Surviving Dagon...

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

If you've ever crawled out from the depths of the Abyssal sea of Ishiar after battling Dagon and his infinite number of monstrous creations for days on end, you may have an idea of what finals week of my last quarter at Western was like. The stress was immense, and I'm just as confused as you are as to what the Shadow in the Sea was doing in Bellingham, Washington. Nonetheless, I emerged victorious—or at least alive. When I found out I got the job for Pathfinder Developer at Paizo a few weeks later, it was like breaking through the Outer Rifts and finding myself in Elysium. I'd done it! I'd finished college and gotten the job and was now working in the same offices as the authorial titans of roleplaying lore! Hooray!

I'd gotten a taste of what it was like to work among the titans over a year ago, while I was Editorial Intern at Paizo. I shared a cube with Crystal, and it was a bit quieter around the office, and I was paralyzed most days with excitement and anxiety at the mere prospect of being in the same building as all these writers whose names I had seen countless times on the books among my shelves at home.

Now, I share a cube with the editors, Judy, James, and Chris, and Wes says I'll be moving over to the developer side in a while. It's not as quiet in the office, since the company's grown a lot even since just last year, and there are a ton of new faces since I last stepped foot in the building. It's exciting to work alongside both people I've worked with before and those whose names I've only seen in print, and I'm looking forward to contributing my humble services alongside these industry giants. They've got me working hard already, and I'm currently concentrating on Faiths of Corruption and the Jade Regent Player's Guide, which are going to be totally sweet, let me tell you.

While my joining the Paizo team is pretty exciting in and of itself (I'm excited anyway!), I am also pleased to report that the PRD has been updated to include rules from both Bestiary 2 and Ultimate Magic. Check it out!

Patrick Renie
Developer