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Welcome to Paizo

Friday, August 21, 2009

With the release of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, there are a lot of new faces here on the board, so we thought that this would be a good time to say hello and to give folks a quick tour of the site.

I suspect that many of the new folks are here because of the Pathfinder RPG, so there is no better place to start than our new Core Rulebook. Of course, we have much more in store for this game, so you definitely want to visit the Pathfinder RPG main page where you can see a summary of all of our upcoming products. Be sure to check out the Bestiary Preview and the Pathfinder RPG Conversion Guide, both of which can be downloaded for free. All you need is an account. Tip to the wise, make sure you have the most recent version of Adobe Reader installed on your machine to read these pdfs. Both of these free products, along with a host of other valuable free documents, can also be found on the Pathfinder RPG resources page, which also contains our community use policy (for those thinking about setting up a fan website) and the compatibility license (for those planning to make products using the Pathfinder RPG rules). The resources page also has the most recent errata document for the Core Rulebook, which contains a number of small changes and fixes to ensure that your game is running smoothly.

Next up, if you need to quickly reference the Pathfinder RPG online, there is no better resource than the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document (or PRD for short). The PRD contains all of the rules from the game, organized just like the Core Rulebook, making them easy to find. If you are playing your game in reach of a computer, I might recommend a bookmark or three.

We really want paizo.com to be a great community for gamers of all stripes, whether your passion is the Pathfinder RPG, other RPGs, board games, card games, or anything in between. Our messageboards are home to thousands of gamers just like you, looking for advice, sharing stories, forming groups, and getting answers to rules questions. If you are navigating the messageboards, look out for the following forums.

First up is the Pathfinder RPG messageboard, which includes a large number of useful forums. The General Discussion Forum is where you can discuss nearly anything related to the game, from reviews to announcements. The Rules Question Forum is where you can ask questions about the game. If one of your fellow fans does not help you out, one of our staff will try to help get an answer to your question. There is a lot of great discussion going on right now on the boards about the game, but I do want to take this moment to offer some advice. The rules are brand new, and there is a lot of information to digest. Before posting, make sure to take a good look through the book to see if your question is answered elsewhere. Since the game is a revision to the 3.5 rules, there are a number of discussions going on right now comparing the two and weighing the pros and cons of each change. While this is only natural, I do want to remind folks that many of these changes are designed to have a specific effect or to work in combination with other changes, making the whole of the game easier and better to run. If the rule in question still doesn't work for your group, do not hesitate to change it. It is your game after all, and you should feel free to change it in any way that would add to the fun and excitement of your campaign. Alright, back to the tour.

Next up in the Pathfinder RPG section is the Pathfinder RPG Products Section, which includes two forums for discussing individual products. One for Paizo products and one for any 3rd party product that is compatible with the game. After those forums are the Community Content forums. The first of these is the House Rules Forum, which contains a host of tips, tricks, and suggestions used in the games of fellow messageboard members. This forum also includes brand new rules content created by fans. The second forum is the Conversions Forum, which contains fan-made conversions of a host of 3.5 rules and products, making them easier to use with the Pathfinder RPG.

In addition to the Pathfinder RPG forums, you will find an array of other forums for our other products. The Pathfinder General Discussion Forum is for talking about any product with the Pathfinder logo, focusing on products that are compatible with the Pathfinder campaign setting (such as the Pathfinder Chronicles, Pathfinder Companion, Pathfinder Modules, and Pathfinder Accessories products). The Pathfinder Adventure Path Section contains a forum for each one of our Adventure Paths. These products represent complete campaigns, taking your characters from 1st level to the heights of power. The forums contain tips, tricks, and tools to use for each Adventure Path, as well as a number of great stories and anecdotes from the campaigns of fellow members.

This is also a good time to talk about the Pathfinder Society. This program allows you to play the Pathfinder RPG around the world, using the same character for each event. Pathfinder Society events can be found at most major conventions and in a number of game stores. In addition, your GM can download these PDF adventures and run them for you at home. For discussion about these exciting events, check out the Pathfinder Society Forums.

Concluding our tour of the messageboards, you might want to investigate the Paizo Community Forums, which includes forums for 3.5, 4th edition, board games, card games, play-by-post games, movies, books, television, and the always busy off-topic discussion (drive up your post count with a 3-word game today!).

Before this blog gets way too long, I want to take a moment to talk about the Paizo Store, which features just about every RPG, board game, card game, miniatures game, and accessory known to man. Be warned, there are a lot of good products hiding in there, and my wallet has paid for my curiosity mightily over the years.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer

While We Were Gone

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

While some of us were back in blissful Seattle sipping ice tea and lounging on the beaches and others of us were still trekking back from Gen Con—drunk on our own sleep deprivation and tears—Ashton Sperry, paper minis mogul and N’wah from the boards, decided to drop by. While most of us missed him, he certainly left his mark. Here are just a few of the scribbles that followed in Ashton's wake. Sorry we missed you man, but thanks for the post-its! It really made getting back to the old grindstones all the more bearable!

For everyone else! Expect more reports from Gen Con starting bright and early tomorrow morning! It was great to see a ton of you at the show and, as always, we had a fantastic time. For folks who couldn't make it, though, tune in to the blog and messageboards for what you missed!

F. Wesley Schneider
Managing Editor

ENnies 2009 Dream Date Auction

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Do you like awards shows?
Do you like sitting with Paizo Publishing at awards shows?
Do you like sitting with Paizo Publishing at awards shows and walking away with a pile of loot, such as a signed copy of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook, a copy of Pathfinder #19, a Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, a GameMastery Flip Mat, and a copy of the Gary Gygax novel, Infernal Sorceress?

If you answered yes to these questions, than the 2009 ENnies Awards Dream Date Auction is for you. This is your chance to sit with Paizo during the ceremony and to support the event at the same time! At the event, we will regale you with tales of daring stat block formatting, stories of narrowly missed printing dates, and the bone-chilling saga of stair rules that were nearly forgotten. In other words, we are going to have a good time and you get to join in on the fun!

Help us earn bragging rights by having the largest auction ever. Bid today!

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer

2009 ENnie Nominations!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The dash toward the 2009 ENnie Awards has begun with Paizo accepting nominations in six categories, including a fan nomination for Best Publisher! These acknowledgments start off the process of honoring the best products and ideas in the last year of tabletop gaming, but in the end it all relies on you! Be sure to check back in with the ENnies this Friday when voting begins, giving you the chance to cast your ballot for your favorite games and accessories.

Here's this year's rundown of Paizo Products up for honors:

Best Cover Art
Pathfinder Adventure Path #19: Howl of the Carrion King

Best Adventure
Pathfinder Adventure Path #19: Howl of the Carrion King

Best Campaign Setting
Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting

Best Cartography
Pathfinder Chronicles Second Darkness Map Folio

Best Miniatures Product
Game Mastery Flip-Mat: Waterfront Tavern

Best Regalia
Planet Stories: Infernal Sorceress, by Gary Gygax

And a Fan Award for Best Publisher!

Check out all the publishers at the ENnies Awards homepage, and be sure to check back this Friday for your chance to cast your vote! Thanks to ENWorld and all of you for this year's nominations and the endless support!
Wes Schneider
Managing Editor

PAIZOCON 2009: You Should'a Been There!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

That sound you heard last Sunday night (heard 'round the world, I'm told) was not Krakatoa II (electric boogaloo?), it was the enormous sigh of relief from me as PAIZOCON 2009 came to a close and did so with a feeling of great satisfaction.

A little over a year ago, I spent a Saturday morning in a little hotel in Kirkland, WA and watched a small group of Paizo fans, led by Timitius and Lilith from our boards, gather and enjoy each other's company as fellow Paizo community members. Right then and there I said to myself, "Self," I said, "We have to take this over and help them grow it." So when it came time to plan the 2009 convention season the first thing on my agenda was How Do We Politely Tell Tim That PAIZOCON is Ours Now and Yet Still Get His Help? Well, it turns out, it was really easy.

I had lunch with Tim last fall and laid the cards on the table. I asked Tim what he thought if Paizo wanted to get into PAIZOCON in a really big way for the second year—as in, so big that we basically ran it as an official show. Tim's face was 100% relief and he was thrilled to get the planning process off his shoulders. I, in turn, was thrilled to take it on and despite many late nights and a lot of work, I couldn't be more happy at how it all turned out.

For me, PAIZOCON 2009 began on Friday morning with my arrival at the Coast Bellevue Hotel. Jeff, Cosmo, Chris, and I set up the sales booth, taped up all the signs, and then waited for the hordes to come. And come they did! It was amazing to finally put faces to names and say hello to a lot of folks that I'd been reading about on the boards for years. Additionally, a lot of new faces showed up as well—folks who maybe lurked on the boards, or were only familiar with Paizo and the Beta and just wanted to come and see what Paizo was all about in person. Our special guests were already at the show and folks like Monte and Sue Cook, Eva Widermann, Wolfgang Bauer, and the entire Paizo staff immediately took to mingling with the attendees.

And then the gaming began! RPGs, board games, card games, you name it and someone was playing it. At times we'd sit there at registration and think, "Wow, it got really slow around here suddenly" and that was because the breakout rooms and the ballroom were stuffed to the gills with gaming, gaming, gaming. Laughter, dice rolls, howls of defeat, and cries of success echoed through the halls of the Coast Bellevue and we knew right then that we'd done something right—PAIZOCON 2009 was going to be a success.

