I don't have anything to add re: your rules, but could resist stopping by and saying how much I loved the cheese-fest that was Ninja Assassin, and it's star; Rain. I saw it twice. :)
Peace,
tfad
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I still want my Early 6 Iconic spot reserved until such a proposal is made! +1 I've not had a chance to listen to the most recent SG radio show, although there seems little point now. :( Hopefully the guys behind this have got something else similar in their minds and we'll get another crack at this. My main fear at this point is that the failure to get it off the ground at this stage will put off people from giving their cash to another attempt. Peace, tfad
I've not had anything useful to say, so have stayed quiet. However, I've got an eye on this thread as I'm also running through SCAP, started not so long ago. We're playing it set on Athas/in Darksun, so I've been doing a lot of conversion work (you should be able to find the thread if you're interested). One thing that really helped with our group, RE: character creation, was giving the characters all personal reasons to go there. Also, we made Knowledge (local) a class skill for everyone - a good incentive to get to know the locals and being able to say "Make a check" whenever the players get stuck is a DM-godsend. Good luck with the first session and let us know how it goes! Peace, tfad
Don't know why, but I find women with a bun in the oven to be more attractive. You're not alone. I think it might be some kinda biology thing? Peace, tfad
I prefer wizards and I love spellbooks...I'm a grognard Ditto. I have many interesting conversations with my wife over this (she prefers sorcerers). When it comes to DMing, I definitely prefer wizards. I can write a list of all their prepared spells, then just cross them off as they get cast. That is a lot less hassle, IMHO, than tracking slots and having a list of spells known. I usually fill out their spell books with the spells they are going to use in the encounter first, then roll up the rest, as if they were scrolls. Peace, tfad
Interesting thread - nice to see people showing respect to others. Personal experience/story follows: Why I got a warning for Sexual Harassment: When I was much younger, I worked with some real characters, some of them funny, some of them *dodgy*. I saw some pr0n changing hands - "The 75 Nurse Orgy" - and being the practical joker I am, felt the need to do something stupid. So, at lunch, I stole said pr0n and made 1000 copies of the cover. Then I switched the paper over and returned it to the copier. Suffice to say my boss, an extremely professional lady, didn't find it as funny as I did. Apparently it does count as Sexual Harassment under UK law. I doubled my count by asking if she'd prefer some man-on-man next time? I've grown up a lot since then!
A Wisdom bonus for a stoner is laughable! Nice comedy piece. Peace, tfad
Super Genius Radio I find your voices strangely soothing.... ;p I've really enjoyed both shows so far - their unscripted nature makes them a lot more enjoyable than the RPG podcasts I also listen to. Looking forward to the next one, but mostly to getting P20 Modern off the ground! Peace, tfad
"James Brown" (who made the term famous, and who has evidently risen as undead) or (SNIP) I read this the other day. First thing that came to my mind: Get up! Get on up! ;p Peace, tfad
hilarious color commentary on first edition D&D art Thanks for the link! :D
we're looking for questions you'd like answered (PARTICULARLY anything pertaining to the P20 Modern project). I already posted this in the Yahoo group, but I'll do so here again, in case any "Paizoans" want to respond, too. Will we be seeing a type of "progress scale" for the equipment and weapons in P20 Modern? Something akin to the progress levels in Alternity. And if not - why not?! ;p Peace, tfad
Interesting thread - I'm sorry for the difficulties you're having in game OP. :D Aside from confronting him, I only have one suggestion. Try teaming up with another character and working together to bring his saves down. E.g. get the cleric to use bestow curse in conjunction with your spells. If your DM is really "cheating", the frustration you feel will be spread across to the other players who help you. Then you'll not be alone when you come out and say "What! Saved *again! With -6!" That might help get the message across that he is not always being fair to the PCs. Peace, tfad
Link or it's not real!
