morlockhq's page

morlockhq wrote:

Can you make stuff under the Community Use Policy that references the Beginner Box?

Absolutely—the complete list products you can use with the Community Use Policy is listed here.

Thanks for the follow up, Liz.

I'd like to blog and podcast about my experiences with the Beginner Box and also take a stab at making and posting some little adventures, quests, monsters and magical items. I'd like to do it for my own learning and figured that putting it out there would be a good way to give something to the community and get valuable feedback.

Can you make stuff under the Community Use Policy that references the Beginner Box?

Every Books-a-Million I have called has it. You can even check for local availability through their website.

I believe this is covered by the Community Use Policy, but it isn't stated specifically in the FAQ.

My son had his first Pathfinder game at GenCon (he loved it) and we picked up the Beginner Box. I have an idea for creating content using the Beginner Box for my website and podcast. I don't have banner ads on my site, but I do have Amazon referrals all over the place.

I thought I'd ask about affiliate links just to be sure I wasn't running afoul. The content of the post and/or podcasts will be freely available, as is everything on my site.

From my reading of the license and the FAQ, I think this would be acceptable, but I just want to make sure.

I thought it would be fun to chronicle getting back I into RPGs with my son and use the Beginner Box as the guide I used to write adventures all the time and thought it would be fun to share what I come up with on the site.

Thanks for the specific clarification.

morlockhq wrote:

Any chance of getting a copy of the Save Doctor Lucky rule book posted as a pdf?

I don't see why not... but the person who would be doing that is thoroughly buried, so it may be a while.

That'd be great, Vic. Thanks.

I own both Doctor Lucky games and run a Play in Public Campaign group that is playing Save Doctor Lucky today.

I like to link to the game page on the publishers' websites so that those that are inclined can take a look at the game we'll be playing each week.

As a general principal, I love it when publisher's post the rules for their games. I look at it as good marketing. *not so subtle hint*

Thanks again, Vic.

Any chance of getting a copy of the Save Doctor Lucky rule book posted as a pdf?

If Paizo put together a documentary/web-show it would be awesome to have some shows focus on the going-ons of the office/industry and other shows focus on inter-office gaming. This would be similar to the breakdown of the PATV with some shows focusing on the office and others focusing on the creative process behind the web cartoon.

Oooooo. One part could be the filming of PaizoCon!

My understanding of how Penny Arcade: The Series came about is that they hired a crew to film the con which they then produced as DVDs. The DVDs were big hits as both souvenirs for con goers but also were bought by fans that just couldn't attend. I guess they had a good experience, because the Penny Arcade guys hooked up with a crew to make a show about their office life. You can see some of these origins in the first season that uses the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) as a springboard for the rest of the seasons shows.

If you haven't watched Penny Arcade: The Series, I'd encourage you to do so and then try to frame it with respects to a similar Paizo show. When I do that, all I come up with is a mind full of awesome.

What I enjoy about Penny Arcade TV (I guess to be completely correct, the show is Penny Arcade: The Series) is that it is a sort of slice of life reality show (complete with superb editing and production values) centered around a creative company. It is completely enjoyable. I've watched the entire first season and can't wait until Friday rolls around for each new episode of the second season to "air."

In all honesty, I enjoy it more than some television shows.

As for the particulars, it looks like they farm out the filming and production to different film production crews, I guess you would call them. The first season was done by 2 Player Productions. The second season is being done by Vantage Point Productions.

So far, I think I like the look and feel of the second season better, but they are both good.

Some people on Twitter are trying to draft WotC into doing a Penny Arcade TV style weekly web show. Search for #wotctv on Twitter to follow the drive.

If you haven't watched it, Penny Arcade TV (or PATV) is a weekly web show that takes a look behind the scenes of the Penny Arcade web comic offices. It's in its second season and is pretty compelling to watch.

I think the idea that's out there of a similar WotC style show has a lot of merit. However, I think a Paizo show would be even better and in keeping with the current batch of design diaries that are being posted to the Paizo blog.

I posted this suggestion on twitter under the #paizotv tag. So far no takers, but we'll see.

So, what do you guys think?

I have ordered the core rule book (not from Paizo, sorry guys. Book depository had it cheaper and with free delivery to Australia) I can hardly wait to get my grubby mitts on it!

Then Ive got to find some people to get a game together...

I decided on Pathfinder over 4E after watching a demonstration video (mentioned in another thread) All those daily and encounter powers and using cards with action points sounded like it was trying to be Magic the Gathering or something...OH wait thats right lol...

