Have you seen Pacific Rim 2 yet and if so what did you think?
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Same question as before but about horror movies of the 90's?
The 90s were kind of a dull streak for horror, alas, with a lot of them just being about serial killers or as much comedy as horror. The ones I liked that come to mind were:
Silence of the Lambs
In the Mouth of Madness
Seven
Dead Alive
Army of Darkness
Ravenous
The Relic
But then it all ended with two of the best horror movies ever: Audition and The Blair Witch Project, which made up for the 90s being pretty dull in the horror genre overall.
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Have you seen Pacific Rim 2 yet and if so what did you think?
Haven't seen it and don't plan on seeing it.
Pacific Rim disappointed me greatly, and the parts of Pacific Rim that had me the most interested in seeing it (the focus on kaiju and the directing of Guillarmo del Toro and the acting power of Idris Elba) were not in the sequel, which felt to me more like an ad for toys.
I prefer kaiju movies where the kaiju are a threat and don't start the movie already defeated, and aren't just throwaway things in fights. Pacific Rim is more interested in the giant robots, which kinda bore me.
AKA: I quite enjoy Ultraman (one giant robot vs. kaiju) but do not enjoy Power Rangers (a team of giant robots versus kaiju).
My first time GMing and actually playing any RP game was for RotR almost 7 years ago. Which also was my first introduction to Lovecraft during the final chapter. I remember reading the blurb in the corner of one of the articles and just thinking how odd a name it was and how I never heard of cosmic horror. It's fair to say I butchered the atmosphere of what was intended, luckily I've gained more XP since then and spent countless hours delving into the Cosmic Horror genre, suffice to say myself and my original gaming group are huge fans now of when our Golarion games merge with Lovecraftian themes. We're doing RotR again with some new members and we're about to start the final chapter, we've also run through Shattered Star and loved the Leng elements. My question, is Return of the Runelords going to have ties to the Lovecraftian?
P.S. Thanks for introducing me and my group to all the wonders/horrors of TTRPGs and Lovecraft!!!
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My first time GMing and actually playing any RP game was for RotR almost 7 years ago. Which also was my first introduction to Lovecraft during the final chapter. I remember reading the blurb in the corner of one of the articles and just thinking how odd a name it was and how I never heard of cosmic horror. It's fair to say I butchered the atmosphere of what was intended, luckily I've gained more XP since then and spent countless hours delving into the Cosmic Horror genre, suffice to say myself and my original gaming group are huge fans now of when our Golarion games merge with Lovecraftian themes. We're doing RotR again with some new members and we're about to start the final chapter, we've also run through Shattered Star and loved the Leng elements. My question, is Return of the Runelords going to have ties to the Lovecraftian?
P.S. Thanks for introducing me and my group to all the wonders/horrors of TTRPGs and Lovecraft!!!
Absolutely. Just as there were Lovecraftian elements in Shattered Star, there will be some pretty significant ones (bigger ties than were in Rise of the Runelords or Shattered Star combined) to Lovecraftian elements in Return of the Runelords.
And glad you enjoyed discovering Lovecraft and Pathfinder!
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Was anyone eating noisy food during the screening you saw?Brilliant movie, and one that I'm delighted to see clobbering things at the box office.What did you think of The Quiet Place.
Or was it A Quiet Place...
Nope.
Lately, I've only really gone to see movies at iPic, where tickets cost just over 25 bucks. The result of that is pretty well-behaved audiences; they're spending extra money to see the movie and to respect the experience.
That said, everything I've heard is that audiences all over the place are respecting A Quiet Place and not being chuckleheads during it. Just wish they'd do that ALL the time, and not just for movies that all but call them out for being noisy.
Ashava's got as much, if not more significance to the region as Soralyon.
Interesting...
While we're talking about the gods, will Planar Adventures answer the big questions? (e.g., if the benevolent gods care so much, why don't they intervene more?)
Dear James Jacobs,
Who do you think is one of the better fantasy cartographers of recent note?
