#3E-Integrity

[talenlee]

3e: Winners and Losers In Lawful Space

Planescape is a silly place.

Dungeons & Dragons is a wholeheartedly silly game, and it’s important to remember that what makes it silly is an expansive growth out of a particular root. It is a tree of many branches but thanks to the way that it encourages people to build their own things on top of it, it has become a sprawling kind of folk narrative and generally accepted consensus material that then a company comes along and tries to augment and supplement. Still, as much as a corporate mind is at the head of what gets published, what gets handed to that corporation is going to derive from the mind of a dork who likes D&D. To that end, D&D’s lore is a constant push-pull between the kinds of nerds who like organising lists and the kind of nerds who like to invent new types of dragons they want to have sex with and they’re all trying to integrate one another’s material because that’s how nerds demonstrate mastery over a topic.

The result is that D&D lore is composed of parts that neatly and smoothly fit together and parts that should be airbrushed on the side of a van, and all subjects exist in a space between those two points, on a spectrum. And nowhere is this more evident than in the way that 2e’s setting Planescape introduced elements that 3rd edition tried to hide.

Planescape, as a setting, exists very close to the ‘airbrushed on a Van’ side of things, and it’s extremely obvious when you look at its roots in 2nd Edition. In this space, much of what makes Planescape Planescape was codified. For those of you unfamiliar, Planescape is a setting made up of the idea of ‘planes’ as distinct, discrete universes with their own rules separated not by time and space, but just by barriers or magical boundaries. You know how Narnia is supposed to work, with the wardrobe? It’s like that, but there are a lot more wardrobes and they all go to different places. Think a sort of multi-level Isekai scheme.

Anyway, it’s a setting with like, multiple whole universe-sized worlds, that may or may not have planets inside them, some of which follow a very narrow set of identifying rules, like the elemental plane of Fire, which is full of Fire, or are just like ‘here, but a bit weird,’ like Bitopia, which is a whole plane that is mirrored vertically at a certain height. If you look up in Bitopia, you see another whole country up there – that’s why it’s called that. Also everyone there is bisexual.

Planescape sought to build out more of that structured universe and then in each structured space, fill it with interesting notions. But the structure is a little odd, in that it’s hard to make an infinite number of chairs organise neatly, someone is always putting out one more where they shouldn’t. That means there are tidy diagrams of the Planar cosmology, and then you look inside any of the bubbles in that diagram and find it’s full of gibberish.

It was in 2e that, as far as I know, we were introduced world-wise, to the characters of the Modrons.

There’s a whole writing form that involves referring to Modrons in deliberately obtuse ways, with Modrons being the individual, plural, categorical, and utility terms for this people, but what you need to know about them is that Modrons are weird lil guys that are made out of a basic geometric shape – pyramid, cube, dodecahedron, all the way up to sphere (or down to sphere, depending on who you ask). They are truly perfect Lil Guys, a byproduct of a plane of true law and order which doesn’t in any way cohere to what humans (the people playing the game) necessarily assume about law.

They make a lot of sense in a storybook kind of way where you don’t need to have big answers for what they are or how they work or even how their philosophical bias towards pure lawfulness works. In the world of 2ed, where sometimes things that sound like they should be well explained, clear rules are kinda yada-yada-yada’d in a space that you might imagine is flavour text, the Modrons left a bunch of questions unanswered and seemingly, that was good. It was good that they were heavily ambiguous because what was the life cycle of ‘an orb?’ Any answer made them less mysterious and pushed them away from the oddness that they represented.

Anyway, 3e was an attempt by a serious company to do serious things and that’s why when they went back to talk about the Creatures That Lived In The Lawful Planes, they came up with the Inevitables.

Inevitables are the demons of small minds, writ large. Literally, the point of an Inevitable is to be a Lawful Neutral version of a Demon, an entity that exists purely based on rules, coalesced out of a world made of rules, and with nothing holding them back from expressing that. Each of the Inevitables is meant to respond to a rule in the universe and then enforce it. They are self-appointed near-immortal construct cops, and they’re meant to oppose things and people that break the rules that they, specifically, are meant to care about.

These rules are completely out of whack, though, because one of them is meant to enforce say, justice, another the inevitability of death and another, the way the desert is a fixed ecosystem that nobody should try and change or interact with. And in that case, there are a bunch of plants that the Inevitables are going to have issues with, that don’t seem to be capable of forming complex political allegiances.

There’s a really interesting distinction between Inevitables and Modrons, to me. Modrons are weird and interesting but also, there’s nothing they can do that answers a question. Inevitables are a fun challenge that’s supposed to be present to oppose players or potentially be recruited into an adventure, but not for too long. But Inevitables, the 3e attempt to populate Lawful Planes with A Kind of Guy, sort of fell apart and are now more of a trivia question while Modrons have endured into 4th and 5th edition.

I don’t think there’s some greater, better reason for it or anything. I don’t think that Inevitables failed because they were Bad Design or something. But I do think that for me, the way that Modrons represented Weirdness was much more interesting than the ways the Inevitables sucked weirdness away with their simple, clear consideration of certain things as being part of natural reality.

After all: Inevitables would hunt down people who extended their lifespans because ‘everyone must die.’ But Inevitables were immortal. That’s a pretty interesting thing to juxtapose and maybe a character could struggle with that.

Or maybe they could make a big speaking trumpet and demand that everyone else refer to them as a Spokesmodron which is, in my opinion, much funnier.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[imsobadatnicknames2]

What's OSR? I've seen you mention it several times in your RPG posts. Is it like a genre of rpg or...?

Hey, sorry I took so long to reply to this lol you probably already just googled it by now.

But like. Anyway.

OSR (Old-School Revival, Old-School Renaissance, and more uncommonly Old-School Rules or Old-School Revolution, no one can really agree on what the R means) is less like a genre and more like a movement or a loosely connected community that seeks to capture the tone, feel and/or playstyle of 70's and 80's fantasy roleplaying games (with a particular emphasis on old-school editions of Dungeons and Dragons, particularly the Basic D&D line but pretty much anything before 3e falls under this umbrella), or at least an idealized version of what people remember those games felt like to play.

There isn't exactly a consensus on what makes a game OSR but here's my personal list of things that I find to be common motifs in OSR game design and GM philosophy. Not every game in the movement features all of these things, but must certainly feature a few of them.

Rulings over rules: most OSR games lack mechanically codified rules for a lot of the actions that in modern D&D (and games influenced by it) would be covered by a skill system. Rather that try to have rules applicable for every situation, these games often have somewhat barebones rules, with the expectation that when a player tries to do something not covered by them the GM will have to make a ruling about it or negotiate a dice roll that feels fair (a common resolution system for this type of situation is d20 roll-under vs a stat that feels relevant, a d6 roll with x-in-6 chance to succeed, or just adjudicating the outcome based on how the player describes their actions)

"The solution is not on your character sheet": Related to the point above, the lack of character skills means that very few problems can be solved by saying "I roll [skill]". E.g. Looking for traps in an OSR game will look less like "I rolled 18 on my perception check" and more like "I poke the flagstones ahead with a stick to check if they're pressure plates" with maybe the GM asking for a roll or a saving throw if you do end up triggering a trap.

High lethality: Characters are squishy, and generally die much more easily. But conversely, character creation is often very quick, so if your character dies you can usually be playing again in minutes as long as there's a decent chance to integrate your new PC into the game.

Lack of emphasis on encounter balance: It's not uncommon for the PCs to find themselves way out of their depth, with encounters where they're almost guaranteed to lose unless they run away or find a creative way to stack the deck in their favor.

Combat as a failure state: Due to the two points above, not every encounter is meant to be fought, as doing so is generally not worth the risk and likely to end up badly. Players a generally better off finding ways to circumvent encounters through sneaking around them, outsmarting them, or out-maneauvering them, fighting only when there's no other option or when they've taken steps to make sure the battle is fought on their terms (e.g. luring enemies into traps or environmental hazards, stuff like that)

Emphasis on inventory and items: As skills, class features and character builds are less significant than in modern D&D (or sometimes outright nonexistent), a large part of the way the players engage with the world instead revolves around what they carry and how they use it. A lot of these games have you randomly roll your starting inventory, and often this will become as much a significant part of your character as your class is, even with seemingly useless clutter items. E.g. a hand mirror can become an invaluable tool for peeping around corners and doorways. This kind of gameplay techncially possible on modern D&D but in OSR games it's often vital.

