Notsonoble's Rants

RPGSuperstar Top 32 Announced

2012-01-24T20:54:00.002-06:00

The top 32 have been announced! Here's the link to the page again.
http://paizo.com/rpgsuperstar/

Good luck in round 2!

New game, DND5e, Halfling waitstaff

2012-01-20T20:46:00.000-06:00

New game

So... Here's a big difference between moving to El Paso vs moving to Abilene.I'm already in a game. Yeah, thats right, first weekend that I really have in El Paso, and a "3.[dm'snameommitted]" game is dropped in my lap. I'm going to move my character to a real sheet sometime this weekend, as there is another session this sunday (that may or may not be the same game). I need to see if my old 3.5 sheet still exists somewhere, otherwise I'll have to find a 3.5 sheet that doesn't make me want to gag.

DND5e

There's been some commentary going around, I've even seen WotC tweets and facebook posts, I went to one site (not yet confirmed legit) that 5e may even remove the class system. My view was in my tweet. WotC is not GW, and shouldn't crank editions out every three years. (Yes, I think 4e sucks, and because of that I should give 5e a chance, and probably will go to a free game... but really!)

Now is the time for Pathfinder to step up. Once again WotC's DnD will be going through a likely no translation of character move. Living setting play will require buying 150+ in books again... all the stuff that caused Paizo to step up is repeating itself. This is an opportunity.

Halfling waitstaff

On a side note, tonight providing me with an interesting situation. The venue I chose for supper has always treated me well, reguardless of the city I choose to eat in their restaurant. Tonight was no exception, steak was great, staff took very good care of me, and I enjoyed myself. However...

Tonight, said restaurant sat me at a table that was significantly lifted off the floor. (About a foot, or third of a meter). So you step up a ways to get into the table. This is no problem, then the waitress comes to get my drink order. While my waitress wasn't short, the added height of the table made her eye level with the actual table surface.

Her height did not prevent her from doing a very good job. She was a little quieter than most wait staff I run across, but pleasant, and very good. It did however, give me a very good feel for how it would be to be served by a halfling. I say again, she was not a halfling. However, I will probably ask not to be seated at the lifted table again if I can get away with it. It is odd to not be able to see the person serving your food. At least I now have a better vision in my head for RP and writing, but those tables are probably the meanest thing for anything but basketball player sized wait staff.

Other blurbs

Next week I'll post a link to the top 32 for RPG Superstar. I still haven't heard anything from paizo about my organization sheet... so I'll offer it to the top 32 after the contest to play around with (or during, if they ask for it and paizo doesn't say no).

That's all.

El Paso!

2012-01-06T22:09:00.000-06:00

Well. I'm here. So far I've only found a single game store, but I have found another gamer. I don't know how hard to arrange a game will be yet. Also, work is going to eat a lot of my time, but things look better than they did in Abilene the first month.

This post will be kinda basic. Unfortunately the stock nook color's browser doesn't play well with google's pages. That will be amended.

I have an apartment secured, but wont have it for another week. So my new nook, and my phone are my only personal devices.

On to things Pathfinder. The RPG Superstar open call is closed. I'm waiting to see the 32 contestants. I haven't heard back about my faction sheet. So I'm going to offer the unfinished sheet to all 32 after round 2 ends. They can comment and make suggestions at their own pace. I'll release a sheet shortly after superstar ends.

I'll also extend my coments here to using paizo pdfs, epubs, and other stuff. It'll probably be rooted, if not running cyanogen, by my next post. Well, thats it for now!

Happy Gaming!

Moving, Bestiary 3, and stuff

2011-12-23T18:54:00.001-06:00

Well, moving during the December holidays makes for a new level of crazy. Everyone wants you somewhere, and you still have to pack. You've got to get your mail forwarded, and you aren't as focused on the holidays, so you go to the store for something you need forgetting that EVERYONE's at the store getting last minute gifts. Then apartment complexes do crazy things like decide to repave the parkinglot on the day you need to be able to park a trailer close to the door for loading. Really guys? Oh well.

On a better note, the mail did manage not to return my subscription (like they did the check) and I got my Bestiary 3 and Mythical Monsters Revisited, and Dragon Empires Gazetteer. I also pre-ordered the Bestiary Box that releases in may.

All three products look good at first glance, life's kept me from really looking at them so an in-depth review will have to wait. If someone'll harp on me I'll do ones in January.

I've decided not to participate in RPG Superstar anyway this year. I simply don't have the time. I may still offer the worksheet for organizations to the top 32 to look at and comment on.

I'm also making preliminary plans to attend Paizocon 2012. I'm not sure how that's gonna work just yet, but I think its time I saw how some of this stuff really works.

That's all I gotta say this week. I might be more talkative when I'm down in El Paso.

Thanksgiving, Faction Sheet, El Paso

2011-11-30T21:59:00.001-06:00

This is late. Again.

I spent the weekend that this typically falls on in Kentucky with my brother. I had a good time, got lots of rest, and two sessions of Pathfinder in the Dragonlance universe in. It was two firsts, one my first Dragonlance game, two the first time me and my sibling were both players in any D&D (there might have been once before, but I don't think so). So that was really nice. What time we typically spend on the same side of the table is usually co-gamemastering.

The other games we played were Settlers of Catan, and Twilight Imperium, both are really need games. I suggest them to people who want a "higher" board game.

I have one other major distraction going on. I'm taking a new job in El Paso, and my first day (barring paperwork issues) will be the first working day of January. So I get to pack all this back up and get ready to move.

Interesting times... but I think things are looking up, if I survive the chaos.

Okay enough distraction.

The free material for The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner's Kit is pretty nice, and helps complete the Kit. There's a second scenario, that you can either doodle on the blank side of the folding map, or go out and snag the Gamemastery Map Pack: Mines for. It also introduces a few rules the kit left out, and puts some more meat to it.

It's also likely a 2-hour scenario, a little more to do than the first, but this should be your group's second session (or later)... so you should be able to get through more. After some deeper reading, two hours was Paizo's goal, so I shouldn't be bothered by it. I may even tackle building sessions to that length. The more I play the more I notice that even when we do play for hours on end, two is about where the breaks fall.

I've also read about half of Death's Heretic it's good. I'll probably finish it this weekend between spouts of packing. The Four Horsemen installment is also disturbingly yummy. A great balance of creepy and cool... GM'll love it, players'll like it too, but not what it'll mean for their characters.

I'm delaying the Faction, and Caravan Deluxe Worksheets again, the first because the research for the introduction/simple suggestions is getting deeper that I expected, the second because there's not really anything to add. Some other companies have mentioned work on supporting products, and Paizo's admitted that right now the systems broken, so this sheet's on a "wait and see" list.

The Faction sheet's in process, and now is the focus, but it's just me, and the universe has noticed my mostly empty plate and dumped second helpings.

Well, here's hoping your holidays go well. I'll write again in a week and a half.

2011-11-12T08:36:00.001-06:00

So the past few weeks have been quite crazy. That said, I haven't completely been out of the loop.

The free content on paizo.com for The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner's Box helps the box a bit. There's a second module, which adds some rules the original box materials didn't cover, and can either be doodled out on the "blank" side of the flip mat, or uses the GameMastery Map Pack: Mines I haven't had a chance to read it in detail, but it's also about two hours worth of gameplay from the skimming I got to do.

The expansion book for the players covers some of the rogue, cleric, fighter, and wizard abilities the one with the box didn't, and of course, adds barbarian to the class options. The interesting thing is how the material is covered. There's almost a whole page per level of each class now. Bulky, but easy to read.

Another GameMastery Map Pack I noticed in a store (I don't subscribe to them, but that may change) is Swallowed Whole this looks like fun. Each card is some gargantuan creature and the maps valid squares are inside the creature. So if your whole party gets munched, just replace your counter with the map card and keep going.

That's enough about Paizo's stuff, now for a plug/update.

After a question posted on paizo was answered, I was pointed to a very tiny line on several Pathfinder Roleplaying Game products. "Open Content", I knew this was on the hardback books, and they were added to the list of valid books to use under the PCL. but it's actually in all the others too, and applies mechanics in Adventure Paths, and other books. This is good news, because it means I don't have to wait on two small projects I am working on. Expect a Faction Worksheet, (with a little expansion about faction generation), and a Caravan Worksheet very soon. I'm going to try and get the Caravan Worksheet done before the last Jade Regent Adventure Path releases.

Don't forget the other three worksheets I have up at Paizo now. So far the people who have commented have been pleased with them.

Now as to why this month has already been crazy. Saturday of last week I was on the way to pickup a battery, sparkplugs, and plugwires for my 2001 Dodge Ram. I was in said pickup, and so was my dad. We were two blocks from a major intersection when someone in a elderly (late 70- early 80s) chevy pickup ran a stop sign and plowed into me. Me and my dad are okay, but the truck is totaled, worse, the guy ran. I did have uninsured, and my insurance wrote me a check for the value of the truck, problem is it's no where near enough to get a vehicle even in reasonable shape. This happened in Lubbock, and I've had to be in Abilene, but left the truck in Lubbock, and my job drove me all over that part of texas this week, and the insurance guy was in Lubbock, Levelland, and all other places around here after looking at the truck. This made getting the check madness for all. Then work's been a tad crazy, not so much a huge workload as once again its spread over half of creation. All in all, just hectic.

Tomorrow, however, I have one meeting to be at that will determine who will replace me for certain responsibilities. After that, a month or so of helping the new person adjust, and I'll have lots less on my plate.

We'll see what madness is going on in two weeks!

Game Day Report, Bleach Failday

2011-10-29T18:30:00.000-05:00

So I got really ill right before Gameday, this meant the PDD20 game didn't happen, infact about the only gaming I got in was two rounds of chess. However, we had a larger turnout than last year, and everybody seemed to enjoy themselves. So while a down day for me and D20, overall a good day.

Last night was supposed to be the first major session of my BLEACH game. Yeah, mid game a combination of my DM overreaction and player stupidity cut the game short. One of my two player's is rolling up a new character. The good news is there's a lot of promise in Magus being a good option for a Kido-friendly Shinagami.

I was actually using a lot of the new Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner's Box for the game. So I'll through a first impression here.

