Marusaia's page

Confirming myself and two others for the Crab Pot meet and eat. Looking forward to stuffing myself with yummy salmon and crab yet again!

Ok, want you guys to check my math so I can budget accordingly, and to see if I can pull this off.

$35 3-day pass
$200 4 nights at the bellevue if I get a roommate.
$120 Food for 4 days, 3 meals a day. $10 a meal
$200 Money to blow on gaming paraphenalia (is realistically enough?)
$50 Miscellaneous expenditures
$518 Flight from Michigan (Round Trip)
$1118 total

Question: How does one get from the airport to the hotel? Not expecting to really NEED to get anywhere once I'm there beyond the call of food. Taxi service, I'm assuming?

Anything I'm missing?

If you're feeling cheap, adventurous, or both, there is a bus that goes directly from the airport to downtown Bellevue, the ST 560. It gets you there in about 45 minutes, and I'm pretty sure that isn't any faster than a cab could get you there, or if it is, it's not by much, unless you're paying the cabbie extra. That bus would get you from the airport to Bellevue for perhaps $3 or $4 at the most. On the other hand, a cab trip from the airport to Bellevue is probably $30 at least, probably closer to $40 or $50. Then again, if money is no object and you'd rather have the convenience of doorstep service or are bringing a lot of large luggage with you (I'm pretty sure you'd have to walk a little ways, maybe half a mile or so to get to the hotel), then taking a cab may be worth it.

Then again, it also depends what time you are arriving at Seatac airport, but I'm pretty sure the 560 runs for most of the day on weekdays. It would be weird if it didn't.

Also, I'd recommend budgeting a little extra for your meals. Good eating tends to be expensive in Bellevue. Then again, if you can stomach cheap hotel Continental breakfasts in lieu of buying breakfast elsewhere, it's probably more than enough (note, the Continental breakfast at the Coast Bellevue isn't really bad, but it's not what I'd call good either; then again I'm biased, as I am somewhat picky when it comes to breakfast).

It was only one room last year, of course, but in my experience the place was perfectly adequate. The rooms were clean, the beds were comfortable, and the place in general was quite well apportioned.

Other food options within walking distance (one mile or less, nearest to farthest):

Hunan Garden (Chinese)
The Pumphouse (American)
The Crab Pot (Seafood. Lots and lots of seafood.)
Red Robin
Taphouse (Beer. Oh, and they serve good food too, but it's a touch pricey.)
Maggiano's Little Italy (Italian-American. Their steaks are truly massive, and when you order a pasta dish they throw in an extra serving for you to take home.)
Ruth's Chris Steak House (steaks)
Din Tai Fong (Chinese, specializing in dumplings)
The Cheesecake Factory (needs no introduction)
Paddy Coyne's (an Irish pub)

Those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there are a couple extra at least that I am forgetting. Also, most of these are on the more expensive end of things, but it's downtown Bellevue (for those of you who are not locals, that means it's going to be expensive no matter how you cut it, unless you're eating at Wendy's). I have been to several of these restaurants over the years, and have found them all to be good, some better than others.

The Crab Pot, of course, is where Paizo holds the "meet and eat." You'll have a hard time finding a better seafood restaurant in the area. Din Tai Fong is excellent as well, although the wait to get in the door can be long. Ruth's Chris is a nice place with an excellent happy hour menu, and the sort of place to go if you want to unleash your inner barbarian and devour large slabs of blood-red meat. Another good spot for that is Maggiano's, where you are also given the option of Fettuccine Alfredo, Lasagna, or Baked Ziti as an alternative to Veal Porterhouse and Ribeye Steak (come here on an empty stomach; "expansive" is the word I'd use to describe the meals served there). My memory of Paddy Coyne's is a bit hazy (I was on a pub crawl with friends, and Paddy Coyne's was one of the last stops of the night), but their soup and soda bread is lovely.

There are many other places still, if you don't mind looking around or driving around the area. All of the ones I have mentioned are within fairly easy walking distance, and the first three I mentioned are within easy walking distance even for people who absolutely hate walking or people wearing high heals.

Also, there is an Uwajimaya (local Asian grocery chain) less than two blocks from the hotel that just opened recently. You can get tofu and Kirin Ichiban there, and a whole lot else besides, but I'd recommend skipping their lunch counter. I tried it once, and was not particularly impressed.

I'm coming, and as far as I know, so will two friends of mine.

The lottery results should appear on Monday at 2pm, at the same time that Open Registration opens.

Okay, good.

I checked it just now, and saw nothing but a big blank for my schedule, and had a terrible premonition that I had somehow screwed up and not had my requests go through (this is exactly the kind of thing that I am likely to do, and the kind of thing that is likely to happen to me, based on my experience, heheh). At the very least, while I may still have screwed up, it's good to know that there isn't supposed to be anything there yet. Thanks.

Well, damn.

At least I wasn't just a day late or anything. Still though, damn.

If anyone has any to sell for whatever reason, leave a message here or send me a note.

I waited a while to buy my three day pass for the convention, but did it earlier than I had last year. I cannot find anything about buying into the banquet anywhere, however. Am I correct in taking that to mean that there aren't any more, that the banquet tickets are sold out? And if not, what's up with this?

F. Wesley Schneider wrote:

They have other methods of spawning that don't involved changelings.

