Rob the Dragon's Trove, Week 1

Thursday, May 31, 2007

The Riddling Dragon is asleep and now is your chance to steal from his hoard! Dragon's Trove—the next set in the GameMastery Item Card line—is due to release soon, and in anticipation we're showing off the set and giving you a chance to score a free deck of cards.

Each week, the Riddling Dragon will ask one question. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Dragon's Trove Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Answer incorrectly and your entry will be burned to a crisp. 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 "Dragon's Trove Contest" in the subject line of the email.

This week, we're starting the previews by showing off some of the great weapons featured in Dragon's Trove, including the bastardsword, falchion, morningstar, and pistol cards. We made sure to include a wide variety of cards in this set that have not appeared before in any of our other Item Card products, and these four are just a small sample. Next week, we'll take a look at some of the more "scaly" cards in the set.

Week 1 Riddle: Who is the "all-mighty Dragon King of the Truescale Kobolds"?

Here's a hint: The answer can be found in one of our blog posts. All answers for the Week 1 Riddle are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, June 7th. Good Luck!

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Points Unknown

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Since we just got in some great rough sketches of notable Varisian landmarks courtesy of Andrew Hou, we thought we'd introduce you to some of Varisia's more infamous adventure sites. Presented below are but a few—look forward to more in the upcoming Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide.

Bloodsworn Vale: A fey-haunted pass to southern lands which played an integral role in Varisia's break with the crumbling empire of Cheliax.

Celwynvian: The doom-haunted capital of the Mierani elves, abandoned by its people.

The Face Pyramid: A great, timeless stone edifice rising forth from the Mushfen's murk.

Hook Mountain: A peak of dark repute, bent to resemble a colossal hook and the ancestral home of several tribes of inbred, brutish ogres.

The Mobhad Leigh: A vast and deep pit, which the Shoanti say has no bottom.

Riddleport: A depraved and lawless city whose ancient harbor bears a massive, rune-carved arch.

The Storval Stairs: Titanic steps cut into the face of the Storval Rise, the cliff face separating the lower half of Varisia from the eastern plateau.

Viperwall: The Citadel of Snakes, its walls of carved serpents endlessly leaking a venomous gas.

Kaer Maga: A city built inside the ruins of a single great structure of unknown function, perched atop the Storval Rise and renowned for its anarchic population of squatters and outlaws.

Wesley Schneider
Associate Editor, Pathfinder

Seven Swords of Sin Revealed

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Say what you will about their morality, the rulers of ancient Thassilon knew how to govern. Knowing the horror that a full-scale duel between them would unleash, the Runelords settled on an elegant means of solving disputes. Each of the seven wizards created a unique blade imbued with the barest shadow of his might, and whenever two disagreed, each would bestow his blade upon a chosen champion, whose job it was to decide the matter in bloody arena combat. To be a champion for one of the Runelords was the greatest honor a warrior could aspire to... though generally a short-lived one.

While most of the great Thassilonian wonders were shattered or lost in the empire's fall, there are those who whisper that the swords themselves remain, hidden and awaiting hands to wield them. To the Thassilonians, they were known as the Alara'hai, the Seven Blades of Conviction. Given the Runelords' reputation, however, most scholars today know them by a different name.
—Pathfinder Chronicles

A while back, it was decided that Paizo would run a delve at this year's GenCon—an enormous three-dimensional dungeon that would allow participants to walk up to the booth and play 15 minutes of D&D for free, battling an array of cruel traps and monsters and collecting keys that could potentially win them real-world treasure (the exact nature of which I'm not allowed to reveal yet, but trust me—it's some quality loot). In keeping with the spirit of things, we decided to make the creation of the delve into something of a game itself—each interested member of the Paizo staff was assigned a few rooms and an EL range and told to fill it with unique traps and monsters, with the goal being to see whose room could kill the most players at the convention. People went to work with gusto, and soon the delve was a bizarre menagerie of deadly encounters, each stranger than the last. But as the idea germinated, we came to realize that this delve was too cool to be a one-shot deal—there had to be a published product. We could take the established rooms, add enough new dungeon encounters and plot elements to double its size, and weave a storyline that tied it all together. Everyone agreed that it was a good idea, and soon the adventure had a vague concept, a title, and a slot on the release schedule. Time went by, and the process rolled onward without issue. Then one day in a product meeting, someone asked who was going to be revising the rooms and writing all the extra content.

"Oh," said GameMastery Brand Manager Jason Bulmahn. "Sutter is."

I was drinking at the time, and promptly coughed tea into my sinuses. "What?" I squeaked.

