The Sounds of PaizoCon Approach!

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

I am very excited to be heading back to Seattle with Syrinscape for PaizoCon 2017. Syrinscape has had such huge growth over the last twelve months and we are keen to hang out with our best most devoted fans at PaizoCon, and we've got some really great plans for our stay too.

Probably one of the most fun things we did last year was our search for the perfect Green Dragon for the beloved Dragon's Demand module, so this year we are amplifying this to the max. This year we are going to put absolutely everybody who gives a voice into a great big Shoggoth SoundSet. You know, CR 19... blow your brain away, kinda thing! Think the Borg, with green tentacles.

I am also running sound for a few of the celebrity events, don't miss "Celebrity Gaming with Amber E Scott". Game Master Greg Vaughan and I have been scheming to make life maximally difficult for this great panel of star players.

I'll be talking at a seminar about immersion, which promises to be really interesting, and doing sound for a game of Strange Aeons with the actual lead developer running the game. How cool is that?!

Most excitingly however are the little surprises we have in everybody's PaizoCon welcome bags. Long story short, this March I visited the Paizo offices in Seattle. As well as talking business, dreaming and scheming about Syrinscape's new Starfinder SoundSets, and playing a fantastic game of Pathfinder, I also grabbed Jason Bulmahn and James Jacobs, put them in a quiet room and had some fun building a couple of SoundSets. As a result of the madness and much giggling that went on in that room, I'm now very pleased to present you with two new NPCs to use in your Pathfinder games. With James Jacobs we built a fantastically colorful Tavern Keep, a purveyor of comfortable accommodation, useful information and food and drink of questionable quality. Perfect for any Fantasy adventure that begins in a Tavern. We can't imagine when that might be useful. Jason Bulmahn brings you his notorious Priest of Razmir, a terrifyingly convincing rendition of these usurious, dishonest, blackmailing charlatans. If Jason ever starts a religion, run for the hills.

These have turned out so well, I couldn't resist taking it one step too far. Yup, stick-masks for everybody. I dare you, load up the Razmir Preist on your phone and proselytize to the poor unsuspecting hotel guests at the Hilton. Or hold whole conversations between twin Tavern Keeps. Most importantly, I want photos!

So, if you're lucky enough to be at PaizoCon this year, do make sure you drop by the Syrinscape stand and shake my hand, give your voice, share a laugh and generally geek out with me and the Syrinscape team about the game I love most of all, Pathfinder.

Also... can't WAIT for Sunday's Pathfinder Society Special!

Ben Loomes
Creative Director
Syrinscape

As Aeons End

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Illustrations by Kent Hamilton

This month the Strange Aeons Adventure Path wraps up, and by the time this blog goes live some subscribers will have already dug their claws into the adventure while others have to wait for stores to put them on the shelves next Wednesday.

Over the course of this Adventure Path, readers have seen how subtle corruptions can boil over into dangerous territory, leaving those that witness them to gestate further horrors in their own minds that can threated the world at large. Within this Adventure Path, we got a look at the Great Old Ones and Elder Gods that make up the Elder Mythos. We explored Hastur's cult and had a glimpse into what might happen if that Great Old One was to rise as an Outer Gods. We got to look deeper into the vile evil of the Necronomicon, and explored the strange world of the Dreamlands. We ventured to forgotten locations in Golarion and stepped beyond the gap between worlds to set foot on lost Carcosa. In the Adventure Path bestiary, we got to show you new statistics for a Great Old One in each installment, as well as a double handful of other Mythos creatures throughout. It's been a strange journey to say the least.

I'm terrible at picking favorites, be it a favorite color, favorite song, favorite food, whatever. However, since I had so many great writers on this Adventure Path, I felt the need to pick my favorite thing that they created in each of the six adventures. Like always, it's difficult picking my favorite things that I liked about each one, so in some cases I just went with my gut when picking from my lengthy lists. Here goes!

Pathfinder Adventure Path #109: In Search of Sanity

Favorite Thing: The whole first act.