Sure they're grisly unspeakable methods of spawning, but more Night Hag influence is always fun!

With James Jacobs and the rest of this crew on the job, "unspeakable" is the order of the day.

Just took a look at the Changeling's writeup in #43 today. I have to say that I came into it as a skeptic. I was thinking of the 3.5 changelings (faceless shapeshifters) and World of Darkness changelings, the former of which were fine for what they are, and the latter of which I wasn't interested in at all (part of a general prejudice towards WOD stuff in general, but that's another story). I didn't expect to like the changelings at all. My first reaction was "What, changelings? Seriously? Why would you possibly want them in the mix?"

I have been proven completely and thoroughly wrong. This has my interest, and I am well and duly impressed with how you guys at Paizo did this. I went from "no interest at all" to "seriously considering playing as a character" as far as changelings go. I like the backstory, and I like the mechanics. I think this is probably one of the most interesting things you fellows have done recently, and that's saying a lot, because (and I say this with all sincerity) almost everything you guys make is interesting. I also have to congratulate you once again on your excellent art direction; good illustrations, in my opinion, often make or break a gaming product. This was the case to some extent with 3.5 with me; while the mediocre art direction in many of the books did not stop me from using them and playing 3.5, they did impede my adoption and enjoyment to some extent. Good art in contrast draws the reader in, especially someone who is visually inclined like me. It's no exaggeration, in fact, to say that the changeling entranced me with her stunning good looks. Whoever your artists are must be sorcerers, for some of the green widow magic came through in the art itself.

So congratulations. The changeling took me in with pretty.

Doesn't make much difference with voting being done, but I felt like giving my own views anyway.

I really like this one. I especially enjoyed how you made him a villain without making him evil. It's good to have there be a bit more complexity to villains than that and for the paladin in the party to be confused when the blackguard doesn't light up like a Christmas tree, and the Gentleman Knave delivers on those counts.

Stat wise, he's a well put together character. Very heavy on the dexterity, but it fits in with his image. The backstory was fun, though I have some difficulty imagining Qadira conquering Taldor. Given the Knave's plan, it could certainly happen (I suspect the Qadirans aren't paying him nearly enough, even though as things are he'd probably do it for free). My only real problem with it is the question of why the Qadirans would even want Taldor, but then it's been a while since I looked at a map of Golarion or my copy of the campaign setting.

While it already has, I would have voted to see this move on to the next round, and am pleased to see that it did so.

Damn, go away for a few days, and the thread has 75 replies! Thank you, one and all, for all your responses, especially those of you who let on where you hail from! More specific replies to come later, thanks!

It's great seeing the names of the winners, but I know none of them personally. I seem to recall that in years past the winners had their hometowns listed next to their names. Was that something that was added after the fact, or are hometowns just not being included this year?

I wanted to know if there were any hometown heroes from the places I live/that I have a connection to (Seattle metropolitan area, Bellingham WA, and central Pennsylvania/PA in general). In any event, congratulations to everybody, and especially those who come from the places I mentioned. Get out their and represent, fellows.

I've been gaming on a regular basis for about the last five years. I've had some good moments over the years, but nothing quite matches this one.

So all the characters are at the Swallowtail festival, and my character, Aly (short for Alison), is standing next to Ameiko Kaijitsu's booth keeping an eye on one of the other characters (Hope, Sheriff Belor's young half-elf daughter). The two of us make our spot checks to notice the goblins as they start to appear, and can act in the surprise round. There are several goblins on the ground with dogslicers and horseslicers, and one on the roof of a building across the street with a bow. We roll initiative, and I come up first. The DM asks, "what do you do?"

I assess the situation. My character has only one standard action. Aly could probably charge one of the goblins on the ground easily enough, and she has a dagger on her (she was using it to eat a piece of roast venison earlier that day). However, the goblin with a bow on the roof is going to be a problem, sniping civilians and party members from the roof top with near impunity for at least a couple rounds. Something has to be done about him. And then I remember that my character is standing next to a stall giving out mugs of beer. So I say to my DM with a smile on my face, "Aly reaches for the biggest beer mug at hand and lobs it at the goblin on the roof."

Naturally, I take a negative four penalty for difficulty since a mug is not particularly aerodynamic and was not made for throwing. I throw it anyway. Much to my surprise, the mug actually hits the goblin! The goblin, who was cackling and grinning, takes the mug right in the mouth. Several teeth break in the process, he gets a concussion from the inside out, and is knocked off the roof. Between the mug and the fall, he ends up dead by the time he hits the ground. Thus, not only have I gotten the first kill of the campaign, I did it with a beer mug. I did not plan on either of these occurrences, and did not conspire with my DM to make them happen.

I love my character. I also love my d20, and her kicking +4 strength bonus. XD I just wanted to share something that really made my day.

In the Campaign setting and in Burnt Offerings it says The Great Wizard Xin was exiled from Azlant and took with him many people and some friends and founded the empire of Thassilon on the other continent.

The Thassilonians have nothing to do with the Tiens... Totally the other side of the world... and the Thassilonians were a white non oriental race, though they did spawn the Varisians who are a more gypsie looking race...

You can find all the stuff on the Pathfinder wikki just look up Thassilon... :) Check out Xin, and Azlant.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll check it out!

