Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Technology Guide (PFRPG)

Oh my god.

I need a new change of pants.

On the one hand, it does increase the reasons to explore Numeria. On the other hand, I suspect it's a prank. But I would buy this.

And if it were an April Fool's joke... it'd be the meanest one ever on ME since I wrote most of this book already but haven't yet gotten my paycheck for it!

PMSchulz wrote:

On the one hand, it does increase the reasons to explore Numeria. On the other hand, I suspect it's a prank. But I would buy this.

And if it were an April Fool's joke... it'd be the meanest one ever on ME since I wrote most of this book already but haven't yet gotten my paycheck for it!

The joke is that they volunteered your to volunteer your time so they don't have to pay you :)

And if Iron Gods and its support material do well, that will certainly inform us at Paizo as to the demand and interest in a science fiction game.

So what you're hinting at is that everyone should buy two of each of these releases? ;)

James Jacobs wrote:

And if Iron Gods and its support material do well, that will certainly inform us at Paizo as to the demand and interest in a science fiction game.

So what you're hinting at is that everyone should buy two of each of these releases? ;)

Well, come Christmastime....

Mr Jacobs,
How much of a lock is the August time frame?

Happy day! Lasers, and forcefields, and power weapons and computers and spaceships and TECHNO-BARBARIANS!!

*head explodes*

"I am so exited and I just can't hide it...."

Folks who want a return to more classic concepts will be delighted in the NEXT Adventure Path if they stick around. I'm looking forward to it, for sure!

As am I. I mean, I'm a fantasy guy 90%, and I think PF should definitely stick to "classic" fantasy as its bread and butter. But come on, 100, 200, 1000 issues of adventure path just gets *boring* if it's all the same genre. It's not a crime against humanity if among 15 complete adventure paths one goes Barrier Peaks. There's still 14 other APs -- plus all the classic fantasy ones to come, which will no doubt remain the majority.

It's okay to step outside to the balcony for a while when the party DJ plays a rap song you hate. But it's not the end of the world and he'll get back to playing all those infernally catchy pop songs right after.

I am tumescent with anticipation...

Mikaze wrote:

Luthorne wrote:

Oh yeah. I knew we'd get some info, but I thought it would mostly be buried in an article or two in Iron Gods...definitely looking forward to this. Not only for Iron Gods, but for people who want to run something involving Vercites, more fun with other kinds of aliens in general, advanced magitech settings...and, of course, Hellworlds and the possibility of cyborg devil troops attacking after Hell's plan for the subtle approach goes under...

Am now imagining a marilith weilding an ammo-replicating flaming SMG, a vicious monofilament wire whip, a wounding chainsaw arm, a vorpal lightsaber, a shock-stick, and a gravity gun. And she has a plasma-lance "stinger" cybernetically implanted in her tail.

Damn.

Well, since outsiders can be summoned to almost anywhere on the Material Plane, and Distant Worlds pretty much says it makes little difference to most outsiders...my personal pet theory is that there's definitely a demon lord or two who're doing their best to hide their cache of stolen technology as they experiment with it and build their armies of cyberdemons...while Hell mostly keeps it in reserve for those worlds where they've given up on the attempts to seduce, trick, or behind the scenes take over...and just do a plain blatant military takeover with Hell's finest cybernetically enhanced devils...and mortals from those worlds that have fully fallen into Hell's arms. (I mean, there have been comparisons to Apokolips for Hellworlds...I figure at least some of them have got some extensive cybernetics going on...) One had to wonder if at least a few kyton demagogues aren't dabbling in cybernetics and genemodding too...

My assumption has always been that they just don't bring the tech they don't need for the most part, or maybe they do. Okay so I think for the most part devils wouldn't really need to bring most of their laser cannons and power armor to the table since people in golarion already know that they have devils and magic, understand both of those, and are willing to give EVERYTHING to have either of those so why bring a computer and just muddy and confuse their decisions? Now on the flip side I would say that maybe they have also been bringing a lot of tech with them all the time and we just haven't noticed? Maybe those glaives that bearded devils use and cause those nasty wounds are actually nanite infused and enter the body during an attack, cause those terrible bleeding wounds and then dissolve when the victim dies. Hell those spores that Vrocks exude could be genetic add ons done by small organic implants stuck there by Pazuzu after he discovered them from a mad druid biologist on some distant little world.

And really no one would be the wiser on a world like golarion since they would have both 0 frame of reference for what the hell those things are nor the technology to even preserve or study them. Its like the idea that ancient greeks found mammoth skull fossil or an elephant skull and being unable to id them thought they were the heads of cyclopes.

Mr Jacobs,

How much of a lock is the August time frame?

Well... since this book's contents are SIGNIFICANTLY supporting Iron Gods, which is also coming out in August, I'm hoping that the lock is solid. As in "First day of Gen Con" solid. As in "The reason we're working crazy long hours this month and last month and the month before" solid.

I also can't wait - set phasers to stun! Hoping this is a first step towards Unspeakable Futures and/or Pathfinder Modern/Future type products.

James Jacobs wrote:

Folks who want a return to more classic concepts will be delighted in the NEXT Adventure Path if they stick around. I'm looking forward to it, for sure!

As am I. I mean, I'm a fantasy guy 90%, and I think PF should definitely stick to "classic" fantasy as its bread and butter. But come on, 100, 200, 1000 issues of adventure path just gets *boring* if it's all the same genre. It's not a crime against humanity if among 15 complete adventure paths one goes Barrier Peaks. There's still 14 other APs -- plus all the classic fantasy ones to come, which will no doubt remain the majority.

It's okay to step outside to the balcony for a while when the party DJ plays a rap song you hate. But it's not the end of the world and he'll get back to playing all those infernally catchy pop songs right after.

I happen to agree with Samy. I happen to like my fantasy without Technology.

I do remember thinking expedition to the barrier peaks was very cool. I think there were a couple of other ones...temple of the frog or something like that.

So I don't mind too much if an adventure path explores something a little different. I'll buy the source books. I'll keep my subscriptions up, and I'll read Iron Gods to see what is there.

I don't plan to introduce this sort of technology into my home games, but I am curious to see what Mr. Jacobs has written.

While, I don't like guns in my fantasy games, I'm glad Paizo has put rules for guns in Ultimate combat. I may want to run a pirate game....or I may want to run a game inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter of Mars books. I'll need guns for games like that.

So on a similar note, while I don't think i'll want plasma grenades, energy shields, blasters in my fantasy games, I'm glad Paizo is publishing rules for this stuff. I may want to crack open my Distant Worlds source book and try running a game set on one of those other planets....then I might need to know about plasma grenades and blasters.

So in summary, while I don't feel this technology stuff is for my home fantasy campaigns, I am curious to see what paizo puts together.

just my two cents

Just throwing in my two cents: It's funny how a lot of people state that they don't like "tech in their fantasy" when sci-fi is a type of fantasy. Fantasy is not just relegated to medieval swords and sorcery. ;)

In broad terms, that is correct, but in the last several decades, "fantasy", when you're talking fiction literature, has come to have a very specific meaning, that of historical-type fantasy.

That's why the term "speculative fiction" evolved into existence. "Fantasy" has become a word that, for all intents and purposes now means "elves and knights", and a new word was needed to represent "fantasy of all kinds".

With this, I shall make Space Orkz.

Gotta get stuck in wit da boyz!! ;)

Luthorne wrote:

Mikaze wrote:

Luthorne wrote:

Oh yeah. I knew we'd get some info, but I thought it would mostly be buried in an article or two in Iron Gods...definitely looking forward to this. Not only for Iron Gods, but for people who want to run something involving Vercites, more fun with other kinds of aliens in general, advanced magitech settings...and, of course, Hellworlds and the possibility of cyborg devil troops attacking after Hell's plan for the subtle approach goes under...

Am now imagining a marilith weilding an ammo-replicating flaming SMG, a vicious monofilament wire whip, a wounding chainsaw arm, a vorpal lightsaber, a shock-stick, and a gravity gun. And she has a plasma-lance "stinger" cybernetically implanted in her tail.

Damn.

