Creative Director
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The few mentions to Arcadia seem to focus a lot on the northern part of the continent (Vallenhall, skraelings). When (hopefully soon) you publish something about it, do you plan covering the entire continent or just a part of it, as you did with Garund in the Inner Sea World Guide?
Also, are there plans to do something inspired by the Great Navegations? With Skulls & Shackles coming up, I guess rules for naval voyages and combats could lay the foundations for a Magellan inspired adventure path. You know, globetrotting without teleportation.
First of all... there's not "northern and southern Arcadia" like there is a North America and South America. And if and when we do something with Arcadia, I would hope it's something more akin to the Dragon Empires Gazeteer or the Crown of the World article that does indeed detail the whole continent, if only briefly.
No plans to do globetrotting stuff at this point... especially since we sort of just did that with Jade Regent. Sure, you're not exploring... but you do go from one side of the globe to the other and pass through 3 continents to do so. Without teleporting.
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So does that mean you're responsible for naming the locations as well? I married a girl with Vietnamese heritage, and learnt some Vietnamese myself before we went to Vietnam to meet her extended family. I was consequently amused to read that Ngon Hoa was the capital of Xa Hoi, as it translates to 'Tasty Flower'.
My most sensible reading of the meaning of 'Xa Hoi' itself is 'society'; depending on the diacritics and tones you add in Vietnamese it could mean something as odd as 'Faraway Questions'.
Rob, Judy, and I did the majority of the naming of areas and the adjusting of names that authors came up with in Dragon Empires, yeah. And while some of those names do sound close to things that could translate to some words... it's important to also remember that they don't speak Vietnamese in Tian Xia, so on one level if you see a word that translates funny, you can chalk that up to coincidence.
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I have a thought. Paladins make good cavalry. One thing cavalry were used for is running down and killing fleeing enemies after their lines broke.Yes, but Paladins are also good in the role. They can get celestial mounts. Plus, Paladins.
IMHO, thematically, Paladins work better in the role of heavy or knightly cavalry, the focus of the battle, not as light cavalry running off skirmishers or hunting down routing troops.
IMHO, thematically, Paladins work better in the role of heavy or knightly cavalry, the focus of the battle, not as light cavalry running off skirmishers or hunting down routing troops.I have a thought. Paladins make good cavalry. One thing cavalry were used for is running down and killing fleeing enemies after their lines broke.Yes, but Paladins are also good in the role. They can get celestial mounts. Plus, Paladins.
(Not arguing Paladin morality, James. Arguing tactics that happen to involve Paladins.)
The thing is, heavy cavalry has been known to be used to pursue a routing enemy once the fighting is well and done. It's not their primary job, but they are fully capable of doing it.
Ever had a brain-fart while GMing? Literally, in the middle of the game, your mind just goes "Right, I'm out." and you're left there, with no idea what to do next and no matter how hard you try, no way to keep going?
If so, any suggestions on how to cover for this? Had to take over GMing for our Young Group as the GM had one right before the 'primary' fight of his homebrew and suddenly forgot all the rules and the strategies he'd worked out for the players to experience. I'm a bit worried about him.
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IMHO, thematically, Paladins work better in the role of heavy or knightly cavalry, the focus of the battle, not as light cavalry running off skirmishers or hunting down routing troops.I have a thought. Paladins make good cavalry. One thing cavalry were used for is running down and killing fleeing enemies after their lines broke.Yes, but Paladins are also good in the role. They can get celestial mounts. Plus, Paladins.(Not arguing Paladin morality, James. Arguing tactics that happen to involve Paladins.)
The thing is, heavy cavalry has been known to be used to pursue a routing enemy once the fighting is well and done. It's not their primary job, but they are fully capable of doing it.
Doesn't matter—still not questions, and thus still off topic for the thread. I normally don't mind if folks chat or whatever in this thread for a little bit, but extensive conversations that aren't actually questions or responses or the like get too distracting is all.
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Ever had a brain-fart while GMing? Literally, in the middle of the game, your mind just goes "Right, I'm out." and you're left there, with no idea what to do next and no matter how hard you try, no way to keep going?
If so, any suggestions on how to cover for this? Had to take over GMing for our Young Group as the GM had one right before the 'primary' fight of his homebrew and suddenly forgot all the rules and the strategies he'd worked out for the players to experience. I'm a bit worried about him.
All the time, but not to the extent that there's no way to keep going. I generally run adventures that are published, or that I've written out in that format though. Even when I make EXTENSIVE changes to the adventure (as with "Keep on the Borderlands," which I ran last year in a heavily altered format), having an adventure handy in that format is really great to help keep your mind focused on the game, so that when you do hit a brain-fart type situation, there's words handy to get you back on track.
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Given the nature of the Shattered Star AP, 6 large dungeons, will there be GameMastery maps that could be purchased separately to go along with each installment of the AP?
No.
One of my goals with Shattered Star is to keep the adventures as simple to create as possible, which is intended to give us a chance to catch up or even get ahead of schedule for the Adventure Path. Tie-ins and crossovers with other lines, such as with GameMastery maps, are REALLY hard to pull off. But in addition, the size of the dungeons in Shattered Star are much larger than what we'd be able to pull off in the map products—flip maps and map packs work best for large rooms, not for entire dungeons, in my experience.
If you were given complete control over redoing a PC class, with absolutely no hard feelings from the original designer, which would it be? What would you do, generally speaking? Ones where you aren't the original designer, preferably.
But if you would rather not answer that for any of myriad reasons, what about ones you did design?
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S I was consequently amused to read that Ngon Hoa was the capital of Xa Hoi, as it translates to 'Tasty Flower'.
My most sensible reading of the meaning of 'Xa Hoi' itself is 'society'; depending on the diacritics and tones you add in Vietnamese it could mean something as odd as 'Faraway Questions'.
But then, I live 3 miles from a town called Ramsbottom. Some people say it translates as "fields of rolling garlic" from when the romans invaded or some such, but there are an awful lot of sheep in the area too.
"Tasty Flower" would be a good name for a place, if that place happens to be where said tasty flowers are well known to grow.....
James - What's the oddest real life place name you've come across?
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It wouldn't be impossible to have all original 12 show up as cameos... but that's kind of a strange idea and I'm not sure how into it I am...
Maybe give it some time and let it grow on you a little.
Don't think 'throw in everyone and the kitchen sink' at the same time but more along the lines of how some of the Iconics from the Dungeon APs showed up in different installments, maybe having 4 Iconics in every two issues of the AP then switching to the next 4 (although some over lap may be needed for sake of continuity). Maybe some art can even depict certain Iconics falling in battle and in the next issue of the AP a new iconic takes his/her place (not unlike real games).
I do have to admit the last issue of Dungeon with all the Iconics squaring off against a certain Prince of Demons is going through my head now.
Awesome send off by the way, thank you for that!
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I do have to admit the last issue of Dungeon with all the Iconics squaring off against a certain Prince of Demons is going through my head now.
Awesome send off by the way, thank you for that!
Half an hour too late to edit but I just saw that Set said the very same thing up thread. I really want to see something like that on poster with the Pathfinder Iconics now.
It's your big anniversary, live it up!
If it's not a private/personal question, who at the Paizo office plays what Iconics?
And whom do I have to bribe with a bucket of double-coated tim-tams to get Imrijka's bio written up.
Also belated happy birthday ** I could have sworn I said it earlier, but apparently not .... Sorry!
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If you were given complete control over redoing a PC class, with absolutely no hard feelings from the original designer, which would it be? What would you do, generally speaking? Ones where you aren't the original designer, preferably.
But if you would rather not answer that for any of myriad reasons, what about ones you did design?
The summoner. I'd remove eidolons entirely and replace them with an "outsider companion" that worked, rules-wise, similar to a druid's animal companion. And the choices for outsider companion would be options like "Demon" or "Celestial" or "Elemental" or "Protean."
And if there was time left over... I'd change the cleric to say in the core rules that they must worship deities, and I'd fiddle with the bard's Versatile Performance ability so that he'd be able to re-allocate his skill ranks every time he replaces a skill with a Perform skill.
