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Pathfinder: Encounter Design Simplified
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<blockquote data-quote="Wulf Ratbane" data-source="post: 4816890" data-attributes="member: 94"><p>You're a hell of an evangelist. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Scott Purdy. Great artist, great friend. He's gone on to doing stuff for bigger and better publishers since he and I first worked together on Grim Tales, but he's still willing to bring his rates down to my budget for the occasional piece. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This is easier than you think with the guidelines provided. If the spell lasts a long time, or affects lots of targets, it's probably Restricted. You will be (pleasantly) amazed at the effect that this has on spellcasters and spell selection. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Oh, you again. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /></p><p></p><p>As you mention it, I decided this past week to put Trailblazer PDF out in two font formats-- one "distressed" (which looks like old-style printing) and one crisp digital version. That's easy enough to do with font substitutions. </p><p></p><p>But there's not much I can do about font <strong><em>size </em></strong>without a whole lot of layout work. The body text is 8pt type and the tables (many of them) are in 6 pt type-- which is really tiny, I know.</p><p></p><p>(And funny, because all of my playtest printouts I print 2-up, two pages to the sheet, which means when I do my work it's <em>half size</em> from what you're looking at!)</p><p></p><p>I don't think I have a solution for you in print but all I can recommend is to view it in Adobe Acrobat and scale the view to what works for you.</p><p></p><p>For worksheets like the treasure parcels I can certainly make a large print size.</p><p></p><p>I just can't use a bigger font through the whole work because that will require a whole extra set of layout-- entire pages would shift from page to page, around artwork, etc.</p><p></p><p>I am sensitive to your plight, grognard, and certainly open to suggestions.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I very strongly recommend action points and will probably remove some of the pick-and-choose customization of Trailblazer. I know that folks appreciated the pick-and-choose nature of Grim Tales back in the day, and had hoped to hew close to that design goal, but there are a lot of moving parts in 3e that need fixing. Action Points are the foundation of <em>MANY </em>solutions.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>You can use whatever you like for wandering monsters. The point is this:</p><p></p><p>If you start using the 10-minute rest mechanic, I recommend using wandering monsters, and simply tying the check to that same 10 minute period. In other words, the PCs should know that they can try for a 10 minute rest, but there is a chance that their rest will be interrupted. This is a simple and "fair" method of keeping a bit of pressure on the PCs so that they don't get too comfortable assuming that the 10 minute rest is a given.</p><p></p><p>Of course this is for situations where there isn't some other good, scripted method of pressure in place. For example, if the PCs are attacking a dungeon lair of goblins, once the alarm is raised, you can just have goblin patrols keep moving through their lair, searching for the PCs. In this case, the PCs will be hard pressed to steal 10 minutes of safety to rest.</p><p></p><p>I had another encounter in a pocket dimension that was subject to lightning storms and earthquakes. The message to the PCs: You can't rest here. Watch your resources.</p><p></p><p>Make sense?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yes sir, of course. The full product is TRAILBLAZER and it will be out around GenCon.</p><p></p><p>(There will also undoubtedly be more previews for free download.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Wulf Ratbane, post: 4816890, member: 94"] You're a hell of an evangelist. ;) Scott Purdy. Great artist, great friend. He's gone on to doing stuff for bigger and better publishers since he and I first worked together on Grim Tales, but he's still willing to bring his rates down to my budget for the occasional piece. This is easier than you think with the guidelines provided. If the spell lasts a long time, or affects lots of targets, it's probably Restricted. You will be (pleasantly) amazed at the effect that this has on spellcasters and spell selection. Oh, you again. :p As you mention it, I decided this past week to put Trailblazer PDF out in two font formats-- one "distressed" (which looks like old-style printing) and one crisp digital version. That's easy enough to do with font substitutions. But there's not much I can do about font [B][I]size [/I][/B]without a whole lot of layout work. The body text is 8pt type and the tables (many of them) are in 6 pt type-- which is really tiny, I know. (And funny, because all of my playtest printouts I print 2-up, two pages to the sheet, which means when I do my work it's [I]half size[/I] from what you're looking at!) I don't think I have a solution for you in print but all I can recommend is to view it in Adobe Acrobat and scale the view to what works for you. For worksheets like the treasure parcels I can certainly make a large print size. I just can't use a bigger font through the whole work because that will require a whole extra set of layout-- entire pages would shift from page to page, around artwork, etc. I am sensitive to your plight, grognard, and certainly open to suggestions. I very strongly recommend action points and will probably remove some of the pick-and-choose customization of Trailblazer. I know that folks appreciated the pick-and-choose nature of Grim Tales back in the day, and had hoped to hew close to that design goal, but there are a lot of moving parts in 3e that need fixing. Action Points are the foundation of [I]MANY [/I]solutions. You can use whatever you like for wandering monsters. The point is this: If you start using the 10-minute rest mechanic, I recommend using wandering monsters, and simply tying the check to that same 10 minute period. In other words, the PCs should know that they can try for a 10 minute rest, but there is a chance that their rest will be interrupted. This is a simple and "fair" method of keeping a bit of pressure on the PCs so that they don't get too comfortable assuming that the 10 minute rest is a given. Of course this is for situations where there isn't some other good, scripted method of pressure in place. For example, if the PCs are attacking a dungeon lair of goblins, once the alarm is raised, you can just have goblin patrols keep moving through their lair, searching for the PCs. In this case, the PCs will be hard pressed to steal 10 minutes of safety to rest. I had another encounter in a pocket dimension that was subject to lightning storms and earthquakes. The message to the PCs: You can't rest here. Watch your resources. Make sense? Yes sir, of course. The full product is TRAILBLAZER and it will be out around GenCon. (There will also undoubtedly be more previews for free download.) [/QUOTE]
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