"Surprise!" Bulmahn said. "I thought it would be more fun to tell you this way. You'll have a month to write it. Get to work."

Thus was born GameMastery Module D2: Seven Swords of Sin. In the weeks that followed, we faced several unique challenges in developing this adventure—things like finding a narrative that made sense of encounters like fiendish goblins riding dinosaurs and living cauldrons spewing boiling magma, or coordinating the numerous tie-ins with the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path—but at the end of the day I'm really happy with how the adventure turned out. In Swords, PCs discover that a powerful sorceress named Tirana has stolen numerous powerful magical weapons dating back to the days of ancient Thassilon, and are contracted by the Church of Abadar to recover them before she figures out how to unlock their full power. To do so, the PCs track the thief back to Kaer Maga, an anarchic outlaw city built entirely inside the ruins of a great Thassilonian structure (and my favorite part of the module, but more on that in later posts). Once there, they have to locate Tirana's headquarters and descend into an abandoned research facility filled with traps and monstrous guardians, finally coming face-to-face with the wizard herself, who wields the legendary Sword of Lust.

With several new monsters and magic items, a squatter metropolis on a cliff, a deadly dungeon with an old-school, Tomb of Horrors feel, and pages of art as gorgeous as the cover shown above, I'm hoping this module will have something for everyone.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

And Hou!

Friday, May 25, 2007

While Wayne Reynolds has been getting a lot of press for his Pathfinder covers (and rightly so!), I'd like to stop for a minute and call out one of the other exemplary artists that Paizo will be featuring heavily in the year to come.

Though so far we've only given you a tiny taste with the Sandpoint mayor headshot from Monday's blog post, artist Andrew Hou will be playing a key role in the visual development of Pathfinder. While you probably know him best from his work in Dragon and Dungeon, Andrew will also be signing on as one of the lead interior artists in charge of making Pathfinder one of the most visually stunning products Paizo's ever produced. In addition, he's also just finished work on several covers for the Planet Stories novel line, coming through with a perfect blend of nostalgia and modernity that captures the essence of the books' original covers while still making them pop from the shelves—to see what I mean, just look at the blue giant piece, which is currently slated to grace the cover of Michael Moorcock's City of the Beast.

We hope you're as excited to have Andrew on board as we are, and expect to see plenty of his new Pathfinder art previewed here in the weeks to come.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Origins Events Announced!

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Today Paizo announced what's easily the most exciting lineup of Origins events in our five-year history. So what can guests at the con expect to see?

Pathfinder Preview Games
Curious about Rise of the Runelords? Sign up to run through one of six two-hour preview roleplaying sessions, GMed by Erik Mona, Jason Bulmahn, and all-star Runelords authors Nicolas Logue and Greg Vaughn. Or just stop by the booth to chat with all of them, plus GameMastery Module author Tim Hitchcock, about their work on Paizo's forthcoming adventures.

Paizo Delve
Get in on the ground floor and stop by the first-ever Paizo Dungeon Delve, based on Nicolas Logue's GameMastery Module D1: Crown of the Kobold King. The delve, run by Jason Bulmahn and Nicolas Logue inside the Paizo booth during dealer hall hours, will offer small groups of players fifteen minutes each to explore and survive the Kobold King's dungeon and locate as many keys as they can. These keys can then be used at each group's Delve conclusion to attempt to open a real pirate chest and win prizes.

Seminars
Want to have all of your Paizo questions answered by the powers that be? Attend one of Paizo's several scheduled seminars, including:

• "What is Paizo's GameMastery Line?" chaired by Erik Mona and Jason Bulmahn
• "Stonehenge: What's An Anthology Board Game?" chaired by Mike Selinker and other Stonehenge designers
• "What's New at Paizo Publishing?" chaired by CEO Lisa Stevens and other Paizo employees
• "Writing for Paizo Publishing" chaired by Erik Mona and Jason Bulmahn
• "Introducing Pathfinder" chaired by Erik Mona, Nicolas Logue, and Greg A. Vaughan
• "Design a Stonehenge Game!" chaired by Mike Selinker, in which the crowd and Mike will have exactly one hour to create a new game for Stonehenge to be published online at the Stonehenge Library!

Board Game Tournaments
Test your strategy in one of two Stonehenge tournaments, as well as several Kill Doctor Lucky sessions and the premiere of the all-new Kill Doctor Lucky … and His Little Dog Too! rules variants.

So what are you waiting for? Hop over to the official Origins site and see how you can get in on the action.

