Wes, why do you keep ignoring my questions!?
Fast one: I'm trying to do these mostly in order and am striving to answer everyone. I don't really get time during the day to be on the message boards, so I do all of my posting in my off hours--of which there's been very little for the past weeks (see above).
But like Tirisfal said, patience, I promise I'll get to everyone in time. Thanks for hanging around! :)
I hear he's a real flumph sometimes.
Ha!
so Wes whats better a vampire or a black dragon?
I'm still digging my nosferatu these days (my avatar used to be a black dragon for those who don't have eidetic memory). It's never implicitly stated who he is on the cover of Rule of Fear, but I like to think it's Viscount Oilic Galdyce (from Ailson Kindler's novel Galdyce's Guest: Feast of the Nosferatu). There's another dashing picture of him in Blood of the Night. Gotta love the scarf.
But black dragons remain right up there with blues as my two favorite dragons--Dragonlance always made me think of blues as the fighter jets of the dragon world. I kind of got to cross the streams by getting my Ustalavic black dragon Seryzilian on to the cover of Dragons Unleashed. If you dig Ustalav, Sarkoris, the Worldwound, and black dragons--with a bit of Robert E. Howard's "Black Canaan" thrown in for good measure, you're going to want to check that out.
I'm eager to see what folks think about Dragons Unleashed. We've never done one a product like it before and I'd like to do more.
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I've heard you helped design the mythic vampire. Was the ability name (and function of) "blood omen" an intentional nod at the Legacy of Kain series? If so, you sir deserve the highest of fives.
Nope, no, not at all, TOTAL coincidence. I have NO idea how the title of one of the most awesome vampire video games EVAR might have happened to sneak into the list of abilities of a vampire I wrote. It's also total happenstance that this link to the names of Legacy of Kain abilities just happens to be in among my bookmarks.
Weird.
Sutter's spirit animal, Patrick Renie... there's a story here, I can smell it.
Less than you might expect. For more than his first year with us Patrick sat in the editorial pit with Chris, Judy, and Sutter--which is kind of like putting a koala in a roost full of owls, there's definitely a period (a long period) of "I don't know what you are."
Eventually Sutter claimed that Patrick was his spirit animal--which seemed true enough to stick. Lets ask him on his tread if there's more of a story and we'll see what he says. :)
Are you James Bond fan? If so who is your favorite Bond, favorite Bond villain and favorite Bond girl?
I wasn't before Casino Royale, but since then I've really enjoyed the Daniel Craig films. I can't say that I've seriously investigated the ones prior to that, though I've had The Man with the Golden Gun on my Netflix forever--mostly because I'm a huge Christopher Lee fan (duh).
As for favorite Bond girl: Judy Dench, hands down.
When will we get to see some web-fiction by Ailson Kindler?
(And for pre-Daniel Craig Bond, I'd recommend Goldfinger.)
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I'd like your opinion on Devils, since you are the Devil Master Supreme! With demons and demon lords, they can take power with force and strength. Some examples include Noctula and Lamashtu. For devils and their Infernal Dukes and Archdevils, how does a devil usurp their power?
Something I never liked about many RPGs' visions of Hell was that it's so frequently presented as this squabbling court, full of backbiting, one-upmanship, and endless obvious betrayals. Most tended to have this intense vibe of warring Renaissance Italian families/city-states--which makes some sense considering that most are based off the Inferno--but nearly always taken to a ridiculous degree. Hell is as much about law as it is about evil, and the law aspect always seemed to be subsumed by the evil aspect.
(I'm breaking this up, as things got... out of hand.)
Alignment in Hell
I really enjoy the D&D/Pathfinder alignment system--probably because I played a lot of Planescape back in the day. But what's always irked me is the perception many players and designers seem to have that the alignment grid is actually a spectrum, with lawful good being the "goodest-good" and chaotic evil being the "baddest-bad." It didn't help that back then the demon lords were typically so much cooler than the rulers of Hell, leading to several adventures where these evil embodiments of chaos would have these far-reaching, structured, master plots going on while the archdevils were just... I don't know, bickering in Hell? Boring.
Hell is where lawful evil characters go when they die--characters of the mastermind alignment. So why did Hell's rulers never seem like Hannibal Lecter? Saruman? Palpatine? Maybe because convincing master plots by beings with deity-level intelligence are difficult for we mere mortals to convincingly write? Or was it just that these big-bads were so good that they were quietly taking over whole Material Plane planets in the background without anyone ever noticing?
Remaking Hell and the Archdevils
So I wanted to make sure a lot of that either didn't translate over into Pathfinder's vision of Hell or was explicitly stated.
Hell needed to be ordered, which meant, to a greater or lesser degree, united. There is no doubt that Asmodeus is the boss in Hell. He's even brought a few of his favorite children and servants from Heaven with him, with Baalzebul, Belial, Dispater, Mammon, and Moloch being among some of the oldest beings in existence. Belial and Mephistopheles are both creations of Asmodeus, the former an experiment in creating the perfect being, the latter a layer of Hell itself given humanoid form. Barbatos and Geryon are the outsiders, the first being from... elsewhere (check out my article on him in Kobold Quarterly #22 if you missed it), the second being a thing born from the corpses of fallen divinities and the first lies to ever ring through the Multiverse. Among them is tension, favoritism, alliances, and suspicion, but Asmodeus brooks no dissension in his house. Baalzebul is the only one of the archdevils who has ever dared to make demands of Asmodeus, and his angelic form was shattered into a billion s%**-fattened flies for his arrogance. But even then he was still allowed to retain his demense.
Archdevil Brushes with Death
Thus far, the only archdevil to have fallen and remain dead was Typhon, the former lord of the First, who was slain by the Empyreal Lord Ragathiel, Dispater's son. Mammon was slain by Sarenrae and her armies, but the power of the Maelstrom and Hell transformed him into a genius loci infusing the contents of Hell's vaults, in particular the Argent Prince (see Pathfinder Adventure Path #30 for more on Mammon and his cult).
Overall, these guys are phenomenally difficult to put down.
Climbing Ladders in the Pit
So, how does one get ahead in Hell? You don't necessarily. There's an entrenched hierarchy of god-like rulers and supplanting them proves next to impossible. So ultimately, you're just as likely to serve in Hell as you are in Heaven--which is how the plane and devils are organized.
In many ways, Hell is a military meritocracy. Devils have their fortunes hitched to specific lords and serve obediently or are destroyed. Those that excel are often rewarded for their service, as their victories become their lord's victories. The devils that prove most capable survive and are over immeasurable spans of time are granted increased responsibilities and dominion over others. This allows devils to not just rise through the ranks of various diabolical forms and specializations--with every type of devil being essentially a rank in a highly complex, semi-organic structure--but also to amass personal power. Those who prove most fit will eventually rise to the level of pit fiends and similar high-level devils. The infernal dukes eventually take notice of these rising devils, making them agents of their own objectives.
Malbranche
Over ages, those who prove most successful might be recognized by an infernal duke or archdevil and utilized in some grant plot--such as bringing an entire Material Plane world to heel. To assist those conquerors sent to the mortal realm, these fiends--the malbranche--are granted unique forms. The malbranche are essentially generals in a ages-long offensive, who are given total autonomy and fantastic resources to bring their worlds under Hell's control using whatever tactics they prefer. For most devils, succeeding in such a campaign and becoming the resident deity of a subjugated mortal world is the height of accomplishment. And for those wondering, yes, these beings are at work in Golarion and the nearby worlds in terrifying and subtle ways... just compare page 51 of Princes of Darkness to Distant Worlds. The Harlequin Society in Rule of Fear also is just one such group of mortals that ties into this. Ultimately, there are several worlds throughout the multiverse that probably look something like Apokolips or are ordered and controlled by more subtle methods.
Infernal Dukes
Those devils who prove their competence as malbranche--on one or multiple campaigns--might eventually be made direct agents of the archdevils, banner men of ultimate evil with domains of their own carved out of the flesh of Hell. These are the infernal dukes. Their duties do not become simpler, though. Once established, infernal dukes are made responsible for various duties, often reflecting their archdevil master's areas of concern or responsibilities. For some this might mean guarding the shores of Hell from proteans, angels, inevitables, and other would-be usurpers. For others this could be overseeing the capture of damned souls and their dispersal to the proper layers of Hell. For others this could mean participation in machinations throughout the Multiverse, serving as the emissaries of gregarious devils like Dispater and Belial, attending their courts, and extracting the secrets of their guests. This could mean setting their minds to the creation of new and even more diabolical engines of war, the corruption and reeducation of valuable souls or planar figures, plotting the overthrow of strategic domains across the planes, encouraging the rise of some new heresy, or any of countless other unspeakable plots.
