Illustration by Tyler Clark

Interns! Mash them, smash them, dissolve them in energy drink!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

During my first week, I was surprised to find there is a significant lack of chaotic evil in the office. I was not whipped by a winged baboon-devil while organizing the archive, and I am given free coffee that I did not have to make myself. I was expecting that Matt and I would be told early on to "prove our worth" by enduring psychological torture or some bloody nonsense, but so far I have not had to pull my sawtooth sabre from where it is taped beneath my desk and pounce on him like an unsuspecting puppy with a remote-activated bomb collar. Though we are treated well, our nametags haven't arrived yet, and my Paizo-embroidered handkerchief scratches my nose a bit.

Well, we are on to introductions, children of Zo; I am Editorial Intern Tyler. I dwell in a cubicle with Editorial Intern Matt. He's quite nice, and sometimes I actually believe that we are not plotting each other's deaths via falling gargoyles and sabotaged car engines. Even though we don't actually have a bloody rivalry, I am still generally a happy person. I like half-orcs and barbarians, though I occasionally dabble in sorcery and the bluff skill. There are times I lie awake in bed having elaborate fantasies about being John Connor. I'm friendly to all woodland animals as long as they're cute and more than ten feet away. I don't know much about cars. I eat at Subway too much. I like Lady Gaga because she is a classy lady and could be a villain from Cheliax. In addition, I like to talk about myself (to myself), whine too much to family members, and I'm famous for once telling a story that, in its entirety, lasted 4 hours.

I'm somewhat new to the Paizo family, but so far this internship has been really fun. Hopefully I'll get to know some of you on good terms, and the rest won't hate me enough to complain.

Tyler Clark
Editorial Intern

Bastards of Erebus—Final Playtest

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

And thus, the Bastards of Erebus playtest comes to a close, and we, the brave and foolhardy adventurers, are victorious. Highlights of the night: my half-orc dropping to negative 1 but holding out for one more round (thanks to orc ferocity) and dealing max damage before finally dropping; David's rogue once again getting hoodwinked by some sort of fear effect/spell and running terrified into the dark; one of the villains, down to about 1 hit point, turning to the main antagonist and pleading for help, only to have the villain reply, "Your sacrifice will be remembered!" and then torching him—along with us—with burning hands; our dwarf fighter running after said antagonist while he fled, pulling out his throwing axe and ending his movement just in range, and then hurling it into the back of his skull, just as he was about to vanish out the door, slaying him and thus concluding the adventure.

All in all, a fun adventure. It was also a lot of fun playtesting the latest version of the Pathfinder rules, which I really enjoyed. I'm not sure if we'll get to participate in the playtests for the rest of the AP, but I can say I'm really excited to find out what happens next...

♪We are the champions, my friends...♪

Hank Woon
Editorial Intern

And in this corner...

Friday, March 20, 2009

Hail Paizonians! David and I just wanted to give a sneak glimpse into the office by sharing what passes for a casual gaming collection around here: the Paizo bookshelf.

This bulky display holds a staggering array of RPGs, enough to bury a grown man (or several small children). Ready to be thumbed through for inspiration, relaxation, or pure nostalgic bliss, these dusty tomes are outdone only by the complete volumes of Amazing Stories that march one after another across the top like some sort of Hugonian crown. And if you didn't feel like reading, you could always just play a game of Star Wars foosball!

How anyone gets any work done with this kind of distraction is a wonder...

Hank Woon
Editorial Intern

Bastards of Erebus—Playtest Five

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Woe unto three.

Between us, the number three must have come up at least a dozen times. Still, it's higher than 1, so I guess that means we're getting better. Plus it was fun to watch Sean bang his head repeatedly against the dry erase board after the tenth 3 popped up.

David forgot his dice again, I think that's what did us in (not only did he forget his dice, but when he first sat down he had forgotten his character and pencil, too!). Later his rogue was hoodwinked into attacking Beaky, which kept us out of the fight for several rounds (me because my druid was busy chasing after him, trying to prevent him from killing my eagle).

