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All long as only about 1/4 of the content is edition specific I'll be at least continuing the Companion Sub.
The thing is, if Pathfinder itself goes 4e, the adventure paths become useless to me, so I'll cancel.
After that, I'll lose the "Subscriber Advantage" and have to pay more for those books (in addition to that quarter content that is becoming useless).
Plus, Golarion will become less attractive to me after that, since the Paths won't help me any more. At that point, I'd either have to find other modules to play (which will probably use a different world than Golarion) or write my own adventures. And it's quite possible that if I have to write my own adventures, I'll use a world that's fully my own, with stuff exactly as I want it - Golarion's cool and very good, but not my take of the perfect game world. So it's not unlikely that I'd ditch my Companion and Chronicles subscriptions along with Pathfinder. And maybe Planet Stories, too, since shipping will at that point be too expensive (I'd get them from local stores or sites instead).
So right now all I can do is hope that they'll see that 4e just isn't right for Pathfinder (which I think it is: Short-lived elves, astral diamonds, dragonborn and no druids? That's not even D&D) and stick to 3.5, because I really like the stuff and would like to keep using it.
There are at least two such polls on the site already. :)Official Place to Tell Paizo which Edition they should Go with.
I highly recommend expressing your feeings on both (regardless of which side of the debate you are on).
Hmm.. Out of 444 responses in the experiences and changing your mind thread, 223 (fully half of them) Were and still are expecting to stick to 3.5. Another 37 (8%) planned to go 4e but changed their mind to 3.5.
On the other side, only 90 (20%) were and are still on 4e course, and only 22 (4%) changed from undecided/pro35 to pro4. The rest (or at least 16%, guess the other 2% are lost to rounding) is undecided.
So right now, 58(.55)% want to stick to 3.5, only 25(.22)% will go 4e, and the other 16(.21)%. That means a 41% minority for 4e at best, and it could get as high as 75% for 3.5.
I like those numbers, but not too much: Though nearly 60% are a definite majority, it still means that they could lose up to 40% of their customers if they kept 3e. I hope that most of those undecided will stick to 3e or support both editions. That way Paizo could confortably stick to 3e without losing too much sleep over lost customers/income.
All assuming, of course, that those numbers are representative, and that this is the biggest concern for Paizo, without anything else forcing them to go 4e even though most customers don't want them to.
There's one advantage Paizo has over wizards in this regard, though: Since they treat their customers much better than wotc, those who will be "left out in the rain" when the decision goes against their preference won't hold that much of a grudge against Paizo.
I know I'm not the only one who's really fed up with wizards. After I heard what they did to the Realms, and about many of the things they did to the game itself, I had enough. Enough's enough - their track record hasn't exactly been shiny in the last couple of years and months. So now I not only resolved not to buy further D&D rulebooks which I wouldn't have any use for, anyway, since I don't plan to change to 4e (and during the time I still though that I'd go where Paizo leads, I told myself that if Pathfinder changes, I'd get the 4e core stuff and nothing else.)
No, I also stopped buying novels (I formerly got all FR novels. Up to a couple of months ago, I have them all. Even the oldest ones). Planet Stories makes a decent replacement so far, so Paizo profited from wizards' villainy again.
I also stopped buying miniatures (I used to collect whole sets, buying 3 cases per set and filling up on eBay). I confess that the declining quality in the sets helped, but that's not all.
So I generally resolved not to give wizards another cent - they don't want my money? Fine. See if those new and cooler gamers they want to win over will spend as much as I do.
But, on the other hand, if Paizo should decide that they will switch to 4e, I will not stop buying all their stuff.
Of course, I'll feel disappointment, and I will cancel some, maybe even most of my subscriptions, but I'll still look out for stuff from them, and if there's stuff that interests me, I'll buy it. Planet Stories, for example (which can never switch to 4e, luckily)
Sounds mostly right, except that the Pathfinder Companion also goes along with all of the Pathfinder Chronicles AND the Pathfinder Modules—the Companion is a companion to ALL our Pathfinder products, not just the Adventure Path. The crunch vs. flavor ratio will probably be something like 40% crunch, 60% flavor, although that's still up in the air. Could adjust either way.
Also, the Pathfinder Chronicles line will sometimes be associated with the Adventure Paths, just as the Guide to Korvosa (a Pathfinder Chronicles product) is tied to Curse of the Crimson Throne.
Thank you for the information, James.
But I am still feeling as confused as before on the subject of where to find gazetteers/ guides:
"the Companion is a companion to ALL our Pathfinder products".
But then: "the Pathfinder Chronicles line will sometimes be associated with the Adventure Paths".
So please explain: Will there be gazetteer like products in both product lines - or is Guide to Korvosa just an exception to the rule (and later "gazetteers" be always Companion products)?
If not: why?
Just trying to get a grasp on how to distinguish both product lines from each other.
Thanks in advance!
Cheers,
Günther
So please explain: Will there be gazetteer like products in both product lines - or is Guide to Korvosa just an exception to the rule (and later "gazetteers" be always Companion products)?
If not: why?
Just trying to get a grasp on how to distinguish both product lines from each other.
Guide to Korvosa is in the Pathfinder Chronicles line. It supports the Adventure Path.
Guide to Darkmoon Vale is in the Pathfinder Chronicles line. It supports several of the modules.
The Gazetteer and the Gods & Magic books are in the Chronicles line; they support the entire setting.
Into the Darklands is in the Chronicles line; it supports the Second Darkness adventure path (of which 2 adventures take place in the Darklands) but also supports the entire setting.
Classic Monsters Revisited supports all of them (there are goblins and ogres in Runelords, kobolds in the modules, and all the monsters in the world itself).
ALL of these products are part of the Pathfinder Chronicles line. The majority of these (in fact, all the books I just listed) are 64 page softcover books. These books will contain a lot of information of use for players, but they're also going to usually contain a lot of information for GMs as well.
*****
The Pathfinder Companion line is a 32 page, player-friendly (AKA spoiler-free) book that'll come out once every other month. Its contents will vary wildly, but will generally be there to support players who adventure in the world of Golarion, be those adventures part of the Adventure Path, a stand-alone module, or a home-brew game set in Golarion.
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The basic, fundamental difference between the Pathfinder Companion and the Pathfinder Chronicle products is therefore:
COMPANION: 32-page booklet aimed at educating players and aiding them in creating characters that fit into Paizo's game world. (OR: to help GMs create NPCs for the world, of course!) These will usually be closely tied to a concurrent Adventure Path or Module release.
CHRONICLES: 64-page books aimed at presenting detailed information about a specific part of Paizo's game world. These books aren't really interested in helping you create characters or NPCs. They want to tell you about the world. These will be more self-contained and won't always be closely tied to a concurrent Adventure Path or Module release.
DitheringFool
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules, GameMastery Cards Subscriber)
I added the Pathfinder Companion Sub, and it pre-charged me for the Second Darkness Player's Guide book, but as a Pathfinder subscriber, I get that for free, right?
I assume this charge will not happen, and my Sub will begin in earnest with the October offering. :)
It's not a charge—it's an authorization: basically, us checking that your credit card works. No funds were actually transferred to us.
Pathfinder AP subscribers who have Companion subs will get the first volume of the companion free, but we won't actually do the work to make it free until shortly before they ship, so don't worry that your account indicates that there's a price on it right now.