Saturday was a long day of gaming that ended with a huge banquet for the attendees. The food was fantastic, the company even better, and it was pushed over the top by a keynote address from Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens, a lengthy preview of the PRPG by Lead Designer Jason Bulmahn, a preview of things to come by Publisher Erik Mona, and a really boring, stuffy, and not very fun quiz game lamely put together by yours truly. (Okay, so the quiz game was awesome! Most fun I've had in front of crowd since the WTO Riots in 1999.)

Sunday was additional gaming fun as the show slowly started to wind down. Folks began collecting in the lobby and just hanging out—sharing gaming stories, asking the PAIZOCON special guest in the seat next to them about their RPG favorites, and just basking in the glow of a successful and fun weekend of all things Paizo and beyond.

With the show behind me now, I've already started thinking about next year. In fact, as I write this, I'm 15 minutes away from the first meeting to do just that: plan PAIZOCON 2010 and figure how, exactly, we're going to be able to top 2009. For those of you who were there, I hope you had fun and played games to your heart's content. For those who couldn't make it—do not, I repeat, DO NOT miss out on the opportunity next year. I imagine it'll only be better.

Thanks, everyone!

The PAIZOCON 2009 sales booth, manned by a cleverly hidden Vic Wertz. Erik Mona runs his Spire of Nex preview on Friday.

F. Wesley Schneider runs his Ustalav preview on Friday. Neil Shackleton shows off one of the hobby horses he brought for his live-action Yetisburg game. He had one pink one and he named it "Sebastian."

Lilith looks over cartographer Corey Macourek's shoulder as he explains how he designs Paizo's GameMastery Flip-Mat and Map Pack lines. PAIZOCON Special Guest Artist Eva Widermann gets ready to burn her personal seal into a drawing she did for a fan.

Pathfinder Wiki guru Yoda8MyHead discusses Pathfinder with others in the Coast Bellevue Hotel lobby. Eva Widermann and artist rk post sketch for the fans.

Fray and Wolfgang Baur discuss Kobold Quarterly. Paizo's Disturbing Customer Servant Cosmo ponders his life as a hobby horse cavalryman in a game of live-action Yetisburg.

Until next year!

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

PAIZOCON: The Aftermath

Monday, June 15, 2009

After three incredible days of gaming, chatting, drinking, and nerding out, pretty much all of us here at Paizo are totally wiped. So we're taking today to gradually ease back into things, mostly by dishing about the con, nursing hangovers, and reading Wayfinder, the remarkable fan-made magazine that totally knocked all of our socks off. Thanks a ton to Liz "Lilith" Courts, Hugo "Butterfrog" Solis, Adam Daigle, Ashavan Doyon, David Schwartz, Thomas McQueen, and all the Wayfinder staff and contributors for putting together what really was one of the highlights of the show. Also a ton of thanks goes to everyone who came and made PAIZOCON 2009 such an incredible weekend! We'll be posting our pictures and musings from the con throughout the coming week, but until then, safe travels to everyone heading home and thanks for making PAIZOCON more successful than we could have imagined!

F. Wesley Schneider
Managing Editor

Countdown to PAIZOCON

Thursday, June 11, 2009

PAIZOCON is tomorrow! The massive event schedule lists all of the awesome activities attendees can expect to take part in, but here are some of the real gems that I'm looking forward to:

As I mentioned in Tuesday's "Countdown to PAIZOCON" blog, guests and Paizo staff will have the opportunity to wine and dine together during Saturday's banquet. One of the reasons I'm most excited about the banquet is the opportunity to meet fellow Paizonians. Having gotten to know so many of you on the messageboards, it will be fun to finally meet some of you face-to-face! In addition to Publisher Erik Mona's preview of upcoming Pathfinder products and CEO Lisa Steven's keynote address, attendees can expect one very special surprise. I can't say what it is (under pain of death), but you all should be very excited!

One of the neatest things about PAIZOCON is the myriad opportunities to get the inside scoop on Pathfinder, Paizo, and the old days at TSR. Between “The Pathfinder RPG and the Future of Paizo" on Friday, and "What's New with Pathfinder?", "Secrets of TSR Revealed!", and the "Pathfinder Fiction Discussion" on Saturday, guests should expect to get firsthand knowledge about the juicy details of the publishing industry, as well as an exciting look at all of the goodies (and there are many!) that Paizo will be working on in the near future. I plan on attending as many of these seminars as I can!

Speaking of seminars, there are a ton about how to begin writing for RPGs and break into the game industry. Here's a brief list of some of the seminars that I hope to attend myself: "How To Break Into Print in Kobold Quarterly," "Designing Dungeons with Monte Cook," "Secrets of the Publishing Industry—Your Questions Answered," "Pathfinder Society Open Call Workshop," "Build a Pathfinder Society Scenario with Sue Cook and Joshua J. Frost," and "Game Design Self-Editing Workshop by Sue Cook."

Finally (and perhaps best of all) expect to play lots and lots of games. Pathfinder Society scenarios will be run every day throughout the convention, and special events such as Sean K Reynold's "Into the Scarlet Monastery" (a Pathfinder RPG rendition of one of the most iconic dungeons of the most iconic MMO), Jason Bulmahn's "Fight Club" (wherein you characters will be brutally savaged by monsters), and master of horror James Jacobs's "Unspeakable Futures" (a Pathfinder RPG variant set in an apocalyptic earth ravaged by the Elder Mythos) are sure to be crowd pleasers. I might even have to sit in and watch some of these games being played—they sound that awesome.

I've quickly run out of space in my excitement to tell you about the ridiculously fun things to expect at PAIZOCON, so I'll end with this:

PAIZOCON is tomorrow baby! WOOT!

David Eitelbach
Editorial Intern

Leather-Bound Pathfinder Beta

Thursday, April 30, 2009

So our fans are apparently crazy... crazy awesome. Check out this leather-bound copy of the Pathfinder RPG Beta sent to our office by Sean, who posts on the messageboards as yellowdingo. The lovingly made book was well used by Sean and his fellow Beta playtesters, and includes all of the web enhancements for the Beta, as well as his personal notes from the playtest. It's really quite amazing!

David Eitelbach
Editorial Intern

Paizo Twitter

Friday, April 24, 2009

We've been tweeting! As of yesterday afternoon Paizo has its very own Twitter account. Come join the more than 200 Twitter users already getting nearly 24-hour-a-day updates on all sorts of Pathfinder info, Pathfinder RPG details, and other Paizo ephemera! Follow along on the Paizo Twitter page right here.

There's also a new Twitter page for Planet Stories, where you can get endless updates on all your favorite pulp science fiction and fantasy stories and authors as well as other exciting news on all our upcoming adventures!

F. Wesley Schneider
Managing Editor

Official Call for Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2009 Volunteer GMs and Assistants!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Hello!

This is the official call for volunteer GMs and assistants to help Paizo Publishing run events at Gen Con 2009. (If you're looking for the Origins volunteer thread, click here.) In order to be sure that Gen Con 2009 is the best possible play experience, I need a minimum of 42 volunteers (54 volunteers total on Friday and Saturday night) with no maximum—I'll keep taking volunteers until the slots are filled! Below you will find the reward structure for volunteering as well as the events and slots for which I need volunteers. This year, I'm also creating a new "Volunteer Assistant" position for the show—these two folks will aid me in all manner of things and will be my right and left hand man/woman throughout the entire show. They will be rewarded handsomely for their time. Speaking of our rewards, we've DOUBLED the voucher amounts you get for volunteering this year and increased the number of hotel rooms available for Tier 1 volunteers. By doing this, I hope to see even more people working for us at Gen Con.

Tell your friends! Tell your family! Tell everyone in your game group! We need volunteers!

One last thing to keep in mind: you're volunteering for a slot, not a specific event. I'll assign people to events inside the slot they've volunteered for and won't take requests.

Volunteer Tiers and Rewards

Volunteer Assistant
The volunteer assistants will work closely with me every day of the show from 8 A.M. to 10 P.M. to help muster slots, gather tickets, answer questions, and run HQ. The volunteer assistants may also be used as gophers, lunch-gatherers, or errand-runners. Reliable, punctual, and guaranteed-to-be-at-the-show applicants ONLY please. This position is limited to two volunteers and will be assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis, though I reserve the right to select volunteers I've worked with in the past (i.e., at Gen Con 2008 or Gen Con UK 2008). Volunteer assistants will only be used as GMs to cover GMs that are MIA. Volunteer assistants receive:

A FREE 4-day badge
A FREE 1/4 of a hotel room
A $150 voucher for the Paizo booth (to be used in the Paizo booth on Sunday only)
A FREE black & white photocopied version of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook before the show after signing an NDA
A FREE autographed copy of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook hardcover at Gen Con Wednesday evening
A FREE limited edition Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2009 T-Shirt

Tier 1 GM Volunteers
Tier 1 GM volunteers are my workhorse, every day GMs. They are invaluable to making the show a success! Tier 1 GMs must select and volunteer for a MINIMUM of 8 slots. Tier 1 GMs may feel free to volunteer for more than 8 slots if they so desire. I only have room for 18 Tier 1 GM volunteers so don't delay in volunteering for this tier. Volunteers will be chosen on a first-come, first-served basis, though I reserve the right to select volunteers who have previously worked for Paizo over new volunteers. Tier 1 GMs receive:

A FREE 4-day badge
A FREE 1/4 of a hotel room
A $10 per slot voucher for the Paizo booth (to be used in the Paizo booth on Sunday only)
A FREE black & white photocopied version of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook before the show after signing an NDA
A FREE autographed copy of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook hardcover at Gen Con Wednesday evening
A FREE limited edition Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2009 T-Shirt

Tier 2 GM Volunteers
While the rewards for volunteering for this tier are smaller, the majority of my volunteers will come from Tier 2. Tier 2 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 4 slots. Tier 2 GMs receive:

A FREE 4-day badge
A $10 per slot voucher for the Paizo booth (to be used in the Paizo booth on Sunday only)
A FREE black & white photocopied version of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook before the show after signing an NDA
A FREE limited edition Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2009 T-Shirt

Tier 3 GM Volunteers
This is the minimum volunteer level. Tier 3 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 2 slots. Tier 3 GMs receive:

A $10 per slot voucher for the Paizo booth (to be used in the Paizo booth on Sunday only)
A FREE black & white photocopied version of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook before the show after signing an NDA
A FREE limited edition Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2009 T-Shirt

Volunteering for One Slot
While we will gladly accept anyone who wants to run just one slot during the show, there are no rewards for doing so other than our thanks.

