Greetings, Gamers! In the April Tech Update blog, I promised to give you a breakdown of how the upcoming loyalty program will work. Today, I’m here to tell you that at its core, Paizo Plus operates similarly to the current program: spend money with Paizo and unlock free products and discounts.

Under today’s Paizo Advantage program, if you subscribe to 4 different lines, you unlock either Starfinder Society or Pathfinder Society subscriptions for free; subscribe to all 6, and you get both for free. Subscribing to 4 lines also unlocks a 15% storewide discount on most Paizo products. Paizo Advantage will be replaced by Paizo Plus when the new store launches.

The Paizo Advantage program was designed to be laser-focused on subscriptions, and it has served Paizo subscribers well for many years. However, as our product catalog has grown, we’ve realized that we need a more robust system that better rewards all our shoppers for their dedication in various ways. We needed a program that was more flexible and easy to understand, as well as one that we could modify as we learned what consumers valued most. That’s how Paizo Plus was born, and we can’t wait to share it with you when we launch!

The Basics

When the new store goes live, you’ll need to opt in to the new loyalty program to start earning gold. If you’ve opted in to receive emails from Paizo, you’ll receive an email about the new program when we launch. And you’ll be able to earn gold right from the start:

• Join Paizo Plus: You’ll earn 25 gold upon joining!
• Leave a Review: 5 gold with an initial limit of 1 per week (260 gold/year if you write a review every week). You can only write reviews of products you have purchased through Paizo.
• Birthday Reward: You’ll earn 25 gold on your birthday. Happy Birthday!
• Follow us on Social Media: Up to 30 gold if you follow us on all 6 platforms. We may add new platforms here over time, such as Bluesky. 
• Gold on Purchases: You’ll earn 1 gold for every dollar you spend, and the amount of gold you earn increases as you advance in reward level. More on that below. 

Legal details will be available in an updated Terms of Use when the new store launches. 

Refer-a-Friend

Another way to earn gold is by recruiting friends to make purchases from Paizo. Each time someone takes advantage of your referral by spending $20 or more at Paizo, you’ll earn 25 gold. 

Spending Gold

So, on Day 1 if you take advantage of all the ways you can earn gold you’re sitting with 70 gold in your account. What can you get with it? To start, we’ll be offering: 

You’ll see that you can get a Pathfinder Society or Starfinder Society scenario for $10 off, which will make most scenarios you choose free. You can also see that Paizo is tilting the scales in favor of the gold value for Society purchases, because we genuinely believe that this is an essential program for our players and want to encourage more players to participate. 

Our goal with the new Paizo Plus is to maintain the same value as the Paizo Advantage program. Paizo Plus is slightly better than Paizo Advantage, and these starting values allow us to monitor the program and expand it in the future once we see how everyone is earning and spending their points. 

Reward Tiers

We adapted the proficiency system from Pathfinder Second Edition (and now Starfinder Second Edition) and used it as the basis for the tiers that build the programs around. 

Legendary Loot: From time to time, Paizo will release items that are exclusively available to Legendary reward members. They might cost gold pieces, dollars, or a combination of both. They will likely be available in very limited quantities and for short periods of time.

We value our Experts and Masters and will ensure additional rewards are available for all tiers that require both gold and a dollar cost, as well as those that require only gold or other qualifying factors. 

Questions and Answers

Here are a few answers to some of the most common questions I anticipate. For the complete legal rules (which take precedence over this Q&A), you’ll need to wait until we launch. 

Will I keep my free subscriptions to Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society when Paizo Plus launches?
No, but you will be able to purchase Society scenarios for free using gold.

How is gold calculated?
Paizo Plus takes the cart total after all discounts have been applied (but before taxes and shipping) and multiplies that amount by your gold multiplier (1, 1.25, or 1.5). For example, if you buy a hardcover book for $60 and use a $20 off coupon, you’ll earn gold based on the $40 purchase (40, 50, or 60 gold depending on your tier). 

Can I spend the gold I would be earning from a purchase during that purchase? 
No, you can only spend gold after it has been earned. 

How long do I stay in a membership tier? 
When you achieve a new tier, you stay in that tier for 12 months. At the end of 12 months, Paizo Plus recalculates your tier.

When I reach a new tier, do I need to wait a year before I can advance to the next one? 
No, when you reach a higher tier, you will be upgraded, and a new 12-month calculation will begin. 

Do I reach a new tier by accumulating gold or spending money?
Only by spending money. Gold and dollars are two different pools.

Does gold expire?
Yes, after 12 months. You always spend the gold with the closest expiration date first. We’ll send an email to notify you about expiring gold if you’ve opted in to receive emails from us. 

Can I earn gold for past purchases? 
No. Only purchases made after Paizo Plus goes live and you’ve opted in to the program count. You can, however, write reviews for purchases over the last 5 years and earn gold on those reviews.

Will Paizo give away free gold?
That is a distinct possibility if you’re reading our fantastic emails and following us on social media!

What happens if I terminate my account? 
All gold is removed and cannot be returned. 

Can I give gold to a friend? 
No. Gold is for your use only and is limited to your account.

Does gold have any cash value?
No.

Do the discounts offered in Paizo Plus stack with store sale discounts?
No. You’ll receive the single highest discount available.

Sneak Peek of the Store

Here’s a brief look at what the team has been working on in the new store. Still subject to change, of course. Isn’t it pretty?

Concluding the Adventure

We look forward to unveiling the new store and Paizo Plus in the very near future! We're much closer to launch now than we were in my April blog, but we still have some work to complete before we’re ready to announce a specific date. 

Thank you again for your support of Paizo. We look forward to welcoming you to the new store soon!

Good Gaming! 

Jim Butler
Chief Executive Officer

As many of you know, Diamond Comic Distributors declared bankruptcy on January 14th. Hundreds of game publishers, including Paizo, have partnered with Diamond to sell their products into the book trade (Barnes & Noble, Ingram, Booktopia, and others). Diamond has also sold Pathfinder and Starfinder into Amazon for us.

Paizo has stopped shipping products to Diamond. This means that our August releases will not be widely available at major bookstores or on Amazon. While these sites will likely continue to list products for sale or preorder, most orders for these titles will not be able to be fulfilled. To stay up to date with your collection, please stop by your favorite local game store and ask them to order our upcoming releases, purchase them directly here on paizo.com, or sign up for one of our subscriptions.

We expect Pathfinder and Starfinder products to remain unavailable through book trade channels for several months as Paizo determines our next steps and this matter works its way through the bankruptcy court. The best thing you can do to help Paizo and the 100+ publishers caught up in the Diamond bankruptcy is to order from them directly or go to your local game store and ask them to preorder upcoming releases so you’ll have them on launch day.

Here are the Paizo products impacted for August and September.

August Releases (available July 31st)

• Starfinder Player Core
• Starfinder Player Core Retail Edition
• Starfinder Player Core Special Edition
• Starfinder Combat Pad
• Starfinder Murder in Metal City Deluxe Adventure
• Starfinder Infinity Deck Card game
• Era of the Eclipse, A Starfinder Novel (hardcover)

• Pathfinder Battlecry!
• Pathfinder Battlecry! Sketch Edition
• Pathfinder Battlecry! Special Edition
• Pathfinder Adventure Path #217: Death Sails a Wine-Dark Sea (Myth-Speaker 2 of 3)
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Siege

September Releases (available September 3rd)

• Starfinder GM Core
• Starfinder GM Core Special Edition
• Starfinder GM Core Retailer Edition
• Starfinder Galaxy Guide Pocket Edition
• Starfinder Player Character Folio
• Starfinder Flip-Mat: Garage Warehouse

• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Command Center
• Pathfinder Treasure Vault (Remastered) Pocket Edition
• Pathfinder Game Night: Dawn of the Frogs (Deluxe Adventure)
• Pathfinder Adventure Path #218: Titanbane (Myth-Speaker 3 of 3)

As always, thank you for your ongoing support of Paizo!

Jim Butler
Chief Executive Officer

“Freedom is the state or fact of being free from servitude, constraint, inhibition, etc.; liberty.”
—Oxford English Dictionary

Salutations to all intrepid Pathfinders and Starfinders!

The Paizo offices are closed today, June 19th, to pay respects to a crucial day in African American history. Many of you may have associated America’s criminalization of slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation, and this would be partly true. The painful and more devastating truth is that after January 1st, 1863, for 901 more days, thousands of slaves remained in bondage, most completely unaware that these changes were happening mere miles away from them. News regarding the end of the Civil War was intentionally blocked from entering Confederate states, and the slaves in those states were not informed of their freedom until Major Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Texas on June 19th, 1865. That day, colloquially known as Juneteenth, marked the true end to slavery in America and the beginning of a new life for every African and African American on this soil. Although we and other marginalized groups like ours still show resilience daily in our uphill battle for civil rights, we celebrate Juneteenth as one step among many towards true equal rights and equal opportunity.

Juneteenth is more than just an automated notification on your calendar. It’s more than just a portmanteau created and maintained in a culture of resistance. Juneteenth means freedom.

A great way to show solidarity and to support Juneteenth and our community is by donating time, money, or other resources to a black-focused organization. Here are the ones we recommend:

• Color of Change
• The Marsha P. Johnson Institute
• National Black Child Development Institute
• National Black Justice Coalition
• NAACP, or The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
  • Please refer to them as the NAACP only if you are non-black.
• SPLC, or Southern Poverty Law Center

To learn more about Juneteenth and why we celebrate it, check out Juneteenth.com.

As a black employee here at Paizo, I’m honored to have the opportunity to educate our space about this significant moment in history that often goes unnoticed.

Thank you and Happy Gaming!

Maya Coleman (xe/xem/they/them)
Community and Social Media Specialist

An arc of electricity shorted whatever communication device the void-eyed figure was wearing as Seltyiel’s sword slid through it, cutting yet another one down. Black shadows clung to his blade, dulling its shine. His face morphed into a mask of disgust for a moment before the sound of shattering glass drew his attention.

“I’d like to ask again—where are we and what the hell are these things?” He hissed.

“Whenever we have a moment to breathe, I’ll work on an answer.” Kyra’s voice was cool and calm with an edge of humor to it—Seltyiel could tell from the curve of her mouth that she was teasing him in that friendly way of hers. But there was worry in her expression too as she burned a hole through another of the empty-eyed creatures, leaving a smoking, shimmering ember in its core as it fell.

“Tsk.” With a snort and a click of his tongue, Seltyiel accepted her answer. The creatures’ faces were identical, and while their bodies seemed solid enough, they melted into shadow when he cut them down. “Copies are never a good sign.”

“Neither is this.” Kyra gestured down the hallway the creatures had slunk down, drawing his attention to the path of draining color everywhere they had touched, the imprint of their footsteps growing by inches and degrees. “Especially not if we are where I think we are.”

“Oh, you’ve got that answer? That might be the best news I’ve heard since we got here,” Seltyiel quipped. He adjusted his grip on his sword, watching the door at the end of the hall, hearing the distant crashes of destruction.

A sigh escaped Kyra’s lips as she uttered a quick prayer, watching the bleached skin melt off one of the foes she’d blasted, revealing a shadowy mass underneath. “Normally, I would agree with you. This place is special—if I am right—and I would be thrilled to find myself here. But to see what these monsters are doing to the Radiant Palace of Possibility? It makes me sick.”

The words brushed against a thread of memory: a book on a table years ago, candlelight barely warming the words on the page. A mythological place, said to have been spun into existence by the Radiant Prism themselves, an intersection at the point where all threads of reality met and reflected each other. A boundless demiplane ruled only by love. A horrible place to be shattering under the invasion of same-faced undead.

“Divinity’s not much my business—I’ll leave that to you. But I agree that this needs to be stopped.” Seltyiel was not entirely sure how to stop a seemingly endless onslaught of copycat ghosts, though.

Find their source and rout them out.

The whispers on the edges of his consciousness urged him forward down the hall, closer to the source of the sounds. Gritting his teeth, Seltyiel gestured with his blade. “Something’s happening over there.”

Following the trail of sapped color as panes of iridescent crystal turned dull, murky gray, Seltyiel led the way further into the palace, Kyra watchful at his back. As they approached, the sounds of destruction grew louder, crashing off the walls.

So focused on hunting the trail that the whispers were guiding him toward, Seltyiel bit his tongue in shock when Kyra pulled him back behind a pillar of crystal as hurried footsteps approached. She hid them just in time. A priestess, garbed in robes of rainbow silk that seemed to be losing color with each step, streaked out from behind cover and ran for the doorway. She stumbled and was caught by the two ghosts behind her. Her starknife clattered to the floor and she screamed.

Before either Seltyiel or Kyra could react, the undead pulled her face from her body, her skin slithering up the figure’s arm to settle atop its own skull, framing the void eyes with the priestess’s final expression of terror.

“Join us. Welcome to the fleet. We are one, we are all,” the monster wearing her face said in a thousand voices.

The voices that came from the creature’s mouth spoke in unison without feeling. The priestess’s stolen face turned empty and blank as the monster reached down, shadows and void energy pouring into her corpse. The void slid over her body, consuming her and erasing the marred flesh of her face into an empty space.

The two creatures pulled her to her feet, one of them handing her another mechanical device—a firearm, but not like one Seltyiel had ever seen—and marching her back to the central chamber. She was now a member of their ranks.

“Everlight, keep us safe while we rescue the servant of your beloved Starsong.” Kyra’s prayer was quiet and whispered, her hand gently touching Seltyiel’s shoulder and carrying with it the soft warmth of sunlight. He knew she meant to fight. But first they needed to know more about the enemy.

Taking a breath, Seltyiel drew a sigil with his free hand, his body shimmering out of view as he snuck into the central chamber, scoping out the field. A large airship—far more technologically advanced than anything he had ever witnessed—dominated the center of the room, surrounded by dozens of uniform-clad undead wearing the same masked face over empty eyes. Closest to the ship, presumably giving the orders, were several floating heads in glass baubles held aloft by a tiny propeller, with no bodies save for the spindly metal limbs that hung down from their chassis. Strange, angular runes shimmered down one of their limbs as the floating head hissed a spell in a language that sounded suspiciously like Necril, the tongue of undead on his world.

The faceless creatures awaited their orders, some platoons already set on destroying the shaped crystal and mirror glass, leaving colorless clutter in their wake. Blood splattered on the floor was the only sign remaining of any resistance, their corpses recruited to join in the very destruction they hoped to prevent.

Seltyiel returned to their hiding spot behind the crystalline pillar, expression grim. “I don’t like our odds. Two of us, hundreds of them—and they can just keep making more.”

“The surest way to lose is to give up before we’ve started. We are in a holy place—there is power here those creatures cannot hope to understand. We need only reach out and tap into it.”

Seltyiel bit back a snarky remark as a shockwave rattled the chamber. One of the crystalline chandeliers collapsed into millions of shards—crushing an entire squad of faceless troopers. None of them flinched. After all, units were expendable in pursuit of the overall goal.

“Don’t let those things take my face when I die.” Seltyiel shifted his weight back and forth, adjusting his grip on his sword and waiting for Kyra’s nod before hurrying into the room, leaping into a platoon of the faceless.

The glowing arc of Kyra’s scimitar cut through a line of undead as she followed suit, each of them now surrounded by encroaching hordes of empty-eyed, hollow masked creatures with blank smiles on their faces.

“Abandon yourself. Become one. Become us. You are nothing. We are all.”

The words came from nowhere and everywhere and made Seltyiel’s stomach turn, anger flaring up in the pit of his stomach as he feinted left and swung right, slicing directly through one of the creatures and watching it dissipate into nothing.

They were wrong—he wasn’t nothing. But two individuals against a sea of endless copies could only hold out so long.

“Looks like we’re late to the party!”

An unfamiliar voice sounded from a balcony above. The faceless turned to seek out the new life force, giving both Seltyiel and Kyra an opportunity for a quick series of blows and a moment to breathe.

A human woman in sleek diamond armor and a catfolk figure dressed in wildly colorful garb stood on the balcony. Somehow, Seltyiel knew the catfolk wasn’t an amurrun from his world, but a pahtra from somewhere else. The human pointed another strange firearm down at the faceless horde and the pahtra cracked what appeared to be a ribbon made of fire. The glee in their catlike face was unmistakable, sharp teeth flashing in a grin. “Come and get me, Corpse Fleet clones! First one to the mirror gets an autograph!”

The pahtra jumped off the balcony with a graceful flip, landing on their feet in front of a trio of mirrors. The moment they landed a rainbow aura surrounded them, making it almost impossible to look away as thousands of different reflections appeared in the mirrors’ faces.

Beams of red fire streaked down from above as the human shot her gun—a laser pistol, Seltyiel thought, but how did he know that?—and pointed at her ally’s position with her free hand. “Get over there!”

Under the cover of laser fire that singed the air like a spray of blazing bolts, Kyra and Seltyiel dashed across the room past dazed faceless to the mirrors where the pahtra stood. “I’m Dae, that’s Navasi. You look like hot garbage, but I love your ‘fits,” the pahtra said cheerfully. “Are they vintage? Oh, and I hope you don’t mind, but I’m recording right now.” They beamed at a tiny mechanical device hovering overhead that Selytiel had only just noticed.

Seltyiel faced the mirror to see what Dae was talking about. He and Kyra were panting, cut up, and bloody. Color had been sapped from their torn clothing. His hair was disheveled and not in a fetching way. Their reflections looked a mess for a moment, but then the images in the mirror began to change.

“My name is Seltyiel,” he said. “We appreciate your intervention.”

“I am Kyra.” Kyra clasped Dae’s hand. “I can see the Everlight shining in you. Thank you for your help.”

The warping visions of himself pulled Seltyiel’s eyes back to the mirrors, and he didn’t notice Navasi dash over to the group, pursued by more faceless undead.

“The mirror—” he started to say, but it was already too late. As each hero turned to face the multifaceted, multidimensional crystal wall, they were shocked by what they saw. The mirrors showed more than just their reflections. Infinite versions of themselves borrowed from memories and dreams and other realities fractalized in the shining crystal.

Navasi watched herself cock her gun with a wicked smile in one facet, clench bloody credsticks in a robotic fist in another, and press a kiss to a blue-skinned woman’s cheek in a third. In yet another facet, she walked beside a handsome diplomat dressed to the nines as his security detail and date all in one. The many versions of Navasi were all equally complicated and stunning, and she watched with delight as a troupe of her other selves talked their way into—and out of—infinite situations.

Every Dae was in the spotlight. They performed old-timey canticles clad in spectacular costume at Golarion World, backflipped into a ribbon spiral in front of a cheering audience, sunned themself in the viewport of a solar yacht, and seamlessly rescued a crowd of fans from armed attackers without missing a step of their dance routine. And of course, Dae’s kaleidoscope included their moody bestie. In one mirror, the two piloted a mech together cutting down colossi with a gigantic chainsword and powered glaive.

Seltyiel bit back a sneer as he made eye contact with the many broken, beaten versions of himself—past, present, and future. But there were more facets behind that. He saw a proud man holding an ornate blade, electricity arcing up and down its length; there was a cozy candlelit chamber, Seltyiel’s reflection bent to a book as a beautiful yet unfamiliar man fell asleep beside him, snuggled against his side; Seltyiel stealing a last sharp kiss from a lover turned enemy, her dagger gleaming across his cheekbone as he pulled away to toss a ball of gleaming magic, its trail pointing directly to the heart of the devil it struck. Power, magic, anger, affection, and more feelings than Seltyiel had words for coursed through him as he grappled with his many reflections.

Kyra’s mirrored selves were all limned in fire. The Everlight illuminated a glimpse of every world that she had the luck and joy to live in: simple, humble Kyra who served a rural temple in threadbare robes; a radiant woman touched with godhood, fire in her hair and sunlight pouring from her eyes; her scimitar cutting through a ghoul just as Merisiel’s blade found its head, pulling the creature’s body in two directions; Kyra as a blushing bride in ceremonial robes joining hands with the same, now her wife. Though the images had no sound, Kyra could hear Merisiel’s precious laughter in her memory. “Here, you are all infinite. Now you can become every version of yourself.” Kyra recognized the Voice speaking—her goddess Sarenrae, the Everlight, who formed the Radiant Prism with goddesses Desna and Shelyn as a divine expression of their romantic relationship.

Curious and compelled, Seltyiel watched Dae, Kyra, and Navasi touch the crystal mirrors. Rainbows swirled around them and their forms blurred. He’d rather die alone than become part of the shadow army pillaging this palace, but those weren’t his only choices. He reached for the mirror. For a moment, all witnessed a sight most mortals could only dream of. The reflections melted away and were replaced by a trio of goddesses, fingers intertwined as they held hands. Anyone in the Universe would know them—Sarenrae, a burning star forged into a woman’s form; Desna, a moth-winged alien with elfin ears and a fickle smile; Shelyn, beauty made flesh with rainbow hair and a tender smile.

They blew the heroes a triple kiss that floated on butterfly wings, exploding into a visual cacophony of sparks and mirrors. All the reflections of the heroes poured into them, filling them with light and power.

Illustration by Mirco Paganessi

The Radiant Prism was gone but their power thrummed in Seltyiel’s veins. He and his allies turned from the mirrors feeling stronger than ever before. Where their footsteps fell, the gray, conforming magic of the invaders was pushed back, replaced with radiant color.

Defiant grins on their faces, Seltyiel, Kyra, Navasi, and Dae held their weapons aloft, free hands ready to cast or block. Their very silhouettes seemed to shift and morph, vibrating with the power of their alternate selves as they clashed with the faceless troops, tearing through them with ease. Copies are never a match for the real thing.

Seltyiel grinned as the last foe dissolved in a wisp of smoke. Only the bodies of the doomed priestess and siblings of her order remained, slumped on the floor and already stirring as color leeched back into their garments and their faces reformed from emptiness. The airship—or starship, as Dae would correct him later—had blinked out of space, leaving a hole in the palace wall that was already starting to repair itself. Gentle music replaced the harsh sounds of battle and conquest.

Seltyiel’s eyelids fluttered as the same music soothed over his mind, returning him to sleep where his body and spirit could slip out of the Radiant Palace of Possibility back to his own home, his own time. Later he’d ask Kyra about the dream, and she’d remember it the same way, down to the last detail. He couldn’t ask Dae and Navasi, but he was sure they were out there somewhere, changed by their adventure.

He was sure they must feel it too—the echo of the encounter lingering, a thrumming mantra in his mind.

In the face of conformity, there is no greater power than being yourself.

---

About the Author

Rue Dickey is Paizo’s Marketing & Media Specialist, as well as an award-winning freelance tabletop game designer, author, editor, and cultural consultant. Their independent work is driven by a desire to see more queer joy, rage, and power on the world stage.

Happy Pride, ’Finders! For our Pride Contributor Blog this year, we’ve welcomed some of our queer staff and contributors to share their stories with us! The theme for this year’s Pride is “Queer Joy as Resistance,” a spotlight on how joy and hope are active protests against oppressive systems.

James Beck (any/all)

Hello! My name is James Beck (any/all) and I’m a Paizo freelancer, infinite master on Pathfinder Infinite, co-founder of Eldritch Osiris Games, and all-around a geeky person! I know times are particularly tough around the world, especially for those who identify as LGBTQ+, but queer people have always existed and will always exist. I truly believe in a future where everyone can be who they wish to be. Something that I love about Pathfinder and Starfinder is how diverse the people of the setting are. I can always find someone whom I can identify with, which always fills me with joy. As Jews, we are taught about the value of Tikun Olam, to repair the world. While I might not be able to cast a spell and make everything right in the world, I believe we must all strive for a better tomorrow, where everyone is safe to be who they are. With much love - James Beck

Rigby Bendele (they/them)

Hey, you. Yeah, you in the corner thinking about what it means to be queer in 2025. You, thinking about if it's worthwhile to come out. I'm here to say: yes, it is. Living my life openly and unabashedly as a trans person makes it vibrant, joyful, and worth living. I spent too much time in the closet and too long detransitioned to say otherwise. It's beautiful, even if I find myself having to carefully manage my exposure to the news to handle my stress.

For those of you who are allies, especially cis allies of trans people: I'm not going to chide you or berate you. I've seen too many people want to be lectured for failing to live up to their values. That's for you to manage. Instead, I want you to celebrate with trans people. Give the flowers to the trans people in your life now. Understand that being part of our joy is part of helping us survive. I don't want anyone to look at my work and think that reading it is like taking a gross medicine to help counter transphobia. It's supposed to be fun!

When I sit down and design games for you (yes, you, the person reading this!), I think of it as a gift. I'm trying to make the game work as smoothly as possible for you, with as many delightful surprises as I can fit onto the page, and open up an experience that we share across time and space. I can only tell the stories that I can tell. I hope that it's an invitation to understand a bit more about the world, or to explore something you haven't explored before. Even if you don't know me (especially if you don't know me!), my work is an attempt to say "Hello, let's play a game together." I hope that you have fun.

Rigby Bendele is a trans writer and tabletop game designer from Richmond, VA. Their work includes the third chapter of Starfinder Adventure Path: Mechageddon!, the third chapter of Pathfinder Adventure: Claws of the Tyrant, and the Relationships subsystem that appeared in Pathfinder NPC Core.

Carlos Cabrera (he/they)

It is so important right now to stand up for who you are and to protect the ones you love, and if that means just standing in the middle between the people that make you feel safe, that’s okay too.

I have the fortune to share my life right now with multiple partners. One of them is gay, one of them intersex, and one of them trans (all shared with permission). I don’t see any of them as often as I would like, but I would still stand for each of them if any one of them were feeling threatened.

I hope you do too, but I’ll stand for you as well if you don’t have the spoons.

Maya Coleman (xe/xem/they/them)

An avid musician and graduate from Oberlin College & Conservatory with a degree in Film Music Composition, Maya has used their skills in organization in combination with a weaponization of their OCD and OCPD (literally) to flourish in the tabletop industry for nearly ten years. Starting as the sole employee at Goat, Wolf, & Cabbage LLC, managing community for the board game Secret Hitler since its inception, they’ve gone on to manage communities at Skybound Tabletop, run projects on Kickstarter such as Trogdor!! The Board Game! and Trial by Trolley, and are now the Community and Social Media manager here at Paizo.

When they are not working in the industry, Maya is an avid crafter and gamer. Their plushie collection is vast, from sweaters for their loyal service dog, Avalon, to d20, like from their panel at PaizoCon, to enormous snowflakes and Hatsune Miku! They’re also a huge fan of Pokemon, and, despite never having finished a single game, they’ve played each one released (their favorite pokemon is Gardevoir, by the way)! Maya is also your go-to resource for obscure film and soundtracks, and is happy to geek out about either at any given time!

You can find Maya at the following links:

• Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MayagurumiCo (My pattern for the crocheted d20 is here!!)
• Battle.net (Mercy Main. Still. Somehow. Yes, they are tired.): britmus309#1905
• Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/britmus309

Hiromi Cota (they/she)

This Pride, I’m proud of a variety of things, but I’ll narrow down to just two. Firstly, I recently celebrated my peoples’ (Indigenous Okinawan & Yaeyaman) cultures by getting hajichi, traditional hand tattoos. They are traditionally women’s tattoos, usually done in stages to mark important milestones toward adulthood. They were also legally banned when Japan colonized our islands. But, as a trans femme and nonbinary person, me getting hajichi isn’t just a celebration of my Indigenous heritages or a rejection of Imperial Japan’s colonizer anti-tattoo laws; it’s also a celebration of my femininity and a visible assertion of my status as a femme Uchinaanchu & Yaimapitu.

Secondly, I’m so happy that I’ve been performing in shows as a femme performer. I’m an actor-combatant who regularly acts and fights in large shows at Renaissance Faires. And, a year ago, I switched from playing masculine characters to femme ones. It has been thrilling to show large, cheering crowds who I am.

Happy Pride!

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe)

Pride holds more meaning for me this year than it has in years prior, given the circumstances in the US and beyond. As systems work to erase hundreds of years of trans history and queer culture, it falls to us to hold those memories and stories within us. By sharing our stories, playing games, building worlds, and imagining futures where trans joy is a staple, not an exception, we lay the foundation for a better world—not only for those of us here now, but for the queer and trans people who follow after.

My great joy on a yearly basis now is running TTRPGs for Trans Rights, an itch.io-based fundraiser that benefits trans-focused charities in hard-hit states (Texas, Florida, West Virginia, and Ohio have all been recipients). As one trans person, there’s only so much financial help I can provide, but with the power of community organizing, we can make huge strides! This year’s fundraiser pulled in over $80,000 for TransOhio and Kaleidoscope Youth Center, putting our organization’s total over the $1 million mark, and giving those organizations a much-needed funding boost to continue their important work. Organizations we’ve supported in the past like Latina Trans Texas and Transinclusive Group (Florida) still make use of the funds raised via our program, or programs and infrastructure built using those funds. From an idea in my living room, we built a grassroots fundraising initiative that is making life-changing amounts of money for queer organizations.

Beyond the fundraising, it’s also important for me to show queer and trans people in those hard-hit states that they do have community. People care about you and want to see you thrive, even if you don’t get that kind of support locally. And knowing that there is a world out there that loves you as you are is life-saving.

Rue Dickey is Paizo’s Marketing & Media Specialist, as well as a freelance tabletop game designer, author, editor, and cultural consultant. Their independent work is driven by a desire to see more queer joy, rage, and power on the world stage.

James Jacobs (he/him)

I’ve never been a big fan of parties or conventions or parades or other big social gatherings, and that includes things like organized protests and the like—I just get really awkward and uncomfortable when I’m around a lot of people. I know I’m not the only one with this little quirk, but for those out there who are leading the charge in more obvious and wide-reaching forms of resistance by spreading love and acceptance, thank you. That said, there’s still lots of ways to use stories of queer love, joy, and celebration to protest against oppression, even if in the grand scheme they’re pretty subtle. LBGTQ+ representation in Paizo’s Adventure Paths is one of the ways I’ve been working to share this joy—it was a very deliberate choice in the very first Pathfinder Adventure Path I wrote, “Burnt Offerings,” to include Jasper Korvaski as a local paladin who also happens to be gay, to put into print in the first volume proof that alignment is irrelevant to the discussion. Since then, we’ve included SO many more stories of queer joy and I’m proud of them all. A lot of them are much higher profile than one relatively minor paladin in a small town on the Lost Coast, but even these small stories are important ways to spread love and acceptance. So… thank you to all the amazing writers and developers and designers and editors and artists and more who’ve helped keep Paizo’s games filled with characters and stories that I’m immensely proud to have been a part of all this time!

Lynne M. Meyer (she/they)

Lin Codega’s article “Playing Games Amidst the Revolution” echoes in the back of my mind a lot these days. I’m a fifty-something queer, chronically ill, invisibly disabled, autistic femme; everything is just so much, the weight of the world so heavy, that some days, simply getting out of bed is a victory. Joy does not come easily.

But queer joy matters. It’s how we survive. So I seek joy, do my best to cultivate it, and try to help spread it wherever I can. Games are part of how I do that. My most recent game (which I proudly included in the recent TTRPGs for Trans Rights bundle on itch.io) takes its inspiration from queer history—the tea dance, a non-alcoholic, queer event when same-gender dancing was illegal at venues selling alcohol. The tea dance was defiance wrapped in community and joy.

Dan Savage, reflecting on the worst days of the AIDS crisis, talked about going from burying friends in the morning, to protesting in the afternoon, and then out dancing at night. “The dance kept us in the fight because it was the dance we were fighting for,” he explained. “It didn’t look like we were going to win then and we did. It doesn’t feel like we’re going to win now but we could. Keep fighting, keep dancing.”

I would add: keep playing. Tell your stories, imagine better worlds, laugh with your friends around the gaming table—and know that you’re not alone.

Come say hi on Bluesky (@lynnemeyer.bsky.social).

Shay Snow (they/them)

It’s 2012. I live in Texas. My partner lives in Washington. I propose at the Seattle Waterfront. They say yes and we share a pack of McDonald’s french fries and a Coke to celebrate. Queer love tastes like salt and carbonation and sea spray.

We get married in 2014, before it’s federally legal. We arrive back in Texas, wearing wedding rings and calling each other wife. We lose our few state benefits due to discrimination.

We transition in 2016. We look funny, we dress funny, we don’t fit the gender norms. We’re yelled at on the sidewalk outside of the one GAC clinic in Texas.

We don’t care. Queer love tastes like fries and carbonation and sea spray. Queer strength feels like freedom and shoulders back and arms that hold and love you forever.

Shay Snow is an agender two-spirit queer Native. They use they/them pronouns and can be found as spellsinsugar on Bluesky and Reddit.

Kendra Leigh Speedling (she/her)

Hello, all! I’m Kendra Leigh Speedling, queer writer and frequent contributor to Paizo. Some of my recent work includes the Cobyslarni section in Pathfinder Rival Academies, Pathfinder Adventure Path #209: Destroyer’s Doom, and the Verces section and space pirate archetype from Starfinder Second Edition’s first published book, Starfinder Galaxy Guide!

Over the years, RPGs have helped me explore my own identity, and being a part of the queer Paizo community has been a big part of that. With every casual reference to a queer relationship in an adventure, every trans NPC, and every post of the “make it gayer” meme in a Paizo project server, I’m reminded that there a lot of us out there, and we’re not going anywhere. If someone picks up a book with a queer character I made and feels that sense of recognition or belonging, I’ll be proud of that. Pride is a riot—and we’ll need that spirit now more than ever—but Pride is also a party, because who we are is worth celebrating.

Alex Speidel (he/him)

This is not a hypothetical story.

There is a game store. It’s on the outskirts of a midsize city. It’s the passion project of its owner, and it’s probably just barely staying afloat, but that’s not what we’re focused on right now.

The game store is small, cluttered, does a roaring trade in trading cards, but one night a week, it hosts roleplaying games. Like most game stores, its clientele skews toward cis white dudes. But gaming is for everybody, and the player base has expanded.

The thing is, this game store, this midsize city? Politically, they are not in a great place for people who are not cis white dudes. Conservative, in whatever flavor fits the locale. And so you’d think there wouldn’t be any queer people there, because why would there be?

But you’d be wrong. Because we’re everywhere. We’re in that town. We’re in that store. And most of the time, you wouldn’t even know we’re there.

But every once in a while, you would. Because a Pathfinder scenario asks you to help an NPC get their hands on a serum of sex shift. Or a Starfinder scenario casually has no binary NPCs and a whole host of agender and nonbinary characters using neopronouns. And that queer person? That kid, that teen, that adult who’s just figuring themselves out? They light up. They feel seen, they feel understood, they feel joy, for just a few minutes.

This is a story I’ve heard dozens of times. Every time I do, it stokes the flame in my heart just a little bit, and reminds me why I do this.

Because I know, every time I hear this story, that the worst people in the world are absolutely frothing mad about it. They are so incensed at the idea of queer joy that they will whip themselves into a frenzy, destroy their lives and livelihoods in a futile effort to snuff out that joy, go roaring into the dustbin of history with nothing to show for it.

And we’ll just laugh and keep on. Because if the worst people in the world are mad at you, I think you’re doing just fine.

---

Paizo is proud to have brought queer stories to our tables since the beginning, and we look forward to the wonderful stories our contributors will continue to tell! We welcome our community to share their queer joy and hope in the comments as well. Happy pride!

Greetings, ‘Finders! Paizo is proud to celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month by showcasing some of our AAPI contributors and creators. We have invited these contributors to talk about their culture, heritage, and how to support their work!

As part of our celebration, we are also currently running the Pathfinder Asian Fantasy Humble Bundle, with proceeds benefitting Stop AAPI Hate. Get everything you need for adventuring in Tian Xia and help support AAPI communities with this bundle!

Left to right, illustrations by Kent Hamilton and Wayne Reynolds

Eren Ahn (they/them)

안녕, 여러분! I’m going to take this chance to celebrate my mother. While not a leader in any professionally acknowledged way, she’s always encouraged me to approach life unflinchingly and fight for what I stand for. My mother has professionally translated accounts of Korean comfort women, teaches immigrants how to speak English, and, in her youth, was one of many students fighting for the democratization of South Korea. Even now, she’s working on a Ph.D. in linguistics (her second, if you want to know the shoes I’m expected to fill) on the development of DEI language over the past ten years— and she’s told me if the administration attempts to clothesline her work anymore than it has already, she’ll drop the degree immediately. 

I like to joke that, unlike other Korean American kids, I don’t have a mom who wants me to be a doctor or a lawyer. Instead, I have one who pushed me to understand the weight my words carry and who even now encourages me to focus on writing— which is why I get to write for this blog post to begin with! Thanks, 엄마. I’m doing my best to make you proud.

Hiromi Cota (they/she)

This year for AANHPI Month, I have a pair of things I’d like to highlight, and one’s not even a game! I recently celebrated my peoples’ (Okinawan & Yaeyaman) parallel cultures by getting tattoos! In the Ryukyuan cultures, women get hand tattoos to mark milestones towards adulthood, and men get forearm tattoos. As a non-binary & femme person, I got my right hand tattooed with a mix of Okinawan and Yaeyaman styles to celebrate both parts of my Indigenous Islander heritage.

The other thing I want to highlight is Tian Xia+, a third-party expansion to the Tian Xia World & Character Guides by Team+. Most of the people working on the book were people of Asian descent—some of the same folks who worked on the official Tian Xia books, in fact. I gave the sai some love, as it’s a traditional Okinawan weapon that’s near and dear to my heart. You can find this sai goodness under the Three-Finger Fist archetype. I also worked on the Minatan Warrior archetype, which was heavily based on Filipino Martial Arts, and the expansion of the Tsukumogami Poppets, because I love those little guys, too!

Happy AANHPI Month!

Left to right, illustrations by Nicholas Phillips and Mylene Bertrand

Matthew Fu (he/him)

content warning: death

Hi everyone! I'm Matthew, a Chinese American chemist by day and freelance writer and GM by night. I don't have anything else to promote since the release of NPC Core, but I wanted to take a moment to celebrate and reflect on the lessons that my Po Po (grandmother) instilled upon me. She recently passed, and I have her to thank for who am I as a person. She was generous, kind, and patient, and she showed her love through example, always putting her family before herself.

I've always struggled with coming to terms with my heritage, but she always presented Chinese culture in a welcoming and inclusive manner, never pressuring me to accept it if I didn't want to. It's something that I am still at odds with even to this day, but I am eternally grateful for her exposing me to many wonderful customs that I might have disregarded elsewise. Regardless of what I make of it, I can rest easy knowing that her love will always stay with me.

Thank you for letting me share my story.

John Godek III (he/him)

Hi! I’m John, a multi-ethnic Filipino American gamer, gamemaster, freelancer, and podcaster. I spent my early childhood in Hawai'i and the Philippines and later sailed the seven seas as I started my career.

