The Campaign Builder's Guild

Well-said.  I'm glad you responded the way you did.  Is that art up for grabs for some CBG-age contributions?

The art in the Guide was, as printed, donated specifically for the guide. If you want to use the artwork featured in the Guide, you'll need to contact the Artist separately.

EDIT: Wait... I think I misunderstood...

If you just want sunshine blown up your ass, do not ask for honest opinions.
I gave an honest assessment of the issue.  It could be better, it could have been worse.

QuoteIf you thought the Guide was too short, contribute! If you want more in-guild art, contribute!

I have contributed.  

QuoteWe're working with what we have, and (to my knowledge) NO pieces of art were contributed to the guide this issue.

I have contributed both art and articles, so that just does not wash.

Keep your sunshine and blowing as far as possible from my ass, please.

I'm going to preface the following statement with a brief run-down of the events that led to the Guide delays.
Delay 1-Lack of content. We had a lack of publishable content at the end of the October deadline-- Raelifin kindly contributed several articles to help fill the gap. Kudos to him.
Delay 2-Thanksgiving travel. By the time Raelifin's articles had come in-- there had been several attempts at getting other contributions in the meantime-- it was late in November. The staffers spent the time with their families.
Delay 3-My grandmother's death. The whole reason the editorial seat was transferred to Crit and Raelifin for a stretch of time was that my grandmother passed away early in December. Things became hectic and the staff diligently gathered resources and pushed forward as I grieved.
Delay 4-Exams, winter travel, and Christmas My grandmother's death came shortly before final exams, which occupied the time of several staff members. Subsequent traveling and more time spent with families pushed the Guide back further. Everything finally came together over the past few days, with final revisions being made to the Guide.

Cymro, your opinions are certainly valid. Please take a moment to think before you criticize, however-- your tone comes off as condescending and dismissive. The Guide is a community project and attacking it (even if unintentionally) becomes a personal matter for several members of the community.

I won't apologize for the content, however. The other editors and I chose submissions (and most of what we received, we published) that we thought were quality.

I won't apologize for the staff's comments-- their opinions are as equally valid as yours, and continuing to dismiss members of the site doesn't draw us any closer to any sort of results. Criticism is wanted, complaints are not.

And I damn well won't apologize for the timeliness. This Guide has been tied to a series of emotions for me, and sometimes scheduling bit us in the ass. I tried my best to help behind the scenes even after my grandmother's death-- it's been a very personal time for me, and I'm sorry that the Guide suffered because of it.

You don't like this issue of the Guide, you think it's too short and that its lateness means that the staff should have created a better publication. You're entitled to those opinions.

But I stand 100% behind this issue and my staff. That's my right (and my duty) as a member, a moderator, and an editor.

-ElDo

Now back to your regularly programmed Guide discussion.

off-topic, i know, but....

ElDo, you have my deepest condolences on your loss. i know from first-hand experience that its incredibly rough.

Quote from: sdragon1984- the S is for penguinoff-topic, i know, but....

ElDo, you have my deepest condolences on your loss. i know from first-hand experience that its incredibly rough.

Thank you. It really does mean a lot to me.

any time. i went through the same thing this past summer, actually.

My review, as I go along.

Christopher Shepherd does some pretty good art and I would definately support seeing more professional art in the future.  I'll second CYMRO's thought that we should make use of the stuff the guild member's create, but if they aren't submitting do continue to do what you can.  I've worked at creating these sorts of publications before and, from experience, lining up art is one of the single hardest things to do.  Bravo for even having it.

I thought the color scheme of the front page didn't flow into the color scheme of the magazine well.  The front was black and dark red, yet the front page is white and light blue?  Caught me a little off-guard.

The editorial is good.  I believe the editor has the right and the duty to have the first real contents page of the magazine be a piece of writing from him.  I liked the subject here, though you drew it out a bit, ElDo.  If you don't want to write an especially long one just use some funky formatting.  I could imagine in being tilted sideways slightly - it'd go far to take up the negative space and be entertaing visually.  Keep it up.

The Polytheistic Pantheons article is fantastic.  The first paragraph is a bit weak, and I would actually make the second paragraph the first one while integrating the first paragraph later on.  The second paragraph is strong.  The third and fourth paragraph both start with "First," something that catches my eye and seems weird.  Can there be two firsts?  Well, in this case there were.  The races' names didn't need to be all capitalized.  

On the second page there is a semicolon used correctly.  I was impressed.  Strong ending as well.  I know reading through this my thoughts echoed everything held herein, and found it quite fitting as Seraphine_Harmonium and I were just arguing the merits of racial pantheons earlier.  Props to Fatal Error.

Now on to Raelifin's Gorukol.  It has a good opening - a paragraph naration is always strong.  I noticed that Gorukol has 5-6 domains.  This seems a bit excessive in the normal D&D bit, especially since he is a lesser god.  I very much like the Ferocity domain.  One of the problems with wanting to create new domains is that so many are done that creating new ones often overlaps with those already created.  This ferocity domain is quite unique.  At first glance is appears balanced, though I am wondering if the rage 1/day bit is too strong. But, considering the feats Wizards has created for improving rage, I suppose it's not.

