I'll be coming armed with some cutting-edge brand-new tidbits of information about Pathfinder's third Adventure Path, for those who are interested in such matters...
Curse you, you damn 4pm to midnight shift! I am missing out on so much of life! ~sighs~ Have fun you all.
*puts out the red, black and white candles*
*places offering of microbrew beer and a slab of perfectly grilled london broil*
Mona! Mona! Mona!
Heed our call and answer our queries about Planet Stories, your rightful dominion!
*puts out the red, black and white candles*
*places offering of microbrew beer and a slab of perfectly grilled london broil*Mona! Mona! Mona!
Heed our call and answer our queries about Planet Stories, your rightful dominion!
~hurt look~ You never do that for me. It is usually "Yum! Dragon Encheladas! Or Fried Dragon Tail! Or Stuffed Thanksgiving Dragon!" Or "Oh! That Dragon has lots of loot! Lets kill him and steal his hoard!" I swear, I get no respect!
~grins~
Good discussion last night.
I didn't keep a log, but until Lilith puts one up (*crosses fingers*):
One of the bigger revelations was concerning the Third Adventure Path (and probably the last one to take place in Varisia). It will begin in Riddleport, and then go elsewhere. The tenative title is 'The Second Darkness', and Golarion's interpretation of the Drow will be featured prominantly (among other things).
What role, if any at all, Golarion's underdark will play was not up for comment or further speculation.
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My interest is seeing the aboleth used in a grand sweeping A.P., but that was not an actual comment that was made by James. I have my own speculations on the meaning of a 'Second Darkness'. What little I know of a 'First Darkness' pointed me at the Aboleth's.
I'd like to thank Vic and James again for hanging out and give us juicy tidbits on upcoming things! Was lots of fun! :)
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One of the bigger revelations was concerning the Third Adventure Path. It will begin in Riddleport, and then go elsewhere. The tenative title is 'The Second Darkness', and Golarion's interpretation of the Drow will be featured prominantly (among other things).
Gah! Riddleport is the town I am most interested in so far, but my entire group despises drow. This is going to make a major conflict of interest.... maybe I'll just read that one *sigh*
One of the bigger revelations was concerning the Third Adventure Path. It will begin in Riddleport, and then go elsewhere. The tenative title is 'The Second Darkness', and Golarion's interpretation of the Drow will be featured prominantly (among other things).Gah! Riddleport is the town I am most interested in so far, but my entire group despises drow. This is going to make a major conflict of interest.... maybe I'll just read that one *sigh*
It'll start in riddleport. So you may still get that section alone. You can always play parts of the AP. lol
And Pathfinders Drow might be a bit different then what your group is used to.
Normally I'm on the "I hate Drows" bandwagon, but if they make them something other then Emo Scimitar wielders. Then I'm willing to at least give it a shot.
Gah! Riddleport is the town I am most interested in so far, but my entire group despises drow. This is going to make a major conflict of interest.... maybe I'll just read that one *sigh*
I am going to echo what Vic / Zohar said above.. and James did promise no Drzzt clones (though he did admit to playing a drow PC before).
The drow were said to hearken back to the good old days, without the Forgotten Realms influence. That is scary, cool, drow that existed well before FR was a setting. And these will not really be appropriate for PCs in this Adventure Path.
(But on the other hand, Tbug (sp?) runs a goblin game in Rulelords, so you're limited only by your creativity I imagine)
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Well, here's the information I collected. I arrived a bit late and Vic had been there for some time, so someone else will have to do that part if he disclosed any interresting bit of information :)
Many thanks to Vic, James and Erik!!!
3rd Adventure Path
As promised, James Jacobs has given us very interresting information about the third AP, which will be named "Second Darkness" (suggested shorts: SD or 2D). It should start in or near Riddleport for the 2 first chapters, then will possibly move on pretty far away, going into entirely new regions. It's still in early stages of planning though, so locations of the chapters might change. This will most likely be the last AP that is set in Varisia.
The first Chapter of AP3 (PF#13) will be named "Shadow in the Sky". It will be written by JJ himself. It will start for level 1 PCs and he has no idea up to which level range the AP will go.
The Last Rogue mentionned that a Second Darkness hints to a first darkness. JJ said there is indeed a Firt Darkness, but that's secret stuff for now. It is also unclear how much the First Darkness will impact the story of the Second Darkness. JJ said "It's also not necessarilly talking about that "First Darkness," but maybe it is..."
Bits about Riddleport
- Justice in Riddleport is unfair.
- Riddleport is like a cross between Deadwood (from the HBO seires) and Freeport and Lankhmar.
- It is not a place where typicaly "evil" races can stay, though.
- A goblin that comes into Riddleport is most likely to be killed fastest.
- AP3 might or might not unlock Riddleport's riddle...
Races/Monsters of Golarion
Elves
JJ: "For elf skin color, most are of the similar complexion to Merisiel. Of course... starting with "Second Darkness," we'll be seeing a fair amount more elves with much darker skin tones... More like black skin. As in: Second Darkness is going to reveal the role of drow in Golarion. The dark elves have a fair amount going on in the third adventure path. They're far from the only thing going on in there, though. Drow are among my favoritest things in D&D. And by "drow" I mean the drow that were in Vault of the Drow. Thing about drow: there's always a lot of "I HATE DROW" talk on messageboards... yet Every Single Time we put a drow on the cover of one of the magazines... that magazine sold like hotcakes. People like drow. It's a proven fact. Eclavdra = the best drow evar."
Zelligar asked about drow as PCs, and JJ is 99% sure that a drow PC would be a TERRIBLE choice for Second Darkness, though.
JJ: "Drizzt is Forgotten Realms. We won't be going that route with our drow. He's a brilliant character, though. But the concept of angst-ridden drow is so associated with the Forgotten Realms that you can't really do much with it without looking like you're aping that setting."
And then, I have not copied the whole discussion, but here's a comment from JJ when talking about the drow and the underdark of golarion: "Aboleths are the awesomest."
Subraces
JJ: "I'm not sure what we'll be doing with elves or other subraces for demihumans yet. Derro actually have basis in real-world myth, so they should certainly be their own thing. But I'm pretty sure that we aren't gonna have lots of different subraces for elves and halfings and dwarves, all with different modifiers and abilities. That's FR. That's not Golarion." Blazej asked about cultures for demi-humans. JJ: "Humans will be getting a LOT of different ethnicities (all have the same game stats); demihumans, not initially. Maybe eventually."
Dwarves
JJ: "Dwarves themselves are half barrel, half beard. Both of which are filled with dirt and bear. Beer, even. Or both."
Gnomes
Cappadocius asked "What the heck they look like." JJ: "Little people with crazy hair. Pointy hats. Gnomes and Pointy Hats go together like water and Kool-Aid. Big eyes. Round ears. Smirks and giggles. But they're a lot more wiry and thin and lithe than WoW gnomes."
Derro
JJ: "Derro are another one of my favorite bad-guy races. I can pretty much guarantee you that there'll be derro type things happening in Pathfinder before much longer." "Derro are, according to D&D, half-human and half dwarf. In Golarion, they're not; they're something else, I'm pretty sure."
Duergar
JJ: "Duergar... eventually." I can't recall exactly, forgot to copy the discussion, but I think he also mentionned that Duergar would appear somewhere in CotCT (or was it in RotRL?).
Upcomming RotRL chapters' back matter articles
- PF4 was send to printer (or is going to be very soon, can't remember which exactly)
- Therefore, november will probably be the double volume month.
