Archived News and Announcements December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007

 

Archived News and Announcements

 

December 2007

 

• 12/30/2007 - I think an important idea to have in mind for designing each race and class is "reward the player for doing what the race/class does best, and ensure that they can keep doing just that." If the fighter is built to fight, make every successful attack roll better, deal more damage, restore the fighter's hit points, etc.
• 12/29/2007 - It's official: As of the completion of the retooling of the races, alignment will be a thing of the past. Due to the moral ambiguity of the setting, rather than basing factions on character alignment (where many would assuredly be evil), factions will be based on humoristic temperament. The factions themselves will not change much, but there won't be any evil-smiting, nay. Out with alignment, in with humorism!
• 12/28/2007 - Currently retooling the races. Mechanically, all the races will change substantially. Rather than trying to balance abilities against each other, each race will offer 2 ability score bonuses, 1 unique racial effect, 2 bonus feats and 1 conditional bonus feat. The favored class, if chosen, will grant a bonus racial talent (the only way to get more than 2 talents at 1st level). Favored classes will be changed to offer this bonus to any character that takes a class that reveres a specific deity, such as Ares, Athena, Zeus, or any other. Only the character's primary class counts in this regard.
• 12/28/2007 - Working on skills and skill functions. Athletics-Jump will work a lot like a knight's jump in chess. Basic idea thus far is that you move left or right 1 square for every 2 squares you move forward. I think most skill functions will be automatic, in order to reduce the number of die rolls. Skill rolls will frequently be used to determine the events that occur during quests, however.
• 12/24/2007 - As a means for comparison, let's call your known spells your "library" (a la Magic: the Gathering) and your prepared spells your "hand." The known spells are what you have to draw on, and your prepared spells are what you have access to at the moment (i.e. in the heat of battle).
• 12/21/2007 - Magic also saw some mechanical clarification, such as the limitations of prepared spells and the difference between knowing and preparing spells.
• 12/21/2007 - Finished the first run of feats today. Creating some new "keyword abilities," such as 'sniping,' 'cleaving,' and possibly 'smashing.' It depends on how many are needed. I set a standard for Stance feats, and cleared some of my own confusion regarding different feat types. Current types include Melee, Ranged, Stance, General (skill feats include a name for each skill, such as Acrobatics, Endurance, Initiative, etc.). All told there are just shy of 50 'main' feats. I will be adding the other 25-50 feats I previously generated once I've had an opportunity to fix the wording and set the abilities to match this latest run at feats.
• 12/20/2007 - Worked on feats a lot today; made some new ones, tweaked some slightly older ones. Developing the various "skill" and "combat" feats that exist.
• 12/19/2007 - Mason and I met tonight to do a little DEEP SEKH gaming at the local gaming store. I told him about the progress I'd made with the new system, and we played a round of the older one (Expo-Mikomicon-MountainCON version). Like me, he thinks that the game would totally be better if there were more people playing, and I mentioned the idea for the league. I'm definitely a little bit more motivated to work on the new system, to have it playtest-ready when Mason has more free time.
• 12/19/2007 - Updated the look of the character sheet. It looks really spiffy now, but I'm going to see about making a "form" style with a different background or something in Illustrator and/or InDesign.
• 12/17/2007 - Created a number of "Chance" feats today. Chance feats use action points to avert disaster, and in large quantities will increase a character's overall "luck," granting many additional action points for use in combat.
• 12/16/2007 - Viva la revolution! http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php?p=13243450#post13243450
• 12/14/2007 - Artesian class is completed and information has been updated in the Rules of the Game section. In addition, races will be overhauled to reflect some changes in the system -- namely the inclusion of racial talent trees, and some changes in the function of certain talents, skills and abilities.
• 12/14/2007 - Concept for the artesian class has been modified to suit a different purpose - now more of a warlord than a spellcaster, the artesian is a more supernaturally-charged class than most of the others, and embodies the lordliness of Poseidon, as well as obtaining powers related to the trident and the earth.
• 12/13/2007 - Finally finished moving November's news to the Archived News section. If you haven't read the articles in Archived News before, the section provides an interesting timeline for the progression of the game and the DEEP SEKH setting, in general.
• 12/13/2007 - Made some changes to the boread class, continued work on the artesian class. Some minor changes in the way racial talents will work. Racial talents will now be available to all characters of the given race, rather than simply those that choose to "specialize" in their race's unique abilities. This will be the boon that half-elves and half-orcs have been waiting for... imagine choosing from either human and elf or orc racial talents!
• 12/12/2007 - Got a chunk of the artesian done last night on the train. Did some minor tweaking to some other talents, and came up with a new direction to go in with some skills. The Persuasion skill, for example, will have a new Trained function that serves for Leadership, with a mild bonus to grant of its own, and a number of linked talents.
• 12/12/2007 - Just built a slew of feats, many mined from the pages of SWSE, others are original creations. Feats will be organized in much more standardized categories that 3rd Edition, and the categories will mean something a little different. If you think of how the "draconic heritage" and "aberrant" feats worked together and synergized, and whatnot, and then you picture that certain spells and talents and skills will take advantage of the number and type of feats your character possesses, then you've got an idea of how feat categories will work.
• 12/12/2007 - Just reviewed ranged weapons and attacking in Star Wars Saga Edition. I'm going to standardize ranges for thrown weapons and bows/crossbows at 30 feet (6 squares) and 100 feet (20 squares), respectively, and adopt the "point blank, close, medium and long range" deal from SWSE.
• 12/11/2007 - Updated some information on the Rules of the Game page. You'll notice updated info about the chanter and gladius. Some about the boread, too. Other information remains unchanged for a later update that will encompass a greater influx of new data.
• 12/11/2007 - The concept for the artesian is changing -- they now venerate Poseidon and will have powers based on chaotic magic and earthquakes (battlefield control) and will wield tridents, like Poseidon. The skarmush class is being renamed "wilder," though the concept will change only slightly -- they revere Artemis and will be a class of wild hunters, swift assailants and participants in the Wild Hunt.
• 12/11/2007 - Boread makeover finished yesterday, currently working on building the artesian and skarmush classes (with probable rename slated for skarmush). Adding to the list of feats -- general, command, stance, equipment, and so forth. Also looking at designing some new types of feats to replace certain categories that have become obsolete (metamagic, divine, reserve, etc.).
• 12/7/2007 - Makeovers for gladius and chanter classes are finished. The new "boread" still needs to be revamped, but after that there's just the artesian (still slow in development due to the lack of magic system updates) and skarmush. Sprinkle some feats for good measure, and DEEP SEKH is well on its way to having a first book-thing! I mean, apart from the need for spells. =P
• 12/7/2007 - In light of a change in associations, the norter class is being renamed "boread." The class (formerly identified with Ares and brutal war) is now associated with Aeolus (son of Poseidon), the god of winds, and Boreas, the Greek personification of the North wind.
• 12/5/2007 - All classes continuing to receive make-overs and some minor reclassification. Original concepts of chanter and prophet class are being merged into the chanter, which is being altered to follow Apollo (the healer) rather than Dionysus. The prophet class will likely be used as a basic concept for multiple separate classes, and will not be a class in and of itself (being too vague).
• 12/3/2007 - An empty-looking page indicates that a new month has come! Time to put the old news where it belongs! Away!

 

November 2007

 

• 11/30/2007 - Armor and Shield Proficiencies are going to be merged. Armor Proficiency (light) will now cover light armor, bucklers and light shields, Armor Proficiency (medium) will now cover medium armor and heavy shields, and Armor Proficiency (heavy) will cover heavy armor and tower shields. Some further changes will likely occur in the classification of armor and shields, primarily with the aim of deemphasizing the "weaknesses" of armor and shields while simultaneously increasing the "utility" of armor and shield. With the "tactics" system, defense is going to be made more defensible, and far more interesting. Hopefully being interesting enough to compete with offense.
• 11/30/2007 - Currently working on the article mentioned below. 071130-NGF-Article01
• 11/30/2007 - Plan to write an article about the change in the "flow of combat" and the "tactic system." Given that there are fewer variables (fixed damage being a major one), there are several things that have changed to facilitate a greater variety in attack and defense. Attack bonuses and defense values will likely fluctuate from round to round, depending on the players' strategy. Part of the concept behind this was to make "aggressive" and "passive" defense more viable in terms of 'win strategy,' whereas previously "aggressive offense" was the predominant strategy.
• 11/30/2007 - Currently re-vamping Armor and Shield talent trees to make them more tactic-centric, and redesigning the Gladius talent tree to be a "weapon specialty" tree.
• 11/29/2007 - Added Deities and Mythos page to keep track of the various gods represented in DEEP SEKH and to chronicle stories and revisions.
• 11/27/2007 - Weapon Mastery talents are being separated from character classes so that any character with the corresponding weapon proficiency may now take Weapon Mastery talents. Individual character classes will now have "weapon specialty talents," such as the Gladius' "Gladius talents" and the Chanter's Javelin Mastery talents. Most classes will now have fewer talent trees to accommodate this change, as there are now a great deal more talents available to any character.
• 11/27/2007 - Character classes are still under development, delaying the conversion of characters from the Monster Mash release. Several new ideas are being developed as well, including "racial talent trees" and a dual-classing system which may become the norm for all DEEP SEKH Tournament characters.
• 11/23/2007 - Lots of developments in magic and in weapons. The hd20 system will not have variable damage from weapons and spells. One of the current goals is to reduce the number of dice needed to play the game to only the d20. Several d20 rolls may take place at once, but the game will be based solely on one die type, to reduce the number of resources required to play and to decrease complexity.
• 11/13/2007 - Finished preliminary design of the Norter class. Updated the information on Rules of the Game slightly. Similar to 3rd edition D&D barbarians, members of the Norter class can't be lawful -- in DEEP SEKH, they revere both Artemis and Ares, for the call of the wild and the brutality of war. Huzzah!
• 11/12/2007 - Finished several talent trees for the Artesian, Norter and Prophet. Updated the information on Rules of the Game slightly. Decided that each class will also have a patron deity (or deities), reflecting the level of integration of religion and daily life in Ancient Greece.
• 11/7/2007 - Altered layout of Rules of the Game somewhat. Currently working on creating a template by which such pages can be organized in the future.
• 11/7/2007 - Added some new information regarding both the gladius and the chanter to Rules of the Game.
• 11/7/2007 - An important concept that I'm developing is that every die roll has an Effect. Take note of the capital 'e'. Another similar concept is that every action has an Effect. During the design process for spells, I became aware of my repeated usage of the "keyword" Effect. Now, it won't be capitalized when it appears in rules text, but an Effect is whatever rolling the dice or taking the action DOES. Rolling the dice or taking an action is essentially a CAUSE, and whatever comes of the roll is an EFFECT, based on the success of the roll or action.
• 11/1/2007 - Over this next month, expect to see characters from Monster Mash finally updated to reflect the new changes in the system. Also, there will be a totally-new character sheet for Dundracon, so look forward to it! LOOK FORWARD TO IT OR DIE~!
• 11/1/2007 - Expect an update to the Character Classes section of Rules of the Game. I realize I never originally mentioned when I included that on the new page, but I've been hard at work, and with early versions of two classes complete, I hope to have more information on the other four (as well as the two completed ones) available soon.
• 11/1/2007 - Anyone that read the Character Races section of Rules of the Game might have noticed that there are references to several gods of the Greek pantheon. This is due to the fact that in order to fill in the various gaps in the DEEP SEKH character's religions (left by the hands-offness of the Intellectual Property of Wizards of the Coast) we will be adopting a pantheon of gods -- in this case, the gods of Ancient Greek mythology. Some stories will be altered, others clarified and many of them exploited, all for the good of the game. I've always had an interest in Greek mythology, so it made choosing the pantheon an easy choice.
• 11/1/2007 - Wrote an article about the development of the game, entitled "Evolution of a Game." 071101-NGF-Article01 Check it out for some insight into the recent changes.
• 11/1/2007 - End of another month! October saw a lot of behind-the-scenes work and the revolution of a lot of important conceptual ideas.

 

October 2007

 

• 10/31/2007 - Preliminary versions of the gladius and chanter classes are complete. Started on the third revision of spells, implementing some balancing tricks I came up with while creating the character races.
• 10/29/2007 - Finished the updates for the character races. They can be found in the Rules of the Game section.
• 10/26/2007 - Each of the 8 original races from the Monster Mash release now has an entry under Character Races on the Rules of the Game page.
• 10/26/2007 - Due to the rather substantial changes from the original system, Rules Changes has now become Rules of the Game.
• 10/26/2007 - All the current races of DEEP SEKH are undergoing minor superficial changes (mostly name changes) and some more substantial mechanics changes to make them compatible with the new system. The races are now, as follows: Bheling (formerly Bladeling), Bugbear, Drow, Foellen (formerly Tiefling), Goliath, Leuken (formerly Aasimar), Prikkel (formerly Thorn) and Saagen (formerly Sharakim). Each race will receive its own treatment for the setting and will receive its own page.
• 10/26/2007 - New computer's been up and running at home for a couple days and everything seems to be working just fine. Moving to a new apartment this weekend, will probably be a "little distracted" for a couple days.
• 10/23/2007 - The rules system by which DEEP SEKH Tournaments are run shall henceforth be known as hd20, literally for "High-Definition d20," the full name being "High-Definition d20 Strategy Roleplaying System" with the "official" abbreviation being "HD d20" or "hdd20," and "Strategy Roleplaying Game" being abbreviated "SRPG."
• 10/22/2007 - Though Mountain-Con was a failure, insofar as there were no DEEP SEKH games run (as there were no gamers to play them), there was definitely a benefit drawn from it, which I will have to explore at a later time.
• 10/22/2007 - Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is one of the unsung inspirations behind a number of vital aspects of DEEP SEKH, and I'm finally buying my own copy, for my own use/research/gaming pleasure. Perhaps an article about the inspirations drawn from Oblivion would be appropriate at some point.
• 10/22/2007 - Home computer has been down for almost two weeks, but I'm not it really had a visible impact on the progress of any aspects of the DEEP SEKH projects. Much of my work is done away from home as it is, but I still needed a new home computer, for doing reading, some back-and-forth work, and additional research. The new computer's pretty cool, and will actually run some much cooler games than the previous one was capable of.
• 10/22/2007 - Currently buying the campaigns and expansion for Guild Wars. I'd always kinda wanted to continue playing the game, but I couldn't really afford to keep up until now. However, I'm encountering some annoying problems with purchasing the campaigns, namely in that there is a waiting period in between each online purchase to avoid fraud.
• 10/22/2007 - The initial version of the Guild Wars skills/spells that I made were pretty shaky, sometimes being literal interpretations of the skills in D&D, with their association to the Mage Spheres being almost arbitrary. I will have an article about the revisions that I've gone through while building the magic system up at some point, though.
• 10/22/2007 - Currently on the third revision of Guild Wars skills that have been ported over to D&D via Mage: The Ascension Spheres. At some point here, I'll have to post the spell creation guidelines... (or maybe not *wink*) so that others can test them out and break them.
• 10/18/2007 - Several new changes in combat will likely be occurring. One rather radical change that I'm considering is that character gets one melee attack per turn but not limiting attacks to only their controlling player's turn. This may sound either incredibly radical or incredibly obvious. The nature of the change is that each character may make a melee attack on their turn, then whenever they are attacked in melee, they can also make another attack -- essentially this works out to be very similar to the way combat works in Magic: The Gathering, from which I am also drawing a fair amount of inspiration.
• 10/18/2007 - Many skills have been combined and removed, and a few skills have been added and renamed. The current skill list I am working with is as follows:

 

• 10/18/2007 - Stopped posting my progress online - been spending most of my time working on the system rather than reevaluating my progress online. Noticeable changes include the integration of the Spheres of magic from Mage: The Ascension. All spells are created from one or more of the nine Spheres as set down in the core rules, then assigned to one of the more familiar (to D&D players) schools and then to a subschool (there are quite a few new subschools to help cover different varieties of magic). For reference, the nine Spheres are Correspondence, Entropy, Forces, Life, Matter, Mind, Prime, Spirit and Time.
• 10/2/2007 - Currently working on several things at once.

 

• 10/1/2007 - It's October! A new month means that last month's news will soon go into the archive.

 

September 2007

 

• 9/26/2007 - Continually working on improving the game! Making it faster, easier and more fun! Currently in Story Planning for the first several "Story Mode" adventures, which will possibly preview at Dundracon 32 in 2008. Also working on making adaptations to DEEP SEKH from the Star Wars Saga Edition game.
• 9/26/2007 - Mountain-Con 2007 was a disappointment. No one showed up for the event on either Saturday of Sunday. Not much to report beyond that.
• 9/19/2007 - DEEP SEKH is now the home of Awesome Good and Rockstar Evil. Notable runners-up include: Lawful Wicked and Evil 1337.
• 9/16/2007 - I am intensely frustrated by the Spycraft 2.0 system. It seems overly complex, and the NPC and experience awards systems seem to be made to annoy people who actually want to run a quick, friendly game. I think there may be some elements to draw inspiration from, but it has been a very trying experience thus far.
• 9/16/2007 - I am currently writing and developing the DEEP SEKH Tournament Mission Statement, which should appear on the website within the next week.
• 9/16/2007 - I have spent many ponderous hours now, pondering the changes that were made to the d20 system with the advent of the Star Wars Saga Edition. For all tense and purpose, it is a direct precursor to 4e Dungeons & Dragons. Quiet a few of my fears were alleviated as I scoured the books for the various changes. Many of the changes are sensible and make for simpler and faster gameplay. These I will adopt in the DEEP SEKH Tournament, scheduled for integration with the very next Release that will see light at Dundracon 32. Wizards of the Coast has inadvertently opened the way to make faster, simpler PvP with the combination of several skills into umbrella-skills, like Acrobatics (Balance + Escape Artist + Tumble), Deception (Bluff + Disguise + Forgery), Perception (Listen + Search + Sense Motive + Spot), Persuasion (Diplomacy + Haggle + Intimidate) and Stealth (Hide + Move Silently + Sleight of Hand).
• 9/14/2007 - You might notice something different about the races this time around. I'm thinking of making the next Release contain races that are a bit more faction-exclusive, since Monster Mash saw four split-faction races (aasimar, drow, thorn and tiefling) and I think it would be interesting to see a little more racial variety (of course, even with 8 races in the first release, it was hard to get variety). Part of the idea now is to help avoid some of the problems that stem from a faction full of light-sensitive characters paired with daylight-emitting allies. Some LG/LE and CG/CE teams turned out rather silly with aasimar and tieflings together (canceling each others' powers) and aasimar with sharakim or drow, triggering their light sensitivity and light blindness. The next Release will see some slightly more "normal" races, hopefully ones without vulnerabilities triggered by their own allies.
• 9/14/2007 - Currently reviewing character races and classes that will appear in the next set. While I still intend to include clerics and undead in the next Release, I will probably hold off on adding 2-HD characters for another Release (Spring 2008, perhaps?). I am constantly working to improve the character options for players. Currently, the building queue looks like this:

 

• 9/13/2007 - Faction-exclusive classes have been changed up a bit. The Lawful Good faction has the paladin, as always, but soon paladins of other types (Freedom, Slaughter and Tyranny) from non-LG factions will be changed to be members of the soulborn class (or replaced if a soulborn character of that race all ready exists in that faction). The Chaotic Good faction now claims only the battle dancer class, while duskblades will simple be limited to good races and those that traffic with elves. The Lawful Evil faction will continue to reserve all shadowcasters. The Chaotic Evil faction will have all members of the death master class, whereas binders and warlocks will be made available to the CG and LE factions. In the case of both the binder and warlock classes, certain invocations and vestiges simply will not be used by characters that are less chaotic or less evil.
• 9/12/2007 - Boy do I ever miss math class. It's been such a long time since I've done some of these kinds of math that I'm going absolutely bonkers trying to reason out some of these problems. Concealment is still a big issue. Right now, if my calculations are correct, I will be changing the values of Concealment from 6 and 11 to 8 and 13. Slightly more interesting numbers, methinks. Eventually this will result in a nice, semi-lengthy article about the problems of Concealment and my ideas about the solutions.
• 9/12/2007 - The page for Mikomicon 2007 is up, so feel free to take a look. I am taking a brief break from crazy con-prep this weekend, and a break from D&D in general for a few days as I work to finish up the rules document for Mountain-CON. That's right, when I say I'm taking a break, it means so I can work on something else completely... unrelated. That's a laugh.
• 9/10/2007 - Just returned from Mikomicon, which was another glorious victory for the DEEP SEKH tournament. More players, more winners, more prizes! I'm looking forward to my week of rest before the next convention: Mountain-Con!
• 9/6/2007 - The DEEP SEKH wiki, which has been online since April of this year, has been a great place for me to store my thoughts and monitor my progress on the DEEP SEKH Tournament for almost 7 months at this point. If only blogging were this easy! I've noticed a trend that the most activity I seem to have is in the month leading up to a convention (May for CONduit, June for Anime Expo, and September for Mikomicon/Mountain-CON) and for a few weeks (or mere days) following it. I hope to keep the wiki up for a long time, eventually making it a "business wiki" where I can sell all kinds of DEEP SEKH goods (adventures, artwork, character sheets, t-shirts, miscellaneous setting material, etc.). Here's looking forward to a bright future!
• 9/6/2007 - I will be speaking with a representative from Demented Dragon ( http://dementeddragon.com/ )about commissioning artwork for the character sheets and the possibility of a DEEP SEKH manga! All this is still very, very hypothetical, but it's cool and anyone who actually reads the news here on any kind of regular basis might get a kick out of it!
• 9/6/2007 - Good news and better news! Today I printed out all the character sheets, stickied them with good 'ole labelly goodness, sleeved 'em and alphabetized 'em. Pretty much everything is ready to go for Mikomicon, I'm just trying to crank out the rules document as quickly as possible, though there's a good chance it won't be ready for this convention.
• 9/5/2007 - We have the technology! We can rebuild him! Due to advances in word-smithing and ability description-crafting, Aimuth Valleywatcher will return for Mikomicon. Now that the length of the bardic music ability descriptions has been significantly reduced and clarified, expect to see more bards in the future. At last!
• 9/4/2007 - Look forward to clerics, undead and more evil outsiders in the next Release (tentatively planned for debut at Dundracon 32). The release has been given the working title of "Faith & Heretics."
• 9/4/2007 - Printing will likely take place tomorrow. I'll be taking my ream of paper with me to work (slightly better quality paper). I've been doing some outlines for the next Release, which will probably include 7 new races, plus a few new additions to the previous races -- I am planning to add 2 new drow and tieflings, and 1 new aasimar, bladeling, bugbear and sharakim. They will be part of the new Release though, and not attached to the previous one.
• 9/4/2007 - More streamlining work done today. Some alterations to the bugbears, who were way more stupid than they needed to be (and full of useless, dumb abilities). Hopefully Lawful Evil and Chaotic Evil will see more play this time around now that the Hobgoblins have been replaced with Bladelings and the Drow have been added.
• 9/4/2007 - Thoughts are drifting towards other conventions, other locations (fairly close by) where the DEEP SEKH Tournament could be brought. New audiences to expose to the game and so forth. A list of conventions and stores (mostly found via internet search) is being made on the Convention History page. If you would like me to look into your store or convention (or state), e-mail deepsekh@hotmail.com and put "LOCATION" in the subject line. Transmuters are standing by.
• 9/4/2007 - A tentative plan for the future involves the massive revisions to the game that I've spoken of before (the Integrated Psionics Handbook and Revised Core Magic System Project), which will probably take place as 3.5 utters it's last breath and 4e kicks appears in, oh, May 2008 or so.
• 9/4/2007 - Once I complete the "Play Guidelines" and "Taking Turns" documents, they will likely go on this very website as articles. Probably under the rules section. I'm thinking of reorganizing little bits of the website to better contain said information.
• 9/3/2007 - Made some more progress on the "Play Guidelines" and the "Taking Turns" documents. Eventually I'll compile the two into a single Rules document that will be way more useful than the Player's Handbook, what with my evil plans for subverting v.3.5 once WotC moves on with their futile 4e (read: 4th Edition). Er... I mean... I'm not evil.
• 9/3/2007 - Sent in my event submission for Dundracon 32 today. Good news is I've all ready gotten noise back from Mark Schynert about it. Apparently I did a good job of making it stand out. Mostly he was asking how many people I was looking at for an upper limit. The practical number is about 16. If I can scrape together some more DMs, it could be even more than that. Hopefully I'll be able to get Scott and Keith to come up for Dundracon. That'd be awesome.
• 9/3/2007 - Did a bunch of clean-up stuff on the characters today. Lots on the drow characters. Worked on coming up with the average attack values, AC, saves, etc. Probably won't have anything conclusive by Mikomicon, but there's always hoping. I'll be doing a lot of e-mailing the entire character flumph back and forth and hammering out the final versions of everything. There will be no more major revisions before Mikomicon, though hopefully there will be two new goliaths, two new sharakim and one new tiefling, bringing Monster Mash to a full 64 characters.
• 9/3/2007 - It is currently under consideration that all of the variant paladins (Freedom, Tyranny and Slaughter) will be altered to become members of the soulborn class. The standard PHB paladin will be the only paladin, and will be a character class exclusive to the Lawful Good faction. As I said, this is currently under consideration and will likely not affect the characters for Mikomicon.
• 9/3/2007 - All characters for the Monster Mash Release have been completed. Later additions and revisions to the set may be made (and occasionally some subtractions and replacements), but every character in the set will be considered canonical for Story Events and will now grow and evolve as a complete set of characters.
• 9/3/2007 - In my rush to get the bladeling and drow characters completed for Mikomicon, I forgot to include one of the bladelings (whom I had completed but somehow missed in the original announcement listing) and four drow characters (that have not yet been made).
• 9/3/2007 - It's been a learning experience, these last six months, and September will mark the end of major revisions to the first Release of DEEP SEKH. Monster Mash, as the Release will be called, is unique in that it represents the only Release that will be playtested as it's developed (effectively being the only release of characters usable at each convention). From here on out, there will not be any more Releases that see light until after they are completed. There may be preview events, but nothing too large or spectacular until they're finished.
• 9/3/2007 - August was a month of shame. Shame!

 

August 2007

 

• 8/31/2007 - Please welcome the following new recruits to the Lawful Evil and Chaotic Evil factions!

 

• 8/31/2007 - I am pleased to say, that as of 5:20 PM this afternoon, the drow character concepts are complete.
• 8/31/2007 - Unfortunately, progress on Story Mode, which was contingent on the completion of the drow characters, will not be ready for Mikomicon, and it is unlikely to be ready by Mountain-Con. Story Mode will probably premiere at Dundracon 32 in 2008.
• 8/31/2007 - All the bladeling character sheets were finished last night. Also, I've made significant progress on the drow characters and should be starting the character sheets this afternoon.
• 8/30/2007 - Welcome the following recruits to the Lawful Evil faction!

 

• 8/28/2007 - It was a tough call, but I will not be using a majority of the altered psionic powers. Instead I will be sticking mainly to the powers the way they already are, and using only powers that have fairly simple effects. I am looking into database creation software while I look for faster and simpler ways to generate characters and character sheets.
• 8/28/2007 - I am currently overhauling the entire basic magic system for my homebrew setting. I've been learning tons about how the various schools and subschools interact and balance against one another, and I've found a lot of holes and inconsistencies in the current version of the D&D magic system. Whether DEEP SEKH will adopt the changes remains to be seen. This is a huge undertaking (not unlike DEEP SEKH itself in size and scope) and it will eventually expand to encompass psionics as well.
• 8/28/2007 - The character sheets are going to change again in the next several months. As much as I enjoy having the plastic sheet protectors and the dry-erase pens, both are a liability, because both get lost, stolen or damaged by players and must be replaced (which eventually will add up to be quite expensive). I'm looking into more disposable paper character sheets and nice, disposable pencils (maybe with the DEEP SEKH logo emblazoned on them?).
• 8/28/2007 - I've finished the character concepts for the bladelings.
• 8/15/2007 - I'm breaking the silence with an update and a reminder: DEEP SEKH will be at Mikomicon 2007, and I have confirmed that the event will receive prize support, though what exactly is unknown (it won't be D&D Miniatures this time around, however).
• 8/15/2007 - The bladeling character concepts are nearly done and will soon be transferred to their respective character sheets. The drow character concepts are still a work in progress. Apparently the dark elves are every bit as malicious and malcontent as R.A. Salvatore and WotC would have us believe.

 

July 2007

 

• 7/30/2007 - While it remains that the next release is still in the early planning stages, it is likely that it will be more of an "expansion" for the Monster Mash release, meant to include the clerics and undead that were left out for balance reasons.
• 7/30/2007 - Among the projects I have been working on behind-the-scenes, I am creating a quick reference guide for players to see what characters have what strengths and weaknesses as an aid to character selection. I am also crunching numbers to find out what the average numbers are for attack, AC and average DPR (damage per round) for various characters. Once I have this data, I can build future characters to set parameters based on performance expectations. (If that gobbledygook made sense to you, I would recommend getting some sleep, I know I need it.)
• 7/30/2007 - I may have prize support for Mikomicon, though this has not yet been confirmed.
• 7/30/2007 - I've been doing a lot of logistical work (background stuff that makes my job when designing characters simpler and easier), updating old information and planning for the release that will follow this one.
• 7/30/2007 - Well, tomorrow is the last day of the month, and when the changeover happens in the next couple days, only this message and anything that follows it will still be on the front page (some of the slowest News and Announcements since I started the website)!
• 7/19/2007 - BIG NEWS DAY today, mostly due to the fact that I've been working on stuff for the last couple days but not posting updates on my progress.
• 7/19/2007 - I'm still hung up on creating the drow characters. In the meantime, I have been preparing to start work on the bladeling characters in case I get some inspiration for either race.
• 7/19/2007 - In addition to the various changes to psionic powers, there will also be a little bit of restructuring of disciplines, mostly in making more powers discipline-exclusive. There will eventually be an article on why all these changes are being made, and why psionics is being singled out in this regard.
• 7/19/2007 - The DEEP SEKH Wiki now contains 30 pages of Strategic-PvP-loving madness! COWER MORTALS!
• 7/19/2007 - Most of the work I've been doing the last few days has been behind the scenes, but there is now a page of Psionics Changes, where you can view everything that has been altered, updated or scrapped. These changes have come in time to be implemented in the Monster Mash release, so look forward to more psychic warriors, ardents, lurks and divine minds (and those other psionic classes)!
• 7/13/2007 - It's another glorious Friday the 13th! For those of you who are unaware, DEEP SEKH officially began on October 13, 2006 at the Mikomicon convention in Northridge, CA. The Convention-based version of DEEP SEKH will have its first birthday 3 months from today!
• 7/10/2007 - The current thought regarding skills is that they many should require a standard action to use, regardless of skill itself (except certain specific uses that require less time, notably the Ride skill). For example, the Disable Device and Search skills will probably only require a standard action to use in most DEEP SEKH matches. Some skills, such as Balance, Climb, Jump and Swim, will instead become passive skills that allow characters to traverse specific areas of the map.
• 7/10/2007 - Due to a math error (because I never bothered to check the probability), standard concealment has been granting "Conceal 6," which reflects a 25% miss chance. This has been fixed in all characters with the darkness ability to now grant "Conceal 5," which accurately reflects a 20% miss chance.
• 7/10/2007 - Has anyone noticed how silly the Psionics system is? I mean, lots of players and DMs might argue that the system is unbalanced, overpowered or even "too Sci-Fi-ish." With the way powers are named, the frivolous additional properties that each power has... I mean, does anyone actually make use of the synesthete power? So much for the concept of simple and easy to use. *Shrug*

 

• 7/6/2007 - Oh, oh the angst of the Psionics system. So many powers, so many, many useless powers. I am currently pruning the psionic powers available from the Expanded Psionics Handbook and the Complete Psionic. Meanwhile, I'm also editing and altering a significant number of powers so that they are actually... usable. If left unedited, there would be significantly... fewer... powers. I would simply leave them out. Which may be better. I like the versions of the powers I've made, though.
• 7/5/2007 - In light of feedback received at Anime Expo, I will likely change the order I originally planned to release certain races.
• 7/5/2007 - After some deliberation, the Level Adjustment of the hobgoblin race will be removed (from +1 to +0). Hobgoblins will be removed from the "Monster Mash" release and replaced with bladelings (from the Monster Manual 2). Part of the reason why this decision was made was because hobgoblins have been deemed to be on the "weak" side of LA +1, and given that bugbears will already be in the "Monster Mash" release, a little more variety is desirable.
• 7/5/2007 - I have just about finished organizing and compiling data from the tournament, and I will post the results soon (probably today).
• 7/5/2007 - It's a new month! All of the news from June will be finding its way into Archived News.
• 7/3/2007 - A page for Rules Variants, Clarifications and Changes has been created. Please refer to Rules Changes for an important note on the applications of the Hide skill and Concealment.
• 7/3/2007 - It's time for a new definition of the term "Release." A "Release" will be a series of 50-60 characters (composed of 6-8 characters from 8 races). The first series will simply be known as "Monster Mash" and contains the following races: Aasimar, Bugbear, Drow, Goliath, Hobgoblin, Sharakim, Thorn and Tiefling. A new "Release" will be planned for every 6 months, though this is highly subjective.
• 7/3/2007 - We're back from Anime Expo 2007! We had an amazing convention this year, and you'll get to find out just how amazing it went once I've gotten settled in a little better. It was a rough ride home, but there should be plenty of updates over the next several days.

 

June 2007

 

• 6/28/2007 - I stayed up until 2:00 AM this morning printing character sheets and stuffing them in sheet protectors. I am about 1/3 finished with the process of assembling the binders, but this means that I have enough complete to run at least one table (while I madly scramble to stuff more sheets in protectors).

I am also mostly packed. I ran into a snag, as the equipment necessary to run DEEP SEKH has grown, my travel needs have remained... taking up most of my luggage. I will need a second piece of luggage to keep the remainder of my equipment. I still got 5 hours sleep, though!

• 6/28/2007 - As of 2:00 AM this morning, all thorn characters have been finished for the AX '07 release. This does not include the last three (Blackmaple, Blackoak and Greatsap), who were left out of this release.
• 6/25/2007 - Minor changes in the way information is displayed on the character sheets led to the slow-downs in finishing the tiefling and thorn character sheets. It is likely that after Anime Expo, I will build the characters using InDesign instead of Word, and will save them as PDFs instead of Docs. Oh, how I look forward to that inevitable day when I can close Word and not open it again for nary a week...
• 6/19/2007 - As of 7:00 PM today, all tiefling characters have been finished for the AX '07 release.
• 6/18/2007 - First official Rules Change for the DEEP SEKH Tournament. Regarding concealment:

Concealment: When a character attacks a character that is benefiting from concealment, the player makes two attack rolls. Match the highest roll with the AC (or concealment, if higher), and the lowest value with the concealment (or AC, if lower). If either value misses, the attack fails. This is an exception to the normal rules that say a 20 on an attack roll automatically hits.

 

An article regarding this decision is pending.

• 6/9/2007 - The goliath bard Aimuth Valleywatcher has been retired from play.
• 6/8/2007 - Welcome the following new recruits to the Lawful Good and Chaotic Good factions!

 

 

• 6/8/2007 - Since this post (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=861084) appeared on the Character Optimization Boards over at the Wizards forum, I've been contemplating how to use a similar method to determine the relative power of DEEP SEKH Characters. I've compiled all the vital information on the characters I have from bugbear to aasimar (chronologically) and I'm crunching the numbers to get some statistics. I figure I'll wind up doing this about every four races I finish (about every 25 characters).
• 6/8/2007 - Overhauled all character sheets from CONDuit to revise ability descriptions. Currently, the average time it takes for me to produce characters from concept to character sheet is a little over a week. Concepts take a varied amount of time--sometimes concepts come very quickly, sometimes they take longer. The amount of time it takes to complete each phase of character creation also varies based on the free time I have to work on them, and work is a higher priority than DEEP SEKH (until the day the DEEP SEKH is a money-making enterprise).
• 6/7/2007 - The following is an update to the material that is "in play:"

 

• 6/6/2007 - The next race in the queue is the thorn race from the Monster Manual 3.
• 6/5/2007 - The following is an update to the material that is not "in play:"

 

 

• 6/5/2007 - Update to announcement on 5/25: It is likely that neither clerics nor undead will be in the Anime Expo release. Thus far they have been bumped down in the build queue to the point that they may not come into play for another few months. Similarly, characters that focus on controlling, healing and destroying undead will also be delayed until a later release. This is an update to the removal of the Libris Mortis from the resource pool. It is still undetermined when the Libris Mortis will be added back to the resource pool, along with both Fiendish Codices, the Draconomicon, and Lords of Madness.
• 6/5/2007 - Added page for thorn characters and updated bugbear page.
• 6/4/2007 - Welcome the following new recruits to the Lawful Evil and Chaotic Evil factions!

 

 

• 6/4/2007 - This is the thread for the DEEP SEKH Tournament at Anime Expo 2007: http://forums.anime-expo.org/index.php?showtopic=5275
• 6/4/2007 - Though this may have been known for some time, I will be running Expedition to Castle Ravenloft at Anime Expo 2007 in addition to DEEP SEKH. http://forums.anime-expo.org/index.php?showtopic=5153
• 6/4/2007 - As of about 5:22 PM, all aasimar character sheets were completed for the Anime Expo release of the DEEP SEKH Tournament.
• 6/2/2007 - Presenting TheoryCraft!: Analysis of Item Assignment. 070602-NGF-Article01

 

 

May 2007

 

• 5/31/2007 - In future releases of the DEEP SEKH Tournament, there is a possibility of the implementation of Action Points (Unearthed Arcana) and collectible cards for player use, similar to the RPGA's Campaign Cards. Such a feature is still pending discussion, and it is unlikely that either will be implemented this year.
• 5/31/2007 - Currently the plan is to build the next batches of characters by race, as the previous ones have been.
• 5/31/2007 - Four weeks left 'til Anime Expo 2007! DEEP SEKH will run all day on Saturday, July 1st at the convention. Winners in the DEEP SEKH tournament will be among the first to be recorded on the website, and the first story-based events will take place at Anime Expo, allowing players to set the course of the story!
• 5/29/2007 - There is another article I am working on, currently titled "Art or Science: Fair Item Distribution" . It's a work in progress, of course, but I hope it helps give people insight into part of the DEEP SEKH character creation process. 070529-NGF-Article01
• 5/29/2007 - There is a new article in progress that I began on last Friday that went unmentioned. "War Between the Ability Scores" can be read in its incomplete state here: 070525-NGF-Article01
• 5/29/2007 - DEEP SEKH characters will now be outfitted with items in a manner similar to process described for equipping PCs/NPCs that is described in the Magic Item Compendium, though items will still be granted based on Intelligence scores.

To briefly summarize how a character is equipped with items: According to the Magic Item Compendium, a character might realistically be equipped with two 2nd-level items and two 1st-level items, with each item level representing a different tier of items ranked by gp price. A single item of one level is worth about two items of the level below it.

Most 1st-level potions and scrolls fall into the 1/2 item level. a wand with 10 charges is considered a 1st-level item, and a masterwork weapon is a 2nd-level item. However, a character with a lower Intelligence score is believed to have used her wealth less efficiently than is described in the Compendium. A more Intelligent character would therefore have made better use of her wealth.

• 5/29/2007 - We're back from CONDuit XVII - 2007 with new goals for next time! Good job everybody!
• 5/29/2007 - Welcome the following new recruits to the Lawful Good and Chaotic Good factions!

 

 

• 5/25/2007 - All undead will find their way into the next release, as will clerics and any other classes that focus on the manipulation and/or destruction of undead (follow-up to the removal of content from Libris Mortis.)
• 5/25/2007 - Due to complexity, pacing and balance issues that the turn undead ability presents, it has been changed to the following:

Turn Undead 30-ft. range; Lasts for (3 + CHA) rounds; Will negates (DC 10 + 1/2 HD + CHA; new save/round); Up to (HD × 3) HD of undead are paralyzed; User may not approach or effect ends.

• 5/24/2007 - Both Don and I will be DMing at CONDuit 17 this Saturday! See you there!
• 5/24/2007 - As of 8:50 PM today, all sharakim and hobgoblin character sheets are complete for this release.
• 5/21/2007 - Welcome the following new recruits to the Lawful Good faction!

 

 

• 5/20/2007 - Site Articles have been brought together under one roof at last! The "gold tooth of glibness," "theorycraft" and "Guide to Deep Sekh Character Sheets" can all be found in the aptly-named Site Articles section!
• 5/20/2007 - There is now a page detailing the information that can be found on Deep Sekh Character Sheets! 070520-NGF-Article01
• 5/20/2007 - Material from Dragon Magic, Complete Champion, Complete Mage and Complete Scoundrel (including all races, feats, alternate class abilities and so forth) will be removed from the resource pool until a later release.
• 5/11/2007 - Additionally, material from the following sources: Cityscape, Draconomicon, Dungeonscape, Fiendish Codex I, Fiendish Codex II, Libris Mortis and Lords of Madness will be removed from the resource pool until a later release.
• 5/11/2007 - Races and monsters from the following sources will be used: Monster Manual 1-4, Fiend Folio.
• 5/9/2007 - Welcome the following new recruits to the Lawful Evil faction!

 

 

• 5/9/2007 - Hobgoblin list coming soon, perhaps later today.
• 5/8/2007 - As of 1:00 PM today, all goliath character sheets are complete for this release.
• 5/7/2007 - Look for future updates to include the following races: hobgoblins and sharakim in addition to bariurs, aasimar, tieflings and shadowswfts, concluding the initial introduction of material from the Planar Handbook.
• 5/7/2007 - The following material will be removed from the pool of available resources: All content from Frostburn, Sandstorm, and Stormwrack. This content will be made available again in a currently indeterminable future update.
• 5/7/2007 - As of Saturday (5/5/2007), all bugbear character sheets are complete for this release.
• 5/7/2007 - Welcome the following new recruits to the Chaotic Good faction!

 

 

 

• 5/1/2007 - Goliaths coming soon to a Chaotic Good faction near you!
• 5/1/2007 - News and Announcements from last month (older than one week) have been moved to the new Archived News page!
• 5/1/2007 - Material currently on hold:

Aquatic-based races, classes, feats, maps, etc. (waiting for future update)

Dragonlance material (waiting for Dragonlance Campaign Setting)

Eberron material, including Artificer class (waiting for Eberron Campaign Setting)

Forgotten Realms material (waiting for Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting)

Ghostwalk material (waiting for Ghostwalk Campaign Setting)

Oriental Adventures material, including Asian-themed classes appearing in Complete Adventurer, Complete Arcane, Complete Divine and Complete Warrior (waiting for Oriental Adventure Campaign Setting)

• 5/1/2007 - Characters that have a neutral component in their alignment will henceforth be assigned to one faction or another, typically by race/class combination. No longer will characters belong to more than one faction.
• 5/1/2007 - Due to pacing issues that the entangle spell presents, it has been changed to the following:

Entangle (Spell) Lasts 1 min./level; Reflex (DC 13) negates; Nonreach melee attackers must save vs. entangled; Strength or Escape Artist check (DC 20) to escape.

• 5/1/2007 - A new poison has been added for low-level use! To help bring into play a dwarf's poison resistance and other similar low-level benefits, an as-of-yet unnamed injury poison (DC 14 sickness/--) is available to characters with the Poison Use extraordinary ability.

Other poisons under consideration are ones that cause blindness, fatigue, fear, nausea and the staggered conditions.

 

April 2007

 

• 4/27/2007 - The following classes have been removed from the pool of available character classes: ninja, samurai, shugenja and wu jen. They will return when Oriental Adventures material comes into use in a currently indeterminable future update.
• 4/27/2007 - Welcome the following new recruits to the Chaotic Evil Faction!

With a few adjustments, bugbears have become exclusively chaotic evil.

 

• 4/20/2007 - As of 5:09 PM MST, the current battle lines are as follows:

GOOD vs. EVIL ... 82:46 ... LAW vs. CHAOS ... 58:96

58/170 characters have an element of neutrality. The remainder hold extreme moral and ethical views (LG, LE, CG or CE).

Races added to the line-up: aasimar, diabolus, diopsid, half-ogre, mongrelfolk, skulk, tiefling.

After reviewing playable races from Races of Destiny, seakin will be put on hold until the next release. Illumian and underfolk will likely come in the next update (illumian are easily as complex as humans, covering virtually all alignments and classes). There will only be one half-ogre, a CE barbarian, given their LA +2. Some races from Dragon Compendium are in this update as well.

• 4/19/2007 - The githyanki and githzerai (normally LA +2) will be allowed as playable races. The psionic versions from Expanded Psionics Handbook will be used and the races will be treated as LA +1 for the purpose of ECL 2 Tournaments. The karsite race from Tome of Magic will also be allowed, similarly as an LA +1 for ECL 2 Tournaments.
• 4/18/2007 - As of 5:17 PM MST, the current battle lines are as follows:

GOOD vs. EVIL ... 53:41 ... LAW vs. CHAOS ... 50:66

46/128 characters have an element of neutrality. The remainder hold extreme moral and ethical views (LG, LE, CG or CE).

Races added to the line-up: dromites, half-giants, maenads, and xeph.

• 4/12/2007 - Theorycraft! Faction Development by Nick Foster 070412-NGF-Article01
• 4/11/2007 - As of 5:06 PM MST, the current battle lines are as follows:

GOOD vs. EVIL ... 11:41 ... LAW vs. CHAOS ... 29:39

40/80 characters have an element of neutrality. The remainder hold extreme moral and ethical views (LG, LE, CG or CE).

Current races included in the line-up: bugbears, drow, duergar, dusklings, gnolls, hobgoblins, lizardfolk, rilkans and skarn.

• 4/9/2007 - DEEP SEKH will be at CONDuit in May, Anime Expo in July, and Mountain-Con in September! See our Convention History page for more details!