hallucitor's page

I was organizing my home office earlier and going through my miniatures and noticed my Grimloks....
Why, if these brutes are blind, do they were clothing over their private parts?

Greetings Everyone!
Hope you don't mind but I thought I would take a brief moment to announce that our humble little guildship, Mossy Mountain Gathering, has released a third product in the downloads section.... this one is another freebie and is the result of past consumer requests and comments. If you've ever wanted to create an indepth family line for your adventuring character, here's your chance to grab a free product that will allow you to do just that!

We are currently in the works of creating a few additions for elves, dwarves, and specialized family backgrounds, and would greatly welcome all manner of comments, questions, complaints, requests, reviews, and rebuttals.

If you have a moment and would like to add a few free pdfs to your shopping cart, please take a moment to check out our offerings.

Thanks!
Dave Woodrum
Mossy Mountain Gathering

Here it is! You the customers wanted a lineage system with random roll charts and rich flavor, and we've listened.

We would like continued feedback, however, as we are in the plans of making add ons for this primary family lineage file. We are currently working on charts for elves and want to know what else you would like to see.

Feel free to download, pass around, and comment as desired!

Thanks!
Dave Woodrum
Mossy Mountain Gathering

Greetings to all! This is Dave Woodrum (aka hallucitor) of Mossy Mountain Gathering, a guildship of artists, writers, designers, etc. that refuse to call ourselves a company. We've got two products up in the downloads section right now, both are free, and we are wanting some input on both from anyone in the gaming community interested in giving their input.

Especially with the second release... Peasant Bloodline. This product is intended to be a brief, barebones launch for a possible growing series of products. The idea of the Bloodline series is to release family trees for player characters (or if needed, npcs) that follow various themes. The first one is more or less generic in regards to a specific theme, but later additions may have more of an angle (such as hailing from a family of sailors, barbaric clan, druidical community, criminal underworld family, family of wealthy merchants and craftsmen, family of exiled nobles, etc.)

Before we delve too far into design, however, we would like to get some input from the gaming community. So feel free to download these freebies and tell us what you think! You can find both in the Mossy Mountain Gathering category.

Thanks!
Dave

Greetings to all! This is Dave Woodrum (aka hallucitor) of Mossy Mountain Gathering. As stated in the product description of Peasant Bloodline, we are looking for any and all input from gamers regarding future installments of the Bloodline character family trees. Comments, compliments, complaints, insults, groveling, and boasts all welcome and appreciated! The first one is a bit on the bare side, yes, but we want to see what the customers would like from the future Bloodline products before we go really deep into detail (or not... should less detail actually be desired).

So please, feel free to openly discuss your thoughts and opinions... and encourage others to download and look over this free product!

Thanks!
Dave

I've grown really, really fond of the new skills system, particularly the replacing 4x amount at 1st level with the +3 for class skills. This aside, however, I would like the see the allowance of rank maximums being total Hit Dice+3 (as roughly before) instead of rank maximums for each skill being equal to Hit Dice...
2 reasons...

1. The new +3 for class skills allows a nice focus of mundane/non-combative skills for npcs of the commoner and expert likes... which compliments what these classes were meant for. Adding back the Hit Dice+3 for rank cap allows that much more concentration (consider this... an Expert, Lvl 1 NPC with an Intelligence of 14 (+2) takes up Craft: Leatherworker and places 4 rank points into the Craft Skill along with Skill Focus: Craft (Leatherworker). Now, the character also gets a +3 as this is a chosen Expert class skill. +2 Ability, 4 rank points, +3 for Skill Focus, +3 for being a class skill... This means that the level 1 Expert already gets a +12 total mod for Craft: Leatherworker... Kabam! You have a skillful character in a trade that you do not have to take beyond Level 1 (aka the desired villager)

2. I have a high intelligence Expert Merchant type and I'm constantly having to shove ranks into oddball non-Expert Class skills each level because the character's combined bonuses allow the character to gain a total of 11 rank points for skills each level... if the Hit Dice+3 was simply allowed, the character could concentrate more rank points in skills most desirable to the NPC.

I know that there has not been an official approval for a Pathfinder compat. logo and SRD/OGL variation for the game, but I've started creating new races for Pathfinder.
I figure that although I'm a designer by side trade, I'm also a player and I'm entering that mode where I'm becoming more interested in creating again to make myself happy rather than to look at selling a product.
With this in mind I'm going ahead and creating my own Pathfinder races, monsters, etc. Naturally, these are also 3.5 compat. but they share more of the Pathfinder flavor of construction... particuarly two Ability bonuses and one ability penalty.

