Inner Heru's page

I hope... you need... an atonement...

I am STILL laughing!!!

I signed in JUST to tell you that!

d20
all scores start at 4(looks good for a monk)

trololol

All of this makes sense to me.

Tormsskull wrote:

Dustin Ashe wrote:

If my Nigerian friend comes over and I explain to him Pathfinder and he grows excited, wants to play, and starts generating a character, should I really tell him his PC's skin has to be white if he picks an elf or a dwarf?

That depends, what do the elves and dwarves look like in your campaign world?

The thing is, it's never my campaign world. It's ours. This isn't a solo hobby. I need to create something that caters to those who want to play--something we can both be happy with.

If I'm not doing that, then frankly, I'm a terrible GM.

This. Lots and lots and yet a little more of this.

I did not get the impression that a single person here did not understand the separation of IC/OOC and I am again unsure where you are getting some of the things you have been putting out into this discussion.

The topic is about more inclusion into the hobby so why would anyone read that as excluding anything but so called brown-skinned depictions? Unless I missed a post I do not think that was anyone's point. What are you seeing that makes you think this way?

"Qapla'....laddie."

I see we cannot be friends, Heru.....

So alone....

Hitdice I just laughed. :D

You misunderstood me.

I was not equating the two. I was pointing out that they are nothing alike, that one is a fantastic made up creature of imagination and they are more accepted and "believable" to some people than a non-white in their game world. My point is in line with what I think you were trying to say to me just now.

You read up on Dragons and the like because they were included in the hobby, they were in the films along with your elves that is the point. Of course becoming an expert on Africa before the invasion takes a lot more. That is also why you are not an expert on Dragons, it would take a lot more than opening an RPG or watching LotR.

You point out that you do not need to become an expert and you do not want to fall on stereotypes and that is grand! I'm just saying that if there was more exposure to people of different types in fantasy you would not know more about a Dragon, a fictional creature that never lived, than you do about a Human with skin a shade other than your own.

As a side note this is not an attack, text is hard to express meaning and tone at times. Larkos I for one am thankful that you even gave a thought to how your RPing or GMing could be taken the wrong way. It shows care and thanks for that.

Oh yeah mean the rear cover art of the Bone Gnawers tribe book from Werewolf 2nd Ed.?

this plays a role as well. With modern sensibilities, a reliance upon or even acceptance of a stereotype is verboten. People are being encouraged to either become qualified experts on what they are writing about or stick with what they know, and when youre a white guy who likes fantasy, that means eurocentric fantasy.

That is the problem. A White Guy or Any Guy should not have to be come an expert in a culture just to play a game like Pathfinder. You are dead on about this. I am no expert on Dragons, Daemons, Unicorns, Transgenders or the Paladins that love them but I do not feel pressure to be nor does anyone else because they are all over fantasy writing and games and other forms of entertainment. My Mother knows what an elf is and RPGs/Fantasy is ridiculous to her. That is because they are everywhere...okay that Transgender and the Paladin is just Paizo but you get what I mean.

A more inclusive game and setting would not require future players of this game to be knocked off their feet when a Black Character shows up or freeze when trying to image where the non-white elf came from or better yet, a kid will not be asked why all his characters are white because he would have seen all of it reading and watching the genre.

I read it as a more general response to the thread in general. That quoted line was definitely in response to a particular accusation thrown at Inner Heru.

Did you take the whole post as directed at one person?

Thank you.

Requesting more diversity is good. Explaining why it is in everyone's interest to do so, even better. Threatening to start boycotts if someone doesn't agree to your request changes it into a demand, and that is bad. It is better to support those companies that produce products you agree with than it is to attack/shame those that don't.

There is no reason to attack said creator. That damages your cause more than helps it and it's flat out wrong. Unless it's Michael Bay, kick that dude in the butt if you see him. *nod nods*. However it is not wrong to vote with the only tools as consumer that really matters, your money. Akira is one of the greatest if not the greatest animated film to do, the few that rival it are made by the same man. Dragon Ball Z may have been the world's most well known anime. I did not see either live action film. My friend's did not see either film and nobody I know paid to see the film.

