Dave Gross Contributor |
Arni is definitely cool.
Dave, what are these "house drakes"? I look up "drake" in the bestiaries, and those are all large two-legged evil dragon kin. Whatever "house drakes" are, they aren't those things, I'm thinking.
Not finished the book yet, but I'm close. I'm getting the impression that Varian is ** spoiler omitted **
Am I close?
Yes, as others have pointed out, "house drakes" in fiction are "pseudodragons" in the game, just as "hellspawn" in fiction are "tieflings" in the game. (Interestingly, "hellspawn" and a variety of other more-specific names have now become canonical in Pathfinder sourcebooks. Maybe the same will happen with house drakes, a term that Elaine Cunningham might have devised for Winter Witch, unless one of the Pathfinder devs suggested it to her.)
As for Varian's specific class, I'm cool with arcanist, although I was thinking of it in even more vague terms for reasons that will become apparent as you come closer to finishing the book and have yet a different question about his class.
I'll gladly answer this question at length and in more detail at my upcoming fantasy Reddit on June 4. I'll even answer spoiler questions now that I know how to use that tag.
For now, it's time to finish preparing for this afternoon's slightly belated birthday party.
Dave Gross Contributor |
Agreed but for different reasons. I didn't know this change was coming, and when I opened up my box I was like "what, is this now in large print for Grandma?" It looks wonky. I went and compared it to a bunch of other books I have of the same size (arbitrary pulls from the top of my to-read pile - Tim Butcher's Blood River, Philip Keith's Blackhorse Riders, P.G. Wodehouse's Leave it to Psmith) and I realized why - it hasn't been redesigned right for the new size factor, both on the cover and in the interior. The new size is fine in and of itself, and I have probably a full bookshelf of books with that exact size factor, but there's a design problem that makes it look like a kid in ill-fitting clothes.
On the cover, the logo is oddly placed (low) and all the fonts aren't just larger, but seem to be stretched vertically to try to use more of the space. The back cover, without more content, seems to be making the odd choice to put the UPC code in a prominent location to burn real estate. In the interior, the text is leaving a lot of the page blank especially at the bottom.
The existing design is fine for mass market paperbacks but it doesn't work "just bigger" for the new format. It makes it look clumsy and amateurish. It's like the cover expected to be a centimeter shorter at the top and the interior expected to be a centimeter shorter at the bottom. I strongly suggest going and pulling a bunch of books of that size factor and comparing how they do front and back covers and their internal pages.
The Wodehouse book...
I bet Paizo will take this sort of specific criticism to heart and adjust the look of the line going forward, but I wouldn't be surprised if it takes another couple of releases for your feedback to catch up with the printed books.
Gorbacz |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
There are times when I think Dick the Butcher was right. And there are times when I *know* he was right.
le sigh.
90% of time, lawyers don't call the shots as to substance of the law. What they do is translate the wishes and whims of the client (be it government, corporation or John Doe) from humanese to legalese.
Getting snarky at lawyers (of which there are quite a few around here, for example me, Sebastian and couple others) because you don't like some kind of law is like getting mad at the cook at your local diner because you ate a really nasty burrito two states away three years ago.
Knowing a bit about the guys behind OGL (Ryan and Peter) and knowing a bit about how the Corporate Overlords of WotC and Hasbro function, I'm not entirely surprised if one of conditions under which Ryan and Pete were able to get OGL done and accepted by the Lords of the Boards was making sure it's applicable only to gaming material (hence the name, Open GAMING License). Heck, the whole "but it won't apply to novels/movies/comics" thing might as well have been a bargaining chip thanks to which OGL could be adopted, leading ultimately to Paizo, Pathfinder and this community.
Sure, it does generate a slightly weird situation where you can have pseudodragons in the adventure part of an AP, you can have them in the bestiary, you can have them in support articles and heck you can have them in ads for new products but you can't have them in fiction. But then again, this is a wonderful case study of how IP laws apply to gaming material, perfect for teching students :)
Tinkergoth |
Sigh. I had to cancel my subscription not long ago due to the worsening exchange rate. No idea when I'm going to get a chance to read this, which is a shame as I love Varian and Radovan (to the point that I have characters in a couple of different games, not Pathfinder ones, with names that reference them).
Dave Gross Contributor |
Sigh. I had to cancel my subscription not long ago due to the worsening exchange rate. No idea when I'm going to get a chance to read this, which is a shame as I love Varian and Radovan (to the point that I have characters in a couple of different games, not Pathfinder ones, with names that reference them).
I miss the days of parity with the US dollar. Since I buy US goods more often than I'm paid in US dollars, it takes some adjusting my ordering habits.
Tinkergoth |
Tinkergoth wrote:Sigh. I had to cancel my subscription not long ago due to the worsening exchange rate. No idea when I'm going to get a chance to read this, which is a shame as I love Varian and Radovan (to the point that I have characters in a couple of different games, not Pathfinder ones, with names that reference them).I miss the days of parity with the US dollar. Since I buy US goods more often than I'm paid in US dollars, it takes some adjusting my ordering habits.
Yeah the days of parity were a golden age for us here in Australia. Sadly gone now, and likely to get worse now they're talking about lowering the threshold for applying goods and services tax to orders from overseas. Ah well. Will just have to pick up a Kindle or something at some point and start going electronic instead.
Ernest Mueller |
I bet Paizo will take this sort of specific criticism to heart and adjust the look of the line going forward, but I wouldn't be surprised if it takes another couple of releases for your feedback to catch up with the printed books.
Well, I hope it helps. Sorry you had to be the canary in the coal mine! I really enjoy your Jeggare/Radovan books by the way, they are both fun and show off Golarion in a very effective way.
GeraintElberion |
Dave Gross wrote:Well, I hope it helps. Sorry you had to be the canary in the coal mine! I really enjoy your Jeggare/Radovan books by the way, they are both fun and show off Golarion in a very effective way.
I bet Paizo will take this sort of specific criticism to heart and adjust the look of the line going forward, but I wouldn't be surprised if it takes another couple of releases for your feedback to catch up with the printed books.
I was going to makr pretty much the same point as you, Ernest.
The design looks... amateurish. The smaller books look better.
The cover struck me right away: if I saw it in a bookshop I might assume it was small press, possibly self-published stuff.
I do hope Paizo/Tor can get to grips with the design soon.
Forgottenprince |
90% of time, lawyers don't call the shots as to substance of the law. What they do is translate the wishes and whims of the client (be it government, corporation or John Doe) from humanese to legalese.
And from legalese to humanese. This is largely why I routinely and unabashedly blame Congress when I explain tax law to someone as part of rendering bad news. Yeah it's passing the buck, but passing it to the right party.
Dave, loved the book and eagerly awaiting the next one. I know a few people would love to see your take on the guys (and Arni's) in game stats.
Ed Reppert |
1st Amendment: "Congress shall make no law abridging the right of the people…"
Attributed to Thomas Jefferson (probably incorrectly): "Hmph. Should have put a period after the word 'law'". :-)
Chris Lambertz Community & Digital Content Director |
Dave Gross Contributor |
scifan888 |
The reason I had a Paizo subscription is that I got both the hardcopy and the pdf version together for the price of the hardcopy version. Now if I want both I have to pay more than double what I paid previously. The is no incentive for me to keep my subscription. I plan to cancel before the next book.
I am sorely disappointed in Paizo.
James Sutter Executive Editor |
Valantrix1 |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Khonger wrote:Vic is correct! It's a bold new world!I just saw Lord of Runes on audible. I'm excited to pick it up. I really love these stories.
Does this mean that all future Pathfinder Tales will be released in audiobook form?
I just saw it on audible the other day too. As soon as my credits refresh this month its going in my cart. Thanks for doing this! Sometimes being blind isn't so bad.
Dragnmoon |
Khonger wrote:Vic is correct! It's a bold new world!I just saw Lord of Runes on audible. I'm excited to pick it up. I really love these stories.
Does this mean that all future Pathfinder Tales will be released in audiobook form?
Couple questions James.
What are the chances of getting the older novels on Audible?
I currently own all the books but I find very little time to read so I mostly just listen to audible in my drive back and forth to work. I would love for the older novels to be added to the Audio format as well.
If this is my first book (Since this is the first in audio format) will I feel like I am missing something because I have not read the prior books?
Dave Gross Contributor |
If this is my first book (Since this is the first in audio format) will I feel like I am missing something because I have not read the prior books?
No and yes. But mostly no.
Each of the Radovan & the Count novels stands alone with a complete, self-contained story. But they're also like a mystery series featuring the same detectives. If one loses a brother-in-law in an earlier story, you might read that the guy is dead later (but not how he died).
I think it's safe to read any of the novels first. Lord of Runes is a good starting point. The others that make particularly good entries are Queen of Thorns and Prince of Wolves. Master of Devils and King of Chaos are less good as starting points unless you're an especially big fan of wuxia or the Worldwound crusade, in which case they're just fine to start with.
graywulfe |
I have a question about something in the book. I am only part way into Lord of Runes but I have read, to the best of my knowledge, all of the other Radovan and Jegarre stories that have been published.
Dave Gross Contributor |
I have a question about something in the book. I am only part way into Lord of Runes but I have read, to the best of my knowledge, all of the other Radovan and Jegarre stories that have been published.
** spoiler omitted **
Read on. Radovan explains later.
I'd considered writing a longer version of the Janderhoff story as web fiction, but you wouldn't have needed it to get the reference.
Lou Diamond |
HI Dave, why did you tease of Varian's return to Cheiliax through out the whole book and not have him go home?
How will Radovan's pettion to be made a Barron go over at Court with the feelings of Chelish Nobility on Hell Spawn?
Is Varian's bachelorhood about to end?
On Varian's martial status, I think that given his families status in Chelish nobility that the Queen might try to play match maker to tie Varian closer to the throne. What do you think of that?
Is Varian going to give his third of Goutiness Tome to the Queen in place of the other Book that he was supposed to give her?
Dave Gross Contributor |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
HI Dave, why did you tease of Varian's return to Cheiliax through out the whole book and not have him go home?
How will Radovan's pettion to be made a Barron go over at Court with the feelings of Chelish Nobility on Hell Spawn?
Is Varian's bachelorhood about to end?
On Varian's martial status, I think that given his families status in Chelish nobility that the Queen might try to play match maker to tie Varian closer to the throne. What do you think of that?
Is Varian going to give his third of Goutiness Tome to the Queen in place of the other Book that he was supposed to give her?
The answer is "foreshadowing" and "maybe one day you'll see." I always seed these books with hints of what might happen next. You've just gotten too good and spotting those hints.
Steve Geddes |
Dragnmoon wrote:
If this is my first book (Since this is the first in audio format) will I feel like I am missing something because I have not read the prior books?No and yes. But mostly no.
Each of the Radovan & the Count novels stands alone with a complete, self-contained story. But they're also like a mystery series featuring the same detectives. If one loses a brother-in-law in an earlier story, you might read that the guy is dead later (but not how he died).
I think it's safe to read any of the novels first. Lord of Runes is a good starting point. The others that make particularly good entries are Queen of Thorns and Prince of Wolves. Master of Devils and King of Chaos are less good as starting points unless you're an especially big fan of wuxia or the Worldwound crusade, in which case they're just fine to start with.
FWIW, this isn't my experience. I've been reading them in order and am glad I've done so - when the books make teference to past exploits I haven't read it really stands out to me - I have a similar feeling of missing something that Dragnmoon referred to. The example I remember was Master of Devils which seemed to me to be continually referring to some prior quest and political shenanigans in the PF society (I presumed it had been part of the web fiction). That seems to still being referenced in lord of runes too.
Generally, the references to past stories are quite obvious - I'd definitely recommend reading them in order. Jumbling them up would have reduced my enjoyment, for sure (the "secret history" I wasn't privy to in master of Devils made me toy with the idea of stopping reading it.
graywulfe |
graywulfe wrote:I have a question about something in the book. I am only part way into Lord of Runes but I have read, to the best of my knowledge, all of the other Radovan and Jegarre stories that have been published.
** spoiler omitted **
Read on. Radovan explains later.
I'd considered writing a longer version of the Janderhoff story as web fiction, but you wouldn't have needed it to get the reference.
Thank you, Dave. I look forward to finding the answer.
Dave Gross Contributor |
Dave, with Varian's problems with casting memorized magic why has he not crafted a staff. Now that he is possibly an arcanist that might not be an issue I stll would like to see a high level caster in golarion have a staff.
Varian is much more a sword guy than a staff guy, but staves are cool.
graywulfe |
Lou Diamond wrote:Dave, with Varian's problems with casting memorized magic why has he not crafted a staff. Now that he is possibly an arcanist that might not be an issue I stll would like to see a high level caster in golarion have a staff.Varian is much more a sword guy than a staff guy, but staves are cool.
Now I kind of want a scene with Varian holding a staff and sword on a bridge saying "You Shall Not PASS!!!" :P
Not actually a request, though it could make amusing fan art.
Dragnmoon |
I am into Chapter three of the Audio book and I already feel like I feel like I am missing something because I have not read the prior books.
The narrator is very good, easy to listen to. But I am now thinking about stopping to listen to it because of the feeling of missing stuff.
Dave Gross Contributor |
I read the book. Never read any of the other stories really, but I didn't feel like I was missing anything to be honest.
I can't testify from personal experience for the obvious reason, but I've heard from people who've started late that they've had no trouble. Others really need to go chronologically. I sympathize with them. I think I'm that way with other series, for the most part. The exceptions are usually crime/mystery series, where I often start way late and then just plunge around at random, usually to no ill effect.
Archus Madwand |
Late to the party but sad about the 50% price increase to buy on the kindle ($6.99 directly to Piazo vs $9.99 on Amazon for Lord of Runes). I've purchased all but one of the epub books and that might stop now because I can't stand the ebook price gouging I've seen with numerous publishers.
Its not "the cost of converting to 'all those formats'" (heard that from some publisher interviews) ... I've put every one of those books on my kindle and it takes a few minutes to do the conversion using free software. Pure text novels are trivial to convert and it works flawlessly.
Maybe I'll buy one last book to see Jeggare and Radovan in action again because I've enjoyed all the other books from the author. But any new authors, forget it at this price.
Ross Byers RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32 |
It's not about the cost of creating eBooks - it's that if you discount your eBooks too much in relation to the print books, people stop buying print books. That means shorter print runs, which means a higher per-unit production cost. Which means either less profit (hard in publishing, the margins on print books are rather thin) or even more expensive print books (also bad, because vicious cycle.)
Keht Jelicho |
I just got a copy of this, my first Pathfinder Tales novel actually, and I had been wondering if I should read other books in the line first or just dive in, but after going through this thread I am going to get started on it when I finish this post. That said when I got the book I remembered that I had heard that Pathfinder Tales books had boons/chronicles for Society play, and I found where those resources are for the earlier books, but not one for Lord of Runes. My question is will there be one for Lord of Runes later or are they being discontinued for some reason with the move to Tor?
graywulfe |
Dave Gross wrote:Thank you, Dave. I look forward to finding the answer.graywulfe wrote:I have a question about something in the book. I am only part way into Lord of Runes but I have read, to the best of my knowledge, all of the other Radovan and Jegarre stories that have been published.
** spoiler omitted **
Read on. Radovan explains later.
I'd considered writing a longer version of the Janderhoff story as web fiction, but you wouldn't have needed it to get the reference.
I finished the book yesterday, and I should have known it had something to do with that, its Radovan... :)
Dragnmoon |
So I decided to keep listening to the Audio book and I am glad I did. Though I am still feeling like I am missing out on some back story, the novel itself is excellent.
Dave Gross Contributor |
So I decided to keep listening to the Audio book and I am glad I did. Though I am still feeling like I am missing out on some back story, the novel itself is excellent.
Yes, there's certainly a lot that's happened before, but I don't think you need to know any of it to understand what's happening with this story.
That said, references to that backstory are there both for continuity (developing the characters without pressing a reset button at the end of every book) and in the hope that, if you liked this one, you'll want to go back and read or (eventually) listen to the others.
And if you did dig that audiobook, a review on the site would be much appreciated. The line is very young in audio format, so the more good word, the better.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts here already.
Dragnmoon |
And if you did dig that audiobook, a review on the site would be much appreciated. The line is very young in audio format, so the more good word, the better.
I always do a Review of the Audio books I listen to when they are complete. The Audible App automatically brings you to the review section of the audio book once the book is complete.
Edit: I am hoping that Paizo works out a deal with Tor Books to bring the older books to Audio format.
Edit: By the way I am sad I am not going to see you at Gen Con this year :(. Talking with you at the convention/bars are always enjoyable.
Ed Reppert |
Late to the party but sad about the 50% price increase to buy on the kindle ($6.99 directly to Piazo vs $9.99 on Amazon for Lord of Runes). I've purchased all but one of the epub books and that might stop now because I can't stand the ebook price gouging I've seen with numerous publishers.
I've just learned that Bridge Winners has published a new second edition of Kit Woolsey's classic Matchpoints. Print edition (from Amazon) is $24.99. E-book (from bridge winners) is $19.99. I'm torn. I still love print, but ebooks are handy and don't take up space. Don't want to spend 45 bucks for both.
In the face of this, the "Tor problem" is trivial. :-)
Dave Gross Contributor |
Usually I listen to the audio sample before deciding which format to buy, although I still buy the physical book if I expect to get it signed or if the book is lavishly illustrated or otherwise physically beautiful.
I confess that I bought hardcover, audio, and electronic copies of A Dance With Dragons. Hardcover because I knew George was visiting that particular bookstore and would sign one for me, electronic because I couldn't wait to start reading, and audio because it's my favorite way to experience the books, but it came out a short while later.
Dragnmoon |
I have a tendency to by both Audio and Physical copies of books. I was going to cancel my subscription once it changed over to Tor due to losing out on subscription incentives but due to the Audio format I decided to keep it.