Have you checked out Solid!: The d20 Blaxsploitation Experience? A great book! Shame it never got around as much as it's heroes. My wife ran an excellent Cleopatra Jones style police woman named "Honey Pott". That was awesome. Our mate, who is as Black as they come, thought it was the best RPG book he'd ever read. Peace, tfad
My desire to have my two pet rats as my familiars/animal companions for my iconic seems to really lack vision.... In my mind, said gnoll also has a boom-box on one shoulder, blasting thrash-metal. And Mr. T-style gold chains. Man, this "iconic" is going in my games, for sure! ;p Peace, tfad
The game is still going on, but we're waaay off the track now. The players are preoccupied with building a pier, stretching out in the lake of Cauldron. Lol - I love my group. :D Not much to report, but I'm still keeping an eye on this thread, intend to post any useful conversion notes, and am willing to answer any questions about running SCAP on Athas. Peace, tfad
the first initial rush And, man, what a rush.... ;p
I just did some VERY unscientific "research" on Kickstarter, and it looks like P20 Modern is easily one of the most ambitious Kickstarter projects ever. Yeah - I hope it gets off the ground, but can't help but be a little nervous, I mean, won't things start of drop off after the initial rush? And $70,000 is more than $1,000 a day! Still, I'm on stand by to up my bid, the moment I can afford to/it looks like it might not happen. *crosses fingers* Peace, tfad
Thanks! Question answered! Facebook avoided again! ;p Peace, tfad
...and the Facebook group is LIVE! I've got to ask - how much of the general discussion is going to take place on FB? See, I don't want one, I've put off having one successfully for years, but I really don't want to miss out on some juicy P20 stuff. I know the project will get it's own design forums (won't it?) when it gets enough cash, but I want to maximize my P20 experience! Is the FB group just for spreading the word? Peace, tfad
How many of the six are here? Myself, Koloktroni and Urizen - anyone else? I was #5. Or possibly #3, I'm not sure now I look at the registering times. I was camping all day (I'm on GMT) for this, only to realize at the last minute that my wife had the credit card! I had to phone her to get the details, lol, very nearly missed out. I'm so excited, hope this bird flies! Peace, tfad
I really enjoyed the GI Joe movie. Sure, it wasn't perfect, nor was it 100% true to the cartoon/comics, but is was enough like the cartoon that I got a lot out of it. There were a few things that I would have liked to have seen done differently, mainly sticking closer to the original Baroness. I bought the DVD and couple of the toys. :) These guys are good writers, so as long as the humor factor isn't dialed up, I can't wait for #2. Not so Secret GI Joe fan-boy wishes for #2:
I want: to see Snake Eyes with Timber
Peace, tfad
Solid ideas all around. Looks like it's shaping up well, awesome to hear. Thanks! The next game is on Sunday, so we'll see how that goes, although I can't imagine that there will be much to report as the players are going to be going into Jzadriune. Just cosmetic changes really, and a lot of rusted metal! Stay tuned though, I'll keep posting anything I think is worthwhile as notes for anyone else attempting something similar. Peace, tfad
This is the first time I've stumbled on this thread. I'd patronize for $50. Welcome! I hope this one gets off the ground! tfad
Well I feel silly, but I didn't realize that aurochs were historical, I thought they were a game creation. That goes for my wife too - and her SCAP PC has an auroch companion! lol Peace, tfad
We played through another game this weekend, starting off with the opening events from both Life's Bazaar and Drakthar's Way. I wanted a lot more to be going on, so mixed the starts of the two chapters, hoping to create less of a modular feel to the adventures. A couple of Cauldron/SCAP on Athas notes follow. More notes: As Cauldron doesn't have an arena, essential to all Athasian cities, I established that arena duels are fought on a small raft, pushed out into the lake. The idea of the flood festival was changed to be when the elementalist priests try to summon help to clean and purify the water, which otherwise stagnates and gets dirty over the course of each year. To build a little tension for Flood Season, it was established it has been a bad year so far, and the water is infected with cerebral parasites (XPH, DC 15; incubation 1d4 days; damage 1d8 power points). No infected PCs yet! The four temples in SCAP were changed to the four paraelemental temples from Darksun (revised?). I'd advise using whichever paraelement your PCs might have a connection to in place of St. Cuthbert, as it feature's predominantly. Also, using any one your PCs might have an antagonistic relationship with in place of Wee Jas (Sun for us). The Sun Temple has a crematorium, which has been used as a kiln to bake the Last Laugh coins in circulation. Bad guys and plot elements unite! The goblins from Drakthar's Way have been scribbling graffiti all over town during Life's Bazaar. Except they're not goblins, but Gith. This has worked *very* well, giving the PCs an extra direction to point the finger - are the Gith responsible for the kidnappings? Ghelve's Locks has been abandoned for a long time. Ghelve was never a gnome, as they were all cleansed long before Cauldron was founded, and the business failed as there was not enough metal/demand for his locks. I removed all the story pointers to Ghelve as my players would much rather work things out themselves. I let them chat to various NPCs, using the missing person information as leads to the abandoned area.