It is odd though... a lot of the names, as well as the drawings of the people and architecture of Thassilon, gives off a very distinctly Oriental flavor. It reminds me of ancient China, Mongolia, and Tibet (this is particularly driven home by Chow Yun-fat from "Curse of the Golden Flower" being the dream choice to play Karzoug). Perhaps it's only because East Asian Studies was my major in college, but I see more than a passing resemblance.

Wow, thanks for all the replies! I'm glad for all the help.

First of all, she'll definitely be fluent in Common by the time the campaign starts. There is a five year gap between when she woke up (coinciding with the start of the Late Unpleasantness) and the start of the campaign at the Swallowtail Festival and the Cathedral dedication. Living in the company of people who speak Common for all that time, she would have learned it naturally, whether she wanted to or not.

Class-wise, I'm going for Fighter/Wizard/Eldritch Knight, kicking off as a Fighter. Is Magus a prestige class from the APG? If so, I'll have to check it out. She does have a respectable Intelligence bonus, so she'll know a solid amount of languages.

To Tashanthara: Abyssal is highly likely, especially since Alaznist is described as a "woman of faith" who was not only much more religious than her fellow Runelords, but who venerated the Abyss and the demons that came from it. Refresh my memory, where is it written that the Thassilonians came from Azlant originally? I remember reading that myself, but my DM is operating from the idea that they came from Tien. Granted they might have been the same back then, and granted that DM's rule trumps all, but I thought I might make him aware of what the books said, so he can know exactly when and where he is going off reservation. Back to languages, I think Draconic is a no-brainer. She would of course speak Thassilonian as the language of the ruling class; whether she would speak Azlanti is a bit less certain. There should probably be an Elemental language or two to round things out. Additionally, she would likely speak Elven and possibly Giant; I'm not sure if keeping giants as soldiers was just Karzoug's thing, or if all the Runelords did it to one extent or another. I didn't know that the Serpentfolk were the traditional enemies of the Azlanti, but that makes their languages excellent candidates as well.

To Aeshuura: my character really isn't that arrogant. She's got a lot of Alaznist's memories and skill-set, and of course resembles her physically, but she isn't Alaznist. It's something like this: my character has the same ur-spark as Alaznist had, but developed in a completely different direction because she grew up in a different time and place. And thanks for the praise. Please let us know how it goes when you introduce her!

To Shizvestus: thanks for the heads up about Taldan being the same as Common!

To Disturbed: putting a skill point into Linguistics would be an excellent idea. I should have thought of that myself, particularly since I was hard pressed picking skills on account of her first level being Fighter. Giving her an unusual speech mannerism is a great idea as well. I'll have to think of something good for that.

Thank you, one and all!

Soon I will (hopefully!) be playing in a Rise of the Runelords game, and I need some help. First, some background. I'm doing something rather strange with my character. She woke up, stark naked and with no memories of her past, in the vicinity of Sandpoint the night that Runewell of Wrath overflowed and kicked off the Late Unpleasantness. Like all present, she was affected. For some reason that she couldn't discern, as she wandered through the streets, she felt incredibly angry. It wasn't long before she got in a fight with a town guardsman. Being naked and without a weapon, however, she was subdued in fairly short order, and spent the next two months shuttling between the Guardhouse's brig and the Sandpoint Chapel; there was some disagreement as to whether she was simply a drunk or a garden variety lunatic, or if she had been touched in the head by an evil god or a demon. Father Tobyn, understandably, paid little attention to her at the time, and the two men who spent the most time looking after her and trying to figure out what to do with her were Tobyn's chief acolyte, Zantus, and a Shoanti guardsman named Belor Viskalai. She initially received a great deal of suspicion for Chopper's Murders, but as she had been under such close scrutiny to begin with and was almost always locked up somewhere or other, it was determined that she could not have been responsible. After the Sheriff was killed and the Chapel burned down with Father Tobyn in it, the two men who had been looking after her stepped up to fill the gaps. She, in turn, was taken charge of by Ameiko Kaijitsu. Since then, she has become a member of the community like any other.

My character is, in fact, a clone of the Runelord Alaznist. Alaznist had at one time been researching means of self-preservation in the unlikely event that she should fall in battle, and one of her spies brought her research on cloning magic. This magic was used to create the thing that would become my character. However, the magic was imperfect, and Alaznist decided that while it would work in a pinch, she wanted something better. Therefore, she had the clone boxed up and set aside at an out of the way border post which is now known as the Old Light. It turned out, however, that the clone magic involved was even more imperfect than she thought. When Alaznist went into stasis as all Thassilon was collapsing, the cloning magic took her consciousness's disappearance from the Material Plane as her death, and began to activate. However, instead of implanting Alaznist's soul in the clone body, the spell only copied Alaznist's thoughts and memories into the clone, and moreover, most of those thoughts and memories were severely jumbled up, hence why my character remembers nothing.

And so, now we come to the point. I am trying to decide what particular languages she should speak when she first comes out of the Old Light. She will be able to speak; the clone spell successfully copied that much without trouble. The question is what she will speak. Thassilonian goes without saying. Alaznist would surely have been able to read and speak Draconic, as a runelord and a first rank wizard. I think it likely that she also could speak Elvish, being that Bakrakhan bordered the old Elvish kingdom in the northwest of Varisia. I doubt that Common would have been spoken 10,000 years ago; if it were, then I doubt it would be recognizable today. It is possible that Alaznist also spoke Shoanti; while the Shoanti of that time were slaves, she might have bothered to learn the native tongue her soldiers. While less likely, the same is true of Varisian.

