Rhothaerill's page

Ah, just make the elves into a hyper-aggressive samurai-based race. That's what I did and my players like it. They've don't quite know it yet, but an old race of samurai elves that were thought to have disappeared are the ultimate bad guys for the campaign I'm running. The party has only run into a few "descendants" so far, but there is more to come...

Sounds good Wes. :b:

Pathfinder forum

Honestly, the item I want to see the most in the Players Guide is fluff, such as an overview of the culture of the races of Varisia. Another good item would be how to fit the main core classes into the starting location, similar to what was done for Diamond Lake in the Age of Worms AP. Since this guide is specifically for the first Pathfinder AP rather than the world as a whole then taking it to that level of involvement would be useful.

I read on another thread here that you can request your query be deleted before it gets sent to WotC, and then resubmit once Paizo has their new guidelines in place.

Hopefully someone from Paizo can back me up or else tell me I'm wrong.

My nostalgia factor says issue #140 by Larry Elmore; the one with the female cleric healing the fighter while the giant that roughed him up is walking away.

But that's mainly because that was the first issue I ever purchased. There have been some good ones over the years, and also some bad ones too.

*Rhothaerill cracks the whip* No shaving for Wes. :P

Yay to Varisian names. The cultural aspect is helpful for campaign flavor, though I'm sure it will come out in the various adventures too.

Of the game worlds you've listed, the one our campaign world will most resemble is probably Greyhawk. Which shouldn't really come as much of a surprise, given who's designing our campaign world.

I for one am excite about that fact.

Wizards of the...uhh, never mind, nothing to see here. :D

Congratulations. Is Pett your best man? :P

I blame you James. Between the Tyralandi Scrimm journal and your postings in this thread I went and purchased Tome of Magic with the intention of changing over an NPC party member that I'm about to introduce from a wizard to a binder. From your descriptions and what I read of the class on WotCs website the binder class actually fits amazingly well both with his personality and with the campaign area (homebrew) he hails from.

Rhothaerill wrote:

See, I'm not going crazy. That was the problem I posted about above. :)

Just 'cuz you're right doesn't mean you're not crazy, Rhoth. ;D

He he... ;)

Are you implying James is crazy too? :P At least I'd be in good company (I hope...)

And thanks for getting the shortened version of my online nickname correct. You don't know how many people I've had to tell "you forgot the first 'h" over the years. :D

Spelling it with an A makes it look like saran wrap. Which is not the intent.

See, I'm not going crazy. That was the problem I posted about above. :)

Thanks Lisa and all the Paizoians (I love that word).

Rose Estes...

(Just kidding)

Oh my god NO! :P

Heh I somehow missed this thread and just had D0 and D1 added to an order containing a backordered product. I guess I can delete those too if the subscription service is added since I'd sign up for the subscription service, especially if it could be bundled with Pathfinder for shipping savings (the reason I asked for my preorders to be bundled with the backordered product was for shipping savings).

Though my avatar is Belkar and not Elan, let me sing a little inspirational song for Gary..."Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite the nasty code." :)

Cool. Thanks Cosmo. Much appreciated.

Allowing people to apply some credit to one choice and some to another would complicate things more than we're comfortable with (both behind the scenes and on the user interface side), so you must make exactly one choice. You'll be able to see the available issues before you have to commit to your decision, though. (And, as Lisa said, there probably will be a few pre-Paizo issues in the mix.)

Okay, thanks. I'll stick with the back issues option for now until I see what is available. I might change over to full Pathfinder at that time if I can't use everything, but for now I'd prefer to try to add more to the back issue collection.

#140 for me. That one had a larry Elmore cover of a cleric healing a fighter after the fighter got mauled by a giant. I had played D&D for nearly two years before discovering Dragon. When I did I immediately signed up for a subscription and set about getting as many back issues as my finances would allow (being 13 at the time it wasn't personally much, but I asked for them for birthdays, etc. I have every issue from around #101 to #240 or so when I stopped playing for a while (before reupping with #302). I also have a sporadic number of magazines from #64 through #98.

And I still have all of them. :)

The iconic cleric is a worshiper of Sarenrae, the goddess of the sun and redemption. For the FR fans out there, Sarenrae's kind of like a cross between Eilistraee and Lathander, I suppose.

I'm sorry but the times I've seen that deity's name come up my eyes keep seeing "saran-wrap". I think my players would have a field day with me if I introduced a deity of plastic food coverings. :P

I have a similar question...recently I ordered the critical hit deck and the erasable combat log. I chose for separate shipping since the combat log was on backorder and I wanted to get the critical hit deck now. If I were to add preorders of D0 and D1 can I get those shipped with the combat log when it comes off backorder, or should I just make a separate order for the preorders?

Thanks in advance.

'bout time James. :)

Question for anyone who knows...where does the binder class come from? I'm guessing Tome of Magic since I don't own that one.

Interesting story Baj.

I for one would love to see a complete Wormy compilation published (by Paizo or whomever). Wormy ended about a month before I started my first Dragon subscription, but I collected a lot of back issues in the 80 and up range, which primarily held the second story arc. I'd love to see more of the Solmoriah story arc as I only caught the end of it.

Hmm, that causes a question to arise then. I have 10 issues of credit, but I started getting a subscription again soon after Paizo began publishing the magazines...specifically at Dragon #302 and Dungeon #97, though I'm missing Dungeon #105. Counting all those up I have 7 Paizo issues to pick up. If there aren't any pre-Paizo issues available to me after grabbing those 7 (assuming they're available), can I transfer the remainder to Pathfinder?

Just finished reading through your campaign journal. Good stuff. I like all the little bits you've added for characterization, etc. I do that in my own campaign (not an AOW game) but your characterization bits seem to flow better. I also want to add more holy days, etc., but I run a homebrew world and haven't had a chance to create them yet. Can you point me in the direction of where you found the Greyhawk holy days?

Hmm, I didn't go into any of the current crop of D&D fiction writers in my post above, but put in another vote for Don Bassingthwaite. I'd never heard of him before the Dragon Below series for Eberron, but I liked his work. He did a good job of "humanizing" a shifter among other things. Keith Baker's series was good too, though I imagine he's unlikely to write a non-Eberron book at this point.

I'd like to see what James Jacobs could do with a novel too, based on the Tyralandi Scrimm thread and the other items he has written, but I imagine he's a bit busy just getting Pathfinder ready, much less writing fiction set in the world. I'd like to see what Richard Pett could do as well, based on the adventures he has written so far.

Now if Erik Mona wrote a novel, all the main characters would be dead within the first 100 pages. Just kidding Erik. :D

I agree that whomever is chosen to write the first Pathfinder novel should be someone who isn't overly associated with another D&D game world like Salvatore or Weis & Hickman. I do however disagree with the poster above who said that the writer should be a world-development author rather than a character-development author. Much of the better D&D fiction is something that doesn't depend as much on the world as on the characters who populate that world. The world then builds off the characters.

Not to offend Paizo...George R.R. Martin is too "big-time" of an author, and way too associated with his own Song of Ice and Fire, but he could probably do a Pathfinder novel justice as he is a character-development author first. Another good one would be Steven Brust, he has a certain flair to his writing style, though again he is probably too associated with his own Vlad Taltos novels.

Oh, and for Xenophon...P.N. Elrod is a woman. If you ever get your hands on a copy of Dungeon #1 (I have it :) ), she submitted one of those adventures as Patricia Nead Elrod.

I second (third? fourth? etc.) the notion for future novels or short stories (excellent idea for potential submissions by unknowns...hint, hint).

However don't overdo it. While I like some of the fiction put forth by WotC it has a tendency, mainly with the Realms at the moment, to make it feel like it's difficult to fit actual campaigns in there with all the other things being done by the high-powered NPCs. They've done much better with Eberron fiction (so far) as it hasn't given the same feeling of PC helplessness as there haven't been any world-changing moments, etc.

I hope that if there is Varisia fiction in the future that it follows the current Eberron model rather than the Realms model.

Sweat, that makes the most sense, Different Gods will appeal to different races, such as the Goddess of Love and orcs. I mean elves

Hey you never know.... :)

Nah I think you Paizoians (how many vowels can I put in a row...damn "z") have pretty good people skills. You certainly helped ease the fears of the people after the news about losing the licenses for the two other magazines. And you continue to provide good information, as well as feedback and listening to what we want, regarding Pathfinder.

I just read all through this journal in the past few days. Great stuff James. I wish one or more of my players would keep a campaign journal. I thought one might since she likes to write, but even she doesn't. I keep a journal as DM, both so they don't forget important things that have happened and so I don't forget which NPCs they've talked to etc., but it's written in third person not in character so it's not nearly as interesting to those not in our group.

Keep up the good stuff James, and don't let Mona push you around so much. :P We want to see more of your journal, but we want Pathfinder too.

While I do like the organization a campaign setting book brings, add me to the list of those that are excited about this world being built one brick at a time instead of pre-fab. It hasn't been done that way in a while (unless you count tacking on different types of settings such as Arabian adventures into the Realms).

I'm an old time Greyhawk lover so the flavor of that setting has always appealed to me. I'm looking forward to seeing a similar flavor in Varisia.

Sigh.

That interview didn't turn out too well for them.

Like Michael Brock and others above I too am concerned about their lack of portability. Hypothetical situation based on the lack of information so far: If you have to continually pay just to access stuff that has been out for a year, instead of being able to download and print it out yourself, then it becomes a complete and utter rip-off. I certainly hope they have more sense than to try that, but we'll see. If they do they won't be getting my money, no matter if the content is as awesome as they keep saying.

And to repeat my thoughts from earlier, please, please, please, tret them as NPCs and not as "monsters" and DEFINENTLY not as "wandering encounters"

If the silver dragon from the Age of Worms AP is any indication, they will do exactly what you want. :)

Oh, and to get into the discussion on dragon fluff...in my homebrew world dragons are one of the original races, originally set as protectors of the sky (two new races I created are the protectors of the land and sea). Humans, elves, dwarves and halflings are all latecomers to the world. In a nutshell, dragons became very powerful throughout the centuries and eventually many of the most powerful ones became deities themselves, and are now worshipped by humans, etc. It's more complicated than that, but I could write a few pages on the history of my world and I don't want to bore anyone. :)

It sounds to me that what James is getting at is that if it is a crunchy stat from the SRD then for the most part it is going to stay as it is now, but the fluff, like the new vision for goblins, is what will be played with a bit.

If it's a new creature though, then anything goes.

And if they had gone with sloth as the main opponent he could have had a subordinate named Chunk to do all his dirty work. Think of the possibilities.... :)

You know you want to.... ;)

As a "geezer" at 32 :), I've enjoyed Greyhawk for over 20 years. While I've always enjoyed FR (at least the core part) and like Eberron, there was always something about Greyhawk that appealed to me more than the rest. It always had the feeling of "legendary" to it, but you could go anywhere in the world for a good adventure.

I was always very happy to see the Greyhawk adventures in Dungeon, especially because I knew Erik Mona loved the world and would guide others to do right with it.

I'm excited to see Varisia built in a similar way to Greyhawk, and I hope that down the road it feels the same way.

I thought the same when I read the title. The mark of a good DM is to recover from the unexpected and make the players think you planned it all along. Good metaphor for Paizo and Pathfinder. :)

Add another for unpainted metal miniatures. I like the Reaper line a lot, and prefer to paint my own (not that I have much time for it anymore). I'd probably buy pre-painted plastic if they were good...but mainly if they weren't in uncontrollable sets where you can't choose what you get. That annoyed me about that other company's miniatures so I never bought any.

So I was reading the Pathfinder blog and came across the ten fun facts about goblins. One of my players is currently playing a goblin. So I ran down the list. About 7 of those 10 (especially the voracious appetite) are currently part of his character. He's been running the character for over a year now, so it's kind of humorous to see this now.

DedmeetDM wrote:

James...just a warning. I may hug you at GenCon this year.

...just FYI.

I do like hugs!

However... GenCon's heat and atmosphere and all around hectic crazy makes me sweat like a lawn sprinkler, so any hugs might be unexpectedly awkward as a result.

...just FYI right back at ya.

If he looks anything like his avatar you might not want a hug from him. :)

I'd like to know how this "Because Pathfinder uses the Open Game License, it is 100% compatible with the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game" corresponds to the fact that these new adventure paths are going to be based on yet another new setting. Don't we have enough settings? Personally, I'm not about to abandon my world in favor of someone else's idea. Some products are generic enough to fit in any world, but this doesn't sound like one of them. Especially when they talk about articles about their deities and so forth. Are these adventure paths going to be so specific to their settig that it will prove extremely difficult to fit them in to existing worlds? I suppose I'll have to wait and see like everyone else.

I would imagine it would be just like the adventure paths in Dungeon. Those APs are technically set in the world of Greyhawk, but they can be easily ported to other worlds with a little bit of work.

I haven't actually ever run an AP, because I too have my own world already, but I liberally mine them for information and ideas that I like. Pathfinder should be the same...at least that's what it sounds like. :)

Hi Phil!

We're not quite ready to release submission guidelines for Pathfinder or the GameMastery line, but rest assured, we'll be having something up soon that talks about how people can freelance for us. It'll be less than what we were able to do with Dragon and Dungeon (simply because of the nature of the beast with these new products) but it's certainly not going away.

That's good to know. I haven't personally sent anything into the magazines in years, but I know that many of the current writers for Pathfinder got their start because of the freelance work. It would be a shame to see that go completely by the wayside.

I look at it this way--it's the creative talent that matters in adventures, not the license, the format, or even the game system for that matter. If WotC yanked all OGC rights and Paizo had to invent a whole new rules system, I'd still be on board with them if people like James Jacobs, Richard Pett, and Nick Logue were writing the adventures. Coupled with the customer service we've come to expect from Paizo, that's gospel. Point-blank: Paizo has ALREADY convinced me, even with the new format, etc. "sight unseen."

Agreed. It's why I signed up sight unseen too. :)

Erik Mona and James Jacobs working on Pathfinder, along with the other names that have been dropped, are a big reason why I've already signed up for it. The quality increase of Dungeon and Dragon in the last few years had a lot to do with those two.

While I'm saddened at the loss of Dragon and especially Dungeon, I've already subscribed to Pathfinder. It sounds like a worthy successor to Dungeon. While I've never sent in a letter to either (soon-to-be-canceled) magazine I've been a silent supporter of both for decades. I've been around both magazines since the late 80's (with a 5 year or so hiatus in the late 90's). The quality of the magazines has only gone up in recent years, since Eric Mona and James Jacobs took over, so that's why I'm buying Pathfinder sight unseen.

Dragon and Dungeon are dead, long live Pathfinder.