Clockwork Wonders: The Spell Clock [Archive] - Wizards Community

Clockwork Wonders: The Spell Clock [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Kryptonian Scion
03-12-07, 11:26 AM Well, here's a piece of dog crap article that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, proves that Wizards.com needs to ditch this series and bring back Dragonshards.

This piece of writing is so completely lacking in detail as to make it basically useless. Or are you telling me I can set the clock to provide Bull's Strength every three minutes to every person in a room? Or does the clock only target one person in a room with that spell - and if so, how does it determine who?

So the evil wizard can set up a spell clock to cast a fireball in a room once every single round in the room's doorway, after the door is opened?

Congratulations to Wolfgang Baur. Once more he has proven "Hey, I really suck at writing anything other than hack and slash adventures!"
SquirrelMortis
03-12-07, 12:30 PM Clockwork wonders has always sucked. The little writing at the beginning always makes me wanna cringe, and the items are always broken and/or pointless. Apart from that, he's a horrible writer and doesn't know Jack about Eberron. That money counter creature building a portal to mechanus just made me wanna hurl. :yuck:

The book I was looking forward to was Forge of War. I just realized he's writing it... now I'm not so keen on it. If he ruins that book...
cancerousmango
03-13-07, 12:21 AM Why doesn't Keith Baker just friggin charge us a buck each to read his darn dragonshards? I'd pay. This crap is not eberron.

All the people in here have warforged avatars so far. Cool.
Arcane Guyver
03-13-07, 01:26 AM Why doesn't Keith Baker just friggin charge us a buck each to read his darn dragonshards? I'd pay. This crap is not eberron.
I agree. I'd be more than willing to pay for articles that will help my game and understanding of the campaign setting than getting these Clockwork Piece-of-Crappers for free. Of course, the legal-ese of such a setup is probably beyond my mental grasp.

All the people in here have warforged avatars so far. Cool.

Sorry to break the mojo! :D
Lancer2010
03-13-07, 10:42 AM No, it's simple Arcane Guyver.

Your avatar is that of a D20 Modern Warforged. For as we know, if you were to bring the 'forged to Modern, you would have two subtypes.

Steampunk, and Mecha.

And yeah, clockwork wonders, not so great. I keep finding it interesting how he uses the canon characters from the PHB and not the ECS. Come to think of it, the only real time he mentioned something in Eberron was when he called one guy a Cyran Revenger... he didn't even get the name of the class right.
Kryptonian Scion
03-13-07, 01:54 PM The book I was looking forward to was Forge of War. I just realized he's writing it... now I'm not so keen on it. If he ruins that book...

Well, hopefully Baur's incompetence will be made up for by James Wyatt's awesomeness and Ari Marmell's mediocrity.
OneWinged4ngel
03-13-07, 03:33 PM Well, here's a piece of dog crap article that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, proves that Wizards.com needs to ditch this series and bring back Dragonshards.

This piece of writing is so completely lacking in detail as to make it basically useless. Or are you telling me I can set the clock to provide Bull's Strength every three minutes to every person in a room? Or does the clock only target one person in a room with that spell - and if so, how does it determine who?

So the evil wizard can set up a spell clock to cast a fireball in a room once every single round in the room's doorway, after the door is opened?

Congratulations to Wolfgang Baur. Once more he has proven "Hey, I really suck at writing anything other than hack and slash adventures!"

I completely agree. I read the item description, and I can't even really figure out exactly how it's supposed to even work in half the cases.

Well, hopefully Baur's incompetence will be made up for by James Wyatt's awesomeness and Ari Marmell's mediocrity.

I sure hope so! I mean, this guy is proving himself pretty awful with these articles (cyran gliding boots, spell clock...), and I'd be pretty upset if they screwed up that book. Just thank the gods that Baur didn't work on the Magic Item Compendium... that guy can't seem to make a balanced or well-written item for his life.

