PaizoCon 2016 Call for Volunteers!

Monday, February 29, 2016

Usually, I use the blog around the first of the month to announce GMs achieving their 5th star, changes in the Venture-Officer team, and the newest Campaign Service Coin recipients. I'm going to postpone that blog for now, to discuss something near and dear to many people's heart:

PaizoCon 2016

Pathfinder Society will be running most of the released Season 7 adventures, with particular emphasis given to those highlighting the season meta-plot and following the activities of the characters introduced in Serpents' Rise. We are also scheduling tables of Serpents' Rise, to give those who may have missed it a chance to play it before we enjoy its successor, Serpents' Ire, as our Special Event on Sunday evening. There will also be a full compliment of Season of the Runelords Adventure Card Guild scenarios, as well as a preview of the Gen Con Open run by Tanis, and a special scenario written by Venture-Lieutenant Tyler Beck.

There will be games offered during the afternoon slots Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, coordinated by Venture-Lieutenant Louis Manko Levite. If you are interested in running an afternoon slot game, please email me at pathfindersociety@paizo.com with details. When the PaizoCon schedule goes live, we will list all of the games, official and fan-run. We will also have a space onsite to list all games running during the afternoon breaks. Stop by PFS HQ for more information!

After careful consideration, we are not scheduling separate Core tables. If you wish to play a Core session, find a table of like-minded friends and sign up. When you sit down to play, let your GM know you wish to play a Core game.

We estimate needing over fifty GMs and Card Guild volunteers to ensure Pathfinder Society at PaizoCon runs smoothly. While most of the headquarter volunteers are returning from previous years, there are a couple of slots available. There are a limited amount of Tier 1 slots, so if you are interested, we recommend sending your email in quickly.

Volunteer slots are scheduled as follows:

Slot	RPG/ACG GMs	HQ
Friday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Friday Evening	6:45 PM to Midnight	6:30 PM to 11:30 PM
Saturday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Sunday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Sunday Evening	6:45 PM to Midnight	6:30 PM to 11:30 PM
Monday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 12:30 PM

The breakdown of what benefits are available for each tier are:

Tier	Badge	Print Product	T-Shirts	Store Credit	Boon/Reward
Tier 1 (6 slots)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Tier 2 (5 slots)	✔	—	✔	✔	✔
Tier 3 (3 slots)	—	—	✔	✔	✔
Tier 4 (1 slot)	—	—	—	✔	—

The details of each benefit are as follows:

• Badge—A free 4-Day PaizoCon 2016 badge
• Print Product—A FREE copy of one Paizo print product of your choice valued at $59.99 or less (excludes preorders or backorders). Email paizocon@paizo.com with your choice and it will be reserved for you at the convention store.
• T-Shirts—Limited release t-shirts in purple (GMs)/orange (HQ) for new volunteers
• Store Credit—Paizo.com store credit at $10 per slot
• Boon/Reward—An PaizoCon exclusive boon (RPG) or reward (ACG)

Those interested in volunteering should email pathfindersociety@paizo.com with subject "PaizoCon 2016 Volunteer." Your email must include the following information:

• Name
• Paizo.com email—This is the address you use to login to paizo.com
• Paizo.com username
• GM or HQ
• What slots you wish to volunteer
• The tier of scenarios you wish to run

My plan is to review the emails on Friday, March 4th, and begin responding then. I will consider every email, but reserve the right to select volunteers who have worked at PaizoCon in prior years.

It's only 13 weeks to PaizoCon! Time is flying and it will be here before we know it. So, in the meantime—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

Meet the Iconics—The Red Raven

Friday, February 26, 2016

Illustration by Wayne Reynolds

Ho there, stranger! If you're lookin' for shelter on a cold night like tonight, you could do a lot better than that cursed Ledinthorp estate you were prowling 'round. Come 'long. My daughters married and moved out ages ago—means we got a spare bed for a traveler who doesn't know how to stay out of trouble when there're Gray Gardeners keeping the peace.

You even know whose ruined home you were in? That once belonged to the old Ledinthorp clan. They played at being dukes and earls until the Revolution swept through in '67 and lopped off their heads! I hear the nursemaid smuggled out the duke's heirs before the mobs set fire to the place and made dresses out of the swanky curtains. Nobody's had a mind to fix it up, and the only reason anyone goes there now is to look for the inheritance the duke supposedly hid in the walls. Course, if there's any justice in the world, the Red Raven's found it long since and given it out to help feed starving mouths in these tryin' times.

What's that, stranger? Never heard of the Red Raven? That's a right shame, and something of a surprise for folk 'round here. He's famous—a hometown hero! Now I admit a lot of cities get to make that claim, but 'round here it's true. He was born a common man to a couple down on Razor Street. Some even say that he's the lost son of Darl Jubbanich, which would make the Red Raven the child of Liberty itself, raised by the common folk! But those were hard times; we were struggling with starvation inflicted by Galt's hungry neighbors, and the dark legacy of those traitorous aristocrats still strangled our lands. Even so, he fed on the freedom of a liberated nation—that part's exaggeration, mind, but it's how the story goes—and grew up strong, proud, and gallant. And handsome! You'd believe me if you saw him. My, if I was forty years younger…

Oh, don't give that look! At my age you're allowed to speak your mind. Now, where was I?

Just about everyone 'round here's seen the Red Raven from down the street or across the square as he pursues brigands and traitors. I'm lucky to have seen him eight times, myself. Why, he flies 'cross the shingles as if his cape were feathers, soaring on wings of grandeur stained by the blood of them rotten nobles. The glow of old Galt's torches'n'pitchforks can't compare to that righteous hellfire smoldering in his eyes, hotter'n Asmodeus's summer sweat! Course, what would you expect from someone whose passion for justice ignited from the sparks that flew from the first final blade? You know how our final blades all have ladies' names? That's 'cause they're the only wives the Red Raven takes, and hardly a night goes by that he doesn't bring home some bloody present for the missus. Har har!

Aww, loosen up, stranger. Jokin' aside, my youngest, Anjerille, she was at a festival when the Red Raven dropped into the crowd and picked out a villain—said he could sniff out nobles by night just by following the stench of their perfumes. Oh, you laugh. I did too, but only a month later we learned that he has eyes so sharp that he can tell the difference between a cobbler and a count from three streets away with only a crescent moon for light. Now, my eldest, Redarra, is known to tell some tall tales, but given what else I've seen, I half take it as truth when she says he can taste a man's bloodline back ten generations from just a single drop.

Who is he really? Anyone you ask will give a different answer. Some think he's a common bandit turned good. Others say he's a reformed noble seeking redemption. Me? I say he's everyone in Edme, for we're all willing to watch for aristocrats who think that after half a century it's finally safe to return to Galt. Aristocrats who would sneak around a burned-down estate and walk away with a bag of jewels, like the one I fancy you're carryin' now. Blue-bloods with a face like yours—the same as old Duke Ledinthorp's, whose head I watched tumble from Razor Jenni's blade so long ago. The son of a dead dynasty like yours, scavengin' what rightly belongs to the people of Galt. Who's the Red Raven? He's everyone we've passed tonight. He's every set of eyes that's seen us walking together. He's the footsteps you hear patterin' across the rooftops, fast as the heart of man who's got only an hour left to live.

Best get runnin' Your Excellency. The Red Raven knows you're here.

Check back next week when we take a closer look at one of Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Intrigue's deepest secrets!

John Compton
Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

Publisher Preview Update! Pathfinder Battles fans, the long break of miniatures updates is nearly over! Erik will return with news about the upcoming set next week!

Give 'Em Hell

Thursday, February 25, 2016

An order of Iomedaean knights called the Glorious Reclamation is stirring things up in Cheliax and House Thrune needs your help fighting them in the Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path—the first Adventure Path specifically for evil characters.

