Does the promise of battle against an enemy as strong as the demonic hordes draw many of Gorum's faithful to the World Wound?
When you went from Editor in Chief to Creative director, was that a change in position, or just in title?
** spoiler omitted **1) Because I have always been a fan of derros and wanted to give them a place in the world ASAP, and because they're a low-CR foe that gives that first very human-heavy adventure some variety.
2) Their inclusion wasn't Nick's choice, it was my choice–I wanted to use the adventure to show how our derros are different than D&D derros.3) Nope.
One of the jobs of "Curse of the Crimson Throne" was to tell the story of the AP... but it also had a job of showing the world a big city in detail in Golarion, and as such a lot of the elements we put into the adventures are meant to help build up Korvosa even if they DIDN'T all match precisely the themes of the central plot. An Adventure Path is MUCH more than its central plot. The extra stuff along the sides helps give an AP variety and helps support the fact that not everything revolves around that plot.
4) No. Again... that being just the 3rd AP, we were eager to explore as many new elements as we could to establish how Pathfinder/Golarion is different than D&D, and repeating foes is not conducive to that goal.
Thanks for answering my questions James! That makes sense.
I think it's very cool that in many cases, to show how Pathfinder was different than D&D, you went back to the classic real world origins of many of the monsters that were re-introduced in Golarion (such as what you did with the derro).
Is showing "how Pathfinder is different than D&D" still one of the big things you think about when designing a new AP?
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
1) The Boneyard keeps rather thorough records. Am I correct in thinking that a person could, with permission, look up what judgments were passed on the previously deceased, and with enough time figure out the conspicuous absences (like the Runelords)?
2) Has Pharasma passed judgment on Old Mage Jatembe? I assume not, but no harm in asking.
3) When did the samsaran begin existing? Back during the Age of Legends?
4) If a samsaran gets turned into an undead, is put down, gets raised back from death, and then later dies as a samsaran, is she able to continue reincarnating as a samsaran?
5) Dragons Revisited described a great wyrm red dragon who lived in the Five King Mountains and who preferred to hunt elves. I don't have the book handy and can't look up the dragon's name, but he was a nasty piece of work. Would Treerazer have tried to ally with this dragon to raze Kyonin?
6) Explosions?
7) Would you allow an alchemist to take Sun Orchid Elixir as his 20th level discovery? How would the great alchemist Artokus react if said alchemist showed up at Artokus's citadel with a message along the lines of "I have mastered this. I wish to join you in your work and your studies" ?
1) Those records are so vast that I doubt a mortal life is long enough for a mortal to make use of them. Remember... they track deaths on all worlds. Not just Golarion.
2) Unknown.
3) Sometime during the close of the Age of Darkness.
4) Yes.
5) He would have tried to dominate or magically control it, and if that didn't work, he'd probably try to kill it to take its treasure.
6) Hmm.
7) No.
|
Creative Director
|
Is showing "how Pathfinder is different than D&D" still one of the big things you think about when designing a new AP?
In the first year or two, absolutely. Since it was more or less our ONLY way to talk about Golarion for several months. And even after we launched our Campaign Setting line, the subscriptions to Pathfinder were MUCH larger.
What would happen if one gave EWP (firearms) and Multiweapon Fighting to an eidolon with tons and tons of arm evolutions? I can imagine that it'd be pretty insane.
What was the inspiration for the Calikang?That, in fact, is an interesting and kind of complex story.
In the penultimate volume of Council of Thieves, we wanted a break between two heavily devil-themed covers, so for that cover I did a cover order for the iconics fighting a six-armed stone golem in a treasure vault, then told Greg to put a six-armed stone golem in a treasure vault in the adventure. For the cover order, I asked for the golem to look unusual, rather than be a plain old golem; give it lots of treasure and shiny bling and weapons.
Then a funny thing happened.
This was the first Pathfinder Adventure Path, and when we made the order for the AP, our authors and myself overestimated how much XP was getting handed out; while we wrote the adventure for the new rules (which were still in development at the time), we designed the flow of the adventure using a 3.5 mindset for encounter pacing.
The problem there is that 3.5 gave out XP a little bit faster than our Fast Track, and by the time Pathfinder's tripartite XP system was done and we'd all decided to default to the Medium track (so that GMs could adjust up or down easier), the first adventure ended up being VERY short on encounters (and thus, short on XP). That caused a series of cascading ripple effects, ultimately ending up with Council of Thieves essentially just having too few encounters and thus too little XP to bring the PCs to the levels I'd originally intended. That's why Council of Thieves has the lowest level part 6 of all our Adventure Paths.
Now... not only did this cause a problem with the last cover (which had a horned devil on the cover—I'd intended to have a horned devil minion of the big bad end duo, but as it worked out, that "minion" would have been as powerful or more powerful than his bosses, so I had to cut the horned devil from the adventure—fortunately no one really seems to have noticed!), but it caused a problem with that six armed stone golem.
You see... as it is, a normal...
Interesting story. The Barbarian in our group single handedly ganked it in 2 rounds. I do really like the background on them though.
Yeah, I was thinking using the current rules. I might change that when the Young Character Rules are released. Also I agree that a Small Human would fit best. Though are you referring to Mechanically Small or just fluffing him as being short.Mechanically Small.Interesting given him hefty weapons used by his full-sized Human Enemies...
What would you think of a Campaign Setting where you could only play a Human but had various mechanically different ethnicities? To use Westeros-Based Examples: Wildling Born, First Men Born, Iron Born, and Such. Maybe add in a Giant Born that has the Powerful Build Trait. Say have them all be 15 Race Points.
We have mechanics for that—using a larger weapon just gives you a –2 penalty to hit.
I don't like the idea of mechanically different ethnicities at all. That's one step away from rules-justified racism.
True. But he used a Standard Sized Greataxe which isn't legal in Pathfinder.
So even if the Mechanical Differences where just Skills & Bonuses to Skills alongside some Static Feats you would be against it? And I guess it is less Ethnicity & more of Heritages & Regional Training...
If I were to create undead Azlanti Soldiers for my PCs to face in some Azlanti ruins, what classes/weapons/fighting style would you suggest using?
What weapons would have been standard issue to their military?
Has this sort of information been published somewhere that I'm just not aware of?
|
Creative Director
|
I was wondering about Ustalav and studying magic.
1.) Would the major universities of Ustalav (University of Lepidstadt, Quarterfaux Archives, Sincomakti School) include arcane studies in their curriculum, or are there no schools for wizards in Ustalav?
2.) Where would a prospective Wizard most likely learn their craft from in Ustalav (assuming they're not adherents of the Whispering Way)?
1) Yes; there's some arcane magic stuff going on there.
2) From other wizards. That's where most wizards learn their craft, regardless of nation. Being an apprentice to a local wizard.
|
Creative Director
|
If I were to create undead Azlanti Soldiers for my PCs to face in some Azlanti ruins, what classes/weapons/fighting style would you suggest using?
What weapons would have been standard issue to their military?
Has this sort of information been published somewhere that I'm just not aware of?
We've actually not published much about Azlant so far... a lot of it at this point is left to the GM to develop. Thassilon's really the ancient empire we've focused the most on.
|
Have you heard this before? Every time my iPod kicks it on, I can't help thinking, "And here's James Jacob's theme song."
|
Creative Director
|
Have you heard this before? Every time my iPod kicks it on, I can't help thinking, "And here's James Jacob's theme song."
Ha; Haven't heard that before.
|
|
Have you heard this before? Every time my iPod kicks it on, I can't help thinking, "And here's James Jacob's theme song."Ha; Haven't heard that before.
Then I feel I have corrected a cosmic imbalance.
What is your opinion on the musical stylings of Tom Waits?
|
Out of curiosity who on the Paizo staff decided on which Iconics went into the pathfinder comic? Also how long it would be before they start rotating characters out.That was, if I remember correctly, Erik and Wes and I.
We have no plans to "rotate" any of them out yet.
Hmm pity cause I'm not really liking most the current group. (Mersial I like, Kyra is okay but not a fan of the others at all. Was really hoping Lini would become a more regular character.)
James, a question if I may: How do you play off a spontaneous spellcaster running out of spells, in-character? And how do you play off/envision the limitation on the number of spells a memorized spellcaster can prepare? What about clerics? When they run out of spells for the day, that's all the help their deity will give, no matter how huge 1 more spell might be for furthering the faith?
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
James, a question if I may: How do you play off a spontaneous spellcaster running out of spells, in-character? And how do you play off/envision the limitation on the number of spells a memorized spellcaster can prepare? What about clerics? When they run out of spells for the day, that's all the help their deity will give, no matter how huge 1 more spell might be for furthering the faith?
You may!
I play any spellcaster who runs out of spells no differently than when they have spells, with the obvious exception that she's no longer casting spells. I'll usually resort to the cantrips and other class abilities at this point, or if not those, then to wands, aid another actions to help allies hit or AC, or even simply attacking.
I envision the limitation to the number of spells as simply the point at which a character's ability to manipulate magic is exhausted, akin to how you can't swing an axe forever without getting tired in the real world. I know that there's no rules in the game to really model getting tired from swinging axes, but also there's no rules that say you become fatigued when you run out of spells, so I figure that's a wash.
And when a divine spellcaster uses up her spells for the day but still has things she needs to do... that's her fault, not the deity's fault. She should have planned her spellcasting better. The gods help those who help themselves, in other words. If it's a situation where a worshiper of a deity is in dire trouble and the deity cares, the deity might do a bit of divine intervention... but that's something they can do for ANY of their worshipers, not just their divine spellcasters.
And when a divine spellcaster uses up her spells for the day but still has things she needs to do... that's her fault, not the deity's fault. She should have planned her spellcasting better. The gods help those who help themselves, in other words. If it's a situation where a worshiper of a deity is in dire trouble and the deity cares, the deity might do a bit of divine intervention... but that's something they can do for ANY of their worshipers, not just their divine spellcasters.
Is it also the case that the capacity of the divine spellcaster to channel the power of the deity acts as a limitation?
If so, is there competition between deities for those mortals that, through training or innate potential, make the best clerics? Such that, say, an enemy cleric capable of conveying e.g. Miracle spells may be worth more converted than dead?
|
Creative Director
|
And when a divine spellcaster uses up her spells for the day but still has things she needs to do... that's her fault, not the deity's fault. She should have planned her spellcasting better. The gods help those who help themselves, in other words. If it's a situation where a worshiper of a deity is in dire trouble and the deity cares, the deity might do a bit of divine intervention... but that's something they can do for ANY of their worshipers, not just their divine spellcasters.Is it also the case that the capacity of the divine spellcaster to channel the power of the deity acts as a limitation?
If so, is there competition between deities for those mortals that, through training or innate potential, make the best clerics? Such that, say, an enemy cleric capable of conveying e.g. Miracle spells may be worth more converted than dead?
Yes.
There is no competition between deities to get the bets clerics though. That type of concern is more of a church thing than a deity thing.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hey James, hope you're well. Thanks for all the time you devote to answering these questions :)
1) I played in my first tabletop RPG session when I was 19, just over 3 years ago. While my connection with D&D goes further back than that (Dragonlance novels, Neverwinter Nights, etc.), I often feel like I'm missing out on a lot of history. Any recommendations on adventures, novels, rulebooks, or anything else to look into to connect with the history of the game?
2) If you can recall, what is the most consecutive days you've played RPGs?
3) What do you feel is the most misunderstood thing about tabletop RPG's?
4) I've heard people refer to Golarion as "High Fantasy." What exactly does that mean, and do you think that is an accurate label?
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hey James, Adventure Path question!
so thinking about the various APs Paizo put out through the years since the AP line started, most of the APs seem to have been developed around a concept, or at least used a simple, well defined concept as their starting point. Kingmaker is the sandbox AP, Skull and Shackles is the pirate AP, etc. This also seems true for the earliest AP.
In particular I am curious about Curse of the Crimson Throne AP, as it dosen't fit this pattern. The very first AP was, of course, Rise of the Runelords, and it's concept was the most basic D&D concept imaginable - "evil wizard sits in his tower and stirs trouble using monstrous humanoids, PCs stop him". Then there's also "Second Darkness", the "fight the drow in the underdark" AP, which I also see as an obvious choice for a concept.
In the time when Curse of the Crimson Throne was being developed as the second ever Paizo AP, the company was in a rough spot with an uncertain future, and judging by the rest of the first 3 APs to be published, it seems like the decision was to go with the "safe and proven" approach and show Paizo's take on classic D&D stories, while also showing off Golarion and demonstrating what's unique about the setting.
Once more, Curse of the Crimson Throne is different. It dosen't easily fit into any story telling trope in D&D, it's much more complicated and rich and full of shades of grey than the usual storyline. It's also tied to far more exotic and special Golarion features - such as Zon-Kuthon and the Red Mantis.
Could you share some light on the process that created Cusre of the Crimson Throne and how it came to be? why was it chosen to be the second AP even though it's so unusual and unsafe? who in the Paizo staff was the force pushing for it to be published? And can we expect to see more oddball APs with no easily defined cocnept behind them, focusing more on telling a unique story than on "basing a campaign on awesome-thing X"?
To make things clear, I think Curse of the Crimson Throne is the best campaign Iv'e ever seen, and it's not like you guys at Paizo haven't been giving it a tough competition these past few years...
Had you heard about the Cthulhu microorganism
If you've played Mega Man Battle Network, do you think any monsters/iconics would translate well to NetNavis?
|
Creative Director
|
Hey James, Adventure Path question!
** spoiler omitted **
To make things clear, I think Curse of the...
I think all of our APs are both based on a simple Fantasy trope and have complex levels of themes.
Crimson Throne's simple trope is "Fight the evil queen." That's a pretty common storyline in my opinion. It's like every third Disney movie.
I don't think it's got "more Golarion features" than any other AP, really.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hey James, hope you're well. Thanks for all the time you devote to answering these questions :)
1) I played in my first tabletop RPG session when I was 19, just over 3 years ago. While my connection with D&D goes further back than that (Dragonlance novels, Neverwinter Nights, etc.), I often feel like I'm missing out on a lot of history. Any recommendations on adventures, novels, rulebooks, or anything else to look into to connect with the history of the game?
2) If you can recall, what is the most consecutive days you've played RPGs?
3) What do you feel is the most misunderstood thing about tabletop RPG's?
4) I've heard people refer to Golarion as "High Fantasy." What exactly does that mean, and do you think that is an accurate label?
1) There's several books about the history of RPGs out there... but a great place to start is to go to the source and check out the 1st edition AD&D rules and adventures, many of which Wizards of the Coast is republishing these days.
2) Probably 3 or 4. And that wasn't non-stop gaming either.
3) That they're for kids.
4) I think it's an accurate label. High fantasy means storylines that use a lot of magic and have lots of fantastic elements. There's all sorts of fantasy in Golarion. Low fantasy is more like Game of Thrones or Conan, where magic is relatively rare and most people don't use magic. Both are legitimate and great versions of the genre, in my opinion.
|
Creative Director
|
Had you heard about the Cthulhu microorganism
I have. I'm wary about it being an April Fool's joke.
Because naming the other one "Cthylla" after a super obscure (and often widely derided by fans of the mythos) deity invented by Brian Lumley seems a strange choice.
|
|
Hey James, hope you're well. Thanks for all the time you devote to answering these questions :)
1) I played in my first tabletop RPG session when I was 19, just over 3 years ago. While my connection with D&D goes further back than that (Dragonlance novels, Neverwinter Nights, etc.), I often feel like I'm missing out on a lot of history. Any recommendations on adventures, novels, rulebooks, or anything else to look into to connect with the history of the game?
2) If you can recall, what is the most consecutive days you've played RPGs?
3) What do you feel is the most misunderstood thing about tabletop RPG's?
4) I've heard people refer to Golarion as "High Fantasy." What exactly does that mean, and do you think that is an accurate label?
1) There's several books about the history of RPGs out there... but a great place to start is to go to the source and check out the 1st edition AD&D rules and adventures, many of which Wizards of the Coast is republishing these days.
2) Probably 3 or 4. And that wasn't non-stop gaming either.
3) That they're for kids.
4) I think it's an accurate label. High fantasy means storylines that use a lot of magic and have lots of fantastic elements. There's all sorts of fantasy in Golarion. Low fantasy is more like Game of Thrones or Conan, where magic is relatively rare and most people don't use magic. Both are legitimate and great versions of the genre, in my opinion.
interesting. Why would you say RPGs are for kids,when you are playing them (while still being an adult) and while your company is making adult content aimed to an adult audiance?
I think what he was saying was, it's a commonly misunderstood thing that people think RPGs are only for kids.
@Lord Snow: You might want to re-read Question 3. (Ninja'd)
@James Jacobs: You might want to recheck High Fantasy and Low Fantasy. A Song of Ice & Fire is High Fantasy.
High Fantasy: World isn't based on Earth at any point. (ASoI&F's Known World)
Low Fantasy: World is based on Earth at some point in its history. (Middle Earth)
Mid Fantasy: In-Between the Two. Typically a World entirely different from Earth but carries a heavy influence from Earth History. (What Golarion seems to technically be.)
High Magic: Magic is Common, Expected, and/or Known about as Common Knowledge. (Golarion Technically)
Low Magic: Magic is Rare, Non-Existent, or Hidden from Common Knowledge. (ASoI&F's Known World)
Mid Magic: Magic is typically Hard to Use, Hard to Learn, Known about by those of at least Moderate Experience. (Middle Earth)
Now sometimes people try to reclassify them do to certain things. Like LotR is a High Fantasy Novel but Middle Earth itself is a Low Fantasy World.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
interesting. Why would you say RPGs are for kids,when you are playing them (while still being an adult) and while your company is making adult content aimed to an adult audiance?Hey James, hope you're well. Thanks for all the time you devote to answering these questions :)
1) I played in my first tabletop RPG session when I was 19, just over 3 years ago. While my connection with D&D goes further back than that (Dragonlance novels, Neverwinter Nights, etc.), I often feel like I'm missing out on a lot of history. Any recommendations on adventures, novels, rulebooks, or anything else to look into to connect with the history of the game?
2) If you can recall, what is the most consecutive days you've played RPGs?
3) What do you feel is the most misunderstood thing about tabletop RPG's?
4) I've heard people refer to Golarion as "High Fantasy." What exactly does that mean, and do you think that is an accurate label?
1) There's several books about the history of RPGs out there... but a great place to start is to go to the source and check out the 1st edition AD&D rules and adventures, many of which Wizards of the Coast is republishing these days.
2) Probably 3 or 4. And that wasn't non-stop gaming either.
3) That they're for kids.
4) I think it's an accurate label. High fantasy means storylines that use a lot of magic and have lots of fantastic elements. There's all sorts of fantasy in Golarion. Low fantasy is more like Game of Thrones or Conan, where magic is relatively rare and most people don't use magic. Both are legitimate and great versions of the genre, in my opinion.
You misunderstood my reply. "That they're for kids" is one of the things that's misunderstood about them.
Sure, kids can play them, but they're complex games, and as such are more aimed at adults in my opinion than kids. There's a perception out there that "Games are for children" among many folks, be they video games or RPGs or board games or whatever. Once the game involves a ball, though, suddenly "games are Big Business for Grown-Ups." I think we're seeing that way of thinking finally shifting for video games over the past several years, now with big games making big bucks, but tabletop RPGs still have something of a stigma to them in the mass market that those who play them are children.
The bulk of Paizo's products ARE for adults, both in complexity and in maturity. Kids can play them as well, in the same way kids can watch R-Rated movies or read Stephen King and not automatically become deviants or criminals... it worked for me, at least, that way. At least on the criminal side of things.
|
Creative Director
|
@James Jacobs: You might want to recheck High Fantasy and Low Fantasy. A Song of Ice & Fire is High Fantasy.
High Fantasy: World isn't based on Earth at any point. (ASoI&F's Known World)
Low Fantasy: World is based on Earth at some point in its history. (Middle Earth)
Mid Fantasy: In-Between the Two. Typically a World entirely different from Earth but carries a heavy influence from Earth History. (What Golarion seems to technically be.)High Magic: Magic is Common, Expected, and/or Known about as Common Knowledge. (Golarion Technically)
Low Magic: Magic is Rare, Non-Existent, or Hidden from Common Knowledge. (ASoI&F's Known World)
Mid Magic: Magic is typically Hard to Use, Hard to Learn, Known about by those of at least Moderate Experience. (Middle Earth)Now sometimes people try to reclassify them do to certain things. Like LotR is a High Fantasy Novel but Middle Earth itself is a Low Fantasy World.
The fact that there are so many definitions and interpretations of this only justifies the existence of the original question. This is the first time I've ever heard the term "mid-fantasy," for example. I've always defined them as:
High Fantasy = lots of fantasy. AKA: Golarion. Lord of the Rings. Harry Potter.
Low Fantasy = not a lot of it. AKA: Game of Thrones.
Lord of the Rings & Harry Potter both have a High Fantasy Story, a Low Fantasy World, & Mid-Magic.
Just as A Game of Thrones is a Mid-Fantasy Story in a High Fantasy World.
Dragons, Dire Wolves, The Wall, The Others, Wights, Giants, Mammoths, The Undying Ones... Numerous other examples.
That's the issue with categories I find. There's a lot of cross over and blurring between the two.
Question for James. Did you get inspiration of the Runelords from Farland's The Runelords?
Had you heard about the Cthulhu microorganismI have. I'm wary about it being an April Fool's joke.
Because naming the other one "Cthylla" after a super obscure (and often widely derided by fans of the mythos) deity invented by Brian Lumley seems a strange choice.
The scientific study publishing those critters was published online on March 18th, and PLOS One is actually a pretty major journal, so I think they are legit
|
Creative Director
|
The scientific study publishing those critters was published online on March 18th, and PLOS One is actually a pretty major journal, so I think they are legitHad you heard about the Cthulhu microorganismI have. I'm wary about it being an April Fool's joke.
Because naming the other one "Cthylla" after a super obscure (and often widely derided by fans of the mythos) deity invented by Brian Lumley seems a strange choice.
Well then. Excellent!
Still strange to see them name one Cthylla though...
|
Creative Director
|
Question for James. Did you get inspiration of the Runelords from Farland's The Runelords?
Nope. I've actually never heard of Farland or that book until just now, in fact. (I actually read a LOT more horror than fantasy.)
"Runelord" is hardly an all that unusual construction of word for the fantasy genre, in any event.
Hi James do bonuses to the caster level (like mage's tatto for exemple) apply to the concentration checks of the spells you cast ?