New Office, New Faces: Coming Home From Distant Places

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Hello! Hello. Hello again, to some of you.

It's been a while since I've done this, written a blog for Paizo. About four years, in fact, which seems at once unbelievably historic but also just yesterday. Four years ago is when I said goodbye to Paizo so I could go out and see the world. Now, I have returned to find a place both strange and familiar, filled with faces I recognize and a few I don't. The cubicles are on the other side of the building now. There is a new Costco next door. The post office across the street seems smaller, though it isn't.

The first thing I noticed upon reentering Paizo's doors is how quiet the office still is. This observation may sound sobering, but it is in fact quite a good thing, no, a great thing. There's a hum of patient discipline within these halls, where the vibration of the air conditioner is punctuated by the clicking of mice and the tapping of keyboards, the shuffling of papers and the murmur of creative consultation. This is a stark contrast to the world outside, which is fast, loud, and impatient, where you can pay at the register and have your soy vanilla no-foam no-milk latte in your hands in ninety seconds, where you must listen to the sounds of the city outside your window, the crash of trash in the garbage bin and strangers yelling into the night and neighbors playing strange, nauseating music. Between the cocoon-like walls of Paizo, though, there is a ward against the everyday annoyances of the outside world. There is a scholarly tranquility here that I have yet to find almost anywhere else.

Where have I been, anyway? Around, mostly. I tried a stint in marketing. I lived on a farm in Hawaii for eight months. Most people ask me about that. The farming, not the marketing.

Many people say they wish to move to Hawaii, but few actually make it past the first step. In September of 2017, my wife and I sold all our belongings, put what little was left in storage, and took a one-way flight to the Big Island. We had no return date, no idea whether we'd even want to return. We were prepared to make a go of living in this strange new world and carving out a home of our own amid palm trees and lava rocks. And we were prepared to face many trials on our quest, an adventure that would have us labor upon rocky soil and live beneath a tarp alongside wild nocturnal pigs.

There are many monsters in Hawaii, a fact which may surprise you. Big beautiful fish and big ugly centipedes alike are found in abundance. Powerful volcanic goddesses and mythical pygmy natives and invisible animal spirits lurk in the verdant hills. An array of amazing birds can be seen only on these remote isles: handsome 'io, brooding pueo, humble nene, and dazzling i'iwi. There are green spotted geckos, of course, but also color-shifting chameleons and draconian anoles and boisterous coqui frogs. Vermin like the Asian tiger mosquito and the cane spider and hundreds of species of semi-slug can give you quite a fright. It is a magical land as rife with beasts as it is steeped in legends.

During my time in Kona, I swam with manta rays and tiger sharks, explored volcanos ancient and active, witnessed flash floods and dry lightning, and sank my hands into literally tons of dirt. The fauna of Hawaii are loud and skittish but the people are quiet and friendly. It is an atmosphere of relaxation, where importance is placed on family, friends, food, and maintaining a healthy balance between mind and body, a phenomenon generally known as the spirit of aloha.

Spending countless days dozing in a hammock slung between two palm trees by the beach does strange things to you, it turns out. I quickly realized that voyages of the mind are just as important as voyages to physical locales, if not more so, for maintaining the aforementioned mind-body balance. A good book can teach you as much about life as an expedition to remote islands and can take you to equally amazing places. It may seem counterintuitive, but sometimes using less energy and taking things slowly, rather than continually pushing yourself to the limit, can make you a better, faster learner. This stillness of the heart is mandatory to appreciate the quietest things in life—gazing at the stars, swimming in the ocean, writing. Stillness is a skill that can be picked up quickly but that must be pursued relentlessly and with the understanding that there is no such thing as mastery.

Coming back to the mainland, I have discovered that you do not need to go as far as the middle of the ocean to uncover the wonders that surround us. In Seattle, gunmetal gray condos and shiny Teslas meet you at every turn, but it is still a rare day that you do not stumble upon some natural beauty—bands of cirrus streaking across a green sunset, a red-winged blackbird flitting to and from its nest, a coyote prowling raised gardens in a dusky neighborhood. But go far enough away from the city and you will encounter the stuff that promises to burn most brightly in the tangles of your memory—the reflection of the impossibly blue sky in a glacial lake, a lonely goat trekking a foreboding snowy ridgeline, the galactic core of our galaxy bursting from a layer of forest fire haze.

Based on my limited life experience, I have some basic advice for anyone who wants to take a step back from the grindstone and try to get re-centered: Take walks. Read old novels. Nap daily. Stretch your back. Watch birds. Breathe. Play.

The things I saw and heard and smelled and touched during my sabbatical reminded me why I love games like Pathfinder so much—because roleplaying games can take us to places that make us wonder, make us think, make us still. Sitting at a table with friends, away from the distractions of modernity, rolling lucky dice and maneuvering precious figurines, is a form of mindfulness that I think everyone should have the chance to enjoy. As I said before, you don't need to travel far to discover magic.

As any good adventuring party knows, it is vital to have a good home base from which to launch expeditions and to which to return for resupply. Perhaps that is why I have returned to Paizo's staff as a developer on the Adventure Path line. At Paizo, I can retreat to these sacred hallways, to the welcoming arms of likeminded explorers of fantastic universes, for potions of creativity and psychic salves. The journeys we writers undertake here are those of the human condition, of stories and games and characters and challenges that help players consider their own role in worlds both imaginary and real. Our efforts are of the utmost importance, I believe, because we create worlds that inspire people to look around as well as within.

I return to Paizo after four years of discovery—both self-discovery and discovery of others. Four years may not seem long to those of you who have been running the same campaign for decades, but it is long enough, perhaps, to return to an ancient craft with clear eyes and fresh breath. Enough to reexplore past passions and imbue future works with warm, steady energy. And enough, certainly enough, to once again brave the unknown with friends new and old.

Patrick Renie
Developer

Big Pathfinder/Starfinder Reference Document News!

Thursday, September 13, 2018

As a fan and a community advocate, you grow attachments to things you wouldn't have ever imagined you would. One of the projects I've gotten the opportunity to make my mark on at Paizo is neatly nestled into that fan/community/design challenge niche: the Pathfinder Reference Document. As it became obvious in this last year of architecting and laying out the plans for the future of paizo.com, and as the time increased between that "last updated" date and our resources began to shift course, a problem arose that we needed to solve: how do we provide our community a free, up-to-date online version of the rules for our games? Well, I finally get to share the answer with you all!

Paizo is pleased to announce that Blake Davis and the Archives of Nethys will be maintaining the Pathfinder and Starfinder Reference Documents!

As an official licensed partner, the Archives of Nethys includes setting-specific rules content as well as Open Game Content, so you'll be able to find the Golarion- and Pact Worlds–specific rules you're looking for quickly and easily.

Eventually, these reference documents will become more integrated into the paizo.com website, but for the near future, we will be redirecting PRD and SFRD requests to the Archives of Nethys website:

Pathfinder Reference Document: pfrd.info
Starfinder Reference Document: sfrd.info

During this transition, you will not be able to search the PRD or the SFRD using the paizo.com search tool—you'll need to use the Archives of Nethys search tool instead for Pathfinder content; the search engine for the Starfinder site is still in development and is expected to go live in the next 1-2 weeks.

(The AON will not be hosting a Pathfinder Playtest reference document, as those rules are transitory, but we are planning to launch the reference document for Pathfinder Second Edition with them next year.)

Both reference documents on the Archives of Nethys will remain a completely free resource, but you can help support their future growth on Patreon.

I'm so excited to see our new partnership with Archives of Nethys and our online offerings to the Pathfinder and Starfinder communities evolve! Be sure to check out the AON, update your bookmarks, and keep up with the Paizo blog for future announcements.

Chris Lambertz
Web Product Manager

9/14/2018 Update: After reviewing community feedback, the legacy PRD website has now been made available at legacy.aonprd.com. It does not contain the search functionality, however.

Pathfinder Playtest Preorder Update

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

When Paizo was planning this year's Pathfinder Playtest, we expected to exceed our own ability to fulfill orders on a timely basis, so we decided to use Fulfillment by Amazon. Unfortunately, Amazon's reports indicate that most customers will not be receiving their orders by tomorrow's release date. They shipped 3 orders on July 28, 3 more on July 29, and no orders on July 30 or 31. Today, they have shipped almost 10% of the outstanding orders, and they are continuing to ship through the night and into tomorrow. They have so far been unable to tell us when they will complete shipping. We will be posting updates as we receive them in this forum thread.

This delay doesn't impact preorders placed with retailers; most of them should have already received their products for release tomorrow. Paizo.com preorders for pickup at Gen Con are also unaffected.

We sincerely apologize for this delay. If your paizo.com Pathfinder Playtest preorder is being fulfilled by Amazon, we will be giving you $15 in paizo.com store credit in the near future.

PDFs of all of the playtest products will be available for free shortly after 6:00 AM Pacific time at paizo.com/pathfinderplaytest.

—The Paizo Team

Riddle Me This

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Attendees of PaizoCon 2018 might have noticed something new and unusual in the program booklet: a page with a map of Varisia overlaid with a grid, accompanied by a challenge to seek out a packet of puzzles and solve the mystery of the virtuous sihedron.

Why, that was just the annual PaizoCon Puzzle Hunt coming back strong! We debuted this event last year, and it went over so well, we were able to increase its exposure and present an even more exciting and involved set of puzzles. But we know not everyone can make it to the convention, so we are proud to present the entire thing here for you! Check the link below, which contains everything you need to participate in this year's puzzle hunt... except, of course, your wits. Unfortunately, we can't offer any prizes for completing this puzzle hunt (or for discovering the secret secondary puzzle that hides within), but rest assured we will be back in 2019 with another set, as well as some new partners in this endeavor!

Download the PaizoCon 2018 Puzzle Hunt! — 3.1 MB zip/PDF

What is a puzzle hunt?

A puzzle hunt is a series of linked puzzles, with the answer to each being a word or phrase. Those words and phrases are used in the puzzle on the first page of the PDF to generate the hunt's final solution. Figuring out how that puzzle works is part of the challenge!

Who made this, anyway?

Once again, that's us! We challenged ourselves from last year to add more visual elements to these new puzzles, creating what we hope are a diverse array of interesting mind-bending enigmas. But we couldn't have done it without the aid of Art Director Sonja Morris, who created all of the puzzle hunt's outstanding graphics!

What do I do if get stuck?

First, put the puzzle down and come back at it in an hour or so with a fresh mind. Perhaps you'll spot something you hadn't seen before. Be sure to reread the instructions at the top of the page; sometimes clues are hidden in there! If all that fails, feel free to ask for a hint on the Paizo.com forums. There's no shame in getting a nudge from a fellow solver, and perhaps you can help her in return with a different puzzle!

Jason Keeley and Joe Pasini
Developers

Farewell to Crystal

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

A couple of weeks ago Crystal Frasier let me know that she'd be moving on from Paizo to focus on her freelancing career. I was terribly saddened by this news, but I can't say I was wholly surprised. Crystal is an excellent developer and writer, but she's also an amazing artist, illustrator, cartographer, and has been knocking it out of the park with her comics. However, don't fret too much, Crystal has told me that she still wants to write for us as a freelancer, so you'll still be getting her top-notch adventures, monsters, and articles on some of the things she loves. As we do here at Paizo when one of our greats departs, I've collected some heartfelt thoughts and well wishes from the staff to send Crystal off!

Jason Tondro (Editor): "I've only had the pleasure of knowing Crystal as a coworker for a few months, but I have long admired her work in and for the industry. Crystal has made gaming both smarter and more just, and it's no surprise that she's now got so much work on her plate that she can't afford to stay with us here at Paizo. But in this case, what's bad for Paizo is good for everyone, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of Crystal's work on an even larger stage. Sincere congratulations, Crystal, and please just keep on doing what you're doing."

Chris Sims (Developer): "Unfortunately for me, I don't yet know Crystal as well as I might have liked. I do know she brings a ton of craft and skill to this team. More than that, though, she adds a lot of humor and insight. I can't count how many times we've all enjoyed a moment of levity or I've been left rethinking something because of what Crystal said during a conversation or meeting. It's plain we're all better off with her here. It's also clear we'll miss her when she's not. That said, we're lucky she'll still be available for freelance gigs. Don't forget about us, Crystal! All the best to you, too!"

Owen KC Stephens (Starfinder Design Lead): "Crystal was one of the people I was most excited to get to work with when I was hired at Paizo, and I can safely say the experience has been very much worth it. Her game industry career goes back longer than mine does and she's succeeded at many more roles, giving her a vast wealth of knowledge and experience I've been happy to draw on and learn from. As sad as I am to lose her from my daily work routine, I am excited to see what she does in her new endeavors!

We'll miss you Crystal!"

Adam Daigle (Managing Developer): "I'm not crying, YOU'RE CRYING!

Over the years I have known Crystal as a friend, freelancer, and then coworker. When I first came to Paizo, Crystal was in another department, so I didn't get to see her that much during the normal workday, but when she moved into the editorial department as a developer, we sat right next to each other. We were both working on the Adventure Paths and had each other to cheer on, commiserate with, and of course crack jokes with. We both grew up on the Gulf Coast and have a shared love for trash animals, and we often loved to confuse and weird out other members of the crew with our strange bayou lore. I'm not only going to miss not having my swamp sister around for those reasons, but also because Crystal is brilliantly creative, extremely funny, and one of the most skilled storytellers I've had the pleasure to read and work with. Kick ass on your future endeavors, Crystal! I can't wait to see what you create!"

Mark Seifter (Designer): "I first learned who Crystal was roughly 7 years ago, when I started to realize that so many of my favorite Pathfinder Society scenarios, and my favorite module The Harrowing, were written by the same author, and I first met her when she gave me a Harrow reading at the Paizocon Grand Convocation. I later learned that Crystal is as talented at so many other aspects of adventure development as she is at writing adventures, whether it be maps and art, characterization, plotline, you name it. For my money, Crystal's adventures are some of the best in the business, and it's really no surprise that my Pathfinder group opted to play Ironfang Invasion followed by War for the Crown. Those Adventure Paths are just that good, and if you're reading this and haven't checked them out yet, you should. Crystal leaving to pursue full-time freelance is a loss for Paizo, but our loss is the freelancing community's gain. I'll be looking for her name on all sorts of exciting new projects now, just like 7 years ago. But honestly? I never stopped."

Sonja Morris (Art Director): "When I started at Paizo, Crystal was a member of the art department, and she helped me navigate the complex web that was our file storage system. Without Crystal's assistance, I am certain the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords would not have made it to the printer on time, and I don't know what I would have done without her help! Her quick wit is always good for a giggle, or a belly laugh, depending on the gag. Over the years, as she's moved around the company, I have seen her grow both professionally and personally and I can't wait to see what she does next. I am sure what ever it is it will be magnificent!"

Ron Lundeen (Developer): "I have nothing but wonderful things to say about Crystal, and that probably frustrates her a lot. We've worked closely together as freelancer-developer for years, and as cubicle mates for just over 6 months. She's highly regarded in this industry (and others!) precisely because she's insightful, talented, and really, really hardworking. Early on, Crystal insisted that my relentless optimism wouldn't spoil her crusty pessimism (you'll see she put a Pessimist campaign trait in the Tyrant's Grasp Player's Guide to reinforce her position). And oh, how I've tried! In the end, though, I'm counting her departure as a checkmark on the optimism side of the board, because she's going on to exciting products, fun work, and a great life—you'll see!"

Linda Zayas-Palmer (Developer): "The first time I talked to Crystal was right after a panel at PaizoCon 5 or 6 years ago. I'd recently had a wonderful time running a module she wrote, the Harrowing. I remember sitting there starstruck for a while, psyching myself up to go up to her and tell her how much I loved her writing and to compliment her awesome purple hair. I can't really call this meeting Crystal, since in my excitement, I forgot to introduce myself and just awkwardly fangirled over her for a few minutes. She was very nice about it though :)

I met Crystal for real when she started working as a developer right around the same time that I joined Paizo. And I have to say, I admire her more now than I did as a fan. Crystal is a compassionate, funny, and extremely talented person. She is a wellspring of creative ideas, lovely art, punny humor, and references to 80's and 90's pop culture. It's been a pleasure to be on a team with her. We'll miss you, Crystal! Whatever projects you take on next, I'm sure you'll knock them out of the park."

Jason Keeley (Developer): "I have only known Crystal for a couple of years, but the nice things I have to say about her could probably fill a hardcover. She is talented, funny, clever, and only threatened to drink me under the table like once or twice. We are going to miss her so much. Hopefully, I will still get to game with her so this better not be goodbye forever! We still have that "Pigs in Space" campaign to do!"

Lyz Liddell (Editor): "Crystal is the game designer I want to be when I grow up. She's brilliant, creative, fun, passionate, clever, dedicated to positive and diverse representation in our products, and not afraid to speak her mind. I've learned a ton by working on the materials she's developed, and I'm going to miss working with her."

Leo Glass (Editor): "While I haven't worked with Crystal long, it was clear on day one how her endless creativity and sense of humor make the world around her a better place. I will miss all the laughter she brought to our team, but wish her the best of luck with her next journey. (And look forward to reading all of the super-awesome products she plans to write!)"

Stephen Radney-MacFarland (Senior Designer): "I met Crystal before I came to Paizo. She was in the first game design class I ever taught at the Art Institute of Seattle. She was a fantastic student, someone who I always knew would go far in any pursuit. She had this tremendous mix of analytical force and creative talent that I enjoyed and respected. Hell, I still do. She's only gotten better at her various crafts. Crystal leaving Paizo is a loss for us as a company, but is to the benefit of all the rest of geekdom and beyond. Go forth and conquer, Crystal. It is your destiny."

John Compton (Organized Play Lead Developer): "Before I joined Paizo in 2013, I only knew Crystal by reputation, from her module-writing fame to fan's gushing experiences about her Harrow readings at PaizoCon. After five years with her as my colleague, I can confirm that whatever positive things you've heard? They're true. Anything negative? You can't prove it; we helped her hide the bodies.

Crystal's a wonderful coworker and collaborator, especially in smaller meetings where we can feed on one another's enthusiasm and build upon each other's ideas as happened with projects like War for the Crown. She brings a playfulness to brainstorming, passion to adventures, and a range of accents to the gaming table—all while being so practiced in visual arts that she can idly illustrate characters or sketch maps with more skill than the rest of us can manage with our undivided attention. Beyond that, she's been an outspoken advocate for diversity in Paizo's products, promoting minorities' visibility in our stories in positive ways and showing the rest of us how we can do the same.

Crystal has been a source of inspiration and wisdom in my time at Paizo, and it's helped push me to try and return the favor at least half as often. I hope that we'll have more opportunities to collaborate in the future."

Logan Bonner (Designer): "What an utterly delightful person. What a talented, engaged, and thoughtful coworker. What a champion for justice and compassion. Since I came to Paizo, I've been amazed by Crystal over and over. She's an excellent example, out there being an inspiration to new writers that not only can they do this, they might someday be almost as good as Crystal Frasier.

Crystal has been an institution here at Paizo, and now she's going off to become her own institution. A majestic, terrifying institution.

As she sails off into the sunset aboard her Footski, I can almost hear her cursing our names, but kindly, as is her way. We'll miss that clever cursing. Thank you for being a friend, a colleague, and a force of nature. Dammit, we'll miss you!"

Amanda Hamon Kunz (Managing Developer): "When I first started working at Paizo three years ago, I was star struck by the thought that I would be working with the Crystal Frasier. Crystal was a titan of the industry—a woman who had done so much, from designing and laying out products to creating awesome art to writing some truly impressive first- and third-party products. But once I walked into the office, I realized that not only are all of those things absolutely true, even more than I realized as a freelancer, but that Crystal is also one of the most creative, most energetic, most uniquely awesome people I have met. As the months and years rolled on, Crystal taught me a lot about being a creative, but she also taught me how to be a better person and how to always fight for what I believe is right. She became one of my closest friends in the office, and I'm a better person for it. Crystal, as sad as I am to see you leave, and as much as I will deeply miss your incredible presence here, I know that you have fantastic things ahead of you. I can't wait to see what you do next. I will always be here to cheer you along from the sidelines."

Judy Bauer (Managing Editor): "Crystal cares a LOT, and it shows. Her writing is always exciting, with frequent moments of hilarity (the attack of the crawling hands in Pathfinder Adventure Path #79!), but when it's serious, it's SERIOUS—her foreword to Pathfinder Adventure Path #117 brought me to tears. It also shows in her relationships at work: she's been a mentor, a friend, and a source of inspiration for many at Paizo over the years. And it shows in her life: she's politically active, and a strong voice for representation and justice. I'm going to miss her enthusiasm and intensity so much!

Crystal, all the best luck with your (many) new ventures, and I hope to get to edit much more of your awesome writing in the future!"

Chris Carey (Senior Editor): "I've known Crystal for almost ten years now. She first came on board as an intern in Paizo's art department when we were still over at the old office building, and I think she may be the most recent hire to be able to still remember the stained carpets and the tiny, cramped workspace that penned in the editorial staff over there. Of course, Crystal left the art department back in the day and has been an outstanding game developer and Pathfinder writer for years now, both developing and authoring some of the most enjoyable and creative turnovers to come across the editors' desks. But more than that, she has made Paizo a more enjoyable place to work with her laughter and wit and uniquely Crystal sense of humor. I'll miss you, Crystal, but I'm excited for the path that lies ahead of you!"

Mark Moreland (Franchise Manager): "I first met Crystal at the second PaizoCon, way back in 2009. I recall her approaching Erik Mona and Sarah Robinson about possibly interning at Paizo and how envious I was of her simply for living in close proximity to the office and having the guts to get a foot in the door. Just over a year later, I moved across the country to join her at Paizo, and she was one of my most helpful cube-mates until the first of many desk reshuffles happened. Every time the ongoing game of musical cubes put us near one another, I was always ecstatic. There are many fun people in this office, but few are as funny, intelligent, and creative as Crystal, and she has an aura effect that gives morale bonuses to these same stats to everyone in a 30-foot radius.

I first developed Crystal's work when I tackled her innovative Pathfinder Society Scenario, Below the Silver Tarn just a few months after I took over the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign back in 2010. Her unique encounter designs, incredible mapping skills, and layered storytelling quickly put her at the top of my "would work with again" list, and made her the ideal candidate to write one of my all-time favorite Pathfinder adventures, Pathfinder Module: The Harrowing. We knew we wanted to make an adventure wherein the PCs travel inside a harrow deck and meet the creatures and threats on the cards themselves, and there was no one else on the list of potential authors other than Crystal. Her ability to interweave 54 random illustrations into a cohesive narrative with a deep, expansive mythology and a subsystem of using the harrow deck itself to augment gameplay resulted in a product I am incredibly proud to have worked on.

That's not the only time Crystal made me look good, either. I had the pleasure of working closely with her on the back matter of the Ironfang Invasion and War for the Crown adventure paths, and she developed Taldor, The First Empire into a better final book. She's also had an immeasurable influence on how I look at issues of inclusion and diversity in game design, and the different perspectives she brought to the creative process over the years has made an indelible mark on my narrative sensibilities.

I'll miss having you around the office, Crystal, but am overjoyed that you've promised to continue writing for both Pathfinder and Starfinder in your newfound free(lance) time. The future for someone with your myriad talents is certainly bright, and I wish you all the best. Don't be a stranger!"

Adam Daigle
Managing Developer

New Paizo Faces, Part 3

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Over the past few weeks we've introduced a passel of new developers and admitted to ourselves that former editors Jason Keeley and Joe Pasini really are developers now. Of course, whenever we're suddenly creating more content—like a whole new game and a new edition—we also need more editors to polish up all those words!

James Case, Editor

Hi everyone! I'm James, and I'm a recent addition to the editing team.

I just moved here to the Seattle area after six years overseas in Tokyo, where I edited biomedical research. It's quite a change being back stateside, but as a longtime player and GM who's been playing Pathfinder since its playtest, I'm super excited to be in the editor's chair, helping to make the games I love alongside the rest of the awesome people here at Paizo.

When I'm not RPing, I can be usually be found translating and reviewing Japanese music with my headphones in or blowing giant soap bubbles in a park. Occasionally both at the same time!

Leo Glass, Editor

Hi! I'm Leo Glass, an editor at Paizo. I'm honored and humbled to be a part of this amazing team.

I've worked as an editor or writer for the last seven years. Most recently, I edited research grants at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Before that, I worked as a writer/designer at an independent PC game studio.

My passion for tabletop RPGs was born during college, when my best friend invited me to play an adventure. While I loved fantasy and science fiction, I didn't know a critical hit from a Fortitude save. Once my first character, an elven monk, survived his first dungeon, I was hooked. Fifteen years later, I've played in or GMed more than 25 different RPG systems. It's this hunger for all things tabletop that inspired my love affair with Pathfinder and Starfinder.

Besides RPGs, I write short fiction and enjoy cycling, gaming, graphic design, hiking, and reading. I also have a cat named Pixel. I recently moved to Seattle from Nebraska, only to discover that I forgot my umbrella, so if you see me around Redmond doing my best wet dog impression, now you know why.

Adrian Ng, Editor

Hi, everyone! My name's Adrian Ng. I grew up in northwest Ohio, and I moved to Seattle in 2013. Prior to working at Paizo, I was a game tester and copy editor at Nintendo of America. I began working at Paizo about a year ago as a temporary editor and was hired on as a full-time editor after PaizoCon 2017. When I'm not gaming, I enjoy making music, running and hiking, and consuming speculative fiction in all forms. Glad to meet you all!