To help people get ready for this diabolical campaign, we've released the Hell's Vengeance Player's Guide. This free download provides a wealth of hints, tips, and advice to help players make the best decisions possible for their evil villains. In addition to this character advice, this Player's Guide includes some basic information about Cheliax and House Thrune, six pregenerated evil characters from the covers of Hell's Vengeance, as well as 11 new campaign traits perfectly suited to this Adventure Path.

Don't waste any time! Grab the Hell's Vengeance Player's Guide and get ready for Pathfinder Adventure Path #103: The Hellfire Compact—the introductory adventure for the campaign! Strap on your armor, pick up your weapons, and get ready to be bad!

We acknowledge that folks are having trouble accessing downloads (as evidenced by the big red notice all over the site), and are so appreciative of the support that's been pouring out for the Humble RPG Book Bundle: Pathfinder benefitting Extra Life. While you're waiting for your copy of the Player's Guide, check out some of the awesome artwork below featured in the first two volumes of the Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path!

Illustrations by Bryan Sola and Roberto Pitturru

Illustrations by Firat Solhan and Roberto Pitturru

Adam Daigle and Chris Lambertz
Developer, Community & Digital Content Director

Paizo Launches Twitch Charity Marathon: LIVE NOW!

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

The Paizo staff is livestreaming Pathfinder RPG games ALL DAY today to celebrate the launch of Paizo's Twitch channel! At the same time, we've partnered with Humble Bundle to offer more than $350 of digital Pathfinder RPG products at a "pay what you want" price. You can join the livestream directly at the new Paizo Twitch channel and check out the Humble Bundle to grab some Pathfinder PDFs and support Extra Life, a charity benefiting children's health.

New to Pathfinder? Pay what you want to receive must-have products like the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook and Beginner Box. Beat the average Humble Bundle price to pick up titles like the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary and the Advanced Player's Guide. Go over the average at $15 to pick up books like Ultimate Combat and Ultimate Magic. You can also go further and choose the $25 level, and Paizo will send you a physical copy of our award-winning Beginner Box (shipping not included).

As with all Humble Bundles, customers not only decide how much they would like to pay, but also how that money is distributed between the publisher and charity. This is a great way to shore up (or begin!) your Pathfinder PDF collection while doing good! The Humble RPG Book Bundle: Pathfinder program runs from February 24 to March 9.

To celebrate the launch of Paizo's first Humble Bundle, we're livestreaming Pathfinder games from our conference room all day today, with the cast of players and the adventures themselves swapping out every two hours. Check out our official Game Marathon page for a schedule of events.

At the conclusion of Paizo's slate of live events, we'll hand off our Twitch stream to our friends at Saving Throw, who will continue the Pathfinder goodness for a four-hour session of their own before they hand off to The Dicestormers, who will run a four-hour session of The Dragon's Demand. It's a full day of Pathfinder action, a great way to kick off Paizo's Twitch channel.

So! Check us out on Twitch and Humble Bundle and get ready to Pay What You Want, Give to Charity, and Kill Monsters!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Pathfinder Adventures—Maybe the Coolest Collection of Ones and Zeros Ever

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Last week on Reddit, I alluded to our Pathfinder Adventure Card Game design team helping Obsidian Entertainment with its upcoming Pathfinder Adventures game. If you haven't heard, it's a digital port of PACG, but with a whole lot of new bells and whistles.

So, let me give you an idea of what it's like to work on this awesome thing. First, the crew. Chad, Vic, and I have been trading emails and phone calls with project lead Nathan Davis, designer Dave Williams, user interface designer Andre Nguyen, and artist Lindsey Laney for something like a year and a half now. They are freakin' sorcerers. They see everything we've tried to create in paper form and manipulate it to be even better in the digital world.

Gone is all the setup and teardown time, the limitations on numbers of cards in the box, the trips to Ikea for new Kallaxes to fit the awkward thing in your game room. In are variable boons, dynamically changing banes, and Andre's amazing animations. Rise of the Runelords feels brand new again.

Here are some screenshots you'll like. Below is the map for the Adventure Path. The star with the checkmark just south of Sandpoint shows that I've completed the B scenarios, and the bright star to the north indicates that I can take on adventure 1 in Sandpoint itself.

Follow the teal arrows. It's totally safe.

In each scenario, you'll also see a local map with all of the locations you'll need to visit, like the Brigandoom! map below. And when you get to some of those places, you'll see new art by Lindsey. For example, this is what the City Gate looks like.

Last one in, close the portcullis!

Designing for the Digital World

Because the digital world sometimes has different needs than the tabletop, we've been revisiting a lot of things in the game. For example, here's Sajan's Drunken Master role.

Among the rejected power names: "Buy Selinker a Mai Tai."

You will note that Sajan has named powers with the familiar checkboxes. I've explained before that we don't do that in the physical card game because it would create legacy presumptions on the players' parts, and it would also take up more precious space on what are already our most text-laden cards. But Obsidian needs to be able to refer to those powers in shorthand during the game. So Tanis brainstormed a whole bunch of names for these powers, Vic and the RPG team played around with them, and then voila, all the Runelords powers—every little checkbox—got a name.

Sometimes, they come to us with a hard challenge that we need to resolve. For example, last week we spent a bunch of time trying to figure out—again—how daggers and daggerlikes work. For the minutiae-uninitiated, the card Dagger has this text: "When playing another weapon, you may discard this card to add 1d4 to your combat check." For us, that's simple. You play a Greatsword, discard the Dagger, bingo-bango, +1d4.

For Obsidian, it's not so simple. For them the question comes when your first weapon is also a Dagger. Because then you can:

• Reveal the first Dagger
• Discard the second Dagger
• And since discarding the second is "playing another weapon," you can then discard the first.

Which, y'know, is pretty much fine by me. You wanna toss two cards for +2d4, go to it. That all makes sense because you, the human with the cards, flips the card around and says "I'm playing this Dagger."

But in the Obsidian game, you click on cards to activate or deactivate them. So you click on the first Dagger to reveal it, then you click on the second Dagger to discard it, and then you click on the first Dagger to... wait a second. That first Dagger is already clicked on. So now when you click on it again, you'd be... deactivating the first Dagger? That's no good at all.

So we got out the scalpels. After a dozen false starts, our man Keith came up with this new wording: "When you play another weapon for your combat check, you may discard this card to add 1d4." Note the words "for your combat check" here. There's a step where you play the card that sets the skill for your combat check. That's only ever one card—in this case, the dagger you displayed at the start—so playing the second dagger no longer allows you to play the first again. From Rise of the Runelords through to the upcoming Gunslinger Class Deck, this change would affect almost three dozen cards, so errata-ing them for the physical card game would be both painful and pointless. So in the digital game, they'll work ever so slightly differently. And everything will be fine.

No, check that. Everything will be awesome.

Like This. This is Awesome.

Early in the process, Nathan came to me with a request for a tutorial scenario. I said something like "Dude, I have no idea what that is, so just write one."

See, in a digital game, you don't need to learn the game from a 32-page rulebook. Instead, you can learn how to play the game from the game itself. But for that to work, you need a play sequence that is tuned for the particular digital game. Since I'd empowered Nathan to make his own tutorial, I expected I'd see something like what we created for Brigandoom! or the like. I figured he'd just have Kyra and Merisiel beat up a bandit or three, and we'd be off to the races.

And then these showed up.

Ameiko: "Hold still, Orik, while I mold this shield around your face."

Yes indeed. That's Ameiko Kaijitsu and Orik Vancaskerkin—an ally and a henchman, respectively, in the Runelords set—who are your characters in the tutorial. Orik's got his own special shield and everything. And they're fun to have around. Here's some of Nathan's dialogue from the tutorial.