The starting encounter with the PCs asleep and encountering the Tatterman and the fugue state set up of the whole AP seemed challenging in the outline, but Wes Schneider killed it in a way that was better than I could imagine.

Honorable Mentions: That attic whisperer illustration; the Argus Wall; and Red Destiny.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #110: The Thrushmoor Terror

Favorite Thing: Thrushmoor's weird townsfolk.

Tito Leati is great at writing character that interconnect, so I loved his backstory of Nemira Lowls and how she tied in with Clymes Prett and the history of Thrushmoor's leadership, as well as the other characters he introduced.

Honorable Mentions: Fun Star Stelae mechanics; the Hastur article; and meeting Weiralai the first time.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #111: Dreams of the Yellow King

Favorite Thing: The adventure's entire structure.

I love that this adventure takes place in two worlds during a long river journey, and with most of it in the Dreamlands Ron Lundeen was able to give out powerful treasure and present some nearly impossible fights (I'm looking at you, Bokrug).

Honorable Mentions: Abdul Alhazred; Skywin Freeling as a breath of fresh, positive air; and fighting yourselves.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #112: A Whisper Out of Time

Favorite Thing: Creepy derro madness.

Rich Pett is a master of the weird and unsettling, and I really adored what he did with Miacknian Mun's house (and his weird experiments that look like him).

Honorable Mentions: The derro leader Twain; the weirdness of the Mysterium; and betrayal and blood in Okeno.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #113: What Grows Within

Favorite Thing: The strange allies you encounter.

This trip into a forgotten and inhospitable location in Golarion was made extra fun and interesting with the rich characters John Compton introduced. I adored Hoshbagh, the otyugh tome eater occultist and the frightening Mother Grim Moon, as well as the broken soul manu and the Saffron Prince.

Honorable Mentions: The return of Weiralai in her advanced form; the Necronomicon article; and the child of Yog-Sothoth template.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #114: Black Stars Beckon

Favorite Thing: Packing varied locations into one adventure.

It was a tough challenge to show different parts of Carcosa in such a tight space, but Jim did a great job of it. I especially liked seeing the Paris element of Carcosa, but getting to see Azlanti vampires and an elder thing "ghost town" was delightful as well. Man, I really love this cover.

Honorable Mentions: The cast of familiar characters like Erich Zann, Cassilda, and the Pallid Mask.

The Sounds of Madness

Today we're also excited to announce that our partners at Syrinscape have released the first Strange Aeons SoundPack! Ben has, yet again, worked his magic on bringing "In Search of Sanity" alive in all of its delightfully creepy beauty. After listening to it at my desk, I nabbed Wes so he could get a chance to hear the demented sounds of his adventure. This SoundSet really captures the fear and uncertainty of trying to survive an asylum that has descended into monstrous chaos. I loved hearing the sounds for the argus wall, and the encounter with what Debis Lieklan has become is especially unnerving. Listening to this also made me realize that I need to put more dialog in adventures, as it was great hearing the NPCs in this adventure come to life.

The first volume in the new Strange Aeons Adventure Path, "In Search of Sanity", is a fantastically intense and ghastly adventure needing equally fantastic and horrible sounds. You can get a peek at the process behind how the Syrinscape team worked their magic to bring this adventure to spine tinglingly disturbing 3D life on our YouTube channel. (Who would have thought you could voice a Nightgaunt with a fur seal?)

With the In Search of Sanity SoundPack you'll be able to carefully and finely tune your player's discomfort. Subtly ramping up or down from one so-called "Tension Level" is simply a matter of touching a single button. Your players probably won't even notice just how intensely immersed and involved they've been in the adventure session. Not until you stop Syrinscape to take a break and the mood weirdly drains from the room will they know just how you've been masterfully you've been controlling the ebb and flow of this horror adventure with a few subtle mostly subliminal tones.

Watch the demo below and grab the first Strange Aeons SoundPack here! If you're looking for more creepy sounds, check out the whole range of Syrinscape products.