The section about fitting Gorukol into another world was splendid, especially the several encounters.  They were unique and interesting.  I would have prefered more about Gorukol himself in here, but I suppose he's currently ambiguous enough right now to fit anywhere.  The two creatures here introduced are quite fine.  The loknaroki is well balanced, though I'm a bit apprehensive about the second one.  A challenge rating of fifteen seems, at first, a bit high, though the rampage is indeed very powerful.  Hard to say, hard to say.  But overall this article is worth the paper.

Now, remember how happy I was about the semicolon up above?  Well, the first thing I noticed about Border Patrol was that there was an incorrectly used semicolon in the second paragraph.  But it's okay for I am liking the content so far.  I am going to have to say that I believe the article could have been cut in half - the content just wasn't there.  I also feel the need to note that most medieval kingdoms never patrolled their borders, secure in the knowledge that an army would have a hard time entering without somebody reporting it.  I am, however, looking forward to the second article, as I think it will be considerably more full of useful information.  I'm counting on you, Stargate525.

Fun with Templates is a catching title, another by Raelifin.  Looking over it, it looks quite good.  My first issue is in the challenge rating of the beast of the taint: the effect of the template actually diminishes over time with the exception of the SR.  Honestly, I do not see any reason that it should get a higher CR as it gets more HD.  Most of the abilities will be more helpful to a 1 HD creature than a 20 HD creature.  I like the second template a lot, boneblade, as it's original and useful without adding a ton to the creature.  I tend to like +1 CR templates.  Overall a good article.

I would like to echo CYMRO in saying that the questions for the interview were weak but, at this point in time, I have a hard time thinking of better questions.  The ones that were more personal I enjoyed, but, thinking about it, I hope that nobody ever asks me what my favorite funny gaming experience was.  I despise those questions.  Otherwise this was just good entertainment.  Cheerio.

All right, I'm done.  I realize that a lot of what I said was superfluous, but I felt like saying it regardless.   :drunk: Enjoy.

Thanks for your thoughts, Jharviss. The editorial was a bit weak, but that's mostly because I wrote it in two parts-- I had started it before my grandmother's death and was asked to finish it afterward. I may be sounding like a broken record at this point, but it's an unfortunate truth.

I don't mind the editorial being after the table of contents, honestly, but it's a good point.

-ElDo

Oh no, I meant that I liked it after the table of contents, if that got confusing.  I also definately understand writing an article in two parts - it loses some consistancy.  I think that was the only real issue there.  

As a suggestion, I think it'd be nifty if some guild-created maps were thrown in.  There's obviously some good ones from what I've seen, so why not throw one or two in as semi-artwork?

@Rael: Awesome color!
@Eldo: PMing thoughts. (Ohm!)

Quote from: JharvissOh no, I meant that I liked it after the table of contents, if that got confusing.  I also definately understand writing an article in two parts - it loses some consistancy.  I think that was the only real issue there.  

As a suggestion, I think it'd be nifty if some guild-created maps were thrown in.  There's obviously some good ones from what I've seen, so why not throw one or two in as semi-artwork?

On that note, I have an idea.
A couple times in Dragon, they've had issues that had an article for each of the major campaign worlds.  They would do an aspect from each.  For example: Desert monsters of Al-Qadim, A profile of a city of Faerun, etc.
The CBGuide could have an issue that has articles based on aspects of campaigns here at the guild.
Things like races of Kahtar, bandits of Sreth, and and empire of Rilos ap fol

EDIT: Those were just example ideas.  Avayevnon would certainly be open as well.  Of course I have no authority over the others.

Quote from: Seraphine_Harmonium

Quote from: JharvissOh no, I meant that I liked it after the table of contents, if that got confusing.  I also definately understand writing an article in two parts - it loses some consistancy.  I think that was the only real issue there.  

As a suggestion, I think it'd be nifty if some guild-created maps were thrown in.  There's obviously some good ones from what I've seen, so why not throw one or two in as semi-artwork?

On that note, I have an idea.
A couple times in Dragon, they've had issues that had an article for each of the major campaign worlds.  They would do an aspect from each.  For example: Desert monsters of Al-Qadim, A profile of a city of Faerun, etc.
The CBGuide could have an issue that has articles based on aspects of campaigns here at the guild.
Things like races of Kahtar, bandits of Sreth, and and empire of Rilos ap fol

EDIT: Those were just example ideas.  Avayevnon would certainly be open as well.  Of course I have no authority over the others.

i think the chief problem, if we were to do it like dragon, would be that the original setting designers (greenwood, baker, etc) aren't the ones designing anything like that. when you have settings that are completed and published, then theres no problem with that, but most of the settings here are still under work. if the original setting designer is doing that material, why not just post it in their thread?

that said, if guildmembers are willing to make fluff and crunch for other members' settings (and if the setting owner approves it), then that isnt a problem.

I guess that's true.  It was just a thought.

I see your point, S(Penguin)Dragon1984, but I know a lot of my stuff would be generic enough to create into an article much like the Gorukol and Fun with Templates articles.  I second Seraphine_Harmonium's thoughts.