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Zecui (Paths Beyond)

I really thought we were going to lose the Xill in the OGL debacle - and we kind of did. They do have a replacement in Monster Core called the zeuci! They are considerably more bug like and implant larva into their eggs rather than eggs, but they clearly fill the same niche. In some ways, this makes the zeuci even worse than their predecessors. Instead of immobile eggs, the first stage of a zeuci infestation involves the larva wiggling around under the host skin. It doesn’t do anything mechanically, but worms under your skin is a special kind of disturbing body horror. If your table is comfortable with it, play it up for all it’s worth.

In the Tian Xia World Guide, Zecui feature prominently in the Valashmai Jungle, in 1e they were Xill bound to the Universe. Unfortunately, the ORC transition did drop one of the cooler bits about the Xill - their ties to the Ethereal Plane. This makes sense from a legal distinctiveness perspective, but it is a bummer for me. Nothing is stopping you from adding that tie back in at your own table, however! It can be a call out to the game’s publishing history, even if it can’t feature in products any more. Paizo won’t send Pinkertons after you!

An occultist coven has recently unearthed ancient Thassilonian research into the zecui and taken it to Xin-Shalast. With this knowledge, they believe they can not only survive a Zecui infestation, but bend the larva to their will. The rapidly growing cult preachs that it will usher in a glorious age of human-alien hybrids. Based on their trials so far, they are more likely to leave a trail of twisted bodies and madness in their wake.

Zecui who worship Xhamen-Dor appear to be immune to the Star Seed’s corruptive influence. These nomands implant spores from the Inmost Blot along with their own larva. If one infection does not consume their victims, the other one will, birthing either an alien fanatic or an undead monstrosity. The few who survive are still cursed, dreaming forevermore of lost Carcosa and developing mindscapes linked to that foul city.

While those who know of zecui can think of few things more nightmarish than their larval infestations, such a thing does exist. Xekk is brood speaker, who can telepathically control larva and guide their development. Even worse, she has a taste for torture and worships the kyton demagogue Morrobahn. Like her patron, she "helps" improve her victims with grafts and surgery, inevitably mediated by her psychically commanded brood. Those captured by the sadistic zeuci experience infection not once, but again and again.

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I hate when I say things like "oh I want an ipod classic but with bluetooth so I can use wireless headphones" and some peanut comes in and replies with "so a smartphone with spotify?" No. I want a 160GB+ rectangular monstrosity where I can download every version of every song I want to it and it does nothing except play music and I don't need a data connection and don't have to pay a subscription to not have ads and don't have popups suggesting terrible AI playlists all over the menus.

Gimme the clicky wheel and song titles like "My Chemical Romance- The Black Parade- Blood (Bonus Track)- secret track- album rip- high quality"

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Abolish Tesla.

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*unbelievably deep sigh* the reason fascists and misc racists want to "return" to the classical world isnt bc they dont "understand" it. they understand it v well. they want to return to it bc the classical world was imperialist. many greek poleis were imperialist. the hellenistic kingdoms were imperialist. the roman republic was imperialist. the roman empire was imperialist. they want to return to them bc they were empires built on conquest, occupation, enslavement, exploitation and oppression. they like it bc theyre imperialists. bc they support conquest, occupation, enslavement, exploitation and oppression, and they want to do more. they know that there are some aspects that were "uncomfortable" to them, namely different perceptions of homosexual/homosocial relationships between men and boys. pointing that out isnt a gotcha, this isnt a discrepancy to their ideology. its simply irrelevant to them (not to mention the classical perception of homosexual/homosocial relationships was built on exploitation and misogyny as well, but alas).

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For NPCs like Rashaak, there are definitely multiple options. It does help that black dragons still exist as legacy content, so that is an option. Of the primal dragons, I’d be most inclined to use the horned dragon, but given Rash’s corruption I think there may be an argument for diabolic. Another NPC in a similar boat is Sora Katra - do we keep her as a green hag or switch her to a sweet hag? There are merits to both methods. My general approach would be to address these on a campaign by campaign basis. There doesn’t need to be a hard answer for me, which conveniently also allows me to discuss the merits of each option.

Of all the Eberron ancestries, changelings are certainly a pickle that likely will have to be custom made. BUT! Astrazoan are coming in the Starfinder Galaxy Guide, and they should set the precedent for having a shape shifter ancestry. Then PF2’s changeling just needs a name swap, because they are absolutely an important heritage in Eberron given how prominent hags are in the setting.