Benjamin Loomes
Creative Director
Syrinscape

Illustrations by Miguel Regodón Harkness

Crossing the Streams

For those of you who want more Call of Cthulhu chocolate in their Pathfinder peanut butter (or vice versa—it's your metaphor to manipulate as needed), James Jacobs worked up a clever system in the Continuing the Campaign article to merge your Strange Aeons characters with investigators working against the sinister machinations of the Mythos in this final Strange Aeons Adventure Path volume, Pathfinder Adventure Path #114: Black Stars Beckon.

When using this system, at the climax of the Adventure Path, the PCs don't return to Golarion, but instead a magical vortex opens in Carcosa that blasts their consciousness out to the stars where they arrive in the minds of humans on a planet with a strong connection to Carcosa—Earth.

This provides an option to play adventures with the Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game where the investigators have the spirit essences of the characters the players controlled throughout the Strange Aeons Adventure Path inhabiting their minds on Earth. These spirit essences want to return to Golarion, but can't make the transition until they achieve some goals on Earth such as preventing the rise of eldritch forces and fighting against Mythos influence. With enough successes, the characters' spirit essences are freed from the human investigators and can safely return to their selves on Golarion.

This is an interesting approach to merging two different games and campaigns, and I'm interested in seeing how folks use it.

This month's Pathfinder Adventure Path closes out the Strange Aeons Adventure Path and I hope that you've enjoyed the weird ride as much as we've enjoyed bringing to you. Stay tuned to this blog for deeper looks into the Adventure Path as we bring you more reports from the Order of the Amber Die as they run marathon sessions of the remaining adventures in this campaign. You're not getting this Adventure Path out of your head that easy.

Adam Daigle
Developer

OPC Log—11 Erastus 4716

Monday, July 11, 2016

Good afternoon, Pathfinders! I just got back from northern Idaho, where I went to help clean out my childhood home. Sorting through the stuff brought the memories flooding back—wrapping paper from my childhood, the hand brace my grandfather wore, books I put in storage when I moved to England. The town doesn't look the same with the open fields of my youth replaced by housing developments. It was a relaxing visit, for being lots of physical labor, but now I'm back in Redmond and turning my focus to more Gen Con prep, getting things ready so I may travel to PaizoCon UK, and keeping things moving on getting support out to other conventions.

Gen Con Countdown—22 Days!

Don't be left hanging in Indianapolis without something to do. Gen Con Badges are still available, as are tickets to the hottest events around—Pathfinder Society events in the Sagamore Ballroom. You still have a chance to get tickets to Serpent's Ire, our Thursday night Special or Through Maelstrom Rift. Quick! Make sure you have a ticket to these special events.

In addition to the Special Events, scenarios like The Twisted Circle, the Faithless and Forgotten series, or the evergreen scenarios The Confirmation, The Wounded Wisp, and The Consortium Compact are so popular they sold out, so we are working with Gen Con to add tables of each to our offerings. Net result, more tickets of these high demand scenarios will soon be available on the Gen Con Website. Buy now before they are all gone!

Syrinscape Shinies

As a thank you to the Venture-Officers, 4-star and 5-star GMs, Ben Loomes of Syrinscape is gifting them with a year pass to its awesome service! For those unfamiliar with Syrinscape, it is an application that brings background sounds to the gaming table, adding depth and ambiance to your gaming experience. There are sounds for many for most situations—battles, towns, forests and waterfront—or use the sound creator to make your own. If you are a VO or 4/5 star GM, you will receive an email in the next day with directions how to activate your free account (to ensure you receive this message, double-check that you've enabled Paizo to send you emails on behalf of partner companies on your My Account page). Anyone else wishing to add Syrinscape to their games may visit their website and try it for free.

New 5-Star GMs

Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Game Masters are busy people, running hundreds of games a month and sharing their skills with our Pathfinder Society communities. It is my pleasure to recognize our newest 5* GMs, who ran over 150 games, including ten specials, and underwent the pressure of having a Venture-Captain observe their tables. This equates to over 750 hours of game time, not including preparation. Thank you very much for all the time you spent furthering our hobby.

