I think "Barriers" means the Storval Rise--which is a sheer cliff all the way across Varisia, sometimes as high as 3000 ft. all carved and sculpted out with huge buildings, statuary and other works of epic scale stonework. If I had to guess I would imagine it's a huge faultline that raised from some huge freakin' plate techtonic slip a long time ago. Probably flattened everything--and I mean everything. Kinda' makes you wonder if it goes all the way down to the freakish prison plane at the center of Golarion, doesn't it...
Whoohoo Lilith!
Good People Of The Community, give the little lady a round of applause. She also bakes and brews, judging from the cookies and beer dispensed freely. Sadly she is taken by the mysterious 'hubby.'
Anyway, thanks for the recap...
Creative Director
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I think "Barriers" means the Storval Rise--which is a sheer cliff all the way across Varisia, sometimes as high as 3000 ft. all carved and sculpted out with huge buildings, statuary and other works of epic scale stonework. If I had to guess I would imagine it's a huge faultline that raised from some huge freakin' plate techtonic slip a long time ago. Probably flattened everything--and I mean everything. Kinda' makes you wonder if it goes all the way down to the freakish prison plane at the center of Golarion, doesn't it...
Ah... in that case, The Storval Rise's barrier to the east is a nation of really hard-case orcs.
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Creative Director
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Maybe someone on the chat or James can answer this question for me: "Any plans to make those cool looking title logos like STAP, AOW, SCAP had? I'm finding the RotR logo kinda lacking."
No plans for RotR. I'd like to do one for Crimson Throne, though. We just didn't have time to do something like that for Rise of the Runelords, unfortunately.
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Chief Technical Officer
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2.) Sebastian: "Any chance we'll see a [Paizo store] wish list before Christmas?" James Jacobs was unable to answer this one for us. Failed at your contact other plane spell! Presumably, a publicly viewable wish list is what Sebastian's aiming for, as it would be nice to point someone to our wish list and say "get that for me." :D
Wish lists are in the #2 spot on Gary's to-do list, and have been for some time—as soon as he finishes whatever's in the #1 spot, something unexpected crops up that keeps wish lists from coming to the top. (He has actually managed to do some work on them, though; I think we actually designed the interface for wish lists like a year ago.) We really, really want to have them go live before Christmas, but I honestly don't know if that will happen.
I just noticed the Humor part of the post got cut...here's what was left out. (We all need more humor! Or humour, if that's your spelling.)
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On Meeting Your Co-Workers
James Jacobs: "BULMAHN!"
JasonBulmahn: "JACOBS!"
James Jacobs: <secret KFC bento box handshake>
Lilith: "KFC Bento? That's scary."
James Jacobs: "It is."
JasonBulmahn: <SKFC to you too sir>
On Strange Internet Links
Jason Bulmahn does not follow any links James sends around...has been burned before...cannot unsee some things.
On Cosmo's Hasselhoff Animated GIF
Blazej: "No. Just no."
James Jacobs: "I haven't seen it!"
Rambling Scribe: "That was so wrong."
Karelzarath: "It's the kind of thing you have to gouge your eyes out after looking at."
CD Lurking: "Lilith can you censor the Hoff from this board please ? :cry:"
Rambling Scribe: "I don't want to look. It's a train wreck."
Blazej: "Must. Resist. Urge. To. Click. Link."
Rambling Scribe: "Don't do it dude."
Blazej: "Grrrr."
James Jacobs: "Holy s*%@."
Hal Jordan: "Oh for the love of god. NO"
James Jacobs: "I need to buy Cosmo a coffee for discovering that."
Mothman: "Oh...THAT one. It haunts."
Rambling Scribe: "It was edited out of Hook mountain. Don't look."
Hal Jordan: "I am slain!"
James Jacobs: "That's like access to weapons grade plutonium, internet style."
JasonBulmahn: "AHHHHHHHHHH!"
Blazej: "Groan, link.. must click."
Hal Jordan: "WARRIOR SHOT THE FOOD, nooooo..."
The Last Rogue: "I made my Will save."
Mothman: "I got sent that at work a few years ago ... opened it with the boss standing behind me.... THAT took some explaining."
Daigle: "Full dose of Hoff-crotch!"
On Camel Spiders, Huge Freakin' Coconut Crabs Hangin' Around the Garbage Can, Hagfish, Bot Flies and Other Disgusting Creatures
James Jacobs: "Real World: The Best Place to find new monsters for D&D."
James Jacobs: "Hagfish...are pretty much the most disgusting creature on or in this planet. There is no more disgusting animal. I challenge EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU to find something grosser. If I ever see proof that someone cooked and ate a hagfish and ENJOYED it... I think I'd have to move to Alaska and forevermore cut off all contact with the rest of humanity."
Erik Mona: "James: In fairness I can think of about twelve things that might make you do that."
On Future Pathfinders
James Jacobs: "Pathfinder #44 is the one with Merisiel and Seoni washing each other's hair in a hot tub, if I remember correctly."
Mothman: "SO buying PF 44"
Lilith: "Hawt."
The Last Rogue: "I'll take two."
ollibolli: "What kind of AP is that?"
Jason Bulmahn: "Don's ask any of us...by the time it gets that high, James will already have killed all the current staff in a suicidal rampage using a lobster fork and a tire iron gun."
Rambling Scribe: "Nick and Mike are co-writing that one."
Oni Link: :lol:
Daigle: "Jason...I'll buy that adventure."
Mothman: "James: I've got some good ideas for the next encounter after that."
On the Paizo Jones Soda Competition
Erik Mona: "Has anyone seen the Thanksgiving Jones soda in stores yet? No sign of it in Seattle. At least not at my stores (and I've been
lookin'!)."
RussTaylor: "It is Christmas and Hannukah soda this year."
Erik Mona: "Really?"
James Jacobs: "That'd be a CRYING SHAME if the Holiday Soda thing didn't happen, Erik!"
Erik Mona: "Ah, yes, here we have it. Paying attention, James? Delightful."
RussTaylor: "Did you actually drink the sweat soda?"
Erik Mona: "No, I make the staff drink it."
James Jacobs: "We haven't actually done the soda thing yet."
Erik Mona: "It's an annual Paizo torturadition. I see they kind of wimped out this year."
James Jacobs: "It's true."
Erik Mona: "Only the ham soda is really gross."
Fray: "But the mashed potatos wasn't that bad."
RussTaylor: "Nothing as gross as green bean casserole."
Nick Logue regrets clicking Erik's link.
Erik Mona: "What is latke, again?"
James Jacobs: "I'm guessing an inappropriate soda flavor."
On the Messageboards
Crimson Jester: "James do you ever read the messageboards and wonder what the F**K we are thinking?"
James Jacobs: "There are times when posts on the messageboards do indeed boggle my mind. But I still think our messageboards are the best on the Internets. ENworld is a close second. But since you can't smurf a thread at ENworld... 'nuff said. Well...I for one am grateful and proud to
have you all posting on the Paizo boards!"
On stone(r) giants
Russ: "The problem with stone giants is they are so rocky-looking that their women take them for granite."
Sebastian: "Someone kill Russ now."
I just noticed the Humor part of the post got cut...here's what was left out. (We all need more humor! Or humour, if that's your spelling.)
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On Meeting Your Co-Workers
James Jacobs: "BULMAHN!"
JasonBulmahn: "JACOBS!"
James Jacobs: <secret KFC bento box handshake>
Lilith: "KFC Bento? That's scary."
James Jacobs: "It is."
JasonBulmahn: <SKFC to you too sir>On Strange Internet Links
Jason Bulmahn does not follow any links James sends around...has been burned before...cannot unsee some things.On Cosmo's Hasselhoff Animated GIF
Blazej: "No. Just no."
James Jacobs: "I haven't seen it!"
Rambling Scribe: "That was so wrong."
Karelzarath: "It's the kind of thing you have to gouge your eyes out after looking at."
CD Lurking: "Lilith can you censor the Hoff from this board please ? :cry:"
Rambling Scribe: "I don't want to look. It's a train wreck."
Blazej: "Must. Resist. Urge. To. Click. Link."
Rambling Scribe: "Don't do it dude."
Blazej: "Grrrr."
James Jacobs: "Holy s&#!."
Hal Jordan: "Oh for the love of god. NO"
James Jacobs: "I need to buy Cosmo a coffee for discovering that."
Mothman: "Oh...THAT one. It haunts."
Rambling Scribe: "It was edited out of Hook mountain. Don't look."
Hal Jordan: "I am slain!"
James Jacobs: "That's like access to weapons grade plutonium, internet style."
JasonBulmahn: "AHHHHHHHHHH!"
Blazej: "Groan, link.. must click."
Hal Jordan: "WARRIOR SHOT THE FOOD, nooooo..."
The Last Rogue: "I made my Will save."
Mothman: "I got sent that at work a few years ago ... opened it with the boss standing behind me.... THAT took some explaining."
Daigle: "Full dose of Hoff-crotch!"
As the President o the Fat Hasslehoffs, i almost feel sorry for posting this fact on "Lords of the Boards"... Course Cosmo didn't have to post the gif in response to my post... Just be glad David Hasslehoff, isn't a FAT HASSLEHOFF.
Thanks, Lilith! Very fun read.
Two hours until the next Pathfinder (& other assorted Paizo products) chat! Come, bite your fingernails about RPG Superstar, discuss the latest whats-what in your Pathfinder campaign, whatevah. :D (In case you don't know, go here for the unofficial Paizo chatroom and the locale of the Pathfinder/Paizo chat.)
Anybody coming to chat tonight? Hope so!
Anybody coming to chat tonight? Hope so!
Was about to, when one of my players dropped by unannounced to talk over his character concepts for our Thursday game. Alas that took priority really. So what did I miss? I've noticed there's been no real summaries for the last couple of weeks. Hopefully the chat isn't peetering out...
On the other hand, I by no means am demanding a full transcript like we've been getting from Lilith. Those are awesome and amazing and I'm totally grateful for them, but I know they've gotta' be a bear to put together. Nah, I really I just wanna' bum offa' someone else's notes.
There's gonna' be a test on this stuff I hear.
Well dudes, I'm starting my RotR campaign in China due to a shift in the gaming group and three new players. GH is on the back burner.
So that's the only RotR campaign in the People's Republic of China, right?
BUMP!
Hopefully someone will be there tonight!
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Anybody coming to chat tonight? Hope so!I was there for most of it, but was flaking in and out, as I was also working.
Was it ever revealed who the secret Pathfinder contributer was?
Yes it was.
Two werecabbages (EPHealy and Duicarthan) have an article about deseases scheduled to be published in Pathfinder (#7 or #8).
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So no more summaries? :-(
I'll give out cookies for the one who makes the nice summary :-)
I reckon writing out those summaries is a lot of work...
I'd be happy to give it a go, but I'd need someone to supply a transcript of the chat; I'm usually there for some of it, but am only able to keep one eye on hte discussion, as I'm usually working at the same time.
What time is the chat room open? Well, I know its "Always" open, but when is it busiest?
DW
It should be noted that as next Tuesday is Christmas Day, this may interfere with the regularly scheduled chat.
Sean Mahoney
It should be noted that as next Tuesday is Christmas Day, this may interfere with the regularly scheduled chat.
And the following Tuesday is hangover day.
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Oliver von Spreckelsen was so nice to send me his #pathfinder logfiles to look for some interesting tidbids of information for the german boards we're posting the Paizo Blog translations. The extracts may not be complete but I thought I share the things I found most interesting (apart from a great discussion of Nic Logue's adventure design):
#pathfinder chat 18-12:
PRODUCTS:
Pathfinder 5 and 6
Pygon: James - got a question :) In my Account Subscription details, it says PF 5 will ship late January/February. Did PF production suffer a delay?
James Jacobs: PF 5 is at the printer right now. As is PF 6, but PF 5 is ahead of it. Late January/February sounds like a very LATE estimate for when PF5 will ship out... at least to me. But who knows... keep an eye on our website for the latest news.
Takasi: I personally wouldn't mind if you delayed the whole schedule a month or two if it means helping with the '4E Question' for AP 3
James Jacobs: Delaying PF's schedule any more than it is right now isn't an option. We have to get it back on track and once it's there, it's staying monthly. The regular infusion of cash = good!
Watcher: James Jacobs, for a sneak peek, mention a new monster you haven't before from PF 5 or PF 6?
James Jacobs: A new monster in PF5? How about... the Shemhazian demon? That guy's a menace.
future Aps:
Lori: How far along the next AP are you guys?
James Jacobs: I'm about 10,000 words into the development of Edge of Anarchy; the first Crimson Throne adventure. it's hopefully going to press in January. AND: I'll be starting to write "Shadow in the Sky" (the first adventure for Second Darkness) by the end of the month.
Watcher: Where do you prdict the 4th AP will take place, since you've said it will not be in Varisa?
James Jacobs: The fourth AP will take place outside of Varisia. I've 94% settled on which region that will be, but am not yet ready to reveal it.
Takasi: will AP #4 have villains that aren't uber secret?
James Jacobs: I'm not sure what group of villains will be in AP4 yet. I've several nominees, but no winners yet. THAT SAID: The drow of AP3 will not be secret. Your players will know they'll be up against drow by the end of Adventure 1.
