[UPDATED] What's Paizo's "Big News"?

Paizo developer Mark Moreland says that "we have big news! You won't believe it when we announce it." He says it in a thread on Paizo's messageboards about Pathfinder Tales novels and their recent publishing deal with Tor, but that's already been announced. Whether the big news is novels-related or RPG-related (or something else entirely) is unknown. What sort of news would be big enough that he'd say we won't believe it when it's announced?

UPDATE - Mark has clarified (in the comments below):

So, the "big news" was, in fact, the Tor deal.

Sometimes, even years into working at Paizo, something we announce triggers my fanboy circuits and I get overly excited. I'm a huge fan of Pathfinder fiction, and as someone with next to no hand in the content that comes out of it, I can still scratch that fan itch by reading the fiction and not already knowing what's coming next. In that excitement, I made what I thought was a funny joke; the sort of post I might have made as a snarky member of the Paizo fan community rather than a representative of the company.

The post was meant to be something of the "but wait, there's more" exclamation in an infomercial after the deal is already too good to pass up. Turns out, people were already excited about the news and I overshadowed it with nonexistent news.

So be excited about the Tor announcement!

That's the news!

It's as big as it gets!

These are not the droids you're looking for!

I'm going to go back to developing this Campaign Setting book and leave the fiction announcements and excitement management to more qualified individuals. Sorry for the confusion!

​

 

[Zarithar]

You can get his books in epub, and use them on kindle, no?

Most likely, but I am lazy even with things that bring convenience. This way I will only have to press ONE button!

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Wow. What a blatant grab at publicity over nothing. Color me underwhelmed and uninterested.

 

[turkeygiant]

Wow. What a blatant grab at publicity over nothing. Color me underwhelmed and uninterested.

Well they need to try and get our attention...but overselling frankly boring news might not be the way to do it...

I sure haven't bought anything from Paizo in more than a year...maybe two..., and if they want to get me interested in Pathfinder. Golarion, or Paizo in general again they are going to have to get off the supplement treadmill and make some ground level core materials whether that be a new edition of Pathfinder or a second entirely original game line. I'm not going to buy entire books of band-aid mechanical fixes (pathfinder unchained) or lessons on how to play a bloated system (strategy guide) 6-7 years into a system's life-cycle when they should really be pulling the trigger on a new edition.

 

[TheSwartz]

I don't get it. What's "Tor"?

 

[Morrus]

I don't get it. What's "Tor"?

A large book publishing company.

 

[TheSwartz]

A large book publishing company.

Oh. I thought Paizo was a publisher?

I'll go read up on it.

 

[pedr]

Paizo is a publisher, but it's a small one. It doesn't have a reputation with the fiction buying world, or the networks or scale which established book publishers have. Tor is owned my Macmillan and it's a large publisher of sci-fi/fantasy books so distributors look at its catalogues when deciding what to sell to retailers, etc.

This is very good for the Paizo brand, for widening the reach of the Golarion campaign setting, and encouraging more quality writers to write Pathfinder novels.

 

[pickin_grinnin]

they are going to have to get off the supplement treadmill and make some ground level core materials whether that be a new edition of Pathfinder or a second entirely original game line

I have stopped buying the supplements, as well. They just don't give me enough new stuff to be worth the price. Any given one may give a handful of new feats and a couple of additions to class options, but the other 95% of it just doesn't give me anything useful. I would pay for a "big book of feats" or something like the ACG that actually has unique, interesting, creative, non-derivative classes, but most of the stuff they put out just holds no appeal for me. Since I always create my own worlds, magic items, adventures, etc., most of the supplements just aren't worth it to me.

I was briefly interested in the upcoming Occult Adventures book (since I like 19th century occult stuff), but all the space wasted on the "kineticist" classes pretty much ruined it for me, at least as a full-cost, non-used purchase. The whole kineticist thing is completely out of of sync with a 19th century occult flavor.

Overall, though, I'm probably going to sell off all my Pathfinder supplements soon, and even a few of the hardbacks. In the end, I'm mainly interested in the core mechanics, the classes, and the feats. Anything that doesn't give me a hefty dose of at least one of those is probably going on eBay.

 

[pickin_grinnin]

Tor is a great imprint, but I just can't get interested in books based on rpgs. They are rarely as good as regular genre fiction.

 

[Henry]

Tor is a great imprint, but I just can't get interested in books based on rpgs. They are rarely as good as regular genre fiction.

I do heavily recommend "Liar's Blade" By Tim Pratt. Kind of a cross between traditional sword and sorcery and a Hope & Crosby Road Movie.