2002-10-16 - 11:22 a.m.
Just a quick update on a couple of things.
First of all, some Tolemica news, as you may have guessed by the above logo. The book has now been posted at Community 3E and has been given "Relic" status, which is neat. I notice that the combined PDF/DOC downloads for it at RPG Hoard are also creeping up near the 300 mark, although the rating keeps bouncing all over the place. I decided to keep track of it, for a change, just to see how the ratings work (I never bothered much with Paragon), and I realized that it is pretty easy to figure out how each person rates a book by checking the total regularly and working backwards from that fractional value. Tolemica seems to be getting a stream of 10s and 5s, with little in between, so I don't know what to make of that. Half the people seem to think it is the best thing since sliced bread, and the other half seem to think it is mediocre, at best. Not very useful, from a feedback point of view...
In Paragon: Apocalypse news, I'm afraid progress has slowed a bit, since I have been busy with Real Life. The equipment section is about one-third to one-half finished and is turning out to be a bit larger than I intended, since everything has to be described. To be honest, this is my least favorite part to write, so I suppose that hasn't helped the schedule any. It is coming along, though, and I think I'll have some time today and tomorrow to work on it. Hopefully, by the beginning to middle of next week I can finally get into the game mechanics section, which should be more interesting to work on. As usual, I'll keep everyone posted...
2002-10-10 - 11:35 a.m.
Well, the character creation section of Paragon: Apocalypse is finally finished, and I'm starting into the equipment section. No idea how long that will take, I'm afraid, since it is the one section that I haven't really worked out a framework for.
I've been getting the occasional letter, lately, asking me for more information about PA, so I thought I would address that here. Since I also just finished the introduction for the book, the simplest thing to do seems to be to post it right here, as a sort of preview. So, without further ado...
Can your survive in a world gone mad? A world where civilization as we know it has been destroyed in a cataclysmic holocaust? What is left in this world? Find out and encounter such bizarre things as mutated plants and animals more terrible than you can imagine, radiation wastelands that stretch as far as the eye can see, and fearless machines gone uncontrollably berserk...
- Box text from TSR's Gamma World, 1978
Back in Paragon's early days, when it was really just a collection of superpowers to be glued into any d20 setting, I started thinking about doing a post-apocalypse-type game, similar to TSR's old Metamorphosis: Alpha and Gamma World, which were two of the first RPGs I ever played. It occurred to me that half the work was already done: the mutations were covered in Paragon, complete with a system designed to integrate them smoothly into the d20 framework. Typically, though, I got lost in other projects, and this idea never made it past the Notepad "scribble file" stage.
Months later, I noticed that someone at Polyhedron magazine must have had much the same idea, since they published a d20 "add-on" called Omega World. To be honest, I never actually read it. This was partly because I knew that, if I did, I would get lazy and never finish my own version and partly because I didn't want to be unduly influenced by someone else's vision at such an early stage of formulating my own. Okay, and -- again, being completely honest here -- the price of the magazine had just skyrocketed, especially here in Canada, making it more expensive that some games. I'm a cheap bugger -- what can I say? ;-) But it did set me to thinking about the idea, again, and adding to my rather sparse notes. By the time Paragon 2.0 and Vancouver: 2020 were finally finished, it seemed well past time to give Paragon: Apocalypse its due.
In some ways, this supplement is an homage to the post-apocalyptic games of nearly a quarter of a century ago and, especially, to Gamma World. Admittedly, it is a very different game, colored by my own vision and the framework of the d20 system. But the roots are there, if you know what to look for. With that in mind, I'd like to dedicate this book to James M. Ward and Gary Jaquet. Consider it a late "thank you" for all the fun you brought a bunch of kids back in the late '70s. :-)
What This Book Is (and Is Not)
Paragon: Apocalypse is a collection of rules and ideas for playing in a post-apocalyptic science-fantasy world. Note the term science-fantasy. While these rules could be used to simulate a more serious science fiction world, à la The Postman (by David Brin) or Lucifer's Hammer (by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle), that is not really where they shine. In a realistic world, hard radiation kills. In a science-fantasy post-apocalyptic world, it can still do so -- but it is just as likely to mutate a character in some dramatic way, leaving him alive but forever altered. Magic probably does not exist, but even that is not certain, and, in any event, high technology is virtually indistinguishable from sorcery.
This book makes several basic assumptions, which are treated as defaults when the rules require such a foundation:
- Some terrible disaster has caused civilization to collapse. Just as mankind's technology was reaching glorious new levels, its creators were cast down into a Dark Age. Iron weapons are now, once again, cutting edge technology...
