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Because, lowly freelancer though I may be, I need to be like all of the cool kids with one of these threads all my own!
...and my brain needs a break from planning horrors and wonders to throw at my players in a campaign I'm starting soon, so consider the floor open for any questions.
:D
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OK...seriously dude. Half-faerie dragons?
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1. What domains / subdomains would you give for the Godmind of Axis?
2. I think I remember you mentioning other potential types of Axiomites / equation-entities from Axis. Do you have any other details you could supply about those?
3. Who are some major figures of power / organizations in Galisemni?
4. Who is your favorite Empyreal Lord?
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I'm game :)
1) What are your favorite books/authors?
2) What got you into gaming?
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Are you going to go blind from starting your own Ask thread? :)
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OK...seriously dude. Half-faerie dragons?
Yes. They're made of win, awesome, and apples.
Let's just say that after I finished Book of the Damned 3, I really, -really- needed to work on something a little less dark. So I rather went overboard on whimsy perhaps. But I had a hell of a lot of fun.
At the time I was playing in a 3.5 campaign that one of my friends was running (which lasted only 3 months or so before he had to go and get hired by Google and move to California on a week's notice because the offer was apparently that good). In that campaign I was playing a half-faerie dragon sorcerer/wizard/ultimate magus. After some comments on playing a half-faerie dragon, and some mock outrage at Paizo that such a species would not be showing up in the Advanced Race Guide (that I later ended up being a contributor towards), Dale McCoy with JBE pinged me over email to write a half-faerie dragon supplement for his 3PP.
As it turns out, my character in that abortive campaign, Astridilazindrianoxamilla (that being the short version of her name), ended up getting used as the focus of the in-character intro fiction for that supplement for JBE.
Fun ideas and characters often see themselves recycled in published material in adapted fashion. :)
While I have a penchant for writing terribly dark stuff at times (see BotD 3), I'm equally at home doing obnoxiously whimsical material as well. The latter is probably closer to my actual personality IRL.
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So for my outsider questions...
1) Are there going to be any exploration of the different climates of the planes?
2) Favourite outsiders?
3) What creatures other than outsiders roam the planes? Planar-infused animals perhaps
1) Any questions like these are pretty much entirely up to Paizo. If they think they're the sorts of questions that would benefit from inclusion in a book or books, and if they think I'd be good for tackling them, then it's their call as to what happens. Personally I'd love to do an expanded, hardcover planar adventuring sourcebook to give options for planar campaigns, more detail on some of the planes from TGB, and integrate both some of the material that was developed after TGB (psychopomps for instance, because they're an amazing idea), and to integrate a few soft retcons as material has developed since then.
2) Proteans. Just barely beating out daemons (though the 'loths have a special place in my black little heart).
3) Mortals to an extent that have settled on the planes from various worlds. But that would be an interesting concept to discuss, since the outer planes aren't really meant for mortals, and long-term exposure to many (all?) of the planes is going to have an effect on your psychology and their physical body as well, and not always in positive ways perhaps.
Also you'd probably have all sorts of planar infused animals (celestial/fiendish/some similar template for chaos and law infused, etc). Take the late 2e animentals concept from the PSMC III and extrapolate that to the alignments as well as the elements and there's a lot that you can do. Plus all sorts of unique flora and fauna that's just not found on the Material plane.
1. What domains / subdomains would you give for the Godmind of Axis?
2. I think I remember you mentioning other potential types of Axiomites / equation-entities from Axis. Do you have any other details you could supply about those?
3. Who are some major figures of power / organizations in Galisemni?
4. Who is your favorite Empyreal Lord?
Mind you, any answer I give regarding planar topics or really anything related to Golarion and its universe is just my opinion on the matter. It's what actually appears in print now or in the future that's the actual hard answer on the topic. Shared world so my opinion can and will be overwritten or tweaked by myself or other authors in the future in written work. :)
Plus, anything I openly muse about here is subject to change if I ever work on a book on the topic. So expect brief discussions and speculation, but not anything solid and concrete.
That said:
1) Law, Knowledge, Magic, Artifice, Rune. I would probably create an axiomite subdomain to accompany the Inevitable subdomain.
Also, I'd be open to having the subdomain powers open to changing and adapting after each manifestation of the Godmind as it/they rewrote their own nature and abilities, tailoring what it/they granted to better tackle whatever faced Axis the most at the time.
2) The original conception of them more or less had them as super-petitioners of Axis in a way. As they grew closer to the plane they might diverge away from whatever form they had originally, growing either more abstract (kinda like the Moignos from Planescape, which inspired them in some ways) or certainly less humanoid. I'd probably rewatch the Matrix movies before doing too much. :)
I also had the idea that multiple axiomites could merge together to form something more than the sum of its parts (like how the Godmind is essentially an emergent property of the merged essence of representatives of the three major axiomite factions). I'd also tinker with the idea of one or more axiomites possessing and empowering one of their Inevitable servitors.
3) The only group that has appeared in print as being there are the Rift Wardens. One of their members, Mara Ytrellian, provides an in-character quote to open up the Sphere of Annihilation chapter of 'Classic Treasures Revisited'.
That said, I really -really- want to get Galisemni developed in print in the future, so I'm going to be a bit mum on the topic now.
But if you're at GenCon this year, I'm running two sessions of a game titled 'Felikar's Whirlpool' that takes place in Galisemni. And I've done quite a bit of development of the city for my home campaign that will be starting next Saturday actually. We'll be starting in Solanas in the River Kingdoms of all places, but it's going to be going planar, and there in particular (by hook or fiendish crook) in relatively short order.
I've got a number of organizations and philosophical groups (totally not calling them Factions really honestly), some more loosely organized, some with political power, some without, some intentionally so. Here's a sampling of names without details:
The Riftwardens
The Tide Weavers
The Finders (The Wyrm-Touched)
The Infested
The Collectors/Archivists
The Flesh Guild
Devotees of the Shadow Crown
4) This is really hard. Partially because I haven't had Chronicle of the Righteous for too terribly long, and also because most of the material there is both awesome and prior to now there wasn't a gigantic amount of development on the unique celestials so most of it is totally new to me. If I had to pick however, it's probably a tie between Ashava, Black Butterfly, and Pulura.
