Having listed George Carlin as one of his top five comedians of all time, I hereby declare that, barring overly gross and blatant stupidity, James Jacobs is incapable of being wrong.
He will probably disagree, but that's just him being humble.
Question time!!:
James, having many contacts and friends in the comic book world, is there anything I can do to help make a PF comic come to light??
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I hesitate to ask this question, for I'm afraid the answer might be worse than not knowing....but, here goes anyway!
What exactly IS the whole FAWTL threads thing?
It stands for Forums are Way Too Long, a thread that was created to discuss threads that just so happen to have very advanced page numbers. It became a behemoth itself, and soon after there were new incarnations after the original was closed.
The thread is meant to be cathartic, a place where people can wind down, discuss their day, talk about weirdness, or anything in between. FaWTL has few rules: no politics, stay nice.
Sometimes the thread will be used to test new code too. We get used to it. :P
I hesitate to ask this question, for I'm afraid the answer might be worse than not knowing....but, here goes anyway!
What exactly IS the whole FAWTL threads thing?
FAWTL is an acronym that stands for Forums Are Way Too Long. There was a thread a while back that someone started as a complaint and people responded by making that thread gigantic and then making more threads that have several thousand posts in them.
And yes, I am attempting to steal James Jacobs' thunder here.
EDIT: DAMN YOU STUDPUFFIN!!!!!
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I hesitate to ask this question, for I'm afraid the answer might be worse than not knowing....but, here goes anyway!
What exactly IS the whole FAWTL threads thing?
FAWTL is an acronym that stands for Forums Are Way Too Long. There was a thread a while back that someone started as a complaint and people responded by making that thread gigantic and then making more threads that have several thousand posts in them.
And yes, I am attempting to steal James Jacobs' thunder here.
NINJA! MWAH!
*runs off with JMD031's thunder*
And James is jealous because we are cooler then he is.:)
Does the bowfinger salute exist in Golarion?
And should I take it with the whole Abyssal oriented Cavaler order that you prefear creatures Abyssal over creatures infernal?
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James any chance for the last of the Iconic backgrounds being released soon? (I'm thinking they would fit in quite nicely with the Golarion day stuff) Also has there been a revision on the no advancing the timeline stance? I noticed certain city in the lost city's book's timeline seems to have moved forward.
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I hesitate to ask this question, for I'm afraid the answer might be worse than not knowing....but, here goes anyway!
What exactly IS the whole FAWTL threads thing?
FAWTL is an acronym that stands for Forums Are Way Too Long. There was a thread a while back that someone started as a complaint and people responded by making that thread gigantic and then making more threads that have several thousand posts in them.
And yes, I am attempting to steal James Jacobs' thunder here.
NINJA! MWAH!
*runs off with JMD031's thunder*
Studpuffin neglects to mention that some of the earlier FAWTL threads were way too long in the sense that they started to cause weird things to happen to the messageboards. Then the PMG started flexing muscles and the problems went away.
You say problems like they're a bad thing. >:)
I hesitate to ask this question, for I'm afraid the answer might be worse than not knowing....but, here goes anyway!
What exactly IS the whole FAWTL threads thing?
FAWTL is an acronym that stands for Forums Are Way Too Long. There was a thread a while back that someone started as a complaint and people responded by making that thread gigantic and then making more threads that have several thousand posts in them.
And yes, I am attempting to steal James Jacobs' thunder here.
NINJA! MWAH!
*runs off with JMD031's thunder*
Studpuffin neglects to mention that some of the earlier FAWTL threads were way too long in the sense that they started to cause weird things to happen to the messageboards. Then the PMG started flexing muscles and the problems went away. :D
Not so fast! There are ... clones.
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Not so fast! There are ... clones.I hesitate to ask this question, for I'm afraid the answer might be worse than not knowing....but, here goes anyway!
What exactly IS the whole FAWTL threads thing?
FAWTL is an acronym that stands for Forums Are Way Too Long. There was a thread a while back that someone started as a complaint and people responded by making that thread gigantic and then making more threads that have several thousand posts in them.
And yes, I am attempting to steal James Jacobs' thunder here.
NINJA! MWAH!
*runs off with JMD031's thunder*
Studpuffin neglects to mention that some of the earlier FAWTL threads were way too long in the sense that they started to cause weird things to happen to the messageboards. Then the PMG started flexing muscles and the problems went away. :D
Not to mention the occasional ghosts.
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James, in your Shadow Under Sandpoint campaign, are the events of the Rise of the Runelords AP assumed to have happened?
If so, how do the locals refer to events such as the goblin trouble, the Skinsaw murders and the giant attack? Do they have a collective name for them (similar to ‘The Late Unpleasantness’)?
No, seriously what about the east and west pole? Just because Golarion's a fantasy world, it doesn't mean that there can't, in some weird dimensional (likely Lovecraftian way) be an east pole and/or west pole. Okay, getting to either be tricky (since they're always beyond the conventional horizon) and one or both of these locations might already be occupied by mi-go, nightgaunts, hounds of tindalos, and/or other weird and wonderful things, but the trip might be worth the while to several groups.Since Golarion was created by SCIENCE, no east or west pole exists. And since no east or west pole existed in Lovecraft, invoking Grandpa's name has no effect.
Hey now, Uranus has East and West poles! It is sitting there on its side and spinning around the plane of the solar system...
So there!
Does the bowfinger salute exist in Golarion?
And should I take it with the whole Abyssal oriented Cavaler order that you prefear creatures Abyssal over creatures infernal?It does.
And you should. Demons are better than devils.
Cunning rhetoric, sir.
Creative Director
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James any chance for the last of the Iconic backgrounds being released soon? (I'm thinking they would fit in quite nicely with the Golarion day stuff) Also has there been a revision on the no advancing the timeline stance? I noticed certain city in the lost city's book's timeline seems to have moved forward.
The last few "Meet the Iconics" should hopefully show up someday soon. They WOULD fit well into Golarion day, now that I think about it. I've been kind of waiting for some other folks to write them, but I'm starting to think that the only way the'll happen is if I write them.
The timeline itself is a more complicated topic. While we aren't assuming any of the events in our adventures become canon (for the most part, see below), we ARE always advancing the timeline. The current year in Golarion is always equal to the current real world year, +4700. So this being 2011, the current year in Golarion is 4711. In the upcoming "Inner Sea World Guide," that will be listed as "the current year." Which means we'll add 3 years of events to that timeline.
Those added events will NOT be events that occur during any Adventure Paths, but they might foreshadow current, prior, or upcoming adventure paths.
Now, in the case of Lost Cities of Golarion, we deliberately wanted to try out an experiment to see how folks would react to something that assumes the events of an adventure path had occurred. For greater details (Rise of the Runelords spoilers follow)...
Pathfinder #6 already presents the lost city of Xin-Shalast in GREAT detail, and does so for high level play. We wanted to have Lost Cities of Golarion feature Xin-Shalast, since that's one of the more famous lost cities in the world, but we didn't want to just copy/paste the info from Pathfinder #6. Nor did we want to present that city as "for high level play only." So instead, we decided to present the city as it might appear a few years AFTER the events of "Rise of the Runelords" play out, and assume that some nameless group of heroes (the PCs!) have already played through Pathfinder #6 and defeated Karzoug. But the question then becomes... now that Xin-Shalast is a known location, how would that affect Varisia? And how could we set up Xin-Shalast as a place for all levels of play? Could it even be done?
So yeah... it was an experiment. Let us know if you liked it, and if so, we might do some more similar "after an AP" type looks at regions of the world.
For the most part, though... the actual events in our adventures are always going to remain "time neutral," so that they could take place in any order. Unless, of course, we do a sequel. Like the upcoming Jade Regent adventure path.
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Creative Director
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James, in your Shadow Under Sandpoint campaign, are the events of the Rise of the Runelords AP assumed to have happened?
If so, how do the locals refer to events such as the goblin trouble, the Skinsaw murders and the giant attack? Do they have a collective name for them (similar to ‘The Late Unpleasantness’)?
In Shadow under Sandpoint, I do indeed assume that the events in Rise of the Runelords have already happened. Some group of heroes finished off that adventure successfully, Sandpoint's had a few years of peace and quiet, and now it's time for a NEW group to step in and save the day.
Which is kinda the same starting we'll be assuming for Jade Regent.
The locals refer to those events as "the goblin attack," "the Skinsaw murders," and "the dragon attack," pretty much. They don't yet have a name for them, really.
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Creative Director
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What is your favorite Sci-Fi setting?
