I think the description is the reason why for that book. I know I am getting different encounters, but that is not saying much, and the description/presentation of an item is a large part of how it sells.
Hopefully you make it through the open call, and actually get some exposure.I didn't make the description. I only write the pages within. After that, it's all the other people. I think that because it's the third, you're almost expected to know what the format is by now. Truth be told, the 1st book looks to have a better description. Mine's got 15 side-trek scenarios instead of 17 though. It's got thugs, a minotaur, undead, constructs, a succubus, doppelgangers, fey, a dragon, etc, but not all at once.
I allowed it to be used for a Mini-Mikazemas in March so hopefully someone will eventually ask for it (it's a free gift), and do a review on it. Given that other people have actually bought it, I was hoping that someone somewhere would've done a review.
I was not saying you made the description. I was just saying why I think it is not selling, and to not blame your writing. :)
I wish. I SO BADLY WANT TO GO!!!! >_< That, and Paizo Con. You guys are so lucky having access to those kinds of conventions down in the US. No, mine's a little small town Canadian convention that's somehow managed to celebrate it's 36th year. We hold our own well enough, I suppose. Last year we even managed to get a few people from North Dakota to come visit and participate. It was a nice experience.
Kevin_Video, what convention in Canada do you go to? I'm in Manitoba.
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I just want to say that someone asked for it but I'm having problem with the credit card (it is the first credit card of my own), I hope to deliver it soon and hopefully it will get a review.
I allowed it to be used for a Mini-Mikazemas in March so hopefully someone will eventually ask for it (it's a free gift), and do a review on it. Given that other people have actually bought it, I was hoping that someone somewhere would've done a review.
Appreciate that.
Couldn't do it last year, but this year I've decided to run the first part of the AP at a convention. I'm hoping that book 3 and 4 will be done by then, or at least this will cause enough people to buy the pdf that they'll generate revenue for Gary, so he can continue.
Generate revenue for Gary? For the project that was 203% funded through Kickstarter? Yeah, ok. :s
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Couldn't do it last year, but this year I've decided to run the first part of the AP at a convention. I'm hoping that book 3 and 4 will be done by then, or at least this will cause enough people to buy the pdf that they'll generate revenue for Gary, so he can continue.Generate revenue for Gary? For the project that was 203% funded through Kickstarter? Yeah, ok. :s
The rumour is that he's already spent all that money on other Kickstarters, and that he might be a little tapped out.
I seriously doubt if money is the reason that he is not doing this very fast it costs nothing to write a pdf. If he is lacking anything it is time. Now as far as not giving us the print books that might be different but again I really don't think that is the case either. I think he is probably spending way to much time working at his day job. Because lets face it if he had lost his day job and used all our money on other kickstarters as you say he would have lots of time to write the books. He obviously has a problem with just coming out and saying what the problem is and the longer this goes on the more shy he gets about coming out and telling us what the problem is. I have pledged on dozens of kicksterters and some of them are also years late but the guys behind them usually still answer their email and apologize every month or so. Gary is the only on who's gone totally silent.
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The rumour is that he's already spent all that money on other Kickstarters, and that he might be a little tapped out.Couldn't do it last year, but this year I've decided to run the first part of the AP at a convention. I'm hoping that book 3 and 4 will be done by then, or at least this will cause enough people to buy the pdf that they'll generate revenue for Gary, so he can continue.Generate revenue for Gary? For the project that was 203% funded through Kickstarter? Yeah, ok. :s
If that is the case that is in credibly wrong. Not saying it is the case.
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I seriously doubt if money is the reason that he is not doing this very fast it costs nothing to write a pdf. If he is lacking anything it is time. Now as far as not giving us the print books that might be different but again I really don't think that is the case either. I think he is probably spending way to much time working at his day job. Because lets face it if he had lost his day job and used all our money on other kickstarters as you say he would have lots of time to write the books. He obviously has a problem with just coming out and saying what the problem is and the longer this goes on the more shy he gets about coming out and telling us what the problem is. I have pledged on dozens of kicksterters and some of them are also years late but the guys behind them usually still answer their email and apologize every month or so. Gary is the only on who's gone totally silent.
