If you've ever crawled out from the depths of the Abyssal sea of Ishiar after battling Dagon and his infinite number of monstrous creations for days on end, you may have an idea of what finals week of my last quarter at Western was like. The stress was immense, and I'm just as confused as you are as to what the Shadow in the Sea was doing in Bellingham, Washington. Nonetheless, I emerged victorious—or at least alive. When I found out I got the job for Pathfinder Developer at Paizo a few weeks later, it was like breaking through the Outer Rifts and finding myself in Elysium. I'd done it! I'd finished college and gotten the job and was now working in the same offices as the authorial titans of roleplaying lore! Hooray!
I'd gotten a taste of what it was like to work among the titans over a year ago, while I was Editorial Intern at Paizo. I shared a cube with Crystal, and it was a bit quieter around the office, and I was paralyzed most days with excitement and anxiety at the mere prospect of being in the same building as all these writers whose names I had seen countless times on the books among my shelves at home.
Now, I share a cube with the editors, Judy, James, and Chris, and Wes says I'll be moving over to the developer side in a while. It's not as quiet in the office, since the company's grown a lot even since just last year, and there are a ton of new faces since I last stepped foot in the building. It's exciting to work alongside both people I've worked with before and those whose names I've only seen in print, and I'm looking forward to contributing my humble services alongside these industry giants. They've got me working hard already, and I'm currently concentrating on Faiths of Corruption and the Jade Regent Player's Guide, which are going to be totally sweet, let me tell you.
While my joining the Paizo team is pretty exciting in and of itself (I'm excited anyway!), I am also pleased to report that the PRD has been updated to include rules from both Bestiary 2 and Ultimate Magic. Check it out!
Well, it was a fun adventure, but sadly, my journey as an editorial intern with Paizo must come to an end. The length of my internship seemed only a few weeks at most, though it has indeed been several moons, and other responsibilities vie for my attention.
I’ve gotten a taste of all this industry has to offer while working here, from the exciting realm of creative writing and development, manifesting wondrous creatures as well as legendary characters, to the slightly less glamorous—but nonetheless vital—task of alphabetizing spell lists and creating tables. Oh, I shall never forget the sea of tables I created for Paizo. If one can imagine mountains—nay, alps—of Excel spreadsheets, then one has ideated but a fraction of the truth. I could go on for paragraphs about the plethora of tables, which, if pasted side-by-side on a wall and gazed at from afar, might resemble ancient Osirian hieroglyphics that tell of brave adventurers, or perhaps an epic tale of Thassilonian lore scrawled across countless scrolls, or maybe even the systemized end product of a sleep-deprived college student who happens to write about dragons and stuff.
Poetic reminiscences aside, it’s been a good experience. I’ve still got another year of college left up at Western Washington University, but this internship has helped reinforce my dream of writing material for tabletop games such as Pathfinder, and assured me that I am on the right track. Perhaps you’ll see my name in future products, loyal reader, and you’ll be able to excitedly gather your comrades, your shaky hands barely able to retain their grasp on the Adventure Path or module clenched between your sweaty fingers, and you’ll show all your friends and say, “Look! I commented on that guy’s blog post before he became famous!” And everyone will look at you in awe, and solemnly utter things like, “Dude, are you hyperventilating?” and “Woah, are your palms sweating over this? Do you need a doctor?”
Until that fateful day, readers, I bid you farewell, and thank you for bearing with my garrulous blog posts and lack of proficiency in regards to the realm of corporate salesmanship. (On an unrelated note, buy more Paizo stuff! It’s good! Real good!)
Well, Friday was my first day as the new Editorial Intern at Paizo, and I must say I'm not disappointed.
One of the first things I noticed in the office was that everyone spoke like a GM at all times, talking about drawing up maps and discussing the finer points of the gnomes of Golarion. It's awesome. Being the only Pathfinder GM in my group back home, my players often don't understand the work that goes into running a game, which, as I'm sure many GMs can attest to, is a little frustrating at times.
At any rate, it has been a fun transition, going from an environment in which I am the most experienced and rules-learned person at the table to Paizo, where I am practically the polar opposite. It puts GMing into perspective, to be certain; crafting the world of Pathfinder is a bit more daunting a task than designing a two-level dungeon for Saturday night's session. Which makes me all the more excited to work here.
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