I'm tempted to start this blog off with "Four score and seven years ago," because it seems about that long ago that Paizo decided to forge our own path in the RPG world and started work on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook. In reality it was only about a year and half ago, but in that time about 55,000 people downloaded our beta playtest document and more than 200,000 posts were written on our messsageboards discussing the rules--and making them better--while still maintaining backwards compatibility with the 3.5 OGL rules.
The Pathfinder rules are a revamp of the 3.5 rules for those of us who couldn't quite stomach the 4th edition of the world's oldest RPG. Best of all, they were created with the direct help and input of the fans."
Ten days before the launch of their much-anticipated Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Paizo Publishing today announced that the first print run of the book has sold out, with all preordered copies on their way to stores for an August 13 release. With preorders more than five times greater than for any previous product in Paizo's seven-year history, orders for the Core Rulebook continue to mount even as the company speeds to produce another print run. Paizo.com has retained enough copies to handle all paizo.com subscriptions and pre-orders.
According to the Paizo newsletter, it seems as if, after a long time of offering the Beta of their d20 revamp as a download, Paizo is proving wrong the opinion that offering your stuff for free doesn't work. It has worked for them and they have sold out on the hardcopy of their new rulebook which is, in this jaded DM's opinion, a massive improvement on the 3.5 rules-set."
"Experience has proved that some people indeed know everything." -- Russell Baker