William Ronald's page

For the character concept, I would recommend Calistria who has no love for Asmodeus, particularly the misogyny in his cult. (I am not sure what version of the mythology of Golarion is correct in regards to Asmodeus and Sarenrae.)

However, I think that the worst enemy that Asmodeus has is Rovagug. There can be no compromise with Rovagug.

I see that the elohim are mentioned as a race. Am I correct in presuming that they may be inspired/connected to the Elohim race in the Chonicles of Thomas Covenant as opposed to a more religious approach?

Well, for inspirational reading, I would suggest Ursula K. LeGuin's
"The Word for World Is Forest" which reminds me a lot of the themes that we are talking bout Castrovel. The planet may have a consciousness, and manifest that in various ways. (Hmm, if the planet is a conscious and is self aware, is there a chance that Castrovel itself could count as a deity of sorts?)

Alexander Augunas wrote:

Since when did Skyrim corner the market on anthropomorphic cats? 0_o

They haven't... but finding a unique look for Pathfinder for races is part of what we try to do. You can tell a Pathfinder elf, gnome, or goblin, for example, apart from other fantasy settings. That's valuable to us.

Identity is very important for a company. I do appreciate the fact that I can tell a Pathfinder product by its art alone.

Don't forget Aleister Crowley.

Perhaps tied to Asmodeus or someone that Asmodeus does not want snooping around Golarion.

There could be enough racial diversity for several different subspecies. On Earth, we had modern humans, Neanderthals, the Denisovans and the "hobbit" species existing at the same time for thousands of years.

As a note, angels in the Bestiary range across all the good alignments. Therefore, they do not have to be the epitome of lawful stupid and could redeem a fallen brethren.

Also, a lawful good angel should be anything but lawful stupid as angels are intelligent beings who in most cases have lived for hundreds if not thousands of years. Depending on the deity or philosophy that an angel follows, redemption could be an option for confronting fiends. Realistically, the redemption of a fallen angel should be a rare event. (I am personally opposed to lawful stupid, awful neutral, chaotic crazy and any other absurd takes on alignment.)

The title of the thread and the OP's post cover two different issues. So to answer in the order presented.

Is murder evil? Yes, always.

But, is killing of sentient life, in the name of good, bla-bla-bla... No, not necessarily, it can be evil, but not always. Killing and murder are two different things.

I think your thread title will definitely cause problems in this discussion since, it's not regarding the same subject as the OP.

The sixth commandment of the Bible is different based on which version you're reading. In the King James version it's thou shalt not kill. However in the original Greek version (the first written version) it's thou shalt not do murder.

If you can't use the proper definition of the word of concern or even the right word, you can never get a clear answer.

While your argument is good, you do have a fundamental error. The Torah was originally written in Hebrew, not Greek. (The Greeks translated the Torah and other Jewish writings, but not always accurately.) Thus the commandment that is often mistranslated as "You shall not kill" actually uses the Hebrew word retzach, perhaps best translated into English as murder. The word retzach is not used for war.

I would argue that a paladin charging a foe, such as a priest of Rovagug, is not retzach, but rather someone acting in a war. There is a great difference, in Jewish theology, in murder and in fighting a war where self defense and attacking a foe are considered legitimate. There is a difference between the murder of an innocent person and fighting a legitimate foe.

We all make mistakes, and I think that we should be reasonable with honest mistakes.

But that's the question posed by the thread: not "Is the Pathfinder Society unlikeable to the people of Golarion?" but "Is the Pathfinder Society unlikeable to you as a player?"

I'm simply answering yes, it does repulse me as a player, and I don't want my PCs to have to support it. Historically, women and minorities were discriminated against; it would certainly be okay for modern players not to like a "realistic and historically accurate" in-world organization that admitted only white males to its ranks and to object to multiple storylines in APs and modules that involved helping such an organization or held up membership in it as a desirable goal for PCs.

While I think the hazing thing is something that should be changed, as it has caused a lot of grief, the Pathfinder Society is known for having male and female members of many races and cultures. As such, it is more open than most of the old boys clubs of old. In one game, I could easily see someone play a tiefling character, a halfling, a human of any number of ethnic groups in Golarion, a half orc, an elf and a dwarf.

I think that the society usually comes across as a neutral self-interested organization that does a lot of exploration. If more of the focus was on its paralleling the Royal Society and less as an old boys club, it might help ease some concerns. (One could argue that such bad treatment of incoming recruits is one of the reason for some factions, such as the Shadow Lodge, keeping an eye on the organization.)

Why am I not surprised to see Daigle post a picture of a giant mantis? ;)

Likewise, eagerly looking forward to Rasputin and Baba Yaga.

There are many takes on Rasputin, from portraying him to a sinister influence on a court to someone who favored the people. Considering other aspects of the historical Rasputin, such as the reputed number of his descendants, I wonder if he will follow Calistria?

Note to self: "Let them eat crow" is now racially insensitive and Hannibal Lechter-esque....

Using the phrase finger licking good probably is not a good idea either.

2007 was a trying time for Paizo. However, I think by being true to themselves and their customers, Paizo ultimately prospered.

I would like Lisa Stevens to make sure that some business professors get to see these articles as they show good case studies in how to overcome challenges. I guess this shows that in business, as in life, character counts.

Well, you could perhaps have a minor noble of Taldor eliminating those who deems as undesirables but using a disguise. Think Jack the Ripper. Throw in some magic, and also imagine that the villain is trying to blame someone else to throw off the authorities and harm a rival. (Sometimes destroying a person and his reputation is worse than killing him.)

I imagine that a kangaroo animal companion would allow the halfling druid in the pouch, assuming the dimensions were right. However, I am not sure that the kangaroo would understand to use the tower shield.

Let me give you the link for the convention.
ArticCon, February 18, 2012 in Valparaiso, IN

Here is a link to the Pathfinder Society Games. (I am running two sessions): ArctiCon Pathfinder Society Games

So, if you are interested please come on out. We are having some judges coming from as far away as Indianapolis to run events.

This was a fascinating read, and I enjoyed learning more about the early days of Paizo. Here is to the next ten years!

As a gamer for over 30 years, I have seen a lot of changes in my hobby. When I saw that WotC had rehired Monte Cook, I thought that a new edition might be announced in the relatively near future. I thought that it might come with the D&D Experience later this month, but it was a bit sooner. I certainly did NOT expect the announcement to be as big as it was with major media coverage.

During the past week, I took time to read what information on the new system that I could and read the reaction of several people so that I could try to have an informed opinion and some idea of the concerns of others. I find myself as guardedly optimistic about the future of a new edition, yet I am not sure that I will be a part of it. Like a number of other gamers, I really did not switch over to 4E.

For myself, I now mostly play Pathfinder after trying 4E a few times. I do not hate 4E, but I did not find that it really appealed to me. My attitude has been not to condemn any edition but to realize that we all have different preferences in games.

So, I am going to share some of my thoughts. Take them for as much worth (or as little) as you see in them. I hope that I do not come across as a naysayer or a pessimist. I think that a new edition has a lot of potential but I am not sure that it will be my game.

I can understand why WotC is moving to a new edition – as there has been a lot of evidence of 4E not performing as well as they wished in sales. In addition to the various measures of sales for the industry, some store owners I know have said that 4E has been selling very slowly for some time. What surprised me greatly about the announcements about a new edition is that people from WotC such as Mike Mearls stated that there have been problems with 4E in terms of sales and that the company made many mistakes in rolling out the game. I found those admissions to be surprising and refreshing – it is rare that companies will be as frank about not meeting their goals as WotC was in many recent statements.

I began gaming with AD&D over 3 decades ago, and have played various editions of Dungeons and Dragons along with many other games. I made the transition from 1E to 2E fairly seamlessly, not missing some things as weapon speed factors and some of the other cumbersome rules of 1st Edition. (I remember players actually groaning when someone’s character decided to grapple or pummel a foe or if there was psionic combat.) I was stunned when TSR stopped publishing during their crisis and I was pleased to see that Wizards of the Coast purchased TSR and the Dungeons and Dragons game would continue.

Yet, I find myself largely neutral or mildly positive about the announcement. There is not the excitement that I felt in learning about 3rd Edition or the curiosity that I felt on hearing of the release of 4th Edition. I am curious as to what a new edition of the Dungeons and Dragons game will look like, but I am not sure that I will be doing much with that edition.

When 4th Edition came out, I was not actively gaming. I went to a few events run by local hobby shops where I lived in Phoenix but was not really part of any active gaming groups. I enjoyed parts of the game, but I found the Players Handbook to be a dull read. I found combats took too long – for several events, we ran out of time because of long combats. Also, I did not find much that appealed to me in terms of role playing and did not understand some decisions such as making tieflings and dragonborn as core races to be introduced in the Player’s Handbook. I sat in on a Pathfinder game while I was out in Phoenix and liked what I saw.

When I moved back to the Chicago area, I picked up the Pathfinder Core Rule Book and enjoyed the book and found it appealed to me in ways that 4E had not. Since that time, I have become active in a local Pathfinder Society group, playing and running events. I have not purchased anything from WotC since 2008. It is not because I disliked WotC but that 4E did not particularly appeal to me. (I did have a fun session with a friend, where there was good role playing – so I believe that you can have role playing with 4E or any rules set.)

I believe that WotC’s intentions, as stated by Mike Mearls, to reunify the base and provide something for players of all editions is a good idea. My hope is that a new edition would be successful and perhaps draw in some new people into gaming and bring some people back into our hobby. However, while I am confident that WotC has a good team of people working on the new edition, I do not think that it is likely that WotC will be the sole player in D20 based games. Over the past few years, many players have moved to other systems such as Pathfinder, Dragon Age, and Castles and Crusades. Unless a new Dungeons and Dragons edition is incredibly successful, I do not see those games fading away. I suspect the base will be divided. There will no doubt be some people who play the new edition and other games – I would not be opposed to doing so myself if it turns out that I like the new rules. It is just that I am not certain what would be enough to make me want to adopt a new set of rules in addition to one that I am playing now.

Also, from reading various threads about what people want and do not want in a game, I wonder if WotC can please so many different demands. I have read threads where people praised and criticized Vancian magic, hit points, skills and feats. While a new edition may be customizable, I am not sure if you will be able to truly satisfy someone who wants to run a 1st Edition style wizard, a 2nd Edition style cleric, a 3rd Edition style rogue and a 4th Edition style fighter all at the same table.

I do agree that one of WotC’s weaknesses has been in consistently creating great adventures – indeed Paizo and Green Ronin got a lot of praise for their work. So, I would like to see an OGL or GSL that would allow companies to be more comfortable creating third party products than happened after 4th Edition was introduced. (I am not sure if all the companies that once produced third party products for Dungeons and Dragons would want to do so. For the past few years, several have been working with their own gaming systems.)

So, I think that there is a lot of potential in the new edition. I think that the marketing of the new edition, complete with stories from CNN, Forbes and the New York Times, is better than some of what I saw during the transition to 4E. I am not sure how I will feel about a new system until I learn more – not just from web sites and interviews but from people I know. So, I am going to hope that WotC creates a game that is successful – which I believe would be good for our hobby – and can satisfy a very diverse group of gamers while bringing some new people into gaming.

I would hope that we can talk about all issues related to the new edition with respect. Regardless of what we play, we all have a love of our hobby. We have more in common, I suspect, than many of the critics of any edition or rules system may initially think.

Ultimately, I think that we are united by a love of gaming, of bringing people together and using our imaginations to have some fun. So, regardless of what you play or what you think of the new edition, I hope that we will respect each other and take some joy that we all enjoy role playing games. To outsiders, edition wars must seem a bit absurd -- kind of how I might view an argument about a sport where I neither know the rules or care about the game.

Happy New Year!! Let us hope for a wonderful year for all of us and a great year for gaming!

My group does an annual 24 Hour game for a local charity. Our second annual one coincided with the release of 4th edition, a system that my group didn't take too much to and were highly upset at the absence of the gnome as a PC race.

In honour, that years game was a 3.5 conversion of Keep on the Borderlands in which all the PCs were gnomes called "No Country for Old Gnomes".

Preamble out of the way, I would love to have a copy of this.

My email address is thedmspeaks@gmail.com

This is a great story. I just sent out copies of the conversions. So, enjoy!!

I plan to run a version of Keep on the Borderlands at the ENWorld Chicago Gameday on February 27th. So far, my conversion is coming along well (especially considering I can't find my copy of the original module and had to use a Fantasy Hero PDF and a 3E conversion document. However, I thought I would ask some questions and share some of my ideas.

I am planning to set the adventure in Golarion, specifically in Lastwall in or near the Fangwood. The Keep and a small surrounding village with farmland, is a stop on a road that goes through the wood and ultimately towards the border with the Hold of Belkzen. The humanoids in the Caves are being directed by the followers of Lamashtu to destabilize the region and weaken Lastwall. Does this scenario sound reasonable? Lastwall would obviously take any humanoid incursions seriously. However, I would imagine that they would not send armed forces everywhere for all problems -- hence the need for adventures. Does this scenario sound reasonable?

Is there a good list of common trade goods beyond what is in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook?

I have run previous events but is there any particular advice that anyone can give in converting an adventure to the Pathfinder rules or running an adventure for the first time with the rules system?

Thanks in advance for your responses.