This may not be everyone’s style, and I certainly recognize that.

I’m still working on a solution for providing character sheets for builds that I’m happy with, but honestly, it’s not a real high priority right now.

I’m also sorry if it seemed like I was trying to talk over Don. It is certainly always my intent to make guests, especially for episodes like this, the center of attention. Don’s D&D-specific expertise is a bit weaker than the usual guests I bring in for these things, and I wonder if I didn’t over-compensate a bit in my attempts to help cover for him.

In a situation like that it’s a pretty fine line between stepping over someone and helping give content that is as expansive as possible. If I went to far then I apologize.

I’m certainly not impressed with my own access to the things I pay for (since I’m more into the game than most), but I also see the character build sections as a chance to highlight things that are available in a variety of sources that may not have been discussed in a review episode of that product.

In any case, I’m not trying to invalidate the critiques at all and I take them to heart, I just want to be clear about my philosophy and circumstances in the situation. Hopefully I can better live up to your expectations in the future.

Tome Show is slipping - the recent Cleric build episode had Jeff stepping all over the guest, who clearly prepared but never got to share.

I’m always interested in going interviews on the show, by the way. Freelancers and novel authors are the easiest to arrange, so if you have suggestions on who you want to hear let me know.

I must say I found the starting review to be a little spoilerish, so halfway through it I skipped to the interview to maximise my enjoyment for reading. Still great show!

Looking forward to the next episode as always.

why can’t you at least post the text version of the build of the month on this web page?

Although iplay4e.com doesn’t change the fact that the D&D Character Builder itself lacks the functionality to export or save in a useful format easily.

Thanks for the comment.

You can export directly from the character builder and share on websites, iphones, or even share the builder files. it’s cool.

If there’s a mistake (and David didn’t just have a bad download) then I’ll fix it in the post so future downloads will be good in the next day or two.

I’ll check the series out now, I just wanted to say thanks for another episode about another topic connected to our hobby.

Thanks for the interview, Jeff. You are awesome.

My plan is to make every 5th episode an advice episode with a PC build in it for the first half and an advice topic for the second.

It’s also a chance for me to get many different people on the show. Writers, bloggers, podcasters, and listeners.

I hope that’s often enough for you.

GREAT PODCAST! I loved hearing the WOTC people interviewed!

Keep up the great work!

One request…more build podcasts like the Elven Rogue.

Seth

They admitted as much. I would say that they were more cordial about it in the context of the discussion than they were weaselly about it. I felt like (as I talked to them) that they continued a trend I’ve found talking to WotC people in that they are very honest and generally good people.

I would quickly argue (and have) that the designers and authors that work on D&D seem to be pretty well in touch with the community and understand what is going on better than they let on. But that there are some larger mistakes that have been made that have nothing to do with game design.

I’ll also note that neither of the two people we talked to were marketing people, they’re both designers and writers by trade. They only do marketing (like coming on the show) because I worked my tail off for over a month to put it together and to make it worth the time of WotC to let them come on.

Lastly, they DID over promise and it was a mistake. There is no doubt about that. But I do have to say, that what IS out for D&DI is AWESOME. I seriously can’t imagine making a PC anymore without the Character Builder. The time is saves. Really if you don’t care to read the fluff text in the books, a subscription to D&DI is an extremely economical way to get access to all of the books WotC produces.

How would we all feel if we spent money each month on software that DIDN’T work. Its obvious the project didnt go as planned, but its better that they admitted the problem rather than trying to sell us an unfinished product.

Maybe your right though: Their intent from the get go was to not deliver on the promises. Sell a bag of goods and then not deliver. fits right into the business model that they would want to alienate their core fan base (read: customers). Its not like they need the fans any way. WoTC is practically a Monopoly, on a commodity right? What do they care if their current fan base gets upset? Its not like there are alternatives for their customers or a continual supply of new money for Wizards… Etc.

Translated into English: “We hired a bunch of crappy programmers and gave them crappy management and then realized hundreds of thousands of dollars later that we don’t know the first thing about developing software.”