This whole process has gotten me thinking a lot about the development of languages in Golarion, specifically how quickly they age and change. Thassilonian, of course, is practically a dead language. It has been spoken almost entirely by sages, wizards, and researchers for the past ten thousand years. Likewise, I cannot imagine Draconic or Elven changing much since that time. Twenty generations at best have gone by among the elves since the fall of Thassilon, roughly the same distance between our own time and William Shakespeare, and since the works of Shakespeare are written in what is effectively modern English, I think the same can be assumed of Elvish of that period (besides, elves strike me as the kind to change their language very slowly). Dragons, of course, have had even fewer generations and are even slower to change things like their language than elves are.

But then there are things like Common, which I am assuming is at present a patois or creole based principally upon the working man's Chelaxian. I could, however, be completely wrong about this. If I am wrong, I'd be interested to know what exactly Common is, and also, if there was a Common tongue ten thousand years ago, and if so what it was based upon? Likewise for Varisian and Shoanti. They probably existed in some form or another ten thousand years ago, when the Shoanti and Varisians were still slaves in Thassilon, but would a Shoanti or Varisian today recognize the speech of ten thousand years ago?

Amiri. First and foremost, I'd love to see my favorite oversized-blade-wielding barbarian get some screen time all to herself. If I hadn't been asleep at the wheel for the Pathfinder fiction contest, I would have submitted some of it myself, and may do it the next time such a contest is offered.

Apart from that, other characters I'd like to see get screen time, singly or in company with each other, are Seoni, Merisiel, Harsk, Valeros, Kyra, the Oracle, and the Inquisitor. Upon consideration, "party fiction" sounds like it could be pretty cool.

But if we only get one vote for one character, then I vote Amiri.

The Clifford Ball stories look interesting. I'll have to see if I can track them down, and would be interested in seeing them come out through Planet Stories.

I may have suggested it already, but so I hear "A Sorcerer and a Gentleman" by Elizabeth Willey is very good. There were two other books by the same author set in the same universe, "The Price of Blood and Honor" and "The Well-Favored Man." I have not read them, but someone I know and whose taste I trust has, and loves them. They came out between 1994 and 1997, but are currently out of print; the author, moreover, was apparently a one hit wonder, and has not published anything more since she finished the last book.

I concur with Mikaze. The image of a young Johnny Cash beating shoggoths and hounds of Tyndalos and night gaunts into submission with his guitar and his wits is a beautiful thing.

I also love how Silver John is a fairly obvious descendant of the Jack who also lived in the back country of the southern Appalachians, whose tales were recorded and brought to light by Richard Chase. In fact, they might even be the same man. Old Jack went off to war on one occasion when there was nothing better to do, and wound up serving in the army for a considerable long time. Maybe he went abroad for Korea as well.

I have to laugh at this on some level:

edit: Just in case it changes, here is the list as I saw it:

"At different times, the novels portray or allude to murder, bestiality, female genital cutting, cannibalism, racism, sexism, speciesism, abortion, masturbation, mutation, incest, inbreeding, constipation, assassination, gambling, drunkenness, brawling, diarrhoea, capitalism, leprosy, castration, slavery, evolution, patricide, regicide, venereal disease, forgery, treason, dwarf tossing, torture, orgies, incontinence, suicide, disembowelment, capital and corporal punishment, drug use, religious fraud, bribery, blackmail, animal cruelty, disfigurement, infanticide, the caste system, democratic revolutionary movements, rape, theft, genocide, transvestitism, premature ejaculation, prostitution, piracy, and polygamy."

You have to admire the exhaustive nature with which the author seems to have taken on most of modern society's taboo subjects.

It really is a rotten thing that Mr. Cook died when he did. It seems that he had some great plans in the works for how his series would develop, and my god, the man could write. Ten novels in six years is nothing to sneeze at, particularly when the output of a lot of other fantasy authors is distressingly slow. I'd like to think, though, that it at least made him happy that one of his books was getting republished.

P.S.: I hope I'm not the only one on this board who likes David Eddings. Perhaps I'm not the most discerning reader, but I didn't think that the plots from The Belgariad and the Elenium were that similar. They both revolved around quests for magical objects. So did the Lord of the Rings, and countless other stories.

Utterly OT, but I wanted to thank you, Mr. Mona, for recommending "Judgment Night" to me at Paizocon. I felt like taking a long walk the other day, and decided to take a trip out to my favorite used bookstore downtown. I went there looking for "Judgment Night," but I didn't really expect to find it; I figured I would have to order it through Amazon or AbeBooks, since it seemed based on what you said that it was out of print and hard to find.

So I go to the SF/Fantasy section at the back of the store, find the shelf where they keep their C.L. Moore books when they have any... and lo and behold, I found it, sitting right there as if it had been placed there by the hands of some higher being than I. I bought it without a second thought.

Keep 'em coming, Mr. Mona. I may very well get a subscription; I was hesitant to do so at first, since I've gotten most of the books that I would be interested in already from the Planet Stories line. Then again, I am sure you will continue to find things to publish that I'd like...

Just that they have more good stuff in the works. Overlord Mona specifically promoted "The Walrus and the Warwolf." There was a great deal of discussion about why they published what they had, but unfortunately I don't remember if they announced specifically what the next items on their punch list for the Planet Stories line were.

Mona did say that if you need more Moore in your life, her "Judgment Night" is a good one to get. It's an example of more of her sword and planet, science fiction, and science fantasy work. It was the first collection of her novels and novellas to be published, and the stories are almost entirely her own work, as distinct from the work that was a blend of her and Kuttner. It seems to be out of print at the moment, and I don't know why Planet Stories isn't looking into republishing it... perhaps someone is sitting on the copyright for it. However, it is still possible to find it used, both online and in brick and mortar establishments. I found a copy myself in a used bookstore in a small Pacific Northwest city, without actually expecting to find it.

*looks at notes* Ditto on the Robert Silverberg stuff. They're planning on reprinting a lot of his early SF work; the names I heard mentioned were "Hunt the Space Witch," "The Planet Killers," and "The Chalice of Death." James Sutter was also promoting something that had been a pet project of his own, "Before They Were Giants," which features the earliest published work of ten living, accomplished SF and fantasy authors. Some of the writers in it got very early starts; China Mieville's preface to his own contribution begins, as I recall, with the words "Keep in mind, I was twelve." Another new or newish one that's coming out is "Template," another sword and planet yarn with what sounded like an interesting twist to it.

half of the group wind walks in

Laori: Oh hi! It's been a while!

Fighter, Cleric, and Sorcerer: Oh......hi.....

Shoanti Barbarian/Druid-who-joined-after-Escape-from-Old-Korvosa: Who is this outlander?

Laori: I'm Laori! Here's some souvenirs! hands over a number of necklaces made of orc tusks

Fighter, Cleric, and Sorcerer: .....

Shoanti Barbarian/Druid: This outlander is alright. She has killed many orcs.

Laori: I haven't killed any orcs.

Shoanti Barbarian/Druid: ?

Shoanti Barbarian/Druid: :O

Laori: turns towards the sorcerer Hey! Have you reconsidered your decision on whether or not to accept Zo-

Sorcerer: Gotta go get the others. teleports

Laori: :(

Sorcerer: teleports back with the Rogue, Half-orc Paladin, and Shoanti Alchemist who never met Laori

Laori: Oh hi! cheerfully hands out more orc tusk necklaces

Shoanti Alchemist: These are awesome!

Shoanti Barbarian/Druid: :O

Shoanti Alchemist: I'm sending one home to my kid brother!

Shoanti Barbarian/Druid: :O

Thank you so much for this character, Paizo.

Yeah, Laori was a great favorite of mine too. If I ever get around to running Curse of the Crimson Throne, Laori will be one of the best things about the game. I would be sorely tempted, depending on the circumstances, to make her a recurring character, and possibly a DMPC if the situation allowed for it.

Hugo Solis wrote:

some 24 hours before I'm getting' ready for Crab Pot!

When's the Meet and Eat again? I know it's some time today, but...

f*!%, I need sleep. I hate all living things.

P.S.: The meet and eat will be at 6pm at the Crab Pot, I think. My original reply was not intended as mockery, in case there was any doubt; I was merely entirely too high on exhaustion. Rest assured, the crash will be tremendous, like as not. Thankfully, that is why heaven invented naps.

Hugo Solis wrote:

some 24 hours before I'm getting' ready for Crab Pot!

When's the Meet and Eat again? I know it's some time today, but...

f@%~, I need sleep. I hate all living things.

No kidding. Being a nightowl is rough for situations like this. I get to get up at 7:30 to catch a morning train, lol!

Oh yeah, I'll be coming for sure. I'll be there with a friend.

There are also such notable Hong Kong action classics such as Master of the Flying Guillotine, The Five Deadly Venoms, and Chinese Super Ninjas. I kid you not, these shows really exist. Master of the Flying Guillotine was my favorite, personally. It was incredibly cheesy and made me laugh, but at the same time it actually had an interesting plot.

And then there was a monstrosity called The Impossible Kid that I wasn't able to finish. It was a movie about a Bond-style super agent... who also happens to be a midget who can't be higher than my waist. Its soundtrack seemed to be ripped from the James Bond and Pink Panther movies, and probably a few more spy flicks I've never heard of. I don't even remember what the plot was. It was too ridiculous and funny to pay attention to such a silly thing as that. One thing I do remember quite clearly is that the Impossible Kid (the midget super agent) is climbing down a building, and gets an eye-full of a sexy, naked woman showering. She notices him staring, and doesn't seem to mind.

A so bad it's good movie of a more recent vintage is Black Sheep. It's another cheesy New Zealand horror film, and it has the same spirit behind it as Peter Jackson's Bad Taste. Three words for you: evil, mutant sheep. Oh, and they also eat people.

If any of you guys at Paizo know or can guess at the books that were on Joss Whedon's brain when he and his cowriters wrote the scripts for "Firefly," publish those. Please.

If it's possible to do so, I suggest snapping up the American rights to Ryougo Narita's novels, starting with the "Baccano!" series. While not science fiction or fantasy per se, I think his work generally falls into the classification of "weird fiction." The only problem is, someone else may very well already have the American rights to his novels, which is probably a pity, since the record of American translation of Japanese light novels is pretty mixed.

The folks over at Kurodahan Press are already doing a good job of publishing Japanese Mythos works in this country, but if there are any fantasy novels from Japan that are worth their salt, you might consider publishing those (the Lodoss War and Arslan books come to mind, but I don't know if they're up to your standards). The same goes for the Japanese sf market.

One book I'd like to see reprinted is John Barth's "Dunyazadiad." Again, not exactly fantasy or science fiction per se, but a kind of speculative fiction, I think, so it might qualify. I suggest this because I'm pretty sure it's out of print.

Whoever suggested E. Hoffman Price is on the right track, I think.

Other than that, just keep publishing more of C.L. Moore and Leigh Brackett. Better yet, publish authors who wrote stuff just as good as theirs, and whose names and works have also been largely left to languish. Unfortunately, my experience in speculative fiction is limited. Fortunately, that's changing now that I'm buying your books, among others. Be my guide, and keep up the good work.

I'm almost certain I'll be there. I usually love this sort of thing. I'll probably be by myself, unless some of my roleplaying friends decide to come.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm seafood...

The thread seems rather dead, but I thought I'd pitch in my own thoughts.

"Skeletons on the Zahara" by Dean King -- haven't read it yet, but apparently an excellent account of an actual event where the crew of a Connecticut merchant ship was shipwrecked off the coast of Morocco and enslaved by Arab traders.

"Sharpe's Tiger" by Bernard Cornwell -- technically this story is set in India, but as there was a great deal of cultural exchange and mingling between India, Persia, Arabia, the Levant, Egypt, and North Africa over the years, particularly during the Islamic period, much of the flavor in this novel can be appropriated for LoF, I think. The next two books in the series, "Sharpe's Triumph" and "Sharpe's Fortress" would also be good. The other books hold no interest as far as LoF is concerned, as they are set in Europe.

"The Arabian Nights" and "Sindbad the Sailor and Other Stories," translated by Husain Haddawy -- Haddawy's translation is probably the best in print, and there's a lot to be said for going straight to the source of things.

"Prince of Persia: Sands of Time" -- playing this game is what got me interested in the Arabian Nights and Legacy of Fire. The story is excellent, and the background music lovely.

"The Shahnameh," translated by Dick Davis -- If you're a student of Central Asian myth and history anyway, or can afford to lay down several hundred dollars in the pursuit of a better setting, this collection is an excellent addition. It is a translation of a Persian epic detailing the lives of Persian kings and princes from the dawn of time to when the Caliphs destroyed the Persian monarchy. This book is Persia in the same way that the the Volsunga Saga is ancient Scandinavia, and along with the Arabian Nights there is probably no better representation of the culture of that time and place. Be forewarned: I understand that this collection is exceptionally long.

I'm using Nualia in my game as a corrupted innocent completely under the thrall of a demonic presence that possessed her when she THOUGHT her baby miscarred.

Yes, I said thought, lol. I had Hannah the midwife secretly stow the baby away when it was born dead, but she used her medicine to bring it back. Of course it was somewhat deformed and she threw a wrapped up doll in the fire, because she was afraid of what Tobyn might do to the demonic looking child.

I was thinking about an assimir baby with redish skin and horns, somewhat like a teifling with silver hair and violet eyes. If the players look into it enough they can find this child and maybe shock Nualia back to her old self. I might even let a player run her.

My players got chocked up over my Chopper's Isle sidequest so, maybe this one will turn out good too. Gotta love plot twists.

You don't happen to post game journal entries here, do you? I'd love to see how all this turns out. If I were ever to run Rise of the Runelords, I'd want redeeming Nualia to be a possibility at least; perhaps not a very likely one, but a possibility nonetheless. For that reason, seeing how someone else did it (maybe) in his own game would be very interesting.

There are two game shops I visit, both in western Washington; one in Bellingham, where I went to college, and one in Seattle, where I grew up. At both of them, the Pathfinder stuff seems to fly off the shelves. As far as I can tell, the system is roaring great guns here in the Soviet of Washington. Whether that has to do with local pride in supporting a local company, or whether the people who frequent both game shops just fall into Paizo's demographic, I couldn't say, although both do seem to cater to a clientele that is usually at least in their 20s, and often older than that. For my own part, I seem to be the outlier in my demographic; I'm 23 and will only give up my 3.5 and Pathfinder books when they are pried from my cold, dead fingers (in contrast is my 4th Ed fanboy friends who like it for reasons of their own which make no sense to me; they claim it allows them to focus more on concept and flavor, which from all the other things I've heard about 4th Ed sounds bogus, but to each his own).

There's a cycle of folktales, also from the Carolina mountain country, called the "Jack Tales." They were first written down and made known outside of the oral tradition by Richard Chase, who collected them as part of a folklore project for the federal government during the New Deal. I'd be very curious to know if the Silver John stories are at all related to the old tales... the old ones certainly make for good source material!

Awww, I hate to see you go, man~

It's been fun reading your stuff, Mike, you've done some awesome work. The Guide to Korvosa was a truly awesome piece of work. I'm glad you're not out of the game, just trying new things. I'm equally glad to hear that you'll still be contributing more Golarion stuff to Paizo. And I hope it's not too much to ask that you put in an appearance at next year's Paizocon? ;)

All the best to you, sir, and godspeed. Whatever you're doing now, I hope it goes well.