Over the past 5 years, I have written 20 freelance TTRPG projects, including several scheduled for release later this year! I’ve worked mostly for Paizo, but also for Legendary Games, Evil Genius Games, and Evil Robot Games. I produce two podcasts on the Know Direction Network: Digital Divination, with Paizo Senior Designer Jason Keeley and D&D Designer Ron Lundeen, and Intrepid Heroes, an RPG actual play where we play mostly Starfinder adventures (currently A Cosmic Birthday). Previously, I produced Presenting - Gamers Making Games, where I interviewed over 100 game designers, developers, artists, and editors about their journey into the industry. I’m presenting a summary of these interviews at Gen Con this year. In my non-gaming life, I do university research and teaching on entrepreneurship and social enterprise. This summer, I am researching the effects of TTRPGs—feel free to reach out if you are interested in helping!

You can reach me at https://knowdirectionpodcast.com/, on YouTube, @johngodek.bsky.social, or at johngodek.com.

Illustration by Gunship Revolution

Michelle Y. Kim (she/her)

I can’t express the joy and excitement I felt upon realizing that Yoon had a Korean name, and that her heritage was, in fact, my own. Being Korean as a kid was frustrating—I’d always be asked if I was Chinese and where Korea was, anyway. (The 90s were tough.) But things have changed. K-pop, Korean dramas, and barbecue have shaken things up, and I hope to do the same with RPGs. Not just for myself, but for everyone who’s felt a little on the wayside. All my love to everyone who’s had to explain where their country is or answer ignorant questions about their heritage. You matter, and we’re with you.

---

We are proud of the stories our AAPI contributors bring to the table—this month, and every month! We also welcome other AAPI folks in the community to share their experiences and their joy in the comments!

In Solidarity,

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe)
Marketing & Media Specialist

Since Starfinder Second Edition is preparing for launch, now’s a great time to meet the people behind the game!

Jenny Jarzabski (she/her)
Creative Manager

Hi! I’m Jenny, Starfinder’s Creative Manager, which means I’m the captain of this starship. I’m one part creative director, leading the creative vision for Starfinder as a game and brand; one part manager, coordinating the efforts of the badass crew of designers and developers who call ourselves the StarFriends; and one part developer, concepting, creating, outlining, and writing content for Starfinder, plus upgrading work done by talented freelance contributors. 

I’ve written a ton of adventures for various tabletop games over the years, and I’ve contributed to many Paizo books, but we’re not here to tally my credits. I’m really proud of my latest long-form adventures, A Cosmic Birthday and Murder in Metal City, and I can’t wait for you to get a taste of my (our!) setting work in Galaxy Guide. You can reach me at jenny.jarzabski@paizo.com. 

But now it’s time to introduce you to the fantastic team helping me bring the galaxy of Desna’s Path to life.

Jessica Catalan
Senior Developer

Hello everyone! I’m Jessica Catalan (she/her), senior developer on the Starfinder Team and head of the Starfinder Society. This month we’re releasing the final Starfinder Society Scenario for first edition, and in a few short months, we’re launching a brand-new program for Starfinder Society second edition! I hope you join us as we bring first edition to a close and embark on this exciting new adventure into the future!

In addition to working at Paizo full time, I’m a frequent freelance author for the Pathfinder and Starfinder RPGs, with over 50 writing credits for Paizo, and many more for other companies and games.

I’m Metis and I live in wonderful Winnipeg, Canada. I spend my free time with my family: my husband, daughter, son, and pet rabbit. I love to play TTRPGs, TCGs, and board games, collect far too many sets of dice, and read. (Yes, of course I’ll read all those books on the shelf one day, and yes, I definitely need more…).

You can find me on most social media and Discords as d20diaries. If you’re interested in writing a Starfinder Society Scenario, reach out to me at jessica.catalan@paizo.com.

All the best, folks! Take care of each other out there.

Mike Kimmel
Senior Developer

Hello! I’m Mike Kimmel (he/him), Senior Developer for Starfinder Second Edition. You may recognize me from my prior work as an Organized Play Line Developer for Pathfinder Society, from my freelance contributions to Pathfinder and Starfinder, or as the founder of the Freelance Forge forum community. I’m a proud father, former educator, and author of many adventures. Since joining the Starfinder team in 2023, I’ve been hard at work on our core rulebooks, creating playtest adventures, items, classes, spells, new rules, lots of aliens, and all the other things a science-fantasy game might need. I’ve also taken the lead on some exciting adventure content that we’ve got planned for the new edition. I’m sure you’re already looking forward to the release of our premium box set module, Murder in Metal City, as well as our Free RPG Day adventure, Battle for Nova Rush—I know I am. If possible, I’m even more excited about the other adventures I’m working on, but I’m not allowed to say much on that front yet. We’ll have to keep it a secret… for now.

Dustin Knight
Designer

Greetings Starfinders! I’m Dustin Knight, Starfinder designer! I’ve always wanted to be a tabletop game designer, so being able to announce that I’m now officially one is literally a dream come true! That said, in the process of becoming one I’ve learned the only real requisite is designing a game, so I do fervently implore anyone reading this who wants to pursue the same career path to start writing now! Wait, let’s read the rest of the blog first! Then make some tea. Then go write.

My career really took off with Organized Play. You may have played my first game, Wayfinder Origins, a repeatable scenario that opens with a boat. Or Sundered Waves, a repeatable scenario that opens with a boat. I’m still writing the occasional adventure, like Wheel of Monsters, a repeatable scenario that opens with a boat. But my specialty and focus lie in player-facing mechanics like ancestries, backgrounds, and classes. I love the back and forth conversation between mechanics and lore in a class and level driven game that both inspires and develops multifaceted characters and adventures to create these immersive moments between friends where we play out these fantastic stories. Please feel free to tell me about your characters and the incredible moments, because those memories are worth more than anything I can graph out in excel.

Outside of work I’m often described as exactly the kind of nerd you’d expect with my job title. I spend my free time sorting tens of thousands of Magic cards into grossly organized binders. I play TCGs online using official apps and Discord. I watch at least five or six new anime a season, on top of trying to tackle my ever-growing watch list. And I love to cook, with my favorite dish still being okonomiyaki. My world travels and conventions have been on hiatus for the past five years, but I’m looking forward to hanging out virtually with everyone during PaizoCon and Gen Con. I’m in an ongoing Starfinder campaign and working to restart my personal Pathfinder campaign. And realizing with each sentence I’m inching closer and closer to talking about Paizo again!

You can catch me on any number of social media platforms as Dustin Knight or kitsunewarlock, including Discord and Bluesky. You can also email me at dustin.knight@paizo.com. Thank you all for continuing to play our game, and I wish you all love and peace.

And last but not least, allow me to introduce our newest StarFriend!

Aras Yazgan (he/him)
Designer

Hello everyone! I’m Aras Yazgan, a Turkish-American game designer by vocation, computer engineer by training, artist by dedication, and forever GM by choice. Gosh, there’s an awful lot of you reading this, huh…? I think I might have page fright! I haven’t had the chance to publish much of anything thus far, but I’ve been working on little else other than TTRPG design for the last two years. My training arc is over and I’m ready to show off the results!

It’s difficult to express how excited I am to be working with the incredible Starfinder team. We’ve got some tantalizing projects in the pipeline that I can’t wait to get my mitts on…!

You can find my art on Cara @Sketching101. You can reach me at aras.yazgan@paizo.com!

From all of us, thanks again for playing Starfinder. We can’t wait to hear about all your adventures in spaaaaaaaaace!

--The Starfinder Team

It’s that time of year again when the weather outside gets nicer and board gamers gather inside to raise money for charity. This year is no exception, as Paizo will proudly be returning to the table for another day of games and giving at the 11th annual Gauntlet charity board game tournament!

On May 18th, Mox Bellevue will welcome teams of Seattle-area nerds for a day of friendly competition for a good cause. Funds raised will be going towards the Gamers Engaged Play-it-Forward fund, a low-barrier grant program for nonprofits. We have a treat cooked up for you this year, with the theme of “Feast!” celebrating all things food.

Allow me to introduce Team Paizo 2025!

• Katina Davis—Webstore Coordinator
• Matt Byrd—Warehouse Manager
• Pasha Jurgensen—Accountant
• Whitney Chatterjee—System Administrator
• Lyle Borders—Director of eCommerce (team alternate)

On tournament day, we’ll be playing two games that we’ve been allowed to practice, along with a trivia round and a thematic mystery finale which is usually concocted by local game designers. The two announced games this year are Diced Veggies and Sweet Mess Pastry Competition. The former is a snappy game of strategically wielding your cleaver to chop off vegetable dice from the bunch to prepare your recipe cards. Sweet Mess PastryCompetition is a bit longer and crunchier, with elements of open drafting and set collection as you try to prepare recipes first to win awards for your top-shelf creations.

So, how can you participate? I’m glad you asked! There are multiple ways to join in the Feast. Firstly, you can donate now, either to Team Paizo as a whole or to a group member’s individual fundraising campaign. Donations are open through the day of the tournament, and besides going toward the nonprofit grants, they also help our team gain power-ups which we can use for boosts during the games.

You can also show your support by watching the tournament! If you’re in the Bellevue area, you can stop by Mox from 11am–7pm to cheer us on. Folks who shop in-store on tournament day and donate to Gamers Engaged at the register will get a 25% coupon as well. If you can’t make it in person, the best way to watch the tournament is online. Streaming will be hosted by BoardGameGeekTV on gauntletofgames.org throughout the entire event. 

We can’t wait to mix it up with the rest of the teams on tournament day and we are incredibly grateful to our generous gaming community for every crumb of support we receive along the way.

See you at the tourney!

Katina Davis
Webstore Coordinator

Greetings, ‘Finders! We’re just over a month out from PaizoCon 2025, and we’re excited to announce the schedule of panels and events for this year’s celebration of all things Paizo! Remember: PaizoCon tickets are on sale now, and you must purchase a ticket to participate in Organized Play, Community Gaming, Discord Activites, and more!

PaizoCon Stream Schedule

We have a ton of panels, games, and announcements scheduled for PaizoCon! All of the panels below will be streamed on twitch.tv/officialpaizo! We hope to see you in the Twitch chat, and in the post-panel discussion on Discord!

Friday

PaizoCon Keynote – Friday, May 23^rd at 10 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Paizo Publisher and Chief Creative Officer Erik Mona and a host of Paizo’s creative project leads welcome you to PaizoCon! Get the scoop on everything new coming from Paizo in 2025!

Pathfinder Hellfire Crisis – Friday, May 23^rd at 12:15 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

War has boiled over between Andoran and Cheliax, and the world of Pathfinder will never be the same! Learn about the next meta event coming up for Pathfinder Second Edition!

Get Started with Organized Play – Friday, May 23^rd at 1:30 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Join Paizo’s Organized Play team for a look at the adventures to come! This panel will provide an introduction to Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society, as well as reveals for the upcoming seasons!

Adventures Across the Cosmos – Friday, May 23^rd at 2:45 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

With the launch of Starfinder Second Edition on the horizon, the Starfinder team has plenty of adventures up their sleeve! Stay tuned for details about the upcoming Murder in Metal City deluxe boxed adventure, Starfinder Guilt of the Grave World, and more!

A Stellar Preview! Starfinder Actual Play – Friday, May 23^rd at 4:00 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Jenny Jarzabski leads a star-studded cast through a quick Starfinder Second Edition romp!

Saturday

Fantasy Grounds 101 – Saturday, May 24^th at 9:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time

Learn how to run and play Pathfinder and Starfinder on Fantasy Grounds VTT. Plus, get an inside look at Fantasy Grounds’ affiliate programs, new accessories, features, and more.

Paizo Digital Products – Saturday, May 24^th at 10:00 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Paizo Digital Products Lead Andrew White takes us on a tour of the upcoming Foundry VTT assets for Pathfinder Second Edition and the launch of Starfinder Second Edition!

Starfinder Release Starmap! – Saturday, May 24^th at 11:15 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time

The Starfinder Team walks us through the upcoming books for the launch of Starfinder Second Edition! Get a preview of the system with Starfinder Galaxy Guide, and learn more about Player Core, GM Core, Alien Core, and more!

Romancing the Tome – Saturday, May 24^th at 12:30 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Looking to bring a little love to your tables? A panel of Paizo authors and freelancers discuss romance in RPGs!

World of Lost Omens – Saturday, May 24^th at 1:45 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time.

Take a delve into the world and culture of Golarion! The Pathfinder Lost Omens team cracks open the vault of knowledge for the upcoming Lost Omens books!

Creating Cinematic TTRPG Experiences – Saturday, May 24^th at 3:00 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Our partners at Syrinscape showcase their immersive soundscaping tools for your table!

Transverse Demiplane – Saturday, May 24^th at 4:15 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Learn about building Pathfinder and Starfinder characters with Demiplane and taking those characters directly to your Roll20 VTT games!

Narrative Declaration: Mutton King Express – Saturday, May 24^th at 5:30 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

The cast of Narrative Declaration joins us for a special, pre-recorded Pathfinder Second Edition adventure!

Sunday

BKOM: Exploring the Abomination Vaults – Sunday, May 25 at 9:00 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Join the team at BKOM for an exclusive preview of their upcoming action roleplaying game Pathfinder Abomination Vaults.

Adventures in Golarion – Sunday, May 25^th at 10:00 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time

The Pathfinder Narrative Team takes us on a tour of the upcoming adventures! From Iblydos to Thassilon, there’s a wide variety of mythic adventures on the horizon for Pathfinder Second Edition!

Make it Dice! A Cozy Crafting Panel – Sunday, May 25^th at 11:15 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Ever wanted to crochet your very own D20? Paizo’s Community and Social Media Specialist Maya Coleman has built a pattern and is ready to stitch through it with the audience!

Mini Painting AMA – Sunday, May 25^th at 12:30 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

BJ Hensley, Erik Mona, Thurston Hillman, and Magellan Mulligan join us for a special mini painting extravaganza. Bring your brushes and your questions!

Education and Therapeutic Play – Sunday, May 25^th at 1:45 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Join professionals in the fields of mental health and education as they discuss safe, empowering ways to use RPGs in education and therapy!

Creature Feature! – Sunday, May 25^th at 3:00 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Pathfinder and Starfinder designers talk about designing monsters—from concept to mechanics, art orders, and more!

The Gallant Goblin Presents: Pathfinder Kingmaker - Sunday, May 25^th at 4:15 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

Build your kingdom and watch it rise—or fall! The Gallant Goblin’s Actual Play of Pathfinder Kingmaker launches at PaizoCon!

Organized Play

Paizo has Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society games running around the clock for PaizoCon 2025! Join us for one of the Interactive Specials or simply drop in to a scenario or two!

The full PaizoCon gaming schedule is as follows. All times are Pacific Daylight Time.

• Block 1 Friday, May 23, 2025 at 4:00 PM
• Block 2 Friday, May 23, 2025 at 10:00 PM
• Block 3 Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 4:00 AM
• Block 4 Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 10:00 AM
• Block 5 Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM
• Block 6 Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 10:00 PM
• Block 7 Sunday, May 25, 2025 at 4:00 AM
• Block 8 Sunday, May 25, 2025 at 10:00 AM
• Block 9 Sunday, May 25, 2025 at 4:00 PM
• Block 10 Sunday, May 25, 2025 at 10:00 PM
• Block 11 Monday, May 26, 2025 at 4:00 AM
• Block 12 Monday, May 26, 2025 at 10:00 AM
• Block 13 Monday, May 26, 2025 at 4:00 PM

Play-by-post games will begin after the convention concludes and finish no later than Tuesday, July 22.

In Block 4, we will be offering Pathfinder Society Special #3-99: Fate in the Future, and in Block 8 we will be offering Starfinder Society Special #3-99: Perils of the Past. Help reunite two adventurers stranded across time and space in our first crossover event between Pathfinder and Starfinder, using the rules for Pathfinder Second Edition and Starfinder First Edition!

Community & Staff Games!

In addition to Organized Play games, there are also a selection of community gaming sessions—games submitted by PaizoCon attendees—and staff-run games!

Blood of Bastardhall – Friday at 4:00 P.M.

Taily-Po: An Appalachian Folktale – Friday at 4:00 P.M.

Swing Shift – Sunday at 10:00 A.M.

Blood of Bastardhall – Sunday at 4:00 P.M.

D20 Cthulhu: Site 8 – Sunday at 4:00 P.M.

Staff Games

SFS 7-11: Breaking the Crucible with Ivis Flanagan – Friday at 4:00 P.M.

Murder in Metal City: Casino Chaos with Jenny Jarzabski – Saturday at 9:00 A.M.

Murder in Metal City: Casino Chaos with Jenny Jarzabski – Saturday at 2:00 P.M.

Getting the Band Back Together with Josh Foster – Saturday at 4:00 P.M.

Murder in Metal City: Casino Chaos with Jenny Jarzabski – Saturday at 5:00 P.M.

SFS 7-11: Breaking the Crucible with Ivis Flanagan – Sunday at 4:00 P.M.

The Cluckening Begins: Run by Shay Snow – Sunday, May 25^th 4-9 P.M. - Sunday, May 25^th 4-9 P.M

Wheel of Monsters Audience Zo!-Op!: Run by Dustin Knight – Sunday, May 25^th 4-9 P.M.

Wheel of Monsters Audience Zo!-Op!: Run by Dustin Knight – Monday, May 25^th 4-9 P.M.

Community Gaming Signups!

We’re also now opening signups for Community Gaming! If you’re interested in running a game outside of Organized Play at PaizoCon Online, we’d love to have you join us. This can be anything: a homebrew Pathfinder or Starfinder adventure, something you’re working on for Infinite, even a non-Paizo roleplaying or board game! Just fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch about scheduling your game.

PaizoCon Online Community Gaming Submissions

PaizoCon@

PaizoCon@ is our initiative to offer an in-person experience during PaizoCon Online around the world. This year we’ve nearly tripled our in-person PaizoCon offerings, which means even more of our players and GMs will be able to experience PaizoCon at their local game stores or conventions!

All PaizoCon@ locations will be running Pathfinder and Starfinder Society games during the weekend, including exclusive runs of our May releases. Highlights include the finale of Starfinder Society Year 7, as well as participation in our interactive specials.

A full list of our locations and conventions is in this blog, or visit this Google Map of the locations. We’d love to see you in-person this year!

We look forward to seeing you at PaizoCon 2025, at home or at one of our PaizoCon @ locations!

A long time ago in a July far away, I let you all know about Paizo’s plans to improve its tech infrastructure. While that has been a slower process than any of us have liked, here's an update on where we’re at and where we’re going.

The Foundation

Paizo began work on modernizing its backend infrastructure in 2023 to allow us easier and faster access to the boring business analytics and insights that we’ve historically had to assemble by spreadsheets over the years. When completed, it will greatly improve our ability to ensure that we have the right products available at the right time and in the right quantities for our customers, send more timely reports to our business partners, and overall streamline internal processes that are stretched across several systems.

Part of this core infrastructure is the rollout of a new warehouse management system. The first part of this is live today, with orders to our hobby and book distributors being picked and shipped from the new system. The next step will be when the new ecommerce store goes live. From your side, you’ll see faster and more accurate orders and trackable shipping details. In addition, Paizo won’t need to shut down for a week every year to do inventory. Instead, the system has us run mini-inventories every week throughout the year.

The New Store

The team is hard at work on a brand-new store experience, reorganizing the entirety of Paizo’s products into more coherent and easier-to-find locations, extracting data from our legacy system, and more.

Much of what you see on Paizo.com today has been built internally over the years and is affectionately known as Presto. Back when Paizo began, ecommerce software to handle subscriptions didn’t really exist, so we built our own solution from the ground up. Presto currently does the heavy lifting for the ecommerce store, forums, shipping and package tracking, and more. It also provides a variety of reports that the finance team imports into their accounting software, the sales team uses to track sales, etc.

The new store will replace all of the shopping pages on the site: product pages, category pages, and store landing pages–including the subscriptions landing page, providing a more modern, streamlined shopping experience for customers, including a single-page checkout!

Areas that will stay the same for now will be the forums, Organized Play reporting, the blog, and a dozen or so landing pages. Here’s a brief rundown of the new things you’ll see at the Paizo Store when it launches.

Paizo Plus Loyalty Program

The Paizo Advantage is our current loyalty program. It gives subscribers access to free Pathfinder Society or Starfinder Society releases if you subscribe to 4 lines and both if you subscribe to 6 or more. It also grants 15% off most of your Paizo.com purchases.

The new Paizo Plus program will give you more choices for your rewards. You’ll earn virtual gold on your purchases that you can use for things like coupons for society scenarios, $5–20 off coupons, and the top tier will grant 15% off all your purchases just like today. You’ll also be able to earn gold by writing reviews of your purchases, by referring your friends to the new store, by following Paizo on social media, by joining the new program, and on your birthday!

There will be changes vs. how we do things today, of course, but we’ve worked hard to create a program that lets you keep what you want from today’s loyalty program and expand it out to something even better. We’ll be sharing more details on the new Paizo Plus in an upcoming blog.

Library

We’re very excited to be unveiling a new file library when the new store launches as well. This replaces your Digital Content portal that exists today and offers more streamlined search capabilities using filters and a search box, a new look, the ability to download multiple products at once, and more! Everything you currently have in your current Digital Content will migrate to the new Library.

New Payment Methods

We will be expanding payment methods with the new store. Here are a few that we are targeting for launch.

Credit Cards: American Express, Aura, Diners Club, Discover, ELO, Hipercard, JCB, Mada, Mastercard, RuPay (India), UnionPay, Visa.

Digital Wallets: Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal.

Online Bank Transfers: Sofort

Some of these payment methods are region specific (like Hipercard for Brazil or RuPay for India), so you won’t be flooded with options when you checkout. Not all payment methods can be used for subscription payments because some providers don’t allow recurring payments, but you’ll see available options as you go through checkout for subscriptions.

New Subscription Portal

Starting with the launch of the new store, subscribers will be able to manage their subscriptions directly from their dashboard. This will allow you to skip, cancel, or suspend a subscription without the need to contact the customer service team.

Subscribers will be able to continue to “sidecart” products into their upcoming subscriptions through what’s now called combined shipping. This is largely the same functionality we have now, but the process for adding items to your sidecart are a bit different. We’ll cover that in a future blog.

So… When?

The date for this launch was written during the Gap and is currently lost to human knowledge. Triune predicts that the date is soon(™), but I dare not tempt the machine gods by uttering a specific date.

Stay tuned!

Jim Butler
President

On March 20th, a contingent of Paizo staff visited the Washington State Capitol to run some games for state legislators and their staff. Logan Bonner and I received an invitation to the Legislative Game Day from the office of Steve Hobbs, our Secretary of State. Steve is a big nerd and recognizes that Washington state is the tabletop game capital of the world. When it comes to industry in this state, most people think of aerospace or agriculture. While those two sectors drive much of our state’s economy, you’d be remiss to sleep on the games industry, as Washington has the highest concentration of game companies in the country.

These Legislative Game Days bring together some of our state’s tabletop game companies, game stores, librarians, and others who use games in their work, such as using therapeutic gaming for veterans suffering from PTSD, youth programs, and those incarcerated in the state. Secretary Hobbs and his staff organize these events to get those in the games industry to sit down with state legislators and their staff so they can learn more about our industry, the games we make, and the concerns and challenges we have within our industry.

At this gathering, Logan and I were joined by Cosmo Eisele, John Compton, and Jenny Jarzabski. We had two tables set up running brief demos of both Pathfinder and Starfinder. I even brought Elemental Stones, but we were out of table space. We were joined by some of our friends at Green Ronin, Ravensburger, Wizards of the Coast, TinkerHouse Games, and Heart of the Deernicorn, as well as numerous local game stores like The Mystic Game Shop, Around the Table Games, and Mox, and other organizations such as Evergreen State College of Game Design. We were also able to make connections with others in the community, such as talking with the state library rep about how to better incorporate tabletop games into library collections and programming.

It was an evening of fun and camaraderie as we got to show off our games to lawmakers and their staff and to catch up with others in the industry. Events like these really help highlight not only the economic and community impact our companies have on the state, but also the importance of exporting fun to the rest of the world.

Adam Daigle
Director of Narrative

Greetings dearest ’finders,
I’ve spent the last year hard at work, snooping on investigating the Paizo work chats and finding the best snippets to take and store out of context and present to the team later as inspiration for our annual April Fools’ Day article. This year, we present you with guides to housekeeping, gossiping, beating speedrunning records, making peace with those pesky dust bunnies, and more!

With love and shenanigans,
Maryssa Mari
Venture Gossip Web Content Manager

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A Domestic Wizard's Guide to Housekeeping: Dust Bunny

Felix Dritz

In pursuit of your studies, it’s often easy to ignore daily chores and cleanliness. While those more adept at magic often choose to leave their day-to-day cleaning to a phantasmal minion, it’s crucial to take time in your day to verify your summon’s work. Too often a vague order will lead to them brushing things under cupboards, moving all stray objects into unorganized bins, or placing books on shelves at random. While the disorganization of your possessions is certainly lamentable, it can become frightful if dust is left to collect in neglected corners and under furniture! When this dust collects near magical sources, the debris can gain sentience, becoming a dust bunny.

You may find these little creatures charming, but beware. While the creation of dust bunnies can take little thought, their care and maintenance are something that many young wizards lack knowledge of. Those unprepared to take care of a dust bunny had best sweep it into a containment bin, lest their accidental creation consume their study and home.

Dust Bunny Familiar

If you, despite the warning, desire a dust bunny companion, or perhaps you have one by accident and are willing to care for it, this section is for you. Dust bunnies greatly enjoy company and will often desire to lie on your lap or desk. Wherever they keep you company, ensure the area is regularly cleaned of any new or shed debris; otherwise, another dust bunny may form.

To feed your dust bunny, simply keep the collections from your daily housekeeping. However, if you notice they begin growing to an unreasonable size, be sure to limit their portions, as they have been known to grow to the size of large dogs.

It's important to remember that having formed of their own accord, dust bunnies are highly independent. While this makes them great companions and assistants, this also makes dust bunnies prone to making mischief, often spreading dirt out of spite or simply by wasting away. One should be vigilant for such things, for more dust and debris creates the perfect environment for new dust bunnies to form, and one can quickly be overrun with an infestation of dust bunnies!

Dust Bunny
Construct
Required Number of Abilities 4

Granted Abilities construct, independent, play dead (Pathfinder Lost Omens Tian Xia Character Guide 124), skilled (arcana)
Kick Up Dust [two-actions] (manipulate) Frequency once per hour; Effect Your dust bunny shakes and kicks to stir up dust in a 5-foot emanation. Each creature in the area must attempt a Fortitude save against the higher of your class DC or spell DC. A creature that fails its save begins sneezing uncontrollably and is slowed 1 and cannot take reactions for 1 round; on a critical failure they are slowed 2.

Dust Bunny Swarm

Dust bunnies in particular are prone to swarming. This can occur when a large number are left alone for a long period of time and are then disturbed by adventurers or a returning wizard. Other times, a singular dust bunny familiar grows in such numbers (and they will rapidly reproduce!) that a wizard cannot hope to keep them all placated with food and attention. In this situation, they will unionize in rebellion against their master.

It is paramount that you do not allow a dust bunny to multiply, for once a swarm has formed, they are nigh impossible to get rid of. While relatively easy to disperse and unlikely to kill anyone, they will re-form within the week unless the area is immaculately cleaned.

Dust Bunny Swarm Creature 1
Rare, Large, Construct, Swarm
Perception +7
Skills Arcana, Athletics +3, Stealth +7
Str +0, Dex +2, Con +0, Int –4, Wis +0, Cha +2
AC 13; Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +3

HP 16; Immunities bleed, death effects, disease, doomed, drained, fatigued, grappled, healing, nonlethal attacks, paralyzed, poison, precision, prone, restrained, sickened, spirit, swarm mind, unconscious, vitality, void; Weaknesses area damage 4, splash damage 4; Resistances physical 6 (except bludgeoning)

Cloud of Allergens [reaction] Trigger The swarm rolls initiative; Effect The dust bunnies stir, kicking up a cloud in a 15-foot burst centered on the swarm that lasts for 1 minute. Creatures who enter or start their turn in this cloud must attempt a DC 16 Fortitude save or take a –1 circumstance penalty to skill checks that have the concentration trait and all Perception checks as their sensory organs become impaired.

Dust to Dust When a dust bunny swarm is destroyed, it re-forms after 2d4 days in the area in which it was destroyed unless the location has been significantly cleaned of all dust and debris.

Speed 30 feet

Pummeling Dust [one-action] Each enemy in the swarm’s space takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage with a DC 16 basic Reflex save. A creature that fails its save cannot use reactions for 1 round as they sneeze uncontrollably.

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Venture-Gossip (Archetype)

Shay Snow

Venture-Gossip is not only the name of a beloved agent of the Pathfinder Society who has dedicated herself to bringing all of the lurid, gruesome stories to Absalom’s streets—it’s also the name of a popular tabloid newsletter that appears across Golarion, primarily wherever there’s a Pathfinder Society lodge. There isn’t just one venture-gossip: there are hundreds. Hundreds of Pathfinders with loads of stories and rumors that they collect and then forward along to the Ink Worker’s United Printing Press, a unionized printing press based out of Absalom. Formally, only one name is associated with Venture-Gossip: Agent Kitsch of the Office of Supplies and Procurement. However, no one truly believes that she’s behind any of this, as the older ysoki is known to misplace just about everything, from poison flasks to important cursed artifacts.

Additional Feats:4th Distracting Flattery (Player Core 2 195), Gossip Lore (Player Core 2 195); 7th Fabricated Connections (Player Core 2 195), Party Crasher (Player Core 2 195), Quick Change (Player Core 2 219), Read Shibboleths (Player Core 2 203), Subjective Truth (Player Core 2 219), 8th Crude Communication (Player Core 2 203)

Venture-Gossip Dedication — Feat 4
Archetype, Dedication, Pathfinder Agent
Prerequisites member of the Pathfinder Society, Pathfinder Agent Dedication

Look, the motto of the Pathfinder Society is “explore, report, cooperate” and you’re just reporting what you hear! Is all of it accurate or true? Maybe not, but hey, you can tell a great story and you know how to keep your readers hooked and eating out of the palm of your hand. Ambrus Valsin of the Grand Lodge may disapprove of your methods, but hey, he’s not your real boss.

Eando isn’t either.

We’ll go with Zarta.

Wait, no, Sheila. Sheila appreciates a good gossip column. You’re now from Magnimar. Always have been.

You have two identities: your day job as a Pathfinder agent, and your real job, one of the many voices that make up the Venture-Gossip tabloid. If someone attempts to figure out if you’re a venture-gossip, they must use a Seek action to attempt a Perception check against one of your influence skills of your choice: Deception, Diplomacy, or Intimidation. Your DC is 20 + your proficiency modifier.

If you are discovered to be part of Venture-Gossip, you can spend 1 week of downtime convincing others that you’ve never even read that tabloid, much less contributed to it!

You gain the following action, allowing you to collect more information for your column.

Tell Me More [two-actions] (fortune) Target one creature that shares a language you speak; Requirements You’re not in combat; Effect Just batting your eyes and giving someone a familiar nudge can get them talking, ready to spill the beans about everything and everyone around them. You roll twice on all rolls to influence the target and use the better result.

Special You can select the dedication feat for this archetype even if you haven’t yet gained three feats from the Pathfinder Agent archetype.

Verbose Distraction [reaction] — Feat 6
Archetype, Auditory
Prerequisites Venture-Gossip Archetype
Trigger You are the target of a physical melee attack.
You talk so much it can be distracting to your enemies and you’re often quick to remind your enemies that you’re just a little guy! You don’t need to be targeted! You don’t need to be the focus of their frustrations! Have they tried writing to their mom or talking to a local priest of Desna? Ow!
You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to your AC against the triggering attack.

Hey! Over Here! [reaction] — Feat 6
Archetype, Auditory
Prerequisites Venture-Gossip Archetype
Trigger An ally within 30 feet rolls a saving throw against an auditory effect.
Hey! Don’t listen to that! That’s bad sounds! Listen to me! Would you like to hear about how the high priest of the Abadaran church in Absalom’s Petals District is having an affair with an Urgathoan cleric? Yeah, I’m thinking about calling the article “Boney Money!”
Your targeted ally treats the result of their saving throw as one degree of success better. Once an ally has been targeted by this effect, they’re immune for 24 hours.

A Little Bird Told Me... [two-actions] — Feat 8
Archetype, Concentrate, Manipulate, Polymorph
Prerequisites Venture-Gossip Archetype
You transform into a small bird, such as a finch or a sparrow, allowing you to eavesdrop on others and gain information you wouldn’t otherwise be able to acquire. You become Tiny, gain the animal trait, and you can’t make Strikes. You can Dismiss the effect to return to your normal shape, and you resume your normal shape automatically if you’re reduced to 0 Hit Points.
You gain the following statistics and abilities:
AC = 20 + your level. Ignore your armor’s check penalty and Speed reduction.
Fly speed 25 feet.
Weakness 5 to physical damage.
Low-light vision and imprecise scent 30 feet.
Acrobatics and Stealth modifiers of +10, unless your own is higher; Athletics modifier –4.

Define “Report” [free-action] — Feat 10
Archetype, Fortune
Prerequisites Venture-Gossip Archetype; master in Diplomacy
Look, getting caught in a lie is a normal part of venture-gossip life. Sometimes you have to give a sheepish smile and apologize for what you’ve done. When you fail a Deception check, reroll with your Diplomacy modifier. On a success, there are no hard feelings and the other person’s attitude condition doesn’t worsen. On a critical success, you can attempt the Deception again with no consequences.

Catch and Kill [reaction] — Feat 12
Archetype
Prerequisites Venture-Gossip Archetype
Trigger A creature within your reach uses a move action, or leaves a square during a move action it’s using.
When you’ve decided to quash a story, no one can escape from you with any incriminating information. Make a melee Strike against the triggering creature. On a hit, the triggering creature is Grabbed, and on a critical hit, they’re slowed 1. This Strike doesn’t count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn’t apply to this Strike.

Muckraking [three-actions] — Feat 16
Archetype, Auditory, Concentrate, Emotion, Mental
Prerequisites Venture-Gossip Archetype
It seems like your knowledge has come in handy after all and you have your enemy at your feet. Pulling out your fan mail, you read your fans’ scathing remarks about your enemy to their face, letting them feel just how much everyone hates them and everything that they’ve done. They hate the way that they walk, they hate the way that they talk.
Your enemy takes 10d10 mental damage, with a basic Will save. On a critical failure, they’re off-guard until the beginning of your next turn and lose all reactions, except to cry, loudly.

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Illustration by Vlad Hladkova

Speedrunning

Eleanor Ferron

Speedrun Strats — Feat 1
Whenever you take a move action to Stride, you can attempt a DC 15 Acrobatics check to roll forward.
Critical SuccessYou gain 5 extra feet of movement to your Speeds and can move through solid obstacles such as walls until the end of your Stride action.
SuccessYou gain 5 extra feet of movement to your Speeds until the end of your Stride action.
FailureYou lose 5 feet of movement from your Speeds until the end of your Stride action.
Critical FailureYour character softlocks and is paralyzed permanently. Only awish ritual or similar magic can reverse this effect.

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Rt5rrmn

It seems that every time I roll dice my cat Auryn feels that he must help, same as he loves to type to others when I am working online. So, I decided to put him to work, helping to create a creature based on his adorable face that could hopefully play with others around the world. The result is the creature found below. (Most numbers were decided by him, and all special ability names were decided by him walking across typing on my keyboard.)

Ivis Flanagan

The rt5rrmn is a catlike creature that loves to purr at those they encounter, convincing others to pamper them instead of fight. It would rather be friends than enemies, but if spooked it will viciously attack whoever is in its sights. If they aren’t able to make friends, the rt5rrmn will quickly grow defensive, and leap to attack. 

Rt5rrmn — Creature 8
Small, Animal, Fey
Perception +20; scent (imprecise) 60 feet
Languages Common (can’t speak any language)
Skills Athletics +20, Acrobatics +22, Stealth +17
Str +5, Dex +3, Con +4, Int +1, Wis +1, Cha +6
AC 36; Fort +15, Ref +35, Will +22
HP 172

But I’m Adorable [reaction] Trigger An enemy targets the rt5rrmn with a melee attack; Effect The rt5rrmn erkijs, the vibrating sound convincing the enemy to stop hurting it. The target must attempt a DC 26 Will save.
Critical Success The target is unaffected, ignoring the seduction of the erkij.
Success The target is fascinated by the rt5rrmn’s erkij until the end of the rt5rrmn’s next turn. 
Failure As success, and the target is slowed 1 as it focuses on the rt5rrmn’s erkij.
Critical Failure As failure, but the target is slowed 2.

Extra Reverberation If the rt5rrmn is targeted with an ability that restores Hit Points, it gains an additional use of But I’m Adorable that lasts until the end of its next turn.

Speed 35 feet
Melee [one-action] b9000 (finesse), Damage 3d8+12 piercing plus Improved Grab
Melee [one-action] g7ujik (agile, finesse), Damage 3d6+12 slashing, plus rt5rrmn yyumn

Pay Attention to Me [two-actions] The rt5rrmn erkijs again at a creature that is affected by But I’m Adorable. The target must attempt a DC 26 Will save. 
Success The target is unaffected.
Failure The target creature drops all of its held weapons.
Critical Failure As failure, but the target must also spend the first action of its next turn petting the rt5rrmn. 

Yidsfh [two-actions] The rt5rrmn Strides and then makes two g7ujik Strikes at a single target. Both count toward its multiple attack penalty, but the penalty increases only after both attacks are made. The rt5rrmn must be able to move at least half its Speed to yidsfh.

Rt5rrmn Yyumn (disease) Saving Throw Fortitude DC 24; Maximum Duration 1 week; Stage 1 sickened 1 (1 hour); Stage 2 sickened 1 and the creature can't reduce its sickened value below 1 (1 day); Stage 3 sickened 2 and the creature can't reduce its sickened value below 1 (1 day)

Greetings, ‘Finders!
March is Women’s History Month here in the United States, and to celebrate and recognize the women who make our games happen, we’ve welcomed Paizo contributors who identify as women (inclusive of trans, cis, and nonbinary identities) to share their experiences, wisdom, and projects on the blog!

This year’s theme for Women’s History Month is “Moving Forward Together—Women Educating and Inspiring Generations.” Some of our contributors have used this theme to shape their submissions.

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Ivis Flanagan (she/they)

Have you ever looked up to someone and said, “I could NEVER do that?” I know I have.

