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TriOmegaZero wrote:

Jacob Jett wrote:

Diversification is healthy.

Only if those diversified options are not in direct competition with each other.

Edit: Straight from Lisa herself.

Unfortunately I'm not sure how that measures up against D&D3/3.5's, D&D4's, and (despite the quality issues) D&D5's success. There's still the (A)D&D1 situation. At best what Lisa has found is that completely unmanaged growth is unsustainable but, we know this from nature (and not ironically, the current economic crisis the U.S. finds itself in). What is competing against itself isn't clear. Certainly Forgotten Realms outcompeted Mystara but all of the other settings did not really resemble one another and appealed to different audiences (and so weren't really competing with one another for eyeballs). What really bankrupted TSR was a pretty constant over-estimation of how many copies of books sold and not in the least because they had overestimated how much of the fanbase were completionists interested in collecting one of everything.

This was an all too common mistake made by corporations in the '90s. Marvel, DC, and many other publishers overestimated the size of their markets and suffered dire financial crises because of it. (But it was hardly the case that the X-Men were directly competing with the Avengers.) So I'm afraid Lisa's conclusions are all wrong and that the important lesson for publishers is to always print too few (but not very many too few) copies so that you don't outstrip the actual demand. (Only under rare circumstances [when finances are tight] will your market cannibalize itself. And honestly, in the '80s grade schools, we had a simple video game, lemonade stand, that taught this lesson.)

IMO the Kickstarter (and Kickstarter like) business model actually takes the mystery out of this equation by facilitating your market self-identifying and directly investing in...

I don't think Paizo compares to Wotc (and really Hasbro) in this or any case. Paizo is still more akin to TSR in terms of what profits sustain them or margins sink them.

People keep acting like Paizo and Wotc/Hasbro are on the same footing. They are not. A legal battle that would shutter Paizo's doors is a footnote to Hasbro. Hasbro's lines competing with each other is an expected cost of business where Paizo might find it an undertow that sinks them.

Has the market changed enough that Lisa's conclusions are no longer valid? Possibly, but not concrete enough of a possibility to justify dividing the design teams focus more than it already is with Pathfinder and Starfinder.

Diversification is healthy.

Only if those diversified options are not in direct competition with each other.

Edit: Straight from Lisa herself.

Jacob Jett wrote:

Weird. It's not a bug in D&D and they don't cannibalize each other a bit (and never did)

Remember that the founders/owners/original staff of Paizo were managers at WotC.

Their business decision was based on actual experience managing multiple DnD settings.

In fact, Lisa Stevens specifically studied TSR's boom of settings and determined that was a major part of the company's downfall.

You can play anything you want. Publish, on the other hand...

Oshi no Ko doing a recap ep is just insulting.

Temperans wrote:

All they had to do was state how the drow left the planet to the planet they control in Starfinder, then add a reason why and make that the new big enemy in the Darklands.

That's it, nobody can claim that WotC has ownership of evil space elves, else they should delete normal elves which are also space elves. Getting rid of them wholesale is the worst option.

Where do they put this? If they put it in any ORC licensed material, they are inviting trouble for the whole product line. Maybe, since you published that here on the boards, it can be all the canon you need to make it so in the world. They definitely are not writing anything more about it, so you can get the last word.

Star finder is not moving to ORC for the time being so we don’t really know how any of this will shake out in Starfindef lore if and when it makes the jump too. There is probably much less risk of legal reasons to make changes to a setting of space fantasy.

By posting it on the forums, it effectively prevents Paizo from even using the idea, as that risks an argument that they need to pay the poster for the idea.

It's why they don't read unsolicited submissions, to avoid any possible accusations of plagiarism.

Wishing you the best gaming possible, whatever system you choose.

Golarion had that as a core principle that is not getting effectively removed.

It really doesn’t.

I'm wondering what the implications are for the planar cosmology.

I doubt there are any. The real world cosmology works fine without law and chaos.

*violent flashbacks to the alien from Life*

The Raven Black wrote:

I am wondering what will differentiate Demons from Devils actually, apart from their adress in the Outer Planes.

I'm pretty sure "how they act, and what they want" hasn't changed for any outsiders.

Pretty much. Hell still has a strict hierarchy and contracts, while demons are much less organized and free spirited about their evil. They don't need Law and Chaos to be different populations.

Remember, Law and Chaos don't actually have much in the way of meaning.

Karmagator wrote:

TL:DR - as we kind of expected, drow are too close to DnD to safely disentangle. Therefore, drow are not going to be featured anymore. Instead, cavern elves aka Ayindilar are going to be the new "underground elves", but they are going to not be a direct replacement, as they seem to be actually be quite good.

The direct replacement for drow as the main organized antagonist in the darklands will be the serpenfolk. They are also taking over the grand underground cities for the most part.

I gotta wonder how they are going to explain away Second Darkness, if Eando or whomever just "invented" the drow, or whatever they come up with exactly. Not to mention all those other Drow NPC's in numerous adventure paths and single adventures and source books and so on.

How many of those are still in print?

Also when all those monster stats are free online.

I mean, all the previous books still exist, the content didn't get deleted.

So, what is your overall impression of the announced Remaster changes?

Way too early to tell, but I haven't heard anything that bothers me, so I guess positive.

But all those are a thing of the past now.

Why? Are collectivist and individualist philosophies not allowed in the game now?

With how little they did so far, I don't find it much of a change to say that.

Can we get back to compiling the changes now?

Nothing to do with design, everything to do with mythos. Very few stories include an embodiment of chaos being harmed by the power of law, many many more include evil being harmed by good.

There are more 'good/evil' creatures that are universally harmed by their opposite than 'law/chaos' creatures, so that isn't an equal comparison.

Huzzah!

Picking up a few hours of overtime to cover for the team on Sunday, then nothing but board games.

Yes.

Man, spoilers are everywhere this season. Can't even look at YouTube or Twitter for the most part.

Gotta love the stegosaurus and the Thagomizer.

Runelords and Rebels were our concurrent games, there was definitely a noticeable difference. If that difference is not noticeable or nearly so in 2E I really need to get up on the system and start running it.

I appreciate all the work done for Kingmaker, Curse, and Runelords a great deal.

“You need to believe in things that aren't true. How else can they become?” - Death, Hogfather

"There are no innocent bystanders in Hell. War is chock full of them - little kids, cripples, old ladies. In fact, except for some of the brass, almost everybody involved is an innocent bystander." - Hawkeye Pierce

I feel like I can still hear them, as if they were still with us.

The boys are heading out to California this weekend, so it's just me and Cyz with a quiet weekend now that our temporary roommate is leaving to Scotland today.

You're a better man than I, it only took me a decade or so to burn out.

Hoping for the best, the pawns are super useful.

Our magus got folded like a cheap suit.

Oh man, am I glad the bag lady is dead. That was a hellacious fight.

No fair using that song to bookend things.

Going to see GotG3 this afternoon before gathering for Strange Aeons tonight. Dinner will fit in there somewhere.

Never Forget The Name - Divide

TOZ, how is Cyz?

This week is her treatment week, so she's sleeping a lot through the IV infusions. Nothing appears worse and hopefully the treatment helps improve things.

So glad we decided to see it. Not an amazing movie, but a perfectly good romp written in a decidedly TTRPG tone. I could absolutely hear the players and GM bantering over some of the scenes, especially the paladin explaining the trap and the subsequent deus ex machina to get past the chasm, and ESPECIALLY the entire speak with dead sequence.

Purple Duck Games did the Porphyra RPG.

Then please go find a game you will enjoy.

I recommend Spirit Island.

I really need to get up on 2E so I can run these.

There are at least two PF1E remasters that I have heard of. If you haven't heard of them, then that is probably why we won't be getting one from Paizo. Because it can't support the company with how little interest there is in paying for it.

We’re just hoping it doesn’t make Cyz’s autoimmune disease worse.