F. Wesley Schneider's page

Jelly Golems! Constructs with several Ooze traits (Split, acid damage, and not subject to critical hits/flanking/sneak attacks)

A handful of those suddenly grows into an army when the swords start swinging, and an unaware PC may not realize that it isn't a good idea to slash it.

Gross. Cool. Gross.

Not at the moment. That's pretty much Sean's bag. If he ever came to us with something awesome (and already complete), though, we'd certainly talk about it and see if it had a place in our plots.

Yes. While a specific AP might have a particular cultural theme, a cool monster is a cool monster. So just as you've seen plenty of Indian, Gaellic, Mezoamerican, (etc, etc) monsters, expect to see more in the future.

Honestly, I've kind of avoided doing Asian monsters in Pathfinder Bestiaries before Jade Regent just because Asian elements in RPGs can be somewhat polarizing. But now that the lid's off, expect more. In fact, I've got one or two in the works for Skull & Shackles already.

I can't make any specific promises, but those interested in the ancient/ageless dead should find themselves well served by year's end. Keep an eye out!

For now, though. Classic Horrors Revisited and Classic Undead Revisited are totally the ways to go.

There will be significantly more on the Swords of Sin by the end of the year, so keep an eye out.

For now, though, Tels has some great ideas here. I'd steal liberally from there to tide you over.

Anything's possible.

Pretty much like the other guys are saying, feel free to use these however you want. It's important to us that the inside covers of Pathfinder aren't just a dumping ground for charts, maps, and cut text. We want these to look nice, so we try to mix things up from AP to AP (as needs, time, and layouts allow) to make sure that as soon as you open these books you're hit with a flavorful piece of art and a thematic bit of story. If you use it in your game, fantastic, but even if you just read it and get into the mood, mission accomplished.

XXX: "He's back there drinking whiskey and talking to Jeff."

Also the Lorelei creature from Castlevania would be awesome!

Since you called this out specifically (and I apparently can't keep my mouth shut), I came across Castlevania's version of the lorelei a few months ago and it has weighed heavily on my Bestiary lists through all of Skull & Shackles. As cool as the game's representation is, though, there's no folkoric precedence for this creature (which is really just a dangerous rock on the Rhine) to be a big fish with a girl lure. That said, the stories surrounding the lorelei are pretty interesting even by themselves. So expect a lorelei by the end of Skull & Shackles, but don't expect it to bear much of a resemblance to the one from the game.

I would love a playable dragon race, fey race, plant race, etc. but at least i have catfolk, kitsune, damphir, and changelings.

You, sir, will be well served by the Advanced Race Guide.

Turns out that Pathfinder is super popular in Japan as a result, and leads to wonderful/scary stuff such as this.

Awesome. What more do you know!? More links!

I don't mean the Dragonspawn-dragon humans, I mean the D&D dragonspawn which are just smaller versions of the dragons with strange appearances...

No, I gotcha. This sort of muddying of the dragon pool just eventually leads to the 0-HD dragon race. The weirdo dragon monsters are just stops along a line I have no interest in traveling. It sounds like we're of the same mind on this.

And i'm very curious which creaturs you mean by this, I sure hope its about Argus and not the Tarrasque-aztek creatures they talk about :p

Only time will tell. ;)

As the office's resident expert in obscure monsters, I'm always impressed with some of the out-there creatures from folklore you guys dig up. I also really enjoy seeing names on these list that I've commissioned and are in the pipe. ;)

I think you all will be pleased with a few things we have in store later this year, but totally keep the wishlists going.

Never EVER create sooo many dragonspawn, drakes and other such creatures like they did! It really sucked!

Dragons are supposed to be special. I don't ever see us coming out with a big book of all weirdo new dragons. Any time we add dragons its. preferably, either as a new breed of five, a creature from folklore, or a minor spin off like drakes - things with some history, some precedent, some legs. For that reason, I'm a big opponent of a 0 HD dragon race (and avoid the half-dragon template), it just makes dragons too commonplace. The black dragon despot at the end of the campaign looses some of its oomph if you've had his two-legged cousin in the party the whole campaign.

That said, now that I've poo-pooed them, if you want a dragon race, just use the rules in the Advanced Race Guide to make them.

Hi. I am Japanese Paizo Fan. Currently, We are translating PRD (Bestiary 3) into Japanese...