So far I'm working on brownies and the arimaspoi or arimaspians (human sized cyclops), and others are to follow.

Just curious if anyone else is already creating new additions specifically for the Pathfinder flavor?

I'm sure that someone else has probably caught on to this already but in playtesting we came across a particular lacking (to put it mildly) or flaw (to put it bluntly) with human fighters... they simply do not benefit from the human's Weapon Training feature. This is also the same case with any other class (whether NPC, new Core, Prestige, or otherwise) that would be proficient in all martial weapons.

Here is our solution-

Weapon Training: Humans are proficient with any one martial weapon of their choice, in addition to tose granted by class proficiencies. If the human character's starting character class already grants proficiency in all marital weapons (such as with a Fighter), then the human character is allowed proficiency with one exotic weapon of their choice. This weapon must be chosen at 1st level and cannot be changed.

Does this sound reasonable enough?

I'm sure I've said this before, but one correction that I would really like to see in Pathfinder (and I don't think this would kill anyone as far as a drastic rules change) is a substantial increase of the clothing prices...
why?
There is no way that the clothing, new that is, can be worth as little as they are priced at to be.
For one, most of the listed cloth (canvas included) is more expensive than the finished garments for peasant clothes... granted burlap would be cheaper than canvas but you get the point.
Second, considering that 1sp is the bottom wage per day, the mere cloth could not be woven up in a day's time, much less cut out and stitched together. And even with the higher priced outfits you have to consider the additional costs to make those boots and shoes... the leather, the working up, the stitching of the form.

I do know of (and agree with) something good from 4e that Pathfinder could easily have (as a free extension)... a bit more fleshing on the character sheet of the character's persona and all.
Okay, really, this is probably little more than a 4th edition add on to the character sheets in order to convince the player that the game is still an rpg.... and not a true minis game... but it does bring up a good idea.

About a week ago one of my players said that he was able to look over the 4th edition books (as well as I) and said that this was the only thing he really liked... the standard character sheet had a box to draw a picture in (as with older D&D character sheets) and there was an area to describe allies, character personality, and so forth.
I told him this was no problem that I could hash together a similiar sheet as an add on, complete with a grabbed Pathfinder logo (naturally, unofficially used for our party only), and was intending to do this anyways for additional party possessions and so forth.

However, I think it might be a nice, seperate "third" page for character sheets that could be downloaded from Paizo's site, if the company or someone with approval wanted to build it up.

On that note, what all would everyone like to see on a third sheet?
(I'd like to see a picture, allies and enemies, organizational joins, land holdings/other possessions, etc.)

I do not work for either company so I can say this... Pathfinder, to me, despite the change in name, IS Dungeons & Dragons... 4th edition is, well, just 4th edition. I don't really connect the D&D name with 4e.

Sorry, but I love this... yeah, granted, as a ranger player I would have preferred a bit more of an evolution to the ranger... perhaps drop the magic spells for more special class ability... but I can live with it... or simply go druid/fighter instead... or just create my own class that is more suiting for what I want... or use the Scout class from the later 3.5 books... I can do what I want, because Pathfinder allows that.

So, in response to all the bye... yeah, I had to get the 4th edition books for a professional reason, but I don't have to like them or play them....

Sorry, but I'm staying with Pathfinder.. so deal with it.

Okay, I will admit that the Pathfinder price is already a very good deal, and I'm buying the Beta test, but I have a slight little suggestion if you will give me a moment to possibly hear me out.
Could you, perhaps, consider, if not create, a bulk purchase rebate for gaming groups?
Here's the deal.... after seeing what 4th has to offer, my DM and I have decided that we are definitely going Pathfinder... heck, we were anyways as an additional gaming campaign, but this will definitely be the absolute core route now (to replace 3.5 as the core gaming campaign).... however, we need to encourage our fellow local players a bit more... we decided, that despite the fact that I stay broke these days and my DM is buying waaaayyy tooo many toys, we are going to pitch in and buy copies of the Beta for our gamers. Its a "think for yourselves" initiative, basically, play it until August 2009... if you like it, the final hardcover comes out, you'll know what to do...

However, in order to do this, it would be nice if we could save a few dollars a copy at least if we bought four or five copies at a time? Would a bulk package be possible... aka replace the groups' books deal?