Golarion fiction:
Takasi: So James, I think Erik mentioned trying to get you to write some Golarion fiction some day, is that on the horizon yet?
James Jacobs: I very VERY much enjoy writing fiction. I've been writing since I could write, actually. I'd love to write some Pathfinder fiction, so if we DO decide to go that route and Erik trusts me with it... I'm all over that like stink on a monkey.
Takasi: If you could write fiction, what area in Golarion would be your first pick?
James Jacobs: My first area to write fiction in Golarion would probably be Varisia, actually. It's the place I know the best. Kyonin would be a close second, as would be the Sodden Lands or Osirion.
Charles Evans: Any hope of Paizo taking fiction 'on spec' as hasbro/wizards of the Coast division is doing so?
James Jacobs: If we go into fiction for Golarion, we'll almost certainly be soliciting it all from writers for the start. If it takes off big time, who knows?
Harrow Deck
Kevin T.: Hey James able to give any dirt on Harrow?
James Jacobs: What kind of dirt would you like about Harrow? It's basically the Varisian version of a tarot deck. The art is frickin' awesome; LOTS of weird and intriguing symbolism.
Kevin T.: I'm curious as how it will work in game, as well as out of game. Will it only be useful once in game, or can you use it in game at random places for role-playing aspect?
James Jacobs: The Harrow deck will be used in a way to generate bonuses and penalties for certain scenes in each adventure, depending on the results of that adventure's "reading." There's also other things too, like a feat that lets you draw a card to influence your fate, etc.
James Jacobs: Harrow will be integrated in many different ways into the adventure; but since I'm only 1/4 the way into developing the first one... I don't have many examples yet.
James Jacobs: For people who run Curse of the Crimson Throne without a Harrow deck... they can "fake" it using a conversion chart that lets you substitute rolling dice on a chart or drawing cards from a tarot deck or a poker deck, probably. You won't get the art, and it won't be perfect (poker decks have 2 cards too few, and tarot decks 2 too many), but it should do the trick.
James Jacobs: And despite the integration... the Harrow elements in Curse of the Crimson Throne are actually pretty minor, overall. You could even probably cut them out entirely and the Adventure Path would work just as well.
Rambling Scribe: Yes. Does the Harrow deck include options for character gen?
James Jacobs: The Harrow deck itself does not have character generation options in it, no.
Fumble Deck
Kevin T.: How is Jason faring with the Fumbles Deck. Saw the rough draft at GenCon. But haven't heard anything more since
tourney modules
Takasi: Will there be another 'Tourney' module for next year's GenCon, like the Seven Swords of Sin?
James Jacobs: Yes, we'll have a delve module for next year's Gen Con.
DESIGN QUESTIONS:
Iconics:
Moth: When you’re writing the iconics’ back stories, are you driven by the artwork, or do you have the story figured out already?
James Jacobs: For the iconics' backstories, I basically open up the file and look at the cool Wayne art and then just write something that fits. Usually about 15 to 30 minutes before said backstory is scheduled to go live on the blog, actually...
Author Outlines:
Lori: How detailed are your author outlines for PF? Pretty tight, or do you leave most of it up to each author?
James Jacobs: I generally give each author about a page of notes and ideas and stuff for an adventure. That's pretty much it.
Nick Logue: Then we f%+! it up really bad Lori, and James puts us back on track.
James Jacobs: I leave a LOT to the author. Sometimes that backfires and I have to write or rewrite big sections. But mostly it works pretty good; writers generally do better developing their own ideas than developing lots of someone else's ideas, in my experience.
Lori: Speaking of overworked - Nick, how quickly did you write some of your recent commissions?
Nick Logue: I tend to churn out about 20,000 words a week.
Defeat in adventures
Takasi:here was an interesting design comment in Races and Classes I wanted to bring up: "Defeat is meaningful but (usually) not final. " Do you have any plans for modules where defeat doesn't mean death?
James Jacobs: Sometimes Pathfinder Adventures will indeed use defeat as adventure elements. For the most part, though, having a pre-written adventure hinge on PC defeat is bad adventure design. The end of Sea Wyvern's Wake is a great example, where if the PCs aren't "defeated," the next adventure can't really happen. I generally prefer to avoid those situations in adventures.
MONSTERS:
Monsters,monsters, monsters:
Lilith: What's the next re-imagining coming up - we've had goblins, giants, dragons, what's on the schedule?
James Jacobs: I suppose the next re-imagining we'll have in Pathfinder is lamias; we do a LOT with them in Pathfinder 6. And in Pathfinder 11, we'll do a fair bit about orcs. Rakshasas in Pathfinder 9, also.
The orcs aren't really much in the way of villains in PF11, as much as they are background material and an excuse to talk about orcs in Golarion.
Sebastian: Speaking of monster reimaginings, do you worry about tapping out the SRD monsters? You commented about dire rats being over done (and they very much were), but it seems like the SRD is a relatively small pool of monsters to choose from...
James Jacobs: Nah. I don't worry about tapping out the SRD monsters. Especially since there's a lot of OGL monsters out there, and we're increasing that by at least 6 monsters each time we print a Pathfinder.
Tome of Horrors and Book of Fiends alone have TONS of monsters for us to play with. And that's not even touching Advanced Bestiary...
Sebastian: Will you ever print a monster book and make that 'core' for pathfinder
James Jacobs: It would seem like a monster book for Pathfinder would be a no brainer, yeah? No concrete plans to do one yet, though...
Sebastian: Is there any chance of having the gamemastery pdfs include the monsters in Pathfinder format? I've been building my own Pathfinder MM from the Pathfinder bestiaries, and wish I could include the Gamemastery monsters, but they are usually sprawled out over multiple pages.
James Jacobs: There's not enough room in a GameMastery module to do monsters in Pathfinder's format.
Sebastian: I know, but I was hoping the pdf could include them in that format.
James Jacobs: We don't want our PDFs to be any different than our Print versions. We'll do web enhancements now and then, but those'll be totally separate from the actual products.
Takasi: Does Golarion have a 'Godzilla' monster?
James Jacobs: Yes. The tarrasque is one. But there are others.
One encounter I've been toying with though (ran a variant in my home campaign) was to basically have an adventure based on the old 50's giant bug movies. Tarantula, in particular. An adventure where a CR 12 spider attacks a town, and you 4th level schmoes have to stop it.
Absinth: Can we expect to see more unique monsters like the sandpoint devil in PF?
James Jacobs: There will be more unique monsters. Not often. BUT: We just decided to put a BIG one into Pathfinder 9. He'll probably be the highest CR monster in Pathfinder for a LONG time.
Absinth: Cool! What's its CR?
James Jacobs: Dunno yet. It'll be higher than 20, though.
Crimson Jester: When will Gnolls be featured? Can we have Jackle Headed Osirion Gnolls?
James Jacobs: Probably not anytime soon in Pathfinder. NO! WAIT! They get a bit of love in PF5, in the Lamashtu article! Plus, they get a chapter in Classic Monsters.
Golarion Drow:
Charles Evans: Any word yet on bat-riding drow for the next PF adventure Path??? :) It occured to me that possibly, they could be restricted to just a group of rangers or druids with animal companions/mounts.
James Jacobs: Currently still no bat riding drow, Charles. I'm still partial to them riding giant lizards.
Takasi: it would be nice to see some type of lizard that emits a permanent darkness. Black lizards...
Watcher: Black light lizards, they want to make you smoke dope and listen to old Jefferson Starship
Takasi: Stickfoot climbing on the walls = classic
Nick Logue: I totally dig on the giant geckos. I played a litorian (Arcana Evolved cat people) who rode one in a game last week. It was awesome.
James Jacobs: Giant Geckos are great. They were in the old red-box game back in the day when I first started playing; getting them back in the game was cool.
Charles Evans›: the penchant for gianmt lizards wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the dinsoaur avatar??? If so, you could always have pteradactyl riding drow???
James Jacobs: I heart dinosaurs, yes. Drow riding pteranodons or velociraptors = super awesome. But we'll probably not be going that route. The giant lizard thing is more a nod to what drow were riding back in Vault of the Drow and the like.
James MacKenzie: How rare and mysterious are the Drow of Golarion? I've liked the settings that portrayed them as almost mythical, but some settings seem to have them turning up on every streetcorner.
James Jacobs: Our drow are pretty mysterious; AP3 is all about them getting riled up. But before AP3, there are no drow NPCs at all.
Dragons:
Moth: obviously dragons are THE iconic monster of D&D: was there any intra-office conflict or controversy in the Paizo re-imagining of Dragons for PF?
James Jacobs: Yeah... there actually was some conflict here in the editor pit about the dragons and their look. We actually had to kill some art and get some stuff redone and even then... ugh. It was kind of a grueling process.
Moth: I imagine! Personally I’m not 100% sold on the dragon images I’ve seen on the blog so far … but dragon “looks” are always going to be pretty subjective.
Grimcleaver: Yeah, redesigning the dragons. That had to be rough. I like the sneak peeks I've gotten to see though.
Takasi: I have the Dragons of Golarion article, seems like the creation myth is very Babylonian, was that intentional?
James Jacobs: Yes, the creation myth being babylonian was intentional. Dahak, after all, is from that era, or around there... just like Tiamat.
GOLARION:
Lissala:
Watcher: James, I'm looking over Thassilonian history. Faith in Lissala seems to just peter out. Was it lack of faithful, or something akin to what has happened to Aroden? (i.e. a god no longer responding and presumed dead)
James Jacobs: Lissala's faith petered out because only Thassilonians worshiped her. After the empire fell... there was just no one left really to worship her, and she pretty much just got forgotten. She didn't die as much as atrophied. I'm not sure really what happened to her. We might hear from her again sometime in the future, I suppose.
Kyonin and the Sodden Realms
Takasi: I'm not as familiar with all the area in Golarion, like Kyonin or the Sodden Lands, in a sentence James Jacobs what are they like?
James Jacobs: Kyonin is the elven nation; it's got demon problems. Sodden Lands are the ruined kingdoms destroyed by the Eye of Abendigo (the perpetual hurricane down south).
Crimson Jester: James Jacobs, are the Sodden Realms based off of any specific culture and if so which one?
James Jacobs: The Sodden Realms are mostly made up. There's not MUCH made up about them yet, but they're pretty piratey. There's actually a city of mine down there called Illizmagorti, which I'd someday like to develop into Golarion's version of Scuttlecove.
India and Africa in Golarion:
Crimson Jester: Do you yet have a plan for a Golarion version of a Mythical India or non-Chinese/Japanese areas?
Takasi: I'm reading Neversfall right now, mythical India in the Forgotten Realms, would be nice to see something like that in Golarion
James Jacobs: Our "India" (Vudra) actually plays a pretty big role in Curse of the Crimson Throne.
Takasi: excellent, the Indus Valley is rarely considered despite being one of the oldest civilizations, and India may soon eclipse China as the most populous nation.
Blazej: James Jacobs, do you know what kind of civilized non-humanoid races will be in the asian inspired areas?
James Jacobs: I don't know what kind of races, aside from human, will be in Tian Xia yet.
Lilith: How about an African-themed area?
James Jacobs: We'll have several African themed areas. Osirion is the first we've done much with.
undeveloped areas and „fantastic“ locales
Charles Evans: Is there any hope of leaving 'undeveloped' or large blank areas with 'here their be monsters' on the map of Golarion, so that DMs can insert whatever they want?....
James Jacobs: Beyond the edges of the map of the part of the world we're developing (the continents of Avistan and Garund), there'll be plenty of Blank Stuff. But on the map itself... not so much, I suspect. Although it'll probably take us years to get around to covering all of it, and some regions we'll likely NEVER cover, so those are as good as "Blank spots."
Lilith› James Jacobs: "Fantastic" locales?
James Jacobs: Fantastic locales will be part of Golarion. They'll show up more often in GameMastery modules, where we can afford to get more experimental.
Golarion map:
Lori: James - how is the development of the Golarian map coming along?
James Jacobs: The world map of Golarion is very close to being done.
Atheism in Golarion:
Watcher: How about an 'illuminated' country that denies gods and certain tenets of reality, and weilds power from this state of consciousness?
James Jacobs: I'm not sure we have an iluminated country... but we probably do. There's like 50 of them.
Prophecy in Golarion
Mahoney:Can you tell us if the problems with seers and fortune tellers will play more of a role in the APs any time soon (as mentioned in your first Pathfinder editorial)
James Jacobs: Seers and fortune tellers are different than prophets and prophecies. You can still cast divination and tell a fortune in Golarion with ease. What doesn't work so well are those big "IN THE FORTH YEAR OF THE RED SUN, A BOY WITH A COW'S EYE WILL RISE TO BECOME THE KING OF THE DROWNED!" type proclamations. Those are the ones that are not working anymore.
Mahoney: I see. Does that actually play an important role at some point or was it more a comment on your opinions of the roll of years in other games?
James Jacobs: Broken prophecies don't really play a big role in any adventures we've done yet... apart from being a general world-flavor thing always in the background.
Christmas in Varisia
Takasi: What's an equivelent Christmas holiday in Magnimar/Sandpoint?