I can attest to this. Life happens. I'm only know seeing a couple of KS that I funded come into fruition, but while they were way behind on things, and everything under the sun was getting in their way as if it was a sign that they shouldn't have done this, they kept up with conversations and emails, and sent out updates once every other month if progress just straight up couldn't be made.
I've got two projects on the go, my daytime job, a friend and I are trying to launch our own KS (which got pushed back a few months because he's a dad now) and school (exams, assignments, etc), so I can definitely agree that trying to schedule one's time so that the stress is mitigated is incredibly difficult. Still, he was able to do it with the first AP and his deck of cards, so you'd think that it's something else. However, if he doesn't tell us, we can't say for sure. And, it's only worsened by the fact that his artist doesn't know the details. Obviously he's a private man, can't you can't be forgiven until you confess. Even a small amount of communication goes a long way.I'm still confident that we'll see something happen. Maybe Gary will make it an early birthday present (Apr 13) for me.
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What are people doing while waiting for book 3? My group is just about done with book 2, all that is left is the mine. What should we do? I was thinking about just putting the campaign on hold until the next came out. I'm what wondering what others are doing.
You'd have to check out the earlier posts, but Weslocke and I commented on what everyone could potentially do, what adventure modules you could use, etc. I wouldn't suggest stopping because you and your players will lose interest in it and up right quit.
Night Below would also work well for these types of adventures. The PDF is widely available, and it just requires conversion work from 2nd Ed into Pathfinder. Lots of mind flayers, aboleth, etc...
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Night Below would also work well for these types of adventures. The PDF is widely available, and it just requires conversion work from 2nd Ed into Pathfinder. Lots of mind flayers, aboleth, etc...
What's really cool is someone actually converted Night Below books 1-3 to 3.0 a few years ago. It and others can be found over at the Conversion Library.
The nice thing about this being converted this far is there's less work to make it Pathfinder.
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So the concern is that Book 3 isn't going to be coming out any time soon, and people are already at a point where they need it. Therefore, what can they do in the meantime besides putting the game on hold? Other than homebrew it up like Weslocke and just do your own thing, the answer is: do side quests.
Firstly, go through the previous posts. I've listed a few things that can be done. Here's a synopsis:
1) Looking to add more treasure to the party? Check out Dragon Magazine 323. There's a section on "Treasures of the Dwarven Holds". Thanks to Itchy for the link.
2) Complete Minions by Bastion Press. Recommend it for: the Blessed Ring (mushroom sanctuary), the cavernivore (neat encounter for those longing for the surface again), and the Death's Bloom (hazard).
3) The Long Mine of Klangdensturm. It's a "get back a dwarven keep" adventure. A little high in level, but if you're done Book 3 (or are level 12-13) then it's fine. Done in 2e, but can be easily converted. May need the 3.5 Ravenloft Swords & Sorcery book for a couple of templates unless you just want to use the old school ones.
4) Dark and Hidden Ways, aka the Dungeoneer book. The Faerun books have the majority of the 3.0/3.5 conversions. It has a mind flayer but, if you're concerned, there's a netbook that doesn't exist that can help with that.
If you can't find any of the 2.0 creatures converted, head here.
5) Check out Castle Whiterock. You can use a few things from that and add them in. Especially the mushrooms and toadstools (the crimson shelf fungus would have to be converted as per the guide for poisons.)
6) The Black Blade's suggestion of the Night Below. Click the link for the convertion for Night Below books 1-3 to 3.0 D&D.
Now for some new stuff that you can check out to either add to the AP to stall, or just to add in for some fun.
Axe of the Dwarven Lords. It's 2e, but it'll give them an extra quest to find the artifact axe of their breathren.
The Forge of Fury. It's 3.0 and made for a level 3 party, so it'll need a little buffing, with a couple of exceptions that don't require any.
