I’m not dead yet…..sticking with 3.5

[Darrin Drader]

I'm afraid that the panels were named by the convention staff. Our involvement was to simply show up and discuss what we had going on and share our expertise on the subject. It was a good panel.

 

[Jack99]

So, I attended this seminar today (along with Mearls, Bart Carroll, Peter Schaefer, and Logan Bonner). It was a chance for Chris Pramas to promote GR's upcoming offerings, a chance for SKR and Bulmahn to talk about Pathfinder, and a chance for Wolf Baur to talk about Kobold Quarterly. Nothing nefarious, or controversial. Just those guys talking about their products. Darrin Drader was there, too, talking about...freelancing for those guys, I guess? He and SKR didn't say a ton, and I got called out in the middle of it to answer some Star Wars questions.

I think Wolf (or whoever organized it, but Wolf was the moderator) probably should have called it "the OGL isn't dead yet" because of the discussions only two product lines--the current Pathfinder modules and Kobold Quarterly--are truly producing new 3.5 material. True20/M&M is decidedly an OGL spinoff, and Pathfinder (while billed as "as close to 3.5 as possible") is still an unknown quantity to the world at large. Still, the content would largely be the same no matter what it's called.

It was a chance for the guys to talk about the games they like/make. Nothing dastardly about that!

Also, afterward Bulmahn joined us for beers. Hooray beer!

What I want to know is this: With all you fine geeks together, who is the biggest (geek) of you all?

Oh, and who can drink the most beer? I am danish after all, so a credential like that might very well make me buy more of that person's products

 

[RodneyThompson]

What I want to know is this: With all you fine geeks together, who is the biggest (geek) of you all?

Jason Bulmahn is a titan of a man, towering above us all. I, on the other hand, am one of the wee folk.

As for title of Biggest Geek (assuming you mean Most Geeky), there would be a fierce competition from most all of the panelists and audience members. Let's just say that before the panel had been over 2 minutes we were having an argument in the hallway about Star Trek.

Oh, and who can drink the most beer? I am danish after all, so a credential like that might very well make me buy more of that person's products

Since I've never been drinking with Wolf, Sean or Darren, I can't give this a fair call. Of the rest, I'd say Jason probably comes in at #1 here. He's just got the body mass that soaks it up. I think next would probably be a toss up between Mearls and I, and Pramas would give us a run for our money, I'd bet. He's a wily one, and there are lots of nice bars he knows about in Seattle.

 

[Mark]

I'm afraid that the panels were named by the convention staff. Our involvement was to simply show up and discuss what we had going on and share our expertise on the subject. It was a good panel.

Darrin - Would you recap here what you have been up to, what's coming up, and how you feel the freelancer environment is different from pre-4E days? Thank you.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Jason Bulmahn is a titan of a man, towering above us all.

Bigger'n Gareth Michael Skarka?

 

[dmccoy1693]

Darrin - Would you recap here what you have been up to, what's coming up, and how you feel the freelancer environment is different from pre-4E days? Thank you.

Other than the Pathfinder adventure with his name on it that should be heading my way any day now.

 

[Darrin Drader]

What I want to know is this: With all you fine geeks together, who is the biggest (geek) of you all?

Oh, and who can drink the most beer? I am danish after all, so a credential like that might very well make me buy more of that person's products

Geekiness is difficult to quantify. It's also been years since I've actually wanted to test my tolerances for alcohol.

As for title of Biggest Geek (assuming you mean Most Geeky), there would be a fierce competition from most all of the panelists and audience members. Let's just say that before the panel had been over 2 minutes we were having an argument in the hallway about Star Trek.

Was I part of that? I beat a hasty retreat from that panel so I could meet up with an old friend I almost never get to see.

Darrin - Would you recap here what you have been up to, what's coming up, and how you feel the freelancer environment is different from pre-4E days? Thank you.

What have I been up to?

A good amount of Paizo stuff.

Reign of Discordia - that was written a year ago for the True20 system and now we're expanding it out to the Traveller system. Several other projects which are still in the unannounced stages.

I've never been the best gauge for the freelance environment on the whole. I've never been the guy to toil away on a product for four months, wait a year for it to get published, and then never get paid because the company goes under. (OK, that did in fact happen once, but I try not to think about that too much).

Overall, my assessment is that right now most of the companies providing freelance work for 3.5 (and related systems) are the ones who were providing work for the same in the last year before the release of 4E. However, the hesitancy to commit to new 3.5/OGL products doesn't seem to be there like there was before. There's a lot of interest in the Pathfinder compatibility license and there's more interest in different systems altogether (Traveller, Runequest, Shadowrun, etc.) than I've seen since before the release of 3E. Right now I have quite a bit on my plate, some of which pertains to the topic at hand, much of which does not.

Also, as already mentioned, be watching for Pathfinder AP's 3rd Legacy of Fire adventure as well as most of the monsters therein.