Recent Posts
Of course, I'm also curious to see the final product and what ended up on the cutting room floor... :)
Likewise. :) I know one thing that was probably going to be cut from the keketar's abilities, but based on the blog, they're still going to be critters a PC would think twice about getting into a fight with (and within the Maelstrom, good luck).
I'm also drooling to take a peek at some more of the artwork as it comes in. So far, awesomeness.
Positive Energy
Negative Energy
Material Plane
Ethereal
Shadow
Elemental Air
Elemental Water
Elemental Earth
Elemental Fire
Astral
Axis
Abbadon
Heaven
Hell
Nirvana
Elysium
Pharasma's Spire / The Boneyard
The Maelstrom
The AbyssDemiplanes (both astral and ethereal)
Other dimensions and planes that don't quite fit the general model of true planes or demiplanes
Hi Todd!
Without violating any non-disclosure agreements, could you say what planes in the book coorespond to the "Classic D&D Cosmology"? Again, if it won't cause you to violate any non-disclosure agreements. Thanks in advance!
Hi Todd!
Without violating any non-disclosure agreements, could you say what planes in the book coorespond to the "Classic D&D Cosmology"? Again, if it won't cause you to violate any non-disclosure agreements. Thanks in advance!
Nothing that can't be found in the planes section of the Campaign Setting, so any NDAs would be safe.
Axis - LN
Abbadon - NE
Heaven - LG
Hell - LE
Nirvana - NG
Elysium - CG
Pharasma's Spire / The Boneyard - N
The Maelstrom - CN
The Abyss - CE
Nothing that can't be found in the planes section of the Campaign Setting, so any NDAs would be safe.Axis - LN
Abbadon - NE
Heaven - LG
Hell - LE
Nirvana - NG
Elysium - CG
Pharasma's Spire / The Boneyard - N
The Maelstrom - CN
The Abyss - CE
Okay thank you! Sorry for my ignorance. I, unfortunately, do not have the Campaign book. But I will now! :-)
How much is fluff how much is crunch? I'm DMing exclusively 4E at this time but have already ordered this book.
It's mostly fluff, like 90% so (not that I have the draft in front of me to do page counts). The crunch comprises some spells, some planar items, and a number of monsters (including the keketar protean illustrated on the cover). However, pending edits and such, each of those stereotypically "crunchy" things has a -significant- portion of flavor text included with it.
Patrick Curtin
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Battles Case Subscriber)
Patrick Curtin
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Battles Case Subscriber)
wsm! Wll t lst vrythng mprtnt md t n.
*chuckle* Yeah I kinda overwrote past my word count. Just a bit. I owe the editors a drink at GenCon suffice to say after they managed to trim it down for publication. We'll see what makes the cut or not.
Ever think about rounding up the cut stuff and making a bonus PDF for folks that order the book? Just sayin ... :)
Ever think about rounding up the cut stuff and making a bonus PDF for folks that order the book? Just sayin ... :)
Paizo Form Letter Response #13:
Preparing something for PDF publishing requires just as much work as preparing something for print publishing, with less reward. If something has been cut, and then the editorial staff *still* has to edit and the layout and design staff *still* have to lay it out, there really wasn't much point in cutting the material, was there? It's all the work with none of the pay, and takes time away from working on actual products.
This question oughtta go in the FAQ.
Patrick Curtin
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Battles Case Subscriber)
Ever think about rounding up the cut stuff and making a bonus PDF for folks that order the book? Just sayin ... :)Paizo Form Letter Response #13:
Preparing something for PDF publishing requires just as much work as preparing something for print publishing, with less reward. If something has been cut, and then the editorial staff *still* has to edit and the layout and design staff *still* have to lay it out, there really wasn't much point in cutting the material, was there? It's all the work with none of the pay, and takes time away from working on actual products.
This question oughtta go in the FAQ.
Ouch. So sorry. I guess I will have to wait for The Great Beyond II: Sailing the Seas of Cheese
First of all... Neener Neener I has a pdf copy to read over. :D
Obviously I can't tell you what's in the book before it's actually formally released, but I suspect I can mention in passing my opinions (very very happy) and a few things that didn't survive the editing process. Of course if I can't, Vic can edit the hell out of this post. :)
So yes, I'm -quite- happy with how it looks. Exceedingly happy. Sean needed a chainsaw to get it in under the word limit after I turned it in just a "tad" over budget, so to speak. However the Paizo guys did a really nice job in the editing process and virtually all of the meat of what I wrote stayed relatively intact.
A few things did get cut, and two specific topics I kinda got editorially taken out behind the woodshed and overruled on pretty handily. ;) Some minor stuff on the nature of undead and some Abyssal prehistory came out with some changes, and on the latter point I suspect James already had some firm ideas in mind and adapted some points to mesh things together. But admittedly, reading over it all, the edits are awesome and it worked out well.
Of stuff that was cut for space, a paragraph or two going in depth on the Night Hag goddess was trimmed, though she gets mentioned more than once elsewhere. Maybe she'll be detailed later on in another source? That would be fun. (Hint Hint James! :D) The section on one of the Abyssal layers that shows up on the map of the Abyss was cut for space. One of my easter eggs largely bit the dust, but it was fairly obscure and was part of a spell that didn't make the cut. Also, Abaddon was seriously word heavy, so the demodands didn't make it. Again, they're something that I strongly suspect we'll see again, regardless of it I'm the one writing them up or not (Again, Hint Hint James!).
In any event, it's my fault for overwriting that material was cut. But again, given how much I overwrote, the Paizo crew did a spectacular job on the editing so that as much material as made it in did in fact make it in. I'm damn happy. :)
Is it bad to admit that you buy these just for the covers?
j/k
Can't wait. I love extraplanar stuff!
The cover is amazing though!
Are quasi-noble keketar proteans nasty-looking like Predator X?
http://talesofyore.wordpress.com/2009/04/05/great-beyond-maps-sneak-peek/
Laz posted up a sneak peak at the maps he did for the book. Not the final versions (which have tons of locations noted), but enjoy. :)
Nice.
Should I feel bad that I recognized the song that plays on his map site about five seconds in? (Excellent taste in videogames btw, Mr. Lazzaretti!)
Will there be racial stats for player characters from other planes? Like the clay skinned Medwist from the plane of earth or some such?
Also, after looking in the setting book, seeing the way that the planes are laid out, I was wondering if there can be more than one planet on a plane.
If I'm in Nirvana and I start walking, can I get to Heaven? Is there something in between or does Nirvana wrap around on itself like Earth? Because they touch on the inner wall of the “universe ball”. Now, I'm asking if that map/drawing is made up to be a ball with sides we cannot see because it is 2-D, or a tube without ends and we are looking through one of those ends, maybe like an ever going “tunnel”.
If I have a super-sight telescope in Hell, can I look up and see the material plane floating above me in the middle of it all?
I guess I just like the idea of Nirvana having a moon or a Mars and there are people on them. I mean, what do titans wonder when they look up in the sky and what do angel aliens look like? Most importantly I guess is, if a ogre kills one can he eat it?
There isn't much crunch in the book apart from five new monsters; the book's goal is to be a gazetteer of the planes first and foremost, after all. So no racial stats for otherplanar PC races.
As for multiple planets...yes! The Material Plane, after all, contains the universe and all its galaxies and planets, and the Material Plane is physically contained within all of the other planes. Of course, once you get into the outer planes, things work completely differently than they do in the universe, and while it's big enough out there for planets, that's really small scale compared to how enormous those realms really are. The "sky" above each outer plane is big enough for pretty much anything you want to put there, as a result.
Also, after looking in the setting book, seeing the way that the planes are laid out, I was wondering if there can be more than one planet on a plane.
If I'm in Nirvana and I start walking, can I get to Heaven? Is there something in between or does Nirvana wrap around on itself like Earth? Because they touch on the inner wall of the “universe ball”. Now, I'm asking if that map/drawing is made up to be a ball with sides we cannot see because it is 2-D, or a tube without ends and we are looking through one of those ends, maybe like an ever going “tunnel”.
If I have a super-sight telescope in Hell, can I look up and see the material plane floating above me in the middle of it all?
I guess I just like the idea of Nirvana having a moon or a Mars and there are people on them. I mean, what do titans wonder when they look up in the sky and what do angel aliens look like? Most importantly I guess is, if a ogre kills one can he eat it?
It's best to think of the maps as conceptual diagrams, with all distances on a given plane's map being essentially relative. Each of the planes of the Outer Sphere drift within the Maelstrom, floating about like the bubbles or froth atop an ocean. At times the planes might be closer or not to one another, and those closer in alignment are probably easier to move between than those that are quite different. But normal concepts of space and distance don't always work within that sort of manifest, metaphysical environment.
But above all, if an idea seems to cool to you, please, by all means use it in your campaign. :)