Mr Baron's page

I would be good with gargoyles or lizardmen. :)

Its good to hear Pathfinder & Paizo are doing well :)

Best wishes to the team in 2008!

Erik,

Good questions. Now let's see if I have some good answers.

1) I do not want D&D to play like a video game. I want it to be a F2F role playing game, with an old school feel. The "feel" of D&D is important. I do recognize that this is a hard one to nail down, as there will be different opinions on the definition of "feel."

2) I wish they would stick with the original settings, and expand upon them. I am disappointed that Greyhawk is being kicked to the curb.

3) Uber-powerful first level characters???? First level characters should be first level characters.

4) Some of the fluff stuff has me scratching my head, but this is not a make or break thing. I can change the fluff as long as the game mechanics are solid.

5) If 4th ed is really faster to set up, well that's goodness. Designing 3rd ed stats for a full adventure are a pain.

6) I am all about reducing the number of feats and skills.

7) I am ok with the points of light concept as long as they keep it simple, and do not create super heroes. I have always felt that characters were a cut above the ordinary, but they should not be over-powerful. Hero points should be an optional rule.

8) Tradition is important. Fireballs should do 1d6/level. A succubus is a demon.

9) Its ok to add classes and races, as long as you keep the basics, and the basics should be in the core books. I am ok with fine tuning the classes, and even breaking out character abilities to create options. But, you have to keep the basics. This is back to point number 8. Tradition is important.

10) There has to be a fear of loss. It makes the game more interesting to know that your character could die in the next encounter. If there is no fear of loss, the victories do not mean as much.

11) Resource management is part of the game. Options are good, but there has to be balance. Characters need to feel useful, but the powerful attack options need to be of limited usage. I actually like some of the things I am hearing. A wizard using a crossbow instead of using spells (because he is out of spells) does not feel right. A wizard should be able to do something, but not necessarily cast fireball every round.

Now I have not seen the rules, and I know that the game designers are fans of the game too. I just hope that 4th ed is being created for the right reasons. I will reserve final judgement for when I see the finished rule set.

For Paizo, as long as they are making quality products, they will have customers. I have faith in Erik and the rest of the team.

My answers as follows

1. Have you purchased a Planet Stories novel or anthology yet? If so, which one(s)? The first 2. the Anubis Murders & City of the Beast

2. What author in the Planet Stories line most interests you?
Gygax (but not the Gord stuff), Moorcock, Lovecraft

3. Please list the following genres in the order you would prefer that we focus on in late 2008 and beyond:

Horror/Gothic Fantasy (Dark Fantasy)
Sword & Sorcery
Science Fiction
Sword & Planet
Space Opera
Lost Worlds Tales
Jungle Tales
"Weird" Fiction

4. What can I do to get you to buy more Planet Stories books?
Continue to put out high-quality books, with interesting plot lines, and publish series (if the first book is good, I will probably buy the 2nd). With this line, I am looking for something different than what I can buy mainstream.

For example, I really liked The Anubis Murders, so I will probably buy the next ones in the series.

Potentially, if there is any Pathfinder novels written in this line, I would buy them. I am not sure if Pathfinder finction fits in with what you are trying to do with this line though.

5. If we offer a monthly subscription with, say, a 30% discount off the cover price, would you consider subscribing?
Probably not. With books, I like to pick and choose

Any update on expected arrival into the warehouse?

If you can not swing Todd, then I am very happy with WAR :)

Nice job Lilith! :)

Overall, I have been very happy with the art in Pathfinder. Wayne R is awesome, and I hope to see a lot more of his covers. I just really like his style. My hat is off to all the artists, as I do appreciate the time and effort that they put into their work.

A couple of comments:

In general
- The maps have been fantastic.
- The landscapes in the back of the books are very good

PF1
- The goblins on pages 12, 29, 42 are not my favorites
- I do like the art of Nualia on 53.
- I like the art on 57
- I really like the sinister look of the goblins on 64

PF2
- Overall, I really liked the art work in this one
- I like the blood spot design in the corners
- The cover with the ghouls popping out of the well is really good

PF2
- I had mixed feelings about this one
- I liked Shalelu & Rukus art
- The art on 34 and on 53 were not my favorites
- Lamatar on 51 was very good
- The art in the second half was excellent, especially the castle on 68, the port on 60, and the fort on 54.

I am looking forward to the second adventure path, as it sounds like the layouts will be even better :)

PS...Todd Lockwood is awesome, and I would really like to see some of his artwork make it into the pages of Pathfinder

I really like the content in the current Pathfinder, but I understand that the current font has issues. My vote would be to trim the new monsters back a bit (3-4 per issue is fine). I would be up for additional online content/web enhancements for each adventure arc. Monsters would be one of the easiest things to put into something like this.

Nick, if you are writing it, I would be willing to give it a try. :)

When is this module expected to hit the warehouse?

Lots of passion around this topic. My comments as follows:

1) It is a huge decision for Paizo. I suspect that they will go to 4th ed, its just a question of time. I wish them the best of luck, as I do not want to see Pathfinder fall flat. In the end, Paizo will have to make a business decision, and I am sure that they will have products for me to buy.

2) The offer by Erik to produce a pdf version for the 3.5 fans, is a great compromise. I year from now, I am not sure what edition I will be playing, BUT I would appreciate a 3.5 supplement regardless.

3) One of the reasons I am a subscriber is for the pdf. When I DM, I like being able to print out maps, bad guys, handouts, etc. This is very valuable to me.

4) I am going to be sticking with Pathfinder for awhile. I really like the format, and I like the dark feel. I am definitely lookig forward to more adventure paths. I know that folks are unhappy with the Dragon & Dungeon magazine situation. But, this situation has created an opportunity for Pathfinder, which has been very good so far.

5) My comment on 4th ed is, let's wait and see. It might be great, it might not be. At this moment, I just do not know. I am looking forward to reading the books. I will be buying the books. There will probably be some aspects that I do not like. Some of the new fluff stuff has me scratching my head, but until I read the whole thing, I will reserve final judgement. I will say that I think it is in the best interest of the fans for WotC to continue to publish D&D. I think it would be bad for the hobby if 4th edition flops badly.

too funny :)

Good conversation. Lots of different perspectives being offered up, which I think is healthy.

In my opinion, this is PG13 stuff, and I am thankful that the Paizo crew is not trying to water it down, or put a corny label on the cover.

I liked Pathfinder 1 a lot. I thought that is was a good introduction module. Yeah, one could argue that a couple of the scenes were a little over the top, but they are easily controled (or omitted) by the DM. My personal thought is that goblins are nasty little creatures. I am not interested in smurfy pathetic goblins. I want them to have a bit of a dark feel to them, otherwise they become sort of boring. I really like the flavor that Paizo has given them

I liked the gothic horror feel of Pathfinder 2. I am a big fan of Ravenloft, so this one was right up my alley. In my opinion, they should have given it have more of a gothic horror feel (less slasher stuff, more gothic). However, I can work with it. The house is great!

Patherfinder 3 was a bit different. The Grauls are a bit over the top, and have an icky feel to them. I do believe that is what Nick was trying to achieve, and he did that. But once you get past that, the rest of the module is very straight forward, and not really that bad. The fort assault and the dam battles are very kewl.

Overall, I like the dark direction that the Paizo is going in. I think that there could have been a lot more gore and other things, but that would have been a bit too cheesey. Keep it dark, but keep it in the PG13/R range and it will be fine. I don't want PG modules, as that feels too watered down. I think the art work is solid, and I have not seen anything that is too overboard. The Mammy pic is questionable, but I have seen worse in other RPG books (including WotC). I definitely do not want to see adult pics in the pages, as that takes away from the adventure path.

PS..talk about nasty little creatures...a smurf has taken over my avatar..maybe they are worse than goblins...

This does sound awesome :)

This looks like a great product. Any chance of it containing both 3.5 rules and 4.0 rules? I realize that a lot of the book will be fluff, but it would be kewl if it had an appendix for 3.5 & 4.0. I imagine that I will eventually move to 4th edition, but with a tome that massive, I would like to get the most bang for the buck and be able to use it regardless of whether I am doing an early Pathfinder adventure or a new 4th edition adventure.

I will probably get the book, regardless of which edition it supports.

Looking forward to reading this one :)

Cards & Maps...who could ask for anything more. Count me in :)

No. Nick's exploits were perhaps the inspiration for it.

LOL...that was good :)

Count me in if the art is cool :)

**shudders**

I remember that X-files episode. Although, I am not sure I wanted to...truly demented.

Did Nick write that one?

at the end of 2008, I am expecting to be playing 3.5, C&C, and maybe AD&D. I am guessing that I will not play 4th ed until 2009.

Guys,

I appreciate the effort to get back on track. For me the important thing is consistency. If we are getting books every 4 weeks from here on out, that's fine. A year from now, it will it will be a moot point that September was a missed month. The quality is great, and I look forward to the next one.

In another thread, there was talk about Pathfinder conversions for C&C. When can we expect to see that come out? I am thinking about kicking off a Pathfinder adventure using the C&C rules.

I am good with just a couple of pages devoted to the iconics. That leaves more than eough space for the good crunchy stuff.

I downloaded my copy this morning (US subscriber). I was only able to take a very quick look through before heading off to work....looking forward to reading it tonight :)

Thanks for the feedback on the time schedule. It always helps to set the right expectations. I appreciate the work that has been done, and look forward to reading the rest!

Hats off to Sarah! The look of Pathfinder is awesome.

10 pages is a lot of content to drop. Over the course of 6 books that's like 60 pages!!!

My vote would be to keep it as is.

I would hate to see the font size increased only to lose out on content. Yes it is small, but I did not think it was that bad. Although, if the font size is causing folks issues, I would rather see the page count increased, even if it means some extra cost. The quality and quantity of info provided was excellent, and I would not want any of it to get cut in future issues.

Are there any plans to publish an updated map with the the areas that were left off added back on? PDF download?