Paris Crenshaw's page

While not exclusively Pathfinder-related, Mythopoeic Rambling does cover a lot of Paizo and 3pp Pathfinder items.

Paizo Fans United. What exactly is it? A company? A secret organization? A front?

Paizo Fans United (PFU) is a banner for fan-based products produced under Paizo’s Community Use Policy. Rumor has it that Paizo needed something to put the Wayfinder issues under in their store, and "Paizo Fans United" seemed to be a pretty apt name. Since then, Wayfinder Fanzine issues have been loaded under the PFU name, and recently the Pathfinder Chroniclers’ Anthology was added. But, the PFU banner has come to mean a bit more. These are not just any fan-made materials. These are products that are inspired by Pathfinder content and by Paizo’s quality. The result is a highly professional look that makes readers question, "this is by fans?? Wow." THAT is what the Paizo Fans United banner means.

But, despite all that, when people ask for a logo for PFU...well, there isn’t one. :-/

After nearly a year of discussions about how to come up with a suitable logo for PFU came up with no ideas, Hugo (butterfrog) Solis proposed this: A CONTEST.

And so it shall be!

We call upon the Paizo fan community to design a logo for Paizo Fans United!

This logo should be the best representative image that symbolizes professional quality content produced by Pathfinder fans FOR Pathfinder fans.

We will be accepting your interpretations and designs until April 16, 2012. Then, a panel of judges from the Paizo Fans United representatives will select their TOP 5 choices from the pool of entries, to be announced on April 30, 2012. At that time, the contest will be open to the public to vote for their favorite logo from the top 5 choices. Voting will close on May 15, 2012.

The end result, of course, is a fan-created logo for a fan-based content banner chosen by the fan community!

PRIZE: The designer of the winning logo will not only receive the accolades of the fan community, and get to see their logo representing the Paizo Fans United banner, but they will also receive:

• Print copies of Wayfinder #1, 3, 5, and 7
  
• Print copies of Pathfinder Chroniclers Anthology #1 and #2
  

Dude, conflating the issue of gay marriage and pedophilia is a straw man , not to mention insulting to those folks who are gay. Gay marriage =\= pedophilia. And people are welcome to fantasize whatever TF they want in the privacy of their own skulls. Posting that crap up in a public forum and asking for affirmation that that sort of stuff isn't creepy, well it ain't going to happen. You want to think I am a prejudiced a!@@*%& because of that, well feel free dude. I have had several close friends and family members affected by pedophilia and it is NOT ok. It is doubly not ok to air this crap on a public forum that is frequented by children.

I call it creepy. I call it like I see it.

I've been giddy and anticipating this particular book for quite some time! This is gonna be awesomesauce!

In case any one of you fine ladies and gentlemen are interested in a Spelljammer-like book (which might work well with Distant Worlds), Clockwork Gnomes have a kickstarter on the way that could use some of your love.

The link to Sailing the Starlit Sea is here.

Note: I'm in no way affiliated or associated with Clockwork Gnome Publishing, I'm just someone who would love to see this particular Kickstarter get funded.

Thanks for your attention and apologies if my post annoyed you. See you round the boards,

EZG

The second installment of The Star Oracle is now available at the Clockwork Gnome Publishing blog.

This time we feature a new monster, the zyth. The zyth was designed by the talented Mike Welham, whose work has previously appeared in Open Design's Midgard: Book of Drakes, Rite Publishing's #30 Badges of Faith, and Clockwork Gnome Publishing's Along the Faerie Path.

There are also some basic details concerning a race known as the Yih. Conceptualized by Patrick Curtin and designed by Craig Johnston (RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32), the Yih are one of four new races that will appear in Sailing the Starlit Sea

It is important to mention that this preview provides a glimpse of a creature before the playtest process. Changes might occur before publication.

The Star Oracle #2: The Zyth

And don't forget to check out the Sailing the Starlit Sea Kickstarter page. We have some great rewards for backers that give you a chance to shape the book's design.

I'm really thrilled by how many people are using the Beginner Box to introduce their daughters to gaming!

It's a paint master.

The Yeti is wearing clothes because of Original Yeti Sin, which brought shame and self-awareness to the Yeti community.

Lisa, if you haven't earned the right to ask for trust, well, I don't know what to say. At least, in polite company on a public forum.

I have to believe that Lisa, Ryan, and the team they are assembling have taken a good hard look at the financial realities of creating, publishing, and supporting an MMO. The fact that they've decided to go forward indicates to me that they have a strategy they believe will result in victory, profit, and a seriously awesome game. Do I think the announcement was a bit premature? Yes. But I look forward to seeing their vision in the coming years.

