An excellent little answer from Tom Hardy in response to an... interesting question. Also, a few questions later, Mr. Miller states that he "never wrote any of the stories with a chronological connection". Word of God, baby! The whole conference is worth a listen.
John Kretzer wrote:
I think he does. Spoiler:
All Max wants is the road. When that's given to him, though- the bike, fully supplied, anywhere he wants to go- he gives it up for hope, for Furiosa's redemption, for various reasons. He would willingly go back into hell for them. The blood transfusion and all that... I think it fits. Your second point is valid, though I still like the idea. Mad Max's name whispered from the edge of a world who's half life expired, and at the heart of the new world that was born... I think I might just be a sucker for pictorial legends, though. :L
I was timelining the car and the shotgun and stuff too, before I ran into a comment that makes a lot of sense. The Road Warrior, Beyond Thunderdome, and Fury Road all have a central element- Max comes into the middle of a situation that is developing, involves himself in it, it is resolved, and he moves on. One of the characters from each film acts as the narrative focus - or the narrator - for the story, every time. What if it's literally a story? What if Mad Max is legendary? He's an archetypical folk hero. Each of our narrators- the Feral Kid, Furiosa- they're telling his story, what they saw of him, who he was. He has the same car because, well, that's Max's car. He rode in on it, right? He has the same outfit because "that's his jacket". Superman has his cape and his symbol. Max's symbols are made icons by the people of the Wasteland. The movies aren't a timeline, they're legends. Stuff about this guy, the Road Warrior, who is coded as one thing and becomes hope through his actions, no matter how self-serving they seem at the time- because redemption has a way of finding Max, and people want to believe.
Neongelion wrote:
I want to believe. Thanks for the ride, folks! Now just to carefully budget so I can buy the rest of the books from my FLGS before somebody else does...
Hey, don't consider it pop culture references, precisely, just actual references for AIs driven mad by disassociation with anyone or anything capable of engaging with it for thousands of years! What I'm saying is take HAL, Glados, SHODAN and Ultron, blend on "puree" for thirty seconds, pour into baking tin, extrapolate by a factor of ten, bake on high for twenty-five minutes, and then cut while hot. Serves one balanced party, or Golarion, whichever comes first.
Bah. The Tarrasque fits most of the description the best, and I would have settled on it a while ago, if it didn't depend on that name awakening thing. I've never read of a Tarrasque that cared enough about mortals to depend on waking up when someone said it's name. And I know it wasn't an old god! It's possible that I just mashed two entries together in my memory from that long ago, I guess- I could swear that it was one creature, though. Thanks for digging the books up, Haladir.
Alright, folks, I need your help. I read through a version of D&D when I was way younger and loved the lore entries for everything- the monsters particularly. One monster's entry stuck out to me. It described a beast that slumbered in a cavern at the edge of the world, only to be awakened when someone on the material plane would speak it's name three times, whereupon it would cut a swath through the living world until brought down again. Subsequently, to speak the name was taboo in all societies. Here's the catch. I don't remember which book the monster was in, what edition of D&D it was, or almost any other details. That little wisp of a memory is all that I've got. I'd like to know what, exactly, that creature was, just so I can find it again with the other source material that I read at the time. I will likely remember the name when I read it, and TVtropes has failed me, so; Any guesses?
They're certainly not completely domesticated. Redtooth's character information mentions that after Whiskifiss was captured, their stable of rust monsters became incapable of being controlled and quickly escaped. I'm unsure as to how you would go about taming monsters mechanically, as I feel like this example is incredibly specific- Whiskifiss focuses entirely on using rust monsters due to the environment of Scrapwall and the beasts' potential as a weapon. It works in the story.
Making access cards, thanks to N'wah's goodies thread for the inspiration. Any thoughts on more elements to add?
Acolyte of Mushu wrote: It's stated on page 56 under Hellion's special ability "Inherited Divinity" that his holy symbol is a mechanical talon and that his favored weapon is the spiked gauntlet. His holy symbol is also depicted on page 36 on the shield of the acolyte of Hellion. A more ornate version of the symbol is on Nalakai's chestpiece on page 42. You might also notice that most of the Lords are portrayed with a spiked gauntlet of some sort- Draigs is presented with a particularly scavenged looking version on 51, and Kulgara has a set of very spiky ones in her character art on 58, even though neither of them wield it as a weapon. I'll be using the loudspeaker idea as the party explores the open areas of Scrapwall, kind of like how it's used in Mass Effect or Dishonored to tell how things are developing as a result of the party's actions. Should be properly cinematic.
Which would explain my choice of Protection / Knowledge, for the concept of following a philosophical tract. Again, though, I'm trying to create something interesting, not min-max. Gods are great and all- I'm just building a character. Is there a specific problem you have with a non-deity cleric? Consider that answer carefully, because it could probably be answered in-character, and that's what I'm going for.
Fair enough. Basic Stats:
Legainn Harmon
Female Human Cleric 1, N. Good Str 14 [+2] Con 12 [+1] Dex 10 [+0] Int 10 [+0] Wis 16 [+3] Cha 13 [+1] Domains: Protection, Knowledge Feats: Toughness, Selective Channeling Appearance:
Legain is a tall, well-set, and entirely enthusiastic human woman. Her face is not especially beautiful or noteworthy, worn as many a farmer or commoner's is, but she carries with her a certain presence that causes others to take note of her words. At six feet, she towers over most others her age. Her close-cropped brown hair usually resides under a heavy helm, and she wears a honed longarm where it can readily be drawn for combat.
Of that, it looks that she's seen plenty. The armor she wears is not especially fitted for a woman, but she wears it well, even as it is battered and dented in places. When she speaks of power, she holds a tattered old book in her hands- and a symbol strung around her neck mirrors the emblem on that cover, a triangle set in hand-carved wood, bound in wire from each line's center to the middle point of the shape overall. You do not recognize it's form. Background:
Legain set off from her mountain-bound home and family some good time ago, struck by wanderlust and in search for a worthy cause to set her sword by. Trouble came and went as it tends to, but with the ability to handle herself and whatever came her way, she survived. Some time went by before anything really appealed to her in the manner of a philosophy, as she wandered from city to city- but eventually, something did, and not in the usual form of a holy vision and priesthood's marble halls, but instead in a secondhand shop's tattered corner and a shelf of bound ideas.
She read a book. It was some older writer's work, a tract on humanoid beings and the nature of society and the universe, much like many others of it's ken and mainly ignored in it's day. But Legain seemed to take to it a little more enthusiastically than others who had heard words like it before, because, be it by a god's fiat or her own enthusiasm, she began to draw power holy from what she believed to be a manifesto of truth. This was not unheard of in the annuals of the world, but rare enough that those holy warriors of more traditional values looked down upon her when she explained her own connection to a god's power- of a sort. She seems unable to explain it herself- what she knows, persay, comes second to what she believes, as it marked her the sole recipient of power arcane in the turn of a simple writer's words. Have to crunch later, 'pologies! Let me know if anything comes up.
Dropping a quick note in for my own entry; I am looking to play a half-elf ranger (possibly ranger/wizard) who's interest is primarily in Thassilonian artifacts and pursuing knowledge of that time and place. I will stat her up tonight. As it stands, this is the first Paizo PbP I'm entering, although I have entirely too much experience with the format in other places. Correct me if I slip up in some fashion! |