dave.gillam's page

Cyrad, it says your file doesnt exist?

Ive tried to post 3 times and had the damned machine eat all 3 posts.

Thanks for the ideas and info. There were good questions I want to answer to further develop this project. But until my computer stops buggering all to %^^&* Im calling it a night. Thanks

Seems good to me.
Wisdom from the "savages" is logical; Natives are often tall on common sense, but short on book-learning.

as for all the wilderness abilities; you might want to pare that down just a very little bit. depends on the campaign you're running. If its standard dungeon and urban, leave it. it isnt a benefit.

Im working on a new world.
Earth size and style.
13 months of 28 days, each 24 hours
Lunar rotation is 3 days per phase, standard phases similar to our Luna
2 moons

The first moon is the size of Luna, and at the 34* latitude (roughly where the country is located) the moon rises at @8pm, while the sun is still up, and sets about 8am, while the sun is already up on both equinoxes.Like the sun, this will see an extreme of 16 hours at solstice.

The second revolves around the world twice as fast, though it rotates on its axis at the same speed. Its also roughly 1/3rd the size of Luna.

So, can one of the astronomy geeks work up a "lunar calendar" for me? Tides, eclipses and all that would be appreciated too. We can discuss a fee, if necessary, though Im hoping to hook a grad student that needs a project, to be honest.

no, the game wasnt held up. We just werent sure if there even was a goblin language to write in, given the fear of words goblins have. And bugbears dont seem the type to develop much literature, either. I was gonna say yes, but he wanted the board-check. He's more rules-conscious than me.

My old CO'c rule

if you have to ask, you dont want to know.
(most commonly heard just outside the chowhall before diner)

My experience with the term in literature does not support this interpretation. Like, here is another instance explaining the "implication is that the "confirmed bachelor" might be homosexual."

Your example comes from the 196t0s. Completely irrelevant to the Victorian Era. I hope you understand why.

dave.gillam wrote:

So, why is marriage encouraged? As Bill Engvall so wisely put it, without the sex, being gay is just hanging out with your buds.

I don't really think that is "wise" at all. In fact, it's pretty ignorant. And it's predicated on the idea that men and women are inherently different. Why is being gay no different than any other "bud" relationship (sans sex), and heterosexual relationships privileged as some more complex level of intimacy.

well, mainly because of the key word being modified, that is "Sexual".

Im saying there is a significant difference between a relationship without sex versus one with sex. If you disagree with that, again, you're the one with the problem, not me.

Just like the basic fact that if you cannot comprehend the fundamental differences between the male and female of the gender, the problem is with you, not me.

dave.gillam wrote:

As Bill Engvall so wisely put it, without the sex, being gay is just hanging out with your buds.

I'm not gay myself, so I can't speak from experience, but that statement, I'd disagree with. There's more to love than just sex, and more to a loving partnership than just sex. That goes for gay love as much as straight love.

by definition, homosexuality is about having sex with the same gender. Anything else is BS fantasy dreamed up by fools. Its no different that preferring Asian chicks, or any other sexual quirk.

dave.gillam wrote:

Procreation: biology makes the negative an absolute

I'm not sure what you mean by that. Could you clarify?

If the purpose of marriage is for procreation.......

is there a hard rule in PF on that? or just GM fiat?

Magic items in general are supposed to be rare, yet outside of PFS, you can make whatever you want.

So I kinow goblins fear writing.
do the other two goblinoid races? or have they developed a writing system? One of my players wants to play a hobgoblin passing intel, and asked the question, and I cant seem to find an answer.

First off, using urban dictionary as a source?
Troll baiting much, are we?

Second off, oddly, most the actual characters we see the term used for in literature and such of the period would later be known as "playboys" and such; womanizers that were "confirmed bachelors" simply because they would never dream of only one booty for the rest of their lives.

From a psychological standpoint, its a man thats simply been burned too mant times, and is now of the "use 'em and lose 'em" philosophy.

