QuoteHow many editions does it take to fix a broken rule?

The world may never know.

Quote from: B.T.;499096The world may never know.

I knew you were gonna say that.

Quote from: Bloody Stupid Johnson;498427What the title says...anyone have any predictions as to when there might be a new edition of Pathfinder? Thoughts as to what this might look like?

The crashed starship in Golarion will turn out to be the long lost Azhanti High Lightning cruiser from the Third Imperium. Scout/Couriers will stumble upon Golarion and the Fourth Imperium will try to annex it.

This, of course, will lead to a Pathfinder/Traveller20 crossbreed rules system.

Watch The Skies!

It Is Coming!

Quote from: JDCorley;4990353e was 10 years ago now, the entire world lost their jobs and all their money in the intervening time.

Still, successful videogames sell more than successful videogames 10 years ago (I'm under NDA because I worked for them, but Assassin's Creed: Revelations and exp. Skyrim numbers are jaw-dropping). There still are movie blockbusters etc.

If anything a recession makes people more selective, but good/successful things still have a chance (3E launched in the middle of the Dotcom brust/9-11 recessions, BTW, even if those combined don't hold a candle to current one).

IMHO, Paizo should keep a target in mind: retro-compatibility. Buyers must have the feeling that they are not only buying an improved edition, but an edition that will improve the way they game with the old supplements. I like Pathfinder because at the end I retrofitted some of the best changes in D&D 3.5E without the need to throw away everything. And I feel that PF was an half-baked attempt because they could have fixed much more.

Anyway, as was noted in another thread, the real divide between D&D 4E and the previous editions is that with 3E you could still easily adapt 1E/2E stuff for the new system. 4E made this much more difficult, thus creating, in practical terms, a schism. As long as Paizo avoids this mistake, they will be already halfway there with their 2E.

QuoteIMHO, Paizo should keep a target in mind: retro-compatibility. Buyers must have the feeling that they are not only buying an improved edition, but an edition that will improve the way they game with the old supplements. I like Pathfinder because at the end I retrofitted some of the best changes in D&D 3.5E without the need to throw away everything. And I feel that PF was an half-baked attempt because they could have fixed much more.

Wise words. But then again, it alone didn't save Chaosium - it did pass through a rather turbulent stage, if my knowledge serves me right.

Quote from: Bloody Stupid Johnson;498427What the title says...anyone have any predictions as to when there might be a new edition of Pathfinder? Thoughts as to what this might look like?

At this point, you will not see a new edition for Pathfinder until at least 1-2 years after 5E shows up. Paizo will not risk shaking up or fragmenting their customer base until they see what the fallout of 5E is. They have no reason to take that gamble, so they won't do it.

Furthermore, it's fully possible that Paizo will never product a 2nd Edition of Pathfinder. Or, if they do, it will be more like the editions of Call of Cthulhu: A new rulebook, some new art, maybe a new cover. But the rules will only receive a light patina of errata. This is likely for a couple of reasons:

(1) They appear to have a successful and flourishing business model which does not depend on selling core rulebooks or splatbook supplements. This means they aren't trapped on the supplement treadmill (a business model that we now know is intrinsically linked to burnout). As long as people continue buying their adventure paths and battlemaps and miniatures... what motivation do they have to reboot the rules? Absolutely none.

(2) They built their current customer base on providing classic D&D gameplay. And the truth is that their customer base is primarily made up of people who, fundamentally, either don't experience or don't care about the spherical cows that CharOppers and Armchair Theorists rage on about. (If they did, then they wouldn't still be playing 3.x.) So, again, they have no motivation to change.

Paizo also seems to be run by some pretty savvy people. They saw what happened to WotC when WotC tried to move away from a rule system that most of their customer base wasn't dissatisfied with. It's difficult for me to believe that Paizo will needlessly repeat that mistake.