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Ashava's got as much, if not more significance to the region as Soralyon.Interesting...
While we're talking about the gods, will Planar Adventures answer the big questions? (e.g., if the benevolent gods care so much, why don't they intervene more?)
It discusses that. Short version is a combination of "If the good gods intervene more, the bad ones will," plus "If the gods intervene more, then that erodes free will since mortals will begin to expect handouts and won't try to solve their own problems."
Of course, the REAL reason is that if the good gods intervened more then your PCs wouldn't have a job, and we wouldn't have a setting where your characters would matter.
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Dear James Jacobs,
Who do you think is one of the better fantasy cartographers of recent note?
No way for me to answer that without implying to some that cartographers I don't mention are somehow ones I hate, thanks to the extremes and jumping-to-conclusions nature of the internet. Same reason I don't publicly say which Advenutre Path is my favorite or which author is my favorite or which artist is my favorite.
I'm fine revealing favorites in industries outside of the tabletop RPG one, where my words are less likely to be misinterpreted as attacks or criticisms by fellow employees or our freelancers.
3.x actively encouraged gms to custom tailor classes to better fit player's character concepts. Do you this as fundementally contradictory to Pathfinder's intended way of playing (RAI)?
It discusses that. Short version is a combination of "If the good gods intervene more, the bad ones will," plus "If the gods intervene more, then that erodes free will since mortals will begin to expect handouts and won't try to solve their own problems."Ashava's got as much, if not more significance to the region as Soralyon.Interesting...
While we're talking about the gods, will Planar Adventures answer the big questions? (e.g., if the benevolent gods care so much, why don't they intervene more?)
While we're on the subject of humans living without help from the gods, how will the treatment of atheists be addressed? I should hope it's not how they were treated in Death's Heretic (i.e., buried forever).
In particular, I'm profoundly disturbed by the possibility of people from worlds without obvious divine manifestation (i.e., Earth) could be denied afterlives because they were merely acting on evidence, as if that's a grave sin. (And the Mythos is what's supposed to be scary?)
I hope you'll understand why I'm a bit emotional about this.
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It discusses that. Short version is a combination of "If the good gods intervene more, the bad ones will," plus "If the gods intervene more, then that erodes free will since mortals will begin to expect handouts and won't try to solve their own problems."Ashava's got as much, if not more significance to the region as Soralyon.Interesting...
While we're talking about the gods, will Planar Adventures answer the big questions? (e.g., if the benevolent gods care so much, why don't they intervene more?)
While we're on the subject of humans living without help from the gods, how will the treatment of atheists be addressed? I should hope it's not how they were treated in Death's Heretic (i.e., buried forever).
In particular, I'm profoundly disturbed by the possibility of people from worlds without obvious divine manifestation (i.e., Earth) could be denied afterlives because they were merely acting on evidence, as if that's a grave sin. (And the Mythos is what's supposed to be scary?)
I hope you'll understand why I'm a bit emotional about this.
Atheists aren't covered much at all when we talk about the deities. In a discussion about the gods and where they live and how they function, Atheists aren't a big part of the discussion.
That said, the information we've reprinted about the River of Souls does talk about what happens to atheists when they die. The short version: Those who are destined to be punished go to "atheist hell" (aka being buried forever or the like), and those who are destined to be rewarded go to "atheist heaven" (aka become free-roaming intellects who can explore reality forever). If you want to see this information now, check out the original article in part 6 of Mummy's Mask, which (unlike Death's Heretic, alas) had a lot more oversight in the Creative Direction department as to how Pathfinder's afterlife works. A quote from that article: "Many m ortal philosophers teach that all atheist souls [brood on the failings of reality], but in truth, atheists ... who seek to pass on can experience the full range of afterlives just as adherents of any other belief system do."
