Goodman Games

frank5471uk wrote: Basically, they said I'd have to turn up on the day and "take pot luck". As it's a 60 mile round trip and gas costs $10/gallon here in the UK, I can see the 21st being a disastrous day for me

Frank, I'll see what I can do to score an extra copy of the premium that Saturday. No promises, but I'll do my best to get you a copy.

frank5471uk wrote:If there's enough new content in it to justify the price, then that is excellent news indeed. It would be awful to have to fork out a fortune though to simpply end up with a rehashed DCC #35. Whilst it will be fantastic to see more detail added, I hope you don't change too much of the basic premise and backhistory. My players have just got used to Aereth and would hate to see it change too much.

Frank, absolutely. Everything in the original red box will remain true, especially the premise and backstory. The new content will be in the way of added depth, not "world shattering events."

For what it's worth, I'd resist any attempt to integrate the WoTC default 4e pantheon with the Aereth gods from DCC #35. The whole religion of Aereth is one of the things that make the Known Realms unique.

Again, I agree. I'd just love to be able to use Orcus and some of the other classic villains. Again, who knows what the GSL will reveal.

//H

Harley, I'm not sure what the new 4th edition deities are, but in the case of Orcus, return him to his original AD&D level--as a demon prince.

He would hold a minor standing in the overall scheme of things, but one that wicked and depraved wizards and others who misguidedly would bargain their souls for power. No need to define his powers and followers since his believers would be a minority of rogue power-hungry perversions. In short Orcus would be at best a minor or lesser god, in terms of the old AD&D Deities & Demigod book. Perhaps even a demi-god.

JediOre wrote: Frank, I'll see what I can do to score an extra copy of the premium that Saturday. No promises, but I'll do my best to get you a copy.

JediOre, that is very decent of you. I will, of course, pay for postage to the UK.

Frank

Harley Stroh wrote: Again, I agree. I'd just love to be able to use Orcus and some of the other classic villains. Again, who knows what the GSL will reveal.

//H

Harley

Sounds fantastic. I'd love to see Orcus (and a whole bunch of other classic monsters) used in future DCCs.

Although I agree that it would be great to use all of the proper names for monsters in the 4e modules, my players and I have got strangely used to calling Yuan Ti "Drakon" in Aereth. It hasn't hurt at all, in fact it has added flavour. Of course you don't want to go down this route too often.

Out of interest, of the classic monsters in 3.5ed, which ones did the OGL prevent you from using ?

Frank

frank5471uk wrote:Out of interest, of the classic monsters in 3.5ed, which ones did the OGL prevent you from using?

All the cool ones.

beholder
gauth
carrion crawler
displacer beast
githyanki
githzerai
kuo-toa
mind flayer
slaad
umber hulk
yuan-ti

//H

JediOre wrote:Harley, I'm not sure what the new 4th edition deities are, but in the case of Orcus, return him to his original AD&D level--as a demon prince.

In the red box set we tried to blur the lines somewhat with the "infernal power" notation, so that devils and demons didn't have to be gods in order for their devotees to be spellcasters. This is a key feature, in my opinion, of sword & sorcery style adventures.

Jeff did an awesome job with the cosmology, and I certainly don't want to invalidate any of it. When I write about addressing the core pantheon, my goal is to make it as easy as possible to port core-book PCs to Áereth, while at the same time not invalidating any of the flavor that makes Áereth what she is.

//H

frank5471uk wrote:

JediOre wrote: Frank, I'll see what I can do to score an extra copy of the premium that Saturday. No promises, but I'll do my best to get you a copy.

JediOre, that is very decent of you. I will, of course, pay for postage to the UK.

Frank

I've been on the phone tonight trying to find a retailer who is going to be a part of the Free RPG Day. Not a single game/comic book/book store in the greater Kansas City area is on board for this event this year! I found one in Warrensburg which is about 45 minutes away. The owner is out at a convention and won't be back until Monday. I'll phone him next week and see what his policy is on one person acquiring multiple items. I may have to take my dad or a friend to get the extra copy.

I'm totally amazed that none of the big four (I'm aware of) here in the area are not touching this event.

