Creative Director
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Years ago, an AMA style thread here in the off-topic discussions was a pretty sprawling and fun place for folks to chat with me about stuff, but I ended up bringing the thread to an end during the pandemic when the internet got extra spicy.
But I miss it! Dunno if folks are still interested in asking questions here, but if they are, ask away and I'll provide answers...
...but not to anything/everything. There's a reason why this thread lives in the "Off-Topic Discussions" part of the boards, after all.
1) I won't be answering rules questions at all.
2) I will answer questions about Pathfinder lore or adventures, but those will NOT be "official" Paizo answers; just my take/opinion based on my preference and history with the topic. If you want official answers, please direct those questions to the on-topic thread for that line or product. If it's on a product that I've worked on, I'll answer those questions there.
3) Don't ask about how Aroden died.
4) Have fun and keep your questions fun and positive and entertaining!
I always enjoyed checking out your prior thread. Welcome back!
How often do you get to play now a days?
Any good video games recently?
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Creative Director
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Welcome back!
Have you read any good Cthulhu Mythos books or short stories lately, or seen any such movies/TV shows?
Always! Hmm. Let's see... on the movie side from this year alone, the best mythos adjacent things I've seen would be:
"Iron Lung" (A+) followed by "The Deep Dark" (B–)I suppose "Who Can Kill A Child" (A) could be argued as Lovecraftian, since it's about an evil apocalyptic force on an island that if it escapes to the mainland would bring the end of civilization, but it's maybe more folk horror or societal horror?
On the books/short story side, been jumping back and forth from a bunch of different authors including Frank Belknap Long and Carl Jacobi (both of whom I just picked up GIANT omnibus hardcovers of). The latest anthologies from John Langan ("Lost in the Dark") and Laird Barron ("Not a Speck of Light") have some fun cosmic horror, and I just started reading some of Attila Veres' short stories and they're GREAT. The best actual Lovecraft thing I've recently read was Gou Tanabe's manga adaptation of "The Shadow out of Time." That thing is DENSE—with words and art—in a good way!
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Creative Director
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I always enjoyed checking out your prior thread. Welcome back!
How often do you get to play now a days?
Any good video games recently?
I'm playing as a player in a highly homebrewed weekly 1E Pathfinder game on Sunday afternoons, and am running a 2E Pathfinder game for folks here at work every other Thursday after work (although the last month of the game's schedule got savaged a bit, alas). I kind of have potential ideas of maybe someday turning that game into an adventure—that's where Rusthenge and Seven Dooms for Sandpoint and Malevolence came from, and to a lesser extent Curse of the Crimson Throne and Serpent's Skull back in the day.
As for video games:
Resident Evil: Requiem was great
Slay the Spire 2 is glorious
Chapter 5 of The Long Dark's Wintermute campaign is a lot of fun and is the current obsession.
Northern Journey was lots of fun until I got to an annoying hanglider sequence near the end that kinda made me quit in frustration.
But Nioh 3 is the one that I played the most obsessively recently, I suppose.
And I wanna get back to Fallout 76, now that Bigfoot's in the mix!
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Creative Director
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Oh that's a nostalgia trip I wasn't expecting. I haven't prepared questions!
So what is your favorite idea you never got to do? (like something that had to get scrapped or otherwise figured out "Nah I can't actually do that, but it'd be cool" rather than something that got shelved for later)
I'm wary of answering this, since sometimes those ideas I've been wanting to do forever but never got a chance to be a thing actauly DO become things. See "Bastion of Blasphemies" for a recent example, and there's some other stuff I'm eager to share that I've been working on but can't talk about yet.
One thing that I suppose I could nominate here would be that I never got to finish up the Demonomicon of Iggwilv articles for Dragon Magazine. There were still some demon lords that I was looking forward to doing entries for, particularly Obox-ob or Juiblex, but I'm pretty sure that I'm not gonna be going back to doing more of those ever.