Tower of Blood. Another 2e module, but with gnomes. Swap them with svirfneblin and it should be good to go.
The Armorer adventure in The Book of Lairs
Wikipedia lists four game modules in an Underdark section, under Media.
Monte Cook's Queen of Lies.
Glory Hole Dwarven Mine . Don't get the wrong idea. :P Anyways, the story is as follows:
For now, that should be enough to keep the PCs busy. At least until Book 3 and 4 come out. Hopefully. That said, this is also hoping that they'll be content with doing side quests that only seem like they're doing the actual story.
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Weslocke sent another email regarding what's going on, and if he knew what was up with Gary's absence over the past two weeks (he hasn't signed on KS since the 7th).
Hi David,
No need to apologize - I understand the lack of information from Gary has been frustrating for many people. I don't have specific information on the status of the writing of the books but I'm still getting assigned new art to do every week from Gary on a steady basis for the project. Today I have urged him once again to be more transparent with you guys about the project status and hope he will post a substantial status update to the Kickstarter.
Also I have noticed a lot of speculation in the Kickstarter comments, which is understandable given the lack of information. But please be assured, if something serious happened to Gary (death or debilitating illness...), I would definitely inform someone to get the information out there to the backers.
Best regards,
- Michael Clarke
And I'll add two more suggestions.
1. Against the Giants G3-If you're going drow or dwarves, fighting fire giants and the heretic drow worshipped the Elder Elemental God is right up your alley.
2. Descent into the Depths of the Earth, Shrine of the Kuo-Toa, and Vault of the Drow-Kill lots of trolls (and I mean LOTS), troglodytes, mind flayers in the depths. An entire kuo-toa shrine, which could be easily swapped out for skum, and Vault of the Drow (fight against the Spider Queen and her priests.
3. Queen of the Demonweb Pits-Fight Lolth on her home plane.
It's all 1st Ed but easily convertible, and in many cases is one of the best Underdark adventures ever created.
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And I'll add
twothree more suggestions.1. Against the Giants G3-If you're going drow or dwarves, fighting fire giants and the heretic drow worshipped the Elder Elemental God is right up your alley.
2. Descent into the Depths of the Earth, Shrine of the Kuo-Toa, and Vault of the Drow-Kill lots of trolls (and I mean LOTS), troglodytes, mind flayers in the depths. An entire kuo-toa shrine, which could be easily swapped out for skum, and Vault of the Drow (fight against the Spider Queen and her priests.
3. Queen of the Demonweb Pits-Fight Lolth on her home plane.It's all 1st Ed but easily convertible, and in many cases is one of the best Underdark adventures ever created.
Fixed that for you.
Go G3, D1, D2, D3, and Q1 are the listed modules here. Fortunately, the link I had shared earlier has G3 and D1-D2 already converted. It just needs that extra conversion over to Pathfinder. Unfortunately, D3 and Q1 were never done up so that'll have to get done from scratch.
Others I've learned about can be found in these Dungeon Magazines:
67 - Uzaglu of the Underdark
75 - The Amulet and the Underdark
81 - Khazefryn
85 - Lord of The Scarlet Tide
102 - Zenith Trajectory (Shackled City AP)
122 - Final Resting Place
134 - Home Under the Range
Also, there are regular WotC adventures. Hopefully they're still easy to find with Google and torrents, now that the site no longer has them up...
- Test of the Demonweb
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?
Nice work with all those links, Kevin.
By the way, how is your shoulder & arm healing?
Just got another update from Kickstarter today (April 22).
It is more of what we are used to:
Sorry about the delays. Updates coming soon. Here is some nice art to look at in the meantime. Blah, blah.
Oh well, at least we know the author is still alive...
... Crap. I hope they find something that can be done to help you.
Good luck, Kevin_Video.
To those of you who were wondering about my health, unfortunately, today I got diagnosed with spinal degeneration.
Damn, Kevin. I am truly sorry to hear that.
You are such a positive guy, it is hard to even imagine.Know that we are all hoping that your condition improves in any way possible.
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F*** man, sorry to hear that. You're a pillar and a constructive influence for the community. Don't give up hope, though - as someone who has had significant health issues for most of his life, I can empathize. On the plus-side - modern medicine is making progress in leaps and bounds, so you may very well be lucky - so hang in there!!
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Unfortunately I've had my fair share of health issues over the last couple of decades. This is just one more added to the pile. While modern medicine is available it's more expensive than I can afford. Currently I'm looking at $200 a week out of my own pocket. Insurance will cover 10% of that. My hours at work can no longer cover my monthly expenses plus this. Definitely hard to remain even remotely positive.
On a cheerier note, just got word back that I'll be running Throne of Night during the last two slots of PrairieCon, for anyone in the immediate area that was thinking of coming in.
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And here's the link for Prairie Con proving that I am. Last year I said I was going to, but unfortunately no one signed up. This year it was requested so I'm hoping that means I'll have more than two pity players. It's the second last slot on Sunday. I've got four hours to fit this in. Going to be interesting. Especially without there being a Preview Version to tell you when to stop.
Have you taken a look at making a disability claim? It sounds like you might be able to get some medical care and living expenses that way. I assume you are in the US. . .
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Have you taken a look at making a disability claim? It sounds like you might be able to get some medical care and living expenses that way. I assume you are in the US. . .
Nope, Canada. Trying to look at disability, but right now the hoops I need to jump through are so numerous that even my doctor's not sure if I can access a claim.
Applying for Canada Pension Plan disability benefits is definitely a slog with no certainty of success, but you owe it to yourself to jump through those hoops...
KV,sorry to hear that.
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KV,sorry to hear that.
** spoiler omitted **
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Currently in the General Discussion area, there is a thread called What do Dwarves eat underground?
Anyone reading the first book would be able to tell you what's likely to be available in the underdark should it be a mushroom forest. It's got a lot of good ideas, that's for sure. However, that's when I found out about this:
Ironbloom Sprouts which basically is the dwarven version of the Goodberry spell (except they're rock hard brussel sprouts "for real men").
My first thought was "that's an amazingly perfect spell for this campaign." My second was "why didn't Gary add this in or even make mention of it?" That's when I looked up the source. It's from the Shattered Star AP. By law, a 3PP is not allowed to use anything outside the main core books as per the compatibility license agreement. APs are not part of that. I learned that from my publisher. For instance, if there's a particular monster from an AP that you KNOW is perfect for your story, unless you have specified permission from someone like Jason Bulmahn, you can't use it until it's put in a bestiary. Once you get it home, the players and GMs can do whatever they want.
There's been a few monsters that I've seen and gone "That's perfect for this AP. I'll have to remember that when the time comes." Like the forgewraith. Didn't even know it wasn't PF until I tried to look up more information and saw that this was just a conversion. Then there's the forge spurned, which is PF, but it's 3.5 PF from the Crown of the Kobold King module. Never been officially converted, so officially can't be used for 3PP. Anyone who's curious about what you're allowed to use and reference, check it out here under Exhibit B. I know a few people on the forums have complained about the fact that they already have the monsters in the APs so why bother adding them to the bestiaries, and consider it a waste of page space by doing that. Well, now those people know. It's so the 3PP people to get access to them. I'm sure it matters for the PFS writers as well.
I wouldn't mind knowing if Gary came across some cool ideas, but then realized he couldn't do any of them. Wouldn't be at all surprised if that cause a delay here and there (not all of them, obviously). Doesn't mean we can't though. Advantage goes to us, I suppose.
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Just going through my hard drive, trying to organize things, and found two more books that would be use for this campaign. Both are from Green Ronin. The first is Races of Renown: Hammer & Helm, and the other is Advanced Races Codex Dwarves.
Don't know if these will help anyone else, but after a bit of conversion, I think I'll be using the gore mole, the hammerstuck and tempered creatures (templates granted or forced upon after you win or lose a godly forge challenge), the defender of Mar-namor (another template regarding the godly forge challenge), and especially the thaneguard because being Ripley in an exoskeleton suit is awesome.
There's definitely a few prestige classes and feats that will work, and a few spells that'll add to the flavour. That's about it for now though.
The newly announced 'Rage of Demons' (5e adventure path, due Sept 2015) looks like it will have tons of underdark fun!
ENWorld just posted (May 7th) some art previews, including a very colorful cast of characters:
- OUGALOP, kuo-toa cave cricket catcher extraordinaire.
- YUK YUK and SPIDERBAIT, goblin adrenaline junkies.
- GLABBAGOOL, awakened gelatinous cube.
- RUMPADUMP and STOOL, myconid followers.
- TOPSY and TURVY, svirfneblin wererat siblings.
etc.
It looks like they have added a lot of "character" to what would normally be just another bunch of underdark monsters to kill. At the very least, a Throne of Night game could mine this adventure for lots of interesting NPCs.
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By law, a 3PP is not allowed to use anything outside the main core books as per the compatibility license agreement. APs are not part of that. I learned that from my publisher.
This is not true. From the declaration of product identity and open content for this book it states:
Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper names (characters, deities, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, locations, characters, artwork, and trade dress. (Elements that have previously been designated as Open Game Content or are in the public domain are not included in this declaration.)Open Content: Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above), the game mechanics of this Paizo Publishing game product are Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a Section 1(d). No portion of this work other than the material designated as Open Game Content may be reproduced in any form without written permission.
That spell would be perfectly legal as long as it is properly referenced in the section 15 of their OGL product.
I mean if this wasn't possible, how would Rogue Genius Games just release a book of 700+ feats from the various Campaign Setting, Player Companion, Adventures, etc in print and PDF?
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For those interested, End zeitgeist reviewed my encounters pdf, for those who want to read it.Link?
Sorry about that. Was on my phone when I wrote that so it was more difficult to do that.
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This is not true. From the declaration of product identity and open content for this book it states:
Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper names (characters, deities, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, locations, characters, artwork, and trade dress. (Elements that have previously been designated as Open Game Content or are in the public domain are not included in this declaration.)Open Content: Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above), the game mechanics of this Paizo Publishing game product are Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a Section 1(d). No portion of this work other than the material designated as Open Game Content may be reproduced in any form without written permission.
That spell would be perfectly legal as long as it is properly referenced in the section 15 of their OGL product.
I mean if this wasn't possible, how would Rogue Genius Games just release a book of 700+ feats from the various Campaign Setting, Player Companion, Adventures, etc in print and PDF?
Basically, anything on the PRD site is legal. Essentially. You're linking only part of the information. People who want to know what's legal to reproduce are best to check out #15 Copyright Notice. This is what 3PP such as Purple Duck Games, are limited to which are guaranteed to be allowed. Anything else they need to be given permission from the individual author, or the OGL on the back page specifying that the specific content you're wanting to use can be replicated.
As for Rogue Genius Games, Owen Stephens is part of that group, and he now works for Paizo.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16
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Per the OGL you can use any game content that is declared Open Content in section 15 - The Copyright Notice section in the OGL. You then have to cite the the source of that content in section 15 of your own document.
The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Compatibility License adds an additional restriction that you can only reference documents in the Exhibit B section of the compatibility license. This only applies to the body text of your document not the OGL copyright section 15.
So this means that you can include any spell/feat/whaterver in your OGL document as long as it is open content. However if you are also using the the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Compatibility license you can't say where that spell/feat/whatever is from in the document if it is not from one of the sources listed in Exhibit B, but you still include it in the copyright section of the OGL.
Check out this post where "Liz exlpains it all" Link
Hi all, there's a great release for Pathfinder that has a ruined dwarven citadel infested with derro and worse, that is absolutely integratable into a underdark game. I did update it for the company, but that was after I ran and loved it. Levels 8-12. Check it out!
http://koboldpress.com/kpstore/product/halls-of-the-mountain-king-for-pathf inder-rpg/