joel phillips's page

Erik

Will Pathfinder be tailored towards DM's alone? Or will there indeed be some content for Players?

I'm really very upset and diaappointed at this news. WotC has made a critical error. Knowing corporate people like I do, they'll blame anyone but themselves when this idea proves to be a bad one. They seem to be getting a kick out stirring up their customers like this, and just telling us to more-or-less deal with it; get off this horse get on this train. Are gamers, particularly player of 30 year-old game, so easily herded? I hope WotC feels the wrath of their customers, and REVERSES this decision.

As for Pathfinder, guys what are you thinking? Pathfinder sounds like it's mostly DM content, which means a huge chunk of the player market will pass on this (justified by both price and what will be perceived as lack of useable content). I'm reluctant to get this subscription for two reasons: I don't need MEGA adventures, I need small ones to interlace with my homebrewed game, and for the reason above, I doubt Pathfinder will last long.

-Joel

I'm hopelessly devoted to this book! The Tibbits have just found a home in my campaign world, and I have player whose about to run an Tibbit Psion. The Good Hits/Bad Misses is not fully integrated into my game. Some of the monsters, particularly the killer plants, are now at home on my world as well.

-joel

This idea wouldn't bother me but only for the simple fact that I'd finally have a use for all those cat-folk minis I've got laying about. :)

Seriously, I'm fine with them the way they are. I recently stumbled acrossed the origional article that inspired this version of the Tibbit. They'd changed quite a bit!
-joel

I'm just curious; it seems to me that the page count of Dragon is less than what I recall from say, the early '90s or late '80s. Not surprisingly, the amount of adertising is less as well. I recall at one point the advertising was out of control with articles being scattered throughout the magazine. Could a 'best of both worlds' scenerio ever be allowed? I.E. Increased advertising and pages for that advertising while maintaining the current amount of pages of content? If it keeps MY cost down I'll gladly flick through more ads (I might even see something I want!)

Also, is the current glue binding cheaper than the staples of yesterday? I prefer the current binding, but would gladly sacrifice it.

Wes posted a list HERE. That list is up through issue 336.

Thanks to both of you for helping me out, they really ought to put that list, and others of it's kind, in some sort of FAQ.

Using my Dragon CD-ROM, I tracked down that issue with the Bulette and was woefully disappointed with it. That's one monster that seriously needs a new ecology. I did get a kick out of the picture though. It has evolved for the better!

-Joel

Does an Ecology of Index exist? Either in print or online? I find myself searching for monster ecologies for hours and with mixed results. Today I've been looking for a Bulette ecology I'm sure exists...and I've not found it yet.

erin wrote:

the other members of the players think my dvati is only one person because i have kept my race a secret so far

How do the other players think your Dvati is only one person, when they can see two physical bodies? That is kinda difficult to keep secret, unless only one of them is ever present at any one time, and they do the old "switcheroo"?

One great source of inspiration, especially in understanding the psyche of a two bodied / one mind creature might be to check out a series of sci-fi books by Christopher Hinz called the Paratwa Saga. When I first saw the Dvati, I immediately thought of the Paratwa from these books. Only, the Paratwa are superior and far scarier. Note that these books are a bit on the mature side.

Most of the members of my circle of friends read these books in high school (Liege Killer in particular), and they found their way into our 2nd ED AD&D games as a player character race in my DM's campaign world. They were utterly terrorfying. I'd GLADLY take the Dvati over that monstrosity any day! I'd be surprised if these books were not a least a source of inspiration for the Dvati, as they have the balance lacking in other conversion attempts at this concept that I've seen before. I like the concept and the Dvati will fill in the "Paratwa niche" in my campaign world nicely.

I would also appreciate some of those.

As would I! Not a bad idea.

Count me in on the "Little bit of everything" side for Vol II. There's clearly A LOT of material to continue the smogasboard approach for quite sometime. Now, for focused and more specific articles I'd like to see a lot of older but updated stuff. The issue number escapes me (the issue in the 130's with the Parkinson cover illustration of the ranger riding the big lizard in the snow...awesome painting) that had a very nice climate determination system, fur trapping and trading rules etc. That issue was essential to my campaign for many years.

For focused themes, how about a low fantasy book and a high fantasy book? The really comsicly wacked stuff in the high fantasy book (the Fairy goddess from #155, I recall a good discussion on wishes in issues around the #160s as well) and the gritty based on real world stuff in the other (specific horse breeds, articles on social structures, etc. you could call it the Complete Commoner or the Book of Serfs).

-Joel
("You Got Chickens!")

Ecology of the Killer Spruce!

As one of the SJ fans who felt a bit slighted at the Polyhedron fiasco I must say this is a better treatment of the setting than it has gotten. As far as I can tell the Giff were very accurate in their portrayal and this was one of the races I was concerned about as this was the one race that kept me interested in the setting as a whole. While I play lupin and similar races mostly, I still wanted the option of having them around to meet and interact with. Heck the one story I am writing features a Giff paladin and the pic used is about how I pictured the character to look like in my own story. Insectare are nothing I paid much attention to. Scro are dead on. Excellant article and the new monsters are a bonus section of new toys to play with.

I agree! Well said!

Yes, I am VERY pleased with this issue and find that it was well worth the wait. Thanks to the editors and contributors of Dragon Magazine, you guys made me proud today. A little is never enough, but the taste is still great! Already looking forward to next year!

BTW, I've had Giff utterly devastate armies with their destructive fire power! Granted, it was one of their own in an accidental armament stockpile ignition, but still far more effective than anything my players could do at the time.

I'd like to see something like this done too. I've got a feeling this has probably been discussed by Paizo editorial, and I'd bet they'd rather not have an open call on such a thing to prevent A. The deluge of responses too numerous to deal with that'd take years to read through and B. a lack of focus on new ideas.

So, how about this: A conversion competition. Editorial selects a set of old spells, and we convert them! A firm deadline for sanity's sake, and the prize of getting a spell published.

Possible?
If so, I'd like to try it!

-Joel

I just got mine, and WOW! I am indeed quite enthralled with it! Very nicely done! I've already conceived of some dastardly plots to unleash upon my unsuspecting foo..ur...players...after just the first flick through! I'd beed wanting a book like this for years! Over the years, I've requested on the WotC boards that the publishers of Dragon convert and compile all the old monsters from past Dragon issues. This is definatly a step in the right direction! Although I did crave a lot more older 1st and 2nd edition conversions, the reality is that the over abundance of 3ed/3.5 material simply NEEDED to be compiled. I'm very happy to have this product as a first volume; by covering a brood range of stuff, it uncaps a deep well of material just waiting to squeeze out...and torment my unsuspecting...players. :)

-Joel

p.s. I propose an idea: In volume 2, just for giggles sake, convert one of the April fools critters (i.e. Deathsheep or Killer Spruce) and slip it in with the monsters, but provide serious artwork and tone, just to see if anybody catches on.