Tanglebones's page

Before I dive into my review I want to put my feeling in a little context: I am a GM & I have my own home brew world which is neatly mapped out using campaign cartographer. I have extensive notes about this world kept in a file using Scrivner on my apple mac book. My players enjoy multiple handouts which support what I hope is a rich and immersive world. Why would I even pick up let alone appreciate a complete campaign guide? When picking up a campaign guid I am looking for a well organized reference book which contains both a fresh approach to the fantasy world genre as well as many small details which make the world come alive. Provided the book is well organized I should be able to pull many of the ideas and locations and drop them into my world with minimal effort. - simply put this work scores on all fronts. It is beautifully illustrated. It presents the information clearly and is a trove of imagination ripe with potential adventure and exploration. - well done team Kobold.

Reading through the thread I think that Zardnaar has carefully articulated some genuine concerns and the ensuing discussion is in and of itself healthy regardless of where you stand on the issues raised.
My 2 cents:

1. In regards to crafting magic items, I agree wholeheartedly. I want the PCs to feel that enchanted items are rare and very special. I have not had much push back from players wanting to craft a wand of thus and such or a +3 vorpal blade of awesomeness.

2. I have to disagree when it comes to the issues of Offense vs Defense; To be clear I agree with the fact that the game favors offense and quick combat; I just do not feel it is a problem.

3. Whether we are Gms or players when find ourselves talking about class balance I think we are expressing a desire that all the players (classes) have a chance to shine during the game session. Concerns regarding the relative power of classes were being bandied about in all of the previous iterations of DnD (3.5/3.0, 2nd ed., ADnD and yes even original DnD). As a Gm I found that all of these systems have their basis in regards to which classes are more powerful at a given level. More importantly,however, I find all of these games give the a creative and thoughtful Gm many tools to ensure that all the Pcs get their moment.

AS the GM for my group I have seen a number of players become pretty excited about the meta-magic feats at first; then as time has gone by they find them less useful (except the quickened feats which a couple of PCs have utilized to great effect.)

I cannot wait til the Ultimate Equipment comes out. I'm hoping for new crossbow options.

agreed; I just read this thread based on your resurrection, I want to try this 1d6+4 option you suggested. I think the option of ignoring a given number of AC points is an interesting mechanic but I am unsure about introducing an entirely new mechanic for one particular weapon.

Trying to recreate a combat/damage system which is both "realistic" and playable is at best a Herculean task. Many grey haired GMs have had similar complaints (including myself and Monte Cook who wrote a nice essay on "The Unscalable Wall of Realism" ) and found that the more "realistic" we made our game systems the more the complexity made the game unplayable. But for what it is worth you may find the following statistics interesting and helpful in yur tweaking of the rules:
The LD50 (50 % of people will die) for falls is 4 stories, or 48 ft, and the lethal does for 90% (LD90) of test subjects is 7 stories, or 84 ft (

The LD50 for burns (any cause lava, fire etc) is 80% of skin (in 2000 it was 30% in the pre antibiotic era my best guess would be 10% or even 5%.

The LD50 for trauma/shock (Probably the best real world analog to being hit with an arrow/broad sword or magic missile) has to do with restoring blood flow to the coronary, cerebral and hepatic arteries within 45mins (the so called golden hour in ER medicine) It is worth noting that this has very little to do which what kind of device caused the trauma be it a great sword, a .45 or a baseball bat.

The odd thing with trauma is the the seemingly random nature in which it claims its victims. One man survives 30+ blows of a baseball bat while another is hit by a baseball and dies instantly. I have personally seen people die in as short as 5 mins from a very narrow penetrating wound and other survive a "through and through" gunshot wound to the chest after walking 10 mins to the ED. The point is that real world trauma- what actually causes death in humans - is very complicated and difficult to recreate by even the most dogged game writer.

I have always felt that in order to create dramatic tension there must be some kind of credible threat to the PCs. I never look to actually cause player deaths and certainly not TPKs but about 10% of my planned encounters are "Epic" or 2-3CR above APL. That said I have seen pcs die in encounters that were at APL or even below APL. These unfortunate events sometime occur out of bad luck sometimes bad decisions either way I am okay with it. At a rough guess I think we have a PC death once every 3-6 months and a TPK about every 18 months. They never like it Pc death but I dont here too much griping.

Going back to the original lunge whirlwind question: regardless of the RAW or RAI, I am having a hard time getting my head around the biomechanics of this lunge/whirlwind attack. I am thinking of the lunge as the term used in modern fencing and i just dont see how this flows into a whirlwind attack. Am I alone in having trouble envisioning how this works. (Note: I have no problem with the subsequent discussion regarding reach weapons and whirlwind)

I am no expert in geology/lava but at something like 700-1000 degrees C ruling 2d6 for splash (or near splash) and 20d6 for immersion of even one limb seems pretty fair. I have never had to deal with a PC vs lava but if pressed or challenged as a Gm I might say it is 3d6 per limb / 8d6 for the torso & head.

