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Tharen the Damned
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber)
I just preordered this an it says it was canceled in July?
You are a Chronicles Subscriber so you will automatically receive this Book.
Did you subscribe after ordering? Then the system automatically cancels all orders where for which you will receive products from subcriptions.
I know this as it happened to me. I preordered Darkmoon Vale and the Campaign Setting and both got cancelled as I will receive them through the subsciption anyway.
Kvantum
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber)
My God!
A company that attracts talent like this must be a force to reckon with.
Stan!
Keith Baker
Wolfgang Baur
Clinton J. Boomer
Jason Bulmahn
Joshua J. Frost
Ed Greenwood
Stephen S. Greer
Jeff Grubb
James Jacobs
Michael Kortes
Tito Leati
Mike McArtor
Rob McCreary
Erik Mona
Jason Eric Nelson
Jeff Quick
Sean K Reynolds
David Schwartz
Leandra Christine Schneider
F. Wesley Schneider
Amber E. Scott
Owen K.C. Stephens
Todd Stewart
James L. Sutter
Greg A. Vaughan
Jeremy Walker
JD Wiker
I just had to say that. No choice, sorry.
Cheers,
Zux
My God!
A company that attracts talent like this must be a force to reckon with.
Stan!
Keith Baker
Wolfgang Baur
Clinton J. Boomer
Jason Bulmahn
Joshua J. Frost
Ed Greenwood
Stephen S. Greer
Jeff Grubb
James Jacobs
Michael Kortes
Tito Leati
Mike McArtor
Rob McCreary
Erik Mona
Jason Eric Nelson
Jeff Quick
Sean K Reynolds
David Schwartz
Leandra Christine Schneider
F. Wesley Schneider
Amber E. Scott
Owen K.C. Stephens
Todd Stewart
James L. Sutter
Greg A. Vaughan
Jeremy Walker
JD WikerI just had to say that. No choice, sorry.
Cheers,
Zux
Holy cow! That's a veritable who's who of d20 right there. I'm anxious to get my hands on this bad boy. :)
The edition to switch to if you don't want to switch editions, lol. Meh....
Except this isn't a thread about Pathfinder RPG. This is the Pathfinder campaign setting.
Very much looking forward to this, though I echo the concern about it feeling like it was written by 30 people(what with the 30 writers and all). As long as it all meshes though, I'm good to go.
I just hope it doesn't suffer from feeling like a book written by 30 different people.
Hell, even if it does, it'll still be a book written by 30 different awesome people, with the benefits of Paizo editing.
I hope there's a list of who wrote what. There probably isn't, and I can maybe see reasons for that, but it would be fun for me to see what parts were done by which people. I know some of them, but it would be fun to compare styles.
The edition to switch to if you don't want to switch editions, lol. Meh....I bet the same people who complained about the prices of the 4E books will eat this $50 cover price up without a problem, which goes to show people were looking for a reason not to like 4E.
Maybe. Then again, if you are subscribed to the Pathfinder Adventure Paths, you get the 15% off, which puts the CS book close to one of the beefier WotC offerings (Draconomicon retailed at $40 with a little more than 256 pages. Okay, the FR 3.0 book at $40 had 320).
I'll eat a few dollars to get what I hope will be very good material. Anyone who wants to save on it can get it cheaper at (somewhere else), but they'll miss out on the PDF with the Chronicles subscription (we do get a PDF, right?)
The edition to switch to if you don't want to switch editions, lol. Meh....I bet the same people who complained about the prices of the 4E books will eat this $50 cover price up without a problem, which goes to show people were looking for a reason not to like 4E.Maybe. Then again, if you are subscribed to the Pathfinder Adventure Paths, you get the 15% off, which puts the CS book close to one of the beefier WotC offerings (Draconomicon retailed at $40 with a little more than 256 pages. Okay, the FR 3.0 book at $40 had 320).
I'll eat a few dollars to get what I hope will be very good material. Anyone who wants to save on it can get it cheaper at (somewhere else), but they'll miss out on the PDF with the Chronicles subscription (we do get a PDF, right?)
Nah don't start swinging around discounts, hell you can get the Eberron core book new for bout 27 bucks on Amazon. The price IS rather steep for a book it's size.
Having said that, it is an amazing "who's who" of authors listed and that's gonna knock the price up a bit. (And let's not talk about the FR 3.0 book, cause then ya gotta factor in the updated 3.5 players guide or whatever to bring it back up to code. FR book is 320 pages about which half are useable *grin*)
I'm just debating if I want to subscribe and have it sent to me in Korea, or pick a copy up when I go home to visit in 30 days. Yes I'm counting them you would be too trust me ;p
I like the idea of non-system setting books. I play Mutants and Masterminds' system with my D&D modules, actually, as I like the non-class way of making characters. That means having adventures of any system I know, and I convert those villains and monsters to M&M. I've already done that with the first of the Rise of the Runelords adventures' Nualia (cleric buffs are Boost, add some mind control effects and good strike powers, summon minion: yeth hounds, and you got her).
so any other non-system books coming out? Or 3.x/4e at the same time? A non-system book but with two appendices for the crunch (like the stat blocks in back of Temple of Elemental Evil) would be fun.
