Well I was able to crack open my issue of Dungeon 125 this morning hoping to find information on the Bronzewood Lodge seeing as one my PCs is a ranger only to find that the information will be coming in the form of a free PDF download called "Age of Worms Overload."
I love that you guys are not cutting material from the adventures, but any word on when this may become available?
For the record, I haven't had the chance to play D&D for probably over 5 years because of a lack of a group and the Age of Worms has inspired me to run an on-line campaign using Play-by-Post. So this is not a complaint and more of a "I can't get enough" kinda post. ;)
Loving the Age of Worms.
Looking forward to when Overload becomes available. Just got #125 in the mail today.
Peace and smiles :)
j.
please tell me theres an E.T.A. on this thing (hopefully today or tomorrow ???)
I'd like to know when this supplement is going to be on the web page as well. For no other reason than I want to run Age of Worms in Eberron
I'd like to know when this supplement is going to be on the web page as well. For no other reason than I want to run Age of Worms in Eberron
The web enhancement that is currently online has conversion notes for Eberron. Download it from http://paizo.com/dungeon/news#v5748eaic9jyk
Count me in on hoping this is out in the next couple of days. The Overload contains information that should definately be had before the campaign even starts and I, for one, won't be able to drag my feet with my group much longer...
Creative Director
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All I can say about Overload is that it's going up online "soon." We're currently scrambling to get #126 proofed and ready to be sent to the printer, which means that there'll be no progress done on Overload today. Hopefully we'll get it online sometime this week. The official street date for #125 is 7/12, and we've kinda been aiming to get Overload up by then, so it might honestly be two weeks or so before we can carve out the time to finish it up.
"Age of Worms has inspired me to run an on-line campaign using Play-by-Post. So this is not a complaint and more of a "I can't get enough" kinda post. ;)"
Jglamere, you should check out Fantasy Grounds-It's fantastic for this kind of thing-I've been using it for about 2 months now-It's great! It's a program for running PnP games online.
Really awesome stuff and there's a great community set up.Check out www.fantasygrounds.com
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Guys,
Age of Worms Overload has taken longer to put together than I had originally anticipated. Getting the Shackled City Adventure Path hardcover out the door absolutely swallowed about two months of my time, and I have yet to completely finish the complete campaign overview section of the downloadable supplement. Since I leave for Origins on Wednesday morning, it's going to take a minor miracle to get it all done within this week.
That said, we've been cranking out miracles like clockwork for a few months now, so I'm not writing anything off as impossible.
The supplement will be online as soon as humanly possible. I realize that's not the same as "later today" or "tomorrow," but it's the best I can offer right now.
--Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dragon & Dungeon
Always great to have a clue! Thanks again, Eric, for keeping us informed. My players are making noises about exploring the area around Diamond Lake before entering the cairn again and continuing their seach for that missing red lantern. (they have dealt with the swarm from the shaft but were pretty chewed up (no pun intended) and are resting up a bit.
Thanks for the updates James and Erik. You guys rock for taking time out of your schedules to provide us with responses.
I am so glad I started subscribing to Dungeon. :D
hi, I posted something about this somewhere else on the site but I figured (since I finally found this thread again) that I might as well ask directly as well. is there any way you could run down just some basics about the bronzewood lodge, just so I'm not going in totally blind? I'm going to start running the adventure soon, and one of my players is a druid. please let me know if this is possible. thanks, Hugh
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Here's a couple of the important bits for those of you waiting so patiently.
The Twilight Monastery
About two hours north of Diamond Lake, a towering crag called the Griffon’s Roost casts a dark shadow over the muddy road to Elmshire. From a perch hundreds of feet above looms the cat-infested Twilight Monastery, a three-towered monument to an obscure philosophy of the Distant West. Two score monks dwell within the monastery, dedicating themselves to a litany of exercises meant to perfect the body and spirit. The secretive monks hold dusk as the holiest of hours, and sonorous chants emit from the Twilight Monastery’s central courtyard when the night sky appears in the heavens.
Foremost among the monks is Izenfen the Occluded (LN female human Monk 7), a peerless masked combatant thought to be one of the wisest figures in the hills. Travelers frequently seek her council, but most leave Diamond Lake without ever having gained access to the Twilight Monastery, for Izenfen deigns to speak with only a handful of pilgrims foretold to her via the agency of the night sky and an immense mirrored lens called the Censer of Symmetry. The Censer, which dominates the monastery’s central courtyard, grants any who gaze upon it a +10 bonus on Profession (astrologer) checks made during a clear night. Junior monks polish its smooth surface throughout the day, and the whole of the order is prepared to defend it with their lives.
