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Dragon 397 - Table of Contents
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<blockquote data-quote="Primal" data-source="post: 5499405" data-attributes="member: 30678"><p>Initially, yes, because Paizo has said they don't want PF RPG to suffer from rules bloat; they've announced from the start that they will publish 3 PF RPG hardcovers per year, plus any setting-related books such as 'The Inner Sea World Guide'). However, take a look at what they've been consistently doing: monthly Gamemastery products, Pathfinder Modules, Adventure Paths, Player Companions, Pathfinder Chronicles -- the last three alone amount to 128 pages per month. No cancellations, although some books have occasionally been pushed back a few months ('Inner Sea World Guide' being one). </p><p></p><p>If we only count hardcovers, then it's a no-brainer; but outdoing WoTC in the amount of published crunch was never Paizo's goal, as I said earlier. Rather, Paizo maintains a steady, reliable publishing schedule; a schedule that they feel is optimal for everyone. And yet now they <em>are</em> publishing more material than WoTC. </p><p></p><p>If we talk about quality, you're absolutely correct; it is a matter of personal preference. Rules aside, I happen to think Paizo is doing better in terms of editing, art and layout, and quality of writing -- and publishing better adventures than WoTC (without delving too deep into this matter, I don't think cool and balanced encounter design is my #1 definition for what makes an adventure "good"). And I've seen quite many posters saying they feel 4E adventures published by WoTC can't hold a candle to their 3E modules -- likewise with adventures and delves published in 'Dungeon' these days. </p><p></p><p>I think there's one product line (in addition to miniatures, which I was very sad to see cancelled <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown :(" data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" />) that is far, FAR superior to Paizo's equivalent: namely, 'Dungeon Tiles'. No matter how many sets/boxes I buy, I'm always positively surprised by the next announcement (for example, 'Witchlight Fens', just as my campaign is going to involve a few adventures in a huge swamp), and the visual quality and utility/flexibility (for the lack of a better term) of these tiles. </p><p></p><p>I don't know if this will/has become a trend or not; I know that according to ICV2 Paizo is toe-to-toe with WoTC in sales, and my own regular anecdotal observations (a few times per week for the last couple of years) of Amazon's best-selling RPG list has convinced me that it's more or less accurate. And Paizo is hiring former WoTC designers these days as freelancers or even staff members (such as SRM). Managers and lead developers aside, how many designers does WoTC have in their RPG team now? I heard that Steve Winter seems to be doing 'Dungeon' on his own, so it's no wonder if there are problems with content. Still, how long can WoTC maintain this "no-deadlines" policy -- especially if they want to publish magazines that actually contain material enough to justify the cost? For me it's a weird thing if an issue of 'Dungeon' does not have any adventures beyond a few stiched-together encounters.</p><p></p><p>But even though I'm a Paizo customer and a Pathfinder GM, I'm not happy about this. As I've said on other threads, I'd like to run 4E, but at the moment it all seems to be in a flux with non-errataed core rulebooks and Essentials thrown in to the mix (and it's such a mess that even a veteran DM such as myself thinks it's confusing as hell). I truly hope WoTC will get their act together, and publish revised core rulebooks. Also, I think they need to get more freelancers working for them; I just cannot believe that they're not getting decent adventure/article proposals for their magazines.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Primal, post: 5499405, member: 30678"] Initially, yes, because Paizo has said they don't want PF RPG to suffer from rules bloat; they've announced from the start that they will publish 3 PF RPG hardcovers per year, plus any setting-related books such as 'The Inner Sea World Guide'). However, take a look at what they've been consistently doing: monthly Gamemastery products, Pathfinder Modules, Adventure Paths, Player Companions, Pathfinder Chronicles -- the last three alone amount to 128 pages per month. No cancellations, although some books have occasionally been pushed back a few months ('Inner Sea World Guide' being one). If we only count hardcovers, then it's a no-brainer; but outdoing WoTC in the amount of published crunch was never Paizo's goal, as I said earlier. Rather, Paizo maintains a steady, reliable publishing schedule; a schedule that they feel is optimal for everyone. And yet now they [I]are[/I] publishing more material than WoTC. If we talk about quality, you're absolutely correct; it is a matter of personal preference. Rules aside, I happen to think Paizo is doing better in terms of editing, art and layout, and quality of writing -- and publishing better adventures than WoTC (without delving too deep into this matter, I don't think cool and balanced encounter design is my #1 definition for what makes an adventure "good"). And I've seen quite many posters saying they feel 4E adventures published by WoTC can't hold a candle to their 3E modules -- likewise with adventures and delves published in 'Dungeon' these days. I think there's one product line (in addition to miniatures, which I was very sad to see cancelled :() that is far, FAR superior to Paizo's equivalent: namely, 'Dungeon Tiles'. No matter how many sets/boxes I buy, I'm always positively surprised by the next announcement (for example, 'Witchlight Fens', just as my campaign is going to involve a few adventures in a huge swamp), and the visual quality and utility/flexibility (for the lack of a better term) of these tiles. I don't know if this will/has become a trend or not; I know that according to ICV2 Paizo is toe-to-toe with WoTC in sales, and my own regular anecdotal observations (a few times per week for the last couple of years) of Amazon's best-selling RPG list has convinced me that it's more or less accurate. And Paizo is hiring former WoTC designers these days as freelancers or even staff members (such as SRM). Managers and lead developers aside, how many designers does WoTC have in their RPG team now? I heard that Steve Winter seems to be doing 'Dungeon' on his own, so it's no wonder if there are problems with content. Still, how long can WoTC maintain this "no-deadlines" policy -- especially if they want to publish magazines that actually contain material enough to justify the cost? For me it's a weird thing if an issue of 'Dungeon' does not have any adventures beyond a few stiched-together encounters. But even though I'm a Paizo customer and a Pathfinder GM, I'm not happy about this. As I've said on other threads, I'd like to run 4E, but at the moment it all seems to be in a flux with non-errataed core rulebooks and Essentials thrown in to the mix (and it's such a mess that even a veteran DM such as myself thinks it's confusing as hell). I truly hope WoTC will get their act together, and publish revised core rulebooks. Also, I think they need to get more freelancers working for them; I just cannot believe that they're not getting decent adventure/article proposals for their magazines. [/QUOTE]
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