Totus Gnarus's page

Outsiders even.

I see what you did there.

Steve Geddes wrote:

Who is the right person on the new look executive team to raise the historic incidents of transphobia with?

I'm aware of the transphobia incidents raised over social media and the forums. You're free to email me at jim.butler@paizo.com or send me a private message with any additional details. This has not been forgotten, but the pace at which we can release updates has been slower than we'd like.

-Jim

I note that you use the term 'incidents,' rather than 'allegations,' suggesting that you acknowledge that it actually occurred. That's already an improvement, though an extremely small one. I look forward to hearing the full statement once it occurs. And it must occur. Time will tell.

I've got a few.

I'd like to see an AP set in the Land of the Linnorm Kings, and while it should be obvious that I want to see Viking themes, I'd especially like to see a more well-rounded representation, not just the classic marauder version. While it's certainly true that the Nordic peoples engaged in raiding and pillaging, we don't always see a depiction of their less brutal aspects, such as their highly-codified set of laws and customs. They were also shrewd traders and skilled negotiators, and I'd like to see a depiction of medieval Scandinavian-esque people that isn't just Hollywood's roving raiders.

I'd also love to see an AP set somewhere in the Nex/Geb/Alkenstar region that explores the effects of magic on a society. This could easily be a multifaceted exploration. As an example, in Nex, magic is extremely commonplace, and has become an expected part of life. It should be easy enough to explore how much of an impact magic has on everyday life, and could be contrasted with Alkenstar, so we could also see how a society learns to cope when magic is no longer an option.
It could also be interesting to see the ramifications of magic suddenly being unreliable, such as if the Mana Wastes' infamous anti-magic and magic-warping zones began to expand and begin encroaching on Nexian territory. How does an extremely high-magic society respond to the sudden loss of said magic?

Another thing I'd like to see is an exploration of the Padishah Empire of Kelesh, but more specifically, I'd like to see how an empire builds said empire in a way that's good-aligned. We know that the Empire's patron deity is Sarenrae, and She has such a good opinion of the Empire that the ruler is granted an extended life, but there must be a continued building of goodwill in order for that agreement to continue. So how then does an empire expand its territory and absorb its neighbouring lands into itself in a way that's not only good-aligned, but also sustainable?
The usual method of imperial expansion is warmongering, but I can't see imperial conquer being particularly good-aligned, so it must be something else for the most part. The obvious option is diplomacy, but the level of diplomacy required to build an empire of that size must be staggering, and I'd imagine that substantial gift-giving is involved. At a certain point, the amount of financial return on said gifts must no longer be advantageous, so how does an empire that doesn't rely on conquering its neighbours expand its land in a way that's efficient and therefore sustainable?

Shipping seems to have begun, I have my PDF. Might want to start madly refreshing.

Where my Samsarans at? Gimme da blue peeps!

Y'all realize that even if they had more people/less orders there's always gonna be someone who got their order last, right?

I'm much less bothered by the late shipping, given the world circumstance, I'm really just complaining that their automated system wants to hit me for an extra $37. I realise that there will always be a last person to get their order, that's not my issue.

I'm also aware that it's extremely likely that Paizo will resolve the incorrect charge. As I said, I'm just complaining; it's the Englishman in me, I suppose. I bear Paizo no ill will.

EDIT: It's also worth noting that this would have otherwise been a GenCon month. With GenCon going online, Paizo is left with a GenCon-sized number of orders to resolve, but now they can't take a thousand of them to GenCon to be delivered by hand. Instead, they must send them via a postal service that's under heavily increased load, from a warehouse forced to maintain strict measures that further impede their ability to process said orders. I don't envy the position Paizo finds themselves in.

So after 2 weeks of pending order and one expired authorisation, I've just had a second authorisation go through, along with a ~$37 increase in shipping cost. This would have been avoided had Paizo been in a position to ship with the first authorisation. I get that COVID is mangling the entire world economy, so I can forgive them for the late shipment, but charging me for the pleasure? That's a bit rough.

So I reactivated my subscriptions a few weeks ago, and had the outstanding items placed into my new order. The total charge, including shipping, came to a total of $220.26, of which $49.40 was shipping. After over two weeks of the order pending, the payment authorisation expired, and upon checking today, more than a week after that, I see that a new payment authorisation has been generated, but the shipping cost has risen by $36.54.

Are you honestly trying to tell me that the cost to ship the same order has jumped by almost $40 in three weeks? If so, I'd argue that it's on Paizo for not shipping it sooner, given that I'd already paid for it. What's the deal?

And while I'm here, I note that you've gone from charging me almost $50 to ship a $165 order, which is steep as it is, to almost $90. This doesn't sound remotely like the 'cheapest shipping method' option I've selected for my subscriptions, so could you check that as well?

So there are goblin babies in this set? I think the real question here is 'should the paladin get rid of them?'

Most fantasy settings have humans and other humanoids sharing 99% similar anatomy, despite the obvious differences in origins. I'm curious to hear how you differentiate the biological side of the core races.

Using humans and elves as an example, females of both species have very similar secondary sex characteristics, though admittedly male elves tend towards slimmer physiques. Apart from size, though, the only differences seem to be superficial; eyes, hair/skin colour and the like. The similarities are so large that the species can produce fertile offspring, despite elves actually being aliens.

I suppose my question is, in what fundamental ways do the physiologies/anatomies of the core races differ?

While we're on the topic of boxing, it might be time for me to mention my Oread Brawler boxer by the name of Rocky Balboulder...