When word of the Censer’s predictive prowess spread to the miners of Diamond Lake 20 years ago, a desperate contingent petitioned Izenfen to predict the location of the richest unclaimed local ore deposits, appealing to her compassion with tales of starving children and dangerously unpaid debts. The masked mistress of the Twilight Monastery rebuffed their pleas, triggering the miners’ contingency plan—an ill-fated invasion of the monks’ compound that left seven miners dead. Only a single member of the order perished—Imonoth, Izenfen’s beloved daughter.
Immediately thereafter, Izenfen gathered a cadre of stealth assassins from the ranks of her best warriors, and silently set them upon the surviving invaders who still milked wounds in the petty shacks along Diamond Lake’s waterfront. At an annual celebration called Darkstar’s Kiss, the monks of the Twilight Monastery recite from memory the names of all fifteen miners murdered on that night, reminding themselves to always remain vigilant to the encroachment of outsiders. Rumors suggest that Izenfen’s masked silent killers remain active to this day, citing the disappearance or mysterious deaths of nearly a dozen political enemies within the town.
Although the monks of the Twilight Monastery keep mostly to themselves and desire only to lead lives of undisturbed contemplation, they frequently appear on the streets of Diamond Lake to reprovision or to engage in the trade of kalamanthis, a rare psychotropic plant grown regionally only on the slopes of the Griffon’s Roost. Proceeds from this trade account for all of the monastery’s activities, but initiates of the order are forbidden from taking it in all but the most controlled ritual circumstances. Kalamanthis is popular among all classes of Diamond Lake, but the real business is centered in the nearby Free City. Potential buyers frequently meet with elder monks in a secluded corner of Lazare’s House along the Vein’s central square to arrange payment and distribution to the neighboring metropolis. Both the wagons loaded with kalamanthis and the returning coaches loaded with city coin go unmolested in Diamond Lake, for all fear Izenfen’s relentless invisible killers.
The Bronzewood Lodge
The ring of crumbling menhirs on the bluff overlooking Diamond Lake is a remnant of an ancient human druidic culture that once inhabited the region. They too came to the hills for the ancient cairns, seeing them as monuments to great ancestors of the invisible past. Although modern humans displaced the native druids during great migrations over a thousand years ago, pockets of indigenous architecture and culture remain. Foremost among these near-forgotten practices is veneration of Obad-Hai, the Shalm, the brooding patron of wilderness and natural order.
Druids and rangers who honor the Shalm and a host of minor nature deities and fey spirits (the so-called Old Faith) routinely congregate in great moots three hours northeast of Diamond Lake, at an ancient megalithic structure called the Bronzewood Lodge. Devotees of Ehlonna or the elven pantheon are welcome at these meetings, if a bit gruffly, but all other attendees must be invited personally by someone already within the circle of trust. At these great moots, the woodsfolk observe rituals from long ago, celebrate with great contests of strength and wit, and debate policy regarding the natural affairs of the region.
A small permanent community inhabits the Lodge itself and the wooded copse surrounding it. Perhaps 30 assorted druids, rangers, and scouts protect the sacred site and keep watch on the nearby roads and valleys. Occasionally, they step in to rescue a traveler from some natural menace, but just as often they warn explorers to stay on the roads and let the wilderness take care of itself. Their leader is Nogwier (N male human cleric of Obad-Hai 6), an aged proponent of the Old Faith who strives to keep the focus of his community on preservation of a near-extinct way off life and away from anger at the Free City and its operatives in Diamond Lake, whose avariciousness continually rapes the land. Nogwier urges cautious cooperation with Lanod Neff via a former Bronzewood man named Merris Sandovar, who now works as the garrison’s chief scout, but he wishes that the Free City would have given him a more reasonable governor-mayor than Neff, and knows he won’t outlive him.
The Lodge itself is a twelve-chambered structure composed of piled megaliths covered by earth. The cairn’s central gallery contains a huge uprooted petrified oak tree planted upside down so that its roots are exposed. Nogwier and his three servitors (N female human cleric of Obad-Hai 3) use the tree as a massive altar. Other chambers contain the sorted, commingled bones of generations of druids as well as priceless natural treasures accumulated over the course of centuries.
--Erik
Without wish to spam the board with pointless comments, both of these are absolutely peerless pieces of RPG background writing.
I almost wish I hadn't just started my group in the Shackled City :-)
So... could 'twilight' be the translation of Chat'an from Ancient Baklunish?
