Ronin Arts -- Player Input Needed on Demiplanes Project [merged]

[philreed]

Ronin Arts -- Player Input Needed on Demiplanes Project

I sometimes forget I'm not working on books these days.

I've posted two sample layouts at www.creationcrash.com -- both of the current text of one demiplane. These include one piece of art (but not Christopher's color piece) and are close to the final text.

What I'd like to know is: Would people rather have the all-color version used in the final PDF or the more minimalist design? The color one looks good but the final PDF would be huge. The minimalist design is ready for POD -- no extra work needed so both would be available at the same time.

Also, we're finding a flaw in the original planning. At the level of detail we want to give each demiplane 24 in one book would be ineffective as a PDF. So what we're thinking, instead, is to break it into 3 64-80 page PDFs.

If this is a project you're interested in please head over to the site and check the sample PDFs. Please give us your input so that we can shape this into a PDF (or PDFs) that will get a lot of use in your games. Also, if you know any DMs of planar games you might encourage them to also checkout the PDFs and provide their input on the project.

Thanks!

 

[Cergorach]

It's not as if the minimalist version is bad, it's just that the color version is more pleasing to the eyes. I think that the hugeness of the file is exaturated, multiple backgrounds that are the same would only be saved once.

PS. i like the header font berk ;-)

 

[philreed]

DMs of Planar Games -- We need your input . . .

Ronin Arts is working on A DM's Directory of Demiplanes. We've posted a free demiplane PDF at www.creationcrash.com -- two PDFs of the same demiplane, actually.

All I'll say here is go grab a free demiplane. Please read the text at the site and, if you like, answer the two questions.

Thanks, guys.

 

[JoeGKushner]

What two questions? On the PDF or the website? I just snagged 'em and didn't even see the questions.

Page 1:
"Many religious groups that worship gods of Lawful Good..." Could be "Many religious groups that worship Lawful Good gods..."


on the Keeper, I have a request and some questions.

Page 6: Keeper question
1. Can the initiative bonus be listed? (+4 Dex)? It always bothers me that companies put the bonus under armor class for example, but never under initiative.

2. It has a hardness rating of 20. Shouldn't that be a damage reduction like a standard construct?

3. Can a stat block be put at the end of the description for ease of use when cutting & pasting?

 

[RogueRonin]

I'm not registered over at that site so in case you check this thread again, here's my input. I like layout 2, the color isn't needed and is harder to print. Also, three smaller pdf's with all the planar info would be better than one big file with info missing.

 

[jmucchiello]

I like the plainer planar file. [ducks]

 

[Pielorinho]

Moderator's Notes:
Scootin' on over to the Publisher's forum....

[edit: And merged with the thread already in that forum ]
Daniel

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Thanks for the free demiplane!

I loved the look of the first one, but I found reading the second one much easier. (My eyes are 38+ years old and I need stronger glasses every year.)

I also thought that the lighthouse illustration itself stood out much better in black and white, and that's a good thing because it's what the product is all about, yes?

I'd personally rather buy two pdfs than three, if I bought this product, but that's because I'm lazy and hate multiple downloads.

 

[x12b20]

What two questions? On the PDF or the website? I just snagged 'em and didn't even see the questions.

Page 1:
"Many religious groups that worship gods of Lawful Good..." Could be "Many religious groups that worship Lawful Good gods..."


on the Keeper, I have a request and some questions.

Page 6: Keeper question
1. Can the initiative bonus be listed? (+4 Dex)? It always bothers me that companies put the bonus under armor class for example, but never under initiative.

2. It has a hardness rating of 20. Shouldn't that be a damage reduction like a standard construct?

3. Can a stat block be put at the end of the description for ease of use when cutting & pasting?

Thanks for the input. Here's the answers:

Page 1: Phil is working on the War of Alignments section and we felt it was more important to emphasize the alignments in the book; it is the alignment that defines the gods, not the gods that define the alignment in this case.

Page 6:
1. Initiative is the second line of the statblock.

2. I based the Keepers on animated objects rather than other constructs such as golems. In any case, I prefer hardness as it is more potent than damage reduction as the following examples from the SRD illustrate:

Damage Reduction (Ex or Su): A creature with this special quality ignores damage from most weapons and natural attacks. Wounds heal immediately, or the weapon bounces off harmlessly (in either case, the opponent knows the attack was ineffective). The creature takes normal damage from energy attacks (even nonmagical ones), spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. A certain kind of weapon can sometimes damage the creature normally, as noted below.

Hardness (Ex): Each object has hardness—a number that represents how well it resists damage. Whenever an object takes damage, subtract its hardness from the damage. Only damage in excess of its hardness is deducted from the object’s hit points.
Energy Attacks: Acid and sonic attacks deal damage to most objects just as they do to creatures; roll damage and apply it normally after a successful hit. Electricity and fire attacks deal half damage to most objects; divide the damage dealt by 2 before applying the hardness. Cold attacks deal one-quarter damage to most objects; divide the damage dealt by 4 before applying the hardness.
Ranged Weapon Damage: Objects take half damage from ranged weapons (unless the weapon is a siege engine or something similar). Divide the damage dealt by 2 before applying the object’s hardness.

I included Hardness' effects on energy attacks against the Keepers in the statblock, but now that you point it out, I will include the effect on ranged weapon damage as well.

3. We're sticking with the SRD monster write-up format on this one as it works better with the print version.

 

[Baron Opal]

I, too, would prefer two books of 12 planes each. I think that would be "meaty" enough for me. The clockwork tower is a great start. I like how the color-version looks, but the b/w would probably be what I prefer. I realize that getting artwork is difficult, but a couple of small, 1/6th page illustrations in the text would make up for the lack of formatting nicely, I think. Particularly a picture of a keeper, in this case.

I have a color printer, but when I print things out it is almost always b/w. I save color for covers and special handouts.

Baron Opal