Contributor
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I'm planning on submitting a gazetteer/adventure site article for Al-Bashir, and maybe one on another site in Katapesh.Al-Bashir sounds very cool. Demon cultists and gargoyles in service to Xoveron, demon prince of ruins, seem like a logical local presence, in addition to the harpies (perhaps in conflict with the harpies, seeing Al-Bashir as a place holy to their patron?).
I had flirted with the idea of a Sorcerer Bloodline based around ancient ruins, drawing power from decay and the slow destruction of time and neglect, but it's way, way down on the list of ideas percolating in my brain. Such a bloodline would likely be strongly motivated to explore places like Al-Bashir (or various crumbling or abandoned places in Osirion or the Sodden Lands).
Funnily enough, I have a few demonic elements in mind, as well as a wing or two of sandstone gargoyles.
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Bumpage.
And some more random ideas for articles;
How about all those ankhegs infesting the fields of the Dimayan farmers? (Q:GttE p 8, ISWG p 152) Displaced by a purple worm or Mongolian death worm messing up their ancestral breeding grounds? Or did they accidentally tunnel into something even more sinister, that now is directing them to depopulate the town?
Ormash (Q:GttE p 10) has twelve war colleges, among them ones for horse cavalry, camel cavalry, flying carpet cavalry (seems like a pretty specialized training course), pike wielding, siege warfare and castle-storming. What are the other six? Seems like a good source of inspiration for feats relevant to each of these academies. Do the elite carpet-riders know secrets to imbue a mundane carpet with flying carpet abilities for a few minutes / day (in case their own carpet is damaged or stolen)? What fighting style feats might the dedicated pikemen learn?
There are supposedly one or more hidden communities in the Zho mountains (ISWG 153), populated mainly by ifrit, oreads, sylphs and undines, yet perhaps disguised by genie-magics or illusions, as no one seems to know the location of one of these legendary places. Did the genie-kin fashion such a community themselves, or are they squatting in an ancient pre-human city, which may have it's own pre-human secrets lurking in the catacombs below...
The pacifist order of the Monks of the White Feather (Q: GttE p 23) may have ties to the Peacock Spirit, or an enigmatic figure known as Roidira, Dark Sister of Knowledge. Is there a way to make a pacifist monk who is actually playable? (Lots of redirecting enemy attacks, or negating attacks against allies, or a greatly retooled wholeness of body allowing for healing options?) Or just have 'pacifist' mean, in this context, monks that only do nonlethal damage...
The most prized horses of Qadira are the white light horses said to be of genie-gifted lineages from times past (Q:GttE 6). What special traits do they have, beyond a peerless lineage, said to make them as rarified beyond a mundane horse as an aasimar is to a man.
The slave city of Sedeq binds more than men of flesh to its cruel masters, but has a thriving sub-community devoted to binding genies into service (ISWG 153). Would you work for them, or at the behest of a genie, to steal a relative from captivity, or to more subtly undermine this entire undertaking! Interesting place for a Weal or Woe pairing to come from, one a slaver, another a jann or genie-blooded (ifrit or suli, for instance) individual seeking to free genies and / or sabotage the efforts of the genie-binders. Also, the genie-binders themselves could be an interesting clerical or wizardly archetype.
(ISWG p 150) "Qadira is not the wealthiest of lands in the Keleshite empire, but even its relatively enormous frontier cities possess marvels that much of Avistan can only wonder at, from its peacocks and flowering trees to its animated siege engines and well-disciplined elemental mercenaries." Gosh. Both of the italicized bits sound fun. An AT (or series of feats, or Prestige Class) for clerics or wizards that allows them to animate things, in preparation for fashioning such wonders as animated siege engines? Another to allow Qadiran spellcasters to call and bind elementals for long-term military service?
Note that in the PFC Campaign Setting, that sentence ended with 'well-disciplined ogre mercenaries,' and squads of ogres are still said to be used in the north, to harry Taldan lines. Ogre-tamers might not have the flash and glamor of elemental-tamers or genie-slavers, but still, that sounds like one hell of a job, teaching ogres how to wear breastplates and fire longbows and take advantage of their own reach paired with reach weapons like pikes (oh look, we happen to have an entire war college dedicated to optimizing pike use...). Best of all, ogre-taming, unlike elemental-taming or genie-binding, isn't limited to spellcasters. There's nothing to stop a ranger of a particular bent to have an AT that replaces spellcasting and animal companion with a trained ogre 'battle-buddy' or a cavalier to similarly replace some class features (like mount) with an ogre companion trained to fight at his side and benefit from his Teamwork feats.
And submitted.
Now for some chocolate to celebrate!
edit- disregard post this was misplaced
Note that in the PFC Campaign Setting, that sentence ended with 'well-disciplined ogre mercenaries,' and squads of ogres are still said to be used in the north, to harry Taldan lines. Ogre-tamers might not have the flash and glamor of elemental-tamers or genie-slavers, but still, that sounds like one hell of a job, teaching ogres how to wear breastplates and fire longbows and take advantage of their own reach paired with reach weapons like pikes (oh look, we happen to have an entire war college dedicated to optimizing pike use...). Best of all, ogre-taming, unlike elemental-taming or genie-binding, isn't limited to spellcasters. There's nothing to stop a ranger of a particular bent to have an AT that replaces spellcasting and animal companion with a trained ogre 'battle-buddy' or a cavalier to similarly replace some class features (like mount) with an ogre companion trained to fight at his side and benefit from his Teamwork feats.
[Emphasis mine]
Or an infantry leader/mountless Cavalier Racial Archetype FOR Ogres, the Dreadnaught. ;p
Srsly though Set, two great posts full of ideas to mine and inspire. A bit turned off by all the pointy-toed genie/flying carpet Aladdin stuff, but there is plenty else to have fun with...
Thanks Set,
Your ideas have given me a couple to play with. :)
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3. Todd Stewart should TOTALLY submit something. Email us, Todd. Let's do something special!
Just to share with everyone else since we've already discussed it over email: I've got not one but two things brewing and in-progress. >:)
And yes, there are fiends. Of course there are. This is me we're talking about. :D
Submission sent finally. My first. Hopefully not TOO generic.
Can it be something I own th rights to but has been published elsewhere years ago (for a different system in that zine)?
Yes, of course. I will see about doing so.
Ok, I will probably regret asking but...
What's the current submitted count, and are you short on any particular article type?
I may have some spare time to knock out another submission for you, so thought I would check if there is anything you really need.
Two weeks to gooooo!
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Two weeks to what? The submission deadline is September 30, not August 30.
Or do you have something sinister in mind?
Or did Tim change the deadline and I missed it somewhere?
<prepares to shake fist towards Tim>
Assuming there was no deadline change, six weeks remain ... still plenty of time to come up with and develop an idea.
<spiel>
If you've ever wanted to be able to say "Why yes, yes I am a published RPG author" you have the chance for being able to say so! Submit your article, critter, weal or woe, miscellaneous fluff and/or crunch article (all of the above being properly themed to the issue as laid out in the initial post, of course), and you could very well be on your way to being able to make that claim!
</spiel>
OK, my work here is done.
August 30 (or 31) is deadline for Yggdrasil submission if I hadn't mixed something up.
August 30 (or 31) is deadline for Yggdrasil submission if I hadn't mixed something up.
Drejk is correct. But that is about to be revised seeing as my uni degree is totally caning me.... :)
Hm. Now that I come to think about it, it is six weeks indeed.
Must have mixed up September and and August, 30th...
Sorry for the confusion I might have caused.
*checks for demonic possession*
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Hm. Now that I come to think about it, it is six weeks indeed.
Must have mixed up September and and August, 30th...
Sorry for the confusion I might have caused.*checks for demonic possession*
Look out for Zhalegwy, demon lordling of missed deadlines.
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Roughly six weeks from now... hmm, compared to superstar deadlines that should be a breeze! Played a camel riding cavalier at GenCon this weekend so my mind is in the perfect place to populate the deep deserts with a weal or woe. I'll ruminate on a monster as well.
Need to watch some Dune & Kingdom of Heaven for reference and inspiration!
--Vrock the Casbah
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There are inspirations floating around in other books as well.
I just picked up and read Mythic Monsters Revisited for a long car ride, and noticed that the Chupacabras are a big deal in Katapesh (with mention of blood cults that work alongside the creatures?) and not-so-Mongolian Death Worms are a menace in Qadira (worshipped as living avatars of Rovagug by the Guggy cultists in that land?).
Both of those dropped ideas have great potential for side-adventures.
In Qadira, a kindly old scholar of unusual creatures working on behalf of the royal court hires the PCs to acquire some Death Worm eggs, requiring them to defeat a territorial adult in the process, for his studies into the creatures, to help local farmers defend against their depredations. Oh wait. He's actually a priest of the local Rovagug cult, and wants to help the Death Worms expand into settled lands, to the greater glory of the Rough Beast!
In Katapesh, a skulking band of desert brigands and outcasts have 'tamed' a small group of chupacabras, and are led by an insane and degenerate 'chupacabra bloodline sorcerer' who is nothing of the sort, but has developed the ability to haste himself by draining blood from an enemy with a bite attack (that replaces the claws attack of his normal bloodline). Rumors that he learned these special techniques through an inappropriately close relationship with the leader of the chupacabra pack are unsettling, but some of his bandit gang do have disturbing chupacabra-like features, and some of the younger chupacabra are unusually intelligent...
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Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Set, I fully expect you to come up with a series of these sidetrek adventure seeds for an article.
Really. This:
•Side Treks: Side treks feature short outlines for a sidetrek adventure set in a particular Pathfinder adventure, from the products listed below. One side trek outline per submission for this column. Please reference earlier Wayfinders for the layout for this article. Submission size: 325 words.
Put these two together, in a 750 word article.
Reference Wayfinders 2, 3, 4, and 5 for examples of this type of article. We honestly haven't had anyone do these since #5, since that's when I started developing full side trek adventures with Neil and Larry, but I miss these short side trek seeds.
These have sections "Plot Hooks", "Backstory", and "Potential Resolutions".
And that applies to all of you. I'd be willing to expand this into a larger 1500 to 3000 word article if I get enough 325 word side treks.
Thanks, Tim, for the hints and heads-up!
I considered doing one of these but was unsure what the final version should look like and couldn't find any examples in the older Wayfinder issues--guess I should've gone back further.
Ruyan.
It's an electronic only issue... A little page bloat shouldn't hurt anyone.
Also note that number of pages between #8 and #9 grew, despite the latter being printed edition, so we could at least dream of even greater page count for #10.
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More inspiration;
Inner Sea World Guide p. 52.
Katheer. "Ships sail to Quantium, Katapesh, and Absalom daily. These include both ocean-going dhows and a small number of enchanted sandships, able to sail above the dunes and powered by elemental winds."
Woo. Ships that sail over the sands? Very cool.
Perhaps the genie-touched races, particularly sylphs and oreads (and the rare ifrit or suli) are the ideal pilots for these ships, fueling them with their daily SLAs (or daily use of elemental assault, for suli). The higher the caster level, the more hours of this special elemental movement is granted to the ship, so that such a ship might require a dozen 1st level sylph or oread crewmen to operate for half the day, or one or more higher level members of those races (or actual spellcasters able to cast those elemental spells).
The sylph-led sandships might float an inch above the ground, supported by on elemental winds, and passing over the sands through otherwise mundane sail and using poles like oars. Those vessels energized by an oread might harness the sands beneath their prow for propulsive energy, or draw on some strange mineral magnetism or static electromagnetism through interaction with the sands and their coppery hull plates. The ifrit-piloted craft use balloons filled with gas that heats up at the touch of the ifrit pilot, gently lifting the ship an inch above the ground and allowing it to be propelled by sail, but only operating when the sun is shining on the gas-bags.
The undines stick to sea-going craft, and similar arcane devices crafted on the most important ships, such as naval scouts and fast couriers, allow them to expend their daily use of hydraulic push to increase the speed of their ship, turning the currents to their favor and allowing Qadiran craft to evade pirates with unexpected speed, get their goods to port faster than anticipated, or, if themselves privateers, close on the merchant ships of economic rivals with shark-like surety.
Make it more sinister, too! Evil summoners binding elementals to do their bidding, having to cooperate with evil wizards for casting further utility spells, a captain's soul intertwined with the elementals essence, the elementals slowly losing "mass" by the constant friction against whatever element they rub against. Hm....
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Make it more sinister, too! Evil summoners binding elementals to do their bidding, having to cooperate with evil wizards for casting further utility spells, a captain's soul intertwined with the elementals essence, the elementals slowly losing "mass" by the constant friction against whatever element they rub against. Hm....
Stop reading my mind!!!! ;)
Actually, part of what you said was one of the views I was going to take on this ... there are others as well. ;)
What are the rules for 'fair use' of setting guide materials? I was playing with Pesh-Alchemy ideas and I'd like to be able to reference the Pesh magic from Dark Markets. Is that allowed?
Sand ships sound awesome. Useful for so much more than just shooting womp rats in beggar's canyon.
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Wayfinder is published using the Community Use Policy (CUP) ... you can read the specifics here.
Dark Markets is listed in Section 1 of the Community Use Approved Products List, so yeah, you should be good to go.
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I was playing with Pesh-Alchemy ideas and I'd like to be able to reference the Pesh magic from Dark Markets.
Note that the Pesh rules have changed as of Gamemastery Guide (p. 236-237). There's no reason why alchemical pesh modifications couldn't replicate the old features of Dark Markets-era pesh, though, as even the updated Gamemastery Guide drug rules include a drug (opium) that grants temporary hit points.
I've got a set of bazaar stalls in the works, just not sure if its going to be 750 or 1500 words, it really could go either way, depending on what sparks the old cranium...
Crazy Akbar's Slightly-Used Undead Extravaganza
You meant Absolutely Honest Akbar And Not Some Sort of Crook's Cheap Revivifications?
I'd like to see Magnificant Murat's Many Marvels described in detail myself.
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Crazy Cyrus' Cut-Rate Carpets!, where you can purchase carpets that didn't quite rise to the occasion, able to carry 100 lbs. at a height of about 1/2 inch above the ground. More expensive versions can carry even more weight (up to 300 lbs!), or levitate as high as a full yard above the ground, or even provide a feather fall effect to a rider who finds himself in an unexpected descent. You get what you pay for when you buy a 'flying carpet' from a craftsman whose arcane studies never got much past floating disk...
Concerning the older side treks none matches the 325 words limit, nor the 750, 1500 or 3000...
So. . . is there room for humorous submissions? For example, filk song lyrics, or a less than serious adventure (themed appropriately of course)?
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Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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So. . . is there room for humorous submissions? For example, filk song lyrics, or a less than serious adventure (themed appropriately of course)?
Absolutely! We have had humorous songs (by Kevin Andrew Murphy) in the 'zine before.
As for adventures....again, those are something I need to personally assign or approve, since those usually run 4 or more pages. If you pitch it to us, and we like it, it might get a green light. However, I've already got 3 adventures in this issue sort of on track, so I don't think we have the room for another.
Tim
Submitted a sidetrek. Hopefully, it's good enough to fit in with all the "full adventures" mentioned.
Ruyan.