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1) Unspeakable Futures is my d20-based Post-Apocalyptic game that I've been tinkering with since 2000 or thereabouts. I've run several games and campaigns with it, but it's not my D&D homebrew; it's different. My D&D homebrew is set on the world of Baria, which is what Androffa turns into after over after many centuries of history.
You mean this Androffa?
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1) Have you translated Unspeakable Futures into Pathfinder 2e or do you prefer 1e for it?
2) Do you follow Advanced 5e project?
3) What are your thoughts about E6 style of gaming?
1) No. At this point if I release more Unspeakable Futures content it'll be fore me, not for Paizo.
2) No.
3) It doesn't fit my style of play, in that I prefer longer form games that continue to evolve your character as the story evolves from small stuff to epic world shaking content. Something like E6 constricts my creativity. Not for me. Note that this is not to say I don't like low level play... in fact I love it. The vast majority of the adventures I've written are for low level. I adore how low level pushes your characters and party to build a history and come up with creative solutions, but I also really enjoy being able to tell high-powered "superhero" style stories as well.
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1) Unspeakable Futures is my d20-based Post-Apocalyptic game that I've been tinkering with since 2000 or thereabouts. I've run several games and campaigns with it, but it's not my D&D homebrew; it's different. My D&D homebrew is set on the world of Baria, which is what Androffa turns into after over after many centuries of history.You mean this Androffa?
Yes, that one. I sold that name and the planet to Paizo from my homebrew—nothing new there. Been doing that on and off for decades. The Divinity plot that ties it to Golarion is brand new and something I built for Iron Gods, though.
But that's why I've resisted requests to reveal what Androffa is like in the modern era. Because it's basically just Golarion with a different map in large part. The idea that I've been suggesting is that if you (by which, I mean any GM who reads this, not just Haides) want to build your own homebrew world in the Golarion universe, feel free to have that homebrew be contemporary Androffa, perhaps after a name change to your own setting, to explain why some of the content used in your homebrew parallels elements in the published setting.
That's how I explain why Baria has things like Desna, Sekamina, Goka, Karzoug, Treerazer, etc.
Hey James!
I was wondering if you could explain what about the animate dead spell makes it evil, whether or not it actually uses the soul of the deceased and that is why Pharasma hates it?
I ask because a friend of mine keeps insisting that the soul is not used in any way with those spells and Pharasma hating it makes her petty. And I have always wondered about it.
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Hey James!
I was wondering if you could explain what about the animate dead spell makes it evil, whether or not it actually uses the soul of the deceased and that is why Pharasma hates it?
I ask because a friend of mine keeps insisting that the soul is not used in any way with those spells and Pharasma hating it makes her petty. And I have always wondered about it.
Feel free to change things in your game as you wish.
For me, the idea of enslaving and corrupting a soul to make it into something against the very nature of life and death and the afterlife is an evil act. If that doesn't feel evil to your group, feel free to remove the evil trait from all spells that create undead.
Just don't expect me to want to play in that campaign. ;-)
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Does it perhaps also have something to do with the fact that the game is not dealing with modern real-life, always civilized and educated folks? that perhaps in a magic/semi-medieval world the sanctity of life and someone's funeral wishes is something that REALLY matters, especially when everyone's got evidence that the afterlife is real?
I mean, if I was a resident of Golarion, probably 25% of my income would go towards my future tomb's security, 'cause you know, I might be rich enough to draw a contract for resurrection at some point, should certain conditions occur, such as the fate of my family's descendants and such... ;)
In effect, wouldn't the act of creating the undead, if not evil in itself, be a MAJOR, UTTER affront going against the wishes of interred, his/her/their descendants, etc.? perhaps definitely against the law and squarely chaotic in nature at the very least?
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Does it perhaps also have something to do with the fact that the game is not dealing with modern real-life, always civilized and educated folks? that perhaps in a magic/semi-medieval world the sanctity of life and someone's funeral wishes is something that REALLY matters, especially when everyone's got evidence that the afterlife is real?
I mean, if I was a resident of Golarion, probably 25% of my income would go towards my future tomb's security, 'cause you know, I might be rich enough to draw a contract for resurrection at some point, should certain conditions occur, such as the fate of my family's descendants and such... ;)
In effect, wouldn't the act of creating the undead, if not evil in itself, be a MAJOR, UTTER affront going against the wishes of interred, his/her/their descendants, etc.? perhaps definitely against the law and squarely chaotic in nature at the very least?
Please keep posts here to questions for me... and when you post questions, please try not to complicate previous answers by asking me to re-explain my previous answers in greater and increasing complexity.
There are lots of ways and reasons why animate dead is or isn't evil. My reason is mine. It's not meant to be the only one.
If folks want to brainstorm other reasons why animate dead is evil or why it shouldn't be, that sounds like a great topic for a separate thread.
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And also, sorry if I was a bit impatient or terse in that last few responses. It's been a tough week at the end of a tough month at the end of a tough going-on-two-years, and I'm not going to be able to answer questions on this thread with the same level of patience every day.
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First off, thank you for making the effort even if the patience level is variable. It's refreshing to come here and see the responses to questions (even if I don't agree with them)!
Has there ever been a question that left you scratching your head and wondering how to answer it in this thread?
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First off, thank you for making the effort even if the patience level is variable. It's refreshing to come here and see the responses to questions (even if I don't agree with them)!Has there ever been a question that left you scratching your head and wondering how to answer it in this thread?
Many times, but I do try to figure out what the questions are if I can. But now and then, there's one that I just can't decipher, in which case I'll ask someone to rephrase the question.
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Hey, James...what kind of character are you playing in your monthly Legendary Planet game? Any interesting encounters/experiences with it yet?
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Does this mean that if you ever publish Unspeakable Future as you own Campaign Setting, it will use Pf 1e ruleset, or perhaps your own version of it?
The first time I built the rules, it used D&D 3.0 as a baseline. Over the years, I've rebuilt them with 3.5, d20 Modern, d20 Call of Cthulhu, and more recently 1st edition Pathfinder. If I were to build the rules today, they'd be based on 2nd edition Pathfinder, which of all of the rules I list here is my favorite at the moment.
It would, as with the previous five versions, be a heavily modified version of the 2nd edition rules, but yes, it would use the same underlying skeleton.
Of course, since the game has existed for over 2 decades and I haven't yet published it... who knows what set of rules I'd prefer by that time?
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Hey, James...what kind of character are you playing in your monthly Legendary Planet game? Any interesting encounters/experiences with it yet?
Halfling swashbuckler guardian.
It's fun playing with friends who aren't all coworkers, that's for sure, but playing this game REALLY points out to me all of the overly complicated 1st edition Pathifnder elements that I'm glad aren't part of 2nd edition. In particular, it's made me appreciate two significant elements of 2nd edition:
1: The action economy, and...
2: The customization and options for building characters. The 1st edition swashbuckler is one of those classes that has a VERY narrow band of options. You build one, you've kinda built them all, and on top of that, you really don't have a lot of tactical options for your character if a fight doesn't really support you using a one-handed swashbuckler-friendly weapon in melee. It's also made me realize how much more elegant archetypes are for branching out a character instead of multiclassing or prestige classing... ESPECIALLY at 16th level where if you switch out of your class because you're looking at the next 3 levels and nothing there is interesting, you're downgrading by picking up 1st level stuff.
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So are Frozen Shadows independent organization post Jade Regent or do we not have ninjas in Land of Linnorm kings anymore? :O
It's been about a decade since I wrote the outline for that Adventure Path, and I've actually never read that adventure, since it was developed by Rob, not me, so I don't have much more insight off the top of my head about them. Whether or not some other developer here at Paizo picks up those threads is up to them, not me.
Hi James,
Within the context of the Lost Omens Campaign Settings' lore, what happens when The King In Yellow is played on stage?
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Did you ever play the Dead Space games?
I played all three. LOVED them.
Loved Dead Space 2 the most though.
Dead Space was fun, but the ending fight was lame in that it was only really something you could finish if you happened to have one specific type of weapon, and the game play up until then didn't really allow you to easily maintain different weapons, so if (like me) you decided to use two of the other types of weapons that the last boss was basically immune to, you spent the whole game being taught those weapons worked great but then got the rug ripped out from under you in the last fight with what felt like a "ha ha you chose wrong, if you wanna finish you have to start over!" sort of feel.
Dead Space 3 was also fun, but its microtransaction element was gross, distracting, frustrating, and a constant reminder that by this point, the game was all about corporate greed and less about providing fun game play.
Dead Space 2 avoided both of those things, and then dropped in the most harrowing sequence I've ever seen put into a game. Ever. You know the one if you played it.
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Hi James,
Within the context of the Lost Omens Campaign Settings' lore, what happens when The King In Yellow is played on stage?
An adventure takes place!
We published this exact adventure in Dungeon Magazine #134 in fact.
There's been several other adventures of the same plot here and there for Call of Cthulhu.
That said, now that we've quantified the specific way that the Carcosa mythos interfaces with Golarion in it's own specific way that's not 100% the same as all the above (or the original story, for that matter), what would happen if the King in Yellow were performed on stage is that...
This whole thing could be tied into the Strange Aeons Adventure Path VERY easily, and for all I know it might have. I only did the outline for that Adventure Path though before I got reassigned to do the Curse of the Crimson Throne hardcover, so I'm not sure off the top of my head if Adam or his authors touched this theme at all.
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Hi James,
Within the context of the Lost Omens Campaign Settings' lore, what happens when The King In Yellow is played on stage?
An adventure takes place!
We published this exact adventure in Dungeon Magazine #134 in fact.
There's been several other adventures of the same plot here and there for Call of Cthulhu.
That said, now that we've quantified the specific way that the Carcosa mythos interfaces with Golarion in it's own specific way that's not 100% the same as all the above (or the original story, for that matter), what would happen if the King in Yellow were performed on stage is that...
** spoiler omitted **
This whole thing could be tied into the Strange Aeons Adventure Path VERY easily, and for all I know it might have. I only did the outline for that Adventure Path though before I got reassigned to do the Curse of the Crimson Throne hardcover, so I'm not sure off the top of my head if Adam or his authors touched this theme at all.
Ah, well, I had a follow-up question, but I don't want to give you any spoilers on what ended up happening in Strange Aeons, in case you'd ever want to read it, so instead I'll ask...
Would the King in Yellow have a similar effect if it's performed in an outer plane?
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Ah, well, I had a follow-up question, but I don't want to give you any spoilers on what ended up happening in Strange Aeons, in case you'd ever want to read it, so instead I'll ask...
Would the King in Yellow have a similar effect if it's performed in an outer plane?
Don't worry about spoiling things we publish to me. And again, while I didn't develop or write any of the adventures for Strange Aeons, I did create the 20,000 word or so outline for it, and I did write a lot of the backmatter articles, and I did invent Xhamen-Dor, so I'm pretty familiar with the broad strokes of the campaign. Just not as familiar with the details, nor as familiar with how Adam and his authors chose to interpret the mythos in their work.
Location doesn't matter to the play. Performing it links that location to Carcosa, regardless of the time or place the play is performed anywhere in reality.
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Ah, well, I had a follow-up question, but I don't want to give you any spoilers on what ended up happening in Strange Aeons, in case you'd ever want to read it, so instead I'll ask...
Would the King in Yellow have a similar effect if it's performed in an outer plane?
Don't worry about spoiling things we publish to me. And again, while I didn't develop or write any of the adventures for Strange Aeons, I did create the 20,000 word or so outline for it, and I did write a lot of the backmatter articles, and I did invent Xhamen-Dor, so I'm pretty familiar with the broad strokes of the campaign. Just not as familiar with the details, nor as familiar with how Adam and his authors chose to interpret the mythos in their work.
Location doesn't matter to the play. Performing it links that location to Carcosa, regardless of the time or place the play is performed anywhere in reality.
"Could the King in Yellow be performed in Hell? ...asking for a... friend."
Just got the Doorway To The RedStar PDF.
I hope we see Zuma again in future products.
Did you help write the part where?
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Just got the Doorway To The RedStar PDF.
I hope we see Zuma again in future products.
Did you help write the part where?
** spoiler omitted **
I developed the adventure, and did a fair amount of work on re-organizing and writing portions of it, including that encounter... so, yes, I helped write that part.
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During the month of Rova in the year 4700, thirteen eyeless Krakens washed up on Starstone Isle.
I just saw that in the ‘Inner Sea Guide’ timeline.
Holy Moly!
Has there ever been any development on that, any adventure or setting material? If so, could you throw under a Spoiler tag from which source it’s expanded upon so I can look it up? THANKS as always!
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Yay! That was my feelings more or less, didn't help that 3 was more action based and less horror, 2 was wonderful in both the visceral and psychological toll and implementation.
Dead Space 2 avoided both of those things, and then dropped in the most harrowing sequence I've ever seen put into a game. Ever. You know the one if you played it.
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During the month of Rova in the year 4700, thirteen eyeless Krakens washed up on Starstone Isle.
I just saw that in the ‘Inner Sea Guide’ timeline.
Holy Moly!
Has there ever been any development on that, any adventure or setting material? If so, could you throw under a Spoiler tag from which source it’s expanded upon so I can look it up? THANKS as always!
That was originally going to set up...
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Yay! That was my feelings more or less, didn't help that 3 was more action based and less horror, 2 was wonderful in both the visceral and psychological toll and implementation.Dead Space 2 avoided both of those things, and then dropped in the most harrowing sequence I've ever seen put into a game. Ever. You know the one if you played it.** spoiler omitted **
You guess correctly! :)
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Were there any examples of mortal turned deity that had known living relatives and children before ascension?
Not that I can think of. Our writers have traditionally not spent much time on what a pre-ascencion deity was up to in their mortal lives, with the exception of Aroden and Iomedae... neither of which seem to have been interested in starting a family or had any relatives.
James, i don't find any official answer in forums about Leadership in 1st Ed.
This lack of explanations is intentional, isn't it?
(I don't ask about explanations, it's only that i don't want to continue reading threads and threads and more threads buried years ago if i'm not going to find any response).
**I cannot edit**
Sorry if my previous post sounds too serious, or as if i were rebuking anything. This is out of my intention; I usually talk this way in my foreign language, but re-reading what i wrote i've felt a bit unconfortable, as i was complaining about something. And my intention is to know what to do, only ^^U I'm sorry, very much, if everything sounds too harsh.
Today i've been watching opinions about the feat in Paizo rules and talking with friends about different options. But it's a feat that offers a really wide interpretation. In the end, i concluded that it was intentional and this is what i wanted to ask. But i feel that i finnally did it in a very rude mode. Sorry, if so...
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James, i don't find any official answer in forums about Leadership in 1st Ed.
This lack of explanations is intentional, isn't it?(I don't ask about explanations, it's only that i don't want to continue reading threads and threads and more threads buried years ago if i'm not going to find any response).
I'm not sure what your question about the Leadership feat is, but no, I don't generally answer rules questions in this thread because rules answers from Paizo employees that aren't given in the context of official errata (which I don't do here) tends to confuse folks.
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**I cannot edit**
Sorry if my previous post sounds too serious, or as if i were rebuking anything. This is out of my intention; I usually talk this way in my foreign language, but re-reading what i wrote i've felt a bit unconfortable, as i was complaining about something. And my intention is to know what to do, only ^^U I'm sorry, very much, if everything sounds too harsh.
Today i've been watching opinions about the feat in Paizo rules and talking with friends about different options. But it's a feat that offers a really wide interpretation. In the end, i concluded that it was intentional and this is what i wanted to ask. But i feel that i finnally did it in a very rude mode. Sorry, if so...
OH I get it. Yes, Leadership is a very open-ended feat that needs a GM to be able to be flexible with it, which is why we put it somewhere not in the player book.
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Hi, hoping you are doing well
Are your next projects going to be stand alone modules for now? I just want to say I've loved Malevolence and Night of the Gray Death so far so I'm looking forward to Shadows at Sundown
At this point I'm focusing on the last bits of Kingmaker and on developing an unannounced adventure. Shadows at Sundown is in layout at the moment. Going forward I'll be doing other stuff, but that's still getting worked out. For now I'm kinda in a weird sort of special projects mode, I guess.
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That sounds exciting :O Looking forward to that unannounced project and what else future has
I'm almost reached end of book 5 in wrath of the righteous so I realized one thing about Babhomet I want to ask about:
So Babhomet was born on Iblydos as the first minotaur and one of his vault items is perfectly mundane ball of twine that Babhomet values most out of items in vault for nostalgic reasons. While that is pretty obvious that is Greek mythology reference, how do you imagine Babhomet/Iblydos/Golarion version of that event went? Like did Asmodeus escape a maze with ball of twine instead or such?
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That sounds exciting :O Looking forward to that unannounced project and what else future has
I'm almost reached end of book 5 in wrath of the righteous so I realized one thing about Babhomet I want to ask about:
So Babhomet was born on Iblydos as the first minotaur and one of his vault items is perfectly mundane ball of twine that Babhomet values most out of items in vault for nostalgic reasons. While that is pretty obvious that is Greek mythology reference, how do you imagine Babhomet/Iblydos/Golarion version of that event went? Like did Asmodeus escape a maze with ball of twine instead or such?
Haven't really put much thought into it at all to be honest. It's mostly in there as a fun little mythological easter egg meant to intrigue the reader and spur ideas... and it's in the category of easter egg in my opinion that works better the less there is "official" about it, including me spitballing ideas here.
It's very much meant to be a thread for GMs to pick up and run with.
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Was that pun intentional? :>
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Have you seen the trailer for Black Friday? I suspect that, very much like me, you'd be interested in a Bruce Campbell-led zombie-themed horror comedy. It takes place in what is definitely not S-Mart.
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Do you know if all starfinder adventure paths will just be bimonthly now?
We switched to bimonthly Starfinder Adventure Paths a while back and I believe talked about that switch in blog posts or conventions earlier in the year or before that, but I'm mostly adjacent to that team so I don't the timing for sure.
Do you drink wine? If so, what is your favourite varietal?