Friday, November 29, 2013
Skull & Shackles
Coming next August is Skull & Shackles, the second base set for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. Like the current Rise of the Runelords set, it's based on a Pathfinder RPG adventure path (i.e., campaign). Looking forward to it!
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Happy Turkey Day!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.
And Sajan, my new monk character in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, now has a pet saber-toothed tiger. Awesome.
And Sajan, my new monk character in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, now has a pet saber-toothed tiger. Awesome.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Sajan
While I was in Longmont last week, I picked up the Character Add-On Deck for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. This set includes four new characters (barbarian, druid, monk, and paladin) as well as enough generic cards to expand your party to as many as six players. After poring over the new characters, I came to the conclusion that three of them were demonstrably weaker than comparable characters in the basic set. The barbarian was inferior to the fighter, the paladin was inferior to the cleric (alas!), and the druid was inferior to...basically...everyone. Only the monk, a stern-looking human named Sajan, seemed like a viable choice.
I've been playing Sajan as a solo character for the past few days and he's as frustrating as he is interesting. Like the monks of D&D-based RPGs, he's at his best when he's not using weapons. He also wears no armor and does not use spells. Sajan's character deck, therefore, consists only of allies, items, and blessings...lots of blessings. In a starting Sajan deck, a whopping 8 of the 15 cards are blessings, giving him plenty of opportunity to enhance combat and non-combat checks alike. Better yet, Sajan recharges (rather than discards) blessings used for combat checks, and he's the only character in the game who can apply multiple blessings to a single combat check. So is Sajan an unstoppable beast in combat? Well...not exactly. Fickle fortune plays too much of a role for my liking. Sajan begins play with no static bonuses, so on a typical combat check he's rolling 2D10 (1D10 for Dexterity, and then another 1D10 for the blessing that you'd invariable play on the check unless you had no blessings in your hand at the time). 2D10 or even 3D10 (if you play a second blessing on the check) is, if you'll forgive the pun, extremely "dicey" -- that is, the results are all over the map. With the fighter Valeros, I have enough static bonuses that my minimum roll is nearly enough to defeat some of the weaker monsters; in contrast, Sajan can easily fail (and has!) to get, say, a total of 14, even on a 3D10 check. Such "swingy" results make Sajan unpredictable in combat, leaving him open to crippling wipe-outs against even mediocre foes. I can beef him up with static bonuses as he levels up, but for the time being, every combat encounter is quite a wild ride!
I've been playing Sajan as a solo character for the past few days and he's as frustrating as he is interesting. Like the monks of D&D-based RPGs, he's at his best when he's not using weapons. He also wears no armor and does not use spells. Sajan's character deck, therefore, consists only of allies, items, and blessings...lots of blessings. In a starting Sajan deck, a whopping 8 of the 15 cards are blessings, giving him plenty of opportunity to enhance combat and non-combat checks alike. Better yet, Sajan recharges (rather than discards) blessings used for combat checks, and he's the only character in the game who can apply multiple blessings to a single combat check. So is Sajan an unstoppable beast in combat? Well...not exactly. Fickle fortune plays too much of a role for my liking. Sajan begins play with no static bonuses, so on a typical combat check he's rolling 2D10 (1D10 for Dexterity, and then another 1D10 for the blessing that you'd invariable play on the check unless you had no blessings in your hand at the time). 2D10 or even 3D10 (if you play a second blessing on the check) is, if you'll forgive the pun, extremely "dicey" -- that is, the results are all over the map. With the fighter Valeros, I have enough static bonuses that my minimum roll is nearly enough to defeat some of the weaker monsters; in contrast, Sajan can easily fail (and has!) to get, say, a total of 14, even on a 3D10 check. Such "swingy" results make Sajan unpredictable in combat, leaving him open to crippling wipe-outs against even mediocre foes. I can beef him up with static bonuses as he levels up, but for the time being, every combat encounter is quite a wild ride!
Monday, November 25, 2013
Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition is now available for PC and Mac. When will we see the iOS version?!
D&D Next Generation
I gave Matthew a very brief introduction to RPGs about a year ago when I showed him the Pathfinder Beginner Box. At the time, he wasn't quite ready for it. Lately, however, he's been begging me to teach him how to play D&D, so over the weekend we sat down for an official adventure, this time using an extremely abridged version of the D&D Next rules. Here's the character sheet (consisting only of attack bonus, Armor Class, and hit points) for Matthew's fighter, Egerren -- named after his beloved World of Warcraft character.