As for if a goddess would be pro gay anything: depends on her view of what marriage is for. Being in charge of arraigned marriages means we lose the "lust is love" BS argument rather quickly. (Thank whatever higher power you believe in)

So, why is marriage encouraged? As Bill Engvall so wisely put it, without the sex, being gay is just hanging out with your buds. And we've been told for ages how after your married, the sex pretty much stops (at least with your spouse) So most of the idiocy and drama from both sides can promptly be thrown out.

We're down to two simple reasons
Inheritance: no reason exists to prevent it
Procreation: biology makes the negative an absolute

:headscratch:
I thought it was pureed babies mixed with hot sauce?

Conundrum, my how we so easily ignore doing any homework and make such ignorant pronouncements. David Bowie predates "hair bands" by twenty years (his accomplishments as both a preformer and song writer are well documented) - and according to several witnesses, including a reporter for Rolling Stone magazine, that was no cucumber.

Have to blow the whistle on that one.

Ooooohh.
Please, someone do.
I have a few friends that need to be tortured (evil laugh)

And, imo, Kaidan kicks ass!!! A superb setting, if not my usual taste in gaming (I dont care for horror, personally; Im more comedy. Pathfinder needs rules for socking the BBEG with a dead fish!)

Its not the purity, or the lack of fantasy, but rather that "reality", (more properly in this usage should probably be "verisimilitude") with a tweak, was then fleshed out to tell a story.

If you look at any truly successful sci-fi, you find (and many authors suggest this) that you keep most of reality intact, and just shift a bit one specific thing. Otherwise it becomes too unbelievable, and you lose the audience.

dave.gillam wrote:

Everyone knows the orc princess Olga, with the str of 20 is the prettiest.

Disagree?
You wont after she beats you unconscious.

Some people find a well defined and muscular woman quite beautiful.

Also, she may be highly sought after in her community of Orcs, as they may favor her physical qualities, finding them the truest measure of beauty.

While thast is certainly true, Ive found a different argument.

Olga the orc princess says:

Bards and druids like to claim, "war doesnt settle who's right. It settles who's left."

Basic logic says: if no one is around to disagree, then Im right.

As true gentleman I would never dream of arguing with a lady of her stature

lol

I should add for others, since it does seem to be something I havent stressed enough in my last posts, part of history is religion.
Again, you dont have to go nuts.

Want to do an Arabian Nights style?
Those tales were based on the actual religion of the Arabian Peninsula before Islam. Wiki has enough to fake it.

Going Japanese? Call the princess (name)~hime (and make sure you pronounce it right). (last name)~san to address everyone. For an extra kick, half-orcs are (name)~oni. Heck, you can even get this from the sub anime (gotta get the Japanese language to catch how to add it right, though)

Wanna make it more Greek? Brush up on your classical mythology. (please dont trust Percy Jackson movies. Or Sorbo Hercules; DEAR GOD!! PLEASE dont use Sorbo Hercules as a source *shudder*)

Wanna recreate Napoleonic France? You dont have to read 5 books or know any towns. Doesnt hurt, but not necessary. Know how to say Baguette right. Have the NPCs use the french word for Musket (and practice that pronunciation)

its a hand full of little touches that require a glance at a real book 10 minutes before you game (just like cramming for a test lol) that arent hard. Part of the reason I was asked to start teaching classes on how to be a GM at my FLGS was because everyone thought I was a genius that knew everything about everything and couldnt be out-thought or out-planned. Most GMs that learned my secrets laughed their buts off (after they got over being mad (lol)
Between this and the Xanatos Gambit, Everyone thought I was the supreme GM, not realizing I was the cheapest trickster in the building.

*oops*
my bad.
Never mind

So remember, if you want to play a Star Wars game, the best place to start isn't with the movies or other canon material, it's with hard science and star charts. :)

Look, if you want a realistic game or even a semi-realistic game in setting based on a particular culture, studying that real culture is important. But if you're aiming for genre, that genre is a better place to start. Even if those genres came about by evolving over centuries. You're not going to recapitulate that whole evolution yourself in a few weeks or months - even a lifetime.

Well, if you wanna pick fights by looking for things to get pissy about in my posts.... this could actually get kinda fun. Heck, I might even throw a bone or two; mid-terms are almost over, and its getting boring.

