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Where can I see a map of Heidmarch Manor? Magnimar, City of Monuments and Shattered Star didn't have one. The only map I found was that in Seekers of Secrets. Is there no other map? I really wish we would be able to have a whole new map for the manor because the one in Seekers of Secrets looks old. Is Pathfinder Lodge Flip-Mat intended to represent Heidmarch Manor?
We ran out of room to include the map in the first adventure of Shattered Star, so we gave it away for free. It's in the Shattered Star player's guide.
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I do not know if this has been asked before, but there's something that's been bugging me for a bit now. Back when Bestiary 6 came out, you described choosing to include only five planar dragons in the book (as opposed to one per outer plane) to keep the number of dragons in each sept stable. Likewise, they were described as having been characterized as dragons that come to the material plane and establish little colonies there to give them a personality beyond just dragons from the outer planes and to leave the door open for a possible future sept of planar dragons that do something else.
In the last few adventure paths, a number of new extraplanar dragons have been released that seem to fit the Bestiary 6 dragons' niches for the neutral planes -- i.e., they're all geared around establishing little pockets of their homes on the material plane. Was this a deliberate choice to abandon the older plans for a second sept of planar dragons?
That was a miscommunication. By the time I realized there were more planar dragons going into the bestiary it was too late to course correct, so we embraced the new direction.
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The elder things built a city located on a high plateau in the Antarctic. There are ruins called the Nameless Spires on Golarion's North Pole. It can't be a coincidence, is it? So I have to ask, were the Nameless Spires built by the elder things?
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The elder things built a city located on a high plateau in the Antarctic. There are ruins called the Nameless Spires on Golarion's North Pole. It can't be a coincidence, is it? So I have to ask, were the Nameless Spires built by the elder things?
I'd like to think so but we've never said definitively in print.
Of the final seven runelords, which one was the most depraved? By that I mean, which one caused the other six to maybe raise an eyebrow or two in shock.
Of your old Demonomicon articles in The 3.5 days (which were all great by the way) which one did you have the most fun writing and why?
In your home game, does Obox-ob still have a place of prominence?
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Of the final seven runelords, which one was the most depraved? By that I mean, which one caused the other six to maybe raise an eyebrow or two in shock.
What is depraved to one isn't depraved to them all. I suppose Zutha probably comes the closest overall, though.
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Of your old Demonomicon articles in The 3.5 days (which were all great by the way) which one did you have the most fun writing and why?
That's probably a tie between Dagon (because it let me tread some Lovecraft waters, which was a tricky place to go in 3.5 D&D), and Malcanthet (because all of her lore was brand new—I got to invent her pretty much from the ground up and not cleave to established D&D lore).
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Of your old Demonomicon articles in The 3.5 days (which were all great by the way) which one did you have the most fun writing and why?That's probably a tie between Dagon (because it let me tread some Lovecraft waters, which was a tricky place to go in 3.5 D&D), and Malcanthet (because all of her lore was brand new—I got to invent her pretty much from the ground up and not cleave to established D&D lore).
The Malcanthet article was one of my favorites. She came across to me as a very savvy politician. She and Nocticula were very different in their similar role. I found it to be pretty cool that you made them so different.
Is Shamira more like Malcanthet, than Nocticula, in terms of personality and governing styles?
What has Zutha’s existence been like in the ages between Thassilon’s fall and his tome being reassembled? Is a lich essentially asleep within their philactery or are they aware whiling away the time?
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Inevitables are on the outs—they're a concept that reality once needed but no longer really requires, and aeons are moving in to fill that vacancy. So the "official" conflict would then be that inevitables are an outdated race made obsolete by aeons, who are more efficient at the job, and are edging them out. Think of inevitables as 8-track cassettes and aeons as digital downloaded music, perhaps?Currently reading Planar Adventures and I'm loving it, both things I long wanted to know and things I didn't know I wanted to know that will be useful in future campaigns, so thank you for that.
Could you suggest a plausible reason (or reasons) for conflict to occur between aeons and inevitables ?
James, was this a hypothetical answer for potential campaign use, or a statement regarding an official position about the status of aeons and inevitables moving forward in PF2? There's been some chatter in the 'Concordance of Rivals' product page where some folks took your statement to mean the latter.
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Of your old Demonomicon articles in The 3.5 days (which were all great by the way) which one did you have the most fun writing and why?That's probably a tie between Dagon (because it let me tread some Lovecraft waters, which was a tricky place to go in 3.5 D&D), and Malcanthet (because all of her lore was brand new—I got to invent her pretty much from the ground up and not cleave to established D&D lore).The Malcanthet article was one of my favorites. She came across to me as a very savvy politician. She and Nocticula were very different in their similar role. I found it to be pretty cool that you made them so different.
Is Shamira more like Malcanthet, than Nocticula, in terms of personality and governing styles?
Yes.
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James, was this a hypothetical answer for potential campaign use, or a statement regarding an official position about the status of aeons and inevitables moving forward in PF2? There's been some chatter in the 'Concordance of Rivals' product page where some folks took your statement to mean the latter.Inevitables are on the outs—they're a concept that reality once needed but no longer really requires, and aeons are moving in to fill that vacancy. So the "official" conflict would then be that inevitables are an outdated race made obsolete by aeons, who are more efficient at the job, and are edging them out. Think of inevitables as 8-track cassettes and aeons as digital downloaded music, perhaps?Currently reading Planar Adventures and I'm loving it, both things I long wanted to know and things I didn't know I wanted to know that will be useful in future campaigns, so thank you for that.
Could you suggest a plausible reason (or reasons) for conflict to occur between aeons and inevitables ?
The latter. Inevitables aren't going away, but we're shifting focus a bit. Of all the outsider races, inevitables have caused us the most trouble building lore for in a way that plays well with OGL stuff and non-OGL stuff, something we don't have to worry so much for races with names and identities based on mythology or names and identities based on stuff WE made up, rather than another company.
AKA: Inevitables cause us potential legal worries in ways no other outsider race does, and we're trying to adjust things to a safer and healthier place for Paizo.
The shift toward aeons being the main LN race is happening anyway, so puting an in-world reason for the shift helps address continuity and verisimilitude as regards canon
Who at Paizo put the most thought into Falcon's Hollow, and Darkmoon Vale in general?That was Mike McArtor, although he left paizo many years ago and has since, unfortunately, passed away.
Oh no... : (
This is...kinda insensitive for me to ask, but...who'd be working on it now?
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The latter. Inevitables aren't going away, but we're shifting focus a bit. Of all the outsider races, inevitables have caused us the most trouble building lore for in a way that plays well with OGL stuff and non-OGL stuff, something we don't have to worry so much for races with names and identities based on mythology or names and identities based on stuff WE made up, rather than another company.AKA: Inevitables cause us potential legal worries in ways no other outsider race does, and we're trying to adjust things to a safer and healthier place for Paizo.
The shift toward aeons being the main LN race is happening anyway, so puting an in-world reason for the shift helps address continuity and verisimilitude as regards canon
Thanks so much for the clarification James.
I'll throw in a vote for more and expanded axiomite content in PF2 as well *since they're wholly owned by Paizo!
*and proteans, and daemons, and by God more proteans ;)
The lores regarding aeons will be changed a lot in Second Edition, it seems. Does that mean, in Second Edition, the relation between aeons and the Elder Mythos be clarified? Great old ones are also called as Strange Aeons, it seems, and thus it would be interesting to know the relation between these two bizarre outsiders.
Hello, James!
As an afficionado of both horror film AND H.P. Lovecraft... have you heard the announcement of a film adaptation of The Colour Out Of Space... which will be directed by cult horror auteur Richard Stanley, and starring the inimitable Nicholas Cage?
And... how excited are you to see this film?
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Who at Paizo put the most thought into Falcon's Hollow, and Darkmoon Vale in general?That was Mike McArtor, although he left paizo many years ago and has since, unfortunately, passed away.Oh no... : (
This is...kinda insensitive for me to ask, but...who'd be working on it now?
No one. It's story's pretty much been told, and apart from some more stuff that got included in the Andoran 64 page book, we haven't gone back there to do more with that region..
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The latter. Inevitables aren't going away, but we're shifting focus a bit. Of all the outsider races, inevitables have caused us the most trouble building lore for in a way that plays well with OGL stuff and non-OGL stuff, something we don't have to worry so much for races with names and identities based on mythology or names and identities based on stuff WE made up, rather than another company.AKA: Inevitables cause us potential legal worries in ways no other outsider race does, and we're trying to adjust things to a safer and healthier place for Paizo.
The shift toward aeons being the main LN race is happening anyway, so puting an in-world reason for the shift helps address continuity and verisimilitude as regards canon
Thanks so much for the clarification James.
I'll throw in a vote for more and expanded axiomite content in PF2 as well *since they're wholly owned by Paizo!
*and proteans, and daemons, and by God more proteans ;)
Proteans are a great example of what I wish we'd done from the start with the lawful neutral side of things—come up with something wholly Paizo.
Daemons aren't Paizo owned, but the word isn't a made-up word either so they're in the same hazy gray area as demons and devils. We can use the word daemon all over the place in non-OGL products, and we can use the daemons we own in the same, but the few that we use that we picked up from the Tome of Horrors we cannot use except in game products.
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The lores regarding aeons will be changed a lot in Second Edition, it seems. Does that mean, in Second Edition, the relation between aeons and the Elder Mythos be clarified? Great old ones are also called as Strange Aeons, it seems, and thus it would be interesting to know the relation between these two bizarre outsiders.
You'll have to wait for Second Edition to find out what we've done with aeons, but no... they are NOT tied to the Elder Mythos at all.
The phrase "Strange Aeons" Is not something we use to call the Great Old Ones. It's the title of an Adventure Path, inspired in part by one of Lovecraft's most famous quotes in a story he wrote in the 1920s.
Words can have multiple meanings in the English language even if they're spelled the same way.
Bow can mean a weapon that fires arrows, a thing you put on a present, or an action you take to give thanks to someone. It doesn't mean that when you shoot an arrow, you're wrapping a present or giving thanks.
Wind can mean air moving through the atmosphere, or it can mean the action you take to make a clock work. It doesn't mean a breeze can be used to power a clock.
Shake can be an action you use to pour out salt, or it can be a desert made from ice cream and milk. It doesn't mean that milkshakes have anything to do with you shaking a salt shaker.
And by the same reason, aeon in Pathfinder is a word that is an archaic synonym for the word "eon" and means "a long period of time" (this is the version that is associated thematically with Lovecraft, because he favoured words with British spellings and archaic spellings—it's why we call it a colour out of space and not a color out of space, for example), but it also has a completely made-up word we use as the name of a race of outsiders. That's it. No further association.
Howdy, James! About how long-- months, years, decades-- has Alkenstar has firearms? It occurred to me that it's possible my PFS character (who fell in love with pistols while a child) might... not actually have been able to do that if they didn't exist at the time.
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Hello, James!
As an afficionado of both horror film AND H.P. Lovecraft... have you heard the announcement of a film adaptation of The Colour Out Of Space... which will be directed by cult horror auteur Richard Stanley, and starring the inimitable Nicholas Cage?
And... how excited are you to see this film?
I have indeed heard of it, and I'm very interested in it. I know Richard Stanley has been eager to do a Lovecraft movie for quite some time (see the documentary about the making of "The Island of Dr. Moreau" for details), but I'm wary.
Nicholas Cage can be a great actor or an awful actor.
And of the Richard Stanley movies I've seen... some are pretty good (Dust Devil) and some I didn't like (Hardware). He's got the passion and background to do a good Colour out of Space, yes, but I'm keeping my expectations low, as I usually do for Lovecraft adaptations.
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Howdy, James! About how long-- months, years, decades-- has Alkenstar has firearms? It occurred to me that it's possible my PFS character (who fell in love with pistols while a child) might... not actually have been able to do that if they didn't exist at the time.
Guns began to proliferate in Alkenstar in 4620. There were a few before that but they were super rare and still experimental.
So... they've been around for a little less than 100 years.
If Aucturn becomes a great old one, what would be its alignment? I'm not even sure whether the pronoun it is suitable for Aucturn or not. Should I use he or she instead? Other great old ones all have genders, so Aucturn must have one, right?
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Do Ustalav's Royal Accusers have any official symbol or emblem? There's no mention of them in Rule of Fear or the Carrion Crown AP, but they ARE present in the Strange Aeons AP and Wes' novel, Bloodbound.
Thanks to Adam for the assist on this one.
It is a modification of the crest of Ustalav; you can see it on the badge worn by Winter Klacxka on page 61 of Pathfinder #109.
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If Aucturn becomes a great old one, what would be its alignment? I'm not even sure whether the pronoun it is suitable for Aucturn or not. Should I use he or she instead? Other great old ones all have genders, so Aucturn must have one, right?
Chaotic evil.
Not all great old ones have genders, but there's a dearth of female great old ones so I'd be tempted to make Aucturn female if I had to choose.
I don't anticipate having to choose anytime soon though.
In Second Edition all the arts for monsters will be changed. Does that mean we will have feathered dinosaurs instead? I heard that dinosaurs without feathers are nonscientific.
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In Second Edition all the arts for monsters will be changed. Does that mean we will have feathered dinosaurs instead? I heard that dinosaurs without feathers are nonscientific.
Again, now is not the time for me to answer questions about 2nd edition. Save 2nd edition questions for once the game is out.
Of all the demonlords that you’ve ever worked on, 3.5 and Pathfinder, which one is your favorite and why?
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Of all the demonlords that you’ve ever worked on, 3.5 and Pathfinder, which one is your favorite and why?
Demogorgon, because he was always my favorite demon lord from the start and has a lot of nostalgia to back him up, but Nocticula's giving him a run for his money.
Of all the demonlords that you’ve ever worked on, 3.5 and Pathfinder, which one is your favorite and why?Demogorgon, because he was always my favorite demon lord from the start and has a lot of nostalgia to back him up, but Nocticula's giving him a run for his money.
Your Demogorgon article, and the Savage Tides adventure path, really sold me on Demogorgon being the prince of all demons.
Nocticula was a great demonlord, I really enjoyed her assassinating other demonlords. Are you going to miss her being a demonlord at all?
Did you ever do a Demonomicon article on Orcus that I missed? Speakibg of the big man, do you much care for Orcus?
Was Runelord Zutha religious at all? I’m curious if he worshipped the Pallid Princess.
What is the best sourcebook for reading up on Zura and her schemes?
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Did you ever do a Demonomicon article on Orcus that I missed? Speakibg of the big man, do you much care for Orcus?
I never did. Orcus is fun, but he's also the demon lord that had gotten the most coverage and time in the spotlight of all of them when I was doing demon stuff for D&D, and so I wasn't nearly as interested in restating all that's been said before in things like the Bloodstone series or Dead Gods or the like. I pretty much had my say on Orcus in the adventure "Headless" in Dungeon magazine, and then later on in Savage Tide.
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Of all the demonlords that you’ve ever worked on, 3.5 and Pathfinder, which one is your favorite and why?Demogorgon, because he was always my favorite demon lord from the start and has a lot of nostalgia to back him up, but Nocticula's giving him a run for his money.Your Demogorgon article, and the Savage Tides adventure path, really sold me on Demogorgon being the prince of all demons.
Nocticula was a great demonlord, I really enjoyed her assassinating other demonlords. Are you going to miss her being a demonlord at all?
No, because I told the story I wanted to tell with her being a demon lord in Wrath of the Righteous (and to a lesser extent in Moonscar). I'm much more interested going forward in exploring her story as a goddess of exiles and artists.
I've also spent a HUGE part of my time doing RPG stuff doing demon stuff... be it the Demonomicon articles in Dragon, the Fiendish Codex for D&D, or the Book of the Damned stuff for Pathfinder. I pretty much feel like I've mostly said what there is to be said from me on the topic of demons, with the possible exception of Treerazer, who DOES still have a story still waiting for telling.
How do you pronounce "Jeggare" (one of the Chelish noble families)?
Of all the demonlords that you’ve ever worked on, 3.5 and Pathfinder, which one is your favorite and why?Demogorgon, because he was always my favorite demon lord from the start and has a lot of nostalgia to back him up, but Nocticula's giving him a run for his money.Your Demogorgon article, and the Savage Tides adventure path, really sold me on Demogorgon being the prince of all demons.
Nocticula was a great demonlord, I really enjoyed her assassinating other demonlords. Are you going to miss her being a demonlord at all?
No, because I told the story I wanted to tell with her being a demon lord in Wrath of the Righteous (and to a lesser extent in Moonscar). I'm much more interested going forward in exploring her story as a goddess of exiles and artists.
I've also spent a HUGE part of my time doing RPG stuff doing demon stuff... be it the Demonomicon articles in Dragon, the Fiendish Codex for D&D, or the Book of the Damned stuff for Pathfinder. I pretty much feel like I've mostly said what there is to be said from me on the topic of demons, with the possible exception of Treerazer, who DOES still have a story still waiting for telling.
I’m really curious to see where Nocticula will go in her new life. I think it will be cool to see.
Your work on demon lore and Abyssal lore has been great from Hordes of the Abyss to Planar Adventures, it’s all been grand. I’m excited to see what Treerazer has up his sleeve. He’s a cool demon. I think he even answers questions on this website. What a swell guy.
What was your favorite contribution to the Hordes of the Abyss book?
There is an article about the Technic League in Lords of Rust. It says that between members and captains there are three ranks: commanders, lieutenants, and seconds. Which of these three is the highest and which of these three is the lowest? The article didn't specify it.
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The shift toward aeons being the main LN race is happening anyway, so puting an in-world reason for the shift helps address continuity and verisimilitude as regards canon
I'll throw in a vote for more and expanded axiomite content in PF2 as well *since they're wholly owned by Paizo!
Proteans are a great example of what I wish we'd done from the start with the lawful neutral side of things—come up with something wholly Paizo.
Is it okay for me to ask why Axiomites aren't becoming the signature Paizo LN race and being played more with?
I really like them (especially compared to Aeons), being basically a swarm of fantasy programs trying to run the universe. I always hoped to see more with them, especially when you factor in the possibly of bugs and glitches (we were teased a bit in WftC).
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So I'm confused about how rakshasa works nowadays because 3.5 article contradicts crimson throne and 3.5 korvosa book and rakshasa blooded tieflings existing. Like, old version claimed two rakshasas can't have children together and that rakshasa-mortal pairings result in more rakshasas. That sort of things.
Sooo yeah, how do rakshasa blooded tiefligns come to be and can rakshasa have children together?
When 2E comes out, will the events of the previous adventure paths have set dates? I'm just hoping there'd be a plausible reason for the Glorious Reclaimation to happen after the events of War for the Crown.