This past year has been a wild ride. As a look back on the year, I wanted to use this space to let the Paizo editorial team (developers, designers, editors, and art team) share some of our favorite things that we made or did during 2018. If you missed part 1 of this two-part blog, check it out here!
Thanks to Sonja and Emily on the art team for selecting the accompanying art, and thanks to all of you out there that have supported us in our endeavors. Happy Holidays!
Illustration by Artur Nakhodkin
Jason Keeley (Developer)
The project I am proudest of this year is the release of the Signal of Screams Adventure Path for Starfinder. I've been working on the Starfinder adventures for a bit now, but this particular set of adventures were the first ones I concepted and outlined on my own. I got to indulge my love of horror and all things dark and terrible, as well as tell a type of story we hadn't yet told in Starfinder. Of course, this Adventure Path wouldn't exist at all without the efforts of the rest of the Starfinder team, everyone else here at Paizo, and my terrific authors, but I feel a certain sense of ownership over SoS (see what I did there?). Plus, I got to contribute to this awesome trailer.
As night settles over the land so very early in this cold and wintry days, why not fix yourself a mug of steaming hot liquid, wrap yourself up tightly in a blanket, and open up a volume of the Signal of Screams Adventure Path near your very vulnerable face? Really, what's the worst that could happen?
Lu Pellazar (Editor)
What a year 2018 has been! There were ups, there were downs, there were "oh no what is happening who am I what day is it"s. I've had my hands in a ton of new products, both as an editor and a writer, but I must say my magnum opus (at least for this year) are my contributions to the Starfinder Alien Archive 2: my bug children, the osharus and bolidas! I also got to refine my metaphorical juggling game in working on the Pathfinder Playtest, the Starfinder Armory (two words: BATTLE RIBBON), and the nail-biting-intrigue-filled War for the Crown APs all at the same time. I had a go at the Starfinder Beginner Box, and seeing it go from ideas floating in the Paizo brainverse to a real, tangible product is simply surreal! Last but not least, I gotta say the best part of my 2018 at Paizo was the addition of my new team members, James, Jason, and Leo! Shout out to my grammarsmith fam! We couldn't have made it through this rollercoaster of a year without y'all. =)
Chris Sims (Developer)
I dove into the Vast this last year, starting with Starfinder Armory and Alien Archive 2. It was fun to create the quorlu and the velstrac anchorite, and to watch Armory disappear at Gen Con. That said, I'm grateful that my colleague and Adventure Path mentor Jason Keeley "made" me write The Diaspora Strain adventure. Not only did I learn a lot, but I also got to delve into making horror for what's normally magical space opera. I hope my goal of affecting the players, rather than just the characters, plays out. Players should enjoy the adventure most of all, but I also want them to be a little harrowed and grateful the characters survived. It's a different feeling than most heroic adventure stories, much like it was a different feeling to write that adventure. And after that trip into darkness, I get to take players straight into the Pact Worlds sun in 2019. Ah, it is good to be a Starfinder developer.
Illustration by Federico Musetti
Amanda Hamon Kunz (Starfinder Managing Developer)
I can hardly believe that 2018 was just one year! In that span, I've had the privilege of officially moving back onto the Starfinder team, and being the game's managing developer has been a fantastic ride of creativity, teamwork, crunchy projects, challenging deadlines, and some of the best times I've had all year with the team's amazing game professionals: Rob McCreary, Owen K.C. Stephens, Thurston Hillman (PAIZO NORTH!), Jason Keeley, Joe Pasini, and Chris Sims. Gen Con this year was another incredible one for us, as we sold out of the Starfinder Armory on Day 1, and the year rolled on as we faced some mammoth beasts including the Starfinder Beginner Box, class design on the Character Operations Manual and now those classes' playtest, Adventure Path development, and more things that I can't even talk about yet! It has been a crazy year, but a great one. Here's to 2019!
Illustration by Vlada Hladkova
Adam Daigle (Pathfinder Managing Developer)
2018 has been a wild year. The announcement of the upcoming new edition and the Pathfinder Playtest this past March was exciting and quite a relief. I'm honestly surprised that the news didn't leak prior to the announcement (though I'm certain that many people were expecting a new edition on the horizon). It's hard keeping a secret for that long.
In addition to that, this year saw the release of my very first Adventure Path adventure Pathfinder Adventure Path #133: Secrets of Roderic's Cove. I've written plenty of articles and monsters over the years and have developed over a dozen Adventure Path adventures, but never managed to write one. Let me tell you, they're no easy thing to do.
While that was cool, I think my favorite part of 2018 was adding new faces to the developer ranks! Having Ron, Luis, Eleanor, Mike, and Chris join the team this year has been awesome. I'm very happy to be working alongside them and the rest of the best damn team of developers in the industry.
Thurston Hillman (Starfinder Society Developer)
2018 really saw the Starfinder Society kick into high gear! I'm grateful for the past year and getting to see a ton of really inspiring scenarios get played across the world, and hearing the ensuing feedback from all our fans. I just want to give a big thanks to all our fans and people who help keep Starfinder Society Organized Play growing. On a more personal note, I also had the opportunity to put together an exclusive Starfinder Society special scenario (#1-98: Into the Perplexity) which has become something of a hit among the conventions I've run it at. For 2019, I'm really looking forward to bringing the Scoured Stars season to its climactic conclusion, and moving forward into the unknown, including a very special #2-98 Perplexity sequel, that I'm already putting together for PaizoCon 2019!
Mark Moreland (Franchise Manager)
Every year comes with far more highlights than I could ever fit into a single highlight blog, from the launch of new Adventure Paths to new faces in the Paizo offices. For me personally, however, 2018 will always stand out as the first year that two large licensed projects I had a sizable hand in producing came out, both iterations of the Kingmaker Adventure Path from way back in 2010. You see, the Kingmaker Player's Guide was one of three consecutive "first assignments" I had writing for Paizo, so it's always held a special place in my heart. When I switched roles from development to franchise management toward the end of last year, the fact that two of the projects I'd be working on would be Kingmaker-related made me even more happy!
Illustration by Josef Kucera
The first Kingmaker release to come out this year was by far the largest license Paizo has ever done, and one of the most robust projects I've ever worked on: Pathfinder: Kingmaker, an immersive and expansive CRPG adaptation of the Kingmaker AP. I came into the process long after the Owlcats had begun development, but I worked closely with their narrative team to approve storylines, dialogue, and in-world texts before the game's launch. At one point, I had a 10-inch stack of printed in-game text on my desk for approval. I won't pretend I read all 800,000 words, but it was certainly enough to keep me busy! After playing through the prologue and chapter one about seven times in alpha and beta builds, seeing the game in the wild, with tens of thousands of players worldwide was really something to behold. I'm still involved with the game's updates and expansions, but for the most part, I'm just enjoying my own journey through the Stolen Lands in my personal playthrough.
The second major Kingmaker release was Pathfinder Battles: Kingmaker, which was the first major prepainted plastic minis set I worked extensively on. While I didn't make the initial setlist, I was heavily involved in modifying it and approving the sculpts and paint masters. Again, seeing the set in the wild and reading and hearing fan reactions to it really made all the attention to detail and time poring over reference art for any room for improvement worth it!
As we look to a new year on the horizon, I'm already deep in the next few projects (including some we haven't announced yet!) so it's nice to stop for a minute and reflect on what made 2018 such a fantastic year to be Paizo's franchise manager.
Leo Glass (Editor)
My first year as an Editor at Paizo is in the books, and I can't believe how amazing it's been to collaborate with so many incredible professionals who deeply love Pathfinder and Starfinder! I had a blast editing sections of Pathfinder Playtest Adventure: Doomsday Dawn, Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook, Pathfinder Playtest Bestiary, Starfinder Alien Archive 2, Starfinder Armory, Starfinder Beginner Box, and numerous other Pathfinder and Starfinder adventure paths and scenarios. I loved working on the Starfinder Critical Hit Deck, because 1) author Owen K.C. Stephens is one of the most creative and intelligent folks I've ever worked with and 2) who doesn't appreciate an accessory that enables you to horribly eviscerate your foes? Finally, I also got the chance to write one of four quests in Pathfinder Society Playtest Scenario #1: The Rose Street Revenge, marking my first professional foray into adventure writing. Thanks to everyone whose contributions made these products successful!
2019 is going to be a great year for Pathfinder and Starfinder, and I can't wait to gush about all of the amazing products on the horizon. Until then, I hope everyone has a happy and safe new year. Oh, and if anyone knows how to train a squox to hold a red pen, DM me. See you at PaizoCon!
Illustration by Helge C. Balzer
Linda Zayas-Palmer (Organized Play Developer)
This year's certainly been a busy one. When it comes to the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild, we've been bouncing back and forth between the current campaign and the future of the Pathfinder Society. Wrapping up season 9 and rolling into season 10, we've been focused on bringing exciting conclusions to some of the campaign's looming threats and answering some of its mysteries. And when it comes to looking forward, we've spent plenty of time planning how to improve the Pathfinder Society experience in the future. We couldn't do it without all of you guys, which is why we've also been running quite a few surveys to gather your feedback. To all of you who have participated in those surveys, thank you very much for taking the time to share your perspectives and ideas with us.
When it comes to what I'm most proud of that I worked on this year, The Hao Jin Cataclysm certainly takes the cake. I developed both the Roleplaying Guild and Adventure Card Guild components of it, making it both my first interactive special as a developer and the moment when I took over the reins of Adventure Card Guild development. It was great fun to pick up a bunch of plot threads and NPCs from past adventures in the Hao Jin Tapestry and continue their stories. The experience of overseeing it at Gen Con was something I'll never forget.
I'm looking forward to what we have coming down the pike for you in 2019, and to when I can talk more about our plans for this year's convention season. But for now, happy holidays, everyone!
Illustration by Marko Horvatin
Gabriel Waluconis (Project Manager)
As the project manager my red-hot favorite was implementing project management software across the entire editorial team. What's that? People aren't here to read about that sort of work? Oh dearie me. Ahem.
As the project manager I don't have much to do with the creative aspects of any products. But I was quite happy to work with the good folk here to push out the Construct Handbook. I really like constructs. Like, you don't even know. I've also enjoyed working alongside my talented co-workers in tackling the logistical challenges of releasing a new edition for Pathfinder, having two playtests back to back (Pathfinder Playtest and the Character Operations Manual), all while continuing our normal release schedule.
But in the end, my absolute red-hot favorite is seeing a finished product on my desk. Knowing it couldn't happen without all of the departments here at Paizo. From editorial, customer service, finance, marketing, web team, IT team, to our awesome warehouse staff.
Jason Bulmahn (Director of Game Design)
Going into this year, I think that everyone on the design team was a bundle of nerves. We had been quietly working on the playtest for almost two years, but the hardest part was yet to come. All my experience with the first edition playtest told me that it was going to be fine, that the playtest was a good thing, something to help us better understand our game, but you just don't know until it is out there. What parts were going to work? What rules were going to end up in Pharasma's Boneyard? Only the playtest would reveal the truth. Since the day we announced, the rest of the year has been a blur. There have been ups and downs, and a lot of late nights spent pouring through survey results to tease out how the game was actually performing, but I can honestly say that we are leaving the year with a game that is leagues ahead of where we started… and it is all thanks to you! We have been hammering away at this game, but it was all of you helped us understand what needed to be fixed. So, I want to close out by looking forward. 2019 is going to be a great year for Pathfinder and speaking for the design team, we can't wait for you to see the Pathfinder 2nd Edition.
James Case (Editor)
That was a thing! I started at Paizo on the first (work) day of the year, only to find out that a second edition was in the pipeline about ten minutes into my first meeting. Getting the chance to work on a whole new edition from the ground up isn't something that happens often, and it was great to GM delves at PaizoCon and finally see so many players get to try out the playtest for the first time. In fact, having never gone to a gaming convention before, just seeing everyone enjoying Pathfinder and Starfinder at PaizoCon and Gen Con was exhilarating. My first piece of RPG writing was also published this year, a writeup for the aphorite race in Plane-Hopper's Handbook (curiously, the art ended up looking not entirely unlike a golder version of me, despite being ordered long before I was assigned to write the piece). I'm looking forward to the next year!
Adam Daigle
Managing Developer
