jwl's page

Hi,

Order #2633667 contained a variety of items from the Great Golem Sale. Some of them shipped last month, but the Adventure Path has been marked pending for a month. Could you let me know if this order will be fulfilled, or if there is some problem that I need to resolve to get this to ship?

Thanks for your help.

jwl

I never received this order in the mail, and it has been two weeks. Could you please check on the status of this order?

Thanks
jwl

I'd like to cancel my Adventure Path and Roleplaying subscriptions.

jwl wrote:

My order made October 6 is still pending. Any idea when it will ship given that the products seem to be available?

Seems there was a billing snafu. I've reprocessed it and it should be shipped out soon.

thanks,
Sara Marie

Thanks!

My order made October 6 is still pending. Any idea when it will ship given that the products seem to be available?

I have canceled the book from your order and we will get the remainder shipped out to you as soon as possible.

thanks,
cos

That's great, thanks!

jwl wrote:

This order has been pending for several weeks. All the items seem to be available. Any idea when this will get shipped out?

Thanks for your assistance on this.

Actually, your order is being held up by the Points of Light book. You have ordered the print edition, and it is no longer available. If you would like, I can either substitute the PDF for the printed version or cancel the item altogether. Then I will be able to ship the remaining items as soon as possible.

I apologize for the inconvenience, and please let me know how you would like to proceed.

Thanks,
cos

cos,

Thanks for the quick reply. I didn't realize the Points of Light book was no longer available. I already have the pdf of that (ordered from you by the way), so unless you think it will become available in the next week or so, it would be good to just remove it from the order.

This order has been pending for several weeks. All the items seem to be available. Any idea when this will get shipped out?

Thanks for your assistance on this.

Please cancel all my subscriptions.

That is, the Pathfinder Adventure Path, Chronicles, and Modules. I'm getting less utility out of them these days.

jwl wrote:

I'd like to combine these two orders if possible. I know that will delay the shipment of the first order, but that's ok.

Thanks.

Your orders have been combined, and I have sent you a new confirmation email which should reflect he changes.

Thanks,
cos

Thanks, cosmo!

I'd like to combine these two orders if possible. I know that will delay the shipment of the first order, but that's ok.

Thanks.

Is there a problem?

jwl wrote:

This was shipped out August 4th, and there is no sign of it so far. It's been 13 business days and counting since it was sent out. My more recent shipment on August 15th got here today, so I'm getting worried that this one is not going to show up. Is there any way to check that it went out as listed or whether it didn't make it through the mail?

Unfortunately we can't track it, as we can only track shipments that are sent via UPS. It hasn't been returned to us, which would indicate a problem getting it to you. It's possible that it's just late for mysterious reasons. I say give until Wednesday, and if it still hasn't shown up by then, let us know and we'll put together a replacement.

So it's been 23 days since it was shipped and there has been nothing. Can I get a replacement shipment please?

Also, is there any way to prevent this from happening in the future? The previous monthly shipment took 19 days to get here. There's not much point in subscribing if it takes close to a month for things to show up.

This was shipped out August 4th, and there is no sign of it so far. It's been 13 business days and counting since it was sent out. My more recent shipment on August 15th got here today, so I'm getting worried that this one is not going to show up. Is there any way to check that it went out as listed or whether it didn't make it through the mail?

So it arrived yesterday.

jwl wrote:

This was supposed to have shipped July 10, and I haven't seen any sign of it. Did it actually ship?

Thanks.

Your order did ship out. It shipped via standard postal rate, so it should usually arrive within 4 to 8 business days. Today would be the 8th business day from the date of departure, so it is definitely running a little late a this point. However, it is not yet so late that we should give up on it. If you still have not seen it by the end of next week, let me know and I will put replacements in with your next subscription shipment.

Thanks,
cos

Thanks for the response. I'll wait and see.

This was supposed to have shipped July 10, and I haven't seen any sign of it. Did it actually ship?

Thanks.

jwl wrote:

Vulgar Marxists like this who insist that the tide of history will drown everyone who doesn't do exactly what they suggest doesn't have a good historical track record.

Vulgar Marxists? That is priceless! As a rule I never get involved in disputes, so for the record, I'm taking sides here either. But I just love that phrase so much I had to chime in.

jwl, did you come up with it? Is it a common term I've never heard before? Please, I'm dying to know its origin.

Sorry, can't claim credit for this one. The philosophical/economic definition is available as part of the wikipedia Marxism article (look for Vulgar in the page), but isn't as clear as it could be. Basically, in this case, barbican has convinced himself of the inevitable victory of 4e and the crushing of all other games and has prophesied Paizo's doom based on no evidence beyond his ideology. It's annoying.

