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I'm going out on a limb here and shining the Sutter Signal into the sky.
James,
What was your inspiration/inspirations for Aucturn in Distant Worlds? There are so many unique locations, each with a mix of uncomfortable or disturbing elements. What sources of inspiration did you draw on to create that myriad nightmare of a living planet?
Followup,
Do you know how long Aucturn has been in Golarion's solar system? When did astronomers first notice it?
Dear Mr. Sutter,
For Akiton, do witchwyrds from the bestiary two exist there?
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Counting down the minutes until Mikaze sees this thread and writes a novel of questions ;)
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Whoah. I had to read the thread title twice to make sure my head cold wasn't making me hallucinate.... O_o
But okay! Let's do this! I'm a firm believer in mysteries, but I'll answer what I can.
Lucent: Aucturn has always been the planet that I wanted to have the most Lovecraftian cosmic horror vibe--of that Mythos, I've always been most taken by the idea of Azathoth floating out there in space like a living planet, and without saying anything concrete about Aucturn's nature, that was definitely a consideration. Since we already knew it had ties to the Dominion of the Black (see below), it also made sense to have it the farthest out from the sun. Its mysterious, shifting landscape/illusionary surface was also inspired by Pluto, because even the best images we have of that planet are worse than the map I drew, and the shifting colors on those images fascinate me! And as for all the weird, horrific stuff on the surface... I can't really point to specific influences, so I guess they just represent the darker corners of my mind?
While I can't speak to how long Aucturn's been in the solar system, I can say that it was certainly there in the days of ancient Osirion. In real-world terms, Aucturn was actually one of the first planets we created, as it played a part in Mike Kortes's early "Entombed with the Pharaohs" module. At the time, all we knew was that it was related to the Dominion of the Black and was the 11th (eventually 13th) planet from the sun. So I did my best to make sure that my write-up lived up to the buzz the planet had already earned from being name-dropped over half a decade!
Dear Mr. Sutter,
For Akiton, do witchwyrds from the bestiary two exist there?
Yup! Check page 57 to learn their secrets! :D
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What does the Sutter Signal look like?
A guitar and a cheese pizza. Never fails.
Sorry to hear you're not feeling well.
What's a day at Paizo like for you?
Dear Mr. Sutter,
Sorry to hear about the head-cold, those are never fun. Hope you feel better soon.
Out of curiosity, how many Pathfinder Tales do you have scheduled in the pipeline at any given time? How do you determine where each individual novel is set? Is it entirely up to the author or do you have the final say?
Thanks!
Glad to make you question your perceptions of reality!
Thanks for answering my questions, too! Unfortunately, where there's one, there's legion!
____
New questions!:
1) How do you see the technology level on Verces? Have they progressed to the stage of digital electronics like personal computers and the like? Or is their technology more analogue (hydraulics, punch cards, steam and gas) augmented by magic to make things like prosthetic enhancements function?
2) Will we get to see the stats/rules for an Aethership in print any time soon? I'm fascinated by them and the potential for interplanetary stories they involve.
3) Do Aetherships have the "Starflight" capability of some space-faring creatures to make travel between extra-solar distances possible in relatively short time, or are they "generation" ships that take thousands of years to travel from planet to planet?
4) Speaking of Ancient Osirion and Aucturn, will we see the White Axiom that solves the Last Theorem any time soon?
Thanks again for answering all our questions Mr. Sutter! I think this thread has been a long time coming :)
Hope you feel better soon, too!
Hello James Sutter,
Just a few questions...
1) What do you do exactly? Just so I know what question you can answear...I know I could probably fine it on the website someplace...but I am lazy.
2) Do you think this thread will catch up in posts to James Jacobs' thread?
*deploys sky guitar & cheese sky pizza*
I imagine you can't answer because it would be an unannounced product, but I really enjoyed Death's Heretic. Any chance we'll get to see more of Salim?
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I really hope we're not flooding you(I don't know how James Jacobs does it!). Hope you get to feeling better too!
1. Are the Birdmen of Qidel vercites with augmentations or are they something else entirely?
2. Could an offworlder who proved loyal to Verces be eligible for Stewardship?
3. Do vercites have hair? (I've been avoiding the issue in art commissions, and it's lead to some unusual fashion trends, everyone's wearing "future hoods" like the Distant Worlds lady or "future hats")
4. Will the Dominion of the Black be bringing home some body horror?
5. Do the Aballonians possess emotions? Souls? Is it more difficult than a simple matter of "Yes" or "no" will cover?
6. Would it be safe to assume that any kind of electronic music Earth has come up with exists in some form, with more besides, on Verces?
Counting down the minutes until Mikaze sees this thread and writes a novel of questions ;)
More of a short story, honestly.
Contributor
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Greetings Space Captain Sutter,
I think we need some male lashunta beefcake, honestly. How can you ignore an entire gender? Especially a "fierce" gender?
Also, what are the lashunta riding beasts called?
What function do their antennae have?
Are there any connexions between Vudra and the stars? In our world, the South Asians were obsessed with astronomy (and astrology)... And the old Campaign Setting has some hints of otherworldliness in there...
Cheers and feel better. :)
Dear Mr. Sutter,
Are you sure you have a head cold and aren't in the process of being taken over by and other-dimensional alien-demon hybrid?
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Sorry to hear you're not feeling well.
What's a day at Paizo like for you?
1) What do you do exactly? Just so I know what question you can answear...I know I could probably fine it on the website someplace...but I am lazy.
Good questions! What I do has really changed a lot over the 8+ years I've been here--everything from developing to editing to customer service to management. (I actually got my start finding images for the newborn web store at a nickel a jpg... nothing wrong with starting at the bottom!)
These days, I wear two hats: Fiction Editor and Senior Editor.
As Fiction Editor, I'm the departmental head in charge of everything related to Pathfinder Tales--commissioning novels/journals/webfiction, approving outlines, developing and editing manuscripts, finding and training authors, negotiating contracts with agents, etc. That also includes working with Dynamite on the Pathfinder comics.
As Senior Editor, I'm in charge of managing our team of fabulous editors--Chris, Judy, and Ryan--and generally acting as Editor-in-Chief Wes Schneider's second to help run the show down in the editing and development pit. I also work a lot with the executive team and other departmental heads--Jacobs, Bulmahn, Wes, Sarah, etc.--to help figure out what products we should put out, what they should include, how we can fit them into the schedule, and so on. We spend a lot of time focused on steering the company, as well as just keeping the wheels turning. At the same time, however, that team also includes the most senior creative folks on staff--a lot of the people who helped create Pathfinder and Golarion in the first place--so we also tackle some of the biggest world-design and developments questions as they come up, making sure that the company maintains a consistent vision on that front.
(And of course, those are just the hats I wear at the office. I also still do a bunch of writing and game design--both campaign setting books like City of Strangers and Distant Worlds, or novels like Death's Heretic--but that's all freelance, so I do it on my off hours like everyone else. :)
As for a typical day: As with most of our creative team, I usually work an 11-7 schedule. I show up, check in with everybody to see where projects are at, then start checking email. Given the number of authors I deal with, as well as the number of internal emails we generate, email can take a LONG time... there are days when I can hardly do anything else. I also make it a point to check the messageboards every morning, just to see what's going on (the reason you'll often see me pop up once a day and then disappear). I also try hard to make time to get through a writing sample or two--even though Pathfinder Tales only considers professional published authors when commissioning work, I still end up with WAY more applicants than I can easily go through, so that's a constant battle.
After that, there are usually a few meetings with the management team or with my editors, the former to help steer the ship, and the latter to help set tasks and priorities and fix problems as they arise. The company's grown a lot in the last few years, so even just facilitating communication and scheduling between departments can be a big deal--my goal is to do as much of that sort of thing as possible so that my team is free to just worry about the words and make the books as cool and polished as possible.
In the spaces between meetings and emails, I take care of my Fiction Editor duties--working with authors to help them pitch and outline stories, developing manuscripts to make sure they're the best stories they can be while also working within our rules and world, and so on.
So, yeah: emails, editing, development, meetings, and stomping out fires as they arise. In many ways, my day probably looks like middle managers everywhere, except that the people and things I'm managing are UNBELIEVABLY COOL. :) I'm really not sure how to communicate that last part. Yeah, I'm sitting in a cube with my team or in a conference room for meetings... but we're debating things like what accents our imaginary nations have, how to handle sensitive topics in a game, where the next superdungeon should be, how our game world interfaces with Pathfinder Online, and so on! Plus, I don't think I'm overstating when I say that my coworkers are some of the funniest people I've ever met (both intentionally and otherwise). Even during the worst crunch times, there's always someone laughing in our office. It's a pretty great environment.
Dear Mr. Sutter,
Sorry to hear about the head-cold, those are never fun. Hope you feel better soon.
Out of curiosity, how many Pathfinder Tales do you have scheduled in the pipeline at any given time? How do you determine where each individual novel is set? Is it entirely up to the author or do you have the final say?
Thanks!
At the moment, I have novels scheduled through December of 2014. Sounds pretty crazy, huh? But really, I have to work that far out just to make sure things happen. Novels take longer to write than any of our other projects, and they can't be split up between authors the way most game books can. I should also note that those books through 2014 are only the ones that have been fully contracted--it usually takes me and an author several months of pitching, outlining, and approving before they get that contract and can start writing in earnest. So taking a novel from initial idea to print can easily be a several-year process.
Where a novel is set really depends. If an author has a story I like that only works in a given location, then we generally run with that location. If an author isn't sure where to focus, however, I try to steer him or her toward regions we haven't explored yet in the novel line. I really like using the novels to expand our knowledge of the Inner Sea, so that both players and GMs who want to know more about a country we haven't covered much in the Campaign Setting line have another way to explore (and one that sees through the eyes of a local, no less). That said, I also have to do a lot of geographical juggling to make sure that authors aren't stepping on each other's toes, that their adventures won't conflict with an adventure path, and so on. There's a lot of strategy involved!
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2) Do you think this thread will catch up in posts to James Jacobs' thread?
I sincerely hope not. The day I go toe-to-toe with Jacobs for the Internet Crown is the day I get my ass handed to me in a paper bag. :)
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Glad to make you question your perceptions of reality!
Thanks for answering my questions, too! Unfortunately, where there's one, there's legion!
____
New questions!:
1) How do you see the technology level on Verces? Have they progressed to the stage of digital electronics like personal computers and the like? Or is their technology more analogue (hydraulics, punch cards, steam and gas) augmented by magic to make things like prosthetic enhancements function?
2) Will we get to see the stats/rules for an Aethership in print any time soon? I'm fascinated by them and the potential for interplanetary stories they involve.
3) Do Aetherships have the "Starflight" capability of some space-faring creatures to make travel between extra-solar distances possible in relatively short time, or are they "generation" ships that take thousands of years to travel from planet to planet?
4) Speaking of Ancient Osirion and Aucturn, will we see the White Axiom that solves the Last Theorem any time soon?
Thanks again for answering all our questions Mr. Sutter! I think this thread has been a long time coming :)
Gonna have to be pretty quick on these--this Greenwood novel isn't going to edit itself!
1) I think Verces technology straddles a lot of boundaries. It's certainly not up to modern standards--no internet or personal computers--and is probably a bit steampunk, but I think that once you add magic in, a lot of conventional ideas about technology go right out the window. After all, when stymied inventors can simply twist the laws of reality to make their creations work, things are likely to be a lot less standardized. So you've got cyborgs and space ships and shining cities of glass and steel, but farmers still work the fields by hand, and swords still serve most folks just fine, etc. It's a weird place!
2) Not any time soon, though it's certainly something we'd love to play with in the future!
3) Somewhere in between. Aethership voyages certainly take a lot longer than more magical means--weeks or months trapped in a magical tin can--yet they aren't full-on generation ships. That would make adventuring a lot less fun. I encourage all GMs to make the choices that make their games the most fun, even if it means bending the rules (or physics)!
4) Maybe. :)
Mr. sutter, will ever a patfinder tale be translated to spanish :(
I hope so! All our foreign translations are done through partnerships with other companies, so it's really just a matter of getting an offer from the right one. I know we're always looking, though!
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Dear Mr. Sutter,
Are you sure you have a head cold and aren't in the process of being taken over by and other-dimensional alien-demon hybrid?
At this point, that explanation actually makes a lot more sense.
Alright, I've got to get back to editing. I know I've skipped over a few of the bigger posts, but I'll come back soon and answer more!