Same thing with The Last Airbender and it will be the same with TMNT and Exodus. Do I feel they do not have the right to make films? No I do not. Do I feel it is a demand to ask them to be inclusive or even better not to try to drain the "color" out of the property? Nope.
Do I demand that they stop all that nonsense, do I demand that if they want my money or the money of people who DO care about such that they change the product? Oh yes. I demand that and that is NOT bad.
Again I want to repeat this part because I do not want what I type to be twisted into something I did not say....

I fully support the right to publish anything you want in any way you want. With whoever you want to include or exclude. I fully support that right. I also support the right to starve exclusion out of the culture by denying it MY money and the money of people who care about such matters. I am not going around knocking out people in line to see Transformers 2 and taking their money from them. I am saying to people of the same leaning, "Yeah let us not support this train wreck. The best tool to stop people like this is cutting off their funds. Show them that a large segment of their target consumer base is done being ignored no matter the excuse made up.".

I do agree in a major way with something else you wrote pres man. Support what you do like. Do not pirate it. Do not wait for others to buy it so you can play. All should chip in. Me? I hate Dwarves they annoy me as a race (now you can call me Racist) and it's a running joke that I will have to play one as punishment one day in my group. I own Dwarves of Golarion. I purchased a book I may never need because Paizo made it and Paizo includes not just me but everyone they can think of to their world. I could put up a thank you post and I have. I also tell my friends that dislike D&D to give Pathfinder a try. I encouraged players to buy books that can give them background on their characters.
So I do agree with that point pres but one course of action does not exclude the other.

Sorry Diego Rossi, I could have missed it but I looked for it twice and I do not see it. Odd.
Nice post by the way. Good information.

The term politically correct is a joke at best and an insult at worst today.

Any group of people under represented in a culture that they "share and help build" who ask or demand to be included are chained to the weighted code word of "Politically Correct".

Political Correctness.
Why does it matter?
Left/Right Agenda.
Feminist.
Reverse Racism.
Real American.
Socialist.

Cop outs used to try to devalue the stance of another by taking terms and twisting them out of context and or stuffing them with lies.

This started out as such a nice thread too.
OP came here and exposed himself on a public forum in search of understanding about something he really never thought of.

When did speaking out for a persons desire to be included become politically correct? After all the advancements and the growth to turn around and say okay open up the doors, I invested in this so let me in. That is not politically correct that's just damn Correct.

Think about what has been said here.
Nobody suggested we round up anyone who does not write some diversity into their work. "Give me a Black Elf or the woman and kid gets it!" C'mon with this mess already. This speaks so loudly to me about how far we have not come. The mere statement, the idea that there is a strong desire and want for diversity in the hobby that we all support with time and money starts accusations of Racism. "Oh you desire to play characters that looks like you in public more so than in private because you want to represent and support a nearly ignore group of people in this hobby? RACIST!!"

If a "creator" wants to ignore and exclude me I can't and will not force him off his course. I'll just not support them in anyway, I'll move my friends to not support them, I'll move anyone that will listen and who cares about it to not support them. (Insert some statement about why would Black people be in a movie or book about Iceland Sometime B.C.)
You know damn well that is NOT what we are talking about and if you do not know that then this all may be well and way over your head.

Creators of limited vision should be starved when a creator of grand vision come to the table to eat. "Who decides that?" The consumer of that vision and that brings us back to the OP and the real subject of this thread.

How do we handle Dark skinned people in fantasy. He had to ask the question because for far too long and even in many cases now the foundations of the hobby (and most of our entertainment) doesn't handle Dark skinned people at all.

It always blows my mind that the mere mention of inclusion, of injecting some other elements from some other cultures into our entertainment brings this out of some people.

Night.

Okay I think I get you. Thank you for the clarification.

I've yet to have a "why isn't <insert their real world ethnicity> in this city/land/world?" yet. I've perhaps been lucky to not run across players that were looking to be insulted, or that were able to roll with what was provided in the game.

