"Sundara: Dawn of a New Age" Has Over 250,000 Words (And 22 Separate Supplements)!

So, about 4 and a half years ago now, I embarked on something of an ambitious project... I wanted to start building my own fantasy RPG setting! Sparked off by Cities of Sundara: Ironfire for Pathfinder's first edition, once the rock started rolling ideas just came pouring out of me. I covered other cities, other towns, guides for species and subspecies, cults, mercenary companies, guilds, gods, and most recently I finished up a 5-supplement series of Whispers & Rumors to go with each of the initial city releases. And in addition to all of that, I've made more than 50 videos talking about the setting, and narrating stories set within it.

And I started wondering the other day exactly how much work have I put into the setting. Well, there's 22 supplements out for it (without double-counting the ones that are just conversions to other systems), with a 23rd that I've turned in that's currently in layout. And given that each supplement is well over 10,000 words (with a few of them reaching as high as 15,000), it seems that this setting has over a quarter of a million words dedicated to it... and that's just when you consider the work that I've put in.

Other folks have been contributing too!

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

Where Should We Go In This New Age?

When I started writing Sundara: Dawn of a New Age, the idea was to have a high fantasy setting that was full of monsters, magic, and mayhem, but which was (perhaps most importantly) weird. A world where several of the classic creatures got a bit of a twist on them, where science and alchemy combined with magic in unusual ways, and where things felt familiar, but players and Game Masters knew they couldn't just take tropes and fantasy conventions at face value. Most importantly, I wanted a setting that felt like it was going forward, and where problem solving was encouraged using whatever various means folks around the table could conceive of.

Not only that, but the parts and pieces of this setting are deliberately designed to be sort of like Lego. If you like a given city, or a town, or a guild, you can just pluck them up, and add them to your own homebrew setting... or even to an established game world! While there is an interconnected history one can trace through reading the various supplements, it's not set in stone, and it's meant to be flexible precisely to facilitate this kind of picking and choosing by GMs looking for additions to their worlds.

That's the broad strokes, though if you're curious I made an AMA about the setting forever and a day ago that explains a lot of what's come out, and how my process works.

In the past few blogs I've written about the setting, and in several of the more recent videos I made regarding Sundara, I've remarked that it's been sort of put on the back burner for me as a creator. Not because I lack ideas, or because I don't want to expand it, but because there just doesn't seem to be that much interest from the public... and the problem is that I can't tell what that reason is (especially since the setting started off pretty strong in terms of sales and interest).

For example, the general categories I can think of are:

- People Don't Know About It: With social media tamping down on signals, and algorithms silencing folks who don't pay them, it's entirely possible this is just a result of the word not getting out.

- It's The Wrong Game: Sundara is available for both Pathfinder's 1st Edition, and DND's 5th one, but so far we haven't translated it to other engines. There's been talk of a PF 2E update, a Savage Worlds expansion, and a few others, but there's never been a lot of enthusiasm for it from our audience.

- Folks Saw It, But Don't Like It: Whether it's that folks aren't interested in a modular setting, they don't really care for my brand of high fantasy, or they aren't interested in yet another setting, what I'm offering just isn't something they like.

The difficulty I'm running into is... I don't know which of these things is (or isn't) the issue! And given that I've put out the word count equivalent of probably 4 full novels (speaking of which, check out my books Old Soldiers for a dystopian sci fi thriller with space marines, or Marked Territory for gangland noir starring a Maine Coon alley cat), I've sunk quite a lot of time, energy, and thought into this setting.

So, to help me figure out where to go from here, what I need is input from you! If you've read this far, please leave comments down at the end of this article (or on the social media post where I'm guessing you came across this blog entry), and tell me why you are a fan of Sundara, or you aren't a fan of it... and in either case, tell me what you like, dislike, or what I could offer/change to get your interest!

Additionally, if you are someone who wants to see Sundara keep growing and expanding (especially if you want to see it put back on the front burner for myself and the other collaborators for the setting), then please consider the following actions:

- Buy copies of the setting supplements (links are below in the expanded list)

- Watch the playlist for Sundara's videos (you can find it here)

- Leave ratings and reviews on any of the supplements you DO have (so other users on DTRPG might be able to find them)

For the record, these actions will also work for other creators and their projects as well. Just in case you had other settings and projects you wanted to see more expansions for, but you weren't sure how to get the wheels turning in the direction you wanted.

Catch Up On "Sundara: Dawn of A New Age"

Cities of Sundara

The setting first began with the Cities of Sundara splats. Self-contained guides to some of the larger and more powerful centers of trade, industry, arms, and magic, these unique locations provide plenty of fodder for character generation and plots. Not only that, but each one comes with unique, mechanical goodies for players and GMs alike to take out for a spin!

- Ironfire: The City of Steel (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built around the Dragon Forge, Ironfire is where the secret to dragon steel was first cracked. The center of the mercenary trade in the region, as well as boasting some of the finest schools for teaching practical sciences, Ironfire is a place where discovery and danger walk hand in hand!

- Moüd: The City of Bones (Pathfinder and DND 5E): An ancient center of trade and magic, Moüd was lost to a cataclysm, and then buried in myth. Reclaimed by the necromantic arts of the Silver Wraiths guild, this city has once again become a place teeming with life. Despite the burgeoning population, though, it is the continued presence of the undead that helps keep the city running, ensuring that Moüd is not swallowed up once more.

- Silkgift: The City of Sails (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built on the cottage industry of Archer cloth (an extremely durable material used for sails, windmills, etc.), Silkgift is a place that prizes invention and discovery. From gravity batteries that store the potential of the wind, to unique irrigation systems, to aether weapons, the city positively churns out discoveries... and then there's the canal they cut through the mountains that makes them a major center of trade across the region.

- Hoardreach: The City of Wyrms (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A center of power across an entire region, Hoardreach is ruled over by a Cooperation of five different dragons. A place for refugees and outcasts of all sorts, Hoardreach boasts some of the most unusual citizens and creations from across Sundara. Infamous for their sky ships, which require the cast-off scales and unique arcane sciences of the Dragon Works to take to the air, one never knows just what they'll find in this city built atop a mountain.

- Archbliss: The City of The Sorcerers (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A floating city in the sky, Archbliss has been a refuge for sorcerers for thousands of years. It's only in relatively recent years that the city has allowed those from the ground below who lack the power of a bloodline to join them in the clouds. However, while there are certainly amazing wonders to behold, there is a darkness in Archbliss. Something rotting away at its heart that could, if not healed, bring the city crashing to the ground once more.

Gods of Sundara

- Gods of Sundara (available for Pathfinder and DND 5E): In a world with no alignment, and where the gods are often genuinely mysterious forces that are far too large for mortals to truly comprehend, the divine feels genuinely strange and unknown... something that really does have to be taken on faith. This supplement provides a sample pantheon for Sundara, but also provides instructions on how to easily make your own gods in a world where you can't cast a spell and tell whether someone is good or evil.

Species of Sundara

Sundara is filled with creatures that many of us recognize, but I wanted to give greater depth to their cultures, and a wider variety of options. After all, humans always get 15+ ethnicities, languages, and unique histories, while elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings, etc. are almost always left with footnotes, or maybe with a handful of offshoots. So, in short, I wanted to give all the fantastical creatures the treatment that humans usually get in our games.

And there is no human book yet. If readers demand to know more, then I may sit down to pen one... but I figured that humans didn't need to be front-and-center in this setting just yet.

- Elves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Elves are one of the most quintessential fantasy creatures... but if you want to see more than just high elves, wood elves, and elves of the sun and moon, then this supplement has you covered!

- Dwarves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): The children of the primordial giants who were meant to fill in the details of the world they'd made (or so the myths say) there are as many kinds of dwarves as their are kinds of giants... and possibly more, depending on who is keeping count.

- Orcs of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Supposedly a creation of the elves, none can say for certain exactly how or why orcs have been made. What most agree on is that these creatures are far more than most may think at first glance.

- Halflings of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Little cousins to the dwarves, halflings are tough, clever, and not to be underestimated. From living beneath the hills, to taking up residence in the deep forests, halflings in Sundara come in quite a variety!

- The Blooded (Half-Elves and Half-Orcs) [Pathfinder and DND 5E]: When orcs and elves mix their bloodlines with other creatures, the result is one of the Blooded. This inheritance takes many forms, and it can even wait generations before manifesting when the right combination of individuals come together to have a child.

