Creative Director
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Strange Aeons is the AP after Hell's Venegeance; it's a Lovecraftian-flavored Adventure Path that starts with your PCs being amnesiacs imprisoned in an insane asylum, and follows their investigation into what caused this situation and their growing fight against an eldritch ancient evil.Is there any chance that the campaign traits are going to be different mental disorders, like "Schizophrenic" or "Pyromaniac"?
No.
A question that might play into Hell's Rebels, since I'm catching up on things.
Shensen in the NPC guide is mentioned as collecting blackmail material on dozens of nobles, usually by seducing their sons and daughters. Okay, that's fine. Sort of like Mata Hari, Marthe Richard, Despina Storch, Amy Thorpe, Ethel Lee, and various others (I remember reading about an ambassador's wife who'd throw orgies and wild parties, and use them as cover to obtain blackmail material - name escapes me).
However, she's a public figure, and I can't imagine that what she does can forever remain a secret, especially if she gets around enough that a pattern emerges (even if the one she's currently seducing doesn't notice, people burned in the past are another thing).
Gathering blackmail material and the like is and should be dangerous, but at the same time, she has problems of her own. She's helped establish dozens of safe houses and hidden temples throughout Cheliax. This is coupled to expensive habits, and she's also described as quite prone to emotional outbursts and impulsive choices, as well as easily distracted. They're not exactly traits I would look for in that sort of job, based on how she's described. They fit one half of what she does (performances etc.), but not the other half.
Apologies if that went on for a while. So my questions sort of boil down to:
1) Has she had these problems with people finding out before? If she did, I assume she dealt with them?
2) How has she not made any mistakes of her own yet? If she has, how did she deal with them?
3) More importantly, who does she target? Looking for more specifics than "children of noble families" - what sort of profile does a target need for her to go after them?
1) Yup, and I did indeed deal with them.
2) I have, and I've dealt with them as well. It helps to have friends handy who can resurrect you if things go really bad.
3) Anyone who would damage the Chelish government when scandal does them in.
That all said... that was more stuff I got into a while back, before I "settled down" in Kintargo. What I'm doing now is a bit more subtle. And I might be getting in over my head even then ... You'll see soon enough!
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James, did you hear the one about the girl trying to dance the night away but with a T Rex right on her heels?
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Creative Director
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James, did you hear the one about the girl trying to dance the night away but with a T Rex right on her heels?
No. Those shoes are the best though.
Dear James,
In Pathfinder Origins comic #6 Ezren's father is accused of heresy. Ezren found that his father was a slave trader and devil worshipper, but in Absalom slaves can be bought and sold in Misery Row and the worship of Asmodeus and hence devils is allowed.
Abadar certainly has no objection to slavery since in the Pirate's Promise novel the church of Abadar actively supports slavers and tortures and kills those who oppose slavery.
1) So what exactly does the church of Abadar consider heresy?
2) Is it that Ezren's father failed to give them a cut?
3) How could the church of Abadar actually charge anyone with heresy since Absalom has no official state religion as far as I know?
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Creative Director
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Dear James,
In Pathfinder Origins comic #6 Ezren's father is accused of heresy. Ezren found that his father was a slave trader and devil worshipper, but in Absalom slaves can be bought and sold in Misery Row and the worship of Asmodeus and hence devils is allowed.
Abadar certainly has no objection to slavery since in the Pirate's Promise novel the church of Abadar actively supports slavers and tortures and kills those who oppose slavery.1) So what exactly does the church of Abadar consider heresy?
2) Is it that Ezren's father failed to give them a cut?
3) How could the church of Abadar actually charge anyone with heresy since Absalom has no official state religion as far as I know?
Erik and I had a long discussion about this. When I first wrote Ezren's backstory, the idea was that his father was considered a heretic because he was embezzling or otherwise robbing from the church; there was no devil worshiping involved at all. The fact that he was a devil worshiper isn't the reason he was excommunicated from the church.
1) Going against the chruch's teachings by doing things to endanger cities or disrupt trade or the making of money overall (thievery of any type counts here).
2) That's partially it.
3) You don't have to be a state religion to charge one of your faith with heresy.
Mister Jacobs, would you rather pit a party against vampires or lycanthropes?
Secondly, have you ever run a game where a PC had suffered from their bite/drain?
is their going to be any more demodand stuff any time soon examples familiars, names for the demodands besides slimy and shaggy and stringy, or any titans who can give spells?
