Creative Director
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hello James Jacobs! Somewhere earlier in this thread you described PF as being, by your estimation, in the middle of its life cycle. Thinking about D&D, it's kind of interesting how the life cycles of the editions have interacted with the canon of the various campaign settings (the most dramatic maybe being 2e's grand unification of everything with PS and SJ and the subsequent un-unification thereof). But PF is one set of game mechanics and one world (as are most games, I think - the D&D campaign world / edition tangle is probably more of a weird exception). Do you foresee being finished with Golarion several years down the line? Or would you be happy to see it continuing into future version of the game mechanics?
Alternately, is the question of whether 'Unspeakable Futures' takes place in the Golarionverse even interesting?
Pathfinder's doing a lot of things that D&D didn't. Such as only supporting one campaign setting, but going all-out to support that setting with multiple book releases a month. As a result... it's a little bit new territory—whether or not we're ACTUALLY in the "middle of the life cycle" or still at the start or near the end we wont' really know until that cycle ends. I do know this... Pathfinder's popularity hasn't yet hit its peak. It's still growing. So if it's near the end of its life cycle... that end is probably gonna be something like a global catastrophe that cuts it short because Yellowstone blew up or something like that...
I don't foresee being "finished" with Golarion anytime soon. I certainly hope it's still going strong after I retire or move on to something else.
Unspeakable Futures takes place on Earth, about 100 to 200 years in the future. So... in the same universe as Golarion, but not ON Golarion.
What program for a would-be 3rd party publisher would you reccomend for creating pdfs of supplements?
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Creative Director
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What program for a would-be 3rd party publisher would you reccomend for creating pdfs of supplements?
Paizo uses Microsoft Word for creating the words of a document, then kicks things over to Indesign for the layout and editing. Seems to work for us, but those aren't inexpensive options...
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Creative Director
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1) What is your favorite non core class (APG, UM or UC)?
2) If I want a closer look at the deities of Pathfinder or/and Golarion what should I buy?
3) Who is/are the most under estimated people at Paizo (cleaning ladies included- no sarcasm)?
4) If Paizo would buy you one (or two) week vacation, all included, where would you go and why?
5) Is anybody out there?
&) Shall We Take Ourselves Seriously?
1) Alchemist.
2) Gods & Magic and the three Faiths of... books in the Player Companion line.
3) If you mean "underappreciated by the public" by saying "under estimated," I would probably have to say Jeff Alvarez. Without Jeff, none of you would be playing the game because it wouldn't have been printed or shipped to you in the first place.
4) Probably Loch Ness.
5) Heh.
&) Sometimes, yeah.
What program for a would-be 3rd party publisher would you reccomend for creating pdfs of supplements?Paizo uses Microsoft Word for creating the words of a document, then kicks things over to Indesign for the layout and editing. Seems to work for us, but those aren't inexpensive options...
For a real cheap method, do all your composing and editing in word. It can be set up in landscape or portrait and in two or three columns. Then, add the art pics.
Save it as a pdf by using the "save as" option, choosing the "save as type" menu and selecting pdf.
The following will come up:
***
unable to load "name.pdf" torrent file
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...where the word name within the quotes is the name given to the file when saved as a pdf. At this point, word still treats the open file as a word document but the file was saved as a pdf wherever you chose to save it and can be opened with adobe. I assume it can also be opened with any other pdf reader. Note that if you want to continue to edit the work using word, you must be sure to save it as a document too. Then whenever you are done or just want to look at it as a pdf, save it as shown above and use your pdf reader.
1) 4) If Paizo would buy you one (or two) week vacation, all included, where would you go and why?
4) Probably Loch Ness.
4) or R'lyeh if you could find it?
It strikes me that R'lyeh would not be a good place to spend two weeks.1) 4) If Paizo would buy you one (or two) week vacation, all included, where would you go and why?
4) Probably Loch Ness.
4) or R'lyeh if you could find it?
Maybe you would come back with Supernatural powers (granted those would probably be at the cost of your sanity).
It strikes me that R'lyeh would not be a good place to spend two weeks.1) 4) If Paizo would buy you one (or two) week vacation, all included, where would you go and why?
4) Probably Loch Ness.
4) or R'lyeh if you could find it?
Maybe you would come back with Supernatural powers (granted those would probably be at the cost of your sanity).
James strikes me as more of a hero-type.
Heroes never last long in a Lovecraft story. :)
1)What type of plant is the plant race in the Innersea Bestiary?
2)Who were the other adventurers that were with Nex when he was an adventurer?
3)Did Geb choose to become a ghost? Is he a ghost because he still wishes to fight Nex again?
4)Was Shelyn born a goddess or did she become a goddess later?
5)Will the Innersea Bestiary have any of the oozes found in the ooze colony of Oenopion(Nex)? Any Golems from there golem works?
6)What happened to the original pilots/inhabitants of the space ship that crashed in Numeria? Is there any organic life from that ship still around?
7)If/When you guys have any info on one of the other continents, wich one is most likely to be done next?
8)Is Trilochan, the three eyed dragon, an actual spawn of Rovagug or just believed to be one?
9)Were there any other humans who were "improved" by a another race/creature like the Aboleth did for the Azlanti and that group of humans liked the "improvements"?
10)Do the Aboleth have a god of there own? if not who/what do they worship?
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Creative Director
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1)What type of plant is the plant race in the Innersea Bestiary?
2)Who were the other adventurers that were with Nex when he was an adventurer?
3)Did Geb choose to become a ghost? Is he a ghost because he still wishes to fight Nex again?
4)Was Shelyn born a goddess or did she become a goddess later?
5)Will the Innersea Bestiary have any of the oozes found in the ooze colony of Oenopion(Nex)? Any Golems from there golem works?
6)What happened to the original pilots/inhabitants of the space ship that crashed in Numeria? Is there any organic life from that ship still around?
7)If/When you guys have any info on one of the other continents, wich one is most likely to be done next?
8)Is Trilochan, the three eyed dragon, an actual spawn of Rovagug or just believed to be one?
9)Were there any other humans who were "improved" by a another race/creature like the Aboleth did for the Azlanti and that group of humans liked the "improvements"?
10)Do the Aboleth have a god of there own? if not who/what do they worship?
1) A brand new one.
2) Unrevealed.
3) Also unrevealed.
4) She was, if I remember correctly, a goddess from the start.
5) Nope.
6) Unrevealed.
7) Unknown. If I had my choice I'd rather do Arcadia or southern Garund, but I suspect Azlant or Casmaron's a more important one to tackle next.
8) I'm not ready to confirm or deny those rumors yet.
9) Nope; the Azlanti were it as far as actual humans being "improved/guided" by aboleths.
10) They don't worship deities at all. In fact, their lack of and disdain of faith is probably their greatest weakness.
3)Did Geb choose to become a ghost? Is he a ghost because he still wishes to fight Nex again?
3) Also unrevealed.
3) er, not to say you are wrong JJ; but in the books it was said he became a Ghost over not having confirmation that Nex was dead. (or maybe it was you saying so up-thread)
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Creative Director
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3)Did Geb choose to become a ghost? Is he a ghost because he still wishes to fight Nex again?
3) Also unrevealed.
3) er, not to say you are wrong JJ; but in the books it was said he became a Ghost over not having confirmation that Nex was dead. (or maybe it was you saying so up-thread)
Fair enough.
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Creative Director
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So, In Ultimate combat there's a pretty cool vehicle, the Alchemical Dragon. I know that the rulebook line is setting neutral, so... Are there Alchemical Dragons in Golarion? and if so, where are they found?
There are airships on (above?) Golarion, but they're not mass produced. If anything, they're relatively unique items crafted by relatively unique individuals who don't really have a big public reputation—otherwise we would have heard about their airships by now. So yeah... they exist, but they're really rare and they're likely hidden in secret lairs until the day one of them is ready to go out and start raiding some local village and thus start up an adventure that's all about them.
Where that adventure is set, if we ever do said adventure, will determine where the airship or alchemical dragon or whatever is located. And that's not something I've really given any thought at all to yet.
So... they could be ANYWHERE!!!!
Did you ever watch the movie Small Soldiers? If so, did you like it?
You think such an idea might make for a 'weird' encounter or plot hook?
1)Shouldn't Golarion only have 7 continents instead of 8 since Azlant is nothing but a bunch of islands now?
2)When will we see some creatures from the plane of Dreams?
3)If you guys ever do a another race hardcover book like the the Advanced Races Guide would the races from the Innersea Bestiary (and other campaign specific books) make it in this book like the Changeling, Gillmen, and Strix did?
4)Is it true that you guys are thinkingof putting more then one race in a single race book for the players companion line?
5)How would you rate all of the King Kong movies(including the japanese ones) on a scale of 1 to 10?
6)If Aboleth do not worship anything does that mean they do not have Clerics or Oracles?
7)Now that we are getting Mythic rules does that mean we will find out what some gods did to become a god that didn't use the Starstone to do so?
8)What are the odds of seeing a hardcover book about Gods/Goddesses from real world myth? what a book for the Gods, Demi-Gods, Demon Lords, Eldest, etc. and ever other being that can grant spells to clerics?
9)Wich would sound the most interesting for a Socerer Bloodline:1)based on a Cleric and there divine gifts 2)a witch and her hexes 3) an alchemist and his experiments or 4)an Oracle and her curse?
10)Do gods in Pathfinder gain power by gaining worshippers? Are there any Gods who do wish to be worshipped or have followers?
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JJ,
How far can humans see in dim light? This question is pertaining to areas with natural dim light and not the increased areas from torches, sunrods, spells, etc.
There has to be some type of range otherwise low-light vision is useless.
Humans can see as far as dim light illuminates. If you have a torch that sheds normal light to 20 feet and dim light from 20 to 40 feet... humans can see to 40 feet in that dim light, because beyond that range is darkness.
If you have low-light vision, though, that range of dim light is doubled, allowing you to see up to 60 feet away even though the 40 to 60 feet is technically dark.
I think the problem we all have is at what range we can see something/someone when the source or illumination are the moon or the stars. it is a hard question as the condition can vary heavily.
Full moonlight and a snowy plain? We can notice someone moving at a few hundred meters.Under the tree canopy of a dense forest? We are lucky if we can notice a tree trunk before hitting it.
Add that we are used to strong artificial illumination and judging what can see a human used to softer artificial illumination and with the time to adapt to the dim light become difficult.
It would be nice to have some guideline.
In those two situation, when you are the GM, what can be seen?
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...talked about the word wield a lot...What's wrong with using the dictionary definition?
Every time we re-define a word to mean something it shouldn't, we set ourselves up for problems.
Because it sometime mean "bashing someone with a weapon" and sometime "holding it in hand". When that affect how a ability work it become difficult to judge fairly what the rule mean.
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Creative Director
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1)Shouldn't Golarion only have 7 continents instead of 8 since Azlant is nothing but a bunch of islands now?
2)When will we see some creatures from the plane of Dreams?
3)If you guys ever do a another race hardcover book like the the Advanced Races Guide would the races from the Innersea Bestiary (and other campaign specific books) make it in this book like the Changeling, Gillmen, and Strix did?
4)Is it true that you guys are thinkingof putting more then one race in a single race book for the players companion line?
5)How would you rate all of the King Kong movies(including the japanese ones) on a scale of 1 to 10?
6)If Aboleth do not worship anything does that mean they do not have Clerics or Oracles?
7)Now that we are getting Mythic rules does that mean we will find out what some gods did to become a god that didn't use the Starstone to do so?
8)What are the odds of seeing a hardcover book about Gods/Goddesses from real world myth? what a book for the Gods, Demi-Gods, Demon Lords, Eldest, etc. and ever other being that can grant spells to clerics?
9)Wich would sound the most interesting for a Socerer Bloodline:1)based on a Cleric and there divine gifts 2)a witch and her hexes 3) an alchemist and his experiments or 4)an Oracle and her curse?
10)Do gods in Pathfinder gain power by gaining worshippers? Are there any Gods who do wish to be worshipped or have followers?
1) Azlant still counts as a continent as far as adventure locations, even though it's mostly destroyed.
2) Not for a while, although you'll see some from Leng in Pathfinder #65, which has some crossover with the Dimension of Dreams, monster-wise.
3) Yes. But I doubt we'll ever do another book like Advanced Race Guide.
4) Blood of the night has several types of vampires plus dhampir, for example... so, yes!
5) I'm sure I'll forget a few, but here goes:
King Kong (1933): 10
Son of Kong: 7
King Kong vs. Godzilla: 3
King Kong Escapes: Haven't seen it
King Kong (1976): 3
King Kong Lives: Haven't seen it
King Kong (2005): 9.5
6) There are no divine spellcasters among aboleths at all as a general rule. There could well be a few out there, but they'd be outcasts from aboleth society, and would likely be more hated than any other enemy.
7) Not in Mythic Adventures but perhaps in a Campaign Setting book that comes out at some point thereafter.
8) I'd love to do a book like this, but the odds of it happening are very very slim.
9) None; I'm not a fan of building bloodlines to ape/mimic other classes. Just play the other class.
10) Nope.
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Creative Director
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...talked about the word wield a lot...What's wrong with using the dictionary definition?
Every time we re-define a word to mean something it shouldn't, we set ourselves up for problems.
Because it sometime mean "bashing someone with a weapon" and sometime "holding it in hand". When that affect how a ability work it become difficult to judge fairly what the rule mean.
wield [weeld] verb (used with object)
2. to use (a weapon, instrument, etc.) effectively; handle or employ actively.
If you're holding the weapon in a way that you can make an attack with it, you are wielding it. If something requires you to be wielding a weapon in order to use a power or activate something, you have to be "using the weapon effectively or handling it actively." If you've got a 2-handed weapon, that means using both hands. If you're holding a 2-handed weapon in one hand, such as might be the case where you want a hand free to cast a spell or cling to a ledge, you are not wielding the weapon.
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Creative Director
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I think the problem we all have is at what range we can see something/someone when the source or illumination are the moon or the stars. it is a hard question as the condition can vary heavily.
Full moonlight and a snowy plain? We can notice someone moving at a few hundred meters.
Under the tree canopy of a dense forest? We are lucky if we can notice a tree trunk before hitting it.
Add that we are used to strong artificial illumination and judging what can see a human used to softer artificial illumination and with the time to adapt to the dim light become difficult.
It would be nice to have some guideline.In those two situation, when you are the GM, what can be seen?
We also don't have rules for how far you can see on a sunny day.
It would indeed be nice to have those guidelines, but they didn't end up in Pathfinder for whatever reason.
When I'm the GM, I just revert back to earlier editions for the info or, much more often, just go off of real-world experience and/or decide what's good for the mood of the scene.
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Creative Director
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Mr jacobs if you do not have to worry about the sells about one product and you could write whatever crazy book you like whitout worrying about the money
1) What kind of bookd would you write dealing with patfinder rules?
2) what kind of book would you write about golarion?
1) Unspeakable Futures.
2) Dinosaurs Revisited.
We're just a few weeks away from this year's new horror movie season! What horror film are you most looking forward to in 2012?Horror movie season is all year long! That said, I'm equally excited to see Sinister and Paranormal Activity 4 next month...
I have very high hopes for Sinister, especially since the makers of Insidious were involved with it. Did you catch that one?
What program for a would-be 3rd party publisher would you reccomend for creating pdfs of supplements?Paizo uses Microsoft Word for creating the words of a document, then kicks things over to Indesign for the layout and editing. Seems to work for us, but those aren't inexpensive options...
Ha! That's what Dario and I do too! And I here I felt super unprofessional for sending him a Word document of our books!
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Creative Director
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I have very high hopes for Sinister, especially since the makers of Insidious were involved with it. Did you catch that one?We're just a few weeks away from this year's new horror movie season! What horror film are you most looking forward to in 2012?Horror movie season is all year long! That said, I'm equally excited to see Sinister and Paranormal Activity 4 next month...
Absolutely. Part of the reason I'm eager to see Sinister, in fact.
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Creative Director
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Unspeakable Futures takes place on Earth, about 100 to 200 years in the future. So... in the same universe as Golarion, but not ON Golarion.Is there any particular authorial reason for dropping Earth into Golarion's universe, besides the fact that perhaps it was something that TSR/WOTC never did?
Doing something that TSR/WOTC never did is reason enough for me!
But also, putting Earth in the same universe as Golarion helps to set things up so that if a gamer wants, you can also have whatever other world you like in the universe as well, while simultaneously making the universe (aka the Material Plane) seem really big.
How do the gods interact with non-Golarion planets in the setting. I assume that the original gods (Sarenrae, Pharasma, Desna, Asmodeus, etc) are worshipped by the denizens of pretty much any planet. Would a Sarenrite cleric from Golarion, for example, recognize the church as it exists on Verces or Triaxus though?
What about the gods who were originally humans from Golarion, like Iomedae, Aroden and the others who passed the Test of the Starstone? Are there gods who were originally mortals on other planets who would be unknown on Golarion? Are there racial gods for all the different aliens as well?
Given that a universe is defined as a place where the same set of natural laws in place, I have to say it kind of twitches my eye at the implication that Earth is run by Pathfinder mechanics. As to the latter reason, I think Distant Worlds did that job for you. :)Unspeakable Futures takes place on Earth, about 100 to 200 years in the future. So... in the same universe as Golarion, but not ON Golarion.Is there any particular authorial reason for dropping Earth into Golarion's universe, besides the fact that perhaps it was something that TSR/WOTC never did?Doing something that TSR/WOTC never did is reason enough for me!
But also, putting Earth in the same universe as Golarion helps to set things up so that if a gamer wants, you can also have whatever other world you like in the universe as well, while simultaneously making the universe (aka the Material Plane) seem really big.
The universe is not necessarily homogeneous with respect to physical laws. Golarion could exist in a part of the universe where magic exists, whereas Earth is in a region ruled by the physics which we observe.
That is what I always assume when Earth gets worked into a fantasy-esque setting.
Hear that rumbling sound in the distance? That's the mob of angry physicists coming your way. :)
The universe is not necessarily homogeneous with respect to physical laws. Golarion could exist in a part of the universe where magic exists, whereas Earth is in a region ruled by the physics which we observe.That is what I always assume when Earth gets worked into a fantasy-esque setting.
It's a good explanatory cop-out though, admit it.
And get impaled by a slide rule? (Some of those physicists are really old school.)It's a good explanatory cop-out though, admit it.Hear that rumbling sound in the distance? That's the mob of angry physicists coming your way. :)
The universe is not necessarily homogeneous with respect to physical laws. Golarion could exist in a part of the universe where magic exists, whereas Earth is in a region ruled by the physics which we observe.That is what I always assume when Earth gets worked into a fantasy-esque setting.
Don't worry, slide rules can't do that much damage. I spent my childhood pretending that my grandfather's slide rules were swords. I used to TWF with a T-square and a slide rule.
My favorite slide rule was always the specialized one which calculates the effects of nuclear detonations.
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How does a hairless creature that is also a witch use animate hair. By hairless I mean it's a scaled creature or an amphibian.
So like a Naja, Grippli, or Khobold?
I've asked this in the forums and still don't have a satisfactory answer.
So, can you clarify then maybe add it in a book somewhere so everybody knows.
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The following is NOT a complaint of any kind.
I was just struck when checking out the Artifacts and Legends book coming out this week (which I WILL be buying as a PDF) that the PDFs in the Players Companion line cost more than the PDFs of the core books.
If you can, would you touch on how that works financially? Is it all to do with the PC line being one off prints, where the core books are expected to go through multiple printings?
The following is NOT a complaint of any kind.
I was just struck when checking out the Artifacts and Legends book coming out this week (which I WILL be buying as a PDF) that the PDFs in the Players Companion line cost more than the PDFs of the core books.
If you can, would you touch on how that works financially? Is it all to do with the PC line being one off prints, where the core books are expected to go through multiple printings?
IANJJ, but it has probably something to do with the PRD.
I got Icewind Dale 2 from GOG the other day which got me in a nostalgic mood and I flipped through the 3.0 Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting when I stumbled over something called the "Inner Sea" also known as "Sea of Fallen Stars".
Did you get some inspiration from that while designing the (most excellent!) Golarion setting?
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Creative Director
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How do the gods interact with non-Golarion planets in the setting. I assume that the original gods (Sarenrae, Pharasma, Desna, Asmodeus, etc) are worshipped by the denizens of pretty much any planet. Would a Sarenrite cleric from Golarion, for example, recognize the church as it exists on Verces or Triaxus though?
What about the gods who were originally humans from Golarion, like Iomedae, Aroden and the others who passed the Test of the Starstone? Are there gods who were originally mortals on other planets who would be unknown on Golarion? Are there racial gods for all the different aliens as well?
Alien planets have their own pantheons of gods. There's some overlap. Such as you see in Golarion, with deities like Asmodeus or Lamashtu.
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Creative Director
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How does a hairless creature that is also a witch use animate hair. By hairless I mean it's a scaled creature or an amphibian.
So like a Naja, Grippli, or Khobold?
I've asked this in the forums and still don't have a satisfactory answer.So, can you clarify then maybe add it in a book somewhere so everybody knows.
They can't. A creature without hair can't use that hex, any more than a snake can wear boots.
They can't. A creature without hair can't use that hex, any more than a snake can wear boots.How does a hairless creature that is also a witch use animate hair. By hairless I mean it's a scaled creature or an amphibian.
So like a Naja, Grippli, or Khobold?
I've asked this in the forums and still don't have a satisfactory answer.So, can you clarify then maybe add it in a book somewhere so everybody knows.
Not even with hair-squigs :P
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Creative Director
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The following is NOT a complaint of any kind.
I was just struck when checking out the Artifacts and Legends book coming out this week (which I WILL be buying as a PDF) that the PDFs in the Players Companion line cost more than the PDFs of the core books.
If you can, would you touch on how that works financially? Is it all to do with the PC line being one off prints, where the core books are expected to go through multiple printings?
The rulebooks are, if you will, the "guts" of the system. They're the essential part. You need them to play. And therefore we want as many people to be able to afford them as possible, which is why the PDFs are only 10 bucks, and which is why we try to get all the rules up online for free.
One way to look at is is an analogy of paint and paintings. The rulebooks themselves are basically the paint.
The Golarion books are the story and the adventures and the like. They're the paintings we use our paint to make.
You can buy a bunch of paint for not much money, but a nice painting can cost you a LOT.
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Creative Director
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I got Icewind Dale 2 from GOG the other day which got me in a nostalgic mood and I flipped through the 3.0 Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting when I stumbled over something called the "Inner Sea" also known as "Sea of Fallen Stars".
Did you get some inspiration from that while designing the (most excellent!) Golarion setting?
No that I know of. Erik was the one who named the Inner Sea, so it's possible, but "Inner Sea" is a pretty commonplace name.