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Thank you for sharing your feedback and support to us and the Archives of Nethys team! We've worked with them to develop a plan that values the site as a resource, supports our community, and is sustainable for everyone going forward.

Read today's statement from both teams!

Hi Maya,

Just wanted to address your comment to me in one of the locked threads.

While I imagine it was frustrating and stressful to be the sole recipient of all those emails, it was not customers who spontaneously decided to make your life more difficult, so Owen and Alex blaming Paizo's customers for bad behavior makes things worse, not better.

The customers are reacting to decisions made by your c-suite. The same people who made the decision that you will be the sole recipient of bad feelings resulting from their decisions.

I'm an educator, a case manager in fact. When my superintendent, school board, or principal muck things up for my students, I am the point of contact. My email blows up. My phone rings. People show up in person, even.

But I get to blame the policy and not the families. Blaming the families makes things worse.

I don't think you were doing that, exactly. But Owen has throughout these forums and Alex does it directly in the video. So your response reminding me that all of those emails went to you just makes me want to remind you:

Yeah, it sucks that your employers put all complaints on you and it sucks that their failure to anticipate how the community engages with their product generated a lot of complaints.

cleth wrote:

Maya Coleman wrote:

Thank you for sharing your feedback and support to us and the Archives of Nethys team! We've worked with them to develop a plan that values the site as a resource, supports our community, and is sustainable for everyone going forward.

Read today's statement from both teams!

This is one of the reasons we support Paizo - they actually care about their community. Great news!!

Do they? Or do they care about not losing out on all the revenue that would be lost by their complete and utterly boneheaded move/decision?

I see a lot of references from people on here saying that they are super happy Paizo is caring about their community. Maybe it's just me, but caring for your community is not doing what they decided to do in the first place. Paizo deciding to walk back (not even fully) poor decisions (that anyone who had an iota of sense for the actual community would have realized was completely and utterly boneheaded) does not exonerate them or grant them my goodwill again.

I have not forgotten. I will not. I have mentioned what Paizo meant to me in the past. I have mentioned how the hobby and the world and the community saved me when I was at my darkest. That Paizo does not feel the same as it is now, and it certainly does not feel to me like Paizo cares about us. Our money? Sure. But us? Perhaps some individuals in Paizo do. But the management team approving the decisions to cut things that the community actually feels strongly for is certainly giving me pause regarding spending a single cent more on this company. They could pivot, learn from the mistakes made here. But it is just as likely that we will not see that. I have a feeling, sooner or later, management will again make a decision that does not have the community and their people's best interests at heart.

Seconded. No company actually cares about people. Some individuals within them might, but don't confuse that with the purpose of the company.

Never mind strangers, Paizo needed a union to treat its employees right. The company voluntarily acknowledged it, but it came to be for a reason. Put more than a dozen people together and bureaucracy replaces caring.

Arkat wrote:

Driftbourne wrote:

TriOmegaZero wrote:

Owen Stephens and Alex Augunas talk AoN.

Owen Stephens and Alex Augunas talk AoN.

Gamers are not very good at getting to the point. I watched/listened for about 20 minutes and became exhausted by their meandering.

Give me a 20 minute video (30 minutes at most) that gets straight to the point, please.

I realize that some people might want all the various pieces of background information like OGL vs. ORC, AoN taking over maintaining the SRD, why Starcraft and Pathfinder are compatible, etc. but those things have been covered elsewhere and on multiple occasions. There's no need to re-hash all that previous stuff here. This is not a court of law.

Just give me the new pieces of information, especially stuff that has gone on in the background that has not been posted here on the Paizo Forums by Jim Butler or by the AoN account.

Owen Stephens and Alex Augunas are currently gamers, but more importantly that are gaming industry professionals and freelancers. What they bring to the conversation is gaming industry experience and a much more balanced view of what's going on and why. If you are familiar with the current situation, you can probably skim the first 26 minutes if you don't have time.

Owen Stephens and Alex Augunas talk AoN..

I disagree that their view is balanced. They complain that customers expressed their opinions by sending emails, a reasonable step for any customer of any business anywhere at any time. Alex implies fans did nothing in response to Diamond and therefore don't get to have opinions.

Let's not think humans are without bias when talking about their friends. These guys clearly have selected their sides and conclusions as well.

Owen KC Stephens wrote:

AsheIsAmazing wrote:

I suppose that's fair, but I'm willing to give AoN leniency given they're volunteers. I think Paizo gets a lot of free-to-cheap labour from them as it is.

Paizo and AoN had, until now, a comerical license. The relationship between AoN and Paizo is not one of volunteers.

Now, are there volunteers doing things for AoN? Very clearly yes, and I love them to death.

But they aren't volunteering work for Paizo. Indeed, In think it would be illegal for them to volunteer to do work for Paizo. They volunteer their work for AoN, and AoN has a business contract (now ending) that spells out the legal duties of each side.

I understand why AoN thought the ball was in Paizo's court. I understand why Paizo thought the ball was in AoN's court. I, personally, would have reached out again if there were any unanswered questions about negotiations, before I amde a public announcement. I also would have told Paizo, who are AoN's business partners until the 24th, before I made a public announcement.

This WHOLE thing sucks. But I don't feel EITHER side was as proactive about communication as they needed to be under professional standards.

Look, Paizo had the legal right to do everything they did. That doesn't make it morally right, or the best thing to do for their relationship with the community.

There are plenty of people in these two threads - myself among them - who are okay with changes to the Paizo / AoN relationship. If things have to change for business reasons, okay.

But what we're not okay with is what we feel is a tone of dismissal of AoN's efforts from Paizo, and Paizo's lack of communication. That lack of communication which is becoming a pattern.

Certainly, there are different perspectives all over this thread. But I think there's a big chunk of folks who are saying - necessary or not, this was very badly handled! And we keep seeing things handled badly, and we're going to go ahead and voice our concerns about that.

Which...

This expresses my feelings fully. I wasn't angry when I read the AoN announcement. I was a little concerned that I was only hearing one side, and I came here looking for Paizo's word. I was then mildly annnoyed that Paizo had not said anything, at all.

I almost wish that blog hadn't been posted, as that certainly made it worse.

I actually support Paizo because it is a unionized company and I support workers -- it's great that Pathfinder is a well put together game, but I'd support Paizo if it wasn't. Making decisions about a product's community, a product that only can exist because of that community, without involving the community will backfire and negatively impact the workers. And for that I blame the decision makers. Because I support workers.

I'm not threatening to cancel my subs, because that wouldn't support Paizo's workers, but my goodwill and patience are shot. My sympathies lie with those that are upset and canceling.

I'm going to let this play out, but oh boy. Not impressed.

OceanshieldwolPF 2.5 wrote:

it is non-remarkable that this decision was made and no-one thought to get ahead of it.

It is, with commercial contracts, normal and standard and expected to inform your partner before you make a public statement about changes to that partnership.

Paizo felt they were still negotiating. AoN decided to make a public statement without following up on a 2-week old message, or informing their partner they were going to make a statement.

Paizo was unaware there would be anything to get ahead of today, and they made a statement within a few hours. Honestly, I feel BOTH groups fell short of the level of proactive communication that would be appropriate, but AoN are the ones who went public without telling their (still, currently) partner.

As for if Paizo cares about the community? Paizo pays Maya to moderate these forums--MOST game companies have axed their forums. WIZARDs axed their forums as too expensive and troublesome to maintain years ago. Paizo has a Community Use Policy, that is clear and permissive and written down. Most game companies have no such clear policy.

AoN existed for years without this agreement. AoN approached Paizo about getting this agreement when Paizo did an open call. It's pretty clear this agreement had termination clauses which AoN were aware of. Paizo COULD pull the entire CUP and make AoN impossible, and have been very clear they are not doing that. AoN has turned down the offer for free pdfs or an deal to get an extended period for some art to stay up. That's absolutely their privilege.

I DON'T like that this is happening, or that either side feels blindsided by any of these events. But I also don't see the evidence of "disingenuousness" I keep seeing cited.

That's okay. As I noted when I first began posting, I have FRIENDS at Paizo who are, right now, being buried under emails from angry fans, getting posts in DMS on social media, and generally having a crap time of it. Maybe I am too protective of the people I like. maybe...

I have friends at AoN who are also feeling deluged and attacked and they don't even get paid for it. Dealing with an upset community is what community reps do -- that would be like me complaining about students and parents wanting to be in touch with me during school emergencies or even during regular events like finals.

Sure it sucks. But the people to blame, as usual for workers, aren't the other workers. It's the decision makers.

Blaming customers for not behaving the way you think they should won't actually make them think you're right.

I find it hard to believe this is related to Diamond as I find it hard to believe having an existing legal team on payroll review an existing license takes up even an hour of a single person's time when it remains unchanged year to year. Incredibly unlikely that a single account balance sheet that was mostly just entering a zero somehow is overwhelming after layoffs. Layoffs and Diamond are an excuse maybe, an opportunity. One that people who do not understand or listen to their community might consider important to "protect their IP" at the expense of their players time and energy.

Incredibly messed up to throw a team of volunteers under the bus for announcing the change "early" when it's only 9 days away. Those volunteers are Pathfinder and Starfinder players too.

Was not at all considering canceling my subs as a result of this decision until I read this tone deaf response.

Maybe the executive leadership team should spend the next few weeks finding online one shots to play. Don't identify yourselves, just watch invite channels and apply for games.

Count how many times AoN links get used across all the games.

Just a thought.

There seems to be a lot of confusion on your end on how your game is played.

Came here hoping to find any kind of explanation from Paizo, only to find speculation and anger. Boneheaded move on Paizo's part, terrible way to handle a major change in their community connections.

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1600

My group has two interpretations.

The first is that the first sentence requires the players turn into animals when gaining the speeds, and the second sentence clarifies what the speeds are and gives the option to be tiny or small.

The second interpretation is that the second sentence gives you the option to turn into a tiny or small animal but doesn't require it. Meaning the characters get the speeds but don't have to be animals.

What do we think out here?

You should probably complain that their authorization email has out-of-date text that assumes everyone subbing follows their forums.

But you're still in the window so I wouldn't bother to complain about it not shipping.

Monthly thread here: https://paizo.com/threads/rzs6nrdy?New-Physical-Product-Releases-For-August -2025

End shipping estimate is 7/25. Reach out if you haven't heard by then. Time between authorization and shipping will vary greatly from month to month and will only occasionally be 3 to 5 days in my years of receiving them.

Lia Wynn wrote:

Thebigham wrote:

I'm waiting for the Foundry module to drop to be able to read this.

I hope with the new marketplace we could get pre launch pages and even trailers for the content!

Do you mean trailers like this: Shades of Blood

No, I mean a page showing that the Foundry module will be available on such and such date maybe with a screenshot or two. Something that I can stare at for a few weeks lol.

I don't usually run APs right as they release, but a coincidence of timing has my group waiting on this one.

Is it usually about two weeks for the Foundry module?

NoxiousMiasma wrote:

Counterpoint: I would like the Player's Guide because I wanna build characters!

Or at least finish creating characters.

<.<
>.>

...
What?

Yeah, wrapped a campaign last weekend, and I'm launching this one ASAP. My players are eager to finalize their choices.

Not yet. I suspect this week based on previous timing, but that's just a guess.

Hello Paizo forums,

No not those drakes. Not that Drake either.

I am putting together a group for Prey For Death for Saturdays, Eastern US time, 10 am - 1 pm. I have at least two open seats.

We're close to finishing up a Blood Lords campaign, afterwards we're losing a couple of players. Instead of doing a three or six book AP, we're going to restart with a single book adventure, and then reassess when we're done with that. Starting date depends on when we wrap the existing campaign, which depends on having everyone available. Almost there!

I'm the world's okayest GM, and I'm a quite busy, overworked Special Ed teacher, so I won't be developing specific voice profiles for characters or finding roleplay moments we can dive deeply into. But you will get a tour of the AP and leave knowing the story and perhaps missing your character. This particular adventure is rather prescriptive, every player is a Red Mantis Assassin, so it is also a perfect starting point for an "AP tour group"

If interested, better to respond via this Google Form than here in the forums.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe6Y-YRz2Xj6xX8OFfFjbxw-5YDp6wqc4H Kmu1LKwgYwNW5XQ/viewform

Any ETA for this product?

Anyone have feelings about whether it would it be possible to use the first three books of Extinction Curse as a lead in? Or does that leave too many story threads to remove from EC?

Definitely needs a guiding hand and a watchful eye.

Most times I've generated random PCs, it initially mixes 2e and 1e, with ancestry and class information from 2e but 1e relics like suggestions on how to set up point buy or standard array ability scores.

Couple of "hey no, try it like this" reponses and it gets there, usually.

But great at brainstorming and amusing as a distraction.

Anyone else fooling around with having ChatGPT generate content?

Here's a Curse it gave me from the prompt "create a curse for Pathfinder 2e called Yo Mama is So . . ."

Yo Mama is So... (Curse 4)
__
Saving Throw Will DC 21; Onset 1 day

This curse is often inflicted as a consequence of disrespecting someone's mother. The curse causes the target to continuously hear disparaging jokes about their mother in their mind. This can cause significant psychological distress and distraction.

Stage 1 The target begins hearing occasional, faint disparaging jokes about their mother in their mind (24 hours).

Stage 2 The jokes become louder and more frequent, causing a -1 status penalty to Perception, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma-based checks and DCs (1 day).

Stage 3 The jokes become constant and overwhelmingly loud, causing the status penalty to increase to -2 and affecting all checks and DCs, not just those based on Perception, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma (1 day).

Stage 4 The jokes become so incessant and distracting that the target can't focus on anything else. They are stunned 1 and the status penalty increases to -3 (1 day).

Cure 2 consecutive saves

The curse can also be lifted by a remove curse spell or similar magic, or by sincerely apologizing to the person whose mother was disrespected. However, the latter method only works if the apology is accepted.

Pretty sure it's gonna say: "BE SURE TO DRINK YOUR OVALTINE"

I have page 21/22. No words, other than the hashtag. Dots in a vaguely humanoid form. Strip of what looks like part of a page toward the top left.

Looks like the Kidrobot Goblin and Kobold Plushes are shipping too

With or without free archetype.

Thank you!

Is there an item from the side cart out of stock? Or did cancelling the accidentally doubled Pathfinder AP sub mess up the order?

Just wanted to follow up in case it's in limbo.

Order is showing two copies of Abomination Vaults 1, as if there are two Pathfinder AP subs on the account. Should be one.

Thanks!

Been listening to Cosmic Crit as my first starfinder podcast. Loving it! This news makes my heart happy

But seriously, I just had a snack and you've reminded me to do insulin :)