Paizo Publishing announced yesterday that it has licensed the MMORPG rights to its Pathfinder RPG to Goblinworks, a Redmond, WA, developer and publisher. Goblinworks will be developing the Pathfinder Online game which is planned as a massively multiplayer, sandbox-style fantasy RPG. According to Paizo’s press release, players of Pathfinder Online will take on the roles of heroes in the world of Golarion, where they will explore, develop, and adventure. The character classes will be based upon the best-selling Pathfinder RPG.
While much of this sounds like any other fantasy MMORPG, many of which have come and gone, what makes the Pathfinder Online offering particularly interesting is the fact that Paizo is well known for the high quality adventures it has crafted for Dungeons & Dragons – where it got its start – and more recently, for its own Pathfinder RPG. The adventure paths and stand-alone adventures associated with Paizo are highly regarded and almost universally excellent. In addition, it is a huge boon that the online game will be set in Pathfinder’s expansive and evocative world of Golarion for which Paizo already has a line of supplements, novels, and adventures, not to mention a large potential player base, already established. Thus, the idea that a company that prides itself on its customer relationship and producing high quality material is now extending that expertise in to the online gaming world has even me, someone who has little interest in MMORPGs, anxious to see what the final game looks like.
More details can be found at Goblinworks’ website although the details this early are a bit scant.
