Creative Director
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Which primary AP antagonist ("BBEG" in the local lingua franca) do you consider the best-executed overall?(Not really asking about favorites here,more about "paid off as intended and delivered in both plot and threat level-competition for this spot is pretty stiff,in my experience)
I'm pretty proud of how Barzillai Thrune turned out. Each one I work on builds on what I've learned from the previous one, so I guess it's a good sign that the last one I worked on feels the most successful?
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She does cat stuff, mostly.She doesn't do costumes either.I imagined you would wear it to work.Ha! No.
I don't do costumes.
:3
What about Shimmy?
What does she do?
Aside from shimmying?
Hmmm...
More seriously how did she get the name Shimmy? Did you name her or did someone else? Is it because she likes to shimmy up things?
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Creative Director
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Any recommendations on how to balance that out for those of us still learning to juggle risk and reward?Which primary AP antagonist ("BBEG" in the local lingua franca) do you consider the best-executed overall?(Not really asking about favorites here,more about "paid off as intended and delivered in both plot and threat level-competition for this spot is pretty stiff,in my experience)I'm pretty proud of how Barzillai Thrune turned out. Each one I work on builds on what I've learned from the previous one, so I guess it's a good sign that the last one I worked on feels the most successful?
I'm not seeing how "risk and reward" and "best-executed antagonist" really have much to do with each other, but if you're asking for advice on how to build a long-term campaign villain, my advice would be to grab an adventure path like Hell's Rebels and read through it for an example. Or watch how they're handled in TV shows, comic books, or other long-term forms of serialized entertainment.
Kind of the flip side of that, which BBEG do you find most frustrating? Personal/in-game reasons fine by me.
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Hello,
A time portal opens at the office and Shakespeare, Lovecraft, Wells, Stoker, and Mary Shelley emerge ready to play Pathfinder. They already know how to play. They invite you to join them. Please tell us who is GM, and which class each player plays.
Thank you
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So James when are they announcing the Curse of the Crimson Throne Deluxe Edition? Justin Franklin wants to know :PThere are no announced plans at this time for a deluxe edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne.
I did not want to know that!! :D
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You totally did you were just busy
So my roommate and I were having a conversation about Inner Sea Faiths and an interesting conundrum came up that I'd like your take on:
According to the book, Red Mantis assassins sometimes work with traditional mercenary or adventuring parties for a variety of reasons. But knowingly betraying those parties is considered one of the highest sins, on top with killing a rightfully sitting monarch.
But imagine that Alice the Red Mantis is working with a group. A member of that group -- we'll call him Chris -- becomes the subject of a contract. The obvious solution is easy: have Bill the Red Mantis do it without letting on to Alice what's going on until the deed is done.
But what if Alice figures out what's going on -- Bill makes an attempt and fails, or Alice spots Bill's recon or something to that effect. Either way, she realizes that the Red Mantis is after Chris. What is her obligation? Make a sincere, good faith effort to defend him? Accept the church's will over more mundane loyalty and separate herself from the party or otherwise let it happen?
Or might her superiors within the church acknowledge the difficulty of the situation and politely decline the contract against Chris at this time?
Much of that is up to the GM, I think. But I would say that Alice would probably leave the party, or just let Bill do his thing. Though she might, if the attempt comes as a surprise, defend Chris, at least during the first attack.
Whether she would tell Chris that the Mantis are after him is a GM call.
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Creative Director
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Kind of the flip side of that, which BBEG do you find most frustrating? Personal/in-game reasons fine by me.
Nyrissa, but not becasue of her. Because the customer base had indicated they wanted a sandbox adventure where the players could make their own way and that didn't have a strong looming threat of a bad guy/gal urging them along a specific, single story line to defeat him/her, but as it turns out, folks really DO want that.
It was frustrating to give people what they asked for only to have them (still) complain about us giving it to them, in other words.
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Creative Director
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If one were looking for Character Creation Inspiration for Iron Gods what would be some good source material to look at besides the obvious Star Wars?
Star Wars is NOT a place I'd look to, in fact.
Iron Gods is not that overtly sci-fi. A better place to look for inspiration would maybe be apocalyptic setting movies and stories. Road Warrior is a better source than Star Wars, but even better than that would be some of the old pulpy sword & planet stories.
But that said... the focus of the AP is on fantasy characters being slowly exposed to tech... so really, any fantasy character works great for Iron Gods. Building a character intended to be all tech from day one will be frustrating for you.
Have you finished the Southern Reach trilogy? What did you think of it.
Also, I'm going to recommend Scott Nicolay's Ana Kai Tangata if you haven't already read it. Mr. Nicolay's work is much in the same vein as Laird Barron's.
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Creative Director
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I suppose a better question would have been "How do you look at the final battle in a campaign or arc so that it is memorable and challenging without making the BBEG a bullet sponge when you are GMing at your table?"As I said, I like learning new ideas to keep challenges appropriate.
Having more than just one foe for the PCs to fight is key. Giving the foe an interactive and interesting environment to fight in is key as well. But most important is you as GM being willing to adjust and adapt things either before the game to match your table's style, or during play to make things more exciting.
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Creative Director
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Hello,
A time portal opens at the office and Shakespeare, Lovecraft, Wells, Stoker, and Mary Shelley emerge ready to play Pathfinder. They already know how to play. They invite you to join them. Please tell us who is GM, and which class each player plays.
Thank you
Shakespeare is GM
Lovecraft plays an occultist
Wells plays an alchemist
Stoker plays a slayer
Shelley plays an investigator
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Creative Director
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So my roommate and I were having a conversation about Inner Sea Faiths and an interesting conundrum came up that I'd like your take on:
According to the book, Red Mantis assassins sometimes work with traditional mercenary or adventuring parties for a variety of reasons. But knowingly betraying those parties is considered one of the highest sins, on top with killing a rightfully sitting monarch.
But imagine that Alice the Red Mantis is working with a group. A member of that group -- we'll call him Chris -- becomes the subject of a contract. The obvious solution is easy: have Bill the Red Mantis do it without letting on to Alice what's going on until the deed is done.
But what if Alice figures out what's going on -- Bill makes an attempt and fails, or Alice spots Bill's recon or something to that effect. Either way, she realizes that the Red Mantis is after Chris. What is her obligation? Make a sincere, good faith effort to defend him? Accept the church's will over more mundane loyalty and separate herself from the party or otherwise let it happen?
Or might her superiors within the church acknowledge the difficulty of the situation and politely decline the contract against Chris at this time?
In that case the "obvious" solution is that the Red Mantis wouldn't accept a contract on a person in a group that is currently being supported by one of their own. The Red Mantis aren't robots. They can (and do) pick and choose which contracts they accept. And they wouldn't knowingly accept one that would put a fellow Mantis in danger or an awkward situation like that.
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Creative Director
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Much of that is up to the GM, I think. But I would say that Alice would probably leave the party, or just let Bill do his thing. Though she might, if the attempt comes as a surprise, defend Chris, at least during the first attack.
Whether she would tell Chris that the Mantis are after him is a GM call.
Please leave the answers to me in this thread; thanks.
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If one were looking for Character Creation Inspiration for Iron Gods what would be some good source material to look at besides the obvious Star Wars?Star Wars is NOT a place I'd look to, in fact.
Iron Gods is not that overtly sci-fi. A better place to look for inspiration would maybe be apocalyptic setting movies and stories. Road Warrior is a better source than Star Wars, but even better than that would be some of the old pulpy sword & planet stories.
But that said... the focus of the AP is on fantasy characters being slowly exposed to tech... so really, any fantasy character works great for Iron Gods. Building a character intended to be all tech from day one will be frustrating for you.
What about Thundarr the Barbarian?
Have you seen any episodes Mr. Directorsaur? What did you think of the series if you have?
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Creative Director
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Have you finished the Southern Reach trilogy? What did you think of it.
Also, I'm going to recommend Scott Nicolay's Ana Kai Tangata if you haven't already read it. Mr. Nicolay's work is much in the same vein as Laird Barron's.
I finished it and loved it. GREAT book.
Haven't read any of Scott Nicolay, but for now, I'm reading the Expanse series and then will be moving on to read lots of Hodgson and Blackwood, so it'll be a while before I go into something new.
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Creative Director
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If one were looking for Character Creation Inspiration for Iron Gods what would be some good source material to look at besides the obvious Star Wars?Star Wars is NOT a place I'd look to, in fact.
Iron Gods is not that overtly sci-fi. A better place to look for inspiration would maybe be apocalyptic setting movies and stories. Road Warrior is a better source than Star Wars, but even better than that would be some of the old pulpy sword & planet stories.
But that said... the focus of the AP is on fantasy characters being slowly exposed to tech... so really, any fantasy character works great for Iron Gods. Building a character intended to be all tech from day one will be frustrating for you.
What about Thundarr the Barbarian?
Have you seen any episodes Mr. Directorsaur? What did you think of the series if you have?
I believe Thundarr was on ABC, which meant that I didn't watch it (we only had access to NBC, CBS, and a local station that eventually turned into FOX).
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I believe Thundarr was on ABC, which meant that I didn't watch it (we only had access to NBC, CBS, and a local station that eventually turned into FOX).If one were looking for Character Creation Inspiration for Iron Gods what would be some good source material to look at besides the obvious Star Wars?Star Wars is NOT a place I'd look to, in fact.
Iron Gods is not that overtly sci-fi. A better place to look for inspiration would maybe be apocalyptic setting movies and stories. Road Warrior is a better source than Star Wars, but even better than that would be some of the old pulpy sword & planet stories.
But that said... the focus of the AP is on fantasy characters being slowly exposed to tech... so really, any fantasy character works great for Iron Gods. Building a character intended to be all tech from day one will be frustrating for you.
What about Thundarr the Barbarian?
Have you seen any episodes Mr. Directorsaur? What did you think of the series if you have?
Ah, Fooie.
Kind of the flip side of that, which BBEG do you find most frustrating? Personal/in-game reasons fine by me.Nyrissa, but not becasue of her. Because the customer base had indicated they wanted a sandbox adventure where the players could make their own way and that didn't have a strong looming threat of a bad guy/gal urging them along a specific, single story line to defeat him/her, but as it turns out, folks really DO want that.
It was frustrating to give people what they asked for only to have them (still) complain about us giving it to them, in other words.
Makes sense. I'm reading Kingmaker for the first time right now, actually. In the fourth part and that plotline is still virtually nowhere. I mainly read the AP's, at least right now, for entertainment and idea gathering for homebrew campaigns, so while the first half of Kingmaker, at least, has a ton of great encounters I do think it's suffering from lack of a more of a unifying arc.
Speaking of, into how much hot water did you actually get yourself with your previous ranting about railroading/sandboxing/etc. debate (as mentioned in Kingmaker's opening forward)? I guess I mean, was there a ton of pushback on that?
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Creative Director
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Speaking of, into how much hot water did you actually get yourself with your previous ranting about railroading/sandboxing/etc. debate (as mentioned in Kingmaker's opening forward)? I guess I mean, was there a ton of pushback on that?
No hot water at all. It ended up being a non-event.
Please leave the answers to me in this thread; thanks.Much of that is up to the GM, I think. But I would say that Alice would probably leave the party, or just let Bill do his thing. Though she might, if the attempt comes as a surprise, defend Chris, at least during the first attack.
Whether she would tell Chris that the Mantis are after him is a GM call.
Sorry, didn't realize what thread I was in.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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A time portal opens at the office and Shakespeare, Lovecraft, Wells, Stoker, and Mary Shelley emerge ready to play Pathfinder. They already know how to play. They invite you to join them. Please tell us who is GM, and which class each player plays.Shakespeare is GM
Lovecraft plays an occultist
Wells plays an alchemist
Stoker plays a slayer
Shelley plays an investigator
In a similar vein, who would be your dream Call of Cthulhu group?
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Creative Director
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In a similar vein, who would be your dream Call of Cthulhu group?A time portal opens at the office and Shakespeare, Lovecraft, Wells, Stoker, and Mary Shelley emerge ready to play Pathfinder. They already know how to play. They invite you to join them. Please tell us who is GM, and which class each player plays.Shakespeare is GM
Lovecraft plays an occultist
Wells plays an alchemist
Stoker plays a slayer
Shelley plays an investigator
A certain group of close friends who know who they are.
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I'm going a little stir crazy with Dark Souls 3 being so close so forgive me, but questions!
1. What was your favourite area from Dark Souls 1?
2. Favourite NPC?
3. Favourite fight?
4. Favourite music?
5. Favourite moment?
6. What was your favourite area from Dark Souls 2?
7. Favourite NPC?
8. Favourite fight?
9. Favourite music?
10. Favourite moment?
What do you remember from your first few times as a GM? How long did it take you to get comfortable with all the wacky ideas that players throw at you?
I love playing in ROLE playing games. However, since Wrath of the Righteous is my first time as a GM, it is definitely more ROLL play oriented. How would you classify yourself? (Note that I am not assigning any negativity to either of those terms)
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Creative Director
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I'm going a little stir crazy with Dark Souls 3 being so close so forgive me, but questions!
1. What was your favourite area from Dark Souls 1?
2. Favourite NPC?
3. Favourite fight?
4. Favourite music?
5. Favourite moment?
6. What was your favourite area from Dark Souls 2?
7. Favourite NPC?
8. Favourite fight?
9. Favourite music?
10. Favourite moment?
1) The Painted World
2) The daughter of Chaos, what's her name
3) Gaping dragon
4) Firelink Shrine
5) Defeating Ornstein and Smough
6) Dragon Aerie
7) Whats'-her-name who lets you level up
8) The Hollow
9) The creepy mournful wordless dirge from the whats-it-place with all the flooded walkways
10) Finally getting competent at PVP
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Creative Director
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What do you remember from your first few times as a GM? How long did it take you to get comfortable with all the wacky ideas that players throw at you?
I love playing in ROLE playing games. However, since Wrath of the Righteous is my first time as a GM, it is definitely more ROLL play oriented. How would you classify yourself? (Note that I am not assigning any negativity to either of those terms)
The second game I ran was for my dad and my sister, and my dad played a halfling and my sister's character kept making short jokes so at one point my dad's character pushed my sister's character into a well. Which had yellow mold. My sister didn't make fun of the halfling after that.
I'm still not comfortable when a player is wacky and doesn't respect the setting or the story or the other characters.
I'd classify myself as 75% rolepayer, 25% combat tactician.
Ok James here is a cool series of questions. Can you name the most traumatic/unexpected deaths of a character for you personally in.
1) A book
2) A Movie
3) A TV series.
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Creative Director
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Favorite Greyhawk deity = Wee Jas.Howabout your favorite Forgotten Realms deity?
Or your favorite old-school Deities and Demigods deity from the real-world pantheons (Norse, Greek, Egyptian, etc.)?
Favorite Forgotten Realms deity: Eilistraee (also my favorite D&D deity of all time across all D&D settings)
Favorite old-school real-world deity from Deities & Demigods: Camazotz or Bast (tie)
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Creative Director
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Ok James here is a cool series of questions. Can you name the most traumatic/unexpected deaths of a character for you personally in.
1) A book
2) A Movie
3) A TV series.
Spoilering it because obviously...
1) Book =
1) Movie =
1) TV Series =
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Thankies for responding, though I can't help myself but follow it up :3
1. What was your favourite area from Demon's Souls?
2. Favourite NPC?
3. Favourite fight?
4. Favourite music?
5. Favourite moment?
6. What was your favourite area from Bloodborne?
7. Favourite NPC?
8. Favourite fight?
9. Favourite music?
10. Favourite moment?
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Creative Director
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Thankies for responding, though I can't help myself but follow it up :3
1. What was your favourite area from Demon's Souls?
2. Favourite NPC?
3. Favourite fight?
4. Favourite music?
5. Favourite moment?
6. What was your favourite area from Bloodborne?
7. Favourite NPC?
8. Favourite fight?
9. Favourite music?
10. Favourite moment?
1) The insane asylum
2) Can't remember
3) The cloud ray fight
4) Can't remember
5) First time a mind flayer killed me
6) The fishing village
7) The living doll
8) Amygdala
9) Cathedral ward
10) First time seeing an amygdala
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Creative Director
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James, excited about CoC 7th Ed being available soon? Did you also see that on Free RPG Day there is a CoC adventure this year?
I am! I've actually gotten to know Chaosium's new creative director and a few other folks over there in the meantime as well, so it's been fun seeing them untangle the legacy left behind by previous management and get the book out to the public!
Have you ever used Realm Works or Hero Lab in your gaming? If so, comments on them would be welcome, though I'd understand if you don't want to do that.
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James, my home game is coming to an end and I'm thinking to run a Lovecraft heavy game next, specifically one set at the dawn of life on earth with the players being Elder Things. Now beyond Cthulhu and his spawn, and Mi-Go, and the eventual rebellion of Shoggoths, what other creatures can I throw at my players?
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Creative Director
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Have you ever used Realm Works or Hero Lab in your gaming? If so, comments on them would be welcome, though I'd understand if you don't want to do that.
Don't use Realm Works at all, but we actually all use Hero Lab every day here at work to build stat blocks for NPCs. And I use it to build my PCs for personal gaming as well.
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Creative Director
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James, my home game is coming to an end and I'm thinking to run a Lovecraft heavy game next, specifically one set at the dawn of life on earth with the players being Elder Things. Now beyond Cthulhu and his spawn, and Mi-Go, and the eventual rebellion of Shoggoths, what other creatures can I throw at my players?
Whatever you want. You're essentially building your own campaign setting, after all, and part of the job of building a campaign setting is deciding what sorts of creatures are present in your setting. Depending on the timeline, you could certainly use dinosaurs or megafauna, but the exact mix of what you choose to use is up to you. But don't be TOO limiting; you do, after all, want enough of a robust cast of monsters that you won't be using the same thing in every fight as the PCs level up.