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As a designer (actual Creative Director), when you get to DM your own Homegame on your own time (and the prep-time for such), do you find yourself only working on Pathfinder-canon material? Really, what I'm asking is if you ever go back and grab (for example) N1 "Against the Cult of the Reptile God" or maybe even Dungeon 41 and "The Lady of the Mists" -- or perhaps even "The Razing of Redshore" or "Twilight's Last Gleaming" or "Headless" and, for inspiration and nostalgia, DM some reruns at your table -- re-written / re-imagined reruns? Maybe even find a great place in Avistan to place "The Ghost Tower of Inverness" or a Gate to Rel Mord in The Flanaess? .... Or do you find yourself exclusively sticking to the world you and your colleagues have designed?
THANKS!
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Creative Director
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As a designer (actual Creative Director), when you get to DM your own Homegame on your own time (and the prep-time for such), do you find yourself only working on Pathfinder-canon material? Really, what I'm asking is if you ever go back and grab (for example) N1 "Against the Cult of the Reptile God" or maybe even Dungeon 41 and "The Lady of the Mists" -- or perhaps even "The Razing of Redshore" or "Twilight's Last Gleaming" or "Headless" and, for inspiration and nostalgia, DM some reruns at your table -- re-written / re-imagined reruns? Maybe even find a great place in Avistan to place "The Ghost Tower of Inverness" or a Gate to Rel Mord in The Flanaess? .... Or do you find yourself exclusively sticking to the world you and your colleagues have designed?
THANKS!
I generally mix things up. I like running games that are more sandboxy than they are "pathy," and have a LOT of stuff on hand to pull from for the campaign, based on how the players go. Sometimes, that might be an adventure from Pathifnder or D&D. Sometimes it might just be an old map. Sometimes I might make the adventure up whole-cloth as I go. I almost never fully write things out, and run the games improv style with whatever monster/NPC stats I might need handy. But I keep lots of notes, so that later, if/when I wanna turn them into something publishable, I have a framework to build from.
Interesting you mention "Against the Cult of the Reptile God", in particular...
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Welcome back!
Have you read any good Cthulhu Mythos books or short stories lately, or seen any such movies/TV shows?
Always! Hmm. Let's see... on the movie side from this year alone, the best mythos adjacent things I've seen would be:
"Iron Lung" (A+) followed by "The Deep Dark" (B–)
I suppose "Who Can Kill A Child" (A) could be argued as Lovecraftian, since it's about an evil apocalyptic force on an island that if it escapes to the mainland would bring the end of civilization, but it's maybe more folk horror or societal horror?On the books/short story side, been jumping back and forth from a bunch of different authors including Frank Belknap Long and Carl Jacobi (both of whom I just picked up GIANT omnibus hardcovers of). The latest anthologies from John Langan ("Lost in the Dark") and Laird Barron ("Not a Speck of Light") have some fun cosmic horror, and I just started reading some of Attila Veres' short stories and they're GREAT. The best actual Lovecraft thing I've recently read was Gou Tanabe's manga adaptation of "The Shadow out of Time." That thing is DENSE—with words and art—in a good way!
Thanks, James. I went ahead and ordered Tanabe's The Shadow Out of Time adaptation. Just got it a few hours ago, and look forward to reading it.
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Creative Director
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Thanks, James. I went ahead and ordered Tanabe's The Shadow Out of Time adaptation. Just got it a few hours ago, and look forward to reading it.
Excellent! He's got a lot of others too, so track them down if you enjoy Shadow out of Time! He's got Dunwich Horror coming out later this year I think.
what is your favourite flavor of popcicle?
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Creative Director
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I hate to be a question hog, but cannot resist...
Did you see the movie Weapons? Did you like it?
Zach Cregger, the writer/director of Weapons is working on a new Resident Evil movie? Are you excited for this?
No such thing as a question hog. ASK AWAY!!!
I did see Weapons. It was one of my favorite movies of the year. Funny and creepy and brilliant all at once. PLUS it helped represent horror wins at the Academy Awards—more horror movies became oscar winners this year than ever!
I also quite admired Barbarians.
I'm simultaneously kinda disappointed that Zach Cregger isn't doing more original horror and is getting on a franchise bus, but at the same time I think that franchise needs someone like Zach to step in. I personally don't have a lot of nostalgia attached to Resident Evil... but I do enjoy the games, and had a lot of fun recently with Resident Evil Requiem. PLUS the original inspiration for the entire franchise, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Sweet Home, is great.
All that said, yeah, I'm excited to see what he does with the next Resident Evil movie.
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Creative Director
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With eight years' hindsight: any advice on a Return of the Runelords campaign?
I've just started running it (with a group that went through Rise and Shattered Star); the individual adventures are great but I'm slightly struggling with how to make the connections work. (e.g what do the heroes really gain from chasing down Thybidos)
My main advice would be to convert it to 2nd edition and play it with those rules. :-P (EDITED TO ADD: Note that since you're running this privately, not publishing it, you can mix and match OGL and Remastered rules. No need to swap out OGL monsters for remastered replacements!)
But apart from that, the first step I take whenever I'm prepping an old Adventure Path for revision is to go through the forums here, look around on Reddit, and elsewhere to make a big list of all the suggestions and pain points and applause folks have given it over the years. This helps me to figure out what parts work, what parts need fixing, and what parts could be expanded upon.
As for the "connections," don't worry about trying to make everything lead into everything. A lot of an Adventure Path is just about building an overall theme and expanding the world lore for players to discover (and of course, giving them things to do to earn XP and to find treasure). Make sure to chat with your players between sessions too; see what's working and what parts of the story they're interested in, and that can help you focus on what areas to bolster and what areas to just let pass by.
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Glad to see this back!
With the pivot away from OGL demons that are WotC IP, it feels like a fun opportunity to have more demonic critters based on Golarion-specific lore like ties to Pazuzu or Socothbenoth or Dagon, which I've explored in the 'inconsequential critters' thread. Has that seemed like an option worthy of exploring, or just kind of derivative to you?
I do love the idea of just flat out replacing some OGL critters niches with similarly positioned beasties, like sahuagin with deep ones, or aboleth with krakens, but understand that this isn't to everyone's taste.
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Creative Director
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Glad to see this back!
With the pivot away from OGL demons that are WotC IP, it feels like a fun opportunity to have more demonic critters based on Golarion-specific lore like ties to Pazuzu or Socothbenoth or Dagon, which I've explored in the 'inconsequential critters' thread. Has that seemed like an option worthy of exploring, or just kind of derivative to you?
I do love the idea of just flat out replacing some OGL critters niches with similarly positioned beasties, like sahuagin with deep ones, or aboleth with krakens, but understand that this isn't to everyone's taste.
Yup, and we've already been exploring some of these. Deep Ones are in Monster Core 2, for example, and there's some new Pazuzu stuff back in Stolen Fate. Spore War had a LOT of new demon stuff in it. Socothbenoth, with his sexual violence themes, is unlikely to be someone we do much more with in Pathifnder, though.
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I was just doing some old-school Planescape prep with some '90s-Sigil-converting-to-Galisemni design and the old Faction, 'Society of Sensation' inspired in me a connection to Pathfinder Gnomes and The Bleaching. (I can see Gnomes in Galisemni fighting off the Bleaching and becoming Sensates.)
Here's my question:
Do you remember some of the design origin and inspiration of Pathfinder Gnomes regarding the invention of The Bleaching? Creative origin, the muse, conversations, that kind of thing. Do you agree that Galisemni could make an excellent location for Gnome communities of individuals seeking to fight The Bleaching, or even futilely attempt at a cure?
THANKS in advance!!!
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Creative Director
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I was just doing some old-school Planescape prep with some '90s-Sigil-converting-to-Galisemni design and the old Faction, 'Society of Sensation' inspired in me a connection to Pathfinder Gnomes and The Bleaching. (I can see Gnomes in Galisemni fighting off the Bleaching and becoming Sensates.)
Here's my question:
Do you remember some of the design origin and inspiration of Pathfinder Gnomes regarding the invention of The Bleaching? Creative origin, the muse, conversations, that kind of thing. Do you agree that Galisemni could make an excellent location for Gnome communities of individuals seeking to fight The Bleaching, or even futilely attempt at a cure?
