We're less than a week from PaizoCon, and the office is exploding with activity required to get ready for the Big Show. I'm franticly working on the Preview Banquet presentation in another window, we've just sent the on-site book to the local printer, and the warehouse team is packing up the products that will appear in our on-site Paizo Store. Upstairs, our CEO Lisa Stevens is playing the just-released Alpha Build of Pathfinder Online, and the editorial team is, as usual, working nose to the ground to hit its regular deadlines.
In short, it's chaos as usual here at Paizo, and everyone has Big Things on their minds at the moment. But that's no reason to keep us from our regularly scheduled Friday Publisher Preview!
This week we take a peek at three new reveals from November's The Lost Coast set of Pathfinder Battles miniatures. The Lost Coast covers a wide variety of figures that represent common enemies, specific NPCs, and appropriate player characters from the Lost Coast region of Varisia. That region has played home to Adventure Paths like Rise of the Runelords and Shattered Star, as well as numerous Pathfinder Modules and Pathfinder Society Organized Play scenarios.
But today's miniatures aren't from any of that. Rather, they're of the "fits the region" variety, and each was chosen for a different reason that had nothing to do with Adventure Paths.
Up first this week is a little critter we like to call the Id Stalker, directly from page 180 of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. These hideous Darklands creatures embed themselves in the empty brainpans of their victims, using them like puppets to do evil in the world. They've also been crying out for a good miniature representation for a long time. The Id Stalker is a Small, common creature, so you'll be able to attack your player characters with a small horde of them.
Continuing the theme of "great things come in Small packages" is the Gnome Eldritch Knight, pulled from page 221 of the Pathfinder RPG NPC Codex. This little guy exists mostly because I think he looks cool, but also because I want to fill the ranks with characters wielding interesting weapons—in this case a warhammer. My biggest regret with this guy is that the factory couldn't work in his hair-thin cigarette holder, but even when the Gnome Eldritch Knight is a bit more health conscious, he still looks fantastic in his fine purple suit. The figure is a Small, uncommon figure. He was originally a rare, but the relatively simple sculpt saw him switch places with a more complicated figure—something that upsets my "perfect" proposed rarities once or twice every set. He's cool enough that I hope folks end up wanting more than one of him.
Finally, finally, FINALLY we get a standard Pathfinder Troll at the correct size with The Lost Coast set. Many of you probably remember the severely undersized Troll from our first set, Heroes & Monsters. Many gamers now semi-effectionately refer to this little guy as the Troll Whelp because he's so small. In sets since then we've managed to produce an appropriately sized Sea Troll, two appropriately sized Ice Trolls, and a deliberately oversized Troll Champion, but the regular Troll has been waiting impatiently for a return to the spotlight. Our first "generic" set in a while gave me the perfect opportunity to rectify the Original Sin of Pathfinder Battles, and I'm absolutely thrilled with how he turned out. Size-wise, he's between the Sea Troll and the Troll Champion, which is right where he should be. I am very, very happy with how this guy turned out. The Troll is a Large, uncommon figure.
Before I leave you today, I also wanted to draw attention to the special promotional figure we'll be giving FREE to all PaizoCon attendees. Here he is!
This is the Bloodbriar Goblin Raider, straight from the set of Emerald Spire promotional figures we produced for the Pathfinder Online Kickstarter effort of last year. We've just started fulfilling the Emerald Spire miniatures sets to backers, and wanted to share this figure in particular with our hardcore fans—along with the other cool free swag that has made the PaizoCon gift bag a legend among PaizoCon attendees!
Speaking of PaizoCon and miniatures, I hope all minis-fiend attendees will join me Sunday at 2:00 PM for my official PaizoCon Miniatures Trading Afterparty in the hotel bar. I'll be bringing lots of Pathfinder Battles doubles along with tons of unpainted metal and unwanted plastic figures from other companies, and will be trading them for a few hours with other like-minded folks over beers to officially wind down the convention. This event has happened every year at PaizoCon, and it's become a really fun tradition. I urge all attendees to leave a little extra room in their suitcases for unwanted minis. It's a great opportunity to return home with a similar space filled with figures you DO want, and I look forward to chatting and trading with you in just over a week's time.
Finally, I'd hoped to be able to share a bit this week about WizKids' plan to make good on the production errors that effectively ruined the Feiya, Iconic Witch figure from the recent Reign of Winter set. The mini was a huge disappointment for everyone involved, and while I unfortunately cannot yet reveal any details, I am confident that WizKids will go above and beyond to make up for the mistakes made on this figure. I'm both surprised and impressed by what they have in mind—it's somewhat elaborate, so they need to make sure everything is in place before announcing their plans, but I wanted to make sure that you all know that those plans ARE moving forward, and I think you'll be pleased when you learn what they are—something I very much hope to be able to reveal next week.
Until then, or at least until PaizoCon, I remain...
Erik Mona
Publisher