- JJ: "The Keeping the Keep article ended up being a LOT smaller than I thought it would be. There's a lot of cool ideas in there, but it's not a huge meaty expansion thing."
- JJ: "We just got in Sean's Lamashtu article a few days ago. Eva Widermann did the art for it. That one's gonna give some folks nightmares... There'll be a prestige class, as in all of the deity articles. Lamashtu's kind of our catch-all bad-gal goddess. Lamashtu does indeed cause trouble to childbirth and mothers and stuff. There's an AWEEEESOME picture of Lamashtu. Pazuzu and Lamashtu are indeed rivals in Golarion."
- PF3 has a short article about running castles and a long one about a Varisia gazetteer.
- PF4 has an Ecology of the Stone Giants and a Dragons of Golarion article.
- PF5 has the Lamashtu article and a big "Magic of Thassilon" type thing.
- PF6 is gonna have a big multi-page Critical threat style thing for Karzoug and a HUMOUNGOUS adventure. There'll be a 4 page "Mountainclimbing Supplement".
- JJ: "The deity articles will happen twice per adventrue path. Usually in the second from the start and the second from the last. It's a long-term goal to do up all the gods like this. And yes: It's VERY weird to give over deity notes to other authors. Kinda nerve wracking, but with Sean it's awesome all the way."
- JJ: " Back matter articles vary in length from 4 pages to 14 pages so far. [...] 4 page "Mountainclimbing Supplement" [...] that's probably the shortest one we'll do."
Future APs
- Restam Asked for "some cool magical societies and organizations" in the next urban based AP. His dream will come true, as there's several organizations in Curse of the Crimson Throne, for your PCs to join or fight or ignore.
- JJ: "There's an Adventure Path bumping around in my head that's All About why the Kaijitsus had to leave their homeland, though. Eventually that one'll see the ligth of day. That's probably a LONG way off still, though."
- Planning APs: When planning an AP, a few of us at Paizo get together in a room and brainstorm the plot. We work out the basic story, write up the outline, then assign the adventures to the authors we think can handle those parts the best.
Golarion
Travelers
Zohar was wondering, are travellers from there [Minkai] pretty common place? Or would the Chelaxians/Varisians/Shoanti kinda view them as outsiders? JJ: "Travellers from Tian Xia are common enough that most big cities wouldn't freak out if they visited." (Xian Tia is the [asia-like] region where you can find Minkai, where the Kaijitsu family comes from.)
Gazetteer
The Gazetteer will have a little bit more info about the other continents. Not much, though. They're focusing on one to two continents at a time. When asked which one(s) will be the focus for the upcomming Gaz, JJ didn't remember their names. [But now he's back at work, he might be able to give those names? Please?]
Gaz will include information about geography, languages, races, history, all sorts of stuff.
Novels about Golarion
- Blazej asked about other products around Golarion setting, beside APs, Modules and Chronicles. JJ: "There's all sorts of exciting ideas for new products beyond adventures; nothing I can reveal right now, but we'll certainly be moving beyond adventures in time."
- Erik Mona said: "We're all excited about the prospect of Pathfinder Chronicles fiction, though we haven't made any firm plans yet."
- Then he asked about what stories we would like to see. Some answers: History stuff (Thassilon, First Darkness ;p ), stories that don't interfere with the APs or Modules, stories of the Pathfinders organisation.
Planet Stories
Erik: "We WILL publish a "new" novel from a familiar name next year."
(this part is from memory, as I didn't copy this part of the discussion)
There were questions about the success of the line, and it seems that a couple more thousand copies sold would greatly help.
Comments were done by a few (including me) that we were waiting for the subscription.
Personnaly, to represent international customers, I'm not so much waiting for the subscription, as I'm waiting for combined shipping with my monthly PF/Modules, to save on the shipping charges. (I'm also waiting for combined shipping for many other products, like the item cards, Hollow's Last Hope, the TC Module, and Chronicles subscription...)
Go see the poll about Planet Stories here.
Other random informations
- APs are 6-month long for now. [JJ] "Longer APs will probably not happen, since that "locks up" Pathfinder too long and gives readers fewer "starts" to join up. Shorter paths, on the other hand, start to feel too rushed. For now, 6-part campaigns seem to work pretty well. "
- Monster submission through the Open Call. JJ: "Monster submissions are still in a weird spot. We really don't have time to devote to reading through submissions yet, for one thing. Wes and I have been working really long hours lately trying to get Pathfinder caught up to its schedule. And until that's caught up, things like monster submision guidelines and untagged maps for download get to linger in the back."
- So untagged maps will eventualy come, but they're quite low on the priority list.
- Erik said Falcon's Hollow will be visited again.
- Crit Failure deck is in development.
- About the picture in Oct 16th blog entry, comments about the sarcophagus cover for a shield, led to JJ saying "I hope he's got a mummy in his shield that he can throw at his enemies if things get dicey." And then, Rambling Scibe: "Oohh... Big mr half-orc needs his mummy to protect him..."
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Well, if I forgot anything, feel free to add it :D
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Gah! Riddleport is the town I am most interested in so far, but my entire group despises drow. This is going to make a major conflict of interest.... maybe I'll just read that one *sigh*I am going to echo what Vic / Zohar said above.. and James did promise no Drzzt clones (though he did admit to playing a drow PC before).
The drow were said to hearken back to the good old days, without the Forgotten Realms influence. That is scary, cool, drow that existed well before FR was a setting. And these will not really be appropriate for PCs in this Adventure Path.
(But on the other hand, Tbug (sp?) runs a goblin game in Rulelords, so you're limited only by your creativity I imagine)
This is true but I have 2/3 of my players beleive firmly in the ideal that elves should be uncomfortable in cites and have claustrophobia as a racial mindset, to the point that they will hire (roll up) non elf characters just for underground parts of adventures, not caring if they are below the curve in gold after. Therefore they despise the very idea of a race of elves in the Underdark - hopefully the 'new and improved version' will be different enough culture-wise that I can make them open to them..
Well, if I forgot anything, feel free to add it :D
You did great Djoc, just great.
The only thing I can think of is that every diety article will also include a Golarion prestige class. Using the Spherewalkers in the Desna article as an example.
--Watcher!, who last night was disguised as Restam.
(Restam was a psuedonym used by the Master in a Dr. Who episode from long ago, though in hindsight I guess that wasn't exactly the hardest puzzle for the Doctor to figure out :) )
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More of my private speculation on AP-3
My apologies to James if I'm guessing too soon, but it's just a testament that people listen and pay attention when he writes.
New speculation on the Arch at Riddleport? I dunno.. maybe a tool that was once utilized by the Aboleths to snare the Star Stone.
How could this be related to the First Darkness, and yet not be related to the First Darkness? Maybe the Aboleth's are not necessarily the driving force behind this Adventure Path. We all know that a meteorite striking a planet can raise a great cloud of dust that blocks the sky, and the Sun. If Drow were to learn of of some mechanism to draw down a celestial body, they could cause it to strike Golarion, and put the surface under a shroud of darkness.. Allowing them to 'terraform' the surface lands in a way which would be more comfortable to them, and thus create a surface Empire.
Understand, I could be utterly and completely wrong. This is just speculation for fun.
This is the thing I love about PAIZO compared to any other company i have done bussiness with they are up front and let people know whats going on
More of my private speculation on AP-3
** spoiler omitted **
That would be a very cool AP.
That would be a very cool AP.
Hey there..