"We must go out and ninja in the night!"

Blah Blah

Replied because the edit window expired. Finally found the post that explained when the Hellknights would be detailed more. It's slightly disappointing to have to wait until AP 4, but that's what you guys are good at, so much interesting stuff that it can't all go into one or two adventure paths. I'll look forward to it.

The questions about Maidrayne Vox being a centaur or not, and about when we'll see write ups for the Order of the Nail's bigwigs and what the Hellknights' deal is in general, all still stand though.

[EDIT] I swear next time I'll look before I post. I swear. I just found Wes Schneider's explanation of the Hellknight orders.

Um... can I still get an answer about Maidrayne Vox? ^^;;; Because any way I cut it, I know that one book referred to her as a centaur and another referred to her as a human. Unless I'm hallucinating, which I dearly hope I'm not, heheh.

Bah, forum ate my post. Okay, here it is again, much shorter this time.

First question: is Maidrayne Vox a centaur or a human? I remember seeing her referred to somewhere as a centaur, but the major NPC list at the back of the Guide to Korvosa shows her race as human. Is this a typo, a clerical error, one person not talking to another, or just something that got changed?

Second question: are we ever going to see write ups for the major figures of the Order of the Nail in this or any later AP, or should I just make this stuff up as I go? ;)

Third question: Will the nature of the Order of the Nail, and its seeming relationship with Hell itself, ever be cleared up? The Hellknight orders in general confuse me a little this way. Basically what I've got so far is that they are Lawful Evil, which can be read as the p.o.v. of an intelligent but not benevolent tyrant, valuing law and order over doing good and being feared over being loved? And do they actually make contracts with devils, or just admire the way that devils operate and follow their general philosophy?

Shout out to Mike specifically, one anime fan to another: is Oda Nobunaga a good benchmark for visualizing how the Hellknights work? I don't mean to peg the Hellknights down to just one thing, but examples help me a lot, heheh. ;)

Heehee. Frankly, I'm glad that people are beginning to take seriously the possibility that just maybe half-orcs aren't the product of violence, and that just maybe a few half-orcs actually had parents who loved each other.

Just my two coppers.

Side note, I've started on some fanfic.. when it'll be presentable is anyone's guess. ;)

Glad to hear it, Sir Urza. I'll look forward to possibly seeing it someday... gotta start working on one of my own as well, heheheh.

Thanks for the advice, PMAvers!

So... cute and genki one minute, blood and guts the next, and cute and genki about the blood and guts the minute after that? XD

Never heard of Hawk and Dove before...

Yeah... yeah, Rechan, I think you hit the nail on the head. God, what a lovely and frightening woman.

I'm keeping the bit about how well she wears blood. I'm not changing that. XD

I like all these ideas for upping Nualia's presence. Also, has anyone considered making it a real possibility for the PCs to save/redeem her? I've thought about doing that when I run the AP (if only because it's something that I'd like to do and I'd like to give the players the option). It would be difficult to capture her and more difficult to help her deal with her insanity and rage, but it would be possible. Her story seems too tragic to just have it end with "You just killed the beautiful aasimar woman who never got a good break in her life and was misunderstood or mistreated by everyone who should have been looking out for her, and who got more affection and respect for being an evil b%~@~ than she ever got for being a shy, quiet girl. Congratulations. You're such big damn heroes, it makes me cry."

Well, for a start, cheerful does not necessarily mean "nice." Offhand, I might site a particular character:

Carcer, from Discworld's Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett, was a cheepy, chirpy, lovable city sparrow...who knifed a cop in the street because he thought he had been found. The cop was off duty and eating a rat pie (he was a dwarf). Carcer was a complete and utter sociopathic killer, with brains, and an immediately charming and cheerful manner. He could also pull knives from anywhere. No matter how many knives you took off him ,he always had one more.

Now, Carcer was more CE than LE, but use that as a template. The only problem is that the cheer soon seems to be an affectation; beneath the smile, cold wheels are turning. I dont know how you can prevent that; you just have to make it clear that what she does is FUN for her

Make her SCARY, when they see her in combat. Maintain the niceness and perk, even when the subject matter is mutilation and torture

"Well, I HAD to nail him down like that. He was wiggling too much. Can you hand me that barbed wire? Thanks!"

Okay, cool. That gives me some ideas. I was also thinking of having her throw around a few nonsequitors like the following:

Laori: "But I love everyone!"
the party: "But you inflict horrible pain and torture on your enemies!"
Laori: "Oh, of course, that's my way of showing love! Everyone understands pain, don't they? It's only right that I should make myself understood, and besides, it's nice to share something that has so much meaning to you!"

Hmm. Hard call. Do you think we should be going for "evil = selfish" here? Have her be self-centered and not particularly caring of other people, but basically honorable and obedient to rules?

I think perhaps I should start another thread about this...

I agree, she's a very interesting character. And the bladed chainmail catsuit is...interesting, as well.

my only complaint is that I just get this sort of fanservicy anime vibe off of her; a bit shapely for an elf, pole-dancer pose, school-girl looks.
Yes, she is cute. she's designed to be cute.

