My complete PaizoCon schedule
almost 11 years ago – Sat, May 16, 2015 at 11:09:00 AM

Today, less than 2 weeks before Paizo Con begins, they added my last few events to the schedule. It's too late to get all of them into the printed program, but here's where you can find me hosting events during the convention:

Friday:

• Skybourne Demo Friday morning, 10:00–11:00 am • Cascade 10
• Spheres of Power Demo Friday afternoon, 1:00–2:00 pm • Cascade 8

Saturday:

• Spheres of Power Demo Saturday afternoon, 2:00–3:00 pm • Cascade 11

Sunday:

• Branding, Self-Knowledge, and Doing Your Homework: Thoughts on Beginning Game Design from an Actor's Perspective Sunday afternoon, 3:00–4:00 pm • Cascade 9
• Skybourne Demo Sunday afternoon, 5:00–6:00 pm • Cascade 11

Monday:

• Skybourne Demo Monday morning, 10:00–11:00 am • Evergreen 1
• Spheres of Power Demo Monday morning, 11:00 am–12:00 pm • Evergreen 1

The Spheres of Power demos will include a sneak peek of Wizard's Academy, while the Skybourne demos will show off the ship combat systems. Each event is only an hour long to make it easier to slip into your schedule, but depending on the event in question it shouldn't be hard to go over if people are having fun and want to keep it going. 

Even if you can't participate, feel free to stop by and say hi.

The Definitive Race Survey
almost 11 years ago – Sat, May 16, 2015 at 11:02:09 AM

We're moving through production and I've pretty much made up my mind on things, but since I value your feedback I wanted to one last hurrah for races before we move on to other things.

There is a survey here. Please rank the proposed Skybourne races from the ones you'd most like to see in the book to the ones you'd least like to see in the book.

Descriptions of each race are found below:

Leshy: Leshy were originally forest spirits, who found themselves much stronger with the coming of the great Forest. Curious about the outside world, these spirits have fashioned bodied for themselves out of the forest to help them explore. 

Cecaelia: Half-man, half-octopus, the cecaelia have never had a problem moving on land, but wIth the fall of the land empires have become moving to the shore in greater numbers, eager to carve out a new piece of the world.

Sidhier: The Sidhier are mortals with the blood of the fey planar royalty in their ancestry, similar to the Aasimar and Tiefling's angelic and demonic blood, and are similarly tied to the great planar powers of neutrality.

Alraune: As the forest consumed the world, it adapted parts of the old world into itself. The alraune are a race of humanoids literally born out of the forest, and are as multi-sided as the plants that spawned them.

Cherufe: The Cherufe are a brutish race of dinosaur men, similar to the other beast races, but born only recently. With strong hides, powerful jaws, and an affinity for magma, the Cherufe are a powerful new force in the world.  

The Created: The created are a race of artificially-crafted humanoids, crafted through magic to supply the wizards of the new world with servants. However, they have been created in such numbers that they have started to craft their own identity breaking free from bondage and heading off to forge their own paths among the skies.

The Spawn: The Spawn are a half-breed race, but instead of falling between two races, the are joint offspring of both life and death. Whether born from unlikely coupling or as necromantic experiments to adapt unlife to the new world, they are heirs to both worlds while being truly at home in either.  

Tatulani: The Tatulani came to the world through great planar gateways just before the cataclysm of the forest. Alien and insect-like, the Tatulani have been forced to make their homes in an alien, fallen world.

Fenghaung: Graceful avians born of flame, bringing the passion of their element to everything they do. Gifted with natural flight, they believe in the permanence of song and history over that of physical possessions.  

Simurgh: Not truly a dog, nor an angel, these chimeric beasts take flight on great wings. Loyal to those who they consider family, they form life-long packs. Some of their number are overwhelmed with wanderlust, seeking fame and satiating a burning curiosity. 

Cuazaj : These crystalline creatures were cast down from the heights of draconic realization and enlightenment in the dimensional wake of the will of the world. Though traces of their heritage remain, many ride the gusts in search of a means to reacquire all that they've lost.

Lekovod : These strange frogmen are aloof among the other races, but highly sought after for their precise understanding and control over air pressure—even the greatest alchemists and scientists are baffled by the speed of their lightning zeppelins (and what makes them tick).

