February was the most active month on Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite since the platforms launched in October, and it’s great to see the communities really starting to come into their own. Pathfinder Second Edition has the most support, as you can see from the high-performing titles listed below, so we here at Paizo encourage creators with an idea for a Starfinder, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, or Pathfinder First Edition product to put it up on the marketplace; now’s the time to capitalize on limited competition!
February Top Performers
Abomination Vaults GMs Guide (P2)
In this book, GMs of the Abomination Vaults Adventure Path will find new mini-adventures that connect to the dungeon, new wandering factions, a checklist of all the side quest the campaign offers, and full stat blocks for every single monster on every single level of the megadungeon!Arcadia Files: Altameda (P2)
Arcadia Files: Altameda details the city of Altameda, a hardy settlement located in the harsh deserts of western Arcadia, presenting a history of the city, information on influential groups and leaders, a gazetteer of Altameda, and a large map of the city, plus six new deities whose worship is common in Altameda.Champion Reborn: Champion Class Without Alignment (P2)
This take on the champion class allows for champions of all alignments and expands utility for certain feats and class features.Danger Dossier (SF)
Danger Dossier updates 32 classic Pathfinder monsters to Starfinder, with more than 50 stat blocks, templates to create more creatures, and full color illustrations of everything from alghollthu interlocutors to zomoks.Fearsome Foes & Fables (P2)
Discover 32 strange and mysterious new creatures through the tales of their deeds and weave them into your own story, with treasures and rewards for any adventurers strong and brave enough to survive the encounter, including spells, magic items, and feats accompanying each creature, and two new ancestries.Full Metal Pathfinder (P2)
Add a full metal flare to your Pathfinder campaign and transform a character of any class into a full metal alchemist!Gunsmoke, a Pathfinder 2e Cowboy Expansion (P2)
This supplement provides new options for cowboys and expands the western genre in your Pathfinder Second Edition game.Kitsune of Golarion (P2)
Kitsune of Golarion unlocks the full potential of the kitsune ancestry, detailing kitsune from every corner of the globe with new heritages and ancestry feats, magic items, two new archetypes, and more.Kitsune of Golarion: Foxfire Adepts (P2)
Kitsune of Golarion: Foxfire Adepts is an expansion of the character flavor and options introduced in Kitsune of Golarion penned by one of its original authors, only this time focusing on the famed foxfire of this ancestral group.Kitsune of Golarion: Starspinners (P2)
An archetype expansion for Kitsune of Golarion,, starspinners enhance and fortify their star orb familiars in special shells, launching them across the battlefield like telekinetic cannonballs of doom!Lost Omens Ancestries: Dragonkin (P2)
Lost Omens Ancestries: Dragonkin presents a new versatile heritage that allows characters to tap into their draconic potential to breathe fire, grow deadly claws, take flight with powerful wings, and more.Mythic 2e (P2)
This massive 70-page supplement includes 6 mythic paths, and almost 400 mythic feats, features, and abilities updated from Pathfinder First Edition to Second Edition.The Order of the Vault: A Pathfinder 2e Supplement (P2)
This Pathfinder Second Edition supplement includes lore for a new Hellknight order, the Order of the Vault, including lore, bios for potential NPCs, and specialized gear for Hellknights and Signifiers, as well as some treasures converted from First Edition—like the legendary Sihedron!Queerfinder Issue 1: Bars of Absalom (P2)
The inaugural issue of the Queerfinder Society's travel magazine, a guide to Golarion from queer creators and allies focused on queer characters and stories!
Advice For Publishers
Over the 5+ months Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite have been live, I’ve noticed some trends in what seems to resonate with the audience, what sells well, and what makes the content creators the most money for their effort and passion. I thought I’d take this opportunity to pass on some advice for the benefit of the entire Infinite community, but specifically for the benefit of those of you who are putting time and efforts into making products for the platforms.
First, a good cover goes a long way. I can’t stress how important even a single image and readable text are on your cover. Even using one of the many monster or NPC illustrations that have been made available on the Paizo Blog over the years, or in the Pathfinder/Starfinder Infinite art packs, seems to have a noticeable effect on sales. If you’re having trouble deciding what image to use, or can’t figure out how to use the templates provided on the Infinite platform, consider reaching out to other community creators for help and advice. Everyone can remember their first attempt, and most folks are happy to pay their knowledge and experience forward (as long as you aren’t expecting them to lay out your entire book.)
Second, proofread your product description! While a picture is worth a thousand words, if one of the few dozen words someone can see before deciding to buy a product is misspelled, that word is an outlier and certainly worth an entire picture unto itself. Run any text the public is going to see by a second set of eyes, even if it’s a significant other, member of your gaming group, or a friend online. It’s easy to overlook our own mistakes, and often something we’ve overlooked a dozen times will be immediately caught by someone on their first readthrough. How you describe your product is as important as the product itself, so give that sales copy one extra read before you post it.
Next, consider making content that specifically supports or builds on new or popular releases, be it additional NPCs or encounters for an Adventure Path, shops and plot hooks for a region or settlement, or a short story set in the leadup to or aftermath of a major event in the setting. It’s been a few months since folks got their hands on Absalom, City of Lost Omens, and we’re going to start promoting Absalom-based content with a special banner and other marketing pushes. Expect similar support for the forthcoming Starfinder Drift Crisis meta-event and hardcover. And eventually, we’d love to have enough content tied to specific APs to break those out into their own content hubs. Such publications have a built-in audience of GMs and players who are already invested in the associated campaigns and can increase your products’ reach and sales.
Finally, don’t undervalue your work. While the options to make your product free or pay what you want exist, far too often publishers fall back on these due to a lack of confidence in their work’s ability to sell at higher prices. Don’t do that! You worked hard on your product and people will give you money for it. My experience has shown that they’ll usually give you another 20-50% more than you think it’s worth. So, if you’re stuck at pricing your product, have some faith in yourself and the quality of your work and set it for $2, $5, whatever, instead of setting that same amount as a suggested price. Products offered for free (or free transactions of pay-what-you-want products) also don’t get counted by the site’s algorithms when determining bestsellers or best-seller badges, so even something getting a lot of downloads isn’t necessarily going to get more attention after if falls off the new releases list.
Other DriveThruRPG News
While not directly Infinite-related, I wanted to also draw attention to other offerings on the DriveThruRPG storefront. Most notably, we’ve now got nearly 20 out-of-print Pathfinder titles available for Print-on-Demand, including all 4 out-of-print volumes of the Shattered Star Adventure Path, The Emerald Spire Superdungeon (in hard- and soft-cover), the Karzoug limited edition cover of Pathfinder AP #1, and both Hollow’s Last Hope and Crown of the Kobold King in their original 3.5 incarnations (look for their Pathfinder Second Edition conversions in the Crown of the Kobold King Anniversary Edition coming later this year). You can also find digital versions of all of the Pathfinder comics from our partners at Dynamite Entertainment and Pathfinder and Starfinder material in other languages from our translation partners like Devir and Ulisses Spiele. Keep your eyes peeled for new Pathfinder Tales short fiction available in eBook format for the first time, coming soon exclusively to DriveThruFiction.
Until next month, Finders, may all your successes be critical successes.
Mark Moreland
Director of Brand Strategy
Pathfinder Infinite: February Month In Review
Friday, March 4, 2022