And be careful in speaking out emotionally, because your post can be as triggering to others as Death's Heretic was to you. You can still have faith in worlds without divine manifestation, though. That is as narrow minded (assuming that only the actual ability to cast magic is what allows someone to be religious) as it is for someone to state that all atheists are destined for eternal punishment (which some of our authors have implied, but when they've done so they've gone against my implicit creative direction on the topic, either willfully or ignorantly).
Hi James,
What is the Horror Movie you are most looking forward to in 2018 (and for this question I specifically mean a movie you haven't seen yet).
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Hi James,
What is the Horror Movie you are most looking forward to in 2018 (and for this question I specifically mean a movie you haven't seen yet).
Annihilation and A Quiet Place were the big ones, but both of them are now out and seen by me.
Looking forward to the one I'm the MOST anticipating though... that'd be the sequel to Halloween, with Hereditary being a close second.
Why do tieflings/aasimars reach adulthood more slowly than humans if the rest of their aging benchmarks are identical? It seems odd for something descended from an immortal creature to spend less time at the prime of their life.
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Why do tieflings/aasimars reach adulthood more slowly than humans if the rest of their aging benchmarks are identical? It seems odd for something descended from an immortal creature to spend less time at the prime of their life.
They don't and shouldn't. They should reach adulthood at the same rate as humans; Advanced Race Guide got it wrong. They live longer than humans overall though.
Hi James,
What is the Horror Movie you are most looking forward to in 2018 (and for this question I specifically mean a movie you haven't seen yet).
Annihilation and A Quiet Place were the big ones, but both of them are now out and seen by me.
Looking forward to the one I'm the MOST anticipating though... that'd be the sequel to Halloween, with Hereditary being a close second.
What's your opinion on sequels that disregard other sequels? For example you mentioned Halloween... but I've already seen them kill off Laurie Strode twice already and redo the 'XXX years later' in H20. I'm sure I'll see it, but it feels a bit inconsequential to me. Like when the comics reboot every 5-10 years but make you feel THIS one is the REALLY important one...
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What's your opinion on sequels that disregard other sequels? For example you mentioned Halloween... but I've already seen them kill off Laurie Strode twice already and redo the 'XXX years later' in H20. I'm sure I'll see it, but it feels a bit inconsequential to me. Like when the comics reboot every 5-10 years but make you feel THIS one is the REALLY important one...Hi James,
What is the Horror Movie you are most looking forward to in 2018 (and for this question I specifically mean a movie you haven't seen yet).
Annihilation and A Quiet Place were the big ones, but both of them are now out and seen by me.
Looking forward to the one I'm the MOST anticipating though... that'd be the sequel to Halloween, with Hereditary being a close second.
When they're disregarding inferior sequels, I'm all for it. The fact that John Carpenter is doing the score for the upcoming Halloween is the main reason I'm excited to see it, frankly. There's nothing inconsequential about that whatsoever. Especially considering that the last few sequels HAVE been inconsequential for various reasons.
While we're on the subject of humans living without help from the gods, how will the treatment of atheists be addressed? I should hope it's not how they were treated in Death's Heretic (i.e., buried forever).
In particular, I'm profoundly disturbed by the possibility of people from worlds without obvious divine manifestation (i.e., Earth) could be denied afterlives because they were merely acting on evidence, as if that's a grave sin. (And the Mythos is what's supposed to be scary?)
I hope you'll understand why I'm a bit emotional about this.
Atheists aren't covered much at all when we talk about the deities. In a discussion about the gods and where they live and how they function, Atheists aren't a big part of the discussion.
That said, the information we've reprinted about the River of Souls does talk about what happens to atheists when they die. The short version: Those who are destined to be punished go to "atheist hell" (aka being buried forever or the like), and those who are destined to be rewarded go to "atheist heaven" (aka become free-roaming intellects who can explore reality forever). If you want to see this information now, check out the original article in part 6 of Mummy's Mask, which (unlike Death's Heretic, alas) had a lot more oversight in the Creative Direction department as to how Pathfinder's afterlife works. A quote from that article: "Many mortal philosophers teach that all atheist souls [brood on the failings of reality], but in truth, atheists ... who seek to pass on can experience the full range of afterlives just as adherents of any other belief system do."