When I say genepunk, I am envisioning.... Awesome, thanks for sharing. I'm not so sold on the two divisions (psychics and animal-dudes), but the rest of that is 110% awesome! I guess I'd like to add more of an emphasis on the class-war aspect for my own games with genepunk, perhaps a little more Mega City One/Judge Dredd? But I really enjoyed reading that - thanks again. Peace, tfad
I think that's the first time I've heard the term 'genepunk' coined. Color me interested, Owen. +1 Any more details you're willing to share? Peace, tfad
I just rolled a sorcerer/druid. Can I play? ;) I have one suggestion, which you may or may not like: If you receive a result that cannot coexist peacfully (eg Monk + Barbarian) you may reroll the second class you rolled. I'd say drop this. House rule away the alignment restrictions, with the exception of clerics of specific deities, and see what happens. Could be interesting and the thought of an as-yet unplayed combo could really get your players fired up. Peace, tfad
I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire 50 charges or only fourty-nine?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself.(SNIP) LMFAO - brilliant!
spoiler:
As a necromancer is going to have a lot going on anyway, what with being a spell caster and all, I'd suggest making it a special magical armor. Give the pilot a whole bunch of temp. HP, plus enhancement bonuses to AC and Str. It'll be so much simpler that stating out an actual extra set of monster abilities. I did something very similar in one of my games a while back, but gave our resident anime-fan a chance to fight back in his own golem suit. It worked out simple enough as an armor suit.
Peace, tfad
WTFOMGBBQ! This makes no sense and my head spin.... I'm gonna go sit down now. tfad
We had our first game on Saturday, adventure zero if you will, and it went very well. I'll not type up the whole thing here, but I thought it could be a good resource if I took a little time to record some of the ideas I had and we used here. The goal of #0 was to get the players familiar with the region, and into the mindset of Dark Sun. Without further ado: SCAP on Athas Game #0: The players started out in Tyr, with personal reasons to get to Cauldron. They joined a caravan with some other mercenaries, taking them as far as Red Gorge - another group, the Storm Blades, had been arranged to escort it from Red Gorge to Cauldron. The PCs were confident they could make their own way from Red Gorge. The caravan owner was Skie - of Skie's Treasury, remodeled to be a Pterran. The contacts in Tyr will help explain future expansion of the magic item shop. I have a 100% rewrite of the items for sale, all psionic as opposed to magical, which I can post if anyone wants me to. I've got an Excel sheet set up to handle the treasury's 'books'. After some fun in Tyr, some desert survival action, and much roleplaying, they finally got to Red Gorge and stayed in the Redhaired Miner for two days, waiting out bad weather. Skie and the Stormblades chanced it and headed on to Cauldron. Not before the Lurk (PC name Beth, played by my wife) managed to embarrass Zachary. Looking forward to some more interaction with the Stormblades later! Over the course of their stay in Red Gorge, some bonds were forged, handled in a way other SCAP groups might find useful: I played up the idea of Patrons, with the group picking up one in Red Gorge and starting with one in Tyr. The idea being that in a harsh world, nobles and such like enjoy being the patrons of adventurers. They get to hear their tales, get protection, and status, in exchange for a the costs of putting them up, helping them out, etc. I'm hoping this will work well with respect to SCAP's patron in Cauldron, with the PCs readily accepting it. It has also helped to form bonds with Red Gorge. From Red Gorge the PCs moved on to the Lucky Monkey, where they met the new owners, after a little foreshadowing of the insanity to come (including some mad wildlife). I had the previous landlord of the inn run screaming into the jungle before the PCs arrived, leaving the only customers, an adventuring duo Human/Thri-Kreen, as the new owners. I'm hoping this will make the inn more memorable, lending more tension to the future events that take place there. Also, setting the precedent of simply taking over - I didn't like how it seems to sit empty in SCAP, and know my group won't let it, this gives them the chance to run it if they want to, or to pass on ownership to an NPC - there are plenty in SCAP who might want to start over! They stayed the night at the inn, which was where we left the game, with each of the PCs having the same dream, of Athas' past oceans and the Smoking Eye lurking beneath the surface of the water. Hopefully the next game can start with the opening of Life's Bazaar, as the group reaches Cauldron in what will be the early evening.
