Within the context of the Lost Omens Campaign Settings' lore, what happens when The King In Yellow is played on stage?
An adventure takes place!
We published this exact adventure in Dungeon Magazine #134 in fact.
There's been several other adventures of the same plot here and there for Call of Cthulhu.
That said, now that we've quantified the specific way that the Carcosa mythos interfaces with Golarion in it's own specific way that's not 100% the same as all the above (or the original story, for that matter), what would happen if the King in Yellow were performed on stage is that...
** spoiler omitted **
This whole thing could be tied into the Strange Aeons Adventure Path VERY easily, and for all I know it might have. I only did the outline for that Adventure Path though before I got reassigned to do the Curse of the Crimson Throne hardcover, so I'm not sure off the top of my head if Adam or his authors touched this theme at all.
Ah, well, I had a follow-up question, but I don't want to give you any spoilers on what ended up happening in Strange Aeons, in case you'd ever want to read it, so instead I'll ask...
Would the King in Yellow have a similar effect if it's performed in an outer plane?
Do you think true names (aka, the idea that speaking or knowing a being's secret and "true" name grants power over it) are a thing in the Lost Omens setting?
Since "lie" is explicitly one of Sarenrae's anathemas now, are the secretive Dawnflower Dissidents considered as heretical as the Cult of the Dawnflower?
They always were heretics; that's nothing new.
They took a god of healing and redemption and tried to turn her into a warmonger. (And this whole storyline never should have popped up in print anyway in my opinion, since it's gross and works against the whole point of Sarenrae's inclusion in Pathfinder as a kindly female sun goddess in the first place; it's a classic example of the era of Pathfinder creation that didn't have strong creative oversight and let some elements get into print that were not appropriate for the setting.)
I get it that the "religion is up to something unusual" is a trope that a lot of folks get a kick out of, and I enjoy that story too... it just needs to be handled more responsibly—both in a responsible way to the world's lore, and a responsible way in how that in-game content mirrors real world events."
Neutral, lawful neutral, and chaotic neutral deities are the best ones to do this storyline with, since their faith doesn't have the word "good" in it, but neither does it have the word evil in it, so there's a lot of flexibility in how their worshipers can be portrayed in the setting.
Apologies, I caused a misunderstanding. The militant Cult of the Dawnflower is obviously heretical, you made that extremely clear in previous posts in this thread.
My question, though, was centered on the the Dawnflower Dissidents, who, last I heard, quietly infiltrate hostile countries such as Cheliax, Nidal, and Rahadoum to heal and protect the citizenry in secret.
The Dissidents' infiltrations imply at least a bit of deception, which the 2E Core defined as anathema to Sarenrae. That makes me think they're heretics as well, but could I get your own interpretation on that?
Hi James,
Since "lie" is explicitly one of Sarenrae's anathemas now, are the secretive Dawnflower Dissidents considered as heretical as the Cult of the Dawnflower?
After almost a year of running Return of the Runelords, my players and I are finally about to start Rise of New Thassilon. It's been an amazing ride for so far—so much so that we might next play Strange Aeons for more Elder Mythos before moving this group to 2E.
Anyway...
Return of the Runelords spoilers:
The player of our CN cleric of Yog-Sothoth (formerly CG, but it appears his growing connection with an outer god has warped his mind some) had this request: with access to 9th-level spells fast approaching, he wishes to cast miracle to request Yog-Sothoth's relatively direct intervention (such as it is), in preferably dramatic and awe-inspiring fashion—after all, it's not every day you get to play a high-level cleric of a deity whose area of concern is so extremely relevant to the plot and its themes.
To wit: what would be an appropriately awesome assistance or boon for Yog-Sothoth to grant, without robbing the story of its climax?
Now that Second Edition is out, I can finally ask this question. Will there be epic levels or mythic tiers in Second Edition? I really wish there will be both epic levels and mythic tiers in Second Edition!
We've made no announcement for this yet. Personally, I'd rather not bring back Mythic in the same way, but I do love the idea of stuff to do after 20th level. We'll see. It'll be a while before we make the decision, and a while beyond that before we say anything about that decision to go forward or not with beyond 20th level play. It'd be irresponsible and foolish to dive right into that immediately. Give the new rules time to breathe and say hi!
Its mechanics might end up different in the new edition, but the flavor of "mythic power" should still exist in 2E, at least as a quality Runelord Alderpash notably lacked but Xanderghul and Sorshen possessed, right?
Pharasma sees tomb-robbing as anathema, but tomb-robbing is a relatively common feature in adventures (The Mummy's Mask in particular comes to mind). Is there any sort of extenuating circumstances to the anathema that might facilitate the plot-mandated looting of long-lost tombs amongst devout Pharasmin adventurers?
Fey (at least in general) are not native to the material plane, but their 1st edition creature type is "fey", not "outsider".
Do you feel this correctly reflects their nature as different from actual outsiders, or do they ought to be actual outsiders and this is just a mechanical artifact inherited from D&D?
It was both cool and heartwarming to read about the polyamorous relationship of Desna, Sarenrae, and Shelyn in Planar Adventures. How did that come to be?
I'm gonna start running Return of the Runelords in a week, and my last player has finally picked his character concept: a Chaotic Good cleric of Yog-Sothoth, as suggested by the Player's Guide.
I'm cool with his choice, but I know even less about Yog-Sothoth's cult than I know about Yog-Sothoth himself (itself? theirself?), which isn't a lot. Where can I find more information about Yog-Sothoth's cult and its customs without diving deep into Lovecraftian lore, which—to be perfectly honest—is a thing I do not particularly enjoy?
Now that Planar Adventures has officially nailed some definitions down, I have a question regarding the Iron Gods Adventure Path:
Major Iron Gods Spoilers:
Was Unity a quasi deity or a demigod?
(Asking mainly because the Godmind which the heroes visit at the Path's end could conceivably be considered a planar realm, and quasi deities don't have those.)
I'm gonna start running Return of the Runelords in a couple of weeks, and one of my players has expressed interest in playing a paladin of Iomedae, who is the child of the Iomedaean cleric he played in Rise. Which is all fine and dandy, except that...
Major Return of the Runelords spoilers:
... I am given to understand that the PCs will travel back to a period that precedes Iomedae's birth, not to mention her apotheosis. Will this cause complications that I should warn the would-be-Iomedaean about before we start?
One of the PCs in the campaign I'm running is a lawful good cleric of Abadar, and unbeknownst to him, an upcoming plot arc will feature members of a lawful evil sect of Abadar (including clerics, inquisitors, and an antipaladin) in a majorly-antagonistic role.
I know my player and I think he'll do just fine in roleplaying this, I'm not personally sure how to frame the interactions between the morally-opposed sects of the same deity, and I also don't know how Abadar would view this kind of (likely armed and deadly) conflict.
One thing I was sad to not find in Planar Adventures are flavor details on the metaphysics of how deities grant spells, similar to how the River of Souls was detailed.
Could you please share with us here how you envision spell-granting works?
Once more, a question about Shelyn—who is, in fact, my favorite Pathfinder deity (thanks for telling us more about her in Planar Adventures, by the way!).
... iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinteresting. That implies that mortal races in the frameworks and forms that we know them have existed through various cycles of all of material existence being eradicated and reborn, right? That... could be seriously cool, and lead to really deep-dive queries for origins of things...
Does that mean that there have been only a few "generations" of manasapturas, then?
I'm talking only about the current "cycle of material existence."
What may have existed before and what may exist after doesn't necessarily have to even closely resemble what we have now, in other words.
I thought solar and twilight pitris are manasaputras that predate the current multiverse. Is that not canonical in Pathfinder's official multiverse?
Anyway; different question, similar general premise:
How do Arshea, Cayden, Desna, Milani, and other good deities of freedom generally view imprisoning agents of evil who are at your mercy as a way of sparing their lives?
I'm curious about the munavris down in Orv; they're very similar to the drow in a lot of ways, and where they are different, they are often total opposites.
Were they intentionally designed to be the drow's "good" counterpart?
I'd appreciate any sort of insights you can give on the design decisions behind the munavris, really.
How does Sarenrae view prana ghosts from Occult Bestiary (pages 40-41), who willingly avoid judgement after death, but aren't undead and can actually be quite benevolent?
Sarenrae doesn't have much issue with them at all.
Pharasma, on the other hand, would.
Cool.
And Sarenrae's feelings on those incredibly rare good-but-still-undead "common" ghosts?
How does Sarenrae view prana ghosts from Occult Bestiary (pages 40-41), who willingly avoid judgement after death, but aren't undead and can actually be quite benevolent?