I appreciate that. :)
Bearing in mind that I could be way off. I just take puzzle pieces and spin them around and see how they might interconnect. I make a handful of guesses and a good number of them are wrong, but interesting ideas come out of it.
Let me put it this way, it's an AP that I would enjoying reading and running.
Golarion is a little hard to pin down sometimes, and I like that. The best way I have of describing it is not.. 'high fantasy' like Eberron, but an older, more traditional type of fantasy that you saw in older versions of DnD. EXCEPT at the same time, you have traces of older more advanced cultures and societies that have fallen into decline, and that they once had a much more sophisticated understanding of magic and the universe.
So.. you can have a little bit of both.. gritty, and then through exploration and archealogy you get flashes of 'high fantasy'. Rise of the Runelords is very much like that.
Not to change the subject, but will there be any Editor types at tonight's chat, and will there be any revelations?
I'm an east coaster, and I can stay up a bit, but if I don't have to (because no staffers will be present) then it would be great to know in advance.
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Not to change the subject, but will there be any Editor types at tonight's chat, and will there be any revelations?
I'm an east coaster, and I can stay up a bit, but if I don't have to (because no staffers will be present) then it would be great to know in advance.
at lest SOMEONE of note is there almost every tues, usually more then one of them, depending on how late you stay up. I've seen Cosmo on there as early as 8pm EST. Not to mention the authors and other board celebrities/personalities that are on there seemingly whenever you log on.
As the Captain said, at least one shows up, and occasionally some of the authors will show up as well. I'll see if I can't shake some of 'em out the trees for you.
I'm going to see a movie tonight, so I won't be signing in tonight.
We'll miss you tonight James... hope the movie is a good one!
- Ashavan
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The movie on tonight's schedule is "Superbad." Partially because I want to see it, partially because it's showing at the snazziest theater in the region�the Big Picture, which is a multiclassed theater/speakeasy.
Holy crap, thanks! I live only 3 blocks from here (the Seattle one) and never even knew it existed! Now I don't have to walk all the way down to Pacific Place to see a movie. Thanks :)
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The movie on tonight's schedule is "Superbad." Partially because I want to see it, partially because it's showing at the snazziest theater in the region�the Big Picture, which is a multiclassed theater/speakeasy.Holy crap, thanks! I live only 3 blocks from here (the Seattle one) and never even knew it existed! Now I don't have to walk all the way down to Pacific Place to see a movie. Thanks :)
so - when you go today and bring James a few 12 packs and get all the juicy information that we would normally get in the chat, you need to post a transcript, right?
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so - when you go today and bring James a few 12 packs and get all the juicy information that we would normally get in the chat, you need to post a transcript, right?
Unfortunately there are two of 'em, and the one by my place isn't showing the movie tonight, so I doubt its the one James is going to. :( 'Sides, its a bit early to be going for that "stalker" title.... (Although I'd gladly do it if I thought they'd add the title to my account. :P)
So, who showed up last night and what tasty tidbits of information did we get?
I was there. Disguised as "Nilbog 4th Edition"
Of the staff... Cosmo must have been there early. Erik joined us right around 11 to 12 pm est.. (I am an East Coaster). Mike McArtor also turned up a little while after Erik.
I stayed till about 12:42 pm EST, when my window crashed, and I just took that as a sign to get to bed for work tomorrow.
Of fans? Diagle, Lilith, The Last Rogue, Steve Greer (who is a contributor and a fan) were there.. a lot of people actually.
I didn't keep a log, so this is from memory.
The conversation was pretty easy going, and the Q&A was laid back. We talked the fires out west a little. Erik's "Paizo undecided on 4.0" thread was of course topical. At midnight EST it was just topping up at 200 posts and going strong.
* Erik fielded some questions regarding fiction.. I haven't been a fiction customer thus far, so you'll have to get some notes from Lilith. (Went through one ear and out the other- sorry). I remember something about a lot of new writers and some big names too.
Let see...
* Erick alluded to a nice contest coming up soon.
* He stated that they'd need 4th edition data by January (mid January) if there was going to be any hope for the 3rd AP to be 4th Edition
* He and Lisa are pleased with the support from the community.
* Psionics do have a role to play in Golarion, and after peppering him with questions, it came out that it might be something you would expect from the 'Mars' analog on Golarion (as in "off world" but not "inner world")
And that's all I can remember off the top of my head.
Oh.. there was a rousing discussion about minitures. Which ones sucked and which ones were cool. A new release of mini's perhaps? I was asking about this when my screen froze.
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A couple other tidbits I caught:
I heard about a couple of the 6 new monsters in PF#3. Skullkor, which supposedly has many special abilities, and Votenmaske, which is an undead. It was unclear if the names would be the same in the book.
There is indead a new D&D minis set comming out soon. Pre-releases are this week-end, with release Friday, Nov 2nd. You can see the spoilers here.
From Erik:
"I think the place Psionics will fit best may well be on Castrovel, the Green Planet neighboring Golarion. Transplanetary gates abound."
"We decided the other day that Golarion is not "Hollow." But that there are subterranean "lost worlds" here and there. They just aren't on the inside of a Hollow Earth style sphere." What's it filled with? "Rock and lava and stuff. And caves."
"I imagine there is a Golarion specific Astrology/Zodiac. We definitely are not using the standard Earth zodiac. The Varisians tell fortunes with a deck of cards similar to the Tarot."
"Pathfinder 4 is at the printer. The boys are working on 5."
"Yeah, lots of new authors for the upcomming Planet Stories. Including some very high-profile ones. I can't announce anything yet because we haven't signed the books yet, but I am very excited. I think there will be more variety in the line in late 2008 and 2009. I'm signing fewer trilogies. Well, no trilogies, actually. Planet Stories will be publishing new (never published) novels in the future, mostly by known authors. So lost works and the like."
"We will probably do Pathfinder fiction, but I doubt we'll publish it under the Planet Stories brand. "
A couple other tidbits I caught:
Nice Djoc...!
Also, the Varisian's use tarot.. Lilith half joked and maybe was serious about doing up a Varisian tarot deck.
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* Erik fielded some questions regarding fiction.. I haven't been a fiction customer thus far, so you'll have to get some notes from Lilith. (Went through one ear and out the other- sorry). I remember something about a lot of new writers and some big names too.Where's Lilith and why hasn't she posted up yet? :)
Pathfinder chat summary 10/23/07
Thank you to everybody that showed up (and there was quite a few)!
Pathfinder & GameMastery Contributors: Steve Greer aka "Slimey Steve," Tim Hitchcock (upcoming E1 with Nick Logue and D3 with Steve Greer), Michael Kortes aka "Ask a Shoanti," Nick Logue
Paizo staff: Cosmo Eisele, Mike McArtor, Erik Mona
Pathfinder #3
Hopes that the Logue-Pett rivalry will be further fueled are expressed, as Pathfinder #2: The Skinsaw Murders was full of nastiness, as Logue admitted to ("Yeah, Skinsaw was pretty darned good, I gotta admit."), and warned that "inbred rapine-thirsty ogres are a comin'." Hammith expressed a concern about the difficulty level (as "Crown of the Kobold King" was difficult in some area), and Nick tells us that it was "downright grisly, but James [Jacobs] scaled it back to just plain murderous." Players rejoice.
New Monsters
Six new monsters, as expected in the Pathfinder books, all by the hand of Nick Logue (who also contributed to Monster Manual V).
Ogrekin: "...have some pretty fierce encounters early on, and it just gets rougher from there."
Skullkor - name not confirmed: A favorite ability was cut - maybe we can get author's notes when #3 comes out? A scorpion construct made of skulls.
Votenmaske: Nick's favorite! "I like the concept...it is undead...I will say no more!"
Erik Mona: "We're expecting #3 VERY soon."
Pathfinder #4 & 5
Pathfinder #4, "Fortess of the Stone Giants" by Wolfgang Baur, is at the printer, and Pathfinder #5, "Sins of the Saviors" is being worked on.
D2: Seven Swords of Sin
Daigle wanted to know what was Cosmo's contribution to D2 was. "Nothing made it to print," but his room almost beat Erik's in the kill competiton (the Dungeon Delve at GenCon, check the blogs). He made two for the delve, one of which failed to match the SRD correctly (he didn't have time to fix, but Buhlman rewrote for him). The rewritten room was the one that almost won, while the other room got bypassed most of the time. No recognizable elements from either of Cosmo's rooms are in D2, but in the words of Cosmo, "I got a friggin' credit! Woo hoo!"
D3: The Demon Within
Tim Hitchock says that his collaboration with Steve Greer on "The Demon Within" will be "in 3.5, without spoilers." ;)
Setting-specific Pathfinder Rulebook
Rambling Scribe resurrected a thread back from April on this subject - read and comment! Tim Hitchcock was a bit more direct, saying "So Erik, enough of this 3.0 crap when are you releasing a Pathfinder Players Handbook? What do we need a new version for? Everyone fudges the rules anyway."
What kind of things do you want to see?
Lilith: "Give me all the juicy details of running a campaign in Golarion, Erik. That's my idea of a Campaign Setting/Player's Handbook. I'd like support for psionics, but that's just me."
Fray (jokingly...or not?): "Hitch told me all about the Pathfinder Player's Handbook... I personally like the section on the The Sandpoint Isolationists Party and Ripnuggetport."
Nilbog aka Watcher!: "The Pathfinder PHB has 3.5 fixes, it has custom Pathfinder spells skills and feats, data on races, deities, prestige classes, a little gazeetter data (but not enough to be too redundant). Strong emphasis on 3.5 fixes, so that it has some crunch with the fluff."
Do Not Wants!
Daigle: "Redundant material. But I understand if it were included to appeal to a broader market." (Stuff that's repeated in other Pathfinder products - expanding upon material is OK.)
Hammith: "A complete murdering of all the things good about D&D would be a nice start."
Do Wants!
Karelzarath: "I could go for some hot gamer girl centerfolds."
zelligar: "I would like to see some new races in PHB."
And an important statement from the Publisher: "I just want to make it clear that there is no 'Pathfinder PHB' on the schedule or even on the drawing board. So I am not an expert on the topic."
Pathfinder RPG (3.75)?
Could this survive and flourish? Ephealy says, "I want 4e to be solid and worthy of my interest, but part of me wished Paizo would team up with Green Ronin / Goodman / whomever and create that 3.75 system you talked about."
Pathfinder and Conversions
Pygon: "If you do provide a 3.75 ruleset or convert to 4e, will there be conversion info to run in other editions, even just suggestions at reworking encounter content?" "Too soon to say," says Erik.
Paizo and 4th Edition
Erik Mona posted a thread down in the 4th Edition boards that y'all should read, and there is an associated poll asking about what edition you expect to be playing at the end of 2008. As expected, there was a lot of discussion on this particular topic in the chatroom. The mood was very pro-Paizo, mostly in the pleasure that Erik was being so open about Paizo's concerns from a business perspective. An expression of discontent about what had been posted concerning 4E was voiced by several people in the room. There was speculation on the content and relative wiggle room on the theoretical 4E OGL (when it's going to be released, or even if it's going to be released). On the "not going to release" note, Koldoon commented, "They've publicly said they were going to provide it...that's bad PR. But then, lately they haven't been the least bit worried about bad PR, so maybe." Nilbog aka Watcher! summed it up best - "doing nothing is the one thing they shouldn't do."
Cosmo did say that "Erik, Lisa and others talking very animatedly and happily about how fast that thread is growing today." Go comment and voice your thoughts and opinions if you haven't already.
Nilbog to Erik: "This is probably an unanswerable question, but since the clock is ticking, how long do you folks have to decide?" Erik's reply was, "Different schedules give me different options. It's never too late to fart out a product, but to get the third Pathfinder ready to go for 4e in August, 2008 I'd say we'd need the rules by mid-January at the latest." The Last Rogue had a similar question, asking "So Erik have you guys set a hard date that if you do not possess quality info on 4e you are going to just stay 3.5 for 2008?" Erik's reponse was, "I have a general idea."
Hitchcock had a comment with interesting implications, if true, "I'm waiting to see the clause in the new OGL that allows them to revoke third party rights for the next edition." The mono-eyed one says, "Me too. That would force us to stick with 3.5."
Pathfinder Chronicles - Setting Niblets
I have a cunning plan! Erik Mona: "I have a plan for psionics. I wouldn't necessarily say 'psionics in Golarion' is my idea. :) It's the 'in Golarion' part that isn't quite accurate. Or, rather, 'on' Golarion."
Nilbog aka Watcher!: "Psionics from Mars."
Russ Taylor: "'On' sounds like 'in.'"
Erik Mona: "Russ is onto something. Nilbog's basically got it. I think the place psionics will fit best may well be on Castrovel, the Green Planet neighboring Golarion. Transplanetary gates abound. Pellucidar is close only because of the Burroughs connection. :)"
Erik: "We decided the other day that Golarion is not 'hollow.' But that there are subterranean 'lost worlds' here and there. They just aren't on the inside of a Hollow Earth style sphere."
Russ Taylor: "Paizo needs to find themselves a leak."
Pathfinder Astrology, Astronomy, and Fortune Telling ephealy: "What does PCCS astrology look like? Are you using the standard zodiac? A Golarion specific one?"
Erik Mona: "I imagine there is a Golarion specific one. We definitely are not using the standard Earth zodiac."
Blazej: "I would like a Golarion starmap." Erik: "A starmap? I'm still working on an earthmap!"
Daigle: "That'd be fun...Golarion zodiac."
Erik Mona: "The Varisians tell fortunes with a deck of cards similar to the Tarot."
Mactaka: "That would be a neat product...Varisian Tarot."
Erik Mona: "It sure would."
deClench: "Ooh, design a Pathfinder specific tarot deck! :)"
Epic Material (thanks deClench) Erik: "No thoughts on Epic yet."
Pathfinder iconic dragons: Mike McArtor: "I'm not sure I can say."
Translation status for our German friends: Erik: "Pending."
Planet Stories
The interior layout for "Northwest of Earth" started on 10/23.
They've started picking books for 2009 - "lots of great stuff in the hopper." Lots of new authors, including some very high-profile ones. Erik: "I can't announce anything yet because we haven't signed the books yet, but I am very excited."
On variety: "I think there will be more variety in the line in late 2008 and 2009. I'm signing fewer trilogies. Well, no trilogies, actually."
On new (never published) novels: "Yes, but mostly by known authors. So lost works and the like."
On Pathfinder fiction: "We will probably do Pathfinder fiction, but I doubt we'll publish it under the Planet Stories brand." Interest in Pathfinder fiction was expressed.
Random Bits
Contests Erik: "HUGE contest coming soon. By the end of the week, probably."
Double Month In an attempt to get everything back on schedule, Pathfinder will be shipping twice in one month, it's looking like November.
