Creative Director
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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?
Thassilon was pretty self-supoprtive. The were exiles from Azlant, so they had pretty cool relations there. They DID have some contact with elves (there was a much larger elven nation back then; all that remains today is the ruins in the Mierani Forest and the presence of the elves at the Mordant Spire), but for the most part, Thassilon didn't trade much with anyone else. There weren't a lot of other nations back then TO trade with, in fact. They certainly didn't really have contact with Tian-Xia at all.
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Creative Director
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I fail to see how all these recent posts count as questions for me to answer! I GROW IMPATIENT!Okay, okay: If you were going to wear my tam while working, what specific publication(s) would you be working on?
PS Yes, I think Golarion Thursday was a cheat this time, and the MC announcement would have best gone elsewhere. (Full disclosure: I am making this judgment without my tam on.)
I'm still ignorant as to what a tam is. I don't read posts in this thread that don't end in a question mark!
Understanding the tam to be the most awesome octagonal hat ever made out of scarlet velvet and gold bullion, a symbol of academic authoriteh nonpareil, which publication would you choose to work on while wearing such an exalted piece of haberdashery?
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Creative Director
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Understanding the tam to be the most awesome octagonal hat ever made out of scarlet velvet and gold bullion, a symbol of academic authoriteh nonpareil, which publication would you choose to work on while wearing such an exalted piece of haberdashery?
I have yet to find a hat that fits my big head. Seriously. My head's weirdly large. Most hats don't fit it. Therefore, were I to find a hat that fit my freakishly oversized thinkbox, and were that h at to be a tam, I would choose to work on something like a big book about Secret Societies of the Inner Sea. And first up would be giving said book a better title.
Understanding the tam to be the most awesome octagonal hat ever made out of scarlet velvet and gold bullion, a symbol of academic authoriteh nonpareil, which publication would you choose to work on while wearing such an exalted piece of haberdashery?I have yet to find a hat that fits my big head. Seriously. My head's weirdly large. Most hats don't fit it. Therefore, were I to find a hat that fit my freakishly oversized thinkbox, and were that h at to be a tam, I would choose to work on something like a big book about Secret Societies of the Inner Sea. And first up would be giving said book a better title.
"Secret Societies" =
Conspiracies of Golarion?or just
Secrets of the Inner Sea?
I like the latter. Everyone would want it for their games...
Understanding the tam to be the most awesome octagonal hat ever made out of scarlet velvet and gold bullion, a symbol of academic authoriteh nonpareil, which publication would you choose to work on while wearing such an exalted piece of haberdashery?I have yet to find a hat that fits my big head. Seriously. My head's weirdly large. Most hats don't fit it. Therefore, were I to find a hat that fit my freakishly oversized thinkbox, and were that h at to be a tam, I would choose to work on something like a big book about Secret Societies of the Inner Sea. And first up would be giving said book a better title.
YAY! (Also, another reason it's good you don't have the tentacles, too?)
I like the hypothetical work.Did you watch tonight's episode of Community on NBC, and if so, what did you think?
I definitely feel cheated outta Golarion Thursdays. Is there some place other than here to voice my feelings??
Is it bad that I've added Golarion to my online dictionary so every time I type I don't get that annoying red line telling me my word is misspelled?
Do you find said red line to be really annoying when the word is spelled correctly, but is a word not in the dictionary, like Golarion, Nocticula, or awesomesauce?
"Secret Societies" =
Conspiracies of Golarion?or just
Secrets of the Inner Sea?
I like the latter. Everyone would want it for their games...
How about "Secret Orders of Golarion"
Hidden Conclaves of Golarion?
Aren't all conclaves by nature, secret? (See how I made it a question, to be sure JJ would read it, too?)
Jacobs, have you checked these out?
Don't you think that they could customize one for you?