Paper pawns: These were actually really nice quality cardboard pawns with good art. I agree with some the fronts and backs should have been different, but not many people draw characters or monsters from the behind.

Flipmap: A nice dungeon one side "blank" otherside flipmat. Nothing fancy, but nice.

Module included: Straight to the dungeon crawl, which is actually kinda short, and ends with two rounds with a black dragon??? Look I know this is dungeons and dragons, but throwing a dragon in the first encounter set is still a bit nuts. There's almost enough pre-dragon combat to validate leveling your characters to level 2, and the loot built in is enough to sorta make the characters capable of surviving (and therefore, really really powerful game items that any player's new or old is gonna latch onto and throw later games power level off) but really. The module's also SHORT, really SHORT. I don't think even a totally inexperienced group would have trouble finishing this module in 2 hours tops. (Seriously, a under strength party (one experienced gm, one experienced player, one only second session player was over halfway through it in 20 minutes, then stupidity happened and we broke up).

Once that's done, the infant gm has to figure out what to do next? Sure if your party only has the one copy of the hero's handbook, and has to pass it around leveling up either their customs or the pregens, then I can see that being enough to end a evening, but it felt kinda lacking.

I'd suggested on paizo's site that this box have a lot of good "new to GMing" material, and while its there, it's all in the "read and study" section after the module.

Overall, it's a good addition to my stuff, and a good thing to hand to a group of newbies, but still isn't quite what I'd hoped for. They could have spread the action out a little, a few map pieces wouldn't have been a bad addition, and could have let them build two "locations" instead of just one that was so small. A reduced map pack (the flip mat is a game mastery flipmat) would have been a nice addition.

So, I'll be keeping mine, if I'm in a store and someone asks about rpgs, I'll be suggesting it, but maybe not the xmas gift i was hoping for for some of my friends.

Miniature Paintings By Benji

2011-10-15T16:50:00.000-05:00

Here's some mini's my brother has painted for me.
A Woodelf Waywatcher from Warhammer fantasy:

Woodelf Lord

Reaper PFRPG Rogue (Customized)

Red Dragon

2011-09-30T17:30:00.002-05:00

Well, at the moment of writing this, I have to say my expectations for the character sheet and realm sheet sales were low. I said I'd be happy if I sold enough for paizo to pay me once a year, I'm one sale (of either sheet) from that minimum. They've been available less than two weeks.

I don't know if the sales will keep that pace, but the closer they come to keeping it, the better chances I can turn that income back into more sheets and other projects I've had in mind for a while now.

One of those projects that has recently cropped into my head, is a Faction Sheet. I don't know everything about where this will go, but I expect it'll be in the 4-6 page range, and might have an additional 2-4 pages on suggestions about creating factions/secret societies/gangs/etc.

You all know about the Realm booklet. Well, I've got a 2 page + map "sheet" almost ready to put up at paizo, and then I've still got a lot of time on the "booklet". The booklet will be set kinda on the back burner, because I'm hoping to have enough income from the new worksheets to afford printed copies of the booklet.

Region 3 Game Day on its way. I've still got to finish a little work for it, but I know now that I will not be majorly involved in putting next years game day together. I have no idea if the USS Diamondback will host next year's yet. Even if they do, though, I'll at most be a minor assistant.

I've payed for the few pieces of art I've had commissioned for the Krenna setting, and purchased two more that Aabh had done for someone else who disappeared. I'll have to double my sales of sheets to make that money back compared to now. So here's hoping the sales don't fall too quickly (or better yet, pick up!).

But that's what it boils down to. After October, I should have a little more money, and a little more time, to devote to my gaming projects.

Two weeks from now will be right on top of Game Day... so I'll just post images of my brother's paint jobs on all the minis he's done for me. Two weeks after that will be a final report on Game Day.

They're Up! They're Up! They're Up!

2011-09-22T15:21:00.000-05:00

That's right, the "final" version of my character sheet, and settlement sheet are up at Paizo's website. Here's the link. It's only $2.00 for each sheet, and that's only so I can afford some work for other products. I also have a lot more worksheets in development, and will post them as time goes by.Thanks for the comments that were made, and be prepared to see more here.

A look back, before making a stronger attempt to go forward

2011-09-19T15:17:00.000-05:00

So, looking back at somethings I've posted, I suppose it's time I should re-visit several of them.

I'm gonna touch each subject based on its current progression, my changes in attitude towards things, and at least note if I intend to talk further about any of them in more detail in a later post.

So here we go:
The Realm Sheet: This, believe it or not, is still progressing. It's been on the back burner for a while but I'm picking it back up for two reasons. 1, its split into two projects. A Realm "Sheet" which will look much like my The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Settlement Sheet, and a "Booklet" which'll look a lot more like the later per-release versions I've posted.

I'll definitely be covering this more.

Adobe and Scribus:
I still use scribus, and I'm still mad at Adobe for their heavy handedness, however, a legal copy of Acrobat Pro 9 is now in my possession, therefore I have used it to finish pdf forms. I still start in something else though (scribus or libreoffice). This will get more coverage, but only as updates (or better software choices) come up.

Pen & Paper Games, Obsidian Portal, and the like:
Well, these have still been very useful websites. I pay for OP now, and even have one "campaign" there that's just templates for certain pages.P&PG hasn't been as useful lately, but by no fault of their own.

This'll get more coverage as I finish new templates, and interesting things come my way.

Gimp:
They're still on 2.7 (2.6 if you want the stable release) and the dev release has very little pull in the windows users. There's been a little pace pickup in the last few months, but if that continues, who knows. Still great software, and once 2.8 hits I'll definitely be talking about it.

Maptool:
Wow, they were hopping b60 would be the release. Turned out to be b84, and its still being "patched" which is kinda keeping 1.4 work suppressed. Trevor's kinda stepped down, and Azhrei has picked it up. So it still progresses, but like Gimp, is kinda behind what I expected by this time...

I'll probably talk about this more once 1.4 has an alpha to play with, until then its all bugfixes anyway.

Kaidan:
Well, Gameprinter got some good luck and got everything he needed to continue on this project back. Now his first three modules released through Rite Publishing. I have all three but still have yet to play them... I'm probably gonna have to retire before I can get all the gaming I'd like in. Sigh...

If he produces more, I'll post about it.

Kubuntu:
Driving me nuts with some KDE issues that I don't see in other distros. But I'm 95% linux now at home! 4% is a pfsense firewall (technically freeBSD) and 1% is a XP virtual machine on my linux box, one of its tasks I'll be moving over to linux soon, so it's sole use will be to run Adobe Acrobat Pro, and only as long as I need it.

I don't know which distro I'll try next, but when I pick one, I'll post about it.

Forgotten Realms Drow Game:

This has halted due to some WICKED drama. It will not continue, sadly. The only bright side is it no longer cuts from time I can spend in the Pathfinder universe, or my own.

Pathfinder Fiction (Now Pathfinder Tales)

This has gone a long way. I'm liking some authors, and not liking others. I need to set down and set time to read and especially review all the stuff I've purchased. So eventually you'll see more of this.

David Weber's Universes:
The Mad Wizard Weber's had some real crummy luck in trying to write a new Bahazell book, and he's side stepped the honorverse for a time. I'm past the withdraw phase and into the "silently watching" phase.

If he finishes anything... I'll post about it.

Region 3 Game Day:
This is now less than a month away... it's gonna eat all my spare time until its done. Then, if we're asked to do next year's we'll probably be a lot better prepared.

I'll say how it went in after it happens.

Krenna:
Snakes Among Us continues, slowly, and I now have another story idea to go with it. Some of you have even been given a extremely vague hint.

This is related to most of my projects. It will get a lot of attention here.

Abilene:
Still sucks, but not nearly as badly. I have a few things to keep me entertained here, but if one of them goes the way I expect... I won't really have all that much to keep me here. December will tell more.

Sintel:
Someone wanna send me a EUR 40 present this christmas. The movie was cool, and I still wanna play with blender myself.... but life gets in the way a lot.

If they do another one, I WILL post about it...

And that brings us to 2011 which is almost over. I've taken over the PFRPG Bleach stuff... there's an Obsidian Portal Campaign called Bleaching the Path. The 7 player game died, drama + rl schedule interference. I plan on doing more and better OP templates, and Paizo sent me paperwork which I have now filled out, that once they process means I can upload my settlement sheet, and my character sheet, for sale!!!! They won't cost much, and probably won't make me much, but if they make enough for me to pay for one or two things for some krenna stuff, then some of that will be ready to put up for sale... then that'll pay for more stuff, and you get the idea.

Well, that's about it. 2012 isn't here yet, but if the rest of 11 moves at half the pace it has so far, it'll be over in no time, and 2012 looks to be a good year, a year where I can do some of the things I've really wanted to do.

Campaign Poll, Star Trek gaming, and stuff

2011-08-31T10:36:00.000-05:00

First, I'm trying to decide if I should take a "second step" on getting some work done on my Pathfinder setting.

Answer Here

Second, I'm still looking for suggestions on a game for Star Trek D20 in october.

Pathfinder Obsidian Portal Templates: Redux Amoung other things.

2011-08-08T13:14:00.000-05:00

Due to minor frustrations with browsers/websites parsing code... I'm re-posting the templates I've made so far as links to text files in the public area of my dropbox account. So grab them here:

Character Sheet -- My latest addition, It has some issues and is freaking huge, but unlike the dynamic character sheets on OP, this one prints well if copied to a word processor software.

The item sheet No changes, just saved as a text file.

Settlement Sheet

On a side note, I'm working on a completely separate from Obsidian Portal Online Character Sheet. Right now all I've got is what it looks like, nothing functional. You can look at it here. This page was a huge project, even with no dynamic properties. I still need a place to host it once I get something more functional put together.

Other than that, If someone's got a simple Prime Directive D20 scenario I can run at game day this October, I'd be grateful!

Another PFRPG Template for Obsidian Portal

2011-07-23T16:32:00.002-05:00

This one comes from me needing a way to describe the properties of an outfit for bleach characters. It's a work in progress.

