Book of Artifacts table of contents posted

[Mouseferatu]

...really? Cuz - and I'm an uneducated ruffian, here - it kind of looks like a typo, and a designer covering up for the editors.

lol

Who do you think we are, TSR?

Seriously, "The Bastard of Exalted Heroism" is exactly the title under which the artifact was pitched to me, and exactly how it's written up in the book.

Incidentally, I know there are people other than Wik who are reluctant to look at a book of "just" (or even mostly) major artifacts. I'd encourage you to at least give it a flip-through. Each artifact gives backstory, adventure seeds, and plot hooks. I think a lot of people will find it pretty easy to work many of these into their campaigns, or at least to walk away with some cool story ideas.

 

[Wik]

Ha ha, just razzing ya.

Actually, I'm a little curious about the book. Got a few questions for you:

1) Page count? What's the art like? List Price?

2) Keith Baker wrote for it? I'm not "down" with the writing conventions of WotC, but I kind of imagined him as being the "sole property of wotc" or somesuch, and not really a freelancer. What's that aboot?

3) The Lucky Coin sounds like my type of artifact - I've used something similar about 100 times in the past. Any details would be appreciated.

4) Random. Artifact. Creation? Now, that's pretty friggin' cool (and totally up my alley... way back in the day, we made up a generator based off the old Diablo magical item generator to make all of our items... such fun). What's the power range of items that can be created using it, and can this power range be "tweaked" without too much work by the GM (ie, if I want to create an artifact for level X characters, is that built into the table, or will I need to do some house-ruling?). Actually, any info on the artifact creation would be nice.

5) Are the "design credits" for each artifact included in the book (which is something I've noticed Necromancer Games is pretty keen on), or is that list just something that us netheads get to see?

and, finally....

6) Rich Burlew wrote an artifact? Is it "serious", or more "OotSticky"?

 

[Mouseferatu]

Ha ha, just razzing ya.

Oh, I know. No worries.

1) Page count? What's the art like? List Price?

I can't swear to the exact page count--the book's going through layout right now--but I believe somewhere in the upper 200s to low 300s. Each artifact got one piece of art; enough to set the tone and show what things look like, but not enough to inflate the page count. I'm afraid I don't actually know list price; that'll be up to Bill and Clark once the final page count is determined.

2) Keith Baker wrote for it? I'm not "down" with the writing conventions of WotC, but I kind of imagined him as being the "sole property of wotc" or somesuch, and not really a freelancer. What's that aboot?

Keith's a freelancer. He does most of his work for WotC, because of Eberron (and hey, because they pay better), but anything he wants to work on elsewhere (and has time for), he can do.

3) The Lucky Coin sounds like my type of artifact - I've used something similar about 100 times in the past. Any details would be appreciated.

Well, I don't want to go into too/i] much detail. But in brief, the Lucky Coin grants all manner of good luck, from simple bonuses to far more dramatic events--but eventually, if the coin isn't used carefully, the warping of probability causes the accumulated bad luck to strike the bearer as well.

4) Random. Artifact. Creation? Now, that's pretty friggin' cool (and totally up my alley... way back in the day, we made up a generator based off the old Diablo magical item generator to make all of our items... such fun). What's the power range of items that can be created using it, and can this power range be "tweaked" without too much work by the GM (ie, if I want to create an artifact for level X characters, is that built into the table, or will I need to do some house-ruling?). Actually, any info on the artifact creation would be nice.

This was, admittedly, one of the hardest parts of the book to write, and I really hope people react well to it.

Given the unique nature of all artifacts, the charts obviously can't do all the work for you, but we've done the majority of it. The charts give you everything from the artifact's physical form (weapon? shield? altar? building? eyeball?) to its general "theme" to its list of powers. It's really easy to tweak the power level--just reroll any truly high-level spells/effects, and assign the artifact a lower caster level rather than going by the chart.

5) Are the "design credits" for each artifact included in the book (which is something I've noticed Necromancer Games is pretty keen on), or is that list just something that us netheads get to see?

I'm a huge proponent of giving credit where it's due. Each and every artifact has its own byline.

6) Rich Burlew wrote an artifact? Is it "serious", or more "OotSticky"?

Heh. Rich is a fantastic designer, as well as cartoonist. His artifacts--he did a few--are all as serious as any of the others. (That said, he did work in a humerous touch or two where they wouldn't stick out. For instance, the Lucky Coin entry details a luck-based 3-level prestige class called "The Lucky Bastard." )

 

[Slife]

What? No chicken hut? I'm deeply disappointed

 

[Mouseferatu]

What? No chicken hut? I'm deeply disappointed

If this one sells well enough, I'll keep Baba Yaga in mind for the sequel.

 

[Wik]

Baba Yaga was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw this thread, too.

 

[Nightfall]

If this one sells well enough, I'll keep Baba Yaga in mind for the sequel.

Nice! I look forward to keeping this series going along side Tome of Horrors as well.

 

[Soel]

Alright, I'm sold!

 

[Nightfall]

Doubly sold here!

 

[Mouseferatu]

Baba Yaga was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw this thread, too.

I'd actually love to put together another one of these books, focusing specifically on artifacts from myth and faerie tale: Baba Yaga's hut, Excalibur, Aladdin's lamp, the spinning wheel from Sleeping Beauty, etc.

No idea if there'd be enough of a market for it, but it's definitely an idea I've tossed around. Maybe if ToA sells well, I can talk to Bill and Clark about doing a "themed" sequel like this.