Creative Director
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Hey James,
Are you still taking questions about PF1? Specifically in relation to APs and their affect on Golarion?
Absolutely!
Just super wary about hyper-detailed super-specific inspired-by-online-debates rules questions (for any edition).
But questions about Adventure Path impacts on Golarion? Ask away!
Well, I hadn't been here in awhile, and I figured it was polite to ask!
Slight explanation first, so you understand why I'm asking this question:
I'm working on my own homebrew version of Golarion in which the vast majority of PF1 APs have failed, known as Broken Golarion. The bad guys have won, more or less, and things are *bad*. However, Varisia/the Runelords situation present some interesting and possibly complicated issues. As my question will include spoilers about the end of 3 APs, I'm going to spoil it.
** spoiler omitted **
Ah; I thought you were going to ask about how an Adventure Path (or two or three or whatever) ending got hard-coded into the current year in Golarion. That constitutes design work and creative decisions I and others have already sorted out and made and (in many cases) spoke of in print already.
The "what if" an Adventure Path has a bad end thought experiment isn't something I put much into, frankly, and since I do try to avoid doing too much actual creative work in this thread, I can't really get into details to help you build your campaign, which does sound fun! I can say this, that if Rise of the Runelords ended with Karzoug winning...
AKA: It's the PCs' successes that helps inspire Sorshen to shift away from evil.
Really weird question. Something I doubt you can help me with but this is ask James Jacobs ALL your questions.
I'm looking for a copy of the poster map that came with Dungeon 150 (the final issue). Anything you can help me with? Or point me in the direction of a starting point at least?
Also, I noticed the final issues of Dungeon and Dragon magazine aren't available, even as PDF. Any reason for that you can share?
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Creative Director
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Really weird question. Something I doubt you can help me with but this is ask James Jacobs ALL your questions.
I'm looking for a copy of the poster map that came with Dungeon 150 (the final issue). Anything you can help me with? Or point me in the direction of a starting point at least?
Also, I noticed the final issues of Dungeon and Dragon magazine aren't available, even as PDF. Any reason for that you can share?
Beyond trying to find one for sale at a convention dealer, I suppose Ebay is your best bet.
If I remember correctly, we were allowed to keep selling physical copies of magazines we had in stock once that license ended, but had to stop selling PDFs for the magazines. There may have been a grace period, but that's long in the past now.
Kurgess is all about athletic contests, but in Golarion, we mostly see either races of various kinds or gladiatorial combats.
Obviously, sporting events on Golarion are a bit more... varied than they are in real life, but are there any particularly popular regional games?
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Creative Director
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Kurgess is all about athletic contests, but in Golarion, we mostly see either races of various kinds or gladiatorial combats.Obviously, sporting events on Golarion are a bit more... varied than they are in real life, but are there any particularly popular regional games?
There are, but so far we've not published a product that allows us to explore this type of stuff. It shows up now and then in adventures where we get the chance, but there's no centralized place yet that gathers up information about athletic contests of the Inner Sea.
I asked a question on the last page but it was at the very bottom and I think you might have missed it. I'll repeat it.
Can you tell us anything cool about the unpublished genie adventure that would have followed Savage Tide? Like maybe a recurring NPC or location? I loved those in the three adventures Dungeon published.
Does Legacy of Fire resemble the unpublished genie adventure at all?
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I asked a question on the last page but it was at the very bottom and I think you might have missed it. I'll repeat it.
Can you tell us anything cool about the unpublished genie adventure that would have followed Savage Tide? Like maybe a recurring NPC or location? I loved those in the three adventures Dungeon published.
Does Legacy of Fire resemble the unpublished genie adventure at all?
It turned into Legacy of Fire, so you can still read it! :-)
(The Dungeon version was going to be set in the relatively unexplored western portion of Greyhawk north of the Sea of Dust if I remember correctly.)
I'm sure this has been asked before but why did Legacy of Fire and Second Darkness never get the 3.5 to Pathfinder conversion?
Do you have any good family recipes for someone who’s feeling under the weather?
