...asked rules questions about the cyclops helm...
I don't answer rules questions here, and I"m not sure where you're getting the Cyclops Helm from in the first place, to be honest—we've published a LOT of books over the years.
In any event, please ask your rules questions in the rules forums or in the product thread, where folks can click the FAQ button and where the design team will see the question and where others can see the result of the question or provide their own advice.
The manual I'm talking about is a Pathfinder Module called "The Emerald Spire Superdungeon" of which you are both the creative director and an author. However, it is obvious that over time you may have forgotten you worked on it. :)
The authors are: Keith Baker, Richard Baker, Wolfgang Baur, Jason Bulmahn, Ed Greenwood, Tim Hitchcock, James Jacobs, Nicolas Logue, Frank Mentzer, Erik Mona, Chris Pramas, Sean K Reynolds, F. Wesley Schneider, Michael A. Stackpole, Lisa Stevens, and James L. Sutter.
When I write a thread is there a way to tag them directly?
This is the link where I reported the question I asked you, I hope it is in the correct section:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2uz4n?Cyclops-Helm-and-similar-effects#1
Mr. James Jacobs,
My roommate is developing his own setting with aspirations of publishing, but has recently been struck with doubt that his setting lacks a hook and is "Just another guys homebrew setting", what advice would you give him?
Can't recall if you've answered this, so here we go:
How do interactions between the cults of Lamashtu and Shib-Niggurath typically go?
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What project that you've given to Isabelle Lee to write is your favorite.
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I remember reading somewhere that the Paizo logo is supposed to be a golem, is this true? If yes, what kind of golem is a Paizo Golem? If no, what is it then?
It's a golem, yes, but it's not intended to be a specific kind of golem. It's just a corporate logo. Nothing more.
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What project that you've given to Isabelle Lee to write is your favorite.
I don't discuss freelancer work in public. Isabelle's a great writer, and I'll continue to assign things to her going forward, but I'd rather you ask her what her favorite assignment is than ask me to pick one.
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Dear James,
Arazni is a truly powerful queen, gifted with mythical might and supernatural power befitting the quasi-deific place she holds over the nation of Geb. She has few if any known equals on Golarion...
So my question is, if there was a group of individuals-- fools by every definition but heroes of their own story, who decided to push for war with the nation of Geb against the rest of the inner sea, how might Arazni respond?
Send living diplomats? Intimidation? Mohrg Assassins?
Depends entirely on the nature of the war. She's got a LOT of resources at her disposal, and her attitude toward defending Geb might not be what you think, on top of that.
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Creative Director
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...asked rules questions about the cyclops helm...
I don't answer rules questions here, and I"m not sure where you're getting the Cyclops Helm from in the first place, to be honest—we've published a LOT of books over the years.
In any event, please ask your rules questions in the rules forums or in the product thread, where folks can click the FAQ button and where the design team will see the question and where others can see the result of the question or provide their own advice.
The manual I'm talking about is a Pathfinder Module called "The Emerald Spire Superdungeon" of which you are both the creative director and an author. However, it is obvious that over time you may have forgotten you worked on it. :)
The authors are: Keith Baker, Richard Baker, Wolfgang Baur, Jason Bulmahn, Ed Greenwood, Tim Hitchcock, James Jacobs, Nicolas Logue, Frank Mentzer, Erik Mona, Chris Pramas, Sean K Reynolds, F. Wesley Schneider, Michael A. Stackpole, Lisa Stevens, and James L. Sutter.
When I write a thread is there a way to tag them directly?
This is the link where I reported the question I asked you, I hope it is in the correct section:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2uz4n?Cyclops-Helm-and-similar-effects#1
As creative director, my job was to help direct the overall structure of the project and provide advice and give a final approval of the final book's appearance.
As author, I only wrote the last dungeon level and the vault builder monster.
I was not the developer of the book, nor have I run or played Emerald Spire. In fact, with the exception of the single short chapter I wrote, I've not read much at all of the book.
I can't read everything we publish, particularly in a year like the one where we published Emerald Spire when we almost broke our collective backs by doing almost double the normal number of hardcovers we were doing at the time.
I haven't forgotten I worked on it, but that doesn't mean I know the book inside and out.
There isn't a thread that lets you contact them directly, and several of those authors have pretty much turned their attentions elsewhere in the half-decade since they took part in this book's creation. Looking at the author in question, Nick Logue, he's not super active at all in the industry any more and has moved on to other stuff, and is unlikely to notice any questions directed to him here and is even more unlikely to give you a satisfactory rules answer, since Nick's gaming style is much more in line with "If you don't like it, change it."
Frankly, my advice for how you should deal with the cyclops helm is that if you feel it's too low-priced... raise the price. Or even better, make it a minor artifact—presto, no price needed, and no implication that PCs can create them.
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Mr. James Jacobs,
My roommate is developing his own setting with aspirations of publishing, but has recently been struck with doubt that his setting lacks a hook and is "Just another guys homebrew setting", what advice would you give him?
I'd tell him to keep working on his setting as long as working on the setting brings him joy and entertainment and fulfillment. Who knows what the future might bring? Especially considering the barriers to self-publishing quality products seems to be dropping every year.
Like more violently than Lamashtu and Pazuzu or less violently, like Shub-Nigguarth and Yog-Sothoth?
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Like more violently than Lamashtu and Pazuzu or less violently, like Shub-Nigguarth and Yog-Sothoth?
However violent you want them to be. They're all evil and/or chaotic cults, after all, who think they're the best one. They don't play well together at all.
Because...?No.If you found yourself appearing in Golarion's past, before a world changing event (that you are familiar with) is to occur.
Would you use your knowledge to intervene?
Because of the countless stories I've read and seen and watched, whenever this plot happens, it ends poorly for the person who's trying to change things.
Plus also, you're basically asking me to change events that I created or helped create for the setting. I didn't create those events because I didn't like them and wanted to change them. I created and helped create them specifically to build the setting.
A practical viewpoint given the new edition (which I'm incidentally cautiously optimistic and eager to learn more about).
Still, there's a difference between genre savvy and appeal from fiction. As to the aforementioned stories, why do you think the authors felt the past should remain unchanged? Aren't we technically in the past of the future, and thus already dealing with uncertainty anyway?
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How do Ulon and Irori see each other?
Both teach the pursuit of knowledge but via different means, do they hate or respect each other?
I had to look up who Ulon was. My guess? Ulon isn't really worshiped much at all anymore, and thus his faith and Irori's faith rarely if ever intersect. Those who would have worshiped him before pretty much worship Norgorber now anyway.
He's pretty much out of the picture as far as having any real impact on the modern age of Golarion though. Unless something specifically different was said in the article he was introduced in... but I doubt it, again, since the creative director didn't know who he was. That's a good sign you're something pretty obscure.
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Because...?No.If you found yourself appearing in Golarion's past, before a world changing event (that you are familiar with) is to occur.
Would you use your knowledge to intervene?
Because of the countless stories I've read and seen and watched, whenever this plot happens, it ends poorly for the person who's trying to change things.
Plus also, you're basically asking me to change events that I created or helped create for the setting. I didn't create those events because I didn't like them and wanted to change them. I created and helped create them specifically to build the setting.
A practical viewpoint given the new edition (which I'm incidentally cautiously optimistic and eager to learn more about).
Still, there's a difference between genre savvy and appeal from fiction. As to the aforementioned stories, why do you think the authors felt the past should remain unchanged? Aren't we technically in the past of the future, and thus already dealing with uncertainty anyway?
So who's to say future me didn't already go back in time and set things up precisely this way? It's kind of an endless, never answerable theoretical and circular argument, and those kinda bore me.
As for why authors feel the past should remain unchanged? It'd vary for all of them, I guess, but for me it's because stories are easier to tell when you can rely upon the underlying framework of reality to give you a place to start from. If the past is so mutable that everything can change in any way, then you can't tell any story at all except that one. NO thanks.
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Mr Jacobs, with the creation of 2E, you're settling all of the outcomes of previous APs, with the majority (if not all of them) coming out in the PCs favour. With that said, I'm curious...
** spoiler omitted **
This is a 2E adjacent question and as such it's not yet time for an answer to be made public.
Ask me about things like this in about 16 months or so.
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Hi, JJ, I have a question about "Concordance of Elements (faction)"
In PFwiki, it's said "The Concordance is an ancient and diverse organization"
But our chinese translator called it"均衡教派" Which in english, it's means "A religious denomination which dedicated to balance"
"Does The Concordance is/belongs a religion?"
"Using the term 「religious denomination」to this organization, right or fault?"
"Does 「均衡教派」able to convey the organization clearly enough?"
The concordance is not a religion. Words mean different things in different languages, and when you translate things, you need to keep that in mind.
In this case, the english definition of "Concordance" refers to "agreement and harmony," as in "The four elements working together." Has nothing to do with religion.
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Similar to CustomCharacter's question, do you have a canon name yet for the new kingdom from Kingmaker? Any chance of letting us know or are those details only going to be announced with later publications?
There's absolutely a chance of letting you know things like this... in about a year and a half. Once 2nd edition is here and we've had time to finalize things like that in a way we are happy with.
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So if I want to make my own campaign setting, what is some good advice on what elements of it to focus to hook players, and how should present them (i.e. mechanics first, day to day stuff, macro scale last)?
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Creative Director
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So if I want to make my own campaign setting, what is some good advice on what elements of it to focus to hook players, and how should present them (i.e. mechanics first, day to day stuff, macro scale last)?
Start small, with a little town for the PCs to begin the campaign in and let them explore outward. Begin with flavor to make the world your own so that you can introduce your setting to the players during play. At first, I wouldn't bother with mechanics at all, with the exception of giving the players a list of deities (and thus domains and favored weapons for clerics) to choose from.
Then, stay one or two sessions ahead as you play, building things up as you go.
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James,
I have a really hard time coming up with names por people and places. Any tips?
Yup!
All writers, GMs included, should keep a journal handy for writing things down in. On a page in your journal, now and then when a name comes to you, write down unused names on a list and cross them off later as you use them. Keeping a "name bank" like this is really helpful.
Use online name generators. There's LOTS to choose from; just Google "Name Generator" and have at it.
Spell words backwards. Then rearrange letters here and there to make the words easier to say and to hide the fact that you spelled a word backwards.
Read a lot. Novels, short stories, adventures, game products, all in the genre you choose to work in. Those names will seep into your brain and help seed future names.
Look at real world name lists for a region similar to or adjacent to the one in which you're trying to name someone.
And the most important step at the end... google the name you come up with to see if it's already in use by someone else somewhere so when you reveal the name, you don't bring with it unintentional implications or easter egg surprises.
It can also help to say the name out loud, or show it to a friend to see if they pronounce the written word out loud in the way you think they should. Bonus points if this friend has a talent for making fun of names or realizing how a name might sound like something insulting, since that'll let you know early so, in theory, you'll have time to change the name to something less silly.
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For all the new spells it has published, and its apparent tendency toward 'loose-constructionism' in deciding what classes should be capable of knowing these spells, I've noticed that Pathfinder has never been in the habit of adding new spells to the Adept list.
If one wanted to add more spells to the Adept list, what sorts of rubric/schema/theme/strengths-and-weaknesses would you suggest for determining what should make the cut for them?
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For all the new spells it has published, and its apparent tendency toward 'loose-constructionism' in deciding what classes should be capable of knowing these spells, I've noticed that Pathfinder has never been in the habit of adding new spells to the Adept list.
If one wanted to add more spells to the Adept list, what sorts of rubric/schema/theme/strengths-and-weaknesses would you suggest for determining what should make the cut for them?
I frankly think that the adept is an unnecessary and illogical addition to the game. NPC classes are there to give stats for mundane, run-of-the-mill background characters. Farmers and town guards and local politicians and smiths and shopkeepers and the like. Not spellcasters—spellcasters shouldn't be lumped in with "mundane" things.