I think you guys shot yourself in the foot on this one, guys. I think you are letting the extremely vocal, "You can have my 3.5 when you pry it from my cold, dead hands crowd," mislead you on the popularity of the 4E conversion.

How much in the way of new rules and feats and prestige classes can you hope to put out? I may play a lot of D&D, but even people who play less than me are getting bored with the possible builds that 3.5 allows. If we are bored now, how bored are we going to be 15 months from now when you publish Pathfinder or D&D 3.75?

Leaving the fans to do 4E conversions is lame.

I will probably deny myself the pleasure of reading the fluffy bits of Pathfinder by canceling my subscription so that you guys can feel my disappointment in this anti-WotC petulance.

Have fun being a footnote.

This kinds of attitude is really annoying. Vulgar Marxists like this who insist that the tide of history will drown everyone who doesn't do exactly what they suggest doesn't have a good historical track record.

I think this is a smart move and possibly the only one that would prevent Paizo from being a "footnote". Paizo needs to keep publishing to function as a company - they need new products going out and new revenue coming in. WOTC/Hasbro has shown through their failure to provide the GSL that they don't care what happens to the 3rd party producers. The lag for getting new 4e products in just keeps increasing, and no one knows how flexible the new GSL will be, and whatever vague promises WOTC has made on this score aren't enough to bet the company on.

This way, Paizo is guaranteed to have a supported rules system that is backwards-compatible with the vast numbers of 3.5 d20 and OGL products, and through their agreement with Necromancer Games, they get to gain some experience with 4e and quite possibly produce 4e products later.

It ate my last post, so I'll try again.

To add something constructive, say there is a CG (NG) organization called Dead Devils that specializes in killing devils infesting the city and depositing their corpses at the gate of the Arcaneam with a cheery note. They're hated by the Arcaneam and the Hellknights, who they go out of their way to antagonize (hitting their shiny armor with paint bombs, for example). They are the ones who keep the imps under control, and have even bagged a few more serious devils as well. They are loved by the general population, but distrusted by the government and powers that be for their irreverence and independence.

jwl wrote:

The setup for Korvosa seems hard to get straight.

From reading through your posts, I think the difficulty seems to be from a matter of hyperbole and scale. The problems you state are not as big and serious as you make them out to be. It's all a matter of perspective. :)

From the art, there are hordes of imps running around. That's a lot of winged death around the city.

jwl wrote:

And you simultaneously have hordes of imps running around the city in little gangs terrorizing people.

No. There are not hordes of imps. The number of imps illustrated in all the art pieces in the Guide to Korvosa probably represent the entirety of the free-roaming imp population of the city at any one time. There aren't a lot of imps; new ones just keep showing up when others get killed.

How many imps are there, then? It sure looks like a lot of imps in the artwork, especially since the Academae is constantly summoning new ones, and as pointed out in another thread, pseudodragons are incapable of hurting them.

jwl wrote:

You have a demon-summoning school smack in the middle of town and roving bands of evil Hellknights.

No. That entire sentence is incorrect. There is a devil-binding school in the middle of town.

Also, Hellknights do not rove through towns in bands. They only come into town when hired to do so.

Also, Hellknights are not evil. Like Korvosa, they are LN (with LE tendencies).

binding, summoning, what's the difference? You think they never get out of control? You're saying the Hellknights aren't evil? Why would you name yourself Hellknight and draw devils all over your armor otherwise? Don't tell me you're going for subtlety, especially since that isn't made clear anywhere in the background material, as far as I can tell. The obvious assumption is that they are devil-worshippers.

jwl wrote:

It doesn't seem to hang together quite right. What lawful city would put up with an infestation of imps?

A lawful evil one. But Korvosa doesn't put up with the imps. Whenever they are found they are exterminated.

By who? Who's in charge of getting rid of the imps? Who has enough power to anyway? The pseudodragons can't, and not many people can go after DR, flying, invisible things successfully, especially if they don't want to be caught.

As for the imps in Korvosa, they sound familiar to creatures in Perdido Street Station (China Mieville). Dragon and Dungeon magazines had several articles about this author so I finally picked up the book. Paraphrasing, there are imp-like creatures that fly around swearing, copulating, and defecating on the streets below. In D&D these creatures are probably evil (selfish), but they know how to survive in a city of evil beings and good beings trying to kill them. I recommend the book if you don't mind tainting 'Epic Pooh' fantasy forever.

