Introducing the Narrative Team

Hi! Those of you who have been watching the credits of recent products or the discourse on social media may have noticed some shake-ups in Paizo’s staff recently.

Over the past couple of months, we’ve done some restructuring on the editorial team, and we’ve also welcomed many new faces. This restructuring includes reorganizing the designers, developers, and creative directors into three broad teams: the Narrative Team, led by me (Linda); the Rules and Lore team, led by Michael Sayre; and the Starfinder Team, led by Thurston Hillman.

Today, I’d like to introduce you to the narrative team. The narrative team is responsible for all Pathfinder adventures, including Adventure Paths, standalone Pathfinder Adventures, and Pathfinder Society. The team also includes Starfinder Society due to its close connections to Pathfinder Society through our Organized Play programs.

And without further ado, here’s who’s who in their own words, as well as how to contact each of us.

Jessica Catalan

Hi everyone! I’m Jessica Catalan and I’m the Starfinder Society Developer! I’m thrilled to be in charge of planning, outlining, assigning, and developing our Starfinder Society Scenarios, Starfinder Bounties, and our upcoming Starfinder Society Specials. In addition to working at Paizo full-time, I’m a frequent freelance author for the Pathfinder and Starfinder RPGs. Outside of writing, I love reading and playing board games. I live in wonderful Winnipeg, Canada with my husband, two kids, and pet rabbit. You can follow me on twitter @d20diaries. If you’re interested in writing a Starfinder Bounty or Starfinder Society Scenario, reach out to me at jessica.catalan@paizo.com.

Take care, folks!

John Compton

I’m John Compton, a senior developer currently working on Pathfinder’s Adventure Paths. Previously, I’ve overseen various organized play programs’ creative content and most recently co-led Starfinder’s hardcover book production, and it’s great to be revisiting adventure design on the narrative team (starting with the recently announced Sky King’s Tomb adventures). I love a good intrigue, heist, investigation, or adventure sandbox, and I’m excited about the to-be-announced stories we have in the works. While my assignments are few and far between, I’m always interested in meeting and training up our game’s next authors. You can contact me at john.compton@paizo.com.

When I’m not playing or creating RPG content in the Seattle area, I’m usually gardening, spoiling my friends’ various pets, socializing on Discord (I’m in the Pathfinder RPG and Starfinder RPG servers), dissecting whatever narrative media I consume, or learning eclectic trivia that then seeps into my professional writing.

Josh Foster

Greetings Pathfinders and Starfinders! I’m Josh Foster, a Pathfinder Society Developer. I’m full of ideas for short adventures and can’t wait to get them on the page. I’ll be the one outlining, assigning, and developing new Pathfinder Quests—and I’m extremely excited that Quests are coming back. I’ll also be working on non-metaplot scenarios for both Pathfinder and Starfinder Societies (though mainly Pathfinder), as well as helping the narrative team with the metaplot whenever they need my overly-caffeinated input.

I’ve been a mainstay of Pathfinder Society play since way back toward the launch of the campaign. I’m a five-star GM, have helped run the Pathfinder Society programs at several stores, and served as a Venture-Lieutenant in Georgia. When not playing tabletop RPGs, I spend way too much time playing Final Fantasy XIV. I’m now living in downtown Seattle with my amazing wife and our adorable dog.

If you’re interested in writing a quest or scenario, you can contact me at joshua.foster@paizo.com.
Good gaming everyone!

Vanessa Hoskins

I’m Vanessa Hoskins, a Developer on the Narrative Team, and I get to assign talented freelancers to help shape the stories we tell on Golarion (and beyond?). I’ll be outlining, assigning, and developing long-form adventures and their backmatter. This includes Adventure Paths and standalone adventures.

In addition to serving on the board of directors at the Know Direction Network, I’m a cast member on the Adventurous! actual play. I also co-author Vellum & Lace, the first piece of serialized Pathfinder fiction on Pathfinder Infinite, with Helen Savore. Finally, I recently started Ninja Cat Games, an indie video game studio. I do all of this while living in Indiana with my brilliant wife and our adorable dog.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NinjaCatVanessa
Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ninjacatvanessa
Contact me about work here: vanessa.hoskins@paizo.com

James Jacobs

Ahoy! I’m James Jacobs, Creative Director for the Pathfinder narrative team. I’ve been with Paizo for about a year less than Paizo’s been a thing, and over the past 19 and a half years have worn enough hats in the editorial department to make a whole family of ettins with chimera pets proud! Going forward, my focus will be on guiding the stories for all of the Pathfinder adventures Paizo will be producing, along with actually developing adventures for both the standalone line and the Adventure Path line. I’m hoping to be able to chat soon about some fun things we’ve got planned as the Adventure Path nears its 200th volume, and some new and exciting stuff we’ll be doing on the standalone adventure side. I’m also involved in other narrative-based things you’ll see coming from Paizo or our partners when it comes to stories beyond adventures.

As for myself? I’m from a small town, Point Arena, on the remote coast of northern California, but for the past half of my life I’ve been living up north in the Seattle hinterlands. (And yes, there’s a fair amount about the town of Sandpoint that’s inspired from my hometown… although we do have fewer goblins living there, especially since I moved up north!) I’m sort of a social media recluse, but I’m pretty active here on our message boards, and have started to de-lurk over on Reddit’s 2nd Edition Pathfinder page as well. Feel free to drop me a message anytime in either place, or shoot me an email at james.jacobs@paizo.com. I try to answer quickly, because who knows if I’ll get distracted chasing a bigfoot or chupacabra or mothman ten minutes from now and… wait… WHAT’S THAT NOISE! THAT HAND AT THE WINDOW……

Shay Snow

Hello, friends! I’m Shay Snow, one of the new developers for Pathfinder Society! You’ve probably seen my writing floating around, as I’ve been freelancing with Paizo since 2020 and was previously a member of Paizo’s fantastic editing team since October 2021!

While I’ve written two Starfinder Society scenarios, I’m quite new to Organized Play. However, the Emerald City Lodge has been extremely welcoming and willing to show me the ropes! I’ve enjoyed running and attending games, and I love the chance to interact with Paizo fans on the ground and get their opinions on the game and the Society. (Yes, you can tell me about your level 12 champion of Shelyn! But in exchange you must listen to me talk about my level 4 rogue!)

I’m from Watauga, Texas, a suburb between Dallas and Fort Worth, and I moved to Washington in February of 2022. I’m Native American, mixed Caddo and Swampy Cree. When not centered on tabletop games, I’m usually consuming horror content and spending time with my spouse and two cats, Beans and Sweet Corn. The best place to find me outside of my home office is on Twitter @spellsinsugar, or you can email me at shay.snow@paizo.com!

Linda Zayas-Palmer

Hi, I’m Linda Zayas-Palmer, the manager of the narrative team. My job mostly involves logistical tasks like scheduling, training, and reviewing text from developers.

I’ve been a fan of Paizo’s adventures since Pathfinder First Edition came out. The story of Rise of the Runelords inspired my home group to make the jump to Golarion, and Council of Thieves was my first-ever campaign as a GM. As for Organized Play, after positive experiences with the community at my first GenCon, I wound up joining the Boston Lodge as a player, GM, and eventually Venture-Lieutenant. Paizo’s adventures and the community around them have brought so much joy and togetherness to my life, and it’s a privilege to be part of the team that brings those kinds of experiences to the world.

In addition to my day job, I also do freelance writing for Pathfinder and Starfinder. Some of my recent projects include the raxilite section of Starfinder Interstellar Species and the final part of Roll for Combat’s Jewel of the Indigo Isles Adventure Path. Every Tuesday at 7pm Pacific and Saturday at 10am Pacific, I stream on Twitch together with former Paizo design manager Mark Seifter, under Arcane Mark (twitch.tv/arcanemark). Outside of Paizo and its products, I enjoy reading, math, teaching, solving puzzles, playing video games, watching anime, and singing.

I don’t engage much with social media, but if you’d like to reach out to me, you can email me at linda.zayas-palmer@paizo.com, or join Arcane Mark’s discord server at tiny.cc/arcanemark.

Jessica Catalan
Developer

John Compton
Senior Developer

Josh Foster
Developer

Vanessa Hoskins
Developer

James Jacobs
Creative Director

Shay Snow
Developer

Linda Zayas-Palmer
Development Manager