Contributor
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Hi Paris,
I did not know that this was put on by fans only. Wow! Well, I'm equally impressed. The level of detail and professionalism is fantastic!
Snip
Thanks, Snip! We try our best to make our products reflect the best of Paizo's work. It's a real compliment when people think Paizo actually publishes the magazine.
Looks like I snuck into this one. Thanks to Michael Riter for the article idea.
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Looks like I snuck into this one. Thanks to Michael Riter for the article idea.
No need for thanks! I discarded that idea, while you picked it up off the street, fed it, gave it a home, raised it as your own, watched it grow up and then sent it off to college... I mean Wayfinder. Think of the life you gave it!
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PaizoCon Founder, Wayfinder Editor-in-Chief
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Just a follow up here.....
This was a tough one to pick articles for. We went through a few criteria to get us there:
1) Did it adhere to our guidelines? If you didn't meet word counts (with the allowed wiggle room), didn't put your name and info at the top - things like that - that instantly knocked your submission down several notches.
2) Did it play true to the theme? This one honestly eliminated several submissions when it came time to make the tough choices. If we had two articles to decide between, and one was an article presenting things from the monsters' viewpoint, and the other wasn't....sticking to the theme won. This also goes for when two submissions are very similar subject-wise. The more solid entry advanced.
3) Grammar, spelling, consistency. If I saw nothing but typos, or looked at the document and saw nothing but how much work in re-writing and/or formatting we'd need to do to make it an article, that was a pretty heavy hit.
4) Game mechanics and balance. This one is kind of on the developer side of it, and it is a little more tricky. Several articles try and introduce or modify classes, feats....crunchy bits. Paris and I look over it, express our thoughts on what we are seeing, how it would play, etc. if we both think that there are mechanics issues, then we consider exactly how much fixing it would need...and if we have a good editor that can fix it. If it is something that just needs a little help, then we consider that. If it would need a complete rework....that counts against it.
The short of it is.....We need submissions to be "most of the way there", and not really "work in progress".
To everyone who submitted something....thank you. Paris and I read every single submission (I actually read them twice, once for initial impressions, and a 2nd time to get into details). If you did not get selected, keep trying! RPG Superstar is about ready to start, and you can flex your creativity again for that! Or stay tuned for our next call for submissions, which we will be announcing in August 2015! SOON!
Tim
Wow, I'm really glad to know that mine first and only submission is in.
Thanks for all your work, I'll look forward to receive the email, and also for the next call for submissions.
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I want to begin writing the new articles! Don't keep us waiting for the call!
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Congrats to those who made it in! :)
I'll be sharing my submission at some point for free since it won't be in this issue.
I am looking forward to sitting back and reading another great issue of WF in due time.
Congrats to all who made it!
Ruyan.
Congrats to all fellow contributors who made the cut! And a massive thank you to Tim, Paris, Dain, Garrett and all the editors who give us, the community, such an incredible opportunity to write for the game we so dearly love.
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Hooray, I made it in! I'll be looking forward to seeing which one(s) of mine got included. Congratulations to my fellow contributors! :-)
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Whoa, my article got selected - I have tried something new every time I have submitted - I now have Wayfinder success with a wondrous item, an archetype, a side trek, a short story and now an advice/design article to my name!
Well pleased! Wonder what I should try next time...
A massive Thank you! to everyone involved from posting the call, through submitting articles (writers), amazing illustrations and maps (artists), reviewing them, selecting them, editing them, proofing and layout of them to publishing them!
I think that's everyone, ooops, almost forgot... and big thanks especially to the coffee/tea/snack run/doughnut minion!
Congrats those who made it in! I anxiously await the ability to submit for the next one.
Good job all!
Congrats to everyone who made it in!
I'm looking forward to this issue—what a great theme.
Contributor
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| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Just a follow up here.....
This was a tough one to pick articles for. We went through a few criteria to get us there:
1) Did it adhere to our guidelines? If you didn't meet word counts (with the allowed wiggle room), didn't put your name and info at the top - things like that - that instantly knocked your submission down several notches.
2) Did it play true to the theme? This one honestly eliminated several submissions when it came time to make the tough choices. If we had two articles to decide between, and one was an article presenting things from the monsters' viewpoint, and the other wasn't....sticking to the theme won. This also goes for when two submissions are very similar subject-wise. The more solid entry advanced.
3) Grammar, spelling, consistency. If I saw nothing but typos, or looked at the document and saw nothing but how much work in re-writing and/or formatting we'd need to do to make it an article, that was a pretty heavy hit.
4) Game mechanics and balance. This one is kind of on the developer side of it, and it is a little more tricky. Several articles try and introduce or modify classes, feats....crunchy bits. Paris and I look over it, express our thoughts on what we are seeing, how it would play, etc. if we both think that there are mechanics issues, then we consider exactly how much fixing it would need...and if we have a good editor that can fix it. If it is something that just needs a little help, then we consider that. If it would need a complete rework....that counts against it.
The short of it is.....We need submissions to be "most of the way there", and not really "work in progress".
To everyone who submitted something....thank you. Paris and I read every single submission (I actually read them twice, once for initial impressions, and a 2nd time to get into details). If you did not get selected, keep trying! RPG Superstar is about ready to start, and you can flex your creativity again for that! Or stay tuned for our next call for submissions,...
Now I'm really paranoid about which of mine made it in...
Now I'm really paranoid about which of mine made it in...
Waiting to know which submission actually got in...
...
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. .
. . .
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.
Not just me then? *phew*
I looked at the list of names and am really excited to see this one. :)
Huzzah, one of my creepy short stories made it in!
Now if I only knew which one. :)
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I'm pretty elated—enough so that I held off on posting because I wasn't sure how best to express that without coming off as an ass. This will be my first year getting accepted to Wayfinder. Congratulations to everyone, and thanks again to Paizo Fans United for running this awesome magazine!
Yes, congrats everyone! I can't wait to read everyone's articles.
Don't feel like you're bragging, it's okay to be proud of yourself and happy that you got in!
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I'm pretty elated—enough so that I held off on posting because I wasn't sure how best to express that without coming off as an ass. This will be my first year getting accepted to Wayfinder. Congratulations to everyone, and thanks again to Paizo Fans United for running this awesome magazine!
Same here. Mine's "just" a poem, but it's one that I'm pretty proud of.
Dont sell yourself short there ph
A poem - a poem is really a song that has no music for it (I think anyways)...
We all know how much songwriters can earn when their songs get chosen and performed...
ergo
writing poems is as hard as writing a song.
Serves y'all right for submitting more than one thing...
I am still brooding in my corner, b***hurt sad and angry over the three submission limit introduction.
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PaizoCon Founder, Wayfinder Editor-in-Chief
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Hey everyone! With our selections for #14 made, we have turned our attentions to making assignments, both editing and art. Many of you are waiting for these....and unfortunately we have had real life stuff to deal with, so our progress has not been as much as we had aimed for this week. I'm going to hit it hard this weekend, but understand that I can't get it ALL done by Sunday....
So, stay with us.....assignments WILL be coming.
As for the emails informing you which ones.....that's AFTER assignments are out, folks.
I know a lot of you are anxious about it, but we have a lot of things going on right now, so I need to set priorities.
I am still brooding in my corner,b***hurtsad and angry over the three submission limit introduction.Yeah, that was my bad, submitting fifteen things for the Qadira/Katapesh issue.
It's the Al-Qadim fanboy in me. He's crazy like that.
And I thought that I was pushing it with five or six submissions...
That's fine. We understand that you're busy and that your work on Wayfinder is a labor of love. Think of me as being patiently anxious. :)
Gonna use my inspire patience class ability. What class am I?
I'm the dude, man.
So I received this PM... I expect all of you had it too...
Well, this is unexpected... the chosen item is (again) the one I thought had the least chances to be chosen... A surprise not unpleasant though... ^_^
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Contributor
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Look folks. I'm very sorry that this is taking so long. I know that everyone is anxious to find out what articles were selected. Unfortunately, other life things are getting in the way.
In my capacity as the assistant editor-in-chief, Tim gives me leeway in the way I run the editing process for articles. For this issue, I made a decision to do the formatting of articles up front, so that our volunteer editors could start getting an idea of how we apply formatting styles and other things to our articles prior to layout.
The plan was to apply that formatting before sending assignments to the editors, then send notifications and the "legal stuff" to individual authors. I was on track with all of that and had expected to get all of it done within the last week.
Unfortunately, I had a pretty crappy week. We've had some serious stuff go down at my daughter's school, which has required direct interaction with the school district administration. I can't go into specifics on that, but this is part of some ongoing challenges my daughter faces, emotionally and socially, and us trying to get her the services she requires.
On top of that, our family dog, who was old and already in relatively poor health, began getting worse around mid-week and finally got to the point where we had to put him to sleep last night. I've spent the entire day today cleaning carpets and putting away dog-related items that we are no longer using.
Realizing that some folks were particularly anxious and that I wasn't going to be able to meet our intended schedule, Tim took it upon himself to send notifications to a few people ahead of the actual mail-outs. I'm sorry we couldn't do that for everyone, but things have just been too hectic for both of us.
I would ask for your patience. We know that you are all anxious. I've got several Paizo credits and I still get impatient about release dates for books that I contributed to. Believe me, I get it. I could point out that we try really hard to keep folks up to date. I could tell you that there are magazines with paid staff that often don't communicate with their writers as much as we do, but I also know that if I were in your shoes, I would still be anxious.
I just ask that you remind yourselves that we are volunteers. Even things posted with light-hearted intent don't always come across that way. We take our responsibilities to you and to our readers very seriously, Still, this is a labor of love that has to take a back seat to our family and job responsibilities. Things may not happen on the schedule we'd like, but I assure you, they *will* happen.
Thanks very much for your understanding. I look forward to sharing the next issue with everyone.
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Oh, geez, I'm sorry to hear about your dog. That seriously sucks. Don't even worry about the lateness—none of us really mean anything by it, we just like to fret. :P
Good luck with everything.
Hmmm I think maybe the community should help for future issues. Could we maybe pitch in or kickstarter a submission management software for Wayfinder?
There's submittable
Maybe some others.
Not sure it would help but I think we should make things as streamlined as possible for Tim & Paris.
Sorry, Tim. I really believed you sent to everybody.
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Contributor
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Look folks. I'm very sorry that this is taking so long. I know that everyone is anxious to find out what articles were selected. Unfortunately, other life things are getting in the way.
In my capacity as the assistant editor-in-chief, Tim gives me leeway in the way I run the editing process for articles. For this issue, I made a decision to do the formatting of articles up front, so that our volunteer editors could start getting an idea of how we apply formatting styles and other things to our articles prior to layout.
The plan was to apply that formatting before sending assignments to the editors, then send notifications and the "legal stuff" to individual authors. I was on track with all of that and had expected to get all of it done within the last week.
Unfortunately, I had a pretty crappy week. We've had some serious stuff go down at my daughter's school, which has required direct interaction with the school district administration. I can't go into specifics on that, but this is part of some ongoing challenges my daughter faces, emotionally and socially, and us trying to get her the services she requires.
On top of that, our family dog, who was old and already in relatively poor health, began getting worse around mid-week and finally got to the point where we had to put him to sleep last night. I've spent the entire day today cleaning carpets and putting away dog-related items that we are no longer using.
Realizing that some folks were particularly anxious and that I wasn't going to be able to meet our intended schedule, Tim took it upon himself to send notifications to a few people ahead of the actual mail-outs. I'm sorry we couldn't do that for everyone, but things have just been too hectic for both of us.
I would ask for your patience. We know that you are all anxious. I've got several Paizo credits and I still get impatient about release dates for books that I contributed to. Believe me, I get it. I could point out that we try really hard to keep folks up to date. I could tell you...
I'm really sorry for anything I may have contributed to this.
Besides, it's true that I was anxious but... well, it was not a life-or-death issue. I could have waited. Our least posts were a half-joke.
Next time keep me waiting like the others, ok? So maybe I'll learn to keep my stupid mouth closed. ^_^
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Having read through the discussion, I thought I'd take a moment to comment, as well. As Tim and Paris have already indicated, they understand everyone's anxious about their submissions and possible inclusion in the upcoming Wayfinder. However, they've also consistently indicated the struggles they're facing with this being a volunteer-led effort (by them, mostly) and managing that in relation to their everyday lives. Here's how I translate that: They're approaching burnout.
So, the continued pressure...whether actual or self-inflicted...to deliver for everyone (both with the actual production of Wayfinder and getting notices out to those who are waiting for them)...is going to sap away at them again and again if they're struggling with other things. And, if you're constantly pushing for updates before they're capable of giving them, that's going to add to the weight they're feeling. If that weight gets too heavy, it's entirely possible they may wrap the next Wayfinder and then stop producing the fanzine altogether. And, given that we'd all like to see it continue, that'd be a very bad thing. Right?
So, just be patient. It is a virtue, after all. ;-)
But that's just my two cents,
--Neil
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Contributor
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Thank you to everyone, especially to those who offered condolences and words of understanding. I normally wouldn't have shared details like that, but I need everyone to understand that when we say things like, "There are real life problems getting in the way," we aren't just using bland phrases to pacify you. We're doing our best to keep you informed without getting into personal details.
Tim and I do work hard on the issue and try to make things go as quickly as possible and will continue to do so for as long as we can keep it up. We do it because we love Paizo and Pathfinder, because we enjoy creating an awesome magazine, and because we believe you folks, our contributors, are incredibly talented people whose work deserves to be on display. I want our writers to get picked up by Paizo and 3PPs who see their work.
I admit that my emotions have been all over the place for the past week or so, so I wasn't really in the frame of mind to interpret "friendly nudges" in the best way. But I also would like to make a point about writing for publication that is germane to nudges like that.
As many of you are not yet established freelancers and may have no experience with publication in other magazines, I think we may have done you a disservice by setting up the timelines the way we do. I want to share some of my knowledge to help you keep things in perspective and, hopefully, ensure that you don't run into problems when you do start submitting work to other markets.
Suppose you were submitting your writing to a paid publication. There are hundreds out there that accept fantasy fiction, though none can publish Pathfinder material the way we can. ;) But if you were to submit something to one of those magazines, you might not hear anything from them for several months. No rejection e-mails. No acceptance note. And certainly no pay. Many places to respond, but they aren't as common as you think.
Your submission might sit in a slush pile for a year before an editor decides it's right for an upcoming issue or gives it another look and decides to reject it. You won't know. That's "normal" for freelance writers in most markets. And writers who demand responses from editors in those markets often find that the response they get isn't positive.
Obviously, Wayfinder's schedule is different. Our focus and mission are community-based, so we interact with the community more. We do like that interaction and love to hear feedback and suggestions. We like to share our intentions for the schedule, and I realize that sets up expectations. We try to meet them, sometimes we can't. But we still respond quicker than other publishers.
As our contributors, you really need to start thinking of yourselves as professional writers. You may not have received pay, but you have gone through the process of writing something, submitting your work for publication, and having that work screened for acceptance or rejection by the publisher. Guess what? That's freelancing! As professionals, you need to consider how you want the rest of the publishing world to view you as a writer. The image you portray online is one way that potential publishers will know you and they will judge you by it.
No one here has committed any great sin, but there are lessons to be learned from the interaction. I hope this opens up the conversation you each have with yourselves about where you want to take your writing and how you want to be perceived by folks who, hopefully, will pay you to write something for them.
Okay. No more nudgets, even as a joke. We'll leave you in peace. This is a promise.
We all want this to go on and you to be well. We'll be professional from now on.
Right, nothing but professional businesspros from now on.
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This is why I'm going to wait till after it's out. ^^
And familiars can get feats, after the Animal Archive. Anyway, I was thinking more about feats for masters that modify or enhance familiars.
RAW, familiars get feats in core. Familiars are treated as their master's level for all effects related to number of hit dice. The acquisition of feats is an effect tied directly to number of hit dice of the creature. It's impossible to realistically argue otherwise without somehow establishing that increasing hit dice does not grant additional feats.
It might not be RAI but it's 100% how it works in black and white. It's also 110% awesome.
Um, I think you're wrong. The Animal Archive says that the new familiar feats can REPLACE one of the familiar's standard feats, not that they can be taken with progression as animal companions do?