James Jacobs: I have no idea about Christmas holidays in Magnimar. Sandpoint celebrates the Solstices and Equinoxes, mostly due to the relatively heavy Varisian population in town.
MISC:
4E:
Kevin T.: James, have you or anyone else you know take a look at Wizards Races & classes preview of 4E? If so what were your thoughts?
James Jacobs: We actually just got a copy of Races & Classes in the office today; it was in regular "passaround" throughout the pit. My thoughts: I like our look better. :)
Mahoney: I would be afraid that if Paizo went its own way with rules it would loose potential customers... this can't be a hugely lucrative market as is...
James Jacobs: My theory (and remember, I'm not in marketing): Keep your current customers. Gaining new customers = secondary to retaining the customers you already have. Otherwise you're backsliding.
Takasi: despite not having the actual OGL, did Paizo know a little bit about the flavor changes in advance when making Golarion?
James Jacobs: Perhaps. I honestly can't help but wonder how much of our work inspired the 4E design team. I suspect most of it is just parallel development, though. But yeah; taller elves, demon traffickers, and fey gnomes were all pretty much among the very first things we started doing with Golarion.
We actually had no knowledge about the flavor changes in 4E before they showed up on EN world. I didn't, at least.
Takasi: so if tieflings are core, would it be reasonable to make an iconic tiefling from Cheliax? or would that be a stretch for some reason?
James Jacobs: An iconic tiefling is definitely a possibility. We did as much for Dungeon, after all.
rtaylor: I can't imagine Paizo will have any trouble fitting Golarion into 4th E EXCEPT for their "sin magic" breakdown. As the Class book says, not only are schools of magic gone as such, most of them aren't even represented well in the PH
James Jacobs: I suspect we'd be able to figure out how to squeeze Thassilonian schools of magic into 4E. If we can't... I'd call that a failing of the 4E rules, really.
CD: Do you really feel the need for a 4E? or would you be happy running with a 3.5
James Jacobs: Personally? I think 3.5 is close to unplayable after 15th level, and that skills are WAY too complicated, and that most of the books that have come out in the last few years have introduced some really gross power creep. I think that the time for a new edition is now, yeah. If only to get stat blocks back down to a paragraph sized at most and not multiple pages for really high-level stuff.
I haven't seen the 4E rules yet at all; some of what I've heard 3rd hand sounds good, but a lot of the changes seem to be too drastic for my tastes. I'm gonna withhold my take on the rules until I see them, though. But 3.5 DOES need some help. That said: it works. I'd be happy writing for and playing it for years.
James' games
Absinth: James, do you guys still have time to play? From what can be read on the boards it appears that you do work on the products 24/7...
James Jacobs: I haven't had time to play D&D really much at all since Gen Con, alas. I've been running Savage Tide every other Saturday, but generally have to cancel every 3rd game or so.
Alien or Predator?
Takasi: James Jacobs: Alien or Predator?
James Jacobs: Alien is actually my favorite movie. Predator doesn't even make my top 30.
Lilith: Me too! Did you like the Zerg in Starcraft too? :P
James Jacobs: Starcraft singlehandedly cured me of ever wanting to play a real-time strategy game Ever Again. And to date, I still haven't.
James and RPG Superstar
Absinth: James, what do you think about the entries in the RPG Superstar contest? You never post on any of the threads, irc...
James Jacobs: I'm actually not even paying much attention at all to the RPG Superstar contest. I really don't have time to keep up with it. Plus, one of the guys is a good friend, so I'm trying to stay impartial and not really get in there so I don't tempt myself to pimp him up too much. :)
Pathfinder vs. Dungeon
Sean Mahoney: So James, how are you liking working on Pathfinder rather than Dungeon now that it has been a while?
James Jacobs: It's a lot more liberating working on Pathfinder. We don't have to vet things by WotC and do approval meetings, which is a HUGE bonus in my book. But I do miss being able to play with classic D&D monsters as much. Like Malcanthet. I miss her. :(
Demonomicon issues
Pygon: James - How did it feel being able to stat out so many high powered demon lords for 3.5 in your Demonomicon articles, and did you need WotC stamps for those?
James Jacobs: It was pretty awesome doing the Demonomicon articles for dragon. Those, and "Not for the Living" are actually my favorite things I've done for Dragon. I had a BLAST writing them. I'm sad I'm not going to get a chance to do Orcus, Pale Night, Yeenoghu, Juiblex, and especially Obox-ob.
We needed to have WotC put their stamp of approval on all of them. Everything in Dragon and Dungeon did. They were actually really cool about it. For the 150 or so Dungeons I worked on, they only ever really killed one illustration.
Absinth: But WotC seems to continue the series. Didn't they ask you to write more Demonomicon articles for the "new" Dragon?
James Jacobs: I wrote up the Graz'zt article for Dragon. But the changes WotC is making to the way demons work pretty much invalidates all of the Demonomicons and kills my interest in writing any more of them, alas.
Paizo's political system:
Charles Evans: Is paizo (under CE Lisa stevens) run more as 1)philosopher realm 2) a timarchy 3) a oligarchy 4) a democracy, 5) a tyranny? (to use the ancient greek classifications)
James Jacobs: Paizo (under Lisa) is part anarchy, part democracy. With a sprinkle of despotism and thunder from the mountain wrath of god stuff for spice. :)
Charles Evans: Can you reveal who is 'the Mountain Wrath of god' without being in breech of contract? :)
Timitius: Isn't the mountain wrath of god actually Jason with a good head of steam built up behind him?
James Jacobs: OH! Ha! That was just me goofing around. Lisa's actually VERY cool to work for. She's very approachable and a gamer to boot, so that's awesome.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS:
Watcher: James, I know you get hit with the 4E questions a lot, but since you looked at Races and Classes, in your own words, have you seen anything yet that wuld unable you to present Golarian/Pathfinder in the way that you want?
Takasi: what exactly came out of the Irespan in Magnimar?
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Creative Director
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Watcher: James, I know you get hit with the 4E questions a lot, but since you looked at Races and Classes, in your own words, have you seen anything yet that wuld unable you to present Golarian/Pathfinder in the way that you want?
No. Because if there WERE something in the 4E rules that specifically goes against the feel we're establishing for Golarion, we'll change the 4E stuff or ignore it as we want. The closest example so far are the dragonborn, I guess; they don't have a role in Golarion yet, and from what I've seen of them, they're not interesting enough to displace the dozens of pre-existing lizard/dragon races already in the game. If we DO switch to 4th, we'll certainly have dragonborn in Golarion (since I'd rather not globally ban options; I'm sure there'll be lots of players and GMs who love dragonborn and want them in their games), but they won't be featured that heavily unless we eventually get a sense that they're a lot more popular than I suspect they will be at Paizo and among our readers.
Takasi: what exactly came out of the Irespan in Magnimar?
Monsters. Beyond that, we're not ready to say much more, and probably won't say much more; think of that bit as a "story starter" for your own campaign; you can make those critters anything you want.
I have a question, James:
Can you tell us more about the Peacock Spirit, or is that information which will be revealed in "The Spires of Xin-Shalast" or some other source? :)
Are we on for tonight?
Nah, I'll let James & Company recover from partying. :)
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Creative Director
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I have a question, James:
Can you tell us more about the Peacock Spirit, or is that information which will be revealed in "The Spires of Xin-Shalast" or some other source? :)
There's a little bit more about the Peacock Spirit in Pathfinder #5 and #6, but not much more. Aside from what's detailed about this religion in Pathfinder #1... we don't have much more worked out about it yet, though.
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Creative Director
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Are we on for tonight?Nah, I'll let James & Company recover from working. :)
Fixed it for ya! :)
That said... if folks are interested in the chat tonight, I can probably stop by for a bit anyway. Unless your comment above, Lilith, was code for "I need time to recover from partying myself," of course!
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Creative Director
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Are we on for tonight?Nah, I'll let James & Company recover from working. :)Fixed it for ya! :)
That said... if folks are interested in the chat tonight, I can probably stop by for a bit anyway. Unless your comment above, Lilith, was code for "I need time to recover from partying myself," of course!
Oof... as it turns out after all... I'm not going to be able to make the chat tonight anyway. Talk to ya all on next Tuesday's chat though, for sure!
Five weeks of chat logs! (Apologies for the lateness - the holidays are always always crazy.) First up, the summary for November 27th, I'll collect the unanswered questions into one post.
Classic Monsters Revisited
James Jacobs: "As for classic monsters: The words are due from the writers next week." (This was back in November, remember!) "I'm writing about goblins. I can't say who else is involved yet, I don't think..."
Gazetteers
"Korvosa is in editing; the Pathfinder Chronicles one is in design. Darkmoon vale just entered design yesterday, I believe." (Yesterday being 11/26.)
Pathfinder #2: Rise of the Runelords: The Skinsaw Murders
Charles Evans: "The haunts in Skinsaw were very nice ideas..."
Nicolas Logue: "Very cool stuff those haunts! They show up in another module from Paizo very very soon! I can't say which one!"
Pathfinder #4: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Critter-beasties!
James Jacobs: "Hounds of Tindalos, taiga giants, redcaps, giant undead spiders, and a few more monsters also." (The huge undead spiders are called deathwebs.) "But since our redcaps and the MM3 redcaps are both inspired by the same myths... they end up with a few similarities. We play up the iron spiky boots more."
Pathfinder #9: Curse of the Crimson Throne: Escape from Old Korvosa
JJ: "OH! I just got in Rich Pett's turnover for Pathfinder 9 today! That should rile Nick up. It's BRILLIANT!"
Pathfinder #10: Curse of the Crimson Throne: A History of Ashes
This volume's adventure will be written by Mike Kortes, who also wrote the GameMastery Module Entombed with the Pharaohs.
Downloadable Content
JJ: "There will be a Pathfinder 5 web enhancement, so yeah, we'll have downloadable content now and then."
E1: Carnival of Tears
Lisa Stevens, the benevolent goddess of Paizo, had good words to say about Carnival: "I like the fact that Carnival can be dropped literally anywhere, and yet has a nice connection to Darkmoon Vale, for folks who want to continue adventuring there." For those that loved Falcon's Hollow, co-author Nick Logue says "I included a little Falcon's Hollow lovin' for people who dug the town."
Last Baron Adventures
There will be three, starting with LB0. James Jacobs: "I may have just revealed something secret... but yeah. There'll be a 16 pager that introduces the Last Baron arc. Not all of them take place near Darkmoon Vale. Treasure of Chimera Cove doesn't, I don't think. The LB series is sort of an experiment. The links between them will be pretty tenuous... a LOT more tenuous than between Pathfinder adventures, but they'll be there nonetheless. Darkmoon Vale will indeed have a LOT of adventures. That's the reason we decided to do a gazetteer of the place; it's the most heavilly represented region in the GameMastery modules, so it just made sense. I don't think we've assigned authors to the Last Baron adventures yet."
Monster Cards?
James Jacobs: "We thought about doing a big thing of monster cards... but it's too expensive at this time for us to do, alas."
Modern adventures
JJ: "No d20 modern on the horizon. ALTHOUGH: I do kind of have a home-made apocalyptic stars are right road warrior meets Lovecraft d20 modern game that I wrote and ran a 2 year campaign for that I might someday try to trick Erik into publishing..."
Arcane Magic in Cheliax
JJ: "Sorcerers in Cheliax are probably burned as witches a lot."
Sect: "Do they have ways to find out if they are a 'witch,' though?"
JJ: "They do! They probably use methods a lot like they used in the dark ages. As in, some people who aren't sorcerers get burned, and some who are aren't."
Demons!
JJ: "There WILL be a 'Demon Lords of Golarion' article in Pathfinder before the end of 2008, I hope...There's one or two folks [at Paizo] who aren't really all that fond of demons, I suppose... but they're not calling the shots! :) The only one who approaches my demon obsession and perhaps eclipses it happens to be the publisher and my boss, so I'm pretty sure there'll be demon lords soon. As it turns out, aboleth are on equal ground with me with those demons on Cool."
Devils vs. Demons
"I'm not sure if there'll be much in the way of demons vs. devil conflict in Golairon."
Dragons!
James Jacobs: "As for what's different about Pathfinder dragons...they don't have 56 syllable names, for starters. They have dragon names and also names that the humans give them. The white dragon from Pathfinder 5, for example, is called Freezemaw by the Shoanti, but his actual name is Arkhryst."
Mothman: "Do dragons' names mean something in Draconic - or are they just names (i.e., could my PC who knows Draconic be a smart ass and say 'Arkhryst - oh, Little Fang you mean...' ;) )."
James Jacobs: "Dragon names and lots of other things about them are revealed in a big article about them in Pathfinder 4."
Drow & Spiders
James Jacobs: "Drow and spiders are like spaghetti and meatballs. You can have spaghetti without meatballs and it's still delicious, but you have to serve spaghetti and meatballs some times. So yes... drow will have spider connotations. But not nearly to the extent they do in FR or Greyhawk, since they don't worship a spider goddess. Our drow worship demon lords. And one of those demon lords is the demon lord of spiders."