BTW, since you dont seem to realize, Lucas has publicly admitted a few times since the late 70s, most of the original 3 movies, most the characters, most plots, "the force", Giant monsters, wise old master, etc; yeah, that was all blatantly stolen from different stuff he found in Japanese culture. He was counting on Americans to be too ignorant to realize. (my words, not his; He's much more politic about how he phrases things) Here we are, 40 years later, and several public confessions from the creator, and even the nerds and geeks are still proving that basic assumption right.

Rather sad, it is.

Everyone knows the orc princess Olga, with the str of 20 is the prettiest.
Disagree?
You wont after she beats you unconscious.

I appologize for stopping on page 3, so I dont know if these were already addressed or not, but there are several misconceptions:

1) The wife wasnt farming. Cooking and basic cleaning werent short easy tasks like today, but several hour to several day affairs, depending on what you were making. Proper Marinara sauce isnt something you pour out of a can and microwave, even in a fantasy setting. Best scenarion would have put it similar to 30 years ago, swhen such a meal took at least a half hour, and more likely an hour to cook. Assuming you have no magic or power (like the average dirt farmer) it takes 2-3 days to make it "proper".
And if you think laundry is "never-ending" with today's machines, just try it with a bucket and a wash-board.

1B) By the time a child is old enough to do labor fit to be figured into the formula used in the book, in the fantasy society represented, he's moving out on his own, unless he's crippled or mentally deficient. In which case, he isnt earning those wages anyway. Most children are apprenticed out or busy watching the younger kids while mom's busy doing the housework.

2) The pay for crafting is for "professional" work. Many other games point out their skills are for the trained tradesman, versus "Bob in his garage" As a beginning hobby blacksmith, I have everything in my garage to make you a simple working knife. It wont be anything close to the quality, strength, artistry; my work is crap compared to a master like Gil Hibben. His Trash is better than my best work currently. He gives away better than I can sell.
We see the same gap hidden in your example: Just because the dirt farmer can pound 4 legs onto a flat board and make it function "good enough" to be a table for his family doesnt even remotely suggest he can give it away much less sell it, especially at book listed prices.

3) As was pointed out by one intelligent poster, most of the wealth you imagine that a farmer might actually have will be rather immobile; crops, buildings, anvils and necessary items to keep his "tools of the trade" in top repair. If his tools fail, he doesnt just "lose money", he starves and dies, and so does his family. So those extra items arent "wealth", or luxuries, but represent the work of years, maybe even generations of his family to maximize his ability to work. Our society doesnt have anything to compare to the kind of sacrifice you'd be suggesting he be "willing" to make.

3B) As well, what isnt directly vital to the continued operation of his farm (seed crop, buildings, tools, stud animals, goods transportation, etc) still isnt easily moved. Young livestock sells cheap, Prime doesnt sell at all (if its good, why are you selling it?) and old is better priced by part than whole. (and the meat is worthless) Field goods are even worse.

4) Fantasy economics: Unless the farmer is transporting himself to the main distribution center (which isnt the closest village) he isnt getting "half book list price" That goes to the transporter selling to the central distribution center. The transporter at best will pay half of what he gets from the distributor. So, even if we keep all your other numbers the same, then we must cut the number by 1/4th to represent the "middleman". Notice, this isnt REAL economics, which we can find books to set proper rules for. this is just the "dummies" version. If the Farmer tries deliver himself tom the distributor, You have to refigure how much more time you lose, much of it during prime harvest time, meaning that much of the cash crop is lost. (Wagons dont carry nearly as much as modern people think they do)

Its late; I'll read through more tomorrow, and add what I see as a "freeholder's" eye view of misunderstandings and mis-assumptions. Your over-all concepts are good. But its like the old days of table-top, when gamers thought horses where lawn-mowers with legs that didnt need to be fed or watered, and would happily be rode down into caves.

The most important rule? 42. What else?

:headscratch:

For everything there must be a pony version

OK. Im curious. What does My Little Pony, Pathfinder Edition look like?

And how can we beg an expansion set from the Paizo Gods?

Adamantine Dragon wrote:

Jessica Price wrote:

Adamantine Dragon wrote:

Jessica Price wrote:

grumble

grumble

grumble

grumble

And again, it was a joke. In a string of multiple other jokes playing on different interpretations of the word "rule".

more grumble

And playing off all this, Im going to have to say.....

Penumbral Shades

These glasses with dark colored lenses protect the wearer from the adverse effects of bright light, and make the wearer look really cool.

Not to be worn at night,

Actually, can you use a 0-level to change color, or add a sound illusion to them?

"Rose colored glasses"
Put them on, and everything seems nicer, and you hear pleasant music play in the background.

lol

Unless you actually want to play a game where "giant robots poop rainbow unicorns that shoot lasers out their buts to kill Kaiju". It is a fantasy game, not a historical one. Genre fiction can be a much better source for genre gaming than actual history.

True.

One thing to remember is that every manga, anime, fairy tale, book, movie, etc, was somehow based, however loosely, on reality. You can create just as good as any of your favorite authors by looking at a history (or modern tech) book and tweaking one or two areas you find boring or lame.

Remember, most of today's totally over-the-top stories (regardless of format) that seem to have no tie to factual history, are simply the evolution of genres for years, decades, in some cases even centuries. (Heck, the Greek "Tragic Hero" that Stan Lee used for most his early Marvel comic story style has literally been around for Milena)

My solution to most the problems listed on the boards

get beer.
Open beer
drink beer
Watch endless loop of Baywatch opening with Pamela Anderson bouncing down the beach
Repeat as necessary until I no longer care about supposed "problem"

Someone need to go skim through the actual history of the time period.

Alchemists were trying to use chemicals and poisons to make immortals, just like in China. Alchemy was less about creating material wealth, like in Europe and the middle east and more about creating "super-soldiers" nearly a thousand years before us white devils would come up with the idea.

The Japanese gun came from China in 1270. During the Sengoku period (warring states) you want to use, Ashigaru (the peasant foot soldiers) were regularly armed with flintlocks and used the same mass-fire techniques we recognize from the British, and for the same reason.

The Japanese horse was a short scrawny misshapen thing that anywhere else would easily have been mistaken for a donkey or a mule. Except that
A) The Japanese didnt have any other option
B) The Japanese of the day weren't exactly giants themselves

Shinto (the idea that everything in nature has a spirit that must be appeased. Or else the spirit got pissed) was the "official" religion, while Buddhism was almost as wide-spread. So you have both clerics and druids.

Honestly, every single one of the current classes fits easily in, just by changing the "window dressing" on the class description, without even touching class mechanics.

As I so often tell new DMs at various teaching workshops: dont waste time with movies, anime, and fiction. Focus more on actual history books. You dont have to recreate history at all. But if you can replace about 10-15% of your game with terms, places, names, and words from what your trying to emulate, in your table's mind, your joss whedon, Ron Howard, George Lucas, and Steven Speilberg all rolled into one. You dont have to be accurate. The fact you looked at a factual book at all, much less recently, probably puts you worlds ahead of your players. And even if they do more know about the subject, they'll be so overjoyed to see it, they'll happily come in during off-0game time to help you fix the details and "get it right" just to help share their love with the other guys.

Just first make sure your "subject matter expert" actually knows what he's talking about and isnt basing his knowledge on a cartoon where giant robots poop rainbow unicorns that shoot lasers out their buts to kill Kaiju :roll:

Coin of the realm
a nice little 0-level illusion (it the same will save as any 0-level) that makes any disk of about the right size seem a gold coin.

http://www.flicksandbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/bane-tom-hardy-2012 -the-dark-knight-rises.jpg
I thought he was bad enough. You really want to make him worse?

Don't be a jerk

I thought that was "dont be a......"

So I saw this:

Remember the most important rule of the Paizo message boards.

on a thread, and my inner Joker came out, as seen from the title. As long as no one brought their inner Batman, this should be fun.

I know the first and most important rule of Fight Club (dont talk about Fight Club), but I cant see Paizo pushing that one. Its bad for business.

And I know my most important rule in life has always been "never kick a grizzly bear in the nuts"; I highly recommend those as words to live by, if you need some. Followed closely is "never try to hit on the princess right in front of her dad/husband", but that one doesnt seem a applicable here.

