Are you considering publishing under the Infinite programs? Do you have questions about what you can and cannot use? Are you unsure about where the limits lie? Check out what one reader called "Gamemasters' Guides for the Real World." These guides introduce American intellectual property law and how it operates in the roleplaying game design arena. Right now there is an overview of USA intellectual property law, advice on hiring your attorney (which I am not), and a deeper dive on the difference between publishing under an open gaming license that covers some sections of the OGL (the same one used when producing third-party products for Dungeons and Dragons and for Pathfinder). Once DriveThruRPG/One Book Shelf and Paizo release the full text of the Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite Community Content Agreements, I'll be releasing a follow up product that covers the details of those specific licenses, too.
Disclaimer: these guides are meant to be general and educational in nature. They do not apply the law to your specific situation. Events in your situation may--and likely do--change how the law might apply to your particular project. I AM NOT YOUR ATTORNEY. If you have questions about your specific situation, I refer you to the second guide listed below, Attorney Hiring Tips, the contents of which should be pretty self-evident.
Intellectual Property in RPGs ($4.99/Pay What You Will) This guide covers the very basics of the USA's intellectual property law, as applied to roleplaying games. The guide covers copyrights, trademarks, patents, and how they apply in the RPG world. The guide then goes over a few types of pre-existing material that creators can leverage in their own creations without incurring legal liability, such as stock characters and publicly-licensed content.
It's PWYW because I want this to be for everybody. If you grab a free copy, please take the time to rate or review it!, I published it on DriveThruRPG.com as a Pay What You Will Product. It's been reasonably popular. This is my original post from the the r/RPGdesign subreddit (here) in the spring, reformatted and updated to be more user-friendly. Because the underlying content here is publicly available and because I believe that game designers deserve a good primer on interacting with the law, this product will always be a Pay What You Will title. That said, one of the best ways motivators that I have for publishing future products is the success of my current products. So, if you are in a position where you can spare $5, send it my way. It'll get reinvested in a future guide. I'm not making money off of these things!
Attorney Hiring Tips (FREE) This guide presents some of the things I would consider when looking for professional representation as a game designer. One of the few ways a lawyer can provide legal advice without accidentally forming an attorney-client relationship is by advising someone on tips and tricks for choosing their attorney. I'd feel pretty bad telling people to pay me for tips on how they can pay someone else (though, to be fair, I also have a few tips on how you might find pro bono representation), so this product will always be a completely free title.
Publishing Under an Open Game License: Pros and Cons ($7.99) This guide expands on my Intellectual Property for RPG Designers guide, exploring what it means to publish under a license. It contains a section-by-section review of the Wizards of the Coast Open Gaming License 1.0. If you are an RPG designer considering whether to publish under the OGL or under base intellectual property principles, this guide offers a basic exploration of the top-level issues.
Will Paizo or OBS/DriveThru be making a copy of the Community Content Agreement public before Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite launch on Oct. 13?
Normally when you publish under a Community Content Creator program for One Book Shelf/DriveThruRPG, you're asked to verify that you meet the terms of the Community Content Agreement for that program (DMsGuild, Cypher, etc.) when you upload your title. Since Pathfinder Infinite isn't active yet, there's not a way to view the Agreement. I know that y'all have done a great job putting out FAQs, but I'd like to make sure that what I'm doing meets all the terms of the agreement before I invest a significant amount of time into it.
I...do not understand how these three can be the points of contact for this issue.
I'm not going to comment on the merit of the accusations that have been leveled against several Paizo staff because I don't know whether they are meritorious or not. But Jeff, Erik, and Tonya are all highly implicated by those accusations. Establishing a point of contact that's not also implicated in a scandal should be one of the first things Paizo does if it intends to have any credibility in responding to the situation. If there is merit to any of the accusations, that's like having the fox guarding the henhouse!
Paizo, I would suggest that you switch these points of contact out for either your PR team or your legal team (in house or outside).
It’s been awhile since I’ve had to draft a crisis communication, but here’s what it should have said as far as I am concerned:
What the statement should have said:
Recently, three long-time employees parted ways with the Paizo family. Paizo as a whole is sad for this loss, but these decisions were made with the best interests of Paizo, Pathfinder, Starfinder, and our fan community in mind. After those departures became public, several allegations were laid down by other former employees. I and the rest of the Paizo family am saddened by these statements. Many of them predate my time at the helm of the company, but leadership is about addressing matters as they stand rather than fighting about how or why they arose.