And be careful in speaking out emotionally, because your post can be as triggering to others as Death's Heretic was to you. You can still have faith in worlds without divine manifestation, though. That is as narrow minded (assuming that only the actual ability to cast magic is what allows someone to be religious) as it is for someone to state that all atheists are destined for eternal punishment (which some of our authors have implied, but when they've done so they've gone against my implicit creative direction on the topic, either willfully or ignorantly).
While it's better to be thought a fool that speak and remove all doubt, it's better to be thought a fool but be wise than the other way around. I would've asked even if I did think to look up the article you referenced. Thankfully, your answer is reassuring and yet again wonderfully thoughtful. Also, I apologize to anyone I offended.
Now what question to ask next...?
How about something lighter and on a different topic? What do you think about the Mistborn series? (Non-spoilery, please; I'm only halfway through the first book.)
Cool. And should dhampirs have identical aging to humans, instead of the weird 20+4/6/10d6? Because I'm guessing the possibility of them dying of old age during sufficiently randomized character creation is a sign something got lost in translation somewhere.
Character ages came up during a game, sorry for the weird questions about it!
James,
Any interest in the Suspiria remake due this year?
Hi James,
I was wondering if you have any additional information about Ylimancha beyond what's listed in Chronicle of the Righteous? One of my PCs wants to play as a paladin of her, and I'm not entirely sure of what that would entail.
Thanks for your time!
What other word/name you'd give to Starfinder Drift that keep the same concept?
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Apologies if I'm lumping too many questions together, but I'm trying to get a feel for how well understood lycanthropy is for a coming session.
How common is knowledge of lycanthropy in Golarion? Ie. is it something everyone would know of or would it require a simple knowledge check? Basically if someone were to see a lycanthrope change form in front of them would it be more like "obviously this person is a were-whatever" or more like "we better go look up what this person has?"
Also, how well known is the wolfbane 'cure'? I don't know what knowledge check/DC to assign to knowing about this solution. Similarly, how commonly available is wolfsbane?
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Cool. And should dhampirs have identical aging to humans, instead of the weird 20+4/6/10d6? Because I'm guessing the possibility of them dying of old age during sufficiently randomized character creation is a sign something got lost in translation somewhere.
Character ages came up during a game, sorry for the weird questions about it!
Unlike tieflings and aasimars, who have had their aging rates set as significant plot-bearing story elements in Rise of the Runelords and Council of Thieves, we haven't done a story that uses dhampir aging as an element of the plot. So at this point, those ages are fine; they don't conflict with any world lore.
But THAT said, yes, it's a typo (I would hope that the fact that this lets them potentially die of old age during randomized age rolling at character generation would make that obvious, since that's a TERRIBLE game design choice!). Having them age identically to humans doesn't ruin anything, and it makes the game that much less complicated, so that's my vote.
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James,
Any interest in the Suspiria remake due this year?
Absolutely. The casting is incredible for the movie. I don't expect it to even come CLOSE to the original in terms of cinematography or score, but I've high hopes that they can make the plot make at least a little bit of sense. Plot was never Argento's strong suit.
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Hi James,
I was wondering if you have any additional information about Ylimancha beyond what's listed in Chronicle of the Righteous? One of my PCs wants to play as a paladin of her, and I'm not entirely sure of what that would entail.
Thanks for your time!
There's a little bit about Ylimancha in the Magnimar book, but so far that's about it. Although that said, she doesn't have an organized paladin order, so paladins who worship her would be very rare. That's a good role for a Player Character, especially if they want to take on the mantle of being the FIRST paladin of Ylimancha or, at the very least, the first to try to set up a paladin order.
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What other word/name you'd give to Starfinder Drift that keep the same concept?
I wouldn't, since I don't know enough about Starfinder to make those sorts of decisions. Starfinder questions should be asked of Rob, the creative director for that game.
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Apologies if I'm lumping too many questions together, but I'm trying to get a feel for how well understood lycanthropy is for a coming session.
How common is knowledge of lycanthropy in Golarion? Ie. is it something everyone would know of or would it require a simple knowledge check? Basically if someone were to see a lycanthrope change form in front of them would it be more like "obviously this person is a were-whatever" or more like "we better go look up what this person has?"
Also, how well known is the wolfbane 'cure'? I don't know what knowledge check/DC to assign to knowing about this solution. Similarly, how commonly available is wolfsbane?
It's pretty well known; at least as well known as it is in the real world. Werewolves and their kind are pretty scary and infamous and popular among stories in Golarion, just as they are in the real world.
As for how common it is, since all knowledge requires Knowledge checks, then yeah, that's the way the game rules work. You'd need to make Knowledge (local) checks to know about lycanthropes, or perhaps gather rumors or use a different Knowledge (say, Knowledge [religion] to know about a werewolf's place in the hierarchy of the church of Jezelda, or Knowledge [history] to know about a famous lycanthrope, etc.).
There's enough other stuff out there in the world that can pose as human and not be a werewolf or whatever that if the idea that someone is a monster disguised as a human pops up, folks are not guaranteed to jump to WEREWOLF immediately. Could be doppelgangers or dragons or faceless stalkers or veiled masters or succubi or anything that can cast alter self, etc.
When assigning Knowledge check DCs, keep in mind that if it's a DC 10 or lower, ANYONE can attempt to know the thing, even untrained. If it's a DC 11, then you HAVE to be trained to be able to know about it, and still have to make the Knowledge check to confirm. For all of this, it's up to the GM to decide what best works for their table.
My general guidelines are:
Something that everyone could know/common knowledge: DC 10
Something that everyone who has studied the topic even a little should probably know: DC 11
Something that only someone who studies the topic but isn't high level should probably know: DC 15
Something that only an expert should probably know: DC 20
Something that only an expert dedicated to the topic as their primary focus of research should know: DC 25
Something that you want to gatelock so that it requires high level PCs or specific NPCs to know: DC 30 or higher.
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From all the PF1 characters you've played, which archetypes that you've used have you found the most interesting to portray?
None, really. Archetypes don't really factor much at all into what makes a character interesting to me to play.
The thing that makes a character interesting to play for me is a combination of her personality, her faith, and her history. Archetypes are things that, if I pick one up at all, would be suggested by those choices, not the other way around.
Oh, that reminds me,
What makes were-people evil, and why did pathfinder change them to all varieties be evil?
For example, Were-tigers who used to be LN in older editions.
Also, how unlikely is it to have non-evil were-people, and does natural vs afflicted matter at all in this regard?
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Oh, that reminds me,
What makes were-people evil, and why did pathfinder change them to all varieties be evil?
For example, Were-tigers who used to be LN in older editions.
Also, how unlikely is it to have non-evil were-people, and does natural vs afflicted matter at all in this regard?
Nothing makes lycanthropes evil. They can be any alignment. In fact, in Pathfinder, we REMOVED the alignment requirements for lycanthropes that existed in D&D.
Lycanthropes can be any alignment.
But for the example ones, we needed to pick an alignment for them, and since the game generally benefits more from having ready-made bad guys to fight, we skew evil on the lycanthropes (just as we skew evil for all monsters overall in the Bestiaries).
Have you seen the movie Ghost Stories? Though I do not if you can in the States yer...just saw a trailer for today...it looks good.
Hey James, a few questions:
- When you are a DM, are the Gods of Golarion a huge force even when you got no divine characters in your group or as a major NPC? For example if you make a prayer or a blasphemy, do you created a roleplay and/or mechanical effect for your players?
-Can we expect a blog on the evolutions of the setting in PF2? Will you take into account the previous AP with what we could called a “Vanilla Ending”? And if that is the case can we expect some of them where you consider that the players failed and the BBEG won?