Could you explain that better?

On the point of Nethys if you take his image on page 101 of Gods of the Inner Sea and zoom in really really close you can see that the artist did attempt to give him facial feature of the people of his region. (Not a joke or a slight. With his hair and his inhuman colors you have to zoom in damn close to see his face)

That hair though heh. He uses a lot of product.

Yeah he is supposed to be but I have only seen one image of him as a Garundi in all the books I've seen. It was an amazing pic of him too!

I was kind of hoping the God book would show more of him like that but I "think" it can be explained away by the fact that it was Gods of The Inner Sea and I feel Osirion is not really treated as part of the region so the Last of the Mohicans treatment by his worshipers there makes a sideways sense?

Huh, this thread has been a lot more in-topic and level-headed than I thought it would be.

It's only page two my man, give it time :)

Jokes aside I agree with you, for the most part.

I did not know about the situation in Harlem in the 50's or about jerky. Lucky for me Macho Man always told me to snap into it! Yeah...not the same thing but I miss Randy.

Thanks for the Data!

Here's something that I have been wondering. How do you deal with the race issue when playing games like Call of Cthulhu, set in the USA in the 20s and 30s?

I played in only a handful of games of Call and I had a blast as a man from Cairo stealing back artifacts.

A Jazz musician who saw something he wish he hadn't in an alley on his way back from a gig.

A young man out of New Orleans who's Mamu (Great Granny) felt he was old enough to pass on the family secret and show him why we never moved out of the swamp.

@Andrew R

1: "I am the kind that is not just going to dislike something or talk about how it's wrong and then sit on my backside as I take no action. That makes me the second largest part of the problem."

1: I see it as a problem. I see the fact that the default of nearly all forms of this culture is SWM. The only thing I am finding more of an issue is the effect it has on NON-SWM. It can cause the creation of a Black Character in a game to stun the DM. The appearance of a Black person in a world with fire breathing dragons and the Gods themselves walk the land was enough of an oddity that it was described as "throwing a wrench" into his world. I do not say this to paint him in a negative light and in fact I understand the culture that caused this to happen.
The OP even was so moved by his own realization that he brought it here in the public forum to ask what others thought. That is what an impact this had on him.

This is wrong. I don't like this. Unlike many in this day in age I am going to do more than tweet it with a hashtag and rage against "The Man" in a small group of like minded people. No, I rather choose to take action. To be out there and seen so it is not so easy to forget we are out here. I have chosen to be evidence of the Big Foot in our hobby.

2: "The OP would not have even posted this if one of his players did not make a person of color. I would still be playing more Elves, Kayal, Gnomes and Undead but see my own people as too fantastic to consider if not for Chad."

2: I had a Chad to ask me a very basic question. If I am lucky some kid or better yet some adult will have an Inner Heru just by me being at the table with my character. If you can I really want you to look closer at this idea... I saw the idea of my own people in D&D as TOO fantastic to even consider. I did not come to that place of thinking as a child by chance. Yet something as simple as a question snapped me out of it. I think that is something amazing to do for another person.

3: "So if I know that exclusion does so much damage and I hate that then "What am I going to do about it other than B**ch?"
Act to improve not just a simple hobby but at the same time maybe I can be a drop in the bucket, merge with a few more drops and improve how we look at things.

There is a lot of weight, power and momentum at the other end of this so people need to push back and why not me?"

3: I have no idea how I can get more to the core of the idea that sparked this statement. I really thought you were joking at first when you took this to mean that I feel, in your words, that I must play a black character, especially were people can see you even if you might want to play a non-black one?

I never said I felt I had to, that I must. I WANT to play one when in public. It's never a case of wanting to play a non-white and saying to myself, "Shucks I'd love to play Arodus today but folks are looking better break out Moheed.". No my first attempt at a char in a pbp on this forum is a White Woman. My desire and my drive to play Black people more often while in public is due to the positive impact doing so can create and the wonderful feeling it gives me.

I have no idea how you found any of that racist and thus I assumed you were mocking the idea of exclusion as opposed to whatever it is you did mean by this.

So now you feel that you must play a black character, especially were people can see you even if you might want to play a non-black one? that is kinda messed up racist in itself isn't it?

I can't tell if you are joking or if you really came to that conclusion based on everything I have written and the questions you asked before hand.

I can certainly see a parallel between that and what this thread is talking about in regards to gaming. If the authors themselves are having trouble with writing in non-white characters, I think something's wrong.

Either way, I'm backing out of it now. I was just reading that last night and thought it was topical and might interest some people here.

Thank you for your efforts. You were not wrong.

I'd hazard most people who want to read good stories don't wonder what color the skin the author is. I don't care, I only want a good tale.

I'd add that I think you are right on the first point. Most don't wonder, they assume they are white. It's a safe assumption too because it's what we have been told and shown from cartoon to HIStory.

On your second point at times I envy that freedom.

why does public matter?

I am the kind that is not just going to dislike something or talk about how it's wrong and then sit on my backside as I take no action. That makes me the second largest part of the problem.

The OP would not have even posted this if one of his players did not make a person of color. I would still be playing more Elves, Kayal, Gnomes and Undead but see my own people as too fantastic to consider if not for Chad.

Telling my story gave Lincoln Hills something to think about that he never considered.

So if I know that exclusion does so much damage and I hate that then "What am I going to do about it other than B**ch?"
Act to improve not just a simple hobby but at the same time maybe I can be a drop in the bucket, merge with a few more drops and improve how we look at things.

There is a lot of weight, power and momentum at the other end of this so people need to push back and why not me?

Very interesting, Inner Heru. I've always thought of D&D as inclusionary by its nature but it never occurred to me that 'pink is the standard color' would even occur to a group with a different RL complexion.

Heh yeah. There are little silly things that most would never give half a thought to, it's just like the topic of this thread, when you are passively taught that you are not an option things start to go wonky in your world view.

"Flesh" colored Band-Aids and Crayons make my friends and I chuckle.
Friends, Seinfeld, Girls and nearly all of the shows based in New York City surprise many us when we find out they are supposed to be in NYC.

My over all point was that the OP and I had been the victims of the same idea that it did not matter when it does.

Oh fun fact.

I play Chelaxians more than anything else when given the chance....unless it's a public forum then it's Garundi or Varisian. *shrug*

Inner Heru wrote:

I still love ya Paizo but...yeah watch that back-slide.

Wouldn't that be a black-slide?

....I laughed my butt off just now at this. Kudos.

I want to make another point about the idea of ignoring it or it not mattering or the fact that due to elves and Gobos nobody cares.

Don't do this.... it's a short cut and it's the norm and it's why you were caught off guard and felt frozen. It's why you viewed the simple fact that the character did not look white as a wrench in your story/world.

Let's get the "It's only a game it does not matter buh buh buh", yeah I get why people feel that way.

So I am about 15 years old sitting on the floor of Amady's bedroom. Greg and I are laughing about the horrid way we both just died when that Cyberpsycho kicked down the door screaming about pizza. (I still have no idea what it was going on about) Now Cyberpunk 2013 is a game we know back and forth so making characters is pie. Greg makes a Netrunner and I make a Solo. Greg goes into the description of his Hawaiian shirt wearing surfer boy and I got my cool as hell Keifer Sutherland via Lost Boys clone.

It's at this point Chad, who is an elder of 19 years of age watches us and speaks up, "Why are all your characters White?".

Silence and confused looks.
We not only did not know but we did not even know how to process that question for a few long moments. Not to brag but I had select group of rather intelligent friends I gamed with. In total there were like 12-14 of us and every single one of us were Black. Before he dropped that question on me Chad was the ONLY one I could recall that ever played a Black person. Just to put a finer point on it. If we ever wanted to play something that was less shooty and more fighty...they were Asian.

