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It was fantastic seeing Paizo at Winter Fantasy again. We missed you! Welcome back, and we look forward to seeing the awesome Tanis and Tonya again. I particularly enjoyed my evening game of PFACG, where we won on the very last possible turn. Truly epic!
It was great seeing both dogs and cats (LFR and PFS) living together, in harmony and with no mass hysteria. Seriously, it is good for our hobby to get gamers of all types together. We saw many players enjoy both systems and everyone was polite. Excellent, and I look forward to seeing all my PFS friends at the next Winter Fantasy.
This is one of the most demanding playtests I've seen. The up-front cost will dissuade some - is it not possible to provide pdfs the groups can print out on their own? A minimum of 10 sessions within just six weeks is very hard for many groups - even 5 in 6 weeks can be hard (which is what you get if you double up sessions). I'm sure the fan base is large enough to find people who will do that, but the demands may limit the quality of those who can make it. I liked how 13th Age worked within its playtest to identify valuable playtesters through an easy application process (basically, state why you would do a good job). This allowed them flexibility to pick the type of playtesters they wanted. They then later provided additional playtesting opportunities for those that could playtest in a brief time-frame (and those players received updated rules in exchange). I can't meet the playtest requirements. The only feedback I can offer is that 1.5 hours is longer than I would expect. Modern card and board games see 1 hour as the desirable maximum due to player preferences. People want a fun and fast experience... otherwise they could be playing an RPG. I'm sure the team has considered this, however. I look forward to the release. Shame I can't be part of the playtesting, because I love contributing to new games!
That hat is so cool! When will the online store open selling these? ;-) It was great to hear that D&D Next will be bringing back the Flumph! The Flumph should be in every edition of every D&D game ever, and it should certainly be available in hat form.
Hi, can you talk about the decision to go with such a violent style? I'm curious whether that was a deliberate choice to make this a more adult/edgy comic. I have young kids and was hoping that this could have been a good series for them. I should say that none of this is meant as a flame. It's an honest question.
Hopefully the typo in "Bogot" is not in the actual book. The city should be "Bogota" with an "a" at the end. (I'm Colombian-American). It will be interesting to see how the country is portrayed in the cybernetic future.
Forgive me for saying this, but will a figure like the Ettin have additional washing/drybrushing/shading over the body? It seems a bit flat to me. I can compare the ettin above more to the <a href="http://wizards.com/dnd/images/dangerousdelves_gallery/grimlock_minion .jpg">WotC grimlock minion from Dungeon Delves</a> than, say, the <a href="http://wizards.com/dnd/images/dw/Ettin_Spirit-Talker.jpg">Ettin Skirmisher (which is from an older set but has comparable base colors). I sure love minis and it seemed to me that the final on-display version of the intro minis set looked far more detailed in person than what had been shown on the site (I'm going by what I saw at Gen Con). I'm curious if similar improvements would be made in this case. (And if so, any way we could see the final version of a mini?)
Mostly we just wanted to give first-time players a sense of what the four major character types were like, and hence what they were about to get into, in as fast and fun a way as possible.What Erik said. Basically, if you and 4 friends are opening the box for the very first time, it's very handy to have those bullet points on the front of each pregen so you can decide which one you want to play. Great points. It is tough to balance something being easy to grasp for new players with something that can turn off other players. It's an audience problem and 4E had it, right? Saying things like "Play a dragonborn if you want... to look like a dragon" captured what I didn't like about early 4E design (and I'm a big 4E fan). It took accessibility to a silly level. I mean, I see the picture and the name, I get that my PC would look like a dragon! :-) At the same time, if I look at Eclipse Phase pregens I can say that it takes me too long to figure out what role they play. It's a hard balance to find. I personally prefer having a few clear titles (things like "Healer and Diplomat") and not oversimplify to that part of the audience that is familiar with RPGs. All this said, I'm just enjoying discussion and I like what I see here!
There really are a number of similarities here with 4E design. Then again, some of the designers involved often work or have worked for both companies. "Play this character if" resembles the 4E design, as do the monster stat blocks. Nothing is inherently wrong about that, though I never liked the former. In any RPG I prefer that space to be used for more details on the class with actual text instead of bullets. I get the point, but I prefer the more recent (Essentials) 4E design that eliminates this.
WotC has got the formula mastered, and the lines of complete newbies lining up to throw dice are absolutely enormous. I wouldn't say mastered. I worked the WotC events this year and the past two. While this year saw enormous growth over previous years, the organizers, volunteers, and WotC staff have been tweaking the model each year. It can still be refined further, and I'm sure we will see that. Things that were amazing at PAX East were less so at PAX Prime and vice-versa, so it is always a moving target and a guessing game. I suspect your short demo games were a really good fit for PAX. Both WotC and Tabletop/Paizo were a bit too hidden for my tastes. I agree completely that there are many players looking to try out RPGs and it is a shame that they are all so hard to find. This is truly a great con for all RPGs to bring in new players... if they can afford the cost (competing against video game budgets can't be easy). It would be nice if all of tabletop could be in one easily accessible area. My Pathfinder friends that also play 4E had real trouble finding everything and getting from one place to another between events. Social media and being organized ahead of time may be a key to the success of future PAX conventions, assuming the Penny Arcade guys can't be convinced to give better placement to Tabletop.
The sign to me that RPGA/LFR is losing steam I heard 25% growth for RPGA/Sagamore Ballroom from various sources. From my end, as an admin for Ashes of Athas, the growth was really amazing. We are way beyond where we expected to be at this stage (our aim is to be something that complements the other WotC organized play experiences). Interest has been really high and players and DMs seem to by-and-large really like the innovations we have been doing with 4E (nothing is ever perfect with experimentation). The LFR I played was story and RP-rich, had great challenge, and had tons of innovation as well. Each con brings better LFR adventures than the last. Though I didn't play Living Divine this time, I like the innovation that campaign is bringing as well. I spoke with a few friends that play Pathfinder and they all gave glowing reviews. It sounds like both RPGA and Pathfinder had great growth and marshals working overtime to accommodate hungry players. In other words, fantastic results for our hobby! Both clearly need more judges.
There are some very good Wizards offerings this year, and Wizards runs a great event every year at PAX Prime. Events include a classic-style adventure, short delves, Encounters season catch-up, demos of the new board game, and more. Schedule here. WotC will throw additional stuff and run demos from their booth as well. Holt, I'm not sure if you went to the booth vs RPGA area. At PAX Prime just come and sign up in the RPGA/Organized Play area - there are some really nice gamers there that help with mustering. There is no Wizards living play (no LFR, Ashes of Athas, or Living Divine). I have some friends who would like to see Pathfinder at PAX, so please do post when plans solidify. Also, it may be a little late, but we could use Pathfinder judges this weekend in Portland for the GameStorm free gameday.
So, it's wrapping paper with a 1" square grid? Doesn't Seem Very green to me Agreed. Bad spin to point out that it can be recycled (as is almost all non-coated paper). And if it is coated, it might only be recyclable in some municipalities! If the manufacturer wanted to print on "recycled content" paper, then at least that lowers the environmental downside and could be a green angle worth mentioning. Otherwise, using a reusable battlemap may be greener in the long run. You have the issues of polyvinyl chloride (particularly to the workers that make the stuff) vs. the ongoing impacts of the paper manufacture process (including effects on communities/waterways). Still, the "recylable" tag is a lame attempt to counter the disposable nature of this item and should be removed from the description.
We are looking for good gamers to join us for fun times playing the living campaigns SR Missions (for Shadowrun, 4th edition) and Living Spycraft. Shadowrun is a magic-meets-cyberpunk game, while Spycraft is a cinematic spy genre game. Both are tons of fun. If you are in or near Portland and interested, please join us http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Shadowrun_OR/ http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Spycraft_OR/
Since there are a lot of Shadowrun afficionados on the boards, I figured this would be as good a place to ask this question as any. I'm looking to start running a Shadowrun game, but I don't have a lot of time to write up original material - are there any published modules anyone could recommend? Check out the Shadowrun Missions site. 25 free adventures, all for SR4. http://shadowrun4.com/missions/ The campaign will soon be restarted with a new plot arc and new adventures.
You may wish to consider Spycraft. For a modern game, the rules are (by most people I have spoken with) considered to be better. I certainly have had a blast with them. Just one book to buy, and the game is highly cinematic.
Shadowrun has a living campaign, called SR Missions. We just started the series in Portland, OR. Anyone interested in playing should join our Yahoo group: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Shadowrun_OR/ . (I am also running Spycraft games every other week, the Yahoo group is http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Spycraft_OR). Please note, I do not check these boards. |
