TMP's page

Hello James,

What is your favorite thing about tabletop gaming, and does that manifest more as a player for you, or as a game master?

Do priests and religious leaders in-world know the “truth” about what happens to souls? Are they just as misinformed as lay people, or do they actively deceive their flock with promises of continued existence in an afterlife while knowing full well that personal identity isn’t preserved?

Hello James,

Where on Golarion, in terms of geography and climate, would be the best place to run a stereotypical “Western?” I’m thinking something similar to Arizona, New Mexico, etc.

Hello James,

I’m currently running a kingmaker campaign and the party is just starting to reach the point where international diplomacy is on the horizon. There are rules for diplomatic edicts in Ultimate Campaign, but they require some “stats” for the kingdoms involved. To calculate something like “fame” accurately for existing nations such as Brevoy (etc.) would require a huge amount of “building,” from each settlement in that nation up. Are there now, or are there likely to be, official “kingdom stats” using the ultimate campaign rules for the nations of Golarion?

Hi James,

I have a few general gaming questions:

At what age did you get started playing rpgs?
What was the first game system you played?
What was it about tabletop rpgs that kept you coming back?
What's the longest lasting group of players you've played with?

Thanks, in advance.

TMP wrote:

Welcome back, James.

Do you have any predictions as to the future of rpgs? My friends and I have played for over 20 years together, and some of us remember 1st edition D&D! We've observed what we think is the influence of computer gaming on tabletop games. Even "traditional" fantasy games have changed to make character classes more like superheroes. Advancement seems to be increasingly about some cool "new thing" that a character can do, and gaming books seem increasingly dedicated to rules variations, archetypes, and various other bells and whistles. In contrast, I think my own favorite game books were the "Volo's Guides" series which usually had no rules at all, but instead focused on seemingly "trivial" things like special recipes at a particular tavern.
To be clear, I don't think the newer style of gaming is somehow "wrong." Just different, if anything. But, I do wonder if "old-school" gamers like me and my friends are destined for extinction, and if tabletop games will continue to blend with computer gaming.
Since you're not only a gamer (who I suspect is similar in age to my own group), but also literally a professional, I was wondering if you would be willing to share your thoughts on this matter.

I think that RPGs will increasingly fuse with augmented reality and virtual reality; the online virtual tabletop is the start of it, and as the capability to game with other friends over long distance improves, games played over long distance will expand. To think that computer gaming hasn't influenced tabletop gaming is foolish, but the reverse is true as well—computer RPGs pretty much owe everything they do to tabletop gaming. As you see tabletop games start to emulate computer games, you'll see the reverse happening as well.

Thank you.

Welcome back, James.
Do you have any predictions as to the future of rpgs? My friends and I have played for over 20 years together, and some of us remember 1st edition D&D! We've observed what we think is the influence of computer gaming on tabletop games. Even "traditional" fantasy games have changed to make character classes more like superheroes. Advancement seems to be increasingly about some cool "new thing" that a character can do, and gaming books seem increasingly dedicated to rules variations, archetypes, and various other bells and whistles. In contrast, I think my own favorite game books were the "Volo's Guides" series which usually had no rules at all, but instead focused on seemingly "trivial" things like special recipes at a particular tavern.
To be clear, I don't think the newer style of gaming is somehow "wrong." Just different, if anything. But, I do wonder if "old-school" gamers like me and my friends are destined for extinction, and if tabletop games will continue to blend with computer gaming.
Since you're not only a gamer (who I suspect is similar in age to my own group), but also literally a professional, I was wondering if you would be willing to share your thoughts on this matter.

I'm sorry the haters are so vocal, James. Rest assured that hordes of others are "silent" because we're busy enjoying paizo's great products!

Now a question so as not to cheat the thread: is there any chance of a Brevoy-focused product coming out in the reasonably-near future?

I was wondering if anyone else uses some of the buildings and terrain improvements from the Book of River Nations by Jon Brazer Enterprises? I actually use some of the materials in there, including Apiaries, Orchards, Ranches, and the Carpenter building. On top of that, I included the buildings featured in the Wayfinder fanzines.

How likely do you think you would be able to include materials from those sources into this spreadsheet, Chemlak? I am just curious to know. I have my own spreadsheet but it is an absolute horror to look at and yours is...so pretty and lovely (I am jealous, to be honest).

Cheers,

CB

I actually just bought that pdf a couple days ago, but of the terrain/buildings you mentioned, I only see the apiary (no orchards, ranches, etc.). I would assume mine is the most recent version . . . Do you mind telling me what version you have?

TMP wrote:

Hello James,

I'm running Kingmaker, and one of my players is a Fighter (Swordlord archetype). For his next level, he intends to take the Aldori prestige class, and is doing so for "fluff" reasons rather than "crunch." He is from Brevoy, and has trained in Restov with the swordlords as part of his backstory. I would like to make his advancement meaningful for him and feel, well, "prestigious!"

If it were your campaign, how would you handle the official advancement to a full Aldori Swordlord? Would it be a casual "you have earned the name Aldori" from his sponsor? Would you run a series of trials, some sort of "circle of death" marathon of duels? A complicated ritual brimming with tradition and symbolism? I'm not asking for the "official" description, of course--just what you might do in your campaign, if it came up.

Thanks in advance!

I'd probably do some sort of event where a bunch of new swordlords got together to show off their skills in a display type festival and then have some sort of scandal or tragedy break out that involved the PC and the rest of the party in some sort of intriguing encounter.

Thank you! That got my creative juices flowing. Much appreciated.

Hello James,

I'm running Kingmaker, and one of my players is a Fighter (Swordlord archetype). For his next level, he intends to take the Aldori prestige class, and is doing so for "fluff" reasons rather than "crunch." He is from Brevoy, and has trained in Restov with the swordlords as part of his backstory. I would like to make his advancement meaningful for him and feel, well, "prestigious!"

If it were your campaign, how would you handle the official advancement to a full Aldori Swordlord? Would it be a casual "you have earned the name Aldori" from his sponsor? Would you run a series of trials, some sort of "circle of death" marathon of duels? A complicated ritual brimming with tradition and symbolism? If not asking for the "official" description, of course--just what you might do in your campaign, if it came up.

Thanks in advance!

Hi Everyone,
I'm looking for some feedback from fellow GM's on an idea I'm considering. I'm currently finishing up Into the Stolen Lands, have River Runs Red mostly prepped (including Dudemeister's "monster kingdom" mods), and am looking over Varnhold Vanishing, in anticipation.
For whatever reason, I'm not "feeling" the centaurs and undead cyclops, though I like the basic story structure of the adventure. . . .
One thought I'm kicking around is replacing Vordaki with a Body Thief (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/plants/bodythief), and following the same general story, except the Varnhold village will have been replaced by pod-spawn (preserving the "loss of contact" angle), but leaving the village "weird" rather than empty.
I was thinking that the tomb was the location of an ancient cult that worshiped/served a Body Thief, and heroic champions sealed the temple long ago to protect the region from the threat. Some inhabitants of the region (other than centaurs) were tasked with safeguarding the temple from intrusion in much the same way as in the original story.
The party will ultimately visit Varnhold, figure out that something is terribly wrong by virtue of all the strange, emotionless people (some of whom they might have known), and eventually work their way to the temple/tomb to defeat the Body Thief, and rescue the 40 or so villagers that have been kidnapped (but not absorbed yet).
It's just an idea at this stage, and I'm hoping for (polite) creative input, whatever it might be. Do you see any potential here? Pitfalls? Any suggestions for substitutions for the centaurs?

Hello James. How legitimate of a claim do you think Noleski Surtova has to the throne in Brevoy? If you had to defend his claim against the Aldori, what sort of argument would you make? For that matter, what sort of claim (if any) do you think the Aldori have? Thank you, in advance!

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

As the go-to person about the Aldori Swordlords, I've a question about them that Purple Dragon Knight's questions sparked:

Since the Aldori Swordlords are, as you said, self-made, how do they run Restov in a civic sense? Since there doesn't seem to be any one leader to the Swordlords, and since rank isn't passed by bloodline, do they have some kind of "Swordpact Council/Senate" that makes diplomatic/civic/policy decisions for Restov?

I actually didn't invent the Swordlords, and a fair amount of their development has happened in the Player Companions and Campaign books not under my direct direction, but if I'm the go-to person about this because I'm the one who answers the questions the fastest, I guess that works.

There is a council of Swordlords who run Restov, more or less. I suspect it also has a single figurehead type person as well who works with the council. It's not something I've put much thought at all into; the bulk of the design work that's gone in about these folks is swordfighting and not politics.

The Lord Mayor (Sellemius) doesn't have the name Aldori, so infer he's not a Swordlord. If so, what's his relationship to this council?

I have a couple (related) questions about the Aldori swordlords/swordpact, if you please:

1) Is it the case that anyone who follows the honor code of the Aldori is a member of the swordpact, or does the sowrdpact refer only to those who have officially been granted the title of swordlord?

2) My understanding is that, by tradition, once one becomes a "Swordlord," that person changes his or her name to Aldori. What is the relationship, then, between the swordlords and Brevoy noble families? For example, if a noble son of one of the families (e.g., Medvyed) becomes a swordlord, does he drop "Medvyed" from his name and replace it with "Aldori?" If not, is the "Aldori" just an add-on indicating an additional honorific (e.g., Medvyed-Aldori)? If the name does indeed change, are there social and economic consequences to this? Would that person no longer stand to inherit Medyved lands, for example? Is it assumed that his loyalty is now to the Aldori, rather than his birth family? In that case, are the Aldori effectively an additional "family" with the notable feature that you can't be born into it, but must be "adopted?"

3) Finally, are there any official plans for upcoming releases that will provide additional "fluff" for either the Aldori or Brevoy?

Thank you in advance for your time.

Hello Mr. Jacobs,

Thank you for all the time and effort you spend answering all our questions. It's very impressive "customer service," and much appreciated.

I am currently running Kingmaker, but have Wrath of the Righteous "on deck" for my next campaign down the line. As I'm sure you're aware, there's a lot of discussion on these boards about Wrath of the Righteous being "broken" as a result of the "overpowered" Mythic Adventures rules, and numerous Game Masters have written about their need to do extensive revisions in order to make the AP challenging for even non-optimized players.

I'm an experienced game master (20+ years), and have been playing with the same group (4 of us) for all those 20 years. I believe myself very good at role-playing and story-telling, but I'll confess that I am not the most skilled GM when it comes to revising on the fly, or improvising stat adjustments on the fly to compensate for imbalanced fights--nor am I a rules savant that can master all the nuances and crunchy combinations of feats, powers, etc. that might come into play. As for our group, although we like to have our "that was an awesome attack routine" moments, we tend to focus more on story and character development.

In your opinion (perhaps in retrospect), does Wrath of the Righteous have a "problem" when it comes to the Mythic rules? In any event, do you have any advice on how to navigate the challenges (whether real or merely alleged) that others have complained about?

Just wanted to add my voice to the chorus of "thanks" to Dudemeister. Your awesome work lives on, years later! I'm running "Stolen Lands" right now, and will certainly incorporate your "monster kingdom" angle in the next chapter.

Alayern wrote:

Elves of Golarion mentions something known as "The Brightness." Apparently it is a journey of self discovery that elves may choose to undergo to reach some sort of enlightenment.

• 1. Does an elf know when he/she does actions that would help him to find her/his brightness?
  
• 2. What happens if an elf (as I suppose many do) chooses not to seek their brightness? I sincerely hope it isn't as severe as the bleaching is to the gnomes...
  
• 3. Since the brightness is a form of self perfection, does Irori inspire elven followers to seek it?
  
• 4. If yes, how does he facilitate their journey?
  
• 5. If an elf is affected by reincarnate do they lose their brightness? Do they lose their ability to find it? What if they had already attained it?
  
• 6. Likewise, if someone is reincarnate-d into an elf, do they gain the ability to seek the brightness?
  
• 7. Lastly, if you were an elf, what would you suspect your brightness to be?

Sorry for the many questions, but self discovery is a big thing for me, and the fact that elves have this tool to attain that is a wonderful concept.

1) Yes, if the elf is a follower of the philosophy. It's not a racial thing. It's a philosophical thing.

2) Nothing at all. "The Brightness" isn't something that all elves do. It's an elven philosophy, a not-quite religion. Those elves who follow the Brightness seek to reach a level of self-awakening, but those who do not don't. It's not an inborn trait common to all elves, any more than becoming a wizard or fighter or rogue is.

3) It's something that Irori approves of, yes. It may even have inspired him, at least partially, to achieve his own self-perfection.

4) He does not facilitate the journey unless the elf worships Irori. Most do not.

5) An elf that achieves Brightness for real does not want to come back to life, and thus can't be raised or resurrected. That's the whole POINT of the Brightness.

6) Only if they become a follower of the philosophy.

7)...

Hello James,

In "Elves of Golarion" (and some other places, I think) it states that elves believe in reincarnation. Is this an aspect of the "Brightness" philosophy, and therefore applies only those who subscribe to it? Or, is this something all elves believe in? In either case, how does this impact the number of elven petitioners of elven deities in realms like Elysium? Are these realms sparsely populated due to so many elven souls reincarnating instead?

Also very late to the party, but I want to extend a gushing "thank you" to everyone who worked on these 6 member party conversions, and was generous enough to share. I'm about to start a kingmaker campaign for 6, and you all are my heroes.