THANKS in advance!!!
In the pre-Pathifnder days, we wanted to give all the core ancestries a new spin that set them apart from D&D, so that they wouldn't feel like they were just from Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms or whatever, but we ALSO wanted them to lean into their themes.
Elves got to be aliens who changed over time to match their surroundings.
Goblins got to be puppy eating singers.
And gnomes got the bleaching. I believe it was Mike McArtor who came up with this one—the idea that gnomes are vibrant energetic creatuers who love color and life, and that when they grew old they aged out of being colorful was a really neat concept. I think that any location that provides a lot of new experiences would be good for gnomes looking to fight against the bleaching. Galisemni's a good option for that, for sure, but so are most places on the once-upon-a-time-called-Chaotic outer planes, really.
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You have mentioned that as DM (when not specifically playing to playtest a specific game for future publication), you generally prefer Sandbox-style and heavier DM-Improv -- with lots of notes,.... How much do you like giving the Players *full*-Sandbox direction, as opposed to more 'general'-Sandbox area?
In other words, if this Grognard were to define 'true' or 'full' Sandbox as the DM saying, "Okay Players, tell me what Setting location you like, kind of game you like, and ambitions/goals your PCs have, and I'll Sandbox-and-Improv everything" -- as opposed to more 'general' or 'restrictive' Sandbox where some Grognard like me may define as a DM saying something like, "Okay guys I want to do an Urban campaign in Absalom with a more 'low-fantasy' more 'realism' kind of game with lots of intrigue, guile and politicking, more like a 'Call of Cthulu'-meets-'Game of Thrones' thing" and let the Players build PCs and concepts for that kind of Sandbox (DM provides guidelines and parameters, then the Players get involved.) Or, if you have a significantly different concept of Sandbox,....
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Again, Many, Many THANKS for your time and thoughts on this!
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Creative Director
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You have mentioned that as DM (when not specifically playing to playtest a specific game for future publication), you generally prefer Sandbox-style and heavier DM-Improv -- with lots of notes,.... How much do you like giving the Players *full*-Sandbox direction, as opposed to more 'general'-Sandbox area?
I enjoy it, to a certain extent, but I always have an ongoing metaplot in the background... sometimes more than one. I do try to encourage the players to interact with the plot, but if they get distracted or go a different direction, that's fun too (and usually results in me adjusting the prior, abandoned plot for a new use).
That said, it depends on the group. The more sandboxy a game gets, the more option paralysis can set in. A lot of groups benefit from obvious direction in the story, since getting four or so players in one space whose characters all want the same thing is kind of rare. This is where having that metaplot handy to focus the characters helps.
I never do the "true" sandbox you describe. I always choose the setting and kind of game and plot, although I do try to set those things up so that my target players will enjoy them. Benefits of gaming with the same folks or with people you already know well, I guess.
EDIT: In hindsight, most of my "sandbox" games aren't remembered as such, because looking back on them, the players can see that the plot they felt was initially wide open was always aimed at the story they ended up playing. A few of these initial big plots disguised as sandboxes went on to inspire Pathfinder Adventure Paths, in fact, including "Curse of the Crimson Throne," "Serpent's Skull," "Seven Dooms for Sandpoint," and portions of "Wrath of the Righteous."
DOUBLE EDIT: Also all the Runelord stuff, now that I think on it, although the plot there was VERY different (originally, these bad guys came back as the result of a TPK in a highly modified version of White Plume Mountain had the PCs get resurrected and then forced to do a raid on an ancient temple of Desna on a remote island that they blew up and then escaped their geas and were able to go atone for destroying the temple by defeating those ancient evil wizards with names like Krune and Zutha and the like... Karzoug and Xanderghul being my versions of Vecna and Kas in those early days, while Alaznist was a drow lich).
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Just found the new reincarnated thread, and welcome back!
I know that 13 Omens is still very much a to be revealed game, but can you talk in general about your thoughts on it, excitement level, etc? Have you played it, run it, or have ideas you're excited to use with it (either in your home game or as future expansion products?)
I'd imagine that Paizo having a horror game would definitely be something you're highly invested in.
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Creative Director
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Just found the new reincarnated thread, and welcome back!
I know that 13 Omens is still very much a to be revealed game, but can you talk in general about your thoughts on it, excitement level, etc? Have you played it, run it, or have ideas you're excited to use with it (either in your home game or as future expansion products?)
I'd imagine that Paizo having a horror game would definitely be something you're highly invested in.
It's good to be back
As for my words on 13 Omens...
My excitement level is something I can share. It's at a 13 on a scale of 1 to 10.
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Creative Director
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I think you'd probably enjoy it, knowing your interests!I have not. Should I?!!! I have missed this thread! Glad to see it back James! Here's one for you about a recent obsession of mine:
Have you read the novel "We Used To Live Here"?
Glimpsed a little at its summary and yeah. It looks like it's right up my alley. PURCHASED! Thanks for the recommendation!
There are waffle irons for sale in Ultimate Equipment. How much damage sould be inflicted if someone got their face waffled? :)
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I was lucky enough to play in a Call of Cthulhu game run by James back at PaizoCon 10. It was late in the evening, so the atmosphere was perfect, and the game was really cool! And of course, James was an amazing GM!
I’ve wanted to get into an actual Call of Cthulhu ever since but haven’t had the opportunity yet …
This brings me to my question. I know there are many different flavors of the Call of Cthulhu game, as well as various versions. Do you have a favorite? Which version would you recommend to someone who might want to pick the game up and try running a game himself?
Thanks!
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Creative Director
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I was lucky enough to play in a Call of Cthulhu game run by James back at PaizoCon 10. It was late in the evening, so the atmosphere was perfect, and the game was really cool! And of course, James was an amazing GM!
I’ve wanted to get into an actual Call of Cthulhu ever since but haven’t had the opportunity yet …
This brings me to my question. I know there are many different flavors of the Call of Cthulhu game, as well as various versions. Do you have a favorite? Which version would you recommend to someone who might want to pick the game up and try running a game himself?
Thanks!
Hah! Rad! What was the adventure about and what character did ya play (if you can remember)? I've been bumping around a notion of writing up those Paizocon Call of Cthulhu adventures I ran at some point to share them but just never got around to it... yet.
With the exception of the most recent edition of Call of Cthulhu, all the previous editions are pretty much the same. Someone getting into the game today? I'd suggest going with the most recent one since it's easier to get. Personally, I like 2nd edition the best but that's 100% due to nostalgia, since it's the edition I started with.
Hello there, I hope you're doing well! I'm new to PF2E. I'm preparing for my very first AP and I am enamored with the Samsaran ancestry. I will be playing a Warpriest of Pharasma for Season of Ghosts and I've been pouring over all your old replies for (bonus!) insight into both the deity and the ancestry, alongside all the official content. What a happy coincidence for a new thread to have opened so recently! Thank you so much for fielding questions.
From what I understand, Samsarans within the reincarnation cycle always materialize after death as Samsarans (blue-skinned, pale-eyed humanoids). I was wondering how this overlaps with versatile heritages and whether or not reincarnated Samsarans could ever manifest heritage-specific features.
I've seen some creative players online roll with the "normal heritage features + blue skin/fur/leaves and pale eyes (if applicable)", but I was really interested to know what you imagined!
(For context, I was interested in running a Nephilim Samsaran and trying to conceive of how that would be possible. Maybe he got lost on the way to the Lake of Mortal Reflections. LOL.)
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I was lucky enough to play in a Call of Cthulhu game run by James back at PaizoCon 10. It was late in the evening, so the atmosphere was perfect, and the game was really cool! And of course, James was an amazing GM!
I’ve wanted to get into an actual Call of Cthulhu ever since but haven’t had the opportunity yet …
This brings me to my question. I know there are many different flavors of the Call of Cthulhu game, as well as various versions. Do you have a favorite? Which version would you recommend to someone who might want to pick the game up and try running a game himself?
Thanks!
Hah! Rad! What was the adventure about and what character did ya play (if you can remember)? I've been bumping around a notion of writing up those Paizocon Call of Cthulhu adventures I ran at some point to share them but just never got around to it... yet.
With the exception of the most recent edition of Call of Cthulhu, all the previous editions are pretty much the same. Someone getting into the game today? I'd suggest going with the most recent one since it's easier to get. Personally, I like 2nd edition the best but that's 100% due to nostalgia, since it's the edition I started with.
The most recent edition is 7th Edition, yes?
Sounds like that’s what I’ll pick up, thanks!I DO remember! The adventure had us all arriving at some famous person’s house / estate but the person couldn’t be found. Occasionally we would hear a strange, faint cry for help crackle over the radio …
Eventually we discovered the missing owner of the house had been reduced to a brain in a jar-like device hooked up to wires / machine of some sort (I can’t recall the details). I think it was some sort of failed experiment?
At one point we fought some winged Cthulu creatures (well, tried to anyway) that were on top of a greenhouse while we were exploring the grounds.
I played a doctor. I remember at the beginning, you let us each request one thing that wasn’t on our sheet and if we could make a valid case for it, you allowed it. I requested a revolver, saying my doctor had been a medic in the war and still had his service weapon. You chuckled and said sure.
I remember firing that gun at those Cthulu creatures on the greenhouse roof and then understanding why you’d chuckled as the bullets had no effect on them and we all ran for our lives!
If was such a great game and everyone had a blast!
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Creative Director
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Hello there, I hope you're doing well! I'm new to PF2E. I'm preparing for my very first AP and I am enamored with the Samsaran ancestry. I will be playing a Warpriest of Pharasma for Season of Ghosts and I've been pouring over all your old replies for (bonus!) insight into both the deity and the ancestry, alongside all the official content. What a happy coincidence for a new thread to have opened so recently! Thank you so much for fielding questions.
From what I understand, Samsarans within the reincarnation cycle always materialize after death as Samsarans (blue-skinned, pale-eyed humanoids). I was wondering how this overlaps with versatile heritages and whether or not reincarnated Samsarans could ever manifest heritage-specific features.
I've seen some creative players online roll with the "normal heritage features + blue skin/fur/leaves and pale eyes (if applicable)", but I was really interested to know what you imagined!
(For context, I was interested in running a Nephilim Samsaran and trying to conceive of how that would be possible. Maybe he got lost on the way to the Lake of Mortal Reflections. LOL.)
Yay! Its always great to hear about folks trying out Adventure Paths for the first time.
In my original take on samsarans, the vast majority are just that. Most of the NPC samsarans aren't going to be unusual when it comes to versatile heritages, but some might. Player characters are an exception. In home games, they're the rarest things out there—there's only like 4 per campaign at a time, after all! So if anyone's going to be unusual or strange when it comes to ancestry and heritage, it's them!
As for a nephilim samsaran, reincarnating as a samsaran on an outer plane might do it. Reincarnating when you have some sort of ancestral curse might do it? Getting exposed to some sort of otherworldly energy that transformed you AFTER you reincarnated might do it. Strange artifacts and capricious deities are also a great way to mix things up.
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Creative Director
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I DO remember! The adventure had us all arriving at some famous person’s house / estate but the person couldn’t be found. Occasionally we would hear a strange, faint cry for help crackle over the radio …
Ah yes! Good times. And yeah... guns in Call of Cthulhu are good against the cultists and criminals... but against monsters, they tend to get you in more trouble since the combination of the false sense of power they grant and how many of the monsters just don't care about guns or are too armored or have so many hit points and so on that by the time you're shooting them, it's already too late. Never mind that just looking at them can blast sanity and now you have a crazed PC in the group with a gun...
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Speaking of older games like CoC, I've recently gotten back into Magic the Gathering after 20 years, and will soon play in a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay game for the first time in over 20 years as well (yay retirement!)
James, what games haven't you played in a long time, but you'd love to get back into either as a one-shot or more regular play, if you had the time?
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Creative Director
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Speaking of older games like CoC, I've recently gotten back into Magic the Gathering after 20 years, and will soon play in a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay game for the first time in over 20 years as well (yay retirement!)
James, what games haven't you played in a long time, but you'd love to get back into either as a one-shot or more regular play, if you had the time?
Call of Cthulhu. With Battletech a distant second.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Wow, 5 days and no new posts on this thread? Based on the original thread, I was expecting 50 posts a day and a struggle to keep up!
To keep the questions rolling, James, what are your favorite TV shows you've watched this year? And any that were pleasant surprises (either had low expectations but were actually good, or simply weren't on your radar ahead of time)?
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Creative Director
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Wow, 5 days and no new posts on this thread? Based on the original thread, I was expecting 50 posts a day and a struggle to keep up!
To keep the questions rolling, James, what are your favorite TV shows you've watched this year? And any that were pleasant surprises (either had low expectations but were actually good, or simply weren't on your radar ahead of time)?
To be fair, the original thread's momentum took a hit when it went into retirement for several years.
TV shows I've been watching this year would be the following:
Fallout season 2
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2
From season 4
Daredevil: Born Again season 1 and 2
Game of Thrones: Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
For All Mankind season 4
The Last Drive In (FINAL SEASON lame)
Of those so far, I think The Last Drive In and From are my favorites, and Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is my second favorite.
No surprises so far this year, really. All of these are either known quantities or ones that I expected to enjoy.
Need to get back to Yellowjackets and The Boys.
And I'm sure I'm forgetting some, though...
What has been the most important change been lately to the design process of AP's? I know they are now single books but is there anything you want to elaborate on about either that change or another momentous change recently to the design process?
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Creative Director
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What has been the most important change been lately to the design process of AP's? I know they are now single books but is there anything you want to elaborate on about either that change or another momentous change recently to the design process?
The switch to single books is the most important change. It impacts pretty much everything in some way, but perhaps the most exciting to me is that it potentially lets us do a single author Adventure Path now and then. Although that's not likely to happen often.
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It has to be one of those impossible but actual coincidences, completely accidental and perhaps even unknown even after almost twenty years. But just in case,....
The name "Avistan" isn't possibly related to "Avestan" is it?
I was doing some initial pre-research for an upcoming campaign featuring Abaddon, Ahriman, & Apollyon and read that Ahriman was the principal Evil 'deity' of the ancient Persian era of "Avestan" and the ancient Avestan language / culture-society. Apparently the last time I included Ahriman in one of my campaigns was pre-Pathfinder / pre-Golarion because I didn't recognize "Avestan." I mean, it's gotta just be a coincidence.
But I'm curious, what is the naming history for Avistan?
Really, I am thrilled as, going into my pre-campaign-research I just wanted some Abaddon & Ahriman & Apollyon inspiration and a good campaign idea. But seeing the name "Avistan" in a whole new light, an easy connection to an apocalyptic campaign where the PCs have to stop those pesky NE *destructors* is going to be great fun.
As always, THANKS (in this case for just confirming a silly coincidence).
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Creative Director
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It has to be one of those impossible but actual coincidences, completely accidental and perhaps even unknown even after almost twenty years. But just in case,....
The name "Avistan" isn't possibly related to "Avestan" is it?
I was doing some initial pre-research for an upcoming campaign featuring Abaddon, Ahriman, & Apollyon and read that Ahriman was the principal Evil 'deity' of the ancient Persian era of "Avestan" and the ancient Avestan language / culture-society. Apparently the last time I included Ahriman in one of my campaigns was pre-Pathfinder / pre-Golarion because I didn't recognize "Avestan." I mean, it's gotta just be a coincidence.
But I'm curious, what is the naming history for Avistan?
Really, I am thrilled as, going into my pre-campaign-research I just wanted some Abaddon & Ahriman & Apollyon inspiration and a good campaign idea. But seeing the name "Avistan" in a whole new light, an easy connection to an apocalyptic campaign where the PCs have to stop those pesky NE *destructors* is going to be great fun.
As always, THANKS (in this case for just confirming a silly coincidence).
I didn't come up with "Avistan" so I can't say for sure. But many of us drew upon the ancient world I would say more for inspiration than the more modern medieval world.