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Wait no longer, pick up the GameMastery Guide and the Chase Cards from the GameMastery Line. The rules themselves are also available in the PRD: Chase Rules
There is also "Road to Revolution" from 0OneGames, soon also avaiable as a complete campaign-PDF with Pathfinder rules. "Road to Revolution" is from the quills of known authors such as Tim Hitchcock, Lou Agresta, Rone Barton, Liz Courts, Adam Daigle and many more, and is situated in "The Great City" campaign setting. The Player's Guide for the Great City setting even won a "Golden Ennie" (Best Electronic Product).
Cherryh is my all time favorite author! She's so good. I don't think she gets enough credit. She's up there with Neil Gaiman,Iain M. Banks and Neal Stephenson. (and since I have not read anything by China Mieville yet... he is not on this list... yet) Finished "Regenesis" by C.J. Cherryh in record time. The book is slow in the first half, but provides needed setup for the sotrm of the second half. She managed to recapture the voice of the characters perfectly after 20 years. The book nearly gets to them same level as "Cyteen", but "Cyteen" provided this sense of wonder, that the second novel is missing. so: Close, very close, but not the big sensation the first novel was. Afterwards I read "The Worldwound Gambit" by Robin D. Laws. Good book, but still the weakest of the Pathfinder Tales yet, but still a good book. If Paizo manages to hold this amount of quality, I will loyally follow them to the end of times. Now reading: "Dragon Doom" by Denis L. McKiernan... good setup weaving more than one parallel story threads from different years (way in the past, the youth of Elgo and Elyn, Elgo's journey, Elyn's journey) into one tale, but still not entirely captured by the storytelling. (I am about 100 pages into the novel) Up next: "Ender in Exile" by Orson Scott Card (together with "A War of Gifts" and "First Meetings") Happy New Year!
So, even an Ennie 2011 Nomination for "Best Electronic Product" and several glowing reviews (one even by Dark Mistress herself, plus one by the formidable Endzeiteist) give no indication for quality... Is there more that can be done to give an indication for quality? And if you meant printing quality, then be assured, I have bought lots of POD stuff. They have learnt a lot in these last three or four years.
Male, 44, served 15 months in the German Bundeswehr. First Contact with D&D in 1980, but was not able to establish a group. Started playing RPG's at the start of college in '89 (beginning with Runequest and Space 1889).
First GM-duties in the Runequest and Space 1889 campaigns as those were round robin campaigns. First campaign GM'd with a Runequest/AD&D hybrid in the Earthsea archipelago (just adopted the map and some details about the political environment) with some elements captured from the Death Gate Cycle. Campaign stopped also because of the move to Frankfurt/Main after the second arc (First arc - bring the Band together and set the menace free they are going against, then scatter group again; second arc - bring the band back together and establish them in the world). Got really hooked with 3rd edition with an exceptionally well crafted high-level campaign (10th-12th level, thank you, Daniel) and a group that started in Mannheim and went on to play for 8 years as a round robin group with different campaigns. My first 3e GM steps with a small scenario from Fiery Dragon's "The Giant's skull" (the ogre attack on the fort), with my first adventure writing steps creating a small intro scenario about finding the skull itself. Went on to GM a L5R d20 campaign, and started with Adventure Paths afterwards. "Shackled City" is my grail... started thrice (one as a online campaign on these boards), never completed due to collapse of groups because members moved away. One campaign restarted as a Freeport campaign in Greyhawk, but stopped when I moved to my new house because a couple in my campaign broke up. Then came Pathfinder (see charter tag) and in our excitement for this daring move by Paizo we started a translation group for the Blog entries in the first months. When a German Publisher snatched up the license all participants were asked to become part of the translation team for the German Pathfinder Team. Many accepted. From translating (Crown of the Kobold King, Crucible of Chaos and some sections in the Core Rulebook and Bestiary) my work quickly shifted to editing and Pathfinder Conversions (Yes, all PF books from Ulisses are converted to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game), nowadays I am responsible for Pathfinder Translation Glossary and layout prepapration (final editing pass plus bringing the different editing parts together into one document for layout). Since buying our own house in 2009 I have not been able to run a Pathfinder campaign, but I plan to have my own gaming room in the attic. I had another group where we played Shadowrun, L5R 3e/4e, Deathwatch, Funky Colts, but this one also disbanded 2 months ago. I want to start a new campaign when the building in our attic is done, but that will still take a while. Plus, translation work is eating up a lot of my free time.
They do very good urban adventures. I need to finish the last three reviews of their 3.5 series of adventures and buy the rest of the Sinking AP to review it. There are PF conversions available for the first 5 parts of "Road to Revolution" (with the sixth part well under way). And yes, this is one of the best urban campaigns I have read.
After the Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix (very good stuff) I sunk my teeth into the next Pern Novel on my list. "Dragon's Fire" was way better then its predecessor "Dragon's Kin", but still not the upper hemisphere of the first Pern novels. After that I re-read one of my defining books (Cyteen by C.J.Cherryh) to prepare myself for Regenesis. "Cyteen" was one of the few books that changed the way I look upon the world and it is still a really good book after all these years. "Regenesis" picks up right after Cyteen finishes, but it is too early to give any further information about the book.
In "Hungry Are The Dead" is a pointer to the next Seal for binding the Whispering Tyrant. How about bringing the group to Carrion Hill trying to find the "Dungeon of Ten Thousand Tears" there? (more in area 7a). Also: not Drazmorg, but Lucimar should be the recurring villain. You can even bring Yras Nine-Eye into the game as a member of the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye. You can even make it a race between Drazmorg and Lucimar. One to create the Elixir and the other trying to free the Whispering Tyrant himself.
Same here, interested in why (same disclaimer). btw. There are lots of reading examples for the books on the home page pathfinder-rpg.de
After burning through the Darkwar Saga by Raymond Feist (Wow, what an ending! Good stuff, though nothing for newcomers, new readers please start with Magician) I read In Gallant Company by Alexander Kent (A Richard Bolitho novel, marine historical) and "Dragon Emperor" (in German Drachenkaiser) by Markus Heitz. Both novels are brimming with action and adventure, but not so far above standard entertainment to be recommended wholeheartedly. And now I have begun Sabriel by Garth Nix (first book of the Abhorsen trilogy). I like this book. It has some very good twists about how magic works and the separation of living and dead. It has great action sequences and the inexperience of the protagonist is pictured perfectly. But I am reluctant to break into overenthusiasm... yet. I will read on...
After completing the Nantucket trilogy by S.M.Stirling (Very good books) I took on and loved Terry Pratchett's "Wintersmith". The pages just flew by. Now I am delving into the Darkwar Saga by Feist. Conclave of Shadows was okay, nearly good. These books are better. First book "Flight of the Nighthawks" was solid fare, entertaining and exciting, though i was not very enthused by the sudden inclusion of Bek in the middle of the book. Some more introductory chapters would have helped to bring him more to the front. I am now about 100 pages into the middle book and up 'til now it was cleanup for book 1 and setup for further adventures (and I hope the action really starts again before this book ends).
Revolution in Hermea. Finding out the Gold Dragon behind the big Experiment is tarnished.
After finishing the furiously fast "Night Angel" trilogy (loved it) I am now digging my teeth into the "Island in the Sea of Time" by S.M.Stirling.I thoroughly enjoyed these books. In fact, I now harbor a foolish dream to move to Nantucket in the off chance "The Event" ever occurs. I read "Dies the Fire" on my visit to Australia last year (great novel btw). Then I checked about the other books in the cycle and noticed that "Island in the Sea of Time" is taking the view at the other side of the medal (and that I had owned that novel for 15 years without getting to read it). On this Australia Trip I also read the first book from the Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks and the first novels of the Dresden Files and the Anita Blake series. The start of "Islands..." is a bit wonky and feels jarred, as "The Event" happens directly on the first 10-15 pages. The sections start and end too abrupt. After about 100 pages the book starts to find its own voice and the rhythm feels better now.
Thank you, DM. Will do. I have this up as a Rant on my Facebook page and a short notice on Free RPG Day's Facebook page. An email will perhaps get a direct response.
I have been to the Free RPG in Frankfurt/Main in Germany. To say "I Was Disappointed" is a very diplomatic way of saying it. What had happened? The store was taken from the list of participating stores on short notice because they have no playing room available in order to make Free RPG day a memorable experience. WELL, THANK YOU! You have made this Free RPG Day a memorable experience. <Insert many swear words here!> So, dear Free RPG Day team, I'll give you a well meant piece of advice. If you find out, that a store is not according to your specifications (well, it is the ONLY store in Frankfurt to offer RPG stuff, all the other stores closed down years ago), give them a notice, that you will not allow them to enter next year unless they provide a playing area. But letting customers arrive there looking for a Free RPG Day and finding nothing (and the next participating store is 70-150 miles away, which is a big distance in Europe by the way) is not the way you want to promote the game. </rant>
Hi James, I have a question about the Holy Text of Asmodeus. What is the name of the Holy Text of Asmodeus? Before you answer from the back of your mind "Asmodean Disciplines" I can say: "That is the right answer, if you use the Campaign Seting book or the World Guide." If you use 'Gods & Magic', the Asmodeus article from 'Pathfinder #29' or the 'Cheliax' companion, the answer would be "Asmodean Monographs". So what really is the name of the Holy Text of Asmodeus?
As you can see from my status I also order my stuff from Paizo directly... BUT I have come to appreciate the ability to have the read aloud texts already translated without having to translate them on the fly while I read them to my group. This will always have some awkward moments and any atmosphere will be gone, if you make an error that calls for laughs from the group.
Our first printing of the Core Rulebook was also prone with errors. We managed to offer it one month after the original Core Rulebook was on the market, but the price for that was visible. The second printing is way better in that regard. Since then we have installed a rigorous quality control for our books. Bestiary, GameMastery Guide and the Campaign Setting book where much much better in that regard, none really free of errors, but this aim is not really achievable.
Dear Massimo, my sincere apologies if I made a wrongful deduction from the above posts. I do not speak Italian, I was only able to use hearsay i.e. the expressed opinions of above customers and directed them first to try to contact your company. I have tried to give insight into the process and gave them lots of arguments and information about the translation process in order to inpire patience. I welcome you also here on these Paizo boards and hope that you will keep a continuing presence here internationally. PS: Kudos for the Italian PRD (I know that this is a HUGE amount of work)
Translation is only the first step. Editing, layout, copy editing takes homungous amounts of time for such a huge book. German Translation for the APG was finished (more or less) in September, 2 editing passes were finished at the end of November, the book went into layout around Christmas, Copy editing started at the end of January, 2 passes up to mid March and off to the printer. The amount of work necessary to finish this book pushed several other books way back, but we still managed to nearly maintain our schedule of 2 books per month (just the April entry for the Adventure Path has been pushed to 5th May, because the copy editing of the APG benched the completed layout for the AP book for more than 2 weeks). Nevertheless the lack of communications from Wyrd Edizioni about the status of their Project Numero Uno for Pathfinder does not inspire customer confidence....
I can only repeat myself, that I can only speak for the German translation. Our translation team has a very active presence on the German boards and we try to have a dialogue with our customer base. We regularly give hints as to what books are currently in translation, or how far we are in other projects (Secret Easter Egg: a certain module from an open designing author just left copy editing). We admired what Paizo does on their board and try to adopt the openness and presence of their team for our efforts, because we have seen what kind of loyalty it inspires (just look at my avatar, Paizo Charter Superscriber, that kind of loyalty). If Wyrd Edizioni chooses another modus operandi I am sad to hear this, but it is their decision (and their consequences, too, as far as I can read that from your post). (PS - no need to be sorry, I was perfectly able to understand what you are hoping for you local Pathfinder licensee)
I can only tell you something about the German version of the Advanced Player's Guide, but perhaps this will give you some insight into why this book is not available in an Italian version. In Germany the Advanced Player's Guide will be available on the 5th of May. You heard that correctly, it is also not available yet. And we started with the translation at the end of June last year. So why did it take us so long to bring this book into print? 336 pages of condensed rules. Rule texts are the most difficult to translate and edit, because you have to be especially conscious about the exact meaning of the sentences you transfer into your language. 336 pages of rules = more than 1800 new rules terms. Each of these terms has to be checked, if it is not already used in another context and if it really describes what it means to say. Example: Summoner To summon in German is translated with herbeizaubern. Herbeizauberer as a class name sounds atrocious, so it is out of the question. "Beschwörer" sounds good, but it is already used for the Conjurer specialty school of the Wizard. After a long long discussion we decided to use Paktmagier (i.e. Pact Mage) as the German translation for Summoner as it describes the pact the spellcaster forges with his eidolon. 336 pages means more than triple (or even more than 10 times) than your usual book size. Editing, layout preparation, layout, and copy editing take much much longer than for other books. If you want to bring out the book at an earlier point of time you have to a) use a horde of people which leads to exponentially higher coordination efforts or b) let your quality level slide which leads to disgusted customers and damages your reputation as a publisher in the long term. If I were you, I'd ask the guys from Wyrd Edizioni, if they plan to offer an Italian Advanced Player's Guide and if yes, when that mighty feat might be accomplished. Hope I could help. Member of the German Pathfinder Translation Team
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