The Swallowtail Festival from Rise of the Runelords in full swing! We still don't know who invited the dragon...
At the PaizoCon 2012 banquet, we announced we've been working on Paizo Game Space, a virtual tabletop that runs right in your web browser. We've shown some screenshots, and clarified why we're doing this (hint: it's not to crush our enemies). But now it's been a few months, and the VTT isn't available yet, so we'd like to give you an update on where we are and answer some big questions: "When can I use it?" and "How much will it cost?"
When can I use it?
We're going to be starting public beta testing in the next few weeks. This beta test will be open to anybody who bought a ticket online for PaizoCon 2012. This gives us a reasonably limited group of people to bang on it and break the obvious stuff so we can fix it before opening it up to everybody. Ideally, the beta test will last just a few weeks, but that will depend on what breaks.
How much will it cost?
As we've said before, it'll be free to play. But we'll have ways for you to give us money. Since we're talking about selling access to digital data, pretty much anything is possible, but initially, we're focusing on maps, tokens and adventures.
We've also settled on some basic principles:
- If you buy it, you keep it. That means no limited number of uses, no monthly fees, no pay-per-play, no rentals. If you buy a token set for Paizo Game Space, you can use those tokens whenever you like. Period. There's no extra charge to use the same token in multiple games. You won't have to pay us again next year to keep using it. And if you buy a campaign and want to run multiple groups through it, you can do that, too.
- If someone at the table has it, everybody can see it. Rather than make GMs have to purchase everything, we think it's important for players to be able to help out. So if Karzoug is running a campaign, and needs Flip-Mat: Country Inn, Merisiel can just let him use hers.*
So how much does that Flip-Mat cost Merisiel? We're still working out pricing for things like Adventure Paths and token packs, but we can tell you this: Flip-Mats and Map Packs will be just $1.99. And if you already bought the PDF for a Flip-Mat or Map Pack? You can use it in Paizo Game Space, free.
Gary Teter
Senior Software Developer
*Little-known fact: rogues love to share. And runelords make great GMs.
