TealDeer's page

Monica! I'm sorry I vanished from the forums for so long -- I've been super busy freelancing for Adventure A Week and En5ider! I'm SO HAPPY that you won! This is huge, such an amazing accomplishment on your part. Best of luck with the future!

Hey guys,, sorry I haven't been around. HUGE congrats to the top 4, hot damn.

I'm popping in to say that I'm going to be at PAX East this weekend, so if anyone wants to say hi, please do! I'm an Enforcer; I'll be in the big queue room every morning wrangling the huge line for Expo hall. I'm the small ginger in the leather vest yelling real loud. I'll be busy working but you're welcome to say hi, and later I'm ALWAYS up for tabletop games.

Terquem wrote:

Talking about another company's hiring practices is most likely frowned upon in these forums.

I wasn't talking about anyone's hiring practices. I was asking a freelancer (by definition not an employee) his opinion of WotC's licensing practices, because he mentioned it is much harder to work for WotC than Paizo. I was wondering how much of the extra difficulty was due to WotC's failure (so far) to release a public license for 5E vs. other factors of which I -- not being a freelancer -- may not be aware.

If you believe the subject of licensing to be taboo, I suggest you flag my post and let the moderators decide. I'm sure they won't be shy about telling me not to discuss the topic. :-)

It's she, actually (or they).

Anyway it's the lack of a public license, combined with just... idk I think it's a general philosophy difference. Paizo does things like RPG Superstar and other like... community-based ways of basically mining their fanbase for talent. Superstar is really what pushed me into trying to freelance at all -- I basically started freelancing when this year's Superstar began. I am not an expert, I've literally been doing this for two months! But thus far? Yeah, it's mostly having to do this weird song and dance around 5th edition material because of the lack of a public license scheme, while I could self-publish a Pathfinder product on RPGNow tomorrow thanks to the OGL.

There are other factors, I think, but about those I can only speculate.

How about, "I've done freelancing for 3pp companies doing Pathfinder stuff mostly, and have only done one 5e piece so far and that one the publisher and I had to do a weird jig to make it ~legal~, while with OGL stuff it's like bam write, put the OGL on it, sell."

If you want "gritty" with a D&D-esque fantasy roleplaying game system you should REALLY be running Lamentations of the Flame Princess, not 5th edition.

I think the paradigm of 5e being simpler, and Paizo having the lock on complex works. The two finally exist in an ecosystem that can support both.

THIS

This is why I think the edition-warring between Pathfinder and D&D 5 is bloody stupid. Like, people have had the gall to ask me, "TealDeer, why on earth do you write/create for Pathfinder when it isn't your favorite tabletop system?"

1. Because I enjoy money and it's way easier to freelance for Paizo than it is for Wizards
2. Because even if Pathfinder isn't my favorite system, I respect the heck out of it and I believe very strongly that it has a place in the tabletop RPG ecosystem.

In truth D&D 5 does what I WANTED D&D 4 to do: it presents a streamlined, simplified version of the game that's great for introducing new players to the concept of tabletop fantasy role-playing in this particular genre. The emphasis in the rulebooks on improvisation and DM fiat is what brings 5th above and beyond 4th; 4th was so rigid that I think the continual comparisons it got to an MMORPG were actually fair. The DM barely had anything to adjudicate in 4th because everything was so regimented (as an aside, this is why I think the 4th edition board games were actually rather nice boardgamifications of D&D). 5 is... 5 is like a good old Western in some ways. You can play fast and loose with the rules, things are simpler, folks is folks.

Meanwhile, Pathfinder exists for those who want very fine modular control over every aspect of the game, and people who really want to have a clear, pre-existing rule for just about everything, but still want to have the flexibility in creation and play that 4th edition didn't allow. Is it too complicated sometimes for cranky ol' me sitting in my porch rocking chair to want to play on a regular basis? Sure! But I am so glad it exists for people who like that style of gameplay, and even though I like a simpler game, Pathfinder gives me a huge font of inspiration for how to adjudicate things in other games. Heck, just the other day I was coming up with rules for taming wild animals in 5th edition, and I turned to Pathfinder to get ideas on how to balance those rules.

/ramble ramble ramble TL;DR: D&D5 and Pathfinder sit at opposite ends of a fantasy RPG spectrum, and that's awesome and great for the hobby.