Matthew requested an adventure with an arctic theme, so I picked out some appropriate maps, grabbed a few minis, and got him started in a place that Druid Cycle aficionados should recognize -- the frozen island of Dinas Cefni. He was practically giddy with excitement.
Egerren and his NPC companion, the paladin Mairin, set out to track down the goblins that were harassing some local miners. Here they are battling the first few goblin scouts.
Later, the intrepid heroes stumbled upon a small keep from which hordes of enemies began to emerge.
They managed to defeat the goblins and bugbears, but what will they find within the keep? Judging from Matthew's enthusiastic response to the adventure, it won't be long before we find out.
Matthew requested an adventure with an arctic theme, so I picked out some appropriate maps, grabbed a few minis, and got him started in a place that Druid Cycle aficionados should recognize -- the frozen island of Dinas Cefni. He was practically giddy with excitement.
Egerren and his NPC companion, the paladin Mairin, set out to track down the goblins that were harassing some local miners. Here they are battling the first few goblin scouts.
Later, the intrepid heroes stumbled upon a small keep from which hordes of enemies began to emerge.
They managed to defeat the goblins and bugbears, but what will they find within the keep? Judging from Matthew's enthusiastic response to the adventure, it won't be long before we find out.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Happy 50th!
Happy 50th birthday to Doctor Who, the television program(me) that has done more to stimulate my imagination than any show I've ever seen.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Longmont
Longmont is a nice little town and I'm enjoying my stay here, especially because I was able to get together for an evening with Matt, who made the drive up from Denver. It was great catching up with him. We spent a couple of hours discussing family, jobs, comics, movies, games...just like old times back in Rochester. I also managed to stop by Atomic Goblin Games. The owner and some of his customers are big fans of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game and are playing through the Rise of the Runelords adventure path. I picked up the character expansion pack while I was there, and the owner highly recommended the monk class. I haven't had a chance to delve into the cards yet, but it sounds like the monk has some interesting mechanics that differ from Valeros and the other characters I've tried.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Friday, November 15, 2013
Hello, Colorado!
I'll be in Longmont, Colorado, next week for a business trip. While I'm there, I'll have the great pleasure of getting together with Matt. It's been a long time indeed since we saw each another face-to-face! I'll also be paying a visit to Atomic Goblin Games. I love checking out game stores wherever I go, and this one looks very promising!
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Monday, November 11, 2013
OyD&D
I stopped by my "local" game store (an hour away -- yes, I live out in the sticks!) the other day to pick up The Skinsaw Murders adventure for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game and I spotted the Original Dungeons & Dragon RPG boxed set ("Original Edition Premium Reprint"!) for the mind-boggling price of $150. When I asked to see -- okay, hold -- it, the gal at the game store actively dissuaded me from buying it. She saw the longing in my eyes and talked me back from the edge of the cliff. Amazon is selling it for the still-far-too-high price of $101 as of this writing. I'll buy it if it gets down to the ~$50 range.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Pathfinder Online
Check out this video clip for the upcoming Pathfinder Online MMO...
Pathfinder Online Q3 2013 Update from Ryan Dancey on Vimeo.
Pathfinder Online Q3 2013 Update from Ryan Dancey on Vimeo.
Monday, November 4, 2013
20 and Beyond
I think it goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that twenty years is a long time for a campaign world to last. And because I have two little boys who are increasingly interested in "Daddy's games," I don't foresee an end to The Druid Cycle. Maybe it will end when I croak, but I hope some as-yet-unborn descendant will take over and keep it going.
But that's really long-term. What about, like, next year? After our big anniversary year, what happens next? My goal for the remainder of 2013 is to drive the current storylines toward a cliffhanger, to be delivered to the players sometime around December 15. We'll then put the games on hiatus for the holiday season and pick things up again sometime in January. When that happens, I want the world to feel different. To keep the stories fresh and interesting, I want to shake things up a bit. I won't say exactly how, but by the time the aforementioned cliffhanger arrives, the players will have a pretty good idea of what's in store for 2014.
As the players know by now, their slain foe Ekhis has an extensive network of followers who continue to work toward achieving his goals. Certain players are aware of certain components of the plan, but no one has all the pieces of the puzzle. When the cliffhanger hits, all will be revealed and the scope of the enemies' plan will become frighteningly clear.
But that's really long-term. What about, like, next year? After our big anniversary year, what happens next? My goal for the remainder of 2013 is to drive the current storylines toward a cliffhanger, to be delivered to the players sometime around December 15. We'll then put the games on hiatus for the holiday season and pick things up again sometime in January. When that happens, I want the world to feel different. To keep the stories fresh and interesting, I want to shake things up a bit. I won't say exactly how, but by the time the aforementioned cliffhanger arrives, the players will have a pretty good idea of what's in store for 2014.
As the players know by now, their slain foe Ekhis has an extensive network of followers who continue to work toward achieving his goals. Certain players are aware of certain components of the plan, but no one has all the pieces of the puzzle. When the cliffhanger hits, all will be revealed and the scope of the enemies' plan will become frighteningly clear.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Home Stretch
It's the first of November, so we're heading into the home stretch of our twenty-fifth year of the Front Porch and twentieth of the Druid Cycle campaign world. Time for a quick recap of the year so far.
Our first big event was "When Last We Left Our Intrepid Heroes," a short story that spawned the Front Porch "multiverse" -- a formalized structure linking virtually all of our previous campaigns into a single but multi-layered narrative environment. With input from a dozen players on the characters and campaigns (including those run by Scott, Timothy, Matt, and Chris) of a quarter-century of tabletop and online gaming (special shout-out to Timothy for the treasure trove of early documents he sent me), this multiverse is not just a pleasant stroll down memory lane, but a springboard for future storytelling. As a direct result of "When Last We Left," I now have fully fleshed-out settings for mid-twentieth century Earth, twenty-first century Earth (with or without superheroes), and post-apocalyptic Earth (with or without crazy powered-up mutants), along with all-new settings like the Old West and the far future. Add these to fantasy settings like The Druid Cycle, Torchlight, and Shattered Realm, and we've got a lot of toys to play with.
Much of the rest of the year has focused on The Druid Cycle and the war against the immortal trickster Ekhis. Several epic-tier characters, heroes and villains alike, perished in the climactic battle (thanks to Jason for agreeing to sacrifice Sir Roberts!), and the fallout from the heroes' Pyrrhic victory (a term derived from the name "Pyrrhus," but not the same Pyrrhus as the namesake of our own beloved rogue who died in this battle. But I digress...), has perhaps been even more interesting than the battle itself. That wasn't the only highlight. We also resurrected (literally) some long-lost characters from an earlier Druid Cycle storyline (featuring Tim B, Chris, Kevin, and Tim W) and integrated their new adventures into the Ekhis plot. Scott (Hachulors) and Timothy (Scyld) brought back characters from the '90s, and Kevin earned a well deserved promotion for his hero Senchan, who may be the most highly respected man on the continent of First Home.
Where is this all headed? In the next post, I'll give you a glimpse of some plans for the rest of our dual-anniversary year.
Our first big event was "When Last We Left Our Intrepid Heroes," a short story that spawned the Front Porch "multiverse" -- a formalized structure linking virtually all of our previous campaigns into a single but multi-layered narrative environment. With input from a dozen players on the characters and campaigns (including those run by Scott, Timothy, Matt, and Chris) of a quarter-century of tabletop and online gaming (special shout-out to Timothy for the treasure trove of early documents he sent me), this multiverse is not just a pleasant stroll down memory lane, but a springboard for future storytelling. As a direct result of "When Last We Left," I now have fully fleshed-out settings for mid-twentieth century Earth, twenty-first century Earth (with or without superheroes), and post-apocalyptic Earth (with or without crazy powered-up mutants), along with all-new settings like the Old West and the far future. Add these to fantasy settings like The Druid Cycle, Torchlight, and Shattered Realm, and we've got a lot of toys to play with.
Much of the rest of the year has focused on The Druid Cycle and the war against the immortal trickster Ekhis. Several epic-tier characters, heroes and villains alike, perished in the climactic battle (thanks to Jason for agreeing to sacrifice Sir Roberts!), and the fallout from the heroes' Pyrrhic victory (a term derived from the name "Pyrrhus," but not the same Pyrrhus as the namesake of our own beloved rogue who died in this battle. But I digress...), has perhaps been even more interesting than the battle itself. That wasn't the only highlight. We also resurrected (literally) some long-lost characters from an earlier Druid Cycle storyline (featuring Tim B, Chris, Kevin, and Tim W) and integrated their new adventures into the Ekhis plot. Scott (Hachulors) and Timothy (Scyld) brought back characters from the '90s, and Kevin earned a well deserved promotion for his hero Senchan, who may be the most highly respected man on the continent of First Home.
Where is this all headed? In the next post, I'll give you a glimpse of some plans for the rest of our dual-anniversary year.
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