I love their little coffee ritual, and the way you describe it is gorgeous! I want to try Obo's drink now. <3 Loved this story!
Also, the art of Chk Chk in a barista apron is fantastic.
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We've still got all our old 1E pawns, like the boxes from Inner Sea World Guide and Villain Codex, so we usually fish them out of there. Pawns are system agnostic, after all! I'm not sure if they're available physically anymore, but if they still have the PDFs up for sale, you could get those and print the ones you want, maybe.
Any interesting developments with the Empyreal Lords?Skimming through the book I don't see anything on Tanagaar, not even listed in the Empyreal Lords at the end. So I'm assuming he just was overlooked. "Kelinahat writeup" is the best thing I've read all day. <3
QUINN. Buddy. Please figure this out. But not too soon, because I would read a whole book of this.
Finally, all my
Totally agree with everyone describing the reactions to Desna's death as haunting, though I think my favorite part is this: "but after a particularly vivid dream (involving my being back in one of Lorminos’s classes and asked to deliver a talk about a research paper I had somehow forgotten to do), my anxiety briefly took hold." We've all been there, Yivali. T_T
I laughed out loud at “Just admit you like each other, already!” Truly, the enemies to lovers long game. (Though perhaps not that long to a cultivator!) :D
Sure, he doesn't START the story that way, learning it is part of his journey as a character. But I don't really agree that he does nothing else: he works for Vizzini, he befriends Fezzik, he helps Wesley. I always viewed the "I don't know what to do with the rest of my life" line in the light of a burden being lifted, instead of despairing; he doesn't sound all that upset about it. Right after that, when Wesley says he'd make an excellent Dread Pirate Roberts, he chuckles and seems to be contemplating it. But ymmv, of course.
I think a good example of the Calistrian idea of revenge is Inigo Montoya. Revenge is a clear focus of his character; it drives him throughout the story, and he doesn't give up until he obtains it. But it doesn't occupy his every waking moment. He's shown to have friendly relationships with people, to banter, to have a sense of humor, to have compassion for others. He's not chasing down the six-fingered man 24/7 and seething in a corner about how much he wants revenge. He's always on the lookout, but he also doesn't let it stop him from doing other things in the meantime. I think Calistria would approve. :-)
I love the flavor of the Reveler in Lost Glee, though +1 for leaning more into the general entertainer-focused vibes than evil clowns specifically. I think that'd help make it a little less niche as well as avoid tripping up people with a Nope reaction to clowns.
While I appreciate that the 3-part APs allow for a wider range of stories whose scope doesn't fit a 6-part AP, I'd be sad to see the 6-parters disappear. I like spending a lot of time with my characters, getting to know them and seeing them grow, and there's just not as much time to do that with a 3-part AP. My current plan is to chain some together for a "full" campaign (if not 1-20, at least 1-mid-teens), but that could be tricky with some of the more strongly themed ones.
Add me to the list of those who'd ADORE more Numeria! (My chainsaw-wielding bloodrager from my Iron Gods game says hello.) :-)
Personally, the APs with a bunch of well-rounded, interesting NPCs are always my favorites. Paths like WftC, Hell's Rebels, Jade Regent, and CotCT are more memorable to me because of their NPC cast. Maybe it's just that my groups tend to love social RP, but it definitely increases investment in the game for us to have a bunch of NPC friends (and sometimes love interests!) hanging out with the PCs. Sometimes the party even makes friends that the campaign didn't expect us to make! It makes the campaign feel more like a story and less like it's happening in a table vacuum, imo.
If folks want us to do more 6-part Adventure Paths... PLEASE let us know! The 3 part ones seem to be engaging people more and allow for more stories to be told in a year, and I'm hoping that we'll be able to settle into a rhythum that allows for more frequent higher level 3 part arcs, but if people do still want 6 part ones... we need to know. (And that includes seeing evidence in sales and reviews and the like for parts 4–6 of those Adventure Paths, not just requests at the front end.) Hopefully this isn't derailing too much, but since it was brought up...count me in the camp that'd love more 6-part APs. I like to run/play long campaigns, and chaining together 3-parters in a way that thematically makes sense can be tricky. (And, as others have pointed out, there are currently more lower-level ones than higher-level.) This does look very cool, though! Dwarves haven't been something I've been super interested in historically, but I have every confidence this and the Highhelm book are about to change my mind. :-)
Me: Surely, it'll be easy to pick some favorite deities!
Of the core deities, Desna's probably my favorite. The fact that she's benevolent but also Deeply Weird and kind of eldritch and aloof in some ways is very cool. Milani's a classic favorite of mine too; I love the "freedom and revolution" angle" but also that she's a relatively new goddess trying to adapt, like Iomedae's less rules-oriented younger sister. I've also got a fondness for most of the Eldest, but especially the Lost Prince and Count Ranalc as the most mysterious among them. The Lost Prince's dichotomy of offering comfort to the lost and depressed while (seemingly) remaining so himself has a delightfully tragic flair to it, and the whole mystery surrounding Ranalc and his fate is fascinating to me. I wouldn't want to worship Vildeis myself, but she fascinates me. I played a warpriest of hers in 1E who eventually ended up losing her connection because she was starting to actually find happiness (I portrayed Vildeis revoking her powers as basically an act of mercy, an "I've taken you as far as you can, poor mortal, now be free" kind of thing.) Kelinahat hasn't appeared in PF2 yet as far as I know, and all that was detailed about her in 1E was a tiny stub: "Kelinahat is an archon empyreal lord of spies, stealth, and the gathering of intelligence who is also known as She of Ebon Wings. Her followers use guile, subterfuge, and shadow magic to break into evil bastions and return with valuable information." I love the concept of a good-aligned deity of spies, since normally that ends up in more neutral or even evil territory. (Shh I like spies what) And then there's Grandmother Spider and Besmara and Ydajisk and--- ...okay, I should probably stop. :-)
I can't wait to pick this one up!
Bummed that the pawns are going away, I always relied on them for our games. :-( I don't really have the time to mess around trying to make my own, unfortunately, so I guess I'll just be using the ones I already have as stand-ins.
Even if you do kill the sorcerer, it doesn't necessarily have to be the final end of her. I don't know what level the PCs are, but even if they're too low-level to raise her on their own, you've got options. Maybe an associate of the PCs offers to raise her in exchange for a favor later. Maybe one of her family members finds the party to work with them until they can bring her back. Maybe she returns to life without knowing how, but now has these strange dreams every so often... There are a lot of ways to make dying a complication rather than the absolute end of a character's story, which is what my table generally goes with. Of course, this depends on whether the player wants to bring the character back, so it's worth having a chat with the table about how they want to handle the situation.
What a cool blog! Happy Year of the Tiger! :-)
I like Nidal a lot, less for the torture stuff and more because the concept of a culture around for that long, preserving itself through a direct deal with a deity, is fascinating to me. It's noted in places that they have historical archives dated back further than any currently extant societies, and that's super cool. And I like the shadowy (pun intended, always intend your puns) atmosphere of the place. Sarkoris is also really neat, given their old culture and their attempts now to reclaim their homeland. I'd love to see more of it. We haven't (yet) seen a whole lot of Alkenstar, but I love weird west stuff, so I'm looking forward to that AP! Kaer Maga, for just how off-the-wall it is. It's a bunch of cities within a city, which is cool. The new Mwangi Expanse book has bumped it way up on my list, too. Plenty of needed updates and some really interesting cities to hang out in! I have...a lot of favorites. :-)
Funnily enough, that's exactly why Anastasia isn't queen in my table's version of Golarion. :-) They asked her what she'd prefer to do, and she was like "actually, I'd like to just kinda be a person without having to rule anything." So per the end of our RoW game, she was hanging out with her time-shifted twin sister (hey, what's one more historical liberty?), Baba Yaga's been replaced by "Mama Odette" (one of the PCs) and another PC and his Jadwiga boyfriend are ruling Irrisen. Now I'm thinking "Stasian tech" in our Golarion is because she's become a scientist and is working to popularize it. :-)
I mostly lurk on the forums these days and am not that active, but I love this thread, so I'm jumping in! :-) In addition to the excellent shout-outs already in here, I want to spotlight a few more people whom I've had the pleasure of working with over the last few years: Jenny Jarzabski is an incredibly creative, fun person with a knack for taking off-the-wall adventure premises and making them work, whether as a writer or a dev. Not everyone could have pulled off managing something like "time-travel linked GenCon special," but she and Thursty pulled it off admirably. Speaking of Thurston Hillman, he's always someone I look forward to working with. He cares deeply about his co-workers, the freelancers he works with, and the game, and it shows. I also understand, although I've never been fortunate enough to be in a game of his as of yet, that he's a top-notch GM with a knack for making his players cry in the best way possible. ;-) Michael Sayre has been mentioned before, but in addition to being a talented designer, he's handled the whole upheaval in the past few months admirably. Without getting into specifics, he's been a class act throughout all this, and I want to express my appreciation for that. Michael, you're always great to work with. Likewise, Mark Seifter has also been mentioned, but I'd like to second the comments about his forum presence being consistently helpful and positive--even when others aren't returning the favor. And, as someone who can barely multiply, his math knowledge awes and alarms me. :-) Like the others I've mentioned above, I always look forward to seeing an email in my inbox from him. Jessica Catalan joined Paizo at a tumultuous time, and it can't have been easy starting the new job in the midst of everything. In spite of that, I'm sure she's been hard at work, and I can't wait to see what she's cooking up next! Jessica, it was awesome to work with you on the specials this year! Jason Tondro is witty, fearless, and one of the most principled people I've ever met, and his Twitter (@doctorcomics) is a delight to follow. He's been incredibly helpful in getting information about United Paizo Workers and the union's formation out to the community at large, both on Twitter and in his many, many interviews. Seriously, when does this man sleep? :-) John Compton is a great dev and a genuinely nice guy who's always been an advocate both for his co-workers and for freelancers. He also seems to have a wry sense of humor which I'm always fond of spotting on any mutual Discords we end up on. Finally, Andrew White has written probably the best description of a Starfinder adventure--and the adventure itself--of all time, in talking about the Great Grav-Train Robbery. I read this tweet to my game group a couple weeks ago and they were instantly sold. Tech doesn't always get the attention of devs or editors, but it's definitely a vital part of the company! Devs, editors, customer service, everyone I've worked with: if I didn't name you individually, you are also awesome! I just only have so much time on my lunch break. ^^;
I can't wait to pick up a copy of this and see what you all did in detail! This sounds like it might end up being my favorite PF2 book to date. :-)
Children can often derail an adventure by doing things a rational adult wouldn't. To be fair...players can often derail an adventure by doing things a rational adult wouldn't. ;-) Super excited for this path!
I read Zo!’s lines in Handsome Jack’s voice.I've always mentally heard Tim Curry's voice. Personally I read that in Varrick's voice from Legend of Korra.
My party actually just did this section. I was wondering if they'd figure out right away that Emaliza was lying to them (the rogue has a good Perception), but they didn't. Still, they were suspicious of all Hermean women until proven otherwise. They were side-eying her a little bit due to her request to reclaim the Orb shards, but they couldn't pinpoint anything off about her, so they weren't sure. They also briefly suspected Inizra until she offhandedly mentioned having been born in Taldor (and they found her request less suspicious than Emaliza's). I just had the letters Uri had be signed "your sister," since it says it doesn't mention a name in the journal. I also don't think Emaliza's relations are probably common knowledge...like TomParker said, Uri's been gone for decades and she seems to be detached from any birth family to the point of forgoing her former last name. I kind of figured that in Hermea, birth relations aren't as important as one's devotion to the city/Mengkare, so that's how I portrayed it. They eventually figured out Emaliza was the sister while they were investigating the records in the Citadel, then lured her off to Mengkare's lair outside the city and killed her before he returned from Axis. They took the Orb to give to Mengkare as proof of her activities.
Okay, time to pack it in; no monsters will ever surpass these. This blog has won monster-building, folks. :-)
If you're concerned about Plaguestone being too deadly, a simple fix is having the PCs be 1 level above the recommended track. That's what I did when I ran it, and there were still some tough fights, but they made it through just fine. If you don't want to start them at level 2 right away, you could always run an intro encounter or two for them to get the hang of things.
My PCs just assumed that the gate either led to Ravounel or somewhere else the Scarlet Triad was active, because they'd picked up that the Triad was interested in the gates. They didn't know if they'd be getting to Ravounel immediately, but they figured one of the gates would lead there.
Inner Sea Taverns has rules for some tavern games. It's a 1E book, but the games should still work regardless of edition.
Hooray! Hopefully I'll actually have time to submit something this year.
I'm sad to see Amanda leave Paizo, but I'll be excited to see what she does over at Kobold Press! Best wishes for her in her new position!
Postal/courier AP: Aw yeah! Library AP: *insert Kermit flailing gif* That would be a contender for my favorite AP ever. (Especially if I got to write for it. *cough*) Should I ask if the Inner Sea has public libraries here or start a new thread?PFS scenario Echoes of the Overwatched visits Forae Logos in Absalom, one of the largest libraries in the world. Public libraries as we currently define them are actually a pretty recent development, only dating back to the 19th century or so (at least in Britain & America, not sure about elsewhere). They were actually pretty controversial at first because of bias against "the rabble" being able to study and learn things like the wealthy elite. Medieval libraries were private, owned by individuals, the Church, or universities, and literacy wasn't anywhere near as widespread as it seems to be on Golarion. We can assume that libraries are probably more common on Golarion since there are more people who could make use of them, although whether or not they'd be what we understand as "public" probably depends on the library. A postal service/courier service would probably be pretty popular for much the same reason: more people writing letters to each other (unless they're rich enough to afford magical communication). The mail was delivered several time a day in Regency England...big cities in Golarion probably have communication networks that function at least that frequently.
Tolkien did it, so why not Paizo ;-) Spiders Tolkein, who tried to avoid his day job in favor of writing and created over 10,000 conlangs per year, was an outlier and should not have been counted. ;-)
The issue looks great! I can't wait to dive into it more thoroughly.
Congratulations on the new jobs and promotions, everyone!
Same here. Some people may well be okay with this, especially if they still get PDFs on schedule, so maybe that could be an option?
Narrator voice: They didn't. For those of you who have to cancel airline flights, most US carriers are waiving cancellation fees or issuing travel vouchers. They're waiving change/cancel fees, but the travel credits they're issuing have a rather short life (at least for the airlines I booked with). One of them said you had to use the credits within a year of the date of original booking; the other said within a year of a date of issuance. Helpful if you typically travel more frequently, I guess, but completely useless if the next trip you'd be going on is, say, to PaizoCon 2021. Just something to be aware of.
I can't say I didn't see it coming, but I'm still bummed. Keeping everyone safe is more important, though. Now to see if the airlines will refund my tickets...
I'm very excited for the [redacted] lil critter I did in here!
Yeah, setting books are usually my absolute favorites, so I'm looking forward to this!
My own personal headcanon (which really has no basis in anything other than me thinking it's neat) is that the end/refresh cycle of the multiverse has been interrupted as of Starfinder times for some reason--perhaps even due to the activities of a bunch of strong mortal heroes! The Gap is due to an incomplete reset that brought back most things from the previous iteration, but certain things are altered or "set back." No one remembers what happened during the Gap because the resulting multiverse is pretty much a reconstruction of the previous one, with some differences, and that period of time was it resetting. I highly doubt this is actually the case in canon, but *shrugs*. Canon for my table!
Gah. Meant PF1 in the latter bit there. Didn't catch it on the edit, of course.
I doubt we'll see too much in the way of planet-hopping for PF2, at least for awhile. Eventually, they'll probably sprinkle it in here and there like they did in PF2. Though personally, I'd love an AP involving ye olde Verces. [edit: ninja'ed, I see]
It's a sobering reminder not to use unsustainable voices for silly one-off NPCs. My wife improvised a lisping unicorn once upon a time, and that goofy dialect haunted her for the rest of the campaign. My partner once GMed an accidentally-recurring winter wolf NPC whose accent was described by one of the other players as "the wolf that ate Sean Connery." He said it was murder on the throat. We often have NPCs recur in our games, usually AP NPCs with one-line descriptions. Klarah from Wrath of the Righteous went from a one-off NPC for the party to save in book 1 to WOTR spoiler:
Spoiler: eventually becoming the herald of a PC who turned out to be Desna's son (he ended up taking Divine Source). She even made a cameo in one of our Starfinder campaigns, since that former PC is a full god by Starfinder times.
I assumed OP was looking into self-publishing things from his setting. (Upon re-reading the question, that might not be correct.) If you're just doing stuff for your players in a personal game, you can do what you like. Personal games don't have OGL restrictions. If you're intending to make your work publicly available for free, that falls under the Community Use Policy. Basically, you can reference Paizo IP as long as you aren't charging anyone for it. That's how things like Wayfinder operate. The OGL is for commercial use, when you're making something to sell to people.
You could use phrasing like "Worshipers of Punchy Traveler can use rules elements designed for worshipers of a god of martial arts and self-perfection," I believe. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but that kind of vague description seems to be how Legendary does a lot of their plug-ins.)
I had a lot of fun working on my sections for this book, and I'm looking forward to its release! There's a lot of cool stuff in here that I think will appeal to people with a variety of tastes in things that interest them about starships. -Kendra
There are nucklavees in the last book of Reign of Winter.
** spoiler omitted ** Hmm, that's a good question...but one I don't have the answer to. I wrote it as the Spoiler:
kiirinta's Constitution score. I'm not sure if that was a deliberate change made in development or not. But it does seem unusual. -Kendra
Wayfinder #22 is now available for download! Go get it!
What the WHAT???? Oh my.....this is happening?? Absolutely warms my heart....
Hey all, Thanks for all the kind words. It is good to know that Wayfinder had an impact on the Paizo community, and contributed to the recruitment of fine, talented freelancers (who occasionally become Paizo employees!). Is the final issue still coming? Yes, we still plan on releasing it. I'm not going to commit to a date, though. I'm looking at a very busy summer for field work, so we will see how things go. Tim
Hey folks. I've been quiet on this mainly because I haven't had much to share. We've had a delay in layout (life priorities over Wayfinder). The issue is now in layout, and I hope to have a draft in the next few weeks. When that happens, we'll do our proofing round, and then we will finalize. So we are getting there, but I'm not gonna be to be able to give dates yet. I remain optimistic, though! It is probably pretty obvious now that we aren't going to have a 2023 open call or issue. In fact, it's overdue to let everyone know that this will be our final issue. There are a lot of reasons as to why, but mainly we felt it was time, and the establishment of the Pathfinder Infinite program was the logical successor for our mission. Infinite provides fans a way to create their own content and even better, to sell it, something Wayfinder couldn't do. It's a great initiative, and one that I'm happy will continue Wayfinder's mission to promote new freelancers and fan-created content. So, stay tuned. I'll give Wayfinder #22 updates when I have them.
Not to be that guy but are there any further updates on this? Even just an announcement that the issue is cancelled (provided that's the case) would be appreciated. So, no this issue is not cancelled. We have all the pieces, but the person that does layout has a lot of life stuff going on, and hasn't had the kind of time we normally have to work on the issue. Hence the delays. We've had several folks kindly offer their assistance, but we've done that in the past, and it just didn't work out well. People do layout in different ways, and it can cause...issues. I cannot say WHEN the issue will be done and released, because that's dependent on life stuff and available time. It WILL be completed though. My guess is probably late October/early November, but that's just what it is...a guess. Heck, I thought we could bang it out over the summer, but it hasn't turned out that way. I want to stress that I, more than anyone else, want to get this issue out. I'm proud of the articles, the art, and the editing that has been done. And I know that it will look awesome when we slap it all together. I will definitely post here when we have some progress, though.
Yep, time for an update. Unfortunately, life, work, and COVID have derailed our schedule. We won't be able to release for PaizoCon as usual. This all has pushed back the release date until late June. We have all the pieces, it just comes down to getting derailed by life. Disappointing? Hell, yes. But, I can assure you that this issue will be wonderful when we finish. The sneak peek of the Side Trek Adventure will still occur for PaizoCon, though. "Red Fields" is offered in person, and online by the authors, so look for that on Warhorn. Tim
You've got it. Thanks for the response. I will continue to work on the expanded version of my article quietly then. If you are doing that, keep in mind you retain the rights to your work. I would expect perhaps prepping that expanded version for Infinite. Once the issue comes out, you can be in a good position to point folks towards the expanded version....for a paltry sum, of course. Just my 2 cents.....
Final tally is 79 articles. Advice: 2
And four adventure pitches.
Just a little peek into what I was faced with in the decision process. In total, I had over 80 submissions to choose from. Now, we have about 12 categories or types of articles, and we strive to get a fairly even distribution of article types into each issue. Submissions are not evenly spread across those categories...so that means some categories have more "competition" than others. As I go through the articles, I assign 3 statuses: KEEP, RESERVE, REJECT. KEEP means it was a strong submission from the start. RESERVE means it was good, but didn't jump out in the front like a keeper...it goes into the "think about it/maybe" pile. REJECT is assigned to those articles that just didn't fit, or have too many errors, or just were not strong enough submissions. In a few limited cases, they violate the guidelines, which is an AUTO-REJECT. After we tally the KEEPs, we look at the page counts, and then start selecting the RESERVE articles to fill out the issue to bring it to the 76 page limit. At the end of the process for this issue, I selected 48 articles, and had to drop 33 submissions from pool. I honestly don't really consider the author names until the very end. Right before final selections, I review the author names, and if I have some "RESERVE" selections from an author that has all 3 articles, I'll look and see if a RESERVE from another author not selected could be used instead, so that we maximize our number of authors that get selected. In the end, it's not perfect, but the process is what it is.
So, there is a sticky history to this kind of request. I used to do that, yes. But, I started to get quite a lot of argumentative push-back, and it became VERY unpleasant. So, instead of opening the door to that kind of abuse, I opted to stop giving feedback. What I can say is this: send the request via email (be sure to prompt me to which article) and I will see what I can do, OK? Tim
After much review, much reading, and much consideration, here are the following authors with accepted submissions for Wayfinder #22: Aaron Filipowich
Next steps are sending out acceptance emails with the legal-type agreements, then editor assignments, and then art assignments. We are still quite low on artists right now. As it stands, we will not be able to illustrate all the articles.... so, we are putting out a BIG CALL for volunteer artists.
Final Count: 78 submissions, and 4 adventure pitches. Thank you to everyone that submitted something! I know this theme was a bit difficult, especially since the delay of the Absalom book derailed our original plan, but 78 is a VERY healthy number for us to generate a solid, high quality issue again. I greatly appreciate all your support in keeping Wayfinder going all these years. We can't make a magazine without fans sending in their ideas and art. As we head into the Infinite Era, it is my hope that Wayfinder will still maintain its relevancy and its appeal as the gateway and testing grounds for future freelancers. But, that's not necessarily for ME to decide....that's up to all of you. For now....we have a magazine issue to get started on!
OK, just counted. We have 27 submissions so far. We have ELEVEN days left in this Call for Submissions. That's close enough for the tally. Especially if it helps bolster some of you for articles! Advice: 0
Could use everything still, but Bestiary is filling up quickest.
We'll go ahead and put out a Call for Pitches for the Side Trek Adventure for Wayfinder 22. The Side Trek Adventure is 4500 words long, and includes a separate Weal or Woe (that's 1500 words) detailing the two NPCs that set up the adventure. And it MUST be ON THEME for this issue. (for a good explanation of the Weal or Woe, read my post above on Aug. 21) A good and proper pitch for an adventure should feature: 1. Title
It's essentially a side trek seed write-up with a Weal or Woe idea tossed in. I'd like the PITCHES for the Side Trek Adventure to be in by October 15th, same as the Open Call. If you have the Weal or Woe, submit it with the Open Call, and have your pitch reference that.
Any chance we can get one of those handy-dandy list of submissions by category so we can see what areas need more entries? We only have 15 submissions in right now, and 18 days left. A typical Wayfinder issue contains 40-45 articles. We like to get a pool of 60 articles or more for a good selection to draw from. Right now, ALL categories are WIDE OPEN. The tally list will be posted when submissions hit 30, OK? Tim
So regarding Infinite..... we fully intend to participate in the program, but we will continue to hold to our FREE issues to fans. Our mission is not to make money off this effort, but to promote the talents of fans in order to get them that crucial first step into the gaming industry. We are hoping that Infinite eventually brings POD service into effect, so that fans can get the printed issues we know everyone wants. Tim
Jacob is entirely correct. Authors and artists retain ownership of their work. Our only stipulation is that Wayfinder gets to publish it first, and that our right to use it doesn't get stripped away later. Now, yes, you CAN publish it in Infinite....but I'm sort of thinking that you might have to list Wayfinder in your OGL Section 15 at least. If you publish beforehand.....yes, I will remove it from the issue before publication. We will likely have to update our Agreement to reflect that as well. This Infinite program is new and exciting for the community, indeed. My only concern is that it might just replace the need for a community fanzine altogether....
Just a note about Weal or Woe articles.... When coming up with the backstories for your weal and woe NPCs, be absolutely sure that there is a strong connection between the two. Their backstories should be intertwined, with some history between them, and should make clear why one is an ally, and the other an adversary. Way too often we get Weal or Woe articles with two NPCs with completely unrelated backstories. There is no relationship, no history, and no reason that they are presented together. The very purpose of a Weal or Woe is to present a kind of setup for a sidetrek adventure. You encounter the Weal NPC, they need your help, the party assists, and ends up fighting the Woe NPC. That's what you should be thinking about when creating this kind of article. The more unique and interesting (and on theme), the better chance to be selected. Anyway, I was watching the various reviews on YouTube for Wayfinder #21, and both reviewers loved the Weal or Woe articles, but didn't really explain what we are looking for in a successful submission. Tim
Still no reviews? Come on, folks, surely there was SOMETHING in the issue you liked enough to let the author know? Remember, your review or comments are valuable to those that worked on this issue. Getting that feedback is our payment. Hearing crickets after a release is sending us the message that, well, no one is reading Wayfinder, and no one cares about it anymore. Is that the correct message we are hearing? I hope not. Please, post your reviews or comments.
Should we expect a confirmation email that our submission was received? I don't want it to disappear into the void of cyberspace. I will say that I did receive it, and sent you a reply regarding it. No, that's not common. But, I am seeing first-timers not following our guidelines, and helpful advice to avoid that seems in order.
I would try wayfinder.fanzine@gmail.com. Going to be upfront here.... I haven't gotten around to updating our templates to 2E yet. At least not the ones that we make generic and available for people to refer to. Give me a few weeks.
If you have questions about whether your idea(s) run up against the guidelines, then sure, I'll answer that. Agree with motteditor, that's a flavor article for sure.
We had fully intended to do an Absalom issue, but the delay of the book made that not an option (a similar thing happened for issue #6, and we took that lesson to heart). Wayfinder actually does have an adventure article, the Side Trek Adventure. We do not include it in the open call, because it's a special article that we do not want people to spent a ton of time writing and then not getting accepted. Adventures are typically 4500 words (so 6 pages) plus a Weal or Woe featuring the adventure's ally and final boss. We will be accepting anyone's pitch for the Side Trek during the Open Call. I typically post this a bit later in the process, as the adventure is on a slightly different schedule than the rest of the articles. But, in short, YES, we do have adventures, we are just way more selective about it!
Erik Mona offered to write some stuff for this issue on Facebook... so if you get in, your name will be in the same credit list. True, Erik did offer, but he's a really busy man, and it is not a firm commitment. We will, of course, be THRILLED to feature whatever Erik wants to share. Also, I will make sure that any special guest contributions will not cut into our abilities (i.e, pages) to feature as many new fan contributors as possible. We will make it work.
As Second Edition continues to build momentum, let’s take a look at the initial focus of the beginning adventures supporting the changed campaign setting: the Isle of Kortos. Throughout the entirety of the Golarion campaign setting, Absalom has been THE stopping point for most adventures on the isle. With the arrival of the Second Edition, we have been treated to two adventure paths that explore the rest of island, and it turns out that there is a LOT more to Kortos than just Absalom proper. So, let’s go exploring across the Isle of Kortos, and the Isle of Erran as well! Trek out into the Cairnlands, venture into the heart of the Immenwood, climb the Kortos Mounts, hike across the Swardlands! Visit the other towns and cities of the isle, such as Otari, Diobel, Pier’s End, and Escadar. And most importantly, expand upon all of this for the 22nd issue of Wayfinder! Goal
The theme for Wayfinder #22 will be the Isle of Kortos, focusing on those areas outside of Absalom, but not necessarily excluding Absalom. Given that the new Absalom book is coming out after the Open Call, it is tricky to write on specific places or features in the city without the risk of being made obsolete from the new content Paizo will be detailing in the book, so we encourage people who want to write Absalom submissions to take a more generic approach to places and people in the city. If you pick a named place with some importance, and expand on that, chances are that the book is going to do that as well. If your version contradicts the official Paizo material, it will likely be rejected. If it is a minor conflict, your piece may be selected, but revisions required. Ties to the Agents of Edgewatch AP would be more favorable submissions for locations within Absalom, as it specifically supports a published product. Please use the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook Second Edition as your main reference, along with Lost Omens World Guide, and many published adventures (Abomination Vaults, Extinction Curse APs; The Gauntlet, Master of Fallen Fortress, Troubles in Otari), and tons of PFS scenarios (The Kortos Envoy, Bandits of Immenwood, Raiders of Shrieking Peak, Ruins of Bonekeep, Skeleton Moon, and others), as well as the handy-dandy Archives of Nethys, and PathfinderWiki! Preference will be given to articles that follow the issue’s theme. Writers are invited to submit articles that fit within the following categories: Advice: Share valuable information or experiences with new GMs or players in the new Lost Omens campaign setting and 2nd edition rules system. Submission size: 750 words.
Guidelines • Thou shalt not disregard canon, thou shalt build upon it.
Submission Instructions Conditions for Submissions. All authors and artists must agree to have their works reproduced for this and other Wayfinder products, be it for translations into other languages (we will be responsible for the truthfulness of the translations), special publications, or use on a Wayfinder website. All of Wayfinder’s publications are NON-PROFIT, and authors and artists will be given proper credit where due. • Send all submissions to: wayfinder.fanzine@gmail.com with the subject line containing “Wayfinder #22 Submission:”, followed by the article title.
• For people who use open-source software, like OpenOffice and LibreOffice, and save their files as .DOC files, there is a mismatch between file types when trying to open the .DOC files in versions of Word from 2013 and up. It results in losing the last few lines of text. Those lines can only be viewed on Word 2010 or earlier. If you use these open-source programs, you MUST put one or two carriage returns after your last paragraph before you save the document as a .DOC file. Otherwise, we will have great difficulty being able to read and edit your submission. • Do not use fancy fonts or colors or styles for formatting - these will get stripped out in the editing and layout process. Use the standard body font for the program you’re using - bold and italics are fine. Ask us for an example of our style templates, if you’d like to use that. Tables must be tab delimited (DO NOT USE FORMATTED TABLES). • Use standard Pathfinder RPG Second Edition formats for stat blocks. Familiarize yourself with the style and wording choices used in Paizo products and apply those same style and wording choices to your submissions. Insertion of the action icons (if you do not have access to the font) should be [one-action}, [two-actions], [three-actions], [reaction], [free-action]. • At the top of your submission, in the body of the article, provide the following information: article title (and subtitle, if any), author name(s), contact e-mail address(es), and word count of the submission. For example,
• Accepted entries will go through editing passes for clarity and concision. Depending on time constraints, you may or may not receive feedback from the editing process. • Failure to follow these instructions or to meet one or more guidelines will result in rejection of the submission. DEADLINE: October 15, 2021, 11:59 Pacific. All entries will be handled on a first come, first serve basis. Some articles may be rejected depending on the final size of the PDF.
Yes, there was one in particular that I noted "NO Description??" Email us, which creature, and then give us your description idea. I'll need it for the art assignment. If you don't, then I get to decide what it looks like!
After much reading and review of submissions, we have finally made our selections for Issue 21! Congratulations to the following authors for making the cut! James Abendroth
Next steps are sending out the acceptance letters (with terms and conditions), assigning editors to articles, and get the art assignments out!
And that's a wrap! Thanks to everyone that sent in their submissions! Final tally is 78 submissions received, a good and healthy number to build a solid issue from! Here's the breakdown: Advice - 2
We've also selected the pitch by Jeremy Corff for the Side Trek Adventure, so congrats to Jeremy! Our next step is to begin our review of these submissions and make the selections to get us to at least 76 pages. So, that's pretty much our November, so end of November/beginning of December will probably see our final list. Once we make our selections, we'll be sure to post the list of accepted authors right here in this thread, as as on our Facebook page.
TWO WEEKS LEFT in our Open Call for Submissions! I just counted them up, and we have 29 submitted articles so far. Advice - 1
The categories that are still too low right now are the Bestiary and Magic Items. Our bestiary section of an issue typically is about 10-12 monsters. Magic items usually account for 4-6 pages of material, and we often group the really solid items together into a multi-author article if we get enough submissions. All other categories are fair game too, though. I'd love to see 60+ submissions. 80 would be awesome. The bottom line here is that we need a good number of submissions to make a solid issue. A typical 80 page issue has about 45 submissions accepted. Not every submission we get is publishable. Some articles are also too similar to use both. Some, unfortunately, are flawed mechanically, or grammatically, and would take too much time and effort to correct/rewrite. So, the more submissions we get, the better the issue is, because we have a greater pool of articles to select from, both in terms of quality and variety. So, in short, write it and submit it.
Still fairly early, with 36 days until the close, but I just counted them up, and we have 16 submitted articles so far. Advice - 1
Lacking right now?
Also, we don't have a Side Trek Adventure author lined up yet. What's that? How do you land the Side Trek Adventure slot? If you think you've got something good that will fit a 4500 word short adventure, paired with (and based on) a 1500 word Weal or Woe, and maybe a 600 word monster, send your pitch. But, I'd first advise you to check out past Wayfinder issues and the side treks in those, to get an idea of the format, and just how much you can do in 6 pages.
Working on a submission, and I was wondering just to confirm: for Bestiary entries, that's 750 words for just one creature, correct? It's 750 words or less, for 1 creature. For 2nd edition monsters, the stat blocks and text work out a little different. Stat blocks can be a lot shorter in the new format. If you make a monster with a basic and then larger form (so like the flytrap entry), I'd count it as one creature if it stays under 750 words TOTAL. Monsters entries are different in that they don't have hard word count targets, but do have upper limits. Make sense?
Hi. I just have a few questions. Good questions....let's see if I can help clarify. 1. Yes, the Age of Lost Omens is still going on. The Aftermath refers to Tar Baphon's escape. The new campaign setting starts after his return, and that's what we are making our theme: Golarion after the Return of the Whispering Tyrant. With that is all the finished results of the previous APs...so the world has changed A LOT. 2. If you venture beyond the Inner Sea region (those 10 areas in the Lost Omens World Guide) you are kind of stepping outside of the setting. I'm a little wary of doing that because it's part of the world Paizo has not fully addressed yet. Anything you write could be completely nullified by future Paizo products. We like Wayfinder to be complimentary to Paizo content, so that it gets good mileage for years and years. So, Qadira is safe. 3. That is the key, yes. If you can write two articles that can be taken separately, and no dependence upon each other, that's OK. The reason we have this rule is that earlier on in Wayfinder, people would circumvent the word counts for an article by just making TWO articles to cover it. The result was that if we liked one article, we were forced to accept BOTH. I know, gamers gaming the system, right? It happened often enough, we needed the rule. If we deem two articles that are by the same author to be related AND dependent on each other, they both get rejected. So....don't do that.
These issues are so incredible! This is a weird question, but is there any way I can help support them? Monetarily? No. That ship sailed several years ago. Otherwise, the best way to help is to help spread the word. Follow us on Facebook, and share our announcements with others that may have not heard of Wayfinder. More readers = more fans = more potential contributors = more future content for future issues. If you want to get involved, submit to our call for submissions. If you're an artist, consider sending us a link to your portfolio or gallery, and join our artist roster so you can illustrate in an issue. If you have good editing credentials, maybe see if you can help on the editing team. And if you like Wayfinder, write a review of one of the issues you liked. That is HUGE, as it tells our contributors that you liked their stuff! And feedback means SO FREAKIN' MUCH to everyone.
How about we try this a different way? I would not be opposed to seeing a 750 word or 1500 word article that explains the practice of the special eulogy, and then provides an example (or two). This sounds like a very thoughtful flavor article to me. I would be fine with mixing a flavor and poetry article together. We allow flavor articles with rules, why not poetry? Feel free to email me Andrew if you want to discuss further. Tim
After two years, Wayfinder returns to Golarion, and Avistan is no longer the same. The Whispering Tyrant, Tar-Baphon, has broken free of his prison, destroying the nation of Lastwall in the process, and lashing out at the entirety of Avistan before finally being forced to retreat to the Isle of Terror. This is the current state in The Age of Lost Omens. What changes will you find? Will you describe the unsettling scenes in The Gravelands, full of undead serving Tar-Baphon? Or perhaps explore Oprak, the new kingdom of hobgoblins? Will you venture West to the Saga Lands, and see what New Thassilon has to offer? Travel to Irrisen, and see how it has changed with their new Queen? Dare to visit to the East, to the Sarkoris Scar, and join the Reclaimers in their quest to restore their homeland after the demonic invasion? These are just a few of the changes that have transpired in the ten regions of the Inner Sea. There is much to discover. There is also a whole new set of rules to explore and expand upon! New character creation rules and options! Ancestries, and feats galore! A new action economy! Revamped classes! And that opens up a lot of opportunities for new ideas to fit into the new rules! So, let’s explore all the changes that a new Second Edition ruleset and an everchanging campaign setting presents, and expand upon it in this, the 21st issue of Wayfinder!
The theme for Wayfinder #21 will be The Age of Lost Omens: Aftermath! Please use the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook Second Edition as your main reference, along with the Lost Omens World Guide, (as well as the handy-dandy Archives of Nethys)! Preference will be given to articles that follow the issue’s theme. Writers are invited to submit articles that fit within the following categories: Advice: Share valuable information or experiences with new GMs or players in the new Lost Omens campaign setting and 2nd edition rules system. Submission size: 750 words.
Conditions for Submissions: All authors and artists must agree to have their works reproduced for this and other Wayfinder products, be it for translations into other languages (we will be responsible for the truthfulness of the translations), special publications, or use on a Wayfinder website. All of Wayfinder’s publications are NON-PROFIT, and authors and artists will be given proper credit where due.
For example, DEADLINE: October 31, 2020, 11:59 Pacific. All entries will be handled on a first come, first serve basis. Some articles may be rejected depending on the final size of the PDF.
It's fine to review the rest of the issue if you have something in it. Others have put a disclaimer statement up front saying that they have an article or more, so their review is for the rest of the issue, and excludes their own contribution(s). So, you're good. Please do consider writing a review!
The time that I dreaded has finally come....a year without a PaizoCon. It is, of course, the call that needed to be made, but it stings just the same. Take consolation that we still intend to release Wayfinder (I hope....probably should check on DaIn and see how he's doing). Tim
UPDATE: All editing rounds are complete and final pass and formatting is underway. Art turnovers are trickling in, and should start picking up as the due date approaches soon. Goal is to have nearly everything in hand for layout to start early March! This issue is looking GOOOOOOOOOOD.
Submissions have been reviewed! The following authors have had at least one of their articles accepted: Adam Kessler
Congratulations to you all!!
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