Finally, upgrading the tech platform from the 20th century and punch cards to something from the 2020s! That alone makes my day, but the union news along with the remote work, new store...okay, everything else in the announcement just adds to the fun. I'm very happy to see Paizo adapting to change in the industry while also being a force for change in it as well.
You could easily have a thousand schools of magic all over the Inner Sea. They do not have to be large, formal schools. They could be "Lucky's Legerdemain & Lore," or "Master Mikhail's Dojo of Mysticism." They could be really large formal academies as well. Anything is possible. There could be on major school in a city and 15 smaller dojo-style schools or any combination or lack of combination. The 3+1 slot system can be maintained by saying school trained wizards acquire the extra slot whereas generalists retain their current slots. We could also say the generalists are self-taught or traditional wizard-apprentice types of wizards. Schools could offer all kinds of spells and have a few higher spell ranks spells be original. Or not at all. Anything is possible. I am in favor of having as few restrictions on this aspect as possible so the writers can be as creative as they can with this. This is also a way for writers to create new spells for schools in their adventures for a specific school.
This for the win! Excellent way to deal with the situation and one that can work very well for adjustments coming in the Remaster. Paizo, Jump on this!
This looks like a wild ride right up until the party gets that TPK. I see no way they survive the Abomination Vaults. I doubt they make it past Level 6. That's not a knock on the team. That's just AV and how tough it will be for a party of gunslingers only. But yes, I'm going to watch this run because it will be fun no matter what the outcome is.
Grats to everyone! Glad to see another Missouri GM pick up their fifth star, so grats to Zachery on that! Also, Barb deserves that Order of the Wayfinder in a huge way. She's been instrumental to us as Organized Play and to me and the League of Aroden lodges for her advice over the last few years as we began to rebuild everything in 2017 and onward.
Congratulations to Jim on the promotion! I hope that Jeff's health improves and his quality of life is not diminished in any way. One's health is really important for living the life one wants to live. It really sucks to see one's life totally upended because of an often unavoidable health issue.
I have the urge to create a Knight of Lastwall character that takes an oath to destroy every undead he encounters, along with the other forces of evil like devils and demons. This book will help me flesh that character out in full. The book should be a great aid for players who want to build champions of good.
Kinda neat how this setting book will pull from the last three rulebooks (and maybe even the fourth depending on final content for Dark Archive). I thoroughly enjoyed Mwangi Expanse and am looking forward to seeing each region get the extensive examination they deserve. Overall, I think the Lost Omens books have been a major improvement over the 1e splat books.
I do have a bit more information than you do regarding table counts. Unless something changes, those are the numbers. It is possible that Gen Con limited Paizo's presence. If so, they need to make that statement up front. I haven't seen that statement. Instead, I see a big wall of silence which indicates bad decision making. If it was Gen Con, then they are idiots for doing so. I think there's an overabundance of caution, but since we don't have all the details, there's no way of knowing that is what is going on. It is just speculation. Either way, this is not good for live gaming which needs to be showcased after two years of this pandemic.
EXTREMELY NOT HAPPY. It's time to kick open the doors and hit live play hard. Gen Con is where Paizo gets to show off its merchandise via Org Play. We should have the Sag at full capacity and be showing everyone how great PF2 and Starfinder are and how fun Society play is. Instead we are only going to have part of the Sag? With only 600 tables? That's just ignorant. It's an ignorant business decision that is bad for Paizo and even worse for Org Play. There's only 28 rooms which means 112 GMs. Those GMs have to run 7 tables each, but there's only going to be 50 scenarios and 10 demo/bounty/quest/whatever tables in each slot. No overnights (no loss there), so 10 slots times 60 equals 600 total tables. So, you want to GM, but don't get picked for one of the extremely limited spaces with the Paizo-provided hotel rooms? But, you are required to show up to GM anyway or else be blacklisted for future Gen Cons? Yeah, you're really showing us the love there. I don't see that happening because I'm pretty sure you're going to have enough GMs in those rooms to cover all 600 tables. Worried about Covid, but you're going to put 4 GMs in each room? That's hypocrisy. What I perceive is Paizo cutting back on the biggest con on the calendar and pushing for us to be online for it. If that's what Paizo wants, then they need to be upfront about it. I want to know who made these decisions so I can tell them to their face that they're wrong and made bad decisions.
Thanks very much for posting this. We've got a con in July to plan for and this makes it so much easier now. I gotta say, I am loving this season's meta-plot. I love how there are 14 scenarios devoted to it across the level ranges with plenty in the 1-4 and 3-6. This is great for creating a character and playing it along the meta-plot during the season while mixing in some repeatables or other scenarios to level up. I especially like the way 3-01 was created in that it is repeatable. This allows players to play it again and bring new players into the meta-plot. That is a very shrewd move and one I want to see established as the basis for following seasons. Thanks Again!
My favorite sci-fi has always been Robert A. Heinlein. He really poked hard at humanity's habits and beliefs with some of his books like Stranger in a Strange Land. One of my all time favorites of his was The Moon is a Harsh Mistress which made you question what you thought you knew about the American Revolution and the way things are at any given time. That particular novel was written during the Cold War when conformity was starting to be challenged by people who objected to being told that questioning authority was bad. Another favorite book is Dune by Frank Herbert. This book is still relevant today. I hope the new film is worthwhile, but I am often sorely disappointed when films try to adapt sci-fi or fantasy masterpieces.
I mean... if we go that way, we will have to say that every government of Earth was Evil-aligned before at least the Enlightment and presumably thereafter as well for a long time. Applying modern moral codes (especially when they are evolving so quickly as they are now) to historical governments is not the best idea, IMO. People who view the past through their modern lens are often guilty of presentism. They condemn the actions taken by the people of the past when viewed through the 21st century lens. It's a huge mistake. The people of the past operated in a world different than our modern one. They based their actions on what they knew then and the morality of their time period. There is nothing anyone living today can do to change the past unless they have a time machine.
The references to illegal slavery make it pretty clear that slavery is considered to be immoral and evil. It gives good characters motivation for confronting evil doers such as slavers. As the City at the Center of the World, Absalom is going to have smuggling. Certain nobles with few if any scruples will see this as a means of profiting off the illegal and evil trade which puts in more plot hooks.
My hope is for Minotaurs to be playable in 2e someday.So any mentions of minotaurs in general or that one mad scientist troll? And Centaurs!
Glad to see Paizo taking positive steps toward addressing problems and working with their employees to build a better business culture. It is sad that these actions come after several years of inaction, but this is far too often what happens in the business world. Regardless, I am happy to see Paizo taking positive steps and hope they continue to rebuild their office culture into one we can all be proud to purchase products from.
Happy belated Veteran's Day to my fellow veterans around the world! I treasure my memories of playing AD&D 1e back in the early 80s on Okinawa with the men and women stationed there. It was a privilege to serve with you and I wish great happiness to all of you. Thanks to those of you serving today! As long as men and women want to serve in our Armed Forces, the US and its principles will endure.
"Workers of the World, Unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!" I am thrilled that Paizo has chosen to voluntarily recognize the United Paizo Workers union. That is a very important first step. More work remains to be done and I fully support the union in their upcoming negotiations with Paizo management. This is an important moment for the game industry. If Paizo and the union negotiate a mutually satisfactory contract and Paizo makes some internal changes as they metamorphosis into a larger company, they will continue to be a top flight company in the industry. We have to keep in mind that their ability to produce top quality RPG games and content are what led to their success in the first place. Maintaining that ability has to be the first priority for both groups. If they can do that, and they should be able to do that, then the game industry is going to have to change. No longer will a company's management be able to use the fear factor of higher prices or lack of quality against their employees. In fact, those fear factors are an outright lie in the first place because we've seen plenty of higher prices and lousy quality in this industry already. It's time for a change and I am thrilled to see Paizo, its employees via this union, and we the players/supporters of Paizon and the employees take the lead in this matter. Remember, we have nothing to lose but our chains!
Xusius drinks from his wine glass again before relaying information he remembers about the local area. "About a year and a half ago, I had ze meezfortune to save ze Blakros Museum from a terrible calamity involving artifacts brought to Abzalom from ze Mwangi Expanse. I made a point of studying ze Expanse out of sheer curiosity. Zat effort ees coming een handy now eet zeems. Ze Bandu Heels remain reech een gold, zilver, and gems, despite several centuries of colonial mining. Prospectors arrive from throughout ze Inner Sea region to zeek zeir fortune. Ze local Mwangi tribes often retaliate violently zo. Alzo, most of ze larger mining operations belong to ze Deeptreasure Mining Company, weech has dominated ze local industry for nearly three centuries. Zeir one-time competitors, ze Gold Crown Company, are now better known for shipping and export services. In addition, Deeptreasure agents are always on ze lookout for independent miners, whom zey bully away from promising claims. A Deeptreasure representative een Fort Bandu ees offering a bounty for information regarding any promizing unoccupied (or ill-defended) mines." He picks up his wine glass and finishes the contents within. "Zat ees all I know. I zink we weel be journeying to Fort Bandu." He stands up and stretches. "My pardon, mon amis, but I zink I shall need to purchase zome inzect repellent. I do believe ze reever attracts ze bugs. I do not like ze idea of being eaten by zem on ze way to ze fort."
This is a really nice essay. I am thrilled to see the use of footnotes which is the only way a scholarly paper should be presented with. I would not give Roll20's Orr Report much value. Its validity is in question as its methodology is very questionable to say the least. I'm not that thrilled by ICv2's methodology either. It is ignoring the digital sales which I feel are worth a great deal more than many think to Paizo in particular.
Let's face it, PFS2 scenarios are taking a lot of time to run well. As we go up in level, the standard scenario is going longer than 4 hours. I would like to see some quality 2-part scenarios that when combined take around 7 hours of play. That would be a lot better than trying to compress them into the standard 4 hour block. Having a mix of scenarios, bounties, and quests can help meet some odd time schedules as well. I know for my lodges it can really help. I saw also that WotC is moving to shorter adventures. This might be a reflection of changes to attention spans over a long period of time, but also could be an effect of the pandemic. Time is something we do not have an abundance of. Maximizing the time is important and this change might help with that. In short, I would rather have quality over quantity in 2e.
Grats to Eric for attaining that fifth glyph. Grats to the new five star GMs! Thanks to all that helped run PCO so it was a success. I enjoyed it and had no issues running or playing at PCO again. Dreading GCO if GC folks are the ones running it instead of Paizo folks. I would much rather have had Paizo at Gen Con live instead.
Terrible decision by OPF not to go to Gen Con. It also comes two days after the deadline to rollover badges from last year too. I'd say more but I am just too mad to go on with my disappointment and would probably get banned for speaking what some nervous chickens don't want to hear.
Tengu are pretty common in the Inner Sea. They are very common in Tian Xia. The argument against having more common ancestries is hollow. It has more to do with not wanting to change things and that's a huge mistake. It is time to think outside the box some as we move into live gaming over the next few months.
I think the costs are fine the way they are. What I do think we should have in the Society is a few more Common ancestries. I am really not thrilled that Lost Omens Ancestry Guide had no Common ancestry for immediate use by players. I will be disappointed if the upcoming Lost Omens Mwangi Expanse does not have a Common ancestry. We are just gating too many behind AcP. That said, I definitely like the AcP concept as a whole. People have the option to play plenty of Pathfinder 2e sessions. If they refuse to play online, well, that's their choice. I think the AcP are a great incentive for GMing too. Truthfully, I wouldn't mind seeing some rare ancestries costing even more AcP, but I also don't want to put them out of reach for most players either. It would be pretty rewarding to have some ultra rare ancestries costing 1000 AcP.
We definitely need to add more Common ancestries to the game instead of gating all of them behind AcP. The way we are currently gating them is going to lead to some problems over time as we move into live gaming. Most should be gated, but it would be better to open some of these up a bit more. I would also like to see a Welcome to PFS2 boon like we had in 1e. That was something very special that really caught new players by surprise. All of them used it for their first characters at my lodges.
|