Maybe you need to help him with his theology, particularly, the assumption that the Omnipotent God is his personal butler. More smiting the character of such a player might prove effective... LMFAO - thanks! tfad
A typical orc in 3.5 can be summed up as AC 13, Melee +4 damage 2d4+4, 5 hps I have tried this but: touch/flat-footed AC, crit range, saving throws, and speed come up in almost every encounter. BAB, stats, Spot/Listen, and a handful of other abilities come up often enough that they should be included as well What I usually end up with is something akin to pres man's line, but with saves added, and with arrows and lines all over the place as I remember that I need to add X, Y, and Z, because the players have all these different abilities that effect the monsters/NPCs. I do my best to simplify my work as a 3E DM, but I've yet to find the perfect formula (for me). Peace, tfad
continuing fan excitement is one of the main things that keeps us going In which case, I'd just like to add - EXCITED! ME! ARGH! That should keep you going for an extra hour or two, and by releasing it, you're not losing a patron who would otherwise have exploded from the pent-up excitement. ;p tfad
A typical orc encounter would be summed up as AC5, THAC0 19 damage d6, 6HPS each. LOL - Oh how I miss those days! But for all the complexity, I do love 3E. Peace, tfad
Str: 14, Dex: 18, Con: 12 , Int: 10, Wis: 8, Cha: 14 That's an interesting line up. I'm quoting it because it is possible to build a mounted archer with these stats. Switch Con, Int and Wis to get: Str 14, Dex 18, Con 8, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 14. That'll give an extra skill rank per level, which nicely pays for the ride skill. It also gives no penalty to Wis, for Will saves (arguably the most important). With your swift action Lay on Hands, and the mount taking some of your hits, plus a good HD and strong Fort saves, it works out okay to take the 8 for Con. Switch Str and Cha and it is almost identical to my wife's (mounted archery) paladin's stats. She went from 1st to 20th (now) without too many troubles, only dying twice, both times due to bad luck. Peace, tfad
This will REALLY help my Dragonstar conversions, lol. Man, I love Dragonstar *so* much. Need to get another game of it going on. I'll look at using P20 Modern, when I get my grubby mitts on it - thanks! Peace, tfad
Woah! What a lot of replies! Great reading - thanks to everyone who quoted their sources, it made it easier to follow and check. who carries a Curve Blade as a backup This is something the OP will want to consider carefully. As I mentioned before: My wife runs a very successful bow paladin in our 3E Planescape game. Not two games ago she ended up fighting an honorable challenge against a fellow knight; a paladin from a rival order, on directly opposing orders to hers no less! It was very interesting as when the NPC called out his challenge, my wife, without thinking, had her character put away her bow to answer the call. The NPC paladin was unarmed at the time (sword sheathed), so it was honorable to approach him similarly unarmed. They then discussed the terms of the honorable duel (complete with Knowledge (Religion) checks to discern more about each-others order), before retreating back a pace and drawing their swords. To get back to the point I was going to make - my wife was very happy to have invested some skills in a melee weapon, as she knew that she would be unable to rely on the bow 100% of the time. My wife picked short-sword (actually, a gladius stylistically), with Weapon Focus and Dazzling Display (PFBeta). Don't forget to include a back-up melee weapon in your archer build! Peace, tfad
(something that made me very happy) Man, I'm really excited about this now. I'll be checking here daily to see where to throw my money! Awesome! tfad
Spread the wealth stat-wise, since paladins are pretty MAD, start with base 15 in DEX, +2 for race (halfling, half-orc, half-elf, human, or elf), +1 stat bump at 4th, so 18 DEX. JN sums it up pretty well, although I can add this. My wife runs a very successful bow paladin in our 3E Planescape game. in order to get the DEX. higher, she ditched a -1 mod. into CON. This has worked out well in the long run (started at 1st, now at 19th level). Being a ranged combatant means she doesn't need as many HP, and the numerous ways a paladin can heal have all added up to make up for the slightly reduced HP. Plus she has never noticed the one-point-lower FORT. save, thanks to divine grace. Food for thought! Peace, tfad
