The No Combat Game.

My current game resolves around a puzzle piece plot with subplots customized for each character. This last Sunday the party reached an akashic node. using one of the variant rules from Akashic Nodes (home of memory), I created an aspect of an ancient dragon akashic who used to lair atop the node. This as a Npc who would only answer the questions with cryptic answers if you did not make a good delve the collective memory check. The party spent a huge amount of time investigating various questions, then went off investigating if two islands would make good military bases in a looming war. When they got to the island a number of options were presented,, the party avoided a fight with a horde of spinned grapplers and decided to transverse a spectral maze.

Lots of solid role-playing in these encounters, the tone of the game is rising as the storm of war gathers.

Just a reminder that you can have a great game, have action and adventure and not have a single moment of combat.

Deisgn Diary: Evocative City Sites (part II)

Last night I sat home and hammered out the idea for a "Little shop that was not there yesterday" and came up with Kaveat Imptor's Curiosity Shop. I played this trope pretty straight.

I did put a slight twist to the idea that these need not be cursed items but actually they are fenced items, and the reason the shop disappears is because of the law wanting to track down their sale. They can afford to undercut the competition because it’s all profit for them.

Still I did leave in the ability that Kaveat is a Demonic/Fey imp who is simply happy to make a bargain and is always getting the better end of the deal.

I did add one item "Mercykiller" that is a subverted trope in that the item was a horribly vile and dangerous weapon after gaining sentience it became a strict pacifist.

For now I am just trying to burn these out, and will go back and convert them to a first person point of view as I edit them.

This is going to be Rite Publishing's first non Arcana Evolved product, since it is systemless, making it compatible with every fantasy rpg available. I am really looking forward to seeing how it does.

Design Diary: Evocative City Sites

There is a new preview for A Witch's Choice Patronage Project for The Rituals of Choice Adventure Path. Rite Publishing has released the current draft to the senior patrons, and have opened up the patron forums for the project

There is also a nice review of our newest product Items Evolved: Conflict on Emerson's Bookshelf. 

Our next Items Evolved book that deals with races and classes is now in editing. 

Monsters of Verdune the follow up to Veiled Denizens and Mythical Monstrosities is currently in layout. 

I have also started a new systemless project tenitively titled "Evocative City Sites"  It will consist of 10 urban setting tropes, in essence these will  be set pieces that a GM is reasonably likely have present in any city setting he is running and are likely to be places that are present in the minds and expectations of the player characters. 

For example the Trauma Inn,  a place where adventures only want to rest and heal up so they can get on with the adventure. I am going to justify the trope of the Trauma inn (a Rpg video game trope that sleep can heal just about everything, including death), in that it is acutally a mystical site, that is taken care of by an Zen Survivor/Cassandra figure, they focus all their efforts on healing PC "heroes" and the stay is even free.  Also i wanted subvert the normal lack of Inn Security in adventure games.  Our Trauma Inn  actively tries protect with a zelous group of eliet guards, that is led by an immortal and the secret passages he knows about always get you away from your enimes rather than them using them to find you asleep. This is not the Rob-U While-U-Sleep Inn    

I will be handeling each of our sites in this fashion justfying, inverting, subverting and playing the trope straignt to create a unique encounter and then adding that little something extra to make it an evocative location. 

In creating the descriptions in the immersive first person point of view of a "hero traveler" so that A GM can provide the information a Player Character would want to know,  I call this "useful flavor" (TM) in a manner similar to the Volo's Guides, I also took some inspirationf rom the location description template, Npcs will be presented without stats using the 7 sentance npc rule plus multiple choice secrets for the GM to use.  

Each site will be about a 1,000 words. 

I have The Rogue's Gallery (Bad guy bar), and The Next Inn (Trauma Inn), and am working on an Abandoned Warehouse next. 

Inteview with Wolfgang Baur (Open Design) part II

Welcome to the second part of my interview with Wolfgang Baur as we talk about his ground breaking work with Open Design his fey gone wild 4e paronage project Wrath of the River King and my favorite clockwork 3.5 patronage project Tales of Zobeck You can read Part I HERE


11. What specific design choice are you most happy with, and why?

I'm very happy with a couple of them, the use of "alternate history" encounters in Castle Shadowcrag has gotten raves (and neatly sidesteps the problems of time travel adventures), and the expansion of 4E encounters to include heavy use of roleplaying and skill challenges in Wrath of the River King, in direct contradiction of the WotC "house style" that privileges combat as 95% of the encounters. They know their audience, of course, but there are other audiences out there as well, which aren't being as well served. I'm happy to step up for some of the storytelling groups and some of the exploration/sandbox style gamers.


12. What has been your best moment playing with an Open Design product?

I've very much enjoyed the 4th Edition Wrath of the River King playtests. Even when the design is getting shredded, I know we're going to have a much stronger adventure as a result. The sad fact is that most adventure published by the big houses don't get much (or in some cases, any) playtesting. Paizo is a big exception, which I think is part of their formula for success.


13. What has been your most memorable fan response to Open Design?

I think the essay and local legends from our patron in Kuwait count as a major high point, since that was during the Six Arabian Nights project. There's nothing like having someone in Arabian to give you some added insight into an Arabian project.

14. Are you happy with where Open Design is today?

After winning the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in gaming, you'd think I could rest on my laurels for a little while, wouldn't you?

But I can't. I want the next patron project to be even bigger and better than the two currently underway. It may be a massive sourcebook,a Cthulhu adventure, or a traditional Conan-style sword-and-sorcery epic. It may be an extremely experimental city adventure with planar overtones and unusual villains. The beauty of the patron approach is that it will be something that no one else is likely to try, because it doesn't need a mass audience.

So, yeah, I'm happy that we're taking chances and doing niche items. And I expect to try to raise the bar even further on the design, the art, and the interaction with patrons. There's always a higher mountain.

15. Where do you see Open Design at a year from now? 5 years?

Hey, I'm not an oracle! I have no idea where it goes, because it's a creative endeavor first and foremost. It may flame out in the edition wars, if the patrons continue their split into 3E/Pathfinder and 4E camps.

I can tell you that patrons will set the pace as much as I will. It may continue to evolve the Zobeck campaign setting into material that reaches the broader public, like the Gazetteer that will be released after Thanksgiving, or the Kobold Guides to Game Design (Vol 2 ships in December!). There may be more patron-designers "graduating" from Open Design to carve their own niche in the freelancing world. Who knows?

16. What is the Patronage Project you want to join?

Heroes of the Jade Oath, of course!

And after that, I would love to see someone try a genre that we haven't seen yet, maybe Cthulhoid horror or a conspiracy project.

17. The Ollamh Lorekeeper is dedicated to Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved , so I askeveryone this question. Can you name for us a totem type, champion type and witch type that would be cool but you have never seen from the fans?

Alas, I am woefully underinformed when it comes to AE... But I'd say my favorite totem is the raven, my favorite champion type would be the Flagellant Witchhunter, and my favorite witch would have to be the redheaded kind.

18. Is there anything else the world should know about you?

I'm a workaholic (you know that already!), and I have a secret love of arquebus and pike AKA 16th century history. Don't tell anyone, it'll ruin my medieval street cred.