Orik: Bloody horse demon thing! I hate monster cults!
Ameiko: Huh. More equine than expected!

I'll bet you can guess what they're fighting. In the tutorial. The tutorial. Good luck with that.

Even Maester Grump has concerns!

Anyway, as I think you can see, this is gonna be glorious. But you don't have to take my word for it... Obsidian is running a Pathfinder Adventures Twitch stream this Friday, February 26, at 4 PM Pacific time; check it out for yourself at twitch.tv/obsidian!

And keep an eye out for the game next month. It'll keep your iPad or Android tablet humming for a long time to come.

Mike Selinker
Adventure Card Game Lead Designer

Revisiting Themes, Characters, and Chronicles

Monday, February 22, 2016

This month is exciting for a host of reasons. First, February marks the anniversary of when I began working at Paizo, and I'll soon observe the conclusion of my third year on the job. February is also when I first started playing Pathfinder Society as part of a home group in Georgia six years ago, which eerily makes this the point at which I have participated in the campaign for an equal amount of time as a participant and volunteer as I have as an employee. I plan on celebrating this curious milestone by continuing work on an exciting, upcoming project for the organized play campaign—one I'll reveal soon enough! In a more official sense, you'll note that both Linda and I are brandishing deadlier titles that we trust will keep the pugwampis at bay.

Illustration by Mathias Zamęcki

In other news, we're also taking this opportunity to update the Additional Resources page with material from both January and February. Linda and I also investigated several inconsistencies the community has pointed out, so you'll see some small changes to some books. Most of these are noting that a familiar legal in one source is, in fact, legal in another source—and other such nuances. We've also updated several of the adventure sanctioning documents, including those for Pathfinder Adventure Path: Reign of Winter (some minor errors that don't affect the Chronicle sheets), Pathfinder Module: Wardens of the Reborn Forge (added a limit to an ability on the fourth Chronicle sheet), and Pathfinder Adventure Path: Carrion Crown (added a limit to an ability on the second Chronicle sheet). These changes are retroactive, and I have made a note of that on the Additional Resources page.

This month we're also releasing two scenarios I've wanted to deliver for a long time. The first is Pathfinder Society Scenario #7-16: Faithless and Forgotten, Part 2: Lost Colony of TaldorM, a Tier 1-5 adventure that continues our three-part homage to the Hell's Rebels and Hell's Vengeance Adventure Paths by sending the Pathfinders on a tour of southern Cheliax. This month the PCs travel to Kharijite, the sliver of territory Cheliax seized from Rahadoum over 500 years ago, to explore an archaeological site that shatters what we understand of Taldan history. Sure, I'm as excited about Taldor as anyone else, but what I've really looked forward to—ever since I learned that the Pathfinder Society is an archaeological organization—is an archaeological adventure. I'm an archaeologist by training, and it's always been a struggle to reconcile that archaeology can be lots of fun in practice, yet the study of stratigraphy, potsherds, and meter-wide trenches just doesn't translate well to a roleplaying game. It was while writing the outline for Faithless and Forgotten that I realized this passion could finally find a home. I entrusted it to RPG Superstar finalist Kalervo Oikarinen, and he delivered an awesome adventure that highlights all the themes I wanted while maintaining all the action and excitement we would expect from a scenario!

For more than two years now, I've had player after GM after Venture-Captain approach me and ask when we'd see the return of the fan-favorite NPC Valais Durant (featured in Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-09: The Traitor's Lodge). I can confirm the answer is February 2016, with the release of Pathfinder Society Scenario #7-17: Thralls of the Shattered God, a Tier 5-9 adventure with special opportunities for the Silver Crusade faction! The Fifth Mendevian Crusade has wound down in our campaign's continuity, and Mendev has uncovered an ancient Sarkorian site in the reclaimed land. Ever eager to document history, Venture-Captain Jorsal of Lauterbury has asked a team of his more experienced agents to salvage the secrets before Mendev settles the area. Curiously, though, Valais Durant has asked to accompany the PCs. What does she sense about this site, and what will it reveal about her past? Linda and I knew we needed an author well versed in our continuity, tapped into the community's appreciation of Valais, and talented to do the story justice. We're glad that Andrew Hoskins accepted the challenge and wrote such a fun adventure that you can enjoy beginning this Wednesday.

John Compton
Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

Blighted Beginnings—Writing is a Sensory Experience

Friday, February 19, 2016

Last year I competed in the Paizo's RPG Superstar contest, and earlier this week I saw my complete winning adventure. It was humbling to see my first design work become reality. Roleplaying games are an integral part of my daily and family life. I play Pathfinder at least once a week, sometimes with friends, my children, complete strangers—I love to game! I love the social aspects of gathering around a table to share in the group storytelling experience. We explore, we laugh, we fight, we are a party, and we are together. As gamers we experience things outside our everyday lives, see places that exist in our collective imaginations. We get to be "not ourselves."

Winning RPG Superstar introduced me to a new aspect of my favorite hobby. I created a space for gamers to explore Nar-Voth and discover new things about themselves (should gamers follow those threads). One of the most important parts of the design process was finding places to include roleplaying solutions in addition to combat solutions. Creating believable NPCs was both fun and challenging. My favorite characters to create were the three "big bad" encounters. The personalities and relationships between Zohir and her underlings were crucial to giving options to players for dealing with the encounters. For each NPC, I created files of real and fictional people and relationships, created musical soundtracks, and for a few, I had specific perfumes that I wore when I wrote their scenes to help me focus and round out NPCs that could have ended up moustache twirling villains. Even now when I wear some of them I'm put in the frame of mind of Zohir and Delbera. (Editor's Note: Apparently Lady Delbera is Vétiver Fatal. We leave it up to you, dear readers, to convince Monica to share the rest!)

Illustrations by Sally Gottschalk and Vicky Yarova

Thank you Paizo, Lisa Stevens, Crystal Frasier, Amanda Hamon Kunz, and RPG Superstar voters and judges! Without this supportive gaming community we would still be searching for like-minded friends to share our dreams. Thank you for sharing my dream of an axe wielding dwarven cleric. Thank you Andrew for believing in me and for your endless support. This module is for all of you!

Monica Marlowe
Contributing Author

Illustration by Mattias Fahlberg

Hey, Who Turned Out the Lights?

Thursday, February 18, 2016

It had been a few years since we returned the classic "Revisited" line of Pathfinder Campaign Setting sourcebooks, so we were really excited to delve into the depths beneath the Inner Sea in Darklands Revisited. All we had to do was narrow down what ten monsters we were going to feature in the book—a scary proposition indeed!

In the end, we left out some favorites, in part because they're all our favorites, but also because we love them so much that they might get books of their own someday. What we landed on was a nice mix of classic subterranean foes like drow and duergar; pillars of the science fiction and fantasy genres like morlocks and gugs; icons from the game's history like intellect devourers, neothelids, and vegepygmies; and two monsters introduced to the game in Pathfinder—daemon-worshiping urdefhans and their good-aligned nemeses, the psychic munavri.

It's rare that a single author tackles an entire 64-page Pathfinder Campaign Setting book, but we were lucky to get the veteran Canadian, Thurston Hillman, to put down his poutine and curling broom long enough to breathe life and adventurous inspiration into all ten creatures detailed in Darklands Revisited. The result is one of the most exciting Pathfinder Campaign Setting books I've had the pleasure of working on. I think Game Masters and players alike are going to love this book.

Illustrations by Jon Neimeister, Daniel Lopez, and Dave Allsop

Check out some of the awesome art that brings the Darklands and their deep-dwelling denizens to life! Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Darklands Revisited invades the surface world next Wednesday.

