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My big concern at the moment is that I played in college with Tequila Sunrise and that it wasn't me dying over and over that got me kicked out, but instead that I'm a big jerk....
Another thing I'd like to point out is the complete and utter lack of sarcasm on these boards...
I got kicked out of a group once. We had been playing weekly and coordinating bits and peices of each session over e-mail prior to the actual meet up and after one session I just never got e-mails any more. I figured oh well and moved on. Ran into the guys at a party later (was still friends with them all) and found out that the DM was developing a guilt complex over my PCs dying over and over (i'm a fluff guy and these guys were serious power gamers). I think I burned through 4 characters in 6 sessio ns. He figured he'd rather deal withthe guilt of me getting booted rather than killing me over and over. Funny stuff.
I'd say let the PCs save as many people as they can. Let em show off the toys they had the foresight to buyi (though I like the idea of the masher too) It'll let them establish a deeper emotional attachment to all of the NPCs you built... Just before Olangru eats them....
Well- I received my "thanks but no thanks" letter last night and while I wasn't given any real theme critiques (other than saying that my query laked focus-which it did). I can tell you that a quick way to annoy the submission committee is excessive use of the letter "Y". I'm a special person. I even get rejected in weird ways. To the staff reading this- Keep up the great work. I will mind my vowels in future queries. :)
So as a public service announcement I'd like to let everyone know that the best way to expedite your magazine delivery is to talk smack about him/her on a public message board. The previously mentioned aberration delivered my copy of 138. My review so far: Wow. Absolutely wow. I started subscribing to Dungeon after picking up a copy of the issue that started AoW. #138 SMOKES that issue, and STAP hasn't even started yet. a HUGE pat on the back to everyone involved. And to answer the previous poster's question- yes- BIG preview of STAP. Can't.... wait....
I know he has freedom of movement. 5 years I've lived in my house and he's never ONCE used the sidewalk....
To further underscore the pure randomness of the US postal service, I'm in Minneapolis as well and have not recieved mine yet. I think my mailman is an aberration, but that's a conversation for another thread....
They do indeed watch Auto racing and play video games. Two leisure activities that both generate money faster than they can count it. They have the luxury of being able to pursue the harder to reazch market segments. And I don' think that Paizo or WotC are advocating completely ignoring other demographic segments. I do think that in an effort to survive, they'd be foolish to not focus on capturing the low hanging fruit...
I would argue GGG's point one step further (either that or I'm about to go off on a serious tangent) Paizo & WOTC need to figure out the best way to spread their product to as many people as possible. Whether it be by statistical analysis of buying patterns of various demographics, qualitatively surveying FLGS owners or through their own experiences, the determination has been made, and I don't think ANYONE will argue this (which is probably baiting someone to do just that) that the acquisition cost of new players is lower for hetero white boy males. If Paizo & WotC have $50 to spend on wooing customers, they are going to spend that money as efficiently as possible. If it costs $5 in marketing etc to woo a male vs $15 for a female, they're going to spend it on the males. If that means using the art budget to throw in a smidge of tantalization (and I'm sorry, I thought the cover rocked) so be it. Anything that keeps my hobby and the companies that support it above water I'm willing to go with. Does this limit the diversity/accessability to the hobby? somewhat. The sheer breadth of opinions and people chiming in here though proves that there is some spill over into other demographics than the white boy male. However, in a time when FLGSs are a disappearing luxury and gaming companies are all feeling a financial crunch, I think we're better off being ambassadors of the hobby and recruiting new players grass roots style than asking the makers of the game to do it for us. While the argument will come that covers like this hinder that effort, look at it like this- Dungeon is a DMs magazine. If the DM thinks the cover of one of their source materials will put off potential new players, remove the coverw or photocopy the adventure. Spider Eaters is an AWESOME adventure. I think it would be a great one for enticing new players (especially women given the more compelling morality issues/Role playing opportunities involved). Don't blow the oppotunity to use the adventure to recruit new players just because of the artwork. Finally, when people are complaining about reading their magazines in public- why is that? I have no qualms with doing so. I work in management in a company that spans the globe and has over 5000 employees. Are you ashamed of the magazine's cover, or is the magazine's cover just the icing on an already questionable looking cake? When I'm reading my magazines in public it's usualyl at the airport or ona plane. I'm wearing a suit and tie and reading dungeon. At this point While I may get judged as a weirdo for reading the magazine because of its cover, there's a pretty good chance someone will see me and say "That guy looks like a pretty down to earhth/moderately successful person and he's reading a D&D magazine. Maybe it's not what I thought it was and is worth checking out." Just my thoughts.