19. Is there anything else the world should know about Open Design?

I think it's an eye-opening view of what it really takes to publish professional work, and a great chance to go behind the scenes, but it's also a community of the smartest, most engaged, and most passionate gamers out there. Because everyone has donated to fund the work, everyone

Interview with Wolfgang Baur (Open Design) Part I

Welcome to the first part of my interview with Wolfgang Baur as we talk about his ground breaking work with Open Design his fey gone wild 4e paronage project Wrath of the River King and my favorite clockwork 3.5 patronage project Tales of Zobeck

1. Please provide a brief bio about yourself, your gaming habits, and your professional work.
I'm a D&D from the age of 12 and a Cthulhu gamer from the age of 21, and I've been writing adventures professionally since high school. I entered the RPG industry as an editor

I still play weekly or close to it, usually as a DM for D&D, and an investigator for Cthulhu.


2. Could you please sum up Open Design in a sentence or three?

Patrons choose from among a handful of possible projects, and vote for their favorite with a donation that funds the writing, maps, and art. They are, essentially, the Popes of the Open Design world, and the mapper, artists, and I jump to their whims.

Well, okay, there's a stage in the middle there where patrons critique an outline and we agree on the broad parameters of the project. Then I write chunks of it, and the patrons critique those encounters, monsters, or setting materials. The constant feedback keeps me on my toes, and makes Open Design adventure much better-written and more playtested than the typical adventure.

Which is why we have so many ENnie nominations to our name. The fact that the adventures are limited editions probably explains why we've never won an ENnie. Not that many people have heard of us.



3. What do you say to a perspective patron who has never experienced it before, but "feels" it is too expensive?

They're probably right, if they think of it as buying an adventure off the shelf. But really, you're getting design essays and back-and-forth with a designer who knows the field and the issues. It's a 6-month course in game design; if you get involved and ask questions, you'll get a lot out of it. And most gamers like seeing their suggestions incorporated in the work. By the time 100 patrons have critiqued it, there's no room for junk text.

If you just want to buy an adventure, well there's lots of places you can do that.



4. How did you first become interested in creating the OpenDesign Project rather than the standard rpg production model?


I was just messing around on my blog, and posted to see if anyone would fund me as a patron. I had this dream that someone would drop $1,000 and I'd be working with a tiny handful of patrons. It didn't quite work out like that, but it is a small community of people who are shaping outlines, contributing suggestions for story, monsters, and mechanics, and playtesting heavily. I wanted a way to connect directly to the audience without a lot of editors, publishers, and other intermediaries, and I got that, both good and bad.

What I really wanted was the freedom to work on projects outside the mainstream, and that has been wonderful and nicely acknowledged by the ENnie nominations and Diana Jones Award. What I didn't realize at the time was just how much more collaborative and demanding patron work can be. I would really like to meet some of the patrons of the olden days, and see how they compare to the folks commissioning these adventures and sourcebooks today.


6. How do you feel, when you first discover someone has signed up for an Open Design Project? When you met goal for the first time?

I was thrilled! And that early enthusiasm helped a lot, because I didn't know what I was doing, really. I wanted to see if the idea would attract some of the hard-core gamers who enjoy design and writing for their own sake, and it certainly did. I didn't expect to see a lot of power-gamers show up, and they didn't.

And hitting the first commission goal was a huge high. I think I overwrote that first project by about 50% based sheerly on joy and adrenaline.


7. What does Open Design need more of?

Playtesters and statisticians, at the moment. There's a huge demand for people to test just one or two encounters each, because much as I like to discuss the theoretical pros and cons of (say) a monster or encounter design, the real test is at the table.

I think that the discussion of points in theory is often useful, but the most compelling arguments of all are the ones based on playtest results or on mathematical models of the rules results and probabilities. The editor and I are doing most of the statistical review, and that's fine. That's why it's paying gig; everyone loves the creative side, not everyone loves the number-crunching.


8. What role do you think Open Design and Patronage Products play in the future of the gaming community?

I think we're a small but important niche, a bit of an incubator for innovation and experiment. You see things from indie/small-press games getting picked up by Wizards of the coast all the time. To take just one example, after Open Design released Empire of the Ghouls, WotC's Bruce Cordell is now working on a new version of Kingdom of the Ghouls.

Sometimes the small PDF press can be more nimble than the bigger outfits; sometimes we're really just chasing after scraps and figments. I leave it to other people to figure out which projects are which.

Overall, though, it's a good thing for the hobby to have someplace to experiment like this, and try things that no marketing department in its right mind would every approve.


9. Describe your best moment working on an Open Design Project?

When I first realized that the gloves were really off, and the marketeers were not going to be allowed in the room. I got a real sense of that with the first few projects, knowing that the patrons were behind taking some chances creatively.

But really, the best moment on every project is often the same moment: it's the moment when I'm most frustrated and not making progress on some mechanic or plot point or encounter setup. If it were a standard project for another publisher, I'd either tough it out or bounce an idea off the editor.

In Open Design, I don't do that: I open up the question to brainstorming by the patrons. And as you might expect, having 50 or 100 smart gamers look at a problem means that more solutions and better solutions are suggested. I still wind up doing the work of writing it, mapping it out, doing the math on it. But having immediate feedback from the audience that the adventure is intended for means that they get what they want, not what I want or what I *think* they want.

I makes a huge difference, and it brings a smile to my face every time.


10. What do you feel was the most ingenious part of an Open Design project that you devised?

The patron feedback has been crucial. I could have just said "Fund this project, and I'll go write it and give it to you when it's good and ready." And that would have been boring. Patron feedback makes a big difference, because they surprise you.

For instance, the patrons really, really surprised me when they voted for Six Arabian Nights to be Open Design #4. I was shocked. Al-Qadim was 10 years out of print, and Arabian culture hasn't exactly gotten good press lately.

But people wanted it, and I got two of the original Al-Qadim authors (David "Zeb" Cook and Jeff Grubb) to contribute adventures to it. It was a huge success creatively, and a joy to work on. I keep getting reports from patrons who have run the adventure, as well, and it seems to have struck a chord.

It's one of those projects that would NEVER have come from Wizards. And I don't think Open Design can claim more than tangential credit, but after the success of Six Arabian Nights from Open Design, we see Paizo doing the Legacy of Fire adventure path.

There's a sense that Open Design is trailblazing some creative ground, and revisiting importnat bits of gaming history. And that's important to me.

Part II continues HERE

Preview: A Witch's Choice

A Witch’s Choice Preview Part I of The Rituals of Choice Adventure Path is now available as a free download. This preview showcases the adventure hooks the players get to choose, an event encounter, and a unique magical item that PCs can acquire. The previewed sections were chosen by the current senior patrons of Rite Publishing's patronage project, based on their reviews of the current manuscript.

We currently have 18 patrons, with a threshold goal of 40, so we still need 22 more patrons.

[Rite Publishing] Items Evolved: Oaths released

Your Games Now $1.75

Rpg Drivethru $1.99

Items Evolved: Oaths, this supplement for the 3.5 OGL and Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved presents 10 new magic items, focusing on the idea of oaths, one of the major themes of Arcana Evolved and the Lands of the Diamond Throne, these magic items help to cement in characters the significance of that which lies within themselves. 