Gen Con's invisible schedule
almost 11 years ago – Sat, May 16, 2015 at 10:46:04 AM

I've been waiting on a response from Gen Con about the Skybourne preview game (specifically about changing it from invisible to visible) and have realized that event registration is coming up and I forgot to announce it! 

Since spectators are welcome, I wanted to let you know that the Legends game, while not on the visible schedule, is happening on Saturday @ 2:00 PM, 3 hrs long, in the Crowne Plaza's Executive Boardroom. 

Hopefully it will be available soon to put on your timelines, but even if it never goes visible, it is on the schedule.

DDS at Paizo Con!
almost 11 years ago – Thu, May 07, 2015 at 10:18:35 AM

When the events for Paizo Con were announced, I noticed that none of the events I'd submitter were on the list. I asked Paizo and they said it was a mstake, and my events were promptly put back up. Thus, while it's a little later than usual, I wanted to let you know that I'll be running several events at Paizo Con!

I'll be running a Spheres of Power demo game on Friday, Saturday, and Monday, where you'll not only get to play Spheres of Power with me, but also get the chance to play a bit of Wizard's Academy. I tend to get a bit theatrical when I GM, so expect high-energy dramatics at the table. There should also be some demo games of Skybourne up on the schedule that aren't currently listed; I'll let you know as soon as those become available. 

Races and Backerkit
almost 11 years ago – Tue, Apr 21, 2015 at 07:41:36 AM

I was hoping to lock backerkit down two weeks ago, but there are still several people who haven't entered their information. Therefore, we will wait one more week until the 23rd before locking everything down, after which we'll start the fulfillment process, sending the Spheres of Power add-ons out that are currently ready, and sending the rest as they're made available. 

If you haven't entered your information into backerkit yet, please do so before that time.  

Flying Races

The results are in from the survey, and the majority of votes (over 50%) said they want to keep races out of Ships of Skybourne, which is definitely understandable. As for our discussion on races, it means that flying races will be listed right alongside all the others.  

Here's my problem: I love races. I love how influential they can be to both character creation and story. Which is why, between the races I've presented, the ones Mike Myler has talked about with me, and the ones David Silver has proposed when we were first talking about Ships of Skybourne, we have had a total of 12 proposed new races for Skybourne, and I don't really want to cut any of them. 

These proposals include:

• Sidhier- Mortal creatures with fairie ancestry, similar to the Aasimar or the tiefling.  
• Leshy- a race of plants that walk and act like men.
• Cecaelia- Similar to merfolk, these creatures sport the upper-half of a human and the lower half of an octopus.
• The Alraune: A race of humanoids birthed by the mixture of human blood and the forest's magic, creating a hybrid race between the two. 
• The Cherufe: Dinosaur men birthed in the forest. 
• The Created: Bio-constructs birthed as a race of workers who recently developed their own culture and identify.
• The Spawn: A half-undead race birthed in Andrus.
• The Tatulani: An alien race of insectoids stranded in the material plane during the cataclysm.
• Simurgh: A creature from earth-mythology with the body of a dog and the wings of a bird
• Fenghuang: A creature from earth-mythology referred to as the 'Chinese Pheonix'
• Name Pending: A race of frog-people immigrated from the astral plane to the material world.
• Name Pending: An air/sea-based race of silicon dragons.

The problem is, of course, that we can't include all of them; there simply isn't enough room in the book. What doesn't get released as part of the Player's Guide can be written up and included in later releases, of course, but that still leaves the question of how many-and which ones-to include. We promised 7 during the early campaign, but then brought on Mike Myler asking him to do two more, and also brought David Silver on to do two more; originally for Ships of Skybourne, but if we push all races to the Player's Guide, it just means there are two more options for that book.

In the end, the deciding factor will be page-length, and we'll have a survey and a longer description of each race for you soon to let us know which ones you want to make sure are included in the player's guide. I have my own ideas of which ones to include and what to do with the rest, but as always I'd love to hear from you what you think of this predicament, both what to do about the Player's Guide, and what to do with those that can't make the cut.

Thank you,

Adam