Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Since succubi always have to drain their partners, how do they keep favorites around?
By not normally having favorites. That's kind of a human take on romance and sex. Succubi aren't human in that regard, and their "favorite" is generally "whoever they're draining the life out of RIGHT NOW" and that favorite gets replaced the instant they die and they find another.
There would be cases where they do form favorites, I guess, rarely, in which case they wouldn't drain the victim to death and/or would take steps to ensure the victim was immune to level drain in the first place, I guess, but that'd be rare in the grand scheme of things. Life force is for eating, not for making friends with.
|
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
James,
Just finished Inner Sea Faiths, and WOW it was freakin awesome!! I am really looking forward to Paths of the Righteous now more than ever!!
Three questions about ISF:
1) In Sivanah's entry, it mentions seven colors a bunch, but never says which colors.(That I could tell. Perhaps I missed them) Is it supposed to be up to the individual worshiper, or is there a specific set of 'official' colors for her faith?
2) Who was the artist for the first image of Zyphus in his chapter on page 88?
3) Who are your top three favorite deities from that book? As a player and a GM.
1) In my homebrew, and in her initial writeup in the Inner Sea World Guide, the seven veils of Sivanah represent the seven races she's associated with. There's no mention of colors at all; it's not important in my initial vision of Sivanah, who is more about shadowy illusion stuff. That's why in Inner Sea Gods her sacred color is listed as gray—the veils themselves are all the same hue of gray in my mind. Representing seven shadows she controls. Hence her symbol being gray veils tied in a circle. The addition of seven colors was apparently something new added in that book—I was only directly involved in the Achaekek chapter. Now, there's nothing that says before that in print that Sivanah DOESN'T use colors (I mostly kept her association with the shadows and the shadow plane in my homebrew and didn't "export" that to Golarion since in Golarion, Zon-Kuthon is more about shadows... in my home brew, he was more based in Hell), but I'm not sure what those colors should be. I would recommend AGAINST the obvious choice of seven colors of the rainbow, since that's specifically Shelyn's thing. The author or developer should probably have indicated what the seven colors were, but did not, so I guess for now you're free to pick whatever seven colors you want.
2) I have no idea. We use such a huge and massively international group of incredible artists that I no longer can keep track of them; this is a question for the art team.
3) Six of them are from my homebrew (Achaekek, Ghlaunder, Groetus, Milani, Sivanah, and Zyphus), so that makes picking a favorite kinda weird... but I'll try. As a player, the ones I'd most want to play a cleric of would be Besmara, Brigh, and Milani. As a GM, the ones I like most for story elements of adventures are Achaekek, Ghlaunder, and Zyphus.
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Ohh! I just thought of another really interesting question(One that might have been asked before, so I apologize for a potential duplicate):
If you could get any current author to write a product for Paizo(preferably a Golarion specific one), who would you choose and what would he or she write?
By "current author" I will assume "living human who is a writer." Ramsey Campbell, any novel he wants set anywhere on Golarion.
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
....
2) The deities Abadar, Desna, Erastil, Gorum, Norgorber, Pharasma, Rovagug, Sarenrae, Urgathoa, Zon-Kuthon, Achaekek, Ghlaunder, Groetus, Milani, Sivanah, Ydersius, Zyphus, Cyth-V'sug, Treerazer, Nightripper, Xhamen-Dor, Menxyr, Murnath, Ovonovo, Shamira, Yamasoth, and as of Pathfinder #109, Nhimbaloth.
...
Wow I didn't realize that you had created all those deities :-O
1. Do I recall correctly that some of those deities carried different names in your home setting?
2. If I do, whose names were changed?
3. If so, why were they changed?
As always thank you for answering our questions, it is so cool to have access to the people behind the game like this :-D
1) Only Pharasma's name changed—all the rest are the same names they've had for, in some cases (like Desna and Yamasoth) for 30 years.
2) In my homebrew, Pharasma's name was Turthonir. I like Pharasma a thousand times better, and if/when I ever run something in my homebrew again, she's named Pharasma there too.
3) It was changed because Pharasma is such a more awesome name than Turhtonir.
|
Creative Director
|
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
On a scale from 1 to NOPE NOPE NOPE how horrifying is this image?
Not horrifying at all. So... I guess a 1.
| 12 people marked this as a favorite. |
On a scale from 1 to NOPE NOPE NOPE how horrifying is this image?
NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Since succubi always have to drain their partners, how do they keep favorites around?By not normally having favorites. That's kind of a human take on romance and sex. Succubi aren't human in that regard, and their "favorite" is generally "whoever they're draining the life out of RIGHT NOW" and that favorite gets replaced the instant they die and they find another.
There would be cases where they do form favorites, I guess, rarely, in which case they wouldn't drain the victim to death and/or would take steps to ensure the victim was immune to level drain in the first place, I guess, but that'd be rare in the grand scheme of things. Life force is for eating, not for making friends with.
By "favorite," I meant someone the succubus would see as an interesting character with an attractive body they'd want to keep abusing. You're saying a succubus would have that kind of favorite?
Good they can alter self and not drain their victims, though. I wish I'd thought of that.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Life force is for eating, not for making friends with.
You heard it here folks! Succubi love us as food sources, NOT friends. :p ;)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I mean, hypothetically, I could see a Succubus wanting to keep alive a mortal whose life-force she considered especially toothsome, but the powerful temptation would always be there to drain them to the very last drop, and she'd probably give in sooner or later.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Does the sort of non-aggression thing the gods have going extends to their faithful too, or are the gods comfortable with "one-upping" each other via mortal champions and proxies?
Would we ever see a "Trojan War" style scenario where the gods basically used all their favorite mortals and sent them to years of death and misery as a means of hashing out grudges they had against each other that they were forbidden from fighting over personally by Zeus? Or do the gods just not have the personalities/relationship dynamics that would result in that kind of scenario?
Also, is it possible for a character to be "insane" without having a Chaotic alignment?
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Since succubi always have to drain their partners, how do they keep favorites around?By not normally having favorites. That's kind of a human take on romance and sex. Succubi aren't human in that regard, and their "favorite" is generally "whoever they're draining the life out of RIGHT NOW" and that favorite gets replaced the instant they die and they find another.
There would be cases where they do form favorites, I guess, rarely, in which case they wouldn't drain the victim to death and/or would take steps to ensure the victim was immune to level drain in the first place, I guess, but that'd be rare in the grand scheme of things. Life force is for eating, not for making friends with.
By "favorite," I meant someone the succubus would see as an interesting character with an attractive body they'd want to keep abusing. You're saying a succubus would have that kind of favorite?
Good they can alter self and not drain their victims, though. I wish I'd thought of that.
Succubi normally wouldn't have favorites like that, no. That's more of a vampire thing than a succubus thing. It's not that they CAN'T, but that they usually don't, because 99.99999999% of the time, mortals bore them beyond being delicious.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Does the sort of non-aggression thing the gods have going extends to their faithful too, or are the gods comfortable with "one-upping" each other via mortal champions and proxies?
Would we ever see a "Trojan War" style scenario where the gods basically used all their favorite mortals and sent them to years of death and misery as a means of hashing out grudges they had against each other that they were forbidden from fighting over personally by Zeus? Or do the gods just not have the personalities/relationship dynamics that would result in that kind of scenario?
Also, is it possible for a character to be "insane" without having a Chaotic alignment?
The "non-agression" thing doe snot apply to the faithful of the gods. In fact, that's kind of one of the whole points of it—faiths battling each other for supremacy in the name of their deity.
Not too interested in doing a "Trojan War" style scenario in they way you describe it.
Insanity does not = chaotic. And Chaotic does not = insane.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Is that partly because the gods of Golarion seem more like "professionals working together in an office, each doing their own jobs but needing to put up with each other's quirks and rules" rather than "an extended family who hate each other for various petty slights and insults but can't get back at each other because the head honcho forbids it?"
Something I've been wondering about the Mordant Spire elves: Why are they so obsessed with protecting the history and culture of AZLANT, a HUMAN empire? True, Azlant had powerful magic and stuff, but don't elves normally have a lot more high magic and better stuff in their culture? It kind of feels like the Mordant Spire elves glorify humans over their own people. Why is that?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Thanks as always for the answers James!
Follow ups:
Do you know who wrote up Sivanah for INF? Would love to try and ask that person for inspiration. Its not only of a Pathfinder PC, but also very possibly for several LARP characters.
2) Where would be the best place direct a question to the art team about who did that Zyphus pic? I kinda really want a print.
OOH, totally not a question, but something I feel you should know:
I have a real life friend named Kess, and when I found out that the iconic brawler shared her name, it was so awesome! I read up on her and they have very similar personalities too. She's totally thinking about cosplaying as her! :)
Anyways, over the weekend, I attended GenCon and picked up a print of Kess from Wayne Renyolds, which I shall gift to my friend.
I have no idea how much or little you had to do with her creation, but thank you anyways! :)
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Succubi normally wouldn't have favorites like that, no. That's more of a vampire thing than a succubus thing. It's not that they CAN'T, but that they usually don't, because 99.99999999% of the time, mortals bore them beyond being delicious.Since succubi always have to drain their partners, how do they keep favorites around?By not normally having favorites. That's kind of a human take on romance and sex. Succubi aren't human in that regard, and their "favorite" is generally "whoever they're draining the life out of RIGHT NOW" and that favorite gets replaced the instant they die and they find another.
There would be cases where they do form favorites, I guess, rarely, in which case they wouldn't drain the victim to death and/or would take steps to ensure the victim was immune to level drain in the first place, I guess, but that'd be rare in the grand scheme of things. Life force is for eating, not for making friends with.
By "favorite," I meant someone the succubus would see as an interesting character with an attractive body they'd want to keep abusing. You're saying a succubus would have that kind of favorite?
Good they can alter self and not drain their victims, though. I wish I'd thought of that.
I thought succubi were supposed to be lust incarnate, but the way you're describing them has them looking more like nabassus, or at the very least only into snuff. Would you explain succubi better?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
James, I will paypal you $60 for your copy of the Crimson Throne hardcover. Do we have a deal?
*bidding voice* 125! ;)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
By "current author" I will assume "living human who is a writer." Ramsey Campbell, any novel he wants set anywhere on Golarion.Ohh! I just thought of another really interesting question(One that might have been asked before, so I apologize for a potential duplicate):
If you could get any current author to write a product for Paizo(preferably a Golarion specific one), who would you choose and what would he or she write?
I think I once asked a similar question and you replied with George R.R. Martin. (And that you'd like to write a novel yourself) :-)
Has Ramsey Campbell produced something recently to change your mind? Or is it more a factor, what you feel at the moment?
Do you have several authors "jockeying" in your mind for who you'd like the most?
If I wanted to start reading Campbell, which book would you recommend I start with?
Cheers
|
Creative Director
|
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
Is that partly because the gods of Golarion seem more like "professionals working together in an office, each doing their own jobs but needing to put up with each other's quirks and rules" rather than "an extended family who hate each other for various petty slights and insults but can't get back at each other because the head honcho forbids it?"
Something I've been wondering about the Mordant Spire elves: Why are they so obsessed with protecting the history and culture of AZLANT, a HUMAN empire? True, Azlant had powerful magic and stuff, but don't elves normally have a lot more high magic and better stuff in their culture? It kind of feels like the Mordant Spire elves glorify humans over their own people. Why is that?
No, it's just because the plot of a "Trojan War" AP doesn't really appeal to me, in no small part due to the fact that without robust mass combat rules it'd be disappointing.
As for the Mordant Spire elves... part of their theme is "They're mysterious." If only we had an Azlant-themed AP coming in a year, perhaps some of those elements might be explored.
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Thanks as always for the answers James!
Follow ups:
Do you know who wrote up Sivanah for INF? Would love to try and ask that person for inspiration. Its not only of a Pathfinder PC, but also very possibly for several LARP characters.
2) Where would be the best place direct a question to the art team about who did that Zyphus pic? I kinda really want a print.
OOH, totally not a question, but something I feel you should know:
I have a real life friend named Kess, and when I found out that the iconic brawler shared her name, it was so awesome! I read up on her and they have very similar personalities too. She's totally thinking about cosplaying as her! :)
Anyways, over the weekend, I attended GenCon and picked up a print of Kess from Wayne Renyolds, which I shall gift to my friend.
I have no idea how much or little you had to do with her creation, but thank you anyways! :)
I'm pretty sure Jessica Price wrote Sivanah.
There's not really a best place to question the art team about things like that—they're not super active on the forums. Best place to ask would be to post a question on the product page, I guess.
I had little to do with Kess's creation other than help to make the decision she'd be a human woman.
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I thought succubi were supposed to be lust incarnate, but the way you're describing them has them looking more like nabassus, or at the very least only into snuff. Would you explain succubi better?Succubi normally wouldn't have favorites like that, no. That's more of a vampire thing than a succubus thing. It's not that they CAN'T, but that they usually don't, because 99.99999999% of the time, mortals bore them beyond being delicious.Since succubi always have to drain their partners, how do they keep favorites around?By not normally having favorites. That's kind of a human take on romance and sex. Succubi aren't human in that regard, and their "favorite" is generally "whoever they're draining the life out of RIGHT NOW" and that favorite gets replaced the instant they die and they find another.
There would be cases where they do form favorites, I guess, rarely, in which case they wouldn't drain the victim to death and/or would take steps to ensure the victim was immune to level drain in the first place, I guess, but that'd be rare in the grand scheme of things. Life force is for eating, not for making friends with.
By "favorite," I meant someone the succubus would see as an interesting character with an attractive body they'd want to keep abusing. You're saying a succubus would have that kind of favorite?
Good they can alter self and not drain their victims, though. I wish I'd thought of that.
I've been dancing around the topic not because I have nothing to say, but because I know what sort of information and details you are looking for about succubi and that topic isn't one I can really talk about on these boards without risking offending someone. Check out the succubus chapter in Demons Revisited for my thoughts on the topic.
Succubui are NOT "lust incarnate." They're demonic spirits formed from lustful souls. We don't have a "lust incarnate" creature int he game because including graphically sexual content in Pathfinder is not part of our goal for the game.
EDIT: IF the USA (and by extension lots of folks on these boards) weren't so knee-jerk freakout prone about talking about sex, then we wouldn't have restrictions on these boards about the topic, and I could go into further detail about succubi and their "mating" habits. But since that's not the world we live in, and since as creative director I have to speak for the company on matters Pathfinder related, I simply do not feel comfortable breaking the company's decision about how the topic of sex is handled. I'm not interested in going too far on this subject only to have posts start getting blocked or getting a "talking to" from management. And based on your post history and the tenor and nature and theme of where your questions generally go and what they're about, I can't help but feel that is the direction you want me to go.
And I can't. This is not the place, and since I represent Paizo and Paizo's decisions are what they are, there ISN'T a place for me to publicly go on about the details of succubus sexual activities. As much as the subject of how sex and magic and supernatural elements interest me or you or anyone. Maybe some day if I'm not working for Paizo OR if Paizo changes its policy on adult content of that nature involving Pathfinder, that'll change, but that's not today. Sorry.
Fortunately the Internet and fiction and mythology are full of inspiring stories and pictures about the subject!
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
By "current author" I will assume "living human who is a writer." Ramsey Campbell, any novel he wants set anywhere on Golarion.Ohh! I just thought of another really interesting question(One that might have been asked before, so I apologize for a potential duplicate):
If you could get any current author to write a product for Paizo(preferably a Golarion specific one), who would you choose and what would he or she write?
I think I once asked a similar question and you replied with George R.R. Martin. (And that you'd like to write a novel yourself) :-)
Has Ramsey Campbell produced something recently to change your mind? Or is it more a factor, what you feel at the moment?
Do you have several authors "jockeying" in your mind for who you'd like the most?
If I wanted to start reading Campbell, which book would you recommend I start with?
Cheers
Ramsey Campbell is my favorite living author, and has been for a few decades. Why wouldn't I want my favorite living author to write a book set in Pathfinder?
Campbell's short stories are a good place to start—if you're into Lovecraft things, start with one of Campbell's Lovecraft-influenced collections, like "The Inhabitant of the Lake." My favorite of his most recent books is "The Last Revelation of Gla'aki." A few other great ones from a while back would be...
"Nazereth Hill" if you're looking for a great ghost story.
"The Hungry Moon" if you're looking for a great monster story.
"The Face that Must Die" if you're looking for a great crime/serial killer story (and incidentally one of the inspirations for Norgorber).
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Hello James ,i have a question to ask about the childrens of demons with mortals . I"m running the amazing wrath of the righteous campaing and one of my players (he is doing pritty well with his asimar oracle of battle ) married his PC with the redeem succubus arushalae and he ask me if he can have childrens with Her . My question is What kind/race/creature/ can born from the union of an asimar and an redeem demon?
