Creative Director
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The irony(if it is irony, I am never sure) is that my response was an admittedly poorly thought out joke. I remember reading somewhere about the development of language and grammar. Grammatical symbols developed later on to help clarify sentence structure. It would be useful to have an actual grammatical symbol to show when a sentence is a joke and not to be taken seriously, like how when a sentence is a question you use a question mark. I guess if you need something to show a sentence is a joke, for now use an emoji. :)
As for a question. Compared to our own world, what is the closest century that Golarion would be in terms of technological development and general cultural zeitgeist? There are a ton of differences between the two worlds but a ball park answer would work.
My general preference for these boards regarding jokes about Golarion and Pathifnder is to just not make them at all. I should stick to that preference.
As for comparing Golarion to Earth... it's technology level is about equal to the 15th-16th century more or less but it varies by region. It's cultural level is modern, and to a certain extent even in the (hopefully) near future as far as acceptance and equality in society goes.
Know any good jokes?
My, what inopportune timing.
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After being woken by a 6.4 (some reporting 7.1) earthquake... you ever experience a 'good' earthquake in your life?
Have you ever considered writing a story set in the aftermath of a major earthquake? I know one happened in Wrath of the Righteous, but the aftermath is largely glossed over with the demon invasion and stuff.
Like, it could be set in a city like Absolam that is left in virtual ruins after a major earthquake strikes the city. PCs would have to deal with scavenging for supplies, haywire magical traps, collapsing buildings, rescuing survivors, dealing with hostile survivors etc. Could also feature having to rally the survivors together to put up a strong defense as outside forces try to strike at the vulnerable city, only to unravel a deeper plot in which the earthquake might have not been so natural...
Could make for a nice AP, or maybe a nice interlinked set of PFS scenarios.
I grew up in California, and as such have experienced a lot of earthquakes. The strongest one I remember experiencing in California was the bit 90 one that devastated a lot in the bay area—my home back in Point Arena sits on the mountain just uphill from the San Andreas fault, just 10 minutes south of where the fault heads out to sea, so whenever that line shakes, we felt it. That particular quake made the rocking chair I was sitting in suddenly start rocking, which was unnerving since I was watching a horror movie alone in the house at the time. By the point I realized it was an earthquake, moved to a doorway (closest safe place) and saw that all the trees in the forest surrounding me (many of which were redwoods well over a hundred feet tall) were swaying back and forth like it was windy... but there was no wind in the air. Very eerie.
The strongest earthquake I've felt though was one up here in Washington back around 2000 or thereabouts; I was getting gas at the time and the entire gas station started to feel like standing on a giant tub of jello. I ran off the tank and looked back to see the metal roof structure above the tanks and filling station and my car swaying back and forth like blades of grass in the wind. Also eerie.
I've never been in sight of a building that actually suffered any damage in a quake. At least, not yet. I will some day, I assume, since I intend to live the rest of my life on the West Coast.
We've done a few adventures that utilized major earthquakes or similar events. The first Wrath adventure did, but so did Second Darkness and Shattered Star. We published a few in Dungeon back in the day as well.
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I read in one of the adventure paths (one of the earlier ones I believe) that one of your writers only wrote adventure paths for 6th level characters and above because he favored putting a vrock demon. I have also noted a LOT of Adventure paths have otyughs in them (many times not as adversaries). Is this someones favorite pet monster? Are there others that make frequent appearances? (I think every adventure path you have done incorporates a dragon, as well, but I think of that as more of a homage to the origin of the game) Does a writer have the latitude to "slip in" an encounter with a favored monster or am I imagining things?
Otyughs are one of those monsters that happens to make sense in pretty much any terrain, which includes urban environments. When we do adventures set in cities, it can be difficult to mix up the foes so that it's not just human after human in the fights, and otyughs are an excellent choice since they're sewer dwellers. That said, they're pretty well-liked overall. We generally do allow authors to include lots of their own design choices in adventures, because that's important and helps to keep ideas fresh, but I'm pretty sure that otyughs aren't just one person's favorite... they're EVERYONE'S favorite it seems.
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Greetings and salutations once again James.
1. Do you happen to know who the primary designer of the Horticulturist was?
2. Is it possible to apply to Augment Summoning to "Seed Extract" since the ability functions as Summon Monster I-VI?
3. Do you have an all time favorite class archtype? I'm not talking about base classes themselves, but the ways they've been changed and re-imagined.
1) No. Not even sure where the horticulturist shows up in text, or even what it is. No idea.
2) It is if your GM is cool with it. I'm not familiar with "Seed Extract" at all so I can't say if I'd allow it in my game.
3) I don't. I generally don't play much with archetypes when I create PCs, and when I do, it's the PC's personality that suggests an archetype, not the other way around.
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1) If there were anything you could change about elves mechanically, what would it be?
2) Do you ever really weigh in on/create new game content? (Archetypes, feats, etc.)
Thank you! ^_^
(PS: Sorry again.)
1) I'd give them +2 Charisma, +2 Dexterity, –2 Strength instead of their current mods.
2) Yes. Often. More so on the campaign setting line, and increasingly so on the Player Companion line. For the RPG line, I generally don't have the time to get too involved but I do often provide feedback or demand changes when something doesn't fit with Golarion or is just plain not good.
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James, I have decided to run an odd idea for CoC. Spanish conquistadors and their native allies trying to stop the awakening/calling of a horror in Tenochtitlan. Which CoC baddy would fit best with the Aztec sacrifice ceremonies?
There's been several published adventures for CoC that tie in to the Aztecs, and lots are different. And in fact, one of the CoC supplements was all about how the mythos ties in to Aztec and Mayan mythology. There's been a lot of stories written by authors that do the same—some of Derleth's Laban Shrewsbury stories do, if I recall correctly. Many of the elements there can fit in pretty well with all of that stuff as a result.
So honestly... pick your favorite and you should be good to go. Personally, I'd probably go with Yig or Shub-Niggurath.
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I realize this may be an odd question, but would it be better to get the hardcover Anniversary edition or seek out the original Rise of the Runelords AP?
For me and Paizo? It would be better for you to buy both versions, obviously.
That said, the anniversary edition is a whole package and all in-print so if you just want to run the campaign, it's the wiser choice to buy. What you're missing out on are a few articles in the original run (many of which have, essentially, been reprinted in other books as well) and additional flavor information for several of the new monsters.
I'd note also that the originals are in 3.5, so using those means additional conversion/power level headaches. If Wei Ji is as harried a GM as me, the hardcover should be the first choice.
While running a game on the fly, I recently described the top of a tower as being sucked into a tear in space (after the PCs successfully destroyed an artifact that was going to suck in the entire city). Assuming the PCs can figure it out by examining the magical signatures, what's a uniquely inhospitable location that the tower-top could have been taken to?
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While running a game on the fly, I recently described the top of a tower as being sucked into a tear in space (after the PCs successfully destroyed an artifact that was going to suck in the entire city). Assuming the PCs can figure it out by examining the magical signatures, what's a uniquely inhospitable location that the tower-top could have been taken to?
Roll 1d4:
1 Deep space.
2 The negative energy plane.
3 The Undersump in the Abyss.
4 The Maelstrom.
I'm making a character who was left as an infant at a Monastery/School maintained by an order of Esoteric Magi. (Magi? Maguses? What is the plural of Magus in Pathfinder anyway?) There he studied the path to perfection put forth by the Manasaputras while the order taught him their techniques for blending martial arts with magic.
Where in Golarion would you think such a Monastery would be most likely to exist?
The plural of magus is magi, same as in the real world.
We haven't really nailed down where the Manasaputra influence is strongest in Golarion, but I suspect it'll end up being Vudra.
Thanks. For both answers. :)
1) If there were anything you could change about elves mechanically, what would it be?1) I'd give them +2 Charisma, +2 Dexterity, –2 Strength instead of their current mods.
Would you then change gnomes' racial modifiers to keep them from being too similar?
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Creative Director
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Would you then change gnomes' racial modifiers to keep them from being too similar?1) If there were anything you could change about elves mechanically, what would it be?1) I'd give them +2 Charisma, +2 Dexterity, –2 Strength instead of their current mods.
Hmmm. I'd probably then do +2 Charisma, +2 Dexterity, –2 Constitution for elves actually. The point being that I personally would like to see elves represent sorcery more than wizardry, and to leave wizardry be more of a human thing.
Are there any other racial modifiers you'd tweak?
what are the 5 most populous types of true giants(hill giant marsh giant taiga giant etc) in golorian?
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Are there any other racial modifiers you'd tweak?
Nah. Turns out I'm actually pretty happy overall with the current modifiers in the game, honestly. And that kind of DOES include the current elven setup. It's not like I'm outside of the group who helped decide what to make those modifiers be in the first place, after all...
Nah. Turns out I'm actually pretty happy overall with the current modifiers in the game, honestly. And that kind of DOES include the current elven setup. It's not like I'm outside of the group who helped decide what to make those modifiers be in the first place, after all...
Is this including monstrous "races" like goblins? I've always thought it was weird that their abilities focused on the ability bards need rather than something like Intelligence or Wisdom. I know it was part of the 3.5-Pathfinder conversion, and that monster races aren't generally given that much attention for obvious reasons.
Speaking of Goblins...
Pathfinder's take on the little guys has been a demonstrable hit. They went from being the essentially lame "mini-Orcs" I encountered when I started playing in 2nd Edition to being a highly idiosyncratic monster type, capable of being funny, terrifying, pathetic, and perversely admirable within the span of a single encounter.
Putting them aside ('coz they win), which Pathfinder-specific alteration to a longstanding monster are you proudest of?
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This may have already been dealt with but I do not have the time to look it up.
If a gm that was running an adventure path (Rise of the Runelords in this case) and giving out credit for it leaves and another person steps up to gm but refuses to do society credit, would any pfs character having received credit thus far still be locked out of play until the AP is done or can the character be played since credit is no longer given?
We were playing with characters generated for the AP and then assigning credit to pfs characters.
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Nah. Turns out I'm actually pretty happy overall with the current modifiers in the game, honestly. And that kind of DOES include the current elven setup. It's not like I'm outside of the group who helped decide what to make those modifiers be in the first place, after all...Is this including monstrous "races" like goblins? I've always thought it was weird that their abilities focused on the ability bards need rather than something like Intelligence or Wisdom. I know it was part of the 3.5-Pathfinder conversion, and that monster races aren't generally given that much attention for obvious reasons.
It does include goblins. Not every thing has to be good at every thing.
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1. I had an idea (not the only one, I'm sure) to play a Diabolst in Wrath of the Righteous, and I was wondering how on-board Devils would be in the fight against Demons? Would they be less inclined because they are both evil, or more inclined because the Demons are chaotic and seek to destroy everything, leaving none for the Devils to subjugate?
2. In Occult Mysteries, there is talk about "Osirion Countdown Clocks," which are theorized to stop counting down within the decade, possibly early 4718. Are there any plans to do something with those in published works around that time? Or is that mostly a hook for GMs to use?
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Speaking of Goblins...
Pathfinder's take on the little guys has been a demonstrable hit. They went from being the essentially lame "mini-Orcs" I encountered when I started playing in 2nd Edition to being a highly idiosyncratic monster type, capable of being funny, terrifying, pathetic, and perversely admirable within the span of a single encounter.
Putting them aside ('coz they win), which Pathfinder-specific alteration to a longstanding monster are you proudest of?
Hmmm. Derro, I think. Because in 3.5, they were monstrous humanoids. In Pathfinder, they're humanoids AND we were able to pull in a lot of real-world inspiration from the Shaver Mysteries and abduction mythology too.
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<i> Hey James, I was wondering if you could shed some light on how this spell operates (but not too much, given the spell in question!).
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/s/shadow-projection
1. Can you perform verbal and somatic components whilst a shadow?
2. Can you access your feats and use spell-like or supernatural abilities whilst you are a shadow?
3. Can you even speak whilst you are a shadow?
4.Do you use your own stats, only your mental stats or none of your own stats when you are a shadow?The answer to all these questions is more or less no. When you cast this spell, you basically "turn off" your character and "turn on" a shadow, as detailed in the Bestiary. You'd still use your own skills (not modified by the shadow's stats) and your own hit points, but the rest is pretty much "just use the shadow stat block." It's meant to mostly be a scouting out an area spell first and a fighting spell second. "
</i>I know that this thread is a few years old, and so maybe the people involved are less involved...but it's come up in my game lately.
1) Why can't a shadow speak, or use somatic components? Neither of these things are prohibited by the stat block. Creatures with an intelligence of 3 or greater generally have the capability of speaking a language, or at least comprehending one. When it is incapable of speaking the stat block almost always says it can't. See Tarrasque and Hell Hound as an example.
2) I can't seem to locate any other source that would agree with any side at all. Spells that remove your ability to spell cast generally communicate that in some obvious fashion. If the spell itself doesn't, then the foundational information (spell school and whatnot) generally lead you to that conclusion. In short, how would the GM have a clue, without some sort of rules based text, rather than resorting to asking designers...other than by fiat?
Finally - feats are a no go? Would that mean you couldn't...say track? Or perhaps get better saves? You know, feats? I could stomach the lack of verbal components...that's easily worked around, but don't they have hands? No somatic components?
