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Curious what people are doing in their games to inspire horror or terror, not influenced by Lovecraft. What are you doing effectively that doesn't involve slimy, stinking otherness, horrifying orifices, etc? It can feel at times as if everything meant to be scary is derivative of HPL/CoC. His influence is so pervasive and, uh, tentacular.
Is this OK? Seems paternalistic at best.
Does anyone read "THUS BEGINS THE SEEMINGLY HOPELESS QUEST OF A SIMPLE MAN AGAINST THE GREATEST POWER OF EVIL THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN"
This thread started to get political, so the side discussion needs a new home.
Not unexpected but still sad.
Libertarians and conservatives, can we agree that it should be illegal to market kid guns?
If anyone is up there now, hope you are OK and staying safe.
Awesome, in the proper sense of the word (or at least pretty cool to look at), even if you aren't a big sense of wonder person.
Probably what I remember SJ Gould for most was his dogged attempts to combat the idea that humans are the best/most powerful/most important thing in the universe. Although any designation of most salient features must reflect the interests of the observer, I challenge anyone with professional training in evolutionary theory to defend the extending tip of the right tail as more definitive or more portentous than the persistence in one place, and constant growth in height, of the bacterial mode. The recorded history of life began with bacteria 3.5 billion years ago, continued as a tale of prokaryotic unicells alone for probably more than a billion years, and has never experienced a shift in the modal position of complexity. We do not live in what older books called "the age of man" (1 species), or "the age of mammals" (4000 species among more than a million for the animal kingdom alone), or even in "the age of arthropods" (a proper designation if we restrict our focus to the Metazoa, but surely not appropriate if we include all life on earth). We live, if we must designate an exemplar at all, in a persisting "age of bacteria"-the organisms that were in the beginning , are now, and probably ever shall be (until the sun runs out of fuel) the dominant creatures on earth by any standard evolutionary criterion of biochemical diversity, range of habitats, resistance to extinction, and perhaps, if the "deep hot biosphere" of bacteria within subsurface rocks matches the upper estimates for spread and abundance, even in biomass. I will only remind colleagues of Woese's "three-domain" model for life's full genealogy, a previously surprising but now fully accepted, and genetically documented, scheme displaying the phylogenetic triviality of all multicellular existence (a different issue, I fully admit, from ecological importance). Life's tree is, effectively, a bacterial bush. Two of the three domains belong to prokaryotes alone, while the three kingdoms of multicellular eukaryotes (plants, animals, and fungi) appear as three twigs at the terminus of the third domain.
There are seven principles which Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote: The inherent worth and dignity of every person; That sounds nice but it kind of leaves open that gigantic philosophical question of personhood. I don't really want to talk about fetuses. Is a bonobo a person? What about artificial intelligence or aliens? Thoughts about who is or isn't a person and why?
Wondering if any groups use one, loose or strict, and what standards you use. We all know stuff happens and people have more important things than RPGing going on, and we don't want to exclude good players who are friends, but at some point you just become a drag on everyone if you miss too many sessions. If you miss more than, like, once every couple of months (let's say more than 10-15% of sessions), I think you are becoming a problem, especially in a long-term campaign. Thoughts?
From Hamlet I:i Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Thomas Hardy's "The Oxen": Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
We pictured the meek mild creatures where
So fair a fancy few would weave
"In the lonely barton by yonder coomb
I want to be able quickly and easily to catch up with posts of fellow Paizonians whose messages I often find interesting/intelligent/provocative/generally worth checking out. Any ideas?
to be a police officer nowadays. Distressing.
The other day I was looking for Whitley Strieber's books about aliens, and I realized I had no idea where books like that would be.
...resist energy before taking out the dog. I'm assuming Con Ed has fixed this ?
I thought it would be fun to compile a list of your favorite actors who are, well, creepy. The fun thing about this is that many of them are highly recognizable actors, but their names are often unfamiliar. Just list a couple per post. I'll start Bill Duke Ronald Lacey
OK, I finally quit yesterday. After months of being persecuted in my low-paying job, I was written up and put on probo over some trumped-up you-know-what, and I finally walked out. If you are unemployed also (your job disappeared, you disappeared, you got fired/downsized/smartsized/rightsized, reduced, disintegrated, worsteconomyevered, whatevered), drop it here--rants about bosses, interview horror stories, fears about making ends meet, advice for fellow travelers, hopes and prospects, supportive words for others here. We're all in the same boat, we're all supporting each other, and we're all trying to figure out a way to make a decent, honest living and get by in a world that seems crazier by the day.
I've read that this AP probably shouldn't be tackled by novice DMs and players. What do people think about that? Also, just flipping through and eyeballing, I'm concerned about level progression. Is it accurate to describe progression in this AP as 'if the PCs happen to survive, they should be x level at the start of this chapter?' Does anyone else have problems with the PCs surviving and being at the right level for each new chapter?
One thing I wanted to see changed from 3.5 was Ride-use untrained. I tried riding an 'easy' horse once, and it wasn't all that easy. And I certainly wouldn't have been able to stay mounted at speed, AND do something else, like fight. Learning how to do that would require some...doing. I suppose you could argue that denizens of most fantasy worlds have spent more time around horses than most of us in the industrialized west. But in 3.5 and Pathfinder, someone with no experience at all riding would not only be able to ride a horse, but have a good chance of making a Fight with Warhorse check. I just don't think that's reasonable.
The nature of publishing is such that large numbers of good books are forced out of print all the time, so I was thrilled to find that Richard Herley's works are freely available for download. I recommend him to everyone, but be sure to leave him some dough if you download and appreciate his work. I would start with 'The Penal Colony' or 'The Stone Arrow.'
Here's what I'm wondering: If you're in a dark room with a window, your eyes adjust gradually to utilize whatever light is available. But if you're deep underground, far distant and cut off from any light source (I suppose there must still be a few photons bouncing around)-if it's completely dark, do your eyes adjust? Maybe it's a question of degree, but don't you need something to adjust to?
Mr. Baur, you've been quiet on the RPG Supe boards. Before the serious judging gets underway, what can you tell us to amaze, tantalize, horrify? How are you feeling about the contest this year? Reflections, observations, predictions, comparisons....
Well, we've heard a lot from Clark, but as far as I can see this year's new judge is maintaining an air of mystery. Sean, will you weigh in with something quotable? Are you pumped to be judging? What kind of judging rubric can we expect from you? Before this baby gets underway, what bit of advice would you offer this year's contestants? Give the Paizo Nation something to chew on!
Hello Cos and Paizo team, Just received order 1080806. Unfortunately, GRR1409, The Black Company Campaign Setting, is not in the box. If you still have a copy, is it possible you could ship it with the order I have pending, when it's ready? Thank you, CK
Hello Cos and Paizo crew, Since you offer $10 off shipping on orders of $100 or more, could I get $20 off if I order over $200 worth of merchandise?
Thank you, JtJ
I know I'm not the only one on here who looked at the 4E Deluxe books and wondered why they have to be leather-bound. VEGAN HOLLA IF YA HEAR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As far as I know, it's never been terribly popular. Any ideas why?
How can a 1st level character be an 'accomplished battle leader?' A 1st level character, isn't an accomplished anything. While I'm at it, the first paragraph is a great example of the poor quality of the writing in the PHB. "Warlords are accomplished and competent (competent doesn't belong here, since you already said they are accomplished, which tells you they are competent) battle leaders. Warlords stand on the front line issuing commands and bolstering their allies while leading the battle with weapon in hand. Warlords know how to rally a team to win a fight." Vary the sentences. Use pronouns. Starting each one with 'warlords' is really poor prose style.
Aside from the obvious differences (geography, famous NPCs, pantheons, etc.), what distinguishes a real Greyhawk campaign from a Realms campaign or a campaign in another setting? How do you define Greyhawk essence or spirit for yourself? Nowadays, obviously, there's a strong emphasis on making adventures portable, so they're useful to the largest number of gamers. What would you add to a generic adventure to make it really Greyhawk? Any thoughts welcome and appreciated.
So Wizards has officially decided not to support Greyhawk any more....so what happens to it? Wizards still controls it, which means no one else can publish anything Greyhawk, right? So it just sits, unless another company buys the rights or gets a license? I hope that someone who knows the industry and understands the legal issues can enlighten me.
That part of Perception DC made me giggle: Smoke or an ogre 0
(Insert 'we don't need no stinkin' joke here)
Nowhere in the d20srd or in the PHB can I find rules for adjudicating ranged attack misses. Let’s face it, if wimpy zombies are advancing four abreast in a 20-foot wide corridor, anyone who isn’t an utter nincompoop with a bow has a (pretty good) chance to hit at least one, even if the shot goes wide of the target. How do you handle situations like this? I am sure others have pointed this out; however, this appears to be a major lacuna in the rules system, considering how common this sort of scenario must be. Ideas?
Polling the collective intelligence and creativity of my fellow Paizonians: Assuming the PCs can find a spellcaster powerful enough to cast the spell(s) they seek, how do you play it? Do you pretty much handle it the way you would if the PCs were buying something mundane, like rope and torches (i.e., just look up the cost in the rulebook, adjust the character sheet, and away you go), or do you flesh it out? If so, how much? Do you keep NPC spellcaster or wizard guild information on hand for these kinds of situations? Any input appreciated.
Looking for an existing gaming group, or to start one.
ck
Let's say I have some kind of horrid bloodsucker, like a leech or a tick, locked onto my flesh. Would a Magic Missile (cast by a buddy, presumably) obliterate it without causing me any damage, even if it's small? Does the missile size down for a very small target? |