Why doesn't Keith Baker just friggin charge us a buck each to read his darn dragonshards? I'd pay. This crap is not eberron. I would be much more willing to pay for dragonshards than 95% of D&D supplements.
goblin_pride
03-14-07, 01:40 AM As an item the spell clock isn't bad on it's surface, but he buggered up the creation formula something fierce and the artificer wouldn't make it out of clockwork pieces, it'd be magical. And what good is a trigger device that ticks so loudly you can hear it in the next room on a DC 15 listen? I'm gonna take the idea and work with it a bit and disregard the article completely.

And for the record, clockwork wonders aren't Eberron, they're too mechanical for that.
SquirrelMortis
03-15-07, 03:49 AM And for the record, clockwork wonders aren't Eberron, they're too mechanical for that.

Everyone on the Eberron boards knows that. It's Baur that doesn't... (building a portal to the modrons...?)
Logos7
03-15-07, 10:47 AM Aside from problems with pricing , I don't find the crunch too bad ( The x10 jump the cyran gliding boots took was amusing )

But the fluff? I dinae like tat a all.

The Counting Machine is being reinvisioned as a stationary device ( Kinda Like the Coin Counter from real life ) as apposed to some walking talking robet that's trying to open a plane to mechanus, the spell clock is okay and interesting, but the vagueness about the material components and what exactly it does is annoying ( Do they really have to be stuffed full of bat guano or no? can it go off every round or no). I don't mind the mechanical bits, as i don't see it as wind up much. The Mechanical bits are for manipulation ocasionally or timing as in the clock, it's not as if it'w wheel and cog to wheel and cog or at least in my head anyway.

That Said I definately don't think Eberrron is wolfgang's strong suit ( I really enjoyed his how to make an adventure articles however ) The Guy Plays/Thinks in Greyhawk or FR, someone needs a big helping of SHARN!
Faithful_One
03-16-07, 11:30 AM From the sounds of what you all are saying I am glad that I haven't read the article.
davethebrave371
03-19-07, 02:22 PM Honestly, I thought the Spell Clock was the most Eberron flavoured of all of them. I didn't mind it too much, and I could see myself using it.

But I agree that, as a whole, the premise of this article series is not Eberron at all. We're not steampunk, we're manapunk. Clockwork shizt isn't how we roll in Khorvaire.

I love Wolfgang Baur though. His Planescape stuff ROCKED. I really enjoyed Beyond Countless Doorways, and use it in all my homebrew games.
goblin_pride
03-19-07, 02:38 PM Honestly, I thought the Spell Clock was the most Eberron flavoured of all of them. I didn't mind it too much, and I could see myself using it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm going to use it, just not as written. I'm creating a magic-driven version of it for my game that isn't quite as expensive to create and doesn't use a clockwork mechanism to operate. I like the idea of a timer that tosses off spells with clock-like precision. I even have plans for my PCs to deliver several dozen of them to the operatives of the Dhakaani in Sharn for use in the "pre-invasion", "divide and conquer" and "crumbling foundation" operations*.

*General Madoc was quite pleased with the idea of a device that didn't expose his operatives to the same dangers as tossing fireglobes and could be placed many hours before detonation.
Lancer2010
03-19-07, 02:50 PM Don't get me wrong, I'm going to use it, just not as written. I'm creating a magic-driven version of it for my game that isn't quite as expensive to create and doesn't use a clockwork mechanism to operate. I like the idea of a timer that tosses off spells with clock-like precision. I even have plans for my PCs to deliver several dozen of them to the operatives of the Dhakaani in Sharn for use in the "pre-invasion", "divide and conquer" and "crumbling foundation" operations*.

*General Madoc was quite pleased with the idea of a device that didn't expose his operatives to the same dangers as tossing fireglobes and could be placed many hours before detonation.

So you're giving goblinoids timebombs, which they're putting in Sharn.

Make sure he the general issues a large threat, and if the mayor doesn't comply, he blows up a building as a display.

It would be even cooler if you had a rival PC party to try and stop the bombs.
goblin_pride
03-19-07, 05:02 PM It would be even cooler if you had a rival PC party to try and stop the bombs.

I think you'll find if you look closely at my name and the previous post (as well as the No Love thread), that the PCs are Dhakaani delivering timebombs to the sabotuers. I think the city watch in Sharn are going to be a perfect enemy organization for them. If not, I've already laid the groundwork for a little skirmish with the Boromar.

And for the record, Madoc isn't big on threats, he'd rather catch an enemy with their proverbial pants down and do as much damage as possible with as little exertion as possible. There's a reason he's called a Cut-throat.
goblin_pride
03-19-07, 05:06 PM So you're giving goblinoids timebombs, which they're putting in Sharn.

Eh, they go well with the hand grenades I gave them a couple months ago.
Lancer2010
03-19-07, 05:35 PM Eh, they go well with the hand grenades I gave them a couple months ago.

Goblin Pride: supplying the less respected races with WoMD since YK 998.
goblin_pride
03-19-07, 06:53 PM Goblin Pride: supplying the less respected races with WoMD since YK 998.

Closer to -6,000 YK, but who's to say? Goblins tossing artificer-made fireballs gives the little buggers a lethal edge that no other race has and helps to explain the massive size of their empire. Didn't do diddly against the Daelkyr, but it would've stopped the humans coming from Sarlona if the Daelkyr hadn't caused the goblinoid's unity to disappear.
Subtle Knife
03-19-07, 07:11 PM I'd say it's very easy to be critical, particularly relative to the effort of producing and publishing new material! Seriously! There's constructive criticism, and then there's purely negative and reactionist commentary. Nobody is making you use every idea they come up with! If you don't like it, feel free and produce a reasonable critique, or better, try and improve on it, but simply complaining about it is infantile.

I certainly hope that Wolfgang Baur doesn't frequent these boards! Before you consider writing something, think about exactly how you would feel if someone decided to dissect your career thusly!

SK
goblin_pride
03-19-07, 07:37 PM I'd say it's very easy to be critical, particularly relative to the effort of producing and publishing new material! Seriously! There's constructive criticism, and then there's purely negative and reactionist commentary. Nobody is making you use every idea they come up with! If you don't like it, feel free and produce a reasonable critique, or better, try and improve on it, but simply complaining about it is infantile.

Baur's work is fantastic. For a generic setting, I love the clockwork series. It seems like Eberron was chosen for a home for it because WotC doesn't have a renaissance game setting. I think that would be a much more appropriate place for the excellent work he is doing.

With Eberron, magic is supposed to be the driving force behind the technology and thus, clockworks are a bit out of place and perhaps even freakish. That said, I love the fact that he's pointing out things that could easily be adapted with a bit of creative use of engineering. The clockworks series of articles have opened up a few alternatives that I am going to use in the non-Eberron game that I play in, but for Eberron, I'm having to do a bit of translation and rewriting of the creation of the items.

If any of this seems overly critical, I apologize, I didn't mean any offense by it. I must admit, I've bought whole books for fewer ideas than the ones I've gotten reading Wolfgang's articles.
Lokiyn
03-19-07, 08:11 PM Closer to -6,000 YK, but who's to say? Goblins tossing artificer-made fireballs gives the little buggers a lethal edge that no other race has and helps to explain the massive size of their empire. Didn't do diddly against the Daelkyr, but it would've stopped the humans coming from Sarlona if the Daelkyr hadn't caused the goblinoid's unity to disappear.

The Blue overmind is pleased that the revisions are holding.
davethebrave371
03-19-07, 09:20 PM I'd say it's very easy to be critical, particularly relative to the effort of producing and publishing new material! Seriously! There's constructive criticism, and then there's purely negative and reactionist commentary. Nobody is making you use every idea they come up with! If you don't like it, feel free and produce a reasonable critique, or better, try and improve on it, but simply complaining about it is infantile.

I certainly hope that Wolfgang Baur doesn't frequent these boards! Before you consider writing something, think about exactly how you would feel if someone decided to dissect your career thusly!

SK

I've heard tales (whether they're true or not is up to speculation) from some forum members that they've submitted some of their stuff to the web people, and it hasn't even garnered a response. If that's true, I'd say it's actually easier to criticize than it is to contribute. There are some people on these boards I'd trust with excellent Eberron fluff and very well balanced and useful crunch more than half the guys and gals working for WotC. Note that I don't say all. There are plenty of excellent people working for WotC, and in my honest opinion, Baur is one of them...he just missed the fluff ship by two sailings and crashed it on Crunch Rock, which then crumbled atop the wreckage.
Subtle Knife
03-20-07, 10:30 AM I've heard tales (whether they're true or not is up to speculation) from some forum members that they've submitted some of their stuff to the web people, and it hasn't even garnered a response. If that's true, I'd say it's actually easier to criticize than it is to contribute. There are some people on these boards I'd trust with excellent Eberron fluff and very well balanced and useful crunch more than half the guys and gals working for WotC. Note that I don't say all. There are plenty of excellent people working for WotC, and in my honest opinion, Baur is one of them...he just missed the fluff ship by two sailings and crashed it on Crunch Rock, which then crumbled atop the wreckage.

Well if that is true then no doubt they are missing out on some fantastic ideas (and weaker ones, as well). That being said, these forums offer us the ability to produce some new and interesting ideas (or revisions) for the campaign and disseminate them as widely as any WOTC publication, an incredible opportunity that is often overshadowed by infantile whining that one aspect or another of the "canon" material doesn't fit with their world view. These publications are the product of a widely varied group of individuals who no doubt have some diverging views on the minutiae of this fantasy realm. I would submit that there is no "canon" but that which fits your world view. If you don't like it, don't use it. If you're going to complain, try and be constructive - make your own variant or something completely new, write it up, and present it on the forums.

If you're lucky, you won't suffer the biting non-constructive criticism of those around you.

SK
Subtle Knife
03-20-07, 10:40 AM Please note that my comments are not directed toward everyone. There are plenty of talented individuals who on a daily basis instill their ideas into these forums and provide their wisdom to those who have question. Unfortunately, there are as many people out there who abase these boards by using them to 1) criticize without contribution, 2) ask/rehash stupid questions ad nauseum, or 3) try and formulate bizarre ways to bend the rules to their will. It gets tired...