While some of us are sick of the drow/spider link in D&D, centipedes and bats were also brought up. James Jacobs had this to say further about spiders: "Spiders are a staple of D&D. They're not going anywhere anytime soon. We've got at least 3 new spiders between Pathfinder 4 and Pathfinder 7 also, so buckle down for the pain train! :) I'm sure there could be a demon lord of bats that drow could worship." (There are a race of drow/bat hybrids in Green Ronin's Plot and Poison book, "Plot & Poison will be used to a certain amount by us for sure. If only cause Matt Sernett was nice enough to sneak my name in there on the credits page..."
Dwarves
James Jacobs: "Anyway... I feel the same way about dwarves that you do about spiders and snakes, Sebastian. But we gotta have dwarves in the game anyway... so I just focus on the COOL parts of things instead! :)"
Gods
JJ: "Zon-Kuthon and Shelyn are alien gods too. They're from elsewhere. Other gods, like Rovagug and Sarenrae are natives to Golarion. When I say 'alien' god, I mean that the god came from another pantheon. She/he wasn't 'born' to Golarion's people. A deity like Asmodeous or Lamashtu or St. Cuthbert or Mystra would all be 'alien' gods to Golarion. What I'm getting at is that there's not a set of qualifications in Golarion as to what makes you a god or not. In my view... in order to be a god, you need to be able to do 2 things: You need to be able to inspire other creatures to worship you, and you need to be able to notice and appreciate and encourage that worship. To be honest, we're not totally sure how deities and gods and all that work in Golarion quite yet. We do know that mortals can become gods, though."
Lilith: "Any place for animism/spirit worship?"
JJ: "Yes. In fact, the taiga and marsh giants both follow animism and spirit worship."
Hellknights
James Jacobs: "Hellknights are mercenary lawkeepers from Cheliax who use devil themes to make themselves look even more bad ass than they are. And they're pretty bad as to start."
Lands of the Linnorm Kings
Grimcleaver: "Any info yet on the Linnorm Kings, or are they just too far off from anything you're doing right now?"
JJ: "No news on them yet."
Grimcleaver: "An initial blurb even? All we've heard about so far are their outcasts."
Monsters
Madness Follows: "JABBERWOCKY!!! I WANNA SEE A JABBERWOCKY!!!"
James Jacobs: "Jabberwocky is On the List. In fact, I wrote him up for the WotC Fiend Folio, but he got cut. So I DO Have his stats around here somewhere. My jabberwocky had DR 15/vorpal."
Organized Play
Takasi: "Any more words around the office about organized play James?"
James Jacobs: "I'm not aware of any new developments about organzied play."
Planes
JJ: "The Plane of Shadow is indeed a reflection of Golarion's real world. Golarion is a planet in a real-world-sized universe. The elemental planes are equally 'close' to all of those planets, since those planets were formed from the raw materials of the four elements. We'll have more about the planes of Golarion in the months to come. But basically, they pretty much work in a similar way to the Great Wheel. There are differences, but if you were to take Golarion's multiverse and use it in place of the Great Wheel... no one living in Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms or Mystara or wherever would notice."
Races
Grimcleaver: "I'd love to see a new PC race at some point. Something iconically Pathfinder - like thri-kreen are to Darksun."
James Jacobs: "New races are tough. Since they need to feel like they've always been a part of the world, or need a reason why they just suddenly show up. PLUS: New races tend to be stupid, in my experience. They always try too hard and end up being too weird for my tastes. SO there's a good chance that we'll stumble on something for Golarion that's been in the game forever but never really took off as a PC race."
Grimcleaver: "Or there's the possibility of a cool enough, non-psychotic 'monster' race that could make the transition."
James Jacobs: "Dinosaurs will never be a playable PC race, never fear. There's a better chance of a new game in which PCs play dinosaurs than dinosaurs becoming shopkeepers in Magnimar."
Love for the wemics were expressed, but alas, they are not part of the SRD. However, "Lion-Centaur is a pretty generic enough idea... plus Lamias are in the SRD and they're pretty much the same looking thing," says James Jacobs.
Sect: "How about Centaurs? Any specific function for them, or do you not have plans for them yet?"
James Jacobs: "We do have plans for centaurs. There are centaur Hellknights in Cheliax, I know..."
Sebastian: "James Jacobs, for making centaurs extremely cool, and fae for that matter, the snakes and spiders are forgivable. ;)"
A discussion on various animal/humanoid crosses (ibixians, gnoats, bariaurs, for example) ensued, James Jacobs sez: "I'm actually not a big fan at all of animal humanoids. Game's got more than enough of them already. Slap a wolverine head on a person and pow. New race. Booooring."
JJ: "More details on gnomes? Prolly not until the Pathfinder gazetteer. Think of them as super smart kids who are way beyond their class and are bored and so start doing mischief stuff."
Red & Green Planets
Lilith: "Any word on the Red & Green Planets, or is that Erik's territory?"
James Jacobs: "No word on the Red & Green yet."
Runelords
Sect: "When will the other six Runelords appear in Golarion products?"
James Jacobs: "Alaznist 'appears' in 'Burnt Offerings,' for example, in that there's statues of her in the Catacombs of Wrath. In that way, all seven Runelords appear multiple times by the end. But as for which runelords actually appear and interact with the PCs? Only Karzoug. I do have plans for the other six, but those plans are still secret. Sorshen MIGHT have something to do with Crimson Throne. Not sure yet. The runelords were always into sin, right from the start. It was their king, Xin, who wasn't. There's a little bit more about Xin in 5 and 6. Not much, though."
Charles Evans: "About Runelords: We know that there have been at least TWO different runelords of Wrath. (Alaznist mounted her predecessors skull on her Ranseur or something like that)."
James Jacobs: "There's probably been more Runelords of Wrath than any other runelord. I'm guessing close to a dozen."
heathansson: "Twelve angry men."
Charles Evans: "Because they're all fighters and army leaders?"
James Jacobs: "Yup. That and because the runelords of wrath are the most violent, and therefore the most prone to death by violence."
Karelzarath: "Well, if you're the apprentice Runelord, there's really only one way to move up..."
Sentient Planets
Sect: "Repeating a question from earlier, with the recent revelation of Erik Mona's dark past, can we expect to fight a sentinent planet in Pathfinder?"
James Jacobs: "There is at least one 'sentinent planent' in canon, yes...a minor god of Doomsday and the apocalypse."
Storval Rise
Crimson Jester: "Are there any other features on the 'cliff' between western and eastern Varisia besides Kaer Maga?"
James Jacobs: "There's a LOT of features on the Storval Rise. There's a picture of a site from Pathfinder 4 in the Player's Guide, in fact. The Storval Rise runs for hundreds of miles. There's plenty of room for GM additions!"
Time Travel
Charles Evans: "Is time-travel going to be available on Golarion, for visiting locations such as Thassilon when the empire was at its height?"
James Jacobs: "Time travel is not available to PCs on Golarion. If we ever DO a time travel thing...it'd be a HUGE event."
Translations
JJ: "I THINK we're looking at French and German translations... but again, that's not really my department so I can't say for sure."
Underground Races
Related to the drow above, James says, "There are indeed more underground races in the works. Some new looks on established races, some brand new races." The "Underdark" will not be called "The Underdark" - the name is not yet decided.
Placing Orders without a Credit/Debit Card
The boss says: "Yes, you can send a check. Just go through the check out process up to the point where you are asked to put in your credit card, print out the page, and then send a check or M.O and we can put it in by hand."
Paizo CEO: "Is that Nick Logue, the fantasy porn king?"
Nicolas Logue: "I am not JUST the FANTASY porn king my friend. :P"
Karelzarath: "How about the Demon Lord of Those Little White Blind Fishes? Too long a title?"
James Jacobs: "You mean Vesraxian, the demon prince of the blind sucklings?"
On the redcaps' spikey iron boots:
Charles Evans: "You play up the 'iron spikey boots' of many things. Golarion = D&D with the iron spikey boots."
James Jacobs: "Malcanthet's got some big ones, though."
Taken completely out of context. There was a discussion of succubi horns, and why they didn't have a gore attack, besides being too classy for that sort of nonsense. After being told it was going to be taken out of context, James says, "You can't say anything about Malcanthet that's not out of context! She's VERY flexible."
James Jacobs: "What two toppings should I put on my Pizza?"
Lilith: "You can get dice for that."
Many suggestions were made, including jalapenos.
James Jacobs: "Wait... no... late night jalapenos = the night terrors."
Lilith: "Do the hounds [of Tindalos] visit you at night when you have jalapenos, James?"
James Jacobs: "The hounds do indeed visit..."
Charles Evans is bewildered to find major games industry figures so friendly that theycome to ask their customers advice for what toppings they should put on the pizzas.
Mothman: "Is there pizza on Golorian?"
James Jacobs: "There is indeed Pizza in Golarion! Because Pizza = the awesome."
Daigle: "Xin ain't into sin."
JJ: "But Lovecraft didn't play D&D."
Grimcleaver: "James Jacobs, He should have though, he should have."
JJ: "I agree."
Sect: "Mudwrestling fight between Kyra, Seoni, Meri, and unnamed Paladin. Who'd win?"
JJ: "That'd so go to Merisiel."
Lilith: "'Cause Merisiel fights dirty? :P"
Sect: "Fights dirty?"
JJ: "Yes. Exactly."
Sebastian: "One of the things I really like about Paizo products is that they take classic adventure tropes that border on cliche and build these amazing adventures out of them."
Summary for December 4th, 2007.
Adventures
JJ: "I just finished developing 'Spires of Xin-Shalast,' and will very soon get started on the first adventure of Curse of the Crimson Throne. That'll probably start work this weekend, in fact. Maybe by Friday, if I'm lucky."
Crimson Jester: "How far off is the Leng adventure and is there an 'Atlantis' adventure planned?"
JJ: "The adventure with Leng stuff is 'Spires of Xin-Shalast' in Pathfinder 6. No 'Atlantis' adventures on schedule yet."
JJ: "A Pathfinder adventure is usually about 35,000 to 40,000 words. And the appendixes are in other parts of the book, not part of that total."
Crimson Jester: "Any writer you would like more but for some reason can't work with as much as you would like?"
JJ: "I'd love to have more Chris Perkins, Bruce Cordell, and Rich Baker adventures, but they're way too busy and I suspect under a noncompete type thing, alas. I'd also love to get more stuff from Rob Kuntz. Working with him on the Maure Castle stuff was EASILLY a career highlight for me. I'd love love LOVE to get Erik to write an adventure for Pathfinder. But that guy is hard to pin down."
Pygon: "Do you choose authors for the chapters by matching them up with themes and tones they are good at? Or is there some other selection process?"
JJ: "Yes. For Runelords, I wanted to have Skinsaw Murders feel like a gothic horror movie; like a Hammer horror film, in fact. Rich Pett knows that stuff the best, so he got that one.
For Hook Mountain, I wanted an author who's great at NPCs and who wasn't afraid to get gruesome: Nick Logue.
For Fortress of the Stone Giants, I wanted someone who's been in the industry forever and who would bring some class to the whole thing: Wolf Baur.
For Sins of the Saviors, I wanted someone who's great at designing cool dungeons with neat maps: Steve Greer.
For Xin-Shalast, I wanted someone who knows classic D&D at its best and who could do justice to an El-Dorado/Shangra-La city map: Greg Vaughan.
For Burnt Offerings, I wanted someone who knew that this was going to be an Adventure Path that was going to be in its own book format and not in a cancelled magazine. Which pretty much left me.
Looking forward: For Edge of Anarchy (Crimson Throne 1) I wanted an author who has a gift for creating memorable PCs and has a strong flair for drama and pathos: Nick Logue.
For CotCT 2 (Seven Days to the Grave) I wanted someone who can do gothic horror AND who has a really haunting writing style AND does his homework in drawing inspiration from history: Wes Schneider. Wes Schneider's basically the guy who keeps all the non-adventure stuff in Pathfinder (aka the second half) working and running. He's 50% of the reason Pathfinder even exists, really.
For 3 (Escape from Old Korvosa) I wanted a fan of Escape from New York who had a great sense of warped humor and could do justice to a really dirty and crowded slum: Rich Pett.
For 4 (A History of Ashes) I wanted a writer who's good at coming up with neat society stuff, is creative with cultures and can do stuff that isn't tied to a dungeon: Michael Kortes.
For 5 (Skeletons of Scarwall) I wanted someone who can give me the Best Ever Haunted Castle Map EVER and at the same time fill it with cool monsters and encounters and weave in a cool group of competing adventurers: Greg Vaughan.
And for 6 (Crown of Fangs) I wanted someone who can build incredible maps and could add in lots of details about history and NPCs and can handle a lot of those NPCs coming together in a climactic manner: Tito Leati.
It's certainly as much math as it is art matching a writer to an adventure. It's certainly as much math as it is art matching a writer to an adventure. For Pathfinder 13's 'Shadow in the Sky,' I'm falling on the sword again and writing that one. Mostly cause I do like me some drow. Partially because it'll need to be a fast FAST design since I'm not sure yet if it'll be 3.5 or 4th edition."
Mothman: "Has James Sutter got any adventures coming up? I really liked his Automatic Hound."
