WOO, I made the top 10!
I have one this issue too. :-D Um, barbarian, I think.
Zherog (John E. Ling Jr.) should be getting up there in the count too.
-Amber S.
I do a similar count for campaign workbook articles... at one point early on in the process, well over half of all campaign workbook articles were written by only two writers, mike mearls and russell brown.
Of course, it has diversified quite a bit since then, though I haven't done the math recently.
- Ashavan
WOO, I made the top 10!
I have one this issue too. :-D Um, barbarian, I think.
Zherog (John E. Ling Jr.) should be getting up there in the count too.
-Amber S.
I have 5 up through and including 334. Damn, I'm more prolific than I thought. ;)
I have 5 up through and including 334. Damn, I'm more prolific than I thought. ;)WOO, I made the top 10!
I have one this issue too. :-D Um, barbarian, I think.
Zherog (John E. Ling Jr.) should be getting up there in the count too.
-Amber S.
I was wondering what Zherog’s real-life name was, seeing that he’s a contributor and all. :) You wrote the animal accessories in last issue, right? I submitted a similar article a couple of months ago. It seems we have different enough items for the most part, but I included a climbing kit in mine as well, although the logistics of it are a bit different. Cool article! I love druids, and anything new for animal companions is a big plus in my book.
I have two more Class Acts coming out in this issue (#335), so that will put me up to four total! Top ten list, here I come! Given time that is… ;)
Righto!
(and if need be, Tallyho too...)
On the subject of flaw articles, I recently had an idea for a variation on the theme. Specialized flaws differ from regular flaws in two key ways.
(1) A character may take a specialized flaw past 1st level though it still counts towards the maximum number of flaws she may take (i.e. 2).
(2) A character who takes a specialized flaw gains a bonus feat, however, she must take the particular feat mandated by the specialized flaw.
Of course, if you later eliminate the drawbacks of the flaw you also lose access to the bonus feat. Not sure if anyone else has had this idea before, too many books out there to read them all :)
The genesis for this idea comes from searching for some way to induct characters into secret societies/mystical orders and similar things. The flaw represents the consequences of a vow, sacrfice or ordeal undertaken during the process of membership while the mandated bonus feat represents the advantages of joining.
So for instance, a character might undergo a trial by ordeal with some sort of volcanic themed race (the "lavafolk" for lack of a better name) plunging her hand into a molten pool and gaining the "Charred Hand" flaw as a consequence. However, she would also immediately gain the "Kin of the Lavafolk" feat, whatever that might be.
Personally I think flaws have a lot of potential, but there's a natural tendency to only take them if you can avoid most of the disadvantages. This is where the DM has to step in.
Not to hijack the thread into a discussion on flaws but any oppinions?
Hal,
I think this is a great idea! I was thinking of something similar to this awhile ago, based on crime and punishment. I sort of love it and hate it when I see things like this on the boards. I first feel like my own idea has been validated, but then I worry about submitting lest I look like a hack stealing ideas from others. I saw mention from someone on anther board about an article they would like to see, and it even sounded like they planned on submitting. The thing is, I already submitted a proposal for the exact same article a couple of months ago! Then I sit and wonder if I should post or not, worrying that if I say too much about my proposals that they’ll get denied due to either (a) some cosmic force that demands secrecy in return for success, or (b) the editors seeing me divulge too much info and dropping the idea so that articles can remain fresh and surprising. Option (a) stems from my habit of not giving away details as to what I’m working on. I worked on a novel for two years, and during all of that time of people asking what it was about, I only told two. And then I only divulged the most basic of information. It’s sort of a superstition I have I guess.
Zherog (John E. Ling Jr.) should be getting up there in the count too.
-Amber S.
Zherog is John E. Ling Jr.? Oh, wow. I very much like the way you think and write, man. You've got some clever ideas brewin' up there. Very much like the bards-colleges piece. Keep churnin' 'em out.
Hey Troy (and other CA writers), you gonna be at GenCon this year? We should totally get together and...be writery...together. Or something.
-Amber S.
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Hey Troy (and other CA writers), you gonna be at GenCon this year? We should totally get together and...be writery...together. Or something.
That would be cool. That alone would almost make me want to go to Gen Con. :D Let me know how that goes, if it happens.
Oh! And I demand pictures of the gathering as well! Pictures or none of your stuff gets accepted ever again! >:(
(Wow, talk about your hollow threats.)
Hey Troy (and other CA writers), you gonna be at GenCon this year? We should totally get together and...be writery...together. Or something.
-Amber S.
I have plans to drive to Indiana on Friday after my daughter gets out of school, camp overnight at a nearby state park, then attend GenCon on Saturday. It will be my first time at the convention. It would be great to meet my fellow freelancers/competitors so we could exchange/steal ideas. And as Amber says, be "writery" together.
Since Mike is so interested in photos of freelancers hobnobbing (and hasn't accepted my offer to park (and wash, of course) his truck at my place so that he COULD attend GenCon) maybe he'd be willing to be a go-between for email exchanges between us so we can arrange a rendevous, since I'm not so keen on posting mine here. I suspect many of us signed up for some of the same writing sessions, though that is just a guess.
But I'm good with whatever the group wants to do. By arranging a meeting we could discuss how to improve Class Acts and actually keep this thread on topic.
Hey Troy (and other CA writers), you gonna be at GenCon this year? We should totally get together and...be writery...together. Or something.
-Amber S.
Gen Con’s too far away for me at this time. :( I’m hoping to go to the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle at the end of this month though, if I can get everything in order. Is anybody else going to be there? I know that the Dragon staff is going to be! How about you other contributors?
Sadly, Gencon is never available to me, because it always happens at a time I cannot attend. I have so got to make it to Origins next year. *sigh*
- Ashavan
Troy, you can email me at medesha(at)yahoo.com if you don't mind giving me your address. If you'd rather keep it private (totally understandable) I'm sure Mike will forward messages for us. It's not like he's busy editing or anything. :-p
-Amber S.
Troy, you can email me at medesha(at)yahoo.com if you don't mind giving me your address. If you'd rather keep it private (totally understandable) I'm sure Mike will forward messages for us. It's not like he's busy editing or anything. :-p
-Amber S.
I can do that, no problem.
I was wondering what Zherog’s real-life name was, seeing that he’s a contributor and all. :) You wrote the animal accessories in last issue, right? I submitted a similar article a couple of months ago. It seems we have different enough items for the most part, but I included a climbing kit in mine as well, although the logistics of it are a bit different. Cool article! I love druids, and anything new for animal companions is a big plus in my book.
Thanks. :)
That article has a fun development history. I have two young kids (4 1/2 and 3 1/2). One Saturday, we were watching Cartoon Network - Scooby Doo in particular. So we're watching, and anything they want Scooby to do, they give him some scooby snacks. So I begin to think about that, and the "Training Treats" in that article came to be. From there I sent Mike the query, and the rest is history.
So yes - I got inspiration for a D&D article from watching Scooby Doo with my kids. :)
Zherog is John E. Ling Jr.? Oh, wow. I very much like the way you think and write, man. You've got some clever ideas brewin' up there. Very much like the bards-colleges piece. Keep churnin' 'em out.Zherog (John E. Ling Jr.) should be getting up there in the count too.
-Amber S.
Yep - that's me. Thanks for the compliments. :) The name Zherog will actually be appearing in my article in 335. :D
The bardic college articles were really fun to write. I'm usually pretty good at coming up with the "crunchy" bits, and struggle a bit coming up with the fluff to wrap around it. Those articles, though, were the opposite. I started writing the first one, and they just kept comin'. That's why there was the follow up article, actually.
I'll be at GenCon as well. If anybody is interested in contacting me (for GenCon or otherwise) I can be e-mailed at zherog (at) yahoo (dot) com.
Wow, I leave for a few days and the thread explodes with good information and interesting comments.
I do want to say that when I wrote that we were thinking of ways of 'improving' the class acts I was in no way trying to imply that I didn't like them or I wanted them to go away.
Wish I could go to some of the cons in the states, unfortunately I'm kinda stuck in England for another couple of years.... darn.
WOO, I made the top 10!
I have one this issue too. :-D Um, barbarian, I think.
Zherog (John E. Ling Jr.) should be getting up there in the count too.
-Amber S.
Oops, you're right.
(glad I apologized for any errors in advance :) )
Somehow managed to count him as two different people. Three CAs in one issue, rocketing him into a tie for tenth place with a bullet :)
I think this is a great idea! I was thinking of something similar to this awhile ago, based on crime and punishment. I sort of love it and hate it when I see things like this on the boards. I first feel like my own idea has been validated, but then I worry about submitting lest I look like a hack stealing ideas from others. I saw mention from someone on anther board about an article they would like to...
Generally I don't talk about any ideas I have in a public venue either. Best case scenario it gives you some competition, worst case it attracts criticism before it's ready or it becomes passe even before you can pitch it.
However, in this case the thing to keep in mind is that there's an emerging concensus that flaws have played themselves out. I was simply trying to show that there's more ways to skin that particular cat and flaws could serve a very useful role in many campaigns. Plus, I think the idea of connecting flaws to specific feats is kind of neat.
Oops, you're right.
(glad I apologized for any errors in advance :) )
Somehow managed to count him as two different people. Three CAs in one issue, rocketing him into a tie for tenth place with a bullet :)
I've been accused of lots of things in my life, but I think this might be the first time for Multiple Personality Disorder. :P :P
No worries, Hal.
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Yep - that's me. Thanks for the compliments. :) The name Zherog will actually be appearing in my article in 335. :D
Um... er... ::cough::
So... uh... sometimes my companions here are... shall we say... cut-happy... with flavorful text.
Ahem.
Oh look, the magazine's on deadline! Gottagobye!
Let me rephrase it, then...
When I originally wrote the article, the name 'Zherog' appeared in it. ;)
LOL, good save, Mike!
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Let me rephrase it, then...
When I originally wrote the article, the name 'Zherog' appeared in it. ;)
Unfortunately it wasn't quite the right kind of article for NPC names to appear within. However, as I'm sure you've seen, NPC names do occasionally appear in Class Acts articles. I like to try to include at least one in a month. There's a bit of a thrill to see one of your characters' names appear in Dragon, and having had a couple of mine show up I'm certainly happy to try to let others in on the joy. :) (Heh, my best friend even called me on it one day. Him: "I saw you snuck in your character's name in the 'Lupins' article." Me: "Yup. Two, in fact." Him: "Nice.")
No worries, Mike. I now have a new challenge in life - work the name "Zherog" into an article. :D
As I was lying in bed, mulling over all the great advice and ideas people have offered on this thread, I remembered this sweet personal website that someone had made, dedicated to the drow. One of the really cool sections of the website (in addition to his/her fantastic writing ability) is the section on fighting styles. I think that this sort of article, which shows how different combat feats can be combined to create unique fighting styles, would work really well with Class Acts. Here is the link to the website. Kudos to whoever wrote it!
By the way, I really admire the authors who have posted on this thread (not to sound creepy or anything ;) ). Not only do you all have great writing style, but your advice is really helpful! Keep up the good work!
Pardon my, hopefully temporary, ignorance, but what are substitution levels and in what resource may I find this information.
Thanks in advance for the help.
They're levels members of a given race can take in place of the normal classes. They help to customize the class by making it a bit more racial themed. You can find them for sure in the "Races of" books. I don't recall if they're in any other sources or not.
They're levels members of a given race can take in place of the normal classes. They help to customize the class by making it a bit more racial themed. You can find them for sure in the "Races of" books. I don't recall if they're in any other sources or not.
I just finished a CA that offered substitution levels for any member of a particular class, not tied to a specific race. We'll see how that works out. I still had to come up with a theme for them though.
So this month I saw something in Class Acts that I really liked. I assume Mike McA wrote the little piece of text, but that's just a guess.
Attached to my Ranger class act article was a "Power Play." While these are generally cool little blurbs anyway, this one was ultra-special cool, since it tied together two of the class act articles by using some synergy between a feat in my article and a feat in Hal's article (the fighter class act, if I recall).
I thought this was pretty slick, and I'd love to see it again when space permits.
Thanks for the info. No wonder I hadn't seen them, haven't purchased any of the Races of... books. I'll have to see if my BX carries them.
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Thanks for the info. No wonder I hadn't seen them, haven't purchased any of the Races of... books. I'll have to see if my BX carries them.
They originated in Planar Handbook as Planar Substitution Levels. But, as Zherog pointed out they've been used extensively in the Races of books. Not sure which I like better, although I do love Planar stuff...
But anyway, yeah, Planar Handbook and the Races of books. Substitution levels are pretty cool! :)
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So this month I saw something in Class Acts that I really liked. I assume Mike McA wrote the little piece of text, but that's just a guess.
Attached to my Ranger class act article was a "Power Play." While these are generally cool little blurbs anyway, this one was ultra-special cool, since it tied together two of the class act articles by using some synergy between a feat in my article and a feat in Hal's article (the fighter class act, if I recall).
I thought this was pretty slick, and I'd love to see it again when space permits.
:)
I would love to do something like that in every issue, space permitting. It's just a matter of putting in two Class Acts with some kind of theme or trick in common. Heh, "just."
It doesn't even need to be a synergy between two class act articles, really. A synergy between a class act and any other article in the mag works just as nicely, I would think. But I do think pointing out some synergies adds value to class act articles - it puts another tool in the proverbial toolbox.
Thanks for the info. No wonder I hadn't seen them, haven't purchased any of the Races of... books. I'll have to see if my BX carries them.They originated in Planar Handbook as Planar Substitution Levels. But, as Zherog pointed out they've been used extensively in the Races of books. Not sure which I like better, although I do love Planar stuff...
But anyway, yeah, Planar Handbook and the Races of books. Substitution levels are pretty cool! :)
Makes a mental note to check the Planar Handbook tonight...
I like the Class Act Power Plays! Do more!
It's just a matter of finding two Class Acts that synergize.
Well the easiest way to handle that is for me and Z to query two class acts with a link at once!
Hmmm...I forsee a joint query with power play included in Mike's inbox in the future. ;)
-Amber S.
:D
Hmmm...I forsee a joint query with power play included in Mike's inbox in the future. ;)
Wondertwin powers, activiate!
Thanks. :)That article has a fun development history. I have two young kids (4 1/2 and 3 1/2). One Saturday, we were watching Cartoon Network - Scooby Doo in particular. So we're watching, and anything they want Scooby to do, they give him some scooby snacks. So I begin to think about that, and the "Training Treats" in that article came to be. From there I sent Mike the query, and the rest is history.
So yes - I got inspiration for a D&D article from watching Scooby Doo with my kids. :)
That’s great; I love Scooby Doo! I seem to get a lot of inspiration from watching X-Files, although I have yet to incorporate anything into my articles that was actually inspired by the show. Typically those things just end up in my home games; Dark Matter comes to mind, although it’s been so long since I played it (years!), and I haven’t yet played D20 Modern.
Well...
When I first saw Class Acts, I thought it was useless.
Then again, it was just after the relaunch that made me want to cancel my sub six times in three issues, so please cut me a little slack; I did not like the relaunch.
With Winning Races cut away, and A Novel Approach (and hopefully Silicon Sorcery as well) having been shown the door, I re-considered my opinion.
Espically when I find at least Class Acts per issue I'd consider using. The one on alternate origins for Barbarians was of particular interest to me, for example.
What do I like? What do I want to see more of? Well, I'll tell you:
- More insights on origins of the classes. The ones for Barbarians and Paladins were good. Breaking molds is a good thing.
- More "history lessons". Even when they haven't been useful, they've been interesting, and a few (such as the Roman Legionarre one) have offered good insights as to how to play a class.
- More interesting feats. Okay, so "That Which Does Not Kill..." was strictly hit-or-miss (some of those requirments were insane!), the concept was still fascinating. The one on interesting uses for the Perform skill is equally intriguing. The takes on the initiate feats from Eberron were also good use of mechanics, and other feats taking use of new Eberron (or FR, etc...) mechanics would be welcome.
- Secret societies and other organizations. These should be kept to a minimum, but there should be more. Because they work.
I know this dosen't offer a lot of specifics, but I'm telling you which Class Acts I liked, and which ones I thought worked. I didn't want you to keep the article, at first, but I've grown to like it. So run with it. Make it work.
Frankly, Class Acts is not my favorite section. I think that it should be cut to make room for some of the great original content that has kept me subscribing, such as Cities of the Realms:Crimmor. But, that's just my opinion. :D
WaterdhavianFlapjack
If by "barbarian origins" you meant my recent "Nasty, Brutish and Short" article, then thanks, Justin!
If you didn't, then, well...thanks for reading Class Acts anyway! :-p
-Amber S.
I finally got around to looking at some of the substitution levels. In a word, fascinating. They're like mini prestige classes that are easier to acquire. So this gave me a few ideas to make some low-level, unusual enemies. Thinking about submitting them as Class Act articles.
My only question is this, are the levels to be substituted set, or can you substitute for, say, the first three levels or 1,3, and 5, etc?
Thanks in advance for everyones thoughts on this.
If by "barbarian origins" you meant my recent "Nasty, Brutish and Short" article, then thanks, Justin!
If you didn't, then, well...thanks for reading Class Acts anyway! :-p
-Amber S.
Sadly, that is not the article I meant. I was referring to "Civilized Barbarians", the very first Barbarian Class Acts (# 323). I liked it because it offered alternatives to "We come from the lands of the ice and snow where the midnight sun and the hot springs blow." (And because it gace me an excuse to explore Changeling Barbarians...)
However, don't feel bad. Re-reading "Nasty, Brutish and Short", I find I like that as well. Those "origin stories" (I believe we've seen one for Fighters, one for Rogues, and now one for Barbs- I may be missing a few, these things tend to blend together for me...) actively encourage roleplay and good backstory construction, and balance it with gameplay rewards.
If Dragon is going to cater to players, this is EXACTLY the way they should do it. In fact, they ought to do this anyway.
And I'm pretty sure I've liked your works, I just haven't ever paid much attention to the author credits, so I can't remember what you've done.
Still, I find the writing on Class Acts to be consistent and strong, even when it isn't espically useful. As I said, there's usually some kind of insight available.
So yes, if we're going to keep it, let's buff it up as much as we can.
I never paid attention to author credits either until I started writing, hee hee. Thank you for the kind words, and for getting an awesome song stuck in my head.
-Amber S.
I liked it because it offered alternatives to "We come from the lands of the ice and snow where the midnight sun and the hot springs blow."
Hey - you got somethin' against Led Zeppelin? :D
I finally got around to looking at some of the substitution levels. In a word, fascinating. They're like mini prestige classes that are easier to acquire. So this gave me a few ideas to make some low-level, unusual enemies. Thinking about submitting them as Class Act articles.
My only question is this, are the levels to be substituted set, or can you substitute for, say, the first three levels or 1,3, and 5, etc?
Thanks in advance for everyones thoughts on this.
Oh, forgot to respond to this: Racial Sub levels first (?) surfaced in the Races series (Races of Stone, Races of The Wild, etc).
They have three racial sub levels, the first one is always (that I've seen) at 1st, the other two can be anywhere between 2 and 6. The Warforged Fighter sub levels, for example, are 1, 2, 3. You can take all, some, or none of them.
They very often grant unique abilities, but at the cost of the normal abilities you would gain for that level (which you can never regain). Yes, this makes Fighter sub levels far more useful than they were meant to be...
And generally speaking, a set of three sub levels IS the set you'd choose from. If you're to use them, I'd reccomend NOT letting people pick and choose. But that's just me.
Hope this helped.
I've seen them go as high as level 11, Justin. In fact, looking in Races of Stone (the only "Races of" book I have so far), we get:
Dwarf Cleric - levels 1, 4, and 8
Dwarf Fighter - levels 1, 2, and 8
Dwarf Sorcerer - levels 1, 5, and 9
Gnome Bard - levels 1, 3, 6, and 11
Gnome Illusionist - levels 1, 5, and 10
Gnome Ranger - levels 1, 4, and 8
Goliath Barbarian - levels 1, 5, and 7
Goliath Druid - levels 1, 6, and 12
Goliath Rogue - levels 2, 3, and 8
So looking over that list, we see that level 1 is usually (but not always) in the mix), and that level 12 is the highest (further proving my memory is faulty). Oh, and as Mike pointed out earlier - there were planar substitution levels in the Planar Handbook. They're pretty cool, too - I looked them up after Mike mentioned them. ;)
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I've seen them go as high as level 11, Justin.
I will gladly accept a substitution level query that doesn't have the first level at 1st and where the third level goes above 11th. In other words, as long as it works for the substitution class I consider it good. :) Third edition is all about doing away with weird arbitrary limitations (although it certainly has its fair share of them), and this is one area where I'll fight to keep that philosophy alive. :)
I think what might be a good idea is to skip Class Acts on occasion. They don't need to have it in every single issue.
Or... if they put only half of the class acts in eash issue and expanded them to allow more developement of their ideas. <snip> This could also allow room for some of the non-standard classes that people keep requesting.
I like CC's idea. Class Acts could be structured similar to DUNGEON's Campaign Workbook. If you assume there are twelve slots, with one floater devoted to "non-standard classes," then it would be no problem to split the group down the middle. By running only six Class Acts each month, you open up some free pages for the editors to play with. This would be great when longer submissions are made - allowing them to be published as a whole, instead of made into multi-part articles.
I've seen them go as high as level 11, Justin.
AAACK! I knew I was missing something in not having the Races books!
I, of course, was not saying that those were absolute and immutable laws, just what I had seen. If anyone wanted to make sub levels for Class Acts, of course they would want to track down one (or more) of the Races series and use those as guidelines.
It's a really neat idea. Very useful and interesting mechanic. Which is what I suggested above: Use existing mechanics and feat structures to make new material. This has the added effect of making the piece more familliar and useful to someone who already owns the previous books, and acts as an advertisement for other books as well.
As I said before, if Class Acts is sticking around, it should be as useful as possible. (And really, I perfer Class Acts to Winning Races or Silicon Sorcery. I even LIKE Class Acts...)