That would be a half-succubus aasimar. See "Demons Revisited" for rules on half-succubi.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Is that partly because the gods of Golarion seem more like "professionals working together in an office, each doing their own jobs but needing to put up with each other's quirks and rules" rather than "an extended family who hate each other for various petty slights and insults but can't get back at each other because the head honcho forbids it?"
Something I've been wondering about the Mordant Spire elves: Why are they so obsessed with protecting the history and culture of AZLANT, a HUMAN empire? True, Azlant had powerful magic and stuff, but don't elves normally have a lot more high magic and better stuff in their culture? It kind of feels like the Mordant Spire elves glorify humans over their own people. Why is that?
No, it's just because the plot of a "Trojan War" AP doesn't really appeal to me, in no small part due to the fact that without robust mass combat rules it'd be disappointing.
As for the Mordant Spire elves... part of their theme is "They're mysterious." If only we had an Azlant-themed AP coming in a year, perhaps some of those elements might be explored.
So I have to wait a year before I can see if a Mordant Spire half-elf PC would break too much canon in Serpent's Skull?
|
Creative Director
|
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Thanks alot . I have a copy of demons revised an Im checking out the rules . I have 2 other questions Now .
1.since arushalae is a redeem sucubus Her childrens will get her redeem modifications and Her spell-like abilities inset of the standard half-succubus templete and Will have no aligment restrictions ?2. The oracle asimar is the herophant of my group so he is Iomedae's child . Is she and the church ok with the fact of having Half-fiends grandchildrens around even they are no evil? Iomedae is the godess of fiend-killing and honor, the idea of she having half fiend grandchildrens Will sounds just crazy to the church?
My player have been asking alot of questions about the subject and i'm not sure What to tell him. He is doing an amzing job with his Roleplay and most npc loves his PC . He just wants to take the real consecuenses of his actions .
1) Arueshalae is a pretty completely unique creature as a redeemed demon, so what her children might be is up in the air and left to the individual GM to decide. They could well be born as evil monsters, or perhaps as pre-redemed succubi, or even as an entire new creature. All depends on the story you want to tell. Personally, I'd go with something brand new.
2) Whether or not a worshiper of Iomedae would be okay with that is up to them; some would be and some would not be. Iomedae herself would not disapprove, particularly if the redeemed fiend had proven itself honorable. To me, the type of entity that would not approve of something like this and would be incapable of adjusting its expectations and traditions to welcome something new like a redeemed fiend is the epitomie of lawful neutral. Lawful evil in a situation like this would actively seek to destroy the abomination (in this case, to keep the analogy right, the "abomination" would need to be a chaotic good thing that's fallen to evil). But lawful good would be wary and nervous and would watch over the situation but would in the end be welcoming and encourage the redeemed creature's continued redemption.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As for the Mordant Spire elves... part of their theme is "They're mysterious." If only we had an Azlant-themed AP coming in a year, perhaps some of those elements might be explored.
I see what you did there. Clever.
Did you have any input in the Azlanti AP outlining?
Did you have any input in the original concept of Azlant?
Do you think you will get back into the AP game?
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As for the Mordant Spire elves... part of their theme is "They're mysterious." If only we had an Azlant-themed AP coming in a year, perhaps some of those elements might be explored.I see what you did there. Clever.
Did you have any input in the Azlanti AP outlining?
Did you have any input in the original concept of Azlant?
Do you think you will get back into the AP game?
I have approvals over all AP outlines, but didn't really tell Adam "Do this and don't do that."
I've had a LOT of input into the concept of Azlant, particularly in how it relates to Thassilon.
I suspect that yes, some day, I'll develop another AP.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Don't want to butt into James's thread too much, but yeah, the Sivanah scarf thing--there aren't specific colors. The idea was just that you knot seven scarves/veils of different colors together so it's clear that there are seven of them, and not just one. She's too changeable to settle on seven permanent colors anyway. ;-)
If you want to chat about Sivanah, I'm happy to do that in my long-archived Ask Jessica thread.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Can I haz a chat with Ms Price about whether or not she think Sivanah is some how related to Crystal Fraiser? ;)
|
Creative Director
|
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Don't want to butt into James's thread too much, but yeah, the Sivanah scarf thing--there aren't specific colors. The idea was just that you knot seven scarves/veils of different colors together so it's clear that there are seven of them, and not just one. She's too changeable to settle on seven permanent colors anyway. ;-)
If you want to chat about Sivanah, I'm happy to do that in my long-archived Ask Jessica thread.
Yay; thanks! :D
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
It occurred to me, I have no idea who created Galt, spend all these years pining for a country to be included in an adventure path, and I never thought to find out who created it.
SHAMEFUL!!!!!!!!
Also, have you been having a good summer?
|
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Just for pure curiosity who created Arushalae for the WotR
I did, more or less. She was a significant part of the Adventure Path's outline and theme, and was initially intended to play a larger role in the 4th adventure than she ended up playing (which is why she appears on that cover and not the 3rd), but some shifting of plot elements during the writing and early development had her land in the 3rd adventure, so Jim got to take first stab at statting/creating her. But as one of my "pet" NPCs I couldn't resist doing a LOT more work on her character, of course.
|
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
It occurred to me, I have no idea who created Galt, spend all these years pining for a country to be included in an adventure path, and I never thought to find out who created it.
SHAMEFUL!!!!!!!!
Also, have you been having a good summer?
Galt was Erik's idea initially, but it's not a region that has a specific "champion" on staff, nor does it have a legacy beyond Golarion; it wasn't part of a previous homebrew setting. In fact, I pushed hard early on to have the name of the country changed but was overruled... "Galt" is the name of a town in central California that was one town over from where my Grandparents lived, so to me, that was kinda like naming a nation "San Francisco" or "Denver."
Been having an okay summer, I guess. Not having to go to Gen Con was a HUGE morale boost, but other stuff's been frustrating. That said, getting to go down to California to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary was pretty awesome, and easily the highlight of the summer for me so far.
|
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Hey James. Pretty simple question: are all Old Cultists fanatics?
Here's why I ask. In Pathfinder, and indeed in HPL's original writings, it seems like all worshipers of the Great Old Ones are super serious about their faith. I was thinking though, certainly there are some people who just casually worship one of these things. Say, a sorcerer with the aberrant bloodline who is evil and insane, and just happens to jive with Shub-Niggurath's teachings. Comparable to how a more lucid sorcerer or wizard might go with Nethys.
Or a bard - this time crazy but not evil - who dreams of Azatoth's terrible piping and tries to recreate it in the waking world. She's got Azatoth on her character sheet's "deity" line, but isn't going to proselytize, and doesn't do elaborate rituals in the Daemon Sultan's name.
Part of believing in an alien that at best doesn't care about you and at worst wants to destroy the world more or less means you DO have to be mad or insane. Whether or not that manifests specifically as fanaticism can depend, but for the most part, if you "casually" worship a Great Old One or Outer God, you are not devout and are not a divine spellcaster and probably don't even know that the thing you casually worship is anything more than what the local priest tells you it is. A big part of the theme of the Elder Mythos is that its real worshipers are crazy, and I think it degrades those themes to have non-crazy worshipers (and indeed PC worshipers). There's hundreds of other deities in the setting to choose, many of whom are Lovecraftian in flavor but not actually part of the Elder Mythos, so I'd recommend choosing one of them (like Groetus or Rovagug or even Desna) if you want to go that route.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hi James
thanks for the answers. I really want to check out Ramsey Campbell's stories :-)
Alas there is only so much time to do stuff in, and my life right doesn't afford me much time to read :-(
Do you find time to read books for leisure?
...
Ramsey Campbell is my favorite living author, and has been for a few decades. Why wouldn't I want my favorite living author to write a book set in Pathfinder?
....
....
Me, because I've always wanted to write a novel. But assuming you're talking about NOT me... then George Martin, because he's my favorite fantasy writer, and he's got enough clout that we could do a super-mature Pathfinder Tales novel. ;-P
From your post back in April, I guess because he has more clout than Campbell?
Or is it because his name is more generally associated with fantasy books? (I May be way of base as I know very little about Campbell, but your advice on his works, make it seem like it is horror(ish)).
Who decides which authors get to write Pathfinder books?
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hi James
thanks for the answers. I really want to check out Ramsey Campbell's stories :-)
Alas there is only so much time to do stuff in, and my life right doesn't afford me much time to read :-(
Do you find time to read books for leisure?
...
Ramsey Campbell is my favorite living author, and has been for a few decades. Why wouldn't I want my favorite living author to write a book set in Pathfinder?
........
Me, because I've always wanted to write a novel. But assuming you're talking about NOT me... then George Martin, because he's my favorite fantasy writer, and he's got enough clout that we could do a super-mature Pathfinder Tales novel. ;-PFrom your post back in April, I guess because he has more clout than Campbell?
Or is it because his name is more generally associated with fantasy books? (I May be way of base as I know very little about Campbell, but your advice on his works, make it seem like it is horror(ish)).
Who decides which authors get to write Pathfinder books?
I do find time to read books for pleasure, and often MAKE time to do so. Writers read, and when they don't they' wither. My favorite time to read is a few hours before bed; my latest book I'm reading is Algernon Blackwood: Masters of the Weird Tale. He wrote "The Willows," which is one of my favorite stories ever, but I've not read much else by him. I'm correcting that now, and finding his stories to be VERY spooky and entertaining.
I'd love to have George Martin do a story as well, and he does certainly have more clout than Ramsey Campbell, but Campbell remains my favorite living author, whereas Martin is my favorite living FANTASY author. Campbell's mostly a horror writer, but he's written some fantasy stories as well and they're incredible... just kinda obscure. I don't recall the details of the question that lead me to answer that April one in that way, but timing and phrasing obviously influence how I answer things.
James Sutter is the one who decides who gets to write Pathfinder books.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hey James, Abyssal Realms are supposed to range from roughly the size of continents to entire planets in scale, aren't they? Why does Nocticula, the most powerful demon lord who isn't an outright deity, only have a realm about the a quarter the size of Australia?
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I wrote out a very long explanation for this question, and realized that you are probably a very busy person, and it would just be polite to try and minimize the flood of stuff you will need to read on a daily basis.
First, I ask you to inform the rest of the staff that they do an excellent job and shutouts of appreciation from this subscriber :D
In short, is there any official information that goes a little more into detail about the whereabouts, plots, machinations, status, and reawakening 'plans' for:
Belimarius
Krune
XanderghulI find terribly little information on them. I vaguely recall seeing something offhanded about a post or blog you (James) made about the Runelords, but I do not quite know if it would help in this case, or even what it was called.
A small chunk about Belimarius I have found, and some options, but they are more or less in the view of a scholar of modern Magnimar it seems. Super super vague. Alaznist is a whole different story. I have not looked up a lot about her recently, I just remember it being contradictory; one said she was about to win her war with Karzoug just before Earthfall, but I think (and I do not have the book on my person at the time) the continuing the campaign chapter in RotR mentioned something about her literally caught in the midst of a summoning ritual to bring about the Oliphaunt of Jandelay...because she was desperate or something. Not sure. I can look at what I have on her throughout the copious books I have.
Now, what I find exceptionally funny, is that she was trying to 1:) summon, 2:) an exceptional powerful and pointedly tricky thing to summon 3:) for being a sin wrath specialist...who does not even have conjuration. Just want to throw that out there :P
I have an exceedingly complex mega campaign (15 campaigns, I have a timeline for each to coincide with relevant events and when they will effect the other games...and how; and I changed up the timelines a little bit, most of the AP's are happening at the same exact time, and the...
Well... this is still a very long question, as you can see by the quote of your post above and how it trails off (this website truncates posts when you quote).
If y ou want more info on the Runelords, the best place to go at this point is the article in part six of Shattered Star. Krune, in particular, plays a big role in some of the PFS scenarios a few years back. But there's a reason why, overall, we've been pretty tentative about giving a LOT more details about the runelords... we (as in ME) have plans for them some day down the road.
There WILL be more about all the runelords some day. Not this year. Probably not next year. If you want to do a big Runelord-Themed campaign, you'll either need to...
1) Just run with it and be comfortable making up details on your own and not worry about it when we publish information about them later, or...
2) Run a different campaign and be patient and wait for us to eventually some day do more with them.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hey James, Abyssal Realms are supposed to range from roughly the size of continents to entire planets in scale, aren't they? Why does Nocticula, the most powerful demon lord who isn't an outright deity, only have a realm about the a quarter the size of Australia?
Abyssal realms can vary in size from something the size of a large city all the way up to something the size of a planet. Only Lamashtu has a realm that's the size of a universe more or less. The size of a realm has NOTHING to do with the power of its ruler, in any event.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So are you ready to take arms against the Burning Legion? If so, have you answered Illidan's call to "Be Prepared!"?