Fray: "Erik if I had a t-shirt idea with paizo in mind could I make it and send it to you to get approval before posting to the forums?"
Erik: "Just post it to the forums!"
Erik, on Kobold Quarterly: "The spiritual successor to Dragon, if you ask me. Kobold is really cool. The funny thing is that for about a week Pathfinder was code-named Kobold. :) I'd love to write something for Kobold, but I am way too busy right now."
On old modules: Erik: "I think old modules, more than anything else, capture the pulpy spirit of the "thing" that Gygax was trying to capture with the AD&D rules. The game itself was designed for dungeons in all sorts of exotic, honestly fairly stereotypical locales. The first modules were good because they hit the genre sweet spots. The Deathtrap-Laden Dungeon. Done. A crashed spaceship. Done. A giant fortress. Done. And there was some genuinely inventive original stuff too."
Russ Taylor: "The lost city in the wilderness. The cult taking over the sleepy town. The waterfront with a sinister secret. The race to find allies against a great menace."
Erik Mona: "Exactly."
Conventions: Paizo will be at Origins 2008 in some capacity.
Wizards of the Coast commentary
This isn't directly Pathfinder or even Paizo-related, but the commentary is interesting. Spoilering for those that may want to skip it.
No Paizo 4E playtesters?
Russ Taylor was surprised that no one at Paizo is a playtester, which brings up the following questions, "If you're a playtester, can you say that you are? Are d20 publishing companies prevented from participating in the playtesting?" Industry playtests would make sense, but whether or not those have/are/will occur remains to be seen.
Paizo staff & WotC Products
Pygon asked Erik, "Are people at Paizo still slated to write for WotC products even though Dragon and Dungeon have gone away?" Response: "No one is really slated to do WotC stuff past 4.0, so far as I know. They are keeping the big development in-house, and pushing people toward contributing to the, ahem, 'magazines.'"
The delve format and artwork: Erik: "The delve format is too limiting to the DM's creativity for pointless reasons like how many stat blocks you can fit on a page. It does remind the designer to keep the environment interesting (which is REALLY important), but man, I hate losing what you just can't do with it." (There was a general displeasure expressed for the delve format.) "Also, it wastes a lot of money on maps that could be better spent elsewhere. Notice how sparsely illustrated WotC books have become since they adopted that format? There's a reason. One of the longer recent modules has whole booklets with one or two pictures in them. It reminds me of mid-90s second edition production values. And it's because the maps were more expensive than they anticipated, probably."
Desert of Desolation Minis Many comments were made on the minis. Take a peek at them and make your own. :P (This set apparently has some 4E monsters.)
Random Comments on 4E
Spoilered for those that don't want to read it.
Russ Taylor: "It just sounds like D&D: the WoW edition from the previews."
Fray: "Russ I agree with 4e WoW."
Erik Mona: "I expect 4e to have A LOT in common with WoW."
mactaka: "Phases for bosses...triggered powers."
Pygon: "The way 4E was announced was severely irritating to me. Total turnoff. I'm enjoying the ENWorld discussions though."
Erik Mona: "The designers over there are almost all addicted to that game."
Hammith: "I hate WoW, so if 4ed has a lot in common with it, I will cry."
mactaka: "I already play WoW..I don't want my tabletop to be the same..."
Lilith: "I agree. I play tabletop RPGs to get away from computers."
Hammith: "I also play to get away from my computer."
Russ Taylor: "But I also know a goal of 4e is to get rid of the 1-2 round fights. So while I believe (based on Saga) that 4e will be a faster system, I think the longer fights will suck up that gain."
Erik Mona: "Dumping full attacks is a good idea."
Russ Taylor: "It's not really the options that make 3rd ed slow, in my opinion, though the many attacks do hurt. It's the tactical aspect brought in by the universal use of the grid. And 4e still has that. 2e, after all, was much slower when you used the grid."
mactaka: "I like dumping full attacks."
ephealy: "With 4e's revamp of the planar cosmology, Paizo is also free to have fun there as well. Can't wait to see where they take the planes!"
Erik Mona: "Bards really excel in the part of the game WotC seems least interested in, so it makes sense if they're not in the PH. Which is to say, in my experience, is that bard as a class attracts the gamers most interested in roleplaying and interacting with the setting. Which means, I suspect, that the first year of 4e will probably not emphasize those aspects of the campaign. I'm guessing combat will outweigh roleplaying and world building even more than in 3e (which is pretty remarkable, if true)."
Russ Taylor: "Roleplaying translates poorly to [a computer gaming] setting."
Erik Mona: "Right. So, clearly, "adaptability to computer licensing" is a stronger goal now than during, say, second edition. I wonder how important that goal will be relative to other design goals."
The Last Rogue: "I hope that 4e is not a computer game copy...I really, really, really hope that it is still as varied and wonderful as always. Especially in regards to settings and inspiring good roleplay."
Funnies!
The Most Vile Villain! Voldemort, Lorraine Williams, and the 4E design team were all nominated.
I need to find a TransAm icon for the chat room.
Nilbog 4th edition: "Cosmo, you need spy on your co-workers and bosses, and report to us, your loyal fans."
Tuesday is apparently Paizo laundry day (Cosmo and Erik were both doing laundry - odd).
Erik's a daddy! No, not really, but "My staff are my children. And my freelancers my children's children."
Paizo Tours! Steve Greer: "So, if any contributors were, say, to be passing through the Washington area and they stopped by to check out the Paizo offices, could they get a grand tour or something to see where all the magic takes place?" Erik: "Absolutely." Steve: "Cool." Cosmo: "Steve, although...they would have to meet me, as well."
Golarion is filled with...nougat? Fray: "Erik, what's it filled with?"
Blazej: "Fray, I think love."
Karelzarath: "Creamy nougat."
Erik: "Rock and lava and stuff. And caves."
Daigle was hoping for creamy filling.
Fray: "Erik likes fraggles?" (pleasepleasepleaseplease)
Lilith wanted nougaty goodness.
Daigle writes Fraggle Rock RPG for Fray.
Nilbog: "My god! It's full of Starro!"
"Paizo Working on Pathfinder Player's Handbook!" NOT in the schedule. Currently. ;)
Erik Mona: "I just want to make it clear that there is no 'Pathfinder PHB' on the schedule or even on the drawing board. So I am not an expert on the topic."
Lilith: "I know that. :) We're talking hypotheticals here. ;) 'Market Research' n' all that. :D"
Erik Mona: "I know you know, but I don't know that everyone here does."
deClench: "Erik, isn't that why you called this meeting? :D"
Erik Mona: "I can see the post on EN World. Paizo Working on Pathfinder Player's Handbook! No, no, no, no, no. :)"
Karelzarath quickly closes his email client and whistles innocently.
Rambling Scribe: "So I should go over there and delete my post?"
*time passes*
The Last Rogue: "So any spoilers, Planet stories news, or good 4e vs 3.5 talk I missed?"
Karelzarath: "Paizo is producing a Pathfinder PHB. Otherwise, not much."
Karelzarath runs for cover.
Erik Mona: "WE ARE NOT WRITING A PH! :)"
"Sneak Attack!" NickLogue: "Are you close?"
Lilith listens to Nick...
mothman: "Yes!!"
Pygon: "I am now."
ollibolli leans to Nick.
ephealy is close.
NickLogue: "SNEAK ATTACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Daigle: "B!$~+!"
* NickLogue changes his/her nickname to The Last Rogue.
mothman: "Ouch."
Lilith giggles!
The Last Rogue: "Ha ha ha !!"
Rambling Scribe Dies messily.
The Last Rogue: "Sorry, could not resist a quality sneak attack."
And a comment from Erik for everybody - "Yeah, we're all really proud of the community."
Unanswered Questions (oh noes!)
Lilith (to Erik at the time, Jason might be better): "Status on the Rise of the Runelords Item Cards?"
Lilith (to Mike McArtor): "Guide to Korvosa status?" (Mike took off before he could answer!)
The Last Rogue (to Erik, on 4E OGL/rules): "I imagine it is kind of frustrating. Do you think WoTC is just insensitive to the needs of 3rd party at this point or is it something else?"
Zaister (partially answered by Erik, but further input from James or Wes would be nice): "Can you say if Pathfinder has any serious bard NPC interaction coming up that might be compromised by replacing the core bard with a variant bard like, say, the Book of Eldritch Might version?"
As always thanks so much Lilith..
Nick I apologize for tarnishing your good name, but in my defense I am a rogue, and I cannot resist a good sneak attack, and that little deception of mine set up a pretty darn sweet sneak attack.
Rambling Scribe
Oh, duh, . . .THANKS LILITH!!!
Creative Director
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Since I was watching a movie yesterday (Superbad, which is superfunny), I'll pop in here to answer a few of those unanswered questions:
Rise of the Runelords Item Cards[/b} I saw the uncut sheet of these today. That means the final proofing is done, I think. Which means we're pretty close.
[b]Guide to Korvosa status?" (Mike took off before he could answer!) He probably took off because h e had to work on the Guide to Korvosa. It's getting close to starting its editing cycle, in other words.
The Last Rogue (to Erik, on 4E OGL/rules): "I imagine it is kind of frustrating. Do you think WoTC is just insensitive to the needs of 3rd party at this point or is it something else?" I think it's the fact that launching a new edition of a 35 year old game takes more time and effort and resoruces than anyone ever anticipates. It certainly IS frustrating to wait to see the rules, but I don't think WotC is just being insensitive.
Zaister (partially answered by Erik, but further input from James or Wes would be nice): "Can you say if Pathfinder has any serious bard NPC interaction coming up that might be compromised by replacing the core bard with a variant bard like, say, the Book of Eldritch Might version?" There are some parts of Rise of the Runelords where a bard makes some encounters easier. Much easier. Look at the thistle maze in Thistletop; having a druid there is a HUGE advantage. Look at the haunted manor—a paladin, whose aura gives a bonus on fear saves and who is himself immune to fear would also be a huge advantage. There's parts of Runelords where having a bard (as in the 3.5 PHB bard) will save the day as well. In fact, I'm working on one of those very encounters right now (well, will be once I post this) in Pathfinder #5. As for NPC interaction... that's going to be an element of all six parts to a certain extent. Bards handle those encounters the best, of coruse, but not having a bard won't hurt you as long as you have some sort of class that's able to handle things in ways that aren't limited to Roll to Hit.
Hey James, thanks for the answers.
I hope they get some rules info to you some time soon!
and superbad is sweet!!!
Thanks for the quick responses, James! You rock! :D
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Desert of Desolation Minis : Many comments were made on the minis. Take a peek at them and make your own. :P (This set apparently has some 4E monsters.)
If I recall correctly, Shoe [WotC staff in charge of D&D minis sets] said 59 of the 60 minis are taken from 4e, mostly MM, but certainly PHB and DMG stuff as well for the races/classe/PrC.
So you can probably consider those minis as the new way monsters and PCs will look like in 4e. Especialy interresting (or not!) for the Dryad, Tiefling, Osyluth/Bone Devil, Troll, Yuan-Ti, etc.
Zaister (partially answered by Erik, but further input from James or Wes would be nice): "Can you say if Pathfinder has any serious bard NPC interaction coming up that might be compromised by replacing the core bard with a variant bard like, say, the Book of Eldritch Might version?" There are some parts of Rise of the Runelords where a bard makes some encounters easier. Much easier. Look at the thistle maze in Thistletop; having a druid there is a HUGE advantage. Look at the haunted manor—a paladin, whose aura gives a bonus on fear saves and who is himself immune to fear would also be a huge advantage. There's parts of Runelords where having a bard (as in the 3.5 PHB bard) will save the day as well. In fact, I'm working on one of those very encounters right now (well, will be once I post this) in Pathfinder #5. As for NPC interaction... that's going to be an element of all six parts to a certain extent. Bards handle those encounters the best, of coruse, but not having a bard won't hurt you as long as you have some sort of class that's able to handle things in...
Thanks, James! Makes me curious what kind of encounter that might be... However what I was getting at was if any of the adventures might feature bard NPCs and if any important plot elements might hinge upon class features of these NPC bards and might be compromised if I replace the core bard class with Monte's bard. Can you perhaps comment on that?
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Creative Director
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Thanks, James! Makes me curious what kind of encounter that might be... However what I was getting at was if any of the adventures might feature bard NPCs and if any important plot elements might hinge upon class features of these NPC bards and might be compromised if I replace the core bard class with Monte's bard. Can you perhaps comment on that?
At this point, I'm guessing that there'll probably be at least one high level bard in the campaign before the whole thing's over, and that bard will certainly be doing bard stuff. How you handle that is up to you if you replace the class with Monte's bard. You can either rebuild the NPC and fake it, or you can just do nothing and play the character as is. PCs don't get to see the NPC stat blocks, right? So they wouldn't know the difference anyway.
Thanks Lilith for not only reposting what went on but for also representing us Psionic fans when asking your question.
Ding ding ding! That's right, ladies and gents and things from another world, it's time for another Pathfinder chat. Point your browser to chat.dmtools.org for the fun! (Refreshments will be served by the kobold - be sure to tip heavily, I think he's got levels in assassin.)
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Pathfinder Chat Summary for 10/30/07
Thanks to James Jacobs, Erik Mona and Vic Wertz for showing up. (Cosmo also dropped in really late.) James started off the chat my saying "you guys are the bestest internet community ever!" Aww! :D
November is almost certainly going to be the "double month" to receive two copies of Pathfinder (according to Erik).
"It would have been cool to release a world book before or at the same time as Pathfinder #1, but that just wasn't practical." - Erik Mona
"We're scrambling like mad to get all the info out about Golarion that we can... but that tube only fits a certain amount of info per month." - James Jacobs
New classes and PC races are not coming immediately, as Erik says "we want to take a look at 4th edition."
The biggest bone of contention in the Paizo office is "the technology level issue. The whole guns/steam tech/iron age debate." (It's more of a flavor than rules thing.)
Given infinite time and energy, the project that James would like out the door tomorrow is "Probably the big Campaign Setting book. Alternately...having Pathfinder #5 out RIGHT NOW would be sweet, since that would save me the work catching it up to schedule! :)"
Pathfinder #3 is in!
And Nick Logue's "Hook Mountain Massacre" is shipping as we speak! Er read. Despite the title, the PCs are not the victims, but
Vic let us know that subs would start processing "tomorrow" (Oct 31st) - so some of you should already be getting your Pathfinder #3 PDFs, soon to following with the dead tree version! It looks "awesome," according to Erik, "Merisiel is on the cover."
Pathfinder #4 - Fortress of the Stone Giants
Redcaps make an appearance in this offering from Wolfgang Baur, and "is very much a spiritual G4. It'd fit in well with the other Against the Giants adventures," according to James. "It's got, pound for pound, more stone giants than any other product ever, I think! Number 4 is for levels 10-11. You'll probably hit 12, in fact, if you go too crazy fighting giants."
Goodies on Pathfinder dragons are in this ish, the article is written by Mike McArtor.
Pathfinder #6 - The Spires of Xin-Shalast
The wendigo is making an appearance in this one, and it ain't no namby-pamby +2 CR template. We're talkin' a CR 17 of mauling goodness, and it ain't no template.
Pathfinder Gazetteer
"Ethnicity for humans in Golarion is a very large chunk of the gazetter. Erik went a little crazy on them...but in a good way." - James Jacobs
"Yeah, I went crazy on the human subraces and languages. Hope we have some human-lovers in here!" - Erik Mona
"Gazetteer will be flavor heavy, rules light." - James
Curse of the Crimson Throne
"There'll be a fair amount of rakshasa stuff in the Curse of the Crimson Throne." - James Jacobs
Abadar and Zon-Kuthon's profiles are in this AP.
The level spread for this AP looks like 1st - 17th.
Second Darkness
Cappadocius asks, "How long ago was Celwynvian abandoned?" "A LONG time ago," according to James, "at least several thousand years." More details about Celwynvian will be revealed in this AP, as it "will be playing a pretty key role in Second Darkness." "I'd say a major major role," as Erik says. "It'll probably get a backdrop in Pathfinder #15."
"We are doing some very very old things with drow, and some very very new things with them," says Erik, followed up by James' "We'll definately be going old-school drow. Myconids are off limits, but mushroom people are not."
"In Second Darkness, though...A drow PC is probably a really REALLY poor choice." - James Jacobs
Pathfinder monsters
Other creatures upcoming are:
- More lamias
- More Indian-inspired creatures. "India Indians. As in stuff that goes well with rakshasas." - James Jacobs
- More Cthulhu mythos monsters. "No deep ones. Not yet, at least," says James, but "the Hound of Tindalos is in Pathfinder #4."
- Native American. "I wouldn't be surprised to see some Native American stuff show up soon either, to be honest." - James Jacobs
- More reimaginings! "Pathfinder #4 reveals the heads of all 10 dragons." (More will be said when Pathfinder #4 goes into preview later this month.) Stone giants have got some reworking as well, "Our stone giants are pretty spiritual. But also pretty hard core when it comes to being big people who do a lot of damage and like to fight." - James
- Gnolls are in Pathfinder #5 as ("they're one of the big supporters of Lamashtu").
Erik would "love to see something useful done with cloud and stone giants, honestly. I don't really have a good grasp on them. " (Stone giant goodness is coming in Pathfinder #4!)
"We have plans for aboleth. Aboleths are my favorite underdark monster. As far as D&D goes, they're probably in my top 5." - James Jacobs (Side note: James wrote the aboleth and beholder chapters in Lords of Madness, along with "about a third of the monsters, and most of the last chapter.")
"I like aboleths a lot too. I'd expect some variations." - Erik Mona
"Succubi are demons there (the Outer Planes). Gelugons are indeed devils. I see no need to throw out decades of tradition." - James Jacobs
Cosmology & Deities
The planes are referred to as the Great Beyond (in the Gazetteer). James showed some of his homebrew ideas...that got the thumbs up from Erik! Here they are:
"Make it so, Number One. I am instantly canonizing this as the cosmology of the Pathfinder universe, folks. History in the making!" - Erik Mona
Erik: "James> Perhaps that is where Rovagug is imprisoned?"
James: "That'd be cool!"
"I suspect there will be earthbound gods," says James in a response to a question that I asked about gods that make their homes on the Material Plane permanently.
There was a discussion on the proliferation of outer planes, and "they could use some thinning." Erik posited the idea that the "true neutral" plane was the Material, and Cappadocius suggested that "all true neutral dead people become ghosts?"
"I tend to think of most gods as vastly powerful extra-planar beings who find worlds to toy with." - Erik
"There will definitely be a planetary romance element to our campaign setting. It will take a while to explore it, but it will be there from the start." - Erik
The red planet has moons, but the green does not. "Golarion has only one moon." - Erik
Iconics
"Wayne is having a blast with these iconics," comments Erik in a response to Daigle's earlier statement that "the picture of Merisiel sold one of my old-school Greyhawk gamers to try out Golarion." Wayne is slated to do Pathfinder covers up to #12.
Favorite things about Pathfinder
Coreans Disciple: "It's all done for me!"
Erik: "I like the goblin song."
Djoc: "The details about Sandpoint and DM-only stuff. My PC are impressed at how I can always seem to answer their questions, and especialy loved Nualia's background only they investigated it."
James: "My favorite NPC I didn't create in Pathfinder is Aldern Foxglove, I think. Maybe Eando Kline. Favorite creature I didn't create, out of the first 3 pathfinders: Sandpoint Devil. Favorite thing in Pathfinder 3? Probably Black Magga, the Mother of Oblivion. BUT: Biggin' is pretty fun too!" (Aldern Foxglove was created by Richard Pett. "Before he did...the noble in Burnt Offerings you rescue from the goblins was just a nobody who never showed up again.")
Least favorite thing about Pathfinder
Blazej: "Lack of significant information on deities not commonly worshipped in Sandpoint." (James Jacobs replied that those deities will be getting a fuller writeup in the Gazetteer in January.)
Coreans Disciple: "My players don't move it along quick enough."
Daigle: "Reading them too carefully because I don't want to damage anything so purty."
Deluxe Pathfinder Subscription
"On the agenda." - Erik Mona
Campaign Setting Book
Are there plans? "I believe so. It's kind of a no brainer. I'm not sure what the actual plans are, to be honest. First up: The gazetteer in January. We'll see how things go after that!" - James
Easter Eggs!
Courtesy of Erik. :)
"Eando Kline," the author of the Pathfinder Journal excerpts we've been getting is a combination of two pulp writers, Eando Binder and Otis Adelbert Kline. Eando Binder is a pseudonym of Earl & Otto Binder. "Otto, the more famous of the pair, wrote a lot of the old Captain Marvel comics (the good ones), and his robot character Adam Link was the first robot main character in SF, originally published in Amazing Stories."
Pathfinder Venture-Captain in Andoran is named Brackett for Leigh Brackett.
One of the nations in Golarion is named after an Edgar Rice Burroughs character.
Courtesy of James.
The Swallowtail Festival in Burnt Offerings originally had fireworks, but the rules for fireworks took up too much space "and the goblins got a hold of them. And you had to fight goblins armed with roman candles and sparklers. And they did more damage to themselves than anything else."
J1: Entombed with the Pharaohs is in!
Mike Kortes' adventure in the deserts of Osirion also arrived on the 30th! Hooray! Double good week for Paizo products!
W3: Flight of the Red Raven
Monsters from the W3 Open Call submissions have been flagged by Jason, Mike, and Jeremy, but James has not seen them. Yet.
The outline stage of this call is complete - good luck to the twelve that have made it this far.
Map Pack: Inn
Arrived on the 30th as well!
Eando Kline - "Swordsman of Mars" (next year)
Cross your fingers for Binder's Adam Link robot stories as well!
The Planet Stories books will be around for at least five years, but if you "buy now and buy often" we can insure that shouldn't-be-missed classics will stay around.
Preview chapters are on the agenda! So are subscriptions. Hooray! :)
Avoiding shipping costs
James doth say, "The best way to avoid the shipping cost is to drive out to Paizo and buy product direct from our warehouse, I guess. Although we don't have a cash register, so you'd have to enter the order on one of our computers."
