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Earlier this year Paizo ended the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game product line. The only public indication of this decision was a single sentence at the beginning of this blog post by Organized Play Manager Tonya Woldridge:
As we continue winding down our Pathfinder Adventure Card Game program, we’ve decided to end it with a bang!
That head-scratch-inducing line implies the product line's termination had been mentioned elsewhere. (It hadn't.) The fact that the Organized Play Manager posted this in the PACS forum led many to believe that only PACG Organized Play is scheduled for termination, not PACG itself. (In fact, both are).
PaizoCon just came and went with nary a mention of the card game's demise, AFAIK. Now - I know Paizo is an RPG company. But Paizo's near-total lack of communication about this decision disregards three facts:
(1) Loyal card games fans have spent $800 to $1000, or more, on Paizo. MRSP for the complete sets is $820; organized play decks and PDFs push that higher.
(2) Many card game players are long-time Pathfinder RPG players. When an RPG player accidently posts in the card game forum, nearly always a card game player is well-versed enough to answer the RPG question. And, despite having very few friends, even I know more than one five-star Pathfinder GM who plays the card game.
(3) Many non-RPG-playing card game players have now started playing the Pathfinder RPG. Myself included. The first RPG purchases I made in my adult life were for Pathfinder, because I first played the card game.
Paizo's non-communication about the card game's demise conveys a very non-Paizo-like disrespect for customers which is reminiscent of Another RPG Company Which Will Not Be Named.* Dear Paizo: can't you do better?
(*Wizards of the Coast. There. I said it.)
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For what it is worth, I was introduced to Paizo and subsequently TTRPG's via the Pathfinder Card Game. Over the past several years I have spent over $2k in TTRPG products from Paizo as a direct result of PACS and the PACG. This is because I wanted to play Pathfinder RPG with my friends whom I met from playing the card game. That $2k is not an exaggeration-- I have it all tracked in my budgeting app and it's all on my paizo order history.
To be clear, i don't think the $ amount makes me entitled to anything-- But I mention it because at least in my case had I not been introduced to the card game then I wouldn't be here at all.
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At best, the "oh by the way we are winding down the line" post was mishandled. At worst it was a slap in the face to loyal customers.
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Clearly the decision has been made and really, it must be mostly economic or else the product line would continue come what may. But yea, it feels like a real let down to not just get a "we would like to thank the fans for their support over the years! Due to the world economic situation, and with heavy hearts, we have been forced to discontinue our beloved PACG line"
I've spent well over $800 total, finished 3 of the base games multiple times each, am working on the "Adventure card society" paths for 2 of them, played this game while traveling around the world, bought the Japanese version of this game in Japan and had to track down parts of the game at various times to keep playing where ever I was living. PACG hasn't been just some game I played, it has easily been the game I've most invested in financially and emotionally and I didn't have plans to stop.
To have the product line be unceremoniously dropped kind of flies in the face of the goodwill that Paizo and Mike have worked hard to build up over the years and really can sour any future purchases from either. It's not like they owe us anything, because they really don't, but I'd only buy fully packaged games from either in the future, just in case.
sigh. I looked up Mikes name to spell it correctly and found some political posts he made on Twitter less than 24 hours ago. I guess he's moved on from game design to politics. Maybe he'll make a run for an office and make the world a better place?
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I was extremely disappointed to see that there would be no future official products for PACG. It's a game that I enjoy very much. More importantly for me, it's one that my wife also enjoys and the two of us spent considerable time working through the various APs. Our extended PACG gaming group includes my wife's sister and her husband (he first introduced us to the game). The replay value of the game is very good, though, so we'll continue to get mileage out of all of the products that we have.
PACG has so much potential for expansion and continued development, drawing as it does on an RPG with such a richly developed world and numerous expansions. PACG could realistically have been developed for decades to come. I could even have seen a Starfinder Adventure Card Game.
