PaizoCon Founder, Wayfinder Editor-in-Chief
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Numeria...a bizarre land, filled with both savages and wonders of a new kind of magic: technology. Wondrous tales trickle out of the area, some too strange to believe. From the hundreds of valleys of the Felldales, rumored to have been formed from the Rain of Stars, stories tell of monoliths and areas rich in the alien skymetal. Travelers recount the wonders of the Numerian Plains, of the purple fires of Torch, and rumors of a hidden city full of metal men. Men whisper in fear and awe of the decadent rule of the Black Sovereign in Starfall, his mind poisoned by the Technic League, and the silent and brutally efficient patrols of the gearmen in the capital. An alien land, with countless wonders and fathomless mysteries. And yet, so much more lies undiscovered....
Goal
The goal for the fanzine is to create a collection of fan-created articles and supporting art set in Paizo’s Pathfinder Campaign Setting world of Golarion.
The theme for Wayfinder #16 will be Numeria! Please use the Inner Sea World Guide as your main reference, along with Numeria, Land of the Fallen Stars, Technology Guide, and the Iron Gods Adventure Path (as well as the handy-dandy PathfinderWiki and the Archives of Nethys)! Preference will be given to articles that follow the issue’s theme. Writers are invited to submit articles that fit within the following categories:
- Advice: Share valuable information or experiences with new GMs or players in the world of Golarion. Submission size: 750 words.
- Bestiary: New creatures to terrorize your PCs! Each creature counts as a separate submission. Submission size: 750 words per creature. However, because multiple creatures are combined to form a single bestiary article, smaller entries will be considered as long as they are complete. (i.e., a hard target word count of 750 words does not apply to bestiary entries. See the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary for examples of proper formatting and content.)
- Fiction: Wayfinder now accepts fiction submissions directly from the public. Joining a writer’s group to help with editing and development is still highly recommended. Submission size: either 750 or 1,500 words.
- Flavor Articles: People, organizations, events, poetry, or other aspects of life in the Pathfinder Campaign Setting. These articles should build on the material already available in other sources. Flavor articles may include some rules material, such as item, location, or spell stat blocks, if necessary. Submission Size: 750 or 1,500 words.
- Golarion Gazetteer: Expand and explore places or towns on the Inner Sea maps that have little to no information about them in the campaign setting literature. If applicable, you may submit up to a 1/2-page map of your chosen locale. Submission size: 1,500 words.
- Of Chance and Skill: Games, new to or adapted for Golarion, to play at your table. Submission size: 750 or 1,500 words.
- New Rules: Articles devoted to new archetypes, prestige classes, class abilities, feats, spells or magic items for the world of Golarion. Multiple smaller entries (usually feats, spells, or magic items) can be grouped together by a clear theme and submitted as one article. Submission size: 750 or 1,500 words.
- Realm Building: Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Campaign contains rules for building armies, cities and kingdoms. This column is focused on building upon those rules. Submission size: 1,500 words.
- Side Trek Seeds: Side trek seeds are short outlines that provide GMs with ideas, either as side treks for a Pathfinder adventure or as mini-adventures set in Numeria. Each side trek seed counts as a separate submission. Please refer to earlier issues of Wayfinder for the layout for this article. Submission size: 325 words.
- Poetry and Song: Music and poetry often define a culture. Share your vision of the best-known songs and poems of the Inner Sea, with special emphasis on the issue’s theme. Submission size: 35 to 50 lines in total.
- Tales from the Front: Fiction articles based on any of Paizo’s adventure modules or paths. Submission size: 1,500 words.
- Weal or Woe: Two 7th-level or lower NPCs (including statblocks—one potential ally, one potential adversary. Include hooks for how PCs might meet each NPC and how to use them in a campaign. Include a boon that can come from the Weal character and a drawback from the Woe character. Please reference earlier Wayfinders for the layout for this article, and try to avoid lengthy and complicated stat blocks, as they take up more space than regular text, and can cause problems with layout (i.e., not enough room for art). Submission size: 1,500 words.
Guidelines
- Thou shalt not disregard canon, thou shalt build upon it.