Can those things in Perdido Street Station kill anyone but an experienced adventurer easily in a stand-up fight? Imps are _tough_! Fast healing, DR, invisibility, etc. They can kill your average human without breaking a sweat. It's equivalent to having roving bands of werewolves roaming all over the city in the open with little to no opposition. I just find this situation to be very hard to believe. I can see making them CR 1/2 creatures with no invisibility, no fast healing, and no DR, but those aren't "imps" as we understand them.

Many of the major organizations with muscle in Korvosa are evil or evil-leaning. With the Hellknights, the King (etc.) with Cheliax demonic influence, the imps, the Academae, the Church of Asmodeus, the theives guild (and their rather more horrific sponsors). That's a lot of concentrated evil with official government approval. It seems weird that the Korvosan people just put up with so much evil in their government, when the people themselves are not presented as evil. The imps are only a small part of this problem.

Why does every major city have to have evil ascendant? It's getting a little predictable with Paizo.

The setup for Korvosa seems hard to get straight.

You have a generally LN city with people who enjoy law and order. And you simultaneously have hordes of imps running around the city in little gangs terrorizing people. You also have pseudodragons fighting the imps in the skies. You have a demon-summoning school smack in the middle of town and roving bands of evil Hellknights.

It doesn't seem to hang together quite right. What lawful city would put up with an infestation of imps? Those little buggers can slaughter an average 1st level commoner with ease. (Especially since they are typically presented as total pains in the neck.) I'm just very skeptical that this kind of thing would be tolerated, especially since the magic school is the entire source of these things.

For a LN city, it seems to have a marked propensity for rioting, gangs, etc. There just doesn't seem to be much social control, really. It's fine to have a city dissolving into anarchy, but there is no sense in which the city was ever particularly well-run.

2 points:

(1) Be careful ordering from One Book Shelf (Drivethrurpg, etc.) My credit card information was lifted immediately after ordering and now I have to close down the account and switch credit cards.

(2) I don't understand why Monte Cook doesn't make more of his stuff Open Content. There's no reason to have Chapter 2 and 4 be completely closed, some of that material is already open content, but he's trying to protect absolutely everything he can. It makes it a lot less usable.

Let me think about keeping my subscription.

So I canceled my Gamemastery subscription. Based on the comments about the module by Jacobs and Logue, I didn't think I was going to like Hangman's Noose (and the cover and comments threads didn't help). What I realized is that I am not looking forward to any of the other Gamemastery modules either, except maybe the Last Baron ones, though there is little information on those.

Oh, one more thing. I realize (belatedly) that this thread could degenerate into anti-Logueism. Ultimately, paizo is responsible for its own products. What we see are the final products after they have been through a fair amount of editing. I don't and can't know what the original manuscripts for E1 or D1 or even Path3 looked like, all I can judge on is the final product. I don't know what portion of the module comes from Nicolas Logue, what portion from his cowriters, and what portion from the editors. I'm mostly worried about the one-note nature of the products, and that's something that's beyond Nicolas Logue's control - for that the responsibility rests with paizo and the editors of the line. They specify the general outlines and themes of the modules themselves and they have the ability to change it. Luckily, it looks like they are going to be broadening the themes.

Nicolas Logue,

Thanks for writing in. It's invaluable to hear your thoughts on the writing process. This can't be the most pleasant thread for you, and I appreciate your measured response.

It's interesting that you say that about the notes at the end of E1. My problem with those was that things seemed very locked in. If the PCs succeeded and limited casualties, Falcon's Hollow continued to be a terrible place and the two main NPCs become evil. It's only a great failure on the PCs' part, killing huge numbers of people, that breaks the control of the logger barons. That makes sense from a sociological viewpoint (and is cool in that respect) but it is rather depressing for the PCs.

Let me think about keeping my subscription.

By the way, I know you are into Chinese opera. Is Chinese opera as bloody as Western opera?

Although it sounds like, "Boycott Logue," I'm really hearing, "I don't want that kind of adventure and I'm locked into a subscription." You want something mainstream. Most people do, that's why they call it mainstream.

But, I think great art often slaps one's expectations of the table. It seeks to please the audience without compromising for it. Perhaps a ratings system would help? Don't go all "Tipper Gore!" on me... I mean more of a shorthand ingredients list per each Gamemastery adventure. That still doesn't help the guy stuck with a subscription who finds himself displeased with the content.

This adventure is rated: P (prude)

This adventure is rated: CYE (cover your eyes)

I disagree with your characterization of my comments. I don't want something mainstream, necessarily. (I don't like dungeon crawls at all, for example.) I just don't want torture, gore, depravity, and hopelessness in every module Logue writes. If he is capable of producing great art, then he can work with more than one theme or angle.

And, to be more precise, Logue isn't slapping my expectations off the table. I expect his modules to contain certain elements, and voila, they do. If anything, he's becoming hackneyed at this point.

For example, I'm more okay with Pett's stuff, especially since it seems he has more than one register.

A more accurate ratings system would be something like this:

L (Loguist) : will contain torture, gore, depravity, and hopelessness.

EE (Everyone Else) : a wide variety of themes and approaches.

James, I appreciate the detailed response.

jwl wrote:

Here's a question for the Paizo staff: Is there going to be more variety in the themes and authors of future Gamemastery modules?

First off... I think Nick's a very talented writer, and he'll certainly be continuing to write adventures for GameMastery and Pathfinder. In fact, he's writing the first adventure in Curse of the Crimson Throne (which is a very VERY different adventure from Hook Mountain, for those of you who felt that one went too far).

It's good to hear that his style will be changing for CotCT. For me it is not just the splatterpunk, it's also the depravity and hopelessness. Too many NPCs in his stories end up evil even after getting saved by the PCs.

After all, he is a good writer and knows how to put together a good adventure. It would be good for him to be writing with a variety of themes.

It is also good that you will be mixing up themes and authors. Variety is always good as long as everything is high quality, and so far, paizo has been good about that.

So it sounds like I should just cancel my subscription before Hangman's Noose and then start it up again afterwards. Too bad, I like good love level adventures, but it's clear from what you've said and Logue's track record that I am going to hate it.

Well put Stedd. I like the fact that different author's have different styles. I understand why the OP might not like Logue's warped (that's a compliment) style. Personally, I really like his writing. I'm also glad Paizo has multiple talented writers that grace their products.

And I'm ok with all of that. The problem for me comes down to two things:

(1) Logue seems incapable of writing a module without these elements (for good or ill) so I can't enjoy his modules.

(2) He's writing half of the modules!

So that means half of my subscription is not that useful to me.

This isn't actually a dig at Logue, really. After all, he can clearly write well and meet deadlines to crank out these modules, and many people seem to enjoy his work.

The problem is that he is starting to define the entire line for me, and if half of all the Gamemastery modules are by him (and therefore contain these elements), then I will have to cancel my subscription.

Here's a question for the Paizo staff: Is there going to be more variety in the themes and authors of future Gamemastery modules?

If not, I'll just have to go ahead and cancel my subscription. I understand that Paizo has to survive, and if this is a niche that is profitable for Paizo, that's fine. But they can count me out in the future if that is true.

I'm getting increasingly dissatisfied with modules produced by Nicholas Logue. They all seem to share characteristics I find distasteful, and if anything the trends are all pointing in the wrong direction.

What do I expect from Logue modules now? Mass slaughter, innocents getting corrupted or turning to evil, graphic descriptions of torture and pathology, etc. (It's in everything he does, from the articles about Victor Saint Demain in Dungeon, to D1, Hook Mountain Massacre, and now E1.)

Once or twice I might let go, but it is starting to look like every module by him will contain these elements. I'm getting tired of it. I'm sure the Hangman's Noose will have the same elements.

Is every other module in the Gamemastery line going to be by Logue and contain these elements? I realize my opinion may be in the minority, and that's fine. But if the situation remains the same, I'm going to have to ask for a Logue-free subscription model or cancel my subscription instead.

Fairly disappointed with this one.

Is there a way to exclude his modules from the Gamemastery subscription service? It's gotten to the point now where I know I won't like his modules.

James Landry wrote:

Is there any way some of these orders could be combined to save on shipping?

Also, I ordered the Dragon Compendium in Order 543099 before it went on sale. Since it hasn't shipped yet, is there any way I could get the new sale price for it?

Unfortunately orders 845609 and 836723 are already set to be shipping, so I can no longer make any changes to them. However, I will apply the sale price to your Dragon Compendium.

thanks,
cos

Thanks for looking into this. At least the orders are shipping, and I will get the sale price on the Dragon Compendium.

Thanks!

Is there any way some of these orders could be combined to save on shipping?

Also, I ordered the Dragon Compendium in Order 543099 before it went on sale. Since it hasn't shipped yet, is there any way I could get the new sale price for it?

If the setting of a certain part of the adventure bothers you so much, why not change it? Why not change "Test of the Smoking Eye" into a different adventure, focusing on an long wildernis trip, perhaps into the jungles, or the mountain range?

