Delve of Doom Results!

Friday, August 31, 2007

Gen Con was a great show for Paizo, as usual, but this year had a new addition to our booth presence. It all started with a little contest around the office to determine who could design the most deadly dungeon chamber. While this idea was all well and good, we would need some "test" subjects to run through our gauntlet of pain, and thus the idea of running a delve at Gen Con was born.

Using the fabulous Master Maze 3D dungeon terrain pieces produced by Dwarven Forge, along with our Critical Hit Deck, Combat Pad, and item cards, we set out to murder as many unsuspecting visitors to our corner of the booth, and murder we did. Of course, we also gave out some great prizes to those who managed to succeed, including free production, discounts at the booth, and even some real swords.

Every unfortunate soul who met his end in the depths of Tirana's death trap became a red dot on our oversized delve maps, as a warning to others. Of course, that didn't seem to help much, as by the end of the show there were 255 red dots on the maps. Considering that we ran roughly 1000 players through the delve, a 1-in-4 death rate is pretty respectable (mental note: make next year deadlier). Of course, part of the fun was figuring out whose rooms caused the most deaths. Phil Lacefield's rooms certainly had the most kills as a whole, but no individual room had more kills than Publisher Erik Mona's doom-filled Vrock chamber. Congrats to Erik for having the least compassion toward poor player characters.

If you missed out on the delve, never fear. Many of its chambers were used as inspiration for GameMastery Module D2: Seven Swords of Sin, which should be hitting your store shelves any day now.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Pathfinder #4 Cover... and Desktop!

Thursday, August 30, 2007

In the past, each time we've shown off the cover to a new volume of Pathfinder, we've been immediately deluged with requests for it as a downloadable desktop background, which we inevitably put up a few days later. This time we figured: why wait? After all, there's a long weekend coming up, and we wouldn't want your monitor to have to go without new Wayne Reynolds art for all that time. So here it is: the cover to Pathfinder #4, featuring everyone's favorite butt-kicking cleric of Sarenrae, Kyra. Looking at the stone giants Wayne's dreamed up for us, it's kind of amazing the heroes ever win, isn't it?

Click here to download the image at desktop size.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

First Peek at Pathfinder #2

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

With Pathfinder #2 currently on the proverbial slow boat from China, here's a sample spread from the bestiary to whet your appetite. Introducing: the boggard! Download the 528 KB zip PDF.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Science in the Dungeon

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

If there's anything that the other editors and I butt heads about around here, it's the amount of science that should be present in our fantasy—or rather, the amount of science fiction. I make no bones about the fact that I'm a huge sci-fi fan, and if given my druthers I'll almost always err on the side of too much rather than too little. Which means that, given the overall traditional RPG fantasy feel of our campaign setting, it usually falls to Jacobs, Wes, or someone similar to rein me back. (For instance, no matter how much I lobbied, neither of them would budge and allow me to put a magical particle accelerator or space elevator in the Varisia backdrop... which is perhaps for the best.)

In D2: Seven Swords of Sin, the setting of a research facility abandoned by the mysterious Council of Truth allowed me ample opportunity to blend fantasy and science to my own peculiar tastes. The generator room (magic-powered and water-cooled!), the recycling unit (where corpses turn into valuable potions!), the incinerator (get rid of those undesirables!), and the turbines that supply the dungeon with air all scratched an itch that rarely gets addressed in a lot of fantasy settings. By far the most sci-fi element, however, was one of the new monsters: nanites (which were promptly renamed the construct swarm by the Powers That Be).

Few current trends in science capture my imagination more than nanotechnology. Just reading about all the advances in medicine and manufacturing that are coming about as we speak due to tiny, autonomous robots makes me giggle and start expounding loudly on how We Live In The Future (which, as Jacobs will tell you, happens on a regular basis). And while writing D2 I got to thinking: most of the reason we've taken so long to get where we are with nanotech is due to manufacturing limitations. But with magic, construct technology is already in place, and size is changeable at a whim. It seemed to me like a natural choice. And if it allowed me to put in a hermetically sealed "clean room" and a man transformed by a horrible, intelligent swarm that prefers to fight its battles in your bloodstream... well, more's the better. So, fully prepared to have to rewrite that room, I threw it in.

And, to my great surprise, it stayed. For that, I give many thanks to the GameMastery team. May they not regret their decision.

Now just wait until we start talking about Golarion's moon....

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Delve-o-vision!

Monday, August 27, 2007

We'll have the scores for Paizo's Deadliest GenCon Delve Room contest up soon, but it's taking us some time to tabulate all the character deaths... it seems the majority of valiant PCs went down like field mice under a rotary mower. Until then, here's the first of several YouTube videos people took of fan favorite author and messageboard regular Nick Logue introducing delve players to his unique (and decidedly kinesthetic) brand of game mastering.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

4th Edition

Friday, August 24, 2007

We're all back from Gen Con, and aside from the launch of Pathfinder and our new Planet Stories novel line, the hot news at the show was the announcement of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, from Wizards of the Coast. Messageboards across the internet, from paizo.com to EN World and Wizards of the Coast's own site, are abuzz with discussion of what was revealed at the show, what changes are in store for our favorite game, and what the future may hold.

Naturally, lots of folks want to know what the announcement means for Pathfinder and for our line of monthly GameMastery Modules.

