Gen Con Drow Insanity
This morning I had an email by Nicholas Logue, adventure writer extraordinaire from both Paizo and his own Sinister Adventures. Here it is:
Hi All!
If you are on this list, it means you have volunteered to GM and or assist with the Ascension of the Drow mega-event at Gencon this year! The event slot is Friday night from 7:00 pm to 1:00 am and this event will be a MASSIVE (and MASSIVELY FUN) affair involving 126 players as well as some special cameos by Paizo staff as NPCs. It shall be intense!
Thanks for volunteering. There will be a ton more details coming your way in the upcoming weeks. <snip>. Talk to you more soon!
So there you have it, The Chatty DM will be one of 16 DMs to run this insane event with the Logue.
Here’s what I found about it so far:
Deep within Golarion’s Dark Lands, the sprawling drow city of Deraktinus is consumed by shadowy conspiracies as its noble houses war for the city’s dominance. Take on the role of a noble drow in a deadly game against the other players. Decide the destiny of Deraktinus in this exclusive preview event for Pathfinder’s Second Darkness AP. If your noble house takes control, your evil exploits will be immortalized forever in Pathfinder #16.
I don’t know if any readers registered for it, all 126 places are taken. This is going to be awesome!
Gah! Does that mean that it will happen at the same time as the Ennies? I still don’t know if they got my submission…
Oy, I’m starting to feel I bit off more than I could chew at Gen Con.
Ahhh Who cares! It’s going to be my only time there and I’ll go down in flames! I prefer GMing to Playing anyway. Plus I’ll get to meet Nick Logue, Wolfgang Baur, (maybe) Mike Mearls and others!
Uh oh! DMG author might be on to me (Via Graham through Gtalk).
Other news flash, I think James Wyatt might have read my review of the DMG. In it I said:
One thing that bugs me in that part of the book is in fantastic terrains. Some terrains calls for a DC check when entered. Instead of suggesting static DCs, the book tells you to set a DC according to the Tier the PCs are.
What that means is that not only are character Epic… the Cave Slime they step in becomes Epic as well and the DC goes from 20 at level 1 to 33 at level 30.
Here’s an excerpt from his Under the Hood of the DMG article posted yesterday.
Does that mean that high-level characters encounter Epic Cave Slime that’s objectively slipperier than the Heroic Cave Slime they encountered in their early careers? Maybe. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that the DM has permission to use terrain that’s relevant to the characters, regardless of their level — and has a table supported by solid math to make sure it’s relevant.
Well that answers the question I had and I tend to agree now. Not to sound grumpy or anything, mentioning things like that in the DMG would have helped some of the transitioning pains of crusty old 3.5 DMs set in their ways. However, I appreciate he took the time to post this on Wizard’s site.
I’m starting to realize that there are chances that I met these people at Gen Con and I’ll have to stand by my written word! Thank god I have been polite as Greywulf pointed out.
This has been a very geeky week for me.
Which brings me to the question: What’s next for this blog and my growing relationships with the industry?
That’s a good question. Only I’ll try to tackle it after I’m done prepping for Gen Con.
Have a great day all.
“What’s next for this blog and my growing relationships with the industry?”
Don’t change, please! The fact that your site has always had an open, honest, and polite conversational tone is what makes me love it so much. I’d wager most of yor (rapidly growing) readership feels the same way.
I always feel like I’m at my local shop, chatting with other folks near the cash register. It’d be spiffy if you can grow to have better contacts and connections with the industry, but don’t lose touch with that basic “one DM’s opinion” vibe.
Don’t worry, Ish. That is one thing that will not change.
Because if it does, Phil knows he has Yan and I (and others) who will set him straight. 😀
Thinly veiled threats from Graham notwithstanding, I have no intention to change the tone or approach to this blog. It represents what I am naturally. I like this ‘voice of the customers’ vibe I’m getting here and I have no wish to change it.
As things stand, if change does come it will be in volume and frequency, not content.
It was more an open ended question about me as a blogger/writer.
I’m up for something potentially very big for me (career wise, outside of the RPG hobby) while at the same time I can’t help seeing stars align for an alternate/parallel career in writing.
So that explains why I didn’t get an invite!
Good on you, Phil. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy – and I’m sure you’ll be fine 🙂
Could this be the beginning of a Chatty revolution?
So it sounds like your going to be running an evil adventure at gen con. Any reservations about that challenge?
@Greywulf: I would love to see your gruffy face in Indianapolis, but if this trip is going to cost me close to 2000$, I can’t imagine how much it would be for you.
@Greenvesper: Revolution? Maybe… Maybe.
As all contacts with Conventions, I’m a bit worried about the intense weirdoes. I can deal preety well with almost all types of people, but with 126 players… I’m not sure how this will pan out.
Is it going to be a LARP? I don’t know…
As for running an evil adventure at a Con. I love them because I have absolutely no qualms about killing a character!
I’m still not completely satisfied with the DC system for obstacles…
The problem I have with it is that it’s basically set so that, no matter what level you are, you always need to roll an X. Or maybe an X+3, or X+5 depending on your character. But still, the point is, getting better at something doesn’t actually make you better at that something. It’s all an illusion. You have, say, a 50% chance of making your roll at 1st level and a 50% chance of making your roll at 30th level. What’s the point of leveling up, then?
Asmors last blog post..Friends & Foes: The Renegade Reaper
It’s not actually 50%/50%, as you level up, untrained PCs get better chances of success versus the set ‘hard’ DC.
Trained, Skill focused characters actually have it easier and hit pretty close to 100%. Check my comments in the DMG review post.
It is an illusion, and a pretty inovative one if you ask me. Liquid hot magma is going to hurt you bad at level 3, and it is going to hurt you bad at level 13… or level 23.
Exactly.
There are things you will indeed get better at doing.
But magma is not one of them.
In any case, in 4e your character’s level is more a measure of combat ability than anything else.
Shock news! With Phil’s rise in popularity, Wizards’ release a Rare ChattyDM Miniature in his honour!
http://microlite20.net/images/cdm_mini.jpg
Wonder what the stats are…..
Har har har! I like how you rendered all my awesomeness!