Tell me about this free GAMEMASTERING PDF, please

Zoatebix said:

Ooh ooh! You don't have to use logarithms!! Cheiromancer and Anubis distilled the system down to easy math right here (http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=86471&page=2), and I summarized how to use the system for encounter/adventure design in post 73. Read starting at post 70 or so, I guess.

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Very cool.

I downloaded this today, too and it's very good. The spiffiest thing is that it includes a spreadsheet for doing all the funky calculations (though apparently Zoatebix and the others have simplified it).

And, yeah, it's free. Just go get it!

Thanks to Wulf for this. It rocks.

Oh wow. Yeah - great PDF! Download it! The equation with base-2 logs is really cool. Check out the thread I mentioned, too - it's like a preview!

Poster Bard said:

Has anyone taken advantage of this download and what do you think?

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You're both a gentleman and a scoundrel, you know that?

Zoatebix said:

Oh wow. Yeah - great PDF! Download it! The equation with base-2 logs is really cool. Check out the thread I mentioned, too - it's like a preview!

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Yep, yep, yep.

The "Chi-Rho" method mentioned in that thread is the meaty part of the work in this PDF (and you'll see Cheiromancer in the credits, too.)


Wulf

So is "Chi/Rho: An Open Analysis of CR and EL, Copyright 2004, Jim Stenberg aka
“Cheiromancer”; additional input by Craig Cochrane, CR Greathouse, and Benjamin
Durbin." published anywhere besides these boards? Google turns up nothin'...

I should also mention that in the very last post in the above-linked thread, Cheiromancer outlines how to apply the system to 3.0-style experience, Grim Tales-style experience, and 3.5/FRCS-style experience.

Wulf, you are a scholar and a gentleman.

Cheers

Poster Bard said:

Confused? I guess. Just tell me what you thought of it so I can make a decision whether or not to download this FREE product, please.

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I have an idea. Just download it yourself, and then you can make your decision on whether or not to keep it based on how well you like it.

Joshua Dyal said:

I have an idea. Just download it yourself, and then you can make your decision on whether or not to keep it based on how well you like it.

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Oh, sure! Easy for you to make snap decisions like that! I suppose if all of your friends were keeping the top drawer of their dresser closed so that when they finished sorting through the bottom drawer of their dresser and stood up they'd avoid banging their head on the underside of the top drawer of their dresser then you would too, eh? Maybe some of us just need a little reassurance? Ever think of that?

Anyone else care to be helpful and give advice on this quandry of downloading this FREE product that Bad Axe Games is trying to foist on us for GM's Day? Please, let me know what you think of it so I can make up my mind!

Let me put it this way. I BOUGHT it before this most painful revelation of it being free this GM's day, and here I am a GM!

Put simply, it takes a little bit of effort to understand the math side of things, but the system, coupled with the excel sheet for using a mathematically based approach makes it much easier to construct balanced encounters for D20 system games. Furthermore, if you go and BUY the wonderful BAG product that contains a spreadsheet that allows you to construct creatures and find out their correct mathematical CR (dragons I hear are underCR'd), it provides a great way to learn the CR and EL systems. In the end it allowed me to figure out the true capabilities of my rather unique group of PCs and challenge them. They think they were overmatched, but really, while they were shy on spells at the end, only a few had been appreciably damaged, and it was a battle to remember.

If it's free - GET IT.

PS: And no, this has not been a paid promotion for Wulf and Bad Axe Games...

Wulf Ratbane said:

You're both a gentleman and a scoundrel, you know that?

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Slick, man, slick. Nice work, Poster Bard.

Thanks, Wulf!