Mark Moreland
Developer

Download Standard | Download Widescreen | Download Mobile
Illustration by Wayne Reynolds.

Hell Hath Fury!

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

There's only one week until the release of Hell's Vengeance! In "The Hellfire Compact", players take the role of evil characters to further the efforts of the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune. Last week Wes gave folks a look at what evil details players can expect in Hell's Vengeance, and this week Managing Art Director Sarah Robinson has put together an art preview (including a sneak peek at what's to come in the second volume, "Wrath of Thrune").

Illustrations by Alexandur Alexandrov and Bryan Sola

Illustrations by Alexandur Alexandrov and Ekaterina Burmak

Be sure to look out for the Hell's Vengeance Player's Guide next week and catch up with our Iconic Villains on the Paizo blog!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Simultaneously

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Hello, Pathfinders, Tanis here! This week we've got two fantastic blogs for you in one jam-packed edition. First up is Organized Play Coordinator Tonya Woldridge with a con report from Con of the North and Winter Fantasy, and the launch of Season of the Runelords. Then, we've got Adventure Card Game Lead Designer Mike Selinker with an announcement and a tease for Obsidian's digital Pathfinder Adventures. But enough from me. On with the show!

Season of the Runelords is Here!

The past two weekends, I've been attending conventions and spending much of my time at Adventure Card Guild tables previewing Season of the Runelords. This season is set after the events of Rise of the Runelords, and examines the question of what the other Runelords are doing. Starting with the first scenario ("Goblins? Gross!"), it's obvious that Tanis and the developers at Lone Shark Games turned up the witty titles, exciting adventures, and variety to suit different character's abilities.

So far, each session brought full tables, and many players rearranged their schedules to return to the Adventure Card Game area and play more. Over the next few months, many conventions will boast ACG tables including GaryCon (Lake Geneva, WI), Conflagration (Brookfield, WI), Gem State Convention (Boise, ID), and of course, PaizoCon! PaizoCon will host a boatload of Season of the Runelords tables, as well as exclusive ACG events. You can keep up on announcements for PaizoCon on the blog or by watching the main PaizoCon page.

Outside of conventions, many local Pathfinder Society chapters host ACG events. Last weekend I learned that the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul region has three stores running Season of the Righteous and Season of the Shackles, and are trying to figure out when and where to run Season of the Runelords. I'd like to give a big shout out to Erica Lopnow, Sean Pearson, and the rest of the team at Con of the North for all of the time they spent organizing ACG activities this weekend and throughout the year. To find a local Adventure Card Guild game or start your own, read through the Adventure Card Guild Guide or contact your local Venture-Officer for more information.

Speaking of the Guide, it is my pleasure to officially open the Season of the Runelords, and announce that the new version of the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide is now available. You can also find an ongoing schedule for the scenario and adventure releases on our forums. I encourage all of you to return to Sandpoint with me and visit our favorite NPCs and villians—Mayor Deverin, Father Zantus, and Gogmurt!

Watch out for gross goblins!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

What's It Like When Obsidian Makes a Digital Version of Your Game?

It's great! And that's all I'll ever say about that.

KIDDING. I've got a bunch to say about that, but there's only so much I can say today. That's because the Obsidian guys and I have a Reddit AMA Wednesday at 10:30 am PST, and they want me to save some stuff for that. But I will be showing off some really cool info about the all-digital port they call Pathfinder Adventures next week, ahead of the official release on March 29. So immeasurably stoked. See you over on Reddit.

Mike Selinker
Adventure Card Game Designer

The Magnificent 7 of Set 6

Friday, February 12, 2016

It's Friday, and I've got some delightful news to share with you! I'm pleased to report that last week, WizKids sent Paizo the first batch of digital sculpts for our next, as-yet-unannounced Pathfinder Battles set, and they are PHENOMENAL. A few of our editors looked over my shoulder as I flipped through them the first time, and one even suggested that this may turn out to be the best Pathfinder Battles set yet. I certainly agree that, at the very least, it's in the same league as some of our very best sets!

And just wait until you see the case incentive(s)! You guys are going to FREAK!

Of course, the set has not yet been announced (that happens VERY soon), and the sculpts are still in approvals, so I can't quite show them off just yet.

But don't despair! I do have some delightful images to show off of actual figure photos of miniatures from Pathfinder Battles Iconic Heroes Set 6, which is now available in stores and here on Paizo.com! This set is especially interesting in that it comes with one "extra" figure to help us round out the complete list of iconic characters revealed in Pathfinder RPG hardcovers up to the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide!

Check 'em out!

Here we've got Quinn, Human Investigator, one of my absolute favorites from the entire Iconic Heroes line (the other one probably being Oloch, from Iconic Heroes Set 5. From his perfectly applied eyes and facial details to the huge amount of well-painted gear, this figure has it all. It's also amazingly versatile, and can double easily as numerous characters, from spellcasters to rogues to swashbucklers, from heroes to villains alike. Quinn is COOOOOL, and I'm thrilled to add him not just to the Iconic Heroes line, but also to my own personal miniatures collection!

This is the one we've been waiting for ever since the original Feiya, Human Witch turned out something short of everyone's expectations back in the Reign of Winter set. The recent replacement figure WizKids randomly inserted into The Rusty Dragon Inn boosters was a minor improvement, but really revealed that the culprit was a weak face sculpt overall. There just aren't enough details on that face for painters to pick out, resulting in, well, let's just call her a "very happy" Feiya and leave it at that. I'm personally very happy to reveal that the second time is the charm (thanks in no small part to the shift to digital sculpting), and this version of Feiya suffers from none of the problems that marred her first appearance. Her face looks fantastic this time around, and her new "in the middle of battle" pose suits, her, as well. When you're trying to decide which witch to use, I think you'll find this is a witch worth making a switch. Ahem.

Of course, a witch isn't much without her familiar, so in this set we've also included Daji, Feiya's fox familiar. Daji has a neat mid-stride pose that differentiates him from the previous Fox miniature in Reign of Winter, and honesty the two foxes go together well for an animal encounter, if you don't want to use it as a familiar. Either way, folks seem to love them some animals, and Iconic Heroes Set 6 contains one of the most lovable to date.

Do you like your men bare-chested and a bit on the "goth" side? This figure is the answer to all of your (probably very adult-oriented) dreams! Seltyiel has his big magus sword ready for a skillful attack, and you just know his thin lips are about to let loose an absolutely cutting insult. I'm currently writing this character in our Pathfinder: Hollow Mountain comic from Dynamite, and having a blast. He's pretty much a villain (or, if you prefer, an "anti-hero") in the comic, but on your game table he can be whatever you want him to be. Good guy, bad guy, maybe a little of both...

Back in the ancient days, when the then very small Paizo editorial staff was brainstorming iconic characters, we decided that we wanted our iconic halfling bard to have awesome sideburns. "You know," we said, "like Lemmy in Mötorhead." When his illustration came in, I think it was James L. Sutter who suggested "Why don't we just call him Lem?" And a legend was born. I really appreciate the way this version of Lem, Halfling Bard is captured mid-song. Very useful for a bard figure. Alternatively, pair Lem with the Dwarf Bard drummer, the Half-Elf Bard violinist, and some Dancing Girls from The Rusty Dragon Inn, and you've got a ready-made concert!

We couldn't finish the Iconic Heroes sets without our two Asian-inspired iconics from Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Combat, of course! These guys don't get quite the same love as our standard iconics, largely because they represent sub-classes rather than full core classes, but that's pedantic inside baseball talk. They're still super cool, and they deserve some love. Reiko, Human Ninja comes in a sweet battle pose, a chain dangling between her two blades. She's definitely a cool killer you don't want to run into in a dark alley. But if you do, at least you'll now have a miniature to commemorate the encounter!

Last up this week is Hayato, Human Samurai! With his banner, lamellar armor, helmet, and more, Hayato is perhaps the most detailed of artist Wayne Reynolds's many iconic characters. I'm happy to report that WizKids is up to the challenge, and have delivered a fantastic rendition of the character in Iconic Heroes Set 6. Their efforts, as Hayato himself might say, are most honorable.

All seven figures come with unique cards for use with the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, and all are produced at the highest possible quality allowed by the manufacturing process. Now that we've completed all of the Iconic Heroes sets in our original plan, I can say that I am very proud of the work both Paizo and WizKids have put into making these among the finest prepainted plastic gaming figures ever produced. We've done, I think, an excellent job, and have set quality standards it will be difficult for anyone else to match or exceed. But we'll keep trying, of course!

But wait, I can hear you gasp. Is set 6 really the final Iconic Heroes set?

That, my friends, remains to be seen. We've had a few discussions with WizKids about what comes next, but nothing has yet been decided officially. I can say that WizKids is watching sales of these sets very closely, so if you'd like to see more of them, the best possible thing you can do is purchase the ones we've already released. We'd all love to produce figures for the Occult Adventures iconics, or both versions of the vigilante class from Ultimate Intrigue (or heck, maybe even a "We Be Goblins" or "Iconic Villains" set), but those decisions are not entirely up to me—they're up to the market.

I'm at ToyFair in New York City this weekend, where I'll be discussing this and even more diabolical plans in person with our friends at WizKids. I hope to be able to report big things soon!

But more importantly, we're very very close to the announcement of the next big set, and that means we start the preview train all over again here, every Friday.

Don't forget to bring lots of coal so we can keep this engine HOT!

Until then, I remain,

Erik Mona
Publisher

The Shadows Know!

Friday, February 12, 2016

Shadow is a more than a mere absence of light in Golarion. It's a fundamental force, no weaker than the elemental energies, no less vast than the ethereal or astral planes, and far more common in everyday life than any of those esoteric materials. The Shadow Plane is a physical place, a colorless realm that serves as a dark reflection of the Material Plane, and its existence can mold and shape those within it. The fetchlings who dwell there are the descendants of Azlanti refugees, who over generations have been altered by constant exposure to its planar power until they are no longer truly human. Conversely, the wayang found on the Material Plane have been changed by their lack of access to the Shadow Plane, their pathways between their new lands and their original homes destroyed when the sun returned and the Age of Darkness ended.

Illustration by Anson Tan

The deepest shadow, of course, is total darkness. Such lightless realms may lack the planar power of shadow, but within the darkness other powers over move about unseen and unfettered. It was in the darkness of the Darklands that a group of elves fleeing the destruction of Earthfall became vulnerable to demonic influence, and in time so corrupted themselves and their society that they became something wholly different than elves. The drows' transformation may not have involved direct exposure to the power of a plane, but it remains a testament to the power of the shadowed places.

Illustrations by Tawny Fritzinger and Marjorie Davis

These then—drow, fetchling, and wayang—are the races that receive the most focus of Player Companion: Blood of Shadows. Some examination is given to how the rest of Golarion treats those tied to shadow, with discussion of shadowy origin stories (from benign envoy to umbral operative). The idea of the taint of shadow reaching beyond these races is explored with darkborn and shadowborn alternate racial traits. Then in the sections dedicated to each race, the options players often look at to customize their characters are expanded, with favored class bonuses, alternate racial traits, and sometimes racial feats. Some idea of how these cultures handle core roles differently is revealed with common archetypes that can be traced back to these races (though now generally also available to a few beyond the originator societies), ranging from the shadow-themed rogue talents developed by the fetchlings, to the shadow ink tattoos and shadow mysteries once exclusive to the wayang.

Feast of Rats

Price 45,125 GP

Slot none CL 19th Weight varies

Aura strong evocation and illusion

A swarm of shadowy rats clump together to form this +1 stalking^UE light melee shadowcraft weapon. Three times per day, the wielder can throw the weapon into one square within 10 feet while speaking a command word, causing the weapon to disperse into a shadowy haze that functions as fog cloud. Each round, any creature within the fog cloud takes 1d6 points of damage and must succeed at a DC 19 Fortitude saving throw or become nauseated for 1 round. This effect lasts for 1 minute, after which the weapon returns to its previous form. Alternatively, any time before the effect's duration ends, the wielder can spend a move action while adjacent to the fog cloud to return the weapon to its previous form, dismissing the effect and returning the weapon to her hand.

A feast of rats can be used as an unholy symbol divine focus of Lao Shu Po, the Old Rat Woman.

Construction Requirements

Cost 22,712 GP

Craft Magical Arms and Armor, Create Reliquary Arms and Shields^UM, deeper darkness, fog cloud, major creation, shadow weapon^UM

Other shadow-themed characters are also given support in the form of archetypes, spells, and magic items. Morphing shadowform weapons, which range from humble weapon of solid shadow, to mighty reliquaries often carried by divine champions can be found in Blood of Shadows—including the more powerful weapon above!

Owen K.C. Stephens
Developer

Hell Ain't a Bad Place

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Illustration by Bryan Sola

"The Hellfire Compact" kicks off the new Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path, Paizo's first Adventure Path for evil Player Characters! I had the honor (and deep cathartic pleasure) to write the first in the new series, wherein the forces of devil-influenced Cheliax strike back against a legion of noble invaders.

But lest you assume that this be six volumes of mustache-twirling, here's seven things you might not know about (or can look forward to in) "The Hellfire Compact!"

Illustration by Ekaterina Burmak

1. Small Evils So you're evil! But you're first level. That means you're probably the meanest fighter around... with a short sword, or the baddest wizard in town... with magic missile. Sure, you can still mess a few goody two-shoes up, but you're a ways off from indoctrination into the Hellknights or raising that army of the undead. So, part of my challenge with "The Hellfire Compact" was to highlight "small evils." While you'll find true devils and murderous monsters aplenty in the adventure, you'll also engage with wickedness rooted in simple greed, enviousness, resentment, alcoholism, bad parenting, and other all too familiar evils. You'll also be asked to commit evil acts, but slaying angels and good dragons aren't for you yet. Can you execute an innocent? Crush a town's faith? Murder a protective house spirit? Put an end to a pair of heroes' perfect retirement? Fight a puppy? Oh, there's still arrogant paladins and obnoxiously good outsiders to punish, but evil starts small and, as is often the case, might even be a little too familiar. If you're going to do this, you better think long and hard about why your character is hard as nails, because no one's Sauron at level one. So... do you have the stomach for evil?

2. Faux Western I was halfway through writing this adventure before I realized, "Whoa! This is a western!" And it sort of is! While it's not set in a dusty, one-horse town, it's got pretty much everything else. Sheriff? Check. Ranchers? Check. Evil landowner? Check. Hanging? Check. Mounted combat? Check. Mysterious, masked good guy? Check. Gang of baddies terrifying innocent locals? That's you! It wasn't entirely intentional, but once I realized it, I sort of embraced it for the first and second acts. For the third act, well... there aren't a lot of tree forts in westerns, but two out of three ain't bad.

3. Final Countdown There's revolution brewing in Longacre and you're in charge of stopping it. Your not being villains just to be villains, you're being villains to keep nastier villains in control. You have three weeks to bring the boot down on the burgeoning revolution and crush its sympathizers. You'll have to measure your deeds, making sure you're quelling the uprising and not driving more people to the rebel cause. If you do nothing, Longacre will be a revolutionary bastion in three weeks. If you act rashly, it might happen sooner. But if you measure ferocity and intimidation in the proper proportions, no one will ever step out of line in Longacre again.