Here's What It Looks like
Here's the Code


_Fluffy description_

*ITEM TITLE*
*Aura* _aura_; *CL* _caster level_
*Slot* _body slot_; *Price* _value in gp_; *Weight* _weight_
*DESCRIPTION*
_A sentence or two about the item's abilities_
*CONSTRUCTION*
*Requirements* _feats, spells, materials_; *Cost* _price for creation_

This, and the fact that paizo's shipping 110USD worth of stuff is about all I've got to yap about. Thanks to the sibling for starting a new game, and sorry to the players of my games who've had to come to a halt due to my crazy life.

Mac Rants, Obsidian Portal Deeper Review,

2011-07-11T10:19:00.000-05:00

First a rant about Mac's and Adobe Reader.

A while back I built and posted a Extended Reader Feature (Form you can save) Character sheet. It was huge, but all was well. My groups have been using it, and a few others have used it and said that things went well with it.

Well, one of my younger players was building her character on the little macbook her school supplies her. All well and good, until we loaded the files later from a cd she burned.

The sheets were blank, on windows and 'droid it was summer so we didn't have her mac.

Also the files were half the size. So we figured bad saves. Luckily I'd also had her save it to a pen drive I had on me the day she was making the character.

Dig that out, throw it in my nix box. Blank sheet WTF? Show forms. All the data's there, except it won't show when you hide the forms... Okay, copy to a new sheet manually. Saves just fine.

So somethings funky about the way macs save Extended Feature Files. Anyone else see this.

In brighter news. I've been using Obsidian Portal for a few games now and I like a lot of the stuff works. There are a few frustrations, some of the textile syntax are badly chosen for the situation, and there's no escape syntax so that one can use quotes in the adventure log or forums, but otherwise I'm happy.

I've got some more Krenna ideas running around in my head, and hope to continue a few of the local games that've been sitting soon. Paizo keeps sending stuff through the subscriptions, and I'm behind on looking at half of it, but real life is starting to calm down so with luck I'll have more time.

PFRPG Settlement Template for Obsidian Portal

2011-06-02T14:45:00.002-05:00

So I've started moving non Krenna games to Obsidian Portal for two reasons:
I have players who aren't even on the same continent.
It looks like a good way to keep notes on local games and back up info that's currently in unorganized piles on my desk or random folders on my computer.

Because of this I've spent a while making a template for a Settlement page for the wiki section each campaign gets. Here's the code:


|/3. !http://paizo.com/image/product/catalog/PZO/PZOCOMPATIBILITYE_360.jpeg!| Pathfinder Settelment Template|
|For Obsidian Portal|
|By Notsonoble|

<small>*GENERAL INFO:*</small>

|<small>*Name:*</small>|_Name_|<small>*Also Known As:*</small>|_AKA_|<small>*Is Part of*:|_Realm or Region_|<small>*Alignment:*</small>|_Align_|
|<small>*Setting:*</small>|_Setting_|<small>*Role:*</small>|_Role_|<small>*Type:*|_Size_|<small>*Danger*</small>|_Value_|
<hr />

<small>*MODIFIRES:*</small>

|<small>*CORRUPTION:*</small>|00|<small>*CRIME:*</small>|00|<small>*ECONOMY:*|00|<small>*LAW:*</small>|00|<small>*LORE:*</small>|00||<small>*SOCIETY:*</small>|00|

<small>*QUALITIES AND DISADVANTAGES:*</small>

|_Enter Quality_|_Enter Quality_|_Enter Quality_|_Enter Quality_|
|_Enter Quality_|_Enter Quality_|_Enter Quality_|_Enter Quality_|
|_Enter Quality_|_Enter Quality_|_Enter Quality_|_Enter Quality_|
<hr />

<small>*DEMOGRAPHICS:*</small>

|{background:#ddd}. <small>*Government:*</small>|{background:#ddd}. _Enter Government Type_|<small>*Population:*</small>|_Enter Number and Race_|_Enter Number and Race_|_Enter Number and Race_|
|{background:#ddd}. <small>*Government Alignment:*</small>|{background:#ddd}. _Gvt Align_|{background:#ddd}. <small>*Population Alignment*</small>|{background:#ddd}. _Pop Align_|_Enter Number and Race_|_Enter Number and Race_|
<hr />

<small>*MARKETPLACE:*</small>

||<small>*MINOR ITEMS:*</small>|<small>*VALUE:*</small>|<small>*MEDIUM ITEMS:*</small>|<small>*VALUE:*</small>|<small>*MAJOR ITEMS:*</small>|<small>*VALUE:*</small>|
|={background:#ddd}. <small>*BASE VALUE:*</small>|_Enter Item_|_Value_|_Enter Item_|_Value_|_Enter Item_|_Value_|
|={background:#ddd}. _Enter B Value_|_Enter Item_|_Value_|_Enter Item_|_Value_|_Enter Item_|_Value_|
|={background:#ddd}. <small>*PURCHASE LIMIT:*</small>|_Enter Item_|_Value_|_Enter Item_|_Value_|_Enter Item_|_Value_|
|={background:#ddd}. _Enter P Limit_</small>|_Enter Item_|_Value_|_Enter Item_|_Value_|_Enter Item_|_Value_|
|={background:#ddd}. <small>*SPELLCASTING:*</small>|_Enter Item_|_Value_|_Enter Item_|_Value_|_Enter Item_|_Value_|
|={background:#ddd}. _Enter Spell Level Available_</small>|_Enter Item_|_Value_|_Enter Item_|_Value_|_Enter Item_|_Value_|
||_Enter Item_|_Value_|_Enter Item_|_Value_|_Enter Item_|_Value_|
|<small>*NOTES:*</small>|\6. _Any economic notes Any economic notes Any economic notes Any economic notes Any economic notes Any economic notes_|
<hr />

<small>*NOTABLE NPCS:*</small>

|<small>*NAME*</small>|<small>*ROLE*</small>|<small>*ALIGNMENT*</small>|<small>*CLASSES & LEVELS*</small>|<small>*HP*</small>|
|_Enter Name as Character Page Link_|_Enter Role_|_Enter Align_|_Enter C&L_|_Enter HP_|
|_Enter Name as Character Page Link_|_Enter Role_|_Enter Align_|_Enter C&L_|_Enter HP_|
|_Enter Name as Character Page Link_|_Enter Role_|_Enter Align_|_Enter C&L_|_Enter HP_|
|_Enter Name as Character Page Link_|_Enter Role_|_Enter Align_|_Enter C&L_|_Enter HP_|
|_Enter Name as Character Page Link_|_Enter Role_|_Enter Align_|_Enter C&L_|_Enter HP_|
<hr />

<small>*FACTIONS:*</small>

|<small>*NAME*</small>|<small>*ROLE*</small>|<small>*ALIGNMENT*</small>|<small>*LEADER*</small>|<small>*MEMBER COUNT*</small>|
|_Enter Name as Character Page Link_|_Enter Role_|_Enter Align_|_Enter Leader_|_Enter Count_|
|_Enter Name as Character Page Link_|_Enter Role_|_Enter Align_|_Enter Leader_|_Enter Count_|
|_Enter Name as Character Page Link_|_Enter Role_|_Enter Align_|_Enter Leader_|_Enter Count_|
|_Enter Name as Character Page Link_|_Enter Role_|_Enter Align_|_Enter Leader_|_Enter Count_|
|_Enter Name as Character Page Link_|_Enter Role_|_Enter Align_|_Enter Leader_|_Enter Count_|
<hr />

<small>*LOCATIONS:*</small>

|<small>*NAME*</small>|<small>*ROLE*</small>|<small>*Description*</small>|
|_Enter Name_|_Enter Role_|_Enter Description_|
|_Enter Name_|_Enter Role_|_Enter Description_|
|_Enter Name_|_Enter Role_|_Enter Description_|
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<small>*REFERENCES:*</small>
_Enter any reference other reference page links like maps or stories here_

Feel free to use it and comment!

Paizo Releases and Announcements

2011-05-27T09:31:00.000-05:00

First, Paizo sent me Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Ultimate Magic, the Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Rival Guide, and Pathfinder Tales: Worldwound Gambit. Here's my first impressions.

Ultimate Magic: This is another well done expansion book for PFRPG. I haven't really dug in it deep, but I'm hoping to very soon.

Rival Guide: This is an awesome concept, with a neat execution. These are not more factions, or some single recurring villain NPCs. No, these are 10 NPC Adventuring Parties who your characters could run into once, twice, or in a recurring fashion. They don't have to be "the villains" of the campaign (one party's majority alignment is even on the good side), but they can be. What they're more designed for is the parties competition. These are the groups that your party are either just beating to a location to acquire some item, or maybe picking a fight with because they have the item, then dealing with later for another item, or even working with to finish some mutual goal. They could be the mercenaries that the real villain hired to keep you at bay, or simply just out for gold themselves. They could even be "helpful" frustrations.

The execution is a set of fairly balanced parties of four NPCs, each NPC has about as much detail as the average Goloron NPC Paizo publishes, and the a page or two about the party as a whole. Wrap that around more great art, and a few extra feats, spells, and uses of skills, and you've got another one of paizo's fabulous fluff books.

Worldwound Gambit: Pathfinder Tales is still having hit or miss moments, this is (in my opinion) on the miss side. Great concept of story, but another one where the style of writing just makes it very hard to dive in. So in the novels, we've got 2 good, and 2 not so good, and 2 yet to be released. Gotta start somewhere.

What else is interesting this week?

Well, a few weeks ago they announced the PFRPG: Beginner Box, it sounds very typical of tabletop game beginner boxes, a nice piece but perhaps nothing special. Until the email I got last night.

Paizo and WizKids Launch Pathfinder Pre-Painted Minis
Beginner Box Release Resurrects Pre-Painted Plastic Fantasy Miniatures

Paizo Publishing and WizKids Games announce a new partnership whereby WizKids Games will produce a special set of pre-painted plastic miniatures for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Box, an introductory boxed set slated to release in October 2011. ...

The email goes on to say that this is not a move from reaper's minis, which will continue and are doing well, and mentions that this will be a separate product alongside the Beginner Box.

All I know is, assuming I'm not flat broke at the time (which I might be, its my debit card that'll have to pay for the conference room for SFI-Region 3's Game Day on 10-22) I'll be ordering one to go with my beginner's box (the beginners box is part of the PFRPG subscription) and may order 2 or 3 more of each as Christmas Presents this year.

