Steel_Wind
Legend
So in preparation for a new podcast I’ve been working on, I sat down and took stock of the total number of products Paizo has released – or is scheduled to release later this year - for Pathfinder and the Golarion campaign setting. I knew it was a lot (because I own a lot of it) but I never had stopped to actually COUNT the titles and do the math.
The result? In a word? Wow. Just...WOW.
There have been threads here which have compared Paizo to WotC. IMO, that comparison is wholly misplaced. Paizo is the new TSR. I mean that in a good way – and I hope that it is taken in that fashion. I suppose, it is entirely possible that someday we mean it in a bad way too – but so far, everything looks to be good.
Why do I say this? Because the proof is in the product line. And it is simply a bewildering array of module and setting material. I don’t mean a little. I don’t even mean a canoe full – because I’m not sure it would actually FIT in a canoe. Well – maybe a large Voyageur fur-trader style cargo canoe, but not a 14’ fibreglass fishing model. If that’s the yardstick, in my estimation, Pathfinder is now coming perilously close to becoming a TWO CANOE product line.
Witness the staggering array of adventure material that Paizo has released in the past three years and plans to release in the balance of 2010 year for Pathfinder/3.5.
Adventure Material
This heading alone is simply mind-boggling. It breaks down like this:
Pathfinder Adventure Path
The flagship continues to be the Pathfinder Adventure Path books. There are 4 complete Pathfinder Adventure Paths series of six books each which have been released for ver 3.5 under the OGL. One more complete Path is already complete for PFRGP and another one, Kingmaker, also for PFRPG will complete this August. Serpent’s Skull for PFRPG is due for release in September 2010.
Total number of 96 page Pathfinder Adventure Path books: 40. Total Pages: 3,840
Standard Adventure Modules
The less “story arc” driven adventure modules that Paizo has created for 3.5 and for PFRPG is somewhat more restrained. 22 have been released for D&D3.5 and 11 have been released or are on the docket for PFRPG.
Interestingly, Paizo has now started with some smaller multi-module adventure arcs in this line as well. For example, the Adventure trilogy Crypt of the Everflame/Mask of the Living God/City of Golden Death was just finished this month. It seems that even the one-offs sell better in “mini-paths”.
Total number of 32 page Adventure Modules: 33. Total Pages: 1,056
Pathfinder Society Modules
These little gems don’t get nearly the respect they deserve as they are sold as PDFs only. Erik Mona just released a double adventure module this past month with three more to follow this year. They are all at least 16 pages each, are in full color and each includes at least one page of professional Paizo quality color maps. Many of the modules exceed this “page” count by 2 to 4 pages. A few of these modules exceed the 16 page “limit” by a fair bit more than that (yes Erik Mona, I’m looking at you). Paizo releases at least two of these a month, but there have been exceptions to this which have actually pushed up that release schedule by a few more than that each year.
The end result is that there will be 54 of these things by the end of “Season 1” in July 2010. Each adventure is about the same size as we used to get in a Dungeon Magazine adventure. A lot of these adventures are written by new talent – just like Dungeon Magazine published. And many of them are written by the same prime-time professionals who write for the flagship Pathfinder Adventure Path line as well (and who used to write for Dungeon Magazine).
Total # of 16+ page Pathfinder Society Adventures: 55. Total approximate = 880 pages
Complete Adventure Material to date: the Total Pages to current end of Paizo 2010 catalog: approximately 5,584 pages.
This page count excludes some unannounced titles and all of Season 2 Pathfinder Society Modules for the balance of the year, which should bring that page count to approximately 5,750 pages or so by the end of 2010.
5,750 pages across 128 different SKUS of what can fairly be categorized as almost PURE ADVENTURE material in less than 4 years’ time. 18 physical products a year, plus an additional 26 digital release only Pathfinder Society modules. That works out to about 1,350 physical pages and another 470 pages or so released in .pdf only format. I repeat – that’s just adventure material not setting material.
Did TSR, in its heyday in either 1st ed or 2nd edition, create as much adventure material as Paizo has on an annual basis? (Adventure material mind you – not setting material) I might be wrong if the TSR era RPGA material is counted in as well – but I think the answer is probably “no.”
Could someone remind me again about all the CLEAR AND CONVINCING EVIDENCE out there in the marketplace that modules don’t sell these days? Because unless there is a warehouse full of this stuff with rising inventories that just won’t ever sell (and that’s distinctly possible when it comes to Paizo’s older 3.5 OGL stock) – Ms. Stevens and Co. over at Paizo Publishing LLC seem to be awfully busy making these modules so that they can’t sell them.
Could it be that the real point to take away from the 2nd Edition of AD&D is that CRAP modules “just don’t sell”? Is it possible that what we are seeing with Paizo is that high quality modules, it turns out, sell pretty frickin well indeed? Consider as well that Paizo rolled the dice and perhaps struck a hidden gold mine by converting over Dungeon and Dragon magazine subscribers into ongoing open subscription customers at a rate that greatly exceeded their own internal expectations?
Only Paizo knows what that ultimate conversion rate of subscribers was, but, looks to me like whatever it was – it was high enough to give Paizo a solid base of “guaranteed sales” on which to embark on what can only be described as a simply breathtaking publication pace since the end of their magazine era.
And let’s be clear on this point. The above is adventure material only. I haven’t even GOT to the “setting material” yet, of which there is another canoe full.
Setting Material
Pathfinder Chronicles
The Pathfinder Chronicles line are principally GM only products that centre on detailing, in whole or in part, the world of Golarion. 17 were released for 3.5 under the OGL and another 18 are out or due later this year for the setting under the PFRPG.
Page count here is much more difficult to estimate, and the product line includes map Folios and other poster maps as well as larger hardcovers and smaller scale products in between. Still, the SKU count is 35 products in total and a LOT of ink has been spilt here. They’ve only been at this for three years. It might be that the Forgotten Realms got this sort of attention paid to it in its heyday – but Greyhawk during the 1st edition era surely didn’t. Not even close.
Pathfinder Companion
This product line is a little more malleable. It is principally targeted at players as well as GMs. It encompasses some nearly “rule” like products which cover some magic items and equipment. Most are pure setting, culture, and region defining books for Golarion meant for mainly GMs but which are still very player friendly – especially on the more “Rules-like” side of the product line. Still, the product line is meant to be relatively inexpensive and the size of the products weighs in with a page count of 32 pages. If you had to compare it to prior products in the field, it looks a lot like what we saw in the 2nd ed era of AD&D.
They are 16 of these released or to be released through 2010.
Gamemastery Line
There are a whole raft of products which do not at first blush appear to be tied into the Pathfinder game or Golarion setting. But this is somewhat deceiving. The highly successful flip-mat line of products is referenced and used quite often in the Pathfinder Society Modules as encounter location maps. The cards that are offered in this product line are also cross-referenced and referred to in some Pathfinder branded products too. On the whole, it’s stealth branding which nevertheless belies a level of incestuous brand and product cross-support.
Traditional Marketing? Who Needs It?
The remarkable thing is, all of this solid vast array of products has been released to the public without the benefit of a single print advertisement in Dungeon or Dragon to generate product awareness. They would have sold those magazines if they could have of course – but they were forced to stop publishing them – and instead go into direct competition with WotC, albeit with a very different product mix.
So instead of print advertisements, every Friday night – so that the e-mail is received on the morning of the one day which is traditionally dedicated towards gaming (and game shopping, I expect) by more members of the hobby than any other day? I don’t know about you – but that’s the day that Paizo’s direct e-mail advertising shows up in my inbox.
And the delivery cost of that e-mail is a damn site cheaper than the cost of a weekly print ad, I wager.
So, what’s missing from all the above?
Rules
Rules are missing here of course. There is, in comparison to WotC, a staggering shortage of Rules SKUS being sold here.
The Pathfinder Core Rules, even sold at $49.99 for the nearly 600 page size of the full color tome, is not likely to generate a ton of direct profit for Paizo. I’m sure they made some money on it – but it’s a big and expensive book – and they sell to Diamond Comics as their distributor principally, who takes their cut, before it goes to Amazon or other Book and Game retailers. But, just the same the PFRPG Core Rules is in its third printing now, as of this week. I’m not sure how large each print run was, but whatever the size, a third printing in under 10 months time can only mean success.
I cannot shake the feeling that the main intention, however, was to sell the Core rules and install it so they could then sell us their other products at a higher margin. With the PF Core rules, Paizo gave away the razor to sell us blades.
The PFRPG Bestiary, similarly, is now just in its second run. There is a Gamemaster’s Guide for PFRPG due out this summer, but it’s not likely to change many rules, per se and it has not been hyped all that much. The hype is being left for the Advanced Player’s Guide this Gencon. I think Paizo wants to make some money on that rule book.
In the end, one year passes – with only one significant addition to the Rules. The rest is devoted almost entirely to adventure and setting material at a rate that no other company currently matches – and with respect to supporting only one setting world in that timespan – perhaps has NEVER been matched.
For completeness, there is a Bestiary 2 due out this Fall. Again – not something that will change the underlying rules and going on a power creep binge, but simply expands GM options.
Taking all of this in stride and assessing all of the product lines and the frequency of their release schedule, I think it is EXCEEDINGLY clear that Paizo is not WotC – they are, in fact, the next TSR.
But this time, in a perhaps improved form, as: there is only one world setting to support; there is a clear concept and vision of product quality; there is a policy of extremely high staff accessibility practiced by the CEO down; their game system is extremely open to 3rd party support; and, so far at least – there is a pattern of what would appear to be significant success in the marketplace reportedly with their best year ever in 2009.
Still... 5,750 pages of adventures! Who says Modules don't sell?
The result? In a word? Wow. Just...WOW.
There have been threads here which have compared Paizo to WotC. IMO, that comparison is wholly misplaced. Paizo is the new TSR. I mean that in a good way – and I hope that it is taken in that fashion. I suppose, it is entirely possible that someday we mean it in a bad way too – but so far, everything looks to be good.
Why do I say this? Because the proof is in the product line. And it is simply a bewildering array of module and setting material. I don’t mean a little. I don’t even mean a canoe full – because I’m not sure it would actually FIT in a canoe. Well – maybe a large Voyageur fur-trader style cargo canoe, but not a 14’ fibreglass fishing model. If that’s the yardstick, in my estimation, Pathfinder is now coming perilously close to becoming a TWO CANOE product line.
Witness the staggering array of adventure material that Paizo has released in the past three years and plans to release in the balance of 2010 year for Pathfinder/3.5.
Adventure Material
This heading alone is simply mind-boggling. It breaks down like this:
Pathfinder Adventure Path
The flagship continues to be the Pathfinder Adventure Path books. There are 4 complete Pathfinder Adventure Paths series of six books each which have been released for ver 3.5 under the OGL. One more complete Path is already complete for PFRGP and another one, Kingmaker, also for PFRPG will complete this August. Serpent’s Skull for PFRPG is due for release in September 2010.
Total number of 96 page Pathfinder Adventure Path books: 40. Total Pages: 3,840
Standard Adventure Modules
The less “story arc” driven adventure modules that Paizo has created for 3.5 and for PFRPG is somewhat more restrained. 22 have been released for D&D3.5 and 11 have been released or are on the docket for PFRPG.
Interestingly, Paizo has now started with some smaller multi-module adventure arcs in this line as well. For example, the Adventure trilogy Crypt of the Everflame/Mask of the Living God/City of Golden Death was just finished this month. It seems that even the one-offs sell better in “mini-paths”.
Total number of 32 page Adventure Modules: 33. Total Pages: 1,056
Pathfinder Society Modules
These little gems don’t get nearly the respect they deserve as they are sold as PDFs only. Erik Mona just released a double adventure module this past month with three more to follow this year. They are all at least 16 pages each, are in full color and each includes at least one page of professional Paizo quality color maps. Many of the modules exceed this “page” count by 2 to 4 pages. A few of these modules exceed the 16 page “limit” by a fair bit more than that (yes Erik Mona, I’m looking at you). Paizo releases at least two of these a month, but there have been exceptions to this which have actually pushed up that release schedule by a few more than that each year.
The end result is that there will be 54 of these things by the end of “Season 1” in July 2010. Each adventure is about the same size as we used to get in a Dungeon Magazine adventure. A lot of these adventures are written by new talent – just like Dungeon Magazine published. And many of them are written by the same prime-time professionals who write for the flagship Pathfinder Adventure Path line as well (and who used to write for Dungeon Magazine).
Total # of 16+ page Pathfinder Society Adventures: 55. Total approximate = 880 pages
Complete Adventure Material to date: the Total Pages to current end of Paizo 2010 catalog: approximately 5,584 pages.
This page count excludes some unannounced titles and all of Season 2 Pathfinder Society Modules for the balance of the year, which should bring that page count to approximately 5,750 pages or so by the end of 2010.
5,750 pages across 128 different SKUS of what can fairly be categorized as almost PURE ADVENTURE material in less than 4 years’ time. 18 physical products a year, plus an additional 26 digital release only Pathfinder Society modules. That works out to about 1,350 physical pages and another 470 pages or so released in .pdf only format. I repeat – that’s just adventure material not setting material.
Did TSR, in its heyday in either 1st ed or 2nd edition, create as much adventure material as Paizo has on an annual basis? (Adventure material mind you – not setting material) I might be wrong if the TSR era RPGA material is counted in as well – but I think the answer is probably “no.”
Could someone remind me again about all the CLEAR AND CONVINCING EVIDENCE out there in the marketplace that modules don’t sell these days? Because unless there is a warehouse full of this stuff with rising inventories that just won’t ever sell (and that’s distinctly possible when it comes to Paizo’s older 3.5 OGL stock) – Ms. Stevens and Co. over at Paizo Publishing LLC seem to be awfully busy making these modules so that they can’t sell them.
Could it be that the real point to take away from the 2nd Edition of AD&D is that CRAP modules “just don’t sell”? Is it possible that what we are seeing with Paizo is that high quality modules, it turns out, sell pretty frickin well indeed? Consider as well that Paizo rolled the dice and perhaps struck a hidden gold mine by converting over Dungeon and Dragon magazine subscribers into ongoing open subscription customers at a rate that greatly exceeded their own internal expectations?
Only Paizo knows what that ultimate conversion rate of subscribers was, but, looks to me like whatever it was – it was high enough to give Paizo a solid base of “guaranteed sales” on which to embark on what can only be described as a simply breathtaking publication pace since the end of their magazine era.
And let’s be clear on this point. The above is adventure material only. I haven’t even GOT to the “setting material” yet, of which there is another canoe full.
Setting Material
Pathfinder Chronicles
The Pathfinder Chronicles line are principally GM only products that centre on detailing, in whole or in part, the world of Golarion. 17 were released for 3.5 under the OGL and another 18 are out or due later this year for the setting under the PFRPG.
Page count here is much more difficult to estimate, and the product line includes map Folios and other poster maps as well as larger hardcovers and smaller scale products in between. Still, the SKU count is 35 products in total and a LOT of ink has been spilt here. They’ve only been at this for three years. It might be that the Forgotten Realms got this sort of attention paid to it in its heyday – but Greyhawk during the 1st edition era surely didn’t. Not even close.
Pathfinder Companion
This product line is a little more malleable. It is principally targeted at players as well as GMs. It encompasses some nearly “rule” like products which cover some magic items and equipment. Most are pure setting, culture, and region defining books for Golarion meant for mainly GMs but which are still very player friendly – especially on the more “Rules-like” side of the product line. Still, the product line is meant to be relatively inexpensive and the size of the products weighs in with a page count of 32 pages. If you had to compare it to prior products in the field, it looks a lot like what we saw in the 2nd ed era of AD&D.
They are 16 of these released or to be released through 2010.
Gamemastery Line
There are a whole raft of products which do not at first blush appear to be tied into the Pathfinder game or Golarion setting. But this is somewhat deceiving. The highly successful flip-mat line of products is referenced and used quite often in the Pathfinder Society Modules as encounter location maps. The cards that are offered in this product line are also cross-referenced and referred to in some Pathfinder branded products too. On the whole, it’s stealth branding which nevertheless belies a level of incestuous brand and product cross-support.
Traditional Marketing? Who Needs It?
The remarkable thing is, all of this solid vast array of products has been released to the public without the benefit of a single print advertisement in Dungeon or Dragon to generate product awareness. They would have sold those magazines if they could have of course – but they were forced to stop publishing them – and instead go into direct competition with WotC, albeit with a very different product mix.
So instead of print advertisements, every Friday night – so that the e-mail is received on the morning of the one day which is traditionally dedicated towards gaming (and game shopping, I expect) by more members of the hobby than any other day? I don’t know about you – but that’s the day that Paizo’s direct e-mail advertising shows up in my inbox.
And the delivery cost of that e-mail is a damn site cheaper than the cost of a weekly print ad, I wager.
So, what’s missing from all the above?
Rules
Rules are missing here of course. There is, in comparison to WotC, a staggering shortage of Rules SKUS being sold here.
The Pathfinder Core Rules, even sold at $49.99 for the nearly 600 page size of the full color tome, is not likely to generate a ton of direct profit for Paizo. I’m sure they made some money on it – but it’s a big and expensive book – and they sell to Diamond Comics as their distributor principally, who takes their cut, before it goes to Amazon or other Book and Game retailers. But, just the same the PFRPG Core Rules is in its third printing now, as of this week. I’m not sure how large each print run was, but whatever the size, a third printing in under 10 months time can only mean success.
I cannot shake the feeling that the main intention, however, was to sell the Core rules and install it so they could then sell us their other products at a higher margin. With the PF Core rules, Paizo gave away the razor to sell us blades.
The PFRPG Bestiary, similarly, is now just in its second run. There is a Gamemaster’s Guide for PFRPG due out this summer, but it’s not likely to change many rules, per se and it has not been hyped all that much. The hype is being left for the Advanced Player’s Guide this Gencon. I think Paizo wants to make some money on that rule book.
In the end, one year passes – with only one significant addition to the Rules. The rest is devoted almost entirely to adventure and setting material at a rate that no other company currently matches – and with respect to supporting only one setting world in that timespan – perhaps has NEVER been matched.
For completeness, there is a Bestiary 2 due out this Fall. Again – not something that will change the underlying rules and going on a power creep binge, but simply expands GM options.
Taking all of this in stride and assessing all of the product lines and the frequency of their release schedule, I think it is EXCEEDINGLY clear that Paizo is not WotC – they are, in fact, the next TSR.
But this time, in a perhaps improved form, as: there is only one world setting to support; there is a clear concept and vision of product quality; there is a policy of extremely high staff accessibility practiced by the CEO down; their game system is extremely open to 3rd party support; and, so far at least – there is a pattern of what would appear to be significant success in the marketplace reportedly with their best year ever in 2009.
Still... 5,750 pages of adventures! Who says Modules don't sell?
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When I was younger I had lots of different rulebooks for different games, now I have settled on a very few core rules sets - but still have a lot of scenarios to hand, for different systems.