Our newest five stars:

• Bill Baldwin
• Adam Dane
• Josh Lovelace
• Dawn Reed
• Michael Tracey
• Ben Wilkins
• Kevin Willis

Finally, I would turn your thoughts to a more somber nature. In the aftermath of some of this weekends occurrences, please take a moment to reach out others in our community. Say hi! Shake hands! Enjoy our collective love of a game (or games, as many of use enjoy a variety of systems and genres). Take refuge and solace in our Society. For those I've met, be well! For those I haven't, stay safe. Your all friends I haven't met yet, and I want the chance to do so!

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

Goblins Invade—Critical Role Pathfinder Stream!

Friday, April 15, 2016

Happy Friday, Pathfinders!

If you follow Paizo on any of our social media outlets (Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter), you might have heard this exciting new, in the lead up to International Tabletop Day, Critical Role will be live-streaming their own Pathfinder game!

This coming Monday, April 18 at 7:00 PM Pacific time, I will be taking over the usual Geek & Sundry Twitch show #NoSurvivors for a special episode of Critical Role—Critial Role One-Shot! I will be running a one-night Pathfinder game that should prove chaotic, silly, and fun for players and views alike! Critical Role's own Taliesin Jaffe and Marisha Ray will be playing alongside No Survivors' own GM Ivan Van Norman, as well as our special guests: the incredibly talented Ashly Burch and Phil LaMarr.

Expect some fancy audio-scapes thanks to Syrinscape, and some familiar themes for all you long-time Pathfinder GMs and players, as you come watch us storm into Critical Role One-Shot!

Matt Mercer
Critical Role

Paizo and our friends at Syrinscape will also be providing prizes for giveaways during the stream—including Pathfinder adventures and SoundSets! And to celebrate the International Tabletop Day, we're putting a number of goblin-related products on sale at 25% off starting on Monday, April 18th until midnight Saturday, April 30th. You can check out the full lineup on paizo.com/goblins!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

A Tale of Two Morgans

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Making December's Pathfinder Adventure Path SoundPack for the second chapter of Hell's Rebels has been amazing! Not only because I got to build a complete SoundSet for underwater exploration and combat (so cool, making all my normal sounds wishy washy and strangely muted), not only because I got to build a Xorn, and a Rope Golem (except I can't call either of them by their real names, because OGL), but mainly because I got to work with two of my favourite voice actors again.

Morgan Rands, I met at PaizoCon, and this year he donated a series of roars that we chose to be the official Pathfinder Green Dragon for the amazing Dragon's Demand SoundPack. The horror and sheer guttural intensity of what Morgan gave at the microphone cannot be underestimated, so when he offered to give more sounds whenever I needed something I couldn't pass up the offer. Since then Morgan has given all sorts of bits and pieces, including the King Chess Piece voices and the Dice Roller sounds for our brand new shiny Catan SoundSet in the Board Game Player. And for Turn of the Torrent Morgan didn't disappoint! From Barzillai's sneering Proclamations to the slightly disturbing snarls of the three headed cerberi.

Morgan Jenkins, I met at PaxAus, and this year I spoke on a Panel he ran about Tabletop Gaming for Visually Impaired people. It was extremely informative and inspiring. Morgan does great things for a not insignificant group of gamers, for example encouraging us at Syrinscape to add interface scaling to our Apps (already done = you can make the buttons bigger) and high contrast backgrounds (in the works now = making the backgrounds black). Morgan has a seemingly endless hoard of voices bouncing round in his head, and for Turn of the Torrent he gave me a trio of extremely peculiar and quite inebriated NPCs to populate the wonderfully seedy tavern the "Tooth and Nail". These characters (who even sing), will enable GMs to deliver an amusing and genuinely memorable break from slaying and looting in any Pathfinder adventure.

It's wonderful having these two great guys on the end of an email. All I have to do is type in, "Right, are you keen to give me a slightly psychopathic, disturbed, but competently deadly human Expert/Fighter/Rogue?" and before I can say, "mixing up the pretty sounds" I've got an inbox full of several thousand bytes of viscous Pathfinder audio gold.