As for the ones I did design:
I designed the first drafts of the alchemist and the gunslinger. The alchemist made it through mostly unchanged, but the gunslinger was vastly improved by Stephen (my version was for a post-apocalyptic sci-fi game, so it had a bunch of stuff in it that wouldn't work for a fantasy game anyway, I guess!).
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1. I'm pretty sure you are friends with some WoTC employees so I'm wondering if you or anyone you speak to in person on a regular basis are participating in the "friends and family" insider playtest program for the next version of the D&D rules?
2. Is the above something you would legally not be allowed to do by Paizo?
3. Would you be willing to write a part 6 to an upcoming Adventure Path?
4. If you came up with an idea for an entire Adventure Path and thought it would be loved by the customers, fun for the authors writing it, and be a big seller is there a 100% chance it gets published?
5. If anyone else at Paizo came up with an entire Adventure Path and thought it would be loved by the customers, fun for the authors writing it, and be a big seller but you did not agree at all, is there a 0% percent chance it gets published?
1) Each year, with WotC's layoff tradition, fewer and fewer of my friends work there, first of all. (I myself was laid off at WotC during one of those rounds... only to be hired back 3 months later as a Temp to keep doing the job I'd been doing while I was an employee—a job that in those 3 months hadn't been done... [rolls eyes]). There are still a few friends who work at WotC, but I don't really talk to them or hang out with them much at all anymore for various reasons. So, no... I've no personal link or insight into this "friends and family" insider playtest program, and in fact, this is the first I've heard of that.
2) There are no legal issues from the Paizo side that I know of... there might be on the WotC side but I'm not sure. It would certainly be weird and awkward.
3) Yes.
4) No. Probably close to 93% though. It rose to 93% from 88% once Jade Regent got published. And it'll rise to about 96% if I ever get a Numeria AP out there.
5) Pretty close to 0%, yeah, because there's maybe 5 people on the planet who I trust to know what makes an AP "loved by customers, fun for authors, and be a big seller." And none of those 5 are really capable of coming up with ideas I don't agree with.
The summoner. I'd remove eidolons entirely and replace them with an "outsider companion" that worked, rules-wise, similar to a druid's animal companion. And the choices for outsider companion would be options like "Demon" or "Celestial" or "Elemental" or "Protean."
Huh, I quite like that idea. The summoner was actually the reason I asked the question because I was thinking of re-doing it. It currently is too easy to make an eidolon that marginalizes most everyone else in the party, IMO.
As for the ones I did design:I designed the first drafts of the alchemist and the gunslinger. The alchemist made it through mostly unchanged, but the gunslinger was vastly improved by Stephen (my version was for a post-apocalyptic sci-fi game, so it had a bunch of stuff in it that wouldn't work for a fantasy game anyway, I guess!).
Do you have a personal blog or something that has that version of gunslinger? Can you guys even show earlier drafts?
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Will the shatterd Star adventure path have more details on how the other runelords have survived and where they are in stasis (I believe we already know about 3?)
No. Shattered Star is not about the runelords. They have an influence here and there... but the Thassilonian element that's behind the scenes in Shattered Star is something non-runelord.
AKA: I'm kinda saving up the actual Runelord Mojo for something else.
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If it's not a private/personal question, who at the Paizo office plays what Iconics?
And whom do I have to bribe with a bucket of double-coated tim-tams to get Imrijka's bio written up.
Also belated happy birthday ** I could have sworn I said it earlier, but apparently not .... Sorry!
With the exception of in-office playtests, very few people "play" the Iconics. None of them were based on anyone's existing characters.
In the Shadows under Sandpoint game I ran, Rob played Balazar, but used a different eidolon (his was Rummy Tum Tugger, a purple six-clawed badger).
In Jason's playtest for "Crypt of the Everflame," I played Merisiel, Lisa played Amiri, Josh played Ezren, and Erik played Valeros.
But aside from that... several Paizo employees have sort of "adopted" iconics as their own, but they don't really get played as characters much.
The best person to bribe for Imrijka's bio would be whoever schedules the blog these days, and I'm honestly not sure who that is these days.
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Creative Director
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Huh, I quite like that idea. The summoner was actually the reason I asked the question because I was thinking of re-doing it. It currently is too easy to make an eidolon that marginalizes most everyone else in the party, IMO.
My reasons really have nothing to do with how powerful a numbercruncher can make an eidolon (although that element WOULD be fixed by my fix). My reasons for wanting to make that change are 100% because that grounds the summoner in the implied setting of Pathfinder and in Golarion by having him summon existing creatures rather than brand new ones—it also takes away a bit of world-creation/world-continuity away from the players, which is actually something I as a designer and a GM endorse and approve of. There's certainly some players out there who could add something cool to the game... but most players don't have the GM's vision for the setting and allowing them to create a "jive-talking vest-wearing koala with screwdrivers for fingers and a clown nose with rainbow farts that confuse folks" devalues the game.
Do you have a personal blog or something that has that version of gunslinger? Can you guys even show earlier drafts?
I have a livejournal blog (Bigfoot Country's the name) but I never post to it these days. I barely post anything at all to my Facebook page. We CAN show off earlier drafts, but personally I don't like doing that, because it's like going out into the public with your ratty clothes on without taking a shower or combing your hair—first drafts are ugly and filthy and I'd rather not people see mine.
That said... that version of the gunslinger is far from a first draft—the game he's a part of, "Unspeakable Futures," is close to a point where I'd be willing to put it out for the public to see, but whether or not I ever will... dunno.
Who in the Golarian campaign setting has used the sun orchid elixer? I could imagine maybe a Hellknight Lictor, high ranking members of the Aspis Consortium, or the leader of one of the larger nations (like Cheliax, Andoran, Taldor).
Does anyone who utilizes the elixir openly do so? Or do they usually try to keep it secret?
James, I need a tool to make maps for my games on the computer. Do you know of any good freeware? I want to use it to spruce up my PBPs.
I was...amused to read that Ngon Hoa was the capital of Xa Hoi, as it translates [from Vietnamese] to 'Tasty Flower'....while some of those names do sound close to things that could translate to some words... it's important to also remember that they don't speak Vietnamese in Tian Xia, so on one level if you see a word that translates funny, you can chalk that up to coincidence.
True. Still, it gave me a good chuckle. : )
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Random piece of feedback: the Dragon Empires Gazetteer is awesome. I showed it to my non-gamer non-geek wife, and said "within this 64-page book are rules for seven new human ethnicities, five new races, a timeline spanning ten thousand years, 28 nations, linguistic information, a new zodiac, information about trade, conflict, religion, inheritance and spirituality of the people, eight factions, four philosophies, and twenty deities."
She said "what, is it like the TARDIS of books or something?"
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A question: the text in the Gazetteer mentions the map on page 47 is meant to show the extent of the several collapsed empires that have ruled Tian Xia. Instead, it appears to show current political boundaries--which is still awesome, because the colouration makes it a heck of a lot easier to spot borders. Is there/will there be a map as described, showing the extent of the empires of Yixing, Shu, Lung Wa et cetera?
Another question: do you see the Shory as being capable of supporting an entire adventure path, or are they/their legacy more likely to grace a module/PFS scenario? Do you personally like the idea of a Shory-focused adventure?
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Who in the Golarian campaign setting has used the sun orchid elixer? I could imagine maybe a Hellknight Lictor, high ranking members of the Aspis Consortium, or the leader of one of the larger nations (like Cheliax, Andoran, Taldor).
Does anyone who utilizes the elixir openly do so? Or do they usually try to keep it secret?
Who wins the auctions, who uses the elixirs, and how much they sell for is all part of the mystery.
We've revealed a few elixir drinkers over the years, and will continue to do so as story purposes require, but publishing a big list of the drinkers? Nope... don't want to paint myself into a corner like that.
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James, I need a tool to make maps for my games on the computer. Do you know of any good freeware? I want to use it to spruce up my PBPs.
Nope, I don't. When I do computer-aided map design, I generally used Campaign Cartographer and Photoshop—neither are free.
These days, though, I instead hand-draw them and then touch them up with Photoshop.
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Do you plan to include some stuff from Unspeakable Futures in Numeria products? If so, can you give us a hint about them?
Those rules will likely form the basis of a lot of elements, yes. I've got somewhere between 70,000 and 90,000 words written for Unspeakable Futures so far, but I'm not ready to put them up online yet. So... no hints for now. The stars are not right. Maybe in a few years.
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How does Flatbushville NJ stack up to that? (I think it's one of NJ's ghost towns. Yes we have honest to goodness (or evilness) ghost towns.)James - What's the oddest real life place name you've come across?Weed, CA is pretty amusing.
It's overly complex. Flatbushville tries too hard. Weed does all that with four simple letters. Plus, they've got front-row seats to one of California's tallest and most impressive volcanos.
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Creative Director
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A question: the text in the Gazetteer mentions the map on page 47 is meant to show the extent of the several collapsed empires that have ruled Tian Xia. Instead, it appears to show current political boundaries--which is still awesome, because the colouration makes it a heck of a lot easier to spot borders. Is there/will there be a map as described, showing the extent of the empires of Yixing, Shu, Lung Wa et cetera?
We decided against doing a map of the extent of lost empires for 3 reasons: 1) because many of those empires overlapped and that would make things ugly unless we did multiple maps, and 2) because we needed to take that room to print the map with all the locations and borders, since we wanted the map on the inside front cover to be a cleaner version of the map, and 3) because we ran out of time to do that map well. Alas, we forgot to adjust the text on page 47. We have no plans at this point to print maps of the extent of previous Dragon Empires, nor does such a map even exist—we decided on this change before work was done on making that map (see #3 above).
Another question: do you see the Shory as being capable of supporting an entire adventure path, or are they/their legacy more likely to grace a module/PFS scenario? Do you personally like the idea of a Shory-focused adventure?
We've already done a Shory-based adventure. In fact, that's where the Shory were first introduced—in "Crucible of Chaos." And yes, I think that they're capable of supporting multiple adventure paths—they're as fertile a ground, I'd say, as Azlant or Thassilon or Ancient Osirion.
This might be a gm call but I would want to know your answer if a player did this. If an oracle who worships all the gods casts commune does she contact the divine being that gave her powers?
Who in the Golarian campaign setting has used the sun orchid elixer? I could imagine maybe a Hellknight Lictor, high ranking members of the Aspis Consortium, or the leader of one of the larger nations (like Cheliax, Andoran, Taldor).
Does anyone who utilizes the elixir openly do so? Or do they usually try to keep it secret?
Who wins the auctions, who uses the elixirs, and how much they sell for is all part of the mystery.
We've revealed a few elixir drinkers over the years, and will continue to do so as story purposes require, but publishing a big list of the drinkers? Nope... don't want to paint myself into a corner like that.
Oh, I actually didn't realize anyone who has used one was ever revealed in Pathfinder products. My bad :)
Who was behind the push to give each major outsider race a critter that's suitable as an improved familiar?
Is there any reason why lantern archons are idiots? Or is that just sort of a holdover from the earlier editions?
Have you ever read any books by John Keegan?
1)How many pages does each planet get in Distant worlds?
2)In the Isles of Shackles how many monsters got into this book?
3)Will we ever see any new prestige classes anytime soon?
4)The Dragon Empire Primer has an Oni sorcerer bloodline correct? Any thing for Oracles in this book?
5)Do we have an idea of how much of the art of Wayne Renolds hardcover book will be Pathfinder art?
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Creative Director
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This might be a gm call but I would want to know your answer if a player did this. If an oracle who worships all the gods casts commune does she contact the divine being that gave her powers?
It is indeed a GM call. If this happened in a game I was running, I'd have a mysterious "who knows what it is but it's linked somehow to the oracle's mystery" voice answer.
It's important to remember, though, that this doesn't give GMs permission to have commune result in a greater power that lies or otherwise messes with the oracle. That's not what the commune spell does. There's another spell that specifically does that—contact other plane.