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Creative Director
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is their going to be any more demodand stuff any time soon examples familiars, names for the demodands besides slimy and shaggy and stringy, or any titans who can give spells?
We've got a LITTLE more about demodands in Bestiary 5, I believe, but no plans for a familiar; they really aren't thematically appropriate to have low CR entries in the race. No plans that I know of to have titans that grant spells.
is their going to be any more demodand stuff any time soon examples familiars, names for the demodands besides slimy and shaggy and stringy, or any titans who can give spells?We've got a LITTLE more about demodands in Bestiary 5, I believe, but no plans for a familiar; they really aren't thematically appropriate to have low CR entries in the race. No plans that I know of to have titans that grant spells.
thank you
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Contributor—Canadian Maplecakes
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Hey James!
Question, as I'm working on a new campaign outline for a soon to be run online game. *steeples fingers menacingly*
I know in older versions of DnD that aboleth were explicitly stated as being immortal. Is this the case in Golarion? What about their servitor races (cloakers & faceless stalkers in particular!)
Thanks in advance, even if the answer is UNREVEALED(tm). I really appreciate that you take the time to answer questions in this thread, and it's always a high point of my forum-ing to pop by and see what other amazing questions you've answered :)
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Creative Director
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Hey James!
Question, as I'm working on a new campaign outline for a soon to be run online game. *steeples fingers menacingly*
I know in older versions of DnD that aboleth were explicitly stated as being immortal. Is this the case in Golarion? What about their servitor races (cloakers & faceless stalkers in particular!)
Thanks in advance, even if the answer is UNREVEALED(tm). I really appreciate that you take the time to answer questions in this thread, and it's always a high point of my forum-ing to pop by and see what other amazing questions you've answered :)
We haven't yet revealed that in print, but my preference is indeed to have aboleths be immortal. Servitor races, as a general rule, live about as long as humans.
Hey James,
Seen any good horror movies lately?
How effective would you say horror music is in setting the tone in a horror game like Carrion Crown, Call of Cthulhu etc?
What drove the decision to have the deities of Ancient Osirion be the actual pantheon (or at least a close representation of) the gods of Ancient Egypt? Obviously there are numerous more gods than the core 20, and the popularity (and actual creation) of certain gods would affect who are seen as the most important region by region.
However I find a lot of parallels between the Ancient Osirion gods and the gods of the core 20, which could have been simply chalked up to older interpretations or shifts in a god's preferred teachings (or of the faith which reveres them). For example, god-creature that actively wants to destroy the world, and stands in opposition to almost all other gods? Sounds like Rovagug to me, but to the ancient pantheon it's Apep. God responsible for the caretaking and final judgement of the dead? Stick a jackal head on her and make her a him and Pharasma becomes Anubis.
This isn't to criticize at all, I'm just curious why the Ancient Osirion gods are their own deities when they could've been older interpretations of modern gods. (I apologize if I'm rambling here, I'm a bit tired at the time of posting. As always, thank you so much for using your own personal time responding to our questions!)
Hello James,
I'd love your opinion on a matter. So, Mivon, and some other similar places, similar in a sense that they are relatively prosperous nations... ruled by Chaotic Evil individuals. I had a few ideas (like a not-too powerful hedonist doing everything to keep the motor running), but still find it real hard to grasp this concept of a prosperous non-North-Korea-like country. How would you explain this?
Thanks in advance!
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Insane asylum... amnesiacs... eldritch evil... Ustalav... universities...
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
*head explodes, a multi-tentacled eye with non-Euclidean geometry emerges from the hole*
When does this masterpiece come out?
How much are you enjoying working on Strange Aeons? It seems right up your alley...
1)Will Horror Adventures have more player options like bloodlines, mysteries, feats, spells, etc. or will it be more DM oriented?
2)Will you guys ever break the one monster art rule for bestiaries? Example would be if/when the Lashunta makes it into a hardcover bestiary will they have art for both male and female or just one of them?
3)Since Inner Sea Races is a campaign setting book it is safe to assume that it will not have reprints of any races game stats, correct?
4)Did you contribute any monsters in the Occult Bestiary like you did for the Inner Sea Bestiary?
5)Are we going to have to wait till next Paizo Con and/or Gen Con to find out what two projects you are working on that you can't be a major part of the Strange Aeons AP?
6)Did you work on Bestiary 5? If so did you create any of the creatures in there or did you work on other aspects of the book?
7)I take it there will not be a hardcover campaign setting book next year, since none was announced at Gen Con, correct?
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Creative Director
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How effective would you say horror music is in setting the tone in a horror game like Carrion Crown, Call of Cthulhu etc?
The right music is not only INCREDIBLY effective at setting a tone for any game, horror included, but can also work wonders to fill the empty air between moments and this will often help limit or negate side chatter among the players.
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Creative Director
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What drove the decision to have the deities of Ancient Osirion be the actual pantheon (or at least a close representation of) the gods of Ancient Egypt? Obviously there are numerous more gods than the core 20, and the popularity (and actual creation) of certain gods would affect who are seen as the most important region by region.
However I find a lot of parallels between the Ancient Osirion gods and the gods of the core 20, which could have been simply chalked up to older interpretations or shifts in a god's preferred teachings (or of the faith which reveres them). For example, god-creature that actively wants to destroy the world, and stands in opposition to almost all other gods? Sounds like Rovagug to me, but to the ancient pantheon it's Apep. God responsible for the caretaking and final judgement of the dead? Stick a jackal head on her and make her a him and Pharasma becomes Anubis.
This isn't to criticize at all, I'm just curious why the Ancient Osirion gods are their own deities when they could've been older interpretations of modern gods. (I apologize if I'm rambling here, I'm a bit tired at the time of posting. As always, thank you so much for using your own personal time responding to our questions!)
The fact that Osirion and Egypt have SO many parallels, more so than any other region in the Inner Sea that's inspired by a real-world historical setting or mythology, combined with the fact that there are several of us here who are fans of the Egyptian deities... particularly Rob.
I'm not a fan of the "This is just another god under a different interpretation" thing... never have been. To me, that's like saying "Batman is just superman after dark when he's cranky." Some folks might be intrigued by that, but to me, having Batman and Superman as separate characters is much stronger. Same for our deities.
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Creative Director
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Hello James,
I'd love your opinion on a matter. So, Mivon, and some other similar places, similar in a sense that they are relatively prosperous nations... ruled by Chaotic Evil individuals. I had a few ideas (like a not-too powerful hedonist doing everything to keep the motor running), but still find it real hard to grasp this concept of a prosperous non-North-Korea-like country. How would you explain this?
Thanks in advance!
Bullies are chaotic evil. Think of it as a bully running a group of bullies who in turn run a city or a state or a nation
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Creative Director
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Insane asylum... amnesiacs... eldritch evil... Ustalav... universities...
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
*head explodes, a multi-tentacled eye with non-Euclidean geometry emerges from the hole*
When does this masterpiece come out?
How much are you enjoying working on Strange Aeons? It seems right up your alley...
It's launching next year in August. Beyond creating the basic storyline and outlining it, I"m actually not working on this AP. It's going to be written by other authors and developed by Adam. I"ll be supervising from afar though.
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Creative Director
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1)Will Horror Adventures have more player options like bloodlines, mysteries, feats, spells, etc. or will it be more DM oriented?
2)Will you guys ever break the one monster art rule for bestiaries? Example would be if/when the Lashunta makes it into a hardcover bestiary will they have art for both male and female or just one of them?
3)Since Inner Sea Races is a campaign setting book it is safe to assume that it will not have reprints of any races game stats, correct?
4)Did you contribute any monsters in the Occult Bestiary like you did for the Inner Sea Bestiary?
5)Are we going to have to wait till next Paizo Con and/or Gen Con to find out what two projects you are working on that you can't be a major part of the Strange Aeons AP?
6)Did you work on Bestiary 5? If so did you create any of the creatures in there or did you work on other aspects of the book?
7)I take it there will not be a hardcover campaign setting book next year, since none was announced at Gen Con, correct?
1) Unrevealed. We're still outlining and concepting the book, and it's MONTHS too early to talk more about it anyway.
2) Two creatures take up more room and cost more money, both good reasons not to do this type of thing. So no... I don't expect us to break this "rule" anytime soon.
3) It'll have stats for all the races gathered in the appendix.
4) I wanted to, but ended up having to hand off the munavri, omnipath, neothleid overlord, and yithian elder when work on Pathfinder #100's adventure ended up eating up all my writing time.
5) One of those projects MIGHT be Horror Adventures, but that's still in the works. The other is still unannounced, but I suspect we'll announce it well before Paizocon.
6) I wrote 8 creatures; four dinosaurs and four Lovecraftian critters. Which ones will need to wait for the book's release, or thereabouts.
7) We haven't yet announced all of our products for 2016.
Do you know of a good King in Yellow miniature?Cthulhu Wars.
How about the "Denizen of Leng" figure?
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Creative Director
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How about the "Denizen of Leng" figure?Do you know of a good King in Yellow miniature?Cthulhu Wars.
Meh. When you throw in the King of Yellow, it's best to not use a stand-in for an identifiable lower CR foe. If your group doesn't know about denizens of Leng and you don't intend to use them in your game, I suppose it's a good stand in.
Personally, if the Cthulhu Wars one isn't to your liking, I'd suggest you find a cool, scary grim reaper or wraith or other hooded cloaked figure and paint it yellow.
Very, very excited for Strange Aeons and Horror Adventures know. I'm one of those GM's who loves to watch the players turn white and curl up in a fetal position. Actually managed it last session.
Anyways, my new batch of players ought to be good enough at PF for Strange Aeons by next August.
How about the "Denizen of Leng" figure?Do you know of a good King in Yellow miniature?Cthulhu Wars.Meh. When you throw in the King of Yellow, it's best to not use a stand-in for an identifiable lower CR foe. If your group doesn't know about denizens of Leng and you don't intend to use them in your game, I suppose it's a good stand in.
Personally, if the Cthulhu Wars one isn't to your liking, I'd suggest you find a cool, scary grim reaper or wraith or other hooded cloaked figure and paint it yellow.
Well, since you cant buy the Cthulhu Wars figures.....
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Creative Director
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Well, since you cant buy the Cthulhu Wars figures.....How about the "Denizen of Leng" figure?Do you know of a good King in Yellow miniature?Cthulhu Wars.Meh. When you throw in the King of Yellow, it's best to not use a stand-in for an identifiable lower CR foe. If your group doesn't know about denizens of Leng and you don't intend to use them in your game, I suppose it's a good stand in.
Personally, if the Cthulhu Wars one isn't to your liking, I'd suggest you find a cool, scary grim reaper or wraith or other hooded cloaked figure and paint it yellow.
Well, since the question wasn't "Were can I buy this thing?"...
If I have a villain NPC with Leadership, should I increase the CR of the encounter if their cohort is present? Or is the cohort like an animal companion and doesn't increase the encounter level?
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Creative Director
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If I have a villain NPC with Leadership, should I increase the CR of the encounter if their cohort is present? Or is the cohort like an animal companion and doesn't increase the encounter level?
I'd suggest increasing the encounter of the CR, since Leadership isn't a class feature and doesn't assume all characters have it.
Does 20-25 point buy, in contrast with standart 15, increase the CR of NPC?
Mr Jacobs,
In the module Hangman's Noose, written by Nicolas Logue, there's the undead monster named "Gutdragging Lurcher".
Choking Viscera (ex)A grappled foe experiences unimaginable horror.
The rotting, putrid intestines that wriggle about the gutdragging lurcher push themselves into the enemy’s mouth (pulping themselves
through closed teeth even) and pour down the victim’s throat to choke her to death.
Anyone grappled by the lurcher must make a DC 14 Fortitude save or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage.
If reduced to below 0 hp, the victim begins to suffocate until the
lurcher releases her or she perishes, choking on foulness. The save DC is Strength-based.
Has Mr Logue told you where he got the inspiration for this disgustingly good horror?
Do you know if mr Logue has a fascination for japan?
There seems to be lots of commentary on Shensen from Hell's Rebels recently and many of your answers/hints/responses (bard, originally Drow) lead me to wonder, could this be the same Shensen Tesseril from the original Shackled City adventure path? There seems to be a lot in common and there was a lot of planar stuff going on back then in Cauldron... it is not inconceivable that she could have found herself in Golarion, especially Cheliax with its expertise in summoning.
What are your top three techniques for inducing stark raving terror in your players?
How did I miss that you have another secret project that isn't announced that I assume is a hard cover in the Campaign Setting line? Hmmm, now I have to think. :D
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Creative Director
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Mr Jacobs,
In the module Hangman's Noose, written by Nicolas Logue, there's the undead monster named "Gutdragging Lurcher".
** spoiler omitted **Has Mr Logue told you where he got the inspiration for this disgustingly good horror?
Do you know if mr Logue has a fascination for japan?
He hasn't told me, but I suspect it was simply "Oooh, this is creepy and gross so let's make it a monster!" Nick is a pretty worldly guy, and he's got a lot of knowledge about Asia, but more toward China, I believe, than Japan.
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Creative Director
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Does 20-25 point buy, in contrast with standart 15, increase the CR of NPC?
It usually will, yes, but it depends on where and how you spend those points. Compare the final results to Table 1–1 in the Bestiary to see if it does.
For example, in Rise of the Runelords, I built Karzoug's stats using 25 points. In that case it did indeed help to increase his CR by 1.
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Creative Director
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There seems to be lots of commentary on Shensen from Hell's Rebels recently and many of your answers/hints/responses (bard, originally Drow) lead me to wonder, could this be the same Shensen Tesseril from the original Shackled City adventure path? There seems to be a lot in common and there was a lot of planar stuff going on back then in Cauldron... it is not inconceivable that she could have found herself in Golarion, especially Cheliax with its expertise in summoning.
The Shackled City Shensen was inspired by the same character that inspired the Golarion Shensen. I designed the Shackled City one when I had only just started playing the character, and at that point she was still a drow and pretty low level and had some wildly different classes. Not long after that adventure, my personal Shensen evolved a bit with new and more accurate options for worshipers of Eilistraee getting into print, and my GM Jason Nelson let me rebuild her. Her transformation into a half-aquatic elf happened a few years after the Shackled City version.
Now, that all said, the Shensen in Golarion is a LOT closer to the actual character I played in Jason's game, and she's got a pretty established history in Golarion now. Making her the same Shensen from Shackled City would alter that history, so I'd say no, it's not the same one.
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Creative Director
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What are your top three techniques for inducing stark raving terror in your players?
1) Rolling dice for no reason, or asking them to roll saving throws or Perception checks for no reason.
2) Having them encounter a foe that's essentially unkillable—like a CR of 10 or more above the average party level, and then having that foe be something that's on a timer before it can attack so that the PCs have a round or two to flee.
3) Killing the character of my boss in front of my co-workers with an effect that had absolutely no way for his character to resist. NOTE: This works better in Call of Cthulhu than it does in Pathfinder.
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Creative Director
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How did I miss that you have another secret project that isn't announced that I assume is a hard cover in the Campaign Setting line? Hmmm, now I have to think. :D
Turns out, Paizo has a lot of things going on and one person is gonna have a hard time keeping track of them all, be they customer or employee.
James, if you were going to pick just one favored community for the delightful Tyralandi (the half-fiend nymph one, I think this might be a name of a few of your characters), it would naturally be Scuttlecove.
But what if you were going to pick two? (Don't mind if you give a Greyhawk or Golarion answer here.) Where would she consider her home away from home?
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Creative Director
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James, if you were going to pick just one favored community for the delightful Tyralandi (the half-fiend nymph one, I think this might be a name of a few of your characters), it would naturally be Scuttlecove.
But what if you were going to pick two? (Don't mind if you give a Greyhawk or Golarion answer here.) Where would she consider her home away from home?
Tyralandi was indeed a name I borrowed from myself, only unlike the case of Shensen, it was a character I first made up for an adventure (Porphyry House Horror) that I then later used for a character (in Erik Mona's Age of Worms game).
As for where Tyralandi of Scuttlecove would consider as a home away from home? She's a powerful half-fiend thrall of Graz'zt, so her secondary home would likely be Graz'zt's tripartate city of Azzagrat in the Abyss.
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Creative Director
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I am experimenting with flavoring events and tone of my occult campaign by months(ex. Lamashan would have nightmarish vibe) to give them some meaning, and found small problem - namely I don't know name of thirteenth lunar moon in the year. We know twelve of those (Long, Fated, Rebirth, Flood, Blossom, Sweet, Lover's, Swarm, Harvest, Hunter's, Black and Cold Moon), but last one is missing. I would love to know it. :D
It's not yet been named, apparently, and I"m not just gonna make one up out of the blue... sorry.
Think of it as an opportunity to put your own mark on the world, I guess?
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Tyralandi was indeed a name I borrowed from myself, only unlike the case of Shensen, it was a character I first made up for an adventure (Porphyry House Horror) that I then later used for a character (in Erik Mona's Age of Worms game).
Oh my god I had forgotten about that little gem from Dungeon Magazine until now. I think I still have a copy in a box at home. That thing made me a bit ill to read, even as a teenager.
...I mean, I was totally over 18 when I got that. Yep.