Want a job at Wizards?

WotC is looking for a new editor

Link

One requirement not mentioned in the ad:

-Must be willing to leave quietly when we fire you just before Christmas

-Rognar-

So, what's on your iPod?, pt.5

What can I say about Apocalyptica? The obvious, four classically-trained cellists (Is that redundant? Are there any other kinds of cellists?) from Finland who use their powers for good, bringing symphonic metal to the masses. Probably best known to North American audiences for their covers on YouTube and their appearance in Some Kind of Monster, a documentary film about Metallica released in 2004, the group has been around since the early '90s. Their most recent studio album, Worlds Collide, was by far their most successful, reaching as high as 59 on the Billboard Top 200 in 2008. As one might expect, Apocalyptica produces an unusual brand of metal, at times symphonic, gothic, progressive, with an occasional track like "I'm Not Jesus" (sung by Corey Taylor of Slipknot), which can only be described as straight up rock and roll. While most metal music works better with fantasy, I feel the Apocalyptica sound lends itself well to a sci-fi rpg setting, especially space opera. This is good news for someone like me who detests techno, the usual music style associated with futuristic campaigns.

-Rognar-

Editorial note: Apocalyptica, Crom, Sabaton, without doubt, everything interesting in heavy metal today is happening in continental Europe. The Scandinavians, Finns and Germans have taken over from the Brits and the Americans as the true powerhouses of metal.

Pathfinder rule musings

Saving throws and magic items:
The save DCs for spell-like effects generated by magic items are too low, in my opinion. For example, the dagger of venom inflicts the effects of a poison spell on the target. This is a 4th level spell, so the Fort save DC is listed at 14. This DC does not, of course, incorporate the ability score modifier of the creator, presumably because that value is not known for every magic item. However, this means many magic items become pretty useless at mid-levels. Now remember, in the example above, poison is a 4th level cleric spell. That means the caster has to have at least Wis 14 to cast it. So, at minimum, the creator of a dagger of venom must have a +2 Wis bonus. I propose, then, that the save DC for this item should be 16, not 14. Also, if a PC wanted to make one, he should be able to use his own ability modifier. That way, a dagger of venom or any other magic item could be as dangerous to 15th level characters as it is to 3rd level characters.

Determining magic item functions:
I think the combination of using detect magic and the Spellcraft skill to identify magic items has caused many higher level spells to become much less useful. Consider, the number of spells that allow one to identify magic items, detect magic, identify, analyze dweomer, arcane sight and arcane sight, greater. Now admittedly, none of these spells exactly duplicates the effects of the others. For example, using detect magic or identify requires a Spellcraft check, while the higher level spells do not. However, I suspect most players will find little incentive to have all these spells in their daily list. There is just too much redundancy.

-Rognar-

Now this is funny...

Most gamer humour is about as funny as a kick in the 'nads, classics involving gazebos and magic missile attacks on the darkness being the exception, rather than the rule. This, however, is hilarious.

-Rognar-

Mearls on game balance

I know what you're thinking, "Jeez, will you quit with all the game balance posts, already?" Well, what can I say, this post on Mike Mearls site has been getting lots of discussion on the blogs of late, so I'm just catching the zeitgeist. I agree with everything he says and I'm not sure where the controversy lies. After all, Mearls admits that many gamers don't care about combat balance. He just argues that having combat balance does not have to be detrimental to the non-combat aspects of the game. Hey, if you want to suck in combat, go right ahead. I suggest starting with a bard and building from there. D-bane, got anything to add? :D

-Rognar-

Boring Magic Items

As I continue to gear up for the upcoming campaign, I've been looking at rule tweaks. Pathfinder has lots of items but for the most part they tend to get crowded out my those items which grant a numerical advantage.

The Cape of the Manta ray is very stylish but most people would trade it in a heart beat for a good ole cloak of resistance.

What I propose is to grant all of the PCs level appropriate bonuses. Everyone can add +2 enhancement bonus to the stat of their choice, a +2 resistance bonus, and a +1 deflection bonus. Items that grant these bonuses will be removed from the game. I'll leave in the Amulet of Natural Armor. I was going to lower starting cash somewhat but when I realized that there are no magic marts, I may just leave it alone.

Maybe I'll give everyone free armor and weapon bonuses too although now I'd definitely have to lower starting cash. Any comments?

Respectability? No thanks

When I look back at my early gaming life and ponder what it was that made D&D so cool in '81, I realize it was because the game was subversive. It was teaching kids reading, writing, mathematics and it was doing it without any adult supervision. That is ultimately what caused certain religious and political authorities to condemn D&D. The kids were learning, but not necessarily the things their authority figures wanted them to.

So now the generation that grew up on D&D is reaching middle age. We have kids of our own and we hope to pass on the hobby to them. Some of us want D&D and other RPGs to take on an air of respectability. Well, I say nuts to that. I think the hobby should remain the forbidden fruit, something not talked about in polite company. Like your dad's collection of vintage Playboy magazines, your old D&D books should be something the kids stumble upon while poking their noses in places they don't belong. I think this is the way tabletop RPGs will survive and endure. This hobby can't hold a candle to video games in the minds of kids today unless it has some element of danger. Make our games subversive again.

-Rognar-

A&AM Early War 1939-1941 comments

Bicycle troops (Belgian and Japanese) are actually pretty useful, assuming you have a decent number of road hexes in your map.

The Coordinated Fire commander ability of the Polish Officer is not as great as one would think. This unit can only attack adjacent targets, so in order for other units to benefit from the ability, you have to place your officer in the front line. That is a great way to lose your commander early.

It's not much to look at, but the Marmon Herrington is an excellent armoured car. I could see using it in any year of the war.

The BEF Infantrymen and the Finnish Ski Troops are both excellent 4-pt. infantry units and would be highly useful in any scenario. Too bad the Finnish Ski Troop doesn't actually have skis, though.

The T-28 is a beast. It looks scary as hell and is murder on infantry as well as early tanks.

The Semovente L40 looks awful. I'm even more annoyed that it's a rare and that I've got three of them.

The Cruiser Mk.III A13 is a great-looking unit. Too bad it has tin foil armour.

The Covering Fire SA of the Japanese Type 99 LMG is going to make the Banzai charge even more devastating and it's only a 4-pt. unit. At least it doesn't have Double Shot.

-Rognar-

A&AM Early War 1939-1941 first pulls

I got my first 18 boosters from the Axis & Allies Miniatures recent set, Early War 1939-1941 (thanks, D-bane). I'll have more to say later, but here are my rares:

Soviet Union
T-28
MiG-1
BT-5 (x2)

Finland
T-26E

United Kingdom
Cruiser Mk III A13 (x2)
Matilda II

France
Morane-Saulnier MS.406

South Africa
Valentine II
Marmon Herrington Mk.II AC (x2)

Poland
7TP

Germany
PzKpfw IV Ausf.A
Panzer III Ausf.F

Italy
Semovente L40 da 47/32 (x3) (WTF?!)

So, I missed two of the four aircraft in the set, including the Stuka. That sucks! Also, I don't have much use for three Italian assault guns (no idea how that happened). Still, it's a good start. I will obviously be jumping into the singles market at some point.

-Rognar-

My charitable donation to WEG

The seemingly endless saga of misery that is West End Games has taken another turn. As I mentioned some time ago, WEG was looking to make a rebound. They had a new product, Septimus, a space opera rpg by reknown game designer Bill Coffin, and a new publishing model, Open d6, which would allow the venerable d6 game engine to become OGL. Along came GenCon. Eric Gibson, the current owner of WEG, arrived with a stack of Septimus softcovers and a plan.

Then he disappeared...

Rampant speculation followed. WEG's forums were abuzz with speculation, as the fans (who by this time, number in the tens) debated the future of the company, its owner and the game system. Fans created Open d6 Resurrection, Antipaladin Games created a clone called Mini Six and pretty much everyone felt they'd seen the last of West End Games.

Well, Eric Gibson has resurfaced and he's busily doing what he can to put to rest any rumours of his (or WEG's) demise. Problems with his overseas printer have made him unable to get his hardcover Septimus books into stores, while GenCon softcover and pdf sales have been weak. The Open d6 project is not dead and he's not too happy about these non-WEG efforts to create reasonable facsimiles.

So, partially out of sympathy for a struggling company that has given me a lot of joy over the years and partially out of curiousity about a product that seems increasingly unlikely to ever see the light of day in stores, I bought a pdf copy of Septimus. It is quite a tome, weighing in at a hefty 364 pages. The first 95 or so pages are dedicated to describing the world of Septimus, a Dyson Sphere on the very edge of a dying galactic empire. This description is quite detailed, and yet, there are some glaring omissions. Several things are mentioned repeatedly, but never clearly explained. For example, a particularly traumatic event, known as Steel Helix, is mentioned repeatedly as the source of much of the destruction currently seen on the surface of Septimus, yet no explanation of Steel Helix is given in the text. A free quick-start pdf of the Septimus game released months before the full game mentions a rebellion and describes a rebel military action called Iron Helix, which is presumably the same thing, but anyone without a copy of this earlier release would have little idea about this most important event in recent history of the game world. Other unexplained things include the Seven Cities (presumed to be other settlements outside of the capital that have been cut off by Steel Helix) and ZPG (some sort of disease which may be related to corruption of the advanced technology used to control the inhabitants of Septimus).

Beyond this criticism, Septimus is actually a pretty solid game. The d6 rules are fully presented, so no other books are required to play and the number of game and character options are quite extensive. The game is not as polished as Eclipse Phase or CthulhuTech, but it is certainly easier for inexperienced players to understand. It has a lot of potential, but at this point, I don't think West End Games has the resources to get this game off the ground in any significant way. Pity!

-Rognar-

(Edit: Upon further reading, I have a clearer idea about the Seven Cities, although a timeline and a more detailed history would certainly help to elucidate the various political relationships within the game setting.)

Evolving Rules

I found this interesting article by Monte Cook. He makes some interesting comments on how gameplay shapes rules and rules shape gameplay. A worthwhile read.

Evil Campaign

The DM mantle will pass to me in the next few months and I've been trying to figure out what I'd like to do. One of the ideas that I've had is running an evil campaign. As long as there is no outright back stabbing they can be a lot of fun.

The problem is motivation. In a sandbox campaign where the PCs can wander around and do what they want this isn't as big of an issue since the PCs will pretty much decide what they want to do and motivate themselves. With an AP or Module they are generally written to good characters. Getting the evil PCs from Point A to Point B can be a real challenge. From past evil campaigns, having a powerful patron is a good way to keep the PCs in line but all of the adventures I have in mind would require some major rewrites.

Now I can understand being a mercenary and taking gold to rescue the princess but when you are asked to protect a town from an army giants, the town is just not going to be able to offer enough money to entice the high level characters.

I have three fleshed out ideas in my head. Going evil will rule out one right away but the other two might be workable. Is there any interest in going evil next time around or shall we stick with the familiar neutral/good parties? I guess even lawful evil works ok since you aren't likely to go back on your word.

More on game balance

An interesting post I read at Wondrous Imaginings got me to thinking that maybe I have been mistaken in what I understand game balance to mean in the mind of the old-school gamer. I always thought of game balance to be an approximate leveling of the field in terms of overall effectiveness of each character class. In my younger days, we often argued one class was better than another. I remember when the original Unearthed Arcana was released, everyone pretty much assumed the fighter class was irrelevent now that the new barbarian class was so obviously superior. That was our idea of a lack of game balance. However, game balance apparently means something different to JoetheLawyer, since his criticism stems from balancing encounters. He argues that new school D&D lacks realism since high-level parties never encounter weak opponents. This is, of course, not true. It happens all the time, but why waste valuable playing time dealing with such minor inconveniences. We don't play out every encounter with a particularly bothersome mosquito, so why should a group of 12th level characters bother to play out the one round of combat it takes to stomp out a small band of normal orcs. We just assume a few such encounters took place and were dealt with appropriately.

-Rognar-

Rippin' on Avatar

As I said in my original post about Avatar, it is both a tour-de-force of visual effects and, at times, a pretty dumb movie. Leave it to Dan O'Brien at Cracked.com to give it the thrashing it so richly deserves.

-Rognar-

What interests me in 2010?

Over the past few years, I have bought a lot of game stuff. Of course, D&D 3.5/Pathfinder has been my game of choice, but I have also invested heavily in Star Wars Saga Edition and CthulhuTech. Then there are the miniatures. Worse than game books, pre-painted plastic minis are my gaming drug of choice. WotC has certainly pried a lot of my hard-earned coin out of hands over the years to which my massive collections of D&D, Star Wars and Axis & Allies minis can attest. I have lost interest in serious collecting of the D&D and Star Wars lines, although I do pick up singles that catch my eye from time to time. Also, support for the A&A line from WotC has been drastically diminished, reducing it to a single new set in 2009 (and likely more of the same in 2010). This is actually a good thing, since my new miniature obsession, the AT-43 line from Rackham, is looking to lay a wallop on my bank account. So, what am I looking forward to in 2010?

1. Pathfinder - We know the Advanced Player's Guide and the GameMastery Guide are coming out this year. There are also rumours of a Pathfinder Bestiary II in the works, although no firm release date has been announced for that. All three would be must-haves for me.

2. Star Wars Saga Ed. - First up for 2010 is Galaxy of Intrigue, due to be released this month. Beyond that, only The Unknown Regions has been announced for release, prompting speculation that WotC will be finished with SWSE this year. If so, I'm cool with it. The game is pretty much complete anyway.

3. Eclipse Phase - I got into this game late in 2009 and I look forward to several new products coming out in 2010. The Eclipse Phase Gamemaster's Pack, Sunward: The Inner System and Gatecrashing have all been announced for release this year.

4. Axis & Allies Miniatures - Poor old A&AM, the red-headed stepchild of the WotC miniatures lines. Like 2009, there will probably be one naval and one land set released this year. I only collect the latter and it is expected to be a Mid-War (1942-1943) set. I will continue to support A&AM until the company kills it.

5. AT-43 - As mentioned previously, AT-43 is my new obsession. I've only just gotten started, so I have a lot of catching up to do and a limited budget to work with. I have some units from the UNA, the Red Blok and the Therians, so I will probably concentrate on those factions for the time being. I like the Cogs as well, so I might get a few of those. I will certainly be looking for sales like that awesome one last weekend at my FLGS. Thanks for the heads-up, N!

-Rognar-

RPG approach to AT-43

The miniatures game AT-43, published by Rackham, could be converted into a pretty cool, combat-heavy, role-playing game, perhaps using the d20 Modern/d20 Future ruleset. I would, however, make some changes to the setting, based on my own personal tastes. For one, I don't really care for space-based sci-fi settings in which humans are the main protagonists, but which don't include a prominent role for Earth. This is especially annoying when the humans exhibit very familiar cultural traits. A perfect example is Battlestar Galactica. Earth exists in the BSG universe, but it is lost in myth. Apparently, the humans of the future can retain the names of mythological and literary figures, but lose the spatial coordinates of their planet of origin.

AT-43 takes this to another level. Humans were transplanted in another galaxy by our descendents hundreds of thousands of years in the future. The earthlings of 600K AD are actually no longer biological, but rather digital. Still, they create humans and set them up on other planets in other galaxies. The humans of the planet Ava come to blows with our descendents, called the Therians. Ava has two factions, the United Nations of Ava (UNA) and the Red Blok. The latter has all the trappings of the USSR; Russian names, the red star, communism, despite being 600 millenia removed from the 20th century. Talk about genetic memory.

I would definitely set up an AT-43 rpg campaign in the nearer future. The technology level displayed by the UNA and the Red Blok is not that far advanced from the present day. They use mechs, lasers and gauss weapons, so an early to mid-22nd century setting would be fitting. The Therians would be some other extragalactic superempire and the Red Blok could, perhaps, be Russian colonists on Mars who have reverted back to their communist roots. The Karmans would be uplifted apes, who have been granted the same rights on Earth afforded humans and may have even created their own colony somewhere in human space, while the Cogs would be exactly as they are, an huge alien empire constantly warring on the Therians. Humans would find themselves in the middle of a galaxy-spanning war between the Therians and the Cogs. Meaty stuff indeed, for role-playing adventures.

-Rognar-

Further note: I have just discovered that Rackham has a game called AT-43 Tactics: Tactical RPG. Although it has some elements of an rpg, in that each player controls one character and that character increases in abilities over a series of missions associated with the AT-43 Operation Damocles boxed set, it seems to be extremely limited in scope.

Rippin' on BattleTech

Oh man, this is a stroll down Memory Lane. During one of my "elves-and-dragons-are-so-f*ckin'-lame!" periods in the mid-90s, I filled my need for testosterone-fueled mayhem with hours and hours of BattleTech. Inner Sphere mechs were just as pathetic as the art in this article would lead you to believe, so we usually played clan vs. clan. Then we realized D&D was cool and we all made our way back.

Battletech

-Rognar-

Clan Wolf Rules! Jade Falcon, suck it!

What am I reading?

It has been a very long time since I even finished a novel, let alone finished it in three days. For that reason alone, I have to recommend Old Man's War, the Hugo Award finalist in 2006 by John Scalzi. To say it was influenced by Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers would be a gross understatement since the novel is a virtual rewrite of the classic. However, if the plot is borrowed more-or-less intact, the universe envisioned by Scalzi is quite different. The galaxy is literally overflowing with life, while planets suitable to support it are rare. Thus competition is extreme among the various races seeking to claim some lebensraum for themselves. People of Earth are largely ignorant of life in the colonies, as indeed are most colonists. The real power lies in the hands of the Colonial Union and the Colonial Defense Force, the civilian and military branches of the authority responsible for administration of the colonies. Because they routinely engage in contact, both hostile and friendly (ok, mostly hostile), with the wider galactic community, the Union and the CDF have the most advanced technology. Earth is a backwater by comparison and the Union seems content to keep it that way.

They still need a steady supply of recruits, however, and they have a unique way of acquiring them. Humans who reach the age of 75 are allowed to sign up to the CDF, enticed with the implied, but not quite confirmed promise of a healthy, young body. After their tour, which may be from 2 to 10 years, they may muster out and settle down to live another lifetime as a colonist. They can never return to Earth, but for many, the trade-off is worth it.

Old Man's War was Scalzi's first novel and three more books in the same setting have been released, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony and Zoe's Tale. They promise to reveal more of the motivations of the Colonial Union, which seems to be more than it appears. I will definitely be looking for the rest of the series.

-Rognar-

Avatar...yeah, go see it.

I'm not sure if there's any point to reviewing James Cameron's new blockbuster, since everyone is going to see it. If for no other reason, everyone will want to see what half a billion dollars buys these days. The visual effects are like nothing you have ever seen before. Take the best of The Lord of the Rings and turn it up by an order of magnitude. They are reason enough to see it on the big screen in all its 3D glory. Good thing, because there's not a lot else to recommend it. The characters are rather one dimensional, the tone is preachy and annoying (with an obvious visual shot at the Alberta oilsands) and it was as much fantasy as sci-fi with floating mountains and pseudo-magical effects. Still, Avatar is crystal meth for your eyes. If you don't see it in the theatre, you're missing out, big time.

