So....the edition treadmill

[Mercurius]

It has begun again. I wasn't sure if Paizo was going to go "classic" on us, or try something new, but it seems likely they're doubling down on "old school" edition cycling.

They're coming out with a new series of campaign books - first a world guide, then character guide, Absalom, and I'm sure more to come - although under the guise of "Lost Omens" (not sure how it is different than classic Golarion? Can someone explain?). They've already got the Bestiary 1, and presumably 2 and more in the pipeline; we've got Gamemastery Guide and Gods & Magic on the horizon.

So will they pretty much re-do all of the old books, or do you think they'll do something different? Maybe the core old books and some new things mixed in?

Not judging either way, just curious what the plan is. I started a couple threads that addressed some of these questions, but it seems we know more now. I suppose the big question is how successful 2E will be, which will dictate what they come out with.

 

[Fanaelialae]

I think it'll be a mix of old and new. Some of the stuff is obvious. The CRB was a guarantee, as are the Beastiary and Gamemastery Guide. They're basically the classic D&D core trio.

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that in addition to redoing the old classes, they intend to add new ones. So new books also seem likely.

I'm under the impression that the core base of PF wants lots of content, so it behooves Paizo to provide it.

 

[Campbell]

So the transition to Lost Omens is a marketing thing. It's still the same Golarian with updates to account for the canonical outcomes of the Adventure Paths. It's just easier to sell things to distributors that use English words rather than made up words.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Yeah it seems that the idea of splat books plus campaign books have been merged into one book. With more or less crunch Vs fluff

 

[darjr]

It is interesting that Paizo’s slow release cycle is the new treadmill. I’ve heard it from new folks about 5e. I wonder what they’d think about the “normal” release cycles of yore.

 

[kenada]

Yeah, compared to the previous rate of monthly campaign setting and player’s companion releases, this is much slower. Paizo is promising a similar amount of content, but a slower recycle schedule lets them hold something back if it needs a little longer to cook.

 

[Staffan]

Some releases are just natural, such as a new campaign guide to cover the changes since the Inner Sea World Guide was released, an Advanced Player's Guide to provide Moar! Options!, and a Game-Mastery Guide to cover GMing stuff like making monsters/NPCs/hazards as well as some discussion on optional rules. More bestiaries are also always fun.

The interesting thing will be seeing what they do beyond that. They've mentioned that they'd like to do some different stuff with the product line, so we will likely not see the old Ultimate Combat/Magic/Intrigue/etc. return. It's likely that that sort of stuff will be integrated into other books in the future.

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing an annual or biannual "Companion"-type book - that is, similar to the old Rolemaster Companions. They were essentially books that were full of Stuff, and that stuff was all over the place. A few new classes professions, some magic, a system for determining height/weight, rules on siege combat... whatever. The advantage of this is that they're not committed to doing all the combat stuff first, next all the magic stuff, and so on, but can include whatever seems appropriate.

 

[Aldarc]

They're coming out with a new series of campaign books - first a world guide, then character guide, Absalom, and I'm sure more to come - although under the guise of "Lost Omens" (not sure how it is different than classic Golarion? Can someone explain?).

Creative Director James Jacobs had apparently wanted to call the campaign setting "Lost Omens" for a long time, possibly since the beginning. The name "Lost Omens" is in reference to the Post-Aroden Era where prophecy died when Aroden, God of Humanity and Prophecy, also died. With the switch to PF2, this gives James Jacobs an opportunity to correct things.

Golarion itself has definitely changed. The completion of the adventure paths are presumed true, though Paizo used what they felt were the standard or more interesting endings.

So will they pretty much re-do all of the old books, or do you think they'll do something different? Maybe the core old books and some new things mixed in?

Probably the latter. It will take time, but they will require a number of books to update a lot of prior ancestry and class options.

 

[Mercurius]

So the transition to Lost Omens is a marketing thing. It's still the same Golarian with updates to account for the canonical outcomes of the Adventure Paths. It's just easier to sell things to distributors that use English words rather than made up words.

Creative Director James Jacobs had apparently wanted to call the campaign setting "Lost Omens" for a long time, possibly since the beginning. The name "Lost Omens" is in reference to the Post-Aroden Era where prophecy died when Aroden, God of Humanity and Prophecy, also died. With the switch to PF2, this gives James Jacobs an opportunity to correct things.

Golarion itself has definitely changed. The completion of the adventure paths are presumed true, though Paizo used what they felt were the standard or more interesting endings.

Probably the latter. It will take time, but they will require a number of books to update a lot of prior ancestry and class options.

Thanks. So "Lost Omens" is Golarion updated from the adventure paths, but is the timeline advanced? I wasn't sure if there was a timeline advance and/or Big Event in which all the omens were lost.

 

[Aldarc]

Thanks. So "Lost Omens" is Golarion updated from the adventure paths, but is the timeline advanced? I wasn't sure if there was a timeline advance and/or Big Event in which all the omens were lost.

I believe there has been a ten-year advance in the timeline of Golarion, approximately for the ten years between editions.

Timeline
4606: Age of Lost Omens begins when Aroden, god of humanity and prophecy, dies. Omens and prophecy begin failing.
4710: Pathfinder 1
4719: Pathfinder 2