Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Anticipation is high for Paizo's upcoming hardcover compilation products, but the books are really just the first step of a major product effort that will continue throughout the year and far into the future—the GameMastery™ line.
Each GameMastery product is designed to help you run a quicker, more efficient game. Paizo's creative editors and art staff put their heads together to come up with a bunch of really exciting products. I'm thrilled to finally get a chance to tell you about them.
Compleat Encounters provide everything you need to run a single encounter, from three brilliantly sculpted miniatures to a full-color minis-scale map to a detailed micro-adventure complete with statistics compatible with the world's most popular roleplaying game.
Best of all, we're getting some of our favorite game designers and artists to create evocative encounters your players will remember forever. Our first sets include character designs by Wayne Reynolds, cartography by Christopher West, and text from Mike Mearls. Future sets will likewise feature superstar artists, writers, and cartographers.
- Dark Elf Sanctum (August 2005, $15.95)
By Wayne Reynolds, Mike Mearls, and Christopher West
In a darkened chamber deep below the sunlit world, a diabolical dark elf priestess weaves rhymes of magic over an ancient portal arch. What foul entity answers her summons, and what will happen when it emerges into the world of man? A Compleat Encounter featuring a dark elf priestess, the summoning arch, and an otherworldly monstrosity. - Death Shrine of the Ninja Cult (September 2005, $15.95)
By Wayne Reynolds, Mike Mearls, and Christopher West
No secrets escape the legendary death shrine of the ninja cult, a den of silent assassins and profane traditions. However, a line has at last been crossed, and the cult must be brought to justice. A Compleat Encounter featuring a masked ninja princess and male and female ninja champions. - Vault of the Whispering Tyrant (October 2005, $15.95)
Ages ago, he swore that his rule would last forever, that the kingdom need never fear life without his protection. Now he lives on as a lich, issuing terrible decrees in a hoarse whisper through rotting teeth. A Compleat Encounter featuring a lich sovereign, his mummy queen, and the wretched Phylactery Stone. - Throne of the Gorilla King (November 2005, $15.95)
Delve deep into the fecund jungle, where the Silverback King rules with a wise majesty and an iron sword. Some say his lair sparkles with the gems of fallen empires, but few can match his ferocity in battle. A Compleat Encounter featuring the gorilla king and his monkey servitors.
(September 2005, $12.95)
A great GM is always thinking about his campaign, scribbling down a note about a cruel trick to play on his players in one notebook while composing diabolical dungeons in another. Instead, we suggest the Campaign Workbook, a handsome leatherette-bound campaign journal small enough to carry with you at all times but big enough to handle all your campaign planning needs.
Look for a blank campaign calendar to track game events, character birthdays, and important holidays. Blank globe templates allow you to sketch out your campaign world from sea to shining sea. An address book keeps all your players' addresses and phone numbers in one handy place, and a similar registry helps you keep track of the characters' key skill bonuses and combat information. An alphabetical NPC list tracks key characters and provides a handy place to take notes when things change during the course of play. Lastly, we've loaded the book with more than 100 pages of graph paper, so you can design your deadly dungeons in the same place you track your characters' experience points.
I use a similar self-made idea journal, and it's completely changed my life (to say nothing of my campaign!). If you're not already keeping a campaign journal and idea book, you should be, and we'll happily provide the template.
(November 2005, $12.95)
I'm pretty confident in my abilities to design a fun trap or encounter, and I love hamming it up when acting like some monster or important NPC. When things are going great, I really feel confident in my abilities as a GM. Then, I have to sketch out a miniatures-scale map and I reveal myself as a complete loser when it comes to drawing.
Enter Paizo's Map Packs, which feature 18 map tiles similar to the ones in our Compleat Encounters. In this case, however, the maps take front stage, and you'll never worry about a weak drawing ruining an otherwise cool game moment. Each Map Pack explores a theme—from caverns to castle chambers to a fully represented village. If you like the cartography in our magazines, you'll love it when the same artists lend their talents to minis-scale maps you can drop into your campaign with maximum ease.
(December 2005, $9.95)
Everything is going exactly as planned. You've got the party cornered, and there's no hope they'll get out of the trouble they've brought down on themselves. At long last, they'll get what's coming to them. "I try to work that one wand," one of them says. "What wand?" you snap back. "I have it written here on my character sheet," your player says, dumbfounded. "I think it was from February. Maybe I got it from that orc chieftan?" The game stops while you consult your old notes, only to find out that the wand is just the thing they need to escape once again! It's all very thrilling, or at least it would have been if it hadn't involved a minor argument and 10 minutes of flipping through old game notes.
Paizo's new Item Packs contain 54 playing-card-sized cards to help you track important treasures. Each card features a beautiful full-color illustration of an item (weapons, armor, wondrous items, etc.) on one side, with a text description and room for notes on the opposite side. Hand these out the next time your PCs get treasure, and the players will learn to love managing their booty. A code on each card helps you track which card corresponds to which treasure.
And that's just the beginning. We look forward to pushing the envelope even more in 2006, with more miniatures, more accessories, and more incredible creations the likes of which only Paizo Publishing can provide.
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Throne of the Gorilla King (November 2005, $15.95)
Delve deep into the fecund jungle, where the Silverback King rules with a wise majesty and an iron sword. Some say his lair sparkles with the gems of fallen empires, but few can match his ferocity in battle. A Compleat Encounter featuring the gorilla king and his monkey servitors.
Yay! Monkeys! I look forward to seeing it.
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Chief Technical Officer
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The Compleat Encounters and the Campaign Workbook are now available for preorder.
OK. I am so thrilled. This line looks like exactly what I had hoped it would be. Wow. I can't wait to pck these up. Wow again.
Are wew going to see previews of the mini sculpts? I'm pretty stoked for those, as someone who loved the 3E and Chainmail minis. I like the plastic ones enough, but I much prefer a good metal one that I can paint to my own specifications.
Again, you guys are the best. Between the magazines becoming my favorite (and most useful) D&D purchases, the adv. path HC, best of Dragon, and now this, you've got me hooked for the long haul.
OMG that stuff all sounds so cool. Even the ninjas! I am so getting that campaign tracking book.
-Amber
Wow - you can really tell that serious gamers thought up this stuff...
One day, I'll hold up my dog-eared Campaign Workbook next to my 20-year old three-ring binder - that contains just about the exact same content on the scattered sheets within, and say, "...That was then, this is now."
...and then my daughter will hold up her Tablet PC and say, "Dad, you're so floppy-disk." :-P
M
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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What Keith means is that the Campaign Workbook is a _perfect-bound_ book. We hope it turns out perfect, but only time will tell!
For those of you who don't know, "perfect-bound" is the same type of binding you might see on a trade paperback or a novel or even the magazine.
It will not be expandable.
--Erik Mona
Will the campaign workbook be expandable, like a ringbinder?
Or is it a bound book?
Will it have some kind of artwork?
The Campaign workbook is a perfect book that will be easily portable (you should be able to carry it in one hand). It will have a leatherette cover.
Keith Strohm
Chief Operating Officer
Paizo Publishing, LLC
So its not a case-bound (hard-bound) book either, but more like a soft cover correct?
GGG
This looks very good. The campaign workbook could be especially useful. How about putting in some nice faded watermark sketches to give it some art? Might be pushing it for a $13 product though.
This is a bizarre nitpicky thing (I can't help myself, I'm sorry) but is there a reason you're spelling it "Compleat" rather than "Complete"?
Sounds cool....gonna sell more of my old AD&D stuff on e-bay so I can buy some of the new cool stuff! Sorry, I'm an avid golfer and all my mad money goes towards chasing the little dimpled white ball....I just got $15 for an old copy of Temple of Elemental Evil...how much was that campaign workbook??
Just a quick question about the maps. Are they going to be cardstock mapcards that can be recombined in different ways, like the new D&D Basic set? I got the impression early on that that would be the case, but lately it sounds more like a fold-up paper map.
I myself would much prefer the former. 2-sided map cards (preferably of the same size as in the Basic set) that can be used in a variety of ways would be great.
Whatever way you go, I'm sure it will turn out great. But right now the mapcard route seems the most useful.
So I just read the description for the Campaign map packs. Looks like tiles are the plan. Great! So now my question becomes: 2-sided or 1? Oh, and how many in each Compleat Encounter? Oh Oh, I also noticed that the mappacks will be a series, not just a one time product. Does that mean that we will be seeing more than one "theme-pack" in Nov.? That would be awesome if it was the case.
You'd think that a publishing company would be able to get the title of it's new product line spelled correctly.
It's 'Complete', get it right.
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Chief Technical Officer
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You'd think that a publishing company would be able to get the title of it's new product line spelled correctly.
It's 'Complete', get it right.
I can't tell if you're kidding or not, but "compleat" is a perfectly valid word:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=compleat
Note that it's not merely an alternate spelling of "complete" - it has its own definition. While both words mean "definitive," in a sense, "complete" is about thoroughness, while "compleat" is more qualitative.
While we're correcting each other, there's no apostrophe in "its new product line":
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=its
Also, you'd be better served with a semicolon instead of a period before "get it right."
:-)
-Vic.
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PS - We should have photos of the first set of minis very soon.
I've always loved the word "compleat". It makes me think happy thoughts about a book I read a long time ago called "The Complete Compleat Enchanter." Words are fun.
-Amber S.
These all sound great and are things WotC should have produced a while back.
Good to see Paizo is filling the needed gap, and the prices seem reasonable (as opposed to some whopping prices I've seen for gaming items of late!).
Looking forward to them!
Will they be sold in chainstores like Borders (he asks, hope in his fevered mind!).
I have one question about the GameMastery line that will severely affect my decision to buy. Are the minis made out of lead free metal?
You have me sold on everything else, but I cannot buy them if they contain any lead whatsoever. Suprisingly more and more minis companies are using lead nowadays, despite it's known health risks. I do not buy from these companies.
Thanks,
Bob Hradek
Bob,
The minis will be spun in Pewter, which is completely lead free!
Keith Strohm
Chief Operating Officer
Paizo Publishing, LLC
Oh great...one MORE excuse to go even more blind than I already am!
Time to break out the paints, brushes, and a big magnifying lamp!
(But detail on pewter minis is SO much better than on leads or plastics. So I suppose the sacrifice may be worth it!)
Bob,The minis will be spun in Pewter, which is completely lead free!
Keith Strohm
Chief Operating Officer
Paizo Publishing, LLC
Thanks for the quick response! I would gladly pay more for lead free minis.
Though as an FYI, pewter is by definition an alloy of tin and another metal, which can be any and/or all of the following: lead, antimony, bismuth, and copper. It's nice to know your pewter is lead free.
Bob