Eberron Remastered

A whole bunch of different factors have led to one of my favourite settings rising, phoenix-like from the ashes of the OGL disaster. The long and short of it is that I’m not only able to enjoy Eberron again, but I want to play and write it. Do I have any interest in playing the game the setting was made for anymore? Absolutely not. Does that matter? No, because I have Pathfinder. 

Enter Eberron Remastered. 

This is my crack at using Pathfinder 2e’s mechanics as the foundation for the Eberron setting. I’m far from the first person to do this, but I’m hoping to bring something unique to the table. Even if I don’t, it will be something I do for fun, because there is zero way to monetize this. I’m very aware that a lot of RPG work these days is with at least half an eye towards publication. That’s fine �� but I think carving out some hobby space that is explicitly about just having fun is healthy too. 

Because I like to lay these things out ahead of time, here are the guiding principles I’m using for Eberron Remastered. 

Agree to disagree: there are a whole bunch of people working on different ways of running Eberron using Pathfinder. Sometimes I agree with their design choices and sometimes I do not. Likewise, they may not always agree with mine. I want this upfront as a reminder to myself and my audience that those disagreements are OK. The best practice is whatever works at a given table, so if someone wants to use some of my ideas and ignore others, I'm not bothered. 

Do not reinvent the wheel: wherever possible, I am going to try and avoid making brand new mechanics and instead use what already exists in Pathfinder. That doesn't mean I'll never do it, but I recognize I have limitations on my time and energy and I want to keep this fun. Especially because I know my reach is already going to exceed my grasp in other places. 

No singular solutions: this is a philosophy I've picked up over the years from Keith's own writing. Mechanics are tools that can represent many things and sometimes a single concept can be approached with multiple sets of mechanics. Using one set of mechanics (particularly ancestries) to express an idea doesn't mean that mechanics can be used exclusively that way. 

A different Eberron: If it has a place in Pathfinder, there can be a place for it in Eberron. That means that I am going to diverge from some of Eberron's canon and kanon lore because I am working with different monsters and mechanics. In some places, I will homebrew things across games (hello beholders), but in others I will branch off in different directions. 

Hopefully this is fun for me and fun for you. There's plenty of tools available in Pathfinder, which I think makes it ideal to use with Eberron. Not everything exists yet, but it is pretty dang close. This plan is both a throwback and a new path forward. We all could use a bit of that in these crazy times. 

Oh and guess what? That custom map of Eberron I’ve been working on for years is looking nice!

All aboard the Lightning Rail. Next stop is Sharn!

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You will get zero argument on that front from me! 🤣

Eberron Remastered

A whole bunch of different factors have led to one of my favourite settings rising, phoenix-like from the ashes of the OGL disaster. The long and short of it is that I’m not only able to enjoy Eberron again, but I want to play and write it. Do I have any interest in playing the game the setting was made for anymore? Absolutely not. Does that matter? No, because I have Pathfinder. 

Enter Eberron Remastered. 

This is my crack at using Pathfinder 2e’s mechanics as the foundation for the Eberron setting. I’m far from the first person to do this, but I’m hoping to bring something unique to the table. Even if I don’t, it will be something I do for fun, because there is zero way to monetize this. I’m very aware that a lot of RPG work these days is with at least half an eye towards publication. That’s fine — but I think carving out some hobby space that is explicitly about just having fun is healthy too. 

Because I like to lay these things out ahead of time, here are the guiding principles I’m using for Eberron Remastered. 

Agree to disagree: there are a whole bunch of people working on different ways of running Eberron using Pathfinder. Sometimes I agree with their design choices and sometimes I do not. Likewise, they may not always agree with mine. I want this upfront as a reminder to myself and my audience that those disagreements are OK. The best practice is whatever works at a given table, so if someone wants to use some of my ideas and ignore others, I'm not bothered. 

Do not reinvent the wheel: wherever possible, I am going to try and avoid making brand new mechanics and instead use what already exists in Pathfinder. That doesn't mean I'll never do it, but I recognize I have limitations on my time and energy and I want to keep this fun. Especially because I know my reach is already going to exceed my grasp in other places. 

No singular solutions: this is a philosophy I've picked up over the years from Keith's own writing. Mechanics are tools that can represent many things and sometimes a single concept can be approached with multiple sets of mechanics. Using one set of mechanics (particularly ancestries) to express an idea doesn't mean that mechanics can be used exclusively that way. 

A different Eberron: If it has a place in Pathfinder, there can be a place for it in Eberron. That means that I am going to diverge from some of Eberron's canon and kanon lore because I am working with different monsters and mechanics. In some places, I will homebrew things across games (hello beholders), but in others I will branch off in different directions. 

Hopefully this is fun for me and fun for you. There's plenty of tools available in Pathfinder, which I think makes it ideal to use with Eberron. Not everything exists yet, but it is pretty dang close. This plan is both a throwback and a new path forward. We all could use a bit of that in these crazy times. 

Oh and guess what? That custom map of Eberron I’ve been working on for years is looking nice!

All aboard the Lightning Rail. Next stop is Sharn!

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Enemy (2013) dir. Denis Villeneuve

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It's literally the heart of Eberron! Can't go anywhere without it. Plus there is no way I'd adapt Eberron to Pathfinder without these creeps! They fit the setting ways better than metallic and chromatic dragons anyhow.

[image ID: a creepy ass conspirator dragon that has an uncannily humanoid body and looks to have a mask of flesh between its horns. /image ID]

Eberron Remastered

A whole bunch of different factors have led to one of my favourite settings rising, phoenix-like from the ashes of the OGL disaster. The long and short of it is that I’m not only able to enjoy Eberron again, but I want to play and write it. Do I have any interest in playing the game the setting was made for anymore? Absolutely not. Does that matter? No, because I have Pathfinder. 

Enter Eberron Remastered. 

This is my crack at using Pathfinder 2e’s mechanics as the foundation for the Eberron setting. I’m far from the first person to do this, but I’m hoping to bring something unique to the table. Even if I don’t, it will be something I do for fun, because there is zero way to monetize this. I’m very aware that a lot of RPG work these days is with at least half an eye towards publication. That’s fine — but I think carving out some hobby space that is explicitly about just having fun is healthy too. 

Because I like to lay these things out ahead of time, here are the guiding principles I’m using for Eberron Remastered. 

Agree to disagree: there are a whole bunch of people working on different ways of running Eberron using Pathfinder. Sometimes I agree with their design choices and sometimes I do not. Likewise, they may not always agree with mine. I want this upfront as a reminder to myself and my audience that those disagreements are OK. The best practice is whatever works at a given table, so if someone wants to use some of my ideas and ignore others, I'm not bothered. 

Do not reinvent the wheel: wherever possible, I am going to try and avoid making brand new mechanics and instead use what already exists in Pathfinder. That doesn't mean I'll never do it, but I recognize I have limitations on my time and energy and I want to keep this fun. Especially because I know my reach is already going to exceed my grasp in other places. 

No singular solutions: this is a philosophy I've picked up over the years from Keith's own writing. Mechanics are tools that can represent many things and sometimes a single concept can be approached with multiple sets of mechanics. Using one set of mechanics (particularly ancestries) to express an idea doesn't mean that mechanics can be used exclusively that way. 

A different Eberron: If it has a place in Pathfinder, there can be a place for it in Eberron. That means that I am going to diverge from some of Eberron's canon and kanon lore because I am working with different monsters and mechanics. In some places, I will homebrew things across games (hello beholders), but in others I will branch off in different directions. 

Hopefully this is fun for me and fun for you. There's plenty of tools available in Pathfinder, which I think makes it ideal to use with Eberron. Not everything exists yet, but it is pretty dang close. This plan is both a throwback and a new path forward. We all could use a bit of that in these crazy times. 

Oh and guess what? That custom map of Eberron I’ve been working on for years is looking nice!

All aboard the Lightning Rail. Next stop is Sharn!

[enddaysengine]

Eberron Remastered

A whole bunch of different factors have led to one of my favourite settings rising, phoenix-like from the ashes of the OGL disaster. The long and short of it is that I’m not only able to enjoy Eberron again, but I want to play and write it. Do I have any interest in playing the game the setting was made for anymore? Absolutely not. Does that matter? No, because I have Pathfinder. 

Enter Eberron Remastered. 

This is my crack at using Pathfinder 2e’s mechanics as the foundation for the Eberron setting. I’m far from the first person to do this, but I’m hoping to bring something unique to the table. Even if I don’t, it will be something I do for fun, because there is zero way to monetize this. I’m very aware that a lot of RPG work these days is with at least half an eye towards publication. That’s fine — but I think carving out some hobby space that is explicitly about just having fun is healthy too. 

Because I like to lay these things out ahead of time, here are the guiding principles I’m using for Eberron Remastered. 

Agree to disagree: there are a whole bunch of people working on different ways of running Eberron using Pathfinder. Sometimes I agree with their design choices and sometimes I do not. Likewise, they may not always agree with mine. I want this upfront as a reminder to myself and my audience that those disagreements are OK. The best practice is whatever works at a given table, so if someone wants to use some of my ideas and ignore others, I'm not bothered. 

Do not reinvent the wheel: wherever possible, I am going to try and avoid making brand new mechanics and instead use what already exists in Pathfinder. That doesn't mean I'll never do it, but I recognize I have limitations on my time and energy and I want to keep this fun. Especially because I know my reach is already going to exceed my grasp in other places. 

No singular solutions: this is a philosophy I've picked up over the years from Keith's own writing. Mechanics are tools that can represent many things and sometimes a single concept can be approached with multiple sets of mechanics. Using one set of mechanics (particularly ancestries) to express an idea doesn't mean that mechanics can be used exclusively that way. 

A different Eberron: If it has a place in Pathfinder, there can be a place for it in Eberron. That means that I am going to diverge from some of Eberron's canon and kanon lore because I am working with different monsters and mechanics. In some places, I will homebrew things across games (hello beholders), but in others I will branch off in different directions. 

Hopefully this is fun for me and fun for you. There's plenty of tools available in Pathfinder, which I think makes it ideal to use with Eberron. Not everything exists yet, but it is pretty dang close. This plan is both a throwback and a new path forward. We all could use a bit of that in these crazy times. 

Oh and guess what? That custom map of Eberron I’ve been working on for years is looking nice!

All aboard the Lightning Rail. Next stop is Sharn!

[enddaysengine]

Apparently some people on the internet are talking about Charisma checks and how it’s bad to ask that people roleplay their social interactions when you wouldn’t ask someone to roleplay their Strength check and like it’s on of those things that sounds sensible on the surface but I have a few problems with it

I think Charisma checks are perfectly valid, but just like with any other check the check is a way to resolve an ACTION. The GM needs to know what the action is that is being attempted before they can call for a check.

“Can I Charisma the guards to let me past?” isn’t describing an action. “I ask the guards to let me past because we have news for their boss” is perfectly valid. If a player isn’t comfortable with speaking in character that’s all that’s needed. The GM just needs at minimum a description of your argument to make a decision as to a) whether it could even work theoretically and b) to set a DC.

This does also apply to Strength checks: lifting a portcullis vs. bending the bars on the portcullis have two very different results and whether you choose to bend the bars or lift the gate is an important consideration. They might also have different DCs.

So yeah, if you assume that “roleplaying a Charisma check” literally means having to talk to the GM in character in first person then no I wouldn’t ask anyone to do that. But for a broader definition of “roleplaying” (i.e. describe what your character is doing) then yes, I would like for players to roleplay their Charisma and Strength checks.

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Apparently some people on the internet are talking about Charisma checks and how it’s bad to ask that people roleplay their social interactions when you wouldn’t ask someone to roleplay their Strength check and like it’s on of those things that sounds sensible on the surface but I have a few problems with it

I think Charisma checks are perfectly valid, but just like with any other check the check is a way to resolve an ACTION. The GM needs to know what the action is that is being attempted before they can call for a check.

“Can I Charisma the guards to let me past?” isn’t describing an action. “I ask the guards to let me past because we have news for their boss” is perfectly valid. If a player isn’t comfortable with speaking in character that’s all that’s needed. The GM just needs at minimum a description of your argument to make a decision as to a) whether it could even work theoretically and b) to set a DC.

This does also apply to Strength checks: lifting a portcullis vs. bending the bars on the portcullis have two very different results and whether you choose to bend the bars or lift the gate is an important consideration. They might also have different DCs.

So yeah, if you assume that “roleplaying a Charisma check” literally means having to talk to the GM in character in first person then no I wouldn’t ask anyone to do that. But for a broader definition of “roleplaying” (i.e. describe what your character is doing) then yes, I would like for players to roleplay their Charisma and Strength checks.

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So D&D black dragons are supposed to live in swamps, right? Pretty amphibious, live in swamps, lair in...

caves. With a main entrance and a back entrance.

In swamps.

I really have trouble with the idea that there's these dragon-sized caves in an area with such a high water table, y'know? We have to go through miles of swamp to reach this lair, it's not one little boggy place in a mountain valley otherwise filled with nice caves. And the cave has to have two entrances, too? I can believe in dragons, but not this geology.

So... maybe it's not geology. Because a lair in a marshy place with exacting design specifications sounds a lot like a totally natural thing --

A beaver lodge.

So now I have this new image of black dragons industriously gnawing down giant trees to construct their mighty swamp lairs, and I am so much happier.

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Yk as a person in linguistics and also dabbling in anthropology i always like, have a xkcd 2501 moment every time someone has a take about current state of anthropology/archeology.

I thought a lot of the bad rep was just exaggerated internet nonsense, but—no—i was too naïve to think that people would believe that they don't do "let's just hoard artifacts" anymore.

I guess also tangential and it's probably because of how a lot of archeo-anthro is packaged in the media, as if "oh this very obvious thing hasn't been noticed by archeologists/anthropologists, yet the locals knew all along" isn't something I see a lot on the news… (most of the time, fwiw, these are already known to the field, but just not yet explored deeply). Kind of weird how that gets the clicks.

Unfortunately, the bad rep is in no way exaggerated.

I've genuinely not found a way to counteract the repetitive memes about 'stealing shit' that people love so much. Like did colonialists steal stuff? Yes! They absolutely did! Is that all that happened at the time? No! Is that all the museums contain? Also no!

Media and social media do play a huge role in how we're perceived. Archaeology, though it is a science, isn't treated like one by others. You'll find a tonne of Archaeologists have tales about how scientists in labs have told them they're not 'real' scientists when they're in said labs. So because we're not perceived as a 'real' or 'important' science we tend to get lumped in with the 'those intellectuals are in their towers looking down on us, but their knowledge and degrees are useless!' subjects. We all know how people love to dunk on subjects they don't perceive as important, don't we?

It's more rewarding for people to get clicks on 'these dumb academics didn't know what they were looking at!' (the terms baffled/astonished/dumbfounded/shocked come up a lot) because then it's 'hahahaha the smart people got owned by regular people' and thus a culture/class war than it is to say 'archaeologists suspected this thing was the same as the thing in the past and when they finally got funding to conduct a study they found out from locals that it was plus extra info.'

Then you have the continual misrepresentation of archaeology in any media. Never once do they show it being done even close to right. Other professions have 'most of it's good but if you do that you'll kill someone' (medics) or 'the law doesn't quite work that way but alright' (lawyers, cops etc). But archaeologists? Nah we'll just stick with the way it was done in 1875 because showing that it's changed in 150 years would be boring. No one wants to look at very neatly dug pits and talk about keeping things in context.

Add that to the way we're talked about online: all colonialism and atoning for the past. None of those are bad topics, and they need to be discussed, but often that's all people will talk about to the detriment of everything else. So when people who aren't as involved in it see only that, then that's all they'll talk about because that's all we are to them. If those are the only topics we give people to talk about when it comes to what we do, then it's no wonder that's all people talk about.

At the minute, archaeology, anthropology, museums, and heritage are all stuck in the middle of a culture war. You all know the culture war I'm talking about. They want us gone, and they want to go back to how it was in 1875 when they can hoard all they like because heritage decided that hey maybe we should give back some of the stuff we've stolen and it shouldn't just be one set of people that get to control the narrative of history. Those people are now actively working to destroy us so you forget that poc/queer/women history etc exists, and perpetuating the memes only makes more people dislike us and in turn that makes it easier for them to get rid of us.

To paraphrase something I saw in a fb comment section the other day: 'heritage has got too woke for people who literally steal shit, and they want us to be sorry about it and give it back? why are we giving them any money? we should just shut them down. that'll shut them up.'

So I need people to think who benefits from making statements like that, and whether or not you support those people.

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do you ever just suddenly feel the weight of more years of exhaustion than you’ve been alive