What I find kinda funny about my stance is that I seem to be the only one that believes that the ranks are more important for NPCs than the new quick way... the reason being is that ranks allow low level npcs to have higher craft and profession skills (I'm also still up for that being merged into occupation). I was wondering, do you think that it might be a good compromise if the new Pathfinder was to include a special class ability to experts and possibly commoners that would automatically give them Skill Focus as a free feat in one skill of their choice?
(That way your tradesmen would automatically have a base sense of ability in their trades)
This... as silly as it sounds... has been a major concern of mine. The reason is that I realize that most GMs/DMs want npcs of the expert/commoner/etc. trades to stay at very low level, aka 1-3, at the same rate, its kinda pointless to go see the village cartographer, blacksmith, etc. when they barely have as much as a point or two (due to the new level format) in their profession... they are barely trained to do anything at best. If you either gave some new mechanic to the classes that would adjust this or at least gave Experts (if not commoners also) Skill Focus for one skill of their choice as an automatic free feat at 1st level (on top of the other obtainable feats), then that would make up for the lacking somewhat and make the expert a truly tradesman worthy craft.

Any suggestions in regards to this?

This is something I thought I would bring up although with a bit of hesitation... I'm normally more of a focused role gamer than a power gamer and this would appear to be more of a power gamer idea. However, we tried this for simplicity and effectiveness and it works, and works well. Currently its being tested with 3.x material only but we will be using Pathfinder characters with it soon as well (its a house rule as it stands, so we will be using it across the board)

Maximized Base Attack Bonuses for multiple attacks:
I was talking about to my DM one night and he was suprisingly all for it was a change to the BAB on higher level, multiple attacks. We would often gripe and moan about the number reductions because in most cases, unless you rolled a natural 20 (or at least pretty darn close to it), you missed on your secondary attacks. I came up with a solution that he tried first with another gaming group of his... to be fair... and said it worked like a charm. The alternate rule? All attacks you make fall under 1 BAB. In other words, if you were a 12th level fighter and your normal BAB was +12/+7/+2, your BAB under this rule was now +12/+12/+12. My DM also upped the secondary attacks for monsters this way (basically overlooked the multiattack modifiers) and also incorporated this into any NPCs that they fought... which were alot because the DM loves more NPC encounters.
The results, the combat was a bit more dangerous at times but overall the characters had a better success rate and it was more fun to roll those additional attacks. So thus we are incorporating it now, and it honestly does a good job.
As far as backwards compats./conversions, its fairly easy. You look at the first number on the BAB listing and use that for all additional attack rolls. Simple.

I was wondering, would it be possible to make the whip just a bit more desirable to have as a weapon? This is a weapon that many players in my gaming groups have wanted to use, for sheer coolness, but have not due to its limitations and the fact that you have to go out of the way in order to be able to use it.

Here's my personal suggestions.
#1.. and this is the biggie... reduce the whip's status from exotic to martial. Honestly, myself, I'd almost, to a small degree consider it as a simple but the fact that it takes some good technique to use a whip with flair should move it more into the martial range. Besides, whips are/were widely used in different parts of the world... some in different varieties... but used none the less. I don't see it so much as being that exotic.

#2.. possibly sway the armor/natural armor negation a bit.... would it be so bad to adjust the armor negation to a whip's damage to +2 armor bonus/+5 natural armor bonus? Thoughts on this anyone?

#3... this one is just a twisted addition... allow clerics to have it. Just ponder on the more harsh of orders...

I was showing the Pathfinder RPG to my regular DM tonight at work and he nearly pee'd himself over it... he's already in love. One concern he had... hated it at first until I (of all things) used my Human Service class cultural diversity training to further explain it... then he was somewhat cool with it.
The concern was the Wisdom bonus of half-orcs. The way I see it is that half orcs grow up amongst prejudice and injustice, and have to learn to be mindful of their surroundings and utilize a great deal of practical common sense early on in life. However, in the description there is only a bit of hint towards this. My DM suggested that it might be helpful if there was just a wee bit more written fluff justifying and explaining the Wisdom bonus of the half orcs in the final book.

There's been talk on various threads about the need for an extra race. I agree as I think it would be a good extra selling bit for Pathfinder and would not otherwise tamper with pre-existing 3.x rules. But what to make as far as a race? In a way I'm thinking something from mythology that has not already been covered, and would be easily found in the "civilized settings" or at least on the fringe of civil settings... but not sure what it would be.

