Honestly, I wish that Mr. Jacobs had never revealed that Paizo has an internal, unpublished canonical story about what happened. The fact that there is a definitive answer dilutes the mystery, in my opinion. I would have preferred that they just left it vague.
No matter which route they went, someone like you would be posting regrets that they didn't go another. I really don't see what the bugaboo is all about. If you're running a home game, it's your world... take ownership by either deciding things for yourself, or leaving it aside as irrelevant to the story you're running.
No matter which route they went, someone like you would be posting regrets that they didn't go another. I really don't see what the bugaboo is all about. If you're running a home game, it's your world... take ownership by either deciding things for yourself, or leaving it aside as irrelevant to the story you're running.
Honestly, I wish that Mr. Jacobs had never revealed that Paizo has an internal, unpublished canonical story about what happened. The fact that there is a definitive answer dilutes the mystery, in my opinion. I would have preferred that they just left it vague.
My opinion is more about the reaction from the community than my personal feelings. I have no qualms whatsoever about altering the canonical Golarion to suit the needs of my own games. I have my own idea as to what happened to Aroden, should the subject ever come up as an active line of investigation on the part of my players.
Regarding the "GRAR!" on the boards about this subject: When James revealed (several years ago) that there was an internally-canonical story, I think he was trying to strike a balnace between the "TELL US EVERYTHING!!" camp and the "LET MYSTERIES BE MYSTERIES!" camp. To the former the message was "There really is an answer," and to the latter the message was "...but it's still a mystery."
Unfortunately, the reaction from many in the former camp was disappointment (or worse) that there's now hidden knowledge that they can never learn, and the reaction from the latter was that it isn't really a mystery if a definitive answer exists.
I think a lot of this boils down to the hazards of running a home game in a published campaign world. Some people are leery of writing stuff that might eventually get contradicted by canon. For example, I started running my first Rise of the Runelords campaign before the Anniversary Edition was published; it came out while I was running Hook Mountain Massacre. I had written my own version of the village of Turtleback Ferry (including pilfering a fan-produced map I found on the Runelords discussion board) and I populated it with a bunch of my own NPCs. When I got my hands on it, I found that the Anniversary Edition included a full gazetteer of Turtleback Ferry, which was very different from mine. I mostly kept my own version, which I liked better, but pulled in a few details from the canonical version too.
111.) He's not dead. He's still stuck in line at the DMV.
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112) He should've turned left in Alburquerque.
He should've guessed by the coyote prints that stopped at the tunnel something was up. Or the weird imprint in the air. Or the lack of roadrunner prints coming out of it. But oh no, 'I'm a god', he said. 'I know what I'm doing and where I'm going!'
probably not gonna get to 1001 - we're 11.3% approx of the way there so far
115. He tried to LARP the Frogger video game. He never made it past the first lane of traffic.
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116. Accepted a position in a new pantheon that offered better benefits, a raise, and an easier commute.
119) Abducted by Baba Yaga.
120) Too many people said he wasn't real, and he died.
Much like faeries, except clapping won't help Aroden.
121. Not dank enough for the memes.
122. Got caught counting cards in Vegas.
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123. Food poisoning from some bad seafood at that new trendy restaurant, Abendego's.
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124. He had a date with Calistria and stood her up.
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125.) Aroden traveled back in time to warn himself not to travel back in time. The resulting paradox broke prophecy somehow.
Developer
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126.) He decided to be the bigger man and gave up his seat at a full table to a new player who wanted to try Pathfinder for the first time.
127.) He became a venture captain. You know which one.
128.) Growing weary of certain mechanical restrictions imposed by the d20 system's tether, he pre-emptively made a break for Pathfinder 2nd Edition.
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129) He got killed by a Syntheist Summoner. Or rather, a Syntheist crit him so hard that he ceased to exist. But with his last breath, he declared that they were so overpowered, unfair, mechanically convoluted and Munchkin-y that they were banned from PFS forever.
130. Aroden cracks a joke to himself about the latest Horseman of Famine: since Trelmariaxian can change his form at will, he can simply become a giant mouth at will. Cue Trel standing right behind Aroden, actually changing into a giant mouth and eating him whole.
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probably not gonna get to 1001 - we're 11.3% approx of the way there so far
I already have reason 1001, but have decided it won't be revealed.
133: He borrowed money from Abadar, the very legitimate bushiness man, and could not pay it back. No body has seen him since and nobody is talking.
134: Aroden and Cayden Cailean went drinking to celebrate Aroden's return to the Material Plane. Aroden has been missing ever since.
137) He forgot to update his out-of-office message.
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138: Aroden, Odin, and Apollo decided to play cards against each other to see who had the better powers of prophecy. They ended up creating so many paradoxes that they wiped each other from existence.
139.:)Mammon got Asmodeous to kill him so he could rule Westcrown for a bit
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141. Whoops, should've tested that somewhere else.
142: Aroden was challenged by Anubis to a friendly children's card game, he lost.
144: Cayden took Aroden out to celebrate the night before. When Cayden woke up from his hang over Aroden was missing.
146: Aroden is not dead, Calistria just has him tied up in her sex dungeon and won't let him out.
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147) He was Pharasma's Tumor Familiar from the 2-level alchemist dip. She decided he was too popular, reabsorbed him, and told everyone else he died.
148). Walked into a bar with a Paladin, an Antipaladin, a Pharasmin Priest, and a bucket of deep fried butter. The cultist never finished writing this joke, so he remains there to this very day.
149). And to this day, nobody takes a porcelain unicorn from a gnome with a ladder and lives to tell about it.
150). Told someone GIF was pronounced GIF instead of GIF, and was killed by half the internet.
151). Steamboat to the skull. Its works for Cthulhu to skip out on his loyal followers.
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152. He had to die. He fortold of a great evil coming and only through hardship and desperation could his people hope to become strong enough to overcome it. So he let himself die to force human kind to adapt. That's why all the Adventure Paths are happening, most of them simultaneously. Aroden died so PCs could rise to power significant enough to overcome the great evil he predicted was coming.
(That's actually my running theory on it by the way. Helps explain why all the bad stuff happening in the APS is actually occurring at roughly the same time)
153. He got turned into a cyberman as a means of survival and become one of the new AI gods (there's 3 combined at 1 in SF and I think 1 of them existed quite a while before the Iron Gods AI came into being)
154: Cayden fought and killed Aroden in a duel to free mortals from the tyranny of fate and prophecy!
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155: As a God of Prophecy Aroden knew the ending to Game of Thrones, so all of the other Gods put him down to avoid spoilers.
156: Aroden foresaw the Azlanti Star Empire, so he left Golarion to rejoin his people.
Aroden/Poochi-"I have to go now, my planet needs me"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tvAjX5ACPo
158) The Peacock Spirit misplaced parts of the Aroden suit it had been wearing and decided the game wasn't fun anymore, and quit.
159) Amoebas ate Him. Apparently damage reduction and deification do not provide micro-organism resistances.