August 9, 2019
Here's a quick story about my hand in the creation of Pathfinder Second Edition.
There are a lot of backgrounds in the book. Backgrounds give you, among other things, training in a skill and a specific skill feat. These skill feats map to the skills: you might get the Medicine skill and the Battle Medic feat, but the background shouldn't grant a mismatch between a skill and a skill feat. In reviewing the backgrounds, though, I noticed precisely one mismatch: the Barrister background gave you the Deception skill and the Group Impression skill feat (which requires Diplomacy, not Deception).
Okay, I see the trope that lawyers are good liars and often speak to groups (like juries), but the mismatch needed to be fixed. At this point, it was so far along in printing that there was a question as to whether we'd be able to fix it at all. But we could, and we could have gone two ways:
1) Keep the lying, by changing the Group Impression skill feat to some skill feat that required Deception instead (like Lie to Me); or
2) Keep the public speaking, and change Deception to Diplomacy.
I STRONGLY advocated (see what I did there?) for the latter option. Lawyers need to be good at changing minds, I argued, not just uttering lies. Being persuasive while relying on the constraints provided by the law is what they do. So changing Deception to Diplomacy was the right way to go for the Barrister background.
And my argument won! Now, anyone who gets the Core Rulebook sees that barristers are good at Diplomacy as a default. Not Deception. You might say that, due to my own lawyer background, I had enough Diplomacy to effectively make my argument.
And that's how I redeemed the good name of lawyers everywhere.
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Paizo
August 7, 2019
I'm back from GenCon, and one of the best things about it was being able to finally talk, in full and unvarnished detail, about the new Pathfinder rules. No more saying, "wait and see," as it's now here! If you're an adventure author for Pathfinder Second Edition, here are a bunch of things, in no specific order, to keep in mind when working with the new system.
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New XP. There's a new method for calculating experience points, and it's entirely based on the level of challenges compared to the ...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
August 2, 2019
Great news! Pathfinder Second Edition launches today, and I've partnered with Rogue Genius Games to present (on launch day!) a Second Edition update of my popular 1st level gothic horror adventure,
Teeth of the Storm. No simple conversion, this is rebuilt and re-imagined from the ground up with Second Edition in mind.
Teeth of the Storm is the perfect way to kick off a new Pathfinder Second Edition campaign--if your heroes survive!
You can get it here! Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Announcements
July 26, 2019
Hey, I have my GenCon schedule finalized at last! Generally speaking, you can find me at Paizo's booth in the Exhibit Hall during Exhibit Hall hours, talking about our new edition. I have lots to say about it, so come by!
I'm also presenting in three panels. These are all in ICC:212, the Paizo seminar room (which is the same seminar room as last year).
Thursday, August 1st
In the Exhibit Hall pretty much the whole time it's open. There will be long lines for our new book!
Friday, August 2nd
Dungeo...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Announcements
July 23, 2019
When you're writing an adventure, don't think of yourself as writing a book for a casual reader (despite the fact that many of your readers will, in fact, be casual readers). Instead, think of yourself as writing for your fandom: a group of people who will dissect everything you provide, question it, review it, and build on it all on their own. This means you should keep a few things in mind:
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Make motives crystal clear. When an NPC does something, spend the words to make sure you're clarifyi...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
July 19, 2019
I've done a fair amount of adventure converting this year, to and from Pathfinder First Edition, Pathfinder Second Edition, Starfinder, and Dungeons and Dragons. I thought an overview about how I approach an adventure conversion would be helpful. I've broken this into nine steps. I'll use "native" for the original rules set and adventure, and "target" for the new rules set and adventure you're producing.
First,
read the whole thing. Mark it as you go along for strange things that were expressl...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
July 16, 2019
I now have a couple projects in the works that use the same dungeon map twice. Earlier in an adventure (or in an earlier adventure), the heroes go through the dungeon. Later, they come back to it, and go through it again. Why on earth might I do such a thing? A few reasons:
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Familiarity. A reused map takes away some of the burdens of exploration (in the parlance of my prior blog post, the heroes jump right to phase two), allowing more focus on the events at hand.
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Encourage In-Game Thinking. ...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
July 12, 2019
I've said for a long time that there are three phases of dungeon exploration as a player:
First, you are
just entering the dungeon, and you don't have any solid information about its scope, denizens, or dangers. (This is the phase when players tend to be the most paranoid, checking carefully for traps, and so on.)
Second,
you have a sense of the scope of the dungeon, but you haven't yet "mastered" it; there's still several unknown areas and, most importantly, you haven't yet encountered the "bo...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
July 8, 2019
I'm back from vacation! I hosted a family reunion over the week of the 4th of July at my house. And I had an adventure milestone (of about 17,000 words) due the following Monday: today. If I'd been more rigorously scheduled, I would have finished this milestone before my vacation. But I had fewer than 3,000 words together when my family all arrived. I had grant plans of working a few late nights during the reunion, but those opportunities, unsurprisingly, vanished. All I had time to do during...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
July 6, 2019
Hey, my contribution to the upcoming Torg Kickstarter has been revealed and unlocked! Pick up the new box detailing the fantasy realm of Aysle to get my adventure!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ulissesspiele/torg-eternity-aysle Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Torg
June 28, 2019
Secrets are a great part of an RPG narrative: the ally who is secretly a traitor, the supposed villain who is really someone in need of help, or the simple general store that's a front for an evil cult. Even secret doors have a long tradition in RPGs. But when you're writing RPG adventures or rules, you should absolutely not be keeping secrets from the GM. You're not being clever writing about the Cult Master through the first third of your adventure and then...surprise! The Cult Master is re...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
June 21, 2019
It's exciting to put very tense or dangerous situations in roleplaying games. Part of the fun--for some, the largest part of the fun--is participating in thrilling danger without actually being in any danger. RPG authors create the atmosphere for that. Yet RPG authors need to keep in mind that some concepts of danger or trauma can be triggering for players who've had similar traumatic real-life experiences.
This came into the news recently when a gamemaster at UK Games Expo ran a game purport...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
June 19, 2019
So, Paizo just released their updated Compatibility License for Pathfinder Second Edition! What does it look like? Well, a lot like the Compatibility License for first edition. But it's not the same, and you can't use the first edition license for second edition products. You need to agree to the new license if you want to produce Pathfinder Second Edition products. But it's so much legalese! Is there anyone who can put these side-by-side and let an overworked third party publisher know what'... Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
June 14, 2019
My freelance workload is currently such that I prepared several adventure outlines at roughly the same time, then simultaneously built them into full adventures. This gave me a good look at my process, and specifically where a shortcut in my outline made much more work for myself in the adventure writing phase. So I though I'd share my list of "never do again" phrases from an outline (because I'm learning they make MUCH more work for me down the line). It's fine to punt on things like a speci...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
June 11, 2019
I've talked before about thinking critically about how your monsters actually live in a dungeon setting--how they interact with their neighbors, the tasks they do on a day-to-day basis, and so on. Sure, undead and constructs can simply stand immobile for decades on end, but living creatures should have a bit more verisimilitude in how they utilize their home. One good way to think about this is to do the same thing you should be doing for yourselves--have an evacuation plan!
This process works...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
June 6, 2019
Hooray! You have a contract for your work! You look it over and are met with a wall of legal gibberish. But these things are probably standard, so you make sure the rate is correct and sign it and send it back in. You’re not a lawyer, after all, you’re a freelance writer. But in the back of your mind, you wonder (and maybe worry) about what you don’t understand in that contract. I’m here to help, with a breakdown of standard contract provisions! Complete with “Buts,” “Ands,” a...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : The Law
June 3, 2019
Last week, I posted about how using natural language instead of jargon in your game is useful, but I acknowledged that sometimes jargon can be necessary or helpful (such as when presenting game statistics). That got me thinking about some of the jargon I use in this blog, and how I'm long overdue to explain what I mean by some of these jargony terms. If these are all well-known to you, that's great (and you probably review lots of games and game blogs). I try to explain terms I focus on, like...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
May 29, 2019
I had a great PaizoCon last weekend. It felt more relaxed than last year, even though I participated in more panels, because I chose to "run" laid-back games of the revised Pathfinder Adventure Card Game rather than typical RPG sessions. As a big fan of the previous edition of the PACG, and the related modern-day game called Apocrypha, I was eager to give the revised PACG a try. I was a bit worried, because "old" PACG uses a lot of natural language on the cards, but Apocrypha uses so many sym...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
May 22, 2019
We're gearing up for another great PaizoCon, where the company plans to show off a lot of the Starfinder Beginner Box, the revised Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, and (of course) Pathfinder 2nd Edition. Here's what I'll be doing:
Friday 5/24
8:15 am to 10:45 am: Helping with registration and handing out swag bags
11:00 am to 12 noon: Secrets of Golarion seminar (Cascade 13)
12 noon to 1 pm: Dungeon Dissection seminar (Cascade 13)
2 pm to 4 pm: Helping out at the Delve
4 pm to 5 pm: Solving Puzzles ...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Paizo
May 17, 2019
Sunday is the Gauntlet, the board game event for charity I'm participating in (along with the spectacular Joe Pasini, Katina Davis, and Whitney Chatterjee, we make Team Paizo). Please consider donating at
at this link!
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Announcements
May 14, 2019
Many adventures use player handouts: things the GM prints and hands to the players to look at. I'm personally a big fan of these, and an adventure can't have too many of them. They immerse the players in the adventure in a tactile way. But what materials make for a good player handout? What good are they? There are many answers!
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Art. First and foremost, player handouts are designed to be looked at. Although it's possible (and, in fact, common) to have a text-only player handout, it should st...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
May 10, 2019
Hey! If you've liked this blog series (or my blog in general), please consider donating to the Gauntlet, a charity board gaming event I'm participating in on May 19th. The link is here: https://thegauntlet2019.causevox.com/RonLundeen
Rather than talk about the nuts and bolts of rules and adventure design, I'd like to take a step back and talk about freelancing for a bit: specifically, some thoughts around freelancing RPG work for another company. This is the fourth in a series of four blog pos...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
May 7, 2019
Rather than talk about the nuts and bolts of rules and adventure design, I'd like to take a step back and talk about freelancing for a bit: specifically, some thoughts around freelancing RPG work for another company. This is the third in a series of four blog posts on this topic.
It’s not uncommon for something to go wrong during your writing. Here’s how to handle some of the common problems that come up; nearly always, it involves talking to your developer (the person who assigned the pro...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
May 3, 2019
Rather than talk about the nuts and bolts of rules and adventure design, I'd like to take a step back and talk about freelancing for a bit: specifically, some thoughts around freelancing RPG work for another company. This is the second in a series of four blog posts on this topic.
Once you’ve gotten your assignment, understood its scope, and signed (and returned) a contract, it’s time to dig in! But how?
Schedule Your Days. I’ve written before about how important it is to know your writi...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
April 30, 2019
Rather than talk about the nuts and bolts of rules and adventure design, I'd like to take a step back and talk about freelancing for a bit: specifically, some thoughts around freelancing RPG work for another company. This is the first in a series of four blog posts on this topic.
It’s exciting to get the opportunity to write game material, and even more exciting when you know you’re going to get paid for it! Before you start any writing on a freelance assignment, however, you should do the...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
April 25, 2019
Something I run into frequently when writing (or developing) adventures is how to connect encounters in a meaningful way. Although there's nothing technically wrong with a string of unconnected encounters (fight an ooze in this room, fight some orcs in the next room, and so on), an adventure seems far more authentic if there's some connection between the heroes' fights. I talked about this in an earlier blog, remarking on how dungeon denizens should know their neighbors, but I wanted to branc...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
April 22, 2019
My good friend Del, years ago, would hand out bonus rewards in-game (action points, hero points, possibilities, or whatever) for what he called a "trailer moment": when one of his players would do a stunt so awesome or produce a quip so funny that it would be in the trailer for the game, if it were made into a movie.
As an adventure writer, you'll want to think about how your adventure would look if it were made, beat for beat, into a movie. More importantly, you want to think about what the
t... Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
April 15, 2019
I'm participating in a board game competition for charity called the Gauntlet. This competition happens every year, and for the first time I'm in Paizo's four-person team to participate! I'm excited to be part of it, and particularly excited for the "vintage circus" theme they've picked for this year. Please consider contributing! My contribution page is
thegauntlet2019.causevox.com/RonLundeen.
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Announcements
April 4, 2019
Here's some advice about how to effectively bring a long-running campaign to a close. I've done this a few times, most recently in the several campaigns I was running before moving from Chicago to Seattle. So I've put down several points of advice for GMs doing the same. I also want to give a shout-out to Mark Seifter, whose excellent thoughts about preparing a final encounter will appear in the upcoming
Pathfinder #144: Midwives to Death.
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Get the Gang Together. When you're bringing a long-r...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
April 3, 2019
I've been watching the Paizo.com message boards about the Tyrant's Grasp Adventure Path very closely. Considering that this adventure path has been my primary work for the last 9 months, I'm very interested in what people think. I want to make it the best experience I can, especially because it's the last adventure path for Pathfinder First Edition (the last adventure in this adventure path is Pathfinder #144: Midwives to Death, which is followed by Pathfinder #145 Hellknight Hill, the first ...
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Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : RPGWriterTips
