KD 304: Howl of the Wild
[00:00:00] Esther: Hello, and welcome to Know Direction, your number one source for Pathfinder news, reviews, and interviews. I’m Esther!
[00:00:28] Navaar: And I’m Navaar.
[00:00:29] Esther: And listeners, we are back! And we are so thankful for your patience with our absence. Scheduling is fun, and life is fun!
[00:00:39] Navaar: It’s like we never left.
[00:00:40] Esther: It’s like we never left! And today, we are going to be talking about Howl of the Wild. My review of this product is: great book, you should definitely buy it. The end.
[00:00:52] Navaar: Yep. The end. Yeah. In my home game, one of the players sent a meme of like the Florida alligator man, it was half man, half alligator. And she was like, “Yeah, if my character dies, this is who I’m going to be.” And I was like, “Well, funny you should say that. You can be a sentient alligator.” So yeah. If that doesn’t sell you on this book, I don’t know what will. I mean, maybe that’s not your thing and that’s fair, but there’s other things in here to sell you on the book, primarily in ancestries. But the ancestries — the whole book is amazing. The ancestries was like, yeah, you got me!
[00:01:29] Esther: Yeah. Absolutely. Do we want to do our usual thing of, like, talking about kind of the setup of the book, and then we’ll get into some of the ancestry stuff, and then go from there?
[00:01:40] Navaar: Yes. Love it.
[00:01:43] Esther: Cool.
Introduction to Howl of the Wild
[00:01:43] Navaar: Yeah. So essentially this book set up is like set up as this like scholar who’s going out into the world to do research on these things called Wardens, which are like these gigantic protectors of different they’re basically like these protectors of different aspects of the world.
And so I believe it’s Baranthet is the, is the gentleman’s name, a lizardfolk. And so he’s like, all right, I’m going to set out on this trip. And it’s like, it’s very, like set in story. It’s a, it’s a fun way to introduce all this stuff. And so he sets out to do this journey. He makes these schematics for this airship, and then he hires a crew. And the crew that we meet are all these really fun characters who also happen to represent the different ancestries that are introduced in this book.
And I think of like NPCs that Pathfinder has made, Anchor Root is my favorite. Like many people, we all love Anchor Root.
Anchor Root is special, she’s precious. But Charikleia, the minotaur is also precious. We will do anything for her, we will save her life. She will live forever. So yeah, that’s my introduction to this book.
[00:03:10] Esther: I think the only thing I would add to that is the ship’s name is the Zoetrope and it like features a lot in the book. This book reminds me a lot of Treasure Vault in the way that the NPC voices, or Baranthet’s voice in particular, is incorporated. And it’s just like such a strong character voice woven throughout this book that you really do feel like you’re reading his field notes, which is just so cool. Shout out to the writing team for that, y’all knocked it out of the park!
Yeah, so there are one, two, three, four, five, six new ancestries, and they are Athamaru, the fish people; Awakened Animal; Centaur; Merfolk; Minotaur; and Surki, which are like insect people who kinda remind me of cicadas with some of their lore.
And I have notes on three of these ancestries in particular, but is there like any one that you’re like, I really wanna talk about that one?
[00:04:08] Navaar: Um, I’m– I think that they’re all awesome. The centaurs are amazing, I feel like that’s your favorite one.
[00:04:16] Esther: That’s, that’s one of the ones I have notes on.
[00:04:18] Navaar: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the Surki… incredible. And the Minotaur, I think just like the Minotaur is such a fun thing, and I think like, the fact that they’ve still incorporated like mazes into their culture in a small way is really fun.
But yeah, I think the fun thing too — so the Athamaru and the mermaids, the Merfolk, are both ocean species. Like, you can run a campaign underwater, and then you have an Awakened Animal where it’s like, “Cool, I’m gonna be a dolphin, an Awakened dolphin. Or an Awakened orca.” Terrifying. But, it’s really fun. Like it really opens up a lot of ways to play. I think like, similarly to Treasure Vault, this book inspired me to be like, I have new ideas now of campaigns to run, or you know, of oneshots to run, etc, etc.
The other really cool aspect that they added is that you can now be a Large creature. So the Minotaur and the Centaur are Large, but you can also be a Large Awakened animal. And so that is such a fun thing. That’s when it’s like, “Okay, well, I could be, you know, a smaller orca. I could be a great white shark. And then we could have our underwater campaign.” And… yeah.
Yeah. Plus, plus, plus, plus. So I don’t know. I mean, I could talk about all of them, but like, which one particularly was stuck out to you? Or which one do you want to talk about first of those three that you have listed?
Awakened Animals
[00:05:46] Esther: So the three I have listed are Awakened Animal, Centaur, and Merfolk. Just like quickly going off of what you said, I think this opens up underwater campaigns in like a whole new way for Pathfinder, which I am so into. I think that the design is brilliant. I have long wanted to play in a water-based campaign, but I felt like it would be too hard and there would just be so much that I would have to like, think about and do. And this totally opens up new horizons. Love it.
Maybe we start with Awakened Animal, because I actually have some experience GMing for an Awakened Animal. Listeners, if you haven’t listened to Chromythica, one of my players plays an Awakened Husky. And Justin came to me with this idea, like, three and a half years ago now, and was like, “Hey, if we’re gonna do a campaign that we maybe record, how would you feel if I played an Awakened Animal? There’s not really a total path for it, but like, we could come up with something.” And I was like, “Yes, absolutely.” And so we did. We like, kind of used the Shoony ancestry to adapt some things for him. But he really encountered this kind of interesting challenge in that there’s not a culture that one automatically adopts as an Awakened Animal. And it’s thinking, like, what is it like to be a being in the world that has all of these skills and abilities but is coming to consciousness for the first time?
Like, how do you age? How do you mentally age? Like, are you a toddler two years after you’ve Awakened, or are you an adult? Like, such interesting challenges. And one of the things that I was so pleased about when I sent Justin the Awakened Animal chapter of this book, is he was instantly like, “This is so perfect. This is exactly what I would have wanted out of an Awakened Animal. Can I change my build to incorporate these feats?” And I was like, “Of course, of course.” So that being said, some of the stuff they talk about in here is that there are different experiences of being Awakened. There are few enough Awakened animals that there are no prevailing cultures.
I thought that was so interesting, the resonance there with like, what Justin wound up going with. And they tend to see the world in terms of natural order, which is also something that we have kind of gravitated to in Ember’s build and design as a character. And I thought that was really cool that it wound up in the same place.
Like you said, they can be anywhere from Tiny to Large, which I think is so cool. They all have pretty much like some kind of animal based attack, and they can remember animal instincts and be affected by spells and other effects as if they were animals, and also communicate with at least animals of their type. So like Ember, for instance, could communicate with other dogs, use Diplomacy to Make An Impression, that kind of stuff. I think that’s super cool.
They have heritages for climbing animals, swimming animals, running animals, flying animals, a lot of different heritages in there that give you cool abilities like swimming speeds, burrow speeds, land speeds, all of that stuff. And you can often build those out with the feat tree they provide, which I thought was really lovely, especially for flying animals, which you kind of have to take feats in order to unlock your full range of abilities.
The animal attacks are antler, beak, claw, fangs, fist, horn, jaws, tail, tail and tongue and wing, all 1d6 or 1d4. And, I can talk about feats, but I’ve talked a lot. So yeah, that’s like, that’s Awakened Animal stuff.
[00:09:22] Navaar: Yeah, I love the idea. This was like… well, one, Dimension 20 recently did a series where the cast was all stoats. And they were, quote, “Awakened,” right? Quote unquote, “Awakened,” in a way. Like, but this clearly is like, would be such a better way to do that. No shade at all to the cast, just the mechanics of these.
But I do think also too, in that same way, I was like: like how cool would it be to… you’re playing in Absalom, for instance, and you’re, like, Awakened mice. And it’s like, the world of Absalom is still working around you, but you’re just these Tiny mice that, like, now have sentience, now have, like, little swords. And you’re like aware that you’re naked and you’re like — all of the things are like, okay. Like and then people just like, passerbys being like, “Was that mouse wearing a waistcoat? Like wearing a needle on its side?” But yeah, like just like the how fun it would be to like, you know, what is that world like now? What is like, what are the things that are like, monsters to you? You know what I mean? What’s it like to face something that like appears to be a giant, and it’s just like a normal Medium-sized human?
You know what I mean? Like I think it would just be like such a fun, such a fun way to play that, where you’re interacting with a different aspect of the same world. And it doesn’t even have to be like epic scale fantasy stuff. Like you could still — I mean, cats are dangerous to you. You know what I mean?
So yeah. I think that would be really fun. But then of course, like just being a Large animal is great. Just a big bear or Awakened tiger. I think that… I mean, we always talk about the art. Of course, the art is incredible as always. The art for the Awakened Animals is really cool. They did some really amazing designs with different ways of like, seeing them.
There’s one that has a picture of a, uh, a deer. What’s, uh [pensive sounds] a buck, if you will. But he has, like, human hands, right? Um, and is doing some Druid stuff. And I think, like, that’s such a cool — it’s a cool image, first of all. But then it’s very, like, if you’re a Druid and you’re, you know, looking, thinking about, like, who your, who your deity might be, there’s a lot of like, really cool imagery that you can play with.
So, yeah, I think it’s just a really fun way to play this. To be like, yeah, “I’m an Awakened tiger that’s now bipedal and I met, and I’m meeting catfolk who are like, ‘Are you one of us?’ And it’s like, no. No, we are different. And I can’t explain how, but I know we’re different.” Yeah.
[00:12:01] Esther: I love that, I love that. It takes me back to one thing I forgot to say, is that the Awakening canonically alters your form somehow as an Awakened animal. So like, you, they often do become bipedal or something similar and like, the buck gets hands clearly. That’s so interesting. It’s another place of resonance with what we wound up doing with Ember, who’s not bipedal and doesn’t wear clothes. But his body did change as a result of his Awakening. And it was kind of as a result of being a multiclass Barbarian and Oracle, but he’s very hot to the touch. And so I loved like, that we kind of both wound up going this parallel route of the body changes in a really tangible way as a result of this, this process, this moment. Yeah, I just think it’s, it’s so cool to think about what, what an Awakened Animal’s experience of the world would be. I love your Absalom, envisioning these mice and like, what must their lived experience be
[00:12:55] Navaar: like?
Yeah. Or like if a batch of them just like living under a, you know, wizard’s tower or whatever, like the spell seeps through the floor. And then you just have like this batch of like rodents that now become Awakened. And like, what do you do with that life? It would be fun. I would enjoy that.
But yes. Awakened Animals would be… it’s a really fun ancestry, uh, with a lot of options to allow you to do some great customization. other thing that because nerds slash affectionate are so– can be so into like, “the way that the rules are written and it’s not in here, so whatever!” mental gymnastics, I love that they were just like, you can always find weapons and armor to fit the size of thing that you are. Like it’s available.
And I think that that’s such a great… without making it a big, like, you gotta go to this special shop and blah blah blah blah blah, it’s just like, you find it. Let’s not complicate it. We’re playing a fantasy game. The fiction is already stretched. It’s stretched so far. Let’s just have fun now.
So I really love that concept. And I’m glad that they, I’m glad that they wrote it in.
[00:14:04] Esther: Me too. It’s, it’s one thing that I really highly recommend as a GM. Justin is a little bit different than me in that sometimes he can go the route of like, “Well here’s what’s written. It’s gonna be like kind of a big deal to go outside of this, are you okay with that?” And I, of course, am like “Yeah, let’s do something totally different!”
So I compromised for us, and part of the rationale behind setting Chromythica in the beginning in a city of gnomes is that there’s such creativity and invention there. I was like, Ember will be able to find what he needs here. And if he can’t find the thing, he’ll find somebody who will make it for him.
And I think that’s really important to provide a character like this. And I just gotta say, as someone who’s been GMing for an Awakened Animal for like, two and a half years now: it’s so much fun. Please let you players do this. It’s so much fun.
[00:14:53] Navaar: Yeah. Truly. Yeah. It seems like it would be a great time. That was the one, like in terms of like where I can go with next campaign-wise, Awakened Animals was the one that inspired me the most. And then I think underwater was the next one after that. And centaurs are just like this, I mean, I’ve wanted to be a centaur since I learned what a centaur was.
[00:15:15] Esther: They’re so cool.
[00:15:16] Navaar: Yeah. I can’t remember the name of the author that I read as a child that had centaurs in his book. He might be a problematic author, so it’s probably better I don’t remember his name. But I do remember there were centaurs and there were fauns in the book, and nymphs.
[00:15:33] Esther: C. S. Lewis?
[00:15:34] Navaar: No…
[00:15:35] Esther: ‘Cause he’s also a little bit problematic, but he has all of those.
[00:15:39] Navaar: Yeah.
But when they came out with the movies, that was really cool. That was like, yeah. It’s such, I mean, who doesn’t want to be half horse?
Centaurs
[00:15:48] Esther: Right? I mean I have been… since I’ve been looking forward to the centaur since it was announced, maybe we should talk about the centaur.
[00:15:56] Navaar: Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
[00:15:58] Esther: Yeah. I can do just like a brief intro and then we can get into like, what impressed us about them. They are kind of written as guardians of nature where balance is really important to them maybe because some of their ancestors kind of threw nature out of balance, and so now it’s like, culturally a value to really tend things carefully and make sure that nature is preserved and loved and cared for.
They are nomadic. I wrote “happiest when mobile, like physical contests and sports. Most are an average size of 7 feet tall and 2, 000 pounds.” And I wrote “Yes. Hot.”
[00:16:34] Navaar: Yeah.
[00:16:35] Esther: Their coat markings used to be used to divine futures, which is less popular now with the death of prophecy, but sometimes if somebody is born with a rare marking that can be considered a good omen or a bad omen.
You’re Large, you have a land speed of 30 feet, 8 hit points, darkvision, and as a centaur you can be a mount to a PC one size smaller than you, uh, which is different because usually it has to be two sizes, I think. But it’s written that they don’t like being ridden except by like close friends or in really dire circumstances.
Yeah, that’s like a little intro. What else about centaurs stands out?
[00:17:14] Navaar: I’m just gonna say again, because I think like one of the things I enjoy about our show is just talking about inspirations — hopefully somebody takes these and runs with them, because lord knows you and I don’t have the time to do it! Somebody that we know please run Pathfinder for us! — but I thought this was like…
Okay, because, uh, if you know me, you know, that I love a great just two player campaign.
Keep it simple, keep the scheduling easy, have a great dynamic, spotlighting is easy. But having two players who one is a centaur and one is a Medium-sized creature that their dynamic is they work in tandem. They’re — one rides the centaur. And then the eventual conflict that arises of just being in a party with somebody?
I love it. Like, narratively, I’m like, yeah. Give me that.
[00:18:09] Esther: That’s so good.
[00:18:11] Navaar: I just want… I just want a tense, fictional conflicts. That’s what I live for. So, anyway. Yeah. That’s… centaur’s awesome. But I do just love, the, sort of, like, the way it’s built around this nomadic groups, very tight bonds with each other.
Um, you can have, oh, mottle, mottle-coat centaurs. So there’s — one of the types is that you have like a specific type of coat that helps you camouflage, which I think is so fun. And then as I was thinking, as I like initially like, “Okay, centaurs. Cool. But are there little…? ‘Cause there are Shetland ponies, like what’s…?” And you can be a Small centaur! And that’s just a lot of fun, character-wise. I don’t, I’m not a big person, like I’m not a big fan of like, playing small characters. It’s like one of those like mental blocks that I just haven’t gone around, but I might play a ponygait centaur, because just seems, seems like it would be a good time.
So, yeah, the wording for it is: “you’re smaller than most other centaurs, though no less fleet of foot. Instead of Large, your size is Medium. And you gain a plus one circumstance bonus to Reflex saving throws.” But I just love like, the interpersonal conflict of like people telling you you’re cute all the time or thinking you’re too short and like having like, Napoleon complex or like, you know, you think you’re a short king or whatever.
Like, I think it’s just like a lot of fun to be like, you’re fully, you know, five and a half feet, six foot tall. But… but you’re smaller than the other centaurs and it stands out when you’re around them, so.
[00:19:45] Esther: I love that so much. I love that so much. Yeah, I’m trying to think if there’s — like, there’s some really fun heritages. There’s one that gives you, like, a five foot increase of your land speed. In addition to the ones you’re talking about. There’s, like, their spiritual lives are kind of centered around greenspeakers and faithspeakers. Greenspeakers being, like, nature oriented, faithspeakers being divinity oriented. And there’s a heritage that kind of gets into that and gives you, like, different Primal cantrip options to cast innately.
The thing I really loved was reading some of the feats. And there’s, like a feat 5 is Accommodating Mount, which if you’re going this build of like, you’re gonna be a mount for another party member in battle, you — if they are riding you, they get to take full 3 actions on their turn, as opposed to the 2 they would usually be able to take.
You can only take 2, but I just thought that was like, really cool. And like, what a great incentive to, to use that ability. Yeah.
[00:20:42] Navaar: But yeah, even, yeah, even that of like being less effective, right? Than the other person, and what does that look like? I just think it’s so much fun. We should have this. The other one I really enjoyed was — especially cause it’s like a feat 9 and it seems, it seems high for this, but I do enjoy it — it’s Fierce Competitor. And essentially, basically like you can call out to a friend and be like, “I’m gonna knock that guy down before you do,” or “I’m gonna climb this wall,” whatever, like, whatever it is, like, you set the goal, and the two of you compete to do it first. And I just think that that like, from a combat level, like, imagine being the person that’s like, “Did they just make a competition out of beating me up?”
Yeah, they did! And when they’re done, they get bonuses for it. And actually, in the midst of it, they’re getting bonuses to do it now because they’re calling each other out to see who can do it, with complete disregard for you, the enemy. So I think it’s a really fun, it is a, it is a feat nine, but it is, it is a lot of fun. It stood out to me as, as an option.
But I just like, I think like just having sort of this culture around Athletics, I think, is a lot of fun. And like, if you’re going to like, take it to this level, combat, it seems like a good place to do it. So.
Merfolk
[00:21:56] Esther: Totally. Totally. Should we move on to merfolk?
To touch the underwater stuff?
[00:22:02] Navaar: Yeah, yes.
Yeah. So merfolk essentially… I mean, you know, people slash fish. The merfolk differ largely from the, I’m gonna keep forgetting how to say that name correctly. The Athamaru! In that the merfolk are like very much more like, uh, magic oriented, innately. It seems like they’re more like based around like their civilization, architecture, a lot more stuff that’s closer to humans.
I think this is one of the areas — because I think both of these fit and they both seem like they’d be a lot of fun to play, but I do feel like this is a spot in Howl of the Wild where it seems like there was like very much a — I don’t know if this — and I don’t know. This is me speculating. It does seem like this was like a carryover from First Edition lore in that there is still a level of class divide. Because it even says like the Athamaru — or like, I believe that it says like they were oppressed by other sea folk. And I think that there’s like, this is like one of those areas that I was like, it’s just touched on a little bit, but it does feel… a little bit out of place. And I can’t explain it better than that.
But I just think it was one of those things that I was like, “Hmm, this is an interesting thing.” Again, both of them seem really cool. Like the Athamaru like have a lot of cool stuff that they can do. Like, you can basically like gain this carapace over your body. There’s a whole bunch of stuff!
But it was an interesting thing of like… well, and then of course, and here’s these like pretty merfolk people, with their siren songs and, and their beautiful coral reef architecture. So.
[00:23:47] Esther: I feel you. That’s, that’s such an interesting point and I feel like I’m gonna have like an intersecting slash parallel one when we get to werecreatures. Yeah, I… I feel like there’s a very like, there’s a desirability construction in the merfolk, in the art, in the way that they are portrayed as very like… I’m gonna say, uh, stereotypically hot in a lot of ways.
Even the– except the deep water one.
[00:24:15] Navaar: The abyssal one, that’s a little…
[00:24:16] Esther: You know —
[00:24:17] Navaar: Depending on who you are…!
[00:24:18] Esther: To some people! Depending on who you are, yeah. But the, the Athamaru, it, it felt… you’re right, like there’s a bit of a class divide that just something in there feels a little bit funky. But I’m having trouble articulating what it is exactly. But yeah.
But, that being said, there’s great stuff in both of them. They’re super cool. I would, I would be happy to play a character of either ancestry. And yeah, I feel like merfolk stats are somewhat similar to humans. Like you’re Medium sized, you get a swim speed of 25 feet, you get, 8 hit points. They’re very diverse societie. There is a merfolk society in a salt lake in the River Kingdoms, which I found really cool. And what else did I write?
Oh, you have darkvision, I think? The abyssal merfolk have darkvision, that’s it. And so you can be abyssal. You can be essentially a shark person merfolk, where your cool heritage power is that you get imprecise scent to 30 feet, but if there’s blood spilled on land, you can smell that at a range of 120 feet and 500 feet in the water.
And I was like, “Oh, yes. Cool.”
[00:25:26] Navaar: Yeah, yeah, the art for that one is so good too. Just like this shark lower body. Yeah, it’s really good. I do love Apprentice Sea Witch as a feat. You’re familiar with basic spells that most educated merfolk know. Once per day you can cast either Create Water or Hydraulic Push at first rank. Each time you cast Create Water you can choose if you create fresh water or salt water.
This is a little dark, but I do wonder if you can cast Create Water in somebody’s mouth.
[00:25:55] Esther: Ooh. I would allow it!
[00:25:55] Navaar: I mean, this seems like, yeah? And then make it seawater. So it’s like, even if you don’t drown, you’re gonna not feel great about this. But yeah, merfolk are really cool.
It is interesting, to get in a situation where it’s like, where, you know, if you’re out of water for a certain amount of time, I think it’s 24 hours, like, you start to take penalties. Which I love a good penalty.
There is this submarine chair. I have not figured out… I don’t know if I’ve skipped it or what, but I can’t, I don’t know if they explain more about this, but the art’s really cool.
[00:26:28] Esther: They do. I think it’s in, like, the items section.
[00:26:32] Navaar: Oh, that makes sense.
[00:26:33] Esther: I wrote a note about it somewhere, but now I can’t find it. A supramarine chair, and essentially, I think — like a wheelchair, if you need to use a wheelchair in the game — that you can just have it, and it’s a thing you can just, you can just have. And then you can probably, like, outfit it certain ways.
But yeah, it’s essentially like a chair where your, your fish buddy goes into the chair, and it is, like, has water.
[00:26:58] Navaar: So you can be out of water. Yeah, that’s amazing.
[00:27:01] Esther: It’s really cool.
[00:27:02] Navaar: Yeah. What was your favorite feat?
[00:27:05] Esther: So it was really hard to pick, because there were a bunch of cool ones. I’m just gonna say, y’all should check out the two 17th level merfolk feats. They’re both really cool, and if you’re at 17th level — I know it’s a lot to get there — but, check them out.
[00:27:20] Navaar: Do a one-shot. Yeah.
[00:27:21] Esther: But I think my favorite is the Healing Flesh 5th level feat, where you can take like one damage to spill a drop of your blood, and when you do that you don’t need to use healer’s tools to Administer First Aid, Treat A Disease, or Treat Wounds. And you gain a plus one item bonus to your Medicine check.
And… now this is a little grim, but you know I love a little grimness sometimes! If you die and someone eats your heart and liver within an hour of your death, they are healed of all physical wounds and will cease to age for eight years. And my seed of a campaign brain was like, “I want to play a character where their merfolk friend died and for some reason they had to eat their heart and liver and now they’ve ceased to age for eight years.”
[00:28:14] Navaar: Just start with that. Just that’s the opening scene of the campaign.
[00:28:18] Esther: Right? Somebody, uh, , if I don’t use that in an actual play, or a cam— please use that.
[00:28:24] Navaar: Yeah, please do that.
[00:28:25] Esther: Begging for that.
[00:28:28] Navaar: Yeah, that’s so good. Um, yeah, really, really good. I do yeah. I mentioned earlier the Siren Song, which is basically what you think it would be. You can bewitch and beguile with your song. I do love that it’s not gendered, both as the singer and the target. I think that’s great.
And then Tears of Pearl is just fun too. It’s also a feat 9. You could just like, with two actions, start crying a bunch of pearls on the floor. And then like, if people fail their check, then they just become so like, “Ah, I gotta get this! Priceless rare pearls!” And then they are in a disadvantage, disadvantageous position.
So, yeah. It’s been a lot of fun.
Uh, I do like — so this is just to kind of touch on the minotaur slightly, and the centaur, and then also jumping ahead to something down the road. But, I believe it’s a spell, one of the spells you can now get is to summon a stampede. And I really love like, visually, that you can summon like a whole stampede of cattle, essentially, to trample somebody. But as a centaur or a minotaur, you can also stampede and trample people as well. And so, like, I think, like, just the idea of, like, doubling that up in combat would be really fun, visually.
[00:29:44] Esther: Totally. That’d be awesome.
[00:29:47] Navaar: But yes, the other thing — just cause, I think the other ones are mostly pretty obvious. The Surki is really cool because they don’t have to eat or drink, they just absorb magic constantly through life as they’re existing. They remind me of, for anybody who’s seen Young Justice, I can’t remember the character’s name, but there’s like a little bug guy, uh, in like season 3, 2 and 3 I wanna say. Or 3 and 4. Um, very much like him.
That’s what I think of. But yeah, so in that they’ve added a bunch of other things, special archetypes and special equipment and special things just to add to both your character’s ancestry and also some of your, some of the specific classes as well.
Archetypes
[00:30:33] Esther: Totally. I wrote down some of these and like if there’s any that you want to talk about in particular — I wrote, like, most for the Swarmkeeper and the Werecreatures. But essentially they start with, like, Barbarian and Druid Untamed Morphs. They give new Warden spells and Ranger options.
They give new Witch Patron options and like, Zoophonic Bard builds, which is really cool. And then the new archetypes are the Beastmaster, which I think is an updated one. The Clawdancer, which is like about using your claws and physical movement to fight more effectively. Um, the Ostilli Host, which are, they’re little amorphous organisms that share symbiotic relationships with surkis and give magical boosts to abilities.
And I wrote here, “If you are a Star Trek fan, this reminds me of the Trill and their symbionts!” And I wrote “Trill! Dax!” exclamation points, so shout to all you Trek fans out there. Yeah, anything in there thus far that you wanted to like, shout out?
[00:31:31] Navaar: Yeah, I just wanted… I mean, Ranger is my favorite class, even when it’s done badly. It’s not done badly here, but just to point that out, I just, it’s hard to beat, uh, in my brain. But one of the fun things, one of the advanced Warden Spells is Canopy Crawler, where for 10 minutes you grow a prehensile tail that you can use to have access to one of your hands while you’re climbing.
But if you have the Combat Climber feat, then you get both your hands free. And that’s just fun.
That was a really fun one. The Witch’s one is just so good because I love — I, one of the things I really love about Pathfinder is like, the Witches don’t have to necessarily be scary, but when the Witches are scary, that’s really good. Like when your hair moves and is grabbing stuff, that’s terrifying.
When your nails are like super long and wild, terrifying. Uh, when you are a devourer of decay, yeah, that’s terrifying. But it’s really good also. So I take it. I accept it. And I do love this beautiful little gnoll Witch that they have as the artwork. So good.
[00:32:44] Esther: I was, I was trying desperately to remember the name gnoll when I was looking at that art because I was like, they’re so beautiful, I love this so much. And yeah, the art’s on page 61, for those who want to know.
[00:32:57] Navaar: Yeah. And then I think the other one… the Clawdancer is really good. We were talking, I think we were talking before we started recording. There’s a lot of really cool options for Monks and, you know, if you’re building a Fighter class that’s unarmed, Clawdancer is one of them. If you’re playing a catfolk or an Awakened cat, or other animal that has claws — but it is like a catfolk- flavored thing specifically. But it’s just really cool to just be like, here’s this, you know, fighting style with all these special feats to help you lean into it heavily. I really just enjoy that and the Swarm keeper’s —
[00:33:39] Esther: So cool.
[00:33:39] Navaar: And terrifying also, but very cool.
[00:33:41] Esther: You can, your body can host a swarm of insects and you can emit it and have them do things. And oh, a note I made about this one is you can’t have an animal companion if you have a swarm. But if you have another dedication or something that lets you have two animal companions, your swarm can count as one, which is interesting. Yeah. Anyway, go ahead!
[00:34:03] Navaar: Good stuff. Yeah, the other one that was sort of Monk slash Fighter coded was the Thlippit Contestant. Uh, which basically is for… why can’t I remember the name? Uh, the frog people. And you, it’s like a, basically like using your tongue like a whip. Um.
[00:34:20] Esther: The tripkees?
[00:34:21] Navaar: Yeah, yes. So if you’re a Star Wars Acolyte fan, maybe for some reason that I will not explain for spoiler reasons, this might appeal to you. We’re gonna move on.
[00:34:37] Esther: Real quick, real quick. So we were talking about the Monk thing beforehand, and I thought you were saying you weren’t expecting the Monk stuff. And I was like, yeah, I didn’t see that coming! But were you expecting it? ‘Cause I, I was like seeing the Ranger stuff coming and like the Barbarian stuff.
I was like, there’s gotta be that in this book! But I was really taken by surprise by how much Monk flavored stuff there is. And I loved it. So I was just curious, like, is that something you expected for this?
[00:35:04] Navaar: No, definitely a pleasant surprise. I do think I think, like, if we were, I guess being more, like, critical about, like, analyzing, like, what books are coming out, et cetera, et cetera, then it maybe wouldn’t have been a big surprise, just following Tian Xia. However, I was pleasantly surprised, and I’m glad that I was surprised about it.
I think it’s just fun. I think, like, having options for classes — especially classes that historically over fantasy TTRPGs as a genre, have been sort of ignored or, or done badly — I think like having those extra options there to build out, I think it’s a lot of fun. And so I think like, taking the time to add those specific things in here, I think is great.
To not have certain character classes feel as left out. Though, I mean, obviously there are some… none of these are specifically Cleric or Wizard. I’m trying to think of, like, what’s, what’s canon in our first Player’s Core rulebook. But, yeah. So, I was pleasantly surprised.
I was not expecting it. I enjoy it because I love martial arts stuff. But, yeah. Let’s get into these werecreatures.
Werecreatures
[00:36:10] Esther: Yeah, let’s get into these werecreatures. Yeah, what are your overall thoughts? Because I have many thoughts.
[00:36:16] Navaar: So, I like that you can take on the dedication, and I like that you can use your werecreature form whenever you want. And I do like that during a full moon you don’t get to control it, it just, you change. But you get to control your character; you just can’t change back. To me, it seems like it’d be fun in a way of that’s like, not penalizing for characters that allows for like, the space for you to decide on how you want to interact with that. I immediately — because I have, my character Kidogo, who is in my Strength of Thousands campaign, is a gnoll Sorcerer, divine Sorcerer.
I was like, what if I became a hyena werecreature, and then I could just turn into a Large hyena. And I have a hyena, little tiny Small hyena familiar. She’s the best. And so, yeah, anyway, very hyena themed. But I was like, this would be fun! Like to me, I would enjoy that. Because we’ve, you know, in that campaign, you chase around a lot of — at least in the first book, you chase around a lot of small stuff.
Uh, we had a player who was a kitsune, and we basically stuffed him down a hole to chase around these little demon creatures through a burrow. So, but yeah. So like, I think to me, I’m like, that’s, that seems really cool. What, what are your thoughts?
[00:37:45] Esther: I largely…
So my first thought: I am– I have the book open and, to page 76, and there’s this like werewolf I assume in armor with a beautiful flowing cloak and like a sword and it’s just great. Check out the art, as always.
I largely agree with like all of that. I really enjoyed the way a lot of the archetype was written. I liked their note about roleplaying a werecreature. I really liked that in this part of the, the werecreature entries in this book, there’s a bit of an update from this, like, “you are evil by default, you have no control.” That to me, is an aspect of the way they have been written in many places, including I would say 1e, that I did not enjoy.
When I think about werecreatures, I think so strongly about real-world parallels with people who have infectious diseases or disabilities, and the way people have been constructed as monstrous, especially if they have the ability to transmit that disease, by accident or on purpose. And there’s strong parallels there, and I think they are not always written well or with care.
And I felt like they were here. That being said, there is a feat, and there is some of that language that I felt that crept back into the werecreature entries later in the book. I was like, I’m not totally feeling this. Not that I’m like, I wouldn’t do this! I think, again, I think this is really cool, I’m glad it exists.
But just like… so the feat is on page 79, and it’s called Touch of Lunacy. And that’s a really loaded word for a lot of disabled people, for a lot of people who struggle with mental illness. And I was a little bit surprised by that choice. No shade to the author, I have no idea who the author was! Like, just, just in terms of like, maybe an editing note I would offer is, I think the feat could easily be called, like, Loss of Control.
Basically it is, it reads: “In moments of viciousness your curse can partially infect your prey. When you critically succeed an Unarmed attack from the werecreature archetype, the target must attempt a Fortitude save against the higher of your class or spell DCs or become Clumsy 2 until the beginning of your next turn. On a critical failure, it’s Clumsy 1 for one minute as their [like] transformation lingers.” And… yeah. To me, that could have been worded just, like, rather differently and still gotten the across. So I found it interesting. Like, for me, there was just enough of the carryover of… especially in the like, the werecreature entries, you lose control and you might like, maim people. Or like, go on these rampages. And I’m just like… that’s not bad. And there can be like, satisfying ways to play that. And it invokes stuff for me that I’m like, I’m just riding this line of discomfort. Yeah. I don’t know, did you notice that? What are your thoughts?
[00:40:43] Navaar: I didn’t, I think just as I was trying to like, you know, skimming through some of this stuff, I didn’t notice it. but yeah, seeing it now, I definitely see… it’s like one of those things, trying to find the right words. I agree. I don’t think that was probably the best choice. But I think, who knows how long of a conversation that was, or, or whether it was a conversation or whatever it was. Like I, again, I don’t want to speculate on what they, they did here. But, but yeah. I think there’s sometimes… it’s like, even if it’s like riding that line, maybe we just pick a different word and go from there.
So… but I think, like, in terms of just, like disability discussions and specific wording, I think that there are things that are super obvious, but there are other things that are not. And I think it’s, like, depending on how I use it… I think recently a fairly, I want to say, if I remember correctly, it was a fairly prominent, like, TTRPG writer, made a big statement about the use of the word cripple. And for me, I was like, I don’t know where this lies. Like, I don’t know, like, I probably — like, it’s not something I would just put into a book, but I also don’t know, like, if it’s, what side of the fence we’re on with this specific word.
And I think that, like, there are these situations where, in that moment, I would just, I would find a different way to phrase this. So, yeah.
[00:42:07] Esther: Yeah, I think particularly if it’s a book that I’m like, I know this is by a disabled author and it’s talking about like experiences of disability or like writing this with a lens of disability, then maybe those words that are more like historically ouch words, I’m like, you’ve reclaimed this. You’re having a specific like, definition or interpretation of this.
But if it’s in a book that doesn’t have that explicit lens, where the person — I’m like, I don’t know, anybody could have written this! It hits a little different, you know?
Yeah, I think, I think you’re right. It’s one of those moments of like, “Hmm, I might have chosen a different word.” Just, just a personal note.
Because I think there’s, there’s a lot that can go with werecreatures. All that being said, love that they exist. Love that you can choose an archetype. I want to do it someday, so I’m excited about it.
[00:42:58] Navaar: I literally, I might just take it as a feat and just consequences be damned. ‘Cause it was, this is one of those things where I was like, well, I mean, we’re like, I think we’re 4th level now, 5th level. So we can like, I can probably slide this in without losing too much stuff.
Yes, I already have to multiclass as a wizard, I don’t have a choice there. But you know, let’s, let’s put some feats around.
The Wild Mimic
[00:43:21] Navaar: The wild mimic, which is the next archetype is, is absolutely wild. It made me think of a– well, the picture I should say, specifically makes me think of like when they have like feral like human characters as like the bad in a show or a movie. There’s a really, really good episode of The Walking Dead lot oaf people probably haven’t seen because people stopped watching it before then. But there’s a, a character in the show in one of the, in like Season 10, I think. And she’s deaf and she gets stuck in this house, um, with this stranger that she doesn’t know, that they’re like trying to survive together. And there are these feral people who live inside the walls, and they move the way that this picture is drawn. And I’m like, yeah, that’s… it’s too scary. Um, yeah, it’s so good. They like, whenever it’s in her perspective, they take the sound out of the — it’s, yeah. It’s a really good episode. If you don’t watch any other Walking Dead, just go find that one specifically. You don’t even need context. I mean, you might, but you’ll be fine.
All that to say, this, this idea of like, you are just a humanoid — uh, you don’t have to be a human — but you’re a humanoid that like, through observation, through training, through practice, have like started to take on these qualities of a wild creature.
I think it’s a really fun, sort of reverse of the Awakened Animal. I think it’s a great addition to have of like, here’s these Awakened Animals and all this great stuff to do about it, but also like, what if you wanted to do the other way around? What if you wanted to be like the raised by wolves kid, you know what I mean? Like, like literally raised by wolves. And then you just go back, backwards, and then your wolves are Awakened Animals. ‘Cause, I don’t know.
[00:45:11] Esther: That would — okay, a feral child raised by two Awakened wolves? We’re giving you so many ideas for campaigns today. Yes!
[00:45:22] Navaar: Honestly though, my subconscious mind just stole that from Kipo. Which is great. I mean, if you’re gonna steal something from an animated show, western animation, then Kipo’s a good choice. But yes, anyway, too many — again, somebody who knows us, please, run Pathfinder for us. Esther and I can do things together.
[00:45:43] Esther: We’re just gonna be so, um, wild and free and excited. Yes.
[00:45:48] Navaar: I don’t even care, if these are all oneshots! I’ll still be happy, just to like, play a bunch of different character classes and ancestries.
[00:45:54] Esther: Let me play my Awakened possum.
[00:45:55] Navaar: Yeah!
[00:45:56] Esther: I really wanna do that.
[00:45:56] Navaar: Yeah, your you’re Awakened pretending to be asleep possum.
Winged Warrior
[00:46:02] Esther: Yeah, exactly. The last archetype, I think, is Winged Warrior. Which is basically just on, that, it has like a fighting style that benefits those with wings. Uh, not just Awakened animals, but maybe also like tengu and other creatures like that. My big note for this one, which I’m so sorry to everybody who’s interested in more technical stuff, on page 82, there’s art of a character in the Winged Warrior, and I wrote, “Is this a chicken?”
‘Cause it looks to me like a chicken wearing a little dress and trousers, and I’m so enchanted by it. I don’t know what kind of bird it is, but I was so delighted by the idea of this like Awakened chicken doing it is a little martial arts. Yeah.
[00:46:46] Navaar: It is a little chickeny. I do like… I mean, I think that’s fun. Yeah. I think the, so here’s the thing: like, I think just in terms of like Pathfinder stuff, I know we’re getting, getting close on time, but it’s so funny to me that like, having a Swim speed when you’re playing a swimming creature is an obvious thing, and you can just swim, and you can breathe underwater, and it’s fine.
But if you’re an Awakened bird, or if you’re a Strix, or, you know, like — you don’t get to fly for so, like, for so long. You basically can, like, hover. You operate similarly to what actual chickens do, in that they can kind of fly for a while, and then they have to come back down. And I think I just often, as like a person who got into TTRPGs heavily especially like over the past five years or so, it does feel like this became like a GM taboo of just like hating the idea of letting characters fly, at an early level, because I guess it’s broken.
Just change the way the game plays. But yeah, so I don’t know. I think it’s just one of those things that’s just kind of silly to me. But… just let us fly.
[00:47:56] Esther: Just let us fly. Let us fly.
[00:47:59] Navaar: Just let us fly. Um, but yeah! You can swim and breathe underwater all you want. Uh, if you’re the right kind of creature for it. So, yeah. Next is a bunch of new spells, which are a lot of fun. I did talk about the Summon Stampede spell, which is spell 7.
You can also summon Wardens of the Wild. So I haven’t really talked to a ton about these, but you can… basically, these like mythical enormous creatures you can bring in to just do like wild Pokemon damage. They come in as Gargantuan. Like if you’ve played, I can’t remember which one it is. Sword and Shield, Pokemon Sword and Shield.
Yeah. When you, yeah, when you like use the thing, the Dynamax thing, and then they become like that space — that. You’re, you’re doing that. That’s your thing. People, don’t get excited. That’s the first Pokemon game I played in 20 some years, and I got a bunch of level 50 characters, and I have not played it since, so.
[00:48:57] Esther: You wanna, you wanna know something? I guess, not counting Pokemon Go, that’s the first Pokemon game I played ever.
[00:49:04] Navaar: Yeah, same. Well, yeah, Pokemon Go, I don’t know if that counts,.But yeah, yes, I agree. Yes, yeah, that’s, that is wild. I did play them, Red and Blue, literally back in like, the GameBoy Color days. And that was the last time up until very recently. Anyway, visually, if for all you Pokemon fans out there, you want to if you want to Dynamax with that creature, you have no business summoning, just get those 8th level spells and you’ll be fine. You got this. Yeah. Any other special things you want to cover before we hop out? There’s — I mean, yeah. We gotta — there’s still more to this book. Trust me.
[00:49:44] Esther: Yes, I’m just gonna, I’m gonna list some things y’all should check out, and like have two things maybe to talk about. Great new animal companions, including things like gryphons, orcas, rocs, riding tarantula, umbrella mushroom, amazing. Uh, yeah, Hippogryphs, they’re so cool. A shotlashu, which is an animal native to Castrovel.
Great stuff. There are big game siege weapons that are like, targeted towards like, disrupting large animals and stuff. There are some amazing creatures in the Menagerie, like the Apothecary Bee, which made a splash, but also things like manticores and hydras.
Grafts
[00:50:24] Esther: The thing I wanted to talk about before we really hit Wardens of the Wild is the grafts, which are a new thing. Which is basically living tissues implanted on a host body, and you can take a feat at 3rd level to be a Graft Technician so you can do this. And there’s just like a bunch of cool things you can add to your body, like: Item 8, gills let you breathe underwater. Item 10, echoreceptors, give you echolocation of 40 feet. Just so many cool things like that. There’s like a bioluminescence one, I think. There’s a, you can have like an anglerfish light on your head. Um…
[00:51:01] Navaar: You can be Wolverine and have bone claws.
[00:51:05] Esther: Yeah! So I just love this addition of stuff you can do to your body. I think it’s brilliant and lovely. Great idea.
[00:51:15] Navaar: Yeah, I’m with you. Maybe this is the feat that I take instead, instead of the other one. No, truly like, I think: were these adventure paths balanced for me to bring in all this new remaster stuff? Probably not. But guess what? If I can convince my GM to let me do it, I’m going to do it.
Yes, but I do like the grafts are really really cool. The riding companion, or the animal companions, rather, the advanced animal companion is a lot of fun. I think one of the other really cool things about the Athamaru, just to kind of go back a little bit, is they –you can get an eel that you can carry around with you throughout your campaign, and it becomes a giant eel that becomes your mount later.
And it’s this very, like, similarly, like, special, like, ancestry thing, just in the same way that, like, as a gnoll, I didn’t have to be a gnoll Sorcerer. I could just, one of the feats I could take was having a little hyena animal companion. And this way you can get, like, this eel animal companion. It’s really, really– I love it.
[00:52:18] Esther: Totally.
The Menagerie
[00:52:19] Navaar: Yeah. And the Menagerie, there’s just some… why, there’s just some nasty little, just some nasty little things in here. This is like a terrifying, um, Scavenger’s Reign creature. This Blooming Guardian, which just, it looks like a, like a fungus deer, the best I can describe it.
And yeah, I need that. I need more Scavenger’s Reign in my fantasy TTRPGs.
[00:52:50] Esther: There’s a creature called a Sky Fisher that’s kind of like a giant, um, jellyfish. Like, Portuguese Man-O-War in the sky, on page 181. Terrifying, but cool. If you’re interested to read more about the werecreature lore, that’s on 194 and 195. And then there’s a weremoose and a wereshark on the pages right after that.
Yeah, there’s, there’s some good stuff there. I, I really — one thing I want to shout them out for, like, something I thought they did really well is that some werecreatures, like, really enjoy being a werecreature, especially those who were, like, born as a werecreature. And those who are turned often struggle with it a little bit more.
And I think there’s, like, some resonance for me as a disabled person, like, with how people experience disability. Some people —
[00:53:37] Navaar: Hmm.
[00:53:38] Esther: Really like enjoy it or have positive experiences, and some people are like my body has betrayed me. And I think that’s like a really beautiful resonant thing. Um, so in addition to my critiques I wanted to give that shout out.
Well done.
[00:53:52] Navaar: I like that. Yeah. They really, they were in their bag when they did these monsters. There’s some stuff in here that’s just so, what… what… what…what did we… ? Some of it’s really cool. Some of it’s like, oh, like, OK, well, you know, we got we got a new dinosaur that has a flame above its head. That’s awesome.
Um, yeah, that Sky Fisher’s wild. I do want to see, I’m trying to remember if it was in a different book that we already talked about, or if it was in this one, and I think it might be, it is in this one. So there’s new sort of unicorn types?
[00:54:25] Esther: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
[00:54:27] Navaar: Shout out to Akinomi Art, uh, my friend who did these.
[00:54:32] Esther: Aki, friend of the show!
[00:54:34] Navaar: Yeah, friend of the show! She did, she wrote them, she didn’t do the art, just to be clear. But yes, there are some really fun things, in here, the wereshark is so funny. Anyway, but yeah. I think like, in terms of, of books to get, again, for like, inspiration, I think this hands down, it’s such a fun book. Will absolutely like, fill you with campaign ideas immediately, as it did with me, I think. Snd just a lot of really good fun rules, fun feats, archetypes. Give your players a free archetype! That’s why it’s there, that’s why it’s called free, it’s free for a reason, just do it! and let that free archetype be, whatever, or werecreatures, or XXX… yeah. Like there’s so many really just amazing options, I think that’s is my point. And I think just like to get into more specifically like reading all of these like field notes, getting into what’s going on with these Wardens and the guardians and uh, and his whole crew. Yeah. ’cause these wardens are like…
Wardens of the Wild
[00:55:37] Esther: So gorgeous.
[00:55:37] Navaar: Elder, Elder Scrolls bosses, in terms of like, how visually captivating they are.
[00:55:44] Esther: So there’s, there’s four wardens which appear — they’re Level 22 creatures, they’re at the end of the book where Baranthet and the crew, like, run across them, and their, their search has come to culmination. There’s the Warden of Caverns and Burrows, the Warden of Forests and Meadows, The Warden of Oceans and Rivers, and the Warden of Peaks and Skies. And they all have gorgeous art, really cool abilities.
I just also want to note that, like, for a lot of the creatures in this book, there’s, like, little crew notes next to each entry from different members of the Zoetrope’s crew that are so, like, in these beautiful character voices. And, you, you read about all of their adventures before each of these sections, including, like, when you get into the Wardens of the Wild. And it’s just such a lovely, cohesive narrative.
And gosh, these Wardens are incredible. Absolutely amazing.
[00:56:37] Navaar: I do want to point out, so one of the, one of the Athamaru crew member is named Grefu. And like they describe him and he’s like this really amazing warrior, but he just wants to cook. I haven’t seen Dungeon Meshi, but, uh, it gave me very, it gave me like Dungeon Meshi vibes.
But, as you were talking about like the little, the notes from the crew, I was on that page of the Alicorn — and it’s, and it’s just him saying, “Sky Rider. It’d be nice to ride an Alicorn someday.” It’s just like, and the other ones are like more, there’s much more words. I just think it’s funny to just be like, yeah, I’d like that.
[00:57:14] Esther: I’d like to ride that.
[00:57:16] Navaar: Yeah.
[00:57:17] Esther: Yeah, on the opposite page, um, there’s the Pale Horse entry, and I think Ten, the Surki um, I want to say, like, the ship’s mechanic or something, has this whole, like, almost poem-like entry, all lowercase. And it’s like a Tumblr post. Yeah, they’re a great contrast.
[00:57:36] Navaar: Yeah. Yeah. It’s so funny. Because truly, like, if you’re, like, if you’re doing your field notes and you just refuse to capitalize or use punctuation, I think that’s hilarious. Yeah, but anyway, we enjoy this book. I think we can say.
[00:57:51] Esther: I thought it was so good.
[00:57:52] Navaar: Yes, absolutely, yeah. It’s definitely going to be one of those ones that, It’s gonna be like at the forefront of next time I write something, or have the time to plan an actual play.
It’s gonna be one of the ones that I build off of a lot, ’cause I think it’s, yeah, it just seems fun. There’s some good stuff.
[00:58:12] Esther: Same, there’s some really, really good stuff. And I highly recommend this book. It’s just, it’s really fun. It’s got a lot of great material in it and it’s a great addition to your Pathfinder collection.
[00:58:24] Navaar: Heck yeah!
Outros
[00:58:26] Esther: All that being said, yeah, you got anything to plug?
[00:58:30] Navaar: First of all, thanks again for joining us after a very short amount of time. I’m squinting at camera. Um, yeah, check out…. well, follow me wherever. Twitter. I guess Bluesky is doing stuff. There’s GIFs now. There’s DMs now. I’m not really around to know, but I did get the updated email, uh, about those specific things. And I think I might have sent one GIF just to see if I could do it.
All that to say: NavaarSNP. N-A-V-A-A-R-S-N-P. Uh, follow me there to figure out, uh, all the things that I’m doing. Check out Secret Nerd podcast. My other podcast that is sleeping right now, but, but is in production mode, we’ll say. And production mode for what? I’m not going to tell you yet, but while you’re waiting to find that out, go listen to Ties That Bind, which is an actual play 10-part series of The Corrupted, which is the game that I wrote, which is all about fictional tension and conflict.
And it’s a really great story, it’s amazing, uh, we might be up for some things. Not CRIT Awards, not because we don’t like the CRIT Awards. We just, we’re not popular enough for that.
[00:59:43] Esther: I nominated you. You should have been in the finalists.
[00:59:47] Navaar: And I appreciate you! No, but all that to say, there are some other things that I’m really excited about that will be announced hopefully soon. Ties That Bind is an amazing show, I’m in love with it, I’ve listened to it six times outside of me actually doing all the editing and being a part of the GMing and production.
Yeah, check that out. Secret Nerd podcast, uh, wherever you pod. Secret N-R-D-social on Twitter. I refuse to have a Bluesky for it. uh, also check out An Unwavering Force, the Pathfinder 2E actual play that I’m in. If you’re a fan of The Acolyte, unrelated to my other mention of this show earlier, The Acolyte and our show happen to have a lot of similarities.
We did it first. I think they were in production for years, but we didn’t, we don’t know anybody on the production team. It’s just a weird happenstance. Uh, some of it is because we’re playing a specific tropes. Some of it is just wild. So come check out why that’s wild. I recently in an unreleased episode, jumped out of a starship and because of specific things in Pathfinder, did not die.
So I think you should come listen to figure out why that happened. And that’s it. I think that’s all the, that’s all the plugs I have.
[01:01:01] Esther: All good plugs. Listen to Navaar, listen to all the things. Yeah, follow me at dungeonminister everywhere. Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram, which is private, but maybe I’ll accept your requests, you never know.
[01:01:12] Navaar: I won’t. For those of you who have been trying to request my private Instagram, I will not accept those. I apologize. Just so we’re clear.
[01:01:20] Esther: I, if I know you, I probably will. If I don’t know you, I probably won’t. Um, but…
[01:01:24] Navaar: Same. Yeah.
[01:01:25] Esther: Just, just sayin’. Anyway, y’all, if you liked the Awakened Animal archetype, if you’re intrigued by it, maybe listen to a little show called Chromythica, where one of my players plays an Awakened Animal. We have twelve episo– no, eleven episodes out, twelve in production, 30 something recorded.
So, the show, I promise you, is going places. Just at a very slow pace in, in release. Um, anyway, uh, maybe out Chromythica. Um, maybe check out — I, I guess, I can say I am a finalist for two CRIT Awards. I don’t know if the voting is going to be open.
[01:02:03] Navaar: Deserved.
[01:02:04] Esther: Thank you, it feels weird, but I’m, I’m doing a thing that I talked about in therapy today where I’m like, I’m trying to accept it. So yeah, I’m up for Best GM Paizo with some other really incredible folks, just honored to be in the category. And the Games for Gaza event that I organized, last fall is up for, like, a community award. Finally, I dropped a trailer for an upcoming project of mine called A Haunting, Beloved with my new little productions thing, I am floating. And you can find that trailer at my Twitter presence and Bluesky at dungeonminister. Or just search engine of choice A Haunting, Beloved trailer.
A Haunting, Beloved is a story about disability and love and gothic horror, and I made it with a group of really fantastic, talented folks. I’m very excited. I will let you all know when it is out in the world. And I think that sums up my stuff.
And most importantly, you can follow Know Direction at KnowDirection on Bluesky, on YouTube, Mastodon, I’m not sure if we’re active there anymore, but we have an account! And you can join our Discord to talk about the shows hosted by the network, Pathfinder, other TTRPGs, and more! So do that! And yeah, I think that brings us to the close…
[01:03:21] Navaar: Yeah, I just will say, obviously Esther and I move at our speed, that we are able to. But, there are a lot of amazing folks on the Know Direction team who work on things faster than us. So sometimes you’ll, you know, be written, written blogs, things like that, that’ll come out, that’ll talk about some of these books as they’re coming out.
So definitely check out all that stuff for some faster information. Of course, you’re going to want to come listen to us talk, because of course. But, just saying, if you’re like, “But I want to know about this thing now,” there’s some options for you. Check out all the stuff we got.
[01:03:53] Esther: Totally. All right, y’all. Well, this has been so much fun. Until next time, I think we’re gonna come back with really fun interviews for y’all next, fingers crossed. Until then, this has been Know Direction. We will see you soon. Bye!
[01:04:07] Navaar: Bye!
