KARZOUG FHTAGN!

Friday, November 30, 2007

I've mentioned before my fondness for H. P. Lovecraft and his mythos of insane and malignant Great Old Ones, and starting in Pathfinder #4, the world of Golarion gets its first real taste of the Cthulhu Mythos—pictured here is a hound of Tindalos, one of the new monsters in this volume's bestiary.

These strange time-traveling, soul-eating monstrosities were invented by Frank Belknap Long back in 1929 in his short story, "The Hounds of Tindalos," but they should be no strangers to those familiar with the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game published by Chaosium (itself one of the longest-lived continually-in-print RPGs ever—check them out at chaosium.com). Any self-respecting gamer looking for more inspiration on the hounds of Tindalos (or cosmic horror of any flavor) should certainly check out the huge line of books and adventures that have been produced for Call of Cthulhu for more. The actual game stats for the hounds as they appear here are pretty different than those from the Call of Cthulhu version, of course, but flavor transcends rules.

We'll be returning to Lovecraft country later on in Rise of the Runelords, getting a glimpse of the realm of Leng and unknown Kadath in Pathfinder #6, and now and then you'll be seeing other name drops occur. Yet don't expect don't expect Golarion to fall too completely into the clutches of the Great Old Ones. When the mythos rears its ugly head (or tentacles, or tongue, or color—whatever passes for a "head" in each monster's case) in Golarion, they have to be justified by the adventure's story and needs. In addition, that particular element needs to be something that doesn't feel out of place in the sword and sorcery genre. It also needs to not be tied to Earth. For example, Cthulhu himself is pretty much stuck in R'lyeh, which itself is located at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean (at South Latitude 47° 9', West Longitude 126° 43' for those of you with boats and death wishes)—it doesn't make sense to have him show up on Golarion, so don't expect his wiggly mug to pop in any time soon. Things that travel through the dimensions (like hounds of Tindalos) or come from remote corners of the universe (which are equally as far from Golarion as they are from Earth, really) or are from other realms entirely (or, in the case of Leng or Kadath, are other realms) are all fair game.

Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!

James Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief, Pathfinder

Rise of the Item Card Contest, Final Post

Thursday, November 29, 2007

The Rise of the Runelords Item Card contest is finally over, and before I launch into the lengthy explanation about question #4 from last week, I would like to show you the complete set list. This deck should be arriving in stores soon, so make sure to grab a copy from your favorite local retailer.

01 Breastplate 02 Full Plate 03 Hide Shirt 04 Klar 05 Light Shield 06 Bastard Sword 07 Bladed Scarf 08 Dogslicer 09 Earth Breaker 10 Falchion 11 Glaive 12 Horsechopper 13 Ogre Hook 14 Quarterstaff 15 Ranseur 16 Repeating Crossbow 17 Scythe 18 Starknife

19 War Razor 20 Potion 21 Potion 22 Potion 23 Ring 24 Ring 25 Scroll 26 Scroll 27 Scroll 28 Rod 29 Rod 30 Staff 31 Staff 32 Wand 33 Wand 34 Wand 35 Book 36 Carpet

37 Cauldron 38 Compass 39 Helm 40 Lens 41 Lyre 42 Mask 43 Mask 44 Medallion 45 Necklace 46 Phylactery 47 Quill 48 Robe 49 Barbarian Chew 50 Harpy Musk 51 Holy Symbol 52 Reinforced Scarf 53 Unholy Symbol 54 Varisian Idol

Question #4 Solution: This week's question was incredibly tough, but congratulations are due to Rob McCreary, who gave the correct answer of "7 pounds." Rob will receive a pair of Rise of the Runelords Item Card decks and a signed copy of the limited edition alternate cover version of Patherfinder #1.

