I think that creating a hard bound Omnibus of the already released Player's Companions would be a great product. Even if it was just a core races book. Not only would it be a great way to re-vitalize already existing material, but also very handy and collectible. I may be off the mark due the fact that I am not in the industry, but after seeing that you were clearing the warehouse of many of these titles it sparked the idea. Even as a softcover it would be a nice run up the the Races book coming out.
A Pizzao staffer will probably ninja me but— they probably wouldn't consider this until they had sold out most or all of their existing player companion stock. I think I've heard that companions are a less successful line, and competing with a compiled book would utterly destroy the remaining companion sales.
But! I am not Pizzao. I could be wrong about sales, or their willingness to publish compilations, or the spelling of the company's name.
Chief Technical Officer
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A Pizzao staffer will probably ninja me but— they probably wouldn't consider this until they had sold out most or all of their existing player companion stock. I think I've heard that companions are a less successful line, and competing with a compiled book would utterly destroy the remaining companion sales.
But! I am not Pizzao. I could be wrong about sales, or their willingness to publish compilations, or the spelling of the company's name.
Companions are actually doing very well—that's why so many of them are nearly sold out! But your main point is nevertheless correct—we wouldn't create a compilation that competes with our existing inventory.
We have *contemplated* collections of related sold-out companions, especially where they involve volumes that were published under the 3.5 rules and could thus benefit from an update to the Pathfinder RPG... but every time we've come close to doing that, we've ended up taking a different tack. So, it's not off the table... but we have no plans to do so.
Part of that is that we never want subscribers to regret having purchased things as part of a subscription—specifically, we don't want people to think "I should have waited for the compilation!" So even if we *did* compile some of the information from sold-out books, we probably wouldn't do a straight-up compilation that reprints everything wholesale—we'd want to put a spin on things so that the original purchasers still have something uniquely valuable, much in the way that people who purchased the first 6 Rise of the Runelords AP volumes have material that's not part of the Rise of the Runelords hardcover.
I figured that would be an issue, but the Going, Going, Gone sale on the main page made me think of it. The originals would still be collectible, but do understand people would feel jipped for having subscribed then have a larger book put out at less money. But, in the same right it would be a good way to keep the core races relevant in an ever expanding offering of races. Perhaps a book devoted solely to the core races? I have several of the books myself and would be happy to have the ones I like and the ones I hadn't liked enough to buy in one place. It would give my players a chance to look at things I wouldn't buy on my own and maybe inspire me to branch out of my typical role. I understand your points though and agree with the business sense that they make. Some people want to feel betrayed and have something to complain about in the loudest voice they can, lol.