That's pretty much the jist of things. I'm gonna try and continue a game I started a few weeks ago tonight, depeneding on player's schedules. Other than that life's pretty much here.

Some New Settlement Properties For Commenting

2011-03-16T15:38:00.000-05:00

Here's some additional settlement properties I'd like opinions on from people who watch my stuff and play The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. I'm also adding the compatibility logo to the blog and following the rules since I'll be putting out the Settlement Sheet as a for purchase item.

The finalized versions of these will also be in the Realm Booklet.

New Governments:
Constitutional ______: This is actually a modifier of any other government option. The settlements with this descriptor on their government have a written document that restricts what the governing body can and can't do. (Law, and Society +1, Corruption -1)

Communal: In a communal settlement, all are equal, and have an equal voice. Goods and services are distributed evenly or by special need. Money is used almost exclusively in international trade. (Law and Lore -1, Corruption and Society +2 20% of acquiring the Anarchy Disadvantage, or the Overlord government at a later date. Base Value -50%, Purchasing Limit -50%)

Democracy: In either an direct or representational manner, the majority of the people have a vote in the laws and people providing/enforcing those laws. (Law, Corruption and Society +2).

New Qualities:
Capital: This settlement is the capital city for a larger realm. Be it momentum from the previous ruler, praise or fear of the current ruler, or just accepted tradition, this settlement sees lots of trade and political traffic. (Lore, Society, Economy +1)

Ruins: This settlement is built on the ruins of an ancient location of a previous society. Many come here to learn its secrets. Not everything in the ruins, however, wants to be disturbed. (Lore, Economy +1, Law and Society -1 Danger +5 60% chance of the Cursed, or Hunted Disadvantage)

Riddled With Hiding Places: Whether its a underground cavern system, a sewer system, or some “politically immune” location, people who've upset the ruling order have plenty of ways to escape. (Crime and Corruption +1, Society and Law -1, 20% of the Anarchy Disadvantage, or 50% Chance of the Secret Cult* Disadvantage)

New Disadvantages:
Secret Cult: A cult of an opposing deity or way of life has hidden itself here. They do not want to be disturbed, and may when the time is right attempt to overthrow the government and population. Their also quietly horde materials for their needs or destroy materials that could be used to oppose them. (Crime, Corruption, and Lore +1 Reduce Base Value by 10%)

Seiged: An aggressor currently holds the settlement under siege from outside or inside. The settlements full focus now is on breaking the siege. (Crime, Lore, Society, and Economy -6, Corruption and Law +6, Reduce Purchase Limit by 50%, all arms and armor traded either directly to “guard” or black market. Choose a force to be at war with the settlement.)

Haunted: Whole areas of this settlement are haunted, not just the occasional house, mansion, or graveyard. There is great fear among the populous. (Crime, Society, and Economy -2, Lore +2, 30% Chance of the Seiged* Disadvantage (undead force).)

Tell me what you think!

Realmsheet, Minis, & Stuff

2011-02-05T16:47:00.000-06:00

So you remember that realm sheet that this whole blog started about. Well, I've taken another stab at it... Here's some updates:

Its definitely a booklet now.
It's going to be a PFRPG Compatible thing. I'm adding some material based on the Game Mastery Guide's settlement construction.
I'm trying to decide if the qualities and disadvantages I've come up with should go in it, or come out some other way.
I still don't know if it'll be a fillable pdf or not. I have the stuff to make them now, but it takes forever still, and I paragraph areas that print lines if you leave them empty.
There won't be any more free versions. The next one I plan to have up here available for somewhere between 3 and 10 USD.
It will be preceded by a "Deluxe City Sheet" that I'm just about finished with that is fillable and saveable, right now I just need to ad a page for all the legal stuff.

Also, I'd picked up paints and such to try and paint some of my battletech minis (and support the trying-to-be-a-game-shop) a while back. I did some painting, didn't really like where it went, but it wasn't bad. A friend came over, and was bored and painted some, and we both agreed that the little paint kit didn't come with a good color selection and the starter brush just wasn't enough.Just today I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some more things and tried again, here's what I learned:

How to make a "wash"
The tubes of acryllic paints aren't that much thicker than the bottles of it for models...
But they still work, and really will last me longer than the bottles would have...
Lead's even softer than dried glue...
I want another basic leatherman, so I have one for everyday stuff, and one for working on minis...
That base coat of primer is really important on shiny metal, and shouldn't be done with the wash you accidentally made in your experiment...
Using the wash on the mini after you've got it painted is really easy, and really does bring out all the little grove based detail if you weren't too heavy with your paint coats.
Citadel glues still suck
I really need to get a working camera

All in all, I might actually get the hang of painting minis at least well enough to make nice looking ones, never anything fantastic, but I shouldn't be going to battle tech games embarrassed anymore of my minis.On a really crappy note, a hard drive crash and the loss of TWO thumbdrives means I have lost a significant chunk of my work on the Snakes Among Us project. So I have no idea when it'll actually be ready. I cried a little when I realized it was all gone, which either means I'm really becoming a sap... or I'd really put a whole lot of effort into it.

On a more uplifting note, I got to drag a character or two from past games back to the surface for a game last weekend. It was fun having that big barbarian turning orcs to goo... and I can't wait to see what she'll be like (we're starting way before where we were last time) when she gets high enough for Frenzied Beserker in PFRPG, especially since I don't think we'll need that splatbook class anymore to show just how crazy she gets.

7 Players II, Maptool, SF R3 Gameday, More Krenna

2011-01-24T10:46:00.000-06:00

First, the seven player game I ran last month had its second session this past weekend. It went well, we continued with the town raid in a different fashion from just "keep them at bay". Half the party ended up involved in rescuing kids from a burning building while others were involved in keeping orcs and such from harming children as they were extracted.

Maptool is on 1.3 Release Candidate 5, yeah, most people who follow software in development are probably scratching their head at the moment, usually the RC stage of software doesn't get that high in versions, but a rather spectacular bug appeared involving individual token fog. Other than this one piece the software does very well. They hope for a true 1.3 final build very soon.

STARFLEET Region 3's game day has indeed fallen to the USS Diamondback, out of Abilene. We're having some date frustrations, but look for it in October. Should be lots of fun.

My personal campaign setting has had another helping hand from my brother, and we now have one of the island regions kinda flushed out. I've not seen all hes got planned, and I may insist on changes, but so far it sounds good. I also have integrated the above 7 player game into that setting (unintentionally, it just really started making since as the story developed). So I'll be flushing out another section of the Taskel Empire over the next few weeks.

More Stuff From Paizo, Gaming Store Blues, and PFRPG BLEACH!

2011-01-07T14:14:00.000-06:00

Yeah, paizo's sending more stuff,

1 x Pathfinder Adventure Path #41: The Thousand Fangs Below (Serpent's Skull 5 of 6) (PFRPG) Print Edition (preorder) @ 13.99 = $13.99
1 x Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lost Cities of Golarion (PFRPG) Print Edition (preorder) @ 16.99 = $16.99
1 x Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Serpent's Skull Poster Map Folio Print Edition (preorder) @ 13.59 = $13.59
1 x Pathfinder Player Companion: Halflings of Golarion (PFRPG) Print Edition (preorder) @ 9.34 = $9.34

The Beastary 2 rocked, but I'm ready for these...

Gaming store:
Spectral Plane in abilene is about to have some trouble. Their neighbor, Game Boys, is closing at the end of the month. Between some stuff they shared with GB and the lower traffic, they've got a real issue keeping open. They have to make $36USD/day to stay even... thats no profit. Here's hoping something works out, as I've spent all I can in there for a while.

Now for the madness:
Yeah PFRPG Bleach, the one local I've converted from 3.5 is trying it out... and we're having some serious headace's... and some serious fun. Anyone with ideas of how to handle the Kido's let me know.

Aside from that, I have running game of 7 players once a month, and perhaps a game at said shop tomorrow... its just general craziness at work and such.

See you around.

Abilene, Paizo, and Sintel

2010-12-10T12:45:00.000-06:00

Sorry I missed the last bi-weekly. It was a messy week.

That said, even if I been able to sit down and put something together, there wasn't much to say. There's a little more now.

First, I finally had a PFRPG session with Abilene locals last night. One had played 2e, 3e, and 3.5 before, the other... completely new to pen&paper. I think it shows promise though!

Second, My brother finished my Merisiel mini for me. Its fantastic, I really need to get a functional camera again so I can post some images. He posted some on his facebook, for those who know me personally... just hunt him down.

Third, Paizo's about to ship me the Bestiary II!... I haven't been paying attention to any previews or blog posts, so when it gets here I'll be digging through it cold. Also, I've narrowed down my RPG Superstar ideas to two... but not really happy with either yet.

Last, It's been out a while but if you haven't seen the Open Movie Project: Sintel Go watch it. It's sad, and short, but a truly impressive production.

That's about it. Derek at Spectral Plane is trying to get stuff squared away to order me reaper minis. It'll be good to see those in the store (and hopefully dice and books...)

New Krenna, New Paizo, Abilene Progress!

2010-11-12T12:12:00.000-06:00

So, progress on Snakes Among Us continues. The Players Guide has already hit four pages and 2500+ words, its no where near done though... The Story Path file's even bigger, but that's to be expected... especially considering I'm already at four statblocks for just the first encounter!

The Krenna/K&D setting in general has made some progress because of this... More art's done, both character sketches and holy symbols. I have an additional artist (Daemion from the CBT message boards), and the sibling is working on some symbols as well.

Also, I got this email monday:

The following products are included in this shipment:
1 x Pathfinder Tales: Winter Witch Print Edition
1 x Pathfinder Adventure Path #39: The City of Seven Spears (Serpent's Skull 3 of 6) (PFRPG) Print Edition
1 x Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Misfit Monsters Redeemed (PFRPG) Print Edition

I haven't had a chance to look at the AP or CS installment, but I had time to read the pdf copy of Winter Witch. This was way better than Prince of Wolves. It might have been a little shorter though. Either way, good quick read, "brain candy" quality.

Prepare for RPGSuperstar! I know, Paizo hasn't said anything yet... but unless they decide to drop it, its coming again in December/January... so best start thinking about your Wondrous Item entries now... I am.