JJ: "James Sutter's pretty much in charge of the Pathfinder Journal; he's writing a few of them and commissioning more of them. He's also going to be doing a fair amount of the gazetteer type stuff."
Articles in Pathfinder
Lilith: "Are the supplemental article authors in Pathfinder still being given to a select group of authors to write, or is there a chance for us noobs to get in?"
JJ: "There is certainly a chance. In fact, there's someone in this very chat room this very moment who's gonna have something published in an upcoming Pathfinder. We've also got a few other first-time Pathfinder authors in the works too. Basically, I'm keeping an eye on stuff people are doing for GameMastery, stuff people are doing for Kobold Quarterly, stuff folk are doing for other d20 companies, and stuff folk have done for Dragon and Dungeon in the past."
Congrats to ephealy (Ed Healy) and Duicarthan (Rick Miller)! Their work is going into Pathfinder #8.
Chatroom!
Daigle: "James, you're the only Paizo staffer who is here every week, so you must enjoy our chaos to some extent. Do you find these chats as informative about a section of your fan-base as we find your teasers and clarifications?"
James Jacobs: "I do enjoy the chaos here. And yes, I do value these as a way to hear about what's working and not working in Pathfinder and GameMastery and all that. Jason and Erik have just been SUPER BUSY lately, working on the gazetteer mostly. Not that I'm not that busy, though... they're just slackers, I guess."
Classic Monsters Revisited
JJ: "A fair number of the humanoid races will be in the Classic Monsters book."
Mothman: "Will Classic Monsters Revised have much / any crunch, or will it be all / mostly fluff?"
JJ: "Classic Monsters will have a little bit of crunch."
Distribution
Harleykitty: "Do you guys have any say in how the large book chains market PF?"
JJ: "We do, Harleykitty, in that we have to kind of keep pestering them and going to their open houses and all that. That's more of a Publisher duty though."
Living Pathfinder
JJ: "Nothing new on either Living Pathfinder or the translations."
Pathfinder #1: Rise of the Runelords: Burnt Offerings
Mothman: "Did you get a chance to do a proper play test for Burnt Offerings? Would you generally change much after a playtest session?"
JJ: "Burnt Offerings was on a sickeningly tight schedule; but I did get some good playtest time in on it; Josh Frost ran it for his group. Let's just say that the original goblin dog's dander was... excessive."
Pathfinder #5: Rise of the Runelords: Sins of the Saviors
JJ: "PF5's got Steve Greer's adventure, 'Sins of the Saviors.' It's also got a big article about Lamashtu by Sean K Reynolds, and a shorter article about magic items and spells from Thassilon. The Magic of Thassilon has 7 new spells, 7 new items, rules for magic runes, and rules for runeforged weapons. No new prestige classes. There's some variant class stuff for druids though in the Lamashtu article. Based on the varient class ability stuff from Unearthed Arcana."
Takasi: "Evil druids?"
JJ: "Or chaotic neutral druids. Of course, PF5 has another Pathfinder Journal entry and 6 new monsters. Monsters in PF5, from memory (so details may be off a little): a bird (magical beast), a demon (outsider), a herald of Lamashtu (outsider), a herald of Desna (outsider), a marsh giant (giant), and an undead hag (undead)."
Takasi: "What culture is the Marsh Giant?"
JJ: "The Marsh Giant is half swamper, half Innsmouth folk."
Pathfinder: Curse of the Crimson Throne
Pygon: "Will path #2 start out heavily urban?"
JJ: "Path 2 (Curse of the Crimson Throne) is urban. It stays urban for 3 adventures, then comes back to urban in the last adventure. The fourth is wilderness, the fifth is megadungeon."
JJ: "There is an elite order of hippogrif-mounted guards in Korvosa. Chokers have a pretty cool role in Korvosa. They're freaks who hide on roofs and 'fish' down chimneys."
Mothman: "I'm not sure if such things have already been announced, but are there any authers of PF AP2 who did not write adventures for AP1?"
ollibolli: "More than one: Tito Leati, Wes Schneider, Michael Kortes."
JJ: "Yup; there's 3 new authors working on Crimson Throne. It goes: Nick Logue/Wes Schneider/Rich Pett/Michael Kortes/Greg Vaughan/Tito Leati."
Mothman: "I'm sure that it's been announced previously, but does PF AP2 go up to 20th level?"
JJ: "AP2 goes to 17th level, I think. Maybe 16th."
Pathfinder #8: Curse of the Crimson Throne: Seven Days to the Grave
JJ: "In Pathfinder 8, we've got an adventure about a plague hitting Korvosa. The supplementary articles in that one are going to be one about Abadar... and one about diseases and plagues and the like."
Pathfinder #11: Curse of the Crimson Throne: Skeletons of Scarwall
JJ: "We're doing orcs in Pathfinder 11."
Pathfinder: The Second Darkness
Pathfinder #13: Shadow in the Sky
Mothman: "Are you (or will you be) writing it as a 3.5 adventure at this stage? Or just focusing on fluff until you decide on 3.5/4?"
JJ: "The concepting stage of Shadow in the Sky, the map building, the plot, the NPC generation, all that is edition neutral. I can do all that for any edition of the game. It's basically the stat blocks and rules elements that are the holdup. What worries me is that there might be some elements in 4th edition that make it difficult or impossible to write an adventure the way I want it to be written for Pathfinder."
Playtesting Pathfinder
JJ: "To become a PF playtester, you have to know an author who's writing a PF adventure. They're the ones responsible for playtesting the adventures."
Compleat Encounters
Takasi: "James, I just received my GameMastery Compleat Encounters, and noticed quite a bit of WAR art, are there any plans to enhance those sketches in the future?"
JJ: "Yes."
Takasi: "I really liked the horned demon."
JJ: "I particularly like the drow and the horned demon, yeah. His ninjas are pretty sweet too."
High level Adventures
Mothman: "Are you aware of any upcoming high level (16+) adventures for Pathfinder or Gamemastery?"
JJ: "There are no 16+ level adventures coming any time soon."
Russ: "Do high-level adventures sell poorly?"
JJ: "Somewhat, yes. The amount of people who play high level pale in comparasion to those who play in levels 5–13."
Module Length
JJ: "A GM module is usually about 22,000 words, but generally about 2000 to 4000 of that is appendixes like new monsters and items and stuff."
Absalom
Lilith: "Is Absalom going to be detailed at some point, or it left to be a DM/GM's playground?"
JJ: "Absalom is already being detailed. A district of the city's detailed in Gallery of Evil."
Academia
Lilith: "Centers of learning in Varisia/Golarion?"
Takasi: "There's the Seers of the Stone and the Twilight Academy in Magnimar."
"Adult" Gaming
captramses: "I think any game can be run as a an Adult/Mature campaign."
James Jacobs: "Yup. And vice-versa."
Crimson Jester: "Yes and any mature themse can be removed for a more PG crowd."
theacemu: "It's up to the GM to make it so."
Watcher!: "Nobody in my group is under 28, why shouldn't I run Runelords as intended?"
ElmoFromOK: "I run my kids game cartoon and my adult game mature...fit the audience."
"Lighter" Adventures
Joseph: "James, is there anything planned in the future for a lighter adventure/series of adventures? I'm not very familiar with most Gamemastery modules, but Pathfinder, while excellent, may be a bit too dark for my current group's tastes."
JJ: "Yes. There will be lighter adventures."
Aquatic Races
Watcher: "What kind of aquatic races are there, besides Merfolk with breasts and Aboleths?"
JJ: "I can confirm aboleths and merfolk and sahuagin. I suspect also there's an octipoid race. There are sea dragons. They'll probably be a new sea dragon monster we'll reveal some day. Actually, beyond the chromatic and metallic dragons, Golarion has a little more than a half dozen other dragon categories as well that'll soon be revealed in Pathfinder 4. The aquatic octipoid race is something from my homebrew world; I'm not sure I'm gonna lobby to have them part of Golarion yet. Not sure there's really a need for them. But there might be. Kraken are absolutely in Golarion. Although they're more of a monster than a race. Aquatic elves have been in the game from the start. AND: I'm a huge fan of ocean and sea-based D&D stuff too, so those elements will never be TOO far from the book."
Artifacts
Crimson Jester: "Are we going to see any Artifacts coming out in the near future?"
JJ: "There are a lot of artifacts in 'Spires of Xin-Shalast.' Might even be enough to get some folk all riled up about all the treasure that gets 'handed out' in that adventure, but turns out if you set an adventure in a 'lost city of gold' there's gonna be treasure."
Crimson Jester: "Any books of dark secrets? (Necronomicon)"
JJ: "There's the Sihedron Tome. The book that Karzoug carries around. it's got some crazy stuff in it. Mostly spells."
Cheliax
Mothman: "How about the Chelaxian Empire – when did that fall (or retreat from Varisia)?"
JJ: "The Chelaxian empire retreated from Varisia about 100 years ago. Korvosa was settled by Cheliax about 300 years ago, give or take."
Takasi: "Is that why Korvosa still strives to be like Chelaxian?"
JJ: "Yup. Korvosa desperatly wants to be part of Cheliax, but Cheliax doesn't have much time or interest in them any more. They've got their own internal problems going on."
Death
JJ: "The best bet for getting a resurrection in Varisia, I suspect, is Windsong Abby, Magnimar, or Korvosa. There MIGHT be someone high-enough level in Riddleport but that's expensive and kinda scary. And in most cases, you'd have to do so by buying a scroll..."
Drow
Harleykitty: "Not to get too far ahead (I mean, we've not even gotten PF4 yet), but how are you guys making the drow in the upcoming PF 'different?'"
JJ: "Talking about drow IS too far ahead. BUT: we're not really trying to make them "different" as much as we want them to be more like they were in 'Vault of the Drow.' Crazy evil demon-worshiping elves. Drow aren't drow unless they're doing drow things, in my mind. They're going to be pretty twisted and vile and deviant. The drow will not be more graphic than HMM [Hook Mountain Massacre]. But they'll equal HMM in places, I suspect. And to some people, I'm sure they'll exceed it."
Azathoth: "Does this include dressing their female in nothing at all? :D"
JJ: "Yeah, drow do tend to dress skimpy. I'm considering making that reason partially because the underworld is a hot place. In the real world, things get Very Hot when you go deep underground... a lot faster than you'd think. Surface caves are cold... but miles down, the air pressure and proximity to the mantle = temperatures very very high."
Jungle countries
JJ: "There are indeed jungle countries. One of them is ruled by the Gorilla King. Gorilla King = something more like what was in the Gorilla King Complete Encounter we did a few years back."
Lighthouses
JJ: "As for lighthouses... most of them are probably lit by giant oil lamps that are maintained by surly and sinister lighthouse keepers. I suspect a surprising percentage of them are weresharks. There's certainly lighthouses lit by continual flames, though. In either case, oil lamp or wood fire or continual flame, the flame itself's in a big refractor/reflector type. The most appropriate would probably be oil/wood burning, I suppose. Continual flame lighthouses would mostly be found in big cities."
Megadungeons!
Harleykitty: "James, does Golarion have it's version of Undermountain, i.e. an iconic megadungeon?"
JJ: "Yes. There are several. It remains to be seen which one will become the iconic mega dungeon, though."
Russ Taylor: "Any catacombs in Golarion?"
JJ: "There are plenty of catacombs in Golarion. There are some below Korvosa, in fact."
Monsters
Takasi: "Any new humanoids?"
JJ: "So nope. No new humanoids [in PF #5]. I suspect humanoids will be the type of new monster that, in the end, there are the fewest of. There's pretty much enough humanoids already."
Lilith: "What kind of creatures will we be seeing at the end of RotRL, and the beginning of Curse of the Crimson Throne?"
JJ: "At the end of RotL, you'll be seeing a fair amount of giants, a dragon, a devil, lots of lamia type stuff, a really weird vampire, a wendigo, and some folk from Leng, for starters. At the start of Crimson Throne: an otyugh, for starters. But 3 more: derro, ettercap, and jigsaw sharks."
Russ Taylor: "Which type of wendigo?"
JJ: "A CR 17 brand new wendigo. It has no feet, it flies, it's an outsider. It's very heavily based on myth, on Ithaqua, and on the monster from 'The Last Winter.' The wendigo in Pathfinder's an amalgam of real-world myth, Ithaqua & Derleth/Lovecraft/Call of Cthulhu influence, and movies like 'The Last Winter' and 'Ravenous.' There's a LOT of cannibalism stuff involved with this version of the Wendigo. Otherwise it wouldn't be a wendigo."
Oriental setting?
captramses: "So what are the chances of an Oriental Setting in Pathfinder?"
JJ: "Eventually Pathfinder will have an Asian themed adventure path."
Otyughs
JJ: "They don't look TOO different; a mouth on 3 legs with two barbed tentacles and an eye tentacle. The biggest change is really that they have a secondary smaller mouth above their primary mouth. That's the one they use for talking and breathing. The big mouth is for biting and eating."
Pathfinder Organization
Daigle: "Whose idea was it for the Pathfinder organization?"
JJ: "Erik."
Russ Taylor: "Erik, of course, it's the Seekers."
Daigle: "That's kinda what I was geting at - they're slightly nicer Seekers."
JJ: "Yeah, the Pathfinders are certainly a Seeker inspired group, but they're also inspired by Belak from Raiders of the Lost Ark, and to a certain extent, by the small press publishing business (ours included)."
Lilith: "Really? the press business as inspiration? Do tell. :)"
JJ: "Yeah; think of Pathfinders as freelancers who must then submit their adventures and discoveries to the central editiorial in Absalom, who then basically decide who gets famous and who gets thrown out. :)"
Daigle: "Is there a 'black hole' at the Pathfinder HQ?"
JJ: "There is indeed a black hole at Pathfinder HQ. A lot of would-be pathfinders out there are probably doing great exploration work and discovering all sorts of stuff... but we may never know about them! Joining the Pathfinders, I suspect, is a tough stunt."
Daigle: "Hence no PrC."
JJ: "Yeah... but there may eventually be a PrC. But you can join the Pathfinders at 1st level. if there ever IS a PrC...there'll probably be several, and they're be specialists. Like 'Pathfinder Relic Seeker' or 'Pathfinder Desert Runner' or stuff like that."
Planes
Takasi: "James, are there positive and negative energy planes in Golarion?"
JJ: "There are positive and negative energy planes, yes. I'm not sure ANY creatures come from there, though."
Takasi: "What relationship do undead have to the negative energy plane?"
JJ: "Undead are 'powered' by negative energy, just as the living are 'powered' by positive energy. They don't come from there any more than people come from the positive energy plane."
Takasi: "Are there any 'monsters' that are a positive energy version of undead? not really undead, but creatures...distorted by positive energy?"
JJ: "Not yet. I don't really like the concept of a 'positive energy undead' a lot. Basically, when you get positive energy in something... it's just alive. If you overload it with positive energy, it blows up. In my opinion... ghosts are the only undead that are allowed to be non-evil. With very VERY rare exceptions."
Takasi: "Can something be TOO alive?"
JJ: "I don't think so. I'm not sure what something that's TOO alive would be like. Animating objects is an interesting idea though, but that starts to edge too close to Disney for my tastes. I kind of think of the positive plane as being a star, and the negative plane as being a black hole."
Crimson Jester: "Is Kadath part of the planes you're are going to be using?"
JJ: "At this point, Leng is one of the outer planes of Golarion. Not sure if it'll stay that way or turn into part of Golarion's dreamlands or what. Same with Kadath."
Planets
JJ: "Red and Green planets are kind of stand-ins for Mars and Venus. So think of the old planet stories style things associated with those planets and that's kind of a proto-view of what the Red and Green planets were originally inspired by. Whether or not that means there are tripods on the Red Planet and dinosaur-riding amazons on the Green one... who can say? Something from Space will be landing in Pathfinder before we hit AP 4."
Riddleport
JJ: "There are a certain amount of giant cockroaches in Riddleport, yes. Riddleport has a big ship junkyard somewhere in it or nearby; a place where ships go to die and rot."
Lilith: "Are there ghost ships near it?"
JJ: "Nope. These ships aren't sea worthy At All."
Lilith: "I meant in the Flying Dutchman sort of way. ;)"
JJ: "OH! Nope. This is like a big auto junkyard, but with ships and leftover building parts and garbage. Not much water involved at all."
Crimson Jester: "Are the ships inhabited?"
JJ: "They are. Probably by wererats. And the aforementioned giant cockroaches."
Russ: "Are they telepathic cockroaches?"
JJ: "They are not telepathic cockroaches, no."
Daigle: "There is a certain academic element to Riddleport though, correct?"
JJ: "There is an academic element to Riddleport, yes, but it's not of a type anyone's mom would approve of. Korvosa has the Acadame, which is the largest and most important wizard school in Varisia. It's also got a secondary wizardly school, and a university, and a fighting school or two."
Daigle: "So any tidbits on the Ciphergate?"
JJ: "Heh. The Cyphergate! It's not a stargate, never fear. Well... not a magic portal. It IS a harbor gate. Hence that part of the name."
ephealy: "More like the 'Cypher Arch?'"
JJ: "Yeah, but 'Cypher Arch' doesn't roll off the tongue as cool as 'Cyphergate.' Nor is the Cyphergate a handle."
Sea dragons?
Watcher: "What makes them stand apart from the chromatics and metallics?"
JJ: "They're organized by different qualities. Gemstone dragons would be a classic D&D example."
Thassilon
Mothman: "How long ago (before 4707) did Thassilon fall? – are we talking thousands of years? Tens of thousands of years?"
JJ: "Thassilon fell about 10,000 years ago."
Mothman: "Was the Thassilon Empire roughly the same size as Varisia (plus the bit that fell into the sea) – or much larger?"
JJ: "Thassilon was about 2 to 3 times as large as Varisia."
The Cinderlands
The Cinderlands are where the Shoanti live. Southeastern half of the Storval Plateau in Varisia. Ask A Shoanti: "The Cinderlands are where the Sklar-Quah kick everyone's butt! Yeah!"
The Starstone
Watcher: "How about that crazy Starstone? is it an object, if so, how did Aroden pass through it?"
JJ: "The Starstone is a weird thing. I'm not sure exactly what it is for sure, in fact. That's more in Erik's court."
Combining Shipping
Fray: "James is there going to be a way to package PF with non-PF orders so we can save on shipping costs in the future?"
JJ: "Bundling orders is something that Gary's working furiously on... but that's a LOT more complicated than anyone expected it would be. Since the weights of products change and the times they come in change and so on and so on."
Fan Resource
Lilith: "Fan resource area yet on Paizo?"
JJ: "Alas... not yet."
Planet Stories
JJ: "Buy Planet Stories! Tell your friends and their friends! It's really REALLY hard to get a new line up off the ground, and while so far the critical reception to Planet Stories is very promising... it's still a baby. Nourish it!"
Russ Taylor: "Would you prefer I buy Planet Stories from the online store, or special order it at a bookstore?"
JJ: "Good question. I think probably ordering them through a book store would probably help us more, since that gets bookstores noticing the line."
Super Secret!
Takasi: "Are there any super secret d20-Paizo-but-non-Pathfinder/GameMastery projects you're working on but can't tell us about yet?"
JJ: "Yes. Yes there are."
This time, James asked us the question!
So... what kind of low-level monster (something in the CR 3 or lower range) do you want to see us focus on in an upcoming adventure?
Some answers:
theacemu: "Darkmantle."
ElmoFromOK: "Those flying monkeys from Wizard of Oz. Chupacabra. I have always wanted to find a good way to use a blink dog. Rust monsters."
Crimson Jester: "Well this seems kinda pathetic but I actually like shocker lizards. They seem dumb but I have done several scenarios that featured them and would love to see the Paizonian take on shockers. Hippogriffs or any other rideable flying mount and an excuse to have one that doesnt make it High Fantasy such as a remnant outpost where they were once raised for flying paladin mounts. Do NOT want giant spiders." (JJ: "We actually just put the Stop Order on giant spider monsters in Pathfinder 7, actually. They're cool... but they're turning into the new dire rat.")
Lilith: "Assassin vines. Cockatrice. Magmin."
theacemu: "How about your frog people from the Hook Mountain adventure? Bring them back with gusto. Boggards."
Sebastian: "Fiendish fire elemental were-slugs."
Daigle: "I've heard some people calling for some love for the centaur. Troglodytes. Grimlocks."
Harleykitty: "Duergar. Bugbears."
Russ: "Snot vampires! Gnolls. Wererats. Snakes, giant-two headed. Stirges."
Takasi: "Sahuagin. How about a dretch? I'd like to see some Tome of Horror monsters get the WAR and Paizo treatment. I'd like to see info on aberrations, like chokers. Lizardfolk."
Watcher: "Boggards are interesting, particularly if the adventure featured a sinister plot from their Great Toad Masters that have been alluded to."
Mothman: "Drop bears."
Wants
Takasi: "I want more articles like the 'how to create undead' in Dragon a few years back. But for other monsters, like aberrations."
|
Love for the wemics were expressed, but alas, they are not part of the SRD. However, "Lion-Centaur is a pretty generic enough idea... plus Lamias are in the SRD and they're pretty much the same looking thing," says James Jacobs.
count me in as a wemic(or any non-human looking race) lover! looking around for the mythos they were based on I found this:
In Mesopotamian mythology the urmahlullu, or lion-man, was a centauroid creature who served as a guardian spirit, especially of bathrooms.
that just makes you want ot play them don't it!
Summary for December 11th, 2007. JJ = James Jacobs, EM = Erik Mona.
Pathfinder #1: Rise of the Runelords: Burnt Offerings
Takasi: "James Jacobs, since Ripnugget's gecko has a climb speed, can the goblin king sit in his 'carseat' while the lizard speeds around the room, giving Ripnugget ride by attacks from above?"
JJ: "Yes. Although Ripnugget had better hope that Stickfoot doesn't end up staying upside down for longer than a round or two...I'd say Ripnugget'd have to make a DC 20 Ride check to pull that off."
Mothman: "I think Sandpoint was based on your old hometown to some extent?"
JJ: "Basing stuff on your hometown is good times. There's a fair amount of D&D in Point Arena, though. As evidenced by the fact that a LOT of Sandpoint is from Point Arena. I &heart; Point Arena. It's a small town loaded with characters, and creepy woods, and the sea, and lots of history."
Mothman: "Any local cryptoids around Point Arena?"
JJ: "Point Arena's on the southern end of Bigfoot Country. We've also got a few SUPER RARE animals; a mountain beaver and the rubber boa. PLUS: It's on the ocean, where lots of cryptids live."
Daigle: "Rubber boa?"
JJ: "Yup. The only indiginious north american boa constrictor. Pretty much only lives in the mid-northern California coast region. They're relay cool. I've found two in my life. a small one that was only about six or eight inches long, and a bigger one that was not quite two feet long. Very gentle and nice snakes. Much nicer than garter snakes or rattlesnakes. I guess they have a larger distribution than just northern california, but still. My dad liked spreading rumors about the Point Arena Vampire Moth. Cause how else would his highschool students get those weird marks on their necks. They certainly aren't hickys, right? Must be vampire moths, right?"
Pathfinder #5: Rise of the Runelords: Sins of the Saviors
Lilith: "Anything from the Book of Fiends going to be showing up in Pathfinder (ex: the Thaumaturge)?"
JJ: "There's a high-level thaumaturge showing up in Pathfinder 5."
JJ: "Vampires will play a pretty big role in Curse of the Crimson Throne."
Pathfinder #7: Curse of the Crimson Throne: Edge of Anarchy
While Nicolas Logue was "gallivanting" in the chat room, he was also busily typing up monsters for his bestiary. James Jacobs: "Nick... I'll settle for some devilvish and maybe a dream spider." Since last week there was discussion of "no more spiders" in Pathfinder bestiaries, JJ let us know that the dream spiders slipped in under the wire. "Dream Spiders! I swear! People will like them, even though they are new spiders! Dream spiders got lots o' flavor. Just finished writing them up afore the chat started." says Nick Logue.
Kevin T.: "Dream Spider...would they some how be able to attack someone who is using the spell Dream Travel (spell check, from Pathfinder #2)?"
Nick Logue: "Oh no, dem dream spiders don't Dream Travel."
JJ: "And the devilfish, Nick, by the way, has 7 arms, I think."
Mothman: "New Otyugh attack artwork: Does it owe any homage to the Umber Hulk Attack scene from the Shackled City AP?"
JJ: "Nope. Not that I know of. It's mostly us just asking Wayne: 'Paint us an otyugh attacking Korvosa. Throw in a few pseudodragons and a hellknight.' And that's what we got."
Mothman: "Is there a significance to The Travelling Man? (the inn in the otyugh artwork)"
JJ: "Not yet. But ask me again about the Travelling Man in six months."
Alternate Covers
Kevin T: "You mentioned earlier (seems like ages ago) that there will be a special cover issue for each adventure path. Will this only be for GenCon release, (for the AP that starts after GenCon) or will the other one be purchase only from online?"
JJ: "The special alternate covers will only be for every other Adventure Path, it looks like. Curse of the Crimson Throne won't have an alternate, since it's first one comes out in Feburary, and that's a terrible time to pull that kind of stunt."
Calendars
Kevin T: "Will Paizo be publishing a yearly calendar by chance tied into the two adventure paths?"
JJ: "No yearly calendar. We'll be trying to keep the adventure paths untied to specific dates, really. They could all happen simultaneously, for all I care. Or in reverse order. Each one will be relatively self-contained. Take the first three as an example...Although all three take place in Varisia, no single adventure takes place in the SAME place as another one from another adventure path."
Gazetteer
EM: "I am currently finishing the Gazetteer chapter of the Gazetteer. Which is to say the chapter that details the nation of the Inner Sea region of Golarion."
Miliary Campaigns
Kevin T: "In future Pathfinders, will we by chance see a military oriented campaign about an invading country perhaps?"
JJ: "One of the original ideas for the adventure path to do after Savage Tide was a big war and invasion, but we shelved that for a bit when we realized we had to go back to square one and start fresh, instead going with a much more 'classic' campaign model with Runelords. A war/invasion adventure path is very much a possibility in a few years though."