So thank you so much Morgans! Since the beginnings of Syrinscape, we have been keen to use community created content and voice acting rather than just standard commercial sample packs. That's one of the reasons I love freesound.org, where I am able to use great recordings made by keen amateurs, and best of all put their names in lights inside our app. One of these days one of my fantastic contributes is going to get a lead role in a feature film after a big producer with an even bigger cigar hears their voice in a Syrinscape Pathfinder SoundSet. That'll be a great day.

If you are a Syrinscape Fantasy or SuperSyrin Subscriber you'll see these SoundSets live in the Fantasy Player already as well as stand alone "Seedy Tavern" and "Flooded Dungeon" versions very soon. If you're not a Subscriber you can still hear them by grabbing a free 30 day trial sub, which unlocks everything we've ever made.

And remember, if you're another Morgan (or Morganette), don't hesitate to get in contact with us to see if you might just have exactly what we are needing in our next Pathfinder Adventure Path SoundPack.

Benjamin Loomes
Creative Director
Syrinscape

Dicestormers Halloween Special—All Flesh Must Be Eaten

Friday, October 23, 2015

The Game: All Flesh Must Be Eaten
The Setting: End of Gen Con tear-down in the exhibition hall—when it's really difficult to tell the difference between the exhausted... and the undead!
The Encounter: Paizo staff have turned into zombies! Watch to see how many you can name. There's even a couple of our more famous volunteers!

In this video, we've featured the latest sounds from Syrinscape's new Halloween Survival SoundPack. This latest SoundPack gives you access to creepy, icky sounds to bring your seasonal gaming session to life!

For more Halloween gaming ideas and why I chose to populate the game with the Paizo team, check out this behind the scenes video below:

Now it's your turn! We want to see (and hear) your Halloween games! Share a video on social media and tag it with #soundsofhalloween and mention @Syrinscape for a chance to win a Syrinscape prize pack.

Have fun, make some spooky noises, and Happy Halloween from Syrinscape!

Benjamin Loomes
Creative Director
Syrinscape

The Making of the "In Hell's Bright Shadow" SoundPack

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

The first volume in the new Hell's Rebels Adventure Path, "In Hell's Bright Shadow", is a fantastic adventure needing equally fantastic sounds. But where exactly does one record a skeleton battle in progress, or an exploding fairy? Follow along in the attached video for just a few of the creative ways Team Syrinscape brought "In Hell's Bright Shadow" to life.

Skeleton Battle—Redact & Revenge SoundSet

"In Hell's Bright Shadow" calls for a Skeleton Battle. We had drums and a disturbing undead mumbling all sorted, but how to do the clinking of rib bones? We can't have skeletons without that sound! The secret to making the sound of lots of little bones clinking together is... Lego! Yep, with a handful of pink Lego pieces, and a bit of audio processing, the result is a sound that's not only peculiar, but creates a sense that something not held together in quite the normal way is trying to stab you.

Giant Rat Battle—Fair Fortune Livery SoundSet

This one should've been simple enough to create. Just find some Rodents of Unusual Size and record them, right? I tried that—they ate my microphone! And sound samples from real-world rats weren't nearly monstrous enough for what awaits players in this encounter. The solution here was Australia's Tasmanian Devil, whose maniacal scream is part of how the animal got its name. Thanks Australia!

Bloodthirsty Rioters—Aria Park Protest SoundSet

Next, the protest and riot scene challenged us to come up with the sound of a lawless rabble. What sort of people sound riotous, disrespectful of order, and generally dangerous? Of course, politicians! That's right—these samples came from open-source recordings of the English Houses of Parliament. That's what I call leadership!

