Seems like an item that should always be stocked, like the bestiary boxes.
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So the First World has been pretty well detailed (and great job at it too!). But all the Eldest are evil or neutral? Is this a statement on the brutality and indifference of primeval nature? We do have very good Eldest characters from the very beginning of modern fantasy: Tom Bombadil and Goldberry. “Eldest, that's what I am. Mark my words, my friends: Tom was here before the river and the trees; Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn. He made paths before the Big People, and saw the Little People arriving. He was here before the Kings and the graves and the Barrow-wights. When the Elves passed westward, Tom was here already, before the seas were bent. He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless - before the Dark Lord came from Outside.” - Fellowship of the Ring. Of course, they can't put Tom Bombadil in the book for copyright reasons, but there could have been a suitably inspired alternative. If my campaign ever goes to the First World, he'll be there.
Subscriptions now please.
Just as an additional voice, I am waiting for subscriptions to be available before I commit to ordering anything Starfinder. I don't want to preorder and lose out on the pdfs. Just check my name line to see how serious I am about subscriptions! :)
As there is currently no extra benefit to preordering as opposed to ordering piecemeal later, or from a third-party seller, I would just like to cast my vote that subscription options for Starfinder should be made available ASAP so I can get the PDF along with a print copy. I would subscribe.
Gnomes should have rounded ears. Sometimes our artists go off-model and we either don't notice in the sketch stage, or we're on a strict enough timeline that sending art back for corrections would delay the publication of a book. Given the choice between having perfectly on-model gnome ears and having a book ship on time, we almost always choose the latter. Thank you, Mark, for your answer! Also thanks to everyone else who responded, and for taking the time to dig up images and links.
Lini has pointed ears. If you could provide an image, that would be great. If you're referring to the one in the Core Rulebook, I personally find it hard to tell. Her miniatures also don't have her ears particularly pointed; they look more like ovals to me. There is also this image from the Pathfinder Wiki (which I think is an official source?), though not by Wayne Reynolds, that depicts a Lini with round ears, or if there is a point, it is only just barely so. The roleplaying significance for me is if ear shape can be used to distinguish a gnome from a halfling. All halflings have noticeably pointed ears. If gnomes don't, or at least some don't, that would be a surefire way for a knowledgeable character to distinguish them.
Rulebook art: Looking at the Core Rulebook gnome, not pointed. Looking at the Inner Sea Races gnomes, pointed (but not long). Looking at Gnomes of Golarion, some pictured gnomes are pointed, some aren't. Ditto for Advanced Race Guide. Iconics: Looking at Iconic Druid Lini and her miniatures, not pointed, or only very slightly. The Iconic Bard Lem is a halfling, and they all have pointed ears. The Iconic Mesmerist Meligaster is also a halfling, so N/A. Iconic Summoner Balazar's ears are hidden beneath his headgear. I'm wondering if it's just another one of those highly mutable facial features gnomes are famous for?
Subject line.
1. Distant Worlds 2. Great Beyond 3. Dark Tapestry
It was never clear to me what kind of magic the alchemist used from the Advanced Player's Guide. While it classifies alchemist magic as arcane, it says that the alchemist gets his magic "from his own aura" and "his own magical potential" and infuses it into his extracts. Now that psychic magic has been introduced and defined as magic arising from each individual's own spiritual power, rather than that of a deity or an outside force, doesn't it seem appropriate to say that the alchemist is using psychic magic to infuse his extracts and bombs with? Just a thought.
Also, Ustalav was founded by Varisians. Soividia Ustav was a Varisian. 'Common' isn't necessarily as common in Rural Ustalav, where you have mostly ethnic Varisian's duking it out with the 'even more ethnic' Kellids they displaced... It's not just Ustalav. I think in my campaign I'll have to treat Taldane like Polyglot: a bunch of related dialects that are mutually intelligible to a greater or lesser extent. And Common as a standard and perhaps simplified form used by traders and travelers. I'll assume that characters that know Common can adjust to a regional dialect after spending a few weeks in an area, or can speed it along with Gather Information or Linguistics checks. The Latin influence on Cheliax proper nouns and the Slavic influence on Ustalavan proper nouns really does suggest separate languages though. One other thing: I'm using Tolkien's Khûzdûl as Dwarven in my campaign, which is pretty pure and isolated as a language. Names like Thorin and Balin, etc. were not Khûzdûl but rather borrowed from the human Dalish tongue because dwarves liked to keep their language secret. Golarion Dwarven proper nouns seem to alternate between a Nordic-Germanic influence (e.g. Harsk, Janderhoff) and a Tolkien Khûzdûl influence (e.g. Khadon, Taargadth, Saggorak). I'm tempted to attribute this to a Skald influence on Dwarven after they reached the surface and took a particular liking to this human language, incorporating Skald or pseudo-Skald names and vocabulary into the Dwarven of their time.
