Steve Geddes is an incredible community builder, always offering constructive and insightful feedback to those in need. He engages the Paizo community, both fan and staff alike with a humble and helpful demeanor, and even sent us a motivational poster that is proudly on display in our warehouse.
I'm from South Australia and started playing RPGs in 1979 with a photocopy of a photocopy of some of the Original D&D books and an incomplete set of polyhedral dice. We gradually added the AD&D books as they came out (it still amuses me to think how impatient I get when my subscriptions are a week late given that I had to wait a whole year between releases back then). Our group had our own little edition war on 2nd Edition's release by the company we referred to as T$R (clever, huh?) Our indignant rage led us to leave D&D and move on to other games over the next fifteen years or so—predominantly Rolemaster, but also a smattering of others.
I first became aware of Paizo early in 2008 when time pressures started to make DMing difficult. I looked around for a 'campaign in a box' and discovered the Shackled City compilation which I planned to convert to rolemaster. I enjoyed reading it so much that I went looking on this new-fangled internet thing to discover that Paizo had just completed another Adventure Path (Runelords) and were starting a third. (I think AP#8 had just released). Due to a longstanding paranoia about online purchases, my AP subscription (or 'gateway drug' as I think of it) didn't begin until midway through Second Darkness. Soon afterwards, I was signed up for everything I could get my hands on. I also started furiously backordering all those things I'd missed before they went out of print.
Our group now plays an eclectic mix of systems, but all my games are set in Golarion and most of the adventures I run are Paizo APs or modules. I love the way Pathfinder has broadened over the last few years, both in the different product lines but also in the more recent rules supplements - many of which I use even when running other systems. Although I've spent most of my time in the DM's chair, I do play from time to time. My favourite characters tend to be fighters or thieves and I've recently realised I have a disconcerting tendency towards playing conmen, charlatans and duplicitous frauds.
The Paizo community is a significant factor that keeps me coming back to Pathfinder. The presence the staff has on the forums and the level of engagement of the company is well known, but the general civility and willingness to help out with advice or clarifications from the other fans is something I think really makes Paizo.com a special corner of the internet. I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather ask a dumb question. It seems that, no matter how blindingly obvious, there's always someone around to explain it even more simply.
I have more than enough Pathfinder material to last the rest of my life, but still look forward to every subscription shipment just as much as I did waiting for those AD&D hardcovers to make the slow journey over from America all those years ago.
PS: If you'd like to nominate a Pathfinder of the Month, or would like to be featured yourself, send a blog of 500 words or less, along with a photo, to press@paizo.com.