Fan-Sourced Voice Actors

While many of Syrinscape's beastly sounds and unique voices come from our own voice boxes combined with a lot of fancy audio processing, maintaining variety in the audio content is one of our biggest challenges. This year at PaizoCon and again at Gen Con, we thought we'd try having gamers contribute their own madness to our library of source sounds, and wow, did you deliver! Some of my favorites:

• The Grimple Cackles in the Fair Fortune Livery SoundSet —supplied by Jason Bainter and Nathaniel Bassett at Gen Con. Wow!
• The lemures in the same SoundSet.
• The chough in the Waspnest.
• And the thugs in the Aria Park Protest.

THANK YOU, and keep the sounds coming! In fact we are more than happy to continue to accept sounds, just email them to benjamin@syrinscape.com.

Exploding Fairy—Rebuild the Ravens SoundSet

Last but not least came the age-old question, "What exactly does it sound like when a fairy explodes?" This was indeed the conundrum with which I was faced. In the end I settled on a slowed down balloon pop, combined with a light sprinkling of sped-up fairy dust wind chimes. If we ever get the chance to witness the real thing, I'll make sure I pull out my recorder quick-smart.

I hope you've enjoyed my musings on sound creation, and I hope you enjoy our work on this amazing In Hell's Bright Shadow SoundPack. In particular it's been fantastic to work with the two composers, Kyle Johnson and Michael Gordon Shapiro, who have breathed a great breath of fresh air into the music available in Syrinscape.

For the first time Syrinscape is releasing a new SoundPack simultaneously with Paizo's latest Pathfinder Adventure Path. GMs and players who now have access to the latest volume, Pathfinder Adventure Path #97: In Hell's Bright Shadow, also have the opportunity to experience this latest AP with sound from the get-go with the In Hell's Bright Shadow SoundPack. Give it a try with a free 30-day trial subscription, but be warned—after a session playing this excellent adventure enhanced with fully immersive sound, your players will never want to play without Syrinscape again!

Benjamin Loomes
Creative Director
Syrinscape

I Demand More Dragons!

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Pathfinder's beloved adventure The Dragon's Demand just got a whole lot better! After months of hard work and the contributions of a host of Syrinscape and Pathfinder fans, the long-awaited SoundPack for this well known adventure has arrived.

Packed full with delicious and slightly frightening goodies, "The Dragon's Demand" SoundPack includes a complete Kobold Lair, an awesomely gross "Mouther" monster, shrieking grioths, firebombing Flame Drakes, and an epically massive and quite angry Green Dragon with an eye-wateringly singeing acid breath weapon with which to terrorise your players.

Check out the video demo of the awesome SoundPack!

Then grab all the sounds here, along with the rest of Syrinscape's products in the Paizo store!

What else is news?! Well, we are super excited to be able to announce that Hell's Rebels is the next Adventure Path to receive the Syrinscape treatment! Just imagine what sounds will be coming out of your speakers when you play this one—Cheliax here we come! Look out for the first chapter of Syrinscape's Hell's Rebels SoundPacks coming out simultaneously with the August release of "In Hell's Bright Shadow."

And finally watch out for Ben at GenCon! Drop by the stand to pick up this year's free goodies and contribute your voice to the "GenCon Monster Raid" SoundSet or once again enjoy the epic accompaniment Syrinscape adds to the Pathfinder Society Specials. And make sure you don't miss Ben as he GMs this year's Live RPG Plus, a truly interactive roleplaying experience where the audience determines the fate of our all-star cast, including such legends as Chris Pramas, Adrian Swartout, and Paizo's very own James Jacobs. This event is not to be missed—the last time we ran a Live RPG Plus we ended up with a Green/White/Fire/Ice Dragon held by the tail being used as a weapon by the slightly overenthusiastic Ranger, a ranger who determined all his actions using Rock-Paper-Scissors. Get your tickets now!

And remember listen out for the fantastic Pathfinder fans who gave their vocal talents to "The Dragon's Demand" SoundPack at both PaizoCon and UK Games Expo this year. You can find their names in lights under the product credits in the store. Syrinscape thanks you and praises you for your spectacularly and slightly disturbing contributions!

Benjamin Loomes (half-elf bard/paladin)
Creative Director
Syrinscape