Gold for XP: somewhat related to the above, in many of these games your XP will be determined by how much treasure you gather, casting players in the role and mindset of trasure hutners, grave robbers, etc.

Situations, not plots: This is more of a GM culture thing than an intrinsic feature of the games, but OSR campaigns will often eschew the long-form GM-authored Epic narrative that has become the norm since the late AD&D 2e era, in favor of a more sandbox-y "here's an initial situation, it's up to you what you do with it" style. This means that you probably won't be getting elaborate scenes plotted out sessions in advance to tie into your backstory and character arc, but it also means increased player agency, casting the GM in the role of less of a plot writer or narrator and more of a referee.

Like I said, these are not universal, and a lot of games that fall under the OSR umbrella will eschew some or most of these (it's very common for a lot of games to drop the gold-for-xp thing in favor of a different reawrd structure), but IMO they're a good baseline for understanding common features of the movement as a whole.

Of course, the OSR movement covers A LOT of different games, which I'd classify in the following categories by how much they deviate from their source of inspiration:

Retroclones are basically recreations of the ruleset of older D&D editions but without the D&D trademark, sometimes with a new coat of paint. E.g. OSRIC and For Gold and Glory are clones of AD&D (1e and 2e respectively); Whitebox and Fantastic Medieval Campaigns are recreations of the original 1974 white box D&D release; Old School Essentials, Basic Fantasy and Labyrinth Lord are clones of the 1981 B/X D&D set. Some of these recreate the original rules as-is, editing the text or reorganizing the information to be clearer but otherwise leaving the meachnics unchanged, while others will make slight rules changes to remove quirks that have come to be considered annoying in hindsight, some of them might mix and match features from different editions, but otherwise they're mostly straight up recreations of old-school D&D releases.

There are games that I would call "old-school compatible", that feature significant enough mechanical changes from old-school D&D to be considered a different game, but try to maintain mechanical compatibility with materials made for it. Games like The Black Hack, Knave, Macchiato Monsters, Dungeon Reavers, Whitehack, etc. play very differently from old-school D&D, and from each other, but you generally can grab any module made for any pre-3e D&D edition and run it with any of them with very little to no effort needed in conversion.

There's a third category that I wouldn't know how to call. Some people call then Nu-OSR or NSR (short for New School revolution) while a small minority of people argue that they aren't really part of the OSR movement but instead their own thing. I've personally taken to calling them "Old School Baroque". These are games that try to replicate different aspects of the tone and feel of old-school fantasy roleplaying games while borrowing few to none mechanics from them and not making any particular attempts to be mechanically compatible. Games like Into the Odd, Mörk Borg, Troika!, a dungeon game, FLEE, DURF, Songbirds, Mausritter, bastards, Cairn, Sledgehammer, and too many more to name. In my opinion this subsection of the OSR space is where it gets interesting, as there's so many different ways people try to recreate that old-school flavor with different mechanics.

(Of course, not everything fits neatly into these, e.g. I would consider stuff like Dungeon Crawl Classics to be somewhere inbetween category 1 and 2, and stuff like GloG or RELIC to be somewhere imbetween categories 2 and 3)

The OSR movement does have its ugly side, as it's to be expected by the fact that a huge part of the driving force behind it is nostalgia. Some people might be in it because it harkens back to a spirit of DIY and player agency that has been lost in traditional fantasy roleplaying games, but it's udneniable that some people are also in it because for them it harkens back to a time before "D&D went woke" when tabletop roleplaying was considered a hobby primarily for and by white men. That being said... generally those types of guys keep to themselves in their own little circlejerk, and it's pretty easy to find OSR spaces that are progressive and have a sinificant number of queer, POC, and marginalized creators.

[xxxdragonfucker69xxx]

hi folks. its been a long week. but its time for HOUR IN BRASS

for those just joining us, a new exalted splat is being released; when this happens, i usually lose my shit and liveread through the charms; this time it's the alchemical exalted, golem-robot-communists inside the belly of the machine god autochthon. if you wish to avoid this, you will blacklist #hour in brass

first third of charms:

Howdy Mother Fuckers. its time for HOUR IN BRASS

starting with: the horniest chapter fiction so far

the alchemical paradigm is that you have only so many charm slots for active charms at a time, but that most charms have submodules that add on without taking more slots. they have to swap charms in and out with the rite of reconfiguration. their dice limit is Ess+Attribute BUT one of their biggest charms is going to make their math oh whatever here it comes

TRANSPUISSANT ATTRIBUTE UPGRADE aka transpussy assribute ultima. which raises your resting attribute by 1, starts to stack at higher essences, and comes with a load of submodules to let you swap what attributes are used for what. god im fucking excited to have these around. unwavering sniper calibration to snipe with perception, for example

actually they have a lot of wacky universal charms about integrating with hearthstones, artifacts, stuff like that. robots be customizing bodies. i do want to point out vat surrogate reweaving system, which lets you speed-swap charms once between reconfigurations. i read it and immediately thought camilla hect Go Loud and started cackling

yes alchemicals can still go colossus and eventually turn into cities. though metropolis play is not mechanically supported

ok appearance. starting with radiant iconography array: anima holograms, but they do stuff like become realistic illusions or huge legendary size stuff

emotive aesthetics of the body electric naturally bangs

patriotism-provoking display has many-is-one node and one-is-many node as submodules, whihc are fun

universal advisor comportment is fun, makes you feel sagacious and advisorly

beguiling aestheic perfection is fun, when you socially affect someone they suffer trying to beat your guile for the rest of the scene. i have suffered this irl many times

pheromone regulation system… i cannot make any jokes about this that arent crass. i once knew someone who was turned on by the smell of xbox exhaust

man the submodule tech is really realyl nice. this is a great fucking way for charms to work. you can flashbang people with blinding strobe projector and then on top of that you can choose to enter stealth, steal more initiative, or make it rainbow

its really interesting to me that appearance is getting so many teacherly charms. with illuminating inspiration beacon "The Alchemical’s faith in her students shines through in every aspect of her neon-limned visage"

damn, and from there is psyche-stabilizing beacon, where you radiate such comfort that it helps people resist brain curses

theotropic veneration mantle rocks. project a principle to the exclsuion of others, and those who share the principle see you as a holy figure

i sort of hate glistering obsession nodes. i dont want to glister. it makes people obsessed with me if they can't figure me out

ooh, disguises in appearance subterfuge. including stuff to appear human, or as a dfferent exalted

optical shroud, a classic, predator invisibility

apocryphal operative halo is really interesting, MIB neuralyzer

semiotic flare projector is a really cute concept. almost as cute as supreme icon of battlefield glory. when you kick ass on the battlefield your troops love it, and you can make your enemies hate it, and at e4 you can project it over the entire battlefield

alright, charisma. starting with effective leadership algorithm, both a great example of alchie flavor and of submodule tech bc its just a menu of submodules that let you decide what kinda rolls you use it on, whether youre using faction-building unity or overriding authority mode

oh synergy promoting upgrade is interesting. helps with bureaucracy if youre leadering, gets better if your group likes you, SPU: communal supremacy makes it better if its for a community, SPU: lifestyle cooperation paradigm makes your group like each other

hdkfghdfjsg universal authorization chevron. the cool s. intuitively recognized as a symbol of authority. UAC: axiomatic emblem means even gremlins/fae/undead recognize you with wary deference. UAC: perfected delegation emblem lets you hand out copies to deputies

heresy declaration beacon, lets fucking go

radiant emblem of integrity is interesting… if you speak the complete truth everyone knows that its the complete truth, and it can also authenticate replays of events projected with radiant iconography array. also if you tell the truth and it sucks, gain wp. fantastically built charm. oh the submodule lets you make it permanent and mandatory

electric fervor inspiration is a set of orichalcum electrodes implanted behind the alchemical's jaw. thats fucked up. oh it lets you reset social rolls thats differently fucked up

battle anthem of the alchemical exalted! made it in! oh this is just a menu of songs thats super neat. including thousand work shifts ballad… and double music

similarly with programming language eloquence "A breaker between the Alchemical’s frontal and temporal lobes filters unnecessary emotion from her communications…" im really having fun with this

damn propaganda interdiction signal: void-quelling chastisement means that gribblies can't call on principles to resist your influence to hangout with mortals

something about vox populi broadcast really compels me. its just a charm to speak loudly but you can submodule it to communicate only with allies or to cut through magical silence.. and its speakers implanted in your throat

ideological override circuitry…

FEAR OVERRIDE DEVICE in warfare

homeguard reinforcement clarion… whip up that militia

dexterityyyy okay we're getting into the combat charms now

omg magnetic subdual coils to steal weapons. including a pulse blaster submodule, field projector, magnetron…

protosynthetic ammunition replicator, as expected, but thankully it is reloaded with "an articulated metal tendril". & btw dispersive flash-chaff cluster to make it a flashbang arrow, fulminating conduction charge to make it a stun arrow, concussive overpressure warhead to make it a knockdown, airburst grenade

being able to group all the "fast attack" charms in one place is fun, the submodules have a cute menu of extra ways to use it

damn, blinding velocity actuator upgrades you to a surprise attack if youre fast enough?

