The Return of the Return of the Man

You know how they keep saying that the US will convert to the metric system? Or how, after "Return of the Jedi" there weren't going to be anymore Star Wars movies?

Monte Cook's the same way. First he says he's out of RPGs to concentrate on his novels. Then he writes not one, but two "Books of Experimental Might". And now, this:

Paizo Publishing®, LLC today announced that Monte Cook, the co-creator of 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons and author of the 3.5 PHB and DMG as well as the Ptolus™ campaign setting and the recent Book of Experimental Might™, has joined the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game team as a Rules Consultant.

"This is going to be a lot of fun," said Monte Cook. "Pathfinder is a fresh spin on a rules system that I love and the guys at Paizo are great to work with. They produce nothing but the highest quality products."

"I keep trying to leave, but they keep draggin' me back in!" ;)

UPDATE: James Maliszewski believes "this is an important coup for Paizo and for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and it solidifies my belief that there will now be a permanent split in the fanbase of D&D and a fork in the development of its rules."

And Mr. Cook himself says:

My role is "rules consultant," and I'll be really up-front with you regarding what that means (and doesn't mean). The way it's been working for the last couple of weeks is, Jason emails me with the occasional question or bounces an idea off of me, and I tell him what I think. I also review the new material he comes up with and give my 2 cents. And that's really about it. Jason's not under any obligation to take any advice I might give. It's his baby. He makes the final decisions. I'm not a designer on this project, I'm a resource.

(Sorry this doesn't go to the actual quote. I'm not sure how to link to an individual post in Monte's blog.)