Has there every been any thought or discussions of starting a Pathfinder novel line?
Just wondering...thanks!
Has there every been any thought or discussions of starting a Pathfinder novel line?
Just wondering...thanks!
If you do a search for this topic on the messageboards, you should find quite a bit of discussion, or at least old threads. Though it never hurts to ask again. Hopefully we are getting closer to seeing some full novels published in Golarion.
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I wish Paizo would print a couple shorts once a quarter in a Pathfinder Companion volume, and open it up to unsolicited submissions.
GW did this with Inferno! magazine, and that's where Dan Abnett, C.L. Werner, Ben Counter, and a bunch of other WH writers got their start. Now those guys, who began with unsolicited short-story submissions, are among BL-GW's bestselling authors.
Paizo could start with an online magazine--and I'm not talking about 128 pp, full-color, with ads and so on. A simple bimonthly digital edition (or even a newsletter), free, and as short as 20 or 30 pp.
Additionally, shorts, even flash-fiction, could serve as test pilots for ideas and storylines to be explored in novel form.
I wish Paizo would print a couple shorts once a quarter in a Pathfinder Companion volume, and open it up to unsolicited submissions.
GW did this with Inferno! magazine, and that's where Dan Abnett, C.L. Werner, Ben Counter, and a bunch of other WH writers got their start. Now those guys, who began with unsolicited short-story submissions, are among BL-GW's bestselling authors.
Paizo could start with an online magazine--and I'm not talking about 128 pp, full-color, with ads and so on. A simple bimonthly digital edition (or even a newsletter), free, and as short as 20 or 30 pp.
Additionally, shorts, even flash-fiction, could serve as test pilots for ideas and storylines to be explored in novel form.
I would be happy with anything. I am new to Pathfinder, but I have been writing fantasy for years. My dream was always to publish a short story in Dragon Magazine. When I finally had enough nerve to send in a story, they quit taking submissions. I think that there is enoug interest in the Pathfinder series that Paizo could make some money on it. They already have Elaine Cunningham writing for them.
Novels have my vote.
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Lilith's Fanzine may serve the same purpose as my suggestion. There's nothing keeping the Paizo-magi from reading the stories and quietly contacting authors for future work.
Has anyone from Paizo ever made an official comment on a novel line?
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Has anyone from Paizo ever made an official comment on a novel line?
Check out the James Sutter posts on This Thread
Sorry if this has all been covered before...I'm new here. But thanks for all the info.
Since the release of the Beta Playtest, they have been working on the final game, and the Pathfinder Bestiary.
And all this whilst attending conventions, and putting out usual modules/Pathfinder/Pathfinder Chronicles lines, and also run season 0 of Pathfinder Society since last summer...
Yeah, it's pretty crazy busy right now. I think David is going to blog about it... basically, everyone has several irons in the fire, is spread thin, has a lot on their plates, or any other idiom you can think of. ;)
(But it's funny, because I had just asked Erik Mona the question about novels a couple of weeks back, so apparently this really is a popular question!)
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4
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For those with a burning, burning yearning for some awesome-sauce Pathfinder fiction written by Paizo fans and freelancers, you can check out:
... the coolest little fansite I've seen in a long darn time.
While you're there, I encourage you to take a gander at Road to Varno Parts 1 through 7. Fun is, in fact, had by all!
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I like world changing event novels to a certain degree. There just isn't any impact when you know nothing will really change about the world. From the first page to the last, it all reads too safe.
The idea that something can really happen that is world changing is what an author needs to throw out excitement on an epic scale. If a world changing event is not possible, why read a trilogy about something you know won't happen? Is that supposed to be exciting when you know that nothing horrendous will happen to the world when the menace is supposed to destroy it?
For instance, the invasion of the aliens are averted and nothing in the landscape has changed. Not even a rock was turned over.
I found this "knowing" to be extremely boring when I read two trilogies in the Eberron Setting. Nothing happened! Nothing.
The world went on exactly as it had. The authors carefully navigated the campaign world to avoid harming anything in particular. The great menaces or what-not never succeeded. All the kings and orders still had the same people left alive as described in the Campaign Setting. If they made appearences, they were as safe as houses. Instead, the author focused on the endangerment of the characters in the story, strictly. There was nothing else that the author could do in creating a sense of urgency or peril.
The stories seemed rather pointless. You knew going in that the author could not flex beyond a certain point, and that made the enjoyment of the books a shallow one at best.
I would be more impressed if Paizo allows authors to "change the world" so us readers can enjoy great reads instead of "Story-lite Campaign Setting Detailers". If the novels stayed away from being consistent (like one's homebrewed roleplaying games), then we could see a totally different style of RPG novels.
Consistency may have its place in the RPG Sourcebooks, but I rather see that thrown out in the Novels.
Why jump into a ferrari with a speed governor? Why not open that baby up and crash it twenty times? Sure, it won't lead to something that can be pegged. However, it would lead to greater literature. It might also lead to different settings within the Pathfinder Setting. For instance, the meteor does hit and Armegeddon wipes out the planet. You might like the author's spin enough to take his version of the setting forward into a new campaign setting. Heck, if the praise is good enough, maybe Paizo would create a sourcebook for that alternate reality.
I really hate static novels that are "safe". Impress me! Knock a castle down. Wipe out a city. Play God. Give me a rollercoaster ride. Don't give me this shamble of a Fantasy Novel controlled by keeping things always the same. All great fantasy works have significant impacts within their environment. The reader comes along hoping to feel anything but "safe".
I know this violates some of the rules that seem to have institutionalized RPG Novels, but why follow something that is so limiting? Its like a crux. I know creative people can make lemonade out of lemons, but why go for sub par when you can go for quite a bit more.
There is a reason why some RPG novels are still read today. Dragonlance comes to mind, with its epic changes. However, over the years, they tried to make it all consistent from an RPG perspective which reads rather bombastic in the short time their characters lived.
Why not get away from making the novels "showpieces" for Campaign Settings and get busy making good literature?
Someone, please put RPG Novels above the board. Ditch the formula.
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For those with a burning, burning yearning for some awesome-sauce Pathfinder fiction written by Paizo fans and freelancers, you can check out:
... the coolest little fansite I've seen in a long darn time.
While you're there, I encourage you to take a gander at Road to Varno Parts 1 through 7. Fun is, in fact, had by all!
I naturally encourage this myself. Shameless as I am!
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Zuxius,
To answer your point: Because then they wouldn't be Pathfinder novels. They'd just be generic fantasy novels with some of the names from Pathfinder. EDIT: Basically, if you don't want to write within a setting's rules, don't use that setting, create your own or find one that your story fits better.
As to world changing events, well, look at some Forgotten Realms novels: Azure Bonds, Any of the Drizzt stuff, Halls of Stormweather and related Sembia books, Song and Shadows (or whatever they ended up calling the Arilyn Moonblade books). All of these are very good novels. None of them are WSE. Now look at Rage of Dragons. Definitely a WSE. Is it really a better set of novels? Not in my opinion, though it's not a bad set.
To whit, as long as the story is at the personal level rather than setting up a WSE, it can work perfectly fine. Pathfidner doesn't have much of a status quo yet, so the novels should concentrate on establishing it rather than shaking it to pieces.
Another example is Eando Cline and Chianna Ti in the Pathfinder APs. Neither story is a massive world-changing story. Both are brilliantly written, however.
So in short, I disagree completely and am very much hoping that Pathfinder novels stick to a much smaller scale than WSE.
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Zuxius,
To answer your point: Because then they wouldn't be Pathfinder novels. They'd just be generic fantasy novels with some of the names from Pathfinder. EDIT: Basically, if you don't want to write within a setting's rules, don't use that setting, create your own or find one that your story fits better.As to world changing events, well, look at some Forgotten Realms novels: Azure Bonds, Any of the Drizzt stuff, Halls of Stormweather and related Sembia books, Song and Shadows (or whatever they ended up calling the Arilyn Moonblade books). All of these are very good novels. None of them are WSE. Now look at Rage of Dragons. Definitely a WSE. Is it really a better set of novels? Not in my opinion, though it's not a bad set.
To whit, as long as the story is at the personal level rather than setting up a WSE, it can work perfectly fine. Pathfidner doesn't have much of a status quo yet, so the novels should concentrate on establishing it rather than shaking it to pieces.
Another example is Eando Cline and Chianna Ti in the Pathfinder APs. Neither story is a massive world-changing story. Both are brilliantly written, however.
So in short, I disagree completely and am very much hoping that Pathfinder novels stick to a much smaller scale than WSE.
I do see your points. I understand the "do it this way or get out of my house" absolute. I do not agree that a Novel that is set in the Pathfinder Setting is not a pathfinder novel once it goes off the tracks. Of course, a skilled writer can tip toe through the canon and not leave a trace, and at the sametime tell an excellent story.
What they cannot do is start their story by stating, "We will save the world from certain doom or turmoil." Should be stated, we will save the Campaign Setting Guide so it reads the same, always! From page one, I know they will succeed and I know the world will stay exactly the same. As a reader, this really turns me off.
That save the world pitch is completely transparent. Not only that, but the world of Pathfinder has many possibilities for conflicts and destruction, that are excellent backdrops for epic stories. Those backdrops would be off limits. Knowing full well the formula the author must abide by removes any doubts of where the story is heading. Absolute poison.
What are we left with? Basically smaller stories about characters. If they are going out to save the world, who cares? We know they save it. All you are reading the story for is to see if they survive the ordeal. This is not dynamic enough for my tastes.
The idea is not to make every novel WSE, but to put doubt back in to your reader's mind. Maybe this great quest to stop the alien invasion won't be pulled off? Maybe this book will end in some new direction that isn't expected. To sum it up, I like Pathfinder enough that I want to see something amazing. I am sick of the formula that cranks out stagnant worlds. A world is in motion.
News Flash, the twin towers are gone! News Flash, we went to war against Iraq.
Not this. News Flash, the twin towers were almost destroyed. News Flash, we almost went to war against Iraq.
Overall, I agree we want very different things from these novels. No argument there. You have also listed some very great works. My first RPG Novel I ever read was dragonlance. For me, that was lightning in a bottle. That world was moving from day one. It felt real. It moved like the real world. Eberron only moved in the RPG game (if you wished), otherwise, on the novel side, what a bunch of crap.
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That save the world pitch is completely transparent. Not only that, but the world of Pathfinder has many possibilities for conflicts and destruction, that are excellent backdrops for epic stories. Those backdrops would be off limits.
I beleive that one of the statements above may have been worded poorly. They didn't say 'no world changing events', in as much as no super-heroes the like of Elminster who are more powerful than average PCs will ever be. The conflicts Zuxius describes in the quote are already parts of a monthly book series in the AP and the PCs are the heroes.
In fact, I could see pathfinder novels be more dangerous to their main characters, setting up a villain that PC's can later meet instead of setting up a hero. Following a main character who fails, leaving PCs to pick up the peices
The whole "Save the World!" has gotten so hackneyed. What I like to see is good characters, exploring the world, interacting, struggling and developing themselves. I want a good story. It can be one person's struggle. It doesn't need to be world changing, just people changing.
I totally agree. Some of my favorite novels are only concerned with the characters within its pages not, the fate of a nation or world.
Don't get me wrong, I love a group of heroes charging off to save the world from the designs of the wicked wizard, but I would be just as happy with the same group dungeon crawling through a time-forgotten tempel in search of the treasures it holds.
I think that with Pathfinder and the "Pathfinders", this is an excellant chance to do more stories like that. Sometimes stand alone fantasy novels are the best novels.
Check out "City of Ravens" by Richard Baker and you will see what I mean.
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Don't get me wrong, characters are the story. I also feel Pathfinder could have some fairly epic stories. Wars and clashes being the most likely. I like that kind of story. I don't like a story that ends in a neat little bow that is structured to do so before the story is even written. I need to believe that story will go either way, not just one way. Sure, the characters could all die in stopping a dreadful cataclysm of epic proportions, but in the end, what really happened in that world? Not even the ants would notice. As a reader, I would hope to see something that doesn't follow that formula. A noticeable impact that changes things.
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I've got something like 25 newish FR novels just collecting dust on the shelf. Why I still buy them is beyond me, but I think it's more muscle memory than anything else.
Why don't I read them? Well, don't be offended; I'm not baiting.
I'm tired of 14-17 year old kids saving the world from certain doom--and how many times can you do this anyway? Faerûn should have fallen to a spellplague-like apocalypse a hundred novels ago! I'm tired of the LotR standard data scenario. I'm tired of the 'elf ranger-human mage-dwarven fighter-human fighter-halfling/slight human thief' adventuring parties who meet in a tavern, go on a quest for a magic sword/ring/staff/book, fall in love in a day's time, fight a lich/vampire/evil wizard, etc., etc., etc. Likewise, I've grown tired of the new FR formula of uberpowerful, 90th level characters who, despite being hundreds of years old, 18+ intelligence and wisdom, and, of course, 90th level, barely manage to save the world without the help of a minor, as in 14-17 year old apprentice cantripmonger.
If you read that slight rant, you'll understand the rest.
My favorite character in FR is Erevis Cale. He's a self-educated, middle-class, apparently average nobody. A nobody with deep secrets and a depth of characterization I have seen in no other FR story, ever, period. He's in his late 30s. He's conflicted. He's both exceptionally good, and exceptionally not so much. And when it came time to save the world, he failed; his story didn't end happily. He lost everything, and in the end, no-one was better off; no happily ever after, for gods or men. The story of Cale was Cale, and that's what makes it exceptional.
Pathfinder has this potential. Golarion has the chance, and is on the path, to be a world rife with adventure, serious adventure, where the measure of a superior tale--what separates a good story from a great story--is found in the individual, personal history of the characters, the decisions they make, their successes, their failures.
Here's my vote: no traditional save-the-world novels. Please.
Edit: and also, no novels with 16 year old messiah-heroes. Please. Seriously, please.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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I'd prefer no WSE novels for a long time. One trillogy that does this every 5 years of real time would be fine, as long as the end result doesn't change too much. Overthrowing a city government, destroying a medium sized town, raising a new island from the sea - these would all be fine results, but destroying Absalom, having the Drow take over and rule Cheliax, or freeing Rovagug would not be what I'm looking for.
What I do think would be cool and allowed would be to have some novels or series end with the main characters dying, or only partially stopping some evil or villain. Maybe they stop a race of strange tentacled horrors from invading Golarion from space, but a small group of them gets away and is living in disguise across the world, etc. The part of lots of the shared world stories that gets boring over time is that most of them wind up with the heroes winning all the time. Sometimes a secondary/mentor type character dies, but it would be a nice change of pace to have the hero stop the bad guys but only at the cost of their life (and not come back in the sequel because of a raise dead spell either!)
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To tell the truth, I like a "save the world" every now and then. I just don't like it all the time. I'd love to see stories about a badass couple trying to rescue their missing child, elaborate and and high-spirited heist tales, an old adventurer's last attempt at reliving his glory days, etc. Lower scale and more intimate stories.
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mmmm
Golarion has just begun... sending world changing... or even country changin stories is no good... Golarion first needs to grow and evolve before they began breaking what they have...
why?
we already have stories that would rock the world if the heroes fail... in the APs... even if the heroes win in CotCT the Guide to Korvosa while not becoming useless lose a lot of the information it has after having characters dying, secrets being revealed, places being destroyed... etc.
we have stories of discovery, even personal discovery...
there are parts of the setting the writers can create cites or towns and they are affected by the stories we tell... that is as GM or writer... it works the same...
yet I agree with those that having the kids save the world every week... is weak... i don't find joy in that... even if the world changes I know what is going to happen... and its boring knowing that...
whiles yes I like stories that show the world as a fluid place... I believe that Golarion first begins to grow, the stories whould enrichen the world not destroy it...
and remember... for a character in a story even if he is not saving the world... whatever happens in the story affects him... you might not change the world... but the changes that the character suffer are world rocking in itself... at least for the character's whole...
here is where I found a good story... I look more into what happen to the character and those around them... than simply seeing what happens with the next city they are on...
mentors dying so the character learns something? cliche and boring :P
I have found that sometimes the most enjoyable stories are those where the "main" character dies early, and someone else has to take the job...
there are many ways to tell a story, theer are many topics and stories waiting to be told... Golarion is a young (even if it has 10k years with civilization) world... and we are being receiving information that makes t richer and more interesting with each month...
for a novel or a journal or whatever that is what I want...
I want to know why to care about the world...
now how this new author is breaking the city I love because he though it would be interesting... (sorry Zux :P ot that I know Katheer that much :P)
still to each it own :P
and shameless marketing Pathfinder Chronicles for those wanting to write and read stories about Golarion. Everyone has an story...
also the idea is to grow better in the craft so every story uploaded is criticized up to 3 times before being published, every time sharpening into something far better.
We all have different perspectives, but every one can contribute :)
Forums: where we discuss the stories, projects, etc.
take a look and if you want what you see and read, think about staying and help us all create a bigger fiction base about or favorite world...
just don't let the editors scare you :P we are thorough
Edit: ohh and yes shameless plug :P Decisions of Faith
I need to continue this one... and with some luck Life in Korvosa would appear in the PaizoCon '09 Fanzine... oen of this days would be published here too :P
Maybe Paizo should have some of their best writers, plus maybe a few open submissions, come up with some short stories and start out with an anthology. It would be an easy way to help introduce parts of the world for those that don't play the game.
I was drawn to playing DnD after reading the Dragonlance Chronicles. Maybe they would have the same kinda luck with Pathfinder.
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Maybe Paizo should have some of their best writers, plus maybe a few open submissions, come up with some short stories and start out with an anthology. It would be an easy way to help introduce parts of the world for those that don't play the game.
I was drawn to playing DnD after reading the Dragonlance Chronicles. Maybe they would have the same kinda luck with Pathfinder.
I agree this would be interesting and enticing... one of my 1st rpg books to erad was Tales of Ravenloft... 21 small stories... none dealing with WSE... but 21 short horror stories I liekd in general... ok some were better if you read a couple of their novels before, but it was NOT necesary.
Monte Cook did the same for Arcana Unearthed and Arcana Evolved, publishing 2 anthologies, one of each ruleset showing how the world worked around the Runechildren... and how the world changed after the returning of the dragons...
but... I suppose they first one one single thing... put out Pathfinder RPG... from there they would be able to have time to deal with this kind of projects...
Sutter any words?
Edit ahh Summon Sutter... does works :D
yes I answer here because I want people seeing he answered... thanks James
Hey folks! Things are crazy with the RPG right now, as people have noted, but I wanted to pop in and make a few comments real quick.
Pathfinder Novels Are Coming - Things are temporarily on hold while we get the RPG, Bestiary, and other such monsters out the door, but then we'll be spooling up the writing process in earnest. It won't be overnight - turns out, writing a novel takes a while, and then there's editing, development, layout, printing, etc. - but you'll be seeing novels, and names you recognize on the covers, and perhaps a short-fiction anthology that features a *lot* of names you recognize. In the meantime, the Pathfinder's Journal has really kicked things into overdrive recently, and I expect that Dave Gross's upcoming story arc in Cheliax will excite people just as much. Sadly, everything at this point is closed call out of necessity, but believe me when I say that we know how many good writers are waiting to be discovered, and we're keeping that in mind while moving forward.
We Will Not Be Torching Golarion, Thank You - While I fully see the point about world-shaking events, and how it's annoying to go into a book (or more often, a film) about the potential end of the world and KNOW that the world will be saved, we plan to avoid that with our stories by simply not tackling world-shaking events unless we're willing to let it be shaken... in which case, being an RPG company, we might well prefer to do it via an adventure path.
It's all well and good to say "let people break the toys!", but as soon as you do, you've got two alternate realities - the novel setting and the RPG setting. And then you have to reconcile them, because for every person who enjoys being able to pick and choose their setting version, there are 10 who want to be able to have faith that canon is canon, and that what they read in book A won't contradict book B.
To that end, we'll be doing what we've done with the Pathfinder's Journal - telling stories about characters, individual challenges, and things that can be frightening or epic without altering huge swaths of the setting. It doesn't mean things won't happen, but if they do, they're more likely to happen in areas (geographically or otherwise) that haven't been exhaustively detailed in a recent sourcebook - that's just bad practices, and those same books that destroy a world, reshape it dramatically, or solve all it's problems are frequently the ones that kill interest in the brand. Note that when many RPG companies do world-shaking events, they often set them in the past, thereby allowing the current world (as detailed in their other products) to remain the same.
Now, that sounds awfully mercenary, even to me. Personally, when I see an End of the World movie, I want to see the world end, with awesome special effects, and feel a little bit cheated if everything's resolved in the nick of time. But the problem is not really that the world didn't end, but rather that I felt promised a disaster and it never came. Whereas if I watch Forrest Gump or the Boondock Saints and the world doesn't end, I'm not especially disappointed. (Actually, the Boondock Saints is a pretty good example of the sort of story I'm looking for - here's one of my favorite action movies of all time, and yet it's so small-scale that it could be going on a mile from my house and I doubt I'd notice.)
There will be action. There will be excitement. There will be weird new things that you've never seen before, and impending doom, and sometimes ACTUAL doom. People will probably die, and cool new ideas will get rolled into the world's canon. But at the end of the book, you'll still be on Golarion, and it'll still look roughly the same. The world, as it turns out, is a big place, and a disaster in one city might only vaguely affect the next city over, let alone the next country.
Now back to work for me, but feel free to keep the questions coming! I promise that I'll report more concrete details when we're in a place to do so.
Director of Brand Strategy
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Don't forget that not all novels have to be in the present age in Golarian. My favorite Dragonlance book was "The Legend of Huma" set long before the chronicles. We already know of drastic world changing events in Golarian's past - those are begging for novels to be written about them.
I suggested this in one of the weekly Paizo chats and James seemed intrigued by the idea. I thought one way to prevent "world-breaking" is to set novels in the past to fill in interesting gaps in world history. Instead of making a war-based trilogy in 4710 AR or whatever the present year is, set the book during the Shining Crusade, or the Everwar. I'd love some stuff set in Geb/Nex when they were still at war with one another. I'd love some stuff set in the Age of Darkness as mankind was just pulling itself from the brink of destruction. Etc. Etc. Since past "world-changing events" have happened and are already part of canon, let writers who want to make those kinds of books flesh out these events that make Golarion what it is every bit as much as the current state of affairs does.
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NOTE ahh Summon Sutter... does works :D
thank you James for the input :)
just what I thought and expected
I myself want to read how Iomedae got her ticket to goddhood, incluthing how she helped in the fight versus Tar-Baphon...
actually... a Saga about Tar-Baphon, the wars against himm how he destroyed a goddess and then later was banquised... would work marvels for ME :D
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(Actually, the Boondock Saints is a pretty good example of the sort of story I'm looking for - here's one of my favorite action movies of all time, and yet it's so small-scale that it could be going on a mile from my house and I doubt I'd notice.)
So you wouldn't notice if a bunch of people with boston accents started killing all the bad guys in town? *cracks knuckle* 'ets go boys deese guys need ta be offed and mista Sutta heah said 'e wouldn't even notice (wow looking it over it looks like one the the 'can you translate bostonian' t shirts sold at the stalls in Quincy market)
So you wouldn't notice if a bunch of people with boston accents started killing all the bad guys in town? *cracks knuckle* 'ets go boys deese guys need ta be offed and mista Sutta heah said 'e wouldn't even notice (wow looking it over it looks like one the the 'can you translate bostonian' t shirts sold at the stalls in Quincy market)
I live in a really nice neighborhood a couple of blocks off Highway 99, which we affectionately refer to as "a festering wound through the heart of Seattle." It's entirely possible that's happening right now. O_o
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Once again James, great stuff.
I would definitely prefer to write about past world shattering events. Somehow, when things move in an epic manner my blood get's pumping.
I 100% agree that save the world books suck, especially when everything must end with canon being the same. Why bother? Getcha on that.
Funny how this topic comes back every so often. I try not to start such posts, but I love to participate in them.
I hope this event goes as written. Sounds real fun. Or bruising :) Seeya there!
Short Fiction Workshop
Paizo Fiction Editor James L. Sutter and Editor Christopher Paul Carey critique your short fiction! James and Chris will critique your story from an editorial viewpoint and go over it with you, focusing especially on the opening and those red flags editors use to quickly reject stories, helping you hone your writing and make it past an editor's initial cut. Please note that workshopping will be on a first-come, first-served basis during the listed timeslot—you can sign up so you don't have to wait around the whole time.
When talking about The End Of The World, I, as so often, remember the wisdom of Terry Pratchett. In Thief of Time, the Four Horsemen are assembling for "The Big Gig". They ride at the Apocalypse. They ride out at the end of the world. They've always done that. It has happened often.
You have to realise that there are a lof of worlds, and that worlds are inside other worlds. The Horsemen ride out whenever a world ends. Sometimes, "world" means "our village and however far you can go into the woods before dark, because the world ends at that point, and below there be monsters." Sometimes, it means "Our Island". "Our Continent", "Our Planet", Solar System, Galaxy, Universe, Multiverse, Megaverse.... Omniverse.
You don't have to rip up the whole setting to have really dramatic stuff happen (too bad wizards didn't know that). Catastrophy isn't about size.
A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic. You can tell someone about things like the Titanic, or this or that plague wiping out half the population, and he'd say things like: "Yeah, that was pretty bad I suppose" without seeming the least bit sad.
Let them watch the movie where DiCaprio drowns, and you get soggy hankies.
You don't really need to wipe out the whole setting - you just have to kill off a handful of people. The trick is to make people care about those people first.
Short Fiction Workshop
Paizo Fiction Editor James L. Sutter and Editor Christopher Paul Carey critique your short fiction! James and Chris will critique your story from an editorial viewpoint and go over it with you, focusing especially on the opening and those red flags editors use to quickly reject stories, helping you hone your writing and make it past an editor's initial cut. Please note that workshopping will be on a first-come, first-served basis during the listed timeslot—you can sign up so you don't have to wait around the whole time.
Yipes! How did I miss that? Where? When? I'd go to great lengths to be able to do that.
I've been enjoying the Pathfinder Chronicler for some time now. All three serial novels and novella - Decisions of Faith, From the Crown, and The Road to Varno - reflect what I'm looking for in Pathfinder literature. They are great "reads," yet amazingly different from one another.
The whole concept is fascinating, and as an English teacher, I especially enjoy watching the editing process. As I understand it, the authors submit their own Pathfinder work for triple editing and publication on the site. In return, the author agrees to edit other submissions. Bottom line: authors receive triple editing, get their work "out there," and gain first-hand editing knowledge .
It's surprising that more Pathfinders haven't submitted. Maybe they've been writing for Lillith's Fanzine. But now it's time to go to Pathfinder Chronicler. Keep writing so I can keep reading! Only YOU can share those awesome thoughts that are now in only your head or played out in only your game. SHARE!
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I wouldn't mind seeing novels based off the adventure paths themselves... I think one reason the Dragonlance Cronicles were so big was the players of the adventures could read their heros stories or just compare their experiences to those in the novel.
Besides I'd love to see those goblins go nuts in a book.
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Yipes! How did I miss that? Where? When? I'd go to great lengths to be able to do that.
Short Fiction Workshop
Paizo Fiction Editor James L. Sutter and Editor Christopher Paul Carey critique your short fiction! James and Chris will critique your story from an editorial viewpoint and go over it with you, focusing especially on the opening and those red flags editors use to quickly reject stories, helping you hone your writing and make it past an editor's initial cut. Please note that workshopping will be on a first-come, first-served basis during the listed timeslot—you can sign up so you don't have to wait around the whole time.
That's worth the price of admission by itself.
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I wouldn't mind seeing novels based off the adventure paths themselves... I think one reason the Dragonlance Cronicles were so big was the players of the adventures could read their heros stories or just compare their experiences to those in the novel.
Besides I'd love to see those goblins go nuts in a book.
Wow, aaaah, wow. Dumbfounded. That is a real good idea. It is an insanely good idea. I am in shock that we didn't think of that. I will contemplate that for quite a few days. Why not? Duh! Someone hit me with a brick. Moorluck, Rise of the Runelords Novel will be my summer pet project. Pathfinders of Qadira has been very grueling, but this will captivate my attention for months to come.
You sold me. I will ask the folks at Paizo about this at PaizoCon.
Zuxius
Can anyone really write a Pathfinder Novel? Or is some special permission needed? Also in regards to the scenarios. . . can anyone write those as well? I've been interested in trying my hand at it. . .
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Can anyone really write a Pathfinder Novel? Or is some special permission needed? Also in regards to the scenarios. . . can anyone write those as well? I've been interested in trying my hand at it. . .
Writing a Pathfinder novel, yes. Publishing it, not without Paizo's permission.
It needs to be reviewed and approved ya? And follow all the Pathfinder rules, right?
Can anyone really write a Pathfinder Novel? Or is some special permission needed? Also in regards to the scenarios. . . can anyone write those as well? I've been interested in trying my hand at it. . .Writing a Pathfinder novel, yes. Publishing it, not without Paizo's permission.
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It must be time for me to mention how incredibly awful nearly every TSR/WotC novel is (including Gygax's; Jesus wept). Whilst most game fiction is also pretty bad, TSR and WotC plumbed the utter godamned depths (I haven't read MTG fiction, so maybe that's even worse). Both GW and FASA managed to get far better books written.
Definitely agree with the FASA reference - some pretty good stuff for Shadowrun and Battletech. GW is far more hazy - a couple of good ones, but pretty similar to most WotC stuff, IMHO.
AJC
Definitely agree with the FASA reference - some pretty good stuff for Shadowrun and Battletech. GW is far more hazy - a couple of good ones, but pretty similar to most WotC stuff, IMHO.
AJC
What about the Black Library Publisher. I've read some of thier stuff and it seems pretty good. . .