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It never fails - some little thing will come along in a design process and just open a can of worms that someone will always have issue with.
Case in point, the soulknife for Pathfinder.
3.5 Soulknife - d10 HD, Average BAB.
Pathfinder HD/BAB alignment - d10 = full, d8 = average
Pathfinder Class Conversion Precedent #1 - Only give new stuff, don't take stuff away (Barbarian's d12, Wizard/Sorceror's d6, Ranger's d10, Dragon Disciple's d12)
Pathfinder Class Conversion Precedent #2 - Don't change BAB - Dragon Disciple's Average BAB
So when the discussion of the soulknife and Pathfinder came up with regards to its BAB and Hit Dice, my initial reaction was to drop the Hit Die to d8 to conform. But Andreas or Phil (I honestly forget which) then pointed out that in 100% of the cases of 3.5 classes converted to Pathfinder, not a single Hit Die was dropped in rank.
So, my second response was to increase the BAB to conform. At which point it was pointed out that across the board among all classes, BAB was never changed - ever - even in the case of the Dragon Disciple, whose d12 HD severely mismatched its Average BAB.
So, where does that leave us?
Between a rock and a hard place, that's where.
The clear precedent in the Pathfinder RPG is to leave it intact. We can't increase BAB, because no class had its BAB changed (positively or negatively). We can't decrease its HD, because no class had its HD lowered, only increased. We can't increase its HD, because the BAB doesn't call for it and only existing classes should get d12.
The precedent is set by the Dragon Disciple, who kept his d12 HD and his Average BAB, breaking the HD/BAB rule, but implementing an overarcing corollary to the rules above - if a change to bring something in line with the Pathfinder Design Paradigm would mean taking something away, don't do it.
This is the logic that left the Soulknife at d10 / Average BAB.
It was not a quick decision, nor something to do because we didn't like Pathfinder's rules. It was done using the Pathfinder classes as our guidelines and using the precedents set in the main rulebook.
If the soulknife was a brand new class, you can bet your ass we'd follow the HD / BAB rule. But it's not - it's an update from 3.5, and therefore, we followed Pathfinder's lead.
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It's really been an incredibly busy few weeks!
Between finally getting The Mind Unveiled out, getting Full Control out, and getting 9 alpha documents out for Pathfinder psionics, it feels like we're actually churning out material!
Yet, there is so much still to do!
Third Dawn needs to get out in print, I have a new High Psionics document almost ready, the psion for Pathfinder is almost ready, then we still have to finish up the changes to the feats and all the powers and monsters...
There's never lack of things to do around here, sometimes it's virtually impossible to remember everything going on!
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It's weird - without realizing it, I sort of checked-out from RPGs for a while - phoning it in, so to speak, the past few months. Honestly, I have to blame it on 4E. My GM moved us to it exclusively (got rid of all his 3.x books) and it was very underwhelming - the mechanics just didn't impress and didn't have the feel that 3.x did for me. Our group died. I stopped doing tabletop RPGs entirely. My motivation for creating for DSP fizzled with my waning interest in tabletop RPGs...
Now Pathfinder is out, and holy moley, it's been a flurry of activity these past few weeks! I've probably written more this month than the last 6 months combined... and a lot of my time has still been spent editing! I've put out and updated the psionic races for the Pathfinder Psionics project, sent out three updated prestige classes, with two more almost ready, and have started work on reviewing the powers... and am getting excited about finishing up the Races of the Mind series.
I think the realization that I just needed to cut ties with 4E and embrace Pathfinder was the catalyst - and boy, does it feel good to be back!
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I just realized that I hadn't written anything, personal, here - for almost 4 months. So, I'm remedying that right now. I think most people here understand that I'm in a different situation since my son was born and that my sleep has been disrupted, thus affecting my output.
But. I need to say this. It is the fans and customers who come here, who bring the greatest joy. Thankyou for coming here, for showing that what we do is worth your time and interest! It is my hope that during 2009 we will be able to transform and change how Dreamscarred Press operates and relates to things.
And, I'll give you a few hints - we're embracing the future, wanting to share, wanting YOU to share in what we create. We're expanding the horizons of what it means to be a game designer - as Custom Design clearly shows. We're trying new things (we will fail, but from failure, we learn) and we're looking for new ways to do business. If anyone can spot the direction and nail it down in a forum post, I'll personally give that person the next two PDFs we release, for free. So, bring on the guesses - btw, IF someone nails it, I'll be honest about it and tell everyone more. See this as a preview! 
We're moving into providing more or our books in Print-on-Demand - hopefully even through Amazon, which means we can consolidate our printing. I still have entire board/cardgames written up that we might explore indepth in the future. People seem to be getting used to printing out Power Cards for 4th Edition - perhaps we can provide the board/card-games in print-outs?
Have an idea for what we could do? Share it with us! Want to see us create cardgames? Tell us! Only through interaction with YOU, do we have any real purpose. 
So, take care, thankyou for believing in us and have a great 2009!
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Ok, so since Jeremy is kinda strapped for time since stuff IRL is affecting his workload and I need someone to bounce ideas off, this is a general call-out. Are YOU interested in being part of the design process by being my personal wall of feedback? Damn, this sounds like a personals ad in a newspaper or something, but it's what I'm looking for.
You'll review the concepts and the writing and tell me what you think, why you think so, what problems you see, what upsides you see (and why for both). Interested? Post in the General forum with the title "Feedback Application" and we'll talk some more on the details, your experience and stuff like that.
Right now the following projects need feedback:
Smart Settings: Confederation
Smart Settings: PSION
Smart Settings: METAHUMAN
Smart Settings: Dark Earth
Smart Settings: Brotherhood
4E: Morphean
4E: Social challenges
3.5E: Social challenges
3.5E: Symbiotes
True20: Social challenges
True20: Psion's Handbook
M&M: Social challenges
You up for it?
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The more I write as a professional, published, author, the more I learn about the process. I've realized that my mind tends to wander, making me write multiple projects at once. This however slows down my rate of finished material and can lead me to either vomit forth considerable releases in a short span of time, or leave me barehanded with a dozen half-finished projects.
At this stage, I have decided that I will finalize Fleshcrafting (in writing now) and make Symbiots a smaller release. After that, my "in the works" stuff for 3.5 is over and done with and I can start focusing on one project at a time.
Phrenic Shards is complete and only needs proofing before it goes into layout and editing, and I got a True20 version underway (see what I mean about multiple projects?) which should be finished in under a week.
Now, I'm not sure that a 100% focused style of writing fits my mind or how I do work, although I am going to give it a serious try to see how it works out and if it feels like I get more accomplished in a shorter timeframe. Wish me luck!
BTW - in the works right now:
4E
Phrenic Shards - finished, in proofing
Knightmare (4E morphean variant) - conceptual stage, some playtesting
Mini-setting: Dark Earth - conceptual stage, some basic writing has been done
3.5E
Third Dawn - finished writing, in proofing/layout/editing
High Psionics: Fleshcrafting - finished writing, in proofing/layout/editing
High Psionics: Symbiotes - 45% finished
True20
Third Dawn - finished writing and conversion
Phrenic Shards (to be renamed) - finished writing, mechanics 60% converted
Mini-setting: PSION - conceptual stage, basic writing, in playtesting
Psionic Handbook - 35% finished
M&M
Inhuman - 25% done
PSION: Unleashed - 20% done
Edited to reflect latest changes.
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Being part of the development of how business online will look is pretty interesting to me, so far atleast. We are tossing around a bunch of ideas for how we can develop and evolve as a company and part of the online design movement.
1. Patronage - originally done in gaming by Open Design & Wolfgang Baur. The idea that Baur uses is that he sets a "limit" on how much donations he requires to write a book/adventure. He then offers people to become patrons of that project, paying inbetween 30 to 100+ dollars. In exchange for this donation you get insight and greater and greater degrees of creative control and say-so. If we would do something like this, we would likely follow his lead and put out a number of projects that we could work on, set limits for each one and open up for people to donate. Whatever enough people donate for, we write and release - patrons get it for free and the possibility to buy print for print-costs only. Others get to buy the PDF and possible Print version at normal price. Unlike Piecemeal Publishing, patronage is transferable to different projects or refundable.
2. Design-by-Demand - This idea is based around that we'll do what people ASK us to do. Putting out a pricelist for individual items (feat, power, item, prestige class, feat chain, base class) we open up for people putting in orders with us. They might want a new psionic race for their campaign, or an NPC, a new power or perhaps a couple of feats that fits an idea they have. They pay us a small amount (say 5 dollars for a feat), we make it, test it and they get it, spiffied up in an official PDF. In return, we get to use that material in whatever e-book we put out. Some of it might end up in race books, power compilations or whatever fits.
3. Piecemeal Publishing - A middle road between Patronage and DbD, piecemeal publishing is based on providing a free sample of a product and offer a "tipping jar". If people tip to a pre-set level, we do another installment, if not, or just to a smaller amount, we take it as a thank you for the freebie. We continue writing until we hit a pre-determined "final post" (which will be announced) or people stop tipping. This way, we create our own material and offer it to the public, but the people decide what gets written. Difference between patronage is that with PP, everything that has been tipped for, gets released for free under a CC-license - we might compile the information, tidy it up, make it look nice and add a bunch of art and release it as a "for buy" option.
4. Ransom Model - an extreme variant of Piecemeal Publishing. Here, we write the entire conceptual idea completely, offer a few previews and put out a Ransom. If the ransom is met within X months, we release the entire project, for free, for everyone. This might or might not include art, depending on what goals we set. This is the model I like the least, part because it requires us to put up ALL the effort at the start with the very real possibility of not getting squat for it. If we're doing it like this, we might just as well release it as a "for buy" PDF and see the money trickle in (if it does).
So, do people have any OTHER ideas for alternative business models?
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Real life has conspired to really keep me from working on RPGs - but I'm not letting it! Despite a bevy of issues, work still progresses here at Dreamscarred Press - slower than I might like, true, but progress nonetheless.
I had hoped to have The Mind Unveiled: Prestige Classes in for final proofing last week, but that didn't happen. However, I've put a couple final tweaks on the layout and hope to have it sent in tomorrow. I know people who bought the full subscription are eager for the last few products, and I'm working to get them out!
And that brings me to the Third Dawn Campaign Setting. I knew how much work it was going to be. The workload has honestly not surprised me. It's about what I expected. Unfortunately, my time to invest on it was something I overestimated. Thankfully, Andreas and I have hammered out a lot of things in the past two weeks, and far more than half is "done" from a writing perspective. 50 pages of cultural write-ups, 15 pages of cosmology & godminds, 10 pages of races, 30 pages on classes (Base and prestige), 12 pages of organizations... a lot is written. I'd say there's less than 10 pages of actual writing left to do, then just a lot of clean-up / tweaking.
With artwork completed months ago, and with me keeping the drafts in a reasonable format for layout, layout should be pretty fast.
So, real life may be trying to keep me from working, but I'm not letting it!
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I've been a bit absent from Dreamscarred Press over the last month or so. Unfortunately, I don't know how long this absence is going to last. I've been dealing with car trouble, housing repairs, an increased work load, and domestic responsibilities, resulting in much, much less free time than I'm used to. Thankfully, I've still managed to chip away at the Third Dawn Campaign Setting (including writing up a Background feat today), so hopefully that will enter into editing and layout soon. It's getting very close to being done from a writing perspective, and graphics have been done for quite some time, so hopefully, the layout won't be too difficult.
But, I thought I'd post about why I've been absent.
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This is more of an essay than a normal blog entry, but here goes anyway.
Throughout my history of gaming in 3.5, I've seen a division somewhat like what Wizards used for 4E (and I'm stealing their definitions for this essay) but at different levels than what they suggest.
At levels 1-7, you are playing "mortal" heroes, people who are extraordinary individuals who can do awesome stuff, but this is still within the "grasp" of the normal individual. A farmer can imagine being able to train enough to make two deadly attacks almost at once (iterative attacks) or tame magic powerful enough to let people fly. The concepts for the E6 style of play is based somewhat around these concepts. This is essentially the time when heroes are still Heroic.
At levels 8-14, you go beyond mortal. This is the area where the characters being doing stuff that is the basis for myths and legends, the true heroes whose stories will be told for ages to come. They take on powerful enemies, raise the dead and shake of blows that kill a farmer as if they were mosquitobites. This is the time when they are welcome everywhere, given respect by kings and queens, wield powerful magics and have access to mighty magical items. The more magically inclined individuals craft items and weapons that will one day become legendary. This is the time when heroes are Paragons to the world around them.
At levels 15-20 you open up the world to the godlike epic events. At these levels, the characters rewrite the rules of the universe, wield magic powerful enough to summon angels or demon lords to do their bidding, travel instantly all across the MULTIVERSE and take on Demon Lords, Ancient Dragons and other adventures that become myths. At the end of this career, these individuals are powerful enough to be demigods, above the mortal baseline to such a degree that the farmer must use the divine as inspiration for describing these individuals. This is the time when heroes become demigods who rise to become Gods as their stories become myths.
To me, level 20 is the END of gaming. The "Epic Level Handbook" was a huge mistake in my eyes (both conceptually and how it was implemented) because the only thing that SHOULD come after 20th level is a finishing story of immortality.
Comments are welcome in the forums!
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