Paizo and SmiteWorks sign an agreement for official Pathfinder support!

[damned]

We'll just have to wait and see. IMHO it would be smart for Paizo to set their FG prizes along the lines of their PDFs - players would still want many of the PDFs - they are just better to read and much prettier in their layouts ;-).

But then it would me much smarter for us to take this discussion to the Paizo forums, wouldn't it? ;-) We might give them something to think about.

Ive seen a number of publishers have open and frank discussions about PDF pricing. In every case they made considerably less money by pricing them lower. They did sell more when priced lower but not even close to enough to cover the gap. There are only so many people that might buy your product and there are a bunch of people who want it but will never pay for it.

[GenesisX]

What I personally would like to see - and not only for Pathfinder Content - would be a bundle option for a PDF / Module. Even when I own a hardcopy of a module, I frequently make use of PDFs while running Fantasy Grounds. Paying a resonable extra amount for both (20% more? 30% more) would be a dream come true for me.

[Bidmaron]

Genesis that is exactly what the subscription at Paizo does except better. You get the hard copy at a discount and the PDF for free

[GenesisX]

Genesis that is exactly what the subscription at Paizo does except better. You get the hard copy at a discount and the PDF for free

However, I was referring to a FG module / Pdf bundle. I hope Paizo will offer those, since all their pdf carry a personal watermark.

[Bidmaron]

Sorry for misunderstanding.

[Talyn]

It is interesting to know the results of the RW/Paizo contract regarding pricing structure because it informs a potential consumer about the on-line strategy that Paizo is obviously working under. But that really only means something to FG if their contract is exactly the same, which is extremely unlikely (but not impossible).

The developers at both Lone Wolf and d20Pro (who got their Pathfinder license at the same time Fantasy Grounds did) are both saying Paizo's new license agreement "for all digital partners" is making them link the stores so a PDF Verification can take place before users can buy/use the Pathfinder content on those platforms. That's where the consumer concern and "gnashing of teeth" is coming from. Doug is saying that's not the case for us, and if so, yay for us. Maybe the Steam connection threw a wrench into Paizo's license? If we're exempt here, I'd expect a lot of anger over at d20Pro. Realm Works is more of a face-to-face gaming software so not the same thing as a Virtual TableTop but still, obviously their consumers aren't happy about it either.

[Zhern]

I would think the biggest difference is that the cost of the content through FG is the PRINT MSRP, while through RW and other digital channels it would be the PDF (or lower) price. I haven't read through every post on the threads on the RW boards or the thread on the Paizo boards but the ones I have read (I was focusing on those posts from employees of RW but haven't seen a response from a Paizo representative), that seems to be the major difference that would not require Smite Works to also be under the same constraint. Another thing that might be contributing to that is that Smite Works encrypts the content of the modules from publishers.

Then again, I could be completely wrong and just adding to the speculation.

[JohnD]

I still don't see what difference any dissatisfaction at RW or d20Pro makes here, unless the same requirements are present here too.

It may very well be that the increases in sales and product reach/penetration into the market resulting from being on Steam were enough to convince Paizo to forego the linked sales requirements for FG, or it could have been the fact that you can't dictate to Steam.

It could also be that part of the FG sale includes the price of a pdf and one is added to your directory, or you get a download code from Paizo or something.

[Talyn]

Now I'd totally be in favor of that idea! Buy the FG module and get an official PDF free?

[JohnD]

I doubt it would be free; the cost or some permutation of it would be baked into the price (or Paizo's portion of it at least).

I personally don't think that there's a hig deal here. Doug can't do anything about Paizo's pricing strategy.

In my online experience, everything I've tried to run has been accompanied by a pdf and/or a printed copy of the adventure in addition to the FG version or what I entered myself. It just works better that way for me. I suspect that the vast majority of people running Pathfinder here have their own printed or pdf copies of the rules and adventures.