SK

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kryptonian Scion 03-12-07, 11:26 AM	Well, here's a piece of dog crap article that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, proves that Wizards.com needs to ditch this series and bring back Dragonshards. This piece of writing is so completely lacking in detail as to make it basically useless. Or are you telling me I can set the clock to provide Bull's Strength every three minutes to every person in a room? Or does the clock only target one person in a room with that spell - and if so, how does it determine who? So the evil wizard can set up a spell clock to cast a fireball in a room once every single round in the room's doorway, after the door is opened? Congratulations to Wolfgang Baur. Once more he has proven "Hey, I really suck at writing anything other than hack and slash adventures!"
SquirrelMortis 03-12-07, 12:30 PM	Clockwork wonders has always sucked. The little writing at the beginning always makes me wanna cringe, and the items are always broken and/or pointless. Apart from that, he's a horrible writer and doesn't know Jack about Eberron. That money counter creature building a portal to mechanus just made me wanna hurl. :yuck: The book I was looking forward to was Forge of War. I just realized he's writing it... now I'm not so keen on it. If he ruins that book...
cancerousmango 03-13-07, 12:21 AM	Why doesn't Keith Baker just friggin charge us a buck each to read his darn dragonshards? I'd pay. This crap is not eberron. All the people in here have warforged avatars so far. Cool.
Arcane Guyver 03-13-07, 01:26 AM	Why doesn't Keith Baker just friggin charge us a buck each to read his darn dragonshards? I'd pay. This crap is not eberron. I agree. I'd be more than willing to pay for articles that will help my game and understanding of the campaign setting than getting these Clockwork Piece-of-Crappers for free. Of course, the legal-ese of such a setup is probably beyond my mental grasp. All the people in here have warforged avatars so far. Cool. Sorry to break the mojo! :D
Lancer2010 03-13-07, 10:42 AM	No, it's simple Arcane Guyver. Your avatar is that of a D20 Modern Warforged. For as we know, if you were to bring the 'forged to Modern, you would have two subtypes. Steampunk, and Mecha. And yeah, clockwork wonders, not so great. I keep finding it interesting how he uses the canon characters from the PHB and not the ECS. Come to think of it, the only real time he mentioned something in Eberron was when he called one guy a Cyran Revenger... he didn't even get the name of the class right.
Kryptonian Scion 03-13-07, 01:54 PM	The book I was looking forward to was Forge of War. I just realized he's writing it... now I'm not so keen on it. If he ruins that book... Well, hopefully Baur's incompetence will be made up for by James Wyatt's awesomeness and Ari Marmell's mediocrity.
OneWinged4ngel 03-13-07, 03:33 PM	Well, here's a piece of dog crap article that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, proves that Wizards.com needs to ditch this series and bring back Dragonshards. This piece of writing is so completely lacking in detail as to make it basically useless. Or are you telling me I can set the clock to provide Bull's Strength every three minutes to every person in a room? Or does the clock only target one person in a room with that spell - and if so, how does it determine who? So the evil wizard can set up a spell clock to cast a fireball in a room once every single round in the room's doorway, after the door is opened? Congratulations to Wolfgang Baur. Once more he has proven "Hey, I really suck at writing anything other than hack and slash adventures!" I completely agree. I read the item description, and I can't even really figure out exactly how it's supposed to even work in half the cases. Well, hopefully Baur's incompetence will be made up for by James Wyatt's awesomeness and Ari Marmell's mediocrity. I sure hope so! I mean, this guy is proving himself pretty awful with these articles (cyran gliding boots, spell clock...), and I'd be pretty upset if they screwed up that book. Just thank the gods that Baur didn't work on the Magic Item Compendium... that guy can't seem to make a balanced or well-written item for his life. Why doesn't Keith Baker just friggin charge us a buck each to read his darn dragonshards? I'd pay. This crap is not eberron. I would be much more willing to pay for dragonshards than 95% of D&D supplements.
goblin_pride 03-14-07, 01:40 AM	As an item the spell clock isn't bad on it's surface, but he buggered up the creation formula something fierce and the artificer wouldn't make it out of clockwork pieces, it'd be magical. And what good is a trigger device that ticks so loudly you can hear it in the next room on a DC 15 listen? I'm gonna take the idea and work with it a bit and disregard the article completely. And for the record, clockwork wonders aren't Eberron, they're too mechanical for that.
SquirrelMortis 03-15-07, 03:49 AM	And for the record, clockwork wonders aren't Eberron, they're too mechanical for that. Everyone on the Eberron boards knows that. It's Baur that doesn't... (building a portal to the modrons...?)
