MeanDM's page

Second unrelated question. Believe it or not I just got to see Pan's Labyrinth for the first time last week. At least it was on the big screen. Do you have a favorite part of the film?

Thank you for your time and have a great weekend!

Hi James,

One of the questions above sparked a thought. A vampire could become such without consent or planning. Would Pharasma judge a soul who was unwillingly turned into an undead differently than one that embraced the turn?

Thanks!

Hi James,

Welcome back. I want to say I really appreciate you opening up the thread again, even though I certainly respected your need to close it.

On to the question.

Have you read much Joe Hill? I just finished NOS4A2, and liked the references to King's work. Do you have a suggestion for a good second Hill book?

Thanks again.

I'd be interested. I was thinking an elven rogue.

Browman wrote:

weird that they started on a Sunday then shift to Thursday after two episodes. That seems like bad planning.

It was intentional. They goal was to get the football audience to stick around for the show, then hopefully follow when they moved it to Thursday. Thursday they will see if it worked.

And probably in part that people that like McFarland's shows are used to tuning in on Sundays. They couldn't leave it on there because a large part of their Sunday lineup returns there on October 1.

The end of season 3 is easily one of the most heartbreaking and intense portrayals of depression, codependency and enabling I've ever seen.

I haven't used it, but I presume what that means is that all clothing can be modified with ballistic weave, not that it comes with ballistic weave attached.

I'll give it a try and report back. Thanks DQ.

Has anyone used the Unified Clothing Overhaul mod? I'm thinking of using it, but one of the things mentioned was all clothing having ballistic weave. Is this something that happens automatically, or do I have to specifically select it as an option. I'd like the challenge of still having to look for ballistic fiber and craft the items specifically.

So Nuka-Cola DLC had me restarting a new survival game, and I seem to be doing better this time than the last. I've added two mods which help ameliorate the difficulty somewhat, while still keeping the feel. I grabbed the camping mod which allows you to craft sleeping bags at the chemistry station, as well as the Underground Railroad mod which adds 9 or so manhole covers which can be entered and exited from only upon their discovery but can be used for fast travelish means.

I'm playing a female pistolerra with some additional emphasis in strength and intelligence named Eileen (which doesn't seem to be a voice acted name). She is the background provided. A lawyer and wife of a retired military man who was trained to use a pistol for self defense while he was deployed. She's broken by the loss of her family and is convinced her son is as dead as her husband. She chafes under the strictures put on her by Danse, but feels that imposing the rule of law on the wasteland will stop others from suffering as she did, so I see her joining the brotherhood. We'll see what happens in Nuka World, though. I see her as slipping slowly toward lawful evil.

So far it seems to be going well. I spent the first 10 levels or so staying out of Boston itself and that seems to help. I did rescue Preston and crew, but mostly to get to the power armor. I've since moved into exploring some of Boston, and managed to get to Diamond City. I've yet to complete Unlikely Valentine so I haven't made it to far harbor, or even Vault 88. I did stop the ambush that gets you Ada, though. I purposefully have avoided taking missions from Garvey, and only open up settlements when I find them on my own or when asked by members of the settlements under my control directly.

My most recent mission took me to one of the far south settlements on the western part of the map (Jamaica Plains I think). I could have made it to the manhole cover by Fallon Department store, but tried to slog north the whole way. I had to fight off 3 different groups of rust devils, and barely made it out of a flooded town when I was mobbed by a dozen or so ghouls. It was a challenging run. I was glad to make it back to my house built on the roof of the Red Rocket.

Talonhawke wrote:

MeanDM wrote:

My grievance today is that people take advantage of James Jacob's kindness in having a question and answer thread. He's had people use his answers as inappropriate fuel for bad internet arguments and it's burned him out. This is why we can't have nice things. I feel sorry for the guy because it's really great he is engaged with the fans. It sucks it comes back to bite him.

