Fistful of Nerdy-Ass Shit

I got the new Early Man album yesterday. I really like this band, they have some very solid guitar work that I really dig, and their first album had some serious Black Sabbathness to it that made me happy in my metal organs. Those are the organs responsible for producing the chemicals that cause one to throw up the horns and headbang.They're also in part responsible for the growth of facial hair. Its science, trust me, I'm an EMT-B, I know things about the human body.

With the second album, the guitar work is still what draws me to them, I really love it. Each song, in my mind, starts with a very solid, very "metal" thirty to fifty seconds of good guitar work that remains throughout the tracks. There is less of a Black Sabbathness to the songs, which is good, because it means the band is replacing it with Early Manness. Fuck, I'm not a music critic. I like Early Man, if you like metal, you might as well.

I got confirmation from Jeremy that he is interested in playing Pathfinder with me as a trial run. Unlike the GURPS trial run, this is going to be more like a mini scenario, rather than a ten second battle that Eric and I didn't run properly. It's going to be a Spineplate and D'alton kind of thing, perhaps with Ga'zara as well if Jeremy feels like involving him. It will kind of kick off some things that get readressed in the next DnD scenario as well and the Pathfinder thing combined with elements of the eighth DnD scenario will amount to Spineplate's side mission. So, if the players do all the right things, they will be rewarded with two levels for our next play session. I believe this will bring us up to level fourteen by the end of the campaign (arc?). I'm excited!

Been toying around with this thing called Hero Lab from Lone Wolf Development, and it seems like a nifty product. It lacks the "Hey, you're doing stuff wrong!" warnings of the 4th Edition Character Builder, but it is still a pretty robust character generator that covers a wide range of systems. I believe the price point is like thirty bucks for the full version, you get data for one gaming system with it, and you can get full install on two computers (I think). It has data for 4th Ed, 3.5 OGL, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, and a few others, available for purchase. I believe it also offers some customization tools that would allow me to tailor the Pathfinder database to my campaign world. This excites me a bit. I love character builders. Especially the kind that update their data. I have no idea why my players haven't bought a one month subscription and gotten the 4th Edition character builder. There is so much published material out there right now and the character builder has it all centralized in one place, no need to steal pdfs or page through books. Plus, if you let your subscription lapse, you still keep the full version of the character builder. Fred has often said there doesn't seem to be much material out there for 4th Edition, or something in the vein of there aren't enough options. Or maybe that was Eric. I'll be honest, I only half listen to Fred, I find it more productive to just listen to my earbuds and assume he is talking about Whil Wheaton or Hurley. Hehe.

To continue, there are twenty-six core classes in 4th Edition, one of which is a DDI exclusive. Every power source has at least one of each of the four roles. Except Shadow, which only has a Striker, and Martial, which lacks a Controller. Each class has three or four defining features to choose from to tweak their playstyle and dozens upon dozens of class specific feats at each tier to further tweak what they do. PLUS, fifteen to twenty powers at each level to choose from when picking At-Wills, Encounters, and Dailies when those option comes up. Then you get into paragon and epic destinies. There's a lot there, and my players aren't getting any of it because they don't know it is there, and they don't care to investigate it so it is really on them. I just kind of wonder if that lack of info is coloring Eric and Fred's opinion of the game. They are basically playing out of the PHB, and there are three of those now, heh, plus a book dedicated to arcane characters. They play a Artificer and Swordmage respectively.

On a side note, 4th Edition isn't about your feats or your loot, those generally do minor things. 4th Edition is about what your characters can do, that is the basis of the power system. Your powers, not your feats, determine your play style. If you want to be a shield using fighter that charges around bashing people with that shield, you take all the powers that let you do that. If you expect feats to allow you to do that, you are going to be disappointed, because all you're going to find is the ability to add your shield bonus to your Fortitude defense.

Moving along.

I recently took a really close look at 4th Edition and what I can do with it and I found myself in danger of speaking about it, rather than Pathfinder, when we decide to use a new system. I'm not in the fevered grip of GURPS fanboyism anymore, and I really do enjoy 4th Edition. Fucking hard as Hell to make Kethranmeer the way I want to in it, but I can do it. I'm at the point where I can pick and choose and tweak and change as I need to to make my own races and feats, or even powers if I thought it was necessary. If I stumbled a bit and things weren't entirely balanced, we can roll with it and I can look to other places for inspiration. I was starting to edge towards staying with 4th Edition and just continuing with it, rather than switching. I think I'm over that now though. I just feel like there is so much 3.5/Pathfinder love in the group, that someone should offer up a dissenting opinion that is rational, experienced, and well thought out.

Always remember that first and foremost, above everything else, I am fucking metal.

Music: Death Potion - Early Man

Music: Brainwash At Birth - Early Man

Music: Someone Elses Nightmare - Early Man

Music: Nine Riders - Early Man

Music: Fight - Early Man

Music: Through Chemtrails - Early Man