To solve this riddle, you need to know a couple of things. First, you need to know that Pathfinder #3 contains a wandering monster chart for Varisia on page 71. Second, you need the overland movement charts from pages 162 and 164 of the PH. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, to correctly answer this question, you need to remember that giants have a chance of carrying salt in their bags (MM page 120). Taking the information given, the journey there and back requires a total of 8 days in the mountains and 20 days on the plateau. With a 20% chance of encounter per hour (and not just while traveling, but more on this below), you would run into 38.4 encounters in the mountains and 96 while traversing the plateau. Of these encounters, 20% of the mountain encounters would be with giants, while only 10% of those in the plateau would be against these salt-carrying behemoths. If each encounter was against 4 giants, each with 5 items in its bag, you would gather a total of 345.6 items from their bags. Of these, 1 in 50 would be a 1-pound bag of salt. So, upon returning to Skull's Crossing you would have 6.912 pounds of salt, rounded up to 7. Due to the phrasing of the question, some of you assumed that encounters only occurred while traveling, which would cut the number of encounters by 2/3. Due to this confusion, I also decided to accept any answer of "2."

We received a total of 37 entries for this particular question, with a wide variety of numbers, from 0 to 68,000. What was more interesting, though, were the answers by those who assumed it was a trick question or just decided to submit a joke. The first answer we received was simply, "potato." We knew we had a good question when that one popped into the inbox. In the following days, we got answers such as "as much as you started with," "rock salt or sea salt?," and my personal favorite, "I would have zero pounds of salt on me, upon my return, since I'm trying to cut down on my intake." A hearty congratulations are due to all seven entrants who managed to get the correct answer on this one, and I think you can all look forward to more twisted puzzlers like this one in future contests.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

The Top 32

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

After reviewing more than 850 wondrous items, the judges have selected the 32 RPG Superstar finalists! They are:

Alex Handley—Talisman of Whispering Souls Alexander MacLeod—Malleus Maleficarum Andrew Black—Goblin Strand of Ears Chad Patterson—Greaves of the Monkey Chris Nichols—Deadstring Shears Christine Schneider—Arcane Anvil Clinton Boomer—Crown of the Breaching Legion Daniele Nanni— Gloves of Adaptive Combat Dwayne Monroe—Cloak of Rian's Mercy Erik Anderson—Charts of the Shadow Voyage Hal Maclean—Nausea Pill James MacKenzie—Leash of the Shadowhound Jason Nelson—Phial of Ebon Flame Jeb Boyt—Figurine of Shielding Joe Outzen—Torch of Solidity Joel Flank—Bodyguard's Vest

Joseph Yerger—Elemental Quiver Laurens de Haan—Orb of the Ocean Mauricio Quintana—Paper-Folding Instructions of Master Mo Michael Kogan—Tinnil's Stirring Rod Michael Raper—Elemental Glyphstone Neil McClean—Shroud of Old Souls Rennie Saunders—Beacon of Hope Rob McCreary—Coin Belt of Beguiling Robert McRae—Thieves Cowl Ross Byers—Seer's Tea Samuel Kisko—Migrus Locker Silas McDermott—Lantern of Selective Perception Viktor Svindland—Diviner's Trepanation Drill Walter Pullen—Blindspot Orb William Cronk—Chiurgeon's Chest William McNulty—Mask of the Elemental Guardian

In addition, Hobert Lanham, Mirza Jasarevic, Robert Nichols and Russell Taylor were selected as alternates. (Names listed in alphabetical order.)

The Riders of the North

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The fey of Darkmoon Vale were not always evil. For decades they lived and played under the spreading branches of the forest, content to remain close to the land that sustained them. But recently, things have changed within the forest. The establishment of the lumber mill in Falcon's Hollow has given rise to a veritable army of woodsmen bent on leveling the forest and plundering its wealth of darkwood. Hunters and trappers have descended into the forest, seeking furs and trophies to take back to the markets of Andoran. Slowly but surely, the creatures within the forest began to change. Anger and fear replaced the capricious playfulness of its fey guardians, and the icy grip of hate descended on the land. Far away, in her frozen palace in Irrisen, the Witch Queen sensed opportunity, and dispatched a cold rider to Darkmoon Vale.

With the first breath of winter's frost he arrived in the forest, and as ice and snow descended upon the land, his corrupting presence wormed its way into the hearts of the fey, transforming them into creatures of nightmare.

