Author Topic: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR  (Read 35684 times)

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Offline Defendi

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #40 on: August 29, 2006, 05:45:10 PM »
I'll probably have a bad guy from CoM at some point.  Naturally, I can't reproduce any of that text in my books since I don't own it.

Not sure what you are asking at the end there.  Could you clarify?
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Offline GerikGnome

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #41 on: August 29, 2006, 06:10:53 PM »
I think he's noting that Angels get less dmg reduction than Demons against fire, cold, and water.  If I remember correctly, that's not actually a mistake.  Just like how Demons get less dmg reduction than Angels against light, air, and earth.

The last part I'm not certain about.

Offline mocking bird

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #42 on: August 30, 2006, 08:36:46 AM »
Quote from: Defendi
Not sure what you are asking at the end there.  Could you clarify?

I was just wondering if the angelic/demonic attack bonuses vs. divine spark/infernal taint would be increased against the greater spark talent or if an opponent had a greater infernal taint.
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.    Buddha

Offline Defendi

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #43 on: August 30, 2006, 01:51:26 PM »
Oh!  No.  Those are pure mechanic distinctions.  I didn't want to force characters to take a 40 point advantage that would be a loss of points for them so there's the 40 point version for those who will be pushing the limits of the effected stats and the 0 point version for those who can simulate to bonus cheeper just by raising stats they intended to be mediocre.  The spark isn't stronger or weaker in any of them.
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Offline Raf Blutaxt

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #44 on: January 12, 2007, 07:52:48 PM »
I have a question about the content of the campaign setting. We are starting a EoH campaign soon and hopefully we will play the whole "Moving Shadows" campaign. Now one of the players wants to read the main book and as I have not yet finished it myself I don't know  if there are any parts I should not allow him to read...
So are there  any parts only suited for the GM?
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Offline Defendi

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #45 on: January 12, 2007, 08:07:07 PM »
Hmmm.  All of the adventure seeds could theoretically be spoilers, but accept for some of the ones in the history, I try not to say what's really going on, leaving it up to you.  I would say the only part that's I'd hesitate to have him read are the Who's Who in Appendix One.  You should probably just sum up the government ones for him, unless he's already a master of court intrigue and would know everything there.

But really, as a setting guide, they should be able to read the whole thing without REALLY ruining anything.  There shouldn't be any huge secrets, just complicated intrigue stuff.

Of course, I'm the writer, not a GM, so my perspecitve might not actually be perfect for this question.  Writers know what's really going on, so sometimes a something we think isn't a spoiler a GM might, because they think of a way to run with it that the writer didn't. Anyone out there have possible spoilers I don't realize are spoilers?  :)
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Offline mocking bird

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #46 on: January 13, 2007, 07:46:07 PM »
Some of the secret societies and back stories might count as 'spoilers'.  This is one of the drawbacks of playing in Middle Earth or SHadow World - everybody knows the histories & major players that it is difficult to surprise the players.

I plan on running our group in the future (not necessarily near) and using the teaser in Throne of God.  I am the only one who has the material at the moment and the think it is a good way of dropping in new players & new characters in a setting that the players know nothing about.  PK has been the death of many a GM plot and scheme.  In this case everything will be new for the players as well of the characters which hopefully will be quite refreshing.
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.    Buddha

Offline Defendi

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #47 on: January 14, 2007, 01:20:46 AM »
That's cool.  How far in the future are you thinking?

That BTW, is EXACTLY why the teaser is there.   When I start a campaign myself, I try to always have a good reason why the characters and the players have the same level of knowledge.  It makes for less exposition.  So when I start brand new and the players know nothing, I try to get a good situation where the character can learn as the player does.
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Offline mocking bird

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #48 on: January 14, 2007, 01:20:50 PM »
That's cool.  How far in the future are you thinking?

We are doing the Grand Campaign in SW at the moment and are traipsing around Urulan so I don't know how much left teh GM has planned.  We play every other Saturday.

A few other members have the base HARP book and one has CoM.  Both seemed quite curious - especially our current GM who last actually played a charater circa 2002 (with a brief interlude of Marvel but that really doesn't count).  But then again that was the last time I ran something as well so I am a bit nervous.
« Last Edit: January 14, 2007, 01:24:42 PM by mocking bird »
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.    Buddha

Offline Defendi

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #49 on: January 15, 2007, 12:17:00 AM »
Ah, I thought you meant in the SETTING'S future.  :)  That's very cool, thanks for letting me know.  We actually have a lot more people playing those adventures right now than we have any right to expect.  For pactical reasons, I expected the number of actual games to be at the most 1% of sales until the 6th month mark, and then the year mark, when we'd get bumps as people found holes in their game schedules.  (Acutally, I didn't expect anyone to start one right up until we had a few products out there to build momentum in their minds, 1% was just the top of my theoretical limit).  We're WAY over that and now the 6th month bump is hitting and more people are running it.  It's very gratifying.
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Offline Raf Blutaxt

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #50 on: January 15, 2007, 03:45:59 AM »
So how many of those who bought the products are actually playing the adventures, do you think?

I was a bit worried about starting the campaign with only the first two adventures released but I like them and I want to start a long campaign so I'll just risk it.

Oh and thanks for the quick answer to my question. I told the player to read the history section and ignore the adventure seeds. and the section about life in the mortal realm should also be interesting for him. He just wanted to get a general feeling of the athmosphere to help him with his character.
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Offline Defendi

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #51 on: January 15, 2007, 04:01:25 AM »
About only two adventures being out:

Here's the worst case senario:  Someone kills me tomorrow over a quarter.  In that case, Gerik Gnome should have no problem accessing my computer at home.  Right now, the playtest notes are done through Episode 5, and he could get those into a readable shape in just a few days.  My writer's bible would have to fill in the rest, but he shouldn't have trouble finding it.  You might have to convert things for your own use, but you'd have the full story.

Every two months from now on, we do another playtest.  I start preping the last playtest on September 5th, I beleive.  So I think the odds are long for anything getting the adventures into playbale form, if not publishable.  So on Spetember 10th or so, not even the Writer's Bible is necessary any more.

Anyway, since we've passed the halfway point, I don't see any real chance of us not finishing.  I suppose something could stop me PUBLISHING (like all four licenses suddenly being pulled in a massive collusion of mallace between WotC, HeroGames and ICE :) ), but the series should easily get finished.  Honestly, I can't see not publishing all ten.  I've started plotting the next 9 products after that.

On getting a hang of things:

Here's the order for the most important setting elements to get a feel:

Overview Chapter
Ulcer (if you own it)
Chapter 2
History
Life in Belkanath
Churchs
Then probably the Misc chapter (8 I beleive?)
Chapter 4

I'd have players read in that order, throwing in Appendix 2 and Moving up Chapter 2 to whenever your ready to play, if they haven't finished by then.  The Overview gives all the important setting concepts and Ulcer is all mood, so between those two alone, I think they'll get a good idea about what the setting is about.  So I'd jus thave them start and then keep reading as long as they like.  They should be up to speed by the time you start, and then they can just keep reading for fun.
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Offline markc

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #52 on: January 15, 2007, 05:01:59 PM »
BTW Robert,

 I am sorry I have not gotten my review of your product written up. I have been burried with moving, holiday and personal stuff. I did read about 1/2 of the product the first day I recieved it so I should not have too much more to read before I do a write up.

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Use a System to tell the story do not let the system play you.

Offline Defendi

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #53 on: January 15, 2007, 09:49:23 PM »
Thanks.
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Offline Raf Blutaxt

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #54 on: January 20, 2007, 10:05:31 AM »
we'll meet next sunday to talk about character creation and hopefully start playing shortly after that.

I just have a question concerning the background of the characters.

I will run the teasers as well and so I'm wondering how to deal with cultural backgrounds of the characters.

(click to show/hide)
I don't want to tell them about it before we start so are there similar cultures available or shall I tell them to create more generic characters?

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Offline Defendi

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #55 on: January 21, 2007, 01:42:28 AM »
I think I can answer this without having to figure out how to use that cool spoiler button.

Here's what I've told the playtesters.  (The HERO ones were the worst, because there's so much background stuff you can buy.)  Essentially, I said, "Build your character assuming they are going to be shipwrecked at the begining of the first adventure and lose all their ties to their homelands.  We can probably work out any type of character backgrounds you want, and shades of gray are fine, but if they absolutely had to choose between good and evil, they need to be people who would, in the end, come down on the side of good."

We got a lot of jaded characters with elaborate backstories that I just allowed to be part of the history of what they are doing in the Teaser.  There's enough possiblity for diversity in that starting group that you can rationlize most stuff.  Then just VETO anything that's blatantly inappropriate.

We had one polygamous noble from a huge military family that had lived it's entire life on the front line of a war or series of wars.  We had a pretty standard Paladin.  We had a thief who lived with an alcoholic priest that would sell off church goods to fuel his benders, then the thief would steel it back (he didn't know what he was doing was wrong, he just thought that's how things were).  We had a crazy pyromaniac gnome whose whole family was wiped out by evil and who'd gone fairly evil in his need for revenge.  We had a church assassin who spent most of his time behind the lines of enemy churches.  We had a fighter that saw something so horrific she still suffers from hysterical blindness.

If you can't see how I plugged those in, let me know and tell me how to use the spoiler button.  :)

Basically, the characters in the teaser could have seen terrible darkness or lived lives of wonderful, perfectly sheltered naivete.  So as long as you can rationlize that they'd be on the right side of the opening fight, they are in.
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Offline Raf Blutaxt

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #56 on: January 21, 2007, 06:53:01 AM »
Thanks!
I'll tell them to focus on the personality of their characters rather than their geographical Background and such stuff.
and I won't allow them to create members of any orders of the church at the beginning.
I think the biggest problem is probably the player who want's to create a dwarven cleric. He'll be in for some surprises when the adventure starts  ;D

Oh and I'll try to write a GM's log about all the things that will happen during character creation, preparation and play and hopefully post them as a blog. At least if I can get myself to writing that much in english :)
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Offline Defendi

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #57 on: January 21, 2007, 07:03:47 AM »
That would be cool.

Yeah.  Our Dwarven Paladin was fun.  He might have been the character who adjusted best to everything.  Now he's dead.  <Sigh.>
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Offline Raf Blutaxt

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #58 on: January 25, 2007, 11:22:09 AM »
I hope I'm not getting on your nerves too much but I've got another question about the setting:
How much is the church actually working against magic users?
I know that magic has been outlawed and that there are witchhunters but there seem to be quite a few magicians around at least in Ludremon and Felric's Redoubt.

Are they trying to burn every wizard they can lay hands on or just those who actually becoming dangerous? Or does it depend on the country and how much power the church has in the region?

Oh and did you know that K?hler really means charcoal burner in german? I hope my players will never have to go there or I'll have to listen to a lot of bad jokes ;)

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Offline mocking bird

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Re: QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
« Reply #59 on: January 25, 2007, 03:02:47 PM »
And I thought my group had a tendency to maky psychotic characters.  Reading what Defendi's group was I don't think I will have any problems. ;)

The shipwreck idea sounds like a good ploy. 

Quote from: Defendi
We had a church assassin who spent most of his time behind the lines of enemy churches.

Oddly enough going back over the material recently I thought to myself how EoH would be an excellent setting for mythics.
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.    Buddha