Played Pathfinder today.
Loved it.
WE now have a new family game for are larger group. Love my witch.
More later.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Mirror, Mirror
So tomorrow I play my first Pathfinder game.
I am playing it with the kids, so it is not the same group as my 4e game.
But I am going to play the same character.
This of course will raise a cry from my GM saying "but you always play the same character". This is true, to a degree. Most often I am "playtesting" the same character and I hold it as my constant amid a sea of variables. In this case I am not playtesting, but I am testing something, or somethings.
First I want to know exactly how this two versions of D&D differ from each other. There are factions on both sides claiming that "Game X" is "Teh one true way!!" I feel rather that they are two different interpretations of the same thing (that will get me comments). But the only way I am going to get that is to play the same (or very similar) characters. But which character to choose.
IF I were paying attention and planned this out I might have chosen a Paladin or Cleric. Both have had rather large changes to them over the years and it would be a nice bit a symmetry to my first D&D character, who was a cleric and then I played his son, a paladin, as my first AD&D character.
But in truth I wanted to play my witch.
I have written a lot about witches over the years and with me through all of that has been one character. I use her in all my playtest and I have been using her a lot lately. Plus both games offer, for the first time, a witchy-like character as a published choice and not something I have had to make up on my own.
In Pathfinder she is a witch, using the new witch class from their playtest. Now I have a 3.x witch class and it is different than what Pathfinder has. But I think it will work out well enough.
In D&D 4 she is a Fey-Pact Warlock. Not a perfect fit mind you, but it is working out well enough too, for different reasons.
I am working making their skills similar to each other, taking similar spells, powers and feats. Since these are all being driven from a central character concept this is really not that big of deal. See, I can do high-level "role-playing" and the rules are only a manifestation of how my concept appears.
So if I am judging these games on how well they fit a concept I guess I could start now.
I am not ready to get into a lot of detail yet (no time today), but here are the basics.
- Pathfinder witch: Has the mystery and background concept to fit the character well.
- D&D 4 warlock: Fey pact is a bit of a stretch really, but none of the other pacts are any better. The powers though of the warlock are a better fit in some cases. Maybe I need a new pact to make this work, but that violates the "rules" and making up for this (create nothing new).
So concept-wise the initial round goes to Pathfinder with only a slight lead, but D&D4 is rather close.
If I add some of the stuff from the newer books such as backgrounds then it is very, very close. The biggest flaw in D&D4 is the Fey Pact is not what I wanted exactly.
Tomorrow is the true test.
I am playing it with the kids, so it is not the same group as my 4e game.
But I am going to play the same character.
This of course will raise a cry from my GM saying "but you always play the same character". This is true, to a degree. Most often I am "playtesting" the same character and I hold it as my constant amid a sea of variables. In this case I am not playtesting, but I am testing something, or somethings.
First I want to know exactly how this two versions of D&D differ from each other. There are factions on both sides claiming that "Game X" is "Teh one true way!!" I feel rather that they are two different interpretations of the same thing (that will get me comments). But the only way I am going to get that is to play the same (or very similar) characters. But which character to choose.
IF I were paying attention and planned this out I might have chosen a Paladin or Cleric. Both have had rather large changes to them over the years and it would be a nice bit a symmetry to my first D&D character, who was a cleric and then I played his son, a paladin, as my first AD&D character.
But in truth I wanted to play my witch.
I have written a lot about witches over the years and with me through all of that has been one character. I use her in all my playtest and I have been using her a lot lately. Plus both games offer, for the first time, a witchy-like character as a published choice and not something I have had to make up on my own.
In Pathfinder she is a witch, using the new witch class from their playtest. Now I have a 3.x witch class and it is different than what Pathfinder has. But I think it will work out well enough.
In D&D 4 she is a Fey-Pact Warlock. Not a perfect fit mind you, but it is working out well enough too, for different reasons.
I am working making their skills similar to each other, taking similar spells, powers and feats. Since these are all being driven from a central character concept this is really not that big of deal. See, I can do high-level "role-playing" and the rules are only a manifestation of how my concept appears.
So if I am judging these games on how well they fit a concept I guess I could start now.
I am not ready to get into a lot of detail yet (no time today), but here are the basics.
- Pathfinder witch: Has the mystery and background concept to fit the character well.
- D&D 4 warlock: Fey pact is a bit of a stretch really, but none of the other pacts are any better. The powers though of the warlock are a better fit in some cases. Maybe I need a new pact to make this work, but that violates the "rules" and making up for this (create nothing new).
So concept-wise the initial round goes to Pathfinder with only a slight lead, but D&D4 is rather close.
If I add some of the stuff from the newer books such as backgrounds then it is very, very close. The biggest flaw in D&D4 is the Fey Pact is not what I wanted exactly.
Tomorrow is the true test.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Returning to the Keep
Even more psyched now that I know we are going to the Keep on the Borderlands!
I guess it has filled up with monsters again.
"Bree-Yark" is goblin for "I surrender" right?
Should be a blast.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Gods, Demigods and Heroes
Now Mystara didn't have gods, but Greyhawk does and so do all the other worlds I am using here.
A few I know I am going to use and where they all fit.
Gods
Ancient beings of great power. The next generation after the Titans and Primordials. Gods differ from humans and the others in many respects. Gods can have Aspects and Avatars, which are semi-independent versions of themselves that can interact in the world. Demons and Devils can have Aspects too, but generally only one at a time and for them it is more like Astral Projection.
Gods also have the power of creation. They created their specific races, or the lands, or even the world.
Bahmut and Tiamat -Bahmut (and his Dragonlance cousin Paladine) has become the god of Lawful Good paladins since the 3.0 days. This is only reinforced in 4.0. Plus he is a very D&;D god, with ties back to the first Monster Manual and featured in the Dragonlance sagas.
Tiamat is a given for the same reasons, but she was also a god in myth in her own right. Though given that in Babylonian myth she was the god of Chaos, I would change her alignment from LE to CE and put her in the Abyss. In fact the Abyss is there there because she was tossed into it.
Sehanine / Selûne / Shar - Three aspects of the same moon goddess. Represent the Maiden, Mother and Crone aspects of the Triple Goddess. Neutral.
Wee Jas - Goddess of Magic and Death. The Witch Queen. Worshiped by the Suel. Mix in bits of Hecate, Cardea, Isis and Mystra to her. Her student was Ioun. LN.
Others
Bast Egyptian - Goddess of Cats and the hunt. CG
Blibdoolpoolp (Greyhawk) - Goddess of the Kuo-toa and other deep see nasties. Maybe a daughter of Dagon and consort of Demogorgon (ick). CE
Camazotz (Aztec) - the Bat God, I like having him as the god Vampires too, great rivalry exists between him and Orcus. Camazorz doesn't control vampires, but some vampires and vampire cult pay him homage. CE
Celestian (Greyhawk)- God of the stars. Have to include him. Neutral
Corellon - God of Elves.
Gruumsh - God of Orcs. Neutral Evil.
Istus (Greyhawk) - Goddess of Fate. Neutral
Lovitar (Realms/Finnish) - Everyone needs a crazy S&M chick.
Set - God of Evil.
Surtur - Fire Giants and Thrym - Frost Giants, both from Norse myth, but folded into the D&D myths.
Vaprak, the Destroyer - God of Trolls and Ogres. Though I have considered having this just be an aspect of Demogorgon.
I plan to use Earth myths when I can. For example my Desert Elves worship elven versions of the Egyptian Pantheon. Isis is an elf, but Set is human since according to these elves humans are the greatest evils in the world.
Devils
The new editions of D&D (3.x, Pathfinder and 4) have Asmodeus listed as a god. Now I have no issues with that per se. I even think the back story of Asmodeus rising to power that started with the Dragon Mag article "Politics of Hell", on through the Blood War stuff and finally his triumph at becoming a Dark God is an interesting one. But it does't work for me. See I would rather set Devils up as the alternatives to Gods. The devils temp mortals away from the "proper" religions to worship them. Why would a mortal worship a lesser beign like a Devil? Simple, the devils provide a quick avenue to power. Gods, even evil ones, require faith and worship and service, the rewards then are given based on that faith. Devils tell the mortals "hey, why do all that work when you can work with us and get all those benefits now." Devils also side with mortals against the Gods. They will remind mortals that the Gods have it easy while they work and toil. They even try to promote kinship, "hey the Gods cast us out, so we are on your side." Of course these are all lies, but situated in enough truth that mortals keep falling for them. Asmodeus then is not a Dark God, but the most power Arch Duke there is and his power is equal to that of a god or goddess. The Devils will even point out that one of their own rose to such power that is should be possible for everyone to do it.
The devils now have moved beyond the "Blood War" of 2nd ed and are now going to engage in a "Gods War" with the battlefield the mortal realms. I think a good story for the PCs would be to become part of this "Gods War". I alluded to it a little in my Buffy adventure, The Dragon and the Phoenix.
Afterall what would be more climatic than all the heroes, each representing their God, on the field of battle against the greatest foe in humanity. I might drop my "Vs. Orcus" idea for this instead.
Demons
The Abyss is the sewer of the multi-cosm. Everything that gets flushed, thrown out, discarded and forgotten ends up here. Of courses there were plenty of things here to start with. Demons are legion. There are thousands of types, races, and varieties. Some, like Orcus, are "dead" Gods. Others, like Demogorogn, used to be Titans. Others still are cast out gods (not sent to Hell), forgotten powers or even monsters that have become very, very powerful. There are even ones that were spawned by the Abyss itself. If the ultimate purpose of the Devils is the destruction of all the Gods, then for Demons it is just destruction.
The Blood War, the war between the Demons and the Devils, was a minor skirmish in the long range plans of the Devils. In fact prior to the Blood Wars, demons and devils had been on working terms. The devils would often use demons as grunts in their battles. This went on for so long that some species of demon were once considered to be devils and visa-versa. Graz'zt, the Demon lord, had been an Duke of Hell, till he went native. Succubi are constantly switching allegiances between demons and devils that they are difficult to properly classify.
Demogorgon - Older than the gods. A Titan that has become more demonlike. Hates Orcus. Only worshiped by non-humans and insane cultists. Just wants to destroy everything. CE.
Jubilex - Demon lord of slimes. Created from the Abyss itself. It is as if all the waste and runoff of the Abyss collected into a conscious form. Deeply, deeply insane. Wants the entire multcosm covered in acidic slime.
Orcus - Was a god, then demonized, killed, came back as undead, became a demon again. GEnerally just an angry dude. Hates undead, but hates them less than he hates everything else. Wants to become the God of the Dead. CE.
Primordials and Titans
Like in Greek myths, the Titans were the "parents" of the Gods. Some gods from other games might end up here. I prefer to figure these out as I need them. The Scarred Lands books from Sword and Sorcery Studios were good for this concept as well. They had a lot of interesting titans. Theirs though were outright evil, I prefer to have my titans more uncaring about humans. The world was theirs, now it isn't anymore and they are not happy about it. Most of the titans are dead, others are imprisoned or converted to demons.
Primordials came even before the Titans and represent raw nature or natural aspects of the world. Earth, Sky, Night, Death. These things are hard to personify into human terms so Primordials are not really like the gods or titans at all. Primordials do not care about worship or humans although some are aware of such actions. In some cases my "Titans" are what other games "Primordials" are and my Primordials are something different.
Mad Gods
Have to include these. Things like Leviathan, Cthulhu and the rest certainly will have a place in my game.
For me Gods need to be complicated. The characters live in a world where they can travel to the planes, commune or other wise get "evidence" for their faith. I think I might make this a bit tougher is some cases and even out right prohibit in others.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
New Releases Tuesday
It's book release day and two of favorite authors have new books out in the modern urban supernatural fantasy section.
Amber Benson is letting us back into the weird world of Calliope Reaper-Jones in the second book of the Death's Daughter series, "Cat's Claw".
This one promises to be very interesting. The first book dealt with the disappearance of her father, The Grim Reaper. In this one Callie needs pay back the debts she amassed doing it.
Here is the Amazon link, http://www.amazon.com/Cats-Claw-Amber-Benson/dp/0441018432/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_3
As I mentioned yesterday the next book Hollows Series by Kim Harrison is also out. The new book, Black Magic Sanction, has Rachel doing what Rachel does best; getting into trouble WAY over her head. Like Callie, I didn't like Rachel at first. I thought she was, well, stupid. She did things all the time that got her into trouble. But soon I figured out that Rachel isn't stupid. She is impulsive and being drawn into plots she would rather not have to deal with herself. Like Calli, Rachel has powers and that doesn't mean she knows what she needs to do with them. Rachel can be a total flake, but it works for her and now I love this character.
The Amazon link, http://www.amazon.com/Black-Magic-Sanction-Rachel-Morgan/dp/0061138037/ref=pd_sim_b_1
Both books are fun reads with interesting and engaging heroines. I am going to try to get both books today. I like to support authors when I can during their first week of release.
Amber Benson is letting us back into the weird world of Calliope Reaper-Jones in the second book of the Death's Daughter series, "Cat's Claw".
This one promises to be very interesting. The first book dealt with the disappearance of her father, The Grim Reaper. In this one Callie needs pay back the debts she amassed doing it.
Here is the Amazon link, http://www.amazon.com/Cats-Claw-Amber-Benson/dp/0441018432/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_3
As I mentioned yesterday the next book Hollows Series by Kim Harrison is also out. The new book, Black Magic Sanction, has Rachel doing what Rachel does best; getting into trouble WAY over her head. Like Callie, I didn't like Rachel at first. I thought she was, well, stupid. She did things all the time that got her into trouble. But soon I figured out that Rachel isn't stupid. She is impulsive and being drawn into plots she would rather not have to deal with herself. Like Calli, Rachel has powers and that doesn't mean she knows what she needs to do with them. Rachel can be a total flake, but it works for her and now I love this character.
The Amazon link, http://www.amazon.com/Black-Magic-Sanction-Rachel-Morgan/dp/0061138037/ref=pd_sim_b_1
Both books are fun reads with interesting and engaging heroines. I am going to try to get both books today. I like to support authors when I can during their first week of release.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Dead Witch Walking
One of my favorite authors, Kim Harrison is gearing up for the release of her next book in the Hollows/Rachel Morgan series.
Black Magic Sanction is on the way, but to get up to speed you can get a FREE copy of Dead Witch Walking, book 1 of the series.
http://kimharrison.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/black-magic-sanction-book-trailer/
http://books.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?WRD=dead+witch+walking+free+with+bonus+material&box=Dead%20Witch%20&pos=1
http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/kim-harrison/dead-witch-walking-free-with-bonus-material/_/R-400000000000000199893
http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Witch-Walking-Hollows-ebook/dp/B000UMVN0O/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1266853486&sr=8-3
Not too bad really.
Black Magic Sanction is out tomorrow.
Black Magic Sanction is on the way, but to get up to speed you can get a FREE copy of Dead Witch Walking, book 1 of the series.
http://kimharrison.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/black-magic-sanction-book-trailer/
http://books.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?WRD=dead+witch+walking+free+with+bonus+material&box=Dead%20Witch%20&pos=1
http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/kim-harrison/dead-witch-walking-free-with-bonus-material/_/R-400000000000000199893
http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Witch-Walking-Hollows-ebook/dp/B000UMVN0O/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1266853486&sr=8-3
Not too bad really.
Black Magic Sanction is out tomorrow.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Taking a new path
So. I had a plan. It was a good plan as far as these things go. That is till my regular DM decided to do something unexpected.
We have a few games going, I have one with my kids (3.x), he has one with his (4.0), we have one together with some friends (4.0) and one with both families (4.0). I was going to finish out my game with my boys and start up a 4.0 game with them to go through all the classic modules.
That is till last night. Turns out that my DM now wants to use Pathfinder.
Now don't get me wrong, I like Pathfinder, it is a nice book and really a good looking game. I also happen to think that there is some life left in the D&D 3.x game too. But this does mess up my master plan. ;)
We were talking today about what adventures he wants to do with this group (him, his three boys, me and my two) and it was very, very similar to my plan I had for 4th Ed.
Last night I was less than thrilled about "going back" to 3.x, but today I am actually quite excited about it.
I have been on Paizo's website and there is a ton of fun stuff there. And the Pathfinder stuff is compatible with all my other 3.x stuff. Plus I am going to get to play their witch (which is not exactly like mine for 3.x, but close enough). So this could be very fun to be honest. I can still use all my 4.0 stuff with my boys, I just might need a new plan on adventures.
So it looks like I'll be playing D&D 4.0 AND Pathfinder/D&D 3.65 (or something like that).
Anyone else playing Pathfinder? Any tips or advice?
We have a few games going, I have one with my kids (3.x), he has one with his (4.0), we have one together with some friends (4.0) and one with both families (4.0). I was going to finish out my game with my boys and start up a 4.0 game with them to go through all the classic modules.
That is till last night. Turns out that my DM now wants to use Pathfinder.
Now don't get me wrong, I like Pathfinder, it is a nice book and really a good looking game. I also happen to think that there is some life left in the D&D 3.x game too. But this does mess up my master plan. ;)
We were talking today about what adventures he wants to do with this group (him, his three boys, me and my two) and it was very, very similar to my plan I had for 4th Ed.
Last night I was less than thrilled about "going back" to 3.x, but today I am actually quite excited about it.
I have been on Paizo's website and there is a ton of fun stuff there. And the Pathfinder stuff is compatible with all my other 3.x stuff. Plus I am going to get to play their witch (which is not exactly like mine for 3.x, but close enough). So this could be very fun to be honest. I can still use all my 4.0 stuff with my boys, I just might need a new plan on adventures.
So it looks like I'll be playing D&D 4.0 AND Pathfinder/D&D 3.65 (or something like that).
Anyone else playing Pathfinder? Any tips or advice?
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