Creative Director
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Dear James,
Have you ever imagined this thread will grow so far?
Have you already answered this question?
And most important of all - is there a legitimate reason to fear this thread will grow so much until it comes to a point it collapses and turns into some kind of network blackhole?
Yes. No. Not if folks follow the rules and post only one question at a time. :-P
I haven't got past level 2 in an AP and I can't afford to buy any, hence my asking this question out of curiousity; Do you make encounters primarily equal to the expected party level, or do you use the old days style of lots of low cr encounters, some equal cr encounters, and a few high cr encounters?
Mr. James Jacobs,
Would a Kyton recognize that a fresh new kyton had recently undergone the transformation process into a Kyton?
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Creative Director
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Wouldn't it be more likely to cause problems for the forum software (and, potentially, the network) if people post one question per post, as that would increase the number of posts required?
I have no idea, since I'm not part of the forum software setup. All I know is that when people post walls of text or huge lists of questions that it takes a LONG time for me to answer a single post—and sometimes I don't have time to answer such a long post. Furthermore, the fact that when I quote a question to do a reply the quote truncates if it's too long makes it difficult to reply. Further, posting 1 question at a time seems to increase the quality of the questions, since folks focus on one question at a time.
In any event, the traffic this thread gets is nothing compared to the traffic the 2nd Edition boards are getting and things seem to be working fine so I'm not worried that folks posting one question at a time is gonna cause any problems at all.
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Creative Director
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What sort of process is involved in conceptualising an Adventure Path, and how detailed a brief does this process lead to for the writers?
The creation of an Adventure Path process is pretty involved and complex and generally takes a month to go from initial idea to full outline.
The outline we provide for the authors of an Adventure Path includes all six parts. The outline itself is generally about 16,000 to 20,000 words long—about the same size as a 32 page module or player companion.
AKA: The outline is VERY detailed.
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Creative Director
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I haven't got past level 2 in an AP and I can't afford to buy any, hence my asking this question out of curiousity; Do you make encounters primarily equal to the expected party level, or do you use the old days style of lots of low cr encounters, some equal cr encounters, and a few high cr encounters?
Generally equal to expected party level with a few skewing high, even fewer skewing low, and a couple skewing very high in the case of significant ones.
Lots of low CR encounters doesn't work for me, for two reasons:
1) It's boring to play.
2) It gives out too little XP overall. The average encounter length is 500 words over the course of an adventure, regardless of if it's a low or high one, so every low CR encounter we put in means that, overall, less XP is being given out, which means in the case of an Adventure Path, which has a strict schedule to follow in that regard, PCs would be unable to reach the next part's minimum, and we'd have to adjust the level band overall for an Adventure Path much lower, which would perhaps appeal to a few but would frustrate and annoy much more than it would delight.
Hi, James!
You've shared that you're a big fan of horror movies.
I've never been a huge horror fan, and I'm trying to broaden my tastes. I am a fan of classic cinema, and recently subscribed to the Filmstruck streaming service, which includes the Criterion Collection.
(I'm not trying to put on airs: I'm also a fan of B-movies, particularly "so bad they're good" cult films like Plan Nine From Outer Space.)
Recently, I have been watching some horror films from the 1960s and '70s, including Mario Brava's Black Sabbath, Dario Arvento's Suspiria, and Francis Ford Coppola's first film, Dementia 13.
I quite liked all of them!
Do you have any horror classics from that era that you would recommend?
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Creative Director
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Hi, James!
You've shared that you're a big fan of horror movies.
I've never been a huge horror fan, and I'm trying to broaden my tastes. I am a fan of classic cinema, and recently subscribed to the Filmstruck streaming service, which includes the Criterion Collection.
(I'm not trying to put on airs: I'm also a fan of B-movies, particularly "so bad they're good" cult films like Plan Nine From Outer Space.)
Recently, I have been watching some horror films from the 1960s and '70s, including Mario Brava's Black Sabbath, Dario Arvento's Suspiria, and Francis Ford Coppola's first film, Dementia 13.
I quite liked all of them!
Do you have any horror classics from that era that you would recommend?
1960s
Peeping TomQuatermass and the Pit
Psycho
Night of the Living Dead
Carnival of Souls
The Haunting
Witchfinder General
The Devil Rides Out
1970s
Alien
The Exorcist
Jaws
The Omen
Halloween
The Wicker Man
Phantasm
Dawn of the Dead
Shivers
Deep Red
Nosferatu the Vampyr
The Hills Have Eyes
God Told Me To
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The Crazies
Prophecy
Duel
Equinox
The Asphyx
Captain Kronos—Vampire Hunter
Do you like or dislike random encounters, especially with a gm that can weave them seamlessly into the story?
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Creative Director
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Do you like or dislike random encounters, especially with a gm that can weave them seamlessly into the story?
I like random encounters; they add a fun bit of unpredictability to the game, and add a sort of "mini game challenge" to the GM. When I run a game, I love using random encounters, rolling one up and then ad libbing them into the story—they let me scratch my adventure design itch during play.
I don't like ANY encounters, random or planned, if the GM isn't able to weave them into the story.
Have you ever tried your hand at painting miniatures or making 3D terrain/maps for your games?
Have you ever spoken the name of Pazuzu thrice in a single breath?
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Creative Director
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Have you ever tried your hand at painting miniatures or making 3D terrain/maps for your games?
I've painted minis on and off for decades, but the last time I tried a few years ago I discovered that my eyes had aged to the point where it was too difficult to see details and got depressed about it and never painted again. :-/
I've played with 3D terrain but I've never really made my own. I think that 3D terrain for playing LOOKS cool, but in practical use it generally just gets in the way and makes it difficult to place minis in the right spot or makes it difficult to see what's going on when you're sitting at the table and viewing things at an angle.
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Have you ever tried your hand at painting miniatures or making 3D terrain/maps for your games?I've painted minis on and off for decades, but the last time I tried a few years ago I discovered that my eyes had aged to the point where it was too difficult to see details and got depressed about it and never painted again. :-/
I've played with 3D terrain but I've never really made my own. I think that 3D terrain for playing LOOKS cool, but in practical use it generally just gets in the way and makes it difficult to place minis in the right spot or makes it difficult to see what's going on when you're sitting at the table and viewing things at an angle.
*hugs*
Have you ever spoken the name of Pazuzu thrice in a single breath?Yes.
Any negative side effects? :p
Did you know that minimizing artificial light, especially on display screens, but any lights really, and spending time in the dark can help your vision improve? (plus nutrition of course) Will you try it?
I went from 20/45 vision as a kid to 20/10, so it totally works.
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Creative Director
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Did you know that minimizing artificial light, especially on display screens, but any lights really, and spending time in the dark can help your vision improve? (plus nutrition of course) Will you try it?
I went from 20/45 vision as a kid to 20/10, so it totally works.
Would have been good to know 20 years ago before I spent 2 decades sitting in offices working in front of computer screens...
What 80's horror movies do you like?
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Creative Director
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What 80's horror movies do you like?
The 80s was a HUGE horror boom, and it's also when I spent my teenage years, and it's also when VHS hit big and allowed for us to watch movies like never before. Unlike horror movies from the 70s or 60s, it's pretty much impossible to list them all. So I'll just list the first ten great horror movies from the 80s that pop into my head.
John Carpenter's The Thing
Re-Animator
Prince of Darkness
Hellraiser
Pumpkinhead
Aliens
The Blob
The Shining
The Fog
Evil Dead II
From Beyond
The Fly
Ok... a little more than 10. I could go on but that's a good start.
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Creative Director
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Are there any horror franchises that you don't like?
Of course there are. Not a big fan of the Saw movies, or Friday the 13th, or I Know What You Did Last Summer, or the Amityville movies just off the top of my head. I watch them all, hoping they'll get good. But the best they can do is meh.
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Creative Director
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Will you be going on holiday this year?
Traditionally I head south to California to visit family twice a year; once around the Fourth of July, and once around Christmas, for a weak or so each. I did just get a passport finally so MAYBE this year I'll go somewhere else... but traveling is kinda bleh when you're going at it alone, so probably not. Although driving up to Canada to visit Ogopogo could work...
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For Return of the Runelords, will there be a write-up for any thematically-appropriate empyreal lords? Pleeeease?Just for one of them.Ooooo...
The one best serving as a foil to Best Runelord? You know the one. ;)
I don't.
It's my favorite Empyreal Lord, after Sarenrae: Ashava.
Well foo, I was hoping for Arshea. I'm a bit surprised though, since I thought for sure it'd be Soralyon given their significance to the region. I'm also surprised you didn't get which runelord I was referring to, given who our favorite is, along with the one I asked all those questions about.
Anyway, question, question, question... (though I would like to see your thoughts re- my comments).
Since we're already talking about Return of the Runelords, what sorts of goodies can we expect from it (that you can talk about)?
Hi James,
Just watched horror film Pyewacket this weekend. Have you seen it yet, and if so what did you think? I kind of think this film is right up your alley.
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Creative Director
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For Return of the Runelords, will there be a write-up for any thematically-appropriate empyreal lords? Pleeeease?Just for one of them.Ooooo...
The one best serving as a foil to Best Runelord? You know the one. ;)
I don't.
It's my favorite Empyreal Lord, after Sarenrae: Ashava.
Well foo, I was hoping for Arshea. I'm a bit surprised though, since I thought for sure it'd be Soralyon given their significance to the region. I'm also surprised you didn't get which runelord I was referring to, given who our favorite is, along with the one I asked all those questions about.
Anyway, question, question, question... (though I would like to see your thoughts re- my comments).
Since we're already talking about Return of the Runelords, what sorts of goodies can we expect from it (that you can talk about)?
Ashava's got as much, if not more significance to the region as Soralyon.
I can't really reveal much about Return of the Runelords yet. Kinda saving that for Paizocon.
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Creative Director
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Hi James,
Just watched horror film Pyewacket this weekend. Have you seen it yet, and if so what did you think? I kind of think this film is right up your alley.
Saw it last month, and loved it. (And bonus round—my previous cat's name was Pyewacket!)
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Creative Director
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You've mentioned before that you don't paint miniatures since you found your eyesight had worsened - when you did paint miniatures, what sort of models did you paint?
Ones that I rarely ever finished, but generally "the type" of minis were either a PC I was playing or some sort of monster. I never painted enough to actually have this form anything like a habit or theme though.
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Creative Director
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If Aroden were to just pop back up out of nowhere. How much turmoil would that cause? How would Arazni take it? Or Cheliax?
That's not something we'll ever have happen, so it's pretty much left entirely to the GM if they want to take things in that direction.
Same question as before but about horror movies of the 90's?
How is the show Penny Dreadful.
Hi, JJ
today as I walked down the street I asked myself, why are there half-elves and half-orcs, but not half-dwarfs or half-gnomes?
What did you think of The Quiet Place.
Or was it A Quiet Place...