In an announcement that caught many of us here on the Know Direction network in shock F. Wesley Schneider, Editor-in-Chief at Paizo, has announced that he will be leaving Paizo for what he calls “exciting new opportunities.” While many of the members of Paizo’s staff are ‘Friends of the Show,’ that title has seldom been more true than with Wes. While we look forward to seeing where his career will bring him next, his guiding hand in Pathfinder will be well and truly missed. He has been a champion of diversity, quality, creativity, and imagination and the game will have been a lesser work without his influence.
He has graced us with his presence on the show more than any other guest. And while his uncompromising language often had us editing episodes late at night to maintain our PG rating, he has always been a joy to speak with.
Here are some of our more memorable times with Wes:
Know Direction 58 – Homosexuality in Golarion
One of our earliest interviews with Wes, and one of the more important episodes for the network as a whole, Wes joined us to talk about homosexuality and diversity in Pathfinder and why it was so important. This would become a growing trend in his appearances and seminar recordings. This episode predates our video content, but you can listen to it here.
He also graced us with a guest blog post at the time that goes into greater detail on the subject, and is still relevant today: Private Companion – F. Wesley Scheider’s take on homosexuality in Golarion
Know Direction 82 – Of Gods & Golarion
Wes returned to speak with us on Know Direction 82 to talk about the soon to be released book ‘Inner Sea Gods.’ You can listen to the audio version or catch the recording of the Google Hangout we did below.
Queer as a Three Sided Die
One of the longest running seminar series that we record, Queer as a Three Sided Die, always featured Wes prominently as one of the strongest champions of diversity in the gaming industry. We have every Q3D seminar recording hosted on our site, but a particular favorite is the one from 2014 you can watch below.
Private Sanctuary 206 – Horror
Horror in gaming was always one of Wes’s favorite topics to talk about. He joined us on Private Sanctuary 206 to co-host an episode on how to get that horror flavor in your games. Still a great listen today.
Know Direction Pathfinder Podcast 152 – Interview with F. Wesley Schneider
And finally, our most recent interview with him was in Know Direction episode 152. Wes joins us to talk about his role in the ongoing Pathfinder Comics line, his love of Vampire Hunter D (and the source book he wrote for it), and his role as Editor-in-Chief at Paizo.
This is only a small sampling of the many times we’ve been lucky enough to have F. Wesley Schneider on the network, and you can find many more of them here.
Those wishing to continue to follow Wes’s work should probably keep an eye on his professional blog, as well at check out his regular Twitch streaming and his Patreon.
Please keep an eye on the comment section of this post for personal thoughts from the staff here at Know Direction.
Wes, we wish you all the greatest success in your future endeavors, and to steal the tagline from one of our podcasts: You are always welcome in our Private Sanctuary.
As the author of the article a lot of my thoughts are already expressed above. But on a more personal note Wes has always been an inspiration for my work in the industry and one of the professionals I most respect.
His work on diversity in gaming helped me understand just how important it was that everyone be able to see themselves in the games they play. That everyone feel welcome. And since my first nervous days wandering the floors of Gen Con with a crappy cheap voice recorder, Wes was one of the first people to truly make me feel welcome in the industry.
Thank you, Wes. I know I’ll keep seeing great things from you.
Wes Schneider is leaving Paizo. I’m happy for him, but I’m also sad. Fun factoid—Wes got me my first gig at Paizo. About five years ago, I was a dumb kid fresh off of Pact Magic Unbound, Vol 2. I knew nothing about the industry, and so I decided to message the editor in chief with my interest on the forums because I didn’t know any better.
Wes humored me, and asked to see samples of my work. That lead to my first gig with Patrick Renie in Giant Hunter’s Handbook, and eventually to me working with Owen for the “first” time in Monster Summoner’s Handbook.
Wes is leaving Paizo. It feels like a dream. I’m happy for you, Wes. We never really worked together directly, but nevertheless I’ll miss you. Please keep doing great things; I want to keep hearing about you and your accomplishments.
Easily the greatest privilege of hosting this podcast is getting to interact with the talented and brilliant members of Paizo’s staff. I’ve had to pleasure of interviewing Wes multiple times, always a fun and informative, but my fondest memories of interacting with Wes are from outside of our recordings. Here are some highlights:
-Wes swears when he’s excited. When he’s a guest on our PG podcast he manages to control himself, but he’s under no onus to do so at the convention seminars we record. And trust me, he lets the f-bombs fly. It was getting to the point that I didn’t have the time to bleet out his language with our censor goat from every recording. So we put together the “contains Wes Schneider” caution graphic and an audio drop that said the episode is rated WES for cheeky language. We didn’t tell Wes we were doing it, but when he caught wind of it Wes LOVED it. I don’t know if we’ll make a new graphic and rating for another Paizo staffer known for swearing (looks in Jessica Price’s direction) or if the legacy of Wes’ cheeky language will continue into the future.
-Speaking of seminars, our recorders catch more than just the seminars they’re there to record. They’re on before the seminars start and after they’re done. Mostly we catch the panelists chatting with the crowd, but in 2015 Wes unknowingly contributed to the greatest unreleased audio we’ve ever recorded. Before the Diversity in Pathfinder panel with James Sutter, Crystal Frasier, and Judy Bauer began, Wes walked into the room. The panelists asked if he’d like to sit in, to which Wes replied “Just what this panel needs, another f—ing white person.”
-The last time Wes joined the podcast, we were having terrible connection issues that delayed the start of recording by 30 minutes. Wes was super patient with us but we were all set to cancel the recording when suddenly, it worked! We were live. And then in walked Scarlett for her now-regular podcast cameo before bed. Not wanting to delay the show any longer, I asked Wes to tell us a story while I gave Scarlett a bit of attention. It took him all of one second to think of a story about going to dinner with Adam Daigle for Daigle’s birthday. It was a lovely story of friends looking after one of their own who was feeling homesick and connecting with him on a more personal level through sharing a meal that meant something to him. For all the gaming, horror, and diversity conversations I’ve had with Wes, that is my favourite Wes story by far.
Wes is one of the first Paizo staffers to recognize me outside of the podcast, he gave me my first Paizo writing assignment (a couple of monsters for the Skull & Shackles adventure path, one of which -the galvo, which has taken on a bit of a life of its own), and he seems genuinely interested in catching up with us in the 30 minutes or so we’re online together before an interview starts. I sincerely hope he still makes it to PaizoCon next week because he may have been the person I was looking forward to chatting with the most.
Thanks for everything, Wes. I can’t wait to hear about where your future takes you.
And I just remembered that Wes is the first person to share our site on the Paizo blog which resulted in a huge spike in traffic and a major increase in our visibility and legitimacy. I’m sure as the day goes on I’ll remember more important things Wes did for me and us, but that one felt too important to leave out.