PO1977's page

Well,James,I'm very happy to come back to these boards in order to congratulate you for,finally, crossing the finish line! I hope the succes of this AP will be proportional to the amount of time you devoted to it's complettion.

I'm looking forward to those new tangents and ideas you mentioned wanting to explore once this enormous pile of work would be in the rear view mirror.

Congrats to all the teams and solo contributors for an amazing feat of tenacity and dedication.

Well done!

Any chance the physical copy is version 1.1?

Very interesting. It would be MORE interesting if Paizo offered, to those of us who already own some of those PDFs, to replace already purchased titles by equivalent products. That way, I'm pretty sure more people would contribute...

Just a thought.

Hi and good Spring to you James!

The last of the (insert vile insanities) damn snow is finally melting over here and so, it would seem, the RPG part of my brain!

The previous questions piqued my curiosity so much that I'll shelf my initial inquiry and ask you this :

What are Souls? I mean, a Soul is Quintessence fueled to the Positive Energy Plane... Since this Outer Sphere "fondamental-stuff" becomes part of the Inner Sphere it must either transform into something native to the plane or join with something there. Right?

In the past (pre 2nd edition) there was this garden where the residents of the plane cared for the trees bearing nascent souls, is there still such a place?

Regardless, I hope you're in good health and in good spirits also.

Hi there James,

It finally happened, after more than 15 years I've started a new campaign as a GM! Which brings me to you for an answer to this question:

What happens to a follower of The Rough Beast when brought before Pharasma?

Neutral or not I have a hard time believing that she would send souls to him or to the Outer Gods for that matter. Since the River of Souls is the bloodstream of Creation and Rovagug is the Enemy of all the gods, I can't think of a logical or even a mystical reason that would include the Destroyer in the divine deal. Same goes for the Outer Gods, why give them a single soul? They ARE, after all, the anti-thesis of the Divine; also I'm pretty sure they've got a way to collect their due, some sort of doorway to or from eternity perhaps? 😁

P.S. Even after a voyage of more than a thousand miles and showing signs of it, I can say that you sir were absolutely, positively, RIGHT about those apples! It made me wonder just how great it would be to take one from those directly off one of your pacific northwest trees and eat it right there and then. 🤤

Hi there James!

Hope you had a good Christmas and that you are in good health.

Speaking of which, I have recently done something I almost never do, I've bought American apples! So why did I buy those Washington State Organic Apples? Surely not out of any environmental concerns, hell I live in the greater Montréal area! Just the gas it took to bring these Premium quality Gala beauties to my kitchen counter is enough to offset any positive effect they have. Nope sir, I made this completely nonsensical purchase because of a gang of very fine folks I know a little about on the opposite side of the continent, so I've invested in your economy over my own! It's the season for these kind of things I suppose and in keeping with that I want to thank you for your time and thoughts this year and Iwish you a much better year in 2021.

Oh! Btw, how would you rate the apples from your little corner of the world?

I am sorry to say that I'm also one of those who thought the story would be available online... So I did what I could but I'm afraid I wasn't able to retrieve chapters 1 and 2.

Could you guys at Paizo help me a little?

Thanks in advance. ✌️

Very interesting, thanks. One thing I wonder still, the aforementioned ability to grant spells, is it automatically available to any divinity or is it something one such being must pursue?

Deep questions for a Friday afternoon.

In all seriousness I do have a question regarding Pathfinder.

How does the magical aspect of things work between a god and a cleric? Faith is the foundation sure, but how does the god give the spells? Does a deity need a divine source of power, is the divinity the source? Is the deity a mental focus and it's the mortal's faith that is, in reality, the alpha and the omega of the spell? Something else? What then?

Ed Reppert wrote:

My question, James, is what is *your* question? :)

I've got plenty, but this isn't the "James Asks Questions" thread so it's as inappropriate for me to ask them here as it is for others to post non-question stuff here, right?