For future posters: If you've got a bunch of questions, please break 'em up into smaller posts, as they're easier for me to answer that way using the "reply" function.
Thanks, everybody!
Thanks for all your dedication to this thread, James! Everyone really appreciates it :)
Will the fate of the noble Grippli race be decided in any future APs?
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I really hope we're not flooding you(I don't know how James Jacobs does it!). Hope you get to feeling better too!
1. Are the Birdmen of Qidel vercites with augmentations or are they something else entirely?
2. Could an offworlder who proved loyal to Verces be eligible for Stewardship?
3. Do vercites have hair? (I've been avoiding the issue in art commissions, and it's lead to some unusual fashion trends, everyone's wearing "future hoods" like the Distant Worlds lady or "future hats")
4. Will the Dominion of the Black be bringing home some body horror?
5. Do the Aballonians possess emotions? Souls? Is it more difficult than a simple matter of "Yes" or "no" will cover?
6. Would it be safe to assume that any kind of electronic music Earth has come up with exists in some form, with more besides, on Verces?
Counting down the minutes until Mikaze sees this thread and writes a novel of questions ;)More of a short story, honestly.
Fortunately, this time your questions have short answers! :D
1) Ain't tellin'!
2) Sure!
3) Yup!
4) Most definitely.
5) That's a whole debate-thread of its own, yet you might see some information that casts official light on the answer in the not-so-distant future...
6) There is no part of the universe where dubstep cannot reach. ("Houston, this is Eagle 1... there appears to be some sort of 'WUB WUB WUB' noise coming from outside the module...")
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Thanks! And:
6) There is no part of the universe where dubstep cannot reach. ("Houston, this is Eagle 1... there appears to be some sort of 'WUB WUB WUB' noise coming from outside the module...")
Y'know, at first when I saw the answer to Lucent's question about technology levels, I was a bit disheartened. It seemed like it pulled the rug out from under a lot of the flavor I was hoping to get out of Verces and a lot of ideas passed back and forth on the Verces thread.
But this answer right here is the most reassuring thing ever. :)
1. What if any non-Golarion worlds from Distant Worlds have Darklands?
2. Does Akiton have any aberrations that would fit well as analogues to H.G. Well's Martian invaders?
3. Do Selenites exist on Golarion's moon?
Thanks for answering!
What languages would you say are commonly spoken through the solar system? I.e. what is each planet's native or most widely spoken tongue?
Also, I was reading Death's Heretic at work the other day and an elderly coworker asked me who the author was. I dropped your name and she very assuredly stated, "Oh, yeah, I know Sutter." Do you think she's lying?
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*deploys sky guitar & cheese sky pizza*
I imagine you can't answer because it would be an unannounced product, but I really enjoyed Death's Heretic. Any chance we'll get to see more of Salim?
Thanks, Samnell! And yeah, there's definitely more Salim in the works... the sequel is already more than halfway finished, and takes Salim to Kaer Maga. I can't really say much more about it yet, though. :)
Greetings Space Captain Sutter,
I think we need some male lashunta beefcake, honestly. How can you ignore an entire gender? Especially a "fierce" gender?
Also, what are the lashunta riding beasts called?
What function do their antennae have?
Are there any connexions between Vudra and the stars? In our world, the South Asians were obsessed with astronomy (and astrology)... And the old Campaign Setting has some hints of otherworldliness in there...
Cheers and feel better. :)
I actually was going to order a male lashunta for the book, but we decided it was more important to order a clothed female lashunta, to show that, despite artists' proclivities, they don't all dress like a Frazetta painting...
I thought I'd already named the lashunta's saurian mounts, but it looks like I haven't. Guess we'll just have to wait until the next time they see print somewhere. :)
Lashunta antennae help focus their psychic powers, but probably also have some mundane sensory functions similar to insect antennae or fish barbels. I imagine it hurts like hell if someone yanks on them.
Vudra almost certainly has connections to the stars... but then, so do all the continents we've introduced!
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Will the fate of the noble Grippli race be decided in any future APs?
I'm not sure any individuals can decide the fate of an entire race like the grippli... but if anyone could, it's probably Chitl the Amazing!, Editor Judy Bauer's character in my Shattered Star campaign. (You pronounce the ! by throwing your tiny frog arms victoriously in the air.)
1. What if any non-Golarion worlds from Distant Worlds have Darklands?
2. Does Akiton have any aberrations that would fit well as analogues to H.G. Well's Martian invaders?
3. Do Selenites exist on Golarion's moon?
Thanks for answering!
1. That's a good question. I imagine Golarion probably has the most thorough network, possibly due to its function as Rovagug's cage, but I'm sure that all the terrestrial worlds have caves and caverns. And really, it depends what you consider Darklands--for instance, Apostae could be considered an entire *planet* of Darklands, and some of the insect worlds have extensive hives, etc.
2) Maybe! There are certainly plenty of races capable of building war machines like that. Just because they haven't doesn't mean they won't...
3. Sadly, I don't recall off the top of my head what a selenite is, and I don't have my archive with me... remind me?
What languages would you say are commonly spoken through the solar system? I.e. what is each planet's native or most widely spoken tongue?
Also, I was reading Death's Heretic at work the other day and an elderly coworker asked me who the author was. I dropped your name and she very assuredly stated, "Oh, yeah, I know Sutter." Do you think she's lying?
I think each planet probably has its own version of Common--a trade language used by the sentient races to get along together--as well as a host of racial languages. There are certainly some languages--especially planar languages like Infernal, Celestial, etc.--that would be identical, and thus allow folks from Golarion to communicate easily with sages from those other worlds. Elven's also managed to survive being split over two worlds (probably because their long lifespans help prevent linguistic divergence). But you're definitely not going to see Golarion's ethnic languages (Taldane, Tien, Varisian, etc.) showing up on other planets much or at all. If I were planning a trip to the stars, I'd bring some language translation magic items, as well as spend some time learning planar languages.
To the second point: Bless you for reading Death's Heretic in public. :) Sadly, I suspect she was mistaking me for someone else... but that just makes this an opportunity! Tell her she really needs to read the "latest" Sutter book so you can talk to her about it. Maybe she'll try to cover her mistake by buying the book and reading it! :D
Which iconic would make the best pope?
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Can I call you Jim?
Only if you're angrily reporting that you're a doctor and not something else.
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James which was your country for Golarion again?
Since I've been at Paizo for so long, I've had the chance to do work on a ton of different parts of the setting. If you're talking about the thing where once upon a time each Paizo Editorial Pit member created a country out of whole cloth, mine was Hermea (or, as my more scornful coworkers sometimes referred to it, "Operation Dragon Hitler"). I tend to enjoy questions of alignment, and that island is prime alignment-debate fodder. :)
Aside from that, though, I built Kaer Maga from the ground up; wrote the original gazetteers for Kyonin, Belkzen, and Varisia (the last with help from Jacobs and Wes); and designed the solar system and the First World. So there are many parts of the world that I feel particularly attached to and responsible for!
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"Operation Dragon Hitler"
I feel terrible and want to burst into ridiculous giggles at the same time.
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Which Runelord is your favourite?
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Which iconic would make the best pope?
Kyra, of course. Though I'd love to see some of the others give it a shot, just for laughs.
Actually, come to think of it, I'd probably like the papacy more if Sajan were running it... can you imagine if every time people asked the Pope for God's opinion on a thing, his answer was "meditate and come to your own decision"? It'd be glorious!
Quick--somebody tell the College of Cardinals to pick the Dalai Lama...
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When can we have a Kaer Maga boxed set?
God, that's a beautiful dream, isn't it?
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Which Runelord is your favourite?
None of the above! They all turned out to be jerks in the end. Xin, though--that guy seems like he did the best he could, trying to save humanity and lead them virtuously, only to be failed by those he trusted most. I've got a soft spot for that guy.
Mr. Sutter,
I have what is more of a technical question, perhaps you could help me. I have been wanting to read the fiction line for quite awhile because of the rave reviews my players have been giving it. I have a slight limitation though, and that is I’m blind.
I guess my question is: If I buy the novels in the PDF/Epub format, does it open with Adobe Reader, or do I need an Epub reader to use it. Thanks for any information you can give me, it will be greatly appreciated.
James, you mentioned having the Pathfinder Tales novels contracted out until the end of 2014. Is there a similar lead time for the online short fiction?
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What do you do when your roommates never do the dishes?