Pathfinder 1E You're the CEO of PAIZO. Now What?

[falcarrion]

create an official pathfinder spell book app for the iphone and itouch.

At end of a module have a vtt map that can be loaded into programs such as maptools. one with all the room numbers, traps etc. and one with out it. that way the dm would have his and the players would have a blank one on the table.

 

[Rechan]

James... that reminds me of a parable.

A boy gets a job at the store.

His boss pays him some cash. The boy holds it in his hand and runs home - jumps over a creak and drops it. His mother says, "We could have bought food with that! You should have put it in your pocket!"

The next week, his boss pays him in a bottle of milk. The boy puts it in his pocket and runs home - and the milk sloshes all out. His mother says, "Now we have nothing to drink! You should have carried it!"

The next week, his boss pays him in a cat. The boy holds it in his hands and runs home - the cat scratches him, jumps out and gets away. his mother says, "Now we have nothing to catch the rats! You should have tied a string around it and dragged it home!"

The next week, his boss gives him a steak. The boy ties a string around it and drags it home - ruining it. His mother says...

You get the idea.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Tell my business manager to make sure my e-store takes Paypal; no ifs ands or buts. Adopt a Darth Sidious accent and say "Do it."

Then ask my publisher what he's all keen to do and ask my predecessor what she'd wanted to do before I bought her out.

Honestly - Paizo seems to me that it does not need much advice on the big picture. They've got that well under control.

But if there was a way to make a Star Wars RPG that ties-in to the forthcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO and does it well? I'd consider doing that. That's my big gamble.

To be clear - a total tie in on the MMO. Not the sixth edition of a RPG game to simulate the Rebellion Era. SW:TOR. New game, new hype, new spin with a clear art direction tied to the MMO. Dance with that setting eye-to-eye, cheek-to-cheek and bum-to-bum.

Not more SW minis or CCGs. No pocket models. You can lose too much with those products. But books and adventures closely tied to the SW:ToR setting? Yes. All that, top to bottom and side-to-side.

And if my publisher and business manager and marketing people were utterly convinced there's just not enough demand to make a SW:ToR game and setting series profitable?

Then despite the fact I'm a huge Star Wars fan - I'd listen to 'em.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Call a staff meeting, tell everyone to "keep up the good work" and then go off and start drafting my ideal psionics system.

 

[Shemeska]

Pay for me to come to PaizoCon 2011!

Do whatever it was that you did to get China Mieville to contribute to 'Guide to the River Kingdoms' and get him to write a Pathfinder novel. That would be epic.

For a Pathfinder character builder consider hiring some of the people that wrote much/most of the 4e character builder while on temp-to-hire contract with WotC and were subsequently laid off.

 

[PaizoCEO]

4. Take a sabbatical and study how successful companies adapt to rapid growth. You've added a lot on your plate, with stories, and game aids, and modules, and fan-authored short modules, and conventions, and writing an adaptation of a new edition, and managing all the hassles of a web community, and how all of that increases the complexity of management, accounting and manufacturing sides of your operation. It's no wonder that your APs are starting to miss some big picture issues: you're probably surfing from deadline to deadline, crisis to crisis. Fortunately, other companies have gone through these very same growing pains. Learn from their experiences.

Having started White Wolf and then Wizards of the Coast, and building them from the ground up, I think I have enough experience with the upsides and downsides of rapid growth and managing all the complexities of that. Interestingly enough, we have pretty much the same headcount right now as we did when we started in 2002 with Dragon, Dungeon and Star Wars Insider magazines.

-Lisa

 

[PaizoCEO]

Start making 4E adventure paths. No one does them better than you guys, and really, IMO there is no reason not to at this point. Pople are playing Pathfinder, and you can get back money from those of us that are playing 4E.

We will never make 4E products because of the GSL. I just don't want to trust any part of my future to an agreement with another company that can be changed or cancelled at any time at their whim. Thankfully, Paizo is in a position where we don't have to put ourselves into that position, which I am thankful for.

On top of the legal issues with the GSL, there is manpower issues. I really would have to hire quite a few new employees and as I have said upthread, I am trying to keep our headcount the same so we don't start growing too fast. Add to that the fact that none of my employees are experts of 4E, and you can see that expanding our product line into doing products for 4E is fraught with too much peril, especially since the info I have is that 3rd party products for 4E are not doing very well at retail. I think doing 4E would be one of those instances of expanding into an area that we really shouldn't.

-Lisa

 

[BryonD]

Start making 4E adventure paths. No one does them better than you guys, and really, IMO there is no reason not to at this point. Pople are playing Pathfinder, and you can get back money from those of us that are playing 4E.

You get WotC; we get Paizo.
Life ain't fair, you'll have to live with it.


Seriously, if you want more outside support, pressure WotC about enabling it.

 

[samursus]

We will never make 4E products because of the GSL. I just don't want to trust any part of my future to an agreement with another company that can be changed or cancelled at any time at their whim. Thankfully, Paizo is in a position where we don't have to put ourselves into that position, which I am thankful for.

On top of the legal issues with the GSL, there is manpower issues. I really would have to hire quite a few new employees and as I have said upthread, I am trying to keep our headcount the same so we don't start growing too fast. Add to that the fact that none of my employees are experts of 4E, and you can see that expanding our product line into doing products for 4E is fraught with too much peril, especially since the info I have is that 3rd party products for 4E are not doing very well at retail. I think doing 4E would be one of those instances of expanding into an area that we really shouldn't.

-Lisa

Ok, thats a legitimate answer. My question: Are those good enough reasons to not even try one project/module? Or am I missing something? I am honestly asking. Is there something in the GSL with commits a company to it? Is it cost prohibitive?

And one project surely would be worth testing the waters. The only reason I ask is because many people on the forums and such have wanted a Paizo AP for 4e. If there is something obvious I am missing, my bad.

 

[PaizoCEO]

Ok, thats a legitimate answer. My question: Are those good enough reasons to not even try one project/module? Or am I missing something? I am honestly asking. Is there something in the GSL with commits a company to it? Is it cost prohibitive?

And one project surely would be worth testing the waters. The only reason I ask is because many people on the forums and such have wanted a Paizo AP for 4e. If there is something obvious I am missing, my bad.

The biggest problem with the GSL is that the terms can be changed at any moment by WotC. So, if Paizo did a 4E product, the terms could be changed to say that anybody who uses the GSL can no longer use the OGL. And thus Paizo would have to stop making Pathfinder. I realize it doesn't say that right now, but the GSL is set up so that it could be changed down the road and Paizo would then have to abide by the new rules. So testing the waters COULD lead to Paizo having to stop doing its bread and butter Pathfinder RPG and all of its related products, closing up shop and going out of business. And that is a risk that I just can't justify, no matter what the upside potential might be for 4E.

Basically, I find the GSL to be too open-ended and too changeable to risk my company on. And that is why you will never see us doing 4E products.

-Lisa