- Gnomes of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Gnomes are strange creatures, found in places where the spirit of the land has coalesced and made children of its own. The sons and daughters of the ancient nymphs, they are the stewards of these places, and they change as often as the weather and the land.

Organizations of Sundara

Phase 3 has been going strong, but there's still a few titles left in it! So if you haven't seen them, consider checking out:

- Sellswords of Sundara: With power structures being smaller in scale in Sundara, standing armies aren't often maintained for long. As such, soldiers of fortune are quite common! This supplement contains 10 mercenary companies, their history, uniform, sample members, whispers and rumors, as well as either an archetype or subclass for playing these unique warriors. Grab your copy for Pathfinder of DND 5E.

- Cults of Sundara: Faith comes in many forms in Sundara, and there are as many gods in the Prim as there are dreams in the minds of people. This supplement contains write-ups for 10 cults, their histories, sample members, rumors about them, their beliefs and tenets, and a unique magic item for each. Get your copy for Pathfinder or DND 5E.

- Guilds of Sundara: While cities and villages may be relatively local, guilds are spread across the length and width of Sundara. From professional orders of skilled miners and dredgers, to monster slayers and bounty hunters, this supplement has 10 guilds with histories, sample members, rumors, as well as unique feats one can take to represent the skill and benefits of joining this order. Available for Pathfinder as well as DND 5E.

- Merchants of Sundara: While city states might be the largest form of government you find in the setting, merchants hold an outsized amount of power. From huge mercantile houses, to small brands infamous for their quality as much as for their price, there are a lot of options listed in this particular world building supplement.

Rumors of Sundara

The newest series of supplements in the setting, these are meant to add to the cities, and to give GMs ideas for plots, or just to provide a little extra grist for the mill in terms of what people are gossiping about!

- Whispers and Rumors For Ironfire, The City of Steel!

- Whispers and Rumors For Moüd, City of Bones!

- Whispers and Rumors For Silkgift, The City of Sails!

- Whispers and Rumors For Hoardreach, City of Wyrms!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

"Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic" Earns Its First Metals!

My first RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic dropped a little over a year ago, and I've been doing my best to get it into folks' hands, and to provide as much supplemental material for it as I'm able to. And while it can sometimes be discouraging to get lost under the constant crush of new posts and fresh games out there, I have made at least some progress on my goals.

Because so far both Army Men, as well as its first supplement Army Men: Threat Assessments, have both hit Copper metal status on Drive Thru RPG!

In case you needed even MORE of a target-rich environment.

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

One Step Closer To Taking The Hill!

As most folks know, Army Men was a game that actually went to Kickstarter, and that's how it got made. So since a majority of the people who knew about it already had their books bought and paid for before it went up on Drive Thru RPG, it's been tough trying to keep getting it into fresh hands. It's been Deal of The Day, we had an Anniversary Bundle for it a little while ago, and I try to cover it on this blog as often as I can, along with putting together a show titled Tactical Plastic Report over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel to give viewers a run down on what's in the game to try to increase interest.

While it's definitely been an uphill battle, early this year I finally managed this little bit of progress! And even though Copper metal status is just the first tier you can hit (50+ sales), more than half of games and supplements that appear on DTRPG don't even hit that mark. And while I mentioned a while back that the core book had hit Copper, it wasn't until last month that Threat Assessments joined it!

However, if you're a fan of Army Men, why stop there? Consider grabbing yourself copies of some of the other releases that have come out so I can keep expanding the setting going forward!

- Army Men: Medals of Honor: A supplement that introduces the Medals System to help Game Masters reward players who have survived various missions, and conducted themselves in a way becoming of a trooper.

- A Baker's Dozen of Booby Traps: A collection of nasty surprises for Game Masters to deploy in the event you plan to conduct some guerrilla warfare in your games.

- A Night At Brekon's Beacon: An Army Men Mission Module: A stand-alone mission for Army Men, this brings your squad to an abandoned ruin far off the beaten track... will you avoid the fate that befell the squad that came before you?

In addition to all of these supplements, at time of writing I also have a second mission module that's currently in layout... so stay tuned for a mission that takes place in the Styric Republic (the northern faction inspired by the Soviets)!

What Would You Like To See Next?

Army Men, as a game and a setting, is still very young. Additionally, we were only able to fit so much into the core rulebook, so there's all kinds of room for further expansion in gear, enemies, missions, and more!

The question is... what do you all want to see? And to help folks avoid getting decision paralysis, I'll make a few suggestions:

- Mission Modules: The Army Men equivalent of adventure modules, these one-shot supplements do all the heavy lifting for the Game Master.

- Additional Equipment: From weapons and armor, to tool kits, vehicles, and more, Army Men's challenge is largely decided by what kinds of gear your troopers bring to the fight.

- Bigger Books: In the past I've had such suggestions as Motor Pool for vehicle rules, Soldier of Fortune for a mercenary-style secondary way to play that's geared more toward media like the A-Team, and a few others. These would take significantly more work, and would likely need to be Kickstarted.

- Fiction: Whether in text form or as an audio drama/podcast, Army Men has the potential for some really fun fiction, if that's something folks would like to see more of (consider the sample below if this interests you!)

However, as all the war bond posters said, we can't make any of this happen without your help!

If you're someone who wants to see Army Men expand as a game, and as a setting, then you need to help me make sure the signal grows, and that we find a group of folks who want to play it, and see more stuff come out for it! As such, please do as many of the following things as you can:

- Buy Copies: The more sales a game and its supplements get, the easiser it is to get more projects green lit, and the more the algorithm pays attention. So the best thing you can do is help our numbers go up!

- Leave Reviews: If you already bought your copy of the book and supplements, leave a rating and a review on them! You don't have to get in-depth, just tell people you liked it, and maybe mention something that sticks in your mind about it. Reviews are also key to getting the algorithm to take notice.

- Subscribe to The Azukail Games YouTube Channel: Maybe you've already done the first two, or you simply can't afford new game stuff right now. Either way, subscribing to the Azukail Games YouTube channel is free, as is watching episodes of Tactical Plastic Report, and all the other Army Men-related content on the channel. Again, upvote videos you like, leave comments, and so on, because that helps us get paid, and sends a message that at least some of our audience wants MORE Army Men stuff!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

A Dekas of Dwarven Clans... Should This Be The Start of a Supplement Series?

Folks who follow my regular releases likely noticed that my latest TTRPG supplement, A Dekas of Dwarven Clans, went live on Drive Thru RPG this past weekend! I put a lot of work into this supplement, and it gives you 10 dwarven clans complete with history, colors, battle cries, culture, noted NPCs, and several rumors to help flesh them out in your setting. And while I finished it several months ago, now that it's out, I'm wondering if this is a formula folks would like to see me expand on in the future?

Seriously... go grab a copy if you haven't yet!

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

Is This A Format You Want To See More Of?

If I had to compare this latest supplement to something I've done before, I'd compare it to A Baker's Dozen of Noble Families, which came out in winter of 2018. And since that older supplement went Electrum, I figured there must be something in there that people were interested in. So as an experiment, I decided to expand the general idea, and to put together 10 dwarven clans. After all, if there's anything I learned from the Species of Sundara series I put together, it's that folks who play fantasy games love dwarves.

It makes a great entry into Sundara as a setting!

While A Dekas of Dwarven Clans is hot off the press, it was one of several ideas on the workdesk when I was putting ideas on my to-do list. Others included A Baker's Dozen of Barbarian Clans (for folks who want to expand on something like a "barbarian nation" for their raging character), or A Dekas of Orc Clans (which follows the same format as the one I wrote for dwarves). I could, of course, expand this out to other species, other environments (if we want something like "mountain clans" or "desert clans"), and so on, depending on what people want to see more of.

The question, of course, is would you all like to see that happen?

As most folks know, discoverability is in the toilet for RPG products these days, and actually getting the stuff we make in front of the eyes of people who could use it is hard as hell to pull off. As such, it's tougher than ever to judge whether something actually has interest from the audience, and if they'd like to see more of it.

So if this is a format you want to see more of, or if any of the ideas I mentioned above sound interesting, here is what I would like you to do:

- Buy A Copy Of A Dekas of Dwarven Clans: As the saying goes, money talks, and the more sales this supplement brings in for the publisher, the more obvious demand there will be for sequels.

- Leave A Review: If you already got a copy of the supplement for yourself, leave a rating and review for it on Drive Thru RPG.

- Share On Your Social Media: Whether you share a link to the supplement, or a link to this post, the more people who boost the signal, the better the chance there is that people who will be interested in this supplement find out it exists, and they can decide if they want to buy copies for themselves.

- Comment On This Post With What You'd Like To See: If you want to see more supplements like this one, leave a comment below with which idea I mentioned that you want to see covered, or if you'd like to see something else entirely! And if you saw this post on social media, leave your comment there as well in order to boost the signal in the algorithm!

If I can count on folks out there to do all of those things, maybe this project will get a bit of traction, and I can actually make some room for it going forward. But as with everything else, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and the supplements with big numbers and lots of attention get sequels.

So make your voices heard!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Why I Think Paizo Releasing Content For 5th Edition is a Smart Move

Anyone who's been around here knows my views on the upcoming Pathfinder 2nd Edition (and if you don't know I summarized them pretty neatly in 5 Red Flags in Pathfinder's 2nd Edition Playtest). In short, I'm not a fan. For my two cents I feel like Paizo is essentially trying to reach across the aisle to court the DND 5th Edition audience by removing the 3.5 engine that Pathfinder is built on, and releasing a game that gives you fewer options, removing the mechanical freedom that marked the Pathfinder classic edition.

And since I feel that way, folks might assume that I would be equally down on Paizo's stated intention to release a DND 5th Edition compatible Bestiary with their anniversary edition of the Kingmaker adventure path. However, in this case, you couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, I think that Paizo releasing straight-up 5th Edition content is an extremely smart idea, and it's something I wish the company would put more effort into.

Seriously, I think it's a much smarter play.

I Thought You Hated 5th Edition?

As I've said repeatedly, I have no beef with 5th Edition. It's a perfectly functional rules system, and it appeals to players who like a game where they can pick up and play without too much in the way of complexity. However, it is not a game that has a lot of mechanical freedom. I talked about this more in-depth in Understanding The Difference Between Story Freedom and Mechanical Freedom in RPGs a while back, but the short version is that mechanical freedom is when the rules of the game support your story in specific ways. In 5th Edition you can play a barbarian who goes Jekyll to Hyde when he rages, but in Pathfinder you can physically transform into another person with their own alignment, appearance, race, personality, etc. through the Master Chymist prestige class, or in several Vigilante archetypes. It's the difference between re-skinning a mechanic to look different, and actually have a mechanic that functions differently.

However, the more mechanical freedom you want in your game, the more mechanics you need to have. So players who want to keep the rules relatively light tend to stick to games that require a minimum of prep. And that's why, according to an industry contact of mine, over 80 percent of sales made on Drive Thru RPG right now are for 5th Edition-compatible content.

That's a market that's hard to ignore.

With numbers like that, it's no surprise that Paizo wants to try to tap the 5th Edition crowd. It's what I'd do in their shoes, and I don't begrudge them that in the slightest.

The problem is they've been going about it in the worst possible way.

Marketing Mistakes and Cash Grabs

First of all, let's get something straight here. Pathfinder's core base was formed by players who wanted to keep playing DND 3.5, and refused to move on to 4th Edition when it came out. Paizo gave us that, and it's why we bought book after book, year after year. That's the game we liked, and we wanted to keep getting new adventures, accessories, tokens, optional rules packages, etc. for that game.

And while there are a lot of DMs out there who complain about "bloat", or who argue that Pathfinder needed a new edition, coming out with one was always going to be risky. Coming out with one that essentially throws all the old content in the garbage, making it unusable in the new edition, was going to lead to deep, angry divisions. That was one, major reason that so many 3.5 players didn't move on a decade and change ago; they'd dedicated 3 shelves of space to monster manuals, player books, race guides, etc., and they were not willing to leave all that behind for a new game that would cost more money and give them fewer options than what they already had.

Looking at you.

That was exactly what the playtest did. It introduced a system that was just different enough that all the content players and DMs had invested in was no longer valid, wiped the slate clean, and set the stage for a new game entirely. And then the company sold bound copies of the playtest, which just looked like a naked cash grab, and didn't help the accusations that the reason behind this new game was more profit-driven than it was a legitimate demand from the market for a new game.

Will some players move on? Of course they will. The same way some players moved on from 3.5 to 4th edition, and were perfectly happy to do so. My prediction? I think this has a good chance of alienating 1/3 to 1/2 of the existing player base who will play through the material they have, and then either turn to 3rd party publishers to get their fix, or simply play a different game entirely.

But I was talking about 5th Edition.

By releasing existing content from the Golarion setting in a 5th Edition-compatible package, Paizo is making a very smart move. As I alluded to earlier, people are attached to the games they have, and more often than not they don't like being moved out of their comfort zone (and forcing a gamer out of their comfort zone by discontinuing support for their game of choice is how you get people who refuse to play anything else out of sheer spite). So the solution for how to get some of that sweet, sweet 5th Edition audience isn't try to making some bizarre hybrid game that's going to piss off a lot of your core fan base and which probably won't entice people who already like 5th Edition.

It's to just make 5th Edition content.

Two Birds, One Stone

Producing an RPG is expensive, and over the past decade Paizo has put out a lot of rock solid content, great adventure paths, and truly bonkers set pieces. Instead of trying to make a hybrid game that is too bland for one side, and too complicated for the other, the smart move is to just showcase their setting, their creatures, their adventures, and the raw, insane creativity of Golarion as a setting and repackaging it in 5th Edition form. This also has the benefit that 5th Edition players don't have to buy a whole new support network to try out your product, which makes it even more enticing!

Now you're starting to get the picture.

If you already have the content and the IP (which Paizo certainly does), it takes a lot less effort to convert it to 5th Edition, and put it in front of players who would happily buy it if only it was compatible with their game of choice. Whether it's introducing new archetypes for the existing classes, or giving players access to some of the nutso stuff Pathfinder players have had for ages that just doesn't exist in traditional 5th Edition. From gunslingers and oracles, to magi and vigilantes, there is all sorts of stuff you can do in Pathfinder that you just can't do in 5th Edition out of the box.

If you give players and DMs the option to use those things in the games they're already playing, they are a lot more likely to snap them up. Because now it's a fun accessory, rather than a huge investment of time and energy that a new game often represents.

This would allow Paizo to diversify its lines and tap into the biggest gaming market out there, but also help keep their core audience happy by not pushing them to accept a divisive game that many will just refuse to buy. Additionally, regular Pathfinder players could continue to act as the test market for new ideas, seeing which adventure paths, classes and archetypes, etc. are popular, and thus more likely to succeed in the larger 5th Edition market. And, of course, there will be 5th Edition players who want to see how their new favorite classes played in their original form, giving Paizo cascade sales as more 5th Edition players check out Pathfinder, since the converted content essentially got Paizo's foot in the door, and now they have an emotional investment.

Do I think that's what's going to happen? No, probably not. Paizo has gone all-in on making this second edition happen, and the only thing that's going to stop its forward momentum is if it tanks as a product (which is still possible, but I don't have the market numbers to say it it's likely). At this point I think the best we can hope for is that Paizo continues digital support for existing Pathfinder Classic content, while pushing this new edition as hard as they can.

But I think it would be a much smarter, more efficient move to just put a few splat books of occult classes, monsters, and some adventures in front of the 5th Edition crowd, and let the rich flavor of the setting and ideas speak for themselves.

Speaking of 5th Edition Content From Creators You Love...

For folks who haven't seen some of the goods, yet.

The shift toward 5th Edition's market share has affected all of us out there, yours truly included. Which is why I decided to diversify my offerings, too! As of right now two of my modules, False Valor and The Curse of Sapphire Lake are both available from Total Party Kill Games. Both of these one-shots can be played independently, or you can work them in as a starting point for a larger campaign if you want to.

And False Valor recently went Copper, which has me all kinds of excited!

And for the DMs out there who want something a little smaller than a full module, I've got something for you, as well. A Baker's Dozen of Rumours (And The Truth Behind Them) is ideal for injecting a little intrigue into your game. Meaty enough to work as a full session, if you want, these rumors can slot right into most campaigns. And if you're looking for a chart to keep on hand, 100 Encounters For on The Road or in The Wilderness also went Copper fairly recently!

Like, Follow, and Keep in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully you enjoyed the film, and it provides you all with the same sort of inspiration it did me!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

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