Just leave it unclear.
Ignore it.
It does not matter.
Nobody cares.
None of that is true if we are being honest. The very same reason you did not think of Black people in your world is the same reason I as a Black child never thought of a Black person as an option. The same reason why anything that held a sword and fought without guns HAD to be Asian in my head to be "Authentic". Small things stick with us and they shape us and it is really seen in our entertainment. How many of you are from NYC? Have you seen shows based in NYC lately? I don't exist. I'm not even walking on the street in most scenes. If by some strange quirk of fate I do pop up I'm fully assimilated and have nothing to offer of my own.

I hate hate hate D&D for other reasons like rules and social but like another poster said. I was introduced to it and it was during Curse of the Crimson Throne. WHAT!? A Sister ON the cover? Getdaf**koutahere!!
Wait wait wait, she's an Iconic? Hold up...the Iconic Cleric is a person of color too? This company is never going to make it. LOL I am still glad that I was wrong and I purchased everything I could plus the harrow deck. My friends mock me because I have not run anything but Pathfinder since CotCT and how long ago was that?
Not because it had Black people but because it had real people of many cultures and skin tones. They even had main characters that were gay. They had whole nations thriving without the aid of Super Europeans from ancient past.
Inclusion matters.

I'm still salty about the fact that the people of Osirion finally got their own book and many of them are growing lighter and losing their features. It also did not escape my noticed that once Kyra Ascended to mythic she started bleaching and got a perm LOL

I still love ya Paizo but...yeah watch that back-slide.

How do I deal with Race in my game if at all?

If my world has "Humans" then I put Humans in it. People of color are Human. Let me say I do not think you are implying anything different I am just expressing a counter to the statement of dealing with race because I don't think it should be hard once you have seen the problem of exclusion.

You re a GM. You crafted a world of your own making with people and places and animals and creatures. You made kingdoms so more humans with darker skin should not have thrown a wrench in the works.

A little help:

Think about "your" frame of mind and ask yourself if this is being made more difficult than it really is. You based one kingdom on England and one or some vague Euro culture you said. Did you ever think of them as White people and does that make it harder to plan for them? I am going to assume you thought of them as their culture. Group A and B as unique and different from each other. The same applies to dealing with Black people in your world. Who are they? What do they want? What do they look like? All the same Q&A of your first two races should be applied to them and poof.... Black People.

Hello Inner Heru here.

I can't seem to get the command right for 3d10x10 on here.
Can anyone give me some pointers?

Yes. Yes. A million times Yes.
I feel as you do about the trying to get into a game thing...I don't even like pbp but you make me want to play. I can post often enough to please I feel.

I want to give this a lot of thought and put together something you will find useful and I will enjoy playing.

I want a Human Caster of some sort that is a Harrower. I have him...maybe her.. pretty much fleshed out character wise in my mind.

I'll have something up for you Sunday.

Q: Where can I find out how to post a Stat block like you desire on here? I've seen them done but do not know how to do them.

Thanks!

Yeah the current players have interesting Gods.
I catch myself reading it when bored or between my own games.

I've even started looking into how games on this site work. I am unsure of how to create an alias, if GM and Alias are different in what you need to create one or how to create a "page" for a game like this one with all the tabs.

ZooommmBiiiieee... in other words I know you put this here a bit ago but it's just what I need.

If I was insane enough to start something of a PbP how would I go about setting up one of them cool pages many of them seem to have.
(The ones with the tabs like Campaign Info, Gameplay ,Discussion, ect..)

How does one create an Alias and set it as a GM?

Thank you in advance.

I am aware that recruitment is closed but having finally read all you guys put up as of today you have my mind racing and I feel inspired.
So in order to get the noise out of my head and in hopes of remembered when you open your door again. I wanted to share.

Name: The Malakim, Sin Eater, The Wrath, The Unbound, The Cleansing

Played By: Inner Heru

Domains (Portfolios): Law (Jihad, Judgment) - Destruction (Ruination, Catastrophe)

Theme: Divine Retribution "Release the Kraken!"

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Attack: 4D6

Defense: 3D6

HP: 30

Description: Aquatic, Serpentine, Insectoid, Saurian, Humanoid would all just begin to describe what mortals would grasp as “The Wrath of Gods” falling upon them. Most often its vast riotous form is supported by four to six wicked leg-like limbs akin to a crustacean or insect. An elongated trunk gives the impression of a man’s upper body with two to four arms as well as never less than a pair of tendrils.