Logos7 03-15-07, 10:47 AM	Aside from problems with pricing , I don't find the crunch too bad ( The x10 jump the cyran gliding boots took was amusing ) But the fluff? I dinae like tat a all. The Counting Machine is being reinvisioned as a stationary device ( Kinda Like the Coin Counter from real life ) as apposed to some walking talking robet that's trying to open a plane to mechanus, the spell clock is okay and interesting, but the vagueness about the material components and what exactly it does is annoying ( Do they really have to be stuffed full of bat guano or no? can it go off every round or no). I don't mind the mechanical bits, as i don't see it as wind up much. The Mechanical bits are for manipulation ocasionally or timing as in the clock, it's not as if it'w wheel and cog to wheel and cog or at least in my head anyway. That Said I definately don't think Eberrron is wolfgang's strong suit ( I really enjoyed his how to make an adventure articles however ) The Guy Plays/Thinks in Greyhawk or FR, someone needs a big helping of SHARN!
Faithful_One 03-16-07, 11:30 AM	From the sounds of what you all are saying I am glad that I haven't read the article.
davethebrave371 03-19-07, 02:22 PM	Honestly, I thought the Spell Clock was the most Eberron flavoured of all of them. I didn't mind it too much, and I could see myself using it. But I agree that, as a whole, the premise of this article series is not Eberron at all. We're not steampunk, we're manapunk. Clockwork shizt isn't how we roll in Khorvaire. I love Wolfgang Baur though. His Planescape stuff ROCKED. I really enjoyed Beyond Countless Doorways, and use it in all my homebrew games.
goblin_pride 03-19-07, 02:38 PM	Honestly, I thought the Spell Clock was the most Eberron flavoured of all of them. I didn't mind it too much, and I could see myself using it. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to use it, just not as written. I'm creating a magic-driven version of it for my game that isn't quite as expensive to create and doesn't use a clockwork mechanism to operate. I like the idea of a timer that tosses off spells with clock-like precision. I even have plans for my PCs to deliver several dozen of them to the operatives of the Dhakaani in Sharn for use in the "pre-invasion", "divide and conquer" and "crumbling foundation" operations. General Madoc was quite pleased with the idea of a device that didn't expose his operatives to the same dangers as tossing fireglobes and could be placed many hours before detonation.
Lancer2010 03-19-07, 02:50 PM	Don't get me wrong, I'm going to use it, just not as written. I'm creating a magic-driven version of it for my game that isn't quite as expensive to create and doesn't use a clockwork mechanism to operate. I like the idea of a timer that tosses off spells with clock-like precision. I even have plans for my PCs to deliver several dozen of them to the operatives of the Dhakaani in Sharn for use in the "pre-invasion", "divide and conquer" and "crumbling foundation" operations. General Madoc was quite pleased with the idea of a device that didn't expose his operatives to the same dangers as tossing fireglobes and could be placed many hours before detonation. So you're giving goblinoids timebombs, which they're putting in Sharn. Make sure he the general issues a large threat, and if the mayor doesn't comply, he blows up a building as a display. It would be even cooler if you had a rival PC party to try and stop the bombs.
goblin_pride 03-19-07, 05:02 PM	It would be even cooler if you had a rival PC party to try and stop the bombs. I think you'll find if you look closely at my name and the previous post (as well as the No Love thread), that the PCs are Dhakaani delivering timebombs to the sabotuers. I think the city watch in Sharn are going to be a perfect enemy organization for them. If not, I've already laid the groundwork for a little skirmish with the Boromar. And for the record, Madoc isn't big on threats, he'd rather catch an enemy with their proverbial pants down and do as much damage as possible with as little exertion as possible. There's a reason he's called a Cut-throat.
goblin_pride 03-19-07, 05:06 PM	So you're giving goblinoids timebombs, which they're putting in Sharn. Eh, they go well with the hand grenades I gave them a couple months ago.
Lancer2010 03-19-07, 05:35 PM	Eh, they go well with the hand grenades I gave them a couple months ago. Goblin Pride: supplying the less respected races with WoMD since YK 998.
goblin_pride 03-19-07, 06:53 PM	Goblin Pride: supplying the less respected races with WoMD since YK 998. Closer to -6,000 YK, but who's to say? Goblins tossing artificer-made fireballs gives the little buggers a lethal edge that no other race has and helps to explain the massive size of their empire. Didn't do diddly against the Daelkyr, but it would've stopped the humans coming from Sarlona if the Daelkyr hadn't caused the goblinoid's unity to disappear.
Subtle Knife 03-19-07, 07:11 PM	I'd say it's very easy to be critical, particularly relative to the effort of producing and publishing new material! Seriously! There's constructive criticism, and then there's purely negative and reactionist commentary. Nobody is making you use every idea they come up with! If you don't like it, feel free and produce a reasonable critique, or better, try and improve on it, but simply complaining about it is infantile. I certainly hope that Wolfgang Baur doesn't frequent these boards! Before you consider writing something, think about exactly how you would feel if someone decided to dissect your career thusly! SK
goblin_pride 03-19-07, 07:37 PM	I'd say it's very easy to be critical, particularly relative to the effort of producing and publishing new material! Seriously! There's constructive criticism, and then there's purely negative and reactionist commentary. Nobody is making you use every idea they come up with! If you don't like it, feel free and produce a reasonable critique, or better, try and improve on it, but simply complaining about it is infantile. Baur's work is fantastic. For a generic setting, I love the clockwork series. It seems like Eberron was chosen for a home for it because WotC doesn't have a renaissance game setting. I think that would be a much more appropriate place for the excellent work he is doing. With Eberron, magic is supposed to be the driving force behind the technology and thus, clockworks are a bit out of place and perhaps even freakish. That said, I love the fact that he's pointing out things that could easily be adapted with a bit of creative use of engineering. The clockworks series of articles have opened up a few alternatives that I am going to use in the non-Eberron game that I play in, but for Eberron, I'm having to do a bit of translation and rewriting of the creation of the items. If any of this seems overly critical, I apologize, I didn't mean any offense by it. I must admit, I've bought whole books for fewer ideas than the ones I've gotten reading Wolfgang's articles.
Lokiyn 03-19-07, 08:11 PM	Closer to -6,000 YK, but who's to say? Goblins tossing artificer-made fireballs gives the little buggers a lethal edge that no other race has and helps to explain the massive size of their empire. Didn't do diddly against the Daelkyr, but it would've stopped the humans coming from Sarlona if the Daelkyr hadn't caused the goblinoid's unity to disappear. The Blue overmind is pleased that the revisions are holding.
davethebrave371 03-19-07, 09:20 PM	I'd say it's very easy to be critical, particularly relative to the effort of producing and publishing new material! Seriously! There's constructive criticism, and then there's purely negative and reactionist commentary. Nobody is making you use every idea they come up with! If you don't like it, feel free and produce a reasonable critique, or better, try and improve on it, but simply complaining about it is infantile. I certainly hope that Wolfgang Baur doesn't frequent these boards! Before you consider writing something, think about exactly how you would feel if someone decided to dissect your career thusly! SK I've heard tales (whether they're true or not is up to speculation) from some forum members that they've submitted some of their stuff to the web people, and it hasn't even garnered a response. If that's true, I'd say it's actually easier to criticize than it is to contribute. There are some people on these boards I'd trust with excellent Eberron fluff and very well balanced and useful crunch more than half the guys and gals working for WotC. Note that I don't say all. There are plenty of excellent people working for WotC, and in my honest opinion, Baur is one of them...he just missed the fluff ship by two sailings and crashed it on Crunch Rock, which then crumbled atop the wreckage.
Subtle Knife 03-20-07, 10:30 AM	I've heard tales (whether they're true or not is up to speculation) from some forum members that they've submitted some of their stuff to the web people, and it hasn't even garnered a response. If that's true, I'd say it's actually easier to criticize than it is to contribute. There are some people on these boards I'd trust with excellent Eberron fluff and very well balanced and useful crunch more than half the guys and gals working for WotC. Note that I don't say all. There are plenty of excellent people working for WotC, and in my honest opinion, Baur is one of them...he just missed the fluff ship by two sailings and crashed it on Crunch Rock, which then crumbled atop the wreckage. Well if that is true then no doubt they are missing out on some fantastic ideas (and weaker ones, as well). That being said, these forums offer us the ability to produce some new and interesting ideas (or revisions) for the campaign and disseminate them as widely as any WOTC publication, an incredible opportunity that is often overshadowed by infantile whining that one aspect or another of the "canon" material doesn't fit with their world view. These publications are the product of a widely varied group of individuals who no doubt have some diverging views on the minutiae of this fantasy realm. I would submit that there is no "canon" but that which fits your world view. If you don't like it, don't use it. If you're going to complain, try and be constructive - make your own variant or something completely new, write it up, and present it on the forums. If you're lucky, you won't suffer the biting non-constructive criticism of those around you. SK
Subtle Knife 03-20-07, 10:40 AM	Please note that my comments are not directed toward everyone. There are plenty of talented individuals who on a daily basis instill their ideas into these forums and provide their wisdom to those who have question. Unfortunately, there are as many people out there who abase these boards by using them to 1) criticize without contribution, 2) ask/rehash stupid questions ad nauseum, or 3) try and formulate bizarre ways to bend the rules to their will. It gets tired... SK