More Thoughts on Fantasy Warfare

I recently red a post by the GM Oracle (http://www.gmoracle.com/?p=619). In his post, he comments how mass combat is unrealistic a fantasy setting. His point is "proven" by an example of a single wizard with a wand of fireball. In many ways, he is right. A single fireball (or 50 in a wand) will decimate a unit of simple commoner.

In a med-fan setting, adventurers rarely tend to stick around one place for very long. After a battle or two, they drift off seeking treasure and - as their name implies - adventure.

Instead of thinking in terms of a human army (with clerics and wizards), first, let's think of an orc horde. The vast majority of its numbers is composed of disorganized individually dangerous creatures.

Why do I disagree?

1- Communications

Communication is key to any battle plan. When running small-scale action, it is easy to use magical means to coordinate. However, when the numbers grow, such cohesion and means of communications become confusing at best. Imagine 10, 20 or more people each talking, or relaying information at the same time.

Communication is not just knowing how engaged troops fare, but also where the reserve are, when and where to commit them, knowing about the enemy's movements. If a general cannot see where his troops are, it is impossible to provide support when and where needed.

Good examples of this includes Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz where he maneuvered his army while his Russian opponent was hampered by the fog, and assumed Napoleon would not risk battle because of it.

2- Limited Magical Means

It is false or simplistic to assume that only one side has access to magical means. Both sides would be likely to have destructive, scrying and dispelling magics. The rules in D&D and Pathfinder make such means of roughly equal level. Requiring a minimum of 5th level for the most common large-scale destructive magics (fireball), thus making it uncommon.

Next, people with limited, valuable resources (such as spell casting) rarely seek to expend those frivolously (like PCs do). Wasting fireballs on a mob of commoners is not something I would generally wish to do.

3- Target Priority

Same as modern artillery firing blindly at an enemy is not ideal. WWI showed us, massive barrage achieve only limited success unless backed up with an infantry assault (read about the creeping barrage tactics and the fall offensive of 1918).

YES, as a wizard, I can just throw my fireballs at whatever moves, leaving me with much less to fight against real tougher opponent (remember that wizard on the other side I mentioned earlier?).

4- Modern Military Tactics

GM Oracle's post mentions that fantasy warfare would be very similar to modern warfare. Good quality modern armies (such as the US) have one thing in common: they are a volunteer, professional military force. This means they are highly-trained, well-equipped and well-disciplined. Very similar to adventurers.

When gathering his military forces, a fantasy lord would call upon a few groups of well-trained warriors (such adventurers, knight-retainers and religious orders), but most of his forces would consist of local militia and commoner with little to no training, equipment and discipline.Thus the "mob" or "big block" formation makes the most sense.

Those elite groups would use tactics that would be more in line with modern warfare, yes, absolutely. But the poor little farm boy who leaves his farm to serve his lord with his club or pitchfork...

5- Intelligence

Knowing the enemy and his resources is crucial, even in fantasy warfare. The presence of high level spell casters in a city is something that is known. The presence of someone who can drop a mountain from the sky rarely goes unnoticed. People talk. Casters scry. Spies listen and observe.

Anyone quickly notices adventurers coming to town and selling for 1,000s of gp's worth of gear and loot. Merchants and people talk. They do so without malice, its just common sense. Since those merchants would have an influx of magic items for sale, they would spread tales designed to attract customers.

This forces an attacking commander to do something about those very dangerous individuals: assassins, distractions, bribery or even plain old magic. Nothing prevents an attacker from using many of those methods. PCs and high-level adventurers form wild cards that must be dealt with.

It also assumes that those around the PCs and other important NPCs haven't fallen prey to the means mentioned above. While it is often true that a PC could take command of the army, morale is likely to drop cohesion may not be the same. Why take out the impossible god-like adventurer when you can take down his few aides.

PCs can rarely be everywhere at once and an attacker would try to take advantage of that. Feints, counter-feints and all kinds of stratagems would still be used. Opponents would know that. Add to that illusion magic that would enhance those stratagems.