Mind reposting the link here for context?

I got a copy of these six sided dice with pictograms on their face from the publisher to review for my wife's blog. After playing with them for a couple of months, I started to think they might be a good aid for inspiring Call of Cthulhu Keepers or Pathfinder Game Masters during their scenario and adventure creation sessions.

Roll the dice and come up with a scenario using all the elements depicted.

Now, the basic set's pictograms have a modern bent, but a little imagination could turn a pictogram of a credit card into a, say, writ of passage or a cell phone into a stone of scrying.

I've got a couple of rolls that we took pictures of on my blog.

What do you think about Pathfinder/Fantasy themed story cubes for this type of activity? Personally, I would love to see Paizo offer something like this as part of its Game Mastery line

What scenario could you come up with from each of those rolls?

Here's one of the rolls:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g8s4gtY5buk/TT_GjTw9jgI/AAAAAAAAACQ/DEA1M66HBac/s 1600/DSC02578.JPG

Unfortunately, though my library attempted to add RPG materials to its collection, they were either borrowed and never returned, stolen outright, or misused when borrowed to the point that they were no longer suitable for circulation. The consensus on such items is that they are simply not worth the effort to maintain.

Luckily, from my discussions with library employees in other parts of the nation, these issues with general theft and vandalism appear to be somewhat unique to my geographic location. It does make such things difficulty, though, when it is the simple reality of your home town.

I'm glad we don't have that problem here. One nice thing about living smack dab in the middle of the Midwest.

This library system seems to have a long tradition of buying gaming materials as some branches have a healthy stock of D&D 3, 3.5 and now 4e. After seeing all of these, I decided that Pathfinder should be added to the list.

I should also note that this library system maintains a number of programs targeted specifically at teens. They seem to be well attended and the teens also enjoy their own section of the library and general library support for programs that they themselves design and run.

Carbon D. Metric wrote:

3) HP = Healthbar
-I understand that it is an extraction to allow for a certain level of playability but it totally shatters any concept of realism. The fact that a nearly unconscious person can fight, cast spells, and run around just as well (and unhindered) as someone of comparable level who just stepped out of his morning shower, massage, and daily clerical restoration.

I hear that Rolemaster came up with a way to add more realism to injured pcs....

I have a small game, Shadow, Sword & Spell, that starts issuing Target Number (their to hit mechanic) penalties for every 15 points of damage that a character suffers.

I'm still learning Pathfinder, but a similar mechanic be applied?

I'm a big advocate for libraries. So much so, that I pay the extra fee to be able to access the libraries one town over from mine (which has a nice library of its own).

I'm also a somewhat new fan of Pathfinder. I'm slowly working my way through the rules in my spare time so that I can run a game for my non-gaming friends and family that have become curious about these RPG books that I've been reading.

With all that in mind, these search results from my library system's online catalog make me happy.

I'm especially so, because I requested all those titles to be added to the collection. Every one of the seven that are currently there is one that I specifically requested, though I have asked for more that may still be on order (not sure).

Just to be clear, this isn't to skip out on buying them myself. I own the Core Rule Book and the Bestiary and plan to pick up the Game Mastery Guide (and Bestiary 2) and a host of others when additional funds make themselves available.

I see these library holdings as another means of spreading the hobby in general and the playing of Pathfinder in particular. They're good advertisements. People can look at the books and if they like them, they can buy them down the road. Also, it will be easier to get Pathfinder events at the library (more on that later) if the event is in support of materials already in the collection.

So, my challenge to all of you is to check your library's online catalog and see if Pathfinder products are in the collection. Post your search results here for fun.

If they aren't in the collection, check your library's site for a method to suggest items for the library to acquire.

Then when the materials come in, make sure to check them out. I know when I was walking through the library with the Game Mastery book under my arm, one person asked what it was and then was excited that the library actually carried game manuals. Then the librarian said, "Hmm, this looks interesting. I'll have to check that out." I think getting the books in front of a public that isn't used to seeing gaming materials can only be a good thing.

Now for the questions.

Has anyone tried to set up any formal play within their local library system?

Would this be something that could incorporate Pathfinder Society play?

Has Paizo considered setting up some sort of program to support libraries?

That's it. Have fun everyone. Continue supporting Pathfinder and please consider supporting your local library.

Does this mean we might actually be getting an official Paizo Podcast in the future?

It's been talked about before.

Either way, welcome, Hyrum.

It looks like Paizo sells some GM Aids: Monster Knowledge cards for 3.5 OGL monsters that seem to fit this description. I think their created by 4 Winds Fantasy Role Playing. I wonder if they will be/or have been updated for the Pathfinder Bestiary.

The DnD Basic Rules Set 1 was the first RPG game I ever owned. I got it as a present from my parents before I spent the summer with my grandparents.

I had been exposed to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons a couple of years earlier and when we moved to a new town I told the neighbor kids about this storytelling game that I watched some high schoolers play where I had just came from (I didn't remember the name).

They loved the idea and asked if I could run a game for them. So, having no money, I had them describe their characters on a sheet of paper and made up a map on some graph paper that my dad had lying around. We rolled six sided dice that I robbed from a board game. We played for hours and had a great time.

I had only known those two brothers for a couple of days in passing up to that point, but we were fast friends after that first role playing session and divided our time between watching martial arts movies (with ninjas!) and running through adventures in complex caverns and dungeons.

My mom was really happy that I made such good friends so quickly as I usually had a hard time doing that when we moved (my dad was in the military). I'm sure I told her all about this role playing thing and she went to a Walden Books and asked about it. Some kid at the counter, suggested the D&D Basic Rules Set as I was only in fifth grade.

I took it with me to my grandparents house and didn't have a lot of access to other kids, so I spent the summer making characters and reading and re-reading the rules so that I'd be ready to take my friends on more complex adventures when I got home.

I played with them, and other kids, for the next 5 years basically non-stop. Some of the other kids that I became friends with through D&D played AD&D, so when I wanted to expand my gaming, I picked up stuff like Rolemaster, TMNT RPG, Palladium, and a little bit of GURPS, Gamma World, and Paranoia so that we'd didn't overlap our collections.

I guess this is a long winded way of saying that I agree with Erik; character creation is a lot of the fun of a basic system and a basic system is a good gateway into the hobby as a whole.

I think it'd be awesome to hear them (Paizo) talk on something like FLOSS about how the open source movement has affected them, their company and the Pathfinder RPG in general!

That and well I like Leo's network of podcasts too.

I like them too.

The TWIT podcast network that Leo has created has enough listeners and followers a month that it has costs of about $350,000 a year on revenue of over 1.5 million dollars a year (which has doubled for each year). He has stated that he reaches millions of people a month.

Admittedly, FLOSS Weekly has probably one of his smallest audiences (tens of thousands, maybe), it is still a large new audience to expose to Pathfinder.

Even if all you want to do is supply information for one monster, that would be great. Here is the kind of format I'm looking at for various things (with each Knowledge being appropriate to the type):

** spoiler omitted **...

I think this is a great idea. I wonder why no one picked it up? Or does it exist somewhere else?

It just hit me the other day that Paizo might help spread the hobby as well as exposure to Pathfinder by talking to podcasts or other media outside the general gaming community.

By day, I'm a Unix/Linux systems admin and I am ensconced in the open source community and philosophies.

It's funny, because I had no idea about the OGL when DnD was released under the license by WotC. However, when I started looking at getting back into RPG playing Pathfinder's development history as a direct offshoot of the OGL version of DnD was appealing to me. The methods that were used to bring the Pathfinder RPG to publication including public alpha and beta tests as well as active community involvement ("bug reporting," "feature requests") had a very familiar and comforting ring to it.

I think other open source enthusiasts may be interested in the story as well. If some of them, like me, have played in the past and fallen away from the hobby, they may be tempted to pick it up again. Others, who never played an RPG in their life, might be intrigued enough to give the game a go.

With that in mind, I sent a suggestion for a Paizo interview to one of the hosts of the FLOSS Weekly podcast. FLOSS weekly is a podcast about open source. It is hosted by Randal Schwartz, aka Merlyn, Jono Bacon and Leo Laporte. It is part of Leo Laporte's wildly popular This Week in Tech (TWIT) network. Leo is one of the most successful podcasters out there and has arguably the largest audience.

I sent Randal Schwartz the basics, as I understand them, of the Pathfinder RPG story. While FLOSS focuses mainly on software, they have also covered novel uses of open source including subjects like open source law, advocacy, research, science, etc.

Randal keeps a list of upcoming shows online. It's a long list and, taking into account that it is a weekly show, it'll take years to get through it. He doesn't even have the contact info for all the projects listed, they've just been suggested by listeners. Randal does all the legwork, so anything that makes his job easier helps move people up the stack. So, if someone from Paizo were to contact him via his email address, merlyn@stonehenge.com, I'd bet they could get onto the show to discuss the OGL and Pathfinder's history relatively soon.

As I said, I think it would be a sizable audience that would be receptive to the topic and could expand the audience for RPGs in general and Pathfinder specifically.

I'm not associated with TWIT or FLOSS other than being a listener.

I know the Paizo staff is insanely busy, but I wanted to pass this along as an idea before I forgot about... "Squirrel!"

What do you guys think?

MerrikCale wrote:

SirUrza wrote:

You guys definitely need to record a few gaming sessions. ;)

that would be uber-cool

I would not agree. Listening to other people play is not very exciting or interesting. I would love a podcast that focused on upcoming events and products and answering game related questions (like sage advice used to).

Play sessions, love them or not, are kind of essential for spreading the hobby in my book. Especially if they have a clever hook like having some sort of celebs or personalities from outside of the gaming community play.

I've talked to quite a few people that are either interested in starting to play RPGs or in getting back into playing RPGs after over a decade of not playing because of the WotC Penny Arcade actual play sessions.

Sure, you wouldn't want the whole podcast to be actual play sessions, but some would be a good idea.

While I haven't liked WotC's Robot Chicken play sessions as much, I thought the DM commentary was a stroke of genius and would serve to offer to something even to long time RPG players and GMs.

Should we do a podcast, we'll do it in house. We have folks here with broadcast radio experience who can put something like this together.

That'll work.

morlockhq wrote:

Now I am grabbing up a lot of RPG podcasts, but I'm finding that most of the fantasy based ones are DnD focused and haven't found any that focus primarily on the Pathfinder RPG.

Known Direction my friend. I've been co-hosting it with Ryan. :P

Cool. I will am adding it to my podcatcher now.

EDIT: I actually added the RAW 3.5 Sanctuary podcast feed which seems to include everything. I hadn't found that one before, so thanks the extra find as well.

It's funny. I had just responded to an old post about this in the Pathfinder thread.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that's really interested in this.

The DnD actual play podcasts from WotC for the guys from Penny Arcade are a big part of me getting interested in coming back to RPGs after an almost 20 year absence. A number of people that I've talked to have similar stories.

Now I am grabbing up a lot of RPG podcasts, but I'm finding that most of the fantasy based ones are DnD focused and haven't found any that focus primarily on the Pathfinder RPG.

I still get a lot out of those other podcasts, but after finding Pathfinder, I would love to have something that shows it (and other things that paizo is working on) off.

I can't wait until something comes out.

I second hiring Moonstew Productions to take on production duties. Atomic Array and the Open Design podcasts are two of the best in my (humble) opinion. I think they'd do you guys proud. The production quality of the podcasts are unmatched and they have a ton of contacts that might be leveraged to round things out.

What might be kind of cool is to do an actual play of some of the older OGL adventure paths.

You could include a session looking over the GMs shoulder as they update the modules for the PFRPG and include some notes as to what they might change or enhance to make it work better within the Pathfinder ruleset.

Then run some people through the game. I think WotC has hit on a good idea with the "celebrity" session format. As many of these celebs are new to RPGs or new to the specific rule sets that are being played, its a nice hook for those listeners that are new to RPGs themselves or new to the specific products that are being showcased.

There are a number of celebs that might be interested if you made some inquiries. It would be a coup to get the actors from Big Bang Theory or to play with the actors from "The Guild" or maybe people like Corey Doctorow.

We've been thinking about, talking about, and wanting to do an official podcast for a while. But until we get caught up after launching a new game and moving the offices north to a larger and more efficient space here in Redmond, the time is not right to launch something like this. We can't even keep our blog on a regular schedule right now, after all!

But eventually, yeah. We hope to have some sort of podcast.

Do you guys have any news on the podcast front?

I would like to add the idea of having an actual play podcast of the Pathfinder Role Playing Game similar to what WotC has done with their celebrity DnD sessions. I've talked to more people that have seen and/or listened to those sessions who are talking about getting back into the hobby.

I was similarly inspired and I've been away from the hobby for 20 years. The main reason that I haven't picked up DnD (like them) is that I used to always play non-DnD stuff back in the day (Palladium, GURPS, Paranoia, Call of Cthulhu). The recent release of the PFRPG seemed like just the ticket and I'm really enjoying learning the rules.

I'd love to have a set of similar PFRPG podcasts to share so that I can inspire others to eventually join my game.

Production labor for creating a podcast is surely a stumbling block, but there's a lot of podcasting talent up in your area. Ever thought of having Moonstew Productions (Ed Healy and Rone Barton, the Atomic Array and RPG Countdown podcasters) giving you a hand?

Barring Paizo, I wonder if anyone in the Pathfinder fan base is working on a related podcast. There are some pretty good podcasts devoted to DnD specifically (The Tome Show, The Power Source, Critical Hits). It'd be nice to see something similar covering Paizo news, reviews, play, and interviews.

Just some more cents to throw in from another podcast junky.

My list, of course, is incorporated into Appendix 3 in the hardcover... but the ones that in particular have inspired me to take the Adventure Paths and Golarion in the way it's gone would be:

Imagica, by Clive Barker
Algernon Blackwood's stories
Ramsey Campbell's Ryre the Swordsman stories (and his novel, the Face that Must Die for Norgorber stuff)
Robert E. Howard's stories
Stephen King's Dark Tower stories
Fritz Leiber's stories
H. P. Lovecraft's stories
Arthur Machen's stories
George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series
Clark Ashton Smith's stories

Just picked up Game of Thrones from the library today. I also picked up Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erickson. I read a lot of Lovecraft as a teenager as well as Leiber, but I think I should pick up some Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories again... I used to love those books.

You can never go wrong with Tolkien. Classic, all around.

You said you're reading The Hobbit already and that's great. You'll find LotR to have a more epic feel to it, maybe a higher level campaign.

Yeah. I'm reading it to my four year old. I've read it, and LotR, many times before.

So, no pathfinder fiction... YET!

I have a copy of the Wayfarer #1. Thanks for the suggestion and I am looking at Pathfinder Chronicler. Thanks again.

Can anyone recommend some good fantasy books that have a Pathfinder flavor (however you would define that)?

I haven't read fantasy for a number of years (beyond just starting reading The Hobbit each night to my 4 year old) and I am looking for some REALLY GOOD books.

Rather than stumble around, I thought I'd ask for help here.

With the news that the Eclipse Phase role playing game from Catalyst Labs sold film rights to the game before it was even published, is this something that Paizo has looked into? Have they been approached?

I have to think that someone who's a role player is also connected in Hollywood and would be aware of the buzz around the Pathfinder RPG.

Would it even be something that Paizo was interested in?

It seems like the adventure paths alone would be fertile ground for a transfer to the silver screen.

morlockhq wrote:

...

Does Paizo have plans to publish novels set in the Pathfinder setting?
...
If there are stories that have been released as part of other products, are there any collections of just the fiction?

Yes, Paizo plans to publish novels. The Pathfinder Fiction line will probably be up and running as of next year sometime. The last thing I heard on it was from Wes Schneider (or Erik?) at PaizoCon in June, "If I'm not selling you a Pathfinder novel by next PaizoCon, I'll be telling you when it will be for sale."

The only current fiction (other than lots of little awesome intro pieces scattered *everywhere*) are the Pathfinder Journal entries in each of the Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes. They have not been collected anywhere. 6 pages per book. The first 18 are a connected arc.

Thanks, guys. That was very helpful. I'll look at the Wayfinder stuff until there are some Paizo novels out.

Thanks again.

This may have been asked somewhere else before, but searching is disabled at the moment.

Does Paizo have plans to publish novels set in the Pathfinder setting?

I'm new to the setting and wanted to get a feel for it without having to buy a ton of stuff up front... and, besides, I love reading fiction in general.

If there are stories that have been released as part of other products, are there any collections of just the fiction?

Thanks

Filch wrote:

Could anyone recommend where I could track down a copy of this? Having finally gotten a credit card, I've been hunting Paizo, Ebay & Amazon to no joy.

It is out of stock. We hope to reprint it later this year sometime, but have no concrete dates. That said, I noticed that there is a copy where the box was slightly crushed that we had set aside. I could have customer service contact you to purchase that if you are interested. I was going to put it up for sale as Non-Mint this next week, but you can buy it if you want!

-Lisa

That is such GOOD news. We've starting doing a month of board game reviews on our Geek Parenting blog/website and, of course, the Titanic Games printing of Kill Doctor Lucky topped the list. We felt sad telling everyone "It's an amazing game. Too bad YOU can't have it!"

Before I found this, we told people to stay on the lookout at their favorite game store and they MIGHT get lucky (no pun intended). After I found this thread, I added a comment with the good news.

Thanks for keeping this great game alive.

-Jim