Something I was contemplating for my campaign, although there are no PC monks, I like to have my t's crossed and i's dotted as it were.
Any news on the AWAP Overload? Just wondering if we should be seeing it soon.
Still working on it. As soon as it's finished, you will have it. Should be soon.
Still working on it. As soon as it's finished, you will have it. Should be soon.
Define "Soon"
Define "Soon"
Pronunciation: 'sün, esp New England 'sun
Function: adverb
1 : before long : without undue time lapse <soon after sunrise>
2 : in a prompt manner : SPEEDILY <as soon as possible> <the sooner the better>
:)
All right, I know that was obnoxious, but that is really as precise an answer as I can give at the moment.
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I think people should be a little more grateful towards a free online-supplement.
It has been stated from several Dragon-officials (including Mr. Mona himself who apologized for the delay and posted a great preview), that the thing is on its way.
Be patient.
It should be clear to everyone, that you have to set priorities when running two monthly magazines and releasing additional stuff like the Gamemastery-line and the Shackled City-HC.
First things first.
I'm looking forward to the additional background-infos myself and i am coming back here at least twice a day to check if there's something out.
But it wouldn't come to my mind, to state requests or even trying to nail down the publishers on certain dates.
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Senior Software Developer
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It's not the Age of Worms Overload, but it is something.... the online PDF supplement to Dungeon #125 is now available. This supplement contains all the maps from the issue, as well as player handouts and NPC illustrations.
Medium Resolution: 4.7MB PDF or 4.4MB .zip file
High Resolution: 10.9MB PDF or 10.4MB .zip file
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The Overload will be when it will be. I mainly wanted to say something that does not seem to be said quite enough, thank you for all of the hard work and excellent material. It is greatly appreciated that the folks at Dungeon and at Dragon go above and beyond. (Such as actually providing free on-line supplements.)
I second that :)
Fantastic job from all the Dungeon staff!
Jack
Thanks! The pdfs for handouts are great!
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Considering how much value the Overload will have in my campaign, I'm fine with waiting. There's plenty of other campaign-world integration I can do while I wait.
Besides, my group (we meet twice a month for about 4 hours a session) will happily take forever in the Whispering Cairn after their first experience with the Face trap. As it should be, they now have a healthy respect for the engineering skills of the Wind Dukes. :)
Great job, editors! You have me and my players hooked like junkies!
Thanks for the post containing outlines for the monastary and lodge. As usual, Dungeon's work is great.
Please don't take the whining about the overload release date the wrong way - many people are waiting to start their campaigns, there are two issues of it out now, and the overload (we are told) contains a great deal of helpful info on starting the campaign. The monastary and lodge were specifically mentioned for building PC's backgrounds. No wonder there is some nagging about getting the info in DM's hands.
I concur with those above. We Dungeon Masters and Players do not say this enough, "Thank you." I think I speak for us all when I say that without your magazines, the game of Dungeons and Dragons would simply not be the same.
I think people should be a little more grateful towards a free online-supplement.
I wasn't being ungrateful, just was trying to get an ETA.
I just got 125. Luckily me and another guy, alternate the GM seat every couple of weeks. So, he is taking the next 2-3, while I prepare, read and reread the tactics and such. This does seem like a crusher, if the PC's do not play it "close to the vest".
I look forward to seeing how my players do. The ranger I am not so worried about with his stealth. The rogue however pushed all her skill points into diplomacy, intimdate and bluff..instead of hide/move siliently so I may have to fudge things if for some reason they try the "lets talk our way past the guards" as opposed to the ninja assault tactic.
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Well, my party is as follows: Halfling Bard, Elf Wizard, Priest of Heironeous, Hexblade/Fighter.
The Bard will be good talking their way past the guards, adn the Priest and Hex are good combatants.
I have warned one of them, out of character, that this CANNOT be played as a hit and run, or they have no chance. Spell conservation, and speed in clearing the first are out is important. If they get the first one done, I may let them rest there, before them hitting the 2nd and 3rd. But, they won't get 2 rest periods. And if they insist on leaving, all the bad guys will be ready, or may go looking for them in DL.
I think people should be a little more grateful towards a free online-supplement.
While agree that patience is laudable, I think the focus on a "free online-supplement" is misplaced here. Much of this content was advertised as being part of the issue of Dragon it supports. This is their way of getting it out when it was promised and many players are counting on it (particularly the conversion notes for Eberron and Forgotten Realms).
I can imagine Paizo has gotten at least a few letters from people buying the issue who don't have computer access (or at least reliable computer access) and won't have this information.