I suppose one could always say that being able to see into the future can help you pick out where your target will be when you shoot…but the same is true of swinging a sword.

It’s not a big deal, and you don’t HAVE to pick those powers if that’s not the flavor you want to go with…but your missing out if you don’t follow the concept.

I am sorry if the attempt at humorous discussion rubbed you the wrong way, but hopefully there was something in the show that you could enjoy.

And The Last Rogue, I’ll have to check out the downloadable monster builder. Personally, I still like the WotC builder because it lets me play with the numbers and fidget with the little bits. But it isn’t nearly as fast as what’s at Asmor. So if the downloadable version gives some of that fiddly-ness but is also quick and to the point then all the better!

Good if things get too close.

If at l;east one of them is a minion and you kill it (hit) you get to misty step.

With this in mind I’d go CHA, (covers Will) INT for Thunderwave, pact powers and AC/Reflex when using leather armour. WIS at least a +1, and try to do what you can with CON for HP and fortitude defence and powers from the other pacts, but if you go Fey all the way it isn’t as important.

Some power gamers think you should up your strength and constitution to get better armour proficiencies, but personally I wouldn’t bother because it will ruin everything else that is more important. (IMO)

I also heard from Precis Games after the episode came out and they said that they are already working on more creatures/monsters/etc and ones of different sizes. So that’s good news.

Lastly, yes. The whole Vorpal Network site has been hacked multiple times now and the timing sucks because our webmaster has had life get in the way and he’s had to quit. That said, we’re using it as a chance to improve the site. We’ll be offline for a few weeks and then we’re going to relaunch with an all new Vorpal Network site and forums. Hopefully I’ll see you there!

Great show, keep up the great work.

P.S. Looks like your forums got hacked Maybe it means you’re moving up in the world.

This episode was several months in the making, and so it is likely that the version of the bonus tool I was using was either old or I just didn’t notice that feature.

Thanks!

Super useful, and because the Compendium has a lot of extra monsters from adventures, magazines, and books, you get a lot of bang for your buck.

On Page 6:

“When you gain temporary hit points by hitting with an attack that has the invigorating keyword, those temporary hit points stack with any other temporary hit points you already have.”

I simply don’t recall the instance.

Great show. Thanks

Is there a specific problem that you had with the review? The intent wasn’t to “half-assedly” pick through it, but give a snap shot of the product without getting boring. We were over an hour as it was, had we gone into more detail it would have been at least an hour and half, and my experience is that that tends to turn the audience off pretty quick.

Love to have a build of the week segment…

There is some value to that sort of answer. Some of these questions are beyond the scope of this adventure and can easily be answered in the next adventure done by the DM.

Some of them are needed in order to achieve plot (although I think I pointed out some of these failings myself).

And some of them are probably a problem that results from deadline and wanting to be first on the block to publish a 4e adventure.

There is a careful balance that the Master Dungeons are trying to walk. On one hand, make it for advanced DMs which means you don’t have to figure out everything (like how to get the PCs to use the politics of the Zain-Kin) but on the other hand, don’t let that be an excuse to be lazy and incomplete (forgetting to mention how to break the sleep spell).

If I were Goodman, there would be a Dragora part 2 heading back into the dungeon, finding the repository of magic, dealing with the ape people, and giving clues on where to find Dragora next.

But I’m not sure if they are interested in creating adventure paths, ala Pathfinder.

Dangerous encounters are fine, but the gelatinous cube turned out to be a buzz kill for most of the Chatty DM’s players.

I’m committed to Dragora’s Dungeon now that I’ve started it and can’t jury rig a replacement. There’s plenty of crunch, atmosphere and physical description. But PCs are expected to leverage the “multi-layered plots” of the Zai-Kin against them, and you’ll find little to work with.

Also, incidentally …

- How are there living drakes in that ancient way station? - How are there corpses in the trapped spider room? - Why wouldn’t Dragora use her pool of scrying to locate the PCs and target them with wave after wave of warriors? - Where is the repository of material that she’s racing to learn? Or where has she been excavating? - Where is the orb the PCs must destroy to cancel the Parhok sleep ritual? Without it, if (when) Dragora escapes, the sleep can’t be dispelled.

That’s not an exhaustive list of head scratchers, so the adventure has that distinctive deadline odor.

On the plus side, it’s cinematic gold. It really just needs another couple of days of work and a web supplement at Goodman Games.

However, if I took it the show would, in it’s over two year history, only have two adventure reviews. My gaming group meets every other week and I do a lot of Play By Email gaming. If I ran the modules in PBEM it would take over a year to finish them. If I did them all in my regular group it would still take half a year and it would honestly sort of ruin my campaign.

So the best I can offer is a read through by an experienced DM/player who has run more than his share of modules in his days. I recognized the potential for a bad deal with the cube in Dragora’s Dungeon, for example, but that level of deadliness is sort of what the module writers were going for. But I should have made a special note of it in the recording as a warning.

That said, I did run Isle of the Sea Drake, reviewed in this episode, albeit modified to work for 4th level instead of 1st.

All that said, if there are any adventure reviews for modules that you’ve run I’d be more than happy to have you on as a guest reviewer for those episodes.

For the Chatty DM, the gelatinous cube turned out to be a real drag in actual play: “The Cube promptly ‘ate’ 4 out of the 6 PCs by engulfing and dazing them, putting a serious dent in the group’s fun factor.”

Run them first!

To me it feels like Pathfinder is more for people who play 3.5 DnD and don’t want to switch to 4e. It doesn’t feel ‘welcoming’ as a choice for a new RPG. I like the idea behind the factions for living campaigns, and the scenario premises sound very interesting. I will check it out, but it just feels like I’ll forever be an outsider to all things 3.5 and related because there is so much stuff out there and people have been playing it for quite some time. I just wasn’t on that boat at the right time and i believe it’s too late to buy a ticket.

The real trick with these things as you modify them for the sound you want and add layers is that the more you do to a sound the more people won’t understand what is being said. And ultimately, for a thing like this content is king and I was more concerned that as many people as possible got the message.

That said, if I run across the time to play around with it some more I’ll see what I can do.

http://shadeofaranchant.ytmnd.com/

Keep up the great work!

Hope you enjoy the others coming up.

Thanks again, and if you’re ever interested doing a review for the show feel free to shoot me an email.

1) The reviewer commented that Paizo offers a 15% discount on Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriptions. It’s a 30% discount. 2) The reviewer commented that one of the advantages of of subscribing is a 10% discount on everything in thir store. That’s not entirely accurate. It’s a 15% and it is on physical products and does not include PDFs. Yes, this is true for other company’s products. 3) The reviewer failed to mention that Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscribers also receive a free PDF of their subscription the day that their issue ships. DMs are able to copy maps, handouts, etc out of the PDFs and print them out seperately for players.

I hope this is addressed in a future episode of the Tome. Thank you.

*Disclosure: I am a Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber.

As for trimming fat…well, if I had to heavily edit 4 hours I honestly would just say “forget it” and stop doing it. Remember, for every hour you hear I’ve probably spent 3 hours working on it. That’s less true with AP because it’s not heavily edited.

My only complaint is that 4 hours is a bit long. Maybe there is some “fat” that could be cut out to make it a bit shorter and “snappier”?

And yes, I think this is a good idea and should continue.

So I don’t think it will ruin anything for you story-wise. The latest D&D podcast that has Actual Play of the same adventure spoils more.

The real question is, do you want to see the rest of this adventure Actual Play go out on the feed? Or is one time good enough?

We just paused our War of the Burning Sky campaign and will start with this adventure on friday.

“What’s the star on the wall for?” “Keep to the road. Stay clear of the moors.” “This is as far as I can take you. The day is drawing on. I will go no further. Not to that place.” “No-one will come. Not after dark.”

billy

But seriously, MaAH is a podiobook that I think would really appeal to the gaming audience.