| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Vudra first, but also the other planets
Search Posts
Sounds like a great campaign ! Glad to see I'm not the only one wishing for more Tyralandi ;-)
yes
There's a preview pdf here: http://www.cubicle-7.com/DWPlayersGuidePreview.pdf and a copy of the character sheet here: http://www.cubicle-7.com/DWCharSheetpreview.pdf the publisher's website is here:
Hope that helps ;-)
sniff ;-) I miss Tyralandi
Glad you're enthusiastic, but that announcement dates from August 2008. SJ Games has announced its release schedule through October 2009 & Heavy Gear is not on it, so maybe you'll get lucky in 2010. Yeah, they could release Heavy Gear in November or December, but my gut tells me they'll aim for an Origins or Gen-Con release if and when they get it finished. On the other hand SJ Games is primarily a board & card game company these days so I have my doubts Heavy Gear the SJG edition will ever see the light of day. I mean, they do what, four GURPS products a year? They're certainly not going to do more for Heavy Gear than for GURPS. I could be wrong, certainly hope so, but I'm not betting that way. Actually I think doing a GURPS 4e version of Heavy Gear would have been a better move than a new edition of the SilCore system, but what do I know? Really, considering Munchkin, Chez Geek, and boardgames like Revolution are SJG's biggest sellers, I'm not sure why they bother with any RPG material anymore, aside from nostalgia for their origins as an RPG publisher. But then I've got a ton of 1e & 2e Heavy Gear stuff so I can afford to be cynical rather than optimistic.
I'm with you here Derek. I was a bookstore manager for 10 years & the number of semi-literate and illiterate poeple who were surprised when they found that was an obstacle in selling books was astounding. One cashier didn't even understand what "fiction" meant . . . yes, she really thought all those books were sort of like TV into the minds of real people doing real stuff somewhere else. She was the worst perhaps, but still typical of the basic difference in society between 20+ years ago when I started gaming and now. More and more each year I find larger & larger numbers of supposed gamers who hate creating characters because it's too difficult and want to get straight to the "fun," gamers who condescendingly tell me that I shouldn't role play so much in game but like them save it for special occaisions because otherwise it would interfere with the real reason they game: making jokes and quoting tv shows, and worst of all the alleged gamers who tell me they only play RPGs so they have an excuse to socialize with friends. Seems to me most people never used to need excuses to socialize with friends. And like you Derek back in the 80's the point was to role play, to get into the game, we socialized before or after the game, but the game was something separate. When confronted with players who want to text message or play iPhone games every second they aren't having their turn in the spotlight, well, I have to wonder why they do play TTRPGs instead of playing WoW while texting & iPhoning. This isn't an edition problem, it isn't even a system problem. The simple fact is that most people today are not prepared to play D&D, Traveler, or Runequest, and being unprepared are less likely to have fun at it. And given the choice between reading alot of swords & sorcery fiction, picking up a dictionary or a calculator when necessary --- they would much rather sit down & play WoW or Mass Effect, and I can't entirely blame them. Different standards & different tastes. There was a time when opera was a mass media entertainment & popular with both the rich & educated classes & the poorer classes. Times changed, & now opera is the reservse of a small group of either die hard fans or snobs, but it certainly isn't a popular medium of entertainment among any specific class of people today. Frankly, role playing games were a unique product of the 70s & 80s and like wargames and miniature railroads, and even opera, it's unlikely RPGs are ever going to be popular the way they used to be. It is likely that RPGs will dwindle to a tiny niche hobby divided between the do-it-yourself types using old books or pdfs and rich fans paying a few small companies top dollar for new products. Hopefully one of those companies will be Paizo, but in ten or twenty years I don't expect WotC to be anything except a footnote in corporate history of Hasbro. It would be nice if this isn't the case, but I sure know which way to bet, sadly.
bump - - - I know it'll probably be awhile still before James gets the next post up, but I sure miss seeing this thread up near the top ;-)
hmmm... I see how the stands work. Pretty cool ... but I definitely would prefer a back side. As for the idea of a mirror of the front side, that doesn't appeal to me, in that case I'ld probably rather have a blank back. Amiri looks good. Now you've got me impatient for the rest of the iconics.
