Pathfinder Dark Archive

I'm having the same problem in the UK. Been hyped for this title. Now feeling sad. Hopefully someone will fix this issue soon.

moonia22 wrote:

Any one have this problem? I do wana buy PDF but it stuck in payment.

"The requested URL was not found on this server, or you do not have permission to access this area. "

Have the same exact problem. Not sure how to fix it.

I think it's a problem with non US addresses. I have the same problem too. All the people in the EU I know can't get it but our US friends had no trouble

Switch your address to some random American one, and it'll let you buy it.

Candlejake wrote:

moonia22 wrote:

Any one have this problem? I do wana buy PDF but it stuck in payment.

"The requested URL was not found on this server, or you do not have permission to access this area. "

Have the same exact problem. Not sure how to fix it.

I think it's a problem with non US addresses. I have the same problem too. All the people in the EU I know can't get it but our US friends had no trouble

The most annoying part is that Paizo does not seem to know this is going on. Or worse yet, actively ignoring it. Since I can not find any information from them that they are aware, or are trying to fix it.

They are only waking up now.

This problem appeared literally today at midnight Paizo time because I bought a different PDF last week, and it was all fine.

I once had a job - database administrator for the UK Royal Navy - where I was on call 24/7. I think that's pretty rare though.

It's not just PDFs, I want to buy actual books.

The problem has already been reported in the Website Feedback. I REALLY wanted to buy the PDF today and nope, not possible. So you guys believe I should change the billing address and that fixes the issue? Since I only want to get the digital copy, I don't care about the billing address at all.

I have worked for companies far smaller than Paizo, and they always had someone to monitor issues with their webpage 24/7.
Especially when they release new things for purchase or to order. So they could catch issues like these immediately.

The problem has already been reported in the Website Feedback. I REALLY wanted to buy the PDF today and nope, not possible. So you guys believe I should change the billing address and that fixes the issue? Since I only want to get the digital copy, I don't care about the billing address at all.

Yes, that's what I did, I googled an address in the US, put is at the billing address, and here I am staring at Dark Archive PDF.

I probably owe the Polish tax office 1.27 USD now :D

ZarKimbo wrote:

The problem has already been reported in the Website Feedback. I REALLY wanted to buy the PDF today and nope, not possible. So you guys believe I should change the billing address and that fixes the issue? Since I only want to get the digital copy, I don't care about the billing address at all.

Yes, that's what I did, I googled an address in the US, put is at the billing address, and here I am staring at Dark Archive PDF.

I probably owe the Polish tax office 1.27 USD now :D

Didn't think about the VAT so I am not gonna do it then :(((( But thanks for the reply!

Weird - unable to add the PDF to the cart at all, and I'm in the US, so it's not a localization issue, at least for me.

That's a bummer :(

Good Morning.
There was an issue with the code release last evening that is causing this current situation. We are working on a solution currently.

Am I daft or something?
I can't even add the pdf to the cart - I vaguely remember that you just need to click on "PDF available", but it's simply not clickable.

Bold move releasing a major change into prod the day before a highly anticipated product release...

Where I work, that sort of stuff gets you sacked XD

At least you get to benefit from a captive audience - not like I can get the PDF somewhere else.

No, it's just called "testing in production", every respectful IT company had to do it at least once (usually because the customer demanded it...)

Sure, but it's usually not in a mission critical system, and it can get phased in over time - and almost never a couple hours before a major planned event of some sort.

Major unforced error here, though I **probably** shouldn't be surprised.

Source - Software Engineer for over 15 years that works with high profile clients on high availability, mission critical systems on the regular.

Seriously guys - get a quote for a website redesign, be open with the community about it, and kickstart that sucker. I guarantee you would get a **significant** part of that covered by voluntary contribution - give a percentage off reward for a duration of time as a kickstarter tier bonus.

Paizo's woes with their hopelessly outdated and inefficient WebObjects (sigh) based storefront are ... 15 years old? Unfortunately, there are so many elements of their business tied to that store that replacing everything with off-the-shelf solutions has so far eluded them.

Ah, the wild early 2000s and everyone having some software whiz code their own unique proprietary systems for everything... Pretty much everybody grew out of that phase, Paizo didn't.

Weird - unable to add the PDF to the cart at all, and I'm in the US, so it's not a localization issue, at least for me.

That's a bummer :(

I'm guessing they shut it all down while they fix the problem that was affecting the customers outside of the U.S.

Wow, the pdf is sooo cheap, it almost feels like stealing. I would expect (and support) the thing costing at least 20€, if not 25.

Wow, the pdf is sooo cheap, it almost feels like stealing. I would expect (and support) the thing costing at least 20€, if not 25.

Please don't encourage such things. There are those of us who need to be a bit more thrifty and are already missing out on much of the Lost Omens line because that is the price point of those particular PDFs. We went from $8-$15 per pdf in PF1 ($10 for most large rulebooks) and similar pricing for Starfinder to $15 for core RPG books, and $25 for the larger (in quantity, I believe) Lost Omens line books. That's a fairly large percentage increase in budget costs, one that I personally haven't yet been able to reconcile. If you really are so keen to give them more money, I'm sure they wouldn't mind you buying another item (or a second copy for a friend). Thank you in advance. :)

geauxtig3rs wrote:

Weird - unable to add the PDF to the cart at all, and I'm in the US, so it's not a localization issue, at least for me.

That's a bummer :(

I'm guessing they shut it all down while they fix the problem that was affecting the customers outside of the U.S.

It looks like the links are active again.

What a wonderful book!

It really puts magic back into magic, and not only when it comes to spellcasting. Listing my favorite things would be quite spoilerous, but please just know that I appreciate this approach to things like curses, beasts, feats, and everything else greatly.

This is the best book for Pathfinder, including all books for 1st edition, period. At least to my mind. Well done, wonderful job.

And those adventures - frankly, these are better than some (many?) standalone modules and AP chapters. There, I said it. Even the first one is already more complex, interesting and immersive, than most of "avoid traps and then kill them all" adventures.

The layout is really cool, but, even though at first I liked the idea, putting adventures and other spoilerey things (curses?) in the middle of the book is not very practical. I'd love to maybe try and cut some pages from the pdf and then show it to my players to let them see if there's something they'd like to use, and it would be much easier if all those things were compiled at the end of the book. I do think that more theme-focused approach to layout is cool, and I like it as well when I make stuff, but maybe just putting a simple blurb of an adventure at the end of each chapter with a reference to the page in the GM's part would be enough?

And, very last thing - I am all for including such short and "simple" adventures in literally every supplement. Please keep doing that. BUT, would it be possible to supplement them with a compilation of layered maps, like APs? Those maps are gorgeous (again - better than some AP maps), but I really hate to have immersion-breaking notes put on my maps in Foundry.
Quite frankly, in this day and age, the best thing to do would be probably to include a pack of high-resolution png files of the maps. People who like to print them could still do that, while VTT users would appreciate that.

Overall, this book is an absolute steal and almost a golden standard for how RPG supplements should look like. It's wonderful. It's completely my jam. And including short adventures using themes presented should become a standard not only for Paizo, but the whole industry.

Keep it up! I'm glad I'm playing Pathfinder 2e!

Karmagator wrote:

Wow, the pdf is sooo cheap, it almost feels like stealing. I would expect (and support) the thing costing at least 20€, if not 25.

Please don't encourage such things.

Do encourage such things, I rather the people who make these wonderful books not continue to be underpaid.

Karmagator wrote:

Wow, the pdf is sooo cheap, it almost feels like stealing. I would expect (and support) the thing costing at least 20€, if not 25.

Please don't encourage such things. There are those of us who need to be a bit more thrifty and are already missing out on much of the Lost Omens line because that is the price point of those particular PDFs. We went from $8-$15 per pdf in PF1 ($10 for most large rulebooks) and similar pricing for Starfinder to $15 for core RPG books, and $25 for the larger (in quantity, I believe) Lost Omens line books. That's a fairly large percentage increase in budget costs, one that I personally haven't yet been able to reconcile. If you really are so keen to give them more money, I'm sure they wouldn't mind you buying another item (or a second copy for a friend). Thank you in advance. :)

We also went through 13 years of inflation and costs going up. It's time Paizo hiked up its prices.

I realise that there's an inherent clash in Paizo games being a hobby demanding high-quality creative talent and production values, and at the same time a big chunk of its primary target group is US working-class people who low disposable income, but if you don't want to see skilled people leave Paizo and see cuts on stuff (such as, erm, customer service or website or art quality or product lines), accepting higher prices is the only way to go.

It's still silly value for the amount of fun you get out of a book, anyway.

Both AP lines had price increases this year.

I realise that there's an inherent clash in Paizo games being a hobby demanding high-quality creative talent and production values, and at the same time a big chunk of its primary target group is US working-class people who low disposable income

I always thought of the hobby as incredibly niche and kind of a middle-to-upper class thing. I'd be interested to see the demo breakdown if any market research groups have looked into it.

It was incredibly niche 10 years ago, it's somewhat niche today. 5e, Critical Role, streaming games and nerdy stuff going mainstream led to an explosion of the hobby. It's still a small slice compared to board games or CCGs, but the pie got so big that the slice is now far more significant.

In Europe, it's more middle-class because RPGs spread through fandom at universities, and uni graduates tend to gravitate towards the middle-class. Of all the people I game with on a regular basis in various groups (20+ folks), 3 have PhDs, one has B.A., one never went to university, and literally everybody else has M.As. Most are middle-class or aspiring middle-class. I'd say that they're representative of the hobby in the country.

In the US, it's firmly working class. Except, of course, 1970s working class where the hobby began was in an infinitely better situation than today's American working class is, and the kids of the 1970s grognards struggle and fail to afford the lifestyle of their dads who could sustain a basement full of games and a Gary Gygax bronze bust.

TTRPG products are cheap because the core target has very limited disposable income, which creates a vicious cycle of salaries in the industry (WotC excepted) are crap and people can't sustain a life in Seattle. I'm happy to see Paizo bumping the prices up, but I'm wondering how far can they go. Hopefully, the expansion of the hobby and RPGs being cool means there will be more people with bigger budgets who can bump the $ in the industry and make it easier for everyone.

Before this derails too far: Please keep the conversation on hand to the product.

Has the situation with the pdf and payments been rectified yet?

As usual, if you like the book, review it!

Way ahead of you

...Now I need how to run secret society.

Loved the tie-in to the Villain Codex, which is still one of my favorite PF1 products. Seeing the Grand Dam and her related secret society get a place on Golarion was great.

...Now I need how to run secret society.

It's so great!

Uh, I mean I hear that it's great.

Looked into the book. Really like the theme of it but the layout take some of the excitement away:
1. As it is a rulebook, the adventures should be collected at the back so potential players that look into options for their character don't accidentally spoiler themself.
2. Next one is an issue I already have with the Setting books (but as they have fewer rules it wasn't as important). The rules are scattered through several chapters (Guns&Gears only had 2 and so it was fine there) and as the spells and gear lists at the end are a great help, I'm missing the same for all the talents, archetypes ... . This makes it very hard to look up specific things.
3. This is a very personal view and depands only what you like. I really like the typical Pathfinder art style from the 2nd edition. Was already let down from the cover of Shadows at Sundown but now there are a lot of similar 3d render arts that i really dislike (they simply don't work for me).

As you see, these are all simply presentation stuff and it has nothing to do with the content of the book

Has the situation with the pdf and payments been rectified yet?

Um I didn't get a response, I did email supportive.

Gustl: re: looking things up, try Archives of Nethys. :-)

Don't get me wrong, I love having the books, don't love the fact that I don't have Dark Archive yet, but if I need to look up a rule, AoN is my go-to even if I have the book.

"Just look things up on Nethys" is not really a defense to editing choices in the book itself and is not a justification for purchasing something that you feel is vexingly edited.

I commented on the issues in the review as well and I don't think they're deal-breakers but if you're going to dismiss them out of hand, then why should people bother purchasing any books at all?

I'm not defending anything. I simply made a suggestion.

So I've only just now started my read through of the book...

...And wow The Cat and Mouse secret society is the secret society from setting generic Villain Codex. I never thought some of the setting generic nameless factions from that book would get canonized in setting :O

That is lovely surprise because Villain Codex had TONS of really flavorful ideas even if they were setting generic. The High Talon is now canonical Thuvian character with actual name :D The other unique npcs also get mentioned (including one with big sphinx cat eidolon) and true leader of society being dead and channeled through spiritualist

Deviant ability lore flavor is really nice too :D Like I think lot of people probably think of x-men type mutants first, but as more of manga fan it really reminds me of shenanigans with battle manga power systems. The mention of really situational or extremely specific abilities is just lovely. Like with that you could create NPCs that just has a special ability that doesn't have to be tied to existing class or type of magic.

(btw there are great amount of fun lines in the case files, K.H.W has wit x'D Case file format is really fun too because of the recurring Archivist characters being written about)

....Okay who were writers in this book? I feel like they have to have loved pathfinder 1e lore or else they did super good research if they didn't love the lore but wrote this ._.

There are TONS of really obscure and small references to 1e books and not lost golarion related stuff, content and monsters in setting generic rule books as well that aren't in 2e. Its awesome

(sidenote, similar to monster of myths I managed to locate editing mistake where text ends too early. in this case:

"False faces can lurk behind any warm smile. Forget reported fey abductions and other humdrum. (The Vidric envoy hasn’t been replaced by a mirror-risen reflection in New Stetven, Archivist Hathshi. She’s acting strangely because she’s having an affair. Not everyone!) Many reports of duplicates seem to center on locations. If barriers between our world and the Shadow Plane/First World/Ethereal Plane is thinner at some spots, could there be locations where the Echoing Pale exerts a stronger influence?"

I guess it was supposed to be something like "Not everyone is replaced by clone?" or something? I do kinda want to know how sentence finished x'D)

Who is this K.H.W. person whose initials are scattered throughout the book?

Who is this K.H.W. person whose initials are scattered throughout the book?

The Last Archivist who is writer of most lore text in the book.

Who is this K.H.W. person whose initials are scattered throughout the book?

James Cases said that it was intentionally left as a mystery.

Ed Reppert wrote:

Who is this K.H.W. person whose initials are scattered throughout the book?

James Cases said that it was intentionally left as a mystery.

Looking around, I don't thin anyone found anything conclusive as of yet, looking at the previous lore. But the search is still ongoing.

That's such a great detail!

Elfteiroh wrote:

Ed Reppert wrote:

Who is this K.H.W. person whose initials are scattered throughout the book?

James Cases said that it was intentionally left as a mystery.

Looking around, I don't thin anyone found anything conclusive as of yet, looking at the previous lore. But the search is still ongoing.

That's such a great detail!

James Case also said that K.H.W. was not anyone we had met before.

I mean, its very clear we haven't seen him before, we do have physical description of him so having his name be obfuscated if he was old character would be silly :p