Geisha: Defunct Dragon Article Submission

smootrk · Apr 23, 2007

I was prepping this topic for possible submission to Dragon Magazine, but with the recent news I do not think this will be going anywhere. You may have seen the class in previous threads but I was preparing a gussied-up version (and edited) for the visual impact (with some images gleaned from various online art).

Anyway, feel free to comment. I am still open to new additions or possible changes, so feel free to suggest away. To those who made contributions in the previous thread, let me know if some of your suggestions may be placed directly into the document (Sound of Azure, you especially had a lot of material that I would love to drop into this document with your permission).

Sound of Azure · Apr 23, 2007

Wow, the document is very nice. Excellent work!

This was one of my favourite recent projects, so you're most welcome to use the material I worked on, especially in such a pretty document!

smootrk · Apr 24, 2007

Sound of Azure said:
Wow, the document is very nice. Excellent work!

This was one of my favorite recent projects, so you're most welcome to use the material I worked on, especially in such a pretty document!

Great. I didn't think you would mind, but I wanted to make sure. My spring college course load is nearing the end so I may have a couple of weeks before my summer batch of classes begins. I will try to revisit this and other projects then.

smootrk · Apr 24, 2007

18 dowloads since I posted this up. Anyone have any fresh critiques or comments?

Nifft · Apr 25, 2007

I haven't had time to read it for content, but it's beautifully laid out!
Hope that praise keeps you for now. May take a while for me to say anything of substance.

Cheers, -- N

smootrk · Apr 25, 2007

Nifft said:
I haven't had time to read it for content, but it's beautifully laid out!
Hope that praise keeps you for now. May take a while for me to say anything of substance.

Cheers, -- N

oooohh. Praise and recognition. Thank you. I hope you like the content as well.

evilbob · Apr 25, 2007

Pretty cool idea. Seems fairly well-balanced, although off-hand I'd say it's stronger than a bard. I just have three comments: first, you might consider not allowing the sleight-of-hand bonus to extend to other spellcasting classes - it's not a big deal, but this kind of thing typically never carries over. Second, the knowledge/perform/language per levels thing is really quite complicated, and a little hard to follow. It'd be easier if you just reduced their overall skill points and instead included gaining a language/knowledge/perform skill as part of their class every level, or however often. (Also, their class list is extrodinarily long - do they really need heal, intimidate, all knowledge skills including the planes and dungeoneering, tumble, and use rope? If you pared it down a bit, it would be more in line with other classes.)

And third, beware of taking images from the net and putting them into anything you want to publish - all of those images are technically rights-protected unless you've gotten permission from the original owner... Seeing several pics that look like movie stills or model shots in there, I'd be willing to bet they'd be especially mad if you tried to publish their art without their knowledge.

WhatGravitas · Apr 25, 2007

smootrk said:
18 dowloads since I posted this up. Anyone have any fresh critiques or comments?

Skimmed it. Looks *very* nicely. Honestly, I don't see anything bad on the first glance... only two beefs with the design: The title page looks a bit crowed, and the tables would look "lighter" if you just have horizontal lines (would fit the background better than the box-table). The rest is beautiful. But both things are more a matter of taste.

And for the class: Well, it sounds good. So I don't really know what to say.

smootrk · Apr 25, 2007

evilbob said:
Pretty cool idea. Seems fairly well-balanced, although off-hand I'd say it's stronger than a bard. I just have three comments: first, you might consider not allowing the sleight-of-hand bonus to extend to other spellcasting classes - it's not a big deal, but this kind of thing typically never carries over. Second, the knowledge/perform/language per levels thing is really quite complicated, and a little hard to follow. It'd be easier if you just reduced their overall skill points and instead included gaining a language/knowledge/perform skill as part of their class every level, or however often. (Also, their class list is extrodinarily long - do they really need heal, intimidate, all knowledge skills including the planes and dungeoneering, tumble, and use rope? If you pared it down a bit, it would be more in line with other classes.)

And third, beware of taking images from the net and putting them into anything you want to publish - all of those images are technically rights-protected unless you've gotten permission from the original owner... Seeing several pics that look like movie stills or model shots in there, I'd be willing to bet they'd be especially mad if you tried to publish their art without their knowledge.

Thanks for your ideas. I'll reflect on your paring down ideas for the revision. Reasonable views. I did consider Skills very consciously and thoroughly, with consideration that the class should function within a D&D setting (and not necessarily real-world accuracy - hence some choices like Heal). The class is a 'skill-monkey' type of class, like rogue with spells except with a different set of skills. My balance to this exhaustive list was a few requirements on how the skill points must be spent. The class can specialize in some skills, or can be competent in a very wide variety of skills (and not necessarily stepping on Rogues/Ninjas in their scope). I do realize however the length of the list and will consider dropping some skills from the offerings.

As far as the images go, this document was not really intended for any sort of distribution (especially for profit). I was working out the idea for a Dragon Magazine submission, and they (used to) accept articles in very plain text that they format themselves in-house. I slapped this together (with photos) as an example, and to make it a more interesting read for them while they considered the material. In any case, this is not art that is actually intended when the material was to be actually published (and that is not likely anyhow).

If freely sharing here on ENWorld constitutes actual publishing, then the Mods can let me know and I will remove the material. Anyway, I just wanted to share what I had prepped following the news of the demise of the magazines.

smootrk · Apr 25, 2007

Lord Tirian said:
Skimmed it. Looks *very* nicely. Honestly, I don't see anything bad on the first glance... only two beefs with the design: The title page looks a bit crowed, and the tables would look "lighter" if you just have horizontal lines (would fit the background better than the box-table). The rest is beautiful. But both things are more a matter of taste.

And for the class: Well, it sounds good. So I don't really know what to say.

As to the table formatting, are you suggesting no lines (invisible lines)? Can't say that my formatting skills with tables and text boxes is all that good.