been reading Lords of Chaos and I really like it, A LOT. I especially like the Demonic Boons, however I have a question regarding Nocicula's: Each of her's seems more inline with her seducer aspect as opposed to her assassin flavor that seems more important in her write-up.
Why did you choose more seducer style powers, as opposed to a solid split between seduction/assassination abilities?
Creative guy. Talk to Publisher Guy. Get some Freelancer Guys and Gals. Make money for CEO gal. Fanboy happy.FIFY.
Oopsie! Please overlook this oversight and don't hold back on the cookies. Now where do I report for the FIF(T)Y lashes?
Let's say you got a million dumped in your lap, no strings attached, what's your very first purchase?
Is marriages becoming an out dated thing? What with more people divorcing and fewer getting married in the first place.
Have you ever seen a movie based on a book that was better than the book?
Oopsie! Please overlook this oversight and don't hold back on the cookies. Now where do I report for the FIF(T)Y lashes?Creative guy. Talk to Publisher Guy. Get some Freelancer Guys and Gals. Make money for CEO gal. Fanboy happy.FIFY.
::is gonna get spanked for this::
Can I watch?
I have a question in reguards to The Savage Tide AP?
Concerning the temple of Wee Jas in Sasserine.
I am going to play a LN cleric of Wee jas in our up comeing game and was wondering if that would be game breaking or not?
I don't want an unfair advantage in the AP.
I have always seen wee jas clerics played as villians and I don't want to play a cleric fighting against his own temple later on in the AP.
I could do pelor(boreing) or Boccob but wee jas seems like the most fun as well as the best supported temple in the town.
Also do you know if there is a map of the temple of wee jas in sasserine or can you recommend one to transplant if there isn't.
Last question since I have never played a cleric of wee jas before is she the type of goddess to accept blood sacrafice in her temples. I.E. Book of Vile Darkness?
I am thinking that wee jas is along the lines of ISIS in the FR, guardien of the dead, shepard to the afterlife and magic as a source of power and mystery. Any advice or have I totally missed what wee jas is all about?
Thanks for your time.
Ever read any work by Lord Byron, Nietzsche, Voltaire, Machiaveli or any of that lot?Can you identify the criteria by which Byron, Nietzsche, Voltaire and Machiaveli are placed together in a group?
Who else belongs in this group?
Given that they have anti-religious tendencies, there's quite a number of folks who could be lumped into that group during that time period.
Creative Director
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So, I'm thinking of having a small Cult of Charon show up in my Magnimar campaign. I have a few questions: where are the best places to look for ideas about the Cult of Charon? what kinds of things would they be into? methods and goals and whatnot. I'm imagining lots of undead and wanton killing, but i wanted to know if there was anything specific you could suggest.
The upcoming Inner Sea World Guide has a little bit of info about Charon, but beyond that, "The Great Beyond" is the place to go.
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been reading Lords of Chaos and I really like it, A LOT. I especially like the Demonic Boons, however I have a question regarding Nocicula's: Each of her's seems more inline with her seducer aspect as opposed to her assassin flavor that seems more important in her write-up.
Why did you choose more seducer style powers, as opposed to a solid split between seduction/assassination abilities?
Because there's plenty of other options in the game for characters who want to up their assassination powers. Many of which are SUPER easy to get (like sneak attack). Seduction powers aren't as prevalent in the game, so focusing more on that angle helps support that element of her followers.
Now, that said, I think most of her abilities ARE quite useful for assassinations.
Boon 1: Charm person can be used to keep a target off guard so you can move in and kill him. Darkness allows you to hide easier and then kill the target. Suggestion not only lets you control a victim, but also control a proxy assassin to do the work FOR you.
Boon 2: A blind/deaf victim is a lot easier to assassinate. Especially if you have sneak attack damage, but even if you don't they won't notice you comin' for 'em.
Boon 3: Dominate monster is GREAT for pacifying a target so you can coup de grace them. But it's even better for collecting proxy assassins; if they fail, no skin off your back. Just dominate another creature and try again.
