Paizo Publishing has announced that Monte Cook, the co-creator of Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons and writer of the 3.5 Edition Dungeon Masters Guide and Players Handbook as well as the Ptolus campaign setting (see “Ptolus: The Most Deluxe Campaign Setting Ever”), has joined the Pathfinder Role-Playing Game team as a Rules Consultant.

In addition to consulting on the development of the Pathfinder RPG (see "Paizo Announces Pathfinder RPG"), Cook will also contribute an introduction to the final 420-page Pathfinder RPG hardcover volume ($49.99), which is due to be released in August 2009. 

The Pathfinder rules are based on the 3.5 rules available under the Open Gaming License so it makes perfect sense to have Monte Cook and his incredible wealth of experience designing for those rules on board.