machai-umno

Introduction After having played some adventure and RPG games lately something struck me: repetition in games have almost the same problems as trial-and-error do . This is not really a shocking conclusion, since repeating things in a game is basically what you do when stuck in a sequence of trial and error. But since the repetition is not a direct consequence of being unable to progress, and that not all repetition is bad per se, I figured it was worth looking into a bit. The Problem Most of the time the problem arise when doing an action several times causes the same response. Mostly, this does not apply when doing things to dead objects, like shooting a bullet on a wall. We expect that if we shoot the same bullet at the same place twice, the same response occurs both times. However this is not always true. For instance, many games use randomized particle effects for sparks from the hitting bullet. In more complex system, like water splashes, this is even more common, and while it mig...

Currently all of our products at Rpgnow and Paizo are currently on sale for 35% off. "Silent Blades Tells No Tales" Male tengu rook 1 by Michael Scotta Additionally, we have just released our first core class supplement called Legendary Classes: The Rook  by Thomas Baumbach. ---- Legendary Classes: The Rook (PFRPG) PDF Purple Duck Games What others call cheating, a rook calls opportunity. The rook is a new base class for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game from the fractured mind of Thomas Baumbach. The rook's abilities allow it to misdirect, ensorcell, and alter the perceptions of others. No matter the situation, a rook makes his own opportunities.

Otherworldly Probe A small globe of blue-white light darts in view and quickly streaks away. OTHERWORLDLY PROBE (CR 5; 1,600 XP) N Small construct (extraplanar) Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +12 [DEFENSE] AC 20, touch 20, flat-footed 11 (+9 Dex, +1 size) hp 43 (6d10+10) Fort +2, Ref +11, Will +5 Immune construct traits Vulnerable mind-affecting [Offense] Speed 0 ft., fly 400 ft. (perfect) Melee touch +16 (1d4 electricity) Ranged touch +16 (2d6 electricity) Special Attacks actinic scan Psi-Like Abilities (ML 6 th ; concentration +9)    At-will – brain lock (DC 16*; + animals, fey, magical beast, monstrous humanoid), detect psionics , concussion blast (2d6*); memory modification (DC 17), mental disruption (DC 16*; 15 ft.) * Include augmentation for the otherworldly probe’s manifester level. [STATISTICS] Abilities Str 1, Dex 28, Con --, Int 15, Wis 16, Cha 12 Base Atk +6, CMB +14; CMD 19 (can’t be tripped) Feats Agile Manue...

The Empty Treasure Room The first level of Purple Mountain, filled with disguisting vermin and wandering beasties, is an old-school dungeon crawl in the finest sense. Right down to the defeat-the-endboss reward, number 14 on the map: The Treasure Room. How disappointing, then, that, "the exact nature of [the] treasure is not described and left to your design as gamemaster." Oh I get it, we're first level and the rest of the Locus Lord's minions have given us plenty of loot. But still. Here are a couple sample tresure rooms that would fit well at the end of Temple of the Locust Lord without providing your players with too much extra swag. Including treasure in these treasure rooms assumes that the GM will not also add treasure the PCs missed earlier in the dungeon. Treasure Room #1 This room is littered with broken crates and old, soft hay. Two alcoves in the north and south walls hold a smattering of valuables: goblets, statuettes, brass jewlery, and the like. Against...

I hit the Publish button late on Thursday evening. I'd advertised a Friday release date, but there is a lag between pushing the button and seeing it show up on the Xbox Live servers, and I really wanted to watch it show up. So, late Thursday night, there it was. Another game, published for the masses to see. On Friday and Saturday, a few reviews showed up online: http://www.1uporpoison.com/xblig/hidden-in-plain-sight/ This is one of the most enjoyable and unique multiplayer games to come out of the XBLIG channel. It forces players to mingle with and behave like the NPCs walking around the screen in order to inconspicuously meet some goal. Depending on what mode you’re playing, this goal could be assassinating the other players, collecting coins, or racing to the finish line. My favorite modes are those that split up players into two teams, where one team consists of snipers trying to figure out who’s an NPC and who’s a human. These matches become incredibly tense (and hilarious) ...

While playing Kingmaker today, we decided we really wanted a spell like this. Boshalen's Courier School  conjuration (creation) ;   Level  bard 3, summoner 3, witch 3, wizard 3 Casting Time  1 standard action Components  V, S, M (a two inch square of paper) Range  close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) Effect  on invisible, mindless, shapeless servant Duration  1 day/level Saving Throw  none; Spell Resistance  none Boshalen's courier  is an invisible, mindless, shapeless force that can be sent great distances to deliver an item or retrieve an item. It has an effective strength score of 4 (so it can lift 40 lbs. or drag 200 lbs.). It can communicate telepathically with any creature that has a language. When created the courier will deliver one item or set of items in a container to another willing target or travel to another willing target to retrieve one item or a set of items in a container. The items must be given and received freely. It...

Hidden in Plain Sight went live on Thursday evening. Check put this email I got this morning. It really makes the whole process worth while. Mr. Spragg, I just want you to know that my wife and I just so happened to stumble upon your game yesterday in the X-Box indie store, decided to try it out, and couldn't stop playing it all day. In fact, by the end of the night, a group of about 8 of us were gathered around the TV taking turns playing it. Thanks for trying your best to keep local multiplayer alive. I cannot tell you how grateful I am. Probably the most fun I've had with LM since the days of Mario Party. And thanks for giving me a reason to invest in that 4th xbox controller. I'll be downloading your previous game Bad Golf today, and am expecting great things. You brought a lot of people together last night that wouldn't normally play video games at all. It's fantastic. I'll be recommending it to friends. I trust that anyone else that stumbled upon it last...

This monster originally appeared in the Modern Reference Document. ACID RAINER A huge discoloured cloud breaks suddenly toward you, from beneath is voluminous bulk writhe four dripping tentacles.  ACID RAINER (CR 8, 4,800 XP) N Huge outsider (air, elemental, extraplanar) Init -2; Senses  darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +13 -- Defense -- AC  21, touch 6, flat-footed 21 (-2 Dex, +15 natural, -2 size) hp  105 (10d10+50) Fort  +8, Ref  +7, Will +7 Immune acid, elemental traits -- Offense -- Speed fly 40 ft. (perfect) Melee  4 tentacles +16 (1d4+8 plus 1d4 acid plus grab) Space 15 ft.; Reach  15 ft. Special Attacks  acid spray (DC 20) -- Statistics -- Abilities  Str 26, Dex 7, Con 20, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 11 Base Atk  +10; CMB  +20 (+24 grapple); CMD  28 (can't be tripped) Feats  Fly-By Attack, Lightning Reflexes, Lunge, Power Attack, Vital Strike Skills Fly +15, Knowledge (planes) +11, Perception +13, Stealth +11; Ra...

Tith-Tor is currently imprisoned in Purple Mountain and has no equipment. Tith-Tor CR 1/2 (XP 200) Half-cyclops oracle 1 LN Medium humanoid (giant) Init +0; Senses low-light vision; Perception +7 --- Defense ---  AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 13  (+3 armor, +0 Dex, +3 dodge) hp 11 (1d8+3) F ort +2, Ref +0, Will +5; +4 vs. disease Defensive Abilities uncanny dodge --- Offense --- Speed 30 ft. Melee glaive +2 (1d10+3) Ranged javelin +0 (1d6+2) Special Attacks future sending (3/day, DC 14) Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st) 1/day – augury Spells Known (CL 1st) 1st (4/day) – command (DC 14), cure light wounds , magic weapon 0 – guidance , read magic , resistance , stabilize --- Statistics --- Abilities Str 15, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 17, Cha 6 Base Atk +0; CMB +2;  CMD 12 Feats Extra Revelation Skills Acrobatics +4, Intimidate -1, Knowledge (history) +5, Perception +7, Sense Motive +7, Spellcraft +5 Languages Common, Giant SQ ...

Hidden in Plain Sight has passed Peer Review! I'm setting Friday, November 18th, 2011 as the official release date. I might actually push the button late Thursday night so I can watch it hit the market. I've set some marketing wheels in motion, so we'll see if that does anything. I still remain skeptical that it will make a difference, but here's hoping. I tell you what, it's hard to have a game that's all ready to go and not push the Publish Now button, but I really want to see if I can manage to generate some buzz before releasing the game. Yay.

A huge THANK YOU! to all the project supporters. You can see the project HERE I sent the files off to have the masters made last week, so we could try to get a head start. We only have five days left on the project, if you would like to participate, your support is greatly appreciated. Although the project is funded, roughly $2000.00 will still be coming from my personal funds. I would need to reach roughly $7700 in total project pledges to be completely in the black. Thank you for looking and for your support! Mark Mondragon

Penelope “Penny Dreadful” Derringer Penelope was born to a noble family but it became obvious as she grew that she was not quite human. She was still treated with respect, but was excluded from any family business. When she reached her teens, the differential treatment started to become obvious to her and she began to resent her family. She began acting out and getting into trouble, often sneaking out of the house at night to go down to the less savory parts of the city to hang out. Soon, she got into some trouble with a minor crime boss and rather than ask her parents for help, she left the city with the next caravan and has never looked back on her new life of adventure. Penelope “Penny Dreadful” Derringer Female Sylph Rogue 1 Chaotic Neutral Medium Outsider (native) Init +3 ; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +5 ---- Defense ---- AC 16 , touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 armor, +3 Dex, +1 dodge) hp 9 Fort +1; Ref +5; Will +1 Resistance electricity resistance 5   ---- Offense -...

Purple Mountains - Level One  was released late October 31st. It has been on sale for about four days now.  Sales have been uneven. In that time we have 15 sales at Rpgnow and 1 at Paizo. Which is a huge and costly discrepancy. The difficult thing for me is what does that discrepancy mean? 1) Do Paizo customers have enough modules with the Adventure Paths and Pathfinder Modules that they are not looking for a megadungeon? 2) Do Rpgnow customers not have enough module choices for Pathfinder as Paizo customers seem to? 3) Are Rpgnow customers more aware of products because of the front page that showed Purple Mountain for two days? Paizo has a store blog but not a product roll like that for new uploads. 4) Do Paizo customer's hate the Purple covers? 5) Do Paizo customers even know that Purple Mountain exists? At Rpgnow we have the ability to email our customers directly and at Paizo we do not. 6) Are we just significantly better known for our work at Rpgnow than we are...

Introduction It is very easy to talk bad about Heavy Rain . One can say it is just an interactive movie where you press buttons at certain key moments, in rare cases changing the outcome of the story. One can talk about the hole and cliche filled story and the weakly developed characters*. One can talk about this and other negative aspects of the game and I would fully agree. But if one only focuses on these areas, there is plenty of really interesting aspects that are missed. Despite all these flaws I really enjoyed playing Heavy Rain. Sure, the quick-time-events (QTE:s) really got me worked up on more than one occasion and a lot of other issues bugged me, but on the whole it was quite an engaging experience. There are some truly tense and disturbing moments in the game that work great. For example the scene at the mall, while lame in many ways, managed to capture the protagonists sense of panic and that in an environment and setup I have never seen in a game before. The game also fea...