The edition to switch to if you don't want to switch editions, lol. Meh....I bet the same people who complained about the prices of the 4E books will eat this $50 cover price up without a problem, which goes to show people were looking for a reason not to like 4E.
Oh, this book isn't in 4e? Give me two! Three, even! I'll pay any amount of money to anyone that isn't WotC! If I buy ten, do I get a discount?
so any other non-system books coming out? Or 3.x/4e at the same time? A non-system book but with two appendices for the crunch (like the stat blocks in back of Temple of Elemental Evil) would be fun.
No 3.x and 4e can ever co-exist in the same product line. If you read the GSL, you'll find that this is one of the first things they forbid. So the answer is no. This is one of the main reasons Paizo didn't convert to 4e.
Tharen the Damned
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber)
I bet the same people who complained about the prices of the 4E books will eat this $50 cover price up without a problem, which goes to show people were looking for a reason not to like 4E.
Indeed I have no problems paying 49 bucks for a 3rd party 254 page full colour product.
This is all about fixed costs. WoC have a large print run for their products. Therefore they have lower fixed costs, therefore they can sell their stuff comparatively cheaper.
I bet the same people who complained about the prices of the 4E books will eat this $50 cover price up without a problem, which goes to show people were looking for a reason not to like 4E.Indeed I have no problems paying 49 bucks for a 3rd party 254 page full colour product.
This is all about fixed costs. WoC have a large print run for their products. Therefore they have lower fixed costs, therefore they can sell their stuff comparatively cheaper.
In all fairness though, it doesn't change the fact that people DID complain about the cost of the 4e books, and they too are full color aren't they?
Don't get me wrong, I'm buying the Pathfinder book and all. Just putting things in perspective, $50 is a lot for 256 pages. I paid $50 for Stargate SG-1 and I think it was 400+ pages. Now, the Pathfinder RPG book descriptor says that it's over 500 pages. If that book stays at the $50 price mark it's a damn fine bargain, so I guess it will all balance out between the two =)
I bet the same people who complained about the prices of the 4E books will eat this $50 cover price up without a problem, which goes to show people were looking for a reason not to like 4E.Indeed I have no problems paying 49 bucks for a 3rd party 254 page full colour product.
This is all about fixed costs. WoC have a large print run for their products. Therefore they have lower fixed costs, therefore they can sell their stuff comparatively cheaper.
In all fairness though, it doesn't change the fact that people DID complain about the cost of the 4e books, and they too are full color aren't they?
Don't get me wrong, I'm buying the Pathfinder book and all. Just putting things in perspective, $50 is a lot for 256 pages. I paid $50 for Stargate SG-1 and I think it was 400+ pages. Now, the Pathfinder RPG book descriptor says that it's over 500 pages. If that book stays at the $50 price mark it's a damn fine bargain, so I guess it will all balance out between the two =)
IIRC, most of the people complaining were complaining about invalidating $1000s worth of existing materials, some bought quite recently, rather than "ZOMG, teh new books are too expensive!!!!". So, as the hardcover doesn't invalidate those prior purchases, this isn't an issue.
Now, if we were talking about charging full book price (pre-discount) for the PDFs, that would be another matter. ;-)
Ah gotcha, yeah point well taken man. Yeah I know starting over with new books was a big consideration for me heh.
Anyone got a hard date on when the actual book comes out? This sounds really lame but I'm thinking that I'll be home visiting the family at the tail end of August until the 1st of September....if the book comes out before then I can just pick it up when I'm stateside.
Ah gotcha, yeah point well taken man. Yeah I know starting over with new books was a big consideration for me heh.
Anyone got a hard date on when the actual book comes out? This sounds really lame but I'm thinking that I'll be home visiting the family at the tail end of August until the 1st of September....if the book comes out before then I can just pick it up when I'm stateside.
The current plan, unless it's changed, is to have it and the Beta out before Gencon which is early August. So you should be able to get them stateside, which would certainly cut down on shipping costs.
I bet the same people who complained about the prices of the 4E books will eat this $50 cover price up without a problem, which goes to show people were looking for a reason not to like 4E.Indeed I have no problems paying 49 bucks for a 3rd party 254 page full colour product.
This is all about fixed costs. WoC have a large print run for their products. Therefore they have lower fixed costs, therefore they can sell their stuff comparatively cheaper.
I also want to point out that we stuff a heck of a lot of text into our products. Our 64-page Pathfinder Chronicles products would probably be 96 or 128 pages from many other companies. It always amazes me how much sheer goodness the team packs into each product. It isn't always about page count, but what is contained on those pages. And I think that we do a darn good job of giving lots of bam for the buck.
-Lisa
I also want to point out that we stuff a heck of a lot of text into our products. Our 64-page Pathfinder Chronicles products would probably be 96 or 128 pages from many other companies. It always amazes me how much sheer goodness the team packs into each product. It isn't always about page count, but what is contained on those pages. And I think that we do a darn good job of giving lots of bam for the buck.
-Lisa
i received my first "chronicles" and "adventures" installments last week. money well spent, much like the two years i subscribed to "dungeon" when i was in the hoosegow. (incidentally, y'all taking over dragon and dungeon for a few years produced the best product in the line since the early days of both, thank you for the introduction to your incredible products!)
i am definitely drooling for the chance to crack the cover on the campaign setting, price be damned. $50 is a bargain for quality product, in my opinion...
I think the quality of the books content is about 500 times more important than the quantity of pages in the book. The quality of everything Paizo has made since starting the Pathfinder AP and all the associated lines has been top rate. I have no problem paying the price on this one because I know the quality of the product will justify the price. Further, comparing this book to the 4e core books doesn't make sense. A better comparison would be to look at the PFRPG book releasing next summer and the as yet unnamed monster book they plan to do after that and compare those to the 4e core books.
All that said, another important factor in the price is the size of the print run. Paizo doesn't publish books in the numbers that WotC does, so when Paizo prints a book they pay a higher price per unit than WotC will because of the relative difference in the size of their orders. That said, if you have the subscription and it's discount, the cost of that Campaign Setting Book is only $42 (which is about what the Forgotten Realms Campaign setting cost). That is pretty amazing. If you factor in inflation there is no way the Realms Campaign Setting would sell today for what it did when it came out. The fact that Paizo can make a product of such high quality for a comparable price is phenominal.
I am insanely pumped for this book coming out and I think Lisa's observation is spot on. This book is going to be LOADED with AWESOME!!!!
That said, if you have the subscription and it's discount, the cost of that Campaign Setting Book is only $42 (which is about what the Forgotten Realms Campaign setting cost). That is pretty amazing. If you factor in inflation there is no way the Realms Campaign Setting would sell today for what it did when it came out. The fact that Paizo can make a product of such high quality for a comparable price is phenominal.
I am insanely pumped for this book coming out and I think Lisa's observation is spot on. This book is going to be LOADED with AWESOME!!!!
Eh I hate to throw a monkey wrench into your logic, but the new edition of the FR campaign setting is going to sell for the same price as the old edition (39.95) cover. If we're going to sling around discounts then keep in mind Amazon is selling the new FR book for less than $27. It's smaller than the old edition but still weighs in at more than the Pathfinder Campaign setting.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm buying Pathfinder. I'm not getting into 4th ed. (yet). Just saying that there are some mighty big holes in your logic.
What I said earlier still pertains here. Let's compare to a some 3rd party books and not to WOTC ones
Stargate SG-1: 488 pages at a cover price of $49.95 I think.
Spycraft 2.0: 500 pages at a cover price of $49.95
Conan 2nd edition: 424 pages at $39.95
Pathfinder Campaign: 256 pages at $49.95
Now, since we can't really objectively judge the quality of writing of a product, let's take a look at things we can judge. I know SG-1 was full color, and I'm pretty sure Spycraft 2.0 was too. Both are weighing in close to 2x as much a page count as the Pathfinder book. The Conan one is very big considering it's price, but it's not full-color so we can ignore that if we want.
Now, those other games are produced by Mongoose if I recall right. I'm thinking that their print runs are higher than Paizo's and that of course will affect the price.
And as to quality, I really enjoyed my time playing SG-1, and I know a few of my friends back home absolutely rave about the Spycraft 2.0 game.
I guess what I'm getting at is, yes I'm getting the Pathfinder campaign setting. I honestly do feel that the price tag is a little bit higher than it should be, prolly should be around the $39.95 mark. I'm just worried that the higher than normal price tag is going to scare away future people who may want in on the action.
Heh, again I'm not going to argue about the subjective, since everyone has their own opinion about quality of writing and such. Instead, just looking at the hard things we can more easily compare.
But I will say this. The last FR campaign setting book took home the Origins award for best gaming supplement in 2001. That's a pretty big testament to the quality is it not? We'll see what happens this time around I'm doubting they'll take it home again.
Heh, again I'm not going to argue about the subjective, since everyone has their own opinion about quality of writing and such. Instead, just looking at the hard things we can more easily compare.
But I will say this. The last FR campaign setting book took home the Origins award for best gaming supplement in 2001. That's a pretty big testament to the quality is it not? We'll see what happens this time around I'm doubting they'll take it home again.
I only brought up the Forgotten Realms Campaign setting comparison as a way of pointing out that they have made a comparable product at a comparable price in a time when prices for everything are going up and without the benefit of a mega company like Hasbro backing them. I own every Forgotten Realms product since 2nd edition but will not be buying the 4e Campaign Setting or any Realms related 4e product. That has more to do with the direction they have chosen to take the Realms more so than the quality of the products though.
I get what you are saying about the price being a turn off for some players, but in my experience if a person is willing to drop $40 on a book then they can probably afford $50. Again it comes down to content and how that person judges the value of that books content. For the new player, I would hope they pick the book up in their local game store or come somewhere like here to see how others are rating it. That way they can decide for themselves if the content of the book justifies the price.
I also agree that there are lots of third party books out there for different games that are very good. I feel like the Campaign Setting Hardcover will be very competitive with those products in value for the price. The proof as they say will be in the pudding. There is no question that we all would love to get our gaming products cheaper than we do. That said, I feel like the price I have paid and continue to pay for Paizo's products is very affordable and represents a tremendouse value for the price. I don't expect the campaign setting hardcover will be any different.
Mr Baron
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Modules Subscriber)
Well, I didn't mean to start up trouble. I guess what I'm saying is this is probably going to be one of the finest, if not the finest 256 page books released. I suppose if you get more bang outta it than you do a 400 pager then no there's no problem =)
If the adventure paths and pathfinder modules are any hint of the quality then it won't dissapoint I'm sure.
I am insanely pumped for this book coming out and I think Lisa's observation is spot on. This book is going to be LOADED with AWESOME!!!!
Indeed. I had the book for a few hours glancing through it as I write the store blog and had to, page by page, count all of the things in the book and after a while (as the list grew very long) I was like, *flip flip flip* 11 of this, *type type type* *flip flip flip* 13 of these *type type type*... (all right, I'm going to be here all day) Its got all this other stuff too! *type type type*
Took me about 2 hours to count and get those few paragraphs typed up. This book is packed to the brim with so much good stuff!
This is the direction that Wizards of the Coast should have taken, instead of the strange path they chose. I love the Alpha test product, I hope that this catches fire. Perhaps this product could bring Wizards of the Coast back to their senses, or maybe Paizo will end up with the means to purchase Dungeons and Dragons back from Hasbro and save my game.
This is the direction that Wizards of the Coast should have taken, instead of the strange path they chose. I love the Alpha test product, I hope that this catches fire. Perhaps this product could bring Wizards of the Coast back to their senses, or maybe Paizo will end up with the means to purchase Dungeons and Dragons back from Hasbro and save my game.
I agree with you, but I think you're confusing the Pathfinder RPG with the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting. While I don't think that WotC produces nearly the same quality of flavor as Paizo, especially since the rise of 4e and the death of the Realms, I also don't think that Paizo is anywhere near being able to purchase the giant that is the D&D brand. But your game can be saved regardless of who owns that IP. I know mine has.
The store blog says, "dozens of PC races, including Golarion's human ethnic groups." Are there actual PC races in here BEYOND the core races? Do they include PC stats? Wanna give me some examples?
There are discussions of dozens of PC races, but no new PC race stats.
I like the idea of non-system setting books.
This book is steeped in 3.5 OGL, which makes it compatible with M&M, PFRPG, and any other game compatible with 3.5 OGL. New feats and all that.
The template used for content seems as if it is likely to be much like that for the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3.0, which will make for some interesting comparisons in terms of layout and quality of content.
That book was definitely an inspiration, as group consensus was pretty much that the FRCS was the best CS book ever made. (Note the past tense. He he. ^_^ )
Looking over the FR:CS again, I have been struck by the amount of artwork, with an illustration (even if occasionally only a monochrome sketch intended to give merely the feel of a place/person) every few pages.
The PCCS has even more artwork than the FRCS, which was quite a task to accomplish! And it's all full-color. And no, that ubiquitous racial line-up picture is NOT in it.
Awaiting information on when it may become available at my Local Games Store, here in the UK.
And I'm awaiting information on when it will become available at all. lol
:D
carmachu
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber)
The edition to switch to if you don't want to switch editions, lol. Meh....I bet the same people who complained about the prices of the 4E books will eat this $50 cover price up without a problem, which goes to show people were looking for a reason not to like 4E.
Oh look a 4e fan that has to dump on a non-4e product. Shock and suprise there.
If you dont like it, dont buy it. But take your issues somewhere else.
Actually for subscribers its a bit cheaper.