So... while things like charm person and dominate monster and suggestion might be obviously seduction powers, they're also really good assassin powers.
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Let's say you got a million dumped in your lap, no strings attached, what's your very first purchase?
Assuming you mean a million dollars, and not a million ants or a million anvils or something like that... my first purchase would be some sort of boat.
Is marriages becoming an out dated thing? What with more people divorcing and fewer getting married in the first place.
I'm not sure there's more or less divorces these days than there were 30 years ago. And it certainly depends where in the world you're talking about.
Have you ever seen a movie based on a book that was better than the book?
Yup; plenty of times. All three Lord of the Rings movies come to mind.
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I have a question in reguards to The Savage Tide AP?
Concerning the temple of Wee Jas in Sasserine...
A Wee Jas cleric in Savage Tide won't really grant any particular game breaking anything; Wee Jas doesn't have much at all to do with Savage Tide at all, in fact. She's EASILY my favorite deity from the Greyhawk campaign world, so I'd say go for it!
There is no map of the temple of Wee Jas in Sasserine that I know of. There IS a map of a Wee Jas temple in Shackled City (that campaign DOES have a stronger role for Wee Jas clerics... don't want to spoil it, but I think playing a Wee Jas cleric in Shackled City would be particularly fun if you have a good GM, or particularly frustrating if you have a bad GM).
Wee Jas is unlikely to be all that interested in blood sacrifice. She's not evil, after all. She's probably more interested in sacrifices of art, magic items, wealth, and the like.
Comparing Wee Jas to Isis is a pretty good comparison, although I've always interpreted her as a much more materialistic version of Isis who's a pretty vain deity as well as being the goddess of magic.
EDIT: I played a cleric of Wee Jas for Erik Mona's Age of Worms campaign and had a blast doing so. If you're interested, you can check out her campaign journal here, to see how I interpreted playing a Lawful Neutral cleric of Wee Jas.
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Ever read any work by Lord Byron, Nietzsche, Voltaire, Machiaveli or any of that lot?Can you identify the criteria by which Byron, Nietzsche, Voltaire and Machiaveli are placed together in a group?
Who else belongs in this group?
Off the top of my head, I cannot.
Are you trying to resurrect and recruit a superteam to combat an army of undead philosophers lead by Aleister Crowley or something?
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I'm not sure we could truly could understand the viewpoint of such a transfiguration on this side of it. Not saying that Clarke is right or that you are wrong, but it does give a fair amount of food for thought.
Agreed; it was definitely a thought-provoking book. Not as good as I'd hoped it would be, alas; at times it sort of felt like a rough draft for 2001, which I felt was a MUCH better book.
Did you pick specifically which Demon Lord in Lords of Chaos would get a picture in the write-up section or was it just whoever ended up on the right side of page?? If you did actually choose, why did you choose those you dd??
Was it an intentional choice to have Nocticula's hooves look more like badass boots than anything more demonic or was that all the artist??
Ever read any work by Lord Byron, Nietzsche, Voltaire, Machiaveli or any of that lot?Can you identify the criteria by which Byron, Nietzsche, Voltaire and Machiaveli are placed together in a group?
Who else belongs in this group?
Off the top of my head, I cannot.
Are you trying to resurrect and recruit a superteam to combat an army of undead philosophers lead by Aleister Crowley or something?
Aleister Crowley leading that riff-raff? Only if it involved the Dark Tapestry.
Hm. There's a story in the works here....
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Did you pick specifically which Demon Lord in Lords of Chaos would get a picture in the write-up section or was it just whoever ended up on the right side of page?? If you did actually choose, why did you choose those you dd??
Was it an intentional choice to have Nocticula's hooves look more like badass boots than anything more demonic or was that all the artist??
When I was writing the book, I outlined a pagination that broke down which demon lord would end up where on each page, with an eye toward the fact that we already had images of Nocticula and Abraxas that I wanted to use in order to save a little bit of money on the budget. Adding the three new demon lords into the mix helped me to arrange things so that the demon lords I wanted to see illustrations of would be the ones that fell on the correct pages.
