Mammoth Daddy's page

So, it's entirely possible that I am overreacting here, but the part of your post that I've emboldened gives me pause, because the average person is still way more suspicious of human-influenced climate change than the majority of the scientific community, I.E. the people who actually know what they're talking about...
Alright, not gonna mince words, if my interpretation of your post is accurate, I would honestly recommend not running them through this. Not gonna get more political than that, not in this thread at least
The good news, if you decide to go through with it anyway, the BBAG (of the first third at least) is superficially the kind of over-the-top extremist that Conservatives like to point at as 'what's wrong with the other side'; so as long as you play up that the PC's are not so much siding with the 'granola-crunching-hippie-weirdos' as fighting the 'kill-all-our-folks' bad guys you should be fine. Just don't bring up that even the extremists have some justification for their viewpoint/actions.

I’m not sure if you are overreacting tbh, but in any case one of the players responded positively to the Player’s guide so that’s good. Haven’t heard from the others yet.

The setting feels similar to that of a beloved children’s series by Patricia C Wrede, so we’re going full steam ahead once we finish Rusthenge. I might even remind the players that the forest is a semi-autonomous province, and any interlopers are defying some ancient form of federalism.

We’re doing Rusthenge, maybe the Enmity Cycle (only if we have ties to the pathfinder-faction), then Wildwood, then Curtains Call if we still wanna continue to (nigh) 20th.

Rusthenge will make Curtains Call more impactful since we’ll know the deity that dies. Rusthenge will however

The only travel options from Iron Islands to Verduran are via overland, water, air, or magic. I doubt there are many airships in the Archipelago so overland, water, magic (or a combination of these) seems the easiest.

How do your players feel about Princess Mononoke? That is probably the closest bit of media to this Adventure Path from what I've seen of the AP so far.

The AP definitely is assuming the players will try to be peacemakers.

Well, that was a looong, time ago, but i believe “ambivalent” would be the best word to describe their reaction. They didn’t really care for the Cameron Avatar flicks. They thought them ‘preachy’.

So the player’s guide demonstrates how far the players can tip the scale on the side of nature in this AP-

But what of the reverse? How protective of nature does the player group have to be to stay true to the AP as is?

The reason why I ask is that while my newbie group appreciates nature, their mindset is more akin to the average rural North American living in a conservative state or province.

My player group supports national parks but they’re a lil more suspicious than the average person of climate change and green political thought/theory. (I’ve tried) I’m a lil afraid they’ll accuse me of having ulterior motives if they think I snared them into an Aesop for their first AP.

Feel free to respond using Spoiler tags, but is there a way to run this AP so as to protect the magical forest and still alleviate the resource-hungry people’s needs?

Edit: Feel free to use spoiler tags, but if I can convince the players that we truly are the moderate ones it might help

I think players imagining themselves to be more moderate than the ELF is probably necessary for the campaign to work. I think players looking to start full on wars with the neighboring countries would cause more problems than the AP is ready to handle…so your group should be good.

Who is “the ELf” ?

Sooo, I’m a lil nervous from reading the player’s guide. While the newbies in my group appreciate nature, they’re also more climate skeptic than I am in real life. (Anthropologic-based climate change is very real, and this includes the increase in average global temperatures as the result of greenhouse gas emissions)

This isn’t to say they’re against national parks and maybe, if I coach the Verduran Forest as one big national park, they’ll lean on nature over civilization in this AP- but my fear is what if they don’t?

We’ll probably never be a group of eco-vigilante’s but diplomats, park rangers? Sure. That would probably fit them better. Maybe we’ll try to set up a treaty in Andoran comparable to Taldor.

The orc god of lust and pillage (and other unmentionable stuff) gets turned into a new spawn of Rovagug.

He too will probably die, and for the best I say!

Even evil has standards.

Correct. Official Godsrain Releases™ will begin in July. Wildwood leads up TO July and is "business as usual".

Oh good. Because I’d prob have to change some things for the new players were it otherwise. The death of a god might be a bit too momentous for a group largely new to the setting or RPG’s in general.

