Matt M's page

This gladdens my heart!

The Pathfinder Tales novel Reign of Stars is directly tied to the AP. Its pretty good. The tech mentioned in the book isn't really like anything found in the adventures, however. At least how it is described.

Visually, the scenes of Rey exploring the wreck of the star destroyer on Jakku in the Force Awakens is a pretty decent visual for Silver Mount or any other Numerian ship-dungeon.

Love those images from Force Awakens, esp. the wrecked AT-AT.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I had no idea Pathfinder Tales had a Hugo-winning author in their ranks. I'll check this out too!

Are you familiar with Thundarr the Barbarian?

This 1980s cartoon has a lot of similar themes with Iron Gods.

I might also suggest the Horseclans novels by Robert Adams: however, it is MASSIVELY anti-LGBTQ even by the standards of the time it was written.

Thanks! I remember watching Thundarr back in the day when they still had something called Saturday Morning Cartoons. A relic of the past. Good stuff, that.

I'll check out Horseclans.

I was also thinking of A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. Though it has been awhile since I read it. And another good one would be the novella "Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After" from David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas.

Whenever I DM or play in a new campaign I like to do some Appendix N-style inspired reading to help flesh out the characters and setting.

So on that note, can anybody recommend some short stories or novels that might be somewhat related to Numeria, the land of savagery and super science?

Hello everybody we have a new Venture-Lieutenant in town. Colin Thompson is an avid player and GM.

Colin will help me organize and regulate out here in the wild, wild East of Tian Xia.

Well met, hypoborean wanderer. May you live in interesting times.

Matt

Adventure photographer and Pathfinder, Dan Sandoval, commissioned Venture-Lieutenant of Chengdu, China.

My fellow Pathfinders, on this glorious Fireday, this 12th day of Gozran, a dispatch from the Water Palace came to me, revealing that a great honor would be bestowed upon one amongst our number.

And so today on behalf of the Decemvirate, I – with humble deference and great modesty– have been granted the privilege to proclaim that even here in the decadent and smoldering dystopias East of the Himalayas and West of the Okaiyo Ocean, where that megalopolis called Chengdu, The Hibiscus City, reigns with proper decorum, devouring the rice plains all around, that even here, a Society of Pathfinders holding knowledge sacred, secrets priceless, artifacts holy convenes every Fireday in strict accord with the harmony of the Celestial Court.

And here too, somewhere behind the ancient walls of that fastness, somewhere deep within its convoluted alleyways, somewhere amidst its pleasure domes, opium dens, and tea houses there is one Lodge at least, secreted away where Pathfinders congregate, spinning tales, merry-making, and ever seeking adventure in these vast realms of Tian Xia.

There is no question these glorious middle kingdoms require the services and leadership of a Venture-Lieutenant. And so when a young, grizzled American expat with not a little skill in the art of adventure photography, and not a bit infamous amongst his brethren for his wide-ranging peregrinations throughout the world, both here and in Galarion, made himself known to the Society for his honor, courage and commitment, there was no doubt in my mind that he should receive a field commission at once.

And so it is my undeserved privilege to announce with undaunted humility the appointment of one, Dan Sandoval of the City of Angels in the Kingdoms of California, to the rank of Venture-Lieutenant of the City of Chengdu and all its environs.

May his Wayfinder be ever true whatever Path he trods.

Your humble servant of The Pathfinder Society,

Matt Muller
Venture-Captain,
People’s Republic of China

Nimen hao! Hello, everybody!

Glad to be part of the team. I’m an American teaching and writing in Chengdu, a megacity once described by W. Somerset Maugham as a lonely Chinese city with roads full of robbers, and the snowy mountains of Tibet could be seen from its walls at sunset. Some of that is right.

Interest in Pathfinder Society has grown in my area since many of us love the game but can’t attend ongoing campaigns but still want to play from time to time. Most players here are expats from the U.S. and U.K., though we had a French national for a while. And then of course, we got our Chinese friends and significant others involved.
While there is no Chinese language version of the game (that I know of), many Chinese young adults have enough English fluency to participate fully so long as we walk them through the game.

My goals here are defined within an Asian/Chinese and expat context: 1). Grow the player-base amongst Chinese and expats alike; and 2). Promote the game as a fun-filled way to exercise linguistic/verbal intelligence, critical and creative thinking amongst learners of all ages.

The big problem here is the scarcity of players and role-playing materials. Most of us expats either buy digital content or haul back books, dice, and miniatures from overseas. While there may be stores in Hong Kong, the rest of the country – about the size of the continental U.S. – totally lacks stores selling games. The best we can do is buy digital content and order hard copies from online sellers.

I’ll be in touch about events and social media. But one site I’ve set up for my area is a yahoo.com/group site:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/chengdu_dungeoneers/

Thanks again for your support. I look forward to hearing from you all.

Matt Muller

Until your army is annihilated by the magical area of effect weapons for the enemy....