For legal reasons, I cannot speak publicly to these personnel issues or to other issues that might be the subject of future litigation. However, even Paizo’s detractors publicly admit that our company’s history shows a dedication to diversity and inclusion both in our hiring practices and through representation in our published products. We continue to aspire to those ideals and our future products will continue to reflect them. Everyone fails to live up to their ideals, but that does not excuse attempts to atone for past misdeeds or mean we should not attempt to create a better, more welcoming, and healthy work environment for our employees--whatever may have happened in the past.
Paizo’s employees are our company’s lifeblood and we could not exist without them. Internally, we must have a clear picture of the current state of affairs if we are to improve. For that reason, Paizo has retained [insert name of outside law/consulting/etc. firm here] to conduct an internal investigation into our company and its culture, focusing on worker health and safety. Because a creative company lives or dies on the comfort of its creative talent, they will also be empowered to investigate company culture.
I have asked them to investigate all of these matters and deliver a report—including recommendations for improvement—to me. Paizo staff will be able to speak to these issues to outside investigators anonymously and without fear of reprisal. After they deliver their report, a group of Paizo employees including Publisher Erik Mona, myself, and cross-sectional representatives from all of Paizo’s departments (including non-management employees) will review those recommendations and come to consensus on a course of action. When we have done so, we will report on those planned actions to our public fanbase.
I remind you that just because something was said does not mean it is true. I ask that our fans have patience with us while we investigate this matter and bear with us while we get to the bottom of the issue. In the meantime, Paizo will continue to publish the groundbreaking and revolutionary content as we have done for two decades.
My office door is open to any Paizo employee that would like to raise these issues. In an effort to be transparent with our fanbase, I ask that public inquiries be directed through our media department, ideally as a response to this message, so as to not overwhelm our media department.
- [Signature]
But, I'm not internal to Paizo, so I may not know everything going on...
I mean, I'm do have almost every starfinder ap so I'm very aware of this. Part I'm confused about is "why is it still being posted in blog and included in backmatter at same time?" Like, gm doesn't really need separate player's guide if its included in a blog
I'm fairly sure the question being asked here is this (and if it's not, it is also my question, so I'd still appreciate a response:
Given that the Player's Guide is being offered for free online, it appears that these pages are superfluous to the printed product purchased by the GM and could be better utilized by including different backmatter content that is not redundant to a free Player's Guide PDF.
I recognize that there's some value to making the document accessible both ways (for starters, doing both lets GMs avoid copyright infringement for copying or printing the Player's Guide out of the back of the book). But, now that the Player's Guide is being made available for direct download (a la a PF AP Player's Guide), has there been consideration to going all the way with SF Player's Guides? By "going all the way" I mean making a product page for the SF AP Player's Guide to make it more accessible to future users? That would allow replacing the now redundant content with something else in the actual printed AP volume/AP PDF.
I suspect the answer is, "Yes, we've considered it, but have made the decision not to take this action at this time." And, that's fine. Paizo just made a big change to the Adventure Toolbox backmatter beginning with this AP, so there's already some experimenting going on. And Paizo might not want to muck up the results of one product experiment by jumping in with a second one running at the same time. But would you mind clarifying, Aaron?
It might or might not be the right forum to suggest new products, but I agree on the combo bindings of the old adventures. This might be somewhere that Paizo could work with a vendor like DriveThruRPG for a print on demand option (or another POD vendor--I just know DTRPG does that). Even something that's just the six 96-page softcovers printed back to back would be a really great option!
Thank you for giving us this update. I really appreciate Paizo's willingness to put this information forward and keep lines of communication open. Y'all are a wonderful company. I'm sorry to hear that distribution channels are shut down at the moment. I hope that your employees are safe and that you are able to resume operations with a minimum of headaches for them and for Paizo when it's safe for them to return to work.
Thank you for being forthright with your customers and putting your employees' well-being first! I join everyone else in saying I'm sad things have come to this, but I support your decisions to respond as you have. Please stay safe.
Gov. Inslee's Order exempts warehouse workers from the stay at home requirement. Paizo's banner still states that its warehouse is operating--hopefully in a manner that allows its workers to practice social distancing. Is this the case?
I ask because I am expecting a subscription shipment and am trying to make decisions regarding how to handle both this month's shipment and those going forward until we return to a new normal--whatever that may be.
In the meantime, I want to salute you for your decisions to prioritize employee wellness over corporate profits. We are all in this together and Paizo's response is another great reason to support the company.
I want to thank the folks at Paizo for everything you're doing through this process. I especially appreciate the updates on the separate customer service thread. Since that one is locked, I figured I'd say thank you here!
Thank you for keeping us apprised about what's going on! It's really nice to understand what is causing the delays. Hope that the rest of the board joins me in expressing my appreciation for you and your entire team! After all, without y'all, there would be no shipments to receive!
Put me down for +1 on team get map folios their own subscription. I have a great love for cartography, but have not cared for the map folio line for some time. Lost Omens line has an opportunity to be something new--release the map folio albatross that weighed down the PF1 campaign setting line!
I’m great with goblins as a Core PC race. Times change, players change, and Paizo has every right to move forward with their game.
PF2 looks to be so much fun. I'm loving listening to the Glass Cannon Podcast playtest and loving most of what I'm seeing coming out both in terms of mechanics and flavor. And, I’m not terribly worried about including goblins as a core PC race. But, IF goblins are going to be included, I have some concerns with the way the actual quoted text from the PF2 rulebook depicts goblins.
Jason Bulmahn’s Blog Post wrote:
As a people, goblins have spent millennia feared, maligned, and even hunted—and sometimes for understandable reasons, as some rural goblin tribes still often direct cruelty, raiding, and mayhem toward wandering or vulnerable creatures. In recent decades, however, a new sort of hero has emerged from among these rough-and-tumble tribes. Such goblins bear the same oversized heads, pointed ears, red eyes, and jagged teeth of their crueler kin, but they have a noble or savvy streak that other goblins can't even imagine, let alone understand.
Considering the vast conflicts that exist in America today between rural and urban populations, I have some concerns that a publisher based in America that (presumably) wants to market to both urban and rural customers would choose to draw the equation that:
2E’s Implied Statements Via the Goblin Ancestry wrote:
Rural = cruel, comfortable with raiding, engaged in mayhem
the concept of civilized races versus savage races is, believe it or not, incredibly racist!
The concept of civilized portions of one “race” versus savage portions of that same “race” is (believe it or not) EXACTLY racist, in the real world. Because that is what racism literally is: one portion of a race, homo sapiens, deciding that another group of homo sapiens were somehow less.
Even if the “race” here is a purely fictional construction, the depiction sets up a dichotomy where the “civilized” “race” of goblins is somehow better than the “savage” race of goblins.
I’d prefer that we try and avoid statements that imply that the rural goblins are somehow incapable of engaging in “civilized” behavior and that the goblins that will end up being PCs are somehow “noble savages.”
Again, I’m all for including goblins in PF2. I’d just prefer that we stray away from some of the tropes that underpinned colonialism the world over (and that, ironically, now promote urban v. rural conflict in the U.S.). Please work on rewriting this entry such that it avoids these pitfalls.
Paizo is a good company and works hard on these initiatives. I doubt anyone on staff had a light bulb go on above their head and then said, "You know what will really make this 'goblins as a PC thing' really work? Let's bake 19th century racial theory into their descriptions to differentiate the PC goblins from the monster goblins!" But, that interpretation is pretty easily found in the text quoted. Paizo can and (I hope) will do better.
\My phone converted my daughter's name "Tatiana" to "That's Yana." My friend suggested that the phrase "That's Yana!" should now mean "Awesome!", "Sweet!", and "Totally Tubular!" I decided I'll be using that in my games. So....
Paris's Starfinder Head Canon wrote:
Yana! is the title of the third single released by Strawberry Machine Cake from their album Triaxian Summer Camp Friends. The titular Yana is a fabulously chic girl who has it all. The group’s millions of mega-fans quickly adopted the name as an expression of everything good and fashionable. Teens everywhere are still saying, "That's Yana!" when they encounter something they like.
Maryland's in the Northeast Region. Virginia's in the Southeast Region. There's a 68 square-mile piece of real estate between them that doesn't have a region. We already can't be a state or elect voting representatives to Congress. Can we please have a Starfinder Society Region?
I'm so excited about this one. The Southlands setting is one of the most interesting setting I've ever seen realized for an RPG in 25+ years of gaming. Seeing that the Southlands will be a well-supported part of Midgard is fantastic news. Gotta stop posting now--need to DL this!
James Jacobs has said multiple times (too lazy to do the search) that one of the biggest challenges with Wrath of the Righteous was trying to do an AP using the Mythic Rules as they were being developed. So, if we are getting an occult AP, it's probably the one being announced at GenCon. But at least we are getting an occult module!