Items Evolved offers a simple reference format that includes read-aloud text descriptions for each magic item. It also includes object loresight information for each magic item specific to the Lands of the Diamond Throne campaign setting, along with Lore DCs to help provide greater meaning and depth to your next game

Design Diary: Monsters of Verdune

I was working on Monsters of Verdune today, thought I would give you some excerpts of my work..

Blato-prvo (The Primordial Ooze)

DESIGNER’S NOTES
Oozes, slimes, and jellies, oh my! There is something primal about the fear of being surrounded by a viscous substance you know is not water. Striking you with disease, acid, and/or poison, these things tend not to kill you. They diminish you. Perhaps that is a worse fate than death.

“The Kallethan did reach into the forge of life and steal away its essence. Taking this fluid form, he did corrupt it to his cause with surpassing ease and named his creation blato-prvo.” Excerpt from The Kallethan Testament as translated by Stave Beast-Speaker.

Fascination (Ex): A blato-prvo secretes a euphoric hallucinogen. A creature engulfed by the blato-prvo, or attacking with natural weapons or unarmed strikes, must roll a DC 20 Will save or be fascinated for 3d6 rounds. The ooze can automatically engulf a fascinated opponent. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Kavilljor Ur-rathi (Knight of the First Wrath)

DESIGNER’S NOTES:
The Black Knight of Ivanhoe, The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hallow, The Ringwraiths of
Middle Earth, The Death Knights of Krynn, The Sith of Star Wars are mounted shadows that creep into some primal place in your mind, bringing a level of fear that is both visceral and ephemeral. It would be lax of me not to attempt to create a dark knight that will fill this vacuum in the lands of the Diamond Throne with myth, legend, and a little fear.

“I must apologize for in this section. I cannot stomach the terror this creature has put into my bones and perform a proper interview...

...I am ashamed to admit that I did flee upon first seeing her smoke-filled visage, leaving the fearless Sir Elidyr Gyvarwydd “Lion of Verdune” to stand-alone. I know she let me live just so that I could die a coward’s death.” – Excerpt from The Doom of Verdune by Stave Beast-speaker.

Arms of Wrath (Su): Any melee weapon wielded by a kavilljor ur-rathi (including natural weapons and unarmed strikes) with which it has Weapon Focus deals wounds that are beyond the healing skills of most, and even then, these wounds never fully heal. Upon a successful hit that deals damage, a creature must make a successful Fortitude save (DC 10 +1/2 the kavilljor ur-rathi’s hit dice+ the kavilljor ur-rathi’s Charisma modifier) or suffer one point of Constitution damage.
Damage dealt by the arms of wrath cannot be healed normally, (including regeneration and fast healing). Magical healing will not heal damage dealt by the arms of wrath unless a specific creature type chosen by the kavilljor ur-rathi (see the bane special weapon property) casts a remove curse. Once chosen this creature type can never be changed. A Delve the Collective Memory, Heal, or Knowledge (religion) check (DC15 + CR) can be made to determine this creature type. This is a necromantic-curse effect.

The Rituals of Choice Adventure Path Patronage Project for Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved

The ultimate goal of which is to create a campaign saga that takes player characters from 1^st to 25^th level with an adventure specifically designed for Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved. 

You can now sign up for A Witch's Choice HERE. 

Also The Rite Fourms are now open as well

My favorite project and Dungeon Magazine

I made a major decision about the future of my favorite Rite Publishing project, it was spurred on by a number of factors from the success of Heroes of the Jade Oath, to the record setting sales of Items Evolved Rituals, to the excellent artist I have been working with (such as Jonathan Roberts’ cartography)

However, this did mean that the project I had planned to do with Valmiras got pushed back for a month or two. I think this is a good thing as it gives us time to hash out our ideas, hmm now I must see about recruiting him to join my favorite project.

Oh and if you follow some of my silliness I picked up a thread called
Lets Read Dungeon Magazine from the Beginning (I picked up doing it at issue #7)

A ranging I will go, beyond the Diamond Throne

Today I finished writing a non rite publishing article, that had to do with rangers it has been a while since I had done something non-AE; it was stimulating to touch on old tropes such as destiny. When I can talk about it I will let you know so you can run right out and buy it.

:)

Interview with Soren Kies Thustrup (The Living Airship Part IV)

My conversation with Soren Keis Thustrup concludes  as we discuss 4E, the OGL, and  his new adventure The Living Airship, amoungst other things, you can start at the beginning of the interview HERE .

31.     Are you playing 4^th Edition? Why/Why not?

No. I simply don't have any interest in it. I've tried a short launch game, and it was okay, but I simply don't feel I'm done with AE/Ptolus.

32.     What is (was) your home game currently like? (Describe it in a paragraph if you would please)

I play with 5 friends every third week. I've known most of them for nigh-on 10 years or more, and to the best of my knowledge, it's really like any old regular game, where stories are told, jokes are made, and monsters are killed. My group is quite an eclectic one: We have a bricklayer (he's the smartest of the bunch), a software designer who specializes in special effects, a driving school owner, an architect, and a geologist who works with finding oil. 3 of them are Danish, one is Canadian, and one is from Alaska (so in addition to him being an architect, he is also a specialist on US-Russian related matters).

33.     What is the Patronage Product you want Rite Publishing to produce?

Anything AE that is so whacky that we wouldn't think it could be sold through the normal channels.

34.      Can you name for us a totem type, champion type and a witch type that would be cool but you have never seen from the fans?

I haven't kept up with fan productions, so I'll just name the types I haven't seen: A feline predator totem, a champion of War (I still can't believe they didn't make it for the Children of the Rune anthology), and a song witch.

35.     What kind of player experience did you hope to create with The Living Airship? Did your goals change during the design process? Do you feel that you met them?

I want to give the group a good action adventure with a frenetic pace. That was what I wanted to give my players, and that's what I shot for when I designed it. Off-hand I should hope that you have thought hard enough about your goals for the adventure before you put finger to keyboard.

36.     What does the 3.X/OGL Community need more of? (Besides customers!)

Don't know... Unity, maybe?

37.     What advice would you give to 3.X/OGL fans?

Buy, buy, and buy the published modules. And go to cons to meet others and keep it alive!

38.     What do you think the future is for the 3.X/OGL fans?

I'm afraid we are going to be a dwindling flock that will keep to ourselves playing whatever they're feeling for. Hence, my second advice in 37).

39.     Is there anything else the world should know about you?

As I said in my first interview: Between my blog and my posting at Monte's I should think the world would mostly like me to shut UP for 24 hours. I've ignored the online petition for the moment, though

40.     Is there anything else the world should know about The Living Airship?

It's a fun (hopefully), and action-packed adventure that can be played on its own for the weekend where you can get your buddies together for a one-off game.

 

I would like to thank Soren for taking the time to answer my questions, as always a joy of an interview to read. Perhaps we will have him back again talking about The Rituals of Choice Adventure path. 

I hope you enjoyed!

Interview with Soren Kies Thustrup (The Living Airship Part III)

My conversation with Soren Keis Thustrup continues as we talk about his new adventure The Living Airship, amoungst other things, this interview will appear in 4 parts over the next few days .
1. What is your opinion of the Heroes of the Jade Oath Patronage Project?


I think it will be amazing to finally see Frank Carr's magnum opus get off the ground. And it is a testimony to the faith the fans have in HotJO - and in Rite Publishing, that we have managed to get the required number of patrons without a massive marketing effort.

22. What role do you think Patronage Products will play in the future of the gaming community (such as those by Open Design, Rite Publishing, and Chatty Studio)?

I think it can certainly be a good way for small-scale publishers to survive - here I'm not talking OD who has a much wider readership (I think) - but I would prefer it if quality products were available to the masses rather than the few.

23. What is your favorite Non-Soren, 3.X/OGL product and why?

Ptolus, hands down, tied with AE. AE showed what d20 could really do, and Ptolus is simply the benchmark against which all future city projects must be mentioned.

24. What is your favorite Soren Keis Thustrup product (other than The Living Airship) and why?

Circle of Rites from Fiery Dragon. I don't care, you always love your first-born more.

25. What is your favorite Rite Publishing Product?

I really like how Veiled Denizens pushed the envelope in quite a few directions, so I'm going to go with that.

26. What has been your most memorable fan response to The Living Airship so far?

There hasn't been any, really, because I believe that at this time of writing, it's still in the pre-order stage.

27. What is your favorite 3.X/OGL product that you use in design?

Since I write AE modules, it's Arcana Evolved.

28. What are you design plans for the next year?

Due to real-life factors, I'm not that good at thinking ahead right now, but I plan to tackle one part of our adventure arc.

29. Could you tell us a little about how you went from fan to game designer?

I started off making some NPC level progression tables for diamondthrone.com. Fiery Dragon then asked if they could use them and then said that they would publish anything I wrote, so I had a go at it. Then we (the Council of Magisters) also designed the runes of revival trilogy of adventures, so that was also quite a leap. And finally, in November 2007 (I think), Monte asked if I wanted to co-author Vault of the Iron Overlord, and that was really when I felt that I could say that I, to a small degree, was a game designer.

30. What gaming products are you looking forward too?

I am looking very much forward to the products Rite Publishing is putting out. Partly because I know that, they will be good in their own right, but also because I look forward to seeing their effect on the fan base.

Continue to part IV

Interview with Soren Kies Thustrup (The Living Airship Part II)

Part II of the interview with Soren Keis Thustrup as we talk about his new adventure The Living Airship, amoungst other things, this interview will appear in 4 parts over the next few days .

11.     How did you feel when you first saw the cartography by Jonathan Roberts?

It completely blew me away. The Vallorians' three spires are not the easiest setting, and the maps really, really help. The sense of depth is certain to help all the DMs who'll be running this.

12.     Describe your best moment working on The Living Airship?

When I thought up the flesh golem with the attack from within spell inside. What can I say; I'm a rat bastard DM, sometimes.

13.     What do you feel was the most ingenious part of The Living Airship that you devised?

That's really for others to say. I hope people will agree I made some good choices with regards to the Vallorians, their equipment and their tactics. But other than that, I doubt it's that ingenious a module.

14.     What specific design choice are you most happy with, and why?

Well, part is answered above, but I'm also particularly fond of the scree slope, which puts all non-flying PCs at a distinct disadvantage. Anything that forces PCs to waste resources on just getting from A to B is nifty in my book.

15.     Which design element was the hardest to figure out, and why?

Well, there was a spot of bother figuring out heights etc. on the pillars, but otherwise things went pretty smoothly.

16.     What did you learn about design while working on The Living Airship?

Not that much. Although, because it started off as a thing in my own game, re-writing it into a (hopefully) complete adventure was a challenge and quite educational.

17.     What did you learn from playtesting The Living Airship?  What did you change as a result?

Nothing, really. The "playtest" consisted of me running the adventure through, and my crew of 5 8th-level PCs proved up to the task, so that was nice enough.

18.     Did you make any other mistakes or miscalculations in the early stages of The Living Airship? How did you fix them?

None, really. I'm a bit worried that a bunch of 10th-level will just fly up the pillars. I might include some metal nets to keep flyer in their place.

19.     When I look at a setting and an adventure I always think of the Tropes of that setting. What Arcana Evolved tropes does The Living Airship take advantage of?

None that I can think of! This adventure is as action-filled adventure as you could wish for. But of course, with choice and free will being so prevalent in Arcana Evolved, there's nothing that prevents the PCs from taking over the living airship. 

20.     Are you happy with where The Living Airship is today?

As long as it's out where it belongs, with DMs who want to run it, I'm happy.

Continue to Part III

 

Interview with Soren Kies Thustrup (The Living Airship Part I)

I finally got a chance to sit down with Soren Keis Thustrup and talk about his new adventure The Living Airship, amoungst other things, this interview appears in 4 parts.

1. Please, provide a brief bio about yourself, you gaming habits, and your professional work.
I live in Copenhagen, Denmark, where I work as a copywriter. I run an AE/Ptolus game once every three weeks, and once a month I play in a high-level GURPS game (300 CP for those of you who swing more ways than d20). In my copywriting job, I have done as varied things as designing a marketing campaign that involved Lego bricks, designed a role-playing game, and done a bit of voice-over work for a regional TV ad campaign.

2. This year one of the books you worked on Vault of the Iron Overlord earned an ENnie nomination how did that feel?
Well, naturally, I was exceedingly proud. Unfortunately (although fortunately for the industry), we were up against some very good competitors.

3. Beyond Creation came out this year; do your three AE adventure (Circle of Rites, Beyond Creation, and The Living Airship) constitute an Arc story?
As a matter of fact, they do. Or they did in my own campaign. Basically, Beyond Creation dealt with my PCs being told where their missing airship was, The Living Airship was the adventure where they got it back, and Circle of Rites was the adventure they had in Thayn when they went back to settle the question of ownership. Beyond Creation also dealt with the PCs wanting to destroy the Ebonring (from Mystic Eye Games' Siege on Ebonring Keep)

But they aren't related in their present form.

4. Could you please sum up The Living Airship in a sentence or three?
The Living Airship gives the PCs a chance to obtain an actual airship, but they will have to fight for it, and even if they win, the prize may not be all it's cracked up to be.

5. How did you first become interested in creating the The Living Airship as an action/adventure story rather than a murder mystery like Circle of Rites?
I had a lot less time to think up the original Living Airship, and besides, it was originally designed as a tie-in with Mike Mearls' Siege of Durgam's Folly. And because that adventure was so action-packed, it just made more sense to keep Living Airship the same.

6. How did it feel, to work with a start up publisher like Rite Publishing? What were your initial misgivings? Did any of those prove True/False?
Well, with regards to my adventure, I've only encountered strong commitment and complete professionalism. I didn't have any misgivings - especially since I got to pick my editors!

7. Could you list some of your major influences in the creation of The Living Airship?
Airwolf, for one. And Monte's advice of always looking to make combat more interesting. And some of the Vallorians described in Poisoncraft from Blue Devil Games.

