Waa's page

Lots of great responses, here. Thanks, everyone! And great insight into PDFs, Vic.

I can confirm that in iOS 4.2.1 (I show Build 8C148), the A's do display.

Time to send some feedback to Apple, for what it's worth.

Oh, and another fun thing I noticed:
When I take a header, such as Generating a Character (bottom left of pg. 14 of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook), copy it, and paste it into another program, it's mixed case! geNerAtiNg A ChArACter

Is that also a quirk of the PDF format, a flaw in the way OS X handles PDF documents, or just somebody being silly? Or some combination? :) -- Edit: That's a silly question as the font in question appears to be all-caps, and you explained that in your post.

I admit I did not do a search prior to posting this, but I just purchased the Pathfinder Core Rules PDF and downloaded some accompanying free PDFs. One of the fonts used is missing a capital A in every place it is used.

I can post a screen shot if necessary.

If it matters, I'm running Mac OS X 10.6.6 and viewing the PDFs in Apple's Preview.app.

Otherwise, the PDFs look great and I'm extremely happy that they are available. Especially because I can view them on my iPhone so they're easier on the go than on my laptop. Standing room only on the metro? No problem!

English: The only language where anything can be any part of speech you want it to be.

Ah, true. Like the infamous f-word which seriously can be used as the only word(s) in a sentance and somehow people will have a chance of understanding you.

And we have stuff like "Go." One word sentances that are by all means correct. (The subject being spoken to or about is inferred, such as "You go," or "I go,".)

I've always rhymed drow with cow.

I also often pronouce kobold as "kuhBOLD," not "CO-bold" (though it's often harder to be bold alone), and gnoll as "nawl," "nol."

And, on that note, I say Kobold as CO-Bald, Gnoll as in knoll, Centaur as SEN-Tar, Chimera is CHI-meh-rah (not KEE-meh-rah or KAI-meh-rah), and Dwarf as Drunk Midget Scottsman.

(But I do say Drow in the same way as Cow.)

PS: English having no rules is what makes it one of the hardest languages to learn. Oh, sure, Finnish has a 13-case case structure, and Chinese has thousands of characters and is tonal... But English is based off a Germanic grammatical structure, with a predominantly Latin vocabulary, and tons of influence from Romance languages, other Germanic languages, and more. Joy... No wonder we English-speaking folk have so much trouble agreeing on things. (Wait... Do non-English speaking folk agree more often?)

Let us not dismiss Baatezu where it is pronounced Bay-Ah-Teh-Zoo. Two a's: first is ay second is ah. I would still saw Ah-kah though. And for Aasimar I say as-sim-ar. (I can't do a and two s's or it'll probably censor me. heheh)

See, this is why I went to figure out how to add dictionaries to OS X's Dictionary app and subsequently make a D&D dictionary with pronunciations. I can start contacting developers and authors and learn how they intended for it to be pronounced... Oh, dreaming sure is fun.

Just to pipe in, when my players were making their characters for AoW, some expressed interest in monster races and templates. I laid down very, very lenient restrictions and said, "Your making characters with one class level, but their effective character level can be higher. No evil alignments or races that have to be evil. Same for templates. You can pick spells from the following books..."

And no one abused it. Maybe I'm blessed or those prayers to Tymora have paid off. The highest ECL in the group is +1 - there's a Draconic human (Draconomicon) yet to be introduced and a Forest Gnome (Races of Faerûn) who's pretty comical.

One player got rather creative with his characters and used Unearthed Arcana (or is it Arcana Unearthed) to opt out of having a familiar for his good-aligned Necromancer, and to instead be followed around by a skeleton servant. It really creeps out the group's cleric which is amusing to us all.

Having some experience with mailing a whole LOT of stuff each week (several hundred envelopes and packages to be a little more specific), I know a few things about the USPS. One is that there's a variety of means of shipping any given item. Print, typically in a bag or envelope can go First Class (I'm talking domestic, as in the US, mailing here) which is like regular old mail, Media Rate because it's a printed matter, Priority (not worth the money), Express (really not worth the money), or as Registered Mail. The bulk-rate mailing is for flats like post-cards and maybe letters in small envelopes, but definitely not magazines!

Sadly, I've never payed attention to how Dragon, Dungeon and other magazines I've subscribed or currently subscribe to are shipped. My guess though, is that it's the cheapest means possible.

When shipping to retail locations, you're dealing with packages, so you have things like Parcel Post, Priority, Express, or delivery services like UPS, FedEx, DHL, or whatever other ones exist. From my experiences, UPS and its kin tend to be pricey, but often offer various incentives (like different shipping options). Because the magazines are getting shipped to retailers in large quantities, sometimes it actually becomes cheaper to ship things faster! Flat-rate Priority Mail boxes are surprisingly cheap with, according to the USPS's employees, no weight cap (!!!). With as heavy as I'd imagine such boxes to be, that may be a good option.

In the meantime, subscribers getting their one single issue can expect 4-10 days for delivery.

All right... Now to be proven wrong like usual! I love being only partially informed.

Waa wrote:

You know what my favorite part about my late White Dwarf subscription is? Actually, I like multiple things about it. One, they usually show up trashed. Two, the magazine is incredibly expensive. Three, it ships from Wisconsin, I'm in California. Four, I've been subscribing for years.

Yeah, I feel like a valued customer.

Wow! Sorry man, that's a tough break; especially that "trashed" part. It relieves me to no end that Dragon and Dungeon come in those nice protective baggies.

So does White Dwarf. But, somehow, the spine is usually pretty ripped and the whole thing has been bent or folded a few times. Maybe my mail slot is too small.

You guys complain too much. Not only do I get Dungeon and Dragon late, but I typicall get my copy of White Dwarf a month late. How's that?! HA!

Why am I proud of this?

You know what my favorite part about my late White Dwarf subscription is? Actually, I like multiple things about it. One, they usually show up trashed. Two, the magazine is incredibly expensive. Three, it ships from Wisconsin, I'm in California. Four, I've been subscribing for years.

Yeah, I feel like a valued customer.

So far as I can tell, my issues of Dungeon and Dragon are never more than one and a half weeks late. So far...

Maybe I've angered the US postal system. Or maybe gaming magazines are subject to inspection by the Department of Homeland Security because of their war-mongering content. Yeah, terrorists learn everything they need to know from D&D and tabletop war games.

Excuse me, but I have to go blow up a government building and then cackle maniacally.

Thanks for all the helpful info, Big Jake.

Hall of Harsh Reflections! I just recieved my copy of #126 yesterday. I feel so out of fashion ;-)

I just for my copy of 126 yesterday as well (8/29). I feel like I get every single one of my magazine subscriptions late. Bills? Junk mail? Oh, there's no shortage or lack of timeliness there. But things I'm paying good money for and expect to receive on a regular basis? Ha!

Yeah, I saw that...Probably will be a rare...(having to paint each spider and all)

ASEO out

Heh, you really believe they paint each spider individually? ; )

OK... I'm going to pipe in with some unfounded comments that may very well be wrong!

I don't believe the D&D Miniatures booster packs/starter sets are truly random. One, you never get duplicates in the same box. Two, they have to make sure they give property quantities based on rarity. It's still random enough, but they don't just shove their hands in bins of models (they might, but there's a bin per figure, I'd guess) and let it be. I'm imagining a warehouse packed with shelves. On these shelves are tubs/drawers/boxs/bins of D&D Minis, hopefully labeled. I think there probably is inventory involved - A worker goes and decides to grab a Beholder, he probably marks that downs somewhere. The other way to do inventory on something like D&D Minis is to just look, of course. "Oh, that tub of Blue Slaad is empty."

They also, obviously, know what they're putting into any given box as the matching cards have to be included.

The comment about the boxes being $10/box? What is that based on? I pay $11.69 after my 10% discount at my local gaming store. ($12.99 suggested list price.)

ASEO has made a number of comments in regards to buying out-of-box D&D Miniatures and how, in his opinion, most likely based on his income, they cost too much (which is how I feel, save for the ones that cost less than $1, but those I usually don't want). This has nothing to do with the production costs - WotC does not determine those prices, aside from maybe indirectly through the designations of rare, uncommon, common and of course, by how useful they really can be in either the D&D RPG, or the skirmish game.

OK, time to curb my unfounded comments that I'm sure to be called on. "You're misguided. You're view is warped. Wah wah." (Or is that Waa waa?)

Oh, and MI, I'm aware of things like Reaper's Vulture Deamon. I think I just want more to chose from, but a half dozen sculptors can only work so fast. Naturally, I could stop being lazy and teach myself to sculpt well enough to convert models to such an extent as to make what I want... Nah.

Some questions: why are their decisions asinine, in your estimation?

Why should WotC have stayed out of the miniatures business?
Why do you feel the execution of the D&D miniatures line is bad?
MI

Asinine might've been too strong a word. When I first found out about the D&D minis (about a month prior to Harbringer's release, if I remember correctly), I thought, "Uh, random? That's silly. In all my years of collecting miniatures for gaming, knowing what I'm going to get was the whole point of buying what I bought!"

A few packs of minis later (at this point, Archfiends was out), I decided random wasn't so bad because I was getting models I'd never thought to use before (and, interestingly enough, still haven't).

However, now the random part is bothering me again. I'm sorry, but I simply have no desire for a wood woad or another dozen spell-stitched hobgoblin zombies.

Well, maybe they shouldn't have stayed out of the miniatures games. Based on nothing other than knowledge that collectible anything catches on at least for a couple years here in the US, the D&D Miniatures seemt to be doing fine; and there are a number of really cool figures. However, there're a lot of long established miniatures companies out there (Games Workshop, despite whatever bad things so many people say about them, Reaper, Rackham, and many more), and they all make a whole lot of great figures perfectly suitable for D&D. What would be really cool is some sort of licensing where these companies could make miniatures of the more guarded D&D monsters (copyrighted/trademarked creatures that otherwise can't be reproduced). Brian Nelson and Jes Goodwin sculpting Dungeons & Dragons monsters? Bring it on!

The problem is that it was marketing genius on the part of WotC. It's a COLLECTIBLE mini game. That means that they have to give a reason to collect them: limited release and random packaging.

But since they use the monsters and art familiar to the roleplaying game us roleplayin' gamers are trying to get our hands on them as well. This drives up the demand and with limited supply... gotta love the economics of it all.

Or in most cases HATE it...

Exactly. And, being a long time miniature painter/modeller/gamer, I'm well aware of the ins and outs of the production process. I also know that it is vastly cheaper to produce plastic miniatures than metal ones. And, unless logic does not apply, flimsier plastic is probably cheaper than sturdy plastic (like in GW's plastic kits).

Include the mini suggestion in the stat block - final line, by name and mini set #.

Example, from Whispering Cairn, Area 5:
"Miniature: Timber Wolf, Deathknell, 27/60 (C)"

Only real downside to this is the fact that a) not everyone can afford to have 2-3+ of every D&D Miniature, and b) most of the over 400 figures are out of production because of some asinine decisions by Wizards of the Coast, a company that for all intents and purposes should have stayed out of the miniatures world. (Granted, the good D&D minis are truly good, but the execution of the entire line is just bad.)

:P

With smilies and that user pic, I just can't take you seriously, Erik! Heheh.

Waa wrote:

Being a miniatures gamer (Warhammer, Necromunda),

Necromunda was a truely inspired game.

I don't neccessarily want to keep any off-topic talk going, but yeah... I manage a regular group of Necromunda players here in San Francisco. It's slowed down a little these last few weeks, but one Sunday night (from 7-10) we got in like 12 games. And, while the game really does rely more on tactics, set up, use of skills and equipment, and cunning, there are also times when a game ends in less than 15 minutes because of scenario conditions! "My first turn! Here we go... OK. I shoot the Water Still. I need a 5 to damage it? I rolled a 6. It's over? Oh. Wanna play again?"

Roll d20

Baby Owlbear Calamity Chart

Fantastic!

I bought over 20 boosters of Deathknell, and not once did I pull a beholder or an ettin skirmisher out of the packs!

I got an Ettin Skirmisher in my first box. MUWA HA HA HA!

*cough*

Being a miniatures gamer (Warhammer, Necromunda), I always like to see new models for a varierty of reasons. That said, I want to see a new range of Huge models, but someday I'd also like to see the next size up. Yeah, you heard me!

The cost of production on the D&D Minis? It has to be pathetically low. They're using plastic for one, which is dirt cheap, and they're also having the stuff produced and, I presume, painted in Asia, which probably means it costs them like 1¢/hr/person. If that sounds mean, I'm just exaggerating the reality of it. Ah, America...

Now, it's entirely possible that through paying their concept artists, regular artists, sculptors, games designers, package designers, and paying for the full-color, glossy cardboard boxes, cards that coincide with the minis, and all the overseas shipping involved that the production cost per model goes up a bit, but I'd be willing to gaurantee they make a killing on every box sold. It certainly doesn't cost them any more to MAKE rare figures, but they can turn that around and create this stupid demand that makes individual figures (used or sealed) rediculously expensive.

I hate collectors.

I know I'll be keeping track of my campaign by making players keep notes as they see fit and maybe jotting down quick recaps from their character's perspective. I intend to follow the Calendar of Harptos to a T, so every day that passes will count for some reason or another...

It starts in a week for me... I figure the Whispering Cairn's segments can probably be split into three sessions due to the fact that my group can only meet up for about 3 hours at a time. : ( (I frown at the short game sessions, of course, not taking forever on one part of the adventure path.)

Makes GH look like FR? Heheh. Don't forget that a disturbing number of NPCs in the Forgotten Realms are extremely old, even if they don't show it. Elminster, the Seven Sisters, Khelben, Halaster... Then there are the super villainesque characters like Manshoon. But, plenty of FR NPCs are below level 20.

Yeah, that's right. I'm trying to defend the FR! To arms! :P

By "Bam!" I think Rob means:

It's online.

--Erik

Ah, now if it'd download faster than 0.8kbps, I'd be able to say whether or not I appreciate the Overload.

Oh, who am I kidding! I already do! I just can feel how useful it's gonna be to us DMs.

I'm not sure what encounters are coming so I'm not looking for those mini's just yet. BUT... as I said, I've got a guy who has every friggin' D&D mini and THEN some (he just told me he's got over 1,400). He's on the trading boards and e-bay all the time.

Well, hey, I'm willing to buy some off of him but I'm not paying the "typical market price." All these websites and what not out there are seriously overcharging considering what you get. But a Dire Boar and an Owl Bear would be awesome for like $5 a piece. Heheheh.

But one can dream.

will there be monkies? I like monkies

I keep asking my boss to get some chimps for me to train to do my job 'cause it'd raise morale so much to be able to work with cute little chimpanzees. I even promised to deal with their diapers and feeding. It's like a little baby, but capable of doing work.

And I also want a minstrel troupe of midgets to follow me everywhere.

That and I want the Age of Worms Overload.

I know, and it dosn't seems as though WotC has been doing things in a timely faashion

Ah, you mean like the City of Splendors: Waterdeep Web Enhancement, which is referenced in the Dungeon #124 online supplement (PDF), in the notes about converting Age of Worms/Whispering Cairn to a Forgotten Realms adventure path? Hmm. I want my CoS:W WE! (And the AoWO)

Also got a "Bugbear Trooper" and a "Slaughterpit Zombie Gnoll" from the now defunct Chainmail line from WoTC. I liked the Slaughterpit zombie because it *looks* like an experiment. Two heads and four arms make it look even more unnatural. To keep it fair the extra hands may not do anything since it's not "completed" but it'll look cool as hell.

Could it function as the monster from the end of Three Faces of Evil? Just give it a different spin - some sort of hideous, malformed construct of undeath.

ASEO wrote:

But if you find an unidentified corpse in the woods, "Finders Keepers" applies.

...But then again, I live in Oklahoma, so my responce is "Where the hell did these trees come from?"

ASEO out

HAHAHAHAH!

If CSI should teach you anything, it's always bring latex gloves with you. Huh? Huh? Yeah...

if they do focus groups for the D&D minis sets, they must be asking people who don't play D&D...

The biggest flaw in the D&D Miniatures execution was discontinuing older products. By doing so, coupled with the fact they they're referred to as "collectible," allows internet retailers, eBay sellers, and others to hike up prices to astronomical values for no good reason. None. At all.

Well, that and the common minis make up the smallest number of figures in any set. Yeah, that makes sense. How about make the rare figures really rare by having, say, 5 or 6 out of 60 be rare. Make like 20-25 of the figures common.

And how about themed sets? Oh, sure, they're "themed" already. I mean by areas/terrain or by monster type. Why not sell Undead Booster Packs so you can amass skeletons and zombies. Or lizard folk packs with kobolds, troglodytes, lizardmen, etc. Vermin and Animals? That'd be awesome.

Angelfire JUST came out. If it's already out of production, then that's a bit odd. When Underdark comes out, I'd be much less surprised to hear of Angelfire production being ended.

James and blackotter both offer very good suggestions for the Grimlock situation.

I too have no problem with grimlocks using bows at a short range. I'd probably make it so they rarely hit, but it'd still be annoying from a PC-perspective.

All my dice just roll 1s and 2s. Oh, wait... Those are coins.

That's right! Monster Mark was the grading system of how tough a monster was. Thanks!

Does Anyone info on White Dwarf stuff? I maybe about 20 pre-Warhammer issues, but I do not have easy access to them.

All I have to say about Games Workshop's involvement with D&D is Slaad and Slaan.

My impression is that he doesn't fit in -- what we see in Whispering Cairn is an incidental overlap in the Wind Dukes' story and Kyuss' activities. It seems to be little more than coincidence.

Or is it?! MUWA HA HA HA!

Oh, wait. I mean... I too am interested in finding some origins of Kyuss. Didn't they become Queens of the Stone Age?

Draconian, eh? That makes me wonder, has there ever been a draconic alphabet printed in a D&D product? I know the 3e FRCS has Dethek, Thorass, and Espruar in it.

Yeah, Savage Orcs from WotC Deathknell (57/60 c), much more impressive than the grimlock "weaklings" from WotC Dragoneye -

and easier to get.

Is there any sort of official "in production, not in production" list for the D&D minis? Aside from Harbringer and Archfiends, which sets are no longer being made? It seems like with the release of Angelfire, it's everything up to Aberrations. Maybe even including Aberrations... Which, obviously, is a real shame. How am I supposed to get an Umber Hulk? Or Drizz't? Or some of the dragons? It's not fair, I say!

But at least I managed to get two Bulettes and a Huge Red Dragon!!!

Aside from making sure to keep recent memories of flooding on the minds of Daggerford's inhabitants and that of PCs from nearby areas (one guy is from Waterdeep, which I suppose will mess with the "first" visit to the Free City, ie, Waterdeep), I'm personally going to stick with the #124 supplement to a T (unless something in it doesn't sit right with me, and I've got two weeks to see if that happens).

But, I may throw in a Red Wizard or a Shadovar (spy, perhaps) if things don't really stick to the AoW path. One downside to wanting to run an AP is that you really can't force the players to go along with it. So, who knows? After the Whispering Cairn I might find the adventure in Athkatla, Ten Towns, or even the Marsh of Chelimbyr. We'll see...

Wow, these are some great stories. Hopefully, despite my lack of DMing experience, I can pull off the Whispering Cairn, and I'll be sure to let you all know how it went. My main wish is to have some laughs - especially with in-party interactions. A wily, mischevious rogue and a law-enforcing paladin? Oh, what fun will [hopefully] be had!

Very cool, Laeknir.

Uh... Wow. Two things:
1) Great work! I'll definitely be using this as canon for my campaign.
2) When you say Tymora, are you using that as a modern proverb-type reference? Because if you mean what I think you mean, I believe Tyche would represent luck back then. I can't remember when Tyche split into Tymora and Beshaba though.

Ooh, I forgot about those guys.

