Pathfinder 1E Details on Paizo's GameMastery Line

[Erik Mona]

A while back we announced the new GameMastery product line, but we were a little slim on the details. I just posted a breakdown of Paizo's entire 2005 product schedule to the Paizo site, and wanted to let you guys know what's coming down the pike.

The short version: Miniatures designed by Wayne Reynolds with micro-adventures by Mike Mearls and map tiles by Christopher West. A sweet campaign journal. More maps than you can possibly imagine.

Here's the link: http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/gameMastery/erikSpeaksAboutGameMastery

--Erik Mona

 

[Crothian]

Wow, just having those names alone on the products makes me very interested.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Gorilla kings and lich tyrants! Geez, you guys aren't fooling around with the cool ideas.

What did you do to the gorilla to make him smart enough to carry a sword? I'm assuming this isn't a straight D&D gorilla -- new Intelligent Ape template, perhaps?

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Woah. Sounds cool.

And I'm with Crothian...the names alone have snagged me!

 

[Kunimatyu]

Important question -- are the minis prepainted or unpainted? Metal or plastic?

 

[Keith F Strohm]

Important question -- are the minis prepainted or unpainted? Metal or plastic?

The minis are unpainted metal based on artwork by Wayne Reynolds. We'll have the cool sketches up in the next few days.

Keith Strohm
Chief Operating Officer
Paizo Publishing, LLC

 

[Kunimatyu]

::frowns::

That's unfortunate. I like metal miniatures and all, but you're going to be competing directly with Reaper Miniatures' multiple lich, dark elf, even ape sculpts. In order for these to work, you'll need to produce sculpts that are just as good as many of the pewter miniatures companies. I'm thinking that could be difficult.

Even then, these days I tend to prefer painted plastic when it comes to monsters, as I rarely have time to paint, they're easy to store, and don't fall apart/get scratched when they hit the floor.

With really good plastic miniature designs, you could probably have sold these encounter sets for 19.95, maybe even higher. As it is, you've limited your market to people who paint metal minis -- and in the post D&D Miniatures world, that number is even smaller than it used to be.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

As it is, you've limited your market to people who paint metal minis -- and in the post D&D Miniatures world, that number is even smaller than it used to be.

They're not just selling miniatures -- I'd say the rest of the package will go a long way with anyone who uses miniatures of any sort, or even people who want a flavorful encounter with visual aids.

I don't paint diddly, but that won't deter me from buying these. They sound great.

 

[Kunimatyu]

They're not just selling miniatures -- I'd say the rest of the package will go a long way with anyone who uses miniatures of any sort, or even people who want a flavorful encounter with visual aids.

I don't paint diddly, but that won't deter me from buying these. They sound great.

Do people who don't use minis want to spend 15.95 when they could be spending 9.95(probably closer to 4.95) to get the same thing without the minis? Multiple pewter miniatures are almost certainly the reason this is 15.95 and not cheaper. I can't help but think that the best way to package these would involve losing the miniatures and adding cardboard(or plasticard, etc) tokens with Wayne Reynolds art on them. That I would have bought. Plastic minis would have been cool too, but those are, admittedly, not nearly as easy to make as metal ones.

 

[CM]

Let me chime in with the opposing viewpoint. Metal minis designed by Wayne Reynolds and other fantasy artists of the same caliber would rock my world. Plastic minis just couldn't hold the level of detail that I'd expect them to. Plus, Metal is actually easier to do on a smaller scale than plastics.

As for tokens, I think other companies like Fiery Dragon and SJG have about cornered the market on these. I'm not a big fan of tokens, and I probably wouldn't buy Paizo's sets if they didn't have miniatures.

Erik/Keith: Any hints as to who will be sculpting these figs?