Gothulhu's page

I just got through reading The Kortos Envoy (PFS 03-04) in preparation for running it at Whoseyercon this weekend. It made me wonder what Paizo's policy is on disparaging depictions of real world religions.

Case in point:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baphomet#Aleister_Crowley

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelema

I am personally not offended by it, but it does bring up a certain prejudice as to what is a "real world religion." Many companies (once again, maybe not Paizo) go out of their way not to offend Christians, Muslims, and other "main-stream" faiths, but seem unconcerned with others.

Once again, I'm not sure what Paizo's policy is. I don't think the mod needs to be changed. I don't think Paizo should shy away from using real world mythology. We should all understand, however, that one person's demon was very often another person's god, and those religions are not as dead as you think they might be.

This kind of thing can certainly get out of hand. If companies are too sensitive, all of a sudden your demons become Tanar'ri, which isn't good for anybody.

Just food for thought.

It's not too early to start thinking about Gen Con. Is there an official volunteer list yet? Any idea about when the call will go out for Gen Con GMs?

What I would like to see before epic Pathfinder is Pathfinder Modern. More specifically, I would like to see a post-modern/cyberpunk fantasy setting using Golarion. I think the rules have come along well enough to start working on this. Heck, I would like to start working on this.

Thoughts?

I am hanging myself out in the minority again. I wish Paizo would spend their limited time and resources on things other than epic level rules.

I think epic only feeds players who refuse to give up their favorite character. As someone who's been in the hobby over thirty years I am telling you now that sometimes stories end. New heroes take up the mantle. Villains are vanquished and those who do the vanquishing become legends. There's plenty of high fantasy and adventure in levels 1-20 to handle it.

The only people who have more fun at 20th level than 1st level are the rules monkies. People who live to destroy everyone else's fun by finding that combination loop-hole that is totally unstoppable.

I say, no sir. I need no epic.

Just wondering how other GMs feel about Focus Shot and guns. The rules specifically say bows and crossbows, but that was before UC came out. I will probably allow it unless someone has a compelling reason not to.

Just a quick poll, would anyone like to see even more detail on religions than given in the "Faiths of..." books? I wonder if it's just me, but I would like to see a book for each god. Maybe because of my background in religion, I'd really like to see some depth of mythology, theology, and practice.

Which gods would you like to see more than others?

I might do some of my own write-up if people are interested.

It seems that many of the societies of the Inner Sea, the larger cities in particular, have moved past feudal models of property ownership. This being said, does anyone know where I can find gp values of property in major cities? Has anyone else had PCs who want to buy homes and businesses? What price did you set and how did you come up with that number?

After getting a chance to read a good many Pathfinder products, I have gotten the feeling that Desna is one of the most popular, if not the most popular, god in the Inner Sea. I would be interested in other people's take on this.

If this is true, why? As a student of religion I have some background in why religions succeed and others fail. What is it about the cult of Desna that draws people in? What does it say about the people of the Inner Sea that one of their most beloved is the goddess of dreams, stars, travelers and luck? Of course, we have to think about the magical component as well. Does she just pay more attention to her followers than the others?

I look forward to the Faiths of.. series, but I wouldn't mind if Paizo went even further in the future. I would love to see a 32 page book on each religion. Heck, I'd be willing to write them.

Anyone else enjoy this kind of depth in their fantasy faiths, or am I a freak?

I bought my Pathfinder core book at GenCon last year. I wanted to buy it direct from the company, so that Paizo gets as big a share of the profits as possible. I support American companies that produce a good product.

I consider myself a "light-user". I mostly consult rules online, and so my book gets little use outside of game night when my players need to look something up. Yet already my binding is loose and pages are starting to come free. On a hunch, I looked to see where the book was printed. As I suspected, made in China.

I talked with a lot of gamers about this. Last Friday at a game store, I even pointed out the difference between a Paizo book printed in China, and a White Wolf book printed in Canada. The difference in quality was readily apparent.

When I worked for Eden Game Studios, they decided to have one of their core books printed in China to save a few bucks. Not only were the shipping delays maddening, they ended up losing more money than they saved because of the amount of product returned.

I have been in the publishing business and I know there are union shops in Canada and the U.S. that offer much better services, quality, and competitive prices.

With some core books running $50 a piece, can Paizo really justify giving us an inferior product? Do the savings equal the hurt customers and the returns?

Do I have political motivations? I cannot deny that I am a supporter of U.S. workers and unions, and I don't like autocratic regimes. But the quality issue is really what gets me. I challenge anyone to compare a Paizo book printed in China to another company's book printed in Canada or the U.S.. You will see the difference.

I know a lot of advice has been given concerning the Runelords adventure path scattered throughout the message boards, but I have some specific questions and I think a fresh perspective coming from increased accumulated experience of the Pathfinder rules would help.

I am running Runelords using Pathfinder rules. I have found that Pathfinder characters are a bit more powerful than 3.5 characters. I have heard a lot of people who say it is easy to convert. Since I am lazy is there any source online that does the work for me?

Also, any general advice on running this AP would be appreciated. Me and my players have just finished the glassworks and have found everything so far to be very enjoyable. From a strictly roleplaying aspect, the module works very well.

I'm sure you have heard this before, but obviously not enough. I recently started purchasing PDFs through the Paizo website.

One thing I really like to do is extract images from a module with Acrobat Pro, so I can use them to make counters with the actual NPC drawing.

You know why I can't do this with your products.

I apologize for sounding snippy, but I know that many people make these types of complaints. The only people being hurt with pdf security are the people who actually pay for the product, not the people who steal.

Can this be changed?

I have noticed when trying to read certain pdfs on my iPhone 4 that the text wrap fails on certain images leaving the image overlapping and the text impossible to read. It may also have to do with background images not being flattened. This happens on some pdfs, but not others.

This happens in two iPhone applications, both Air Sharing and iBooks.

It may have something to do with the mobile pdf reader, but it does seem that some pdfs overcome this limitation.

Do you know of a fix? In any case, can this be looked into for future releases?

In case no one else has reported this, I was unable to download a new purchase, Oathbound 7, using Google Chrome. Firefox worked just fine.

I see that many Pathfinder Society events listed for Whosyercon March 11-14. I would like to run some events. Is there a PFS representative organizing events? Or, should I just purchase some PFS Scenarios and submit my own?

I have been devouring Pathfinder products like crazy. I really enjoy both the system and the campaign world. Does anyone know where I can find a definitive product list? The way the website is broken down it is hard to determine titles for all the products made. Thanks for your help.

James