Hey all.
I saw the thread over on the WotC message boards about the Pathfinder open playtesting. The whole idea interests me as my group isn't really ready to switch to 4ed. For more than a year, I've been using a massive set of house rules. I used to have almost all that stuff posted over on the WotC boards, but a little known rule over there is that, if it's on the WotC boards, they co-own it. (There are a few stories of material finding its way into books, and the original author being told to 'cease and desist' in questioning it, but I digress.) I guess, first things first, does Paizo do this as well [claim co-ownership of posted material]?
I downloaded the Pathfinder PDF and began looking through it. As with most everyone else, I've got opinions, both positive, negative and in between, about the material found within. This weekend, I'll be bringing it to the attention of my group to see what they think. I expect mostly positive reactions.
Anyway, the reason for this thread is mostly curiosity's sake. Hopefully, a few questions can get answered or explained.
As an open alpha test, how good is the back and forth between those giving ideas and the folks at Paizo?
When a suggestion is made, is it just a matter of hoping for feedback, or hoping that the fellow forum goers help hammer out the details?
I ask these two questions wondering how the community will know what ideas and aspects are being strongly considered or debated within Paizo. It would certainly help this community project if the community knew what ideas are an absolute no-go and which ones they consider to have enough merit for future considerations.
I guess that leads to the next question...
If an idea is chosen to be further used or expanded upon, how is credit going to be given? Obviously, everyone that's a member of a message board community will have input and impact on these changes. On one hand, it would hardly be fair to credit only the fine folks at Paizo. On another hand, it also wouldn't be fair to credit only the originator of the idea if many members helped forge it into a more polished form. On yet another hand, it seems impractical to list every single poster that has had any input on any subject that sees print in the final version. (I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to imply anything negative here. This is just outright curiosity speaking here.
Anyway, maybe I'll think of more, maybe not.
Otto