Right now, the answer is this: It's too soon to tell.

No one at Paizo has seen a copy of the new rules yet, nor have we seen a draft of the Open Game License for it (yes, there will be one). We have plenty of reasons to believe that the new game will include lots of improvements over the current system, and that the new OGL will, if anything, be even more permissive than the one for 3.0 and 3.5.

Ever since the announcement of the end of Dragon and Dungeon magazines, we've been careful to say that Wizards of the Coast and Paizo are still on good terms, that we're still communicating with one another, and that we hope to work together in the future. This is not just so much blown smoke. The guys at Wizards have been very forthcoming with information on the new edition, and we look forward to learning even more in the weeks and months to come. I am personally optimistic that this will, for the most part, be a welcome change at my gaming table.

But it's way too early to say what Paizo will be doing about 4th edition. Please give us some time to take a look at the new rules, to take a look at the new OGL, and make an informed decision. We promise we'll let you know what we're planning just as soon as we figure it out ourselves.

For the time being, both the Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Paths will be released as announced for the 3.5 rules set, as will all GameMastery Modules at least up until May of 2008, which is when Wizards will release the 4th edition Player's Handbook.

All of our announced products for the first quarter of 2008 are "rules-light" and should not be adversely affected by the change in edition whether we convert or not. We will be making no significant changes to the announced product schedule.

I'm aware that many Paizo customers will not be converting to 4e. Honestly, before I heard some of the things I heard at Gen Con, I wasn't sure I wanted to convert either. So I sympathize.

Pathfinder currently plans to support officially sanctioned conversions for Castles & Crusades and True20, so assuming we do convert, I suspect it is very likely that we (or some affiliated partner) will provide 3.5 conversion guidelines.

Or we might stick with 3.5. We haven't seen the rules yet, and can't make the decision until we do.

One thing I can say for sure: As a gamer I would be a lot happier with a game that doesn't require two hours of prep-time for four hours of play. I have heard that the new system addresses this problem, and that strikes me as excellent.

If Wizards of the Coast can streamline the rules without robbing the game of its variety and complexity, I will be very impressed.

So far, I am optimistic.

Erik Mona
Publisher
Paizo Publishing, LLC

Elemental Mysteries Conclusion

Thursday, August 23, 2007

The new GameMastery Item Card set, Elements of Power, should be burning a path to your local store as we speak. As promised two weeks ago (sorry about the delay, Gen Con tends to get in the way of schedules), here is a complete set list for those of you hoping to delve into the mysteries of the elements.

01 Breastplate 02 Chain Shirt 03 Leather Suit 04 Platemail Barding 05 Stoneplate 06 Studded Leather 07 Ice Shield 08 Steel Shield 09 Battleaxe 10 Dagger 11 Gauntlet

12 Hook 13 Kama 14 Longbow 15 Longsword 16 Razor 17 Scimitar 18 Short Sword 19 Spear 20 Warhammer 21 Potion 22 Potion

23 Potion 24 Potion 25 Ring 26 Ring 27 Ring 28 Scroll 29 Scroll 30 Scroll 31 Scroll 32 Rod 33 Rod

34 Staff 35 Staff 36 Staff 37 Wand 38 Wand 39 Wand 40 Wand 41 Ankh 42 Bottle 43 Brazier 44 Brooch

45 Censer 46 Collar 47 Fetish 48 Horseshoes 49 Incense 50 Paintbrush 51 Pigments 52 Scarf 53 Stone 54 Wings

Mystery of Water Solution: Congratulations to Andrew Garrett, who figured out the correct answer that a 12 HD water naga would need to start making checks to avoid nonlethal damage from thirst after 1 day and 22 hours. Of course, as an aquatic creature, it would suffocate outside of water long before that.

Well, that is all for the Elements of Power set. We will begin previews for our next card set, Rise of the Runelords, in a few months. What's that? You want a taste right now? Okay, take a look at this sketch... hopefully it'll tide you over for a month or two...

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Kaer Maga

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Now that D2: Seven Swords of Sin is starting to make it out into people's hands, I'd like to talk a little bit about my favorite part of writing it: designing the city of Kaer Maga.

Going into the project, there were two different ideas for where the adventure should be set. For me, it seemed to call for an urban setting, a crazy city where anything went and the law was sketchy at best. Publisher Erik Mona, however, was eager for Varisia to have an iconic castle, a massive dungeon complex that we could return to again and again as we saw fit. The solution? Push the two together and build a city inside a castle—an enormous Thassilonian ruin of unknown function, to be exact. At this point Erik and the rest of the GameMastery team gave me the go-ahead and, armed with the working title "Dark Market," I sat down to write.

As anyone who's played in one of my adventures can probably tell you, I like to play with morality. To me, the interesting thing about evil is that it's so rarely self-identified as such. One of my biggest peeves in adventures, fiction, or film is what we around the office refer to as "moustache-twirling"—villains that are evil simply because they enjoy being evil. (Shortly after that comes my disdain for boring ol' "insanity" as a villain's motive.) In real life, things are usually much more gray and fuzzy—no evil deed exists in a vacuum, and even the most "evil" people I can think of tend to have reasons why their actions make sense in their own minds.

This aesthetic was at the front of my mind when writing about Kaer Maga. To me, all big cities are by definition neutral—get enough people together, they'll balance each other out. In Kaer Maga's case, this neutrality is the result of a free market taken to the extreme, an anarchist, libertarian utopia where people are left to sink or swim entirely through their own machinations. While many would look at the gritty streets, where every shameful vice is yours for the purchasing, and call it evil, I'd point out that Kaer Maga is also the freest of the free cities of Varisia. In rooting the city's "evil" in an ideal many of us share, I hoped to make the scene feel a little more familiar and organic.

Along with the questionable morality, it was important to me that Kaer Maga be a monstrous city, a place where we could get a taste of the alien delights that Golarion has to offer and remind the folks who inhabit Varisia that there's far more beyond the mountains than they might imagine. For those purposes, a city of refugees and squatters seemed perfectly poised to capture the sort of cultural mish-mash that I love in places like Star Wars' Mos Eisley or China Miéville's New Crobuzon. Knowing that I wouldn't have space in a 32-page adventure to truly detail many of the residents, I took a page from some of my favorite sci-fi and fantasy authors and tossed in a bunch of allusions and off-hand references with only the barest explanations. Wormfolk? Bloated Ones? Sweettalkers? When I first wrote those names, at 3:00am in a darkened room, my bleary brain didn't know any more than their names. As soon as I went back and read them, however, my imagination went into overdrive trying to think up what they could be... which is exactly what I hope happens to everyone else. While I couldn't resist from detailing some of them in the Pathfinder Journal for The Hook Mountain Massacre, I promise I'll try to leave at least a few of them alone.

For now.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

By Popular Request

Monday, August 20, 2007

And now, by popular request... Pathfinder 3 wallpaper!

Gen Con Field Report Day 4

Sunday, August 19, 2007

The end is upon us!

Gen Con has come to a close and we're a bizarre blend of happy and sad to see it stop. We're happy to finally be off our feet and sipping cold drinks by the pool and sad to leave behind a throng of interesting and fun readers, fans, and gamers as we make our way back home tomorrow.

Sunday is the day of last resort as attendees cram the show floor to buy everything that piqued their curiosity the days before. Our booth has seen steady business all day and the early indicators are that this will be the best Gen Con Paizo has ever had.

Paizo Publishing had the distinct honor to sponsor Nick Logue's Iron DM event last night. Yesterday's blog was written before the Iron DM finale and we were excited to present awards to the runners up as well as the grand prize to Iron Dungeon Master "Ancient Sensei," an amazing DM who came in second place last year (by two-tenths of a point on their grading scale) and just edged out the winner of the past two Iron DM events, Iron Dungeon Master "Dreads." This year's ingredients were river rapids, Rakshasas, and redemption; "Ancient Sensei" did not disappoint with his first-hour TPK followed by a trip to hell where his players had to redeem themselves to return to life. Paizo was proud to give the top three Iron DMs a pile of GameMastery goodness, including autographed copies of GameMastery Modules D1 and W1. Ancient Sensei also received Paizo's "secret" prizes which included a copy of D2: Seven Swords of Sin autographed by nearly every Paizo employee who wrote a room for the module, and a huge sword donated by KingofSwords.com. You can learn more about Nick Logue's Iron DM by visiting irondm.com. We can't wait to sponsor this event again next year!

I can hear the angelic sounds of gaming through my hotel room door so I must heed the call and hastily beat a path to dice rolling. I hope you've enjoyed my four-day look into the Gen Con experience from the eyes of Paizo Publishing—it was fun to put together, so I hope it was fun to read.

Until next year!

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Sales & Marketing

The three winners of this year's Iron DM (from left to right): two-time champion and this year's second place finisher, Iron Dungeon Master "Dreads;" this year's champion, Iron Dungeon Master "Ancient Sensei;" and third place finisher Iron Dungeon Master "Necessary Evil."	Nicolas Logue signs a copy of D1: Crown of the Kobold King.	Erik Mona waits for the results of a critical die roll as he runs the Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve.
The Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve was never without lines or a crowd of onlookers.	The race for Most Deaths is a close one! As of this morning, Customer Service Enforcer Cosmo Eisele and Paizo Publisher Erik Mona were tied for the most player characters killed in their rooms.	Board #1 as of this morning. The dots are where PCs died.
Board #2 as of this morning.	Paizo's youngest fans were on hand to demo Stonehenge: An Anthology Board Game.	Steve Greer expounds on the importance of good dice-rolling while exploring a dungeon.
	James, Erik, and Wes talk about Pathfinder and Paizo's upcoming Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting.

Gen Con Field Report Day 3

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Today was another hectic day in the booth! Saturday has the reputation as the busiest day of the con and today was no exception. Paizo's booth was buzzing with the news of our awards last night at the ENnies—we took home two gold medals for GameMastery Flip-Mat: Tavern (the second year in a row a Flip-Mat has won a gold ENnie) and the Savage Tide Player's Guide free download and our partner company, Open Mind Games, took home a much-deserved silver ENnie for the awesome GameMastery Combat Pad.

We also had Gary Gygax back on hand with us signing The Anubis Murders, as well as Larry Elmore signing the final print issue of Dragon, and our own Paizo editors signing their works as well. James, Wes, Jason, and Jeremy signed a good deal of autographs and it was nice to see the readers and fans patting these guys on the back for their amazing work on Dragon, Dungeon, and Paizo's GameMastery and Pathfinder lines.