Erik Speaks His Mind

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

The guys at Pulp Gamer have done another interview with Paizo folks, this time catching publisher Erik Mona at the GAMA Trade Show and sitting him down to talk about Pathfinder, GameMastery Modules, Planet Stories, and more. If you've had any questions about where the company's headed in the next year, this podcast probably answers it, so get out your headphones, kick back, and let Erik walk you through the future of Paizo.

The New Stat Block

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Since we have sent a number of modules out to the printer, we recently came to the realization that it was high time to show off the new stat block. Mind you, there are a lot of things you are going to find familiar, but some things are brand new. When it came time to start working on Pathfinder and the GameMastery Modules, we took that opportunity to improve and tinker, while still trying to retain the easy-to-use format everyone has come to know and love.

Specifically, we tried to streamline the information a bit, so that you can more easily get at what you need. For example, AC, hit points, and saves now come first in the defensive section. All other abilities (such as immunities, resistances, and so on) get grouped together beneath these (as evasion is in the example). The offense section gets a similar treatment, with the information you need most grouped toward the top.

Next is the tactics box. Instead of having a tactics section in the encounter, it made more sense to include that with the stat block, so that each monster could have its own information. You get a section for what it does before and during combat, as well as a small bit on its morale telling you if it ever decides to run away from the fight. Some kobolds make great use of this particular section.

The last section in our examples covers the creature's statistics. This information is not generally vital to every combat situation and thus gets referenced far less often. This is not always the case, though, so you might see some of these statistics noted in earlier section so you don't miss them. For example, if a creature has improved grab, you can be sure that we will note its grapple bonus up in the offense section.

The two particular monsters in our sample page from D1: Crown of the Kobold King do not have any special abilities that require in-depth explanation. If they did, this information would go at the very end in its own section. The slurk, for instance, has a pair of abilities describing how its slimy belly grease and sticky back goo work (and no, those aren't the real ability titles).

As always, we want to hear from you. What do you think about the new stat block? Let us know in the forums, and remember that tonight is also the weekly GameMastery and Pathfinder chat. Check out the blog post from 5/02 to learn how to join in.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Founded on Murder!

Monday, May 21, 2007

The foundation of a new town is not a matter to be taken lightly, nor one to be funded by one soul. Four powerful families from the city of Magnimar had designs on settling a region 50 miles to the northeast, and rather than work against each other, they consolidated their efforts and formed the Sandpoint Mercantile League. These four families, the Ameikos (glassmakers and jewelers), the Valdemars (shipbuilders and carpenters), the Scarnettis (loggers and millers), and the Deverins (farmers and brewers), sailed north to claim their land after securing the rights from the Magnimar Charterhouse. Yet when they arrived, they found the place already settled by a particularly large tribe of Varisians, who held the region as a traditional place to spend the winter.

Unwilling to change course, the Sandpoint Mercantile League began a series of talks with the Varisians, promising them an important place in the new township. Unfortunately, after a week of talks seemed to go nowhere, an impatient man named Alamon Scarnetti took matters into his own hands. Rounding up a group of his brothers and cousins, the Scarnettis mounted a murderous raid on the Varisian camp, intending to kill them all and leave evidence implicating local goblins for the deed. Yet the Scarnettis, too drunk and overconfident, only managed to kill five Varisians before they were themselves forced to flee, leaving behind three of their own. The incident caused a several-month delay, but eventually amends were made and the town of Sandpoint was born.

Despite these violent first months, in the forty-odd years since Sandpoint was founded, things have been rather calm and quiet. The late unpleasantness, involving Chopper's murderous spree and followed closely by the Sandpoint Fire, constitute the worst thing that's happened to the town. Yet Sandpoint's current mayor, Kendra Deverin (female human aristocrat 3/expert 4), can't shake the feeling that the unpleasantness was but a preamble, and that dark times indeed are coming to her home town.

The excellent headshot accompanying this post is one of several Andrew Hou's worked up for Pathfinder—Kendra Deverin herself. Kendra has served as Sandpoint's mayor for the past five years. Lawmaker, judge, and general peacemaker, she has proven to be both an adept diplomat and stern hand when need be, both skills honed during her youth in Magnimar. With a personal—some say sisterly—style of governing, most of Sandpoint's citizens hold deep respect for their fiery-haired mayor.

James Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief, Pathfinder

Forge Spurned

Friday, May 18, 2007

In Crown of the Kobold King we introduce the dwarven deity Droskar, God of Toil. Droskar's following began as a reaction against the bon vivant trends that pervaded the dwarven society of their day, instating a dreadful dogma of salvation through endless toil and brutal subservience to the Dark Smith, as Droskar was often called. The dwarves became slaves to their own industry, producing heaps of weapons, armor, and gear to appease their dark god. The wilderness around them was fed to Droskar's fires of industry, until the dwarves choked on their own black fumes and starved in the dust.

The rise of this new religion also saw the first appearance of a new undead monster associated with such endless toil: the forge spurned. When a dwarven worshiper of Droskar perishes, he is brought before his divine lord and judged. If the Master of the Dark Furnace finds him unworthy, he is pierced with burning barbs and returned to the world as a tormented undead creature on an accursed errand to gather souls for Droskar's Furnace. Forge spurned are consumed with their need to forge their soul chains, and prey upon any creature they feel they can easily best. If a forge spurned is felled and its chain taken by another, it seethes with dark fury. A forge spurned stops at nothing to retrieve its chain, lest it be forced to forge another, extending its period of burning torment.

Forge spurned resemble hulking dwarves wrapped in heavy steel chains. Their faces, hands, and bodies are riddled with glowing hot hooks and half-melted razor wire. Black smoke rises from their smoldering beards, framing a freakishly contorted face covered in ash and soot. The tormented beings heft black iron hammers in both hands, and the chains that drape their forms possess the malevolent life of angry metal serpents.

Jeremy Walker
Assistant Editor, GameMastery

The Late Unpleasantness

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Though he's too busy statting up Orcus and Iggwilv for Dungeon 149 to make a post himself, Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief James Jacobs thought you might be interested in a bit of Sandpoint lore he's been working on for "Burnt Offerings":

When Jervis Stoot made clear his intentions to build a home on the island just north of the Old Light, locals paid him no mind. Jervis had already garnered something of a reputation as an eccentric for his one-man crusade to carve depictions of birds on every deserving building in town. Stoot never made a carving without securing permission, but his incredible skill made it a given that if Stoot picked your building as the site of his latest project, you seized the opportunity. Sporting a Stoot soon grew to be something of a bragging point, and Jervis eventually extended his talent to include ship figureheads and even carriages. Those who asked or tried to pay him for his skill were rebuffed, Stoot telling them, "There ain't no birds in that wood for me t'set free," and going on his way. Stoot often wandering the streets for days before noticing a hidden bird in a fencepost, lintel, steeple, or doorframe and securing permission to "release" it with his trusty carving knives.

Stoot's excuse for wanting to move to the isle seemed innocent enough—the place was a haven for local birdlife, and his claim of "Wantin' ta be with th' birds" seemed to make sense. So much, in fact, that the guild of Carpenters (with whom Stoot had maintained a friendly competition for several years) volunteered to build a staircase, free of charge, along the southern cliff face so that Stoot could come and go from his new home with ease. For fifteen years, Stoot lived on the island. His trips into town grew less and less frequent, making it something of an event when he chose a building to host a new Stoot.

Sandpoint was no stranger to crime, or even to murder. Once or twice a year, passions flared, robberies went bad, jealousy grew too much to bear, or one-too-many drinks were drunk, and someone would end up dead. But when body count suddenly began to mount, the town had no idea how to react. Sandpoint's sheriff at the time was a no-nonsense man named Casp Avertin, a retired city watch officer from Magnimar, yet even he was ill-prepared for the murderer who came to be known as Chopper. Over the course of one long winter month, every few days brought a new victim to light. Each was found in the same terrible state, bodies bearing deep cutting wounds to the neck and torso, with both hands and feet severed and stacked nearby and the eyes and tongue missing entirely, plucked crudely from the head.

Over the course of that terrible month, Chopper claimed 25 victims. His uncanny knack at eluding traps and pursuit quickly wore on the town guard, taking particular toll on Sheriff Avertin, who increasingly took to drinking. Many believe that he even took to beating his wife and daughter, and that, in its own way, may have been the genesis of the Sandpoint Fire. In any event, Sheriff Avertin himself became Chopper's last victim, slain when he finally caught the killer mutilating his latest victim in the side street that would come to be known as Chopper's Alley. Yet in the battle that followed, Avertin managed a telling blow against the murderer. When the town guard found the sheriff dead with another victim several minutes later, they were able to follow the bloody trail left by the killer.

A trail that led straight to the stairs of Stoot's Rock.