4. Your Own Creepy Dream Home! You're going to be in Longacre for a while, so you better have a place to stay—and, trust me, the local innkeeper doesn't want you. Fortunately there's a whole, unused, slightly dilapidated, probably not haunted house right on the outskirts of town just waiting for new owners. So, if you've always dreamed of owning your own personal Crimson Peak, now you can!

5. Boy Dryads The number of boy dryads in official Pathfinder products rises to two—and this one wants to teach you all about clonal colonies. (For Pathfinder's first "guyad," check out the Pathfinder: Origins #5 comic.

6. @#$%-Up Some Leshys Take that, adorable plant-people!

7. Strange Aeons Foreshadow Six months from now, the Strange Aeons Adventure Path is going to start. I also wrote the first adventure for that AP. There's a single line in "The Hellfire Compact" that suggests a tragic event unfolding in Ustalav. Think you can guess what it is?

There's plenty more (and plenty worse) to come, but I'll let you read about it or play it yourself.

"The Hellfire Compact" comes out this month. And to help you prepare for the campaign, keep an eye out for the Hell's Vengeance Player's Guide later this month. Also, you might want to consider preordering Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Path of the Hellknight, another book I wrote all about playing characters who could fit perfectly into this campaign: Hellknights! (More details on that soon.)

So, if you've got the stomach for evil and more than just a thing for black armor, start your Hell's Vengeance campaign with "The Hellfire Compact." The road to Hell starts here and it surely is paved with good intentions...

...Those of the paladins and cherubs you're about to crush.

Good luck, villains!

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief

Infernal Powers Are Rising—New Pathfinder Products Announced!

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Illustration by Kiki Moch Rizky

We've managed to defrost and awaken from the unexpected mid-winter hibernation of recap blogs to bring you the latest announcements and happenings for Pathfinder!

In January, we brought you the final volumes of the Hells Rebels Adventure Path, where the Kintargo Contract must be recovered to better civil order, and parties are sent to the depths of Hell to stop the world-gripping manifestations of Barzillai Thrune's evil plots. As we've said before, folks, DOWN WITH THRUNE!

Illustration by Anson Tan

... Except this time! Rise to the cause of the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune in the first volume of Hell's Vengeance, where as evil adventurers, you further the cause of the diabolical empire of Cheliax. Pathfinder Adventure Path #103: The Hellfire Compact is making it's way to subscribers as I type, and we have plenty to show you in the coming weeks about Hell's Vengeance.

February also has the following products hitting paizo.com and store shelves:

• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Class Deck: Barbarian
• Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Darklands Revisited
• Pathfinder Module: Down the Blighted Path
• Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of Shadows
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Bigger Tavern
• Pathfinder Map Pack: Urban Sites
• Pathfinder Pawns: Hell's Rebels Adventure Path Pawn Collection
• Pathfinder—Hollow Mountain #3

Spring, Summer, and Beyond!

Over the last month or so we've had a wave of exciting new announcements, including the next Pathfinder Roleplaying Game installment, Free RPG Day, and of course, our own convention, PaizoCon!. Check out what's been added to our schedule:

April 2016

• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Pathfinder Adventure Chest
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat Classics: River Crossing

June 2016

• Pathfinder Adventure Path #107: Scourge of the Godclaw
• Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Path of the Hellknight
• Pathfinder Module: We B4 Goblins!
• Pathfinder Player Companion: Spymaster's Handbook
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Bigger Dungeon
• Pathfinder Map Pack: Perilous Paths
• Pathfinder Tales: Liar's Bargain

July 2016

• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Class Deck: Goblins Fight!
• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Class Deck: Gunslinger
• Pathfinder Adventure Path #108: Hell Comes to Westcrown
• Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Hell's Vengeance Poster Map Folio
• Pathfinder Module: Gallows of Madness
• Pathfinder Player Companion: Legacy of Dragons
• Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Horror Adventures
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Lost City
• Pathfinder Pawns: Pathfinder Society Pawn Collection

And Beyond!

• Pathfinder Tales: Starspawn — August 2016
• Pathfinder Tales: Shy Knives — October 2016
• Pathfinder Tales: Reaper's Eye — December 2016

I'm sure folks noticed the lack of Ultimate Intrigue in this blog post, but never fear! You'll learn all about the new vigilante class and iconic, mechanics, and systems soon on the Paizo blog!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

Barbarian Class Deck Preview

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

We are thrilled to finally release the Barbarian Class Deck! These arrived in the warehouse last week and will soon be winging their way to lucky Class Deck subscribers, so we're going to talk about what to expect when they land on your doorstep/FLGS-step.

In the card game design world, when we design a small group of cards that share mechanical concepts and story themes but have different sets of abilities, we call that a cycle. Magic: the Gathering is famous for them—perhaps you've heard of the Mox jewel cards? In this deck we decided to design a couple of cycles. First up, we've got the War Paints:

Paint the town while painting your face.

All the barbarians can use these items, but different players will prioritize different paints' powers. Cycles are like a card game buffet—eat what you want, but only a certain amount of food's gonna fit in your stomach.

We also designed a bunch of weapons for the discerning barbarian, based on our popular Improvised Dinosaur promo card from Wrath of the Righteous. Behold the Improvised cycle:

Sometimes you don't have your giant greatsword, but a barbarian's still gotta rage.

As you can see, these weapons have a higher initial cost that can be offset with a lucky roll. Both Mike and I are very fond of the destroys-everything-around-her-when-she-rages style of barbarian. For a companion take on hitting people with whatever's to hand, meet Brielle:

Service with a smile... and a butter churn handle to the face.

Brielle specializes in improvisational combat, and her Kneecapper role enables both the before-you-act cheap shot and the feeling of invincibility after a raging victory. Because she's a halfling, she can also sneak away from a foe she'd prefer not to encounter.

Back when we did the original concept brainstorming for the Barbarian Class Deck, Mike and I agreed that barbarians do a few things very well: they rage, they smash foes with whatever is nearby, and they hate it when things stand in their way. Our new version of Amiri really doesn't like it when things stand in her way.

Let us not to the marriage of true barbarians admit impediments.

This Amiri is looking for trouble, and nothing but trouble. If a location's closed, or if she's bored with it, she's out of there. Boons just give her incentive to keep going. And when she gets to smash something, she charges ahead.

Paizo fans know the legend of Ostog the Unslain, Erik Mona's intrepid PC. He doesn't wear armor and he's never died. There was zero chance Ostog wasn't going to show up in this deck.

No, his other role isn't "The Slain." That proved unpopular in playtesting.

Ostog has no time for anything that's not a big two-handed weapon, and he doesn't need armor because he's one tough cookie. Put him together with the Improvised Boulder, and even dragons cower in fear.

That's it for this week's Barbarian Class Deck preview. Next week, Mike delves into the topic of cycles a little more deeply. Until next time, Pathfinders!

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

OPC Log—8 Calistril 4716

Monday, February 8, 2016

Hi friends! I spent the past five days in Fort Wayne, Indiana, attending the Winter Fantasy Convention hosted by Baldman Games. What a blast! With a small but dedicated Pathfinder presence, we played lots, laughed lots, and rolled quite a few dice. I enjoyed introducing new players to the Pathfinder Society. The offerings included all three evergreen scenarios, #6-98: "Serpents Rise", #6-99: "True Dragons of Absalom", and most of Season 7's scenarios. The Adventure Card Guild launched the Season of the Runelords with resounding success—one group even came back three days in a row to work their way through the first adventure. I took Gronk the Druid through the entire adventure as well, avoiding death and leveling him to Tier 2.

Next weekend, I’m off to Con of the North in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. As Con of the North features both the Roleplaying Guild and Adventure Card Guild, I will offer Adventure 1 for Adventure Card Game players and preview the soon-to-be-released Barbarian Deck. Ostog, you’re my only hope! The Con also features a full slate of Season 7 offerings, as well as #7-00: "The Sky Key Solution."

And on another note, judging for the Miniature Painting Contest closed last Friday, and what a fantastic display of Pathfinder Society members' art! I saw so many great pieces to choose from. Thank you to everyone who entered and to all those Pathfinders who voted for their favorite miniature. In the end though, our voters couldn’t make up their minds, resulting in a three-way tie. So instead of a first prize and three runners-up, I am adding a bit to the prize pot so each winner tied for first receives $25 in paizo.com store credit and the runner-up receives $15.

Without further ado, the three winners tied for first are—drumroll please:

• "Dolgar" by Christine Brockley-Blatt, Venture Captain
• "Prunette" by Lady Gragra
• "Mortimer Raven" by Quadstriker

And the runner up is—more drumrolls please:

• "Goblin Chief Effigy" by Fomsie

Our next contest kicks off mid-March! There’s just about a month of preparation time in case the category gets your creative synapses firing. Really excited since I know our group makes cool stuff! The theme of the second competition is: Best Handmade Adventure Card Guild Accessory. The category includes, but is not limited to: dice rolling devices, play mats, dice trays, or character deck bling. Pretty much anything that improves the atmosphere of your Adventure Card Guild playing experience will qualify.

The prize? Gift certificates to paizo.com! First place will win $25 and three runners up will get $15 each. The crunchy bits for entering:

• You may only enter once
• All submissions must be by the item’s owner.
• Entries must be submitted to contest@paizo.com
• Include a photo of your accessory. Photos may be resized or cropped to better show off the mini for voting. We suggest trying to send the biggest possible resolution to retain details for resizing. Any image format is acceptable!
• Include your paizo.com username

Do not send your entries yet!. Anything received before the official entry opening date in March won’t count—think of this as a bit of free divinatory magic on your behalf.

Off now to catch a plane back to Seattle. Take care and remember:

Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

Behind Pirate's Prophecy

Thursday, February 4, 2016

We interrupt this blog for a special announcement: The Pathfinder Tales novel Death's Heretic is still totally free in audiobook form on Audible.com until February 16th! Grab it now before the offer expires!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog post.

At this point, with three books in his Pirates series, you might think I'd be sick of talking about Chris Jackson's books. But you'd be wrong.

Illustrations by Eric Belisle

See, Chris is one of those authors that editors like me dream about. Not only is he a fabulous writer, perfectly balancing action and character development, but he also lives and breathes Pathfinder. He knows Golarion inside and out, and has a mastery of the rules that never ceases to amaze me. (Seriously, if you only knew the number of times he's brought up an interesting corner case or rules exploit that caused hours of discussion among the designers and developers...) Combined, those two aspects of his writing make his books a delight to read, both as a reader and as a gamer. How would naval combat work in Pathfinder? What kinds of magical defenses would a Chelish ship have? How could a naga best disguise herself as human? How might a sorcerer use magic to infiltrate a coven of paranoid witches? Chris uses the rules of magic not just as a storyteller looking to forward a plot, but as a person living in that world would, which means there's always something I can take away from his books for use at the gaming table.

Yet really, it's Chris's characters that get to me. At this point, I feel like I know Torius and Celeste and Snick and Vreva as well as I know Chris himself—maybe better, since I've spent so much time in their heads. They feel like real people to me, in a way that only the best characters do. When I suggest an edit to Chris, it's usually phrased like "Celeste wouldn't say that"—as if she were a mutual friend, rather than someone he made up out of whole cloth. That's the power of a good character.

So in Pirate's Prophecy, it's exciting to catch up again with the crew of the Stargazer, to see them settling into their new roles as abolitionist privateers for Andoran. While the crew may be perfectly happy to steal from slavers and spirit the freed slaves away to freedom, being involved in the world of international politics comes with a whole new heap of troubles. When expert spy Vreva Jhafae uncovers a Chelish plot to unleash a terrible weapon on Andoren ports, only the crew of the Stargazer can stop it without blowing her cover. Yet even as Vreva puts herself in harm's way with a series of Mission: Impossible style infiltrations, Celeste finds herself suddenly speaking in tongues and wrestling with the appearance of strange new powers...

James L. Sutter
Executive Editor

PaizoCon 2016 is Coming—Badges and Special Guests Announced!

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Are you ready for PaizoCon? We are! Join us this year at PaizoCon 2016, where there will be 4 days of gaming, panels, workshops, costumes, and opportunities to be among the first to hear about future Paizo and Pathfinder projects. You'll be able to meet up with Paizo staff, community members and fans, as well as many authors, artists and designers from the gaming industry. This year we're also very proud to announce that our guests of honor will be Nicolas Logue and Tyler Walpole! You can learn more about them here.

What's this about badges? Well, for starters, you can (and should) go get one now! We're offering 4-Day Badges and 4-Day Kid's Badges, as well as Preview Banquet Tickets for PaizoCon 2016. PaizoCon 2015 con-goers may notice the absence of last year's Deluxe Badge option—instead of adding another level of complexity to the whole convention experience this year, we're offering $10 off the purchase of a badge and banquet ticket.

We also have good news for folks who want to just experience a single day of PaizoCon! Single Day Badges will be available in person at the PaizoCon convention store and are priced at $25 for adults and $15 for kids.

Because of the introduction of Single Day Badges, we've lifted the badge restriction off of Preview Banquet Tickets. However, you will need either a 4-Day Badge or Single Day Badge to enter the banquet event. Banquet tickets are available in limited quantities due to space needs and can sell out. So, if you want to experience the banquet and get at first look at what's new for Pathfinder and Paizo, don't hesitate!

If you have any questions about the PaizoCon 2016 (including badges/tickets or hotel information), please check our FAQ or visit the PaizoCon forum.

We're so excited for PaizoCon 2016 to get here and will be updating you with more information as the show gets closer. Folks who are waiting for the call for volunteers will see that crop up sometime this month. And if you've been waiting to submit an event, you can do that on the Event Submission page until February 29th.

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

A Little Comic Relief

Tuesday, February 3, 2016

Hiya! We skipped the ACG blog last week, so we've got a lot of stuff to share! Here are three big pieces of big news:

The Runelords Rise Again

We have been working hard on the soon-to-launch Season of the Runelords (we're previewing it this weekend at Winter Fantasy in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and it's not too late to get in on that!) and we're trying something a little different this time.

The Season of the Runelords storyline begins after the conclusion of the Rise of the Runelords. In that Adventure Path, the heroes defeat a Big Bad Guy (is it possible to spoil a story we published in 2007?). We're picking up the story of the world after that defeat, with your fresh party of adventurers operating near the familiar town of Sandpoint.

We're big comics fans, and we love the fact that several of Dynamite's Pathfinder Comics storylines take place in and around Sandpoint. Season of the Runelords Adventure 1: Dark Waters Rising and Adventure 2: City of Secrets looks to some of those comics to provide their story backbone and scenario art. Adventurers will experience the depravity of the Mosswood goblin tribe and the intrigues of the city of Magnimar, as filtered through the collective imagination of the Pathfinder Adventure Card game team. I'm not sure whether that should frighten or excite you.

Adventure 1, which will debut at Winter Fantasy, is based on the first 12 issues of the comics, Dark Waters Rising and Of Tooth and Claw. It all starts on the road to Sandpoint, where mutated goblins attack the hapless party. When they arrive in town, there's talk of a flying beast that eats the local livestock. And the town council is in turmoil. How all these things weave together into an intricate 6-scenario plot is for you to discover.

Adventure 2 is based on City of Secrets and Origins. This arc brings us to Magnimar, where the clerics of Sarenrae and nobles of the city are being targeted by mysterious forces. When you find yourself embroiled in the gang turf wars of Underbridge, you'll wonder if the big city is big enough even for you.

In adventure 3, we'll head off to Hollow Mountain, about which we can share little at the moment—the Hollow Mountain comic book arc is ongoing. The first 2 issues are out, and the next two issues can be preordered. Get them if you want a preview of the excitement to come!

Did We Mention Goblins?

Speaking of gobbos, we announced that our Class Deck subscription has been hijacked by goblins! The first Goblin Class Deck (yeah, we know "goblin" isn't a class, but they don't seem to care) is entitled Goblins Fight!, features the rotters Reta Bigbad, Chuffy Lickwound, and Ak the Survivor, whom you might have met in the Pathfinder: Goblins! comics. They're nasty and fun, and also nasty.

So where's Mogmurch and Poog of Zarongel? They're in the next Class Deck after that, entitled Goblins Burn!, naturally. It's a lot more spell-focused than Goblins Fight! is. We'll have that up on the site for preorder next month.

And who's in Goblins Burn! with Mogmurch and Poog? Well, that's a secret we'll keep to ourselves for a few weeks yet. But trust us, it'll be worth the wait.

But If You Just Can't Wait, We've Got You Covered

Maybe you don't want to wait for us to give you more goblin characters. Maybe you want to make them yourselves. So here's some big news: DriveThruCards has expanded their online Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Card Creator so you can now make your own character, role, and token cards!

This means that all major card types can now be made with the community card creator. Check out the Card Creator to make your own cards and see what other members of the PACG community have cooked up.

That's a lot for one blog! So check out Season of the Runelords, the Card Creator, and (when it warms up a bit) the Goblin Class Decks. Have fun storming the Goblin Fortress!

Tanis O'Connor and Mike Selinker
Adventure Card Game Designers

OPC Log—1 Calistril 4716

Monday, February 1, 2016

Hail and well met, Pathfinders!

This month finds me traveling to two conventions. On February 3rd, I'm off to Winter Fantasy in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Tanis and I will launch the Season of the Runelords for the Adventure Card Guild. We've got a full slate of events—RPG scenarios and quests, as well as the ACG games and open play. There's plenty of space, so come on out and join me! With a new season comes a new organized play guide, so look for the new Adventure Card Game guide on paizo.com later this week. After a few days back in Seattle, I fly to Minnaepolis-St. Paul for Con of the North. Starting with a meet & greet Friday morning and ending with an RPG session on Sunday night, I've got a full slate of games planned. I can't wait to roll dice with other Society members. If you're attending, stop by and say hi!

Over the past two months, several people achieved their fifth star. I offer congratulations to the following for meeting the criteria—150 games ran, including 10 special events. Reaching 5 stars includes approximately 600 hours of game mastering, not including preparation time. So a resounding cheer for the following:

Jeremy Chapman
Brett Sweeny
Joshua Hancock
Alex Rockatansky
Terry Thambpailli
Michael Mayeau
Daniel Wheeler

Speaking of time commitments. Venture-Captains spend many hours planning events, organizing games, and making sure things run smoothly. Over the past few months, several of our Venture-Captains reached their three-year anniversary. Campaign Service Coins, each engraved with a unique number, are given to recognize such service to our Society. It is my pleasure to award Campaign Service Coins to VCs Michael Meunier (#751), Sebastian Schirrmeister (#752), and Wolf Vituschek (#753). Thank you very much for your effort and hard work on behalf of the Pathfinder Society. There is one other Society member that deserves recognition. Last November, tragedy struck Paris on the eve of PaizoCon France. Venture-Captain Karim Majere and Venture-Lieutenant Florent Fournol ensured the safety of the Pathfinders within their city. In the face of adversary, they adapted and overcame many difficulties to deliver a convention to their players. VC Karim received his Campaign Service Coin this past PaizoCon UK. I'm so very please to award Florent Coin #754 and thank him for his service to the Pathfinders.

The Venture-Agent program is off to a resounding start. With the launch of the program, Since January, I've promoted 182 people to this position, and more applications reach my inbox every day. Big thanks to everyone who stepped up and volunteered to help organize games.

Aaron Rabold Aaron Reichgott Aaron Steele Adam Watson Al Hastings Aleksandr Batluk Alex Augunas Alex Blaes Alex Turner Andrew Tillis Andy Geels Annika Boudwin Artemy Ermilov Arturo Moreno Ben Young Brandon Ohrns Brendan Molloy Cameron Richens Chad Dubow Chad Hale Chris Feazel-Orr Chris Foster Chris Manning Chris Murphy Christian McCall Christian Rapp Christopher Collins Christopher Donnangelo Christopher Rushing Cody Kerven Craig Walner Curt Ward Cy Merriex Dan Heistand Dan Hennessey Daniel del Pino Bolanos Daniel Johnson

Daniel Knipfer Daniel Pink Daniil Oleinik Davey Silon David Birchbauer David Hansen David Light David Nielson David Setty Dennis Gregg Devon Terpening Dominique Dufour Donald (Diego) Hawkins Elizabeth Oliver Emerty VanderHart Eran Aviram Eric Ives Erich Deines Ethan Smith Evan Martinez Everett Mitola Evgeny Beloglazov Felician Rowan Florent Fournol Gary Bingham Glenn Ranck Greg Rebelo Hannes Schunk Harold Ervin Igor Koutzevitch Iker Portillo Tirado Jack Amy Jack Saban Jacob Lovegren James Gitsham James Hines James Torbet

James Walton James Wheeler Janet Kuhlmann Jani Waara Jason Daugherty Jean-Marc Comeau Jeff Cook Jeff Hazuka Jeremy Rodriguez Jesper Roland Sørensen Jesse Gilbert Jim Dunaway Jim Henneberger John Freida Jolene Danner Jordan Agudelo Joseph Kellogg Joseph Millsaps Joseph Shields Josh Lovelace Justin Holbrock Justin Riddler Justin Turner Katrina Levesque Kevin Armstrong Kevin Bauman Kevin Daiber Kevin Jones Kevin Meinert Kitten O'Brien Kyla Palin Kyle Hamilton-Lecky Lachlan Jones Lisa Nielson Lutz Hofmann Marc Daoust

Marietta Messina Mark Ligon Mathias Gehl Matt Lewis Matthew Gill Matthew Sharp Matthew Weltz Max Whitaker Maximillian Faden Megan Jones Michael Clarke Michael Hershiser Michael Venditti Mike Garhart Mikhail Zvezdin Nate Cox Nathanael Broomall Nikolaj Gedionsen Noah Glenn Nobel Hays Oleg Ivashenko Pablo Armas Paul Hayse Paul Jackson Paul Krause Pete Winz Philipp Kan Phillip Goettsch Randy Saxon Raymond Havili Rebecca Compton Robert Barker Robin Xu Rogue Shindler Roy Rydbeck Ryan Bolstad

Ryan Coenen Ryan Force Sam Sampson Samuel King Sarah Bull Scott Romanowski Scott Sinclair Scott Zimmerman Sebastian Cavignac Sebastian Mullins Seth Hopkinson Shannon Clarke Shelly Hudson Skyler Slafsky Stanislav Gribanov Stefan Rohde Steve Gabel Steve Johnson Steven Dean Stuart Tindall Ted Leon Guerrero Terry Thambipillai Tesifonte Negro Gonzalez Tim Stapleton Tom Taylor Tony Kelly Travis Brooks Tristan Sullivan Tyler Reid Valery Kormanovsky Vincent Sarah Vladimir Rumyantsev Will Huston Zach Saienni Zachary Keller Zack Vanetti

Just a reminder—voting for the Pathfinder Society Mini Competition is still open. Take a look and cast your vote!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator