My company, Rabid Hamster Workshop, will be running a Kickstarter next month for a Pathfinder compatible RPG product line called Characters-By-Level. Here's the quick blurb of what it is and you can check my Facebook page for more details:
Characters-By-Level (CBL) is a RPG gaming aid that consists of Pathfinder compatible pre-generated NPCs (along with PC stats) ready to be used in your games that will be released monthly. CBL will be released as a PDF book and it will come with Hero Lab portfolios and high quality character art files. If you don’t play Pathfinder, the character art is also offered separately as its own product called Game Avatars (GA).
My CBL Kickstarter will start off with 25 pre-made characters for Pathfinder. I have already decided what 20 of them are going to be (see below) and I am looking for suggestions from other GMs and players of what the remaining 5 should be. I want to offer a good mixture of characters from different races and classes that other gamers would find interesting as well as useful for their campaigns, so if you have any suggestions to what my last 5 characters should be or just want to see a particular character concept created, reply to this post and let me know. A simple 1-2 sentence reply telling me the race, class, and general gist of the character will suffice, but if you want to give a more in-depth reply, go for it! Please keep your suggestions to the races and classes that my CBL Kickstarter plans to use, which is listed below.
My CBL project will be using the following Pathfinder classes & races:
- Classes - All. However, no mythic at this time and gunslingers will a low priority due that some gaming groups don't like firearms in their fantasy games.
- Races (from Pathfinder's Advanced Race Guide)
- Common: Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Halflings, Humans
- Featured: Aasimars, Dhampirs, Drow, Fetchlings, Ifrits, Oreads, Sylphs, Tengus, Tieflings, Undines
- Uncommon Races: Duergar, Kitsune, Samsarans, Sulis, Vishkanyas
- Featured together as a theme for one month's release: Goblin, Kobold, Lizardman, Mantis Warrior (Thri-Kreen), ?
Current Character Lineup:
Month 1 – Adventurers I
- Human Cavalier male
- Dwarven Rogue male
- Elven Druid female
- Half-Elf ranger female
- Halfing Wizard male
Month 2 – The Wicked I
- Half-Orc Anti-Paladin male
- Elven Cleric female
- Tiefling Ninja/Assassin male
- Human Dragon-Blooded Sorceress female
- Aasimar Bard male (with evil mustache!)
Month 3 – Adventurers II
- Gnome Alchemist male
- Half-Orc Monk male
- Fetching Summoner (Shadow Caller) female
- Tengu Oracle male
- Human Fighter female
Month 4 – Outsiders I
- Ifrit Inquisitor male
- Undine Cleric male
- Onead Barbarian male
- Sylph Witch female
- Sulis Magus female
Month 5 - Adventurers III or The Wicked II - Characters TBD
Have a Merry Christmas everyone!!
Thri-Kreen are not OGC.
Yes, I know. Thri-Kreen is WOTC's IP. I would do it as a generic Mantis Warrior character or flesh it out using the Kasatha stats & appearance listed in the Advanced Race Guide.
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Wasn't this a kickstarter before, that was canceled?
Yes. Based on good advice from people here and other forums that I wish I knew before I pressed the launch button back in October, I decided to cancel it and use these last couple of months to streamline what I want my CBL project to be and have more of my ducks in a row to make sure my project is done correctly, even if my Kickstarter is funded or not. If my Kickstarter is successful, then I can keep my artist team for the long-haul and produce CBL content in a consistent monthly work flow instead of sporadically by releasing a month or two at a time and waiting for enough sales to produce the next month or so. The character artwork I want to use is expensive and a big majority of my Kickstarter funds would be used to fund it.
I was going to save this for my project's promo post next week, but it doesn't hurt it mention it now, Even though I canceled my Kickstarter back in October, I still have been working on it for the last 3 months. I have more character artwork completed with 6 more portraits currently in progress, I have hired a professional editor to review all CBL characters' fluff pages, I have a layout guy working with me on the project's PDF cover and other pages (which should be completed by the end of January), and I have my business paperwork prepared so I will be able to incorporate my business in January. So, I have been a little busy.
In one way I'm glad I canceled my Kickstarter back in October for it allowed me to do some things that I should have done before I launched it (based on the good advice I received), so when I relaunch it again in January backers will see more completed character artwork & content and I will be able to keep my promises with little stress to my artists as well as myself since more of my project will be completed beforehand. Running a successful Kickstarter is not as easy as Kickstarter makes it out to be. I found that out the hard way and I believe I learned from noob mistakes so I can now put a quality product out there next year and see if there is a market for it.
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Yes, I know. Thri-Kreen is WOTC's IP. I would do it as a generic Mantis Warrior character or flesh it out using the Kasatha stats & appearance listed in the Advanced Race Guide.
May advice is don't get in the habit of thinking this way. The moment you accept that it's okay to use product identity in your rough notes is the moment you're damning yourself to slipping something into your final product.
There are no thri-keen. There are no beholders, no gith-zerai, no mindflayers. They don't exist. Not in short form, not in private, not under your breath, and not in your dreams.
Good habits and professionalism will carry you far.
^I'll second what he said. Stay as far as far away from IP stuff as possible. It is not good form.
Yes, I know. Thri-Kreen is WOTC's IP. I would do it as a generic Mantis Warrior character or flesh it out using the Kasatha stats & appearance listed in the Advanced Race Guide.May advice is don't get in the habit of thinking this way. The moment you accept that it's okay to use product identity in your rough notes is the moment you're damning yourself to slipping something into your final product.
There are no thri-keen. There are no beholders, no gith-zerai, no mindflayers. They don't exist. Not in short form, not in private, not under your breath, and not in your dreams.
Good habits and professionalism will carry you far.
I know the Thri-Kreen is WOTC's IP as I stated in my response to Justin. However, maybe I should have been more clear. I was thinking of using a generic version of a "mantis warrior" (no IP issues) if available. If not, then I would use the Kasatha as a substitute for they similar to the Thri-Kreen in some ways.
If I wanted to use the Thri-Kreen in my product, then I would have to get a license from WOTC and that most likely wouldn't be cheap! Please don't accuse me that I think using other companies' IP is fine or ethical.
Since I cannot find any generic mantis warriors races for Pathfinder that I can use commercially over the last week, then I would stick with the Kasatha. Unfortunately, I cannot edit my initial post to remove the Thri-Kreen reference.
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I know the Thri-Kreen is WOTC's IP as I stated in my response to Justin. However, maybe I should have been more clear. I was thinking of using a generic version of a "mantis warrior" (no IP issues) if available. If not, then I would use the Kasatha as a substitute for they similar to the Thri-Kreen in some ways.
If I wanted to use the Thri-Kreen in my product, then I would have to get a license from WOTC and that most likely wouldn't be cheap! Please don't accuse me that I think using other companies' IP is fine or ethical.
Since I cannot find any generic mantis warriors races for Pathfinder that I can use commercially over the last week, then I would stick with the Kasatha. Unfortunately, I cannot edit my initial post to remove the Thri-Kreen reference.
Maybe I should have been more clear. You used the term "thi-keen". Don't do that. Ever.
Now re-read what I wrote, which was nicer than that and it will explain why. Nobody's accusing you of anything except what you have done, and I've simply offered friendly advice that you shouldn't do what you have already done any more. Ever. That's all.
FWIW, what you wrote did not come across as friendly. Pointed yet accurate, yes.
My first post? Really? Huh. I keep rereading it and just don't see that.
Nobody's accusing you of anything except what you have done, and I've simply offered friendly advice that you shouldn't do what you have already done any more. Ever. That's all.
Again, please don't accuse me of unethical business behavior and I find your friendly advice "unfriendly". I take it you are not a licensed lawyer or have never done B2B contracts before?
Thinking of using another company's IP in your product is not a crime. I have every right to use thri-Kreens, beholders, transformers, or whatever IP I want to use in my products as long as I have permission or licensing agreements with the companies or people that own the IP I want to use. You saying to stay away from other companies' IP 100% of the time is quite silly. Companies are constantly making licensing agreements and contracts with other companies to use their IP, even in the RPG market.
this sounds cool, I will check it out when it comes out. The Kasatha are cool I would hope you stay with that. Also my friend and I laughed at the Aasimar Bard male (with evil mustache!) . Lastly I would not mind seeing a few mythic characters mixed in especially a villain
You cannot be an evil bard without the appropriate evil mustache! I also plan to stick with the Kasatha since I found no official OGL version of the mantis warrior out there for Pathfinder. However, just mentioning the Thri-Kreen got me into trouble with some users here.
My Facebook page will have all latest Kickstarter details and artwork about my CBL project. I plan to have the tengu oracle and human fighter artwork completed before my Kickstarter launches, and I will have 4-5 character portraits being worked on as my Kickstarter runs.
If there is enough demand from my backers, I wouldn't mind having a CBL monthly release devoted to mythic characters. Thanks for bringing that up.
Again, please don't accuse me of unethical business behavior and I find your friendly advice "unfriendly". I take it you are not a licensed lawyer or have never done B2B contracts before?
Thinking of using another company's IP in your product is not a crime. I have every right to use thri-Kreens, beholders, transformers, or whatever IP I want to use in my products as long as I have permission or licensing agreements with the companies or people that own the IP I want to use. You saying to stay away from other companies' IP 100% of the time is quite silly. Companies are constantly making licensing agreements and contracts with other companies to use their IP, even in the RPG market.
I'm done. I have tried to do you a favor but it's clearly getting badly garbled in transmission, so I will take the blame for that. I wish you the best of luck in your projects moving forward.
Hey guys, thread seems to have got off topic. Lets try to talk more about this fantastic idea. I personally think this will be a lot of fun.
For the NPCs you are making, are you looking to do more "generic" characters ("Guard", "Drow Fighter") or are you aiming this more towards the player side? Like "Herrick of Eastwind" and providing a background (large or small )for them?
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Hey guys, thread seems to have got off topic. Lets try to talk more about this fantastic idea. I personally think this will be a lot of fun.
For the NPCs you are making, are you looking to do more "generic" characters ("Guard", "Drow Fighter") or are you aiming this more towards the player side? Like "Herrick of Eastwind" and providing a background (large or small )for them?
All characters will be created (stat blocks) for NPC and PC use, so GMs and players can use them if they wish.
Now, the characters will lean towards more generic due that I cannot tailor them specifically for every commercial or home-brew campaign out there. However, they will be properly named and will have some background and role-playing ideas on how to introduce them to your games. So, to answer your question, all characters will be named and have a small background to go with them.
Here's an old obsolete version of the CBL character fluff page layout to give you an idea how the characters will be presented - obsolete example. I should have 2 new page layout examples (fancy and printer-friendly versions) to show off before this Kickstarter launches. Also, the example character fluff was reviewed by a professional editor after this example was created so any grammar mistakes have been addressed and some sentences have been rewritten.
If you can do a month of Orcs with class...not half orcs, just straight Orcs from bestiary 1, you have me as a kick-in.
Orc Wizard
Orc Alchemist
Orc Paladin
Orc MagusJust solid non regular Orcs.
A 5 character orc release using the Advanced Race Guide can be done. If there is enough demand for it, I see no problem creating it. I can easily focus a 5 character PDF book release focused on one race, class, or alignment. Examples - Orcs I, Wizards I, Naughty People I, Outcasts I (mixture of non-typical races), etc.
If my Kickstarter is successful, I have reserved the last 5 characters as well as any bonus characters added by stretch goals to be determined by backers. Anyone who helps fund the (expensive) artwork for this project deserves to have a voice to what characters are created.
Sounds great!