Today was also Nicolas Logue's Iron DM. Nick runs this event every year and its reputation as one awesome gaming experience has increased its attendance year-over-year. Iron DM saw 15 Dungeon Masters and over 130 players this year. If you're not familiar with the event, Iron DM is modeled after the Iron Chef television series: DMs get one hour to write an entire adventure using three "ingredients" that Nick reveals at the last second. Once the adventure is written, the DMs find their randomly assigned table of players and begin. The event is often interrupted by mini-games called Player Olympics, wherein the players must compete table-against-table to win prizes and fame. At the end of the day, the Iron DM who receives the best review scores from his or her players wins the crown. Paizo Publishing was proud to sponsor this event, and we gave away buckets of GameMastery items as prizes. I have a video of Nick introducing one of the Iron DMs that I'll upload to YouTube when I return to the office. Nick is most definitely a character and his Iron DM event was a blast.

Tomorrow is our final day at Gen Con and, though my tired feet wish its end, it would be great if the gaming and fun could continue on for another four days.

And now, pictures!

James Jacobs, Erik Mona, and Jason Bulmahn show off Paizo's two gold ENnies after last night's awards ceremony.	Ryan and Amber from Open Mind Games show off their silver ENnie.	Dragon #359 cover artist Larry Elmore and Erik Mona pause for a picture during Larry's magazine signing.
Paizo is always proud to host the folks from Dead Gentlemen Productions in our booth! These fine folks are (from the left): Jen Page from The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (Female Luster), Steve Wolbrecht from The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (Nodwick), Don Early (Executive Producer of The Gamers: Dorkness Rising) and Chris Dupenthaler from The Gamers (Mark the Berserker) and The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (Mark).	Paizo's prize table for Nick Logue's Iron DM contest.	Nick diligently copying down deeply personal information about an Iron DM so that he can embarrass and crush him later.
Gary Gygax returns!	This time, he came with a HUGE line! (That's Paizo's Jeremy Walker standing behind him.)	Monte Cook shows his love for Pathfinder #1.

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Sales & Marketing

Gen Con Field Report Day Two

Friday, August 17, 2007

The second day of any four-day convention is typically referred to as the "slow day." Retailers and manufacturers complain that nearly every year their business is down, the crowds are down, and Friday is generally a light day. Eager four-day attendees are typically seen swarming the Dealer Hall on Thursday to get the awesome Gen Con exclusives (such as Paizo's alternate Pathfinder #1 cover) and those folks are more inclined to game and rest on Friday. Then the two-day crowd hits with the four-day crowd on Saturday and the show floor turns into a zoo.

Today was slow for us, but we're only able to say so because yesterday was such a huge hit. Pathfinder and GameMastery Modules continue to do very well and I'm pleased to report that our first three Planet Stories novels (The Anubis Murders, City of the Beast, and Black God's Kiss) are selling very well and their positive reception has been exciting to see.

Speaking of The Anubis Murders, Gary Gygax was on hand this afternoon for 90 minutes signing copies of his book and generally anything people asked him to sign. "Keep on the Borderlands" got several Gygax-o-graphs as did the original hardcover Monster Manual, current editions of the core system, badges, convention on-site books—you name it. Someone jokingly asked Gary to sign their baby and he would've done so, graciously, had they not told him it was a joke. He was a nice guy and it was a real honor to meet him. One quick story about his session in the booth today: a guy walked up, looked at his book and said, "Hmm, Anubis Murders, I'm not familiar with your work. I'll have to go look it up." Gary gave him a stern, reproachful look and said, "Try Dungeons & Dragons." Needless to say, the guy looked very sheepish as he fled the scene.

We also had the pleasure of Wayne Reynolds' presence in our booth today, signing copies of the poster included with Dragon #359. He modeled Pathfinder #1 for us, as you'll see below.

The number one question on everyone's mind, of course, was "What does Paizo think of 4th Edition?" We heard this often and our response was the same each time: we're excited to see it, but we know just as much about it as you do. I can report that WotC intends to have an OGL with 4th Edition and that Paizo's eager to learn more, but that does not put us closer to a decision—it only puts us in need of more research and discussion. Rest assured, the moment we make a decision we'll scream it to the four corners of the multiverse.

And now, pictures!

A beholder watches over the crowd as they prepare to hear WotC's 4E announcement.	Jungle James!	Eric Boyd says farewell to the final print version of Dragon magazine.
F. Wesley Schneider and Michael Kortes talk about Paizo's products.	Erik Mona, Gary Gygax, and Greg Vaughan.	Amber Scott (Medesha on the messageboards) holding up her very own copy of Paizo's Gen Con exclusive Pathfinder #1.
The following is a picture-by-picture example of the many forms of the martial arts employed by the mighty and unstoppable Nicolas Logue as he GMs the Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve.	Rhinoceros Style.	Chicken Claw!
Bear Growl.	Dyn-o-mite. (I recorded five minutes of Nick running the delve. It'll be on YouTube and this blog very soon.)	Tim Hitchcock, Nicolas Logue, and Michael Kortes talking about GameMastery and Pathfinder.
The incredibly talented Wayne Reynolds modeling the covers he sketched and painted.	Jason Bulmahn demos "Stonehenge Roulette," the game he wrote for the Stonehenge Library.

Tomorrow: Larry Elmore stops by to sign the final Dragon cover!