I think the adventure is getting close to wrapping up, though. Sean said that if it weren't for the astoundingly poor rolls session after session, we surely would have been finished by now. He left us at a cliffhanger: right as my character burst through a door (that's her new gig, bursting through doors before the rest of the party is ready), he set up the room and called it a night, with a newly revealed NPC calling out his chilling promises of death and ruin; unless it was Sean saying it out of character to us, I'm not quite sure...

Hank Woon
Editorial Intern

The Fabled Appendix – James Jacobs (Part 2)

Monday, March 16, 2009

Today we continue the series on Paizo's Appendix N with the second part of my interview with James Jacobs, the editor-in-chief of Pathfinder. We pick up where we left off, as James finishes discussing his most important literary influences and closes the interview with an explanation of his favorite horror films.

James: Stephen King's Dark Tower books were particularly influential, as they are as much magic and science fiction as they are horror. What's neat is that all of his stories are interconnected, like Lovecraft's. Names and locations reappear and become part of King's mythos—which also includes nods to the Cthulhu Mythos. I think King very successfully straddles the fine line between homage and pastiche, as it's easy enough to write in the style of Lovecraft and other classic horror authors, but much harder to use those themes while writing with your own voice. Stephen King does this admirably.

F. Paul Wilson, and particularly his character Repairman Jack, was another big influence. The series of stories featuring Repairman Jack are like modern-day X-Files, except that one of the primary themes is the idea that it's just one man versus cosmic horror.

Ramsey Campbell was another influence; he's a British author who began his career writing Lovecraftian horror fiction but later moved on to more psychological horror themes such as madness, ghosts, and deranged murderers.

The Descent, by Jeff Long, really captured my imagination. Without giving away too many details, the novel is essentially about a real-world Darklands. Humans live on the surface of the world, oblivious to the fact that "other" descendents from our common ancestors live beneath them; in the novel, Long explains that, over the course of human history, these creatures have served as the basis for humanity's shared myths of devils living beneath the earth.

David: That's quite an extensive list of fiction! But you're even bigger movie buff, correct? Tell us about the movies that most influenced you.

James: There's probably too many to name all of them; I have a wall of DVDs in my apartment. In terms of movies, my main interest is still horror. When I was a kid, my dad and I would watch Creature Features, a TV series that aired a new monster flick every Saturday night. So my love of horror movies began at an early age. My two all-time favorites are, without a doubt, Alien and John Carpenter's The Thing.

To rattle off other big influences, there's The Blair Witch Project, Godzilla (which asks the question "what if the atomic bomb was actually a creature?"; there is a scene in the movie where a bunch of kids are horribly burned and crying for their moms, not realized that they've been killed—it's super-grisly), Jaws, the Exorcist, Lord of the Rings, Schwarzenegger's Conan, Psycho, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Lilo & Stitch (Stitch served as a primary inspiration for Pathfinder goblins, both in terms of look and personality), and the classic 1950s horror film Tarantula.

Whenever I assign adventures to freelance authors, I like to point them to movies that will give them an idea of the tone we are shooting for—it's much faster for authors to find inspiration by watching a 2-hour movie than to read an entire book, although if they have time in the sometimes too-short deadlines we give them, books can remain a great source of inspiration. For instance, I told Richard Pett to check out the old Hammer Horror movies when he was writing "The Skinsaw Murders" and pointed Nick Logue at The Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Deliverance for "The Hook Mountain Massacre."

Overall, I would have to say that my two biggest inspirations are H. P. Lovecraft for books, and John Carpenter for movies.

Thus concludes my interview with James Jacobs. Thanks for taking the time to discuss your biggest inspirations, James, and thanks for reading, Paizonians! Come back again as we continue to expand Paizo's own Appendix N!

David Eitelbach
Editorial Intern

Bastards of Erebus—Playtest Four

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

I love it when a plan comes together. We had pressed forward with our arrangement, but suddenly discovered a new element that had to be overcome—a lone guard. We decided to do the only smart and reasonable thing... kill him. After we feathered our foe, Sean sketched a quick depiction of the quite-deader-than-dead fella, and then we continued on our merry way, straight into an encounter fest. We only made it a short way in before Sean called it a night, and right now we're chasing down a cowardly fiend who just locked himself behind a door.

Much to our surprise, not only did nobody die this time, but we actually did really well. I think it's because I finally remembered my dice.

One thing I'd like to mention is how I've never had a GM so cunningly use (or insist upon) the rules for light radius. (And, apparently, neither have my 3 companions, since I'm the only one who bought any torches during character creation.) Anyway, I've decided that I like it. It's been adding a whole new dimension to our tactics, which is always fun. In fact, in one of the earlier sessions (I believe the first), our dwarf and some of the "enemy" got into this fun little game of tossing torches back and forth in attempts to grant visibility to one's side while denying it for the other. In this last session, our rogue, who had languished behind for a round to recover his crossbow, was literally left in the dark, which greatly affected his options.

So, during the next episode of "Bastards of Erebus," will our heroes continue on to victory? Will the players finally remember to bring their dice? Will their characters remember to buy some sort of illuminating device? Tune it next time to find out!

Hank Woon
Editorial Intern

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

The Fabled Appendix – James Jacobs (Part 1)

Monday, March 9, 2009

As part of the ongoing series about Paizo's own Appendix N, I had the opportunity to interview the editor-in-chief of Pathfinder Adventure Path, James Jacobs, about the books and movies that most inspire his own writing. He proved very generous with his time and gave me quite a detailed look into his plan of a "shared mythology" for Pathfinder and the sources that inspired its creation. Once again, the interview proved long enough that I have had to break it into two parts. In this first part, James discusses his literary influences.

David: Although I know you're a huge fan of movies, and horror films in particular, let's discuss books first. Which authors or works have stuck the longest in your mind?

James: H. P. Lovecraft was definitely the biggest inspiration. He's my favorite author, and not just mine: Stephen King, Robert Bloch, Gary Gygax, and others expanded on the themes that he created. Lovecraft didn't want to write about vampires or other classic creatures of horror, as these had become cliché at the time when he was writing, so he created his own pantheon of cosmically horrific, god-like beings. He was particularly successful because he encouraged other authors to use the names he had used. Robert Bloch, Fritz Leiber, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, and Henry Kuttner were all contemporaries of Lovecraft who communicated with him and were influenced by the Cthulhu Mythos that he created. He also pieced together another pantheon of creatures throughout the works of authors for whom he was a ghostwriter, which expanded the Mythos. So his influence is pretty far-reaching.

This is very much like what's going on with the OGL—here are the base concepts of D&D, and other writers or companies can build and share a single mythology. This is what happened with Lovecraft—his themes of cosmic horror influenced the likes of Stephen King; this was the horror of the ordinary, in which libraries and shacks in the woods could become places of terror. Horror is the main source of my inspiration, and why grisly things are going on in Pathfinder. I like to find authors who can carry on this vision—Nic Logue and Richard Pett being two great examples.

Clive Barker is another big inspiration. My grandma and grandpa introduced me to old horror novels and comics when I was young. I remember reading my grandpa's Vault of the Unknown, Tales of the Unexpected, House of Mysteries, and Beware! My grandma would shove Clive Barker or Stephen King into my hands and tell me, "Read this! You'll enjoy it!" Zon-Kuthon is the most obvious example of Barker's influence on Pathfinder, as he is basically a Cenobite from Hellraiser. As Barker's stories mellowed out and became less gory, they took on a more magical, fantastical tone. In fact, his novel Weaveworld served as a primary inspiration for the demiplane of Kakishon in Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #22, "The Edge of Eternity."

It appears that this post has already exceeded the length I was aiming for; the rest of the interview, it seems, must wait for later. In the second installment, James rounds out his discussion of his favorite authors, discusses the fine line between homage and pastiche, and talks about the movies that most influenced his style of game design.

"In space no one can hear you scream."

David Eitelbach
Editorial Intern

Snagged from the Vault: Dark Markets—A Guide to Katapesh

Friday, March 6, 2009

Once again, fellow Paizonians, my colleague and I have managed to pilfer a spectacular sneak glimpse into the vault. Behold the Zephyr Guard, illustrated here by Jason Engle...

Vadid and Nahk
Preview Purloiners

Though the Pactmasters are rarely seen outside their palace walls, they are keenly alert of all that transpires within Katapesh through their network of spies and active patrols of the Zephyr Guard. The Zephyr Guard is made up of diverse ethnic groups and races, but mostly humanoids such as humans, half-elves, and half-orcs. Their unifying feature is their expertise in combat and the precision with which they carry out their duties. A Zephyr Guard squad is usually composed of five elite soldiers (LN fighter 4) and their squad leader (LN fighter 6). Each squad leader carries a charm of aluum control, which is magically bound to them, making it useless to anyone else. Aluum are powerful golems created to maintain order in Katapesh when other forms of authority fail (see the Appendix for statistics). Dormant aluum are scattered through the city in key locations for the Zephyr Guard. They stand silent vigil at street corners, in the shadows of buildings, around busy squares, and throughout the numerous bazaars. No matter where one goes in Katapesh, an aluum is never far away.

Look for the full article on the Zephyr Guard in the upcoming product, Pathfinder Chronicles: Dark Markets—A Guide to Katapesh!

Bastards of Erebus Playtest Three

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

"Forget the dwarf! Tumble past the bad guys, get the bird, and let's get the heck out of here!"

Things were not going well for us. David started calling these playtesting sessions "The Misadventures of Erebus." But still, it was fun. The interesting thing about this playtest was all of the planning and options involved. For this encounter, we had to choose from a number of stratagems. After finally deciding upon one, we launched into action. I again cast entangle (Sean has taken to calling my druid "The Entangler"), summoned an owl, cast magic fang on my eagle, then sent the two avian avengers to flank one of the baddies. We were also using some new rules of Jason's for animal companions, and because of a typo my eagle and summoned ally got severely nerfed. The actual rules are nicely balanced, but my tactic ended up being of little help because of the misunderstanding, and Sean quickly (and gleefully, I might add) turned them into feathery piñatas.

After my eagle, Beaky, and our dwarf fighter dropped, and my summoned ally vanished, I called out the line of the night to David, who refused to either run away or pick up my eagle. I warned him, though, that if he dropped too, I was only picking up my animal companion. Well, to make a long story short, we're going to be refighting this battle next session. ;)

So we continued with the story, and we were soon presented with more stratagem planning. I really like this about the adventure. So far with the 3 parts we have played through, there have always been a number of choices, each with its own interesting tactical advantages and disadvantages. This always ends up with a lot of debating, but I've long been a fan of this sort of thing because it keeps the players engaged. Of course, we always have the standard rush-forward-and-kick-down-the-door option, but unlike many modules out there, this isn't funneling us down a path where our only real options are which door we want to open next.

We had just settled upon our tactic for the third part of the adventure when Sean called it a night. Now we have to wait another week before we get to see if our carefully laid plans will lead to glorious victory or to humiliating defeat... May Shelyn protect us!

Hank Woon
Editorial Intern

Bastards of Erebus—Playtest Two

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

David is pretty busy with his appendix posts, so I'm doing the second playtest blog. It began with Sean having us reset and trying our fateful battle over. Pre-battle, we toyed around with some new ideas, but ultimately decided that our last tactic was working pretty well (that is, until we died), and so decided to go with that.

The encounter actually started off a lot better than last time. We took out our first opponent rather speedily... and right about then things started to go against us. First my eagle got taken out. Then our dice betrayed us. Now, I know everyone has had bad dice nights, but this was incredulously, astronomically, and hilariously terrible. Even Sean shook his head in dismay, chalking it up as a first in his book.

That's when we began dropping like flies. The dwarf fighter and my druid were dealing the most damage, but of course this meant that we were the first to drop (meanwhile my eagle stabilized at –9). This left the gnome sorcerer and David's rogue. The gnome, after having a series of unfortunate rolls (like all of us), finally managed to hit one of the baddies while also providing a flanking bonus for the rogue... and then dropped. That left David and the final baddie, mano a mano. It went something like this (and by something, I mean exactly):

Sean: (Rolls a d20) 1.
David: (Rolls a d20) 1.
Sean: (Rolls a d20) 1.
David: (Rolls a d20) 1.

Two rounds in a row! Meanwhile, the gnome, the dwarf, and my druid are slowly bleeding to death. The gnome stabilized at I think –8, the dwarf at –9, and I just kept dying. But then, with a mighty strike with his rapier for 1 point of damage, David dropped the last foe and Sean declared (because he's a nice guy), that David managed to save me—right at –9.

Afterward, we leveled up (woohoo!) and moved on to the next phase of the adventure, which involves some careful planning on our part...

Hank Woon
Editorial Intern

The Bastards of Erebus—First Playtest

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Much to our delight, David and I were invited by Sean K Reynolds to participate in the playtesting of his latest Pathfinder Adventure Path adventure, The Bastards of Erebus.

We really enjoyed the adventure (well, the part we got through before suffering from a TPK). In addition to a gnome sorcerer and dwarven cleric, our party contained a half-orc druid (me) and a human rogue (David). David's character was the only native Chelaxian, which actually proved pretty helpful a few times.

I can't really go into too much detail, but I will say that there was a lot of suspense, which provoked a lot of debating over which course of action to take (I always love that!). The battle that did us in was actually already pretty balanced, but we had some extraordinarily poor rolls, while the enemy enjoyed just the opposite.

My druid was kicking butt with her entangle spell, but alas, the spell's effect only reduces Dex mods instead of denying, so it was of little help to the rogue, and the defensive way in which I had cast the spell prevented easy flanking for not only them, but also ourselves.

Sean estimates that the playtest will take about 4 sessions to complete, and David and I are going to take turns blogging about it. Maybe his first blog will be better news than a TPK, but either way I know it will be a blast! Stay tuned.

Hank Woon
Editorial Intern

The Fabled Appendix – Erik Mona

Monday, February 16, 2009

As was explained in my introductory blog post, the purpose of this series is to create Paizo's very own Appendix N, a semi-comprehensive list of the books, comics, movies, and roleplaying products that influenced each member of the Paizo staff in their work on the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting. To begin this series, there seemed no better place to start than with one of the original creators of Golarion and the driving force behind Planet Stories, Erik Mona. He had quite a bit to say. By the time we finished lunch, I had filled three complete pages with notes and had been forced to finish transcribing the interview on a napkin. Unfortunately (or fortunately as the case may be), the length of the interview has forced us to break it into three parts. In this first installment, Erik reveals which authors most influenced his idea for the general feel he wanted to give Golarion.

David: What authors or titles stand out to you as most influential on your game design and upon Golarion?

Erik: Robert E. Howard's Conan series, particularly the collections of the original Conan stories that have been published by Del Rey—The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, The Conquering Sword of Conan—those ones; Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories; Moorcock's Elric series; China Miéville's stories, particularly Perdido Street Station and The Scar; Jack Vance's 4-book Dying Earth series (which I think is now published in a Dying Earth omnibus); C. L. Moore's Jirel of Joiry series ; Hugh Cook's 10-book series The Chronicles of an Age of Darkness; H. P. Lovecraft; and Henry Kuttner's The Dark World and Elak of Atlantis.

A lot of these authors and titles influenced the mood and tone of the setting, as far as being sword and sorcery stories. Michael Moorcock's Elric series being the only exception, these stories feature protagonists who are not superhuman; each is just a dude. It's like how Captain America is a regular guy compared to the other Marvel superheroes—he can't fly and doesn't have any remarkable powers. Batman obviously falls into this category as well. The characters in these stories are powerful but not superhumanly so. More importantly, almost, is the idea that the environment itself is the antagonist, and the characters are exceptional—but otherwise ordinary—people who must fight back or the world will destroy them.

Tolkien was an influence only so far as he influenced D&D. The world he created just didn't fit with what we were trying to do with Golarion. To be honest, it is too hopeful, not grim enough. I asked Jason Bulmahn when we were first creating Golarion, rhetorically, if it would be possible for Paizo to build a world without gnomes, dwarves, elves, and the like. Of course we immediately came to the conclusion that it would be impossible, but it gives you an idea of what we were trying to achieve with Golarion.

Gary Gygax's Gord the Rogue books were very influential in the way that they showed, through storytelling and world-building, the sort of milieux that the inherent style of a world governed by the game's rules. Even if used simply as a point of departure, that's an invaluable resource. The early Thieves World anthologies were also an influence, more in terms of style and world-view than anything else. Greyhawk and Sanctuary are photocopies of Leiber's Lankhmar, and when it comes to a location most exemplifying the fantasy RPG spirit, Lankhmar is the place.

Thus concludes the first part of my interview with Erik and the first installment of The Fabled Appendix. Next time: Erik discusses how Osirion and Cheliax were born, and the books and horrible vacations that inspired their creation.

David Eitelbach
Editorial Intern

A Day at the Office

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Paizo office isn't just all about the RPGs and trade paperbacks—it's amazing what goes on around here. The other day, I came to work early just to participate in Pierce Watter's weekly taijiquan lesson. It's a great way to start the day; I learned the qigong warm-up exercises, the beginner's pushing hands exercise, and ten ways to kill a man with an eyelash.

Pierce is very knowledgeable about taijiquan (as his 40 years of martial arts training, being the founding editor of Internal Arts magazine, and multiple magazine articles in Kung Fu magazine will attest), and perhaps even more knowledgeable about various Chinese teas. Each day, Pierce prepares a pot of tea, and after the lesson he offered me some of his delicious brew (there's nothing quite like sharing a pot of tea with Pierce Watters while talking to him about Chinese tea culture, taijiquan, or his tenure at TSR).

So, with my day already off to a great start, there was only one way to top it: work on Pathfinder products. I was particularly pleased with this day; David and I completed the first two big projects we were assigned, and we gave an editing pass over a chapter of the upcoming sourcebook Pathfinder Chronicles: The Great Beyond, A Guide to the Multiverse. (This book is going to be great; what we read has David and me very excited to see the rest!)

By six o'clock, I was ready to call the day a success, go home and get some dinner (I had skipped lunch), watch some of The Office, and pass out. Little did I know that there was still more awesome headed my way: Sean K Reynolds approached and invited us to join him in his weekly after-work session of miniature painting! Even though I was starving, I had to check it out. So David and I hopped on over to the meeting room where Sean showed us the ropes of this delicate art while assuring us that the process is actually quite simple.

The really cool part was him unveiling a foam case filled with his as-of-yet unpainted miniatures and allowing us to choose one, saying with a smile, "You paint it, you keep it!" How cool is that?! (Incidentally, I chose what looks like a human female rogue, masked and hooded and wielding a longsword.) I'm really excited about these sessions, even though I still find the task a bit daunting. He says it's easy to learn, but then you look at his, and they're seriously works of art.

But you know what, even if I'm totally horrible (which I'm fairly certain will be the case, since I can't even stay in the lines of a coloring book... that's right, I color), it will still be a lot of fun. Also, Sean has some very entertaining anecdotes of various games he's played in with other famed game designers (which kept me there far longer than my growling stomach would have liked). David and I decided these stories absolutely need to go up as blogs, and we'll also be posting pics of our sloppy attempts at miniature painting once we finish our first ones (well, David's might actually be good).

Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and certainly a great way to bookend what is just another day at the office!

Hank Woon
Editorial Intern

The Fabled Appendix!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

For my inaugural blog post, I thought I'd try to hark back to some of the old-school roots that Paizo has blended together to create the world of Golarion. As many members of the Paizo staff have been playing the game since first edition, they've made it a design goal to create a setting that is true to the roots of the hobby while remaining fresh and exciting.

At the time of the publication of the first edition Dungeon Masters Guide in 1979, the book's Appendix N was fairly revolutionary. This appendix consisted of a list of pulp fantasy authors that E. Gary Gygax considered to have had the largest role in shaping Dungeons & Dragons. This list included such famous authors as Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft, and Michael Moorcock. What made Appendix N so remarkable was that, at the time, most these authors were relatively unknown, with only a handful of older authors enjoying a resurgence of popularity thanks to the efforts of contemporary fantasists such as L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter.

Since the publication of that first DMG, Appendix N has played a role in the development of the hobby that is hard to overemphasize. The authors and works listed in the appendix influenced the earliest editions of the game and continue to steer game designers 30 years later. The first two printings of the first edition Deities & Demigods, for instance, contained the Melnibonéan pantheon from Michael Moorcock's Elric series, as well as the Great Old Ones of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. And today in the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting, Edgar Rice Burroughs's tales of Mars and Venus have helped to inspire Golarion's own red and green sister planets. Indeed, the whole Planet Stories line was launched with the intent of reintroducing pulp fantasy authors to modern gamers. The roots of Appendix N are deep and far-reaching indeed.

With this in mind, I plan to explore which books, movies, comics, and roleplaying products members of the Paizo staff have found most influential in both their style of design and the development of Golarion. And our first interviewee will be Paizo's own publisher, Erik Mona. Look for it next time!

David Eitelbach
Editorial Intern

Illustration by David Bircham

Osirion, Land of the Ph-rickin' Awesome

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Part of the joy of being an editorial intern is getting to read all the goodness that is Pathfinder. For free. And before the rest of the world. Recently, I was asked to give an editing pass over a few chapters of the new Pathfinder's Journal, "Dark Tapestry," penned by the prolific and outrageously talented Elaine Cunningham (seriously, who wouldn't want this job?!).

Set in the desert realm of Osirion, this new Pathfinder story does everything a piece of fiction set in an RPG campaign world should do: it reveals believable and interesting characters, it brings the setting to life, and most of all, it makes me want to play a Pathfinder campaign set in Osirion right now.

Really though, the story highlights for me everything I really enjoy about Pathfinder. There is a touch of the familiar, but at the same time, never once can I say, "Hey, I've been here before." While reading the Pathfinder's Journal, I recognized many well-known aspects—a magical item here, a class-name drop there—and even though I have been playing RPGs since I was in junior high, never once did I feel like it was just another tired rehash. And while Osirion clearly draws inspiration from ancient Egypt, never once does it feel like a shallow interpretation of real-life history. While reading Elaine Cunningham's words, it truly felt that if I could somehow peel back the crawling desert sands, it would reveal the bones of countless centuries, a deep, rich, and lived history filled with epic stories and sweeping tales of heroism and tragedy, of which the PCs' adventures comprise only the latest chapter.

So I think I'm going to slip on some sandals, slap on some sunscreen, and head on back over to Osirion. See you there!

Hank Woon
Paizo Editorial Intern

Introductions All Around! Part II

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Greetings, fellow Paizonians! Last week, Hank Woon and I upgraded our messageboard status from "Pathfinder Subscriber" to "Editorial Assistant"—that's right, we're the newest interns here at Paizo!

I'm David Eitelbach, and I'm as excited (or more so) as many of you probably imagine I would be to get a gig at Paizo. At 23 years old, I'm the youngest member of the Paizo team. My glorious years at college came to an end just as the economy flushed itself down the toilet, so without a job and the prospects of finding a career looking dim, I applied for the editorial internship —hoping beyond hope that Paizo would want me as badly as I wanted to work for them. If I was going to spending my copious amounts of free time reading Pathfinder anyway, why not do it at Paizo and get some editing experience under my belt? Amazingly (it seemed to me), I got the job... er, internship.

When I stepped into the Paizo offices for the first time, I finally understood how Charlie must have felt as he explored Willy Wonka's chocolate factory—there are roleplaying goodies everywhere! Every staff member's desk is piled high with toys; they have a mammoth collection of pulp science fiction and fantasy books, including original, tattered anthologies of every issue of Amazing Stories (it doesn't get more exciting than that for an H. P. Lovecraft fan); the shelves of their library are lined with dozens upon dozens of RPG products (including, to my glee, two Forgotten Realms Grey Boxes); and awesome Wayne Reynolds' cover art for upcoming Pathfinder Chronicles books are tacked to cubicle walls. I was in heaven.

That feeling of elation? Yeah, it's still here, a week later. This is the only time in my memory when I've been sad to leave work and excited to come in the next day. I spend my hours at the office reading and editing the Pathfinder articles I used to pore over during my free time, and I'm proud to help make Paizo products the best in the industry. Plus, I get free copies of all of their products, which is the very definition of awesome.

I have great plans for the blog: creating Paizo's very own "Appendix N," spotlight articles on various regions of Golarion with tips for sandbox-style of play, Planet Stories tie-ins to Pathfinder, and generally talking about the cool things that happen around the office. After all, interning at Paizo is my nerd-dream come true, and everyone else should have a chance to see just how awesome it is!

David Eitelbach
Paizo Editorial Intern

Introductions All Around!

Monday, February 9, 2009

I'm excited to welcome a few new faces to the Paizo offices: David Eitelbach and Hank Woon, our enthusiastic new editorial assistants! David and Hank are going to help us here in the pit with… well… pretty much everything and anything we can come up with—and not a moment too soon! Expect to see them posting on the boards, blogging about all the cool stuff that crosses their desks, and overall giving us a fresh look inside the Paizo offices. If you have any questions for Dave and Hank, or just want to say "hi," be sure to drop them a "welcome aboard" post!

But that's enough out of me. First up, meet Hank Woon, and tomorrow we'll check in with David.

F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

Hello Paizo readers! This is my first blog for Paizo. Who am I, and why am I wasting your time, you ask? I am like you: fan, gamer, and enthusiastic supporter of Pathfinder. But, unlike you, I am not constrained by the typical boundaries set by the stifling paradigm known as "acceptable social behavior" or ridiculous and outrageous theories like "the law." So, through some cunning intelligence-gathering, I managed to locate the address of Paizo's hidden fortress, deep within the unforgiving wilds of Bellevue, Washington, and with no hesitation, set off on a quest to plunder its secrets.

Determined to unravel the delicate mysteries shrouded within, I cleverly forced my way through an unlocked hidden portal marked "Enter." Unfortunately, I was soon captured by Paizo's roving band of tiny, rabid, ninja robots (spawned from the unholy union of spare computer parts and chewing gum, these deceptively fast mechanical menaces are fanatically loyal to the Paizo team).

Now the Paizos have me lashed to a desk, and as punishment are forcing me to edit documents for them. The foolish mortals knew not that this is exactly what I wanted! When they are not looking (or throwing thumb tacks at me, as they are wont to do), I shall leak information about the inner workings of this academy of dark sorcerers; not just the docile, politically-correct image they put forth, oh no, no, no... The truth is much more interesting. There is danger, excitement, romance, adventure... and of course, the robots.

Stay tuned.

Hank Woon
Paizo Editorial Intern