1) Abraxas: We already had art for this guy and it's good art and I wanted to use it again to save a little money.
2) Angazhan: This guy's one of the most important demon lords in Golarion, so he needed to be illustrated.
3) Cyth-V'Sug: This was a demon lord imported from my home-brew campaign; he's been around in that game for close to two decades now, and I wanted to abuse my powers to get a professionally done illustration of him.
4) Flauros: This guy just happened to land on the page, and I wanted a picture of a fiery demon anyway. For a while, I had a new demon between Dagon and Deskari, so that we could re-use some existing cool art for Deskari, but then I decided against that since we're using that same art in the upcoming Inner Sea World Guide to illustrate the section on the Worldwound in that book, and I didn't want to reprint his art twice. So Flauros won.
5) Jezelda: Like Flauros, she just happened to land on this page. But that said, the first four were all male demons, and I wanted pictures of female demons as well, so Jezelda landing on this page was good. Also, I wanted to see what a demonic werewolf looked like.
6) Kostchtchie: This guy has a pretty major role on Golarion, so he needed an illustration. Also, he's one of the few demons in the Golarion pantheon that's been a part of the game from nearly the start, and since he's both open content AND from mythology, it made sense to illustrate him.
7) Nocticula: Not only did we have great art for her already, and not only is she on the cover and thus needed to have a strong presence in the book, and not only is she probably the 2nd most powerful demon lord (with Lamashtu being the MOST powerful)... she's also my favorite demon lord from Golarion, so she got a picture. As for her hooves, that was, I believe, Eva's addition. When we order art from Eva, my preference is to be as vague as possible because I know what she comes up with will automatically be better than anything I could describe to her. I believe the original art order for Nocticula was something like "Let's see a sexy succubus with cool hair, runes on her wings, and three stinger tails."
8) Pazuzu: Same as Kostchtchie—an established demon from mythology and the traditions of the game. Also, we've illustrated him a few times already, but never to my personal satisfaction; this version of him is pretty much perfect (getting his scorpion tail and 4 wings looking right has traditionally been a problem for whatever reason).
9) Sifkesh: Of the brand newly invented demons for Golarion that I came up with for Pathfinder #18 whole-cloth out of my head, I think Sifkesh is my favorite (Cyth-V'Sug is 20 years old, and Nocticula is THOUSANDS of years old), so I wanted an illo of her.
10) Xoveron: I wanted at least one demon in the book that looked like a classic horned gargoyle-like demon. Xoveron was a great choice.
11) Zura: I always wanted her to be the last demon illustrated in the list. On top of that, since she plays a role in a few adventures we've published, I wanted her to have a picture anyway.
Just stumbled across this. Your true form?
Just stumbled across this. Your true form?
It's been reposted pages ago. You lose the Internet for not reading with full clarity. :p
Just stumbled across this. Your true form?It's been reposted pages ago. You lose the Internet for not reading with full clarity. :p
Damn, I'm sad. From now on, I'll run all my links by you for confirmation that I didn't just miss them. Well, whoever it was, they were cool, that's all I have to say.
Damn, I'm sad. From now on, I'll run all my links by you for confirmation that I didn't just miss them. Well, whoever it was, they were cool, that's all I have to say.Just stumbled across this. Your true form?It's been reposted pages ago. You lose the Internet for not reading with full clarity. :p
I'll take compensation in the form of minis.
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Creative Director
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Just stumbled across this. Your true form?
That'd rock. But no. It IS my current desktop wallpaper at work, though.
I'll take compensation in the form of minis.Damn, I'm sad. From now on, I'll run all my links by you for confirmation that I didn't just miss them. Well, whoever it was, they were cool, that's all I have to say.Just stumbled across this. Your true form?It's been reposted pages ago. You lose the Internet for not reading with full clarity. :p
I'll get to work on some custom, hand drawn minis for you. Crayola or colored pencil?
