Creative Director
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Okay this is a touchy question...and I'm nervous to ask it due to its modern political nature...
How is abortion viewed in Golorion?
We've actually covered this topic in Pathfinder products a few times; in fact, it's covered in the very first adventure for Rise of the Runelords. One of the NPCs who lives in the small town of Sandpoint is a midwife named Hannah Velerin who not only helps deliver babies, but helps women get rid of unwanted pregnancies. This service is discrete and confidential—as in the real world, it's a touchy subject. The fact that I made this character neutral good kind of set off a bit of a firestorm on or forums at the time, as some folks thought that abortions are obviously evil and thus a good character would never perform them. And as a result, it's not a subject that I'm very interested in exploring much more than that in print. I certainly don't want to say which deities condone or abhor abortions, or what each nation thinks of it. This is a topic that each GM is best left to decide on their own as for how it best fits things for their own games.
But that said... Area 45 of Sandpoint from Pathfinder AP #1 is pretty much all that we've had to say on the topic in public.
I am going to SydCon and I have never have been to a Con and I have not played an official Pathfinder society game.
Any tips to prepare for a Con?
Any tips to prepare for a Pathfinder Society game?
Why does Seattle have such terrible sports teams?
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Creative Director
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So I have noticed a slow down in the posting is that because you are busy with some awesome up coming Product or because there really is not much left to cover? I mean when abortion get brought up people are really digging deep and are most likely running out of stuff ask about. I do like how you guys put it in an adventure, I love talking about controversial things....with my friend who don't hate even if I am wrong.
The slowdown in posting is due to the one-two punch of us shipping the Bestiary 2 (which means I spent a few days pouring over color proofs of the book) and, more importantly, the fact that I just moved and spent a few days without internet at home.
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Creative Director
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I am going to SydCon and I have never have been to a Con and I have not played an official Pathfinder society game.
Any tips to prepare for a Con?
Any tips to prepare for a Pathfinder Society game?
I've only ever really been to a convention as an employee, not a fan, so my take on convention attendance is weirdly skewed. The biggest takeaway is to eat lots of Vitamin C and other supplements, eat well, get plenty of sleep, drink lots of water, and wash your hands ALL THE TIME. Conventions are breeding grounds for sickness, and it's no fun to get sick after a con—it's even less fun to get sick DURING a con.
As for preparing for a Pathfinder Society game... no tips there either—I actually don't have much interaction with PFS games. My best suggestion there is to just show up on time and bring a happy and positive attitude! :-)
The Dragons, obviously, because a Roster is nothing but a schedule on paper. And paper burns real easy. And dragons breathe fire.Ok I know you don't like sport - but a very important question. Who will win the Rugby League Grand final the Rosters or the Dragons?
Damm it Roosters arrgh - late night typing. :-)
Damm it Roosters arrgh - late night typing. :-)The Dragons, obviously, because a Roster is nothing but a schedule on paper. And paper burns real easy. And dragons breathe fire.Ok I know you don't like sport - but a very important question. Who will win the Rugby League Grand final the Rosters or the Dragons?
I bet you get the same answer that roosters are flammable.
What, in your opinion, was the best moment in Star Trek? Any Star Trek from the various shows through the reboot.
If you caught Swine Flu from a con would you ever go back to that con?
Do you think public libraries would carry RPG books?
I bet you get the same answer that roosters are flammable.Damm it Roosters arrgh - late night typing. :-)The Dragons, obviously, because a Roster is nothing but a schedule on paper. And paper burns real easy. And dragons breathe fire.Ok I know you don't like sport - but a very important question. Who will win the Rugby League Grand final the Rosters or the Dragons?
Ah but you can make more jokes out of roosters than dragons.
Why does Seattle have such terrible sports teams?Seattle has sports teams?
The Mariners (Baseball)
The Seahawks (Football)
The Supersonics (Basketball) used to be in Seattle but they moved to Oklahoma.
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Creative Director
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Damm it Roosters arrgh - late night typing. :-)The Dragons, obviously, because a Roster is nothing but a schedule on paper. And paper burns real easy. And dragons breathe fire.Ok I know you don't like sport - but a very important question. Who will win the Rugby League Grand final the Rosters or the Dragons?
Roosters are still quite flammable. My answer stands.
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Creative Director
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What kinds of team sports are popular in Golarion, and what are good team names/mascots for Golarion sports teams? The Korvosa Dire Bears? Absalom Giralons?
Dunno. Sports are boring.
Wait. Check out Pathfinder #9's "Escape from Old Korvosa." There's a Blood Pig team in there called the "Shinglesnipes." That's pretty much it for sports team names throughout all of Golarion.
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Creative Director
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Also, if any Golarion team was called the Shoanti, would it upset Shoanti in the same way that American Indians get upset about the Redskins, etc? Or would they just want to destroy that particular city more than most, or simply not care?
They wouldn't care because sports is boring.
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Creative Director
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What, in your opinion, was the best moment in Star Trek? Any Star Trek from the various shows through the reboot.
If you caught Swine Flu from a con would you ever go back to that con?
Do you think public libraries would carry RPG books?
The scene where Kirk finally takes out the Gorn is pretty awesome. So is when he (Kirk, not the Gorn) screams KHAAAAAAAN! in "Wrath of Khan."
I don't get to choose whether or not I get to go to cons, alas. I am told by the people who give me my paycheck and I do what they say. Swine flu or not.
Some public libraries DO carry RPG books. In fact, some use RPGs as a way to get kids into the library in the first place.
If you caught Swine Flu from a con would you ever go back to that con?I don't get to choose whether or not I get to go to cons, alas. I am told by the people who give me my paycheck and I do what they say. Swine flu or not.
But if you could choose...
Ignoring the fact that there are people and you have to go anyway, would you? Would you go back or would you hold onto the fact that the con gave you Swine Flu as a reason not to go? Or would you just stay away for a few years and then go back?
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Creative Director
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If you caught Swine Flu from a con would you ever go back to that con?I don't get to choose whether or not I get to go to cons, alas. I am told by the people who give me my paycheck and I do what they say. Swine flu or not.But if you could choose...
Ignoring the fact that there are people and you have to go anyway, would you? Would you go back or would you hold onto the fact that the con gave you Swine Flu as a reason not to go? Or would you just stay away for a few years and then go back?
Swine flu is a great reason to never go back to a convention.
If a hypothetical package containing Ultraman DVDs was dispatched by mail to the Paizo offices, would there be repercussions?
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As for Aklo—yeah. It's the same language that shows up in the Cthulhu Mythos; it was originally invented by Arthur Machen in his 1899 story "The White People." Check out its wikipedia entry here!
...and now it would be cool and inclusive for someone to add the fact that it is a PFRPG language that any really hip PC is sure to take so they can have interesting conversations and not share the direct translations with the rest of the party. I would, but I'm busy, and I also don't trust everything on wikipedia this week. Ask me next week.
Anywho, in the same vein as the Oni question:
I REALLY love the fact that Paizo made Kytons their own subtype of LE outsider, and for my homebrew Golarian campaign which started in Nidal (of all places) I've had lots of fun making up sick and twisted variants of the standard Kyton (so far my favorite one is called a "Lesser Cenobite" but not because of the name, which is pretty obvious and not too original).
That being said, is their any Kyton love planned for the future, since they, like the Oni, have their own niche now as well?
How many bears would a bugbear bug if a bugbear could bug bears?
Why does Seattle have such terrible sports teams?Seattle has sports teams?The Mariners (Baseball)
The Seahawks (Football)
The Supersonics (Basketball) used to be in Seattle but they moved to Oklahoma.
And the one most known outside the states (after the basket-team got moved*) - The Sounders (football**).
*The great mystery of American sports to at least most Swedes: how can anyone support a team that's a franchise rather than a club?
**Called football because it is played by manipulating a spherical object (or, occasionally, an opposing player) with your feet until the Germans win the penalty shoot-out.
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Some public libraries DO carry RPG books. In fact, some use RPGs as a way to get kids into the library in the first place.What, in your opinion, was the best moment in Star Trek? Any Star Trek from the various shows through the reboot.
If you caught Swine Flu from a con would you ever go back to that con?
Do you think public libraries would carry RPG books?
The libraries here in OK carry some, but i've noticed they very rarely, if ever, have their full stock in. They're not checked out, but most of the time lost/stolen. What they do have tends to be supplements of older editions.
*The great mystery of American sports to at least most Swedes: how can anyone support a team that's a franchise rather than a club?
Raw Capitalism.
Sadly, that isn't a joke.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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How many bears would a bugbear bug if a bugbear could bug bears?
As a follow up question, will we ever see a monster that's a cross between a bear and an insect, also called a bugbear, that would confuse the PCs after they're hired to kill it, and they expect a large stealthy goblinoid?
Whats the last number of Pi.
What's better pie or cake.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Would it technically be called cannibalism if a human ate an elf, halfling, or other non-human PC race? What about half races? Would a human eating a half-elf be a half-cannibal?
Since the cannibals in Souls for Smuggler's Shiv are human, would they bother eating any non-humans in the party?
More importantly, would such an act be EVIL?
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Creative Director
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If a hypothetical package containing Ultraman DVDs was dispatched by mail to the Paizo offices, would there be repercussions?
I would probably not get as much work done during that day or perhaps the one to follow, so if such a hypothetical delivery arrived just before a big ship day for a product, that might cause me a bit of distress or confusion or panic.
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Creative Director
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I REALLY love the fact that Paizo made Kytons their own subtype of LE outsider, and for my homebrew Golarian campaign which started in Nidal (of all places) I've had lots of fun making up sick and twisted variants of the standard Kyton (so far my favorite one is called a "Lesser Cenobite" but not because of the name, which is pretty obvious and not too original).
That being said, is their any Kyton love planned for the future, since they, like the Oni, have their own niche now as well?
We did up a new kyton in one of the adventure path bestiaries already—I believe it was in Pathfinder #30. There will eventually be more kytons than that as well.
Related to cannibalism...
Do the various humanoid races taste different? Do dwarves taste stringy and funky while elves taste faintly of wildflower honey? Or is it more realistic and elves always taste like beef jerky, even when fresh? Does every gnome taste different?
Two cannibals are eating a bard. One turns to the other and asks "Does this taste funny to you?"
...that jokes loses its ring in Golarion...
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Creative Director
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How many bears would a bugbear bug if a bugbear could bug bears?As a follow up question, will we ever see a monster that's a cross between a bear and an insect, also called a bugbear, that would confuse the PCs after they're hired to kill it, and they expect a large stealthy goblinoid?
No. At least, I hope not. I've already cancelled at least one such creature from a Pathfinder bestairy.
Basically, I tend to call monsters that are made up of two different monsters "Deadline monsters," because they usually feel to me like a designer is up against his deadline and so he just grabs two random animals, mashes them together, mashes their name together, and presto: monster! The owlbear is, of course, the archetypical deadline monster; it has the advantage of being among the first such monsters and thus decades of support and flavor to keep it from being too lame. And it's certainly possible to do NEW "deadline monsters" that are cool and have fun flavor... but it's harder to get deadline monsters by the Creative Director of Paizo than it is to get monsters that are more imaginative, come from mythology, or come from established literary tradition.
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Creative Director
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Would it technically be called cannibalism if a human ate an elf, halfling, or other non-human PC race? What about half races? Would a human eating a half-elf be a half-cannibal?
Since the cannibals in Souls for Smuggler's Shiv are human, would they bother eating any non-humans in the party?
It would not technically be called cannibalism if an elf ate a human... but it's close enough that for flavor purposes (ha ha!) it's the same basic effect.
The cannibals in Souls for Smuggler's Shiv would certainly eat non-human PCs.
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Creative Director
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Related to cannibalism...
Do the various humanoid races taste different? Do dwarves taste stringy and funky while elves taste faintly of wildflower honey? Or is it more realistic and elves always taste like beef jerky, even when fresh? Does every gnome taste different?
Two cannibals are eating a bard. One turns to the other and asks "Does this taste funny to you?"
...that jokes loses its ring in Golarion...
Dwarves taste like dirt dipped in lard.
Other races taste varying degrees of less gross.
Dwarves taste like dirt dipped in lard.
Other races taste varying degrees of less gross.
Unfortunately lard can make most anything taste fantastic.
Does this mean dwarf on a stick is something we could see at state fairs across the country anytime soon?
I figured dwarf tasted like armpit.
You'll never replace my cheesecake-on-a-stick! You might replace roast turkey legs with roast halfling legs...
Since the Iconics are around more or less to look pretty and generate tons of questions of this thread, I'm guessing they aren't celebrities in Golarion. Is this true? If they are not, does Golarion have any true celebrities(favorite rulers, guildheads, famous adventurers, etc)??
James, as a fan of Lovecraft and his work, what do you think about Robert W. Chamber's The King in Yellow? And is there a chance we might ever see something out of that myth in Pathfinder?
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Since the Iconics are around more or less to look pretty and generate tons of questions of this thread, I'm guessing they aren't celebrities in Golarion. Is this true? If they are not, does Golarion have any true celebrities(favorite rulers, guildheads, famous adventurers, etc)??
I'm pretty sure some of the Pathfinders who's adventures make the Pathfinder Chronicles would qualify. I know several of them have been mentioned in various places.