Creative Director
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Now my question - have you seen the film 'The Wall' and if so what did you think of it?
(My daughter finds Goodbye Blue Sky terrifying).
I know you don't like musicals, does that extend to biopics about musicians, like Ray, or La Bamba or Amadeus, where the music's an intrinsic part of their lives?
Does Shimmy do what my cat Hercules does sometimes, which is when you're on the computer at home, demand your attention by lying down across your wrists and the keyboard so that it's almost impossible to type? (I love him but he has his moments)
"The Wall" is one of my favorite albums of all time, so I really really really like the movie. It's not a musical, of course. I love music, I just don't like musicals. I don't count biopics about musicians as musicals at all, although I've never had an interest in seeing Ray or La Bamba. I've seen Amadeus several times; great movie.
Shimmy does not; my setup kinda makes that kinda shenanigan tricky since my keyboard's on a roll-out shelf. She does periodically crawl around nearby and demand attention... like right now...
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Creative Director
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What are your thoughts on which "Random Starting Age" bracket (Intuitive/Self-Taught/Trained) Vigilante characters should belong in? The base class strikes me as best pegged at "Self-Taught," but the Archetypes might be all over the map.
I'd put them in self-taught. Archetypes are irrelevant in this area.
8. How can the mighty Cheliax fall to ruin so quickly? What was its great and powerful army doing when the nation got torn apart? I thought that after Aroden died, the commoners got furious and blamed the king, saying that Aroden didn't come back because the king is evil and unworthy. So the people started rising in revolt and a great civil war ensued. Am I right?8) In the way we present in Hell's Vengeance and Hell's Rebels, that's how. AKA The nation isn't as unstoppable and powerful as they think, perhaps. Part of why Asmodeus and Mephistopheles and the like are okay with the civil war in those APs is precisely because it's a wake-up call to Thrune and the church to do better.
1. It seems that you misunderstood my queston. What I meant was how can the pre-Thrune Chaliax fall to ruin so quickly, not the Thrune Cheliax. It had a powerful army, and had an immense territory. Even though the clerics of Aroden lost all spellcasting power, how can the mighty Cheliax fall to ruin so quickly? Is it because of the unstoppable revolt raised by the raging commoners who are convinced that Aroden died because the king is evil or unworthy and he should be hanged?
2. Sheila Heidmarch's and Shensen's backstories seem like those of PCs to me. And you alrady said that Shensen was your PC even before Paizo decided to make Pathfinder RPG. Which raises a question. Was Sheila a PC of a member of Paizo? If so, whose PC she was? And was Canayven, her husband, a PC too?
3. You said that the 10 races described in Darklands Revisited are not the most numerous races in the Darklands. Then by what standard Paizo decided to put them in the book? Maybe they are the 10 most favorite races of Paizo?
4. I thought there's no orcs in Varisia because Belkzen is the land of orcs, not Varisia. But I found that the city of Urglin is full of orcs. Does that mean orcs are common in Varisia?
5. You said you don't know about Sheraya Solistar who appeared in page 14 of Seekers of Secrets. Then to whom should I ask about her? Who wrote that part of the book?
6. You said you cannot answer some of my questions because they are spoilers. But I thought you are virtually immune to spoilers because knowing everything about Golarion is the job of a creative director, isn't it?
7. What's the job of a creative director? I didn't even know there's a job called a creative director before I read your profile at this website.
8. It seems that you are currently GMing a Hell's Vengeance campaign. Where are you now? Have you finished Wrath of Thrune?
9. Normally, how much time do you need to finish an entire adventure path campaign? And when do you think your current Hell's Vengeance campaign would end?
10. Which adventure path and module have you played? Maybe every Pathfinder adventure path and module? Or maybe you only play or GM which fascinates you enough?
11. Disjunction spell can destroy artifacts. That's why I don't pay attention to the destruction condition of each artifact. Do you think letting disjunction destroy artifacts is a good idea? Because of this spell, nobody would care the destruction condition of an artifact. They just need a disjunction spell to destroy it. For example, if I want to detroy the Sihedron, first I should summon the Oliphaunt of Jandelay and let it crush the Sihedron with me, which is a pretty hard thing to do even for a 20th level/10th tier character. But a disjunction spell ignore all this conditions.
12. When Paizo publish a campaign setting book that depicts the Southern Garund, would you put a serpentfolk nation there? I ask this because I think the image of dinosaur-riding serpentfolks looks cool.
13. You said that the rune magic Krune is using is from the Thassilonian tradition, and not from the church of Lissala. Then why don't other runelords do the same? Maybe they thought covering their entire body with runes would make them look ugly, thus they chose not to do that?
14. I thought you like Thassilon very much. But surprisingly Krune died in a Pathfinder Society Scenario which is considered a half-canon at best(while the adventure paths and modules are considerd full-canon), and not in an adventure path. Maybe you thought that giving each runelords an adventure path would be a huge waste of space and so simply killed the least favorite runelord in a Society Scenario instead?
15. After Xin died, his oldest son was placed on the throne as a puppet king. So Xin's descendants have succedded the kingship of Thassilon till the Earthfall?
16. Are the kings of Thasssilon powerful wizards too?
17. The runelords anticipated the Earthfall and prepared several evacuation plans. What about the king? Does he have that kind of plan? Or he had none, so the king died by the Earthfall?
18. I thought one of the first things awakeneded Alaznist or Sorshen would do is raising the sunken part of their realms. But even Aroden, the most powerful human has ever lived, could raise an island only and that deed made him a demigod. If the runelords could do that, they would have become demigods either, but they didn't, which means they can't raise an island, and the sunken part of Thassilon is much larger than the Isle of Kortos. Does that mean, even the powerful runelords like Alaznist or Sorshen cannot raise the sunken part of their realms?
19. Why are the PCs so eager to kill the runelords like Karzoug and Krune on sight? I know their alignments are evil, but all they did was just the necessary steps of their return. Can't the existing states in Varisia(like Korvosa, Magnimar, etc) coexist with the returned Thassilon? Now I come to think of it, it was really horrible to kill all the enemies in The Spires of Xin-Shalast. All they wanted to do was escaping the Earthfall. They endured 10,000 years and finally came back to their beloved homeland, only to be murdered by random strangers for no apparent reason?
20. A sinspawn's sinful bite ability is a mind-affecting effect. But its target becomes sickened and remove curse can negate it. Does that mean a creature immune to disease or curse is immune to sinful bite too?
21. I still don't understand it. What is Karzoug's evacuation plan? Did he create some kind of time portal and transported himself and his entire army to the future(aka present)? In other words, when the Earthfall hit Golarion, no one in Xin-Shalast died because all the denizens of the city went into the time portal, and waited in there until now?