The way that a lot of my friends deal with HP is that HP isn't so much the actual damage you take, but your combat endurance. They supplement this with a Death and Dismemberment table. Instead of going into negative HP when you hit 0, they roll on a table. Bad result (usually like, a 1) means you're insta-gibbed. Good result (it's usually a d10, so, a 10) is you're at 0 HP but totally fine. Everything in the middle is stuff ranging from "You lose an arm / are permanently crippled" to "You break a bone and are ineffective at X things for Y days."

Enevhar Aldarion wrote:

Diffan wrote:

SmiloDan wrote:

What do you mean by substances at 1st level? Like cold iron, silver, etc.? Or alchemical substances, like acid, thunderstone, tanglefoot bags, etc.?

The monsters are so straightforward, there really is room for spell descriptions.

Substance as in, options. A 1st level Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Barbarian are all pretty much the same unless your human and the DM has agreed to the 1st - level feat variant. The paladin doesn't feel very divine until 3rd level.

But that was their intention. It was meant that you start making real character choices at 3rd level, as 1st and 2nd level are supposed to almost be apprentice levels and pass by very quickly.

Right, "apprentice levels" showed up in the Playtest packets and I was vocally against it on their surveys. I still am to a degree. I don't really think starting at level 3 is the best approach to get around this as a veteran player and would have rather been happy with Level-0 rules for those who want to simulate the farmer-boy grow to soldier thing.

To put a counterpoint to this... my mom hasn't played D&D since 1983, and she'd only played like... two or three sessions, so I was essentially re-introducing her to the game. For her, starting out as a Ranger with very few options was way better. She was already super nervous about trying the game because she doesn't like games that are too complex (which is ironic because as a kid SHE was the one who introduced ME to Ultima Underworld and Might and Magic...) and scared she wouldn't understand the rules. It was the ENTIRE reason she never played 3.5 or Pathfinder with me -- I'd try to help her create a character and she'd go "This is just too complicated." and leave.

In this case, creating a character was much simpler, and it meant she had a lot of time to ease into learning the game without having to worry about too many options early on. She picked a race, a class, some skills, and a background, and was good to go. I also think Lost Mines of Phandelver is a wonderfully designed adventure in this regard too: it starts out with something simple (go punch some goblins to rescue your buddy!) and then slowly ramps up the complexity of each area (NPC interaction, ruined mansion, ruined castle, outdoor open-ended adventure, REALLY BIG DUNGEON OF DOOOOOM), so newer players can ease into the game slowly without feeling too overwhelmed.

As a veteran player, is it annoying to have to wait to 3rd level in a lot of cases to get the cool stuff? Yeah! But you have to remember, this game isn't just for veterans, and any game lives and dies by its casual audience and how many new players it can get into the hobby.

Jeff Heikkinen wrote:

Monica Marlowe wrote:

Scott LaBarge wrote:

So here's a question I imagine should be fine to ask: Where did the rule that monsters need 3 odd stats and 3 even stats come from? Is there some rationale behind it, or is it just "the way things are done"?

I know there is probably a real answer that is part "keeping things interesting" and "it's good game design", but my accumulated personal experience from this contest -* is the real answer is always "because some Gigax guy did it that way 40 years ago and we're still doing it that way since it works, so do it that way."

In his day, most monsters didn't have all six stats. All had an Intelligence score and a few (giants mostly) had a Strength score specified in their descriptions, and that was about it as far as I can recall. Some very early adventures (maybe just KotB?) listed Dexterity scores for monsters because of how initiative worked at the time but that was soon dropped. Monsters having a full set of stats wasn't done until 2000 with Gygax long out of the picture.

You forgot to mention all his monsters had to walk uphill both ways to encounters, in the snow.

And they didn't have these shiny ~terrain maps~, they had maps in NON-PHOTO BLUE printed on CARDSTOCK

THE BLUE BOX DIDN'T EVEN HAVE DICE. WE CUT OUT LITTLE CARDBOARD TABS AND PUT THEM IN CUPS AND SHOOK THEM UP AND PICKED OUT NUMBERS

Oh right, I forgot to mention: having the Criminal background lets my Warlock act as a poor man's Rogue in a lot of cases. He'll never be as good as a straight Rogue at sneaking, backstabbing, pick-pocketing, and the like, but he CAN and DOES do those things.

Had a similar case in a game I DM'd with a Cleric with the Criminal background. That did not save him when he used Disguise Self to infiltrate a Goblin camp... and totally did not know how to speak Goblin.