Then again, given the scale of Rusthenge’s threat, maybe they’ll become accustomed to epic plotlines.

Just to confirm: Wardens of Wildwood will take place BEFORE the Godsrain and War of Immortals right?

Right?

Okay, but which of the non-core gods and demigods are dying??

I fully expect a god of accidents, silence, and noise after this.

Well.

Spoiler: looks like rusthenge will be foreshadowing some stuff for my future campaign.

Whatever happens, I just hope that we get a more holistic approach to gods and demigods beyond the Core 20.

Golarion is just one world (albeit an important one, i.e. the cage) and it never sat right with me that there are all these regional gods who just don’t interact with the world.

I’d rather even that some deities just go by different names or emphasize different aspects of themselves than rely on artificial borders for influence.

Apep for example. Whatever happened to him?? I could see him and Alcazotz being two aspects of the same deity.

Camazotz returns and swallows the sun.

Sarenrae won’t be the one to die however.

Lord Fyre wrote:

Jonathan Morgantini wrote:

Also also. Thew thing to remember here is your OWN tables can have whatever epic changes you want. As a kitchen sink setting we DO need to have a fair number of through lines. When I first started here, I suggested sinking the entire island of Korvosa as a way to shake things up, until it was (rightly) pointed out to me that destroying something so integral to the brand was a TERRIBLE idea.

Korvosa is an island?

It includes Endrin Isle, but that isn't the whole city or even the main part of it.

Thats what I get for typing distracted. I fixed it, but i MEANT Kortos.

Poor Korvosa. Paizo is determined to keep you traumatized.

Edit: if you know, you know.

The 6-part AP’s can be intimidating for new and returning GM’s and players.

Most of the campaigns I’ve been a part of have been too open, and too grand per people’s time constraints.

Six-part Adventures also mean that one is forced to wait longer if you don’t particularly like the fewer themes of that year’s adventure path products. I’d much rather that Paizo just follow up one less-than-six book adventure path with a sequel set of books a couple of years later. A successful card game I play does the same thing with sets now, releasing more sets with varied themes and I much prefer it to a too long of a stay.

The farthest I’ve gotten to finishing an adventure path is book 2 of CotCT. People got busy. Moved. Made other priorities.

And that’s okay.

Well. That’s not ominous ^^^

then make available for choice at the start of the campaign the custom backgrounds for both.

I missed this part in my first readthrough. I like this idea. I told em of the plan, and it makes sense for them to be able to pick the background from the two adventure products.

If a GM has the full campaign plotted out and knows what published adventures and Adventure Paths they're going to use, I think it's probably the most logical to go with backgrounds from the first adventure being played...

...but I think a better solution would be to be open about the plans. Tell the players "We're going to play Rusthenge and then move on to Wardens of Wildwood" so that they know what they're going to play even though their characters don't, then make available for choice at the start of the campaign the custom backgrounds for both.

A trickier one that would take you more time would be to offer both, but to customize them all so that they work thematically for both adventures. Probably don't need to do much more than adjust the flavor text but still... that's more work.

That’s helpful. Admittedly this will be their first campaign (and my first in a long time) so we’ll prob have to rely pretty heavily on GM advice.

In terms of explaining how our characters got from one side of Avistan to the other, could we just have our characters join the pathfinder society faction, use their fast-travel options (maze, tapestry, etc.) and become hired for the Greenwood Gala that way? I calculated it out, and travelling from the Ron Archipelago to Verduran Forest will take several months by ship.

So, we don’t need to worry if the first adventure gives us
specific ?lore/skills, or specific languages (Thassilonian) unlikely to be relevant later?

(Assuming there isn’t some secret Thassilonian ruin or wizard in WardoW) *knock on wood*

So after a year of debating, my sisters settled on Wardens of Wildwood for their first RPG adventure path, as it most resembles the classic LotR fantasy tropes they are familiar with.

(I’m almost positive the later won’t prove strictly true, but whatev’s)

But because it starts at level 5, I suggested we do Rusthenge first to build up our characters level-wise, and get some experience while the consequences are less severe.