The celestials have evolved a bit since Pathfinder first came out, but this is very much a good thing because there have been some really cool developments (do check out Chronicle of the Righteous!)
I'm game :)
1) What are your favorite books/authors?
2) What got you into gaming?
1) Clark Ashton Smith, HP Lovecraft, China Mieville, F Paul Wilson, and Jack McDevitt. That's off the top of my head. I've also recently been diving into Dave Gross's PF novels.
2) A friend of mine in college that I had a crush on. She invited me over to hang out and she had a 3e PHB sitting on her bed. Within a month I was playing in my first campaign, and a year or so after that I was running my first one.
Now it wasn't my first exposure to gaming as a concept. As a kid I owned a number of TSR 'Endless Quest' choose your own adventure style books, as well as Lone Wolf gamebooks, and so the genre wasn't unfamiliar to me. But none of my friends actually played RPGs, and it was the 80s and my parents were naively into the notion of D&D is Satanic because someone they knew heard it from someone else who heard it from someone that never actually looked in the books. I was way too timid to actually look the stuff out, because 'it was something that you're not supposed to do'.
Are you going to go blind from starting your own Ask thread? :)
It's going to be either this or the diabetes. :D :) :/ :.;
J/K, I have good control over the latter.
Actually I've got a lot of time on my hands at the moment (yay unemployment...), so I'll be find answering questions. I'm kinda amazed that people have questions for me. I started this and promptly expected it to get buried with no questions asked. :)
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What are some of Szuriel's hobbies?
Living in the greatest volcano secret hideout since Blofeld's in 'You Only Live Twice', eating the souls of the innocent and the damned, totally hustling people in online Call of Duty games and sunbathing on Mamayev Kurgen in Volgograd.
Contributor
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Are you going to go blind from starting your own Ask thread? :)It's going to be either this or the diabetes. :D :) :/ :.;
J/K, I have good control over the latter.
Actually I've got a lot of time on my hands at the moment (yay unemployment...), so I'll be find answering questions. I'm kinda amazed that people have questions for me. I started this and promptly expected it to get buried with no questions asked. :)
Not working enough either, myself. I have hypoglycaemia myself. Lots of high-proteins snacks. Good luck with all that.
Of course, I also have RSI. Great for those writing jobs.
I am very fond of Planescape and hope you get more planar writing work soon...
What's your opinion on Moorcock and the eternal champion stuff?
Have you read Gloriana? (It's on my nightstand currently).
Do you think an Elizabethan Fantasy setting for PF could work?
Not working enough either, myself. I have hypoglycaemia myself. Lots of high-proteins snacks. Good luck with all that.Of course, I also have RSI. Great for those writing jobs.
I am very fond of Planescape and hope you get more planar writing work soon...
What's your opinion on Moorcock and the eternal champion stuff?
Have you read Gloriana? (It's on my nightstand currently).
Do you think an Elizabethan Fantasy setting for PF could work?
I've had the bad luck of coming in second place for two different really nice research positions recently. I'm happy to have recruiters knocking down my door with potential positions, but thus far nothing has generated an offer. Have a second interview with one place early next week, so fingers crossed.
As far as planar writing work, I'll happily write more than planar material. I enjoy it, but I don't want to too terribly typecast myself. :)
I'm a terrible person here... I've never read any Moorcock (including Gloriana). My partner in crime Tanith loaned me a copy of the first elrick book before we were an item, but I've yet to actually read it, almost three years later. Ugg.
I think it could work, but it's not a genre I've done much with personally. Nor is it an era of history (or part of the world) that I'm super versed in, so I'm not sure I'd be a great source of advice on doing such. :)
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Mind you, any answer I give regarding planar topics or really anything related to Golarion and its universe is just my opinion on the matter. It's what actually appears in print now or in the future that's the actual hard answer on the topic. Shared world so my opinion can and will be overwritten or tweaked by myself or other authors in the future in written work. :)
I'll keep that in mind! I still like hearing your take / this info, though.
But if you're at GenCon this year, I'm running two sessions of a game titled 'Felikar's Whirlpool' that takes place in Galisemni. And I've done quite a bit of development of the city for my home campaign that will be starting next Saturday actually. We'll be starting in Solanas in the River Kingdoms of all places, but it's going to be going planar, and there in particular (by hook or fiendish crook) in relatively short order.
Sounds fun, but I've never been able to make it to Gencon (yet), and I doubt my job would give me the time off to make a trip. If you ever start some sort of online thing, though, I'd probably be interested in it.
(do check out Chronicle of the Righteous!)
How much I've been liking what I've read in it was actually what prompted my question, haha.
(yay unemployment...)
1. Have you considered doing a Kickstarter? I know I'd entirely be up for backing some sort of planar setting you wrote. I think others would too.
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2. What Harbinger(s) are close to usurping Horseman positions? Any?
3. Could a new Horseman position (Conquest, for example) be created? What would be needed for a daemon to assume that mantle?
4. I'm noticing that several of the planes have eyes. The Maelstrom has one out in the depths. The Oinodaemon's eye manifests in the moon above Abaddon. There's one down in Hell below Asmodeus's audience hall. There's also a presence at the top of Heaven that appears as something different to everyone who goes up there (it could very well appear as an eye to someone too). The Abyss is clearly living. The Godmind sent its 'Eye' after the Speaker in the Depths. Are all of the major planes alive? Is there some connection with all the eyes, or is it just coincidence? Have I missed any connections here that are in any of the book?
1. Have you considered doing a Kickstarter? I know I'd entirely be up for backing some sort of planar setting you wrote. I think others would too.