I'm in the group that has bought *everything* for the game: every AP, corrected cards from Drive Thru Cards, every character deck, every Society scenario/adventure/adventure path, even sleeves for every card and The Broken Token organizers for each of the classic APs. And then there are all of the homegrown things that I, like many others, have developed: a lazy Susan board, standees, tracking sheets, etc. In addition, although I don't play the RPG, I've bought a ton of the books for that game in order to better understand the setting and to facilitate my own efforts at homegrown stuff like characters and adventures. I even duplicated all of the FAQ pages and the Core Conversion Guide as an offline web page so that we can check rules even if we don't have access to the Internet. Aside from the lazy Susan, boxes, and binders with the Society S/A/AP, I have everything in a tackle box that would support a small convention (including different colored dice for each player). So I consider myself to be one of the crazy/committed players of the game.
All that said, while an explanation from the horse's mouth would be great for giving us some understanding and closure, I'm not expecting one. While I don't have any inside contacts and no evidence whatsoever, I suspect that larger issues were at play, especially considering the very strong views of the individuals involved and the real world events that took place between the release of the Core Set and the announcement of PACG becoming a legacy game (keep in mind where Paizo and Lone Shark are located). I'd rather not dwell on that stuff - politics can be very polarizing and I don't want them interfering with my hobby. Indeed, enjoying the game with people whose views might differ from my own is one of the great positive aspects of the boardgaming hobby, demonstrating that we don't all have to think alike and that we can still get along and have a great time despite those differences. If that's what it was (and I don't have any basis for my suspicions), I'd rather just move on.
My focus is on possible futures for PACG. I doubt I'm alone in holding out hope that Paizo/Lone Shark might one day reverse this decision and continue developing official products for the game. That would really be my ideal outcome. If Paizo/Lone Shark won't develop anything further, however, might the community take up the torch in a semi-official capacity? I've seen this done with a few other games when developers have dropped them, with varying degrees of success. If Paizo is interested in continuing PACG and Lone Shark made the decision to stop, might Lone Shark hand the game off to some other group to continue official development in partnership with Paizo?
Personally, while I am extremely disappointed about the development, I don't have any hard feelings towards anyone. I assume that everyone involved had great plans for the future of PACG, but then the real world stepped in and plans changed. Ultimately, I think that the great community was the thing that made the decision hard for Paizo/Lone Shark - I'm certain that they felt/feel bad about the impact on the community, but that the decision was right for them (whoever "they" are). Things happen and we need to cope with them and move on. I'm more interested in the moving on: what can we do to see this great game survive and, hopefully, thrive?
With due respect to my esteemed card-gaming colleague Brother Tyler, a close reading of the responses to Tonya Woldridge's blog post (linked in my OP) tells us that the termination of the Adventure Card Game was Paizo's unilateral decision (Lone Shark was still, um, game).
Radio silence about this jolting about-face is "a slap in the face to loyal customers", as said above. I cannot help but wonder if this is simply the conduct we should expect from the new management at Paizo. I created this thread hoping that a Paizo representative would convince us that that is not true.
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I've read the posts multiple times. The only official statement is the one you quoted in the first post from Tonya Woldridge stating that they (Paizo) were "winding down" the PACG program. There is no explanation there. None of the replies with explanations are from Paizo or Lone Shark personnel. The limited Paizo/Lone Shark replies play nicely with the community, but don't explain anything. Even the replies from Venture X personnel are ambiguous (and I'm not sure if Venture X members even have standing to provide an official explanation). There may be some communications via email or PM that I'm not privy to; and there may be communications at other sites like BGG, Discord, and Reddit that I also haven't seen - I'm only basing my speculation on what I've seen (and not seen) in the public forums here at Paizo and at Lone Shark sites. Knowing how vocal Lone Shark can be (re: their position on Kickstarter), I would have expected something from them here or on their website or via Mike Selinker's Twitter feed, which I've checked several times. Instead there is just radio silence.
So while there are people that know the ins and outs of the decision and what led to it, I'm not among them and nothing I can see in anything here or elsewhere gives me a solid indication. Even my speculation is just a gut feeling without any real evidence to back it up (beyond doing some non-Boolean geometry to put things together). It could very well be that the reason is as many have speculated - a purely financial decision on the part of Paizo. However, that doesn't resonate with me as the sole reason (if that is even part of the reason).
All I've seen is very limited and very guarded communications that indicate [to me] that none of the parties involved want to tell us the full reasoning behind the decision. They might have very good reasons for doing that. I'm giving everyone the benefit of the doubt and assuming that the limited communications and lack of an explanation are Paizo and Lone Shark putting a professional front on a situation that may have been very ugly (and I respect that professionalism even while I hate the actual decision).
All that said, if Paizo/Lone Shark ever decide to give us an explanation, I'll be right there with everyone else that would like to hear it, giving it my full attention. If they don't, however, I can only assume that there is a good reason that they don't want to because, as has been said, the lack of an explanation is out of character for everyone involved. This is a company (two companies, actually) that treat their customers with a great deal of respect; not giving an explanation is telling in its own way. And if they don't want to tell us (for whatever reason), pestering them for an explanation may be counterproductive. That's not to undermine this effort, however. It's reasonable for us to respectfully request a more detailed explanation, after all.
As I said before, though, I'm personally not going to get bogged down in worrying about the explanation, whether it's good, bad, or ugly. I just wonder what we can do to keep the game alive.
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...the lack of an explanation is out of character for everyone involved.
The problem is, everyone is not necessarily involved: Lisa Stevens, Vic Wertz step back from active roles
(Did you notice Vic's most recent post on the Paizo forum was in November 2020?)My concern is that the lack of explanation is part of a new norm. I am hoping to be proven wrong.
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I was hoping that Mike Selinker & Co. would have made a brief announcement by now.
It was mentioned that a Selinker post was forthcoming, but it's been 3 months since the original announcement. So the phrase "striking while the iron is cold" would be in order, assuming he does eventually post. :)
Regarding this point:
If Paizo is interested in continuing PACG and Lone Shark made the decision to stop...
My conclusion that the decision was Paizo's and not Lone Shark's is based on this remark:
Can we expect Lone Sharks Games to continue to use the PACG type Games in the future ( like apocrypha ) ?It's a good question, and we haven't really pondered through all of our options there. We've got a few games and puzzle projects in flight, and I've only just started to ponder how to fill the PACG design hours with something new.
(The above exchange is in the #general_chat_acs channel of the Org Play Online Discord, here)
(Brother Tyler was right, this wasn't mentioned in the comments to Tonya's post; I misremembered.)
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It's honestly a pretty complex topic. I don't feel comfortable speaking for Paizo in general, and in particular don't feel that I have the information I'd need to do so.
Indeed, I barely feel comfortable speaking for PACG for Lone Shark Games. I only started working on it midway through Wrath, and I'm not really a PR and speeches kinda person.
That said, silence is awful, so I'll say what I can. I've had the thoughts rattling around in my head because of PaizoCon anyways. Like all my posts here on the forums, this is unofficial, unprepared and I may be corrected by Mike or Paizo.
I don't believe anyone has yet declared 100% that we're not making any more product, hence the lack of an announcement. None of us want this game to be dead. At the end of the day, that uncertainty and sheer unwillingness to let it die has paralyzed all of our ability to talk on the topic.
That said, there are a number of factors that have conspired to make it incredibly difficult or unlikely.
First is raw financials. Factory cost increases have meant that we'd need to be able to print and sell more copies of the game than is realistic to ensure that it's a good decision for either company. Both companies were willing to cut costs to levels that absolutely don't make sense, and even then we'd have risks involved with things like cardback coloration and quality control.
Second, let's talk some about Covid. PACG is absolutely a game meant to be played by folks huddled around a table together, everyone chipping in on shuffling locations and such and really, well, exposing each other to a few too many viruses. It was positively depressing to not be able to see people playing at PaizoCon, to see some of the great friends I've made over this game. I really missed our post-PaizoCon brunch this year.
I know it feels like we're on the way to a new normal, and that there are absolutely families who have played the hell out of PACG during the pandemic. That things like Tabletop Simulator have really kept the flame alive. But, it hasn't been a good couple years to forecast growth of our game. Speaking just for me, I can say that Covid has caused my other job (helping the internet continue to function at scale felt suddenly much more essential) to devour more of my life. I also spent months effectively home-schooling children. An experience that was amazingly rewarding, but one of the most brain-consuming I can imagine.
Lastly, let's just talk people. Vic and Lisa were instrumental to the success and development of the game, and they've stepped away from the business. I don't think any of us begrudge them the ability to retire (or at least step back) after their monumental contributions to our hobby. I don't know who can pick up that torch, but I'm pretty sure that everyone at Paizo is already juggling at least two other torches for Paizo, on top of however many family/Covid torches are in the mix.
So, I'll talk a little about me personally. I'm not really comfortable doing so, but I think it might help understanding. I am positive I could have done more to keep pushing on the game. More blogs, more timely turn-ins, more pushing on coworkers and business partners. Except, well, I'm not sure I haven't been doing as much as I could endure. Without going into too many details, I've been having the toughest few years of my life _before factoring in any corporate, national, or global concerns, like financials, politics, or Covid_.
PACG has actually been an incredible escape during that time. I distinctly remember working on PACG scenarios between my dad's death and funeral, even while Mike told me to log off and be with family, because PACG was absolutely what my brain needed then. Some of the most active members of this community have really buoyed me through these trying times. I have closer family than folks like Tyler, Elizabeth, Mark, Ray, and Andrew (in random order), but not as many as I'd care to admit in public :)
So, believe me when I say that we're grieving the loss of this game, too. Folks can keep playing it, but we all wanted more cards, more boxes.
We made Core + Curse with an assumption that we were making the best version of the game we could, both for now and for ongoing growth of the game. We had some crazy cool ideas for a branching-legacy experience with Kingmaker and a radical multi-box experience scoped for a Rise of the Runelords refresh that could work with Curse to deliver Return of the Runelords, with maybe a little finagling to sneak in Shattered Star into the mix. There was no intent to stop producing PACG!
I am incredibly proud to have worked on this amazing game these past several years. I appreciate that you've invested money, time, and life into this game that made it a vital part of your life.
Even if the stewardship of the game is likely over from Paizo and Lone Shark, please keep on playing it your way. Your cards don't need to go anywhere. Give some time to the fine folks still volunteering on PACG and you will still have a near infinite number of PACG games you can play.
Great gaming with you. 'til we next game again!
Keith Richmond
Lone Shark Games
PACG Designer
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THANK YOU, MR. RICHMOND!
I imagine that was difficult to post. I very much appreciate that you did so. (My apologies for being the gadfly who pulled you into this thread.) Knowing a little more about what went on helps me process the loss of the future of PACG. I hope it does the same for others.
You have my sympathy for the hardship you have endured, as do all the folks at Lone Shark. Thank you for all you have done to bring us some of the most enjoyable gaming experiences of our lives.
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and the glimmer of hope that things aren't set in stone yet. There may be a chance at a bright future yet. But it always gets darkest before the dawn, so they say.
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I love this game and this community so much. It sounds like hyperbole, but finding this game literally saved my life.
Thanks to all the folks in this thread sharing their thoughts, feelings, and opinions; thanks especially to Keith for a peek behind the curtain.
I for one have no intentions of quitting the game. I continue to run games as part of the Mindscape weekly lodge online in Tabletop Simulator (find us on Discord and Warhorn - next week I'm starting a year 6 game running Thursday nights). I still have a home game of Wrath set up on my side desk that I take an occasional turn during downtime at work. And I very much look forward to playing with my kids once they get older.
Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area South & West
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Add another one who has been on subscription for everything PACG-related since day one. That means I've got my own copies of every base set and associated adventure decks, every class deck, etc. I've also got all the accessories (playmats, etc.), all the Free RPG Day promo characters (plus all the other promo cards as well - they came with the subscription).
In addition I've been running PACS in stores since season 0, so I've got an additional copy of all of the old base sets courtesy of Paizo. For the new Core+Curse sets I did even better - I've got two complete sets of those that Paizo provided before the product actually released; I had official permission from Paizo to run demonstration games at my local convention on the weekend the new version made its debut at PaizoCon!
It doesn't stop there, either. I've got the Drive-Thru cards for errata (and multiple sets of the We Be Heroes! characters), Broken Token inserts for all my own base sets (and for some of the Paizo-provided ones), enough sleeves for all the box sets (plus more than 20 packs of the PACG sleeves which my wife and I use to sleeve characters), a total of about about 100 class decks or expansion decks - I generally used to have around 20 decks with me to lend to walk-up players who wanted to try out the game, or to regular players who wanted to try out a new character build - five Adventure Chests, and a whole stack of Really Useful boxes, Ultra-Pro clear deck boxes, etc. to keep everything vaguely organized.
I haven't actually added up how much I've spent on the game over the years, but it's probably close to $4000. Not that I regret it for one minute - looked at as cost-per-hour for enjoyment it's been well worth it! I'd happily buy more product if it were available ...
Edit: I forgot to mention the Iconic Heroes promo cards - I've got two or more of each of of those, too.
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I know there is a lot of passion here, but there are two unrelated issues. The first is the apparently lack of transparency and communication regarding the cancelling of the product. There is still a lack of commentary and for that lots of people are justifiably upset. OTOH, there is the issue of the product itself. Like PF1E, we cannot save it with a few enpassioned anecdotes about how much we spent or how much the game means to a few players. The same could be said for PF1E, every edition of D&D and dozens, perhaps hundreds of other games. Nothing we say is going to make much difference. What will, is Lone Shark (or if someone else buys the IP) having enough money to remain solvent and being able to sell enough to generate a reasonable profit margin. Everything else is just wind.
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Note that I've flagged this discussion as being in the wrong forum. This isn't an issue that is solely of interest to the Pathfinder Adventure Card Society: it's of general interest to the entire Pathfinder Adventure Card Game community. In my opinion, it belongs in the General Discussion forum.
As for the two issues that TwilightKnight identified, I think that there is the main object of this discussion - requesting some sort of explanation for the cancellation of the game (and Keith gave us a bit of that). All of the anecdotes are simply methods of expressing how much certain individuals enjoy the game and the community, and these are simply representations of what many others have done and how they feel about the game. The other issue, that of saving the game, is being addressed in other discussions. I wouldn't say that the two are unrelated, however. Keith's response, for example, gives us some insight into concepts that might have been pursued if the decision hadn't been made (?) to cancel the game; and these insights might help the community in any efforts to continue developing content for the game (especially if Paizo/Lone Shark give us the freedom to pursue things).
Lastly, I really appreciate seeing Keith's perspective on things. The pathos of the explanation helps to remind all of us that things are a lot more complicated than we might want to believe. More importantly, the decision (?) wasn't made lightly or without any consideration for the community, but was instead made by people who respect and understand the community and who feel the loss just as, or perhaps more, keenly as any of us.
Note that I've flagged this discussion as being in the wrong forum. This isn't an issue that is solely of interest to the Pathfinder Adventure Card Society: it's of general interest to the entire Pathfinder Adventure Card Game community. In my opinion, it belongs in the General Discussion forum.
For the record, as the thread's originator, I object. My OP responds to a post in this form (PACS) by the Organized Play manager. I posted a link to my OP in the PACG General Discussion forum. I see no point in moving this thread now. No PACG forum-watcher should be unaware of this thread's existence.
(FYI, I was not sure if the Powers That Be are monitoring the PACG forum at all; I chose the PACS forum in part because I think the society forums get more eyeballs.)
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Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area South & West
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Note that I've flagged this discussion as being in the wrong forum. This isn't an issue that is solely of interest to the Pathfinder Adventure Card Society: it's of general interest to the entire Pathfinder Adventure Card Game community. In my opinion, it belongs in the General Discussion forum.
I would much rather see a discussion on any future of the ACG being held somewhere other than on the Paizo forums, so it immediately apparent that it isn't in any way an "Official Paizo" channel. The OPF Discord server has made it clear that any discussion there should be limited to PACS play, so that venue isn't an option. Maybe Board Game Geek?
(FYI, I was not sure if the Powers That Be are monitoring the PACG forum at all; I chose the PACS forum in part because I think the society forums get more eyeballs.)
It would be interesting to see the data on this (which forum gets more eyeballs). I'm generally sitting on the main PACG discussion forum page so while there are the links to all four forums at the top, the bottom only shows the other three forums and their most recent discussions. Personally, I don't know why we can't see this forum along with the other three PACG forums and their most recent discussions. All we see is the link (actually, I'm betting it is based on the overall discussion forum architecture and where this forum resides in that architecture). If this forum appeared with the other three in the main section (with its active topics showing), the link topic that you created wouldn't be necessary and it wouldn't push other active discussions off the main page visibility.
Ultimately, though, I don't think it's about the number of eyeballs. It's about content architecture. This discussion is about the overall game and is of general interest to the entire community, not just those who participate in the Society discussions. Under that rationale, it's currently in the wrong forum. We'll see what the forum moderators/administrators say (my bet is that the discussion will stay where it is ;) ).
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I would much rather see a discussion on any future of the ACG being held somewhere other than on the Paizo forums, so it immediately apparent that it isn't in any way an "Official Paizo" channel. The OPF Discord server has made it clear that any discussion there should be limited to PACS play, so that venue isn't an option. Maybe Board Game Geek?
In order to keep this discussion on elcoderdude's intended purpose (requesting an explanation from Paizo/Lone Shark), I've responded to this here (where we're discussing what the community might do to sustain the game).
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Thanks Keith. Really appreciate the insight.
I have loved all that you and the team bought to PACG and if there is every any more PACG content, I will be buying.
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I'm generally sitting on the main PACG discussion forum page so while there are the links to all four forums at the top, the bottom only shows the other three forums and their most recent discussions.
I also come here through there, mostly through inertia. All four Card Game forums used to be there, but the Society forum disappeared when they modified the website's forum implementation a few years ago.
ObTopic: More information about the cancellation would be nice, but it's not unreasonable to assume poor sales + creator champions leaving = cutting their losses.
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Thanks Keith. Really appreciate the insight.
I have loved all that you and the team bought to PACG and if there is every any more PACG content, I will be buying.
My feeling exactly.
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i think a lack of transparency or explanation to the abruptness and shadow dancing of the situation is something anyone who constantly invests in paizo products needs to take heed of.
if they get away with it on one product, what's next and where does the bleeding stop.
an abrupt and shadowed dissemination of one product line and its customers is more than just a simple red flag to all of the other customers, its a line in the sand.
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My daughter and I have been regular players of the RPG for about 8 years. I own so many RPG books that I have a suitcase with wheels that I took to 1E games and a large duffel for my 2E books. We were discussing the impending return to in-person gaming, and I had to admit to her that I am not that excited about returning to the Pathfinder RPG because, due to the handling of the PACG, my feelings toward Paizo . . . let's just say they're less warm and fuzzy.
It was a sad thing to realize.
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Venture-Agent, Missouri—Blue Springs
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Still such a sad thing. Thank you very much Keith for your insight, helps bring a bit more closure to it all.
Like a few others have eluded to, the whole transition to PF2 and the New card Game just felt....weird. Blog posts were almost hostile towards the old products and the players of those products. Little information on the new products was shared here, it was a lot of 'go check this podcast/random interview/other forum' type of stuff. Just seemed like Paizo suddenly wanted nothing to do with those Old Games and the Old Customers that played them. Tie that with the Old GUard of writers and staff leaving in droves, and it paints a bad image, I think.
I left D&D cause of how Wizards handled that transition from 3.x. There they destroyed the game world to fit the new vision of 4th Ed. Here, while Paizo didn't tear up the game's world, they tore up the Real World instead.
For me, the casual mafia-style shot to the back of the head death of the card game has definitely had me shy away a bit from paizo going forward. Season 7 just stopped midway. My group finished it up and we've played everything else society-wise. We have a local con coming up in about a month and I always run PACS and PFS1 at it, but when the Venture Captain asked me I responded with 'what's the point?' And I mean that in why try to attract new players to games that are officially dead? I still play online with TTS and have even started a solo 3-Hand play through of Mummy's Mask, so my passion for the game is doing fine. Hope to restart either Hell's Vengeance or Strange Aeons this fall for the RPG.
All that said, things change, I understand that. I've got other games I play, other RPGs and Card Games. Just sad that Paizo doesn't 'get along' with me any more. It's not me, it's them, I suppose.
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I appreciate the words from Keith, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm terribly sad about all of this. I had stopped after Mummy's Mask due to all kinds of personal issues and just now wanted to get back into PACG with Core. Imagine my surprise and horror when I found out that this has been more or less axed before I even started with Core. Yes, I've been living under a rock.
Now in order to purchase Core and The Cursed Throne in Europe (Germany), I have to dish out lots of money to scalpers (if I'm lucky), just to get my hands on a copy.
Horrible for all of us fans and horrible for Paizo...
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I just recently discovered PACG and have been incredibly excited about it. I have been having so much fun learning & playing it, that I immediately started looking up everything I could find on the game. I wanted to find every expansion and adventure path that was available and buy them all.
As disappointing as the announcement is for so many of us, take some comfort knowing you have A LOT of PACG gaming fun to look forward to, if you want it.
Each of the box sets - Rise of the Runelords, Skull and Shackles, Wrath of the Righteous, and Mummy’s Mask - have full 6-adventure Adventure Paths in the box. The Core Set (with updated and refined rules and cards) has a 3-adventure AP, and the newest Curse of the Crimson Throne (requires the Core Set) has a 6-adventure AP. There are seven AP’s available in pdf form from Paizo - meant for Pathfinder Adventure Card Society play, but equally enjoyable whether one registers Society characters or not – which use the various box sets. Six are full 6-adventure AP’s, and one is a 3-adventure AP. Also available from Paizo are several standalone Adventures.
So, even without considering community-created content (see the Homebrew and House Rules Forum ), that’s quite a bit to enjoy! Hopefully, you will also find (as many of us do) that each AP has high replayability, because playing with a different character can yield a very different playing experience. And there are a lot of characters from which to choose. Between the characters in the box sets (including Characters Add-On packs) and Class Decks (and Promo cards), there are over 125 different characters to play! (This is NOT counting different versions of Ezren, for example, as different characters, even though the versions from different AP’s and/or the class decks will have some different powers and different flavor.)
Oh, yeah – since each character has two roles to choose from, that doubles the options for a different play experience! (I had a hard time deciding on a role for one of my characters recently, so I’m going to play the character again to experience the other role.)
Again, there’s a lot out there. Hopefully, you’ll be enjoying PACG for years to come!
Nice to see that there still are new chapters to the season 7 coming in this year! Many thanks for that!
https://paizo.com/store/pacg/pacs/year7
Really hope that after this pandemic is fading away, we see resurrection of this wonderful game!
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Nice to see that there still are new chapters to the season 7 coming in this year! Many thanks for that!
https://paizo.com/store/pacg/pacs/year7Really hope that after this pandemic is fading away, we see resurrection of this wonderful game!
To be clear, there will not be any additional "chapters" to the Year 7 story (Year of Reborn Strife) from Paizo. Year 7 is a 3-adventure AP that concluded with #7-3. There is a community-based effort to produce adventures 4, 5, and 6 and continue the story (and theoretically share it on DriveThruCards via Pathfinder Infinite), but there doesn't seem to be a lot of steam behind that right now.
#7-99 The Protean's Prank was the special from PaizoCon 2021, and it is due out later this year. It's definitely worth getting, but it isn't part of the Year 7 story. (It's listed there, like #6-99 Tyrant of the Harrow is listed with Year 6, due to when it was released.) It's the finale of the PACG line from Paizo, and is a sort of love letter to the game. I strongly recommend players save it until they have played the other Core Set era APs (Years 6 and 7) and the standalone adventures (Fangwood Thieves and Bloodthorne Manor). It really is a fantastic send-off!