Warforged in the current iteration is boring. The shifters are cool/good.

I was never a big fan of artificers as a separate class, so folding it into Wizard makes sense for me.

What would you change about Warforged to make them more interesting?

I think a lot of the light touch on Warforged (both here and in the original playtest) is that people are afraid of making them overpowered. Which to me is odd, since the Dragonborn beat the bejesus out of Warforged in terms of power scale right now.

*e* that and I've never cared much about mechanical balance, so much as I have cared about leeway for the DM to go "Oh no you don't do the thing" which this edition seems to emphasize above all else.

I'm really liking the "arcanist" style casting all the spellcasters get. You get to use all your spells, and you never feel like you prepared the wrong spell, or not enough of the right spell, and that's really fun.

I also like the boosted cantrips. Guidance is super fun to give out (+1d4!), and spellcasters never worry about running of spells and being forced to use crossbows or daggers.

Ritual spells are fun too.

Thanks to Searing Light, my groups have taken to calling any cleric who takes it a Laser Cleric.

speaking of customization... you really, really can go a long way with this system, WITHOUT having to delve into the headache that often results in 3.5/PF from sitting there going "do I take THIS feat or THAT? do I use THIS skill or THAT? do I plan a dip into THIS class or go straight for the PRC or THIS archetype and do I use THIS racial blah blah blah"

I made a Fey-Pact Warlock with the Criminal background the other day for a pick-up convention game, and he feels ENTIRELY different from every other Warlock I've seen or played. I didn't bother taking Eldritch Blast -- he's a Wood Elf, so I took True Strike instead, and use it with his longbow. ALL of his spells and Invocations thus far have been non-combat, things like Charm, Sleep, etc. The game we're in is very, VERY heavy on social interaction, so thus far he's been a powerhouse... and again, he feels ENTIRELY different than the blasting-focused Star Pact Warlock I played with in a Lost Mines intro adventure, both mechanically AND RP-wise. It's always wonderful when roleplaying choices not only align with your actual mechanical choices, but ALSO don't completely bone you if you picked something technically sub-optimal.

Bloody hell I need to spend more time on this forum.

I can see them placing the psionic classes into the existing classes. Psychic warrior as a fighter subclass, psion for sorcerer, a healing focused one for the cleric, and soul knife (I think it is?) for rogue. Only 2 I would have no real problem with is the fighter and rogue subclass versions (like the eldritch knight and arcane trickster). Maybe the psion being a sorcerer subclass. Maybe.

WotC finally got D&D right, and it will be the most barren edition yet. Single digit designers/writers on the team, and a sparse release schedule that makes Blizzard's patch cycle for their MMORPG look excessive, really makes me worry about the future of D&D.

I really love this edition, moreso than I did with 3rd edition, and moreso than I did when I found Pathfinder. Yet I am worried and scared.

TealDeer: Your artificer idea sounds interesting, and would like to see it when you have it finished, if possible.

I'm either going to try to sell it to ENWorld's new 5e magazine, or just release it as a free PDF when it's done :) I'm buried under a copyediting job right now though x_X Either way, I'll send you a message when it's done. I do like some of the MECHANICS Wizards introduced for handling Infusions, I just think there can be more flair there.

I also agree with you on ALL other points. I've played every edition of D&D -- I was introduced to the game through my mom's old Blue Box -- and this one is my favorite. It combines the flexibility of 3rd / OGL with the streamlined simplicity of the original 1st edition stuff. Other folks in other threads have pointed out other reasons this edition is so good. I'm just so worried that they're just not going to bother to support it, simply because for Wizards and Hasbro, it isn't a cash cow or a priority at all :(

Also as a lady in the tabletop industry it grinds my gears to see that they have NO WOMEN on that core design team :( That's a place Paizo has always done so much better, mostly because Lisa Stevens.

SmiloDan -- the Proficiency to AC is an interesting idea :|a I think 5th got rid of the concept of bonus stacking though, like, there's no typed bonuses (like Insight vs Natural) there's just straight up armor bonuses. You COULD probably just say "this bonus doesn't stack with any other armor bonuses though."

I'm acquaintances with Keith Baker over on Google Plus, I may poke him a bit about that idea (he's kind of busy with his new game though)

Garrett Guillotte wrote:

[stuff about minus signs]

One of the reasons Paizo doesn't use "proper" minus signs is that not all fonts implement them (especially the weird small-house artsy fonts some of our art department folks can't get enough of).