The problem there is that I don't expect to be unemployed long-term. At just approaching three months now. Once I pick something up, my time is going to be greatly diminished, and I worry about being able to churn out something of that potential size, plus dealing with the process of setting up and properly doing the logistics of a Kickstarter. Plus I've never done a product by myself. I've always had other people for editing, development, layout, and contracting artwork for making a pdf, and I don't have a clue how making actual printed material would go.
I'll be honest though, given my finances, I really do wish that I'd come up with the idea of a kickstarter to finance my going to GenCon this year as multiple others have. I'm likely to do the same next year for GenCon and/or Paizocon (I've never been to Paizocon, and would love to go, but cross country airfare can't be fun).
2. What Harbinger(s) are close to usurping Horseman positions? Any?
Not anytime soon. But Vorasha the Ophidian certainly aspires to rise to that level. She's probably not certain who she wants to displace (probably Apollyon or Trelmarixian), though she probably would prefer to rise to Horseman status without usurping one of the Four. That way she can continue being Trelmarixian's lover without having to be his servitor, and without either having to kill him (the same way he did his own predecessor and lover the Parasite Queen) or risk being destroyed by Apollyon.
The hitch here is that Trelmarixian is arguably not so much boosting her in power as he is fattening her up. At some point he's either going to consume her if she grows too powerful for his comfort (though she's not close to that yet), or if she manages to topple one of the other Four, it's likely that soon thereafter she's going to blink and something else is going to be looking out through her eyes and it rather than her is going to be in the driver's seat. Vorasha is more or less an ascended meladaemon, just like Trelmarixian, except he has the thing going on where many (most? all?) of his deacons carry a tiny piece of his essence like a quiescent but self-aware virus. He can see though her eyes, read her thoughts, and she's unaware of it. At some point he's likely going to just seize complete control from within and snuff her consciousness out because he's badass like that.
Trelmarixian isn't going to rock the boat beyond a certain point. He's the youngest of the Four, and while both insane and insanely ambitious, he's wise enough to never actually go against his peers overtly. Vorasha (and eventually others) give him plausible deniability: if they topple one of his peers, it was their hubris rather than his, and it puts a puppet of his in place that he can control like a virus hijacking a host cell.
3. Could a new Horseman position (Conquest, for example) be created? What would be needed for a daemon to assume that mantle?
Power and the acquiescence of the current Four. There are Four of them largely because that was how the Oinodaemon set it up originally, and he/she/it still scare the ever-living-tar out of them even in it's current state of powerlessness. They'll terrified of disobeying their parent essentially. But a harbinger that rises to a similar level of power on their own could potentially break into that clique (because they might not even be aware of the Oinodaemon's existence and thus the worry the Four have).
4. I'm noticing that several of the planes have eyes. The Maelstrom has one out in the depths. The Oinodaemon's eye manifests in the moon above Abaddon. There's one down in Hell below Asmodeus's audience hall. There's also a presence at the top of Heaven that appears as something different to everyone who goes up there (it could very well appear as an eye to someone too). The Abyss is clearly living. The Godmind sent its 'Eye' after the Speaker in the Depths. Are all of the major planes alive? Is there some connection with all the eyes, or is it just coincidence? Have I missed any connections here that are in any of the book?
The Maelstrom doesn't exactly have an eye. You're referring to the eye that appears in the artwork of the Ecology of the Proteans, in the background of a circle of keketars? The proteans' god(s) aka personifications of the Maelstrom itself can have many different manifestations, and that giant eye is just one such form. I implied that the plane itself was alive very intentionally in the Maelstrom's case, with the proteans operating almost like its immune system, reacting to the presence of the other, non CN planes.
Likewise the Oinodaemon's eye appears as the eclipse looming over Abaddon, and it's not so much as the plane is alive as the Oinodaemon more or less fused with the plane itself.
Only Abaddon and the eye there was intentional for the eye imagery. I think Wes was responsible for the eye in Hell. And the 'Eyes of the Godmind / Ghost of Departed Quantities' sphere of annihilation was metaphor rather than having it be part of the Godmind.
The empty garden at Heaven's summit was an attempt to inject a little bit of mystery into things (and being a sort of homage and parallel to Mount Celestia's impenetrable layer of Chronias in 1e/2e/3e D&D). It's there, it's possible to enter, but it looks different to everyone who goes there. It's also the source of the voice that calls to petitioners, offering them archon status, though precisely what they see up there and who is speaking to them is again an intentional mystery.
The potential linking of it to the Dragon of Nirvana (who may or may not have fallen by the wayside as things have developed) was an attempt to project some father/mother/Aslan-sort-of figure to the collective upper planes, watching over them but not interfering in the cosmos (or incapable of interfering). The exact nature and identity (and linkage at all) was a deliberate mystery and open question in TGB.
All of the eye imagery is just coincidence I think. :)
But as for the planes being alive? It's a concept that I like, and certainly the oldest planes like the Maelstrom and the Abyss seem to be alive in and of themselves. Abaddon probably didn't start off that way, but it arguably is alive now. As for the others? I'd probably leave that an open question, and in terms of alive, it might not be so much sentience as the planes operate like living organisms, growing, repairing themselves, expanding, etc.
1)What is your favorite type of dragons from...
Chromatics?
Metallics?
Primals?
Imperials?
2)What is your favorite type(s) of fey?
3)What is your favorite movie or movies?
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1)What is your favorite type of dragons from...
Chromatics?
Metallics?
Primals?
Imperials?
Blue.
Brass.
Umbral.
Underworld.
2)What is your favorite type(s) of fey?
3)What is your favorite movie or movies?
2) Rusalkas. They hit the creepy button for me, which makes them awesome.
3) Aliens. Event Horizon. Prometheus. The Ring. Reincarnation (Japanese, directed by Takashi Shimizu of Ju-On fame).
If you don't mind listening to stuff, here's an excellent Moorcock story.
What does it say about my mind that I completely missed the 'b' (bolded above) on several read-throughs of that answer, and was wondering WTF?Favourite outsiders...
2) Proteans. Just barely beating out daemons
Just when you thought that you'd seen all the PF Rule 34 the internet could create you have to go and create that idea. XD
1)Do you have a favorite Azata, Angel, Agathion, or Archon?
2)Have you seen the movies, Kick Ass, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Let Me In, Sucker Punch, Hugo, Wreck It Ralph, Hotel Transylvania, ParaNorman, Coraline, and/or Oz the Great and Powerful? What did you think of the ones you did see?
3)Have you seen Heavy Metal, Rock and Rule, Fire and Ice, Wizards, and/or Starchaser Legend of Orin? What did you think?
4)What have you worked on for Pathfinder?
5)Do you have any favorite animated series from the 80's? 90's? Now?
Fresh from reading your link on the other topic...
Will you ever be binding your Planescape campaign together into a full narrative? I really want to read everything, now D:
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1)Do you have a favorite Azata, Angel, Agathion, or Archon?
2)Have you seen the movies, Kick Ass, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Let Me In, Sucker Punch, Hugo, Wreck It Ralph, Hotel Transylvania, ParaNorman, Coraline, and/or Oz the Great and Powerful? What did you think of the ones you did see?
3)Have you seen Heavy Metal, Rock and Rule, Fire and Ice, Wizards, and/or Starchaser Legend of Orin? What did you think?
4)What have you worked on for Pathfinder?
5)Do you have any favorite animated series from the 80's? 90's? Now?
1) Lillends, planetars, vulpinals, and no favorite archon in specific.
2) Kick Ass was fun and I'm waiting for the sequel to come out.
Scott Pilgrim was amusing.
Let Me In was awesome, but the original Let The Right One In was better in some ways. The special effects were better in the American remake, but the original had a much spookier actress playing the vampire.
Sucker Punch was just an odd movie. I've only seen half of it in bits and pieces, and I wasn't really paying much attention (was writing my portion of the Worldwound while it was playing).
Have not seen Hugo, Wreck It Ralph, Hotel Transylvania, or Paranorman.
Coraline was awesome. Saw it just this past year actually.
Oz was worth the price of admission for the last bit of the movie alone. Also the wicked witch(s) worked for me. I like evil, powerful female villains. I have to be honest there.
3) I have not seen any of those sadly.
4) A lot of stuff. Without breaking down what portions of what, I've worked on:
PF Campaign Setting
Osirion
The Great Beyond
Heart of the Jungle
Keepers of Chaos - PF 22
Ecology of the Boggard - PF 34
Faction Guide
Dragon Empires Gazetteer
Classic Treasures Revisited
Rival Guide
Undead Revisited
The Worldwound
Advanced Race Guide
Book of the Damned 3
5) From the 80s: He-Man, Thundercats, Muppet Babies, the D&D cartoon, The Real Ghostbusters
From the 90s: Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Batman the Animated Series
Current: South Park, Venture Brothers, Neurotically Yours (if that counts), the Thundercats remake, ---My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic---
1)What races did you wright for in the Advanced Races Guide?
2)Who is your favorite character or characters in the Thundercats remake?
3)Top 5 characters from My Little Pony: FiM?
4)Have you seen Thundarr the Barbarian, S.W.A.T. Kats, The Tick, Pirates of Darkwater, or Galaxy High?
5)Have you seen the new Star Trek Movie yet? If so what did you think?
6)Are there any classes/archetypes that you like to see one day?
7)Have you worked on any of the past 3 bestiaries? If so do you remember what you worked on?
If you liked Coraline then you should see ParaNorman. I also suggest seeing Wreck it Ralph, it was awesome, Hotel Transylvania is a fun energetic comedy, and Hugo is kinda steampunk.
You have to watch Sucker Punch all the way through, the movie will make you think, and you will either love it or hate it.
I loved the Doll character from the new Oz movie she reminds me of what a well done version of a Soulbound Doll would be like.
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Fresh from reading your link on the other topic...
Will you ever be binding your Planescape campaign together into a full narrative? I really want to read everything, now D:
I have the storyhour of the first campaign currently sitting on my desktop in four Word files, comprising over a thousand pages between them. I've gotten to around 50% of the campaign. It will take me years to come to finish it, but I will finish it. I promise this.
Corner me at GenCon and I'll spill the beans if anyone wants. :)
1)Have you seen the movie Brave? if so what did you think?
2)Have you ever played Castlevania Symphony of the Night?
3)Do you have any favorite videogames?
4)What are the most recent movies you have seen?
5)Other then Golarion, do you have any favorite planets in the Golarion solar system?
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1)What races did you wright for in the Advanced Races Guide?
2)Who is your favorite character or characters in the Thundercats remake?
3)Top 5 characters from My Little Pony: FiM?
4)Have you seen Thundarr the Barbarian, S.W.A.T. Kats, The Tick, Pirates of Darkwater, or Galaxy High?
5)Have you seen the new Star Trek Movie yet? If so what did you think?
6)Are there any classes/archetypes that you like to see one day?
7)Have you worked on any of the past 3 bestiaries? If so do you remember what you worked on?
If you liked Coraline then you should see ParaNorman. I also suggest seeing Wreck it Ralph, it was awesome, Hotel Transylvania is a fun energetic comedy, and Hugo is kinda steampunk.
You have to watch Sucker Punch all the way through, the movie will make you think, and you will either love it or hate it.
I loved the Doll character from the new Oz movie she reminds me of what a well done version of a Soulbound Doll would be like.
1) Fetchlings and tieflings.
2) Wilykit and Wilycat
3) Rarity, Queen Chrysalis, Discord, Pinkie Pie, Luna
4) Only seen Pirates of Dark Water
5) Saw it today actually. Was worth the price of admission, but Spock's 'Khaaaaaaaaaaaan' moment was a bit over the top. The tiny reference to 'the Mudd incident' was amusing however.
6) Honestly not sure. There are a lot out there. :)
7) No, though monsters that I created have appeared in them. But 'creation' is never entirely always straightforward. For instance I created the fetchlings in TGB in name and concept, but they didn't have stats till Bestiary 2, and I didn't work on the stats there. Likewise I created the proteans, but IIRC both Jason Nelson and James Jacobs had hands in multiple development passes before the final version of their statblock appeared first in TGB and later in Bestiary 2.
1) What's your favorite of the Outer Planes, and why?
2) Which of the countries/regions in the Dragon Empires Gazetteer is your favorite?
3) What's your favorite non-core player race?
4) What are your top three favorite kinds of undead, and what do you like about them?
5) One of my favorite parts of Undead Revisited was the lich section; I particularly loved the concept of a lich slowly losing interest in Golarion over the course of his unending unlife and heading out into outer space. What are some of the possibilities you can imagine awaiting such liches?
6) What three humanoid races that are not 0 Hit Die races are your favorites, and why?
7) Outside of the big three (daemons, demons, and devils), which kind of evil outsider (ie, with the evil subtype) is your favorite, and why?
8) What are your top three favorite deities of the Golarion setting?
9) What are your top three favorite of the varied outsider demigods (ie, archdevils, demon lords, eldest, elemental lords, empyreal lords, horsemen)? And if it's unclear, I mean specific individuals, not as a group.
10) What are your top three favorite countries in Avistan, and why?
1) The Maelstrom (just barely winning out over Abaddon), because of the variety of backdrop you can provide with it, the difference between the weirdness of the borderlands and the plastic, mutable reality of the deep Maelstrom. So much fun to be had there.
2) Zi Ha because of the shades of fantasy Bhutan it has going on, and the dichotomy between areas ruled by the samsaran and savage humanoids, monsters, and dragons (full disclosure: I wrote that section of the book, but did not originate the concept).
Shenmen because it has a really cool asian Ustalav vibe going on. I'd totally watch a ton of J-Horror before running anything there.
Kwanlai because a nation of tengu is an awesome concept (full disclosure: I also wrote this one up, but did not come up with the concept originally)
3) Tieflings. No contest there.
4) Devourers: The image of this gaunt giant with a silently screaming figure within its rib-cage being slowly eaten and consigned to oblivion is just freakish. I've loved these guys since their 2e writeup in Planescape, and I tried to do them justice in Undead Revisited with some additional layers of mystery for their origins and nature.
Ghosts: because they can explicitly be non-evil, and I seriously appreciate complicated, conflicted, non-evil undead as a concept. All evil all the time gets old. It should be the vast majority of undead being that way, but it's a bit too restrictive for my tastes sometimes.
Raveners: because a dracolich by any other name is just as awesome of a concept.
5) Into outer space or out into the planes? For both I can imagine them being destroyed by inevitables or psychopomps, but for those that survive long enough I can see them transcending their original undead nature into something unique and not necessarily evil. Growing beyond their original humanity and their adopted inhumanity to eventually find redemption or oblivion.
6) Gnolls. Gnolls. Gnolls. Only one answer needed here. They're awesome. That's the only explanation needed. :)
7) Hounds of Tindalos. Because they are lean and athirst. >:)
8) Desna, Cayden Cailean, Calistria
9) Trelmarixian, Lamashtu, Ssila’meshnik the Colorless Lord
10) Irrisen (Baba Yaga for the win), The Worldwound (demonic wastelands and crusaders make for an awesome backdrop), Katapesh (sandwiched between Osirion and Nex, ruled by mask-wearing aliens, and populated by a large gnoll minority what isn't to appreciate).
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1)Have you seen the movie Brave? if so what did you think?
2)Have you ever played Castlevania Symphony of the Night?
3)Do you have any favorite videogames?
4)What are the most recent movies you have seen?
5)Other then Golarion, do you have any favorite planets in the Golarion solar system?
1) Have not seen it yet. But it's on my to-watch list
2) No I have not. But I may own a copy of it. When I got out of grad school, my first job paid really nicely and I was sharing an apartment with two friends. So really low expenses. After paying off my college debt as quickly as possible I went on something of a spending spree for all the things I wanted as a kid but my parents would never get me: so pretty much a lot of platform gaming systems I wanted but never had (SNES, N64, PS1, and later PS2 and PS3 - along with an original Mortal Kombat machine now in my living room). I may have snagged a copy of Castlevania: SotN, but I have way too many games to honestly play and beat all of them in anything resembling a rational timeframe.
3) A number of classic NES games like Legend of Zelda, Dragon Warrior, Castlevania 1/2/3, Final Fantasy; the Breath of Fire games for PS, and the Disgaea series for PS1/2/3. Waiting for Disgaea D2 to come out later this year.
4) Saw 'Triangle' and 'Marabito' this week, along with rewatching The Ring. Saw the new Star Trek movie in the theater today.
5) Most of them after having read Sutter's 'Distant Worlds'. :)
But in specific, Eox and Aucturn, Aucturn, and Aucturn.
1)What's your favorite Final Fantasy game? Any reason why?
2)Have you seen any of these 80's cartoons, Ducktales, Gummi Bears, Kidd Video, Silverhawks, Inhumanoids, Ulysses 31, Dragon's Lair, or Space Ace?
3)Have you seen Kim Possible, W.i.t.c.h., Gargoyles, Young Justice, Green Lantern animated, Justice League, Riders of Berk, or Monsters vs Aliens(TV show)?
4)If you could pic 7 playable 0HD races to replace the core 7 what would they be?
5)Favorite Godzilla movie or movies?
6)What movies are you most looking forward to this year?
7)Have you heard the game Dragon's Crown? If so are you interested in playing it?
Funny, Kit and Kat are my favorites as well.
I can't wait for Disgaea D2 as well.
The sun has been infected by star parasites, colossal creatures thousands of feet long. Left to their own devices they will consume the sun and head out to other star systems. Your party has been selected to man a massive magically constructed battleship to prowl the sun and cull these fowl creatures. It's dangerous work and you'll soon discover there's other forces at play that may very well threaten the very fabric of reality. I just have one question, are you brave enough?
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1)What's your favorite Final Fantasy game? Any reason why?
2)Have you seen any of these 80's cartoons, Ducktales, Gummi Bears, Kidd Video, Silverhawks, Inhumanoids, Ulysses 31, Dragon's Lair, or Space Ace?
3)Have you seen Kim Possible, W.i.t.c.h., Gargoyles, Young Justice, Green Lantern animated, Justice League, Riders of Berk, or Monsters vs Aliens(TV show)?
4)If you could pic 7 playable 0HD races to replace the core 7 what would they be?
5)Favorite Godzilla movie or movies?
6)What movies are you most looking forward to this year?
7)Have you heard the game Dragon's Crown? If so are you interested in playing it?
1) Final Fantasy 1. It's the only one I've played to completion. I didn't have an SNES till 2006, so I completely missed out on the ones for that system, and likewise all of the other FF games for other platforms after that point.
2) I've seen Ducktales (awesome), Gummi Bears, Silverhawks, and Inhumanoids (I dressed up as Tendril for Halloween in... 2nd or 3rd grade).
3) Not watched any of them.
4) Tieflings, aasimar, fetchlings, oread, slyph, undine, ifrit.
5) Tie between Godzilla vs Megalon (both the original which I have on VHS, and the MST3K version), and Godzilla vs King-Kong (which I also have on VHS).
6) 7500 (by the director of Ju-On), and while they aren't going to be this year, I'm totally looking forward to the Blade Runner sequel and Prometheus 2 whenever Ridley Scott manages to make them.
7) Not heard of it, no.
Have you got a favourite div?
Seen any of the Sharpe movies?
The sun has been infected by star parasites, colossal creatures thousands of feet long. Left to their own devices they will consume the sun and head out to other star systems. Your party has been selected to man a massive magically constructed battleship to prowl the sun and cull these fowl creatures. It's dangerous work and you'll soon discover there's other forces at play that may very well threaten the very fabric of reality. I just have one question, are you brave enough?
Nope! :D
Have you got a favourite div?
Seen any of the Sharpe movies?
1) Either the Shira or the Pairaka
2) Not seen any of them, no.
1) Fetchlings, eh? How do you envision their interactions with some of the other races in the Plane of Shadow, like d’ziriaks, kytons, shadow giants, and umbral dragons?
2) The Plane of Shadow seems a bit underdeveloped in the monster department to me; any particular monsters or races beyond the ones mentioned that you like to imagine roaming around in there?
3) With Advanced Race Guide bringing in the Shadow Creature template and applying it to almost everything on the summon monster spell list, that arguably means there are Shadow T-Rexes and other dinosaurs roaming around the Plane of Shadow, perhaps in the Shadow Mwangi. How do you think they'd look compared to normal dinosaurs, and do you think the concept of enormous dinosaurs that blend in with the shadows are more amusing or terrifying?
4) What do you like about tieflings in particular? Any particular breed of outsider you like to particularly try to invoke with a tiefling character, or do you like the variety of being able to pick and choose from lots of different kinds of evil outsiders? Personally, I like both aasimar and tieflings because the wide assortment of good and evil outsiders they might be descended from can give such a wide range of potential appearances and personality traits!
5) What's your favorite breed of celestial, if any? And what three specific celestials catch your interest?
6) Moving back to Dragon Empires, kitsune, nagaji, samsarans, tengus, and wayangs, which one is your favorite, and why? Feel free to elaborate on a close second!
7) Deities unique to the Dragon Empires, any you particularly like there, and why?
8) Any continents beyond Avistan and Garund that particularly catch your interest and you'd like to do more on?
9) Since fetchlings are middlemen for trade and diplomacy, do you think they could have a presence on other worlds? I know that they couldn't easily get to other planets via the Plane of Shadow, but hypothetically they could by using some of the Outer Planes if they knew what they were doing...or is the Plane of Shadow on these alien worlds filled with even more bizarre life? Imagining an outpost of fetchlings in the Plane of Shadow on Eox is kind of interesting, but so is the notion of all those liches just outright settling both Planes in the area...which makes me wonder if the Plane of Shadow version of Eox is also nuked...
10) Protean winding up in the First World, or a fey from the First World winding up in the Maelstrom, which do you think would be more confused?
1) How would you view humans interactions with elves, dwarves, hobgoblins, orcs, and dragons? I think it's difficult to reduce their race relations to a standard here. They likely have their own nations, groups, divisions by religion, etc that influence that. By and large though, fetchlings are usually going to be among the most diplomatic of natives with anyone else, both native or not. I would say that they get along best with the d'ziriak, would be incredibly cautious in dealing with kytons (except for those fetchlings that worship Zon-Kuthon), and either avoid umbral dragons or work for them (see Argrynixia the leader of Shadow Absalom for instance).
2) Other than lots of shadow-tainted material creatures wandering around like fetchlings, I'd love to create some more shadow-unique creatures like the dziriaks, shae, and nihiloi. I'd also love to see what happens when you have a protean there.
3) Bleached of color and/or composed of only black and gray, with their edges being fuzzy and indistinct at times. Perhaps trailing off into wisps of shadow depending on what angle and what light you look at them in. Some of them appearing insubstantial, yet capable of biting you in half.
I would make them terrifying if I used them. No need to use a concept as cool as that and use it for amusement purposes.
4) I like the wildly varied potential for both their appearance and descent. No two are going to look alike, and that's awesome. That's also why I pretty much despised the 4e tiefling because it presented something that utterly rejected that variability, which I see as being core to the tieflings' identity.
My current PF society character is a demon-descended tiefling (as was the NPC of the same name in my last two Planescape campaigns), though she's also a bit more mixed up than that, being a protean bloodline sorcerer as well.
5) Lillends, vulpinals, and silvanshees.
6) Kitsune are awesome. I blame this tumblr for making anything vaguely vulpine awesome. Seriously, so much cuteness and awesome Second place is a close tie between samsaran and tengus, though I can't provide any particular reason why I like them in particular.
7) Tsukiyo and Daikitsu. For the first because how awesome is a LG deity with the darkness and madness domains? :) And for the second, because kitsune are awesome.
8) I would love to see more done with the other continents (though I can also see the appeal of leaving them largely undeveloped and free for home campaign development). But of them, I would love to see more on southern Garund, Sarusan, and Casmaron (either see others detail it or get a chance to contribute myself).
9) Very likely yes, just because you'll have the occasional natural portal from Shadow to other Material worlds (though obviously the permanent one in Shadow Absalom is rather unique). Probably not a huge amount on other planes, but in any of the more cosmopolitan planar cities I can see them having a small presence. They're almost human, so it makes sense that they'd be popping up elsewhere just like like their racial predecessors.
I could imagine that powerful events on the Material plane could be reflected on the Shadow plane, potentially making both Eox and shadow Eox similar rather than distorted reflections of each other. So would the reverse potentially be true as well? Fun idea.
The liches of Eox might try and settle both, but arguably it's more dangerous on the other side in the Plane of Shadow than staying in the Material. Kytons, nihiloi, umbral dragons, etc.
10) I figure the fey would be confused. The plane isn't about life writ large, but a metaphysical concept made manifest, with some rather hungrywhimsicalbeautifulterribledelightfullycurious natives. Might not end well. A protean let loose in the First World is going to be like a child left alone in a ToysR'Us for a weekend. It's going to have -fun-. More powerful ones might eventually follow along and explore the place with an equally whimsical but arguably less destructive intent, just to explore and figure out how and where it fits into the world-view of their gods/the Maelstrom. It's not perhaps an infection of order in the Maelstrom, but its own thing. So while they might make a mess, they won't view it as something to be reduced back to disorder and Chaos like they would view the other outer planes.
1)Do you have any favorite races or creatures mentioned in the Distant Worlds book?
2)Do you have a favorite Oni, Azura, Qlippoth, or Rakshasa?
3)Have you seen the Dark Crystal, The Labyrinth, The Last Starfighter, Little Shop of Horrors, The Goonies, The Never Ending Story, Big Trouble in Little China, Flash Gordon, or Dragon Slayer?
4)What other creatures have you written about for Pathfinder?
5)What races/monsters would love to write about for Pathfinder?
6)Do you have any interest in seeing anything from the Positive Energy Plane?
7)What parts did you write from the Great Beyond book?
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1)Do you have any favorite races or creatures mentioned in the Distant Worlds book?
2)Do you have a favorite Oni, Azura, Qlippoth, or Rakshasa?
3)Have you seen the Dark Crystal, The Labyrinth, The Last Starfighter, Little Shop of Horrors, The Goonies, The Never Ending Story, Big Trouble in Little China, Flash Gordon, or Dragon Slayer?
4)What other creatures have you written about for Pathfinder?
5)What races/monsters would love to write about for Pathfinder?
6)Do you have any interest in seeing anything from the Positive Energy Plane?
7)What parts did you write from the Great Beyond book?
1) The contemplatives of Ashok are just bizarre enough to be awesome. And I love the liches of Eox. Creepy.
2) I don't actually have a favorite oni. My favorite asura is the adhukait, favorite qlippoth is the chernobue, and my favorite rakshasa is the naztharune (from 3.5, originally from Eberron I think. I ended up using one for a long-term NPC in my second Planescape campaign)
3) I've seen all of them except for Flash Gordon and Dragon Slayer. The Goonies is perhaps my favorite movie of all time (don't know why I didn't include it in an earlier question about my favorite movies. I rented it the movie twelve times in a row till finally my parents bought me a VHS copy for Xmas one year when I was a kid. I'm pretty sure I can recite the dialogue from the entire movie from start to finish).
4) I had a hand in a lot of outsiders, especially the ones that replaced things that weren't open content. I created the proteans and wrote the protean ecology in PF 22 (I think Wes Schneider created the void worm, which is a minor protean that makes for an awesome familiar). I wrote the 3.5 writeup for the meladaemon in 'Beyond the Vault of Souls', and the 3.5 stats for the monsters introduced in TGB (vulpinals, axiomites, keketars, lurkers in the light, and astradaemons - of which I created the concepts and names for each). I created the fetchlings, d'ziriak, sceaduinar, and jyoti - though I didn't provide stats for them in the source that first named and described them. Other authors were responsible for that. A wrote up all of the monsters in BotD3, though the names and what manner of death the personify were handed me to flesh out rather than me creating them de novo.
I also wrote the devourer and nightshade sections in Undead Revisited.
I'm probably forgetting some things, and I did one monster in the forthcoming Worldwound guide.
5) It would be fun to do anything planar. It's my thing. But I'd especially love to do more daemons, more proteans, more development on the axiomites, the sceaduinar, the jyoti, etc. More development on Shadow, the Astral, and the Ethereal would be enjoyable as well.
6) Absolutely. I created the jyoti, and I'd love to expand on them as well as create other denizens of the plane.
7) The entire book. I also grotesquely overwrote the book by way way way way way too many thousands of words. I haven't done that since. Ask SKR about it all :) A ton of stuff ended up on the cutting room floor on that, some of which was later recycled, but only a small bit of it.
But I should point out that prior to TGB I wrote the planes section of the campaign setting book, and when I was working on that there was quite a bit of email back and forth between James and I regarding names of planes, their natives, and concepts behind them. Some of it was already hammered out such as the nestled shells structure of the cosmology, some of it I did, some was a back and forth mutual thing, and I did have a lot of creative freedom on a bunch of stuff. I'd have to look back and see what was what to be honest.
1) The First World is supposed to be the template for both the Material Plane and the Plane of Shadow. As a result, I imagine portals from the First World must occasionally open into the Plane of Shadow like they do the Material Plane...and possibly some fey immigrants who dwell in the Plane of Shadow like they do in the Material Plane. What are some of the odder (or cooler) interaction you can imagine between those two planes?
2) Shae claim that they were once normal humanoids who managed to transcend to their current state, whereas fetchlings are humanoids who have been 'contaminated' by the Plane of Shadow...including sometimes by being the offspring of a human and a shae. Do you think a fetchling could become a shae?
3) Actually, I think shae are pretty interesting, conceptually, but as far as I know there's only a little information on them. How do you envision their society and role in things in the Shadow Plane? Their organization is described as 'solitary, pair, or ascendance'...does that mean they don't really have a society? And the term 'ascendance' as a group is certainly interesting...thoughts?
4) I think the d'ziriaks are pretty dang interesting too! It says they can weave light into tangible art...any ideas on what that would be like? Spindly and gossamer like cobwebs? Or could they 'solidify' light in multiple kinds of ways? It's an interesting concept...
5) Moving away from the Plane of Shadow, what are some of your favorite monstrous humanoids, and are there any you'd like to have some more detail on in regards to their society, history, and other such?
6) What are three of your favorite magic items in Pathfinder, and what do you like about them? Fun experiences with them, just like the idea, think they're just super-useful?
7) Boggards and grippli, both being toad/frog type people, do you think they're distantly related, or just examples of parallel evolution (or parallel creation)? Which came first? Both tend to dwell in marshy areas, so what happens if both are in the same area? Boggards annihilate the poor grippli?
8) Magical beasts, which ones do you think are the coolest, scariest, or otherwise your favorites?
9) What do you think are some of the more horrifying, creepy, or just outright disturbing things lurking within the Mwangi Expanse, and why?
10) One last slip back to the Plane of Shadow, what do you think the Plane of Shadow is like around Aucturn? Is it just the cold empty void of space, since Aucturn is alive, and not just a planet? Is there a shadowy version of Aucturn there? Does Aucturn occupy both simultaneously?
1) I imagine that while the First World was the template for the Material Plane, that Shadow was created afterwards either as a natural effect or a flawed attempt by the natives of Negative Energy to create something. Instead they ended up with a flawed, dark reflection.
I can easily see some fey migrants to Shadow, but they're likely going to be changed and altered for the worse in the process. Imagine a portal to the First World shedding temporary light and color into Shadow, and how frightening and/or debilitating that might be for some of them.
2) Potentially? But for instance a lich might claim to have transcended its original humanity, but is that necessarily a good thing? Likewise the process by which a shae "transcended" might not be considered a good thing by most fetchlings. The fetchlings have a mixed essence yes, but they probably consider themselves the best of two worlds, rather than being lessened or contaminated. But that viewpoint probably is a fetchling by fetchling thing. Some likely see the shae or nihiloi as entities to emulate or even become if possible, while others see them as lessened or having given in to the plane and lost themselves in some capacity in the process.
3) I haven't actually done anything with the shae, but they seem really cool and I like the mask design. Makes me wonder if there could be a connection between them and psychopomps (perhaps psychopomps consumed by the Negative Energy plane and spat back out in altered form on Shadow, or perhaps a flawed attempt by Negative Energy to create soul shepherds of their own in mimicry of the psychopomps that collect the souls originally spawned in Positive Energy).
4) It probably varies by individual and in trend by hive. I would think it would be both permanent and semi-permanent weavings of light, like afterimages from fireworks that don't fade by stay in place and can be moved around to place in different arrangments. And potentially solidified light, which in and of itself might be both valuable and/or poisonous to certain species on the plane.
5) Serpentfolk and sahuagin.
6) There are four items that I will invariably attempt to get any character of mine: handy haversack, bag of devouring (don't mix them up!), wand of wonder (oh the "fun" of randomly rolled magical effects), and the hat of disguise (infinite costume changes, but do remember to wear real clothes under the illusion or else both antimagic fields and true-sight are going to be really awkward)
7) I'd say a case of parallel evolution or creation. I don't know enough about grippli to say for certain which came first or which would win if they came into conflict. I figure the boggards would win unless the region had enough friendly races to hedge out the boggards in favor of the less destructive and not crazy glippli.
8) Nothing else is as scary and cool as the peryton.
9) I'm biased here since I wrote a chunk of the book. I would consider the ruins of Arzikal the City of Hungry Spires, the Stasis Fields in the Bandu Hills, and the Nemesis Well of Osibu to be the most disturbing.
10) I like to think of the situation as being just a physical void, but it's hardly empty. Imagine a gravity well without there being anything physically present, but you feel watched, probed, and you feel an emotional residue and occasionally stray thoughts. I can imagine a void with a bizarre assortment of shadow natives and others drifting, screaming, trapped, mad or going mad, and just imagine what might happen in the Shadow echo of The Loving Place. Disturbing.
1)If you could have one magic weapon, one magic armor/robe, one magic cloak, one magic boots, one magic ring, and one other wondrous item in the real world, what would they be?
2)When you DM what races do you allow your players to use? are there any races you never let them use?
3)Do you have a favorite Construct, Ooze, Giant, Elemental, and/or Plant?
4)What is your favorite character class(or classes) in Pathfinder?
5)If you could have any one spell as a spell like ability in the real world, what would it be?
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Ooh, a huge fan of gnolls (my favorite humanoid) and peryton! Woo!
Questions;
Were you involved in the creation of the Wayang?
What do you think of the notion of Wayang and the Plane of Shadow being sort of a mirror-universe parallel (complete with beards) of the Gnomes and the First World?
More Proteans? Perhaps even a template with some random abilities and configurations to create swarms of 'unique' Proteans (a la the old 1st edition Hordelings) instead of having distinct 'types' like other outsiders?
There's been some chatter on the forums (I think James Jacobs mentioned something about it being a ghost of an idea) about the possibility of Formians not being just your average outsider, but perhaps being a non-outsider (monstrous humanoid perhaps?) that has colonized the outer planes. Any thoughts on that, and on the 'wasp formians' you mention in Great Beyond? Are there other types of bug formians, such as specialized castes of large-to-colossal 'beetle formians' that serve as construction vehicles / living siege weapons / heavy transport for their ant-formian kin? Or does that take formians a bit too much in a 'Starship Trooper/Klendathu' direction?