Replace the weights with boxes and this (mostly) accurately depicts our warehouse now!
Illustration by Ralph Horsley

Spreading the Good Word of the Inner Sea!

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

By now, Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Faiths has shipped out to friendly local game stores and subscriber mailboxes everywhere, giving you details on some of the lesser-known gods of the Inner Sea—and a couple of them really bug me!

Bug me in the best possible way, of course. Achaekek and his Red Mantis assassins first showed up in as part of the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path (which we'll be happily returning to this fall), and I've had a fondness for them ever since their debut. I'd tell you where Ghlaunder and some of these other gods might show up in an adventure, but that might be a bit too spoilery (although it's not much of a spoiler to say that some of these cults would prefer to stay hidden). On to more art previews for Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Faiths!

Illustrations by Kiki Moch Rizky, Shen Fei, Ralph Horsley, Firat Solhan, Leonardo Borazio, and Will O'Brien

Until next time, I'm heading to the woods to talk with a black goat,

Liz Courts
Community Manager

Your Faith is Rewarded!

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Faith and religion are ubiquitous in Golarion, and some of the world's most fascinating divinities have also historically been its most mysterious. With the recent release of Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Faiths, though, we're drawing back the curtains shrouding 15 of the Inner Sea region's lesser-known deities. From Milani, the valiant Everbloom, to Brigh, the enigmatic Whisper in the Bronze, to Zyphus, the Grim Harvestman, this divine goody bag is filled with lore and tools for faithful characters. Now, let's reveal some of its secrets!

For those who want to play a devout character with the Deific Obedience feat, this book offers obediences and boons for all 15 featured deities. There are boons available to characters with levels in the evangelist, exalted, and sentinel prestige classes (Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Gods 198-203); characters without levels in those prestige classes can access the exalted boons.

Like other obediences we've published, the obediences in Inner Sea Faiths are tightly tied to their deities' portfolios, concerns, and roles in the campaign setting. For instance, take Kurgess's obedience, as written by freelancer Patrick Renie:

Find the nearest boulder, log, or other unattended object that you can reliably lift over your head, and hold it up high for the duration of the obedience. If you are interrupted at any time by any creature or person, you must challenge your interrupter to a contest of strength, speed, or stamina, with the boulder or other object of your obedience as the main focus of the competition. Regardless of who wins, gain a +2 sacred bonus on Acrobatics and Climb checks.

For those more interested in how these faiths fit into Golarion's society at large, the book provides in-depth information about each divinity's priests—how they tend to approach their roles, what their lifestyles look like, and how they might interact with passing adventurers.

Each divinity's section also includes artwork of a priest of that faith. For instance, below we have priests of Achaekek, the Mantis God, whose section's author is Creative Director James Jacobs; Gyronna, the Angry Hag, whose section's author is Developer Crystal Frasier; and Sivanah, the Seventh Veil, whose section's author is Project Manager Jessica Price.

Illustrations by Kiki Moch Rizky, Jon Neimeister, and Firat Solhan

And, last but not least, I'd be remiss if I didn't share this totally metal opening piece of artwork for Zyphus's section.

Illustration by Jose Parodi

I'll leave you with a final hint: that section's remaining art? Just as metal, right down to the malevolent wraith standing beside the god himself.

Amanda Hamon Kunz
Developer

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

Journey into the Meraz

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

The sands of the Meraz Desert hide a long and storied history, one beset by ancient evils and warring factions. In Feast of Dust, the PCs start off in the trade town of Dimayen as it is plagued with an ancient curse. Citizens find themselves ravenously hungry, but can't seem to keep any food down and eventually starve or wander out into the desert. As the PCs get involved, they work with factions in the town, before setting out into the remote Meraz to track down the source of the town's problems—a cult of Trelmarixian inhabiting the Sunbleached Tower!

Developing the look of a brand new cult we've never used before fell to our amazing Art Department and artists! Here are just a few examples:

Illustrations by Tomasz Chistowski, Firat Solhan, and Rogier van de Beek

The wait is over! In addition to the adventure, this Pathfinder Module also features a gazeteer of Dimayen and three new monsters. Pick up Feast of Dust and have the PCs square off against the, cultists, daemons, and more! Can your group stop the evil harbinger of famine before it's too late?

