Who is John Compton?

Thursday, February 28, 2013

The whole Pathfinder Society community has been buzzing about the new addition to the Pathfinder Society team here at the Paizo offices. But who is John Compton, our newest developer? We'll let him tell you...

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief

My roleplaying experience began with a bequeathed copy of the 1981 Dungeons & Dragons Expert Rules from my older cousin Tim. It wasn’t until the end of middle school that I found a regular gaming group, and it was Kyle Pratt, one of the founding members and now co-Venture-Captain of Georgia, who introduced me to Pathfinder and later Pathfinder Society in early 2010. Given my training as an archaeologist, Pathfinder Society had an instant appeal. Despite an ally nearly killing off the entire party in The Prince of Augustana, our first scenario, I was hooked.

From there we, along with Nani Pratt, acted as store liaisons under Mike Brock’s leadership as then-VC. When he took on the weighty mantle of Campaign Coordinator, I cheerfully offered my services in adapting modules, writing Chronicle sheets for Pathfinder Tales, and other small-scale odds and ends, and I continued to write supplementary material behind the scenes until PaizoCon 2012. I was already excited that weekend. Not only had I participated as a suitor in the Grand Convocation the night before, but I was also still buzzed from some amazing conversations in person with the esteemed Painlord and Shivok from the messageboards. Then, Mark Moreland snagged me during the lunch break, offered me a chance to write a scenario, and asked me to write the Season 4 convention boons.

In early January, I received an exciting series of emails. First, it was Mark asking if at some point in the future, budget willing, I would be interested in a bit of freelance, part-time development work. Sure! Then I heard from Wes asking me to send in a resume for a full-time developer position. Done! A few interviews later, I was hired and swapping ideas with Mike to continue Pathfinder Society’s growth and improve the experience even more.

John Compton
Developer

Liar's Blade Sample Chapter

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

In Liar's Blade, Rodrick is handsome, charming, quick-witted—and totally devoid of morals. Fortunately for him, his best friend Hrym—a talking sword with a blade of living ice—is just as single-minded when it comes to acquiring gold. The pair prefer to win their money by tricking those less deserving of it—which is to say, everyone else—while expending as little effort as possible. Yet when a mysterious patron offers them a lucrative job far to the north, the dastardly duo may find themselves in over their heads (or hilts)....

Chapter One: Two Sought Employment

Why would anyone want to meet at a circle of standing stones?" Rodrick leaned against one of the mossy monoliths and gazed up at the darkening sky. "Who wants to talk business out in the woods? I prefer taverns for this sort of thing. Taverns are traditional. It's easy to get a drink in them. Also, I live above one. Very convenient."

"Our mysterious prospective employer obviously doesn't want to be seen in public with you," Hrym said from behind Rodrick, voice muffled. "I can't say I blame him."

"Possibly he doesn't want to be seen at all." Rodrick rubbed the faint scratches on his cheek where one of the tavern wenches had raked him with her fingernails yesterday. He'd only made a suggestion—and he'd even offered a fair price. How was he to know she was a newlywed who took her vows seriously? At least she was married to a milkwater shopkeeper and not one of Tymon's countless over-muscled gladiators, or Rodrick might have faced more serious injury. "Maybe he's a fugitive from justice or something. We do have some history of working with criminals."

"Besides one another, you mean?" Hrym said. "And anyway, what justice? We're in the River Kingdoms. In Tymon, no less, where most arguments are settled by the parties mutually agreeing to beat each other bloody. But suppose it is some rank villain. Would you turn down the job?"

"I might. I'm an honest man now, Hrym—at least on this side of the border. And at this point in time. As far as anyone knows. It's easier to make a profit off a dishonest man, true. But you have to admit, this is a suspicious way to organize things, luring me out here all alone. Present company excepted." Rodrick was relatively comfortable with his position, standing with his back against a great huge block of stone, with sightlines as clear as he could get in the forest. At least no one would be able to stab him in the kidneys. But there were still too many shadows gathering for his liking. "Picking the lock and leaving a note on my pillow. Telling me to come here at dusk if I'd like to make some money. And leaving me that little bag of gold as, what, an incentive? A deposit? A retainer?"

"Lovely gold," Hrym said dreamily. "Just pile it up and let me sleep on it, I'll be happy as happy can be."

"Yes, I know. You have such simple tastes. I still say we should have just taken the bag of coin and scampered off. I'm tired of Tymon. The only reason I stayed around after we lost all those bets at the arena was because we were too poor to travel in style. But we've got a bit of money now—"

"Yes, but if we leave, we'll miss out on making more gold," Hrym said, practical as always. "It's not like we have any other prospects for gainful or illicit employment at the moment, and that little purse won't last long. Not with the way you run through money. You spent the last of our savings on the second-prettiest wench in the tavern, you may recall."

"The first prettiest was unavailable," Rodrick said absently. "But, look, don't you think anyone stupid enough to give me a bag of money in advance is, by definition, too stupid to work for? Trusting my reliability doesn't say much for their judgment."

"Or they could be stupid enough for us to make a lot of money off them," Hrym said.

Rodrick pondered. "Fair point. "

A moment later, the underbrush rustled, and a figure stepped forward from the shadows. Not quite short enough to be a halfling or dwarf, but definitely on the small side for a human, draped in a bulky cloak that seemed to hint at some concealed deformity—a hump, perhaps, or an off-center surplus head. The cloak was made of good fabric, though, dark green and richly embroidered along the edges with peculiar spiral patterns in dark blue thread.

"I am Zaqen," the figure said, voice pitched high enough that Rodrick guessed the speaker was female, though it was hard to be sure. "You are Rodrick, of Andoran?"

"I'm from all over," Rodrick said. "And I'm pleased to meet you." He gave her one of his more roguish smiles, because it never hurts to be charming.

Zaqen giggled, and Rodrick's smile slipped a notch. People who giggled for no reason worried him.

"Is it true," she said, "that those who hire you also hire ...your sword?"

"A warrior isn't much good without his sword." In truth, despite the rumors he'd caused to be spread throughout the region, Rodrick wasn't much of a fighter. He preferred to stab people from concealment if stabbing was called for—but one had to keep up appearances.

Zaqen sidled closer. "Yes, but ...you have a special sword?"

"Special is a good word for me," Hrym said. "Also ‘amazing' and ‘wonderful' and ‘amazingly wonderful'—"

There must be more to Zaqen than meets the eye.

"The sword talks!" Zaqen said. "How marvelous. I'd assumed that was an exaggeration." She craned her head, trying to get a glimpse of the magical weapon sheathed on Rodrick's back.

"I am no it," Hrym said. "‘He' would be better, or any honorifics you choose."

"Apologies, O mighty blade," Zaqen said, her tone deeply amused.

Rodrick sighed. Of course she'd heard about the sword. The only people who wanted Rodrick for himself alone in recent years were magistrates, city guards, and the occasional irate spouse.

"May I see it—I mean, him?" Zaqen scuttled a few steps closer, almost obscenely eager.

"Yes, let me out of this sheath," Hrym demanded. "I can't see anything."

"Your senses are magical," Rodrick said. "It's not as if you have eyes. I don't understand how a leather scabbard can possibly impede your vision." But he stepped away from the standing stone, reached over his right shoulder, grasped the hilt of the longsword, and drew Hrym smoothly from his scabbard, holding him aloft to sparkle in the ...well, twilight. Noonday sun would have been more dramatic.

Hrym was looking especially radiant tonight, though: a blade of living ice nearly four feet long, transparently crystalline at the impossibly sharp edges shading to milky white inward, and on through to a shimmering blue at the center, with steam rising in smoky tendrils from all along his length in the humid air.

"There," Rodrick said. "Meet Hrym, my partner. If this was all some elaborate ruse to lure me out here to steal my sword, you might wish to reconsider. The last person who picked up Hrym without permission lost half his arm to frostbite."

"Though if you offered me sufficient coin, say enough to fill the empty hollow of a medium-sized drained lake—" Hrym said.

"Hush, you," Rodrick said.

"No." Zaqen was suddenly businesslike. "I am not here to steal your blade. I am here to invite you to join me, and my patron, on a sacred quest."

"A quest!" Hrym said. For a sentient sword of living ice with no tongue, mouth, or even vocal cords, his voice was remarkably human. Hrym sounded like an old man who'd spent several decades running a shop that never offered credit, smoking a clay pipe on a porch and pontificating, and teaching his nephews dirty jokes. "I love quests. A sacred one, no less."

"A quest," Rodrick repeated, and sighed. "Well. It's not as if anyone's ever died horribly on one of those. Where is this patron of yours?"

"My master is busy with devotional matters. He is a very holy man."

"A holy man?" Now Rodrick did frown. "What variety of holy? The kind who disapproves of gambling and drinking, or the kind who likes sacrificing innocent virgins on altars of black stone, or ...?"

"The very wealthy kind of holy," Zaqen said. "And he has no interest in your morality, or lack thereof. As long as you can protect and aid us on our journey, he will be pleased, and you will be generously rewarded."

"And as for the other thing, you're hardly a virgin," Hrym said. "So let your mind rest easy on that point."

"Let's have a few details," Rodrick said. "Or even broad outlines. Where are we going, why are we going there, who's trying to kill us along the way, and what are you offering to pay?"

"We are going to Brevoy." Zaqen lifted her face to look at Hrym, still shining in the dusk. Her face was entirely human, though not particularly pretty: snub nose, thin lips, eyes of two different colors, one blue and one green—and the eyes looking in just slightly different directions, lending her gaze a fishlike quality. "To the very edge of any map you're likely to have seen. We seek a sacred artifact of great power, locked away for millennia. No one in particular is trying to kill us, but the River Kingdoms are dangerous places, and parts of Brevoy are little better. And, of course, where there are great treasures, there are often powerful guards, and other interested parties seeking the same prize ...My master and I are not without resources, but neither of us is particularly skilled with weapons, and simply having a strong man with a long blade in our party will act as a deterrent against many common bandits—"

"He asked about payment," Hrym said. "That's the one part I actually care about, so don't forget to address it, please."

Zaqen cocked her head, doubtless wondering—as many had before—what a magical sword could possibly want with gold. "My master is traditional. We will pay all expenses, of course. If you help us reach our goal, Rodrick, we offer your weight in gold as reward." She paused. "Or an equivalent value in gems, treasure, property, or a promissory note drawn on a leading bank of Absalom."

"His current weight in gold, or his weight at the end of the journey?" Hrym said sharply.

Zaqen blinked. "Excellent question. Astute. Forward-thinking. Let's say ...at the end of the journey?"

"Hmm," Hrym said. "I don't like it. Long overland journeys tend to cause weight loss. But he's hardly stout now, so I think we can do better. You'd better start eating richer foods, Rodrick. I want you so fat you can't sit on a horse by the time we reach Brevoy."

"Those terms are acceptable," Rodrick said calmly. His weight in treasure? That would be enough to fill a nice chest for Hrym to use as a bed, with plenty left over for Rodrick to live in the manner to which he devoutly hoped to become accustomed. And then there was the artifact she'd mentioned—surely that would be worth a bit of coin to the right buyer.

"What's the artifact?" Hrym asked. Rodrick suppressed a wince. Hrym had a bad habit of tipping their hand.

"It is a holy relic," Zaqen said. "Of no intrinsic value, and worthless to anyone but my master's particular sect."

Rodrick nodded. "I understand." Maybe what she said was even true. But if this holy man's cult could pay a man's weight in gold just for a chaperone, what would they pay in ransom for the relic itself?

"When do we leave?" Hrym said.

"Meet us here tomorrow," Zaqen said. "Two hours before twilight."

Rodrick frowned. "You want to travel by night?"

She shrugged, one shoulder dipping lower than the other. "My master sets the schedule. I gather there is a place to camp some two hours from here, where he wishes to spend the night."

"Who pays the coin calls the tune." Rodrick bowed. "I'll see you then."

Zaqen disappeared back into the underbrush, walking with a strange, hitching gait, but with surprising speed.

"Well then," Rodrick said. "I suppose that's settled. Let's head back to the Bloodied Flail and spend our advance money."

"You'd better keep enough gold to scatter over the bottom of a drawer in our rooms," Hrym said. "I don't intend to sleep on bare wood again."

"Sleep! As if you sleep." Rodrick slipped away from the standing stones, working his way along the old footpath in the direction of Tymon. The woods right around the city weren't especially dangerous—because of the gladiatorial arena, Tymon had the highest concentration of heavily armed warriors in the River Kingdoms, and they were all obliged to provide a certain amount of civil defense—but there were always bandits with no sense of self-preservation and skulking agents from the neighboring country of Razmiran, which coveted the wealth of Tymon. The value of caution was a lesson Rodrick had learned long ago. Though the exact lesson was more like, "Be cautious when no one is watching; if you want to impress someone, be ostentatiously bold, if the odds favor success."

Rodrick wasn't a coward, but he found that getting in too many fights tended to make his muscles hurt, which detracted from his enjoyment of sex, sleep, and other sensual pleasures.

They made it back to the main road without encountering thieves, thugs, spies, or mad wild beasts. Alive and walking with coins jingling in his pocket—what a pleasant sensation. Hrym was back in his sheath, keeping quiet. People tended to notice talking swords made of living ice. They gaped, or plotted to steal said magical sword, or just asked far too many tedious questions, so Hrym seldom spoke in public. There was also the element of surprise to consider. Discovering that your enemy was armed with another enemy had given many an opponent pause over the years.

Rodrick stopped by the gates to greet Chumley, the night guard he'd befriended on his first day in the city. That was one of Rodrick's little rules: if at all possible, get on friendly terms with the fellows capable of opening a gate and letting you slip out unnoticed in the middle of the night. The guard helped him tie Hrym's hilt to the scabbard with a bit of rough twine. In Tymon, ordinary people had to bind up their weapons or leave them with the guards while they were inside the walls, while full-fledged gladiators could use bare daggers for jewelry if they liked.

Rodrick strolled through the gate, nodding at the few familiar faces he saw, especially the heavily scarred ones. These were not people you wanted to have for enemies.

Most of the wooden and stone shops along the central thoroughfare were still open, though soon only the bars and betting parlors would be doing business. Off in the distance, the roughly palatial Champion's Fortress loomed above almost all the other buildings, overshadowed only by the Arena of Aroden, by far the largest structure in town. Rodrick had gone to a couple of the fights there—the ones he'd bet on most heavily—but his seats were so terrible he'd barely been able to see anything except the head of his "sure thing" rolling off across the sand at the match's conclusion. Blood sports weren't really his preferred game. Give him a nice bit of back-alley gambling instead, especially if he could provide the dice.

"Aroden." Rodrick paused to gaze at the arena. "Some god he turned out to be. Greatest scam ever perpetrated, don't you think? He claimed he was going to come back from the heavens and deliver us all from evil, and when the time came, he was a no-show. How many times have I pulled the same trick at an inn? ‘Oh, I'll come back tonight and settle my bill.' Ha! Of course, they say Aroden died, which is a fairly good reason to miss an appointment, as these things go."

"I met Aroden once." Hrym voice was low and muffled.

Rodrick frowned. "What? The Aroden? Didn't he stroll away from our mortal plane ten thousand years ago?"

Hrym was silent for a moment. "Maybe I'm thinking of someone else," the sword mumbled. "You humans all start to look the same after a while."

Rodrick shook his head. "He was Azlanti—the last Azlanti. I doubt he looked much like the rest of us—"

"Bipedal. One head, with hair on it. Two arms. Close enough."

Rodrick snorted. It was often impossible to tell if Hrym was boasting, lying, deluded, or genuinely ancient. Even the sword himself often seemed unsure of his true history. But what mattered now was their future. If they were off on a long, harsh journey tomorrow, they'd better enjoy tonight.

Their current home was a room above the Bloodied Flail, close enough to the arena to hear the screams of the crowd if the wind was right. Despite the tavern's name, and the sign bearing an image of a multi-headed whip dripping crimson paint, the Flail wasn't a particularly violent or rough tavern. That was just the aesthetic in Tymon, the city of gladiators: blood, weapons, severed heads dangling by their hair, and so forth. For all that the place was founded on blood, it was one of the more polite places Rodrick had spent time. Something about the fact that every third person you met was a seasoned arena fighter bristling with weapons prompted people to mind their manners.

Rodrick kicked the mud off his boots before pushing through into the Flail's common room—the owner had given him the rough side of her tongue the first time he tracked in muck, and he believed in staying on good terms with one's landlady, at least until it came time to skip out on the final bill.

It was only just nightfall, so the place wasn't too full yet, and he got a spot next to the bar. The prettiest waitress, Sonya—the one he'd propositioned, getting a slap complete with fingernails for his trouble—narrowed her eyes at him and disappeared into the back, but Sweet Jill approached with a smile and poured him a mug of beer. He took a sip and smacked his lips. "Much obliged. Have I told you how your hair reminds me of the embers of—"

"Save it." She kept smiling, but he saw now that her eyes were serious. "Flirt with me tomorrow, if you're still alive."

Rodrick raised one eyebrow in what he knew to be a charming and suggestive way. "Unless you're planning to ride me to death—"

"It's Sonya," she said. "She didn't like the way you talked to her."

"I suppose I could apologize, though I can't imagine why her feelings should be hurt. I would hardly seek the company of a woman who wasn't beautiful and exceptional and amazing, present company most definitely included, so really it was a compliment when I asked—"

"You're from out of town." Jill sounded sad, which was worrisome. "You didn't know any better. I tried to tell her that, but she's still upset. Most of our patrons know better than to try and have it off with her."

"I didn't know she was married," Rodrick said. "Let alone newly married. I would have held my tongue if I'd realized." Not entirely true, but he would have approached things differently. "Why are we talking about such tedious things when I have a bag of gold and—"

"You should probably leave town." She tried to nudge him off his barstool with her hip.

"But why? Her husband is a fine man, I have no doubt, but he runs a shop, and it's not even something frightening like a weapon shop or a butcher shop. It's a general goods store. The man isn't likely going to challenge me to a—"

"No," said a voice from behind him, a deep bass rumble full of amusement. "But her brother might."

Want more? Check out Liar's Blade in paperback or ePub format!

Coming Next Week: Tim Pratt brings us an all-new prequel story unveiling how Rodrick and Hrym first met and joined forces!

Tim Pratt is the author of the Pathfinder Tales novels Liar's Blade and City of the Fallen Sky, as well as the short story "A Tomb of Winter's Plunder." His writing has won a Hugo Award, a Rhysling Award, and an Emperor Norton Award, as well as been nominated for Nebula, Mythopoeic, World Fantasy, and Stoker Awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies such as The Best American Short Stories and The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, as well as two short story collections of his own. His non-Pathfinder novels include the contemporary fantasies The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl and Briarpatch; the Forgotten Realms novel Venom in Her Veins; and seven books in the Marla Mason urban fantasy series (as T. A. Pratt). He edited the anthology Sympathy for the Devil, and Rags & Bones with Melissa Marr. His books and stories have been translated into French, Czech, Dutch, Russian, Greek, Korean, Spanish, German, and several other languages.

Illustration by Eric Belisle.

The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Gets Ready to Fly!

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

As I write this, the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game (which I described in an earlier blog) is getting ready to go to the printer. We're incorporating the last bits of feedback from playtesters and developers, templating the cards for consistency and flavor, and rearranging the rulebook so that it's fun and easy to read. This is the end of the development process, the point where a game designer gets ready to bid farewell to his design as it walks out the door for a rich new life.

As you can tell, I'm a little sad to see it go. I mean, I know it will do great things. If, as they say, it takes a village to raise a child, then this child got one mighty fine upbringing. Even if it started as a very different sort of child indeed.

Conceived out of mad science in my lab, born of the unholy union of Epic Roleplaying Game™ and Cooperative Card Game™, the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game was not destined to go unnoticed. The first clue was its larger than average size. At 1,155 cards released over a year, it's a colossus. At the point I learned that all of them would fit in the same box, I thought, "Man, that is some box." All of Rise of the Runelords packs into more than 30 epic adventures. That is a lot of adventures.

The front and back of the adventure Burnt Offerings, and both sides of its scenario Attack on Sandpoint.

But it isn't a hulking brute. This game has moves. It plays with a catlike grace, whipping along and keeping you in suspense as you play. If you're the kind of person who looks at a polar bear and thinks, "I'll bet that big thing can't catch me," you're gonna get caught by this game too. Once you set up a session, the game will guide you through a thrilling adventure, ticking down to a moment where panic will set in as to whether your party will win or lose. And just like that cuddly polar bear, make no mistake: This game might just kill you. It's sure gonna try, anyway.

Oh yeah, the whole village thing. This game went through a stellar development team, both in my group (Chad Brown, Paul Peterson, Gaby Weidling, and Tanis O'Connor) and at Paizo (Vic Wertz, Wes Schneider, James Jacobs, and Jason Bulmahn). At some point, I convinced the Paizo team to run a "semi-open alpha test," where we gave it to more than three hundred Pathfinder Society members and said, "Break this thing."

Boy, did they. Over three months of testing, we received thousands of pieces of feedback. A single card might have 30 forum comments about it; put two cards together and a vigorous debate about card combos would break out. My favorite thread title: "Harpy + Treacherous Cave raises suck to a new level."

The monster card Harpy, both sides of the location card Treacherous Cave, and Teleport, the spell you wish you had when you encounter the former in the latter.

Everything got sanded down and reshaped. Vic, Chad, and I were on the super-secret playtest forum every day, answering questions and updating the game at a breakneck pace. The Pathfinder players made our game into their game.

The game has been through an epic journey over a year's time, just like you will make when you play it. And now, it's getting ready to leave the nest. I'm going to miss it. But it's coming home for summer, and I'm keeping its room open.

Mike Selinker
Lone Shark Games

RPG Superstar: Round 4 Submissions!

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

The Top 8 RPG Superstar contestants have completed their Round 4 entries! This round, our contestants have created a Golarion Location, Map and Encounter. Round 4 included a couple new twists: the contestants must use another designer's monster, and the encounter had to include a trap. Fan votes will determine who of the Top 8 advances to Round 5, where the Top 4 will be submitting a Pathfinder Module adventure proposal.

The submissions and judge reviews are now live! Discuss the entries and vote for your favorites, as well as engage in the playtest. Voting starts on March 5 and ends March 11, and the Top 4 (by votes) will move on to Round 5.

The ultimate winner of RPG Superstar will be announced on April 2, 2013, and will be writing a Pathfinder Module. Doom Comes to Dustpawn, written by last year's RPG Superstar, Mike Welham, will be releasing this May!

Sean K Reynolds
Designer, RPG Superstar Judge

Gen Con 2013: News and Official Call for Volunteers

Monday, February 25, 2013

For Gen Con 2012, I advised last year that we planned to make it the biggest and best Gen Con yet. And it certainly was. We scheduled 750 tables of Pathfinder Society over the four days. We showed the world our GM 101 workshops, Kids' Track, and Beginner Box Introductions. Gen Con was definitely a success and Paizo's biggest showing in history. But we can make it better!

As many already know, Paizo stepped up as a cosponsor at this year's show. What does that mean for Pathfinder Society? It means we move into the Sagamore Ballroom! We double in size, scheduling 150 tables per slot. Additionally, we also have two of the seven rooms that were used for Pathfinder Society last year. One of them will be used exclusively for Paizo seminars. The other room will have 10 tables and a mini-HQ that will allow us to schedule five tables of Beginner Box Introductions and five tables of the Kids' Track for all ten slots of Gen Con. This year, we will also be hosting a GM and volunteer briefing in the Sagamore Ballroom from 5-6 pm on Wednesday. If you are a volunteer of GM, please try to attend.

Doubling in size allows us to offer a much broader selection of scenarios for players to choose from. I also wanted this to serve as a celebration of Pathfinder Society history and have chosen several multipart series, as well as favorites from past seasons, in addition to the normal offerings of the previous season and the new season. We are planning to schedule 61 different scenarios, one Gen Con Special, two Gen Con Exclusives, and two modules! These include seven Season 0 scenarios, nine Season 1 scenarios, 13 Season 2 scenarios, 10 Season 3 scenarios, 19 Season 4 scenarios, and four Season 5 scenarios. We are also offereing a few tables of We Be Goblins! and We Be Goblins Too! throughout the course of the convention.

We are planning one or two tables of the three new Season 5 scenarios for each morning and afternoon slot throughout the convention, which will be GMed in French and Spanish languages. Paris Venture-Captain Karim Majeri, Quebec Venture-Captain Michel Lepage, and French GM Florent Fournol will be traveling to Gen Con from their countries and GMing a large share of the French-language tables, but I still have a few open tables if you are fluent in French. Every French-language GM that volunteers to GM six or more tables will receive a French-language Core Rulebook as a thank you! All of the Spanish-language tables need GMs. If you are fluent in either language, please consider GMing in some of these first time offerings at Gen Con.

The Season 5 Gen Con special, Siege of the Diamond City, scheduled for Friday night, will help us kickoff the new season near the Worldwound! The Special this year will be designed for levels 1—15, and include subtiers for levels 12—13 and 14—15. At 150 tables, it will be one of the single largest, collaborative roleplaying games ever hosted!

The scenarios being scheduled for Gen Con are as follows:

Season 0

• #1: Silent Tide (Tier 1—5)
• #5: Mists of Mwangi (Tier 1—5)
• #6: Black Waters (Tier 1—5)
• #7: Among the Living (Tier 1—7)
• #20: King Xeros of Old Azlant (Tier 7—11)
• #22: Fingerprints of the Fiend (Tier 7—11)
• #23: Tide of Morning (Tier 1—5)

Season 1

• #1—33: Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible (Tier 1—5)
• #1—35: Voice in the Void (Tier 1—7)
• #1—38: No Plunder, No Pay (Tier 7—11)
• #1—39: The Citadel of Flame (Tier 1—5)
• #1—40: Hall of Drunken Heroes (Tier 7—11)
• #1—46: Eyes of the Ten, Part 1: Requiem for the Red Raven (Tier 12)
• #1—49: Among the Dead (Tier 1—7)
• #1—54: Eyes of theTen, Part 2: Maze of the Open Road (Tier 12)
• #1—56: Jester's Fraud (Tier 5—9)

Season 2

• #2—01: Before the Dawn, Part 1: The Bloodcove Disguise (Tier 1—7)
• #2—02: Before the Dawn, Part 2: Rescue at Azlant Ridge (Tier 1—7)
• #2—03: The Rebel's Ransom (Tier 5—9)
• #2—05: Eyes of the Ten, Part 3: Red Revolution (Tier 12)
• #2—06: The Heresy of Man, Part 1: The First Heresy (Tier 5—9)
• #2—07: The Heresy of Man, Part 2: Where Dark Things Sleep (Tier 5—9)
• #2—08: The Sarkorian Prophecy (Tier 7—11)
• #2—09: The Heresy of Man, Part 3: Beneath Forgotten Sands (Tier 5—9)
• #2—10: Fury of the Fiend (Tier 7—11)
• #2—11: The Penumbral Accords (Tier 1—5)
• #2—12: Below the Silver Tarn (Tier 7—11)
• #2—22: Eyes of the Ten, Part 4: Nothing Ventures, Nothing Gained (Tier 12)
• #2—25: You Only Die Twice (Tier 5—9)

Season 3

• #3—05: Tide of Twilight (Tier 1—5)
• #3—07: Echoes of the Overwatched (Tier 1—5)
• #3—08: Among the Gods (Tier 3—7)
• #3—10: The Immortal Conundrum (Tier 5—9)
• #3—12: Wonders in the Weave, Part 1: The Dog Pharoah's Tomb (Tier 5—9)
• #3—14: Wonders in the Weave, Part 2: Snakes in the Fold (Tier 5—9)
• #3—15: The Haunting of Hinojai (Tier 5—9)
• #3—18: The God's Market Gamble (Tier 1—5)
• #3—20: Rats of Round Mountain, Part 1: The Sundered Path (Tier 7—11)
• #3—22: Rats of Round Mountain, Part 2: Pagoda of the Rat (Tier 7—11)

Season 4

• #4—EX: Day of the Demon (Tier 3—7)
• #4—04: King of the Storval Stairs (Tier 7—11)
• #4—05: The Sanos Abduction (Tier 3—7)
• #4—07: Severing Ties (Tier 1—5)
• #4—08: The Cultist's Kiss (Tier 7—11)
• #4—10: Feasts of Sigils (Tier 7—11)
• #4—11: The Disappeared (Tier 1—5)
• #4—12: Refuge of Time (Tier 7—11)
• #4—13: Fortress of the Nail (Tier 5—9)
• #4—14: My Enemy's Enemy (Tier 3—7)
• #4—17: Tower of the Ironwood Watch (Tier 5—9)
• #4—18: The Veteran's Vault (Tier 1—5)
• #4—19: The Night March of Kalkamedes (Tier 1—5)
• #4—20: Words of the Ancient (Tier 7—11)
• #4—22: Halls of Dwarven Lore (Tier 5—9)
• #4—23: Rivalry's End (Tier 3—7)
• #4—24: The Price of Friendship (Tier 5—9)
• #4—25: The Secrets Stones Keep (Tier 5—9)
• #4—26: The Waking Rune (Tier 7—11)

Season 5

• #5—00: Siege of the Diamond City (Gen Con Special, Tier 1—15)
• #5—01: Title TBD (Tier 1—5) (English, French, and Spanish language)
• #5—02: Title TBD (Tier 3—7) (English, French, and Spanish language)
• #5—03: Title TBD (Tier 5—9) (English, French, and Spanish language)

We will be offering two exclusives this year at Gen Con, one on Thursday night and one on Saturday night. On Thursday evening, we'll be running a particularly challenging (and lethal) Tier 3—7 scenario, the Ruins of Bonekeep, Level 1: The Silent Grave, written by Jason Bulhman, Lead Designer at Paizo Publishing. This is the first of a series of special events designed to test your character to its limits. It debuted at Winter Fantasy this past January and will make a few limited appearances throughout the spring and summer convention season leading up to Gen Con. On Saturday night, we will follow up Ruins of Bonekeep, Level 1 with Ruins of Bonekeep, Level 2, also written by Jason. It is also being designed for Tier 3—7 characters, and again, will be particularly challenging and lethal. Ruins of Bonekeep, Level 2 will make its debut at Gen Con. For both of the exclusives, the threat of character death is very real, but the potential rewards are greater as a result. You will be able to, as a table, decide to leave the event at any time should it become too deadly for you, except when engaged in combat. If this is not the type of event for you, please look for other options during Slots 3 and 9. We will only run each level one time at Gen Con so both will be limited, exclusive events. On a side note, we will have a few limited tables running all three of the new Season 5 scenarios if you would rather not participate in either of the exclusives.

Illustration by Michal Ivan

In regard to the Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box Introductions, we have two different offerings this year. During all 10 slots at Gen Con, we are setting aside five tables during each slot for these Beginner Box Introduction events. Both parts are scheduled with new players in mind. For Beginner Box Introductions, Part 1, it is the same as last year in that we will allow for the first 45—60 minutes to be an exploration of the contents of the Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box, explaining the rules, and reviewing the pregenerated characters. The final four hours of each slot will be playing through the four, one-hour adventures that were offered last year. For Beginner Box Introductions, Part 2, the GM will assist players in advancing their character to 3rd level. The Beginner Box Transitions, Player Pack, and GM Kit will be reviewed. Once those three free documents have been covered, we will be offering up five brand-new, one-hour adventures as time permits. Much like the four adventures in Part 1, these will be utilizing only the Beginner Box rules.

We'll also be expanding the Pathfinder Kids' Track this year! We will be setting aside five tables at each slot for all 10 slots of the convention. We are focusing on players aged 6—12 and we will be using the Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box for this as well. The Kids' Track is divided into two parts—the Beginner Track and the Advanced Track. Each kids' Beginner Track slot will be two hours long and each player will receive a check-off card, similar to what was used last year and at the Beginner Box Bash in 2011. The first hour of each of the 10 kids' Beginner Track sessions teaches roleplaying and rules, and reviews the pregenerated characters found in the Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box. During the second hour, one of the four, one-hour adventures used during the Beginner Box Bash will be played.

For the kids' Advanced Track, we are focusing on children who participated in last year's kids' Beginner Track, at a local kids' Beginner Track session near their home, or for older children that have prior experience with Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The GM at each of the two-hour slots will help the children level-up their chosen character to third level. After leveling is complete, the GM will run one of five new adventures designed using the Beginner Box rules.

We will be running each of the nine different adventures multiple times throughout the convention to allow flexible scheduling for children and parents. We will be restricting tables to four children players and are requiring a parent or guardian be present with the child (or multiple children if two or more are interested in participating) for the entire two hours. The parent or guardian will assist the child when needed. We want to make this a good and memorable experience for the kids that attend Gen Con, who often find little they can participate in, especially with others their own age. We will be scheduling 30, two-hour tables per day on Thursday through Saturday, and 20, two-hour tables on Sunday, for the Kids' Track, divided between the Beginner Track and Advanced Track.

If a child plays all four different adventures in the Beginner Track, he will be able to present his check-off card to HQ and receive a special certificate that celebrates his accomplishments. If a child plays all five different adventures in the Advanced Track, she will be able to present her check-off card to HQ and receive a second, different special certificate. Each of the certificates has a different boon that can be applied to a new Pathfinder Society character if the child finishes both Kids' Tracks and wants to advance from the Beginner Box and participate in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. We may also have other giveaways or special prizes, such as dice and minaitures, similar to last year. I will be very picky when choosing volunteer GMs for the Kids' Track. I prefer to have school teachers and other professionals with experience dealing with children. I will consider GMs who are parents even if they do not deal with children regularly in their profession. If you are volunteering to GM the Kids' Track, please make sure to include all of your credentials. Also, since these are scheduled as two-hour blocks, a GM will be required to run two Kids' Track slots back to back in a four-hour block to count as 1 slot of credit toward GM rewards.

We are bringing back GM 101 in both of its parts—the breakout sessions and the Deck of Many Situations. In addition to GM 101, we will be showing off GM 201, which will debut at PaizoCon and build on the lessons learned from the GM 101 course. On a side note, the last draft I saw circulating around the office had 22 other seminars scheduled besides just the two GM classes!

Finally, I need volunteers who have experience with the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game (“Project Swallowtail”) playtest to run demos in the Dealer Hall next to Paizo's booth. You can volunteer to work one or two five-hour blocks each day from 9 AM to 6 PM (Sunday ends at 4 PM). Volunteering for any demo time will count toward your GM reward credit below.

Now, let's talk about the GMs and volunteers we need to pull all of the above off and make it the biggest and best Gen Con ever.

I need a minimum of 300 volunteer GMs for Pathfinder Society games, Beginner Box Introductions, Kids' Track events, GM 101 and 201, and Pathfinder Adventure Card Game demos. I'll continue taking volunteer GMs until the slots are filled, at which point I will create a waiting list in the event that a scheduled GM has to cancel their Gen Con trip for whatever reason. I also need a few Volunteer Assistants for each slot of the show. These folks will not GM during their volunteer slots, but will instead help me run Pathfinder Society HQ, including marshaling, collecting tickets, distributing GM packs, entering tracking sheets into the database, and they will be our go-to guys and gals for all things Pathfinder Society. Keep in mind these positions are very limited and likely to fill up in the first few hours after the blog goes live.

Below you will find the reward structure for volunteering at Gen Con 2013. Keep in mind that you're volunteering for slots, not a specific event. You can request a special event if you like, but it will not be guaranteed. Those who are able to spice up their event by adding 3D terrain, props that stand out, and the like will be given first consideration for specific events. I will let you know the slots and scenarios you have been assigned as soon as possible. You may designate what tier of scenarios you wish to GM but fulfilling this request is not guaranteed. I will, however, do the best I can to accommodate your requests. My target date to have all GMs their assigned schedules is April 19. This should allow you plenty of time to plan a schedule, before the May 19 event registration, with your friends and family who are also attending Gen Con 2013. Please let me know via email which days you will be at the convention and how many slots you are volunteering for at Gen Con 2013.

When you email me, I need you to include the following information in your email:

1. The email address that is tied to your Gen Con account.
2. The email address that is tied to your Paizo.com account.
3. I need to know if you have received the purple goblin Pathfinder Society volunteer shirts at a previous show. If not, I need to know what size you wear.

Volunteer Tiers and Rewards

Tier 1 GM Volunteers

Tier 1 GM volunteers are invaluable to making the show a success. Tier 1 GMs must select and volunteer for a MINIMUM of 8 slots. Tier 1 GMs may feel free to volunteer for more than 8 slots if they so desire. I only have room for 116 Tier 1 GM volunteers so don't delay in volunteering for this tier. Volunteers will be chosen on a first-come, first-served basis, though I reserve the right to select volunteers who have previously worked for Paizo over new volunteers. Please do not volunteer for Tier 1 if you have any doubts about being able to attend the show. Tier 1 GMs receive:

• A FREE 4-day Gen Con 2013 badge
• A FREE 1/4 of a hotel room in the Hyatt Regency Hotel
• A $10 per slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions
• A FREE Mythic Adventures hardcover
• Four FREE limited edition purple goblin Paizo Publishing Pathfinder Society Volunteer T-Shirts (if not previously received)
• A special Pathfinder Society boon that gives you the option of choosing a one-time complete rebuild of any level character OR the choice to create a character from one of the following races: grippli, ifrit, oread, suli, sylph, undine, or vishkanya.

Tier 2 GM Volunteers

Tier 2 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 7 slots. I only have room for 44 Tier 2 GM volunteers so don't delay in volunteering for this tier—it fills up very quickly. Tier 2 GMs receive:

• A FREE 4-day Gen Con 2013 badge
• A FREE 1/4 of a hotel room in the Hyatt Regency Hotel
• A $10 per slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions
• A FREE Mythic Adventures hardcover
• Four FREE limited edition purple goblin Paizo Publishing Pathfinder Society Volunteer T-Shirts (if not previously received)
• A special Pathfinder Society boon that gives you the option to create a character from one of the following races: ifrit, oread, suli, sylph, undine, or vishkanya.

Tier 3 GM Volunteers

While the rewards for volunteering for Tier 3 are smaller, the majority of my volunteers will come from this tier. Tier 3 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 6 slots. Tier 3 GMs receive:

• A FREE 4-day Gen Con 2013 badge
• A $10 per slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions
• A FREE Mythic Adventures hardcover
• Four FREE limited edition purple goblin Paizo Publishing Pathfinder Society Volunteer T-Shirts (if not previously received)
• A special Pathfinder Society boon that gives you the option to create a character from one of the following races: ifrit, oread, suli, sylph, or undine.

Tier 4 GM Volunteers

Tier 4 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 5 slots. Tier 4 GMs receive:

• A FREE 4-day Gen Con 2013 badge
• A $10 per slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions
• Four FREE limited edition purple goblin Paizo Publishing Pathfinder Society Volunteer T-Shirts (if not previously received)
• A special Pathfinder Society boon that gives you the option to create a character from one of the following races: ifrit, oread, sylph, or undine.

Tier 5 GM Volunteers

This is the minimum volunteer level to receive shirts. Tier 5 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 4 slots. Tier 5 GMs receive:

• A $10 per slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions
• Four FREE limited edition purple goblin Paizo Publishing Pathfinder Society Volunteer T-Shirts (if not previously received)
• A special Pathfinder Society boon that gives you the option to create a character from one of the following races: ifrit, oread, sylph, or undine.

Volunteering for 1, 2, or 3 Slots

• A $10 per slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions
• A special Pathfinder Society boon that gives you the choice to create a character from one of the following races: ifrit, oread, sylph, or undine.

When Volunteering...

Again, please be specific about what days and how many slots you are volunteering for. I will assign folks to slots and scenarios on an as-needed basis. I will update the needs in the thread below as I receive volunteers, so you may look there to remain up to date on where we still need help. You must have a gencon.com account and you must include your email address tied to your Gen Con account in your email or I won't be able to get you a badge (obviously this is only for volunteers who are volunteering for 5 or more slots). Include the email address tied to your Paizo.com account so I can make sure you receive the scenarios in your downloads. Finally, I need to know if you have received the purple goblin Pathfinder Society volunteer shirts in the past. If not, I need to know what size you need.

The time slots are as follows:

Slot 1: Thursday 8 AM to 1 PM
Slot 2: Thursday 1 PM to 6 PM
Slot 3: Thursday 7 PM to Midnight (Gen Con Exclusive #1 and three new Season 5 scenarios)
Slot 4: Friday 8 AM to 1 PM
Slot 5: Friday 1 PM to 6 PM
Slot 6: Friday 7 PM to Midnight (Gen Con Special)
Slot 7: Saturday 8 AM to 1 PM
Slot 8: Saturday 1 PM to 6 PM
Slot 9: Saturday 7 PM to Midnight (Gen Con Exclusive #2 and three new Season 5 scenarios)
Slot 10: Sunday 9 AM to 2 PM

All Gen Con 2013 volunteers please email me at mike.brock@paizo.com with the following subject line: Gen Con Volunteer—Tier X (X being the tier you wish to volunteer for).

Thanks in advance for volunteering and have a great spring and summer convention season!

Mike Brock
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator

Pathfinder Battles Preview: I Drop the Bomb on You

Friday, February 22, 2013

I'm back in the office after a week and a half in the blissful tropical paradise of Hawaii (with a busted computer, no less), and that means work must commence. The Spice must flow. And Pathfinder Battles Previews must continue!

And because I missed last week's update, this week is a double dose of goblin greatness, brought to you by yours truly and the fine folks over at WizKids, who continue to set new standards with sculpts and painting on our prepainted Pathfinder Battles figures. This week we've got four more figures from the We Be Goblins! Builder Series set. Each figure is packed in a randomly assorted single-figure blind box for the low price of $2.49, making it easier than ever to assemble your very own goblin horde!

We've already previewed four figures from the set on previous Fridays, which leaves four more for upcoming weeks. But I've got to churn through them FAST, because we are at the very doorstep of the announcement of the very next full set. WizKids brought the first round of paint masters for THAT by the office this week, and they are better than anything we've seen from them before. But that's getting ahead of myself. Onward my goblin soldiers!

Up first is the Goblin Warrior, a repainted version of our very first goblin figure from the original Heroes & Monsters set. This figure is almost sold out on the secondary market, and has been commanding some pretty crazy prices, which is one reason we wanted to bring him out again and give gamers another shot at him. You can never have too many mooks, after all.

Here we have the repainted Goblin Commando, originally from the Rise of the Runelords set. With his mighty horsechopper in hand, this little guy is ready to terrorize your campaigns!

Speaking of terrifying, is there anything scarier than a goblin in a wedding dress wearing a wig of beautiful blonde hair? How about the same goblin, with a bow and arrow? We added this feature to the figure because the original illustration didn't have a weapon, and we thought she was scarier this way. And also awesomer (did you know publishers get to use fake words without consequence?).

And here we have the titular bomb from the name of this week's blog. Why, it's Mogmurch the goblin alchemist, complete with a cool skull helmet and an even cooler olde tyme bomb ready to go off in his hand. Or at the feet of your player characters!

Mogmurch and Reta are playable characters in We Be Goblins Too!, this year's Paizo offering for Free RPG Day! That promotion takes place at game stores all around the world on June 15th. The We Be Goblins Builder Series set is scheduled for a May 29 release.

See you next week!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Please Welcome Our New Pathfinder Society Developer!

Friday, February 22, 2013

Today is an exciting day for Pathfinder Society Organized Play. Pathfinder Society has been given a new developer who will be dedicated solely to helping me strengthen and grow organized play. John Compton comes to Paizo from Atlanta, GA. This is not the first time I have worked with John. When I was the acting Venture-Captain in Atlanta, John was one of my store liaisons. The store where he helped coordinate, along with current Georgia co-Venture-Captains Kyle and Nani Pratt, has been the fastest-growing store and currently has the largest regular player base in Georgia.

John has as much passion about improving Pathfinder Society as I do. He brings some awesome ideas with him and I think all of you will be happy with the results. John will introduce himself and some of his goals in the Pathfinder Society blog post scheduled for March 4. Until then, I am sure he will have his hands full catching up with the plans we have already put into motion for the future of Pathfinder Society. Please join me in welcoming him to Paizo Publishing!

Mike Brock
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator

Find the Path with Wayfinder!

Thursday, February 20, 2013

One of the nicest things about being a Paizo fan is getting inspired to create things from the world of Golarion, and before I was hired at Paizo, Hugo "Butterfrog" Solis and I hatched a mad crazy scheme to produce something for the hard-working Paizo staff—a fanzine, to capture that same sense of excitement when the latest Dragon and Dungeon magazine got into your hot little hands. Wayfinder has been called a love letter to Paizo, which is probably the best compliment I've ever gotten on anything I've ever helped come to fruition. It was always a real treat to see how happy Paizo staff are when reading new Golarion material that they didn't have a hand in making—now they were the ones waiting for spoilers and new ideas!

But now the tables have turned, and now I'm the one eagerly awaiting Wayfinder to appear on my desk! With the eighth issue now available, I'm just as excited to read it as I was to help make the first four issues. But the very best part is that Wayfinder is completely FREE, and full of incredible art, maps, adventures, NPCs, new magic items, and original fiction from authors familiar and new! The latest issue of Wayfinder takes a nautical bent, with enough additional material for any coastal or seafaring campaign such as the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path, or anytime your game gets close to the water. It includes a short adventure (suitable for a side trek for some additional XP), new prestige classes like the Ulfen sea captain, new magic items like the grappling hook hand or peg-leg of stability, archetypes like the argonaut and marine, new material for kingdom-building rules from the Kingmaker Adventure Path, how to properly pay obeisance to Father Dagon, how to the run Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path as an aquatic game...

Have I mentioned yet that this is all completely FREE, made by fans just like you, and all you gotta do is go download it?

If this free fan-produced material has whetted your appetite to craft some of your own, Wayfinder Editor-in-Chief Tim "Timitius" Nightengale has thrown down the gauntlet! He wants to see your submissions for Wayfinder #9, the theme of which is all about what dwells in the dark caverns beneath the surface—the Darklands! Made by fans for fans and with the same level of dedication and quality you would expect out of any professional publication, this is a challenge to strut your game design stuff with the next Wayfinder, which will debut at PaizoCon 2013! Check out the call for submissions here, and check out all eight issues of Wayfinder (and the Pathfinder Chronicler Anthology) here!

Liz Courts
Webstore Specialist

The Fate of Falling Stars

by Andrew Penn Romine

Chapter Three: Buried in the Sky

Captain Najh Semekh and his two soldiers formed a wall between Shaba Alemas and me. Drawn scimitars gleamed cold with starlight, while Najh's knife dripped rancid black fluid. I drew my own dagger, trying to catch Shaba's eyes, but they were hidden in pools of shadow. The sleeping roc stirred, the sound of its feathers ruffling like the canvas of a ship under sail.

Shaba raised a hand. At first I thought it in supplication to the assassin, but the words that tumbled from her mouth were more like a prayer. A calloused finger flew to her lips, shushing Najh, and suddenly all sound died away.

A wise precaution, as waking the roc would likely doom us all. Still, the magical silence did nothing to hinder the satrap's assassins, while simultaneously preventing me from using my own magic to salvage the situation. The soldiers advanced, their booted feet silent across the sand-blown floor.

Fortunately, in addition to magic, I had learned a different sort of craft at Aunt Jaffira's knee—the geometries of knife work and the weak places where a halfling's blade might bite deepest. Najh's brows lifted in surprise as I stepped forward. Perhaps he had not expected me to fight. A mere astrologer does not pose much of a threat to a trained soldier, even if that astrologer is a convicted thief.

A thief with a destiny.

I plunged my knife into the back of a soldier's knee, feeling the leather of his high boot pop like a split sausage casing. His legs buckled, and he fell hard to the floor, his mouth open in a ragged, soundless scream. I rewarded him with my fiercest grin, one I was sure that Aunt Jaffira would approve of, then acquainted his face with the sole of my boot. I imagined a satisfying crunch to accompany the spray of blood from his nose. The man sprawled senselessly upon the landing of the precarious stair.

Shaba, her blade still in its scabbard, evaded her assailant's slash and kicked hard at his ankle. He fell sideways, colliding with his comrade on the stairs, mute profanities reddening his face. Najh leapt clear of the fray, scimitar in one hand, poisoned knife in the other. His handsome face was pinched with doubt.

So much for the would-be assassins of the Pierced Rose.

One of the fallen soldiers fought to rise from the tangle of limbs and stumbled—or so I first thought. Only when several stones fell away from the edge of the landing did I realize the truth. The fragile stair was giving way. The fellow made a fruitless attempt to leap over the buckling stonework to the relative safety of the nest, but his efforts only hastened the disintegration of the stair. He and his companion vanished into the gloom below. They fell in eerie silence, and not a stone thundered or echoed at the bottom.

Najh retreated, putting his back to the wall and the gap in the floor to his right. He choked on a lungful of dust rising from the subsidence below. I turned my knife toward him. Once more, the phantom sound of sails rippled in my ears.

"Oh dear," I whispered, glancing to my left. Shaba's spell had fallen along with the soldiers.

Distracted as I was, Najh readied himself for a thrust, but a sudden resonant wind arose. The steady drawing of air prickled the hairs of my neck. A flicker of motion danced in Najh's wide stare, his eyes reflecting the danger like mirrors.

"Raaaarrrrrrrrrrwwwkkkkkkk!"

Forgetting Najh, I turned to face the peril rising behind me. A pair of hungry white moons rose into view. An enormous beak flashed like hammered brass, and at its center a pale, fleshy tongue dripped with slime. The roc stood, buffeting us with grit and a stench like a camel pit in the heat of summer.

To his credit, the assassin was only momentarily deterred. He swept his blade at my head, and when I jumped aside, he surged forward to face Shaba. She had still not drawn her sword.

"Your pacifist dreams end tonight, Shaba Alemas. There will be no more resistance within Sarenrae's church. Qadira's glory will be her own."

Shaba unbelted her sword, though she still refused to draw it from its scabbard.

"That is for Sarenrae to determine," she said.

"How about you and the halfling ask her yourself?"

Najh makes a much better assassin than he does an expedition leader.

"If it's all the same to both of you, I'd rather live!" I shouted.

The roc screamed its disagreement.

The great bird lunged forward, shredding stone with its black talons. The whole of the tower swayed, rolling the eggs, the Eye, and what was left of our expedition decidedly toward the shattered rim of the parapet. The roc took momentarily to the air, confused in its blindness. The Eye of Azzah broke free of the clutch of eggs and accelerated toward the edge of the tower. The heat of its passing pressed me back, but Shaba cried out and threw herself in front of the globe to try and halt its precarious slide.

Najh advanced with a triumphant smile and drove his blades at the distracted hermit.

"Burn," I commanded, spraying flames at the pouncing assassin. Caught within the roiling blast, Najh howled and dropped his sword. His charred fist retained its hold on his dagger, however, and he turned the fury of his glare upon me.

"You'll regret that, you little cur!"

I ran, but the shaking tower caused me to veer closer to the panicking roc. The beast's cries pierced my eardrums nearly as effectively as Shaba's mantra of silence. It grabbed blindly at the nest, trying to save the eggs but only making matters worse. The floor trembled and stones dropped away from the edge of the tower, clattering down the sides as they fell. The giant bird's cries grew shriller as the nest fell apart and the eggs rolled freely. I narrowly avoided a downward-flashing beak, Najh dogging my heels.

I looked up to see the blind eyes of the roc shining in the starlight. Perhaps it dimly recognized the tasty morsel running directly beneath it. The threads of its fate had nearly unraveled—the beast was old, blind, and sick. The desert air that eddied and pooled at the tips of its feathers sang to me. It could barely stay aloft.

Najh's blade swished in the air behind me, trying to sever the threads of my own destiny.

I risked a glance over my shoulder at Shaba. She had managed to halt the Eye from its plunge, her arms wrapped around it. Her face was contorted in a rictus of pain. The heat must have been incredible, and I marveled that the hermit could maintain such a grip. The stench of cooking flesh filled the air, and I knew Shaba wouldn't be able to hold it much longer.

Then I ran straight into a wall of reeking feathers, and had no further time to contemplate Shaba's predicament. Filthy barbs snatched at my hair and plucked at my beard, entangling me in the bird's plumage. Najh had me at his mercy.

Yet fate was not so kind to Najh Semekh. With a groan like the earth itself splitting apart, Shaba rose to her feet, hefting the Eye of Azzah in her blistering hands. With a last, worshipful glance at the writing upon the stone, she hurled it at Najh.

What it must have cost her to give up that stone! And she did it for me.

The stone struck Najh across the kidneys, sending him staggering backward.

Right into the blind pecking of the roc.

Whatever the roc could see, it sensed that at least one violator of its nest was within striking distance, and the great bronze curve of its beak lunged down and plucked the would-be assassin from the floor. The attack dislodged me from the vile black feathers, and I tumbled to the ground.

To his credit, Najh made a valiant fight of it. Despite the razor-keen grip of the beak slicing into his torso, he still struggled, managing to puncture one milky eye with his poisoned blade. The roc lifted fully into the sky, blanketing the tower in a black snow of feathers. With one talon like a cage of wrought iron, it tore the assassin from its beak.

Well, most of him anyway. Much of the rest vanished into the roc's pink gullet or fell as crimson rain upon me.

But the roc was gravely injured by Najh's final blow. It wheeled in a frenzied spiral, pulverizing stones and smashing sun-rotted timbers. I struggled to rise in the heaving chaos. I cried out to Shaba to come nearer, but even as the words formed on my lips, the top of the tower gave way with a roar that drowned out even the roc's dying screech. The surge of rubble carried us all—Shaba, myself, the Eye of Azzah, and the roc itself—out into the nocturnal abyss of the Ketz sky.

A miasma of stinging dust enfolded me, choking out sight and sound and air. But I had already prepared my call to the desert winds, and they congealed beneath me in a pillar like the very breath of the dunes. I righted myself in the column of air and searched the roiling clouds for the hermit.

A fold of homespun wool, fluttering within the billowing dust, caught my eye. A ribbon of her long black hair caught the delicate glint of starlight, and in that brief flash I knew that she had never been destined to be buried in the sky like her revered Azzah. Greater things lay in store.

At my command, the desert winds shifted again, and a finger of air unwound from the body of my rescuing pillar, stretching out to catch her and slow her fall.

The rest of the debris crashed into the desert in a clangorous rumble, burying both the roc and the Eye of Azzah. We touched down atop the rubble several moments later, raising only the barest cloud of dust.

Shaba grimaced when she saw the ruin.

"The satrap nearly had his wish, halfling. You were right." She spat a muddy gob of dust.

"It pains me to be so."

Shaba crouched for long minutes without reply, sifting through the debris. Her hands were blistered from the Eye's touch, and I wondered how she could stand to move them at all. After some few minutes I grew impatient to return to the tower and see if any of the treasures in the interior remained unburied, yet I forced myself to wait. At last, she pulled a fist-sized chunk of heatstone from the pile. Only fragments of Azzah's final words remained. Shaba's expression was as shattered as the Eye.

"The Eye is destroyed," I said.

"But you're safe," she replied. I couldn't tell if it was a curse.

There was a long pause. Then at last I asked the question that hung over us. "Why did you save me, Shaba? It cost you the stone, yet you didn't hesitate."

A rare smile bloomed on her face. It was the crooked grin of someone unused to such expressions of mirth, but I decided I liked it when Shaba smiled.

"Perhaps it was your destiny, Kazzar."

I returned her smile and plucked a large black feather from between two stones. Such a treasure, even with its barbs kinked from the fall, would make a mighty pen, or perhaps adorn a fine new turban.

"We could piece the stone back together," I suggested.

"But it would take many days to gather all the fragments, while the satrap yet plots." She tumbled the fragment of the Eye in her hands. "I had hoped Azzah's stone would unify our temple, but perhaps my own words will have to serve for now."

"We can't go back to Katheer," I said. "At least not yet."

Shaba had climbed down from the rubble to the rocky sand. The sky brightened almost imperceptibly. Sarenrae's glory would rise above the horizon soon. Her hermit-priest raised an eyebrow at me.

"No, it's the best time to return. It will unbalance the conspirators. Force the satrap and his allies among the high priests to acknowledge me. I will not be intimidated. How about you, Haron esh Kazzar?"

I decided, just for that moment, to let Sarenrae's star guide my fate, and followed the priest back to where the camels waited.

Coming Next Week: A sample chapter from Liar's Blade, Tim Pratt's new darkly comic adventure about a thief and his talking sword!

Andrew Penn Romine's short stories have appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, Crossed Genres, Broken Time Blues, Rigor Amortis, and the forthcoming Fungi from Innsmouth Free Press. In addition, he's contributed nonfiction articles and blogs to Lightspeed Magazine, Fantasy Magazine, Inkpunks, and Functional Nerds (as the Booze Nerd). For more information, visit his website andrewpennromine.com or follow him on Twitter at @inkgorilla.

Illustration by Lane Brown.

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8 Announced!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

The Top 8 for RPG Superstar have been chosen! In Round 4, they will be creating a Golarion Location, Map and Encounter. In this round, fan votes determine who advances to Round 5, in which the Top 4 will submit a Pathfinder Module adventure proposal.

The Top 8 have until Friday, February 22 to complete their write up on their Location, Map and Encounter. On February 26, Paizo will reveal judge comments on all 8 submissions to the general public, who will then get to discuss the entries and vote for their favorites, as well as engage in the playtest. Voting on Round 4 will begin on March 5, 2013 at 2 PM Pacific Time.

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8

Clay Blankenship - Huntsville, AL Round 3 Thoughtstealer-Ooze   Round 2 Skinchanger (Witch)   Round 1 Cobra-Hood Cloak Matthew Duval - Chicopee, MA Round 3 Blackwood Drake   Round 2 Everbloom Monk (Monk)   Round 1 Seer's Soap Michael Eshleman - Chapel Hill, NC Round 3 Bloodroot Vine   Round 2 Uringen Assayer (Alchemist)   Round 1 Walking Stick of Concealed Thaumaturgy Michael Pruess - Berkeley, CA Round 3 Egelsee Cocktail   Round 2 Outsea Delver (Alchemist)   Round 1 Tree Frog's Gloves

Nicholas Herold - Davis, CA Round 3 Caliban   Round 2 Huckster (Alchemist)   Round 1 Gorget of Living Whispers Pedro Coelho - São Paulo, Brazil Round 3 Leechroot   Round 2 Water-Born Votary (Monk)   Round 1 Reins of Unstoppable Stride Scott Fernandez - Allen Park, MI Round 3 Yellowtongue Hulk   Round 2 Forecaster (Alchemist)   Round 1 Verdant Crown of Oak and Iron Steven Helt - Tusla, OK Round 3 Deadfall Dweller   Round 2 Floodwalker (Witch)   Round 1 Quicksand Cloak

The ultimate winner of RPG Superstar will be announced on April 2, 2013, and will be writing a Pathfinder Module. Doom Comes to Dustpawn, written by last year's RPG Superstar, Mike Welham, will be releasing this May!

Congratulations to the Top 8 and good luck in Round 4!

Sean K Reynolds
Designer, RPG Superstar Judge

Welcome Ryan Macklin!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

There's a new soldier here in the Paizo editorial trenches. Help me welcome game designer and editor Ryan Macklin to the Paizo crew. For the past several months Ryan has been working to make our products even more awesome as a contractor. We've been so impressed by his skill, his twisted imagination, and his pleasant smelling pipe that we've pulled out a chair to make him a full-fleged member of the Paizo team.

Who's Ryan Macklin you ask? I'll let him introduce himself in his own words.

I've tinkered with games ever since I was 8 years old and tried to make a solitaire variant of Monopoly. (Spoiler: it was pretty awful.) In 2007, people started giving me money to make and edit roleplaying games, and I became a full-time game designer and editor in 2012. You might know me from various Evil Hat Productions or Margaret Weis Productions products, various indie RPGs, my years of game podcasting, or various places on the Internet where I've been prone to mouth off.

Outside of playing tabletop RPGs, I'll throw down when it comes to playing deckbuilding games, almost anything BioWare makes, and novel iOS games... though my favorite game by far is called "drinking scotch." If you want find out more probably useless stuff about me (with the occasional piece of accidental wisdom), visit my blog at RyanMacklin.com. Or follow him on Twitter, @RyanMacklin. Don't worry, I won't share that horrible solitaire Monopoly variant.

Ryan Macklin
Editor

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief

The Fate of Falling Stars

by Andrew Penn Romine

Chapter Two: The Treasures of the Faithful

The defile descended into shadow as the sun burned itself out along the broad horizon. We left the camels behind, secured within a circle of boulders. The hermit-priest of Sarenrae, Shaba Alemas, led our company by several paces, her coarse robe furrowing trails in the black and yellow dust. Two of the satrap's soldiers followed, casting nervous at the sky in fear of the great roc's return. Captain Najh came next, striding with a wary grace like a desert cat on the hunt. I—palace astrologer, sorcerer, and accused thief—shuffled along ignominiously at the rear. Najh watched me closely, lest I develop a sudden proclivity to flee the vicinity of Azzah's ancient tower and seek the safety of the night.

"Keep up, halfling," Najh hissed, "or we'll tie you up with the camels."

"Never fear, Captain, I'm right behind you."

In truth, I wanted Najh where I could see him. Unbeknownst to the captain, I had glimpsed the sign of the infamous Pierced Rose gang tattooed on his back. Pierced Rose brutes held sway in certain quarters of Katheer and certain disreputable caravanserai. Though renowned enforcers and thugs, they rarely operated in secret—which was extremely fortunate for us. In allowing me to see his tattoo, Najh had proved himself either careless or foolishly overconfident. Or both.

Without question, his main target was Shaba, the young pacifist priest whose splinter sect opposed the satrap's warmongering against Taldor. At the same time, however, I had no illusions that he would suffer any witnesses to live—I had stolen from the satrap's library, after all. No, the real question was why the satrap would employ a criminal rather than simply order our execution, or send us off into the desert on a fool's errand when a simple knife in the dark would do the work just as well. Then the answer came to me.

Martyrs.

There were no other souls in the Ketz Desert to report that Shaba—or Kazzar the Astrologer, for that matter—had died in any other way than in service to the satrap and the Dawnflower. Shaba's people couldn't make her a rallying cry against the satrap and his militant allies in the church. It was clean. Simple.

It was also finished, as of that moment. I refused to die an unknown martyr to someone else's cause. It was not a destiny befitting one who was born under the watchful stars.

The narrow way of the defile twisted toward the tower, and Azzah's resting place finally loomed directly above us. The shallow walls of the track no longer shielded us from the roc's view, so I hoped Shaba was right when she'd deemed it blind. The vast bird still perched atop the tower, motionless against the dark iron sky. A slim rectangular opening, framed by eroding sandstone plinths, beckoned us forward into the eastern vestibule. The entrance had once been deeply inscribed with symbols sacred to the Sun Goddess and painted in vibrant shades of cobalt and yellow, but the desert had scoured all meaning from their surface. Shaba froze mere paces from the door.

"We stand in a sacred place," she whispered, lifting a hand to halt our progress.

Najh raised his head slowly and jerked his chin at the sky.

"The beast may be blind, but is it wise to tarry here, praying until it hears us?" he whispered back.

Shaba narrowed her eyes but said nothing in response. The skin of my neck again prickled, as if with the feet of sand-spiders. Boulders creaked as they cooled. Wind ruffled feathers as black as death high above our heads.

"Might we please just go inside?" I asked, unable to keep the panic from my voice.

Without another word, Shaba vanished into the darkness of the tower. The soldiers, with a final glance skyward, followed close on her heels. Najh spun and grabbed the loose fabric of my tunic, hauling me under the arch of the door.

"You have a part yet to play, Kazzar," he hissed.

"I can assure you I have every intention of seeing this enterprise through, Captain."

Najh smoothed the front of my tunic and gave a thin, reptilian smile, his brassy hair glinting with the first starlight of the evening.

"In that case, there may yet be a way to earn the Satrap's forgiveness for your crimes."

I choked down a retort about which of us might be burdened with the longer list of illicit deeds. Instead, I lied.

"As my Uncle Ilnario is fond of saying, 'No camel has two drivers.' I remain your man, but you must say what you expect from me."

Najh peered into the tower, then back at me.

"His Eminence is as interested in bringing Azzah's final words to Katheer as our rustic friend here. Should some sad fate befall her in that tower, Azzah's secrets must return with us."

I nodded agreeably for Najh's sake, though his meaning was as bright as the edge of a sword. Najh was indeed there to ensure Shaba's tragic fate.

We gathered in the gloom of the eastern vestibule of Azzah's Tower, where arches of sandstone swept upward to mosaics of colored glass and glinting gold, their panes no doubt warded by magic to have survived so many centuries unscathed. Scenes from Azzah's life intermingled with what I supposed were texts sacred to the Dawnflower, their scripture covering the walls. Several panels depicted historical eclipses, but I recognized the significance of little else. Azzah had appointed his tower as a vizier's, with aggrandizements of self woven into every arc and flute of its construction. I decided I liked the old fellow after all.

Shaba traced the outlines of one panel, disappointment muddying the usual fire of zealotry in her eyes. She wiped away layers of dull dust to reveal a colorful mosaic of Azzah receiving tribute from the generals of a surrendering army.

"All to the glory of Sarenrae," I chuckled, my words a bit harsher than I'd intended.

She ignored my jibe. "It's warm."

I ran my hand along the bottom edge of the scene and the patterned border of gold and black stones. The black chips radiated heat, almost enough to burn with prolonged contact on unprotected skin.

"Heatstone!" I exclaimed. "Your Azzah was a wealthy man, to use them for decoration like this. Lucky caravans sometimes have a few in the supply train for cold desert nights. I'd heard that they can sometimes be found in the Ketz Desert, but I had always thought they were mostly found in the garderobes of high nobility."

Her mouth quirked in another semblance of a smile, and her eyes shone with excitement. Sadly, it was not at my wit.

Shaba is pure in her faith, yet it takes more than belief to turn a blade.

"Then it's here," she whispered.

Before I had a chance to ask what she meant, one of the soldiers lit a torch. The golden light chased away the gloom, reflected back in countless tiny mirrors and gilt sun disks. Najh studied a door opposite the entrance, one that led deeper into the tower. It was limned in gold and cobalt glass. He stepped around a chunk of fallen masonry and reached for the door.

"I'm going to secure the next chamber," he said.

"Do you think it's a good idea to go by yourself?" I replied. I didn't want him out of my sight.

Najh favored me with an unctuous smile.

"We must know how much of the interior of the tower stands, lest the roc observe us trooping into his aerie. As the expedition's scout, I've a duty to go."

"Touch nothing, Captain," Shaba warned. "This place is sanctified. It's also Azzah's grave."

Najh returned her admonition with insincere piety.

"I wouldn't dare, Shaba. What do you take me for, a thief?"

My fingertips ached with the fire I longed to call down upon Najh for that remark.

He vanished through the sun door, but his two goons remained, carrying torches and pretending to study the mosaics. Shaba approached an idol of Sarenrae and knelt before it. I wasn't sure how long Najh would be gone, so I followed Shaba and risked interrupting her prayer.

"They mean to kill you," I whispered.

"Fate has decreed that I walk with killers," she replied.

"We should walk away from them."

She shrugged. "You mean well, my friend. But I don't think it's my destiny to die here. The Dawnflower has granted me her favor."

"But the satrap has not," I said, finding myself more than a bit pleased at being called her friend. "And he has allies amongst your fellowship that eagerly seek war."

"But we serve the same goddess. Despite appearances, the church of the Dawnflower in Katheer remains open to a more peaceful way."

"Perhaps. But what of the satrap and his ministers who plot war against the north? They rile your fellow priests to righteous anger and lead them down the path of violence—the same path that you preach against. What do those ministers think of the meddling hermit out of the desert, I wonder?" I jabbed a finger at her ragged tunic.

"I do not know what sins you are expiating out here, Kazzar, but do not shroud this holy mission in your paranoia."

"Think about it, Shaba. If you vanish in the desert, there will be one fewer voice of opposition to the satrap's plans. The Dawnflower's dervishes may well go to war even if the nation cannot, manipulated by the schemes of devious nobles."

Najh's soldiers grew suspicious of our whispering and began examining a panel nearer to us. I changed the subject.

"Tell me more about your 'holy mission,' Shaba," I said loudly.

For all her apparent dislike of subterfuge, she replied without missing a beat. "Azzah the Prophet lived eight hundred years ago and fostered a strictly nonviolent sect that worshipped Sarenrae."

"Yet you still carry a sword," I observed. Shaba ignored my jibe. She was growing adept at that.

"When he was aged and near death, his most trusted followers vanished into the desert, leaving behind only a handful of scrolls with his core teachings. But he left a promise that before he died his truest message yet would be delivered to those who followed the Dawnflower."

"And the final homily never came?"

Shaba shook her head.

"Indeed. Though word did come that he'd constructed a tower somewhere in the depths of the Ketz Desert and offered his body to the beasts of the air."

I shuddered. Sky burial was an ancient practice, and not much in fashion with the civilized folk of Qadira these days. A roc nesting at the top of the tower suddenly seemed too convenient a coincidence. Such portents were not to be taken lightly.

"It seems the beasts of the air never left," I said. Shaba raised a knuckle to her lips, thinking over my words.

"Perhaps the roc serves as the guardian of Azzah's spirit," she said, dismay plain in her voice.

Najh returned from the next room with a wolfish smile.

"The interior is intact. There's a stair through the ceiling into another chamber."

"And what did you see there?" I asked.

"The treasures of a faithful man," he replied, his eyes shining.

Najh motioned for us to follow. Shaba rose, absently tracing the pommel of her sword with one finger. I wondered if the priest would trust in her fate or in her sword when the time came to choose.

It was cold in the innermost chamber of Azzah's Tower, insulated as it was from the desert's glare by thick walls. Four vestibules ringed that central core: north, west, south, and finally east, the chamber where we had entered. The western portal was filled with debris and sand, but the others stood open, and I longed to explore them as Najh clearly had. Despite the glint of gold from objects in those shadowed chambers, the tower walls here were less ostentatious in their proclamations of Azzah's glory, with little adornment save repeating icon of Sarenrae and the holy rays of her sun.

Shaba made immediately for the stair that wound its way up the core and into an upper chamber. Najh halted her.

"Wait," he said, gesturing to one of his soldiers.

The man held his torch as high as he could, peering into the gloom above. Then, unsheathing his sword, he mounted the first step. The stones shifted under the tread of his boots, showering dust and flakes of rock. One stone fell loose, thumping to the floor with a dreadful echo. I froze, awaiting a sudden death of falling stones, feathers, and talons, but if the roc heard, it made no response.

"We must mind our step." Shaba said, following the soldier over the missing stone.

A simple spell could have carried me up into the darkness as if on the desert winds, but Najh gave a slight bow and waved me onto the fragile stair. My misgivings intensified when he and the other soldier also drew their swords. The hole where the step had rested gaped like a missing tooth in a mouthful of fangs—and we were marching right into the gullet.

We climbed the stairs with utmost caution, my legs quickly developing painful cramps from the slow, careful steps. The soldiers kept their swords drawn, and my spine writhed like a serpent as I anticipated the kiss of a blade. I kept a spell close to quickening in my mind, in case a sudden escape should become necessary. If Najh meant to kill me, he appeared not to be in a hurry, and so we gained the upper chamber without incident.

It was a large spherical hall sectioned into eighths by gilt buttresses like the ribs of an orange. The stair continued around its circumference, eventually winding through a portal in the roof, framed with more sunbursts that led further up into the tower.

Around us, the treasures of Azzah's life were piled in haphazard fashion: chests of worm-eaten silks, tarnished plate of silver and brass, patinaed copper trade ingots from bygone caravans, and small caskets of glinting coin and glittering jewels. There was no doubt significant value to Azzah's storehouse, but with one camel now in the belly of the roc, I feared we would not be able to carry it all away.

As with the rooms below, frescoes of Sarenrae's legends intermingled with scenes from Azzah's life. Here was a brightly painted scene of his miraculous birth under an eclipse; there as a young man, already with a prophet's braided beard, turning away an invading army and welcoming their commanders as his followers. A large painting spread across the top quarter of the room; Azzah's exile from Katheer, his former students taking up the sword, and the final moments of his sky burial where huge black vultures carried gobbets of his flesh into the heavens. I shuddered involuntarily at the last one.

Shaba fell to her knees, her eyes shimmering like muddy oases.

"The Eye! It is here!"

I followed her pointing finger to a detail on a mosaic. It depicted a large globe of black stone atop a pedestal near the vultures feasting on Azzah's corpse. Indecipherable writing wrapped its surface and gold panels of light radiated like sunbeams. Magical lines of force perhaps, but I recalled the tiny heatstones in the mosaics below.

"If it's still here, Shaba, then I fear it warms the nest of the roc upstairs." A thrill of pleasure welled up from my toes to the crown of my head to see the sudden look of dismay on Najh's face.

"That is the artifact you and the satrap seek?" Najh asked, his eyes narrowed.

Shaba nodded, her face grave.

"The Eye of Azzah contains his final words of peace, his last revelation of reconciliation. What did you expect, Captain?" Immersed in the study of a casket of gemstones, I still registered Shaba's contempt.

"Traipsing into the roc's nest is beyond foolish," Najh said, his voice flat.

"Shaba and I can go alone if you'd like," I offered. "It shouldn't take us but a minute to steal the Eye and roll it back down the stairs."

Najh flashed his canine teeth.

"Your intention is noble, but perhaps it would be wiser if we stuck together, Kazzar."

Shaba couldn't contain her fervor any longer. She raced to the stair and gained a quarter turn before Najh's soldiers caught on. I darted ahead of them as well, a sudden elation burning within me. The stairs of the sun chamber were more fragile than those below, and so I kept my charm of rescue ready in case I should trip and fall.

Destiny is not always a burden. It can lighten the heart and fire the soul. I had known that I would see and do great things all my life, as a result of the stars that rose above my head the night of my birth. As I raced up the stairs, I saw Shaba returning with the Eye to Katheer and being welcomed as a hero, gaining a following to rival even Azzah's. I saw the satrap helpless before her persuasions, and Najh and his men executed as thieves of Sarenrae's temple. Most of all I saw myself elevated to vizier, vital to all commerce between the Sarenites and the Qadiran government. And after that, who knew how much further I might rise?

But the mirage of glory vanished when I reached the top of the crumbling stair.

The uppermost chamber of Azzah's Tower had collapsed, penetrated by a sky blacker than a pit. Atop one crumbling battlement, the roc slept, its vast hunched shape blotting out most of the cold, glinting stars. Wind-scoured stones ringed its nest, where a half-dozen eggs the size of sheep lay. Marbled in green and gold, they lay basking in the warmth of a globe of solid black rock.

The Eye of Azzah.

Just one of those eggs would fetch a generous sum in Katheer, but the Eye was beyond price. I strained to make out the tiny inscriptions in gold and silver across its face, ancient Kelish words which swam before my eyes. Shaba stood silent, quivering before it. Her face was lit with holy rapture, a sheen of reflected starlight that bespoke a destiny greater than perhaps even my own. I owe little to the gods that move above and below this world, but I saw a working of their will in Shaba's suddenly humble frame.

Then from within the eggs came the dull scraping of chicks nearing their hatching time. The foreboding racket so transfixed my attention that I almost missed Najh's quiet, nasty chuckle and the sleek rasp of a dagger being drawn.

"Now is the moment, Haron esh Kazzar," he whispered.

Whatever Shaba Alma's destiny, it seemed that fate had other plans for her.

And for me.

Coming Next Week: Heroes caught between a roc and a hard place in the thrilling conclusion Andrew Penn Romine's "The Fate of Falling Stars"!

Andrew Penn Romine's short stories have appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, Crossed Genres, Broken Time Blues, Rigor Amortis, and the forthcoming Fungi from Innsmouth Free Press. In addition, he's contributed nonfiction articles and blogs to Lightspeed Magazine, Fantasy Magazine, Inkpunks, and Functional Nerds (as the Booze Nerd). For more information, visit his website andrewpennromine.com or follow him on Twitter at @inkgorilla.

Illustration by Lane Brown.

RPG Superstar 2013 Round 3 Voting!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Voting is now open for the monster round of RPG Superstar 2013. View and comment on the Top 16 monster stat blocks and vote for your favorites! The voting booth closes Monday, February 18th, at 2 PM Pacific Time.

Meanwhile, competitors can check out the Round 4 rules! The full Round 4 rules and FAQ are available here.

Does your favorite designer have what it takes to get through this round and move on to the Top 8? Your votes decide!

Vote now!

Sean K Reynolds
Designer, RPG Superstar Judge

Secrets of Sandpoint Revealed

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

When Erik Mona asked me if I'd be interested in writing additional content for the Pathfinder comic, I nearly giggled with joy—this would be an excellent place for me to finally get some of the information about the Sandpoint hinterlands out there that I've been building up over the years. I've managed to get some more Sandpoint goodness into the Adventure Path line now and then, most significantly recently with the first installment of Jade Regent and the two goblin-themed Free RPG Day adventures (make sure to check out the upcoming We Be Goblins Too! coming soon to a friendly local game store near you!), but I've always got more to say about my favorite town on Golarion and the region surrounding it.

One way I've been scratching that itch was to set my in-house campaign in Sandpoint. For several years, I ran my "Shadow Under Sandpoint" game for nine (whew!) fellow Paizonians, and during that campaign they began to learn about the sinister machinations of the Red Bishop, the local ghoul population, secrets hidden in certain Sandpoint mansions, the truth behind the serial killer known as Chopper and the mysterious Sandpoint Devil, and more.

But now, that group's split into two groups, and both of them have moved on to Osirion to fight against the rising cult of the Scorpion God Rovagug, leaving Sandpoint behind.

Which brings me back to the Pathfinder comic.

In each issue of the comic, I've been able to present more information about the hinterlands surrounding Sandpoint. Compared to the Inner Sea region, the Sandpoint hinterlands are really quite small, but as I've proven to the rest of Paizo, they're more than large enough to run an entire campaign from 1st to 11th level or so. I drew upon several of the plot threads I developed for that campaign when I was writing content for the comics, but also took the chance to get into print some other ideas and concepts I'd been toying with in the back of my head about the hinterlands over the past several years.

So! If you're looking for more adventures for your characters to have in and near Sandpoint (perhaps as supplementary encounters in your Rise of the Runelords campaign), or if you simply want to know more about one of the first locations we ever developed for the Pathfinder campaign setting... look no further than the Pathfinder comic! Below, I've built a handy table of contents for the first six issues of the comic, and since not every issue is out for sale yet, this doubles as a sneak preview!

Pathfinder Issue #1: The first issue kicks off with a gazetteer of the town of Sandpoint—if you don't have Rise of the Runelords, this is a great place to pick up information about Sandpoint a new PC might want to know. For the GMs, there are three pages of Adventure Hooks, including more information about the Sandpoint Devil, the serial killer Chopper, and the ruins of the Old Light. Full stat blocks for Sheriff Belor Hemlock and Father Abstalar Zantus, as well as for the stars of the comic—Seoni, Valeros, Ezren, and Merisiel—round things out.

Oh! I almost forgot! Each issue of the comic comes with a short encounter area supported by a foldout 10" x 16" battle mat! In this issue, the encounter takes place on Sandpoint's Junk Beach, where a band of goblins are up to no good...

Pathfinder Issue #2: In the second issue, the attention turns away from Sandpoint into the Hinterlands, settling fully on the small forest known as Shank's Wood. A two-page gazetteer of the region begins the section, followed by an encounter in a creepy building the local goblins have taken to calling the "Shankshack," since one of their enemies, a man named Shank, dared to move in. Of course, as visitors to the Shankshack quickly learn, an enemy of goblins isn't necessarily a friend to you! Stats for the last two stars of the comic, Kyra and Harsk, finish this installment off, and the battle mat depicts the creepy Shankshack and surrounding forest in all its glory.

Pathfinder Issue #3: This time around, I dig into my notes from my old "Shadow Under Sandpoint" campaign and pull the curtain back on Paupers' Graves, a lonely, not-so-abandoned graveyard found on the Lost Coast not far from Sandpoint. As far as graveyards go, Paupers' Graves isn't all that great at keeping its dead in the ground, and the included battle mat and encounter present the domain of Jediah Kheln, the region's ghoulish master. As a bonus, you'll find stats for some undead dogs I've been calling "ghoul hounds" for several years. I've been trying to get them into a bestiary for a while, but they kept getting cut, so I just threw them in here. I'm happy to report that they managed to paralyze the characters of some of the folks who shall remain unnamed who saw fit to cut them in the first place. Ahhh... sweet revenge.

Pathfinder Issue #4: Now we head on over to Mosswood, at the very eastern edge of the Sandpoint hinterlands. This issue features a gazetteer of these goblin- (and worse) infested woods, focusing on four significant encounter areas within. One of these, a lost shrine to Gozreh known today as the Spider Stones, is featured in this issue's encounter. I'll give you one guess as to what kind of monsters you can expect to fight at the SPIDER Stones. As a bonus, our iconic druid Lini and her faithful snow leopard Droogami get stat blocks too!

Pathfinder Issue #5: This time around, a shocking plot twist in the comic gives me a chance to go back to "Burnt Offerings" and expand upon something that I didn't have time to fully explore in that first adventure—the evil and mutation-causing waters of Lamashtu. Rules for what happens when you drink too much of this stuff are presented, and then we have a four-page encounter with the Bloodfang Goblins of Mosswood, including stats for their commander, Big Chief Wortus, a cleric of Lamashtu who might just have some plans for those evil waters of Lamashtu.

Pathfinder Issue #6: The first story arc comes to a close in Issue #6, and since Lamashtu's cult has played such an important part in the comic (and indeed in "Burnt Offerings" as well), I'm taking this opportunity to explore something I've been hinting at in print for years—the reason the demon lords Lamashtu and Pazuzu are so interested in the Lost Coast. Also included is an encounter area for a shrine of Lamashtu—a shrine that happens to be the personal temple to one of the most powerful clerics of the Mother of Monsters in Varisia!

The first six issues of the Pathfinder Comic will be available in graphic novel format, in stores April 2013!

James Jacobs
Creative Director

Reign of Winter Player's Guide

Monday, February 11, 2013

This week subscriptions are starting to leave the warehouse, and included in this month's shipment is the first installment of the Reign of Winter Adventure Path! As GMs get their hands on "The Snows of Summer," we have a little something for all the players eager to dive into the campaign, the Reign of Winter Player's Guide. Pop on over to your downloads and get your hands on this web supplement designed to help you build a character for this Adventure Path. Inside you will find character advice, a glimpse at the village you start off in, a cold weather primer so you know what you’re getting into, and a handful of additional options for your player characters.

So don't wait! Grab your copy of the Reign of Winter Player's Guide now!

Adam Daigle
Developer

Bundle Up!

Saturday, February 9, 2013

As we ease into February, we're getting ready to launch the Reign of Winter Adventure Path and we thought we'd share a bit of art with everyone from the first volume, "The Snows of Summer" by Neil Spicer. I've been filled with anticipation for this Adventure Path's release, and I can't wait for all of you to see it too. The overall look of the AP is amazing, and credit for this goes to the Art Department and their stable of excellent artists. I'll talk a bit more about the Adventure Path as a whole a little later when we release the Reign of Winter Player's Guide, so keep your eyes open for that announcement here on the blog. For now, feast your eyes on these wonderful pieces of art!

Featured here are a few of the creatures and characters your PCs can encounter in The Snows of Summer.
Illustrations by Dmitry Prosvirnin and Dmitry Burmak

Feiya, Imrijka and Lini are among the featured Iconic characters in the Reign of Winter Adventure Path.
Illustrations by Robert Pitturru

Adam Daigle
Developer

Pathfinder Battles Preview: Goblins on the March!

Friday, February 8, 2013

Here I am on Day 3 of my vacation in Maui, and naturally my computer has helpfully broken on me. I think that poor thing needed a vacation more than I did, and it's part of a psy-ops move to convince me NOT TO WORK on my vacation. Silly computer, it's 2013, man. I can blog from my iPhone!

So let's talk about goblins, even if briefly (to protect my vacationing thumbs).

May sees the release of the new Pathfinder Battles Builder Series We Be Goblins set, a collection of 12 goblin minis sold in a blind-packed, single-figure packages. The release is timed to coincide with Free RPG Day (June 15th), and our cool new free adventure, We Be Goblins Too!

That adventure (which you can get free at participating game retailers) features the same four goblin player characters we introduced in the original We Be Goblins adventure, and all four are included as brand new sculpts in this new Pathfinder Battles set.

Goblin player characters such as this fine gentleman, Mister Chuffy Lickwound!

In addition to five new sculpts like Chuffy, the We Be Goblins Builder Series set also includes exclusive repainted goblins from previous Pathfinder Battles sets, such as this Goblin Hero, originally from the first set, Heroes & Monsters.

Goblins from early sets like the Goblin Hero have been very popular on the secondary market, and they're starting to get pretty expensive. With a single-figure We Be Goblins pack selling for $2.49, figures like the Goblin Hero offer an affordable way to build up your goblin hordes!

And that's it for me. Back to the salt mines of tropical forests and black sand beaches. I'll find a way to preview two more figures next week, ideally with a computer fully recharged and healed with the spirit of aloha!

Erik Mona
Publisher
Wailuku, Hawaii

Ultimate Campaign: The Total Game Changer

Thursday, February 7, 2013

If you heard the trumpeting and roar of cheers last week, that was us, as we just sent our first hardcover of 2013, Ultimate Campaign, off to the printer. This is just the beginning of that book's long journey from the realm of electronic files into the real world, but now that it's out of our hands we can start sharing some of the secrets locked away within this guide to greater gaming.

So, without too many spoilers, here are ten tantalizing teasers about Ultimate Campaign to tide you over while it's printing.

10. Do Over! Ready for something different? Wish you hadn't taken that one suboptimal feat at first level? Eager to test out the newest base class? The choices you made yesterday don't have to sour the game you're playing today now that you have complete rules allowing characters to retrain class features, whether they be feats and skill ranks or entire class levels!

9. There's a Table for That. How many siblings does your dwarf character have? What were your parents' professions? What has your alchemist character been up to before you started playing him? What is your relationship to your fellow adventurers? You'll know, because with the background generator, there are tables for all that and much, much, much more.

8. Build a Legend. The downtime system unlocks awesome new challenges for your character to take on between adventures, like creating a headquarters for your adventures, starting a tavern, or even building a castle. With downtime, use your wealth, influence, and magic to shape your game world like never before.

7. You're the Boss. Downtime isn't just about building structures; it's also about building groups. Once you've constructed a temple to your own glory, you're going to need sycophants to staff it. Cults, mercenary companies, thieves guilds, ships crews, and more are ready and awaiting your orders.

6. Alain Is a Jerk. Sutter and I tackle the fiction snippets at the start of each chapter, and this time around you'll love to hate our pompous iconic cavalier.

5. It's Going To Be Good To Be the King. Are you the heir to a lost dynasty, seeking to reclaim your throne? Of course you are! And now you can turn your quest into a benefit for your character with story feats, a new breed of feat that helps drive you toward a character objective and that gets even better once you achieve your goal.

4. Play Harry Potter. Or Arya Stark, or Aang the Last Airbender, or whomever your favorite young hero might be, with rules for playing young characters.

3. Theater of War. A dramatic system for running massive battles gives you a way to quantify your tales of battle. Lead skirmishes between war bands, decide the outcome of legendary battles, or even take your nation's knights toe to toe against the towering tarrasque!

2. On Your Honor. Honor points allow your valorous knight, your noble samurai, your rogue with a criminal code, or any other character with rigid guiding principles to gain benefits from their strict lifestyles. Choose a code to live by or create your own!

1. Kneel Before Me! The Kingdom Building rules popularized during the Kingmaker Adventure Path have been revised and expanded, allowing you to found a dynasty, build cities, and chart the course of your nation in more depth and with more control then ever before!

Look for more about Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Ultimate Campaign in the weeks leading up to its release this spring!

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief

The Fate of Falling Stars

by Andrew Penn Romine

Chapter One: The Rose and the Star

The future is not so mysterious, to those of us who know how to read the turning roof of the sky. When that array of glittering stars beckons you to the gilded paths of fortune, you know you are destined for greatness.

Still, bracing myself on an outcropping of black rock, the remnant of some ancient volcanism or arcane calamity, I wondered if perhaps the stars had other plans for me. I stood blinking into the westering sun at the rim of a shallow valley deep within the desert of Ketz, buffeted by a wind like a belch from a reeking furnace. I wrapped my keffiyeh tightly around my face, but the sand still ground in my teeth as I clamped my mouth shut.

Despite the fearful wasteland, the promising allure of ancient treasure beckoned before me. A hill of black and red stones loomed above the shimmering desolation, crowned by a squat flat-topped tower seemingly as old as the Ketz Desert itself. Azzah's Tower—just where I had calculated it must be. Even through the drift of centuries, polar Cynosure had pointed me true on my star charts.

A short slide back down the slope deposited me in the minimal shelter of the defile that wound like an ancient road toward the tower. My minders awaited me beside their camels, a company appointed by the satrap himself to ensure I read my star charts accurately. Four were warriors, clad in layers of ochre leather and black cloth and bristling with the tools of their trade—scimitar, dagger, and a keen impatience for a halfling astronomer.

Najh Semekh, their captain, a human with a touch of the ifrit in his brassy hair, sneered down at me with impatient disdain dulling his chestnut eyes. Resentment pinched his brow and darkened the planes of his face. I imagined he thought himself handsome and witty, but after four weeks in the desert I'd grown weary of his counterfeit charm. As a scout in the satrap's service, he claimed familiarity with the Ketz's trackless waste, but it was I who predicted the tower's actual location, not he.

"What do you see yonder, thief?" Najh inquired. "Is this the right place?"

I allowed a smile to blossom and inclined my head in a semblance of a bow. I still bristled at the epithet "thief," as it was hardly a fitting title for Haron esh Kazzar, palace astrologer. It was perhaps accurate, however, for I'd been caught in the satrap's personal library with an armload of scrolls and a thin, rare volume of star-lore tucked in my sash. One parchment of particular interest detailed possible locations for the time-lost tower. Explaining that I had intended only to borrow the items in question for an evening of study failed to move the guards, the magistrate, or indeed the satrap himself.

"A tower, just where your ancient survey map indicated. In a few short hours, the sign of the Stranger will rise behind it, and you will have your proof. Of course, there's only one among us who can ultimately confirm that we have found Azzah's fabled tower."

I pointed to our final companion, kneeling beyond the circle of Captain Najh and his warriors. Shaba Alemas, a human in a sand-colored robe befitting a hermit, was compact and muscular; even her long black hair had been braided close around her head. Her exact age eluded me, for the elements had etched her skin, but a youthful vitality remained in the flash of her topaz eyes. Where Najh chattered constantly, hers was a more phlegmatic demeanor. Now she knelt in prayer, her sun-dry lips moving in silent communion with the goddess she served—Sarenrae, the Dawnflower.

I held little patience for the cult of the Dawnflower—they placed such importance on the sun's course across the sky that they consigned the rest of the stars to a lesser role. But Shaba Alemas seemed to me touched by starlight. I saw its delicate tracery along the rough line of her jaw and the pale whirl of her eyes. Despite her rustic appearance and stolid devotion to her goddess, she would rise to great things someday.

The satrap, hungering for war with the north, encouraged the more militant devotees of her holy order to fits of zealotry and righteousness. I had naturally assumed Shaba one of these at first, for she held her chin high and spoke of Sarenrae's great divinity. However, she armored herself with only her faith, a homespun robe, and a scimitar she strapped to her belt but never drew.

Shaba ceased her prayer and fixed me with a penetrating look.

"This is the place. Fate and our astrologer have led us true."

Najh laughed, the short bark of a jackal.

"Indeed, and I suppose my efforts leading us through the desert were inconsequential?"

Shaba inclined her head and lifted one knotted brow.

"You and your men have my utmost thanks as well, Captain Najh."

The corners of Najh's mount twitched in estimation of the value of Shaba's gratitude. I had seen similar expressions on my own Aunt Jaffira's face when receiving poor bids for her camels. If Shaba noticed, she made no remark, but stood and prepared to remount.

"You think it's fate that brought us here, Sister Shaba?" I asked. "In truth, I supposed my destiny might lead me to a less wretched spot."

Every scholar is a thief at heart.

"Fate and destiny aren't the same, astrologer. I thought you of all people might understand that."

"So fate is living out your days in the desert with a few crazy followers, and destiny is to be well-remembered for it?" I laughed, but Shaba found no humor in my jibe.

"Azzah was a devoted servant of the Dawnflower," Shaba said, "and his final words will heal the rift in my church. This is his destiny. And it's also mine."

As if in mockery, a camel suddenly brayed, and the other beasts stamped in sympathetic restlessness, crunching the gravel of the narrow defile. The wind died, and in the odd stillness my heart thrashed in my chest. Something was wrong.

Where there had been none a moment ago, a cloud moved across the sun, plunging us into shadow. One of the soldiers cried out as a rush of hot air returned, blasting down the gully counter to the previous wind. In the premature night, there was the whooshing of a great bellows. Immense pinions fretted the sky, and a carrion-stench fouler than the backside of a camel clawed at my throat. The camels groaned in terror even as the sun returned, and the soldiers struggled to control them. Only Shaba's beast remained placid.

A great shriek ripped open the cobalt sky, forcing our hands to our ears. One of Najh's soldiers lost the battle with his mount, and the creature raced from the defile, bleating in terror, dragging the poor man behind. Shaba moved with phenomenal speed, hurtling into the open after the fleeing beast.

"No!" I shouted, knowing the death that wheeled through the vault of the sky. It was the great terror of the desert, a bird of prey that dined on elephants and camels as well as unlucky travelers and foolish seekers.

The roc.

Fright numbed my good sense, and I raced after Shaba, though my legs didn't carry me so fast up the scree. Najh, his eyes wide with surprise, made no move to follow even though it was his man in peril. From the corner of my eye, I witnessed a curious gleam in the captain's eye and doubted it was from tears shed for his soldier.

I slid down the other side of the scree to the heat-blasted stones of the plain. The bleating camel and its doomed rider had already traversed a hundred paces in the opposite direction from the tower, but was still well within view of the vast black bird that rushed from the east like a hungry cloud. The cruciform spread of its ink-black feathers cut a hole in the vault of the sky. The copper flash of its hooked beak like the prow of a merchant ship dazzled my eyes. Shaba ran ahead of me, the ragged edge of her anchorite's robe dragged the ground and cast small dust devils in her wake.

I cursed myself as a fool for following. What was it to me if Shaba met her end in the gullet of a roc? Surely we could still collect whatever artifacts the satrap wished us to acquire without her help. I didn't relish the thought of the trip back across the desert at Najh's mercy, as I suspected he was as tired of my company as I was of his, but that alone was no reason to risk my life.

No, in truth, it was the starshine in Shaba's eyes that drew me. Few of us are touched thus by fate, or destiny, or whatever the dour hermit chose to name it. To lose her to such ignominious circumstances would be a tragedy.

Shaba, focused on saving the soldier, ran headlong into the roc's path. I'd thus far avoided calling upon my star-granted gifts within Najh's sight, lest he think me capable of completing this expedition by sorcery alone. Yet I wouldn't stand by as the hermit tried to martyr herself.

The heavenly motions of the stars are ever smooth, without the slightest hitch or friction. It was this aspect of the sky that I took into myself and then cast out, into the sands in front of Shaba, making them as slick as oiled glass. Her feet slid out from under her, and she fell hard to the ground just as the great black roc dived.

The camel and its hapless rider were beyond my help, and the bird snatched them into the air with an exultant screech that nearly made my ears bleed. Enormous feathers fluttered over the desert, each worth a sizable amount of coin to the right buyer. I calculated the risk of collecting at least a few, but the roc, unbalanced with its struggling load, still wheeled overhead.

I crawled to Shaba and touched the hermit upon the heel.

"We must crawl back to the defile. Slowly, before it notices us."

"I could've saved that man, halfling."

I shrugged, indicating with two fingers crooked into a beak-shape what her likely fate would have been.

"I suspected you had a gift with sorcery," she said, her eyes still fixed on the circling roc.

"Don't tell Najh. He'll expect miracles."

What might have been the ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of Shaba's mouth.

"We need you in Azzah's Tower, sister. I'm not going in there with just the satrap's men."

"Aren't you the satrap's man?" she sneered.

"Only as much as it pleases me to be."

"You're a curious one, Kazzar. I haven't decided to what purpose Sarenrae has fated us to meet."

"Perhaps to many purposes, Sister Shaba. My fate is guided by more than one star."

The roc, still clutching its prize, turned toward the tower. It alighted there, tearing into its meal and shrieking out across the valley. The dying sun silhouetted a gobbet of meat as it vanished down the roc's feathered gullet. Deep in my belly, there came a fluttering of tiny wings.

"The roc has picked a most inopportune place to nest."

Shaba nodded, her smile growing.

"But sorcerer," she said quietly, "did you remark upon its eyes as it circled past us? Milky as quartz. Its beak is cracked with age, and its feathers droop most raggedly."

The news warmed my spirit like a gallon of Taldane brandy.

"If it's blind, then we might be able to approach the tower after all," I said. "As long as we're quiet, of course."

"And the wind is in our favor. It is fateful."

The fervor in her stony blue eyes again befitted not so much an anchorite, but a martyr.

We crawled back to the defile, where Najh received us with callous relief that we had survived.

"Hulf was a good soldier," he said, his sincerity vaporous enough to see through.

"Sister Shaba did all she could to prevent his death, Captain," I replied. The man had plenty of reason to dislike me, but the look he cast at Shaba's back as she walked away tingled my spine with the breaths of a thousand sand-spiders.

"Leave the camels here," Shaba commanded, tying the reins of her camel to a horn of rock. "We can proceed to the tower on foot."

"With the roc up there?" Najh asked, clearly chafing under orders that weren't his own.

"It's blind, or nearly so. If we proceed slowly and quietly, we've got hope of gaining entry to the eastern vestibule undetected."

Najh crooked his jaw, weighing Shaba's plan, his eyes lit with calculation cold enough to bring snow to the desert. Then he nodded. As he turned to lead his remaining men down the defile after the priest, I saw that his fight to control his mount had left his tunic askew, revealing a patch of flesh at the base of his neck. There on his bare skin was a symbol scribed of darkest hues: a drooping rose bisected with a needle.

I had learned something of my family's trade before the stars called me away. Camel trading. Caravanserai supply. The selling of secrets. At Uncle Ilnario's knee I had learned of the true centers of power in Katheer, and that not all of them resided in the satrap's palace. The Pierced Rose was a sign of one of the most notorious mercenary gangs in all of Qadira. Indelicate thugs, those wearing the Pierced Rose relied mostly on their reputation for violence to solve problems. To find that Najh was one of their number was no small omen of trouble.

And I placed great significance in such signs.

Coming Next Week: Venture into the roc's tower in Chapter Two of "The Fate of Falling Stars"!

Andrew Penn Romine's short stories have appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, Crossed Genres, Broken Time Blues, Rigor Amortis, and the forthcoming Fungi from Innsmouth Free Press. In addition, he's contributed nonfiction articles and blogs to Lightspeed Magazine, Fantasy Magazine, Inkpunks, and Functional Nerds (as the Booze Nerd). For more information, visit his website andrewpennromine.com or follow him on Twitter at @inkgorilla.

Illustration by Lane Brown.

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16 Announced!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

The votes are in, and this year's Top 16 contestants in Paizo's RPG Superstar competition have been chosen! In Round 3 of the competition, each of the Top 16 will be submitting a Bestiary-style Golarion monster. Entries for Round 3 are due this Friday at 2 PM Pacific time. Voting on Round 3 will begin on February 12, 2013 at 2 PM Pacific Time.

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16

Charlie Bell - Fayetteville, NC Round 2 Green Knight (Paladin)   Round 1 Spell-Winding Timepiece Clay Blankenship - Huntsville, AL Round 2 Skinchanger (Witch)   Round 1 Cobra-Hood Cloak Joseph Kellogg - Kingsport, TN Round 2 Gralton Infiltrator (Alchemist)   Round 1 Shattered Mirror of the Insect Queen Kalervo Oikarinen - Helsinki, Finland Round 2 Lonesome Rider (Gunslinger)   Round 1 Gloves of the Frugal Healer Landon Cole - St Neots, Cambridgeshire, England Round 2 Water Snake (Ranger)   Round 1 Ghost Ship Binnacle Matthew Duval - Chicopee, MA Round 2 Everbloom Monk (Monk)   Round 1 Seer's Soap Maurice de Mare - Zaandam, Netherlands Round 2 Wandering Judge (Ranger)   Round 1 Sash of the Salty Seas Michael Eshleman - Chapel Hill, NC Round 2 Uringen Assayer (Alchemist)   Round 1 Walking Stick of Concealed Thaumaturgy

Michael Pruess - Berkeley, CA Round 2 Outsea Delver (Alchemist)   Round 1 Tree Frog's Gloves Nicholas Herold - Davis, CA Round 2 Huckster (Alchemist)   Round 1 Gorget of Living Whispers Pedro Coelho - São Paulo, Brazil Round 2 Water-Born Votary (Monk)   Round 1 Reins of Unstoppable Stride Rorik Moore-Jansen - Kansas City, KS Round 2 Red Adder Magus (Magus)   Round 1 Trick Shot Glove Sam Harris - Chicago, IL Round 2 River Wrangler (Rogue)   Round 1 Witchwood Comb Scott Fernandez - Allen Park, MI Round 2 Forecaster (Alchemist)   Round 1 Verdant Crown of Oak and Iron Shawn Kowalke - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Round 2 Awakened (Rogue)   Round 1 Whispering Gloves Steven Helt - Tusla, OK Round 2 Floodwalker (Witch)   Round 1 Quicksand Cloak

The ultimate winner of RPG Superstar will be announced on April 2, 2013, and will be writing a Pathfinder Module. Doom Comes to Dustpawn, written by last year's RPG Superstar, Mike Welham, will be releasing this May!

Congratulations to the Top 16 and good luck in Round 3!

Sean K Reynolds
Designer, RPG Superstar Judge

Animal Archive Preview

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Since we revamped our Player Companion line last August, we've been able to play with a lot of different ideas and themes in coming up with overarching concepts for the latest Player Companions. Coming up is one of our most exciting new releases in this line, a content-packed volume called Animal Archive, available starting on the 20th of February. This Player Companion is chocked full of awesome new tips, tricks, items, archetypes, spells, and feats for you and your bestial buddy. Oh, and did I mention there'd be a ton of new animal companions and familiars too?

While of course I could never betray the llama animal companion as my favorite new addition to the Pathfinder stables, I think the platypus familiar is particularly well suited for a preview blog. I'm not sure if Seoni shares my sentiment, though...

Illustration by Roberto Pitturru

Platypus CR 1/6

XP 65
N Tiny animal
Init +3; Senses electrolocation 30 ft. (while underwater); Perception +1 (+5 while underwater)

Defense

AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 size)
hp 3 (1d8–1)
Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +1

Offense

Speed 10 ft., swim 40 ft.
Melee spur +4 (1d3–4 plus poison)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.

Statistics

Str 2, Dex 14, Con 8, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 11
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 6 (10 vs. trip)
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Swim +15; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception while underwater

Ecology

Environment temperate or tropical rivers
Organization solitary
Treasure none

Special Abilities

Electrolocation (Ex) While underwater, platypuses can sense the tiny electrical currents that trigger muscle movement. This allows them to locate living prey and to distinguish it from inanimate objects. Treat electrolocation as blindsight 30 feet, but platypuses can sense only living creatures, and it functions only underwater.
Poison (Ex) Spur—injury; save Fort DC 9; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1 nonlethal damage; cure 1 save.
Semiaquatic (Ex) Platypuses can hold their breath underwater for up to 5 minutes before they must start attempting Constitution checks to avoid suffocation.

This little guy is just one of the four new familiars you'll find in Animal Archive, and just one of eight brand-new animals total! In addition to these all-new beasties and a host of new rules options, you'll find expanded information and rules on some of Golarion's most famous endemic creatures, including the razorcrow, ether frog, firefoot fennec, and more!

So dust off the old feedbag and clean out your kennel, because Pathfinder Player Companion: Animal Archive hits shelves later this month!

Patrick Renie
Developer

Official Call for PaizoCon 2013 Volunteers

Monday, February 4, 2013

We plan to make PaizoCon 2013 an even bigger event than it was last year! I am scheduling 210 tables of Pathfinder Society over three days. We will be offering all Season 4 scenarios multiple times, including the debut of the season's final four scenarios. We are also scheduling numerous tables of the first level of Jason Bulmahn's megadungeon Ruins of Bonekeep: The Silent Grave. In addition, we will be debuting the Season 5 Pathfinder Society Special that kicks the season off on Friday night. This is the same multi-table special that will be run as the Gen Con special. Finally, we'll be offering GM 101 sessions again, and hopefully showing off the debut of the follow-up GM 201 program. It should be an awesome time.

I need a minimum of 75 volunteer GMs for Pathfinder Society games and I'll keep taking volunteer GMs until the slots are filled! I also need 4 Volunteer Assistants for the show—these folks will not GM, but will instead help me run Pathfinder Society HQ and will be our go-to guys and gals for all things Pathfinder Society.

Below you will find the reward structure for volunteering at PaizoCon 2013. Keep in mind that you're volunteering for slots, not a specific event. We will let you know the slots you have been assigned to before the lottery goes live. This should allow you plenty of time to plan a schedule with your friends who are also attending PaizoCon 2013. Please let me know via email which days you will be at the convention and how many slots you are volunteering for at PaizoCon 2013.

Volunteer Tiers and Rewards

Volunteer Assistant: 4 needed, treated as a Tier 1 GM

Tier 1 GM Volunteers: Tier 1 GM volunteers are my everyday GMs. They are invaluable to making the show a success! Tier 1 GMs must select and volunteer for a MINIMUM of 5 slots. I only have room for 30 Tier 1 GM volunteers so don't delay in volunteering for this tier. Volunteers will be chosen on a first-come, first-served basis, though I reserve the right to select volunteers who have previously worked for Paizo over new volunteers. Please do not volunteer for Tier 1 if you have any doubts that you'll be able to attend the show. Tier 1 GMs receive:

• A FREE 3-day PaizoCon 2013 badge
• A $10-per-slot voucher for paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions.
• A FREE copy of one printed Paizo product of your choice valued at $49.99 or less.
• A FREE Pathfinder Society goblin volunteer t-shirt.
• A special Pathfinder Society GM boon available only at PaizoCon.

Tier 2 GM Volunteers: While the rewards for volunteering for this tier are smaller, the majority of my volunteers will come from Tier 2. Tier 2 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 4 slots. Tier 2 GMs receive:

• A FREE 3-day PaizoCon 2013 badge
• A $10-per-slot voucher for paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions.
• A FREE Pathfinder Society goblin volunteer t-shirt.
• A special Pathfinder Society GM boon available only at PaizoCon.

Tier 3 GM Volunteers: This is the minimum volunteer level. Tier 3 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 2 slots. Tier 3 GMs receive:

• A $10-per-slot voucher for paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including subscriptions.
• A FREE Pathfinder Society goblin volunteer t-shirt.
• A special Pathfinder Society GM boon available only at PaizoCon.

While we will gladly accept anyone who wants to run just one slot during the show, there are no rewards for doing so other than our thanks.

When volunteering, please be specific about what days you are volunteering for. I will assign folks to scenarios on an as-needed basis, so you really only need to tell me the day(s) you're volunteering for. I will update the needs in the thread below as I receive volunteers, so you may look there to remain up to date on where we still need help. You must have a paizo.com account and you must include your paizo.com email address in your email or I won't be able to get you a badge (obviously this is only for volunteers who are volunteering for 4 or more slots).

• Slot 1: Friday 8 AM to 1 PM
• Slot 2: Friday 1 PM to 6 PM
• Slot 3: Friday 7 PM to 12 AM
• Slot 4: Saturday 8 AM to 1 PM
• Slot 5: Saturday 1 PM to 6 PM
• Slot 6: Sunday 9 AM to 2 PM

All PaizoCon 2013 volunteers should please email me at mike.brock@paizo.com with the subject line PaizoCon Volunteer.

Thanks in advance for volunteering, good luck, and have a great spring convention season!

Mike Brock
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator

Pathfinder Battles Preview: We Be Goblins!

Friday, February 1, 2013

Ever since we introduced the little buggers way back in Pathfinder Adventure Path #1, the lowly goblin has become a sort of mascot for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. With several new attributes like hatred of dogs, fear of horses, and a delightful penchant for singing (and a fresh new visual design from superstar artist Wayne Reynolds), Pathfinder goblins are a great symbol of what we're trying to accomplish with Pathfinder in general—providing new and exciting spins on classic elements of fantasy and sword & sorcery.

As far as Pathfinder goes, it doesn't get much more classic than goblins. Since their first appearance, we've introduced ways to play goblin player characters, stuffed goblins, goblin t-shirts, and more.

We've also produced several goblin miniatures for the Pathfinder Battles line. All of them have been extremely popular with gamers and collectors, and despite most of them being commons, the goblins have been the highest-demand figures we've produced to date. And they're not going to last forever.

Enter the Pathfinder Battles Builder Series We Be Goblins set, a new product format from WizKids designed to help you build your goblin hordes quickly and affordably. Each display box contains 24 blind-bagged randomly assorted single-figure packs, each with its own goblin miniature. With 12 figures in the set, each display box is designed to provide a complete set—and then some! Individual packs retail for $2.49, and are scheduled for release on May 29, 2013, just in time for use with our just-announced Free RPG Day Pathfinder Module, We Be Goblins, Too!, which comes out June 15th as part of the worldwide Free RPG Day promotion.

Additional Builder Series sets are in the planning stages, and we hope to have a couple more out by the end of 2013. Folks with a Pathfinder Battles Ongoing Subscription can use their Encounter Pack discount codes on display boxes of the We Be Goblins set (they are not part of the automatic case subscription, and will need to be ordered separately).

The We Be Goblins Builder Series set contains five all-new sculpts in addition to repainted versions of seven previously released favorites, and I've got to say I think they're some of the best goblins we've seen from WizKids yet! I'll reveal two figures a week for the next few weeks, starting right now!

First up this week is the Goblin Warchanter, who first appeared in the Rise of the Runelords set. This warbling warrior doesn't appreciate your cruel words about the ineffectiveness of bards, and she's eager to show you the error of your ways with her nasty whip. Look out! The Goblin Warchanter has a brand new paint job, and she's looking forward to keeping your growing goblin army in line!

Last up today we have the almighty Poog of Zarongel, a frightening little cleric of the goblin god of dog-killing, fire, and most holy mounted combat. Poor Poog is not very good at mounted combat and he has yet to kill his first dog, but he's a very, very effective pyromaniac. His boon companion, the frog "Dogfinder," rests atop his bald pate. Poog is a player character in both the original We Be Goblins adventure and this year's exciting sequel, We Be Goblins, Too!, both written by the demented genius Richard Pett.

That's it for me this week! I hope you're all enjoying opening your new Shattered Star figures, and that you enjoy looking at and playing with your new figures as much as we enjoyed making them.

In the meantime, we've approved more than 50 sculpts for upcoming releases over the last couple of weeks, and we'll soon move beyond goblins to get into some juicy reveals from upcoming full sets!

Next week I'm out of the office for a much-needed vacation to Hawaii, but I plan to pre-load the next couple of preview blogs so you guys can enjoy goblin goodness in my absence.

Mahalo!

Erik Mona
Publisher