Well, since outsiders can be summoned to almost anywhere on the Material Plane, and Distant Worlds pretty much says it makes little difference to most outsiders...my personal pet theory is that there's definitely a demon lord or two who're doing their best to hide their cache of stolen technology as they experiment with it and build their armies of cyberdemons...while Hell mostly keeps it in reserve for those worlds where they've given up on the attempts to seduce, trick, or behind the scenes take over...and just do a plain blatant military takeover with Hell's finest cybernetically enhanced devils...and mortals from those worlds that have fully fallen into Hell's arms. (I mean, there have been comparisons to Apokolips for Hellworlds...I figure at least some of them have got some extensive cybernetics going on...) One had to wonder if at least a few kyton demagogues aren't dabbling in cybernetics and genemodding too...

My assumption has always been that they just don't bring the tech they don't need for the most part, or maybe they do. Okay so I think for the most part devils wouldn't really need to bring most of their laser cannons and power armor to the table...

That's pretty much my opinion on devils, they likely have access to the technology, but why would they tell mortals more about their capabilities than they need to? Especially when you have to remember that all devils are part of a relentless machine dedicated to the eventual takeover of every world...it only makes sense for them to reveal enough to make themselves useful and tempt mortals to make use of them, but still leave plenty of cards up their sleeves if a hostile takeover becomes necessary. After all, even without obvious technology, devils are still generally smarter and more powerful than an average mortal...and the most intelligent devils might not even need computers to be able to keep track of a ridiculous number of factors for plans that extend over a span of time that would boggle the human mind.

Demons I'm less sure of, given that they're far less cohesive...I can imagine some having gained access to technology from certain material planes, then kept it a secret and tried to use it to leverage more power, and even if they did get crushed, whoever did the crushing might keep it a secret so that the interesting new toys are theirs to play with now. Not to mention the Abyss is pretty much infinite and there are tons of demon lords and demons...so I could imagine some demons having access to high levels of technology, while others are generally ignorant. After all, even if intelligent life is fairly common throughout the universe, considering how big the universe is and how many different parts of the Abyss a demon might be being called from (and it's a lot easier to call one you know of, thus one that's been to your world before most likely), so those exposed to advanced technology could be rare...but deadly! And there's a wide range of personal interests for demons too, I'd imagine. But if they did get access to it, plenty of demons are definitely intelligent enough to develop it...it's just that most would, in my opinion, hoard it as power...kind of like the Technic League.

Of course, I'm also in the 'magic is just another form of technology' camp myself anyways...since techniques, systems, arrangements, and procedures are referred to as technologies as well...and magic (when learned, developed, and researched) fits in my opinion.

It's not an April Fool's joke.

And I know some folks aren't interested in Technology rules... but we're doing them. Overall, I am VERY delighted with the overall response so far... it's a relief to see justification that the AP I've wanted to do for so long isn't only something I'm interested in.

Folks who want a return to more classic concepts will be delighted in the NEXT Adventure Path if they stick around. I'm looking forward to it, for sure!

I can barely handle waiting for THIS one James. Don't start getting me hyped up about the next one already!

Well, Mikaze is a dude, so unless there's some cybernetic augmentations that would give him lady parts...

Mikaze is a dude ???

Wow...I now have to completely wipe this image that has developed from reading her....er...his...posts, out of my head :(

If its not an April Fools, I think Pathfinder just jumped the shark and will lose me.

If its not an April Fools...

It's not. Feel free to cancel your subscription for that month.

If its not an April Fools, I think Pathfinder just jumped the shark and will lose me.

It's cool, I'll take up the slack :-)

If its not an April Fools, I think Pathfinder just jumped the shark and will lose me.

But...but...you're Worf! Better "wheapons", right?

So... um... anyone know what the going rate is for a medically induced coma is? *I don't think my poor brain can handle the duration slow moving time* guh... guh...

The irony of Worf quitting Pathfinder because of photon torpedoes. :D

"Bat'leths ONLY, you dishonorable petaQ!"

Cheapy wrote:

Well, Mikaze is a dude, so unless there's some cybernetic augmentations that would give him lady parts...

Mikaze is a dude ???

Wow...I now have to completely wipe this image that has developed from reading her....er...his...posts, out of my head :(

Welp, now my Mikaze/TriOmegaZero slash fic is ruined...

... or made better...

;)

Michael Dorn wrote:

If its not an April Fools, I think Pathfinder just jumped the shark and will lose me.

