Creative Director
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To be honest, I never thought about it. It would be easier on the bags, but I suppose that something like that can be interpreted as piracy, and I really love what Paizo is doing and I really wish to support them as fully as I can. And since I work in publishing (I am translator by trade, if not by education), I try not to give in to internet piracy. But, would something like that be legal by moral and copyright laws? James? I would love to have pdfs.
The method by which we distribute our products is already pretty complicated. It's also INCREDIBLY successful. We're very hesitant to change things around too drastically.
If you have a goose that lays golden eggs nesting in your attic where it's nice and warm and there's lots of spiders to eat, it's not necessarily a good idea to move that goose's nest down to the first floor where it's drafty and there might be less food and the goose might get stressed out and stop laying eggs just because you're tired of carrying those gold eggs down 2 flights of stairs.
This awkward analogy brought to you by the Awkward Analogy Association.
James, what do you call people who watch mail?
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Creative Director
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Whats the Adventure Path product development hierarchy at Paizo?
For example, you come in to work one day with a great idea for the next AP and detail the story of the whole path as you see it. You think it's great, believe in it fully, and definitely think it is way to go. Does it automatically get green lit? What if someone else thinks it's a terrible idea? I'm sure you take input from multiple sources and many people have a say, but at the end of the day is it your call? Do you have to do some kind of presentation and get buy in from a majority of senior people? Can anyone at Paizo pitch an entire AP and have it considered? Just curious about the process.
I have plots for adventure paths up through 2014 at this point. If a sudden new idea comes up that I feel ABSOLUTELY has to be made into an AP, it usually gets added on to the tail end of that list. At any one time, we'll be actively printing one AP, working on the next one, and possibly outlining the one after that. At the outline stage, we can STILL sub in a different AP, but for the most part, the earliest we can yank out a scheduled AP and replace it with some great new idea is about a year in the future.
As for how AP ideas come about... they're mostly plots that Wes, Rob, or I come up with, sometimes building upon ideas and suggestions from other folks here at Paizo. We've not yet had someone outside of Paizo suggest a brand new AP that we hadn't already considered and either put on the schedule or rejected, nor are we really interested in soliciting Adventure Path ideas outside of Paizo.
In any event, I'm the one who gets to pull the yes/no lever on an AP. Erik and Vic and Lisa have veto power, of course, but at the end of the day it's my call.
James, what do you call people who watch mail?Stalkers.
I only watch my own mail.
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No need. I know where Aroden is, and what happened to him. And I'm not gonna say. Probably ever.
All the rest of the world needs to know is that he's dead.
I do have to wonder how long it is going to take people to realise the pleasure that you get from witholding that little snippet.
Following your every post via RSS as I do, I've seen that response evolve from "We don't know, although some of the Gods might" a few years ago, to this current incarnation, with the sound of "Mwahahahaha" getting louder in the background all the time...
With the Jade Regent AP, will Ameiko be getting re-illustrated? In some ways I quite like the picture of her in AP1, but at the same time, you've said many times (and lots of people fumed) that the art was not what you wanted, but what you had to accept at the time.
How would you picture her this time (i.e what would the art order be?)
James, will we be returning to Sandpoint someday? It's still my favorite place in Golarion.
Ask again in August.
Hey James,
how many people have a Pathfinder related tattoo by now?
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Creative Director
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James, will we be returning to Sandpoint someday? It's still my favorite place in Golarion.
Yes.
On the first day of Gen Con, 2011, in fact. The first adventure in the Jade Regent adventure path, which launches that day, starts in Sandpoint. It doesn't STAY in Sandpoint, but it starts there. So that counts!
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Creative Director
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With the Jade Regent AP, will Ameiko be getting re-illustrated? In some ways I quite like the picture of her in AP1, but at the same time, you've said many times (and lots of people fumed) that the art was not what you wanted, but what you had to accept at the time.
How would you picture her this time (i.e what would the art order be?)
I was INCREDIBLY disappointed with her illustration in Rise of the Runelords. I've been planning to do Jade Regent with her as the "star NPC" of that arc since "Burnt Offerings," and as such, she's one of the most important characters in "Burnt Offerings" even though she doesn't have a particularly huge role in the adventure.
She's going to be on the cover to Pathfinder #49, in any event. I haven't ordered that cover yet, nor do I know who Sarah plans to assign those six covers to yet, but I trust that whoever does the cover will be up to the quality of the other 50 covers.
Can we have a gallery of those? pleeeeeease!
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Picture of a flaming T-Rex by Greg Broadmore, Weta concept artist. Do you think you could add this guy to your stable of cool artists?
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Chief Technical Officer
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...or you could do a sequential AP. The first series of six volumes would deal with the first couple of levels and then the second series takes off where the first series ended. I hope that made sense
Folks who have been around a while (like you) have likely heard us say that low-level adventures sell better than mid- or high-level adventures... and that holds true for APs, too. So committing six months of effort to a new AP that skips the best selling levels? Certain folks would to have to work pretty darn hard to convince me that that's even in the neighborhood of smart.
I'd much rather see a high-level sequel appear in the Pathfinder Modules line, probably as a one-shot that could be expanded to a micro-series if it proved successful.
Edit: My personal thought is that the Star Stone may not actually bestow permanent divinity. At least not in all cases.
Have Iomedae, Cayden Cailean and Norgorber taken this into consideration? Have they made any contingencies? Should we care?
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Creative Director
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Picture of a flaming T-Rex by Greg Broadmore, Weta concept artist. Do you think you could add this guy to your stable of cool artists?
We've used folks who've worked for Weta lots of times before. So it's certainly possible... although I don't hire the artists, so I'm the wrong person to ask. THAT SAID... it's a great piece, and one that several of my dinosaur-update-network on the internets have spammed me with quite a lot today...
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Creative Director
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Have Iomedae, Cayden Cailean and Norgorber taken this into consideration? Have they made any contingencies? Should we care?
Edit: My personal thought is that the Star Stone may not actually bestow permanent divinity. At least not in all cases.
Since the personal thought that the starstone might not actually bestow permanent divinity was not my personal thought... it's not a worry. Iomedae, Cayden Cailean, and Norgorber are fine.
...or you could do a sequential AP. The first series of six volumes would deal with the first couple of levels and then the second series takes off where the first series ended. I hope that made senseFolks who have been around a while (like you) have likely heard us say that low-level adventures sell better than mid- or high-level adventures... and that holds true for APs, too. So committing six months of effort to a new AP that skips the best selling levels? Certain folks would to have to work pretty darn hard to convince me that that's even in the neighborhood of smart.
I'd much rather see a high-level sequel appear in the Pathfinder Modules line, probably as a one-shot that could be expanded to a micro-series if it proved successful.
I think this makes the best sense. An AP with a Module follow-up would definately be something I would be interested in.
I only watch my own mail.James, what do you call people who watch mail?Stalkers.
But you've certainly got plenty of stalks.
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Hey James, ever thought about doing what Carly Simon did with her song "Your So Vain". Basically she refused to ever tell anyone who she wrote the song about until an auction years later that raised big bucks, she told the winner of the auction and made him sign a contract saying he could never reveal the secret. You could totally do that with Arodens death lots of people would pay cash for that.
...or you could do a sequential AP. The first series of six volumes would deal with the first couple of levels and then the second series takes off where the first series ended. I hope that made senseFolks who have been around a while (like you) have likely heard us say that low-level adventures sell better than mid- or high-level adventures... and that holds true for APs, too. So committing six months of effort to a new AP that skips the best selling levels? Certain folks would to have to work pretty darn hard to convince me that that's even in the neighborhood of smart.
I'd much rather see a high-level sequel appear in the Pathfinder Modules line, probably as a one-shot that could be expanded to a micro-series if it proved successful.
I sort of knew my suggestion wasn't in the realm of the possible (or even probable). The current format clearly works, so why change it too much right?.
I'm just pining for some cross AP continuity. You know, revisit locations, NPC's etc. That was one of the best parts of the AP's in Dungeon. But there you had a campaign setting with somewhere around 30 years of history to build on. Perhaps when Golarion is as old as Greyhawk was then, eh?
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Creative Director
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James Jacobs:
Sorry about the delay in querying this, but I've only just caught up with the download of the Round 3 magus...
At a quick glance, as far as I can see there doesn't seem to be a self-buff spell for the magus' spell-casting ability on the magus spell list. Have I missed something, or is a lone magus (as currently proposed in the playtest) not only going to have extremely difficulty creating items to improve their own spellcasting, but is also going to find it pretty difficult to spellcast to do so?Edit:
Ahh, answered my own question. A magus can use the Spell Blending arcana to pick up any wizard spell he likes of a level equivalent (I think) to a magus level of spell casting he can already access. Nevermind.