Noble work! Good luck guys!

Your take on those guys seems pretty cool to me. If you're worried about the "baddies" getting taken out by your callous PCs, consider playing up the villain's sympathetic natures and situations. Maybe the PCs will handle their interactions without swords and explosions. If they do, totally award them XP as normal for overcoming those encounters. (You might even give them an ad hoc award or two if you want to encourage such interactions.) Blades don't have to be the only way. :)

I'm looking to make a changeling character and I'm just wondering a few things. Are all Changelings medium sized? And do they have the humanoid subtype as there father?

I have two answers for this, the game design answer and the flavor answer.

The changelings presented in #43 are all Medium size and should be considered the offspring of humans, elves, dwarves, half-breeds, and other Medium creatures. That's a balancing factor in play there, as Large characters get benefits Medium characters don't. Additionally, having a race with a variable size is way weird--because then you'd have some members of the race with one suite of benefits and penalties and then another with others. It'd be a mess. So, despite hags' romantic proclivities, the only changeling player option presented is for their offspring with Medium player races--humans if you want to get real specific (the changelings presented purposefully don't get into things like elven or dwarven traits).

In world, though, as per the description of changelings, hags can breed with a wide variety of races. Their offspring likely appear similar to the child's father's race and size, and might exhibit abilities similar to the changelings presented. Such offspring with the powers of monstrous creatures and hags, should be considered more powerful than normal PC-friendly changelings and should not be considered standardly viable PC races. GMs who want to mimic the offspring of hags and other races, though, can use the rules in the back of the Bestiary to tinker with a changeling's size, add on appropriate racial abilities, and make all the cosmetic changes they want, effectively reproducing goblin-changelings, orc-changelings, tengu-changelings, whatever have you.

So, in short: For the sake of balance and stability of the rules, players should assume the Medium human parented changeling as the standard. GM's who want to tinker, though, should feel free to go crazy.

What Hogarth and Jeff said.

Lots of neat ideas here all. We've already got lots of ideas in the works for Iblydos, but totally keep this going. It's a great way for us to gauge what people want to see and to determine where we might have gone too crazy.

Fantastic so far all! Thanks a ton and keep 'em coming!

I'd say pretty common.

A number of folks doing work on Kingmaker games have pegged the Stolen Lands (the area east of Pitax in the River Kingdoms) as having a Scandinavian clime. This is largely based off our assumption that Golarion's Tropic of Cancer runs through the Mana Wastes.

So yeah, the rain and fog that pervades the region probably gets real unpleasant late in the year.

Where in our products have we mentioned monsters but not presented stats for said monsters? (Like how the Tane got mentioned in Pathfinder #2 but largely didn't show up with stats until Bestiary 2). I'm on a hunt for the statistically unloved and any help would be appreciated.

Alternatively, where have we illustrated monsters that have no stats? (Like the picture of the monks fighting the manananggals from the first campaign setting book, or Merisiel and her flock of pretty pink fish-monkeys that most recently appeared in the APG.)

What I'm not looking for is named individuals, even those of a monstrous persuasion (like Ayrzuk, the Nirvana Dragon, or the Spawn of Rovagug), so we can leave those big guys out - though if a region has its unique, named beastie (like the Sandpoint Devil) feel free to throw it on the list!

Post the monstrous mysteries that have baffled you most here!

that's a great point and all the justification I need to increase the size as I see fit.

Totally guys. I won't get into the unflattering specifics of why this happens from time to time, but if you as the GM EVER feel like an encounter would be more enjoyable with more room, feel free to take all the space you want/need.

If the treachery demon is meant to be a glabrezu, is it on a huge base?

Huge Treachery Demon

Yeah.

(Capitalized references to sizes are 9 out of 10 times references to size categories)

Ha! Funny that is just came up, as I just wrote something we'll be announcing soon that covers just this topic in detail. In short, there's no hard and fast rules for this, and giving away all of an artifact's mystery with a single die roll seems terribly underwhelming. Generally, I'd go with wraithstrike's method, but I'm also a big fan of PCs spending some time in ancient libraries or seeking out knowledgeable sages to find the answers to such mysteries. Spending a week in a nation's biggest library and then making an appropriate Knowledge check with a DC equal to 15 + the artifact's caster level, plus maybe some DM fiat style adjustments depending on how rare it is, would be my tactic. Or, to really drive it into the story, let them know that only Old Hecuba knows the item's mysteries and they'll have to seek her out if they want to learn her secrets.