1) he did what he thought was right, instead of what was popular 2) he didn't give up just because things were difficult or unexpected 3) he maintained a sense of dignity and humor despite relentless personal attacks against himself & his family
I don't know about anyone else, but 'back sides' are pretty important for me. I've seem some paper minis without a back side & they're just not as good. Afterall, you're trying to use them as minis, and you want the fun of seeing the big pack on back of the hireling, the halfling thief with the just stolen moneypouch held behind his back, the goblin's bag of loot on his belt, etc. I could live without a rear view image, but it would be another disincentive on purchases. If it was a choice between a $4 set without backsides and a $5 or $6 set with a back side, I might spend the extra money. But I might just buy fewer sets. I'll be curious how others feel about it. Also... how are you planning on having the minis "stand" so to speak? Steve Jackson Games "Cardboard Heroes" went with a sort of triangular fold with the two ends making a base, but from what I saw on your Deviant Art page it looked like you've been backing them with stiff cardboard and somehow glueing them to a flat round base. I've seen some paper minis like the ones DP9 did for their Heavy Gear figures use a plastic base with a little groove to hold up the paper figure, but that gets pricey buying the little plastic bases.
I like your drawings, and think paper minis would be cool. I'd suggest the $4 per 12 mini price because the more expesnsive the less I'll buy. I know you don't want to go too low on price, but the cheaper they are the more likely I'll buy enough to use on a regular basis. The more expensive, well, I'ld buy a couple sets such as the iconics and anything else that is too cool not to have, but I'm less likely to use them and thus need to buy more. Anyway, looking forward to this endeavor!
Huzzah !!! uh, I mean, the old spoon collection catalog was just fine anyway and really it didn't need to be recataloged for a good long time . . . mmmmmhhhhh.... listen to that creepy violin music I hear coming out of the snowy northwest . . . Huzzah !!!
Happy Holidays to the Paizo crew & everbody here on the boards !
. . . you know, when one is snowed in, it is a great time to catch up on things that one may have been too busy for . . . . . . recataloging the spoon collection, tuning your violin, chronicling adventures . . . what? no, no one - I mean nothing - in particular, why would you ask? . . . really, it was just an idle thought . . . . . . ;-)
whimper . . . sniff, we still miss Ms. Scrimm . . .
Hey there James, whenever the elusive "free time" is found, all us hard-core Scrimm-ites will know it was worth the wait. If you're not writing about Tyralandi at least you're writing! ;-)
... bump ... any news of Tyralandi, now that some time has passed & the great shipment inspection is over?
hmmmm... suggestion, do a 2009 Pathinder Calendar - as a free PDF. Let folks print them off & either hang as single pages, or find a way to bind them themselves as a full year calendar to hang up (or go to Kinkos & get them to do it nifty). That'll give Paizo a baseline on at least the potential interest in a printed calendar for 2010 so you can decide if the hassle is worth it for a hard copy. Just a thought.
