Archive for the ‘ Product Development ’ Category

More Flesh-Eating Mares & Delphic Mists

How about one more preview of the soon-to-be-released PDF of Greek/Roman mythological magic items and monsters? I’ve already posted fluff text for the mares of Diomedes. Here’s the rough draft stat block:

Mare of Diomedes
The horses wheel in your direction, neighing as they charge. There is something savage about their attitude, reminding you more of a wolf pack on the hunt than a herd of horses on the run.

CR 3; XP 800
N Large animal
Init +2; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +7

Defense
AC 15, touch 11, flat-footed 13 (+2 Dex, -1 size, +4 natural)
hp 25 (3d8+12)
Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +2

Offense
Speed 60 ft.
Melee bite +5 (1d6+4), 2 hooves +0 melee (1d4+2)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks rend (1d6+6, bite and 1 hoof), trample (1d4+6, DC 15)

Statistics
Str 18, Dex 15, Con 19, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 8
Base Atk +2; CMB +7; CMD 19 (23 vs. trip)
Feats Endurance, Run
Skills Perception +7

Ecology
Environment temperate plains
Organization solitary, pair, or pack (3-18)
Treasure none

The biggest, baddest monster in the PDF is the CR 15 Python, a unique dragon formed from the primordial ooze of creation. Python lairs in a vast series of caves, into the uppermost of which seep the Delphic mists:

Delphic Mists
These magical vapors rise from the earth itself in rear of the uppermost cave of Python’s lair. Any creature with Int 13+ and Wis of 18+ who inhales these vapors must make a DC 15 Fortitude save or become fatigued. Furthermore, if the breather fails this saving throw, it gains the ability to use divination as a spell-like ability. This spell-like ability must be used within 5 rounds of failing the save, and it can only be once per failed saving throw against the fatiguing effects of the Delphic mists.

Mark’s Musings Debut, and Poor Richard Matheson

Game Geek #4 is available for $1 at RPGNow.com. This issue is especially noteworthy as it features the first of Mark’s Musings, a new regular column penned by yours truly. Get yourself a copy, and read how my giant son became a bounty hunter.

On the progress front, I’m about a third of the way through the short adventure to be included with the new, improved Fencing & Firearms. I’ve also started outlining the Quid Novi? subscriber PDF about Greek/Roman mythical monsters and magical items and the missed issue of Quid Novi? itself.

Once these are done, that leaves me clear to finally finish The Case of the Purloined Princess. Sure, it might be pushing a month late, but better that than not at all or (even worse) done with less than my best effort.

On the home front, I sat down with the family over the weekend and watched The Box starring Frank Langella, Cameron Diaz, and James Marsden. What an absolute mess of a movie! I almost felt sorry for Richard Matheson (author of the short story on which the movie was based). The DVD special feature included a short interview with Matheson plus snippets of writer/director Richard Kelly lauding Matheson for his authorial skill and literary vision.

To which I wonder, “That’s great, Mr. Kelly, but didn’t Richard Matheson’s work deserve something better than The Box?”

“I’m ready for my close-up….”

A few people kept telling me that I’d look great on webcam talking about Rewarding Roleplaying. Well, that’s not quite accurate. It wasn’t a few people. It was really just one person, but I generally trust my own advice, so I took a stab at it:

I also took the plunge into Facebook. The jury’s still out on this one, but it does seem to be a good way to stay in touch, get acquainted with new people, et cetera.

Quid Novi? VII and Versatile Performer Redux, this month’s QN? bonus PDF, get their finishing touches this week. The schedule has them both being ready to go out Sunday, March 21. After that, the short adventure to be included with Fencing & Firearms will be finalized, and then the new, improved F&F goes on sale.

That’ll leave The Case of the Purloined Princess, which, to be honest, looks like it’ll see release in early April rather than late March. I’m a little disappointed with myself about this, but it’s better that TCotPP be released later than planned rather than it being rushed along and put out for sale before its time.

Finally, don’t forget the Quid Novi? subscriber drive contest currently going on. There’s still plenty of time to get your fellow gamers to sign up for Quid Novi?.

OwlCon 2010 Report

Well, OwlCon has come and gone for 2010. My son Giant Boy and I were at the con bright and early Saturday morning in time to play a Truth & Justice event featuring pre-gen characters that were mash-ups of comic book heroes. I played the Black Vision, a Luke Cage-Vision combo. Luke Cage was an ex-con who intervened during an assassination attempt against the King of Wakanda while he was in New York City. Cage was mortally injured. To save his life, the king’s scientists transferred Cage’s consciousness into a synthezoid body. Giant Boy played the Scarlet Spider, who gained his powers when bitten by a Gypsy witch who had been driven mad after being bitten by a radioactive spider.

The other players ran Captain Thor (Captain American and Thor), the Atomic Manhunter (the Atom and Martian Manhunter), Bat Lantern (Batman and Green Lantern), and Wolfeye (Wolverine and Hawkeye). Our mission was to save the multiverse from the machinations of the Leader (Reed Richard and the Leader mashup) and Dread Clea (Dormammu and Clea mash-up, which really isn’t a mash-up because Clea did assume the mantle of Dormammu at least once).

The event wasn’t anything terribly elaborate. It was basically three super-fights strong together with some narrative transitions. We did battle with various mash-up villains, such as the Abominaut (Abomination-Juggernaut) and Gorilla Polaris (Gorilla Grodd and Doctor Polaris). It was an amusing four hours. Truth & Justice uses the PDQ system, a narrativist RPG with a lot of flexibility and room for creative use of character abilities. I’d read a bit about the PDQ system before hitting the con. You can get a free taste by visiting Atomic Sock Monkey‘s freebies area. I’m not sure I’d want to GM the system, but I wouldn’t mind being a player using it every now and then. It has a lot of potential.

The Black Vision had two highpoints during the game. The first took place when he was mind-controlled by the Ace of Hearts. Hearts ordered the Black Vision to fight his fellow heroes. The GM explained that I could attempt to break free from Hearts’s control, but I opted to roll with the setback for at least one round after Captain Thor nailed Hearts with his mystic uru shield.

I looked Cap’s player in the eye and announced, “Mama said knock you out!”

The Black Vision nailed Captain Thor pretty good, and I got some bonus Action Points for opting to let the villain keep the upper hand.

At the end of the game, it became necessary to insert something mystical and something high-tech into the Sphere of Doom created by the villains to remake reality in their own image. Captain Thor tossed in his mystic uru shield. Atomic Manhunter, our resident super-scientist, explained that the high-tech component needed to be extremely high-tech. So, the Black Vision hurled himself into the Sphere of Doom, thus destroying the villains’ plan and saving the multiverse.

Not bad for a day’s work.

After Truth & Justice, I ran an event featuring The Mad Monk’s Revenge. Giant Boy and two friends, Eric and Angela, were part of the event along with three folks I’d never met before. I repeated the event Sunday afternoon for six other players, including the fellow who ran Wolfeye in the Truth & Justice event. Both playtests went well. It looks like my basic set up is pretty solid. I identified a few gaps in some NPCs’ motivations that I need to plug. I also noted a few areas where I need to offer some DMing advice. The adventure has a definite goal, but it’s structure is pretty flexible in terms of how the players go about accomplishing that goal. Consequently, the two groups took different approaches (in a few instances, very different approaches). I think this is a definite strength of the module, but it also makes writing it more difficult. It’s impossible to prepare for every possibility even in a scenario that is a hardcore railroad in terms of plot structure. The looser the plot, the more complicated laying out the plot becomes.

I also used both events for more playtesting of Fencing & Firearms and Rewarding Roleplaying‘s Action Point system. In both cases, the rules seemed to work well. All in all, I’m pleased by the way these products have shaped up. Best of all, everyone who played in the events seemed to enjoy themselves, and isn’t that what gaming is really all about?

While I was running my second event, Giant Boy ventured off on his own to play in a Draw! event. Draw! is a wild west RPG that uses poker chips and decks of playing cards for action resolution. I’m not real clear on how this works since I wasn’t there to watch, but Giant Boy had fun playing the game. I gave him some handy westernisms to help him out. He managed to work “vittles” and “varmints” and “slap leather” into his in-character dialogue.

Next time I get to do the con scene, I’m going to have to keep an eye out for Draw!. I’ve also liked the western genre, and I had loads of fun with the original Boot Hill RPG back in the day.

OwlCon was a good time. Now, it’s back to work to get caught up on my writing. Busy, busy. I’ll type at you again in a few days.

March Coming in Like a Lion?

It’s starting to look like March will see the release of two for-sale products. The editing process for the next iteration of Fencing & Firearms is almost complete. Thanks to playtesting and feedback from readers, a number of areas were fixed, improved, clarified, and/or added. The quick list of changes include these:

* Fixed some errors in Table of Contents. Due to incorrectly formatted headers in a few places, the ToC was incomplete. This will also fix the bookmarks in the PDF.

* Cleaned up terminology to be more internally consistent and consistent with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. For example, I replaced references to Tumble with Acrobatics.

* Changed Expanded BAB rules to be more in line with conventions of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Now the rules work more like Combat Expertise, Deadly Aim, and Power Attack.

* Added and clarified some feats. This was especially important since I didn’t hit every feat in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game that had attack of opportunity effects. For example, I rewrote Combat Casting and Disruptive.

* Cleaned up the language for modified feats. For example, feats previously listed as General that were available as fighter bonus feats have been redesignated as Combat feats.

* Clarified the rules for 10-minute rest mechanic.

* Reverted size modifiers to combat maneuvers to comply with standard rules of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. In retrospect, I really didn’t see a reason to complicate things by changing what really is a pretty solid rule. I also fixed some of the combat maneuver verbiage and math in the text and examples.

* Modified firearms rules, removing accurancy and penetration as unnecessary complications. Standardized reload times. Adjusted damage, prices, and range increments. Changed critical threat ranges for matchlocks and flintlocks.

* Added rules for grenades, for crafting munitions and gunpowder, and for special alchemical gunpowder types.

* Added skill use options.

* Clarified nonlethal damage, et cetera, to better comply with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

All in all, F&F is a much more solid product now. The basic goals and framework remain the same, but the cleaner engine ought to run with fewer hiccups.

In addition to finishing up The Mad Monk’s Revenge (I’m still not sold on that name.), the editing process for Rewarding Roleplaying is a go. F&F and RR are going to be bundled into a single product along with a fully-realized Five-Room One-Shot adventure written to highlight the Pathfinder-compatibility of the products. We’re looking at putting the entire bundle on sale in March for $7.50 US (or $5.00 US for Quid Novi? subscribers).