6- Castles and fortifications

Castles and fortifications protect little from a flying wizard/dragon, it does protect one from bandit and more "conventional" attackers. Adding machicolations and other defenses would help. At least delay such an attacker.

Elements that would change would include more elaborate underground structures to protect from airborne attackers and those underground structures would need additional defenses to keep enemies away. Do I hear "dungeon"?

Castles also make a great statement to the local populace that you are here to stay and defend against invaders (as they did in England after the Normand Conquest).

Plus... if we're very honest... They are really cool to think, design and research...

What we agree on

I think the biggest point we both agree on is that fantasy warfare cannot be modeled exclusively on medieval warfare, even though it takes a lot from it. Camps and bases would be more spread-out to avoid decimation by fireballs.

Personally, I see med-fan battlefields as blocks of lowly troops in the centers with elite forces and splinter "modern" groups fighting on the wings, seeking to gain an advantage. The result is a hybrid of both methods. Thus the basic elements of medieval warfare such as supplies, communications, logistics, organizations and the stratagems are all there, but use of magic makes such stratagems more complex, and in the end interesting.

In the end, I guess that it is simplistic to merely assume that common medieval tactics should be discarded simply because of the presence of magic. As usual, the answer is more complex.

JP

NeoExodus Adventure First Draft

For the past few posts, I have been telling you about my involvement on a writing project for LPJ Design. Well, finally, my first draft is complete! I worked like a mad man to complete the “manuscript” and now it is done. From here on, it’s editing, cleaning up, strengthening, tightening and making better.

For those who plan on writing and publishing material, the most important and hardest part is completing this first draft. After that you can change, tweak and re-arrange to your heart’s content. Unfortunately too many would-be authors get so focused on minutiae and pre-editing work that they never finish anything. Sit, write and get that first draft completed. Moving text around is easier than coming up with it in the first place.

Now you ask: what have I been working on? An adventure, of course! I hope that it will be the first of many adventures that will be part of the NeoExodus line.

Sneak peeks and details you ask? The current working title is “Origin of Man”. But that may change - it has already changed once since I started working on it last month. It targets a solid group of 4 or 5th level characters using the Pathfinder RPG.

When I started talking with Louis about NeoExodus, I was telling him that NeoExodus is an awesome line. Great, flavorful races; a unique history; many, many great groups and secret societies, the thing it lacks is adventures that showcased them. It’s one thing to come up with a creature. I find that creatures presented to me in the course of an encounter then the reason for the creature’s existence provide meaning. It’s no long just a series of stats and a monster. It’s something for my PC to defeat. A way to be a hero!

As I was writing the adventure, I pointed out to Louis a number of points that concerned me as a writer. Thing I understood as a concept, but that I did not really know how to present to the GM/ players. I guess that’s one of the big differences between a setting writer (Louis) and an adventure writer (me) that we approach certain ideas and concepts differently.

If you didn’t know, Louis and his team are working hard to update the setting from 3.5 to Pathfinder. He posted his release schedule on his blog. A lot of things in there and an exciting time really. I hope he enjoys what I do and gives me more work. I think he already assigned more things for me to do… I just need to know what!

That’s it for me!

JP

Major Updates and News

This blog entry is a major update about what I have been doing these past weeks. So much is going on that my head is spinning. I’ll not give the detail of my job, where I have a lot to do (also). Let me focus on Gaming.

The Holidays
Let me start by wishing all of you a Merry Xmas and my best seasons wishes!

For my Holidays, I plan on spending time with my daughters and hopefully get them involved in a game or two. Don’t tell my wife, but I would sure love to have two beautiful gamer girls tagging along with me. I am lucky enough to have 2 weeks off this year (again). Good times. I’ll need to play a game of 40k at least… Plus I will be running two game days during that time (see later). Should be a lot of fun!

