Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 9 Feb 2005 to 10 Feb 2005 (#2005-35) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 11/02/2005, 19:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 8 messages totalling 431 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Preview of Thorf's Secret Project(TM) (2) 2. Faenare vs Raptorals 3. Nagpa (was: Faenare vs Raptorals) (2) 4. Nagpa (3) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.mystaranet.jamm.com/vaults/default.aspx To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 10:00:08 +0100 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Re: Preview of Thorf's Secret Project(TM) Very nice Thorf! I have sort of moved away from hex maps lately (heresy, I know), but maps with tiles like these might convince me to get back on the hex-wagon :) Looking forward to seeing more of this! BTW: Did you actually go out and buy the Feinen Bold/Baldur font? Håvard --- Thorfinn Tait skrev: > I'm almost at the stage when I can start to reveal > the first stage of my > "secret project". Some of you may already have > worked it out from my posts > recently, and the hint I posted last night. But > don't worry, there will be > plenty of surprises left to discover along the way. > And many more when I > move on to revealing stage two. :D > > In any case, I will be posting a new selection of > hexes every day from > today. You can find them on my home page, > www.thorf.co.uk, or on a thread > at the Mystara Message Board. I will also keep you > informed on the list, > and of course I hope to generate some discussions > along the way too. Though > build-up and suspense (advertising? hehe) are a big > part of the way I'm > doing this, equally important is feedback. I will > be happy to hear any > comments or criticisms of my work as I post it, and > I am fully prepared to > make adjustments. > > So, today's hexes are the forest sets. I originally > started with two much > simpler sets, and eventually upgraded to these. The > deciduous hexes were > actually based on two other hexes I have drawn. I > liked the tree trunk I > drew for the dead trees and the foliage I made for > the good magic point so > much that I combined them to make a new forest > symbol. > > The evergreens initially were extremely simplistic, > but recently I found > some very nice pine tree clip art in Illustrator's > files, so I used that to > update my hex to its current state. > > > Thibault Sarlat wrote: > > simple and efficient. Classy > > i'll borrow some ideas if you don't mind.. > > Thanks for the comments! And please feel free to > borrow ideas, but also to > share any criticisms. I want to make these the > absolute best I can, and > it's actually possible to update all the maps I make > with new designs in > just a few clicks for each map. > > By the way, as I mentioned previously, I use Adobe > Illustrator to make > these, and for mapping in general. Should anyone > else have the program, > feel free to ask me for the original files. > (They're a little too big for > me to put on my website, unfortunately.) > > If anyone is wondering what precisely I'm looking > for feedback on, I'm > interested in hearing what you think of: > > - the design > - the colour scheme > - the sizes of hex components > > And of course any other impressions you want to > share. > > Thanks and I hope you enjoy the next few weeks! :) > > Lastly: > > > yet one thing: don't leave your email on your > webpage (link > > mailto), you'll > > be spammed in no time once a spider passes > by...and it won't take long > > believe me... > > Don't worry about my e-mail, Thibault. That is my > "spam" address; for years > now it has been getting hit with huge amounts of > spam every day, so any > efforts to keep it spam free became futile long ago. > My other two addresses > I guard much more closely. ;-) > > Thorfinn > > ============================================ > Thorfinn Tait --------- thorf @ chokai.ne.jp > Land of the Rising Sun, 5 years and counting > ============================================ > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: > http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: > http://www.mystaranet.jamm.com/vaults/default.aspx > To unsubscribe, send email to > LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > ===== ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 03:20:34 -0800 From: "Ohad Shaham (Morphail)" Subject: Re: Faenare vs Raptorals Thanks Gary, But I see you have to be a member of the site to see the file. Anyway there is a conversion for a Tabi there which also is a very nice Mystaran creature. Ohad (Morphail) --------------------------------- Hi there's a 3.0 Nagpa in a RTF document here: http://65.127.163.19/showthread.php?t=16331&highlight=nagpa&s=1525369c52a54af3597c5f3f907ed726& Regards, Gary ********************************************************************The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.aspThe Mystara Homepage: http://www.mystaranet.jamm.com/vaults/default.aspxTo unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COMwith UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - Get yours free! http://my.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 03:30:59 -0800 From: "Ohad Shaham (Morphail)" Subject: Re: Nagpa (was: Faenare vs Raptorals) > > Thanks Gary! :) > > No Nagpa as a PC race though, except for the part of > it having Wizard as Favored Class. Interesting that > they made it a monsterous humanoid rather than an > abberation. How does one know when to use each of > these? Can abberations ever be humanoid? > > Im suggesting Int+2, Cha -2 as stat modifications, > what do you think? > > Håvard > Monstrous humanoid is the right chice IMO since they are basically humanoid (two legs, two arms, one head, corporeal). Abberation is the catch all catagory for creatures that are not humanoid and do not fall under another catagory (not oozes, not undead and so on). Harpies, the Nagpa's favorie companions, are also monsterous humanoids. Oh and Havard, I don't know why I don't like the Faenere. Maybe it is because I don't like elves (as they are in most D&D campaigns) and bards a charchter class. And they also seemed to be the only race in TOP BALISTA that wasn't funny.... Ohad __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 12:37:26 +0100 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Re: Nagpa Going by the monster description, I see no reason to give the Nagpa anything more than LA+0. I think limiting LA adjusted races will make the races more appealing for the players. Does anyone have PC3 available? Does the Nagpa get any other abilities there, than in the monster description? Whatabout their connections to the Tabi? Should that be made into an ability or special feat? Håvard --- Gary Davies skrev: --------------------------------- Hi Havard, I'll go with Monstrous Humanoid, I tend to think that the Aberration type is for things more wierd/unusual than a vulture headed humanoid :) Looking at the stats, it has +4 Int, +2 Dex and -2 Con and Cha from the base of 10 and 11, so +2 Int and -2 Cha seems perfectly reasonable. What about it's LA? if anything considering it's HD I would suggest a maximum of +1 Regards, Gary ********************************************************************The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.aspThe Mystara Homepage: http://www.mystaranet.jamm.com/vaults/default.aspxTo unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COMwith UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ===== ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 12:36:18 +0000 From: Gary Davies Subject: Re: Nagpa
 Hi Håvard

>Going by the monster description, I see no reason to
>give the Nagpa anything more than LA+0. I think
>limiting LA adjusted races will make the races more
>appealing for the players.
Yes, LA +0 was what I was edging towards. We will however need a 'Savage Species' type level progression to take it from level 1 to level 9.

>Does anyone have PC3 available? Does the Nagpa get any
>other abilities there, than in the monster
>description? Whatabout their connections to the Tabi?
>Should that be made into an ability or special feat? 
I'll only be able to check PC3 at the weekend (one problem with leaving my books at thw wargame/role-playing club rather than lugging them backwards and forewards), so no doubt someone will beat me to it.
 
Regards,
Gary 

------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 23:55:43 +0900 From: Thorfinn Tait Subject: Re: Preview of Thorf's Secret Project(TM) Havard wrote: > Very nice Thorf! Thanks. :) > I have sort of moved away from hex maps lately > (heresy, I know), but maps with tiles like these might > convince me to get back on the hex-wagon :) > > Looking forward to seeing more of this! I think that there are great things about both types of maps, hex and normal. The problem inherent with either type is that you need either a lot of talent or a really good (i.e. expensive) program to make a map, in addition to the vast amount of time and effort involved. There have been some really valiant efforts up until now - I have an awful lot of respect for people such as Geoff Gander, Christian Constantin, Andrew Theisen and especially Thibault Sarlat. But I think that their efforts have been hampered by the software available to them. I on the other hand have close to zero artistic talent, but I have Adobe Illustrator, which almost makes that a non issue. This program is powerful enough to make maps to rival TSR's original poster maps, and even allows for quick revisions to the artwork once it's in place. I believe that Campaign Cartographer 2 is a cut down and customised version of Illustrator, so it might be possible using CC2 as well, but for me Illustrator seems to open up more possibilities than CC2. In any case, what I'm trying to say is that I want to bring a whole new level of quality to Mystara's mapping scene. Others, including yourself, have already started the ball rolling, especially for non-hex maps. Now I'm going to do the same for the hex side of mapping. > BTW: Did you actually go out and buy the Feinen > Bold/Baldur font? I bought Baldur, yes. It only cost something like US$12. I would love to buy Feinen and work with the real thing, but the cost (about 200 British pounds) is just too prohibitive. For now. :-P Thorfinn ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 15:08:44 +0100 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Re: Nagpa (was: Faenare vs Raptorals) --- "Ohad Shaham (Morphail)" wrote: > Monstrous humanoid is the right chice IMO since they > are basically humanoid (two legs, two arms, one > head, > corporeal). Abberation is the catch all catagory for > creatures that are not humanoid and do not fall > under > another catagory (not oozes, not undead and so on). > Harpies, the Nagpa's favorie companions, are also > monsterous humanoids. Thanks for the explaination. I was always wondering where they drew the lines between the different types. > Oh and Havard, I don't know why I don't like the > Faenere. Maybe it is because I don't like elves (as > they are in most D&D campaigns) and bards a > charchter > class. And they also seemed to be the only race in > TOP > BALISTA that wasn't funny.... Hehe, you dont have to like them ofcourse :) I dont understand what the Faenare have to do with elves though. Interestingly enough, the fact that they were one of the few serious races in PC3 was what made them appeal to me :) Håvard ===== ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 16:56:36 -0800 From: Andrew Theisen Subject: Re: Nagpa --- Havard Faanes wrote: > Does anyone have PC3 available? Does the Nagpa get > any other abilities there, than in the monster > description? Whatabout their connections to the > Tabi? Should that be made into an ability or special > feat? I've got an unfinished workup of the tabi here somewhere- I'll see if I can find it later tonight. As for their Tabi companions, I'd expect that the tabi could be inserted into an Improved Familiar feat list somewhere. The Nagpa in PC3 does get some other abilities other than their original descriptions. The Tabi ability (as you noted) and a summon Homunculus ability. It also gains an Anti-Magic effect that increases with age, as well as some undead controlling powers IIRC. Not sure of the specfics offhand, though. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 9 Feb 2005 to 10 Feb 2005 (#2005-35) **************************************************************