Spectral Plane in Abilene has made progress towards becoming a respectable gaming store along with collectible toys. I'm supposed to run an introduction game for Pathfinder this weekend there, they've started selling WH40K product, and I left them with a Paizo catalogue last week. Derek (the shop owner) was going to make an attempt to contact Paizo soon... So I'm hoping with in a few weeks there will finally be a place in Abilene with game tables, and PFRPG product!

Eating Habits, Kaidan Update

2010-10-30T08:37:00.000-05:00

First... I asked a question here a few days ago. I also asked it at:
Paizo
Cartographers Guild
Classic Battletech
and RPtools

In short... sandwiches/burgers, pizza, finger foods, and a few others were really common. Right now its just babel... but I did have a reason for asking which I'll get to at a later date.

Otherwise, Kaidan has become a patronage project. As someone who tried to be of help to Michael K. Tumey when he started it... and who did drop the $10USD on The Gift back when it came out. I'm happy he's getting to continue... and ready for more. So check it out!

You've got a long day of gaming ahead of you... what do you eat?

2010-10-26T09:00:00.002-05:00

Roleplaying, CBT, Console, or Computer... you know your gonna be there all day( or night) and you don't want grabbing food to take too much time away. So what do you bring with you? If you do take a break for a meal, what do you typically get?

This can be at home gaming, or in the shop gaming...

Comments please!!!

Krenna continues, despite computer death

2010-10-18T09:25:00.000-05:00

That title doesn't really cover everything from the past two weeks. Just the important pieces. More play testing, brain storming, and writing means I'm closer to finishing Snakes Among Us. The players guide is up to three pages (two column format) even without art that's already been provided. The first "act" is exactly where I want it, and the second one is starting to shape up nicely.

Now, the computer... yeah dead mobo, on my only home machine. (I'm bumming for this post). It'll be a little bit before I'll get back up and running at home (probably December) but I'll be taking a older work laptop home for the duration. So I don't expect a huge delay.

Other things: I had my first successful gaming session under maptool over a network this past week. I've been using it more as an electronic game table for face to face sessions. So using the other way was a good experience, and we had lots of fun.

Now for another tiny bit about Krenna:

Races: Krenna is a world where reptilian races gained sentience before mammals (humans and such)... These reptilian races enslaved fantasy genre's more common races for a few centuries before the uprising and a climate change brought them down. Because of that, and some wars with the reptilian races gods, there are some differences.

Dwarves: Oldest mammal race, life span more like humans...
Elves: Tall, long lived, but eaiser to disguise as human than in most fantasy settings (more in the books)...
Gnomes: Think more garden gnomes, or if you saw the cartoon as a kid "David the Gnome"... but not quite so cutesy. Chances are I won't have them ready to play for the first story.
Halflings: Last race to develop, important to the uprising, and they know it.
Half-Elves: Not so shunned as in most settings...
Half-Orcs: Don't exist. In this world, orcs are the result of a curse a group of elves voluntarily accepted in a betrayal based grasp for power during the gods wars. The hate between orcs and humans is strong and they're biologically incompatible, the hate between orcs and elves runs clear to the blood, each of which is used as a poison against the other.
Humans: Not much to say here... or is there? You'll have to see in the books!

Region 3 Game Day, Foxtail Games, and another teaser

2010-10-03T11:20:00.000-05:00

First, I went last week to Starfleet Region 3's Game Day in Roundrock Tx. Had fun... A little 3.5 and the Starcraft boardgame. There was also Battletech and yet another infant LARP group. Thanks to the USS Lonstar group for dragging me there, and the USS Archangel for hosting. I don't know where it's supposed to be next year, but Region 3 is Central Texas... so expect DFW/Austin/Lubbock.

Foxtail Games: I posted this on facebook a while back, but Guy Davis, a mutual Star Trek fan, is working on a CCG to publish under his as yet unrealized group called Foxtail Games. Why is this important? Well... He's offered (and even finished) art for my project... and we're talking about putting my setting as his group's second title. So I have a potential publisher, and art!!! Which leads me to my teaser.

Meet Ourane Parth:

Ourane is the Hereditary Mayor of the small town of Parth (named after the family who's farm became the center for the town... and who Ourane is a main decedent of). She'll be an important contact to the party during the entire campaign set. (I still haven't come up with a naming scheme for individual modules and their 4-piece groups.) She's smart, charismatic, and determined... but like the rest of the town, unprepared for idea the Parth would be threatened by more than the occasional magical beast or wild animal. Luckily for her that her family, despite the isolation of Parth... sticks to the tradition and unwritten rule that the ruling family of any individual settlement should spend time either in service of the standing army, or one of the various clergies. Lucky for Parth that the heroes of this story are there at the first attack.

A little about the process...

2010-09-17T21:21:00.000-05:00

... of getting my setting and modules into something that I feel like publishing.

This'll probably be the subject I'll post on for a while. I'm still nowhere near done even with the Snakes Among Us module, but there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel... or is that a train?

So the things I've learned so far:

One bite at a time means you still have to take a lot of bites.

I knew when someone asked me to run a modern game for a change, and I rolled a "ancient holy symbol" as one of the random items in the attic of the house the guys had to clear of rival gang members... that I was going to take my infant campagin setting and run it in three time periods. I also knew that meant this was going to be a freaking HUGE project.

So one bite at a time... except it was kinda like each bite exposed more of the mountain. I've been biting for years now... and I still don't know where the bottom of the plate is, but I kinda like that.

Don't be afraid of other authors or game designers stuff

Three ideas I threw out because shortly after starting on them I read a book or module summary that was so close to what I'd thought up I feared I'd be accused of stealing. It was with David Weber's Oath of Swords that I finally realized something people had been saying around me. "No story is original anymore."

The really good story ideas exist somewhere else... you are influenced by what you read and hear and see. Don't throw something out because it's too close to that... the real originality comes from making a story or scenario yours, with your flavor and your touch. That's not an excuse to rip something straight out of another book and run with it... that's just lazy... but if you like something, chances are someone else likes it too... its what about it you like, and what you see in it yourself that makes it interesting.

Prepare for abandonment
I've tried to get commissions for artwork several times along the way... only to have whoever I was talking to fall off the face of the planet. Same with writing and editing help. Heck, I've had hell simply keeping a gaming group together long enough to playtest stuff. I'm not talking about free/barter work only either. It happens, this project is in most people's point of view "small". I'm not backed by some known company or publisher. So even when I'm willing to pay upfront (thankfully no one insisted yet) I'm on the back burner. I let it stop my work once or twice... that was dumb. Don't do it, don't take it personal when it happens.

I still need artists and authors for help... so if anyone wants to play... let me know. That said...

Look at your strengths and weaknesses, and find Friends that fill the wholes

If your doing something like this, without the backing of a publisher (yet)... make friends with people who'll be able to do the things you can't. You'll still be paying them money to do it, but a good rapport with an artist makes it easier to get art.

Or at least, I hope it does... It did with story pieces, but I don't have any character artist friends yet -_-;

Be prepared to start over, a lot

Anything from blowing your world map away, to loosing all your work to a bad hardrive and poor backup practices, to going "okay that was just dumb"... It'll happen, more than once... Don't let it eat you.

That's it for this week. Next week I'll gripe a little more about this project (probably what I'm currently fussing with)... and post some tidbit about Krenna.

PS. I really do need character sketchers and artists... holy symbols are one thing I'd like to knock out soon. Comment or email me! noble(dot)hays(at)gmail(dot)com.

A sneak peek! Comments DEMANDED

2010-09-07T15:25:00.001-05:00

Alright, I know this is less than a day from my last post... but a piece of my first module that I'm willing to expose now is ready to be posted. Here's the "sales pitch" back cover text.

An ancient evil god wishes to make his return to power, and the answer to stop him is split and buried in the tombs and secrets of two neighboring realms. One realm is respected, and envied by the other. One realm has trouble brewing in its nobility. One has a cult growing in its heart. One has been infiltrated by the beginnings of an invasion. Will the hero's defeat the god? Will they find the truth? Will a realm grow? Will war, and a plague bring a realm to its death?

The town of Parth has been raided by unknown forces, and just over the border, the line of succession in a small Barony has come into... question. Is there really a cult devoted to the most feared and hated of the ancient gods growing in one of the most respected kingdoms of Krenna? Is a baron of Khamshom really raiding the very villages he's supposed to be protecting? Can the party find out the truth? Will they be able to stop the dark god's return? Will a entire barony defect to its neighbor? The answers to these questions are in this first installment of a four piece campaign.

So there it is. It will of course be run by a few editors before the final... but I thought I'd actually post it for people to see I'm not crazy and I am working on something.

What do you all think?

Lots of Gaming, Advice given, finally some time on the player side of the board

2010-09-07T14:07:00.000-05:00

Okay, so this is late. I'm still in a simi-permanent state of exhaustion. So meh.

Anyway, I still haven't been able to read more than a single chapter in a sitting on Prince of Wolves. Infact I'm having a hard time staying interested enough to finish a whole chapter per sitting. It's getting predictable and bleh...

I did however get some gaming in this weekend. More work (playtesting) on my personal setting. I should have the ending dungeon for the first module/chapter of adventure path flushed out quite soon. Go Me!

I also got some advice kinda threw at me that I've now heard several times.

"You through too much thought and backstory into a pickup game!!"

Hmm... perhaps he's right... after all he ran a pickup game for me and the other player (this is a pair that I thought were going to be the base of a good group that started fighting... for those that remember that post... they're not fighting anymore... but one's talking about Egypt in January and the other's talking about Oregon in December... WHY!!!???????)

Damn real life.

I'm getting side tracked. He was able to get us going fairly quickly... Back story was quick, but not really that much quicker than mine... the bit that was different was that the first NPC he threw at us didn't do a whole lot of explaining details the players hadn't seen... I'll have to think about this. Also, when we did get NPC's to talk to... I found myself asking all the questions his NPCs didn't volunteer information that mine tend to do. So it could all be a difference in play style.

Any way... now there's three games going with a person who I barely get to see once a month, two of which require someone else I only get to see twice a month, and getting all three of us together in the same place seems to happen once every three months... Ouch. But we enjoyed it all...