Illustrations by Tomasz Chistowski and Ertaç Altınöz

Adam Daigle & Crystal Frasier
Developer, Assistant Developer

A Last Look at the Art of Inner Sea Races

Friday, October 2, 2015

Inner Sea Races just released this week! I've picked some of my favorite illustrations for this preview, and a wallpaper for you to download!

Download Standard | Download Widescreen | Download Mobile

Illustration by Romanov Pavel

Illustrations by Mariusz Gandzel, Aleksey Bayura, Damien Mammoliti, Fabio Gorla, Firat Solhan, and Nikolai Ostertag

Sarah Robinson
Managing Art Director

A Glimpse Inside the Inner Sea Pawn Box

Thursday, October 30, 2014

It's always an exciting day when an envelope arrives containing a monthly Paizo subscription. It's even better, however, when that envelope is replaced by a box. In the near future subscribers to the Pathfinder Pawns line will find in their mailboxes not only a box, but a box inside a box—the Inner Sea Pawn Box!

This large pawn collection features over 200 unique figures and 439 total pawns, assembled from such seminal Pathfinder Campaign Setting sources as The Inner Sea World Guide, Inner Sea Gods, Inner Sea NPC Codex, Paths of Prestige, Inner Sea Combat, and Inner Sea Magic. But even with so many incredibly illustrated sources to draw character images from, we still wanted more. So we ordered new pieces to fill in the gaps.

Among the pawns I'm most excited to get out into the wild are a priest and priestess of each of the setting's core twenty gods, and mounted versions of a Hellknight, a Knight of Ozem, iconic cavalier Alain, and a Sable Company marine.

Illustrations by Konstantinos Skenteridis, Mariusz Gandzel, and Subroto Bhaumik

While most of the pawns in the set represent nameless characters from nations or organizations from the Inner Sea region, there are also a fair number of named individuals like Grandmaster Torch, the Gorilla King of Usaro, the iconic characters from the Advanced Player's Guide, Ultimate Magic, Ultimate Combat, and the Advanced Class Guide, and the goblin adventurers from We Be Goblins!

Illustrations by Subroto Bhaumik, Firat Solhan, and Eric Belisle

What archetypal Inner Sea encounter are you going to use the characters in the Inner Sea Pawn Box to run first?

Mark Moreland
Developer

Chaos and Drowning in the Emerald Spire, with Sean K Reynolds and James L. Sutter

Saturday, June 21, 2014

The Emerald Spire Superdungeon is the largest Pathfinder Module ever, which means there's a lot to keep track of for GMs and players braving its perils. Adventurers can end up on a number of different quests, talk to various recurring allies and foes, and acquire a trove of odd relics and treasures. Players without good notes might end up a bit lost somewhere between The Automaton Forge and The Pleasure Garden.

For groups that find visual aids helpful, many of these elements can be managed with the help of Pathfinder Campaign Cards: The Emerald Spire Superdungeon. This set of 53 full-color campaign cards tracks 18 quests on which the PCs may find themselves, reveals the faces of 19 major NPCs, and unveils 16 mysterious items found in the depths of the Emerald Spire.

And what will PCs encounter over 16 levels of dungeoneering? For another sneak peek, this week we talk to some of the designers of the Emerald Spire Superdungeon. We talked to Sean K Reynolds (prolific game designer and developer, founder of Sean K Reynolds Games, and designer of level 5) and James L. Sutter (Managing Editor at Paizo and designer of level 15) about how they approached creating their dungeon levels, what they think a "superdungeon" is, and what inspired them when crafting their portion of the Emerald Spire.

Illustration by Firat Solhan

How do you define a "Superdungeon"?

Sean

I define it as "a dungeon that gets its powers from exposure to Earth's yellow sun," as opposed to "Spider-Dungeon," which got its powers from a radioactive spider; "Wonder-Dungeon," which got its powers as blessings from various Hellenic deities; "Invisible Dungeon," which got its powers from cosmic rays; or "Ant-Dungeon," which has a technological helmet that can communicate with bugs.

James

I think a superdungeon is an old-school dungeon romp that just keeps going—room upon room of traps, monsters, and loot! While I was always more of an urban adventures kid when it came to actual gameplay, I can still recall the way those old-school Gary Gygax dungeon maps captured my imagination. What was in those little gridded boxes, floating in the sea of black ink? It could be anything! There was a sense of possibility that pulled me in at a really visceral level (the same way I can remember how my first Magic cards smelled, or the feeling of my first BattleTech set). Whether I had a game or not, I spent countless summer hours with graph paper, drawing connected rooms without any idea what could be in them. (Even today, I still sometimes like drawing a rough draft of a dungeon map first, then letting that inspire its encounters.)

What is your favorite dungeon or superdungeon experience in your personal gaming history?

Sean
Hands down, when Monte Cook ran Labyrinth of Madness for a bunch of TSR people as an all-nighter at his house in Lake Geneva, WI. It was brutal, but we played high-level characters who alternately romped through the challenges and got our butts kicked, and it was great fun.

James
I never owned any superdungeons as a child, but of the ones I've encountered in the years since, I think my favorite is Maure Castle. I was unfamiliar with it until I started working at Paizo, and once I started editing for it, I was fascinated by all the clues and secrets—who was the mysterious "Y"? It had never occurred to me that a superdungeon could have overarching mysteries running through all of the levels. So when it came time to write Emerald Spire, I was excited to have tie-ins between my level and other folks' (most notably Wes Schneider's).

What is your level of the Emerald Spire Superdungeon called? What theme, if any, does the level have?

Sean
It was called "The Water Level" in my turnover, because nobody told me we were supposed to come up with names for our levels. Hopefully they changed the name in development into something cooler, like "The Hydro Level." _{(Developer Note: We actually went with the MUCH more evocative "The Drowned Level")}

James
Mine is called "Order and Chaos." I'm not going to lie—going into the project, my goal was to be as self-indulgent as possible. Ever since Death's Heretic—and really since I wrote the bit of protean speech that shows up in the Chapter 6 opener of the GameMastery Guide—I've felt a particular bond with proteans and inevitables. They're just so delightfully alien! So in my level, I wanted to give people the chance to encounter both of them, in an environment that's almost as weird as the creatures themselves: partially mechanical and partially warped by chaos. And of course, since I find social encounters as interesting as combat (or more so), you have the opportunity to form an alliance with either side, though neither really have your best interests at heart...

Illustration by Damien Mammoliti

What inspirations did you draw on for your Emerald Spire level, and what are you hoping players get out of it?

Sean
In the concept meeting for the book we realized we wanted a water level for characters at about level 4 or so. Much of the level is partially submerged or completely underwater, and navigating the water and the lack of air are common challenges. As a scientist by training, I tried to create a reasonable ecology in the level, with microportals to the Plane of Water keeping most of it fresh and providing suitable food for the inhabitants, and also setting up active currents in what otherwise would be still, stagnant dungeon water. I also like to mess with darkness in dungeons (as mentioned in intern Hank Woon's blogs about my Bastards of Erebus playtest game), and using murky water (filled with silt and gross stuff) accomplishes the same thing as darkness. I'm hoping players will be challenged and annoyed by the water level, but will figure out ways for their characters to routinely overcome those obstacles—basically, to make the dungeon a learning experience for them.

James
Really, that chapter opener from the GameMastery Guide is probably the single biggest inspiration for my level—I've always wanted to play through that particular scene, and despite the fact that this is a dungeon level, I hope that I've come close to capturing its feel. More than anything, though, I just want players to have fun, which for me always means seeing new (and weird!) creatures and landscapes. So in my level, every room is different, there are bizarre magical effects, and you rarely fight the same critter twice.

Oh, and there are robots. Because robots.

We hope your appetite is whetted by this glimpse of the visions you may find in the lower reaches of The Emerald Spire! Next week we'll look at a few more Emerald Spire tie-in products GMs are sure to find useful, and maybe even preview some of the superdungeon maps!

Owen K.C. Stephens
Developer, Pathfinder Modules

Bonus Blog: Happy Free RPG Day!

Free RPG Day is going on right now! Be sure to head out to your participating local game store and pick up this year’s Pathfinder offerings: Ranzak the Pirate Goblin—a new character for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—and Pathfinder Module: Risen from the Sands, a complete adventure previewing four new classes from the upcoming Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide. You can get the full story on both of our Free RPG Day products right here. Also, be sure to download your Risen from the Sands pregenerated characters so you can start playing as soon as you hit the game store. Hope you have a blast with all your Free RPG Day adventures!