Immortals Handbook: Ascension 3.5E Print version...do you want one?

[MazzelDazzle]

As a Non-Regular, I'll happily pay my way. I've been a long time admirer of your work. Even if you're selling them at-cost, I definitely want to support the history of IH past and future

 

[Amsur27]

Hi, I am also very interested: I will pay what is necessary to get a copy of the 3.5E Immortals Handbook: Ascension!

 

[Beefermatic]

You have to take the good with the bad and roll with it amigo.

Definitely

Ascension is 162 pages but might bump it up to 168-176 ish. Have some extra artwork.

Nice!

I appreciate it Beefy!

Np!

What annoys me is that in 1st Ed. the Monster Manuals and Deities & Demigods would have 4 monsters or gods per page. Now, if lucky I can get one epic monster onto 2 pages.

Imagine I do a book that includes the Umbrals...its going to be 30 pages of shadowy blob monsters, whereas in the past you could probably squeeze that into 5-6 pages in 1st Ed.

Yeah you'll probably need to condense that, a few pages is fine, but unless it's like the various Starshadow, Quasar, Firmament, Mirrorwarp etc dragons or something, generally no one wants to read 15 pages of "Skeletons" for example. Much less 30.

Those two books will be amazing...eventually. Just hoping I don't turn it into three books in 2023.

But 5E does appear to be extremely playable at crazy levels* - whereas in contrast I just think 3.5E has WAY too many feats/divine abilities/spells/skills/metamagic and its just going to put typical gamers off...and I know you guys are not typical gamers (neither was I back in my pomp).

*You see a lot of threads where someone says 5E is unplayable at high level, but if you examine what they are saying; 75% of the time its that the monsters are not challenging...mine will be.

You know, I agree to a degree, but I think there is a solid niche market for people who really enjoy the long character sheets with incredible power. The main issue I've seen and had to deal with running multiple IH campaigns is a lack of counterbalance.

And sometimes abilities not working with pre-established conventions.

So, for example, the 3.5 Epic Handbooks half cocked magic system and the Ascension magic system in tandem allows for hundreds of spells to be cast per round, and it can get extremely pedantic and game breaking, or the 7th 8th 9th etc Sense powers. I've had to totally rewrite those to make them playable, and invariably you get "clever" players who think they'll make some unstoppable cheese character by going down that path and I'll have to argue with them and they get disappointed.

So that's mainly what I've seen, people, once they're in really like the system, and I've had no issue getting a solid player base, it's mainly just reining in the broken powers and redefining and redesigning them that's been problematic I find.

 

[Geminisaga777]

I also want the bestiary 23.5E Immortals Handbook, I loved the first one...it works sooo amazing! completely changed my epic levels

 

[Upper_Krust]

Yeah you'll probably need to condense that, a few pages is fine, but unless it's like the various Starshadow, Quasar, Firmament, Mirrorwarp etc dragons or something, generally no one wants to read 15 pages of "Skeletons" for example. Much less 30.

Even if I make them interesting with unique mechanics, I don't think its a good use of space. Maybe Umbral in general works best as a Template.

I have a few minor Umbral elements in the new 5E book as well as this really cool (I hope) Umbral War idea that is going on which I think is a great jumping on point for Byssal adventures. But I will explain that in the book.

You know, I agree to a degree, but I think there is a solid niche market for people who really enjoy the long character sheets with incredible power.

I know. But its a niche (epic) within a niche (super-dense stat-blocks of 3E) and if you can get the exact same "feeling" of epic play but narrow the focus so you don't have to remember a big laundry list of abilities/options, then I think its a step in the right direction in terms of opening it up to more people to try.

Demogorgon is remembered for his Gaze Attacks, Tentacle Rot and Tail Energy Drain, not his spell attacks, feats and divine abilities (arguably you could even say his Gaze, Tentacle & Tail attacks are his divine abilities though).

The main issue I've seen and had to deal with running multiple IH campaigns is a lack of counterbalance.

And sometimes abilities not working with pre-established conventions.

[/QUOTE]

I always maintained I thought it was functionally balanced up until Greater God levels. But certainly you have seen vastly far more 3.5E immortal games than me, so I would defer to you on that point.

So, for example, the 3.5 Epic Handbooks half cocked magic system and the Ascension magic system in tandem allows for hundreds of spells to be cast per round, and it can get extremely pedantic and game breaking, or the 7th 8th 9th etc Sense powers.

Yeah there are things I am converting over to 5E and you just think how the heck can I make this or that crazy power actually feasible at the game table...then you do.

I've had to totally rewrite those to make them playable, and invariably you get "clever" players who think they'll make some unstoppable cheese character by going down that path and I'll have to argue with them and they get disappointed.

Epic Players are, either directly or indirectly, Power Gamers. One of the new dynamics planned in 5E gives DMs a LOT more of a carte blanche approach to pushing back onto PCs and creating super-tough encounters.

So that's mainly what I've seen, people, once they're in really like the system, and I've had no issue getting a solid player base, it's mainly just reining in the broken powers and redefining and redesigning them that's been problematic I find.

I think even at high level 5E though, which has only a fraction of the complications of 3.5E, which itself has only a fraction of the working parts of 3.5E ultra high level, players (and DMs) can get bogged down with too many options and there will be a tipping point of this 'game breadth/depth' where you just lose them. My goal is to minimise that risk but still have every Divine Rank mean something.

 

[Obly99]

Ok, count me in

 

[Upper_Krust]

I have the Ascension text ready except for page 2. The Contents page which I will need to redo when I add the new artwork (which will bump the page count up slightly). Should get Ascension all done for Sunday/Monday. Got one of my 5E digital artists working on the cover for Immortals Handbook: GODS and that will likely draw my attention a bit (no pun intended) as the devil is always in the details.

 

[Beefermatic]

I have the Ascension text ready except for page 2. The Contents page which I will need to redo when I add the new artwork (which will bump the page count up slightly). Should get Ascension all done for Sunday/Monday. Got one of my 5E digital artists working on the cover for Immortals Handbook: GODS and that will likely draw my attention a bit (no pun intended) as the devil is always in the details.

Wow awesome! I look forward to it.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Minor update to show the art I am adding to Ascension (Above is the Epic Cleric of Thor - which replaces the original Mortal Viking image). Progress is going good but it's taking about 40-50 minutes of repainting each illustration and there are 30 new illustrations so going to take an extra 2-3 days (as I am working tomorrow), I have about 15 already completed - including the one above. But very smooth sailing, adding 8 new pages of illustrations to the Portfolio chapter which was a mega text dump so it really needed some illustrations to break up the wall of text.

 

[Beefermatic]

View attachment 270027

Minor update to show the art I am adding to Ascension (Above is the Epic Cleric of Thor - which replaces the original Mortal Viking image). Progress is going good but it's taking about 40-50 minutes of repainting each illustration and there are 30 new illustrations so going to take an extra 2-3 days (as I am working tomorrow), I have about 15 already completed - including the one above. But very smooth sailing, adding 8 new pages of illustrations to the Portfolio chapter which was a mega text dump so it really needed some illustrations to break up the wall of text.

Oh that's fucxing wicked man! I love it!

 

[THExFALLEN]

I'd like a copy for sure. ^.^

 

[Upper_Krust]

I ordered the mailers and some bubble wrap pouches. So the books should be well protected in shipping. Still not sure what the postage costs will be. I assume most of you are in North America? Once I get the books I can wrap one and take it to the post office to get weighed and see what the cost is.

 

[Beefermatic]

I ordered the mailers and some bubble wrap pouches. So the books should be well protected in shipping. Still not sure what the postage costs will be. I assume most of you are in North America? Once I get the books I can wrap one and take it to the post office to get weighed and see what the cost is.

Sounds good man, let us know.

 

[MazzelDazzle]

Aye aye sir!

 

[Upper_Krust]

Got the mailers from Amazon today. Won't have the bubble wrap pouches for 2 weeks though (although it will take that long to get the books printed anyway).

I have put the 2nd Edition High-level rulebook (it was the closest book to hand with 192 pages) inside one of the mailers and I will take it down to the post office tomorrow and see what the postage cost would be for North America.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey guys,

good news, bad news.

So I went to the post office and found out the shipping costs which are (converted to dollars)

UK: $7
Europe: $13
North America: $30...yes 30. I knew they were high but not that flipping ridiculous.

That figure is unacceptable. So my plan (such as it is) will be to contact the Printer (Mixam) and get them to fulfill the 10 books going to North America rather than me shipping them myself. Mixam have printers in North America so they might just print and ship them from there.

So I won't get to sign the books but the main thing is you'll still get the books.

I haven't spoken to Mixam yet, so I don't know exactly how much shipping will cost but there's no way it will be anything close to $30.

 

[Alzrius]

North America: $30...yes 30. I knew they were high but not that flipping ridiculous.

Wow, that's crazy! I wonder why that is; I've ordered books from across the pond before (via Blackwell's, albeit only for a small paperback), and the shipping was nowhere near that much (in fact, looking back, it was free shipping; even if that was factored into the cost of the book, though, it was still less than half of the figure quoted here).

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey Alzrius mate,

Wow, that's crazy! I wonder why that is;

Transatlantic shipping costs from here to North America almost doubled during the Pandemic. Clearly things haven't reverted back to previous tariffs.

I've ordered books from across the pond before (via Blackwell's, albeit only for a small paperback), and the shipping was nowhere near that much (in fact, looking back, it was free shipping; even if that was factored into the cost of the book, though, it was still less than half of the figure quoted here).

Was that recently or pre-2020?

 

[Alzrius]

Was that recently or pre-2020?

It was four months ago, back in August.

 

[Upper_Krust]

It was four months ago, back in August.

Really. Wow! I don't know how these companies are getting such low shipping rates.

When I researched posting my graphic novel a year or two ago there was definitely savings to be made doing bulk shipping (setting up a Business Parcel Delivery Account, where you ship more than 20 items each week.). Presumably when you scale that up in factors incrementally the postage costs keep coming down and down.

Actually, I just went back online to the Royal Mail and its telling me international parcel delivery to the USA is approx. $10 (for under 1 kg - the girl at my post office weighed it at 800 grams or something around that).

So something is totally amiss here. Maybe I just need to open a Business account with the Royal Mail to get this different rate.

Looking at their official pdf. (where I assume I have to add item + weight costs - its not totally clear)

Under Non-personal Correspondence Parcels
Untracked to USA = $15
Tracked to USA = $21

Under Legacy Zonal Services International Business Tracked & Signed to the USA they are saying = $29 (and change) which seems identical to the figure I was given.

I wasn't given untracked or simply just the tracked option at the post office.

I dunno. At this point getting the Printer to fulfill the book shipping seems the best option anyway.