This party I'll be DMing with is (with all 8 players):
2 clerics (1 human, 1 dwarf)
1 paladin (human)
1 rogue (forest gnome)
1 monk (air genasi)
1 sorceror (draconic human)
1 necromancer (good aligned, too!) (half-elf, if i remember correctly)
1 ranger (moon elf)

That's a lot of combat prowess, especially if the rogue has opportunities to deal sneak attack damage. Plus, with the ranger's Heal skill, at least one Cleric, and the Paladin, staving off injuries shouldn't be too hard. Two between arcane spellcasters, I'm sure they can buffer themselves with protective spells too, even at 1st level. The monk took a feat allowing him to levitate three times per day, so that should be interesting. Oh, both the wizard and the sorceror have foregone familiars (using either a Flaw or a variant from Unearthed Arcana).

Hmm. Let's see... In 1344 Alastar Land left home, so I guess he died that same year.

OK, so the tombstones will read:
Anders Land: 1310-1343 DR
Bermisa Land: 1313-1355 DR
Coldaran Land: 1329-1355 DR
Getia Land: 1342-1355 DR
and Alastor Land: 1331- DR

From your info and my calculations, it would seem the dates I've come up with are correct. Maybe Eric can chime in on this?

(Your note on 1355 should say Alastor Land's mother, sister and brother die of Red Death plague. That means they died the year the plague started in Daggerford.)

For some Realmsy goodness, you could also avoid Dale Reckoning and say that the Red Death plague hit in the Year of the Harp.

There are rules lawyers, and then there's me - the fluff lawyer.

This is the first FR campaign I have run for years so I'm a touch behind on the current realms happenings. What is this flooding of the river and how serious a flood are we talking about?

Well, when the Shadovar came back from the Plane of Shadow in the Year of Wild Magic, they did a little somethin' to start melting the High Ice (they wanted to make Anauroch verdant again, even though it'd take decades). Problem was, all that moisture started negatively affecting the Sword Coast North and Western Heartlands. It may have even spread as far as Cormyr, but I don't know how far South. Needless to say, the constant, torrential downpours started makign water levels rise. Daggerford undoubtedly got flooded, so I'm sure its citizens are unhappy.

Laeknir, is your placed Shadovar a Shade or just a regular Netherese human? I like the idea of having a Red Wizard there. One of the players in my campaign will be from Aglarond and he said his character really hates Thayans, especially Red Wizards. Plus, another guy is a devout paladin of Tyr, so I might steal your ideas for some potential side quests and extra role-playing fun! Woo!

I have - I'm doing the AoW in FR, and I'm using the Daggerford map (downloadable from WotC, in "The North")... probably the same you've downloaded. For the people who end up being replaced (per Eric Boyd's conversion notes), I'm using the same houses, inns, etc. of the people who ended up being replaced or modified. For example, I'm not using "Allustan," per se but Delfen Ondabarl - so Delfen stays in his tower. But it's Delfen who acts in Allustan's role. Similar for the others.

Of course, the flavor of the AP changes a little... initially, it's not quite as dark of a setting. But I went with Eric's conversion in full because it offered a lot of interesting options for my players.

Well, *SPOILER* after the events of the Return of the Archwizards trilogy, I'd imagine Daggerford isn't such a happy place, being right on the River Delmbiyr and inevitably getting flooded. *END SPOILER*

Anyone bothered to download the old AD&D supplement from the Wizards of the Coast site with all the info on Daggerford? I did, and it has a complete map of the town. Where are some of you FR DMs placing the various buildings from the adventure path in the town?

Um, reading through the #124 online supplement and The Whispering Cairn I got a tiny bit confused about when the various members of the Land family died and when Alastor ran away. Could someone please be so kind as to give me a hand? Current year: 1374 DR. (Which makes me wish I had time to read The Year of Rogue Dragons books before I start this Adventure Path...)

I'll be DMing AoW with a 7 (and later, 8) player party. All characters are starting at 1st level (with a few +1 ECLs), but little in the way of power-gaming or optimization. I figure the notes on scaling The Whispering Cairn will help. For example, giving the Owlbear all of its hp probably won't be too much. And, from what I hear about the acid beetle swarms, I might not have to do anything else to modify the adventure!

I guess I'll know after it's over. If the party doesn't good strong enough to handle The Three Faces of Evil, I can always knock off a grimlock or kenku here and there. Saves me from having to find zillions of miniatures anyway.

Oh, and I hope the Overload comes out soon. I'm starting this AP on August 15th, so I have just over two weeks to get totally prepped (and converted to FR).