Authors of Myth

Let these mythical creatures not be overshadowed! Our freelancers aren't monsters in any sense of the word, but according to the vernacular of today's internet, you could call them absolute beasts! While the writers of our Paizo products are always credited in the front and back of the books, a simple name in a byline doesn’t give readers much information on the people who work to bring the setting to life. Instead, I reached out to the authors with the intent of promoting them—as well as any other personal work they would like to show off, so that new fans could find other projects, RPG products, websites, livestreams, and more to enjoy! If there's a section in the book that you particularly liked, why not check out the author behind it today?

Eleanor Ferron
Pathfinder Developer

Dana Ebert

Hi there! It's Dana Ebert (she/her), and I'm so excited to be back so soon! In Monsters of Myth, I took on Desert's Howl, which first appeared in Mythical Monsters Revisited almost ten years ago. This version expands on Jalari's story, while reimagining Desert's Howl as a unique monster with brand new lore and abilities for Second Edition.

I honestly adore the final stat block for Desert's Howl. I conceptualized its abilities with the intent of using mechanics to convey the feeling of being hunted and toyed with, and this version is simply vicious at denying the player characters rest and recovery in between encounters with the creature. With the release of this book, I hope that there'll be a few more Desert's Howl fans in the future!

As always, thank you so much for reading and making this community such a wonderful place! If you use Desert's Howl or any of its lore in your campaign (I'm very fond of Jalari's treasure coins, myself), I would love to hear about it on Twitter (https://twitter.com/MistressDanaRPG). And if you ever want to know more about what I'm currently working on, you can find that information on my Linktree (https://linktr.ee/MistressDanaRPG).

Sen.H.H.S

Hello, readers and greetings from Sen.H.H.S., your freelancer who lives across the Pacific Ocean from North America. You may have seen me around in projects such as Bestiary 3, Ruby Phoenix's Goka Gazetteer, Secret of Magic, and many other publications. For Monsters of Myth, I wrote the kaijus. When this assignment first came down, I was internally screaming because my gods, the pressure to deliver! Just how am I going to do these gigantic walking natural or supernatural disasters justice? After copious amounts of kaiju wikia consumption and kaiju movie clips (Pacific Rim is the best movie ever!) I hope the end result is as awe-inspiring (or horror-inspiring) as intended. If you’re interested in knowing what I'm up to recently in the TTRPG sphere, follow me on Twitter @SenHHS where I bemoan how my current reading list of forensic textbooks is raising eyebrows.

Aaron Lascano

Hello! I’m Aaron, and I wrote and designed rules for two sections in Monsters of Myth: Kuworsys and Somnalu. I had an absolute blast working on both of them, as I did a bit of research and reading of epic myth to prepare (a quick recommendation: The Epic of Gilgamesh is a genuinely incredible read). I’m fascinated by how myths are remembered, and how interpretations and treatments of myth change over time. I hope my sections even encourage players to do a bit of that themselves.

With Kuworsys, I had the opportunity to craft a new story around a pre-existing location, and with Somnalu, I got to contribute to the story of a legendary figure from Pathfinder’s past. I’m very excited for players to explore the ever-shifting ruins of Kuworsys’s labyrinth and to descend into the depths to confront slithering Somnalu.

If you’re interested, you can find me on Twitter at @devlascano. I make narrative-focused TTRPGs on Itch and I do freelance work on games whenever an opportunity arises. Cheers!

Andrew Mullen

Howdy! I’m Andrew Mullen, writer of xulgaths and quite a few other monsters at this point. For this project, I worked alongside Josh Kim and Liane Merciel. Josh wrote Kothogaz’s lore, and turning that into rules was an exciting challenge. I wanted a big, campaign-ending abomination to have more ‘breadth’ in the story than just the confrontation where you hope to kill it. For the Melfesh Monster, I just got to read through Liane’s fantastic work and pluck out tidbits to turn into monster abilities—she gave me a ton to work with!

Beyond my co-authors, I want to give a special thanks to my cousin Sameer Gupta. He’s a talented musician who focuses on American jazz and Indian classical music. Given Kothogaz’s ties to Vudra, it was important that I do right by any real-world Indian cultural aspects I used for inspiration. Without Sameer, the Craft Disharmonic Instrument and Raga of Remembrance sections wouldn’t be nearly as flavorful, interesting, or accurate. You can check him out on his website, and across social media as @tablajazz. I also highly recommend his album “A Circle Has No Beginning”—it’s gotten me through a lot of late night deadline pushes!

Shay Snow

Hi, I'm Shay Snow (they/them), I'm an editor at Paizo, and I wrote up the Kallas Devil and partnered with the extremely talented Liane Merciel to stat up Ulgrem-Axaan! I hope my skipping rhyme and lovely letters bring you lots of shivers, and I hope you enjoy all of the neat things that both the Kallas Devil and Ulgrem-Axaan can do for your games! You may have seen me in Pathfinder Lost Omens Grand Bazaar and Secrets of Magic, and I have a few things coming out in Galactic Magic. Additionally, you can find my name on a few Coyote & Crow projects!

When not writing, I’m usually discussing Native issues and rights over on my Twitter @SpellsInSugar, where you can also sometimes catch me talking about video games and horror media. You can keep up with my work, or even contact me for hire, through my website https://shayjay.carrd.co/!

Soup

"Heya, I’m Soup! I’m a nonbinary Korean-American freelance writer/game designer/podcaster/streamer. I love nothing more than cool new angles on classic fantasy tropes. I’m really excited for this book because I got to draw from Korean mythology and tradition to bring you the Taljjae, a creature inspired by the real-life mask dancing of Korea, and hopefully a cool addition to your games. You can find me streaming video games here (https://www.twitch.tv/literalsoup), my work here (https://literalsoup.com/), listen to my podcast here (http://absoluteterritorycast.com/), or contact me about business inquiries at literalsoup@gmail.com."

Jake Tondro

From a tall tower of ivory Tondro arose,
Where tales of Tolkien and Arthur he’d told.
But he exited, hexed, a man in exile,
To get a gamer’s refuge working for golems.
Then in plague, a plentiful pestilence,
Luis and Eleanor, developers at large,
Boldly offered a boon to the bairn.
“Fafnheir,” they said first, “of linnorms the father
“And Grogrisant, greedy for imperial guts
“Belong in this book, do not betray us!”
This task Tondro gladly took up
And laboring long in darkness and light
He sang the six-eyed lion’s song
And wove a wyrm from stubborn words.