"Czlowiek z zelaza"
I had lots of things to say to this point but after reading all these posts all I can add is......Wow I can second that. The "concensus" loosely seems to be that
you know ... a friend said the 1st rule of 4E is never talk about 4E, I'm beginning to think he is right ;-) Perhaps futilely returning to my OP, it just seems really weird to me that if Mearls really said skill challenges as written are not skill challenges as intended, why is he admitting it publicly - and if he is why isn't it suitable for errata. For a year I heard a lot of people here & elsewhere talking about the experience & professionalism of the 4E designers & WotC yet now Mearls and WotC seems to be saying "hey, we have you know like trouble putting what we intend in print and we admit that but if we do finally publish what we intended it isn't errata because ... we, um, don't make mistakes or something, next question please." It makes me feel like, now that 4E appears to be a success, Mearls and WotC are going to be just as busy as they always are and so just as likely to have their intentions for each year's PHB & DMG fall through the cracks and some other set of playtest experiements get published because they can't pay attention to what is in the final product. At least it makes clear one reason for new core books each year. Anyway, that's just my 2 cents for the internet, probably given public relations & legal reasons over at WotC there isn't any real "answer" to my concerns. So I can' argue with the thread morphing into a discussion of skill challenge systems, Dm vs Player game control, and physics. Anyway, interesting stuff Jeremy et al. ...still I'm with Crimson Jester ... "Wow"
The "Mearls on Many Things" thread is on it's own track, but a brief check didn't seem to cover the thing puzzling me, namely, Mearls says in responce to a question in the interview:
Okay ... and why exactly are the skill challenges not refelcted in the written rules as intended? I mean DnD 4E had a fairly long development process, so why did no one notice that the intention was not reflected in the final product? Why didn't Mearls notice? Seems kinda important. And if the intention was thwarted by the version that was printed in the rules, why not post errata showing the true intention of skill challenges? Mearls only seems concerned that they not be called errata. And what does Mearls mean by "here are ways to do things differently, not 'these rules are different.'" I mean are they the same rules or not? Can the rules really work differently but not be different? He seems to be saying that what the designers intended with 4E regarding non-combat encounters failed to reach print in a form that could be understood or do what they intended, yet this is ok because you can use the same rules to achieve different results more like what they intended but without changing the rules or correcting any error or poor writing, as long as you buy the DMGII. WTF? I thought "Skill Challenegs" were a major portion of the new edition and a key part of game play, yet this sure sounds like they were dealt with haphazardly and that the design team was indifferent to how they appeared in the final printing of 4E.
thanks Vic - you guys are top notch !
hmmmm ... my dial up connection is about as fast as snails on a treadmill ... so I'd be interessted to know if the 126 megs is right myself. If it has to be that big for the art, ok I just take alot longer to download, but 32 megs is sure alot easier for me.
well... my version of option 3 - 3) emphasize the horror of being the only ones that are immune, put them in situations where they arrive too late to save those nice NPCs, where their familiy friends mentors die horribly because Mr Shaman was off doing something else and wasn't there to save them. Rule that players are "allies" as far as the aura is concerned, but almost no NPCs make the grade. if that doesn't put a spin on things for them, have the NPCs notice they are immune and wonder why? Have they made a pact with evil? ... bring on the torches and pitchforks ... or have them lauded as saints and redeemers, but make it hard for them to live up to that ideal... separate the rest of the party from the Shaman and the see how they like the worms at one point have them enter an area & use the aura to kill the attacking worms, only to find themselves neck deep in dead Kyuss worms as they pour out of the walls and ceiling, and well up from under their feet also, this effect will be noted by minions of Kyuss and will attract suitable non-worm opposition, now every other NPC barman and stableboy is converted by the cult and used to slip poison in their beer, lame their horses, and make them mistrustful of any stranger, they're #1 on Team Kyuss' hitlist later play a variant on the room neck deep in worms, have them encounter the worms, but the worms don't attack & therefore don't die, but they're still slithering and sliming their way up the PCs from toes to beltbuckle to armpits ... chuckle maliciously and say "oh you can kill them, but there are always more ... and they still want you ..." finally, a couple adventure in have one of the bad guys, Filge or who ever develope a spell or alchemical potion or something than can disrupt the aura for a limited period of time - not enough to ruin the usefulness of the power, but enough to scare the pants off them the first time, and make them cautious ever after ... and anyway, even if you don't kill the character off, he's gonna have to be the target of any of Kyuss' minions smart enoguh to figure out what is going on ... anyway, hope that helps B
Strength 12
;-)
Gak ... ... ... well, these examples surely are not convincing me to pay for D&D Insider. It's not exactly that they're bad compared to computer games, it is simply not what I'm looking for in D&D, but then I'm a hopeless fossil who is not the target audience. Oh well, maybe I can find somebody to play chess instead.