"What's wrong with being sexy" - Nigel Tufnel
Feel free to archive mine as well.
My April 14th Query is up for people's enjoyment and derision over on the Critique my Query thread....
First Query Submission + Grey Render = Post in "Critique my Query" Have at it. Coming Down the Mountain For decades the village of Thurn and the tribes of Feral Garguns who lived in the nearby mountain ranges waged battle in order to survive in the harsh northern climate. After a massive battle which culminated in the death of both Gathkaa, leader of the garguns as well as Trylviall, the Paladin leading Thurn’s defense, an uneasy truce was brokered by the druid Sylvayne. To commemorate the peace accord, Sylvayne enshrined the bodies of Gathkaa and Trylvyiall along with their holy relics in a hidden location. Each spring the feral gargun tribes descend from the mountains and meet with the villagers for a ceremony to commemorate the truce and to trade with the villagers. This culminates in a re-dedication of two artifacts from the Fallen heroes – The Mantle of Gathkaa and the Sword of Trylvyiall. This peace has lasted for twenty years, but is now in jeopardy because the artifacts have been stolen. After arriving in Thurn the PCs gain an audience with Stylwell (Thurn’s mayor) and Roald (Thurn’s spiritual leader and son of Trylvyiall). After brief introductions they escort the PCs to find an aged bed-ridden Sylvayne. Sylvayne tells the PCs he has failed in his role of guardian of the artifacts. He asks that the PCs investigate and retrieve them prior to the upcoming ceremony in order to preserve the peace. Stylwell asks for the PCs aid as well and offers them a reward for the return of the artifacts. Roald disagrees with the group and suggests the PCs use the time remaining prior to the ceremony to gather strength to defeat the gargun tribes once and for all.
General Information Coming Down the Mountain is a generic world adventure designed for 3rd level PCs. The adventure is be based in a minor city on the border of a mountainous region. The adventure is free-form in that the PCs will be encouraged by various factions within Thurn to handle the issue in different ways. The thieves were initially hired by Roald. This group would like to see the PCs ally with the thieves in order to stop the feral gargun “threat” once and for all. Another faction would like to see the PCs stop the thieves and return the mantle before the feral garguns show up for the annual ceremony. The PCs will likely investigate the caves where the artifacts had been hidden. This will in turn provide evidence of Roald’s involvement with the theft. Eventually, the PCs will also encounter Ghur-thrak in his encampment nearby. Important NPCs • Sylvayne – Aging Druid who brokered the peace accord and was responsible for preserving the artifacts.
Encounters Set encounters will consist of two main groups:
Rewards Along with XP commensurate with the challenges overcome, the players will gain control of the Mantle of Gathkaa – A Unique magical device that upon activation grants the bearer the Feral Template for a number of hours equal to the wearers Constitution (post activation). The wearer also suffers 1d4 INT loss for each use. INT lost in this manner is regained at 1 point per day.
Estimates Coming Down the Mountain will require around 11,500 words. The adventure requires three maps. The first map will be an overland map of Thurn and its surrounding area. The second map will be a map of Sylvayne’s cave from which the artifacts were stolen. The third map will be a map of the Ghur-thrak’s base of operations.
My guess is the make up on the new iconics as far as thr prototypical 4 go will be a little more exotic. I recall seeing that they intended to do the 4 classes they haven't covered yet, which if I recall correctly means we're looking at Monk, Druid, Wizard and Barbarian. I also can't help think that they'll use Savage Tides to help flesh them out so I wouldn't be surprised to see some of the races from Stormwrack make an appearance. My vote (if I had my 'druthers) Locathah Monk
Then again, I like my party composition to be a bit more... off.
April 14th... Newman!
James had indicated recently that the Grey Render was warming up the ol' pimp hand. Has anyone heard anything since then? I've got my first submission in queue now and am anxiously awaiting my oh so humbling form letter...
I believe Erik addressed this to some degree in his editorial on the Jade Empire video game. A story is being told and necessarily needs certain things to happen. there's two ways people seem to get turned off by dungeons: A - Excessively Railroading
A - Part of the allure of D&D is the free form nature of the game. Anything that limits this is bad. That's why there is often pushback on a certain set of dungeons; there aren't any real options. you go through a door, kill some stuff, and are confronted by another door. Go through it, kill some stuff... The original Whispering cairn avoided this linear pitfall admirably. There were parts of the dungeon PCs could skip, plus there was ample opportunity for players to do their own plot/character development. I bought this issue from my FLGS, read the Whispering Cairn and subscribed to Dungeon that night. I haven't regretted that decision. B - Someone else already mentioned this, but Maure castle holds absolutely ZERO allure for me. It in my mind exemplifies everything bad about dungeons. I will make the disclaimer that I am going strictly by the Extra level that was published after I subscribed and not the Original in Issue #112. At least for that level, 1/3 of the magazine was dedicated to mapping out a floor of a dungeon wiht no discernable plot, and which even if it was being used for an adventure that had a plot, said adventure didn't erquire the entire floor of the building to be a complete entity. It comes off as room after room of Mega encounters/sudden death traps and no real reason for PCs to get explore other than it's there so why not? This is a fabulous question by the way. I guess to summarize- when I think about Whispering Cairn vs 3FOE, They're both very logical in the way they are written and are in a nutshell "Adventuring party explores hole in the ground" type of adventures. The difference is that WC allowed for more free form interaction with the world as a whole, whereas 3FOE explocotly limited the players ability to go off on tangents.
ADDENDUM: I hate that I don't know what QFT stands for. I need to know if Jeremy is on my side or if he just made "the list." Stupid acronyms.
I hate that my "regular" gaming group hasn't had full attendance from members in over a year. I hate Elves. All of 'em. I hate the guy who after I've come up with a sweet character concept tells me that it sucks be cause "XXX" is more efficient. I don't; want efficient I want cool fluff. I STAB YOU. I hate the fact my house reaks of sweat and fat people for hours after the session is over.
Holy Crap- While I like the Second referral as well- the avatarart fellow's work is PHENOMENAL! Kudos to you both for helping make the lives of the Paizo staff a little easier.
I'm getting so Tired of all of your constant attacks on kobolds... In all seriousness- I hope my post wasn't one construed as attacking the cover art especially in the case of the Samurai cover. I liked that cover a lot. I just didn't realize it was a female. Place me firmly in the camp of people who enjoy the cover art, but really don't get in a tizzy about it either way. I subscribe, so it's not like it's a motivating factor for me. I'm willing to assume that the folks at paizo have all done their homework and are trying to balance the gore/titilation ratio such that they maximize their sales. I stand by my previous post though- If you're really jonesing to see that Half Dragon Kobold, or Fiendish kobold, or Taurric kobold/rhinocerous hybrid, write it up in an adventure. That'd be an even greater feather in your cap- not only did you get published, but you wrote something compelling enough to inspire art. And since no one asked (or ever would) I fully endorse James' stance on the PBM ads. Yep- I think that one or two of them are moderately tasteless, but it's paying the bills. I'd much rather have that page in the mag and think "I don't like it" rather than have it not there and my cover price going up. I would also argue that some of their ads are pretty darned clever. The one that pops into my head has the two females discussing whether some guy has purchased a ring or not. It got a chuckle- well done. Synopsis: Variety good
To throw an additional $0.02 in on this- I haven't read the Palace of Plenty yet, but I'll readily admit- I had no idea at all that the Samurai on the cover of last issue was a female. Sorry James. I'm all in favor of the icnoic characters. I even like the Wonder-Woman outfit on the Wee Jas cleric. But I do find it rather annoying that any female depicted on the cover is a variant on Medieval Barbie. The cynic in me also now thinks that one of the next covers will have a stereotypical witch on the cover- a standard old hag. I realize the covers of the magazine are used to sell the contents, but what about some of the other contents? I brought issue #126 with me to work today (What can I say? I was planning on slacking today) and can't help but think a cover featuring Girddrez would've been SWEET. Now to throw another monkey wrench into this debate- but a lot of the people posting here (the website as a whole- maybe not necessarily this post) are regular/semi-regular contributors to the magazine. Given my theory that the cover is designed to sell the contents of the magazine- how many of you are including NON scantily clad/vivacious/buxom females in your adventures as major characters? Seems to me the editorial staff and art directors have their hands somewhat tied by the adventures that are being submitted by we as a collective. Not that I've been published... yet... Tired of the endless cleavage shots? How about trying to give the paizo folks an easy fix. Write up a stand out female character in one of your submissions that doesn't support the stereotype. With luck, it'll be published by Summer of '09 :)
I'd lkike to offer up a compliment here to Ultrazen. The second I saw this thread, I expected to be treated to a flame war of epic proportions. I didn't follow it for a few days but checked back this morning to see one of the best thought out, constructive bits of feed back for adventures I've possibly ever seen. This is a dicey topic to go into and Ultrazen handled it with a lot of tact. He was able to state what he perceived to be the shortcomings of the adventures he was talking about, but did so without making any inflammatory remarks. Kudos to you. That having been said I think Adventures with monsters are stupid. So are the people who write them. And so are traps... and dungeons with walls..... and creatures that are more than 3 feet tall....
*COUGH* (bump)
I guess I would've treated it as if he were holding an action and not flat footed. My bad I guess.
The door to the room flys open and we roll initiative. The Faceless One gets a 25, so I think all is going well until the rogue rolls a 26 (she has a +11 on initiative). She quickly crosses the room and sneak attacks. I'm confused- The Faceless One knew they were coming... watched the door fly open... watched the Rogue run across the room and it was a Sneak Attack?!? Zuh? Was he carrying a sign that said "DON'T LOOK HERE"?
Race, class, levels and more if you feel so inclined. Took the opportunity of a regular gaming session where only 2 of the regular folks showed up to convince my wife that she should try giving the game a whirl (she had looked through the PHB and expressed interest) Level 1 Party consists of: Talulah - Gnomish Druid (and her trusty Animal Companion "Cuddles" the Camel)
They churned through one full session- So far have Survived: * lizardman encounter (3 lizardmen 2 of whom were wounded) used as a plot device to get the whole group together
So far so good- My wife's only comment so far is that things seem kinda slow between fights. Wow does she rock... :)
I was browsing the WotC website and read the article on variant Tarrasques. Interesting read but then I got to the part about the Five headed Pyro Hydra- Fearsome critter- lots of nasty bite attacks plus breath weapons. Pretty cool right? Then I started looking at some of the stats- The Breath Weapon has a range of 30 feet. The Tarrasque is 50 feet tall. Maybe I'm thinking a little too 3-D here, but it seems to me that it's breath weapon would be good for getting rid of Belly Button lint, but not much else. So the Crux of my question- What types of house rules have other people used to give range to breath attacks? Height multipliers? Ranges windows (a la missile weapons). Thanks in advance. And in anticipation of someone flaming me for asking a dumb question, my premptive retort will be "Same to you." Thanks
There is such a pretige class, coupled with one that utilized pheremones I believe. I wish I could tell you the issue#, but you certainly aren't dreaming it up. That's too bad. I was kinda hoping that i had had a moment of clarity and could write it up as an article to submit. Ah well... Does anyone else know what issue I should be looking for?
While squirrelling though a buddy's collection of back issues a few months ago, I vaguely recall stumbling across a prestige class called the Osseomancer. I remember this striking me as insanely cool and that I needed to make a mental note to investigate it more thoroughly in the future. I've remembered that I want to investigate it, but can't remember what issue it was from. I've asked all of my friends about it and they all stare at me like I'm nuts. Which is it? Is there a prestige class called the osseomancer, (if so can someone give me an issue number so i can track it down) or is there no such thing and I just had a really cool idea for a prestige class while accidentally huffing carbon monoxide in my buddy's basement.
One of the better groups I've gamed with wound up with a great theme as a short cut. We decided semi spontaneously to start a group and so we each rolled up a character and assigned one guy to be DM. Rather than buying equipment and rolling for cash, we just had them start the campaign as prisoners on a slave ship. The first session consisted of figuring out how to escape the slavers. Once that was accomplished, we wound up having to hire ourselves out to a group of NPCS (nice reversal there) to help scrape together some money so we could buy our own equipment and strike out on our own. It was hilarious doing a dungeon crawl as the "expendable resource" for the main party and then getting basically NONE of the loot! The nice part of this was it gave each of us a lot of freedom in crafting our individual back stories, provided a solid reason for us all to be adventuring together, and it got the gaming session moving FAST!
I've been watching the forums off and on since I picked up a copy of #124 on the newsstand (And subsequently subscribed because I thought AoW looks so darned cool) but I haven't seen anyone else mention it- I don't have #124 in front of me but did anyone else find it INSANELY funny that the drug using, syringe toting Necromancer has a familiar whose stat line reads "Merrowaghn, Owl" I'm pretty sure I spelled it wrong but what a gloriusly terrible pun. Well played Erik Mona... Well played indeed...
I've been playing off and on with the same group of guys for roughly 15 years now. Typically DM duty has been rotated between 2 individuals. One of the two hasn't been DMing with our group much lately as he often DMs with his other groups but it's leaving the other guy in the lurch in terms of never actually getting to play. That having been said- I personaly haven't DMed in probably 8-10 years. I've read AoW cover to cover (no one else in our group has) and I absolutely love it- Even convinced the wife to let me subscribe so I can get the whole series! We're gaming on Saturday- would it be overly ambitious of me to try and break a 10 year DMing hiatus with AoW? I'd be interested to hear any feedback you might be willing to offer. |