Tom Knauss's page

I was wondering if the Silent Staff monk moving with Reassess Strategy provokes attacks of opportunity. Thanks!

I think you mean Reassess Tactics rather than Reassess Strategy. The ability does not specifically indicate that you avoid attacks of opportunity, therefore the movement would provoke opportunity attacks unless the character has another feat or ability that would avoid doing so.

Congrats!!!

Thanks Marc!

Is now funded! The first stretch goal at $22,000 is a sneak peek backers only exclusive look at the next book in the Perilous Vistas series called Icebound. You'll get a glimpse at the nuts and bolts of polar biomes as well as some of the obstacles that face polar travelers. I'm also thinking about adding in a new hazard that can also be applied to Mountains of Madness, glacial lake outburst floods.

We are under 750 to funding and 2750 until Icebound exclusive sneak peek.

Although the current Idea of March sale also includes the Razor Coast party pack, the kickstarter version includes a softcover Dead Man's Chest for the same price.

This KS is interesting for the 2 books that I think will be realy good and also for the possibility to get a great deal for older 5-stars hard covers.

Don't miss it!

Thanks. Mountains of Madness has already been printed and its weighing in at 292 pages, which is 70 pages more than Fields of Blood.

We're now at over 200 backers and nearly 60% funded in a week. There's also another update too giving a quick look at the three adventures in Marshes of Malice.

Pledged for both books. Hopefully we make the $20,000 goal.

Thanks for the support. We're 55% funded in five days, so we're cautiously optimistic that we're going to exceed our funding goal by a pretty healthy margin. We'll be posting another update tomorrow evening or Monday with some sneak peeks at three of the adventures.

Please email zach@froggodgames.com and he will get right on it. I already let him know. (He monitors the FB page too.)

Go through the Facebook page.

Zhern and Andre are correct about Dead Man's Chest. Bill is mulling some other stretch goals, but I don't know what they are. Hopefully that answers the question.

We are close to 8K so keep spreading the news. These two products represent two years of work for me so I'm so excited to see them come to life.

What I like about FGG (besides they make fantastic products) is that most of the work is already done before the kickstarter. I understand the Blight is behind, but a lot of kickstarters get behind. I watch people who plan to use something that has not been produced yet, and then it is behind they get very upset. I never plan to use something until it arrives personally.

I have backed every FGG kickstarter, and they usually come out quickly next to other kickstarters. 6 years or ago or something I paid into a kickstarter with a small company for a monster book. They had not done any work at all until the kickstarter was done. I doubt at this stage I will ever see that book, and don't get me started on Throne of Night, which I also doubt will see the light of day at this stage.

This is why I like the Frogs. They have the product essentially written when they do the kickstarter. Now if Richard Pett delivers them a full set of encyclopedias that has not been developed yet, and needs editing, layout and such; and the main book cannot be done until other parts are finished, well then (even though written) that one might take a little longer than anticipated.

As Tom has said, these are written and will likely need layout and such, and I will always support the Frogs in eveything they do.

And if you ever get the chance sit down and talk to Greg, or Skeeter, or Bill. I happen to live close to the main pond, and when Tsar came out I went there to pick up. I was graciously welcomed, we had a nice talk, Greg offered to sign my book, and Bill served me some BBQ'd salmon. I really enjoyed meeting them, and talking with them. They are a class act.

Thanks for the kudos. These are done and need only layout. There's also no bloat in terms of added products. It's a pretty streamlined KS.

I understand your feelings on The Blight. It turned out to be a much bigger monster than expected. These two books are completely done so they are a much different animal than The Blight. The same goes for the add ons.

Link fixed

I've ready jumped in (backer 17) as I love that product line.

Thanks for your support and fixing my crummy link. I need to learn how to do that one of these days.

Two new books in a series that has so far managed to get on my Top Ten with each single installment? Absolutely frickin' worth it. Dunes and Fields are superb and I can't wait to see these two.

I have a high bat to live up to there. Rest assured I always try to improve with each offering.

Mounatins of Madness and Marshes of Malice, the successors to Dunes of Desolation and Fields of Blood are now available on Kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/froggodgames/perilous-vistas-two-new-e nvironment-books-for-path?ref=discovery

I stink at links so if this doesn't work hopefully a more tech savvy fan can help.

I know that there is one really large beautiful signed map that is going to be auctioned off at NTRPG in June.

According to the update, if the project hits 500 backers by midnight tonight, (I presume EDT, since that seems to be Kickstarter's default time zone), the Player's Guide to Bard's Gate unlocks early. We are right now 51 backers away from hitting that goal.

Everyone has been at NTRPG in Dallas for the past few days plus Paizocon last week so once everyone settles back into their routines you'll see more updates about the product.

Red Wedding is now in the book thanks to our incredible fans. There are now 7 adventures for $32, or about $4.50 per adventure. We're $3K away from adding another.

One week left to go

One week later and we're only $2K away from funding.

What is OTS?

Originally I had posted in the 3pp forum but got comments that it was in the wrong place so I made another in Gamer Talk and asked that the one in 3pp be removed. That one got locked and eventually both got removed. Bill's got moved to the 4th and beyond forum so I made this one there too.

The other site.

It is alive.

Would it be possible to start a thread OTS?

If you want to check out the reviews for some of the adventures they are here.

http://endzeitgeist.com/fields-blood/

http://endzeitgeist.com/ezg-reviews-dunes-desolation/

I'm awful at links so if someone out there is better have at it.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Thanks for the great news Tom

EDIT: Specifically this snippet: "the adventures are set in the Stoneheart Mountains so it fleshes out some more of that area and builds on one of the storylines in Sword of Air."

Then you'll really be thrilled to know that the events from Slumbering Tsar also feature prominently in two of the adventures.

Tom, ETA on Mountains of Madness? Also, anything lined up after that?

Spring 2016 is the last I heard. I'm halfway through the next book on wetlands.

Yes it is. It's a little different than the first two in that the adventures are set in the Stoneheart Mountains so it fleshes out some more of that area and builds on one of the storylines in Sword of Air.

Thanks so much everyone.

Tom Knauss wrote:

silverhair2008 wrote:

Tom, would you happen to know which episode of the podcast it would be?

Next Thursday. Part two of the Gamehole Con interview.

Yeah, that interview should be.....interesting. I do like Japanese whiskey now..

SG

It's good stuff. I have a preference for the Hibiki. Charging hard towards the finish line.

Tom, would you happen to know which episode of the podcast it would be?

Next Thursday. Part two of the Gamehole Con interview.

On a related note, also check out next week's podcast installment of Guys, Games and Beer for an interview with Bill, Skeeter, Matt and me along with a cast of thousands (you'll see what I mean when you watch it), while we were at Gamehole Con last week.

You also have to play in one of Bill or Matt's games. It's like watching a maestro conduct an orchestra.

Richard, I love your music suggestions. Sex Pistols, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Ozzy. May I also suggest Trivium's "Villainy Thrives".

Now I must get back to writing about alligators and crocodiles otherwise Skeeter may hurt me.

Qu0zl wrote:

Richard, it looks fantastic. Are you allowed say what systems it will be for yet? Is it pathfinder only?

Huzzah Qu0zl, looks like those can walk about in daylight have already answered your question. Don't forget to get your free PDF tomorrow. Yarp.

Blight previews look awesome Richard, though I still think that you're really Nick Logue in disguise.

I thought this might be helpful if I posted this for people that haven't seen the KS page yet. This covers the thinking behind much of FGG and Necromancer Games feelings about the Lost Lands.

"Dark Medieval" Fantasy in the Borderland Provinces

We've had some questions about why our books are so often called "Dark Medieval" in style and feel...

This Kickstarter is the first view of the campaign for many people: if you’re a fifth edition player, you may not be particularly familiar with Necromancer Games or Frog God Games, or with our various past publications. In that case, welcome to a vast, rich, world-setting with undreamed-of potential for gaming. In fact, if you’re counting the published words of game resources -- i.e., not including novels or computer games -- the Lost Lands setting is probably comparable in detail to the well-known Realms.

So, what do people mean when they talk about “Dark Medieval” as a way of describing the Lost Lands? At a surface glance, the world looks fairly traditional: there are elves, there are halflings, there are wizards … what’s the big deal? How is that “dark?”

Basically, we’re the “film noir” version of escapist fantasy, in contrast to Tolkien’s epic and folkloric approach to the same genre. Our adventures tend to have lots of horrific elements underlying the apparent reality, which is why you’ll often see us saying, “All is not as it seems” when we’re talking about the Lands. Where the Forgotten Realms have a strong tendency toward high fantasy and heroism, our world is a bit … well … ickier.

One of the strong themes of the campaign is that beneath the civilized veneer of things, there is actually a seething mass of rot, evil, heresy, and supernatural threat. Again, “all is not as it seems.” The Borderland Provinces campaign book, as a supplement, has more focus on the actual veneer than an adventure book. What does the “normal” world look like when I’m not in one of these dungeons? So there is a lot of material about culture, history, trade, and...

To boil it down to one sentence, monsters are scarier when it isn't obvious that they are monsters, and may even be likeable. The statement applies to fantasy world and the real world.

I'm pretty sure Tom included that in Mountains of Madness.

Dwarves are tougher than that. They wrestle in quik dry cement.

A week and little more than $8K left to go. It's been a steady climb throughout the kickstarter, but we want to not just fund. We need to smash enough stretch goals to reach Valhalla.

This project has a fairly high entry fee, so spread the word to as many potential backers as possible. Just another 75 backers gets us to funding and then some. If we equal the backers for CotSK, we'll hit everything.

Greg A. Vaughan wrote:

lastgrasp wrote:

Will there be a bestiary in Northlands? If so how many new monsters? Will they be illustrated?

The Bestiary chapter in the Northlands has 20 new monsters in it. I believe each of them has an illustration. Of the 20 I think only one is a repeat. The Northlands aurochs appeared in TOH4, but I felt like it needed to be included in this book as well since it was originally written for this setting.

In addition, to these official new monsters there are a couple new variants of other monsters. I'm thinking specifically of two that I statted out today. They do not get their own entry in the bestiary chapter, but for all practical purposes are new monsters unto themselves. They are both variant builds on the zombie horde that appeared in TOH4 (which is in itself a variant build on the megaswarms I introduced in Slumbering Tsar). Anyway, these two are a mob of human rioters (I know that something like that has been done before, but we've done it again) and a horde of fetch. Both have new special abilities that are completely unique to them. So if you count these two, then there are 22 new monsters in the book. At least that's all that I can think of right now.

I'll also tell you that this book makes extensive use of the four PF Bestiaries as well as TOHC and TOH4. Every TOH monster used in the adventures has its full stat block included and, of course, all of the PF Bestiary monster stat blocks are available online for free. But I just wanted to let everyone know that we pulled out all the stops in getting the perfect monsters into what we wanted for these adventures and yet you do NOT have to buy any other books to play these adventures.

While I happen to have ALL of the bestiaries, TOH included I think this is a great feature and applaud Frog God Games for it.

TOH has so many great monsters to fit so many specific purposes that you almost can't help but using it. I always try to incorporate as many TOH monsters as I can to meet my needs.

Tom Knauss wrote:

I know this is a shameless plug, but if you enjoyed Dunes of Desolation, one of EZG's Top Ten Honorable Mentions from 2014, this environment book follows in its footsteps and brings the grasslands to life.

Truth is spoken.

If you've ever spent time with me at any gaming convention, you'll know I'm utterly shameless.

I know this is a shameless plug, but if you enjoyed Dunes of Desolation, one of EZG's Top Ten Honorable Mentions from 2014, this environment book follows in its footsteps and brings the grasslands to life.

200 backers and almost halfway funded in just a few days. Keep spreading the word whether it is by longship, Viking horn or more modern means.

I worked the Kobold booth at Gencon. Both the Southlands and the Bestiary are visually spectacular. When I showed customers the Southlands map in the back of the campaign setting, they were left speechless.

Dunes of Desolation and Fields of Blood, both from Frog God Games cover environment information for GM's including hazards, weather, how to incorporate deserts and grasslands, respectively, into your campaign as well as additional monsters and three adventures that while set in the Lost Lands Campaign Setting, can also be used in any location.

Fields of Blood and Cyclopean Deeps 2 are now available on the Frog God website.

An update on stuff:

I'm checking with Chuck on the status of the pdfs for Cults of the Sundered Kingdoms, the player's guide, Fields of Blood, Cyclopean Deeps 2, and the Tales of the Lost Lands packs. I'll post what I find out.

Also:
I saw that Borderlands Provinces went for conversion today.

Mountains of Madness is done except for the first chapter that Tom is currently working on and the gods chapter that I'm finishing up.

I've contracted writers for new Tales of the Lost Lands stories to coincide with Borderland Provinces.

Editing has begun on Northlands Saga and is about half through. I've still got a little bit of writing and development for it, but the book is essentially done. Had a video conference with Ken Spencer last week to get started on the art order, KS stuff (it got bumped to September due to some scheduling stuff), Lost Lands Tales ideas to coincide, and talk about him writing some new Caliphate* material as part of a Desert Kingdoms book that will go along with Dunes of Desolation.
(*The Ammuyad Caliphate is a creation of Ken's that was introduced in his cool adventure Death in the Painted Canyons that we published a few years ago.)

Our Lost Lore short pdf line has launched and you should be receiving notifications about it every couple of weeks if you're on our mailing list. I've already heard some good things about the new base class that we introduced called the Portalist (by the esteemed Michael Kortes, even).

The Blight continues to sit and brood in my hard drive, waiting...and growing... (probably)

That's about all I can think of right now. School starts back up August 3, so I'll likely be dropping by less frequently after that but my goal is to get the wheels in motion on all this stuff before then so it won't need me to keep on eye on it as much after that to still go forward.

I turned in the first chapter a couple of nights ago, so all that is left is a brief introduction and the appendix, and that puppy is ready to go.

With the Backerkits now out, don't orget to add on Fields of Blood and/or Ccyclopean Deeps 2. CD 1 and Dunes of Desolation are both on sale as part of the kickstarter.

Yes I know. Shameless plug. But you won't be disappointed. Fields of Blood is 221 pages of grassland goodness.

I am safe at home and am reflecting on this past weekend. It was a pleasure to get to go to NTRPG Con. I feel honored to have been given the chance to meet all of the FGG people, and I need to include Jeff Dee, Larry Elmore, Wolfgang Baur, and others I don't know their names but they knew mine. As to why they knew mine I have no earthly idea. I am nothing special, just a Player/GM.

I ran the BBEG in Greg Vaughn's last game this afternoon. It was fun.

FGG if you read this I again say Thank You for a very fine time. It was an honor.

After sitting through the planning session with you and Greg, I wish I could have stuck around longer to see you put the beat down on those meddlesome PCs. Still, there's always next year.