8. What are the strengths of The Living Airship over other adventures? Over other Arcana Evolved Adventure? Over your earlier work?
I wouldn't presume to say that the adventure has anything on other adventures. Compared to other Arcana Evolved adventures, it may be simpler. It's definitely something that can be played over one marathon session, or maybe two regular ones. And compared to my earlier work, well, it was actually written at approximately the same time as Circle of Rites and Beyond Creation, so I'd expect it to be pretty similar.


9. Can you tell me about your experience working for Rite Publishing as opposed to Malhavoc press (Ruins of Revivl) Goodman Games (Vault of the Iron Overlord), Fiery Dragon Productions (Beyond Creation)?
Well, because of my stronger involvement with RP, I felt a more direct connection to the entire process. My work on Ruins of Revival was more in the line of overall design and specific character design. Vault of the Iron Overlord was a two-week masterclass where I got to work with one of the best designers there is and just learn from him. Beyond Creation was quite a finished product when I handed it over to FDP.

10. Can you tell me how you felt when you first saw the cover art for The Living Airship by Kurt A. Taylor?
Pride. Simple, utter pride. I was privileged enough to see it grow from concept sketch to final work of art, and the end result is nothing short of amazing.

CONTINUE TO PART II OF THE INTERVIEW.

Vaporware vs. vaporware (The Living Airship has arrived)

The Living Airship is no longer Vaporware! (Wait it's an airship, so it is vaporware, but not Vaporware, whatever you know what I mean!)

My Coauthor on The Rituals of Choice Adventure Path and ENnie nominated designer Soren Keis Thustrup has a new adventure that uses a monster race that I greatly favor the Vallorians (Legacy of the Dragon). The adventure is called The Living Airship and it is now availabel at 30% off cover price, direct from out website you can find it HERE.

A new preview has been released for the Heroes of the Jade Oath Patronage Project

Rite Publishing is proud to present a new player race for Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved, compatible with the 3.5 version of the world's most popular roleplaying game. Mandragorans are an exotic plantlike humanoid species known for their unique, tapered, head-vines called "nahmaun gorah". Mandragorans consider signed contracts as binding and unbreakable no their part. Paper is sacred and the written word is just as sacred as the paper it is written on. The spoken word is another matter altogether

Design Diary: Rituals of Choice (The Chosen Change)

“Nothing’s the same anymore” –Jeffery Sinclair, Babylon 5 “Chrysalis” by J. M. Straczynski

Well I made a decision

I cannot complete The Rituals of Choice Adventure Path by myself in a timely fashion, this has more to do with the work I am doing running Rite Publishing than anything else. Therefore, I am happy to announce that Soren Keis Thustrup (Circle of Rites, Vault of the Iron Overlord) is now looking over the outline to adventure #6.

I made a major design change to adventure #4 Ceremonies of Sacrifice today shifting to a more open location based encounters (along with event encounters). I also brought back a NPC that died in a previous adventure.

I wanted to show the true power of choice in this game. There is no alignment so undead can choose to act as they will they are not compelled to acts of evil, simply by being undead. In this way the NPC becomes a helpful spirit, but I made him more of a poltergeist so that he is not used as a DM’s mouthpiece. It also let itself to the idea that when you die you might stick around because of unfinished business, which this NPC will have because he got the whole ball rolling that could end all existence and knows that the PCs are the best chance of causing this to happen and preventing it based on their choices.

I just realized this NPC changes he does not stay as one thing throughout the course of the adventure he was A and death has caused him to evolve in to B, I think the next time he will change one more time and that will strike at the AE them of Evolution.

Thus "The Chosen Change".

Steve “Quillion” Russell
Rite Publsihing

Wayne Reynold's cover for Heroes of the Jade Oath is now online

The Time of Waiting is Over!
The Heroes of the Jade Oath Patronage Project!
It arrives before Chinesse Democracy.



Rite Publishing is happy to release the cover for Heroes of the Jade Oath, with artwork by Wayne Reynolds, layout by Corey Graham. The Project currently only needs 11 more patrons to meet thier production goal for this fan-favorite project of Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved, the Sign-up deadline for the production goal is Oct 22nd

My newest work: Items Evolved Rituals

Rite Publishing has released Items Evolved: Rituals for Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved and the 3.5 version of the world's most popular roleplaying game. This supplement offers 10 new theme specific magic items in a simple reference format that includes read-aloud text descriptions, object loresight, and Lore DCs for each specific item.

Sslartrack (Cast of the Rituals of Choice Adventure Path)

Sslartrack is a major npc in the Rituals of Choice Adventure Path. 

Art by Eric Lofgren

Description

 A tall man-like figure wearing a deep black robe with star patterns bears a staff made of crystal. If you can see past the deep robes (Spot DC 15), you see a thin humanoid, with a long narrow reptilian-head, spindly arms supporting long fingers. Its body is covered in small greenish-brown scales and it sports a snakelike tail.

Sslartrak has a habit of looking at the comet even when talking to someone. It is a gifted magister, especially in researching long forgotten spells, and has a great love of researching written lore. It has dealt with great prejudice, both for its love of books, rather that depending on the collective memory, and for its choice in becoming a mojh. It is extremely introverted and tends only to notice those around it when confronted; it then deals with them in an efficient and curt manner. Its love of books and its hate of the akashic memory drive it, along with a desire to prove its devotion as meaningful. Sslartrak knows the location of the Infinite Library, and a number of different ways to reach it. Sslartrak could reveal that information to a PC that befriended him.

 History: (Delve Into Collective Memory, Gather Information or Knowledge (Mojh) DC 35) Once a human researcher, who was spurred in his research by society’s reliance on Akashics, he went through the transformation into a mojh and began to seek the Infinite library, where it found a ritual to summon a “heavenly repository of knowledge beyond the akashic memory.”

Secret: (Delve Into Collective Memory, Gather Information, or Knowledge (ceremonies) DC 40) 

Sorry, you failed your difficulty check, try again next level!

Sslartrak          CR10

Medium Humanoid (Mojh) Magister 10

Init 2 (+2 Dex); Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +1, Spot +1

Languages Common, Draconic

 

AC 16, touch 14, flat-footed 14

hp 49/-2/-13 (10HD)

Fort +4 Ref +5 Will +8

Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)

Melee +2 quarterstaff +6 (1d6+1)

Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Base Atk +5; Grp +4

 

Magister spells prepared: (CL 10, +4 melee touch, +9 ranged touch)

5th (2/day)--unstoppable energy, hunter‘s serpent, defensive field

4th (4/day)--conjure energy creature IV, everlasting charm, protection from energy, tongues

3rd (4/day)--attack from within (energy) (DC 18/F), clairaudience/clairvoyance, unknown magic circle, tracer (DC 18/F)

2nd (5/day)--enhanced magical flow, energy blade, lesser drain away speed (DC 17/F), bypass word, read mind (DC 17/W)

1st (6/day)--creature loresight, cold blast (DC 16/F), conjure energy creature I, harden, protect staff, precise vision, wind churn (DC 16/R)

0 (7/day)--appropriate size (DC 15/F), canny effort, detect creature, detect magic, lesser glowglobe, minor illusion (DC 15/W),read magic, saving grace, scent bane (DC 15/W)

 

Abilities Str 8, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 20, Wis 12, Cha 10

SQ darkvision 60 ft. and familiarity with magic

Feats Bonded Item; Brandish Magical Might, energy mage (fire, electricity), Modify Spell, Quicken Spell, Signature spell

Skills Balance +7, Decipher Script +14, Forgery +8, Knowledge (Cosmology) +17, Knowledge (Magic) +17, Knowledge (Science) +17, Spellcraft +13

Possessions +2 quarterstaff, robe of stars, cloak of protection +1, amulet of natural armor +1, headband of intellect +4, ring of shooting stars, bracers of armor +1, 12 gp, 4 sp, 13 cp.

 

Personal Info: Ht: 6' 4", Wt: 124lbs, Scale Color: Green, Eyes: Black, Age: 165.

 

Familiarity With Magic (Ex): Sslartrak gains a +2 competence bonus to all saving throws against spells and spell-like and supernatural abilities (including magic items). Further, it gains a +2 competence bonus to Armor Class against spells requiring attack rolls.

 

[Adventure Tropes] Rites of Passage part III (Coming of Age)

Either growing up sucks or its cool to be an adult because you can do stuff, it all depends on your point of view, Bring the magic and tragedy of this transition to your adventure with a coming of age story.

Coming of Age (Rite of Passage)
In Far-Rough, children choose a mentor (or a parent/guardian chooses one for them). These mentors generally teach the children a trade, skills, philosophy, religion, and/or simple morality. At some point in the relationship the mentor will declare that the child has "come of age" and is ready to become an adult. A Runethane, Runelord, Champion of Runes, Runechild, Runeblade, Shuryn, or someone with runic knowledge (usually a relative or the mentor themselves) will place the rune for “Coming of Age” upon the forehead of the adolescent using the mentor's blood. The mark is to remain until the end of a ritual celebration. Invitations for this celebration are sent out, during which the newly declared adult receives money and special gifts.

ADVENTURE HOOKS

Uninvited Guest: The PCs are invited to the coming of age celebration. Ur-glif the rune reaver disrupts the beginning of the celebration kidnapping the Runechild mentor, the PCs are asked to rescue the runechild.

Childhood’s End: The family of the child contacts the PCs, having found the dead mentor. The only clue is some note about the location of an immoratlity scroll, it seems the child plans to stay a child forever. The family begs the PCs to help their child.

New Beginning: The adolescent seeks out the player characters telling them a strange man once visited telling him “You belong to me once you come of age.” The adolescent asks for the PCs aid if the stranger comes calling, The stranger is a military recruiter come to enforce the daft upon the newly eligable (or an arranged marriage etc, have fun with it. )

Put Away Childish Things: A mentor is ready to allow the child to come of age but he discovers that the adolescent has an imaginary friend. Ashamed the adolescent runs away, the PCs are asked to help locate him, discovering the friend is not imaginary and has a dark plan for the adolescent.

[Adventure Tropes] Rites of Passage Part II: Menarche

You can avoid this one if you wish, or you can use it to show the importance of rituals and mark a radical cultural difference for the setting , I challenge you to take your PCs where they fear to tread. The best way I know how to put this is summed up by Tvtropes.org No Periods Period.

Menarche (Rite of Passage)
When a girl has her menarche in the town of Far-rough, she is henceforth called a woman. An interpreter of dreams (priest, diviner, witch, or somnomancer) is contacted and will speak to her about her next dream, to help guide her choices about the future. A ritual bathing is preformed at the Ceremonium, where the women of the family scrub the girl all over her body; she then is dressed in blue. Invitations for a party are sent out, during which the girl receives money and special gifts.

Adventure Hook:

The Gift: The mother of the woman ordered a very special gift related to her daughter's dream, it has been stolen, and the Mother asks the PCs who were guests at the party to recover it before the party ends.

Carrie: An uneducated and repressed young girl comes screaming to the PCs seeking their help because she has been stricken by a horrible curse, as her witchery powers also manifest at this time.

Not Rite: A young girl is seen by the PCs throwing away bloody stained sheet, she is uncooperative and eventually tries to flee, the young girl is only covering up her first Menarche so that she does not have to perform the ritual but she knows her family will not respect her wishes.

Moonblood: It is not what you think, because at the height of the party the young girl transforms in to a monster, she is suffering from Curse! (Go nuts use the Monstrous Lycanthrope Template from the Advanced Bestiary or the Totem Curses from Diamondthrone.com).

[Adventure Tropes] Rites of Passage Part I: Childbirth

Rites of Passage are very important rituals that can bring a group of PCs together and can also help establish the tone of a campaign, they also can be more than the mundane as in a fantasy setting (such as my example of Monte Cook's Land of the Diamond Throne) as the supernatrual and magic forces take root.

Childbirth (Rite of Passage)
When a women learns she is with child in the town of Far-Rough, at dawn on the first day of the next week the mother (and father if available), seek the "Blessings of the Green" usually granted by a servant of the land (druid, ranger, greenbond, totem warrior, or totem speaker); usually a close relative. Their parents are often invited as witnesses. As of late the First Speaker Rabin, anointing the mother with the holy oils of Rollonarch the Giving has substituted this.

Adventure Hooks:

Dark Blessing: Each PC is invited to the Ceremony when the mother is kidnapped by a servant of the Dark who wishes to perform the "Blessing of the Dark" on the unborn child in a lightless cavern on the last day of the week at midnight. The Father is killed in the assault and it is up to the PCs to save the women and her unborn child.

Split at Birth: In a supernatural and magical land birthing can be far more dangerous than this mothers birthing ceremony is disrupted when a oppositional twin (choose two opposing causes) is created, there are cries of abomination and destroying the child, the mother however contacts the PCs begging them to save her child and see it finds a good home.

Instant Baby just add water: The party is escorting the pregnant woman so that she can go see the servant of the land when her water breaks right there in a very inconvenient place (monster territory), at a very inconvenient time (a super-cell lightning storm is on the horizon)

Changeling: The mother swears this is not her child after but no one believes her but the PCs are able to deduce that this newborn is a doppelganger. Is this her child transformed into a doppelganger; or did the doppelganger steal her child and replace it with one of their own.

Death by Childbirth: The PCs are this woman’s only friends, the servant of the land is a PC who is there to give the blessing, her sister is in a far off secluded area and the trek is too dangerous. Yet, there is blood, agony and tragedy as the mother dies in childbirth now the PCs must decide what to do with the child. Take it to her sister? The local orphanage? Raise the child themselves? What about the Father?

My newest book on sale.

Rite Publishing has released Mythical Monstrosities for sale, Mythical Monstrosities is a monster supplement for Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved it is compatiable with any 3.X version of the World's Most Popular Roleplaying Game.  You can find a preview of the product HERE.

220,000 without power and I am one of them.

South Western Ohio, just got hit with gusts up to 78 mph; state of emergency where I live, my work being a utility has back up power; It will take me some time to have updates again.

No damage to my house but the fiancees gazeboo is laying in pieces in the back yard, along with the phone line (I don't use a land line anymore though).

An Encounter worth a Thousand Words.

I work with some talented folks who always go beyond the call. Last night I was up till 3am working with Corey Graham our graphic artist on the add for Kobold Quarterly, the Cover for Soren K. Thustrup’s The Living Airship, and Frank Carr’s Heroes of the Jade Oath. I also received the interior art for A Witch’s Choice (Part I of the adventure path), along with the interior art for The Living Airship. Then too top it all off, Corey designed a new logo for Rite Publishing (See below).

So how can you as a non-publisher who is not going to spend all this money on graphic elements and artwork make your home game better?
Answer: You do it backwards.

You have go out on the internet to a place like Deviant art and find a picture that you think is cool to use in your home game (personal use only). Then design your game element around that picture, and then during your game when the time presents itself, you show them the picture of what they see. Because you tailored your description to the picture, it works perfectly.

I have done this many times and found that this can really get your creative juices flowing when you have to make each element of the picture be something important.

I have a plan one day to use stock art and make a cool adventure from this one day. So many ideas so little time.

Steve “Qwilion” Russell
RitePublishing.com
“A hundred thousand lemmings cannot be wrong”

Railroad of Illusion

Somes times as a DM you have this grand vision of how your game is going to go, you put in a tremendous amout of preptime into the game, You have a dream. So you provide a path so that you can show them.

How do you do you do this and not making it a Railroad? How do you allow a player to feel this is his adventure not your story.

Answer: You provide the illusion of choice.

All roads lead to Rome: no matter what choice they make the outcome of that choice will eventually lead to same desination. In my esitimation it is the condition you arrive in that determins which is the best path or the best entrance to the destination. A. has the local dragon path B. has the local brothel.

$hit happens!: you may not have a choice in what happens to you from time to time, you do have choice on how to deal with it once it has happened. Example in my home game a player is the victim of an Akashic Possession (think Alia from Children of Dune), it takes him over when he sleeps, it in no way affects the characters choices, but when the player does not show up to the game his character goes off an does some rather nasty things. The player can do whatever he wants about the enemy, I have no control of ther outcome just over the initial hook.

Preorder My newest book, and support Lands of the Jade Oath

If you enjoyed Veiled Denizens or Rite Publishing's preview; well now is the time to pre-order Mythical Monstrosites for only $4.95 (25% off the cover price). In addition you will not even have to wait for it to go on sale, Rite Publishing will be emailed to you with 24-48 hours of your preorder, with an option for a print on demand copy at cost.

As an added bonus I have pledged all preorder sales will be applied to the Lands of the Jade Oath Patronage Project! So if you are a fan of Oriental Arcana but can't afford to be a parton, here is your chance to show your support and a monsterous supplement to go with it!

From the Back Cover
The tragic Taurians, a new take on an old race, who drown their daughters to save their sons; The Soarlith, who defend the skies with near religious fervor; The Antaeans, grappling giants bound to the power of earth; The Ritefury, who seek to punish those who violate the ancient customs of guest and host. Mythical Monstrosities provides these new creatures as a supplemental bestiary for Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved.
Within you will find:

• A new, complex and detailed player race, the Taurian, with a new racial class.
• All descriptions are presented in first-person perspective from the monster's point of view.
• Detailed descriptions, variant rules, Lore DCs and designer's notes.
• Each monster leaps from the page with inspiring and evocative illustrations.
• The monsters within have complex motivations and can serve far beyond a simple encounter.
• Compatible with the 3.0 and 3.5 versions of the world’s most popular role-playing game.

Player's Guide to the Rituals of Choice Adventure Path (to date)

If you did not know, I am currently writing, designing, producing and publishing an adventure path for Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved called The Rituals of Choice. I have decided that I will be creating a free player's companion to the series, which can also serve as a regional sourcebook for the default location where the campaign saga takes place. I will be posting my raw work in progress, and plan to update at least once a week (sans interview posts).

A Companion
To help immerse both players and player characters in the saga of the campaign, Rite Publishing is proud to present The Player's Guide to The Rituals of Choice Adventure Path for Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved. DMs are encouraged to provide a copy of this document to each of thier players (Full permission is granted to reproduce this document) and allow players to reference the Player's Guide during the course of the game. This Player's Guide also serves to help assemble the emerging "Puzzle Piece Plot" that constitutes the story arc of the Rituals of Choice Adventure Path by providing the starting framework. The default setting where the adventure path takes place is a large town known as Far-Rough along with its surrounding environment called the Edgelands, once known as the fallen Duchy of Nem before the coming of the Dramojh (Dragon Scions).

Why Far-Rough?
The Cradle of Nem, The Birthplace of Seral the Rune Messiah, the giants call it Tar-Duph but overtime the local population bastardized the giantish pronunciation so that now most everyone else calls it Far-Rough; I, Lomen Taverson, Bard of the Eldritch, call it home.

You will find my home at the center of the "Edgelands" a crossroads that can lead into the Floating Forest, the Central Plains, and the forbidding Bitter Peaks. It is an outstanding location serving as both a destination for trade, and as layover on the journey into these evocative regions. Far-Rough offers many a pursuit for both knight and seekers of fortune such as myself, from expeditions into the ancient ruins that dot the central plains, to the evocative environment of the floating forest, and even the Clandestine War of the Dark Depths. The town itself offers a unique political climate where the Hu-Charad rules over a far larger population of humans along with a mix of other races. Backed by the large numbers of non-giants the Order of the Axe challenges the power of the Diamond Throne; while the Nightwalkers and Jaren jockey for economic dominion. It is even more dramatic still for my people the "Roughfolk" judge others only by their deeds, often you will find visiting goblins, rhodin, and chorrim about town this does not even address the more astounding permanent residence that settle in both Far-Rough and the Edgelands. Far-Rough features all the amenities and ancient traditions of an old world city, dating back to a time before the dragons left for the mysterious west, coupled with the friendly charm and the hospitality of a small town. It has an excellent variety of first-rate inns, taverns, restaurants, sages, a trade bazaar in the Traveler's Burrow and even a magic item shop, as well as a vibrant culture scene.

My Lyre greets you, you are well come to Far-Rough, the crossroad of adventure.

Tone of the Campaign
While each adventure can stand alone, when run as a campaign The Rituals of Choice Adventure Path provides an epic over-arcing storyline. It makes full use of the Diamond Throne setting and its various adventuring environments. Players are encouraged to read Chapter 10: the Diamond Throne Gazetteer of Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved, as while the first five adventures will keep the players close to the northern border of the Floating Forest they will travel the height and breadth of the lands before the story is complete.

The Rituals of Choice Adventure Path is a campaign saga that places a great deal of importance on the choices the player characters make. Every choice holds consequences that effect encounters throughout the course of the adventure path. There is no pre-destined outcome to the campaign. PCs can fail; they can destroy the world, or bring about a pyrrhic victory. The PCs could leave behind a bleak dystopia or even win a wondrous victory where they bring about their own vision of the future.

The choices presented will be far beyond choosing the left or right corridor, these are difficult moral choices that change the foundation of who the player character is, and from choice of whether saving a soul is worth risking the welfare of the world or assisting in a ritual suicide.

Honor, duty, and loyalty are not just words in this fantasy campaign they are supernatural powers in their own right, and the Lands of the Diamond Throne respect that power. The campaign fully expects players to be a part of the world around them there are powers in the world who will seek you out as both ally and enemy based on your choices, those you support will call upon your aid. This is an idealistic campaign where people keep their word, enemies rarely lie, and the untrustworthy few stand out in the crowd. With powerful ceremonies and customs stronger than law, backing the cultural codes of conduct the PCs will find the Lands of the Diamond Throne setting helps encourage a heroic ideal within the campaign saga. However, nothing stops a player from having their character be a scoundrel or a villain so long as they are willing to suffer the consequences of their choices. Ultimately, the campaign leaves this type of decision in the hands of the DM.

Idealistic does not mean Utopian, every NPC every organization, every cause, every oath, every choice you make will put you in opposition to a different agenda. Those in opposition to your position are likely to be friends who were previously allies, and people of principle who you likely respect. Whose cause is more just, whose oath more sacred, which choice is the right choice. As heroic as the PCs are they are not the only heroes, and in this campaign heroic Npcs are just as likely to be the opposition and be in the right as the Player Characters, for they are the hero in their own story. Part of the saga is the path taken to attempt to navigate past these obstacles and sometimes the battles that fail or succeed in defeating them.

The campaign saga evolves, changing, growing, and transforming both the world and characters playing within it. Beyond gaining character levels, the adventure path encourages players to create backgrounds that allow for character growth. Players will grow as well due to both the role-playing challenges presented by the campaign as well, as how the adventure path uses the rules themselves from compelling questions to invoked apocalypse. Players, who have memorized every class, feat, spell, monster and rule that has been published will be also be challenged by reinvented and original material put forth over the course of the campaign. Nearly, every reward component of the adventure path is also reinvented or original material to help enhance the sense of magic, wonder, and change.

The Town of Far-Rough
I, Lomen Taverson, Bard of the Eldritch, will tell you that my home is a growing town, on the verge of becoming a city. It would have become a great city of note long ago were it not limited by our famous crystal-woven walls, but there has been considerable growth of late outside the Woven Walls to the west of the town in an area known as the Traveler's Burrow. My home has about 2,000 permanent residents in the winter and nearly double that number of transient residents in the height of the trade season. Located at the center of the northern edge of the Floating Forest next to a deep-water lake known as the Fanormere, Far-Rough was originally the capital of the ancient Duchy of Nem before the dramojh invasion.

There was once a central keep within the Woven Walls, but that was destroyed by the giants when they liberated my homeland, but the vast underground fortress, that holds both the terrors of the dramojh occupation and the wonders of ancient Terrekal, still remains. There is currently, on either side of the small river that runs through the town, two gassar trees that support upon their sky islands an observatory and the manor house of the Lord Steward. The area surrounding my home is a frontier lands with simple folk trying to cutting a place of their own, if a wilderness of myth, rumors, and legends come to life. Yet I, Lomen Taverson, Bard of the Eldritch, know where your interests truly lies and though you may seem to travel with a band of misfits, I am certain you are the best you are at what you do, brave venturer. Therefore, I will tell you where you will find both ruins and labyrinths ripe for exploration.

• Legacy's Haven is actually part of the crystal-woven walls of the city; it is deep below the ground and protects the town from unwanted incursions from the Dark Depths. The rare few find their way in and live to tell the tail, as it was a hold out of guerilla fighters in the dramojh invasion then later by the dramojh during the giant's war of liberation and was one of the dramojh breeding pits.
• Edgehold is a Chorrim fortress to the west in the foremost mountain of the bitter peaks known as Mt. Seral. There is known to be a vast chorrim city complex beyond their gates, and who knows what army is amassing beyond its walls.
• The Ossuary of Nem is a vast catacombs and necropolis, to the east of the town, for nearly all the dead it apparently has wardings that keep restless spirits trapped within the walls of the ossuary and force them into hiding from the sun.
• The Pantheon Ruins a dilapidated and decaying temple complex hidden in the central plains that once gave praise to the Gods of the Denotholan, strange rituals can be found being performed here by those who seek to revive the dead gods. Mad preachers, divine guardians, immortal priests, and the odd pilgrim can be found lurking upon these grounds.
• Fanormere is a nigh on bottomless lake that leads explores into the dark depths of the sunless sea. Here an eternal war rages amongst the dwellers in the darkness form the horrific Vallorian flesh-crafters to Slassan slavers.

These are not the only areas of exploration only the most common. The weather here makes exploration hard however for there are constant storms and very harsh winters. It is an important waypoint for those traveling on to Serathis, The Ruins of Intrigue, in the Bitter Peak Mountains, and is part of the Lands of the Diamond Throne, under the Rule of the Lady Protector though one of the largest and most hidden chapterhouses of the Order of the Axe lies nearby. When full-scale rebellion against the throne comes, Far-Rough will be in the middle of it.

The Diamond Throne
The Hu-Charad renamed my town of my birth Tar-Duph after the giant war-marshal who liberated the region during the Dramojh War, and have claimed my home as part of their dominion for over 500 years. Yet nearly every time a new Steward (regional governor) is assigned to administrate this area, they have lain down their burdens and preformed the Rites of Kor-Karan becoming Dark Wardens. To this effect, the throne has recently selected the elder giant Na-Parrinder as the new Lord Steward. Na-Parrinder is over 300 years old, has rejected the siren's song that compels the Dark Wardens, and is a dedicated proponent of Si-Karan (Caretaker). He is also an aristocrat, former member of The Observance, and a distant cousin to the Lady Protector.

Do to the limited number of giants who inhabit the area that are interested in serving the government, the Lord Steward of Tar-Duph has had to lean heavily upon a number of sibeccai heralds and the rest of the local population. He has also formed the Avowed Quorum a chosen group of counselors who have bound themselves by ritual, oath, and truename to the Diamond Throne. The current members of the group are Guildmaster Hirim Gatewood of the Honorable Fellowship of Lumber Magnates; Stave Beast-speaker, ollahm lorekeeper and old friend of the steward; Au-Damna, known as the wisest Hu-Charad ritual warrior ever taught at Ta-Irkethas (Sanctuary of Forms); Myrya, a litorian totemspeaker honored by all the tribes of the central plains. Surprisingly the sibeccai commoner Vathru the Dreamer has been named spiritual advisor to the Steward and envoy to the unique faction of Rallonoch the Giving's faith that has deep roots in the region. Xelada a verrik serves as the head of the steward's heralds, she is not well liked or trusted by the other members, and many accuse her of being a mind witch and spy for the Lord Steward. The final member is a mysterious mojh runethane named Dramlok who is the steward's liaison to the Jaren. In times of need the Steward can call upon students from Ta-Irkethas (a secretive school for ritual warriors) and a few errant Knights of the Diamond. Yet the strongest military force in the area is the militant Steelveil Chapterhouse of the Order of the Axe, lead by the enigmatic Knight of Balam. The Order can muster a force three times the size the Steward could without assistance from the High Steward of the South.