Questions about spells should go to the rules team via the rules boards, and so those questions can be tagged with a FAQ.
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This may have already been dealt with but I do not have the time to look it up.
If a gm that was running an adventure path (Rise of the Runelords in this case) and giving out credit for it leaves and another person steps up to gm but refuses to do society credit, would any pfs character having received credit thus far still be locked out of play until the AP is done or can the character be played since credit is no longer given?
We were playing with characters generated for the AP and then assigning credit to pfs characters.
Questions about PFS stuff need to go to the PFS team.
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1. I had an idea (not the only one, I'm sure) to play a Diabolst in Wrath of the Righteous, and I was wondering how on-board Devils would be in the fight against Demons? Would they be less inclined because they are both evil, or more inclined because the Demons are chaotic and seek to destroy everything, leaving none for the Devils to subjugate?
2. In Occult Mysteries, there is talk about "Osirion Countdown Clocks," which are theorized to stop counting down within the decade, possibly early 4718. Are there any plans to do something with those in published works around that time? Or is that mostly a hook for GMs to use?
That'd not be a great option, really. First of all, there's no Blood War in Golarion; devils and demons don't hate each other and attack on sight. Second of all, the crusade is as much against evil as it is chaos, and Iomedae's troops are not going to look kindly on evil characters. I'd suggest holding on to that diabolist idea and saving it for a more appropriate AP... which as far as this is concerned, is more or less ANY other AP than Wrath (with the exception of Hell's Rebels, I guess).
We've done a little here and there with the Countdown Clocks; most notably in the earlier adventures we did in Osirion many years ago. No plans to do something new with them at this time, though.
It does include goblins. Not every thing has to be good at every thing.Nah. Turns out I'm actually pretty happy overall with the current modifiers in the game, honestly. And that kind of DOES include the current elven setup. It's not like I'm outside of the group who helped decide what to make those modifiers be in the first place, after all...Is this including monstrous "races" like goblins? I've always thought it was weird that their abilities focused on the ability bards need rather than something like Intelligence or Wisdom. I know it was part of the 3.5-Pathfinder conversion, and that monster races aren't generally given that much attention for obvious reasons.
I think my question must have been unclear if that's what you took from it.
*rereads*
Oh, huh. Actually, I did do a derp there. My question was basically, "Why do goblins have a penalty to their singing-related ability when they seem a dead ringer for a Wisdom or Intelligence penalty?"
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Creative Director
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Oh, huh. Actually, I did do a derp there. My question was basically, "Why do goblins have a penalty to their singing-related ability when they seem a dead ringer for a Wisdom or Intelligence penalty?"
Goblins are very crafty, and able to scrounge together lots of stuff from the leftovers of other people, and so they have no Intelligence penalty.
They're also not particularly oblivious to their surroundings, and they tend to have strong belief systems and are not particularly hampered in survival situations, hence no penalty to Wisdom.
They ARE kind of crazy, mean to each other, ugly, and prone to self-doubt and lack self-esteem. Hence, they have a Charisma penalty.
You don't have to be good at singing to enjoy singing or to enjoy listening to music. And those who DO good at singing can still have a respectable Charisma score, in the same way it's still possible for an elf to have a respectable Con score or a halfling to have a respectable Strength. As high as that score would be if they were another race? No, but two points lower is hardly a cataclysm.
You don't have to be good at singing to enjoy singing or to enjoy listening to music.
I resemble that remark!
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Creative Director
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I have a spell question that isn't covered in the rules and I was curious on your take (as a GM) rather than an official ruling.
There is no mythic version of simulacrum, and afaik it remains an open question whether core simulacrum duplicates any or all mythic tiers (I would rule it doesn't).
If there was a mythic version of the simulacrum spell, what would your thoughts be regarding it? Would it cause a simulacrum with 50% of the target's mythic tiers? Maybe be even more powerful (e.g. 80% of the target) Other features?
Simulacrum can NOT duplicate mythic abilities. If you cast simulacrum on a mythic creature, strip away all of its mythic stuff before you start working on what the final simulacrum looks like.
If there were a mythic version of simulacrum, it should make a complete and full duplicate, akin to a mirror of opposition, but still shouldn't duplicate mythic powers. This is obviously a VERY powerful effect and depending on the monster can be super broken to give PCs access to, and that's the main reason why simulacrum has no mythic version.
Simulacrum, perhaps more than any other spell (maybe even more than wish) REQUIRES the GM to be in there working with the PC when it is used, in any event.