Charles Evans: "Invading countries seems rather high level and there are a lot of complaints on the message boards about the number of dicve that players have to roll at high levels... Could Paizo devise some srt of massed battle system for players as an alternative means of high level play?"
Pathfinder Chronicles Subscription
Watcher: "How much are you involved in the marketing side of things. I am not speaking for myself but there seemed to be a certain amount of push back regarding the decision to include item cards and the Harrow Deck in the Chronicles Subscription (trying to represent the question since those folks aren't here)?"
JJ: "I'm not involved that much in the marketing side of things at all. What is and isn't included in a 'subscription' is not totally up to me, but I do agree that just because you have one to Pathfinder, you shouldn't automatically get cards or what not that are Pathfinder related. Plus; there's more to just shipping stuff out than throwing it in a box. It's a really complex problem. Adding new elements to a pathfinder subscription is mind boggling from the logistics/software end of things."
Last Baron
Crimson Jester: "I remember you mentioning LB0 are there any plans for further modules in this region? I could not find LB0 listed what can you tell us?"
JJ: "I can't really say much more about LB0 yet. That said... they're written in chronological order, so that'll certainly influence things from a certain way."
Background
Fake Healer: "All the background for Pathfinder seems to have the whole background and future of Golorian pretty well planned with the Runelords' return, is there an outline somewhere at Paizo with an overarching plan written up?"
JJ: "I do have plans for the Runelords. Those plans have their foundations laid in Rise of the Runelords, Curse of the Crimson Throne, and Second Darkness. Where they're leading... I can't say yet."
Fake Healer: "Damn. It is like reading a highly detailed novel. I just love the way my mind spins with the possibilities presented in Pathfinder. Keep up the good work, Paizo! Don't let the story go untold."
Grimcleaver: "I think it's neat how inclusive Pathfinder feels. It's like if it's in a book somewhere, and it's OGL, it's got a place in the setting. A real breath of fresh air compared to settings like Iron Kingdoms where if it ain't in their books it don't exist! I sorta' like the idea that there's even some crossover between Golarion and some owned things--that just because stuff legally can't be put into a product, doesn't mean it isn't in the setting. Sortova' read between the lines thing. I sorta' go with the idea that anything that's cryptozoological, mythical, literary or classically D&D (but not one of the big five monsters) is in Golarion somewhere--IP or no. At least in the home game."
JJ: "That's a great way to think of it."
Sultan: "Is there any story link between PF1-6 and PF7-12 beyond world building?"
JJ: "Beyond world building, yes. There's a very tiny link between Pathfinder 2 and Curse of the Crimson Throne."
Kevin T: "Will there always be a small 'links' between Paths?"
JJ: "Nope; not always. The link we DO have between PF2 and AP2 is almost accidental. I'd rather not do BIG links, because that ties the adventure paths down to a chronological order, when it's much better if they can be played in any order."
Boggards
Kevin T: "Will Boggards be making an appearance in game anytime in the future?"
JJ: "Boggards will show up from time to time, yes."
Characters and Cheliax
Takasi: "I have another player (we're starting over in PF2 territory because of a TPK at the end of PF 1), who wants to play a druid/sorcerer/mystic theurge with the infernal heritage feat (PHB2), James Jacobs, I'm thinking of having him be a Scarnetti who got his druid studies from logging and his sorcerer from Chelaxian, do you have any other suggestions for such a character?"
JJ: "A druid/sorcerer/mystic theurge would make a GREAT Varisian, actually. Someone who sees the magic of nature and uses the wrath of nature to defend the Varisian way of life. Cheliax actually doesn't trust sorcerey much. They're MUCH more into wizard arcana; study and discipline make the mage. Sorcerers, who are just born into magic, are looked upon with suspicion and jealousy in Cheliax and often burned at the stake, I suspect. As are those with overt infernal heritage, in fact. Cheliax sees devils and the infernal as tools. They don't want devils to get loose; they just want to use them to make their own nation more powerful. Yet the church of Asmodeus is still strong in Cheliax. It's a complex issue..."
Watcher: "Interesting, Cheliax sort of sees infernal powers as a resource to be exploited.. which is kind of atypical to how such powers are usually represented."
JJ: "Yeah. Of course, the infernal powers, being sneaky and cagey, just might be manipulating Cheliax without them knowing."
Takasi: "would my Varisian druid sorcerer mystic theurge be accepted at an institution like the Stone of the Seers?"
JJ: "Not sure; magic schools generally only look for wizards. Sorcerers don't need to study or go to school, so wizards in Golarion tend to look down on them (mixture of jealosy and fear, really). So a sorcerer, especailly one who mixes arcane magic with divine magic, wuould probably have a rough time in a wizard school."
Takasi: "would the Seers welcome anyone who can cast divinations who might help them? Do you have any suggestions for a sorcerer/druid in Magnimar?"
JJ: "I don't have a copy of Pathfinder 2 here, so I can't get into the deep nitty gritty with you, really. But as a general rule, wizard schools do not welcome sorcerers. Sorcerers are loners, and druids work best outside of cities. Honestly, a sorcerer/druid wouldn't have much to attract him to Magnimar. Mabye the golem works, if he was into the 'life force of stone' or some such. BUT: All that said about sorcerers and druids and Magnimar... if you have a sorcerer/druid in your game and the game is set in Magnimar, you should take it all in a more inclusive direction, really. I'm not a big fan of 'what's been published CANNOT be changed in a home game.'"
Takasi: "One of my players is going to play a Forlorn, grungy elf scout/ranger, and I was going to make him a cousin of Ironbriar, following him across the world to blackmail him about his seedy past, sound reasonable? I'm thinking Ironbriar kills the Hellknight, gives the armor to the squire, and send him on a wild goose chase (and potential death trap) with Ironbriar's cousin in a side trek in Magnimar, there's a group of Scarzni arsonists threatening the Seven's Sawmill, this leads them to a wizard (another party member) who is a Chelaxian Scarnetti, but an ignorant girl really..."
JJ: "Tying a forlorn PC to Ironbriar like that does sound pretty cool."
D'jansibar
Takasi: "Where is D'jansibar, the spice island city that Justice Ironbriar hails from, and when did he leave from there, and who knows of his seedy past (if anyone)?"
JJ: "D'jansibar is far away. It might even be off the map. I suspect it's off the southern side of Garund; the southern continent. It's basically little more than a name at this point."
Dreamlands
heathansson: "I've heard Golarion Dreamlands bandied about--that would so rule."
JJ: "Leng is certainly connected to Golarion. And Leng's in the Dreamlands. So it's certainly a possibility. IN Pathfinder 6, we're a little coy about exactly WHERE Leng is in the multiverse, though. I kind of want to see how readers react to it before going much further there. In my own world, the universe is big enough that Golarion and Faerun and Oerth and Droffa and even Eberron are all in the same Material Plane. If you had a spaceship, you could fly to each one. That's not officially how Pathfinder's universe works, of course... but it also isn't built in to not let it work that way. In any case... yeah. We don't want to say what you can't do with Golarion. Leave that up to each GM to decide what can and can't happen. We're more interested in with what CAN happen."
cappadocius: "If there's a Leng, there's a Carcosa, if there's a Carcosa, then there's a King in Yellow, and if there's a KiY, then that definitely connects Golarion to MY homebrew setting."
Drow
Charles Evans: "Drow! Batriding drow??? (The whole spider thing's surely been done to death by now?) You would have thought that they'd have some sort of aerial cavalry...It would add an extra dimension to it- they like sniping with missile weapons... If they're flying above the battlefield, the PCs can't go charging in with swords so easily...Hit and run makes a lot more sense, and drow always struck me as skirmishers..."
JJ: "Some drow will be associated with spiders. The existance of the drider makes that impossible to not do, really. But they'll be less OVERWHELMINGLY spider obsesed. Much less, I suspect."
Watcher: "Plot and Poison was recently cited as an item they were looking at for certain material (has bat riding drow)."
JJ: "Plot and Poison also has slugboards. And despite the fact that I came up with the slugboard idea... they (like a lot of other stuff in Plot & Poison) won't be appearing in Golarion. The jury's still out on bat-riding drow, but I doubt it. Our drow will probably ride giant lizards."
Freeport
JJ: "Freeport would fit in perfect to Golarion. It's precisely the right flavor and feel. Except perhaps for the stronger presence of guns, that is."
Gods, Daemons, Demons, Devils and Angels
JJ: "There are no yugoloths in Golarion. There ARE daemons. I've always pronoucned 'daemon' like Matt Damon's last name, personally. That's how I kept track. AND: I suspect that the daemons enjoy the confusion that it causes."
Grimcleaver: "I heard there's much less difference and more overlap between gods and demons in the early development of Golarion. This still true?"
JJ: "Yup. Lamashtu is a demon. Lamashtu is a goddess, yes. You can be both a demon lord and a god in Golarion. I think Rovagug's probably a demon."
Grimcleaver: "So is demon just a word for an evil god? Or rather outsider?"
JJ: "Demon is a chaotic evil outsider in Golarion. The really powerful ones are demon lords. And demon lords can grant spells. Most of them are too self-absorbed to make much of that power though."
Pygon: "When might we see some Golarion demon lords, and will you be styling them against your own homebrew creations?"
JJ: "Pathfinder #18, I believe, will have an article called: "DEMON LORDS OF GOLARION" or some such. You'll be seeing bits and pieces about the demon lords before then, thoguh. Lots of bits and pieces. Drow, after all, worship them, and Second Darkness is all about the drow."
cappadocius: "Are any of the good gods actually solars or devas?"
JJ: "Good gods aren't solars or devas, no. Not necessarilly."
cappadocius: "I get that, I wasn't asking if they all were. Just if ANY were."
JJ: "I suppose some of them might be angels... but keep in mind that solars and devas are types of angels and the like. They aren't themselves a category of extraplanar paragon category thingy."
Grimcleaver: "What's the relationship of devils and demons in Golarion (and what's with the daemon thing?)"
cappadocius: "Actually... that's a good question. Are demons and devils cosmologically the same thing, and are they *culturally* the same thing? Like does a Chelaxian devilbinder also bind 'demons' because they're the same thing in his mythos?"
JJ: "Demons are chaotic evil outsiders. Devils are lawful evil. Daemons are neutral evil. They're all fiends. Their actual relationship with one another isn't 100% sorted out yet, though. Demons and devils are different things, both cosmologically and societially speaking. A Chelish devil binder wouldn't want anything to do with demons. He'd see them as too crude, crass, bestial, and emotional for his work. He'd want a devil, something more suave, quiet, and manipulative. That's not to say that there aren't bestial devils or manipulative demons, of course."
Kevin T: "Will there be a supreme commander of the demons or 'hell?'"
JJ: "There will be a supreme commander of Hell; that's Asmodeus. But Hell is not all of the evil outer planes; it's just one of them. Some of the others will have commanders, but not all."
Grimcleaver: "This is more of a comment than a question. In our game I wanted a "rural living" god that wasn't Erastil. I poured over everything and eventually just had to throw my hands up and use Erastil AGAIN. He just comes up too much in games that take place in rural areas. They don't have any other gods to worship. I love the guy, but jeez!"
JJ: "Rural folk certianly worship Erastil a fair amount, but other good choices would be Torag, Sarenrae, Desna, Gozreh, and Pharasma."
Grimcleaver: "Most of those are pretty good really, I thought Gozreh hated civilization though and lived to purge them? I could see Torag as a good replacement though. I just didn't want to ruin Erastil, who I really really like, by making him the generic vanilla god in someplace like Varisia which is overwhelmingly rural."
Watcher: "Any willingness to discuss Gozreh's gender issues at this time? (yes, that's a legitimate question folks)"
JJ: "Gozreh is male and female. Sometimes only one at a time. Sometimes he/she is a hemaphrodite. Sometimes she's not gendered at all. It's really up to him. Although he may be tied to the seasons."
EM: "The gods come from Jacobs. It's a fairly collaborative project. Iomedae is mine. And Aroden."
Hellknights
Takasi: "Do Hellknights have squires or underlings training to be Hellknights?"
JJ: "Hellknights do have squires."
Takasi: "About how many hellknights are there, and how does one become a Hellknight?"
JJ: "There's a LOT of Hellknights, but most of them are in Cheliax. The Order of the Nail's the one that's next to Korvosa, but I'm not sure off the top of my head how many there are. As for how one becomes one... step one is being Lawful Neutral. I'd say 70% of the Hellknights are lawful neutral, 25% are lawful evil, and 5% are lawful good."
Charles Evans: "I would take hellknight to be some sort of prestige class, right James?"
JJ: "Hellknight is not a prestige class. It's at this point just a knightly order. If we DO do prestige classes for them, we're more likely to have more specialized roles like 'Hellknight Infantryman' or 'Hellknight Commando' or some such. BUT: as of right now there aren't any in the works. There are not many Hellknights in Magnimar at all. Not compared to Korvosa."
Takasi: "If a Hellknight died, could his squire have the armor?"
JJ: "If a Hellknight dies, his armor probably goes back to the order for some other deserving new knight. That probably ISN'T the dead knight's squire, because if that squire was deserving, his hellknight boss wouldn't have died in the first place."