In E1: Carnival of Tears, the PCs must face off against this implacable foe who seeks to drive the humans from Falcon's Hollow, and in so doing, gain an unbreakable hold over the fey creatures that live there. Cold Riders are terrifying armored majesties, clad in sable cloaks of frost, a pair of almost ridiculously large crystal-blue antlers cresting their dread helms of ice and steel. These dark monsters were once princes of the forest. Brought living before the Witch Queen, she stole their songs and their love of green and beauty and replaced them with cold hate. The riders are her knights gallant and her favored minions in her war on the sun, the green, and all things that recoil from her frigid touch. They delight in perversion, slaughter, and the corruption of other fey. It is their solemn duty to bring fresh souls and candidates for transformation into cold riders back to their queen's court, and they relish this charge. The paired mini-whirlwinds of effervescent frost swirling in their visors can chill the hearts of the most stalwart with a frigid glance, and the vapor-fog floating from them often takes the shape of their former fair features, screaming in silent agony and twisting into malformed wisps in the rising wind.

Jeremy Walker
Assistant Editor, GameMastery

Mike On Guidebooks!

Monday, November 26, 2007

Recently, I put up a messageboard thread soliciting questions we might answer in the blog, and now Sutter's tapped me to actually answer one of those questions. So here I go:

Messageboard regular Dungeon Grrrl asks, "When you decide to develop a region, how do you go about it? Is there a process for the writing of a basic bible, or is the final version generated whole-cloth? Is there a development process that happens after the writers tackle it? Do you have big meetings where people spitball ideas?"

Let's take these one at a time.

When you decide to develop a region, how do you go about it?

The very first thing that gets decided is which region or area we want to develop. The needs of adventures (whether adventure paths in Pathfinder or scattered modules) take center stage. The Guide to Korvosa, for example, fleshes out the city in which the Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path occurs. The Guide to Darkmoon Vale, on the other hand, delves into the region where we set D0: Hollow's Last Hope, D1: Crown of the Kobold King, E1: Carnival of Tears, and the LB series of GameMastery Modules.

Once we figure out where we want the book to cover, we need to find someone to write it. For Korvosa, that entailed James Jacobs walking up to me one day and saying, "Do you want to write Korvosa?" You can guess my answer. For Darkmoon Vale, it was Erik who asked me the same question (with the same reply).

At that point, we have where we want to set the book and we have an author. The third step is to brainstorm what we want to see in the book (in terms of NPCs, locations, monsters, and events).

After that, it's just the author putting his nose to the grindstone and writing ~50,000 words.

Is there a process for the writing of a basic bible, or is the final version generated whole-cloth?

The final version is pretty much generated whole-cloth. We have a Golarion world-bible that we can all access and that parts of will turn into the Pathfinder Chronicles Gazetteer, which helps us with world consistency, but the final version of a guidebook becomes the bible for the area in which it focuses.

Is there a development process that happens after the writers tackle it?

Yes. Once I completed Korvosa, James took a read-through to look for things he needed for the adventure path that I forgot to add or didn't know about. Then I took a week or so, added in all that stuff, and handed over Korvosa version 1.2, which Jeremy Walker currently has and is editing. Because there are only four pages of rules stuff in Korvosa, his development pass is probably going to be more like an editing/consistency-check pass.

Do you have big meetings where people spitball ideas?

Yes. We start off with a brainstorming meeting. For Guide to Korvosa, the brainstorm consisted of James Jacobs, Wes Schneider, and myself, with Nick Logue, Richard Pett, and Tito Leati contributing awesome ideas via email. For Guide to Darkmoon Vale, the brainstorm group consisted of the entire R&D staff plus Josh Frost and Jeff Alvarez.

The team sits down and decides what sorts of NPCs, monsters, and locations need to appear in the book. No real details get put out at this point, because we're just trying to hit on the major aspects of the book. The details get left to the author, for the most part.

I hope this helps to give you a glimpse into Paizo Behind the Scenes. Feel free to throw follow-up questions at me and the rest of the R&D gang on the messageboards. Thanks for reading!

Mike McArtor
Associate Editor, GameMastery

Rise of the Item Card Contest, Part 4

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Three Runelords have grabbed a deck of these cards using the powers of sin. With the Rise of the Runelords Item Card decks now hitting our warehouse and the holiday weekend before us, this week has an extra special prize, with an extra difficult question. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Rise of the Runelords Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases... plus with this being the final week, we will also throw in a signed copy of the alternate cover version of Pathfinder #1! 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 "Runelords #4" in the subject line of the email.

