Paizo Releases and Announcements

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

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

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.