zacharythefirst's page

I thought some folks here would really enjoy this:

Publisher Erik Mona and his buddies at Paizo are fresh off a tremendous debut of the Pathfinder RPG at Gen Con. He was kind enough to chat with RPG Blog 2 again as we asked just a few questions about Pathfinder, Gen Con, and to expand his thoughts on the Old School Renaissance:

Interview Link Here!

Enjoy!

-Zachary
RPG Blog 2
www.rpgblog2.com

Joel's got the right of it. I'm not a 4e guy, but I still picked up a lot of old edition stuff in PDF (hey, get the Rules Cyclopedia while you can. It rocks). Now, my last reason for interaction with WotC is gone. If their PDFs do go back online, I wouldn't trust them not to do it again with the whole no-notice thing. They don't have my custom, and they don't have my trust.

Erik Mona wrote:

Getting rid of Vancian spellcasting for the Pathfinder RPG was never on the table. It would be as preposterous as scrapping the alignment system. It was Not Going to Happen.

I love this guy. :)

I liked:

After three decades of presenting magic in this way, it seems ludicrous to all of a sudden say that it no longer exists. You can build other systems of arcane jiggery-pokery without sacrificing this core fantastic element of the game, so why bother?

And you're all welcome! I really enjoy doing these interviews! :)

My series of RPG Blog 2 interviews with the good people at Paizo Publishing continues, and today I'm pleased to feature a Q&A with Paizo Publisher Erik Mona. In this interview, Erik discusses a bit of the business strategy behind the Pathfinder RPG, the whys of keeping Vancian magic, Pathfinder supplements we might see, a bit on Pathfinder Barbarians, and even a little bit about Greyhawk.

Click here for the full interview!

For those that have asked, yup, I have another interview lined up! You'll have to wait and see on who it is (hint: not Seoni. I was crushed when I was informed she wasn't available for interviews. Or an actual Paizo staff member. Or an actual real person. O cruel disillusion!). :)

Awesome news...that was a great interview...I'm really excited to find out what the final classes are like, I'm hoping the new monk will be the first teaser class we get on the Blogs before the release...

I'd like to see Monk and Barbarian. I'm most curious about those two. Bard's my fave class, though, so I'd like to see any tweaks there as well.

Erik and Sean seem like good targets. Josh to talk about Pathfinder Society, and Lisa to give us the "bird's-eye" view on the whole thing?

Good advice! Thank you!

Glad you guys are enjoying these! Both James and Jason were really gracious to give their time on these and to answer all the questions as they did.

I'd like to do another Paizo interview soon as I ratchet up my Pathfinder coverage, I'm just not sure who to ask next...

Over at RPG Blog 2, I was able to get Lead Designer for Pathfinder, Jason Bulmahn, to answer a few questions. Click here, as he tackles the origins of the Pathfinder RPG, a peek at the Pathfinder Bestiary, design philosophies, changes from 3.5, keeping up enthusiasm until August, life at Paizo after the magazines licenses were pulled, and more!

This is interesting.

Zachary the First of the RPG Blog II contacted the various other major d20 3PP producers about the GSL by WotC and the new PRPG Compatibility license. Here's a snippet to some of the responses:

Thanks! I'm trying to stay on top of company reaction to the GSL and Pathfinder licenses, and update when I find out one way or the other for those who haven't signed on yet.

zacharythefirst wrote:

SirUrza wrote:

Good interview. Makes me wish I had James's teacher every time he tells that story about playing D&D in school.

I know, isn't that cool?

I should have an interview with Jason Bulmahn going up on Monday that I think folks will really enjoy!

When are you interviewing me?

I heard James Lipton beat me to it! I gave it up as a lost cause!

I can't plug 'em enough. My group uses them, and they're a blast. It really does add something to the game--and it makes them think a bit more about throwing their wealth around when they see their pile dwindle.

Hey, at least they got included!

1) Start a new campaign (we're playing HARP right now for one campaign, that will be switching. I'm keeping my PbeM campaign Castles & Crusades for now).

2) Convert our homebrew world of Irrin and update old game notes.

3) As an object of (good-natured) gloating for those in my gaming circle not attending Gen Con to get their copy. :)

Good interview. Makes me wish I had James's teacher every time he tells that story about playing D&D in school.

I know, isn't that cool?

I should have an interview with Jason Bulmahn going up on Monday that I think folks will really enjoy!

We'll be announcing additional Pathfinder RPG products, a subscription option, and details of how one can acquire free PDFs in the coming weeks.

Sounds good (especially that last bit!)

He deserves it!

Yeah...we...we can let that slide, I think. :)

You guys may want to look at updating the FAQ. It still has some possibly out-of-date mentions of Paizo 4e support, and also says WotC hasn't released the GSL yet.

Link

Just thought I'd mention it, but I can understand if that isn't high on the priority list. :)

Mairkurion {tm} wrote:

I think the computer voice is a service for the visually impaired.

Given the option of not reading/hearing the interview at all, I'll take the voice. But when I saw the audio app at the top of the page, I thought I'd actually be listening to James. So maybe it wasn't so annoying as just disappointing.

Yeah, Odiogo is a service I've put on there as a test run. Jury's still out. Some folks dig it, some folks don't. It's not the worst computerized voice I've ever heard, but it isn't perfect, either. But, yeah, its just an audio conversion of whatever I wrote.

Good read. Thanks, Zach.

No problem! I'm hoping to have another Paizo interview up next week!

zacharythefirst wrote:

EDIT: I should add I was able to find this. What else should I look at?

That seems to be the major revision - nothing official after that I don't think, other than another thread that had confirmation that "Rage points" were out, as a mechanic to use the rage powers at least.

I still call the "Rage rounds per day" as rage points.

Got it. Thanks very much!

No matter how it turns out, thanks for all the work. And especially thanks for keeping the open license alive.

Having tried 4E, I found it just wasn't for me. I am glad to have an alternative. Pathfinder is the true inheritor of the D&D RPG name. I recently discovered, much to my surprise, that I have purchased more Pathfinder stuff in the last year than I did D&D stuff from WoTC the previous three years!

Thanks for making us all a part of this!

This. Thanks, Jason!

Thanks, guys! Glad you enjoyed it. I'm trying to add more Pathfinder coverage to my site--not to the exclusion of all else, but giving it some of the attention it deserves.

We were fortunate enough to have the Editor-In-Chief of Pathfinder, James Jacobs, agree to an interview with us over at RPG Blog 2. He took the time to discuss the development and design of Pathfinder, office life at Paizo, gaming company rivalries, the term "backwards-compatible", and other interesting topics.

Click here for the full interview! Thanks again, James!

(...and now, if you'll excuse me, we're off to the hospital to induce my wife into labor. Future Gamer #3 enroute)!

So, after talking with some friends, it looks like I wasn't paying very close attention to the barbarian class, which I hear may be up for some changes.

Can anyone point me to a few of the key threads where any major possible changes were discussed or give a quick recap? I must confess my search-fu doesn't seem to be up to the task. Thanks!

EDIT: I should add I was able to find this. What else should I look at?

You pay for shipping, so it would save *you* postage. However, it would cost you Indianapolis sales tax. Still probably a savings overall, though.

As for whether it happens or not, it's all a matter of how much other stuff we need to do before the show.

Indy sales tax is 7%, for those interested in this method.

I got the word out on my blog, so hopefully that'll spread to the RPG Bloggers Network.

Good, good stuff, looks like! Thank you!

Very cool. I'll echo Dave's question, but this seems really very generous. Thanks for giving folks tools with which to support you! :)

Thanks for getting this out! Blogged as well.

There's a few on Amazon, looks like.

FWIW it's worth, I consider RC the standard for single-volume RPG rules...

You're deploying? Best of luck, and be safe! USAF vet here!

yoda8myhead wrote:

Who did that stunning cover?

Tyler Walpole.

Well, I hope you guys plan on giving him lots more work, because it is 10 different kinds of AWESOME.

Just from what I've seen today on a number of boards, multiple publishers are now submitting Statements of Acceptance for the new GSL who were not previously making use of it to produce 4th Edition products. It sounds like the publishers are getting what they need to feel comfortable, and I think that's what counts.

If that's the case, then I guess its doing what it was supposed to do.

I've seen Necromancer. Who else is throwing their hat in the ring?

I still am not sure why someone would use this vs. Fair Use and such. It seems that's what 3PPs have been getting away with up until now. There still seems to be a lot they could do to screw you over if they wanted to. I'm not saying they would, just it seems like you'd be conceding a lot of potential ammo if they ever ripped you off and switched the contract to something less palatable or credible. Then again, they do have an opt-out clause now...

DaveMage wrote:

Clark Peterson wrote:

Oh Dave, not so dour! No, we plan to fully support Pathfinder. Not just with a toss of product. That is our goal.

I want to believe. :)

I want a 3.5/PRPG Slumbering Tsar...

Seconded!

Tome of Horrors for PFRPG would be pretty awesome as well.

I'd also prefer a landscape orientation. And the sturdier the better.

Banners are a good idea. They probably won't be available immediately, but I'll get them on the to-do list!

Can't ask for any more than that! Thanks!

I hope you guys will consider adding some banners of varying sizes for those who want to support PFRPG and the Society. I used the Pathfinder Society graphic at my site on the sidebar, but wouldn't mind something a bit more snazzy.

Thanks, and looking forward to seeing the policy!

Taldor's sounding like the horse I'll be backing...

I'll repost here, because I want to make sure of my accessibility to folks:

Hey guys, as an ENnies judge this year I'm making the rounds, saying congrats to the nominees. I guess I have to congratulate Paizo a lot, then. Seriously, though, their product lineup was just complete quality, and it blew me away, start to finish. Great work all around!

By the way guys, as an ENnies judge this year, I promised to be as accessible and as open as possible. I'll answer any questions I can, and will be happy to talk shop as much as I'm able. I've also kept a blog about my entire judging experience. Feel free to stop by or drop me an email there if you have a question you don't feel like sharing aloud:

RPG Blog II

Again, mad props to Paizo for hitting it out of the park.

Hey guys, as an ENnies judge this year I'm making the rounds, saying congrats to the nominees. I guess I have to congratulate Paizo a lot, then. Seriously, though, their product lineup was just complete quality, and it blew me away, start to finish. Great work all around!

And Dario, if may say so: I -loved- your book, sir. I'm actively working it into my next campaign, as a matter of fact. I'm sorry you didn't get the nomination this year, but that's somehow how things play out. I hope to see more of your work this next year, if I'm entrusted by the voters with another run at judging.

By the way guys, as an ENnies judge this year, I promised to be as accessible and as open as possible. I'll answer any questions I can, and will be happy to talk shop as much as I'm able. I've also kept a blog about my entire judging experience. Feel free to stop by or drop me an email there if you have a question you don't feel like sharing aloud:

RPG Blog II

Again, mad props to Paizo for hitting it out of the park.

EDIT: An explanation as to why certain Pathfinders are nominated and not others is that Paizo didn't submit every issue.

Hey guys, for those of you who had been asking, the ENnies nominees are to be announced Thursday (or that's the plan as of now). As an ENnies judge, it sucks to wait that long to share everything, but here I am. :) Feel free to engage in wild speculation in the meantime....

Stay tuned, though--this should be a very interesting year!!!

-Zachary

Do you guys plan to have a lot of copies available @ Gen Con, or do I need to elbow women, small children, and big cosplay dudes out of the way to get one in the first hour?

Hope you guys @ Origins are having fun. Heard its been slow for a lot of folks.

Teleporting. As a per-encounter racial ability for Eladrin.

I still want to play a demo, but nothing much I heard this weekend appealed to me. So, yeah, continuing to go from neutral-ish to more negative.

And what the heck can they put in Draconomicons 2 to x?

Well, #2 can probably be Metallic, #3 can be weird-ass variants, #s 4 and 5 can be setting oriented, and....well...I'm sure they could think of something. :)

1) I'm still officially neutral, but it isn't looking like it at this time, no. Very little I've heard interests me re: 4e.

2) If Paizo converts to 4e, it would likely negatively affect my purchasing habits with Paizo as far as any product that contains mechanics goes. Keeping conversions or dual-statted products would be a pain for you, I'm sure, but would help me pick up more Paizo product.

3) If Paizo doesn't convert, then its business as usual! I'll keep buying so long as you keep kicking ass!

So, one of the first piece of data WotC gave, was that the switch from 3.X to 4E was so complex and imprecise that it was bordering on the impossible, or to sum it up "end your current campaign and be prepared to start up a brend new one".

Now, playtesters say that switching from the "old" (AH!) ruleset to the new one is so easy thay're doing it almost on-the-fly.

Mmmmmhhh...

I'm a little confused myself. SRM, if you say that's how it is, then cool. But do you know why WotC would have said the above statement if your experience is wholly otherwise?

So what happens to all the ancient liches of the realms?

Good question!

Where my liches at?

I imagine the Spellplague messed with them as much as anyone, though if archmages like Ye Olde Elminster made it, then perhaps they'd have the defenses to do the same--though with their magical nature, I guess the might run the risk of crumbling as everything goes berserk. Wonder if any of them got returned to life again... :P

zacharythefirst wrote:

I was more miffed about dwarves no longer living underground; just in cities near underground tunnels/mines.

That doesn't really say "dwarf" to me. It says "West Virginia".

I heard they're going to wear lots of flannel and camouflage clothes too, hunt a lot and drive big flat-bed wagons with some sort of extra springy suspension-type thing and teams of really powerful horses.

;-)

See, now I'm fine with that. Just as long as they keep the traditional stuff, y'know... ;-)

I'm here because I really liked Pathfinder, but really wasn't looking to run a 3.x campaign just now. But the True20 conversion sold me, and now I'm hooked. It's cool seeing the opinions of writers and designers I like on the boards, too.

Paizo makes great stuff (I enjoy the GameMastery line), and I enjoy the er....spirited?...4e discussion, because even if I'm really still "neutral" until I play in a demo, I think the entire back-and-forth of it all is really interesting.

(Oh, and I pray nightly that somehow, some way, Paizo will be granted the rights to Greyhawk).