Err, is this the royal "we," the local Friday-night gaming "we," the Paizo "we," or the evil galactic overlords "we"? LOL - "We" as in "I'm speaking for my gaming group, none of us can afford the new Nintendo, and I'm a SEGA kinda guy anyway." Hope that clears it up - I'm off to check on the Quadratic Fighter thread, thanks. Peace, tfad
Kimchee (sp?). Kimchee is good - as is a lot of Korean food. Mind you, I had to get used to it or go insane/hungry while I lived there. My wife hates spicy food and sea food, so I don't know what she was thinking agreeing to come with me, though! ;p The grossest thing (also in Korea) has to be these little silk-worm grubs all the kids ate. They smelled like rotting-flesh and I'm sure they cried out a little as the greedy sprogs stabbed them with their eager cocktail sticks.... They made me wretch for hours. Worst. Food. Ever. /Comic-book Guy Voice. Peace, tfad
Interesting ideas - well done! I don't have a lot to say on the subject, so probably won't post much, but will keep an eye on this thread. We're pretty much happy with the fighter as it stands in Pathfinder, having just made a couple of little changes. One thing I'd like to share, is our idea of the "Warrior of the World". Warrior of the World:
Basically, these are additional weapon training groups, sorted by region/culture, as opposed to physical similarities of the weapons. We use these (admittedly slightly more powerful than standard) options along side the regular options, to increase world building. You can also, as a DM, reward fighter players who roleplay well with a bonus group. They also make good sense for some PrC, e.g. arcane archer can change from the race requirement of Elf, to the Elf racial weapon group. YMMV on the groupings, as they're based on our homebrew list of races and includes firearms, etc. Without further ado - get ready to fight like a real Dwarf! Archer: composite longbow, composite shortbow, longbow, and shortbow.
Peace, tfad
Some interesting ideas I'd never considered - thanks all. I'd like to second the idea of using reserve points, as mentioned above, over "loading" all the HD. It will start to skew HP based spells, such as fireball and cure, as just about everyone said above me. We're kinda boring with regard to HD, rolling once or taking the average (rnd down). However, as an incentive, certain magical places/sites/artifacts allow the players to roll more or affect their HD rolls. E.g. When adventuring on the positive energy plane, the PCs rest up in a magical church there, allowing them to gain a permanent boost to HP - roll and extra HD worth of HP. Or, when leveling up on the Forge (Oathbound, 3PP, 3E, Bastion Press), players get to roll twice and keep the best roll. These are nice unexpected boosts that can be used to reward the players. You can even use it to "trick" them into forming bonds with a place they'd otherwise ride through and forget about. Also, I just want to add that my players roll each others HD when they level up (their choice). It promotes a team atmosphere, and 99% of them time, their trust seems to rewarded by Lady Lucky - my guys have HPs coming out their ears! Peace, tfad
I think a nice way of increasing the amount of counter-spelling in games, would be to make a bit more use of the skills we already have. Certainly a lot simpler than adding new feats, etc. For example, encouraging magic users to make sense motive skill checks to get an idea of what spell their foe is likely to cast. DMs should throw players a bone here - if the PC wants to counter, don't be a jerk (as I have seen happen) and decide to cast a different spell just to foil the player. Also, if an enemy magic user has a readied spell, then spellcraft skill checks can be used to identify it. Also, I think that if DMs used counter-spelling more often then their players would too. DMs have a better chance of guessing what a player will cast, than a player does of an NPC. So DMs, write it down and then reveal the counter to your players when they go for their "usual" spells. This is a wonderful way to keep players on their toes, too. Peace, tfad
the format is too much SciFi-like I enjoyed it - made me think of the version of heaven presented in the Oh, My Goddess! movie, but with a serious D&D overtone. Well done TOZ! Peace, tfad
More awesome ideas Thanks for the continued imput. We could be starting as early as next week, so I'm kinda in DS overdrive at the moment. Clicky! SCAP on Athas:
I'm working from the hardback, I have the Dungeon issues, but they're sealed in a box somewhere after I moved back from Korea. I have no idea of the difference level between the two. I don't have much DS stuff, so the only place I know the avangion from is 'Dragon Kings' - they appear with a MM level of info in the back of the book. If you don't have DK, I can recommend it. It has a fantastic way for setting up Epic Level adventures in DS - I wish the 3E ELH was a little more similar to it. Now I've got my commission, where were we? ;p There are references to Sasserine in Flood Season and in Life's Bazaar. I guess I'm making more of this than SCAP does because I know my players well. I don't think there will be any problems substituting Tyr in its place - I've already drawn up a quick map of the area. Which really just leaves the idea of the dragon king and where to place him (her?). I guess Red Gorge is good because that's where my players wanted the DK to be. It's also good because it doesn't mess with the complex machinations going on in Cauldron, although it is bad because it muddies the water somewhat, adding an extra layer to all the political machinations. As you pointed out, it doesn't make too much sense as written, because Red Gorge doesn't hold much of value. After thinking a lot about this, here's my idea - please tell me if you think it'd work. I'm going to have a single DK rule both Cauldron and Red Gorge. Red Gorge used to be the base until they relocated to Cauldron, but it remains firmly in the DK's territory. Red Gorge, as well as being home to the red stone used to build a lot of Cauldron, also used to have a rich vein of red psionic crystals, long since exhausted by the DK's miners. This should explain the set up described in SCAP without changing anything. The DK is a descendant of Spellmason, and is going to be unaware of the beholder's plots to remove them and rule the area. I'm still not 100% sure of what I'm going to do with Dry'yrd - I'll get back to you. Peace, tfad
Thanks for the continued help! SCAP on ATHAS:
Perhaps Surabar ascended to become an avangion instead of a dragon Y'know, I had completely forgotten about the avangion. That's a really interesting idea, just wondering how to use it. IIRC, the avangions are not really detailed that much (unless there's stuff in the novels, which I never read), so there is a lot of blank-slate potential there. I understand the idea of a Dragon King lessening the threat to Red Gorge, but what if the DK was a little standoffish. If the threat changed from saving Red Gorge, to saving the people of Red Gorge, i.e. acting before the DK does in order to save those who would otherwise die to to the DK's slowness to act. "What's that? They're killing my slaves?! Well I have enough, and they pose no threat to me. I'll kill them all before they get to my gates, don't worry. The people? Ptah!" Could that work? I dunno. I like the idea of Dyr'ryd being a dragon, that could really work. I'm going to consult my SCAP book and see exactly how this would effect things before I decide, but this might work out quite well. I think the main reason that my players wanted Red Gorge as the home to a DK, is that Cauldron doesn't have one, and Tyr doesn't have one (at the time the adventures are set). N.b. We're going to use Tyr as Sassarine. I think this is a good preparatory move, as several times things are referenced as taking place off in the capital, to keep powerful NPCs out of the way. I can just see my players saying: "Your boss is higher level than us, but he's away on business? Well we'll just go get him for you!" They can be wonderfully literally-logical, and, IMHO, too willing to pass things off to NPCs. So, back on topic, I think they want Red Gorge to belong to a DK, to include that aspect of the setting in the game. Changing the Lord Mayor of Cauldron into a DK might work a bit better. It'll distract the PCs from the other political stuff and make the "game" the beholder plays (Vhalthrue?) all the more dangerous, playing to the insanity of the beholders (which my group loves). Any thoughts on how this would play out? How would the beholder get rid of a Dragon King? Hmm. Peace, tfad |