At first, the town guard refused to believe the implications, and feared that Chopper had come to claim poor Jervis Stoot as his 26th victim. Yet what the guards found in the modest home atop the isle, and in the larger complex of rooms that had been carved into the bedrock below, left no room for doubt. Jervis Stoot and Chopper were the same, and the eyes and tongues of all 25 victims were found in a horrific altar to a birdlike demon whose name none dared speak aloud. Stoot himself was found dead at the base of the altar, having plucked his own eyes and tongue loose for a final offering. The guards collapsed the entrance to the chambers, burned Stoot's house, tore down the stairs, and did their best to forget. Stoot himself was burned on the beach in a pyre, his ashes then blessed and then scattered in an attempt to stave off an unholy return of his evil spirit from beyond the grave. And in the months to follow, Sandpoint did its best to forget the terror, although even today, children who remember the dark times only six years ago sometimes wake with nightmare visions of Chopper hiding under their beds.

Weapons, Varisia-Style

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Hot off the server come three of the latest Pathfinder sketches, this time for the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide. See what Player's Guide author Wes Schneider has to say about each of them:

Dog Slicer: A savage weapon created from castoff bits of sharpened waste metal, goblins named these small swords after the act for which they're most commonly employed. Holes drilled in the blade make them easier to heft by enthusiastic but weak-armed murderers. Most dog slicers are size Small.

Varisian Scarves: Well known as entertainers with a flair for the dramatic, Varisians often employ seductive garb and entrancing props in their performances. Scarves of colorful cloth and transparent silk, or bearing elaborately embroidered scenes, are thus favorite accessories of the wandering folk. Aside from the mundane variety, though, clever Varisians have subtly repurposed these iconic tools for a variety of covert uses. The Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide features three types of modified scarves to aid Varisians in their adventures: bladed, pocketed, and reinforced.

Star of Desna: An ancient weapon favored by Varisian wanderers, this weapon has been adopted by the church of Desna as a second holy weapon. From a central metal ring, four tapering metal blades extend like points on a compass rose. Wielders can slash with the star or throw it like a less-aerodynamic chakram.

Excited yet? The above are just three of the twelve new Varisian items we'll be introducing in the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide, which will be available in printed form for just two dollars and online for free at our website. For information on things like the earth breaker, barbarian chew, or ogre hook, you'll just have to stay tuned...

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Item Card Themes

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

The GameMastery team recently got together to hash out the next theme for our Item Card product line. While tossing around thoughts of undead scrolls and elven bows, it occurred to me that it might be fun to talk about how we come up with themes for our future sets. First, a bit of history.

The very first item card set, Item Pack 1, was specifically designed to be a starter set, with a wide variety of items so GMs could use the cards right away (for those of you unfamiliar with them, Item Cards are generic treasure cards that you can hand out when the PCs find loot, with a blank space on the back for writing in what the item does). While that first set was a big success, we needed a means for GMs to get a few more potions, scrolls, and other disposable items without having to buy a whole new deck of cards. Hero's Hoard was born soon after as a set of booster packs. This set had more items in line with those presented in Item Pack 1, but came in a booster pack with a set assortment (2 potions, 2 weapons, 2 wondrous items, 1 armor, 1 wand, 1 scroll, 1 rod/staff/ring, and 1 foil card in every pack).

It was at this point that we decided to do a themed set. Item Pack 1 and Hero's Hoard covered all your basic items, so we wanted the next set to branch out in new directions. Relics of War was our first foray into this arena, with all of the cards in the set themed to either good or evil. While you can't exactly tell this with some of the cards, others in the set, such as the "demonhide" and one of the "longswords," further the theme nicely.

By this point in time, the fan base for Item Cards had really started to take off, and the one thing everyone clamored for was a set of cards for the items that characters might typically carry, such as rope, a backpack, or rations. This made choosing our next theme easy. Adventure Gear came out late last year to give characters all the thieves' tools, holy symbols, and lantern cards they could handle, with the nice bonus that many of the cards in this set work well as magic items to boot. By popular demand, this set moved back to the deck format.

When it came time to plot out the fifth set, the idea of doing themes became much more solidified. Dragon's Trove, a 110-card deck, pulls out all the stops, is packed full of all the golden baubles, lamps, crowns, and swords you might expect to find in the hoard of a great wyrm. The set also includes a number of items made from dragons, to round out the theme. As this set just went off to the printer, I thought I might give you a few sneak peaks (with more to come soon).

Fortunately for you, the work of the Item Card team never ends. Our next set is called Elements of Power and should be out later this summer—I'll bet you can guess what the theme might be. Look for some cards tied directly to Pathfinder and the GameMastery Modules in this 54-card deck set as well.

