Goodman Games

I think the one thing this game really needs and quickly is a bunch more Patrons. Any chance GG is working on one?

+d30

Goodman himself has said repeatedly that the plans for additional content, beyond that found in the modules, there is nothing coming out other than possible Annuals with a mix of content.

Intrepid Judges, and some 3rd party publishers, are hard at work on expanding the options for patrons and gods however - which is exactly what Mr. G said he wanted.

Yeah, if it happens it will be a Third Party product. Goodman Games wants to produce a self-contained rules set (done) and a steady stream of modules (in progress) and doesn't want to focus on add-on rulebooks.

But a collection of patrons wouldn't be rules addition; It would be useful fluff (as adventures technically are). Perhaps patrons could be added to adventure modules where possible and consistent with the already stated design goals which are to add new and unique monsters via modules

A 3pp book of patrons is in the works. I have just agreed to fully develop 16 of them.

Stainless wrote:But a collection of patrons wouldn't be rules addition

If the Patron entries were incomplete, that would be true... but once you put patron taint, invoke patron results, spellburn specific to the patron, and write up some patron spells... you have a pretty sizable addition of rules.

Raven_Crowking wrote:A 3pp book of patrons is in the works. I have just agreed to fully develop 16 of them.

That is fantastic news. I really like your deity write-up on these forums and your actual play on the Unseen Servant forums. One guaranteed purchase here. Who are you publishing through?

TheNobleDrake wrote:If the Patron entries were incomplete, that would be true... but once you put patron taint, invoke patron results, spellburn specific to the patron, and write up some patron spells... you have a pretty sizable addition of rules.

Yes, I suppose you're right. I wasn't thinking it through. I was just imagining some good names and backgrounds for patrons and nothing more.

Stainless wrote:

Raven_Crowking wrote:A 3pp book of patrons is in the works. I have just agreed to fully develop 16 of them.

That is fantastic news. I really like your deity write-up on these forums and your actual play on the Unseen Servant forums. One guaranteed purchase here. Who are you publishing through?

I am not certain how much I am allowed to say at this point, so I will direct the publisher to this thread and go from there.

What I can say is that I will be doing at least 16 patrons for this project, and that the timeline I understand should see this completed and available before the year is out, assuming all goes well. If you liked the deity write-ups I've done, you'll like the patrons. I am tempted to say "even more", because gods have to have goals in common with humans, and not every patron needs do so.

In terms of patrons, expect my work to show the influences of Gardner Fox, A. Merritt, Leigh Brackett, Michael Moorcock, Robert E. Howard, and H.P. Lovecraft at a bare minimum. Of my 16, I expect 6 Chaotic, 5 Neutral, and 5 Lawful. But it's very early in the process, and things may change!

Hi everyone my name is Sean Connors.

I am leading the team that will be putting together a patron's book.
At this stage it's working tittle is "unusual suspect's" it could have as many as 32 patron's in it with your support.We currently have four people working on the project and hope to launch the Kickstarter within the next two week's.

Naturally we will be taking a lot of direction from you!

About what you want to see.

So please let us know

Kind regards

Raven_Crowking wrote:In terms of patrons, expect my work to show the influences of Gardner Fox, A. Merritt, Leigh Brackett, Michael Moorcock, Robert E. Howard, and H.P. Lovecraft at a bare minimum.

A nice selection of inspirational authors. Keep us up to date on this!

Outsiders68 wrote: I am leading the team that will be putting together a patron's book.
At this stage it's working tittle is "unusual suspect's" it could have as many as 32 patron's in it with your support.We currently have four people working on the project and hope to launch the Kickstarter within the next two week's.

Naturally we will be taking a lot of direction from you!

About what you want to see.

So please let us know

Now this is a book I will definitely buy. Adding more patrons (and spells/classes for that matter) are the things I am most interested in at this point.

Some things I would like to see:
1. The majority of gods should be Swords and Sorcery types but have some quirky ones as well, along the lines of "The King of Elfland" (for a more Tolkien feel) and possibly even one or two that hint at a sci-fi origin.

2. Have patrons of varying degrees of power. Some should be god-like, some little more than petty demons or faeries.

3. A random patron generator.

4. Have at least one or two stretch goals ready to go at the start. Adding more patrons and the random patron generator would make good goals I imagine. Nothing wrong with adding more goals later if money is coming in faster than expected but there is no reason not to have some ready at the start. It makes the project look rushed and often its the perks that dictate if I support or not and how much I will spend.

6. Offer a glimpse of the product (ie. a sample page or two) so we know what we are supporting. It's difficult putting much faith in an unknown publisher without getting an idea of the quality of what is being offered. I am not going to risk buying the leather bound deluxe edition of a book from someone who I have no idea of the quality of their work from. Likely I will just go with the pdf or the cheapest hard copy. If I have an idea of what I am buying though I am much more willing to upgrade to higher options.

With this kickstarter for instance we all have a rough idea of what to expect but that doesn't mean the patrons or the spells will be of a quality I would allow in my game. Are the spells too over-powered/ under-powered? Are the patrons interesting or bland? Give us an example or most backers are either not going to pledge at all, or only do so at the lowest offerings.

Hi bholmes4

Good points ,most of them we have covered but your final point make's so much sense we will make sure that people see a good snap shot of the work and art.

So rest assured the quality is coming..

Teaser will follow.

Just a quick note: The King of Elfland is Lord Dunsany (The King of Elfland's Daughter).

RC

Raven_Crowking wrote:Just a quick note: The King of Elfland is Lord Dunsany (The King of Elfland's Daughter).

RC

I knew someone would jump on that lol. I suppose instead of saying Tolkien I should have said "traditional" or something like that.

Eventually I will read the Appendix N. If I live long enough...

There really needs to be a giant toad/frog god/patron. Just saying.

danbuter wrote:There really needs to be a giant toad/frog god/patron. Just saying.

There's already one in the core book...

Outsiders68 wrote: At this stage it's working tittle is "unusual suspect's" it could have as many as 32 patron's in it with your support.We currently have four people working on the project and hope to launch the Kickstarter within the next two week's.

Not to be harsh or overly pedantic, but if you use apostrophes in your product the way you do on these boards, I won't touch your Kickstarter or book. Every single bold item above does NOT require an apostrophe, and your sentence structure is (quite bluntly) a mess.

I know there are people who claim "I write professionally and edit myself in my books but let my punctuation and grammar go to crap on message boards, because, well....who cares?"

It leaves an impression, and says something about who you are to have half-assed punctuation/grammar.

Outsiders68 wrote:So rest assured the quality is coming..

Will you be hiring an editor?

Ogrepuppy wrote:

Outsiders68 wrote: At this stage it's working tittle is "unusual suspect's" it could have as many as 32 patron's in it with your support.We currently have four people working on the project and hope to launch the Kickstarter within the next two week's.

Not to be harsh or overly pedantic, but if you use apostrophes in your product the way you do on these boards, I won't touch your Kickstarter or book. Every single bold item above does NOT require an apostrophe, and your sentence structure is (quite bluntly) a mess.

I know there are people who claim "I write professionally and edit myself in my books but let my punctuation and grammar go to crap on message boards, because, well....who cares?"

It leaves an impression, and says something about who you are to have half-assed punctuation/grammar.

Outsiders68 wrote:So rest assured the quality is coming..

Will you be hiring an editor?

As a university lecturer who teaches about these kinds of key skills issues and has to mark lots of student assessments, I say +d30 to this. Standards need constant practice and vigilance. If you let your standards slip, they often slip completely away from you. Maintain the rage! Also, if you need help proof-reading your manuscript, let me know.

Ogrepuppy wrote:

Outsiders68 wrote:So rest assured the quality is coming..

Will you be hiring an editor?

I will be doing the editing. I assure you, I will be reading every word, and going over every sentence with a fine-toothed comb. No apostrophes will be out of place.

Daniel

bholmes4 wrote:
Now this is a book I will definitely buy. Adding more patrons (and spells/classes for that matter) are the things I am most interested in at this point.

Some things I would like to see:
1. The majority of gods should be Swords and Sorcery types but have some quirky ones as well, along the lines of "The King of Elfland" (for a more Tolkien feel) and possibly even one or two that hint at a sci-fi origin.

2. Have patrons of varying degrees of power. Some should be god-like, some little more than petty demons or faeries.

3. A random patron generator.

I'm also involved in this project, and you and I are of a mind. I've started a patron generator -- really more of an idea generator -- that gets you to patron power level, "sphere," Invoke Patron results, and availability of patron spells. The rest is left up to the imagination of the GM -- but running through a few of them, I genned some parameters in 30 seconds and had a fully fleshed out patron in just a few minutes of thinking and writing.

I've proposed this generator to the group, as you've suggested actually, as a stretch goal inclusion.

Here's an example... sans Patron Taint, which is easy enough for anyone to visualize.

Myrddin

Outside the great city of Ugama, the vile effluent of civilization washes into a morass called the Pits. On the shores of this stinking bog live those on the extreme margins of society -- the very rich of Ugama term them Zombi. Among them is a tradition of ritual, idol worship and, some say, untold power. One of the petty gods that the Zombi revere is Myrddin, a spirit, some say a demon, that seems to have taken the Pits under its protection.

In many graven images, Myrddin appears as a composite of creatures found in the Pits -- the body of a crocodile, snake-like arms, the head of the burbur (a snow white man-sized stork that is itself a legend). For those that have actually had dealings with Myrddin, it appears as a formless flow of mud and detritus that speaks in the slow susurrus meanderings of the Pit itself.

Those casting the Patron Bond spell for Myrddin must do so within the borders of the Pit, and, in fact, must first bathe in the filthy outflow of the city and then in the crystal clear waters of the River Rgene, where it exits the Pit. This ritual requires a Fort save (DC 12). A failure indicates that the caster receives a Patron Taint.

When a caster is more than three miles from the Pits or the shores of River Rgene, he or she takes a -2 to Spell Checks to Invoke Patron. Myrddin cannot be invoked if the caster is over 100 miles from the Pits or of River Rgene.

1 Myrddin is insulted by the caster's disregard for its power. (Invoke Patron critical failure results)

2-11 Myrddin's power slips through the fingers like silt in the bottom of a sluggish stream. (Invoke Patron failure results)

12-13 Myrddin's embrace protects his servants. Mud spread on the face imparts a +2 AC bonus for 1d4+CL rounds.

14-17 The mud of the Pit teems with life that answers to the whispers of Myrddin. Spreading mud on a wound heals 1d4+CL hit points.

18-19 Myrddin's mystical powers protect the caster, but at a price. After spreading mud on his or her hands, the caster's next spell result is one "step" higher than the actual Spell Check result. Thus, if the caster rolls a 12 or 13 on a 1st level Spell Check, he or she receives the results of 14-17. A failure is still a failure (and a critical failure still a critical failure). Myrddin's direct influence on the arcane corrupts the caster -- receive a patron taint.

Hi all,

Just to make it clear.

I'm the lead developer I am supporting and leading the team assembled.

I am sourcing everything we need at the best possible price, I will help with the look of the product.

I will not be doing any of the patron builds. I may come up with some of the idea's and support to develop the correct theme and tone.

The reason i am doing this is that I am playing to my strengh's. I am dyslexic however anything I do professionally is naturally heavily proof read and edited.

It has never stopped me being successful so please keep the faith.

The way I look at it, someone had to say, "Let's get this thing done!"

That person has to organize the project, get the ball rolling, and keep the ball rolling. That person need not be lead writer, editor, or artist. That person does need to know how to get writers, editors, and artists on the same page. I am confident in Sean's ability to do that!

Right now I am committed to producing a minimum of 16 fully-developed patrons for the project, including all the information you need to use them in your home game. My Gods and Powers of Shanthopal thread is for my own use and enjoyment; if you like what you see there, you should like Unusual Suspects better. If you know your Appendix N fiction, you should recognize some of these patrons (with or without a thin layer of "homage to" paint).

As with everything produced using the free DCC license, Unusual Suspects will have to pass through Goodman Games' quality control.

This is going to be a good book.

RC

I realize my comment may be interpreted as excessively harsh, but I do stand by my opinion.

On the other hand, I don't mean to be a jerk about someone with a disability:

1) I myself have a mild "number" dyslexia, where I occasionally switch digits in my mind;

2) I can't fathom having difficulty reading, and my heart genuinely goes out to anyone who does, as reading is the basis for our hobby;

3) I couldn't possibly have known that you have dyslexia before I wrote my post.

I hope you'll accept my apology, Outsiders68, if I said something out of bounds.

Ogrepuppy, I didn't think your post was unreasonable.

Mine was an attempt to assure you that the final product would be not only readable, but a joy to read!

RC