[Bad Axe Games] Looking for an evangelist or three...

[Wulf Ratbane]

Agreed.

Thanks.

What's your e-mail addy? I'll send one right away.

The G'nasch in me requires you to prove yourself capable of overcoming the minor obstacle of emailing me in order to prove your worthiness to receive the file.

You got a problem with that, take it up with G'Naen Sh'Gar herself.

 

[C. Baize]

The G'nasch in me requires you to prove yourself capable of overcoming the minor obstacle of emailing me in order to prove your worthiness to receive the file.

You got a problem with that, take it up with G'Naen Sh'Gar herself.

Bah!

Didn't even break a sweat with that challenge!
What kind of G'nunk are you?

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Bah!

Didn't even break a sweat with that challenge!
What kind of G'nunk are you?

The sad part is that, even with the bar set so low, it seems to have filtered Rodrigo out.

I'm still waiting for his email.

But Nature is a cruel mistress.

 

[C. Baize]

The sad part is that, even with the bar set so low, it seems to have filtered Rodrigo out.

I'm still waiting for his email.

But Nature is a cruel mistress.

Well.. okay... my clicky finger worked a little...

Mmm... I wonder how many people unfamiliar with Starflight thought we were being rude to each other?

 

[C. Baize]

[Evangelical mode]

In a two word summary I have to say:

I approve.

To elaborate on this...
As a random critter generator with names and such inspired by the Starflight Universe, it works great.
It also piques my curiosity as to the 'larger plan' Wulf Ratbane has alluded to, and if that might not at least partially explain my difficulty in obtaining licensing information regarding the Starflight Universe for use with the D20 Future system....
If there were a thing I'd wish for it would be the capacity for further GM laziness with the ability to tweak the critters within the program by raising or lowering particular attributes such as hit dice, or stats...
Honestly, though... that's not a necessary component, and I'm pretty darn happy with the product as is.
Quite excellent, so far.

Give me a few days to really mess with it, and figure some stuff out with it... seeing what I can and can't do, and I'll elaborate further...

My initial reaction, however, is "Holy smokes! This is GREAT!" And beyond the 'nifty cool' factor is the fact that this is definitely going to prove to be a well used product in gaming preparations.

My thanks and applause go out to Wulf Ratbane!

Well done!

[/Evangelical Mode]

 

[Olive]

Poo. I would have loved to get this, and I'm super broke right now. And I just started doing a d20 Future game...

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

The sad part is that, even with the bar set so low, it seems to have filtered Rodrigo out.

I'm still waiting for his email.

But Nature is a cruel mistress.

Sorry, Wulf. Stupid frakin' users -- had to go out to a client site to *copy a damned file to their USB stick*. Email sent.

BTW, Starflight I was the first computer game I ever bought with my own money. It ran on a dual-5.25" floppy PC, and it re-wrote the executables when things changed -- no save games. I had to stop every half-hour to make backup copies of the floppys, cause if the game crashed, it got corrupted and you had to start over from the beginning. Despite this, I still finished it, and it still ranks as one of the best damned computer games ever.

 

[beverson]

And now a word from Evangelist number 2...

It didn't take me long to figure out that this will be one very useful tool for my campaign. No need to slave over creation of countless types of alien flora and fauna for me, no sir. One click and I've got a new one ready to go. The PDF is also a nice reference for creature abilities, and I really like the breakdown for methods of classification. It's an easy way to get an idea for what type of creature you're dealing with, in just a couple of words.

Mechanically, I did find one problem with the spreadsheet. For some creatures that have a large number of racial bonuses to skills, there isn't enough room in the display area to see them all. It's a simple enough fix, but with the sheet protected with a password, that falls on the creators.

Otherwise, the only other negative that I can find is that you really need to go into this tool with an open mind and no preconceptions. Some of the creatures generated will make people scratch their heads and say "how can an amorphous plant have a charge attack?" But you have to think of the classifications in broader terms. Not all plants are rooted to the ground, and there can certainly be a vicious quadriped that has more plantlike qualities than animal qualities. Once you get past that (if you even have to), this is a great tool for my own uses, and I'm sure many other GM's will agree.

We now return you to your thread, already in progress...

 

[C. Baize]

And now a word from Evangelist number 2...

It didn't take me long to figure out that this will be one very useful tool for my campaign. No need to slave over creation of countless types of alien flora and fauna for me, no sir. One click and I've got a new one ready to go. The PDF is also a nice reference for creature abilities, and I really like the breakdown for methods of classification. It's an easy way to get an idea for what type of creature you're dealing with, in just a couple of words.

Mechanically, I did find one problem with the spreadsheet. For some creatures that have a large number of racial bonuses to skills, there isn't enough room in the display area to see them all. It's a simple enough fix, but with the sheet protected with a password, that falls on the creators.

Otherwise, the only other negative that I can find is that you really need to go into this tool with an open mind and no preconceptions. Some of the creatures generated will make people scratch their heads and say "how can an amorphous plant have a charge attack?" But you have to think of the classifications in broader terms. Not all plants are rooted to the ground, and there can certainly be a vicious quadriped that has more plantlike qualities than animal qualities. Once you get past that (if you even have to), this is a great tool for my own uses, and I'm sure many other GM's will agree.

We now return you to your thread, already in progress...

From a "It's life, Jim, but not as we know it!" standpoint.... Why shouldn't an amorphous plant have a charge attack? (brings to mind the petrolatum creature from the book and movie Phantoms... that was amorphous and definitely had a charge attack)
PCs won't see that coming the first time...
And after that, they won't take that blob of mossy looking substance for granted ever again. Whether it's the same type of plant, or not.
Here's where being descriptive can really set your players on edge...
Describe all the vegetation (to a degree... don't try to describe it like Tolkien would, but call attention to everything, and therefor nothing), and don't forget that gestaltic rock critter from Galaxy Quest, too...

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Otherwise, the only other negative that I can find is that you really need to go into this tool with an open mind and no preconceptions. Some of the creatures generated will make people scratch their heads and say "how can an amorphous plant have a charge attack?" But you have to think of the classifications in broader terms. Not all plants are rooted to the ground, and there can certainly be a vicious quadriped that has more plantlike qualities than animal qualities. Once you get past that (if you even have to), this is a great tool for my own uses, and I'm sure many other GM's will agree.

Hmm, while I don't disagree you have to be open minded, I actually think that one's kind of easy:

Big mass of creeping mold.

Actually, all of the Plant-type creatures it generates have SOME kind of movement rate-- otherwise they are not much of a challenge.

But if you can wrap your mind around the concept of a treant, a shambling mound, or a vegepygmy, you'll realize there are some dangerous ambulatory plants...


Wulf