Yeah it sucks but it happens to every single one of them. I'm honestly surprised no one has tried to use a mod deleting a post or locking a thread as evidence in a rules argument yet.

Well, if the Pathfinder Design Team answered FAQs more than once a month or so, then people wouldnt have to.

Yes, it's true that answering questions doesnt directly make them money, as opposed to new products, but supporting older products in important.

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2qpmc?SnoCone-Wish-Machine#1
51 FAQ requests, 3 years and not answered.

There's others.

I agree with you in part. Ultimately the GM just needs to make a decision. Jacobs used to answer rules questions with the caveat that it was how he would rule. Then one day the design team answered a rules question differently and a poster went on a rampage posting in multiple places that Paizo needed to get its house in order and James got called into the boss to explain himself. That's when he stopped answering rules questions. And that's why we can't have nice things.

My grievance today is that people take advantage of James Jacob's kindness in having a question and answer thread. He's had people use his answers as inappropriate fuel for bad internet arguments and it's burned him out. This is why we can't have nice things. I feel sorry for the guy because it's really great he is engaged with the fans. It sucks it comes back to bite him.

Hi James!

What do you find the most difficult challenge in adapting outside source monsters (i.e Mythos or mythological creatures) to the Pathfinder system as compared to making new monsters from whole cloth?

Which process is easier for you?

Thanks as always for both this thread and everything else you do. Loved Bestiary 6! Thanks for your work on it!

thegreenteagamer wrote:

My grievance is that this has become a thread about pooping accessories.

Yeah, I'm not entirely clear on how that happened, but it seems to be my fault. All I did was followup someone else's movie reference with another reference to the same movie. It just sort of went downhill from there.

Well, you know that old saying about poop rolling down hill...

Yeah, I just googled SMG, seems she's gonna be a lead in the new Star Trek show. Good for her. Sucks that Sasha got ended in such a silly way.

I think we had a hint of Gregory's future in Maggie's speech to Daryl at the end.

AZ, I like Into the Badlands, but then I'm a fan of Kung Fu movies.

Did I miss something?

Edit: I think this was supposed to be a response to Aberzombie. Sorry.

@damon griffin yeah and why exactly did crossing the border mean safety for the mutant kids? Basically, it was a character flick that needed an Alamo event and the small stuff doesn't really ruin the big stuff like it usually does.

When Logan wakes up and Rictor is on the radio, you hear a female voice acknowledge the rendezvous and mention asylum. I imagine the Candian government is harboring them and unwilling to cross the border and cause an international incident.

Hi James!

I hear mention of a Book of the Damned that was just announced. I tried to find info on the website here, but couldn't find it. Can you tell us more about it? Also, is there a spot on Paizo's site that's best for keeping apprised of newly announced products?

Have a great day and thanks for all that you do!

Hi James!

Are you still running Horror on the Orient Express? If so, how's it going?

Have a great Sunday!

I was trying to think if I've ever had a bad player, and I could only think of one.

I had one of my players invite a guy to play that he had met at a local game store. This guy was really over the top with his energy and intensity. At the time I was running a Shadowrun game set in the final days of what Shadowrun called the Bug City storyline. In essence, downtown Chicago became overrun with insect spirits and the UCAS (one of the largest North American governments) dropped a nuclear bomb on a portion of Chicago in an attempt to stop the spread of the insect spirits. They then quarantined the entire zone turning it into a sort of Escape from New York sorta zone.

This guy immediately began rubbing the rest of the group the wrong way. I would occasionally throw out hooks to the PC's for various storylines with the idea that if they picked them up, fine, if not, we would stay on the main storyline. One such line involved a human supremacist group that had ties (unknown to the players) with the insect spirits. They decided not to pursue it, and this player began roundly criticizing all the players because "Shadowrun allowed players to explore real issues, and they were refusing."

