Welcome to Fridays & Functions; a series of a posts that will always deal with what goes on behind the scenes, including design diaries, interviews, technical commentary, etc. First up is a 5 part interview with Frank Carr Author of Heroes of the Jade Oath you can find
Part 1 Here , Part 2 Here Part 3 Here Be on the look out for the Preorder Print and PDF bundle to be available soon at Paizo.com
Illustrations by Kurt Taylor and Claudia Burgos
31. What is your feeling about the Rituals of Choice Adventure Path? (Publisher’s shameless plug)
From what I experienced at GenCon, I think I would really like to get in on the ground floor of this adventure path. I think it is the first real adventure path from 1 thru 25 for Arcana Evolved (AE) and it was pretty fun with some interesting ideas on the day I played it.
32. What is (was) your home AE game like?
Well, we haven't played AE in a while, what with scheduling conflicts and a Ptolus game that we can barely get together to play. When we were playing it most recently, it was more like a series of short playtest sessions wherein I let the players have two characters apiece and we made two different teams that were trying to pass a special adventurer's exam to become magistrates. It involved gladiatorial combat (killing was discouraged) and a survival/race/mystery event to solve. I tried using some third party material that didn't work out well from the DM-making-it-fun perspective, but that is why we were playing this stuff. The players had plenty of fun with their characters though.
33. What is the AE product you want to buy?
I want an AE product like Ptolus, but since Ptolus has rules to adapt it to AE, I guess I already have it. I think I would like the next best thing that would be original and just for AE. It would be a setting/city/location book and an adventure (or maybe even an adventure path/campaign guide if you want to get real ambitious with it) combined with a race/class book with new and unique monsters, magic items, NPCs, prestige classes, feats, optional rules for the location. Oh, and to make it really unique, make all focused on a single race and their influence and maybe even a far reaching special organization of that race that is focused on something that could profoundly alter the setting through the course of the adventure. Monsters would be racial enemies and allies and magic items would be all about the race and classes focused on by the book. For example something like “Rising of the Plains Lords: Litorian Totem Warriors”, “The Creeping Forest Plague: Faen Greenbonds”, or “Dark Pact of the Verrik Godking: Verrik Witches”. The focus of these books would be on not only the named races and classes, but also on an event/adventure(s)/campaign arc and a location (broad and far reaching or just in a specific locale, though preferably the former) with monsters from the plains or the creeping forest or creatures that have been mutated by a verrik curse that has jumped species. The adventures would be things like, “Why are the litorians uprising?”, “What happened in that dark forest to cause it to start creeping about and maliciously killing any it encounters and why are the faen protecting it?”, or “Where did this curse come from and why is it affecting more than just the verrik now?”. For the litorians, the location wouldn't just be about the plains, but about their tribal and nomadic culture. I want these books and many others that I can think of in a similar vein.
34. Can you name for us a totem type, champion type and a witch type that would be cool but you have never seen from the fans?
Let's see... I would like to see a Star witch inspired by ancient star readers of the Heian dyanasty of Japan (and may very well make it soon myself). As for the totem warrior, I have written many of those I want that I haven't seen elsewhere yet. But, all that aside, I guess we haven't seen the boar yet or the crocodile for that matter; after all, the reptiles need more love, too. We wouldn't want to see crocodile tears for lack of including them, now would we? My group created the concept of the Cheetoes Champion. That would be fun to write up. But, you want me to be serious, I suppose, so if I had to choose one I haven't written or seen I would like to see a Champion of the Fey, I think. Something like that could be great for PCs or villains that protect the natural creatures, mystical items, and magic places of the faerie realms
35. What kind of player experience did you hope to create with your game? Did your goals change during the design process? Do you feel that you met them?
I wanted to create an experience where the player would find a really exotic world with adventures from the far east that both met some of his expectations (grounding him in something somewhat familiar yet not of his own culture), but at the same time blowing away many of his other expectations and preconceived notions and stereotypes with something more based in the cultures and stories of the far east that was also imaginative, original, and evocative. I also did not want to lose the original feel of Arcana Evolved. You might say that I just wanted to add a little ginger to it. I don't think that premise ever really changed, though a lot of my preconceived notions changed during the process of researching and writing the book. I'm not sure if I met those expectations, but I sure hope I did.
36. What does AE need more of?
I think AE needs more written about the concepts that were unique to it vs. other 3rd edition products and concepts such as truenames, oaths, ceremonies, magic totems, spirits, what exactly is the Green and the Dark, the akashic memory, what does it really mean to become a mojh, what exactly was the curse laid upon the Verrik and the circumstances surrounding it, where did the giants really come from, and what is a day in the life of a faen like.
37. What advice would you give to fans of AE?
Go and look for products that support AE and purchase them and then turn right around and critique them to make them better and encourage the publishers of those products to create more and better AE products. If you want a product about AE in space, let it be known and see if you can drum up support. Being vocal and supportive of what you want is the way to be heard and maybe even getting someone to write something you think you would like to see. Jade Oath wouldn't have happened if it weren't for folks who did just that and then kept on hitting me over the head with their opinions about my ideas and how they wanted to see me write them down in a serious product some day.
38. What do you think the future is for AE?
I think that AE has a dedicated and supportive community that will stick around for many more years. Those who weren't happy with 3rd edition, but also don't feel that all the changes made in 4th edition were too drastic will probably give AE a try if they haven't already. As long as there are publishers who will support AE I think there will be an audience for AE and it might even grow as word keeps getting out about what a great product Monte Cook has created and what Rite Publishing is doing.
39. Is there anything else the world should know about you?
Not really. There is a lot to know, but I am not comfortable being in the public spotlight. I guess I could tell you guys that I grew up spending my summers on a carnival for the first 11 years of my life and that I have been in the military my entire adult life. I am married to a woman from Asia and have two great boys. I like shows like Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Farscape, Supernatural, 11th Hour, Babylon 5, Chuck, Heroes, Life, and Band of Brothers, though I have little time to watch any of them. I also like books, comics, and video games, but I seldom get to enjoy them (almost never in the case of video games). Online gaming absolutely annoys me so much that I will probably never ever do it. I prefer living in the country and have a phobia of crowds. And even though it terrifies me every time I do it, I enjoy jumping out of airplanes while in flight.
40. Is there anything else the world should know about AE?
Well, I think that word has already gotten out about what a great system it is. So, I don't really know what else to say about it. I guess people should know that it helps to facilitate fantasy settings where magic is more common and can affect the every day life of characters and NPCs from all walks of life. Rituals and ceremonies are more easily created and duplicated in this system than in any other D20 system I have ever seen, both for players and NPCs. It emphasizes fantasy archetypes and tropes seldom emphasized by other D20 systems, if at all. What other D20 system lets you play a giant, a spryte, an akashic, a runethane, or a witch right away at first level and then further emphasize your racial archetype with racial or evolved levels as you progress?
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