Pathfinder Adventure Path #166: Despair on Danger Island (Fists of the Ruby Phoenix 1 of 3)

For us that have the subscription, will we be getting the PDF tomorrow while we are waiting on the physical copy? Currently this has been removed entirely from my order history page.

Unless Paizo changes their minds regarding policy, you'll get your pdfs when you subscription ships.

Strange that last month they charged a few days before ... releasing the PDF and sending it on the same day. I had understood that the idea was for subscribers to receive / have access before

Strange that last month they charged a few days before ... releasing the PDF and sending it on the same day. I had understood that the idea was for subscribers to receive / have access before

Subscribers get it when their order ships. This usually occurs before the street date, but in busy months can be later. And given all the delays to the shipment outside Paizo’s control for April, who know if the street date is still the street date, or what’s happening with subscription orders.

I had understood that the idea was for subscribers to receive / have access before

I've gotten my PDF before the street date; on the street date, and, on a couple occasions, a day or two after the street date.

It's not an 'early access' perk. It's a free perk when your order ships.

Street date has updated to PDF available May 26

Nooooooooooooooooooo

This pandemic shipping difficulties are unfortunately probably going to affect sales of this ap :'D I hope this doesn't discourage them of more similar aps in future

I suspect the blockage in the Suez Canal also had something to do with this one.

This pandemic shipping difficulties are unfortunately probably going to affect sales of this ap :'D I hope this doesn't discourage them of more similar aps in future

I trust in Paizo's ability to discern between "this AP sold poorly; people don't want martial arts" and "this AP sold poorly; people don't want delayed product". :)

Disappointing that I cannot buy PDF today, regardless of shipping issues for the physical product/subscriber copies. I guess my RPG budget for this month is being redirected toward Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft on 18/05/2021.

Got it, man, upset about the delay. Here in Brazil we are very excited about this AP, mainly due to the movie Mortal Kombat that debuted in the Streamings =), I want to set up my Sub-Zero.

I suspect the blockage in the Suez Canal also had something to do with this one.

Probably not. Part 2 and 3, yes, but I don't think it would have hit this one.

By the time the Suez was blocked, this was probably already enroute to the US. Possibly already in US waters, waiting for a slip. We were already seeing weeks delays to container traffic on the west coast before the Suez.

Ironically, the Suez blockage is clearing that particular backlog out, but of course that doesn't mean products are going to hit shelves any faster. Though it will free up ships that are currently tied up along our coast, and that might help the recovery go quicker.

Wait. If the books are printed in China, and are sent to the West Coast, why would the travel through the Suez? There's just the pacific ocean in between. Suez is for Ships from East-Asia/India/Australia to Europe, maybe East coast, isn't it?

Wait. If the books are printed in China, and are sent to the West Coast, why would the travel through the Suez? There's just the pacific ocean in between. Suez is for Ships from East-Asia/India/Australia to Europe, maybe East coast, isn't it?

It's the vehicles, not the streets. If a ship can't get through the Suez Canal to return to China, then it's not at the dock to be loaded with its next cargo that is going to the US.

Ships aren't restricted to a single route. They can go from China to the US west coast, China to the US east coast; China to South Africa; China to London; China to Marseilles.

If a ship is late getting back to a Chinese port, the goods that it was scheduled to carry will just sit there. There aren't a bunch of empty ships lounging around, waiting for someone to flag them down and grab a ride.

Wait. If the books are printed in China, and are sent to the West Coast, why would the travel through the Suez? There's just the pacific ocean in between. Suez is for Ships from East-Asia/India/Australia to Europe, maybe East coast, isn't it?

They don't. But the canal blockage tied up roughly 1/8 of the available shipping in the world for a week.

A lot of stuff got redirected. Stuff already en route of course was..already en route, which is why I don't think this one was affected. But getting logistics chains back into place is going to take a while.

For perspective, the West Coast saw a 3 day shutdown a couple years ago during a labor dispute.

It took us 6 months to get back on track. (I did planning for a freight rail line at the time, so I mean that somewhat literally).

The April cargo container at the Port of Seattle has issues, goblin raid or something. There is no reason to believe the May products will be delayed. Once the products make it to our warehouse we need to ship them to distributors, then subscribers (who will get PDFs then), then they go on sale for individual PDF and print purchases. The goal is to have retailers get the products the same time we release them to public. Look to the pinned Customer Service thread for more updates.

What a pity this is; I had planned to move my group on to Fists of the Ruby Phoenix this month. Instead, I think I'll spend my money on the new Guide to Ravenloft and take my group there - I would've filled the space with a spooky adventure in Malevolence, but that too was delayed. In future I'd like to see Paizo release their PDFs on the planned date, even if physical copies get delayed - I would actually have spent money on Paizo products this month if they had, after all.

Thanks CrystalSeas and AnimatedPaper, now that makes sense.

Thanks Aaron. I was wondering what was up.

The April cargo container at the Port of Seattle has issues, goblin raid or something. There is no reason to believe the May products will be delayed. Once the products make it to our warehouse we need to ship them to distributors, then subscribers (who will get PDFs then), then they go on sale for individual PDF and print purchases. The goal is to have retailers get the products the same time we release them to public. Look to the pinned Customer Service thread for more updates.

Strange that last month they charged a few days before ... releasing the PDF and sending it on the same day. I had understood that the idea was for subscribers to receive / have access before

My understanding is that it works like this: up until the point where the shipping process starts, what you have is a pre-order. Paizo are not allowed to charge your credit card for a pre-order, and a pre-order can be canceled at any point. So if Paizo were to send out PDFs to subscribers before shipping, there wouldn't really be anything preventing people from unsubscribing after receiving the PDFs, which Paizo then won't get paid for. In order to avoid this, subscribers get PDF access once product is shipping*.

* Shipping in this context means that the shipping process has started—basically, an order has been sent to the warehouse telling them to collect products X and Y and send them to person Z. It does not necessarily mean that the product has actually left the warehouse, but at that point the order can't be stopped any longer.

They could do this if they altered their subscription setup by charging for the PDF when it is released and then charging the standard price minus whatever they charged for the PDF when the physical product ships -- but I imagine that there would be major difficulties in transitioning to such a process.

I suspect their software is enough of a bowl of spaghetti that "major difficulties" is probably a serious understatement. :-)

They could do this if they altered their subscription setup by charging for the PDF when it is released and then charging the standard price minus whatever they charged for the PDF when the physical product ships -- but I imagine that there would be major difficulties in transitioning to such a process.

It would also cause additional difficulties with their relationship with bricks and mortar stores if they start selling pdfs before the stores can sell any product at all. Paizo has been reluctant to go down this route as stores are still an important part of their revenue stream and marketting.

Perhaps another solution (and a contingency for the future) is to print a small portion of the products more local to avoid disruption from the main source. after all there are many things that could go wrong in the supply chain.

This way Paizo could satisfy Brick&Mortar, although with a lower volume, while being able to sell at least the PDFs to customers.

It wouldn't be a solution to all problems that could arise, but at least some.

Perhaps another solution (and a contingency for the future) is to print a small portion of the products more local to avoid disruption from the main source. after all there are many things that could go wrong in the supply chain.

This way Paizo could satisfy Brick&Mortar, although with a lower volume, while being able to sell at least the PDFs to customers.

It wouldn't be a solution to all problems that could arise, but at least some.

The issue with that is larger orders are cheaper per item, so you’d effectively be raising the price Paizo pays for the order, as you have two smaller orders for the same volume of units. Paizo is presumably a profitable business, but I doubt they’re operating on extravagant margins.

Perhaps another solution (and a contingency for the future) is to print a small portion of the products more local to avoid disruption from the main source. after all there are many things that could go wrong in the supply chain.

I can see the countless threads of people complaining that they have to wait weeks to get their shipment/PDF while other people have theirs already and are posting about it here and elsewhere. That's a headache Paizo for sure doesn't want.

David knott 242 wrote:

They could do this if they altered their subscription setup by charging for the PDF when it is released and then charging the standard price minus whatever they charged for the PDF when the physical product ships -- but I imagine that there would be major difficulties in transitioning to such a process.

It would also cause additional difficulties with their relationship with bricks and mortar stores if they start selling pdfs before the stores can sell any product at all. Paizo has been reluctant to go down this route as stores are still an important part of their revenue stream and marketting.

Good point. The subscriptions themselves already strain that relationship. On the other hand, such a process might still work if they confirm that shipping is well underway before they release the PDFs.

Duragin Ardentblood wrote:

Perhaps another solution (and a contingency for the future) is to print a small portion of the products more local to avoid disruption from the main source. after all there are many things that could go wrong in the supply chain.

This way Paizo could satisfy Brick&Mortar, although with a lower volume, while being able to sell at least the PDFs to customers.

It wouldn't be a solution to all problems that could arise, but at least some.

The issue with that is larger orders are cheaper per item, so you’d effectively be raising the price Paizo pays for the order, as you have two smaller orders for the same volume of units. Paizo is presumably a profitable business, but I doubt they’re operating on extravagant margins.

For sure. Yet here we have a delay of two months now, missing two months of sales, which will cost Paizo either way money.

When did this slip to July?! :( :( :(

??? This sucks.

All three released at once in July?

Yesterday. See the April/May Customer Service thread for details.

Please follow the April & May 2021 New Releases and Subscription Shipping thread for schedule updates.

I am in Despair waiting for Despair on Danger Island!
:waaah:

Please see the June 2021 New Releases and Subscription Shipping customer service thread for updates.

Just for fun, could the pawns be added at the same time, wrap them all into a simple complete package?
Instead of a Beginner Box we could have a Ruby Phoenix Fists Box!

Yeah I am bored, or rather still excited about this and can only speculate about the upcoming tournament. So I speculate.

Just for fun, could the pawns be added at the same time, wrap them all into a simple complete package?

Instead of a Beginner Box we could have a Ruby Phoenix Fists Box!

Yeah I am bored, or rather still excited about this and can only speculate about the upcoming tournament. So I speculate.

I love boxed sets.

Ooh it just dawned on me. With some clever printing and/or folding the box ITSELF could be the arena!

Assuming there is one arena used for the many matches :)

Boxed sets cost a lot more in packaging, and thus, the price of both combined would probably be higher than buying the two products separated, which would drop the sales. And offering both configurations would split the audience, forcing them to do two smaller print runs, making both runs cost more to make, so still bumping the price up. :/
/mostly speculation, but that's using the best of my knowledge of these things.
Also, it's way too late to change the packaging/SKUs.

Hey!! Keep your logistics out of my fun!!!

Just kidding, you are right of course. I know it isn't feasible (see Shackled City).

Do you think there is any chance that there will be a nagaji race on this Adventure Path? It seems to me very strange that they (as well as samsarans) are not available in the available ancestries. I was expecting them in the Ancestry Guide, because before the tournament it would be logical to imagine the races inhabiting the continent on which the tournament is taking place. However, as we all know, this did not happen, and I was left without the Order of the Poisoned Fang monk. I hope it will be available at least for future campaigns.

Do you think there is any chance that there will be a nagaji race on this Adventure Path? It seems to me very strange that they (as well as samsarans) are not available in the available ancestries. I was expecting them in the Ancestry Guide, because before the tournament it would be logical to imagine the races inhabiting the continent on which the tournament is taking place. However, as we all know, this did not happen, and I was left without the Order of the Poisoned Fang monk. I hope it will be available at least for future campaigns.

Given that we have descriptions of the backmatter for all three volumes and none of them describe an Ancestry writeup, I think it’s safe to say no.

Why is this listed in the new releases if it is being delayed again to July. Also could we get some sort of response from the Devs as to the nature of the delay of all this months Pathfinder products?

Why is this listed in the new releases if it is being delayed again to July. Also could we get some sort of response from the Devs as to the nature of the delay of all this months Pathfinder products?

Hello. Sorry for the delays. They come from extreme shipping delays and are addressed in the Customer Service threads posted above. (The Devs have nothing to do with the delays). All three volumes of Fists of the Ruby Phoenix are now targeted for July 7. Customer service is available to assist you via email and our forums. Thanks for your patience as we ship to our distributors, subscribers and individual customers.

InsaneFrosty wrote:

Why is this listed in the new releases if it is being delayed again to July. Also could we get some sort of response from the Devs as to the nature of the delay of all this months Pathfinder products?

Hello. Sorry for the delays. They come from extreme shipping delays and are addressed in the Customer Service threads posted above. (The Devs have nothing to do with the delays). All three volumes of Fists of the Ruby Phoenix are now targeted for July 7. Customer service is available to assist you via email and our forums. Thanks for your patience as we ship to our distributors, subscribers and individual customers.

I looked at those threads, but they say nothing about what is discussed here: why and how (and why not) the products are delayed. Those threads are terse listings only - your post is literally 100% more informative, since it explains that the cause is due to "extreme shipping delays".

So I don't really understand why you continuously ask people to take the discussion over there. There is nothing there except the dates. You could just as well keep tabs on Paizo's Release Schedule.

When people express "what did I miss" it is because they expect an active news item "product X is delayed, find new shipping date inside" rather than just a quiet update of a listing.

But perhaps I am missing something?

Best regards

The June thread is not very informative but the April/May one is full of updates. That might be what you're missing.

I assume in general they want the product pages to be for discussions on the products--for future reference. Someone comes here in six months wondering about this book, and all they read is shipping updates and delays? Not wildly helpful. It's like reading reviews on Amazon that give out a grade based on the condition caused by being mailed.

That's my best guess.

Has anyone gotten the PDF’s yet?

Has anyone gotten the PDF’s yet?

I do. Whats up.