He was incredibly abrasive, and had an opinion on everyone's character. He also would specifically go through one of the players rooms to reach the bathroom, which just irritated that player nonstop. I tried talking privately to him several times, but something else kept happening afterward. Personally I could deal with him. I actually enjoyed how much passion he had for the game, but when several players threatened to quit, I had to uninvited him.

Thinking further, I did have a second player that I had an issue with. But it was pretty minor. At every door, we had to have an extensive conversation regarding what kind of hinges the doors had, and what side they were on, so that he would know how to take the door off. Every. Single. Door.

In a superheroes game a while back, I played a character whose main power was he could fly really, really fast. He was probably the weakest character in the group in combat, but being able to get to places super fast was pretty useful and I loved the character.

After several months our GM reviewed his campaign notes (he was the type who kept extensive notes about his homebrew world) and realized there wasn't a single NPC with super speed. Due to an oversight, I was the only speedster in the entire world. I was like "Cool, I made a special snowflake without even trying!"

Unfortunately, our GM was the ultra competitive kind, and he just couldn't stand a PC being better than his NPCs at anything. I suggested he just create a new speedster supervillain, but he didn't want to for whatever reason, and decided to take away my character's only superpower instead. My character went from being fast enough to escape Earth's gravity, to barely keeping up with a news helicopter. It was embarrassing.

Even worse, I had no way to explain why my character suddenly lost 90% of his power. So I quit and never played with that GM again.

Yeah, and the new supervillian that happens to have a similar/countering power set for the hero to overcome appearing via something like a portal, freak accident, etc. is really on trope for a superhero game... you handed the GM a perfect plot!

Rysky wrote:

Ish okay, make up for it by asking the Directorsaur a question if you'd like!

James, are there any books you're currently reading and liking?

Yes. Been reading Joe Hill lately, and LOVING his work. NOS4A2 is what I'm reading now and it's excellent.

He's Stephen King's son, right? Do you have a favorite one of his works? I've thought about picking something up by him.

Edit: Never mind the first question, I see you already answered. I should have read further. :)

Still, any works of his leap out as a great place to start? I.E. favorites?

Does killing a player character with a critical Shocking Grasp count because you didn't remember that a caster loses a held touch spell by casting a different spell?

Because I did that recently.

Nah. That's a simple mistake. Like the time I started a frogamoth an extra 60' closer to the PCs, then misread the cutting your way out of its stomach rules, and TPK'd a party...

Hi James!

I saw you mentioned the freelance work you are doing for Sandy Peterson.

Can you tell us more about it? Is it a product using the Chaosium rules, or a OGL Pathfinder rules? Can you tell us what the product is about?

Thanks in advance!

MeanDM wrote:

Hi James,

Have you had a chance to poke your head in on the results of the Strange Aeons AP, and read any of the final product?

I have to say I am really enjoying it. Volume 3, the one with lots of Dreamlands stuff is particularly great. As much as I would have loved to have you develop it, you being such a huge mythos fan and scholar, I am personally still very happy with the results.

As always, thank you for being a part of this thread. I would have understood completely if you had decided to let it go, because I can imagine in some way the need to be on top of it likely adds some stress to you, but I, for one, find it one of my favorite spots on the internet.

I've looked through all of them as part of the approval process before we ship the books to the printer. And I wrote several of the backmatter articles, so I've read those for sure! But I haven't yet actually read any of the other adventures yet. Good to hear they're fun, though!

I did remember that you had written a lot of the back matter stuff; which is, of course, excellent!

If I recall, you were doing all of the write ups of the Great Old Ones in the AP? If so, do you have a favorite as to how one you wrote turned out? If it is too hard to pick, I completely understand!

Regardless, drive safe on your holiday voyages this year (as I recall you've mentioned here before you travel to Northern California from the Seattle area this time of year), and have a great Holiday, James.

Hi James,

Have you had a chance to poke your head in on the results of the Strange Aeons AP, and read any of the final product?

I have to say I am really enjoying it. Volume 3, the one with lots of Dreamlands stuff is particularly great. As much as I would have loved to have you develop it, you being such a huge mythos fan and scholar, I am personally still very happy with the results.

