Welcome Our New Intern, Jay!

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Greetings one and all! My name is Jay Loomis, and I'm one of the new editorial interns here at Paizo HQ. I share a desk with Cassidy, whom you have already met (though I haven't, due to a temporal displacement in our schedules).

I'm a graduate student at the University of Washington, Bothell in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Poetics program. My path to grad school was long and winding, and involved a ton of professional experience in technical and expository writing, management and team dynamics, desktop publishing and a smidgeon of graphic design, among many other areas. That's a roundabout way of saying that I'm kind of old for an intern. I look forward to bringing my experience to bear as I learn more about the world of RPG publishing.

Coming to Paizo is one step in the fulfillment of a dream to make RPGs that started when I was 10. That was a long time ago (here's a hint: that was the year that I got Star Frontiers, Marvel Superheroes [the original in the yellow box], and The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game, all published by TSR) so it feels really good. My interest in design hasn't lain dormant in the intervening years. I'm always designing games of one sort or another. I have accumulated a lot of theory, and have helped my peers learn about designing games as the president of the Game Design Club at school. Last year I was fortunate enough to be the editor of the critically acclaimed Dungeon World, published by Sage Kobold designs.

In the rare moments that I am not playing or talking about roleplaying games or doing homework (or playing or talking about other tabletop games) I enjoy blacksmithing, stage combat and European martial arts (swords!). I like making things with my hands and (when time allows) walking in nature and relaxing at home with my wife and two cats.

I can't wait to dive deeper into the inner workings of Pathfinder and to tell you about it here on the blog!

Jay Loomis
Editorial Intern

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Tags: Interns Paizo
Paizo Employee Developer

Glad to have you, Jay!

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Welcome Jay!

Sovereign Court

What happened to Paizo's cute-pet-based recruitment strategy?

All of this RPG experience stuff will never do!

Spoiler:
what?


welcome

Dark Archive

welcome Jay, watch out for cave raptors


Welcome! (I don't work for Paizo, but I'm glad you do!) :D

Liberty's Edge

Welcome aboard, Jay! Any thoughts about swords in RPGs based on your own expertise?


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Welcome to the asylum!

(FWIW, I remember all of those games being released too...)


Jay Loomis wrote:
Greetings one and all! My name is Jay Loomis, and I'm one of the new editorial interns here at Paizo HQ. I share a desk with Cassidy, whom you have already met (though I haven't, due to a temporal displacement in our schedules).

My theory is that one of the developers was experimenting with further alchemist discoveries using Cassidy as a guinea pig, and accidentally created a Dr. Jeckyll and Intern Hyde situation. Has anyone independently verified that Cassidy and Jay aren't two personalities in one intern?

Welcome to Paizo :) Hope you enjoy the experience, and don't forget your +1 flaming troll-bane machete if you wander into some of the more heated discussions on the board.

The Exchange RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

No relation to Rick Loomis?


Pathfinder Adventure, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Welcome!

Scarab Sages Contributor

Welcome, Jay!

Grand Lodge

Welcome,
Any relation to Willie Loomis?

Liberty's Edge

I have all those games... :)

Welcome aboard and have fun during your internship, Jay.

Lantern Lodge RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4

Welcome aboard, Jay!


Welcome to the nuthouse!


GeraintElberion wrote:

What happened to Paizo's cute-pet-based recruitment strategy?

All of this RPG experience stuff will never do!

** spoiler omitted **

Alas, my two cats, while very handsome, can't hope to compete with a bunny named Aslan. Cassidy wins that battle for sure!

Editorial Intern

William Ronald wrote:
Welcome aboard, Jay! Any thoughts about swords in RPGs based on your own expertise?

That's a big can of worms. I'll suppress the urge to go on a know-it-all nerdissertation on one of my favorite topics. :-)

I'll just make two points:

First, weight is the most anachronistically silly thing perpetuated in RPGs. Swords--and, indeed, all functional weapons--are lighter than we popularly believed. As an example, I have a replica of one of the largest swords that was ever actually used for combat, a Germanic greatsword, that weighs only a bit over four pounds. Even at that weight, the inertia you have to work with is pretty intense.

Second, and I don't want to stir up a storm of controversy here, I am always slightly amused by the way that we roleplayers want to designated fine-grained differences in the damage capacity between weapons. So much more important is how the weapon was designed to be used and how skillful the wielder is. That's one of the reasons why I generally really like the combat maneuver system in Pathfinder. It makes a workable system to account for some of the more important distinctions between weapons via the special qualities.

Editorial Intern

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome! I'm thrilled to be here!

To answer some current and (possibly) future questions, I'm not related to any famous Loomises. I have a brother named Jeff, but he is not the noted guitarist.

Oh, and I have now been in the same room as Cassidy. Sorry to shut down any speculation about time-space anomalies and the like. :-)


But... but... with no time-space (or space-time) anomalies, how are we all supposed to develop super powers and end up in Golarion? :(

Editorial Intern

Jay Loomis wrote:
Oh, and I have now been in the same room as Cassidy. Sorry to shut down any speculation about time-space anomalies and the like. :-)

When was this?! The only proof I've had of your existence so far is the occasional post-it note.


Cassidy Werner wrote:
Jay Loomis wrote:
Oh, and I have now been in the same room as Cassidy. Sorry to shut down any speculation about time-space anomalies and the like. :-)
When was this?! The only proof I've had of your existence so far is the occasional post-it note.

Oh-hoho! Space anomalies may be in existence yet!

Clever, Mr. Loomis: you were in the same room... but not at the same time! We're onto you... two (and/or you one...)!

Project Manager

Cassidy Werner wrote:
Jay Loomis wrote:
Oh, and I have now been in the same room as Cassidy. Sorry to shut down any speculation about time-space anomalies and the like. :-)
When was this?! The only proof I've had of your existence so far is the occasional post-it note.

Move along, nothing to see here. *whistles innocently*

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