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Post by J on Jul 31, 2014 13:47:35 GMT -5
Across the Realms is a series of products from New Realms Publishing dedicated to bringing you new material for your tabletop games. From magic items and monsters to tables for generating features for your dungeons, Across the Realms brings you a wide range of support for your fantasy adventure games. You can find New Realms Publishing’s products at RPGNOW or visit their website at J’s Place.
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Post by warren1965 on Dec 19, 2014 13:43:13 GMT -5
I did post a suggestion for how to come up with a full sheet of cards for the artifact line of products but I had a different thought on what I would actually find more useful
Card 1 Treasure card for the item described Card 2 Treasure card for item and additional power when you have 1 other item from product line Card 3 Treasure card for item; item from card 2 and a 3rd item Card 4 Dungeon card relating to back story example using the Bracers Atolicus's lab Card 5 Dungeon card like 4 example looted treasure room with mocking graffiti "Get a better lock - Barakus" Card 6 Dungeon card as above The Tomb of Murdax as an example Card 7 Encounter card the goblin warlock continuing using the bracers as an example Card 8 Event card to continue the example an escaped prisoner telling the party about the warlock and his bracers Card 9 Wilderness card (cause I like that deck) Gypsy fortune teller pointing group toward bracers
Cards 1- 3 are obvious in their usage, 4-6 can be used to either build a deck specific to the bracers or throw a little sidetrack color into another adventure. 7 and 8 are more limited to an adventure specific to the bracers but 9 can turn up anytime. Just a thought.
Warren
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Post by J on Dec 20, 2014 16:42:47 GMT -5
Hi, Warren, Good to hear from you. I saw all the writing you've been up to. Thanks for the suggestions. Safe to say you will be seeing more cards in more products. In fact, the statistics for the monsters in Realm of Darkness are formatted to be printed as cards! I thought it was a pretty cool idea, anyway. They are very similar to those from the UA line, except they are statistics rather than descriptions. How's your gaming going, btw? Have a good one, J
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Post by warren1965 on Dec 20, 2014 18:42:11 GMT -5
Hi, Warren, Good to hear from you. I saw all the writing you've been up to. Thanks for the suggestions. Safe to say you will be seeing more cards in more products. In fact, the statistics for the monsters in Realm of Darkness are formatted to be printed as cards! I thought it was a pretty cool idea, anyway. They are very similar to those from the UA line, except they are statistics rather than descriptions. How's your gaming going, btw? Have a good one, J I am looking forward to picking up Realm of Darkness on Wednesday. You may have guessed I am somewhat a fan of the card approach <grin>. I probably should edit the Bracer review now that I have thought more on it. I was practicing reviewing with the free samples as it takes a bit to get the right mindset to actually write one that is helpful to customers and producers. I realize ties to other products can bring out the trolls but like I tried to explain above the decks are great for those with impaired attention spans because you make them up and then don't have to do anything but flip the top one. Part of the reason for my sudden burst of visibility is a job change giving me more time for hobbies. I have been fooling around with the various decks and Ogres and Underworlds getting to the point where the sequence of actions is second nature. I grow more impressed with each product as I use them. Warren
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Post by J on Dec 28, 2014 11:32:28 GMT -5
Hi, Warren, Good to hear from you. I saw all the writing you've been up to. Thanks for the suggestions. Safe to say you will be seeing more cards in more products. In fact, the statistics for the monsters in Realm of Darkness are formatted to be printed as cards! I thought it was a pretty cool idea, anyway. They are very similar to those from the UA line, except they are statistics rather than descriptions. How's your gaming going, btw? Have a good one, J I am looking forward to picking up Realm of Darkness on Wednesday. You may have guessed I am somewhat a fan of the card approach <grin>. I probably should edit the Bracer review now that I have thought more on it. I was practicing reviewing with the free samples as it takes a bit to get the right mindset to actually write one that is helpful to customers and producers. I realize ties to other products can bring out the trolls but like I tried to explain above the decks are great for those with impaired attention spans because you make them up and then don't have to do anything but flip the top one. Part of the reason for my sudden burst of visibility is a job change giving me more time for hobbies. I have been fooling around with the various decks and Ogres and Underworlds getting to the point where the sequence of actions is second nature. I grow more impressed with each product as I use them. Warren Did you get to check out Realm of Darkness? I'm glad you are enjoying the cards and finding them useful. I think the cards would also be useful for times when you want to play, but no none has anything prepared. And it doesn't even matter what RPG you want to try. Shuffle up and game! You are succeeding at making your reviews helpful.
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Post by warren1965 on Dec 28, 2014 18:37:29 GMT -5
I did get a chance to pick up Realm of Darkness; Monster cards and with Tunnels of the Ratlings I am seriously considering a return to Tragonathor and company making one more foray into the Darkness under Glimmerdale. Curse you I am easily distracted! As I a mostly solo play Ogres and Underworlds (don't think that is a complaint I play in two other awesome GM's games a 5E and Call of Cthulu) I finally figured out how the spell cards can really make the game pretty interesting. It can be hard knowing what every being in a combat is going to do because you are after all playing them all but the spell cards allows for you to decide the enemy caster will cast a spell but not know before hand which one. So for instance Evilbadguy blessed by the Rat God will unleash the devastating power granted to him by the vermin of heavenly perfection on his turn you flip the card and get....Darkness. Rat farts that doesn't damage anyone and hampers the evil minions as well Grrrr. I have to pause, look at the situation and come up with why he would do it. And after all that kind of thought process is why we play these games.
Warren
PS Thanks for letting me know I am providing useful feedback with the reviews it is maddening to me when I read a review trying to decide if I want to buy something or not and see the "it's okay"; "it stinks" or "I love it" reviews that don't tell you anything about "it"
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Post by J on Dec 28, 2014 19:57:04 GMT -5
I did get a chance to pick up Realm of Darkness; Monster cards and with Tunnels of the Ratlings I am seriously considering a return to Tragonathor and company making one more foray into the Darkness under Glimmerdale. Curse you I am easily distracted! As I a mostly solo play Ogres and Underworlds (don't think that is a complaint I play in two other awesome GM's games a 5E and Call of Cthulu) I finally figured out how the spell cards can really make the game pretty interesting. It can be hard knowing what every being in a combat is going to do because you are after all playing them all but the spell cards allows for you to decide the enemy caster will cast a spell but not know before hand which one. So for instance Evilbadguy blessed by the Rat God will unleash the devastating power granted to him by the vermin of heavenly perfection on his turn you flip the card and get....Darkness. Rat farts that doesn't damage anyone and hampers the evil minions as well Grrrr. I have to pause, look at the situation and come up with why he would do it. And after all that kind of thought process is why we play these games. Warren PS Thanks for letting me know I am providing useful feedback with the reviews it is maddening to me when I read a review trying to decide if I want to buy something or not and see the "it's okay"; "it stinks" or "I love it" reviews that don't tell you anything about "it" I've been thinking about creating sets of spell cards for Ogres and Underworlds. I figured they might help new players, so I included samples in the primer pack. Then I really thought they might be a good GM aid and useful for encounters. I've also settled on a new type of magic for O&U, Invocations : ) Barbarians as a race, anyone? Gonna be bringing that too. I have this whole nostalgia / inspiration thing going on lately.
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Post by warren1965 on Dec 28, 2014 21:11:21 GMT -5
I did get a chance to pick up Realm of Darkness; Monster cards and with Tunnels of the Ratlings I am seriously considering a return to Tragonathor and company making one more foray into the Darkness under Glimmerdale. Curse you I am easily distracted! As I a mostly solo play Ogres and Underworlds (don't think that is a complaint I play in two other awesome GM's games a 5E and Call of Cthulu) I finally figured out how the spell cards can really make the game pretty interesting. It can be hard knowing what every being in a combat is going to do because you are after all playing them all but the spell cards allows for you to decide the enemy caster will cast a spell but not know before hand which one. So for instance Evilbadguy blessed by the Rat God will unleash the devastating power granted to him by the vermin of heavenly perfection on his turn you flip the card and get....Darkness. Rat farts that doesn't damage anyone and hampers the evil minions as well Grrrr. I have to pause, look at the situation and come up with why he would do it. And after all that kind of thought process is why we play these games. Warren PS Thanks for letting me know I am providing useful feedback with the reviews it is maddening to me when I read a review trying to decide if I want to buy something or not and see the "it's okay"; "it stinks" or "I love it" reviews that don't tell you anything about "it" I've been thinking about creating sets of spell cards for Ogres and Underworlds. I figured they might help new players, so I included samples in the primer pack. Then I really thought they might be a good GM aid and useful for encounters. I've also settled on a new type of magic for O&U, Invocations : ) Barbarians as a race, anyone? Gonna be bringing that too. I have this whole nostalgia / inspiration thing going on lately. Barbarians as a race? I can see how it wouldn't work as a profession because you are one or not but what if you wanted to be a dwarven or other race barbarian? More work but you may wish to consider an expansion to cover background choices. Needing to be a certain race or profession to be able to take a special power is pretty cool in Ogres and Underworlds but in situations like this can be tricky. Thinking on it some more barbarian could modify the existing races by replacing some special abilities. A Human taking the Barbarian option would lose the extra skill, pick up the disadvantage mistrusted by townsfolk get the starting special ability of Healthy as an ox double starting BP and deleting and adding other special abilities for an example. The original Unearthed Arcana version of a barbarian was sorta like this and probably marked when our group started making up our own rules and stuff having seen the "official" guys do it. From my own point of view an adventure or two more would be good. In my case it is how I get a sense of how to use a system by seeing the designer's idea of an adventure. It is also sheer laziness I can play without having to come up with an idea and stat it all out. Warren
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Post by J on Jan 17, 2015 13:15:34 GMT -5
I've been thinking about creating sets of spell cards for Ogres and Underworlds. I figured they might help new players, so I included samples in the primer pack. Then I really thought they might be a good GM aid and useful for encounters. I've also settled on a new type of magic for O&U, Invocations : ) Barbarians as a race, anyone? Gonna be bringing that too. I have this whole nostalgia / inspiration thing going on lately. Barbarians as a race? I can see how it wouldn't work as a profession because you are one or not but what if you wanted to be a dwarven or other race barbarian? More work but you may wish to consider an expansion to cover background choices. Needing to be a certain race or profession to be able to take a special power is pretty cool in Ogres and Underworlds but in situations like this can be tricky. Thinking on it some more barbarian could modify the existing races by replacing some special abilities. A Human taking the Barbarian option would lose the extra skill, pick up the disadvantage mistrusted by townsfolk get the starting special ability of Healthy as an ox double starting BP and deleting and adding other special abilities for an example. The original Unearthed Arcana version of a barbarian was sorta like this and probably marked when our group started making up our own rules and stuff having seen the "official" guys do it. From my own point of view an adventure or two more would be good. In my case it is how I get a sense of how to use a system by seeing the designer's idea of an adventure. It is also sheer laziness I can play without having to come up with an idea and stat it all out. Warren Yes, barbarian as a race. In this instance, a human barbarian. I understand what you are getting at. Treating them as separate races, though, is more consistent with the game. So, assuming the special abilities are different, which they would be since humans, dwarves, elves, ect... are all different, you could have a "dwarf barbarian," an "elf barbarian," a "faerie barbarian" and so forth. They might not all be called "barbarians." You might have wild elves, savage dwarves, mountain faeries, etc... The cool thing is you could still develop the character however you choose, a barbarian warrior wizard or whatever. I am working on a new type of adventure, which, if everything works out, would include a "deluxe" version for Ogres and Underworlds.
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Post by warren1965 on Jan 17, 2015 19:48:25 GMT -5
Okay I see now the long shadow of D&D is hard to escape. I am not a fan of classes and love Ogres and Underworlds because it doesn't have them and even I default to thinking in terms of D&D . So a "Race" provides innate traits like night vision and special abilities from the culture you come from. That is pretty cool because your PC's history pre-game still has an effect which isn't represented in other games. I also now see the obvious part I missed in that if you want an elven barbarian like I was originally thinking the race is Elf and the player picks skills and special abilities to put him in a horned helm with a shaggy beard swinging a two handed ax. I am looking forward to the adventure and the development of the Glimmerdale area. Will you be including suggested decks like A darkness under Glimmerdale? I know not everyone uses the decks but I would say of all you products I have used that one the most with several different RPG's. The decks really do make repeating the same adventure possible because you just don't know what is around the corner or whether or not poking through that pile of rubble is a good idea . Warren
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Post by J on Jan 20, 2015 22:46:41 GMT -5
Okay I see now the long shadow of D&D is hard to escape. I am not a fan of classes and love Ogres and Underworlds because it doesn't have them and even I default to thinking in terms of D&D . So a "Race" provides innate traits like night vision and special abilities from the culture you come from. That is pretty cool because your PC's history pre-game still has an effect which isn't represented in other games. I also now see the obvious part I missed in that if you want an elven barbarian like I was originally thinking the race is Elf and the player picks skills and special abilities to put him in a horned helm with a shaggy beard swinging a two handed ax. I am looking forward to the adventure and the development of the Glimmerdale area. Will you be including suggested decks like A darkness under Glimmerdale? I know not everyone uses the decks but I would say of all you products I have used that one the most with several different RPG's. The decks really do make repeating the same adventure possible because you just don't know what is around the corner or whether or not poking through that pile of rubble is a good idea . Warren No worries. I knew where you were going, or coming from, with the whole class/background ideas. There's something new, and a surprise, coming up regarding the adventures, which is all I can say right now. You've been playing Glimmerdale? How far did you get?
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Post by warren1965 on Jan 21, 2015 9:13:50 GMT -5
Okay I see now the long shadow of D&D is hard to escape. I am not a fan of classes and love Ogres and Underworlds because it doesn't have them and even I default to thinking in terms of D&D . So a "Race" provides innate traits like night vision and special abilities from the culture you come from. That is pretty cool because your PC's history pre-game still has an effect which isn't represented in other games. I also now see the obvious part I missed in that if you want an elven barbarian like I was originally thinking the race is Elf and the player picks skills and special abilities to put him in a horned helm with a shaggy beard swinging a two handed ax. I am looking forward to the adventure and the development of the Glimmerdale area. Will you be including suggested decks like A darkness under Glimmerdale? I know not everyone uses the decks but I would say of all you products I have used that one the most with several different RPG's. The decks really do make repeating the same adventure possible because you just don't know what is around the corner or whether or not poking through that pile of rubble is a good idea . Warren No worries. I knew where you were going, or coming from, with the whole class/background ideas. There's something new, and a surprise, coming up regarding the adventures, which is all I can say right now. You've been playing Glimmerdale? How far did you get? I have played "Tunnels of Terror" through using Altus Adventum 2 ed, Simply Roleplaying and Mythweaver. I played the ruins of Whitestone keep (not sure if I got the title right) and Halls of lore with Mythweaver as well. I am tempted to play it again with Ogres & Underworlds. Warren
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Post by J on Jan 21, 2015 9:31:16 GMT -5
You've been playing Glimmerdale? How far did you get? I have played "Tunnels of Terror" through using Altus Adventum 2 ed, Simply Roleplaying and Mythweaver. I played the ruins of Whitestone keep (not sure if I got the title right) and Halls of lore with Mythweaver as well. I am tempted to play it again with Ogres & Underworlds. Warren Cool. I'm glad to hear the concept works and the cards are seeing some good use. There's a new one on the way soon.
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Post by J on Jan 22, 2015 16:34:04 GMT -5
Okay I see now the long shadow of D&D is hard to escape. I am not a fan of classes and love Ogres and Underworlds because it doesn't have them and even I default to thinking in terms of D&D . So a "Race" provides innate traits like night vision and special abilities from the culture you come from. That is pretty cool because your PC's history pre-game still has an effect which isn't represented in other games. I also now see the obvious part I missed in that if you want an elven barbarian like I was originally thinking the race is Elf and the player picks skills and special abilities to put him in a horned helm with a shaggy beard swinging a two handed ax. I am looking forward to the adventure and the development of the Glimmerdale area. Will you be including suggested decks like A darkness under Glimmerdale? I know not everyone uses the decks but I would say of all you products I have used that one the most with several different RPG's. The decks really do make repeating the same adventure possible because you just don't know what is around the corner or whether or not poking through that pile of rubble is a good idea . Warren Now that the announcement for the new product line is out, I can let you in on the "surprise" a little. See the new post in the O&U forum.
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