-Rognar-

What's wrong with game balance? Part 2

While I think that Game balance can go too far. I laughed when I saw this YouTube Video and since the old post was just that, I made a new one.

Linky

What's wrong with game balance?

Spend any time in the "old-school" blogosphere and you will read plenty of reasons why modern versions of D&D are crap. Some criticisms are valid, some seem a tad contrived, but the only one I've seen that really seems completely out in left field is game balance. Apparently game balance is bad. Personally, I would have thought the desirability of game balance would be self-evident, but apparently not. I have strived to understand the argument, although I don't feel I'm there yet. However, I have acquired a few insights, so I thought I would write them down, in hopes that some old-school reader would further enlighten me. Some believe the pursuit of game balance places too much emphasis on combat. This is probably a fair criticism of D&D 4e in which the pursuit of combat balance has introduced a dreary, mechanical sameness to all the classes. For 3.x/Pathfinder, however, I'm just not buying it. The designers of these editions never attempted to make all classes equal in combat. Fighters and their ilk are clearly superior at low levels, while spellcasters (especially arcane spellcasters) have an undeniable advantage at higher levels. Yet, people still play rogues or clerics because they bring other talents to the game that are just as important as combat power. Having said that, few people want to play a character that is useless in combat and few groups want such a character in their party. So, some level of combat effectiveness is essential for all character classes.
Furthermore, the skills and feats in 3.5/Pathfinder make it easy to balance character classes based on criteria other than combat effectiveness. Rogues and rangers, for example, have a lot of skill points, relative to fighters and sorcerers. This makes these classes more versatile. The ranger can track and survive in the wilderness, has finely-honed senses and is fairly stealthy, giving him a lot of capabilities that the more combat-oriented fighter lacks. Likewise, the rogue has many options. He can concentrate on stealth, climbing and acrobatics and be a cat burglar. Alternatively, he can go for opening locks and disabling traps and be more of a safecracker. He can even specialize in forgery and bluff and be a con artist. This level of versatility certainly never existed in AD&D. Every thief had more-or-less the same skills as every other thief of the same level, with only minor racial variations.

-Rognar-

Spelljammer was cool...there, I said it.

For some reason, I've been thinking a lot about Spelljammer lately, that AD&D 2e campaign setting with space-faring orcs and interstellar mind flayers terrorizing the space lanes and battling the elven navy which strives to make the spheres safe for trade and exploration. It never really caught on back in the day and I suspect that's because no one knew quite what to do with it. I loved Spelljammer. The thought of beautiful elven man-o-war ships battling the menacing mind flayer nautiloids was simply awesome. It wasn't all cool, I'll grant you. Space hippos, the Giff, were pretty lame, as were the gnomish sidewheelers (indeed everything gnomish back then sucked, Spelljammer or not). Also, I felt some races, such as ogres and beholders, really had no business taking to the stars. Even the space orcs (Scro, get it, it's orcs backwards...lame) seemed out of place to me. The highly-organized and militaristic hobgoblins seemed a much better fit as the interstellar fascists. It would seem a fairly trivial effort to convert the best bits of Spelljammer to Pathfinder. Maybe the next time I find myself behind the screen, I will incorporate some Spelljammer elements into the game. Hmmmm, let me think....interstellar war between the mind flayers and the elven navy....things not going well for the elves....githyanki pirates....neogi slavers...a ghost ship....yeah, that's the stuff!

-Rognar-

Axis and Allies Minis - Early War list

Finally, the official list for the much anticipated Axis and Allies Miniatures Early War set is posted over at the WotC forums. Here it is:

AUS U Carro Armato M11/39
BEL U Belgium Bicycle Troop
BEL C Belgium Infantry
BEL U Belgium Officer
BEL R T-13B3
FRA C Canon de 75 Modele 1897
FRA R FCM 36
FRA R Morane-Saulnier MS.406
FRA U P107 Half-Track
FRA R Somua S-35
GRE U Greek Cavalry
POL R 7TP
POL U Polish Officer
POL U TKS Ursus Tankette
POL C wz.36 37mm ATG
SA R Marmon Harrington Mk. II AC
SA C South African Infantry
SA R Valentine II
UK C BEF Infantrymen
UK R Cruiser Mk III A13
UK R Matilda II
UK U Morris Reconnaissance Car Mk 2
SOV R BT-5
SOV R MiG-1
SOV U Mongolian Cavalry
SOV C Soviet Conscript
SOV R T-28
SOV U T-38 Light Amphibious Tank
FIN C Finnish Ski Troop
FIN R T-26E
GER R Junkers JU 87B Stuka
GER U Kubelwagen V
GER C Motorized Schutzen
GER U Panzer IB
GER U Panzer II Ausf. F
GER R Panzer III Ausf. F
GER U Panzerjager I
GER R PzKpfw IV Ausf. A
GER U Sd Kfz 2 Motorcycle Half-Track
GER U Sd Kfz 231
ITA U Autoblinda AB 41
ITA C Cannone da 75/27 Modello 11
ITA R Semovente L40 da 47/32
JPN U Japanese Bicycle Troop
JPN U Jungle Spotter
JPN R Nakajima ki-43 "Oscar"
JPN R Type 89B Chi-Ro
JPN C Type 99 LMG
SLO U Motorcycle Recon
SLO R PzKpfw 38(t)

I would have to say the aircraft interest me the most. The early war Stuka, the MS.406, the Oscar and the MiG-1 will all be great additions to the game. Also nice to see them add a couple more Finnish units and the long-awaited Japanese spotter.

As far as reprints go, we're getting another Kubelwagen V (groan), another Morris Reconnaisance Car Mk.2 (groan), another Somua S-35 (may be ok with a better paint job than the last one), another Carro Armato M11/39 (a captured unit used by the Aussies, i.e. cool), a PzKpfw 38(t) (Slovakian, suck it, Czech Republic!) a Sd Kfz 231 (groan), another Matilda II (not Australian, despite the rumour) and another Valentine (South African Valentine II). As far as the Valentine goes, we've had a UK Val I and a Soviet Val VI. They looked like the same sculpt to me, so I'm guessing the South African Val II will be the same. Still, an interesting addition.

-Rognar-

First Thoughts: The Summoner

I am really digging the Summoner but I am rather worried it's just too good. I've only built test builds so far since they released it Monday instead of Friday. Without even looking at the summoner himself the eidolon is very strong. I built one at level 6, 10 and 14 since we usually cap out around 14. All are Quadrupeds

Level 6:
At level 6 he's a real monster. With large size and sinking a few points into more str you can get it up to 28. throw a few more points making the bite better and you get +15 to hit for 2d6+13 damage. Throw Power Attack, vital strike, and Improved natural attack (bite) in there at that is pretty ugly - +13 6d6+19. Only 55 hp but still pretty decent. That's excellent damage against CR6 mobs.

Level 10:
At level 10 the fun begins. Much the same as before but shift a few points from Str to Con, and add the Con poison. His physical stats are now 30/16/21. +20 to hit and 2d6+15 for damage. Again with power attack and Vital strike we have +17 6d6+24. Not a big difference but we now have a nasty poison that does 1d4 con damage every round. Add the ability focus feat and your poison has a DC of 22. Fairly tough for a CR 10 encounter.

Level 14:
At level 14 there is a bit of a problem. While huge size is tempting its often tough to drag a huge pet through a dungeon with you. Which is a shame since a huge critter continued from above is pretty awesome. It is made out of HPs (average 193) and a poison DC of 26. Around this point you start to fight lots of high fort save bad guys and I'm not sure if Poison is still a good way to go. I'm thinking a grappler might be better.

One of the things I dig the most about the Eidolon is you have the option to completely rebuild him every level. You can try out lots of different options to see which is most effective. Its fine to make the eidolon over specialized since its really only half your character and if you encounter a situation where your pet is useless you can just summon something else.

The transposition ability is great. The battlefield tactics it opens up are impressive. I'll probably try building up some humanoid eidolons tommorrow. I suspects that do even more damage.

Two Handed vs Two Weapon Fighting

As I fiddle with my back-up character (the last session came really close to a tpk) I have been investigating the differences between 2 handed and two weapon fighting.

Two Weapon Fighting
Pros: Looks cool. Good for many opponents with no DR and low AC. Exceeds damage of two handed style only at higher levels (14+). Many changes to land crit feats if you are using a high crit range weapon.
Cons: Requires a ton of feats to out perform 2-Handed. Requires both a high dex and high str to be effective. Lower chance to hit and low damage on each swing means DR is a problem. Only decent on a full attack.

Two Handed Fighting
Pros: Only need high str. Works best against 1 or 2 opponents. DR less of a problem. The Vital Strike feats make even attack standard actions good damage. Effective with few feats (Power Attack essential). Higher chance to hit for much bigger damage.
Cons: Large weapons cannot be used in a grapple/confined spaces. Fewer swings mean less chance to land critical hits.

Rippin' on Traveller

It loses steam near the end, but there's some funny stuff in Zack and Steve's latest bit. If you were ever a Traveller fan, some of this will make you laugh out loud.

Traveller art

-Rognar-

The Night the World Walked Home

Ok so this is a gaming block but tonight was just too weird for it not be told somewhere.

Here is the breakdown of events:
16:30. Cold, Snowy. Windy. Buses backed up downtown. Wanting to catch the bus that will drop me off right at my door I began walking along the route looking for the 109.

16:45. I have walked about 4 or 5 blocks. The buses are not moving and I am getting cold so I hop on the first bus that will drop me off near my house. The 116. I brush the snow off myself and pop open my book.

17:30. The bus finally leaves the downtown core area going north on center street. Keep in mind I usually get home between 17:15 and 17:25. I am not too worried as this has happened before when they were doing some bridge work. Back then once we had left the core it was smooth sailing.

