I was expecting a lot of new, good things from Paizo at PaizoCon. However, for the third year in a row, I cannot say that I am Wow-ed by anything they announced.
Let me start by saying that I don't care about the Card Games. I don't play them, so my money is safely in my pocket. Don't care about it, don't care about any card game. The only two ones I own are Guillotine and Munchkin and I don't think I played them since 2010-11. If that. So whatever they announce for the CCG is wasted on me.
So let's look at the actual Pathfinder RPG products.
The Strategy Guide is a book that holds no interest. As someone who has played Pathfinder for a long time, and someone who STRONGLY dislikes optimization boards, I don't understand what this book adds to the game, other than streamlining and making characters much the same. I haven't heard anything about that book that makes me find anything useful in this book. Perhaps for someone coming in the game today, it might hold interest but seriously? There are enough boards and forums to make this book. Rating: completely useless.
The Advanced Class Guide is a book I am personally ambivalent about, but I believe will be interesting to see. However, this book coalesces my belief that Pathfinder is getting too bloated now and is in need of a massive cleanup or reboot. Still I will wait for the final book to come out. Rating: of interest (but this book has been in playtest for the longest time).
After the Iron Gods Adventure Path - which holds no interest to me, the next AP will be a Giant Slayer one. Seems like an orcs and giants AP, iconic monsters that herald back to the days of Greyhawk. I'm not sure what to make of this overall, but I like the underlying idea better than that for Iron Gods. I am intrigued and will follow announcements and news from this. That said, the chances of me actually running this adventure path are null and nonexcistent. But I might play... Rating: of high interest
The Monster Codex appears to me like a beefed-up version of the "Monster Revisited" line of products. Which is a good thing as I do like that line. Rating: of interest
But the real big announcement is Pathfinder Unchained. This is described as "the developers going wild without having to maintain backward compatibility". The detailsa are sketchy at this time but this book has the glimmer of hope of the Pathfinder v1.5 I have been seeing in the cards. I am of two minds about this, and the end result really will be the deciding factor.
If this book is truly a new way to play, then I cannot wait for it to arrive. It may shake up some of the worse element of rules. We are promised a redo of the barbarian, rogue, and summoner among others. That would be most welcomed. Rating: of high interest
If this book is just a long list of optional rules, then that book will be just a piece of junk. Rating: crap
A good and simple barometer of how important this will be in the future will be based upon whether or not Pathfinder Society adopts these rules in their base line or if, like the Mythic Rules, it will only appear occasionally. The former means it will stick, the latter that you should keep your money.
So, unlike the last 2 years, I see some good, useful products in the pipe. Things usable outside Golarion. While some products hold little to no interest for me, I still believe they will be good products, but for others.
An interesting year from Paizo! As an answer to my titled question: No. They are not. I'm happy to conclude!
JP
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