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Sales & Marketing

Gen Con Field Report Day One

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Hello from Gen Con!

It's broiler hot, the humidity makes you feel like you're walking through a warm pond, and the bodies are stacked so close in the hall when someone trips in aisle 14 the domino effects doesn't stop until aisle 37.

And that's awesome!

We're having one of our best first days at a con ever and it's in no small part due to the crush of Paizo readers and fans that have mobbed our booth to look at and purchase Pathfinder, to play in our Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve, or to watch the latest Dead Gentlemen video. Our booth is busy busy busy and we love it!

Of course, the con is buzzing about the Wizards announcement to take place at 6:30 P.M. Eastern tonight. We're all aware by now that they're announcing 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons tonight and the Paizo staff plans to be in full attendance to usher in the news. Many of you have asked us, "Will Pathfinder/Modules/Paizo/etc switch to 4th edition?" Our response is this: We haven't seen 4th Edition, but we feel that we have a good gauge of our fan base and if we think it's something they will like and support then it's something we will like and support. We always take our readers' and fans' feedback seriously and we'll take feedback on this potential transition doubly so. We hope to have more information soon and we'll let everyone know the moment we've come to a decision.

Now, pictures!

F. Wesley Schneider prepares to kill willing players at our Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve.	Paizo's Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve is sponsored by KingofSwords.com. Naturally, that means they gave us seven swords to give away to seven lucky delvers!	A quick shot of the Paizo booth straight down the middle.
James Jacobs poses with a mysterious figure from the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path.	Paizo.com messageboard regular Lilith (wearing the light grey shirt) prepares to lead Kill Doctor Lucky first-timers on a quest to kill a sorry old man.	James Jacobs and F. Wesley Schneider hold court as they enlighten the uninitiated about the glories of Pathfinder.
An ever-moving and easily blurred Jason Bulmahn rolls the dice to determine one unlucky player's fate in our Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve.

Tomorrow: Gygax, pictures from the 4E announcement (we hope!), and more!

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Sales & Marketing

Pathfinder 3 Cover

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

We're currently in the middle of working on The Hook Mountain Massacre, the third volume of Pathfinder, but we just couldn't wait to show off the new cover, courtesy of fantasy art superstar Wayne Reynolds. We've already introduced Merisiel, our iconic elven rogue, in a previous blog post, but just take a look at those ogres! With those flat teeth and crazy jaws, something about them just screams "Muppet gone wrong." As for how wrong... well, some of that is still up in the air, but let's just say that readers will no doubt conclude that author Nick Logue should probably be in a straightjacket somewhere. Fortunately for us, however, he was still at large and writing as of this posting....

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

From Delve to Dungeon

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you likely already know about Paizo's delve event at this year's GenCon, in which convention attendees will have the chance to run through part of a deadly, trap-filled dungeon, potentially winning fabulous prizes. You also probably know that the delve is closely related to the new GameMastery Module we'll be releasing, D2: Seven Swords of Sin. But what most people don't know is exactly how one became the other...

The Paizo delve was written as part of an informal internal contest to see who could write the deadliest, most creative dungeon rooms for a set map within a certain EL range. Each of the interested staff members (after deciding the pecking order by rolling initiative, of course) took turns choosing until all of the chambers were parceled out, then took their best shots. The resulting mishmash of horror was then edited, judged highly entertaining, and pronounced ready to be Paizo's first GenCon delve.

But somewhere in the early stages of the project, an idea began to form. Suppose someone had a really good time with the delve, and wanted to take it home to their own party? What if we could have an adventure module there at the show that incorporated most of the delve, plus a bunch of extra material? The decision was made, and I was tapped to give form and structure to our cruel meat grinder of a dungeon.

It wasn't always easy. A delve, for instance, needs only the barest plot—when each party's only playing for a few minutes, it's hard to get much roleplaying in. For a writer like me who is, admittedly, more of a story fan than an out-and-out brawler, it was an interesting challenge. Where in our world, for instance, could adventurers reasonably expect to find such a varied an eclectic collection of rooms? The answer, as it turns out, is the anarchic squatter's paradise of Kaer Maga, a cliff-top city housed inside the walls of an enormous Thassilonian artifact. Possibly the freest of Varisia's fiercely independent cities (if the most morally questionable), the background material on Kaer Maga remains my favorite part of this module—so much so that we return to it in the third installment of the Pathfinder's Journal. But more on that next week.

Even with a location, however, we still needed a story capable of tying fiendish dinosaur-riding goblins to eladrin warriors and vampire bladepriests. Once we figured out that Tirana was trying to combine the weapons of the Runelords' ancient champions for her own personal gain, it seemed to me that the natural setting for such a bold experiment would be in a secret, abandoned research facility. Armed with that knowledge, the next step was to trim off the rooms that just didn't fit and retool the ones to make them work together as a unit. Following that came the writing of the new rooms—because you didn't think we'd just repackage the delve, did you? No, if you get a chance to go to GenCon and see the massive tables covered with three-dimensional dungeon terrain, be sure to keep in mind that all of those rooms amount to about half of the actual adventure. For many of the extra chambers, I enjoyed playing up the research facility aspect, complete with incinerators, recycling units, turbines for proper air circulation, and laboratories with strange new monsters run amuck. And, of course, no module set in a city is complete without at least one gang turf war.