As always, thank you for being a part of this thread. I would have understood completely if you had decided to let it go, because I can imagine in some way the need to be on top of it likely adds some stress to you, but I, for one, find it one of my favorite spots on the internet.

Starting location is key. I played a game as Egypt over the weekend and started on a river in the middle of a jungle two hexes or more wide on either side. I played catch up for much of the game simply for lack of upgradable tiles in my capital. You can't clear jungle very early in the game.

I thought since the prison, that there were times when Carl should have been in charge. He gets it.

That said, yeah, on the farm he was a putz.

I've noticed that too. Enabling quick move, quick combat, or both seemed to help. It's a shame to do, though because the animations are pretty cool.

So, this dropped last night, and despite it not being ready to play even after being preloaded (what the hell is "unpacking," anyway, and why did it take an hour?) I managed to get a good hour or so of play this morning. Very interesting new mechanics that make placement of buildings and wonders more challenging and strategic. Also, the diplomacy seems improved. Overall I'm pretty pleased so far. Anyone else playing?

Did you ever realize there was a thing that you didn't even know you wanted until you heard it exists? That's how I feel about Machete Kills Again: In Space.

I don't know if it'd still be the Flash I love if Barry figured out he can be an idiot. I'm starting to wonder if the writers are smarter than I think, and his low wisdom is a character weakness intentionally.

That said, when I saw another f@&$king speedster as a villain in the first episode, I got concerned.

John Mechalas wrote:

Katherine Walter wrote:

They were my age, maybe a bit younger.

Yuck. No age bias, then, just pure sexism.

Yuck.

Age bias probably isn't as big a factor as you think it is.

Harvard Business Review wrote:

Millennial men’s views of women’s intelligence and ability even extend to women in senior leadership positions. In a 2014 survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults, Harris Poll found that young men were less open to accepting women leaders than older men were. Only 41% of Millennial men were comfortable with women engineers, compared to 65% of men 65 or older. Likewise, only 43% of Millennial men were comfortable with women being U.S. senators, compared to 64% of Americans overall. (The numbers were 39% versus 61% for women being CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, and 35% versus 57% for president of the United States.)

Moreover, according to a 2013 Pew survey of Americans, Millennial women are significantly more likely than older women to say that the country needs to continue making changes to bring about equality in the workplace, but Millennial men are the group most likely to say that all necessary changes have been made.

More here.

Thank you for sharing that. It's a very interesting read. I was reading an article the other day (I'll try to find it) and it discussed all kinds of interesting things about the change in marketing to children away from unisex and to segregated boys vs girls toys. If you look at early advertisements for all kinds of toys from the 70s and 80s you'll see both male and female kids playing with the toys in the ads. Later you see an evolution towards what is a "girl" or "boy" toy. Considering how early humans internalize that sort of idea, I wonder if we are seeing the results of such internalization in millennials.

Huh. Looks like I am necromancing a thread.

So, Mr. Schneider!

I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed In Search of Sanity! What were your influences in coming up with the idea?

DungeonmasterCal wrote:

Serghar Cromwell wrote:

I'm about to resume a campaign after a long hiatus and I have no idea what to write for the first session.

Let's hear about your campaign. Maybe someone can throw some ideas your way.

The PCs are part of an outcast prince's attempt to start his own country on a different continent. So far they've founded two towns and befriended both a tribe of kobolds and a nest of phase spiders. There is an overarching plot involving demons and a Lamashtu cult, but the last session before the break developed that, so I'm mostly looking for ideas for interesting things to have them do while I try to get my brain back in GM mode.

The PCs all work for the fledgling government. The indigenous population is short on core races. Except gnomes. Those guys pop up everywhere.

If that summary isn't helpful, I'll be glad to answer any questions anyone has.

How about do a Roanoke Colony thing. The party gets word that when a messenger went to one of the towns it was entirely empty. Everyone had disappeared without a trace.