Events by Slot
When volunteering, please be specific about what slot you are volunteering for. I will assign folks to scenarios on an as-needed basis, so you really only need to tell me the slot(s) you're volunteering for (since I won't take requests). I will update the needs in the Gen Con volunteer thread on the Pathfinder Society messageboards as I receive volunteers, so you may refer to that thread in order to remain up to date on where we still need help.

Slot 1: Thursday 8 A.M. to 12 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Slot 2: Thursday 1 P.M. to 5 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Slot 3: Thursday 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Slot 4: Friday 8 A.M. to 12 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Slot 5: Friday 1 P.M. to 5 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Slot 6: Friday 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.
Need: 54 volunteers

Slot 7: Saturday 8 A.M. to 12 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Slot 8: Saturday 1 P.M. to 5 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Slot 9: Saturday 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.
Need: 54 volunteers

Slot 10: Sunday 8 A.M. to 12 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Slot 11: Sunday 1 P.M. to 5 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Thanks in advance for volunteering, good luck, and have a great Gen Con 2009!

All volunteers can email me: josh@paizo.com with the subject line Gen Con Volunteer.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

New PAIZOCON Guests! New PAIZOCON Events!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Hello there future PAIZOCON 2009 attendees! Today's blog is all about our upcoming fan con and the events and guests you can expect to see there. In case you've been asleep under a bridge in Tasmania and have no idea what PAIZOCON is, please click here and find out. You can also purchase your 3-Day PAIZOCON badge and your $5 Pathfinder RPG Preview Banquet tickets. Hotel information can be found here.

Additional Guests
In addition to Monte Cook, Sue Cook, Eva Widermann, Wolfgang Baur, Clark Peterson, and the entire Paizo staff, we're announcing five new special guests today as well! You can view the complete guest list here.

Lou Agresta
Fantasy game design crept up on Lou Agresta in 2005, when diamondthrone.com accepted his first articles on true names. Until then a writer of travelogues, indie comics, fashion essays, and torturous, self-indulgent philosophy tracts, his more recent adventure credits include SAW #1 and #12 of the Trodoon Gate Saga (LPJ Designs), The Bloody Fix and The Punctured Vein with Rone Barton (O0negames), and Pathfinder Society Scenario #8: Slave Pits of Absalom. Lou is one of six authors from the Great City Campaign Setting (0onegames), a contributor to Sinister Adventures, and chief-scribbler over at the RPGAggression blog. A member of the Werecabbages freelance writer's guild, he also had his fingers in both the GM Gems and PC Pearls collaborations (Goodman Games) and has made guest appearances as Cthu-Lou on the Atomic Array podcast. Lou's set piece, slated for Pathfinder #24, will likely prove the last of its kind. Dungeon acquired his first adventure, written with Nicolas Logue, then canceled the magazine, leaving Lou forever haunted by the fear he is somehow responsible. Lou lives somewhere in upstate NY with his wife, daughter, a dog, and a couple of horses. While he has sometimes worn a kilt and ridden a tractor, no one has ever caught him doing both.

Rob McCreary
Rob McCreary was born in Japan and raised in the United States. He started gaming when the red Basic D&D boxed set came out. Rob currently lives in Prague, Czech Republic, where he is an English teacher by day and freelancer by night. Rob made it to last year's RPG Superstar Top 4 with a combination of coin belts, ziggurat-filled jungles, and monkey-goblins. Thus far he has contributed to the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, several Pathfinder Bestiaries, and the upcoming Dungeon Denizens Revisited. Rob is currently scrambling to finish writing the final installment of the upcoming Legacy of Fire Adventure Path, "The Final Wish."

Jason Nelson Jason Nelson is in the job market as a professor of education (have doctorate, will travel!) and a devoted Christian who lives in Seattle, Washington with his two kids, Allen and Meshia, and has been gaming since 1981. He's hardcore enough that he uses the name of his first-ever D&D character, Tjaden, in his email address, and he's also devious enough to have slipped the name of his fiancee into the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, to her great amusement and delight. Jason was some combination of lucky and good enough to make the Final Four in the inaugural RPG Superstar and has also written a number of adventures and articles for Dungeon and Dragon magazines (ah, memories) and over a hundred webcolumns for Wizards of the Coast, including the long-running "Save My Game" and "Behind the Screen." More recently, he has contributed to Dungeon Denizens Revisited and several Pathfinder Bestiaries, co-wrote Osirion: Land of the Pharaohs, and is the author of "The End of Eternity", the fourth adventure in the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path. It's awesome! You should totally go buy a copy!

rk post
Just prior to graduation from Northern Illinois University in 1994, rk post started freelancing in the fantasy gaming industry doing interior illustrations for several major game companies, gradually teaching himself how to paint with acrylics and eventually oils. rk garnered a staff illustration position at TSR in the fall of 1996 painting cover illustrations for games and novels. rk left (then) WotC in the winter of 2000 and now he doubles as a full time freelance illustrator and senior artist for Big Fish Games in Seattle. rk has contracted and worked with White Wolf, WizKids, Fanpro, Microsoft (Mythica, X Box), LucasFilm, 20th Century Fox (Aliens vs. Predator series), Sega (Dreamcast), Nintendo, Ballantine Books, Science Fiction Book Club, Hasbro (television and animation), Marvel Entertainment, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, the History Channel, and Blizzard Entertainment (Diablo 2, World of Warcraft). rk post has his collected works available in a hard cover art book, Postmortem: the Art of rk post through Cartouche Press (www.cartouchepress.com). New and continuing work can also be seen at www.rkpost.net and www.myspace.com/rkpost.

Neil Spicer
Born in the shadow of North Carolina's Blue Ridge mountains, Neil Spicer started gaming in the early '80s. His first foray into RPG design began with a simple fanzine devoted to Alternity's Star*Drive and Dark.Matter campaign settings titled Action Check. Since then, he's written a handful of D20 PDF products for third-party publishers and co-authored a softcover D20 Future supplement called the Future Player's Companion through the Game Mechanics and Green Ronin. Neil somehow managed to survive Paizo's RPG Superstar 2009 contest and emerged with an opportunity to write Realm of the Fellnight Queen, an Pathfinder Module scheduled for release in January 2010.

Events

Below is just a small sampling of the events you can expect to see and participate in at PAIZOCON 2009. Event sign-ups will go live in May. We still have a few badges left—don't be left out, buy yours today! In addition to the events below, Pathfinder Society members of all levels and experience will be able to participate in a Friday night interactive penned by Erik Mona and Joshua J. Frost that's sure to keep people talking for years!

Pathfinder Society Scenario #23:
Tide of Morning by Steven Robert (for Tier 1–5)
Venture-Captain Dennel Hamshanks sends you to convince an Andoren druid named Hemzel to allow the Pathfinder Society to study his recently discovered lorestone, a minor magical item that unlocks some of the mysteries of the ancient Andoren druid circles. When you arrive and find Hemzel murdered and the lorestone missing, you must race against time to recover the lorestone and stop Hemzel's murderers from using it against the druids of Andoran.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #24:
The Decline of Glory by Tim Hitchcock (for Tier 1–7)
When the son of a famous Pathfinder gains control of his father's holdings in Taldor, the Pathfinder Society decides to build a new lodge there as a base to explore the many ruins of that crumbling empire. Unfortunately, the Taldan Phalanx has its eye on the holdings and an ancient curse has turned many of the residents into the walking dead. Can you survive the tangled web of Taldor's politics and fight off the echoes of the past or will you, too, see your glory decline?

Pathfinder Society Scenario #25:
Hands of the Muted God by Clinton J. Boomer (for Tier 5–9)
When the man who would be the Muted God wordlessly stepped beyond the gates of the Starstone's Cathedral, his thousand and one faithful ringing the Ascendant Court watched with the silent contemplation that is their highest sacrament. When he failed to emerge, many of his penitents abandoned their vows but a small sect remained loyal and worshipful. You and your fellow Pathfinders are sent into the mountains north of Absalom to follow the path of a doomed party and uncover the secrets of the Muted God. His loyal band of followers, called the Hand, will stop at nothing to keep you away from their shrine—even forming an alliance with some of Golarion's most evil denizens.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #26:
Lost at Bitter End by Joshua J. Frost (for Tier 7–11)
When a Pathfinder Society Priest of Nethys disappears in northern Geb while studying the Mana Wastes, the Society sends you to uncover his whereabouts and find his journals. Arriving in the town of Bitter End, you find it deserted but for a few mysterious creatures never before seen on Golarion. Those creatures quickly lead to more and soon you're embroiled in a mystery that could affect the very fabric of reality. Will you solve the mystery of Bitter End or find yourself lost forever in the Mana Wastes?

Cursed Lot: New Beginnings, GMed by Jason Bulmahn
Last year, a group of brave, but horribly cursed adventurers set out on a brave adventure. While one succeeded to be rid of his terrible curse, the rest suffered and even worse fate. This year, a new band of unfortunately cursed heroes takes on an even greater challenge... to rescue a missing dog. How hard could that be?

Fires Over Brinestump, GMed by James Jacobs
It's been three years since the last time goblins have been a problem on the Lost Coast, but last night, a band of Licktoad Goblins from the Brinestump Marsh lit a merchant wagon on fire. The lone survivior almost made it to the town of Sandpoint before dying of his burns, and shortly after his body is discovered, fireworks bloom over Brinestump Marsh, lighting the night sky south of Sandpoint in an unmistakable display of goblin celebration. Why are the Licktoad Goblins on the march? Who gave them fireworks? Does this herald the advent of another goblin invasion of the town of Sandpoint? A Pathfinder RPG adventure for six 1st level characters.

Into the Scarlet Monastery, GMed by Sean K Reynolds The zealots of the Scarlet Monastery have been a blight on the world for three years. Reviled by all, they hate against all nonhumans, accuse their enemies of spreading plague, and lynch innocents in the name of their crusade. Now is the time to defeat their Commander. But are two orc warriors, a troll mage, a warlock, an undead rogue, and a minotaur druid up to the task?

Before Nightfall, a PFPRG Playtest for a work in progress, GMed by F. Wesley Schneider
Forsaken, some places are best left to their haunted memories and the shadows of things best left forgotten. On the Ustalavic frontieer, one such ruin has long loomed over the lives and nightmares of the local peasents, a monument to terrors that can never be forgotten. Now a terrible new life has returned to the dreaded citadel, one that seeks to renew the horrors of centuries past. Take up arms and explore the deadly grounds and labyinthine courtyards of a soon to be infamous gothic castle, offer your advice and feedback on what makes for exciting horror roleplaying, and participate in the creation of a terrifying new adventure written in the tradition of one of the most famous horror RPG modules of all time.

Short Fiction Workshop
Paizo Fiction Editor James L. Sutter and Editor Christopher Paul Carey critique your short fiction! James and Chris will critique your story from an editorial viewpoint and go over it with you, focusing especially on the opening and those red flags editors use to quickly reject stories, helping you hone your writing and make it past an editor's initial cut. Please note that workshopping will be on a first-come, first-served basis during the listed timeslot—you can sign up so you don't have to wait around the whole time.

Pathfinder Society Scenario Open Call Workshop
A future Pathfinder Society Scenario for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game will be decided on at PAIZOCON 2009! Soon, Paizo's Events Manager Joshua J. Frost will put out an open call for one of the fall Pathfinder Society Scenarios—a call that can only be answered by attendees at PAIZOCON 2009! All who contributed may attend this workshop where Joshua will go over why each scenario was and wasn't accepted. For a unique look inside the creative mind of the guy who brings you your monthly installment of Pathfinder Society scenarios, look no further than this seminar! This event will be capped at 20 attendees.

... and much, much more! Don't delay—sign up for PAIZOCON 2009 today!

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Presenting the Gen Con 2009 Scenarios!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

I've spent a huge portion of this week thinking about and planning for Gen Con 2009. As most of you know, we're launching the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game at Gen Con, which means we're also kicking off Season 1 of Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The first slot of the show, Thursday morning, will be a character creation/conversion seminar with Paizo employees and volunteer GMs who have all seen the rules ahead of time and will be available to answer questions and help you either build a new character or follow our soon-to-be-released conversion guidelines for Season 1. We'll cut everyone loose before the dealer hall opens so they can hop in what will assuredly be a long line for the RPG hardcover itself and then let everyone flow back to the Org Play area to finish their characters alongside their shiny new (possibly autographed) Pathfinder Roleplaying Game books.

The real fun kicks off Thursday afternoon when we launch Season 1 of Pathfinder Society Organized Play! We have four outstanding scenarios written by four outstanding scenario authors (if I do say so myself) who will all be in attendance at Gen Con and will likely GM their own scenarios once or twice as surprise GMs throughout the show. Tim Hitchcock and the Werecabbages are brewing a brilliant Friday and Saturday night interactive event for the Pathfinder Society that I cannot reveal the details about yet as the lycanthropic vegetable club would stake me and eat my brains for doing so. Rest assured, when Tim pitched me the idea, I ran screaming through the office declaring it the best idea since horseshoes.

Here are some quick summaries of the four scenarios we'll be running at Gen Con 2009:

Pathfinder Society Scenario 29:
The Devil We Know, Part 1: Shipyard Rats (Tiers 1–7) by Joshua J. Frost
When simultaneous kidnappings of Pathfinder and Aspis Consortium agents rock Cassomir's imperial shipyards, the Society orders you to join forces with hated Aspis agents to solve the mystery. Can you work together with the enemies of the Society to uncover the source of the kidnappings, or will you perish in the shipyards of Cassomir? Written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Pathfinder Society Scenario 30:
The Devil We Know, Part 2: Cassomir's Locker (Tiers 1–7) by Joshua J. Frost
The Pathfinder Society dispatches you into the catacombs beneath the shipyards known as Cassomir's Locker to uncover the source of a shamanistic rat cult that's breeding monstrous vermin never before seen on Golarion. After thwarting a double-cross and delving into the dirty dungeons below, will you find the artifact that powers Cassomir's Locker in time or will you bring about the destruction of Taldor's most important port? Written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Pathfinder Society Scenario 31:
Sniper in the Deep (Tiers 5–9) by David Eitelbach & Hank Woon
When rumors stir of a hidden treasure ship in Absalom's Flotsam Graveyard, the Pathfinder Society sends you beneath the Inner Sea to investigate. Mayhem, undersea adventure, and chaos are to be had in this rousing rampage beneath the roiling waters of Absalom's harbor. Written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Pathfinder Society Scenario 32:
Drow of the Darklands Pyramid (Tiers 7–11) by Sean K Reynolds
A rogue band of drow are plaguing the artifact shipping lanes of Osirion and the Pathfinder Society has sent you to stop them. When the drow capture an entire caravan laden with Society relics, the Decemvirate orders you into the Darklands to track down the drow and their stolen cargo. You'll travel beneath Golarion, fighting through caverns of hideous creatures to reach the fabled Darklands Pyramid—will your survive the journey, or become a slave forever? Written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Lastly, I want to congratulate the selectees for the final 3.5 Pathfinder Society Organized Play Open Call: Elizabeth Leib and James MacKenzie! They're writing #28 Lyrics of Extinction and #27 Our Lady of Silver respectively. Congratulations!

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Artist: Eva Widermann

The Pathfinder Wiki

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Hello Paizonians! I would just like to take a moment to talk about, for those of you who are not already aware, the Pathfinder Wiki. The Pathfinder Wiki is a community project run by our forum's very own yoda8myhead, and to date has over 1,100 articles related to Golarion and various Pathfinder-related products. If you haven't had the pleasure, you should hop on over there and check it out. Or, if you're interested in helping to build a vast database for you and your fellow Pathfinder GMs, contribute something yourself! (There are tutorials and help articles for the wiki illiterate.) While, of course, we don't condone verbatim copies of our products being regurgitated in a public forum, we do appreciate and welcome brief and succinct synopses of Pathfinder content. Basically, it would be great if you know someone who is interested in learning about Pathfinder for you to be able to point them to the wiki and have it do the job of introducing him or her to all the goodness that is Pathfinder.

So, whether you're looking for more information on this character or that country, hoping to introduce your players to Golarion, or want to help build a fantastic Pathfinder resource, stop on by the Pathfinder Wiki when you get the chance.

Hank Woon
Editorial Intern

Announcing PAIZOCON 2009!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

PAIZOCON returns in 2009 bigger and better than ever! Officially sponsored and run by Paizo Publishing, LLC, PAIZOCON 2009 brings together dozens of hobby gaming's veteran authors, artists, publishers, and designers and gives YOU the opportunity to meet, greet, and game with some of the best and brightest that the hobby gaming industry has to offer.

Hosted by the conveniently located Coast Bellevue Hotel, PAIZOCON 2009 is three non-stop days of gaming, panels, workshops, banquets, and (most importantly) fun! You'll get to rub shoulders with your favorite Paizo Publishing employees and freelancers as well as game with your favorite people from the Paizo Publishing online community.

Attendance is capped at 250 TICKETS, so don't delay—buy your tickets today!

Also, Saturday, June 13, 2009 PAIZOCON 2009 will host a Pathfinder RPG Preview Banquet in the main banquet hall at the Coast Bellevue Hotel. The Coast Bellevue Hotel's banquet hall can hold 250 people maximum, which means there are less tickets available for the banquet than there are for the show overall. Tickets for this event are capped at 225, so sign up as soon as possible to guarantee your seat. You may only purchase tickets for this event if you've also purchased your PAIZOCON 2009 3-Day Badge located here.

During the banquet, attendees will have the opportunity to view Pathfinder RPG products for the first time beyond the walls of Paizo Publishing. We will have copies of the Pathfinder RPG hardcover as well as preview copies of the Pathfinder Bestiary for everyone to flip through and marvel at. Additionally, members of the Paizo staff and PAIZOCON 2009 Guests of Honor will be seated one each at every table in the room, giving attendees the opportunity to chat with the industry professional seated at their table.

Throughout the banquet, there will be games and quizzes with each table acting as a team. Prizes will be given away and one lucky attendee will even win a copy of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game autographed by everyone at Paizo Publishing (to be delivered via the mail upon the game's release in August).

Don't miss out on this unique event at PAIZOCON 2009—buy your Pathfinder RPG Preview Banquet ticket today!

We hope to see YOU at PAIZOCON 2009! Don't miss out.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Please Be Our Friend!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

In our latest effort to reach out across the vast distances of the intergalactic community and spread the word about Planet Stories' heart-pounding tales of interplanetary adventure and romance, we've set up both a Planet Stories Facebook fan page and Planet Stories MySpace. While we already have an active Planet Stories Messageboard (where we invite you to come on over and give us your feedback about the stories we're printing and what you'd like to see from us in the future), these are just two more ways to stay on top of what we're doing. It's tough out there, navigating the measureless abyss of space (uh... publishing), and as we continue to look for new ways to get the word out about Planet Stories, one thing has become certain—our most powerful ally is YOU, loyal reader! So if you're on Facebook or MySpace and the sound of "swordfights and exploding robots"—as Erik is fond of describing the Planet Stories line—gets your pulse racing, please add us as a fan or friend, or drop us a comment to let us know what you think or just to say, "Greetings, fellow adventurer!"

Let's explore the cosmos together!

Christopher Carey
Editor, Planet Stories

Still the Season: Paizo and the Child's Play Charity

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Although the snow that hit us here in Seattle prevented us from hyping this as much as we would have liked, just before the holidays Paizo Publishing put together an online auction to benefit Child's Play, a charity for children's hospitals created and supported by gamers. We're happy to report that this auction raked in $800, due wholly to the generous contributions and competitive bidding of this website's incredible online community. Our own Karelzarath came in as the top bidder, making the final exceptionally generous $800 bid. We've just shipped him off the first of his books, a super-signed edition of the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, with additional autographed version of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Pathfinder Bestiary to follow a bit later this year.

Even if you missed out on our auction, though, there's still time to pitch in! Head on over to www.childsplaycharity.org to learn more about Child's Play, pick up a copy of their Child's Play benefit CD (featuring nerdcore music from 14 incredible artists), or make your own donation via PayPal.

Thanks again to Karelzarath and the entire Paizo community for all your enthusiasm and generosity!

F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

Paizo Invades the Atomic Array

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Over at the Atomic Array, Rone Barton and Ed Healy have created a great podcast that should interest everyone who's a gamer. A brief look through their recent episodes sees topics such as Shadows of Cthulhu, Kobold Quarterly, Gen Con, and as of episode #11, Pathfinder!

This episode of the Atomic Array features myself, Jason Bulmahn, and Josh Frost getting interviewed about all matter of things Paizo, from Pathfinder and the upcoming Legacy of Fire Adventure Path to the Pathfinder RPG Beta playtest and more. Check it out!

James Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief

Out and About

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Turns out that we haven't been the only ones busily bustling away to bring you new Pathfinder brand insanity. A quick glance across the boards turns up Hugo Solis's (aka Butterfrog) currently Unofficial Paizo Comic Strip. The first is featured above, but check out his awesome comic thread here.

Also, Paizo—or more specifically Entombed with the Pharaohs and the Critical Fumble Deck—got a subtle shout-out on this week's commodoreHUSTLE by the web comedy troupe over at LoadingReadyRun.com. Be sure to check it out—hilarious stuff. I promise that Tukanem-Hanam, the mummy dragon in question, doesn't always suck that bad. And don't worry, we're totally hooking them up with the sequel, The Pact Stone Pyramid, to give Jeremy a chance to get his revenge.

So yeah! Great work to everyone out there making Pathfinder their own! And if you've been inspired by adventures in Golarion, be sure to show off your talents here on the message boards. We can't wait to see what you've come up with!

F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

Happy Erik Mona Day!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

We have the best fans and readers in the world.

Last year, our messageboard community, in their unique and awesome way, declared November 8th to be Erik Mona Day to honor the hard work the editorial staff (and the rest of Paizo) were putting into creating and producing some of the best RPG projects in the industry (in my and their humble opinions). To celebrate Erik Mona Day they pooled their money together and ordered us pizza. We were, frankly, shocked and pleased at the audacity of our community as well as their loyalty, frivolity, and downright friendly demeanor.

Not to be outdone, the community celebrated Erik Mona Day last Friday and bought the Paizo staff another delicious round of pizza. Seriously, guys and gals—thank you! Everyone in the office appreciated the pizza and resoundingly destroyed it with much chewing, digesting, and hilarity. We support Erik Mona Day being an annual holiday and can only hope that we give back in some way for your thoughtful purchase of yummy pizza pie.

Now the pictures!

A stack of magical pizza arrives in our conference room.

Moved to action (from left to right) Christopher Carey, Christopher Self, James Jacobs, and Wes Schneider catch the pizza flat-footed and get attacks of opportunity. In the background, the blurry shade that is James Sutter hovers, waiting for his chance to consume cheese pizza and thus become once again corporeal.

With proof of Chris Self's pizza eating the foreground, James Sutter (now satiated and corporeal) and Wes Schneider stare blankly into the middle distance, stomachs filled with the doughy confectionery of our awesome community.

Until next year!

Also, as Paizo's resident veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces, I'd like to thank, on behalf of everyone at Paizo, each and every member of our community and fan base who currently serves or previously served in the military. We know what you do can be hard and we know there are lots of you—stay safe, stay sane, and thank you for your service.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

The Paizo Halloween Party!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Had you wandered into the Paizo editorial pit last Friday the only way you'd have known it was Halloween was by our pumpkin spice lattes. (Don't judge! We live in Seattle!) In fact, I think Josh, Alison, and Cosmo were the only three trick-or-treat-ready members of the whole crew. But around 3:00 we got an e-mail from Liz Courts (our own Lilith) with an illustration by Hugo Solis of a Hallow-awesome bash featuring all your favorite Paizo message boarders! Thanks a ton to Hugo for his incredible work—smurfs have never been so well dressed—and for bringing a cauldron full of Halloween spirit to the office! It's making us all rethink our avatars since now we've only two short months before the Festivus bash, right Hugo?! Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

Pathfinder! Now in Two Amazing Dimensions!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Anyone who's haunted the Paizo messageboards for a while has likely come across the artwork of Ashton Sperry, our own N'wah. (If you haven't, look for his posts in this thread!) That Ashton is a big ol' Pathfinder fan goes without saying. His deluxe-sized rune giant paper "miniature" so impressed us a few months back that when asked if we'd like to see more Pathfinder characters receive the same 2D paper miniature treatment there was absolutely no way we could turn him down. Well, the artistic fruits of Ashton's labor showed up today and they're simply too awesome to keep to ourselves! Heroes, and villains, and goblins aplenty! More proof that we have the most talented, most insane, most incredible readers in the world. So a huge thanks from all of us here to Ashton and his colorist Ben's (Benchak on the boards) amazing work!

And as we keep having to tell people, they're not paper dolls, they're precisely scaled miniature combat aids. There's a difference.

F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

Gen Con Ephemera!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Someone made the terrible mistake of giving James and I cameras, a lapse in judgment we heartily exploited over the past week at Gen Con. While many of the images we captured proved too terrible to inflict upon you gentle souls, here are a few quick highlights we snapped from the showroom floor. Special thanks to all the Paizo volunteers, everyone from the message boards we ran into (you guys are awesome!), all who voted in the ENnies, Tiffany, Boomer, and um... Sheila (sorry we forgot your name; blasted cloak of invisibility).

F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

Frozen Fingers of Midnight: A Pathfinder Society Scenario Sneak Peek

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Last Saturday night, Craig Shackleton gathered together a number of Paizo Origins attendees in the lobby of the Drury Inn in Columbus, OH and ran us through the first ever installment of a Pathfinder Society Scenario. The aptly named Frozen Fingers of Midnight kept a bunch of us up way too late as we explored Absalom in service of the Pathfinder Society. Our mission was to find the cause of a freezing sickness that had infected a highly-regarded emissary from the Land of the Linnorm Kings.

Ever the bunch of roleplaying fanatics, we created a freak show menagerie of characters too weird to live and too rare to die:

Erik Mona was Ecritus, a pathfinder in service to the Cheliax faction and a Cleric of Asmodeus with a voice much like the Monarch from The Venture Bros. cartoon on Adult Swim. Barely able to tolerate his less intelligent brethren, Ecritus used every opportunity available to him to manipulate his fellow pathfinders into doing his bidding.

Michael (a representative from the company printing the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game beta) played Angelo, a pathfinder Paladin in service to the Andoran faction and completely unsure of the terrifying rabble the Pathfinder Society assigned him to in order to solve the mystery of the freezing sickness. A quiet, jovial sort, Angelo spent most of the scenario in the background, steering clear of Ecritus and Jason Bulmahn's character.

Jason played Dar-An'Sumat, an Osirion necromancer obsessed with sending the dead to their proper resting place in Pharasma's embrace. Ever the loyalist, Dar was also a member of the Osirion faction, and while trying to complete his faction's mission in the scenario, spent a great deal of time with his hooks, cotton cloth, and flensing knives sending the deceased foes of the party to the great beyond. Jason was decidedly creepy in this role.

Chris Self, Paizo's Sales Manager, played a sorcerer of the Cheliax faction named Blase. In any other group of pathfinders, Blase would be creepy and strange, but when put up against the creepy and strange Osirion and Blase's fellow Chelaxian, he was pretty tame. Chris played him dark and goth-like.

My own character was an Ulfen barbarian with an incredibly long and unpronounceable name in service to the Qadiran faction. He was a member of the Pathfinder Society because the society's goal of protecting and seeking knowledge matched his own. Cast out from the Land of the Linnorm Kings as a youth, he wandered the Inner Sea educating himself in the ways of more civilized peoples. I played him as a smart, well-spoken Dolph Lundgren-type who saw violence as a last resort and would blackout when flying into a rage. He was fun to play and very difficult to roleplay around some of his more violence-first-then-questions-asked adventuring companions.

Lastly, and certainly not least, was Nicolas Logue as the Ulfen cripple and albino rogue, Thalg Sickeyes. In Nick's own words from the Post Your Gen Con Character Concepts Here! thread on the Pathfinder Society messageboards, "His bloody birth ended his mother, thus he claimed his first life before he took his first breath. He was born with his left arm crippled. It remains palsied to this day. Thalg is an albino, with sickly yellowed pupils and stringly white hair." Click the link to the thread to read more about Nick's decidedly twisted take on an Ulfen rogue.

Our first foray into a Pathfinder Society scenario was a blast. Craig Shackleton has written a fantastic little adventure for Gen Con and I'm positive everyone who gets a shot at playing Frozen Fingers of Midnight will be impressed as well. Who knows, if you're lucky, you may even get Craig as your GM.

Stranger things have happened.

And now, pictures:

From left to right around the table: Jason, Erik, Nick (already in character), Craig, Chris, and Michael all prepare characters for Frozen Fingers of Midnight.	Craig draws a map.
Jason (in character) brandishes a knife as he talks of sending guards to the afterlife. Erik (in character) looks on disdainfully.	Ooooh, a sneak peak at one of the battles in Frozen Fingers. What could all those miniatures mean?

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

PaizoCon 2008

Thursday, May 1, 2008

This past weekend, roughly thirty adventurous gamers descended upon the LaQuinta Inn in Bellevue, Washington to participate in the first annual PaizoCon. In attendance were several of our messageboard family's most visible personalities, including Lilith, Chris Mortika, Pete Apple, Grimcleaver, Timitius (who put together the event), Russ Taylor, and many more. Paizo itself made an appearance Saturday, with Lisa, Vic, James, Wes, and Erik (along with Open Design's own Wolfgang Baur!) answering questions and joking around with everyone at the Game Industry seminar. Josh, Corey, and I stayed shyly in the back, while Cosmo sneaked around the room snapping pictures, including the four presented here.

After the seminar, the Paizo staff mingled with the con's excellent attendees, and eventually a number of Pathfinder RPG games broke out (run by Wolfgang Baur, Jason Bulmahn, James Jacobs, and Russ Taylor), as did demos of Titanic's upcoming Yetisburg and Falling, as well as Kill Doctor Lucky and Key Largo.

Here's a look at the entire room, including the panelists, during the seminar.

Here's a look at everyone during the seminar.

From left to right: Lisa, Vic, Erik, Wolfgang, James, and Wes, with Lilith off to the right reading off questions.

From left to right: Timitius, James, Jason, and Mike.

To see all of Cosmo's pictures and to get a glimpse at what the elusive bronze dragon editor looks like in his human form, check out this page. For a different perspective, check out Timitius's pictures. For a detailed recap and a chance to weigh in, check out this thread on our messageboards.

Mike McArtor
Editor

A Trip to the FLGS!

Monday, January 7, 2008

It's one thing to interact with readers of Pathfinder here on the internet, be it via messageboards or chat rooms, but it's certainly no replacement for face-to-face conversation. We're pretty sheltered here at Paizo, sequestered away in the not-large-enough room we semi-affectionately refer to as "The Pit," and they don't let us out that often, with the notable exception of Gen Con.

That all changed last month on December 19th, when Erik Mona, Wes Schneider, and myself got to escape the office to visit a friendly local game store—Oroboro Games. Since they don't let us out much, I had no idea that there was a cool game store like this so close to the offices. We showed up at about 7:00 PM, and although it was only supposed to go for about an hour, once you get Erik, Wes, and I talking about Golarion, well... time does strange things. The event ended up going for nearly three hours, and it was great fun! Particularly fun for me was talking to people who were playing Rise of the Runelords, and finding out just how much those goblins get hated. Poor little guys! They're just looking for things to burn and babies to eat. Is that so wrong?

Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of the event. If you look real close, I think you can see some art we haven't yet shown off on the website for book covers! Thanks, by the way, to Joshua J. Frost and Carolyn Mull for making the event happen in the first place!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Happy New Year

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

And now, here we are in 2008! We've got a lot of exciting stuff planned for 2008, but there's just as much that's still evolving. Now's a great time to head on over to our messageboards and let us know what kind of products and adventures and blog posts you'd like to see from Paizo in the coming year. Who'd like to hear a Paizo Podcast? Is anyone interested in seeing a sequel to a particular GameMastery Module? Is there a market for Pathfinder miniatures? Don't be shy! We can't make things you want if you don't tell us you want them, right?

Anyway, I don't have all that much to say or show off today. The Paizo offices are closed, and I got the honor of writing today's post. And I'm too distracted by New Year-related shenanigans to write much more, so check out my favorite picture from Pathfinder #5—some foolish runelord calling upon the dread Oliphaunt of Jandelay!
James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Happy Holidays from Paizo

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Here at Paizo we are pleased to bring some joy, with a little ditty that was on our Holiday Card. Seasons Greetings!

(Sung to the tune of Jingle Bells)

Sneaking through your yard,
Going through your stuff,
Hope you didn't like your dog; we got a little rough!
Tied him to a stump.
Lit the stump on fire.
Maybe you'll wake up in time to put out puppy's pyre!

Now we're in your house,
It's fancied up so nice!
With shiny things set all about, there's lots to break and slice!
Here's a stocking full,
And there's a gift-wrapped toy,
For a bit we stand agog—there's so much to destroy!

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

In a pile, Goblin style!
What could be more fun?
Breaking toys for girls and boys
Until we're finally done!

When you wake, hearts will break;
Because we've had our way!
This is great! Let's celebrate!
A Goblin Holiday!

Pathfinder Book Signing!

Thursday, December 6, 2007

On Wednesday, December 19, Oroboro Games of Bellevue, WA will host an exclusive free book signing and Q&A to celebrate the launch of Pathfinder #4. Fans of Paizo and Pathfinder will get a unique chance to talk to Erik Mona, James Jacobs, and F. Wesley Schneider about Paizo's new home for adventure: the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting. Erik and company will offer a sneak peek at Golarion, the world of the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting, including a first-ever look at the world map and art from the Pathfinder Chronicles Gazetteer (due out this February). Bring your Pathfinder books and your questions for Erik, James, and Wes. Though Pathfinder #2 is sold out except for limited quantities at paizo.com, volumes #1, #3, and #4 will be available for purchase, as well as the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide.

Pathfinder #4 Book Signing
December 19, 7:00pm
Oroboro Games in the Lake Hills Shopping Center
545c 156th Ave SE
Bellevue, WA 98052
Click here to view with Google maps

Joshua J. Frost
Sales & Marketing Director

Happy Erik Mona Day!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Never before have I felt this proud to be working at Paizo.

At 4:41pm yesterday, a thread from messageboard regular Sebastian popped up on our boards declaring November 8th Erik Mona Day. Why remains a mystery (it's not even Erik's birthday!), but within hours, over a hundred and fifty people had posted to help celebrate, most of them donning Erik's signature cyclopean avatar.

That was fun enough, but then this morning Cosmo the Customer Service Guru (that's him in the glasses) came back and informed us that we had a special Mona Day delivery, courtesy of the folks in the Paizo chat room. Completely unbeknownst to us, a bunch of them had secretly banded together to send us half a dozen celebratory Mona Day pizzas. In the feasting that followed, I'm pretty sure that all of us were thinking the same thing: that we have the most amazing community any company could ever hope for. Heck, we even got The Man Himself, Erik Mona, to stop editing long enough for a photo op... and that's a true measure of love, right there.

Thank you all so much for your support. This is the greatest job in the world.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Downloadable Pathfinder #6 Background

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Your desktop icons will never know what hit them. Click the image above to download.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Pathfinder Chronicles Chat Finds A New Home

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The Pathfinder Chronicles chatroom has a new home over at dmtools.org, making it easier than ever to log in, hang out, and avoid your other responsibilities. Just visit http://chat.dmtools.org, enter a username, and you're ready to go—no internet savvy required! Plus, in addition to chillin' in real-time with some of your favorite Paizo messageboard regulars, stop by every Tuesday at roughly 8:00 PM Pacific Standard Time to chat with folks like Erik Mona, James Jacobs, Jason Bulmahn, and numerous other members of the Paizo creative team. Get previews of what's coming, further detail on the topics you're most curious about, and most importantly, a chance for you to give your feedback directly to the folks who make the decisions in a fun, casual atmosphere. See you there!

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

PF5 Cover and Wallpaper!

Monday, October 22, 2007

Last week you saw Wayne's awesome white dragon fight for the cover of Pathfinder #5. This week, we've brought you the whole thing as a downloadable desktop wallpaper—including the newest iconic! Who is this well-equipped wizard? Only time (and, perhaps, a blog post in the imminent future) will tell....

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Happy Blogiversary!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

As of Friday, October 19th, the Paizo Blog will have been in action for six whole months. There's been laughter, there've been tears (mostly mine), there've been sneak previews, setting information, contests, and a boatload of new art, and it's generally been a good time for all involved.

But now we're coming up on that crucial six-month mark, that time in every relationship where we have to look hard at each other and ask some serious questions: Are you satisfied? Are your needs being met? Do you think this blog has what it takes to keep you interested in the long run, or are we just a casual thing?

To let us know what you like most about the blog, where we could improve, and what you'd like to see more of in the months to come, head on over to the Blog Feedback thread on our messageboards and make your needs known—communication is, after all, the key to a healthy relationship, and we'd really like to make this work....

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

You got GameMastery in my Dragonlance!

Monday, October 1, 2007

While seeing folks play in our campaign world is of course the biggest compliment we can receive, here at Paizo, we understand that many people have been playing in alternative game worlds for a long time, and simply aren't interested in switching over. As a result, we're always excited when we hear about someone getting jazzed enough about our products to mine out ideas or convert them over to their favorite setting.

Thus it was with great enthusiasm that we stumbled across this article over at the fan site Dragonlance Nexus, all about converting the kobolds introduced in D1: Crown of the Kobold King for use in your Dragonlance game. If you're a Dragonlance fan—and there are certainly a few of them around here—hit it up and check out the author's thoughts on the kobolds' religion, subraces, and more.

And if there's something else from the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting that you've been using in your Dragonlance game... why not submit it to the Nexus and spread the wealth?

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Attack of the Pod(cast) People!

Final Wave—Mike Selinker

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Today's final installment of the Paizo Podcast Explosion features Titanic Games mastermind Mike Selinker chatting with the good folks over at Pulp Gamer's Inside Track about everything from curling to geocaching... plus, of course, some discussion of Stonehenge and the Nocturne Expansion, as well as a preview of Titanic's latest venture, a gorgeous new game called Key Largo. Head on over to the Pulp Gamer site to check it out.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Attack of the Pod(cast) People!

Second Wave—James Jacobs

As promised yesterday, we continue our podcast blitzkrieg today with an interview with Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief James Jacobs! In this in-depth conversation with the host of The Tome, a D&D-focused radio-show, Jacobs discusses his long and distinguished history with D&D, the end of Paizo's Dungeon and Dragon licenses, and the shape of the new RPG world to come. Head over to The Tome's website here to give it a listen.
James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Attack of the Pod(cast) People!

First Wave—Erik Mona

Monday, September 24, 2007

In recent weeks, members of the design staff here at Paizo have been doing a number of podcast interviews with various gaming-themed radio shows, and they're now becoming available to the general public. They're super easy to access—just click and listen—so why not drop by and hear what the imaginations behind Pathfinder, GameMastery, and more have to say about the future of the industry?

Kicking things off, Erik Mona sat down with Chris Pramas of Green Ronin to discuss the announcement of 4th edition and what that means for the Open Game License and d20 publishing, which leads them into a discussion of Paizo's new ventures, high-level play, and more. And of course, it wouldn't be Erik without a significant foray into the "storied history of Greyhawk."

Click here to check out the 73-minute behemoth (guaranteed to keep your brain alive at work through that long post-lunch lull!) and get the inside dirt from the best possible source. And stay tuned for tomorrow, when we'll be back with more from Mr. James Jacobs, dungeon designer extraordinaire....

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Create-A-Monster Contest!

Friday, September 14, 2007

The folks over at The Saving Throw are launching a new monster design contest, and they've picked Paizo Publisher Erik Mona and Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief James Jacobs to be their celebrity judges. Read on to find out how you can win some swag and gain serious bragging rights!

From The Saving Throw:

Ever fancied yourself a master monster creator? Ever built a monster solely for the thrill of the TPK? Now is your chance to use that skill to score yourself some loot. Simply submit your monster, template, or new race to savingthrow@rpgamer.com. Be sure to include stats, a sample monster, a detailed description, and any other information such as tactics, ecology, and lore regarding the monster. Sketches are not necessary, but feel free to include them. The Saving Throw staff will narrow the submissions down to seven and then our guest celebrity judges, Erik Mona and James Jacobs, will choose a grand prize winner and runner up. We have a copy of Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk, autographed by the authors Erik Mona, James Jacobs, and Jason Bulmahn, and the other prize we have is a copy of Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land. The grand prize winner has his or her choice of which title they want.

Rules:

1. All submitted materials must be submitted by October 7th at 11:59:59 PM PDT.

2. All submitted materials must conform to OGL/3.5 rules.

3. By submitting an entry in this contest, you give RPGamer the right to post said materials on www.rpgamer.com.

4. Winners will be notified via email on or before October 15th, 2007.

5. Winners must respond by within three business days, or another winner will be selected.

6. Judges' decisions are final.

7. This contest is open to anyone with a valid email address and valid mailing address, except for the employees of RPGamer and their immediate families, and the celebrity judges and their immediate families.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Pathfinder #4 Cover... and Desktop!

Thursday, August 30, 2007

In the past, each time we've shown off the cover to a new volume of Pathfinder, we've been immediately deluged with requests for it as a downloadable desktop background, which we inevitably put up a few days later. This time we figured: why wait? After all, there's a long weekend coming up, and we wouldn't want your monitor to have to go without new Wayne Reynolds art for all that time. So here it is: the cover to Pathfinder #4, featuring everyone's favorite butt-kicking cleric of Sarenrae, Kyra. Looking at the stone giants Wayne's dreamed up for us, it's kind of amazing the heroes ever win, isn't it?

Click here to download the image at desktop size.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Gen Con Field Report Day 4

Sunday, August 19, 2007

The end is upon us!

Gen Con has come to a close and we're a bizarre blend of happy and sad to see it stop. We're happy to finally be off our feet and sipping cold drinks by the pool and sad to leave behind a throng of interesting and fun readers, fans, and gamers as we make our way back home tomorrow.

Sunday is the day of last resort as attendees cram the show floor to buy everything that piqued their curiosity the days before. Our booth has seen steady business all day and the early indicators are that this will be the best Gen Con Paizo has ever had.

Paizo Publishing had the distinct honor to sponsor Nick Logue's Iron DM event last night. Yesterday's blog was written before the Iron DM finale and we were excited to present awards to the runners up as well as the grand prize to Iron Dungeon Master "Ancient Sensei," an amazing DM who came in second place last year (by two-tenths of a point on their grading scale) and just edged out the winner of the past two Iron DM events, Iron Dungeon Master "Dreads." This year's ingredients were river rapids, Rakshasas, and redemption; "Ancient Sensei" did not disappoint with his first-hour TPK followed by a trip to hell where his players had to redeem themselves to return to life. Paizo was proud to give the top three Iron DMs a pile of GameMastery goodness, including autographed copies of GameMastery Modules D1 and W1. Ancient Sensei also received Paizo's "secret" prizes which included a copy of D2: Seven Swords of Sin autographed by nearly every Paizo employee who wrote a room for the module, and a huge sword donated by KingofSwords.com. You can learn more about Nick Logue's Iron DM by visiting irondm.com. We can't wait to sponsor this event again next year!

I can hear the angelic sounds of gaming through my hotel room door so I must heed the call and hastily beat a path to dice rolling. I hope you've enjoyed my four-day look into the Gen Con experience from the eyes of Paizo Publishing—it was fun to put together, so I hope it was fun to read.

Until next year!
Joshua J. Frost
Director of Sales & Marketing

The three winners of this year's Iron DM (from left to right): two-time champion and this year's second place finisher, Iron Dungeon Master "Dreads;" this year's champion, Iron Dungeon Master "Ancient Sensei;" and third place finisher Iron Dungeon Master "Necessary Evil."	Nicolas Logue signs a copy of D1: Crown of the Kobold King.	Erik Mona waits for the results of a critical die roll as he runs the Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve.
The Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve was never without lines or a crowd of onlookers.	The race for Most Deaths is a close one! As of this morning, Customer Service Enforcer Cosmo Eisele and Paizo Publisher Erik Mona were tied for the most player characters killed in their rooms.	Board #1 as of this morning. The dots are where PCs died.
Board #2 as of this morning.	Paizo's youngest fans were on hand to demo Stonehenge: An Anthology Board Game.	Steve Greer expounds on the importance of good dice-rolling while exploring a dungeon.
	James, Erik, and Wes talk about Pathfinder and Paizo's upcoming Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting.

Gen Con Field Report Day 3

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Today was another hectic day in the booth! Saturday has the reputation as the busiest day of the con and today was no exception. Paizo's booth was buzzing with the news of our awards last night at the ENnies—we took home two gold medals for GameMastery Flip-Mat: Tavern (the second year in a row a Flip-Mat has won a gold ENnie) and the Savage Tide Player's Guide free download and our partner company, Open Mind Games, took home a much-deserved silver ENnie for the awesome GameMastery Combat Pad.

We also had Gary Gygax back on hand with us signing The Anubis Murders, as well as Larry Elmore signing the final print issue of Dragon, and our own Paizo editors signing their works as well. James, Wes, Jason, and Jeremy signed a good deal of autographs and it was nice to see the readers and fans patting these guys on the back for their amazing work on Dragon, Dungeon, and Paizo's GameMastery and Pathfinder lines.

Today was also Nicolas Logue's Iron DM. Nick runs this event every year and its reputation as one awesome gaming experience has increased its attendance year-over-year. Iron DM saw 15 Dungeon Masters and over 130 players this year. If you're not familiar with the event, Iron DM is modeled after the Iron Chef television series: DMs get one hour to write an entire adventure using three "ingredients" that Nick reveals at the last second. Once the adventure is written, the DMs find their randomly assigned table of players and begin. The event is often interrupted by mini-games called Player Olympics, wherein the players must compete table-against-table to win prizes and fame. At the end of the day, the Iron DM who receives the best review scores from his or her players wins the crown. Paizo Publishing was proud to sponsor this event, and we gave away buckets of GameMastery items as prizes. I have a video of Nick introducing one of the Iron DMs that I'll upload to YouTube when I return to the office. Nick is most definitely a character and his Iron DM event was a blast.

Tomorrow is our final day at Gen Con and, though my tired feet wish its end, it would be great if the gaming and fun could continue on for another four days.

And now, pictures!

James Jacobs, Erik Mona, and Jason Bulmahn show off Paizo's two gold ENnies after last night's awards ceremony.	Ryan and Amber from Open Mind Games show off their silver ENnie.	Dragon #359 cover artist Larry Elmore and Erik Mona pause for a picture during Larry's magazine signing.
Paizo is always proud to host the folks from Dead Gentlemen Productions in our booth! These fine folks are (from the left): Jen Page from The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (Female Luster), Steve Wolbrecht from The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (Nodwick), Don Early (Executive Producer of The Gamers: Dorkness Rising) and Chris Dupenthaler from The Gamers (Mark the Berserker) and The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (Mark).	Paizo's prize table for Nick Logue's Iron DM contest.	Nick diligently copying down deeply personal information about an Iron DM so that he can embarrass and crush him later.
Gary Gygax returns!	This time, he came with a HUGE line! (That's Paizo's Jeremy Walker standing behind him.)	Monte Cook shows his love for Pathfinder #1.

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Sales & Marketing

Gen Con Field Report Day Two

Friday, August 17, 2007

The second day of any four-day convention is typically referred to as the "slow day." Retailers and manufacturers complain that nearly every year their business is down, the crowds are down, and Friday is generally a light day. Eager four-day attendees are typically seen swarming the Dealer Hall on Thursday to get the awesome Gen Con exclusives (such as Paizo's alternate Pathfinder #1 cover) and those folks are more inclined to game and rest on Friday. Then the two-day crowd hits with the four-day crowd on Saturday and the show floor turns into a zoo.

Today was slow for us, but we're only able to say so because yesterday was such a huge hit. Pathfinder and GameMastery Modules continue to do very well and I'm pleased to report that our first three Planet Stories novels (The Anubis Murders, City of the Beast, and Black God's Kiss) are selling very well and their positive reception has been exciting to see.

Speaking of The Anubis Murders, Gary Gygax was on hand this afternoon for 90 minutes signing copies of his book and generally anything people asked him to sign. "Keep on the Borderlands" got several Gygax-o-graphs as did the original hardcover Monster Manual, current editions of the core system, badges, convention on-site books—you name it. Someone jokingly asked Gary to sign their baby and he would've done so, graciously, had they not told him it was a joke. He was a nice guy and it was a real honor to meet him. One quick story about his session in the booth today: a guy walked up, looked at his book and said, "Hmm, Anubis Murders, I'm not familiar with your work. I'll have to go look it up." Gary gave him a stern, reproachful look and said, "Try Dungeons & Dragons." Needless to say, the guy looked very sheepish as he fled the scene.

We also had the pleasure of Wayne Reynolds' presence in our booth today, signing copies of the poster included with Dragon #359. He modeled Pathfinder #1 for us, as you'll see below.

The number one question on everyone's mind, of course, was "What does Paizo think of 4th Edition?" We heard this often and our response was the same each time: we're excited to see it, but we know just as much about it as you do. I can report that WotC intends to have an OGL with 4th Edition and that Paizo's eager to learn more, but that does not put us closer to a decision—it only puts us in need of more research and discussion. Rest assured, the moment we make a decision we'll scream it to the four corners of the multiverse.

And now, pictures!

A beholder watches over the crowd as they prepare to hear WotC's 4E announcement.	Jungle James!	Eric Boyd says farewell to the final print version of Dragon magazine.
F. Wesley Schneider and Michael Kortes talk about Paizo's products.	Erik Mona, Gary Gygax, and Greg Vaughan.	Amber Scott (Medesha on the messageboards) holding up her very own copy of Paizo's Gen Con exclusive Pathfinder #1.
The following is a picture-by-picture example of the many forms of the martial arts employed by the mighty and unstoppable Nicolas Logue as he GMs the Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve.	Rhinoceros Style.	Chicken Claw!
Bear Growl.	Dyn-o-mite. (I recorded five minutes of Nick running the delve. It'll be on YouTube and this blog very soon.)	Tim Hitchcock, Nicolas Logue, and Michael Kortes talking about GameMastery and Pathfinder.
The incredibly talented Wayne Reynolds modeling the covers he sketched and painted.	Jason Bulmahn demos "Stonehenge Roulette," the game he wrote for the Stonehenge Library.

Tomorrow: Larry Elmore stops by to sign the final Dragon cover!

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Sales & Marketing

Gen Con Field Report Day One

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Hello from Gen Con!

It's broiler hot, the humidity makes you feel like you're walking through a warm pond, and the bodies are stacked so close in the hall when someone trips in aisle 14 the domino effects doesn't stop until aisle 37.

And that's awesome!

We're having one of our best first days at a con ever and it's in no small part due to the crush of Paizo readers and fans that have mobbed our booth to look at and purchase Pathfinder, to play in our Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve, or to watch the latest Dead Gentlemen video. Our booth is busy busy busy and we love it!

Of course, the con is buzzing about the Wizards announcement to take place at 6:30 P.M. Eastern tonight. We're all aware by now that they're announcing 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons tonight and the Paizo staff plans to be in full attendance to usher in the news. Many of you have asked us, "Will Pathfinder/Modules/Paizo/etc switch to 4th edition?" Our response is this: We haven't seen 4th Edition, but we feel that we have a good gauge of our fan base and if we think it's something they will like and support then it's something we will like and support. We always take our readers' and fans' feedback seriously and we'll take feedback on this potential transition doubly so. We hope to have more information soon and we'll let everyone know the moment we've come to a decision.

Now, pictures!

F. Wesley Schneider prepares to kill willing players at our Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve.	Paizo's Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve is sponsored by KingofSwords.com. Naturally, that means they gave us seven swords to give away to seven lucky delvers!	A quick shot of the Paizo booth straight down the middle.
James Jacobs poses with a mysterious figure from the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path.	Paizo.com messageboard regular Lilith (wearing the light grey shirt) prepares to lead Kill Doctor Lucky first-timers on a quest to kill a sorry old man.	James Jacobs and F. Wesley Schneider hold court as they enlighten the uninitiated about the glories of Pathfinder.
An ever-moving and easily blurred Jason Bulmahn rolls the dice to determine one unlucky player's fate in our Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve.

Tomorrow: Gygax, pictures from the 4E announcement (we hope!), and more!

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Sales & Marketing

Happy Erik Mona Day (Observed)!

The Playtest is Coming!

But Erik Mona Day Isn't for Weeks…

Welcome to Paizo

While We Were Gone

ENnies 2009 Dream Date Auction

2009 ENnie Nominations!

PAIZOCON 2009: You Should'a Been There!

PAIZOCON: The Aftermath

Countdown to PAIZOCON

Leather-Bound Pathfinder Beta

Paizo Twitter

Official Call for Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2009 Volunteer GMs and Assistants!

New PAIZOCON Guests! New PAIZOCON Events!

Events

Presenting the Gen Con 2009 Scenarios!

The Pathfinder Wiki

Announcing PAIZOCON 2009!

Please Be Our Friend!

Still the Season: Paizo and the Child's Play Charity

Paizo Invades the Atomic Array

Out and About

Happy Erik Mona Day!

The Paizo Halloween Party!

Pathfinder! Now in Two Amazing Dimensions!

Gen Con Ephemera!

Frozen Fingers of Midnight: A Pathfinder Society Scenario Sneak Peek

PaizoCon 2008

A Trip to the FLGS!

Happy New Year

Happy Holidays from Paizo

Pathfinder Book Signing!

Happy Erik Mona Day!

Downloadable Pathfinder #6 Background

Pathfinder Chronicles Chat Finds A New Home

PF5 Cover and Wallpaper!

Happy Blogiversary!

You got GameMastery in my Dragonlance!

Attack of the Pod(cast) People!

Final Wave—Mike Selinker

Attack of the Pod(cast) People!

Second Wave—James Jacobs

Attack of the Pod(cast) People!

First Wave—Erik Mona

Create-A-Monster Contest!

Pathfinder #4 Cover... and Desktop!

Gen Con Field Report Day 4

Gen Con Field Report Day 3

Gen Con Field Report Day Two

Gen Con Field Report Day One

ENnies Voting Open!

In His Own Words