18:00. We have gotten as far as 16th avenue. For those of you that don't know Calgary, this is about a 15 minute walk from where we were 30 minutes ago. Traffic is not moving.

18:30. I have by this point read over 100 pages of my book and taken a 15 minute nap. The roads are literally ice. Cars are sliding everywhere and emergency vehicles are struggling to get by. Accidents are everywhere. We've passed two abandoned buses and there are lots of people on the side walks. The bus is roasting hot and has only moved a couple car lengths in the last 10 minutes. 4 of us at the back of the bus have had enough. One woman's husband tried to come get but discovered that the roads have been blocked off by the cops. There will be no rescue. We decide to walk.

I used to be a big runner and am built for it. Tall and thin. I do lots of walking and my pace is very fast. My wife hates hiking with me. I quickly lost the 4th person but the other 3 of us made good time as we marched north. Luckily the snow had stopped and it was actually quite nice out although still a bit cool.

19:00(approx.) We discover the source of the trouble. There is a big hill just before McKnight Blvd. Every single bus that had left the downtown area after 4pm was pulled over on the side of the road. None were moving. cars were smashed into each other and nothing was getting through. Why hadn't anyone told us this? We were now glad that we had decided to walk. It would be many many hours before any of the buses were going anywhere. There is a steady stream of people walking north. A few going south as well.

19:30(approx.) We run into another group of refugees, err I mean walkers. The guy I am walking with knows one of the women in the other group and stays to chat. The woman and I carry on.

20:00 We reach Beddington and the roads are now open. The woman calls her husband for a pick up (she lives in Coventry, the community north of where I live) and thanks me for walking her this far. She offers me a ride home but I decline. I can can catch a bus here to take me home but I decide to finish what I started. The night is lovely and I feel alive. The other walkers seem strangely content as well. I pick up the pace.

20:45 I get home. I even stopped at the liquor store near my house to pick up some Rum. I've had a carton of Eggnog for a week and it was getting lonely with out its wild and crazy pal.

So for some perspective I live just north of 96 Ave and I got off the bus around 30th Ave so I walked almost 70 city blocks in about 2 hours. Crazy fast. Extrapolating that out I estimate I could walk to work in about 3 hours. I think the total distance is 12-13km. Interesting since I had guessed that it would have taken 4+ hours before.

Anyway. I had a great walk home, met some interesting people, got lots of exorcise and got lots of fresh air. So despite all of the traffic misery I had a nice evening.

Not that I wish to repeat it anytime soon.

Oh Mongoose, I can't stay mad at you

Was it all a big understanding? Maybe. Anyway, Matthew Sprange has apologized:

Deepest apologies for that, it wasnt meant how it sounds (Canada is one of the places RPG publishers print if they don't go to China - only reason it was mentioned). The offending line has been removed.

We like Canada at Mongoose. We all want to live there. One of us does!

Ok, we're cool.

-Rognar-

Screw you, Mongoose!

In his annual State of the Mongoose address, Matthew Sprange threw in this little nugget of economic nationalism:

We also made a promise this year that we would only be printing books in the US – not China, not Thailand, not even Canada, but the good old US of A.

Which has since been changed to:

We also made a promise this year that we would only be printing books in the US. Mongoose is part American, with offices and our main warehouse situated in Ohio and in these times of economic woe, we wanted to do ‘our bit’ to keep our own nations going, rather than feeding the Tiger Economies.

Cowards.

In truth, I didn't know Mongoose even printed books in Canada and had they not decided to pump up the "America First" crowd, I would likely have remained none the wiser. But they did, so screw you, Mongoose! I will continue to not buy any of your products, especially since you lost the distribution rights to CthulhuTech.

-Rognar-

Rejoice! The embargo is lifted.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but there hasn't been many updates to the new releases page of the Sentry Box website this month. Before today, no new rpg products had been received since Nov.2. WotC, Catalyst, Paizo and Mongoose had all been "no shows" until today. Finally, someone has run the blockade and delivered our much-needed game supplies to us. At last, I can get my copy of Scavenger's Guide to Droids...and maybe a copy of Poo: The Card Game.

-Rognar-

The seal is broken.

I love cool miniatures and I am an obssessive collector. The only way I can resist throwing myself into the many awesome minis out there is to never start buying anything. Sometimes sticker shock is enough to keep me at bay. This is why I never leapt into Warhammer. Other times, it requires sheer force of will. Most of the time, my interest fades over time or the quality of the product becomes so atrocious, I just can't justify the expense anymore (talking to you, WotC). But there is always a shiny new hotness from which I just can't stay away. And so, I come to AT-43 (You bastards!). I did it. I walked through the door. I broke the seal. Rackham did what Games Workshop and Wiz Kids could not. They hooked me. May God have mercy on my soul.

-Rognar-

Magic item creation in D&D and other strangeness...

The manufacture and trade of magic items in D&D has always been problematic for designers of the game, at least it appears so to me. In 1e/2e AD&D, the demands that had to be met to make magic items made them prohibitive. XP expenditures and permanency spells ensured that no PC would ever make a magic item. In the two decades that I played these editions, not once did I ever see a single magic item produced. As a DM, this was troubling for me. After all, I had to assume the same disincentives that apply to PC magic-users would also work on NPCs. Aside from the XP costs, which no red-blooded adventuring spellcaster would tolerate, magic-users and clerics have a virtual monopoly on magical power in a world where magic items are scarce. Why would they jeopardize that priviledged position? True, there would be exceptions. Liches, for instance, have all the time in the world. They could probably find time in their busy schedules to forge a few magic blades for use by their minions. Also, there would likely be a few potent items created at the behest of powerful nobles who have the authority to demand such items from their magic-wielding courtiers. However, this doesn't seem to be enough supply to furnish the multitude of +1 longswords circulating within most D&D campaign worlds.

D&D 3.5 included a somewhat more complete set of rules for magic item creation. Some items, such as scrolls and potions, could be created by low-level spellcasters and the XP costs for such items was low enough to entice at least some non-adventuring NPCs to give it a try. The permanency spell requirement for permanent magic items was dropped, however XP costs were still involved and the same disincentive was there. Supply should still be miniscule in comparison to demand. Further adding to the problem was the weird D&D economics of magic items. It costs half the list price of a magic item to make it and you get half the list price of a magic item when you sell it. So, there is literally no profit margin at all and no compensation whatsoever for the days or weeks it takes to make magic items. Obviously, a DM who wants some sort of commerce in magic items could step in and rationalize the magic item economy, but a game that has such clear and complete rules on so many other aspects of adventuring life seems to have a curious blindspot as far as the magic economy is concerned.

Pathfinder made some progress in making sense of the magic item creation system. The biggest and most far-reaching change is the eradication of the XP cost. I have seen more magic item creation in the last year as we started playing Pathfinder than in my previous quarter-century of playing D&D. The availability of magic items for purchase has also been tackled. In D&D 3.5, it was a free-for-all. Adventurers would return from their dungeon crawls loaded down with perfectly suitable magic items, but knowing they could buy any item they wanted at Ye Olde Magick Shoppe, they would happily liquidate their massive hauls to get that +2 flaming burst keen greatsword for which they'd been pining. Those days are past. The availability of powerful magic items for sale on the open market has been dramatically reduced. If a character wants a particular item, he must acquire it through adventuring, commission its construction from a willing spellcaster or make it himself. And make it, we do. Now we happily liquidate our massive hauls in order to buy the raw materials needed to make the items we want. Item creation feats, once seen as pointless rule bloat, are now highly desirable. Still, the irrational economics of the magic item trade have not been abandoned. It is still not possible to make a living making magic items. Maybe in some future Pathfinder supplement, they will finally correct this oversight.

-Rognar-

Pathfinder campaign - moral crisis grips the team

Our new campaign is heating up. We have Damius, the sorcerer with a taint on his soul, Alphonso, the pure-hearted paladin with a strange past, Haer, the bard on a slippery slope of moral decay, Shadowstalker, the elven ranger who is drawn to human cities as a moth to a flame and Mugden, the brooding cleric of the god of death. We find ourselves entangled with a nascent rebel movement in the decaying city of Westcrown, former capital of Cheliax, the empire of devils.

So here we are, facing the first internal crisis in our new campaign. We have uncovered an amulet, which our paladin has determined to be some sort of evil magic item. Our "morally-flexible" bard has informed us that the item is a "brain cylinder", a device which stores a human mind. He goes on to tell us that the mind is probably imprisoned and that there is a way to free it. The sorcerer, no genius to be sure, wants to destroy the item, figuring the trapped mind will simply move on to its just reward. Although the sorcerer has little reason to trust him, the bard is almost supernaturally persuasive and no one else has any means of verifying the bard's conclusion. The bard seeks to take the item for a couple of days so as to facilitate his intentions for it, whatever they may ultimately be and no one can come up with a suitable justification to argue otherwise. Is this the start of the eventual unravelling of the group? We shall see.

-Rognar-

What am I reading? The Black Company

This book lived up to its reputation and I quite enjoyed it. Unlike most of the books sitting in my "To be Read" pile this one doesn't clock in at over 700 pages but a much more manageable 320. I love reading big books but I've noticed a tend that fantasy books are increasing in length. 300 pages is a good size, I don't want to read a monster each time.
The book is written from the point of view of a single character which seemed a bit odd at first but I got used to it pretty quickly and it works well. I knew something of the plot going in and elements that I expected to be a bit cheesy worked just fine for me - even the silly wizard duels. All of the characters are painted in lovely shades of grey. Even the "good guys" in this book are black hearted villains. The only character that can be described as an innocent has a future foreshadowed. This future will obviously play a big role in future books and it will be interesting to see what the future holds for them.
I've got work to do so I'm just going to sum it up by saying that I really enjoyed it and look forward to borrowing the rest of the series.

Power to the Droids

Next Tuesday, the Scavenger's Guide to Droids makes its long-awaited debut and if early reviews over at the SWSE forums are any indication, it has the potential to be one of the best supplements yet. Droid characters are getting a complete overhaul. Different droid types, like astromech droids, medical droids, battle droids, are being presented as races. This sounds interesting. In the past, droid statblocks included a statement as playable or non-playable. It tended to be rather arbitrary and not always very intuitive. I don't know how the new rules will play out, but the thought of playing a droideka (previously verboten) will be sure to excite every red-blooded Star Wars fan. Sentry Box, here I come.

-Rognar-

By the way, fan support from WotC for the Star Wars RPG is reaching new lows. Less than a week before a new release and there is still no mention of this product on the website, except from fans in the forums. Fans have to get their info from Amazon.com. I'm beginning to think rather than seeing a new edition of the game next year, they may simply stop publishing new products, the d20 Modern model of product line support.

Lest we forget...

Heartfelt thank you to all Canadian servicemen and servicewomen, past and present, who sacrifice so much for the freedoms we enjoy. You are all heroes.

-Rognar-

New Pathfinder playtests coming soon!

Oh happy day, new Pathfinder character classes are being revealed by Paizo for playtesting. The cavalier and the oracle start on Friday, followed later by the summoner, witch, alchemist and inquisitor. I'm as giddy as a schoolgirl.

-Rognar-

Another "New School" myth

Wouldn't you know it, just when I start talking about what I consider to be misconceptions about modern versions of D&D within the "old school" community, the Grand Poobah of that community, James Maliszewski of Grognardia, starts talking ability scores and what role they should play in D&D. I have never played the original game called D&D. In fact, I have never even seen a copy in person (although I've heard there is a complete set in the special collections of the Miskatonic University library). So imagine my surprise to learn that once upon a time, Str meant nothing in the game. That's right, if Conan the Barbarian and Wesley Crusher both whacked you with a sword in OD&D, the result would be the same. Now, JM has some issues with OD&D and ability scores (though oddly not with the aforementioned), but he doesn't want ability score benefits to dominate level benefits as he apparently believes to be the case with newer editions of D&D. I will concede, this was the case to some extent with AD&D, although I don't personally take issue with fighters having exceptional strength benefits other classes don't. Still, this discrimination has been addressed to a significant degree in 3.5/Pathfinder, both through the use of multiclassing and feats. For example, you have a wizard and you want him to be a passable swordsman. Obviously, he won't be on par with a dedicated fighter of similar level, but that doesn't mean he can't hold his own against a few orcs. He can take a level of fighter. It costs him a bit in terms of casting ability, but he gains proficiency with a whole slew of weapons. Maybe he's not very strong, but maybe he has a high Dex. Ok, take the weapon finesse feat and use a light weapon such as a short sword or rapier. Voila! Now he can use his Dex bonus instead of this Str bonus on attack rolls. Of course, I haven't even touched on the spells the wizard has at his disposal to improve his combat prowess, such as bull's strength, cat's grace, heroism, haste and rage. With so many options, there is virtually no character concept that can't be accommodated using the 3.5/Pathfinder ruleset.

-Rognar-

"New School" myths

The tabletop RPG blogosphere seems to be dominated by proponents of "old school" gaming. I have a theory about this. First of all, WotC and Paizo provide online forums for fans of 4e and 3.5/Pathfinder respectively, thus diminishing the need for fan sites to provide that sense of community. Secondly, the demographic of old-school fans is probably older than the average of the rpg community and in the age of Twitter and Facebook, weblogs are probably seen as a bit old-fashioned. Younger gamers probably prefer these more up-to-date social networking options.

Now, since I am a "new school" greybeard, I have a foot in both worlds. I like to read what the old-timers have to say (cuz I was there, man!), but the games themselves have limited appeal. I'm a bit of a power gamer. I freely admit it and I don't apologize for it. Old school gaming just doesn't offer the cornucopia of chargen options that I can get with 3.5/Pathfinder and there is nothing a power gamer loves more than character options. Now, I don't begrudge the old-school folks their preferences, but I have noticed some misconceptions circulating within their community that may be colouring their opinions. I don't seek to change anyone's mind, I'm just telling it like it is.

First off, not putting any ranks into a particular skill doesn't mean you can't use said skill. There are exceptions (mainly knowledge skills), but most skills, such as Swim, Climb, Stealth, Bluff, Intimidate and Diplomacy, can be used untrained. Of course, an untrained character will be less skilled than a trained one, but that is how it works in the real world, so why should it be any different in the game world? Also, being required to use a skill untrained encourages creativity on the part of the character because they will seek out ways to improve their chances of success. For example, someone untrained in Diplomacy might offer a gift or favour to an NPC in hopes that will improve his chance of success. Another character unskilled in Climb will make a habit of carrying around a knotted rope or a hammer and spikes.

Another criticism I read recently is that characters cannot be generated on the fly. Now it's true that guys like me spend a fair amount of time on character generation, but that's because it's fun and challenging, not because it's necessary. It is entirely possible for a veteran player to create a character in 5 or 10 minutes, after making a couple of decisions on your character concept. For example, I want to create a 5th level melee fighter. Okay, first is ability scores. In 3.5/Pathfinder, there are several options for generating ability scores, but your DM has already made that decision. If he makes you roll them, then roll. It's the same as older versions of D&D. On the other hand, if he wants a point buy system (which is what we use), chances are you've already got a favourite set of numbers. 20 point buy? I like 16,14,12,12,11,10. The 16 goes on Str, the 14 on Con, the 12s on Dex and Wis and the 10 and 11 on Int and Cha. Saves and attack bonuses take a few seconds to look up. Feats may seem daunting, but after playing the game for awhile, you learn which ones are worth it and which ones aren't. I give my fighter weapon focus, power attack, cleave, weapon specialization, iron will, toughness and blind-fight. Are these the feats I would select if I spent more time on the character? Not necessarily, but they are commonly known to be good choices for my character concept, so they can be chosen quickly. Skills are easy, since fighters have few skill points and few choices anyway. I'll take Climb, Swim and Intimidate, maximum ranks. All I have left to do is equip my character. Sure, this part takes a bit of time, but it takes time in every version of D&D I've ever played. Of course, spellcasters will need a bit more time, due to spell selection, but again, this is no different from older versions of D&D.

-Rognar-

The doom that came to White Wolf

Wow, I had no idea White Wolf had fallen so far. Using terms like "imprint" and "legacy business" to describe a company that was, at one time, a serious competitor for WotC/TSR is stunning. While it's sad to see any tabletop rpg publisher fall on hard times, I have absolutely no attachment to White Wolf at all. I'm just glad it didn't happen to a company that makes products I care about, like Paizo or Catalyst Game Labs.

-Rognar-

"Defiance" has finally dawned

I first took notice of the Dawn of Defiance adventure path on the Star Wars Saga Edition website back in March '08. At the time, the first three installments were already available and I seriously considered running the campaign at that time under the ridiculous notion that future installments would be released at reasonable intervals. It's a good thing I didn't since the 10th and final installment only just became available a couple of weeks ago. Considering how quickly we ran through Age of Worms last year, we would have spent a lot of time twiddling our thumbs if we went through DoD instead.

-Rognar-

Edit: Obiri set me straight. It's been over two years since we finished AoW. When you reach my advanced age, it's hard to keep these things straight. All events since the Battle of Waterloo seem like they just happened yesterday.

Rippin' on Warhammer 40k, pt.3

The second half of Zack and Steve's beatdown of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader.

-Rognar-

Blast from the past - Star Frontiers

From 1981, when I first started playing D&D, until 1989, when I went away to grad school and became exposed to a wider world of RPGs, there was basically only one game publisher for me. Despite a brief dalliance with the Space Opera game by Fantasy Games Unlimited, I was a tried-and-true TSR fan. AD&D was our game of choice, but we did try some other TSR products, namely Gamma World and Star Frontiers. The former seemed a bit silly to me and my gaming buddies and we quickly shelved it, but the latter was a frequent diversion from our usual weekend AD&D game.

First published in 1982, the original boxed set, called Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn consisted of a 60 pg. rulebook and the complete module, SF0: Crash on Volturnus. Despite its small package, the original game is remarkably complete, with an elegant ruleset. It lacked rules for spaceships and ship-to-ship combat, but those would be introduced the following year in the Star Frontiers Knight Hawks boxed set.

There were four player races in the original Star Frontiers game, Humans, amorphous Dralasites, insectoid Vrusk and simian Yazirians. These races have seen a recent resurrection in the d20 Future supplement to the d20 Modern game from WotC. A fifth NPC race, the vermiform Sathar, represent the main villains in the game. The game uses a percentile, skill-based system. There are 13 skills, divided into three primary skill areas (PSAs). The skills are as follows:

Military PSA
beam weapons
gyrojet weapons
melee weapons
projectile weapons
thrown weapons
demolitions
martial arts

Technical PSA
computers
robotics
technician

Biosocial PSA
Environmental
Medical
Psycho-Social

Players would choose a PSA for their character, which would allow for more rapid advancement in the associated skills..

There are 8 abilities in the game which are generated in pairs. For example, strength and stamina are rolled together, although after that first stage, they can be advanced individually. The other ability pairs are dexterity and reaction speed, intuition and logic and personality and leadership.

Besides skills and abilities, XPs can also be spent on special abilities of the alien races. For example, Dralasites have the ability to detect lies and XPs can be spent to improve that.

In 1985, the game underwent a radical reboot with the publication of Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space. It changed the rules quite dramatically and introduced several new player character races. Unfortunately, two more books were in the works, but never got published and so, the new version of the game was never completed. Thus, diehard fans of the game insist, the original Star Frontiers is the real Star Frontiers.

-Rognar-

Five for fighting

Several iconic monsters from D&D 3.5 have undergone significant revisions in the Pathfinder Bestiary. Here are the top five:

5. Outsiders - There have been lots of changes to the various classifications of outsiders, although the capabilities of most of them seem relatively unchanged. The terms baatezu and tanar'ri have been abandoned, thus removing the last vestiges of the demon/devil controversy. Kytons (chain devils), which weren't true devils anyway, have now been removed from the ranks of devilry completely and given their own entry. The celestials have also undergone a reorganization. The eladrins have been renamed as azata and lillends have been added to that group, along with the ghaeles and the bralanis, while guardinals seem to have disappeared completely. Perhaps the latter will reappear in later books (assuming anybody cares).

4. Drow - There are now two flavours of Drow, the garden-variety dark elves and the new and improved Drow Nobles. The latter possess all the abilities of standard drow, but enjoy higher spell resistance and greater attribute bonuses. They also have more spell-like abilities.

3. Zombies - Are you bored with plain old zombies? Now there are fast zombies and plague zombies to raise the tension level.

2. Dragons - The most iconic of all D&D monsters have been pumped up with a bunch of new abilities. For example, ancient blue dragons can use their breath weapon to create lightning storms, while old black dragons develop an acidic bite.

1. Tarrasque - From its very earliest AD&D days, the tarrasque has been the ultimate monster, nearly impossible to kill. Well now, that line from nearly impossible to just plain impossible has been crossed. There is no known way to kill a tarrasque.

-Rognar-

The latest purchase from my FLGS, pt.7

After the disappointment I felt towards Damnation View, the most recent sourcebook of the CthulhuTech game, my enthusiasm for future releases was greatly diminished. Happily, I didn't give up on the game because I am pleased with the new book, Mortal Remains. The new release is much more like a traditional sourcebook than Damnation View. It has tons of useful information and crunchy goodness. By far, the best part is the large section on all things Migou. There are new mechs, new weapons, new magic and rules for creating Migou characters for people who really want an intense role-playing experience. There is also lots of interesting fluff on Migou life, history and motivations. All told, there are about 45 pages dedicated to the Migou. This is good, since the rest of the book, which contains large, fluffy sections on the New Earth Government and the Nazzadi, is pretty weak. Oddly, the adventures which made up the bulk of Damnation View, are almost completely absent in Mortal Remains. Only about ten pages at the back of the book are dedicated to adventure hooks and there are no full adventures at all.

-Rognar-

OT: Halloween was less busy than past years, as one would expect because of the swine flu. We tried a couple of times to get our yard apes vaccinated, but the queues were just too damned long. This whole vaccination program has been a massive clusterf*ck!

What am I reading? Gardens of the Moon

I've been seeing Erikson's books in the stores for years and most seem to have pretty cool looking covers. I was over at a friends house a week ago and we were talking books. Gardens of the moon was one that caught my attention and he mentioned that he'd never been able to finish it, although he got about 80% through it. Well I did get through it and here what I have to say about it.

This is a very ambitious novel. It doesn't take long to see what the author has planned. He sets up 5 or 6 different plots and then runs them into each other at high speeds for an explosive finale. This is both good and bad. A good element is that it builds great tension. After a while you can see how the plots are going to come together but how its going to end is anyone's guess.

There are however, a lot of things wrong with this though some of it can be blamed on the authors style. Each plot have several main characters, many of which are somewhat similar to each other making tracking what's going on very difficult.

Another fault of the author is that he explains very little. There is a ton of history and background for this setting and very little of it is explained. The magic system is rather unique and very complicated.

I kept wondering if it really was the first in the series. It felt more like a third or fourth book where the setting, background and any unique features to it had already been explained.

This book is over flowing with cool ideas but organized in a way that makes many of the incomprehensible and meaningless. New characters keep getting introduced before you've managed to get the current ones straight. The characters are interesting but there are too many of them. They often have diametrically opposed goals and its hard to figure out who to cheer for.

I liked most of the mundane characters and their mundane plot lines. I can follow the bits about revenge, love and duty. Where I got lost is when he starts talking about magic, gods, soul shifted insane puppets, and ancient monsters.

Overall, I have to say I'm disappointed. After a huge buildup parts of the climax failed to deliver. Too much of the book didn't work for me and unless someone comes along and tells me its gets better I'm not sure I will continue with the series. I liked the war theme but there was just too much left unexplained for me to continue.

The latest purchase from my FLGS, pt.6

Today is my birthday, a characteristic I evidently share with James "Grognardia" Maliszewski (although I am 4 years older). It is unlikely JM reads this blog (or is even aware of it), but if you are reading James, Happy Birthday! Anyway, as if on cue, the much-awaited Pathfinder Bestiary arrived at my FLGS this very day. Grasping a handful of shekels generously provided by my family for this very purpose, I headed downtown and bought myself a copy. The Pathfinder Bestiary delivers everything we've come to expect from Paizo. The artwork is, for the most part, top-rate and in some cases, truly outstanding. All the important monsters are presented, except for the well-known non-OGL creations like the beholder and the mind flayer. There are some surprises. Some monsters have undergone significant changes in appearance (the troll being the most significant) or design (the ogre mage is now an oni, a type of outsider). There are also a few new monsters. One in particular had me picking my jaw up off the floor, that being the SHOGGOTH! Holy crap! An iconic Cthulhu Mythos monster is in there. My first question is, "How did that happen?" Chaosium is notoriously protective of its rights to the Mythos. Did this just slip past or is it indicative of some sort of arrangement that may allow future Mythos entries into the Pathfinder campaign setting? You cannot imagine my excitement if it turns out to be the latter.

I do have a couple of minor complaints. There is precious little in there on playing monstrous races such as gnolls as PCs. This is certainly something that can be adapted from D&D 3.5, but it does some odd that the designers don't seem to feel this is a priority for players. The other obvious omission is advancement guidelines for monsters. Again, this is easily adapted from 3.5, but I don't understand the reason for leaving it out. Still, despite these minor issues, the Pathfinder Bestiary is excellent. Go out and buy it.

-Rognar-

One more thing, the medusa is hotter than the succubus. That just ain't right. Also, dryads apparently now wear Prada.

Edit: Upon further reading, I see that monster advancement rules are to be found in the appendices and they seem pretty similar to those in D&D 3.5.

Nooo. Not THAC0

So I tossed out the idea of running a PbP to my gaming buddies a couple weeks ago. Something to fill up the 13 or so days between our regular play sessions. Originally I had an idea of what I was going to do but as I started to plan it out and looked through some of my resources I decided on something a bit different.

Anywho, I planned to run it with the Pathfinder rules. With no battle mat nor miniatures, combat was going to be somewhat subjective to my whims as DM. Rognar suggested that I might look into something more rules lite like Labyrinth Lord or any of the other first edition clones.

I like free so I downloaded a copy of Labyrinth Lord and looked through it. It was very much like my much beloved Red and Blue boxed sets from so long ago. With a bit of work I could run the PbP with these rules.

Now the point of this post is that possibly changing the rules has got me thinking how it would change the game. The initial plot hook wouldn't change. Since the path to the "dungeon" was going to be largely role playing based, I don't see this part changing much either. The biggest change I can see is some of the cool encounters I had been dreaming up. With no grapple rules, one of my custom beasties won't be nearly as scary (although I think I can still make it work). With no skill rules, I am going to have put more thought into how the PCs can overcome certain obstacles that they are almost assuredly going to encounter.

I don't think the NPCs will change drastically. Sure the stat blocks would have little in common but since I haven't created any of them yet no loss there.

It would be interesting to run a 1st edition game. It has probably almost 20 years since I have. Who knows, with fewer rules and systems to deal with it might even improve the PbP experience.

I have just realized that THAC0 is a second edition term but the mechanic would still work in first edition so I am leaving the post title alone.

Kobold Quarterly, it's no Dragon

I have had an on-again, off-again relationship with Dragon magazine since the early 80s. I would subscribe for a couple of years, let my subscription lapse, forget about it for a few years, then notice a glossy new issue at my FLGS and re-subscribe. I held a subscription when WotC pulled the license from Paizo and went digital. That's when we parted company for good. I don't like to read stuff online and I wasn't switching to 4e anyway, so Dragon had nothing more to offer me. I still like a little light gaming read when I'm in the bathroom or lying in bed late at night, so I picked up Kobold Quarterly 10 last week to give it a look. It's certainly not as colourful or well-illustrated as Dragon and being a quarterly, rather than a monthly publication means it would never be able to satisfy all my light reading needs, but I felt I'd give it a try. Sadly, I found, upon perusal, that KQ is trying to be all things to all people. It covers D&D 3.x and 4 as well as Pathfinder. From what I can tell, the decision to include 4e is a recent one and not a very popular one either. Given that WotC already has a house organ for 4e, I can understand 3.x fans would be upset that KQ has decided to include articles for the new edition. In any case, I gave them a try, but I have no desire to pay for 4e content. Kobold Quarterly will not become my new Dragon.

-Rognar-

Eclipse Phase chargen - third stage

As noted in the previous post, Ravel is sleeved in an Exalt morph. Basically, he is a genetically-modified human. His morph gives him +5 COG as well as +5 in three other aptitudes chosen by the player. I will increase his SAV, REF and COO by +5 each. All skills based on the improved aptitudes are also increased by +5. As an aside, it is helpful to keep track of what aptitude and skill bonuses you received from your morph, since at a later time you may be resleeved into another morph which may provide different bonuses.

Ravel has a total of 270 Rep points (50 for free, 220 purchased with CPs) to divide up among his reputation networks. He divides them up as follows:

Hypercorps (c-Rep) 80
Autonomists (@-Rep) 80
Firewall (i-Rep) 80
Criminal (g-Rep) 30

At this point, all that remains is to purchase equipment, including upgrades to the morph.

-Rognar-

Eclipse Phase chargen - second stage

Characters get 1000 customization points (CPs) to spend on skills and other character aspects, such as morph, starting wealth and reputation. A minimum of 400 must be spent on active skills and 300 on knowledge skills, but I will spend 500 on active skills. Skills can be bought up at a cost of 1 CP per point up to 60 and 2 CP per point from 61 to 80 (the starting maximum). The base level for each skill is the relevent aptitude plus any bonuses derived from background and morph. So, from the list of active skills, 500 CPs buys the following:

Networking: Hypercorps 70
Networking: Autonomists 60
Networking: Firewall 60
Networking: Criminals 40
Persuasion 70
Infosec 65
Infiltration 65
Interfacing 60
Pilot: groundcraft 40
Fray 45
Perception 80
Freefall 30
Freerunning 30
Investigation 70
Protocol 30
Beam weapons 30
Kinetic weapons 30

From this, you can see Ravel places a high priority on interpersonal skills. In particular, his networking and persuasion skills are quite impressive. He's also quite skilled at dealing with information systems and computer security and is a very perceptive person. On the other hand, his combat skills are not impressive, so he tends to keep his head down when the bullets start flying.

From the list of knowledge skills, the following:

Language: English 85 (native speaker)
Language: Mandarin 70
Language: Russian 50
Art: writing 50
Academics: computer science 60
Academics: cryptography 50
Academics: psychology 60
Academics: mathematics 45
Profession: security ops 50

Ravel is a native English-speaker, although his Mandarin is nearly flawless and he's quite fluent in Russian. He also has a background in several fields related to his professional competencies and he dabbles in a bit of creative writing from time to time.

I spend the remaining 200 CPs as follows:

Morph:
Exalt (30 CPs)

Positive Traits:
Adaptability (20 CPs)
Fast Learner (10 CPs)
First Impression (10 CPs)
Situational Awareness (10 CPs)

220 Rep points (22 CPs)

5 Moxie points (75 CPs)

23,000 credits (23 CPs)

-Rognar-

Eclipse Phase chargen - first stage

Character generation in Eclipse Phase is no trivial undertaking, so it is fortunate that character death is rarely permanent. Throwing together a character on the fly is simply not an option. I decided to share my first chargen experience to illustrate the process.

The character's name is Ravel Pasternak, he is a spy working on behalf of Extropian interests in a Hypercorp city-state on Mars. He is also an agent of Firewall.

The first step is selection of a background. I have chosen to make Ravel a native-born Martian. This gives him a +10 Pilot: Groundcraft, +20 Networking: Hypercorps and +10 to any technical, academic or profession skill. I chose Infosec. As stated previously, Ravel serves the Extropian faction, which gives +10 Persuasion, +10 Networking: Hypercorps and +10 Networking: Autonomists.

The next step, I have 105 points to divide up among 7 aptitudes, which are cognition (COG), coordination (COO), intuition (INT), reflexes (REF), savvy (SAV), somatics (SOM) and willpower (WIL). The default for each is 15 points, but Ravel is involved in information gathering, so he needs an edge in interpersonal skills and information technology. I make his SAV and COG 20 each. As a trade off, I drop his COO and REF by 5 each. He's not quite as naturally agile and dextrous as the average transhuman, but he will be able to compensate with his skill selection and benefits derived from his morph.

My base aptitude scores are: COG 20, COO 10, INT 15, REF 10, SAV 20, SOM 15, WIL 15.

-Rognar-

Rippin' on Warhammer 40k, pt.2

With the recent release of Rogue Trader RPG by Fantasy Flight Games, it's appropriate that Zack and Steve should turn their attention to the original Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader.

-Rognar-

So, what's on your iPod?, pt.4

The late 70s/early 80s was a very influential time for me. My life-long tabletop rpg addiction began then, as did my love for British metal. Bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Motorhead still dominate my music collection. The thing was, back then everyone liked those bands. That's why I had a special place in my heart for Saxon. It wouldn't be fair to say nobody was listening to Saxon back then, but among my circle of friends and acquaintances, I was the only one who really knew the band. So, I was especially saddened when Saxon started to decline in the mid-80s. Like with rpgs, golden age cool was giving way to silver age suck, eventually giving us grunge and "storytelling" games (my apologies to Nirvana and/or White Wolf fans but I'm old, so get off my lawn). Imagine my sheer, untarnished joy when Saxon came out with a truly great album in 2007! The Inner Sanctum is a return to the awesome sound of early Brit metal and to my youth.

-Rognar-

Yo, West End Games, what up?

The glorious resurrection of West End Games was the talk of the gaming world a few months ago. They had a shiny new product called Septimus, even including softcover print copies for sale at GenCon. They had a new business model, the Opend6 project. They started releasing old d6 products as free pdf downloads. It seems now, however, all that momentum has melted away. If you want a dead tree copy of Septimus, you have to order one of the softcover copies left over from GenCon, since the hardcover version intended for retail still hasn't shipped. The Opend6 website still hasn't been activated and some of the d6 products intended to be released for free have not yet been made available.

Regarding Septimus, it is a game setting that fills the same niche as Eclipse Phase by Catalyst Game Labs (an awesome game with an awesome setting) and Fadings Suns by RedBrick and Holistic Design (a mediocre game with an awesome setting) as well as games like CthulhuTech, Dark Heresy and Traveller to a lesser extent. Suffice to say, there is some stiff competition out there. WEG can't afford to be perceived as a fly-by-night operation.

Oh, one more thing. Please WEG, do something about the website. Your average cat blog looks better.

-Rognar-

Gaming makes you think

I am simultaneously working on the perfect combination of options to build a potent fighting mage and pondering how technology will impact human evolution in the future (yeah, slow day at work). What other hobby demands such mental flexibility? Be proud, brothers!

-Rognar-

Random Thoughts on Transhumanism

I recently bought a dead tree copy of Eclipse Phase and it has gotten me to thinking about the future more than any game purchase I've ever made. The basic premise of the game is the concept of transhumanism, the use of technology to advance the human mind and body. In the game, the mind (called the "ego") is decoupled from the body. The ego can be stored, uploaded and transmitted at will. The body is little more than a mobile storage device. If the body dies, it can be replaced. The body doesn't even have to be flesh and bone, it can be robotic. It can even be a nanoswarm. This concept raises a lot of questions about identity and social constructs. It is just a game, of course, so certain assumptions are made for the sake of playability, but it is thought-provoking.

One thing I have been pondering is the question of sanity. How would a human mind deal with being "resleeved" (the game term for being downloaded into a new body or "morph") into a synthetic body? Would it drive that mind insane? Is it even possible for a consciousness stored in a synthetic matrix to be afflicted by mental disorders? After all, brain chemistry is often at the root of most mental disorders. How would an ego perceive the world differently in a digital versus an organic form? I guess the designers of synthetic brains would have to recreate the human brain to a very high level, even to the point of producing electronic analogs of serotonin, dopamine and other brain chemicals that affect how the mind perceives the world.

Speaking of perception, what about human senses? Do all humans perceive a particular shade of blue the same way? Presumably, we could measure the frequency of the electrical impulses moving along the optic nerve when a person is looking at a particular colour and then reproduce it in a synthetic system, but do all human minds interpret that particular frequency the same way? Does it even matter, as long as the frequency is the same? What about more exotic morphs such as nanoswarms? It's hard to imagine being able to recreate human sensory input in such a radically different physical form.

-Rognar-

Still more on the "Gish"

Derobane-bane offered up quite a comment to my most recent post on this subject (perhaps it should have been a new post). I will endeavor to address some of his points. First of all, there is this:

I'm not sure if one could make a 'gish' as effective (in terms of game combat mechanics)as Vendalin in Pathfinder. 3.5 was pretty easy to manipulate with all the extra sources out there. Still, I'm sure that one could make a PC that is almost as awesome as a fighter and spellcaster of equal level, given enough time and thought.

There is something to consider about Pathfinder that is different from D&D 3.5 which tends to work in favour of the gish concept at the expense of straight up melee classes and that is the relative availability of magic items for purchase. In Pathfinder, the maximum value of items available for purchase in a metropolis is 16,000 gp. That is equivalent to a +4 armour bonus before adding in the cost of the armour itself. Therefore, high-level fighters will have to find their magic weapons and armour in the treasure hoards of defeated foes or cajole their spellcasting comrades to make them. For this reason, I think the fighter with the +5 full plate, +5 heavy shield, +5 ring of protection and +5 amulet of natural armour is probably a thing of the past. So, the difference in AC between a gish and a fighter of equal level will probably not be as great. Of course, the fighter will still have a ton of hps, but he also has that low Will save and as we all know, smart opponents will always try to charm or dominate the enemy meat shield.

Another issue in gish creation is which sort of arcane spellcaster to chose. I have gone with sorcerer for one main reason, the bloodline benefits. Abyssal and Draconic bloodlines both provide some very useful benefits for a melee fighter. I chose Abyssal mainly because the bonus spells at lower level were more appealing, especially bull's strength, rage and stoneskin. At higher levels, the Draconic bloodline gives you the various form of the dragon spells, but getting there basically means you have to go with the sorcerer class all the way (in which case, you aren't really a gish).

The main drawback of choosing sorcerer is that there are effectively no dump stats. First of all, you need Cha since your spellcasting is based on it. Some of your bloodline bennies also use Cha. Of course, you need Str, Con and Dex for their combat benefits. That leaves Int (which you need for the Spellcraft skill to make magic items) and Wis (for Will saves). Int probably comes closest to being a dump stat in this case, but you will soon find yourself wishing it was at least 10. A wizard could choose Cha as his dump stat, but as handy as that might be, it doesn't come close to counterbalancing bloodline benefits. Sorcerer is the way to go.

-Rognar-

Wheel of Time Bah!!!

Well this was going to be a victory post celebrating the release of book 12 to the Wheel of time finally bringing to end the highly enjoyable but extremely bloated series the Robert Jordan started about 20 years ago and that I've been reading and rereading for almost as long.

As I was perusing Amazon I saw that the book was finally going to be released October 27th but a bit more searching has turned up only disappointment. The actual release date is November 3rd which is not big deal. My real issue is that its not really book 12 - the end. Apparently book 12 is so bloated (no surprise considering the insane amount of story arcs that need to be resolved) that it has been split into three parts. So its not really a 12 part series if book twelve is 3 parts long is it?

So it will be another 2 years before the ghost writer finishes the final book(s).

Anyway, here's a quick review of the different books in the series.

Book 1: Great book. The ending is a bit of a head scratcher but the rest of the book is so good I didn't care. Many people are critical of the way he writes the female characters but I didn't have any issues with it.

Book2: One of the best in the series.

Book3: Not one of my favorites but still very good.

Book4: Most people that I talk to agree this is the best book in the series. It's a bit odd in that it ignores most of the main characters and really only focuses on a single story arc.

Book5: Second only to Book4 in terms of greatness. The ending presents one of the greatest mysteries in the series. At least it's my favorite to debate. This book starts to show the problems that will ruin the series as it progresses. The number of separate story lines is beginning to reach the point where they are difficult to keep straight.

Book6: The last of the "good" books. While I still really liked this book most poeple agree that this is the last book where enough stuff happens. From this point on there are too many storylines and each one fails to progress significantly.

Books7-10: The are the stinkers. While the writing is still enjoyable its a very fair criticism to say that almost nothing happens in each book. And when each book clocks in at over 1000 pages that's saying a lot. You can probably read the first and last chapters of each book and not miss anything significant (they are usually 100 pages long each).

Book11: after years of nothing book 11 finally started to show that there was some hope for the series. Jordan actually began to advance the main plot lines and wrap some of the lesser story lines up. Then he died.

Book12: I do have hope. Jordan created a great story that collapsed under its own bulk. I'm hoping the ghost writer Brandon Sanderson can do a good job of piecing Jordan's notes together and ending this thing in a satisfactory way. Everyone already knows how its going to end, what we aren't sure is how we get there.

As an aside, the reason I was on Amazon is that I was looking at getting Glen Cook's Black Company series. Any of you guys have it, recommend it?

Star Wars Saga Ed., end in sight?

Notice this list of release dates for the Star Wars Saga Ed. supplements:

The Force Unleashed - Sept.,08
Scum and Villainy - Nov.,08
The Clone Wars - Jan.,09
Legacy Era - March,09
Jedi Academy Training Manual - May,09
Rebellion Era - July,09
Galaxy at War - Sept.,09

This is the list of currently planned future supplements:

Scavenger's Guide to Droids - Nov.,09
Galaxy of Intrigue - Jan.,10
The Unknown Regions - Apr.,10

What is that I see next spring? A three-month break in the release schedule which has been consistantly bimonthly. The declining crunch-to-fluff ratio combined with an upcoming hiccup in the release schedule leads me to conclude that game has run its course in the current form. All signs point to a new edition of the Star Wars RPG in 2010.

-Rognar-

More thoughts on the "Gish"

In my opinion, the key to building a gish in D&D 3.5/Pathfinder is to concentrate on creating a melee fighter. There are three basic approaches, creating a range combatant, a melee combatant or a balanced fighter-mage similar to the old elf class from Basic D&D. I think most people would agree the last option is the worst since it fails to generate any synergy between the two classes, in effect, creating a lousy fighter and an ineffective spellcaster in one character.

The ranged combatant approach is not bad, especially if the character concentrates on using ray spells. The fighter has several feats that can be applied to ray attacks, including weapon focus, improved critical and point blank shot. Also, the increased BAB is always handy even if most of the attacks are ranged touch. Having said that, the loss of a couple of caster levels to gain a modest increase in BAB and a couple of useful feats is not really that great of a trade-off. I would say the result would be quite inferior to a warmage.

So, how about the melee fighter? Well, obviously a gish is going to be less effective as a front-line combatant than a pure fighter or even a ranger or paladin. However, with the right choice of spells and feats, it can certainly hold its own. You really want to get rid of your arcane spell failure as much as possible, so arcane armour training and arcane armour mastery are essential, especially when combined with mithral armour. Oh, pretty, pretty mithral. Another sweet little feat is arcane strike, just an extra little bonus to your damage since you won't be able to dedicate as many points to Str as you might like.

On the spell side, the gish is going to want to stack up the buffing and defensive spells; bull's strength, bear's endurance, shield, heroism, alter self, rage and stoneskin are all great choices. A few offensive ranged spells are also a must, but since you will be down a couple of caster levels and also won't have many feat slots available for metamagic or spell penetration, you will want to take ones that either don't have saving throws or are not affected by spell resistance.

-Rognar-

Building my Pathfinder "Gish"

I am striving to build the perfect Pathfinder "gish" (fighter-mage) and I have concluded that a combination of sorcerer with an abyssal bloodline and eldritch knight PrC provides the most bang for the buck. The real question is when to switch to EK and forgo the remaining bloodline benefits of the sorcerer. Specifically, do I go for the 9th level bennies or not? Here is my build with two different advancement paths. Opinions are welcome.

1. sorcerer 1 - abyssal bloodline, eschew materials, toughness, arcane strike, claws (1d4), CL 1, BAB +0
2. sorcerer 2 - CL 2, BAB +1
3. sorcerer 3 - weapon focus (spear), electricity resistance 5, +2 save v. poison, bloodline spell (cause fear) CL 3, BAB +1
4. sorcerer 4 - CL 4, BAB +2
5. sorcerer 5 - craft magic arms and armour, claws (magic v. DR), bloodline spell (bull's strength), CL 5, BAB +2
6. sorcerer 5/fighter 1 - arcane armour training, CL 5, BAB +3
7. sorcerer 6/fighter 1 - combat casting, CL 6, BAB +4
8. sorcerer 7/fighter 1 - great fortitude, claws (1d6), bloodline spell (rage), CL 7, BAB +4

1st advancement path
9. sorcerer 8/fighter 1 - arcane armour mastery, CL 8, BAB +5
10.sorcerer 9/fighter 1 - +2 Str, electricity resistance 10, +4 save v. poison, bloodline spell (stoneskin), CL 9, BAB +5
11.sorcerer 9/fighter 1/EK 1 - improved initiative, quicken spell, CL 9, BAB +6/+1
12.sorcerer 9/fighter 1/EK 2 - CL 10, BAB +7/+2
13.sorcerer 9/fighter 1/EK 3 - weapon specialization (spear), CL 11, BAB +8/+3
14.sorcerer 9/fighter 1/EK 4 - CL 12, BAB +9/+4
15.sorcerer 9/fighter 1/EK 5 - improved critical (spear), critical focus, CL 13, BAB +10/+5

2nd advancement path
9. sorcerer 7/fighter 1/EK 1 - arcane armour mastery, improved initiative, CL 7, BAB +5
10.sorcerer 7/fighter 1/EK 2 - CL 8, BAB +6/+1
11.sorcerer 7/fighter 1/EK 3 - weapon specialization (spear), CL 9, BAB +7/+2
12.sorcerer 7/fighter 1/EK 4 - CL 10, BAB +8/+3
13.sorcerer 7/fighter 1/EK 5 - improved critical (spear), critical focus, CL 11, BAB +9/+4
14.sorcerer 7/fighter 1/EK 6 - CL 12, BAB +10/+5
15.sorcerer 7/fighter 1/EK 7 - greater weapon focus (spear), CL 13, BAB +11/+6

Clearly, at 10th level, the first path is superior with the Str bonus, the improved resistances, the higher CL and the bonus spell balanced only by a higher BAB and improved initiative in the second path. However, at higher levels, the combat feats start coming earlier in the second path. I am just not sure which option I like better.

-Rognar-

Thoughts on XPs

Character advancement is a very abstract concept in games like D&D 3.5/Pathfinder, as opposed to, say Call of Cthulhu and other Chaosium games which use the Basic Role-Playing (BRP) system. In the latter, if you use a skill successfully, you have a chance to improve it (although it is not automatic and becomes more difficult as you get more skilled). If you don't use a particular skill in an adventure, it cannot be improved. This feels more realistic. The "XPs and levels" approach of D&D could never be adapted to such a character advancement philosophy, but I think it could be done better. In older versions of D&D, you got XPs for treasure. It didn't matter how you got the treasure, be it from killing monsters, picking pockets or even taxing your serfs. Treasure was treasure and it was all worth XPs. Now, when you get right down to it, accumulated treasure is a purer measure of character success than monstrous bodycount. After all, it takes into account eveything your character does. If a bard spends the week entertaining at the local inn or if a wizard makes a few potions and trades them for some rare spell components, do these activities not warrant some experience? Such a system would also encourage players to take skills which might earn them some coin during the downtime between adventures. The gps earned might not entice them, but combined with XPs as well and suddenly taking a few ranks in Profession (woodcutter) looks a lot more interesting.

-Rognar-

Rippin' on AD&D, pt.6

After wasting the whole month of September ripping on Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game by White Wolf, possibly the most obscure RPG ever published by a major company, Zack and Steve are funny again. Check out their take on the classic module, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

-Rognar-