Gate Pass Gazette New GPG Annual 2023

[Morrus]

I appreciate you talking about this. This in no way makes me like LU less. I think it is far superior to 5E. It's not perfect for me but no game will be. I tinker with all games I play.

The whole point I'm making is I want them to do the copy/paste into one document, organized by topic, for this to have more value to me. I understand they can't for reasons. I'm merely explaining what would give it more value to me.

Just out of curiously, I’m intrigued by what you see that as actually looking like? I don’t really understand what it is you’re asking for? Just a section with 30 archetypes then a section with 30 spells etc., but no actual articles or context? Less a magazine and more an encyclopedia? Or am I completely misunderstanding?

 

[evildmguy]

Just out of curiously, I’m intrigued by what you see that as actually looking like? I don’t really understand what it is you’re asking for? Just a section with 30 archetypes then a section with 30 spells etc., but no actual articles or context? Less a magazine and more an encyclopedia? Or am I completely misunderstanding?

That's a great question! I probably never answered this.

I see the following outline of categories being used for the combined magazines.

Character Creation
-Heritage, Culture, Background, Destiny
Classes
-Archetypes
Equipment

Feats

Combat Maneuvers

Spells

Gamemastery
-This includes new systems or optional mechanics
Worldbuilding

Encounter Design

Exploration
-Exploration Challenges
Maladies

Magic Items

Monsters

Then I would go through the gazette and slot the articles into the correct category.

Constructed Heritage - Heritage
Artificer - Classes
Lycanthrope Synergy Feats - Feats
Jabberwock - Monsters

Fateholder - Monsters
Foretold Prowess - Archetypes
Weaving Prophecy - Character Creation
Fellspire - This might be the first article that gets split putting the respective information into their specific groups. In this case, Exploration Challenges, Magic Items, & Monsters

Avenging Archetypes - Archetypes
Well-Equipped - Gear, Magic Items

And so on until all articles are in the correct categories, with some broken out as the article contained things that fit into multiple categories. Things then get alphabetized in their area so feats, spells, gear, and so on, until all are alphabetically ordered. The articles that get split could just be split, without calling out what they are from, and then equally alphabetized. I think many things that would get split would be self explanatory in their area.

There are some judgment calls, of course. As class listings do, the artificer article keeps its base archetypes at the end, with extra ones in other articles in the Archetype section. There are going to be other articles that require these types of decisions. Paths of Courtly Intrigue and The Fellspire articles will be broken up by category. Yes, they might lose some context but for me, that creates more areas for creativity or seeing other synergies. Maybe seeing all of the gear together will show some interesting possibilities.

In this way, the information from the articles is now organized where they would be found in the main books. Instead of looking through all of the magazines, or scanning the table of contents, I can turn to the class section for new classes, look at all new spells, or peruse new gear, mundane or magical.

That's how I would like to see it. I'm looking at long term, three years later, and each year's compilation book is an expansion book that is organized for play at the table. I hope that is clear.

Thanks for the question!

 

[Morrus]

That's a great question! I probably never answered this.

I see the following outline of categories being used for the combined magazines.

Character Creation
-Heritage, Culture, Background, Destiny
Classes
-Archetypes
Equipment

Feats

Combat Maneuvers

Spells

Gamemastery
-This includes new systems or optional mechanics
Worldbuilding

Encounter Design

Exploration
-Exploration Challenges
Maladies

Magic Items

Monsters

Then I would go through the gazette and slot the articles into the correct category.

Constructed Heritage - Heritage
Artificer - Classes
Lycanthrope Synergy Feats - Feats
Jabberwock - Monsters

Fateholder - Monsters
Foretold Prowess - Archetypes
Weaving Prophecy - Character Creation
Fellspire - This might be the first article that gets split putting the respective information into their specific groups. In this case, Exploration Challenges, Magic Items, & Monsters

Avenging Archetypes - Archetypes
Well-Equipped - Gear, Magic Items

And so on until all articles are in the correct categories, with some broken out as the article contained things that fit into multiple categories. Things then get alphabetized in their area so feats, spells, gear, and so on, until all are alphabetically ordered. The articles that get split could just be split, without calling out what they are from, and then equally alphabetized. I think many things that would get split would be self explanatory in their area.

There are some judgment calls, of course. As class listings do, the artificer article keeps its base archetypes at the end, with extra ones in other articles in the Archetype section. There are going to be other articles that require these types of decisions. Paths of Courtly Intrigue and The Fellspire articles will be broken up by category. Yes, they might lose some context but for me, that creates more areas for creativity or seeing other synergies. Maybe seeing all of the gear together will show some interesting possibilities.

In this way, the information from the articles is now organized where they would be found in the main books. Instead of looking through all of the magazines, or scanning the table of contents, I can turn to the class section for new classes, look at all new spells, or peruse new gear, mundane or magical.

That's how I would like to see it. I'm looking at long term, three years later, and each year's compilation book is an expansion book that is organized for play at the table. I hope that is clear.

Thanks for the question!

Unfortunately, I think that effectively butchers the actual articles, and isn't the type of book we're making.

I think there is a place for alphabetical encyclopaedias of context-free mechanical elements (an SRD pretty much) and maybe we will do compilations of such things one day (a book with all the archetypes for example) but if we ever do that it's some way down the line.

 

[xiphumor]

So I know that this applies to to only a very small group of people who will buy the Annual, but as someone who wrote 1/12 of this year’s Annual (or, okay, 4/49 if you want to be precise), part of the reason I’m buying it is to see my work in print to have as something to be proud of.

Also, I recognize the general utility of wanting to reorganize, but to give a specific example of something that would be made worse by that, my most recent article on Rare Skills includes a new mechanic, a new exploration feature, a new feat, a new follower, a new magic item, a new heritage variation, and lots of little bits of advice for Narrators. Especially because these things are all linked together by the new mechanic, separating them out would force readers to miss the fact that this new mechanic is supported by a lot of other small additions to the game.

 

[evildmguy]

Unfortunately, I think that effectively butchers the actual articles, and isn't the type of book we're making.

I think there is a place for alphabetical encyclopaedias of context-free mechanical elements (an SRD pretty much) and maybe we will do compilations of such things one day (a book with all the archetypes for example) but if we ever do that it's some way down the line.

I love LU and what you have done. I didn't think I would convince you but I thank you for reading and replying. I do see that my idea loses too much context of the articles.

So I know that this applies to to only a very small group of people who will buy the Annual, but as someone who wrote 1/12 of this year’s Annual (or, okay, 4/49 if you want to be precise), part of the reason I’m buying it is to see my work in print to have as something to be proud of.

Also, I recognize the general utility of wanting to reorganize, but to give a specific example of something that would be made worse by that, my most recent article on Rare Skills includes a new mechanic, a new exploration feature, a new feat, a new follower, a new magic item, a new heritage variation, and lots of little bits of advice for Narrators. Especially because these things are all linked together by the new mechanic, separating them out would force readers to miss the fact that this new mechanic is supported by a lot of other small additions to the game.

Nice job, being a contributor! That's awesome!! You should be proud!

As I was replying to Morrus above, your response also got me thinking. I considered having footnotes in my outline to link the items to each other. As things are alphabetized, create the footnote for that article, so the reader knows where to find the full context. Part of me also wondered if the color used for the article could be kept as another indicator of how they were linked.

I can't argue that something would be lost in splitting up the items, though, so as I said, the more encyclopedic version that I want will have to wait.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Corinnguard]

my most recent article on Rare Skills

Element-bending skills? I wonder if these skills will work with the Elementalist class from the Manual of Adventurous Resources: Complete. Outside of an Elementalist being proficient in them, of course.

 

[xiphumor]

Element-bending skills? I wonder if these skills will work with the Elementalist class from the Manual of Adventurous Resources: Complete. Outside of an Elementalist being proficient in them, of course.

Yeah, so the Elementalist has some features built in that perform a similar function. Without saying too much, I know that the creator of the class is working on an expansion for it, and I’ve informed them that, assuming that rare skills are in the SRD by then, that they have my blessing to incorporate my rare skills into the class in whatever way I see fit.

In general, the elemental abilities in the class offer less range but more certainty than my rare skills. If I were to do a quick and dirty substitution, I would replace the Control Element feature with proficiency in the associated rare skill whenever a new affinity is gained, granting an expertise die every time that affinity is improved. Not sure precisely how I would replace the Improved Control Element at 13th level, but I would probably focus on changing the maximum range, target, etc.

 

[Anselm]

Unfortunately, I think that effectively butchers the actual articles, and isn't the type of book we're making.

I think there is a place for alphabetical encyclopaedias of context-free mechanical elements (an SRD pretty much) and maybe we will do compilations of such things one day (a book with all the archetypes for example) but if we ever do that it's some way down the line.

I feel like that's something that is already being done in the a5e.tools website, though I understand wanting that type of thing in print. The artless and categorical organization is being uploaded there for easy reference is someone wanted to compare archetypes for example.

Again I understand wanting that kind of organization in print but to the point of that looking like the srd, how do you make decisions about what to include if it's lacking all the original published context? Do you just print a book with a thousand archetypes and nothing else? Who buys that thing...?

 

[Selganor]

Once the parts of the GPG are in the A5E SRD nothing (except improper use of the licence you choose) prevents you from compiling such a "more encyclopedic version".

But I already noticed that there already were instances with a similar effect to the "Silvery Barbs" for D&D

For those not familiar to this spell:
It was "hidden" in a MtG/D&D crossover adventure/setting and was supposed to only be available to Strixhaven students of a certain school (aka Background) - this way even Clerics (however they managed to get into a "school for mages") might get it...
But since the spell is also listed as a new spell for three spellcasting classes and thus appears in D&D Beyond all sorts of people (who would never look into a MtG crossover supplement) know of this.

In a campaign I play in the Necromancer (Archetype from the website) went through the a5e.tools site to check which minions interested him most and as he needed a spy for a party he chose a spyskull (mechanoskull). A monster not yet (or maybe never) introduced into the campaign, but since the character was created at a high enough level it may be that he had seen one of these previously (not that the Necromancer minion requires you to have seen this undead before or it even existing before you calling it first)

 

[evildmguy]

Again I understand wanting that kind of organization in print but to the point of that looking like the srd, how do you make decisions about what to include if it's lacking all the original published context? Do you just print a book with a thousand archetypes and nothing else? Who buys that thing...?

I don't know how well they sold but DND in the 2E and 3E era printed books of only spells and only items. I don't know if WotC did it but there is a book of only feats as well. A class and archetype book could do well but again, I don't know numbers for sales.

I have those books and it can be jarring, and obvious, when a feat or spell was meant to go with something else. It has some flavor text or some other effect that I could tell was meant to go with something else. It made me want to find where it was originally to get context.

My thinking was that by having the annuals in an SRD format helps to keep some context, rather than everything in the SRD. It breaks it up a little. As more and more content is added, though, it can be tough to track it all regardless of how well it's organized.

I also think that DND over the years never had generic spells that could be modified on the fly because reasons. For example, instead of Elemental Spray, where you can change it to fit the concept of the character, it's specifically Burning Hands. Then a feat is needed to change it to another damage type. Evocation spells, imo, only need four or five templates and the character concept to drive which damage type is done. Instead, we have specific spells.

It's probably not feasible but another way to group them would be by theme, as what Paizo as done. A "Guns and Gear" type book could fit artificer, construct backgrounds, and steampunk styles. I don't know if enough has been done to fit a book, though. Same for magic and martial types having their own book.

Thanks for the discussion!