I want to thank you for keeping this thread going for so long, and for answering all of our questions. Not long ago I wrote that this was one of my favorite things about Paizo. The costumer contact that puts you above other companies, so I am sad that it has come to an end.
That said your mental health is paramount and I hope you get better soon.
I'm sorry to see that you are so frustrated and your patience has been worn so thin.
First I'd like to say that I think you do an amazing job, and this thread is one of the things that makes Paizo stand above other companies. Having a direct line to one of the creators is wonderful.
I hope that you feel better soon, and I am sorry that it is a fact in this world that it takes so long to build something positive up, and so little to tear it down.
What can we (the community) do to help?
How long has it been since you had a vacation?
What do you do to recharge your batteries?
What was your favorite role-playing moment in your most recent game?
1) If you runslave a dead runeslave, it doesn't stack with the previous template if that's what you're asking.
I was just wondering wether the Runeslave Cauldron can bring back dead runeslaves, that die from the runeslave curse/disease, effectively giving a limitless supply of slaves that can come back when they finally die?
I think a lich Mokmurian sounds pretty bad ass. Are there any other undead templates that Karzoug might inflict Mokmurian with?
Given your love of the horror genre, why did you end up working for gaming companies who are more famous for fantasy games (WOTC and Paizo), and not a more horror oriented system?
As I understand it, physics work the same way on Golarion as on Earth. If that is correct, why is the Roc an animal, and not a magical beast? No bird that big could fly on Earth, as I understand it.
All the recent talk of high CR statblocks and Mythic play have sparked a couple of questions in my mind. I apologize if some of this should be common knowledge:
1) Why did Paizo decide to not make high level play with levels above 20th?
2) Without access to Mythic powers can a party of 4 level 20 characters win against CRs 28+? I haven't tried it but an encounter of "epic" difficulty seems to be 6 CR higher than average party level.
3) What do you enjoy about designing statblocks in the late 20'ies range?
4) If I were to run a Wrath of the Righteous campaign, would you then recommend to reduce the amount of Mythic Tiers, or play as is?
Yeah; reading the original post better... we have no plans to publish the Harrowed Medium, and any AMAs that hinted that it's Coming Soon are lying or wishful thinking.
Again... it's too overly complex and long to publish in anything shorter than a 64 page book, and even THAT would be difficult to fit, and a 64 page book that's only of use to 1/40th of the classes is not a viable product... especially when the class in question is far from the most popular class we offer. It's just too narrow a focus combined with to complex of a design job.
For risk of sounding stupid, what is an AMA?
Other questions:
You've previously said you'd like to write a novel, if you had the time.
Say you suddenly had the time, finished it, was satisfied with it, and wanted it to be part of the Pathfinder Tales, would it then be a sure thing that Paizo would publish it, seeing you're the creative director?
Which type of elf from non-Paizo fiction do you like the most? (Here I mean Tolkien's elves, Dragon Age's, or what have you)
Torment is probably my favorite game of all time, but that may be because of nostalgia glasses. Somthing about it really resonated with my 17-year-old self, and has stuck with me since them. I stayed up until 3 am on a school night because I had to finish it then.
1) What did you particularly enjoy about Torment?
There are many cool things but one thing that stood out to me was Fall-From-Grace, the succubus that had "fallen" to good.
2) What is your favorite all time game, so far?
3) Do you, like books, mostly enjoy horror games?
4) Have you ever, perhaps when you were younger, encountered a book/movie/game that was so scary you had trouble getting through it?
Thank you for answers and I hope I didn't offend you about the mass combat rules, I took robust to mean something else.
So looking to King Maker for inspiration on a hero driven-form alliances-to stop big evil onslaught-campaign is a good idea?
I can see why you'd be loath to point out competitors but is there a game system that allows for both the war aspect and the heroes individual actions?
I only know of either or game systems.
More general questions:
What is the best part of having fans?
What do you think your young self would say, if you told it that one day you'd have fans?
It has probably been asked before, but how much time a day do you spend on this thread?
At any rate I want to thank you for taking the time for it
You've mentioned several times now that Pathfinder doesn't have "robust" rules for mass combat.