Treasure, magic gold etc becomes problematic for all GMs. The solution i have developed may not work for all GMs but it works well for me: In my world the players are members of the royal court as they move up through their levels they become peers of the realm and later landed nobility. What this does is it creates a sink in which most of their treasure must be sunk. It also provides a different focus for their advancement. early on they want to earn their coat of arms and design their heraldry, later they want to impress the regent enough to be granted a strong-hold and then they try to defend the stronghold and expand their power. All the treasure becomes a means to get what they want not the final reward. AS a Gm it gives me a nice vehicle to reward players without just piling on treasure - I can grant title's "first Sergent of the royal guard" or "imperial wizard". I can also threaten their holdings with giants, dragons etc. Trade and study of magic is regulated as well and a person must earn the right to study and advance in this area but wizards may eventually earn the right to establish schools and teach (in my world spell casters may never own land).

It would depend a great deal on the set up before the campaign ever started. If it was stated this would be a high stakes political game with lots of betrayal and backstabbing etc going on. Then I would have been ok with it. Not exactly happy(if I was happy would depend a whole lot on what happened between the start and the end). If there was no clue at all it was that kind of political game I would have been annoyed.

Have to agree with this; The scenario as presented would not work within the tone of my game. But in the right campaign full of backstabbing and betrayal and where TPKs are may occur around at any dark corner or with a simple unopened letter it sounds fine.My guess would be most players would have no issue with it as long as know what they are getting into ahead of time.

This may sound cliché, but I love dragons as antagonists. -snip-

I have to agree; The big bad evil dragon using all the attendant abilities are tough versatile foes that should strike fear in even seasoned adventures. These beasts are inelegant, long lived foes whith a host of capabilities than can make any encounter memorable, they shoud break and run when things go badly only to hunt down the party when the dragon has the advantage this makes for a tough returning foe that can wipe out villages and destroy castles where the Pcs hope to heal and rest. (My group still gives me the stink eye when i tell the tale of a dead white dragon falling 150 feet onto a frozen lake, crashing through the ice and thus wiping out all but the wizard who was airborne himself... )

When planning an adventure I will use the following as a rough guide for planning the encounters: 10% epic (2-3+ above CR) 20% at 1+CR, 30% at CR, 30% 1-2 below CR. The remaining 10% are hazards, tricks traps and planned story awards. The individual encounters vary from one or two creatures to hoards of beasties depending on the narrative of the adventure. Over time I have found that using this rough guide gives my players get a nice mix of fairly easy encounters and a few nail biting just on the edge of death; This (or some variation there of depending on your particular needs) may satisfy the mixed desires of your players.

For what it is worth asking for simple courtesy is the best approach. And yes we have all been there. Before the next game sit down with your table of friends and explain to them that cancelling is okay (we all have lives) but if it is at all possible to cancel earlier rather than later it will save a great deal of irritation and frustration on your part. (no one wants an irritated GM as that leads to TPKs and other nastiness) try to keep it light but also point out how you spend a lot of time planing the game ahead of time and if you know that a game night is going to be scrubbed it frees you up to study, watch a movie or what ever else you might want to do.

In my experience the higher point buys seem to influence the play of the first 3-5 levels; After these early levels things seem to even out. As for influencing flavor, or "what just seems right" that is a matter of personal taste.

I like hollow's last hope quite a bit. There is just so much more story to it than the pathfinder society scenarios or even the beginner box adventure.

http://paizo.com/products/btpy82r0?GameMastery-Module-D0-Hollows-Last-Hope

P.S. And if you buy 'GameMastery Module D1: Crown of the Kobold King', you can continue to level 4/5 for only $8.99 using revenge of the kobold king.
P.P.S The adventures where written for 3.5 though converting them shouldn't pose all to much problem. I even think d20pfsrd has conversions for them.

For what it is worth I second this suggestion. It has a good strait forward story with a nice map and a couple of Interesting NPCs for the p,ayers to interact with.

Another thought: you might want to check out "tabletop adventures" line of PDFs they have a bunch of little vignettes for caves, cities, forests etc which can be dropped into any adventure to help add depth without requiring bunch of prep

In addition to the sound advice outlined above I would recommend keeping a handful of lists available to help you flesh out any details you need to develop off the cuff. I keep a number of personal names, tavern and store types/names, heraldry descriptions as well as just odds n ends one might find in an alley or dungeon. These lists fit on a simple sheet of paper an are often all I need to flesh out a random scene. They also help keep me from naming every town guard "bob".....

Just finished thumbing through the new KQ, if it had "Wormy" or "Whats New,with Phil and Dixie" it would be perfect.