role-playing game.

Later drafts have gotten a little more gentle. It's a play style issue, too. Would level 1 Pathfinder characters with 3d6 in order stats and rolled HPs do much better?

ThornDJL7 wrote:

Because orcs are kill on sight, while half-orcs are the bastard children of raped women which are feared and pitied at the same time.

You know what else is kill on sight?

Drow.
You know what else is a player race?
Drow.

Also gnomes. *shakes fist*

Drow are not a player race in Pathfinder. They're in the bestiary, not the core rulebook. It's a houserule if a GM allows it.

Come on, try it! The first taste is free!

Andrew Besso wrote:

You sent me running to the dictionary. I cannot remember when that last happened. I hereby invite you to join SAGOTEL, the Self-Appointed Gaurdians of the English Lexicon. To become member, you must promise to use the words "penultimate", "fortuitous" and "literally" correctly, promise never to use "impact" as a verb, and promise never, EVER to say, "irregardless".

I can't stand "supposebly". I hear it all the time where I live, even from univerity-graduates. Sorry, I had to. ;)

+1 to all of the above, and let me add my distaste for "gay" and "retarded" in the pejorative sense as well as "fail"and "win" as any part of speech but a verb. "Epic" is starting to lose its impact (used properly) as well.

The only correct appearance for a tiefling is Sheena Easton with a tail.

And cute little horns.

I GMed my very first game. I'm self taught by reading the rulebook, and badgered my preteen friends into playing. Of course, that was the Molday basic rules, but it was still difficult without guidance.

All i can do is raise a virtual glass in sympathy. That's been my story for a long time, too.

Cheers!

Steven

It's a matter of how famous the name is. I've encountered a child named Raistlin, and it made me cringe. So would an Aragorn. A lot of "fantasy" names are genuine traditional names of traditional Celtic and Welsh origins.

I second the irritation with drunk players. I don't mind a beer or two, as I enjoy that myself, but don't how up already drunk, or try to get the GM drunk so you can abuse his impaired judgement. Honestly, I have more trouble with problem players as another player than as a GM, since handling them isn't my call.

If you have any interest whatsoever in "Old School" gaming, check this out. I've been playtesting this for a few months now,and I absolutely love this game. It's simple, very hard to min/max, and doesn't need a battlemat, just graph paper.

You don't need to do much. I have a personal rule that, all else being equal, the PC with the lowest charisma gets targeted. This guy wants to be in combat anyway, so make him face the most hurt. Don't use more attacks that target will, but again, make sure he's the one who gets hit with them. It only takes a raging barbarian charmed into attacking with the enemy once, and the rest of the party will straighten him out for you.

Shadewest wrote:

Snorter wrote:

You'll see the same wording used for the Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Inquisitor, Oracle, Paladin, Rogue and Sorcerer.

OK, so we've established that Witches do not need to be female, but what about divine iconics?

Required to be female under the California Surfer Dude law.

Ah, I see. So I need to move out of California to play a male cleric?

You'll see the same wording used for the Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Inquisitor, Oracle, Paladin, Rogue and Sorcerer.

OK, so we've established that Witches do not need to be female, but what about divine iconics?

I'd rather date a woman who looks like she could survive a famine than one who looks like she did survive a famine.

Guilty. Urban ranger Brunis Wayan, and his cohort, the rogue Rickard DeGrey.

Personally, I like hexes a lot better. It eliminates the clumsiness of diagonal movement. and areas of effect are much cleaner. I use it for outdoors or rough natural caverns, but for normal indoors situations I use grid to avoid partial hex issues.

Left handed fencers have an advantage, since their target areas are all on the wrong side. Some fencers even cultivate a left handed stye deliberately to take advantage of this. I'm a natural lefty, but I'll testify it works.

Just make sure you apply that rule to ANYONE who's carrying potions, scroll cases, . I get the same urge to Bards with thier lutes, but I restrain myself.

That's why my bard has Oratory, Comedy and Dance as his perform skills. My DM likes to pull these kinds of things.

My posting will be slow the next couple of days, my wife and I are in the hospital because our son is soon to be born. This is our first, so excitedscaredomygod! Sorry to hear about the chicken pox at home Finn =/ hopefully it smooths out soon for you~!

Congratulations. But remember, the adventure is just beginning.

Accept it with thanks, and then drop it in the nearest donation box as soon as he's out of sight.

Have you looked at this?

Go to NPC Gallery.

Congratulations,
But..
The adventure is just beginning!

Try this.

Microlite20

Too far the other direction?

If you can hold out 'til Novenber, I recommend this.

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG

With Iron Heroes everyone needs to pick up an out of print book, you have to learn all the ins and outs of a different d20 system. In the end it's just easier to go with PF E6.

This. There is nothing "just do it" about picking up a new system. And frankly, The only time I've heard about Iron Heroes, is when someone is criticizing E6. It comes across as a bit of badwrongfun.

Tracy Hickman is a Mormon. He talks about that and how it influences his gaming extensively on his website.

This is true to a certain extent, but you're picking them up one at a time, not in a batch like leveling, and players need to make a choice. You can choose to buy the feats that emulate higher levels, assuming the DM allows those feats to begin with, or you can go a new directrion with new feat chains.

Talon wrote:

List of Feats...

I have never played e6 (but want to run it), but I must say, I don't see the point of most feats. You stop the player at 6th level, but give them most of the benefits anyways? All they are missing out on is HP and and 4th level spells, and some make out better. Am I missing something?

No more Spells.

Feats can be used to "patch" some of these areas, but since they're all you get, the power curve still drops dramatically.

Heart that system. If I remember my OGL, though, advancement systems are not open.

The 3.5 advancement system isn't open, but you can invent your own. Otherwise, games like Pathfinder RPG and Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved, both of which just tweak the XP numbers, would be illegal. The OGL is even part of Sean's PDF.

Scott,

This is a serious question, from somebody who hasn't kept up at all. When the Character Builder first came out, it was only for PCs. I have a Mac, and I will tell you that that, by itself, kept me from picking up 4th Edition. Do I presume correctly that somewhere in the last three or four years, they've created a Mac-native version of the software?

They have, but just recently. The Character Builder is 100% online now, and works in the browser. Lots of folks don't like that, for various legitimate and sneaky reasons. It tempted me to go back, but Essentials didn't impress me, and I've been able to find good games in other systems anyway. WotC is going to have to do something fabulous to win me back, and the things they would need to do would cost them too much of their new fan base.

I'm considering using Sean K. Reynolds' Step System to alleviate some of the granularity problem. I can give a different letter "sub-level" at 1/4 or even 1/2 xp for the chosen advancement track.

Question: Is there interest in a published Pathfinder E6 campaign setting?

Yes there is. The style may not be to everyone's taste, but the fact that it is being discussed and played means interest. Interest means a potential market. It doesn't matter how many people say "no" to something if enough people say yes Every RPG needs a setting, and right now all the E6ers are home brewing and Modding. A published setting is just what is needed to alleviate the complexity loaded on the GM.

Most telling is the lack of a verbal component, allowing the wizard to have a pipe in his mouth.

Sighing with slight frustration, Bein shuts his visor and gets ready to mount up once everyone is ready to go. He does look about nervously at the woods around them and twirls his blade to keep himself from being too rigid and tense.

Volpe watches Bein toying with a blade, a bit startled. He says nothing, but mounts up and joins the group on the road.

Shadewest wrote:

The 4E-Pathfinder War isn't over yet. I'm afraid to see what new hostilities will brew up from this development.

If you see it as a war I am afraid you have bought into a popular fallacy.

I haven't bought into anything but the Pathfinder RPG line. Although, you're right in a way. I'm giving legitimacy to the rhetoric. Some people do see it that way, though, and a 5th Edition is going to add a new faction for those who do. I'm saying that watching the nerd rage will be fun. Pass the popcorn.

I was thinking just this morning about how WotC's aggressive release schedule for 4th Edition left it with little in the way of substantial new material to release less than three years after its launch. Essentials is the earliest ".5" edition yet, unless you count the first 3 supplements the ".5" edition of OD&D (some do). Yeah, the Essentials line isn't doing it for me, or a lot of others either. It's time for a new edition, already. Otherwise, what's the point of the little poll at the bottom of the post? The 4E-Pathfinder War isn't over yet. I'm afraid to see what new hostilities will brew up from this development.