For this last preview, we wanted to show you some of the cool items from the rest of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path. You can expect these items, along with a host of other treasures, to appear in parts 3 through 6.

Question #4: The journey from Skull's Crossing to Urglin requires you to travel through about 48 miles of the Wyvern Mountains, and 120 miles of the sandy Cinderlands. Assuming you went there and back again, traveling for 8 hours per day at a speed of 30 without a path, how many pounds of salt, on average, would you have when you returned? Note that your chance of running into an encounter is roughly 20% per hour and you always seem to run into four creatures whenever one occurs (and each one has 5 items in its bag). Please round your answer to the nearest pound.

All answers for Question #4 are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, November 29th. Good Luck!

Question #3 Solution: Congratulations to Jonathan Cruz who correctly answered "10th" to last week's question. We got a number of creative answers (some that involved level drain), but "10th" was the correct answer, as Kyra would need to pick up two feats to qualify for the Spherewalker prestige class.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Meet the Iconics: Harsk

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Not all dwarves are meant for the mines. As a young dwarf, Harsk spent every spare moment outdoors under the wide skies of southeastern Varisia, particularly at night beneath the stars, where his keen vision made him a hunter without compare. While generally uninterested in his family's traditional smithing, he still inherited enough of their tinkering ability to construct his own crossbow, a heavy, highly accurate weapon that few others are able to wind. Eschewing the company of his fellows, few things made Harsk happier than crouching in a tree stand with his bow, listening to the wind through the forest leaves and waiting for deer or larger prey to wander by.

           

That all changed twenty years ago, when his elder brother, a fine captain named Sigur, led a dwarven war band from Janderhoff against a small party of giants that had descended from the Mindspin Mountains to raid and pillage. Out of affection, Sigur offered his less-experienced sibling the chance to come and prove himself as Sigur's chief scout and second-in-command. Calm and peaceful by nature, Harsk turned him down, failing to see the honor his brother was doing him until several days after the company had departed. Traveling light and fast, Harsk caught up with his brother quickly—but not quickly enough. Misjudging the size and skill of the raiding party, Sigur led his band into an ambush, where it was slaughtered to the last dwarf.

           

With his brother's blood still fresh on his hands, Harsk went mad with rage. That night, he stalked through the giants' camp like a vengeful wraith, slaughtering giant after giant with his crossbow before melting back into the forest, only to reappear elsewhere and take another victim. When the last giant was left gurgling in the dust, Harsk took up his brother's axe and slipped off into the trees, vowing to forever be the voice of justice in the wild places, to keep balance and prevent the sacrifices of noble men like his brother.

           

Harsk, like many of his kind, is gruff and taciturn, but there ends most of his connection to dwarven society. Something of a loner, he prefers to spend his time outdoors, communing with nature, though he occasionally travels alongside others whose goals match his own. Uninterested in the beer and ale that so characterize dwarves in the minds of human society, Harsk instead drinks pot after pot of strong tea to keep his senses sharp. While he never lets his brother's axe out of his sight, he wields it only as a last resort, knowing that his true skills lie in the hunt and striking from darkness.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

I Am Afraid of Clowns

Monday, November 19, 2007

No, seriously, they kinda creep me out. This is not some sort of abject terror that makes me run screaming anytime I happen upon the "spokesclown" of a certain famous fast food restaurant, but it does make me shudder. Suffice to say, when we started planning out adventures, I knew that having one populated by horrible carnival folk would be a winner (or if you prefer... a "wieenahh"). Anyway, GameMastery Module E1: Carnival of Tears is scheduled to hit our warehouse soon, so now seemed like a great time to show you some of the horrors this festival has to offer. Let's see: Horrible sideshow freaks, check. People slaughtered by the dozens, check. Carnival games that get more than a bit deadly, check. And of course, evil little clowns (well, sort of), check. To top it off, the entire adventure is set in Falcon's Hollow, the starting point for D0: Hollow's Last Hope and D1: Crown of the Kobold King. While these adventures are not necessary for play, they do add a great bit of continuity and background to the area.

Need a bit more convincing? Here's the back cover copy from E1.

IT'S ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL SOMEONE LOSES HIS SOUL

On the eve of a terrible winter, the carnival comes to Falcon's Hollow, bringing with it one last chance for fun before the long cold nights to come. But when mirth turns to murderous mayhem, only the heroes can stop the terror-filled ride.

Carnival of Tears is an event-based adventure for 5th-level characters compatible with the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. This adventure includes details on all of the carnival's many attractions, both playful and deadly, as well as the shadowy assailants bent on slaughtering the townsfolk.

This adventure is set in Falcon's Hollow, a small town nestled near the boughs of the Darkmoon Vale. This area is also the site of GameMastery Module D1: Crown of the Kobold King, available online or from your favorite local game store.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Stonehenge at Essen!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Live from the Spiel convention in Essen, Germany, this is the closest there has been to a gathering of all of the published designers of Titanic Games's Stonehenge Anthology Board Game. These photos take place at the Hutter booth, where many hundreds of players demoed various Stonehenge games under a giant trilithon. From left to right in the first picture are designers Richard Borg, me, Paul Peterson, Bruno Faidutti, and Richard Garfield. (Peterson's game "Stonehenge Rocks!" originally appeared in Knucklebones magazine.) Those are actual German players being harassed by the  designers in the other picture. The only one missing is stay-at-home James Ernest,  but despite my Guns N Roses-like sign, James is still in the band.

Mike Selinker
Titanic Games Lead Designer

Rise of the Item Card Contest, Part 3

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Two Runelords have grabbed a deck of these cards using the powers of sin. I'll let you guess which ones. Will you be next?

With the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path well underway in the pages of Pathfinder, and a special Item Card deck tied specifically to those adventures soon to be released, we here at Paizo Publishing have decided to give you a chance to score one of these great accessories.

One question about Pathfinder will be presented each week. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Rise of the Runelords 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 "Runelords #3" in the subject line of the email.

This week we're taking a look at items from the second part of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, "The Skinsaw Murders." These items in particular are not ones you might want to bring to the next royal ball you attend, but their power makes them valuable nonetheless. Next week, we'll wrap up our contest with some cards from the third installment, "The Hook Mountain Massacre."

Question #3: Using the version of Kyra presented in "The Skinsaw Murders," at what level could she take her first level of the Spherewalker prestige class (assuming she had a change of heart concerning her deity and stuck with the cleric class)?

All answers for Question #3 are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, November 21st. Good Luck!

Question #2 Solution: Congratulations to Bobby Nichols, who gave an answer to question #2. We realized upon attempting to determine the winner that the Iron Golem has had different prerequisites over the years (and in recent books... I'll get you, polymorph any object!) so we decided to accept all of the entries.

Jason Bulmahn,
GameMastery Brand Manager

The Yeti is Coming!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

"I Know the Secret of Dragonfall..."

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

"Psst... you. Yeah, you! I've got a secret to tell ya. You gotta keep this one quiet, though, because they'll kill ya if'n you know about it. Who? Dragons, of course! "Word is that when most dragons are close to death, the make a pilgrimage to this place called Dragonfall, where their bones are laid to rest with those of their kin, regardless of color or creed. There they wait, for the gods only know what reason. This is no ordinary boneyard, though—oh no. It's watched over by ferocious protectors who slay any who so much as lay eyes on it. Rumor has it that most of these wyrms take all of the treasure with 'em when they die, piling it up into one gigantic horde. That'd be enough scratch for you and me to buy ourselves a crown or two, eh? Of course, I'm not sure I can tell ya without getting a bit of coin in return. For my wife and kids you see... this secret is about all we have. I think a thousand gold crowns should be enough."
    —Conversation with a shifty beggar in the alleys of Kaer Maga

GameMastery Module J2: Guardians of Dragonfall is due to release later this month. We promise to let you have it for a little less than a thousand gold crowns...

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Rise of the Item Card Contest, Part 2

Friday, November 9, 2007

The first Runelord has grabbed a deck of these cards. Will you be next?

With the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path well underway in the pages of Pathfinder, and a special Item Card deck tied specifically to those adventures soon to be released, we here at Paizo Publishing have decided to give you a chance to score one of these great accessories.

One question about Pathfinder will be presented each week. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Rise of the Runelords 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 "Runelords #2" in the subject line of the email.

