Creative Director
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1) What are your thoughts on iterative attacks at higher levels? Is there any point to them, with such a large penalties?
2) Do you have any plans for gunslinger support in APs? Perhaps in a Mana Wastes or Numeria AP?
3) Do you have any plans for intelligent construct type of race, such as Warforged or Ironborn? I think that there are a lot of players who would love them.
1) The "large penalties" don't impact as much as you might think... unless you engineer every single high-level combat to be a super tough one. Which is not a good idea. Players need opportunities to feel high level. In any event, I'm not a fan of iterative attacks, since the extra die rolls and the changing modifiers are one of the primary things that makes higher level combat slow down. Eventaully, I'd like to houserule the Vital Strike feat chain into being something that EVERYONE gets for free, and rather than allow extra attacks just give people extra damage.
2) The Skull & Shackles AP will have some sidebars talking about how to run the AP with more guns in it. But that said... gunslingers DO work fine as is in an AP. The GM will probably want to throw in some magic guns here and there, I guess.
3) Yes, but not really as a PC option. Constructs, like undead, are not really all that appropriate for player character options due to the huge amount of benefits they get and the complications of not having a Constitution score. That said, I do have a few ideas... but I'm not quite ready to talk about them yet...
In the meantime, GMs and players who love construct races DO have options like warforged or ironborn to play wiht.
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Creative Director
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1: What are you thoughts on Alraune? Do you like this monster, do you hate it, or are you neutral to it?
2: Are Akhluts taken from mythology/folklore or made up by Paizo? What was your/their inspiration for this monster, why a wolf and not a polar bear?
3) Are Antlions and Dust Diggers similiar in roles? Can one replace the other? Which do you prefer?
4)While most creaturs are mostly 100% based on their folklore counterparts the Rusalka made a very big change from the normal folklore, why was this done? Same question for Leshy and Vodyanoi.
5) What is the biggest difference between the Brain Ooze and Intellect Devourer?
6) I don't really like the Cold Rider yet... can you tell me something new about the Cold Rider (not told in bestiary 3) that probably makes me like him? :p
7) Are Crucidaemons designed after Iron Maidens?
8) Is the coloxus the most vain creature in all three bestairies combined? Or is there a monster that is even more vain?
9) Why are Succubi CR7 and Incubi Cr6?
10) Why did Iguanodon get the picture and the much cooler Dimentrodon didn't? ;)
11) Which undead do Ecorche mostly serve?
12) Do you think the Aranea in Monster Manual 1 is based on the Jorogumo?
13) What color does a Jubjub Bird becomes when hit by sonic damage?
14) Let me get this straight, a Kyton, Interlocutor cuts off his own legs/parts and replaces them with mechanical parts or what?
15) Is the Fjord Linnorm based on the Jormundr Serpent from norse mythology? If not which linnorm is based on that serpent?
Last) Why are there so many lizard-monsters in the bestiary 3?
Woah... that's a wall of questions...
1) I quite like the alraune a lot. I used one in my Serpent's Skull game a few months ago, in fact. It wreaked havoc... it was perhaps a tad too powerful for the PCs to deal with at their level, but they survived, so maybe not!
2) Akhluts are from inuit mythology. They're the ones who chose wolves and not bears.
3) They are indeed similar monsters with slightly different methods. I like them both... but I think I prefer the giant ant lion a little more cause it's scarier looking and because they're based on real critters.
4) Sometimes when we move a monster into the game from folklore, we also need to have that monster fit a specific in-game role or CR or monster type. Rather than make up an entirely new monster AND have the mythological monster, we combine the roles. D&D has done this since the start, in fact.
5) The fact that brain oozes don't wear monsters as armor or disguises. And the fact that they're oozes, not aberrations.
6) I'm not a huge fan of the cold rider either, honestly. (He's originally from an older module we published, "Carnival of Tears.") And there's about 300 monsters in the book. It's perfectly fine to not like some of them.
7) The crucidaemon is a daemon of torture. We named it after the act of crucifixion, and used elements of iron maidens and chains to further drive home the fact that it's a monster that embodies the doom of dying by torture.
8) It's a pretty vain monster, but I'm not a fan of hyperbole. I'm sure there's monsters that are more vain.
9) Because I like succubi more than incubi. And because I felt that it was worth turning the tired old "men are stronger than women" concept on its head. And because the Abyss itself is a feminine place, as opposed to Hell being a masculine place. And becasue succubi have a stronger tradition in the game (they were there first) and I'm not a big fan of the "here's something similar to the thing you already know BUT IT IS MORE AWESOME!" philosophy of game design (this is why, in Golarion, the Tarrasque is the strongest of Rovagug's spawn, for example.)
10) Because when Wes wrote the art order, he chose the iguanodon over the dimetrodon. And because that page is a page titled "DINOSAUR" and the iguanodon is a dinosaur while the dimetrodon, technically and scientifically, is not.
11) Vampires and liches and graveknights and any other "mastermind" style undead who are more powerful than them.
12) Nope. The aranea was first designed for the old adventure "Isle of Dread" back in the very early 80s; that adventure's VERY MUCH inspired by King Kong and The Lost World—there's not a lot of Asian influence there, and Asian folklore wasn't nearly as widespread in America back in those days. The aranea was likely nothing more than a cool idea that the designer came up with for one of that modules MANY new monsters. The concept of a person/spider shapechanger's actually a pretty obvious idea when you start brainstorming spooky monster ideas, in any case.
13) It's random.
14) The interlocutor's all about self-surgery. They treat their self-surgeries and augmentations as works of art. I suspect that no two look exactly alike. Some might cut off their legs, others might not. Usually they keep at least one arm so they can keep cutting.
15) All of the linnorms are inspired by that legend, to a certain extent, but we haven't yet done a linnorm that's specifically that one. We'd call it by its' actual mythological name if/when we did/do.
Last) Coincidence, I guess. Wasn't planned intentionally that way.
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James Whats your thoughts on the following?
Situation :
"A creature (such as Dhampir) has Negative Energy Affinity.
Negative Energy Affinity wrote:
Negative Energy Affinity (Ex) The creature alive, but reacts to positive and negative energy as if it were undead—positive energy harms it, negative energy heals it.
It's fairly straight forward what happens if you cast cure or inflict on it (the former damages, while the later heals). In other words, the normal effects of positive/negative energy are reversed.
The issue comes up with Channel.
There are four situations with channeling.
Target type (Living vs Undead).
Purpose (harm vs heal).
So, here's the issue. The NEA creature is still alive (this is explicitly called out in the power). So one of the two following situations occurs :
A) The creature, being alive, can only be a valid channel target when the channel target's Living Creatures. Thus, if you channel to heal living (using positive energy) the NEA creature is a valid target. And, from the other side, if you channel to harm living (using negative energy) the NEA creature is also a valid target. In this situation, the NEA kicks in and reverses the intent of the channel (the channel to heal harms, and the channel to harm heals). In this situation, if the channel is targeting undead (which the creature is not), they are unaffected, the same as any non NEA creature.
B) The creature, having NEA, reacts to channels as if it were playing for team Undead. That is, it can't be targeted by channels that target living creatures, only channels that target Undead creatures. Thus, a channel to harm undead (positive energy) affects the NEA creature by harming him. And conversely, a channel to heal undead (negative energy) heals him. In this situation, no channel targeting living creatures affects him.
C) The creature, having NEA, is treated as both alive and undead at all times. This means that any positive energy channel harms, regardless of target. Conversely, any negative energy channel heals, regardless of target.
Now, there are ramifications to each.
A) An NEA player character (such as dhampir) becomes a liability if the team includes a cleric or paladin, who can channel to heal allies, because they will be harmed.
B) An NEA character cannot be harmed by their allies channels to heal with positive energy, and they can also heal themselves and their undead minions (if they have any) with negative energy channels. It also means the creature must show up as Undead to detect undead and other such abilities, since they are targetable as undead.
C) This returns just this subset of characters to the beta version of channel, which was considered too powerful originally, and would lower the CR of any creature with NEA."
(qutoed from misty)
SO HOW does damphar and negtive energy thingy work?
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Creative Director
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SO HOW does damphar and negtive energy thingy work?
The dhampir is treated as if it were undead as regards channeled energy. If you're healing living creatures, it doesn't get healed. If you're healing undead, it gets healed. If you're hurting undead, it gets hurt. If your hurting living creatures, it doesn't get hurt.
3) Do you have any plans for intelligent construct type of race, such as Warforged or Ironborn? I think that there are a lot of players who would love them.3) Yes, but not really as a PC option. Constructs, like undead, are not really all that appropriate for player character options due to the huge amount of benefits they get and the complications of not having a Constitution score. That said, I do have a few ideas... but I'm not quite ready to talk about them yet...
I played an intelligent Small animated statue in a one-shot adventure attached to the Second Darkness AP. It was interesting being unable to heal--I got to wade into low level combat without any fear of damage thanks to hardness, but unless someone found a wand of make whole to use, my HP could only go one way--down! It made things very challenging. Also interesting was the fact that I weighed something like seven hundred pounds because I was made of marble.
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James, given it's Australia Day today, there has been an increase in jingoistic nonsense like packets of biscuits featuring the Australian flag. Interestingly, it's my observation that in general, an Australian will treat someone waving an Aussie flag with suspicion. It's also my observation that in United States culture, someone waving a flag is seen as a patriot, and a Good Man/Woman (TM).
Is my observation of US culture accurate, or have I just watched too many movies out of Hollywood?
Is it wrong that I want this as my messageboard signature now?
Mythic 2013, Numeria 2014, Casmaron, 2015, and Jacobs breakdown in 2012.
:D
What's the strength check DC to break a katana in half over one's knee?
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To a certain extent, we already do books with prebuilt NPCs: Adventures. Each one has several NPCs that a GM can use as he needs—often, when I'm running an adventure for which I'm ad-libbing a lot or for which I expect the PCs to get distracted by NPCs I've not built, I'll keep a couple of level-appropriate adventures handy so I can just grab one up and use an NPC stat block out of that book as I need.
That said, an NPC bestiary type book is a great idea, and one we've been contemplating doing for a few years. Stay tuned!
You sir.
You shall have my $45-$60 for that full-sized, 375ish paged hardcover NPC Book.
All you have to do is release the book.
You will also have my support for NPCeastiary 2 and 3.
~DH
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I'm not scared of my players. And I've not yet been scared by a GM.
When as a GM have you most scared your players?
Conversely, when as a player have you been most scared by a GM?
I once had a player get red in the face and almost take a swing at me (pulled his fist back and everything) because when they attacked a little girl wizard who wasn't really hurting anybody (but was playing tricks on people and being a nuisance) she kept trying to disable them without really harming them, and when that failed and she got seriously injured, she pulled an Abra, and teleported miles away, and they neither got the opportunity to kill her or take her stuff.
And I didnt feel bad that they got no treasure, because they were trying to murder a 10 year old girl.
It was a very awkward session, and I had to seriously consider telling him to get out of my game.
What things would you suggest voters look for in judging the coming "organization" submissions?
(i.e., an "Idiot's Guide to Evaluating Pathfinder Organizations")
Are we ever going to have a look at the Test of the Starstone? If so, would it require or be better suited for higher level rules?
Mister Jacobs, why... did you eat that boy's dog?
What's the strength check DC to break a katana in half over one's knee?James, how does it feel to be treated like a subsitute for the Core Rulebook?
I...
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Creative Director
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James, given it's Australia Day today, there has been an increase in jingoistic nonsense like packets of biscuits featuring the Australian flag. Interestingly, it's my observation that in general, an Australian will treat someone waving an Aussie flag with suspicion. It's also my observation that in United States culture, someone waving a flag is seen as a patriot, and a Good Man/Woman (TM).
Is my observation of US culture accurate, or have I just watched too many movies out of Hollywood?
I'd say that someone waving a US flag is on average seen as a patriot, but that doesn't mean a good person. It varies by person and to a certain extent by region. It even further depends on the politics of the observer and the overriding politics of the government at the time.
Patriotism means different things to different people, after all.
And I'd rather not delve much further into politics than that in this thread.
And I'd rather not delve much further into politics than that in this thread.
UNPATRIOT!
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Creative Director
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What things would you suggest voters look for in judging the coming "organization" submissions?
(i.e., an "Idiot's Guide to Evaluating Pathfinder Organizations")
Something that makes you want to use it in your next game. Something that's so cool that it makes you want to abandon the antagonistic NPC organization you've spent the last year developing in favor of this one.
What's the strength check DC to break a katana in half over one's knee?DC 234,240. Also your leg automatically gets chopped off, and you die, and so do your cohorts and your allies.
XD
I ask because I've heard you can actually do it in real life. The things are thin. Brittle, too.
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Creative Director
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James, I know you said you thought about doing Psionics as more a Mind Magic. Were you talking about in say Rolemaster style Mentalism?
Not in the slightest. I've glanced through Rolemaster books now and then in my 30 years of gaming, but I've never played a Rolemaster game, and I don't really know what it is you're talking about when you say "Rolemaster style Mentalisim." For a better idea on the types of psionics I would like to see in the game, read one of Stephen King's numerous books about the topic ([i[]Carrie, Firestarter, Hearts in Atlantis, It, The Shining,[/i] any of the books in the Dark Tower series, etc.) or watch Dark City.