All told, writing D2 was a unique experience, and I hope that those of you who read through it have as much fun as I did. Next week I'll be back with a bit more information about Kaer Maga.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Come to Gen Con!

Monday, August 13, 2007

Gen Con is always a big deal for us here at Paizo, but this year is even more momentous than most. With many people getting their first chance to pick up and check out copies of Pathfinder (with an alternate Gen Con-exclusive cover!), Seven Swords of Sin, Elements of Power Item Cards, and the first few books in the Planet Stories line (from such authors as Michael Moorcock, C. L. Moore, and Gen Con Guest of Honor Gary Gygax, who will be signing copies at our booth), this convention will be our first chance to show off all of Paizo's new ventures at once. So along with a boatload of shiny new products, what kinds of things can you expect to see starting Thursday?

Signings: Want your chance to personally meet industry legends like Gary Gygax, Larry Elmore, Wayne Reynolds, and our own cast of Pathfinder and GameMastery authors? Paizo has you covered!

Seminars and Events: Learn about everything Paizo's going to be doing in the upcoming year, design your own Stonehenge game, or play in game demos ranging from Kill Dr. Lucky to Pathfinder roleplaying blocks run by our editors and authors.

Delves: Bring your friends or join a party and play your way through a chunk of deadly 3D dungeon based on Seven Swords of Sin and run by a crack team of expert GMs. Do well, and you just might win awesome prizes from Paizo—including one of several actual swords!

The ENnies: Show your support for Paizo at one of gaming's most prestigious awards shows! Will our proud convention warriors end the night with glory or defeat, champagne or stale Mountain Dew? Only time will tell!

Hope to see you there!

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

You Got Your GameMastery Module in My Pathfinder Shipment

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Many of you have asked to be able to combine shipments of Pathfinder subscriptions and GameMastery Modules subscriptions to save on shipping. Well, we've just made that possible, and with Pathfinder #1 and GameMastery Module D2 shipping next week, now is the perfect time to get a subscription to both Pathfinder and GameMastery Modules.

If you're adding a new subscription, you'll be prompted during order checkout to set up your combined shipping. If you've already got subscriptions to both products (and bravo for you!), go to your My Subscriptions page.

Gary Teter
paizo.com Software Developer

Time on Golarion

Friday, August 10, 2007

As our messageboards have recently been packed with folks wanting to know more about the day-to-day business of Golarion, the following is a brief introduction to the dating and timing conventions of our world. Rest assured that you'll be able to find out much more—such as timelines, country overviews, histories, and the rest—in the forthcoming Pathfinder Chronicles Gazetteer.

Time travels on Golarion much as it does here on our own Earth. Sixty seconds form a minute, sixty minutes create an hour, and twenty-four hours make a day. The people of Golarion measure time much like we do as well, with seven days to a week and twelve 30-day months to a year. Years are marked since the founding of the last great empire, that of Aroden, the Last Man. Although the empire has collapsed, its calendar remains in use to this day. At the start of the campaign, the date is 4707 AR (Absalom Reckoning).

Days of the Week

The days of the week are as follows. Each day has a general purpose that most people in the Inner Sea region follow.

Day	General Purpose
Moonday	Work, religion [night]
Toilday	Work
Wealday	Work
Oathday	Work, pacts signed, oaths sworn
Fireday	Work
Starday	Work
Sunday	Rest, religion

Months

The months in Golarion correspond to our own, with each new year starting shortly after the solstice. You'll notice that the name of each month is etymologically tied to a specific god—residents of Golarion see the gods reflected in the changing of the seasons, and their names for the months reflect this. (Gozreh's month, for instance, is a time of budding and new life, while Zon-Kuthon's is seen as the death of the old year.) Holidays in a given month are generally tied to their patron deity. In order, the months are:

Abadius (January)
Calistril (February)
Pharast (March)
Gozran (April)
Desnus (May)
Sarenith (June)
Erastus (July)
Arodus (August)
Rova (September)
Lamashan (October)
Neth (November)
Kuthona (December)

Mike McArtor
Associate Editor, GameMastery

Elemental Mysteries, Part 4

Thursday, August 9, 2007

The four elements—air, earth, fire and water—have fascinated man for thousands of years. All of the mysteries have now been solved, save one: Water. Elements of Power—the next set in the GameMastery Item Card line—is due to show up in game stores any day now, and if you can solve some of the mysteries of the elements, you might just score a free deck.

One elemental mystery has been presented each week. Answer this week's correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Elements of Power Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com. Make sure to put the phrase "Mystery of Water" in the subject line of the email.

This week we take a look at the element of water. Often referred to as the giver of life, no other element is more revered and valued than water. There are a number of items in this set with a water or cold theme to them, including armor, weapons, potions, and a wondrous item or two. Look for these and other items like them in the upcoming set. Next week, we'll reveal the final answer and a complete set list.

Mystery of Water: How long would it take before a 12 HD water naga would need to start making checks to avoid taking nonlethal damage from thirst?

All answers for the Mystery of Water are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, August 16th. Good Luck!

Mystery of Fire Solution: Congratulations to Thomas Oakland who figured out the correct answer that a goblin wearing chainmail would need to roll a natural 20 to avoid taking the heat damage (because a 20 always succeeds).

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Desna Detailed

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

With work on The Skinsaw Murders wrapping up, we thought we'd give you a brief taste of Sean K Reynolds' insightful exploration into Desna, Golarion's goddess of luck, travel, and more. Presented here is one of several key myths tied to her faith and frequently repeated by members of her flock, as well as a fabulous rendering of her holy symbol by Savage Tide alumnus Ben Wootten.

Lamashtu's Trap: In her earliest days as a goddess, Desna's mentor was Curchanus, a mostly forgotten god of beasts, travel, and endurance, and she spent many nights listening to stories of his travels. Curchanus's enemy was Lamashtu, an equally ancient goddess of monsters, madness, and nightmares who longed for his control over beasts. Lamashtu set a trap for Curchanus, leading him on a strange wandering path into her realm, where she swarmed him with horrible monsters, finally attacking in the guise of a great deformed jackal, tearing his beast-dominion from him. This wound was too great for the elder deity, and as his last act he willed his power over travel to Desna. Since this theft, wild animals have treated mankind as an outsider and an enemy rather than a part of nature, and Desna has searched far and wide to find a way to force Lamashtu to surrender Curchanus's stolen power. The faithful use this story to remind them of Lamashtu's treachery, to honor Curchanus's gift to Desna, and to remind them that failure is just a setback, not an end.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

The Fey Are Coming

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

GameMastery Module W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale has arrived in our warehouse and is about to ship to subscribers (although if you sign up now, you can still get the module and a free PDF). Although I've chatted about fey before, now is as good time to look at the fey in this module with some detail. If you plan on playing this module be forewarned—spoilers lurk below.

Here are some facts about the Roseblood Sprites, presented as a Knowledge (nature) skill check.

DC	Information
13	Roseblood Sprites are evil fey that live in an area known as Bloodsworn Vale. They are a menace to travelers and workmen alike, and even to adventurers if encountered in a large group (known as a bushel).
18	These fey have the ability to transform into ordinary rose bushes, and have a penchant for using the beautifully thorny plants in their armor and weapons.
23	Roseblood Sprites have a number of magical abilities involving trickery, and can pass through wooded areas with ease.
28	Roseblood Sprites who congregate in large groups are often led by a king who is far more powerful than his kin, with the ability to awaken rosebushes and turn them into sprites.

Beyond this basic information, the fey living in Bloodsworn Vale have another nasty habit. As of late, their victims have been found mutilated, missing one or both of their ears. Rumors hold that this is some sort of trophy gathering by the malicious sprites, but some say that something far more sinister is afoot.

Well, that's all for Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale. If you've not checked out this module, stop by your local game store, visit our booth at GenCon, or take a look through some of the other posts on this blog. Next week, we'll start "delving" into D2: Seven Swords of Sin.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Letter Designations

Monday, August 6, 2007

First things first—if you haven't already checked it out, D0: Hollow's Last Hope is now available as a free PDF download right here. What are you waiting for? It's free!

Ahem. We now return you to the topic at hand: module letter designations.

So D0: Hollow's Last Hope is a prequel of sorts to D1: Crown of the Kobold King. It follows, then, that D2 is a sequel to D1. Right?

Well, no, actually. D2 is completely unrelated to D0 and D1. On the other hand, E1 is set in Falcon's Hollow, the settlement that serves as the starting point of D0 and D1. Confused yet? Let us help sort out things a bit.

These alphanumeric designators hearken back to the old way of numbering modules from the earliest days of RPGs. With a few exceptions (the A, D, G, and Q series, for example) the older module lines used their alphanumeric designators to denote adventures of a similar nature that aren't related. Don't think of any series designator we've announced so far as being a set of sequels you can run one after another. Consider each adventure separately unless it specifically calls itself a sequel to an earlier adventure. The designator is just there to tell you what kind of adventure to expect, with the number telling you the order in which we published it.

What, then, do the designators mean?

D is for Dungeon. These adventures take place primarily in a dungeon, whether that means an underground complex or some other kind of self-contained area for PCs to explore.

E is for Event. These adventures focus on some kind of event you can place anywhere you want, such a jousting tournament, a royal wedding, or (as in the example of E1) a carnival. Although all E adventures will be set somewhere in our campaign setting, they are the easiest to place anywhere you want or need them.

J is for Journey. These adventures either focus on a journey to some exotic locale or else deal with what you find once you get to such an interesting place. (J1 takes place in Osirion, the Egypt analog of Golarion.)

U is for Urban. These adventures take place in cities and focus on the kinds of adventures you can only have when surrounded by thousands of other people. (U1 occurs in a wealthy district of Absalom, one of the largest cities on Golarion.)

W is for Wilderness. These adventures occur in the wild places of the world. You might have a hint of civilization in a W adventure, but the main focus is on the untamed areas. (PCs in W1 attempt to civilize Bloodsworn Vale.)

C is for Cookie. That's good enough for me.

At some point in the future we will undoubtedly release modules that belong together in a series, at which point we'll likely give them their own designators. There have been whispers of an M series, for example, wherein Erik Mona creates several linked adventures set on our southern continent. And, of course, sequels to previous adventures in a series might occasionally crop up. We'll make sure to make that very clear when it happens.

