| DougSun |
Hello, everyone! I haven't posted here in a while, but Ramen Sandwich Press has been anything but quiet. We have now published 10 Found by the Way adventure/location modules, compatible with both Pathfinder 1 and 2. You can find more info and links to where you can buy them on our website.
We spent most of the last 12 months putting together a 259-page rules supplement compatible with D&D 5E, a deep dive into random encounters called The Book of Chance Meetings. We successfully shepherded it through Kickstarter in the spring and wound up with our biggest hit yet!
Since then, we have been working on a comparable book for Pathfinder 2 with the working title The Book of Hidden Paths, and we're getting close to bringing it to Kickstarter. In fact, the first draft of the text is halfway done and we expect to have it completely done so that we can launch the campaign in mid-October with the intention of shipping the rewards in February. Hidden Paths will use a very similar structure and format to Chance Meetings, so if you want to get an idea of what the book will be like and how it will work, you can check out the Kickstarter campaign page for Chance Meetings. The difference, of course, is that Hidden Paths will include creatures from all three Pathfinder 2 Bestiaries published to date! So I expect to be a longer and even richer and more varied book than its D&D-compatible cousin.
I've mentioned this elsewhere, but I have been fascinated by random encounter going all the way to AD&D, which was my introduction to RPGs. I was entranced by the appendix in the AD&D DMG with its pages and pages of tables. The possibilities seemed endless. And yet, there wasn't much follow-through to them: So I roll up, "Orc." Well, how many orcs are there? What are they doing in that place, at that time? Are they happy to see the party, or not? But there was little to no guidance on what would actually happen. It's like Gary Gygax just stared back at me and said, "Whaddya mean? It's orcs. Deal with it." 40 years later, I have tried to answer those questions to my own satisfaction — and, I hope, to yours as well.
Follow Douglas Sun on Kickstarter to get notified when the campaign for The Book of Hidden Paths launches, or check back here. We'll offer PDF and softcover copies at a discount to the eventual cover price. We plan to offer at least one stretch goal: 220 print copies pre-sold through both Kickstarter and Backerkit, and we'll upgrade the print rewards to hardcover. I hope to see you there!
| DougSun |
Well, it's October 18, and the Kickstarter for Book of Hidden Paths is now live! And we have a stretch goal: If we can get pledges for 220 print copies, we'll make the print copy reward hardcover. This is going to be the book for GMs who want to bring the spontaneity and unpredictability of random encounter back to Pathfinder, so don't miss out!
| DougSun |
We’re off to a solid start, but there’s still plenty of room on board for more backers! We’re bringing the same formula from Book of Chance Meetings, which was a great success on Kickstarter, to Pathfinder. Over the weekend, one of our backers from that campaign told me that Book of Chance Meetings was the book he’d been looking for for 40 years, since he first started running D&D for his friends. Don’t miss out on the chance to bring to Pathfinder the same deep dive into bringing your campaign world alive!
| DougSun |
I just posted an update to Kickstarter to report on the progress of The Book of Hidden Paths. Basically, I wonder just what I got myself into with this book. Some back-of-the-envelope math converting word count to published pages tells us that this is going to be a 300-350 page book — a lot of useful material, and frankly, it will be a bargain at the Kickstarter price of $32 for a print copy and $14 for the PDF. It's a deep dive into random encounters, but it also adds a layer or two to what the Bestiaries tell you about a wide range of creatures, both iconic ones and obscure ones.
As for a progress report on the Kickstarter campaign, we still need backers to make it happen. But I remain hopeful, since Kickstarter's analytics tell me that more than twice as many people are following the campaign as have already backed. If most of those people come down off of the fence and join the party, we'll be all right. Don't miss your chance to get a pre-order discount on what will be a valuable reference for Pathfinder GMs — and really, anybody interested in the creatures in the game!
| DougSun |
Just a reminder that we have one week left in the Kickstarter for Book of Hidden Paths. We're very close to our funding target — just a bit over $200 will put us over the top. I would be surprised if we didn't get at least that much in the normal last-moment rush. So if you've been sitting on the fence, waiting to see if this campaign would fund, you might as well come down and join the fun.
As for the stretch goal, we're still a ways off. But all print copies ordered through Backerkit after the campaign will count. So if you want a hardcover copy, you can still help us out beyond pledging by spreading the word about this campaign and getting more backers to join in. Also, we plan to extend the pre-sale fun after the Kickstarter ends by running supplemental campaigns on Indie Go-Go and Game Found, and those print pre-orders will count, too. It's not over, but the bottom line is that we won't meet the stretch goal without more backers.
To be honest, I thought we were going to get more enthusiastic support from the Pathfinder community by now. At a similar point in the proceedings, the Kickstarter for Book of Chance Meetings — which is a very similar book, but compatible with 5E instead of Pathfinder — had four times as many backers and it was well on its way to making its stretch goal. The fact that we haven't gotten anywhere like that level of support from the Pathfinder community (at least so far) is something our team will have to discuss when we decide whether to proceed with our Found by the Way location modules for Pathfinder.
| OrochiFuror |
Will check this out when I get home. Random encounters were fun when I was a kid, but as you've pointed out there needs to be more to an encounter then just random thing X is here what do you do. I think aside from the size difference in player base between Pf2 and 5e your going to have trouble with third party stuff because 5e often needs it just to function, while PF2 is still in its, everything is mostly fine and you don't need extra stuff or changes phase.
I'm working on a bunch of my own homebrew rules and system additions but I feel I need more playtime to really get a feel for things and start testing them. A lot of people likely haven't had enough playtime to get to a point where they need more adventures and tools just yet.
Hopefully it picks up some after battlezoo gets around and into a lot of people's games they might start opening up more to the idea of third party stuff.
| DougSun |
Will check this out when I get home. Random encounters were fun when I was a kid, but as you've pointed out there needs to be more to an encounter then just random thing X is here what do you do. I think aside from the size difference in player base between Pf2 and 5e your going to have trouble with third party stuff because 5e often needs it just to function, while PF2 is still in its, everything is mostly fine and you don't need extra stuff or changes phase.
I'm working on a bunch of my own homebrew rules and system additions but I feel I need more playtime to really get a feel for things and start testing them. A lot of people likely haven't had enough playtime to get to a point where they need more adventures and tools just yet.
Hopefully it picks up some after battlezoo gets around and into a lot of people's games they might start opening up more to the idea of third party stuff.
Thanks for the observations. We've been trying to pick around the edges of PF2, looking for stuff that Paizo hasn't seen fit to cover (at least not much), but you may be right.
In any event, we're down to the last couple of days of the campaign and we just funded — first came the "Huzzah!" and then came the "Whew." Still plenty of room for more backers, though, and if you miss the Kickstarter we'll offer all rewards through Backerkit at least until the end of the year.
Work on the book is coming along nicely, and I expect to have the second draft of the manuscript done on Monday, when the campaign wraps up. We're still looking at about 300-350 pages once it's properly laid out.
| DougSun |
Thank you to everyone who helped us across the finish line on Kickstarter. We made it!
If you missed out on the Kickstarter campaign, we just opened a Backerkit pre-order store where you can get the same pre-order discounts in Book of Hidden Paths. We'll keep it open until the end of the year, perhaps a bit longer. All print copies ordered through Backerkit will count toward the stretch goal — another 170 pre-orders, and we'll make it hardcover, just for our crowdfunding backers!
| DougSun |
Another status update on The Book of Hidden Paths, posted to the Kickstarter campaign updates. TLDR; it went into layout just before Christmas, so we're making progress. There are pics showing that Douglas Sun went over the manuscript the old-fashioned way, poring over a double-spaced printout with red pencil in hand. The Backerkit store will remain open for another couple of weeks, so there's still time to snag the pre-order discount!