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Blizz,
I think they are working on it, and since 125 was just released at newsstands and such, I would hope it will be out in a couple of days.
On another note, email me...I cannot find your email or AOL IM...I lost my hard drive....I was thinking about a game on Friday nights..wondering what you and Jon would think...Email me, and I'll send you my #...
Patrick
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Hving free online support is really cool....I had, and still have alot of questions, especially regarding the NPC party. Questions such as, are they going to play an important role later. My Wizard, who found the Seeker ring, already wants to confront Khellek. But, he knows Khellek is more powerful. The Bard, has befriended Tirra. the Rogue. How loyal is she to Khellek? Khellek knows they are not Seekers, he asked the Wiz sporting the ring the "question". What would he do? I told the PC's that they notice some more guys with the "seeker" emblem, having arrived in town. My Wizard PC, is already ready to get the heck out ot Dodge. The reason I am looking so forward to the Web-Enhancement, is that I on't want to jeapordize later story lines. My PC's already want to take over the town, and "clean it up". They killed Filge before questioning him, so i am going to use the Smenk hook to get them into the mine...
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The fact is that this material was supposed to be in Dungeon. Now I understand why they pushed it out and left the adventures uncut but there is still the problem that they tell readers to find the material online and they are still not done. I'm aware of the reasons why its taking so long, don't get me wrong there, the problem is that for those of us who have no intention of buying Shackled City it seems we got the short end of the stick.
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Creative Director
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The fact is that this material was supposed to be in Dungeon. Now I understand why they pushed it out and left the adventures uncut but there is still the problem that they tell readers to find the material online and they are still not done. I'm aware of the reasons why its taking so long, don't get me wrong there, the problem is that for those of us who have no intention of buying Shackled City it seems we got the short end of the stick.
I understand that people are impatient to get Age of Worms Overload. Believe me, we're trying to get it ready and online ASAP. I've mentioned this elsewhere, but the deadline we've been unofficially using in the office for getting Overload online is, I believe, 7/12/05, which is the newsstand release date for #125. It's looking like it won't make that deadline, but I'm hoping it'll get online in the coming week. But the simple fact of the matter is that when we have to choose between making a ship date for the magazine and the publicaiton of a free online PDF... the PDF will lose the battle every single time.
I'm not sure what not buying the Shackled City hardcover has to do with Age of Worms Overload, though, unless you're complaining that we spent time working on the hardcover book that we could have spent working on Overload. If that's the case, I apologize again but if I had a time machine and could go back, I wouldn't change a thing. Shackled City hitting its publication date is more important to Paizo than the Overload PDF being online as soon as issue #125 came out.
If I seem a little snippy here, take that with a grain of salt. Not getting Overload out by now has left us Dungeon editors as disapointed as the readers, I assure you.
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Good things will take their time!!!
As I heard someone saying on another topic:
"IT'S DONE WHEN IT'S DONE!"
I rather have to wait a bit longer (not too long, mind you ;) and get a high quality product for free, than get it early and missing a bunch of information!
You guys at paizo often enough showed me that you take your job seriously, and I trust you, when you say it hurts you as much as us to have to wait for it!
Ah, and YES - #125 arrived today - at last!!! ;)))
Yeah, I really don't have any sympathy for the whiners. Oh my god, they took something out of the magazine and replaced it with something else, still they want to work their asses of to provide us with free stuff. Why can't they do it in 1 day! Damn you Paizo, work for free faster!
Having free online support is really cool....I had, and still have alot of questions, especially regarding the NPC party. Questions such as, are they going to play an important role later.
If one of the gracious, kind, wonderful editors of my favorite gaming magazine wanted to post another AoW Overload teaser to the messageboards, Patman and I would be most interested in seeing the campaign overview....
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Yeah, I really don't have any sympathy for the whiners. Oh my god, they took something out of the magazine and replaced it with something else, still they want to work their asses of to provide us with free stuff. Why can't they do it in 1 day! Damn you Paizo, work for free faster!
I have to echo this. I'm sure the editors understand that cranking out good stuff is going to make people impatient for more. Nice job with the campaign arc so far. I'm happy to wait impatiently for the supplemental material.
I don't think the staff have anything to apologize for. Issue 125 was excellent, and so far the AoW really can stand on its own without absolutely "needing" details on the Lodge, the monastery, or the overarching plotline (we get the general idea). In any case, Erik posted a lot of details on the lodge and monastery already, way ahead of the 7/12 deadline for the free PDF.
After thinking about the realities of publishing in the real world for a moment, I'm personally more than glad to wait for a free supplement - and yes, it's a free supplement... people are not entitled to everything that can't make it into a magazine in a given month. I'm very happy that the staff are taking the additional time to provide us with something beyond what our subscriptions pay for. And even that they consider it! How many other magazines offer monthly, free, online content? None that I can recall.
Something that we also might stop to remember: this is going to be a year-long adventure path. The fact that a minor clamor is arising now is a testament to the quality of the first modules and the backstory. But good things should never be rushed, neither in the magazine nor at your campaign table. Rather than immediately running the modules as they come, consider running them one month behind their release date. That will allow time as a DM to catch up on the PDFs, and to prepare for any cool surprises that come along. Additionally, DMs may want to make changes from what is printed, especially if the DM likes to do side plots and other things for individualized PC characterization (your PCs will like this, I promise!).
Personally, I'm just thankful that we get these online enhancements at all. It's something the magazine doesn't have to do. I look forward to the enhancements each month though, especially the AoW ones. This extra effort from Dungeon staff is what keeps me confident that I will continue to renew my subscription for Dungeon again and again.
Rooster
While I'm more than happy to wait for the .pdf (I'm just now gearing up to run a Shackled City campaign, so it will be a while before I'm ready to run Age of Worms), and I think it's really cool of Mr. Mona to post what he did here, I think some posters' attacks on the impatient people involved in this thread are a bit unfair. Yes, everyone appreciates the work the Dungeon staff is putting in. Yes, everyone understands that these things take time.
However, in this month's "From the Editor"...
Drop by the DUNGEON section of paizo.com today to download Age of Worms Overload...
I've bolded the important part.
Had that said "soon," I'd be right with all the people who are telling everyone else to be more patient. But the way I read it when I first got the issue, I thought I could go download it immediately. Nothing. So I waited a few days. Nothing. Well, that's okay, it's not "technically" out yet, since the newstand release date isn't here. Now we're told it won't be ready then, either. I understand these things take time, and I appreciate that this is a very busy time for the Paizo staff. But I think things were implied that give the people who are upset at having to wait just cause to be upset.
Beyond that, I'm not sure I understand an important part of this: the reason given for the article being cut was that there wasn't enough space to run it. So... what if some of the adventures in the issue hadn't gone over their word counts, and there was enough space for it? Would the article have somehow been ready for print then? I'm not asking that to be difficult; I honestly don't understand. If the article was originally intended for issue 125, shouldn't it have been more or less done by the time the issue was sent to the printers, regardless of whether there was space for it or not? (And if it became clear that there wouldn't be enough space so early in the production process that it was still a ways from completion, why didn't we hear anything about how long it's taking to finish until after the fact? Why were we essentially told it was ready when it apparently wasn't even close?) Maybe there's a lot more that goes into dealing with an article submitted by a third party that runs long than I realize (all I can really think of is that there's a little more editing and typesetting involved; maybe I'm missing something), and that meant people got sidetracked, but I can't imagine it could be a delay of more than a week or so.
Again, not an attack, not an attempt to start anything, not even really a complaint. Just a call for fairness, I guess. And a couple of questions.
...I think some posters' attacks on the impatient people involved in this thread are a bit unfair...
I don't think so, and I'll explain why in a moment. BTW- this is not meant as an attack by any means, but the impatience people are showing is a little out of line. Again, I'll explain why I think so, below -
However, in this month's "From the Editor"...
Drop by the DUNGEON section of paizo.com today to download Age of Worms Overload...I've bolded the important part.
Had that said "soon," I'd be right with all the people who are telling everyone else to be more patient.
For me, the bottom line boils down to:
- People complaining here are those that are getting the magazine far *earlier* than those who buy it off the stands. If you'll take a minute to look carefully, the month for issue 125 is August. It's an August issue. Most people get it in August. When an editor usually writes the word "today," he or she is under a working plan to get things ready by the time the issue is on the retail stands, not when it might go out earlier to various people. They can't promise subscription delivery times, but I've always seen them earlier than the retail stands.
- The staff are trying to get the free supplement done by 7/12, and the last time I checked, the 7 was for July. The date of 7/12 is when retailers are supposed to have it on their stands. If they get the free supplement done by 7/28, then that is still before August (an 8).
- Free supplements cost them a good deal of time and manpower, and as such they really don't have to offer them. Would you prefer to wait for your subscription until August, or until a free anything is made ready? I like getting the magazine early, I like getting the free supplements. But I'm willing to be patient for something that is free.