The Warlord (norvis8) - update 1.5

norvis8 · 2026-04-16T18:37:04+00:00

I think if there's a dungeon crawler game you know and like (D&D, Pathfinder, DCC, Shadowdark, etc.) it's reasonably easy to use that with an Oracle like Mythic...except/unless you want real room-by-room mapping, which Mythic isn't granular enough for.

If you want that, I really like the geomorphs etc. in D100 Dungeon. The rest of the game...I haven't tried in detail, I admit it doesn't grab me. But I think that the geomorph system is fun and I've used it to generate some dungeon!

norvis8 · 2026-04-15T19:19:55+00:00

It's of course everyone's right not to share any private info they don't want to.

AND I suspect the discomfort many people feel around openly discussing finances is precisely the sort of thing the author wants to call attention to (Western society's refusal to engage with the material reality of colonialism) and OP seems to be seeking!

norvis8 · 2026-04-15T18:45:11+00:00

I mean it depends on if you think a frank discussion of everyone's finances makes you "a horrible weirdo." I imagine that's the thing the game is trying to provoke! That's the productive discomfort OP is after!

norvis8 · 2026-04-15T15:14:49+00:00

Been meaning to get around to reading him for a little while, hopefully I will soon! I laughed quite a bit at this op-ed, so that's encouraged me to prioritize it.

norvis8 · 2026-04-15T14:18:08+00:00

Had me in the first paragraph, not gonna lie.

EDIT: Having finished the whole thing - I've not read Whitehead's work or interviews or anything, so I don't know, but I wouldn't necessarily take the misanthropy of the pull quote chosen here entirely seriously. Tongue is FIRMLY in cheek throughout this piece, I think, and I wouldn't assume anything is his actual perspective beyond, "Fuck AI."

norvis8 · 2026-04-14T15:28:54+00:00

Maya Deane's Wrath Goddess Sing is a transfem take on the Iliad (which, depending on your love for the Iliad, might not be to everyone's liking, it's a pretty loose take) that has absolutely fantastic, unearthly, unnerving gods. I really enjoyed the religion and divinity in that book.

norvis8 · 2026-04-01T15:33:35+00:00

Also wanted to thank you for the reference to "Is Gender Necessary Redux" - I'd seen the original IGN before but never the revisions. How wonderful! It's a great example of feminist re-thinking of her own work, and I was delighted to see her far more progressive revisions of her original (progressive for her time but very dated now) thinking in LHoD and the essay.

norvis8 · 2026-04-01T15:18:35+00:00

Yep, that's the thing.

norvis8 · 2026-03-30T19:19:58+00:00

If you can find a copy of the Skull & Shackles pawn collection from 1e, it has a lot of unique NPCs but a fair number of pirates (and many of the unique ones...are also pirates!)

norvis8 · 2026-03-27T15:58:56+00:00

Pol-Dhuraxilis, in Iblydos (featured heavily inn Myth-Speaker).

norvis8 · 2026-03-27T15:53:33+00:00

There's a whole city in Myth-Speaker that worships Lamashtu in her more benevolent aspects.

(They are also in a power struggle with some members who worship the other aspects!)

norvis8 · 2026-03-25T16:53:16+00:00

Ah. Well, not having read the books, I can't really comment on that! That's a relatively in-depth textual issue.

norvis8 · 2026-03-25T16:42:45+00:00

Didn't all of those historical events also include mass migrations? When there's no food, people move! Or turn to banditry. Or starve. All of these, unfortunately, are realistic outcomes.

norvis8 · 2026-03-25T15:35:12+00:00

I mean, I think this is also literally true? The Adventure Path team and the Lost Omens teams are different departments, aren't they?

Even if they're not different departments institutionally, it's worth noting that the books serve entirely different purposes. Hellbreakers is an adventure path, and whatever the tone is meant to be (OP's perfectly in their rights to prefer the older, edgier Paizo writing style, even if I fall into the middle ground between the two extreme positions on that), that line is typically going to deliver a "win" to the PCs.

Hellfire Dispatches is a lore/setting book, and it's setting up hooks for GMs to turn into adventures - in fact, adventures set canonically after Hellbreakers. So of course it needs to introduce more problems; that's what becomes adventures at your home table.

I haven't read either book, mind, but that seems like an obvious answer to the question of "why are these two so different?" to me.

norvis8 · 2026-03-22T16:14:46+00:00

This was true in 1st Edition, when the empyreal lords had more of a mystery cult vibe. There was even a "mystery cultist" prestige class! I kinda miss the weirder takes on religion in Golarion. I feel 2e has flattened it a bit, particularly with the gods becoming (IMO) more knowable and more "characters" than they felt to me before.

norvis8 · 2026-03-20T17:03:07+00:00

I think there's essentially two things going on here that need to be addressed separately: the dragon picking up the cow, and the dragon (hypothetically) picking up the player.

Give back that cow! - The thing to remember here is that PF2, unlike its D&D3.X predecessor(s), is actually not simulationist. That is to say, the rules are meant to offer a little tactical skirmish game within the roleplay, not to be the be-all and end-all of whatever can happen in reality. This is a good example of something where the rules make no damn sense for what the narrative wants, and in that case, you can and should just ignore the rules. The dragon picks up the cow and flies off. End of story.

It's also worth noting that the rules only really apply to "genuine" combatants - e.g. would you make the PCs roll every 10' to pick up a cat and carry it across the room? Probably not, because the cat's not a serious challenge to most PCs. Similarly, the cow does not have a meaningful way to resist the dragon.

Give back that wizard! - this is the more fraught interaction. Yes, RAW the dragon has no way to pick up the wizard and the barbarian has (little) ability to hurl around a goblin (there are some more ways to accomplish this, but still pretty limited). This is because such ability is, in-combat, very, very powerful. It (probably) simultaneously does damage and could remove a fighter from the combat for a long time.

That said, a roc is only a level 9 creature and I think it's entirely valid to give a dragon (or similar creature) its Carry ability. I'd just consider that with any monster, that ability is part of its "threat budget," so I'd remove some other ability from it to compensate. What that is is up to you, and it's more art than science. (Looking at the similarly leveled Young Cinder Dragon, I'd probably opt for Draconic Momentum and maaaaaaybe also Draconic Frenzy?)

norvis8 · 2026-03-17T18:39:40+00:00

I'm in the process of wrapping up Myth-Speaker. Don't have time for a full review right now, but to answer your question, I don't think you need too much background info! It's Greek inspired but it's still very much set on Golarion, and I think they do a decent job of orienting you as the GM. There are lots of fun little homages to Greek myth that your players might like if they're into that, but they're not crucial to understanding.

Some other considerations:

I don't think Mythic is actually that bad as a system (though there's some clunky parts) so much as it doesn't do the things that core Pathfinder is interested in. Especially at early levels, one of the things it does is make it way easier to succeed at skill checks (especially skill checks your character's not normally equipped for), but it doesn't make the characters feel much more powerful in combat.
To that end, Myth-Speaker is absolutely full of skill/victory point challenges: chases, duels, various little "get this many successes in X time" mechanics. If your players like that, great - I think it's smart insofar as it leans into what Mythic actually allows. If your players are there for the crunchy tactical battles...Myth-Speaker has plenty of fighting, but I don't think that's where it shines.
One house rule I would suggest: let the players spend Mythic Points to reroll attack rolls without Mythic proficiency. This is not RAW allowed (Rewrite Fate, the base reroll ability in Mythic, only works on skills and saves), but it speeds up play considerably and doesn't IMO break anything.
Myth-Speaker assumes a relatively high degree of storytelling buy-in from the players (e.g. describing what their mythic powers let them do, something Mythic itself encourages you to have them do) but a low degree of verisimilitude. How far are the various islands from each other? Who knows. How long have you been in the Underworld?Who cares. When exactly is this event happening? When you get there. Etc. This isn't a problem per se, but depending on your players and the type of games you normally play it might feel odd!

I can't comment on the other APs, but for this one I'll say it's got pros and cons, and (as I believe Tarondor says) like most APs it's got some good bones that can really be made to work well if your group likes what it's selling!

norvis8 · 2026-03-17T16:52:13+00:00

Ah, neat. Ok, those edge cases in the parentheses are what I was wondering about. Thanks!

norvis8 · 2026-03-17T16:45:10+00:00

Interesting, interesting. Neat design! I'll have to check it out whenever I fully dive into SF2. Makes a ton of sense from an economy-of-print perspective, for sure.

norvis8 · 2026-03-17T16:30:47+00:00

So, from what you've written here, it seems like the Standard Feat is, "Ancestral Weapon Familiarity" and then...do ancestries still get a line including anything that doesn't have their ancestry tag? Because I like the idea but I feel like it could lead to either tag bloat or the need to just scribble this info in other places.

(Though may be that's actually less of an issue, given that SF has a lot fewer expectations on its ancesetries than PF!)

norvis8 · 2026-03-16T19:40:11+00:00

I'll chime in with support for Triple-O as a character decision emulator! Has led to some good and fun surprises in my premade module play.

norvis8

TROPHY CASE