While we've got you here, I wanted to ask about the map folios. What's the rationale for putting them with the Campaign Setting line rather than the Maps line? Sure the maps are for battlemaps, but the Campaign Setting is also for info about the campaign.
Any chance that we could move to a Campaign Setting line where the map folios aren't part of the subscription? What about moving to something where the map folios aren't a part of the subscription, but if you are a subscriber to [pick most related product line here] you get the free PDF?
Does the new announcement mean that a certain Pathfinder Tales Managing Editor will have more time that might get devoted to producing Campaign Setting and Golarion module materials?
Ha! Not at all—I'll still be doing everything I did for the line before, and more. :) That said, I *am* working on a new campaign setting supplement I'm quite excited about...
If you've got access to basic graphics software, it's not that difficult to make your own maps. With help of textures from sites like CGTextures.com or Texture King, you can make basic backgrounds pretty easy. Map icons can be difficult, but there are sets online.
Finally, Dungeonographer(which is also FREE!!!)has a function for changing your basic maps into finished battlemaps. You've still got to print and laminate them (if you want them to be reusable) for physical game play but they are great for VTTs.
Here's one that I made of a cabin in the woods near a stream.
While not specifically named, the horsemen of Revelation could be said to have distinct roles.
The first, on a white horse, is described as a Conqueror.
The second, on a red horse, as a Warmonger.
The third, on a black horse, as a proclaimer of Scarcity and Famine.
And of course the fourth, on a pale horse, specifically identified as Death, with Hades riding alongside.
Baba Yaga in both Reign of Winter and real world mythology, was attended to by a white, a red, and a black rider. Does anyone have any historical context as to whether or not the first three horsemen referred to in Revelation are an appropriation of her horsemen from legend?
Would you rather have the narrators from Little Shop of Horrors singing about the story of your life as you lived it or a band of mariachi players in full costume that followed you around emphasizing your speech with dramatic music everywhere you went?
If you could have theme music that everyone would hear when you walked into a room, what would it be?
I always imagine them as a cross between the goblins in Labyrinth and the gremlins from the movie Gremlins. Might this mean that there's a sweet, adorable, fuzzy Gizmo out there that got wet and whose brood was fed after midnight? YES!
I think we're going to get an urban adventure Council of Thieves-type adventure after Giantslayer. I'm betting it takes place in Absalom and will involve discovering the fate of Pathfinder Chronicle #5.
We know that the next AP will be "traditional fantasy," but I'm going to assume that the Paizo staff will also be looking to something that's traditional while also different enough from Giantslayer! to be really interesting.
There's a lot of stuff based around Absalom in Occult Mysteries. Some of that indirectly supports Emerald Spire, but a lot of the stuff there focuses on what's happening underneath the city. Specifically, it lets us know that there might be something in Pathfinder Chronicle #5 that relates to the Absalom lodge's underground holdings or some secret that the Decemvirate wants kept quiet.
My guess is the the first AP involves the PCs finding Chronicle #5 or some shard of information about it and then delving beneath the city. There are two organizations with known ties under Absalom, the Knights of the Eastern/Western Star and the Harbingers of Fate. That gives lots of different factions that have lots of intrigue and heavy roleplaying possibilities that would make an urban adventure fun to investigate.
Diobel was statted out recently in Towns of the Inner Sea so you have a good location for a side adventure that already has background material, obviating the need to write a Gazetteer.
Finally, Absalom and the Pathfinder Society are iconic locations and organizations that define the setting. AP #100 will come out during this run, so it makes sense to be somewhere iconic. Finally, we haven't seen anything on Absalom since the changeover from 3.5.
Just a theory. If I'm wrong, well, I might just have to write one for home though!
The aboleth-called planetoid that caused Earthfall was aimed at Azlant. But, the 'heart' of the planetoid that became the Starstone landed far off target from Azlant in the middle of the Inner Sea. Does this mean that there are other remnants of the aboleth weapon with similar (or slightly reduced) powers hidden about Golarion waiting to be discovered?
Just fooling around a little bit, here's what I came up with...