In a way I don't know so much about the draconic bloods and the demonic/devil bloods... the devilish tiefling types can merge in society a bit more unnoticed but draconics are a bit standoffish, more than half orcs. The main reason, however, is I don't see Paizo wanting to add these as they have been added already to the 4e core races... its almost as saying, "hey! We're doing our own thing but we've got what you've got new as well..." I don't know, I could be wrong on this.

I don't really know what to add though... in a way I'd like to see a cyclopskin style character... basically man sized or bit larger than man sized variety of cyclops. I'm big into cyclops and think that they should be a main core offering monster... one thing I did like about 4e admittingly. Another creature from fantasy that has been overlooked is the Brownie... but in a way a brownie would be alot like a halfling with gnome like magical traits.

Now, I know my wife would like a full, human or near human sized fey creature with wings... like a seelie/unseelie type, but I don't know how well recieved that would be.

Me, I like toadfolk, but they are a bit too different.

(and I've always been fond of the GURPS variant of a kobold... the blue, more human like creature.)

What would everyone else feel would be best if Pathfinder was to have another core race?

Here are some of the spells that I think would help to make better monk abilities (as spell like abilities) over the current specials....

I'm about tempted, for that matter, to create an optional monk class and post it if desired for preview of how this might work. Anyone interested?

Here's the spells so far...

Good spell like abilities to consider for a newly developed monk.

0 level spells-
Daze
Know Direction
Mage Hand
Message
Touch Of Fatigue

1st level spells-
Endure Element
Shield
Mage Armor
Obscuring Mist
Comprehend Languages
Detect Secret Doors
True Strike
Charm Person
Hypnotism
Burning Hands
Shocking Grasp
Disguise Self
Ventriloquism
Cause Fear
Chill Touch
Animate Rope
Expeditious Retreat
Jump

2nd level spells-
Protection From Arrows
Resist Energy
Fog Cloud
Glitterdust
Detect Thoughts
Locate Object
See Invisibility
Daze Monster
Hideous Laughter
Gust Of Wind
Shatter
Blur
Invisibility
Scare
Bear’s Endurance
Bull’s Strength
Cat’s Grace
Darkvision
Eagle’s Splendor
Fox’s Cunning
Knock
Levitate
Owl’s Wisdom
Pyrotechnics
Spider Climb
Whispering Wind

3rd level spells-
Nondetection
Protection From Energy
Stinking Cloud
Arcane Sight
Clairaudience/Clairvoyance
Tongues
Hold Person
Suggestion
Wind Wall
Displacement
Blink
Gaseous Form
Haste
Keen Edge
Slow

I was thinking about this earlier... would the uhm... guy running the game be simply referred to as the Game Master, aka the common generic term, or would it be flashier to call them the Path Master?

What's everyone's input on this?

Likewise, wonder how the books would be titled and if there will be a core 3?

I was able to work again on playtesting today and started making a variety of different characters. I have found this out... the skills format in the alpha file work very well for pcs but not so good for npc classes (well, at least npc classes as they currently exist). Personally, I am all for keeping the npc classes and feel that their old format is good as it followed very closely to the pc classes... though weaker of course.
The problem is this, in order to have a decent blacksmith, tanner, historian, taxidermist, saddle maker, cartographer, etc. etc. etc. with the alpha rules, you have to tack on a few more levels, even more so than with the 3.x rules as standing.

My proposed option is to bring back skill points but remove the old "may not spend more than level+3" in ranks on any skill cap. Thus, if you really, really wanted to burn alot of points in one particular skill, even starting out, you could... but then you would naturally sacrifice your points going into other areas. (thus, you could have a 1st level rogue that was one of the world's greatest lock picks, or even trap finders/disablers, but significantly weaker in other areas of interests as similiar rogues).
The other solution would be to raise the cap... say "may not spend more than level+5", or even "may not spend more than level+10"/

What does everyone else think about this?

Monster designs was/is one of my specialities on the professional side of things... as such, I can't wait to see what you have planned for monsters.

I actually want to start creating, calculating, and processing out new beasties again! :)

As it has been raining and I can get much done out in the garden on my day off, I have been able to get the chance to read over a good portion of the alpha file thus far for the Pathfinder RPG. Overall, I love it! I simply love this idea and glad that someone is doing it.

Okay, this aside, I realize that Paizo is probably looking for both the good and bad in the playtest, for mere praises do not help when it comes to looking for customer and playtest feedback on possible flaws, suggestions, and so forth. I want to express, however, that any and all insight provided below is intended to be in a helpful manner, and it is my wishes that nothing that I am to offer is to be taken as me being critical of the Pathfinder RPG thus far. Likewise, I fully realize that my preferences for certain things are not to be considered a deciding factor… I am little more than one voice of many… and I would still remain happy with the resulting product never the less, and would most definitely by the print result… especially if it is in hardback. ;)
Also, I intended to express why I wish to see certain things changed, added, etc… and I am fully open (and wishing to see) any comments, positive or not so positive, from both Paizo as well as other members of the message board…

All this aside, here are my insights so far.

For the most part, I love this. What I particularly enjoy is its step by step development and closeness to the main core 3.5 rules, thus allowing us to mesh in the changes into the existing game as we go along. As such, I already have a complete Pathfinder RPG in a sense, as I already have tons of 3.5 related books. So far it’s a smooth integration into the game from what we are used to, rather than being an altogether different beast. Of course, I do realize that Pathfinder is still in its early stages, but I have a feeling (or at least a good hope) that this is the general shape of things to come.

Okay, my personal insights otherwise…

Linguistics- I like this and don’t like it at the same time. I can see the merging of skills to a certain degree but at the same rate, linguistics kinda kills off the joy of needing a translator. That might not be an entirely bad thing in a way, but in some aspects, knowing different languages may not be much of a use if one has a high linguistics score…
I think if this stays in, then perhaps there might be a need for a sense of difficulty score for certain languages, particularly the more exotic of tongues. I don’t know, what does everyone else think about this? I’m actually a bit torn in my decision pro or con. The rest of the linguistics skill was workable.

Elf- Like the elf for the most part, noticed by illustration you went for the taller variety. Really, this is just a cosmetic issue and the art is awesome looking otherwise, but perhaps a bit of a toning down of the elf’s muscle tone on a final representation would be good… for having a lower Constitution, the elf looks pretty darn stout.

Craft/Professions- As everyone knows, I’m a big advocate for having a craft and profession style skill, but in some ways I wonder if these two should be merged into one skill, perhaps Occupation (Int) check…. This would cover both crafts and professions, but in this manner both would rely on an Intelligence ability base. Something I have always had a minor problem with, on this note, was at times I felt that the ability score bases for crafts and professions should have been switched. There’s certain professions that are more of a wisdom worthy base, yes, and certainly some crafts that are more of an intelligence base of course. But, for the most part, I kinda feel that crafts are more of a common sense trade of sorts… thus Wisdom… whereas many professions require a bit of formal book learning, thus Intelligence. For years I couldn’t help but to feel that perhaps 3.0/3.5 had it a bit backwards.

Helmets as a third armor type- I realize that this might come with a bit of controversy, and doubt that I’ll see my wishes hit print form, but I’ve always thought that helmets should be their own armor type alongside of shields and armor outfits. I figure the ranges for headwear would run from 1 to 3 in armor value, and likewise their magical bonuses for ac bonus could be limited to +1 to +3. Light helms and such would have a normal armor value of 1 where pot helms would have a 3. Just a thought.

Human changes… I like the +2 to ability score of choice, I think that evens well with the boosts of the other races, but I’ll miss the 4 additional skill points at 1st level and 1 additional at further levels… However, I must admit that the ability to pick up a skill not normally your class skill makes up for it in many ways. Particularly classes like the fighter (that normally have such a miserable skill selection) would greatly benefit from this… rogues only so-so of course.

Character Advancement-
Okay, this was the one thing that I’m at odds with. I really do not understand the fast, medium, slow bit and was a bit curious as to why the 1,000 was bumped up to 1,300. Not really terribly upset over it, but I’d like to see a bit more clarification on this perspective. Honestly, this is the only part I really do not like thus far.

Clerics- This has not been in the game before, well as far as I know of, but I think it would be neat for each deity in the game (as an example for others to follow) to have at least one or two requirements or taboos of a quirk like fashion placed on their clerical followers. Examples could include “cleric must never wear red” (weak), “cleric must never bow before nobility” (a bit too severe in cases), “cleric must never slay a spider creature” (wonder where I got that from…), “cleric must never use a sword” (medium), etc.

Hit Point Issue- Noticed the issue about hit points… max at 1st level or double would be nice.

Note: Some of my suggestions above may tweak away a wee bit from the 3.x standards. However, if there are going to be a few changes made, this is what I would like to see.

If I could put this in a most tasteful way, I'd like to sum up my own opinions of both 3.0/3.5 and 4th edition in the most positive of ways possible.
To me, 4th edition is much like the existence of Basic D&D (the "red box" set to me growing up) alongside 1st Edition AD&D, or rather the way I see 3.0/3.5 (both together as some supplements lapped over... aka the Forgotten Realms core book for one example).
I played both back in the day... AD&D when I wanted a deeper enlightened concept to character management, basic D&D when I simply wanted to get out there and run a game with ease of action (but with wrestling rules).
I will eventually... aka, eventually... get the 4th edition rules... much as I have been re-collecting the 3rd edition, 2nd edition, and 1st edition rules as of late.... but for the most part I'll be a 3.5 (with 3.0 materials) gamer for a long, long time... possibly into the expected 5th edition.
Why? I play D&D for fantasy flavor via micro-management... aka the big picture. 4th edition looks to be more fun for good combat flavor, but I'm ultimately about building things and stretching the story for all its worth... and I feel that 3.5 is more the game system for this approach.

So, in the end, I look at it this way... 3.5 is what 1st edition offered to me while 4th edition is what Basic D&D out of a box offered to me... its as simple as that.

Okay, Paizo makes great stuff but my wallet is very thin these days... I'm recently remarried, we upgraded my property by joining funds, I'm an older college student trying to make ends meet while accepting the sacrifice of taking on a human services related job by day while being an only moderately paid (if ever) game designer in the off hours... but due to the fact that Paizo decided to stay with the 3.0/3.5 for now (though looking into the Necromancer bit for 4th I think I understand), I decided to pledge my support, as I said I would with companies that remain with 3.x for now and subscribed to at least one product so far... not the adventure paths... YET... but for the time being the delivered adventures.

Granted, its all I can do at the moment... but once landscaping investments are secured, perhaps a raise in order due to my working to educate myself further, and a bit of freelance writing underway I may also subscribe soon to Pathfinder.

But, all in all, I would like to at least offer this much to Paizo's decision... you choose to remain out of the 4e scene for now.. for decent, obvious reasons in regards to the game flavor itself... aka the same reason I'm hanging back from 4e... and for that reason I'm doing my part... as much as it hurts my aging, tattered, someday to be licensed social worker wallet, to show my support to you.

I was answering to another message of a similiar nature and got to wondering how many others are going to take the same route that I'm going to do. Since I have to get these for publication purposes but many companies won't be able to release their own stuff until early 2009, I don't see any reason to rush out and buy the core 4th edition books bright and early... in fact, I plan to glean my copies from the second hand market.
I figure that as it is indeed a radical shift from earlier forms of D&D, it is likely that somewhere between 10% to 15% of the market that purchased these books... maybe even as high as 25% but that's a bit of a stretch... will turn around and resale them on places like ebay, half.com, amazon, and abebooks.

If the price is right I plan to start purchasing mine used as early as mid July or as late as October or November.

Anyone else thinking about picking theirs up secondhand or "like new"?

To All...
I asked a similiar question the other night and I wish to ask it again as there were no responses...

With the issues of 4th edition causing such a split in game system/edition interests, what is your interest in the possibility of purchasing more system generic/edition generic universal fantasy products?

When I mean system generic/edition generic, products, that with a little bit of minor game crunch added to it when needed (if needed), are fully good to go with D&D basic box set, AD&D1, AD&D2, D&D3.0, D&D3.5, D&D4th, Rolemaster, True20, GURPS, OSRIC, etc. etc. etc.

I'm talking about the fluff... but nicely done detailed fluff.

Villages, information on basic non-adventuring goods, personality profiles for NPCs, that sort of thing....

For that matter, what would you like to see added to the universal supplement market that currently does not exist for fantasy? For that matter, for any genre?

Thanks!

If 4th edition is comparable to "New Coke", then do you think that perhaps, should this new edition suffer a degree of lackluster sales, that WotC might consider re-printing the 3.x rules as their equivalent to "Coca-Cola Classic".
I know that this is a stretch, but by comparison, its happened in industry before.

And, if say WotC had a heart to heart with alot of 3.x loving fans, and said "Hey, we're going to go ahead and continue printing the core books for 3.5 (or whichever 3.x) and perhaps look into bringing a few titles back of our own, with some new art here and there... but the price is going to be a bit higher, say $50 to cover each core book due to the losses we've had..."... would you, in the effort to see 3.x hopefully become the continual standard for D&D here on out (as Coca Cola "classic" became), be willing to go out and buy new core book copies, whether you need it or not, at an investment of $150 just to help get the ball rolling again?

Granted, I'm not speaking for WotC on this, I do not work for them, I do not know if they would even do this, I'm just curious as to everyone's insight on this.

Okay, I'm hanging on the end of a very loose and utterly dry rotted shoestring...probably one of the discolored ones that came out of the pair of worn out Chuck Taylors that I use to mow with.... but since we are looking at sending a petition to WotC to get Greyhawk back, all of us that actually used Craft, Profession, and various Knowledge checks should do the same...
would they honor our wishes? No, probably not. Would it still be fun to annoy them with our increased voices stating what we love/loved about D&D... why of course!

Since I'm in a posting mood tonight, and I have an.. ahem... professional interest in this, I'm wondering how the arrival of 4th edition, along with the controversy surrounding it, will affect the sales and releases of products that are system/edition generic... aka more or less universal for most any high fantasy role playing system?

Any comments on this is more than appreciated.

Would a female warlock character be called a witch?

After giving myself some time thinking over all of this 4th edition uproar, I can say that at least for the very temporary time being I've hit a moment of serene happiness... I know my direction now, its retro.

I'm a small bit player in the professional game development side... which will require me to eventually buy the core 4th books, but I also concentrate a great deal on system/edition generic products, which makes my gamer design more useful to my writing.

I'm staying with 3.5.... in fact, I'm not only staying with 3.5, I'm also merging it somewhat with 3.0 (the conversions aren't ttthhhhhhaaaaat painful), going out, buying up a few extra copies of books.... and then.....

I'm going even more retro.
I'm going to go back and get me some 2nd edition books, ones I should have never sold off, get myself some 1st edition books... gradually, and round me up a copy of Rules Cyclopedia. After that, I'm gonna start scrounging around for old role playing games and current ones of different varieties.... including those two editions of that one game I cannot remember the name of for the life of me that I bought from Wargames West on clearance (both editions) back in the mid-nineties....

Does anyone remember a softcover fantasy role playing game that featured an iconic group of adventurers with an assassin/thief type on the cover that appeared to have his face covered up in an almost Spawn like mask (well, semi-featureless with red around the eyes.... I think). I remember that Corsair was one of the character classes.

I'm gonna scrape up those books... provided I can remember all their names... and go retro.
And play 3.5

If only they had kept a special interest skill... such as a use for whatever you want Knowledge or an Occupation for crafts and professions, I wouldn't be nearly as upset about 4th edition.... sad as that sounds.

But oh well, if I'm required to play it for professional reasons I can assume...

That my ranger can automatically know how to gut out, butcher up, and taxiderm any reasonably "meaty" creature great and small because, hey, according to the new format such actions don't need to be dice rolled... that's all just background fluff. Likewise, the ranger will also be able to manage the sales of this meat... because, hey, that's just fluff.

When our ships and boats are damaged we will automatically be able to round up the appropriate wood and repair the ships because, hey, according to the new format again such actions do not need to be determined as success or failure... that's just fluff. Being shipwrecked is no longer a problem kids... you just work those automatically successful actions in the background.

When we come across broken swords and armor our fighter characters that once had to make blacksmith checks will automatically be able to fix these items back to normal because hey, that's not important as far as skill check rolls are concerned... its just a background thing. Automatically successful. No problem.

Juggling for the king? I'm sure performance is gone too... three balls in the air at once or 15 flaming torches... doesn't matter... consider it done... doesn't need a roll or check anymore.

Wanna supplement low rations with the recently killed carcass of a creature and the beast is not quite natural enough for a nature check? Automatic... no disease problems here.... its a given.

Need to make temporary shelter or build a house for yourself? No problem... automatic success. Same goes if you decide to grow some domestic crops too. Grow as much as you like for that matter.

Spot a large chunk of rare, red coral on the beach and want to make it worth several times its current value with a bit of polishing and cutting? Doesn't matter if your rogue has no actual stat for such a talent... you told the DM you were a master gem cutter all along didn't you? Just make that an automatic success as you sit on the ship deck while traveling back from the distant island.

For some reason, I'm seeing a problem starting to surface....