I take it that you do not like the mass combat rules from Ultimate Campaign then?
What are they lacking, in your opinion?
Do you think that Paizo will ever make more robust rules for this?
I very much want to run an epic/mythic campaign where the heroes have to gather allies and combine forces to defeat a massive invasion. Sort of like the first Dragon Age game (or some parts of Lord of the Rings).
Now I know that the game focuses on party level combat, but how would you run such a campaign?
Would you hand wave the battles?
I just thought it would be cool to somehow put the players in charge of their armies and play out the combat with the enemy, but if the Ultimate Campaign rules aren't robust enough for it, I don't know whether to shelf my plan or what?
thanks for the answers. I really want to check out Ramsey Campbell's stories :-)
Alas there is only so much time to do stuff in, and my life right doesn't afford me much time to read :-(
Do you find time to read books for leisure?
James Jacobs wrote:
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Ramsey Campbell is my favorite living author, and has been for a few decades. Why wouldn't I want my favorite living author to write a book set in Pathfinder?
....
James Jacobs wrote:
....
Me, because I've always wanted to write a novel. But assuming you're talking about NOT me... then George Martin, because he's my favorite fantasy writer, and he's got enough clout that we could do a super-mature Pathfinder Tales novel. ;-P
From your post back in April, I guess because he has more clout than Campbell?
Or is it because his name is more generally associated with fantasy books? (I May be way of base as I know very little about Campbell, but your advice on his works, make it seem like it is horror(ish)).
Who decides which authors get to write Pathfinder books?
Ohh! I just thought of another really interesting question(One that might have been asked before, so I apologize for a potential duplicate):
If you could get any current author to write a product for Paizo(preferably a Golarion specific one), who would you choose and what would he or she write?
By "current author" I will assume "living human who is a writer." Ramsey Campbell, any novel he wants set anywhere on Golarion.
I think I once asked a similar question and you replied with George R.R. Martin. (And that you'd like to write a novel yourself) :-)
Has Ramsey Campbell produced something recently to change your mind? Or is it more a factor, what you feel at the moment?
Do you have several authors "jockeying" in your mind for who you'd like the most?
If I wanted to start reading Campbell, which book would you recommend I start with?
1) is there an AP that you really want to play, but haven't had the chance to?
1b) if so which is it?
2) Which part of your home setting are you happiest about becoming a part of Golarion?
2b) If it is Sandpoint, what is number two?
3) Not sure if this is asking too much about internal Paizo "politics", but was you getting out of Gen Con something that ruffled some feathers, or was it amiable?
4) After begging for 8 years to get out of it, what made the difference this year?
1. What has made you the happiest this past week? :-)
2. Do you (still) get massive food cravings after your weight loss?
3. If you do, how do you stop yourself from giving in to them?
4. I believe some time ago, someone asked you if there were questions you've kinda been waiting to get asked by us but haven't. You replied that there were at the time. Have these questions been asked since?
5. If they have, what were these questions? At the time you didn't want to give hints as to what we hadn't asked you yet ;-)
1) when you run APs do you hand out XP or level the party up according to the advancement track?
2) If/when you use XP and your players end up doing things outside the scope of the AP, how do you handle them out leveling the AP content?
I ask because in my RotR game I did away with XP because they started to get too far ahead of the XP track. However now in Fortress of the Stone Giants I'm faced with a bit of a problem:
They have infiltrated the interior of Jorgenfist which should put them at level 12, but due to meeting Conna and being stealthy they are about to bypass the caverns and head straight to the library level, which should put them at level 13 without any more encounters. This kinda rubs me the wrong way because they gain a level for little effort, but I don't know whether to just let them do it or withholding level 13 until they delt with the library and thus may be too low level for that content?
How would you handle it?
Cheers
1) ** spoiler omitted **
2) ** spoiler omitted **...
Thank you for the excellent feedback :-)
This is the first time I've tried going story reward rather than XP and I guess I need to adjust my mindset for it.
Out of curiosity: if you ran FotSG and they managed to stealth all the way past the trolls and into the library level would you award them XP for the enire level? Or only for the encounters they bypass along the "branch" of the caverns they took?
Another FotSG question spoilered for my players at least:
FotSG question:
Can a soul only transmit its greed to Karzoug once if it is brought back to life?
I'm asking because I wonder if, with the Rune Cauldron Mokmurian could kill a giant with the Sihedron mark, stuff it in the cauldron and out comes a Runeslave through true resurrection and then kill it again and repeat the process again and again?
Reading through the Runeslave template there doesn't seem to be a built in way to control it?
Why would the dissenters Mokmurian puts through it be more inclined to serve afterwards?
1) when you run APs do you hand out XP or level the party up according to the advancement track?
2) If/when you use XP and your players end up doing things outside the scope of the AP, how do you handle them out leveling the AP content?
I ask because in my RotR game I did away with XP because they started to get too far ahead of the XP track. However now in Fortress of the Stone Giants I'm faced with a bit of a problem:
They have infiltrated the interior of Jorgenfist which should put them at level 12, but due to meeting Conna and being stealthy they are about to bypass the caverns and head straight to the library level, which should put them at level 13 without any more encounters. This kinda rubs me the wrong way because they gain a level for little effort, but I don't know whether to just let them do it or withholding level 13 until they delt with the library and thus may be too low level for that content?
The best way to fix this is to listen to those who are the target of such hate, to trust them and accept that what they're saying is real, and to support them as needed. This does NOT mean swooping in and trying to make it all about you—I can certainly understand the urge for men to fall into the "not all guys" defense, but that doesn't help the situation.
Listen instead of talking. That's the first real step to understanding.
How do I support the targets of such hate?
What would the next step be?
I'm at a loss how to combat toxicity in a thread for example without unintentionally adding to it.
I prefer female characters because they're more interesting. They're still (alas) less common than male characters as well, and I'm trying to do my small part as creative director to fix that disparity. And male characters tend to annoy me on top of that, perhaps because the whole toxic masculinity environment that's infected everything has always kind of ashamed me at being a man myself. So... the more female characters there are out there, the better. It's not unconscious at all, in other words.
Good to hear that your group's having fun with the stuff I've written! :-) Always nice to hear, especially in an environment that has been increasingly overwhelming these boards and the internet in general with more negativity than positivity.
Nualia is inspired by my frustrations at how a male-dominated society has a double standard at how they treat their daughters versus their sons, and how men don't understand women. Had Nualia's adoptive father been less of a failure at being a father, Sandpoint would not have suffered nearly so much. In fact, if I've one regret at her character, it's that I didn't build in a stronger option for her redemption/rescue from the situation she's found herself in.
My insight for her would be to give her a chance at redemption, particularly if the PCs have any interest or willingness to help her along the way. You can keep her backstage in the off chance that the PCs get into a TPK situation as well; have her swoop in at the last minute to rescue the PCs and perhaps that can trigger her redemption.
I can really relate to you feelings about 'toxic masculinity environment'. Something that made me feel out of place growing up and something I've only truly come to terms with after turning 30.
I agree that there is a need for more female and minority characters in fiction, but don't you think it would a good thing to show male characters, who showcase a different kind of masculinity?
I work with children and try to be a different male role model, than what is seen in a lot of fiction.
I've always thought the Paizo boards were very nice, especially compared to the rest of the internet, but maybe I've not been looking in the right (well wrong) places?
Almost forgot my players read the thread occasionally
Rise of the Runelords and Nualia spoiler:
I'm intrigued at your idea to try give the players an opportunity to redeem Nualia. I thought that she was too far gone now: After she fled Thistletop she went to Ironbriar who sent her to Xanesha, who eventually sent her to Lucrecia, who gave her a contingent of ogres. Nualia took them on a killing/burning spree and became a half-fiend.
Lamashtu didn't remove her "curse of beauty" though (because Nualia had failed the first time around).
But despite Lamashtu's aid and her new half-fiend powers, Nualia was defeated again, and Sandpoint was saved from the fire.
I guess that could make her start doubting the goddess' power?
I think at least she'll doubt her allies, who care little for her goals, and have only used her as a pawn.
Is there a way to undo the half-fiend transformation? Even if they push her to Chaotic Neutral, she'd still be a half-fiend.
Perhaps something with the Runeforge could help?