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Creative Director
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8. How can the mighty Cheliax fall to ruin so quickly? What was its great and powerful army doing when the nation got torn apart? I thought that after Aroden died, the commoners got furious and blamed the king, saying that Aroden didn't come back because the king is evil and unworthy. So the people started rising in revolt and a great civil war ensued. Am I right?8) In the way we present in Hell's Vengeance and Hell's Rebels, that's how. AKA The nation isn't as unstoppable and powerful as they think, perhaps. Part of why Asmodeus and Mephistopheles and the like are okay with the civil war in those APs is precisely because it's a wake-up call to Thrune and the church to do better.1. It seems that you misunderstood my queston. What I meant was how can the pre-Thrune Chaliax fall to ruin so quickly, not the Thrune Cheliax. It had a powerful army, and had an immense territory. Even though the clerics of Aroden lost all spellcasting power, how can the mighty Cheliax fall to ruin so quickly? Is it because of the unstoppable revolt raised by the raging commoners who are convinced that Aroden died because the king is evil or unworthy and he should be hanged?
2. Sheila Heidmarch's and Shensen's backstories seem like those of PCs to me. And you alrady said that Shensen was your PC even before Paizo decided to make Pathfinder RPG. Which raises a question. Was Sheila a PC of a member of Paizo? If so, whose PC she was? And was Canayven, her husband, a PC too?
3. You said that the 10 races described in Darklands Revisited are not the most numerous races in the Darklands. Then by what standard Paizo decided to put them in the book? Maybe they are the 10 most favorite races of Paizo?
4. I thought there's no orcs in Varisia because Belkzen is the land of orcs, not Varisia. But I found that the city of Urglin is full of orcs. Does that mean orcs are common in Varisia?
5. You said you don't know about Sheraya Solistar who appeared in page 14 of Seekers of Secrets. Then to whom should I ask about her? Who wrote that part of the book?
6. You said you cannot answer some of my questions because they are spoilers. But I thought you are virtually immune to spoilers because knowing everything about Golarion is the job of a creative director, isn't it?
7. What's the job of a creative director? I didn't even know there's a job called a creative director before I read your profile at this website.
1) Because the death of a god has very significant repercussions.
2) Sheila was not a PC; she was created by Wes back in the Magnimar article he wrote in Pathfinder 2, I believe.
3) They were the ones we were interested in putting into the book is all it meant.
4) There's plenty of orcs in Varisia; they're mostly located in the Storval Plateau, where they're pretty common. They don't head down to the lowlands much though.
5) No one, really; it's been many, many years since that book was written, and some of the folks who worked on it are no longer employees at Paizo.
6) That is not part of my job, mostly because it's impossible for one person to know everything about Golarion now that we've published so much on it.
7) Creative director is a standard job title in the world. Click here to see the Wikipedia page. Basically, my job is to direct the creative content of Pathfinder and Golarion and to help guide what directions we take our products for the game.
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Creative Director
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8. It seems that you are currently GMing a Hell's Vengeance campaign. Where are you now? Have you finished Wrath of Thrune?
9. Normally, how much time do you need to finish an entire adventure path campaign? And when do you think your current Hell's Vengeance campaign would end?
10. Which adventure path and module have you played? Maybe every Pathfinder adventure path and module? Or maybe you only play or GM which fascinates you enough?
11. Disjunction spell can destroy artifacts. That's why I don't pay attention to the destruction condition of each artifact. Do you think letting disjunction destroy artifacts is a good idea? Because of this spell, nobody would care the destruction condition of an artifact. They just need a disjunction spell to destroy it. For example, if I want to detroy the Sihedron, first I should summon the Oliphaunt of Jandelay and let it crush the Sihedron with me, which is a pretty hard thing to do even for a 20th level/10th tier character. But a disjunction spell ignore all this conditions.
12. When Paizo publish a campaign setting book that depicts the Southern Garund, would you put a serpentfolk nation there? I ask this because I think the image of dinosaur-riding serpentfolks looks cool.
13. You said that the rune magic Krune is using is from the Thassilonian tradition, and not from the church of Lissala. Then why don't other runelords do the same? Maybe they thought covering their entire body with runes would make them look ugly, thus they chose not to do that?
14. I thought you like Thassilon very much. But surprisingly Krune died in a Pathfinder Society Scenario which is considered a half-canon at best(while the adventure paths and modules are considerd full-canon), and not in an adventure path. Maybe you thought that giving each runelords an adventure path would be a huge waste of space and so simply killed the least favorite runelord in a Society Scenario instead?
8) Nope; I'm playing in a Hell's Vengeance campaign as a player. Rob McCreary is the GM. I think we're about halfway through the first adventure, but I'm not exactly sure.
9) To create an AP generally takes about a year to go from initial idea to shipping the last volume of an AP to the printer. To play it can vary—I've only ever played one of our APs from start to finish ("Savage Tide") and that took a few years to finish.
10) I've run all of Savage Tide and half of Serpent's Skull. I've played the first 3rd of Age of Worms, the first half of the first adventure of Kingmaker, and so far about the first 2 adventures of Mummy's Mask and Skull & Shackles and the 1st half of the first adventure of Hell's Vengeance. Campaigns I've run for my home group over the years have served as first-drafts for Serpent's Skull and Curse of the Crimson Throne, and another campaign served as the inspiration for Rise of the Runelords.
11) Disjunction destroying artifacts is fine; it's hardly a sure-fire solution and it's got a good chance of ruining your character. I've never seen disjunction used to destroy an artifact, and I've been gaming longer than that spell's existed, so it's hardly a game changer.
12) No. There are no serpentfolk nations there. We do have a nation of lizardfolk who ride dinosaurs down at the southernmost tip of Garund though.
13) Because the other runelords are different.
14) I invented Thassilon and am very proud of it, but I'm not the only person who creates content for Pathfinder. We used Krune in a season of the Pathfinder Society because the Runelords are one of our most recognizable bad guy groups, and using Krune in Pathfinder Society helped expand that. It's all part of the plan to develop the Runelord story over the years. Not a waste at all.
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Creative Director
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15. After Xin died, his oldest son was placed on the throne as a puppet king. So Xin's descendants have succedded the kingship of Thassilon till the Earthfall?
16. Are the kings of Thasssilon powerful wizards too?
17. The runelords anticipated the Earthfall and prepared several evacuation plans. What about the king? Does he have that kind of plan? Or he had none, so the king died by the Earthfall?
18. I thought one of the first things awakeneded Alaznist or Sorshen would do is raising the sunken part of their realms. But even Aroden, the most powerful human has ever lived, could raise an island only and that deed made him a demigod. If the runelords could do that, they would have become demigods either, but they didn't, which means they can't raise an island, and the sunken part of Thassilon is much larger than the Isle of Kortos. Does that mean, even the powerful runelords like Alaznist or Sorshen cannot raise the sunken part of their realms?
19. Why are the PCs so eager to kill the runelords like Karzoug and Krune on sight? I know their alignments are evil, but all they did was just the necessary steps of their return. Can't the existing states in Varisia(like Korvosa, Magnimar, etc) coexist with the returned Thassilon? Now I come to think of it, it was really horrible to kill all the enemies in The Spires of Xin-Shalast. All they wanted to do was escaping the Earthfall. They endured 10,000 years and finally came back to their beloved homeland, only to be murdered by random strangers for no apparent reason?
20. A sinspawn's sinful bite ability is a mind-affecting effect. But its target becomes sickened and remove curse can negate it. Does that mean a creature immune to disease or curse is immune to sinful bite too?
21. I still don't understand it. What is Karzoug's evacuation plan? Did he create some kind of time portal and transported himself and his entire army to the future(aka present)? In other words, when the Earthfall hit Golarion, no one in Xin-Shalast died because all the denizens of the city went into the time portal, and waited in there until now?
15) Nope; after Xin died, the Runelords took Thassilon over.
16) There are no "kings" of Thassilon, really; Xin was the first and last of them.
17) King Xin was dead long before Earthfal came along.
18) What Aroden did with raising an island was a unique thing to him, and part of what turned him into a demigod; it was hardly something that everyone from Azlant could do at all. But "raising an island" does not automatically make you a demigod. There was a lot more to it than that. Whether or not a runelord or runelords would raise the sunken portions of their old lands when they wake up is unrevealed, since that really hasn't happened yet.
19) No; if Karzoug wins, he'd pretty much enslave/wreck/be bad for all of Varisia. He has no interest in playing nice with the people of Varisia. Neither do the other Runelords if they wake.
20) No, because the sinful bite is not a disease or a curse. If it were, the description of the sinful bite would say something like, "This is a curse effect" or "This is a disease effect."
21) Karzoug's plan was to go into hibernation, then wake in the future and finish his work to create a time portal to draw his resources into the future, but that only happens if the PCs fail to stop him AND if the Leng Device works as he hopes and other things involving Mhar don't happen instead. AKA it's kinda left up to the GM if it works, but the assumption is that the PCs win and it doesn't come to fruition.
1. Why is Urglin not considered as a part of Belkzen? It is located next to Belkzen, and it's an orcish settlement. Is it somehow hostile to the orcs in Belkzen?
2. I'm really surprised that even a creative director is not immune to spoilers. Then maybe those higher than you, like Erik Mona or Lisa Stevens are immune to spoilers about Golarion lore? Or maybe they are more vulnerable to the spoilers, because their primary job is management and thus they have more things to do other than reading campaign settings and adventure paths?
3. Do you think the canon level of society scenarios are lower than that of adventure paths and modules? That the adventure paths and the modules are considered full-canon, but the society scenarios are considered half-canon at best?
4. You said that after Xin died, there was no king. Then who inhabited the city of Xin after Xin's death? Maybe the entire city was evacuated and no runelords bothered to go there, thus it practically became a large dungeon infested with clockworks?
5. Can I assume that, after Xin died, the runelords killed all his descendants and loyal followers?
6. Page 73 of Burnt Offering said that the runelords enthroned Xin's oldest son as a puppet. Is it not considered canon anymore?
7. You said that whether the runelords would raise the sunken Thassilon or not is unrevealed. Which raises other questions. Can they do that? I thought raising a sunken land is beyond the reach of their power. And would they want to do that, if they can do that?
8. I thought there would be articles about Azlant, Shory and the Tekritanin League in Lost Kingdoms, but suprisingly there weren't. There is an article about Shory in The Slave Trenches of Hakotep but I'm still not sure. Why didn't Paizo put them in Lost Kingdoms? Maybe they're so important that they deserve their own campaign setting?
9. The hairstyle of Xin and Karzoug seems like that of Qing dynasty of China. Page 6 of Spires of Xin-Shalast also shows an illustration that depicts several buildings in Xin-Shalast, which resemble those of China. And the rune giants' armor and swords look like those of Japan and China. But Thassilonians came from Azlant, not Tian Xia. Maybe Xin traveled to TIan Xia when he was young, and thought that the eastern style looks cool, thus he introduced it to Thassilon?
10. Thassilonian is the language used by Thassilonians. But Thassilonians came from Azlant. Shouldn't the language of the two nations be same?
11. There was no king after Xin. And the runelords are hostile to each other. Which means it would be a perfect time for Azlant to reconquer Thassilon. Why didn't they? Maybe they thought Thassilon is not worth to conquer? Oh, I just remembered that, according to Mythic Realms, a runelord summoned the Oliphaunt of Jandelay to devastate the invading Azlanti army. Maybe that's why? That Azlant tried to reconquer Thassilon, but after this devastation, they feared Thassilon could summon the Oliphaunt again and just called off future invasion plans?
12. Why didn't the runelords defend Thassilon against the Earthfall? They already predicted the catastrophe. Shouldn't they prepare a gigantic shield or something like that to protect their nations?
13. Azlant is much bigger and more powerful than Thassilon. And the runelords predicted the Earthfall very easily. Which means there would be many people in Azlant that predicted the Earthfall, too. Why didn't they prepare mass evacutaion plans or make a gigantic shield? The runelords could escape the catastrophe, but why couldn't the Azlanti?
14. Which god does Karzoug and Sorshen worship? For Sorshen, Calistria and Nocticula seem valid options, but what about Karzoug? Maybe one of the Outer Gods, considering his relation with Leng?
Happy Belated Thanksgiving! Just some questions from me.
1) What's your favorite food to have during Thanksgiving?
2) How do you feel about tabletop rpgs being good potential character building hobbies for the people involved? Character being personal things, like teamwork and patience?
3) I was curious if you've ever seen several of the D&D retroclones in the OSR movement and how you felt about certain aspects of older styles and attitudes in there? I like some aspects (sandbox gaming, rewarding player ingenuity) but dislike others (lack of skills, race as class).
4) Of the races and classes reveals so far for Starfinder, which are your favorite?
Thanks and I hope you continue to have some great holidays. Here's a picture of the turkey I did this year. I'd send you some, but sadly I live in Florida. I broke it down, used sous vide to cook it, then boiled it for the nice crispy outside. Everything was really tender and juicy!
15. Alaznist could build the Hellstorm Flumes. Can other runelords build it too? Or it was first invented by Alaznist and thus other runelords don't know how to build it?
16. Is a Hellstorm Flume activated automatically? Or does it need a high level mage to activate and use it?
17. According to page 186 of Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition, Karzoug made it clear that Mokmurian should reduce the Hellstorm Flume to nothing more than dust and ashes. I still don't get it. Why does Karzoug want to destroy the Hellstorm Flume so badly? Isn't it wiser to rebuild it and use it for his advantage?
18. The title of this adventure path is Rise of the Runelords. But surprisingly there's only one runelord in this adenture path. Shouldn't it be named as Rise of the Runelord, then? Maybe Paizo originally wanted to make several rnelords appear in this adventure path, but later it changed its mind?
19. I read the article about Lissala in Into the Nightmare Rift, but it seems that the book forgot to mention where her planar realm is. Is it in the Hell, because she is lawful evil?
20. Do Ileosa and Kazavon know Korvosa was once Xin-Eurythnia, the capital of a runelord? And did they know Sorshen is still in deep underneath the city, alive?
21. At the end of Curse of the Crimson Throne, Kazavon is resurrected. What would happpen if Kazavon is resurrected but the PCs fails to defeat Ileosa? Would she submit to Kazavon and become his new minion?
22. Which god does Ileosa worship? Zon-Kuthon, considering her relation with Kazavon?
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Creative Director
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1. Why is Urglin not considered as a part of Belkzen? It is located next to Belkzen, and it's an orcish settlement. Is it somehow hostile to the orcs in Belkzen?
2. I'm really surprised that even a creative director is not immune to spoilers. Then maybe those higher than you, like Erik Mona or Lisa Stevens are immune to spoilers about Golarion lore? Or maybe they are more vulnerable to the spoilers, because their primary job is management and thus they have more things to do other than reading campaign settings and adventure paths?
3. Do you think the canon level of society scenarios are lower than that of adventure paths and modules? That the adventure paths and the modules are considered full-canon, but the society scenarios are considered half-canon at best?
4. You said that after Xin died, there was no king. Then who inhabited the city of Xin after Xin's death? Maybe the entire city was evacuated and no runelords bothered to go there, thus it practically became a large dungeon infested with clockworks?
5. Can I assume that, after Xin died, the runelords killed all his descendants and loyal followers?
6. Page 73 of Burnt Offering said that the runelords enthroned Xin's oldest son as a puppet. Is it not considered canon anymore?
7. You said that whether the runelords would raise the sunken Thassilon or not is unrevealed. Which raises other questions. Can they do that? I thought raising a sunken land is beyond the reach of their power. And would they want to do that, if they can do that?
1) Because it's not. It's part of Varisia.
2) Nope. NO one at Paizo is "immune to spoilers" about Pathfinder/Golarion, but some of us are more concerned about spoiling content than others. If someone at Paizo isn't playing an adventure and has no plans to, no worries. If someone's job has them having to research something, no worries. If I have to look something up or know something about Hell's Vengeance for my job, I look it up or find it out. But if I don't have to, I don't, so that I can preserve a surprise.
3) They are the same. Canon applies primarily to if you've played it in your campaign, and the Pathfinder Society is an unusual case since it's a massive multiplayer campaign whose adventures are played whether or not you play one, but for someone in a campaign that isn't Pathfinder Society, the scenarios are only canon if the GM wants them to be. Same goes for modules and Adventure Paths.
4) The city fell into ruin and was inhabited by monsters and the unfortunate/unlucky.
5) No. Some may have escaped and went into hiding, but nothing ever came of them. We (or any GM) could well pick that thread up someday.
6) I was wrong and forgot something, so that means that there could be something there. I"d have to go back and research lots of books to untangle that canon, and since it's 7:53 AM on a holiday weekend and I'm only awake since my cat meowed to wake me up for food and I peeked in here on a whim, I'm not gonna research that now. You'll have to just set this whole "Does Xin have kids?" line aside for now, I guess. Turns out if you barrage me with questions you will eventually catch me like this, at which point you have "won" and proven that I'm not as knowledgeable about the topic off the top of my head as I had hoped and in order to prevent confusion by further answering questions with possible errors (even if they might end up in canon changes because an idea someone had 10 years ago ended up being a bad idea for today) I will stop answering in that line of questions for the time being.
7) Then you confused me. My preference is that they cannot raise islands. We've done that twice so far in significant storylines (both Kortos and Xin), and it's kinda used up as far as story tropes.
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Creative Director
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8. I thought there would be articles about Azlant, Shory and the Tekritanin League in Lost Kingdoms, but suprisingly there weren't. There is an article about Shory in The Slave Trenches of Hakotep but I'm still not sure. Why didn't Paizo put them in Lost Kingdoms? Maybe they're so important that they deserve their own campaign setting?
9. The hairstyle of Xin and Karzoug seems like that of Qing dynasty of China. Page 6 of Spires of Xin-Shalast also shows an illustration that depicts several buildings in Xin-Shalast, which resemble those of China. And the rune giants' armor and swords look like those of Japan and China. But Thassilonians came from Azlant, not Tian Xia. Maybe Xin traveled to TIan Xia when he was young, and thought that the eastern style looks cool, thus he introduced it to Thassilon?
10. Thassilonian is the language used by Thassilonians. But Thassilonians came from Azlant. Shouldn't the language of the two nations be same?
11. There was no king after Xin. And the runelords are hostile to each other. Which means it would be a perfect time for Azlant to reconquer Thassilon. Why didn't they? Maybe they thought Thassilon is not worth to conquer? Oh, I just remembered that, according to Mythic Realms, a runelord summoned the Oliphaunt of Jandelay to devastate the invading Azlanti army. Maybe that's why? That Azlant tried to reconquer Thassilon, but after this devastation, they feared Thassilon could summon the Oliphaunt again and just called off future invasion plans?
12. Why didn't the runelords defend Thassilon against the Earthfall? They already predicted the catastrophe. Shouldn't they prepare a gigantic shield or something like that to protect their nations?
13. Azlant is much bigger and more powerful than Thassilon. And the runelords predicted the Earthfall very easily. Which means there would be many people in Azlant that predicted the Earthfall, too. Why didn't they prepare mass evacutaion plans or make a gigantic shield? The runelords could escape the catastrophe, but why couldn't the Azlanti?
14. Which god does Karzoug and Sorshen worship? For Sorshen, Calistria and Nocticula seem valid options, but what about Karzoug? Maybe one of the Outer Gods, considering his relation with Leng?
8) We can't do every article all at once. We have to spread them out.
9) Historical Asia is a significant source of inspiration for Thassilon, at least on the art side of things. That doesn't mean it has an in-world direct connection to Tian Xia.
10) No.
11) Azlant had other issues on their mind, and wasn't all about conquering anyway, and a war with Thassilon would have been deadly and not one they would have been guaranteed to win. There were certainly other reasons that made the Azlant/Thassilon relationship do what it did, but I'm not gonna explore that here and now.
12) Because they couldn't. By the time they learned about it, there was only time for them to use their various methods of hunkering down, which had been put in place as emergencies against any apocalypse, not specifically Earthfall.
13) Was it? Where have we said that Azlant was "more powerful"? It all played out the way it did, so don't assume Azlant OR Thassilon had the power or technology or ability to "raise shields" or otherwise stop Earthfall. They didn't, so they couldn't.
14) Karzoug and Sorshen were not particularly religious. They understood the vaule of religion in helping to keep their empires running, and allowed worship to take place in their nations, but they themselves were not religious enough to worship only one deity.
ALSO: Your question lists are bloating up agian and making it difficult to reply. In your case, please limit questions to 3 per post from now on for my sake of ease in replying.
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Happy Belated Thanksgiving! Just some questions from me.
1) What's your favorite food to have during Thanksgiving?
2) How do you feel about tabletop rpgs being good potential character building hobbies for the people involved? Character being personal things, like teamwork and patience?
3) I was curious if you've ever seen several of the D&D retroclones in the OSR movement and how you felt about certain aspects of older styles and attitudes in there? I like some aspects (sandbox gaming, rewarding player ingenuity) but dislike others (lack of skills, race as class).
4) Of the races and classes reveals so far for Starfinder, which are your favorite?
Thanks and I hope you continue to have some great holidays. Here's a picture of the turkey I did this year. I'd send you some, but sadly I live in Florida. I broke it down, used sous vide to cook it, then boiled it for the nice crispy outside. Everything was really tender and juicy!
1) Abalone, but that's hard to get, so in its place I enjoy turkey, salmon, rolls, and/or pumpkin pie.
2) I think they excel at that.
3) I've seen a lot of them, own some of them, and have played some of them. Some are fun, some are bad. Some are beautiful, some are ugly. Kinda like any entertainment genre.
4) Humans for race. I've not really yet looked at any of the class info and have no opinion there yet.
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Creative Director
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15. Alaznist could build the Hellstorm Flumes. Can other runelords build it too? Or it was first invented by Alaznist and thus other runelords don't know how to build it?
16. Is a Hellstorm Flume activated automatically? Or does it need a high level mage to activate and use it?
17. According to page 186 of Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition, Karzoug made it clear that Mokmurian should reduce the Hellstorm Flume to nothing more than dust and ashes. I still don't get it. Why does Karzoug want to destroy the Hellstorm Flume so badly? Isn't it wiser to rebuild it and use it for his advantage?
18. The title of this adventure path is Rise of the Runelords. But surprisingly there's only one runelord in this adenture path. Shouldn't it be named as Rise of the Runelord, then? Maybe Paizo originally wanted to make several rnelords appear in this adventure path, but later it changed its mind?
19. I read the article about Lissala in Into the Nightmare Rift, but it seems that the book forgot to mention where her planar realm is. Is it in the Hell, because she is lawful evil?
20. Do Ileosa and Kazavon know Korvosa was once Xin-Eurythnia, the capital of a runelord? And did they know Sorshen is still in deep underneath the city, alive?
21. At the end of Curse of the Crimson Throne, Kazavon is resurrected. What would happpen if Kazavon is resurrected but the PCs fails to defeat Ileosa? Would she submit to Kazavon and become his new minion?
22. Which god does Ileosa worship? Zon-Kuthon, considering her relation with Kazavon?
15) Nope; that info was proprietary for her.
16) Unrevealed.
17) Becasue he's bitter and holding a grudge against an old enemy.
18) Rise of the Runelords sounds better, and while only one of them wakes up in the storyline, the legacy of all of them is "rising from hidden history" throughout the whole.
19) Unrevealed.
20) They both know Korvosa is on the same spot as Xin-Eurythnia but in the events of Runelords, Kazavon isn't quite yet ready to do anything about that; he focuses his attention on what was once his realm to avoid accidentally waking up competition (more or less). Neither know exactly where Sorshen's hideout is, but they're smart and have resources so they have some good guesses.
21) That's detailed in the hardcover. Short answer: whatever the GM wants to happen, but it would likely not involve Kazavon submitting to Ileosa or the reverse. They would likely not be allies.
22) The closest Ileosa comes to worship is worshiping herself.
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Thank you for your devotion to the fans, and answering all the questions. Have a great holiday weekend!
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I'm very grateful to you, James. Your diligent answering really helped me a lot. As you know, in other RPG publishing companies' websites, there's no thread that a developer answers questions regarding their fantasy world so thoroughly. I really wish other companies follow your example. I ask as many questions in a post as possible because I thought writing only a few questions in a post would be a huge waste of space. But it seems that my habit bothered you quite a lot. I will correct it. And have a good holiday!
Happy Belated Thanksgiving! Just some questions from me.
1) What's your favorite food to have during Thanksgiving?
2) How do you feel about tabletop rpgs being good potential character building hobbies for the people involved? Character being personal things, like teamwork and patience?
3) I was curious if you've ever seen several of the D&D retroclones in the OSR movement and how you felt about certain aspects of older styles and attitudes in there? I like some aspects (sandbox gaming, rewarding player ingenuity) but dislike others (lack of skills, race as class).
4) Of the races and classes reveals so far for Starfinder, which are your favorite?
Thanks and I hope you continue to have some great holidays. Here's a picture of the turkey I did this year. I'd send you some, but sadly I live in Florida. I broke it down, used sous vide to cook it, then boiled it for the nice crispy outside. Everything was really tender and juicy!
1) Abalone, but that's hard to get, so in its place I enjoy turkey, salmon, rolls, and/or pumpkin pie.
2) I think they excel at that.
3) I've seen a lot of them, own some of them, and have played some of them. Some are fun, some are bad. Some are beautiful, some are ugly. Kinda like any entertainment genre.
4) Humans for race. I've not really yet looked at any of the class info and have no opinion there yet.
Thanks for the answers. I've sadly never had the opportunity to eat or prepare abalone at my job.
Some more questions, focused on my question 2 from earlier
1) What aspects of character building do you see from being a player in a D&D game?
2) Same question as above, but from being a GM of a D&D game?
3) Which do you feel is more beneficial to a person; being a player or being a GM? Or both?
4) How do you feel these change (if they do at all) for games like Apocalypse World and FATE, where the roles of player and GM are often blurred?
I've been interested lately in the idea of role playing games being really ideal for character building, expression, and exploring topics in a more interactive way than most fiction. So I'm curious to hear other people's opinions on the matter.
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Creative Director
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I'm very grateful to you, James. Your diligent answering really helped me a lot. As you know, in other RPG publishing companies' websites, there's no thread that a developer answers questions regarding their fantasy world so thoroughly. I really wish other companies follow your example. I ask as many questions in a post as possible because I thought writing only a few questions in a post would be a huge waste of space. But it seems that my habit bothered you quite a lot. I will correct it. And have a good holiday!
Thanks! "Wasting space" isn't a concern really; the internet can hold a lot. Keeping the question lists shorter makes it MUCH easier for me to reply, since once a list gets too long, it truncates when you quote and if there's a long list of questions, that means I have to manually copy/paste the missing text or scroll back and forth between post and reply. By keeping the posts short, I can just hit reply and immediately go to work!
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1) What aspects of character building do you see from being a player in a D&D game?
2) Same question as above, but from being a GM of a D&D game?
3) Which do you feel is more beneficial to a person; being a player or being a GM? Or both?
4) How do you feel these change (if they do at all) for games like Apocalypse World and FATE, where the roles of player and GM are often blurred?
I've been interested lately in the idea of role playing games being really ideal for character building, expression, and exploring topics in a more interactive way than most fiction. So I'm curious to hear other people's opinions on the matter.
1) I'm not sure what you're asking here. Please rephrase.
2) Or here.
3) Depends on your personality, but being a GM makes you a better player, and being a player makes you a better GM, so switching back and forth is best.
4) Don't change at all, save that since the lines are blurred, it's less easy for a player or GM to fall into bad habits.
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When I asked about the shape of the skane (the specific style of dagger that's Pharasma's sacred weapon), you stated that it's curved like a crescent moon. Could you elaborate a bit more on that please? Is the sharp edge on the inside of the crescent or the outside (or is it double-edged)? What makes its shape different from a sickle?
1) What aspects of character building do you see from being a player in a D&D game?
2) Same question as above, but from being a GM of a D&D game?
3) Which do you feel is more beneficial to a person; being a player or being a GM? Or both?
4) How do you feel these change (if they do at all) for games like Apocalypse World and FATE, where the roles of player and GM are often blurred?
I've been interested lately in the idea of role playing games being really ideal for character building, expression, and exploring topics in a more interactive way than most fiction. So I'm curious to hear other people's opinions on the matter.
1) I'm not sure what you're asking here. Please rephrase.
2) Or here.
3) Depends on your personality, but being a GM makes you a better player, and being a player makes you a better GM, so switching back and forth is best.
4) Don't change at all, save that since the lines are blurred, it's less easy for a player or GM to fall into bad habits.
Sorry, let me rephrase the first two.
What I mean is, when one is playing D&D as a player, what character traits do you feel are taught to the player? And likewise, what character traits do you feel are built when one GMs?
Like, I think as a GM, it teaches patience and responsibility. And for player, I feel that it helps to teach teamwork and expression. What do you feel being a player and GM teaches people?
I hope that's worded a bit better. Thanks for answering the questions!
We do have a nation of lizardfolk who ride dinosaurs down at the southernmost tip of Garund though.
!!!
How long have your mind-spies been inside of my skull, 'cause I homebrewed this very idea ages ago? (This is a joke, by the by, please disregard in terms of answering- I'm just stoked)
Does this nation have regular diplomatic dealings with its neighbors, or is it more Belkezen-esque in terms of being a place most regard as dangerous and monster-infested?
Does it have a name yet? (Yes or no answer is more than enough here, I know stuff that isn't formally published is subject to change)
Are the lizardfolk of this nation technologically on par with their neighbors,or do they use "standard" Lizardfolk tech levels?
Something that I noticed in passing a while ago, but which just came to my attention again...
Calistia is Chaotic Neutral, but...
...has her realm in Elysium, has Azata servants and grants access to the Azata (Chaos) subdomain...
...yet also accepts chaotic evil worshippers and has a published antipaladin-code, suggesting there is at least one antipaladin dedicated to her...
...and, all in all, I can find nothing explaining this setup except "well, that's how it is".
What do her Azata followers think about her bringing in revenge-obsessed antipaladins into Elysium, and interacting with them? What do the *other* inhabitants of Elysium think about her bringing her chaotic evil worshippers?
... And because I can't ask a question without speculating about the answer - I'd guess she's just that seductive, and besides, they really don't want to get on her bad side, so they kinda turn a blind eye to her (followers) darker excesses because on good days she's fun to be around, and on bad days you don't want to be the reason she has a bad day, so they just don't dare to throw her out?
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Creative Director
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When I asked about the shape of the skane (the specific style of dagger that's Pharasma's sacred weapon), you stated that it's curved like a crescent moon. Could you elaborate a bit more on that please? Is the sharp edge on the inside of the crescent or the outside (or is it double-edged)? What makes its shape different from a sickle?
Sharp on the outer curve. It's different than a sickle because it's not AS curved and sharp on the other side and does dagger damage, not sickle damage.
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Creative Director
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Sorry, let me rephrase the first two.
What I mean is, when one is playing D&D as a player, what character traits do you feel are taught to the player? And likewise, what character traits do you feel are built when one GMs?
Like, I think as a GM, it teaches patience and responsibility. And for player, I feel that it helps to teach teamwork and expression. What do you feel being a player and GM teaches people?
I hope that's worded a bit better. Thanks for answering the questions!
Teamwork, math, creative story telling, problem solving, and reading. For both.
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Creative Director
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We do have a nation of lizardfolk who ride dinosaurs down at the southernmost tip of Garund though.!!!
How long have your mind-spies been inside of my skull, 'cause I homebrewed this very idea ages ago? (This is a joke, by the by, please disregard in terms of answering- I'm just stoked)
Does this nation have regular diplomatic dealings with its neighbors, or is it more Belkezen-esque in terms of being a place most regard as dangerous and monster-infested?
Does it have a name yet? (Yes or no answer is more than enough here, I know stuff that isn't formally published is subject to change)
Are the lizardfolk of this nation technologically on par with their neighbors,or do they use "standard" Lizardfolk tech levels?
It's called Droon, and we talk a little about it in the Inner Sea World Guide. It's a neutral nation, not evil, and they do indeed have diplomatic relations. The lizardfolk are on par with neighbors, technology-wise, but choose in most cases not to embrace that aesthetic.
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Creative Director
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Something that I noticed in passing a while ago, but which just came to my attention again...
Calistia is Chaotic Neutral, but...
...has her realm in Elysium, has Azata servants and grants access to the Azata (Chaos) subdomain...
...yet also accepts chaotic evil worshippers and has a published antipaladin-code, suggesting there is at least one antipaladin dedicated to her...
...and, all in all, I can find nothing explaining this setup except "well, that's how it is".What do her Azata followers think about her bringing in revenge-obsessed antipaladins into Elysium, and interacting with them? What do the *other* inhabitants of Elysium think about her bringing her chaotic evil worshippers?
... And because I can't ask a question without speculating about the answer - I'd guess she's just that seductive, and besides, they really don't want to get on her bad side, so they kinda turn a blind eye to her (followers) darker excesses because on good days she's fun to be around, and on bad days you don't want to be the reason she has a bad day, so they just don't dare to throw her out?
She's complicated on purpose. And indeed, that's how it is. There's a lot of questions raised by all of this, and we haven't yet really explored the answers yet. Maybe some dayu...
Personally I love exploring contradictions in roleplaying games. My current campaign I am DMing theme is evil for good. So I explore, does the end justify the means type settings, when people have no other option but evil, and such. My favorite line I had the BBEG give was "Sacrificing one to save a thousand is not just the rational choice, but the only moral choice. Even when you multiply them both by a thousand."
My question to you. What are some good references to draw from. What books, games, movies, do you think would fit my theme well that I could use and steal ideas from. You have a very strong grasp on world building and influences for them, and would love for more ideas.
Thank you for your time!
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Personally I love exploring contradictions in roleplaying games. My current campaign I am DMing theme is evil for good. So I explore, does the end justify the means type settings, when people have no other option but evil, and such. My favorite line I had the BBEG give was "Sacrificing one to save a thousand is not just the rational choice, but the only moral choice. Even when you multiply them both by a thousand."
My question to you. What are some good references to draw from. What books, games, movies, do you think would fit my theme well that I could use and steal ideas from. You have a very strong grasp on world building and influences for them, and would love for more ideas.
Thank you for your time!
In my experience setting up things like this is REALLY tricky for games if your players aren't all equally on board. If they are, though, the first thing that comes to mind are antiheroes like Snake Plisken from Escape from New York. A fair amount of superhero storylines wrestle with this as well—the Netflix Marvel shows do a great job at exploring things like this.
Ciao, James! Last week, we had an interesting discussion upon nereids, their nature and their uses in Pathfinder, do you can give us your input on any of those issues? And do you know if we'll see more nereids in the future?
Grazie!
P.S.
Got a doubt, nereids have Dex 29, Weapon Finesse and Base Atk +6, *BUT* their Melee: Touch is +10 only (not +15), why?
1. You're playing Hell's Vengeance, but you didn't play Hell's Rebels. Is it because you like Cheliax and thus protecting it is more fascinating than defeating it?
2. I really hate the fact that disjunction has a possibility of robbing me of spellcasting power. Do you think removing this restriction entirely would be a good idea? So that I can destroy artifacts using this spell without worrying about the safety of my spellcasting power?
3. How should I pronounce Droon, the lizardfolk nation in Garund? Like drone? Or like drune? In other words, what would be the appropriate vowel after R? O or U?
4. I'm really frustrated at the fact that Krune, the high priest of Lissala died in a society scenario. I liked him because he is closely related to the church of Lissala. Considering the fact that he died already, and there's already an article about Lissala in Into the Nightmare Rift, is it safe to assume that Paizo already said everything it wanted to say about Lissala and thus there would be no significant presence of Lissala in future adventure paths? But you didn't reveal where her planar realm is. Does that mean you will say more about her someday?
5. You created Thassilon. Then did you also create Lissala?
6. Why there are so many giants and lamias in Xin-Shalast, but no humans? Why there are no human soldiers under Karzoug? Maybe Karzoug liked monsters very much, thus except for some apprentices and those close to him, humans in Xin-Shalast served as lower workers and slaves only?
7. Can I assume that the giants and lamias I meet in Xin-Shalast came from the 10,000 years past throught the time portal? Or they have lived there even before the return of Karzoug, and he subjugated them?
8. Where is Karzoug's army now? I mean, did they go into the time portal too, and currently waiting in an extradimensional vault? Or they all died in Xin-Shalast by the falling meteorites, but if Karzoug succeeds, he will open a time portal in Xin-Shalast just before the Earthfall and let his army come to the present so that they would avoid their fate? In other words, does Karzoug want to change the history and save his army by opening a time portal and transporting his army to the present?
9. How can lamias reproduce? Is there male lamias, lamia patriarchs, and lamia... I'm not sure what would be the proper male term for harridan, but maybe lamia codger or something?
10. In page 62 of Spires of Xin-Shalast, there's an illustration that depicts Karzoug fighting another wizard. Is that wizard Haphrama, the former Runelord of Greed who was betrayed by Karzoug?
11. Is the weapon held by Haphrama in the illustration is the Karzoug's burning glaive?
12. The Mushfens was not a swamp originally but tidal waves caused by the Earthfall hit here and the moisture hasn't dried out ever since. Does that mean this place is not good for plant life because its soil is too salty, and thus not good for farming too?
13. Before she found the Crown of Fangs, did Ileosa know Korvosa is on the same spot as Xin-Eurythnia? And do other people in Korvosa know it too? Maybe the commoners don't even know there was an ancient empire called Thassilon before, but those intelligent people like the headmaster Toff Ornelos or the master Julaei Cangi knows about Thassilon and Xin-Eurythnia?
14. There is a list of famous spellcasters in page 5 to 7 of Inner Sea Magic. Some of them have + next to their levels. At first I thought that this mark means they are epic level characters, because those who have this mark are 20th level characters. But recently I found out that there's one exception. Jakalyn, the leader of the Red Mantis assassins, has this mark too, even though she is a 19th level character. Does that mean, when Paizo published Inner Sea Magic, you guys already decided to include mythic tiers(and thus not epic levels) into the games?
15. In this page you said that Gyr Gixx and Kevoth-Kul are mythic. But Inner Sea Combat said that they are not mythic. Did you change your mind? Or the developers of this book didn't know your plan and when you found out theb ook was already published and thus you couldn't change it anymore?
16. You said that those who are mythic are destined to be mythic. And those who are not destined to be so cannot become mythic even though they underwent same process. Which gives me another quesion. If a character couldn't become mythic by the Cenotaph because he was not destined to be so, can he still have a possibility to try other founts of mythic and experience the moment of ascension? Or if a fount failed to make him mythic, no matter how many founts he tries, he still cannot become mythic?
17. Baphomet agreed to make Alderpash, the first Runelord of Wrath, mythic if he offers Runelord Sorshen as a sacrifice. But he failed to achieve it and has been imprisoned in the Ineluctable Prison ever since. Does that mean he was not destined to become mythic? And if so, even if he actually succeeded and Baphomet tried to make Alderpash mythic, he still cannot become mythic despite the help of a demon lord because he was not destined to be so?
18. Alderpash is a lich. But he doesn't look like one. Shouldn't a lich have no skin and flesh?
Alien or Predator?
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Creative Director
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As a player how would you protect a personal demiplane ?
Class is restricted to official pathfinder material and you start with an artifact that gives (Sp) Permanency 1/day, what would you do with it ?
Permanent unseen servant. COMFORT MODE ENGAGE.
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Ciao, James! Last week, we had an interesting discussion upon nereids, their nature and their uses in Pathfinder, do you can give us your input on any of those issues? And do you know if we'll see more nereids in the future?
Grazie!
P.S.
Got a doubt, nereids have Dex 29, Weapon Finesse and Base Atk +6, *BUT* their Melee: Touch is +10 only (not +15), why?
Not really interested in diving into ongoing discussions. We'll do more with nerieds if the storyline we do suggests they'd make a good fit.
PS: Dunno, might just be an error in the stats, or it might be calculating the touch attack as a secondary attack.
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Creative Director
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1. You're playing Hell's Vengeance, but you didn't play Hell's Rebels. Is it because you like Cheliax and thus protecting it is more fascinating than defeating it?
2. I really hate the fact that disjunction has a possibility of robbing me of spellcasting power. Do you think removing this restriction entirely would be a good idea? So that I can destroy artifacts using this spell without worrying about the safety of my spellcasting power?
3. How should I pronounce Droon, the lizardfolk nation in Garund? Like drone? Or like drune? In other words, what would be the appropriate vowel after R? O or U?
4. I'm really frustrated at the fact that Krune, the high priest of Lissala died in a society scenario. I liked him because he is closely related to the church of Lissala. Considering the fact that he died already, and there's already an article about Lissala in Into the Nightmare Rift, is it safe to assume that Paizo already said everything it wanted to say about Lissala and thus there would be no significant presence of Lissala in future adventure paths? But you didn't reveal where her planar realm is. Does that mean you will say more about her someday?
5. You created Thassilon. Then did you also create Lissala?
1) I'm playing Hell's Vengeance because Rob was willing to and wanted to run it. And since I designed the outline for Hell's Rebels, wrote one of the adventures, and developed all the rest, it'd not be as fun to play.
2) Then don't cast disjunction. The chance of losing your power is the price you pay for cheating the rules for destroying artifacts. You can't have both.
3) Droon rhymes with kroon or soon or dune.
4) We are unlikely to do much more with Lissala or Krune anytime in the near future.
5) No. Lissala was created by Wolfgang Baur, and then many other folks expanded upon her role. She never really had one single champion, which is part of why her mythos is kind of all over the place as regards her role, alignment, and so on.
Have there been in the history of Golarion any powerful spellcasters who used a wish/miracle or a series of wishes/miracles to extend their lifespans for a period of time? Who might they be if a character wanted to research them and follow in their footsteps/wanted to research how the successful ones worded their wishes?
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6. Why there are so many giants and lamias in Xin-Shalast, but no humans? Why there are no human soldiers under Karzoug? Maybe Karzoug liked monsters very much, thus except for some apprentices and those close to him, humans in Xin-Shalast served as lower workers and slaves only?
7. Can I assume that the giants and lamias I meet in Xin-Shalast came from the 10,000 years past throught the time portal? Or they have lived there even before the return of Karzoug, and he subjugated them?
8. Where is Karzoug's army now? I mean, did they go into the time portal too, and currently waiting in an extradimensional vault? Or they all died in Xin-Shalast by the falling meteorites, but if Karzoug succeeds, he will open a time portal in Xin-Shalast just before the Earthfall and let his army come to the present so that they would avoid their fate? In other words, does Karzoug want to change the history and save his army by opening a time portal and transporting his army to the present?
9. How can lamias reproduce? Is there male lamias, lamia patriarchs, and lamia... I'm not sure what would be the proper male term for harridan, but maybe lamia codger or something?
6) Because the region is too deadly for humans, first of all, and second of all because it's a ruined city, not a "living" city. It's an adventure site, not a place to live. Back in the day, it did have more humans, but that was 10,000 years or so ago.
7) No. They are the descendants of previous monsters who lived there and there have been generations of them through the eons.
8) The time portal doesn't officially happen, frankly, unless VERY specific circumstances occur at the end of the Adventure Path. It's a very unlikly event, so chances are good that in most instances of Golarion Karzoug's forces died in Earthfall.
9) Via sex and/or magic.
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10. In page 62 of Spires of Xin-Shalast, there's an illustration that depicts Karzoug fighting another wizard. Is that wizard Haphrama, the former Runelord of Greed who was betrayed by Karzoug?
11. Is the weapon held by Haphrama in the illustration is the Karzoug's burning glaive?
12. The Mushfens was not a swamp originally but tidal waves caused by the Earthfall hit here and the moisture hasn't dried out ever since. Does that mean this place is not good for plant life because its soil is too salty, and thus not good for farming too?
13. Before she found the Crown of Fangs, did Ileosa know Korvosa is on the same spot as Xin-Eurythnia? And do other people in Korvosa know it too? Maybe the commoners don't even know there was an ancient empire called Thassilon before, but those intelligent people like the headmaster Toff Ornelos or the master Julaei Cangi knows about Thassilon and Xin-Eurythnia?
10) I believe that was the intent, but we've never nailed that down in print, since I'm not 100% sure I like the art style in that art.
11) Dunno. I don't have a copy of that book here at home to reference and I'm too lazy to download my PDF right now.
12) It's not good for farming because it's a swamp filled with monsters, but it's great for plant life that grows in swamps. It's only saltmarsh along the coast. It's had 10,000 years to adjust to being a verdant swamp.
13) No. They're all pretty much ignorant of that truth.
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14. There is a list of famous spellcasters in page 5 to 7 of Inner Sea Magic. Some of them have + next to their levels. At first I thought that this mark means they are epic level characters, because those who have this mark are 20th level characters. But recently I found out that there's one exception. Jakalyn, the leader of the Red Mantis assassins, has this mark too, even though she is a 19th level character. Does that mean, when Paizo published Inner Sea Magic, you guys already decided to include mythic tiers(and thus not epic levels) into the games?
15. In this page you said that Gyr Gixx and Kevoth-Kul are mythic. But Inner Sea Combat said that they are not mythic. Did you change your mind? Or the developers of this book didn't know your plan and when you found out theb ook was already published and thus you couldn't change it anymore?
16. You said that those who are mythic are destined to be mythic. And those who are not destined to be so cannot become mythic even though they underwent same process. Which gives me another quesion. If a character couldn't become mythic by the Cenotaph because he was not destined to be so, can he still have a possibility to try other founts of mythic and experience the moment of ascension? Or if a fount failed to make him mythic, no matter how many founts he tries, he still cannot become mythic?
17. Baphomet agreed to make Alderpash, the first Runelord of Wrath, mythic if he offers Runelord Sorshen as a sacrifice. But he failed to achieve it and has been imprisoned in the Ineluctable Prison ever since. Does that mean he was not destined to become mythic? And if so, even if he actually succeeded and Baphomet tried to make Alderpash mythic, he still cannot become mythic despite the help of a demon lord because he was not destined to be so?
18. Alderpash is a lich. But he doesn't look like one. Shouldn't a lich have no skin and flesh?
14) At the time of publication of that book, we didn't have Mythic Adventures, but I knew that some of the spellcasters were above merely 20th level character in power. So I put a "+" next to those to indicate that, and hoped that we'd get around to building some rule set to support powerful NPCs eventually. I was 99% sure we would, but not what KIND of rules they'd be.
15) Inner Sea Combat trumps my off-the-cuff guess online. My answers on these boards are always subject to change.
16) That's up to the GM to decide.
17) Pretty much. But destiny changes, and if I or some other approved author decides that some other stunt or trick or event could make Alderpash mythic instead, that's fine.
18) Liches can look all sorts of ways. They have magic. Some of them look alive as a result of magic. I believe the text in that adventure says as much in his case.