(I couldn't find any better place for this thread)
I just found out this weekend at my local gaming store that pathfinder products have been translated and published in french for at least a few months.
Go to BLACK BOOK Éditions.
Nothing on the blogs or the mailings.
I know I've already got all I wanted in english when it got out but I probably will still get the french Players' handbooks for the APs and probably the chronicles' gazeteer in french version just for language/naming options.
I know there's a few of us francophones and francofans around here that would like to follow and buy some those products in addition to our current purchase habits.
I see this as a great thing for Pathfinder and I understand that the RPG is taking alot of resources but I'm realy suprised I just didn't know about this before seeing it on the shelves of the store.
Anybody can give more details on the subject?
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
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I've been reading the freebies from Black Book's website (Hollow's Last Hope and the Player's Guides) to improve my French reading. I'll actually pick up some of the adventure paths even though I already have them in English. I wish Black Book would check in here an tell us what's coming up ...
Director of Brand Strategy
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Wow! I wasn't aware of these at all. I love the presentation of their site. And looking at the translations just on the website, it seems they're doing a good job (based on my 5 years of high school french a decade ago). They seem to be moving quickly through all the products too. How long ago did they start leurs traduisants?
... start leurs traduisants?
"Traductions" is the word your looking for but thank you so much for trying.:)
I don't know when this started but they've done alot so far.
... Lucky French.
Just so you know, I saw the actual products at Le Valet d'Coeur in Montréal.
I would be interested in knowing how they distribute "De l'autre bord de la flaque!".
I mentionned it here.
Sorry you missed it.
Black Book is translating pretty fast the APs, but they don't go so fast with the rest (Chronicles for instance).
They still do not have released the Gazetteer in French. It is a must for my players who are not all at ease with English.
As far as I can see, Pathfinder in French is quite popular and appears prominently on RPG websites and specialized stores.
Should you need more info, just let me know.
Cheers from Paris.
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CEO
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Black Book Editions was our first translation agreement well over a year ago. They have really done a killer job and have translated more products than any licensee so far. I remember posting about this back when it first happened.
We also have an Italian licensee, Wyrd Edizioni, who has started with Second Darkness. Our German licensee is Ulisses Spiele, but so far they have only had a translation of Hollow's Last Hope in their gaming magazine. They are trying to have the German release of the Pathfinder RPG out at the same time as the English language version, and that will be their first print product. So far, they don't have anything on their website to promote this, but I know that they are working on it very hard.
-Lisa
Black Book Editions was our first translation agreement well over a year ago. They have really done a killer job and have translated more products than any licensee so far. I remember posting about this back when it first happened.
We also have an Italian licensee, Wyrd Edizioni, who has started with Second Darkness. Our German licensee is Ulisses Spiele, but so far they have only had a translation of Hollow's Last Hope in their gaming magazine. They are trying to have the German release of the Pathfinder RPG out at the same time as the English language version, and that will be their first print product. So far, they don't have anything on their website to promote this, but I know that they are working on it very hard.
-Lisa
...and so their plan for global domination takes root... language roots ;)
Sorry you missed it.Black Book is translating pretty fast the APs, but they don't go so fast with the rest (Chronicles for instance).
They still do not have released the Gazetteer in French. It is a must for my players who are not all at ease with English.
As far as I can see, Pathfinder in French is quite popular and appears prominently on RPG websites and specialized stores.
Should you need more info, just let me know.
Cheers from Paris.
Thanks for the link, I tried searching the boards for something I had missed before posting and came up empty.
How's Paris these days ? Are most game-stores around the 5th or in the outer rim ? Who's the "official" distributer of the french Pathfinder line ? Are there subscriptions ? Could I write to you in french ? ;)
Black Book Editions was our first translation agreement well over a year ago. They have really done a killer job and have translated more products than any licensee so far. I remember posting about this back when it first happened.
We also have an Italian licensee, Wyrd Edizioni, who has started with Second Darkness. Our German licensee is Ulisses Spiele, but so far they have only had a translation of Hollow's Last Hope in their gaming magazine. They are trying to have the German release of the Pathfinder RPG out at the same time as the English language version, and that will be their first print product. So far, they don't have anything on their website to promote this, but I know that they are working on it very hard.
-Lisa
Thank you for the reply, this is all realy cool stuff.
After seeing the products, I search paizo.com for any information about it and couldn't find any reference or link anywhere. I may well not be using the search function properly.
Maybe a few links in the store section of the site could be a nice thing. Maybe an "Other Language Available" link for each products that have existing translation.
Or even just a blurt once in a while mentionning translation milestone like full APs, etc.
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CEO
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Thank you for the reply, this is all realy cool stuff.
After seeing the products, I search paizo.com for any information about it and couldn't find any reference or link anywhere. I may well not be using the search function properly.
Maybe a few links in the store section of the site could be a nice thing. Maybe an "Other Language Available" link for each products that have existing translation.
Or even just a blurt once in a while mentionning translation milestone like full APs, etc.
I'll put this in the old brain and think about how we could present this stuff better. Thanks for the nudge. :)
-Lisa
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Director of Brand Strategy
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... start leurs traduisants?"Traductions" is the word your looking for but thank you so much for trying.:)
Yeaaaah, like I said, it was high school French ten years ago. I got the "trad" part right though! Maybe I should get a few of these just to brush up on my second language.
...
I'll put this in the old brain and think about how we could present this stuff better. Thanks for the nudge. :)-Lisa
Bienvenue!
Wow. They seem to actually care about this stuff. Entering this site, I see stuff like them actually promoting Pathfinder and the products.
If I go to Ulisses, those responsible for the German translations, I'll have to dig through their forums to actually see the word "Pathfinder" mentioned.
So far, they don't have anything on their website to promote this, but I know that they are working on it very hard.
Yeah, and we all know how hard it is to put up a product webpage with some information about a product, like that it's going to exist.
I was cautiously optimistic about German Pathfinder, but so far, what I can see of their efforts about this can only be described as piss poor. Seems they want to continue the ages-old tradition of doing a bad job of German translations of D&D.
Let's see if they can do a timely release of the core rules.
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Wow. They seem to actually care about this stuff. Entering this site, I see stuff like them actually promoting Pathfinder and the products.
If I go to Ulisses, those responsible for the German translations, I'll have to dig through their forums to actually see the word "Pathfinder" mentioned.
Same problem here in Italy. Many people thought Wyrd Edizioni wasn't publishing Pathfinder anymore, since they're not advertising their products anywhere.
Yeah, and we all know how hard it is to put up a product webpage with some information about a product, like that it's going to exist.
Wyrd Edizioni's webpage last update happened in December, I think. People are asking for info (on subscriptions, for example) on their messageboards... and getting no answer.
Slime,
Sun is shining and life is not too bad: my players should meet Dragotha in our Age of Worms campaign next Friday.
Stores still exist prominently in the 5th-6th (Jeux Descartes, Starplayer and l'Oeuf Cube), the others have disappeared in these districts. Other stores have appeared throughout town, but the Descartes of Pasteur station has disappeared (3 stations from me... too bad).
You are most welcome to write to me in French.
Tu peux m'écrire à ltastet@free.fr
A bientôt.
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Wyrd Edizioni's webpage last update happened in December, I think. People are asking for info (on subscriptions, for example) on their messageboards... and getting no answer.
Last time I looked in their webforums, it was hinted that during a undefined lapse during which the website would be rehauled from the grounds up, it was still possible receiving updates by looking in their FaceBook account.
Now, as I refuse to have anything to do with such social network, I can't really confirm if that's really the case...
IIRC, I read about the german translation of Hollows Last Hope on these messageboards as well, and only logged in into Ulysses boards afterwards. But there is not much activity there. I would highly recommend a foreign languages section on paizos own boards, with information about those editions.
Stefan
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Same here - I visit the Ulisses Forum quite regulary - but I was the first one who postet anything there about the HLH translation published in the Mephisto magazine - two or three days AFTER the magazine hit the shelves. I was at the Ulisses booth at the german roleplaying convention and asked about their plans for pathfinder - the answer was more or less yes, there should be something next month (which would have been may) unless something goes wrong...but probably something will go wrong...it happened before. They didn't even mention the Hollows last Hope adventure they had at the booth for promotion. Ulisses seems to actively try to PREVENT promoting the german pathfinger.
sigh
sorry
end of rant.
I would really appreciate a board section here for foreign versions of Pathfinder.
Might not have been smart to choose a company that has its own RPG to publish. They might be afraid of the competition....;-)
You need a company with some experience in publishing, and a company with RPG publishing experience is even better. But indeed, the german versions of XD&D were always troublesome - the first attempt from the long-gone FSV in the 80ies was agonizing slow-going and brought us the incredibly bad translations of the DMGs appendices. It speaks volumes that TSR UK took over for quite some years. Amigo was doing ok, if slow, Feder&Schwert was so-so. It seems to be a problem all the time to find enough translators and have a team that works on it continously - without Wormys Queue posting regularly on the Ulysses boards (as well as here), they would be quite empty. I don´t have the time at the moment to be able and contribute regularly to the effort, otherwise I would offer my help.
Stefan
Our German licensee is Ulisses Spiele, but so far they have only had a translation of Hollow's Last Hope in their gaming magazine. They are trying to have the German release of the Pathfinder RPG out at the same time as the English language version, and that will be their first print product. So far, they don't have anything on their website to promote this, but I know that they are working on it very hard.
German translations for d20 are a long and painful story. I don't know about AD&D, but when 3rd Ed. was released, we got the core books in german, and that was about all that happened for a long time. I think for ever ten d20 books that were released, we got one translation and the gap got ever bigger. I think at one point most groups turned to use only english books and practically everyone who has his own small (or large) d20 library is only using english books today. I don't know anyone who's playing D&D or other d20 games with german books.
Because of that, I don't think there's any substential demand for german translations anymore. And those people who would want german books probably don't know or care much about third party products.
AD&D in German has a painful history, so much so that a guy involved back when 1st Ed. AD&D was translated still winced when the topic came up - when I met him in 2000 or 2001...
Stefan
So I guess it's probably better if we don't talk about it and assume it never happened. ^^
Amigo was doing ok
I hated a lot of their translations for 3e terminology.
When I think Blackguard, I think Darth Vader.
When I think Finsterer Streiter, I think Anakin from Episode III.
I have stopped bothering about German D&D anything years ago (though I do have everything Pathfinder there is in German), but there's one player in one of my groups that is allergic to english books. But she's not playing at the moment, anyway.
Amigo was causing the massive delays of 3rd Ed. I think 80 to 90% of all books never got translated. When they went out of buisness, I think it was Feder und Schwert who took over. At that point I had an all english library, but from what I heard, they didn't do that great a job either.
Amigo was doing okI hated a lot of their translations for 3e terminology.
That was always problematic - the translations of the level names in earlier editions were questionable at best. In AD&D2, rogue was translated with "Spitzbube", which we found plain stupid.
though I do have everything Pathfinder there is in German
Huh? Did I miss something, or are you ironic here? AFAIK, only Hollows Last Hope has been translated to date, and of course a lot of blog entries.
Stefan
Lisa (and any official Paizo-ite)-
Isnt this an untapped revenue stream? I am clueless about how to 'fix' this problem, but couldnt this be a way for Pathfinder to step in and actually become "THE roleplaying game"? It seems like you would have the benefit of goodwill as being the first to try it in a long time?
If WotC has no products in other languages either, could this be a chance to take over?
I know resources are spread way thin this year, but this might be something to think about as a brass ring/grab the gusto move to get to a bigger share of RPG markets worldwide in the future.
Im not sure how it would actually pan out. Maybe something like a freelancer group of college students/fans do the translation(s) at a minimal cost, and then another freelancer group double-checks them with you all having final say-so...then send out a small print run trial to distributors and see how it goes?
Im not sure how it would actually pan out. Maybe something like a freelancer group of college students/fans do the translation(s) at a minimal cost, and then another freelancer group double-checks them with you all having final say-so...then send out a small print run trial to distributors and see how it goes?
I think you under-estimate the effort needed to produce sound translations - mind you, a few pages of blogs are not that much work, but keeping that up regularly is quite a task already. Translating whole books is nearly as much work as writing them in the first place. As much as I appreciate the fan effort here, my few attempts at translating the blog entries have shown me that this effort is probably too big to rest it comfortably on the fans shoulders alone - some professionals are needed here, I´d say.
Stefan
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CEO
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We have contracts in place already as I stated in my post above for Pathfinder products in French, German, and Italian. Those are legal contracts which can't be broken, even if we wanted to. But as Stebhil stated, it is a HUGE effort for a non-native speaker to do their own translations, not to mention the sales and marketing in a different country. In my 25 years in the game industry, I have found that it is always a better option to find a company in the native country to do the translations and handle the sales and marketing. We try very hard to find the best companies in each market and I believe that we have done so with the three we have. Give them a chance once the Pathfinder RPG comes out. Most of our translation companies didn't want to produce products for 3.5 but were excited about the PFRPG, so I expect them to ramp up production once the game is out.
-Lisa
... Most of our translation companies didn't want to produce products for 3.5 but were excited about the PFRPG, so I expect them to ramp up production once the game is out.
-Lisa
Sweet! Can't wait!
I think I have said this so many times it's starting to lose it's meaning... ;)
AFAIK, only Hollows Last Hope has been translated to date,
Yeah. And I have that. So I have everything.
AFAIK, only Hollows Last Hope has been translated to date,Yeah. And I have that. So I have everything.
Ok. So I count that as a rather ironic post.
Stefan
Sorry Lisa, I had read it as something that was tried and was far behind or something. Just reading the responses from the posters from various countries, it looked like an open place to jump in and dominate the 3PP market and/or just take over as 'the' RPG in those countries.
It was just after I woke up, and I got caught up in the excitement of the thread.
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A good friend of mine, and huge fan of the Midnight setting, literally seethes with rage anytime Black Book Editions are mentioned. According to him, they murdered the product with their translation.
I sincerely hope Paizo's products will be treated better.
Yeah, we know the same one. :)
I still believe that a bad translation (I have no opinion on Black books, as I buy all in English from Paizo)is better than no translation, as it will bring product recognition, and make some folks aware that there is SOMETHING ELSE than 4e available.
Besides, who else is publishing adventures, nowadays ?
I still believe that a bad translation (I have no opinion on Black books, as I buy all in English from Paizo)is better than no translation, as it will bring product recognition, and make some folks aware that there is SOMETHING ELSE than 4e available.
I think it's the other way around. Better to have a few people recognise your products as awesome stuff than many to recognise your products as "that crap that reads as if it was written by some 12-year-old underachiever".
That sounds extreme, but I'm sure you get what I'm aiming at here.
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I still believe that a bad translation (I have no opinion on Black books, as I buy all in English from Paizo)is better than no translation, as it will bring product recognition, and make some folks aware that there is SOMETHING ELSE than 4e available.
I think it's the other way around. Better to have a few people recognise your products as awesome stuff than many to recognise your products as "that crap that reads as if it was written by some 12-year-old underachiever".
That sounds extreme, but I'm sure you get what I'm aiming at here.
Oh I get it, but in Black Book's case, I believe that our friend has a tendancy to ... "dramatize" things a bit. In what I have seen, the translations were not perfect, but they were not bad.
After all, I have played with Transecom's translations of TSR Basic D&D, and I believe nothing can top that, as far as bad translations go.
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Last time I looked in their webforums, it was hinted that during a undefined lapse during which the website would be rehauled from the grounds up, it was still possible receiving updates by looking in their FaceBook account.
Now, as I refuse to have anything to do with such social network, I can't really confirm if that's really the case...
I know. But the situation didn't change. The FB page is still as it was the first day it was created. :-(
Oh I get it, but in Black Book's case, I believe that our friend has a tendancy to ... "dramatize" things a bit.
I'm not accusing any specific translation as bad. Instead, I meant that if you have a bad translation of a game, that can be worse than having no translation, since people will associate the horrible quality with the product in general, not with the translation.
In my 25 years in the game industry, I have found that it is always a better option to find a company in the native country to do the translations and handle the sales and marketing.
Oh yes! So VERY much better! ^^
Not to say anything bad about anglophone people, but we had our share of translations by non native german speakers, and just let me say, it didn't turn out well. No, really not well. ^^