I need to get in gear about taking another stab at making maptool behave. Which means finishing my blasted computer rebuild. Next weekend I go back home, so we'll see what happens there.

Wolves, Witches, Hradani and a lack of gamers

2010-08-22T10:23:00.000-05:00

Well, several chapters into Prince of Wolves... The story's good, but for the people who know my typical reading habits... I've not finished this book yet. Thats typically not a good sign. It really is how the story is presented that's bugging me. The chapters about Radovan aren't bad. But reading Varian's letters to his friend is just off.

The final pathfinder Witch class. I like some of the final changes. You pick a familiar, and then pick a patron these patrons aren't described beyond a basic type of power it grants the witch, so it could be anything from another way a god provides power to nature to some other being supernatural or mundane. The familiar is still the channel, but not the granter, and the patron choice determines what extra spells you get, not the familiar type itself. Much more flexible, and better from a use-the-class-to-create-the-story point of view.

David Weber has promised more Bahzell soon. Details I don't know, I'll check the bar over the next two weeks and see if he's left anything out there to describe his tweet in detail. While I hope we get our HH anthology soon, more Hradani stories is a good thing.

Didn't get any gaming in with the people who expected some, and still haven't had any luck locally. I apparently just missed a group talking at the shop that's talking about expanding into the gaming universe, so we shall see.

I know this post is kinda bleh and "more of the same" but I've never been good at keeping any kind of journal... Let me get into the habit, both of jotting down things to talk about that happen to me, and remembering that I need to look at things to talk to others about.

Pathfinder Tales, Advanced Players Guide, and Life

2010-08-05T15:26:00.001-05:00

First: Life has been a freaking crazy roller-coaster inside a dungeon on a planet with random changes in gravity... But things have started to calm down. I'm back to a single apartment... My brother's married and off to Dublin... The job has reached a stage where I don't feel 30 weeks behind in what needs to be done... The drama between friends/family has been sifted out... All in all a crazy summer that looks to be followed by a quiet fall...

But enough of that, off to the new things that came in the mail.

I can't say much about either the Player's Guide or the new novel at this point. I've skimmed the players guide, the artwork's fantastic, the books nice and thick, and the material seems to be arranged well. I can't wait to play a witch or an oracle, unfortunately i'm stuck in no-gamer-ville for the foreseeable future. Although I am making an attempt to remedy that (not moving, shaping the town). The new novel, well I've made it to chapter two. If you've been reading the web fiction, its about the same quality of work so far, its also the same characters, and POV. I don't know if I'm going to like lots of first person pov for novels. It's not bad, but I'm really hoping that this is something for these characters, expecting it to be Mr. Gross's stick, and worried its something to expect out of all PF fiction.

So that's about it. I hope to be a) more consistent with my posting here in the future, and b) have more worthwhile things to say from now on. We shall see.

Also on a side note: I finally moved in to the age of smartphones, I'm loving the Captivate, so I'll probably be able to post more often as well.

More gaming

2010-07-16T13:23:00.000-05:00

Independence Day weekend I had what was quite probably the most aggressive gaming I've ever done...

Short of the final battle (which they're coming back for sometime... I completed the entire Pathfinder Adventure Path 14: Second Darkness: Children of the Void... in a weekend.

It was fun... and brain draining... we actually sat down to finish the caves with the drow in then on monday... and never got anywhere, we were gammed out...

Yeah, I didn't know it could happen either.

It did however, leave my gaming group with yet another couple to cause out of game drama... but I also got someone willing to look at and work with maptools... we'll see how it goes.

Pathfinder NPC Guide Review

2010-05-03T17:03:00.000-05:00

Okay, this is kinda late compared to it's release but here's a quick review of several light uses of The Pathfinder Chronicles NPC Guide

The good:

The thirty unique NPCs native to the myriad nations of Golarion

Well built NPCs to add flavor to Golarion in a way that didn't involve just recapping some AP or Module major NPC...

Nice amount of fluff for each one

Good Artwork

The 50+ nameless NPC stat blocks

Nice selection for a handful of low and some mid-level encounters

Seven adventurer PCs played by Paizo staff members

These were a fun read... and still provide you with seven more encounters to give the world a little life...

The bad:

The thirty unique NPCs native to the myriad nations of Golarion

Not much to say here... for what they are they're nice

The 50+ nameless NPC stat blocks

Organization is bad... if you plan on using something out of it... take the time before the session to find it...

Could have been a little more complete, especially level-spread wise...

Seven adventurer PCs played by Paizo staff members

I kinda wish we'd gotten progressive stat-blocks for these... but that's more of a "gimme more" than a real complaint.

Pathfinder Fiction Update

2010-04-29T20:42:00.000-05:00

This is the email I got today.

Dear Noble,

We have some good news for subscribers of our Pathfinder Fiction line—you won't have to wait until September for the first book to arrive!

Dave Gross has turned in a fantastic manuscript for Prince of Wolves, and we've been able to adjust the release schedule so that his novel will now kick off the line at Gen Con Indy in August! Elaine Cunningham's Winter Witch will move to fill the October slot that Prince of Wolves previously occupied.

We've already adjusted your subscription so that you'll receive Prince of Wolves as your starting volume in August, and Winter Witch will be shipped to you in October. You don't need to do anything... except count the days to August!

Keep your eye on paizo.com—we'll be unveiling final cover art for both of these novels in the near future, and in just a few months, we'll be announcing more books and authors for 2011!

Thanks for supporting our Pathfinder Fiction line!

Erik Mona
Publisher
Paizo Publishing, LLC
http://paizo.com/

How often does a release date get shoved forward!

Filliable PFRPG Character Sheet

2010-04-23T18:02:00.002-05:00

Okay, this is done (well, until some people get around to making suggestions about changes). It also follows all the Paizo Community Use rules.
Grab it here. Save it somewhere. It's on a friend's site and I don't want to burn up all his bandwidth... I'll probably move it some time soon.

Revisiting some early prestige classes

2010-04-06T16:25:00.000-05:00

So I was thinking I'd re-visit an old prestige class I designed as a way to practice for building the new anti-cleric I was talking about. I don't know if it's going to be worth it though for a few reasons.

It was an orc Barbarian-Bard p-class. Big special mount, drums, wider aoe for bardic music, and some other neat tricks. But here's the changes that bother me:

Paladin mount became Divine Bond, and mount half of it went through some interesting changes that make it much more likely to break the class in a huge way.

Bardic Performance from PF actually completely nullified one of the neat abilities, because a full attack no longer breaks the performance.

So my 10 level p-class is now extremely overpowered in someways, and has some truly useless abilities in other ways. I could thin it out to a 5 level or 3 level p-class, but then we get to the third problem... I hate the micro p-classes. They feel more like sacrificing a few class levels for super-feats... Oh well, perhaps I can think of some other neat stuff for it to provide in order to make it worth while...

My fourth reason, Ranger-Barbarians make truly wicked nasty boss NPCs... this p-class was a different way of doing that back when Ranger sucked, and Barbarians were just cool fighters.

Well back to the drawing board...

GM's Day

2010-03-04T15:59:00.000-06:00

So It seems that today is GM's Day. RPGNow and some other companies are doing sales on stuff, and some people have talked about it other places I frequent on the internet.

If the forum and Enworld can be believed, its been a round since 2002.

So call your Dungeon Masters, Game Masters, and Storytellers and tell them thanks today. If their like me they work their tails off even for the crappy sessions. If not they don't work their tails off, then your lucky to have talented GMs and should thank them anyway!

Working on an Underdark Game... creating a anti-cleric

2010-03-01T21:31:00.000-06:00

So I've got this "Matron Mother" for a FR game that has somehow managed to survive despite not being even a cleric of Lolth... well, she was for a while, but it's kinda hard to keep favor with a deity when you discover you truly hate her guts.

A Rogue 5, Assassin 10, Cleric 1, can probably go ex-cleric and survive... especially when she gives up on her "worthless mistress" during a time when her god doesn't answer anybody anyway. So when the spider queen returns instead of simply asking for power from her, she does what any powerful drow who spent her life assassinating her "betters" and demons. She simply steals the power by force of will.

But now I need something for her to progress in, that could protect her from Lolth's personal wrath... and keeps other women at bay... My first thought? Complete Divine's Ur-Priest...

But I'm running FR with the Pathfinder ruleset... and I don't really like Ur-Priest anyway... and I want something that perhaps I can post... then I notice the spell progression of Ur-Priest... now I don't mind a 10 level class that provides 9th level spells, but it provides more perday's than Pathfinder, and its an odd progression... and I need to slap 10 more levels on this character RTFN, because she's a major player NPC in the game I'm running.

Okay... So thinking about it... I've decided I'll build an Ex-Cleric... divine power stealing... wicked class... but how?

First, I think I'm gonna have it be very wizard like... requires a spell book, spell components (and for the spells that only have a focus, some other reusable component... like specifically defaced holy symbols)... and some advantage to replace domain spells.

I think I'll also make it "Any Non-Good" good ex-clerics probably shift deities in the better half of the pantheon, or have shifted from an evil deity... they tend to also tend to focus on other abilities instead of hungering for the power they've been denied. Neutral's could hunger only to weaken some deity that offended them, but otherwise wishes the world no ill, perhaps is even out to prove that the deities are unnecessary and spends much time working for the greater good, but at very aggressive odds with any clergy...

I'm not sure if I'm gonna post this yet. I didn't make RPGSuperstar this year, but I plan on entering next year... and they're kinda running out of things to give as second, third, and fourth stage challenges... So I don't know if I want to drop a custom open to the public prestige class out there, only to make the second cut and part II of RPGS 2011 be "create a prestige class"... Then again, if they did, there'd probably be something specific about it... So I may do this anyway. I can always make another.

So if I definitely want comments on the concept, and if I post a mechanics version... I'll want comments and playtest reports! If it goes that far... then based on peoples responses, and playtesting here and with you all... I'll tweak it over time. I'll attach it in a document with OGL and PFCL stuff attached. So if it works, I can follow up with it in actual published material without any legal or personal guilt.

I'll also cross post it at Paizo, and give them limited permission to use whatever develops out of it.