Lacy Pellazar, Editor

Hi! I'm Lacy, and I've actually been at Paizo for a year now! After editing for a little over 4 years at Nintendo of America, I joined Paizo last year to work on the Starfinder Core Rulebook, and it's been a blast (get it? Like rockets?) ever since. Some of my favorite things include: birds, bugs/arachnids (yes, even spiders. ESPECIALLY SPIDERS), cyberpunk, horror/paranormal, and Pokémon. If you like video games, self-deprecating humor, and some occasional art, feel free to follow me over on Twitter @mahousloth!

Jason Tondro, Editor

Hey everybody. I've spent the last five years as an English professor at a small state college in Georgia, where I taught writing, film, British Lit, and comics & graphic novels. But I've been gaming since I was 11 and freelancing in the RPG business for twenty years. Along the way I have written for Hero System, Middle Earth Role Playing, Steve Jackson Games, Mutants & Masterminds, Icons, 3e, and most recently Fate Core.

But like some others here at Paizo, I finally decided to turn my second job into my first job and work with RPGs full time. I'm originally from California and moving back to the West Coast—where I have many old friends and an amazing new job here at Paizo—has turned out to be just what I needed. This is a fantastic, artistically inspiring, community and coming here has felt like coming home.

Judy Bauer
Managing Editor

New Paizo Faces, Part 2

Thursday, May 17, 2018

In our last blog about some of the new faces here at Paizo, you got to learn some more about the newest developers. However, there are a couple of folks that have been here longer, working in other capacities, who haven't been formally introduced in their new roles as developers.

Jason Keeley, Developer

I'm not exactly new to Paizo; I was hired an editor about three years ago. They even let me introduce myself back then. I'm not even that new to development. After all, I got hijacked into helping the Starfinder RPG along around the end of 2016. And I think I developed a couple of Pathfinder RPG Player Companions around that time too. I didn't get the official title of developer until the middle of last year, however. So, of all the new faces being introduced in this blog, I'm definitely the oldest.

But that doesn't mean I don't have something exciting to say! With Rob McCreary becoming the Starfinder creative director, I tricked everyone into letting me develop the next few volumes of the Starfinder adventure path! They then told me the AP is going monthly, so I guess the joke is on me.

There is so much happening right now. Dead Suns is coming to an explosive finale that is sure to thrill players. We're starting to see the adventures for Against the Aeon Throne, and I'm already rooting hard for the rebels of Madelon's Landing, because the Azlanti Star Empire is a bunch of jerks. I'm also putting the finishing touches on the outline for the adventure path after that, which I can't wait to tell you about!

It's going to be an exciting year. IN SPACE!

Joe Pasini, Developer

Hi! I'm Joe, and I totally belong here.

I snuck in to Paizo in late 2016, so I'm quite excited for the opportunity to say hello!

Here's an abridged timeline of what I've gotten away with thus far.

September 2016: I joined Paizo as a temporary editor, just as Starfinder hit the editorial fan, and I fell in love with the game right away.

March 2017: I became an official Paizo employee, and the Golem whispered its great secrets into my ear as it instilled me with a small fraction of its power. There was tea and biscuits afterward.

June 2017: After eight months of putting up with me—and during a period of great change—the powers that be drew straws, and the development team won (or lost): I became a developer! I worked on a couple Player Companions and then became the back-matter developer for the first half of the War for the Crown Adventure Path.

December 2017: I joined the Starfinder dev team! Now it's aliens and lasers, all day, erryday, and I love it.

Before getting to work with the incredible folks here at Paizo, my biggest accomplishment was thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, which I can talk about for far too long if you let me. I also play a ton of board games, love etymology, and (with Jason Keeley) will be bringing you Paizo Con Puzzle Hunts as long as they let us.

I'm partially engaged on Twitter (@joeadultman), where I am open to suggestions—especially how those of us in the industry can make our games more accessible, inclusive, and fun!

Adam Daigle
Managing Developer

Origins and Gen Con Convention Offerings!

Friday, May 11, 2018

Over the past few months, we announced the launch of the new season of Starfinder Society at Origins Game Faire and previewed some of the PaizoCon 2018 organized play offerings, including our newest scenarios. Tickets for events at Origins and Gen Con went live this past week, so this week's blog focuses on offerings at those conventions.

Origins Game Faire

In prior years, Pathfinder Society at Origins focused on a mix of older season favorites with a sprinkling of the current season. This year, we've extended that idea across Starfinder Society as well. Given that Starfinder Society doesn't have the depth of scenarios, given that we are not even a full year into the campaign, this means we scheduled the entire Starfinder Society catalog. So if you haven't explored Absalom Station, sailed through the Drift, or met celebrity maven Zo!, now is your chance.

As Starfinder Society developer Thurston Hillman discussed in the Starfinder Launch blog, the limited release meant we hadn't finished the story of the Scoured Stars. So instead of launching a new season with a new theme, we are extending the Year of the Scoured Stars for another 12 months and pivoting the storyline with the release of interactive specialStarfinder Society Scenario #1-99: The Scoured Stars Invasionby veteran Society writer Mikko Kallio. Thurston finished up development on this adventure this week and from his reactions, players are in for a treat! Besides #1-99, we have two new scenarios debuting at Origins—Starfinder Society Scenario #1-16: Dreaming of the Future is a 4-part quest pack for character levels 1-4 (replayable with 1st level characters) and Starfinder Society Scenario #1-17: Reclaiming the Time-Lost Tear, a continuation of the season metaplot involving the First Seeker [elect] Luwazi Elsebo's mission to return to the Scoured Stars.

Pathfinder Society players have the opportunity to experience the next installment of the modular interactive special Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-99C: The Solstice Scar, version C on Friday night. Besides a selection of offerings from Seasons 0-8, Season 9 scenarios highlighting the Liberty's Edge, Concordance, and Dark Archive Factions are scheduled. In addition, each block a Paizo staff member is running a table of Pathfinder Society Playtest Scenario #1: Rose Street Revenge. That's so secret, there isn't even a product page made for it yet. If you aren't able to get tickets to one of the Rose Street tables, consider trying out a 2-hour Pathfinder Playtest Demo.

Origins attendees need to purchase a badge and then purchase tickets for each event they wish to participate in. Visit the Origins website for more information on attending the convention.

Gen Con 2018

The schedule at Gen Con is choc-a-bloc with offerings. The latter half of Pathfinder Society Year of Faction's Favor makes a showing, as well as the first three scenarios in the not-yet-announced Season Ten storyline. Thursday sees an encore run of the modular interactive special Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-99C: The Solstice Scar, version C. The interactive special Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-00: The Hao-Jin Cataclysm makes its debut on Friday night.

On the Starfinder front, Saturday night is the interactive special Starfinder Society Scenario #1-99: The Scoured Stars Invasion. Year of Scoured Stars is well represented, including the debut of Starfinder Society Scenario #1-20: Duskmire Accord 9 and Starfinder Society Scenario #1-21: Yesteryear's Sorrow.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild offerings include the PACG Open Tournament, the interactive special Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-00: The Hao-Jin Cataclysm on Friday night, and the launch of the newest Season (name to be announced at PaizoCon). Plus tables of prior season play!

Prior years saw Paizo staff participating in a wide range of panels and seminars in room 212 and this year is no different. While we haven't posted the schedule yet (something about a Playtest taking up quite a bit of time and attention) we are hoping to do so in the very near future.

In looking at ticket sales, we have sold out some events, including specific tiers in each of the interactive specials. I'm working with the Gen Con events team to reallocate our GMs from less sold events to sold out events and more tickets to sold out items should release shortly.

We still have a need for Starfinder Society and Pathfinder Society GMs! Volunteers receive benefits based on how many blocks they contribute. Rewards include 4-day badges, 1/4 hotel rooms in the downtown Westin, credit to paizo.com, a copy of a Paizo print product Interested? Check here for more information and to complete a volunteer questionnaire.

As with Origins, attendees at Gen Con must purchase a badge and then buy tickets for each game they wish to participate in. We will take generic tickets on a space available basis, so I encourage anyone to sign up for the games they really want. For more info, check the Gen Con 2018 website.

Whew! So many options, I'm glad I don't have to choose which to play! I'm looking forward to a bustling convention season and hope to see many of you at a convention soon!

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge


Organized Play Manager

New Paizo Faces, Part 1

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Things have been busy here for a while and we knew we needed to bolster our forces if we wanted to keep apace of our production schedules, so in recent months we've added a few new faces to the development team. Some of you keen-eyed readers might have noticed new names in our credits, and now's the time to let them introduce themselves. Welcome the newest faces of Paizo!

Eleanor Ferron, Developer

Hello! My name is Eleanor Ferron. I just joined Paizo back in January as a new developer, and it hasn't quite sunk in for me yet. I'm amazed to be a part of this team!

I got into tabletop roleplaying back when I was ten years old, when my brother started buying RPG books and bringing them home. As I was dedicated to my role of annoying younger sibling, I promptly stole all of his books when he wasn't home and read through them as well. I wasn't able to play until much later in life, but I was fortunate in joining a dedicated RPG club, which exposed me to all sorts of RPG systems and styles. In 2015, I started freelancing for Paizo, and it's been exhilarating to share my creations with the Paizo community.

I originally was trying to break into the RPG industry as an artist; I've illustrated RPGs such as Short Order Heroes and the Queen's Cavaliers. The fact I have now been hired as a Paizo writer is a clue to how well that went.

Luis Loza, Developer

Hail and well met! My name is Luis Loza and I'm happy to be your new developer! I've been playing tabletop RPGs in some form for almost 15 years. My first experience with Pathfinder was a random picture I found online which featured the cover art of The Skinsaw Murders with a caption proclaiming it to be the scariest night your characters would ever have. My interest was piqued and I was fully hooked shortly thereafter. I jumped into Pathfinder, fell in love with the setting, and never looked back.

My first freelancing gig with Paizo was writing spells for the Giant Hunter's Handbook and I've done plenty more since then! (I keep a list of my credits on my profile page.) I guess Paizo liked me enough to bring me on as a developer and I'm excited to get to work! (Note: This is actually my second time on the Paizo blog, the first being a random picture of me from PaizoCon years back. I told myself I would mention this fact if I eventually worked for Paizo, so here's to you, Luis from 2013!)

Ron Lundeen, Developer

Adam Daigle didn't believe me when I said I wanted to come work for him full time. He knew I had a career as an in-house attorney for a large company, but he didn't know that all my freelance writing, freelance developing, and blog post authorship was part of a long-ranging scheme to live my dream by working at Paizo. My wife, in particular, was more supportive than I deserve when I told her I was angling to pursue my dream job. And now I've done it! I've moved my family from Chicago (where the winters are cold enough to kill people and the summers are hot enough to kill people) to the Pacific Northwest. We were greeted with a Christmastime snowfall robust enough to build a snowman with my kids. That's a rarity here, I've been told.

I've been hurled into the deep end of Adventure Path development—more specifically, the back end of the Adventure Paths, where the articles, gazetteers, new monsters, and "what's coming next month" all go. I see a lot of variety packed into the backmatter, from articles about noble spy networks to flaming ghost monsters to wicked halfling gods. It's a rush to see all the goodies Paizo's stellar freelancers have created, and still a bit of shock to realize that coordinating and developing it all is my actual job now.

Everyone at Paizo has been incredibly open and helpful, from setting up useful macros to showing me around the cavernous warehouse, and from talking about bicycle trails to work to explaining what a "Fred Meyer" is. I'm thrilled to be with such an energetic and friendly group, and I can't wait to bring these wonders to you!

Michael Sayre, Developer

Hello! My name is Michael Sayre. Before joining Paizo as the new organized play developer, I've worked as a lead designer for Dreamscarred Press and Drop Dead Studios, and done freelance design and development for companies like Amora Games, Lost Spheres Publishing, and Rogue Genius Games. If you're a fan of third-party materials you might recognize my name from projects like Dreamscarred's Akashic Mysteries, Drop Dead's Spheres of Might, or Lost Sphere's recent City of 7 Seraphs Kickstarter. Working here at Paizo is going to present me with some amazing opportunities to help develop and grow the adventures for the organized play community and I'm looking forward to helping the team as we work on the current and future seasons.

Chris Sims, Developer

Life is weird. It's like a strange dream moving along unexpected paths. I'm a Starfinder developer now. How did that happen?

I knew from an early age that I wanted to work in games, but in a massive failure of imagination, I didn't ponder the design and development route. I trained as a graphic artist, thinking that was my road to a game job. When D&D's third edition came out, it revitalized my love of the game. I delved deep, and I reviewed d20 products. Owners of a few such products asked me to edit or develop for them. I did.

Then, Wizards of the Coast issued an open call for freelance editors. I answered. The rest is history.

For fifteen years, now, I've been in games. I've worked on Magic, D&D for the last three editions, Pathfinder, and a few digital offerings, including the upcoming State of Decay 2 video game. With plenty of ups and downs, I've been a freelancer and an in-house contributor. I've had the privilege to know a lot of fine folks in this industry.

It's to these relationships that I feel I owe many of my past successes and my current lucky arrival here on the Paizo Starfinder team. Yeah, I have experience and skill, but being a known variable helped, I'm sure.

Anyway, that's enough history and philosophy. I'm excited to be delving into a new game yet again. My work on Starfinder is supposed to focus on Adventure Paths, which is right up my alley. Since I started, though, I've been developing and designing all kinds of game elements, from hybrid items to aliens, starships to new rules. Like an explorer looking for that big find in the Vast, I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. And, I can't wait to show you what I discover.

Adam Daigle
Managing Developer

May Stars, Volunteers, Conventions & More!

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

I'm currently neck deep in convention preparation for PaizoCon, UK Games Expo, Origins, and Gen Con, as well as pulling travel plans together for PaizoCon UK. So many spreadsheets! But I don't have them printed out on my bedsheets (yet) so I think I'm still safe.

On the subject of PaizoCon's—after holding PaizoCon Oz 2017 in New Zealand, the team approached me about widening the locational mandate and rotating the event throughout the greater Asia-Pacific region. Home office was happy to agree to their request, so from here on out, PaizoCon Oz is now PaizoCon Asia-Pacific! I've got it on good authority that they will release specifics soon. Hope to see some of you in Brisbane, Australia, this October!

In March, we lost a dedicated society volunteer to suicide. David Setty was a tireless GM and supported his local community in Cincinnati with all his efforts. While you may not recognize the name, if you attended Gen Con in the past few years, you probably saw David GMing in the Sagamore Ballroom. He was the red-haired GM wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a bright smile. In recognition of his importance to their community and to raise funds for suicide prevention, the local lodge is holding the David Setty Memorial Game Day. More information is available via their Facebook event. You can help by donating to their fundraising efforts. If you aren't close enough to attend, consider taking a moment to tell the people around you how much you appreciate them. It may make all the difference in the world! For more information, email Venture-Captain Brent Bowser.

Campaign Coin

This past weekend, I attended Quad Cities Gamefest in Davenport, Iowa. While there, I had the distinct pleasure of awarding a Campaign Service Coin to an extremely active volunteer. During his tenure as Venture-Captain of the Quad Cities Society, the group expanded and grew from the base laid by the original venture-captain, James Martin. The recipient fosters good relationships with game storeowners and works to help out in the greater geographic area to expand Society to places that haven't had organized play before. For their service and dedication to the growth of their community, we recognize VC Troy Schnack with a Campaign Service Coin and organized play number 787 in recognition of his service.

If you know a deserving member of your community, please email me at organizedplay@paizo.com with their name, location, and the reasons you feel they should be recognized for their service. If you are able, please include what events they may attend in 2018. This is especially helpful if they will be at an event with a member of the organized play team (see further down the blog for that list of events.)

Stars and Novas

This month we only have one new addition to the 5-star GM roster. They earned the accolade this weekend, making them the newest addition to the island. Huge congratulations on achieving your fifth star.

To achieve this milestone, GMs facilitate 150 games, of which at least 50 must be unique scenarios and 10 are special scenarios, as well as run a game for a venture-captain. A conservative estimate of time needed to reach 5-stars is 650 hours! To the GM listed below, thank you very much for the time and energy you spend running Pathfinder Society games! Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

• Nick Sullivan

I've been watching the reporting data for Starfinder Society and we don't have anyone approaching 5-nova GM status yet, but the team knows it is coming soon. We hope to have more information in the next few weeks, as we keep discussing both the nova requirements and the future of GM stars in organized play. Once determined, we will include the information in a future update blog.

Volunteer Opportunities

We still have badges and rooms available for Gen Con volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering to run Pathifner Socity or Starfinder Society events, please visit the Gen Con 2018 volunteer questionnaire for more information and to register.

PaizoCon, Origins, Gen Con update

Event catalogs for PaizoCon, Origins, and Gen Con went live this week. If you want to run a mid-slot game at PaizoCon, a limited number of tables will be available for on-site signups. Origins offerings should be complete. I'm holding back on listing the newest season of ACG launching at Gen Con until after the PaizoCon Banquet, where we announce the new season information. So know there will be several tables each morning and afternoon block of Gen Con that we have dedicated to the new season ACG launch. We also haven't uploaded our seminar offerings and hope to do that this week.

Badges for PaizoCon and Origins dropped already. Gen Cons are currently ongoing. If you are expecting a badge and don't have it by Friday, please let me know by emailing organizedplay@paizo.com with your name, paizo.com email, and convention you are volunteering at.

Convention Listing

Hard to believe we are almost halfway through 2018. Time is a flying! Never fear, there are plenty of conventions scheduled for the second half of the year. I've updated the list with all the event support requests I've received to date. All of the conventions on the list maintain some type of web presence, be it website, social media page, or Warhorn listing, so if you are interested in attending in either capacity, check out their websites or contact the local venture-officer for more information! If you know of a convention running Society games that is not on this list, encourage the organizer to contact me at organizedplay@paizo.com to discuss their event.

Convention Name	Location	Start Date
Chupacabracon V (2018)	Round Rock, TX	5/4/18
ConTRAPtion 2018	Worthing, United Kingdom	5/4/18
Demicon 29 (2018)	Urbandale, Iowa	5/4/18
Heroicon 2018	Decatur, IL	5/4/18
NoBrandCon 2018	Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin	5/4/18
David Setty Memorial Game Day (2018)	Cincinnati, OH	5/6/18
BLFC 2018	Reno, NV	5/11/18
Microcon 2018	Turku Finland	5/11/18
SFERAKON 2018	Zagreb, Croatia, EU	5/11/18
the Seelie Court 2018	Philadelphia, PA	5/11/18
KoboldCon 2018	Colorado Springs, CO	5/12/18
RusCon 2018	Moscow, Russia	5/12/18
Tri Con 2018	Bay City, MI	5/12/18
BeholderCon 2018	Boise, ID	5/18/18
Kevätmaracon mk. II 2018	Finland, Oulu	5/18/18
Mallicon 2018	Cincinnati, OH	5/18/18
Mutli-Table Specials - Sydney and Brisbane	Brisbane and Sydney, Australia	5/19/18
CoreCon	Fargo, ND	5/24/18
MegaCon 2018	Orlando, FL	5/24/18
MomoCon 2018	Atlanta, GA	5/24/18
Phoenix Comic Fest 2018	Phoenix, AZ	5/24/18
Cherry Capital Comic Con (2018)	ACME, MI	5/25/18
Comicpalooza 2018	Houston, TX	5/25/18
Gamex 2018	Los Angeles, CA	5/25/18
KublaCon 2018	Burlingame, CA	5/25/18
Mobicon 2018	Mobile, AL	5/25/18
Parece Con	Leon, Spain	5/25/18
Seekerpalooza 2 (2018)	Montreat, NC	5/25/18
Summer Wolfcon 2018	Chicago, IL	5/26/18
Nexus Game Fair 2018	Milwaukee WI	5/31/18
ConCarolinas 2018	Charlotte, NC	6/1/18
UK Games Expo 2018	Birmingham, NEC, United Kingdom	6/1/18
Die Con 18 (2018)	Collinsville, IL	6/8/18
Magic City Con	Birmingham, AL	6/8/18
RAGECON 2018	Reno, NV	6/22/18
VrockCon 2018 - Are You Thursty?	Flat Rock, NC	6/30/18
InConJunction 2018	Indianapolis, IN	7/6/18
MidSummer ConQuest	Sacramento, CA	7/20/18
Summerfest 2018	Richland, WA	7/20/18

2018 Organized Play Staff Travel

I've updated the organized play staff itinerary for the rest of 2018. These aren't all the events that will have Paizo staffers in attendance and some of the events have staff members beyond the organized play team. If you're at any of the events listed below, please stop by the booth or organized play room and say hi!

If you are an event organizer and want to invite us out at your event in 2019, drop an email to organizedplay@paizo.com before next summer. We review our schedule in the fall and try to get all decisions wrapped by the end of the year.

Convention Name	Location	Start Date	OP Staff
PaizoCon	Sea-Tac, WA	5/25	Tonya, John, Linda, Michael (+Paizo staffers)
UK Games Expo	Birmingham, England	6/1	Tonya (+Paizo staffers)
Origins	Columbus, OH	6/13	Tonya, John (+Paizo staffers)
PaizoCon UK	Birmingham, England	7/20	Tonya (+Paizo staffer)
Gen Con	Indianapolis, IN	8/2	Tonya, John, Linda, Michael (+Paizo staffers)
DragonCon	Atlanta, GA	8/30	John (+Paizo staffer)
Fan Expo	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	8/31	TBD
SkalCon	Minnaepolis-St. Paul, MN	9/14	Tonya
Hurricon	Tampa, FL	9/27	Tonya
PaizoCOn OZ	Brisbane, Australia	10/19	Tonya
U-Con	Ann Arbor, MI	11/16	Tonya
PAX Unplugged	Phiadelphia, PA	11/30	Tonya (+Paizo staffers)

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge


Organized Play Manager

Organized Play at PaizoCon 2018!

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Convention planning involves lots of juggling, starting with what scenarios to offer. As an organizer, you want to schedule games players can participate in. The need for schedule juggling amplifies when we look at the Paizo-sponsored conventions—PaizoCon, Origins, and Gen Con. For those, we need several spotlight events, new scenarios, and a balance of the current season's offerings. At one of the organized team meetings a few months back, we decorated a white board with products releasing by August 2018 and started shuffling things around.

One of our top considerations is what the season meta-plot looks like and making sure we have coherent story paths. For Year of the Serpent, we included all the meta-plot scenarios at both PaizoCon and Gen Con. For Year of the Stolen Storm, we tried to make sure we had a variety of elemental scenarios together so that con attendees could see each of the elemental planes. This year, for Year of the Faction, there wasn't an overarching meta-plot outside of the factions helping the Pathfinder Society, and there weren't multi-scenario arcs in the vein of #8-18: Champion's Chalice Part 1 and #8-21: Champion's Chalice Part 2. So we looked at each factions' story arc and tried scheduling them together.

For PaizoCon, we offered the newest scenarios, including previews of #9-20: Fury of the Final Blade and #9-21: In the Grandmaster's Name. I'm especially excited to see the reaction to the latter, as Grandmaster Torch's name elicits such varied responses from our playerbase. Plus, the premier of the third installment of our modular special on Sunday night! 50 tables running the same event—#8-99C: The Solstice Scar—Version C! Come see what has befallen Medda and crew in the past year!

Speaking of premiers—join GMs John Compton, Linda Zayas-Palmer, Lyz Liddell, Leo Glass, and Chris Sims as they preview the first of the Pathfinder Society Playtest Adventures—#1 Rose Street Revenge. These are lottery events using pregenerated 1st level characters. Look for them in the catalog when it goes live. A small teaser from the soon to be product page:

Less than a year has passed since the Fiendflesh Siege, in which Absalom fended off an invading coalition of demonflesh constructs and the living dead. The siege lord offered freedom to any slave in Absalom willing to aid in the city's defense, and since that grand manumission, the city's slave trade has practically disappeared. The Pathfinder Society is one of many organizations that opened its doors to Absalom's newest citizens. However, several of the ex-slaves have been turning up dead, in other cases disappearing entirely. The Society doesn't often investigate serial killings, but one of its newest recruits is the latest victim. It's time for a band of Pathfinders to follow the clues, uncover these crimes, and end this threat.

On the Starfinder side, we have most of the recent catalog and previews of #1-14: Star Sugar Heartlove!!! and Save the Renkrodas. Who doesn't love some Strawberry Machine Cake?

To help you schedule your convention to the fullest, here is the full list of offerings for PaizoCon:

System	Scenario #	Title
PFS	#6-10	The Wounded Wisp
PFS	#7-10	The Consortium Compact
PFS	#8-16	House of Harmonious Wisdom
PFS	PSA	Pathfinder Society Academy
PFS	#9-09	Beyond the Halflight Path
PFS	#9-14	Down the Verdant Path
PFS	#9-15	Bloodcove Blockade
PFS	#9-16	Fallen Family, Broken Name
PFS	#9-17	Oath of the Overwatched
PFS	#9-18	Scourge of the Farheavens
PFS	#9-19	Clash in Kaimuko Wood
PFS	#9-20	Fury of the Final Blade
PFS	#9-21	In the Grandmaster's Name
PFS	#8-99C	The Solstice Scar, Version C
SFS	SFQ	Into the Unknown
SFS	#1-01	The Commencement
SFS	#1-09	Live Exploration Extreme!
SFS	#1-10	The Half-Alive Streets
SFS	#1-11	In Pursuit of the Scoured Past
SFS	#1-12	Ashes of Discovery
SFS	#1-13	On the Trail of History
SFS	#1-14	Star Sugar Heartlove!!!

Besides scenarios running in the ballroom, there are many other special events featuring the organized play crew. There are panels on Starfinder Society, Pathfinder Society (with bonus Pathfinder Society Playtest information) and Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. In addition, the 10,000 Lakes Gaming Crew (those Minnesota people!) have sponsored an afternoon's worth of games. If you wish to add a game to the schedule, follow this link for more information.

Interested but haven't gotten your tickets? Here's a handy link to the main PaizoCon 2018 page for all your ticketing and informational needs.

Volunteer Opportunities

GMs should have received their PaizoCon schedules last week. There are a few GMs that are "waitlisted" pending schedule acceptance. We had more volunteers than scheduled games. This is mixed result, as I hate to turn volunteers away, but I'm pleased we won't have empty tables.

Gen Con is a different matter. We still need volunteers! While we filled the demo team and XX, there is still room to run Pathfinder Society Playtest Adventures, Starfinder Society fare, or Pathfinder Society Year of Factions' Favor and the soon to be announced next season! Volunteers receive benefits based on how many blocks they contribute. Rewards include 4-day badges, ¼ hotel rooms in the downtown Westin, credit to paizo.com, a copy of a Paizo print product (choices include Pathfinder Playtest Standard Hardcover Edition, Pathfinder RPG Planar Adventures, Starfinder RPG Armory, or a bundle of 3Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Add-On Decks. Interested? Check here for more information and to complete a volunteer questionnaire.

So I thought there would be room to cover Origins' offerings as well as PaizoCon, but looking at the length I think this blog is long enough. I'll save the Origins' information for another blog.

Tune in next week when we preview April's Starfinder Society and Pathfinder Society scenarios.

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge


Organized Play Manager

A New Face, Stars, Conventions, and More!

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

I know time flies quickly, but when our new developer, Michael Sayre, noted that he started 7 weeks ago, it caught me by surprise. Then I realized while I've gotten to know Michael, we hadn't introduced him to our organized play family. So I asked him to describe himself in a few sentences and encourage those of you attending PaizoCon or Gen Con to come by and say hi to the newest person behind organized play!

From Michael...

"Hello! I'm Michael Sayre, the newest member of the organized play team. My work with Pathfinder includes designing and developing products for several third-party publishers, including Amora Games, Dreamscarred Press, Drop Dead Studios, and Rogue Genius Games, as well as doing editing work for the Wayfinder fanzine. Since joining the team I've been tackling sanctioning on some of the more recent adventure paths and doing development on several scenarios, starting with the recently released #9–16: Fallen Family, Broken Name. It's been an exciting (and busy!) run so far and I'm looking forward to continuing to help the OP team produce and sanction great new content for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game."

Pathfinder Society GM Stars

A cornerstone of the Pathfinder Society is the Game Masters who To achieve this milestone, GMs facilitate 150 games, of which at least 50 must be unique scenarios and 10 are special scenarios, as well as run a game for a venture-captain. A conservative estimate of time needed to reach 5-stars is 650 hours! To the GM listed below, thank you very much for the time and energy you devote to running Pathfinder Society games! Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

• David Breuning
• Steven Johnson
• Curtis Jones
• Nigel Loh
• James Martin
• Amanda Plageman
• Scott Romanowski

Congratulations! Once again, thank you for spending hours running games for your community!

Conventions

Convention season started in earnest on 1 March, when the number of requests for event support doubled. Which is wonderful news for our gaming community, as there are even more places to play Pathfinder and Starfinder Society! We encourage you to check out the list and see if any conventions appeal to you. All of the conventions on the list maintain some type of web presence, be it website, social media page, or Warhorn listing, so if you are interested in attending in either capacity, check out their websites or contact the local venture-officer for more information! If you know of a convention running Society games that is not on this list, encourage the organizer to contact me at organizedplay@paizo.com to discuss their event.

Convention Name	Location	Start Date
1D4 Con 2018	Martinsburg, WV	4/13/2018
CODCON 2018	Glen Ellyn, IL	4/13/2018
Pathcon 4.5 (2018)	Salt Lake City, UT	4/13/2018
Springfest 2018	Tri Cities, WA	4/13/2018
GameOn-Icon 2018	Plymouth, NH	4/14/2018
TriCon 3: The TriCon Rises (2018)	High Point, NC	4/14/2018
Kingdom Con 2018	San Diego, CA	4/19/2018
Cape Comic Con 2018	Cape Girardeau, MO	4/20/2018
Lexicon Gaming Convention 2018	Lexington, KY	4/20/2018
Main Würfel Convention 2018	Germany	4/20/2018
Gaming for Conservation 2018	Newington, NH	4/21/2018
HMGS-South Recon 2018	Kissimmee, FL	4/26/2018
Farmageddon V (2018)	Farmer City, IL	4/27/2018
Gaming Hoopla 2018	Mundelein, IL	4/27/2018
Konocti-Con 2018	Lakeport, CA	4/27/2018
Mepacon Spring 2018	Scranton, PA	4/27/2018
Pretzcon 2018	Omaha, NE	4/27/2018
QC Gamefest 2018	Quad Cities, IA	4/27/2018
2018 D8 Summit	Utica, IL	4/28/2018
GameCon X (2018)	Colorado Springs, CO	4/28/2018
NRVcon 2018 (2018)	Blacksburg, VA	4/28/2018
Chupacabracon V (2018)	Unknown	5/4/2018
ConTRAPtion 2018	Worthing, UK	5/4/2018
Demicon 29	Urbandale, Iowa	5/4/2018
Heroicon 2018	Decatur, IL	5/4/2018
David Setty Memorial Game Day (2018)	Cincinnati, OH	5/6/2018
BLFC 2018	Reno, NV	5/11/2018
Microcon 2018	Turku Finland	5/11/2018
KoboldCon 2018	Colorado Springs, CO	5/12/2018
RusCon 2018	Moscow, Russia	5/12/2018
Tri Con 2018	Bay City, MI	5/12/2018
BeholderCon	Boise, Idaho	5/18/2018
Mallicon 2018	Cincinnati, OH	5/18/2018
Cherry Capital Comic Con (2018)	ACME, MI	5/25/2018
Comicpalooza 2018	Houston, TX	5/25/2018
KublaCon 2018	Burlingame, CA	5/25/2018
Seekerpalooza 2 (2018)	Montreat, NC	5/25/2018
Summer Wolfcon 2018	Chicago, IL	5/26/2018
Nexus Game Fair 2018	Milwaukee, WI	5/31/2018
Die Con 18 (2018)	Collinsville, IL	6/8/2018
RAGECON 2018	Reno, NV	6/22/2018
InConJunction 2018	Indianapolis, IN	7/6/2018
MidSummer ConQuest	Sacramento,CA	7/20/2018
1D4 Con 2018	Martinsburg, WV	4/13/2018
CODCON 2018	Glen Ellyn, IL	4/13/2018
Pathcon 4.5 (2018)	Salt Lake City, UT	4/13/2018
Springfest 2018	Tri Cities, WA	4/13/2018
GameOn-Icon 2018	Plymouth, NH	4/14/2018
Konocti-Con 2018	Lakeport, CA	4/27/2018

Volunteer Opportunities

We still need volunteers for Gen Con 2018! If you want the chance to run Pathfinder Society Playtest adventures, see the launch of Pathfinder Society Season Ten, or experience the Starfinder Society interactive scenario in a room with 1,154 other people, this is the convention for you. Follow this link for more information on how to volunteer.

PaizoCon schedules are going out tomorrow. Check your email if you filled in the questionnaire!

2018 Organized Play Staff Travel

With the addition of Michael to the team and the announcement of Pathfinder Playtest/Pathfinder 2nd edition, I've updated the staff travel roster to reflect where you can find Paizo staff and potentially a playtest opportunity (or two!).

If you are an event organizer and want to invite us out at your event in 2019, drop an email to organizedplay@paizo.com before next summer. We review our schedule in the fall and try to get all decisions wrapped by the end of the year.

Convention Name	Location	Start Date	Org Play Staff
Quad Cities Game Fest	Quad Cities, IA	4/27/2018	Tonya
PaizoCon	Sea-Tac, WA	5/25/2018	Tonya, John, Linda, Michael
UK Games Expo	Birmingham, England	6/1/2018	Tonya (+Paizo staffers)
Origins	Columbus, OH	6/13/2018	Tonya, John (+ Paizo staffers)
PaizoCon UK	Birmingham, England	7/20/2018	Tonya (+ Paizo staffer)
Gen Con	Indianapolis, IN	8/2/2018	Tonya, John, Linda, Michael
DragonCon	Atlanta, GA	8/30/2018	John (+Paizo staffer)
Fan Expo	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	8/31/2018	TBD
SkalCon	Minnaepolis-St. Paul, MN	9/14/2018	Tonya
Hurricon	Tampa, FL	9/27/2018	Tonya
PaizoCon OZ	Melbourne, Australia	10/19/2018	Tonya
U-Con	Ann Arbor, MI	11/16/2018	Tonya
PAX Unplugged	Philadelphia, PA	11/30/2018	Tonya (+Paizo staffers)

Pathfiner Society Playtest Discussion

After the announcement of the Pathfinder Playtest, the team opened up a new forum for Playtest discussion. Thank you to everyone who is expressing their opinions! If you aren't familiar with these topics, you can read the basics here While we aren't actively posting in the threads, the team spends some time each week reviewing the posts and compiling the feedback for discussion at our weekly meetings. Knowing the thoughts of our community helps us shape policy. Please keep up the discussions!

Next week, we will preview event offerings at PaizoCon & Origins!

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge


Organized Play Manager

Celebrating International Transgender Day of Visibility!

Saturday, March 31, 2018

Here at Paizo, we value and are proud of the many and varied perspectives that our employees, contributors, and community provide. Since March 31 is International Transgender Day of Visibility, we'd like to take this opportunity to celebrate and showcase transgender members of our community. Here are their thoughts in their own words!

Rigby Bendele, Venture-Captain: Gaming and queer experiences have always been tightly tied for me. After all, I've chosen to focus on the intersections of queer theory and gaming in my scholarship for a reason. RPGs offer possibility. Play is a way to try on new identities and explore areas of myself that I don't explore otherwise. Play has served as testing ground for me to decide what was and wasn't safe to disclose. I've found benefit in the failures I've experienced in RPGs. I learned what gender expressions didn't feel right for me through exploration in RPGs. These failed attempts at creating fantasized versions of myself helped me learn more about who I was and who I wanted to be. RPGs, particularly Pathfinder, offered me the opportunity of endless, unquestioned exploration. Without this, I wouldn't have been able to find a space for me that exists outside of the hegemonic gender categories we're placed into.

Since coming out publicly as nonbinary two years ago, I've found my role in my local gaming community a way to both educate others and provide support to other trans people. While I'll never claim that gaming alone can save us, it's important to me to ensure gaming communities are just. As a Venture-Captain, I've used my own standing in the community to create a more welcoming environment. As a result, I've had several members of my local area's organized play community feel safe enough to come out as trans. They've said that watching me live openly as trans made them see transition as a possibility for their own life. While being one of the first visible trans members of this community has come with rough spots, knowing that my visibility makes it possible for other people to be themselves has made all the challenges worthwhile.

Crystal Frasier, Author: Tabletop gaming was an important support for me when I was young and lonely and hurt by the world. I hated myself a lot back then, and RPGs gave me a brief few hours to not be myself and be someone I liked instead. In retrospect, it was pretty hilarious that the only times I felt like I wasn't pretending to be someone else were when I was pretending to be an elf or a superhero or a grizzled, postapocalyptic powersuit pilot. Now that I like myself and don't feel a need to hide, I draw on those same experiences of isolation, alienation, desperation, drive, and triumph to help inform my writing. While the circumstances of transitioning are unique to transgender and some intersex people, those emotions and experiences behind it are universal and powerful.

Melissa Guillet, Systems Administrator: I first began playing tabletop games in earnest shortly after 2nd edition AD&D came out back in 1991. I worked in the local small-town bookstore, and I met the man who would be my GM when he ordered the new books through us. He told me that I could play once I reached sixteen, and so when I passed my driver's test, I joined his group. I played with that group for about 15 years. They were mostly Army/Air Force guys, and they were my best friends who saw me through high school and a lot of other transitions in my life. I had a hard time at about nineteen when I was trying to figure out how I was going to make this all work, being poor and stuck in a small town in the Southwest. I hermitted away, and my gaming friends were the ones that came around, got me out of the house, and told me that whatever was the deal, they'd be okay with me. I didn't tell them during that time, but their kindness did put me at ease. That's when I began exploring more feminine aspects of myself in game; I started playing more and more women characters. One day, some friends asked me why I was starting to play more female characters all of a sudden. I played coy at first but couldn't quite bring myself to tell them—not yet. My best friend in the group, who was basically a brother to me, deserved to know first. If I could tell him and he would be okay with it, then, well, everything else would be okay. This was way back in the late 90s, I think, so things were quite a bit different. I wrote a letter and drove to his house and gave it to him, and then I sat in his living room while he read through the pages. I poured my heart out, and he told me that, no matter what, he'd always be there for me. And then one by one, I told my gaming friends. Not everyone was immediately supportive, but they all cared and loved me, and that was about as powerful a story for gaming and togetherness as I can make. Gaming meant having the support of people who loved me and wanted the best for me. So this story goes out to Gerald, Ben, Wade, Lanell, Mark, Keith, and some guy named GM (he's really named JD). I miss you guys. Thanks for being a powerful force in my life.

Sasha Lindley Hall, Venture-Agent: I feel that one of the biggest intersections between my gender identity and my love of gaming is in how I approach the details. Both of them are constantly evolving and changing and moving forward; as our understanding of gender and ability to extend our ideas grows, in parallel are the supposed limits of gaming (mechanically and culturally, both in game and out) pushed and discarded. At their core, gaming and gender are about freedom to me—the freedom to explore beyond myself and within myself. With them as prominent driving forces in my life, I am growing better every day.

Violet Hargrave, Author: While there were obvious-in-retrospect signs all throughout my life, what really made it click that I was trans was playing Pathfinder. I used to alternate playing men and women "for variety" until it sank in that all the women were fully fleshed-out characters I was really at ease inhabiting, while the men were all slight, shy, and weirdly prone to amassing magical and nonmagical disguises "just in case." Once you articulate to yourself, "I'm always a lot more comfortable as a woman," it's a lot easier to realize that it applies to more than just RPGs.

Isabelle Lee, Author: For me, roleplaying games and my trans identity are very closely linked. Gaming has been an outlet for that part of me for as long as I can remember, allowing me to experience the idea of life as a woman before I even knew I needed it and introducing me to the possibility of leaving one's assigned gender behind, while my transition has inspired a few of my creations in my time as a contributor. Accepting my gender identity gave me the confidence to decide that I wanted to be part of this game and this industry, and the friends I've made in the process (both of transitioning and of writing for Pathfinder) have enriched my life more than I can describe. I know I've been an inspiration to people, as both a writer and a trans woman, and I hope to keep on being one for a long time to come. ^_^

Jen McTeague, Author: Pathfinder was a large part of how I explored being trans in the first place. Komana Higgenstrom was my first female Pathfinder character, and I really enjoyed playing her more than the vast majority of my other characters. I didn't quite understand why at the time. After all, it would still be a year or two before I realized that I was trans. But when I started to question my gender and look back in my past for signs, those game sessions where I played Komana were a major clue that I was headed on the right track.

Nowadays, my trans identity affects a lot about how I play PFS. Since coming out, I've met a bunch of trans PFS players, and we've been supporting each other. In addition, while I'm no longer a VO, I still try to make the communities I'm a part of more friendly to trans people. This includes both talking with other organizers and pushing back against unfortunate words that are said at the table. After all, I had the great opportunity to use PFS as a jumping point for my transition, and I want other people to have the same opportunity.

Please join us in celebrating these incredible voices!

—The Paizo Staff

These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things (of 2017)

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

This past year has been a big wild ride. We launched Starfinder to great success, had a busy Gen Con watching the book fly off the shelves, and put out some amazing books that aren't set in space. We've even had some changes in our line-up, with changing job titles and responsibilities that helped a number of us take a step up. 2017 has been full of excitement (and a little chaos, but what creative endeavor doesn't have at least a little chaos?). It's been a busy year for everyone here at Paizo, and I wanted to give the developers and designers a chance to talk about some of the projects they've worked on this year that they've enjoyed working on the most. Being a creator can be rough sometimes, and it's important to feel pride about the things you've helped make.

*Any developer or designer not included in this blog was far too busy to contribute to this blog I sprung on them. Sorry folks!

Logan Bonner (Designer)
Most of my stuff that came out in 2017 feels like I worked on it a million years ago. I had a big hand in the underlying math and class design of Starfinder, and it was so much fun going into deep design and play with foundational concepts in a way we rarely get to do with the more established Pathfinder. I also worked up the monster creation rules, based on work I initially did for Pathfinder Unchained, during the Starfinder Core Rulebook creation process. Seeing them make their way to the public in Alien Archive was exciting! And speaking of exciting, the highlight of the year was seeing Starfinder fly off the shelves at its Gen Con launch. I was there Thursday morning, went on my scheduled break, and when I came back, it was gone! Mind-blowing!

Jason Bulmahn (Director of Game Design)
2017 has been a truly exciting year in the game design mines... but as with most years, the things I have been working on have yet to even be announced! So, here is to 2018 and all of the amazing things I am looking forward to sharing with all of you in the coming months!

John Compton (Organized Play Lead Developer)
Although its copyright date shows 2016, Pathfinder Adventure Path #113: What Grows Within ended up hitting shelves in 2017, marking not only the first Adventure Path volume of the year but also the first one I wrote. It was a great experience and a great opportunity to create some really weird characters (including Hoshbagh) and present desperate PCs with desperate situations. The process also prepared me for writing the second volume of the Starfinder Adventure Path, Temple of the Twelve, which let me draw on my archaeology training to invent a host of academics—both qualified and absurd—and a lost culture on a hitherto undocumented continent.

On the organized play front, I'm proud of helping Thurston Hillman get the Starfinder Society program up and running, especially in the changes we incorporated into the Guide (like the new approach to boons) and the plans we've set in motion for more than a year of great adventures. In the meantime, Pathfinder Society's been creating great adventures and accomplishing big things. In 2017 we wrapped up the Season 8 plotline, culminating in the excellent Pathfinder Society Scenario #8–25: Unleashing the Untouchable that has ramifications across the inner planes.

Adam Daigle (Managing Developer)
I had a hand in thirteen books that came out in 2017, by either being the developer for the whole book or pitching in on a book with another development lead. (I had a lighter hand in a whole bunch more, but those contributions aren't terribly noteworthy and are frankly quite boring.) Of all of these, I'd have to say that the one thing I'm most proud of is the Ruins of Azlant Adventure Path. This was the first Adventure Path where I got to fully run the show, so to speak. I got to outline the Adventure Path and form the excellent team of writers who brought it to life. Working with all of them was a developer's dream, and seeing this Adventure Path go from ideas to real books that people are playing and enjoying has been a highlight of my work year. I was also happy to get more information about my lil' fear babies, the sahkils, in Book of the Damned.

My favorite personal development over this past year has been stepping up to lead the best damn group of developers in the business. I can't wait to share some of our efforts in 2018. Onward and upward!

Thurston Hillman (Starfinder Society Developer)
As many know, this was my first year working for Paizo. I had been freelancing for Paizo for a while, but this was the year I took on the Starfinder Society Developer position and got to work on helping to build an entirely new Organized Play program (alongside Tonya, John, Linda, and several others.) It's hard to pinpoint a single "best moment” in this year, but I think I have to go with Gen Con 2017, where we officially launched the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. Along with getting to see our new game in action, it was an incredible experience seeing GMs from across the world coming to help run the first games of Starfinder Society. Given how we've just announced several (but not all) of our plans for 2018, I suspect next year's PaizoCon, Origins, and Gen Con (ok, and SkålCon) will be full of new Starfinder Society stories!

Amanda Hamon Kunz (Development Coordinator)
Wow, 2017 has been busy! I've worked on a whole bunch of products, but I think the highlight for me has to be the Starfinder RPG. I really enjoyed working on some of the core system design of our new science-fantasy game as a member of the Starfinder design team; you'll see my fingerprints all over the Starfinder Core Rulebook's tactical rules, equipment, and magic chapters, as well as chunks of the character creation and setting chapters and beyond. It's very rewarding to see our game's positive reception among fans, and to be involved with so many great Paizo team members to help create it and get it out into the world. Similarly, writing the third Starfinder Adventure Path volume, Splintered Worlds, was also a huge highlight of 2017 for me. I had a ton of fun creating the creepy atmospheres and plots that pervade that adventure, from a Dead Space-inspired cultist base to macabre adventures among the undead residents of Eox. I'll avoid spoilers and stop there! Regardless, a lot happened in 2017, and it's exciting to think about what 2018 may bring.

Jason Keeley (Developer)
Of course, I am very proud about the release of Starfinder, whose popularity has surpassed all of our expectations. But while we were putting the finish touches of the Starfinder Core Rulebook, I was already up to my waist in Alien Archive, corralling most of those weird beasties and fascinating aliens. I couldn't be more excited to have worked on a roleplaying game where a party can consist of a floating jellyfish being, an albino minotaur, a humongous brain, and a lizard person that can shoot blood out of her eye! On a personal note, I am also thrilled to have written the articles on Hadregash and Cyth-V'sug that appeared in the Ironfang Invasion Adventure Path. Two different evil gods, but both so fun to write. And one of them let me indulge in writing some very gross stuff. I'll leave it to you to figure out which deity is more disgusting: the militaristic barghest or the demon lord of fungus and parasites.

Rob McCreary (Creative Director, Starfinder)
This past year was all about Starfinder for me, most notably the Starfinder Core Rulebook. But I'm especially happy with Incident at Absalom Station, the adventure I wrote for the Dead Suns Adventure Path. Besides kicking off the Starfinder Adventure Path, Incident at Absalom Station was also the very first adventure published for Starfinder. The project presented a number of challenges, not the least of which was the fact that we didn't have the final Starfinder rules when I started writing it! But that didn't stop me, and it did give me the chance to bring one particular monster from Pathfinder to Starfinder—the akata, which I've loved ever since it first appeared back in Pathfinder Adventure Path #14: Children of the Void. I also had a lot of fun designing the PCs' first starship, the Sunrise Maiden, which is the Starfinder iconic characters' ship too. I've really enjoyed hearing about people's experiences running and playing the adventure on the messageboards, and can't wait to see how people respond to the rest of the adventures in the Dead Suns campaign!

Joe Pasini (Developer)
In the first few months of this year, I was a contract editor for Paizo, hustling with a fantastic group of people to get Starfinder, a brand new RPG, out the door. Now, as the year comes to a close, I'm a developer for that same RPG, and I couldn't be more proud of the collective effort (including my small part) that it took to bring this game to the world.

In the summer and fall, I got to work with Adam Daigle, Crystal Frasier, and Amanda Hamon Kunz (listed alphabetically, because I'll always be an editor at heart) to put out a couple rad Player Companions (Antihero's Handbook and People of the Wastes) and the back matter of the first volumes of the War for the Crown Adventure Path. Learning at the feet of such titans of the industry was enlightening, humbling—and frickin' awesome.

Here's to an epic 2018!

Owen K.C. Stephens (Starfinder Design Lead)
It likely comes as no surprise that the thing I am proudest of that I worked on in 2017 is Starfinder. My work on the Starfinder Core Rulebook was mostly done in 2016, though some of that work bled into the early weeks of this year, but I'm not even talking about just the rulebooks. With Starfinder, I have gotten to be on the ground floor of a new RPG line again, and that comes with a lot of work beyond the rulebooks. I have enjoyed being part of planning a universe, and expanding it to new places, brainstorming new concepts and new adventures, discussing which of the things we don't have yet we want (and which we don't), and when and how to present them. I'm part of a brilliant team that's setting the tone and course for a brand new venture, and I am proud of both the work we've done and what we have in the pipeline.

Linda Zayas-Palmer (Developer)
I'm bad at picking favorites, so I won't pick just one. I'm pumped about Season 9 of Pathfinder Society, the Year of Factions' Favor, and proud of the work I put into building the overarching story. After seeing the reception to several scenarios, especially Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-02: A Case of Missing Persons, I'm looking forward to seeing what people think of the ways these plots in unfold later in the season. Another fun project I worked on this year was a pair of flexible Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild adventures, #4–P1: Murder in the Marketplace and #4–P2: Dangerous Cargo. I play the ACG almost every week, and there's something amazing about watching my friends have fun with something I wrote. And finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention my first published race: the vine leshy from Ultimate Wilderness. More leshys makes for a better game.

Mark Seifter (Designer)
"The math is going to be completely different, but also it needs to be fully compatible with all the Pathfinder monsters." Doing both of those things in Starfinder seemed like a tall order, so one of my absolutely coolest moments was when I plugged all the required constraints together, working alongside Logan, and tweaked all the variables along until finally…it clicked! I found an arrangement that would allow the brand new combat math, no longer balanced around making attacks at –10 or –15 at higher levels, to mesh directly with numbers right out of the table in the back of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary. There was literally a single path to victory, a ray of light in the sea of numbers. I was able to lay it out, and sure enough, Starfinder characters have math that interacts completely smoothly with the numbers on Pathfinder foes, while retaining a combat dynamic all their own!

Adam Daigle
Managing Developer

Happy Holidays from the Paizo Crew!

Friday, December 22, 2017

Another year is coming to a close, and 2017 has been a landmark year for us at the Paizo office! In the last few weeks, we've begun reflecting on and collecting memories from the last 12 months, and the support that you, our community of amazing fans, have given to our projects. We're blown away by it all, and before we begin our recap blogs for the year, we want to take a moment to say: thank you!