1) Do you plan to convert to the new edition of D&D? No - may be a good game (though I have doubts about that) but it appears to be a game I'm not interested in 2) If Paizo converts its RPG products to 4.0, how will that affect your purchasing patterns for our products? I will end my Pathfinder subscription and be unlikely to buy any 4E products 3) If Paizo does not convert its RPG products to 4.0, how will that affect your purchasing patterns for our products? I will continue my Pathfinder subscription and continue to consider other products for 3.5E
for those waiting patiently (or not) for Tyralandi, and James as he doubtless hurries to transcribe more of her adventures, Happy New Year
Where ever you are Miss Tyralandi Scrimm - Merry Xmas !
We die hard Scrimmists may be impatient, but we do appreciate your efforts James - Tyralandi will be ready when she's ready - 's part of her charm. ;-)
::: whimper :::
As I understand it, from (shudder) reading the WotC message boards, they have gone bi-monthly - with "compilations" of the individual article PDFs being done at the end of the bi-monthly period: in other words, if you want one nice big PDF with all of Dungeon 151 in it you'll have to wait until December. As for the promises of getting the 151 issue online by the last day of October, they just put up the 4th part of "Iggwilv’s Legacy" on Nov 2nd. As people are complaining that the image quality of the "Iggwilv’s Legacy" progressively gets worse with each additional article, the WotC people on the message boards said it was because they wanted to keep dial-up downloading easy by reducing resolution each time a new chapter was added and also because the screens they use at WotC are not capable of showing the difference between hi-res and low-res images - so they didn't notice any change in quality with reduced resolution. They want on to say they're only now considering the option of putting up multiple hi-res/lo-res formats & this is the kind of feed-back they need. Not terribly encouraging. If they'd taken a look at Paizo they'd know issues like image quality, maps with a labeled & unlabeled versions, etc. are a key interest among subscribers. One person claimed we couldn't expect multiple file versions available for download because the bandwidth costs to WotC would be too high. Does that sound promising for a "Digital Initiative" that is supposed to allow people to play online? The issue of placing the page numbers & border art to facilitate double sided printing has been brought up on the WotC boards too and again WotC's online magazine people seem not to have considered issues like these. All I can say is that a year's preparation for switching to online versions has some serious gaps.
I'm for staying with 3.5 and/or a Pathfinder RPG that functions as 3.75 4th Edition may turn out to be a decent game - but I'm not going to be able to have an opinion until maybe a year after they release it (as one person on these boards put it 4E is the Vista of Gaming, it' going to be months if not years before it is steady on its legs). From what WotC has said it will be a different game by far than 3.5 and I have a hard time seeing how they are going to make Eberron fit into the new rules - already they're doing major changes to Forgotten Realms to deal with rules changes. #.5 has flaws, but you know - with a good gaming group they're not a problem for me. And that brings me to content & trust. I like what Paizo does. I trust they'll keep me informed so I can make a timely decision how to spend my money. I can't guarantee my business will keep Paizo afloat, but I can say I like Golarion & Pathfinder enough I'd rather spend money on Golarion/Pathfinder 3.5 stuff I know I'll like instead of "4dventure" I have deep misgivings about. And if Paizo switches to 4E, my doubts about 4E will outweigh my liking for Golarion/Pathfinder. It's a moot point to be sure, but I think WotC/HASBRO would have been better off to keep 3.5 as it is with maybe somewhat reduced production of new material - and put out a new game on it's own merits with it's own name/Brand. They seem to think they can keep the Brand name while changing the content of that Brand. It's not working that way for me. I was hesitant about 3.0 when it came out, but it managed the difficult task of updating the rules while keeping the spirit of things, winning me over. Paizo was a large part in that in the guise of Dragon & Dungeon magazines. 4E seems intent on killing the spirit first and trying entirely new rules. Gleemax and the online magazines leave me cold at best and disgusted at worst (anything related to "Gleemax" is like driving an icepick thru my eye). Anyway, I'm voting for 3.5 as Paizo's future. 4E is to me functionally a new system and I don't want to change.