That makes sense, but wouldn't that difference naturally lead to separation of languages?
If there is no separate Chelaxian language, why are names for people and places so different between Taldor, Cheliax, and the rest of the countries that speak Common, like Ustalav for example?
Before hammering out the linguistics for each language, it might be a good idea to establish the genetic relationships between them so that it would be easy to derive one language from another through regular sound shifts and external influences.Along those lines, it might be useful to create a language "map"; essentially, just a political map of Golarion, but showing language groups and overlaps rather than political borders. That way you could also include isolated linguistic groups easily. This was kind of done by a user named Lu-ming here. It does not show areas of overlap, though. That would mostly occur in the north with the nomadic tribes, and I'm not familiar enough with their general areas of habitation and migration patterns yet to ink out the exact patches. Perhaps one day :).
I'd like to touch on some difficult to resolve issues in published material. Cheliax ostensibly also speaks Taldane, though it's reasonable to assume they developed their own dialect. However Cheliax and Taldor place names are nothing like each other. One phrase in Azlanti used in Cheliax found in published material is "Ex Prothex", while another quoted above is "Saventh-Yhi". These two are also nothing like each other. The designers of Cheliax, it's safe to assume, were inspired by Latin, sprinkling -ax and -ex endings into proper nouns that are not found in Taldor. And "Ex Prothex" uses the Latin preposition "ex" quite literally, and the Greek root "proto-" meaning first with a Latinate suffix -ex added on. Whereas "Saventh-Yhi" is not Latinate at all. So we have the task of reconciling completely invented Taldane-Azlanti morphemes with ones that are obviously inspired by real world Latin.
Before hammering out the linguistics for each language, it might be a good idea to establish the genetic relationships between them so that it would be easy to derive one language from another through regular sound shifts and external influences. So I put together a rudimentary family tree here. I'm by no means familiar with all of the material so I welcome comments.
Hi, though this thread is almost a year old with only a few posts, I just noticed it now as I'm new to Pathfinder. But yes, if you are still working on this project privately, I would like to help. For the demihuman languages, like Elvish, Dwarvish, and Orcish, since Tolkien has already done so much excellent work on his own languages that haven't seen much use outside of very dedicated fan circles, I'm using those (Sindarin, Khuzdul, Black Speech) for my own campaign. I will note that Tolkien also had some other languages that may be worth tracking down for the more exotic non-human languages: Valarin for Celestial, and Entish for Sylvan. Anyway, if you are still working on this, I would like to join and help. If you are not, I'd like to know if you've detailed privately more than what is in your posts here so that I can adopt, adapt, and expand on your work. Thanks!
You don't need to know the password to read it. But if you start changing the properties of the document, trying to extract things, etc. in a full pdf editor you will get a pop-up asking you for the password. There are many customizable security settings of varying degrees based on what the author wants to allow the reader to be able to do. In this case the security settings allow printing, so when you print it you won't be asked for the password either.
Seriously though, I'm not railing. I'm just emotional because I really do love the Paizo products that much that I want to be able to hold all of them in my hand like a treasure. That's really all it's about. Please let me know if you do put them up for sale. I'm a stickler for really good condition, though.
My huge Golem Sale order has just arrived. Let the Unboxing begin!
I received an answer from Vic today. For what it's worth, he says they have no problem with customers using Lulu to print their personal copy. That said, if a pdf is password protected, it might simply be automatically rejected as per Lulu's FAQ; I don't know, I haven't tried.
Ok, well that's that. I didn't check if they were protected. I emailed Vic Wertz earlier the question to see if they would be ok with it, but since Lulu is not going to let you print it anyway because of the electronic protection, it's not gonna be possible even if I get permission. Thanks. P.S. My apologies to Vic, I had no idea what a service bureau was, I thought it was some vague term. But it does mean something very specific.
As an aside, oftentimes the reasons for such inflated prices on sites like Amazon is because the book prices are tied to other similar products offered by other sellers, automatically pre-programmed to go up in price when the others do. This can cause a loop and result in things being ridiculously over-priced, often without the knowledge of the seller (who presumably has a great many items to watch over). I suggest you try contacting the sellers directly and offering them a more reasonable sum - I've had that tactic work for me in the past. Great idea. I hadn't thought of that. I will try that.
forget the horse you need a Delorean:) Wow! Someone actually remembers that movie. It's been a long, long time.
Because my lofty equine is too tall and I'm afraid I'll break something. Seriously though, I'm not railing. I'm just emotional because I really do love the Paizo products that much that I want to be able to hold all of them in my hand like a treasure. That's really all it's about.
Not that I'm aware. It's per transaction only. The only thing I can think of is that the man-hours for modifying the pdfs to meet printer specifications would not break even. But the specifications are getting more and more flexible all the time.
Honestly, my suggest to folks who want printed copies of our PDFs—find a local service bureau, and ask them to print and bind your PDF. That way, you're in control of your own personal balancing act between quality and cost, and we don't have to stand behind a product that's both too expensive and not good enough for our standards. I found the permission statement on the FAQ. Forgive me I am new to the forums. Please disregard my question as it has already been answered last year. For others reading, the permission statement can be found here: http://paizo.com/paizo/faq#v5748eaic9r2z
Honestly, my suggest to folks who want printed copies of our PDFs—find a local service bureau, and ask them to print and bind your PDF. That way, you're in control of your own personal balancing act between quality and cost, and we don't have to stand behind a product that's both too expensive and not good enough for our standards. Dear Vic Wertz, The above statement is huge. It comes from four years ago, so I want to ask officially and on record: Does this mean that if a customer already owns the PDF for an out-of-print work from Paizo, that they have the company's permission to print a single copy for personal use using whatever means they prefer, including POD websites like LULU, so long as they do not sell it or make it publicly available, and have only one physical copy at a time (in case the one they made gets destroyed)? Thank you for your response.
This is just not true. If they sold PODs at the regular price, then yes, but this is very inflexible thinking. Most people who want physical copies of older books and not just PDFs are collectors who want them for sentimental reasons, or want to round off a set that they almost have complete except for 1 or 2 volumes. By branding them specifically as collector editions and doubling the price, they will not compete with current APs and are certainly a preferable alternative to the exorbitant price tags on Amazon Marketplace. What exactly would be the drawback to that?
Points 2) & 3) are legitimate. I concede those. Point 1) is not. The quality is there now.
That post was from almost 5 years ago. The "out-of-the-question" reasons are no longer compelling. The quality is there. I'd have a hard time believing that there are no POD printing houses that wouldn't allow publishers to sell their POD books on their own webstores, on their own company websites, especially those POD printers that deal only with publishers and not with the author or end consumer. In fact I'm currently working with folks who are planning to do just that: sell POD books printed by Lightning Source directly from their own website.
Lulu's a pretty primitive solution these days. There are much better out there, for example Lightning Source. Lulu is really only for individuals who just want to see their own stuff in print. Not for major companies.
Print on Demand is the future. There's really no financial reason for Paizo not to be offering it. It's almost like making YouTube videos; anyone who can make a pdf can publish a book. All the Paizo pdfs are done already, they could republish them instantly. It really is a one click solution. If I recall correctly, the main impediment for Paizo to republish out of print works is the cost of another print run. Non-issue for print on demand, you print only as many copies as are actually purchased. The only trick would be finding a publisher that offers POD with the kind of high-quality color that we've come to expect from Paizo, but there are already several online companies offering many color solutions and that automatically distribute to Amazon too. Even if the POD cost is high because of ink cost and all the middlemen involved, if someone wants to pay $60 for an Adventure Path reprint, why not let them? It's win-win all the way.
I know the store is going slow with the sale, but I'm just so hyped to get all of this great stuff! I've got what I want in the Shopping Cart, but I can't push it through. I keep getting booted back to the storefront. Should I just try back later or can it be pushed through on your end? Having the same problem. |