These "adorable" little skittermanders are ready for the winter festivities!
Illustration by Kent Hamilton

The release of a new roleplaying game is an all-hands-on-deck effort, and it is no understatement that the reception for Starfinder has exceeded our expectations many times over. While we plan on recapping our projects from this year in another blog, it's notable that the gamers we've seen at conventions, organized play events, game stores, and patronizing paizo.com seem to really enjoy this crazy, wonderful, spacey adventure we've put so much work into. The next year is definitely going to be full of even more Starfinder (and of course, Pathfinder) excitement to come.

This widening community of gamers is what makes it possible for everyone at Paizo to keep aspiring for bigger and better goals. To show our appreciation, you can now use the holiday18 promotional code at checkout to receive a discount on an order from paizo.com.*

Once again, and we can't say it enough, thank you! We wish you all safe travels, critical hits, and all the adventure that the holiday season brings!

Best wishes and happy gaming,
The Paizo Staff

*The holiday18 code stacks with Pathfinder Advantage. This discount does not apply to subscriptions, backorders, preorders, or third-party downloads.

What Pathfinder Society Means to Me

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Hi All! With Thanksgiving just around the corner for us in the Paizo office, I wanted to do a blog that was more personal. I'm a pretty private person by nature, so this isn't easy for me to write, but it's worthwhile.

To say one more thing up front: anxiety and depression affect a lot of people, and for those of us who deal with them, society sometimes gives us a sense that they are something that needs to be hidden away, or that they are something we should "just get over". Or, the real kicker for me, that because there are people out there who have a harder life than we do, that our feelings are somehow not valid. These ideas are preposterous and unfair. They are not something that people can "just get over", and I hope that by talking about my experiences, I can help someone else know that they are far from alone, and that there is hope. If you are struggling alone, please reach out and talk to someone you trust. People want to help a lot more than your mind might let you realize.

This blog is primarily about my experience with Pathfinder Society and the way it has benefitted my life, so it doesn't go much into the other ways that I've sought help over the years. It's not the whole story by a long shot, but it's an important piece.

When I first started off with Pathfinder Society, it was a fun activity I did at Gen Con with a group of friends. Then, when my home gaming group started scattering to the winds, we turned to Pathfinder Society to recruit new people with something way less daunting than our typical multi-year campaigns.

It was around this time that our local and freshly minted Centure-Captain Don Walker put a request on the messageboards for people to join him in an inaugural game at Pandemonium Books and Games. To be honest, I wasn't really that sure about the idea of playing in a group of mostly strangers. I was worried about whether they would accept me, and if I could open up around them. But I wanted to give it a try, so I went to that game, and I had a great time. And I kept going to games at Pandy, week after week. Over time, my confidence grew to the point where I took up the GMing mantle and became the store's organizer.

After graduating from college, I really struggled. I'd had an idea of what I would be doing with my life, but nothing was coming together the way I'd expected it. Anxiety and depression, which I'd been dealing with on and off since my early teens, hit me hard. There were a lot of weeks where the only thing that was able to draw me out of my apartment was my Sunday Pathfinder Society game. I kept signing up to GM week after week, even though I would spend every morning before the game filled with dread that, even though my last 10 games or so had gone well, this one, THIS one I would definitely botch. Once the game started going, though, I fell into a familiar groove. For those few hours, no matter what else was going on, I could laugh and have a good time with familiar and new players alike. After the games, I sometimes confided in the people I trusted most about what was going on inside my mind, and their supportive words helped push me to get the help I needed to claw back onto a better path in life.  I don't know if I ever really told them how much that support meant to me. So, to all of my friends in the Boston Lodge, thank you.

Eventually, I became a Venture-Lieutenant, taking on more responsibilities like organizing conventions and overseeing interactive specials. I also started GMing at conventions, and getting to know a lot more people in the community. And I have to say, you guys are pretty great. I know I only know a handful of you, but I look forward to meeting more of you each time I make it to a convention. I went from thinking that I would just GM at stores sometimes to plotting out my path to the 10 specials needed for my 5th star.

When the job posting for Paizo came up, I wasn't going to apply. My anxiety told me that it would be a waste of Paizo's time, and that there was no way they would hire me. But I was convinced to at least try. And, as you all know, Paizo hired me. I knew I wanted to work with Organized Play, and I was fortunate enough to get placed doing exactly that. Thank you, everyone at Paizo, and especially John Compton, for showing me the ropes. Thank you for making this a truly amazing place to work.

I don't want to give the impression that everything is always sunny, or that I have somehow erased my tendencies toward anxiety and depression from my mind.  But when they flare up, just as before, the Pathfinder Society community helps me get back on my feet. About a year ago, when I was walking home from work, I got hit by a car. I had a concussion, and a few things in my head got knocked out of whack. Among other things, I became intensely fearful, particularly of being any significant distance from my house. Fortunately, the Paizo offices aren't that far from home, so I was able to transition back to work after the holidays. In February, though, I had committed to fly out to TotalCon, and I was not going to cancel on that unless I absolutely had to. So, I went. Lisa and David Neilson hosted me in their home before the convention started, and helped me cope with the storm inside my head. I didn't want to color the convention experience of the new people I met with my anxieties, so I did what I had learned to do back after college. I put on my game face and I let my experience as a GM take over until I could push the fear back. And I confided in my friends from the community. That cross-country flight was the first thing to pull me more than 3 miles from my apartment in 4 months, and many of the experiences I had at TotalCon were immensely helpful in pulling myself back together. So, to those I spoke with and gamed with at TotalCon, and to Lisa and David in particular, thank you.

One of the best things about wearing the "blue shirt" is being able to dedicate much of my time to the Pathfinder Society community. It's sitting with John and Thursty and cackling with glee as we come up with new and exciting plots to throw at your characters. It's working together with freelancers to make the best scenarios we can for you. It's learning from experience, and especially from your feedback, how to make things better for the future. And it's getting to meet so many more of you in person. So, to all of you, thank you for being awesome.

What are you grateful for in our community? What has Pathfinder Society brought to your life? Are there any particular community members you would like to call out for their positive influence?

Linda Zayas-Palmer
Developer

25 Hour Paizo Live-Stream Starts November 4th!

Friday, October 27, 2017

On November 4th, Team Paizo and a host of other teams will invade Twitch to stream for a full 25 hours. The purpose? To raise money for the Children's Miracle Network by way of Extra Life. With your donations, you can help us make a real difference in the lives of children in need.

We've participated in Extra Life in the past, but this year we're excited to have a Super Team to help rally the Paizo community under our banner. Join us! We'll have prizes, guests, laughs, and of course... games!

Since this is our first time throwing our d20s in the ring, we wanted to make a big splash. Please create an account and join up! With the full power of Team Paizo and our amazing community, we will make a difference for the kids and Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.

Join up with us on Paizo's Extra Life page and stay tuned for the stream on our official Twitch channel!

Dan Tharp
Marketing Coordinator

Bound and Determined

Monday, September 18, 2017

Starfinder is doing phenomenally well. Player feedback has been great, sales have been great... but one thing has not been great.

Shortly after we began shipping Starfinder Core Rulebooks out, our customers started reporting issues with the binding, in both the regular and limited editions. Unfortunately, no manufacturing process is perfect, so there are always going to be a handful of issues, but by the time we came back from Gen Con, we had received more complaints than we would expect for a print run this size. We talked to our printer about it, and sent them some samples demonstrating the issue. They agreed that there was a problem, and they are doing everything they can to help us make it right for anyone who was affected.

What's the Problem?

Our hardcovers use a method called case binding. First, each group of 16 pages (a signature) is sewn together. Next, all of the book's signatures are stacked into a book block, and the book block is stitched together. Then, a fabric reinforcement strip called a spine lining is adhered to the book block to give it additional stability, and the book block is attached to the cover by adhering the book's endpapers to it. (Note that the spine lining itself is not glued to the spine of the book. This is intentional: it helps the book lie flatter when open.)

The problem some customers are seeing with their Starfinder Core Rulebooks is that the fabric lining strip isn't properly attached to the book block, separating after minimal use. This issue is occurring only with a small fraction of Starfinder Core Rulebooks, so if you have been using your book and it doesn't currently show any sign of the lining strip separating, it probably won't occur with normal use.

In this photo of a book with a defective binding, the pages of the book are not attached to the yellow-and-white fabric lining strip at the bottom.

How Do I Get My Book Replaced?

If you have a Starfinder Core Rulebook with a defective binding, don't hesitate to have it replaced.

• If you bought it from Paizo at Gen Con or through paizo.com, please send a picture or two demonstrating the problem with your book to customer.service@paizo.com. (Please be aware that our customer service team is currently working through a significant backlog, so it may take several days for us to respond.)
• If you bought it from a store, return it to that store by Friday, October 27. You should be able to get an exchange from them or reserve a replacement if the retailer is out of stock. They will in turn receive an exchange or credit from the distributor they bought it from, and the distributor will do the same with us. (We have already contacted our distributors regarding this issue, so your store should be able to work with them to address this issue.) If your store remains unable or unwilling to help you let us know at customer.service@paizo.com; include the store's name and location so we can work with our distributors to ensure everyone is on the same page.

When Will My Book Be Replaced?

• If you bought the regular edition from paizo.com, we will send out your replacement as quickly as possible, likely within 1 to 6 business days of responding to your email.
• If you bought the regular edition from a store, they may be able to replace it for you immediately. However, the Starfinder Core Rulebook is sold out in many places, and we don't expect the reprint to reach stores until the second half of November; if your store is sold out, you may need to wait until then. Check with them to be sure.
• If you bought the limited edition from paizo.com or at Gen Con, we currently don't have replacement stock. Our printer is going to ship us replacement copies of the limited edition along with the regular edition reprint, which we currently estimate will reach our warehouse in the first half of November.

Should I Wait for the Reprint to Arrive?

There's no need to wait for the reprint before requesting to have your book replaced. We are checking the books we're sending out, and you should be able to check any replacement your retailer has. And in the case of the limited edition, though we won't be able to ship your replacement right away, we can put the order into the system at any time so it will be ready to go when stock arrives. (The reprint will not have any changes apart from than the words "Second Printing" on the masthead page—it should otherwise be identical to a properly bound first-printing copy in every way.)

Paizo and our printer have high standards for quality, and we are very sorry for this inconvenience. We will do what we can to make getting replacements a quick and easy process.

—The Paizo Team

Sutter's Send-off

Monday, September 11, 2017

Last Friday, James Sutter announced that he was leaving the Paizo family and moving on to focus on his writing career. We will miss James and wish him the best, so we decided to send Sutter off the best way we knew how—with embarrassing stories and photos—and the occasional heartfelt goodbye.

My earliest memories of James L. Sutter are of a childlike gelfling spirit with an emo haircut, some kid recruited into Paizo through back channels by Lisa Stevens to fill whatever role she thought necessary at the time. These were the early days of Paizo, where our business was magazines and our org chart was a circle with everybody's name in it. Those without a specific duty inherited from our previous incarnation as the Periodicals Department of Wizards of the Coast tended to flit from job to job, doing what needed to be done, eventually accruing enough responsibility and expertise for a job description to calcify around previously unclaimed duties that had essentially fallen to the floor. James helped with some of the company's non-D&D magazines, with customer service, and with getting Reaper miniatures uploaded onto the new paizo.com webstore, but he'd never really worked on the magazines I oversaw at the time. That all changed when we needed an assistant editor, and Sutter was only too happy to join our staff. In fact, this was about the same time that I formally became Publisher at Paizo, which netted me a private office down the hall and a tearful goodbye to the Editorial Pit, the tiny room that once housed our entire gaming-mag operation. Sutter himself sat in my old desk next to James Jacobs, and for a few years he even had to tolerate a couple of drawers filled with a half-decade of junk I was too busy (or lazy, take your pick) to clean out.

The young kid from the Seattle Stranger's editorial office took to the drawer-sharing situation with aplomb and a great attitude, traits that I would come to appreciate (and rely on) in the future. But then he was just Young James Sutter, an intern-made-good who frankly reminded me a lot of myself, and who, over time, I began to realize could have a huge future at Paizo. Once upon a time, after all, I had been the youngest guy on the D&D team, and the youngest member of my creative team in the Dark Days of public relations, before I managed to turn D&D freelancing into a career. And here, somehow, I'd found myself in charge of the whole editorial operation. What might the future hold for this ambitious young editor?

As it turned out, the launch of the Pathfinder RPG gave James plenty of opportunities to impress me even more. He'd already helped me (along with Pierce Watters and Chris Carey) run the editorial side of Planet Stories, Paizo's short-lived but much-loved classic sci-fi and fantasy reprint series, and with a new game coming we knew we'd need a fiction line to accompany it. Free web fiction, at first, but even at the very start I knew we wanted to have novels eventually, and that Sutter—already with a reputation as one of the strongest among a coterie of strong writers—would be just the guy to helm it.

There was only one problem. James Sutter was a rock star.

I don't mean a figurative rock star, like a guy who always overdelivers on his turnovers or an editor who routinely improves the work of some of the industry's top writers. I mean an actual, literal rock star for a series of local heavy metal bands that always seemed (at least to me and my fellow Paizo senior managers) like they were a lucky break away from making it big. I saw big things for James Sutter here at Paizo, but if he wanted to take advantage of them, he needed to go in with open eyes and every part of his being. We gave him a choice: Rock star or RPG star. James chose RPG star, and we've all been the richer for it over these past 13 years, during which James has been absolutely essential.

Like Golarion's star system? You can thank me for the idea of giving the planets equal treatment to the outer planes, but beyond a couple of tired pulp pastiches (my specialty!) of Mars and Venus, that's pretty much all Sutter.

Enjoyed the Pathfinder Tales line? Sutter wrote two of the novels himself, but he also edited every single one and contributed creative ideas to all of them. There literally would not have been a Pathfinder Tales line without him, and even now, as his days at Paizo dwindle into hours, he's still helping me find a new publishing partner to continue the line in the future, no doubt with future James Sutter Pathfinder stories yet to be told.

Enjoy the fun fiction bits at the side of the two-page chapter openers in all our hardcover books? James wrote about 95% of those. Love our comics? James wrote about a quarter of those, too.

Oh, did you like Starfinder? I put James in charge of Paizo's biggest product launch ever because of the success he had brought to all of those projects listed above, because he created the planets that form the core of the primary star system, because I knew he knew enough about the creative and business sides of publishing to make it work, and because I knew, after all these years, that he really was a rock star, and one that blazed with the incandescent creative power of a sun.

It turns out, after 13 years, that this rock star really cannot be contained by the band he's toured with this past decade or so. Having grown to something considerably more adult than a gelfling intern, Sutter leaves Paizo as one of its greatest champions, a face on a growing Mt. Rushmore of gaming whose contributions will last far longer than his time here in the office. You'll recognize his face on that mountain as the one with the expression of a master player in the middle of the sweetest solo he has ever played. Our rock star is all grown up and about to break out on a solo career. You'll see him out there in the wilderness at the center of the spotlight, with a legion of fans throwing the horns in his direction.

And you'll also see him here, in the pages of Pathfinder products yet to come and in the timeless creations he leaves behind. Pathfinder wouldn't be Pathfinder without James L. Sutter. Paizo wouldn't be Paizo, either.

So long, James L. Sutter. Thanks for everything you have done for Paizo, for me, and for all of our players and fans. I think I speak for all of us when I say we can't wait to see what you come up with next!

Erik Mona
Publisher & Chief Creative Officer

---

Once upon a time, there was a mystical, magical land called Jamestopia. Here, agents of Operation Banjo Thug wandered where they wished, content in the knowledge that their domain was protected and that the impromptu puppet shows they had become known for could be performed without fear. In Jamestopia, the view of the river was unparalleled, even if for some time the smell of sewage wafting in from sources unknown (likely other, lesser realms which didn't have the word "James” in their title) got distracting. And even when the world changed and we moved offices and Jamestopia fractured (AKA Sutter and I ended up sitting in different parts of the building), the concept of Jamestopia remained. Even when James Sutter drifted even further from the land of dragons and elves into the land of SPACE dragons and SPACE elves… the concept remained.

But now, Jamestopia has suffered a mortal blow, and there remains but one agent of Operation Banjo Thug to hold back the onrushing advent of the mundane. It's not going to be the same, representing the whimsical and nonsensical on my own.

There are a lot of fond memories, be they mice in the drawers or orange skin from too much carrot juice or adventures in creative sitting posture or impromptu discussions about the possibility of there being a space elevator somewhere in Varisia, and while Jamestopia is going away, those memories will remain.

I'll miss ya lots, Sutter!

And you DO REALIZE that now I get to do whatever I want with a certain LAWFUL EVIL gold dragon, right? MWA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

James Jacobs
Creative Director

---

My first real encounter with James was when he reviewed my editing test for Paizo with me at a New Year's party (Seattle's a small world) while wearing a Steampunk officer's uniform and a sword.

While his dress sense in the office is more conservative, he has always brought the same flair, sense of fun, and dedication to doing and being all the things all the time. Since that disconcerting day, James has been my peer, my boss, and then my peer again, but always a friend, a mentor, and an ally. We've commiserated about impossible deadlines and tough decisions, cried on each other's shoulders about family crises, and cheered each other's successes. Dude, I'm going to miss you here so much, so you'd better do tons of amazing things (including writing for us!)

Judy Bauer
Managing Editor

---

Sutter has always been friendly and upbeat, even during those unfortunate crunch times. If it weren't for him, I probably wouldn't be at Paizo, and I'll miss him sorely. Good luck out there, pal!

Jason Keeley
Developer

---

I first met Sutter at PaizoCon 2008, when I was still a "super-fan”, known for my message board handle and my involvement in the PathfinderWiki. I remember his enthusiasm when I showed him the print-on-demand paperback Pathfinder's Journal compilation I'd made to more easily read Eando Kline's adventures during my New York City commute. I like to think I was the inspiration for the Pathfinder Tales line he would eventually helm.

During that convention's Grand Convocation event, a bemused Wes sat at his assigned station, providing Harrow readings (with a glass of wine, of course) for eager Pathfinder Society players like myself. Next to him, over-the-top Sean K Reynolds acted out the part of a medium, channeling the gods in a live-action casting of commune. Enter Sutter, who had been lurking over Wes's shoulder as "Chumley”, Herr Schneider's loyal imp companion. When I approached Sean and asked him to channel Zon-Kuthon, Chumley took the opportunity to possess the open divine vessel and puppet him into giving me entirely non-Kuthite responses. Needless to say, the photos I got of Sutter manipulating Sean like a marionette were priceless.

And the hijinks haven't slowed down ever since. Sutter has always been a constant source of new ways of looking at seemingly old, unsolvable problems, and has never been shy about his more eccentric personal traits—communal living, dumpster diving, and Star Trek body painted naked bike rides not the least among them. He's taught me a lot about the creative process, the logistics of getting books made, building one's online persona, and more. I'll miss him in the office, but know that as long as we keep putting out books about space and the First World, he won't be too far away.

Mark Moreland
Franchise Manager

---

Sutter's had my back since I first started freelancing with Paizo. He's always been tremendously supportive, encouraging, positive, and willing to take time out of his (incredibly busy) schedule to encourage and advise. He's a model for how to give credit where credit is due—though he really could stand to give himself his share of that credit. I'm lucky to have been able to work with him and even more lucky that I can count him as a friend.

Lyz Liddell
Editor

---

Meeting James Sutter is like being swept up in a cyclone made of flashing neon lights, skydivers' screams, and pulsing electronic dance music: you have no damn idea what's going on, but whoa are things fun. Sutter's enthusiasm for everything creative immediately struck me the day I met him. Since then, it seems like the cyclone hasn't stopped, as we've worked on everything together from brainstorming Pathfinder canon to the massive undertaking that was the Starfinder RPG. As that project took shape, I also learned a thing or two about managing from Sutter, and the admirable depths of his experience for Paizo.

In the end, when push came to shove, I knew I could be my weird self around Sutter. And, I'll let you all in on a little secret: it's because he's weird, too!

Yeah, I know, Sutter. I'm rude!

Amanda Hamon Kunz
Development Coordinator

---

I've only been working at Paizo for a few months now, so I don't have the awesome, "way back when” stories that others are sharing. However, I did work with Sutter quite a bit for the marketing of Starfinder. I can say that there were evenings when I would burst into his office and say, "They need a 700-word article, in an hour!!” and Sutter would give me a look. The look was a combination of annoyed, tired, amused, and determined. In every one of those situations, I got the 700-word article with time to spare. The guy is a machine that creates and creates. It's been a blast working with him and he'll be missed.

Dan Tharp
Marketing Coordinator

---

When James L. Sutter started at Paizo, he looked like he was about 12 years old. To top it off, we already had a few James' in the office, so he got relegated to being referred to as Sutter or Young James. Well, Sutter eventually turned 21 and discovered the wonders of alcohol, and being 21 he also thought that he was invincible. And so the stage was set for one of the most epic nights of drinking the editors of Dragon and Dungeon had ever seen.

We in the developer's pit would sometimes take jokes a bit too far. Such was the case with our quoting of the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic "Total Recall”. Responding to any deadline with "Two Weeks" was common practice. Crying out like Arnold at any injury was accepted as normal. We enjoyed the flick so much that we thought it would be a great idea to get together and watch the movie, complete with mars themed drinks and food. Seeing as we are all gamers, I dug up the rules for a Total Recall themed drinking game. We gathered at Wes' place late one Saturday to partake in our favored film.

It all started great until we realized that drinking every time the word "recall” or "mars” was said was going to lead to disaster. Well, many of us realized that… but not Sutter. He vowed to keep pace with me, matching drink for drink. He was, after all, invincible, despite the fact that he was literally half my weight and about a foot shorter than me. As the movie drew to a close, I was quite tipsy. Sutter… well, Sutter was ruined. Incapable of coherent speech and unsteady on his feet, it was clear that he had drank more than enough. Soon after, it was Wes' kitchen sink that paid the price.

A lot has happened since those early days of Paizo. Sutter went on from editing dungeon to working on Pathfinder and eventually managing our fiction lines and overseeing the creation of Starfinder. He may not have been invincible then, but he sure seems like it now.

Jason Bulmahn
Director of Game Design

Sutter's Last Blog

Friday, September 8, 2017

See that photograph? That's the oldest picture I have of me in the Paizo offices, taken by former Paizo Art Director Sean Glenn back in early 2006. At that point, I had already been at Paizo for a year and a half, working my way up from website image wrangler and editorial intern to Paizo's sole customer service person, then at last into a coveted Assistant Editorship on Dungeon. Much like Jon Snow, I knew nothing. While I'd spent my college years practicing to be a journalist, and had a whole adolescence of RPG gaming under my belt, I was a rank amateur when it came to professional game design—living proof of the "fake it till you make it" strategy. (I actually bought my first 3.5 rulebooks with the money from "Shut In," the first Dungeon adventure I co-wrote with Wes Schneider.)

It was a crazy time. All of us in the Editorial Pit were pretty much broke—until Paizo brought me on full-time, I'd been teaching SAT prep classes at night and living off some modest Wheel of Fortune winnings—but it didn't matter, because I was spending every day learning about games and world-building from my coworkers. Folks like James Jacobs, Erik Mona, Wes Schneider, and Jason Bulmahn, who remain in my eyes some of the world's foremost experts on what makes fantasy cool. We would argue furiously. We would go out drinking (once I finally turned 21, that is). We would occasionally all ditch work—with Lisa's approval—and go to the movies in the middle of the day. Wes would orchestrate elaborate pranks. Jacobs and I taped off our combined cubicle and declared it the Independent Republic of Jameslandia, within which he would draw me sticky-note cartoons or perform impromptu puppet shows with his collection of Godzilla plushies.

It was, in short, freakin' magical.

Smash cut to September of 2017, and I've been at Paizo for 13 years, almost to the day. A lot's changed. The company is huge. Pathfinder's a household name in RPG circles. I've run a novel line, managed critical teams through high times and crises, written probably millions of words about Golarion, and now find myself Creative Director of Starfinder—a game which, after more than a year of grueling (but exciting!) work, has just had one of the biggest launches of anything Paizo's ever done. Watching the frenzy at Gen Con this year, walking down the line signing autographs and chatting with folks who'd been waiting for two hours or more to buy the Starfinder Core Rulebook, was one of the most satisfying moments of my career.

Which is why it's time for me to leave. As of September 12th, I'll be stepping down as Starfinder's Creative Director and resigning from Paizo to write full-time.

Sound crazy? Let me explain:

As a kid, I was heartbroken when Bill Watterson ended Calvin & Hobbes. I couldn't understand how somebody could do such great work—work that touched so many people—and then just stop. In the last few years, however, I think I've finally begun to understand. By walking away when he did, Watterson ensured that Calvin & Hobbes would never slowly slide into mediocrity. He'd never burn out and start to resent it. He gave us the best of what he had to give in that arena, and then he moved on. So even as I miss those characters, I salute his artistic integrity. And it's in that same spirit that I'm now leaving Paizo.

I'm extremely proud of everything I've helped to create here at Paizo, but of course Starfinder is my most recent baby. While the world is just now getting its first taste of the game, the production times involved mean that we on the Starfinder team have been living it for a year and a half, and I've actually already overseen the whole first year of releases. But as much as there's still plenty more I'd love to explore with Starfinder, I can't escape the fact that I've been making RPGs at Paizo for my entire adult life, and it's time now to devote more than a few scattered hours each week to my other artistic loves—particularly fiction and comics.

Does that mean I'm done writing for Pathfinder and Starfinder? Heck no! If anything, I hope that no longer working for Paizo full-time means I'll have more time to write for both games as a freelancer. And while it's hard to give up Starfinder's captain's chair, I'm positive that Rob, Sarah, Owen, Jason, and the rest of the team are going to continue to take the game in amazing new directions. As both a fan and a freelancer, I can't wait to see where they go.

After 13 years, there are far too many people to thank, so I hope everyone will forgive me if I keep this short and just shout out a few of my fellow old-timers. To Lisa, who scraped together a job for an ambitious kid. To Erik, the editor-in-chief who slapped a copy of his own adventure "The Whispering Cairn" down on the new editorial intern's desk and challenged him to find things wrong with it. To Jacobs, for educational movie nights and teaching me what makes adventures fun. To Sarah, who taught me how to work well with artists, and Bulmahn, who taught me that you should never bring algebra to a drinking contest. To my longtime partner in creative crime, Wes Schneider, for always having my back and consistently forcing me to up my game. To Chris Carey for being my fiction buddy, and Judy Bauer for kindly but firmly teaching me to be a better, more mindful person. And to everyone else—thank you. There's no one here that I haven't learned from or laughed with at some point.

Last of all, I want to say one giant thank you to everyone reading this. I've always found the Paizo community unbelievably supportive, and for the last 13 years you've been the reason I'm able to live the dream. Whether you're one of the superfans who sent us pizzas during those first big Pathfinder crunches or a new friend trying out Starfinder for the first time—thanks.

All right, no more stalling. It's time for me to cue up the Annie Lennox track from the end of Return of the King and sail off into the west. I hope some of you will continue to drop in and say hi on my Twitter at @jameslsutter and my Facebook author page, or keep up with my latest work on jameslsutter.com.

It's been an amazing adventure. Now on to the next!

James L. Sutter
Creative Director Emeritus

The Golem Send-off

Friday, May 19, 2017

As you may know from yesterday's Paizo blog, former Editor-in-Chief F. Wesley Schneider has begun a new and exciting journey, leaving the offices of the Paizo building behind. And as you may have gleaned from that blog, remaining Paizonians have some words for Wes. And, without further delay, here they are!

Wes Schneider had been at Paizo less than a year the first time I completely changed his job and basically required him to be a superhero. It was a trend that would continue for more than a decade, but the difference is, that first time, I wasn't 100% certain it would work. Truth be told, although Wes had, at that point, served as an assistant editor on Dragon magazine for a half-dozen issues, I still wasn't 100% certain I could tell the difference between Wes and the magazine's other assistant editor, the late great Mike McArtor. Both had come to the company at the same time to do the same job, both were irritatingly young in a way that made me realize I was no longer the youngest scamp working on D&D in an official capacity, and both pretty much had the exact same haircut and facial hair. Both Wes and Mike had also worked with the previous Dragon editor to "relaunch" the magazine with an almost completely player-focused approach with Dragon #323. The only trouble was, as a long-time GM and lifetime reader of Dragon, I didn't really care for that approach. Fresh off my own relaunch of Dungeon, I knew that improving Dragon to be the magazine I thought it could be, I'd need to completely undo a lot of the work the previous team had done, within only about two months of them doing it in the first place. And I needed to figure out a way to have Wes and Mike do a lot of the dirty work for me. I took the two young lads out for lunch at the local Thai spot and said, essentially, "You know that relaunch you guys have been working so hard on? We're not going to do that anymore. Instead, we're going to do THIS."

It could have been an utter disaster. But Wes took the news like a champ, saw the potential in the changes I was proposing, and ably stepped up to the challenge. I was so impressed with Wes's attitude I made him the section editor of Dragon's First Watch column. I did this mostly because I knew he could handle coordinating reams of monthly RPG industry news and new product reviews, but I also did it because I knew we couldn't pay Wes what he was worth and that the position would put Wes in the path of mountains of cool free stuff that people sent to the magazine in hopes of getting coverage. Things like gaming books, board games, soundtracks, action figures—you know, nerd stuff.

Thirteen years later, as I sit here writing this within hours of Wes's going away lunch, several of those dubious treasures are sitting on the "Free Table" right outside my office. Some of these well-loved artifacts are coated with a decade of dust, while others are well-loved desk trinkets looking for a new home. In the time between that first Dragon issue and today, as Wes prepares to move on to exciting new career and creative challenges, I've set countless near-impossibly outlandish tasks before Wes, and he has not just risen to the occasion each time, but he's basically one-shotted all of these monsters with style, grace, and aplomb. I'll miss Wes's level-headed clarity, his compassion for his fellow employees, his values, and his phenomenal creative contributions to the Pathfinder line, which alas will now have to come in the form of what I hope will be many freelance assignments.

And while I'll also miss Wes's amazing, can-do attitude and ability to achieve the impossible, I'm less worried about the impact of not having that around. You see, in the last 13 years Wes has been setting his own series of impossible challenges for his own staff of editors and developers. Following his example, they also exceed my expectations on a daily basis. Even though Wes will no longer be walking Paizo's halls after today, the clarity, compassion, values, and ability to achieve the impossible with grace and aplomb lives on thanks to his amazing example.

Thanks for helping me with Dragon magazine, Wes, and for Pathfinder and everything in between. We'll miss you terribly, but you've made such a huge impact on all of us here at Paizo that your legacy will continue for many years to come!

Erik Mona
Publisher

---

Maybe 10 years ago, Wes took me aside and let me know that he'd accepted a job at Privateer Press, and would be leaving the company. I got all weepy and hugged him, making a big scene. A few hours later he told me he'd lied just to see what I'd do. ("I can't believe I got a hug out of it!" he mused.) So you can understand why I won't quite believe he's leaving until I see his office empty.

Wes was one of the first friends I made at Paizo, back when I was 20 years old and he was only a few years older, the two of us banding together to embrace our role as the department's hipster children. We actually shared our Dungeon magazine debut, co-writing the adventure "Shut-In" together in issue #128. (We would also write our first Adventure Path installment together, "The Lightless Depths" in Dungeon's Savage Tide AP, but we eventually started talking to each other again after that one, so all's well that ends well.) I often say that my first years at Paizo were spent learning what was cool, and Wes was my primary teacher in that regard, hosting Educational Movie Nights in which he and Jacobs attempted to correct my character flaws by showing me classic horror films. For the last 13 years, we've constantly learned from each other, propping each other up as we stumbled our way into managing departments, exploring social media, or writing comics. He taught me how to write adventures. I taught him how to write novels. He taught me how to buy jeans that fit. I taught him how to stop using that terrible crunchy hair gel that made him look damp all the time. He taught me to accept my own sexuality. I taught him that his garbage disposal was a perfectly acceptable place to vomit after challenging Jason Bulmahn to a drinking contest. (Wes has never accepted my explanation that, since I was half Jason's size at the time and drunkenness is a factor of body weight, I'd actually won mathematically.)

2008—Wes and I at Erik Mona Day and Gen Con 2008, respectively.
2010—Wes and I just boldly hiked over the hill behind the Paizo offices and discovered the fabled Treasure Mounds—colorful hills of broken glass for the nearby recycling plant.

I'm pretty sure that at every convention we've ever been to together, someone has mistaken us for each other (most notably one of his longtime family friends, leading to what may well have been Gen Con's Most Awkward Hug). And the weird thing is, it kind of makes sense—after this many years of friendship and collaboration, probably half my verbal tics and gestures come from Wes, to the point where I can't even remember which half. So Wes, while moving on is always bittersweet, you can take comfort in knowing that part of you will live on in this building long after you leave. (I'm talking about your office couch. I'm pretty sure the courts will give me joint custody.)

James L. Sutter
Creative Director

---

Most of my best memories of working with Wes at Paizo are probably better left off this blog, so I'll keep this short. Wes has been a tireless advocate for the editorial team over the years, and more than that, a rock-solid friend who somehow always has the perfect piece of unexpected dry wit to get you through the rough patches. We'll miss you, Wes, but I'm happy for the bright and rewarding future you have ahead of you.

Christopher Carey
Senior Editor

---

How do you pay adequate tribute to someone like Wes? Charming as hell; endlessly creative; never lazy in the work of making life better for his colleagues or repairing broken aspects of our games, our industry, and our world; always present as the company therapist (to be fair, Wes, you brought that one on yourself by putting a couch in your office); hilarious, especially in moments where humor and perspective were needed; generous to a fault with his time, brilliance, wisdom, and wit; creator of the best margin notes and doodles; deeply kind; mind-blowingly clever; and stunningly insightful.

He has been the genius loci of this place and this team for as long as I've been here, and we are all richer in spirit and creativity for having had the chance to work with him. May we do justice, as we go forward, to everything he's taught us.

Jessica Price
Project Manager

---

Wes was one of the first people I worked with at Paizo. Together with Mike McArtor, we were the team behind Dragon up through its final print issue. While all of us had various jobs developing and editing the articles, Wes had an extra special assignment. He got us stuff! Back then, a section of the magazine was dedicated to new and exciting releases in the game industry and nerd culture in general. Wes put together these articles, which often entailed getting samples from the various companies. Once the articles were done and the products revealed, these samples would often be put up for grabs (if Wes didn't keep them himself). To this day, I still have a Monty Python Horse Action Figure, that Wes got as part of a big contest, hiding in my desk. That was over a decade ago. Over the years, Wes has been part of the bedrock of Paizo and while I am sad to see him go, I am excited for him and his future endeavors. Now if I can just get him to send us some swag from his new job...

Monty Python Horse Action Figure

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer

---

Wes was the first Paizo editor to reach out to me and the rest of the PathfinderWiki team asking if there was anything we needed in the site's earliest days, providing us with specially tailored blog posts and shoutouts to increase our content and traffic. He was also one of the first Paizo developers to give me a shot as a freelancer (he, Josh Frost, and Sean K Reynolds all gave me small assignments about the same time), so my career in the industry owes much to him recognizing my potential. In our time working together, Wes has taught me countless things, both relevant to the publishing industry and the creative process in general. But above all, Wes has been a great friend, hosting the absolute best themed 80s movie marathons and geeking out over the same comics and movies and video games that I do.

I'm sad to see you go, Wes, but excited for the opportunities that lie in your future. And I can't wait to play the games you'll make, engross myself in the stories you'll tell, and enjoy the worlds you are sure to create wherever you may go.

Mark Moreland
Developer

---

As a fan, it's easy to gloss over a book's credits page. I did it for several years as I eagerly flipped straight to the newest classes, feats, and archetypes, rarely giving more than a casual glance at who the developers, authors, or editors were. Even so, I had friends who had played in Wes's PaizoCon games (and buzzed excitedly about it for days afterward), and when he chimed in on the messageboards, fans snapped to attention. I couldn't understand quite how important he was to Paizo until I started working here. Wes has been a tireless advocate for each of us, whether conveying conveying our needs to the executives or trumpeting our accomplishments to the world. He's always proven accommodating and encouraging to us, urging us to make our mark on the world and make the most of the setting—even the pieces that are his creations.

I may sass him often—probably as often as he returns the favor—but for all the snark, we all know that he's been there for us when we've needed it and given us space when we just needed to get things done. Paizo shall continue, and though we will feel his absence for years to come, we're ready for whatever lies ahead thanks to the example he set.

John Compton
Organized Play Lead Developer

---

Wes has been a patient mentor and fierce advocate for those of us on his team, and an able peacekeeper between people who care deeply but in different directions about what we do (which is to say, everyone at Paizo). Despite his attempts to maintain a Machiavellian image, his visible distress whenever he had to ask us to do anything particularly arduous always gave away of his concern for us. Wes, I wish you the best, will miss you heaps, and hope your future collaborators appreciate you as much as you deserve! (P.s. No take-backs on the feathers—they must find a new surprise home.)

Judy Bauer
Managing Editor

---

It's still hard to wrap my head around the fact that Wes is headed out of Paizo's doors soon for the final time. For what seemed like forever, Wes was Paizo, in my worldview.

Back at Gen Con 2011, he was the first friend from Paizo I met when I was digging for ways to break into the gaming industry. Luckily for me, the email thread that spawned with Wes from that meeting turned into one gig, and then many others. Then, the phone call (again, with Wes), and here I am in Redmond. I've always kept that first email thread with Wes in my inbox because it marked a turning point in my life, and so did meeting Wes.

Since that first Gen Con, I have unabashedly looked up to Wes personally and professionally, admired him, and felt a creative kinship with him. When we moved to Redmond, Wes became one of my best friends.

It is likely that I would not be in the tabletop gaming industry without Wes. It is almost certain that I would not work for Paizo as a developer if it were not for him. In many ways, Wes helped me discover who I want to be as a professional and as a creative.

You might be leaving the office, Wes, but you'll always be on the hook for that. And, before you can say it: How dare you?!

Amanda Hamon Kunz
Developer

---

Wes, I will greatly miss working with you. You've taught me so much in the five years that I've been here (and even more in the previous years while I was an up-and-coming freelancer). I thank you for giving me some my first pieces of freelance work for Paizo, always supporting my and other freelancer's work and ultimately giving me a job here. I quite literally wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you.

This has been a wonderful experience and your leadership and guidance over the time has made all the difference. We've come up with cool ideas together and imagined and developed wonderfully disturbing characters, stories, and monsters. As you go on to your next big thing, know that I'll keep a creepy lantern burning to attract all the scary monsters!

Adam Daigle
Developer

---

When I only knew F. Wesley Schneider as a name on a book byline, I imagined a very different man. With a tough and academic name like F. Wesley Schneider and a writing style that was witty and confrontational, clearly he would be enormous and muscular, jolly and well-read, but probably kind of a douche. Years later, at my first PaizoCon, I spent a good thirty minutes chatting with the sweetest, most optimistic, nonthreatening, well-dressed man at the entire hotel, talking about games and then... I want to say Zelda and Castlevania? Then he had to run to a panel, and I realized I'd never asked his name.

"Oh, I'm Wes Schneider," he said, as if he were stunned that anyone in the world didn't know who he was.

"Wait, you're Wes Schneider," I responded, dumbstruck that he was a foot shorter than me. Then I ran off to get my copy of Seven Days to the Grave and made him sign it after his panel.

Ever since that day, I've rested comfortably in the knowledge that I could crush F. Wesley Schneider with my bare hands should the need arise. And thankfully, since that day, the need never has.

Wes Schneider is a unique man, above and beyond his extraordinary way with words and keen wit. He is gifted with deep empathy, and more compassion than any one person should be burdened with. He shepherds the best traits in others, and helps them find what they need in themselves. He teaches in a way that leaves you feeling empowered rather than chastised. He takes care of those around him, sacrificing his own health and time to do so.

He's my friend, and he has helped me become a better person. Working alongside him has been an extraordinary blessing.

Also, he's frustratingly good at Battletoads.

Crystal Frasier
Developer

Wes's Last Words

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Tomorrow's my last day working at Paizo Inc.

How's that for not burying the lede?

I could write one heck of a self-indulgent retrospective. I'd start by going on about how I've been working at Paizo since November 2003 (I would have been 22) and how my first credit was as an assistant editor on Dragon Magazine #316. (I'd probably illustrate that section with that issue's cover.) Then I'd go on to talk about writing a ton of D&D stuff, starting to write adventures, and learning how magazine work is actually time travel. After that would be the scary but exciting times—starting Pathfinder Adventure Path, disguising a game as a textbook, long lines, yada yada. Things got wild after that.

But there's not really time for all of that. I've learned a lot in my time at Paizo, but two oft-stated truths have proven out again and again: one, never piss off your editor; two, I work with a bunch of jackals.

About this time tomorrow, there's going to be another blog right here. At that time, a bunch of folks who've had to look at me everyday—some for well over a decade—are going to have their opportunity to say their bon voyages.

And they're going to thoroughly roast me.

I didn't get here being stupid. I've been documenting, hoarding, recording, and preparing for this moment for most of my adult life. And I know that if you're going to get into a blog fight, fire first.

To that end, here are the secrets.

Adam Daigle: Adam knows the time and place for everything—for getting things done, for getting a drink, for getting your abdomen severed from your thorax, and for not backing up claims that you're a bad-@#% cook. Most folks don't know that Adam is responsible for more issues of Dragon Magazine releasing on time than some people who worked on that magazine's staff. More than once something went down on a Friday and by Monday morning Adam just had it handled. He definitely knows the curse of becoming an editor's go-to guy. I have boundless respect for Adam's unique blend of solid writing and creepy swamp witchery and look forward to his next big thing, be it a mega-adventure, restaurant chain, or the burgeoning fiction career he's no good at hiding!

Adam Vick & Emily Crowell: Adam and Emily might be two of the only truly sane souls at Paizo—stark comparisons against the rest of the company's wards. They both do fantastic work, but they're also the second generation of an experiment into how long it takes for normal designers to be infected with RPG gibberish. (Sarah was part of the initial research, but now she can tell you all about driders and bullywugs.) There's not much of an end goal here, and we couldn't ask for more in regard to design finesse, but I know there's collectively a lot of interest in debating the finer points of Bloodrager feats and outsider subtypes with Adam and Emily down the road.

Amanda Hamon Kunz: Amanda's one of the most clever, most capable, most quietly depraved people I've ever had a pleasure of knowing. She wears a ring of mind shielding, but she's quick to say she just likes the look. (To quote Jessica Price, "There's a darkness in her.") I've thrown Amanda more—much more—than her fair share of trash-fires and she's never once so much as sighed or stabbed me in the face. Early on in our working arrangement I asked that, when the time comes, she make my end quiet and quick. She couldn't make any promises. I respect that. I'd say to watch out for Amanda, but it will be far less stressful to just let the inevitable come.

Chris Lambertz: Chris cultivates the best stuffed critter shelf at Paizo. Her miniature army helps her fend off the endless press of tiny typhoons that endlessly wash across her desk. Her hordes also defend dual hidden fonts, one of boundless pragmatism and the other of boundless optimism. She uses these to look forward to better things even as she wrangles the calamity du jour. You might not know Chris, but she believes in you, the great person you are, and the better person you can be. If you ever receive moderation from her, count yourself lucky... then consider making deep spiritual improvements in your life.

Christopher Carey: Aside from being a phenomenal editor, Chris is the most accomplished Paizo author you probably haven't read. He has several weighty tomes under his belt—go buy them. Whether it's editing a massive mess of a document or working on his next literary behemoth, Chris proves the results of building your house one brick at a time. How such a reliable, determined professional wound up editing our nerd-books has always slightly baffled me, but much of Paizo's editorial quality and consistency stems directly from his red pen.

Cosmo Eisele: Cosmo deserves less blame than he accepts... but only a little. That's probably just part of being legitimately one of the nicest chaps at Paizo. He's traveling the world much more these days, so if you get the chance to meet up with him, buy him a drink—he gets more sass than he deserves.

Crystal Frasier: I don't really believe in talent. There's failure, there's determination, there's improvement, there's even inborn advantage, but there aren't really magical gifts. And I refuse to factor Crystal Frasier into that algebra. You could say she's a double threat, or a triple threat, but then you keep counting and once you get to calling people septuple or octuple threats you start sounding silly. Crystal's a great writer, an incredible artist, a skilled graphic designer, a killer cartographer, an adept editor, a riveting storyteller, a terrifying bare-knuckle scrapper, and so forth. She can pretty much do it all—and largely has. At some point, the rest of us are largely around just because it'd be too time consuming for her to handle absolutely everything by herself. And none of this comports with my understanding of how creatives learn and improve over time. So, the secret is that maybe some people do have magical gifts. That's the only way Crystal Frasier makes any sense.

Dan Tharp: Dan's actually a mimic. I would have said doppleganger, but he's largely a communications dude, so something with a big mouth seemed more suiting. Paizo's been around for a long time and many folks have been there forever. I wouldn't call it unfriendly, but the ruts and grooves, the routines and methods are ground in both procedurally and socially. It can be daunting coming in, like attending a new school in a town you didn't grow up in. But somehow Dan sauntered in and convinced everybody he's been there the whole time. He's got an easy confidence, an "I can do that!" attitude, and that sort of expressive enthusiasm that both gamers and game makers love. A lot of folks have a lot of opinions about what Paizo's Outreach Coordinator should and could do, so we're lucky to have found a shapeshifter up to doing it and being it all!

Dean Ludwig, Don Hayes, Erik Keith, & Gary Teter: The legend goes that Paizo.com was birthed amid sparks, three scotch-taped Magnavox Odyssey consoles, and 36 feet of string cheese. I can't speak much toward legends, but there's often a hint of hidden truth (perhaps not in this case, but often). In any case, the tech team has worked wonders under the cover of code to assure that Paizo can do all the varied things the company needs to do and then some and then some again. Few can say how many countless nights and weekends the team's put in, but I'm certain that without them we'd all be filling out subscription renewal cards to this day.

Erik Mona: Here's a good one: You think you know roleplaying games. You don't. Erik Mona knows roleplaying games. The history, the characters, the origins, the inspirations, the characters, the players, the pedigrees, the big successes, the dismal failures, the dark secrets. Erik hasn't just stumbled across this info, he's collected it—he's horded it. He knows more than he could ever tell you, and he knows the roots and shadowy grit beneath that. The game industry and everything in its orbit has been his game, his obsession, for a long time. And no one plays a game for that long without getting damn good at it. As a result, though, Erik's path has lead him down a businessmanly road, a route upon that's made him more of a behind-the-scenes player than a name you see on lots of covers these days—with the exception of Pathfinder Worldscape, which is now officially required reading. In my opinion, though, gaming could use a few more Greyhawk Gazetteers and Mutants & Masterminds: Crooks. It could certainly use a Nex book. Probably some old-school trap riddled adventures, too. Just sayin'.

Erik's been my boss for a long time. We've worked well together and have pulled off some pretty cool stunts. I could chalk up this long, successful partnership to shared tastes and work ethics, but I know there's a secret, a deceptively simple mantra Erik ingrains in everyone on his crew: Do your job, Be exceptional, Wear shoes. Words to live, to work, and to manage by that have had a profound impact on my life. Over the years, Erik's been a ready collaborator, an open-minded listener, a font of fascinating stories, and a good friend, and even though I won't be working at Paizo next week, I don't expect any of those things to change.

James Jacobs: One of my favorite stories about starting at Paizo is that in 2003 I moved 3,000 miles from Baltimore, Maryland to Renton, Washington... and blindly into the apartment next door to James Jacobs. For much of my time living in Washington, my front door has been within 200 steps of James's (and often far closer). For more of that time, James's desk has been within 20 steps of mine (and often far closer). James is a fire hose of cool stuff, whether it's these hundred games you have to play or these thousand movies you need to see. It's impossible for that sort of tsunami to not influence an assistant editor in his twenties, which is likely partially why we've worked so well together for so long—whether collaborating on adventures for Dungeon, sculpting the Pathfinder Adventure Path series, building corners of the Pathfinder world, or tinkering with a thousand other projects. James also quickly learned that "carpool buddy" and "confessor" mean pretty much the same thing to me. As a result, he knows where more of the skeletons are buried than anyone else. That, time, proximity, and shared dementia make him a friend, a brother, and a man too dangerous to antagonize. Therefore, it is in my best interest to keep James's secrets well guarded.

James L. Sutter: Despite all evidence to the contrary, Sutter and I are, in fact, two different people. Shocking, but true. The root of the confusion seems to be that we both have brownish hair and wear the same size jeans. We've also collaborated on one or two projects, from "Shut In" in Dungeon #128 (2005) to, well, today—you're all picking up Pathfinder Runescars, right?! I coached Sutter through his first adventure, Sutter coached me through my first novel, and we both endlessly tell the other that all his ideas are stupid. But when either of us say that, the other knows it's not just being mean, it's also being honest. We've both had more than our share of missteps on the road to the next big or new or fun thing and we've been upfront with each other about those blunders. When I've mucked something up, I tell Sutter it didn't work. When Sutter mucks something up, he tells me not to do that. We've been climbing over each other's corpses for a long time. Undoubtedly I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am today, or have done half of what I've done, without Sutter's advice, example, edits, and encouragement. But for @#$%'s sake, people, he's got a beard! We don't look anything alike!

Jason Bulmahn: Sometimes, after spending a decade gaslighting a man, you have regrets. In the best cases, though, you look back, satisfied at a job well done. Efforts proceeded in thorough, themed campaigns—spiders, tokkens, ponies, letter transposition, tokkens 2, tokkens 3 (there were clearly favorites). Jason brought this harassment on himself in two ways. First, he gift-wrapped my cube in 2006 (there are probably pictures). Second, he does everything "big." He designs big games, he makes big books, he draws big maps, and he has big reactions. Jason never stopped being an architect; he's always been addicted to scale. Go big or go home is pretty much the Bulmahn motto—perhaps followed closely by "the ends justify the means." He's certainly got a track record with far more gigantic successes than colossal failures, which I'm certain spurs him to do more ever bigger. I can't wait to see what gargantuan he's working on next, and am relatively certain that I haven't been swept up in his madness for the last time. But what's the secret? Well, there's sort of a lot here, but if you want something concrete: we legally changed the spelling of Jason's last name in 2008.

Jason Keeley: Someday you'll all know Jason Keeley as the world's most effective method ad-lib actor. I'm not sure that he's actually employed at Paizo, but the bit's been running for so long that it hardly matters now. "Yes, and..." is pretty much in Jason's blood.

"Jason, you're an editor," it started.
"Yes, and..." he said.
"Now you're doing development, too."
"Yes, and..."
"Now you're one of the leads on Starfinder."
"Yes, and..."

I can't predict where this is all going, but every step of the way Jason's jumped right in, rolled with things, and done an exemplary (and utterly believable) job. I look forward to his inevitable design and management performances. Though it's going to be an awkward day when he finally calls "scene" and no one's knows what he's talking about. You can check out Jason's previous performances, like Fortune's Fool at Pantheon Press.

Jeff Alvarez: Jeff keeps a secret few folks at Paizo know: Paizo isn't a company, it's a train. There are big mechanical parts, tons of fuel, numerous cars, and track—endless track. For anything to work, it's all got to work together—maybe not perfectly, but as well as possible. Jeff is Mr. Make-It-Happen, whether that's helping to plot a route or being part of the team laying track ahead of the locomotive. He's never been too good to help pack a crate or too careless not to consider how a strategy might affect every part of the machine. He also knows that sometimes the crew just needs to blow off steam, and if that's going happen, there better be good food and even better drink. It's been said that Jeff's in charge of everything "that's real" at Paizo. That's one hell of a responsibility, and it can surely be a loud, dirty, and relentless a job. But one thing's for sure, the Paizo engine would have skipped the tracks a long time ago without him.

Jenny Bendel: You will never have more friends than Jenny Bendel. Every time I've ever been anywhere with Jenny she's had to step away to greet some new-coming mover-and-shaker, gaming legend, '90s rock icon, or other charmer. It's easy to see why, though, as Jenny's one of the most easily enthusiastic people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. She also has a second sense for knowing "the place to be," which leads her on all manner of adventures. Unfortunately, I don't get to see Jenny often, but when she's in town, she always brings the best stories.

Jessica Price: Here's a secret for those of you who haven't been paying attention: Jessica Price does not want to hear about your character. Jessica's the smartest person in a room full of people used to being the smartest person in the room. She doesn't care how it's always been done, she doesn't care about momentum or tradition, she doesn't care about well enough, she cares about what works, how it could work better, and how to build things cooler than what's come before. It might not be easy and some tables might need to be flipped, but it'll be worth it in the end. Jessica has challenged me on my ideas and my methods, she's criticized my calls, she's pointed out my screw-ups, she's slammed my office door—and I can't thank her enough. I'm no genius, but if there's one thing I know is worth its weight is gold, it's a smart critic (and woe betide those who dismiss cagey critics). Jessica has walked me through basic concepts for the fiftieth time, she's dealt with important things I can't give my full attention, she's coached me through handling public gaffs, and she's strategized how to do better the next time. She's committed enough to have written thousands of words of cover copy and solicitation text, able enough to have developed whole hardcover books, and invested enough to spend her own time developing the Pathfinder world (you've all picked up Qadira, right?!). And she's done all this, while getting Paizo's products more consistently on schedule than ever before. Jessica has been a collaborator, a noble friend, and my fearless champion. I can't thank her enough for all that she's done—that which I know and that which I'll never know. But a word to the wise: don't waste Jessica's time with characters you've been playing for thirty years. Instead, share what cool ideas you have for the new thing you're trying tomorrow (and even then, keep it short).

Joe Pasini: I'm undecided here, as he and I haven't worked together for terribly long, but I'm pretty convinced that Joe's either a truth wizard or the Platonic spirit of editorship. Joe can make anything, no matter how ludicrous, sound perfectly earnest—even sensible. I chalk this up to either weird powers of manipulation, or his fundamental mastery of an editor's ability to bring even the most bizarre concepts to linguistic heel. I'm leaning toward truth wizard, though—especially after I found myself thanking him and Jason Keeley for letting me be a guest on a podcast they don't have. (Yet?)

John Compton: If you know when and how to look, you'll realize that John Compton is the reincarnation of Roman Emperor Antoninus Augustus Pius. It's most obvious in the Pathfinder Society room at Gen Con—the combination of public speaking, raised platforms, and scurrying governors is something of a give away. John has his predecessor's flair for empire building, for management on a massive scale, for oratory, for diplomacy, and for decisive justice. Where most would crack under the pressure of so many responsibilities, John weathers it all with the marble facade equal to his forebearer's sculptures. Many have expected great things from John, and all of them had their expectations exceeded. John is also an amazing game designer, adventure crafter, and perhaps Paizo's best Game Master, but unfortunately comparison of these virtues to Emperor Antoninus Pius is beyond my scholarship. In short, hail Caesar, long may he reign.

John Parrish: John comes from a much realer, more sensible world than most folks at Paizo are accustomed to or wholly comfortable with. As a reprehensive of the real, John exudes competency, efficiently, and trustworthiness. If John says something's the case, I'm confident it's the case, and no amount of flailing is going to change the matter. There's real comfort to that in an industry where so much is made up and rules exist to be bent. Despite all this, John wears his adventurous streak like an Iron Maiden tie tack and his rare jokes are a characteristically reliable vein of comedy gold. Paizo couldn't be luckier to have him—wherever he's from.

Judy Bauer: You do not mess with Judy Bauer. Judy Bauer's desk is decorated in things made from thread she wove herself and carrion. Judy Bauer once stabbed a god in the eye with a hypodermic needle because she was curious about science. Judy Bauer is never not wearing her poker face. Judy is one of the world's hyper-competents, and the rest of us rely on good people like her to accomplish absolutely anything at all. You—wise soul that you are—do not mess with Judy Bauer. And neither do I. As such, Judy's secrets remain her own.

Laura Carey, Mika Hawkins, Heather Payne, Jeff Strand, & Kevin Underwood: Are the names of the oft-referenced cave raptors that stalk the warehouse. They are the second most affable contingent of Paizo staffers, but the most thoroughly and elaborately armed. Their smiles prove they have sharp teeth and know that soft-skinned creatives keep to their carpet-covered places. They're known for their quick, sturdy caliber of sass and for accomplishing the impossible month after month. They're certainly not known for any unidentifiable packing-tape mummies above the downstairs kitchen.

Linda Zayas-Palmer: You wouldn't guess it from her quick grin or unabashed love of leshies, but beneath that "I'd leave her alone with my kids" exterior, Linda is made of knives. Not so much the stabbing kind of knives, more the "let's put googley eyes on this and give it a squeaky voice" sort of knives. But, you know, still knives. Linda's got a sharp mind for systems and readily sees how every little thing works. If she's not designing her own bizarrely elegant games already, I expect she will be very soon.

Lisa Stevens: Lisa's seen it all, done it all, and is always up for doing it all again. That's probably why every year her "Auntie Lisa's Story Hour" gets just a little bit longer. By 2030 you can look forward to a fifth day of PaizoCon composed entirely of that event. Despite her incredible experience, though, Lisa's never let "been there, done that" or "know-it-all-ism" set in. She's cultivated a beautiful, diverse asylum at Paizo, and her willingness to listen and try things new ways are undoubtedly secrets behind her company's success. I'm far from unique in this regard, but I wouldn't be where I am today without Lisa's hard work, her boundless enthusiasm for games, and her eye for good people. For all that, I'm beyond grateful.

Lissa Guillet: While I'm not sure of the specifics, Lissa did something and now computers fear her. I've tested this on multiple occasions. No sooner does Lissa walk into a room than rowdy technology gets back in line. For now she's largely using her leverage for good. For now.

Logan Bonner: Logan is precision instrument—like a scalpel or a really big scalpel. Amid teams prone to flights of fancy, to overelaboration, to using a thousand words where ten would do, Logan excels at getting to the meat of the matter and to excising the fat. He's a veteran game maker, so a lot of that is simply second nature at this point. But if you look at what he designs, you'll find a lot of him in the work—systems with complex subtlety that get the job done and have the potential to be a hell of a lot of fun.

Mark Moreland: Mark's also a collector and chronicler—and that makes him dangerous. He likes knowing the details, putting them in order, and figuring out the secrets. Mark's revealed countless holes in supposedly foolproof plots over the years and is more than willing to share his mind. He's like a favorite cousin who has a knack for pissing off your parents. I jokingly tell Mark to shut up with some frequency, but I don't know that I've ever told him he's wrong. Too often we can't see the specifics of the pictures we paint, but Mark's got a damn keen eye for details.

Mark Seifter: Seifter is radiation. Not, like, the bad kind, but the sort of sci-fi radiation that makes things grow in brilliantly unpredictable ways. Rather than growing plants or Hulks, though, Mark grows intricate rules systems, transforming the mundane into marvels. Fortunately, this boundless energy has been a boon to those in need, from fellow designers to questioning forum posters. Whether in brainstorms or on the convention floor, Mark's vigor is unignorable and promises a future vibrant with mighty things.

Mike Kenway: Kenway thinks I've been ignoring his emails, IMs, and sticky notes all this time as a joke. The secret is that I haven't been. I've been ignoring them for real. I'll miss filling your chair cushions with woodlice, Kenway—that's the god's honest truth.

Owen KC Stephens: Owen got his job by doing solid design work and being a damn nice guy. He then proved himself to have an utterly insufferable combination of intelligence, outspokenness, experience, and relentlessness that's led him to positively reshape every project he's been a part of. Owen plays the guru well, but he's most at home in the thick of things, testing, debating, and redesigning. He's nothing short of a powerhouse. And then we put him in the same room with Rob McCreary and from their debates a secret source of endless—but largely unmarketable—energy was achieved.

Pierce Watters: More trivia than a secret: You're probably only one step removed from personally knowing somebody who personally knows Pierce Watters. Pierce knows everybody, has been everywhere, has done everything, and is happy to tell you why that thing is either a fantastic idea or a fantastically horrible idea. If there ever is or ever was a publishing and gaming equivalent of gonzo journalism, Pierce would be one of the greats. I haven't always grokked everything Pierce has told me stories about, but I've always appreciated being invited along for the ride.

Rick Kunz: Rick Kunz is an intellect ouroboros. Rick's one of those guys who can look at a system, analyze it, and find the best solution in 5 minutes. If there's something he doesn't know, he'll teach himself. If there's information someone else has, he'll get it out of them and iterate something better. If there's a problem that needs fixing, he'll find a solution. Rick's one of those guys who can do or could do anything... and who also calls himself a dumb guy. Which leads me to believe that he either has a low opinion of his brilliance or he's smart enough to know the value of being underestimated. A cagey enigma, that one, but well worth keeping an eye on.

Robert G. McCreary: Rob hasn't aged a day since washing up on the shore near Hampton amid the wreckage of the USS Cumberland. In the years since, he's eluded a lucrative, globetrotting career as a hand model to become the world's most deliberate RPG adventure developer. Rob is host to multitudes, which means he can argue anything from any angle. It also gives him a breadth of perspective that makes him one of the best character creators and editors in the biz.

Sara Marie: In a cynical world of customers who are "always"—audible eyeroll—"right" and companies that put patrons first(-ish), it's hard to consider standards of customer service much more than marketing ploys. But that's not the case for Sara Marie. Giving everybody a fair shake, bending over backward to address an issue, and working long hours to organize a fan-focused show like PaizoCon, they're all something akin to duty for her. That's one of the most difficult to believe secrets I've written today: that for Sara Marie, doing right by Paizo's customers isn't a gimmick, it's the honest truth.

Sarah Robinson: Sarah has like thirty super powers. The greatest, though, is that she can walk into a restaurant, glance at a menu, and instantly know the best thing on it. (If you ever go get food with Sarah, order what she's having.) She can also create art and laid-out pages by force of will, but activating it usually comes at a price in developer skins. The economics here get tricky. Regardless, Sarah's one of the top three secrets to Paizo's success. If you've ever picked up a Pathfinder or Starfinder book, leafed through, and said "wow" within the first minute, it's probably because of her.

Sharaya Copas, Katina Davis, Diego Valdez, & Scott Keim: Aside from being several of the champions that keep Paizo running from day to day, our Customer Service team, Sharaya, Katina, and Diego, and Data Entry Clerk Scott Keim are some of the company's best. They're always beyond friendly and are endlessly willing—even eager—to pitch in, to playtest a game, and to give honest feedback. Those of us in editorial might not get to interact with them as often, but some of Paizo's most major products would be entirely different without their efforts and insight.

Sonja Morris: Sonja's captain of Team Bombproof. Any project or in-process fire can land on her desk and everyone will be confident that she'll handle it. It's not always glamorous, but it's appreciated far more than people say. Add to that Sonja's ability to work with anyone on anything, her years of experience, and her quiet dark streak, and you've got the makings of one of Paizo's true superstars. I'll miss our cyclical rounds of "What do you need? No, what do you need?"

Stephen Radney-MacFarland: Perhaps not a huge secret, but Stephen has one of the best s@#%-sniffers in the business. He's a fantastic critic, and doesn't care about your intention or your opinion. In the aftermath of a project, there's no disguising his judgments. Before that, though, while there's work to be done, Stephen's one of the best project wranglers and design sculptors what there is. You don't want collaborators who are only going to be half-enthused about your work, and Stephen's not interested in half measures. If it's good, it's done. If it's bad, he'll help you fix it... maybe. It's an uncomplicated arrangement, but it's one that's led me to trust Stephen's opinion more than most.

Tonya Woldridge: Many folks know Tonya has a military background—most Venture-Officers have firsthand experience with her knack for organization. No one ever ask what century's military her experience is with, though. An expert time traveler, Tonya has clear access to a repository of excess hours. There's no other explanation for how she attends to all manner of Organized Play business at all hours of the day and night, weekdays and weekends, time zones be damned. Organized Play programs of the past, present, and future has never been in more able hands. Now if only she'd share her chronomasterful ways.

Vic Wertz: If it's a job at Paizo, Vic's probably done it. He's edited books, he's designed games, he's moderated the forums, he's architected the website, he's pitched projects, he's set strategy, he's done it all and has schemes for what's come next. Vic has as keen sense of the Paizo that Paizo could be and is eager to get there. So, if helping to edit an article or move a box full of board games is the next hurdle in the company's path, he's happy to help clear it. The same goes for Paizo's entire executive team, but with Vic there's always a matter-of-factness, a "this is happening" attitude that makes it clear no hurdle's insurmountable.

Will Chase: You're not going to impress Will Chase. Will has this seen-it-all, done-it-all air. On top of that, dude manages a warehouse full of games and has the keys to a forklift with a Cthulhu bumper sticker. He doesn't wow easy. There's a difference between people who get things done and people with a "let's not make this a problem" attitude. It's the difference between knowing the way to a place, but also knowing the back roads. Will knows all the roads, so it's probably in your best interest to buy him a drink.

And that about does it. While it probably doesn't forestall tomorrow's abuse, at the very least it should leave the scales karmically even.

Even though I won't be at Paizo day to day anymore, it's not like I'm frickin' dying. I'll certainly still be around on the boards and likely in print every now and then. You can also keep up with my schemes in all the places I usually haunt—most obviously on Twitter and Tumblr, but also on YouTube and Patreon, and Sundays at 3:00 PST on Twitch. Feel free to give me a follow wherever your social stuff takes you.

So that's it for now. Thanks again to everyone at Paizo, to all the incredible Paizo authors and artists, and to those in the wider Paizo community for what's been an amazing ride. I couldn't be more awestruck by all your incredible work or more excited for what's to come.

Keep up all the awesome.

~W

F. Wesley Schneider
Former Editor-in-Chief

Help us Win the Gauntlet Infinity!

Thursday, May 4, 2017

When last we left our heroes, they were locked in a fight with a cunning and powerful warlord from the depths of space who had claimed the all-powerful Gauntlet: Infinity and was planning to use it to rule the universe! Can our heroes triumph to reclaim the gauntlet? Will they survive the daylong battle, subsisting only on snacks and caffeine? Will you help them achieve victory?

Every year, Paizo puts together a team to do battle with others from the greater game community around Seattle for a board game tournament at the Mox Boarding House. This year's Gauntlet: Infinity tournament is set to go down on May 21!

Gauntlet: Infinity poster art by Justin Treadway. Used with Permission. Copyright Mox Boarding House 2017.

To the victor goes the Gauntlet, and actual metal trophy. We've had the honor of wearing it in the past, and this is our chance to take it back! You can help by donating to our team. Every donation goes toward earning us a number of "power-ups" or special advantages that help us during the games. Better still, all of your donations go to support Treehouse, a local charity organization dedicated to helping foster kids graduate high school!

Let me introduce you to this year's Paizo team:

	Katina Davis "The Pink PUNisher" Katina Davis grew up nerdy in the Northwest. She has been a Customer Service Representative at Paizo for 3 years now, and enjoys torturing her coworkers with puns. When she's not doing that, you'll find her hiking, reading, writing, drawing, practicing foreign languages, belting out showtunes in her car, or playing video games. You can support the Pink PUNisher here!
	Jason Keeley "The Puzzler" Jason Keeley is an editor and developer at Paizo, changing hats as the needs arise. He is excited to have been on the team that worked on the Starfinder Core Rulebook, and is currently knee-deep in creatures from other worlds for the upcoming Alien Archive. Jason lives in Redmond with his wife, Paula, and their adorable dog, Bigby. You can support The Puzzler here!
	Sharaya Copas "The Azure Avenger" Sharaya Copas is a Midwest transplant trying to build a life in the Pacific Northwest. She has been a Customer Service Representative at Paizo for over 3 years now. Her hobbies and interests include playing board and card games, painting miniatures, playing Fallout, reading, DIY projects, and hiking. You can support the Azure Avenger here!
	Jason Bulmahn "The Mighty Minotaur" Jason Bulmahn has been with Paizo for over 12 years, crafting the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game from within his cunning maze, filled with monsters and deadly traps. He frequently gets lost in it though and spends far too much time playing just about anything with the word game in the title. You can support the Mighty Minotaur here!

These amazing heroes need your help! Go to the Paizo Gauntlet page, select your favorite hero and donate today!

Free Gauntlet Adventure

As a thank you for your support (now and in the past), we are releasing a FREE 16-page Pathfinder adventure, The Gauntlet! Your heroes have been selected to take the Pathfinder Society's most dangerous test to see if you have what it takes to be a awarded some of their most secretive missions! Can your characters survive The Gauntlet!

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer

Happy Holidays from Paizo!

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

What a year 2016 has been! The latter half of the year is always a time where we reflect upon the wonderful support of our community, customers, and fans. And while many of us are still hustling to get the outstanding last-minute goblins in check before taking a much-needed break, we realize that without you, it wouldn't be nearly as awesome!

While we plan on recapping this years releases in another blog, some of the highlights of 2016 include: journeying back to a much-loved Adventure Path in the hardcover edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne, beginning sanity-bending adventures in Strange Aeons and Horror Adventures. And in the summer, we announced our next great adventure in gaming with the upcoming Starfinder Roleplaying Game for release in August 2017!

The most amazing experience of 2016 had to have been February's Humble Bundle benefitting Extra Life and Camden's Concert. At launch, members of our Creative staff pushed through a 12+ hour gaming marathon to raise awareness of the bundle, and words cannot express the palpable excitement and awe as we watched the amount of people who participated tick ever higher over from the start of the stream and over those two weeks. Members of our Community, Customer Service, Tech, and Warehouse teams pulled out all the stops (and many hard hours) to provide support this initiative, and we are so grateful to everyone who chipped in to support both organizations. This effort brought many new faces to our community, saw the launch of our new Twitch channel, and opened the door for new opportunities for our games.

You are what makes it possible for everyone at Paizo to keep reaching for bigger and better goals. To show our appreciation, you can now use the holiday17 promotional code at checkout to receive a discount on an order from paizo.com.*

Once again, thank you! We wish you all safe travels, natural 20s, and all the wonders that the holiday season brings!

Best wishes and happy gaming,
The Paizo Staff

*The holiday17 code stacks with Pathfinder Advantage. This discount does not apply to subscriptions, backorders, preorders, or third-party downloads.

And Miles to Go

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Six years ago, Paizo welcomed prolific Pathfinder super-fan, PaizoCon and Wayfinder co-champion, and overall badass Liz Courts to our offices. Today, Liz treks on to her next adventure—pursuing her creative passions and leaving her trademark gninja style on whatever she sets her mind to. We are so proud to have been able to work side-by-side with her, and are just as excited to see what she does next. Because while in that blog post all that time ago, she hoped that the "awesomeness" would rub off on her, her "awesomness" has more than made it's mark on everyone in our office, our conventions, and the community.

Left to Right: Liz, Lisa, and Adam at Gen Con 2012; Tim Nightengale, Liz, and Mark receive their Paizo Volunteer of the Year awards at PaizoCon 2012; The illustration by Liz (@lilith-darkmoon) outside of her and Sara's office

Liz is one of the reasons that I'm here at Paizo. We had been friends online since the magazine days and way back then I proposed the idea of making a chat room for a group of fans to be able to chat off the messageboards, which we were on all the time anyway. After making the post, Liz stepped up and built it. Back in the early days of the chatroom she, along with a few other folks, first encouraged me to get into freelancing. After I decided to do so, I booked a trip to GenCon where I'd finally meet Liz and a couple other close friends in person for the first time. Liz didn't just make a chatroom for Paizo fans and make the messageboards a fun place, she also started Wayfinder with Hugo Solis. I was happy to be around for that magazine's infancy and help out with editing for the first half-dozen issues. Liz is also responsible for wrangling me into the secret project where she and I and a couple of other Werecabbages got a credit in the Core Rulebook! With such a commitment to the community, it's no surprise that six years ago, Liz got picked up by the big purple golem. We were so happy for her and knew that she would kick ass there and it was great to see her making a positive change in her life exploring a new career. Starting off in Customer Service, she went to Webstore Specialist to Community Manager (and wore a bunch of other hats along the way). A few years later, Liz was one of the first people I got in touch with when I was offered a job here, because I knew that she'd give it to me straight about what it was like at Paizo. Even though we don't work in the same department, I've greatly enjoyed working with Liz. We get to work side by side at conventions (where she has frequently taken pictures of me in boxes and posted them to the blog). Liz has always been a hard worker who gives a damn about what she's doing. I'm going to miss having her here as someone to talk to and rely on for a solid opinion on something. She always has a level head and makes good calls. It's going to be tough to fill her shoes. I'm gonna miss you, Liz! Adam Daigle Developer It's hard to imagine the Paizo office without Liz because she was already such an integral part of it by the time I showed up. Her influence in the Pathfinder community stretches so far and wide, that I admit I was a bit intimidated when I first met her. I had heard tales of her fiercely loyal friendship and delicious baked goods, and Liz wasted no time in extending that sense of community and family to me when I stepped in the door. Since that day she has been a fount of knowledge, advice, creativity, inspiration, and encouragement. She's not one to sit idly by and watch a peer suffer. She'll give you all the tricks she has up her sleeve to help, and if that doesn't do it she'll know which direction to point you. She spreads such joy and enthusiasm about the game, about art, and about life, and has always been the first to encourage those around her to do what they love. I know that I'm not alone in feeling that the time I've been honored to work with her has had a deep impact on me, both personally and professionally. As selfishly sad as I am that I won't be able to see her every day at work, I am beyond thrilled for the future that lies in pursuing her craft. I know that wherever there are rooms full of gamers sharing laughs and rolling dice, Liz won't ever be too far away. Katina Davis Customer Service Representative Liz was my friend before I ever started at Paizo, and was the bedrock of the Paizo fan community when I first started getting into Golarion. She was also a kickass roommate for many years, even if we did argue constantly over cat-rearing philosophies. It was amazing when we ended up coworkers. She's been so smart and passionate and friendly at every turn. The office is going to feel a lot emptier without her here, but I'm thrilled that she's moving on to bigger and better things! Crystal Frasier Developer

I first interacted with Liz as a third-party publisher of Pathfinder-compatible material. I wasn't joking when I dubbed her Paizo's Patron Saint of 3PP. Her professionalism, vast knowledge base, and friendly assistance with any issue or question I had as publisher of Rogue Genius Games had a major impact on our success, and on the success of Pathfinder-compatible third-party efforts in general. A endless round of thanks and applause, Liz! Owen K.C. Stephens Developer LIZ! Thank you so much for helping keep Paizo fans happy, and for keeping Paizo employees happy! You will be missed, but hopefully this means you'll have LOTS of free time now to draw me LOTS more Merisiel pictures, right? Well... even if you don't, have fun and good luck and keep gaming! James Jacobs Creative Director My very first experience with Liz was at Gen Con 2014. It was my first Gen Con and I was a bit starstruck seeing all these people who make the game I love. I went to the Paizo booth a few times, and ended up at the register Liz was running more than once. When I went to pickup my subscription was one of those times. I told her I was picking up my subs and gave her my name. She then, without looking anything up, said my email address and asked if that was me. Liz Courts liked my email address and had remembered it! LIZ COURTS liked my email address and remembered it! I spent what was probably a few hours making starstruck fanboy squeals at my friends. There were even more of those squeals this past Christmas. I love Star Wars. I love Pathfinder. Amiri is my favorite iconic. On my desk right now is a wonderful piece of Liz art (Liz is a wonderful artist!) of Amiri as an X-Wing pilot that she gave me for Christmas! Liz, I feel very fortunate for having been able to work with you, and more importantly be friends with you. It has always amazed me how much information you have hanging out in your head. That you remember every single item on our website is amazing. That you remember every single fandom of everyone around you is also amazing (and it makes every wallet attack you make a critical hit!)! I would wish you luck with your future endeavors but you are such a talented writer and artist that I know you don't need luck. The work you have put in to your craft will take you wherever you want to go. I will miss talking about Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and all of the fandoms. Thank you for everything, Liz! Peace and long life! Diego Valdez Customer Service Representative When I think of Liz, I immediately think of the Gen Con many years ago when she somehow got a hold of a creepy dolphin puppet, which she proceeded to wield like Pam from the cartoon Archer. A whole crew of us spent that last night of the show hanging around someone's hotel room, shooting the breeze while she made the dolphin puppet leer at us, turning every innocent comment into innuendo by virtue of its smarmy, knows-too-much smile. So while I could say all sorts of things about how awesome Liz has been for the company and the community, or how talented she is in a variety of fields, I'd be lying if I didn't say my first association with the name Liz Courts is "raunchy dolphin puppet." And I think that, in itself, may be the greatest praise. James L. Sutter Creative Director I met Liz for the first time at PaizoCon 2009 where she GM'd my very first convention game. Since then she has been an enthusiastic, supportive and amazing coworker, officemate and friend. I've been lucky enough to get to witness her growth as an artist and author and while I'm excited to see where her talent and dedication and love of gaming leads her, I'm going to miss the heck out of seeing her smile every time I peak over my computer. Sara Marie Customer Service Manager I will miss that Liz always has a relevant gif handy to help bring humor or sympathy to situations. And will I miss things like delicious brownies from the Department of Morale Adjustment. However, my wallet will NOT miss sneaky wallet gninja attacks, that are perfectly relevant-to-interests™. Sharaya Customer Service Representative

Left to Right: Crystal and Liz at the PaizoCon 2012 Grand Convocation; Liz sharing her signature cackle with the rest of the world at PaizoCon 2016; Liz, champion of plushies, at PaizoCon 2013

Liz was a guide when I first began at Paizo—sharing her fervor for Pathfinder, Paizo, the greater hobby of tabletop gaming, and helping me grow to truly care about and champion for our community. Over the last two years, our combined hopes to be the best Community Team we can be have driven us forward, and what is public-facing hasn't even scratched the surface of the passion behind the team and the ideas we've come up with together. I've learned professional and life lessons from Liz, and I will always be grateful for the opportunity I had to be her manager for this short while. She is a force, and I know whatever she does after today will be just as amazing as she is.

Please join us as we applaud Liz Courts and wish her luck on the next great unknown!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

Mega Map Madness

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Before Adam Smith from the Order of the Amber Die had the first adventure of Strange Aeons sent to him, Adam Daigle warned him that the Briarstone Asylum was pretty detailed and complicated. After seeing the maps for the previous Giantslayer marathon, we knew that he put a ton of work into his maps, and apologized ahead of time for how much time he'd spend with the asylum.

Before you go further: Spoilers for Pathfinder Adventure Path #109: In Search of Sanity follow. All of the spoilers. Avert your eyes.

Okay, now check out this frickin' AMAZING thing! So, that massive map of Briarstone Asylum from their marathon playthrough of Pathfinder Adventure Path #109: In Search of Sanity? That incredible behemoth playmat? Yeah. That lives at Paizo HQ now. We were so blown away that most of the office stopped by the developer cubicles just to gawk at it!

Check out Adam, Crystal, Liz, and me drooling over it—and maybe pointing out a few opportune unicorn slaying grounds.

Countless thanks to Adam Smith and the Order of the Amber Die for their adventure reports, their kind note, and the one-of-a-kind mega-momento! We're totally blown away!

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief

Gen Con and Thanks for All the Fish

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Gen Con 2016 is in the books (and Delta's computer failure gave me and many other Paizonians a lovely bonus day or two in the fabulous airport waiting areas of Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and/or Salt Lake City) and what a show it was! Demos of the upcoming Mummy's Mask Base Set were a huge hit in the exhibit hall, with 10 tables of action running basically at capacity for four straight days. Many thanks to Dominick Trascritti and his skilled demo team for giving fans old and new an excellent introduction to Mummy's Mask.

Action in the Sagamore Ballroom was also hopping, with the Adventure Card Guild area serving up more tables of Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild play than ever before. We showcased the epic final adventures of Season of the Runelords. We debuted the insane Season of the Goblins, written by Tyler Beck, David Jacobson, and Keith Richmond... and let's just say that people were not expecting to eat that many slugs. (For those of you who didn't make it to Gen Con, these adventures will be available for sale soon!)

We debuted a multimodal special event, The Cosmic Captive, mixing RPG and ACG tables to great effect. We got a ton of great feedback on how to improve the ACG side of future such events, so thank you all for being our guinea pigs on that. Venture-Lieutenant Kevin Hanley and his phenomenal volunteer staff did a spectacular job marshaling and managing the area, as well as the trial by fire that was running multiple tables simultaneously. (The Cosmic Captive will be available exclusively to conventions for the next year.) It was a privilege and a pleasure to work with so many enthusiastic and talented Pathfinder Society folk this year. (To my Special GMs: JUMP!)

We also brought back the ACG Open for a second year, to the delight and chagrin of dedicated players. This year's tournament, "The Cayden Cailean Way," took 64 players through a variety of tests in honor of the Lucky Drunk. In case you need to be terrified, this year's event had rounds written by Chad Brown, Keith Richmond, and Mike Selinker, with a little synthesis done by yours truly. The final round featured last year's runner-up team, Level 5, against an upstart team of pick-up players called Team One. Both teams completed the final scenario within one minute of each other, but Team One won the day with a higher overall score. Level 5, I am rooting for you to level up next year!

The 2016 Adventure Card Game Open finalists.

This year's Gen Con (my nineteenth, yipes!) was bittersweet for me, because it marked an ending and a beginning for me. I'm starting a new adventure this fall: nursing school. Unfortunately, the demands of school and the demands of ACG players are a little too much to handle at once, so I'm bidding farewell to Paizo's hallowed halls. I leave the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game in the capable hands of Vic and the Sharks, and the Adventure Card Guild in the capable hands of Organized Play Coordinator Tonya Woldridge. Being a member of the ACG and Pathfinder Society teams has been a joy, and I couldn't ask for better stewards.

Thank you all for allowing me to strain your brains and add fun to your days with the Class Decks and the Adventure Card Guild. I've really enjoyed doing it, and I look forward to playing with you all at a convention soon. Onward to adventure!

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Help Paizo Reclaim the Gauntlet!

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Two years ago, the brave forces of Paizo took the field of battle, fighting off skilled foes sent by other game companies from around Seattle to claim the Gauntlet, a fabled prize of glory and power. When the dust settled, we were victorious. The Gauntlet was ours!

But such triumphs were not made to last...

Last year, we once again took the field, raising money for charity, fending off an even greater field of contenders. It was a day of hard fought battles and although we fought valiantly, we were defeated. The team from the Removed From Play podcast had cast us down into ruin. They took the Gauntlet from us.

Now, the time has come once again. We go to do battle in less that two weeks and we need your help to once again battle for the Gauntlet. You can help by donating to the Gauntlet charity in the name of Paizo (or by selecting one of the individual team members). The more money we raise, the more "power ups" we will get during the event to help us win! A lot of the other teams have gotten a bit of a head start on us this year, but we are confident you will help to see us through. The team for this year has seen some changes as well, adding fresh blood to our stable of champions. While Erik Mona and I will be returning, we are happy to add Katina Davis (Customer Service Representative) and Jason Keely (Editor) to the Gauntlet team.

Go and, select a team member and donate today! Every little bit helps and it all goes to support YouthCare, a great charity that helps homeless kids!

Last year, we promised a short dungeon adventure as a reward for helping us with the tournament and we have not forgotten about this commitment. Although our responsibilities at Paizo have delayed us, I am happy to announce that the adventure is currently going through editing and will be available for FREE in just a few weeks. Take a look at the awesome map for this exciting adventure!

We look forward to fighting for the Gauntlet and thank you for helping us out!

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer, Paizo Gauntlet Team Captain

Goblins Invade Geek Nation!

Friday, March 4, 2016

Last Friday I had the pleasure of invading the radio studio of 99.9 KISW ("The Rock of Seattle") to introduce members of their morning show crew to Pathfinder. A staple of the rock radio scene since I was a kid, radio host BJ Shea now also runs a podcast called Geek Nation along with longtime co-hosts the Reverend Enfuego, Vicky Barcelona, and more.

For last Friday's episode, I ran them through the entirety of the We Be Goblins! module, and we spent several glorious hours running around setting things on fire, abusing the speak with animals spell, and generally getting into the sort of mischief only a goblin can provide. And the entire game is now up on their website for you to listen to!

As a longtime band guy—one for whom getting played on 99.9's Metal Shop was a career highlight back in my metalcore days—it was a thrill to get to run a game in such a legendary location, surrounded by gold records from some of my favorite bands. I'd imagined myself visiting plenty of times, but I'd always assumed it'd be a guitar or bass that got me there—not my dice!

Sometimes real life is weirder than fantasy.

James L. Sutter
Executive Editor

Seasons Greetings from the Paizo Crew!

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Illustration by Dave Allsop

It's that time of the year where all of us at Paizo stop to reflect. Whether it's the outpouring of support we receive from our community, customers, and fans, or the products and projects we've gotten out of our doors and into your hands—it's all these things that make our year that much more awesome.

This year we ventured back to Cheliax for a fight against the forces of evil in Hell's Rebels (to be followed by an accompanying foray as the forces of evil in Hell's Vengeance in early 2016), kicked demon butt in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game with Wrath of the Righteous, detailed the peoples and races of Golarion in Inner Sea Races, shook up the Pathfinder RPG with Pathfinder Unchained, as well as pulled back the veil on the world beyond in Occult Adventures. We also struck partnerships with Audible and TOR to bring you Pathfinder Tales in exciting new formats (like Kindle and Audible Audiobook), and explored the world of our iconic characters in the Pathfinder Origins comic series.

Our community shined bright in 2015! PaizoCon and Gen Con were amazing successes for Paizo, turning out an ever growing number of gamers, and leaving our staff in awe of the wonderful folk out there who support Pathfinder and Paizo. In fact, this year we formed a dedicated community team just to accommodate you all and plan for future community events, provide online support, and outreach through more outlets than before.

This year also meant a lot of new Paizo faces. We've added three new developers (Amanda Hamon Kunz, Crystal Frasier, and Linda Zayas-Palmer) who work on our Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Pathfinder Society, and other various lines, as well as two new editors (Jason Keeley and Josh Vogt). We also welcomed our new Organized Play Coordinator Tonya Woldridge in October!

None of the achievements we've made in 2015 would have been possible or as special to us without you. To show our appreciation, you can now use the holiday16 promotional code at checkout to receive a discount on an order from paizo.com.*

Part of our "skeleton" Paizo crew over the holidays!

Thank you very much from everyone here at Paizo for the continued support! We have a great deal of folks out there traveling for the holidays, and wish them and all of you safe travels and a wonderful holiday season!

We cannot wait until you see what's coming in 2016!

Best wishes and happy gaming,
The Paizo Staff

*This discount doesn't apply to backorders, downloads from other companies, preorders, or subscriptions.

A Silver Centennial

Friday, December 11, 2015

Time flies when you're on a deadline every single month.

It surely doesn't feel like 100 months have passed since "Burnt Offerings," the first volume of the Pathfinder Adventure Path, showed up on my desk. A lot has changed for me in those 100 months—I've moved my place of residence, my job's moved ITS place of residence, I've lost more than 150 pounds, I've gained countless new friends and industry contacts, and more. It hasn't all been good—some friends are gone, some doors have closed, and as THEY are fond of saying, "mistakes were made." But sitting here now, looking at the 100th volume of Pathfinder, I can categorically state that overall, things have gone really quite well over those past 100 months. I couldn't be prouder of how this volume turned out... or more nervous, frankly. I hope folks like the adventure!

It was as early as Wrath of the Righteous that Erik Mona started putting the 100 Bug in my head, of course. At that time, it was still years in the future, but it was pretty obvious that, barring cataclysmic apocalypse-related events, we WERE going to make it to that stage. "What should we do for volume 100?" became an increasingly pressing question. The answer was more complicated than one might initially think, since the way math works meant that volume 100 of Pathfinder Adventure Path wouldn't coincide nicely with any other significant event—it wasn't going to be the first or last volume of an Adventure Path, nor would it sync up with any other notable Paizo-related anniversaries. It was, in fact, smack in the middle of an Adventure Path, and that raised some challenges.

The end result, of course, is now out for folks to see. Pathfinder Adventure Path #100 is 32 pages longer than any other volume of the Adventure Path. It's the first one to contain a foldout poster (presenting an awesome depiction of the first 102 volumes of the Adventure Path along with a minis-scale map of an encounter area that plays a key role three times in the campaign—twice in this adventure!). It's the first one where we've spent more than half a page discussing one of the setting's most talked-about and mysterious characters—the dead god Aroden. (And no, we still don't tell you HOW he died.)

And of course, I fully admit to certain self-indulgences I made along the way. What's the point of being Creative Director if you can't claim volume 100's adventure as one you write? Or if you can't put one of your favorite characters in the adventure? Of course, I went even beyond that—I wrote the adventure, one of the commemorative NPCs, and two of the monsters (Adam will be around later to talk more about that half of the book and more). And I didn't just put one of my favorite characters in the adventure—I put her on the cover.

Anyway, enough about that! There's a lot more going on in "A Song of Silver" than my pet NPCs—so go grab your copy and check it out! Or if you don't have a copy handy yet... then check out some of the incredible art from volume 100 below!

Illustrations by Jaime Martinez, Wayne Reynolds, Ekaterina Burmak, and Miguel Regodón Harkness

James Jacobs
Creative Director

Editorial Note: For the last 100 volumes of Pathfinder, I've been changing Jacobs's ENTHUSIASTIC ALL CAPS to italics, in editorials and elsewhere. Given the festiveness of the occasion, however, I've decided to make an exception, just this once. Congratulations, Jacobs! Don't get used to it!—Sutter

Welcome Our New Editor—Josh Vogt!

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Greetings, fellow mortals! This is Josh Vogt, and I'm delighted to announce I've taken on the role of a Wielder of the Red Pen (aka Editor) here at Paizo!

I've journeyed long from Denver, CO, to be here and am excited to join the team. Ever since college, my career has always involved writing and editing in some fashion, veering from journalism to copywriting to my own fiction and full-time freelancing for RPG developers and otherwise. Some of you might also recognize me as the author of the Pathfinder Tales novel Forge of Ashes, as well as several of the stories in the Web Fiction series. Alongside that, I continue to work on my own wordsmithing, including The Cleaners series, with "Enter the Janitor" and The Maids of Wrath bringing a little supernatural sanitation twist to urban fantasy.

I'm a lifelong gamer, avid reader of speculative fiction, and lover of all geeky things, so getting the chance to adventure along with the fine folks here at Paizo is amazing, to say the least.

Thanks to the Paizo team for having me!

Onward and upward,

Josh Vogt
Editor

Welcome Our New Organized Play Coordinator—Tonya Woldridge!

Monday, October 5, 2015

Hail and well met to the Paizo community! My name is Tonya Woldridge and I am the new Organized Play Coordinator for the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild.

I am honored to be chosen and will strive to step up and swing for the fences. The creativity of my Pathfinder Society teammates, John Compton, Linda Zayas Palmer, and Tanis O'Connor, defies words. The dedication of the "Venture Officer Corp" is the stuff of legend. Together, we are working to bring you the best campaign possible and I look forward to unveiling more over the upcoming months.

Working at Paizo is returning to my roots. I grew up in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, about 5 hours from the Paizo office, and spent 2 years at the relatively local University of Puget Sound. My extended family is dotted throughout the Pacific Northwest. I love the rain, mist, and mountains! If you want a beautiful vacation destination, the Olympic Peninsula is the best.

My gaming journey started in high school with 2nd Edition AD&D. Over the years, my various home groups worked their way through Earthdawn, and 3.0/3.5. We were on the Shackled City Adventure Path when Pathfinder Beta released, and our GM (My husband, 5-Star GM extraordinaire "Crispy3ed") converted the campaign from 3.5 to Pathfinder. I went to the third PaizoCon UK and was hooked on organized play. Since then, I've been a Venture-Lieutenant in the United Kingdom, a Venture-Captain in Canada, a Gen Con HQ volunteer for the past three years, and achieved 5 Star GM status. When the Adventure Card Game released, we started with the Runelords box set and have continued through the next editions.

My husband is a Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force and we have 2 children. As a military spouse, my family has been fortunate enough to travel the world, spending 14 of the past 18 years living in England, Canada, and Korea. Our US posts include Texas, Arizona, and Colorado. While not fluent in foreign languages, I understand Korean, German, French, and several varieties of English.

Outside of Pathfinder, I enjoy reading books across a variety of genres, with Anne McCaffrey, Sharon Shinn, George R. R. Martin, David Gross, and Diana Gabaldon all in my top 10 author list. Another hobby is researching historical methods of crafting, sewing, brewing, dancing, singing, and cooking. I have been a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism for over 20 years. This love of all things medieval led to getting a Bachelor's degree in History from the University of Maryland. I also have a Bachelor's in Asian Studies, as I fell in love with Korea when we lived there and needed to know more.

I thank the leadership at Paizo for their trust and support as we strive to bring a fantastic experience to the community.

Cheers!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

Behind the Art of Hell's Rebels

Thursday, August 27, 2015

The launch of the Hell's Rebels Adventure Path is special for a number of reasons. Most significant, of course, is that this series will include the long-awaited issue number 100! It's taken a lot of hard work from many talented people to get Pathfinder this far, and I am extremely grateful to have been here to see issue 100 take shape.

Also, because of the significance of this Adventure Path, we wanted to make it visually distinctive. No special Paizo project would be complete without the brilliant work of Wayne Reynolds, and this time we were also fortunate to have the talented Eva Widermann involved to paint some beautiful design elements for the cover and interior pages. Between those two superstars, as well as the numerous artists working on the interior illustrations, this is our most beautiful Adventure Path yet.

Illustrations by Caio Maciel Monteiro, Kiki Moch Rizky, Ekaterina Burmak, and Will O'Brien

And on a personal level, this series is significant for me because it will unfortunately be the last one I work on. After commissioning the art and designing the look of our Adventure Paths since Reign of Winter, and working on the layout since Serpent's Skull, I will be moving on to other adventures. This line has been a big focus of my professional life for the last five years, and I'm going to miss playing my part.

Andrew Vallas
Senior Art Director

Tales from Gen Con

Sunday, July 19, 2015

I have a long relationship with Gen Con, stretching back into the previous century. That relationship is tied very closely to the progress of my career, from fan, to freelancer, to Paizo developer. Like many good stories, my tales from Gen Con are best told in reverse.

Last year was my first time at Gen Con as an employee of Paizo, and I spent most of it helping the amazing volunteers running Pathfinder Society events in the Sagamore Ballroom. Watching more than 1,400 tables of people playing Pathfinder together over the course of the convention was an awe-inspiring sight. Watching people spend hours of blood, sweat, and tears to make sure their fellow PFS members had a good time was actually emotionally moving for me. The entire point of RPGs is to play games together, and seeing dozens of people take hour and hours out of their convention fun to help other people's game experiences run smoothly was immensely fulfilling.

Last year was also the first Gen Con where freelance writers struck up conversations with me on the hallway, often getting around to asking if I would have writing opportunities to assign anytime soon. I remember being on the other end of that conversation, and I have to say most Paizo freelancers seem better at it than I remember being.

For many years before I was an employee at Paizo, that kind of networking with developers and editors was the main thing I did at Gen Con. The convention is one of the few places where multiple RPG companies have editors and developers present all in one building, so for a freelance RPG writer it's a target-rich environment. For a decade I considered travel to Gen Con less a vacation (though I always ended up having a great time), and more a necessary business trip. Thankfully I was well-enough known to be invited to the occasional private event, but mostly I went to places where editors and developers were likely to be found (dealer's room booths, the ENnie Awards, bars), and asked if anyone needed anything. I discovered that if developers know you well enough to ask if you can grab them a bottle of water, helping out often later results in being invited to a quick lunch or an event you'd otherwise have missed.

Such impromptu gatherings are amazing opportunities to get to better know people in the industry, and were instrumental in my building a network of people who might offer me work or who I could go to for career or design advice. Of course you have to follow up on such contacts, and don't miss out on opportunities closer to home. At one casual Gen Con gathering a few years ago, I realized that I never spoke to Greg Vaughn, who lived no more than 30 minutes from my house, except when we were both in Indianapolis, hundreds of miles from where we lived. He and I had a good laugh about that, but I also made sure to have lunch with him before the next Gen Con.

In 2010 when I was part of the Industry Insider program of seminars I also discovered there was a second level of networking at well, between peers who already have some success in the industry. Every seminar panel included some time just before and just after talking to the crowd where the panelists would say hi, exchange business cards, and sometimes see what meal plans fellow panelists had. I didn't follow-up on as many of those opportunities as I should have, but I did learn a lot over just a few shared lunches.

The chance to be at such social gatherings evolved slowly over the years I've attended Gen Con. Before anyone knew me by name, I spent most of my time at the convention listening to seminars, playing demo games (often run by luminaries in the industry who already held the kinds of positions I aspired to), and getting to know other gamers. I had some advantage because I worked for Wizards of the Coast briefly in 2000-2001, but for the most part my early Gen Con opportunities came from being in the right place at the right time. I found that the last panel of the day was a particularly good time to be visible and friendly, and more than once got invited to impromptu gatherings of fans and professionals just because everyone was hungry. In one of my early trips to Gen Con I managed to be invited (along with most of the front row of fans) to have dinner with Dave Arneson after he gave a seminar about his experiences with roleplaying games, dating back to his early experiments with Braunstein. I hadn't planned to try to go to dinner with one of the godfathers of my favorite hobby, I just got lucky because I stood around politely when the seminar came to an end.

In fact, my best moments at Gen Con have almost always been things I not only didn't plan for, but didn't even dream might happen. There's aren't that many opportunities for fans of tabletop games to rub elbows with their favorite designers and artists, but Gen Con brings so many people together that you always have a chance at an amazing encounter.

So it was at my very first Gen Con, sometime in the 1990s, I had the honor of playing an RPG with Gary Gygax... for about 90 seconds.

He was at a table in-or-near the TSR/WotC Castle (a magnificent structure used as the TSR/WotC booth in the Dealer's Room at the time), and I believe he was running some edition of D&D. A crowd of us were watching. He was an energetic and exciting storyteller, and just watching him run a game was a lot of fun. Someone's character died (killed mysteriously in the darkness, having walked away from the PCs' campfire and only light source). That player gave up a spot at the table, and Mr. Gygax pointed at me and boomed "You want to play!?"

Of course I did.

A character sheet was slapped in front of me. My turn came soon enough. THINGS were circling our camp. I was a warrior of some type—I think a ranger, but I didn't last long enough to get acquainted with my character. As my one action, I grabbed a burning log from our campfire and hurled it out at the multiple sets of red eyes stalking us. "Good!" Mr. Gygax shouted approvingly, and had me roll a d20. I have no idea what I rolled.

It wasn't good enough to hit any of the red-eyed threats, but it was enough to illuminate them. Massive black wolves, snarling and, we realized talking.

"Kill that one!" Mr. Gygax snarled, pointing at me and explaining the words came from the biggest wolf, directed at the rest of the pack.

And they did.

I lasted exactly one round. Mr. Gygax smiled, told me I was dead, and I should let someone else play.

I've been hooked on Gen Con ever since.

Owen KC Stephens
Developer

Portuguese Pathfinder Launches in Brazil!

Saturday, July 18, 2015

This past weekend, I was honored to attend EIRPG, a game convention that takes place inside the gigantic Anime Friends convention in Sao Paulo, Brazil! This show heralded the release of the official Portuguese translation of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game!

While many of the gamers in Brazil had English versions of the game, most were very excited to see it released in Portuguese, hoping that the translation would allow the game to become an even bigger part of the game scene in Brazil. I spent most of the show playing games (well, assuming killing player characters counts as playing), giving seminars (with the help of Jessica, my amazing interpreter), and signing books, plush goblins, program books, event tickets, and the walls of the convention (where I also drew a dungeon). All in all, it was an amazing show, filled with passionate gamers, fantastic costumes, and delicious food!

If you ever find yourself in Sao Paulo in early July, EIRPG is a show that is not to be missed!

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer

Gen Con for Everyone

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

As gigantic as Gen Con Indy has become, it's not hard to say that the show has something for everyone. If it's a game or style of gaming you're looking for, you're more likely than not to find it there. The convention's courting of younger fans, families, and even non-gamers has gone a long way in making the show feel like an event for everyone. In the past several years, Gen Con has grown into a fantastic meeting place for gamers of all shapes, genders, sexual preferences, ethnicities, and ages. If you love gaming, there's sure to be a community at Gen Con for you.

This year, though, Gen Con's vociferous welcome to gamers of all stripes proved to be about more than just marketing.

In March, when Indiana passed its controversial SB 101 bill—which, in part, protects businesses that wish to discriminate against same-sex couples—Gen Con wasn't quiet about it. The company issued a letter to Indiana's Governor Mike Pence, asking that he reconsider his support of the bill. They went on to explain that "Legislation that could allow for refusal of service or discrimination against our attendees will have a direct negative impact on the state's economy, and will factor into our decision-making on hosting the convention in the state of Indiana in future years." As the largest annual convention held at the Indianapolis Convention Center—one that draws an estimated 50 million dollars to the city—Gen Con has some weight to put behind its words. That said, the convention also has a contract with the city of Indianapolis that lasts until 2020, so whatever action Gen Con chooses to take in response to SB 101—which remains Indiana state law—will take some time. Acknowledging such, Gen Con CEO and Owner Adrian Swartout issued a letter to Gen Con attendees, restating the convention's commitment to inclusivity and asking con-goers to contact Gen Con regarding both positive and negative experiences they have with local hospitality (you can see the complete letter here).

As a young gamer, Gen Con always felt like a place where I was accepted for who I was. Today, as a married gay man, it still does. I've always had an especially warm welcome in Indianapolis, and I don't see the passage of March's law changing that. At the same time, though, I also can't overstate how much I appreciate Gen Con standing up for all its attendees.

For the past several years it's been my honor to be a panelist on the popular Queer as a Three-Sided Die seminar, as well as on Paizo's own Diversity in Gaming panel. These discussions and events like them have been forums for enthusiastic feedback and invaluable criticism. They've been eye-opening and, at times, emotional experiences attended by folks who haven't always felt welcomed by their own fandoms. They've helped calibrate my perspective as a writer, game maker, and editor, and have had a direct, positive impact on the content of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. And they've all happened with the help of the supportive, earnest allies at Gen Con—both those who make the show happen and those who come to the show year after year. These events have become highlights of the show for me, not just because they're tremendously energetic, but because they've been a way to prove that, no matter who you are, you're absolutely welcome at the game table.

This year, I expect Gen Con to be the same as it always is—filled with amazing people, awesome events, and a community that knows what's really important: having great times with the people you care about. But even though this year has been filled with fantastic changes for many, that doesn't mean that your support or that of events like Gen Con is any less important. So be sure to swing by any of the great diversity or LGBTQ events going on at the show (a few can be found at TabletopGaymers.org, but be sure to post others you know of in the comments below). You can also nab your very own rainbow Gaymer ribbon at the Rogue Judges HQ table in Hall C—I know I'll have mine.

That Gen Con is so dedicated to fostering one big welcoming gamer community—well, for me, that's part of what really makes it the Best Four Days in Gaming.

Hope to see you all in Indy!

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief

Fair Winds and Following Seas

Monday, June 29, 2015

Illustration by Eva Widermann

Last October the Venture-Officers became aware of some family health issues that caused a change in my employment status at Paizo and I was allowed to telecommute. This change led my family and I to make the move from Seattle to the New Orleans area. This has worked fairly well for almost a year as I traveled to Paizo from New Orleans regularly but, as with most situations, things continue to evolve and my work status is changing yet again.

It is with a sad heart I announce today that my tenure with Paizo will end on August 7. This should allow me to say personal goodbyes at both PaizoCon UK and Gen Con. The day after I leave my position, I will be closing my public Campaign Coordinator Facebook page as well.

It has been a pleasure working with, and for, all of you. I was always taught to leave a situation better than I entered it. I hope I have done that. Some changes I take pride in being heavily involved with are:

• Updating the Guide with a more professional appearance and outline
• Implementing GM 101, GM 201 and Kid's Track (with the help of some awesome VOs)
• Expanding our volunteer base from 13 VOs to more than 470
• Growing the playerbase from around 12,000 to more than 60,000
• Expanding Pathfinder Society's presence from 5 countries with an active PFS presence to 29 (including regions that had little or no prior Organized Play)
• I have also taken a great deal of pride in watching PFS expand from one small room of 30 tables at Gen Con, to taking over the entire Sagamore Ballroom (with 180 tables of PFS gaming this year!), as well as numerous other activities planned for the space
• Additionally, I've been working with our Tech Team over the past few months on an array of improvements to the Pathfinder Society section of paizo.com, and think you will approve of the changes that are coming

There are many other changes that I have initiated and been a part of, and I think have improved the overall quality of Pathfinder Society, but are too numerous to list here.

I wish you all well. Again, thanks for the opportunity of letting me be the Global Organized Play Coordinator for almost 4 full years.

Mike Brock
Global Organized Play Coordinator

Help Paizo Defend the Gauntlet!

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Just over one year ago, a team from Paizo made a pilgrimage to Card Kingdom to do battle for the Gauntlet. There we fought for honor, for glory, and most importantly, for charity. After facing off against other game companies from around the Seattle area, we emerged victorious! The Gauntlet was ours, and it has rested in the hallowed halls of Paizo ever since.

But now, we must defend it!

The time has come for Paizo to defend our title. If we fail, we will have to give up the Gauntlet, forfeiting our title as champions. We can't let that happen and we need your help!

Card Kingdom is once again hosting the tournament and each team (and team member) can raise money for charity to earn power ups for their team. Last year, these advantages were crucial in our victory. The more we raise the more power ups we will earn, giving us an edge in the games we must play against the other teams. This year, all of the money raised will go to Hopelink, a charity whose mission is to support homeless and low-income families on their way to self-sufficiency.

Of course, we want to reward you for supporting us in our quest to defend the Gauntlet. So, the Gauntlet team is putting together a special dungeon adventure, "The Champion's Gauntlet," and if you pledge at least $20 to our team (any one of the team members), you can get access to a PDF of this adventure on your paizo.com account later this summer!

To receive this PDF, you must use the same email address for the charity site as you use for your paizo.com account. We cannot send you the adventure unless you have a paizo.com account and you use the same email address! If you need to update your email address, you may do so on your Personal Settings page.

As of right now, this will be the only way to get your hands on this exclusive adventure! To sweeten the deal, the dungeon will grow larger and larger as the team raises more and more money. Here is how it will work.

Regardless of how much money we raise, all four team members (Jason Bulmahn, Erik Mona, Jessica Price, and Stephen Radney-MacFarland) will each design one room for the dungeon. Depending on how much the Paizo team raises, each team member will design more rooms.

Team Total	Rooms Per Member
$1,000	2
$2,000	3
$3,000	4
$5,000	5
$8,000	6
$12,000	7

In addition, each team member has personal goals. Check out their individual pledge pages for details on some of the great thank-you rewards you can score.

The fundraising ends at noon on May 17th, with the tournament happening that afternoon at the Mox Boarding House in Bellevue, WA. Donate today and if you are in the area on the 17th, stop by to cheer on our team. You can donate through any of the following links!

http://thegauntlet2015.causevox.com/team/Paizo
http://thegauntlet2015.causevox.com/jason-bulmahn
http://thegauntlet2015.causevox.com/erik-mona
http://thegauntlet2015.causevox.com/jessica-price
http://thegauntlet2015.causevox.com/stephen-radneymacfarland

Thanks again for donating!

Jason Bulmahn
Proud Bearer of the Gauntlet
Paizo Team Captain

By Our Powers Combined!

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Changes have been brewing here at Paizo, and I'm pleased to finally share some of them with the paizo.com community!

Illustration by Liz Courts

Up until recently, the people who are behind the curtain, looking at flagged posts, responding to your emails, and peeking through tweets and Facebook comments have been doing so in addition to their regular day-to-day tasks—including getting products out the door, providing the best Customer Service possible, and working on integral parts of paizo.com and within the company. This kind of tactic has been challenging, and as our community has grown, we've recognized it's been changing and has different/new needs. Because of all that, it's become a real necessity for us to change as well.

We had to find someone who fit the role of Community Manager and also had an intimate knowledge and investment in our own community. Liz Courts is someone who has been invaluable to our community over the years. She's a presence that's been around on paizo.com for nearly as long as we've had forums, has been greeting newcomers with cookies, has worked and laid groundwork for the fan magazine, Wayfinder, and helped shape what PaizoCon has become today. And, I'm excited to announce that she's been moved to this position officially as of a few weeks ago!

As Community Manager, Liz will be on the front lines for forum issues, reaching out through our social media outlets, and coming up with new ideas for us to better communicate with you guys. She'll also be be working on not-yet-announced projects and initiatives for the community. Having someone who is as deeply passionate about gaming and the gaming community is a great opportunity for pushing us forward.

There's also another change that goes in hand with Liz's new role. Though you mostly see me posting "out of character" on our forums when things get hairy, I've also been creating and maintaining our digital products, generating and scheduling website content, and providing an array of customer-facing and internal support. Now, in order to assist and enable Liz to do awesome things for you guys, herd more cats related to all of the content on paizo.com, and guide our overall community policies and goals, I've been made into Paizo's Community & Digital Content Director.

These changes are brand new to Paizo, and our goal as the new "Community Team" is to make sure you feel like you're being heard and supported. We have come up with some really exciting things in these first few weeks (which we've only just begun), and I'm so, so excited for you all to start seeing the results!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

Welcome Amanda Hamon Kunz!

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

The most-welcome invasion of new Paizonians continues! You've already meet Linda and Crystal, but today long-time freelancer Amanda Hamon Kunz joins us as our newest assistant developer!

I'll let her introduce herself in her own words:

I can't believe I'm typing these words, but here goes: I'm Amanda Hamon Kunz, and I'm Paizo's newest assistant developer. It is fantastic to be here!

Tabletop roleplaying has been a part of my life since 2005. Back then, I remember poring through rulebooks and setting books with the distinct feeling that I had finally found a hobby seemingly made just for me. In late 2011, I merged my professional skills with my love of gaming and started freelancing for Paizo. Since then, I've worked on more than a dozen Paizo products and many third-party products. I quickly learned that making Pathfinder products is just as fun as playing them.

When I'm out of the word mines and away from the gaming table, I also enjoy roleplaying and survival horror video games, board games in similar genres, and a wide range of fiction (novels written in the Victorian era are a particular favorite). Needless to say, my husband and I are new to Seattle as of Saturday, but it's already starting to feel like home!

Amanda Hamon Kunz
Assistant Developer

So please join all of us in welcoming Amanda to Paizo!

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief

(P.S.: This ISN'T an April Fools joke. Maybe next year, y'all.)

Welcome Julie Iaccarino!

Thursday, March 26, 2015

As any good secret society knows, a cult just isn't a cult without a regular influx of fresh me... er... dangerously motivated new team members. As such, I am pleased to announce the newest member of Paizo's technology team Julie Iaccarino! Julie amazed us with her technical savvy, enthusiastic personality, and daunting knowledge of gaming essentials.

Hello fellow humans and non-humans!

I'm the newest program-code-maker and my name is Julie Iaccarino! Some people might also know me as "Muse," "biscuitWizard," or "Hey, you!" I'm absolutely thrilled to be working with Paizo, and hope to make the awesomest of things.

For the basics, I defer to excerpts from a review written by a friend:

• Pros: She cooks, she's got a fun sense of humor, and her grunts and gestures form a simple yet elegant language, beautiful in its own way.
• Cons: She emits a steady ultrasonic whistle that causes dogs to bark, whine, and find religion. We think there's something wrong with her mechanical brain. Hitting her upside the head with a wrench doesn't seem to work. It's like pulling teeth getting her to listen to your mix tape.

Besides all that, I've been playing tabletop games since 2006 (my first being Dungeons & Dragons 3.5e!) There are many hobbies I enjoy, including programming games for game jams, reading, wrenching on things, electronics hacking, and cooking things.

Julie Iaccarino
Software Developer

Join me in handing her a lovely hooded robe (bedazzled for +3 to technomancy) and welcoming her to the Paizo technology team!

Cort Odekirk
Technology Manager

Remembering Mike McArtor

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Yesterday brought the sad news that our old colleague, Mike McArtor, had passed away. Mike joined the Paizo staff back in the "magazine days," as an editor on Dragon Magazine. He was a mainstay of office campaigns, a pillar of our editorial operation, and once the magazines went away, Mike was one of the earliest architects of Pathfinder and the world of Golarion. He left Paizo in 2008, on the eve of the Core Rulebook launch, but his creative legacy remains an important part of the DNA of the Pathfinder world. His positive attitude and welcoming friendliness, I hope, also helped to shape the DNA of Paizo itself. We're a much larger, much different company than we were in those now nearly mythical magazine days, but we like to think Mike's spirit hung around and continued to influence the company years after he left.

In recent years, Mike was an editor for Magic: The Gathering at Wizards of the Coast. That kept him in the Seattle game professional orbit, and many of us found ourselves running into Mike again and again at public events and parties. He was always a warm, friendly guy, and it was fantastic to see him still working in the field, obviously loving his job.

News of Mike's death yesterday hit many of us hard, and it wasn't long before some of Mike's friends and former colleagues shared some remembrances of his time at Paizo and the quality of his character. (Or, in the case of a guy who went through at least four characters in our office Age of Worms campaign, the quality of several of his characters.)

Here are some of those remembrances:

James Jacobs

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Mike McArtor is gone. Been thinking back on all the antics and shenanigans we all got up to back in the early days of Paizo, and I realized that Mike was not only one of the first people I ever gamed with at Paizo after I started working here... he was also the first Paizo GM I ever had. His game was a crazy one—his only real rule was that none of the player characters could be humans, because in the campaign he wanted to run, the humans were the monsters. We all got to pretty much choose anything we wanted as far as our character's race, and he used various books and house rules to help us build the characters we thought up... pretty much anything and everything was on the table. Our group had, among others, an air elemental, an ogre mage, a gold dragon, and some sort of dwarfataur thing (part dwarf, part lion, part beard). My character was Torak, an awakened deinonychus who had hopes of some day growing himself a pair of wings so he could fly.

Mike was instrumental in helping us all make it through when we shifted away from the magazines and started working on our own brand of products for Paizo. He was one of the three folks who handled the module line and the campaign setting line in those days, and in fact he pretty much single-handedly got the first hardcover version of the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting put together—he wrangled all the freelancers and handled much of the book's initial developing and editing. He also wrote the second installment of the Second Darkness Adventure Path—you know, the one where you get trapped in a lighthouse that breaks off its foundation and rolls down a hill into the ocean, and oh yeah, the lighthouse is filled with alien dog monsters whose bite turns you into zombies?

But if there was one book I'd have to pick that Mike worked on as my personal favorite, that'd hands-down be the Guide to Korvosa. It's still one of my favorite books in the campaign setting line; the amount of details he packed into that thing were invaluable in helping me build the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path, and it's a book I still reference today whenever I'm looking at designing new cities for the setting. While the city of Korvosa itself is from my homebrew setting, and while I was originally the one who was going to write the book, it became quickly apparent that I wouldn't have time... and Mike brought things to Korvosa that I never would have imagined. Things that, today, are what Korvosa is all about. From the little things, like the names for coins or those fun little squabbles between imps and pseudodragons, all the way up to elements that have become defining and iconic staples of our campaign world, like the name Jeggare or the infernal-minded Acadamae itself.

After I heard the news that he'd passed away, I went looking through my computer for any pictures I had of Mike, and it was tough. He never did like his picture to be taken, and I mostly respected that by not taking many pictures of him... I kinda wish I'd taken more now though. The only two I found, though, sum up Mike perfectly.

He was cool, and he was just about one of the friendliest, most peaceful guys I've ever known.

So indeed, Mike, my friend.

Stay cool, and be at peace.

F. Wesley Schneider

Mike and I started at Paizo the same week in 2003, joining Dragon magazine as assistant editors. You couldn't have chosen two people with more diametrically opposed tastes. We didn't agree on much, but that can be a good thing more often than you might think—especially when it comes to telling stories. Mike edited the same articles as me for years. Every day I found pages covered with his blue notes on my desk, challenging my design, correcting my grammar, and suggesting that maybe my articles needed more obscure historical factoids... or ninjas... or gnomes. Usually gnomes.

Our birthdays were the same week, too. When I was new here, Mike guaranteed I never spent a birthday alone.

Mike's most of the reason I know anything about editing. He taught me to see the value in other people's passions. He baffled me with how he could make friends with anyone. He proved that no matter the game, you can always play a ninja. He forced me to accept that some people can wear Micky Mouse sweaters unironically. Even now, there's plenty I'd argue with him about, and I doubt either of us would ever budge. But, even so, for all the candid corrections, all the enthusiastic suggestions, all the contrary perspectives, and all the countless other ways he was an honest, accepting, loving guy, I'll always be grateful.

Stephen Radney-Macfarland

I never had the opportunity to work with Mike McArtor. I worked at Wizards while he was at Paizo, and I was at Paizo during his stint with Wizards. But I did game with him, and always enjoyed the way we played and sometimes clashed at the table. Over my many years of chucking dice and playing roles amid a pile of books and the scattering of miniatures, I've found you can learn the measure of a person by gaming with them on a regular basis. I can tell you that Mike was one of the kindest, most sincere, and generous people I have ever had the opportunity to know. I will always cherish the roles he played around the table and the life he lived. Goodbye, my friend. You are missed.

Liz Courts

Mike was a sensei. In the very earliest days when I stepped into the Paizo board community pool, he was a warm and inviting presence. While my first attempts to pitch an article to Dragon Magazine died when the license ended, he still encouraged me to continue writing, a bit of motivation that later led to the formation of the (now ENnie Award-winning)Wayfinder fanzine. Without him, the tongue-in-cheek appellation of "gninja" that I use to this day would not be a thing, and marks of his subtle touch are everywhere, in both Pathfinder and in the Paizo community. He is sorely missed.

James L. Sutter

Mike McArtor was one of the first friends I made at Paizo: a majestic Assistant Editor of Dragon who deigned to take notice of a lowly editorial intern. Early on, he did me two big favors: the first when he let me write a Class Act article—and the second when he quietly killed it rather than let me embarrass myself in front of the rest of the staff with my own ignorance.

As time went on and I joined the editorial team in earnest, Mike and I bonded over a lot of things. We co-wrote articles. We formed a writers group with James Jacobs to work on our fiction. We codified The Rule—Paizo's system for when to use numerals versus spelling out numbers—and posted it on a support pillar with all the ceremony of Martin Luther nailing The Ninety-Five Theses to a church door. (Many years and an office change later, it still hangs in the Editorial Pit.) He would teach me about game balance and grammar, and in exchange I would try to shock him with tales of bohemian adventures and advise him on how to talk to girls. It was a good system.

Something you need to understand about Mike was that he was, at heart, a paladin. Or maybe a samurai. The point is, he believed in being a Good Guy, and honestly lived according to a code of honor. He was nice to everybody, and if you were his friend, there was never any question that he'd be there for you.

But let's not make this too mushy. If anything, Paizo's editorial team was built on its sense of humor, and there were pranks galore in the early days. One of my favorite memories of Mike was when, due to scheduling conflicts, I had to drop out of Jason Bulmahn's Eberron game that we'd been in together for years. To have some fun with it, I secretly arranged with Jason to punk everyone by killing off my character (tellingly named "The Kid") in the most spectacular way possible. When the time came, halfway through the session, everyone was shocked as my character was reduced to smoldering ruin.

But none more so than Mike. After a heartfelt, Darth-Vader-esque "NOOOOOOOO!", he tried desperately to save me, only to fail at every turn. I think there were actually tears in his eyes as I cleaned up my dice and walked—apparently heartbroken—out of the game. It was some of my best acting, and when Jason and I revealed the next morning that it had all been a setup, folks had a good laugh.

Except for Mike, who missed the explanation, and who later tracked me down to offer earnest condolences and make sure I was all right. I felt like a total jerk explaining the truth (even though he agreed it was pretty funny), but it drove home what I already knew: that Mike was a thoughtful guy who legitimately cared about people.

Mike moved on from Paizo while Pathfinder was still in its infancy, but if you've ever run a game in Korvosa, or worshiped Shelyn, or fought dragons, or interacted with any of a thousand other elements he contributed to the game, then you've been touched by his creativity.

Thank you, Mike. It was a privilege to know you, and none of us would be where we are without you. And as was drunkenly pointed out at many a joint birthday party—you had a heart of gold.

Jason Bulmahn

Just over 10 years ago, I moved to Seattle and one of the first friends I made out here was Mike McArtor. Mike and I both worked on Dragon. Along with Wes we were the ones responsible for developing the entire magazine month after month.

Being gamers, I soon started up an office game set in Eberron and Mike was one of my players. A lot of friendships were forged around that table and Mike, with his easy smile and good nature, was a huge part of that. I also killed Mike's characters... a lot. Mike had a tendency to make characters that would rush headlong into danger and I ended up using his PC as the "example" of how hard core my game was on more than one occasion. Mike would always laugh when his character was mulched, disintegrated, or charred. He always had another ready for the next session.

Years later, we both played in the office Age of Worms playtest. Mike's first character was a mute ninja (Mike loved ninjas). I honestly can't remember how he died.. but I am sure it was "quietly". His second character was a druid that was killed by his own animal companion. His third was Frothlethimble, a murderous, backstabbing gnome.

How I hated that character. Mike loved to goad on my honorable dwarf with his nasally gnome voice. We had a damn fine time going back and forth threatening to kill one another. At one point I even forced a confrontation with the rest of the party over which one of us would stay. After that, Frothlethimble promised to kill me in my sleep. Gar (my dwarf) had heard enough. In the next fight, against a mindflayer, the entire party was stunned except Gar. After putting down the aberration, Gar turned to Frothlethimble and his axe swung one more time.

Its the only time I have ever intentionally killed a fellow PC.

Mike laughed and laughed. That is what I loved about Mike. He was kind, he was honest, and he was a good man. I will miss him.

Erik Mona
Publisher

Welcome Jason Keeley!

Thursday, March 19, 2015

In the last week, you may have noticed Wes introducing two new developers here on this blog. Sadly, this has led the editorial team to the only logical conclusion: the developers must be bolstering their forces in preparation for an assault across the cube wall, in which they'll attempt to annex editor space. I can assure you, however, that the editors aren't about to go down without a fight, which is why we've hired a brand new word-warrior: editor Jason Keeley!

While I go secure the perimeter defenses, here's Jason to introduce himself:

Hello! I'm Jason Keeley, the newest editor here at Paizo. I'm thrilled to be working with this group of talented people.

I was introduced to RPGs shortly after college. Before that, I had only played video games like Might & Magic and Baldur's Gate, so I was familiar with the concept, but I didn't realize how quickly tabletop gaming would become such a huge part of my life. Soon after, I discovered Paizo through Dungeon magazine, and started running the Savage Tide Adventure Path. Many, many APs later (I even ran two at once!), I felt ready to begin contributing to the game I enjoyed so much. I contributed a short story and a monster to issues of Wayfinder, wrote a grimoire of spells for Fat Goblin Games' Vathak setting, and, most recently, made it to the top 16 of RPG Superstar 2015. I would have liked to continue in the contest, but, as you can see, the Golem came calling for me!

Outside of Pathfinder-related material, I edit stories for the swords-and-sorcery e-zine Worlds Without Master, as well as function as the editor-in-chief of my own (small) imprint, Pantheon Press. Our flagship product, Fortune's Fool, a Tarot-based RPG, won a Judge's Choice ENnie in 2011!

In my spare time, I enjoy reading, all kinds of gaming, and looking at funny pictures on the internet. Especially funny pictures of dogs.

Jason Keeley
Editor

Please help us welcome Jason to Paizo! With any luck, he'll survive the initial skirmishes. (If the photo is any indication, he's clearly no stranger to international espionage...)

James L. Sutter
Managing Editor

They Still Appreciate My Mastery Of Fire

Monday, March 9, 2015

We've got a few new faces in the editorial pit these days. One you've already met and a few we'll introduce soon, but we couldn't hope to pull off all our upcoming schemes without inviting back at least one familiar soul.

Some of you may recall an upstart goblin poking around the Paizo offices some five years ago, stealing ears and feeding the cave raptors. A goblin who vanished—under mysterious circumstances no less—after her ill-advised journey into the wildest depths of the warehouse.

That goblin was me. I have returned! Rejoice!

For those of you less versed in goblin lore: I am Crystal Frasier, author, illustrator, cartographer, and Paizo's newest assistant developer. What does an assistant developer do, you ask? That is an excellent question! I'm glad you asked! Moving on...

As I mentioned, I spent a fun five years working for Paizo as a production assistant and digital products assistant before leaving for a spell to make it on my own as a freelance writer, artist, and general awesome girl. But a freelancer's life is an isolated one, and without my shining smile to warm their days, Paizo employees began to wilt.* So for my own good and theirs, I have returned to beam my glorious radiance down. Also to develop books and edit statblocks—but mostly the beaming.

I've been gaming since the early nineties, when my love of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics lead me into the seedy world of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness roleplaying game. From this harmless gateway RPG, I explored Dungeons & Dragons, Silver Age Sentinels, GURPS, West End's Star Wars, and eventually Pathfinder. In those few minutes a week when I'm not playing tabletop games, reading game manuals, running games, writing game material, or dreaming about running games for Hayley Atwell, I like to read comics, make candy, and walk my corgi, Calamity.

It's good to be back.

Someone's got to feed those cave raptors!

Crystal Frasier
Assistant Developer

Please join us in welcoming Crystal back to Paizo!

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief

*Wes's Note: We value imagination in our storytellers.

Welcome Linda Zayas-Palmer!

Thursday, March 5, 2015

We're thrilled to announce the newest addition to the Pathfinder development team: Linda Zayas-Palmer! Linda blew us away with the development, design and editing chops she demonstrated on our blind test for the position. She also chose a nosoi psychopomp for her avatar, proving we chose well.

I'll let her introduce herself in her own words:

Hi, everybody! My name is Linda Zayas-Palmer, and I'm the new assistant developer at Paizo. I'm so excited!

I've always enjoyed RPGs and reading fantasy novels. In 2008, when Mark Seifter asked me if I would be interested in joining his 3.5 game, I jumped at the chance to join my first campaign. Since then, I've played and GMed 3.5, FATE, Mutants and Masterminds, and, of course, primarily Pathfinder. After an Adventure Path and a half, the pile of supplemental stories and subsystems I'd been building finally grew large enough that I decided to write for people other than my gaming group, and started freelancing.

In addition to my home games, I've been quite active in Pathfinder Society. I was Venture Lieutenant of Boston, along with Mark, and I recently earned my 5th GM star. If you haven't already checked out your local Lodge, even if you think home games are more your style, give it a shot! PFS has a lot to offer.

Other than tabletop roleplaying games, I enjoy a variety of board and video games, as well as linguistics, math, singing, and teaching.

Linda Zayas-Palmer
Assistant Developer

Please help us welcome her to the Paizo crew!

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief