Kingofpain89 wrote:

Gnat the Beggar wrote:The three modules were packed into one of those cardboard mini boxes (the kind that would fit a Monster Manual or PHB, but probably not a Mnstrous manual).
No rodgering at all.

People shouldnt have to order multiple items to get "minty" books.

Yeah I ordered 2x F1 and F3, in part for that reason. I'll let you know how they look in a couple of days. Sorry to hear about your experience.

Kingofpain89 wrote:So Guy, I'm reading through F3 and starting to wonder if you've spent some time at the Frank Mentzer School of Troublesome Tricks & Traps?  8)   Room 11?  I wouldnt figure that one out in a million years.  :)

Yeah, that puzzle is pretty tough.

My playtesters didn't figure it out, but they also didn't have the advantage of the extra clue that I mention as a possible option at the end of the area 11 writeup. They did, however, determine the basic correlation between that area and the other similar areas on the level, and they want to go back into the complex again, so I have a feeling they may eventually figure it out. (Actually, they only found one of the similar areas, but they've correctly speculated that there might be more.)

But if they never figure it out, that's okay too. It's not like the puzzle stands in the way of satisfying progress through the module. I tried to design the puzzles to reward the groups who can figure them out, without penalizing the groups who can't, if that makes sense.

I was only able to read part of the Larm book last night.
I am already glad I purchased it.
For such a thin supplemental product (I think it has 24 pages) there are a lot of scenario ideas to be gleaned from those pages.

Sea-to-sky-games wrote:I can't help but think that shrinkwrap would have protected these books from the wear they received.

I haven't found shrink to really offer much protection against the kind of damage you describe:  protection from spills and such, yes, but rough handling not really very much....

Now there is a second online source for purchases: Noble Knight Games has F3 Many Gates of the Gann in stock now, along with F1 The Fane of Poisoned Prophecies. They don't have a ton of copies (only 15 of F3 and 9 of F1 as of right now), so if you've been waiting for NKG to have them both available, you might want to act soon:

http://www.nobleknight.com/ViewProducts ... 2145084372

PDF Versions Are Now Available for both F1 The Fane of Poisoned Prophecies and F3 Many Gates of the Gann

... head to the Chaotic Henchmen Productions section of RPGNow.

See the links in my signature for more info, previews, and reviews.

Any news on the progress (fate) of F2?

F2 ... slow going, but still making progress ... there's enough done to playtest (thanks Allan & everybody else! ), but very little of it is in publishable format at the moment.

I have many pages of notes, and maps, plus annotations on the maps; but it's all in the shorthand that DMs tend to use on their own material for their own groups. Abbreviations, two/three-word reminders, arrows pointing here & there, rooms scribbled out or heavily drawn over with other rooms, various lists of local stuff (think: wandering monsters, but not just that) that need more entries, etc. Three separate files containing overlapping notes. Good enough for me to run at the table, but little use for anybody else.

It will eventually get into a publishable/published format, but it's paused at the moment while I spend my time readying the new printing of Dark Druids.

A kind person — maybe somebody here — contacted me several months ago about playtesting F2. I made some of the content more coherent and sent it their way, and promised to give more, but I dropped the ball, and got busy with Dark Druids.

I struggle with the right format for F2. I should probably pare it down, because there's really a lot of stuff there. Allan gave me some great feedback in that regard, and also having to do with certain "feel" aspects of the content. I need to think more about it. If I keep the keys concise, it would be a quicker overall project.

And it also needs more playtesting. Certain ideas sounded good in my head, but ended up feeling overwrought in play. (The dude with the metal box on his head — Allan knows what I'm talking about — really doesn't need the box & angst.) Other things just need plain old testing to see whether the toys in the metaphorical toybox are really worth playing with; Sunday's group didn't get to test out a major set of toys that are intended to be a potential reason to keep exploring.

And then I pretty much dumped all the spoilers on all my players on Sunday so I need to find other groups to run this for. I ought to run bits & pieces of it at conventions.

Black Blade will be selling copies of Dark Druids (and F1 and F3) at GaryCon and the rest of the conventions we attend this year, as well.