Tim Kosinski's page

Is there any chance that Yugoloth's will appear in Golarian?

I have a large group of individuals who want to get started playing PFS in New England. I have contacted a number of stores about their involvement in procurring mods and such through the retailer program that has been mentioned on numerous occasions by Paizo staff. These retail stores have no information on the program. Is there a program in which retail stores can get mods for play for free or a lower cost? Aren't retail stores supposed to be able to get the mods earlier then say people ordering them off this site?

What is the minimum number of players required at a table for PFS play? What is the maximum? How does one calculate the "APL" or level of play for the table?

I'm looking to start a group dedicated to playing the Runelord's Adventure path using the Pathfinder RPG Alpha and Beta rules sets in the Boston area. Give me a shout if your interested.

I've read various posts where people have brought up the possibility that it is difficult for characters to die using the 4.0 ruleset. If that is true, shouldn't it also be tough for NPC's of equal encounter level (or whatever it is called in 4.0) be difficult to kill as well? What are the implications on combat? Will it take longer to resolve a combat because the particpants are tough to kill? If that's not the case, is the 4.0 ruleset scewed so that player characters are considerably more powerful or hardy then NPC's and monsters so that PC's always have the advantage?

I always thought that the 3.5 rules set encounter level, when calculated properly and terrain or outside influences were taken into account was an accurate tool that put PC's on par to their adversaries in combat. How is the 4.0 situation any better if the encounter balancing act is either scewed or worse - broken? The worst case is that combats are drawn out giving PC's plenty of "second chances" in combat so that every combat becomes a war or attrition similar to combats in video games with end bosses on each level. Instead of outsmarting or overpowering the end boss, the task is always to kill the end bosses annoying minions first while avoiding heavy damage from the end boss and then just gang up on it till everyone in the party uses up all their resources. During the combat, PC's won't worry about dieing since every now and then the cleric will score a ciritcal hit and heal someone while some other character class can mass heal the party. The wizard will run out of big spells, but will case 1s6 magic missles until the boss drops. Meanwhile the fighter doesn't have to worry about DR so he just keeps whacking away. The boss just sits there and takes a beating since he has fewer options and fewer defenses. While he/she/it takes the beating it thinks "boy, I miss 3.5 when I had a fighting chance." For that matter so will the DM/GM/judge/WoTC Savant or whatever a Dungeon Master is called in 4.0.

Thoughts?

Has anyone noticed the similarity between WoTC's latest incarnation of their Dungeons and Dragon product mix and the demise of other companies such as Avalon Hill and TSR? Just prior to the demise of Avalon Hill and TSR, each spread their product lines accross board games, RPG, and Computer Games. Each dedicated a great deal of resources in terms of time and cash toward developing computer games derived from or branded with their pen and paper board games. Each did this in response to what they perceived as a declining market for their games and the demand for computer games. Funny how after both moved down this path each soon was out of business and were purchased by Hasbro. Hasbro in turn has been able to republish or sell rights to many of the games that were successful for each company. I wonder if had both focused on their core competency which was board and RPG games if they would still exist.

Hasbro may be following the same path to destruction. They have placed their bets all over the board for 2008. The Dungeons and Dragons brand will be applied to video games, an online gaming site, print RPG, and miniatures. It already appears that the digital iniative may be failing as there were recently posts put on the site for a lead developer position and no release date for the DI to go live.

It actually be more accurate to say that WoTC has put all their chips on 4.0 and spread it's distribution among a number of channels. Of course some of these are more costly then others.

Anyway I'm just going to sit back and watch this unfold. If your intersted check out the entries on Wikepedia for Chaosium, Wizards of the Coast, Avalon Hill, and many of the other gaming companies that no longer exist.

This definately is not a good sign for the digital initiative. I saw this on the DI site:

Job Opportunity
12/13/2007 - Wizards of the Coast has an opening for a Lead Software Developer Engineer. To read the complete description and requirements for this position, head to the Hasbro site and follow the Careers link to Wizards of the Coast jobs... (More)

This is not very professional to boot. Who posts a position directly related to a product that is about to be released.

The announcement for Dungeon 151 indicated that there would be multiple mods for that issue. Besides Tsocanth, I belive that an Eberron dungeon would be part of the issue. Anyone know where one can find it? I suspect that WoTC is behind schedule as usual and breaking promises.

Is there any chance a "Living Pathfinder" campaign similar to other living campaigns will be released?

There are a ton of soon to be displaced Living Greyhawk players looking for something with a Greyhawk feel that is not Forgotten Realms.

Many of my fellow gamers in New England have picked up Pathfinder and like what they see.

Think of how many Pathifinder sourcebooks could be sold.

A rumor has been floating aroung that WOTC's license or copyright on Greyhawk material will revert to its original creator - Gary Gygax - at some point in the near future. Some speculate that this is the reason why WOTC is phasing out (or more accuratey snuffing out) references to the Greyhawk universe.

Can anyone out there shed some light on this rumor.

I myself don't believe it, but I have heard is so many times from Living Greyhawk players that I am would like to know if anyone else has heard anything similar.

October is here and the promised new issues of Dungeon and Dragon Magazines on the DnDInsider site are nowhere to be found. WOTC is doing a bang up job. What an incredible new release of their products. Is this a sign of things to come?

WOTC

We
Overcharge
The
Customer

Check out this article as it relates to treating your customers. If this was a test for WOTC PR and marketing departments they would get an F. You'll find many nuggets of information about standard marketing practice for established companies and brands.

Liz, if your out there, you might want to take a look and learn something.

http://www.sandhill.com/opinion/daily_blog.php?id=29&post=320

Does anyone know if the Green Ronin Freeport setting is the same as the DCC Freeport that is the backdrop for Dungeon Crawl Classics #20 Shadow's in Freeport?

I'd also like to add one more thing. What was the deal with the "European" guy stating at the end of the teaser "The game has stayed the same, The game has stayed the same." I'm sorry, but if the game was the same then there would be no need for a 3.5.

Has anyone seen Randy Buehler's interview regarding Gleemax? It turns out that these guys have the rights to what was the Dragon and Dungeon magazines. Looks like their going to try and leverage that material into some kind of online gaming service.

Randy seems to have rocks in his head (mut be all the magic card playing he's done) if he thinks D&D gamers are going to shift to whatever they have in mind. So far he's been very vague about Wizards intentions for what was formerly Dungeon and Dragon and the game in general, but it seems to me that this is it for our good old game.

Randy seems to have the background to manage the Magic side of theings, but I am weary of his forray into tackling the future of how D&D material is produced and delivered. He seems to be another ill qualified Wizards hack biting off more then he can chew (see Liz Schuh).

Bye bye D&D. It's going to be a painful road to 4.0.

I noticed that in the latest issue there was some fiction entitled "The Confession." I read the first paragraph and was surprised to see the word "s$##" printed right there before my eyes. I have been a subscriber for almost 20 years going back to when I was 10 and never have I seen that word printed. I went back and search the Dragon archive of the first 250 issue and did not receive a single document returned. I am very concerned as it seems that this type of language isn't fit for a magazine of this nature. I know that Dragon is going out of print, but can we expect the same type of what I will term "mature" content in present Pathfinder and Game Mastery products?

We can say all we want about WoTC, their poor product value, and the cancelation of Dragon and Dungeon magazines, but they don't print offencive words in their products and if the material therein may offend (like in The Book of Vile Darkness") they apply a warning label. Do you - the staff at Paizo - have standards for language in your products or can we expect to see female npc's referred to as "Nappy Ho's" in an upcoming product?

BTW - I may rethink my support of your upcoming products if their not fit for consumption for teens and children above the age of 11.

Liz Schuh is the marketing manager for Dungeons and Dragons products for Wotc. She is the genius who has decided to pull the plug on both Dungeon and Dragon magazines. She claims to be an avid gamer in both her profile on the Wizards.com and press releases in which she announces the end of Dragon and Dungeon magazines. Has anyone out there ever gamed with her? If so please share your stories with the rest of us? I suspect they will be few and far between.