AMA: Richard Baker, author of lots of stuff!

[Rich Baker]

Hey Rich,
I've been a fan of you work for a long time. I really like Primeval Thule!

I can only play my D&D online these days. Thanks for pushing Thule through Fantasy Grounds. Will you do the same with this summer's Primeval Thule Kickstarter?

I am not sure right now. It's something that we have to partner up for, and we haven't even had any preliminary discussions with the Fantasy Grounds guys about what comes next. I imagine that it depends on how well the Fantasy Grounds Thule pack does, to be honest, and that hasn't been available long enough to evaluate its success yet.


Rich

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Hello Richard,

For the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting hardback, I am given to understand that the book was overwritten by a 100 pages or so, and that the remaining content barely fit within the allotted page count.

If this is correct, do you recall what happened to the remaining material? I'd assumed it was folded into future books, but never knew for sure.

Thanks very much for participating in this AMA!

 

[Mournblade94]

As for Alternity plans . . . well, funny you should ask. I was talking with Bill just a couple of weeks ago. I have nothing specific to report -- let me just say that we're keeping an open mind on the subject.

Rich

This would be the most fantastic gaming news I have heard since the announcement of 5th edition.

 

[luchexxx]

Hi, Luis --

First, your "broken English" is excellent! If you didn't say anything I would not have guessed you aren't a native speaker.

Here are a couple of ideas you might explore for increasing the "magic is rare" element in Primeval Thule:
* No cantrip attack spells; encourage the PC spellcaster to default to dagger, dart, or even thrown vials of acid/alchemist fire when he wants to attack without expending a spell slot. If the caster *looks* like spends 30 or 40 percent of his actions using sly, underhanded "wizard weapons" instead of blasting pew-pew-laser, it changes the tone of the encounter.
* Add a "level tax" to spells of extremely "loud" magic schools. Maybe evocations or transmutations are harder than illusions and necromancy. Casters work through deception and curses, they don't blow things up or turn people into frogs.
* Add a cost: more sanity rolls, spending hit points to cast, picking up levels of exhaustion if you cast too many spells too fast.

All of these ideas make a wizard (or sorcerer, or what-have-you) strictly weaker than they would be otherwise, so I might make up for that by providing some special skill use for Intimidation or Knowledge. People might be *terrified* of magic and the wizard can daunt them easily. Or maybe you can borrow some of the knowledge-based "help my party fight better" abilities like the Archivist from Heroes of Horror. It's a different class at that point, but I think you would feel a lot more like a wizard in a Conan story and less like a superhero.

Hope that helps--and I'll say you've given me an idea for something we ought to touch on the next time we work up some Thule player content!

Oh, and for the GM Screen, send a note to sasquatchgamestudio. We can probably help you out.

Rich

Those are some pretty clever ideas! Great answer! I can't wait to start running Thule!

Thanks a lot, Rich! You're the man! Best wishes on all your upcoming projects!


Luis

 

[Rich Baker]

Hello Richard,

For the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting hardback, I am given to understand that the book was overwritten by a 100 pages or so, and that the remaining content barely fit within the allotted page count.

If this is correct, do you recall what happened to the remaining material? I'd assumed it was folded into future books, but never knew for sure.

Thanks very much for participating in this AMA!

Happy to be here, Sanishiver!

I have to be honest, I don't recall a huge amount of material on the cutting room floor. I went and argued for expanding the book by 32 pages (it was originally supposed to be 288), and we used a super-dense typography that increased the word count by 40,000 or 50,000 words over a typical layout (so, close to another 64 pages worth of material, really). There may have been some bits that were saved for Magic of Faerun, but I don't recall anything specific -- it was 15 years ago, after all!


Rich

 

[benensky]

Rich,

Also a Phillies Fan so you were my favorite WoC employee and now are my favorite ex-WoC employee. Will Sasquatch Games have a booth at Gen Con? Will you be there? If so, will you post your schedule at the booth on the Sasquatch site when you know it? I would like to get my 5E Primeval Thule Setting Book signed and talk to you about it.

I was glad to be in on the 5E Primeval Thule Kickstarter and the more I look it over the campaign setting the more I like it. I am thinking of running it in the future. I was glad to hear you have more adventures and a Kickstarter coming up. Hope it is available at the booth if you have one at Gen Con. I f you plan to have a seminar there would you give me a heads up so I can schedule it on the 15th?

Finally, if you plan to be at Gen Con do you want me to bring along some Philly/South Jersey stuff for you like Fralinger's Saltwater Taffies, Tastykakes or a Phillies cap?

 

[smiteworks]

Pretzels!!!

 

[Rich Baker]

Rich,

Also a Phillies Fan so you were my favorite WoC employee and now are my favorite ex-WoC employee. Will Sasquatch Games have a booth at Gen Con? Will you be there? If so, will you post your schedule at the booth on the Sasquatch site when you know it? I would like to get my 5E Primeval Thule Setting Book signed and talk to you about it.

I was glad to be in on the 5E Primeval Thule Kickstarter and the more I look it over the campaign setting the more I like it. I am thinking of running it in the future. I was glad to hear you have more adventures and a Kickstarter coming up. Hope it is available at the booth if you have one at Gen Con. I f you plan to have a seminar there would you give me a heads up so I can schedule it on the 15th?

Finally, if you plan to be at Gen Con do you want me to bring along some Philly/South Jersey stuff for you like Fralinger's Saltwater Taffies, Tastykakes or a Phillies cap?

Nice to meet another Phillies fan! Yes, we will be at GenCon. We're in Booth 674 (back by the art show). I will be at GenCon and probably around our booth about 50 percent of the time during Exhibit Hall hours, but I don't know the exact schedule yet. And thank you for supporting us with 5e Thule! I'll be happy to sign your book -- and I bet Dave and Steve would too.

I thank you for your offer of Philly paraphenalia, but I'm okay. The Jersey Mikes out here now carry Tastykake. I'd ask for a cheesesteak (provolone, not Cheeze Whiz) but I think it wouldn't travel well.

Rich

 

[DerekSTheRed]

RE: 5E Birthright
Blooded scion as a race sounds interesting, but how would you handle things like blood theft? 5E races tend to give abilities that are important in low levels but less so in later ones. 2E Blooded Scions had the whole Blood Score which fed into how many blood abilities and how many Regency points a character got each domain turn. If you did a 5E Birthright today, how would you handle Blood Score if at all?

 

[smiteworks]

I wouldn't think you'd have to spend as much time on balance of a 5E Birthright campaign with existing classes because it is supposed to be in it's own setting. It reminds me a bit about how AD&D Darksun characters were just more powerful than their non-Darksun counterparts.