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Just saw the news on Reddit. Love your work on second edition, love your interaction with the community and I will look forward to play a thaumaturge in the future.
Wish you best of luck in your future endeavours, and I'll be sure to check out your future work as well.
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When I heard the news, all I could say in chat was, ":O", because I was genuinely stunned. I'm super happy for Mark, and I'm super happy we had him working on Pathfinder for so long. I hope we still get to see him on the forums, because I've really, really appreciated Mark as a wonderful communicator with brilliant and really well-phrased insights about RPG design. When I joined the Arcane Mark Discord server, I couldn't stop peppering him with questions, and he fielded them all so patiently and I learned so much... which only made me want to ask him more questions.
Mark, you've been a wonderful part of Paizo for many years, and the fact that you're moving to Roll For Combat means I'm definitely going to look into Roll For Combat ASAP. That's no surprise, of course--he's also the reason I finally went and checked out PF2.
Surprised by the news, but mostly confused - it sounds like the Battlezoo is a third party supplement for PF2e, so I’m not sure I understand the logic behind the move. Excited for Mark to be getting this new opportunity though!
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Wow, sad to see him leave Paizo, but all the best wishes for him!
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I had really mixed feelings about posting anything about it, but I will repost Mark's words.
I see many of you calling for us to have more pay and it means a lot to me. I'm going to be candid, Paizo pay is low enough that if you want to own a home, to start a family, or to retire, you pretty much can't do it in this area.
If you want a future, step 1 has to be "Leave Paizo." On a week where like, the world hasn't caught on fire around Paizo, this is often the most stressful thought in the back of my head.
Because I think it's probably clear from my other thread that I love my coworkers and am deeply passionate about what I write. I do not want to leave. But some day I probably have to. And my fears won't be the worst at Paizo because I have privilege.
The whole thread demands a read but I am sick and don't have my good keyboard.
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Battlezoo and I made sure my new job wouldn't have a noncompete and would explicitly allow freelancing and independent projects, so I'll definitely stick around and keep writing for Paizo too! But this lets me pursue some really exciting projects with more creative control to try some more unusual ideas (like PC dragons, that's totally a thing we're doing!) and like Kobold Catgirl said, the compensation is also better with less crunch. All around an amazing opportunity and team-up, but I'll be sad to leave my friends at Paizo at the same time.
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Excited to hear about your work being valued and some stress leaving your life! Looking forward to whatever comes next.
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May the road rise to meet you, Mark.
The first time I met Mark and Linda was my first PaizoCon. I was the GM for the beta test of Siege of the Diamond City for both and a few others. The night went well and I enjoyed meeting them*.
A day or two later, I was walking to the PFS room when I spied Mark talking with Thurston Hillman, author of Siege. Back then, I was still pretty shy and apprehensive regarding talking to strangers and social interactions. But because a player from my table was talking with Thursty about the scenario, I felt confident I could give constructive feedback about the scenario. More importantly it was I could overcome my social anxiety because of Mark**.
I will miss talking with you, Mark, about any and every topic no matter how tangential to Pathfinder the topic was. I am positive you will be successful in your new endeavor.
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That's some very good news, despite the sadness that Paizo is losing an excellent designer. Pathfinder 2e definitely would not have turned out as good as it is without Mark.
Congratulations, and I look forward to seeing lots of cool stuff from the Battlezoo line in the future. (Really excited for the dragon ancestries book!)
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When I heard the news, all I could say in chat was, ":O", because I was genuinely stunned. I'm super happy for Mark, and I'm super happy we had him working on Pathfinder for so long. I hope we still get to see him on the forums, because I've really, really appreciated Mark as a wonderful communicator with brilliant and really well-phrased insights about RPG design. When I joined the Arcane Mark Discord server, I couldn't stop peppering him with questions, and he fielded them all so patiently and I learned so much... which only made me want to ask him more questions.
Mark, you've been a wonderful part of Paizo for many years, and the fact that you're moving to Roll For Combat means I'm definitely going to look into Roll For Combat ASAP. That's no surprise, of course--he's also the reason I finally went and checked out PF2.
Thanks, and no worries about those questions. We were all reeling during that time when you joined, and your enthusiasm and positivity were really helpful to folks I think. Thanks to you we made the unmitigated-praise channel that's still going!
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That means a lot. I need to rejoin, honestly, I just got anxious.
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May the road rise to meet you, Mark.
The first time I met Mark and Linda was my first PaizoCon. I was the GM for the beta test of Siege of the Diamond City for both and a few others. The night went well and I enjoyed meeting them*.
A day or two later, I was walking to the PFS room when I spied Mark talking with Thurston Hillman, author of Siege. Back then, I was still pretty shy and apprehensive regarding talking to strangers and social interactions. But because a player from my table was talking with Thursty about the scenario, I felt confident I could give constructive feedback about the scenario. More importantly it was I could overcome my social anxiety because of Mark**.
I will miss talking with you, Mark, about any and every topic no matter how tangential to Pathfinder the topic was. I am positive you will be successful in your new endeavor.
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
It is always a pleasure! And I want to point out to everyone that Jon not only ran that table incredibly well back with just-a-fan Mark and Linda, he did so despite the fact that he was running a highly-complicated special (with interactive elements where siege shots were coming from some other tables and more) while I was playing my summoning oracle and Linda was playing her preservationist. So he had to deal with like six earth elementals during the final infinite waves of demons fight. Linda and I had mentioned what PCs we had and our friendly pick up group asked us to play our two summoners to get more bodies, and Jon just rolled right along and didn't just run, he ran it quickly and efficiently and got us through all the encounters.
You won't have to miss talking with me; I'll still be here, working on Battlezoo. If anything, I think Battlezoo might be more likely to send me over to a convention than Paizo (once it becomes responsible to do so healthwise) because I'm one of the only few staffers, so it might even up the chances of seeing you!
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Congratulations, Mark! You have come a long way and I know you will do many more great things in your new position. This is a big change and, while change is a scary and/or painful thing, it is also a big chance to grow and improve in so many ways. I wish you and Linda all the best.
"The Sleeper must awaken!" :)
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Sad to see Mark go, but glad for his new opportunities. In my experience Mark is among the smartest human beings I have ever met. In his presence, I am always in awe of how quickly and creatively his mind works. And if that is not enough, he possesses a pure and kindly soul that radiates friendship to whomever he speaks. Truly an amazing person. Best of luck to you, good sir!
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Battlezoo and I made sure my new job wouldn't have a noncompete and would explicitly allow freelancing and independent projects, so I'll definitely stick around and keep writing for Paizo too! But this lets me pursue some really exciting projects with more creative control to try some more unusual ideas (like PC dragons, that's totally a thing we're doing!) and like Kobold Catgirl said, the compensation is also better with less crunch. All around an amazing opportunity and team-up, but I'll be sad to leave my friends at Paizo at the same time.
Capitalism at its finest =)
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Congrats, Mark! Battlezoo felt like your labour of love and it's great that you'll have a chance to dig deeper into it.
On a side note, it's really not the best look for Paizo if a 3PP can offer better working conditions...
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The owner of RfC is independently wealthy from his main career in IT. The Battlezoo books are crowdfunded. This basically means they don't need to make a profit on Battlezoo to keep Mark employed with better conditions than Paizo. (Though given that Battlezoo also has a 5e version, they probably do actually make a profit just because of the larger target market).
I am glad that RfC will allow Mark to freelance for Paizo but I wonder how much "core" work Paizo will allow to be done by a freelancer - and also how the rest of the design team feels about this.
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The owner of RfC is independently wealthy from his main career in IT. The Battlezoo books are crowdfunded. This basically means they don't need to make a profit on Battlezoo to keep Mark employed with better conditions than Paizo. (Though given that Battlezoo also has a 5e version, they probably do actually make a profit just because of the larger target market).
I am glad that RfC will allow Mark to freelance for Paizo but I wonder how much "core" work Paizo will allow to be done by a freelancer - and also how the rest of the design team feels about this.
Can the RfC guy just buy the whole business? He seems to have his head in a much better place than Lisa/Jeff do.
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Actually if he would become/supply the CTO at least it would have been a massive improvement already. I'm sure we wouldn't have such 1980s nonsense as "Customer Service cannot answer office phones remotely".
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Actually if he would become/supply the CTO at least it would have been a massive improvement already. I'm sure we wouldn't have such 1980s nonsense as "Customer Service cannot answer office phones remotely".
Answering phones is 1980s nonsense, but we digress.
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All the best for you in the new job, Mark. I enormously appreciated your forum contributions around the time of the PF2 launch. I was also super impressed by the education you gave us about Paizo's team members and issues (in the thread quoted by KC, above).
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Congratulations Mark!
And as sad as I am that Mark is leaving Paizo, this sort of thing is good for people working in the industry. The more talent poaching via salary increases goes on, the higher the expected pay for the people who work there.
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I couldn't believe it when I saw it mentioned. But reading the thread KC quoted above makes it very good sense.
I'm happy for you, Rogue Eidolon. And I now feel you're not letting us down, as I feared when I saw the news.
We need your touch of awesomeness, not to mention all your great qualities posted above.
Enjoy.
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Mark has a way of making the game easy to understand when he is explaining the nuances. Appreciate everything you have done for the game and the community and now I will need to look into Roll for Combat... you said playable dragons right?
Congrats man, happy for you. Hope that Paizo learns to appreciate their staff as much as their leadership. Losing talent like this has to hurt. Glad that you have the opportunity to continue free lancing!
Contributor
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I am glad that RfC will allow Mark to freelance for Paizo but I wonder how much "core" work Paizo will allow to be done by a freelancer
That depends on the freelancer. Certain ones, like Alex Augunas, get brought in when they need a lot of core mechanical content written swiftly and expertly. For one who has already written so much of PF2, and whose wife still works for Paizo, and who is now working for one of their partner streamers? I think that they will still hire Mark to write core stuff. They would be crazy not to do so.
Hmm
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I'm happy for you Mark! I look forward to following your projects.
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Mark, I can't say farewell because I'm going to be continuing to look for and purchase your work, stop by your streams, and generally keep following your career with great interest.
You've got the chops to be truly great, wherever you get your paycheck. Congratulations on your new role and benefits, you sincerely deserve them.
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So long, and thanks for all the fish!
Wind to thy wings.
I expect greater and greater things (AKA more Dragon stuff). See how you push the boundaries of the system. I've only been following Paizo stuff since PF2 released and I've gotten the impression many of your interests are similar to mine, so I'm eager to see what you continue to make.
Hopefully a better work environment will stimulate more creativity, if not then that's fine too, enjoy it.
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You've been a great asset for Paizo and this community, and I'm glad you will still be so at your new gig. Congratulations!
Congratz on the new gig! My Angel Summoner/champion and I thank you for all your contributions to the game.
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Not even bummer gamer hat. If they keep doing cool stuff like the prior Kickstarter, 3PP PF2 will be absolutely killing it. They seem comfortable with zany and I think that's pretty neat.
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Congratulations on the new job, Mark! I hope that it treats you well, and that things just improve for you in the future.
Also, your general willingness to communicate, your general kindness, graciousness, and enthusiasm is admirable. Everything I have seen of you has indicated to me that you're a wonderful person to associate with, and Roll for Combat is lucky to have you.
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Your lengthy response on Twitter back in September during all the chaos was, for me, a turning point. You helped answer some questions without throwing anyone under the bus. You also made me realize that if I was going to say, "yes, Paizo employees and designers should make more", then I was going to need to put my money where my mouth is and be willing to pay a bit more. You were a major driving force behind my keeping my subscriptions.
Beyond that, your name is attached to some of my favorite Paizo material. I won't insult you by pretending I know everything you are directly or partially responsible for, but I assume it's a large chunk of what I enjoy.
Regardless, here's hoping your next endeavor goes well! Clearly I'll have to look into Roll For Combat, now. I've really only encountered them from an advertisement perspective, as they are one of the sponsors for the Gallant Goblin YouTube channel that does reviews of miniatures and a few other things.
Anywho, thanks for all the work you've done for Paizo, the level of professionalism you brought to the job, and anything I've managed to forget.
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Your lengthy response on Twitter back in September during all the chaos was, for me, a turning point. You helped answer some questions without throwing anyone under the bus. You also made me realize that if I was going to say, "yes, Paizo employees and designers should make more", then I was going to need to put my money where my mouth is and be willing to pay a bit more. You were a major driving force behind my keeping my subscriptions.
This. 100%. Mark was probably the reason I decided to start buying Paizo products after a long hiatus, actually. Not just because of his thread, but because of seeing him speak so enthusiastically about the work Paizo devs did on PF2. I trust Mark's judgment a lot on such matters.
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Your lengthy response on Twitter back in September during all the chaos was, for me, a turning point. You helped answer some questions without throwing anyone under the bus. You also made me realize that if I was going to say, "yes, Paizo employees and designers should make more", then I was going to need to put my money where my mouth is and be willing to pay a bit more. You were a major driving force behind my keeping my subscriptions.This. 100%. Mark was probably the reason I decided to start buying Paizo products after a long hiatus, actually. Not just because of his thread, but because of seeing him speak so enthusiastically about the work Paizo devs did on PF2. I trust Mark's judgment a lot on such matters.
Same. Not the only reason I haven't cancelled yet but it was definitely a staying hand as to why I am still subscribing. The people behind the work need to be compensated for their efforts, and if someone who has such large role as Mark is leaving for better opportunities I hope that Paizo is making a good faith effort with the Union to shore up that situation and get their talent compensated sooner than later.
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(like PC dragons, that's totally a thing we're doing!)Please tell me it's Council of Wyrms.
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incredibly sad to see him go. Unfortunate that Paizo can't seem to tinker their pay scales to keep people like him.
Sad to see ya go Mark and thanks for Twitch friending me last PaizoCON bud, hopefully you will make a guest showing this upcoming one bud!!
And GREAT luck on your new digs!!
Tom
Well, I must say that I'm very sorry to see you leaving Paizo, Mark (I saw the news pretty much straight away, but I've only just hopped here to comment). On the other hand, RfC is a brilliant move for you, and I am really looking forward to seeing more of the work you do there.
I will, of course, never forget the first time you and I seriously interacted on... that question... about size and damage... that was soooooo complex. But an awesome experience nonetheless.
Can't wait to see what you do next, and hope I can manage to squeeze more time on live Arcane Mark streams (despite my wife's objections).