Cool; glad you found the answer, because I bet you know the magus better than I do at this point. I largely avoid becoming involved in the playtests—they're mostly handled by the design team and then edited; it's not until a book enters the late development phase (which generally happens well after playtests are over and the playtest feedback has been incorperated into the class) that I become involved in the rulebooks. Unless I'm helping design elements, which is what happened with the alchemist.
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Creative Director
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James Jacobs:
I note upthread you stated pretty firmly that Aroden's dead. If Aroden's dead then why isn't Rovagug? Rovagug has a much bigger list of enemies, I'm reasonably sure, and Aroden's being dead makes it clear that it is possible to inhume (or whatever the appropriate term would be) deities with extreme prejudice.
Or do Sarenrae and Asmodeus who beat Rovagug down and jailed him have some scheme to 'redeem' (or at least convert to a less chaotic point of view) Rovagug, and so won't let anyone interested in killing him anywhere near him?
Rovagug is QUITE a bit more powerful than Aroden. He's powerful enough that it took a whole team of deities led by Sarenrae to defeat and imprison him; if they COULD have killed him, they would have. They couldn't, so they locked him up.
Looking at it another way... Aroden was a god for only a few thousand years, if that. Rovagug may have been a god longer than the Material Plane even existed.
Not all deities are equally powerful, in other words. Some are vastly more powerful than others.
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Creative Director
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Hey James, ever thought about doing what Carly Simon did with her song "Your So Vain". Basically she refused to ever tell anyone who she wrote the song about until an auction years later that raised big bucks, she told the winner of the auction and made him sign a contract saying he could never reveal the secret. You could totally do that with Arodens death lots of people would pay cash for that.
Did you just compare me to Carly Simon?
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Creative Director
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I sort of knew my suggestion wasn't in the realm of the possible (or even probable). The current format clearly works, so why change it too much right?.
I'm just pining for some cross AP continuity. You know, revisit locations, NPC's etc. That was one of the best parts of the AP's in Dungeon. But there you had a campaign setting with somewhere around 30 years of history to build on. Perhaps when Golarion is as old as Greyhawk was then, eh?
Jade Regent, which launches at Gen Con 2011, begins in Sandpoint and focuses on several NPCs from "Rise of the Runelords" pretty well.
Jade Regent, which launches at Gen Con 2011, begins in Sandpoint and focuses on several NPCs from "Rise of the Runelords" pretty well.I sort of knew my suggestion wasn't in the realm of the possible (or even probable). The current format clearly works, so why change it too much right?.
I'm just pining for some cross AP continuity. You know, revisit locations, NPC's etc. That was one of the best parts of the AP's in Dungeon. But there you had a campaign setting with somewhere around 30 years of history to build on. Perhaps when Golarion is as old as Greyhawk was then, eh?
I hope it's a succes and you get to do this sort of thing more often :)
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No need. I know where Aroden is, and what happened to him. And I'm not gonna say. Probably ever.
All the rest of the world needs to know is that he's dead.
My personal theory: Someone (I blame Cayden Cailean) sneezed on the Starstone. The cold germs contained within that sneeze attained a spark of divinity. As such, the were able to infect Aroden when he stopped by to clean the place up after Cayden puked all over the Temple. Over the next few hundred years, Aroden's sickness grew worse and worse as the Virus-God absorbed Aroden's divinity to add to it's own. Eventually, Aroden died. The Virus-God, lacking a suitable host, died shortly thereafter (relatively, it took a few decades).
I just watched the 1980s Flash Gordon movie, its a train wreak of a movie but for some strange reason its still one of my favourites...
Is there any 1980's cheesy movies that you like?
If there was ever a movie with the Pathfinder iconics I think Brian Blessed (Prince Voltan) would make a great Harsk (although he is probably too old now.
He would also make a great Thorin Oakenshield in the Hobbit.
I always thought he kind of got stuck down the back of the sofa/couch.
Has anybody tried looking for him there? er... that question to Mr. Jacobs
No need. I know where Aroden is, and what happened to him. And I'm not gonna say. Probably ever.
All the rest of the world needs to know is that he's dead.
ok thanks but I'm still going to check the sofa - I don't want him rotting away back there
Mr. Jacobs, is fear the heart of love?
I just watched the 1980s Flash Gordon movie, its a train wreak of a movie but for some strange reason its still one of my favourites...
Is there any 1980's cheesy movies that you like?
If there was ever a movie with the Pathfinder iconics I think Brian Blessed (Prince Voltan) would make a great Harsk (although he is probably too old now.
He would also make a great Thorin Oakenshield in the Hobbit.
He made a great Augustus.
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I have a crackpot theory on Aroden's death. As with any murder mystery, I ask myself "Who profited the most from the Last Azlanti's death?" In my opinion the answer is Asmodeus... and Iomedae. I think the arch fiend somehow caused the death of Aroden by either tricking or even conspiring with Iomedae. Maybe it was a loophole in the "contract of creation," maybe he got either Aroden or Iomedae to agree to a bargain that resulted in the payment being Aroden's immortal soul, I don't know. But however it went down, Aroden's death paved the way for the churches of Asmodeus (in Cheliax) and Iomedae (throughout the Inner Sea) to grow greatly in power.
Anyway, definitely crackpot theory. The fact James isn't revealing the true answer lets us have fun with wild speculation like that. :) On to the questions...
James, are you excited about RPG Superstar 2011? As a guest judge, do you know yet what round or in what way you'll be involved with the contest this year?
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Creative Director
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I just watched the 1980s Flash Gordon movie, its a train wreak of a movie but for some strange reason its still one of my favourites...
Is there any 1980's cheesy movies that you like?
If there was ever a movie with the Pathfinder iconics I think Brian Blessed (Prince Voltan) would make a great Harsk (although he is probably too old now.
He would also make a great Thorin Oakenshield in the Hobbit.
Flash Gordon is a great example of a cheesy movie from the 80s that I actually quite dislike. It's TOO goofy for my tastes.
I'm much more tolerant of "cheesy" movies that aren't intentionally trying to be cheesy, which is what the Flash Gordon movie did, I feel. And not in an entertaining way—but in a less offensive "Batman & Robin" kind of way.
In particular, movies from the horror genre get by my cheesedar a lot easier... especially if their heart and soul takes itself seriously.
Movies that other folks would call cheesy from the 80s that I love would include such delights as:
C.H.U.D.
Phantasm II
From Beyond
The Keep
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Creative Director
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Are there any plans for an AP that contemplates the posibility of evil PCs?
Or an AP that gives different options for differents aligments... If you rescue the princess, the King awards the party a magic sword, if you kill the princess the necromancer buy the corpse in order to blackmail the king...
I've been considering doing an "evil AP" for a while, but every time we put something into an AP to test the waters, the public response is mixed at best. I'm afraid that a full-on evil AP would simply not be a wise choice—as far as I can tell, epic level play, psionics, and several other "fringe" play styles are all more popular types of play (and thus, better choices for an AP) than an evil AP.
That said, we DO try to build our APs so that if you wanted to run an evil party through them, you can. While some of the implied motivations assume non-evil or even good PCs, we usually try not to REQUIRE good PCs to win an adventure.
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Creative Director
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James - Is "Manos; the Hands of Fate" still the best MST3K episode?
It's certainly in the top 5, up there with "Pod People," "Ator," "Teenagers From Outer Space," "This Island Earth" (the movie), and that one whose name I can't remember but can stand in for the other 100 episodes that are all awesome.
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Creative Director
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James, are you excited about RPG Superstar 2011? As a guest judge, do you know yet what round or in what way you'll be involved with the contest this year?
RPG Superstar doesn't really excite me, to be honest. It's a HELL of a lot of work, and it tends to have ripple effects that make everything ELSE we do more work (as key employees have to set aside regular responsibilities in order to judge hundreds of entries). All of that work is WELL worth it, of course, since the last few years have not only given us several great writers but actual full-time employees.
Anyway, I'm not the one RPG superstar is supposed to excite—I'm certainly proud of how excited the contestants and the public get for it, for example! It's great fun seeing folks get all into game design.
And I do know what my role in RPG Superstar will be this year—I'm a guest judge for one round, but I'm not sure I'm allowed to say for WHAT round. That said... folks who have been following the Superstar contests for the last few years may have noticed a pattern there...