JediOre wrote:

frank5471uk wrote:

JediOre wrote: Frank, I'll see what I can do to score an extra copy of the premium that Saturday. No promises, but I'll do my best to get you a copy.

JediOre, that is very decent of you. I will, of course, pay for postage to the UK.

Frank

I've been on the phone tonight trying to find a retailer who is going to be a part of the Free RPG Day. Not a single game/comic book/book store in the greater Kansas City area is on board for this event this year! I found one in Warrensburg which is about 45 minutes away. The owner is out at a convention and won't be back until Monday. I'll phone him next week and see what his policy is on one person acquiring multiple items. I may have to take my dad or a friend to get the extra copy.

I'm totally amazed that none of the big four (I'm aware of) here in the area are not touching this event.

I'm thinking that after Free RPG Day, maybe the folks at Goodman can put Punjar: the Tarnished Jewel up as a free pdf....?

JediOre wrote:I may have to take my dad or a friend to get the extra copy.

JediOre

Don't bust a gut over this. If someone else wants to go with you, then fine, but I would feel very guilty if you dragged your Dad on a 1.5hour round trip on my behalf (if he didn't want to go).

I will probably make the trek to my (participating), (not so) friendly, (not so) local game store on the 21st come what may. It's a 45 minute trip each way for me as well.

If I come away empty handed, it'll be the last time I try and support local retailers. Some of the service I get from the net based detailers is streets ahead of my (not so) local.

Keep me posted of progress. If you can definitely get multiple copies and are happy to send me one (at my expense) then fine. Otherwise we'll think again.

Frank

xredjasonx wrote:I'm thinking that after Free RPG Day, maybe the folks at Goodman can put Punjar: the Tarnished Jewel up as a free pdf....?

Xredjasonx

I've already asked and Joe has said no.

I totally applaud Joe for his stance on supporting the FLGS. Trouble is, they don't seem to be reciprocating and it'll be the loyal GG fans (who either don't live near one or who live near one but it's run by rubbish people) who miss out.

If you want to reconsider Joseph, I'll still buy the PDF whether I get a paper copy or not.

You should probably wait till after the 21st before deciding.

Frank

alright, so i think we, loyal goodman gamers, can create a work around here.

1. all of us with participating local gaming stores try to get our hands on a copy.

1a. those of us without local stores, or whose local stores aren't participating, or whose local stores aren't friendly, stay home. no point in rewarding stores that can't see the point of this brick&mortar promotion.

2. we exchange snail mail addresses via private messages here on the forum.

3. someone with a copy, photocopies it for everyone else, and mails out copies. the person getting the copy is responsible for postage and any photocopy costs that might be incurred.

in summary, i think it is important that we support the goal behind free rpg day, but at the same time that shouldn't mean punishing us, the gamers. i think we are a small enough, dedicated enough group to get this done fairly efficiently. maybe we'll be able to get additional copies at gen con (like last year) but that is still a ways off.

Warduke wrote:alright, so i think we, loyal goodman gamers, can create a work around here.

1. all of us with participating local gaming stores try to get our hands on a copy.

1a. those of us without local stores, or whose local stores aren't participating, or whose local stores aren't friendly, stay home. no point in rewarding stores that can't see the point of this brick&mortar promotion.

2. we exchange snail mail addresses via private messages here on the forum.

3. someone with a copy, photocopies it for everyone else, and mails out copies. the person getting the copy is responsible for postage and any photocopy costs that might be incurred.

in summary, i think it is important that we support the goal behind free rpg day, but at the same time that shouldn't mean punishing us, the gamers. i think we are a small enough, dedicated enough group to get this done fairly efficiently. maybe we'll be able to get additional copies at gen con (like last year) but that is still a ways off.

Agree 100% with the sentiment, but I expect that the idea will Joseph and the rest of the Goodman Gang kittens.

Punjar : The Tarnished Jewel will be a copyrighted documnet and photocopyiong it for anything other than personal use will be illegal. Even discussing the possibility on these forums is a bit of a kick in the teeth to the company.

I suggest we all try to pick up as many multiple physical copies as we can and on the 22nd Jun, post as to how many spares we are willing to send out to other forum regulars. Those without can PM those with spare and with a little luck we all end up with at least one copy.

Failing that, we all start badgering Joe to change his mind on the PDF decision.

Frank

you're right, of course, frank. even when something is free it is copywritten.

alright, so let's try to grab multiple copies. do we have a list of who will need them? i'm betting i can get one, but redjason will need one, jedi might, the other jason will need one ........... who else?

My local game store isn't participating in the event either, so I certainly hope GG reconsiders its stance on releasing it as a pdf.

Or barring that, maybe some of it could see publication as part of some kind of future product?

That's all sort of silly. Paizo puts up free pfd's all the time.

If it's something that's going to be free anyway, why not? If it's something that's going to aid in people buying future DCC's, since it's a piece about one of the main cities that some of the DCC's are going to be set in, I don't understand how there could be any problem with it....

But your missing the point of Free RPG day. The whole premise is for publishers to promote sales through "brick and mortar" stores. Amazon and other on-line sellers will not have these premiums.

If Goodman Games and the other publishers provided the premiums to those who didn't go to a retailer, it would defeat the whole purpose of Free RPG day. Brick and mortar stores have to pay for those free pieces and the hope is they will draw customers into their store with the promise of a premium. Free RPG day is not free to retailers, they are risking buying into it with no return if customers think they can get the premiums elsewhere.

I hope, for the gaming industry's sake, that Goodman Games and the other publishers who contributed to Free RPG day do no bow to popular demand and offer the premiums elsewhere.

for what it is worth (not much ) i read on en-world that the only cost store owners pay is shipping and packing. the publishers aren't making anything (other than advertising) off the endeavour.

JediOre wrote:I hope, for the gaming industry's sake, that Goodman Games and the other publishers who contributed to Free RPG day do no bow to popular demand and offer the premiums elsewhere.

Guys, I'm sure that they will be offered elsewhere. Just not for awhile.

Remember last year? "Sinister Secret of Whiterock" was the Free RPG Day module. You could only get it from a participating FLGS. But then it became the 2007 "Two Dollar Module" ... I think it becase available for sale around GenCon in August. It also became available as a PDF ... but again, later in the year.

I'm sure that the Punjar gazetteer will probably be something similar, where you'll be able to buy it later in the year, whether in print or as a .PDF.

I really hope that 3rd party companies area able to use the default gods of 4e. The default gods are very flavorful and are a better fit than the current Aereth pantheon, IMO.

Having said that, I've read a recent post by someone on D&D's brand team that implied that some monsters (the example was the beholder) may not be on the list. So it seems likely that there will be some content that will be screened out by WotC - I bet this will extend to iconic creatures/things like Drow, Vecna, Tiamat, and so on.

Well, the GSL is live.

So, it may be too soon to ask, but will DCC and Áereth be the same?

[I have not - nor plan to - read the GSL. I'd rather boil worms and eat them with 3-day old bread].

jason

My biggest concern of the GSL are no monster stat blocks. Ugh! This makes 3rd party modules really inconvenient. I guess you would have to have the MM next to you all the time and keep switching back and forth or copy these relevant monsters out. What a drag.

jason.richardson wrote:So, it may be too soon to ask, but will DCC and Áereth be the same?

Happy to report that Áereth is alive and well. Check out the Free RPG Day Punjar release for the exciting details.

AstroCat wrote:My biggest concern of the GSL are no monster stat blocks. Ugh! This makes 3rd party modules really inconvenient. I guess you would have to have the MM next to you all the time and keep switching back and forth or copy these relevant monsters out. What a drag.

There are solutions to this. No fear, your 4E DCCs will be just as user friendly as ever.

Back to writing. We're in the last of our Gen Con crunch and there is a bloody ton of work to get done in the next two weeks.

//H

Will the Free Game Day module show us how you got around the stat block issue? I am very curious about this because this seems to be the big hang up at the moment. Thanks!

AstroCat wrote:Will the Free Game Day module show us how you got around the stat block issue? I am very curious about this because this seems to be the big hang up at the moment. Thanks!

As I said in the dedicated thread for the Free RPG Day DCC gazeteer, it's 100% fluff, 0% crunch.

Hyb'