At the end of the day, artifacts exist as a way to allow GMs and PCs to totally break the rules so they can tell the stories they want. Thus, a lot about them - including this - are left purposefully vague. It's more fun that way.

I think it was also the one where Sutter came close to being trapped with him and there was brief discussion of the ship names that would have been inspired by their sharing the office couch.

Still dirty.

Judy Bauer wrote:

...This was the storm that trapped Wes in the office last Thanksgiving...

Was that when we were privileged to witness firsthand Wes' slow descent into madness as isolation and the triops chipped away at his sanity?

That was fun!

Why are people "Favoriting" this post!?!

My slow descent into madness needs no extra encouragement!

Nice all! Clover's crossing pretty much came from the intro quote to ghouls in Classic Horrors and got picked back up in Rule of Fear.

I should warn you, though, that sinister Ustalavic record keepers once tried to claim Clover's Crossing was a town in Lozeri, as a trick to raise that county's taxes - going so far as to move its location on several official maps to back up their scheme. This rasied several eyebrows, even among those unfamiliar with the region, as the "crossing" no longer appeared on a river. After the town's "disappearance," though - along with its significant drop in collected taxes - current maps again depict it in its proper position south west of the Lamand River, in Caterwall. The maps in Rule of Fear and the Carrion Crown Poster Map Folio are correct.

Damn deceitful tax collectors.

Dear Paizo, I TOTALLY WANT free, loose, hungry rot grubs to be included in my next subscription mailing.

You WANT rot grubs in your subscription package, you say? Okay! Who are we to argue?

Yetis stole my car.

Wes or Jason...

Jason.

Still taking notes. ;)

It sounds like the whole adventure went really phenomenally with all the awesome added touches! Great job!

A real Masterwork from Mr. Pett. You really have to make him write more adventures.

Sadly, Rich Pett is the pen name of a sentient - but very British - apiary left to its own devices in a field outside Manchester. Due to the restrictions of its especially sticky writing medium, the best we can get is one adventure per AP. But rest assured, we totally believe Mr. Pett's work is worth the bears it so often attracts, and he has a standing invitation to all future insanity.

The fortune casting went over really well with my group!

Nice!

(I went with the Tower).

NICE!

And the explanation as to why the deck wasn't a standard Harrow was well received by the players.

NICE!

Thanks again, Wes! I think this has been the highlight of the campaign (thus far, at least).

Pffh, sounds like this was all you, man, and that your group is having a blast. Great, great job!

I took some ideas from the Disney movie "The Beauty and the Beast" and placed a number of intelligent creatures in the castle.

Loving this. A lot of this has a very first 5 minutes of Edward Scissorhands feel too it, which is closer to the vibe I wanted Count Caromarc to have than like a James Whales version of Doctor Frankenstein. In truth, my vision of Caromarc is that he was the typical evil Dr. Frankenstein, but he's kind of mellowed in his old age - though I can't say he's Vincent Price from the beginning of Edward Scissorhands quite yet. But all of these additions are really cool, I LOVE the chalkboard and Mr. TicToc ideas - especially if you really had a piece of slate to write on for the former. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Finally I dedcided that the Beast already had fighted against the Aberrant Promethean to resuce his master. It failed and died on its way up the metal tower. Here the PCs had to resurrect him using the apparature before he could join the fight. This solved the problem of the beast only being a couple of rounds away.

Brilliant. Like, if we had thought of this it would be in the book this way brilliant. Good show, sir!

I hope all of this went over fantastically and you all had a blast!

Hey, it's supposed to be good to be the GM.

My PCs have to prove that they deserve art. ;)

We ran into this issue early in Pathfinder's life when we were developing our iconics, and how to reconcile our iconic paladin, Seelah (one of my favs), with our iconic antihero-turned-magus, Seltyiel (my pet iconic). The back story we came up with is one of a paladin on a mission of redemption, believing that it's better to help turn a dark soul down a path of righteousness and mercy than to just slay such people outright. Killing is the easy answer, after all, and winning a dark soul for the light is a challenge - but, if achieved, a miracle - bordering on the divine. Being around Seltyiel, in many ways, has made her a better student of mortal nature, more understanding of the value of redemption, and a better paladin overall.

On Seltyiel's side, he's just in it for the money and power, but acknowledges to himself - if not others - that he's much more likely to survive to get paid with a platemailed zealot standing between him and the target du jour. So he weathers her sermonizing and has learned to commit his most flagrant cruelties out of her sight. Being with Seelah has made him a more capable mercenary, a more potent combatant, and a more devious cad overall.

At the end of the day, the two work decently together despite their conflicts, seeing long terms opportunities in each others that allow them to weather their day to day differences in philosophies. And while that's happening, who knows what else might be growing. Seelah's not as bad about chiding and sermonizing as she used to be, and Seltyiel has definitely lets some slights and annoyances slide these days (affronts that would have ended in crippled offenders in his youth). I can't say this is an example of opposites attracting, but both offer the other options they would never have alone, and have gradually come to realize that and view it as something stronger than short term philosophies and personality differences.

That said, the fights over charity and exactly how that arrogant noble scion died are something you don't want to see.

When they returned to Ravengro, they found the town overrun with zombies.

This makes it seem as if the PCs failed to protect the town, but they reacted as if the zombie attack was all part of the adventure path, and cleaned up as best they could.

I love this! And would hold this up as an awesome option for any GM with a group less than interested in helping out this insular community. It's not a punishment, but it shows that the PCs' deeds have ramifications and, sometimes, grisly ones. Good show!

(As an aside, you can really tell Carrion Crown players and GMs are the coolest just by looking at the avatars in the related threads.) ;)

Rather than scrapping the system or tweaking point awards, I simply added in additional storylines with trust point rewards. A few of these side plots developed and recurred throughout the campaign which I used to expand the story and smooth some of the narrative transitions.

My kind of GM right here! Long time readers will have heard this a thousand times before, but running pre-made adventures is really so much a group effort between the original author, the developer, and the GM, and they don't work unless each is dedicated to presenting the players with an awesome experience. Unflappable, creative GMs are the only ones worthy of the title in my opinion. Good show!

Carrion Crown was our first AP, and in fact our first campaign since the twilight of 2E. Everyone enjoyed it so much that I'm now taking time to develop and expand upon the excellent material from Rule of Fear pursuant to Ustalav replacing Ravenloft as our persistent campaign home of choice.

As a long, long time Ravenloft fan, you have no idea how delighted and flattered that last sentence makes me. So, so, so glad you guys are digging the AP and the nation. :)

Presently, I am working on developing the rival noble houses and political economy and social intrigue aspect of the land. If there are any related ideas you had that did not make it into Rule of Fear due to space or editing concerns you would like to share it would be very much appreciated.

Oh, dude, you've got to come to Paizocon or Gen Con and hit me up for this, I could go on for hours. I have plenty of opportunities to leak this and that here and there, but heck, I could do a whole book on just the nobility of Ustalav.

If you have anything specific, though, start up a new thread and I'll answer all I can - probably at greater length than I should since I can't help myself. ;P

Ask Tim in person what he's least favorite old school TSR mod is.

A carton of smokes and a Big Gulp mug full of Glenlivet is not a TSR mod.

Oh, you said least.

Wow, cool. That certainly made my day.

More than well deserved! Can't wait to see the next ones. :)

Just throwing this out there:

Later this week I'm having a discussion about what some of the Player's Companions on the horizon might be.

I plan to print this thread.

So, if you've been saving up any genius ideas or the desires of your heart of hearts, now's the time to chime in!

Erik Mona's description of these very items (and your love and care for the same) are part of the reason I came to you with this query Wes.

Ha! When, where, and how'd you get Erik on the topic of my decor? :P

But you flatter me. Just glad to help! Have a blast!

Let me start this with a quick description that might be all the answer you need. On the largest wall of my office hang three displays, one massive black frame filled with a Tarot deck illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano, a set of six frames each holding a suit of Kyle Hunter's Harrow cards, and another matching black frame exhibiting a Forbidden Lore Tarokka deck.

