Pathfinder Online takes place in the world of the award-winning Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, an industry-leading tabletop roleplaying game based on more than a decade of system development. The Pathfinder world includes elements inspired by classic and modern fantasy, from lost cities shrouded in misty jungles to decaying pyramids in deserts of burning sands to a fantastic island metropolis where folk from countless kingdoms live side by side with all manner of exotic creatures. If a player wants to tell a fantasy story, the world of Pathfinder has a place for it. (For more information on the world of Pathfinder and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, please visit paizo.com/pathfinder.)

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BattleMonkey said:

Most people are just going to see it as a generic fantasy MMO, Pathfinder while popular with the hardcore P&P players, doesn't have name recognition as other franchises.

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Xater said:

Ok now it makes sense to be. I am a big fucking nerd and even I have never heard of Pathfinder before. I know my D&D, Vampires and Shadowrun...

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BattleMonkey said:

They have become huge in the P&P in recent 2 years. It basically brought back 3.5 D&D and updated it with some rule changes and a new setting. Paizo also has amazing support for the products which have garnered lot of good will with fans while WOTC has hurt lot of peoples feelings for various reasons with D&D.

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hoverX said:

Last quarter Pathfinder actually out sold D&D 4e.

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BattleMonkey said:

Possibly, lot of this info is hard to track as most of the places that put out such data only collect it from select retailers. ICV2 often puts out sales rankings but does not account for most retailers and its data is collected as a survey more than actual hard fact.

But I could imagine it being true.

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Jira said:

I wonder what will be different versus D&D Online.

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Threi said:

??????

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Threi said:

??????

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elrechazao said:

Will play 5 months after release when it's F2P

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Goblinworks FAQ said:

We are planning a hybrid subscription/free-to-play model. Players will have the option to pay a flat monthly fee for complete access to all standard game features, or to play for free with certain restrictions, using microtransactions to access desired features and content on an a la carte basis. Pricing details have not yet been finalized.

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DanteRavenkin said:

While it isn't likely, I'd LOVE for them to add the ability for Pathfinder GMs (like myself) to create and run adventures within the world for their friends. I'd gladly pay for that, really. I love me some Pathfinder.

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Threi said:

??????

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Shanadeus said:

Copied the most interesting questions from the FAQ:

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hoverX said:

I think most of the existing employees work for Paizo

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Introducing the Crusader Road

posted by Ryan Dancey on Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Welcome to our second development blog! This material builds on our last blog, where we revealed that the plan for Pathfinder Online is to start with a small player population and limit growth for the first seven months after release to allow the game's social, political, economic and territorial systems to emerge effectively from player interaction.

Today, we're going to talk about the geographic area that will be featured at launch. (Of course, the game's geography—just like the other game systems—will expand over time.) We selected our initial area because it gives the design a sturdy framework to build interesting content on.

To our right is the map of the Inner Sea Region of the planet Golarion, the setting for most Pathfinder products. The red rectangle highlights the River Kingdoms area, home to Pathfinder Online. Just to the north of the River Kingdoms is the Worldwound, a rift through which chaotic evil forces are attempting to enter the world and establish a demonic domain.

Let's zoom in on the River Kingdoms region:

That red rectangle in the northwest highlights the Crusader Road area, our focus for launch.

This area is roughly 11 miles wide and 12 miles tall—about 133 square miles. It contains part of the Echo Wood to the east and is bordered on the west by the West Sellen River. The zone includes the currently abandoned town of Mosswater.

We'll divide this area into 256 hexes—the fundamental territorial unit of Pathfinder Online. The game's underlying technical architecture will likely encapsulate each hex in its own process similar to the way EVE Online manages systems. (This is extremely preliminary thinking; our final choice of middleware may dictate a different underlying architecture, but the logical division of the territory into hexes from the player perspective is the intended design.) To the right is the map of the Crusader Road area with the hex grid overlaid. Hexes that will be primarily forest are green; river hexes are filled with blue.

Let me give you a little perspective on how large this place really is: Below is a similarly scaled map of Philadephia, PA—a city with an area of 134 square miles that supports a real-world population of more than 1.5 million people.

View Larger Map

Even though the Crusader Road is just a tiny part of the River Kingdoms, which in turn is just a small part of the Inner Sea Region, which in turn is just a small part of Golarion, that red rectangle is plenty big. And for a world where horses are the primary means of transportation, crossing this map is a pretty significant journey.

The Crusader Road

An endless stream of adventurers travels the Sellen River to confront the diabolic menace at the Worldwound. And just as with Earth's historic crusades, a large number of other folks travel with them: camp followers, traders, thieves. However, there's a problem: an unknown factor has increased the monstrous activity in Mosswater such that it now threatens safety along the Sellen, and the river is impassable near the former town. Crusaders and their fellow travelers have to make an overland detour into the River Kingdoms, creating a constantly shifting population of transients along with more permanent residents who establish services to support the northward migration. Thus, this area has become a rich source of trade, conflict and territorial disputes.

The northern portion of the area is overseen by the righteous and lawful Knights of Iomedae, operating from a stronghold known as Fort Riverwatch. The northern approach is guarded by the ruthless Hellknights, enforcing their rule from Fort Inevitable. And from within the depths of the Echo Wood, a wretched hive of scum and villainy exerts control over much of the forest.

Between these three NPC factions are vast expanses of wilderness claimed by no power, ripe for development by those capable of taking and holding the land against the forces arrayed in opposition to them.

A variety of creatures live in this area. The wilderness is home to tribes of monstrous humanoids, and all manner of magical beasts make lairs in the forest. Undead infest ruins and graveyards. Below the surface lie unending caverns guarded by aberrations. And a few dragons are known to live in seclusion, sleeping on huge mounds of treasure.

To master these lands, players will need to harvest and make use of a wide variety of resources: cutting timber, mining ore, skinning hides, and gathering crops. These resources will need to be processed into materials that in turn can be crafted to create the weapons, vehicles, structures, and consumables that form the heart of the economic system. Combined with rare and exotic materials recovered by explorers who dare to confront the monsters and opposing players in the wilderness, all manner of gear both magical and mundane will circulate within the economy.

Exploration, Development, Adventure and Domination

On the front page of goblinworks.com, we said "Pathfinder Online is a hybrid sandbox/theme park-style MMO where characters explore, develop, find adventure and dominate a wilderness frontier in a land of sword and sorcery." Those four actions—Exploration, Development, Adventure, and Domination—are the key elements of our game design, and we'll be referencing them a lot in future blogs. We expect characters to develop a focus on at least one of those elements, and the Crusader Road area gives us great hooks to build challenging content for all four of these foci.

Start Making Your Mark on the World Today!

What happens in the River Kingdoms will be up to you—starting right now! We mentioned that there's "a wretched hive of scum and villainy" in the depths of the Echo Wood... and it needs a name. Visit this thread on the Pathfinder Online messageboards on paizo.com and vote for the one you like the most. We'll announce the winning name on the January 11 blog!

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crimsonheadGCN said:

It'll have old school death penalties. When a person dies then they are resurrected at pre-determined place with only the items that they had equipped. Everything else is left on the body and if another player loots the body then they get a random assortment of items and the rest is destroyed.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/01/18/pathfinder-online-takes-a-look-at-death/

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Sullen said:

Holy crap I just learned that this existed. How did I not know there was a Pathfinder game being made? Mind is totally blown.

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Sullen said:

Holy crap I just learned that this existed. How did I not know there was a Pathfinder game being made? Mind is totally blown.

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Xiaoki said:

I was excited because I initially thought of an MMO based on a James Fenimore Cooper book.

I leave disappointed because its based on the TSR campaign.

Until further notice "whoo, more D&D inspired generic fantasy MMOs ahoy!" is my reaction.

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