My RPG Superstar Entry

2010-01-25T17:00:00.001-06:00

The one that didn't make... here it is.

I'd appreciate any comments. I know Clark'll post about it... but other peoples views would be nice too. I'd like to avoid mistakes next year.

New gaming, Forgotten Realms Underdark

2010-01-21T18:04:00.000-06:00

I've been running a FR Underdark/Drow campaign for a friend from out of town. Going down to visit to help her get ready for her husband has caused me to miss my local games twice. However, He is home, so I will have lots less distractions. I'm in the process of finding a new apartment though...

I didn't make RPG Superstar... oh well, there's always next year. Also, I had my only plastic disappear on the trip, so my paizo orders are going to be delayed, yay.

Other than that, not much going on.

Paizo, Birthday Gifts

2009-12-14T16:49:00.000-06:00

Well, first my Brother gave me an awesome birthday gift. I now have several of the new Pathfinder Iconics from reaper minis, and some new GameMastery map pads woot. His xmas gift is to paint the minis... I'll post images when that's done.

Paizo also just dumped the third round of playtesting classes for the Advanced Players Guide today. I don't know how I missed the second round but I how have them all to download and read. Get them here.

RPG Superstar 2010

2009-12-04T12:50:00.000-06:00

http://paizo.com/rpgsuperstar

I've got an entry in mind. I've been trying to find a way to make a pair of books for passing messages work inside the rules... and I think I can pull it off now. It'll give me something to do over the next month. I'm gonna need the distraction...

Gaming's going well, but because of personal issues I'm having to cancel this week, which means our next session won't be until after new years...

Not much else to say... just excited to have a chance this year...

Printing, and the continued life of game shops

2009-11-19T18:04:00.000-06:00

Okay, here's my rant on local, physical, game shops.

My home town has had a Challenge Games (Games Workshop, and Paintball), and a home run place called Mad Hatter's House of Games for several years now. I got started with the Star Trek CCG as a middle school student at "Hatter's", occasionally bought Battletech stuff there, and generally went there for gaming events (few and far between).

My brother spent a lot of time at "Challenge" because of warhammer fantasy... and I swing by there from time to time while I'm at the mall.

Now, with Paizo, and RPGNow, and other sites... I order lots of stuff online... it's cheaper, you typically get more stuff (pdf's to go with your dead tree copy), and I don't have to either write a paper check or run my debt card through one of those old carbon-copy card swiper things. (Yeah, Hatter's still uses one, and the credit card companies still accept them... scare's the **** out of me honestly... that thing makes 3 copies one you get, one goes to the c-card company, and one the store keeps, more than once I've seen a bunch of them just dumped in the trash... no shredding, whole carbon copies of peoples c-cards or debit cards in the trash...)

Lots of better off stores are complaining about the online shopping, but to be honest, my friend "prillo" ordered his 4rd edition battletech boxed set through the mail, from a catalog that came with his new copy of Mechwarrior 3 that he ordered online back in '98. Then there's bookstores, sure once upon a time finding a gaming book in a bookstore was unnatural. Now, not so much, Hastings has them, and we just had a new Barnes&Noble open in my hometown (the old one was getting a little small for the traffic), and they currently have a better selection in 4th edition DND than either actual gaming store in town. Other options have been with us for 11 years now... and longer if you count mail orders through catalogs... so why are they complaining now?

I think it's because a lot of them are like Hatter's, they've waited to long to make the way they do business to keep up. They've done it to themselves. But what could they have done differently?

I donno... I'm not gonna speculate either. I know what I'd offer if creating a gaming store from scratch now... but 10 years ago, I'd probably have made the same mistakes... but 10 years ago I was a high school student.

But that's mostly ranting... I said I'd talk about printing, and gaming stores continued life. Well, I think they're gonna go hand in hand.

Recently while working on my own setting, I had a pendrive on me, it had a copy of one of the maps I was working on... saved to be printed at 13x19 (I'm considering a new printer), and I was just finished eating with some of my buddies when I realized I was standing in front of a Kinkos-Fedex store.

I went in, planning on printing the map. First, I asked if they could print 13x19... the answer was "only on our plotters, which are charged by the square foot" and that was expensive... I was thinking about 10 prints, and the math came out to about half as much as a 13x19 borderless printer I've been eying from HP... no thanks...

"But you can print 11x17 at our self service station." I jumped on this... I went over, plopped down, and stuck my debit card in the thing to charge me by the minute for use of the pc to do the printing. 1 test print, plus a few extra prints, I'll be out of here on a buck and a half. Boy was that wrong.

First, it takes the pc a while to recognizance my pen drive, then I find that the printer that prints 11x17 doesn't do it unless you hand load the paper into the manual feed tray... no big extra minute.

Then I can't get the pc to realize that the manual feed tray is set for 11x17 paper, even though the printer knows it's got 11x17 in it. I ask for assistance guy comes looks at the printer, says "It should work fine" and leaves the room. Doesn't even give me a chance to explain my problem or even bother to look at the computer with me.

So, I've now spent 3.43 on some completely worthless computer use time. I kill the login session... go to ask for a refund, or maybe some help... and all I get is "sorry".

Now, 3.43 isn't going to break me, but that's got to be the absolute least effective way I've ever spent anything, including the time that I bought things and then left them at the register at walmart, because at least that was my fault.

So how do I think physical game stores should counter loss of sales to big bookstores and online sites. Among several other services, I think they should invest 500-600 bucks in a good model 13x19 borderless color printer, paper, some laminating hardware and materials... and offer to print custom and legitimately purchased electronic maps in house. It won't turn things around instantly, and it won't do it alone to be sure, but I know I'd spend lots more time at either Hatter's or Challenge if I could get some of this stuff printed. I'm not the only one either, and I live in a "little" town when it comes to gaming. There are cities with lots more gamers, of all types (including custom campaign setting builders) who'd use it.

I'll probably come back to this, as there are some "services" a gaming store could provide to make this even more attractive to the pen and paper gamer. (Can't afford a copy of Campaign Cartographer... come set on our pc for the afternoon... 5 bucks to use the pc, plus 10% off anything you print today) I just need to get back to work.

So what say you?

Pathfinder Advanced Players Guide Playtest

2009-11-16T21:32:00.000-06:00

Okay, so paizo's gonna play test 6 new classes for the APG... and the first two are appearently ready... so grab them here.

I've read through them... Cavalier looks like it'll make an awesome knight-like character... and Oracle's gonna be great. Bone Oracle's are gonna creep the crap out of people as major NPCs... and the others are just all kinds of fun. I'm thinking of actually using Bone Oracle for the avatar of a deity in my setting attempting to return to power. Many of the things in Bone Oracle look a lot like what I was going to try and find some way to do anyway... and the abilities all sound better thought out than what I had in mind for the first play test.

Why do I have to title these anyway

2009-11-13T13:08:00.000-06:00

Seriously... mostly I'm just rambling.

Anywho... Haven't worked much on the realm sheet. I've been focused on maps... maps that are frustrating me beyond saving... I like the land masses I've got... but getting down to a one or two kingdom scale on the map has proven that somethings simply aren't meshing logically.

I don't think I'm gonna be throwing that much away to backup... but I'm considering wiping the political boarders off until I've got all of the terrain figured out.

I've not heard back from Sarah Stone on the character sketches... so I'm looking around for others. The local possible artist is swamped, and honestly still not shown me anything impressive... oh well.

All of this kinda sucks, because I thought I was going to have something ready soon, but if my maps don't make any sense... and I have no character sketches... not really all that good for handing to someone else to play.

On a side note... Hawke from www.rptools.net got me a google wave invite. I'm playing with it, but not getting anywhere. I'll see where things go with it over time.

More work going on

2009-11-05T17:11:00.000-06:00

Well I've done a lot more on the Realm sheet. I'm finding a few things frustrating, but it looks like I will have a fillable pdf that prints well.

Also, working on my campaign setting a lot... I have an adventure outline for a 1-5 for two or 1-3 for four or more flushed out. I've recontacted some artists, and I've made some larger steps towards a well detailed region for the adventure in mind.

I also finished my brothers Pathfinder Mystic Theurge Lich for his game. The spell list visits WoTC's Book of Vile Darkness 3.5 for a few undead only spells, but I'll be removing them if I ever post the character.

Also, if there is anyone who pays attention to this blog... I have a question that needs to be answered.

Should a creature that has a above average (say 50%) of becoming undead instead of simply dying increase its CR? Especially if the transition takes a d4 hours? I'm thinking it's actually a separate encounter, but it is a creature people tend to gather up the corpse of for materials for potions and or magic items. Comments welcome!

Now for something completely off topic... I've rediscovered Mathemagician's DND Stuff, and finding it handy. So I thought I'd publicly thank him for it.

And now for something different... Mozilla labs is working on a project called Raindrop I want to play with. I think it'll be really nice if they do it right, Thunderbird has really been a disappointment compared to Firefox, and perhaps a re-thinking was in order.

Holloween Gaming, Kubuntu

2009-11-01T13:29:00.000-06:00

I got to run some Krenna stuff with the sibling and one of his friends this weekend. It was a pickup game, but let me bounce some things off them and see if they enjoyed it. It was a good step towards smoothing out the opening adventure I intend to put out for the public. I should have something very soon...

Also, I've upgraded the laptop and the virtual machine at work to Kubuntu 9.10... It's definitely an improvement. Faster boot, less bugs, it auto-updated installed software, and generally easier to deal with. The new Ubuntu One was showing promise but is currently down. Oh well.

I think I'm gonna work on a village map, and finish up some stuff about a particular animal... then start putting things together.

Realm Sheet, and Scribus

2009-10-29T18:46:00.001-05:00

Well I've gotten some more done on the realm sheet. Finished a revamping of the cover art... and with the help of Scribus, I've started to take a second stab at a fillable version.

One thing: Adobe's Reader EULA, as read by the people who work on scribus, actually prevents the reverse engineering and implementing of savable form pdfs. So even with the new one I won't be making a savable version... because I a) can't afford a copy of Acrobat, and b) think very poorly of their heavy-handedness.

At first Scribus was really annoying, but now I'm getting the hang of it. Here's some things I've learned:

OOo Draw import is lacking: If you have text in a OOo Draw file you want to import, save it as a Draw 1.0 file first... You'll then have to do lots of cleaning up but it's a start.

Masterpages: These are really handy. For this project I made a cover, internal right, and internal left master page. That allowed me to set the background on each page (and the color on the covers) really easy...

Don't apply properties to multiple objects at the same time... It doesn't always work... especially pdf properties.

PDF Properties: Is Bookmark is your friend... Works way better than the bookmarks OOo draw's export generates.

You'll probably also need a few other pieces of software: It auto-loads gimp for picture editing, and there's a few pdf things it doesn't handle well yet, that can be done in the free version of foxit.

Anywho, I'm a long way from posting a fillable copy... and I'll have to wait a bit to post a new flat, however I expect to have something available end of next month (November)... and I'm gonna try and talk Paizo in to making it a free download on their site to.

New Stuff II

2009-10-19T15:49:00.000-05:00

First... got my pdf of the Bestiary... Paizo's done another really great job with this book. There's not just great wads of changes over the original monsters... but the few differences I have noticed have been good. (Especially in the realm of clarification of fuzzy stuff).

Second... I just grabbed Michael Tumey's "The Gift". I'd already seen bits and pieces over at cartographer's guild... Looks like 56 pages of yummy dark goodness so far.

It's a 5-7 level adventure, for "Gaijin" (which is Japanese for outsiders)... Michel's mentioned that its designed for regular pathfinder characters to stumble a very Japan-like setting. I also remember him talking about how various "oriental books" either were extremely general, and did several things from several eastern cultures and mythos on purpose... or tried to pass of a lot of that general stuff as Japanese mythos and culture. He instead intended for a very true to Japan setting.

It's only available as a .pdf right now, but he's working with the people for Fantasy Grounds and Map Tool to have "VT modules"... He's also talked about a print copy... but isn't there yet... (Considering some of my plans, I'd like to see where that takes him from a publisher/creator pov)...

His maps, as always are great... The art is great... and the bits and pieces I've read are really good (I've had it literally 10 minutes).

If he gives permission I'll post the TOC here later:

Introduction

Introduction
Races & Classes
Notes for DM
About the Region

Yonshu Island

Port of Gsijinoshima
The Cursed Ryokan
The Wilderness Beyond
Entering Tsue-jo

Conclusion
Appendices

About the Setting
A - Cosmology
B - Death & Reincarnation
C - Obake Beastiary
D - Language & Names
E - Religious Reference
Maps

License Information

New stuff

2009-10-10T19:06:00.000-05:00

Lets see...

Gimp 2.7, I'll be playing with that once I find a way to actually make it build on the laptop...

PFRPG Bestiary... "doesn't arrive 'til tuesday"... but paizo's got them so its all good.

Also check this out http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizo/products/v5748btpy85k5&page=12#589 looks like the Core Rule Book @ 9.99 did so well they're gonna do the same with the Bestiary.

Windows 7 Pro... Played with this some at work. If you have to have windows, and are looking to move up... This is far better than the failure that was vista. It's still pitifully slow at some things (looking up computer lists on large networks, well ANYTHING network involved is sluggish)

Maptool 1.3b59... Getting there, trevor says build 60 will happen, but with luck 60 will be the "stable" build... then off to 1.4

Google Wave... anybody got a leftover invite? I've been itching to see how well it all works, and I agreed to pass trevor one for his community tool project to go with maptool.

All in all, there some interesting stuff coming up in the next few weeks... now I've gotta go build a CR18 Pathfinder Lich...

I finally have a session with the group that I was playing with last month... but it's still not at the apartment.

Blogger, lack of comments

2009-10-05T16:12:00.000-05:00

So I've noticed a continued downloading of my files, and no comments. I went to comment about this on the stat template post when I realized I couldn't comment. I've since been messing with the settings trying to find out why. Now I've got full page set and it seems to let me comment.

This is kind of annoying, especially since I was getting upset with viewers when it was obviously something wrong on google's end.

So, sorry about that, please leave word if you tried to comment and couldn't and I'll see if I can find out what's going on.

Pathfinder Stat Block Templates

2009-10-02T18:49:00.000-05:00

So I'm building an Orc NPC for my brother's game, and my custom pathfinder sheet while good, is obviously still missing some things... especially for npcs.

Like any other person building lots of npcs especially now for not just myself but other GMS, I went looking for a stat block template... I still haven't found a electronic character generator I like for PFRPG so I was hunting for something simple.

Nothing, not even a fan made one on paizo's site (well I did find a generator spreadsheet but bleh was it a mess)...

So I sat in Open Office, while playing with a few of the pdfs from paizo (an adventure path and bestiary preview) and cooked one up. Then moved to Microsoft Word to make it behave there as well. The MS template doesn't overline the section dividers so if someone has an idea how to do this and it look good let me know. Also, please comment on anything you see it needs or doesn't need. Its designed with the export to pdf function in mind.

Now I gotta go back to work, but here are the templates.

I've also been doing some work on the realm sheet. I'm hoping to pitch it to paizo for an actual cheap pdf product, but that's gonna take some doing.

Got some quick gaming in

2009-08-01T17:15:00.000-05:00

Last night my brother and I had some fun with the opening of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path... He threw together 4 pathfinder beta characters and we had a blast, between last night, and the reading I've been doing for running Second Darkness... I'm really stoked about the Pathfinder stuff. Which starts tomorrow... so yeah hopefully fun stuff.

Well, so far...

2009-07-15T18:06:00.000-05:00

so good. Our contact from Pen and Paper has agreed to show for a second game session, and we have discovered another co-worker who's up for gaming. Now we start Pathfinder, I'm going to run the Second Darkness adventure path under the PFRPG beta.

If anyone's run this before... pointers would be nice... I just dropped the money on the Companion in a .pdf to let the players dig through... I'd like to drop some on the Pathfinder Campaign Setting book... but I have recently acquired a cat familiar who picked a fight with my engine block and survived... I know now what all the gold in the acquisition of one goes to now... Vet bills...

Also it seems the Iowa trip was worth it, as it allowed me to aquire several gaming books at used shops... including something I didn't know existed. Eric Flint's 1632/Ring of Fire universe has a rpg book. It uses the Action! system... but conversion should be simple. Now if I can just get some of the people who read those books with me to sit down at a gaming table...

I discovered/came-up-with something interesting while there as well... E. and I are starting a long term Battletech campaign... and because we're playing 3020 with two companies... one Lyran and one Federated Suns... who've been stationed in the same system in order to start the integration process caused by the alliance.

Well we wanted a bit more depth to our pilots than names... and I happened to be reading up on the 3.5/OGL diplomacy skill when something hit me... I opened a spreadsheet and put all our pilot names in the first row (starting at column two)... and the first column (starting at row two) to create a simple reference chart (like one would see on a road map that has distances from town to town...

Then since there are 5 attitudes in the diplomacy chart we simply rolled d10/2 for each bit... We've only started to sort what we got out... but it's already started thoughts about relationships between pilots... and other such things to provide some flavor to it.

576 entries is a bit much to parse... but it dawned on me (and I intend to use it for some of this) that it'd be a great way to determine anything from NPC attitudes towards one another in more role play oriented game, to what Nations are allies and enemies at the start of a campaign.

Mapwork, and new local gamer...

2009-06-25T00:47:00.000-05:00

Well first, I was gonna show a work in progress map... but to do it with blogger I have to upload it to their host of choice, so here's the link to it for now...

It's incomplete, but with the folks at Cartographer's Guild I should have something I'm happy with very soon... and I can go back to making this whole campaign setting work... I'll also hopefully have the ability to host all this stuff somewhere I want to... without crappy TOS agreements that involve property changes of my work...

Anyway the other thing is one of my local gamers lurks Pen and Paper Games and we got a LFG request from someone who recently moved into town. It didn't come to us until we were both super busy with work today... but we'll probably tackle meeting up tomorrow.

I've already made a small adjustment to the realm sheet. The provences/subregions area now has a place column for the area of each subregion. I'll post it once I've got the flat version lining up the columns correctly.

Realm Sheet Flat file

2009-06-20T12:04:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I'm guessing I can afford 8 bucks a month... so I've grabbed me a Media Fire Premium account, and posted the First Flat Version there. It's the "Kingdomsheet" file. I was lazy and haven't renamed it from my original concept project. Anyway... its there now. So download it and tell me what you think!

Well...

2009-06-19T15:23:00.001-05:00

Here goes I guess. I meant to start this on something I hosted myself, but when you're broke... you take what's out there.

Realm/Region Sheet:

When I find a way to also post files... I'm gonna start with the realm/region sheet I've been working on for a while now. I think the design is solid, but getting it into an easy to use editor is not going so well. PDFs with fillable forums are nice, until you need to insert images into the file. The original document (and odg) would be fine for anybody willing to a) use open office draw, and b)go through the slow and painful method of entering items as individual text blocks.

That however is not what I want. What I want is something somebody can easily put all the info into in simple ways, and I don't want the user to have to be on any particular kind of pc or use any specific software (beyond something that will open the file in the first place).

As for now all I have is an undecorated flat file for printing filling out by hand, and a partially editable file that you'd still have to print, or have a large amount of working knowledge and production oriented software.

Anywho Here's a list of sections it has so far:

Overview
Cultural Points

Calendar and Holidays
Superstitions, Rituals, and Festivals
Important Laws, and Enforcement
Rumors, and Suspicions

Money and Trade
History(two pages)
Settlement Patterns

Regions/Provinces/States
Major Cities and Towns By Population

People and Influence

Organizations by Power
Government
Military
Organization of Influence (three pages)
Other Major NPCs

Each entry (or sub entry) has a full page devoted to it unless otherwise mentioned. It's huge so far... but I don't think it's overly bulky... It's not designed for whipping out some quick little cookie cuter region in 45 minutes... It's designed for those people that want to take a few days building a "living breathing realm or area". I've tried to use it twice... and so far I like it. I may expand the map section beyond a single page... but I was kinda thinking that when you needed maps of sub-regions or cities or some such, you'd also need to build all the information this "sheet" is designed to cover for them too...

Other Stuff:

On a side note, the "edit Html" window for building posts here is worthless... because while it parses html tags... it assumes lots of things.