What are we doing wrong

What stopped you entering the Backara Competition

  • I havent downloaded the Herald

    Votes: 46 86.8%
  • I didn't see any competition in the Herald

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • The Competition was To hard

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I already own the prize

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • See below

    Votes: 7 13.2%

  • Poll closed .
alsih2o: the herald is set to standard paper settings its designed to be read and printed hence if you print it out wouldnt you complain if we only used half the page.

then again since Im not a publisher and the backara team is a team of volunteer fans we probably are not best to answer that paticular problem.

Though its an intresting suggestion we have thought about making online archive so that people do not have to download the whole thing.
 

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I had never heard of Bakhara.

After some of the comments made here, I was intrigued.

The editing does indeed need some help. The writing is ok. I'm just not a fan of e-zines. I usually find very little in the way of original or inspirational content.

Best of luck.
 

Again, dead mundane content. The whole thing strikes me as an attempt to take a fairly ordinary, run-of-the-mill campaign and get validation for it by getting other people to play it.

You probably hit a nerve with me here but I would like to persue that dead mundane bit.

You have said it twice now and in fact your the only person who has every said Backara was mundane.

Our two biggest complaints is the lack of magic or rather the limiting of magic and the grammer which we do know about and have been trying to correct.

So by mundane do you mean that the setting is unintresting to you or is it as I suspect the low magic that makes it mundane.

Why is it mundane?

sorry to take this off topic as it was meant to be why don't we get competition entries which has nothing to do with the setting.
 

First of all, I had never heard of Backara until now, so add me to the "Haven't heard of it" group.

So far, I really haven't found anything of interest or utility in the eZine. It seems very mundane, suitable for a more realistic medieval campaign. However, even then, it doesn't have terribly much in it to inspire a campaign or an adventure.

The goblin article showed promise, and they are interesting variations, but I think you need to rethink they're stats a little bit. First of all, you are using d6 instead of the standard d8. You are also missing their ability scores. Also, a CR 4 for Mortans? They average 12 hit points, do a little bit better than average damage, have fairly unremarkable saves, and have a mild paralytic poison (which also needs to be revised using the DMG). I'm not sure what would justify such a large CR.

Aserial the Half-Fiend/Half-Elf is....well...uh...he's a Half-Fiend/Half-Elf! Really not much meat on this NPC's bones, other than a brief mention of a spell that got him to this state. And yet he's an epic level character! Also, is Magi different from Wizard in your campaign? If not, you should use the d20 conventions of Wizard or Wiz. I haven't checked his stats throughly, so I can't tell you how accurate they are, but for a character who you say is going to be important to the campaign, he's got a rather dull history.

The remainder: Backaran Laws, Cistrean College, and a guide to measurements in the realm feel like filler material. It's very uninspired, and not something that adds to my campaign. Maybe in a more realistic or gritty campaign, but even then, where is the hook to provide interest. It appears that you want the material to be taken very seriously in a historical vein, yet there is a definite lack of depth.

The college, in particular, is very incomplete. I have a good sense of the layout of the college itself, but I know nothing about their aims, leaders or rivals. What benefits does one get by joining the college? What would I expect my duties or tasks to be? Is this strictly for NPCs? If not, is there a Prestige Class tied to it?

Finally, it's been said before. The grammar is incredibly bad. It's not one or two errors here and there. You only need to read the first few paragraphs to find mistakes, and they persist throughout the entire document. Get someone to edit it ASAP!
 
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mun·dane adj.
1. Of, relating to, or typical of this world; secular.
2. Relating to, characteristic of, or concerned with commonplaces; ordinary.

Seems a pretty clear word to me.

First, I find that Backara is entirely too much like our world. I have no problem with low-magic, but why make it so much like a historical Earth? Why not make it a place of mystery and wonder?

Second, I find that Backara is no more interesting than any other homebrew campaign world I've ever heard of. To catch my eye, a campaign world not only has to be better than average, it has to have something that mine doesn't have. I find that neither of these are true.
 

Gurgi, if you would prefer to receive feedback via email instead of in a public forum (as suggested in your first post), please let people know!
 

thanks TiQuinn & Vaxalon, for opnions honest and on the whole useful critism,

TiQuinn you maybe intrested to know the goblins were heavily talked about on mortality.net where we have our forums.

The grammer has come up again but we have already said we are working towards that. As for why is it so similar it is in many ways but last time I checked we didnt have a bunch of werewolves starting wars or did they I forget....

We want to add the medivial (early rennaisance) bits in but I don't think its very like medivial europe certainly not how it was taught to me.

The college article that TiQuinn picked up on was I have to admit last minute filler that said it wasnt about the College but rather a group assosiated with said college....

The setting is being improved all the time there are now 12 people working on it.

All spellings are by the way in UK english or if you prefer international english.

now in an attempt to get back on track. Its the competition I'm concerned about it has been downloaded now 1235 at last count 20 minutes ago which 200 of you I'm guessing from this board so big thanks there.
Last issue was downloaded over 2000 times and yet only 4 entries.
So far we have had 2 for this month so its really case of is there a problem not with the setting but whats wrong with the contest?
 

well comments about grammer have been done to death though if you feel you do need to make a point of how bad the grammer is you can email any suggestions or offers of editing to access@backara.org after the backara.co.uk emails crashed :(

but yes can u comment here on what you would like to see to improve the competition rather then our current editors grammer:)
 


as to the contest, it could be the restrictions- non-magical, no elementals, constructs or outsiders.

what do you mean by non-magical? do fey count here? monstrous humanoids(supernatural abilities)? shapechangers? seems undead would be out.

this leaves vermin, animals and beasts, most of which have been done to death. aberations and dragons and giants.

maybe open the contest up completely or narrow it to one monster type. either one of these might help future contests.

i like these contests and will probably enter this one. the critique i put forth is simply that, critique. most people cal it "constructive critcism" which is a term i don't like :)
 

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