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Was your move away from AP Developer to more of a full time Creative Director partially because you wanted to have more say in the Campaign Setting and Player Companion lines? I know you have expressed frustration in the past with decisions made by other authors that contravened your ideas or plans for the setting.
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Was your move away from AP Developer to more of a full time Creative Director partially because you wanted to have more say in the Campaign Setting and Player Companion lines? I know you have expressed frustration in the past with decisions made by other authors that contravened your ideas or plans for the setting.
Partially, but mostly because for several years now I've been doing both jobs and it's been very frustrating to not be able to devote more time to each role. I will indeed be more involved in the outlining and guidance stages for ALL of our RPGs going forward since I'll be spending less time developing adventure paths every year, but now and then I will still be doing an AP or other big book. But yeah... being able to get my voice in at the outline stage BEFORE we hire an author for a book not only helps that author write what we need for Golarion but helps spread my vision of Golarion among our in-house staff better. We hired up a lot of folks over the last several years, and as a result, not all of them have the benefit of being with Golarion from the start and there's a lot more to know about what makes the setting what it is that never sees print.
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That was a very interesting answer! Thanks James! It leads me to a few followup questions concerning simulacrum-like effects. To be clear, players don’t get wish in my campaign, but I’m curious on your take for what would be flavor appropriate for a Golarion without player characters.
(1) Granted that there is no mythic simulacrum, to your mind, would a mythic wish (or conceivably a non-mythic wish) be fair game, outside of story purposes, to create a similar effect to what you as the hypothetical mythic simulacrum you described? To put it another way, if Tar-Baphon is running around in a campaign, would his Mythic Wish be able to fully duplicate Zutha without mythic tiers?
(2) If mythic wish can conjure this effect, would his own simulacrum be a 20/necromancer? That certainly spices up the simulacrum encounter hinted at in one of the products detailing Tar-Baphon’s prison.
(3) To clarify regarding your mirror of opposition comment, would the duplicate have copies of all the possessions of the original? I suspect we’re both going to be one the same “no” page here.
(4) To your mind, is there no "mythic simulacrum" spell in Golarion, or just that it is not available to player characters.
1) Nah. One of the things I value about mythic characters and creatures is that they can't be created by things other than gods or moments of apotheosis (AKA: singular events that can't necessarily be replicated and are unique events customized to each and every creature.) Wrath of the Righteous does introduce a magical artifact capable of triggering mythic power in certain drinkers—the Nahyndrian elixir—but that's an artifact, which, like deities, can go beyond the power limits set by mythic magic.
2) I wouldn't let it be so, nah.
3) Nope; it wouldn't have any of the original's possessions.
4) It's not really Pathfinder design philosophy to build rules that players can never use. So nope; no Mythic Simulacrum at all.
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Nah. One of the things I value about mythic characters and creatures is that they can't be created by things other than gods or moments of apotheosis (AKA: singular events that can't necessarily be replicated and are unique events customized to each and every creature.) Wrath of the Righteous does introduce a magical artifact capable of triggering mythic power in certain drinkers—the Nahyndrian elixir—but that's an artifact, which, like deities, can go beyond the power limits set by mythic magic.
Besides, isn't the point behind the Nahyndrian elixir in WotR that it's sort of "cheating," and its introduction into the conflict is part of why things escalate the way they do?
A friend of mine was talking about authoritarianism and essentially stated that "no authoritarian regime, no matter how powerful, can rule through fear and the threat of force forever, and requires at least the tacit support of the majority to remain in power." I sort of wondered why the two APs seem to have exact opposite results despite sort of starting in the same position, but with that statement in mind, that sort of changes, and I begin to wonder if the reason the Silver Ravens have a chance of success is because instead of trying to win Kintargo over into accepting the status quo, Barzillai begins his regime by immediately introducing draconian reforms that immediately piss the city's people off to the point where the Silver Ravens look like the better option. I think it'd be interesting if part of the strategy in Hell's Vengeance is sort of using Barzillai Thrune as a cautionary tale of the fact that no matter how much power you have, you still need public opinion of you to be at least neutral. Kind of the point Machiavelli was implying with The Prince if people didn't constantly think he was talking seriously. What do you think?
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Besides, isn't the point behind the Nahyndrian elixir in WotR that it's sort of "cheating," and its introduction into the conflict is part of why things escalate the way they do?