I'm dotting for interest. I have never gotten to play in a play by post, and would like to get a feel for it before I run one myself. I am thinking a Tengu cleric of Eristil.

The thing is, roleplaying games didn't invent the word adventurer. It's entomology goes back to a 16th century French word meaning gambler, risk taker, or mercenary. Kinda like, you know, RPG adventurers. There are countless real life examples of adventurers. Marco Polo, Columbus, Ponce DeLeon, Lewis and Clark, Magellan... Etc. Regardless of what skills they bring to adventuring, the act itself is still the same.

Furthermore, describing themselves based on the experience they bring to the table cuts out a whole section of the tropes related to the peasant adventurer. The farmer who reluctantly takes up the sword, the hardscrabble urchin who uses their earned penchant for stealth... There's no reason to get rid of a word 500 years old at this point.

Lastly, I feel like if this had just been a post opening a discussion as opposed to a link to a blog (where the author presumably can hope to collect advertising revenue for clicks) it might be better perceived. I think this is an attempt to use Paizo's free portion of their website to back door around paying for real advertising and search optimization.

Diego is right, I guess. You'd have to research the spell Call Cow.

Edit: fixed a punctuation error.

It's not a cow, but if I remember right in the old boxed mega-adventure Night Below, there was a magical statute that summoned a roasted pig once per day. Best item ever.

I miss the 1e artwork on Dragon and Dungeon. While I like the modern takes on fantasy tropes that are more usually spotlighted in products like the current APs, there was something about the covers back then...

Like the one with the chainmail clad warriors riding down the hill with a burning keep behind them, or the image of Kostochie standing over the dead Roman legionnaires...

My favorite episode was the one with Kumail Nanjiani. I listened to it like a pod cast while driving one day, and binged the whole series.

Hi James,

Hope you took some relaxing time to yourself over the holiday weekend.

My questions:

Since we have both Skum and Deep Ones in Pathfinder, and I think, (but please correct me if I am wrong) Skum were earlier edition's answer to Deep Ones, how do you see them interacting since we have both in Golarion? As foes? Allies? Competitors for the favor of the Great Old Ones?

Thanks for your answers and dedication to this thread!

Saw it with the eldest at the first showing last night. I quite liked it. I think the critics are being overly harsh. That said, it is definitely not a film without flaws...

The Bad:
The story is just kinda all over the place. It isn't bad, just jumbled like they are trying to do too much at one time. The pacing is not awful, but just feels off. The characters have no establishment for the audience other than their initial offering, which is somewhat satisfyingly done for a couple of characters (Harley and Deadshot), and almost completely lacking for others. Later moments correct some of this, but even in a poor order sometimes. There is an action, in particular, that Deadshot takes that makes sense if you know the comic character, but seems out of left field at the time. Later in a throw away line he says something that explains it.

The Good:

The acting. Really just top notch. Will Smith is not someone I am a huge fan of normally, but he nails this. Robby nails Harley as an absolute agent of chaos. Captain Boomerang and Killer Croc even get some great lines well delivered. What characterization there is, was handled very well. These are absolutely (for the most part) not nice people that you still like. Viola Davis nails Amanda Waller. There is a scene that I completely didn't see coming at the end of the second act, that is just perfect. Arrow needed to learn how to do this with her character.

Overall, I would give it a 3 or 3 1/2 out of five. I would definitely see it again, and will probably buy it (although it won't be a priority for either). Much much better that BvS.

Meh. I don't need to drink to sit through a movie.

I sat through Battlefield Earth stone cold sober!

God help me...

I did too. Therapy helped. And getting my zeta levels tested.

I don't get to game regularly anymore AND I'm not at GenCon.

Paladinosaur wrote:

Does this mean that in a country like Cheliax, the majority of the population would pay lip-service to Asmodeus, perhaps event attend church, without being evil themselves?

That's pretty much exactly what it means. Paying lip-service to a deity does not require faith in that deity, and in fact if you're paying lip-service, that more or less means you do NOT have faith in that deity. You're just afraid of the repercussions of appearing non-faithful, or trying to avoid causing problems, or deliberately being deceitful, etc.

Hi James!

That made me think of a follow up question. How does Pharasma view such lip service? Does it matter that in a place like Cheliax one would be heavily influenced to pay lip service whether they wanted to do so or not? In short does intent make a difference?

Thank you!

Good Morning James!

Here are a couple of off the cuff questions if you don't mind.

Do you have a favorite type (subgenre, style etc.) of horror?

Have you ever read The Talisman by Stephen King? Did you enjoy it? It strikes me as interesting that it could be fit into the urban fantasy genre before that was a category. Making him a pioneer of sorts.

Thanks again, and have a great rest of your week!

Weirdly, the randomized fetch quests from the BoS also take advantage of Far Harbor. I got a "clean out the Commonwealth" quest at a place called Beaver Lanes. I went way northeast on the map and couldn't find it, only to stumble into the beginnings of the Far Harbor questline. And it turns out that Beaver Lanes was in Far Harbor.

Hi James!

Loved the Zork reference, and it sparked some questions.

What was your favorite early video game? By that I mean from earliest computers and consoles.

What was the 1st published module you played in in AD&D 1st?

As a follow up to some of the questions above, if a GM were to want to add the traditional "high Middle Ages" knights in armor and heraldry feel with the least change from the core Golarian, which places would work best? Taldor? Cheliax? Anywhere else?

I still remember the excitement I got when I opened the original Greyhawk box set and saw the heraldry of the various kingdoms and duchies. Any similar moments stick out for you from your younger gaming years? (Not necessarily involving heraldry obviously)

Lastly, any chance we'll see a new adventure written by you in the near future? I am a huge fan of your adventure writing, and thought of it as I was reading some of your work the other day.

Thanks for all you do.

Aleric stands and gives a brief bow before sitting back upon the bench. He pulls his shoulder length black hair back holding it in place with a twist of copper, his pale blue eyes introspective.

I am sorry sir. I forget my manners. My name is Aleric, and I hail from the city of Westcrown in Cheliax. My father was a merchant specializing in the importation of fine wines. He wanted so badly to be accepted into the ranks of influence in Westcrown. His gaze becomes introspective.

When I heard Iomedae's call, my father helped support me through my training, but it became clear my younger brother was being groomed to carry on the family business. Of course my fellow trainees wondered at my commitment with my brother so voraciously courting the Crown's favor. Upon completing my training,I knew that Cheliax held no more for me. Many of the men and women seek to serve our goddess at the Worldwound. I... Well... I felt perhaps my services would best be beneficial elsewhere.

I traveled aimlessly for some time before I felt... drawn... here. I want no more than to do my humble part to prevent the evil ravages of the Orc kin, and to help ensure that order is maintained here. With that last he glances briefly at Zove I would never pressure any to forswear their own gods, but would do no more than hope what little example my actions may give would represent Her faith to any who would be interested. Regardless... no other members of my faith are specifically joining me here. He frowns slightly at the last.

Realizing how far he's come from his merchant family's roots in Westcrown, Aleric quietly studies his potential companions while carefully sipping his ale and spooning the porridge to his mouth avoiding spills as he was taught (little realizing how his careful manner sets him apart from those about him).

Clearing his throat to politely gain attention while nodding respectfully to Kaddok, and eying Zove and the smelly dwarf with a wrinkled nose of concern, he says:

The Orc raids continue to be a problem for the populace then? And please, sir, tell us more of this ceremony.

Note out of character: I know that Paladins can be disruptive to games, but as a pretty long time GM myself, I just want you to know that if you decide Aleric is a good fit, I plan on making sure that the party not imploding and the game moving forward are bigger goals for me than some "proper" way to play my character.