__________________________________________________________________
Jacobs: Yeah, on second thought, I'm glad it's your wallpaper and not your true form. I think I've probably annoyed you at least once before!
I'll take compensation in the form of minis.I'll get to work on some custom, hand drawn minis for you. Crayola or colored pencil?
Acrylic paint.
Acrylic paint.I'll take compensation in the form of minis.I'll get to work on some custom, hand drawn minis for you. Crayola or colored pencil?
Sorry, my offer doesn't extend to acrylic paint.
Sorry, my offer doesn't extend to acrylic paint.Acrylic paint.I'll take compensation in the form of minis.I'll get to work on some custom, hand drawn minis for you. Crayola or colored pencil?
I'm sorry. You lost the Internet. You don't get to dictate my terms. *slams fist on the table like a Greater Nordic Deity*
Geez, it was just the internet. This is original artwork we're talking here. I'll even put my special Mairkurion mark on them.
Geez, it was just the internet. This is original artwork we're talking here. I'll even put my special Mairkurion mark on them.
Will you be wearing your tam when you craft it?
I fail to see how all these recent posts count as questions for me to answer! I GROW IMPATIENT!
I shall appease you my lord lol:
Is there any chance we could see some sort of Player Companion to the Planes, which would include more feats, spells, traits, items(magical and mundane) that TIES one to a planar power, ala Demon Implants, or initiate type feats for each Lord?
I was thinking it could be done in such a way as to include all of the various planar beings, the Lords of the Nine, Demon Lords, the Four Horsemen, and various upper planar powers as well.
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James, some questions on Thassilon and Varisia.
The Thassilonians came from Azlant originally – were they ethnically Azlanti, or some other ethnicity?
Are the Varisian people (and / or Shoanti) descended from the Thassilonian people? Or were they a separate ethnic group that were bought by the Thassilonians to Avistan from elsewhere? Or were they already living in what is now Varisia when the Thassilonians arrived?
The Empire of Thassilon seemed to have a ruling elite (of wizards) and a lot of slave or servant races in the form of various types of giants and also Varisians and Shoanti. Did they also have anything like a ‘middle class’, and if so, were these people ethnically the same as the ruling elite (Thassilonian and/or Azlanti) or were they Varisian and / or Shoanti?
There seems to be a vague ‘asian’ feel to some Thassilonian stuff (the name and look of Xin Shalast for example, or the styling of the Rune Giant’s armour). Was there any influence on the empire from, or other connection with the Tien people?
Is the Varisian language related to or descended from Thassilonian, or is it completely different?
Is the Shoanti language similar to the Varisian language?
Is the Thassilonian language similar to or related to the Azlanti language?
The Varisians have spread far and wide across the north of Avistan, while the Shoanti are pretty well isolated in parts of Varisia – is this simply due to the Varisians’ nomadic tendencies, or are there other factors at work?
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Creative Director
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Is there any chance we could see some sort of Player Companion to the Planes, which would include more feats, spells, traits, items(magical and mundane) that TIES one to a planar power, ala Demon Implants, or initiate type feats for each Lord?
I was thinking it could be done in such a way as to include all of the various planar beings, the Lords of the Nine, Demon Lords, the Four Horsemen, and various upper planar powers as well.
That's more like it!
A planar-themed Player's Companion would be interesting... but tough. There's a LOT of ground to cover on the Great Beyond, and we were only really barely able to do it all justice in a 64-page format for "The Great Beyond" itself. A 32 page book MIGHT be possible if it only focused on player stuff... but it'd be tricky. It'd certainly NOT focus on the bad guy stuff, though; it'd focus primarily on the good guy planes since the bad guy planes are mostly off-limits for player knowledge. That's where the GM's toys live.
James, some questions on Thassilon and Varisia.
The Thassilonians came from Azlant originally – were they ethnically Azlanti, or some other ethnicity?
Are the Varisian people (and / or Shoanti) descended from the Thassilonian people? Or were they a separate ethnic group that were bought by the Thassilonians to Avistan from elsewhere? Or were they already living in what is now Varisia when the Thassilonians arrived?
The Empire of Thassilon seemed to have a ruling elite (of wizards) and a lot of slave or servant races in the form of various types of giants and also Varisians and Shoanti. Did they also have anything like a ‘middle class’, and if so, were these people ethnically the same as the ruling elite (Thassilonian and/or Azlanti) or were they Varisian and / or Shoanti?
There seems to be a vague ‘asian’ feel to some Thassilonian stuff (the name and look of Xin Shalast for example, or the styling of the Rune Giant’s armour). Was there any influence on the empire from, or other connection with the Tien people?
Is the Varisian language related to or descended from Thassilonian, or is it completely different?
Is the Shoanti language similar to the Varisian language?
Is the Thassilonian language similar to or related to the Azlanti language?
The Varisians have spread far and wide across the north of Avistan, while the Shoanti are pretty well isolated in parts of Varisia – is this simply due to the Varisians’ nomadic tendencies, or are there other factors at work?
I've often wondered about this myself. The Peacock Angel, for instance-- peacocks are native to South Asia in the RW, and Yezidi which seem to be the RW inspiration are from Iraq and Iran. The darker skin of the Varisians and the reference (briefly) to tigers in the old CS also hint at a Casmaron/Vudra connection. Plus there's the whole Leng thing, which is localized roughly in Asia in the Cthulhu Mythos. Of course there might also be a link the ruins at the Crown of the World (Antarctica/Leng/Kadath as in At the Mountains of Madness), if the poles shifted...
Why was there no Golarion Thursday article this week?
Alright, I've never asked any questions on here so here goes:
1. I've been on a Moorcock kick lately, is there anything in Pathfinder (setting or system) that draws from the Elric saga?
2. Who do I thank for the Proteans? I GMed an imentesh encounter and loved it so much I might rebuild my campaign around them
3. How much of Tian Xia will be based on China (as opposed to japan)? Honestly I'm a bigger fan of Wuxia and Kung Fu movies than I am of anime and samurai flicks (Seven Samurai is one of my favorite movies though).
that's all I got for now.
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Creative Director
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The Thassilonians came from Azlant originally – were they ethnically Azlanti, or some other ethnicity?
They were Azlants.
Are the Varisian people (and / or Shoanti) descended from the Thassilonian people? Or were they a separate ethnic group that were bought by the Thassilonians to Avistan from elsewhere? Or were they already living in what is now Varisia when the Thassilonians arrived?
The Varisians and the Shoanti are natives to Avistan. They were there when the Thassilonians first showed up; the Varisians as a primitive nomadic culture, and the Shoanti as a primitive settlement-based culture. Varisians were more coastal based, while the Shoanti were inlanders.
The Empire of Thassilon seemed to have a ruling elite (of wizards) and a lot of slave or servant races in the form of various types of giants and also Varisians and Shoanti. Did they also have anything like a ‘middle class’, and if so, were these people ethnically the same as the ruling elite (Thassilonian and/or Azlanti) or were they Varisian and / or Shoanti?
The middle-class were composed mostly of Azlanti folks who weren't wizards and of Shoanti and Varisian folk who managed to tow the party line and get promoted into higher standards of living, more or less.
There seems to be a vague ‘asian’ feel to some Thassilonian stuff (the name and look of Xin Shalast for example, or the styling of the Rune Giant’s armour). Was there any influence on the empire from, or other connection with the Tien people?
Nope. There was some conceptual influence from real-world Asia, but for Thassilon we wanted a brand new culture, so we took some inspiration from multiple real world cultures and mixed them together. Asian cultures were among that mix.
Is the Varisian language related to or descended from Thassilonian, or is it completely different?
Modern Varisian is a mashup of, I would say, 80% Varisian and 20% Thassilonian. Thassilonian itself is pretty similar to Azlant.
Is the Shoanti language similar to the Varisian language?
Yes, but not so similar that if you speak one, you know the other.
Is the Thassilonian language similar to or related to the Azlanti language?
It's an offshoot of Azlanti, with a mix of Giant, Varisian, and Aklo along with its own words.
The Varisians have spread far and wide across the north of Avistan, while the Shoanti are pretty well isolated in parts of Varisia – is this simply due to the Varisians’ nomadic tendencies, or are there other factors at work?
Yes. Varisians, being nomadic, got all over the place. Shoanti are much more about territory and settlements—within those areas, they might be nomadic, but they're not as into exploration as Varisians are. Also, since the Shoanti were used as the military caste by Thassilon, they died a lot more often during Thassilon and were already an endangered species when Earthfall hit.
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Why was there no Golarion Thursday article this week?
There was. It was about Monte Cook writing fiction for us!
If you feel that's a cheat (I kind of do, to be honest), let us know.
(Basically, the decision to announce "We Be Goblins" on Wednesday bumped the fiction announcement to Thursday, and that meant that "Golarion Thursday" kinda got kicked to the curb. If folks like Golarion Thursday enough to get all up in arms about that kind of treatment, we'll be less likely to do some sort of stunt like that again in the future.)
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Thanks James!
If my character was kicking around modern Varisia, and had an expensive magical weapon that was also a relic of ancient Thassilon that he wanted to sell, would she be more likely to find a collector who could afford the 20 K+ asking price in Magnimar, Korvosa or Kaer Maga (Riddleport is a bit too far away)?
Huh, I always kind of saw the Thassilonians as having a tendency to borrow/steal from other cultures, or even to originate elsewhere, hence the Asian thing, since Tian Xia is across the Crown of the World.
But with Snow Leopards, Yeti, Rune Giants, etc., Varisia is probably the least "European" part of Avistan. That would make sense (I guess) based on the above.
How far did the Thassilonian Empire reach economically/politically? Did it trade across to Tian Xia?
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1. I've been on a Moorcock kick lately, is there anything in Pathfinder (setting or system) that draws from the Elric saga?
The biggest thing that the game drew from the Elric saga is the alignment system. To be specific, the conflict between Law and Chaos. That's been a part of the game from the start though.
The runelords themselves owe a little bit of inspiration to Elric, I suppose.
2. Who do I thank for the Proteans? I GMed an imentesh encounter and loved it so much I might rebuild my campaign around them
Me, Wes Schneider, Todd Stewart, and Wayne Reynolds. Oh, and WotC for making us come up with a replacement in the first place by not making the slaadi open content.
3. How much of Tian Xia will be based on China (as opposed to japan)? Honestly I'm a bigger fan of Wuxia and Kung Fu movies than I am of anime and samurai flicks (Seven Samurai is one of my favorite movies though).
Tian Xia will be based on Asia. AKA: It'll have parts based on Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Tibet, Nepal, the Pacific Islands, and so on and so on. The Jade Regent Adventure Path is VERY focused on Minkai, which is our Japan analogue, so not so much China in there... but we're going to also be mixing things up a bit as well—expect some Chineses mythology to show up in Japan, some Japanese mythology to show up in Korea, etc. And there'll also be regions in Tian Xia that aren't based on ANY real world region—the'll be made up whole cloth for Golarion.
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On the subject of 'we be goblins' wasn't there some sort of goblins and fireworks game reported from PaizoCon [Seattle] last year?
Two years ago, I ran the first 3rd of the first Jade Regent adventure for a group of gamers. The plot for that adventure has been somewhat reworked for the start of Jade Regent, but the events that led UP to that adventure (both the one I ran at Paizocon 2 and the first Jade Regent adventure) are, in fact, the events that take place in "We Be Goblins!"
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Thanks James!
If my character was kicking around modern Varisia, and had an expensive magical weapon that was also a relic of ancient Thassilon that he wanted to sell, would she be more likely to find a collector who could afford the 20 K+ asking price in Magnimar, Korvosa or Kaer Maga (Riddleport is a bit too far away)?
All four of those cities would work.
Tian Xia will be based on Asia. AKA: It'll have parts based on Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Tibet, Nepal, the Pacific Islands, and so on and so on. The Jade Regent Adventure Path is VERY focused on Minkai, which is our Japan analogue, so not so much China in there... but we're going to also be mixing things up a bit as well—expect some Chineses mythology to show up in Japan, some Japanese mythology to show up in Korea, etc. And there'll also be regions in Tian Xia that aren't based on ANY real world region—the'll be made up whole cloth for Golarion.
Will there by 'Gurkha' analogues?
Tian Xia will be based on Asia. AKA: It'll have parts based on Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Tibet, Nepal, the Pacific Islands, and so on and so on. The Jade Regent Adventure Path is VERY focused on Minkai, which is our Japan analogue, so not so much China in there... but we're going to also be mixing things up a bit as well—expect some Chineses mythology to show up in Japan, some Japanese mythology to show up in Korea, etc. And there'll also be regions in Tian Xia that aren't based on ANY real world region—the'll be made up whole cloth for Golarion.
That's good, I couldn't get into legend of the five rings, as it was to Japan centric.
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Creative Director
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Will there by 'Gurkha' analogues?
Tian Xia will be based on Asia. AKA: It'll have parts based on Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Tibet, Nepal, the Pacific Islands, and so on and so on. The Jade Regent Adventure Path is VERY focused on Minkai, which is our Japan analogue, so not so much China in there... but we're going to also be mixing things up a bit as well—expect some Chineses mythology to show up in Japan, some Japanese mythology to show up in Korea, etc. And there'll also be regions in Tian Xia that aren't based on ANY real world region—the'll be made up whole cloth for Golarion.
There's certainly an analogue for Tibet/Nepal/the Himalayas, so possibly!
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And, back on topic (sort of) is there that dwarf hold with the lava still in Andoran in canon? (I think it was at Droskar's Crag.)
There are dwarven settlements in and around Droskar's Crag, yes. That's part of the Five Kings Mountains, after all. And some of them incorporate lava. Without more precise names and stuff, I can't say for sure.
That's good, I couldn't get into legend of the five rings, as it was to Japan centric.
Tian Xia will be based on Asia. AKA: It'll have parts based on Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Tibet, Nepal, the Pacific Islands, and so on and so on. The Jade Regent Adventure Path is VERY focused on Minkai, which is our Japan analogue, so not so much China in there... but we're going to also be mixing things up a bit as well—expect some Chineses mythology to show up in Japan, some Japanese mythology to show up in Korea, etc. And there'll also be regions in Tian Xia that aren't based on ANY real world region—the'll be made up whole cloth for Golarion.
Personally I would have liked L5R a bit more if it didn't use a map resembling China (it made me feel that there was no space for a Chinese mythos in that world). I'm really curious to see where exactly Minkai fits on the world map, since there's no obvious location from Shenshen's chart. I'm very glad to see that we get unique to Golarion places, just like in the Inner Sea, since simple mimicry of RW or semi-fictional places would feel like a step away from the fantasy.
Nepal is related more closely to India than anything north of the Himalayas (definitely in religion). Does this Nepal have any relationship to distant Vudra? I suspect there must be more links between Vudra and Tian Xia than between the rest of the world and Tian Xia, but that simply based on RW links and proximity on the map.
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There are dwarven settlements in and around Droskar's Crag, yes. That's part of the Five Kings Mountains, after all. And some of them incorporate lava. Without more precise names and stuff, I can't say for sure.And, back on topic (sort of) is there that dwarf hold with the lava still in Andoran in canon? (I think it was at Droskar's Crag.)
Ah, since (I gather) dwarves apparently like stone furniture, do they have 'lava casting' operations in the area where they tap lava off into moulds to make the pieces for durable furniture?
Weird. Maybe!