Tom Qadim's page

14. We see a handful of repeat offenders from previous years!

The attic whisperer is similar in this aspect and thats a Paizo monster from B2. So idk why it was flagged. Id like to see the original as well to understand why it would have been flagged by Paizo.

Trust me, Fnipernackle, Paizo was right to flag the Sundered Child. It was much more graphic and disturbing than the Attic Whisperer. Paizo was careful to explain that an Attic Whisperer is created from a neglected/forgotten child, whereas a Sundered Child requires ... well, a more violent creation method.

It turns out that one of the monsters in our soon-to-be-released product 'Rawr!', the Sundered Child, was too graphic in description.

As the designer of the Sundered Child and the doting father of a beautiful one-year-old daughter, I want to make sure that everyone knows that I do indeed love children! ;-)

Good call, Paizo, for flagging the content. After a second look, it's obvious to me now that my creepy little undead construct crossed the graphic content/violence-to-children line. It's a good lesson for me and future designers. I love Paizo and want to make sure my creations are suitable for Pathfinder.

FYI, I'm also the author of the Reaping Stone adventure Brian mentioned. Stay tuned for more on that nasty piece of work!

I can't wait to see what the next batch of Superstars dish up!

I contemplated writing out a long thread full of advice and suggestions on how to make the Top 32 ... but after scanning the boards I see that all of my tips have already been mentioned in some form or another. So, let me leave you with this little -- vastly whittled down -- speck of [possibly useless] advice: Find your own voice and make sure it's awesome.

Making the Top 32 is all about catching the eye of the judges. In my opinion, it's 30% crunch and 70% fluff. You need to know the rules, but not be shackled to them. Be descriptive, be brilliant, be cool, but most importantly, be unique. I wish I could actually tell you how to be all of those things, but I'm not the keeper of such arcane secrets. To be honest, I've come to believe that you either have the natural ability ... or you don't. I didn't do anything special to make the Top 32. I didn't hone my craft for weeks and months before the contest, nor did I do much more than come up with an idea I liked and just ran with it.

If you're interested, here's the process I used:
Step 1: I looked at the previous Top 32 items to make sure mine was original.
Step 2: I looked through the rules and looked for areas that I thought my competitors might not tackle (my Iron Collar of the Unbound Coven from 2011 is a good example).
Step 3: I slapped my idea onto paper ... and then re-wrote it until it no longer sickened me.
Boom. That's it.

If anyone has questions, I'm happy to answer them. But I have a feeling most of you have this already. Now get out there and own this thing!

Vader?
Whaaaa?

*Emerges from murky depths with "MAYO" draped around snout*

"Yes! Finally!"

*Tom Qadim casts create undead and creates 48-HD of undead-mayo-snotlings from Hagfish's MAYO snot-goo.*

Tom! Congrats buddy! Good to see you writing adventures! You got a kickass title too!

Thanks, Jim! I can't take credit for the title (that was Mark's baby), but the soft squishy guts of this scenario are definitely mine. Just sent in my turnover yesterday. It was a blast to write. ;-)

Tom Qadim smirks (fleshlessly, of course).

"Yes ... bring ... more ... suits!"

Tom Qadim shakes the sand from his skull as he emerges from the sandy bottom of the fish bowl. Tom Qadim looks around the empty bowl, somewhat confused.

"Wha ... What ... What year is it?"

My heart sank a little bit when I read your post, Endz. Please take care of yourself and do everything your doctor tells you. I hope this all blows over and you're happy and healthy again in no time!

Until then, I -- and hundreds of other message board-posters -- will miss you! :-/

As a die-hard, no refunds pre-order guy:

In order of importance: E, A, D.

Editing would be of tantamount importance to me - if you do it, please do it right!

I'm a pre-order/no refunds guy too, and I echo Endz's comment.

We need to offer "I played The Ship of Fools ... and survived!" t-shirts ... though I doubt we'd actually sell any.

Consider that a challenge, people!! ;-)

Does the power given for this ability at 4-8-12 and 16th level may be used at the same time or the paladin must chose one from the list?

All of the level-dependent powers go into effect whenever the paladin calls forth her Nimbus of Light.

So, a 16th level paladin's Nimbus of Light would grant the +1 morale bonus to her allies, cure them of 1d4 ability damage, invoke a 30-foot diameter effect similar to the daylight spell, grant her allies energy resistance 10, and grant her allies a 25% chance to turn critical hits into normal hits.

Finally found it. Ship of Fools.

ship of fools

Looks like it would be a nice distraction, also includes a printable battle map of the ship.

Highly recommended! ;-)

Tom I would really love to see your creation process as you have captured mojo three years running :)

That's three consecutive years to you, mister! ;-)

I don't really have much of a tried and true "process", since my creation methods varied each year. But I'll try to post some of my notes and toss-away ideas from my 2010, 2011, and 2012 Superstar runs.

Even if it was not in the book. Congrats again for the "honorable mention" :)

Thank you!

I have some unfortunate news:

I PM'ed SKR about it last week, and he explained that my iron crown was cut without his knowledge during layout (he compiled the list). A bit unfortunate, but these things happen.

I still appreciate the "honorable mention" in the back of the book! :-)

So enter when RPG Superstar 2013 comes up!

You too, mister!! ;-)

Inquisitors are limited in their spell selection, but their spellcasting is not one of the primary mechanics of the class. Their strength lies in being martial combatants and 'face' characters. They can function extremely well in both ranged and melee combat, and they make great mobility characters. Their ability to control the battlefield combined with their survivability and array of tricks makes them, in my opinion, the most versatile class in the game.

(Emphasis mine.)

Way to go TPK veterans, Brian and Rick!

And a BIG CONGRATS to RPG Superstar 2012 alum (and fellow Top 4-be), James Olchak!

Nicely done, gentlemen.

UPDATE #11: THE REAPING STONE IN PRINT

Oh, the horrors I plan to unleash on your players' characters. I'm tingling with bloody happy glee.

At last, my true nature has been revealed.

TPK Games wrote:

Bow before Urizen on this Friday the 13th.

Although, if people don't want to wait until the 13th to do so, I have no complaints if they assume the position now.

LOL. That is too awesome!

How fun will this class be if played in Way of the Wicked?

From what I've seen (and, ahem, I've seen enough to make my eyes bleed with joy), the Malefactor would be a great class to use for a Way of the Wicked evil campaign. It's just oozing with wicked flavor.

Just started reading this and I have to say: Nice job!

I absolutely love the new Sanity rules. Simple. Quick and easy to use. My rules-lite players will appreciate this. Very nicely done.

Yep, I'm going to pick this up. This material will work nicely when I Lovecraftify my upcoming Skull and Shackles campaign. When my players start mewling and whining about the nightmares, I'm totally blaming you guys.

... a gazetteer of the weird demiplane of Leng ...

Yay!!!!!

Grave Undertakings: The Ship of Fools

Richard Hunt and I wrote that one. ;-)

[shameless promotion] Ship of Fools is an ocean-based adventure that would fit very nicely in the Skull & Shackles AP. It even comes with a full-color printable battlemap of a sailing ship. It's received some very good reviews. [/shameless promotion]

If not, I'll be ready to fit it in there somewhere.

Same here ... I'm just not sure where to place it.

I'm thinking about putting it on the big crescent-shaped island northwest of the main city. If I remember correctly, that section is a little more rough-and-tumble than the rest of Port Peril ... which doesn't really say much since it's a pirate port. ;-)

"Harrigan's Folly"

I love that name! Hat's off to your players for their bravado. Should make the race in Part 3 very interesting.

As for what to do ... I agree for the most part what vikingson suggested. This is darn close to mutiny. In fact, if the crew hears about it maybe they'll begin to divide into two groups: those loyal to the captain and those who side with the 1st mate. Regardless, the captain and 1st mate will need to settle this before it tears their ship apart.

Yeah, that would make a last minute backer drive pretty exciting now wouldn't it... *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*

An idea so nice ... we said it twice! :-)

<Ducks his head back down so he can get to work writing said adventure. Cackles madly to himself.>

It is a good and entertaining plan, so don't tell the player "No."

Just make sure you:

1) Get the point across that the officers of the Wormwood are tough mofos.

2) Remind your players that even attempted mutiny is a crime punishable by death ... not just a keelhauling. Check out the article on Port Peril. There's a nifty little islet there that is full of hanging cages that display the bones of would-be mutineers. Have one of the friendlier NPC crewmates tell a story about a botched mutiny and then mention that little island.

Have fun!

Samsung Stratosphere

Tom Phillips, author of the 'Ship of Fools' will be penning the introductory adventure. That's good news, as Tom is both incredibly creative and quite a sadist to his players. :P

Mu ha ha ha ha haaaaaa! <Tom cracks his knuckles and gets to work.>

I wonder if she will ever make another appearance in any of our other products..?

Anything's possible.

I certainly see the followers of Naelib (who are described and statted-up in all their blood-soaked glory in the Ischadra PDF) getting some time in the spotlight in the near future. ;-)

Whereabouts on the Port Peril map would you locate the Formidably Maid? Just curious since it wasn't noted in the article on Port Peril. (Unless I overlooked it.)

I have a feeling my players will want to head there when they reach Port Peril ... and will want a little payback against the tavernkeeper for [as my PCs will probably see it] conspiring with Harrigan's crew to drug and kidnap them.

Well, I don't have a story for you, but I'll share my inquisitor character with you. As a worshipper of Cayden Cailean, he's a little unorthodox ... but he's amazing fun.

Though a follower of the Drunken God, he's not a drunkard himself (though he has been known to take a sip or three of whiskey from his silver flask). He's more of a monster-hunter, and plays up the "Freedom" aspect of Cayden Cailean by working tirelessly to free the people of Ustalav (I'm playing him in Carrion Crown) from the monsters, undead, and other horrors of the night that plague the land.

stuff

Hey! Someone get this Matt guy a "Contributor" tag! He's earned it! (Nice job, Matt!) :-)

Just noticed I used Quim, Quin and Quib in the above alteration and time has long since elapsed since I can edit it. That's what I get for posting during my lunch break...

Yikes. You might want to consider changing "Quim" to something else. Google it and you'll see what it's slang for. :-P

(This is all excellent stuff, btw!)

The only thing I really care about is, is it alignment specific? Like, chaotic only, non-lawful only, evil only.

The Malefactor is not alignment-specific. That's all I'm saying. Brian, James, put your scourges away. :-)

I think having Frank Mentzer do the introduction is also going to make this even more memorable! Most everyone worshiped the Temple of Elemental Evil.

Mentzer! This is so very awesome. And yes, TToEE, was a huge influence in my early gaming days.

But I've started to give the folks at Lone Wolf Development some feedback about Hero Lab so their software does exactly what we need it to do (much of which is matching our style for how things are phrased and capitalized in stat blocks), so you wouldn't be needing the spreadesheet anyway.

(emphasis mine)

This. Oh, sweet fancy dancing gods, this. If the Hero Lab output matched the Paizo statblock style and formatting, it would be a real time-saver for those of us designing 3PP material.

And reviewed here, on DTRPG and sent to GMS magazine - TPK Games is slowly shaping up to becoming one of my favorite 3pps - your last 3 products were all absolute winners!

Thanks for the review, Endzeitgeist!

No offense to Tito, but you should totally have contracted out Tom Phillips to do this one. Would have been amazing.

Maybe bring back the whole set-piece idea from the early APs and have him do one of those in this issue?

Thanks, Erik. You honor me, but Tito is a firmly established AP writer. I'm just an RPG Superstar contender who's only written a few feats for Ultimate Combat. Thanks for the praise but like James says, I have to prove myself first. Trust me, Tito's work will be leaps and bounds over anything I could produce at this point.

And while we're on the subject of this AP installment...

Hmmm. Perhaps a hint of the AP following Shattered Star?

That's what I was thinking as well.

Awesome!!

Now we know where the PCs' island-home-to-be is located for the Skull & Shackles campaign! ;-)

It's funny, I kept on expecting to see a reference to Eightfingers' Tomb or the Gloomspires, even though I know that would actually be impossible. But it would have been very, very cool.

Oh wow. You honor me, gbone. Thanks!

Technically, the Gloomspires aren't actually in the Shackles. I set them midway between the Shackles and Mediogalti Island. So, the Gloomspires would really need their own module/supplement ... which I could, you know ... write ....

Just sayin'. :-P

Necroblivion wrote:

Available here on Paizo.com or here on DriveThruRPG.com.

Check out our 5-star review on DriveThruRPG!

Make that TWO 5-star reviews ... both here on Paizo.com. Thank you, Megan and KTFish!

Review is up here, RPGNow and NerdTrek, great character guys, seriously creepy.

Thanks for the high praise, KTFish!

Your daughter is your grandmother? I'm so confused Tom!

It's best not to ponder it too long.

Available here on Paizo.com or here on DriveThruRPG.com.

Check out our 5-star review on DriveThruRPG!

This list would make Ischadra smile, if only her mouth wasn't sewn shut.

Gah. This one was my favorite.

Ischadra was fun to write. I'd like to say she was inspired by my 8-month-old daughter ... but my wife would probably be upset with me. :-P