It seems we have a clash of ideologies: magic versus technology. This, I believe, is the stuff of adventure paths (hint, hint). Only an AP could resolve the dispute. Perhaps the pro-magic camp is right: Alkenstar would be at a disadvantage. But this would only be due to the fact that gunpowder is scarce in the Galorian--scarce in the world yes, but not so in this small region which has the knowledge and resources to produce it on a massive scale. Furthermore, I would posit that Gunmarshals are savvy to the wily ways of spellcasters, including those nasty area effect spells. They would know the proper countermeasures, such as ordering their troupes into dispersed skirmisher lines. But in the event that it ever came down to war between the nations, I’m sure the Grand Duchess herself would have enough wisdom to take the unprecedented and drastic action of hiring outsider PCs, some of whom presumably are spellcasters themselves, to provide just the extra muscle needed to tip the scales in Alkenstar’s favor. Of course there's a catch: the PCs would just have to promise never to reveal themselves as spellcasters.

Matt Muller wrote:

Though magic still works in Alkenstar, it is highly suppressed--which makes for interesting roleplaying possibilities for PC spellcasters having some reason to travel to the city. The IK Player's Handbook should go far in providing inspiration for developing a campaign set in this region.

Personally, without the anti-magic field investing in technology makes little sense to me, especially when the technological method is usually weaker and more expensive than the magical method and two powerful high-magic nations live right next door.

Always remember Clark's Third Law: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

I imagine Alkenstar society would have arisen and thrived in direct opposition to the two magical nations--both of which would obviously covet the resource rich river valley of the Grand Duchy. Only by the latest advances in alchemy, metallurgy, and natural philosophy have the people of Alkenstar been able to maintain their independence from the necromantic autocracy of Geb and the baroque machiavellian bureaucracy of Nex. Both nations of which, in their magic-crazed hubris--as any highborn, educated Alkenstarian would point out--were responsible for the grotesque blight that is the Mana Wastes. This alone justifies the suppression of magic and the elevation of alternative powers such as foundries, steamworks, and alchemy--all of which are controllable, whereas magic has proven to be unstable, unpredictable and liable to turn upon its users at the most unexpected of times.

With this in mind, I envision the Grand Duchy of Alkenstar to be a kind of fantasy dystopia, where paranoia arises like a miasma as thick as the yellow-sooty fog that often requires city streets to be lit with gas lamps even during the day. The realm is sandwiched between two decadent magic-rich nations to the north and south, the blasted wastelands of the Mana Wastes to the east, and the nigh impassible Shattered Range beyond which lies the uncharted jungles of the Mwangi Expanse. This is where the Gunmarshals come into play. I see them as a prestige class open to fighters, rangers, and paladins native to Alkenstar. First formed to protect the populace from incursions of aberrations from the Mana Wastes, their role has expanded to hunt down renegade spellcasters, investigate unlawful magic-use, and patrol the frontiers of the Grand Duchy.

I like the idea behind Alkenstar. It answers the question: "Why would you bother with guns when magic is cheaper and/or better?" Answer: Because it's in a dead magic zone.

(If guns are cheaper and/or better than magic, then you're probably playing d20 Modern or something like that.)

Put me down for being highly interested in seeing Alkenstar developed.

Right now I have melded some of the Iron Kingdoms rules and ideas to make Alkenstar a grimy but interesting place to visit--even if your character is a wizard. The reason for guns and clockwork as opposed to spells and magic seemed too simplistic to me. Instead of just staying that magic is dead in this region, I changed the history slightly: Sometime in Alkenstar's past the wizardry profession went awry, whether it be in their machinations to control the realm or some other plot (with the Mana Wastes being the last straw) matters little, but in the final analysis the magic-weary populace of Alkenstar outlawed magic-use (perhaps this paradigm shift was engineered by merchant lords and guilds who had invested in the new, burgeoning guns & clockwork industry and needed scapegoats). Now, the ignorant masses--not able to distinguish between sorcery from wizardry let alone psionics--will not hesitate to lynch a spellcaster. As for paladins & clerics, they better be known and proven members of a church. Druids--they are SOL, unless they can cloak their identity (but no druid worth his salt that I know would ever set foot in such a smog-choked Dickensian phantasmopolis in the first place). Native rangers would lose their ability to cast spells (perhaps gaining bonus non-magical abilities related to mechanics, engineering, steamcraft, guns, and detecting magic). Meanwhile, gun-toting inquisitor/mage hunters supported by a troupe of steam-powered automatons guard the city against unlawful entry by spellcasters.

Though magic still works in Alkenstar, it is highly suppressed--which makes for interesting roleplaying possibilities for PC spellcasters having some reason to travel to the city. The IK Player's Handbook should go far in providing inspiration for developing a campaign set in this region.

The problem with the Iron Kingdoms is twofold: (1). Its not supported very well; (2). it has great ideas about a steam & sorcery setting, but than goes overboard by including the equivalent of steam-powered battlemechs controlled by heavily armored wizards. A little bit of weird tech is good. Battletech mixed with Middle-earth is bad.