LOL. Glad to see your wits are not suffering too much from isolation sickness, or are they?

What I get out of my favorite horror creators is the thrill of being scared, but also the delight in facing the evils and horrors, real or imagined, of the world, to help bolster myself against having to face them in the real world in all their myriad forms.

Maybe being a fan of horror is practice for enduring the awfulness the world has in store for us.

I hope it does the trick for you.

You may just be the person I need to solve a 20ish year old gap in my memory. An old flame of mine let me borrow a book that was about a guy and his son (could be a daughter) going on an island to look after an old house. Long story short, there was a painting in the house that changed depending on the proximity of a
big bad "creature" to said house. IIRC, the trap that led to the attic could also be used to access another reality where said creature lived. In the end the protagonist was betrayed by a woman he met when he first arrived at the old house. She was there to be impregnated by a human and it was part of a grand scheme to restore the Earth to what it was eons ago, in order to make it habitable for the old beings that were displaced by the changing nature of the planet.

Dear God I hope that makes some kind of sense to you, because the only other feature I remember is that there was a ziggurat somewhere in there.

Do you know to what book this story belongs to?

PO1977 wrote:

Hello James, how's your Monday so far?

We've got the day off from work for Indigenous Peoples Day. So far, I've had a coffee and a light breakfast, watched a bit of you tube, and I'm now about to start playing some more Divinity Original Sin 2. Today's goal is to swap back and forth between that and binging "The Haunting of Bly Manor." I'm on episode 5 and so far, I'm absolutely loving the show.

That is excellent news!

Regarding your love of the horror genre, what is it based upon? What do you get out of your favorite authors (any media)?

Hello James, how's your Monday so far?

PO1977 wrote:

Hi James! I hope you are well enough today and I also hope I didn't push the alignment discussion too much yesterday.✌️

To be honest... the alignment arguments that have been going on lately are exhausting to the point I'm going to be stepping away from directly interacting with these forums with the exception of this thread for the time being. I'm just sick and tired of it, particularly when people bring in real world events and try to use them to "justify" their personal interpretation of alignment.

I understand, it was naive of me to think that it could have gone otherwise. For the record, I've always only wanted to understand your personal reasoning on the topic, I HATE to debate alignment with those who only wish to speak and not to listen; it's a damn shame. Still thank you for your answers, they truly helped me.

Now, have you secretly established who was Pharasma before the begining? And yes, I am aware you won't tell me who she was so I'm not asking.

Do take care of your health and if yesterday was your last open discussion for a while, THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Hi James! I hope you are well enough today and I also hope I didn't push the alignment discussion too much yesterday.✌️

If I read correctly, Pharasma is the "sole" survivor of the previous multiverse (I assume that means native to that iteration of reality); the Outer Gods are also from another place according to what you said (maybe only Yog-Sothoth?). Do you consider, in-game, that this is a myth, a fact or an open question resolved by a game's GM?

Hi there James! I've got some "essence-tial" questions for you.

When I read Planar Essence I presume it's Quintessence flavored by the nature of a given plane, correct?

Are there plans to expand upon the Magical Axies?

Material----Spiritual
Mental----Vital

If so, will this be flavor only or maybe flavor spiced with some crunch?

Take care and stay positive.

PO1977 wrote:

Oh! Also hi there James, I hope you're doing well?

I hope I am too, but I can't say for certain that I am. It's a really tough year to feel like I'm doing well.

I understand all too well, hang in there!

Oh! Also hi there James, I hope you're doing well?

What is the difference and relation between Essence(s) and Quintessence?

I've run several 1st edition D&D adventures using Pathfinder, both 1st and 2nd edition. My "conversions" generally amount to swapping out stat blocks and adjusting treasure but that's pretty much it. Often I'll do all this work during the game, typically re-skinning a monster stat block as needed to fill the job and adjusting treasure at the spur of the moment as needed if what's listed in the adventure has no real analog in Pathfinder.

So eyeballing it is preferable to 2 conversions via official convertion guides; gotcha.

QUESTION

Is the setting in Red Hand of Doom also inspired by your hometown?

Hey James! I'm thinking of converting Red Hand of Doom to PF2, have you ever converted old stuff like that to PF? Is it hard, very time consuming? Got any advice?

Funny fact, this was the last adventure I prepared, back in the day, for my old gaming group; we never got to play but I remember being quite impressed by it, doubly so because it was a prewritten campaign and we were a little biased against those.

It seems I've been a long time fan and never knew about it! Life's a strange thing...

Take care.

Thanks James, I want it to be clear that I never sought a definitive answer or anything of the sorts, just your thoughts. I'm not the type to start endless debates or try to corner someone; I'll go check out your leads and should not bother you too much with this in the future. I'm 15 years out of touch and your insights are appreciated. ✌️

I do have a question of a different sorts though, I've read somewhere that the Elemental Planes where finite? Is that still the case?

PO1977 wrote:

Sorry,I was wrong in my assessment of the situation. ✌️

That said, it seems to me that a chaotic individual does not welcome the concept of authority,doubly so if it's ingrained in a system. Unless it's a damn loose system and the nobility is made of the most trusted,influential and powerfull beings. And even then the necessary social cohesion to make a civilized society work, must always be tended to and fought for or things begin to go sideways...

The CG alignment is, possibly, the only one that can pull it off but it would still be quite a circus me thinks.

What's your take on this? Any Golarion exemples?

Chaotic creatures can welcome authority. They're just more likely than lawful creatures to go against authority when it deviates from their needs. The inverse is also true. Lawful creatures won't mindlessly obey each and every law; they can rebel or break laws. Alignments are reactions to your actions, not the cause of your actions.

Look at how in drow society (a chaotic evil society) the rule of "might makes right" keeps their cities and culture stable. Or how demons serve demon lords. Or how the church of Desna works for examples of societies that are chaotic and don't just fall apart at the seams.

Chaotic does not mean "Unable to work with anyone else."

Interesting, the first part of your answer is almost exactly how I think of neutral in the law vs chaos opposition.

What would then be neutrality in your opinion?

Sorry,I was wrong in my assessment of the situation. ✌️

That said, it seems to me that a chaotic individual does not welcome the concept of authority,doubly so if it's ingrained in a system. Unless it's a damn loose system and the nobility is made of the most trusted,influential and powerfull beings. And even then the necessary social cohesion to make a civilized society work, must always be tended to and fought for or things begin to go sideways...

The CG alignment is, possibly, the only one that can pull it off but it would still be quite a circus me thinks.

What's your take on this? Any Golarion exemples? 😁

Hi there James. I've taken the time to listen to all the King Maker streams in which you were featured, this way I'll be able to, hopefully, not waste your time with already discussed topics. I also had the chance to size you up a little better, so I'll do my best not to go in areas I know you're less comfortable with. Now that said... What about those Elves?

I'll keep my questions to Kyonin's people even if the other known elven cultures are pretty interesting. With that in mind I would like your thoughts on what was written in Elves of Golarion; since it was a 1st edition book I assume some changes are to be expected but what is still relevant?

For starters, it's written that their legal system is quasi-feudal and Nobles have the final say on disputes unresolvable by the concerned parties.

Is that how you see things? If not, are you comfortable explaining why? Maybe if the concept of Elven Nobility were to be clarified a bit... How does a CG culture defines and tolerates Nobles? The system can't be that intricate or I'm WAY off with my notion of what is and isn't CG.

Which ever way you want to bounce with your answers is fine by me, I realize we're in potentially mined territory here so, your call. ✌️

P.S. I knew I've seen your name on the cover of something I read before. Now I've found it: Hordes of the Abyss. An absolutely wonderful book that I've enjoyed A LOT back in the day, thank you for that.