Mantis Shrimp, Giant (CR 5):
Mantis Shrimp, Giant CR 5 XP 1,600
N Medium Vermin (aquatic)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60, tremorsense 60; Perception +5
----- Defense ----- AC 17, touch 11, flat-footed 16 (+1 dodge, +6 natural)
hp 42 (6d8+18)
Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +1
Immune mind-affecting effects
Weaknesses vulnerable to electricity
----- Offense ----- Speed 20 ft., swim 30 ft. (good)
Melee 2 Pincers +8 (1d6+3 plus grab), Rend (2 pincers, 1d6+4), Rake (2 claws +6, 1d4+3),
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks Iridescent shell, supercavitation shockwave
----- Statistics ----- Str 16, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 3, Wis 10, Cha 10
Base Atk +5; CMB +6 CMD 16
Feats None
Skills Intimidate +4, Perception +5, Swim +3; Racial Modifiers +8 Swim
Languages None
SQ water breathing, water dependency
----- Ecology ----- Environment aquatic, marsh, coastal, ocean, rivers/lakes
Organization solitary
Treasure 1,550 gp
----- Special Abilities ----- Supercavitation Shockwave (Ex) Once per minute, as a standard action a giant mantis shrimp can move its pincers so quickly that the water around them boils before shooting forth in a shockwave then filled with tiny bursts of light. This super-heated water shoots forth in a 30 ft. line and causes 2d12+6 damage. Half this damage is fire-based (steam) and half is sonic (DC 11 reflex save halves). Victims with resistance to fire or sonic damage make separate saves for each damage type; others just save once.
Iridescent Shell (Ex) In bright sunlight, as a standard action a giant mantis shrimp can focus the sun’s light using its shell. The reflected rays shoot from the mantis shrimp’s shell in a 15’ cone, mirroring the effects of color spray (DC 15 Will negates). A recipient of this attack is then immune to further iridescent shell attacks for the next 24 hours.
I particularly like the fiction myself. I also really like the way the format has moved towards a way to bring the fiction in line with the adventure. I just read it (and held off reading this thread until I read the article) and I really appreciated all the ideas that come from reading it.
Ideas from the fiction:
Merchants renting out space around the sides of the common room? Great possibilities for plot hooks (stolen merchandise, shady characters buying things, shady characters failing to buy things, upright characters finding shady characters have already bought something...)
Constantly changing entertainment is a great way to bring in new rumors.
The PCs' party might rent the courtyard suite. It has an exterior gate, but what about the possibility of someone visiting the suite by coming over the walls onto the rooftop courtyard? Did the PCs remember to lock their individual rooms? No? There goes that McGuffin they'll now need to retrieve or maybe someone is waiting for them when they return from the common room one night...
Thank you Amber Scott for some great writing that really helped gestate some great plot hooks and other ideas!
After looking at the sphinx fascinated trait from the Player's Guide, I decided to take a look at the Bestiary entries for the various sphinxes. I'm loving this thing where they gynosphinxes are wanting some babies but the androsphinxes just think it's a distraction. So, I got to thinking about what other options the gynosphixes might take and thus came the idea for the Half-Sphinx race. With Ye Olde Race Builder from the ARG, here's what I came up with. Any suggestions welcome!
Half-Sphinx (Gynosphinx) - 11 Race Points
Medium Humanoid
Speed 30
Specialized Ability Scores: +2 INT or WIS/+2 CHA/-2 DEX (1 RP)
Speaks Common, Sphinx & INT bonus languages
Curiosity: +4 Diplomacy to gather info / Knowledge (local & history) become class skills / If Knowledge (local or history) already class skill, get +2 bonus (4 RP)
Magical Linguist: +1 DC to language-dependent spells & spells that create glyphs, symbols, or other writings. CHA 11 or higher gets arcane mark, comprehend languages, message, read magic with caster level equal to character level. (2 RP)
Vestigial Wings: Has wings too weak for flight alone but that grant +4 to Fly checks if other method of flight is achieved. (2 RP)
Darkvision: Darkvision 60'
And, although it might be rarer, a possible half-androsphinx. The half-androsphinx is probably to powerful for a PC because of balance issues, but could make for a fun NPC:
Half-Sphinx (Androsphinx) - 16 Race Points
Medium Humanoid
Speed 30
Standard Ability Scores: +2 STR / +2 WIS / -2 DEX
Speaks Common, Sphinx, & INT bonus languages
Curiosity: As above (4 RP)
Magical Linguist As above (2 RP)
Flight: 30' (Clumsy) (4 RP)
Androsphinx's Roar (reskinned Frightful Gaze): (Su) Three times per day, a half-androsphinx can let out a frightful roar. All creatures within 30' must make a Will saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 roarer's level + the roarer's CHA modifier) or stand paralyzed in fear for one round. This is a sonic mind-affecting fear effect. A target that successfully saves cannot be affected by the user's Androsphinx's Roar for 24 hours. (6 RP)
Darkvision: Darkvision 60'
What do y'all think? I wanted to do Hierasphinxes (a half-hierasphinx barbarian would be a fun villain choice for an early side-quest from the AP) and criosphinxes, but I ran out of time.