Spoiler:Would you say a big difference between the Silver Ravens and the Glorious Reclamation (assuming the events of both Hell's Rebels and Vengeance end in success) is that Barzillai was essentially TOO extreme even by Thrune standards?A friend of mine was talking about authoritarianism and essentially stated that "no authoritarian regime, no matter how powerful, can rule through fear and the threat of force forever, and requires at least the tacit support of the majority to remain in power." I sort of wondered why the two APs seem to have exact opposite results despite sort of starting in the same position, but with that statement in mind, that sort of changes, and I begin to wonder if the reason the Silver Ravens have a chance of success is because instead of trying to win Kintargo over into accepting the status quo, Barzillai begins his regime by immediately introducing draconian reforms that immediately piss the city's people off to the point where the Silver Ravens look like the better option. I think it'd be interesting if part of the strategy in Hell's Vengeance is sort of using Barzillai Thrune as a cautionary tale of the fact that no matter how much power you have, you still need public opinion of you to be at least neutral. Kind of the point Machiavelli was implying with The Prince if people didn't constantly think he was talking seriously. What do you think?
Kinda, yeah.
But BOTH Adventure Paths are about the dangers of going over the top and striking with too much force at the wrong time. Barzillai and the Glorious Reclamation have that in common. Your friend has indeed hit the proverbial nail on the head in noticing this; it's a quite intentional theme of both campaigns.
Considering the the Glorious Reclamation's first target was the Order of the God Claw, it means the Reclamation's a group of Iomedae worshippers whose opening move was to destroy a different group of Iomedae worshipers (along with Asmodeans, Abadarites, Toragites, and Irorans - the God Claw is a coalition of five faiths).
Which I guess gives the Glorious Reclamation an immediate "purge the heretics!" vibe.
Would it be fair to guess that while the Glorious Reclamation may be "good guys", they are not going to be particularly sympathetic good guys?
But yeah... being able to get my voice in at the outline stage BEFORE we hire an author for a book not only helps that author write what we need for Golarion but helps spread my vision of Golarion among our in-house staff better. We hired up a lot of folks over the last several years, and as a result, not all of them have the benefit of being with Golarion from the start and there's a lot more to know about what makes the setting what it is that never sees print.
Do you have some kind of internal continuity bible that helps get new staffers up to speed?
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Aren't you afraid of Iomedae (or LG alignment, in general) fans being unhappy with Hell's Vengeance? Not only the AP is about kicking her followers in teeth, but also it seems that they have foolishly bitten off more than they can chew, unlike the cool beans CG/NG Silver Ravens?
No more so than I'm afraid of Asmodeus fans being unhappy with Hell's Rebels. Furthermore, Iomedae fans have had PLENTY of adventures in which they get to play Iomedae worshipers and kick ass.
Not worried about this at all. One of the advantages of doing adventure paths for over a decade is that I feel very comfortable in starting to do some unusual ones. Hell's Vengeance is one of the unusual ones. If folks don't like it, wait 6 months and they'll be another to check out.
And finally, since we don't assume any AP rewrites official canon, that makes it perfectly easy for folks to ignore APs if they want.
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Considering the the Glorious Reclamation's first target was the Order of the God Claw, it means the Reclamation's a group of Iomedae worshippers whose opening move was to destroy a different group of Iomedae worshipers (along with Asmodeans, Abadarites, Toragites, and Irorans - the God Claw is a coalition of five faiths).
Which I guess gives the Glorious Reclamation an immediate "purge the heretics!" vibe.
Would it be fair to guess that while the Glorious Reclamation may be "good guys", they are not going to be particularly sympathetic good guys?
They're good guys and will be sympathetic. It makes playing an evil character less fun if you're just fighting someone who's a different flavor of evil.
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But yeah... being able to get my voice in at the outline stage BEFORE we hire an author for a book not only helps that author write what we need for Golarion but helps spread my vision of Golarion among our in-house staff better. We hired up a lot of folks over the last several years, and as a result, not all of them have the benefit of being with Golarion from the start and there's a lot more to know about what makes the setting what it is that never sees print.Do you have some kind of internal continuity bible that helps get new staffers up to speed?
We have various resources but not a specific single document. Problem is that every month those resources essentially grow by about 200 or more pages of content. This is why we generally don't adopt a constantly evolving campaign setting where every adventure we publish is automatically updated into canon. It's one thing for someone who gets paid to keep up with the canon and content to have a tough job, but expecting people out there to pay us money to keep up with it is a good way to make less money with each year that piles up... if only because it presents an increasing barrier to entry that scares off potential new customers.