Which leads me to my question: what adventure backgrounds should our characters use? Rusthenge or Wardens of Wildwood?

My initial thought was the latter but then I wondered if our party would be encumbered in the first adventure we lacked players that have some of benefits given players via Rusthenge’s own backgrounds. Having someone able to read Thassilonian would be useful for the first adventure- not so much the adventure path

How does this work?

Just as the title says. I’m not saying that Ydersius need necessarily to get his ‘head back in the game’ but I would like to see the return of Serpentfolk as a menace- at least within the darklands as well as Garund. We also don’t have nearly the amount of bestiary options in 2e necessary to create a hombrew campaign with snakefolk as the primary antagonists.

Pathfinder’s take on Ancient Greece, a land of hero-gods and monsters; we’ve seen one of its cities in Distant Shores, and a few more of its hero-gods at the final 1e AP backmatter - how do folks like the region? Is it somewhere you’re eager to see more of?

I like the region from what little I know of it but it is weirdly placed in terms of geography as one would assume from its real world inspiration it would be geographically closer to the inner sea than it is- but I guess one could argue it’s as close as it can be given how crowded the inner sea already is.

I enjoy the Theros setting from magic the gathering.

Casmaron itself is a little less historically accurate than other continents in terms of the conglomerate handful of nations upon it. I think they have to do a better job in the region in making it their own and taking seriously the consequences that each real world inspired culture and civilization would experience from their closer proximity to one another than in real life. This might create some dissonance from the real world inspiration, but at least the setting would be more reflective of what the traffic and sharing of goods and ideas would look like according to their fictional set up.

I like that Iblydos is the best remaining place where cyclops peoples can still practice a less-marred (less fiendishly/evilly-influenced) and noble version of their culture.

Everywhere else where they exist(ed) no longer reflects the once-great civilization that they were. I could see this being a place where cyclops are akin to sphinxes and Norns in their relationship with humans

it's almost guaranteed to be Asmodeus. Even though he is from real world mythology/religion his current incarnation is too close to the OGL, so he probably has to die, and this does give them an opportunity to make the lost omens hell more distinct from the D&D hell.

Would it? I thought D&D hell was currently in a war of succession or something according to BG3? I could be wrong as I haven’t yet played BG3 yet nor D&D in a while

Gurdy was a legend in his hometown; nobody was a better bouncer for the local tavern! His imposing height and rotund physique (coupled with a full childhood of farm work) meant he was unparalleled in his ability to bar chuck rowdy malcontents. One unassuming night while standing his post out front he felt a warm splash on his balding scalp. He cursed the gulls of his seaside region but his head was magically dry when he went to wipe it. He didn't think much more on it and continued his shift until a scream down the road alerted him to danger: old farmer Whithers raced through the town's front gate with a werewolf hot on his heels. Gurdy pulled out his trusty sap and raced to meet the beast and protect his favorite turnip farmer! He reared back and smacked the creature upside the head....unexpectedly sending it into orbit. ".....well that's a bit much, 'init?" whispered Gurdy to himself and quickly left town to figure out what was going on with his body and protect his neighbors from inadvertent harm.

Animist is the class I'm more interested in, I just haven't thought of a character yet. When I do I'll post it!

I love him already.

Which thread is the official “who’s gonna die” thread from now on? I keep getting confused.

Didn’t the play test announcement mention a goddess torn apart or something??

Did they not say “goddess ripped in half’ or something like that in the announcement??

Happy Calgary Pride people!

I will..not be joining play tests this weekend. Also I was terribly wrong about one of the new animist class being Arcadian.
You win some some you lose some. Oh well. Better to score well in other areas in life heh.

Damn tho am I’m do’in that heh.

Failed Starstone initiates.

Ancient Sarkorian godspirits

Giant Spirits

Spirits representing the ancient bonds of heroic parties past.

“Ghost in the machine” spirits corrupted by integration with AI/tech from The Divinity

Harrow card archtypes.

