So, I will admit that this question is largely prompted by the recent fiction contest announced by the Pathfinder Chronicler where stories have to be set in the Age of Destiny.
The calendar dating of modern Golarion is Absalom Reckoning, but what about before the beginning of the Age of Enthronement when Absalom was founded? People would not have referred to their time period as "before Absalom" after all... I hazard a guess that it would be tied to Earthfall or the end of the Age of Darkness, but after scouring the Inner Sea World Guide and the wiki, I am still uncertain.
Also, I would assume the months and days at least would be the same, as they are named after the gods? It doesn't hurt to make sure.
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Bit confused about TBS being called "too close to being RTS" but okay .-.
Isn't Wolf in Sheep's clothing kinda horrifying though? I mean, its tree stump like creature that plays puppets with corpses, so its not a creature that is cute but still dangerous
BTW, who does writing for Pathfinder Society? I don't mean the PFS campaign, I mean Pathfinders in the lore? Its something I've been thinking about, the game is named after them, but they seem to be important only to PFS since its really rare they are mentioned in other modules or APs than society scenarios. Is it the same guys who do writing for PFS seasons and scenarios?
Hi! Wouldn't it be cool if Paizo developed a way to play Adventure Paths and modules solitaire? It can be difficult for older gamers to find a group to play. Is the solitaire option something that Paizo might even consider?
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James, who at Paizo came up with the concept for Alchemists? What I am curious about is why Alchemists do not make/craft Permanent products everyone can use. By permanent I mean 1 use items that anyone can buy carry around and use.
That was me. I built the first draft of the alchemist class, based partially on the Witcher video games and partially on my desire for there to be a "mad scientist" class in the game.
One of the core themes of the class was to NOT do what every other arcane spellcaster class does—have spells to bolster companions. The alchemist is intended to be a self-centered magic using class, one who uses his magic to bolster himself at the expense of buffing anyone else. An alchemist who wants to build potions for friends has options, such as the Brew Potion feat... but if you want to play a spellcasting class that helps everyone else... play something other than an alchemist.
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James, who at Paizo came up with the concept for Alchemists? What I am curious about is why Alchemists do not make/craft Permanent products everyone can use. By permanent I mean 1 use items that anyone can buy carry around and use.That was me. I built the first draft of the alchemist class, based partially on the Witcher video games and partially on my desire for there to be a "mad scientist" class in the game.
One of the core themes of the class was to NOT do what every other arcane spellcaster class does—have spells to bolster companions. The alchemist is intended to be a self-centered magic using class, one who uses his magic to bolster himself at the expense of buffing anyone else. An alchemist who wants to build potions for friends has options, such as the Brew Potion feat... but if you want to play a spellcasting class that helps everyone else... play something other than an alchemist.
In the foreword to The Infernal Syndrome, you referred to Clinton Boomer as a possible inspiration for the alchemist class, in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way.
Was this just a joke? If not, what did you mean by that? I've always been curious...
Thank you! ^_^
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So, I will admit that this question is largely prompted by the recent fiction contest announced by the Pathfinder Chronicler where stories have to be set in the Age of Destiny.
The calendar dating of modern Golarion is Absalom Reckoning, but what about before the beginning of the Age of Enthronement when Absalom was founded? People would not have referred to their time period as "before Absalom" after all... I hazard a guess that it would be tied to Earthfall or the end of the Age of Darkness, but after scouring the Inner Sea World Guide and the wiki, I am still uncertain.
Also, I would assume the months and days at least would be the same, as they are named after the gods? It doesn't hurt to make sure.
There are a lot of deep historical bits of trivia and minutiae that we've simply never designed. We choose mostly to focus on the modern day stuff in Golarion. Put another way, there currently IS no calendar dating for before AR, and it's not something I'm ready to invent here on the spot. The months and days would NOT be the same. Some of the months are named after gods that, if you go back far enough, didn't yet exist. It's unlikely that they would have named Arodus that before Aroden rose the Isle of Kortos and became a god, for example.
If we were publishing a story set in those early days then we'd have to come up with an answer to these questions, of course... but that, alas, doesn't help you right now for your fiction. In fact... setting stories in the Age of Destiny seems to be a complicated and perhaps difficult choice for the Pathfinder Chronicler, since there ARE a lot of open unanswered questions about Golarion's past...
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Bit confused about TBS being called "too close to being RTS" but okay .-.
Isn't Wolf in Sheep's clothing kinda horrifying though? I mean, its tree stump like creature that plays puppets with corpses, so its not a creature that is cute but still dangerous
BTW, who does writing for Pathfinder Society? I don't mean the PFS campaign, I mean Pathfinders in the lore? Its something I've been thinking about, the game is named after them, but they seem to be important only to PFS since its really rare they are mentioned in other modules or APs than society scenarios. Is it the same guys who do writing for PFS seasons and scenarios?
A wolf in sheep's clothing is horrifying once you're up close and know what's going on... but you're moving goalposts now.
The writers in world for the Pathfinder Society are the actual pathfinders themselves. I made up the character Koriah for when I wanted a pathfinder to quote in my work, for example. Erik uses Durven Gest a lot. There's plenty more. And then I got to the end of your paragraph and got confused.. who exactly are you actually asking about? In game characters or real world writers?
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Hi! Wouldn't it be cool if Paizo developed a way to play Adventure Paths and modules solitaire? It can be difficult for older gamers to find a group to play. Is the solitaire option something that Paizo might even consider?
It's not. Solo adventures are very difficult to create, and take up a lot more room than standard adventures and so would either have to be shorter play experiences or much larger books. Furthermore, while I adore the older Fighting Fantasy and Choose Your Own Adventure books, and while my very first publication was a solo adventure for Dungeon... the heyday of this type of product is past. It's more or less a nostalgia thing at this point, with video games having more or less taken up the mantle of solo entertainment for this type of thing.
My solution has been to aim to make our adventures fun and engaging to simply read. It's not the same as playing through an adventure, but in those periods of time in my life when I had no game group, simply reading adventures served to scratch the gaming itch until I was able to get a group together.
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Actually the question about Nurgal and how his Succubus servants would look made me curious. What diety or demon lord would have the most atypical demon minions?
Demons are creatures of chaos. Furthermore, demon lords are icons of the demonic; you wouldn't have one that's atypical, really, because something like that wouldn't really last. As a result, there's not really an obvious choice for "most atypical" demon minion.
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James, who at Paizo came up with the concept for Alchemists? What I am curious about is why Alchemists do not make/craft Permanent products everyone can use. By permanent I mean 1 use items that anyone can buy carry around and use.That was me. I built the first draft of the alchemist class, based partially on the Witcher video games and partially on my desire for there to be a "mad scientist" class in the game.
One of the core themes of the class was to NOT do what every other arcane spellcaster class does—have spells to bolster companions. The alchemist is intended to be a self-centered magic using class, one who uses his magic to bolster himself at the expense of buffing anyone else. An alchemist who wants to build potions for friends has options, such as the Brew Potion feat... but if you want to play a spellcasting class that helps everyone else... play something other than an alchemist.
In the foreword to The Infernal Syndrome, you referred to Clinton Boomer as a possible inspiration for the alchemist class, in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way.
Was this just a joke? If not, what did you mean by that? I've always been curious...
Thank you! ^_^
That was a joke. Clinton, at the time, was a bartender and an eccentric. I'm not sure if he's still a bartender today, but he's certainly still eccentric.
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How do outsiders interact with the Outer Gods and the Great Old Ones?
These questions are all too broad and open-ended. "Outsiders" includes the largest subsection of monsters in the entire game, and each time we build a new one, their numbers grow. Same with the Elder Mythos.
Some of them oppose the elder mythos. Some support them. Some ally with them. Some fight against them. Some ignore them. Some don't even know about them. Some serve them. It really varies, to an extent that a hardcover book would not be enough to adequately answer the question.
If you have SPECIFIC questions, like "How do lillends interact with the minions of Nyarlathotep who play weird music in outer space?" I can go into detail there... but at the same point, I'm not super interested in answering random "how does monster X interact with monster Y?" unless there's some sort of in-game conundrum you're concerned with.
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What do Succubus servants of Lamashtu look like or dress like?However they needed or wanted to in order to get their job done. They don't have dress codes.I see, would you say it is appropriate for a Succubus servants of Lamashtu to have a jackals head.
As Baphomet's god article said his Divine servants have bull heads.
No. A succubus has a humanoid head. In the rare case that the succubus might find it easier to seduce someone because they're turned on by someone with a jackal head, she might use magic to assume that form temporarily, but that'd be a disguise, not her actual appearance.
Likewise, a succubus working for Baphomet would have a humanoid head. "Divine servants" is a loosy-goosy term that is not intended to indicate 'Every Creature Who Works for Baphomet," The art in our products depicting Baphomet's minions proves that; not all of them have bull heads.
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How do outsiders interact with the Outer Gods and the Great Old Ones?These questions are all too broad and open-ended. "Outsiders" includes the largest subsection of monsters in the entire game, and each time we build a new one, their numbers grow. Same with the Elder Mythos.
Some of them oppose the elder mythos. Some support them. Some ally with them. Some fight against them. Some ignore them. Some don't even know about them. Some serve them. It really varies, to an extent that a hardcover book would not be enough to adequately answer the question.
If you have SPECIFIC questions, like "How do lillends interact with the minions of Nyarlathotep who play weird music in outer space?" I can go into detail there... but at the same point, I'm not super interested in answering random "how does monster X interact with monster Y?" unless there's some sort of in-game conundrum you're concerned with.
I see, Shub-Niggurath and Lamashtu seem to have a lot in common(making monsters) may I ask have they ever had an liaison(sexual?) with each other?
And there servants, do they interact with each other? Do they have alliances with each other?
They have not, and for the most part, they don't work together. Exceptions might exist, but on such a minor scale so as to be negligible.
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A human-elf hybrid is a helf-elf. A human orc hybrid is a half-orc.
Is it fair to say that a human-halfling hybrid is a "quarterling"? would a hybrid of that and a human be an "eighthling"?
On a (slightly) more serious note, is interbreeding between two non human humanoids possible? Are there such on Golarion? If there are, what is their race for stat purposes? And lastly, what happens if a half orc mates with a half elf?
most races have some special unique power, that makes them different in story rather than just numbers.
Humans special power is clearly the Ability To InterBreed With Any Race ... the other races don't really get to do it.
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Ah, sorry about unclear question, I asked it totally wrong for some reason -_-;
What I meant to ask is that how important you would consider Pathfinders to be to the setting overall besides sharing name with the game? Since they aren't really featured in material outside of PFS campaign stuff.
...Yeah, I have no clue how I messed up my question that badly X_x; Can't remember if I was tired or distracted by something...
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Ah, sorry about unclear question, I asked it totally wrong for some reason -_-;
What I meant to ask is that how important you would consider Pathfinders to be to the setting overall besides sharing name with the game? Since they aren't really featured in material outside of PFS campaign stuff.
...Yeah, I have no clue how I messed up my question that badly X_x; Can't remember if I was tired or distracted by something...
The pathfinders are as important to the setting as any of the factions—be they Hellknights or Red Mantis or Bellflower Network or Eagle Knights. As such, unless the particular story we're telling is ABOUT them, we won't really do much with them. We've had 2 adventure paths so far that have a significant Pathfinder Society element to them—Serpent's Skull and Shattered Star.
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How common is it for a human in the inner sea region to have a trace amount of "other"(elven, outsider, other humanoid) blood in them?
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Do all kobolds love radishes as much as the ones in Kingmaker did?
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We loved those kobolds. The Sootscales were fantastic. :)
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So did we! I briefly ran a Reign of Winter game for some players that I played Kingmaker with, so I set the opening scenes in our kingdom. When the PCs got involved, one of the NPCs mentioned that they'd ask the rulers to take care of it, but they're far too busy annexing the neighboring fiefdoms to worry about the people who live in their own. That drew a worried look from an onlooker, who said in hushed tones, "Quiet, or we'll get a visit from the Sootscales!" They were our assassins.
Now, to make this relevant to the Ask James thread: I'm sure you've had players in your games run into former PCs from previous games. What's a memorable encounter like this that springs to mind?
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Hello James, once again I filled my head with a bunch of questions that need answers...
1) So Iobaria, again. I remember you once told me that the slavic vibe in brevoy comes from Iobaria, and Iobaria got its vibe from Ulfen settlers, who have a Norse vibe. Who may or may not have been culturally influenced by Baba Yaga. But Ulfens, as far as I know, came here long before Yaga made her kingdom. And there is little to no Slavic vibe in Linnorm kingdoms.
Can it be said that Yaga imported the slavic vibe to Golarion or was it local all this time, since many centaurs, local fey, beasts, outsiders and even dwarves and kellids have slavic names. Or was it there even when Cyclops ruled?
This is a bit confusing for me... I understand the design aspects, but not the in-lore logic. I love pathfinders ethnogenesis, its very logical, but the slavic vibe seams a bit lacking in grounds in Iobaria...
2) looking at maps... Is there currently a small ice age on Golarion? So much ice...
3) Corel the big bad optional red dragon in the last book of Kingmaker, he's the real thing or just a pretender? Will the mysteries behind the Rogavia ever see the light of day, or its fair game to speculate whatever fits best.
4) So, how would you describe Koloran roads? From the context I got the idea they look like dwarven deep roads from Dragon Age, but I am probably wrong...
Non lore related:
1) I would like your oppinion on this, I remember you said once, that adventure paths are more or less self-containing. Still, if two or more adventures happen in close proximity, do you think its, in general, a good idea to correlate the events? Like kingmaker that runs for years and can easily catch up and happen in parallel with Iron Gods and WotR, and even influence them and vice versa?
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I have a question concerning the cosmological structure of the universe. Are there parts of the material plane that are "further away" from other planes? To clarify, it seems there is a lot of spillage and plane shifting between Golarion and other planes, but are places deep in the Dark Tapestry (like where Elder Gods might be) harder to access, from other planes as well as on the material plane?
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How common is magic in the context of day to day life?
Aside from places that have a distinct magical history (Most of Osirion, Razmiran, Geb and Nex) how often do the common folk see something magical?
Are there lots of little towns without any magic at all?
Are monsters rare in the collective conscience of small towns, as in, are animals or other humanoids their prime antagonists?
I once had a gm describe golarion as a place where everyone had magic and magic companions and magic items, and I just doubt that's true.
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Now, to make this relevant to the Ask James thread: I'm sure you've had players in your games run into former PCs from previous games. What's a memorable encounter like this that springs to mind?
The one where the wizard from the Night of Worms campaign teamed up with the barbarian from the Shoanti campaign to go stop Karzoug from seizing control of Baba Yaga's hut.
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Hello James, once again I filled my head with a bunch of questions that need answers...
1) So Iobaria, again. I remember you once told me that the slavic vibe in brevoy comes from Iobaria, and Iobaria got its vibe from Ulfen settlers, who have a Norse vibe. Who may or may not have been culturally influenced by Baba Yaga. But Ulfens, as far as I know, came here long before Yaga made her kingdom. And there is little to no Slavic vibe in Linnorm kingdoms.
Can it be said that Yaga imported the slavic vibe to Golarion or was it local all this time, since many centaurs, local fey, beasts, outsiders and even dwarves and kellids have slavic names. Or was it there even when Cyclops ruled?
This is a bit confusing for me... I understand the design aspects, but not the in-lore logic. I love pathfinders ethnogenesis, its very logical, but the slavic vibe seams a bit lacking in grounds in Iobaria...
2) looking at maps... Is there currently a small ice age on Golarion? So much ice...
3) Corel the big bad optional red dragon in the last book of Kingmaker, he's the real thing or just a pretender? Will the mysteries behind the Rogavia ever see the light of day, or its fair game to speculate whatever fits best.
4) So, how would you describe Koloran roads? From the context I got the idea they look like dwarven deep roads from Dragon Age, but I am probably wrong...
Non lore related:
1) I would like your oppinion on this, I remember you said once, that adventure paths are more or less self-containing. Still, if two or more adventures happen in close proximity, do you think its, in general, a good idea to correlate the events? Like kingmaker that runs for years and can easily catch up and happen in parallel with Iron Gods and WotR, and even influence them and vice versa?
1) Not really... the region was like that well before Baba Yaga came along.
2) You're looking at an old map from the first version of the campaign setting, I think. We revised that map in Inner Sea World Guide to remove the ice sheet, which indeed made no sense.
3) At this point, he's what you make of him. Canoncially, though, he's the real thing. We have no plans at this time to expand on that storyline, but might do so some day.
4) They're actual roads on the surface of the world. Kinda like ancient Roman roads today.
1) I think it's a GREAT idea to correlate the events, but until you as the GM decide which one happens in what order, that can't happen. I think that trying to have two APs play out side by side is tricky, and you need to make sure that the PCs want to play the one YOU want to run, otherwise the PCs will abandon ship for the other one. I think it can also complicate plotlines too much. We've never done this before... until now. Hell's Rebels and Hell's Vengeance DO take place simultaneously, but you'll have to wait about a year to see how all that plays out to the end.
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I have a question concerning the cosmological structure of the universe. Are there parts of the material plane that are "further away" from other planes? To clarify, it seems there is a lot of spillage and plane shifting between Golarion and other planes, but are places deep in the Dark Tapestry (like where Elder Gods might be) harder to access, from other planes as well as on the material plane?
Not really. Places like the Dark Tapestry are hard to access because of the physical distance involved and that's about it.
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How common is magic in the context of day to day life?
Aside from places that have a distinct magical history (Most of Osirion, Razmiran, Geb and Nex) how often do the common folk see something magical?
Are there lots of little towns without any magic at all?
Are monsters rare in the collective conscience of small towns, as in, are animals or other humanoids their prime antagonists?
I once had a gm describe golarion as a place where everyone had magic and magic companions and magic items, and I just doubt that's true.
Depends entirely on the region. As you mention, a realm like Geb or Nex you'd see magic every day. Same for Irrisen, which uses magic to perpetuate the winter.
But for most of the Inner Sea region, magic is relatively uncommon. Cities use lanterns and torches, not everburning torches to light their streets. If the typical commoner gets sick, he won't be able to afford a remove disease and there may well not be one handy anyway. I suspect most common folk only see a few magic events during their life. Likewise, monsters are relatively rare.
Your GM's version of Golarion may well have magic everywhere... but that's not the Golarion we created and write about.
Remember that as players, your window into Golarion is through the eyes of adventurers... people who are the rarest of the rare (there's only 4 to 6 of you in any one campaign at any one time, after all!), who find themselves in magic-rich and monster-rich environs because they go on adventures. Think about magic as weaponry. You know guns exist in this world, but not everyone has seen a gun, and not everyone runs into guns every day. Some do. And there are things like bazokas and nuclear bombs that barely ANYONE runs into.
We publish PLENTY of gazetteers about cities and towns and regions and they are the go-to place to find out more about this topic.
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And one Pathfinder Tales character who's a Venture Captain?The pathfinders are as important to the setting as any of the factions—be they Hellknights or Red Mantis or Bellflower Network or Eagle Knights. As such, unless the particular story we're telling is ABOUT them, we won't really do much with them. We've had 2 adventure paths so far that have a significant Pathfinder Society element to them—Serpent's Skull and Shattered Star.Ah, sorry about unclear question, I asked it totally wrong for some reason -_-;
What I meant to ask is that how important you would consider Pathfinders to be to the setting overall besides sharing name with the game? Since they aren't really featured in material outside of PFS campaign stuff.
...Yeah, I have no clue how I messed up my question that badly X_x; Can't remember if I was tired or distracted by something...
I'm not sure what you're asking here.
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With Emerald Spire (and Shattered Star, I suppose) in the rearview, what's the corporate outlook on the commercial viability of the megadungeon, either as an AP or a stand-alone" superproduct a la Goodman Games' Castle Whiterock or Necromancer's Rappan Athuk?
Specifically, what are the odds of a true "megadungeon" AP? It seems to me that dungeons are XP-intensive settings, so keeping the level progression right with the book structure could prove a challenge.
Also, would you consider something like Kickstarter to enable you to hire the freelancers for a huge megadungeon like the two above-mentioned products?
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With Emerald Spire (and Shattered Star, I suppose) in the rearview, what's the corporate outlook on the commercial viability of the megadungeon, either as an AP or a stand-alone" superproduct a la Goodman Games' Castle Whiterock or Necromancer's Rappan Athuk?
Specifically, what are the odds of a true "megadungeon" AP? It seems to me that dungeons are XP-intensive settings, so keeping the level progression right with the book structure could prove a challenge.
Also, would you consider something like Kickstarter to enable you to hire the freelancers for a huge megadungeon like the two above-mentioned products?
At this point, I'm interested in doing a "megadungeon" or "super adventure" ONLY IF it were written by a single author, frankly. We're certainly interested as a company in the possiblity of doing something like this... but the simple fact is that a book like that falls outside of the regular monthly offerings due to its scope and size, and thus needs to be handled with care lest it completely devastate our schedule. We more or less have capacity to do one "bonus" hardcover a year, and we're really good at deciding on other bonus hardcovers (such as Inner Sea Gods or Inner Sea Races) that aren't adventures.
Maybe some day...
Kickstarter wouldn't help. In fact, it would make things MORE complex. Kickstarter's REALLY useful for small companies or individuals to finance a product. We have plenty of money already to finance projects, so Kickstarter would only help us on one of the areas we really DON'T need help. And the significant extra amount of work needed to manage a Kickstarter would result in the project taking MORE time to create, and thus disrupting our schedule even more than it would if we'd just done the book on our own.
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James would followers, alien races and aberration followers of the Dark Tapestry set up civilizations on 1) rogue planets floating far from a star.
2) Planets surrounding a brown dwarf star.
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James would followers, alien races and aberration followers of the Dark Tapestry set up civilizations on 1) rogue planets floating far from a star.
2) Planets surrounding a brown dwarf star.
If convenient to their plans, why not? I don't think that the status of a planet or its star really matters to them.
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Perhaps he was referring to the fiction entries for Council of Thieves and Jade Regent :-)
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Does the Iomedae's Religion have different denominations?
If yes how are these denominations different from each other?
All religions have different denominations, but unfortunately that's not a topic we've ever had the room to go into. Some day, perhaps... but for now they'll need to remain a mystery, I'm afraid.
I have a question concerning the cosmological structure of the universe. Are there parts of the material plane that are "further away" from other planes? To clarify, it seems there is a lot of spillage and plane shifting between Golarion and other planes, but are places deep in the Dark Tapestry (like where Elder Gods might be) harder to access, from other planes as well as on the material plane?Not really. Places like the Dark Tapestry are hard to access because of the physical distance involved and that's about it.
Does that mean that outsiders (and other beings that can plane shift) have just as easy a time accessing the deep regions of the Dark Tapestry as anywhere else?