It's cool, I'll take up the slack :-)

Me too. I think this will be very interesting.

This is going to save me a ton of work on the Gear Goddess stuff for Zobeck. Looks uber-tasty!

Will this book also contain support for "sorting technology" into tiers, to distinguish the tech level between civilizations? So that you for example have a list of "renaissance" weapons and a list of "high medieval" weapons and armor?

Will this book also contain support for "sorting technology" into tiers, to distinguish the tech level between civilizations? So that you for example have a list of "renaissance" weapons and a list of "high medieval" weapons and armor?

That would actually be kind of cool, especially if it did so with the "high technology". Something like Gamma World's system, where the most advanced tech devices fell into the highest tier, modern weapons into something like the mid-tier, primitive weapons the lowest, and with some gradations in between.

GURPS also had a tech level system.

But then, there's always the Kardashev scale... :D

Serious question...spaceships?

Ascalaphus wrote:

Will this book also contain support for "sorting technology" into tiers, to distinguish the tech level between civilizations? So that you for example have a list of "renaissance" weapons and a list of "high medieval" weapons and armor?

That would actually be kind of cool, especially if it did so with the "high technology". Something like Gamma World's system, where the most advanced tech devices fell into the highest tier, modern weapons into something like the mid-tier, primitive weapons the lowest, and with some gradations in between.

I'd like this a lot. We already have that with primitive weapons using Stone Age and Bronze Age categories. Would be good to see.

Will this book also contain support for "sorting technology" into tiers, to distinguish the tech level between civilizations? So that you for example have a list of "renaissance" weapons and a list of "high medieval" weapons and armor?

Nope; that kind of thing is beyond the scope of this book. This book is really pretty much all about the super-science technology of Numeria and not about how to do various levels of technology for various worlds.

GURPS also had a tech level system.

They did! I'm very fond of the "Poof, you're there," "poof, you're healed" levels. :P

You know I am really beginning to love these Adventure Paths - Mythic last year with Wrath, and tech rules this year. I would love to see that pattern continued - side rules that can be used in any campaign, that are released to fit in with an AP.

I tend not to play the APs because I ... Squirrel!... but these rules (and Mythic) are so much fun!

Fail. Count me out.

Fail. Count me out.

Will do.

*marks off another*

*marks off another*

*relevant video*

If this isn't an April's Fool joke it sure should have been! I'm out if it's real. Gunslingers were a stretch too far already. Not interested in Luke Skywalker meets goblin - lol!

More copies for me then.

I'm happy that the overwhelming majority seems excited for Iron Gods/ the Sci-fi releases. I always got the impression I was one of few.
Keep 'em coming :P

Pretty certain Paizo have accounted for the fact not everyone enjoys this kind of thing, the same way they account for not everyone wanting yet another Bestiary or yet more classes. It's just another option in the construction set of things we can use to build our games, and one a lot of us are looking forward to having available.

More options = a wider range of players enjoying Pathfinder.

If this isn't an April's Fool joke it sure should have been! I'm out if it's real. Gunslingers were a stretch too far already. Not interested in Luke Skywalker meets goblin - lol!

Luke Skywalker was trained by a goblin.

Seriously, there's people here who will quit playing Pathfinder, JUST because they've released some stuff you aren't interested in? That seems a little over-dramatic.

Seriously, there's people here who will quit playing Pathfinder, JUST because they've released some stuff you aren't interested in? That seems a little over-dramatic.

I assume they mean "quit buying the specific Pathfinder books that have this kind of thing in", because quitting the entire game over a specific adventure path and the support material for it seems kinda extreme.

I assume they mean "quit buying the specific Pathfinder books that have this kind of thing in", because quitting the entire game over a specific adventure path and the support material for it seems kinda extreme.

It's happened.

I assume they mean "quit buying the specific Pathfinder books that have this kind of thing in", because quitting the entire game over a specific adventure path and the support material for it seems kinda extreme.

True. Although if that's what they're implying, then I'm kind of confused why they'd post at all. I don't go to every product I unsubscribe for and post about it.

Anyways, not important. Technology supplements, yay!

Edit:

It's happened.

Well, that just seems like a sad way to miss out on awesome Pathfinder stuff.