Curmudgeonly's page

You can hear it from James directly here OceanshieldwolPF 2.5:

Paizo Direct for December

Let him enjoy his vacation :)

I sent this question into the support team with another issue I am having, but I suppose I will ask it here too. Has the discount for owning the pdfs of an adventure towards a foundry module gone away? If it has I find that rather disappointing. I run most of my games through foundry and have been for a long while. The fact that I get the pdfs and the discount on the module is really the whole reason I am doing the subscription to get the physical adventure books. Maybe I just missed something with the new site though.

This is indeed a change due to the new store not being able to gate discounts based on ownership, it was announced in one of the blogs:

Foundry VTT: We’ve been offering two different versions of Foundry VTT products: one that includes the PDF and the code together, and one that offers just the code at a discount for customers who already owned the PDF. The new store unfortunately can’t support gating a product behind PDF ownership, so we’ll be offering our Foundry modules exclusively as code-only items and pricing them similarly to the code-only Paizo products already available for purchase on the official Foundry storefront.

While that does mean that our existing PDF + Foundry bundles and discounts for PDF ownership will be going away with the launch of the new store, we fully plan to explore new options in the near future that can offer a similar combined value to customers who invest deeply into digital content.

https://paizo.com/blog/introducing-the-new-paizo-store

Also, the whole “Don’t worry multi-subscription customers, yes we’re taking away the Free Scenario multi-subscription incentive, but you can just use your gold to purchase the Scenarios we previously gave you for free” isn’t panning out very well. In addition to being a pain to have to go through the whole ‘exchange gold to get a code and then use that code to buy what we used to automatically add to your account for free’ process every month, the scenarios are priced such that we will either have to waste some of the scenario discount or pay money out of pocket.

Example:
-We use 50 gold to get $10 off Scenarios.
-If a scenario costs $6 (ignoring tax and discount), we just wasted $4 worth of value since apparently that unspent scenario discount doesn’t carry over to the next scenario purchase.
-If we instead order two scenarios for a total of $12, we’re paying $2 for the scenarios we used to get for free.

Never thought I’d long for the “good old days” of the mess that was the old store, but here we are. :-(

The blog they had put out specifically intended each $10 code to be for 1 society scenario. https://paizo.com/blog/introducing-paizo-plus

You’ll see that you can get a Pathfinder Society or Starfinder Society scenario for $10 off, which will make most scenarios you choose free.

Sounds like the want the value to be 50 gold = 1 scenario.

Do we need to contact CS about our Gold missing from prior purchases for Paizo Plus? (as well as gold from the subs that just shipped?)

Or will this be resolved automatically?

In the new downloads section, the title of the product doesn't specify if it's the single pdf or split by chapter version, you have to click in to see. It is confusing.

Also, a few bugs with titles:

The Gatewalker Hardcover is listed as 2247461 for the single file version and 2247455 for the split by chapter version.

Monster Core is listed as 2022404 for single file and 2022397 for split by chapter

Age of Ashes Player's Guide is listed as 2020490

I also regularly get an error when attempting to navigate the pagination for the download

I thought our past purchases would get taken into account for the Paizo Plus - but I started with 0 stars and not at legendary status.

Did I misunderstand?

Also Hephaistos: https://sf2e.hephaistos.online/

OceanshieldwolPF 2.5 wrote:

Will Product Discussion threads disappear?

The forum discussion for products will disappear from the product detail page. Those historical pages will still be present in the forums, however.

-Jim

Damn - that's unfortunate. It was a really good place to engage with devs... :(

Technical limitations aside, we do still believe that you should have an option for getting both the Foundry VTT module and the PDF for a given adventure without having to pay full price for both, and we are actively dedicated to finding a way to implement a new solution in the (hopefully near) future

Hmm, this is unfortunate for those of us who get who get the PDF as part of subscriptions.

Jim Butler wrote:

The new store unfortunately can't support gating a product behind PDF ownership, so we'll be offering our Foundry modules exclusively as code-only items and pricing them similarly to the code-only Paizo products already available for purchase on the official Foundry storefront.

The way I read it, you won't be losing the PDF discount as the product that will be available will be priced the same as if you had the PDF under the current system. Assuming the are no other differences between the code only Foundry modules and ones bundled with the PDF, this seems fair enough to me.

It's saying they will be priced the same as they are on the Foundry VTT Marketplace.

$14 currently on Paizo store if you have PDF already.
$29.99 on FVTT Marketplace.

Cori Marie wrote:

Dead God's Hand also suffered from scope increase due to the writer turning in a lot more pages than was asked for. James Jacobs said that in most cases once you hit 5-6 levels of play that's where it becomes AP rather than Adventure.

James was speaking to Pathfinder adventures vs Pathfinder Adventure Paths. On that side of the Gap, we're sticking with the format of an Adventure Path covering a minimum of 9 to 10 levels, with a standalone adventure covering (at most) 5 to 6 levels. Things that land in between will either be trimmed to be a standalone or expanded to be an Adventure Path.

Starfinder is a different game, and things we do on the Pathfinder side should not be assumed to be the status quo for the Starfinder side.

This topic DID just come up in a meeting both teams were in earlier today though! I hope that we can consolidate the terminology going forward at some point in the future to avoid confusion... but in the end, keeping an eye on how many levels of play an adventure covers will be your best bet. Don't get too caught up in the semantics of what is an adventure or what is an Adventure Path, is my advice for now, I guess?

Appreciate the reply James, and glad the topic was discussed at least.

Does anyone else have this in their side cart yet? I have the Alien Core in my side cart and this is expected to come out a month before that.

I just got paizo order email today.

Dead God's Hand also suffered from scope increase due to the writer turning in a lot more pages than was asked for. James Jacobs said that in most cases once you hit 5-6 levels of play that's where it becomes AP rather than Adventure.

His actual quote is "Once you start doing more than 6 levels in a book, its length and scope wants it instead to be an Adventure Path."

This clearly falls under that scope.

But I'm sure James would prefer we didn't argue on semantics.

The point is, there is a stark difference between what is being called a Starfinder AP is and what historically has been a Pathfinder AP is, and it's causing confusion and frustration. Clarifying things would be good.

Maya - the confusion comes from how short this "AP" is, this would firmly land in the standalone adventure category on the PF side.

As a comparison, Dead God's Hand goes 1 level higher, and is clearly a standalone adventure.

Calling this an adventure path feels very disingenuous coming from a Pathfinder player.

Consistency in naming is important so customers can understand what to expect in a purchase.

Outside of remaster stuff, any hints as to what changes were made?

For context, Rage of Elements pdf is just under 24 MB, whereas the next two books were around 10x the size, with similar page counts.

Tian Xia World Guide: 357 MB
Howl of the Wild: 233 MB

And books since then have been between 120-316 MB.

100% this. I don't believe Maya's answer is accurate at all in this instance.

I thought at some point I had read that there was a blank token border included for players, but I haven't been able to find it. Did I make that up, or am i missing it?

It's in this folder: modules\pf2e-ap181-186-blood-lords\assets\art

called bloodlords-blank-token.webp

Having major problems using this module in the current version of Foundry VTT 13. The module will not initialize. Something about importing the scenes within the module does not function. You are forced to initialize the module without importing the scenes. I am forced to make the scenes myself, despite the fact that this module says the scenes have been premade. Bizarre.

The developer has a support site here: https://support.metamorphic-digital.com/

Curmudgeonly wrote:

DemonicDem wrote:

Curmudgeonly wrote:

DemonicDem wrote:

So our GM has noted that they have no idea why Iron Harbor has the flag of Xin-Eurynthia. Does anyone else know?

Iron Harbor itself isn't. The ship (trireme) is. The ship and crew are from Xin-Edasseril.

Thanks for the correction. Still doesn't make much sense. Could just be an error, which is pretty funny because I spent the whole AP questioning people about it.

What part doesn't make sense? It's explained very clearly in the module.

** spoiler omitted **

Xin-Edasseril is not Xin-Eurynthia

ha, thanks for pointing out my part in adding to this confusion!

Curmudgeonly wrote:

DemonicDem wrote:

So our GM has noted that they have no idea why Iron Harbor has the flag of Xin-Eurynthia. Does anyone else know?

Iron Harbor itself isn't. The ship (trireme) is. The ship and crew are from Xin-Edasseril.

Thanks for the correction. Still doesn't make much sense. Could just be an error, which is pretty funny because I spent the whole AP questioning people about it.

What part doesn't make sense? It's explained very clearly in the module.

So our GM has noted that they have no idea why Iron Harbor has the flag of Xin-Eurynthia. Does anyone else know?

Iron Harbor itself isn't. The ship (trireme) is. The ship and crew are from Xin-Edasseril.

Anybody else's physical copy have some missing letters in chapter 2 for some of the research / quests?

"Activating the He lstorm Focus"
" e Clockwork Songbird"
"Copycat Ki ler"
"Two A ditional Events"

Wondering if I just got a weird copy or it's affecting the print run

Maya Coleman wrote:

Mangaholic13 wrote:

Dear Maya Coleman,

Would it be possible for you guys to put out a version of the pdf that does not include the maps? The two-page spread makes it hard to read the rest.

Also,
any chance the table of contents will be added to the pdf in a future update?

Also also,
I like how Vlaka come with sign language automatically. A nice little detailed touch.

Hey Magnaholic! Unsure about PDFs without maps since the PDFs are just digital versions of the books, and the books have maps, but as far as the table of contents, I can confirm it's on page 3 of 180 of the PDF already!

Pathfinder books, and SF1 books, have a PDF table of contents that allows navigating the PDF easily. This book doesn't have one, so you can't easily navigate to the sections you want to.

It would also be a huge improvement to the usability of the PDF if the horizontal maps were not included in the main PDF- they're already included as a separate download. Because they show up horizontally in the PDF, though, the PDF viewing is sized to a massive width, rather than being sized to the width of a normal page.

Between the two, it means zooming in to the right size, scrolling to the right part, and recentering because of the scrolling. In a Pathfinder book, that would just be clicking to the right part of the book from the PDF viewer's navigation sidebar. (Sorry for the over-explanation; just making sure the end-user experience gets across!)

Hmm, my copy of the PDF's table of content (page 2) works as normal (as in I can click on a section and it automatically takes me to that page), and the file has pre-made bookmarks as is standard for all Paizo PDFs.

You'll note that the subscription is "Starfinder Adventures" not "Starfinder Adventure Paths"

There's no Adventure Path subscription that I can see. Are there plans to introduce one to differentiate?

You can maybe understand my confusion when the product itself is labeled an Adventure Path :)

For me, it's about consistency. I'd like to understand what I'm getting if I subscribe.

Please clarify what an AP is for SF2e. So far, the sub gets me an adventure that only covers level 1, and another that's 1-5.

Both of these would not be considered APs for PF2e. SF1e APs seemed to also cover a larger amount levels. So it's a bit weird, to me, what's being offered here.

A 5-level AP is new, though, blurring the lines between what was previously classified as APs and Adventures.

This would definitely fall into the Standalone Adventures line on the PF side, very odd.

As someone starting Starfinder with 2e, will this book cover some of the lore like the Gap I've seen mentioned in the stream?

Or do I need to grab some older books as well?

Hmm, not sure I’m on board with this being part of adventure subscription, when it only covers 1 level.

Was looking forward to the sub switching to larger hardcovers.

Never played SF1e, but I'm very interested in jumping in with 2e.

Six classes for the Core book seems low though, how does that compare to what's in 1e?

shores up some of the areas that didn't land as proper as we'd hoped (for example, I rewrote the arctic expedition section to be less grindy and hopefully more interesting)

Are you able to elaborate on what other areas were shored up?

I want to reup the question about the subscription. Is this going out for all adventure subscribers?

When looking at the subscription page for standalone adventures, it appears in the list for June

Owlcat is just trying to establish their own IP. It makes sense they would pull back on licensed properties if they've pulled in enough revenue from previous ones to fund the risk on the new stuff. Pathfinder-related stuff seems like it has been reasonably profitable for them, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them come back to it after a bit.

Their own IP is not in the cards, yet at least, according to this same AMA.

Will owlcat make a CRPG in their own original IP like Larian has done with Divinity?

Which developer doesn't dream about their own franchise? Of course eventually we hope to! It's not on the horizon just yet though.

So, I'm not sure where the whole "Owlcat hates PF2" thing came from, but they just refuted that in their AMA:

https://owlcat.games/news/92

They have people on their team who actively play PF2e, and they'd be interested in exploring it as an option for their next game. They're hedging about what their next project is, but it's probably smart for them to manage the hype cycle carefully.

Thanks for the link, it was insightful!

One correction, it sounds like they have 4 games in production already set in stone, none of them being PF2e. So while they are open to PF2e, it doesn't sound to me like it would be anytime soon.

Been waiting to see more info on this since we noticed it appearing in the catalog!

Glad to hear there are some planned fixes to shore up certain segments in the AP. I'm curious what those will be!

The PDF comes with a separate file with interactive maps, as usual.

Oh, I am interested in this for sure!

Like Blade (old movie from 1998).

How dare you sir?!

Anyone that has received their pdf, what's all in the the monster section in the toolbox?

I received an email saying:

We have updated the Pathfinder Adventure Path: Seven Dooms for Sandpoint (1 of 1) PDF.

Files have been updated to correct some issues with the Interactive Maps tags.

Checking my downloads though showed only the "file per chapter" PDF seems to have received an update. Did this not affect the single file PDF?

The Paizo catalog listed a hardcover compilation for Gatewalkers :D When will we get to learn more about it?

Hoping we’ll see some tweaking to book 2 stuff.

Yeah, file sizes have been all over the place in a bad way for the last like, 2-3 years. It's wild. Something clearly has happened on their end, when Rage of Elements' PDF came out the PDF was attempted to be compressed down to old file sizes but all the art ws super lowres.

Yes, much prefer larger size with good quality art, than what happened with Rage of Elements, as that still isn't fixed.

Probably best to ask Demiplane. They have an active Discord, where their devs are very active and responsive.

Let Paizo Customer Service know, they added the PDF to my downloads within a couple hours of me emailing them.

I've used PDF to Foundry Importer to import content from the water-marked, legitimately purchased PDF straight into Foundry for a number of standalone adventures but when I try to use the same process for this adventure I just get an error, "failed to detect pdf. cannot proceed :("

Is there content available from this adventure for use in Foundry?

You'd have to ask the module maker of PDF to Foundry Importer to add support for this adventure.

That being said, there is this:

https://foundryvtt.com/packages/kobold-king-maps-remade-by-taurah

Pending here as well

I noticed a number of errors on the Lake map, some really puzzling ones too:

Skyloatch should be Skywatch
Winterbreath should be Winterbreak
Winterbreath Bay should be Winterbreak Bay
Egade should be Egede
Icemine Peaks should be Icerime Peaks

Any chance it can be errata'd?

Working for me now as well.

Hey Aaron, any word on an updated PDF?

Echoing AnimatedPaper's comment, the zip is 1KB in size.

The Special Editions for the Remaster are released this week.

Will they ship with the December subscriptions?

Mine shipped last week with Nov subs

If I want to get both the player core and gm core from my subscription, does it matter which one I select to start with? I selected player core special edition as the starting point for my subscription for now, but it doesn't mention gm core special edition as being in my sidecart.

I had the same question for Customer Service as I wanted to switch from regular rulebook sub to the special edition one.

They had to add the GM Core to my sidecart so that I would get both.

You should contact CS and let them know.