Blog postings
"There's not [a set schedule], really. Or more to the point, there IS in our heads. But that rarely translates into the blog's actual schedule." - James
Monday, Wednesday ,Friday - Pathfinder related
New Item Cards
Look for an announcement next week!
Placing Shackled City, Age of Worms and Savage Tide in Golarion
(All of these suggestions are from Erik. Thanks, Erik!)
Shackled City
Shackled City is probably best situated in southwest Garund, in the jungles of the Mwangi Expanse. This would give the setting a slightly more African feel than South American (the 'South America' of Golarion is almost entirely undeveloped), but that might be to its credit.
Age of Worms
Age of Worms might work with Falcon's Hollow standing in for Diamond Lake, or perhaps better making Diamond Lake a city in Andoran, the nation in which Falcon's Hollow is situated. Alternatively, I might consider putting Diamond Lake in the Chelaxian heartlands, near the new capital of Egorian, seat of the diabolical House of Thrune. It's not unusual for a small town to not be tainted by the diabolism popular in the cities, and there is an area in a nearby forest roughly analagous to the Cairn Hills. Moving down to one of the coastal cities would make a lot of sense for Alhaster.
Savage Tide
Savage Tide picks up, then, on Shackled City's placement in Garund (specifically probably an old colony of Cheliax called Sargava) and takes a journey to the Isle of Dread in the middle of nowhere to end in the pirate isles called The Shackles.
Djoc comments, "Erik, after all those names you throw, we just need the Gaz to understand everything you said :D"
James Jacobs: "I approve of any plan that has the Isle of Dread imported whole-cloth into Golarion, of course."
On tieflings
"The concept of tieflings is cool. That's like Damien. Damien is cool. The idea of a fiend-tainted child is cool. Having whole cities of them or assuming that they are as common as dwarves and elves is perhaps lame, but the core concept itself is sound." - Erik
"In my perfect D&D world, tieflings in most areas are less than 1% of the population. BUT: There are certainly areas where they're more common." - James
Red & Green Planets
"The action on the red and green planets will use d20 rules. It won't be modern. Won't be classic D&D on those planets either, though." - James
Pathfinder & GameMastery consumer demographics
Timitus inquired if there was any demographic information yet, and Erik replied, "Not yet. Right now I assume our audience is similar to the Dungeon audience, which I do have demographics for. It will be interesting to compare them eventually. I'll worry about demographic surveys once we get Pathfinder back on its permanent schedule." James commented, "So, March of 2011?" Erik's response? "Not funny."
James' favorite part about RPG Superstar is "I'm not a judge! WHEW!"
Erik: "I hope so many people submit that I regret agreeing to be a judge!"
Things to avoid in the contest:
Sucking. (Vic)
Poor grammar and spelling. (Vic)
Unoriginal ideas. (Vic)
Getting the rules wrong. (Vic)
Not impressing the judges. (Erik)
"When Erik goes crazy in a bad way, the newspapers have to print extra editions." - James Jacobs
"The agenda currently weighs (and acts) like 6 gorillas on PCP, by the way. Those gorillas wear football helmets, so they don't have to stop to shake their head to clear it after they hit you either." - James Jacobs
"Yup. Paizo's got an open door policy. As in, we don't have a security guard downstairs..." - James Jacobs
After Vic hopped in from Lisa Stevens' Shackled City game, everybody said "Hi!" to gaming group, and Erik said, "Please scatter Jeremy's dice pile as a gift from the chat room, Vic!" Everybody thought this was a fantastic idea, but sadly, they were secured in a bag. (Awww...)
On the editorial pit: "Hammith, if you make it into the Pit and the only thing you can think to steal is a stapler... no comment." - ephealy (Note: Apparently James has a collection of Gozilla toys. Bulmahn has the Office Space red stapler.)
When the boss is upset that you didn't put something in the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, shopping and improv:
Vic Wertz: "Lisa says she's pissed thast Erik didn't put the city info she needs into th Living Greyhawk Gazetter."
Erik Mona: "Ask-a me aneeting!"
James Jacobs: "HA! Was Lisa looking for info on Sobanwych?"
Vic Wertz: "The capital of Perrenland - gp?"
Erik Mona: "You don't need no stinkin' LGG."
Lilith: "You just need Erik Mona as an employee, apparently."
Erik Mona: "SCHWARTZENBRUIN!"
Vic Wertz: "GP limit?"
Erik Mona: "Metropolis, baby."
Fatespinner has never once consulted the gp limit for a city before.
Lilith: "That's 100,000 gp for a metropolis."
Zaister: "What are you doing in Perrenland in a SCAP campaign?"
Vic Wertz: "Shopping? We teleported there because Jeremy REALLY wants a ring of freedom of movement, and the other cities we've looked are fresh out."
Erik Mona: "Wow. Ladies and gentlemen, high-level D&D!"
James Jacobs: "Hard core."
Blazej: "When PCs shop for jewelry they don't kid around."
Vic Wertz: "We're only 12th level..."
Daigle: "Traft is cooler."
Erik Mona: "Try the Voorman's Vend on Mercenary Mile in Traft."
Daigle: "You clever bastard."
Fatespinner: "Damn, you even know the names of the vendors?!?"
Zaister: "I wager he just made that up!"
Daigle: "Erik, are you pulling that Traft lore from something published or notes?"
Erik Mona: "I made that up. But the leader of the nation is the Voorman, and the country is known for mercenaries. I did know those things. :)"
Fatespinner: "Ahh, okay. You were scaring me there for a moment."
Erik Mona: "Daigle> Out of my ass, actually."
On schedules:
theacemu: "LOL...Scheduling in publishing industry can sometimes mean throwing a dart at a calendar."
Erik Mona: "We aim for a higher standard."
On deities:
James Jacobs: "Eilistraee is one of my favorites. I suspect that's one of the few D&D things that Erik and I don't agree on."
Erik Mona: "Elistraee is Elistra-gay."
James Jacobs: "Oh, it's ON now, Mona!"
Zaister: "I guess the existence of an old empire that has fallen is more or less common knowledge in Varisia, but how common is knowledge that it was named Thassilon and how likely is it that people know the old language?"
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Creative Director
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Wow! Only one unanswered question this time!
Zaister: "I guess the existence of an old empire that has fallen is more or less common knowledge in Varisia, but how common is knowledge that it was named Thassilon and how likely is it that people know the old language?"
Anyone can learn Thassilonian by spending the skill points. It's no one's bonus language, so you can't have it be a bonus language from a high Intelligence score. But it's only a few skill points away. That said, not many NPCs in the world can read/speak Thassilonian. It may look like more from the adventure, but that's because the adventure's got an unusually high number of them.
The monoliths left behind from Thassilon are unavoidable and impossible to miss, so everyone knows that SOMEONE was around before. Knowledge that that place was called Thassilon is probably about as well known as knowledge today about Atlantis. Everyone's probably heard of Thassilon, but very few really know much about it, and what they DO know is based on myth and stories that often contradict each other.
Until the PCs make a big discovery in part 4 of the campaign, that's the way it'll stay for Varisia's Thassilonian scholars.
Another way to think of it: We can only release a certain amount of information about the world at a time; at the rate of one Pathfinder and one GameMastery module a month, with tidbits here on the boards and blog. So basically... everyone in this world's learning about Thassilon about as fast as folk are in Golarion.