The Iron Ceiling
Beyond this, though, there's little else. Those infernal lords who would claim the thrones of their masters are making plays against some of the oldest, wisest, most evil, and most paranoid masterminds reality has ever known. Most don't succeed. Just Barbatos, for example, keeps a monument upon his floating nation--the Promised Land--called the Penitent Cross, a gigantic willow tree watered by the endlessly bleeding wrecks of those who have even thought to betray him. Other archdevils have less artistic but equally creative punishments and deterrents.
Should an archdevil fall, though, a replacement is likely to be selected from among the ranks of the infernal dukes. This does not mean that the murderer of an archdevil immediately claims that archdevil's responsibilities and powers, though. The archdevils include some of Asmodeus's oldest allies and creations, and in most cases he would not take their murder well.
Hell is Hell
In this way, Hell is slavery and torment for devils as much as it is for the souls damned to its pits. The greatest of them are given fantastic powers, fuel for megalomaniacal desires, dominion over legions of their lessers, mastery of the fates of sometimes whole worlds of mortal souls, and ages upon ages to indulge their every whim, and for all of that, absolute mastery and total freedom is something none of them will ever have. There will always be someone more powerful, and in the presence of Asmodeus every devil--no matter how potent--must kowtow or be obliterated. And that obliteration has been the fate of more malbranche and infernal dukes then otherwise.
Do You Want to Know More?
You can check out all of this is a less rambly, better organized format in Book of the Damned Volume #1: Princes of Darknes and in my articles on Barbatos (Kobold Quarterly #22), Dispater (Kobold Quarterly #23), and Mammon (Pathfinder Adventure Path #30).
Thanks for asking!
When will we get to see some web-fiction by Ailson Kindler?
Well, it's not web fiction, but I wrote the Pathfinder's Journal for Carrion Crown and that features Ailson Kindler prominently. We've collected that six part story into a serial novella called Guilty Blood. Check it out and let me know what you think!
And for pre-Daniel Craig Bond, I'd recommend Goldfinger.
On my Netflix list as of... now!
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And now you should watch it! Tis the best of the Bond movies.
I smell a theme for a new Educational Movie Night!
I'm sure we can find a documentary on "spy stuff" too!
I was just browsing this thread and I saw your post on what you look for in a freelancer. I loved your answer, and it comes at an interesting time for me.
I used to do some freelancing for the RPGA (I wrote the 2002 D&D Open!! I won an award at GenCon UK in 2004!!).
However, now is NOT the time to beg for attention/assignments as my wife is due with our second son any minute and I have to take some certifications for my job in the coming weeks.
This brings up my question(s).
Is there a "good" time to try and throw my hat back into the ring as far as production cycles go?
What's the best way to get back in on the ground floor with Paizo?
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I'd like your opinion on Devils, since you are the Devil Master Supreme! With demons and demon lords, they can take power with force and strength. Some examples include Noctula and Lamashtu. For devils and their Infernal Dukes and Archdevils, how does a devil usurp their power?Something I never liked about many RPGs' visions of Hell was that it's so frequently presented as this squabbling court, full of backbiting, one-upmanship, and endless obvious betrayals. Most tended to have this intense vibe of warring Renaissance Italian families/city-states--which makes some sense considering that most are based off the Inferno--but nearly always taken to a ridiculous degree. Hell is as much about law as it is about evil, and the law aspect always seemed to be subsumed by the evil aspect.
(I'm breaking this up, as things got... out of hand.)
Alignment in Hell
I really enjoy the D&D/Pathfinder alignment system--probably because I played a lot of Planescape back in the day. But what's always irked me is the perception many players and designers seem to have that the alignment grid is actually a spectrum, with lawful good being the "goodest-good" and chaotic evil being the "baddest-bad." It didn't help that back then the demon lords were typically so much cooler than the rulers of Hell, leading to several adventures where these evil embodiments of chaos would have these far-reaching, structured, master plots going on while the archdevils were just... I don't know, bickering in Hell? Boring.Hell is where lawful evil characters go when they die--characters of the mastermind alignment. So why did Hell's rulers never seem like Hannibal Lecter? Saruman? Palpatine? Maybe because convincing master plots by beings with deity-level intelligence are difficult for we mere mortals to convincingly write? Or was it just that these big-bads were so good that they were quietly taking over whole Material Plane planets in the background without anyone ever noticing?
Remaking...
Gotta say, as a fan of devils over demons (sorry James :) ), reading that was awesome!
So another devil question. Since Bearded Devils are more like elite warriors, what would be the rank and file subjects of Hell? The Bestiary mentions the damned, so could that be Hell petitioners?
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I will have to say that write up for devils was amazing and I must applaud your work with the group. You've really helped promote them up to the magnificent bastard planners they should be rather then bickering side liners they felt like in earlier editions when compared to the demons.
Now for questions,
What can you tell us about the Whore Queens, will they ever get more of a write up and time in the sun?
Why does Doloras have the Repose domain?
Do you have any plans to write more articles on the lords of the rings of hell now that Kobold quarterly has stopped production, maybe as web enhancements or blog updates? I was blown away by the Barbatos entry as before that I really hadn't felt like he was fleshed out enough to get what his schtick was in tempting souls but with that article it put him in a whole new light. Also I'm really waiting to see what you would do with characters like Belial who my group apparently now NEEDS info on and I would desperately want to see you punch out another write up on par with the last 2.
As a duke of what is basically nature used to cause fear and madness why is it that Barbatos doesn't have the Animal domain as part of his repertoire? From his write up in Kobold he really feels like it was a domain he was meant to have.
Why does Geryon have the strength domain and not something more related to knowledge, secrets, or Heresy?
Will we ever get more on the Infernal Duke Lorcan (aka the 3rd vampire and duke of undeath)?
Is it possible that there are any remaining Strigoi in Golarion? I'm really curious to see if they'd be stated out as a new monster or a template like other true vampires.
Any chance Ramoska will pop up again soon? I finally got to introduce him to my Carrion Crown group and it's been a blast playing an him! My group's Necromancer tried to exert control over him to interrogate him... it failed and Ramoska taught him a lesson in manners with his telekinesis ability. He really feels kind of like the Lector to the party's Starling in Ashes at Dawn.
I've heard it said that you're the resident "name inventor" among the Paizo crew. What sources, methodologies, and inspirations do you draw upon to invent new names out of whole cloth? And, what are some of your favorite names you've invented for people and places in Golarion?
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Do you approve of the cursed sword that my GM gave to my kitsune samurai?
Whoa. Elaborate! Nice. That's got a very super sentai vibe to it too. I feel like somewhere we published an amulet or ring or bag or something that teleported your armor on to you. You could nab that and have the whole Ronin Warriors effect! :)
Have you ever read Gormanghast, Wes?
Opinions?
I haven't, but have been told it's right up my alley. I remember seeing the trailer for the BBC series, which looked grim and bizarre, but then I heard some none too positive reviews about it. All this was enough to put me on the fence about it. Think it, the novels and/or the series, is worth it?
What about CS Lewis' fantasies? just wondering what your opinions of Narnia and such is, (though they may have been childhood reading)?
I read the first two or three Narnia books in school. Not long after, I picked up the Black Cauldron and started down that path, but for some reason I remember thinking that Return of the King was in that series. My school had a very small fantasy section, so I suspect the Lloyd Alexander and Tolkien stuff was filed (or misfiled) very closely together. Not being sure which book followed which, I found something else to read and started into Dragonlance Chronicles. Which lead to a whole bunch of Forgotten Realms novels. Which probably had a lot to do with where I am today.
While I really enjoyed the TSR novels at the time, I can't say many were amazing, which has left me feeling that my reading time as a teen was not terribly well spent--something I've been correcting and accounting for over the years.
But yeah, I don't remember much about the Narnia books and I've read enough criticism about them that I haven't gone out of my way to get back to them. But I'm always willing to learn. Why do you ask?
Beserk by Kentaro Miura:
<snip>
This series has more than a little influence on Golarion's Hell.W-what?!
Man, now I have to start reading it again! ** spoiler omitted **
Yeah man. @#$% gets real after that.
Oh, and if you like that sort of horror, Adam Poots, the creator of the Kingdom Death line of miniatures and the upcoming game, is totally and obviously inspired by Miura. It's fantastically twisted and I'm SO EXCITED for Kingdom Death: Monster releasing later this year. Check it out, it might be up your alley.
Do you approve of the cursed sword that my GM gave to my kitsune samurai?Whoa. Elaborate! Nice. That's got a very super sentai vibe to it too. I feel like somewhere we published an amulet or ring or bag or something that teleported your armor on to you. You could nab that and have the whole Ronin Warriors effect! :)
King of devils AND like Ronin Warriors? Jesus, you are my new favorite dev! :D
Fun fact: The voice of Ryu of the Wildfire is the same voice as Ed (the dumb sounding one with the green jacket) from Ed, Edd, and Eddy.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
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I've heard you helped design the mythic vampire. Was the ability name (and function of) "blood omen" an intentional nod at the Legacy of Kain series? If so, you sir deserve the highest of fives.Nope, no, not at all, TOTAL coincidence. I have NO idea how the title of one of the most awesome vampire video games EVAR might have happened to sneak into the list of abilities of a vampire I wrote. It's also total happenstance that this link to the names of Legacy of Kain abilities just happens to be in among my bookmarks.
Weird.
This really inspires ideas for an Adventure Path designed around the basic theme of the original LoK. PCs are assumed to have been murdered before the game begins, campaign traits are background hooks/ways murdered. First session has them all raised as intelligent undead (all vampire AP?) by a Necromancer who wants them to right some terrible wrong/use them as secret puppets...
I'm just saying I might buy that.
A few times.
vae victus
I mentioned it in Sutter's thread when he brought up a similar concept, but the "game begins with everyone dying and waking up undead" story is a campaign I've wanted to run for years.
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It's an entertaining concept, especially if you juxtapose it against a setting not traditionally rife with undead. Vampire revival in Galt following a beheading. Political intrigue, guillotines, duels to the death, Chevaliers, the undead!
Vive la révolution de la morts!
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I've heard you helped design the mythic vampire. Was the ability name (and function of) "blood omen" an intentional nod at the Legacy of Kain series? If so, you sir deserve the highest of fives.Nope, no, not at all, TOTAL coincidence. I have NO idea how the title of one of the most awesome vampire video games EVAR might have happened to sneak into the list of abilities of a vampire I wrote. It's also total happenstance that this link to the names of Legacy of Kain abilities just happens to be in among my bookmarks.
Weird.
This also reminded me of something I wrote up for the Ravenloft d20 books that came out. They were additional vampire "salient" abilities (powers that they got to choose as they got older, if you aren't familiar with it.)
Blasphemous Aura
Your very presence despoils all that which is considered holy and righteous.
Benefit: Whenever a non-magical holy symbol comes within 60 feet of you, it must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 your HD + your Charisma modifier) or be destroyed. Unattended non-magical holy symbols do not receive a save.
It was inspired by a scene from the intro of the movie Vampire Hunder D: Bloodlust which had an elder vampire being escorted via a carriage through a city, and all of the crosses on the rooftops were bending and crumpling as he passed by.
Stuff like that (and Blood Omen, from the Mythic playtest) is exactly what I like to see. If something like Blasphemous Aura doesn't already exist when the mythic books come out, I'll likely recreate it for the mythic vampire myself :)
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Beserk by Kentaro Miura:
<snip>
This series has more than a little influence on Golarion's Hell.W-what?!
Man, now I have to start reading it again! ** spoiler omitted **
Yeah man. @#$% gets real after that.
Oh, and if you like that sort of horror, Adam Poots, the creator of the Kingdom Death line of miniatures and the upcoming game, is totally and obviously inspired by Miura. It's fantastically twisted and I'm SO EXCITED for Kingdom Death: Monster releasing later this year. Check it out, it might be up your alley.
oh oh did you pledge for it? What figurine are most excited to see?
Contributor
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Have you ever read Gormanghast, Wes?
Opinions?I haven't, but have been told it's right up my alley. I remember seeing the trailer for the BBC series, which looked grim and bizarre, but then I heard some none too positive reviews about it. All this was enough to put me on the fence about it. Think it, the novels and/or the series, is worth it?
What about CS Lewis' fantasies? just wondering what your opinions of Narnia and such is, (though they may have been childhood reading)?I read the first two or three Narnia books in school. Not long after, I picked up the Black Cauldron and started down that path, but for some reason I remember thinking that Return of the King was in that series. My school had a very small fantasy section, so I suspect the Lloyd Alexander and Tolkien stuff was filed (or misfiled) very closely together. Not being sure which book followed which, I found something else to read and started into Dragonlance Chronicles. Which lead to a whole bunch of Forgotten Realms novels. Which probably had a lot to do with where I am today.
While I really enjoyed the TSR novels at the time, I can't say many were amazing, which has left me feeling that my reading time as a teen was not terribly well spent--something I've been correcting and accounting for over the years.
But yeah, I don't remember much about the Narnia books and I've read enough criticism about them that I haven't gone out of my way to get back to them. But I'm always willing to learn. Why do you ask?
Narnia I think was the first planes-hopping fantasy, with the possible exception of Carroll's Wonderland and MacDonald, I think (his Phantastes is a probable influence on Lewis. But I was thinking of Planescape and the whole current AP and how one approaches the interface of our "world" to a fantastic world. Real people in an unreal land, or the inverse.
It's interesting that mention the Prydain books as being intermingled with LotR, since I feel like the Taran character has strong parallels to (and influences from) both Frodo and Aragorn.Narnia has satyrs, and ruined castles that have "history", and the corruption of the body through evil, though. Parallels to your stuff. When I was working on my current 3pp project I was considering how to make it more horrific, and talking animals, despite their "whimsical qualities" can be pretty unsettling. Particularly if they're predators.
Your work in the setting, despite/complementing its gothic themes, also has a fairy tale quality. And Gormenghast - does remind me of Bastardhall.
It's an entertaining concept, especially if you juxtapose it against a setting not traditionally rife with undead. Vampire revival in Galt following a beheading. Political intrigue, guillotines, duels to the death, Chevaliers, the undead!
Vive la révolution de la morts!
Soooooo... basically Bite Me in Golarion? =)
Whoa. Elaborate! Nice. That's got a very super sentai vibe to it too. I feel like somewhere we published an amulet or ring or bag or something that teleported your armor on to you. You could nab that and have the whole Ronin Warriors effect! :)
Did you reference Ronin Warriors?(rhetorical question as you obviously did) You are now my favorite guy at the Paizo office!
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Soooooo... basically Bite Me in Golarion? =)It's an entertaining concept, especially if you juxtapose it against a setting not traditionally rife with undead. Vampire revival in Galt following a beheading. Political intrigue, guillotines, duels to the death, Chevaliers, the undead!
Vive la révolution de la morts!
Oh my goodness.
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You've been pretty vocal about your love for Castlevanaia; was that what got you into the horror genre?
It sure didn't hurt. Check this out. (Scroll down just a bit)
Growing up I was really into stories about urban legends, ghosts, secret societies, mythology, etc, and was constantly looking for symbols, patterns, and other evidence of what I was sure my parents/teachers were keeping from me. I was quite the conspiracy theorist growing up.
For example, at some point in middle school I kept noticing this weird rune showing up on book covers. WHAT COULD IT MEAN?! I asked my parents, even my art teacher, and no one knew. MYSTERY!
In fact, we were all just dumb as hell, because it was just artist Clyde Caldwell's stylistic signature (I was like 11, what were their excuses). But that was the sort of thing I was always watching out for.
About that time a friend's older brother left for college and left a whole bunch of his RPG books behind. Among them were several Vampire accessories and a copy of [i]The Book of Nod[/url]. When we got our hands on it, we had no idea what it was and treated it like the Necronomicon (which I wasn't even aware of at that point). That eventually got us into Vampire--hardly an intro RPG. We had some fun with it, but were totally not the demographic for it and quickly got tired of roleplaying in the real world. So we switched our Vampire game's setting... to the Forgotten Realms (like you do). My bud's brother had a smattering of RPG products, so we were working with what we had.
I had started reading Dragonlance and FR novels about that time, so being the person who knew the most about the Realms (I knew who Elminster was!) I got elected GM and we played this totally over the top Vampires on the Sword Coast game. We'd get bored with games fast, though, so by the time we'd gotten through a dozen or so sessions of that I'd gotten my own Forgotten Realms boxed set. I totally loved all the little symbol cards in there and spent most of a Summer memorizing all of them. So I was fairly hooked at that point.
Oh, I also started out reading my dad's copies of Terry Brooks' Shannara novels and I'll never forget the maps in the fronts of those. So even before I got into roleplaying, I was drawing maps of my own fantasy worlds. I've still got a sketch pad with different fantasy continents on every page. I never fancied myself an artist, but I like to think I draw pretty decent maps, and my love for it definitely stemmed from there.
So youthful paranoia, awesome fantasy art, and kitbashing RPGs--along with Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy for the NES--are probably the things that most set me along the path that led me here.
If you're a fan of Japanese mystery stories, Wes, I highly recommend Shinju by Laura Joh Rowland. It's a detective story set during the Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo, centered around a pair of murders disguised as a lover's suicide. It's quite engaging!
Cool! I'll have to check her out!
My intro into horror was similar (overwhelming interest in the unknown, urban legends/mythology/religion/ghost stories).
The two things that really pushed me in were the original Castlevania on the NES and that magnificent @$&%@ Stephen Gammell's artwork in Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Those books single-handily ruined my childhood faster than my parents did :P
Next question!
A few years ago on the boards here, you mentioned a broken gravestone that was split down the middle with a metal rod in Baltimore.
For some reason, I've been smitten by the image and have been trying to find a picture of it online, but I can't find anything on it. Is there anything else you can remember about it?
Thank you for answering our questions!
What areas in Golarion would you like to expand more upon?
Tian-Xia Ustalav--I mean, Shenmin, is something I'll be playing with in the nearish future. So that's been on my mind a bit recently.
I've been trying to sneak in tiny bits of Nex and Geb into various projects recently, both because we've done so very little with them and because they're making great mythic adventuring places. So some of this will be coming up with Mythic Realms.
I'm really eager to do a 64-pager on Cheliax at some point, as for all we've done with it and have had it influence we actually know surprisingly little about life in the nation. Especially rural life--though we'll be getting a bit of that with Towns of the Inner Sea
But the big thing I'm really looking forward to is the planes. We haven't nailed down when we'll get there quite yet, but we will eventually and it'll be awesome.
Anyone have any brilliant ideas on how to map near-infinite spaces?
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What areas in Golarion would you like to expand more upon?Tian-Xia Ustalav--I mean, Shenmin, is something I'll be playing with in the nearish future. So that's been on my mind a bit recently.
I've been trying to sneak in tiny bits of Nex and Geb into various projects recently, both because we've done so very little with them and because they're making great mythic adventuring places. So some of this will be coming up with Mythic Realms.
I'm really eager to do a 64-pager on Cheliax at some point, as for all we've done with it and have had it influence we actually know surprisingly little about life in the nation. Especially rural life--though we'll be getting a bit of that with Towns of the Inner Sea
But the big thing I'm really looking forward to is the planes. We haven't nailed down when we'll get there quite yet, but we will eventually and it'll be awesome.
Anyone have any brilliant ideas on how to map near-infinite spaces?
Interns.
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Contributor
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What areas in Golarion would you like to expand more upon?Tian-Xia Ustalav--I mean, Shenmin, is something I'll be playing with in the nearish future. So that's been on my mind a bit recently.
I've been trying to sneak in tiny bits of Nex and Geb into various projects recently, both because we've done so very little with them and because they're making great mythic adventuring places. So some of this will be coming up with Mythic Realms.
I'm really eager to do a 64-pager on Cheliax at some point, as for all we've done with it and have had it influence we actually know surprisingly little about life in the nation. Especially rural life--though we'll be getting a bit of that with Towns of the Inner Sea
But the big thing I'm really looking forward to is the planes. We haven't nailed down when we'll get there quite yet, but we will eventually and it'll be awesome.
Anyone have any brilliant ideas on how to map near-infinite spaces?
Well, traditionally, Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu cosmologies are near-infinite, but they map things conceptually - the planes/lokas are in the right order and relationship to each other but they fill the space with symbolic representations - a landscape that typifies the space, and carries its metaphysical meaning. The plane of the animal spirits, for example, is a forest and hills and a desert, with the chief animal spirits - lions, birds, bulls, fish, etc., represented by the appropriate god. The art is very detailed, sometimes even three-dimensional, as in the mandalas of Tantric Buddhism, but it's focused on the conveyance of information that aids the person that might attempt the spiritual journey to these places rather than things like scale, realism, or perspective.
Alternately or in tandem with this I suggest building an orrery, to go with James Jacobs' beach ball.| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Interns.
Like... the soul part or the skin parts?
Interns.Like... the soul part or the skin parts?
Flayed skin as parchment. Blood as ink. And soul as a tasty snack before the GenCon rush.
They sure don't teach Vampiric Editors-In-Chief like they used to! Back in my day, they drove a steak into you if you so much as contemplated letting an intern slack off. And by slack off, I mean survive a book's publication.
Back in my day, they drove a steak into you
Mmmmmm, free steak.....
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You ever bought food that sounded good, but turned out to not be good? For example, right now I am eating a black bean burrito from Taco Bell. Sounds good. I love black beans (though I am not a vegetarian, I could be since black beans are awesome)... however it's mostly lettuce, very little black beans, and borderlines on nasty.
Gross. Yes.
Kaiten sushi and "hot dog roll." None of these words go together. You know when you're like, "These folks know what they're doing, I'll try it!" Yeah. Sometimes those folks don't know what they're doing.
Also nearly any convention food--though that rarely even looks good.
For years at Gen Con I walked all the way to Chick-fil-a for every food break to get something that that wasn't thick with red meat, but then they had to mouth off and now we don't give them money.
Fortunately last year there were all those amazing food trucks, so hopefully that will be a regular thing going forward.
On the flip side, I didn't discover Hawaiian food until I moved to Seattle. If you're not familiar, look it up (or see if there's an L&L in your area). I have never had something at a Hawaiian restaurant that I haven't loved. Kalua pork, huli huli chicken, spam musabi, and loco moco were things I'd never heard of back east and are crazy good.
Are you related to Rob Schneider...and are you also a stapler?
No. Though my grandfather's name was John Ritter. Weeeeird. :P
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He is Adam Daigle's spirit animal.
I think most of Daigle's spirit creatures are plants... because... he's a vegetarian.
Assuming you can answer, can you give us hints on what monsters you worked on for Bestiary 4? or at least what categories?
I took a much smaller cut this year then I usually do. I love doing these, but had quite a bit else going on during the writing span.
Fortunately, I come up with the initial monster lists for the Bestiaries, do the initial assignments, and write the art orders for all the monsters once Erik, James, Jason, Sutter, and I whittle things down (there's always a meeting where everyone gets to have their say: "More constructs!" "We should do a bamboo giant, not a snow giant!" "Fewer aliens!" "We've got monkey golems coming up in this thing, lets not have them in here too", etc).
So though I only write a handful, I love finding weird monsters from folklore, myths, urban legends, and other games and using them to fill holes in our current collections. Getting to influence the look for all of the creatures too is also a ton of fun. Sometimes I try to play very true to the source material, but other times its just like "this is a scary bug that lives in space: GO!" I've thought about posting up past art orders and initial monster lists for like B2 or B3... we'll see. But anyway, even though the freelancers, design team, and art team takes over things for a while before it lands back on the developers' and editors' plates, I still feel a lot of possessiveness and responsibility for these books. Bestiaries are easily my favorite books that we do, and are probably one of the big reasons I got into making games to begin with.
But I still snagged a few that, if you're familiar with my tastes, you'll be like, "Yeah, duh, Wes wrote these."
And then something weirder filling in a hole we've had in the planes for some time. We'll see if it takes. The art isn't as "New Monster Icon!" as I'd hoped, but you pay your money and you takes your chances when it comes to any art order. We'll see. :)
Speaking of 4, which one of the nosferatu on the cover is you? The two in the back are kinda hard to discern their features.
I'm not old enough to be a nosferatu. Give it time. :P