Also, have you personaly used any of the Planets in the upcoming Distants Worlds book in any of your games?
Nope. Not yet.
What's the strength check DC to break a katana in half over one's knee?DC 234,240. Also your leg automatically gets chopped off, and you die, and so do your cohorts and your allies.
Are you sure that is not for an adamantine urumi?
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Creative Director
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Are we ever going to have a look at the Test of the Starstone? If so, would it require or be better suited for higher level rules?
Hopefully, and yes.
The Test of the Starstone is not a typical adventure. It's a GIANT EVENT adventure. It's the culmination of an entire campaign type adventure. It's not an adventure we're eager to detail on a whim, in other words.
And since the plot of the adventure would have to be "someone, NPC or PC, is trying to become a deity" (if it wasn't, why waste the adventure there in the first place?), we need to know the rules for how becoming a deity works. And I can't think of much more high-level or mythic than that.
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Kinda frustrating but kinda important.What's the strength check DC to break a katana in half over one's knee?James, how does it feel to be treated like a subsitute for the Core Rulebook?
I like to think of James as a replacement for Dwarves of Golarion.
I know it's frustrating but it is greatly appreciated, in fact it's just awesome being able to talk directly to the creative director of the game and pester him about himself and the game. Anyway, enough brown nosing for now.
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.That's it, we need game mechaniques about brown nosing! </sarcasm>
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Kinda frustrating but kinda important.What's the strength check DC to break a katana in half over one's knee?James, how does it feel to be treated like a subsitute for the Core Rulebook?
I like to think of James as a replacement for Dwarves of Golarion.
More like Dinosaurs of Golarion.
...now there's a product idea.
Dear James Jacobs,
Since you mentioned you enjoyed the Tome of Magic's binder class, have you taken a look at Radiant House's Secrets of Pact Magic yet? If so, what do you think?
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Creative Director
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I'd buy it.
And to make it a question...any chance of Dinosaurs of Golarian??
I would LOVE to do this book... but I'm afraid it'll never happen. Still, something like "Prehistoric Beasts Revisited" would be deeeeelightful. To me, at least. Convincing my boss and my boss's boss that it'd be a good way to spend Paizo's money would be the stunt of the year.
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Creative Director
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Dear James Jacobs,
Since you mentioned you enjoyed the Tome of Magic's binder class, have you taken a look at Radiant House's Secrets of Pact Magic yet? If so, what do you think?
I own the book, but I've not really had a chance to look through it in detail, other than to marvel and be a little weirded out by the way the print on the pages feels when you rub it...
I would LOVE to do this book... but I'm afraid it'll never happen. Still, something like "Prehistoric Beasts Revisited" would be deeeeelightful. To me, at least. Convincing my boss and my boss's boss that it'd be a good way to spend Paizo's money would be the stunt of the year.I'd buy it.
And to make it a question...any chance of Dinosaurs of Golarian??
I'd buy it. That makes three of us!
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1) What are your thoughts on iterative attacks at higher levels? Is there any point to them, with such a large penalties?1) The "large penalties" don't impact as much as you might think... unless you engineer every single high-level combat to be a super tough one. Which is not a good idea. Players need opportunities to feel high level. In any event, I'm not a fan of iterative attacks, since the extra die rolls and the changing modifiers are one of the primary things that makes higher level combat slow down. Eventaully, I'd like to houserule the Vital Strike feat chain into being something that EVERYONE gets for free, and rather than allow extra attacks just give people extra damage.
I've been giving everyone Vital Strike and Combat Expertise for free for a long time, (Vital Strike Feats being earned when you meet the prereqs.) I've also tried out making combat maneuvers only provoke if you miss. All together they result in more dynamic melee combat.
Have you tried out the Trailblazer style iterative system? (2 attacks at -2, with gradually lessening penalties)
What do you think of the Trailblazer style unified spell progressions via a BaseMagicBonus that replaces caster level?
What's the strength check DC to break a katana in half over one's knee?DC 234,240. Also your leg automatically gets chopped off, and you die, and so do your cohorts and your allies.
I think she was referring to Pathfinder, not Rolemaster. :D
Would we ever see a Lizardfolk Empire like the Warhammer setting in Golarion, or it that treading on too many toes/just a wee bit too corny? I have the sudden mental image of Lizardfolk Cavaliers riding on the backs of Large-sized Raptors, and it is awesome.
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Creative Director
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Have you tried out the Trailblazer style iterative system? (2 attacks at -2, with gradually lessening penalties)
What do you think of the Trailblazer style unified spell progressions via a BaseMagicBonus that replaces caster level?
I've not tried out Trailblazer yet. That's a very interesting take, though—not having to recalculate different rolls for different attacks is huge. But still... minimizing the number of attacks themselves is a great way to speed up high level combat.
And I've long championed for something akin to a Base Magic Bonus. Just as a fighter who multiclasses into wizard still progresses (although more slowly) in his BAB... a wizard who multiclasses into a fighter should still enhance his caster level.
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Creative Director
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Would we ever see a Lizardfolk Empire like the Warhammer setting in Golarion, or it that treading on too many toes/just a wee bit too corny? I have the sudden mental image of Lizardfolk Cavaliers riding on the backs of Large-sized Raptors, and it is awesome.
Check the writeup for Garund in the Inner Sea World Guide, page 207...
Yet perhaps the two greatest empires of southern Garund are the swampy deltas of Droon, a realm ruled by dinosaur-riding lizardfolk...
So... yeah! There's a giant lizardfolk nation on the southern end of Garund that dominates the so-called Horn of Droon.
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Have you tried out the Trailblazer style iterative system? (2 attacks at -2, with gradually lessening penalties)
What do you think of the Trailblazer style unified spell progressions via a BaseMagicBonus that replaces caster level?
I've not tried out Trailblazer yet. That's a very interesting take, though—not having to recalculate different rolls for different attacks is huge. But still... minimizing the number of attacks themselves is a great way to speed up high level combat.
And I've long championed for something akin to a Base Magic Bonus. Just as a fighter who multiclasses into wizard still progresses (although more slowly) in his BAB... a wizard who multiclasses into a fighter should still enhance his caster level.
For the iterative attacks, from what I understand, in all cases except when you only hit on a 20 or only miss on a 1, the damage per round is very close (slight increase).
At level 20, the fighter still only has 2 attacks, but both have no penalties.
Alot of Math went into it. it's a spectacular 3pp book. It's important to keep in mind that it was written as a revision for 3.5, and came out before pathfinder. They updated the layout after pathfinder came out, but the complex math they used to determine things all comes from 3.x, and their class design is a revision of 3.x, not a revision of pathfinder.
As for BMB, Exactly. The way they accomplished that is there is a single spells/day table, and your BMB ties into it. Some classes give more spells, ala sorcerer, and they just grant bonus slots to make up the difference. The net result is almost the same number of slots, and a wizard 5, witch 5, cleric 5, druid 5, would have approx the same number of slots as a wizard 20, and is still getting 9th level spells.
I'm not a fan of having every caster know all spells like a cleric or druid (thats something they do) but I think the rest of their magic system is quite elegant.
I would LOVE to do this book... but I'm afraid it'll never happen. Still, something like "Prehistoric Beasts Revisited" would be deeeeelightful. To me, at least. Convincing my boss and my boss's boss that it'd be a good way to spend Paizo's money would be the stunt of the year.I'd buy it.
And to make it a question...any chance of Dinosaurs of Golarian??
I would love such a book. I'll start a thread to see if we can drum up support for it.
Question: I am thinking of giving Taldor a small unit (like 10 to 20) of T-Rex cavalry which will appear in a adventure I going to run at some time in the future. I figure Taldan would have the money, the arrgroance, and the access (via their former colonies) for having such a unit. It is also in a way to 'show up' Qadira's cavalry.
How do you like this idea?
Would this make you more or less interested in Taldor? (You have stated before you have been meh on Taldor).
Mister Jacobs, what sort of things will we see in Ultimate Equipment?
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Will there be...
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Mister Jacobs, what sort of things will we see in Ultimate Equipment?
IANJ...but my guess would be Equipment.
What KINDS of equipment? Magic items? New weapons? New mundane equipment? Vehicles? Will there be a new class, class archetypes, spells, feats, or other things that relate closely to equipment but are not themselves equipment? Will there be new rules regarding equipment? Will there be advanced technology and/or rules relating to advanced technology?
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What KINDS of equipment? Magic items? New weapons? New mundane equipment? Vehicles? Will there be a new class, class archetypes, spells, feats, or other things that relate closely to equipment but are not themselves equipment? Will there be new rules regarding equipment? Will there be advanced technology and/or rules relating to advanced technology?
ultimate equipment...
new class...
Inspector Gadget?
Batman?
A Batman-like class would be amazingly awesome.
Mark down another vote for Dinosaurs of Golarion (Tyrannosaurus Codex?). Stone age roleplaying has been on my to-do list for a long time, and there's room for it in Arcadia or on some distant island.