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I'm sure this has been asked before but why did Legacy of Fire and Second Darkness never get the 3.5 to Pathfinder conversion?
Lots of reasons, but the main ones were a combination of:
1) We don't have time to convert them all.
2) Those two never sold out completely.
3) Those two weren't as popular as Runelords or Crimson Throne.
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During first edition's run did you consider having an NPC pass the test of the starstone?
Nope. NPCs are so far the ONLY ones who have passed that test. They've had their time in the sun. My hope is that the next time we do something significant on screen with the Test (the ONLY time, in fact), is that it's something that can allow PCs to become deities rather than another NPC. It's a game setting, after all, not a novel setting, so big deals like these should be for the players of the game rather than the readers of the game!
Hi there James! I've got some "essence-tial" questions for you.
When I read Planar Essence I presume it's Quintessence flavored by the nature of a given plane, correct?
Are there plans to expand upon the Magical Axies?
Material----Spiritual
Mental----Vital
If so, will this be flavor only or maybe flavor spiced with some crunch?
Take care and stay positive.
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Creative Director
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Hi there James! I've got some "essence-tial" questions for you.
When I read Planar Essence I presume it's Quintessence flavored by the nature of a given plane, correct?
Are there plans to expand upon the Magical Axies?
Material----Spiritual
Mental----VitalIf so, will this be flavor only or maybe flavor spiced with some crunch?
Take care and stay positive.
Planar essence is, I suspect, the same as Quintessence, yes.
No plans to expand on the magical axies at all. Having four types of magic (and thus four essences of magic) is a deliberate attempt by us to keep things controllable, rather than what we ended up with in 1st edition with every spellcaster having their own spell list (which caused, no hyperbole, a loss of more and more pages of content as we had to list sprawling spell lists or break into two or three lines of text for a spell's level entry).
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Are Positive and Negative Energy Mephits a thing?
Nope. Mephits (which I hope some day we can shift over to calling scamps to distance a bit from the OGL and do something new with them) are from the elemental planes. There aren't Positive Elemental Planes or Negative Elemental Planes, so thus there are no mephits from there.
There could be some sort of low level critter in the same niche, but they'd be called something different and have different flavor and powers.
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Are Positive and Negative Energy Mephits a thing?Nope. Mephits (which I hope some day we can shift over to calling scamps to distance a bit from the OGL and do something new with them) are from the elemental planes. There aren't Positive Elemental Planes or Negative Elemental Planes, so thus there are no mephits from there.
There could be some sort of low level critter in the same niche, but they'd be called something different and have different flavor and powers.
*nods*
Why Scamp?
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Creative Director
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Are Positive and Negative Energy Mephits a thing?Nope. Mephits (which I hope some day we can shift over to calling scamps to distance a bit from the OGL and do something new with them) are from the elemental planes. There aren't Positive Elemental Planes or Negative Elemental Planes, so thus there are no mephits from there.
There could be some sort of low level critter in the same niche, but they'd be called something different and have different flavor and powers.
*nods*
Why Scamp?
The word "mehpit" was invented for D&D. It doesn't exist before D&D. It's a great word, since I assume Gygax (or whoever invented it) derived it from the word "mephitic". It's POSSIBLE that "mephit" is an obscure old-tyme word for a small evil spirit, but I've not yet been able to turn up evidence pointing to it yet...
Certainly, googling the word "mephit" overwhelmlingly turns up D&D related hits.
So, four our purposes at Paizo, it's a word in the same category as "stirge" or "bulette" or "ankheg"—a nonsense word owned by WotC that we can use as a result of the OGL. And thus when we use that creature in a non-OGL context, we have to rename it.
I pushed for a LOT of these renames in the text of the Bestiary. In some cases, they went through, but in others they stuck. The mephit/scamp conversation (was more like an argument overall) was probably the most contentious of them all, but managed to keep mention of them being called "scamps" in the text of the entry for them. Just not in the header.
Now, finally getting to the question of "why scamp?" it's because it's the perfect word for them. It's a comedic word that fits their wacky, pest-like personality, makes them sound appropriately low level, and is a real world word that any person who knows the definition but has never read a D&D or Pathfinder book in their lives will immediately understand the nature of the creature from, in a way the word "mephit" does not convey.
Who is the most famous person you've met?
Hi James! I hope you are well enough today and I also hope I didn't push the alignment discussion too much yesterday.✌️
If I read correctly, Pharasma is the "sole" survivor of the previous multiverse (I assume that means native to that iteration of reality); the Outer Gods are also from another place according to what you said (maybe only Yog-Sothoth?). Do you consider, in-game, that this is a myth, a fact or an open question resolved by a game's GM?
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Creative Director
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Hi James! I hope you are well enough today and I also hope I didn't push the alignment discussion too much yesterday.✌️
If I read correctly, Pharasma is the "sole" survivor of the previous multiverse (I assume that means native to that iteration of reality); the Outer Gods are also from another place according to what you said (maybe only Yog-Sothoth?). Do you consider, in-game, that this is a myth, a fact or an open question resolved by a game's GM?
To be honest... the alignment arguments that have been going on lately are exhausting to the point I'm going to be stepping away from directly interacting with these forums with the exception of this thread for the time being. I'm just sick and tired of it, particularly when people bring in real world events and try to use them to "justify" their personal interpretation of alignment.
As far as I'm concerned, for all of the creative work I'm doing on Pathifnder, yes, it's in-game truth. Feel free to change things as you wish in your version of Golarion, but that particular genesis "myth" is the one that I'd rather be canonical for Pathfinder.
The next creative director down the line can feel free to retcon that if they want once I'm fired or quit or retire or whatever.
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Hi again James! Can you point me in the direction of where I can go (or what book I should pick up) to read about how the team came to a decision on how certain 1e AP's ended in specific ways for the lore continuation into 2e? That probably doesn't read very clearly, lets try again: Is there a place I can go to read about why events went the way they did for 2e lore?
We didn't publish for the public an Adventure Path by Adventure Path blow-by-blow breakdown of all of that, but what information was relevant to the discussion is seeded/sprinkled throughout the Lost Omens World Guide. That doesn't have ALL of the information but it's a good start. And as you keep reading other books we publish, you'll start to build up a bigger picture about those events from 1st edition.
But at this point, we haven't prepared a "Here's all the resolutions for all the Adventure Paths" as a single document folks can read. Mostly because we don't want to come down too hard like a hammer and tell people how those things went in their games, and/or want to preserve spoilers for readers who might still want to play one of the older campaigns.
Hi James! I hope you are well enough today and I also hope I didn't push the alignment discussion too much yesterday.✌️
To be honest... the alignment arguments that have been going on lately are exhausting to the point I'm going to be stepping away from directly interacting with these forums with the exception of this thread for the time being. I'm just sick and tired of it, particularly when people bring in real world events and try to use them to "justify" their personal interpretation of alignment.
I understand, it was naive of me to think that it could have gone otherwise. For the record, I've always only wanted to understand your personal reasoning on the topic, I HATE to debate alignment with those who only wish to speak and not to listen; it's a damn shame. Still thank you for your answers, they truly helped me.
Now, have you secretly established who was Pharasma before the begining? And yes, I am aware you won't tell me who she was so I'm not asking.
Do take care of your health and if yesterday was your last open discussion for a while, THANK YOU VERY MUCH
Hey James! What would you say is the CR range of the goblin hero-gods?
Have you ever considered writing a novel? With all that free time you totally always have... /sarcasm
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Creative Director
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Have you ever considered writing a novel? With all that free time you totally always have... /sarcasm
That's kinda been what I've wanted to do with my life the whole time, in fact, but other things keep getting in the way.
I've had two different novels greenlit for the Pathifnder Tales line over the past few years, but each time that happened, it was within a week of significant changes to the novel line's direction that ultimately ended up having those novels get cancelled before I started work on them. One was going to be set in Vyre and focus on a clash between the Red Mantis and the church of Norgorber, and another was going to be a Merisiel "origin story" type thing.
That said, at this point I'm almost more eager to get a novel (or hell, even some short stories) of my own out there. It'd be nice to have something to retire on that I could still work on and make money and own, rather than continue to make things that are owned by someone else. That works great for a day-to-day salary, of course... but that's not gonna be forever. (Also, not writing official Paizo stuff will let me cover topics that likely wouldn't be appropriate for Paizo stuff, since my tastes in writing skew toward my tastes in reading.)
But yes... I've been considering writing a novel since I first discovered I liked writing back in 1st grade in the late 70s.
You publish it, I'll buy it. :-)
I'm sure it's too late for Paizo to do this now, but what do you think of the idea of publishing setting information "frozen" at a specific point in time, like say the day that Aroden died (4606 AR or so, wasn't it?) and letting all your customers (and Paizo) start their campaigns from there?
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You publish it, I'll buy it. :-)
I'm sure it's too late for Paizo to do this now, but what do you think of the idea of publishing setting information "frozen" at a specific point in time, like say the day that Aroden died (4606 AR or so, wasn't it?) and letting all your customers (and Paizo) start their campaigns from there?
Not really a fan of that. Remember that we're not just creating content for folks to buy and use in their game, but we're creating content for US to use as the basis of creating more content, so building a book that's got a built in "obsolescence" for us that we create and then specifically never follow up on feels unsatisfying to me.
I think novels and fiction are a better way to explore the setting's past in detail. Alas, we don't really have a robust novel line for now...
I noticed that in the Adventure Path Hell's Rebel part 6 Breaking the Bones of Hell that Aldressa and Lurokore Min stay in their own room. I was wondering if they are sisters or a couple.
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Has anything been said about the relationship between the Alghollthu and the Dominion of the Black? I feel like since they are quite similar (at least in the loosest, aesthetic way), they'd either get along very well or, more likely, hate each other. I asked on reddit and someone suggested that because the Alghollthu see themselves as top of the pecking order, there's no way they'd submit to the Great Old Ones like the Dominion do, which makes sense. Still, I'd love to hear what you say. Thanks!
They are both groups made up of creepy aberrations... but that's it. They're not really allied or associated, and in fact kinda exist in totally different environs. The alghollthu are deep oceans/Darklands, while the Dominion is deep space. They don't do much interacting at all, but if they did, it would likely be one of violence since they'd treat each other the same way that they treat all of the rest of us.
The Great Old Ones and elder mythos stuff is a third category that isn't allied with either as well. In fact, the Dominion is more or less at war with them. They don't work well together.
The Great Old Ones and elder mythos stuff is a third category that isn't allied with either as well. In fact, the Dominion is more or less at war with them.
Do the Great Old Ones notice?
Do we (the general public) know where the Shor cities crashed?
Do you (the powers that be at Paizo) know where the Shor cities crashed?
Per the Craft Ooze feat:
"At the GM’s discretion, other types of ooze creatures can be created with this feat."
Is there a definitive formula used to calculate the cost of crafting an ooze (how were the costs for the existing oozes on the table calculated) and if there is no calculation, can you give us one?
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Per the Craft Ooze feat:
"At the GM’s discretion, other types of ooze creatures can be created with this feat."
Is there a definitive formula used to calculate the cost of crafting an ooze (how were the costs for the existing oozes on the table calculated) and if there is no calculation, can you give us one?
There isn't and I can't.
We know more than you do. Neither of us knows where all of them ended up. Yet.Do we (the general public) know where the Shor cities crashed?
Do you (the powers that be at Paizo) know where the Shor cities crashed?
Any chance Strength of Thousands might expand on that?
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Any chance Strength of Thousands might expand on that?We know more than you do. Neither of us knows where all of them ended up. Yet.Do we (the general public) know where the Shor cities crashed?
Do you (the powers that be at Paizo) know where the Shor cities crashed?
I suppose maybe, but I'm pretty sure that the Shory aren't a big deal in that Adventure Path. There's a bit more about them in the Mwangi book. But for the most part they're in the same category as the dwarven Sky Citadels: "Ancient ruins we've said exist in a set number that we reveal as we need for them to be revealed in adventures or stories."