This week we're going to take a look at some of the cards that represent tools for your arcane character. As it turns out, when you're dealing with runelords, items like these are bound to be plentiful. Next week, we move on to look at items from "The Skinsaw Murders."

Question #2: If all 7 runelords sent a 16th-level wizard apprentice to craft an iron golem, using only the spells they possess, without any outside assistance, which runelords would have to execute their apprentices for failure?

All answers for Question #2 are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, November 15th. Good Luck!

Question #1 Solution: Congratulations to Kevin Reynolds who gave the correct answer of 39 to question #1. Note that we also accepted 40 as an answer if you assumed that Tsuto was still alive.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Happy Erik Mona Day!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Never before have I felt this proud to be working at Paizo.

At 4:41pm yesterday, a thread from messageboard regular Sebastian popped up on our boards declaring November 8th Erik Mona Day. Why remains a mystery (it's not even Erik's birthday!), but within hours, over a hundred and fifty people had posted to help celebrate, most of them donning Erik's signature cyclopean avatar.

That was fun enough, but then this morning Cosmo the Customer Service Guru (that's him in the glasses) came back and informed us that we had a special Mona Day delivery, courtesy of the folks in the Paizo chat room. Completely unbeknownst to us, a bunch of them had secretly banded together to send us half a dozen celebratory Mona Day pizzas. In the feasting that followed, I'm pretty sure that all of us were thinking the same thing: that we have the most amazing community any company could ever hope for. Heck, we even got The Man Himself, Erik Mona, to stop editing long enough for a photo op... and that's a true measure of love, right there.

Thank you all so much for your support. This is the greatest job in the world.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Downloadable Pathfinder #6 Background

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Your desktop icons will never know what hit them. Click the image above to download.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

And the Winner is...

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

After combing through more than 150 initial queries and almost a dozen detailed outlines, we have finally found our winner of the GameMastery Open Call contest. The winner will write GameMastery Module W3: Flight of the Red Raven. Scarce information about the plot was given out, and the entrants had to combine that, along with the title, to come up with a compelling adventure full of exciting encounters and memorable villains.

In the end, David Schwartz came out on top. David's proposal hit a nerve with the staff, as his submission was both well-written and full of evocative scenes. This adventure is slated to hit store shelves in May 2008. While you might not see any more news on this one for a while (as David will be busy writing it!), here is a revised blurb describing David's adventure, along with our mock-up cover:

The Vernal Key has been stolen from the town of Azurestone and the notorious Red Raven is the culprit. With a terrible winter setting in, the small community faces a gruesome fate without its protection. To recover the Key, the heroes must face off against brazen outlaws, freezing weather, and dangerous predators, but the trail leads to even greater peril. For the Red Raven's path heads straight into the Jarl's Prison, a maze of ice and snow from which there is no escape!

Hearty congratulations go out to all of our finalists. Picking one of them as the winner was not easy task, as any one of them might have made for a great adventure. And don't forget, for all those who didn't win this contest, there's still plenty of time to enter RPG Superstar and make your big break that way!

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

They're Huge!

Monday, November 5, 2007

At this point, what more can really be said about Wayne Reynolds? I mean, after one awesome Pathfinder cover, we were excited. After two we were elated. But now here we are at Pathfinder #6, and they just keep getting better. Not only are the giants great, but it's the little things—the architecture of Xin-Shalast behind them, the totally original yet authentic-feeling swords—that really make this piece for me. Plus, if you look closely, you'll see that our newest iconic, the wizard Ezren, has popped in just in time to get clobbered. Let's hope he survives long enough to get on a few more covers...

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Rise of the Item Card Contest, Part 1

Friday, November 2, 2007

With the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path well underway in the pages of Pathfinder, and a special Item Card deck tied specifically to those adventures soon to be released, we here at Paizo Publishing have decided to give you a chance to score one of these great accessories.

One question about Pathfinder will be presented each week. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Rise of the Runelords 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 "Runelords #1" in the subject line of the email.

This week we're going to take a look at some of the items your PCs might encounter in part 1 of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, "Burnt Offerings." While many of these are wielded by pesky goblins, a number of them might end up in the hands of your adventurers.

Question #1: How many creatures in all of Thistletop can speak the goblin tongue?

All answers for Question #1 are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, November 8th. Good Luck!

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager