Pathfinder Adventure Path and Realm Works

[Jaynay27]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but here goes (please move me, if this is the wrong place).

I am a recent convert to Pathfinder and I love the adventure paths (started with Skull & Shackles, but bought Kingmaker and RotRL anniversary ed.). The quality of the physical books and overall writing is fantastic.

My group has also been using Herolab for sometime and also been following the Realm Works program development, and now the kickstarter).
Realm Works

I plan on running all my campaigns through Realm Works once it launches.

Thing is - as much as I like the AP books/subscription, I don't have unlimited storage space and the shipping costs are becoming prohibitive.
The recent price hike on the AP shows how Paizo is being impacted by increased costs too.

So - here is my idea (which you guys may have had already):

What about a purely digital AP subscription, consisting of PDF, Realm Works files, and perhaps Herolab portfolios?

Now I know Paizo has a good relationship with Lone Wolf Development and I see this as a real growth area.
Plus it would save me a TON of time using copy-paste and messing around with images/maps etc.

I mean - I would be prepared to pay the same the same price for this service - You guys wouldn't have physical production costs, and I wouldn't have to pay shipping! Win-Win!

Thoughts?

[Timothy Thomas]

I agree!! I am an adventure Path Subscriber and would pay more to get Realm Works support!!

[Leonal]

I would pay for that, as long as I get my physical copy too. :)

[Cpt_kirstov]

This would in turn make the AP price go up for print products as they would order less, which would put a bigger burden on the PDF subscription, raising that price. Because of the high prices, people would cancel their AP subscription, making the order number lower and raising the price for both even more. which means more people would quit, price would go up, more would quit, price would go up, ad nausium.... Vic has discussed this before.

[Rondor]

+1 @Jaynay27

Adding VTT or other virtual assets and usefulness to the AP's will not reduce usage but increase it.

How many players cant find face to face games in this world? How many players would be added simply by increasing the pool of possible players?

These are numbers that cannot be defined currently but adding this compatibility will increase total distribution not decrease it.

[Jaynay27]

Cpt_kirstov wrote:

This would in turn make the AP price go up for print products as they would order less, which would put a bigger burden on the PDF subscription, raising that price. Because of the high prices, people would cancel their AP subscription, making the order number lower and raising the price for both even more. which means more people would quit, price would go up, more would quit, price would go up, ad nausium.... Vic has discussed this before.

Fair comment. I don't actually want to stop getting the physical books, but space and shipping costs are going to be the deciding factors eventually. I am sure I am not the only one out there with this issue (especially for shipping international) and subscription will drop anyway if the price increases. Everyone has their limits.

Having said that - current AP is $22.99 + shipping. with Pathfinder advantage that comes down to $16.10 (roughly) + shipping.

If Paizo introduced a digital only option as detailed above (or close to) I would be prepared to pay, say - a flat $20/month.

I am just looking for options here. Perhaps they could add this as a premium content option for existing AP subscribers (say $5 extra a month). they could even add an option to waive physical product shipping.

I still think there is merit in this sort of content and hopefully Paizo will consider these sorts of options.

[freeAgent]

I'd also love to see Paizo start offering Realm Works and Hero Lab files for their APs.

[CalebTGordan]

More than likely, Lone Wolf will do what they do with Pathfinder books and Hero Lab. When an AP comes out they will offer the Realm Works files for them at a price, probably something around $10.

[Jaynay27]

CalebTGordan wrote:

More than likely, Lone Wolf will do what they do with Pathfinder books and Hero Lab. When an AP comes out they will offer the Realm Works files for them at a price, probably something around $10.

I could see that happening, and also that is a good way to ensure content does not get distributed illegally too.

I just hope it is $10 for each entire AP (for example) as it could get quite costly ($120 extra/year!!!)

then again - what is to stop someone just buying the Realm Works files for the reduced price?

I would prefer to have a purely digital subscription (as noted above) and if that is not possible, then a small add on cost to the current AP cost (like $5 for each module - still $60 extra a year!)

[Deanoth]

We as a community can also enter all the information from the AP's and share them with each other. As long as we do not disseminate any of it for profit and it is all hand typed. Sharing is usually not a problem.

(Just guessing so far, as we do this with Hero Lab) :)

[Cpt_kirstov]

A lot of it can be taken off The wiki

[brock, no the other one...]

Jaynay27 wrote:

Having said that - current AP is $22.99 + shipping. with Pathfinder advantage that comes down to $16.10 (roughly) + shipping.

If Paizo introduced a digital only option as detailed above (or close to) I would be prepared to pay, say - a flat $20/month.

I am just looking for options here. Perhaps they could add this as a premium content option for existing AP subscribers (say $5 extra a month). they could even add an option to waive physical product shipping.

I think that the 'waive shipping' option is the only possible one that would work. You pay the same as any other subscriber getting the APs but your copy is not shipped and you save the shipping costs. It could either be destroyed, (re)sold, or donated (schools, libraries, armed forces, etc.)

[Laruuk]

I can't believe Paizo and Lone Wolf are not having this very same discussion. As stated above, I'd be willing to bet that data will be offered by Lone Wolf for Realm Works the same way it is offered for Hero Lab.

I missed the Kickstarter (due to a 9-month trip to Afghanistan), but will buying this as soon as it is available.

I have one homebrew campaign world that is distributed over several different formats. I'm all in for Realm Works to help me consolidate it.

[pyremius]

Cpt_kirstov wrote:

This would in turn make the AP price go up for print products as they would order less, which would put a bigger burden on the PDF subscription, raising that price. Because of the high prices, people would cancel their AP subscription, making the order number lower and raising the price for both even more. which means more people would quit, price would go up, more would quit, price would go up, ad nausium.... Vic has discussed this before.

I'm already long past the point of wanting physical copies - I simply can't afford to buy a house large enough to hold all of it. The content is what holds the most value for me, so I'll cheerfully buy the digital version of products that have dropped off the "sufficiently valuable to buy physically" list. Ultimately, I expect the physical copies to go away, other then low-volume deluxe additions (for Skull & Shackles, for instance: a small treasure chest with parchment map, bag of coins, etc., to go with the leather hardbound book).

There's already a price discount for buying the PDF instead of the paperback version, so I don't see the need for a Realm Works format to cost even less. I'm not certain I'd be willing to pay current paperback prices for the Realm Works version, although it would be significantly more usable then the PDF so I could probably be convinced.