But I want to hear from some of the other brilliant people here as to what they consider some important rules to be.

And remember, this is supposed to be fun, if not funny

dot for awesome

Thats the one. Thanks

Ping so i can find again

I thought I saw that Paizo was doing a book that would cover animal companions and/or familiars for everyone, not just wizards and druids.
But I might have been in the 3rd party, or even old 3.5 stuff.
Is Paizo doing anything like this? (or already done it?)

This is an interesting thread, but I detect a few flaws, I think; I could be wrong.
AFAIK:
There are no tools for tavern-owner, much less masterwork.
Likewise, the only "tools" for a barmaid are "T&A" and Im not even going to try and go into how to "masterwork" her body parts on this forum, nor what exactly that would mean (though that could be a fun topic)

Also, for the experts and their jobs, you forgot the entire "expenses" side of the column, especially for the Tavern owner; food and beer dont just magically appear, (mores the pity) unless that owner is also a cleric or mage.

heh
Lets remember the framework we're in; There are gods in this fantasy.
The only reason you care about your alignment is because if the god considers you too "bad" you lose your power, and if the god considers you really evil, he sends a holy avenger to kill you.

All the long-winded BS spouted here so far amounts to jack, because your trying to put it in real-world context, instead of game context.
If "Nekkid Babe, Goddess of whatever" says they're evil, and need to be slain, and your her follower, and want to stay her follower, you grab a sword and start killing. Its a "good" act, because she's "good" and she says its ok.
You have problems with that, you find another god.

I find that when my GM throws such subtle hints that "Im playing wrong", the best thing to do is rip up my character sheet right in front of him and build "Bob the Fighter", the lamest, most generic, uninspired character I can, LOUDLY, with all the GM input I can get (and ignoring most of the "advice")

You have one player.
Without talking to him, you've decided your story requires his PC's death.
If you wanted to write a book, why involve your "friend"? A real friend would have let him go find a game to group with. And thats without going into the *shudder* emo vibe ya got goin on.

Actually, many heroes of myth seemed to lack dump stats. Arthur, Beowulf, Hercules and Gilgamesh didn't have huge weaknesses from what I know.

Arthur was a gullible sucker (wis dump)

maybe scorching ray should be spitting on them?

Third Mind wrote:

Though, with my last suggestion, you'll probably want to space out the prank events a bit so as to not overly annoy the players.

Not sure if pranks are the way to go, that is more toward the annoying villain side and away from the respected villain side.

More like rob them blind and make them look bad doing it, or you could just frame them for a crime, that way their rep is ruined and they lose stuff.

Steal one of their coin purses and dont let them catch thye guy.

So, in a similar vein,
Mongoose had a great book, as did someone else (beta bunny?) on improving familiars with new abilities, skills, etc.
but the primary mechanic was to spend exp for the improvements.

I was wondering if there was anything similar in PF?

I agree with shadowlord.
Overall, my current group are people Ive been friends with for (too many) years. If someone comes in that disrupts that, its the boot.

Then there's always the classic:
"Rock falls; everyone dies"

An orc-eating baby (or is it the other way around; I always get that mixed up)

Not just violence, but completely random violence, that he doesnt even grasp as to why its evil. and when explained, simply doesnt care.
The guy that torches an orphanage just because its blocking his sunlight.

Always talks down to the PCs, especially when he's losing, but escapes before they can kill him.

Has a "cheezy" cantrip he spams; I had one villain that had a "create slime" type spell, it would create a glob of slime that flew at you; acid orb cantrip, with no damage or penalty, just a gross slime covered you. Man did that piss off my players lol

I combined the 3 on my list into one guy; my players threw a party the day they finally killed him.

Grand kilts are 9 yards of fabric.
"slow fall" - he uses it for a parachute, and since he's "regimental", falls stark nekkid
Still mind actually leaves traces of dirt on the caster's hands
Abundant step also leaves dirty footprints

and thats just core abilities

removing Hallow is easy; just pee on the alter and pray the deity doesnt blow your tallywhacker off

removing Unhallow is only slightly harder: soak it with holy water