But, she's quite genuinely cute nonetheless, offers an interesting dichotomy that should confuse the hell out of the PCs, and is, frankly, a fun NPC. plus, she worships a god that is, essentialy, the god of Death Metal (watch Metalocalypse sometime; you'll find that Zon-Kuthon has the same aesthetic.) Thanks to watching the most Brutal animated show ever, I now find Death Metal to be funny, and have to work hard to resist the temptation to make a troupe of Metal bards.

How would you portray her in game? I'm trying to figure out how I would do it, and so far I'm having a hard time reconciling "cute, cheerful, optimistic, and upbeat" with "evil, likes pain, worships the evil god of pain, and is probably just a shade off in the head." Is she some kind of hideously genki, uber goth girl? Is she an example of honorable evil, or a person who will obey laws but doesn't really care much about anyone other than themselves?

... if Laori Vaus, the resident perkigoth in a chainmail catsuit, priestess of Zon-Kuthon, and temporary ally of the PCs, wound up being their ally later on in the story? I realize that the fact that she's a priestess of Zon-Kuthon and that Kazavon was a servant of Zon-Kuthon himself might put a damper on things, but she seems too interesting of a character to be just another opponent. Anyone see an alliance with the perkigoth cleric of pain as a possibility?

Also, this has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Laori is absurdly cute and that her chainmail cat suit is one of the hottest things I've seen yet this adventure path...

It's been alluded to on the PAIZOCON thread, but I wanted to actually ask the question... how many people on this board will be going to PAX this year?

Second, will there be a Paizo contingent attending PAX? Since a lot of the Paizo staff live in the Seattle metropolitan area anyway, I'd hope a few of them would be able to spare a weekend to come to the expo at least as regular members, if not as a dealer's room group. While PAX is a bit more focused on videogaming and computer gaming, board games and tabletop are fairly well represented as well. Not to mention that Tycho is a tabletop player in real life as well...

Third, and most importantly, is anyone going to be running D&D sessions at PAX? It'd be cool if there were. Anyone doing Pathfinder or Golarion stuff, or anything for that matter?

My PCs approached Thistletop to closed doors. The dwarf fighter (the only one that speaks goblin) approaches the door to hear them poking fun at Ripnugget. He decides he wants to get using surprise and knocks on the door and says "Hey guys, I forgot the password, let me in"

Goblins reply with discussion first of "We have a password? Oh no, I forgot the password. Do you know the password? Um try, open up or we'll break down the door."

Dwarf: Um, are you telling me the password?

Goblins: Fine fine, do you have the food?

Dwarf with big grin: Yep

Goblins: Good enough

Opens door to ambush.

Heheh, comedy gold.

Happy birthday. Keep 'em coming, guys!

Kirth Gersen wrote:

Timespike wrote:

I think one of the ways to do this in play is to have the people who are REALLY skilled combatants (that super-elite mercenary company, the clergy of the war god, whatever) use just plain ol' longswords, and I do mean plain. No ornamentation at all, not even a particularly polished finish. Just a well-forged, razor-sharp hunk of cold steel. Have them scoff at oversized or over-decorated weapons as "toys" or "frippery" unsuitable for combat.

We're already there! Our campaign boasts the Tellindar School, whose practitioners use studded leather armor, vambraces, and a plain, slightly slim, normal-length longsword. Through a synergistic meld of feats, they tend to clean the floor with the Super-Monkey-Grip-Power-Attackers, given roughly equal levels of experience.

Excellent! Every campaign should have a group like that. Mercenaries from Arag, usually devout followers of Goridon, prime god of war, fill that role in my game. Incidentally, Arag is a rocky, mountainous nation where the locals do very little but raise sheep and train to fight. There's not much else TO do, and mercenary revenues are an important part of their economy.

That, sir, is what I call cool. Well done!

Kirth and Timespike, I am curious about the methods you guys use to make fighters who can mop the floor using nothing but ordinary longswords, studded leather armor, and small shields. I don't doubt that it can be done, and I think I could probably come up with my own way to do it, but I'm curious how you guys did it.

And, just to keep this marginally on topic, I really like the new iconic barbarian, from her art to her backstory. I particularly like the story of how she got her huge sword in the first place.

My players are voting this week, but right now it looks like they want to play an all-Hellknight party for Curse of the Crimson Throne.

Wow... that sounds awesome and absolutely terrifying at the same time. I mean... they're HELLKNIGHTS! Who screws around with these people? Nobody! These are people who can ignore kings and get away with it!

... although it could certainly work. Best of luck!

Azlant and Thassilon were contemporaries.

There will be a little bit of information Golarion's past in the hardcover and in future supplements. :)

Glad to hear it. :) I'll be looking forward to this one...

I just want to say that I have absolutely no problem with the Pathfinder art thus far, and in fact, I love it. If Wayne Reynolds likes drawing attractive women in skimpy outfits (and you have to admit if anyone would dress skimpy it would be a sorcerer), then I have exactly no problems with this. Likewise on the rest of his interpretations of the characters.

I love Wayne Reynolds and his style. I love Udon Press and Andrew Hou and everything that lot's produced. In short, I think you guys hit artistic gold here. Keep it up. ;)

EDIT: Oh, and the ears that people keep talking about? Totally fine in my book. Keep 'em coming!