- Keep in mind thy audience. Keep it PG-13. No slash fic/porn fantasies, cheesecake/beefcake/fan service. These are prohibited by the Community Use Policy.
- Short and sweet. Refer to the word count requirements for each type of submission. These are HARD targets, not a range. Articles submitted with word counts more than 5% above or below the target numbers will not be accepted.
- Limit of up to THREE submissions per person per issue. So, pick your three best ideas!
- Do not submit an article that relies heavily on another submission, whether the other submission is yours or someone else’s. Any submitted articles that reference (an)other article(s) must be pre-approved by the Editor-in-Chief.
- Stick to the theme. Articles that do not relate to the theme will not be accepted. Articles should feature things in or related to Numeria, not another region.
- Submissions used to defame, harass, or threaten board members are not tolerated.
Submission Instructions
- Conditions for Submissions: All authors and artists must agree to have their works reproduced for this and other Wayfinder products, be it for translations into other languages (we will be responsible for the truthfulness of the translations), special publications, or use on a Wayfinder website. All of Wayfinder’s publications are NON-PROFIT, and authors and artists will be given proper credit where due.
- Send all submissions to: wayfinder.fanzine@gmail.com with the subject line containing “Wayfinder #16 Submission:”, followed by the article title.
- All text submissions must be submitted in DOC or DOCX format (doesn’t matter if you use Office or OpenOffice). Note: Files sent in RTF, TXT, or any other format than DOC or DOCX will be rejected.
- For people who use open-source software, like OpenOffice and LibreOffice, and save their files as .DOC files, there is a mismatch between file types when trying to open the .DOC files in versions of Word from 2013 and up. It results in losing the last few lines of text. Those lines can only be viewed on Word 2010 or earlier. If you use these open-source programs, you MUST put one or two carriage returns after your last paragraph before you save the document as a .DOC file. Otherwise, we will have great difficulty being able to read and edit your submission.
- Do not use fancy fonts or colors or styles for formatting - these will get stripped out in the editing and layout process. Use the standard body font for the program you’re using - bold and italics are fine. Ask us for an example of our style templates, if you’d like to use that. Tables must be tab delimited (DO NOT USE FORMATTED TABLES).
- Use standard Pathfinder RPG formats for stat blocks. Familiarize yourself with the style and wording choices used in Paizo products and apply those same style and wording choices to your submissions.
- At the top of your submission, in the body of the article, provide the following information: article title (and subtitle, if any), author name(s), contact e-mail address(es), and word count of the submission. For example,
- Accepted entries will go through editing passes for clarity and concision. Depending on time constraints, you may or may not receive feedback from the editing process.
- Failure to follow these instructions or to meet one or more guidelines will result in rejection of the submission.
- DEADLINE: August 31, 2016, 11:59 Pacific. All entries will be handled on a first come, first serve basis. Some articles may be rejected depending on the final size of the PDF.
Advertising
- Fan projects operating under Paizo’s Community Use Policy are welcome to advertise their websites and materials.
- Third party publishers wishing to advertise their Pathfinder Roleplaying Game-compatible projects in Wayfinder #16 are welcome to advertise as well. Space is available for 1/4, 1/2 and full page ads.
- Email wayfinder.fanzine@gmail.com for questions about placing an ad. Be sure to include “Wayfinder #16 Advertising” in your subject line.
- RESERVE YOUR AD SPACE BY September 30, 2016
- ADS MUST BE RECEIVED BY October 31, 2016
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Standing by to exterminate grammatical errors.
Hmm... Interesting. Would an advice or flavour article on the relations between the Numeria, planes, and technology be appropriate/interesting?
Hmm... Interesting. Would an advice or flavour article on the relations between the Numeria, planes, and technology be appropriate/interesting?
ERROR. Foreign usage of "u" detected.
Processing........
Affirmative. "FLAVOR" article is appropriate.
One other question while I'm at it. Would a diety article on Helion (assuming he survives Iron Gods) be appropriate or is it too niche since he is from an adventure path?
Also, definitely going to check out some Realm Building on this one.
ERROR. Unit PFWF-016 has flagged foreign spelling of "flavour" but not clear typo of "deity." Please return to facility X923 for re-calibration. :-)
(I'll have to do some thinking for this one. Good timing, since running an Iron Gods game appears to be next on my agenda...)
One other question while I'm at it. Would a diety article on XXXXX be appropriate or is it too niche since he is from an adventure path?
Also, definitely going to check out some Realm Building on this one.
ERROR! ERROR!
Search returns no
WARNING! Commentary contains possible spoiler content! DELETE! DELETE!
Opinion on suitability of SUBJECT inclusion is not advised.
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ERROR. Unit PFWF-016 has flagged foreign spelling of "flavour" but not clear typo of "deity." Please return to facility X923 for re-calibration. :-)
(I'll have to do some thinking for this one. Good timing, since running an Iron Gods game appears to be next on my agenda...)
Unit WFED-209 is not online. Subroutines are run with random frequency.
Not all minor errors will be corrected. These units are selectively operated for peak efficiency of available resources.
END OF LINE.
Contributor
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One other question while I'm at it. Would a diety article on
Spoiler:be appropriate or is it too niche since he is from an adventure path?Helion (assuming he survives Iron Gods)Also, definitely going to check out some Realm Building on this one.
While articles are intended to build on Golarion canon, writers are encouraged to avoid setting spoilers whenever possible. An article on
Realm building, however, sounds like a great thing to include. As a matter of fact, including Numerian units for use with the mass combat rules could be fun, too.
Thank you for your query.
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PaizoCon Founder, Wayfinder Editor-in-Chief
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As an aside here....I am having a little fun right now with the theme, but Paris and I will answer questions more directly (most of the time).
Glad everyone is excited on the theme. We've been wanting to do it for a while, but needed to get some distance from the AP release times...to let it age and mature a little more.
Carry on!
One other question while I'm at it. Would a diety article on ** spoiler omitted ** be appropriate or is it too niche since he is from an adventure path?
Also, definitely going to check out some Realm Building on this one.
While articles are intended to build on Golarion canon, writers are encouraged to avoid setting spoilers whenever possible. An article on ** spoiler omitted ** would necessarily include too much information on the associated adventure path's content and would, therefore, be inadvisable.
Realm building, however, sounds like a great thing to include. As a matter of fact, including Numerian units for use with the mass combat rules could be fun, too.
Thank you for your query.
Okay, I'll save it for my blog then. Just thought I'd check before I got writing. Thanks!
All three sent. Hope you like them.
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A question: Is a hazard considered a bestiary/critter submission or something else?
Wow. Bardess, you don't fool around. I know the topic was pretty clearly stated ahead of time, but it's been less than an hour!
I've got an archetype in the file I think I can whip into shape for this, and a magic item.
Maybe it's time to branch out and try my hand at some sort of setting piece. We'll see what time allows.
For example, how would I submit this, should I submit this?
Maintenance Robot MR000086
This metal sphere expertly rolls around the barbarian. Out of it pops a head, two arms, and 2 legs. The legs extend till it can reach the broken intercom. It begins busily repairing it, using parts and tools from inside it’s body cavity.
XP 800
N Medium construct (robot)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +8
DEFENSE
AC 18, touch 11, flat-footed 17 (+1 Dex, +7 natural)
hp 20 (2d10+10)
Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +2
Defensive Abilities hardness 5; Immune construct traits, shielded vs electromagnetic pulses
Weaknesses vulnerable to critical hits,
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.40 rolling
Melee slam +9 (1d4+7) or
Improvised weapon +3 (1d4+1/×2 plus 1d6 electricity)
Natural weapon Welding torch +3(1D6 fire/X2)
Ranged Thrown piece of scrap metal +3 (1d4+1/×2)
STATISTICS
Str 16, Dex 13, Con —, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 1
Base Atk +4; CMB +9; CMD 20
Feats Minor repair, (can perform mending non magically in 1-4 rounds. Make whole takes an hour.)
Skills Craft (any one) +4, Disable Device +4, Perception +4, Profession (any one) +4, Knowledge engineering +4
Languages Common, computer binary
SQ adaptive learning, charge weapon, nanite repair, limbs 3 feet extendable to 10 feet, large eyes that can project light like 2 bulls eye lanterns.
ECOLOGY
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, or squad (3–12)
Treasure standard (Masterwork Tools, other treasure)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Adaptive Learning (Ex) A Maintenance Robot has a number of skill points equal to 2 + its Intelligence modifier per Hit Die, and treats Craft and Profession as class skills. In addition, a Maintenance Robot has a number of bonus skill ranks equal to its Hit Dice that can be reprogrammed to apply to any one skill—these ranks can’t be split among multiple skills and must apply to one skill. A Maintenance Robot can change what skill these bonus ranks apply to up to once per day by concentrating for 1 minute, during which time it can take no other actions. Rather than spend these bonus ranks on a skill, a Maintenance Robot can choose to devote them to any skill needed such as programming or systems analysis. All Maintenance Robots are automatically proficient with all simple weapons. If a simple weapon is available, it will use it and skip the -4 for an improvised weapon.
Charge Weapon (Ex) Any metal weapon wielded by a Maintenance Robot becomes charged with electricity and deals 1d6 additional points of electricity damage on a hit.
Nanite Repair (Ex) A Maintenance Robot’s nanites heal it, restoring a number of hit points equal to its Hit Dice every hour (4 hit points per hour for most Maintenance Robots). Once per day, as a full-round action, a Maintenance Robots can heal itself or any robot it touches of 4d6 points of damage.
Maintenance Robots can talk. If spoken to they will reply in a cheerful, insincere voice. If told the reactor core is going critical, they will chirp ,”That’s one of my prime functions”, and go push in the control rods till it runs normally. Although they have plenty of room in their body cavity, they tend to use treasure to repair stuff, so keep that in mind. Their actual names are MR plus a 6 digit number, but they will accept nick names such as Pinball, Odd Job, Torchy, or whatever.
It's based on existing robots in Bestiary 5. Is it a problem that I already posted it in Homebrew? I'm not sure how to count the words. Do all numbers count as words?
Oh my, yes. This I think I can do, let's see what brews up.
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PaizoCon Founder, Wayfinder Editor-in-Chief
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Basically a monster submission
This is what we consider a bestiary submission. One creature. One entry. If you wrote it, it's yours. Don't care if you posted it here in a homebrew thread, it hasn't been published has it?
And yes, numbers count toward the word count. Microsoft Word actually tells you at the bottom of the window how many words you have.
Let me be VERY CLEAR, though. READ THE SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS ABOVE. It says it all right there. Failure to follow the guidelines and the instructions will result in a rejected submission.
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PaizoCon Founder, Wayfinder Editor-in-Chief
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A question: Is a hazard considered a bestiary/critter submission or something else?
I would consider a hazard along the same lines as a trap or a haunt.
Not a bestiary entry. Therefore, it will need to be 750 words, or paired up with other content (a collection of Numeria hazards?) to total 750 or 1500 words to make an article.
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PaizoCon Founder, Wayfinder Editor-in-Chief
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Just discovered a blog post with a similar theme to an article I'd nearly finished. Not quite sure how to proceed, so I emailed Tim with specifics.
I saw your email, and will try to check out your entry vs. the blog.
That's always kind of a bummer to do the work and find it has already been done. I will let you know....
Tim
A question: Is a hazard considered a bestiary/critter submission or something else?I would consider a hazard along the same lines as a trap or a haunt.
Not a bestiary entry. Therefore, it will need to be 750 words, or paired up with other content (a collection of Numeria hazards?) to total 750 or 1500 words to make an article.
I'll co-write some hazards or haunts with you!
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I'll co-write some hazards or haunts with you!A question: Is a hazard considered a bestiary/critter submission or something else?I would consider a hazard along the same lines as a trap or a haunt.
Not a bestiary entry. Therefore, it will need to be 750 words, or paired up with other content (a collection of Numeria hazards?) to total 750 or 1500 words to make an article.
It's currently at 626 words, so I'll have to apply some percussive maintenance to it first to trim the word count down.
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PaizoCon Founder, Wayfinder Editor-in-Chief
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It's currently at 626 words, so I'll have to apply some percussive maintenance to it first to trim the word count down.I'll co-write some hazards or haunts with you!A question: Is a hazard considered a bestiary/critter submission or something else?I would consider a hazard along the same lines as a trap or a haunt.
Not a bestiary entry. Therefore, it will need to be 750 words, or paired up with other content (a collection of Numeria hazards?) to total 750 or 1500 words to make an article.
Or add some variants......to get up to 750
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Contributor
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It's currently at 626 words, so I'll have to apply some percussive maintenance to it first to trim the word count down.I'll co-write some hazards or haunts with you!A question: Is a hazard considered a bestiary/critter submission or something else?I would consider a hazard along the same lines as a trap or a haunt.
Not a bestiary entry. Therefore, it will need to be 750 words, or paired up with other content (a collection of Numeria hazards?) to total 750 or 1500 words to make an article.
Howdy, Ms. Slaad. One question: Is that 626 for flavor text and rules?
I ask because 626 words seems mighty hefty for a haunt. I know haunts can get mechanically complex, but if you're using more than about 300 words to explain it, then you might want to trim it down. Now, if you've got a 300-word haunt with 450 words of fluff that a GM can use to build a scenario around, that would be different.
Howdy, Ms. Slaad. One question: Is that 626 for flavor text and rules?
I ask because 626 words seems mighty hefty for a haunt. I know haunts can get mechanically complex, but if you're using more than about 300 words to explain it, then you might want to trim it down. Now, if you've got a 300-word haunt with 450 words of fluff that a GM can use to build a scenario around, that would be different.
No, it's definitely a hazard, built around some mechanics which makes major modifications to a couple existing spells. Some of it is just over-explaining which can be trimmed, and some will get trimmed by careful tightening with more precise word choices, but I can't imagine getting it under 500 words (for flavor & mechanics)... but I guess we'll see.
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Just discovered a blog post with a similar theme to an article I'd nearly finished. Not quite sure how to proceed, so I emailed Tim with specifics.I saw your email, and will try to check out your entry vs. the blog.
That's always kind of a bummer to do the work and find it has already been done. I will let you know....
Tim
Thanks Tim. Appreciate it.
dotting
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No, it's definitely a hazard, built around some mechanics which makes major modifications to a couple existing spells. Some of it is just over-explaining which can be trimmed, and some will get trimmed by careful tightening with more precise word choices, but I can't imagine getting it under 500 words (for flavor & mechanics)... but I guess we'll see.Howdy, Ms. Slaad. One question: Is that 626 for flavor text and rules?
I ask because 626 words seems mighty hefty for a haunt. I know haunts can get mechanically complex, but if you're using more than about 300 words to explain it, then you might want to trim it down. Now, if you've got a 300-word haunt with 450 words of fluff that a GM can use to build a scenario around, that would be different.
Ah. Copy all. I misread your first statement. If it's an interesting or useful enough hazard, it might be worth an entire article. If you wrote it up as a kind of expedition report, explaining how the hazard works and different places it has been (or might be) encountered, it could stand on its own, I think.
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Would you consider a series of anonymous pen pal letters between a technic league scholar and an android debating the merits of seeking everlasting life via machine enhancement vs. traditional life via a spell converting a robot to an organic as fiction or a tales from the front type thing?
Would you consider a series of anonymous pen pal letters between a technic league scholar and an android debating the merits of seeking everlasting life via machine enhancement vs. traditional life via a spell converting a robot to an organic as fiction or a tales from the front type thing?
Obviously I can't speak for the Wayfinder team, but I think that sounds like an awesome idea for fiction.
Dotting... missed the last one due to freelance commitments, so need to get back on the Wayfinder horsey again :)
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PaizoCon Founder, Wayfinder Editor-in-Chief
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Would you consider a series of anonymous pen pal letters between a technic league scholar and an android debating the merits of seeking everlasting life via machine enhancement vs. traditional life via a spell converting a robot to an organic as fiction or a tales from the front type thing?
That's most likely a fiction piece (or flavor if they are "items" that the PCs find to set them off on an adventure).
Tales from the Front....let's discuss that article category a little bit. This is fiction that is based on a module, PFS scenario, or adventure path. In the past, authors successfully doing this have taken a battle or major encounter and written how it plays out from their PC's point of view. Unsuccessful attempts basically play out with a "let me tell you what my character did" style. It's hard to really tell folks how to write a Tales from the Front piece, other than it should be good STORY and not just a recounting of the game session.
Unfortunately, we end up getting the latter instead of the former, and that is why you haven't seen a Tales from the Front article for a long while. I believe the last was in #5, based on the PFS scenario "Decline of Glory". We took it because it focused on the characters, and not on the scenario. The scenario was merely a backdrop for the story, "setting the stage" so to speak.
If you are interested in submitting a "Tales from the Front", I suggest you go back and look at issue #5, and see what I'm talking about....
Tim
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Random thoughts on articles about class options with a Numerian slant;
(As usual, these are ideas I'm *not* planning on developing into articles myself, because of that pesky three-article-limit that's totally my fault anyway...) :)
Cleric (subDomains of the Domains granted by Brigh or Gorum that synch well with Numeria and it's themes, such as a Plasma subdomain of Fire, or a subdomain of Earth that replaces 'acid bolt' with tiny pellets of metal or stone fired at high velocity 'bullet bolt!' or for Artifice that conjures temporary magical ammunition for a crossbow, sling, bow or firearm)
Druid / Ranger (alien ecologist/xenonaturalist, with an 'alien' companion and some 'alien' wild shape options?)
Fighter (master of advanced or complicated weaponry, not so much 'tech' or lasers, but exotic stuff available across the setting like repeating crossbows, mancatchers, bolas, etc. as well as other 'advanced' sort of combat options like throwing alchemical fire or acid, drawing inspiration from the 'tech' used by others, but usually hoarded by the Technic League and their favored minions, forcing you to adapt to the sorts of 'advanced' technology available to everyone else)
Monk (ironforged archetype, seeks to 'become the machine' or to master 'the riddle of steel' and become as hard and unyielding as a construct, golem or robot, with skin like metal armor and fists like bludgeons or blades and a will of iron, enduring and resilient in both mind and body, able to move with mechanical speed and precision, to a limited extent, but usually more resolute and plodding and unstoppable than a traditional monk)
Wizard (stores spells in crystals or data-gizmos, and power in batteries, the opposite of a technomancer who can drain spell slots to recharge tech, you drain tech to fuel your magic. Tiny construct / robot familiar option, perhaps even with an option to store spells in the familiar's 'databanks,' sort of like a Witch)
Mesmerist (neurolinguistic hacker, uses language to 'reprogram' others to cloud their minds / distract them (stare abilities changed to more of a 'babel' effect) or directly manipulate them (compulsion / charm spells and effects))
Oracle ('Starmind' Mystery, taps into the signals from the various computer intelligences, through nanotech infiltrating one's own brain and body, perceives data from these vast and incomprehensible intelligences and taps them for divine power and unusual insights. New curses could include Aphasic - staggered physically, but eventually capable of swifter, or even multiple, mental actions, Radioactive - damages others making long-term contact with own body, eventually includes shorter term contacts at your discretion, and can expand at higher levels to affect those in adjacent squares)
Psychic (Psi-Borg, able to draw psychic strength from metal and crystal and perhaps even tech grafted to flesh, from the resonances and traumas left behind by the many, many who died in contact with those alien materials, and the occult and esoteric forces to which they've been exposed over the millennia, does not have to involve technology at all, just old and 'weird' stuff grafted to the body and used as a source of psychic power, which could allow it to be transplanted to anywhere that has old haunted ruins full of 'psychic resonance,' such as the Ghol-Gan ruins around the Shackles or ancient Thassilonion ruins in Varisia or Virlych, in Ustalav)
Cavalier (uses either a robot mount, or an alien beast (such as a Velopede) as a mount, bonus points for a holographic 'banner' option)
Tales from the Front....let's discuss that article category a little bit. This is fiction that is based on a module, PFS scenario, or adventure path. In the past, authors successfully doing this have taken a battle or major encounter and written how it plays out from their PC's point of view. Unsuccessful attempts basically play out with a "let me tell you what my character did" style. It's hard to really tell folks how to write a Tales from the Front piece, other than it should be good STORY and not just a recounting of the game session.Unfortunately, we end up getting the latter instead of the former, and that is why you haven't seen a Tales from the Front article for a long while. I believe the last was in #5, based on the PFS scenario "Decline of Glory". We took it because it focused on the characters, and not on the scenario. The scenario was merely a backdrop for the story, "setting the stage" so to speak.
If you are interested in submitting a "Tales from the Front", I suggest you go back and look at issue #5, and see what I'm talking about....
Tim
Man, now I wish I'd had time to run a game besides Iron Gods in Numeria. That sounds like it would be really fun to write!
Okay, I'm about half way through my article on how outsiders relate with Numeria's super-technology and I'm starting to dig into different types of outsiders. Here's a tentative list of groups to by included, based off of the materials we have on Numeria:
- Kytons
- Inevitables
- Divs
- Salamanders
- Chaos Beasts
- Manasaputras
- Azers
- Xills
- Azatas
- Demons
- Daemons
That list will likely get trimmed down because I love writing about outsiders, so I'm going to run up against my word count. That said, I would like to check if there is anything glaringly obvious that I've missed or that people would really like to see written about.
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Would you consider a series of anonymous pen pal letters between a technic league scholar and an android debating the merits of seeking everlasting life via machine enhancement vs. traditional life via a spell converting a robot to an organic as fiction or a tales from the front type thing?That's most likely a fiction piece (or flavor if they are "items" that the PCs find to set them off on an adventure).
Tales from the Front....let's discuss that article category a little bit. This is fiction that is based on a module, PFS scenario, or adventure path. In the past, authors successfully doing this have taken a battle or major encounter and written how it plays out from their PC's point of view. Unsuccessful attempts basically play out with a "let me tell you what my character did" style. It's hard to really tell folks how to write a Tales from the Front piece, other than it should be good STORY and not just a recounting of the game session.
Unfortunately, we end up getting the latter instead of the former, and that is why you haven't seen a Tales from the Front article for a long while. I believe the last was in #5, based on the PFS scenario "Decline of Glory". We took it because it focused on the characters, and not on the scenario. The scenario was merely a backdrop for the story, "setting the stage" so to speak.
If you are interested in submitting a "Tales from the Front", I suggest you go back and look at issue #5, and see what I'm talking about....
Tim
"Evil Is Your Wingman" in #14 is a good example, too. It may be a little tough to tell, but it actually relates to events from when the author's gaming group played through Rise of the Runelords.
...
Fiction: Wayfinder now accepts fiction submissions directly from the public. Joining a writer’s group to help with editing and development is still highly recommended. Submission size: either 750 or 1,500 words....
Send me a message if you would like to join a grouo for your fiction. If you've signed up before you'll be getting an email soon :)
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I can see I've got some back-reading to do.
'Iron Gods' and the tech-related products got skimmed over, but left for later, as I was running a more traditional campaign at the time.
And, much as I'm tempted to do sprinkle my magic dust on some Judas Priest tracks, especially from the 'British Steel' album, I don't see Numeria as being a place they do much singing.
And if they did, they'd probably use auto-tune.
Hit editing with my bit on outsiders. One question popped into my mind though. Even though they don't technically have class levels, would it be possible to do a Weal or Woe with AIs as NPCs?
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Hit editing with my bit on outsiders. One question popped into my mind though. Even though they don't technically have class levels, would it be possible to do a Weal or Woe with AIs as NPCs?
It depends on what you mean by AIs. Androids can absolutely have class levels as can other kinds of robots, so I would see that as a viable option, assuming the characters' stories are good.
The factors that really make a Weal or Woe article are:
1) Interesting characters who have some role in the world. Interaction with each character should have consequences for good or ill (thus the name of the article line)
2) The characters should be connected in some way. The easiest method is to set up some kind of rivalry between the two, in which the PCs can become embroiled. However, there are other interesting options, like connecting the two NPCs through a different problem or entity that makes it likely for both characters to be involved with the PCs, even if the NPCs don't know each other.
Make sense?
EDIT: I meant to follow up with: If the AIs you are talking about are simply intelligences within an object, like an item or a machine, then they would not be good choices for a Weal or Woe article.
Hit editing with my bit on outsiders. One question popped into my mind though. Even though they don't technically have class levels, would it be possible to do a Weal or Woe with AIs as NPCs?
It depends on what you mean by AIs. Androids can absolutely have class levels as can other kinds of robots, so I would see that as a viable option, assuming the characters' stories are good.
The factors that really make a Weal or Woe article are:
1) Interesting characters who have some role in the world. Interaction with each character should have consequences for good or ill (thus the name of the article line)
2) The characters should be connected in some way. The easiest method is to set up some kind of rivalry between the two, in which the PCs can become embroiled. However, there are other interesting options, like connecting the two NPCs through a different problem or entity that makes it likely for both characters to be involved with the PCs, even if the NPCs don't know each other.
Make sense?
EDIT: I meant to follow up with: If the AIs you are talking about are simply intelligences within an object, like an item or a machine, then they would not be good choices for a Weal or Woe article.
Yeah it does. I'm specifically talking about the Artificial Intelligences as given on page 58 and 59 of the Technology guide, which likely falls in the categories of your edit.
I am guessing that if I do a template it would count as a bestiary entry and I would need a sample creature?
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Contributor
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I am guessing that if I do a template it would count as a bestiary entry and I would need a sample creature?
Correct. We want templates to conform to the format used in the Paizo Bestiary books. Remember that the 750-word limit is important. It can be challenging to do a template and a sample creature in within that, so make sure you're including only the things you need to describe what the templated is and how it works.
Basically a monster submissionIf you wrote it, it's yours. Don't care if you posted it here in a homebrew thread, it hasn't been published has it?
Question relating to something being published. If I have posted something to my personal Pathfinder/D&D blog, would you still accept it or is it now considered published?
I am guessing that if I do a template it would count as a bestiary entry and I would need a sample creature?Correct. We want templates to conform to the format used in the Paizo Bestiary books. Remember that the 750-word limit is important. It can be challenging to do a template and a sample creature in within that, so make sure you're including only the things you need to describe what the templated is and how it works.
What if it was a simple template? They don't have sample creatures... Of course they are very short so maybe they would be better tied into a neat package and served as an article? (like writing a feat that allows apply one of three or four templates to summoned creatures instead of celestial/fiendish...
Hmmm...
Nanite Summons?
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Contributor
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What if it was a simple template? They don't have sample creatures... Of course they are very short so maybe they would be better tied into a neat package and served as an article? (like writing a feat that allows apply one of three or four templates to summoned creatures instead of celestial/fiendish...
Hmmm...
Nanite Summons?
I would say that we would probably include simple templates as part of the bestiary section, but you would need to submit four or five of them...something more substantial than just one. I suppose you could also make them part of a separate article, too, if you were including new simple templates and monster feats.
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Contributor
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Question relating to something being published. If I have posted something to my personal Pathfinder/D&D blog, would you still accept it or is it now considered published?Basically a monster submissionIf you wrote it, it's yours. Don't care if you posted it here in a homebrew thread, it hasn't been published has it?
We have published other blog articles in the past (see Clinton Boomer's harpy article in #14, for example). By itself, that isn't a problem. However, we won't simply reprint what you've posted elsewhere. All of our accepted articles go through editing and development, so you'd have to be willing to allow the possibility that something might change.
Beyond that, the simplest way to look at the question of material you've previously written is to answer the question, "Is there someone other than you (the writer) who has the legal right to tell us not to use your submission in the magazine or for other Wayfinder-related publications in the future?"
If that answer is yes, then please do not submit your work. If the answer is no, then we are happy to consider your submission for publication.
This also applies to what you do with your article after it gets published in Wayfinder. Your work is still yours, it's just not exclusively yours, because you agree to give Wayfinder the right to use it, with proper attribution, in future Wayfinder projects. So, you can post it on a blog, if you want. We don't mind what you do with it, as long as you don't give it to a publisher who would then claim exclusive rights to it and tell us to stop publishing it.