ENnies Exposé

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

The ENnies are an RPG awards that have become the Official Gen Con Awards. It started out as something small on EN World message boards. It has grown tremendously and become in my opinion the most important RPG awards there are. I do admit to being biased as I was a Judge for the ENnies for six years. What follows are some stories and gossip on what has happened with the ENnies behind the scenes. Some of it is good and some of it is bad. No names are going to be mentioned because while I am writing this to inform people it is not my intention to embarrass or call out any persons. All opinions right and wrong are mine and mine alone.

I’m really not sure why I ran for ENnies judge. The first year I did it I did not get voted in, but I did the second year I tried. I had no idea what kind of hell I was getting myself into. It was fun and I’m very happy I did, but that first year was difficult because of the circumstances. The other judges that year were great. It was a collection of some very intelligent and experienced gamers. We had some great conversations about what should and should not get nominated. The purpose of the judges is to read all the books that publishers submit and come to a consensus list of five books for each of the categories. Once the judges pick the nominations it is put up to a fan vote. In those days it was also the Judges responsibility to create categories that fit the products submitted. For instance we had the best Monster Supplement that year because we saw many monster books submitted. The reason it was hell was almost everything came at the last minute. The last week of May and all of June I had about one hundred and fifty RPGs to read and it is a lot more work than it sounds.

Everything that was submitted was read cover to cover at least once. I had a notebook I would take notes in about each book. It wasn’t just the content we were judging but the production values, interior art, cover art, rules, cartography, and everything about a book. I learned a lot about layout that year. The concept of excessive white space for instance was not something I ever noticed before. I was paying attention to fonts, font size, how pictures were used to help the text flow, or in the case of bad lay out, just interrupted the text. After reading through everything I had a pile of books that I felt were not good enough for any category so I put those to the side. All the others got read for a second and sometimes third time as I reduced my lists of what was best. During this time the judges are communicating online with what they liked and did not like. There were more than a few times that I had to go get a book out of my “no like” pile and reread it because another judge or two sang its praises. Doing this was in addition to everything else one normal does, like go to work. I had a weekly game and I usually was social with friends during the week. To get it all read and to do my job properly I canceled gaming for June. I didn’t see anyone socially and even took vacation time to get everything finished that I had to finish. My girlfriend at the time broke up with me as for that month reading gaming books became her adversary.

Later years became better as companies would not all wait to the last minute to submit books to us. We still felt that too many of them did but that was really to their disadvantage. The books we got after Gen Con and early in the year we had months of discussion on them and more time to read and reread. Books that came in at the very end of the submission period could not get that kind of scrutiny because of the time crunch.

I bring up all the time devoted to reading because we were occasionally accused of not reading everything. One year we were even called out by at the time possibly the biggest name in gaming. Those years I really feel we did read it all. I wasn’t the only one that took vacation time and missed social and family events to get the job done. After we put in all that hard work and had people claim otherwise, that upset us. Some of us blew our tops and angrily replied. I had friends that asked me in private if I really did read everything or if I faked it. I would tell them the truth that I read everything and was insulted that they would imply otherwise. When I signed up to be judge it was a commitment and a responsibility that I had to follow through to the best of my ability. I took it very seriously even though awards are not always that well respected by the fans and by publishers.

In later years when I was and was not a judge I got the feeling that some judges were not reading everything. I’d talk about specific books with them and they were not able to have a discussion about it. Some of the most difficult books to judge are supplements submitted to games the judges don’t own and don’t play. I talked to judges that would read the supplement but not the game it was based on. It’s impossible to judge a supplement if you don’t know the rules and what the supplement is building off of. There is no oversight for the judges. Each judge does their reading in their own place in different part of the US and even the world. They really need to require more transparency for the judges. They should be required to go to Gen Con. At the very least the people running the ENnies should meet with the Judges. Otherwise it is too easy to lie and cheat one’s way into being a judge.

As RPGs grew on the net, other sites devoted to gaming emerged. People had blogs and then podcasts about gaming. I don’t know whose ideas it was to include them in the ENnies as categories but I thought it was a mistake then and still do. As judges we were told we had control of the categories but when some of us talked about not including Best Blog and Best Podcast the Powers that Be told us that was not a possibility. We had freedom when I was first a judge and it worked. When I stopped being a judge much of that freedom had been taken away. My guess it was done so to appease people who disliked the ENnies. We had some publishers that would never enter and then there were game sites that would just talk bad about the ENnies because it is the internet and that’s what people do on the internet.

Podcasts were the worst. It was amateur radio about gaming done in a way that made me want to quit gaming. We had some that were in excess of three hours. People were coughing into microphones. There was dead air. None of the ones I listened to sounded like they were edited or that there was much of a plan going into them. Some were of people actually playing the games. They gave no lead in like what had happened before, what the plot was, and in many cases what the game was. It would literally be thirty minutes before I could figure out what they were playing. I nominated many podcasts based on length of episodes, the shorter the better. Some podcasts tried to be news shows. I would be listening to a podcast in May that were recorded and aired in November. The breaking news was mostly unimportant by then and the guesswork they did on what companies would be doing would be proved wrong. Having to include and listen to podcasts was one of the main reasons I stopped running for ENnies Judge.

Some publishers would enter others would not. Steve Jackson Games I think entered once or twice by accident. At one time I had a contact within the company who I talked with about the awards. He loved the idea and he was ready to submit stuff. Then one day I just stopped hearing from him. When I finally did hear back it was short message that basically said someone higher in the company had told him SJGs would never submit anything to the ENnies and he was told to cease all communication with me. Goodman Games is another odd one. They used to submit modules and some sourcebooks and we would nominate them because they were good books. I heard Goodman Games stopped submitting product because they would rarely win the awards. It’s a fan vote so we have no control over that and we know it is hard to win going up against companies like Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, White Wolf, Green Ronin, and other companies that were just hugely popular. Upsets did happen from time to time. The way the awards are structured being nominated is an award in itself. That is being picked by the experts, the judges that have read everything. If we see seventy adventures in a year and pick one of yours to be top five that’s pretty impressive. Some companies just did not believe it or did not want to see it. Others usually small companies would thank us profusely. They would see a sales bump the week after we made our nominations.

In 2006 we were blindsided by a controversy I was not expecting. I’m still not sure if it was a legitimate complaint or just people airing sour grapes because they lost. Shackled City hardcover was entered by Paizo Publishing. It is a great product that reprints the adventures of the Shackled City AP that appeared in Dungeon Magazine. They expanded on those adventures to include more information especially about the city of Cauldron the setting for most of the Adventure Path. We, the judges, nominated for Best Adventure and for Best Campaign Setting/ Setting Supplement. It won gold for both categories and then some people complained that the book cannot be both an adventure and a setting book. I disagree as there have been books that are both setting and adventures. RPG books can’t always be so easily classified as just one thing.

This past year has also not been without possible problems. When the judges wanted to discuss what should be nominated they wanted to use Skype. It would have been a great way to communicate and I wish we had that ability when I was a judge. But one of the judges refused, and for some reason, instead of majority rules, which is the way it is set up, Skype was not used. Instead the judges had to have the discussions in a less efficient and much slower method of e-mail. That’s a situation that management should be watching over and step in.

Another more alarming example from this year is the exclusion of Star Wars Edge of the Empire Beginner Box. It was submitted but left off all the nominations. It was not left off because most of the judges don’t like Star Wars or felt that other products were just better. It was left off because one judge didn’t like the special dice the game uses and refused to let it get nominated for anything. It is fine that a judge didn’t like the product but no one judge should be able to influence the nominations and have their opinion override the others.

Being a judge for the ENnies was great. I came across a lot of products that I never would have otherwise. I loved that I was there to help open up the awards from just d20 to all RPGs. I think the awards have lost focus on that as we see more items that are not RPGs in them. Voting for the awards is taking place now and is going to be open till July 31^st. I encourage all gamers to go and vote. It doesn’t matter if you’ve only read or played a few of the items on there. The more votes that the awards get and the more feedback they get from fans can only improve the awards.

Chris Gath. I’ve been gaming since 1980 playing all kinds of games since then. In the past year I’ve run Pathfinder, Dungeon Crawl Classic, Paranoia, and Mini d6. My current campaign is mini d6 and we are using that for a modern supernatural conspiracy investigative game. On some forums I’m known as Crothian and I’ve written a few hundred reviews though I took a sabbatical from reviewing for a few years as it burnt me out. I was also an judge for the Gen Con awards (ENnies) six times. Jeff, the owner of this blog, is one of my players and a good friend.

Christmas in July Sale at DriveThruRPG

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

It is time for DriveThruRPG’s Christmas in July sale! It is the time of year where RPG fans can get 25% off products from 400+ publishers. The sale started at 9am this morning and ends on Sunday, July 28th.

The Iron Tavern is going to take a look at just a few of the products available as a part of this sale. This list is by no means complete, just a handful of the items on sale that catch my eye.

Goodman Games

Goodman Games has their product line on sale this week. The Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG is picking up steam and here is a wonderful chance to get started with the game by picking up their PDF version of the rulebook at 25% off.

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG is a complete rule system from Goodman Games with “old school sensibilities” but a modern take on the mechanics. Still leaving the power in the judge’s hands DCC RPG adds in character classes that stand on their own. Thieves, dwarves, wizards, halflings, and more all have fun class mechanics to freshen up very familiar character classes. Spells that require rolling on a table to see if you are successful in exchange for a chance to get wondrous results even at the early levels adds even more to the game.

If you have been on the fence regarding Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, the sale price for the PDF is great way to get started.

Their module line for DCC RPG is on sale as well. I have run many of these modules and they have provided hours of entertainment for my group. Excellent cartography, interesting adventures, and inspiring artwork are all pluses for the DCC RPG module line. If you are looking for a 0-level funnel adventure to get you started, Sailors on the Starless Sea is a great intro to the game.

3rd Party DCC RPG Publishers

If you are already a fan of DCC RPG and looking to gather up some more adventures for your campaign, several of the 3rd Party DCC RPG Publishers have their products on sale this week as well.

Purple Duck Games

Purple Duck Games has included their products in the sale. I have reviewed many of their products at The Iron Tavern and played through a good portion of them. I still have a soft spot for Bone Hoard of the Dancing Horror. I ran this as a one-shot and the entire group had a great time with this one. It will easily drop into most DCC RPG campaigns with minimal baggage.

Their new product line, Campaign Elements, is also on sale this week. I have read each of the ones currently released and they too will easily fit into an existing campaign. My group is currently finishing their way out of The Falcate Idol and they have described it as epic!

Thick Skull Adventures

Thick Skull Adventures as Attack of the Frawgs on sale this week. This is another fun area based adventure that will fit into most DCC RPG games. Look for more coming from Thick Skull Adventures in the near future, but this is an example of their work so far!

Purple Sorcerer Games

Purple Sorcerer Games has their 0-level funnels (easily converted to 1st level adventures as well) available. Each of these adventures takes place around The Sunken City making tie-ins to each other quite possible. I used the Sunken City region as the basis for my current campaign that is approaching a year’s worth of play. We launched that campaign with The Perils of the Sunken City.

Even More

Dragon’s Hoard Publishing and Mystic Bull Games also have their products listed as part of this sale. I have reviewed several products from both of these publishers as well and have found places for them in my own campaign.

There is plenty of material to help fill out your DCC RPG adventure collection.

Troll Lord Games

Lest I seem too hung up on the the DCC RPG system, there are plenty of other offerings this week. Troll Lord Games has their product catalog on sale as well. Troll Lord Games has the Castles & Crusades included as part of the sale. I find Castles & Crusades a fun system for someone that really likes the 3.x and Pathfinder feel but does not want to step all the way back to OD&D, BECMI, or 1st Edition D&D rules. With that said one can still easily use older or newer D&D adventures with Castles & Crusades to give the busy CK lots of options.

North Wind Adventures

And finally, North Wind Adventures has their ENnie nominated Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea in the sale. I have not checked this one out yet, but I am curious about the system. This might be my chance to pick it up.

As you can see a good week to fill out the gaps in your RPG PDF collection at DriveThruRPG. Definitely browse around as the items I have highlighted are just some of the things that caught my eye.

Review: Ultimate Campaign – Part 1

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

It is taking me a little time to get through my Ultimate Campaign sourcebook by Paizo for Pathfinder. It is not because it is a poor book, rather that real life keeps trying to get in my way. This morning I had a bit of a revelation anyway in that the sourcebook has four chapters with topics that take a quite different look at various parts of a campaign so I should do a review per chapter. In the final review I will bring it all together and give you my overall impressions of the book but this way I am able to give a bit more of an in depth look to each chapter as we go because they are quite meaty chapters.

Chapter 1: Character Background

This chapter is largely what I was looking forward to this book for. Many of you will realise that I am a big role-player as opposed to the roll-player. I like to take on large roles, or fill my games with them so that the drama does not necessarily need to rely on combat to progress. To play a large character you need to think not only about their motivations but also where their motivations stem from. That is right, the background of the character. I have a discussion about getting into backgrounds on my own blog, which you can reach from this link.

Pathfinder has made attempts to get players involved in character background through Traits that first arose as a free web supplement and then also got included in the Advanced Players Guide (APG). Feats also could be attached to your character background as well if you so wished to do so. But in reality the background of your character has been largely left to your own to develop (which is not a bad thing) while the game focused on how to handle “the now”. As a GM I have always needed my players to use the Trait rules from the APG, taking a trait that they want and a campaign trait (to the adventure path or from the APG). This of course has led to an array of characters who all choose the Reactionary trait as their free choice and a varying campaign trait. Few of these characters ever bothered to tie these into a background of sorts.

Well, enter Chapter 1 of Ultimate Campaign (UCamp), which is in its entirety here to offer a mechanic to build your character’s background with sixty-eight pages of advice and support. As that is more pages combined of the sections that make up the Games Master section of the Core Book I think the people over at Paizo have looked at the trend of story based games that are rising in popularity and are beginning to provide some assistance on how to build well developed characters before the first game is even done.

Brainstorming

The chapter itself offers up a couple of different options to building your character. The first option is a structured brainstorming idea that helps you take on a character concept (with some really good ideas on what to do when stuck) that looks at the circumstances around your birth inclusive of family, the area, the characters social standing, exposure to magic and also a major event that is likely to be part of the formation of why the character took on a role like they did.

The brainstorm then moves you through adolescence including how you move from a child to an adult in your community, what friends, allies and influences affect you. It also asks you to think of a class event in that an event that led you to the training of your character’s actual class rather than social class, details of your first love as well as your duty and responsibilities. Then it leads into your adult life and the character you are now. It asks you to reflect on the past and how your character handles such things like their ordinary demeanor or conflict, what their vulnerabilities are, who their friends, associates and companions are. Once you have thought about this it then asks you to think about your trait choices and tying them into the background as a whole.

New Trait Mechanics and Drawbacks

The second option is a Background Generator which allows you to build a complete random background for the character. Before I discuss this I want to discuss the expanded traits that exist in this book and the new mechanics they have added to the character background. Traits have been greatly expanded in this new book. They have gone from an eight page section in the APG to a thirteen page inclusion (with all the traits from the APG included) in UCamp. The rules around traits are still that you may take two for your character. But now there is an addition to the rule where you can take three traits if you are willing to take on a drawback! New mechanic people! The drawback is something that limits your character in some way and they introduce some examples which are good but they are limited to two pages. I love this new idea as it becomes a source of conflict which adds drama to the game but only two pages of them? Come on! We want, nay need more Paizo. There are a world of flaws you can draw on and we get only a handful of good examples?

The Background Generator

The reason I covered the traits and flaws expansion before the random background mechanics is due to the fact that as you go through the Background Generator (BG) it ties results to possible traits that you should choose from so that the traits you choose are reflective of the events in your background. The BG is something that when I started reading I turned my nose up a little at it. I thought a character should come from within the player but the more I read the more I warmed to it. I thought of the characters that my players had run and how some of them had little to no background at all and thought this is a great way to show the importance of it. The BG is very old school in its approach. It is essentially a process of going to tables and rolling a percentile and finding the result. The tables go through three different stages (multiple tables in each stage.

The first stage is the Homeland, Family and Childhood stage. It lays out tables explaining about your family, what life is like in your homeland and more. As you go through and role on these tables you open up access to certain traits that you may want to take in your allocation of traits. For example, if I rolled an 82% on the Circumstances of Birth table on page twenty I would gain access to the Blessed faith and Birthmark faith trait (there is a description to the roll but I won’t be offering spoilers). Now it is just gaining access to it which means at the end of the BG when all three sections are complete I will have a list of traits that fit my background and I will then go through them and choose up to two traits from the list or up to three if I am to take a drawback.

The second stage covers the character’s adolescence and training into their class while the third and final stage looks at moral conflicts, relationships and vulnerabilities. The third stage even has an alignment generator tied to the background of the character! How cool is that? Fancy your alignment being a product of your background!

Story Feats

The final thing that I want to say about this chapter is the final new mechanic in it called the Story Feat. These are fantastic! They can be tied into character background I believe at points during the BG as a suggested feat for the character. They in essence offer you a personal quest, which gives you added abilities (like a normal feat) while you are pursuing the quest and then, once complete, these abilities tend to become more powerful. These Feats can be taken by anyone that meets at least one of the eligibility criteria at the start of it, which means they are easily adaptable to existing campaigns. The Feats themselves offer a GM automatic secondary stories or plot lines to be incorporated into your game adding a beautiful depth to the story that will be pursued by the player! Get into these feats GM’s and players alike. if you sit around in game wondering what is going on, these feats will give you motivation to stay focused and find areas that can help you complete the feat. There are a healthy eight pages devoted to these feats.

Chapter 1 Likes and Dislikes

This sourcebook is shaping up to be a fantastic sourcebook for the Pathfinder game. It is working mechanics to give an in depth story. Chapter 1 on a flick through looks to be all rules and regulations for the game and may be a bit off putting to a player. But the essence of all these rules is to bring an enhanced, in depth understanding to the character and why they act like they do. The rules do not need to be memorized and are easily skimmed through as you make your character.

The thing I am most excited about is the Story Feat, which are just a brilliant idea. They add an in game reason for focus and plot development that the player has an increasing buy in to. I can see me developing may more of them for use in my game and I do hope Paizo has planned other story feats that might be linked to adventure paths or the like. The BG also looks to be a fun way to build a character background. If I ever have the opportunity to be a player in another Pathfinder game I am going to go all in with a completely random background for a challenge to roleplay the end result. It is a very old school way to achieve a background but I think it is going to be fun to see the variations from it.

The only criticism I have of this chapter are the poor amount of drawbacks. The ones there are okay but in one lot of characters you are likely to use most of them up. Drama comes from vulnerabilities and foibles and for this mechanic to be truly embraced we need a lot more drawbacks that can be used. Before I run my next game I am actually going to have to spend a good deal of time fleshing these out as my group will get any advantage they can (three traits, one drawback is better than two traits).

There are some of you out there that have probably read this sourcebook three times over by now but I hope that some of you will read some of these reviews and make your decision on if you should include it in your rules set. I am enjoying savoring the book as I read through it and I will bring a review of the next chapter to you next Monday. Until then, keep rolling!

Mark Knights is 39 year old guy living in a small rural town called Elliott in Tasmania, Australia. I have been role playing since I was 11 years old playing the original versions of Dungeons and Dragons, MERP, Elric, Dragon Warriors and the like amongst other genre games. I played D&D 2nd Edition through the 90′s but I ran Earthdawn for my fantasy setting and loved it as a GM. When 3rd Edition came out for D&D I tried it but found it too heavy on rules. I ignored the 3.5 edition of DnD in favour of Earthdawn (big mistake) as I thought it was just a money spinner. When 4th Edition DnD came on my players and I gave it a red hot go but hated what it had dumbed the game down to be. On a trip to Melbourne to buy some 4E stuff from a hobby store an old mate of mine pointed me at Pathfinder and in a Fantasy setting I have never looked back.

Total Lunacy

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

A few weeks ago we had a “Supermoon” event and it strangely made me ponder the use of moons in fantasy campaigns. Beyond the fact that ancient Greeks once thought that the full moon’s pull affected the fluids of the brain like it does the tides and the strange correlation between a full moon and increased police, fire, and emergency activity (talk to any fireman, police officer, or ER nurse for details), I’m pretty sure I’m not going to go all wolf-man any time soon… But here are a few ideas for how you might be able to use the moon (or moons) in your campaign.

1. Tides

In my years of gaming, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the tides show up in any meaningful way in an adventure except for some of the recent modules from Kobold Press. But if you live on the coast, they’re a literal fact of nature. Why not use them in your stories?

A sand bridge or other submerged feature may only appear at low tide to allow access to a small island off shore. (See “Sand Bridge at Low Tide” @ TVTropes.org for some examples.)
A cave in the rocks that serves as the entrance to an ancient temple or hidden treasure trove in a weatherbeaten cove and is only accessible at low tide for a short time.
In a small boat at high tide might be the only safe way to get to an alcove inaccessible from above along an ocean-facing rock wall.
High tide might wash ashore clues to an ancient (or recent) shipwreck, including bodies and debris.

And if you have more than a single moon for your campaign world, I’m sure you could plot out extremely low tides where the remains of ancient civilizations are exposed on the ocean floor (think H.P. Lovecraft) or extremely high tides when coastal cities have to batten down the hatches or be swept away.

2. Lycanthropy

Everybody likes a good werewolf story, right? Whether it’s in a battle with vampires in Underworld, Benicio del Toro’s The Wolfman, Russel Tovey’s “George” on Being Human (the BBC version), or Seth Green’s “Oz” on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we’ve had a few recent entries since Lon Chaney Jr.’s take on the story in The Wolf Man back in 1941. Howling at the moon has never looked so good.

And D&D brought all sorts of other fun shape-changers to my attention as a kid. Were-creatures gained all sorts of friends such as werebears, wereboars, and wererats. Whether you use lycanthropy as a disease or a racial type, you have plenty of options.

So perhaps it’s time to introduce some wild things into your campaign and let the full moon bring out the beasts!

3. Symbology

Depending on how you look at the moon, you can gain some interesting ideas from how we use it today and how the moon appears in myths from around the world. Usually the symbology has some practical application to the original cultures of the myths and stories.

For example, the Algonquin tribes of North America named the full moon differently throughout the year. The “Worm Moon” in March signified the beginning of spring when earthworms would appear and birds could find them more easily. The “Hunter’s Moon” in October offered light for hunting so the tribes could put away food for the coming winter. Other examples can be found here at Windows To The Universe.

Joseph Campbell talks about the moon and sun in a different manner. The way the moon’s phases work with the shadow of the earth make it seem as though it slowly is eaten away, disappears, and is reborn in a regular cycle. The sun on the other hand is a constant, so if it’s ever eclipsed it’s panic time, but also represents the constancy of consciousness. Or the impression that the sun is trying to dry out or kill the world. There’s a great portion of an interview with Joseph Campbell on YouTube here that talks about this very topic.

Or you could use the simple approach of the moon passing through it’s various phases as a show of strength. A whole or “full” moon represents some forces at their zenith while a new or “dark” moon represents those forces at their weakest. So various cultures or myths or even magical abilities could be dependent on the cycles of particular moons or suns. I could imagine a multi-lunar system as being quite an interesting force to reckon with as far as moons and magic might go.

Credit: ESO/L. Calçada

4: Cosmology

I saved cosmology for last because it to me brings in the world building or setting aspects for the fantasy genre. Though we scientifically know now that there is no life on our one moon, there was a lot of debate about what was “up there” for a long time. Some even believed there were beings living on the moon.

If you look at the John Carter of Mars stories, there’s the idea of portals or technology that allows one to transport from Mars to Earth and back again. Perhaps something similar could exist between moons and planets to allow magical transport between them. Instead of a group of Drow inhabiting the Underdark, perhaps they instead live on the dark side of the moon and stage raids on the worlds for various supplies, slaves, and sacrifices.

The idea of moons corresponding to different planes of existence or dimensions is another aspect to explore. Even if the correlation is merely philosophical in nature, I could see various moons corresponding to different elemental planes of fire, earth, water, and air for example, depending on how the solar system was arranged.

Entire plots could come into play if gods or other powerful beings began adding or removing moons from the sky. How would a religion take the loss of a moon? Or explain the sudden intrusion of a new one? What sorts of cataclysmic events would arise from having additional bodies in orbit? Would the tides become worse as the push and pull of gravity changed stresses on oceans or even internal pressures?

Brian “Fitz” Fitzpatrick is a Software Engineer who manages (or is that mangles) Game Knight Reviews and tinkers with writing game materials via his Moebius Adventures imprint. When he’s not writing about gaming, he’s actually gaming or at least thinking about gaming in some capacity. During the non-writing, non-gaming time he’s likely trying to keep up with his wife and two daughters or wrangling code for a living!

Review: The Black Goat

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

Author: Daniel J. Bishop
Publisher: Purple Duck Games
Art: Luigi Castellani
Price: PDF $2.50 – at RPGNow / at d20pfsrd.com / Paizo.com
Pages: 12 (incl. cover)

The Black Goat is the second release in the Campaign Elements line for the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. The Campaign Elements series is designed to be run with minimum preparation by the judge and provide “quest for it” areas. Whether your wizard needs a spell component or to be taught a certain spell, a rare metal or element for the crafting of a wondrous magic item, or maybe just a way to restore some ability damage, the Campaign Elements series from Purple Duck Games aims to fill this niche.

The PDF is 12 pages long including the cover and the OGL license information on the last page. A map of the mountain pass is included helping depict the gate system the pass residents have here. A rumor table covers twenty different rumors about the mountain pass and its inhabitants. In addition to eight encounter areas there is also a patron write-up for the Black Goat, this includes invoke patron checks, patron taint results, spellburn results, and a new patron spell, Silence. There is also a short section on getting the most out of the adventure with suggestions on expanding certain elements of the area.

The encounter area centers around a mountain pass that can be dropped into any hilly or mountainous region of a campaign world. The pass has been known as the Pass of the Black Goat, taking the name from a sphinx-like creature living in the pass.

The Black Goat is a spellcaster who could be a patron to a PC wizard or simply provide a resource for spells or other pieces of knowledge. A creative judge could find many ways to work the Black Goat into their campaign beyond the ideas suggested.

There are two factions of races that live in and near the pass. One race controls the gates of the pass, while the other group lives just beyond the pass. The factions do not get along with each seeking to control the pass. This friction between factions creates a wonderful backdrop for plots within a campaign.

The Review

I am once again quite satisfied with the direction the Campaign Elements line is taking. The Black Goat can easily spice up a mountain pass in a campaign or the Black Goat itself can be used as a source of knowledge or ability in “quest for it” situations. The two factions in the area provide several ideas for a DCC RPG judge to work with to weave this encounter area into their own campaign world.

I know in my current DCC RPG campaign I wrote my own adventure to handle some travel the party needed to do at the time. Looking back I could easily see this encounter area as filling that need with much less work on my part! I really like products that are so easy to plug and play into a campaign world. It does a lot to make my job as a judge easier from week to week.

Essentially, from this short 12 page PDF I get a detailed mountain pass, two rival factions, a patron-type figure, and a patron write-up. This can all be used as a whole or in parts by the enterprising judge.

The Black Goat proves the Campaign Elements line is off to a great start. I see this series a wonderful time-saver for the busy judge and is giving the opportunity to finally adequately provide some “quest for it” options to my players. If you run a Dungeon Crawl Classics game, you should definitely be keeping an eye on this series.

Council of Thieves Campaign

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

~ This post contains spoilers for the Council of Thieves Adventure Path. Do not read if you do not wish to be spoiled. ~

After we finished Kingmaker the DM and blog owner Jeff wanted a break. I stepped in and we talked about what Adventure Path to try next and we decided on Council of Thieves. It was my number one pick as I really enjoy city based campaigns. I did not do a lot of research on it to know what was going to be in store for us. I thought it looked fun and interesting and knew I could really make it shine. There will be spoilers so readers are warned. I’m not going to talk about everything in each book but I will discuss some things good and bad about the AP and some of the changes that I did.

To start with I encouraged my players to make skill based characters, as skills were going to be a bigger focus in the campaign. They chose an Inquisitor, Rogue, Urban Ranger, and a Bard. I wanted to limit spellcasting and that really did it. Also, the campaign is designed to go to 13^th level, but I only advanced them to 10^thlevel for the end. Magic was not a powerful factor for the players and it helped the game tremendously. The AP is the first written for Pathfinder and it shows. The stat blocks for the enemies were not well done. This how an adventure that went to 13^th level could be completed by a group of weaker classes levels behind where they should have been. Also, the content in the books was lacking. We made it through most of them in two sessions verses the five to six sessions a Kingmaker book took us.

The main thing I did was help my players come up with good backgrounds for the setting and flesh out some NPCs they knew that I could use. I like to flesh out the setting and add in side plots for the PCs that don’t revolve around the main campaign plot but can cause complications and offer allies. I know many gamers don’t make backgrounds as the GMs never use them and they never serve a purpose. I always use them and if a player doesn’t supply the information I will supply it for them with their approval.

The first book is the Bastards of Erebus. It defines some of the city. Westcrown used to be the capital city until the civil war and the Devil Worshipers took over. Sadly, the repression and evil government is not shown much and if I were to do it again I would do a better job of establishing that. Part of the city has been abandoned and that is where gangs like the Bastards have set up. I did move the events of the book as it starts with the group meeting a second society and then during that meeting bad guys come in and break it up. I don’t think PCs would go back to that group after the first time they almost get killed and don’t have any real ties to them. So, I set up some small adventures using some options the book provides to do afterwards and had them happen first. This established a greater connection between the PCs and the group so when the leader of the group needs rescued the PCs would do that.

One major change I did was giving the group a powerful item in their first adventure, a Helm of Brilliance. The city has a curfew because shadow beasts rule the night. People who venture out after dark have a habit of never being seen again. The problem has existed for over 30 years. I included more history of failed attempts to fix the problem then the books do because by the books the people of the city just accepted it. The Helm gives power versus the undead and some spell ability that can really damage and kill the things. But the Helm is a charged item so the group was conservative and made it last much longer than I expected.

The Sixfold Trial is book two and might have one of the most famous scenes from all the Adventure Paths in it: the Play. The characters are hired to put on a dangerous play in which the characters of the play are tortured through trials. The trials though are real so the PCs have to live through these potentially very dangerous trials. I thought it was fun. It introduced some great NPCs and allowed the players to do some things they don’t usually do in our games. I had each PC audition and have the director yell at them and it was fun. When we got to the play I was shocked that my group wanted to read through all their lines. I was really expecting some of them to refuse. No one is going to win a Tony Award for our performance but I enjoyed it. Afterwards they are invited to the evil Mayor’s estate to steal stuff and sadly this wasn’t as good. I was shocked the PCs didn’t try to rob the house blind. Also the dinner party had other NPCs and my players at the time just didn’t engage them. It wasn’t an issue with the adventure or anything it was just an opportunity missed.

I really like that the dungeon crawls in here and short and there are not many of them. It is also a reason why the AP went as quickly as there is not a lot of filler that consume time. I inserted material from the setting books about the city and different NPCs from different sourcebooks that were part of the city. I even included a dragon that seems to be ignored now in the setting. Strangely, the PCs never realized it was a dragon. I kept track of different books I used for this AP and I think I hit over 60 Pathfinder and non-Pathfinder books that were referenced by me to enhance the campaign. It is the most work I’ve put into a campaign for using mostly printed adventures from start to finish.

What Lies in Dust is the third book. The first half consists of gathering information and some oddly pointless fights leads way to one of the cooler places to adventure and that is an abandoned Pathfinder Lodge. It also featured our first really difficulty combat and one of the reasons the Helm of Brilliance was handed out so early in the campaign. The Lodge features some very cool and creative rooms the Pathfinder had. Much of it is creepy and magical and I would really like to see more places like this. The difficult combat was some Vampires that I did not foreshadow to keep them as a complete surprise. The NPC Paladin that was journeying with them was killed in one round by the vampires as by this time the group is only supposed to be sixth level (they were fifth) and the vampires have a great ambush place and class levels. Most of the NPCs are not well built, but these guys were especially for a group that did not have a Cleric. It turned into a great battle and was challenging and fun.

In the Infernal Syndrome, the fourth book, the Mayor’s house blows up. It was a fun scene of the PCs running through the city to get to the disaster and then trying to help. Our rogue had her favorite combat as there was a devil on a rooftop shooting arrows. She quickly climbed up attacked and then retreated. She knew she could not face the creature in hand to hand so used great hit and run tactics and made great use of her characters abilities. Then the group sees thieves going into the basement and that leads to what is probably the largest dungeon crawl in the Adventure Path. It is a large magical engine with a Pit Fiend as its battery. It is a neat idea and there are some interesting encounters and fun NPCs, but the last dozen or so rooms really dragged on making it tiresome by the time the group gets to the Pit Fiend.

My favorite encounter in here was a Lich (weak Lich, like the weak Pit Fiend) who used to be a former mayor of the city. He was of course Evil. He talked to the group and they talked back. He had good reasons for becoming a Lich. It wasn’t because he was evil but he knew that the only way he could live long enough to come back and rescue Westcrown from itself was to become a Lich. Every question the party asked him he came up with good and reasonable answers. They almost let him live which would have been just awesome and interesting. But one of my players realized what was going on and just attacked. It was pretty awesome and fun.

Mother of Flies is the fifth book. It has the only section that really takes the party out of the city. It’s probably less than a mile outside the city. A potential ally who happens to be an evil Hag is being attacked because she knows a secret. The group had fun planning out a counter attack and really getting in some larger scale tactics. The battle does not have to go that way but I have a player that enjoys that so we let him come up some plans and they executed them well. After that it is attacking a thieves’ guild headquarters. It went fast because I did not make the group do a room to room search because most of the rooms are empty. Also, most the opponents as written are painfully too weak. According to the AP the character should be level 10 and many of the normal thieves here had a measly +3 to attack. So, even with flanking they had a 10% to hit our Bard who had the worst AC in the group. There are some named NPCs here that can offer some trouble but mostly it was an easy book to complete.

The series ends with the Twice Damned Prince. Up to this point the group was not sure who the mastermind was as I was purposefully making it so it could be one of two NPCs. This book instead of a set path, has a lot of small encounters that deal with some of the NPCs and events around the city. It is an interesting way to finish the campaign. The part I hated was by doing this the group collects points and then depending on the amount of points determines how the populace reacts to them. There just is not enough points to be gained to get what most groups would see as a happy ending. I knew I was tossing out that system but told the PCs about it and let them see what would happen if we used it and they got a Martial Law result. We went with a happier ending.

Over all the AP was a lot of fun and a lot of work. I know it is not seen to be as good as Kingmaker but I’d rank it near there, though it is very different. In the campaign there is an artifact the PCs acquire and they still have it at the end. One of the reasons I just leveled the group to 10^th level and had them play skill based characters was the idea they would go off into the world and find out how to destroy the artifact. With the artifacts history I did not change much to lead into the Serpent’s Skull adventure path. The Serpent Skull AP though just didn’t work out well for us.

Meta vs. In Character Knowledge

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

As generations of gamers blend and the OSR movement seems strong, there seem to be more and more occasions where someone wants to run or play in an old classic. But someone else at the table is near certain to have played in many of the old TSR classic modules. This seems inevitable as some of us who have been gaming for years introduce a new, younger generation to the hobby.

This often presents a problem as someone at the table has to pretend they do not know anything about the module. At least that is how we have tackled it in groups I have played in. The person that has played the module before simply bows out of any major decision making point. They don’t reveal a particular trap or help choose the right path. This lends itself to a tremendous amount of meta knowledge bleeding into actual play.

Sometimes this makes people shy away from certain modules. We all know it isn’t a lot of fun to not participate in solving puzzles, choosing passages, or delicately investigating that fearsome looking door bearing the face of a grinning demon. So the easiest way to handle that is to simply play adventures no one at the table has played before.

A Different Way

I recently started listening to the actual play podcasts over at the The Delvers. The podcast is on a bit of a hiatus at the moment due to various issues, but the past episodes are of course available. I started listening because of the Barrowmaze actual play under the Labyrinth Lord rules. The shows are well done, sort of like an old radio show with generous edits to keep things moving and interesting in easily listened to nuggets.

I noticed there was also a Tomb of Horrors actual play episode that was one big show. Intrigued I listened to that one as well. In this case one of the players had run the module at least once, maybe more, and possibly played it in the past as well. He found an interesting way to not have to sit on the sidelines with his meta-knowledge.

His magic-user’s backstory included him spending many years in his wizard tower studying the tomb of Acererak. This course of study over ancient tomes helped the wizard in-character know more about the Tomb of Horrors than normal. The player was able to blend their meta knowledge into why their character would know more detail about the Tomb.

I thought this was an interesting way to tackle this issue as the generations of gamers blend and we replay the older classics. Listening to the podcast the early parts, the more familiar parts, of the tomb were quickly explored as this meta knowledge showed as in character research. The further into the tomb though, things became uncertain as the meta knowledge was less precise. By the midway point of the module decisions were needing to be made as part of the whole party, with no clear answer.

I think this tactic could work for other scenarios as well. In my own games if I happen to run something someone else has played or run, we can chalk up some of that character’s research in some dusty library that happened during downtime earlier in the campaign. This will help allow the character to fully participate without having to keep quiet all of the time.

Now this might not work for all modules, where they are less puzzle or trap oriented and more “big twist” at the end oriented. But it does provide yet another tool to the GM to help run something that might have been played before. I will certainly add this tool to my arsenal of GM tricks.

A Unique Issue

Have other GMs run into this issue of trying to run a module another player in the group has run or played? Do you avoid such adventures? Have you developed work around for that situation? If so I want to hear about them!

Rage Quit!

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

Ever sat down at the village Inn after a hard day of cleaving Goblin heads from Goblin necks only to be told by the Innkeeper that you need to bathe before they serve you? Then the half-elf waitress makes some comment about meat heads pointedly at your expense and the next thing you know you are staring at an Inn full of dead folk all dismembered and you are holding a bloody axe? I hate it when that happens, as I am sure you do too. And I am sure that you realise you have just exited the rage that marks you as one of the fiercest fighters on the battlefield. You suffered from a Barbarian rage quit and made all the fools suffer for their arrogance.

If you have not quite guessed it yet, this is my post focussed on Pathfinder’s Barbarian class. The brute warriors with more focus on force than finesse the Barbarian throws defence to the wind in an attempt to deliver as much damage as possible in a short time. We will take a look at the abilities that make a Barbarian the formidable warrior that they are and also look at what options are available for them through the core rulebooks to make them all they can be. Conan wishes he were so good…

RAGE!!!

The core of a Barbarian is their rage. It is a wellspring that exists in them that they tap into when they loose themselves into a battle. The strength and constitution scores raise by 4 with a morale bonus increasing to hit bonuses and hit points (as well as fort saves) in the process. The Barbarian also gains a +2 to their will saves but the negative to all this is they suffer a −2 to their armour class. In game terms the Barbarian becomes wilder, stronger, a little more impervious but less focused on defending themselves as they hit their rage.

While in the rage the Barbarian can’t use skills that require them to think, consider, charm, or coordinate their body. It is seen as a period where the character goes into a wild frenzy led by their primal being. Because of this there is no in depth consideration they are capable of. The best they can do is some intimidation or acrobatic manoeuvres toward dealing the pain to their foes.

The Barbarian can rage for 4 + Con modifier rounds a day at first level and gets to add a further two rounds per day for each level they go up past first. These rounds do not need to be spent consecutively, though coming out of a rage (a free action) causes the Barbarian to become fatigued for twice the amount of time they were in the rage for. They cannot enter their rage again until the fatigue has gone.

Rage Powers

As the Barbarian progresses levels they learn to channel their rage into certain powers. The Barbarian picks up a rage power at level 2 and every second level thereafter. The powers range widely from such things as gaining a bite attack, re-rolling failed saves, extra speed, and even unexpected strikes where the Barbarian can make an attack of opportunity if an opponent enters a threatened square, even if the movement would not normally draw an attack of opportunity. Picking these rage powers allows you to differentiate your Barbarian from others and also allows you to theme the character to a style you like. The available rage powers increase with the Advanced Players Guide (APG) and the Ultimate Combat (UC) sourcebooks.

Greater Rage and Mighty Rage

The Barbarian makes some increases in his rage ability at 11th level and as his capstone power at 20th level. These powers both increase the bonus they apply to their statistics and their Will saves. These bonuses enable the Barbarian to become a much more potent foe at the right time in game to continue to making them relevant. The Barbarian is always a warrior in a battle that the foe needs to pay attention to. They can be unpredictable and become instantly more formidable the moment they give in to their inner anger.

Other Abilities

The Barbarian is not a great armoured warrior and their choice of armour only goes to medium armours. They are of course proficient with all except exotic weapons giving them a wide range of choices for how to deal this damage. Although a shield is not often a popular choice with many Barbarians (who tend to go damage over defence) they are proficient with them (excepting tower shields).

At the heart of the Barbarian is their core rage power but there are surrounding abilities that make them an attractive option for a player or an NPC foe. Over the levels the Barbarian becomes increasingly harder to pin down, firstly unable to be caught flat footed and then later not even being able to be flanked. This relates to the Barbarian’s energy level as they are always moving and always in a state of awareness. They also are masters of battling as many opponents that they can so can handle being surrounded with little problem. This energy also allows them to react to traps quicker and they gain a dodge bonus against traps as they seem almost presentient to them when they trigger.

On top of their mobility the Barbarian is also resistant to physical damage and mental domination. They receive Damage Reduction (DR) at a moderate level of power and the amount of damage resisted is dependent on the level of the character. After some time the Barbarian also becomes mentally tougher receiving a bonus to their Will saves against any enchantment magic that is used against them.

Looking Beyond the Core Rulebook

The Barbarian is broadened in scope with a mass of new rage powers in the APG. These powers make it a lot easier to theme the character as you have a synergy that exists within some of the powers themselves. This synergy makes a Barbarian able to take powers that fit both thematically as well as sometimes with other power mechanics to mesh the character into a whole. There are nearly four full pages in this section all devoted to adding a variety of new Barbarian rage powers to the class making the APG the single most important expansion amongst the core sourcebooks for the class. The book also offers up 10 archetypes that allow you to modify your character from the standard Barbarian located in the Core rulebook. These archetypes are;

Breaker: Driven not only to destroy their foes but their environment as well
Brutal Pugilist: Focus on hand to hand combat and combat manoeuvres to bring their opponents down
Drunken Brute: Their intake of alcohol fuels their rage so don’t think because they are drunk they are an easy beat
Elemental Kin: Tied to elemental forces by tribal shamans the Barbarian uses the power of elemental forces to aid them
Hurler: Focusses his rage into throwing items at their foes
Invulnerable Rager: The Barbarian becomes much more resistant to damage of all sorts
Mounted Fury: A master of mounted war they ride down their foes
Savage Barbarian: Far from modern weapons this warrior has taught themselves battle in a unique and primal way
Superstitious: They develop their rage to warn of magic and mystical abilities and more easily defend against them
Totem Warrior: The Barbarian has a totem that they focus on, revering the powers that make them more like their totem 3

The UC sourcebook offers up another slew of rage powers for the Barbarian. There are quite a deal fewer than the APG but they fit nicely with some of the archetypes also included (another 7 options). The rage powers here work well together and do expand out the options for all Barbarians making this book a good read also if you are thinking of playing in the class. The added archetypes are;

Armoured Hulk: This Barbarian masters the use of heavy armours alongside their rage
Scarred Rager: These warriors are covered in scars, and each scar has a story!
Sea Reaver: Pirates and curs of the sea these warriors adapt their rage to open water
Titan Mauler: A warrior skilled in fighting oversized foes and bringing them down as quickly as possible
True Primitive: Tribes that live hidden away from the world tend to bring out the most primal Barbarian ragers
Urban Barbarian: Skilled at operating with the city or village as their territory these Barbarians are more civilised but just as dangerous
Wild Rager: These Barbarians become more like a beast as they give in to their primal nature

My View

The Barbarian is not a class that I am overly familiar with. I have a rudimentary knowledge of the class as I have had to NPC Barbarian’s only through the Serpent Skull adventure path. I have never played a Barbarian as a player and I have never had a player take on the role of a Barbarian although that may change in Reign of Winter as I have a player who intends to take a Barbarian should his current character die. Based on this I have little feeling for the class as a whole. From my experience NPCing the Barbarian’s in Serpent Skull I do know the class is not one that anyone should underestimate.

The class is brilliant at dealing damage. Their core mechanic is one that allows them to increase the amount of damage they do as well as increasing the likelihood that they will actually manage to hit on most occasions. It is the rage powers that add the subtle abilities to the class that I struggle to comprehend with the class and is a blind spot that I know I need to address. I have tagged the Barbarian as a class I would like to play to help me understand how they work in detail.

A Barbarian is a dangerous opponent and should not be written off as inconsequential. They have a multitude of handy powers that are too numerous to describe individually here but they can and will surprise you with these abilities so expect the unexpected.

I would love to hear from you all if your favoured class is the Barbarian. Hit us up in the comments and let us know what your favoured builds are. What is the best rage powers to equip your barbarian with and why? I have listed here only the core sourcebooks and the materials for Barbarians in those books, are there other books or sources that are a must if you are going to play a Barbarian? Until next week, keep rolling!

S&W Family Campaign

Posted on July 11, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

It has been many months since I have run a game for the kids. We last left off a little over a year ago with a Pathfinder campaign. The older boy has been asking to play and using the start of a new family campaign up as leverage for some other things, the family campaign has started once again!

The System

While a big Pathfinder fan, I have been dabbling in other systems and wanted to use something else this time around.. I run and play in a lot of Dungeon Crawl Classics games. My son has played this twice and the randomness of the magic system annoys him. The fantasy games are new enough and fresh enough to him that he doesn’t need the “shock” value of random spell results. He wants his magic to work predictably.

He mentioned an interest in the mysterious brown books I have on the shelf (OD&D) and playing with that set. Not really wanting those books on the game table or getting damaged, we opted to go forward with Swords & Wizardry Complete for the foundation of our campaign.

My son has slowly taken a liking to these older systems. Once the system was chosen, he immediately set about creating his characters and lining up his henchmen. He also took input from his younger sister on what kind of character she wanted to play and built her an elven ranger (we let the race/class requirement bend a bit).

It took a little convincing to assure my son 3d6, assigned as he saw fit, was going to be okay. I let him know his character did not need to be a superhero in these systems. While I did not supervise his actual dice rolling, the resulting scores looked reasonable with a minimal amount of indicators of fudging.

I did let him use his own house rule for hit points as I thought it was a good one. If the hit die was a d4, then I let him do a 2d2 to generate, a d6 was a 2d3, a d8 was a 2d4, etc. That seemed a reasonable compromise to me.

The Campaign

I started the campaign in a small, as of yet, unnamed village. The spring wars were being fought on the border of the region leaving the village with a much smaller number of defenders. A young girl had recently had her dog taken by a pair of skeletal hands from a hole at the top of a nearby hill. Our heroes were needed to find this dog or determine what happened.

This came from the Brave Halfling Module The Ruins of Ramat. My version was actually written for DCC RPG, but it was easy to convert on the fly to S&W. The Ruins of Ramat is a small dungeon that is not overly deadly, despite its intention as a 0-level funnel.

With the scene set, the kids quickly asked questions about the situation. In fact the younger daughter was quite inquisitive, immediately asking extremely relevant questions about the claws, how many, what size, and other things about the hill before heading there. I was quite impressed!

My son plays two characters, a Magic-user and a Halfling Thief and my daughter plays the elven ranger. They have hired two henchman to assist as they head out to investigate.

The two have played many times before and did well at exploring and battling the denizens within. Several of the fights went quite quickly with good tactical playing by both of them. The final fight got a little close to going quite poorly. The two henchman both feel to the foul creatures, and the high starting hit point of the ranger saved her. But in the end they vanquished the threat and recovered the missing dog from the ruined temple.

Returning to the town as heroes, they enjoyed their spoils and tallied up their gold and experience points. A very successful first session of the new campaign!

What is Next?

Inspired by The Delvers podcast, I decided to pick up Barrowmaze. I continually hear positive things about the megadungeon. I also think back to my early days of dungeon crawling and remember enjoying expansive dungeons.

So I have decided to drop Barrowmaze into this early portion of the campaign. I suspect we can get a lot of great game time out of it. It should make regular game prep a little easier always having that as an option as well. Anything to reduce the hurdles of running the campaign from my end is a good thing. On weeks I have a little more time I can always drop in another side adventure for a break from the Barrowmaze if need be.

Once we get a few Barrowmaze sessions in I will do another post on how the family Swords & Wizardry game is coming along!

Kickstarters and Playtests

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

It is not ground breaking to say that Kickstarters and Open Playtests are changing the RPG Industry. They have been going on for years and have helped get books published that might not have otherwise. It is interesting to see the discussions on these topics though. I have backed only a handful of Kickstarters but I know people that have backed hundreds. I do tend to back at larger amounts though, so when I see something to invest in I go in with gusto. But they have also allowed more transparency into what goes on in RPG publishing and I am not sure the companies are better for it.

The biggest thing with Kickstarter is the misperception people and companies have for it. I know many people look at it like a preorder system but it is an investment. It is clever that companies are instead offering product instead of a gain on the capital investment. It amazes me how popular these things are because it seems that helping a Kickstarter get funded doesn’t really save much money for the investor. It would cost about the same to get the book once it comes out or even save quite a bit of money by getting it through Amazon. I know not everything on Kickstarter will end up on Amazon but it at least a company can save the investor some money by making it a better deal than buying it through a store.

The most frustrating thing with Kickstarters though is how late these companies are in getting out what was promised to their investors. I’ve not participated in many but only one has had the product shipped on time. I’m waiting on two, To Slay a Dragon and the 20^th Anniversary of Werewolf. Both of those are over six months late and are ready to be printed or something like that but we are in limbo. I don’t work in publishing but I do know if any of my projects ran this late I’d be fired unless I had a fantastic reason. The companies though are not held accountable. The fans will keep buying the books and allow them to be disorganized and late with no consequence. Both of the companies even started new Kickstarters before the other is compete which I won’t back. The Werewolf people at least mentioned it in one of their updates and I give them credit for that. In the end when seeing the money I spent and the time between a stated return and the actual return has made these bad investments. I might not lose my shirt in the end as I do believe the books will eventually be printed and delivered. But anyone that knows investing knows that there are many ways to lose besides losing everything.

Open Playtests are also something new to the industry. Some smaller companies have done them from time to time but I think when Paizo and now Wizards of the Coast doing one it really shows how beneficial they can be. I hate them. I have no interest in playing an incomplete game. It’s hard enough to get people together for once a week gaming and I’d hate to waste that on a system that’s every changing. I don’t feel the feedback really does much good. There is just too much of it and there will be feedback that contradicts other feedback. The designers are going to do what they have planned. It just seems like the Open Playtest is a marketing ploy to keep people aware of the new game that is coming out.

When the game comes out I’ll try it but until then I’ll devote my time to finished games. Even worse is the preview copies of games that get sold by the companies. Paizo did it with Pathfinder, though at least they had a PDF copy for free. Last year at Gen Con there was the new Star Wars game and this year I think the same is going to be done for Firefly. These are all games I am interested in and will probably buy. But I think it is a rip off to sell an incomplete preview version to fans. The preview version will be worthless and obsolete once the game comes out. It is just taking advantage of a company’s fans to get more money out of them.

In the end though the fans will come with money and not care about how the company treats them. Many fans are probably unaware on how bad companies treat them. This is not a problem unique to gaming by any means. But it would be nice to see companies treat their fans a little better at times.