This “torso” sits akin to how a Drider’s would however instead of spider The Malakim tends toward lobster or scorpion body influences depending on environment. From the Arthropodic section that makes up its body, vast sail like ridged fins are set. At times they are replaced by wings in forms draconic, insectile or even avian.
The Unbound is crowned with never less than four heads adorned with plates or horns or ridges of some form. More often than not they spring from tendrils on its back or serpentine necks attached at its shoulders, always looking to places near and far, realms mortal and divine.

I have been reading this from page one and now I have like three or so pages to go until current. I just want to say, wow guys. Great jobs!

DLing it now.
Days later and I am still a sleep zombie. April is kicking my butt!
Thanks!

Loyalty seems to not improve no matter what buildings you build. Even the Holy sites will not effect it.

Edit: I am using the excel version.

Edit #2: Thank you so very very much for all you have done for us. I'm tired and forgot my manners Sir.

The Kingdom is Staghelm

With a Capitol placed at the site of the Staglord's Fort: Stag's Fall

Oleg's is now a bustling trade city: Leveton

Candlemere Island is now the site of a Magical University and all supporting buildings are pretty much just pylons of crystal to help focus the "Vril" (See Sunken Empires) or other buildings for the students. In addition there is a temple to Zon Kuthon that is working closely with the Magical School in a Theurge program. The College town is called: Candlemere and the old Tower now school is The Midnight Spires. Though the students call it The Nightmare Spires.

Tatzleford is still the same as is the Fortress City of Varnhold.

Their "Vatican" is in the Narlmarches (Margreve) and called Briarlight.

Fort Drelev is now Port Hooktongue.

The Temple of Erastil is the site of a small town of people looking to hold on to the Old Ways: Woodhall

The Tower of the Dancing Lady is now converted into Castle Trolldam and is the keystone of the second Fortress City of Westwatch.

The Sootscales have expanded their Warrens and under the eyes of the former Magister Witch have the city of Mount Sootscale (*cough*built under a hill*cough*) King Sootscale (chief) is held in check by the Witch who they call the Sootwitch of ALL Bigg'nsess. Mount Sootscale is called Lizard Rock by the locals since it's where ALL the prisoners are sent by all the courts of the land.

Suzaku wrote:

selunatic2397 wrote:

christos gurd wrote:

Ok who else read this as "do souls have sex". To which i say, i hope so.

I, too, am seeing "do souls have sex". You are not alone.

You guys have have a dirty mind. ;p

And dirty spirits.

Dirty, Genderless Spirits!

Hello and thank for your work. I do have a question.

Should the full, New and two 1/2 moons be the only ones that appear on the sheet or should I also see crescents and the like?
I'm also seeing a "0" for the first moon in Kuthona.

From what I gathered...
"Souls" when they first get where they need to get are called Petitioners. They are like soul/ghost versions of the life they just exited. Now as they are "elevated" (good planes) or "broken down" (evil planes) that is when they start to lose their "imagined sex". Let's take Hell as an example.

You get there as a gaunt and dark eyes man with something akin to your last face. After too long on a plane they break you down more and more through Tyranny and torture. Fast forward and you are a crazed and instinctive pile of goo (Lemure). It's implied that they have all kinds of pods and limbs they form including an implication of sex organs. It's driven by the madness of what it went through, in time it can focus on it's Sin, say wrath and in time become a Erinyes. "Females" every one.

You are a Sir, sir!

City Sheets for anything past City 5 are your old sheets. No tool tip and smaller font.

How do I get to City Map 3, 4, ect or are there anymore hidden? They did not pop up when I tried unhide. This is looking great.

Holy..SMOKES!!
Wow, just wow.

Much thanks to all involved. Looking it over now.

Looking forward to it.

Thank you very very and yes, very, much!
Also huge thanks for for the Nethys info. I do not know why I kept missing this.