Druuw's page

I purchased the Pathfinder 2nd Edition Beginner Box on Roll20 on Friday 13 November. I am signed up for my Roll20 and Paizo accounts to be synced. In the past when I purchased a Paizo pathfinder product on Roll20 I was given a PDF copy of the product in my downloads. The PDF for this product has not appeared in my Downloads. I have queried this on the product page.

Can someone spread any light on this. I was hoping to run my first Pathfinder 2nd Edition adventure with my group this week. Having the material in Roll20 is great for running the game, but it is no substitute for have access to the actual books for reading; even if in PDF form.

If you need me to do anything, or provide any information, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Just bought the PDF and loving it, but I still get no discount when I try to buy it on Roll20. Have a game tonight so any idea when this will be connected to my account here and to Roll20 please?

Thanks

Tom

Not sure how long these things take. Purchased the boxed set on Roll20 last Friday. I'm waiting for an update. Got a game to run in a couple of days. Would be great to have the PDFs before then. Not easy reading the books on Roll20. Easier to read and digest on a PDF. Fingers are crossed.

Aaron Shanks wrote:

Jam412 wrote:

Druuw wrote:

Quick Question for the nice people at Paizo.

I purchased the Beginner Box at Roll20. Looking great. With other Pathfinder purchases I have made on Roll20 I was given a PDF version of the product - which appeared in my downloads. Nothing has shown up for the Beginner Box.Any Advice?

Same here. I emailed customer support for roll20 last week, but haven't heard back. If I get an answer from them before something pops up here, I'll let you know.

Inquiry received. Answer unknown at this time. Will research and reply. (This is my robot golem voice. haha)

Yes, if you buy the Pathfinder Beginner Box from Roll20 you should find the PDF in your Digital Downloads here. We are following up on this internally to ensure you do.

Thank you. Looking forward to getting it. :)

Quick Question for the nice people at Paizo.

I purchased the Beginner Box at Roll20. Looking great. With other Pathfinder purchases I have made on Roll20 I was given a PDF version of the product - which appeared in my downloads. Nothing has shown up for the Beginner Box.Any Advice?

I'll add my thumbs up. An excellent idea which would give your Beginner GMs a wealth of information all laid out in the style they are familiar/comfortable with. Enables you also to extend the range of creature entries, pawns and magic items if desired, and helps promote the official pathfinder setting.

It is possible, providing you keep to the rules. Mentioning or referring to the Beginners Box is not allowed, but there is no reason, why a third party publisher cannot write adventure modules geared towards players with the Beginners Box.

I am currently work on such a project at the moment. It would certainly be a lot easier if the Beginners Box was in Exhibit B on the Compatibility page, but it is certainly not a show stopper.

Got a reply from Paizo. The sections of text I was looking at are Open Content. They advised that all the Product Identity (places, people, deities etc), should have been removed from the PRD.

I would suggest consulting a lawyer specializing in copyright laws prior to publication, and/or directly emailing Paizo staff.

Personally, I would assume that flavor text falls under "original content".

Also, in addition to complying with WotC's OGL, there's also the Pathfinder Compatibility Licence (I think that's what it's called) that I believe you would have to comply with in order to name your product as Pathfinder-compatible.

Cheers, I have emailed Paizo direct for advice.

I will be signing up to the Pathfinder Compatibility License when the material is closer to publication :)

As far as I know, everything in the PRD is "game mechanics."

EDIT: More to the point, the OGL makes no distinction between "crunch" and "fluff," only between original content and derived content, and text versus trademarks.

(First) thanks for the reply.

To be honest, that was my understanding and gut feeling. It was only when I was checking the legal section of a source book that I noticed the PRD makes a specific reference to game mechanics:

Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above), the game mechanics of this Paizo Publishing game product are Open Game Content...

I checked the online PRD and it has the same reference. I was just confused as to why it was added. I can only assume that when the PRD was drafted someone felt it was necessary to add that line as additional confirmation. But it lead me down the route of wondering how you define sections of text which are technically "fluff" as opposed to actual mechanics (mathematical principles/game effects etc, and rulings on where and when they apply).

I will continue with the assumption that all text in the PRD is considered game mechanics for the time being. But if anyone (including the nice people at Paizo) knows otherwise, please let me know. Post a comment below, or PM me.

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

I am not sure if this is in the right place or not, but it looked like the best candidate.

I am an independent writer/publisher and I am a little confused over the wording of the License for the PRD. It states that only Game Mechanics are considered Open Content. Is there anything within the PRD that is NOT considered to be Game Mechanics?

To elaborate, in the PRD, under the entry for Aasimar, there is a line under the name us what an Aasimar looks like:

This supernaturally beautiful woman looks human, yet emanates a strange sense of calm and benevolence.

There also a paragraph under the treasure entry giving us a brief description of what an Aasimar is:

Aasimars are humans with a significant amount of celestial or other good outsider blood in their ancestry. Aasimars are not always good, but it is a natural tendency for them, and they gravitate to good faiths or organizations associated with celestials. Aasimar heritage can hide for generations, only to appear suddenly in the child of two apparently human parents. Most societies interpret aasimar births as good omens. Aasimars look mostly human except for some minor physical trait that reveals their unusual heritage. Typical aasimar features are hair that shines like metal, unusual eye or skin color, or even glowing golden halos.

Are these open content, or is the open content material for Aasimar limited to (1) the stats block and (2) the descriptors of the powers at the bottom of the entry?

I ask as I am preparing some material for publication, but I want to know what I can and cannot use in my products. The last thing I wish to do is break the rules and find myself having to withdraw and revise the publication.

Thanks in advance.

I have been working on a similar project. Again, for the love of the game rather than as a commercial project. (Curretly in a limited beta test with dedicated selection of gamers before I make it widely available).

What you have so far looks great. I will be following your progress with interest. Keep up the good work.

Druuw wrote:

Good question. It would probably be BESM (2nd Edition), or Vampire Masquerade.

I'll always have a little place in my heart for that first edition BESM book. I've actually run a game out of it. Not my best game, but that had as much to do with inexperience as with the game.

The first edition was good. I have picked up a copy of the third edition, but just cannot get to grips with it.

Good question. It would probably be BESM (2nd Edition), or Vampire Masquerade.

The alignment system is quite clear (though any individual GM can fudge/adjust them as they see fit... that is the beauty of the game).

This is how I rule on these matters in my games:

If you do an act that helps others and does not cause harm to others... that is good.

If you do an act that helps others but causes harm to others... that is neutral.

If you do an act that helps nobody (except yourself) and causes causes harm to others... that is evil.

The second is open to debate however, and this is where the problems on "acting within alignment" generally occur. In these cases, the GM must look at the reasoning behind the act, and whether the acting character knows what the consequences of their actions are going to be. If the character is doing an action for personal gain, or to further the personal gain of somebody they know to be evil... then the act is most likely to be evil. If they do the action whilst personally sacrificing something of their own (something that puts them at a serious disadvantage), then that could be a good act.

However... the look at the examples give:

Selling anyone into slavery is almost always an evil act. The only eception this could be argued if the person they are being sold to will improve the life of the individual, but even then this is shaky ground.

The baby thing... that is certainly an evil act... and if there was any doubt, the fact they "pretended" to help the blind mother nails the guilty verdict to them. The "help" they gave only furthered to rid them of any guilt they may be carrying and was a simple PR excercise to improve their own personal image as "good" people.

Torture is an evil act. Inflicting pain on others is not a good act no mater how you dress it up. Going as far as inflicting mental torture on the prisoners (i.e. the corpse etc) prior to any phsyical torture further proves this.

What you have here is a classic senarios where players beleive that a chaotic alignment (even chaotic good) is an excuse to do evil acts. Chaotic simply means that you do not follow the rules and you cannot keep a promise. It is not an excuse to do evil.

A lawful person will not break the law and will never berak a promise.

A neutral person will bend the rules and breaka few if it is necessary. However, they will also respect and follow the law as they regonise it's importance.

A chaotic person is unable to follow the law and will break it without a second thought. Likewise, they will never honor a promise as they hold no value in such things. Treaties and laws are there to be broken and do not aply to them. Promises are just words used to get what you want and nothing else.

If the character breaks the rules and is free with their promises so that they can help others - then you could argue they are chaotic good.
However, the examples given do not fall into this category... at least not to me.

The dedication to their home country suggests a lawful alignment if any. And the desire to do anything regardless of the pain it causes to other is evil. They are lawful evil. not chaotic good.

And a final thought... if the historical leaders who did great evil for the good of their people were good... what will that make the likes of Hitler a thousand years from now? (Just playing devil's advocate).

Has anyone tried to use the World of Darkness system for a fantasy game? Between the core rulebook; Armory Reloaded (for medieval weapons and armor); and Witch Finder (for magic), there should be enough for a generic -- and dark -- fantasy rpg.

EDIT: NOT Exalted.

To be honest, I have been toying with the idea myself. The rules do appear to lend themseleves well to it. Agreed, core rulebook and armory good starting points, with Inferno and Antagonists to help with some basic ideas on demons and undead horrors (not including the likes of vampires), and then I would use Second Sight for magic and (if required) psychics. (I had not considered using Witch Finders).

And agreed about the game being a lot darker.

:)

Deep respect for BESM, one of the best game systems out there. Used to run BESM 2nd Edition (Revised) for a while.

I ran two campaigns:

First was a typcal anime style Sword and Sorcery setting based loosely on the "Voyagers of the New Dawn" setting idea in the 2nd Ed rulebook.

The second was set in a dark fantasy parody of Japan. This was my favourite. The battle between good and evil was over (the forces of good had lost) and the PCs were eastern vampires. (Water burned them instead of sunlight which made an interesting twist). On the old idea of fight fire with fire, the PCs had been raised by a powerful sorcerer to fight the demons that had taken over the land, and hopefully bring an end to the age of darkness. Great campaign to run, but never got the chance to finish it. Shame as i had this great plot twist for the end.

I also have the Anime d20, but it does not capture the true versatility of the game (IMHO).

I now have BESM 3rd Edition, which looks to have resolved the few issues with the 2nd Edition version of the rules (suprising a lot of the changes made for the 3rd edition I had already incorporated as house rules in my games). Unfortunalty, working on a major project at the moment, so not had any time to play 3rd Ed as yet. (But looking forward to it).

I never really realized just how international this community is! Very cool!

The UK is ready and waiting... and very excited

:)

I also, don't think they'd allow other companies to sell their pdfs as they watermark them.

Thanks Paul,

To be honest, the PDF's you buy via RPGNow can also watermarked. I don't see any issue here.

However, if RPGNow is not an option then I'll either have to consider trying to buy via the local hobby shop, but this more of a lottery than you may first imagine as they sell out quickly (I am missing loads of issues of Dungeon, making running the Adventure Paths previously released difficult to run), or consider sticking to an alternate RPG.

EBay may be an option - thanks for the suggestion.

RPGNow: It was just an idea. I really do like the look of the products that Paizo are producing, and I have hard earned cash ready to spend. I cannot be the only potential customer who lives outside the US who does not use Credit Cards. RPGNow is a lifeline to gamer like myself. I can purchase PDF versions of game books, instantly, without the requirement of first owning a Credit Card.

I am interested in hearing the official stance from Paizo. Is it an option? Even if it is not possible to give a Yes/No answer, some indication that it could be considered would be something.

I'm afraid that accepting PayPal payments directly just isn't a viable option for paizo.com, as their expectations on how authorizations and charges happen just aren't compatible with our business requirements.

Fair comment.

Is there any chance of PDF versions of Paizo products being available via RGPNow.com?

Drew, does paypal offer a debit card? I know they have a credit card...

If not... drug stores (and some money type places) have debit type cards that are not "loans" or have percentages etc...

Bascially, you go in... give the clerk money and your card they give you - they "load" it with that money.. and you can use it later for credit card like purchases.

It doesn't have a bill you have to pay.. no contracts, monthly fees etc...

it might cost like a dollar to load it

Just a suggestion

~ Paul

Paul,

I do not recall seeing anything like what you were saying, but I am in the UK, so things are probably different over here. Paypal does not "do" a debit card, but it recognizes the debit card I do have, which is the reason why I use it (a lot) when buying stuff from US based sites.

The problem is that Paizo only appear to offer credit card as a valid method of payment for us UK customers. Shame as they are missing out on potential customers (hint hint).

:-)

But still, thanks for the response.

Drew

Dear Paizo

I noticed that you do not offer Paypal as an alternative means of paying for your goods. I know the question of paypal has been raised in the past, and that point you were not able to offer this service, however, are you in a position to reconsider this?

If not, have you considered making your products available in PDF format via third parties such as RPGNow.com. (You already offer PDF as an alternative for most [if not all] of the products I have viewed). A large number of publishers use this site.

I ask as I do not have a credit card, and have not intent of getting one, however, I am interested in the direction you are going with the Pathfinder RPG.

Yours

(A potential customer)

Drew Stevens