Paizo will continue to publish 3.5 OGL products until August 2009, at which time they will convert thier product lines over to Pathfinder RPG, which is a 3.5 compatable ruleset of their own creation that is in developement now. You can find out more about it here.
Creative Director
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A few questions.
First, I heard something about a "poison pill" clause that disallows publication of 4E products if you continue to publish 3-3.5E products. Is this true?
The actual GSL (the 4th Edition Game System License) isn't out yet, so it's impossible to know exactly how this'll pan out.
Secondly, I heard that Paizo was going to continue realising 3.5E products to support the Pathfinder setting. Is this also true?
Yes. Sort of. We'll continue using 3.5 for Pathfinder products until August 2009, when we'll be switching over to the Pathfinder RPG, which will be a very similar (aka: backward compatable) set of rules based on the 3.5 SRD.
Thirdly, supposing the above two are true, does this mean that Paizo has no intention of releasing 4E products?
We have no intention of releasing 4E Pathfinder products. Paizo is bigger than Pathfinder though, and once we see the GSL and know exactly what the rules are for doing 4th edition products, there's always a chance we'll consider doing some 4th edition stuff. It won't be set in Golarion and it won't be branded Pathfinder, though. I'm not sure WHAT a product like that would be, in fact... again, mostly because we don't have the GSL yet and don't know what it will or won't let us do.
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Thank you for this. As a long time D&Der, I personally find 4e to be a bad choice and wont be supporting that game system any longer. I was guided to Pathfinder by some friends, because of what you have and will be doing. I will be supporting this company with my business from here on out.
I applaud your statement there...4e should have been a new game system.
By the way I just finished reading through the Alpha...not totally but enough to know I like the direction youre taking.
Personally, I've had the chance to look at all the 4E core rulebooks for a couple of days because of the store I work for and I'm terribly unimpressed with it - in fact, it borders on something akin to disgust.
Well, you're home now. A lot of people here don't like 4e and are glad that 3e won't go anywhere.
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Thank you for this. As a long time D&Der, I personally find 4e to be a bad choice and wont be supporting that game system any longer. I was guided to Pathfinder by some friends, because of what you have and will be doing. I will be supporting this company with my business from here on out.
I applaud your statement there...4e should have been a new game system.
By the way I just finished reading through the Alpha...not totally but enough to know I like the direction youre taking.
Welcome to the club!
I too was a convert who recently switched to Pathfinder from D&D. Unfortunately, I have limited entertainment dollars to spend on my hobby, and at this time my nearly 100% devotion to those dollars to WotC has been transfered to a nearly 100% devotion of those dollars to Pathfinder. I figure the best way to register my distaste for 4E (and praise for Paizo) is with dollars, and it's nice to see a crowd this enthusiastic about it.
the Wizards site says the GSL should be out this week
I'll believe it when I see it.
A few questions.
First, I heard something about a "poison pill" clause that disallows publication of 4E products if you continue to publish 3-3.5E products. Is this true?
Since I didn't see anyone else here specifically mention it, I thought I'd bring this up. There's a FAQ released by WOTC out there somewhere that basically said that companies can release both 3.5 and 4th edition materials, just not both in the same product line, ie no adventures with both sets of rules, &c. Though better than a total "poison pill" clause, it seems bizarre in the extreme, in my opinion. Sort of like Microsoft making a decree that any software created to work with Windows Vista MUST NOT function on an XP machine and vice-versa.
I too was a convert who recently switched to Pathfinder from D&D. Unfortunately, I have limited entertainment dollars to spend on my hobby, and at this time my nearly 100% devotion to those dollars to WotC has been transfered to a nearly 100% devotion of those dollars to Pathfinder. I figure the best way to register my distaste for 4E (and praise for Paizo) is with dollars, and it's nice to see a crowd this enthusiastic about it.
To be fair, I bought the 4e core book set and have read through the entire PHB and DMG and most of the MM... Ran KotS and played in two demos and on game day.
There is one thing I really like about 4e: the printing job. These old eyes like clear text on a plain white background, as opposed to smaller text in the 3.x books on art backgrounds. And the color coded layout of powers and monsters is nice. Some of the artwork is very good as well. All of these things are relatively trivial, however.
After one final attempt to find some value in 4e this weekend, I expect that I will pack up the set and send it directly to WotC with a note explaining that the only reason I am not requesting a refund is to protect the kind folks at my FLGS and that WotC may donate the books to an environmentally responsible recycling company in my name.
Henceforth, Pathfinder will be my system of choice (partly because Paizo, unlike others, appears to actually understand what choice means).
:)
the only reason I am not requesting a refund is to protect the kind folks at my FLGS
Return the books for store credit and get some new dice and those d20 books you have always wanted.
but the Wizards site says the GSL should be out this week with first third-party 4E products being allowed for sale October 1st.
They also said it would be out June 6th.
They said it would be available "soon" back in January.They said you could pay to get the license early and have products at GenCon.
the only reason I am not requesting a refund is to protect the kind folks at my FLGSReturn the books for store credit and get some new dice and those d20 books you have always wanted.
True, good option there... there are some great gaming aids being sold at your local hobby stores (maps, spell templates, etc.) and furthermore, if your D&D 3.5 set of hardcover books isn't complete, many stores are now selling them at huge discounts... my local hobby store, A-1 Comics, is selling all D&D 3rd edition materials at a whopping 35% off! Now I can get those last few Complete --- books and that Races of Destiny that I've been hankering for. And as soon as Pathfinder RPG has a book to release, I'll be buying that too... softcover or hardcover, I just want something I can hold in my hands! It's too tricky on my eyes to read at length from a computer screen. To Messrs. Jacobs, Buhlman, Cook and others, I say thank you from the depths of my heart. Pathfinder looks to be just amazing, and WotC will be kicking themselves that they didn't stick with a working formula when 4E becomes widely known as the greatest business world catastrophe since New Coke. In other words, newer ain't always better. Huzzah for Pathfinder!
the only reason I am not requesting a refund is to protect the kind folks at my FLGSReturn the books for store credit and get some new dice and those d20 books you have always wanted.
There's a fine idea, however I'm likely to do so anyway :) I think I like the poetry of sending the books back to WotC... of course, I'll have to find the specific mail-drop/address for an exec or designer, rather than general delivery :)
I think I like the poetry of sending the books back to WotC
I don't think they'd care. They got your money, and if you send them back, they can sell those books again. And even if they don't, the fact that you're throwing them away means that someone else will have to buy another set of books, instead of getting yours. In the end, it's they who laugh.
If you want to vex them, go to the toilet into a box, set it on fire, and put it on their doorstep. I recommend not doing that through the mail. ;-P