Tokoz's page

Hi all. =)

My wife and son and I have started a new video blog called "Old School House." We plan on doing short little segments on different aspects of being a gamer family. We don't plan on doing any that are longer than 15 minutes.

You can watch our first one here. It's about the items we entered in RPG Superstar 2014.

I'm still learning the video editing thing, so my apologies for the dark filming, unequal sound, and rough cuts. I'll get better with time.

This started as a conversation in another thread, but I thought it would be fun if entrants showed their thought processes in a very vague way. I also thought it might be good for showing others how different people think things through.

I see a lot of stuff written up saying "do think this way" and "don't think that way" when the truth is my way works for me. It's unlikely that some one else's method will work great for me. My way will NOT work exactly as is for ANYONE. My method can stand improvement, which is why I'm starting this. My son and wife's methods are different than my own, and I mostly taught both of them. (if you're wondering there's almost 75 years of gaming between us.) I don't want the method's of the winners. I've stewed through plenty of that and taken what I can. I want to know all of it. =) Somewhere out there is a first year entrant that has an idea I can use to improve. Somewhere out there is an experienced entrant that can help me too, but they are mostly old farts like me and set in their ways.

My "from the hip" design will probably cost me. But this is the process I went through for my item. I go through a similar process for most item/spell/creature creations. =P

It's important to note that the error I vaguely mention is not alone in the submissions. While I consider it a very "newbie" type error on my part (I should have known better) and one I shouldn't have made. It's one that any very experienced person could make and one I've seen less often than I'd like to help calm my flustered ego, but often enough that I don't feel totally alone.

1. I thought of what I wanted to be able to do. In this case it was not a combat item but was definitely something that any adventurer would use. So I had the "generally anyone can use" and "not armor, weapon, etc" for the wondrous item.

All of this was actually a long process. The idea was first conceived just before the 2013 contest, but I wasn't up to entering that year. (no explanation provided) About two weeks before the contest this year, I pulled it out along with a bunch of stuff I'd thought of since then and decided the concept was sound. So I went on.

2. Filed through my brain to see if I knew of an item that did that. Nope.

3. Filed through my brain to see if I knew of a spell that did that. Nope.

4. Told my son and wife what I wanted to do. They didn't know of an item or a spell that did that.

5. Figured out who, other than an adventurer, would use it. This made the description easier.

6. Dumbed down the item even more so that those people could use it.

7. Thought about if there was anything similarly themed or simple and handy that could enhance the item without overloading it. (A lot of items would benefit from doing this and NOT adding anything else after that.) I went with a simple addition.

8. Spent some time thinking about potential campaign problems from it. In this case, the item is simple enough that there was only a small caveat I had to add about the minor addition I made. Since it was non-combat and not strictly adventuring oriented, I didn't really worry too much about campaign balance (that might have killed me, because it contains a mechanics error of sorts. I can "justify" the error, but I'd have to justify it and that isn't what the judges want.)

9. The day of the deadline I wrote it down and showed it to my son and wife. My son made minor fixes to my mechanics. (The mistake came after this. I can't fault him.) My wife got rid of phrases like "appears to be a normal..." (not really, but there was a phrase in there that needed to go and I've SEEN it many times this year.) She fixed grammatical and punctuation errors. I posted it and emailed a copy off to my son. He never commented on it, but when I was reading his response to something else, I noticed my error.

As a side note, I copied the format suggestion from the contest rules and pasted that into a word processor. I saved frequently and copied and pasted the item from the file to the website.

I also read all of Sean's suggestions over that one year period of time. And read some of the peanut gallery's comments as well. I like peanuts.

It burns us! It burns us!

Ok. I feel better now. Carry on.

The official playtest document is now downloadable here at Paizo.com Feel free to check out the psyonic feat lines and the new charlatan class. I'm hoping for enough feedback to have it well balanced by the time it comes to PaizoCon 2012.

I'll also be adding the Spark class to it soon, so it will be updated with that and any changes we make automatically in your downloads. Be sure to visit Phil and Kaja Foglio's webcomic that inspired the class. We're very grateful for their kind permission to use the term in our work.

And to help you better decide whether or not support us at kickstarter, I'm posting the lastest fluff about the world. More information is available at theTerah Project blog

Also, if you're looking for steampunk, but with less magic and more grit, be sure to check out this excellent project.

Regions of the World

The part about Terah that excites me the most is the fact that the world has a cohesive history. I have nothing against game worlds that are adventure based, but I like the idea of having a world that is in synch across cultures. Being a little bit of a history aficionado it stretches my suspension of disbelief if I end up going from a bronze age pharoahacracy to a post renaissance democratic republic in the same adventure. (Yes, playing the old GDW Dangerous Journeys system.)

So as we’ve been working history of Terah, we’ve been spending a good deal of time looking at our history. On Earth there were some pretty interesting things happening in the late 19th century. We’ve looked to these things to establish the base culture of Terah.

• The British Empire had a strong influence on the world’s culture, similar to the unifying effect that the Romans had on Europe. Britain’s drive towards empire brought British thinking, engineering, and culture to all parts of the planet. While most places did manage to keep their base culture, they often integrated that culture into the forms and customs of their conquerors. By the late 19th century the British hold on many places had weakened significantly in the area of government, but the culture remained. In Terah this is seen as the culture of the High Elves. They brought their technology over and influenced the world, but didn’t have the strength (or infrastructure) to be able to hold onto it all. Like the British and the Romans before them, the High Elves have lost control of most of the world, but their influence on culture remains.
• The High Elf influence is seen in fewer cultures in Terah than the British influence was seen on Earth. On our side of things, we’ve speculated what the changes would be in an area where the British had only tertiary or tangential influence: Germany. There’s also High Elf influence in cultures similar to Asia and India. While I’d love to eventually add many other cultures to Terah, we’ve stuck with only the ones that were affected by the coming of the elves to begin with. I have some cooler plans for Arabian style cultures.
• It’s not in the original World Guide, but what if the British hadn’t come to the Middle East? What if changes in technology and infrastructure came only through international commerce and cultural exchange? Eventually, I’ll get to the Arabian side of things in Terah.
• The United States of America toyed with its own concept of empire at the same time as the British, although not as successfully. A big part of their lack of growth came from their slightly less aggressive nature and the fact that not all Americans agreed with the concept of empire. And the nature of domestic problems caused by the whole “manifest destiny” philosophy didn’t aid in their cause. The Dark Elf culture is very loosely based on this historical concept. Dark Elves had been freeing Gnome slaves on the Other World and bringing them to Terah to live with the Dwarves for about a century prior to the Holocaust. After the Holocaust, they spent so much time dealing with the problems of freed Gnomes among the Dwarves that there wasn’t much time for empire building. They unified the Dwarven clans through a laid back philosophy. They’d give magical help and technology to one clan and then let the clan’s enemies know that in exchange for a slight loss of their sovereignty, they could have the same technology. This way they united the dwarven clans, but had much less influence on their culture.
• Dwarves have little cultural comparison to Earth. Architecturally, they are based on Central America and at one time, lived both above and below ground. With the Gnomish rebellion about 200 years ago, the dwarves became a little paranoid and xenophobic. The result was to move all their cities underground and to form a sort of Orwellian dystopia society. Their vast steam-powered difference engines (computers) track their citizens everywhere they go and visitors are not often allowed. The result is a very safe society, but much to the Dark Elf’s dismay, it is one that no longer values creativity or innovation.
• Gnomes are just scary. I’m still tweaking this race a lot. They are NOT slaves. No one wants them.

I am still working out the details but there will be a few chances to check out the new steampunk system by Rossi Publishing Games by playing the PFS style module Mr. Dumont and the Magnificent Time Piece. Steampunk characters will provided.

You can download the playtest pfd here at Paizo.com

You can check out our blog here.

You can even contribute directly through kickstarter or get involved in some discussion about us and another great steampunk project at rpg.net.

I'm happy to announce that playtesting of some of the systems used in our upcoming Terah World Guide and Pebble in the Pond Adventure Path steampunk products are now open for public testing. We're starting the year with Rune Working feats. This set of feats is designed to augment any class and is already available here

And there's more tests to come:

February: Psionic feat system. Like the Rune Working Feats, its designed to augment existing classes, not create a class of its own. These feats add flavor and flair to any level of character.

March: Illusionist class. Not just a specialist wizard, the illusionist is the snake oil salesman of fantasy steampunk. Those who miss the old first edition illusionist and those who were glad to see the class go will both appreciate the balance and finesse the new class can add to any campaign.

April: Earth Singer Prestige Class. If an illusionist were to take this prestige class, you'd have Professor Harold Hill.

May: The Spark*. The pinnacle of our changes to form a steampunk world, the spark is a mad scientist with an uncanny ability to twist the laws of physics to suit her needs.

We at Rossi Publishing Games are happy to share with this community the key processes that we will be publishing soon** and invite the gaming community at large to help us fine-tune things and have a great time with it as well.

Our lead developer Anthony Rossi, known here as Jarrod the Outcast, will be heading up the playtests. Be sure to pick his brain and challenge his thinking.

* "Spark" is (c) Phil and Kaja Foglio of Gaslamp Productions. Used with permission. Be sure to visit their website and enjoy the same comic that helped inspire our world.

** Expect the product to be available by PaizoCon 2012.

Starting today, I’ll be accepting story submissions for a new fanfic magazine to be published online. The first issue of Absalom Archives will be appearing near January 15th, 2011 and will contain science fiction and fantasy stories to include some fan-fiction centered in Golarion. The call for submissions will be ongoing. I’m looking for writers and artists.

Submission Guidelines

Absalom Archives only accepts works of fiction or poetry that meet our guidelines. Submissions must be fantasy or science fiction themed and may take place in the shared world of Golarion, owned by Paizo Publishing, LLC. Fiction should not be more than 10,000 words, although we will consider works of up to 15,000 words. Poetry should not exceed 250 lines, although longer will be at least partially reviewed. There is a solid “PG” cut-off for all submissions. Anything with overly sexual or violent themes will be rejected on contact. For articles on gaming, we suggest you submit to Wayfinder Magazine.

Fiction and Poetry:

Times Roman 12pt, 1½ spaced. The title page should include the suggested title of the story, author’s name, address, phone number, and email address along with the words “I understand that Absalom Archives will use First North American Serial Rights if it decides to publish my story and does not provide monetary compensation. By submitting this for review for publication I certify that this submission is an original work that has not been published elsewhere and uses no other copyrights or trademarks held by anyone else other than those associated with the world of Golarion, owned by Paizo Publishing, LLC.”

The manuscript should be free of customized text with the exception of the use of underlining to denote where italics should appear for publication. The first page of the manuscript should begin 3/4th of the way down the page with the title. Each page beyond that should have a header containing the title and the page number. No page other than the title should contain the author’s name.

Stories and poetry should be ready to print with only minimal editing. For assistance on meeting this requirement, we suggest joining the discussion and submission process available at http://pathfinderchronicler.net

Submissions should be sent to skunkster <at> skunkmanor.net in an MS Word or OpenOffice format. Hard copy submissions will not be accepted at this time. Failure to follow submission guidelines will result in immediate rejection. Expect at least 8 weeks for response, although depending on workload, it could be much shorter or longer.

Art:

Artists should send a small portfolio (no less than 5 pieces and no more than 15) in .jpg format to skunkster <at> skunkmanor.net. Portfolio images are not exempt from the magazine’s “PG” guidelines. If your work meets our criteria, we will send you a document to sign and return electronically before sending the exact information of what we’d like to see illustrated. We offer no monetary compensation for artwork. Do not expect any kind of definite response for artwork submitted.