I spent years having the boys I hung out with beat into my head that “girls just can’t play RPGs” by repeatedly ensuring my characters died every time I joined them. Then, years later, one of my closest friends, Sean Duncan, pulled me out of a nap and into my first Pathfinder game. I fell in love with it, from the mechanics to the setting—all of it. Then some friends encouraged me to go to my first convention, where I meant Heather Vigil, the first female GM I’d ever seen, and I thought, “Wow, I could never do that.” She and I became fast friends, and she was the one who eventually convinced me I was good enough to GM—which I again fell in love with, soon after becoming a Venture Agent in Organized Play. 

This attitude of “I could never do that” continued to precede me as I volunteered for conventions, then started taking on more and more leadership roles in Organized Play until I became the first female RVC (there's been two more since!). It was through this work that I met some amazing femme people: Hillary Moon Murphy, Kate Baker, Isis Woz, Katrina Hennessy, and Jessica Redekop, to name just a few. They encouraged me to reach out and start sharing my writing, which allowed me to get my foot in the door and contribute to the works of multiple companies, including Paizo. 

Fast forward to last year, when Paizo posted a designer position with the Rules and Lore team. Again, my brain flipped back to the old belief that “I could never do that,” a thought put there all those years ago by that group of gatekeeping guys. However, with encouragement from the same friends who had supported me along the way, and with the support of a few new ones like Alex Speidel and Shay Snow, I decided to throw the proverbial snowball into hell and see where it went. Asmodeus likes snow cones, it seems, because against all the odds in my brain, here I am, the newest member of the Rules and Lore team, loving what I do every day. 

I tell you my journey to say this: gaming is for everyone, and in supporting each other, we will see this space and our representation in it continue to flourish. More than anything, I’ve learned that to properly break down barriers to inclusivity, we can’t just say we support one another—we have to show it. And you know what? It’s true: girls don’t just play games—we run them, we organize them, and we create them, too. If you ever want to reach out, either for encouragement or because you’d like help finding ways to get involved, my DMs are open. You can find me on Bluesky, Discord, and the Paizo Forums as NorthernDreamer. 

Katrina Hennessy (she/they)

I’d like to take a moment or two to highlight some women who have influenced me and helped me to be where I am today.

The less open-minded mother of one of my high school friends said to her one day, “I know there is a science fiction convention in town, but you’re not going!” This drove my wonderful, open-minded, and supportive mother to organize a small group of us to attend Swancon 2, the second annual science fiction convention in Western Australia. There, we were introduced to the relatively new game of Dungeons & Dragons and met Uma, who was welcoming and supportive of us teens and a gracious example of how to exist in this male-dominated industry.

While there were other women along the way, as I played various RPGs through the decades, they were not frequent. In 2017, when I was introduced to Paizo Organized Play, this changed. Dorothy was one of my first GMs and a role model on how to be a firm and fair Game Master while remaining welcoming newcomers and making sure they received appropriate guidance. I also met Hilary, an exuberant and fun GM who was active at spreading Play-by-Post and good at turning insufficient reluctance into an active Venture Officer. There was also Kate, who was not only a great GM but an active freelancer who encouraged others along that path.

Over the course of these years, I also came across Vanessa, whom I first met as a roommate at Origins and who has helped me in so many ways to break my own barriers and grow as a community member and as a freelancer. She set an example of hard work and integrity in the games industry as freelancer, Paizo Developer, and now with Wizards of the Coast. I would also like to mention Ivis and Nicole, who actively participated in so much and took on more and more while remaining friendly, supportive, and welcoming. Though life seems to have moved Nicole elsewhere, I observed as Ivis continued to blossom and is now a Paizo developer.

I thank each of them and the many others who have had a positive impact on me along the way. I strive to also be welcoming and supportive of all who wish to play, GM, write, or otherwise be involved in our wonderful gaming community.

Sara Jeffers (she/they/he)

Sara Jeffers is a Two-Spirit member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, in what is now known as Washington and British Columbia. Their heritage and culture influence not only her graphic and narrative designs but also his approaches in problem-solving and community building. She is proud to be a Woman in Gaming and to be helping the next generation of creatives through Girl Scouts.

Lynne M. Meyer (she/they)

When I found out about PathfinderLost Omens Rival Academies, I jumped at the chance to be Edit Co-Lead. Working on the book was a way of going back to my professional roots. For over a decade, I worked in higher education as an interfaith, service learning, and diversity and inclusion educator—a role that included developing and implementing training programs for students (and sometimes staff) as well as directly supporting students of marginalized identities. Though I enjoyed being in the classroom, what I loved most was working with students one-on-one. When I was in college, I had a mentor whose support changed my life; once I was in the position to do the same for my students, it became the driving force of my career.

I left university life years ago, but the relationships remain. I’ve kept every letter and card I received at graduation or other milestones, and I’m still close to several of my former students. Few things bring me such joy as seeing them thrive out in the world as the leaders and changemakers I knew they could be.

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This month and every month, Paizo appreciates all the women who have built our industry and continue to expand on our worlds! Thank you for being a part of Paizo and for bringing new faces to the table for years to come.

In Solidarity,
Rue Dickey (they/he/xe)
Marketing & Media Specialist

On Thursday, we received the tragic news of the passing of author Howard Andrew Jones, who contributed four titles to the Pathfinder Tales line between 2011 and 2017. In addition to his contributions to the world of Pathfinder, Howard was a stalwart of the modern sword & sorcery movement. He edited eight collections of literary giant Howard Lamb’s historical fiction as well as the sword & sorcery magazines Black Gateand Tales From the Magician’s Skull. In addition to his myriad accomplishments as an author and editor, Howard was a staple of fantasy and gaming conventions and loved chatting with fans and colleagues alike. A friend to many, Howard will be greatly missed.

Howard Andrew Jones in 2023

In celebration of his life, and to help his family in this difficult time, Paizo is discounting the digital editions of his first two Pathfinder Tales novels, Plague of Shadows and Stalking the Beast, through the end of February. All proceeds from these sales will go directly to Howard’s family via a gofundme campaign set up last year when he announced his illness and prognosis. Additionally, two short stories Howard wrote to promote these novels are available for free on paizo.com: “The Walkers from the Crypt” and “Bells for the Dead.” We hope that you enjoy Howard’s work as much as we have, and that through that enjoyment, his memory will live on.

We’ll miss you, Howard. Thanks for the memories and for lending a small part of your talent to our world.

Greetings, ‘Finders, and welcome to one of the most perilous adventuring seasons of all—holiday shopping! But don’t fear, we’ve got a fantastic Black Fireday Sale to take the edge off those spending sprees!

All products featured in our Black Fireday Sale are physical-only—the discount does not extend to PDFs, Foundry modules, or other digital assets.

Save Big!

Get stellar books for a magical deal! Select products including Pathfinder Secrets of Magic, Pathfinder Guns & Gears, Starfinder Drift Crisis, and more are 40% off!

Deck the Halls!

Pathfinder and Starfinder reference card decks make great stocking stuffers! From the Deck of Endless NPCsto the Deck of Many Worlds, get all legacy (non-remaster) Pathfinder Second Edition and Starfinder First Edition card decks for 30% off!

Loot the Lost Omens Lore Vault!

Dive deep into the worlds and cultures of Golarion with Pathfinder Lost Omens lore books! Any and all Lost Omens line books published before 2024 are 30% off—including Pathfinder Lost Omens Highhelm, Pathfinder Lost Omens Ancestry Guide, Pathfinder Lost Omens Legends, and so much more!

Stock up on Starfinder!

As we give a fond farewell to Starfinder First Edition and look to the bright stars of the future, we’re excited to put the entire Starfinder rulebook and supplement collection on sale at 25% off! Plus, get your hands on the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest Rulebook, A Cosmic Birthday, and Empires Devoured to start a Starfinder Second Edition game this winter!

Adventure Beyond!

Starting a new campaign in the new year? We’ve got you covered with a selection of Pathfinder and Starfinder Adventure Paths on sale 25% off! Venture into parallel worlds in Gatewalkers or save Destiny itself from ruin in Stolen Fate! Join a pack of roguish space traders in Fly Free or Die or explore the aftermath of the Drift Crisis with Drift Crashers and Drift Hackers!

Games and Accessories!

Give your GM the gift of combat made easy with a pawn collection or combat pad! A wide variety of pawns and other accessories are 20% off—making planning new encounters a steal!

Used to waiting on a player or two for game night? Pick up Pathfinder Goblin Firework Fight and Pathfinder Elemental Stones to pass the time—also for a sweet 20% discount!

This blog is just a peek into the exciting treasure vault of savings—check out the full Black Fireday Sale collection to see it all!

Paizo’s 2024 Black Fireday Sale runs from 12:01 A.M. Pacific Time on Wednesday, November 27^th through 11:59 P.M Pacific on Monday, December 2^nd—plus, keep your eyes peeled for some Cyber Moonday specials!

Advent Giveaway and Sale

For some bonus cheer this holiday season, Paizo will be running 24 days of giveaways and sales from December 1^st thru December 24^th! Each day, a different product will be given away on Paizo’s socials (Twitter, Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram)—ranging from rulebooks and adventures to licensed partner products and more! Plus, the item of the day will also be on sale on paizo.com, giving everyone a chance to save!

Shop The Black Fireday Sale!

Greetings, ‘Finders! We’re excited to join our Latine contributors in celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15th – October 15th here in the United States of America! Since 1988, this cultural heritage month has celebrated Hispanic and Latine contributions to culture, science, history, and art!

This year’s theme is “Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future”—a focus on Hispanic and Latine people paving the way for future generations. As part of our call for contributors, we asked folks who those pioneers were in their own lives!

But enough from me. Let me turn it over to some of our lovely Latine writers!

---

Joseph Blomquist (he/him)

¿Qué es la que hay? For those who don’t know me, I’m Joe, a Nuyorican freelancer known for scene-stealing ambiance and annoyingly attractive NPCs (just ask my devs). But today I get to talk about one of the pillars in my family: my granduncle, Rudy.

In 1960, the Washington Senators (eventually the Minnesota Twins) signed the first Dominican-born pitcher in Major League Baseball, Rudy Hernández (beating Juan Marichal by two weeks). Rudy grew up in New York, with our family avoiding much of Trujillo’s reign in the Dominican Republic (despite a few of El Jefe’s diplomats coming from our family). In those days, most of the Dominican and Puerto Rican players were close, playing in the Caribbean winter leagues, and it was his friend, Roberto Clemente, who finally convinced Rudy to become a pitcher. After pitching for both incarnations of the Washington Senators, Rudy continued in Triple-A baseball throughout the 60s. Eventually, he became a scout for the Orioles and Cubs and returned to Puerto Rico to coach for the Department of Sports and Recreation, for Orlando Cepeda’s baseball school, and to run his own baseball camp in San Juan. He passed in 2022.

Baseball wasn’t my sport, but that never mattered to Tío Rudy. For as little time as I got to spend with him, his tireless cultivation of Caribbean Latine talent for the sport he loved inspired my own desires to help grow our community with new and diverse voices. He taught me to persevere despite setbacks and how to set my goals high while still being flexible enough to change the game as needed.

Would you like to know more?
Follow me on Bluesky (@doctormono.bsky.social) or check out my recent Paizo releases: SFS Special #6-99: The End Awakens, PFS Scenario #5-05: The Island of the Vibrant Dead, the Mechageddon! Adventure Path, and more to come orita!

Art by Artur Nakhodkin

Carlos Cabrera (he/they)

Hi everyone! For this year’s theme, I wanted to focus on the person who helped set me on my path: my late father.

To begin, I can say I definitely got my sense of humor from him. We are a mixed-race family, and he used to say that he was Cornucopian because he was so many things and that he came from Cornucopia. In my childhood, I grew up with a younger sister and two older brothers. It wasn’t until much later that I found out I had even more siblings, but back when it was just the four of us, my brothers and I each had a separate video game console. I had an Intellivision, Felipe had a Vectrex, and Esteban (we all call him Rico) had a Colecovision. Later, when I upgraded to an NES and then the SEGA Genesis, I found the game that made me decide what I wanted to do with my life— Flashback: The Quest for Identity (womp womp).

There’s a lot I wish I could show my dad nowadays, but most importantly of all, I want to tell him that it worked. At least part-time, anyway. I’m sure for him it would be more than enough.

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We welcome our Hispanic and Latine community members to share their stories in the comments!

In solidarity,

Rue Dickey
Marketing & Media Specialist

In July, we terminated Paizo’s longstanding Community Use Policy and replaced it with a new Fan Content Policy. This was an error, and we’re taking steps to rectify that today.

We are reinstating the Community Use Policy as it has existed for over 15 years, with a few minor updates and clarifications intended to make using the policy even easier. We have removed both the Approved Products List and Community Use Registry and clarified some elements that were previously in FAQs or simply not addressed (like being able to use our art and logos in black and white products). We have not changed the permissions granted by the policy. The specific language in the Community Use Policy declaration you need to include in your project has changed to reflect a new URL for the policy on paizo.com, and we have added the provision that you provide contact information somewhere on your product in lieu of the now-removed registry. This change will allow existing Community Use Policy projects to continue to operate as they have for over a decade.

We still fully intend to provide additional permissions for community creators to monetize their creations under limited circumstances. For the time being, the Fan Content Policy allows this, and we’re making no changes to that policy today—it exists alongside the Community Use Policy. With the Community Use Policy restored, we can refine the Fan Content Policy to more clearly define what commercial uses are allowed under what conditions and using which elements of our intellectual property. We will make our intended revisions and updates to the Fan Content Policy and let the community know when the new version is available.

Paizo’s community is the foundation of our success, and we deeply appreciate all of the hard work and passion you bring to our spaces. We apologize for this misstep and look forward to a long, bright future for community projects inspired by our work. Thank you for all of your outreach, feedback, and difficult conversations throughout this process. And above all, thank you for being a part of our community.

Today, we’re excited to launch a new landing page featuring all the information fans, content creators, and other publishers need to legally use Paizo’s intellectual property—game rules, setting details, artwork, logos, and other copyrights and trademarks—in their own products. Whether you’re looking to make an online rules database using the ORC license, a setting compatible with Pathfinder Second Edition, an adventure set in the Pact Worlds system, an actual play podcast, or a series of handmade plushies of iconic heroes like Valeros, Seoni, and Lem, we’ve got everything you need at paizo.com/licenses.

Along with this new hub of information, we also made a few updates and revisions to our existing licenses, both for ease of use and to bring them up to date with the current state of our games and brands. You can find out more about these specific licenses on their respective pages on the site.

Paizo Compatibility License

With Pathfinder (and soon Starfinder) in its second edition, we were starting to get a bit of a glut of system-specific compatibility licenses. So, we consolidated what was previously two distinct Pathfinder RPG Compatibility Licenses and a Starfinder Compatibility License into a single Paizo Compatibility License. Using the new license, a publisher can declare compatibility with any of our games and use the appropriate logo, and we don’t have to constantly maintain the list of products and game systems you can use it for.

We also got rid of the registration process by which publishers had to inform us they were using the license. Now, you agree to the license when you publish something using it, the same way you do for the OGL or ORC. Your use of one of the Compatibility Logos or our proprietary Pathfinder-Icons font aren’t locked behind any red tape. Just create your content, ensure you’re following all the rules of the license, and you’re ready to go.

Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite

In October, on the eve of the Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster Project launch, we announced that the ORC license wouldn’t be usable on our Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite community content publishing platforms. While this initially caused a bit of confusion, in the months since, we’ve seen publishers continue using both platforms with great success, accessing Paizo’s IP via the Infinite License alone.

Next month, with the release of Pathfinder Player Core 2, we’ll have completed the 18-month task of divesting our core game from the OGL, and thus, starting on September 1, 2024, publishing of new OGL content on Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite will cease; publishers wishing to release game content on either platform will need to use the Infinite license exclusively.

This means that until Starfinder Second Edition is officially out in just over a year, Starfinder content on the platform is going to need to be free of rules (setting lore, fiction, art assets, etc.) but once the new edition of the game is out, we plan to relaunch Starfinder Infinite in style. It also means that Pathfinder First Edition content, or Pathfinder Second Edition content based on OGL material, will also sunset from the platform in just over a month. So, if you have a Pathfinder product in the works featuring chuuls, the eight schools of magic, or yes, even drow, you have until the end of August to release them. We won’t be removing OGL-based content from the marketplace in September, but you won’t be able to release new material using the OGL after that point.

The Infinite FAQ and End User Licensing Agreement on the marketplaces will be updated closer to the date of the actual change, but consider this your fair warning.

Fan Content Policy

As of today, Paizo’s Community Use Policy has been replaced by the Paizo Fan Content Policy, which serves a similar role, but with different provisions.

First, the Fan Content Policy will allow you to sell merchandise using our IP. Yes, for money. You will also be able to monetize other content using Paizo’s IP, like putting a live play of one of our Adventure Paths behind a Patreon paywall. There are restrictions to this, however, so make sure you read the license carefully before you put in your order with the factory to make high-end poster maps of Golarion. Anything you sell needs to be made by you and sold directly by you to the consumer. You can’t upload a bunch of our art to one of those print-on-demand shops that will let anyone put the art on whatever hat or mug or shirt they want. You can screen print shirts or sew your own plushies and sell them on an Etsy storefront you operate or at conventions, but not mass produce either or sell them through external services or storefronts. But those Pathfinder Society faction dice bags you have been making because you love them? You can totally start selling those now instead of just giving them away for free.

Most of what you could previously do with the Community Use Policy is still permitted under the Fan Content Policy except for making RPG products, which you’ll need to release through the Pathfinder or Starfinder Infinite storefronts (even for free if you want) from now on. So, you can’t use art from the blog or setting material from Golarion to make your own rulebook or adventure under this license. If you’re currently using the OGL or ORC in conjunction with the Community Use Policy, in order to be compliant with the new Fan Content Policy you’ll need to either remove any game rules that would require you to use cite those licenses or remove any non-rule content you accessed via the Community Use Policy.

We know that all this legal stuff can be intimidating and confusing for many fans, and for that, we apologize. It’s our hope that these changes largely improve the community’s ability to create and engage with our brands, our games, and each other, even if they’re different than what we’ve offered in the past. Be sure to check out each license’s FAQ for more information, or pose your questions in the forums or comments below. We’ll do our best to answer them in as timely and clear manner as possible.

Now go out there and start creating! We can’t wait to see what you have in store for us.

Mark Moreland
Director of Brand Strategy

Happy Pride, ‘Finders!
Each year, the United States celebrates LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June in honor of the protests that took place at the Stonewall Inn, a queer club in NYC. The first Pride was a riot, and every Pride going forward is a protest. We’re here, we’re queer, we have always existed, and we will always exist.

This year’s theme for Pride Month is “Reflect. Empower. Unite.” with a focus on coming together as a community, standing up for ourselves and each other, and learning from the trials of our predecessors. Support has always been a central pillar of queer communities, and as we face new waves of bigotry and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, lifting each other up is more important than ever.

We’ve invited LGBTQIA+ Paizo employees and contributors to share their words with us for this community blog!

Also, Paizo is proud to be participating in Seattle Pride this Sunday, June 30^th! If you’re in the area, come to the parade and cheer on the Paizo kobolds in the parade!

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Zigvigix (they/them), host shirren and faction leader of the Advocates.

Alex Speidel (he/him), Organized Play Coordinator

be gay form unions

that’s it that’s the submission. what more can I say.

Avi Kool (they/he)

Hi all, I’m lead editor at Paizo and a nonbinary trans man. Being queer has been part of my life for as long as I can remember, even if I didn’t have words for it when I was young. As time has gone on, being queer exposed me to the world of social justice and activism, and I am a firm believer that no one is free until we all are free. Queer people are actively under attack in our current political climate. This is why it’s so important to me to center queer experiences in my work. At Paizo, we have the opportunity to spread awareness of queer identities to a large number of people, as well as making queer people feel seen in our books. So Paizo will continue to be queer as heck, and I’m proud to be part of that.

Basil Wright (he/they/xe)

I know that the fight for equality, freedom, and safety by my Indigenous community in the States is being echoed elsewhere, whether it's in Palestine, the Congo, Sudan, or in the United States of America. As Juneteenth goes by, I am reminded about the power of community, of the strength of those who stand beside you and uplift you and work towards a common cause. We are all stronger together. More often than not, I have found community with Indigenous creators, with Black creators, with queer creators (and many of us holding all these identities together, such as myself). I want to continue to create games and stories that highlight the importance of community, of belonging, of togetherness. We are better, together.

If you'd like to support my work, two of my games best exemplify the theme of community: Mouseia and Well Wishers, which you can find on my Itch.io page (https://kobanya.itch.io). I also have a Ko-Fi (ko-fi.com/kobanya).

Kofusachi (he/him), the pansexual god of joy and prosperity.

Carlos Cabrera (he/they)

In honor of reflecting over this past year, in 2023 I wrote that it gave me strength/I was jealous that my World of Darkness character was doing multi-gender polyamory better than me. This year I am happy to report that we are now equals! I would like to give a very special thanks to my partners for giving me their love and their time whenever able.

Looking at the year ahead, you will be able find my upcoming work as developer for the Welcome to Night Vale RPG by Renegade Game Studios. Things are about to get weird.

Caryn DiMarco (she/they)

I'm Caryn DiMarco (she/they) and you can find some of my recent work in books like Lost Omens Highhelm and Howl of the Wild. I'm proud to be a contributor to those books, and to a world like Golarion where LGBTQ+ stories, themes, and characters are the norm. TTRPGs have always been an escape for me, and seeing my identity and experiences reflected in the pages of my favorite gaming system is a comfort and a joy. 

Thank you to all my fellow authors, our wonderful devs at Paizo, and the many gamers I share tables with for coming together to show that diversity is natural and equality is attainable. Our real-life magic may be the stories we tell together, and our real-life dragons look more like bills and endless to-do lists, but the possibility of a better world is not a fantasy. Sitting down to play (or run) games with my community always reminds me of the potential within every one of us. 

Hao Jin (she/her), asexual sorceress.

Connie Chang (they/he/she)

Happy Pride, Paizo! Connie Chang here (they/he/she). I wrote Quain for the Tian Xia World Guideand a flash fiction about gay Grandmasters. Outside of Paizo, I'm the Game Master for Transplanar RPG, an all-transgender, people of color-led dark fantasy actual play channel telling stories in a noncolonial, antiorientalist multiverse. Transplanar is an ENNIE-nominated, CRIT Award-sweeping channel that has been featured in Polygon, Dicebreaker, and Gizmodo and discussed on NPR, The New York Times, and Dropout TV.

I'm thrilled to announce Transplanar's first-ever IN-STUDIO series, GODKILLER: LAST HOPE! LAST HOPE is a two-person, eight-episode show about Litany, the titular Godkiller forged for a single purpose: to slay the Immortal Emperor of Heaven—and their mother’s sister. After a monumental failure, Litany teams up with a heroic cultivator and travels across a richly layered fantasy world inspired by my diasporic Chinese heritage, learning what it means to truly become.

LAST HOPE utilizes my original holypunk duet game, GODKILLER, which is being published by Evil Hat Productions. If you're a fan of Tian Xia's Asian fantasy setting and/or queer interrogations of divinity, then tune in June 29 for the premiere of GODKILLER: LAST HOPE on Transplanar RPG's Twitch or YouTube!

Behind the scenes images from GODKILLER: LAST HOPE.

David N. Ross (he/him)

Being a gay man has always been important to my experience of RPGs. Not only has gaming been an activity I shared with my gay friends and even my now husband, but living outside gender and relationship norms has been a common experience connecting me to many fellow game designers.

My most recent Paizo work has yet to be announced, but you can get the 5e version of the Abomination Vaults Adventure Path now. Outside Paizo, I have recently been bringing adventures for Tom Cartos and the DM Lair to Pathfinder rules, and collaborating with my husband on a cooperative storytelling card game under the working title Pax Ad Astra.

Honora Tren (she/her) and Zupisha Loralu (she/her), lovers and New Valor Defense Force Guardians.

Dustin Knight (he/him)

Pride is a protest. All love is valid. Nothing I expose here can come close to supplanting these powerful words, but in the past year I’ve felt such a deep connection to these two ideas as I’ve grown to learn more about what I am and what it means to be a part of both the LGBT+ and Paizo community. You must learn to love yourself before you can properly love another. And that means being proud of yourself and your accomplishments, even though it feels like you are fighting a voice deep inside you that hates you for what you are. All love is a valid form of protest. And learning to love yourself despite what the world’s hate has planted deep inside is the ultimate act of defiance, and one I have only been empowered to face thanks to the unity of this incredible community.

Proud to Love Myself.

James Beck

Hello! My name is James Beck, I am a freelancer whose work you'll primarily find over on Pathfinder Infinite, where I have several Infinite Masters titles with Eldritch Osiris Games. One thing that I absolutely love about Golarion/the Pact Worlds is how much I can see myself in it. I love seeing fellow LGBTQ+ people that populate the world! I've been out and proud about my identity since 7th grade and one of the big draws of Pathfinder/Starfinder has always been how welcoming it is to me. Not only have the universes of Paizo been welcoming but so has the Paizo community, from fellow freelancers to Paizo staff and the broader community at large. I wish everyone across the world a happy pride! Be yourself!

Link to Eldritch Osiris Games: https://www.eldritchosirisgames.com

Arshea, Spirit of Abandon. Nonbinary deity of freedom and sexuality.

James Jacobs (he/him), Pathfinder Narrative Creative Director

The previous 12 months since last year’s Pride blog have been busy as we’ve navigated the frenzied switchover of Pathfinder from OGL content to the Remastered rules. That’s mostly all behind us now from an in-house production standpoint, and it’s a relief to be back on track exploring brand new stories. One of those tales I’m really delighted to see hit the shelves, though, isn’t an adventure or even a game. I’m talking about Liane Merciel’s upcoming novel, Godsrain. It’s the first novel Paizo’s published in a long time, and it’s helping to kick off the War of Immortals plotline, but the part I’m delighted most by is that my favorite iconic Merisiel and her wife Kyra are front and center to the plot. Bisexual representation is something I’ve been passionate about since the start of Pathfinder, with Merisiel being my chosen heroine for this quest. I can’t wait for you all to see what adventures she and the others up to while they’re also saving the world!

Katina Davis (she/her)

Representation is important year-round, but during Pride month I feel especially compelled to step forth from the shadows like a bisexual vampire to celebrate queer stories. I don’t always feel qualified to speak on queer topics because I’m married to a man and could easily be mistaken for straight. Then I remember how I once felt under-represented and less sure of my identity, and how isolating that can be. It’s taken me years to understand myself enough to find peace and joy in who I am. If I can reflect that queer joy back to even one person who might feel lonely and confused, that’s worth it to me. Just imagine the power of entire communities full of that energy!

My years working and freelancing for Paizo have been instrumental to my queer identity because they’ve introduced me to a diverse and supportive group of people that I’m incredibly grateful for. It makes sense given that we’re all tied by our love of a cooperative game—this community is one big adventuring party. We roll initiative together.

You can find my freelance credits, social media, and other links here: https://katinadavis.carrd.co/

Wat Ryshel (he/him), trans ysoki butler.

Kendra Leigh Speedling (she/her)

Hello, all! I'm Kendra, frequent Paizo contributor. You might have spotted my name most recently on Howl of the Wild and Treasure Vault. I've also got two Adventure Path volumes coming up that I'm excited to see hit people's tables: Singer, Stalker, Skinsaw Man for Curtain Call and Destroyer's Doom for Triumph of the Tusk. Part of what helped encourage me to be open about being queer was seeing others in the TTRPG community do the same, especially those whose identities more easily fly under the radar. "Unite" is the last part of the blog theme for this year, and every time I see (or write!) a queer NPC in an adventure or lore book, it gives me a sense of belonging. We're here, we're not going away, and as in any good adventuring party, it's important to have each other’s backs. Happy Pride!

Kyle Raes (he/she)

My name is Kyle Raes (he/him, she/her) and I’m pansexual and bigender. I’ve been contributing on and off again to Pathfinder for years alongside maintaining my daily blog that analyzes the various options available to characters in both Pathfinder and Starfinder.

It was seeing the sort of community that Paizo has attracted through these games that actually helped afford me the self-reflection to realize my own preferences and identity.

This community, both the players and even the writers and other staff at Paizo stayed true to themselves even with pressures out there trying to deny them that, and for that I am forever grateful, rocky times and all.

Right now, I’m between major projects, but I just this past month published my first submission on Starfinder Infinite!

Elemental Experts is a book with five archetypes for Starfinder giving both casters and non-spellcasting classes a way to go all in and specialize in a particular damage type as masters of that element! The book has all commissioned art by absolutely brilliant artists!

You can find my blog at https://dailycharacteroption.tumblr.com/

My Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/Kyle_Raes_Daily_Character_Option

And also check out my very first published homebrew on Starfinder Infinite! Elemental Experts - Paizo | Starfinder Infinite

Tiya/Tiyo Stories (she/he), genderfluid legendary wayang storyteller.

Lynne M. Meyer (she/they)

It’s impossible to talk about my queerness without talking about games, because they’ve been interwoven from the outset. I was introduced to TTRPGs by an actor friend (now spouse) who’s been playing and running games since the 1980s. Sure I’d love it, he invited me to join his upcoming campaign. I was hooked almost immediately.

I was alsostarting to come out to myself around this time.

All the characters I’ve played have explored queerness in some fashion. As I say in Thom James Carter’s book They Came to Slay: The Queer Culture of D&D, games—specifically, inclusive games with good queer rep—gave me a safe space to figure myself out and unpack years of comphet.

Icon Marsha P. Johnson said, “No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.” This month, I’m part of Queer Games Bundle 2024—a bundle of nearly 500 games, software, and zines from 271 queer creators across itch.io. The organizers put it best: this bundle is a direct action that you can take right now to support queer people in a life-changing way, and help nurture the diverse queer games community.

Find me on Bluesky (@lynnemeyer.bsky.social) and Twitter (@Lynne_M_Meyer).

Ixthia the Unbreakable, the nonbinary faction leader of the Exo-Guardians.

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe), Marketing & Media Specialist

It’s me, your friendly local nonbinary circus goth! Over the last fifteen years, I’ve cycled through a variety of labels—nonbinary lesbian, ace lesbian, nonbinary bisexual, trans man, nonbinary trans man, the list goes on—but through all of that change, I have had the love and support of my partners, my close friends and family, and my community. Queer community is vital—in some cases, it is literal lifeblood when bigotry causes institutions to abandon us.

Love is powerful. Love in a world that tries to shame you and hide you away is a protest. And love is a fire that cannot be snuffed out.

Last year’s Pride blog was one of the first projects I took point of here at Paizo, and I’m proud and elated to have continued the tradition through our various community and culture blogs full circle back to Pride. Even “small” acts of solidarity like this give hope and voice to people who have historically been silenced.

Keep up with me on the internet: https://twitter.com/ilananight13, https://bsky.app/profile/ilananight.bsky.social, and http://ilananight.space!

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And, for a special Pride preview, have a sneak peek at one of the items coming in Player Core 2: the Elixir of Gender Transformation! This item was written by Avi Kool, Lead Editor.

Elixir of Gender Transformation Item 1+
Alchemical, Consumable, Elixir
Usage held in 1 hand; Bulk L
Activate [one-action] (manipulate)

This clear, bitter liquid can be ingested to change certain secondary sex characteristics. Different formulations create different changes—for example, one variety might cause the voice to deepen and promote body and facial hair growth, while another might cause fat redistribution around the hips and the growth of breasts. These changes tend to be accompanied by shifting of the fat in the face, sometimes dramatically or sometimes more subtly changing the user’s appearance. Changes from this elixir take place gradually over the course of months or years, depending on the type.

Type lesser; Level 1; Price 1 gp
The elixir must be taken every week, and changes occur over the course of a year or more.

Type moderate; Level 3; Price 8 gp
The elixir must be taken once a month, and changes occur over the course of a year.

Type greater; Level 6; Price 35 gp
The elixir must be taken once, and changes occur over the course of 6 months.

From our tables to yours, happy Pride from Paizo!

Hail and well met, Pathfinders!
Paizo’s offices are closed today in honor of Juneteenth National Independence Day (Juneteenth). This holiday celebrates the true end of chattel slavery in the United States, when the Emancipation Proclamation was enforced in Texas at the end of the Civil War.

Juneteenth celebrations date back to 1866—the first year following the freeing of slaves in Texas. Beginning with Texas in 1938, Juneteenth was eventually recognized as a state holiday by all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In 2021, Juneteenth National Independence Day became a federally recognized holiday in the United States.

Black communities around the United States and Mexico celebrate Juneteenth in a variety of ways, from rodeos and picnics to poetry readings, music festivals, and more. Above all, Juneteenth is a celebration of Black art, music, culture, and freedom.

To see if a Juneteenth event is happening near you and get involved, take a look at the Worldwide Event Listings on Juneteenth.com.

If you can, donating time, money, or other resources to a Black-focused organization is a great way to celebrate Juneteenth! Here are some recommended organizations actively working to support Black communities:

• National Black Child Development Institute
• Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
• Color of Change
• The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
• The Marsha P. Johnson Institute
• National Black Justice Coalition

Take a moment today to reflect on what freedom means—and how that freedom was granted to different groups of people over time. In the words of Black feminist and activist Fannie Lou Hamer, “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”

In solidarity,

Rue Dickey
Marketing & Media Specialist

Hail and well met, Pathfinders and Starfinders! With Father’s Day coming up, we wanted to give you a guide for the best Father’s Day gifts for the Paizo gamer in your life—and showcase some Dad Creators!

Starfinder Beginner Box

Learn the rules of Starfinder while you play through the Starfinder Beginner Box! Dungeons With Dadrecommends this as a great starting point for playing Starfinder with the kids! The pre-generated characters and a dungeon that teaches you skills as you progress make for a great game night.

Pathfinder Beginner Box

Newly remastered, the Pathfinder Beginner Box teaches you the ropes of Pathfinder Second Edition as you solve the mysteries of the Menace Under Otari! Paul Benson from GeekDad reviewed the original Pathfinder Second Edition Beginner Box back in 2020—calling it a great resource for players, veteran and new alike!

Pathfinder Elemental Stones

Harness the power of the elements with this Pathfinder board game! Designed in-house by Paizo Games Lead Designer and proud board gaming Dad, Joe Pasini! Elemental Stones is a pattern-building game with a secret role element to keep you on your toes. Great for family game nights!

Pathfinder Adventure Path: Abomination Vaults

Give Dad a chance to continue the adventure of the Pathfinder Beginner Box with Abomination Vaults! This best-selling megadungeon adventure path is a great follow-up to Menace Under Otari, taking adventurers deep into the dungeons of Belcorra Haruvex! Pathfinder Adventure Path: Abomination Vaults is available in hardcover for Pathfinder Second Edition and Fifth Edition.

It wouldn’t be a Father’s Day blog without tipping our helmets to Keskodai, the Iconic Mystic from Starfinder First Edition! Keskodai is such a dedicated father; he keeps his child with him in a protective cylinder.

Follow Keskodai’s child, Chk Chk, into Starfinder Second Edition, where he will be stepping up as the new Iconic Mystic! Keep up with the Starfinder Playtest at starfinderplaytest.com!

It is with a heavy heart that Paizo announces the passing of longtime software developer Gary Teter. Gary was a pioneer in the development of the Paizo website and its core behind-the-scenes software systems that have helped to deliver Pathfinder and Starfinder products for more than 20 years. He was integral in the creation of our subscription programs, forums, and more–all at a time when such technology didn’t exist.

Our hearts go out to his family and friends during this difficult time.

We’ve asked the Paizo team to share their thoughts below, and we encourage members of the community to do the same.

Thanks again for all your hard work to make Paizo the success it is today, Gary. You will be missed.

-Erik, Jim, Lisa, Maggie, Mike, Rei, and Vic

Gary Teter came to Paizo way back in 2004 at a pivotal point in the company’s history. We started off as a magazine company, and the process of inputting subscriptions and renewals was eating up the small profit that magazines made back then, so we decided to try to do it through a website. But this was in 2004, and there just weren’t any website options you could purchase, so we considered building it ourselves, which was a daunting task.

Gary was brought in as we were struggling to figure out what to do. He brought vision and hard work to the table, and lo and behold, we launched paizo.com and brought subscriptions online. Once the magazines went away, that same subscription service morphed into one of the financial backbones of the company. I’m not sure Paizo would be here today if Gary hadn’t started working for us. Since then, he kept the machine going for twenty years!

Gary also brought a sense of humor to Paizo. Remember “Talk Like a Pirate Day,” when Gary made it so everything you posted turned into pirate language? Or the secret Smurf thing where your avatar changed into a Smurf whenever you mentioned them in a post? That was Gary.

I loved working with Gary during those early years of paizo.com. The website was a blank page, and we could dream about what we wanted it to be. Some things were instant successes, like side carts. Others were left on the cutting room floor (I’m looking at you, Paizooties). But through it all, Gary had a love for the customer and did his best to make their experience on paizo.com a great one. He would spend late nights trying to shave off shipping costs just to save folks a little more money.

Gary will be missed at Paizo.

Lisa Stevens
CEO

Gary Teter was never among the most well-known employees at Paizo, but if you’ve ever interacted with paizo.com in any way, you’ve felt his influence. And if you’ve ever noticed some feature here that no other website has, Gary almost certainly played a major role in creating it.

Gary was Paizo’s third-longest tenured employee, after Erik Mona and James Jacobs. Paizo’s original webmaster, Rob Head, hired Gary in March 2004, while Paizo was still just publishing magazines.

When we hired him, paizo.com was mainly a collection of static pages, one for each of our magazines, plus a sidebar for brief news updates. You could subscribe, purchase back issues, and not much else. Twenty years ago, Gary was working furiously on changing that, adding message boards in August, and launching a real web store offering thousands of gaming products in November. While the site has evolved over the years, the paizo.com you know today is still built on the foundations Gary and Rob created two decades ago.

But as important as Gary’s contributions to the website were, his role in shaping the paizo.com community was in many ways even more impactful. With the launch of the message boards, Gary took on the role of “PostMonster General,” acting not just as the community’s first moderator, but helping to set the tone for all interactions on paizo.com.

Gary was serious about his work and always interested in the ways that evolving technology could be used, from the utterly confusing construction that is ents and loaves to using a chatbot to turn an ordinary deck of cards into a mystery game to play with his son.

Gary strongly believed in doing things the right way with a customer-first attitude. Whenever I would approach him with a complicated idea that I thought our customers would appreciate, he would explain the inherent difficulties that kept every other website from doing it, and then he’d figure out how to make it happen, and he’d usually do it quickly and do it well.

Gary also always approached things with humor. He once demonstrated a new feature in our back-end software to our sales manager, who flippantly complained that it had one flaw: not enough pancake bunnies (referencing a then-current meme involving a Japanese rabbit known for balancing baked goods on its head). So Gary added “Pancake Bunny Mode” to the tool, in which lines of animated rabbits loaded up with syrupy goodness marched across the screen—a feature that you could toggle on or off… unless you were the sales manager, in which case there was no off switch.

Gary was occasionally courted by companies that offered him much more money that Paizo ever could, but he genuinely loved paizo.com and the paizo.com community, and he told me several times over the years that he never wanted to work anywhere other than Paizo for the rest of his life. Gary’s contributions to Paizo were foundational and crucial, and I’m greatly saddened that he won’t be here to help guide paizo.com into its third decade.

Vic Wertz,
Chief Technical Officer (Retired)

I remember the change that crept through Paizo after Gary came aboard so many years ago. From over in the editorial department, his influence was subtle at first, but then Smurfs started showing up on the message boards. To me, those little blue gremlins were probably the most visual (and unexpected) of the manifestations of the glory that was Gary. But beyond the boards and the machinery of the virtual world, Gary was someone I always felt welcome to chat with, be it a happenstance greeting in a breakroom that developed into a full-on conversation, a discussion at a work gathering about the intersection of internet and gamer culture, sharing quirky cat-themed anecdotes, or just some good old reminiscing about the early days of Paizo. His presence in the very early Paizo chat rooms was always welcome and comforting, as was his sense of humor. He put humanity into Paizo’s infrastructure in ways I expect I’ll still be discovering, marveling at, and appreciating for years to come. I’ll miss you, my friend.

James Jacobs
Creative Director

I first met Gary, like many who interacted with him, online. I first found my way to this community through the message boards, and Gary was the guy running the show back then. He had an interesting way of moderating conversations and keeping the community entertained and on point. It was this community and the people in it that led me to freelancing, and though it sounds weird for someone in the tech side of the company being responsible for a word jockey starting his career, that’s the case. Gary was not only fun to chat with, he was also supportive. In the way-back times, a few of us started a chat room that served as a somewhat real-time version of the message boards where regulars would hang out and keep up with each other. I was in that chat room all the time and so was Gary, who was the first Paizo staffer we asked to join. It was in that chat room where I really got to know Gary. From the Smurf “prank” to the odd threads and experiments that went way over my head, Gary was always up to something interesting, and I swear, half the time you could see the twinkle in his eye even through text. When I finally joined the company and moved out here, it was nice seeing a familiar face in the office that was outside of my immediate department. We even lived in the same apartment complex, so I’d see him around outside of work too. Gary was a delightfully strange man, with a head full of concepts, ideas, and plans that I couldn’t even fathom with my puny word-focused brain. So, thank you for all the education and entertainment. We’ll miss you, Gary!

Adam Daigle
Director of Game Development

Gary Teter was a passionate developer with a soft spot for retro hardware and clicky keyboards. When we were still in a physical office, it wasn't unusual to see Gary rolling by my window atop his Solowheel on his way home at the end of the day. Once we all started working remotely, Gary lamented the loss of the day-to-day impromptu conversations that would happen just by virtue of having desks near each other. Those conversations could be about anything from how we might solve a particular technical challenge to why we didn't have more (or any) pneumatic tubes in the office.

Professionally, Gary loved solving complex or tricky problems and took great delight in a satisfying solution. He made a lasting impact with his creativity and dedication to his work. I especially appreciated the sense of whimsy he injected into our daily conversations and many of the things he did. His depth of knowledge and creative ideas will be missed. He was a one-of-a-kind personality who will always be remembered at Paizo.

Rei Ko
Vice President of Technology

It's difficult to share memories of a coworker and feel like you did them justice. Working together is such a specific context that you can spend years with someone and never feel like you got the full picture of who they truly were. So I will resist the urge to lay out some sort of comprehensive, definitive statement on Gary Teter. I’m not qualified to do that. I will simply tell what I can, in the hopes that others will fill in the gaps in my telling to form a more complete picture.

Gary was a wizard. If you told him you needed something built, he would go read the book on that thing and come back having built it. He would build his own tooling so he could have exactly what he needed to get his job done. He would cast magic with code.

Gary was one of the most customer-oriented colleagues I've ever worked with. Regardless of the other factors in play, he was always deeply grateful to the people who purchased Paizo products—the people who enable so many of us at the company to do what we love for a living. Every feature he implemented had an eye towards surprising and delighting customers, as well as treating them fairly and honestly, whether they found out about it or not. It was a matter of personal principle. He couldn't not do that.

Gary believed that learning was a lifelong process. Twenty years into working on the code-base for Paizo, he was still researching new algorithms, frameworks, and techniques—either for use on the job or just for fun. He always had a handful of pet projects at home to work on after he'd signed off for the day: an audiophile amplifier here, a spectrum analyzer there. A few years prior to the pandemic he learned to ride an electric monowheel because, in his own words, "I just decided that I wanted to be the kind of person who could ride a wheel, mostly because it looked awesome, and I’ve always thought that sort of thing would be impossible for me, and that it was time I let go of preconceived notions about what I could and couldn’t do."

Gary was a trailblazer. If you needed to get 30 people from here to there across all manner of difficult terrain, he’d figure out the exact route to take. Perhaps someone else would have to arrange the provisions, and another person would need to load and balance the wagons, and a third person would keep the caravan together along the way. But the path itself? The guy with the machete hacking through the underbrush 50 yards ahead, shouting back, "It's this way!"? That was all Gary. It wasn't until I reached the end of this paragraph that I realized that there's another name for that person:

Gary was a Pathfinder. And now he's gone.

And Paizo is the lesser for it.

Brian Bauman
Software Architect

Gary was one of the first people I spoke to on my first day at Paizo, and I distinctly remember thinking, “Oh, right, I work in the TTRPG industry now. Of course I’ll be working next to a bespectacled, bearded ponytailed guy named Gary with an esoteric sense of humor.”

That was only my first impression, of course; over the next six years, he made countless others. He was an old-school geek who embodied the absolute best of classic weird online and programmer culture. He was the owner of a desk that resembled the Iron Throne if it had been built from 20 years of Paizo products. He was the guy in our weekly Zoom meetings who always had a wall of oscilloscopes or something that looked like a half-built robot on a workbench behind him somewhere. And, like others have said, he was an incredibly smart and talented coder who cared tremendously about his work and what it meant to the Pathfinder and Starfinder communities. It didn’t matter whether he was working on code to save customers money by shipping in as few packages as possible, an uncheatable die roller for the play-by-post boards, banishing spambots to an endless Sartre-esque digital labyrinth, or some shamelessly goofy forum feature; he approached every projects with the same level of deadly seriousness and took enormous pride in ensuring that it was done right, no matter how ridiculous it was.

It's hard to imagine a paizo.com without Gary and his contributions, and his passing will leave a tremendous void not only on Paizo’s tech team, but in the company as a whole. My heart goes out to his family and loved ones, and I am proud and grateful to have had the opportunity to work with him for as long as I did.

Andrew White
Digital Products Lead

Welcome to PaizoCon Online 2024, the celebration of all things Paizo, which begins today! Join us for free, fun panels at twitch.tv/officialpaizo. Meet friends and network on our Discord, with prizes, activities, staff AMAs, and more!

It’s the Annual PaizoCon Sale!

From now through May 27th, use PAIZOCON2024 at checkout for a discount on a number of cool things, including:

• 10% off Player Core & GM Core sketch covers
• 10% off WizKids minis
• 20% off Goblin Firework Fight and Elemental Stones
• 20% off all backlist Starfinder 1E (anything pre-Mechageddon!)
• 20% off all backlist Pathfinder accessories (Flip-Mats, spell cards, condition cards, etc.)
• 20% off 40+ Foundry products including Organized Play adventures!

The sale code does not apply to backorders, preorders, or subscriptions. It does not stack with the Paizo Advantage. Order while supplies last! Sale ends at 11:59 p.m. Pacific on May 27th.

Shop the PaizoCon Sale Today!

But wait, there’s more! Many of our partners have amazing offers to help you unleash your hero:

• WizKids: 20% off Pathfinder Battles
• DriveThru Sites: 40% off all Pathfinder/Starfinder Compatible OGL titles, Pathfinder Graphic Novels, and Pathfinder Tales fiction
• Pathfinder/Starfinder Infinite: 40% off Infinite Community Content Titles, plus an Infinite Masters Megabundle
• Roll20: Up to 40% off Paizo titles on the Roll20 Marketplace!

A final note that for Mental Health Awareness Month, Paizo is partnering with Take This, an organization dedicated to mental health in gaming. You can join us and members of the team of Take This on Sunday at 2 P.M. PST for a panel on therapeutic TTRPGs and safety in therapeutic roleplay. We can’t wait to chat with them!

We’re also having a virtual silent auction for Pathfinder and Starfinder Society boons like the starsinger, skittergoblin, and more, with all proceeds benefitting Take This!

We can’t wait to see you all this weekend however you choose to join us, whether it be watching the livestreamed panels or participating in our Events Discord. Happy Gaming!

Hail and well met, Pathfinders! Paizo is proud to celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AANHPI Month)—this May and every May!

A variety of characters from Pathfinder and Starfinder, featuring art by Roena Rosenberger, Raphael Madureira, Klaher Baklaher, Pixoloid Studios, Sammy Khalid, Alexander Nanitchkov, and Gunship Revolution (left to right)

Originally designated “Pacific/Asian American Heritage Week” in 1977, AANHPI Month was codified into the American calendar of holidays and heritage months in 1992. Each year, the Federal Asian Pacific American Council (FAPAC) dedicates a new theme for AANHPI Month, giving a focal point to how we celebrate the contributions of Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders. The theme of this year’s AANHPI Month is “Advancing Leaders Through Innovation.”

According to the FAPAC press release, this theme “pays homage to the visionaries and trailblazers who have shaped our AANHPI history and continue to influence our collective future.” Anyone can help uplift these current and future leaders by supporting organizations that foster AANHPI creatives, support AANHPI mental health, and provide opportunities to AANHPI youth. The following list is non-exhaustive, but a good start for people looking to volunteer or donate:

• Stop AAPI Hate
• Asian Mental Health Collective
• National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
• Asian American Arts Alliance
• Empowering Pacific Islander Communities

This year, we at Paizo would like to take a moment to spotlight some phenomenal AANHPI creators, reviewers, and streamers in the Paizo sphere! For starters, we’re proud to be sponsoring an all-AANHPI cast stream of Mountain of Sea and Sky, showcasing character options from the upcoming Lost Omens Tian Xia Character Guide! Catch the stream Saturday, May 25 at 6 p.m. Pacific time on twitch.tv/stellaluna!

Looking for more AANHPI creatives in the TTRPG space to follow? Here’s some community recommendations!

• The Rules Lawyer
• The Gallant Goblin
• Goblets & Gays
• The Atomless
• Unwavering Force
• Asians Represent
• Tablestory - Gatewalkers

A hearty thank-you from all of us here at Paizo to the wonderful AANHPI creatives, players, and community members that help make our worlds brighter and better!

In Solidarity,
Rue Dickey
Marketing & Media Specialist

Paizo’s made a name for itself on its adventures—even before the rise of the Pathfinder RPG, we were creating standalone adventures and Adventure Paths. There’s an old industry adage that “adventures don’t sell,” and while it’s true that a product like an adventure, which is aimed only at the GM, will sell less than a product aimed at players, I’ve never agreed with the theory that creating and publishing adventures is a waste of resources. To me, adventures are the whole point of an RPG—without adventures, GMs have nothing to run and players have nothing to play.

While a custom-created adventure by your own GM will always be able to speak to your table’s gaming preferences, creating adventures takes a lot of work. With published adventures, a GM can not only save a lot of time in preparing for a game or a campaign, but also find inspiration in them or learn how adventures are written, both of which help a GM get better at their craft. And when you don’t have a group to game with, even the simple act of reading a published adventure can help you feel that you’re still connected to your hobby until you find a new group to game with.

Published adventures have another advantage as well—they create shared experiences for gamers to talk about. It’s one thing to be at a convention or go online to talk about an adventure your PCs went on and how you barely made it out of the dungeon alive, but when you’ve done this with a published adventure, other gamers out there in the world who have been on the same adventure feel a connection to your game, and a greater discourse can be born out of that experience much in the same way as talking with friends about a recent movie or video game everyone’s been watching or playing.

As big a part of Paizo’s history as adventures are, it’s no surprise that we have several categories of adventures to choose from—and with the recent adjustments to our Adventure Path lengths and the formats of our standalone Adventures, I figured it’s time to chat a little bit about how Paizo’s three categories of published adventures are different, so you can figure out which category works best for your current campaign. Adventures are broken down into three size categories: Small, Medium, and Large.

Small: Scenarios and Quests

Our shortest adventure offerings are Scenarios and Quests. These PDF-only products give you a shorter game experience meant to play out over the course of two hours or so (in the case of a quest) or a single game session (a scenario). These are all part of Paizo’s Organized Play program, but they work just as well for a home game that needs a quick encounter or a short filler adventure in between longer storylines. You can think of a Scenario or a Quest as a short film.

Medium: Standalone Adventures

Our standalone Adventures have recently undergone an upgrade—from this point onward, starting with the upcoming adventure Prey for Death, our standalone adventures will be hardcover 128-page books. A standalone Adventure will typically present a single storyline that covers several sessions of gaming—as a general rule, you can expect your characters to gain somewhere between 3 to 6 levels over the course of a single standalone Adventure. This format allows us to explore larger storylines that need more room than a single volume of an Adventure Path to play out, but that don’t require the commitment to a three-part campaign—and also allow us to get a bit more experimental (such as with Prey for Death, which expects the players to all be Red Mantis Assassins—or at least closely allied with them!). We’ve got some more fun experiments in the works going forward for this line, so stay tuned! You can think of a standalone Adventure as a feature-length movie.

Large: Adventure Paths

Our Adventure Paths have been going strong for over 200 volumes, and while we’ve made some adjustments to their length (shifting from six-part campaigns down to three-part ones), this line of adventures isn’t going anywhere. An Adventure Path is published in three volumes that come out monthly; it can cover months or even years of gaming. You can expect your PCs to gain about 10 levels over the course of an entire Adventure Path. This format lets us tell long, sprawling stories that cover a wide range of themes, to explore ongoing events in the world of Golarion, and to present new parts of the world in great detail. You can think of an Adventure Path as a season of episodes for a television series.

Any Questions? Ask in the Comments!

Of course, these general details only scratch the surface. If you have more specific questions, feel free to ask! I’m always eager to answer whatever you might want to know about Paizo’s Pathfinder adventure line. Seeya in the comments section below!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Creative Director of Narrative

Hail and well met!
We hope you’ve had a chance to look at the 2024 Programming Schedule, because game signups are officially open!

If you haven’t already purchased your tickets, check out this step by step breakdown for getting badges via Tabletop.Events this year.

Game Signups

And here’s a step-by-step breakdown for this year’s game signups!

1. Find the game you would like to sign up for on the Schedule of Events. This schedule can be filtered by many different criteria including name, event type, date, and time. Click on the event entry (either the name or the number to the left).
2. On the right side of the screen, click the large green button that says “Get Ticket for YOUR NAME.” This will add the event ticket to your cart, but you’re not done yet!


3. You can go and add more tickets to your cart if you like, as your tickets are saved for two hours. Once you’re all done, click “Checkout” in the cart to the right of the screen.


4. Click “Check out for Free.” You’re all set! You can view your schedule on the “My Schedule” page at any time.

Please note that there is a limit on our new content this year. To ensure everyone gets a chance to play the new scenarios, you may not sign up for more than one session of a new release. These new releases are:

• SFS1 Intro: Year of Era's End
• SFS1 7-02: Zo! vs. Zo
• PFS2 5-16: A Lie Told to Strangers
• PFS2 5-17: Stranded on Yesterday's Tide

Submitting Community Events

While the main schedule has been released, community gaming event submissions are still open! These can be RPG events featuring Pathfinder or Starfinder, as well as other systems or even other types of games entirely! Want to introduce people to your favorite indie RPG? Looking for players for the new board game you just bought? Finally want to settle who the best Mario Karter in the community is? You can host all these events and more!

1. From the PaizoCon convention page, go to “Host” in the top bar, then click “Submissions.”
2. Click “New Submission” and choose an event type. For this explainer we’ll be using an RPG event, but most events will ask for the same or similar information.
3. Fill in the requested information! Let the staff and prospective attendees know as much as you can about the event you’re submitting. Once you’ve filled in the information, click Create!
4. After submission, staff will review events and either approve them (adding them to the schedule), contact you for more information, or reject them. We reserve the right to reject events for any reason.

You can submit events at any time before May 24, 2024. 

If you have any questions about event submissions, please reach out to us at paizocon@paizo.com

Other Activities

Portfolio Review Sign Ups

Portfolio reviews are now open to general attendees! Anyone is welcome to fill out the form, book a slot for portfolio review, and join us on the Paizo Events Discord server! Get thoughtful and detailed feedback on your illustrations from Paizo’s art directors and narrative team. Learn what we look for and how to get there. We are here to help! Sign up to have our team review your portfolio, and we’ll give you a constructive critique on your work.

The art and writing reviews are separate, so you are welcome to sign up for both, but please only sign up for one review per subject.

Review Guidelines

• Reviews will be done over Discord; please remember what time you signed up and join the Discord chat at your time as to not intrude on someone else’s review.
• Please only choose one slot per review subject; we have a limited number of times and want to give as many people a chance as possible.
• Please link to your portfolio so we have a chance to review your work beforehand.
• No AI generated work.

Appointment reminder emails will be sent out the week before PaizoCon, and again the day before a scheduled review. We can’t wait to see your work!

Sign up for an art review! | Sign up for a writing sample review!

Friends of Paizo:

We’ll once again be joined by multiple friends of Paizo in the Discord this year! Chat with, ask questions of, and learn more about the amazing work of teams like BKOM Studios, Foundry VTT, Roll20, and more!

Last year’s convention was entirely online, but this year we’re introducing PaizoCon@! Our new pilot program allows you to experience PaizoCon in person with your fellow Pathfinders and Starfinders at participating local game stores! Check back on this blog to learn more.

We look forward to seeing you all online this year!

Get your tickets for PaizoCon Online 2024 today!

Hello and well met! With many shenanigans and much wrangling, we bring you this year’s PaizoCon Online schedule! Included in this year’s schedule is our Twitch programming, Discord programming, and some community content creator streams happening during PaizoCon weekend as well!

As more games and activities are submitted, be sure to check back here, as well as the Tabletop.Events schedule for updates!

Jump To Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday

Friday, May 24th

10 a.m.–12 p.m. PDT
PaizoCon 2024 Keynote (Twitch)
Get excited for news, updates, and upcoming products at our annual Keynote, hosted by Erik Mona!

11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. PDT
Elemental Stones Boardgame (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Play the first board game from Paizo Games, Elemental Stones, with one of its designers! (Tabletop Simulator is required.)

12 p.m.–1 p.m. PDT
Starfinder Second Edition (Twitch)
Find out where we've been and what's to come for Starfinder Second Edition!

12 p.m.–1 p.m. PDT
Guess that Adventure! (Discord Stages)
Very similar to Paizo’s ‘Guess that Monster’ livestream we did in honor of the release of Monster Core. We've stripped adventure covers of their identifying information and now we're quizzing Paizo developers on their knowledge of what adventure it is!

1 p.m.–2 p.m. PDT
Godsrain—Death and Renewal (Twitch)
If you haven't heard, there's been some interesting prophesies popping up in Golarion. Join us while we talk about The Godsrain Prophesies, upcoming novel, Adventure Path, and War of Immortals event!

1 p.m.–2:30 p.m. PDT
Elemental Stones Boardgame (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Play the first board game from Paizo Games, Elemental Stones, with one of its designers! (Tabletop Simulator is required.)

2 p.m.–3 p.m. PDT
Organized Play Updates (Twitch)
Join the Organized Play team while they talk about what’s coming up in the newly revealed Year 6 of PFS and what's in store for the final year of Starfinder Society First Edition!

3 p.m.–4 p.m. PDT
Paizo Partners Online Tools Showcase (Twitch)
We have some amazing partners who help us produce various tools to aid with online gaming. Some you know, and others you might not be familiar with, but we want to give them all a chance to show off a little of what they do!

3 p.m.–4:30 p.m. PDT
Elemental Stones Boardgame (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Play the first board game from Paizo Games, Elemental Stones, with one of its designers! (Tabletop Simulator is required.)

4 p.m. PDT
Organized Play Game Block 1 (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Pathfinder and Starfinder Society scenarios begin at the start of this timeslot. Shorter adventures, such as Quests or Bounties, may also be available. Visit the tabletop.events schedule for full details on all Organized Play offerings!

4 p.m.–6 p.m. PDT
SF2E Live Play (Twitch)
Join the Starfinder team on their journey through the stars in this alpha playtest campaign of Starfinder Second Edition! This game will be the opening session of an ongoing campaign, with episodes dropping up until Gen Con 2024.

4 p.m.–8 p.m. PDT
The lightless Beacon: Call of Cthulhu 7E (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
In the mid 1920s, the passengers of the SS Essex County must investigate an unlit lighthouse off the coast of Rockport, Massachusetts. Was the lighthouse's lantern extinguished by inclement weather, or is something more sinister afoot?

This session will use Foundry VTT and be run by Paizo's Software Architect, Brian Bauman. Players will be provided with pregenerated characters.

7 p.m.–7 p.m. PDT
Pathfinder Battles and Beyond: 2025 releases from WizKids (Twitch)
Join Magellan Mulligan, RPG Project Production Manager/Producer at WizKids, for a look at some exciting new releases coming this year and next for Pathfinder Battles and more!

8 p.m.–9 p.m. PDT
Jackbox: Get Pathlashed! (Discord Stages)
Join the community in an evening of Jackbox nonsense to kick off PaizoCon Online 2024! There will be adult language/themes in this event.

Planned schedule:
Round 1: Lie Swatter! Up to 100 participants can play this game of spotting falsehoods and nonsense.
Round 2: Pathlash! It's Quiplash, but with a Pathfinder and Starfinder twist!
Round 3: Community choice! I'll present several fan-favorite games for vote at the top of the event and we'll pick one to close things out.

10 p.m. PDT
Organized Play Game Block 2 (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Pathfinder and Starfinder Society scenarios begin at the start of this timeslot. Shorter adventures, such as Quests or Bounties, may also be available. Visit the tabletop.events schedule for full details on all Organized Play offerings!

Back To Top ^

Saturday, May 25th

4 a.m. PDT
Organized Play Game Block 3 (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Pathfinder and Starfinder Society scenarios begin at the start of this timeslot. Shorter adventures, such as Quests or Bounties, may also be available. Visit the tabletop.events schedule for full details on all Organized Play offerings!

9 a.m.–10 a.m. PDT
Roll20: Bridging the Gap Between Digital and Physical Play (Twitch)
Join members of Roll20's staff as they discuss the platform's long-term investment in Pathfinder and Starfinder and share how user feedback is driving the development of powerful, reliable tools to make play easy, wherever you are.

10 a.m. PDT
Organized Play Game Block 4 and Starfinder Society Special (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Pathfinder and Starfinder Society scenarios begin at the start of this timeslot. Shorter adventures, such as Quests or Bounties, may also be available. Visit the tabletop.events schedule for full details on all Organized Play offerings!

10 a.m.–11 a.m. PDT
An Adventure Path Retrospective (Twitch)
With the release of Seven Dooms for Sandpoint, we've reached a milestone of our 200th adventure path! Join the Narrative Team as they talk about the history of the Adventure Paths, things we’ve learned along the way, and ways we at Paizo have innovated the format and challenged traditional norms in the industry through our stories.

11 a.m.–12 p.m. PDT
Journalism & TTRPGs (Twitch)
Take part in a roundtable discussion with journalists from around the tabletop space. Learn how journalists breathe life into the industry and shine a light on projects—and learn how you can help support them in return!

12 p.m.–1 p.m. PDT
Transitions from Starfinder First Edition to Second Edition (Twitch)
Join the Starfinder team while they talk about working on Starfinder, the final adventure path; Mechageddon!, and what we can expect while transitioning into Starfinder Second Edition!

12 p.m.–1 p.m. PDT
Backmatter Speed Round! (Discord Stages)
We’re testing participants on their Paizo knowledge! Taking the backmatter from spells, item descriptions, or anything the host choses, the participants must race to guess the name or adventure that the choice description comes from!

1 p.m.–2 p.m. PDT
Pathfinder Project Remaster (Twitch)
Join the team while they talk about the Pathfinder Remaster project, what's happened so far and where we plan on taking it in the future!

1 p.m.–2 p.m. PDT
Paizo Games - Board and Card Games from Paizo (Discord Stages)
Come learn about Paizo Games, a new initiative to bring the worlds of Paizo to board and card games. Learn about our previous games and get some enticing hints about what is to come!

2 p.m.–3 p.m. PDT
VTTs Enhanced (Twitch)
Join the team while we discuss where we’ve been and where we’re going with virtual tabletop content, producing soundtracks for Adventure Paths, and maybe even some peeks at what the future holds!

3 p.m.–4 p.m. PDT
Whimsy in TTRPGs (Twitch)
In PaizoCon years past we've had panels such as Horror and Mysteries in RPGs, and this year we're bringing it back with Whimsy in RPGs! Join the team while they talk about how to have the most fun possible during your game!

4 p.m. PDT
Organized Play Game Block 5 (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Pathfinder and Starfinder Society scenarios begin at the start of this timeslot. Shorter adventures, such as Quests or Bounties, may also be available. Visit the tabletop.events schedule for full details on all Organized Play offerings!

4 p.m.–6 p.m. PDT
PF Live Play with the Narrative Team (Twitch)
Join the Narrative Team for a one-shot adventure of epic proportions!

4 p.m.–8 p.m. PDT
Chickens in the Mist (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Student reporters for the local university paper investigate rumors of a cockfighting ring hidden in the homesteads adjoining Big Thicket National Preserve in eastern rural Texas.

System: Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition)
This session will use Foundry VTT and be run by Paizo's Software Architect, Brian Bauman.

7 p.m.–8 p.m. PDT
Make Some Magic with AbyssalBrews (Twitch)
AbyssalBrews has been creating third party magic items, systems, creatures, and more for Pathfinder 2E for over a year now. On that road, they’ve learned a lot about writing and a little about business. Join writer Matthew Ross and Illustrator Fernando Dominguez as they talk about being a third party creator and work on creating a specific magic item for Pathfinder 2E right in front of you. Ask anything about being a third party creator and see how the process unfolds!

9 p.m.–10 p.m. PDT
Paizo Con Paint-Along with WizKids (Twitch)
Join WizKids painting instructor JD Wiker (IG: @JeDiWiker) at your favorite local game store, or from the comfort of your own home, as he walks you through how to paint the Pathfinder Wood Giant from start to finish.

10 p.m. PDT
Organized Play Game Block 6 (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Pathfinder and Starfinder Society scenarios begin at the start of this timeslot. Shorter adventures, such as Quests or Bounties, may also be available. Visit the tabletop.events schedule for full details on all Organized Play offerings!

Back To Top ^

Sunday, May 26th

4 a.m. PDT
Organized Play Game Block 7 (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Pathfinder and Starfinder Society scenarios begin at the start of this timeslot. Shorter adventures, such as Quests or Bounties, may also be available. Visit the tabletop.events schedule for full details on all Organized Play offerings!

9 a.m.–10 a.m. PDT
BKOM Studios Games (Twitch)
Discover more about BKOM Studios' Pathfinder games!

10 a.m. PDT
Organized Play Game Block 8 and Pathfinder Society Special (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Pathfinder and Starfinder Society scenarios begin at the start of this timeslot. Shorter adventures, such as Quests or Bounties, may also be available. Visit the tabletop.events schedule for full details on all Organized Play offerings!

10 a.m.–11 a.m. PDT
Infinite Possibilities: How to write for Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite (Twitch)
Join Dustin Knight, Meredith Gerber, and Alexander Augunas as they relay their experiences, offer advice, and answer questions about how to publish on Pathfinder Infinite, including where to find creator resources and collaborative creator spaces!

11 a.m.–12 p.m. PDT
Teaching & TTRPGs (Twitch)
TTRPGs are becoming more familiar in classroom settings. Join Paizo staff and guests with teaching backgrounds as they share their experience using RPGs in the classroom, running afterschool clubs, and how they think games can be used in educational settings going forward.

12 p.m.–1 p.m. PDT
Tips & Tricks: Ask the Paizo GMs (Twitch)
Get your questions ready! Get answers about the games you love from the people who love to make them!

1 p.m.–2 p.m. PDT
Exploring Tian Xia (Twitch)
With the Tian Xia World Guide out and the Character Guide coming soon, join the team as they share their inspiration, process, and maybe some favorite art from the guides! We’ll be answering as many questions as we choose—but not all secrets will be revealed.

2 p.m.–3 p.m. PDT
Therapeutic TTRPGs (Twitch)
Clinical professionals from Take This join Paizo staff for a panel on therapeutic TTRPGs and safety in therapeutic roleplay.

3 p.m.–4 p.m. PDT
Walking the Tightrope: Balancing Encounters in Your Adventure (Twitch)
Want the perfect mix of monsters, mayhem, and roleplay? The Paizo devs are here to talk about their favorite tips and tricks to balancing encounters!

4 p.m. PDT
Organized Play Game Block 9 (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Pathfinder and Starfinder Society scenarios begin at the start of this timeslot. Shorter adventures, such as Quests or Bounties, may also be available. Visit the tabletop.events schedule for full details on all Organized Play offerings!

4 p.m.–5 p.m. PDT
Mechageddon! Authors Interview (Twitch)
Join developer Jenny Jarzabski and the authors of the Starfinder Mechageddon! Adventure Path as they talk about their inspiration, process, favorite mechs, monsters, and spoilers!

4 p.m.–8 p.m. PDT
The lightless Beacon: Call of Cthulhu 7E (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
In the mid 1920s, the passengers of the SS Essex County must investigate an unlit lighthouse off the coast of Rockport, Massachusetts. Was the lighthouse's lantern extinguished by inclement weather, or is something more sinister afoot?

This session will use Foundry VTT and be run by Paizo's Software Architect, Brian Bauman. Players will be provided with pregenerated characters.

5 p.m.–7 p.m. PDT
Bixby’s Mail Adventure Part Two: The Mailening (Twitch)
Join GM Alex Speidel, Paizo staff members Katina Davis, Rue Dickey, Valentine Luneau and former Paizo staffer Jackson Wood on another wild Pathfinder adventure! Bixby has one job: deliver a letter through the Maze of the Open Road. What could possibly go wrong?

8 p.m.–9 p.m. PDT
Mapmaking With Dungeon Alchemist (Twitch)
Join us as we use Dungeon Alchemist to make professional quality, custom maps for your Pathfinder games in seconds!

10 p.m. PDT
Organized Play Game Block 10 (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Pathfinder and Starfinder Society scenarios begin at the start of this timeslot. Shorter adventures, such as Quests or Bounties, may also be available. Visit the tabletop.events schedule for full details on all Organized Play offerings!

Back To Top ^

Monday, May 27th

4 a.m. PDT
Organized Play Game Block 11 (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Pathfinder and Starfinder Society scenarios begin at the start of this timeslot. Shorter adventures, such as Quests or Bounties, may also be available. Visit the tabletop.events schedule for full details on all Organized Play offerings!

10 a.m. PDT
Organized Play Game Block 12 (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Pathfinder and Starfinder Society scenarios begin at the start of this timeslot. Shorter adventures, such as Quests or Bounties, may also be available. Visit the tabletop.events schedule for full details on all Organized Play offerings!

4 p.m. PDT
Organized Play Game Block 13 (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Pathfinder and Starfinder Society scenarios begin at the start of this timeslot. Shorter adventures, such as Quests or Bounties, may also be available. Visit the tabletop.events schedule for full details on all Organized Play offerings!

4 p.m.–8 p.m. PDT
Chickens in the Mist (Tabletop.Events & Discord)
Student reporters for the local university paper investigate rumors of a cockfighting ring hidden in the homesteads adjoining Big Thicket National Preserve in eastern rural Texas.

System: Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition)
This session will use Foundry VTT and be run by Paizo's Software Architect, Brian Bauman.

Back To Top ^

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Other Activities!

If you’ve already bought a ticket, keep an eye on your inbox as we release early sign ups for art and writing portfolio reviews! If you haven’t bought a ticket yet, don’t worry, we’ll be sending out another sign up email before review slots open up to the public on April 17.

Game Signups!

As said in a previous blog we’re doing game signups via Tabletop.Events this year. Game sign ups open to ticket purchasers on April 17 at 9 a.m. PDT, with GM early sign ups opening on April 10 at 9 a.m. PDT!

See you soon!

Don't forget to join us on the PaizoCon Discord for even more programming! Some of our partners and digital content guests will be hanging out in our online "exhibition hall" with their own channels to answer questions and show off their amazing products!

If you're interested in gaming, don't forget to purchase a ticket and sign up on Tabletop.Events to get access to our Organized Play games and non–Organized Play activities!

We can't wait to see you all at PaizoCon Online 2024!

Get your tickets for PaizoCon Online 2024 today!

Are you ready for the return of PaizoCon Online 2024? Join us Memorial Day weekend, May 24th–27th, as we once again bring events to your screen with an amazing long weekend of panels, giveaways, and, of course, gaming!

If you’re new to Pathfinder or Starfinder, PaizoCon is an annual weekend-long event where we celebrate our team, our community, gaming, and all things Paizo!

Like last year, parts of the show you know and love will remain free, but we’re continuing to have a ticketed event with community-run games and activities at the same time!

What to look forward to this year!

Some of you may have attended conventions hosted on Tabletop Events before, but many of us have not! If you haven’t, here’s how to get your badge for the show.

1. Visit the convention page at https://tabletop.events/conventions/paizocon-online-2024 (also linked at paizocon.com).
2. Click “Get/View Your Badge” under Attend in the top menu bar OR click “Buy Badges” on the right side of the screen.




3. There should be one badge type listed: the Attendee badge. Click the green “Buy” button.
4. Enter your first and last name, as well as your Discord username. Your Discord username will never be shared publicly, and is just so we can assign you special roles on the Paizo Events Discord server.
• On this screen, you can also purchase a badge for a friend! Information on adding and purchasing badges for friends can be found on this page.




5. Click “Add to Cart” when you’ve finished entering your information. Once you have all your badges in the cart, click Checkout.
6. Follow the instructions to enter your credit card information, and you’ll be all set! Welcome to PaizoCon Online 2024!

Submitting Community Events

New this year, the community is able to submit events for inclusion in the PaizoCon Online schedule! These can be RPG events featuring Pathfinder or Starfinder, as well as other systems or even other types of games entirely! Want to introduce people to your favorite indie RPG? Looking for players for the new board game you just bought? Finally want to settle who the best Mario Karter in the community is? You can host all these events and more!

1. From the PaizoCon convention page, go to “Host” in the top bar, then click “Submissions.”




2. Click “New Submission” and choose an event type. For this explainer we’ll be using an RPG event, but most events will ask for the same or similar information.
3. Fill in the requested information! Let the staff and prospective attendees know as much as you can about the event you’re submitting. Once you’ve filled in the information, click Create!
4. After submission, staff will review events and either approve them (adding them to the schedule), contact you for more information, or reject them. We reserve the right to reject events for any reason.

You can submit events any time before May 24, 2024. However, if you want your event to be on the schedule before it initially gets released, it must be submitted by March 28, 2024.

If you have any questions about event submission, please reach out to us at paizocon@paizo.com.

Other Activities

Portfolio Reviews

After the success of last year’s Friday portfolio reviews, the Art team has added an extra day onto their review schedule! Portfolio reviews will remain free on a first-come, first-served sign up basis, but this year we’re giving ticket purchasers the chance to sign up early.

If you’re interested in having your writing samples reviewed, we’re also offering writing reviews on Friday and Saturday this year as well!

Stay tuned for more information and registration in the coming weeks!

Livestreams

Get ready for a weekend full of fantastic livestream programming including seminars, interviews, liveplays, and the annual weekend opening keynote on the Official Paizo Twitch channel!

Stay tuned for the full stream and activity schedule coming soon!

Friends of Paizo:

We’ll once again be joined by multiple friends of Paizo in the Discord this year! Chat with, ask questions of, and learn more about the amazing work of teams like BKOM Studios, Foundry VTT, Roll20, and more!

Last year’s convention was entirely online, but this year we’re introducing PaizoCon@! Our new pilot program allows you to experience PaizoCon in person with your fellow Pathfinders and Starfinders at participating local game stores! Check back on this blog to learn more.

We look forward to seeing you all online this year! Stay tuned for more updates and announcements about PaizoCon 2024!

Get your tickets for PaizoCon Online 2024 today!

Hail and well met, Pathfinders and Starfinders!
February is recognized in the United States of America as Black History Month, a time when we honor the contributions of Black people to culture, cuisine, science, history, and more. The theme of this year’s Black History Month is African Americans and the Arts, focusing on art as a vehicle for empowerment and a way to preserve history and community.

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History’s cover image for Black History Month, featuring a collage of photos of Black artists and musicians

In honor of Black History Month, Paizo reached out to our Black contributors, content creators, and community members and asked them to share their projects, their joy, and their art! We’re proud and grateful to have such a phenomenal community here at Paizo.

Basil Wright

Basil Wright (he/they/xe)

Basil Wright (he/they/xe) is a Black and Seminole Game Designer and Sensitivity Consultant located in Florida. When writing for Paizo, they wrote The Aucturn Dilemma, a Starfinder bounty. His work has also appeared in All the Witches, Backchannels (Backwater Games), and is forthcoming in Jukebox. Xe has provided sensitivity consulting for MCDM Productions, Brotherwise Games, and many others. 

Currently, Basil is finishing Pelogos, their horror TTRPG about death, grief, and the afterlife. Players can either be an underwater paranormal investigator called a Lantern Keeper, or a sea ghost called an Echo, and can help the living come to terms with their loss. Once that project is complete, they'll be turning their attention to Rancher’s Respite: Call of Nature, an expansion to Rancher's Romance; both are a homage to their mother's expansive love of werewolf rancher romance novels. Their other long-term project is The Afrodyssey, where they intend to translate all 24 books of Homer's Odyssey into African American Vernacular English.

When xe's not working on games, Basil is either playing video games (visual novels, horror, etc.) or (lovingly) pestering xir sibling to make xem more banana jam for xir Monte Cristo sandwiches.

Links

• The Aucturn Dilemma: https://paizo.com/products/btq02ete?Starfinder-Bounty-11-The-Aucturn-Dilemma
• Website: https://towerofbasil.wordpress.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kobanya_kana
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/kobanya.bsky.social

Dan ‘Pan’ Grosset

Dan 'Pan' Grossett started the Cosmopunk podcast (@Cosmopunkpod) with 3 friends and quickly found himself charmed by the passion and friendliness of the Paizo AP Streaming / Podcast community. 

A huge fan of science fantasy, they can be found on Twitter (@Stellarencore) taking part in several other Starfinder shows like: 

• Emergency Power (@EmergencyPwrPod)
• Horizons Unknown (https://youtu.be/-WNurouqtdQ?si=aFArWg6hD61aFQP4)
• Spaceflix & Kill (https://youtu.be/YF9MZ0sL-W4?si=UMUEPhWgrborzCAN).

They are looking forward to Starfinder 2E while helping set up crossover events and dipping their toes into the world of Pathfinder 2E with Euro-focused group, Hoard Of Tales (@hoard_of_tales).

“Coming to the hobby fairly late, I was kicking myself for not taking up TTRPGs sooner. It's been a great source of new adventures and new friends. If you're even halfway curious but worried about what others may think, or about sticking out at the table, I promise you that if you find a good group and jump straight in, you won't regret it! More and more black folks are making their voices heard in the Tabletop RPG space, so lend us yours!"

Social Media:
Twitter.com/stellarencore
Twitter.com/cosmopunkpod
https://cosmopunk.carrd.co/

Lin and Becka

Lin & Becka | Ten Times Ten

Lin and Becka invite gamers of all kinds to where video games and tabletop adventures collide, a channel they have lovingly deemed Ten Times Ten.

While they have over a decade of combined experience, both past and present, as Game Masters, players, and innovative homebrewers, their passions extend beyond the TTRPG space as well.

• Explore their TikTok with their ongoing episodes of Fascinating Playable Races for players, as well as their episodes of Crypt of the Dungeon Master, where they showcase monsters to enhance any game master’s arsenal.
• On Spotify, they host deep conversations related to various forms of media, including video games, movies, and more.
• Join in their Twitch for exposure to their favorite games and to observe local tabletop events unfold.
• On YouTube, their channel offers videos that present a mix of their gaming knowledge, ventures, reviews, experiences taste-testing unusual snacks, and more!

Ten Times Ten is not just a channel; it's a community where gaming enthusiasts can find a fun and unique perspective on the gaming world, all while they keep it 100~.

Quinn Murphy

Quinn Murphy's journey with RPGs started when he "inherited" his brother's copy of Chainmail at the age of 11. He started running games for his friends and hasn't stopped for over thirty years. Though he's been building games his whole life, he started doing it professionally in 2009. Since then, he's written for a wide range of products and companies, including (but not limited to): Paizo (Pathfinder, Starfinder), Wizards of the Coast, Kobold Press, Magpie Games, and Onyx Path Publishing. Quinn loves TTRPGs of all shapes and sizes and relishes the thrill of finding the perfect form-factor to express a setting or idea. He believes that Imagination is for Everyone.

With his own company, Thoughtcrime Games, Quinn is currently running a Kickstarter for Community Radio, a wacky improvisational TTRPG inspired by Welcome to Nightvale.

Shan Wolf (he/they)

Hi everyone, I am a freelance game designer and contributing author on both the Pathfinder and Starfinder Lines. My credits include Starfinder Bounty #4: Poacher’s Prize, the Adventure Toolbox for the first part of the Drift Hackers Adventure Path, Starfinder Ports of Call, the Adventure Toolbox for the second part of the Strength of Thousands Adventure Path, Pathfinder Lost Omens Highhelm, as well as a few other projects.

My primary focus as a writer is in Black and Indigenous liberation narratives, monster creation, archetype creation, history and lore, and writing revolutionary and inherently anti-colonialist themes. Besides that, I am a huge Pathfinder and Starfinder booster. I love these games as they help bring to life amazing fantasies about being heroes and saving the world, or Universe, and that is always something I’m interested in doing, or just talking about in general.

If you’re interested in my work or hearing my views, feel free to take a look at my twitter, @Fenrirs_Chosen.You will see an outspoken and passionate advocate for Black liberation and making the tabletop space more open, safe, and inclusive.

---

We also want to spotlight some Black content creators and performers in the Pathfinder and Starfinder community! The shows on this list feature Black hosts, GMs, players, and/or producers—give them a listen and support them year-round!

• Tablestory—Gatewalkers Actual Play
• Know Direction
• Cosmopunk: A Starfinder Podcast
• Outcast and Outclassed—Pathfinder Actual Play
• Unwavering Force—Pathfinder Actual Play
• 20XX: A Drift Odyssey—Starfinder Actual Play
• The Atomless & SAGA—Starfinder Actual Play

If you’re a Black content creator in the Pathfinder or Starfinder space, we would love to hear from you! Shoot an email to community@paizo.com and introduce yourselves.

Thank you again to our Black contributors, content creators, and community members!

Howdy, folks! It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these blogs, and in that time, we’ve added some wonderful new folks to the Creative Department and had a couple of former Paizo creatives return to lend their expertise to Pathfinder and Starfinder. Since it has been a while, some of these folks have been with us for quite a few months, but you didn’t know that and that’s no reason not to join us in welcoming them. It’s been great having new people and new voices on the team in design, development, art, and edit to add their keen experience and varied experiences to the fabric of the Paizo Creative Department.

Michelle Kim

Hey everyone! I’m Michelle, a developer on Pathfinder’s Narrative team. I started off as a freelance writer for Paizo so you’ll see my name pop up in projects like Season of Ghosts, Howl of the Wild, and Lost Omens Divine Mysteries as well as some other unannounced products down the pipeline. I’m a big fan of horror ttrpgs like Call of Cthulhu, Ten Candles, and Bluebeard’s Bride but also a huge sucker for mecha games like Spectres of Brocken. I’ll play almost anything; crunchy? Yes. Narrative? Also yes.I have a few personal projects in the works including a Joseon setting supplement for Good Society: A Jane Austen RPG. If you want to find me on socials, I’m on Twitter at @_missmyk_ and on Bluesky at @missmyk.bsky.social.

Lynne Meyer

Hello! I’m Lynne (she/they), a queer, autistic, chronically ill femme originally from Chicago. Since joining the editing team last June, I’ve been living my best Leslie Knope life in Indiana and working on incredible stuff I can’t wait for you all to see.

Named a 2021 Queer in Games Awardee by Rainbow Game Jam, I’m best known for my work on the ENNIE Award-winning Uncaged: Goddesses and Uncaged Anthology. In my free time these days, I’m usually doing one of three things: playing the Chief Medical Officer in my Star Trek Adventures home game; doting on Izzy, my ancient, beloved kitty; or drinking way too much coffee as I wrap writing for the upcoming All the Witches TTRPG. I’m an unapologetic dice goblin, an em dash enthusiast, and an octopus stan who thinks that the Dumbo Octopus is the cutest thing ever. Come say hello on Bluesky (@lynnemeyer.bsky.social) and Twitter (@Lynne_M_Meyer).

Joshua Birdsong (he/him)

Hello Paizo fans! I am Joshua Birdsong. I am now the newest Designer on the Rules & Lore team. I am very excited to work among such an experienced team, and I am still (and hopefully always will be) learning so much. I cannot wait to help make awesome stuff for our game! I believe my first debut will be in Monster Core! You can find me @impr0phet.
DFTBA

Adriana Gasperi

I am Adriana Gasperi from Caracas, Venezuela, I am a graphic designer, traditional and digital illustrator, and fine artist in Portland, Oregon since 2017. I have been painting cats since 1995 my brand name is Gatos Ilimitados (unlimited cats) https://www.instagram.com/adriana.gasperi.art/ and lately I have been also painting all kinds of animals, and pet portraits. I have been vegan for the animals for about 8 years and belong to an international group of vegan artists called The Art of Compassion Project where we donate art related to animals and veganism. I live with my husband and 6 cats in downtown Portland. I love my job at Paizo and also the diversity and inclusiveness of the company, I enjoy working from home. I am a true crime documentary and podcast fan, Serial Killers is one of my favorite podcasts, as thrillers and horror movies (especially classics), film noir, American Horror Story, and all their new ones like American Crime Story, actually everything Ryan Murphy creates and produces, The Shinning and Psycho are two of my favorite movies.

Jason Keeley

Who, me? I guess you could say that I’m one of those “returning faces,” having come back to Paizo last year to take a position as a Senior Developer on the Pathfinder Rules & Lore Team! In my career at Paizo, I’ve been an editor, a developer of Starfinder Adventure Paths, and more! I’m thrilled to be working with second edition and with the rest of this team, who are an honest-to-goodness bunch of rock stars. You can find me at herzwesten on a lot of the social medias and if you want to see the type of things I get up to in my spare time, check out This Compleat Breakfast (a game about cereal mascots) on my itch.io page!

Felix Dritz (he/him)

Greetings fellow finders of the paths and stars! I’m Felix, one of the editors who sift through the many words you read. This means I check for general errors, discrepancies, formatting, and ensure it has that recognizable Paizo style.

I was first introduced to Pathfinder Organized Play in 2016 by accident, and I never left. So many kind and supportive people adopted me into this community, and I’m overjoyed that I get to support the games they love. It’s been a surreal journey to get here, but now I’m at a desk editing for a game I adore and the community I love.

When not editing for Paizo, I’m usually homebrewing my ever-expanding Pathfinder 2nd Edition setting. If I’m not editing or writing, then I’m likely playing Pathfinder, GMing at local game stores, mashing buttons on a videogame controller, or cooking. I’m not active on social media, but I hope to meet you around the table someday!

Bill Fischer

Bill Fischer has been creating strange and terrifying worlds for role-playing games for over 30 years. He is the author of The Runewild Campaign Setting published by Sneak Attack Press and has done both writing and editing for Kobold Press, Goodman Games, Roll For Combat, AAW Games, and EN Publishing. He lives in Minneapolis, MN with his partner and children.

Mike Kimmel

Hello! I’m Mike Kimmel, and I’m thrilled to be the newest member of the Starfinder team. Since coming on board in September 2023, I’ve been hard at work with my colleagues to create Starfinder Second Edition. While my prior work as a developer for Pathfinder Society Organized Play mostly involved adventure design, I’ve been able to stretch my narrative and game design muscles on the Starfinder team in all sorts of interesting ways these past few months. Alas, I can’t talk much about the things I’m working on—yet—but stay tuned for more Starfinder news in the coming weeks! I can’t wait for you to see what we’ve got in store for you.

Aside from working on games, I like to play them, too! I’m a fan of cooperative games of all kinds, and I also enjoy relaxing with a nice cup of tea and a challenging permadeath videogame. When I get a chance to run an RPG campaign, I tend to lean into horror themes—the spookier the better. If you’d like to chat about games, recommend a good book to me, or play some chess, you can find me on various Paizo-related Discord channels or drop me a line at mike.kimmel@paizo.com. Please note that I am not accepting glitch gremlins or other mischief at this time!

Simone D. Sallé (she/they)

Hi again! I’ve been in the Paizo orbit as a temp, freelance, and full-time contracted editor since 2018. I joined the staff as a senior editor in 2022 and have been having a wonderful time wrangling words with the creative team ever since! While we’ve worked on a lot of great projects lately, I’m particularly excited for everyone to see <em>Pathfinder Howl of the Wild</em> in May, which has some extremely fun new ancestries and mechanics, incredible art, and a heartfelt story.

Unsurprisingly, words and games fill a lot of my time outside of work as well: I have a spreadsheet of SFF book recs for anyone who asks, a handful of Pathfinder and indie TTRPG campaigns on my calendar, and an overflowing queue of Steam games that I frequently ignore to revisit Subnautica (my beloved). I also do freelance editorial work as Wildwood Editing for projects like Queerfinder and Luminant Age. I’m grateful to my Disreputable Dog, Penny Kibeth, for reminding me to take a break from screens and get some fresh air every day.

Editors largely operate behind the scenes, and our best work is invisible, but I can confidently say that I work with some of the finest professionals in the industry, and it’s a delight to learn, grow, and help shape the games I love with them and everyone else at Paizo. I’m not as active on social media these days, but if you track me down I’m always thrilled to discuss conscious language in storytelling, the merits of style guides, and how we can make our worlds—both real and imagined—better for everyone.

Dustin Knight

Greetings, Starfinders! I’ve had the honor of being a member of the Starfinder team for a little over a year and working here at Paizo is still a dream come true! I’m currently moving into my dream home in St. Paul, Minnesota, running a Firefighters of Absalom campaign, Where There’s Smoke, and playing in an incredible Starfinder campaign, Teenaged Wasteland. I’ve been a freelance author and publisher on Pathfinder Infinite for the past few years, as well as avid tabletop gamer, and Paizo-sphere discord lurker! I’m honored to help manage the rules of one of my favorite games in one of its most exciting eras and you may have seen me drop the FAQs and Errata updates for the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. I’m also thrilled to see everyone’s excitement and enthusiasm for Starfinder Second Edition, as working on a new Core Rulebook line with such an incredible team has been my developer hoop dream for decades. Feel free to hit me up using any of the various Paizo discords, including my own discord channel for Pathfinder & Starfinder Infinite fans and authors at http://www.infiknight.net, or email me at dustin.knight@paizo.com! You can also follow me @kitsunewarlock.bsky.social and, as always, please send memes!

Greetings, Paizoverse! I’m very excited to announce the locations for this year’s PaizoCon@ program! This pilot program will allow you to experience PaizoCon in person with your fellow Pathfinders and Starfinders while supporting your local game stores.

All PaizoCon@ locations will be running Pathfinder and Starfinder Society games during the weekend, including exclusive runs of our May releases. Highlights include the launch of Starfinder Society Year 7, as well as the new Starfinder Society special and an exclusive rerun of Pathfinder Society Special #2-00: The King in Thorns. If you’re interested in volunteering to run games at your local store, please reach out to the listed contacts!

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PaizoCon@ KublaCon

Location: Burlingame, CA
Website: https://kublacon.com/
Contact: John and Wendy-Ann Francis, sfbayareaVC@gmail.com

Our exclusive convention partner this year is KublaCon in Burlingame, California! KublaCon has one of the largest Paizo Organized Play presences in the country, and we’re enhancing it with all that PaizoCon has to offer. Join them to watch our streamed panels in the viewing space, as well as participate in the specials and Organized Play scenarios!

PaizoCon@ FLGS Locations

Head out to one of our pilot stores and join in on the PaizoCon excitement! If you’re more of a visual learner, here’s a map of the locations!

PaizoCon@ Cardboard Corner Cafe

Location: Overland Park, KS
Website: https://cardboardcornerkc.com/
Contact: Darrel Curry
Signup form:

PaizoCon@ Dragon’s Lair Austin

Location: Austin, TX
Website: https://www.dlair.net/austin/
Contact: Milan Badzic
Signup form: https://forms.gle/9BcDzKyQRtg42YVEA

PaizoCon@ Fanboy3

Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
Website: https://www.fanboy3.co.uk/
Contact: Ian Hawthorne, Islesregionpaizo@gmail.com

PaizoCon@ Fox Den Board Game Cafe

[Logo Coming Soon]

Location: Burnsville, MN
Website: https://www.foxdenbgc.com/
Contact: Bret Indrelee, old.codger.coa@gmail.com

PaizoCon@ Game Kastle

Location: College Park, MD
Website: https://gamekastle.com/pages/college-park-md
Contact: Nicholas Ruchlewicz, novaorganizedplay@gmail.com

PaizoCon@ Gaming Etc

Location: Acton, MA
Website: https://www.gamingetc.com/
Contact: Adam Yakaboski, madcapmachinations@gmail.com

PaizoCon@ Mighty Meeple

Location: Concord, NC
Website: https://www.mightymeeple.com/
Contact: Doug Edwards & Peter Ramon
Signup form: https://forms.gle/iDFD4g49wWCNXfqD6

PaizoCon@ Mox Boarding House

Location: Bellevue, WA
Website: https://www.moxboardinghouse.com/bellevue/
Contact: Aaron Sadler, velisruna@gmail.com or @Velisruna on Discord

PaizoCon@ The Collective

Location: Orlando, FL
Website: https://www.thecollectivecomics.com/
Contact: Greg Ferguson, @greg_f_mco on Discord

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

Season’s greetings, Pathfinders and Starfinders! It’s December, which puts us right in the middle of a whole host of holidays and celebrations. We’ve reached out to our staff and contributors to ask about their favorite traditions for the winter (or, in the case of our southern hemisphere friends, summer) holidays!

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Eren Ahn (they/them)

Hello! I’m Eren (they/them, primarily), and you’ll see some of my work in the upcoming Lost Omens Tian Xia books for Pathfinder Second Edition. My family didn’t have too many winter traditions growing up (I got presents on Christmas for the first ten years of my life and tteokguk (rice cake soup) on New Year’s after that), but since I started living on my own, I adapted some traditional dongji rituals to celebrate the solstice. For me, this means making patjuk (red bean porridge) and leaving a small bowl of it on my windowsill overnight for any wandering spirits. I’m fond of winter, cold snaps and polar vortexes and all, and it’s a calming ritual to look forward to in my generally fast-paced life.

James Jacobs (he/him)

I’m James Jacobs (he/him), Narrative Creative Director for Pathfinder, and for me, the winter holidays are traditionally when I wander some 800 miles south to spend time with my family and to relax in my hometown of Sandpoint/Otari/Point Arena. There were a few years there during the pandemic when this tradition got interrupted, but things are mostly back to normal there. Bad weather might step in to keep me here in Washington (as it has a few times in the past), but otherwise the long journey south beckons with its promises of hanging out with family, relaxing in the redwoods of Northern California, visiting some local landmarks (during Thanksgiving I visited the Point Arena Lighthouse, which is the tallest lighthouse on the west coast of the United States, and which you’ve also seen if you watched movies like Forever Young or Need for Speed), and hoping for a bigfoot sighting or two.

Joshua Birdsong (he/him)

Hi everyone, I’m Joshua Birdsong. I am a designer for Paizo. I am very excited and humbled to be part of such an amazing team, and I look forward to helping create some awesome books for all of you! My favorite holiday tradition is consuming an entire container of chocolate hazelnut pirouline wafers on Christmas day! If you need to get in touch, you can find me on Twitter at @impr0phet. Don’t forget to be awesome!

Lynne M. Meyer (she/they)

Hello! I’m Lynne (she/they), the newest member of Paizo’s editing team. I’m pagan but grew up in a Protestant family. My holidays aren’t complete without pfeffernusse, a traditional German spice cookie. When I was growing up, my German grandmother lived with us and taught me to bake. She had pfeffernusse every Christmas—and only at Christmas. I looked forward to it every year.

When she passed, the tradition stopped. Years later, when I started dating the man who’d become my husband, I decided to bring it back. I even used my grandmother’s antique measuring cups.

It turned out that pfeffernusse is his favorite cookie! Pfeffernusse became my signature bake. Pre-pandemic, I’d make as many as ten dozen to share with our families. Times are different now, and those celebrations are happy memories. Circumstances make it difficult to see our families in person, and I’ve since lost my father as well as a brother.

Yet pfeffernusse remains part of my Yule. It’s the one holiday tradition I keep without fail. It ties me to my past and my present with love. Every year, when the aroma of anise hits me, I’m a little girl again, celebrating Christmas with my family.

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe)

Growing up and living in a very mixed-culture household means I celebrate a wide variety of holidays during December (Christmas Eve with my in-laws, Chanukah, the Solstice, and “Witch-mas” with my mom—Christmas day, but it’s goth and we make hot chocolate and exchange gifts). One tradition that transcends all of these holidays, though, is making fudge!

I use my grandmother’s fudge recipe (included below), which has been handwritten, photocopied several times, and taken a picture of via a phone to wind up in my hands. It makes 5 pounds of fudge—no more, no less, and no ratio editing allowed. And now you can make it too!

Ingredients

• 4 ½ cups of white sugar
• 2 cubes (8 oz) of butter
• 1 (12 oz) can of evaporated milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 18 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped)
• 1 (7 oz) jar of marshmallow fluff
• 2 cups chopped nuts (optional)

Steps

1. Cook the sugar, butter, evaporated milk, and vanilla over medium heat until the mixture comes to a slow boil.
2. Beat with electric mixture for seven (7) minutes, continuously.
   1. My wife and I take turns holding the mixer for this step, as it can start to ache.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Add in chocolate chips, marshmallow fluff, and nuts (optional).
5. Stir until all ingredients are well mixed.
6. Pour into 13” x 9” baking pan and chill in fridge until set (about 2 hours).
   1. If you’re like me and want to eat hot, kind of un-set fudge, half an hour on the counter is enough to make it cool enough to eat, but still warm and soft.
7. Cut into cubes and enjoy.

(Makes five pounds)

Tomas Gimenez Rioja (he/him)

Tomas (he/him) has written for Pathfinder Lost Omens Divine Mysteries.

Here in Argentina the holidays are during summertime. In the coast city in which I live, we usually spend the days going to the beach, and resting at home after that. Some card and board games are often played as well. On Christmas and New Year's Eve I meet with my family, and many others from my father's family, and get some asado (fantastically grilled meat from here). After midnight, once presents are opened, or exchanged, or a toast is made if it's New Year's Eve, it's time to meet with friends, where we spend the rest of the night playing games, might get a holiday-themed one-shot going, and go see the sunrise together when it comes.

Whatever you’re doing for the holidays this season, we hope you have a wonderful season! And to sweeten things up a bit, Paizo is offering our annual midwinter holiday sale!

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

Holiday Sale!

From now (Friday 12/15) through Monday, January 15, take 10% off a single order* on Pathfinder and Starfinder products at the Paizo Store using the code holiday24 at checkout.

* The holiday24 code stacks with Paizo Advantage and other discounts. Not valid on subscriptions, preorders, backorders, Foundry VTT products, or non-Paizo downloads. Code expires at 11:59 p.m. Pacific on January 15.

Illustration by Roberto Pitturru

“Neth, also known as Joya, is named for the two-faced Nethys, god of magic. A fitting tribute to the dual nature of this 30-day month, the name evokes the world outside growing starker, even as relationships between friends and family grow stronger with the shared harvest.”

“We begin with Moonday, which is straightforward enough. While it may be a day for work, it’s also the night when worshippers of Desna, Ketephys, and night-loving religions hold ceremonies, often with only the moon as a silent witness. Always helpful if you’re looking to dispatch a target in the dark.”

“Fireday is market day in most places, and a great time to put eyes on a target who’s trying to lay low. Apparently, it’s impossible to resist the smell of honeycakes and the cries of cloth hawkers peddling their wares, no matter who you’re on the run from.”

—Pathfinder Lost Omens Travel Guide

Greetings!
In the marking of time in Golarion, we find ourselves in the month of late Neth, or Joya. Here on Earth (a planet dear to us in Pathfinder Reign of Winter canon), many of us in the United States find ourselves on the cusp of celebrating Thanksgiving, which leads to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This sale is brought to you by Abadar, Master of the First Vault, and by Triune, the All-Code. Actually, given their portfolios, one could argue all our sales are sponsored by them. Chances are they’ll both survive until next year to sponsor it again. Or not—just wait until you see our Death and Dying rules for deities.

Kidding!

In this vault, you’ll find 15% off gorgeous hardcover, Special Edition, and Pocket Edition print books as well as digital versions of products, when available:

Pathfinder Secrets of Magic

Pathfinder Guns & Gears

Pathfinder Book of the Dead

Pathfinder Dark Archive

Pathfinder Treasure Vault

Starfinder Drift Crisis

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual

Starfinder Galaxy Exploration Manual

Select Pathfinder Foundry VTT products in our store

A fortune dragon’s hoard of maps, cards, and other accessories!

Illustration by Miguel Regodón Harkness

The sale starts and link goes live at 12:01 AM Pacific on Thursday, November 23 and ends at 11:59 p.m. Pacific on Monday, November 27.

As with every year when we hold our fall and winter holiday sales, please remember that the additional volume of orders will result in increased response times for our customer service department, as well as increased shipping times. While we are taking steps to mitigate this as much as we can, we also thank you in advance for your patience as we strive to make sure that these effects affect as few customers as possible.

If you don’t see everything you’re looking for, don’t forget that our annual Holiday Discount Code Sale is just around the corner in mid-Kuthona (that’s December for you earthlings.)

Get Ready To Shop the Black Fireday to Cyber Moonday Sale!

Greetings, Starfinders and Pathfinders! With just a little over a week until PAX Unplugged (I’m not anxious, you’re anxious), we’re here to give you an easy guide to all things Paizo at the show!

Games and Demos at Booth 22A!

Paizo’s booth space at PAX Unplugged is focused on games and demos! We’ll be running Organized Play adventures, board game demos, and Starfinder Second Edition demos all weekend!

• We’re excited to bring Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society to PAX Unplugged! Players can pre-register for games, or join a table as a walk-up throughout the day!
• Drop in to try out one of our board games—Goblin Firework Fight and Elemental Stones! This will be the first physical demo of Elemental Stones, after the digital-only demos during PaizoCon 2023.
• Get an early access first look at Starfinder Second Edition! Paizo staff will be running Starfinder Second Edition demos throughout the weekend.

Paizo Unplugged Live Plays

Paizo is excited to present two live play shows at PAX Unplugged—one Pathfinder and one Starfinder! Join us in the TTRPG Live Play Theatre, or watch the stream from twitch.tv/officialpaizo or twitch.tv/pax3.

Starfinder: Gifts Ungiven | Friday, December 1st from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. (EST)

Join Starfinder Senior Developer Jenny Jarzabski as xe leads a party of Starfinders through this mischievous winter pranking spree! Featuring: Andre Rivera as Obozaya, Dain Miller as Zemir, Matthew Ekberg as Altronus, Niall Spain as Navasi, and Noordin Ali Kadir as Raia.

Pathfinder: The Winter Queen’s Dollhouse | Saturday, December 2nd from 3 to 5 p.m. (EST)

Queen Anastasia of Irrisen has sent the Pathfinders one of many strange dollhouses from her aunt’s vaults—and Aslynn’s magic has brought that dollhouse’s magic back to life. Rue, Paizo’s Marketing & Media Specialist, leads a party of iconic adventurers through a poppet-sized house of mysteries. Featuring: Alex Speidel as Merisiel, Erin Roberts as Lini, Jess Redekop as Feiya, and Luis Loza as Valeros.

Retail Location & Licensed Partners

Get your Pathfinder and Starfinder books from our retail partner, Card Titan (Booth 3208). Card Titan will have a stock of Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder GM Core in standard, special edition, and hobby retail exclusive sketch covers! Other highlights of Paizo products available at Card Titan include Starfinder Enhanced, Goblin Firework Fight, and more!

A collection of Paizo’s licensed partners will also be attending PAX Unplugged! Get your licensed Paizo products at the following booths:

• Alchemy RPG @ Booth 3714
• Beadle & Grimm’s @ Booth 3647
• Fanroll Dice @ Booth 3601
• Foam Brain Games @ Booth 3047, Hall C
• Level Up Dice @ Booth 2848
• Q-Workshop @ Booth 3739
• Savagesparrow Studios @ Booth 4231
• Steve Jackson Games @ Booth 2746
• Wizkids @ Booth 2636, Hall C

We’re looking forward to seeing you at PAX Unplugged 2023!

Koonííni'ííni, Pathfinders and Starfinders!
November is recognized in the United States of America as Native American Heritage Month—a celebration of the indigenous peoples of Turtle Island and our contributions to art, culture, environmental conservation, and more! This year’s theme is Celebrating Tribal Sovereignty and Identity—showcasing the wide diversity of indigenous cultures and ways of life.

In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, we’ve reached out to some of our Native contributors, who have built items inspired by their cultures!

David N. Ross

I write for Pathfinder, Starfinder, and sometimes other games, and am a whiz a converting between systems. When I’m not working on freelance for various clients, I am developing a storytelling card game with my husband. You can find me on Twitter @DavidRossWorlds Bluesky @davidnross and via other contact options on my linktree: https://linktr.ee/davidnross

My mother’s family has always kept at least one dreamcatcher, a traditional Anishinaabe ward against bad dreams. It’s true that nightmares have always been fortuitously rare for me at least, especially since my grandma gave me one of my own. It certainly doesn’t hurt that mine reminds me every day I see it of family even when I am far away.

Dreamcatcher — Item 6
Magical
Price 180 gp
Usage affixed to a structure, tent, or tree; Bulk L

This willow hoop is strung with a web of plant fibers and fragrant sweetgrass and adorned with beads. The dreamcatcher automatically attempts to counteract any spell or magical effect that would force a sleeping creature within 10 feet of it to attempt a saving throw (counteract DC 20, counteract level of 3). An effect counteracted by the dreamcatcher creates a minor decoration representing it to appear in the dreamcatcher’s web, wobbling occasionally like a fly in a spiderweb, that vanishes when exposed to sunlight. A creature adjacent to the dreamcatcher can study such a decoration to attempt to Identify the Magic that triggered its creation. The dreamcatcher only triggers once per night.

Mahpiya

Bannock holds a special place on the prairies as a symbol of our adaptability and resilience. We were introduced to the food through the fur trade, and it stuck with us as we were forced into the reservation system, turning government rations into nourishment for our people. The process of making bannock itself is the process of learning our history. I carry memories of listening to my mothers, my grandmothers, and the other elders in my life (pidamayeye, Kokum Brenda and Grandma Bear) as we cooked together, shared food, and shared stories, both of our own lives and the lives of those who came before. Through food we remember our past, and the stories that guided us through it.

You can find me slowly trying to figure out bluesky @Mahpiya. Just don’t ask me for the recipe, it’s a family secret.

Bannock of Echoing Wisdom — Item 3
Alchemical, Consumable
Price 10 gp
Usage held in 1 hand; Bulk L
Activate 10 minutes (manipulate)

Cooked over a campfire and dipped into wozapi, bannock of echoing wisdom instills you with voices of the past, allowing you to recount any story you’re heard.

After eating the bannock, your mind is filled with the images, words, body language, and cadence of a story you have previously heard, allowing you to recount the story effortlessly with perfect memory. You gain a +1 item bonus to Performance checks to recount this story and a +1 item bonus to Recall Knowledge about subjects discussed within the story. These bonuses last 24 hours or until you make your next daily preparations, whichever comes first.

Marlowe Miller

Nawwih! The sun-blessed corn pounder is based on one of my favorite and most memorable Caddo stories, "The Young Man and the Cannibals." In it, a young man is trying to find his brothers and finds they've been eaten by a family of cannibals. The young man is saved by an unseen, unknown force (later revealed to be the Sun) from death by long-nosed iron mask and told to run, take a corn pounder from an old woman cannibal, and kill the cannibal family. I love this story because of the iconic symbols of the corn pounder and the long-nosed iron mask, and how it speaks to the running theme in our cultural hero stories of taking leaps of faith and persevering even in the direst of situations.

I'm a pretty solid social media hermit, but I can be found on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter @diwasti_ or on bluesky @diwasti.bsky.social. Alternatively, I can be emailed directly at genesysfrog@gmail.com!

Sun-Blessed Corn Pounder — Item 5
Uncommon, Magical
Price 150 gp
Usage held in 2 hands; Bulk 2

Nine rings line the haft of this mighty wooden corn pounder (a +1 striking greatclub), topped by a broad head with sun symbols burned into the surface. The narrow end is worn smooth from years of use. A very long time ago, this corn pounder was used to slay cannibalistic undead in an act of desperate survival by a young man, and the nine rings represent the nine brothers killed by the cannibalistic undead. While wielding the sun-blessed corn pounder, you gain a +1 circumstance bonus to attacks against undead creatures.

Activate—Beseech the Sun [free-action] (concentrate, fire, light) Frequency once per day; Trigger You critically succeed at a Strike against an enemy; Effect You call upon divine powers to aid you in your time of need. Searing sunlight erupts from the broad head of the sub-blessedcorn pounder. After the normal effects of the critical hit, the target must attempt a DC 21 Fortitude save.

Failure The target is stupefied 1 until the end of the target’s next turn.

Critical Failure The target is stupefied 1 until the end of your next turn, and you deal an additional 1d4 fire damage to your next damage roll against that creature before the end of your next turn.

Shay Snow

Not many Caddo recipes have survived to the current day, so the few recipes I have access to, I treasure. Caddo fish relish is a recipe I remember my aunties and Yeye preparing in large batches before canning it in mason jars and storing it away to eat with pretty much anything. It’s spicy and briny and we’ve always joked could be used as a weapon in a pinch! Some Caddo language learning time: this relish is made with daháw (onion), hasahk’uh ch’ántinu’ (unripe green tomato), and kah’án:k’as (spicy pepper)!

Fish Relish — Item 1+
Acid, Alchemical, Bomb, Consumable, Splash
Usage held in 1 hand; Bulk L
Activate [one-action] Strike

This canning jar is secured with a screw top metal lid and filled to the brim with a chopped mixture of onions, green unripe tomatoes, various hot peppers, and plenty of spices and vinegar to ensure a spicy, pickled mix perfect for eating with freshwater fish. In a pinch, the relish can additionally be used as an offensive bomb that will also perfectly complement an unconscious enemy.

Type mild; Level 1; Price 4 gp
The mild fish relish bomb deals 1d4 bludgeoning damage, plus 1d4 persistent acid damage and 1 acid splash damage.

Type spicy; Level 3; Price 10 gp
You gain a +1 item bonus to attack rolls. The spicy fish relish bomb deals 2d4 bludgeoning damage, plus 2d4 persistent acid damage and 2 acid splash damage.

Type well-preserved; Level 11; Price 250 gp
You gain a +2 item bonus to attack rolls. The well-preserved fish relish bomb deals 3d4 bludgeoning damage, plus 3d4 persistent acid damage and 3 acid splash damage.

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe)

Hey all! Rue here again, still a proud Indiginerd and the Marketing & Media Specialist here at Paizo! One of the joys of my experience as a game designer is getting to see my cultures brought to the table in a variety of systems and settings. Finally, the stories that we were punished for singing can be told to new generations.

The ghost dance was part of a resurgence of Arapaho culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and remains a cultural tradition and festival for North and South Arapaho peoples. Through the ghost dance, we reconnect with our ancestors, as well as send our energy forward to future generations, so that our knowledge can be shared, along with our triumph and sorrow. An act of protest at its inception, the ghost dance remains a symbol of Arapaho culture’s resilience. As the sun sets only to rise again, we too shall continue to rise.

Ghost Dance Dress — Item 5
Invested, Magical
Price 125 gp
Usage worn; Bulk L

This flowing dress is fringed in ribbons with beads and feathers woven in. Delicate hand-embroidery, beadwork, and dyeing turns this garment into a moving representation of the cycles of life and death, rain and drought, growth and burning. The ghost dance dressconnects the living and the dead. You gain a +1 item bonus to Diplomacy checks against spirits.

Activate—Ghost Dance [one-action] (concentrate) Frequency once per hour; Effect The rhythm of your ancestors’ feet upon the ground spurs you on, giving you a +1 circumstance bonus to your next melee Strike before the end of your turn.

Activate—Wind Cry [two-actions] (manipulate) Frequency once per day; Effect The wind whips up around you, whispering and shrieking of the shadows that have passed here. The ghost dance dress casts fear with a DC of 21.

Thank you so much to our contributors for sharing these snippets of their culture with us (and giving us more items for our game tables).

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe)
Marketing & Media Specialist
Arapaho Nation

Hail and well met, Pathfinders and Starfinders! We’re excited to bring you some news about next year’s PaizoCon Online.

PaizoCon Online 2024 will take place May 24–27th.

Our theme for this year’s PaizoCon Online is “Educate, Entertain, Inspire!”—and we’ll be theming our content to match. Learn the basics of Pathfinder and Starfinder, enjoy broadcasted actual plays, and find out what the future holds here at Paizo!

This year we will be expanding the selection of panels and events being held in our Paizo Events Discord server. On top of public panels on our Twitch channel and the free, no ticket required hangout spaces and staff AMAs, we will be hosting ticketholder-exclusive games, panels, and social events via the Discord! Purchasing a ticket to PaizoCon Online allows you to participate in these events, as well as Organized Play and Community Play games throughout the weekend.

Introducing “PaizoCon @”

We tested the waters of a concurrent in-person event last year, partnering with KublaCon in California. This year, we’re excited to announce “PaizoCon @”, a program that brings PaizoCon Online gaming to a selection of in-person events!

We will once again be partnering with KublaCon in 2024—not only offering in-person Organized Play gaming, but also a physical space within the con to watch our livestreamed PaizoCon Online panels!

We are also very excited to be partnering with a selection of local game stores throughout the United States and beyond! Be on the lookout for an upcoming list of participating friendly local game stores!

As PaizoCon Online gets closer, we’ll have more news about the panels, events, and more! We’re looking forward to seeing you at our annual celebration of all things Paizo!

It’s that time of year where company presidents look into the future, comparing what it costs to produce and create game products today versus what it did last year–and how those costs will change in the year to come. No one likes to raise prices, but doing so is a necessity. Paizo is not immune to economic factors like inflation, nor industry-wide fluctuations in cost-of-goods, labor, or shipping and logistics, and we must periodically adjust our prices to reflect rising costs. Let’s break things down.

Bounties, Quests, and Scenarios (PDF)

Bounties and Quests are standalone short digital adventures, usually designed to be played for up to 2 hours. We’ll be increasing the price of these from $4.99 to $5.99.

Society scenarios are adventures suitable for a single gaming session of around 4-5 hours. Many are part of an overarching theme for a particular year, so it’s possible to weave an entire campaign out of these scenarios one session at a time. Currently, scenarios are priced at $5.99 for “regular” scenarios and $7.99 for higher-level scenarios, which are generally longer and take longer to develop and edit. Very soon, we will standardize the price for ALL Society scenarios (regardless of level) to $8.99. Special “interactive” scenarios will increase from $14.99 to $19.99.

These price changes will be retroactive for all previously released products as of October 25th. If you have some gaps in your collection going back to the very beginning of Pathfinder Society in 2007, you may wish to backfill your collection before these new prices go into effect.

Other PDF Products

We don’t plan any other PDF price changes beyond what we announced last year.

Price Changes

We will be increasing prices on accessories, softcover, and hardcover books. The amount of this increase varies by product type, but here are some examples.

• Flip-Mats: $19.99 (+$3)
• Flip-Mat Multi-Pack: $29.99 (+$5)
• 96-page Adventure Paths: $29.99 (+$3)
• Pocket Editions will range in price from $26.99 to $34.99 based on page count.
• Hardcover prices will vary in price based on page count. That might seem obvious, but it’s a change from us keeping MSRP the same across wide page counts. Here are a couple of baseline examples.
  • 128-page: $44.99
  • 192-page: $59.99
  • 256-page: $69.99
  • 304-page plus map: $79.99
  • Special Edition covers add an additional $20 to the retail price.

You’ll see the above price changes reflected in products that begin releasing in April of 2024, as well as reprints of older products.

Holding the Line on the Core

Contrary to what I’ve outlined above, we’ll keep the price of the hardcover Core books (Player Core, GM Core, Monster Core, and Player Core 2) at $59.99 through at least the first printing. We feel these books are essential first purchases for Pathfinder players and want to hold the line on price increases as long as possible to reduce the barrier of entry for new players.

Paizo and the Environment

For years, Paizo has printed our products using ecologically friendly soy-based ink rather than petroleum or other vegetable-based inks. Soy ink results in richer and more vibrant colors that require less ink on every page. We’ll definitely keep soy inks in Paizo products, but I wanted you to know about it, since it’s not something we’ve made a big deal about or discussed in the past.

What is new is that we’re changing to FSC-certified paper. This means that the paper Paizo uses will come from ecologically sourced forests that prohibit deforestation (replacing the trees they harvest with new growth), require biodiversity and old forests to be protected, protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and ensure that Paizo has a sustainable source of paper for many years to come. To learn about the Forest Stewardship Council or delve into the certification process visit their website.

Paizo is not switching to recycled paper, which is significantly more expensive and has a vastly different look and feel. FSC paper is a mix of new and recycled paper, and you won’t be able to tell the difference between new products and old ones without looking for the FSC label.

We’re making changes in shipping supplies as well. We’ve switched to using starch peanuts and air pockets in store shipments. We’re also phasing out the use of foam packing corners (for cardboard ones) and have switched all of consumer box packaging from U-Line to Alliance Packaging, who use an average of 50% recycled paper in their boxes. Your products will continue to be shipped as safely and securely as we can make them, only with more thought put into the environmental and social impacts of what we do.

Thanks again for supporting Paizo!

Jim Butler
President

Koonííni'ííni, Pathfinders and Starfinders!

Today, October 9th, is recognized as Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the United States of America. In honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the Paizo offices are closed today. While we’re closed, we wanted to take a moment to recognize this holiday and suggest some resources for you to learn more!

Firstly, we would like to acknowledge that Paizo’s headquarters in Redmond, WA lies within the traditional homelands of the Duwamish and Sammamish tribes of Coast Salish peoples. Following the Treaty of Point Elliot in 1855, these tribes and others were consolidated and relocated to the Tulalip Tribes of Washington Indian Reservation. Since time immemorial, they have hunted, fished, gathered, and taken care of these lands.

If you are interested in knowing about the tribes and nations whose land you may be living on, here is an interactive map tool.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day honors the indigenous peoples of Turtle Island, Alaska, and Hawaii for their contributions to art, culture, history, and society. It also acknowledges the solemn truth of the atrocities committed against indigenous peoples over the course of this nation’s history. By celebrating the indigenous people of this country—past and present—we honor our ancestors and keep Native traditions of land, air, and water sovereignty alive.

If you have the means, a wonderful way for those settling in these lands and their children to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day is to donate money, time, or community service to your local tribal community, or participate in an environmental conservation project in your community.

Some larger scale non-profits and organizations to support nationwide include:

• Native American Rights Fund
• Redhawk Indigenous Arts Council
• National Urban Indian Family Coalition
• Indigenous Justice
• Spirit of the Sun

As we take today off here at Paizo, thank you for taking a moment to read this blog and celebrate the work of our indigenous relatives and ancestors, not to mention the work of indigenous people across the games industry. We look forward to showcasing some more indigenous creatives here at Paizo for Native American Heritage Month in November!

Hohóu, in solidarity

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe)
Marketing & Media Specialist

Hello, Pathfinders and Starfinders! Now that we’re getting back into the swing of regular streams here at Paizo, I thought it best to make an announcement post each month for upcoming streams. This way, you can mark your calendars in advance for all the amazing content coming your way!

Follow us on twitch to keep up with these streams as they air, and keep an eye out for the VODs, posted to YouTube afterwards.

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Paizo LIVE!—Friday, October 6th 4–6 p.m.

Join us for this month’s Paizo LIVE! October’s topics include an update on Starfinder Second Edition from Dustin and Jenny, a look at the Pathfinder Season of Ghosts Adventure Path from freelance author Sen H.H.S, and a glimpse at the upcoming Pathfinder: Elemental Stones board game from designer Joe Pasini! Bring a beverage and your questions and get settled in for this monthly fireside chat.

Gayming Live—October 7

Paizo is excited to be participating in Gayming Live, the world’s largest LGBTQ+ gaming and geek convention! Join us Saturday, October 7 at 11:15 a.m. Eastern for Queer Characters, Queer Stories, Queer Worlds—a panel discussing inclusive and diverse world building in TTRPGs. Also on Saturday, October 7, join us at 6:15 p.m. Eastern for In the Footsteps of Horror—a pre-recorded actual play of Pathfinder Quest (Series 2) #15.

Lost Omens Special—Friday, October 13th 4–5 p.m.

Take a trip to Tian Xia for this special Lost Omens Showcase Stream! Creative Director Luis Loza talks to Senior Designer James Case and Senior Developer Eleanor Ferron about the upcoming Pathfinder Lost OmensTian Xia World Guide and Pathfinder Lost OmensTian Xia Character Guide.

Starfinder Society Foundry Showcase—Tomorrow’s Seekers, Episode 2 — Tuesday, October 10th 4 p.m.

Did you miss the first episode of our Starfinder Society Showcase? Watch the VOD here to catch up.

Having assisted Aurora and Sarmack, our party of bright-eyed Starfinders continue their adventure by aiding Nykiti and Doctor Sevaille on missions of their own. Who will win the Starfinders’ hearts—and their votes?

Pathfinder Society Foundry Showcase—Intro to Year of Unfettered Exploration, Episode 2 — Tuesday, October 17th 4 p.m.

Did you miss the first episode of our Pathfinder Society Showcase? Watch the VOD here to catch up.

In their quest to show Venture Captain Taiwalei the Maze of the Open Road, our Pathfinders find themselves at an elemental intersection. Looking for a collection of elemental wisps, they journey back into the maze, astounded by what awaits them.

Starfinder Second Edition Developer Playtest — Wednesday, October 18th 1 p.m.

At 1pm PST on Wednesday October 18th over at twitch.tv/officialpaizo, the Starfinder Team will be streaming one of its internal playtest games for the new edition of Starfinder! Come watch as the team runs some combat encounters for the new system, including a preview of two classes we've not previously shown any content for!"

TabletopTown and Paizo are teaming up to put Pathfinder (and Starfinder) in your pocket. Coming in the fall of this year, TabletopTown is a mobile platform designed for the asynchronous play of tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) of all sorts, and this partnership will allow players and game masters access to the Paizo library through the marketplace, an in-app location for users to find and sell games, characters, and stories.

TabletopTown stands behind Paizo’s commitment to open gaming through the Open RPG Creative (ORC) License. The TabletopTown marketplace supports user-generated content and indie creators alike, allowing them to buy, sell, and share content freely, openly, and ethically. TabletopTown is fully system agnostic, and with its creator tools at their disposal, designers can build and share their games, modules, and characters, no coding experience necessary. Find new games and worlds to explore or visit familiar favorites like Golarion and Absalom Station!

Paizo’s worlds are rich with deep lore, intricate mechanics, and elaborate world building that goes beyond a scribble on a notes app during a tabletop session. Celebrate the details that make your game unique with searchable indexes, easy to reference descriptions, and intuitive content organization.

All of Paizo’s adventures will be available to buy and explore in the app, opening up new worlds and stories for game masters to investigate and make their own. With access to Pathfinder and Starfinder, game masters can quickly pull entries from their respective bestiaries and bring strange and mystical creatures like a Pleroma to life with all its stats, descriptions, and avatars added in a single tap. It’s easy to use and, for the game master, easy to depict!

With the entire ruleset at their fingertips, players can enjoy as much rules lawyering as they want to, or they can avoid cluttering the chat with things that would usually require looking up in a table of contents.

At launch, beginning players will have a variety of prebuilt character sheets at their disposal; this way, grandma’s desire to play a juggernaut champion doesn’t require pages of research! More experienced players can build out their own intricate lore and stat blocks with existing game mechanics for the skeleton of the character. Those players can then add modifications whenever they like, making use of home-brewed rules to get the details just right!

Hail and huzzah, Starfinders and Pathfinders!

We had a spectacular time at Gen Con in Indianapolis with record-breaking attendance, full Organized Play tables, full demo tables, a gorgeous booth, brisk sales, exciting Pathfinder and Starfinder Society specials, and community awards galore!

At the Show

From customers to content creators to the media, we loved saying hello to everyone who came to see us at panels, Exhibitor Hall at Booth #203, Demo Hall C, and the Sagamore ballroom!

The Paizo-related Crit Awards winners included:

• Best Player | Paizo: SuperDillin
• Best GM | Paizo: DeadAussieGamer
• Best Upcoming Youtube (2 Years or Less): WafflesMapleSyrup
• Best Villain: Azin by No Quest for the Wicked, a Starfinder podcast
• Best TTRPG-Related Charity/Community, Wellness Org, or Event: Rue's TTRPGs for Trans Rights

The ENNIE Awards also announced their Gold and Silver winners.

Congratulations to all the nominees, finalists, and winners—the tabletop roleplaying game community is better for your contributions.

We partnered with the Gen Con Blood Drive this year to give out digital Beginner Boxes for their raffle giveaway. They exceeded their Gen Con record in Day 1 and had over 1000 individual donors throughout the weekend!

And Beyond!

Thank you to everyone who joined us online this weekend, whether that was on our Events Discord for Organized Play games, or on Twitch or YouTube for our prerecorded panels!

• Paizo Keynote Address 
• Pathfinder Rage of Elements–Designer’s Commentary
• Pathfinder Remaster Preview
• Lost Omens Highhelm & Sky King’s Tomb—Developers’ Commentary

In case you missed it, we announced:

• The Starfinder Second Edition is coming and you can download the free Field Test
• You can also save the date for the Pathfinder Playtest of two new, fresh classes starting on September 1. We’ll be livestreaming at 4:00 p.m. Pacific on Thursday, August 31 at twitch.tv/officialpaizo. During the stream, we’ll reveal the two new classes, some of their abilities, and the iconics representing them, so players can dive right into the playtest the following morning.
• You can buy Pathfinder Rage of Elements and Pathfinder Sky King’s Tomb Adventure Path at your local bookstore, game store, or the Paizo Store.
• The Starfinder Society is electing a new First Seeker, and your voice matters!

Hopefully you also took the opportunity expand your gaming options with the 23 for 23% off Gen Con 2023 Sale!

In case you missed it (we did) the Infinite Masters got together and created a Pathfinder Infinite Megabundle filled with content for our setting, lore, and rules. It is still going on so check it out!

Thanks for playing Starfinder and Pathfinder at Gen Con and beyond this year!

With less than a week until Gen Con, it’s time to reveal our Gen Con Stream Schedule! These streams will be going live on twitch.tv/officialpaizo, with VODs available directly afterward on Twitch, and uploaded to YouTube after Gen Con.

Thursday, August 3rd

10am Eastern / 7am Pacific

Gen Con 2023 Keynote
Exciting news and upcoming products from Paizo! This Keynote features segments from a variety of teams, hosted by Paizo Publisher Erik Mona.

Friday, August 4th

10am Eastern / 7am Pacific

Rage of Elements — Designer’s Commentary with Logan Bonner
Join Pathfinder Lead Designer Logan Bonner for a tour of the planes! In this panel, Logan flips through Pathfinder Rage of Elements, providing commentary on the design and development of the book.

Saturday, August 5th

10am Eastern / 7am Pacific

Pathfinder Remaster Preview
Jason Bulmahn, James Case, and Michael Sayre dive into the Pathfinder Remaster Project with an exclusive look into the Player Core and GM Core books — plus a sneak peek at what’s coming in Monster Core and Player Core 2!

Sunday, August 6th

10am Eastern / 7am Pacific

Lost Omens Highhelm & Sky King’s Tomb — Developers’ Commentary
Luis Loza and John Compton sit down in the Paizo Games Library for a chat about Lost Omens Highhelm, the Sky King’s Tomb Adventure Path, and all things dwarves!

See you soon!

Whether it’s in person at Gen Con Indy or online, we can’t wait to see you and share some exciting news!

It’s been a little over a year since I took over the helm at Paizo as president, and I wanted to give everyone a look behind the scenes at what’s been happening during that time as well as provide a look ahead.

United Paizo Workers

Before I became president, I was leading negotiations with the UPW to create the tabletop industry’s first-ever collective bargaining agreement. This wasn’t an easy task, and we didn’t always see eye-to-eye on all the issues, but we worked together for more than a year and found compromises to create an agreement that I believe works for both the company and its employees. That’s not the end of the process, of course, as the leadership team continues to work with the union on many day-to-day matters that running a company requires.

We’ve had customers and companies reach out to us in concern about the unionization process. Yes, becoming unionized is serious business and brings significant changes, but it’s also brought an opportunity for the union and the management team to form stronger bonds that will serve us well in the future. To other business leaders in the industry who are concerned about unionization, I offer the immortal words of Douglas Adams: Don’t Panic!

Rise of the ORC

As some of you noticed earlier this year, there was a thing that happened with the Open Gaming License (OGL). Paizo and other publishers made the decision to leave the OGL and begin publishing under the Open RPG Creative (ORC) license. This wasn’t a decision we took lightly, but Paizo can no longer operate under a license that a corporate giant believed they could change, shake up, or cancel whenever it wanted to.

That decision had other impacts, however. Abomination Vaults 5E, Starfinder’s Scoured Stars and Mechageddon! Adventure Paths, the Lost Omens Tian Xia Character Guide, and Pathfinder’s Howl of the Wild rulebook all had to move to 2024 to make room for the Player Core and GM Core ORC Remastered rulebooks coming out in November.

The shift to the ORC license will also necessitate a change to our Compatibility License and Community Use Policy. We’ll have those available for public comment soon, and final versions will be released before the new Remaster books come out in November. We’re also taking the opportunity to introduce a new fan policy I think many artisans are going to love.

Reorganizations

I’ve been working with other members of Paizo’s leadership team to streamline operations throughout the company. The biggest changes have been merging the customer service team into the sales team, organized play into the marketing team, and the entirety of marketing under the sales and operations teams. These independent silos weren’t working the way they should, and now that they’re all under the same umbrella, they better share and work toward common goals to support our customers, distributors, and local game stores.

The creative team also saw some changes, primarily merging teams that specialize along narrative (organized play scenarios, standalone adventure modules, and Adventure Paths), rules & lore (Lost Omens and general Pathfinder rulebooks), and Starfinder lines. We’ve also added the ability for us to create games outside of our traditional RPG fold, and you’ll see the first of those efforts, Elemental Stones, launch this fall. Pre-order it today!

Mostly Remote

With virtually all of Paizo working remotely since the start of the pandemic, we decided that Paizo would remain a remote workforce even after most lockdown protocols ended. We’re in the process of closing down our Redmond offices and warehouse, and we’ll be moving our warehouse operations a few miles up the road to Woodinville over the coming months. Outside the warehouse team, Paizo employees have additional states eligible for remote work (currently Colorado, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington).

As we vacate the Redmond offices, we’ll likely have some downtime for Paizo.com and the forums as we move those servers to a new data center. We’ll let you know about that when we get a bit closer to the move.

New Technology

We’ve been operating Paizo’s finances on basic software for decades, but the time has come to invest in a new platform that can give us the business intelligence and integrations we need. Too many people at Paizo spend hours every week manually building reports from Excel files, so this change should result in a win for everyone. We’re in the final stages of moving over to a shiny new financial and analytics platform, which we’ll then use to integrate with a…

New Store

Yup. We’ll be replacing the current Paizo Store with a shiny new one. We’re still working out timelines for that, so stay tuned for future updates. The new finance platform needed to happen first, since the store needs to plug into something that can handle all the data. Some of the goals of the new store are to:

1. Provide a responsive design across mobile, web, and tablet.
2. Allow for an easy checkout process with more payment methods available.
3. Offer a more robust reward program than the current Paizo Advantage.
4. Allow for more robust subscription options, like the ability to skip a shipment or start with a specific book.
5. Allow sidecarts for subscribers.
6. Better organization and a Paizo-branded experience.

New Forums

The community is important to us, and we are investigating new platforms to provide a better forum experience (along with preserving the content of the current forums). As we finalize our decision, we’ll provide more updates to the community.

Licensing

Paizo’s goal with licensing is to serve the Pathfinder and Starfinder communities with amazing products from partners that resonate with gamers. We want to make your game experiences better, whether you play around the table at home, across a virtual table, or at your favorite local game store or convention. We’re looking for partners with a passion for the Pathfinder and Starfinder brands that can bring experiences to you in new ways and attract a wider audience.

That’s why we partnered with Owlcat on the Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous games, and also why we’ve partnered with BKOM on Gallowspire Survivors and the Pathfinder: Abomination Vaults ARPG. Not only are these games fun for a large number of current Pathfinder and Starfinder players, but they’ll also bring in nufriends to experience tabletop for the first time.

Bringing those new players into our games means making character creation easy, which we’ve done by partnering with Demiplane and Hero Lab Online. We have more work to do for new players, but we’re leveling up with new tools and an awesome community to guide them to amazing gaming experiences.

The Pathfinder Infinite and Starfinder Infinite programs have allowed community creators across the world a generous license to produce their own Pathfinder and Starfinder material using Paizo’s intellectual property, and make money for their efforts. Both communities continue to grow, and we're seeing more new, innovative material from Infinite creators every month.

Pathfinder Fiction

The fiction industry has been struggling for years outside a handful of very successful authors, and our previous Pathfinder Tales novels had the same challenges. We’re going to be trying out some new strategies to ensure making novels is profitable, but that means we need to create one!

Novels let us tell stories in ways that our game products can’t and can reach a wider audience of fantasy readers, so I’m pleased to announce that we’ve greenlit a standalone Pathfinder novel for release in 2024. What that novel is about, and who its amazing author is, will be revealed in due time—but prepare to be entertained (and for some major, longstanding canon questions to be answered)!

I’m really excited about the future, and I look forward to working with the Paizo team and our community to bring Pathfinder and Starfinder to wider audiences. What can you do to help? Take the opportunity to invite someone new to your gaming group, never miss another release by signing up for a subscription, make a leap into the Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society, and support your favorite local game store as you continue to explore the worlds of Pathfinder and Starfinder.

Thanks again for supporting Paizo! Here’s to continuing to create lifelong friendships through gaming.

Jim

This is it! After months of collaborative work, we are pleased to present the final version of the Open RPG Creative (ORC) License! The license is a system-agnostic, perpetual, and irrevocable open gaming license that provides a legal “safe harbor” for sharing rules mechanics so as to encourage collaboration and innovation in the tabletop-gaming space. After much commentary and iteration, the ORC License and accompanying ORC AxE (Answers and Explanations) document are now final and ready to be used by game publishers large and small.

We’ve posted the final drafts below. The public commentary portion of this process is now complete, and there will be no further changes. We’re grateful to everyone who contributed thoughts, criticisms, and suggestions since this process started back in February. We literally could not have done it without you, and we look forward to the amazing products the community will create using this license in the future.

The final text of the ORC License has been submitted to the Library of Congress and formally published on the website of Azora Law, the legal firm that conceived of and drafted it. All currently posted versions of the final ORC License text should be considered the Interim Final ORC License and ORC AxE. As soon as copyright registration is finalized, these documents will be updated with the final copyright registration number, which we expect will be ready in about six months. In the meantime, publishers are free to begin using the ORC License right now. No other elements of this document will be changing in the future.

Azora Law Managing Partner Brian Lewis and representatives from Paizo, Chaosium, and other publishers will be offering a panel on the ORC License at the upcoming Gen Con Indy 2023 in early August, where we will answer questions about the license and give suggestions on how best to use it.

From a purely Paizo-based perspective, we will shortly be updating our Community Use and Pathfinder Compatibility Licenses to incorporate the finalized ORC License. Watch this space in the coming weeks for more information regarding these company-specific documents.

Thanks again for helping us to get there. Now let’s make some games!

Download the Orc License

Download the Redlined Orc License

Download the Orc AxE

Download the Redlined Orc AxE

Join the conversation

Golarion and the Pact Worlds are filled with people of all sorts – this is just a small collection of our wonderful trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming characters!

Two of our iconic heroes- Mios, the Iconic Thaumaturge (they/them) and Kyyduh, the Iconic Evolutionist (they/them).

The world is frightening for a lot of trans people right now – with our rights under attack at local, state, and federal levels here in the United States and around the world. Trans people and queer performers like drag queens are being forced back into hiding in a cruel movement that threatens to set us back decades.

But we will not be erased – and we will keep making art and worlds that show trans and queer people that we belong. We have always been here, and we always will be – the world is richer with us in it.

In celebration of the gender diversity of both our settings and our community, this blog is a collection of trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming canon characters across Starfinder and Pathfinder – as told by their writers and people who see themselves in those characters.

l’setsya Wyrmtouched (she/her), a ganzi spellcaster with flowing blue hair.

Amber Stewart (she/her)

Il’setsya Wyrmtouched began as my arcanist PC in Rise of the Runelords, where she gave me an in-character outlet to express my inner self every week through a CN, wildly unfiltered, fun by any means character. She was and remains a whole lot of -GOALS- with a bucket of common PC characteristics of mine taken to a delightful extreme: after magically transitioning via a protean artifact, the Lethe Wall of Galisemni, she’s magically skilled and silly, with high intelligence, low wisdom, a fifteen-foot-long tail, happily married to her half-faerie dragon wife. Seriously, what’s not to love? I first wrote about her and her Wyrmtouched siblings in Planar Adventures and later, when I serendipitously needed a protean-linked NPC in my volume of Agents of Edgewatch, “Ruins of the Radiant Siege,” she was right there, practically begging for the job. Of course, a whimsical hedonist who’s a literal agent of manifest chaos isn’t going to work with every party, but she’s a fun challenge, and in that role, she was my attempt to make as close to a patron saint of Chaotic Neutral transwomen as I could.

Tesyovensku (they/them), a fetchling witch

Ashton Sperry (they/them)

Howdy! I'm Ashton, your nonbinary friend on the internet and occasional freelancer for the great folks at Paizo. And now I get the opportunity to tell you all about one of my proudest achievements in my freelancing career!

Tesyovensku is a nonbinary fetchling I wrote up for Lost Omens: The Grand Bazaar. You may have even had the chance to encounter them in a certain Pathfinder Society scenario! Getting to create a character whole-cloth who shares my gender identity was a thrilling experience, and I'm so glad they've resonated with so many people out there.

Tesyovensku's story is also one about triumph over adversity, something that I think many of us are struggling to achieve these days. The future for the queer community seems bleak, and honestly, if my little contributions to Paizo's canon can provide a glimmer of hope, then I am deeply honored and touched to have made things a little bit better. Together, we can all pull through—and maybe have a nice cup of tea while we're at it.

Arhan Benimaya (he/him), a human tattoo artist.

Avi Kool (they/them) – Lead Editor

Arhan Benimaya (he/him) is a human trans man from Cheliax who fled religious persecution as a child with his family before settling in Absalom. He used his art skills to help support his family and save for a serum of sex shift, and he grew up to be a successful tattoo artist in Absalom’s Docks District. His boyfriend is an azarketi dockworker named Brine, and the two of them can be found in Arhan’s shop along with Arhan’s service dog, Apple the mastiff. You can read more about Arhan in Pathfinder Lost Omens: Grand Bazaar!

Mios Uriev (they/them) is a nonbinary human from Caliphas, Ustalav, and the iconic thaumaturge. They worked as a night coach driver before being bitten by a werewolf, but using their extraordinary resourcefulness and willingness to try anything, they cured themself—though they’re still not quite sure which cure they attempted did the trick. Upon realizing they were cured, Mios gave up the life of a driver and decided to try their hand at adventuring, knowing that all monsters have weaknesses, if only you can find them. You can read more about Mios at https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6si2a?Meet-the-Iconics-Mios.

Brent Bowser (he/they)

I was struggling to find the voice I wanted for Vidrizix (NB Dragonkin) in Starfinder Bounty #8: Lost Dragon's Legacy, so I started using mine as a placeholder. The more I fleshed out the character and their relationships, the more I connected with them. I replaced instances of "he" with "they." It felt so right with Vidrizix that I realized I should do the same for myself.

Vidrizix (he/they), a purple dragon kin.

Dana Ebert (she/her)

I've been a Paizo contributor for three years now, and I'm not ashamed to admit that my all-time favorite NPC is still Iltara Clavela (she/her), who I created for Lost Omens: Grand Bazaar and put a lot of myself into. Her story has all my favorite tropes—fey blessings, ill-fated bargains, and the power of names. While Iltara was far from the first trans woman in Pathfinder, she was the first NPC whose shop offers gender-affirming transmutations to patrons! If you haven't seen this artwork by @hailiiz of Iltara and Ralliadra, a fellow trans shopkeeper from Grand Bazaar, you should check it out!

Tragellon Pearlcask (he/him), a muscular dwarf crab fisher.

John Compton (he/him) – Senior Developer

Tregellon Pearlcask (he/him)
The sky citadel of Highhelm has many mouths to feed, and local dwarves of the Pearlcask clan have developed sophisticated aquaculture that supplies the city with a wide variety of shellfish. In Pathfinder Adventure Path #193: Mantle of Gold, something sinister has sneaked into Tregellon Pearlcask’s caves, afflicting his prize crab (whose art we can’t wait to show you). His being a trans man isn’t crucial to the adventure; it’s just who he is, and he openly affirms it with Pearlcask humor. He’s described as “dressed for working on the water, wearing little beyond sturdy trousers, a teal sash around his waist, and several pearl studs in his ears. He’s muscular, with a horizontal scar under each pectoral ("Molting scars,” he acknowledges with a knowing wink, if asked)."

Michael Bramnik (he/him)

Hello there! To quote a friend, I might be, “straight enough to calibrate a Kinsey scale,” but I long for the day when months like these are no longer needed except purely in celebration. I fervently believe that LGBTQ+ visibility and positive representation are vitally important if we are ever going to move on to a better future.

For Pathfinder Society #4-05: The Arclord Who Never Was <spoiler> the character of Alyreha (who is encountered with a different name at first) is trans. I made this decision because of her study into the magic of True Names. Having been honored to escort friends to their procedures in the past and seeing just how much more “them” they were afterwards—it just felt right for the story of someone finding herself. </spoiler> It can be a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment (but is more pronounced in Isis Wozniakowska’s #4-10: Arclord’s Abode) because I think that normalization might be the most important aspect of representation, or, to use a movie quote from my childhood that taught me this lesson quite early, “peoples is peoples”—a lesson I hope future allies will learn. For this and all months to follow, I wish you all the best.

A floating skull with pink magical glow.

Rue Dickey (they-he-xe) - Marketing & Media Specialist

While I haven’t had the joy of writing any published trans characters (yet), I have seen myself in so many Paizo books- it’s one of the reasons I love the games we make and am so happy to be a part of this company! Above all, Arhan Benimaya(he/him) from Lost Omens: Grand Bazaar spoke to me very strongly as a Jewish trans man. Seeing someone who looks like me and whose story echoes with my heart made me even more certain that Golarion was a place for me.

Shay Snow (they/them) – Pathfinder Society Developer

Kyyduh is the Starfinder iconic evolutionist, which I worked on and helped create with the Starfinder team earlier this year. If you ask Kyyduh about their gender, their answer will be "Gender? don't even know 'er!" The agender pahtra uses they/them pronouns, no matter what form or shape they adapt while being an evolutionist. They identify as bisexual, with no true preference to gender, and they’ve identified as agender since they were a tiny kit shedding their first canines. They have ADHD and struggle to focus on verbal instructions, but when given written instructions they can adapt and pick up almost any skill presented to them.

Creating Kyyduh was a special experience for me, and allowed me to explore agender expression through a character that I knew would be public-facing. I was a little nervous when the blogs went live, unsure of how the Paizo community might feel about a nonbinary iconic, however I was genuinely overjoyed when I saw so many cheerful and welcoming comments, validating Kyyduh’s identity and disability. Kyyduh’s a bright, cheerful pahtra and will be facing so many upcoming adventures in the Starfinder universe!

Domakayo (he/him), a Vesk in a glittery bodysuit.

Tineke Bolleman

Domakayo (he/him), from Starfinder Society Scenario #3-15: Frozen Ambitions - The Preluria Connection. He is a little ode to drag performers.

Domakayo is a performer living on Vault of Vorlath. He performs in bars and has a dedicated fanbase. Domakayo dresses in his well known glitter bodysuit and discoball tail extension, and paints his scales in vibrant colors to mimic and exaggerate the colorations of female Vesk. His dance performances are lively and are punctuated by crushing items, a play on old fashioned Vesk courtship dances.

Domakayo loves expressing himself through his dance performances and the transformation he goes through before getting on stage. He has no stage name, finding comfort in using his own name and being who he was not allowed to be back home.

Rhenei Aldori (they/them) from The Swordlord's Challenge  always felt pressured by the demands of Ysoki society. Ysoki have a relatively short lifespan, and in Rhenei’s family there was a big emphasis on settling down while young and having kids. Classic gender roles never seemed to fit. Mom. Dad. Nanny. Caretaker. Babysitter. Even if not pressed into a parental role, their family would still press them into a caregiver role. When Rhenei clearly stated they did not wish any of this, there was a huge fallout. Rhenei left their home, and eventually ended up studying Aldori swordlord. After training, Rhenei swore the swordpact and is now Rhenei Aldori.

Rhenei loves expressing themselves by wearing colorful clothing.

---

We’re happy to be able to bring so many of these characters to life here at Paizo—and to let our trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming community members know that they are safe, welcomed, and celebrated here.

If you’re looking for ways to help the queer community—especially queer youth—this Pride, consider donating to the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, volunteering with a local or online queer youth center, and speaking out against transphobia when it pops up around you. The proceeds of Paizo’s Pride Pins – available in Vigilant, Goblin, or Skittermander – benefit Tabletop Gaymers, an organization dedicated to making sure LGBTQIA+ players feel safe and welcome at the table.

Trans pride, trans power, trans rights!

I’m Aaron Shanks, Director of Marketing, and it is my privilege to introduce to you a group of professional geeks I call Paizo’s marketing+ team! Alex Spiedel, Organized Play Coordinator; Jon Morgantini, Community & Social Media Specialist; and Rue Dickey, Marketing & Media Specialist all report to me, but this group of adventurers needs more than four. So, I regularly borrow the talents of Raychael Allor, our Licensing & Marketing Coordinator, and Maryssa Lagervall, our Web Content Manager, who join us from the licensing and technology teams, respectively. Together we form Volt—er, a skilled and dedicated group to help you play Starfinder and Pathfinder!

As Director of Marketing, I lead our team of marketers in the creation and execution of a strategic marketing plan to promote Paizo products. I understand that there isn’t a single marketing program that’s 100% effective and am always seeking to try out new things in a rapidly evolving world. (So. Much. Change.)

But enough about me. I get to manage and work with United Paizo Workers. Let’s talk about them!

Illustration by Brian Valeza

Alex Spiedel, Organized Play Coordinator (he/him)

Alex is responsible for the day-to-day administration of Paizo’s Organized Play programs, including campaign management, volunteer relationships, communications, and technical operations. He’s also in charge of all Organized Play activities at conventions, from building and implementing con schedules to helping the on-site events run smoothly. His passion for making Org Play the best it can be—and his hunger for dice—knows no bounds.

Rue Dickey, Marketing & Media Specialist (he/they)

Rue (they/he/xe) is a nonbinary, mixed-Indigenous-Roma-Welsh, disabled creator living on unceded Kalapuya territory with xir two spouses, tiny dog, and long noodle baby. Queer rage and joy in equal parts are a focus of his design and they strive to create space at the table for stories that the world has tried to keep quiet. They would like to make the world just a little brighter—by bringing these stories into the spotlight. Rue spends xir limited free time building outlandish costumes and is proud to be a never-recovering circus goth.

Rue is the newest member of the marketing team! They’re our liaison to external press and news media—coordinating interviews, previews, and reviews to ensure that Paizo products get the recognition they deserve and the coverage we need to continue to thrive. Behind the scenes, xe coordinates the day-to-day marketing functions and makes sure everything goes smoothly.

Jon Morgantini, Community & Social Media Specialist (he/him)

Jon is a Paizo brand ambassador. This is the most normal job he’s ever had. He’s a 20-year military veteran of two services, has driven limos for celebrities, and previously worked at a funeral home. As Community & Social Media Specialist, he now works his wizardry on social media, and he knows what makes forums safe and fun to participate in. When not working, Jon can most often be found reading dark fantasy or techno thrillers and getting lost in Hyrule.

Jon produces content across all Paizo social channels, but the whole team of marketers spreads the word about the amazing Pathfinder and Starfinder gaming products that we release each month. Steve, Jon’s WizKids Goblin roommate, takes much of the credit.

Raychael Allor, Licensing & Marketing Coordinator (she/her)

When not fulfilling her role as an ever-tired cat mom, Raychael is involved in all of Paizo’s licensed partner marketing efforts, from concepting new campaigns to implementing those plans at conventions, across social media, and to the Paizo community. Her work with licensed partners involves not only communication and coordination with a wide variety of people from all over the world, but also interdepartmental coordination to make sure everyone is on the same page, no matter the project.

In short, Raychael is a vital member of the marketing and licensing teams and gets the opportunity to work on a wide variety of exciting projects—and tell the world about them!

Maryssa Mari, Web Content Manager (she/her)

Maryssa is officially part of the tech team. As Paizo’s Web Content Manager, she reports to the Director of Technology and partners collaboratively with teams across the company. She helps wrangle Paizo’s non-store online content, web page design, and is Keeper Of The Blog Schedule™. Her job is to be aware of the shenanigans Paizo gets up to online and provide assistance when needed.

When she’s not being a nuisance valuable member of the company chats, Maryssa enjoys hiking, crafting, 48-hour gaming marathons before forgetting her steam library exists, and keeping upcoming spoilers from the hoard of roommates.

Illustration by Franklin Chan

In conclusion…
Our marketing+ team is a fun and imaginative group made up of highly creative and smart people who are passionate about the products we produce. Someone let them all into the same room and now they scheme and create chaos together! They may or may not be half a dozen kobolds and skittermanders in cloaks—we haven't been able to confirm—and some of them escaped containment from other departments and won't leave ours. Please send help. Please play with us!

Adventures ahead,

Aaron Shanks

“P.S. Save the Date! Paizo LIVE will return on Friday, June 30. This team is planning regular episodes the last business Friday of every month.

“P.P.S. This team will all be at Gen Con, physically, so look for us there. This also means that we’ll be pre-recording a few streams for your enjoyment. We aren’t planning any live streams at this time.”

Hi gay happy Pride!

Pride month is a time to celebrate queer joy, a time to be out and proud about our existence. Pride is a protest and always has been. For every victory, like the Respect for Marriage Act or the removal of the ban against gay men donating blood, there are just as many setbacks to equality. States like Florida and Texas pass law after law banning discussion of queer issues in schools and gender-affirming medical care, which whips the outrage machine into a frenzy and leads to Target employees being attacked over the yearly Pride collection. The LGBTQ+ community wonders every day what new attacks on our freedom, our right to simply exist, await us in the news.

The theme of this year’s Pride is “Rage and Resilience.” In recognition and celebration of our wonderful community of LGBTQ+ staffers and freelance contributors, we asked them to submit something about what gives them strength. We hope you enjoy hearing from them and encourage our community members to share their own responses in the comments!

Happy Pride, everyone! May you all get a new set of rainbow dice that rolls as well as mine does.

Alex Speidel (he/him)
Organized Play Coordinator, known bisexual

The story proceeds dramatically, as it usually does

Solatra (credited as Sasha Laranoa Harving; nov/nov)

Age 15. I came out as pansexual. My community was fairly progressive, but I still encountered people who thought I should just pick an easier label.

Age 16. I came out as aromantic. Anyone who had met me knew I was a hopeless romantic, in love with love, and told me it was a phase.

Age 17. I came out as a trans lesbian. I was met with anger, derision, mourning someone who did not die.

As time went on I debated if any of those things were accurate at all. I felt anger at myself for not figuring it out earlier, at my community for not letting me express myself.

Fast forward. Age 27. I'm out and proud as a xenogender aromantic pansexual lesbian. It is the multiplicity of my existence, the fact that I can be all of these things at once and love with all my heart that makes me strong.

Find what makes you strong and let it lift you up, and when people tell you your identity is wrong, know that they are simply too weak to accept your truth. In adversity there is community. In love there is life. Be strong. Together.

James Jacobs (he/him)
Pathfinder Narrative Creative Director

I find strength from friends and family, but thinking it over, I’ve got a potentially unexpected answer to the question “What gives me strength?” Horror gives me strength. I understand that the genre isn’t for everyone, but it defines who I am. From a kid watching horror movies with my dad, or while reading horror comic books and novels given to me by my grandparents, or while writing horror stories for school, the genre of fear has always given me strength. Whenever I finished a story (be it a movie, novel, game session, campfire tale, or whatever), I felt stronger, especially while growing up amid horrors both small (those endless school bullies) and enormous (the threat of nuclear apocalypse). There’s a reason horror sees its greatest growth during times of despair—and when times are good, the genre falters. It’d be nice to live in a world where I didn’t need horror to feel strong, but in the meantime, horror helps me continue my journey toward that world. Especially when I get to share my love of horror with friends or family, so… huh. I guess friends and family ARE at the core of it all!

Carlos Cabrera (he/they)

It gives me strength/I am jealous that my World of Darkness character is doing multi-gender polyamory better than me right now.

Mios, the iconic thaumaturge. Mios is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.

Marlowe Miller (they/he)

As a genderfluid Caddo person who has had my gender questioned by strangers since I started middle school, I know that I'm able to make a change just by existing as a visibly queer person. My mere presence challenges the public's preconceived notions of trans people. It's scary sometimes, I won't lie—but it's unavoidable and a responsibility I must bear. I couldn't do it without the help of my chosen family, both here at home in Alabama and in other states.

People question why I stay here when the law is becoming more hostile by the day. I stay in Alabama because I love the queer communities that flourish here, and because I know that if there weren't so many trans and gender-nonconforming people down here in the South, our lawmakers wouldn't be trying to legislate us out of existence. I stay in Alabama because there are people down here who can't leave and we need to stand together to survive. I stay in Alabama because it's my home, and I'm determined to keep it and my communities safe from people who would see it all destroyed. What gives me strength and keeps me going? Community.

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe)
Marketing & Media Specialist

Hey, I’m Rue (they/he/xe), and I’m a mixed race, nonbinary, disabled creator, as well as Paizo’s Marketing & Media Specialist! I’ve been doing freelance writing with Paizo for about a year—my first writing credit is in our newly announced Pathfinder Howl of the Wild, and I’m new here on the marketing team! Above all else, my friends and family give me strength. I have the joy of living with my two wonderful spouses, Rina and Jalen, and I know that they’ll always be there for me just like I’m here for them. My parents are proud of me even if they don’t necessarily understand what I do. It’s wonderful to know that I’m surrounded by people who I love and who love me back. Another thing I find strength in is the goodness of people—and how our community is quick to come together to support those in need. Running two very successful fundraisers for trans rights didn’t just help monetarily; it also showed folx in Florida and Texas that we care about them worldwide. And we won’t let them be erased. We’re here, we’re queer, and we won’t be erased.

Eren Ahn (they/them primarily)

If I'd been asked this prompt last year, I would have written a lot of flowery prose about the importance of family and friendships. I still draw strength from my community; I love and appreciate all of the people I've been fortunate enough to build relationships with, both being born to them and forging them through time and long conversations at 1:47am.

That being said, this year I've reached a level of self-confidence and inner strength I never had before. For the first time, I feel focused and at ease enough to fight for myself in both my professional and personal life. I draw strength in being able to live my life in appreciation of myself, and I hope that's a sentiment many others can agree with. I find a lot of peace in knowing that I always have myself in my corner. I don't know if I would be as happy as I am now without them.

You'll see my work in both Pathfinder Lost Omens Tian Xia books, and as of this being published, I'll have announced the first creature-focused module a friend and I are collaborating on! You can learn more about that on my Twitter @chromathesia.

Amber Stewart (she/her)

I’m Amber Stewart (she/her) and what gives me strength is seeing how my work and that of my peers serves as an idealized mirror for players to see themselves represented in-game, or as a playground to explore their identity in fantasy. Coming to recognize and accept where you fit on the spectrum of orientation and gender identity is a unique thing for each of us, and TTRPGs can be part of that process—it absolutely was for me. You might not immediately recognize that something in-game reflects part of who you are, and play can help unlock some of that identity and provide an avenue for you to explore it: I know that playing female PCs (at an ever-increasing frequency over time) was for me part of my journey to accepting myself as being trans, and then as an outlet to explore that identity well before anyone in my family but my partner was aware.

Now, I might play to my own experiences more than not in my content, but with a broad freelance community, we get a LOT of voices represented. It’s cool, inspiring, and wholesome to see and I’m ever prouder of this community with each passing year.

Kendra Leigh Speedling (she/her)

Hello! I'm Kendra Leigh Speedling, bisexual (and demisexual) disaster and frequent freelancer for Paizo. You may have spotted my name on several books recently, including Pathfinder Treasure Vault and To Defy the Dragon, a Starfinder standalone mech adventure that might help tide you over until Mechageddon!.

It’s a tough time to be queer, especially for our trans and nonbinary friends and family. I’m not as recognizably queer as many others, which has advantages and disadvantages. I could stop talking about certain aspects of myself and pass as straight, but I don’t want to. My pithy answer to what gives me strength is spite. My more heartfelt answer is community, both among LGBTQ+ folks and allies in the Paizosphere and among my other queer friends. The bigots are vocal, but acceptance is increasing overall, particularly in younger generations. I think the recent backlash against us is driven by their fear that they're losing.

Sometimes I come across historical photos online, grainy black-and-white images of queer couples, of people proudly wearing clothes associated with a different gender, and I feel a sense of community across time. We have always been here. We will always be here. And we are worth celebrating.

Brent Bowser (he/they)

Growing up in a small farm town, I used to think there was something wrong with me because I was the only one. Gaming helped me find myself and others like me. I've volunteered with the Organized Play campaign for over ten years, and the caring, generous, accepting friends I've made saved my life. And if bigots and jerks don't feel welcome in Organized Play, then I've done my job.

Jessie "Aki” Lo (she/her)

My name is Jessie Lo, better known as Aki/Akino, and I’m a Bisexual Asian-Canadian freelance artist, writer, and community content creator.

Tons of things bar me from opportunities to create within this space, but what I find that gives me strength is spite. Spite is my biggest motivator, it empowers me to persevere when I feel like I can’t. As a queer woman of colour, I already live in a world where I have to work harder to get by. As an Asian woman, I am constantly fighting the stereotype of being obedient and quiet. However, I genuinely could care less of what others think, so as long as I succeed and continue to uplift marginalized voices with my work, like co-producing my multi-award winning Pathfinder Second Edition podcast Goblets and Gays. It's incredibly surprising what a healthy amount of spite can do for your motivation. Truthfully, I’m just a loud little hater who can find ways to empower and support myself and my community.

If you’d like to see more queer, spite-fueled projects, please continue to support me. https://twitter.com/akinomii_art

Caryn DiMarco (she/they)

I'm Caryn DiMarco (she/they), and my freelance work from Paizo ranges from Pathfinder Society adventures to contributions to the Lost Omens and rulebook lines. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to work with a team of freelancers, developers, editors, and more that represents the richness and complexity of the LGBTQ+ community.

Those spaces we make for ourselves and each other are a key part of what keeps me resilient. I find it easy to get overwhelmed by bad news (especially when it's so widespread). When I do, I'm able to remind myself that the small actions we take to make people feel welcome and safe make a difference. Whether that's making sure our settings represent the diversity of our world, taking steps to keep the games we play inclusive, or simply sharing the bits of LGBTQ+ culture that sustain us, all of our individual efforts become something bigger and more powerful when combined.

Grady Wang (he/him)

Growing up, the pervasive message about strength was that it comes from within—the action hero who goes it alone, the player character who levels up after each struggle, the message that boys need to suck it up. As I grow older, I’ve learned that personal strength only carries you so far. True strength comes from opening yourself up to others, even if it also makes you vulnerable. For me, strength comes from community.

I am so lucky to have found an amazing community in tabletop. From the inclusivity at cons to the thoughtful and empathetic team at Paizo to the generosity of my fellow freelancers, I have learned and grown so much. My goal is to give back and encourage the same behaviors that inspire me to stand up for my beliefs and live my truths. One such way is through the Queerfinder zine series on Pathfinder Infinite, which aims to introduce queer-identifying aspiring designers and artists to veterans in the industry. Another is working with the Storytelling Collective to provide resources for designers of all backgrounds. If your dream is to work in tabletop, please feel free to reach out. We are all stronger together.

Lovely Ria is a Pact Worlds pop icon chosen by Desna. Ria is nonbinary and uses xe/xem/xer pronouns (pronounced “zee,” “zem,” and “zer”) to represent xer genderfluidity and connection to the queerness of the alien cosmos. Ria’s wild travels took xem all the way to Cynosure, home of goddess Desna

Jenny Jarzabski (she/her/xe)
Starfinder Senior Developer

Hi, I’m Jenny Jarzabski. Working with the Starfinder team is one of the things that fills me with pride and fuels my hope every day that a better world is possible.

When encountering a Starfinder NPC (nonplayer character), you can assume that character is queer unless explicitly stated otherwise. This is only partly a joke considering the myriad weird and wonderful celebrations of queer identities in the setting.

Examining society’s gender constructs and ultimately turning them upside down is a long and proud tradition for sci-fi creators. As we create infinite fictional worlds, we imagine humanity’s own infinite possibilities. Here on Earth many people recognize multiple genders in humans, though the truth is more complex and subtle even than “male,” “female,” and “nonbinary.” In the fictional worlds of Starfinder, understanding has progressed even further. Add aliens to the mix and it gets super interesting!

For example: maraquoi, a fur-covered simian species, have seven genders that each play a different role in reproduction. Shirrens—an insectoid, choice-obsessed people who broke away from the destructive Swarm—present three genders: female, host, and male. Astrazoans are shapeshifting echinoderms with no inherent concept of gender, and synthetic lifeforms like anacites and androids can choose to adopt humanoid gender roles and pronouns or create their own.

I’m proud of my personal contributions to our queer cosmos, not to mention the fantastic additions to the Starfinder setting made by dozens of queer creators. To those creators: I’m honored to help amplify your voices and develop your work. Because of you, the Starfinder multiverse is a more beautiful, diverse reality.

Starfinder is set far in Pathfinder’s future, in an era when many alien cultures have already achieved peace and prosperity, and social progression has advanced beyond the norm here on Earth. This vibrant reality is imperiled by threats from both beyond the stars and in their own backyards, but even in the face of these dangers, a Starfinder character can proudly be who they are. And that’s why Starfinder’s worlds are worth fighting for, just like ours.

Dustin Knight (he/him)
Starfinder Developer

After years of contemplating the definition of love, I find an endless source of strength in the seemingly endless journey to completely learn what it means to love oneself. It might seem a little intense to bring this up in a blog post for a tabletop RPG company, but I couldn’t have made it this far on my continuing journey toward self-acceptance and self-respect without these games, this community, and these annual blog posts. The commitment to love expressed and confirmed time and time again by this community has helped me learn who I am and accept that with pride instead of guilt or shame. There is an unparalleled cathartic magic to roleplaying and storytelling, and I draw endless strength from the idea that my contributions to our hobby may help others down their path of self-acceptance and self-love.

Katrina Hennessy (she/they)

I hesitated to write this, not only because life is at its chaotic best, but because I feel I don’t belong. I’m not really a part of the LGBTQ+ community, yet I’m not not part of it. For most of my life I knew I didn’t fit, but I played my part anyway. I am a happily married woman with adult offspring, but I still don’t fit in The Box where most of society automatically places me.

The Paizo community provided strength and support to learn by allowing me to witness others on their own path, providing hints and a direction to look. I think I now know which labels apply, but it doesn’t really matter. All of this has helped me better accept myself and feel less different. I won’t say normal, as I’m not sure that is a word that should ever be applied to any human being. Everything about humans (and probably most living creatures) exists on a spectrum.

So, if you aren’t sure where you belong on the spectrum, that’s OK. If you want to poke around and try to work it out, this is a great community to be in while you do so. No obligations to make announcements, fly flags, or anything else. Nothing wrong with doing so and please accept and respect those who do. Being quietly personal about your status also deserves respect.

Andrew Mullen (he/him)

I’m Andrew, and a few months ago I realized I’m bi! That was sort of a weird thing to have happen, seeing as I’m a dude in his late 30s with a wife and a toddler. I guess when society assumes you’re heterosexual, and your attractions mostly match up with that, then you assume you’re straight, too.

I draw a lot of strength from my family. When I told my wife, Melissa, about the realization, she was just glad I’d discovered something about myself. As we talked more, she projected a very uncomplicated and sincere sense of affirmation. What better than that, when you’re open and vulnerable in unfamiliar territory? My parents and close friends were similarly supportive!

You know how the right acts like it owns the “traditional” family? Well, queer folks of all stripes are out here having families that look like a 1950s all-American ad. It’s very satisfying to disprove and reject bigotry by being myself.

Alexi J. Greer (they/them)

I remember living in Orlando in 2021, with my polycule and gathering of queer and trans friends. I didn’t know what would happen in the next two years, but there was something in the air that made me pause that summer. “I think we should seriously consider moving up near your family in New England,” I told my fiancé. I worked through illness and sleepless nights to make the move work, but it did. Then it wasn't even three months before I was messaging my friends down in FL. "Stay strong and keep going. We're going to make a plan to bring you up here."

What gives me strength are the people I care about and my determination to see them happy. And my confidence that we can fight for happiness; not just our own, but others' too. Happiness should be chased, not negotiated for as if it were a commodity to be rationed out. Evil pretends to represent the majority, but it's a boldfaced lie. There's a wider world that wants you here, with us, and shining as your full self. And if you're in need, I know I'm not alone when I vow to support you too.

From the Pathfinder Remaster Project to Starfinder Enhanced, the team at Paizo has a plethora of new content coming down the pipeline. This year’s PaizoCon Online featured speakers across Paizo’s creative team who teased at new products and projects.

Pathfinder Remaster

Lead Designer Logan Bonner revealed the final, painted covers for the Player Core and GM Core books during the presentation. These fully painted covers by Wayne Reynolds feature Pathfinder iconic heroes doing battle against and standing alongside new diabolic and mirage dragons, both of which will debut in Monster Core. These full-color covers will be available online and at retailers, while the Hobby Retailer Exclusive Sketch Covers, previously revealed on the Paizo Blog, will only be available through your FLGS.

Hardcover Rulebooks

Pathfinder has a variety of new rulebooks—some freshly released and some on their way. James Case, Senior Designer on Pathfinder, showcased some of the upcoming content.

Rage of Elements, Pathfinder’s latest rulebook, will be available in early August at Gen Con 2023, as well as online and at local retailers. This book adds wood and metal elemental planes to Golarion, taking players on a tour of the planes and introducing their elemental lords. Also included in Rage of Elements is a much-anticipated new class: the kineticist, an elemental adept martial class. Rage of Elements is the first Remaster compatible rulebook, giving a preview of the rule changes to come.

Coming in 2024 is the recently announced Howl of the Wild, a creature-filled book featuring an iruxi naturalist and his eccentric crew as they navigate the wilds on their airship, the Zoetrope. This book introduces six new wild-side ancestries, new creatures, regional variants of existing creatures, spells, archetypes, and more.

Lost Omens

Luis Loza, Creative Director of Pathfinder, gave a preview of Lost Omens Highhelm, an upcoming book that’s part gazetteer and part exploration of dwarven culture. This new Lost Omens entry releases in June and includes new skills, feats, ancestries, backgrounds, and mechanics to immerse yourself in dwarven culture and the city of Highhelm. Players can also expect to learn more about the dwarven pantheon, particularly eight gods not yet expanded on in Golarion.

Pathfinder Adventures

Syncing wonderfully with the release of Lost Omens Highhelm, Pathfinder’s next Adventure Path, Sky King’s Tomb, takes player characters on a quest for a major piece of dwarven history. The Adventure Path starts in August, and the three volumes will take players from levels 1–10.

Following that, our Adventure Paths take us to Tian Xia for Season of Ghosts. This ghostly, horror-flavored four-part Adventure Path for levels 1–12 takes place over a full calendar year in game—with each installment covering the length of one season in a cursed town in haunted Shenmen.

Standalone adventures return with Pathfinder Adventure: Rusthenge, a softcover book that places low-level characters in the world of runelords and their conflicts. Rusthenge will release late this year, bringing the western reaches to your table.

Partner Projects

Many of Paizo’s licensed partners are currently running crowdfunding drives or releasing new projects, such as the Dynamite Comics Kickstarter, BKOM Studios Abomination Vaults ARPG Kickstarter, Demiplane’s Pathfinder NEXUS, and more.

Breaking news! Steve Jackson Games announced that Pathfinder: Revolution, the Pathfinder expansion for hit board game Revolution, will release late this year. Pathfinder: Revolution puts players in the rebellion of Korvosa, facing off against tyrannical Queen Ileosa to save the city from her bloody path to immortality.

Starfinder

Looming big and bright on Starfinder’s horizon is Starfinder Enhanced, a book full of player options, items, spells, and rules for scaling up equipment. This book rolls out enhanced versions of four classes—the envoy, solarian, technomancer, and witchwarper—and presents new rules and changes that reflect feedback from the experiences of developers and community members alike.

Starfinder and mech fans alike can look forward to Mechageddon!, a high-level hardcover Adventure Path coming in 2024! Newly announced at PaizoCon 2023, this adventure starts on Daimalko—the planet of kaiju—and takes players through levels 3–18, letting their mechs level up with them through tier 17.

Organized Play

Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society have plenty in store for this summer’s convention season! Debuted at PaizoCon Online 2023, Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-13: Within the Prairies and Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-14: Shattering Golden Chains continued this season’s path towards conflict with the night hag, Aslynn. Starfinder Society introduced its new season with Starfinder Society Scenario #6-01: Year of Fortune’sFall and Starfinder Society Scenario #6-02: Drift Scars. Starfinder Society players also participated in the group interactive special #5-99, Battle for Bulwark!

Look forward to election day in Starfinder Society! The First Seeker has stepped down, and four new candidates have been chosen from player-submitted characters to run for their place. In Starfinder Society Scenario #6-06, going live at GenCon 2023, Society players will get to meet the candidates and vote on who will step up as the next First Seeker.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #200

Pathfinder Adventure Path #200 is coming next year, and it’s a special double-sized standalone adventure available in hardcover and softcover. Seven Dooms for Sandpoint brings Pathfinder Adventure Path #1 author James Jacobs back to that adventure’s setting, the town of Sandpoint, for a level 4–12 adventure that adapts Pathfinder’s designer playtest campaign for the first time.

Watch the PaizoCon Online 2023 Twitch Panel Playlist on YouTube!

For the last several months, numerous publishers, including Paizo, have been working hard on the ORC License, a system-agnostic, perpetual, and irrevocable open gaming license that provides a legal “safe harbor” for sharing rules mechanics and encourages collaboration and innovation in the tabletop gaming space. In collaboration with hundreds of publishers and other interested parties on the ORC License Discord, we’ve been group-editing the license and related Answers and Explanations (AxE) document, kicking the language into shape and making sure that the license is as solid as possible, and works for as many publishers as possible.

We’re nearly at the end of the process. Thanks to all the hard work of everyone listed above, we’re now ready to release the third draft of the ORC License and AxE. We believe this draft is solid enough to be the final draft of the ORC License but know from past experience that new text can bring the opportunity for new errors or requests for clarification. The community has been phenomenally helpful in refining the language of this license. Now it’s time to take one last look and provide any final comments you may have before we lock the license terms in the very near future.

We have provided a redline version of both the ORC License and the AxE below to help you better compare the differences between the Third and Second Drafts. If you wish to start fresh with a “clean” copy of the Third Drafts, those have been provided as well.

We’ll keep commentary open on the official ORC License Discord for the next few days, with an eye toward locking the final version of the license by the end of next week. During this time, we’ll fold any necessary improvements into each document and release a Final Interim ORC License at www.azoralaw.com/orclicense, paizo.com, and elsewhere. Publishers will be able to use this version of the license to publish material under the ORC License by including the proper ORC Notice.

At the same time that the Final Interim ORC License is published, these documents will be filed with the United States Library of Congress, who will issue copyright registration in about six months. Once the registration is issued, Azora will publicly release the ORC License (including the final AxE). The only change between the Final Interim ORC License and the ORC License will be the addition of the TX number in Section III.a.

So, we’re very nearly there! Please help us over the finish line by taking a look at the Third Draft and providing your feedback on the official ORC License Discord. Thank you again for your assistance!

Download the Orc License

Download the Orc License Redlined

Download the Orc AxE

Download the Orc AxE Redlined

Join the conversation

PaizoCon Online 2023, the celebration of all things Paizo, begins today! Join us for free, fun panels at twitch.tv/officialpaizo. Meet friends and network on our Discord, with prizes, partner presentations, staff AMAs, and more!

From now through May 29, take 20% off a single order* of Pathfinder and Starfinder products at the Paizo Store using the code PaizoCon2023 at checkout.

Stock up on Pathfinder Accessories, Deep Cuts miniatures, and the entire Pathfinder Battles line of prepainted miniatures from WizKids (excluding preorders or full sized figures).

Join us for the PaizoCon Keynote on Twitch from 10 a.m. to noon Pacific and on the Paizo Events Discord for partner giveaways every hour on the hour between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!

Get it before it is gone!

Inside our Starfinder Solidarity Bundle you will find everything you need for years of exciting science-fantasy play, like digital copies of the Starfinder Core Rulebook, Alien Archive, Alien Archive 2, Alien Archive 3, the Starfinder Beginner Box, as well as the entire Fly Free or Die Adventure Path. Plus, it features physical copies of Starfinder Alien Archive 2 and the Starfinder Critical Hit Deck! That is over $400 in Starfinder Roleplaying Game digital and print materials for only $45! Best of all, you choose how much of your purchase supports The Trevor Project.

But wait, there’s more! Many of our partners have amazing offers to help you unleash your hero:

• BKOM Pre-Kickstarter Campaign
• Demiplane Character Tools Launch Party Sale - Use code PF2CHARACTERS at checkout to save 20% on all Pathfinder Second Edition rulebooks and Lost Omens source books (pre-orders not included) on Pathfinder NEXUS!
• Demiplane's Official Pathfinder 2nd Edition Character Tools Open Beta Is Live
• DriveThruComics Sale
• DriveThruRPG Sale
• Dynamite Kickstarter - Hardcovers of Pathfinder & Starfinder comics are crowdfunding now!
• Foundry Anniversary Sale
• Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite Sale
• Pathfinder Infinite Bundle
• TALES OF ASUNDA #1-3, NIOBE & DURA #2, MORKA MOA #3 + MORE! Kickstarter with Pathfinder First Edition content tiers

Roll20 is celebrating with newly re-packaged Pathfinder Flip-Mat Classics, Pathfinder Flip-Mats, and Starfinder Flip-Mats. They also have Pathfinder and Starfinder Core Rulebook discounts, dynamic Pathfinder and Starfinder Mega-Bundles, the new digital Pathfinder Harrow Deck!

Shop the PaizoCon Sale Today!

* Discounts listed here do not stack with other discounts, including the Paizo Advantage. Not valid on subscriptions, preorders, Foundry VTT, or non-Paizo products not specifically listed as on sale. Sale ends at 11:59 p.m. Pacific on May 29.

PaizoCon South Pacific is happening again at the historic Quarantine Station in Sydney, Australia this June/July!

This year, we’re doing things a little differently and have embraced a spooky theme to celebrate the shortest days of the year here in the Southern Hemisphere. A boatload of Pathfinder and Starfinder Society content will be on offer over the weekend, alongside ghost tours and other activities that will let you catch up with other players from around the region. Activities will include:

• Low level sessions of Pathfinder Society 2E and Starfinder; beginners welcome!
• A whole pile of OP scenarios, a module, and even short adventures to play, so as to provide something for everyone.
• Dinner at The Hold on Sunday, July 2^nd (https://thehold.com.au/)

A weekend-pass is $70, or you can purchase individual sessions at $15 per person. Tickets are purchased through Warhorn via PayPal. All the details can be found here or at Warhorn, and you can keep up with the conversation on Discord. 

Please contact the organisers (Sandra Wilkinson or Nik Beattie) by email (nsworgplay@tutanota.com) or via the PCSP section in the NSW Discord (https://discord.gg/dkkPNpxGn9) if you have any questions or queries about the convention, they will be more than happy to help you out!

PaizoCon South Pacific Organisers

Share your unique vision with the pros! Get thoughtful and detailed feedback on your illustrations from Paizo’s art directors. Learn what we look for and how to get there. We are here to help! Sign up to have our team review your portfolio, and we’ll give you a 10-minute constructive critique on your work. Reviews will be held Friday, May 26th starting at 10 am and going to 3 pm. We’re offering early sign up for ticket holders, and then we will open it up to anyone interested.

How To Sign Up:

• Click on one of the links below that corresponds with a Paizo Art Director.
• Click on the highlighted date on the Calendar.
• Choose one of the available times and hit “next.”
• Follow the prompts and fill in your name, email, and link to your portfolio.
• We’ll see you at your scheduled time in the Paizo Events Discord in one of the Portfolio Reviews channels.

Guidelines:

• Reviews will be done over Discord; please remember what time you signed up and join the Discord chat at your time as to not intrude on someone else’s review.
• Please only choose one art director to sign up for a time slot with, we have a limited number of times and want to give as many people a chance as possible.
• Please link to your portfolio so we have a chance to review your work beforehand.
• Please no AI generated work.

We can’t wait to see your work!

Sign Up With Sonja!

Sign Up With Kyle!

Sign Up With Kent!

Sign Up With Adam!

Hey everyone, Luis Loza here! I'm back to talk about another addition to the draconic ranks in Pathfinder Monster Core. If you haven’t seen our preview for the new diabolic dragon, be sure to check that out as well! Anyway, on to the latest preview!

Mirage Dragon Concept Art - by Kent Hamilton

The next dragon we’re showcasing is the mirage dragon, an arcane dragon with a mastery of illusion magic. Arcane dragons typically have a stronger connection to magic, represented by stronger spellcasting capabilities, direct influence over magical energies, and other supernatural abilities. Many arcane dragons sport lithe frames as they make use of their magic more directly and thus don’t require the powerful bodies that other dragons use for combat. That doesn’t make arcane dragons any less dangerous, however!

Take the mirage dragon, for example. Its scales are iridescent and capable of changing color for better camouflage, making mirage dragons surprisingly stealthy. The fins on the dragon’s head open up into a radiant display that can captivate foes, giving the dragon plenty of time to close in on prey. A mirage dragon’s hallucinatory breath can confound or overwhelm multiple enemies at once, which is helpful when dealing with parties of would-be dragon slayers. Add on a suite of illusion spells, and you have a dragon that’s just as dangerous, if not more so, than its larger cousins. Mirage dragons love to gaze upon their own reflections and hoard gold pieces polished to a mirror shine, as well as reflective metals, large mirrors, and other treasures to line their lairs.

I hope you enjoyed this peek at the mirage dragon. If you want a second look, make sure to check out our preview for the cover of Pathfinder GM Core. Stay tuned for more Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster previews—draconic and otherwise—in the coming weeks!

Luis Loza
Creative Director—Rules & Lore

Check out this year's Streaming Schedule and join us on twitch.tv/officialpaizo for PaizoCon Online 2023!

Friday May 26th

10 am – 12 pm PDT
PaizoCon 2023 Keynote
Exciting news and upcoming products at our annual Keynote, hosted by Erik Mona.

12 – 2 pm PDT
Pathfinder Remastered
Join the Pathfinder designers as they talk about the upcoming Pathfinder Remaster releases! Topics include an explanation of what the Remaster project is and what kinds of updates and improvements fans can expect.

2 – 3 pm PDT
News from Organized Play
The Organized Play team shares exciting news about our programs and upcoming adventures.

3 – 4 pm PDT
Secrets of the Pact Worlds
Join the Starfinder team as they reveal new projects and behind-the-scenes talks about the Starfinder setting's direction moving forward. Learn about upcoming adventures and get a chance to ask the developers some of your pressing questions!

4 – 5 pm PDT
Introduction to Foundry
Join Viviane(Cora) and Shane(Anathema) for a discussion about Pathfinder products for Foundry VTT, A preview of the forthcoming Kingmaker premium content module, a look at the recently released Harrow Deck module, and some audience Q&A

5 – 6 pm PDT
Pathfinder 2E on Fantasy Grounds Unity
Bryce will walk you through the resources available for online virtual tabletop (VTT) play using Fantasy Grounds Unity. He'll introduce the built-in Pathfinder 2E ruleset, available modules, how to build a character, level up, run an adventure, encounters, combat, and as much as he can fit in one hour!

6 – 7 pm PDT
Mini Painting with WizKids
[Description coming soon]

Saturday May 27th

9 – 10 am PDT
Pathfinder NEXUS Dev Update/Q&A
Join Demiplane CDO Adam Bradford for the latest updates from Demiplane for Pathfinder NEXUS, including previews of the upcoming character tools!

10 – 11 am PDT
Primal Previews
Join the Pathfinder Rules & Lore team as they reveal the secrets of elemental power and primal realms! This panel will include previews and discussion on Pathfinder Rage of Elements and other upcoming Pathfinder releases that explore Golarion, from the Inner Sea to its wildest and most remote regions!

11 am – 12 pm PDT
Ask the Paizo GMs
Get answers about the games you love from the people who make them! Paizo staff will be on hand to field your questions from the Twitch chat. (Another Ask the Paizo GMs panel is on Sunday May 28th at 3 pm PDT if you can't make this one!)

12 – 1 pm PDT
Secrets of Golarion
Learn about what's between the covers of the Lost Omens books and what's behind the scenes. Join some of the crew steering the world of Golarion to hear about what's going on in the world and what's coming. We'll be answering as many questions as we can—but not all secrets will be revealed.

1 – 2 pm PDT
Pathfinder Adventures
Come join the Pathfinder Narrative team for a discussion about Pathfinder Adventures, be they stand-alone modules, Organized Play scenarios, or full Adventure Path campaigns! We'll be chatting about several upcoming adventures, answering questions, and previewing some upcoming surprises—including an announcement for what we've got planned for the 200th Pathfinder Adventure Path volume!

2 – 3 pm PDT
Infinite Possibilities: How to Write for Pathfinder Infinite
Join Infinite Masters Dustin Knight, James Beck, Tony Saunders, and Vanessa Hoskins as they relay their experiences, offer advice, and answer questions about how to publish on Pathfinder Infinite, including where to find creator resources and collaborative creator spaces!

3 – 4 pm PDT
Check Yourself: Self-Editing for Games Writers
Paizo's editors share their insight on common writing pitfalls to avoid, following a style guide, using inclusive language, and other ways to strengthen your writing, whether freelancing for companies like Paizo or publishing your work on other platforms.

4 – 5 pm PDT
BKOM Studios' Pathfinder Game
Discover BKOM Studios' latest Pathfinder video game!

5 – 5:30 pm PDT
GMing Pathfinder on Roll20
Join us for a conversation about GMing Pathfinder using the Roll20 virtual tabletop platform.

Sunday May 28th

9 – 10 am PDT
Digital Map Tools in Fantasy Grounds Unity
Joshua will introduce Fantasy Grounds Unity and how it can work with Paizo's Flip-Tiles, Flip-Mats, and map packs to enable online or local virtual tabletop play for Pathfinder and Starfinder. He'll cover using dynamic line of sight, snapping tiles into place, manipulating tiles, adding or modifying lights, adding FX, and using image brushes for advanced effects. Using this in-game allows for preplacement of encounters, linking story entries, hiding and revealing enemies automatically, opening and closing doors and windows, and approval of player movement.

10 – 11 am PDT
WizKids Interview
An interview with Mark Moreland about the process of making WizKids minis.

11 am – 12 pm PDT
Build an Adventure Workshop
Learn tips and tricks to building a one-session adventure from some of Paizo's adventure developers.

12 – 1 pm PDT
Into the Darklands
Dig deep beneath the surface of Golarion to find the wonders, dangers, and mysteries of life below. Join us for a discussion of the Darklands and how they tie into the upcoming Lost Omens Highhelm book, the Sky King's Tomb Adventure Path, and more!

1 – 2 pm PDT
Starfinder Nuts and Bolts
Get an in-depth look at the upcoming Starfinder Enhanced book from the people who made it! Learn about the new enhanced core classes and get previews on new class content, new species, new feats, and a whole lot of new content that we just can't wait to reveal!

2 – 3 pm PDT
Mysteries in RPGs
Who doesn't love a good mystery? They can be great to include in roleplaying games, but sometimes, the search for clues can derail the best-laid plans of even the most talented GM. In this panel, we'll discuss techniques on how best to present mysteries in your games, chat about our own mysterious inspirations, and maybe even shed light on some mysteries that we've presented but haven't yet answered—as long as that mystery isn't "How did Aroden die?" of course!

3 – 4 pm PDT
Ask the Paizo GMs
Get answers about the games you love from the people who make them! Paizo staff will be on hand to field your questions from the Twitch chat. (Another Ask the Paizo GMs panel is on Saturday May 27th at 11 am PDT if you can't make this one!)

---

See you soon!

Don't forget to join us on the PaizoCon Discord for even more programming! We'll be announcing our Digital Content guests soon. They'll be hanging out in our online "exhibition hall" with their own channels to answer questions, show off their amazing products, and host panels of their own via Discord stages!

If you're interested in gaming, don't forget to purchase a ticket and sign up on Warhorn to get access to our Organized Play games and non–Organized Play activities!

We can't wait to see you all at PaizoCon Online 2023!

Today, we are pleased to reveal the Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster Project, four new hardcover rulebooks that offer a fresh entry point to the Pathfinder Second Edition roleplaying game! The first two books, Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder GM Core, release this November, with Pathfinder Monster Core (March 2024) and Pathfinder Player Core 2 (July 2024) completing the remastered presentation of Pathfinder’s core rules. The new rulebooks are compatible with existing Pathfinder Second Edition products, incorporating comprehensive errata and rules updates as well as some of the best additions from later books into new, easy-to-access volumes with streamlined presentations inspired by years of player feedback.

This year saw a huge explosion of new Pathfinder players. Remastered books like Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder GM Core improve upon the presentation of our popular Pathfinder Second Edition rules, remixing four years of updates and refinements to make the game easier to learn and more fun to play.

In time, the Pathfinder Player Core, Pathfinder GM Core, Pathfinder Monster Core, and Pathfinder Player Core 2 will replace the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, Gamemastery Guide, Bestiary, and Advanced Player’s Guide, which Paizo will not reprint once their current print runs expire. Existing Pathfinder players should be assured that the core rules system remains the same, and the overwhelming majority of the rules themselves will not change. Your existing books are still valid. The newly formatted books consolidate key information in a unified place—for example, Pathfinder Player Core will collect all the important rules for each of its featured classes in one volume rather than spreading out key information between the Core Rulebook and the Advanced Player’s Guide.

The new core rulebooks will also serve as a new foundation for our publishing partners, transitioning the game away from the Open Game License that caused so much controversy earlier this year to the more stable and reliable Open RPG Creative (ORC) license, which is currently being finalized with the help of hundreds of independent RPG publishers. This transition will result in a few minor modifications to the Pathfinder Second Edition system, notably the removal of alignment and a small number of nostalgic creatures, spells, and magic items exclusive to the OGL. These elements remain a part of the corpus of Pathfinder Second Edition rules for those who still want them, and are fully compatible with the new remastered rules, but will not appear in future Pathfinder releases.

In the meantime, Pathfinder’s remaining projects and product schedule remain as-is and compatible with the newly remastered rules. This July’s Rage of Elements hardcover, along with the Lost Omens campaign setting books and our regular monthly Adventure Path volumes, continue as planned, as does the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign, which will incorporate the new rules as they become available.

Learn more with our FAQ here or read it below

Is this a new edition of Pathfinder?

No. The Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster Project does not change the fundamental core system design of Pathfinder. Small improvements and cosmetic changes appear throughout, but outside of a few minor changes in terminology, the changes are not anywhere substantive enough to be considered a new edition. We like Pathfinder Second Edition. You like Pathfinder Second Edition. This is a remastered version of the original, not a new version altogether.

Are my existing Pathfinder Second Edition books now obsolete?

No. With the exception of a few minor variations in terminology and a slightly different mix of monsters, spells, and magic items, the rules remain largely unchanged. A pre-Remaster stat block, spell, monster, or adventure should work with the remastered rules without any problems.

What does this mean for my digital content?

Paizo is working with its digital partners to integrate new system updates in the most seamless way possible. The new rules will be uploaded to Archives of Nethys as usual, and legacy content that does not appear in the remastered books will not disappear from online rules.

We will not be updating PDFs of legacy products with the updated rules.

Will the Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster books be part of my ongoing Pathfinder Rulebooks subscription?

Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster books will be included in ongoing Pathfinder Rulebooks subscriptions. We are currently working on a method whereby existing subscribers will have the opportunity to “opt out” of these volumes if they wish and will provide additional details as we get closer to the release of the first two volumes.

What impact will the Second Edition Remaster have on Pathfinder Society Organized Play?

We are working closely with our Organized Play team to seamlessly integrate new rules options in the upcoming books as those books are released, as normal. In the rare case of a conflict between a new book and legacy source, campaign management will provide clear advice with as little disruption as possible to player characters or the campaign itself.

Will there be more Remastered Core books to come? What about Monster Core 2 or Player Core 3?

It’s very likely that we will continue to update and remaster the Bestiaries in the future, but for now we’re focusing on the four announced books as well as Paizo’s regular schedule of Pathfinder releases. Publishing 100% new material remains Paizo’s primary focus, and we look forward to upcoming releases like Pathfinder Rage of Elements, the Lost Omens Tian Xia World Guide and Character Guide, our monthly Adventure Path installments, and other exciting projects we have yet to announce.

Will the new Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster books have Special Editions?

Yes. We are looking into various exciting print options for these books and will post more information soon.

Will the new Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster books have Pocket Editions?

Yes. Pocket editions of the new books will appear roughly three months following the hardcover releases.

Will these changes impact the Starfinder Roleplaying Game?

Not yet.

How can I learn more about the Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster books?

To learn more about the Remaster books, check out our live stream chat about the announcement happening later today on Twitch. Beyond that, we’ll be making a handful of additional announcements in the coming days and weeks to showcase more about this exciting project, culminating in your first full look at the project during PaizoCon (May 26th–29th)!

SAVE UP TO 80% ON KOBOLD MOVING SALE!

The Paizo goblins and the kobolds at Kobold Press have been sharing the same warren for many years as small-folk allies. But the kobolds have outgrown their space in our warehouse, so they've found a new one that's just right. They must unload some of their loot to avoid hauling it to their new lair. They claim to be Strength-challenged and can't carry it all! (We know kobolds are strong as we are, but who wants to carry it when it’s better to sell it?!)

For the next few months, you can get great deals on a wide array of new and classic Kobold Press titles: 60% off select 5e titles and 80% off select Kobold Quarterly, 13th Age, or 4E titles! But don’t move slowly, the best titles will go quickly!

Each book you order will unburden a poor kobold who otherwise will have to schlep these tomes through the dangerous, monster-infested terrain of the Midwest.

Won’t you help an innocent, defenseless kobold today?

(We know this might sound like a kobold feigning weakness to ambush, but we goblins will vouch for them. This time.)

Kobold Warrens Moving Sale

*Discount does not stack with other discounts. Sale ends at 11:59 p.m. Pacific on June 30, 2023.

Registration for PaizoCon Online games opens next Monday! If you haven’t already, be sure to purchase your ticket now. If you’ve never used Warhorn to sign up for games before, here’s a brief explanation on how to register for the event and sign up for your games.

What’s Warhorn?

Warhorn is an online game scheduling platform. In addition to signing up for games, you can use the Discussion tab to ask questions of your GM or fellow players. Your GM can add links to the sign-in sheet and their VTT ahead of time.

Registering on Warhorn

1. If you haven’t already, create a Warhorn account. Remember the email you used, as the PaizoCon ticket purchase process will ask for this email!
2. Visit the PaizoCon Online 2023 Warhorn.
3. In the upper right corner or on the right side of the screen, click “Register.”

That’s it! You’re now registered for the event. Clearing attendees to sign up for games is a manual process. At least once every 24 hours, we’ll go through and grant the correct permissions to every user who has bought a ticket since our last check, so please be patient!

Once you’re cleared to sign up for games, you’ll receive an email from Warhorn letting you know. In the meantime, you can view the event schedule and plan out what games you’d like to join!

Signing Up for Games

1. Navigate to the listing for the game you want to join.
2. Click “Sign Up to Play” at the top of the player list.
3. For scenarios, you’re now signed up to play! For lottery games, you’ve joined the queue to potentially be selected to play in that game.

Lottery Games

Some of our events run by Paizo staffers or community members are likely to be in very high demand, and we don’t want to limit them to the fastest clickers. As such, we’re designating some games as Lottery Games in their description. Players who are interested in a Lottery Game can sign up as normal before 9am Pacific time on May 15, 2023. On this date, the signups will be closed and the players will be randomly chosen to play. Should any of these players drop, the seat will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you have any questions about the signup process, be sure to drop them in the comments, or head over to the Paizo Events Discord server. We can’t wait to see you at PaizoCon Online!

PaizoCon Online 2023 Team

In January, Paizo and an alliance of more than 1,500 tabletop RPG publishers announced our intention to support the development of the Open RPG Creative (ORC) license, a system-agnostic, perpetual, irrevocable open gaming license that provides a legal “safe harbor” for sharing rules mechanics and encourages collaboration and innovation in the tabletop gaming space. The ORC is not explicitly a Paizo license, but is intended for the common use of the entire games industry, across a wide variety of games and platforms. Over the last several weeks, we have been working closely with Azora Law, an intellectual property law firm that works with Paizo and several other game publishers, to develop and refine a working draft of the ORC license for public discussion and refinement.

The first public draft of the ORC license is now complete, and we welcome the feedback of individual publishers on the official ORC License Project Discord, found here.

You can download a copy of the ORC license and its associated FAQ/AxE (Answers and Explanations) document below. We will continue to refine the license and add to the FAQ based on public feedback provided on the official Discord. Azora will be soliciting commentary and feedback through that platform between now and Friday, April 21, at which point they will incorporate that feedback and release another public draft. If additional rounds of public commentary are required, the process will continue until the license is complete and meets the needs of the majority of participating publishers. It is our intention to wrap up the entire process by the end of April if possible.

Thank you for your interest and participation in public conversations regarding the ORC license during the weeks it has taken us to put together this preliminary draft.

That work is now complete, and the next phase begins.

Download the Orc License

Download the Orc AxE

Join the conversation

BKOM Studios and Paizo are joining forces to bring two new Pathfinder video games to the market! One will be launching on Steam later this year, and the second is in early stages of development.

"We are so excited about this collab," says Frederic Martin, CEO of BKOM Studios. "We absolutely love role playing games (lots of us at BKOM are already part of that community) and already were fans of the Pathfinder brand. In Paizo, we found the ideal partner with whom to collaborate to materialize a common vision. After 26 years in this industry, there are people whom you know you want to work with again. And John Feil (Director of Licensing at Paizo) is definitely one of them. We can't wait to reveal more about the projects we've been working on with John and his colleagues," he adds. "The upcoming titles are perfectly aligned with BKOM’s vision to bring unique and meaningful gaming experiences on PC and consoles."

"We at Paizo are incredibly excited to be working with BKOM," says Mark Moreland, the company's Director of Brand Strategy. "Their track record is impeccable, and we can't wait to expand the Pathfinder brand into new digital spaces with them."

Details about both projects will be revealed soon!

Are you ready for the return of PaizoCon Online 2023? Join us Memorial Day weekend, May 26th–29th, as we once again bring events to your screen with an amazing long weekend of panels, giveaways, and, of course, gaming!

If you’re new to Pathfinder or Starfinder, PaizoCon is an annual weekend-long event where we celebrate our team, our community, gaming, and all things Paizo!

The entirety of this year’s convention is online. This year things will be slightly different: parts of the show you know and love will remain free, but we’ll also be having a ticketed event with community-run games and activities at the same time!

How it works: After purchasing your ticket, please navigate to your E-tickets page to add your Discord (name#numbers) and Warhorn email, so we can add the “Ticket Purchaser” role in our Paizo Events Server and Warhorn, which will give you access to sign up for games on Warhorn.

Game sign-ups: Both Organized Play and Open Play games will be available on April 17 through Warhorn. Stay tuned!

PaizoCon livestreams: We’ll be providing the full schedule of online Twitch and Discord panels soon, including Erik Mona’s annual opening keynote.

Friday art portfolio reviews: The opening Friday of PaizoCon, the Paizo art team is offering portfolio reviews on a first-come, first-served basis. Stay tuned for more information and registration!

Friends of Paizo: Join not just us, but multiple friends of Paizo in the Discord this year. Chat with, ask questions of, and learn more about the amazing work of teams like Foundry VTT, Roll20, Abyssal Brews, and more!

We look forward to seeing you all online this year! Stay tuned for more updates and announcements about PaizoCon 2023!

Get your tickets today!

Creating a dangerous dungeon to challenge adventurers is a lot of work. While the various architecture aeons, drafter devils, engineering elementals, and other dungeon designing minions here at Paizo are generally great at their job, there are some times when the rooms they create don’t quite hit the mark. While we typically just set those aside for incineration at a later date, we were running out of space at the delving warehouse. To clear up a bit of space, we figured that we could just set a few of those unused rooms out on the curb for anyone to pick up. So, today on April Fools’ Day, we invite you to come on by and grab any of these rooms and throw them into your next dungeon!

Rooms Designed by Cosmo Eisele (Director of Sales), Vanessa Hoskins (Developer), and Luis Loza (Creative Director)

Art by Addison Rankin

Chamber of Bouncing

This large chamber looks inconspicuous at first glance. There are open doorways at either end of the chamber. The floor and walls of the room are magically enchanted to forcibly bounce creatures that come in contact with them. A creature that moves through the room finds itself springing and bouncing around. Every time the creature moves 5 feet, they are bounced 10 feet in the same direction. This bouncing doesn’t count against the creature’s movement. Creatures that collide against a wall are bounced back 10 feet in the opposite direction. Alternate versions of these chambers include trapped doorways that magically move along the length of the walls, making it difficult to reach an exit while bouncing around, or glass walls within the room that are effectively invisible to the naked eye and serve to block the bouncing in the chamber.

Crawler’s Room

This room contains a miniaturized version of the very building in which it’s located. The miniature building takes up the entirety of the room, blocking access to the door on the opposite of the chamber. The miniature’s doorways are large enough for a person to crawl inside. Creatures that enter the room are subject to a magically-enhanced gravity, causing the creatures to collapse to the ground. Reaching the other side of the room requires crawling through the building replica and traversing the miniaturized dungeon. The miniature version of this room doesn’t contain its own miniature and is instead filled with small piles of treasures.

Grand Sycamore Ballroom

This vast chamber is large enough to contain a legion. Hanging high on the walls, out of the reach of most, are massive tapestries displaying legendary heroes, each standing thrice as tall as they would appear in life. The room is filled with a carefully positioned pattern of round tables, each surrounded by eight chairs, and sporting different colored adornments, arranged in broad sections. In the center of the room, against the far wall, stands a magnificent stage. A long table at the front edge of the stage has four chairs for the Grand Coordinator and their closest officers. Several double doors exit the room on all four sides.

Helpful Warning Room

This 10-foot-by-20-foot room has a packed dirt floor and unlocked wooden doors at both ends. In the center of the room there is a long gash cut through the dirt, and a notched and rusty shield stuck into the floor in the exact center of the gouge and room. Scrawled upon the shield, in an obviously unskilled hand, is the word “TRAP!” written in red paint with an arrow pointing straight up. Following the arrow up shows an enormous greataxe attached to the ceiling and rigged to swing through the room when a barely concealed tripwire is tripped. This obviously is the source of the gouge, and the swinging axe is easily avoided when the trap is tripped. Upon closer inspection, there is another scrawled word on the head of the axe itself in the same red paint: “BOOM!” This word is painted on top of a fireball rune (Core Rulebook 524), which goes off when the axe head swings within 20 feet of the party.

Visualizer Chamber

The walls of this room are decorated with colorful artwork. All objects and creatures within the room have their appearance drastically altered, resembling stylized artwork that’s made up of small groupings of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow dots. Anytime a creature would speak or make some other sound within this chamber, the sound doesn’t occur normally. Instead, a large image of the words or sound effect appears in the air near the creature. This alteration to appearance and sound doesn’t prevent creatures from acting normally, casting spells, and so on.

Hello again, PaizoCon lovers! As registration for the convention draws near, we're excited to announce that this year we're bringing community games and other events back to PaizoCon! Prior to 2020, a huge part of our programming consisted of a wide variety of games and other events led by Paizo staff or your fellow con attendees. The reinstatement of our community events schedule is a return to form for Paizo, and we hope you'll join us for all the excitement and fun!

PaizoCon's community events make it possible for Paizo staff, freelance authors, third-party publishers, and talented GMs of any background to host an assortment of unique experiences for appreciative players from all over the world.

PaizoCon Attendee Information

Here are just a few delightful things players might experience:

• Many different RPG systems, including (but by no means limited to) Paizo's own Pathfinder and Starfinder.
• A vast assortment of published adventures and homebrewed content.
• All manner of genres, degrees of seriousness, and maturity levels.
• Shorter or longer games or games that start at times that are more convenient to you.
• Playtests or premieres of upcoming third-party adventures by the next big author or company, or by some of your familiar favorites!
• Trying to survive Cosmo's terrifying gauntlet of Killer Clowns!¹

We're thrilled to offer such experiences once again!

Event Host Information

But of course, these wonderful events require people to envision, plan, and run them. That's where you come in. Now is your chance to run the game you've been planning for years, and to give your players an experience they'll be talking about until next PaizoCon!

This year's event application process is designed to make it easy for you to describe what you want to host, so that we can help attendees find exactly what they're looking for. PaizoCon attendees who wish to run one or more events for PaizoCon 2023 should review the following information, then fill out the application linked below.

Rules

• PaizoCon attendees may apply to run one or more events.
• Applications will be accepted for about 3 weeks and will be processed on an ongoing basis.
• Events need not be tabletop RPGs—if you want to run your own panels, workshops, mini-painting corners, board games, party games, or something completely different, let us know and we’ll see what we can do for you!
• Filling out the application does not guarantee that your event will be accepted. Paizo staff will review all applications and approve them based on variety, application quality, and scheduling needs.
• Accepted events will be scheduled a timeslot and will be listed on net alongside other scheduled PaizoCon events. A voice and text channel on the PaizoCon Discord server will be made available during the scheduled timeslot. Any other necessary arrangements—virtual tabletops, alternate voice chat applications, etc.—must be made by the applicant and included in the application.
• By default, the content for all events is expected to adhere to the Pathfinder Baseline. Deviations from the Baseline are to be disclosed in the application, and such deviations will be published in the schedule so attendees are aware of what to expect. All events must adhere to the PaizoCon Code of Conduct—no exceptions.
• Applicants who are approved to run events for 12 hours or more will receive a free attendance badge for PaizoCon 2023, and our gratitude. Applicants who do not qualify for a free badge will still need to purchase one.
• Any questions about the sign-up process should be sent to paizocon@paizo.com.

Important Dates

Please note that some of these dates are tentative and subject to change.

• March 3 (Fri): Event applications open
• March 27 (Mon): Event applications close
• April 17 (Mon): VIP & non-OP games open for signup
• May 26–29 (Fri–Mon): PaizoCon 2023

Fill out the application here!

¹Clown presence not guaranteed.

Illustration by Wayne Reynolds

Over the last few months, the world has seen a huge upsurge in interest, use, and quality of algorithm-generated imagery and text. Since we launched the company in 2002, Paizo has made its reputation with the assistance of countless traditional artists and writers, who are just as integral to the success of our games as our in-house editors, art directors, designers, and developers. The ethical and legal issues surrounding “AI art” and writing prompt programs—and the serious threat they pose to the livelihoods of partners who have helped us get to where we are today as a company—demand that we take a firm position against the use of this technology in Paizo products.

In the coming days, Paizo will add new language to its creative contracts that stipulate that all work submitted to us for publication be created by a human. We will further add guidance to our Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite program FAQs clarifying that AI-generated content is not permitted on either community content marketplace.

Our customers expect a human touch to our releases, and so long as the ethical and legal circumstances surrounding these programs remains murky and undefined, we are unwilling to associate our brands with the technology in any way.

Stated plainly—when you buy a Paizo product, you can be sure that it is the work of human professionals who have spent years honing their craft to produce the best work we can. Paizo will not use AI-generated “creative” work of any kind for the foreseeable future.

We thank the human artists and writers who have been so integral to our success in the past, and we look forward to working with them for many years to come.

We’re in the heart of Black History Month! In honor of Black excellence in the tabletop industry and beyond, here are some wonderful creators in our community to introduce themselves and share some of the amazing work they’ve done.

---

Isis Wozniakowska (she/her)

Hey all, Isis Wozniakowska here, I wrote Starfinder Society Scenario #3-21 and #5-04 as well as the upcoming Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-10, and I've done work for Pathfinder Secrets of Magic, Pathfinder Dark Archive, Starfinder Interstellar Species, and more to come.

I got into this whole TTRPG writing thing by answering an open call for writers of color, which is not the kind of thing I can advise when a lot of people I know ask me how to get into this. It's something I think about a lot, how I sometimes feel like I've gotten more chances as a writer lately because I can answer these specialized calls for people who come from specific backgrounds. It's taken me months to come to terms with that possibility of having my own privileges recently as the creative world tries to diversify its talents. And it's been especially complicated for me as someone who spent her formative years living with a white European father in a nicer city than people with my skin color often do.

But I think these days I've finally learned that these opportunities are important because they're the kinds of opportunities that my mother's family couldn't have had years ago, and that my dad as an immigrant never had the luxury of being offered either. So I'm here, I'm creating fantasies and cultures in a world as diverse as our own. And I'm proud to call myself a Black writer or a Mixed writer or whatever other adjectives need to be thrown in front of there to remind myself that I'm here building a name for myself and my family going forward. And I can be proud of the fact that I get to have opportunities that people like myself would have never had in generations before me.

If you want to find more of me, my Twitter is a @wozenstein, and you can always keep an eye out for more Paizo work from me in the future.

Shan Wolf (he/they)

Hi everyone, I am a freelance game designer and contributing author on both the Pathfinder and Starfinder lines. My credits include Starfinder Bounty #4: Poacher’s Prize, the Adventure Toolbox for book 1 of the Starfinder Drift Hackers Adventure Path, the Starfinder Ports of Call hardcover, the Adventure Toolbox for book 2 of the Strength of Thousands Adventure Path, and the upcoming Lost Omens Highhelm sourcebook. My primary focus as a writer is in Black and Indigenous liberation narratives, monster creation, archetype creation, history and lore, and writing revolutionary and inherently anti-colonialist themes.

Besides all that, I am a huge Pathfinder and Starfinder booster. I love these games as they help bring to life amazing fantasies about being heroes and saving the world, or universe, and that is always something I’m interested in doing, or just talking about in general.

If you’re interested in my work, or hearing my views, feel free to take a look at my twitter @Fenrirs_Chosen and you will see an outspoken and passionate advocate for Black liberation, and making the tabletop space more open, safe, and inclusive.

Erin Roberts (she/her)

Happy Black History Month, y'all! I'm Erin and in addition to being a prose writer and a creative writing teacher, I've been a freelancer for Paizo for a couple of years—how time flies! I've written for a few Lost Omens books, bringing things like Impossible Cake (Pathfinder Lost Omens Grand Bazaar), the Tunwalkers (Pathfinder Lost Omens Knights of Lastwall), reflections on time from the Ladies of Shadow tea and assassination guild (Pathfinder Lost Omens Travel Guide), and a look at the artists and buildings of Golarion (Travel Guide) to their pages. I've also had fun in space, writing a bounty (Starfinder Bounty #3: A Green Place) and adding to vlaka lore (Starfinder Interstellar Species).

Outside of the Paizoverse, I’ve written for D&D (Journeys Through The Radiant Citadel), World of Darkness (Hunter: The Reckoning Fifth Edition) and several awesome 3PP and indie projects (including Anansi’s Tapestry of Lives and Moonlight on Roseville Beach). What’s next? I’m a game writer for a future Foundry VTT project and you can catch my freelance work in projects like Pathfinder Lost Omens Firebrands, Pathfinder Lost Omens Highhelm, and other fun places not yet revealed by the mythical powers that be. I also chat with a bunch of writing folks every week as one of the hosts of the Writing Excuses podcast, new every Sunday. I usually share whatever shenanigans I'm up to next on Twitter at @nirele, so feel free to follow me there!

Paizo continues celebrating the spirit of Open Gaming with 25% off select Starfinder releases that introduce you to the Pact Worlds! Explore the world now with a free PDF copy of Starfinder Pact Worlds. Simply add the PDF to your cart, and use discount code OPENGAMING at checkout. Offer valid through 11:59 PM PST, February 18, 2023.

Want to try Starfinder yourself (or pick up a copy for a friend)? Use code OPENGAMING for 25% off any or all of the following through 11:59 PM PST, February 18, 2023.

Starfinder Beginner Box — $39.99 $29.99

Explore the Galaxy! Launch into an exciting universe of science fantasy adventure with the Starfinder Beginner Box! Create and customize your own futuristic hero to play through challenging adventures and action-packed battles against dangerous foes! With streamlined rules, this deluxe boxed set is the ideal introduction to the Starfinder Roleplaying Game, an imaginative tabletop roleplaying game for 2-7 players. Welcome to the best launchpad for a lifetime of pulse-pounding adventure among the stars—the only limit is your imagination!

Starfinder Core Rulebook (hardcover) — $59.99 $44.99
Starfinder Core Rulebook Pocket Edition (softcover) — $19.99 $14.99

Blast off into a galaxy of adventure with the Starfinder Roleplaying Game! Step into your powered armor and grab your magic-infused laser rifle as you investigate the mysteries of a weird universe with your bold starship crew. Will you delve for lost artifacts in the ruins of alien temples? Strap on rune-enhanced armor and a laser rifle to battle undead empires in fleets of bone ships, or defend colonists from a swarm of ravenous monsters? Maybe you'll hack into the mainframe of a god-run corporation, or search the stars for clues to the secret history of the universe or brand new planets to explore. Whether you're making first contact with new cultures on uncharted worlds or fighting to survive in the neon-lit back alleys of Absalom Station, you and your team will need all your wits, combat skill, and magic to make it through. But most of all, you'll need each other.

This massive 528-page hardcover rulebook is the essential centerpiece of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game, with rules for character creation, magic, gear, and more—everything you need to play Starfinder as either a player or Game Master! The next great adventure in science fantasy roleplaying takes off here, and the Starfinder Core Rulebook is your ticket to a lifetime of adventure amid the stars!

Whether you join us in the Desna's Path galaxy or explore the stars with one of the many other publishers producing great stories in their own settings, we thank you for supporting Open Gaming!

Over the course of the last week, more than 1,500 tabletop RPG publishers, from household names going back to the dawn of the hobby to single proprietors just starting out with their first digital release, have joined together to pledge their support for the development of a universal system-neutral open license that provides a legal “safe harbor” for sharing rules mechanics and encourages innovation and collaboration in the tabletop gaming space.

The alliance is gathered. Work has begun.

It would take too long to list all the companies behind the ORC license effort, but we thought you might be interested to see a few of the organizations already pledged toward this common goal. We are honored to be allied with them, as well as with the equally important participating publishers too numerous to list here. Each is crucial to the effort’s success. The list below is but a representative sample of participating publishers from a huge variety of market segments with a huge variety of perspectives. But we all agree on one thing.

We are all in this together.

• Alchemy RPG
• Arcane Minis
• Atlas Games
• Autarch
• Azora Law
• Black Book Editions
• Bombshell Miniatures
• BRW Games
• Chaosium
• Cze & Peku
• Demiplane
• DMDave
• The DM Lair
• Elderbrain
• EN Publishing
• Epic Miniatures
• Evil Genius Games
• Expeditious Retreat Press
• Fantasy Grounds
• Fat Dragon Games
• Forgotten Adventures
• Foundry VTT
• Free RPG Day
• Frog God Games
• Gale Force 9
• Game On Tabletop
• Giochi Uniti
• Goodman Games
• Green Ronin
• The Griffon’s Saddlebag
• Iron GM Games
• Know Direction
• Kobold Press
• Lazy Wolf Studios
• Legendary Games
• Lone Wolf Development
• Loot Tavern
• Louis Porter Jr. Designs
• Mad Cartographer
• Minotaur Games
• Mongoose Publishing
• MonkeyDM
• Monte Cook Games
• MT Black
• Necromancer Games
• Nord Games
• Open Gaming, Inc.
• Paizo Inc.
• Paradigm Concepts
• Pelgrane Press
• Pinnacle Entertainment Group
• Raging Swan Press
• Rogue Games
• Rogue Genius Games
• Roll 20
• Roll for Combat
• Sly Flourish
• Tom Cartos
• Troll Lord Games
• Ulisses Spiele

You will be hearing a lot more from us in the days to come.

Greetings, players! Somehow, it’s once again time to start recruiting volunteers for our major conventions! At this time, we’re opening applications for Gen Con Indianapolis 2023. Information on Gen Con Online, as well as other PaizoCon events, will happen at a future date. Please read all the information in the convention’s section before filling out the application form, and let the team know if you have any questions!

Gen Con Indy 2023

Gen Con Indianapolis will take place in Indianapolis, Indiana from August 3-6, 2023. While we intend to participate in Gen Con Online, this application is only for the in-person show. New content at this show includes the launch of Pathfinder Society Year 5, the new Pathfinder Society Special and the second American run of the Starfinder Society interactive special, and new Starfinder Society scenarios (including your first chance to meet the new First Seeker Candidates).

We are currently seeking volunteers for the following roles:

• Game Master: Run tables of Organized Play Scenarios, Bounties and Quests
• Headquarters (HQ): Answer player and GM questions, seat players, handle conflicts and disputes, and report games after completion
• Demo GM: Run quick demos for new players, giving them a short Pathfinder/Starfinder experience before quickly turning the table over for the next group. Our Demo GMs may receive an Exhibitor badge in compensation for the fast and furious nature of the position, subject to availability.
• Academy GM: Run games for young children (under 18) and their families and provide a safe, welcoming environment for our youngest gamers. This position requires proof of a completed background check.

Please read this important information before applying:

• Volunteer applications will be reviewed and accepted or rejected by the Gen Con Organizing Committee. Filling this form out does not guarantee acceptance; you will receive an email with further information from the Gen Con committee.
• Gen Con Indy schedules will be assigned by the committee. You will be asked for your preference of system and level, but you will not necessarily be able to choose the specific scenario(s) you run. The committee’s intention is to assign people to run the same scenario multiple times during the weekend. There is a free-form field at the end of the form to enter specific requests, though there’s no guarantee they will be honored.
• Reward information is listed in the table below. GMs who don’t qualify for a badge will still need to purchase one.
• Volunteers will be accepted on a rolling basis and schedules should be assigned within two weeks of your application. Once your schedule is assigned and you confirm, you are considered to be committed to attending the event.
• Adventure authors interested in running tables of scenarios they have written should fill out the volunteer form and then follow up by emailing genconleads@gmail.com. Please note we have a limited number of tables and the schedule is fairly locked-in at this stage, but we’ll do our best to get you slotted into your scenario if it’s on the schedule.
• Gen Con has indicated that they do not plan to have any mask or vaccination requirements for the event. They have also prevented us from enforcing a mask mandate within our spaces. We will work to ensure the safety of all our attendees as best we can under this policy. At this time we are still evaluating our options such as obtaining air purifiers, reducing player count to ensure safe distancing, and increasing the distance between tables. We will be sure to provide hand sanitizer and masks on-site for any who want them.
• Any questions about the GM signup process should be sent to the committee at genconleads@gmail.com.



Rewards Table

Blocks	Housing	Product	Player Badge	Volunteer Attire	In-Game Reward	Voucher
7+ blocks	X	X	X	X	X	X
6 blocks		X	X	X	X	X
5 blocks			X	X	X	X
4 blocks			X	X	X	X
3 blocks			X	X	X	X
2 blocks				X	X	X
1 block				X	X	X

*Definitions for rewards:

• Player Badge: a badge for the duration of the event. GMs must have a Player badge before registering to play games. Demo GMs may receive an Exhibitor badge if our allotment allows.
• In-game reward: A reward for characters based on the current organized play program GM reward programs. Pathfinder Society (first edition)/Pathfinder Adventure Card Society is paper boons, Pathfinder Society (second edition)/Starfinder Society is Achievement Point rewards at the Premier Plus (2.0x) level.
• Product: a physical copy of a Paizo product, chosen from a list of recent releases prior to the convention.
• Volunteer Attire: One shirt per day of volunteering (unless volunteer received shirts in the previous year).
• Voucher: earn one voucher for $10 spendable on paizo.com or at the Paizo booth for every block run.
• Housing: GMs will be housed at two volunteers per room. More volunteers (up to four) may be added to one room if all volunteers agree. More information is available on the application form.

Important Dates

Note that these dates are from Gen Con directly; other dates specifically relevant to us may be added.

• January 29: Indy badge registration begins
• February 12: Indy housing portal opens
• May (dates unknown): Indy event catalog goes live, Indy event registration begins

Gen Con Indy 2023 Volunteer Application

Major Conventions Planning Server

Anybody interested in volunteering at PaizoCon Online or Gen Con should join the OPF Major Conventions planning server by clicking the image below. Follow the instructions in #welcome to get access to the relevant channels. All important information will be conveyed on this server as well as via email, so please join the server!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

Heather Vigil, Kevin Baumann, Rebecca Fehn and Joe Mathos
Gen Con Organizing Committee

Paizo is celebrating the spirit of Open Gaming with 25% off select Pathfinder print releases that introduce you to the world of Golarion! Explore the world now with a free PDF copy of the Lost Omens World Guide. Simply add the PDF to your cart and use discount code OPENGAMING at checkout. Offer valid through midnight PST, January 25, 2023

Want to try Pathfinder Second Edition yourself (or pick up a copy for a friend)? Use code OPENGAMING for 25% off any or all of the following through midnight PST, January 25, 2023:

Pathfinder Beginner Box | $39.99 $29.99
Leave the ordinary behind and take your first step into a world of amazing fantasy adventure with the Pathfinder Beginner Box! This box contains everything you need to learn how to play Pathfinder Second Edition, including rules to create your own fantasy hero and tools to tell your own incredible stories. The box includes the 72-page Hero's Handbook, which presents the rules for playing the game and creating characters, including their skills, spells, and gear; an 88-page Game Master's Guide, containing an introductory adventure, over 20 pages of monsters, rules for building your own adventure, and dozens of wondrous magic items; dice; double-sided adventure map; pregenerated characters; and over 100 character and monster pawns.

Pathfinder Core Rulebook 2nd Edition | $59.99 $44.99
Pathfinder Core Rulebook Pocket Edition | $29.99 $22.49
This comprehensive guide to Pathfinder Second Edition provides everything you need to enter a world of limitless fantasy adventure! Choose from ancestries like elf, human, and goblin, and classes like alchemist, fighter, and sorcerer to create a hero of your own design, destined to become a legend! Based on more than 20 years of active development and playtest feedback from more than 125,000 gamers, the 2nd Edition Pathfinder rules are easy to learn and exciting to master! This indispensable volume contains all the rules for players and Game Masters, and is your first step on a heroic new journey! Available as both a full-sized hardcover tome and an easily transportable pocket edition.

Whether you join us in Golarion or find your calling with one of the many other publishers producing great stories in their own worlds, we thank you for supporting Open Gaming! Now and in perpetuity.

For the last several weeks, as rumors of Wizards of the Coast’s new version of the Open Game License began circulating among publishers and on social media, gamers across the world have been asking what Paizo plans to do in light of concerns regarding Wizards of the Coast’s rumored plan to de-authorize the existing OGL 1.0(a). We have been awaiting further information, hoping that Wizards would realize that, for more than 20 years, the OGL has been a mutually beneficial license which should not–and cannot–be revoked. While we continue to await an answer from Wizards, we strongly feel that Paizo can no longer delay making our own feelings about the importance of Open Gaming a part of the public discussion.

We believe that any interpretation that the OGL 1.0 or 1.0(a) were intended to be revocable or able to be deauthorized is incorrect, and with good reason.

We were there.

Paizo owner Lisa Stevens and Paizo president Jim Butler were leaders on the Dungeons & Dragons team at Wizards at the time. Brian Lewis, co-founder of Azora Law, the intellectual property law firm that Paizo uses, was the attorney at Wizards who came up with the legal framework for the OGL itself. Paizo has also worked very closely on OGL-related issues with Ryan Dancey, the visionary who conceived the OGL in the first place.

Paizo does not believe that the OGL 1.0a can be “deauthorized,” ever. While we are prepared to argue that point in a court of law if need be, we don’t want to have to do that, and we know that many of our fellow publishers are not in a position to do so.

We have no interest whatsoever in Wizards’ new OGL. Instead, we have a plan that we believe will irrevocably and unquestionably keep alive the spirit of the Open Game License.

As Paizo has evolved, the parts of the OGL that we ourselves value have changed. When we needed to quickly bring out Pathfinder First Edition to continue publishing our popular monthly adventures back in 2008, using Wizards’ language was important and expeditious. But in our non-RPG products, including our Pathfinder Tales novels, the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, and others, we shifted our focus away from D&D tropes to lean harder into ideas from our own writers. By the time we went to work on Pathfinder Second Edition, Wizards of the Coast’s Open Game Content was significantly less important to us, and so our designers and developers wrote the new edition without using Wizards’ copyrighted expressions of any game mechanics. While we still published it under the OGL, the reason was no longer to allow Paizo to use Wizards’ expressions, but to allow other companies to use our expressions.

We believe, as we always have, that open gaming makes games better, improves profitability for all involved, and enriches the community of gamers who participate in this amazing hobby. And so we invite gamers from around the world to join us as we begin the next great chapter of open gaming with the release of a new open, perpetual, and irrevocable Open RPG Creative License (ORC).

The new Open RPG Creative License will be built system agnostic for independent game publishers under the legal guidance of Azora Law, an intellectual property law firm that represents Paizo and several other game publishers. Paizo will pay for this legal work. We invite game publishers worldwide to join us in support of this system-agnostic license that allows all games to provide their own unique open rules reference documents that open up their individual game systems to the world. To join the effort and provide feedback on the drafts of this license, please sign up by using this form.

In addition to Paizo, Kobold Press, Chaosium, Green Ronin, Legendary Games, Rogue Genius Games, and a growing list of publishers have already agreed to participate in the Open RPG Creative License, and in the coming days we hope and expect to add substantially to this group.

The ORC will not be owned by Paizo, nor will it be owned by any company who makes money publishing RPGs. Azora Law’s ownership of the process and stewardship should provide a safe harbor against any company being bought, sold, or changing management in the future and attempting to rescind rights or nullify sections of the license. Ultimately, we plan to find a nonprofit with a history of open source values to own this license (such as the Linux Foundation).

Of course, Paizo plans to continue publishing Pathfinder and Starfinder, even as we move away from the Open Gaming License. Since months’ worth of products are still at the printer, you’ll see the familiar OGL 1.0(a) in the back of our products for a while yet. While the Open RPG Creative License is being finalized, we’ll be printing Pathfinder and Starfinder products without any license, and we’ll add the finished license to those products when the new license is complete.

We hope that you will continue to support Paizo and other game publishers in this difficult time for the entire hobby. You can do your part by supporting the many companies that have provided content under the OGL. Support Pathfinder and Starfinder by visiting your local game store, subscribing to Pathfinder and Starfinder, or taking advantage of discount code OpenGaming during checkout for 25% off your purchase of the Core Rulebook, Core Rulebook Pocket Edition, or Pathfinder Beginner Box. Support Kobold Press, Green Ronin, Legendary Games, Roll for Combat, Rogue Genius Games, and other publishers working to preserve a prosperous future for Open Gaming that is both perpetual AND irrevocable.

We’ll be there at your side. You can count on us not to go back on our word.

Forever.

–Paizo Inc

Our 20th Anniversary Year is coming to a close and we want to say: thank you and Happy Holidays!

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

From now through January 18, take 15% off a single order* on Pathfinder, Starfinder and Kobold Press print products at the Paizo Store using the code holiday23 at checkout.

It is not too late to treat yourself and the gamers in your life to our biggest releases of the year, including:

Starfinder Galactic Magic

Starfinder Drift Crisis Suite

Starfinder Drift Crisis Adventure Path

Starfinder Drift Hackers Adventure Path

Starfinder Interstellar Species

Pathfinder Book of the Dead

Pathfinder Dark Archive

Pathfinder Quest for the Frozen Flame Adventure Path

Pathfinder Outlaws of Alkenstar Adventure Path

Pathfinder Blood Lords Adventure Path

Pathfinder Kingmaker Adventure Path Suite

Pathfinder Lost Omens: Travel Guide

Pathfinder Lost Omens: Knights of Lastwall

Pathfinder Lost Omens: Impossible Lands

All our goblins, gnomes, halflings, fetchling wisps, ant gnolls, grippli, kobolds, leshies, ratfolk, kashrishi, poppets, shoonies and compact skeletons—and a galaxy of less than human-sized aliens—want to ensure you don't overlook our small releases, so you can make your perfect bundle!

Starfinder Adventures including Redshift Rally and To Defy the Dragon

Starfinder Accessories including Starfinder Spell Cards

Starfinder Society including Season 5: Year of Redemption's Rise

Pathfinder Adventures including Shadows at Sundown and Crown of the Kobold King

Pathfinder Accessories including the Deck of Endless NPCs

Pathfinder Society including Season 4: Year of Boundless Wonder

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Greetings from the future! As mentioned in our Introducing the Narrative Team blog, there have been some changes to Paizo’s teams, and perhaps none have seen more of a shake-up than the Starfinder Team!

With the restructure of the editorial department, you’ve already heard about changes to the Narrative Team under Linda Zayas-Palmer and will be hearing more about the Rules and Lore Team under Michael Sayre in the coming weeks. Today is your chance to learn about the Starfinder Team and some of the exciting changes we’ve got coming down our futuristic pipeline.

The Starfinder Team is responsible for everything Starfinder. That includes Starfinder Adventure Paths, Starfinder modules, Starfinder hardcovers, Starfinder the flamethrower… oh wait, ignore that last one! The team handles all aspects of Starfinder except for Starfinder Society, which remains under the Narrative Team due to its close connections to Pathfinder Society through Paizo’s Organized Play programs—though we keep in regular contact with our SFS developer for scheming purposes.

All right, let’s introduce the team!

Dustin Knight

Greetings Starfinders! I’m Dustin Knight, the newest developer for Starfinder! I’m taking the lead on the development of future Starfinder hardcover books. Working at Paizo is a dream come true, and I’m so excited to bring smiles to our fans around the world. I’m also elated to be able to work with the most creative and skilled artists, designers, developers, editors, and writers in the industry; my only regret is not contacting Paizo years sooner to ask for work (hint, hint). Being able to develop player-facing options is especially exciting for me given my experiences both writing new content and evaluating existing content for Organized Play—where I hope my additions to our awesome game will facilitate memorable stories for years to come.

You may have already met me lurking around various Starfinder & Pathfinder Discords, hanging with the crew on Know Direction: Beyond, and releasing my own line of Pathfinder Infinite products. When I’m not developing or writing new RPG books, I’m still finding time to play TCGs, experience the culinary cross-roads of the Seattle area, and enjoy every minute of my precious boyfriend’s incredible Starfinder campaign!

If you’re interested in working with us, please feel free to contact me at dustin.knight@paizo.com. Don’t be shy about including your availability, interests, and experiences, whether RPG related or otherwise, as it can greatly help us assign exciting content that plays to your strengths as an author! Feel free to chat me up on the Infinite Possibilities Discord.

Jenny Jarzabski

Hi, I’m Jenny Jarzabski, and I’m super hyped to keep bringing that extra sparkle to Starfinder’s Adventure Path line. I’ll be outlining and assigning Adventure Paths and modules, plus working with the rest of the team to dig deeper into Starfinder’s lore and shape the future of Starfinder as a game and brand!

My Paizo career began in Organized Play. There, I helmed the Starfinder Society’s Year of the Data Scourge before joining the Adventure Path team. Recently, I’ve stepped into my new role as Queen of Adventures—note that my actual title is Senior Developer—a role that encompasses my old job responsibilities with an added layer of creative influence and mentorship.

Besides my on-the-clock work, I’m a longtime Paizo freelancer, but adventures are my specialty. My latest published work is recently released Drift Crashers 2: Nightmare Scenario, but I have so many ‘Finder credits at this point that it’s hard to keep track. Before I became a freelance writer I worked as a teacher, bartender and certified sommelier, and event planner. I still enjoy talking about wine and, of course, tasting it! I love the outdoors, playing video games (Drakengard/NieR and Final Fantasy XIV are my favorites), watching anime, cosplay, performing, and music. I love mechs, magical girls, and tragic androids; you can expect more of this holy trinity (and many more fun surprises) in future Starfinder releases. I’m not into social media these days, but I’m active on Discord and my digital mailbox at jenny.jarzabski@paizo.com is always open! Forgive me for the Drift delay in responding.

Thurston Hillman

Hello! I’m Thurston Hillman, the managing creative director for the Starfinder Team. This is a bit of a unique title in our company as it combines the elements of manager and creative director to balance out the fact that Starfinder is a smaller team. My role comprises the usual logistical scheduling tasks as well as the oversight and guidance provided by a creative director. I work side-by-side with my co-workers and other departments to make sure that Starfinder is the best brand it can be, and to bring all the content that our fans want.

I’ve been GMing Starfinder campaigns off and on since the game came out, including some hosted on Paizo’s Twitch Channel. (Check for Pungeon Crawl!) Along with my obvious love of Starfinder, I’m a huge fan of Pathfinder, and I even GM a show as part of the Narrative Declaration team (https://www.narrativedeclaration.com) in our custom Rotgrind setting. I also run a home PF2 campaign set in the nation of Druma, for which I co-wrote the actual book back at the end of Pathfinder 1st Edition, and we’re now entering the fourth adventure in my homebrew Adventure Path that has the PCs battling against corrupt Prophets of Kalistrade and the forces of Abaddon. Yeah, that’s right, I’m using this space to TELL YOU ABOUT MY CAMPAIGN!! *insidious laughter follows*

I’ve been working with Paizo since Starfinder’s launch, where I was the Starfinder Society developer. I later helped the Pathfinder Society for a brief stint before moving into digital adventures and then back onto Starfinder in my current title. In all those roles, I’ve worked on too many products to name, and most recently I’m wrapping up work on the Scoured Stars Adventure Path, which is a dream-come-true project. Also, I tossed a never-before-seen Scoured Stars art piece into this blog, because I am ABUSING MY NEW AUTHORITY *more insidious laughter ensues*

On official channels, you can contact me at thurston.hillman@paizo.com. For the foreseeable future, I’m hands-on when it comes to outlining and assigning our current slate of projects, so while Dustin and Jenny are using their stable of freelancers and contacts, I’ll still be involved in the process for a bit. I’ll be primarily focused on supporting Adventure Paths and charting the vision for our hardback lines, but don’t be surprised if I have a special project or two that you one day hear about.

You can find me on pretty much all the socials as @OnCallGM, and I tend to answer when summoned on several Discord channels. Outside of TTRPGs, I have a stack of miniatures I need to get back to painting… so many miniatures…

Dustin Knight
Developer

Jenny Jarzabski
Senior Developer

Thurston Hillman
Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)