Hymn to T.S.
Give us this day all that the Green Lady prophesied for you.
Give us this day all that you showed us,
And Gar said that in our time,
And Frothlethimble told us that in our days,
And Demon Boy said that in our time,
And Tyralandi told us that in our days,
Faithless in faith.
... across the lands in dark tenements of sinister city-wards, in woodland circles of eldritch stone, on obsidian altars in tropical hills above rugged coasts ... rises the same dread chant "return to us Miss Scrimm, and lead us into a brave & haughty new world of ready violence and haunting violin melodies" ...
on the matter of obtaining more reports from Miss Tyralandi, we stand four square beside the redoubtable Mr. Shiny: please more, soon, we must know!!! ;-)
Bravo!!! Definitely worth the wait! (Not that I'm in anyway in support of long waits for Tyralandi's reports ;-) The mind boggles at what wonderous events lie ahead, and whom the new member of the party will be to replace Frothy....
to quote the wise and venrable Mr. Shiny... "Tyralandi? ... Miss Scrimm? ... Ma'am? ..." the suspense is killing me ...
I'm still waiting too - I'm in Arkansas & have had the post office eat a copy a year at least, so unless it shows up in a couple days, I'll be contacting customer service, alas :-(
hear hear, Tyralandi is our hero, here-abouts... must have stats so she can make a guest appearance !!!
If you could get him on board, Steven Brust - he'd make your fey something to fear ... more realistically Don Bassingthwaite who did some Eberron novels would be a good choice... those are my top two ... off the top of my head.. ;-)
I like the idea of an annual collection of short adventures set in the same world of Varisia but not related to any specific adventure path, already Varisia sounds quite interesting to explore. Sparking off that concept there's another idea that might be good, maybe an annual devoted towards using a specific OGL sourcebook in Varisia - for instance I'm a fan of Keith Baker and the "Crime and Punishment" book he did for Atlas' PEnumbra D20 line. A special issue or product geared for using a specific book in the Pathfinder game world would be cool. Just a thought. More on topic I hope you'll get Keith Baker to do some work for Pathfinder.
Well, I've enjoyed the last couple years of Dragon and Dunegon very much & I'm willing to give Pathfinder a try. I've had magazines cease publication on me before and Paizo seems to be making a real effort to give poeple options. I think WotC is making a mistake about ceasing hard copy publication and going to internet only, I'm not going to boycott WotC - but at the moment I'm more likely to buy Paizo adventures than WotC ones. Thanks Eric & James & the rest of the Paizo crew for trying to do right by us the subscribers. I hope this will end up being an opportunity for Paizo to shine. Bren
I, for one, sent them some stuff today! Glad I could help the guys out.
I'm rather inordinately fond of "Home Under the Range" from Michael Kortes in #134... and since he seemed to be overlooked.... I went with "other"....
Any idea on when the conversion notes for 141, 142, 143 and 144 might show up?We're scrambling to get the notes for #141 up ASAP. We still don't have notes in from Keith or Eric beyond that, although they should be coming in soon as well. any word on these conversions? just curious, I know various blizzards have been a factor in timing....
Any more Conversion Notes coming out for TST? Just want to get an idea how to reroute the Sea Wyvern's Wake.Anyone? In another thread James Jacobs said the next conversions on the way were for issue 141, with the others still being worked up. He used the word "soon" for getting the 141 conversions and presumably that means not so soon for the rest. However, this blizzrd may slow things down even more :-( ah well... I'm fortunate to be still gaming thru Aow and haven't started STAP. It's not much but I hope it helps key you in on the status of things...
In this thread http://paizo.com/dungeon/messageboards/generalDiscussion/dungeon141OnlineSu pplementNowAvailable Also, I'm told the supplement for Dungeon #140 should be available Monday-ish. Hope that helps. |