i like that gear-driven reflex automation is, past all the prereqs and flavor lines and stuff, exactly one line of charm. and then some fun submodules. wait damn withering counterattck at e3, with tactical reaction matrix

hacking multistrike accelerator to "enact pre-programmed motions" in pursuit of… erm… well… ok wait forget that this is a really cool charm. doesnt use all your initiative on the decisive, this feels like itd be real fun to fuck with espcially with the submodules

dsjksdks subluminous onslaught: kinetic launch catapult lets you like launch a fucking sword to short range. or your fists

ESSENCE PULSE CANNON. lets fucking go. again the submodules are really cool: concussive, focused, precision, de hey. Sieve Devastator Mode. its sheer heft provides her with heavy cover

skjfdsf autonomous assault processors makes (Dex-2) attacks, but dont forget you could be augmened enough for that to be 4 attacks at e2 anyways, 5 at e3 (if i remember the TAU rules right).

oh shitt transmodal rapid targeting system, bend that bullet. psychokinetic vectors. sdhksdfs this damage calculation is really funny. damn this is fully just children of the sun or whatever that game was. epic

TRANSFINITE ULTRAVIOLENCE DRIVE. time stands still. and then you bank attacks, which seems really fun. shjdskf and TUD: omnitactical processing core lets you add more withering attacks on top

oh huh accelerated response system: unwavering precision lets you not take onslaught if you successfully defend against lower init enemies. thats probably not that strong but it feels strong

casualty-minimizing equations is a damn good name

perfectly parallel defensive geometry…

oh light-etched interceptor barrier is fun. roll parry instead of static. and essence absorption screen lets you eat energy attacks with it

autonomous defensive drones AERIAL! actually theyre more like murderbot drones, they orbit and defend you. … damn, they cant be withered and theyve got almost as many hls as a starting character, theyre a pain to take out. their DO Parry is (Dex+1) so they're like fantastic for ranged fighters who dont parry or dodge

precalculated evasion system lets you bank dodge successes… kind of like light-etched interceptor but not. really interesting. hey what its simple?

omnisituational evasive equation is a fantastic name. ts the perfect dodge. OEE: hyperspatial geometry is really fun

cyclical velocity treads! heelies!!!

and then theres… oil slick dispenser nozzles… in your calves. i love wacky races

momentum-charged overdrive engine is a bangin name… a preprogrammed sequence of combat acrobatics

inclding jet boosters in optimized pursuit accelerator… ts really funny that al these red jade rush charms are also like "ugh fine you can also use these to run away if you have to"

transphase engine… walk through fucking walls

sjdflskdf digital precision effectors splits open your fingertips

covert telemetry mode…

counterharmonic scatter system is just like a really fun charm name. im having a lot of fun with charm names. displaces the sound of you

sdjlfsdf flicker-flare launchers are a flashbang to just immediately enter concealment

ooh matchless assassin protocols… reflexively stealth after a disengage or distract

hyperdextrous tentacle apparatus. can someone get astrakiseki on the phone

total perception negation field. if you see me no you didnt. ending, of course, in unseen deathblow calibration

and thats the first third. im like getting really alchemicalpilled rn. its hot

[thydungeongal]

Hey sorry I was reading through the mythcraft rules you linked (looks cool!) and when I got to the skills section I had to do a double take - I'm curious if you have any thoughts on OGL or other systems with double digit crafting/job skills? Things like profession, craft (variable), etc? I've always struggled with them because either they become incredibly valuable and overused (allowing someone to use profession soldier to determine guard rotations for example) or they're difficult to justify without a hyper specific concept (craft leatherworking). I know they can be used for downtime earning, and some rulesets require them for magical item crafting, but especially these days it feels like that level of granularity is way too much trouble for anyone to keep track of (similar to keeping track of spell components). I'd be interested to hear your thoughts, or if there's something those skills really lend themselves to that I'm missing. Thanks!

I'm ultimately neutral on Crafting and Profession type skill, which is kind of a copout answer because broadly speaking I'm neutral on almost any kinds of rules and mechanics in isolation: whether a game models crafting or working a profession outside of the scope of the rest of the gameplay is ultimately an entirely neutral proposition in and of itself, and ultimately whether it's good or not depends entirely on, well, whether the rules themselves are good and well-integrated into the rest of the gameplay.

In MythCraft's case I feel there might be a bit of a case of the D&D 3e's here, where the game ultimately expects you to play it as an adventure fantasy game but it still provides a wide list of different crafting skills most of which ultimately don't seem to contribute much to the main gameplay.

But that doesn't necessarily mean it's flawed, because it can definitely add color and texture to characters, but it feels a bit unnecessary. Now, a game more concerned with verisimilitude like Mythras and Rolemaster I would think would feel weird without skills like that. But in the context of an adventure fantasy game I think crafting skills work best when they are integral to the adventure game: there for the maintenance of gear, for the sake of creating single-use items (like MythCraft seems to do with some of its crafting skills), and maybe as a source of income for characters during downtime.

Anyway for a game/framework that I feel does crafting and long-term projects in a way that integrates well into the game itself without being too fine-grained, I can't speak highly enough of Blades in the Dark.

(sorry for the kinda messy answer: I'm not even sure if this answers your question properly, but ultimately I don't think there is a single "correct" answer to whether crafting or working a profession are worth modeling in game beyond "it depends on the game.")

[kakita-shisumo]

In which I sound off for much too long about PF2 (and why I like it better than D&D 5E)

So, let me begin with a disclaimer here. I don’t hate 5E and I deeply despise edition warring. I like 5E, I enjoy playing it, and more, I think it’s an incredibly well-designed game, given what its design mandates were. This probably goes without saying but I wanted it on the record. While I will be comparing PF2 to D&D 5E in what follows and I’ve pretty much already spoiled the ending by the post title (that is, PF2 is going to come out ahead in these comparisons most of the time), I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding about my position or intention. My opinions do not constitute an attack on anybody. For that matter, things I might list as weaknesses in 5E or strengths of PF2 might be the exact opposite for other people, depending on what they want from their RPG experience.

As I said before, 5E is an exceedingly well-designed game that does an exceptional job of meeting its design goals. It just so happens that those design goals aren’t quite to my taste.

# A Brief History of the d20 RPG Universe #

I’m going to indulge myself in a little history for a second; some of it might even be relevant later, but for the most part, I just want to cover a little ground about how we got here. By the time the late ‘90s rolled around TSR and its flagship product, Dungeons and Dragons, were in trouble. D&D was well over two decades old by that point and showing its age. New ideas about what RPGs could and even should be had taken over the industry; TSR had finally lost its spot as best-selling RPG publisher to comparative upstart White Wolf and their World of Darkness games; the company even declared bankruptcy in 1997. Times were grim.

That, however, was when another comparative newcomer, Wizards of the Coast, popped up and bought TSR outright. Flush with MtG and Pokemon cash, they were excited to try to revitalize the D&D brand and began development on a new edition of D&D: third edition, releasing in August 2000.

Third edition was an almost literal revolution in D&D’s design, throwing a lot of “sacred cows” out and streamlining everywhere: getting rid of THAC0 and standardizing three kinds of base attack bonus progressions instead; cutting down to three, much more intuitive kinds of saving throws and standardizing them into two kinds of progression; integrating skills and feats into the core rules; creating the concept of prestige classes and expanding the core class selection. And of course, just making it so rolls were standardized as well, using a d20 for basically everything and making it so higher numbers are basically always better.

At the same time, WotC also developed the concept of the Open Gaming License (OGL), based on Open Source coding philosophies. The idea was that the core rules elements of the game could be offered with a free, open license to allow third-parties develop more content for the game than WotC would have the resources to do on their own. That would encourage more sales of the base game and other materials WotC released as well, creating a virtuous cycle of development and growing the industry for everyone.

Well, long story short (too late!), it worked like fucking gangbusters. 3E was explosive. It sold beyond anyone’s expectations, and the OGL fostered a massive cottage industry of third-party developers throwing out adventures, rules material, and even entire new game lines on the backs of the d20 system. A couple years later, 3.5 edition released, updating and streamlining further, and it was even more of a success than 3rd ed was.

At this point, we need turn for a moment to a small magazine publishing company called Paizo Publishing, staffed almost exclusively by former WotC writers and developers who had formed their own company to publish Dungeon and Dragon, the two officially-licensed monthly magazines (remember those?) for D&D. Dungeon focused on rules content, deep dives into new sourcebooks, etc., while Dragon was basically a monthly adventure drop. Both sold well and Paizo was a reasonably profitable company. Everything seemed to be going swimmingly.

Except. In 1999, WotC themselves were bought by board game heavyweight Hasbro, who wanted all that sweet, sweet Magic: the Gathering and Pokemon money. D&D was a tiny part of WotC at the time and the brand was moribund, so Hasbro’s execs hadn’t really cared if the weirdos in the RPG division wanted to mess around with Open Source licensing. It wasn’t like D&D was actually making money anyway… until it was. A lot of money. And suddenly Hasbro saw “their” money walking out the door to other publishers. So in 2007, WotC announced D&D 4th Ed, and unlike 3rd, it would not be released under an open license. Instead, it would be released under a much more restrictive, much more isolationist Gaming System License, which, among other things, prevented any licensee from publishing under the OGL and the GSL at the same time. They also canceled the licenses for Dungeon and Dragon, leaving Paizo Publishing without anything to, well, publish.

At first, Paizo opted to just pivot to adventure publishing under the OGL. Dungeon Magazine had found great success with a series of adventures over several issues that took PCs from 1st all the way to 20th level, something they were calling “Adventure Paths,” so Paizo said, “Well, we can just start publishing those! We’re good at it, the market’s there, it will be great!” And then, roughly four months after Paizo debuted its “Pathfinder Adventure Paths” line, WotC announced 4th Ed and the switch to the GSL. Paizo suddenly had a problem.

4th Ed wasn’t as big a change from 3rd Ed as 3rd Ed had been from AD&D, but it was still a major change, and a lot of 3rd Ed fans were decidedly unimpressed. Paizo’s own developers weren’t too keen on it either. So they made a fateful decision: they were going to use the OGL to essentially rewrite and update D&D 3.5 into an RPG line they owned: the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. It was unprecedented. It was a huge freaking gamble. And it paid off more than anybody ever expected. Within two years Paizo was the second-largest RPG publisher in the industry, only behind WotC itself, and for one quarter late in 4E’s life, even managed to outsell D&D, however briefly. Ten years of gangbuster sales and rules releases followed, including 6 different monster books and something over 30 base classes when it was all said and done. It was good stuff and I played it loyally the whole time.

Eventually, though, time moves on and things have to change. The first thing that changed was 4E was replaced by D&D 5E in 2014, which was deliberately designed to walk back many of the changes in 4E that were so poorly received, keep a few of the better ones that weren’t, and in general make the game much more accessible to new players. It was a phenomenal success, buoyed by a resurgence of D&D in pop culture generally (Stranger Things and Critical Role both having large parts to play), and its dominance in the RPG arena hasn’t been meaningfully challenged since. It also returned to the use of the OGL, and a second boom of third-party publishers appeared and thrived for most of a decade.

The second thing was that PF1 was, itself, showing its age. RPGs have a pretty typical life cycle of editions and Pathfinder was reaching the end of one. It wasn’t much of a surprise, then, when, in 2018, Paizo announced Pathfinder 2nd Ed, which released in 2019 and will serve as the focus of the remainder of this post (yes, it’s taken me 1300 words to actually start doing the thing the post is supposed to be about, sue me).

There’s a coda to all of this in the form of the OGL debacle but I don’t intend to rehash any of it here - it was just like six months ago, come on - beyond what it specifically means for the future of PF2. That will come back up at the very end.

# Pathfinder 2E Basics #

So what, exactly, makes PF2 different from what has come before? There are, in my opinion, four fundamental answers to that question.

First: Unified math and proficiency progression. This piece is likely the part most familiar to 5E players, because 5E proficiency and PF2 proficiency both serve the same purpose, which is to tighten up the math of the game and make it so broken accumulations of bonuses aren’t really a thing. In contrast to 5E’s very limited proficiency, though, which just runs from +2 to +6 over the entire 20 levels of the game, Pathfinder’s scales from +0 to +28. Proficiency isn’t a binary yes/no, the way it is in 5E. PF2’s proficiency comes in five varieties: Untrained, Trained, Expert, Master, and Legendary. Your proficiency bonus is either +0 (Untrained) or your level + 2(Trained), +4 (Expert), +6 (Master) or +8 (Legendary). So if you were level five and Expert at something, your proficiency bonus would be level (5) plus Expert bonus (4) = +9.

Proficiency applies to everything in PF2, really - even more than 5E, if you can believe it, because it also goes into your Armor Class calculation. You can be Untrained, Trained, Expert, Master, or Legendary in various types of armor (or unarmored defense, especially relevant for many casters and monks), and your AC is calculated by your proficiency bonus + your Dex modifier + the armor’s own AC bonus, so AC scales just as attack rolls do. Once you get a handle on PF2 proficiency, you’ve grasped 95% of how any game statistic is calculated, including attacks, saves, skill checks, and AC.

Second: Three-Action Economy. Previous editions of D&D, including 5E, have used a “tiered” action system in combat, like 5E’s division between actions, moves, and bonus actions. PF2 has largely done away with that. At the start of your turn, you get three actions and a reaction, period (barring haste or slow or similar temporary effects). It takes one action to do one basic thing. “Attack” is an action. “Move your speed” is an action. “Ready a weapon” is an action. Searching for a hidden enemy is an action. Taking a guarded step is an action. Etc. The point being, you can do any of those as often as you have the actions for them. You can move three times, attack three times, move twice and attack once, whatever. Yes, this does mean you can attack three times in one turn at 1st level if you really want to (though there are reasons why you might not want to).

Some special abilities and most spells take more than one action to accomplish, so it’s not completely one-to-one, but it’s extremely easy to grasp and quite flexible at the same time. It’s probably my favorite of the innovations PF2 brought to the table.

Third: Deep Character Customization. So here’s where I am going to legitimately complain just a bit about 5E. I struggle with how little mechanical control I, as a player, have over how my character advances in 5E.

Consider an example. It’s common in a lot of 5E games to begin play at 3rd level, since you have a subclass by then, as well as a decent amount of hit points and access to 2nd level spells if you’re a caster. Let’s say you’re playing a fighter in a campaign that begins at 3rd level and is expected to run to 11th. That’s 8+ levels of play, a decent-length campaign by just about anyone’s standards. During that entire stretch of play, which would be a year or more depending on how often your group meets, your fighter will make exactly two (2) meaningful mechanical choices as part of their level-up process: the two points at 4th and 8th levels where you can boost a couple stats or get a feat. That’s it. Everything else is on rails, decided for you the moment you picked your subclass.

Contrast that with PF2. In that same level range, you would get to select: 4 class feats, 4 skill feats, two ancestry feats, two general feats, and four skill increases. At every level, a PF2 player gets to choose at least two things, in addition to whatever automatic bonuses they get from their class. These allow me to tailor my build quite tightly to whatever my idea for my character is and give me cool new things to play with every time I level up. This is true across character classes, casters and martials alike.

PF2 also handles multiclassing and the space that used to be occupied by prestige classes with its “pile o’ feats” approach. You can spend class feats from class A to get some features of class B, but it’s impossible for a multiclass build to just “steal” everything that makes a single class cool. A wizard/fighter will never be as good a fighter as a regular fighter is, and a fighter/wizard will never be the wizard’s match with magic.

Fourth: Four Degrees of Success. 5E applies its nat 20, nat 1, critical hits, etc. rules in a very haphazard fashion. PF2 standardizes this as well, in a way that makes your actual skill with whatever you’re doing matter for how well you do it. Any check in PF2 can produce one of four results: a critical success, a regular success, a regular failure, or a critical failure. In order to get a critical success on a roll, you have to exceed your target DC by 10 or more; in order to get a critical failure, you have to roll 10 or more less than the DC. Where do nat 20s and nat 1s come in? They respectively increase or decrease the level of success you rolled by one step. In practice, it works out a lot like you’re used to with a 5E game, but, for instance, if you have a +30 modifier and are rolling against a DC 18, rolling a nat 1 nets you a total of 31, exceeding the DC by more than 10 and earning you a critical success, which is then reduced to just a normal success by the fact of it being a nat 1. Conversely, rolling against a DC 40 with a +9 modifier can never succeed, because even a nat 20 only earns a 29, more than 10 below the DC and normally a crit failure, only increased to a regular failure by the nat 20.

Now, not every roll will make use of critical successes and critical failures. Attack rolls, for instance, don’t make any inherent distinction between failure and critical failure. (Though there are special abilities that do - try not to critically fail a melee attack against a swashbuckler. The results may be painful.) Skill rolls, however, often do, as do many spells with saving throws. Most spells that allow saves are only completely resisted if the target rolls a critical success. Even on a regular success, there is usually some effect, even on non-damaging rolls. That means that casters very rarely waste their turn on spells that get resisted and accomplish nothing at all. It also doubles the effect of any mechanical bonuses or penalties to a roll, because now there are two spots on a die per +1 or -1 that affect the outcome; a +1 might not only convert a failure to a success but might also convert a success to a crit success, or a crit fail to a regular fail.

# What About Everything Else? #

There is a lot more to it, of course. As a GM I find PF2 incredibly easy to run, even at the highest levels of game play, as compared to other d20 systems. The challenge level calculations work, meaning you can have a solo boss without having to resort to special boss monster rules to provide good challenges. I find the shift from “races” to “ancestries” much less problematic. PF2 has rules for how to handle non-combat time in the dungeon in ways that standardize common rules problems like “Well, you didn’t say you were looking for traps!” Everything using one proficiency calculation lets the game do weird things like having skill checks that target saves, or saves that target skill-based DCs. Inter-class balance, with some very specific exceptions, is beautifully tailored. Perception, always the uber-skill, isn’t a skill at all anymore: everyone is at least Trained in it, and every class reaches at least Expert in it by early double-digit levels. Opportunity Attacks (PF2 still uses the 3rd Ed “Attack of Opportunity” - but will soon be switching over to "Reactive Strike") isn’t an inherent ability of every character and monster, encouraging mobility during combats, and skill actions in combat can lower ACs, saves, attacks, and more, so there are more things to do for more kinds of characters. And so on.

Experiencing all of that is easiest just by playing the game, of course, but suffice it to say PF2 has a lot of QoL improvements for players and GMs alike in addition to the bigger, core-level mechanical differences.

# The OGL Thing #

Last thing, then. In the wake of the OGL shit in January, Paizo announced that it would no longer be releasing Pathfinder material under the OGL, opting instead to work with an intellectual property law firm to develop the Open RPG Creative (ORC) License that would do what the OGL could no longer be trusted to do: remain perpetually free and untouchable for anyone who wanted to publish under it. The ORC isn’t limited specifically to Paizo or to Pathfinder 2E or even to d20 games; any company can release any ruleset under it and allow third-party companies to develop and publish content for it.

Shifting away from the OGL, though, required making some changes to scrub out legacy material. A lot of the basic work was done when they shifted to 2E, but there are still a lot of concepts, terminologies, and potentially infringing ideas seeded throughout the system. These had to go.

Since this meant having to rewrite a lot of their core rules anyway, Paizo opted to not fight destiny and announced “Pathfinder 2nd Edition Remastered” in April. This is a kind of ��2.25” edition, with a lot of small changes around the edges and a couple of larger ones to incorporate what they’ve learned since the game first launched four years ago. A couple classes are getting major updates, a ton of spells are either getting renamed or swapped out for non-OGL equivalents, and a couple big things: no more alignment and no more schools of magic.

The first book of the Remaster, Player Core 1, comes out in November, along with the GM Core. Next spring will see Monster Core and next summer will give us Player Core 2. That will complete the Remaster books; everything else is, according to Paizo, going to be compatible enough it won’t need but a few minor tweaks that can be handled via errata. So if you’re thinking about getting into PF2, I’d give serious thought to waiting until November at least, and maybe next summer if you want the whole Remastered package.

And that’s it. That’s my essay on PF2 and what I think makes it cool. The floor is open for questions and I am both very grateful and deeply apologetic to anyone who made it this far.

[usafphantom2]

EP-3E Aries II Spy Plane Has Flown Its Last Operational Mission

Current tensions in the Middle East prolonged the final deployment of the EP-3E Aries II intelligence-gathering aircraft.

Posted on Nov 7, 2024 3:41 PM EST

Another long-serving U.S. military aircraft has completed its final operational deployment, with the return of the U.S. Navy’s EP-3E Aries II surveillance platform from the 5th Fleet area of operations. The countdown to the spy plane’s final retirement is now on, which will see its vital intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) mission handed over fully to the MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance drone.

VQ-1

Another long-serving U.S. military aircraft has completed its final operational deployment, with the return of the U.S. Navy’s EP-3E Aries II surveillance platform from the 5th Fleet area of operations. The countdown to the spy plane’s final retirement is now on, which will see its vital intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) mission handed over to the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol plane, the MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance drone, and other assets, including ones in space.

The last EP-3E deployed on operations was Bureau Number, or BuNo 159893, which completed its final flight in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations on October 29. The aircraft then made a homecoming to its base at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington, according to the Facebook account of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 1 (VQ-1), the “World Watchers,” which posted photos of the event yesterday.

Ground crew welcome EP-3E BuNo 159893 on its return to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington. VQ-1/Facebook

The U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations covers approximately 2.5 million square miles of water and includes the Arabian Gulf, Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, as well as parts of the Indian Ocean. The area includes three highly strategic choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal, and the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb at the southern tip of Yemen.

The tense security situation in the region at the moment saw the EP-3E’s final operational deployment extended.

240928-N-AC117-1132 (Sept. 28, 2024) A U.S. Navy EP-3E Airborne Reconnaissance Integrated Electronic System (ARIES) II, assigned to the “World Watchers” of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 1 (VQ-1), transits within the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operation.

EP-3E BuNo 159893 transits within the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operation, in a photo dated September 28, 2024. U.S. Navy Commander, Naval Air Forces

Originally, the U.S. Navy had scheduled VQ-1 to cease operations by September 30, 2024, ahead of the formal deactivation of the unit on March 31, 2025.

According to the VQ-1 Facebook account, the squadron was first ordered to delay the cessation of operations until October 8, 2024, after which it was required to continue its missions in the region until an undetermined date.

240928-N-AC117-1118 (Sept. 28, 2024) A U.S. Navy EP-3E Airborne Reconnaissance Integrated Electronic System (ARIES) II, assigned to the “World Watchers” of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 1 (VQ-1), prepares to take flight within the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operation.

EP-3E BuNo 159893 prepares to take flight within the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operation. U.S. Navy Commander, Naval Air Forces

Another VQ-1 EP-3E that had been deployed also recently returned to Whidbey Island, with photos of that aircraft’s homecoming posted by the unit on November 4. This was BuNo 161410 that had been operating from Souda Bay, on the Greek island of Crete, under U.S. Central Command.

For some time now, the Navy has been sending EP-3Es into retirement, delivering them to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, for storage.

As we reported last month, the most famous EP-3E of all — BuNo 156511, which was involved in a collision with a Chinese J-8 interceptor over Hainan Island in 2001 — has been moved from the AMARG boneyard to go on public display in the future at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona.

The spy plane at the center of one of the most notorious post-Cold War Today air incidents, a U.S. Navy EP-3E Aries II, has arrived at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona, for future public display. The EP-3E’s journey to get to the museum has been a long one, starting with the dramatic collision with a Chinese fighter in the so-called Hainan Island incident in 2001.

EP-3E Aries II BuNo 156511 is towed to the Pima Air & Space Museum last month. Pima Air & Space Museum

Pima Air & Space Museum

Meanwhile, the end of the EP-3’s operational commitment after nearly six decades of service has been commemorated by the Navy. A press release from the service included recollections from EP-3E crew members, providing a rare glimpse into a highly secretive community, and one with a very sensitive mission.

“It’s amazing to think of the number of folks who have been part of the EP-3 heritage over the last 55 years,” said Lt. Cmdr. Justin “Gump” Roberts, the VQ-1 detachment officer-in-charge. “Success in this platform has solely been because of our hard-working maintenance team while on deck and our aircrew’s superior ISR while on station. It’s an honor to be part of a legacy that’s bigger than the sum of its parts.”

The aircraft commander at VQ-1, Lt. Bradford “Chad” Holcombe, added that he was “tremendously grateful” to be part of the EP-3E’s history.

“From my first day at VQ-1, it’s been obvious to see the pride each member has in the platform, the mission, and most importantly the effort it takes to execute wherever and whenever we’re asked,” he said. “Flying the last mission flight is a privilege.”

240928-N-AC117-1132 (Sept. 28, 2024) A U.S. Navy EP-3E Airborne Reconnaissance Integrated Electronic System (ARIES) II, assigned to the “World Watchers” of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 1 (VQ-1), transits within the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operation.

240928-N-AC117-1132 (Sept. 28, 2024) A U.S. Navy EP-3E Airborne Reconnaissance Integrated Electronic System (ARIES) II, assigned to the “World Watchers” of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 1 (VQ-1), transits within the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operation. Commander, Naval Air Forces

Finally, words were offered by Capt. Dennis “Rudy” Jensen, Commodore of Task Force 57:

“My father was a P-3 pilot during the Cold War, and I’ve flown the variants of the same aircraft since 2002. Few other airplanes are as ‘time-tested and mother approved’ as the P-3,” Jensen said. “Its longevity and ability to operate from remote locations in austere environments for over half a century is a testament to those who designed, built, maintained, and operated it. Much like the ever-changing platforms onboard the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, the mission systems inside the EP-3E have evolved over time. The ability to evolve has enabled the EP-3E to remain viable and effective through today.”

During its time in operational service, the EP-3E played a fairly covert role as a central intelligence-gathering asset within the Navy’s Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force (MPRF).

Derived from the P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft, the EP-3E was optimized for operations in the maritime/littoral domain. It was packed with equipment to gather real-time tactical signals intelligence (SIGINT), including intercepting communications and locating and classifying emitters, especially those related to hostile air defense systems.

The cabin of the preserved EP-3E BuNo 156511 as it appears now. Pima Air & Space Museum

A typical EP-3E comprised six flight crew and a reconnaissance crew of 18, who would be drawn from the Navy, Marines, and Air Force.

Data could be processed and analyzed onboard by the crew, then fused together with other critical information. The resulting ‘product,’ including full-motion video intelligence, could be provided in near real-time to fleet and theater commanders.

Overall, the EP-3E was able to provide commanders with specific indications and warnings, as well as build a better picture of the battlespace for situational awareness. Intelligence it gathered on air defense systems would be potentially vital for suppression of enemy air defenses and destruction of enemy air defenses, while other information would be used for anti-air warfare and anti-submarine warfare applications.

Successive upgrades ensured that the EP-3E remained a valuable asset and also added new capabilities. While it was primarily a SIGINT platform in the early years, it later became a ‘multi-intelligence reconnaissance aircraft,’ with new equipment that could hoover up a variety of electronic emissions including at long standoff range.

An EP-3E Orion aircraft, center, is followed by two EA-3B Skywarrior aircraft during flight operations near Gibraltar. The three aircraft are from Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 2 (VQ-2).

An EP-3E followed by two EA-3B Skywarriors during flight operations near Gibraltar, circa 1991. The three aircraft are from Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 2 (VQ-2). U.S. Department of Defense PH3 FRANKLIN P. CALL, USN

The EP-3E’s mission saw it operate in various high-threat areas throughout its career. As well as around the coasts of China — which led to the Hainan Island Incident — regular areas of interest included the Mediterranean Sea, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. In the process, intercepts by hostile or potentially hostile fighters were commonplace.

The video below shows an encounter between an EP-3E and a Russian Su-27 Flanker fighter jet over the Black Sea, in 2018. On that occasion, the Navy says the jet came within five feet of the surveillance aircraft, causing a mission abort, and return to base.

Replacing the EP-3E with the MQ-4C has been a gradual process. Tritons have been operating from forward deployment bases in Guam in the Pacific and Sigonella in the Mediterranean, for some time. Most recently, a third Triton deployment base was established in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations, on October 1, allowing the EP-3E to stand down from its duties there.

A Navy MQ-4C Triton drone arrives at NAS Sigonella in Italy on March 30, 2024. U.S. Navy

Flying at a higher altitude and offering a longer endurance than the EP-3E, the MQ-4C offers some significant advantages. While a multi-mission platform, it’s the Triton’s so-called Multi-Intelligence (Multi-Int) configuration with additional electronic and signals intelligence capabilities that will take over from the EP-3E. Since it’s uncrewed, there is also no risk to the crew, something that EP-3E operators were exposed to on a fairly regular basis.

Despite this, in 2022 the Navy decided to dramatically reduce its total planned purchases of MQ-4Cs from 70 to 27. This came after increased questions about the drone’s survivability after one of the interim Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator (BAMS-D) aircraft was shot down by Iran in 2019.

Some of the EP-3E’s missions will also be taken over by the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. The baseline Poseidon has a signals intelligence capability, allowing it to detect, geolocate, and classify emissions, including from radars and other air defense nodes, which is also now set to be upgraded. Some P-8s are configured to carry other intelligence-gathering payloads, such as the AN/APS-154 Advanced Airborne Sensor, as well. Boeing has internally funded the development of a modular multi-mission gondola-like pod for Poseidon, which is set to offer an additional way to relatively rapidly integrate sensors and other capabilities.

A U.S. Navy P-8A carrying the AN/APS-154 Advanced Airborne Sensor (AAS), a powerful and secretive radar system mounted in an elongated pontoon-like pod under the fuselage. cvvhrn

“The transition from the EP-3E to the P-8A Poseidon and MQ-4C Triton platforms has been carefully planned to avoid capability gaps,” the Navy says. “These platforms offer enhanced intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities, with greater range, endurance, and the ability to operate in more complex environments.”

The Navy will also be able to leverage other emerging U.S. military ISR assets, including new spaced-based surveillance capabilities.

While the EP-3E’s time is now nearly up, there remain a handful of other Orion variants still in U.S. Navy service. These include P-3C, NP-3C, and NP-3D aircraft flown by Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 30 (VX-30) at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California, and by Scientific Development Squadron One (VXS-1) at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. Many of these are also in the process of being replaced.

While many secrets of the EP-3’s exploits are still to be revealed, there’s little doubt that this platform made an enormous contribution to gathering intelligence from hotspots around the globe during its long and eventful period of service.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

[darklordazalin]

Azalin Reviews: Darklord Claude Renier

Darklord: Claude Renier Domain: Richemulot Domain Formation: 694 BC Sources: Realm of Terror (2e), Gazetteer 2 (3e), Gazetteer 3 (3e), Legacy of Blood (3e)

Scholars have determined that prior to being claimed by the Mists, the Renier family was made of two branches – high born nobles that used their influence for the betterment of society and a clan of wererats that did the opposite. The Renier family have a complicated history in the Demiplane of Dread and the first known Reniers to stumble into the Mists settled in Mordent. Their patriarch, Jacques Renier, built the House on Gryphon Hill as well as Heather House, the current dwelling of the Weathermay family. It becomes more complex as the wererat curse developed in Jacques’s offspring, splitting the family further. This rivalry between the human and wererat side of the family only increased when Claude Renier and his pack of wererats fled into the Mists and found themselves in the city of Silbervas in Falkovnia.

Claude quickly integrated his family with the local wererats that lived in the sewers of Silbervas and created a thriving thieves’ guild that integrated with the humanoids of Silbervas. As in the manner of rats, Claude’s influence rapidly multiplied and eventually drew the attention of Falkovnia’s little mercenary, Vlad Drakov and his band of more talented thugs, the Talons. Vlad oversaw the extermination of the wererats in Silbervas and to everyone’s surprise, was quite successful in his endeavors. Over the course of three years, which have been aptly named ‘The Years of the Impaled Rats’, Vlad flushed out the wererats from the sewers of Silbervas causing Claude to flee into the Mists once more.

As if being defeated by Vlad Drakov wasn’t torment enough, the Dark Powers created a prison in the form of Richemulot just for Claude Renier. From Chateau Delanuit in Pont-A-Museau, Claude ruled over the governing bodies of Richemulot as well as his own family. He ruled through manipulation and ensuring the other wererats were too busy vying for his attention to plot against him. He paid particular attention to his twin granddaughters, Jacqueline and Louise Renier. Seeing as Jacqueline eventually usurped her grandfather’s position as the Darklord of Richemulot, one can imagine how well this worked out for the twitchy rat.

Claude Renier is little more than a footnote in Jacqueline’s story. A footnote that was defeated by Vlad Drakov who couldn’t win a battle against a single zombie…I rarely agree with our tormentors, but in this case they were well advised to throw Claude to the rats and deliver the carcass of his domain to Jacqueline.

[ultimateoptimus]

SKUBA Invader Zim: Upgraded

Skool Sport SKUBAgents

Dib AKA Agent Mothman and Gaz, the Membrane Siblings (with Dib's Swollen Eyeball and Grey Smiley and Gaz' Skull as their former Skool symbols) and Gretchen of the Rejektz (with a heavily modded "No" sign to resemble an "R" as her former Skool symbol) are back underwater SKUBA diving in their brand new, sporty, custom colored and printed and ultra-stretchy and ultra-comfortable Membrane Laboratory Boyz' and Girlz' Skoolkidz Sport Stealth Swimwear, Swim Caps, Swim Gloves and Swim Socks crafted out of patented Membrane Laboratory Ultra-Stretch Stealth Swimwear Fabrics for that body-hugging, form-fitting stretch and comfort fit for Skool sports swimmers, the Ultra-Stretch Swim Caps can perfectly fit and hug any unique hairstyle form without breaking at all and the level of military-grade waterproof durability that can survive more than one direct Irken Orbital Water Balloon Bombardment hit and numerous SKUBA trips to Pandora's Quadrangle and Atlantis thanks to that fabric and brand new, just as custom colored and printed and unique Membrane Laboratory Skoolkidz' Sport Stealth Masks, Snorkels and Fins and All-In-One Backpack Air Tank OmniModular Skoolkidz' Sport Stealth SKUBA Rigs and Emergency Mini-SKUBA Systems!

Dib Membrane's Skoolkid Sport Stealth SKUBA Rig: Self-Inflating Sport Stealth Horsecollar Dive Vest with Mini-Air Bottle and Air-Integrated Regulator (AIR) and Double Hose Regulator Gretchen's Skoolkid Sport Stealth SKUBA Rig: Girlz' Sport Stealth Dive Jacket with Air-Integrated Regulator and Snorkelator Gaz Membrane's Skoolkid Sport Stealth SKUBA Rig: Girlz' Sport Stealth Wing Dive Jacket with Air-Integrated Regulator and Double Hose Regulator

Anatomy Of An Irken SKUBA Invader

[/////CLASSIFIED/////]

[By Order Of The Almighty Tallest Of The Irken Empire]

<Hacked And Translated From Irken By UltimateOptimus of The Swollen Eyeball Network>

Zim, the Irken Invader-in-Exile, more recently a newly made and approved Irken SKUBA Invader for underwater operations in Earth's waters (be it the Skool swimming pool, NASAPlace's NBL, the open waters of Earth's beaches and oceans, Zim-2002's universe or The City Sewers), infamous Irken Defect responsible for Operation IMPENDING DOOM I's failure (in a long, sorry history of collective disasters he inflicted upon the Irken race, Planet Irk and the Empire at large) and the poster child of the "little green men from outer space" stereotype, like most of his standard-issue insectoid clone kin has his Irken Standard-Issue SKUBA Invader Swimwear and SKUBA Gear - basically the swimming and SCUBA version of his standard-issue Irken Invader uniform and gear with Zim's personal mods.

A more minimalist, sleeker and all-in-one affair compared to the bulkier Earthenoid SCUBA gear used by Dib, Gaz, Gretchen and the rest of the Skoolkidz, Zim's SKUBA Invader Gear makes him faster and more maneuverable underwater when SKUBA diving and able to squeeze through tight underwater spots during underwater saucer exploration.

1: SKUBA Invader Swim Cap 2: SKUBA Invader Smart Dive Mask

3: SKUBA-PAK The SKUBA-PAK itself, an auxiliary brain loaded with all the standary array of weapons and tools also serving as the SKUBA Invader's air tank with the atmosphere processor refilling the SKUBA-PAK at the surface when the SKUBA Invader surfaces. [/////WARNING/////]: Removal of SKUBA-PAK will reduce the SKUBA Invader's lifespan to 10 MINUTES Earth Standard Time and triggers Lifeclock countdown to TERMINATION unless reattached IMMEDIATELY. Removal of SKUBA-PAK while underwater STRICTLY not recommended. 3A: SKUBA-PAK Main Air Tank 3B: SKUBA-PAK OmniModular Regulator 3C: SKUBA-PAK Deployable Inflatable/Breathable Horsecollar Dive Vest 3D: DDV OmniModular Air-Integrated Regulator (AIR) 3E: Mini-SKUBA Air Tank OmniModules

4: SKUBA Invader Boys' Beachbody Swimwear 5: SKUBA Invader Swim Gloves 6: Emergency Mini-SKUBA System 7: Snorkelator Snorkel OmniModule 8: SKUBA Invader Dive Boot-Fins 9: Water Repellant Pastescreen

<Dear Zim the Irken Bug: 

If you're reading this message, that means I, a lowly Earthenoid of The Swollen Eyeball Network, just got your Invasion Base Computer h4xx0r3d and shared your SKUBA Invader anatomy and schematics far and wide to the Big Wide World O' Cyberspace to behold. Enjoy!

- UO>

@aae-demon-zone333

[aboleth-workshop]

D&D 3e/3.5 Homebrew Requests!

Hi there friends! Do you like Dungeons & Dragons (specifically 3e/3.5 edition)? Do you like to read or use homebrew in your own campaigns?

Well, Aboleth Eye is happily taking requests for new homebrew ideas! They already have such a huge amount of ideas ready and free to be used! Check them out here!

Have a character option in mind you'd love to see written out with lore and abilities? A fantasy race and culture of lore? A unique class option for your players?

What about a magic item you'd love to integrate into your own campaigns?

Or, perhaps you'd love to see something fresh in the Aboleth Eye Bestiary? From behemoths to tiny little friends, all ideas welcome!

Maybe you are a Dungeon Master that wants a hook or seed for your own campaign? Something to bridge together two great ideas you already have, or a plot to introduce something new for your players?

Ideas are all welcome (within reason)! Send your requests to either @aboleth-workshop or @aboleth-eye! And let's get November rolling with new ttrpg stories!

And feel free to read all about the wondrous creatures, classes and races we've done already!

Thanks,

Aboleth Eye

[valloninfo]

Image source: vbcvaldetravers.ch Après une période tumultueuse marquée par une descente de Ligue nationale A (LNA) en Ligue nationale B (LNB), puis un retrait en mars 2023 dans un contexte d’enquête ouverte contre Luiz Souza par Swiss Sport Integrity, le VBC Val-de-Travers tourne la page pour écrire un nouveau chapitre prometteur. Le club a récemment reconstitué son comité avec une équipe motivée, à la fois compétente et passionnée. Lejla Kurtaliqi occupe désormais la présidence et gère également le sponsoring, tandis que Guillaume Mairy est chargé des affaires administratives. Thierry Schlaeppi s’occupe des finances, Jean-Marc Roy est responsable des manifestations, Neven Mairy veille à la communication, Yaël Bernaschina administre les licences, et Ajtene Kurtaliqi supervise le site internet, fraîchement rénové pour refléter cette nouvelle dynamique. Une structure repensée et ouverte à tous Le VBC Val-de-Travers se compose désormais de quatre équipes : Les F3 (3e ligue féminine) : le fer de lance du club, où des joueuses dévouées se battent chaque semaine pour défendre les couleurs locales sous la houlette de leur coach Thierry Schlaeppi. Les M16 : une équipe de jeunes talents de moins de 16 ans, promettant de belles perspectives pour l’avenir du club. Les kids (6 à 12 ans) : un groupe d’initiation où le jeu ludique et le plaisir priment. L’équipe loisirs : dédiée à ceux qui privilégient la convivialité et le simple plaisir de jouer. Des valeurs affirmées Le club a placé ses valeurs au centre de son identité. Le partage, la tolérance et la passion sont désormais visibles en grand sur son site internet, témoignant de son engagement envers une communauté inclusive et sportive. Une saison déjà bien lancée L’équipe fanion, les F3, affiche une belle progression cette saison. Avec déjà six matchs joués, dont trois victoires, elles occupent une place respectable en milieu de classement avec 8 points. Leur dernier succès, une victoire palpitante le 29 novembre dernier à la salle de Belleroche à Fleurier contre le VBC La Chaux-de-Fonds 2 (3:2), a démontré leur ténacité et leur esprit d’équipe. Le Volley-Club Val-de-Travers, soutenu par son nouveau comité et ses joueurs motivés, a toutes les cartes en main pour continuer à rayonner dans le paysage sportif régional. Que ce soit sur le terrain ou dans les gradins, la passion est bien là, prête à inspirer la prochaine génération de volleyeurs du Vallon. Rendez-vous à la salle pour les prochains matchs et pour encourager un club en pleine renaissance !

[sahraeyll]

Top 10 Medical Billing Companies to Streamline Your Practice in 2023

Top 10 Medical Billing Companies⁢ to Streamline Your Practice in 2023

Top 10 ‌Medical Billing Companies to Streamline Your Practice in 2023

In ‍today’s complex ​healthcare environment, efficient medical billing is critical ​for maintaining the financial ⁣health of medical practices. Outsourcing ⁢medical billing ⁤can⁤ streamline⁢ operations, reduce costs, and ultimately improve patient satisfaction. In this article, we’ll ⁢delve into the ⁤ top 10‌ medical billing companies in 2023 that promise to enhance the billing‌ process for healthcare providers.

Why Choose⁢ a ⁤Medical ​Billing Company?

Expertise: ⁢Medical ‍billing companies ⁣employ‍ specialists proficient in billing codes and regulations.

Efficiency: Streamlined processes reduce time spent⁤ on billing, enabling healthcare providers to focus on patient care.

Cost-Effective: Outsourcing billing can save on in-house hiring and training costs.

Regulatory Compliance: Stay updated with the latest coding and compliance‍ regulations to avoid audits and​ penalties.

Top 10 Medical Billing Companies in ‌2023

Company‌ Name

Specialties

Key ‌Features

Website

1. eCatalyst Healthcare Solutions

Multi-specialty

Cloud-based, RCM experts, 24/7 ‍support

ecatalysthealth.com

2. AdvancedMD

General Practices

End-to-end billing, customizable solutions

advancedmd.com

3. Kareo

Small Practices

User-friendly interface, integrated EHR

kareo.com

4. Medical Billing ‌Wholesalers

Specialty-focused

Affordable pricing, detailed reports

billingwholesalers.com

5. Optimum Healthcare IT

Hospitals, Practices

Data ⁤analytics, revenue cycle optimization

optimumhealthcareit.com

6. MedBillingExperts

Multi-specialty

Comprehensive ⁤billing solutions, 24/7 ‌support

medbillingexperts.com

7. athenahealth

All​ specialties

Cloud-based management,​ payer connections

athenahealth.com

8. CareCloud

Hospitals, ​Practices

Integrated revenue cycle, patient engagement

carecloud.com

9. MediBill

Behavioral health

Tailored solutions, experienced staff

medibill.com

10.⁣ 3E Technologies

Multi-specialty

Proven track record, personalized service

3etechnologies.com

Benefits of⁤ Choosing a⁤ Medical Billing Company

Employing a medical billing company offers several advantages:

Increased Revenue: Companies specialize in ​maximizing reimbursements⁢ through expert coding and submission practices.

Reduced Errors: Advanced ​technology and ⁣experienced⁤ specialists minimize billing mistakes, leading to faster reimbursements.

Scalability: Services can be ⁣adapted to‌ the size and needs of your practice, whether you’re‍ a solo⁢ practitioner or a large healthcare organization.

Practical Tips for Choosing the Right Medical⁤ Billing Company

Assess ⁤Your Needs: Determine ⁣if​ you want full-service ‌billing or specific services ⁤such ​as coding or‌ accounts receivable management.

Check Credentials: ⁣Verify the ⁣company’s qualifications, ‌experience,‍ and compliance with healthcare regulations.

Read Reviews: Look for ‌client testimonials to gauge reliability and service quality.

Request a Demo: Many companies offer free ​trials or demonstrations ​to⁣ allow ‍you to evaluate their services.

Case Studies: Success Stories from Practices Using Medical Billing Companies

One medical⁤ group saw a 30% increase in revenue within six​ months of​ switching to eCatalyst Healthcare Solutions. Their personalized approach and thorough reporting led to improved⁤ collections and more accurate ​billing ‍practices.

Another practice, using AdvancedMD, improved patient engagement by ⁤integrating their billing ‌system with their EHR, resulting in ⁢quicker payments and enhanced patient satisfaction.

First-Hand Experience

As a healthcare provider who transitioned to using Kareo, I ‌experienced significant‌ improvement in‌ billing efficiency. Their user-friendly software allowed my ⁣staff to quickly manage claims, and the ⁢customer support​ team was always ready to assist. This change not only ⁢reduced our billing errors but also⁢ freed up time for us to focus more on patient care.

Conclusion

In the competitive landscape of healthcare,‌ partnering with the right‌ medical billing company ⁣can‍ dramatically improve the efficiency ⁢and profitability of your ⁢practice. From increasing revenue to reducing administrative burdens, the options outlined in this article provide various solutions tailored to⁣ meet your ⁣specific needs. Evaluate each option carefully and choose‍ a partner‌ that aligns with your practice objectives to ensure optimal ​performance in 2023 and⁢ beyond.

https://medicalbillingcertificationprograms.org/top-10-medical-billing-companies-to-streamline-your-practice-in-2023/

[altrbody]

"The 3ecologies project is an autonomous organization dedicated to participatory experimentation in research-creation. It operates at the intersection of artistic practice, philosophy, and community engagement, building on the nearly two decades of experience of its former parent organization, SenseLab. Its aim is to catalyze the emergence of new forms of creative collaboration across disciplinary boundaries, and to disseminate the resulting “techniques of relation” for adoption by artists and social actors, for adaptation to their needs. It seeks to operate as a “process seed bank” disseminating seeds of creative practice that can impart self-organizing momentum to outside artists, collectives, and organizations.

The 3e project operates as an extra-university research and learning environment, according to the principles of a processual gift economy. It is dedicated to an ethos of radical openness. A nonprofit organization registered in Quebec, all of its activities are open to all and free of charge. 3e places special emphasis on creating a welcoming environment for neurodiversity, not only supportive of but positively learning from the normally undervalued experiential and perceptual worlds of pathologized and racialized communities. The perspective is ecological, in an expanded sense adopted from philosopher/activist Felix Guattari. The “three ecologies” are the social, the environmental, and the conceptual, as they enmesh in every event. 3e poses the question of sustainability in that expanded framework.

3e operates as a node in the international network developed by the SenseLab, which includes over 800 participants worldwide, with active local groups in Montreal, Australia, Brazil, and several locations in Europe, and formal partnerships with more than two dozen university and art-organization partners. Distance collaboration tools are used to cross-pollinate ideas and approaches between network members. Activities cycle between online collaboration and live participatory research-creation events of experimental format. The development of new digital tools for cycling between locally embodied and networked online interactions as part of an integrated “creative process engine” is a long-term goal of 3e."