** spoiler omitted **
My favorite all-time RPG Sci-Fi setting is Unspeakable Futures, my own homebrew post-apocalyptic setting that combines Fallout, Dark Tower, Road Warrior, and LOTS of Lovecraft.
My favorite PUBLISHED RPG Sci-Fi setting, though, is Gamma World.
My favorite novel Sci-fi setting is the Hyperion/Endymion books by Dan Simmons.
My favorite TV Sci-fi setting is Lost.
My favorite movie Sci-fi setting is Alien.
So James, with the Bestiary 2 out, it really feels like GMs have all the basic building blocks of Pathfinder fauna, with several crunchy bits thrown into the mix. I love, love love the fact that we've got a solid regiment of aligned outsiders for each of the nine alignments (I thought the aeons were especially cool, and I believe that the sound I made when I saw Scylla and Charybdis in there could be best described as a "squeal").
Those crunchy bits aside, it felt like these races of outsiders were the "theme" of the the Bestiary 2. Was this the intent with this book, or is my noggin on the fritz? If the case proves to be the former, are there going to be similar themes in future bestiaries, and do you have anything in mind for them yet? Personally, I thought that the wendigo was one of the coolest and most chilling beasties I've seen in some time. Makes me wonder at the potential of more native outsiders!
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Hey James, long-time lurker, 1st time commenter. Anyway, I was recently in a car accident and I was wondering if you could tell me how to make an insurance company cooperate so that I can get rid of my rental.
Thanks a bunch.
My only experience with dealing with insurance companies from being in a car crash was from last September, when a woman rear-ended me on a freeway on ramp. She admitted 100% of the fault, my car insurance company (Geico) was quick and efficient and friendly in helping me out, her insurance company ponied up for the entire cost of the $5,000+ repair and the majority of the rental car fee (I only had to pay for the insurance to cover the rental, plus gas), and so in the end the only real inconvenience was that it basically took about a month for the garage to fix my crumpled trunk and rear end. And THAT was because I own a Saturn, and they're no longer producing new cars, so the garage had to scrounge up the parts from all over and that took a while.
So... my only advice, I guess, is to be lucky?
Saturn, WHOO! What kind?
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Creative Director
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So James, with the Bestiary 2 out, it really feels like GMs have all the basic building blocks of Pathfinder fauna, with several crunchy bits thrown into the mix. I love, love love the fact that we've got a solid regiment of aligned outsiders for each of the nine alignments (I thought the aeons were especially cool, and I believe that the sound I made when I saw Scylla and Charybdis in there could be best described as a "squeal").
Those crunchy bits aside, it felt like these races of outsiders were the "theme" of the the Bestiary 2. Was this the intent with this book, or is my noggin on the fritz? If the case proves to be the former, are there going to be similar themes in future bestiaries, and do you have anything in mind for them yet? Personally, I thought that the wendigo was one of the coolest and most chilling beasties I've seen in some time. Makes me wonder at the potential of more native outsiders!
Giving Bestiary 2 a theme of "That monster book with all the outsider races" was indeed entirely on purpose. We'll be doing similar themes for ALL of our Bestiaries if we can. Makes it easier to keep them in mind as separate books, and easier to associate monsters with them, in theory. And it gives each book its own feel and personality beyond, "Oh, another batch of monsters."
There are ants in my kitchen. They're staying away from my food to the extent of the ant trail going around a perfectly good chocolate cake. Instead they're swarming my sink, eating the food stuck on the dishes and in the wire mesh over the drain.
We left some borax out to kill them. Now the ants are swarming the borax because it's yummy. It kills them by sucking all the water out of their bodies. There are ants collapsing dead in the middle of the line with their comrade ants poking them and sniffing them, as if asking "are you okay?"
Should I feel bad?
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Creative Director
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There are ants in my kitchen. They're staying away from my food to the extent of the ant trail going around a perfectly good chocolate cake. Instead they're swarming my sink, eating the food stuck on the dishes and in the wire mesh over the drain.
We left some borax out to kill them. Now the ants are swarming the borax because it's yummy. It kills them by sucking all the water out of their bodies. There are ants collapsing dead in the middle of the line with their comrade ants poking them and sniffing them, as if asking "are you okay?"
Should I feel bad?
If you've been killing spiders like you probably have been, then yes. Spiders eat ants. That's why it's good to have spiders in your house.
But just feeling bad because you're killing ants with borax? Yeah... you kinda should.
Killing flies is the only thing that is murder-guilt free that I can think of.
I just came acrossed on Amazon that you are an expert on demons, which I already knew, but I had not realized that the world at large knows that now. But i was wondering how did you become an expert on Demons? and do people consult you when the have a demon problem?
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Creative Director
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I just came acrossed on Amazon that you are an expert on demons, which I already knew, but I had not realized that the world at large knows that now. But i was wondering how did you become an expert on Demons? and do people consult you when the have a demon problem?
All started three decades or so ago when I noticed that Demogorgon had the most hit points of ANY MONSTER in the Monster Manual. "Golly," I said, marveling at those 200 hit points. "This chap has it going on! He is a right delight in the category of mayhem and malice. I do believe that he may have become my most admired creature contained within this cunning codex... what ho! there are yet MORE demons to delight my dastardly desires? Pray tell, what wonder might dwell upon the following page... OMG! NAKED GIRLS!"
That's pretty much how it went. I've been a fan of demons ever since.
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Creative Director
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I have to agree with James, gnomes are just awful.I hate to correct you but the correct answer is CLEARLY gnomes.Which are better, gnomes, halflings, or munchkins?Halflings.
Ahem.
I like halfings best. They get 100 points out of 100 on my "awesome little guy" rating. Gnomes, on the other hand, get about a 98. They lose two points for having the misfortune of spending too many editions looking too much like thin dwarves. I still love gnomes.
Munchkins on the other hand are both silly and have the misfortune of having their name stolen by a style of game play that annoys me. They get a 55 on the "awesome little guy" rating.
Dwarves get a 0.
I have to agree with James, gnomes are just awful.I hate to correct you but the correct answer is CLEARLY gnomes.Which are better, gnomes, halflings, or munchkins?Halflings.Ahem.
I like halfings best. They get 100 points out of 100 on my "awesome little guy" rating. Gnomes, on the other hand, get about a 98. They lose two points for having the misfortune of spending too many editions looking too much like thin dwarves. I still love gnomes.
Munchkins on the other hand are both silly and have the misfortune of having their name stolen by a style of game play that annoys me. They get a 55 on the "awesome little guy" rating.
Dwarves get a 0.
Does having an incredibly entertaining, morally skewed, massively amusing card game earn the Munchkin any extra points???
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Well, seeing as how Dwarves are Medium sized, I can see why they score so low on the small guy scale :)
Now some questions
What is your favourite iteration of the Gnome out of those portrayed in roleplay games?
On a similar note, who came up with the concpet of "the bleaching" for Golarian Gnomes? This is, in my opinion, the best addition to a race I've seen in a game for a long time. The person who thought that gem up has my undying gratitude for making gnomes cool for me again.
Cheers
so I am reading At the of Mountains of Madness and I had two thoughts, frist, what would the giant blind albino penguins look like stated up 2nd do you thing the aforementioned penguins will make it into the Movie when ever it come out.
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I like halfings best. They get 100 points out of 100 on my "awesome little guy" rating. Gnomes, on the other hand, get about a 98. They lose two points for having the misfortune of spending too many editions looking too much like thin dwarves. I still love gnomes.
My problem with halflings:
0e, 1e, Basic, 2e: A bit too Tolkien. Still, it's preferable to...
3.X: If I wanted to play what halflings are here, I'd just play a kender. Halflings became watered-down kender in this edition.
I agree that gnomes were just kind of pointless previously, they were just shorter dwarves who could do illusion magic. But that's why I'm liking Pathfinder gnomes so much...of all of Paizo's "re-imaginings" of classic monsters/races/etc, I think gnomes underwent the most radical transformation. They're just not quite right...and I love them for it. Hell, they don't even LOOK like D&D/lawn gnomes.
Dwarves get a 0.
Ah'm not feelin the love.
Mr. Jacobs,
As far as SK novels go (that portray psychic characters): Carrie, The Dead Zone, or Firestarter?
Mr. Jacobs,
As far as S.K. novels go (that prominently feature psychic characters): Carrie, The Dead Zone, or Firestarter?
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Have you ever played a non-standard race, such as litorian or sibecai or something like that?
In my games, I tend to divide races in two tiers. First tier are standard PC races. Second tier are old LA +3-4 races, such as thri-kreen. I make players decide on the starting tier and if they decide to start from the second tier, but play one of the core races, I make them take 3 levels of NPC classes, and then everyone starts from the first level and gain experience normally. Does this sound balanced to you?
Considering the fact that there are nobility in Golarion I am sure the concept of”summer homes” exists, now where would Mr Jacobs summer in Golarion?
Archetypes is to me a very nice addition to the game, certainly it helps you customize a character without always having to add another class, where did the inspiration for that idea come from?
Are you by the way for or against prestige classes as a whole? I know some people vehemently dislike them.
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Creative Director
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Well, seeing as how Dwarves are Medium sized, I can see why they score so low on the small guy scale :)
Exactly. Something named "dwarf" but is the same size as a human is doing it wrong. MINUS POINTS!
What is your favourite iteration of the Gnome out of those portrayed in roleplay games?
Pathfinder's version. Because they're not just slightly more magical dwarves or tinkers. Which is basically the only other two choices in D&D type games until Pathfinder.
On a similar note, who came up with the concpet of "the bleaching" for Golarian Gnomes? This is, in my opinion, the best addition to a race I've seen in a game for a long time. The person who thought that gem up has my undying gratitude for making gnomes cool for me again.
Not sure... specific ideas start to get blended together years later. I only know it wasn't my idea.
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Creative Director
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so I am reading At the of Mountains of Madness and I had two thoughts, frist, what would the giant blind albino penguins look like stated up 2nd do you thing the aforementioned penguins will make it into the Movie when ever it come out.
Giant blind albino penguins would have stats pretty similar to an eagle, except no fly speed (replace with swim speed) and no talon attacks (just one bite). Pretty boring, in other words.
It would be cool, of course, for them to show up in the movie. Guillarmo del Toro knows cool, though, so I'm pretty confident we'll see some giant white albino penguins in a few years on the big screen.
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Creative Director
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Mr. Jacobs,
As far as S.K. novels go (that prominently feature psychic characters): Carrie, The Dead Zone, or Firestarter?
My preference for those is probably Firestarter, since it expands the Stephen King universe the most. The Dead Zone is a close second though.
And it's worth remembering that there's a lot more psychic plots in King's books than these...
The Shining
The Dark Tower series
Tommyknockers
Desperation
Hearts in Atlantis
Dreamcatcher
It
Cell
Duma Key
Insomnia
Just to name ten more that contain cool ideas for psionics... mental powers is actually, I would venture to say, his most favorite story element.
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Creative Director
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Have you ever played a non-standard race, such as litorian or sibecai or something like that?
In my games, I tend to divide races in two tiers. First tier are standard PC races. Second tier are old LA +3-4 races, such as thri-kreen. I make players decide on the starting tier and if they decide to start from the second tier, but play one of the core races, I make them take 3 levels of NPC classes, and then everyone starts from the first level and gain experience normally. Does this sound balanced to you?
Yes. Limiting to D&D or Pathfinder (since I've played weird stuff in sci-fi games plenty), one of my favorite and longest-lived charactes was Shensen, a drow. She died at one point and was reincarnated (see below...) and came back as a half-aquatic elf. Both non standard races, and a really fun character to play.
I also played a kenku named Chuko in Jason Bulmahn's Eberron game. When he died, I played a shifter. When he died I played a changeling. When she/he died, I played a drow (again). That drow ended up surviving to the end of the campaign, with her last act, more or less, being the violent beheading of an ogre. Good times.
The WEIRDEST character I've played in the game, though, was for Mike McArtor's short-lived "NO HUMANS!" game. In that one I played an awakened deinonychus who was growing wings.
In the cases where the character I played had a level adjustment, I found that the mechanics for level adjustments were lacking. Particularly in the case of a drow character; Shensen ended up going from like 2nd level (she was an early campaign replacement for Sokoro, who done got killed by a cultist) up to about 20th, but with each level she gained, the level adjustment grew more and more of a disadvantage. I was always one or two levels behind the rest of the party, and at higher levels, the advantages being a 3.5 drow gave you were NOT that great. The ability score boosts remain nice all the time, of course, but the spell-like abilities you gain are pretty much useless by 10th level, and Spell Resistance, while sometimes handy, is more of a liability since your companions have to be able to get through it when casting healing or buff spells on you. Which, combined with your lower level, makes it even TOUGHER to survive.
Level adjustments are not the best way.