Mike McArtor
Associate Editor, GameMastery

First Glimpse of Paizo's 2008 Q1 Schedule

Friday, August 3, 2007

Today is a big day for announcements here at Paizo! In addition to releasing the name of our new Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting, in which both Pathfinder and the GameMastery Modules are set, we've decided to unveil our release schedule for the first quarter of 2008. Click here to take a look at the press release, which includes detailed information on such things as:

The first three installments of the new Pathfinder adventure path, a gritty, primarily-urban odyssey titled Curse of the Crimson Throne!

Four new GameMastery modules, featuring haunted courthouses, crashed flying cities, gorilla kings, and paladins trapped in fiend-infested castles!

Gazetteers, map folios, monster compendiums, and more to help flesh out the new setting!

The much requested Critical Fumble Deck and second set of Adventure Gear Item Cards!

New Planet Stories novels from Michael Moorcock, C. L. Moore, Leigh Brackett, and Gary Gygax!

So what are you waiting for? Hit up the press release or visit any of the pages for individual product lines to get a taste of the future!

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Elemental Mysteries, Part 3

Thursday, August 2, 2007

The four elements—air, earth, fire and water—have fascinated man for thousands of years. Yet, there are still many mysteries that have yet to be solved. Elements of Power—the next set in the GameMastery Item Card line—is due to release next month, and if you can solve some of the mysteries of the elements, you might just score a free deck.

One elemental mystery will be presented each week. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Elements of Power Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com. Make sure to put the phrase "Mystery of Fire" in the subject line of this week's email.

This week we take a look at the element of fire. Perhaps no other element has fascinated man more than fire, and for good reason. Whereas fire can destroy, its cleansing can also lead to new life. There are a number of items in this set with a fire theme, including weapons, potions, staffs, and a wondrous item or two, each one looking like it might just burn you to a crisp. Look for these and other items like them in the upcoming set. Next week, we'll take a look at the final element.

Mystery of Fire: What would an ordinary goblin wearing chainmail need to roll on its Fortitude save to successfully avoid taking damage during his second hour spent in 114 degree heat?

All answers for the Mystery of Fire are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, August 9th. Good Luck!

Mystery of Earth Solution: Congratulations to Joshua Blazej, who figured out the correct answer that a stone giant could only throw a Small earth elemental (as it weighs 80 pounds, the maximum allotted weight for a rock thrown by a Huge giant).

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Welcome to Fort Thorn

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

With GameMastery Module W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale just about to ship out to subscribers, it's time to introduce your PCs to their new home: Fort Thorn. This small community is the only bastion of civilization in the Vale and, as such, makes for the most likely home base for explorers. The following are descriptions of a few key places:

A3. Keep

Aside from the shrine, Fort Thorn's keep is the only other stone building in town. This massive two-story structure is home to Sir Gyrad Tolgrith (NG male human fighter 4/ranger 2) and all of his men. The first floor of the structure contains the meeting hall, armory, mess hall, kitchen, and storage rooms. The second floor contains a smaller, private meeting hall, the barracks, the planning room, and Sir Tolgrith's private quarters.

Fort Thorn's current staff includes 40 soldiers (LG male human warrior 2), 4 scouts (NG male human ranger 2), 2 sergeants (LG male human fighter 4), and Sir Tolgrith.

A6. The Boar's Bones

Shortly after settling the fort, the soldiers faced their first crisis when the food caravan was late and their supplies ran low. Sir Tolgrith sent out his scouts to forage and hunt, but after three days they had not found much. On the fourth day they scored big, dragging the carcass of an enormous dire boar back into camp at the same time the supply caravan finally arrived. During the evening's festivities, the boar was picked clean and the fort's cook, Orrend, kept the bones.

A month later, Orrend (CG male halfling expert 3) opened up the Boar's Bones, a small inn and tavern, to serve the off-duty soldiers, workers, and visitors who happened to stop by. The bones were carefully reconstructed with wire and wood, and the now-intact dire boar skeleton sits in the middle of the tavern with a pouch hanging from its tusks. Orrend insists that any tips given to the boar are sent to its grieving kin.

The food at the Boar's Bones is of good quality (4 sp per meal), combining local ingredients with caravan supplies. Orrend has yet to perfect his rose petal ale, so whenever he has a new batch ready, all tankards of it are half price (2 cp). Rooms at the Boar's Bones are simple, with only a single cot, washbasin, and cupboard apiece, but clean and free of vermin (1 gp per night).

A8. Shrine to Erastil

Every morning, the lone bell of this stone shrine tolls twice to start the prayer service. The shrine is dedicated to Erastil (LG god of hunting, trade, farming, and family), also known as "Old Deadeye." The shrine's lone cleric, Father Apar (LG male human cleric 5), tends to the spiritual needs of the community, including healing and other minor spellcasting. Father Apar offers these services for free to the soldiers, but all others must pay the usual price. Father Apar also has a number of divine potions and scrolls for sale, but none worth more than 300 gp.

Father Apar's morning sermons are usually quite calm affairs, with the elderly cleric reading from holy scriptures and addressing current concerns. Sir Tolgrith makes sure to attend twice per week, but never on a regular schedule. After the morning prayers, Father Apar walks around town, talking to the locals about their problems or tending to the sick. Once per week, after the day's labor is over, Father Apar invites all to an archery challenge in front of the fort. To the winner he gifts a potion of his own creation (usually cure light wounds).

There are, of course, many more places to visit in Fort Thorn, but I'll leave those secrets for you to discover.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager