Background
In August 2007, Wizards of the Coast announced the pending release of the 4th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game system, effectively superseding version 3.5 of the game. The Paizo Publishing company seized this opportunity to release an improved version of the 3.5 edition rules, along with their own setting and adventures. Announced in March 2008, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game was designed over the course of a year with the help of gamers who could download the playtest versions of the game, try the system and post their feedback on Paizo's website. The PFRPG's playtesting was the largest open roleplaying game playtest in the world at the time.
It was released in a number of steps, and anyone could contribute to the playtesting on Paizo Publishing's messageboards. The beta release won the 2008 gold ENnie award for "best free product or web enhancement". The initial release of the game became available in August 2009. The game system has proven successful in the market, effectively drawing away half of the gaming base from Dungeons & Dragons.
Read more about this topic: Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
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