Ancient Pharaohs of Osirion.

Echoes of dead divinities.

Dead familiars.

Lingering Quintessence that has yet to return/be sorted to the corresponding plane/demiplane to which it belongs.

Mammoth Daddy wrote:

The second pic looks like someone from Arcadia. Maybe wearing their cotton armour?

Cultural background influenced perhaps by real life pre-contact Zapotec civilization?

We know that Camazotz is going to be be featured relatively soon…

Do we? I love Camaztoz! Where was that hinted?

look up the titled:

For the second one I’m convinced: demigod…or hero-god?

For the second pic: It’s Demigod. Or a Twin-based class, where you can play two characters who together are more powerful than when they are apart.

Maybe this character is the surviving twin based off of the mythology of Hunahpu and Xbalanque during their trials in the underworld of Xibalba?

One apparently gets beheaded by Camazotz in the real life myth and we know the latter will make an appearance soonish.

Edit: hero-gods?

I think the second class pic on the blog looks Arcadian. They’re wearing no metal armour. There’s a ?llama on the pack and a ?bat or something ?South-American inspired on the wooden lower armour covering their crotch.

In the real-world, Mayan myths, Demigods Hunahpu and Xbalanque encounter Camazotz during their trials in the underworld of Xibalba. One gets beheaded.

We know Camazotz will be featured again soonish- what if this is a tease for more Arcadia content?

Edit: hero-gods?

I think Demigod is a good guess.

Anyone know of Hunahpu and Xbalanque and their trials in the underworld of Xibalba?

This (second) character might be the surviving demigod twin, whose sibling ?representing the sun gets beheaded by Camazotz.

Look at the symbols and the patterns. Lack of metal in the armour.

I thing this person is from Arcadia!!

The second pic looks like someone from Arcadia. Maybe wearing their cotton armour?

Cultural background influenced perhaps by real life pre-contact Zapotec civilization?

We know that Camazotz is going to be be featured relatively soon…

Arcadia. Hero-twins. Demigods?

Camazotz beheads somebody divine?

Northern and Southern Arcadia rising.

Camazotz. Consumes. The Sun.

Or something symbolic or divinely representative of the sun’s power.

Maybe Camazotz will be based off of an amalgamation of multiple night or darkness related, ancient-American deities.

https://youtu.be/wbIoa4zA9Vg?si=OFv-oZ5Sn3KPhb8w

Harm font clerics celebrate! :I

A Tian-Min champion of Tsukiyo

Or

A Tian-La Ranger or Druid with a short bow and a horse companion

Or

An Aphorite witch of some kind.

So…to follow up and without spoilers…

How is it so far?

If you don’t like dungeons or prefer small dungeons I then would suggest Quest for the Frozen Flame.
Never played it but read through the first book and know the gist of the story and arc. It’s mostly about survival, and trying to stay ahead of a looming threat until your able to take care of said threat.

I think one will have something to do with outer planes.
The other might be something to do with channelling dead gods or their divine echoes.

This almost makes me wonder if the folks speculating that Asmodeus is the deity getting the axe in the future are on to something: His death and the subsequent chaos in Hell it could cause would be the perfect catalyst for a reinvention of Hell and all the creatures in it that makes it much more distinct to Pathfinder.

By that logic, if Pharasma dies they could hand-wave anything.

Actually…not a bad idea.

We don't intentionally try to include at least one dragon in every Adventure Path, but we DO try to make sure the ones we DO include are not just rando monsters in a room. One thing I learned very early on during my time working on Dungeon Magazine is that folks really get frustrated when dragons appear in adventures and aren't an important part of the plot, so ever since, when I include dragons in an adventure, I try to make sure they have a personality and story role and are at least load bearing to the adventure in some way. Which does result in them not appearing in large numbers but also results in them being things I "program" into the outlines early on, more so than most other monsters.

So while we don't intentionally try to get one in every Adventure Path, we do usually try to curate their appearances more deliberately, even before we hire an author for the adventure.

That makes a lot of sense.

I always did feel Belshallam and Zarmangarof were odd in a CotCT campaign that never did feature it’s biggest draconic baddie: Kazavon

Spoilers:

Edit: unless the party *drastically* fails.

Extinction Curse doesn't have any proper dragons, though the last installment has two separate encounters with linnorms. It does, however, have a whole lot of dinosaurs.

Huh. Fair. I didn’t know that.

One thing I’ve noticed reading some of the 1st and second edition books I already own from bookstores is that most AP’s seem to include at least one dragon encounter somewhere within the adventure’s course.

Is this deliberate? Regardless- me like very much.

Whenever one is introduced to a new game there can be a lot of alien ideas for new players to grapple with.

But they often perk up at the mention of ‘dragon’.

I hope the dragons we already have will continue to appear in adventures.

Brine dragons for example are a favourite of fine and I’ve always wanted to do a campaign where Kelizandri or associated enemies are the campaign antagonists.

Something like a non-elemental planar channeller perhaps?

In other mediums we have something called a planeswalker. A specialist at traversing and channeling planes would be cool and distinct from other franchises who tend to view the archetype as more akin to sorcerers or x-men.

Subclasses would then focus on different planes being channeled- but with some caveat to distinguish them from Kineticists.

I’ll give em credit- Pathfinder hasn’t made their clues as ridonkulously simplistic, and easy to guess as their competitors.

The only person who we know is gonna do some god killing is an Orc warrior woman and ?cleric of Sarenrae who died with the mark of a God-challenger or something. I can’t see her killing any good deities.

But we also have hints that the storyline is about to get darker, and that the “sun will die”.

We have the lich Tar “Ba-fool” whose phylactery was hidden by Urgathoa. We have newly risen rune lords and a Peacock Spirit who is likely a thought-dead runelord.

Maybe Sarenrae and the spirit of the orc champion fight Urgathoa, kill her, but Asmodius takes advantage of the situation to kill Sarenrae who bequeaths her domain to the Orc champion?

Do we know that the death count will be strictly limited to just one deity??

If Paizo is using this whole thing to clear house and remove additional references to the OGL- then Asmodius makes sense. But we have literally done nothing to advance such a plot so far.

When do we find out or get more information?

Evan Tarlton wrote:

Among the dwarven pantheon, Torag seems to get the most blame for dwarven conduct during the Quest for Sky. Were he to die in a way that was clearly meant to be an apology (say, protecting a newly risen orc goddess who was from Belkzen), that would go a long way towards allowing the dwarves and the orcs to make a united front against Tar-Baphon. Especially if Taargick's regrets become public knowledge, which is a very likely ending for Sky King's Tomb. That alliance would pincer the Gravelands (Kyonin and Druma would be in, and Molthune and Nirmathas and Oprak would very likely join as well) and force Tar-Baphon to counter it. Probably by doing something desperate that impacts all of Avistan at the very least.

In short: While I think it's probably going to be Asmodeus, if it's a good deity it will be Torag. The setup is in place.

Ehhhh. The dwarves are getting an entire AP ("Sky King's Tomb") and just got an entire sourcebook (Lost Omens Highhelm). Paizo tries to focus a bit on one theme, then a bit on another. I don't think they'd publish yet more orc-dwarf violence that close to spending an entire summer on it. It'd get stale.

If Torag was gonna die, why not do it in the actual adventure path?? I agree. It seems weird to have it occur outside the adventure if it were to happen

Queens of Nights would make powerful patrons for any campaign villain.

Didn’t the infernal lord/duke? of the first layer of hell have to pay hell itself an entire world’s worth of souls just to acquire such an honour?

It’d be a weird (chaotic) economy of souls if a simple empress over a single (if large) nation somehow managed to become Hell’s ruler all because of her ambition and rulership of a nation on a world the game just so happens to care about.

It’s just a bit too neat and easy methinks. Should the bloodstained glass ceiling of hell be shattered- it’s gonna take a triumphant, gore-caked, **Queen of Night** to rise to the occasion.

And a Queen only respects her equals.

Abrogail who???