11/FEB/13
New Releases: What upcoming games are you looking forward to?
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#1
06-15-2008, 03:41 PM
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Pathfinder: Or, "Should have been 4E."
Give it a look at here:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG The Scoop: Paizo, former publishers of both the Dungeon and Dragon magazines and publisher of a popular lines of D&D modules and adventures has decided not to convert to 4E. Instead, they are developing their own RPG using the OGL and the 3.5 SRD. It's not just a PHB rehash; they're attempting to add more to all of the core classes, streamline some of the rules while still keeping it d20 and making everything still compatible fully with the entire 3.5 library. Right now the game is in an "Alpha" test state. They encourage everyone to sign up to their site and download the PDF of the current draft of the rules and openly discuss on the forums their quams. Already they've gone through 3 revisions and have changed (and even back tracked) on rules based on the community feedback. This August, they're releasing a Beta OGL book that is essentially the rough draft of the final book. It'll be sold in print but freely distributable online for anyone to playtest. Aside from changes being made now, the Beta rulebook will function as its own stand alone so anyone who's never picked up D&D will have a copy of the full rules to playtest and learn. The final hardcover edition will be released August 2009, hopefully as a product the community will support. I like this approach; it sounds like ideal thinking and fluff given by the MMO developers. But in Tabletop RPG's, they have the abilities and the freedom to adjust things according to the players. I love the open involvement and free distribution during the testing they are giving the community; as opposed to Wizard's tactics of "Here's a glimpse of how we're wrecking your game." And for me, it's nice to see a "new" game on the horizon that is compatible with my current library of D&D/d20 books. We've started converting to the playtest rules in my tabletop game; and I see nothing but smiles as the new class features breathe life into the game and appears to be getting my crew excited about d20 again. Anyone else grooving this? I'm kinda happy to see such a big endeavor by a very good company help keep the 3.5/d20 system alive during the next "age" of D&D. 
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#2
06-15-2008, 05:10 PM
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I'm intrigued. Never played Pathfinder, but everything I've read about it says its pretty fexible. They don't specifically say why they wont go 4th edition, although to be honest I'm glad they have gone the 3.5 route. Any reason you know of why they have?
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#3
06-15-2008, 08:30 PM
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Well it's because they already have a campaign world they've been publishing for some time under the d20/3.5 rules and all. Wizards has actually stated that for publishers to publish their work under 4th editon, they must totally discontinue support for their settings in 3E/3.5 and cease selling these products 6 months before releasing their 4th edition.
4E, in all honesty, is VERY limiting when converting 3.5 campaigns. All of a sudden there's less core classes, a couple that didn't exist to begin with, and major ones dissappeared all together (No more Bards, Monks and Druids). A couple of the core races are suddenly not there (Half-Orcs and Gnomes are now "playable monster races in the Monster Manual). In essence, to go to 4E would require completely re-writing their already established setting, and having to re-release their source books under the new rules. Instead, they chose to keep the Pathfinder line under the OGL/3.5 and since the core 3.5 is no longer in print and supported by Wizards, it just made sense to put out their own version to keep the line going and have the rules available for new players to pick up and learn. One other note: They've been talking about releasing their own SRD once everything's together...so in essence this really is like the next generation of d20 evolved. They're even having assistance from Monte Cook in the development, so that wins fanboy points with me further.
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#5
06-15-2008, 10:50 PM
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Looks pretty interesting. I'll wait for the beta edition to pass final judgement, but it looks like it could be a decent alternative to switching to 4E. I have a feeling a lot of people with light wallets will like that. (And, conversely, Wizards will not.)
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#6
06-16-2008, 03:43 AM
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Quote:
When the Beta comes out this August, I'll consider running a pure campaign of it for play testing purposes since the full rules will be available to everyone.
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#7
06-16-2008, 04:58 AM
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I'm intrigued by Pathfinder and will gladly give it a go. My entire group (including me) is not at all happy with 4e simply because we don't want to pay again for a game that we already have. We've already spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on D&D and just don't feel like having to replace everything...again. (Heck, we've still got stuff from 1st edition floating around on our bookshelves.)
The fact that Pathfinder will be compatible with what we already have makes it much more palatable, to us.
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#8
08-14-2008, 06:35 PM
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Just an awesome announcement for my 1000th post here:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG The Beta has officially been released! Full, free PDF document available for download that contains EVERYTHING you would need to hop into the game. Also, a print version is available for $25 if you so desire a copy. These are the rules that will be in development and pending community and player feedback for the final, hardcover book to be released at Gencon next year. If you never got into D&D/d20 RPGs, go ahead and grab this bad boy. If you hated 4E and would like to see more stuff for d20/3.5, go ahead and grab it NOW.
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159
The number of games with "Pirate" in the title.
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