We haven't added spells to the adept because it's not really a class we use much. It's much better to use any other spellcasting class instead.
I wouldn't suggest adding more spells to the adept list. I would suggest cutting the adept from your game entirely and instead using a sorcerer or witch or shaman or druid or cleric or whatever else insteasd.
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James,
I have a really hard time coming up with names por people and places. Any tips?Yup!
All writers, GMs included, should keep a journal handy for writing things down in. On a page in your journal, now and then when a name comes to you, write down unused names on a list and cross them off later as you use them. Keeping a "name bank" like this is really helpful.
Use online name generators. There's LOTS to choose from; just Google "Name Generator" and have at it.
Spell words backwards. Then rearrange letters here and there to make the words easier to say and to hide the fact that you spelled a word backwards.
Read a lot. Novels, short stories, adventures, game products, all in the genre you choose to work in. Those names will seep into your brain and help seed future names.
Look at real world name lists for a region similar to or adjacent to the one in which you're trying to name someone.
And the most important step at the end... google the name you come up with to see if it's already in use by someone else somewhere so when you reveal the name, you don't bring with it unintentional implications or easter egg surprises.
It can also help to say the name out loud, or show it to a friend to see if they pronounce the written word out loud in the way you think they should. Bonus points if this friend has a talent for making fun of names or realizing how a name might sound like something insulting, since that'll let you know early so, in theory, you'll have time to change the name to something less silly.
Wow! That was really helpful! thanks!
Dear James Jacobs,
If you were running a holiday themed campaign, which holidays would you do without?
Mr. James Jacobs,
My roommate appreciated your words.
So if I want to make my own campaign setting, what is some good advice on what elements of it to focus to hook players, and how should present them (i.e. mechanics first, day to day stuff, macro scale last)?Start small, with a little town for the PCs to begin the campaign in and let them explore outward. Begin with flavor to make the world your own so that you can introduce your setting to the players during play. At first, I wouldn't bother with mechanics at all, with the exception of giving the players a list of deities (and thus domains and favored weapons for clerics) to choose from.
Then, stay one or two sessions ahead as you play, building things up as you go.
I'm sorry, I should have been more clear, but I meant like for a book about a campaign setting. There are lots of settings out there for generic fantasy, but few things out there with truly different stuff, like several non-humanoid species, dyson spheres, planes of nearly endless dungeons, etc.
Since I go for that truly exotic material, I figured I'd put together a book or three about my exotic heavy setting.
So any advice for putting together a book about a campaign setting that would be a joy to read and get folks interested?
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Creative Director
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So if I want to make my own campaign setting, what is some good advice on what elements of it to focus to hook players, and how should present them (i.e. mechanics first, day to day stuff, macro scale last)?Start small, with a little town for the PCs to begin the campaign in and let them explore outward. Begin with flavor to make the world your own so that you can introduce your setting to the players during play. At first, I wouldn't bother with mechanics at all, with the exception of giving the players a list of deities (and thus domains and favored weapons for clerics) to choose from.
Then, stay one or two sessions ahead as you play, building things up as you go.
I'm sorry, I should have been more clear, but I meant like for a book about a campaign setting. There are lots of settings out there for generic fantasy, but few things out there with truly different stuff, like several non-humanoid species, dyson spheres, planes of nearly endless dungeons, etc.
Since I go for that truly exotic material, I figured I'd put together a book or three about my exotic heavy setting.
So any advice for putting together a book about a campaign setting that would be a joy to read and get folks interested?
Same advice. Building something like that isn't something you'll be able to finish quickly, and starting small lets you focus on the immediate info without having to spend too much time on stuff that isn't in play all at once.
So, add "patience" and "dedication to writing" to the list. Especially since you'll need to define so much of the setting that that itself is going to be the most significant barrier to entry. Not relying on familiar tropes makes it more difficult for players to get invested in an RPG. It works great for novels and movies and non-interractive settings, but not so much for interactive games.
As for "joy to read"? Practice your writing. Take writing classes. Seek feedback from folks and take the feedback to heart. Read LOTS of books and games, so that you're constantly learning new writing skills from authors you admire. I'd suggest Stephen King's "On Writing," for sure; it's the best book about writing I've ever read.
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What about Black Panther?
I liked this one a LOT. It was interesting and refreshing and compelling and astounding...
...up until the climax, when it devolved into the same exact climax every superhero movie has these days—a bunch of characters fighting against a small army of [insert bad guys here]. I'm tired of that. Let's see a superhero movie end some other way some day, please.
Dear James Jacobs,
Do you read any comics that are currently being produced by the "Big Two"? Or you more of an indie/small press comic guy?
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Dear James Jacobs,
Do you read any comics that are currently being produced by the "Big Two"? Or you more of an indie/small press comic guy?
I don't read any of those comics. I'm very much more into the smaller press stuff. And even then I don't read many of them.
Currently I'm reading Wayward and Saga and Junji Ito stuff as they come out in compilations.
Where would you send Orik Vancaskerkin, should he be talked out of serving Nualia? The last couple times I ran Runelords, I had him start working for Sabriyya in the Bazaar of Sails as an enforcer, more or less. But I'm wondering if he'd rather be somewhere else.
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Where would you send Orik Vancaskerkin, should he be talked out of serving Nualia? The last couple times I ran Runelords, I had him start working for Sabriyya in the Bazaar of Sails as an enforcer, more or less. But I'm wondering if he'd rather be somewhere else.
That'd be entirely dependent on the PCs. Who they are and how they talked him out of it would determine his next step.
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When you play, gm, or develop adventures, do you like to call attention to how far beyond mortals the PCs achieve?
(Sheriff hemlock says, "six months ago we could have rounded you four up. Now you can slaughter the whole town. Is that nuts or what?)
Or do you prefer to leave it unstated?
If the world doesn't react to the PCs' growing power and fame, then I'm doing my job wrong as a GM.
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If the world doesn't react to the PCs' growing power and fame, then I'm doing my job wrong as a GM.When you play, gm, or develop adventures, do you like to call attention to how far beyond mortals the PCs achieve?
(Sheriff hemlock says, "six months ago we could have rounded you four up. Now you can slaughter the whole town. Is that nuts or what?)
Or do you prefer to leave it unstated?
A fair amount of people have problems with the implications of the sheer amount of power characters gain in the game.
There isn't a question here and I don't have answers. These things were so much easier when I was 14.
A fair amount of people seem to be a bit too generous in allowing their players build characters with high point values.
If you have a group of experienced players and they are looking for a challenge, have them build their characters using 10 point buy instead of 15 or higher.
That said, please limit your posts here to questions, otherwise I might just reply with answers someone doesn't want to hear... :-P
Is it likely that there are dinosaurs in Varisia?
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Hi, JJ, I have another question about "Concordance of Elements (faction)".
I used to discuss the nature of this faction with other guys,and we got different conclusion.
The introduction of The Concordance said:"Its members believe that maintaining the equilibrium between air, earth, fire, and water is necessary for the stability of the multiverse" , so I guess it' similar like the Circle of Druid, or Prophecies of Kalistrade in Druma, or something like that.
But other guys said that The Concordance is something like fire department or NGO of animal protection, just because YOU declare that "The Concordance is not a Religion".
So here's the question:
1. What's the meaning of "maintaining the equilibrium between air, earth, fire, and water is necessary for the stability of the multiverse"? Some kind of philosophical ideas about the universe like Kalistrades, believe there's a logical relationship between personal wealth and celestial order, or just introducing the faction history with no meaning?
2. Introduction about The Concordance said that members believe "keeping the balance between elements is the key to stabilizing the multiverse", but someone told me "Beacuse JJ said The Concordance is not a Religion, so there's no FAITH or BELIEF factor about elemental balance in The Concordance"(yes, that's how they unscramble it), is that true?
U said "The Concordance is not a Religion", it just means no god and religious rites in The Concordance, or no faith and belief about elemental balance?
HELP!!!