Jeff Alvarez's page

I've noted a mistake in the statement, but since we won't be able to edit it until tomorrow morning, I wanted to pop on tonight to correct it here in the comments as soon as I noticed it.

We held in-person anti-harassment training in 2018, but only instituted mandatory annual anti-harassment training in 2021. I apologize for writing that paragraph in a way that implied there had been continuous training since 2018. That enhanced program only started this year, but is annual going forward.

Again, sorry about the confusion.

I know people still have a lot of other things they'd like to hear from me, and I will do my best to get to those soon, but I wanted to address this item immediately.

Accusations that I have used offensive slurs about members of the staff are categorically FALSE. Many LGBTQIA+ members of the Paizo staff are close friends of mine, and I would never talk that way about anyone on our staff or in our community.

The recent departure of two long-time Paizo employees has generated a great deal of public discussion, including a series of accusations critical of the company’s management that range back several years. While Paizo cannot discuss personnel issues in public, we wish to strongly reaffirm the company’s commitment to the ideals of inclusiveness and diversity in gaming, both within our company and in the products we create.

From the day the company opened back in 2002 all the way to the present, POC and LGBTQIA+ contributors and staff have been a critical part of our creative and business operations, and our company has been at the forefront of these issues in the work we publish and the values we espouse.

We are committed to these values and work to do better every day, backed up by a tremendous staff at all levels of the company, all of whom share the values of inclusivity, diversity, and improvement. We are also working actively to listen to those employees and take additional steps to ensure that they feel their voices are being heard. By doing so, we believe we have become better now than we were 5 years ago, and that we will be better 5 years from now than we are today.

--Jeff

There's no update on release as the product is still in transit to WizKids.

A couple online shops have started listing these singles on their website, although they aren't available for pre-order quite yet. Typically this is a sign that the set is soon to release. But it's possible they're just getting things ready because the official date on the WizKids page says August, and they don't know if that means early August or late August.

Paizo reps, can you confirm whether this is coming next week (August 4th) or the following week? Or is this still undetermined and possibly far off (like really late August or even September)?

I can confirm that NO ONE has these yet, not even WizKids, so those must be pre-orders. My guess is that everyone is still weeks away from any kind of release.

Yep Archon has posted Wave 4 details! This wave includes:

1x Starfinder Space Goblin Honchohead
4x Starfinder Space Goblin Zaperators
1x Starfinder Space Goblin Dual Wielder
1x Starfinder Asteray

Shipping is scheduled to begin on July 29th and pre-orders are open now.

Is there a physical storefront at the Paizo HQ? I’m visiting Seattle and wanted to swing by if there was an actual storefront.

Unfortunately we do not have a physical storefront so there's nothing for you to come and visit. Maybe someday we will have an awesome shop and cafe like Games Workshop has but that's just not in the cards for us quite yet.

Just wanted to let everyone in this thread know that the Bestiary Unleashed miniatures set has been hit with some severe shipping delays and WizKids doesn't know when these will get to them, let alone when these will be set to release. We will keep the threads updated as we learn more and we thank you for your patience.

Big news this week...

Wave 4 should be releasing this month and Archon should have an announcement about this in the next week or so.

Wave 5 is in tooling and should be ready for release in August.

Wave 6 is in design and should be ready for release in September/October.

Appreciate that you keep checking in every week. Definitely stems the tide of anger at Ninja Division having the weekly check ins, but at this point I am not really believing Archon will meet that goal post of getting any mini's out to people who don't order from them.

I know there are no updates, but when was the last time you guys reached out and asked for a status report on intended progress...?

Have you checked in and they haven't responded with reportable info, haven't responded at all, possibly haven't checked in in a while?

Thanks again Jeff, your presence in the thread is probably the only thing keeping the pitch forks in the sheds, but no update or news for months is a bit exasperating.

We check with them on a weekly basis but most of the time we are met with little to no reply. I know that they are inching forward on a few sculpts but with minimal communication and no proposed timelines, it's hard for us to share anything with you guys.

What I do know is they haven't asked to pull out of the fulfillment project so I'd expect them to keep moving forward, even if it's mm by mm. And we will continue to email and call and try to learn what we can and share what we can.

Donald wrote:

Can Paizo confirm that it's because Troll & Toad will be selling their products and not because they've had a change of plans?

Just to Nip things in the bud, Andy.

Thanks.

We have not had a change in plans. We will not be at Gen Con or any con in 2021, physically.

Yes you are correct, Donald. They likely added us because we gave our exclusive to T&T. And Aaron is correct as well, we will not be there in a physical capacity.

WizKids is experiencing some serious freight delays that will likely push the release date for the Bestiary Unleashed cases and premiums. It's not for sure but it is very likely and as we learn more, we will try to keep this thread updated.

That certainly would've worked; in the absence of that, I still need an answer to my previous post.

Check your private messages in your Paizo.com account for more info.

I deleted some posts bickering about Covid guidelines and safety. There's no need to argue about who's right and who's wrong here.

Thanks for being up front Mark, would appreciate if you passed the price question up the stream but I get that it isn't something Paizo controls. Just feels like a bit of a bait and switch that I remember one of the original justifications of the price hike was the huge figures....

Appreciate what answers you have for us, and appreciate what you guys do on the back end to get us updates too.

There's been huge price increases in China on substrates which has caused plastic prices to rise and WZK hadn't had a booster price increase for years so this is more of a line increase to match COGs increase than a cost increase based on mini configuration.

Honest question, if you have them in your warehouse already why do they need to stay there for another ~5 weeks before being shipped? Why not ship them now?

Kelseus is kinda correct, in that we do have a process for releases and it isn't throw them out the door the minute they hit the dock.

We have a multi-tiered distribution system to interact with as well as our direct to customer fulfillment and short-circuiting the system doesn't help anyone. We are following the same processes that we always do, month in and month out, you just don't see it because it all occurs outside of the general paizo.com customer experience.

Jeff Alvarez wrote:

Another quiet week so no update.

I appreciate the updates but I do have a question. Are you actively reaching out to Prodos/Archon each week or passively checking whether they've updated you of their own accord?

It is likely more passive than you would like but there's also no real way for us to make them talk to us and there's no real way for us to apply pressure on them to produce things at a faster pace. They took over the job of fulfilling this and were given a big empty hole to fill so they are working on filling it as best they can. They still need to keep their core business moving forward and are working on this as they have capacity.

The figures they have produced have been awesome and the future sculpts we've seen look equally great. We just need them to be in a place to release the next wave and I don't have any timeline on that.

Deleted some posts. There's no reason to bicker or bite at each other or speculate on these products any further. They have delivered to our warehouse and are scheduled for release on 7/7/21.

Let's try to remember that we all share a fondness for games and while that passion can bubble out in a lot of ways, the more we focus it in constructive and positive ways, the more we will all benefit from it.

I just hope that whatever agreement/contract Paizo has with Gen Con is not invalidated because they are not exercising their rights to the Sag. I would hate to return in 2022 and find that Baldman games or some other group had grabbed it out from under Paizo. I know there were A LOT of upset people when Wizards "lost" it.

There's no need to speculate on this topic as we've already had the discussions with Gen Con. We will have the first right of refusal on the Sag for 2022.

I apologize that our messaging came out after the rollover deadline had expired and caused many of you unnecessary heartache. Honestly, since exhibitor badges work totally different than attendee badges, the rollover deadline wasn't even on our radar. We simply made our decision and chose to release the details when we did. If we would have realized there was a rollover deadline looming, we would have pushed to get our message out earlier.

Since our announcement, Gen Con has had two more big companies release similar messaging and they've announced that they're extending the rollover deadline to June 25th, 2021. This should allow those of you that still want to rollover your badges to next year's show to do just that.

We look forward to gaming online with some of you this year and we look forward to seeing the rest of you next year in Indy!

So, I totally understand if you can't answer this, but has the missing cargo container been located?

The container hasn't gone missing but it's being held up in customs at the port. This is reasonably common and occurs to us a few times each year but never to this level of delay.

Jeff - Ninja Division hasn't updated their KS page in over 10 months. As a US backer, I have absolutely no confidence in their ability that they can or will be able to ship Wave 1 out once (or if) Archon completes it.

You haven't received any updates from ND or Archon 'lately'; Archon's 'social media ninja' hasn't posted anything since their first intro message months ago.

This project is beyond dead - don't know how you can disagree given that you say you don't know more than we do based on your 'no news this week' posts.

Appreciate you trying to update us, but no news is still no news. I get Paizo is trying, but the others aren't.

Any chance the backers can get access to the STLs or anything? Is there something Paizo can do to help Archon be more successful with their StarFinder minis sales (ex: allow direct orders from your store) so they will be able to afford continuing working on the KS?

Thanks

Archon is working on the next wave of figures as far as we understand, but COVID hit them really very hard. Our main contact there had COVID and was very, very sick. He also lost both of his neighbors to it, so you can see how that might put a bit of a delay in things.

As for doing anything with the STLs, that's not something we've really discussed because Archon is still committed to completing the minis project.

Does anyone know if this Special Edition Hardcover is the second printing or first? There's a lot of errata to keep track of if its just the first...

Because the Special Editions are released at the same time as the regular editions and are not reprinted, they are always 1st printing.

The fact of the matter is, amount of 3rd party PDF content that is submitted to sell on our site far exceeds our ability to review it and always has. So, as our general policy, we turn to the audience to police these products. And in cases like this, when the audience alerts us to inappropriate content, we act accordingly.

Now that Savage Pathfinder is coming with Runlords as a product any chance this will get a reprint?

Actually YES! We've teamed up with Pinnacle to re-release these pawns to benefit both the original RotR audience and to give the new SW audience a chance to enjoy them as well. The re-release will have a different product code and a slightly higher price (reflective of the costs of manufacturing today vs. years ago) so stay tuned for more info.

Do people who are Miniatures subscribers receive the 30% off of the price?

Will there be singles listed like Pathfinder?

Will we get the 30% off of singles if we are a Battles Subscriber?

Thanks!

Hey Yoshua, here's the answers to your questions...

Everyone gets the 30% pre-order price on Cases, bricks, boosters, and premium, and everyone will get the 20% off regular price once the set has released. Because this is SF Battles, there is no additional benefit for being a PF Battles subscriber.

Since the singles do not release until the set releases, the best discount we will be offering on them is the 20% discount and everyone gets that price (ie no additional benefit for being a PF Battles subscriber).

Everyone, check your receipts. It does not appear that the 30% discount was applied to my order: Order #35689452

Flyteach

Hey Flyteach, I looked at your order and you are correct that you weren't given the full 30% discount, but instead you received your Paizo Advantage discount of 15%. We will get this corrected and refund you the money. Thanks for pointing this out to us!

Aaron, I did contact Customer Service and they were unwilling to help. I received this reply today:

I’m sorry for the confusion about the book you ordered. The mint condition books we sell on our website are always the most current printing. We don’t create a new printing until we sell down the existing one. The PDF always has the most current published errata and so is always the most current version of the book. It used to be that the errata wasn’t published in the PDF until we did a new printing but since that is no longer the case, it is possible that the PDF would have the errata that the physical books don’t contain yet. I hope you find this information helpful, and please let us know if you have any other questions.

Hey Gary, you've got mail!

There will likely be further updates on the state of the union on Kingmaker at PaizoCon and Gen Con so stay tuned!

Yeah, I thought they were the manufactures... If they are not then I am confused about the business relationship between them an ND.

Yes, they are the manufacturers of the minis but I work at Paizo, so I don't have access to their production schedules. So I don't know.

Aaron Shanks wrote:

Ed Reppert wrote:

Hm. Jeff said back in November that he'd hoped to see these delivered by the end of that month, yet they still seem to be unavailable. Any update on that?

Checking.

Any update? Kids love the colored dice!

Yep, we got them put into inventory and are ready to ship!

Archon has released their Wave 3 miniatures on their site and they include the Lashunta Envoy, Android Mechanic & Mechanic's Drone, Halfling Pilot, and the Human Solarian.

Hey folks! Wanted to let you all know that we've had some good conversations with Archon and things are starting to move forward on their side again. Look for a post from them in the next week or so outlining where they are and what to expect in the coming months.

Just as a datapoint - I've had about half a dozen broken minis out of over 20 cases I've received from Paizo (and a similar amount from Miniature Market).

I haven't received this specific case yet and given it does look like things are 'different' in various ways with this case, I'll be interested to see how my experience continues.

And that's after those cases shipped all the way to Australia.

All,

Our singles for this set (Darklands Rising) will go on sale on the release date of February 3rd, and that should be the same for all singles sellers. If a site lists them prior to this date, then that site is breaking the release date set by WizKids and you should let WizKids know.

Happy Holidays, everyone! Unfortunately no new updates for this week.

No new updates for today and with the holidays starting up next week, I'm not expecting to hear from anyone until the new year. However if something comes up, I'll pop in and let you all know!

Happy Holidays!

Here's an update for you guys...

This set (Planets of Peril) is currently a March 2021 release and there is a Premium being released along with it (Docking Bay) which is super cool.

When it comes to Paizo offering a subscription, we have to be sure there's a line of products to support it and we need to have some idea of what the release cadence will be. So while we understand that WizKids is excited about supporting Starfinder with miniatures, we do not have enough info yet to feel comfortable launching a sub.

I figure that the next question will be, if I'm a PFB subscriber, and if there's no SFB sub, will I be able to get my PFB discount on the SFB release? Unfortunately I do not have an answer for this right now but it is something we are discussing so stay tuned.

Jeff Alvarez wrote:

Another quiet week with no updates.

Hey Jeff, thanks for the update. I have a question. When you say another quiet week with no updates, does that mean that we are just waiting for Archon to say something, or are you actually contacting them each week? I'm not busting your chops, I'm honestly curious about the communication logistic of this. We all know Ninja doesn't ever say anything, but curious if Archon is saying anything to anyone. It's been a long road, and I expect at some point it will be resolved. thanks for checking in each week, happy friday!

Yeah, no I get it. Yes, we reach out to Archon regularly but mostly our emails go unanswered. We are trying to schedule a call with them but that requires them to be communicative too, so we will see how that goes.

But honestly, we cannot MAKE them communicate with us or with you guys and there's really no carrot or stick either so it's a difficult position to be in.

So I add the case to my cart to check the price and get $544. Around 14% off? I thought it was a 30% discount?

Add the shipping to Aus, a whopping $117 and bam...

My case will cost be around $1000 Aus. I just can’t see myself being able to afford that. I mean that is only around $AU 7.80 per mini which is great for a huge, ok for a large and well let’s just say far less desirable for a medium or small.

For some reason, what you are seeing is just your Paizo Advantage discount of 15% off MSRP but the sub should give you 30% off MSRP or $447.78. Not 100% sure why you aren't seeing the full discount.

Sorry folks but no new news this week.

Jeff Alvarez wrote:

Listen up folks. WizKids has not updated their site yet but Darklands Rising is now a Jan 2021 release. It started life as a Nov 2020 release which got pushed back to April for a number of reasons at WZK, then was more recently pushed up to January 2021.

We just received the packaging dimensions and weights from WZK and we will be confirming our prices shortly.

We speak with WZK regularly so this really isn’t as much of a communication issue as it might seem from the outside. It’s more that WZK run a very small and reactive company so it’s not a big deal for them to slide a release date around to better fit the business needs, which is what we are seeing here. The change is meant to provide more a chance for more product releases in 2021 in the PF Battles line and that should be good news all around.

I’m sure I didn’t answer all of everyone’s questions in the thread but I hope I answered the all important question of the release month.

Woot! Full fleshed out answers are great!

Only other question I have is on if the Paizo List is the real MSRP listed above or if it will be slashed like the other sets. Budgeting and trying to sort out how much to set aside for the actual price of the Case+Premium after subscription discount is applied.

Like I said, we just received the dims and weights and are still looking at setting the final prices so stay tuned.

Listen up folks. WizKids has not updated their site yet but Darklands Rising is now a Jan 2021 release. It started life as a Nov 2020 release which got pushed back to April for a number of reasons at WZK, then was more recently pushed up to January 2021.

We just received the packaging dimensions and weights from WZK and we will be confirming our prices shortly.

We speak with WZK regularly so this really isn’t as much of a communication issue as it might seem from the outside. It’s more that WZK run a very small and reactive company so it’s not a big deal for them to slide a release date around to better fit the business needs, which is what we are seeing here. The change is meant to provide more a chance for more product releases in 2021 in the PF Battles line and that should be good news all around.

I’m sure I didn’t answer all of everyone’s questions in the thread but I hope I answered the all important question of the release month.

Thanks Jeff. Did we ever get an answer about what happens with the encounter packs? Are we only getting one of each unique miniature?

As an aside, I ordered Zo!, and made a comment about being a KS backer, and got everything that they have produced up to now. It was very smooth.

From everything I can tell, the current answer is NO, but Archon hasn't said too much since Covid put such a stranglehold on international shipping so this could change.

I believe that when they made the molds for the waves of figures, they either didn't want to include the duplicates or they didn't understand that there were duplicates of some of the figs, so there was only one sculpt put on those molds instead of the correct number from the campaign. It could be that they might go back and add in the "extras" in a later wave if we get there but as things stand now, that seems like a long way off.

I'm glad to hear that your interactions with Archon have been positive and that you're enjoying the figs you've received so far. I wish there were more of them for you to enjoy though.

Here4daFreeSwag wrote:

Y'know- tryin' not to come across too much like a "conspiracy-theory" sorta type, but there was this older Paizocon or Gencon(?) seminar about the Pathfinder Adventure Card-game over on Know Direction where it was mentioned that part of its' genesis involved a Weird Western Horror-type rpg game inspiration deal (that fell thru) which ended up becoming the PF Adventure Card game featuring adaptations like RotRL. ;)

Mebbe since the PF ACG character iconics haz different dice as stats, that can kinda serve as inspiration for Savage Worlds adaptations? ;)

I believe that was what eventually became the game Apochrypha which was actually printed in 2017.

This was more about mechanics and not about theme but yes, the mechanics of precursor to Apocrypha was used to create the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game engine and then later was evolved into Apocrypha. And these had nothing to do with Savage Worlds (or if it did, Mike Selinker has never mentioned it).

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and as this is a short week, there are no new updates. Be safe and enjoy yourselves responsibly.

Sorry folks but there's no new news for this week.

Do we have an ETA on when these will be for sale?

These dice sets should be arriving in port in Cali this week so I'd hope to see them deliver to us by the end of the month. Once delivered, we will start shipping them out!

I popped back and redacted Jinteki42 's name and I apologize if that caused them any stress or grief. As far as I can remember, those are the only times I've done this and they both occurred in this thread.

I honestly had no idea that this was such a big deal and I apologize for my behavior.