Tag Archives: paizo publishing

Preview: Starfinder: Angels of the Drift #3

Starfinder: Angels of the Drift #3

writer: James L. Sutter
artist: Edu Menna
covers: Biagio d’Alessandro (A), Richard Pace (B), Edu Menna (C)
FC | All Cardstock Covers | 32 pages | Fantasy | $4.99 | Teen+

In the science-fantasy universe of the bestselling Starfinder roleplaying game, five down-on-their-luck mercenaries race across uncharted space on a desperate mission to avert a devastating war over faster-than-light technology.

In this chapter, our unlucky heroes find themselves on the wrong end of a pending execution! Can Navasi concoct a plan to save them all?

Written by Starfinder RPG co-creator JAMES L. SUTTER (Pathfinder: Runescars) and artist EDU MENNA (Army of Darkness), this issue features three outstanding covers by series artist EDU MENNA, RICHARD PACE (Batman, Second Coming), and BIAGIO D’ALESSANDRO (Pathfinder), and also includes playable character stats and new story-based character options—including a new playable species — all officially sanctioned by the Starfinder Society!

Starfinder: Angels of the Drift #3

Gen Con 2023: Paizo announces Starfinder Second Edition

Starfinder

 As part of the company keynote presentation for Gen Con 2023, Paizo Inc. announced Starfinder Second Edition. The new edition will be published under the ORC License and implements the three-action economy, making it fully compatible with Pathfinder Second Edition and the Remaster Project.

The announcement featured a short panel with the Starfinder team – Thurston Hillman, Jenny Jarzabski, Dustin Knight, and Jessica Catalan. The roundtable discussion highlighted some key elements of the upcoming Starfinder Playtest and the new edition:

  • This is the most open playtest Paizo has ever launched, with deeper looks into the development process.
  • Pathfinder Second Edition and Starfinder Second Edition rulesets will be completely cross-compatible, allowing for cross-system porting of classes, creatures, and more — provided your GM allows it.
  • The first four classes announced for the Starfinder Playtest are:o   Mystic, represented by the iconic shirren mystic Chk Chk – son of the previous iconic mystic, Keskodai.o   Soldier, represented by the returning iconic vesk soldier Obozaya.o   Envoy, represented by the returning iconic human envoy Navasi.o   Solarion, represented by a new iconic pahtra solarian — also opening up the feline pahtra as a core ancestry for Starfinder Second Edition.
  • As part of the ‘open playtest’ model, the Starfinder team will be keeping players updated and involved with “Field Tests” — the first of which released today alongside the announcement at starfinderplaytest.como   Content for this first Field Test includes the Soldier Class (Levels 1-5), new equipment, and new creatures (the Computer Glitch Gremlin and Laser Wolf).

The Starfinder Playtest Rulebook will be available in summer 2024 as a softcover rulebook. As Starfinder Second Edition will be using the Pathfinder Second Edition ruleset, base system rules will not be a part of the playtest. Rather, the playtest will focus on the core elements of gameplay, including new classes, a scaling equipment system, new skills, and more.

Pathfinder returns to comics! Starfinder comics announced!

Dynamite Entertainment has revealed the next Pathfinder comic book series! Tabletop connoisseur and fan-favorite writer Fred Van Lente is revving up an all-new party and campaign for Wake the Dead kicking off this May! Writer Fred Van Lente and artist Eman Casallos will be guiding the next adventure!

It’s a new creative team, a new party of Iconics, new lands of Golarion to explore, and unforgettable moments galore in the brand-new adventure. Paizo and Dynamite are teaming up once more to offer not only a thrilling tale but also extra features that players can bring right to their next game nights! It’s been nearly five years since the last major Pathfinder saga in comics, the critically acclaimed Spiral of Bones from writer Crystal Frasier. Since then, the world of Pathfinder in-game and in real-world popularity has exploded even more. With recent record-smashing sales of guidebooks and more, it’s the perfect time for fans of the game to explore this other avenue of carefully crafted content!

The tantalizing prospect of a rendezvous with a Geb defector in possession of priceless secrets from that undead nation is bringing together a diverse group of adventurers to the Nexian metropolis of Ecanus. Van Lente is assembling a mostly all-new grouping of heroes. Readers will get to hang out with Quinn the investigator, Sajan the monk, Lem the bard, and Seelah the champion. All have appeared before in various Pathfinder materials and even comics, but never met each other and partied up until now. Readers of the original hit series by writer Jim Zub and others will be reacquainted with Harsk the dwarf ranger too though! When they all find themselves cornered by the city’s remorseless Deathsealers, can the Iconics band together for survival and escape a city full of hostile wizards alive?

For this new series, Van Lente is joined by artist Eman Casallos, who will bring his dungeon master-esque storytelling to the page. Artists Steve Ellis and Biago d’Alessandro also contribute covers to issues, in addition to Casallos. d’Allesandro’s covers for each issue of the series will also connect to form a larger image when all are collected.

Each issue of Pathfinder: Wake the Dead features premium cardstock covers for a top-tier product for collectors and something durable that will survive the rigors of the gaming table. Issues will also come with bonus material useful for players of the game. These will include playable character stats for the iconic paladin Seelah, new character options for inhabitants of the magical military city of Ecanus, and more. All of these extra features are officially sanctioned by the Pathfinder Society!

Paizo and tabletop fans can stay tuned too, as the first ever Starfinder comics are right around the corner too! More information about that series will be revealed soon!

Starfinder Society faces “The Year of Fortune’s Fall” for Year 6

Starfinder Society Year 6

Paizo has announced that the new Year 6 Starfinder Society metaplot will center around a mysterious and powerful criminal syndicate and be called The Year of Fortune’s Fall. It will begin at PaizoCon Online 2023, over Memorial Day Weekend in May. It will run for a full year and told over the course of seven Starfinder Society Scenarios.

Paizo Starfinder Society Developer, Jessica Catalan, gives the setup:

The Starfinder Society stands proud and united, yet trouble gathers on the horizon. When a mysterious and powerful criminal syndicate, dubbed the Organization, enacts a bloody attack within the Pact Worlds, First Seeker Ehu Hadif vows to bring an end to their predations. Yet, this attack is only the opening salvo in a plot destined to doom millions. It’s up to you to unravel the plans of the Organization and bring the group’s leaders to justice! Will the Starfinder Society emerge triumphant or will the Organization be our downfall?

The Year of Fortune’s Fall metaplot kicks off with Starfinder Society Intro: Year of Fortune’s Fall, an adventure for 1st- to 4th-level characters written by Mahpiya. This exciting scenario is centered on a gala celebration hosted by the Grand Museum of Qabarat on Castrovel. This scenario debuts at PaizoCon Online 2023, alongside one other Starfinder Society Scenario.

There are seven Starfinder Society Scenarios that directly influence the Year of Fortune’s Fall metaplot. Each will be marked with a special metaplot icon on the cover.

With the launch of Year 6, the following species will become “always available” for Organized Play: gnoll, hanakan, kiirinta, quorlu, raxilite, and shimreen. Four other species will become purchasable with Achievement Points: kobold, psyacnoid, scyphozoan, and uplifted bear. Additionally, many species that were showcased in Starfinder Interstellar Species, such as contemplative and urog, will have a reduced point cost to unlock.

New players can read about the story so far and start playing Starfinder Society today.

Atlas Games announces its support for Paizo’s ORC License system

Atlas Games

With an unknown future concerning Wizard of the Coasts’ Open Gaming License, numerous other companies are stepping up with their own gaming license. Paizo recently released its ORC licensing system.

Atlas Games has announced its plans and where its company stands in the shifting and unknown future. Read their full statement below:

Written by John Nephew, owner Atlas Games

You’ve probably heard about the Open Game License controversy. In brief, after 23 years of consensus over what the OGL is and how it works, Wizards of the Coast appears to have planned to revoke and replace it with something else (an “OGL1.1”) going forward. Linda Codega at i09/Gizmodo broke the news, and they have been staying abreast of the story as it develops. 

As we wrote in an update to Planegea backers, though Planegea is published under the OGL1.0a and the SRD5.1, we do not see this having any effect on our delivery of rewards for that campaign.

But suddenly a lot of people are anxious about what the OGL means, after relying on it for 23 years. In the face of this uncertainty, a group of publishers led by Paizo Publishing and Azora Law are working to the Open RPG Creative (ORC) License, designer to service the needs of the RPG community and to be assigned to a non-profit entity rather than a single corporation and its potential future changes in ownership and agendas. We have great confidence in Azora Law (they handled our trademark registrations for AtlasGames and Open Upon a Time), and a long history of collaborating with many of the game companies involved. 

Atlas Games support the ORC. We have already released the WaRP System SRD under the OGL 1.0a, for Over the Edge; we expect to also release it under the ORC License as soon as it is finalized.

Going forward, we are considering other RPG rules and content that we can release under the ORC. We have long had internal discussions about  how to open up licensing of Ars Magica. We will look closely at the ORC License as the means to do so. Nothing is firmly decided, but we intend to deliberate in public and in conversation with the game’s community as we move forward. And we will be looking to the community for help with the work of making it happen.

Stop by our message boards if you have thoughts to share on this topic!

CLICK HERE TO READ THE BLOG POST

Paizo announces a System-Neutral Open RPG License

Open RPG

There’s been lots of chatter and rumors about Wizards of the Coast’s upcoming new version of its Open Gaming License (OGL) causing an unknown future in tabletop roleplaying. In response, Paizo has begun work on a new open, perpetual, and irrevocable Open RPG Creative License (ORC).

Since 2000, the OGL has improved the community, incubated creativity, and grown the business of not only the licensees but the licensor. A stated goal of a perpetual and irrevocable OGL was to ensure the establishment and longevity of gaming networks and to drive sales to both. Recent reinterpretation notwithstanding, it succeeded with roleplaying games seeing a golden age and creativity level not seen in decades. Many companies including Wizards of the Coast have benefitted from that growth.

The Open RPG Creative License (ORC) will be built system agnostic for independent game publishers under the legal guidance of Azora Law, an intellectual property law firm that represents Paizo and several other game publishers. Multiple leading publishers have already signed on to the effort to create a new and truly open license that allows all games to provide their own unique open rules reference documents that open up their individual game systems to the world.

You can find the complete details on Paizo’s blog.

Head to Alluvion with the Starfinder Adventure Path: Drift Hackers Vol. 1 A Light in the Dark

The Drift Crisis continues! In crumbling Alluvion, the goddess Triune’s city domain within the Drift, the heroes are thrust into the center of tensions between anxious factions at the heart of the Drift Crisis catastrophe! By agreeing to aid a desperate android priest of Casandalee, the heroes can start to help healing these divides. But first, they must curry the favor of a community of ysoki scrappers outside of the Dark, a neighborhood where technology doesn’t work that hasn’t been touched by light for decades. Exploring those murky streets, they confront undead menaces and otherworldly spirits of hatred and anger, eventually restoring light and power to the cursed region, and shining further illumination as to the origin of the Drift Crisis!

“A Light in the Dark” is a Starfinder adventure for four 7th-level characters, launching the 3-volume Drift Hackers Adventure Path. Drift Hackers is the exciting conclusion of the Drift Crisis, an event taking place across the entire Starfinder game line, in which faster-than-light travel breaks down and the galaxy is thrown into chaos. In addition to the adventure itself, this book includes a player’s guide filled with character creation advice and new gear designed just for Drift Hackers players, along with an Adventure Toolbox filled with new rule options and strange alien creatures.

Get yours now:
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Paizo Publishing provided Board Game Today with a FREE copy for review
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Paizo and TYPE40 Announce a Partnership

Paizo, the publisher of the Pathfinder and Starfinder Roleplaying games, has announced a new partnership with multi-award-winning studio, TYPE40. Known for their work across multiple genres, TYPE40 has brought joy to gamers and collectors for over a decade.

Creating props and in-world artifacts, TYPE40 will bring new levels of immersion to players’ games, giving you and your players new ways to enjoy Pathfinder and Starfinder. Product details are yet to be announced.

Paizo and Type40

Fear the night with Pathfinder Adventure: Shadows at Sundown

Pathfinder Adventure: Shadows at Sundown

Pathfinder Adventure: Shadows at Sundown, and its accessory Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Shadows at Sundown, are now available for the second edition of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game at game and books stores world-wide and at paizo.com.

Players of the Pathfinder First Edition Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path still tell tales of how the city of Korvosa is perched on the edge of anarchy—the king was dead, and rumors whispered that his young queen might be responsible! It has been well over a decade since Queen Ileosa was defeated, but the city of Korvosa still fears the evil tyrant’s legacy. And so, when ghosts of the sinister queen manifest on the streets after dark, the need for new heroes arises! Pathfinder Adventure: Shadows at Sundown is an adventure for 11th-level characters written by Landon Winkler. While a standalone story, it builds upon themes and plots from years of adventures set in the Varisian city of Korvosa, and includes new monsters and new challenges to test the mightiest heroes. Who will save the city of Korvosa from the dangers that hide in the Shadows at Sundown?

The Cathedral of Pharasma, goddess of death, has long stood watch over the city of Korvosa’s sprawling graveyard. This Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Shadows at Sundown details the cathedral itself, as well as the catacombs that exist below, suitable for use in play with Pathfinder Adventure: Shadows at Sundown or for any cathedral and attached catacomb found in your own campaign.

Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Shadows at Sundown

The 64-page softcover Pathfinder Adventure: Shadows at Sundown has an MSRP of $24.99 and is part of the Pathfinder Adventure Subscription, which includes a complimentary PDF. The PDF alone is priced at $17.99, only on paizo.com.

The print edition of Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Shadows at Sundown has an MSRP of $16.99 and is part of the Pathfinder Maps Subscription, which comes with a complimentary digital edition. The digital edition alone is available for $11.99 on paizo.com.


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Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Shadows at SundownGamer NerdzMiniature MarketAmazonCoolStuff Inc.

Enter the megadungeon with Pathfinder Adventure Path: Abomination Vaults

Pathfinder Adventure Path: Abomination Vaults

Pathfinder Adventure Path: Abomination Vaults, the first hardcover compilation an Adventure Path for the second edition of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, is now available at game and books stores world-wide and at paizo.com.

Spiteful evil stirs beneath the mysterious lighthouse called Gauntlight. When the lighthouse emits an eerie glow, locals suspect that something sinister threatens the countryside. Brave heroes must explore the ruins around the lighthouse and delve into the dungeon levels beneath it. Hideous monsters, deadly traps, unexpected allies, vengeful ghosts, and more await the heroes who dare to enter the sprawling megadungeon called the Abomination Vaults! The Abomination Vaults Adventure Path is a complete campaign taking heroes from 1st to 11th level.

The 254-page hardcover Pathfinder Adventure Path: Abomination Vaults an MSRP of $54.99. The Pathfinder Adventure Path: Abomination Vaults Special Edition is a deluxe special edition bound in faux leather with metallic deboss cover elements and a bound-in ribbon bookmark. It has an MSRP of $74.99. The PDF alone is priced at $38.99, only on paizo.com. It is also available for virtual tabletop play on Roll20 and Foundry VTT.


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