Arcanis
This coming Sunday (the 19th) will be our Not-Quite-Living Arcanis game day. I plan to run a VERY old (read: 3.0) adventure for the party. The adventure, Blood Reign of Nishanpur was written prior to the start of the Living Arcanis campaign. It’s a great story but one that is antiquated for our party (as we have already played a lot of later adventures in Nishanpur).

I am not sure what is happening with the new Arcanis campaign. As far as public events goes, it’s dead – at least here in Denver. I’m not in the know about what is happening so it is very possible that private games are still happening, but from the outside looking in… Doesn’t seem much is happening. What I find most sad is that I doubt I will get the chance to play any at Genghis Con Denver in February as I expect to be extremely busy with Pathfinder Society (More on Genghis Later).

I don’t want to say anything bad as the game itself is still in flux. That’s why I never posted my review of the game system, because it’s not final and reviewing a play-test document… It might be unfair, so I’ll wait for the final product before really saying anything. In short there is one element that drives me ABSOLUTELY nuts about it. But the storyline… well, it’s from PCI, so it’s top-notch!

Pathfinder Society Day: Dec 27th
I have been working with the folks at Enchanted Grounds in Highlands Ranch (Shout-out to Dave & Jeff) to organize two events during the holidays. The first is a Pathfinder Society Day on the 27th (still a few seats left). During the day, we will be running the new Pathfinder Module The Godsmouth Heresy and parts 1 and 2 of the Echoes of the Everwar and during the evening, Dave runs his usual stuff. So potentially 3 slots in one day! Good times to be had by all!

I am taking the "floating" position in this in that I do not assign myself to any table until the day of the event itself. That way I can jump in and help wherever I am needed. That is the position I like to have as it gives me a lot of freedom and I don’t have to worry about incomplete tables or a missing DM. Plus being the holidays and December in Colorado, the weather can come into play.

Still I expect that day to be full of excitement. Good ol’fashion holiday gaming!

Non Organized Play Day: Dec 29th
Back when I started looking at my Xmas Holidays, a thought came to me. There are many games I like to play, such as Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu, GDW’s Space 1889, and more recently Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space. After my recent Doctor Who gorge-o-thon (all the 9th through 11th Doctors in one weekend plus a few week nights), I felt inspired. Very much so. It was awesome. Actually ever since, I have been trying to get my son to play the Dalek and walk around going EX TER MI NATE!. But he doesn’t get it. Not yet.

So back to the topic at hand, I thought that it would be fun to have a day where we would play something that would NOT be Organized Play. Where I could pull out my CoC and my Doctor Who and even play something else also. It would be very cool to see something of the sorts. So I offered to coordinate a non-OP day. I am still working on what I want to run. I think I’ll put together a Doctor Who: AiTaS adventure and maybe dust off an old CoC module. Just for good measure.

Hummm… Call of Cthulhu…

Micro con
Shannon is taking over the running of Microcon again this year (thank you Shannon). Good thing, since I don’t think I would’ve had the time to really commit to it. So on Jan 29th, there will be more of the madness that is Microcon. For those who don’t know, Microcon offers 2h adventures. Microcon gives just enough to whet your appetite, and hopefully join a campaign or join an existing group. \

The first year, I ran a Basic Zombie Apocalypse adventure. Last year I have a Cthulhu/Pirates crossover. This year, I decided to offer some Dr Who. My idea is wacky and interesting all at once. I call it The Doctor Who Marathon. Every slot I run a new episode. So I need to come up with more interesting premises. I have two good ones already (I think) AND I have Pre-generated PCs that each have something interesting. I may post them here or on my website before or after the event. Those pre-gens would be the same as those I would run on December 29th’s non-OP Day.

Speaking of the Doctor Who RPG, I have been looking at the game, but am still undecided on whether I should fork over the 60$ for it (likely I won’t, not with so many Pathfinder Goodies coming out). It’s a game I wouldn’t mind snatching at an auction.

Akos
More than a few have been asking me about Akos, and whether I would run some of it at one of the above-mentioned event. Well, I’m not. I am currently waiting on my publisher for news on a number of announcements. I expect great things, but I am waiting right now. I have the setting, the mods, and a basic rulebook ready to out. After the feedback from Neoncon, I literally cannot wait to move forward with this product.

LPJ Design
As many of you know, Louis and I have been talking a lot recently about a number of things. I am working on a writing project with him. That’s another thing I am extremely excited about. It’s something that to me is both very different and very familiar. He and I have a definite synergy and I hope to announce good stuff coming down the pipe. Ever since I started to talk to him, I mean I like his style and his approach to the business. Yes, he is a curmudgeon and somewhat of a sourpuss. But HEY! If you are reading thing blog on even a marginally regular basis, you would know that I too am one of THOSE people.

Someone initially pointed me to his blog as a great source of material. I have to say… Louis puts out a lot of good stuff. Some I doubt or could argue about, mostly having to deal with game balance, but most of it is fun and could easily be added to an existing campaign, more on that in a later post.

Genghis Con
The biggest gaming of the year in the Denver CO area, Genghis Con Denver returns this year. Once more, I will be marshalling the PFS troops and events. We have a sweet program with a lot of good and interesting events to play. As I stated early, I would like to play some Shattered Empires, Doctor Who, Cthulhu, but I doubt that will happen. I will be doing Pathfinder most of the weekend and running the Venture Captain special. (Most slots would be my guess). Oh well, I volunteered for it.

I am very happy that once again Enchanted Grounds will be sponsoring the Pathfinder Society events. That does help a lot. Because of all the other projects I’m working on right now, I will begin to ask GMs only following the Holidays, setup Slot-Zeroes and fill out my schedule. I am looking forward to that event also.

RPG Superstar
This year I WILL take part in Paizo’s annual contest. I thought of a magic item that I think many of my characters would like to get. It’s something that is low-level, simple, small and most of all usable by almost every character. Now I need to actually GO and finish writing it.

Good luck to all participants!

JP

Becoming Venture-Captain

Although a few days old already (okay, I'm delinquent), I have made a guest blog post on Louis Porter's Blog. The article can be found here:

Becoming a Venture Captain for Pathfinder Society by JP Chapleau

Enjoy!

JP

Commissions

Over the past two months, I have been doing a number of commission work for friends.

October Works

This was made for Sarah who gave me the miniature as a challenge.

November Works

This was made for Collin to use as his shadow companion.

This was made for Kenton to use as his sorceress cohort.

Blood Bowl on the PC

It was early in the 90s when I bought a second hand copy of Blood Bowl from Le Valet d’Coeur in Montreal. I paid 5 or 10$ for it, but the box had everything I needed, including additional minis. It’s been more than 15 years and I still love the game. I was very excited when I hear there was a European company that created an on-line version of the game. My major concern was that, like many of Games Workshop’s computer version of their game was that they would be similar to the game, but still very different, much like the previous Blood Bowl game (which I still own).

So I spent some time wondering about whether I should get it. And I finally did.

The reason I wrote this post is because I saw the game for sale at my local Walmart. I felt all giddy just seeing it there. It is a GREAT game. Though I am not familiar with the latest version of the game (but I was proficient enough to catch on), it’s still the Blood Bowl I fell in love. You can easily play against the computer just like you would on a table-top, which was my main concern. The graphics are fine, the game is fast enough. Some teams are very challenging to defend against.

I won’t go over all the features of the game (I haven’t tried the Real-Time Version). But it’s really great. I have been playing my Orkland Rayderz in a number of competitions and my Passing offense is still ranked at the top. I love playing Orks in Blood bowl. You can really build a team the way you like.

I have been thinking about painting up my Blood Bowl minis just because of that game.

If you don’t have it, RUN to get it! Seriously! There are Elves, Goblins, Humans and Dwarves waiting for you to maim them!

WAAAARGH!

Warhammer Historical is no more

Yep, you heard me right. WH has been dissolved by Games Workshop as an entity. Late in 2009, they announced that the product line was going to be absorbed by Forgeworld. They got rid of all of WH’s personnel: Rob Broom in 2009 and his assistant earlier this year. This in itself was cause of concern, but at the time, WAB 2.0 was being promised "soon" so I assumed Forgeworld would take it over and make it great. However, having my WAB 1.0 books already, most of the supplements I wanted and few people to play with, I felt the impact of such news to be limited.

This leaves me with three questions. Does this mean the game stops producing content? Does this mean the end of Warhammer Ancient Battles (WAB), my personal favorite ancient rules set? Is there a future for WAB at Forgeworld?

New Content

Seeing the silence of Forgeworld on any new WAB product, the lack of effort they put in to the brand or any products, the endless delays in releasing products. They seem to have alienated some of their top writers in Allen Curtis and Jeff Jonas by either not responding to them or simply delaying everything through slow response time.

Good thing is that the WAB online community is filled with the authors of the WAB supplements and a lot of good people. Shout out to the WABList Yahoogroup.

End of WAB?

I think GW (Forgeworld and GW are interchangeable term IMO) is killing the brand as a whole. It is stupid and makes very little sense to me, but then again who can really claim to understand GW’s reasoning? I tried and after a short trip at the asylum, I gave up and just went with the flow. Stupid is as stupid does, which pains me greatly to say because I have enjoyed GW products and games for over fifteen year by now.

They have a brand that is seen by many as quality and community-friendly, and they cut it out. Perhaps it is not making the same amount of money as their 40k or Fantasy lines, but I know of few people who hate the line. Many prefer other games, and that’s fine.

Future with Forgeworld?

Seeing how Forgeworld won’t sell through my local story (thus giving me easy access to the product), I see little future for the brand. It will die out. It may hold itself in the UK for a while, but I see its US market dying.

This one is short. Forgeworld taking over anything is like executing a death sentence. We won’t see anything new. We won’t see much support. The game is dead as far as GW is concerned.

Really the End???

If you were expecting anything new for WAB, then yes.

Oddly enough, this move comes at a time where WAB is more attractive than ever, with hard plastics are both plentiful AND affordable. Players who balked at the idea of spending hundreds to build an army may now do so at very low prices. 40$ gets you 60 hoplites! That’s like the core of a Greek Army!

What about Imperial Romans? 30$ gets you 50 of them! Call it 120$ and you have a highly versatile army. The versatility increases a thousand folds if you are willing to do a little conversion work. For the Classical period, call it 500BC to 500AD, one can model so many armies: from the legions of Rome, to Alexander’s phalanxes, to some strange hybrids like the Carthaginians, the Mithridatic war, the Jewish rebellion, the conquest of Gaul. So many choices!

Stupid is as stupid does, sir.

JP

CURSE YOU, ADAM DAIGLE!

Last night, I sat at my computer, watching Criminal Minds and Billy the Exterminator (waiting to re-watch Star Trek: TNG), expecting to do nothing useful. So I opened my email and there it was. An email from Adam Daigle with the stats of the monster we designed in his workshop at Neoncon (see my previous article on Neoncon here). I hastily opened it and scanned through the stats looking for changes (he did a few I really liked), read through the prose, ecology and all of the good stuff.

Okay. I DID NOT LIKE THEM. I hate them! They creep me out! Totally! I mean, I wasn't able to sleep without seeing the horror in mind nightmares. I just lurks there beyond the scope of my active perception... It waits for me to make a mistake before it grabs me. Am I wishing a duck on Adam's head for that? No.

What he did is WAY worse than that.

It was a comment so innocent yet so insidious, that only slowly and too late, does one grasp the horror of it all.

In his email, Adam challenged me (and Mike who also attended) to produce a 4e version of the monster! Yes! Me creating a 4e monster. I felt challenged! I had to respond! Honor demanded I try my hand at it! For the first time in some eleven months, I open my 4e books and rose to the challenge. My intimate knowledge of 4e is blissfully going away, but I think I came up with a creature that can be of interest to 4e players and DMs.

Thus I curse you with a chicken upon your head, Adam! Because of you I opened book I did not look at in 10 months.

Come to think of it... I could have merely said “no” and be done with it...

Come to think of it some more... Adam helped me remember why I disliked 4e so much: the mindless stats, the powers, the lack of damage, the situations that make little sense, the monsters that do not scare anyone, the conditions that suddenly stop without reason.

Thanks Adam! The exercise helped me remember why I love Pathfinder so much. Hmmm, Pathfinder...

JP

My Neoncon 2010

Where I come from

Those who know me know that I attend cons for one reason: play or run. But at this year’s Neoncon, I decided to do it differently. Instead of wall-to-wall playing/running, I would try to breathe between slots and attend a number of lecture/ seminars/ workshops with some of the gaming industry’s biggest names. People whose work I like (and sometimes dislike). People I respect. From whose experience my projects could benefit.

I will admit that though excited I did not really know what I was getting into. How would it be? Fun or boring, active or passive (on my part), did the speakers really want to impart any of that wisdom and experience I sought? From the huge lineup of names, I expected a lot.

Neoncon: Thursday

After walking around the con, I was told about Stan! Owen KC Stephens and Ed Stark’s workshop about world building. Having learned that, I quickly made my way there and took a seat. The guys proposed a framework for world creation. With each participant throwing ideas for a world they were thinking about. We worked on two different settings participants were thinking about.

What I got out of that workshop was the format of the idea pitching. Though the why was not new to me, it gave me a different perspective from some of the guys who had already done this. Frankly, if I had done this workshop before we started working on Akos, a lot of time would’ve been spent. Thanks guys!

After that, I gathered a few stragglers who trickled in and ran a play test of Opening Moves, my second Akos adventure. The feedback was positive. Although there were a number of items I have to change, some great feedback and notes came out of the play test (some flow element, some boxed text, some GM text, a few corrections on the character sheet, etc).

Neoncon: Friday

Today started with an early breakfast at the Excalibur’s buffet with fellow Venture Captain, Issak, Robyn any Jeremy. Good to put actual faces to names I’ve only seen in e-format.

With that done, I joined a table of PFS-03 Murder on the Silk Caravan where I had a lot of fun playing with my Opera Singer. After like 6 tries to play the adventure, I finally got it done.

After that, I joined a seminar by John Wick called “Hating with the haters”. Yes. It was exactly what it said on the tin. Almost every sentence or comment started with “you know what I hate?” Awesome! We discussed important topics from Tom Cruise in a L5R movie to bad games to house rules to hating on the haters themselves. While not very serious, this was extremely funny and a nice change of pace.

Then I took part in Adam Daigle “create a monster” workshop. The three participants included someone who was only conversant in 4e, someone who was very much into more freeform games (such as Gurps) and me (another aging curmudgeon gamer). You would think that such an eclectic group would have difficulty coming up a coherent monster for the Pathfinder system. However, what happened was an odd synergy of influences that created a very dynamic discussion (meaning we spent more time pitching ideas than we did on the number-crunching). The resulting monster just SCARES THE PANTS OFF ME. All of us pitched some ideas that made this monster very nasty. The monster will be featured in an upcoming post on Kobold Quarterly. I’m sure you will also get to see it as part of CreativeU’s web casts.

The one-hour discussion could very well have continued on for more, with such a dynamic team. I’m almost sad that we only designed one monster.

Adam presented the technique he uses when he designs monsters, which is both simple and very useful. He takes a sheet of paper, physically folds it in two along the short edge, creating two columns. On the right side, he brainstorms his ideas, nothing specifically system related. Things he wants to see on the monster, things that would be cool, etc. The left side, he keeps to stat-out the creature. I really like his technique, and will VERY likely steal it away.

After a quick dinner with Issak and Robyn it was more PFS. This time I played in the "Classic" (what we call Fiesta in Denver) PFS-34 Encounter at Drowning Stone. Very interesting party! We hated on each other… Actually, I hated on them through the game calling them minions and thugs.

Neoncon: Saturday

First order of the day (after shower, getting dressed, coffee, and food) was to attend Jason Buhlman’s workshops. I got to sit and chat with him a little before the seminar. While with Jason, I got to meet SRM whom I met back in ’04 or ’05 and Sean (and now, Mrs.) Reynolds and chat with them briefly.

The first seminar was about game design. A few good ideas came out as we talked about one guy’s idea. I’m curious to see if he will go forward with his idea and publish the game.

Next came the big one. Jason, Stephen and Sean offered a workshop where those present became his design team for the upcoming Ultimate Combat (Gencon-ish 2011). We worked on the ninja and samurai for Pathfinder. I can’t say much other than I now have to save up for another awesome book. Keep an eye out for it.

Next slot, I sat with Issak, Mike-A and Robyn (and Cheri) to play PFS 02-08 The Sarkorian Prophecy. It was one of those times where there really was not need for a mod. We just all had great time. Oh! And we kicked ass too!

For the evening slot, I offered to help in running Year of the Shadow Lodge. My services were immediately picked up as I managed to tag out other VCs suffering from various ailments. Since my voice projects, I also read the boxed text. I had a blast beating up on my players and giving them a hard time. Since none of them hit me over the head, I think they enjoyed their experience. It has left me with a number of ideas for running it again.

Dark points

Everything can’t be rosy and perfect… It just can’t… Two issues arose. First, the lack of fast food joints to run to when you had only 15 minutes between slots. Okay it’s not like my own fat butt will lose much by skipping a meal. Second, I could not be there for more Sunday goodness.

In the end

Wow what an awesome con. Doug Daulton and his staff run a top-notch event. If you haven’t been, you are missing out. Plain and simple. I was very lucky to attend and have really like Doug’s events (went in ’08 to a similar high-quality experience).

The seminars/ talks all added to my weekend in some way. I did receive some of the wisdom that I looked for. I returned home to a whole series of new ideas and plans to make things work.

I want to give a big thanks to Doug Daulton, the mastermind behind Neoncon and his staff. It was a tight ship they ran and something I was partially privy to (I helped here and there with errands and odds and ends). I am very glad to call Doug my friend. Thanks to Steve, Rene and all the GMs who stepped up. And of course, thanks to those who ran workshops.

Next year, I have to go back!

JP

Halloween Delights

Two weeks ago, I went to Gamers' Haven here in Colorado Springs with my eldest daughter. During that time, she found a pumpkin monster in the Reaper Miniatures rack. Like most fathers, I'm a sucker for little girls' blue eyes. (I'm whipped)

Here is the monster, once painted.

JP

I have the power!!!

Back in July, Josh Frost, head honcho for the Pathfinder Society campaign posted a call for volunteers. The task: serving the campaign as a Regional Coordinator for various regions (one of which was Denver, Co). There was never any doubt in my mind that I would apply for the position, even though there were many qualified locals who could easily have served as regional coordinator.

I want to thank the many people who sent Paizo emails in support of my application (there are a few of you).

I have a number of ideas I would like to see in Pathfinder Society adventures (the application form asked for 2, I provided 5).

What will happen next? I am as anxious to know as you are!

Now, enough of this talk stuff... Let's get back to gaming.

JP

The Mindless Undead

As you enter the crypt’s main chamber, the ghoul you followed stands in front of a makeshift altar. The thing turns to you, its raspy voice echoing the following command. “Kill them.” All around you, skeletons emerge from their coffins, ready to fight.

The scene above happened to all of us. An intelligent undead creature commanding a horde of mindless ones makes for a fun and typical encounter. Undead make great opponents, PCs generally don’t have to think too closely about what they do with them, and only rarely does their destruction cause consternation in the party.

Still, something gnawed at me regarding that encounter. How can a normal, basic ghast (or ghoul or wight) command skeletons/zombies that surround it? Why does the zombie obey the undead? Why would it not obey a living creature that does not control then through magic such as a necromancer would use spells like command undead or control undead ? As a computer engineer my natural instinct is to devise a finite state machine to determine the undead’s behavior. But I can see where that could confuse some people, and really… to account for everything… well that could be problematic.

How can I simplify the model to make it easy and universal? Let’s set some basis.

1. Intelligent undead should have some measure of power over the mindless ones.

2. A mindless undead’s natural instinct is to kill and destroy the living.

3. The changes must not impact the CR of the intelligent undead

4. The changes must not impact the CR of the mindless undead

5. The changes must not change existing spells or abilities (such as channel energy, the Command Undead feat, the command undead spell).

Putting a little thought into it, I would propose the following.

The necromantic energies found in all undead creatures are more powerful in intelligent undead. When a mindless undead comes into close proximity with one such creature, their necromantic energy align. This alignment makes the mindless undead extremely suggestible to the intelligent undead’s wishes.

This alignment only works on mindless undead who are not commanded or controlled through other means. Thus a skeleton commanded to attack an intelligent undead would do so without hesitation. A commanded mindless undead who orders could be open to interpretations or vague such as patrol the walls, could influenced by an intelligent undead. In the example, a zombie could be suggested by the intelligent undead to focus its patrol the west wall.

While not perfect, this mini-rule can explain and justify the scene above, without changing the creature, without changing any spells of magic usage. Thus accomplishing the 5 goals mentioned above.

JP

Secret Project X: Quick Reveal

Louis Porter mentions Secret Project X and shows you the outline mentioned in the Secret Project X: Now an outline article. It's quick so you have to watch attentively.

Funny story is, from seeing the pile, I think I must have called Louis literally a minute after he recording this (see his blog entry).

JP

Secret Project X: Now an outline

Secret Project X finally has a basic story outline, something to launch it! I finalized my proposal into something I liked. Based on a basic idea by Louis, the style is a marked departure from my own usual style. I found writing with a twist to be very exciting. In this case, the adventures have a common theme and story elements I tried to capture. What is it? I’m waiting on feedback before any announcements are made.

I initially started working on another storyline but I scrapped it because it didn’t fit the setting. I could not find myself excited about it. It did not bring the flavor of the setting right. So practicing my own methods, I threw the idea into an idea for the future document and went back to the writing board. I did some research and came up with something I felt was more fitting.

On the first try, I came up with an adventure idea first. What will the PCs do? approach. As a change, I looked through the campaign book to see what would inspire me, if anything stuck. There was one element that did and this time I tried a different approach. Instead of designing an adventure, I worked on the adventure site, my point of light. As I jotted down small ideas here and there: a tavern, the market, a few individuals with interesting stories, things took shape on their own.

I now had a focal location, a cast of characters and a rough idea of the types of stories I would like to write. The merging process began and after some three days of brainstorming, formatting and reformatting ideas until they took the shape I wanted, I had a proposal. I had something tangible I could submit.

JP

Halloween Season Woes!

Am I the only one who, comes Halloween finds himself staring at a blank page, or a page the fills up with material that is either bland, without relevance or just terrible? The time of year that should be most inspiring to a big horror and fear-fan like me. Yet, that is not the case. While I thoroughly enjoy the event and the celebration - I don’t consider it a holiday; I’m not druid or ancient celt-revivalist. I mean TV movies become interesting or at least worth looking over. Horror and scary things are all around us, the getting’s good.

Yet I am faced with a serious lack of good ideas for Halloween. Could it be a case of too much of a good thing?

Well not really since the movies on Syfy, AMC and even TCM are not as awesome as I’d like them to be. I mean, the most interesting movie I saw thus far this October was Meet the Spartans which was funny… but nothing to put me into the Halloween spirit OR help me coming up with an Halloween-theme or good horror-themed offering. No sudden spark.

Perhaps it is the Big-Guy-Upstairs’ way of telling me that I should come up with something different, if only for one month out of the year.

So what is a guy to do in that case? I have obligations and deadlines I need to meet.

OH THE ANGST!

JP