- Sufficient time has passed to allow some rebuilding, and small communities are now common. Tribal groups are still the norm, in most areas, but larger villages are beginning to appear, and some are even forming alliances and rivalries. Large cities are still unknown, but networks of villages, linked through trade, are beginning to appear.
- The humans that lived during the previous Golden Age are now known simply as the Ancients. They are not well understood, but, even posthumously, they continue to influence the world through their machines, which were built to last. Those who gain mastery over the machines wield terrible power in this benighted era.
- Humans are no longer the only sentient species on Earth. The basic Homo sapiens stock has branched to create many strange mutations, and even some of the animals are now intelligent tool-users.
What this book does not do is fill in all of the details. What disaster or series of disasters brought an end to the Golden Age? That is up to the DM, and it should be one of his most closely guarded secrets. Who, exactly, were the Ancients, and what were their ultimate goals? Again, only the DM can answer this question. The final section of this booklet provides several possible campaign backgrounds, but, ultimately, it is up to you to create the history of your world.
In short, this is not a campaign sourcebook, along the lines of Vancouver: 2020. Rather, it is a collection of tools that will help you build your own science-fantasy campaign. It includes new races, classes, feats, skills, equipment, mechanics, and so forth, and you can use any or all of these as you see fit. This book provides a solid foundation for your campaign structure, but you must furnish the individual rooms and people them with interesting characters.
Hope that answers some of the questions you may have!
Oh, and before I forget, a quick note to David A.: I tried to reply to your email directly, but your server kept bouncing my messages, so I'm not sure if you ever got my letter. This post covers most of its contents, anyway, so you didn't miss anything. :-)
2002-10-06 - 8:23 a.m.
I noticed something disturbing, a couple of days ago -- something which seems to vindicate some of my comments about the OGL, in Paragon, or may even make my words seem overly charitable. You may remember me talking about a character generation program, called Redblade, a couple of months back. I haven't mentioned it much lately, because its development seems to have slowed down, and it still can't quite handle Paragon's unorthodox skill system (although it is already quite useful for making D&D characters). Well, it seems that Redblade is another casualty in WotC's most recent d20 pogrom. You can check out the Redblade site for the whole story, but, in a nutshell, the author got a letter from WotC, telling him to either come up to code (with regards to the OGL) or kill the program.
I can't tell for sure, but I suspect that the latter will happen. I'm not sure how one would come up to code with something like this. Looking at a couple of WotC's demands, for example, it is kind of hard to see how one could differentiate between OGL and non-OGL content in a piece of software (color code the text, maybe? sounds like a big hassle), and ditching support for Sword & Fist and other such supplements will cripple the utility of the application. Then, too, as I mentioned earlier, development seemed to have slowed down, anyway, so the author may just decide that this is simply more trouble than it is worth. And we will have lost yet another good (free) resource.
Now, I find myself wondering why Wotc would go hunting so far afield, in this case. I mean, this program can have absolutely no impact on their book sales, except a positive one. It is useless without the PHB and other such books that WotC makes money off of, so, in a sense, it is free advertising for them. I can only come up with three likely explanations:
1) WotC's legal sharks were bored and had nothing better to do. This would not surprise me. (Maybe they have some kind of quota to fill?)
2) They believe that Redblade constitutes a genuine threat to WotC, D&D, and the whole d20 Way of Life. If so, then they're not too bright, for reasons I already mentioned.
3) They consider a free character generator to be threat to the monopoly of their own (rather over-priced) software. If so, then the authors of programs such as PCGen had better watch out, too.
Personally, I'm betting on number 3. The first two don't make much sense, and it also seems like a bit of a coincidence that they only raised a fuss a little while after their own software was released (software which, I might add, is not only overpriced but also only a shadow of what they were originally claiming it would be).
So, what does this have to do with my OGL comments in Paragon? Well, take a few minutes and do a quick search of the net for old-style AD&D programs. There are dozens. I can think of four character generators, just off the top of my head. Technically, every one of them infringes on WotC's rights in one way or another. But nobody ever bothered with them. And that doesn't even touch on the dozens -- possibly hundreds -- of netbooks that are floating around. As I said in my own little anarchic production:
Ironically, this would not have been a problem in "ye good olde days", prior to the OGL. A few page number references and even an occasional brief quotation would fall under the heading of "fair use" and be over-looked by even the most hungry legal shark (assuming, of course, that I didn't try to sell the result). Once I attach the OGL to my document, however, I am agreeing to abide by very strict rules -- some even more strict than those that would have applied if I had left it off.
Apparently, WotC wants to make sure that we do not leave it off. They want us to start attaching that OGL in every possible case -- which gives them a much bigger legal hammer if they want to go after someone (for whatever reason, justified or self-serving). The only question is why they didn't do something similar sooner, with the AD&D stuff. Was TSR simply more easy going about it? Those who remember their business dealings will consider this very unlikely. Or were the previous Powers That Be a bit brighter about what constitutes a genuine threat, as opposed to a fan effort that will only bring them more favorable publicity? A little more likely, but still dubious.
Nope. My money is still on number 3...
2002-10-03 - 11:29 a.m.
I'm afraid this is more of a "lack of progress" report, today. I had company that stayed longer than planned, the last couple of days (which was nice), so I didn't get much done on Paragon: Apocalypse (which was not so nice). I did find something funny in my email, though, so I thought I would pop in and pass it along...
Recently one of my friends, a computer wizard, paid me a visit. As we were talking, I mentioned that I had recently installed Windows on my PC. I told him how happy I was with this operating system and showed him the Windows CD. To my astonishment and distress, he threw it into my micro-wave oven and turned it on. I was upset because the CD had become precious to me, but he said, "Do not worry, it is unharmed."
After a few minutes he took the CD out, gave it to me, and said, "Take a close look at it."
To my surprise the CD was quite cold and it seemed to have become thicker and heavier than before. At first I could not see anything, but on the inner edge of the central hole I saw an inscription, in lines finer than anything I have ever seen before. The inscription shone piercingly bright, and yet remote, as if out of a great depth:
4F6E65204F5320746F2072756C65207468656D20
616C6C2C204F6E65204F5320746F2066696E6420
7468656D2C0D0A4F6E65204F5320746F20627269
6E67207468656D20616C6C20616E6420696E2074
6865206461726B6E6573732062696E64207468656D
"I cannot read the fiery letters," I said.
"No," he said, "but I can. The letters are Hex, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Microsoft, which I shall not utter here. But in common English this is what it says:
One OS to rule them all, One OS to find them,
One OS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them...."
2002-09-30 - 12:17 p.m.
Just popping in for a moment to do a quick update. The classes are finished in Paragon: Apocalypse, so the largest part of the character creation section is done. Barring unexpected interruptions, that chapter should be completed by the middle to end of the week, as planned, no problem. Of course, that still leaves three or four more chapters, but at least progress is being made.
Tolemica has been out for a few days, but the response has, frankly, been pretty underwhelming. Not a single word of feedback, good or bad. Hopefully, no news is good news -- at least nobody seems to hate it. Still, I'm beginning to wonder if I'll bother posting campaign-related stuff, again. It seems like most people are only interested in game rules (or maybe just in Paragon -- I haven't figured out which). In fact, two of the sites that I thought might host it have not even jotted me a reply to say that they received their copies, yet, let alone whether they liked the book. Thus, the files are currently only available at RPG Hoard. Not very encouraging...
Ah, well. Back to P:A, I guess.
2002-09-25 - 4:55 p.m.
I have some good news -- which will probably be somewhat unexpected, given yesterday's post. After a marathon editing, formatting, and compiling session, I finished the Tolemica sourcebook much earlier than planned. I'm quite pleased with the result, especially considering that I was really just trying to get it "out the door" ASAP, to get on with Paragon: Apocalypse.
To quote the blurb that I have been uploading with the file, it is...
A 101-page campaign sourcebook for D&D 3rd Edition, detailing the continent of Tolemica, with 8 countries and many new races, cultures, languages, and prestige classes. The centerpiece is a large section on religion, describing 6 faiths, 39 deities, 23 new domains, and 26 new spells.
You can pick up your very own copy, in either .pdf or .doc format, at RPG Hoard, as usual. I'm hoping that it will soon be available at one or two other sites, as well, but we'll have to wait and see.
On a completely unrelated note, Jesse Mowery was asking about what the defense and initiative bonuses would be for the new prestige classes, in a combined Paragon-Spycraft campaign. Under the assumption that other people might be combining the games, as well, I'll repeat the answer I gave him, here:
Blaster: defense and initiative as Faceman.
Brick: defense and initiative as Pointman.
Champion: defense and initiative as Wheelman.
Dark Avenger: defense and initiative as Faceman.
Martial Master: defense as Fixer, initiative as Faceman. Note that the defense bonus would replace, not add to, the class' usual per-level AC bonus; however, the Wis bonus would still apply.
Mastermind: defense and initiative as Wheelman.
Mentalist: defense as Pointman, initiative as Snoop.
P.S. If you are diving into this in the middle and feeling puzzled, make sure that you click on the Older button to check out the very first introductory post. The Paragon rules and Vancouver: 2020 sourcebook can be found at RPG Hoard or Complete RPG. If you want to comment on this page, just click here, or press the Contact Cwylric button, to the left, to send me an email. Remember that the kermode.net address listed in older versions of Paragon and Vancouver: 2020 is no longer active, so please use one of these two methods to get in touch with me, instead.