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Creative Director
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Understanding the tam to be the most awesome octagonal hat ever made out of scarlet velvet and gold bullion, a symbol of academic authoriteh nonpareil, which publication would you choose to work on while wearing such an exalted piece of haberdashery?I have yet to find a hat that fits my big head. Seriously. My head's weirdly large. Most hats don't fit it. Therefore, were I to find a hat that fit my freakishly oversized thinkbox, and were that h at to be a tam, I would choose to work on something like a big book about Secret Societies of the Inner Sea. And first up would be giving said book a better title.YAY! (Also, another reason it's good you don't have the tentacles, too?)
I like the hypothetical work.Did you watch tonight's episode of Community on NBC, and if so, what did you think?
I've never seen an episode of Community. I've heard good things, though.
What I DID watch tonight was "Archer." Dang, but that show's funny.
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Creative Director
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I definitely feel cheated outta Golarion Thursdays. Is there some place other than here to voice my feelings??
Is it bad that I've added Golarion to my online dictionary so every time I type I don't get that annoying red line telling me my word is misspelled?
Do you find said red line to be really annoying when the word is spelled correctly, but is a word not in the dictionary, like Golarion, Nocticula, or awesomesauce?
Best place to voice it would be on the actual blog post in question.
As for the misspelling red line... I actually don't mind it at all. Not enough to bother adding Golarion or Nocticula to the list, that is.
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Creative Director
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Jacobs, have you checked these out?
Don't you think that they could customize one for you?
Haven't checked them out... but I'm not really a fez guy anyway. If I were to get a hat, it'd be something with a brim. Like a cowboy hat or a fedora or something cool from the 20s. Or a top hat. But then I'd also have to buy a monocle.
Haven't checked them out... but I'm not really a fez guy anyway. If I were to get a hat, it'd be something with a brim. Like a cowboy hat or a fedora or something cool from the 20s. Or a top hat. But then I'd also have to buy a monocle.Jacobs, have you checked these out?
Don't you think that they could customize one for you?
Wouldn't you also need a cane to go with the top hat and monocle? and a tommy-gun to go with the hat from the 20s?
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Wouldn't you also need a cane to go with the top hat and monocle? and a tommy-gun to go with the hat from the 20s?Haven't checked them out... but I'm not really a fez guy anyway. If I were to get a hat, it'd be something with a brim. Like a cowboy hat or a fedora or something cool from the 20s. Or a top hat. But then I'd also have to buy a monocle.Jacobs, have you checked these out?
Don't you think that they could customize one for you?
or a bullwhip to go with a fedora?
So I made my quasi-weekly trip to the FLGS today and picked up the AP Map Pack for the Sertrous AP, the Abyss/Demon Lord Book, Halflings of Golarion, and Lost Cities.
Of them all, I was MOST looking forward to Lords of Chaos. Loved the Cover, Nocticula is also one of my all-time faves. In fact, she was a deity in my homebrew before Golarion ever made any appearances at my table.
I digress.
In the first BotD there was a great treatment of Imps and their role as familiars. I was wondering why there wasn't a similar approach for Quasits in LoC?
Weird. Maybe!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?
Hmmm, a dwarven Thomas Edison? (see #3). [/derail]
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All four of those cities would work.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)?
*cough* this has nothing to do with Aubrey's PbP at all does it Mothman? :)
I enjoy role playing, and don't do so bad at conventions, but at home, with friends it's *hard* and when I don't do it, they don't do it, and it becomes a vicious circle.
How can I get myself and my real life group to roleplay more?
*cough* this has nothing to do with Aubrey's PbP at all does it Mothman? :)
I enjoy role playing, and don't do so bad at conventions, but at home, with friends it's *hard* and when I don't do it, they don't do it, and it becomes a vicious circle.
How can I get myself and my real life group to roleplay more?
I'm usually the most overt roleplayer in my groups. The thing I've found, and it sounds corny, is to give your character a distinct accent or speech pattern, something that, when you start talking that way, people know you're in character. When I do that I stick with it, even if it's awkward at first, and I always find that sooner or later someone else does the same thing, and pretty soon everyone's more "in character." YMMV of course, but I've always found that it just takes one person to take the plunge and remain committed and pretty soon everyone is more comfortable doing it, especially if they see you having fun with it.
Will book 6 of Serpent Skull be released at the same time as book 1 of Carrion Crown, as you did with Kingmaker and Serpent Skull? I really enjoyed having two AP books come in the same envelope!
Touching on your near burst of impatience, what does the wrath of James Jacobs look like? I imagine some sort of zombie/mecha/feindish T-rex?
Have you ever received hate mail? And if so, was it directed at you personally or you professionally?
Just out of curiosity, what would you say was the one thing you wanted if you ever had to fight a dragon?
What's the most memorable fantasy critter you've ever encountered in an rpg?
Haven't checked them out... but I'm not really a fez guy anyway. If I were to get a hat, it'd be something with a brim. Like a cowboy hat or a fedora or something cool from the 20s. Or a top hat. But then I'd also have to buy a monocle.Jacobs, have you checked these out?
Don't you think that they could customize one for you?
Did you see the Cthulhu fez?
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Did you see the Cthulhu fez?Haven't checked them out... but I'm not really a fez guy anyway. If I were to get a hat, it'd be something with a brim. Like a cowboy hat or a fedora or something cool from the 20s. Or a top hat. But then I'd also have to buy a monocle.Jacobs, have you checked these out?
Don't you think that they could customize one for you?
I would rather have the TARDIS fez.
Can we get a Cthulu chasing the Tardis fez?
Time to make the tricorn come back into fashion! Who's with me?
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Creative Director
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Are you excited for the new Primeval RPG?
Not really. I generally don't really get into licensed RPGs. The fact that there's dinosaurs and Hannah Spearritt pictures involved in the book means I'll certainly check it out, though!
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Creative Director
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Wouldn't you also need a cane to go with the top hat and monocle? and a tommy-gun to go with the hat from the 20s?Haven't checked them out... but I'm not really a fez guy anyway. If I were to get a hat, it'd be something with a brim. Like a cowboy hat or a fedora or something cool from the 20s. Or a top hat. But then I'd also have to buy a monocle.Jacobs, have you checked these out?
Don't you think that they could customize one for you?
Yup. Buying a top hat has a LOT of hidden expenses.
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Creative Director
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I enjoy role playing, and don't do so bad at conventions, but at home, with friends it's *hard* and when I don't do it, they don't do it, and it becomes a vicious circle.
How can I get myself and my real life group to roleplay more?
If you're a player, it's tough, but a good start would be to just take it on yourself to roleplay more and hope it rubs off on the others.
If you're a GM, you should consider handing out XP awards (and being OBVIOUS about it) at the end of a session for roleplaying. And make those XP awards as big or bigger than the awards for killing monsters. One thing I do at the end of every session is anounce out loud as I'm adding up XP what the XP awards are for. "Let's see, you got 2,000 XP for the demon cultists, 4,000 XP for the demon itself, 3,000 XP for rescuing the merchant's son from the cult, 2,000 XP for the golem, 1,000 XP for the crazy blade trap, and 3,000 XP for the whole feast and political argument with the merchant at the start.
And on either side... it's important to remember that the thing that most players are the most interested in is their own character. When you roleplay, throw your other players a bone! Include them in your roleplaying, and set up scenes and situations where they not only need to reply, but to which they'd WANT to reply.
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Creative Director
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Will book 6 of Serpent Skull be released at the same time as book 1 of Carrion Crown, as you did with Kingmaker and Serpent Skull? I really enjoyed having two AP books come in the same envelope!
If by "the same time" you mean "on the same day," no.
But they will have a pretty close release date. We TRY to keep these things to one-per-month, but when we fall behind (which happens a lot, as various emergencies and disasters always occur... Serpent's Skull had more than usual, though), we have to produce more than one installment in a month, and that means that eventually we have to sell more than one in a month.
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Creative Director
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Touching on your near burst of impatience, what does the wrath of James Jacobs look like? I imagine some sort of zombie/mecha/feindish T-rex?
There's a lot of sarcasm involved, and possibly thread locking. Oh, and rending of brittle human flesh.
Have you ever received hate mail? And if so, was it directed at you personally or you professionally?
Both. Unfortunately comes with the territory (working in a field where customers tend to be overly passionate about things).
Just out of curiosity, what would you say was the one thing you wanted if you ever had to fight a dragon?
A hands-free video camera.
What's the most memorable fantasy critter you've ever encountered in an rpg?
In Baldur's Gate 2, my characters were attacked by a bunch of mind flayers, and then their boss showed up. It was an ulitharid. And it killed my party. That was memorable because I invented the ulitharid back in Dungeon #24, and seeing one show up in what would become my favorite video game ever was really really cool.
If by "the same time" you mean "on the same day," no.But they will have a pretty close release date. We TRY to keep these things to one-per-month, but when we fall behind (which happens a lot, as various emergencies and disasters always occur... Serpent's Skull had more than usual, though), we have to produce more than one installment in a month, and that means that eventually we have to sell more than one in a month.
Eh, show me a deadline that doesn't slip. :-) Personally I don't care if it comes out precisely on time, so long as it rocks when it does come out -- and Paizo is good at the rocking.
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James, did you (or any of your fellow Paizo folk) see the AD&D episode of Community last night? If so ... thoughts? :)
EDIT: Woops, just noticed you already answered part of this so ...
Did anyone at Paizo see it???? If not, man, you all should check it out when it hits On Demand!!! Good episode (of a very good show!)
So James should I subscribe to something else here on paizo, even though I may not use it, just to get the "Superscriber" tag beside my name? Because the other FAWTLies are trying to peer pressure me into it.
DOOO EET!!!!
I thought you might have got hate mail yeah, my sympathies, it's not like you guys really deserve it.
Seeing as Valentine’s Day is coming up, what are your thoughts on that? I'll get stuffed with people’s opinions about it this time of year anyway, might be novel to actually ASK someone first.
Which if any movie serial killers do you think is the scariest?
Have you ever listened to Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphy’s?
What traits would you say are important if you want to make a character in a novel memorable?
So James should I subscribe to something else here on paizo, even though I may not use it, just to get the "Superscriber" tag beside my name? Because the other FAWTLies are trying to peer pressure me into it.DOOO EET!!!!
Just give the items you won't use to your FAWTLy pals.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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A fairly serious question.
You've said before that one of the reasons for the Advanced Players Guide was to open up design space for characters. All right, fair enough. Between class templates, racial substitution traits, and the new classes, feats, and spells, there's a lot of New Stuff to throw into adventures.
But there's a point of diminishing returns. I have a hard time imagining that Ultimate Magic and Ultimate Combat will each provide the same level of design space. (That may be me, setting myself up to be blown away.)
So, the serious question: 2013, 2015. Will I need ten or fourteen hardcover books to play Pathfinder APs?
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Creative Director
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So James should I subscribe to something else here on paizo, even though I may not use it, just to get the "Superscriber" tag beside my name? Because the other FAWTLies are trying to peer pressure me into it.
I'm not the right person to ask if you're trying to save money. Since being a Superscriber means Paizo makes more money... of COURSE you should do it!
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Creative Director
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James, did you (or any of your fellow Paizo folk) see the AD&D episode of Community last night? If so ... thoughts? :)
EDIT: Woops, just noticed you already answered part of this so ...
Did anyone at Paizo see it???? If not, man, you all should check it out when it hits On Demand!!! Good episode (of a very good show!)
Everyone BUT me saw it.
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Creative Director
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Seeing as Valentine’s Day is coming up, what are your thoughts on that? I'll get stuffed with people’s opinions about it this time of year anyway, might be novel to actually ASK someone first.
Not a big fan of Valentine's day. Always felt to me like a holiday invented solely to make certain corporations more money.
Which if any movie serial killers do you think is the scariest?
John Doe from Se7en is up there near the top. So is Michael Meyers and so is Norman Bates.
Have you ever listened to Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphy’s?
Nope.
What traits would you say are important if you want to make a character in a novel memorable?
Make the character interesting. Make the character flawed. Make the character someone the reader can in some way relate to.