Crimson Jester: "is there a specific lawful good Hellknight order, or one that the lawful good characters might feel more drawn to?"
JJ: "Very few lawful good characters would, I imagine, be drawn to the Hellknights. They're not about good or evil as much as they are just law enforcers."
Kevin T: "So Hellknights are more SWAT rather then King Arthur's knights?"
JJ: "YES! Hellknights are very much like SWAT team guys. They're hard-core."
Takasi: "What are some of the laws a Hellknight enforces? do they basically go around stopping anything that disrupts trade, like Shoanti uprisings and such?"
JJ: "Hellknights enforce the laws of Cheliax. They don't make up their own laws, really. In Korvosa, the Chelish laws and Korvosan laws don't always see eye to eye, so there's sometimes conflict."
Takasi: "What's an example of a Chelaxian law that would require enforcement near Sandpoint?"
JJ: "There are no Chelish laws in effect near Sandpoint. The hellknights really don't have much business being up there, really. If they ARE up there, they're dangerously close to taking the law into their own hands, and at that point they might even end up being hunted by other Hellknights."
Takasi: "What if the Scarnettis asked for a Hellknight's help, in say, investigating the Skinsaw Murders? The Scarnettis are firm believers in old Chelish tradition."
JJ: "I doubt the Scarnettis would ask for Hellknight help. The folk of western Varisia don't think highly of Chelish tradition at all, and as a result most of them think of Hellknights as thugs and brutes and want nothing to do with them. They're not very popular in Magnimar or Sandpoint. That may or may not jive with some of the stuff we've presented on them in Pathfinder 2... but if it doesn't mesh 100%, that's because we're still working out the details. The Scarnettis are also criminals. They wouldn't want someone like a Hellknight nearby since they'd be afraid of the knight finding out about their dealings with criminal elements in the region. ANYway... to a certain extent, being a firm believer in Chelish traditions would probably be the BEST reason to not want the Hellknights to get involved in what you're up to... even if you're 100% on the up and up."
Takasi: "What are some examples of enforcements a Hellknight might make?"
JJ: "Think of a hellknight as a 'freelance sheriff' of sorts. He'd come into a town, find out someone killed someone, and then haul the accused back to the big city for a trial wihtout really bothering to get the whole story. For many hellknights, you're guilty until proven innocent."
Grimcleaver & Crimson Jester: "Why the name Hellknight?"
JJ: "They're called Hellknights because the name is intimidating, really. They use the stories of hell and all that as something to back up their bad-assness and punishment capability."
Korvosa
Mothman: "Is Korvosa being detailed as a separate book, or as a 'backdrop' type article in Pathfinder?"
JJ: "You'll have 3 places to get info on Korvosa."
Nick Logue: "Korvosa has book of its own, but also gets some treatment in PF #7 I think? James?"
JJ: "1: The player's guide. 2: Pathfinder 7-12. 3: The guidebook."
Harleykitty: "If you had to make a parallel between Korvosa and another well known fantasy city, what would it be?"
JJ: "Korvosa's a lot like 'fantasy Rome' I guess. We'll certainly be dropping more and more hints about Korvosa on the blog over the next few months, so keep an eye out there. The Korvosa guide isn't necesary at all to run Curse of the Crimson Throne. BUT: If your PCs decide to go somewhere not in the adventure, you'll have to scramble to make up less if you have the guidebook handy."
Language
Takasi: "Any chance we'll see a pronounciation guide, either in the campaign book or as an online supplement?"
JJ: "There is a chance. But a pronounciation guide is not very high priority. Might make a fun blog post though! I'll keep that in mind; we've got a big Blog meeting next week."
Planes
Charles Evans: "You're keeping the great wheel then, as well?"
JJ: "No; the great wheel is WotCs to use or ignore as they see fit. Our multiverse will be similar in some ways, though. It'll be one that works fine in place of the great wheel, in other words: if you want to use the Great Wheel in Golarion in your home game, you'll be able to do so with minimal fuss."
EM: "James Jacobs has done the planar cosmology of Golarion, which is incredible. I'm sketching out the solar system and the world itself. On the latter task I have the assistance of the estimable Mr. Jason Bulmahn."
Planets
heathansson: "Anything about Mars yet? Sorry to be a backseat brat...'are we there yet?'"
JJ: "No news about the red planet yet... althoguh I believe you'll be able to see it in the sky on the alternate Gen Con cover to Pathfinder #13."
Russ Taylor: "I'm super-interested in the red planet."
EM: "The Red Planet will probably have lighter gravity to let people be stronger and leap greater distances. That's a fairly common trope of classic Mars stories. The place will, of course, need its own words for feet and miles, and for political titles."
cappadocius: "Which one is the dinosaur planet, Erik?"
EM: "We don't have a dinosaur planet. There are areas of Golarion itself with dinosaurs."
JJ: "As long as I'm involved with Paizo... I suspect dinosaurs won't be TOO far away. I'm just hoping that the green planet has amazons who ride dinosaurs into war against lizard men."
EM: "The green planet will have gaseous oceans and formians. :) Formians come from Ralph Milne Farley's 'The Radio Man,' also called 'An Earthman on Venus.'"
Grimcleaver: "What about Arcturis? (the planet from Entombed with the Pharaohs?)"
Shoanti
Takasi: "Where's the closest Shoanti settlement near Sandpoint?"
JJ: "The closest Shoanti settlement to Sandpoint is either in the Velashu uplands or on the Storval Plateau. I'm guessing the Velahsu Uplands are closer..."
Runelords
Grimcleaver: "*sniffle* I'm gonna' miss them Runelords when they're gone."
JJ: "The runelords will return. They're not going anywhere. They're dead but dreaming, and will, assuredly, wake up at some point in the future."
The Starstone
Watcher: "Inquiring minds want to know how the Starstone is both an object and a path to Heaven."
EM: "There's lots in the Gazetteer on the Starstone."
Too Much Detail?
Crimson Jester: "My concern is that Golarion will be too detailed and won't have much left for homebrew expression much like some versions of the Forgotten Realms."
JJ: "Golarion is an immense place. There will be plenty for GMs to build off of... but then again, leaving places blank doesn't make us money..."
Vampires & Lovecraft
heathansson: "Any differences in Golarion vampires and the standard mythology(ies)?"
JJ: "Yeah... there are differences. Sort of. There are MORE types of vampires in Golarion. My personal preference is to not block out cool myths like the nosferatu and the dhampir and the vrykolokas and even the chupecabra. THere's room for all of them! Golarion has an open-door policy for vampires. If it were up to me, though, yes: Carcosa does exist in Golarion. Pennangalans too. But at this point, I want to wait and see how the Lovecraft stuff I put in there already plays out in the market. The Sanity Rules are cool; I much prefer using those rules for insanity over the lame "works as the spell of the same name" stunt."
Wants
Bloatmage blood magic!
Fan Resource Area
JJ: "No news yet that I'm aware of."
PaizoCon
Kevin T: "James what is your outlook on Paizocon?"
JJ: "PaizoCon is awesome!"
Grimcleaver: "Am totally looking forward to PaizoCon. Any official guys coming?"
JJ: "When is PaizoCon happening?"
Kevin T: "James we're still trying to figure that out."
Lilith: "If PaizoCon is held in Seattle, can we have a fan gathering at the Paizo offices?"
Grimcleaver: "I'd go to Seattle if it meant we could hang out in THE office. I'd even bathe first."
Pathfinder success
Fake Healer: "How is Pathfinder selling? As expected, better than projected, or something better/worse?"
JJ: "Pathfinder is doing much better than we expected. In fact... so well that I keep expecting for the other shoe to drop. I'm not quite yet ready to run out and buy a ferarri, in other words. I'll settle for the Saturn I already own, but with a heater that works."
Charles Evans: "Are you allowed to comment on whether how well PF sells influences the Paizo 4th edition debate?"
JJ: "Pathfinder's success does indeed influence the 4th Edition situation, yes. In that, whatever we end up doing with Pathfinder will be what we're going to support. And at this point... we still don't know what that will be."
SJMiller: "If you do switch to 4e, you will give advanced warning so that those of us who are not going to switch have plenty of time to decide what we are going to do, right?"
JJ: "We'll figure out how to differentiate between 3.5 Pathfinder and 4th editon Pathfinder if and when that day comes. When and if we decide to switch to 4E or stick with 3.5, we'll let everyone know immediately, I suspect."
Planet Stories
Erik Mona: "They're doing OK and there is much to be pleased with, but the books we've done so far have not been explosive best-sellers." Planet Stores subscriptions are live! Get some fantasy and sci-fi classics! "I don't understand why pulp books have a bad reputation, since the tradition gave us Lovecraft, Howard, Leiber, Burroughs, and most of the good early mystery writers."
JJ: "I'm constantly perched on the very edge of the endless gulf that is reading every single pulp in the Paizo archive. I'm glad Erik's taking that bullet for me so I only need to read the good ones. :) I'd say that the pulps have a very GOOD reputation among most of the genre authors of today, from Stephen King on down."
EM: "Elak of Atlantis is interesting. It's basically a young Kuttner riffing on Conan but with a smarter, funnier companion and his drunken companion. There's a bit more magic in it than in most Howard. Black God's Kiss is great. Northwest of Earth, which goes to press tomorrow, is even better. The Weapon Shops of Isher is Lisa Stevens's favorite science fiction story. Jack Vance is one of the best American writers ever, in my opinion. I have his complete works in hardcover. Lots of Jack Vance's books seem self-indulgent. Because they are. You learn to appreciate the indulgence. Or at least I did."
Grimcleaver: "I'm really curious to read some Vance. Mostly because of the Vancian magic thing, but also because the 'so far in the future it's the past' thing is fun."
EM: "Pick up the Dying Earth omnibus that's out now. It is great. The Demon Princes is great. OMG it is great. I want to read it right now it's so good. :) Other excellent Vance books: Emphyrio, To Live Forever, The Languages of Pao. Rhialto is the weakest of the books, but it is still great. The story about the IOUN stones is wonderful."
JJ: "This talk about Vance made me just get my Vance book and set it aside for later tonight. Must Read More! Demon Lords too, come from Vance, yeah?"
SJ Miller: "What's the most unusual upcoming book for Planet Stories?"
EM: "The most unusual upcoming Planet Stories book is probably 'The Secret of Sinharat,' because it contains two complete novels. Its first life was as an Ace Double."
RPG Superstar
Lilith: "Can I, as a fan, put together the RPG Superstar entries into a PDF and release them with all the appropriate legal info?"
Erik Mona: "No. That content is owned by Paizo and is not appropriate to distribute outside the message boards. I am sure we will do something with it. The idea of the PDF is an interesting one."
Mothman: "ny likelihood of using some of the Country submissions – or inspiration from them – to further flesh out Golarion?"
Team-Ups
Charles Evans: "As far as you know, are Dave Morris and/or Oliver Johnson still involved in the RPG industry, and is there any chance of Paizo teaming up with them (if only to gain access to some of the good ideas that they had in their DRAGONWARRIORS series)?"
JJ: "I'd say the chance of Paizo teaming up with Dave Morris and/or Oliver Johnson is very remote. Partially because I don't recognize their names off the top of my head."
Charles Evans: "I was hoping that you could track them down and find out if Paizo could use some of their creatures? They had a whole chapter of 'saturday night specials', that I've not seen much like in D & D. Eaves Phantoms, something weird and five legged that could catch spells in its mouth, Fang Warriors (from Hydra teeth). Their 'saturday night specials' monsters were in Book 4: Out of the Shadows."
Translations
EM: "No news on the German front."
JJ: "Wes Schneider once had a nightmare that Erik showed up at a party he was throwing, and he accidentally killed Erik's osquip familiar. True story."
EM: "I haven't heard that story! LOL."
JJ: "Yup! I believe that was a dream Wes had not long after he started working at Paizo, in fact. Your osquip familiar apparently decayed super fast, so that all that was left was its giant toothy skull and Wes hid it on the balcony before you realized it was missing."
EM: "I am SO confronting Wes about this osquip dream. Delicious."
Grimcleaver: "What part of Seven Swords [of Sin] is the one with Nick [Logue] making the squelchy lizard noises on YouTube?"
JJ: "I wouldn't be surprised if whatever Nick was doing was something he made up entirely on the spot."
EM: "I tend to dislike anything that moves D&D too far from the brand of fiction that inspired it in the first place. I think that makes me a grognard."
Russ Taylor toasts the grognard.
JJ: "Which, by default, makes me a grognard, I guess."
MIA: The Bull-man!
Lilith: "So where's Jason, so he can spill the beans about GameMastery modules set on the Green/Red planets? :P"
JJ: "Jason is lazy, and will be confronted by me, tomorrow, for not showing up. And then he'll probably distract me with something shiny or shoot nerf darts at me and it'll all be forgotten. BUT. There are no GameMastery modules set on other planets. Yet."
Lilith: "Fie! Hire some gninjas to defend you! Talk to Master Mike."
On 4E rules
EM: "I like how there are probably several people in this room who have seen the rules, and none of them are Erik Mona or James Jacobs."