Mika Hawkins Sales & eCommerce Assistant |
James Jacobs Creative Director |
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Nindoru are new, right?
Yup.
And since Shenmen isn't based on a specific real-world analogue, but is more (like Ustalav) a synthesis of horror from all across Asia (like how Ustalav is but for Europe & the USA), I decided to build something brand new and that wasn't direclty tied to a real-world evil spirit/demon mythology*, and worked with Kent to get some amazing concept art done. You've seen some of his concepts recently for our new dragons. I hope to be able to share some nindoru concept art as we get closer to Season of Ghosts's release date later this year.
*But that still comes from a place that I hope feels like it COULD have come from a real-world evil spirit/demon mythology.
This volume has a 6 page article about them, but we'll have 8 nindorus with stats in all spread out across books 2–4.
Dragonchess Player |
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keftiu wrote:Nindoru are new, right?Yup.
** spoiler omitted **
Interesting. With sahkils being NE and velstracs being LE, a horror-themed CE fiend type does seem to be missing.
James Jacobs Creative Director |
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Dragonchess Player wrote:Interesting. With sahkils being NE and velstracs being LE, a horror-themed CE fiend type does seem to be missing.It's also got me wondering what exactly the plan for the "classic" fiends is, especially with alignment finally getting the Old Yeller treatment.
Their role is unchanged. Demons will still be about using sin to destroy and corrupt mortals and be evil. Devils will still use law and pedantry to dominate and be mean. Daemons will still be out to eat every soul and be sinisterly nihilistic.
Just because we're no longer using 5 adjectives doesn't change what the creatures those adjectives did the day before will be doing the day after. There'll be some new rules to codify it as needed, but the in-world effect will be invisible to those living there and dealing with demons and the like.
James Jacobs Creative Director |
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James Jacobs wrote:Would you please briefly tell us why you chose this name (nindoru)? I cannot find the myth origion of it.keftiu wrote:Nindoru are new, right?Yup.
** spoiler omitted **
Spoilering to avoid saying too much out in the open about these critters for anyone who might be playing the campaign...
I went through a lot of different "nonsense" words based on multiple languages, but ended up with one that I hope FEELS right without feeling too specific, if that makes sense? Same for their role in the setting, which is something that was inspired by multiple real-world beliefs but also had a big dose of my own imagination.
And on top of that, our in-house concept artist Kent knocked it out of the park in coming up with themes on how these fiends would look, particularly the inclusion of corrupted butterflies (the butterfly is a symbol of change and cyclic life), broken weapons and limbs (to symbolize how they take the familiar and break it and make it worse), and various elements of cages (to symbolize the old 'trapped soul' trope).
Astro- |
Spoilering to avoid saying too much out in the open about these critters for anyone who might be playing the campaign...
I see!
For the butterfly part, does the idea comes from the Butterfly Lovers?
James Jacobs Creative Director |
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James Jacobs wrote:Spoilering to avoid saying too much out in the open about these critters for anyone who might be playing the campaign...
I see!
** spoiler omitted **
The butterfly part is more from all sorts of butterfly symbolism and corruption of that tradition, plus my own imagination.
Arcaian |
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James Jacobs wrote:Spoilering to avoid saying too much out in the open about these critters for anyone who might be playing the campaign...
I see!
** spoiler omitted **
Psiphyre |
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Astro- wrote:** spoiler omitted **James Jacobs wrote:Spoilering to avoid saying too much out in the open about these critters for anyone who might be playing the campaign...
I see!
** spoiler omitted **
Carry on,
--C.
P.S. Based on both the premise & excellent player's guide, my groups & I have high hopes for this adventure path! (^_^)♡
CorvusMask |
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Astro- wrote:** spoiler omitted **James Jacobs wrote:Spoilering to avoid saying too much out in the open about these critters for anyone who might be playing the campaign...
I see!
** spoiler omitted **
I mean, its one of those words you could spell with hiragana, but it sounds off somehow. Like "you can spell it with alphabet, but it sounds like non sense". Like it could be like romanization of word from another language? Like to me it sounds like it could be "nindoll" or "nin-dollar" :'D (But then again I sucked in learning japanese last time I tried)
Like... Thing is that lot of kanji have different pronunciation based on context. You can see them playing it up for comedy or coolness factor in lot of japanese media where character's name can be read in completely different way when spelled with kanji. You can even spell same name with different kanji but people could take different reading from it.
Astro- |
Arcaian wrote:Astro- wrote:** spoiler omitted **James Jacobs wrote:Spoilering to avoid saying too much out in the open about these critters for anyone who might be playing the campaign...
I see!
** spoiler omitted **** spoiler omitted **
Carry on,
--C.
P.S. Based on both the premise & excellent player's guide, my groups & I have high hopes for this adventure path! (^_^)♡
Well...
"Ninja" is those local Janpanese understand its meaning, but never say the word in that way.
Very, very, very brief explaination is that: The kaiji for "ninja/shinobi"(忍者) is pronounced close to "ninja", but in reality it is pronounced as "shinobi" according to the Japanese pronunciation.
Psiphyre |
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Well...
"Ninja" is those local Janpanese understand its meaning, but never say the word in that way.
Very, very, very brief explaination is that: The kaiji for "ninja/shinobi"(忍者) is pronounced close to "ninja", but in reality it is pronounced as "shinobi" according to the Japanese pronunciation.
According to my Japanese colleagues, players, and students, 忍者 is correctly read as "ninja" (that second kanji is key to its reading); "shinobi" would be 忍び (the び part is necessary when differentiating it from the verb "shinobu" => 忍ぶ; by itself, 忍 is the name Shinobu).
Back on topic...
Would the title of this volume (No Breath to Cry) be a hint to there being a yuki-onna in the adventure? (In some parts of Japan where she is regarded negatively, draining the vitality of her victims by stealing their breaths is one of her abilities, so...) This is the winter volume of the adventure path, and the yuki-onna has yet to debut in P2, so...
:D
Carry on,
--C.
@Astro- : Hey, I'm not going to derail this thread further by pursuing this tangent * here; I was just answering Arcaian's query in the spoiler in my original post. However, if you'd like to follow up on this with me, feel free to PM me -- no pressure to do so, though. (^_')=b
(Note: If you do, it may take me little bit of time to respond to you; my apologies.)
James Jacobs Creative Director |
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Would the title of this volume (No Breath to Cry) be a hint to there being a yuki-onna in the adventure? (In some parts of Japan where she is regarded negatively, draining the vitality of her victims by stealing their breaths is one of her abilities, so...) This is the winter volume of the adventure path, and the yuki-onna has yet to debut in P2, so...
That's an interesting idea, but no... it's a specific reference that will be more clear once that adventure is out. Once that's out and if folks don't pick up on it I can chat more about it, but all four of the titles are VERY specifically chosen for specific reasons.
Grumpus RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32 |
Perses13 |
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There's 2 new rituals, 4 level 9 unique items, and mechanics for giving the party special powers for a portion of the adventure. All of these besides the items kinda spoil the plot of the adventure so I'm not going to go into detail.
For the creatures:
Akashti (Sobbing Nindoru) - Level 10 Fiend
Kagekuma (Lurking Nindoru) - Level 8 Fiend
Nopera-bo Impersonator - Level 6 Aberration (Comes in three varieties: Martial, Skilled, or Spell Impersonator, depending on who they are impersonating)
Shimmertheif - Level 7 Beast
Silsyche - Level 6 Kami Spirit