I think this deck is the singular best roleplaying prop ever created, epitomizing the grim moodiness of the Ravenloft setting and the mysterious/interpretive vibe conjured by a real fortunetelling with imagery perfectly themed to the setting and suggestive of a deeper fantasy mythology. The detailed descriptions of each card in Forbidden Lore also prove a GM with everything he needs to put on an impressive performance for his players, from stacking the deck to get the results he desires to performing a cold reading that suits any sort of story he wants to tell. I've used this deck dozens of times and have had groups that seemed to legitimately respect and dread the cards' portents. For building mood, suspense, and mystery in a dark fantasy game, the Tarokka deck is a prop without peer.

With my gushing in mind, is it really any surprise that our second Adventure Path out the gate in a world we'd only begun to explore featured our own similar fortunetelling deck? Without question the Harrow deck would not exist if it weren't for the Tarokka deck. I advocated hard for this and we had the tools to make it happen. Kyle Hunter - mad genius that he is - bears most of the creative responsibility, being equal parts artist, gamer, and lunatic visionary. With little more description than "It's a 54-card deck. Go!" he came up with exactly what we wanted, a fortunetelling deck that seemed steeped in the folklore of a fantasy culture, and that would allow for similar fortunetelling scenes as the Tarokka deck does - though with a distinctly lighter and less ominous style. A game got added on to the needs of the AP after the initial concepting because some parties wanted to roll the dice and see if we could make this a fun, stand-alone game too (hence the less than mood inspiring card backs) - but what creative endeavor doesn't involve compromise.

So that's the back story on that. Now for the actual questions.

My first inclination would be to simply replace the Harrow with the Tarokka, but that's kind of like saying replace Varisians with Vistani (interestingly similar names there, huh?). Varisians are generally less grim and enigmatic than the Vistani are, though, a cultural truth evident in the artistry and elements of their distinctive fortunetelling cards. So, if you wanted to include both, I'd suggest finding a region where Varisian culture might have reason to be more like the Vistani, like - oh, I don't know - Ustalav. There's an interesting element to Ustalavic Varisians, though: most of them are settled. Not all, though. Rule of Fear mentions traveling bands of Varisians and Sczarni, but doesn't go into much detail about how they differ from those in Varisa (if at all, and if these groups do or do not travel between the countries - I'd say some do, and some don't). For the gypsies that wander Ustalav itself, I could seem them having a distinctive, regional variation on their people's Harrow deck, a tool that allows them better insight into the grim natures and somber fates of Ustalav's residents, a way to tap into the enigmatic powers that ever linger just at the edge of vision and in swirls of chilling mist. Perhaps this tradition even has an ominous history, with tales telling of its origins in a realm of terrors that could not, and should not be, but yet still somehow was.

In short, in the same way diverse forms of oracular cards, playing cards, and tarot cards have similar origins yet varied modern incarnations, there's no reason the same can't have happened with the Harrow deck in Golarion (in fact, as Golarion's cultures are so much older than Earth's, with even more varied cultural influences, there's actually even greater reasons for why this would have happened)

I think that covers my thoughts on how I would handle fitting Tarokka decks into Golarion and generalize the history. I LOVE the idea of Harrow readers shunning the Tarokka, maybe fearing it as the dark side of their more neutral fortunetelling method, suggesting its use predisposes the subject to grim fates and the user to presaging only sorrows. This might be cultural or professional prejudice that gives one deck a darker reputation, but if that reenforces the Tarokka deck's ominous aspects, all the better. Or, the Harrow readers might be right - they know what fates guide their prophecies, but who in Golarion knows what powers shuffle the cards of a Tarokka deck.

At the same time, if that's too heavy handed, I think it'd be just fine to go the similar but different route, having both being equally viable. It'd be similar to the difference some people see in the distinction between playing cards and Tarot cards in the real world: one is totally safe, the other... has a reputation.

As for interjecting the Tarokka deck in Carrion Crown, I think the easiest way to do it would be to replace the Harrow with it where it comes up - which isn't often. Gypsies don't play a huge role in the AP, which is just kind of how things worked out. Broken Moon has the only exception I can think of, and with cards like The Torturer, The Beast, and the Ghost in the Tarokka deck, I think that deck could be used to present not just a more thematic fortunetelling experience, but actually be more pertinent to the adventure than the Harrow deck.

So! That's my two cents! Sorry it took me a bit to notice this, but hopefully this helps. Hope you have a great time with Carrion Crown and totally treat that Tarokka deck nice, it's a real treasure!

Hah! I knew it. Well maybe you can reveal the story in your memoirs some day. Or just leave it in that journal you keep in your desk detailing your evil plans, you know the one.

This is EXACTLY what Paizocon and Gen Con are for. What doesn't get said on the message boards often gets said over drinks at an awesome con.

Yeah the problem is they always ask: "Is there a picture?". If I think the art adds to the game I show it, more often then not lately I've been not showing it until later. Unfortunately the reaction has pretty universally been "Yeah, thanks for not sharing that one."

Did I mention that crying is a pillar of my GMing method? Hard to please players usually back down after 10 or 15 minutes of bawling about how they don't appreciate you.

This is something else that goes over super well at conventions. ;)

Keep up the good work. We only have 3 volumes of CC left. Thanks for everything.

Really hope you guys are having a blast! Keep up what sounds like a great game!

No special direction was given to the artist in terms of Adivion's eye color. Do with that information what you will.

In general, we try not to hide important character elements in the art. If something's important, we'll say something about it in the text. If somethings an interesting flourish in the art that's not described in the text, totally feel free to either run with it or consider it artistic license - your call!

I'm sure there is an editorial story behind his one.

Ha! You can say that about anything. Definitely in this case, though it's not a story for the message boards.

Overall art will always be subjective and - even after a second look - Broken Moon doesn't stand out in my mind as being particularly remarkable or regrettable. As the GM you know your group better than anyone here, though, so if showing them the art isn't getting you the responses you'd like it might be worth keeping it to yourself. GMing should have its privileges after all.

Maybe I'm just greedy, but I never show my players the art. I guess I want to be the players' only source of details about the story... so maybe that makes me a megalomaniac rather than greedy. The fact of the matter might also just be that having seen the process a thousand times, I know the telephone game that proceeds from the original idea for a character or monster, through the author, through the developer, through the art order, through the artist, through art director tweaks, then - eventually, after a few more creative steps - to the final product. That we constantly get such a high caliber of work at all constantly amazes me, and both our art staff and editorial team consistently goes out of their ways to work with each other and revise to each others' needs. We'd of course like all of our books to be lavishly illustrated and enjoyable to look at, and honestly I believe our art team does a fine job of that. I wouldn't consider every piece a player handout, though - especially for groups not playing the iconic characters.

As for the first point specifically, yes, the weaverworm is depicted on page 6 and 87. This is an example of what sometimes happens when two different artists receive descriptions of the same creature to illustrate - which we try to do as rarely as possible. I'm actually cool with both of them, the first is really stylized and imposing (which I really dig), but then the second is grosser (which I also dig). If we ever reprint the monster I'd choose one and send it as reference for a new body shot, but due to the restrictions of producing a monthly product I feel like the disparity is both minor and acceptable.

Since it's YOUR BIRTHDAY what do you want most off your Amazon Wishlist??

Wisdom.

I just wanted to throw my two cents in on top of what Jeranimus said - which I totally agree with (and is factually correct).

The people of Ravengro are meant to be the victims in this and its my recollection that the article covering the town tries to make them sympathetic - though superstitious and wary of exotic peoples. I can see how an insular, provincial community can easily take the step into unwelcoming, but the people are meant to be largely good and in need. Even if the GM has taken a less than welcoming approach presenting them, try warming up to them a bit - chop some wood for them, give a kid a toy, help an old lady across the street - and they should come across as gracious.

Also, as far as the country being NE goes, consider that a quick, two-letter snapshot of the way the government of the nation works, not the alignment of the majority of the populace. Ustalav is a country with a backward, bloated government filled with grasping nobles, but the people you meet on the street are little different then those you'd meet anywhere else - though, perhaps a bit more suspicious. They've seen a lot, after all.

Best of luck and hope all this hasn't cut into your enjoyment of the campaign too much!

Kings of Absalom you say? I suddenly want to know more just due to the name.

Yah. It's Erik's campaign where he's running the same adventure for two different groups - one at the office and one at the Ballard game store Card Kingdom. There's a slight competitive element to it between the two groups, with the winner(s) obtaining some degree of influence in the city at the game's conclusion. So far we've fought tons of gray dwarves, learned a good bit about the true history of the god Aroden, found a haunted planes-traveling boat, and started down the path of assuring the legend of our traveling companion, the tengu folk hero Artemis Craw.