News

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Some works in progress include pages on alignment, titles and nobility, and coinage and industry. Eventually I hope to have things fleshed out to the point that all I have left is the "rocks and shrubs" page, complete with new races and PrCs.

To clarify, as I mentioned I am not angry at WotC because they released a new edition. I am however, pissed at WotC for a variety of other reasons. I won't go into it, but suffice to say that I could write a fair sized series of rants (two dozen at last estimate) detailing my disdain for "that" company. As entertaining as those would be to write, It's not the best use of my time. I would rather be creating than destroying.

Concerning the game itself, I personally view it as a seperate entity rather than a successor. The mechanics bring to mind the issue "Would you trade freedom for safety?". It seems their way of "protecting" players from facing difficult questions is to remove the options that bring those questions about. Taking action to remove obstacles for the sake of smooth gameplay should be the responsibility of any competent DM.

- Adam, feeling industrious

Friday, May 30, 2008

I have rearranged the eastern clans into Major, Greater, and Minor categories. I also decided upon the national colors for each. The reason for these changes will soon some to fruition, and will be revealed as part of the storyline. You could be clever and figure it out beforehand if you read the clues right, and consult wikipedia. Y'know what? I'll advance the next leveling opportunity if ANYONE can guess what the clans namesakes relate to.

- Adam, resolved

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Thought I'd share some thoughts on my next campaign:

1. There will be dragons. I have a few ideas on how to distinguish Heroshian dragons from the standard set. My dragons will be ready for combat from the get go, without flipping through a plethora of pages.
2. Some creatures are being exterminated in an effort to cut creatures that are WotC product identity. Some of them will have their niches filled by my own custom creatures. For instance, beholders are replaced by occuli, a creature encountered in the latest d20 Modern campaign.
3. More of an effort will be made to give non-standard races screentime. Centaurs, ratlings, lizardfolk, vanara, korhai, and the oft forgotten ungiant among others, will pop up more frequently.
4. The magic items I stock an adventure with, distinct from those that theoretically exist in the campaign world, will be more limited use tools and fewer clothing items (especially those that give permanent mods). Weapons & armor will stay about the same. Expect a lot of potions.
5. I am going to divorce myself completely from using random tables. Adventures will still be designed off-the-cuff, and stocked with what I feel like should be introduced into the game.
6. No more "I look for a belt of magnificence". This kind of thing is totally metagame, and I will not stand for it. If you want the thing so badly, at least roleplay it. As a matter of fact, starting this week, if anyone asks metagamely... BBFTH = (1/2 HD)d(HD)!
7. So, that brings me to my conclusion: the system will be 3.5, and quite possibly using the Pathfinder RPG rules (but, if so, I will not require anyone to purchase this book). I'm not angry that they're coming out with a new system. It is to be expected. I just do not feel that game mechanics are a good enough reason to switch. Now, I don't care what you play elsewhere, but understand that when you play D&D with me as the GM, it's going to be version 3.5. There's no sense in trying to convince me otherwise. Telling me how cool 4e is has the same impact as if you were talking about Exalted, Changeling, Star Wars, or the He-Man RPG.

 
- Adam, malaise

Thursday, April 24, 2008

I love the fact that when I edit the History page, in the All Changes log it is noted as:

"Axcalibar changed History".

Awesome. EDIT: Well it used to anyway. Now it just says "edited". Lame!

Campbell: What have you done? You've changed history. You've created a Time Paradox!

STFU, Roy. I put events in their proper order. So now things in the first age go basically like this:

• The gods make Heroshi, which consequently creates Edenova.
• Edenova puts out decay waves which make people depressed, pissed, and die.
• The gods create Erhad and Nuegalon as a mechanism of sorting the souls of the dead. Celestials and Fiends arise from the energies collected in these planes.
• The gods evolve the Heroshim into the modern races.
• Ameadaeus gathers followers, kills the titan and ascends. He creates Daema.
• Several others ascend to maintain the cosmic balance.
• Daema make trouble on the material plane while the celestials and fiends battle one another.
• Minmaxar ends the war, imprisoning the factions in their respective realms.
• Venarri ascends and leads her people across the ocean.
• Venarri then Sunders the world and dies from it. The barriers are broken and the Wall of Water comes about as a result.

- Adam, feeling okay

Wednesday, April 17, 2008

I added the World Geography page to fill out some of the details on the world as a whole. Speaking of the (w)hole, let me draw your attention to the FAQ page. It's become a dumping ground for things I don't at the time know how to categorize, with me making up all the Qs. You know... you guys should AQ more F.

"F! F! F! F! MMF! MMFF! MF! MF! Noise noise noise. 1 2 1 2 3, noise noise noise, D&D D&D, rollin' twenties, rollin' crits. Who backs the crits? We back the crits! Rollin' crits and backin' em..."

- Adam, still insane

Monday, April 7, 2008

Made some awesome changes to the Meteorals and Stellars on the New Creatures page.

Starting with the next game, we'll playtest using the following rules for special combat maneuvers. This rule is adapted from that proposed by Paizo in their Pathfinder RPG alpha preview. It's quick, streamlined, and it retains the versatility of the 3.5 rules. When you think about it, these maneuvers have followed common rules the whole time. Here's the breakdown.

Combat Maneuvers

Combat Maneuver Bonus (CMB) = BAB + STR mod + Size = Grapple (3.5)

Opposed checks where appropriate.

Use CMB for: Bull Rush, Disarm, Grapple, Overrun, Sunder, Trip

Steps:

1) AoO? Don't have the feat for this maneuver, get AoO'd.

2) Opposed CM checks.

Special:

Bull Rush - Push back 5' + 5'/5 over DC

Disarm - Fail by 10, lose your weapon. Succeed, opponents weapon drops in their square or 5' away for every 5 you beat them by. If you get it to your square and have a free hand you can grab it.

Grapple - Different results based on amount over DC. +5 every round (to +15) they don't break the grapple. CM or Escape Artist to break. -4 to grapple without empty hands. Grappling creatures take a –2 penalty to their Dexterity unless involved in a pin. Grappling creatures do not enter each other’s squares.

Overrun - Move thru. If 5 over DC. then opponent is knocked prone. Can choose to avoid instead.

Sunder - Damage damages the object (Broken condition) and may destroy it if the attacker chooses.

Trip - Fail by 10, you are knocked prone. Succeed, they are.

So there you are. The differences are light, and the resolution easy.

- Adam

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