1) I played a lot of D&D as a kid and am now really interested in getting into Pathfinder. I'm up for PFS, but I have a few creative friends that I think would really enjoy a homebrew game. The problem is that a lot of them are unfamiliar with Pathfinder and RPGs in general. What's your best advice for introducing new people to the hobby?
2) Even if you can't/won't tell us what the upcoming APs will be, can you tell us how Paizo chooses it's next AP? One of the methods below, some combination of them, or something totally different?
Mystical:
You travel to the secret dungeon beneath Paizo HQ, where you must overcome traps, face your greatest fear: yourself, and then an oracle gives you the lost dagger of Ajanti and tells you how to save the Golden Child informs you of the next adventure path; or
Command and Control:
The President Paizo CEO Lisa Stephens puts down the phone and says, "That was the military-industrial complex third party publishing industry and their profits are hurting. Someone call the Pentagon James Jacobs! I want a list of options on my desk by morning. We're going to invade a small country publish a new adventure path!"; or
Employee Input:
Everyone at Paizo gets together in a big room. Various AP options are presented to the group, each of whom has dots and uses them to vote for the upcoming APs or finalists that will go on for decision by senior management; or
NSA method:
By listening to Americans' private phone calls reading postings on the public messageboards, Paizo gets an idea of what would be popular for its next AP.
All kidding about how you get there aside, y'all put out amazing work and I'm always amazed at both the high quality and totally different points of view that are melded into a single overarching story/theme in an AP. Thanks for taking the time to answer!
I just want to give a huge shout out to Alex "Canada Guy" Moore and thank you for writing the BB adventure! I really like it as an opener for a Katapesh campaign. My group is older, so I made a few modifications for plot, to regular Pathfinder, and to bring things down to a first level character level:
* the PCs rescue Nazia from cutpurses on their way to Jerikal's and the adventure offer is because of her mixed gratitude and belief in their competence to rescue Vadi,
* Vadi will be soldat noon two days after Nazia tells the PC about his abduction,
* the market takes place at night and on their way back they are targeted by an assassin (someone does not want this kid found),
* Nazia has paid for the PCs to use a private dining room at Jerikal's, at breakfast the next day the PCs' food is drugged. Unconscious they are taken to Castle Clarion where Lord Clarion explains that he and Vadi's father were business rivals and that he was almost successful in wiping out the family before Vadi's gift manifests itself. He's keeping the PCs captive to ensure that Vadi makes it to the slave block on time. But, as Nazia says, Vadi will be expensive. So, he's prepared to offer the PCs more than the Muali clan to complete the same mission but to instead bring Vadi to him. It will still cost him less to secure Vadi this way than to buy him off the block. If the PCs agree, he'll let them go. If not, they'll have to escape Castle Clarion and rescue Vadi by noon the next day.
I'm hoping my group will tell Clarion they'll work for him, but double cross him and return him to the Muali clan instead, making an excellent recurring villain out of Clarion.
If they work with the Muali clan, it should be a great campaign opportunity to explore slavery based themes and to hook the PCs up with the Steel Falcons (and their foreign backers, the Eagle Knights of Andoran) for opportunities to strike against slavery overall. I'm seeing visions of infiltrating Okeno to learn the location of slave breeding pits, to find them, and to free the slaves for a revolt. The PCs will have an opportunity to lead the slaves to take the entire island!
If they go with Clarion, I can see some excellent adventures, perhaps culminating in a plot to steal a dose of the sun orchid elixir--or perhaps even its formula!
How about a path that takes the party through Tian Xia down into the Valashmai Jungle to find an artifact that will allow them to navigate the one route through the Wandering Isles that will let them safely reach Sarusan and defeat the BBEG there who is using the continent's unapproachability as a perfect base from which to take over/destroy the world?
I propose we settle the question with an arm wrestling contest at GenCon 2014. James Jacobs can champion the goblin cause and Wolfgang Baur can lead the kobolds. Bragging rights for their monster's superiority for all eternity to the winner!