This in a nutshell. Were we a bit premature? By other company's standards, sure. But if we held onto this news much longer, word would have seeped out. We would be talking to people about investing. We would be hiring folks. And word would have gotten out. Rumors and half-truths would have been given free reign. And that is just not how we want to run Paizo. We like to let our customers know what we are up to before the rest of the world does. So we let the cat out of the bag much earlier than other companies would have. We know that. There is a downside (ie. we don't have much to tell or show at this stage). But the alternative was worse in our opinion.

As for all the doomsayers, all I have to say is, "Give us a chance." Nothing is changing at Paizo. We will be making all the same cool products you have come to love. If MMOs aren't your thing, then that is great. Enjoy your regular Pathfinder game. We aren't and can't make an MMO that works for everyone. We know that. We are happy with that.

Also, we are aware of what has come before Goblinworks. We know what has worked and what hasn't. We aren't going to spend bajillions of dollars. We have a plan that is pretty savvy and innovative. As we get further along, we will share that plan. Until then, have some faith. I wouldn't do something stupid and wasteful. Many of the comments I've seen are similar to ones posted after we announced the Pathfinder RPG. That turned out pretty well considering all the doom and gloom.

Pathfinder Online is a baby. Heck, the baby isn't even born yet. It is in its early gestation period. There is a ton of work needed to get it to market. We want you along for the ride and we want to be upfront about it. So take a deep breath and sit back and relax. I think many of you will really like what we have planned. Some of you won't, and that is totally cool also. We can't be all things for all people. Just like the Reaper minis or WizKids minis or even PaizoCon aren't for everyone, so Pathfinder Online won't scratch everyone's itch. For us to be successful, it doesn't have to.

Trust. That is all I am asking for right now. :)

-Lisa

We are absolutely going to make sure that "like" creatures look "of a kind". If we do Watch guys again (and I _do_ want that captain), they'll have blue capes and will look like these guys.

I am on that like a hawk, and I'm the guy who is basically making all of the Paizo-based decisions on our miniatures.

So no worries there.

I believe my PCs are going to find new monsters creeping up on them as I peruse the Tome of Horrors Complete that showed up on my doorstep today =)

Removed a post and its replies. We really, really, really are tired of the edition war nonsense. Play the games you want to play, and don't denigrate others because of their preferred game system.

Keep in mind that neither Paizo nor Wizards of the Coast are likely to post in this thread any secret future plans, so everything posted in here is going to be pure speculation, based on pure speculation.

So when you feel like disagreeing with someone (and you probably will, I can tell it has the potential to be that kind of thread), keep in mind that it's just their opinion. They're no more privy to the truth than you are.

And when you post your awesome idea that Paizo absolutely must do or else we're going to go out of business, please have faith in Lisa, Erik and the rest of us that we got to this point because we're not stupid.

I think they have largely done or are doing those things. Short of Mike and Monte pulling off a revision somewhere just short of miraculous, I don't see how they would lure my gaming dollars away from those that stuck with me.

Play a cleric if you want to be good at:

...
"Using a Scimitar"
"Persuading People"

Isn't this redundant? :-)

But, wait, all Clerics have to use Scimitar's now? Great simplification! :-)

(PS: Great first preview. Looks fun!)

well some times having back story can bite you back (i know when i GM the more involved the back story the more likely the player will get screwed)

i also think that if you let your players play 2-4 sessions they get a good hang of their characters and can then make good back stories for them (my most memorable characters with the best backstories have come from playing them first then making their backstories)

Lisa said it at a seminar at Paizo Con, so it must be true. :)

Hmm not sure I am happy about that. Not cause I don't like them, but cause I worry about affording them. It is already becoming a issue with all the subscriptions.

[Anecdote alert!]

When I ran Hollows last hope a few years ago for kids, they weren't as interested in the monsters as they were in their own characters minis. They were also overjoyed to get to keep their minis (I used commons for the pre-gen PCs) And I let the eldest keep her dice (Pretty sure the store got a sale out of that, even if it was a 3.x PHB)

If I were to run demos, I'd be sure to pull the same trick for kids, so the four iconics make for a good 'future gamers of America' investment.

I really hate how this keeps coming back to my item.

This really isn't about why or why I didn't get rejected.

The reason it keeps coming back to you—and it's you much more than your item—is that you came onto our boards, trashed our judges and employees, and called us a bunch of glorified copy-and-pasters, with posts dripping in sarcasm and attitude, painting yourself as the victim all the while.

I'd especially point out these parts:

...looking over the stuff [Clark's] company has published and the comments he's made before, and listening to his stuff here, I just don't see how his opinion is worth anything.

And in your very next post, you state:

Now nothing I said so far has been inflammatory...

Either you don't understand how you come across, or you don't understand the meaning of the word "inflammatory."

And then you write this:

I think you should realize that you are representing yourself and your company to your audience, the people that buy your stuff.

You know, you also need to realize that people are judging you by the things you say, and though you called Clark a "a giant, over-glorified troll," well, I'll just note that the trolling being done here is all by you.

I'll tell you this: if Paizo *had* ever given you an assignment, after seeing the way you conduct yourself on our forums, I'd ensure that we never gave you another one.

I don't look forward to the next contest knowing he is a judge.

I hope you follow through with the indications you've given that you won't be entering. You'd be wasting everyone's time, because you're disrespectful, and in comportment, you're as far from an RPG Superstar as you can be. I'm glad you think highly of Neil, because you could learn quite a lot from him—and I'm talking about in life, not just in game design.

I think the second set should still link to the beginners box, yet have broad appeal. I think having a Goblin War Party set (as there are definitely a bunch of goblin pawns in the beginners box) is a great idea, as a) Pathfinder Goblins are "cool" and b) everyone can use a box (or two or three).

With them being smaller minis, maybe there is a chance of getting say 6 figures in a box for the same price point, or maybe 4 regular goblins and a goblin dog rider. And maybe a goblin with a fez.

Sebastian
Aberzombie
PMG
Lilith

Indeed, Mairkurion. Indeed.

Actually, I would like to see Paizo produce opposite gender versions of the core classes before they do any other PC-related stuff.

For my home game, my daughter has decided to use the Merisiel mini to represent her half-elf Rogue character, but my other daughter is playing a female half-elf fighter. I'd love it if she could have a good pre-mainted heroic mini, herself.

If I were using a wish spell for this, I'd like to have a full range of races and genders for all the base classes, but that's obviously a long way off.

I know you're asking about prepainted minis, but I'd like to mention that in the Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box, we'll have tokens for all four classes in all three races in both genders (that's 24 tokens).

...and the dwarves knew it as Glimdraung, the Frostburner. And in the language of the elves, it was called Par Hileaiathia, the Winter Star.

But then it fell into the hands of halflings, and after they saw what it did to goblins, they dubbed it the Baked Alaska Blade, and that is the name that has stuck....

Druid companions can be dismissed at will and replaced at no cost within 24 hours with ANY terrain appropriate alternative. Yesterday a tiger, tomorrow a combat trained mount, next week a T-Rex...

GMs creating their own material can consider parts of the rules to be guidelines.

I didn't mean you guys!

I meant the people who would be looking at me in my awesome shirt.

Is there a T-shirt that says "You're all just NPCs to me"?

If not, there should be.

Speaking of Paizo and reasons for creation of Pathfinder - would it change much if WotC left Dungeon & Dragon magazine in your hands? Do you think you (as a company) would remain alongside with WotC when they introduced 4th edition if both magazines would still be done by you?

If WotC left Dungeon and Dragon in Paizo's hands and a usable 4E license, I doubt there would be a Pathfinder. And that would be a shame. So in a sick way I'm glad that all happened because I prefer Pathfinder to 4E.

In a podcast interview of Ryan Dancey he speaks on this topic. The 2000 OGL WAS a direct response to a direct competitor eating away at their marketshare (White Wolf with V:TM). The only way they could figure out how to steal momentum away from WW was via making their system "open source."

This rationale is incorrect and I'm 99% sure I never said anything remotely like that. Can you quote a source?

Anymore books from Elaine Cunningham?

Mike

Hi, Mike.

There are no plans at present for another novel. Every now and then I think about pitching a book about Channa Ti, but Channa was created to carry a novella-length story, and I'm not sure she'd be the best choice for a novel's protagonist. I like Channa--a lot--but if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's the importance of paying attention to intangibles. If you're ambivalent about a story, it's probably not your story to write.

Maybe I just haven't come up with the right story idea for Channa, or the right sidekick character to balance her serious demeanor and dark sense of humor.

If I have a great idea, either for a Channa Ti story or another character/story idea that would fit the setting, I'll run it past the folks at Paizo.

As for the podcast, I didn't join in because I'm sort of technophobic. I hate cameras and the idea of doing audio or video interviews gives me a case of the twitching heebie-jeebies. Given the way promotion is going, this is something I need to address. I'm working on it. Sort of.

Also... If you decide to make more PDFs, will you be able to secure the art for and publish the City Square, Forest Path, and original Dungeon flip mats?

Those first three Flip-Mats were originally designed and printed by Steel Sqwire, not Paizo, so we didn't have the files for them when we went to make the PDFs for the other out-of-print maps. We just got the files from Steel Sqwire this week, and it looks like we'll have to spend some effort getting them to play nicely with our software, but, assuming we can get them to work, we intend to release them in PDF form as well.