Just adopt some of the encounters and creatures out of the "Test"...I could do it in a few hours.

You can't write an adventure path and please everyone all the time, but this stuff is flexible enough where you can adapt any part of it to whatever YOU want for YOUR game.

Test, I don't count as a dungeon crawl - you are moving around outside on a demiplane, after all. That's the easiest one to convert. Life's Bazaar, for example is hard to convert.

Why do you think a paladin is a suboptimal choice in this campaign?

Because even with the pokemount, he doesn't get that many opportunities to use his mount. Dungeon crawls plus city encounters mean that the mount is not often used. The Ride feat tree is a waste for the Adventure Path.

I just received the new hardover and it is beautiful! This is exactly how a complete level 1 to 20 campaign should be put together. The artwork is great, and I really like how you have added portraits for all of the main characters and scattered them through the book where they are needed. I'm also really glad that you added Drakthat's Way, and I like it.

Two things bother me about the hardcover. One is minor: I would have liked to see more advice about starting out the party, which character classes are useful, which are not (ranger and druid obviously), etc. The level suggestions are given, but the sidebars for adjusting the level are gone.

The other one is more serious, and I hope it is not replicated in Age of Worms. There are way too many dungeon crawls! Just looking though the adventures and including the new one, seven of the twelve adventures are pure dungeon crawls or almost entirely dungeon crawls. Very few of the adventures involve significant outdoor encounters, and nine of the adventures have significant portions where characters delve into the earth around Cauldron to root out evil. There just isn't even variety here, and some character choices are clearly suboptimal, like ranger, druid, and paladin.

I really hope this isn't the case for Age of Worms, but the early signs are not good. We've had three adventures so far, and two of them are entirely or almost entirely dungeon crawls. The third one was a much better mix and involved a fair amount of overland travel. I hope at least that Age of Worms is less than half dungeon crawl, and that there is a lot more exploration, outdoor travel, and city intrigue.

I have to chime in with a relatively underappreciated module, though it does show up occasionally in the posts above.

B10 Night's Dark Terror

It had everything and opened with a bang, forcing the characters to defend a homestead against invading goblins and even vampire bats. This is the only published module I know that did this, and it did it so well on the first try. Siege of Kratys Freehold is basically a total ripoff of this part of B10, and it's a great module too.

But that wasn't all - the PCs travel all across eastern and northern Karameikos, fighting slavers and discovering a lost civilization. And all of this in 64 pages. You can't can't beat the density and level of detail, and it could take you months to finish the module.

The maps were gorgeous, and this was all for low-level characters who really got to do important things.

It's the best module I have ever seen, bar none.

Positive things about the first Adventure Path:

Were-baboons (creepy!)
many of the NPCs (especially the Striders) - I especially liked having a group that has the same goals as the PCs but doesn't just tag along with them
the original design of Cauldron and the many competing power groups
having the different churches have different personalities and goals and carrying that through
A nefarious plot that is only slowly leaked to the PCs (though this could have been done a lot better - Occipitus feels like it is out of the middle of nowhere as the modules are played)

Also, don't let Christopher Perkins write more than one of the adventures. The finale to the Adventure Path was short, lacked much oomph, and was just a series of fights against escalating bad guys. For me, it was a major disappointment, especially since Adimarchus isn't inherently that interesting at the end. He's just insane and a tough fight, and you kill him. And then maybe you have to go to Occipitus and kill him again. Not very exciting, really. I'd really like for someone else to get a chance to do something better.

Please, no more demons or devils. It's getting boring, and I really don't like how every high-level plot degenerates into going to some other plane to fight some eeevil demon prince or devil lord. Can't someone mortal cook up a good high-level plot once in a while.

Also, this Adventure Path had way too many dungeons, especially all the ones right under Cauldron. How many times did the characters go into some heretofore unknown complex created by yet another lost race filled with new bad guys. It was repetitive, and it showed a lack of imagination.

I do like the Adventure Path idea, and I thought some of the ideas were imaginative, but you need to break out of the rut. Have some overland adventures, like "Racing the Snake". Have some horror adventures, like "Tammeraut's Fate". Have some intrigue in urban areas adventures, like the old "Veiled Society". Have a sailing adventure, maybe an underwater adventure, an adventure in a desert, an adventure in a glacier, etc. You've got 20 adventures to play with. Stretch out and let your imagination run wild.

Please, don't make it another dastardly plot by evil fiends from the outer planes. Booooring.