Beyond that, however, the set themes are still malleable. Got any ideas for a set you'd like to see? Post it to our forums.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Mark of Sin

Friday, May 11, 2007

As you can see, I've just received the final go-ahead to reveal to everyone the rune designs that artist Jeff Carlisle has created to go along with our new system of sin magic, which we'll be introducing as a primary theme in the first Pathfinder campaign. Needless to say, they look fabulous and we're all pretty excited about them. Jeff and Senior Art Director Sean Glenn spent a lot of time working together to create this unique look, with Jeff pulling inspiration from Wayne Reynolds' intricate tattooing and embroidery on the images of Karzoug, Rise of the Runelords' big baddie, and Seoni, our iconic sorceress.

Even beyond their sheer visual impact, I think my favorite thing about these runes is that they're practically puzzles—even without knowing which rune is which, you can still figure them out easily once you know what you're looking at. Which, while I'm fairly certain I understand the reasoning and symbolism behind each one, is why I'm curious to read your explanations. See if you can tell what led Jeff to draw each symbol the way he did, then post on our messageboards and let us see if your answer is better than ours!

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Meet the Iconics: Seoni

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Back by popular demand, the second in our line of Wayne-Reynolds-designed iconic characters is the beautiful and mysterious sorceress Seoni.

Unlike the barbarians-gone-native on the eastern plateau or the colonial Chelliaxian immigrants of the south, Seoni is a native Varisian, a nomadic race whose closest real-world cultural analogue is the Romani. Or at least, she's mostly Varisian—as might be apparent from her otherworldly grace, there's something not quite human in her ancestry. Though she doesn't have any hard facts, Seoni herself has picked up on some of this, and is constantly pushed to search deeper into the mysteries of her heritage by strange dreams that she doesn't understand.

More than just ornamentation, Seoni's runic tattoos play a large role in her personality. Coming from a people where tattoo magic maintains a strong following, hers are simultaneously a manifestation of her power and a tool to aid in her castings. The sheer number adorning her skin, as well as the similar patterns woven into her clothes, are a mark of status among her tribe, though many of the so-called "civilized" residents of Varisia look upon such body modification with distaste.

Despite being a consummate adventurer, Seoni is something of an enigma to her compatriots. Quietly neutral on most matters, bound by codes and mandates that she rarely feels compelled to explain, the sorceress keeps her emotions tightly bottled. Extremely detail oriented—what the more pugnacious members of her party call a "control freak"—Seoni is a careful and meticulous planner, a schemer who frequently finds herself frustrated by the improvised plans of her more impulsive companions. Despite all of this, Seoni has stuck by her comrades through numerous tight spots, a fact that continues to amaze and confuse Valeros, who wonders loudly (although not altogether unappreciatively) about "the witch and her schemes."

As with so many things, however, if Seoni understands her motivations, she's keeping that knowledge to herself.

Seoni, along with the rest of the first four iconics, makes her debut as a pregenerated character in volume 1 of Pathfinder and D1: Crown of the Kobold King.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Varisia: Players Welcome

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

One of the biggest challenges when starting a new campaign is getting your players invested in the world. Sure, you may have set up the adventure and prepared all your notes, memorized your maps and picked out accents for the various local NPCs the party will meet... but what about your players? They can't exactly read the same source material you are without tripping over spoilers, and sitting down for a three-hour lecture about the local history and customs of their home region isn't most groups' idea of a fun first session. So how do you get that information across?

For Pathfinder, we've made it easy. Instead of all that hassle, you can just hand your players the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide (which you get as a free bonus if you sign up as a charter subscriber before the first book ships in August) and let them go to town, entirely spoiler-free. What's more, each Adventure Path to come will have its own specific player's guide filled with information to help players get their bearings in the world and craft unique, interesting backstories for their characters... so much so that DMs will probably want to pick a copy up for themselves as well.

Inside the player's guide, you can expect to find:

• Full-page maps and art of Sandpoint (the starting town from "Burnt Offerings") and Varisia (the whole region the Adventure Path takes place in), plus detailed write-ups on both.
• World-specific information on the core races—the things that make elves, dwarves, and all the rest unique in Pathfinder and GameMastery Modules.
• How to tailor the core classes to Varisia, and specifically to the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path. Trying to decide which deity or favored enemy to pick? Unsure what your wizard's motivation to go adventuring is? This section's for you.
• New world-specific feats.
• New non-magical items and weapons popular in Varisia. (What the heck is a "star knife" or a "dogslicer," anyhow?)

Since this is one of the first detailed looks the public will be getting at Varisia and our campaign setting as a whole, all of the information in the player's guide will eventually be available online for free download in addition to the printed version. But after seeing the amount of art and information presented in this 16-page booklet, you might not want to wait... particularly since it's likely cheaper than any of the snacks at your gaming table (and free to subscribers).

Still not excited? Pathfinder editor and Adventure Path veteran Wes Schneider, who's writing the guide, kindly offered this preview quote which shows that, despite its mysterious monuments, rich adventure, and fierce independence, the land of Varisia isn't for everyone:

Savagery and regressivity epitomize the disfigured lands of Varisia. Jagged mountain chains break the worthless, dusty clay at queer and reckless lengths. Tangled forests grow wild with titan weeds—the flora of these fecund briars little more than tenacious brambles. Blasted reaches of cracked earth and rolling scrub form the parched paradises of all manner of backward savages, including the doomed final generations of humanity's brutish ancestors. And everywhere the land bears the scars of a forgotten people whose eroding ruins and savage attempts at artistry litter a landscape already scarred by its own geological leprosy.
—Darvayne Gios Amprei, Merciless: Abendigo, Belkzen, Varisia, and Other Hells

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Pulp Radio

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

PulpGamer.com recently did an in-depth podcast interview with Paizo marketing guru Josh Frost about Stonehenge, the upcoming release from Titanic Games, Paizo's board game contingent. Take a listen here and get the inside scoop on what it really means to create an "anthology" board game. Plus stay tuned in coming weeks for more podcast interviews from the Pulp Gamer guys, including one with Publisher Erik Mona himself.

Meet the Iconics: Valeros

Monday, May 7, 2007

One of the many lessons we've learned in our tour with Dragon and Dungeon is that people like iconic characters. A lot. It seems like every day a new thread pops up on our messageboards wanting to know more about the ill-fated Abelard the paladin, the tiefling fighter, or James Jacobs's notorious Tyralandi Scrimm. As such, when we sat down to develop the iconics for Pathfinder, we knew going into it that what we came up with needed to be more than just easy art reference. These iconics needed to live up their name and represent our world, our ethos, and our whole idea of what gaming is about. Fortunately, with Wayne Reynolds onboard to design the visual elements, we knew that what we received would blow our socks off—which it has.

Along with representing our game world, however, these iconics pull double-duty as pregenerated characters in Pathfinder and the GameMastery Modules. Each adventure will be accompanied by four of our iconics, statted up to the appropriate level and ready for you to sit down and start playing with a minimum of effort.

So without further ado, I'd like to introduce the first of our iconics: Valeros, a male human fighter who will be making his first appearance at second level in D1: Crown of the Kobold King.. While a fan of two-handed fighting using his longsword and shortsword, his true favorite tool is the tankard attached to his belt. Despite the devil-may-care attitude implicit in his pose (and hair), he's actually got a strong moral streak that keeps him neutral good... a quality that he feels is directly responsible for the mass of nicks and scars covering his face and gear.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

I Hate Fey

Friday, May 4, 2007

I've never been the biggest fan of fey. Every time I use one in a game, there tends to be a quiet undertone of giggles and cheap jokes. Today, for example, when discussing this very blog post, we came upon the idea of chatting about the fey that play a part in W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale. Within seconds, Wesley Schneider called out that I like "pretty, pretty princesses." Suffice to say... you can see why I don't like fey.

That said, when we plotted out Conquest the idea of using fey as one of the villains just made sense, and I set out to make fey something players might fear instead of mock. There is a dark side to nature, a savage side that these fey, known as roseblood sprites, fully embrace. You won't catch them frolicking through the forest or tending to a grove of flowers. These fey are more likely to paralyze you with poisoned rose thorns, murder you, and cut off your ears for their demented king. The illo sketch above is just one of the sketches from this module, showing the moment that our hero stumbles upon their grim feast (that hunk of meat might just resemble a human thigh). That ought to keep players from giggling.

And now I toss the question back to you—are fey pint-sized hippies, unhinged nature spirits, or something else entirely? Post on our messageboards and let us know what you think.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Leaping Slime

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Everyone knows about goblins and worgs. Going all the way back to Tolkien, the goblin/worg raiding party has been a staple of sword and sorcery fantasy. Giving the goblins an iconic mount to ride makes them that much scarier, and also that much more usable. No longer confined to their underground lairs, a mounted group of goblins can range far across the countryside, strike at numerous towns and villages, and generally wreak havoc.

But why should the goblins have all the fun? The poor, abused kobolds lack that traditional iconic mount creature, and while they do enjoy their traps, without mounts they are a much more stationary threat. With Crown of the Kobold King, we decided to change that.

Enter the slurk.

Long ago, dwarves dragged giant forest toads beneath the earth and altered their physiology with powerful magic in hopes of creating powerful underground beasts of burden that would be perfect mounts. The slurk is the disgusting result of their aborted efforts. The creature's unappealing slime and foul reek caused the dwarves to drive away their creation in disgust. Kobolds, on the other hand, are less picky.

Slurks are oozy abominations resembling pale, slime-slick toads. Their backs drip viscous mucus while their bellies are coated with a thick film of greasy slime. They use their slime as an offensive weapon, coating their opponents with the glue-like phlegm and making it easier to bring their gigantic, walrus-like tusks to bear on their hapless victims. Their sticky back-slime makes them ideal mounts for the kobolds, who can adhere to their backs without the need for a saddle. The slurks are powerful leapers, and are capable of moving along the walls and floor of rough underground tunnels at incredible speed. They are not the brightest of beasts, however, and more that one kobold has had his skull crushed when his mount smashed his head into the cavern ceiling with a mistimed jump.

Jeremy Walker
Assistant Editor, GameMastery

In His Own Words

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Last night, Publisher Erik Mona dropped by the #pathfinder chat on the OtherWorlds IRC Network to talk frankly with fans about Pathfinder, GameMastery, and the presence of Gary Gygax himself in the Paizo booth at the upcoming GenCon. To read a fan summary of the discussion, click here.

Want to get in on the conversation yourself? Tuesday nights (in the USA) are the weekly chance for Pathfinder fans, writers, and occasionally us editor types to meet up and discuss the future of the Paizo product line, campaign setting, and more in realtime. Visit http://irc.otherworlders.org/chat/cf.php and enter #pathfinder as the channel, or direct your chat client (such as mIRC) to:

SERVER: chat.psionics.net
PORT: 6667
CHANNEL: #pathfinder

Many thanks to message board regular EP Healy for posting his summarized log of the chat.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Tales from the Crit

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Here at Paizo, we've been using our new GameMastery Critical Hit Deck in office games for a while, and while it's provided a number of awesome moments, I thought I'd take a minute to share a few anecdotes that stand out above the others in my mind.

Early in the process, Thursday-night GM and Paizo Publisher, Erik Mona, was running his campaign with most of the editorial staff in attendance. Up to this point, the deck had only been used by the players, but Erik—notoriously unafraid of killing off characters—decided to let every monster have a go at it as well, to our collective horror. My character, a gruff, magic-using dwarf fighter named Gar, tends to be a front-line fighter and caught the brunt of Erik's angry dice that night. After two critical hits to the face and neck, Gar was drained of 1 point of Charisma and nearly decapitated. I think this is the first time since the new edition of the game that I have had to redraw a character portrait based on in-game action.

The deck also saw some action with my weekly Monday-night game, running the Savage Tide Adventure Path. During a face-off against some rather angry bullywugs, Jufas Greenbottle, the halfling rogue in the group, managed to score a critical hit with his rapier. He drew "overreaction," causing the unfortunate monster to draw attacks of opportunity from all adjacent foes. The poor frogman was finished when Jufas scored a second critical hit, dealing triple damage after drawing "perfect strike." I think that group fell in love with the deck right then and there. I, personally, can't wait until they reach a big fight where I get to use the deck against them.

I've been using the deck in my Wednesday-night game as well, with some of the folks from Wizards of the Coast. Fortunately for my players, I generally don't allow the monsters to draw cards from the deck unless it is a boss-monster fight. In one particularly harrowing encounter, my group managed to crit a nasty half-ogre barbarian, but after drawing "spun around," the fighter only dealt normal damage, with the brute being flat-footed for one round. Suffice to say, some in the group were not very pleased with the result. The rogue was off fighting another foe and the only character engaging the half-ogre was badly hurt and hoping to drop him with that hit. As the round progressed and the players got to think about it a bit, the flat-footed status of the barbarian ended up being a great benefit. The fighter pulled a potion and drank it without provoking an attack and the rogue pulled away to sneak attack the barbarian with his bow, forcing him to flee. After that exchange, I realized one of the great things about the deck: it lets you play just a little differently and forces you to really think on your feet to get the most out of your critical hit.

All of which leads us to wonder what kind of havoc we're causing in other people's games. If you've had a run-in with the deck, post your own "Tales from the Crit" on our messageboards and let us know!

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager