| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I am not sure why they discontinued the pawns line, I assume low sales, but with the recent surge of interest in Paizo is it possible to bring pawns back or have they said definitely never again? One of my favorite things about Pathfinder and Starfinder is the huge selection of maps and the pawns that allow us to have a visual representation of the characters and monsters using the fantastic official artwork.
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Okay so hear me out. This has nothing to do with the ORC but...
Given that shipping, printing, and production of paper/cardstock has gone so high and that it mostly had to be done overseas would HAPPILY purchase PLASTIC pawns at a higher price.
There are THOUSANDS of injection molding companies with on-the-line image transfer printing that could take this product and chug out batches of these at the rate of tens of thousands per HOUR right here in the USA and, in addition to that, there are also a BUNCH of UNION shops that you could bid on/choose from.
In the end the user gets a higher quality and more durable product, you lose WAY in shipping costs, it can be delivered in less than a quarter of the time that it would require getting it from China, and you sidestep the entire paper/cardstock shortage.
Okay so hear me out. This has nothing to do with the ORC but...
Given that shipping, printing, and production of paper/cardstock has gone so high and that it mostly had to be done overseas would HAPPILY purchase PLASTIC pawns at a higher price.
There are THOUSANDS of injection molding companies with on-the-line image transfer printing that could take this product and chug out batches of these at the rate of tens of thousands per HOUR right here in the USA and, in addition to that, there are also a BUNCH of UNION shops that you could bid on/choose from.
In the end the user gets a higher quality and more durable product, you lose WAY in shipping costs, it can be delivered in less than a quarter of the time that it would require getting it from China, and you sidestep the entire paper/cardstock shortage.
I would LOVE that!!! I am super picky about my pawns, always make people wash hands/handle with care, plastic would be a much better solution. I also would pay more for that option!
I am not sure why they discontinued the pawns line, I assume low sales
Low sales + migration to VTT's + paper prices going crazy right now.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
The only thing I can think of that might encourage Paizo to make more pawn sets is to start buying up the ones that they still have in stock, assuming that the unit cost has not become totally prohibitive.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I don't know why a legal distribution license would have any real bearing on an unprofitable product coming back.
I don't know why a legal distribution license would have any real bearing on an unprofitable product coming back.
With people jumping ship with WOTC I didn't know if a significant increase in the Paizo player base would generate enough interest in their products to make it profitable again.
First edition had pawn products for its entire life cycle when it was beating D&D, I assume if it wasn't generating profit they would have discontinued it back then.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Cost of cardboard, cost of shipping skyrocketing in the past 3 years sounded like the primary reason. They'd have to raise the prices significantly, even with larger volume.
|
VTTs likely slowed the sales of them down too. Knowing WotC plan is all centered on VTTs makes me even less likely to try a VTT. The main reason I got back into TTRPGs was to get away from computers. If over all sales go up and the cost of oil goes down, maybe we might see them again someday. Minis are nice but cost more, and I don't have anywhere to store them.
|
|
I don't know why a legal distribution license would have any real bearing on an unprofitable product coming back.With people jumping ship with WOTC I didn't know if a significant increase in the Paizo player base would generate enough interest in their products to make it profitable again.
First edition had pawn products for its entire life cycle when it was beating D&D, I assume if it wasn't generating profit they would have discontinued it back then.
I fear that we are currently in a situation where every new pawn box Paizo would sell would actually cost them money. Because the costs outweigh the selling price.
Selling more pawn boxes would result in losing more money.
I saw it once with a big automotive manufacturer, who had no choice but sell the too costly cars. It was pretty ugly and sad to witness.
So it sounds like the chance of these coming back is not good.
I have always just bought them all in the past, what options are there to maybe make my own? Is there some kind of program that would allow me to cut images from the pdf's or battle cards and then print that on cardstock or something? Not very computer saavy, sorry for the ignorance :).
Maybe including tokens for VTTs with the purchase of the pawn PDFs would encourage more sales? Surely there is still a market for the digital form of this product? I have made many pawns on my printer using label stock and chipboard, and I am absolutely not the only one.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So it sounds like the chance of these coming back is not good.
I have always just bought them all in the past, what options are there to maybe make my own? Is there some kind of program that would allow me to cut images from the pdf's or battle cards and then print that on cardstock or something? Not very computer saavy, sorry for the ignorance :).
There are several options online. One blessing that Paizo has recently been releasing is the battle cards for APs, because the digital version includes art that I use for making my own pawns.
Search Bozark Pawn in google and you'll find a site that allows you to turn that art into a kind of slip-over tent that fits over your existing pawns. Not as good as dedicated pawns, but for enemies that are likely going to be one and done, it works great to get through a session or two.
I've actually sent a message to a Paizo rep mentioning that I thought it would be a great way to continue to support the paper minis community...imagine a blank pawn set which includes square standees and bases, plus files to print at home already made into the tents for all the relevant NPCs. GMs buy a generic pawn set for the physical part of their pawns, then spend a nominal amount on digital files that they can print at home.
Paizo gets to mass produce blank pawns at as good a price as they can get, without the fear of them ever going out of date. Each physical purchase also should generate a number of digital purchases which would be easy to create with the art assets already in hand. GMs don't have a load of single use pawns, which makes storage easier- just print out the sheets you need for a session and recycle them after the enemies die. My players have gotten a significant amount of glee (quite concerning, really) out of ripping up the tents of boss monsters when they beat them in a tough fight.
*shrug* Seems like a win-win to me.
|
|
I just noticed the Pathfinder Pawns Ongoing Subscription is still available. Did they bring it back, or had it never gone away? I think Starfinder needs pawns more than Pathfinder, Theres tons of options for fantasy minis. The problem with Starfinder is there fewer players so more players are likely forced to play on VTTs or PBP so smaller market for pawns.
The subscription never went away, but it is of little value once you use it to buy the last pawn set(s) that they put out in it.
And the Starfinder pawns are part of the Starfinder Accessories subscription, I think.