(There's a workaround of using one specific font for characters like that wherever it appears, but that can bite you very badly when somebody changes a style on a bit of text somewhere and, elsewhere, your minus sign quietly turns into a space or a box...)

If your guys are into ~quirky artsy fonts~ but you want them to get things that actually have gosh-darn character support, I highly suggest sending them to http://www.designcuts.com. They often have REALLY good deals not just on fonts but on other design elements (textures, stock art, etc), and often have freebies for download. I got a bunch of really nice fonts from them that have full character support, which has been a total lifesaver for some of the layout projects I've been doing.

*e* Also, Garrett, you are seriously saving my butt right now on some font issues I've been having at the 3pp I work for.

Now that I know this, I think for some of the really super indie places I work, we could actually create screen-reader friendly editions of things :\a Since we have the luxury of not being on quite as tight a schedule as some of the bigger companies. I mean, someone using a screen reader might not care if the font is just straight up TNR or Futura (GOD I LOVE FUTURA, GOD BLESS TSR FOR MAKING EVERYTHING THEY DID IN YE OLDE DAYS IN FUTURA) so long as the reader interprets it correctly...

There are three prominent dashes. The hyphen is the shortest and is used in connecting words and has its own key.

The en-dash is a little longer and can usually be entered by holding down the alt and typing 0150 out in numbers like so (–). It is usually used as a negative sign thusly: –1 to hit. There are other uses, but they escape me at the moment.

The em-dash is the longest and is used to denote a separate thought within a sentence—somewhat like parentheses and comma splices—so that it can be emphasized or clear up certain details. You get it by holding down the alt and typing 0151 out in numbers like so (—).

On a Macintosh, you use "Option" + "-" for the en-dash, and "Option" + "Shift" + "-"

There's even a wiki page :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_make_dashes

Another tip: If you have the money and are DEAD SERIOUS about freelancing, I HIGHLY suggest subscribing to the Chicago Manual of Style online. It's only $35 / year. CMS is THE guide for little grammatical and typographical things like en and em dashes; I believe Paizo's editorial style is based on it. Some specific types of publication use different style guides (newspapers use the Associated Press stylebook, most scientific publications have their own specific stylebooks) but CMS is the main one for the vast majority of general writing you'll encounter.

If you're really really super serious, it may be in your interests to take a quick copyediting course at a local community college or find an online class. Even if you're not planning on becoming a copyeditor, knowing how copyediting works can help you to police your own text for minor errors, and save the copyeditor on a lot of work later

... speaking of, I should get back to my current copyediting project.

*E* Oh wow, I hadn't noticed that Paizo uses the en-dash as a minus sign. I'm going to have to start doing that in my work for Adventure A Week.

Ok, a week has passed, which is the length of time it'd be before winners were revealed if I'd been in the competition, so I'll be responding to your critiques...
...
...

Soon :\ Right now I have a HUGE copyediting job I have to burn through x_X Once that's done, I'll be ready to respond, and include some other goodies.

This is the latest knitting project. I plan to finish the baby bulette(BB) done during the voting.

oh my god that's adorable

Jensen Toperzer wrote:

man I should join a PBP sometime :\a

Maybe we should do a Top 32 PbP to get through the waiting.

I would be happy to play in such a game :)

barring that, well, come on now, surely someone has a game they want to rope me into?

man I should join a PBP sometime :\a

Monica: Oh jeez D: I hope everything goes well for your dad.

Re: conventions, one of the nice things about doing any sort of freelance RPG work whatsoever that you're paid for is that you can write conventions off your taxes ;) It's how I afforded two PAXes and a MAGfest last year.

Speaking of, I'll be Enforcing at PAX East this year unless I land a really good job between now and March 8, so if you're going, feel free to say hi! I'm always up for tabletop games of any stripe :) Uh, I still need a hotel room though ._.

I'm also trying to make GenCon this year, but that's a difficult thing. The volunteer process is like 500x more complicated than PAX.

Well, I AM trying to move to Seattle, so if I'm there by May you'll see me :)

oh man it's late so I don't have too much to say other than I REALLY love the way the one tentacle overlaps your key!

Monica you are fabulous and even if it was a temporary madness that made you enter I am super glad you did. Your work thus far has been stellar. Please keep at it, and, if you don't win, consider freelancing (ENWorld is looking for both Pathfinder and 5e writers!)

Man it's actually kinda nice being in the no longer in the running beanbag pile

feels...

...

...stress-free

Oh man, it was my birthday yesterday, I totally forgot to mention.

Happy birthday to me, monsters to look at soon, can't wait :3

Confusion Golem wrote:

Jensen Toperzer wrote:

Dangit I swear Pathfinder is the only RPG system that really did a lot with mesoamerican stuff :|

Only straight-up fantasy RPG, maybe... :)

I agree, we need more Aztec themes. I love their mythology.

AD&D and 2nd Ed had some Meso-American modules and monsters as well.

I would like to see more of every culture though. More West and Central Africa, more Polynesian, more Austrailian Aboriginal, more Indian, more Everything.

Having predominantly White European fantasy can be limiting.

I'm actually going to be writing an adventure soon that uses Gnolls extensively, and I'm thinking I might use elements of Tanzanian and Ethiopian culture (including more African elves) because hyenas.

In regards to First Edition Monster Manual and monsters in general, my favorite story about the 1e monster manual is that a whole bunch of the monsters were inspired by terrible dollar store toys.

Article here, by no less than Tony Di Terlizzi

Gary used them as minis because well, you couldn't FIND minis of monsters back in the day. He would also give them to writers and ask them to come up with a monster based on them.

If I ever make it to a monster round, I may well go back to this post and pick out a terrible dollar store monster to make...

FOUND IT oh thank god

it had been under some things

Wow, I can't seem to find the real life hard copy of this map now D: No clue where I put it.

I'm hoping it didn't get accidentally thrown out -- I had to move back in with my parents (at... 28. Ah, the 21st century :\ ) and my mom has a bad habit of wantonly cleaning up everything without telling anyone. I've lost important financial information and job callbacks this way, so it's possible :(

(I don't really blame her, per se; she lives with two people with severe ADHD and anxiety, me and my dad, so the clutter can get maddening sometimes, and sometimes she doesn't even look at what she's throwing out. Even so...)

Luckily I still have HQ digital scans.

Hey everyone. I don't want to be overstepping my bounds in posting this, but time is short and I don't want folks lagging behind if there's even a slim chance of it happening.

Leviathan's End maker Jason Keeley posted that he cannot continue the contest. If you think you might have been close to getting in the top 16, then be prepared for the possibility that you might get bumped up!

Well good job me, I just disqualified myself :P

In all seriousness, that's a big shame. I hope it's nothing serious and just a matter of not having time.

What's a Nar-Voth? 8|

let me google that for you: Nar-Voth

Congrats to the top 16! Now get on those monsters ;)

Condolences to the rest, and my fellow Alternates. Next year: FIRE AND BLOOD!

Related: As promised, I have made a thread requesting feedback on my map.

Woo thread

If you're one of the folks who didn't make it in, I'd sincerely appreciate your comments and feedback! If you did make it in, GET OUT OF THIS THREAD AND WORK ON YOUR MONSTER ALREADY.

Thanks bunches in advance!

I only made it into Round 2 as an Alternate, as you all know. That means nobody got to see my map.

However, I really want feedback on it! This was my first time drawing a for real game map that wasn't just something I scribbled together right before a game based on an existing map, so I really want to improve and get better... so that next year I can kick butt and take names :)

What I want from you: Please critique my map as though it were an actual entry (if you have the time!)

I'm not going to put in commentary yet: I'm going to treat this like a for real entry, so, for the next... let's say a week, I will not publicly clarify anything or respond to any critiques with more than a vague "Thank you for your comment."

The "maybe more?" Is that I'm also considering putting in this thread a revised version of my magic item, along with my build process for that item and backstory... but that won't be till we're done with the map.

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, JENSEN'S MAP ENTRY:

Crystalhurst Village and Druid Circle

Thank you in advance for your feedback and comments!

There's been a ton of discussion about psionics and their necessity to Dark Sun, too, on WotC's boards, not that we've seen Dark Sun yet. Given that the Artificer was a wizard subclass (oops, that should be tradition at this point) I won't be at all surprised if Psion is too, and half the customer base's heads explode.

Then again, this very UA says "once such rules become available" about psionics, so who the hell knows, right?

If Psion is a subclass, it will be of the Sorcerer, since Sorcerers already have power points, essentially. I'm planning on making a quick-and-dirty Sorcerer path of that eventually...

As for the Artificer, I couldn't agree more. I'm actually in the process of (slowly, between pro comissions) creating a 5e Artificer class. I do think this version brings in some cool mechanics that I'm going to steal for the base class, but it won't be ~lol wizard subclass~ that's for sure.

The three paths I'm going to have for Artificer will be Golemancer (make construct friends! whee!), Alchemist (based on the Pathfinder class), and Tinkerer (MacGuyver meets Jackie Chan).

But yeah, overall I found the Artificer sorta disappointing. This also makes me nervous that they're never really going to release splat books. Combined with the news that there are now only 8 designers/writers TOTAL working on D&D (and NO WOMEN on that team, wtf) , I have a lot of reason to be nervous :\ I get the feeling that Hasbro doesn't care about D&D beyond having an IP to sit on.

I wrote a big rant on Tumblr about the thing I most want to see. I won't repeat the whole thing here, so here's a link:

For the Love of God, Wizards, Distribute Dungeons and Dragons Digitally

TL;DR -- For the love of all things holy, release PDFs.

I know people have been on Mike Mearls on this already, but seriously, Wizards, get with the program.

I'm not kidding about the offer on the bottom, either; I'm a professional layout artist (I work with AdventureAWeek right now), and I would do it for that level of terrible rate just to get it DONE.

Unlikely as I may be to get them, and assuming there's nothing in the license that prevents them from being produced, I'd like to see 5e converted collections of the original three Dungeon magazine adventure paths: Shackled City, Age of Worms, and Savage Tide. Other than that I'm content with the current slow release of materials.

If the license allows it, I'd love to see this. If it doesn't... I'd be happy to make a free PDF conversion under Fair Use laws ;) Conversion is my favorite thing to do in the world.

Same with a 5e Ravenloft conversion.

Did you all see the news piece about projecting D&D maps?

haha we used to check out computer labs in college and do this with the whiteboards and projectors

AHEAD OF OUR TIME

*e* Not really an "interactive" map in that case though, it was just me as the DM scribbling around with a dry erase pen

still easier than using LEGO minis like we were doing.

Well, today at 5 I find out one thing: whether I have to report to jury duty tomorrow.

Then somewhere between 6 and 8--i.e., when the Paizo boards stop breaking--and/or I do or do not get a notification email, I find out if I've got to finish up a monster.

0_o

Work on your monster during jury duty. What else you goan do?

*E* I have layout to work on for AAW today (... which I am behind on, because I woke up late...)

But this evening I'll be posting my map in a separate thread. Woo.

that is because DiTerlizzi is amazing

Kytons.

Kytons are my favorite. I always liked the concept in Dungeons and Dragons, but Paizo's Hellraiser-esque expansion of them is just. Wow. I always felt the D&D versions were just sort of... lacking, here we have a devil that's just. Idk. Different than other devils? And then Paizo takes them and expands them into their own really unsettling sort of outsider, beyond devils and demons, beyond pleasure and pain.

Of the Kytons, the Interlocutors are my favorite. Someday, I'd love to write a whole adventure path just about Kytons.

Regarding maps: I'm going to wait until the winners are revealed, then I'm gonna make a separate thread about mah map (and magic item too).

@Jensen - That actually sound pretty cool. As long as it is not part of the actual item stat block / template.

Yeah, it absolutely isn't :) and part of my edit is keeping the abilities of the item in line with that backstory, but not REQUIRING the backstory for the item to make sense.

Basically, the context could serve as an adventure hook or inspiration for where, why, or in whose hands you might find my item, BUT without context the item should still 1. function and 2. make sense.

See there is a problem with backstory for magic items. The items submitted for the constest are supposed to be specific items - that is, not just a +1 keen stabby-stab, but have some special powers. That does not mean a specific magic item is unique. There can be dozens or even hundreds of that specific kind of item in the game world. With so many instances of said item, backstory doesn't make much sense and can actually detract from the item itself in some most cases.

Oh no, the backstory in question allows for there to be dozens or even hundreds of that item. In fact, one of the evil secrets in that backstory are that while some persons want you to think they're rare, unique, or even impossible, more need for them exists than one would think...

Like, okay. Winchester Rifles have a backstory. There's a LOT of Winchester Rifles, but there's still a story behind their creation. Or Fender guitars.

Related to "When can we talk about our maps" esp for us Alternates, would anyone at all be interested in hearing my item's backstory?

I'm thinking of first off putting a revised version up taking into account the judge's comments on my item, and then just tossing in the backstory for kicks. I know, I know, no one cares, but since I'm out of the running anyway, it won't affect anyone's votes.

dear me: get off these forums and go write those 5th edition articles you promised ENWorld you'd write

...

me: /continues to sit here

Dangit I swear Pathfinder is the only RPG system that really did a lot with mesoamerican stuff :| That's usually my go-to for inspiration since most people either misunderstand or don't bother with it, but SOMEHOW Y'ALL HAVE AZUIHOTLS.

/grumbles and starts crafting a pitch to ENWorld about a 5e based mesoamerican campaign setting

*edit* /slaps self in head

you moron that just means there's precedent for the item so you can come up with a cool-as-heck magic version next year stop being salty because you didn't make the base item first.

Even so, it always astounds me just how many things Pathfinder has actually defined in the rules. Sometimes it's overwhelming and depressing, because it feels like I'm boxed in; other times it's kind of refreshing to be like "oh thank god I don't have to make up a rule for this."

*e2* Given what I've read of Spanish accounts of the Aztecs I'd give it a bigger critical modifier, to be honest. Given that multiple Spanish records are like "Oh god that thing one-shot a warhorse D: D: D: " Apparently they were used almost like saws.

Taylor Hubler wrote:

It is all about the full contact heavy metal jousting and international longsword competitions.

My state's official sport is jousting but we don't have nearly enough tourneys.

I was about to chime in here :P but yeah. It's actually true, Maryland's state sport is jousting.

Admittedly most jousting here is Ring Jousting but sometimes there is still actual contact jousting. Our Renaissance Fest's jousting is REALLY INTENSE. This is not your Medieval Times stuff, people really do wail on each other.

FEAR THE VERY MIGHTY, CR 18, ROCK-CATCHING DRAGON..... who is tiny-sized. :D :D :D

Okay, a Tiny CR 18 monster would be terrifying though. How many CR 18 creatures are that size!? Just imagine like... your party are a bunch of probably Mythic level dudes with a billion prestige classes and feats and you can't even hit the damn thing, and it's probably really fast and nearly invisible.

In other news, talking about next year is silly, and talking about your entry ideas this far out is still a bad idea even if it's in a year... but if Paizo ever does weapons again, I really want to do a Macuahuitl, because 1. there's not enough mesoamerican inspired stuff in my tabletop games and 2. those things were hardcore and stupid dangerous.

Baseball's slow and casual pace is what makes me enjoy it. I can have a conversation with the fans around me between pitches and not miss anything.

I'm the same way. Hell, I've actually worked on dungeon maps at a baseball game.

The American League Champion Kansas City Royals. (Even with losing the World Series, its nice to be able to say that for the first time since I was 2...) Their AAA affiliate (the Stormchasers) is here in Omaha NE, and I'm hoping to work at their ballpark again this summer. (My PFS VL got me an application, haha!)

We've been counting days until spring training (20 days) and until the start of AAA games here in Omaha (82 days) for awhile, now.

Yeah! You guys beat us out in making it to the top there :P Still slightly sore about that but tbh, it's on us :\ Both our teams seem to get close and then inevitably faceplant once it's within reach.

And yessss. Soon. SOOOOOOOON BASEBALL WILL RETURN TO US, REJOICE

The best superhero show is clearly Agent Carter. Seriously, EVERYONE should be watching that. It's really, really, REALLY good.

Best part about the Super Bowl is that baseball is just around the corner. That's my sport of choice.

/zooms in on

yo what TEAM son

I live in Maryland, but near Washington, DC, so my loyalties are basically Nationals for the American league and Orioles for the National. I am still praying for a Beltway world series.

Re: Football, I'm refusing to participate because 1. I think the current business practices and ethics of the Football Association are vile and 2. The Washington DC Team That Will Not Be Named still refuses to change their name away from something that is a racial slur, and it's gross, disrespectful, and embarrassing.

A, congrats Allana!

Puzzles are also really, really hard to do in a way that don't feel arbitrary and stupid. I remember in the First Steps PFS adventure I played Monday (it's been 3 years since I played Pathfinder, figured I should refresh myself on the rules if I'm going to continue to freelance with 3pp Pathfinder publishers), there is a puzzle where this jerk randomly locks you in his basement and forces you to solve a really stupid puzzle involving 3 boxes. I got frustrated and spent the entire time glaring at the DM and trying to find ways to subvert the puzzle.

There are two types of truly good puzzles. The first is when Stupid Bullshit Puzzles are part of the buy-in to the adventure. White Plume Mountain and Tomb of Horrors are good examples of this: every puzzle in there is absolute bull, but you know, going in, that these are Absolute Bull dungeons made by Crazy Jerk Wizards. Plus, there's ways to subvert / hijack those puzzles to your own needs.

The second is when the puzzle naturally evolves from the environment. These are both much harder to create but also much more rewarding in the end. Good examples might be solving a symbolic language created by local thieves to try to find their hideout, working with a sluice in a dam to unleash a flood to take out a monster (this is especially good bc the party thus has two options: solve a puzzle, OR fight a monster).

Another good example: in the same First Steps adventure, there's an old rotting warehouse the party is supposed to investigate to get a box out of it. I believe the adventure is written so that you have to deal with a combat encounter, a trap, and a puzzle. You have the Quest Item, a crate full of paperwork on a precarious perch of two boards set over a huge rotted hole in the floor, a winch for moving crates in and out of the warehouse, a bunch of Dire Rats with disease to attack the players (maybe some more stuff, there were coffins in there...) and a trap consisting of rotted planks around the hole that give way if you try to get the box. I THINK the way you're SUPPOSED to solve this room is fight the rats, find the trap, and use the winch to get the box.

I didn't even find out about this setup. I looked out on the water and went, "Hey how high above the water is this warehouse at low tide?" "Eh, 15 feet I'd say." "Cool, we take the boat tied up next to the warehouse at low tide an row under it." "You find a giant hole with the box on two planks above it." "... THAT WAS TOO EASY. THIS IS A TRAP."

And it was a trap just... not for those of us under the box. Our Halfling Arcanist climbed in through the window instead, because she hadn't talked to the rest of the party and didn't know we were doing this (she'd wandered off alone. sigh.) She was how I found out about the interior layout and probable EXPECTED solution, because she accidentally set off the trap... dropping the box right into our boat (and... knocking my poor gunslinger into the water, where she started screaming MY BLACK POWDER MY BLACK POWDER NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO)

This is a puzzle that:

1. Has more than one solution. You can use the winch, OR take a boat under the hole and grab the box that way.
2. Makes total sense for the location. The box contained important shipping information and illegal goods (I think) that the guy who owned it was trying to hide from the authorities. An old warehouse on the water would naturally have a winch for taking goods into and out of the building, and it'd also make sense for a small boat to be tied up to the dock.
3. Has failure modes that not only aren't garbage, but still make sense for the location. A paranoid guy who cared about keeping the paperwork out of the wrong hands would indeed look at that floor and go, "Okay, I can put the box over those planks so that it's hard to get. If someone tries, it falls into the water; I lose my papers, but the other guy doesn't get 'em, either. And I can always grab it with the winch or my own boat." The box also had black powder in it, which would a. serve as an additional failure mode and trap layer if some wise guy set off a fire spell of some sort, and b. also served as treasure (my sopping wet gunslinger nearly cried with joy at the unexpected boon).

THAT is a GOOD puzzle. It makes sense in context, it has multiple solutions, and multiple failure modes that aren't total gotchas (I imagine if you got the box out of the water fast enough, for instance, you could get the papers. Setting it on fire, uh, well, that's your own fault).

Meanwhile, "Lol a crazy guy locks you in a vault with random hidden keys and some boxes :V " is arbitrary and rude and boring.

So... TL;DR -- puzzles are REALLY HARD. I do think they'd make a good RPGS challenge, but Owen pointed out reasons they don't always work... and again, super, super difficult. I could see creating a puzzle encounter instead of a monster encounter for a penultimate round though.

Jensen Toperzer wrote:

Are us Alternates allowed to share our maps, now that we've been eliminated?

I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's still technically possible for an alternate to advance if a Top 32 contestant happens to say something DQ-worthy.

So, I wouldn't advise you to talk about your entry just yet.

Gotcha. Alternate friends, let us hold off until voting is over. Then I say we make a thread with our maps for people to critique :) It'll be good practice for next year.

Are us Alternates allowed to share our maps, now that we've been eliminated?