RPG Superstar: Round 2!

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Our Top 32 contestants have submitted their Round 2 new organization concepts! These round two submissions have been revealed to the general public with judges’ comments. Discuss the entries and vote for your favorite! Voting ends on February 6 and the Top 16 by votes will move on to Round 3. You can change your mind anytime until voting closes Monday, February 6 at 2 p.m. Pacific time.

The ultimate winner of RPG Superstar, announced April 3, 2012, will write a Pathfinder Module to be published in early 2013. The 2011 RPG Superstar champion module, Sam Zeitlin’s The Midnight Mirror, releases in April 2012.

Vote now!

Welcome to the Screaming Jungle

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Behold, the beaming excitement of the new interns! (Shhhh... Don’t tell them that enthusiasm is about to wither away as they enter the Editorial Pit of Despair known as crosschecking every feat, spell, trait, and magic item in the Advanced Race Guide.) Everybody, please give a warm welcome Alexandra and Jerome!

Christopher Carey
Editor

Hi, I’m Alexandra and I’m a new Paizo intern here in the Editorial Department. I’m not quite sure exactly everything I’ll be doing, but I’m very excited! I’ll know I’ll be showing up around the messageboards so here’s a little about me:

I’m currently going to college and finishing up my AA in Digital Gaming while working about 25 hours a week at my part-time job, doing this internship, and trying to have a social life. In my free time, I love to play RPG games and post on Tumblr. My friends and I run a Dragon Age fan blog there. Dragon Age is one of my favorite games but I’m currently playing Skyrim whenever I can. I really like to read fanfiction and write my own short stories. My favorite TV show is Supernatural, and even though it’s totally ruined now I still love it.

I’ve lived in the same place forever, so after I get settled with my life, I hope to do a lot of traveling and exploring of other cultures to feed my inspiration. I’d love to go all over Europe and Southeast Asia and check out all the fashion and food. I’m Jewish, so I’d also love to visit Israel and finally learn Hebrew.

Well, there’s me. Thanks for reading!

Alexandra Schecterson
Editorial Intern

Hello!

This is Jerome, one of the new interns here at Paizo Publishing. It’s my first month on the job, and I’m excited to discover what makes Pathfinder tick. At first blush, the answers seem to be coffee, banter, and hoards of figurines!

I’m a relative neophyte to the RPG scene, having discovered Pathfinder only a few years ago. However, in the short time that I’ve been playing and GMing, I’ve become enamored of the creativity and collaborative spirit that Pathfinder brings out in people. I’m excited to see those same attitudes at work within the Paizo staff.

I’m a long-time strategy and athletic gamer with roots in Go, soccer, and 8-bit cartridges. I continue to game regularly, and have burgeoning interest in independent game design. I’ve also pursued (with varying degrees of success) kung fu, story games, Starcraft, ballroom dancing, and girls. My childhood habit of reading has blossomed into a love of writing that promises to delight and infuriate me to the grave and beyond. Hopefully I’ll have the chance to try my hand at writing for Paizo someday soon!

I’m excited to be working with Paizo, and look forward to seeing you all on the messageboards!

Good Gaming,

Jerome Virnich
Editorial Intern

The Dawn of a New Era: Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, Version 4.1

Monday, January 30, 2012

Illustration by Kevin Yan

When I arrived back in late September as the new Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator, I had hundreds of people requesting hundreds of changes to the way Pathfinder Society Organized Play was run. It was definitely enough to make my head swim with all the different requests and it took me a few weeks to get a grip on the way change should be handled. Pathfinder Society has some very good things going for it, but there were some rulings and fundamental practices that needed to be looked at to see if we could make organized play better.

The first step was to talk with Developer Mark Moreland. He was the current institutional knowledge on all things Pathfinder Society. I rolled of out my list proposed alterations and requests and we talked for the first few weeks about what could be changed, what should be changed, and what should remain the same. After quite a few hours-long meetings, we finally knew what improvements we wanted to focus on. I also want to take a quick second to thank Mark for all of his help, not just on the guide but with everything, in helping me to transition into this position. Without his help, thoughts, insight, and advice, this job would be a tenfold more difficult than it has been. Mark was the caretaker for a long while for Pathfinder Society and I appreciate everything he did to bring it up to the level it is today. He has more love and has poured more heart and soul into the campaign than anyone else I know and I thank him for that.

After my list of goals and changes was completed, I approached the Venture-Captains and Venture-Lieutenants for their input. I felt it was important to get more ideas and different perspectives from the leaders of Pathfinder Society. There was much debate and discussion. Changes and tweaks were made to refine the direction I wanted to take Pathfinder Society. After a week or so, we finally decided that most changes were in good working order. However, we felt, as a group, that it was important to hear what the fanbase had to say about such sweeping changes to organized play. We knew that there would be people who were outright opposed to some of the changes while others would wholeheartedly agree with them. Whatever the outcome, we still felt it important to allow folks to have their input heard. So, I listed a series of proposed changes on the Pathfinder Society General Discussion messageboard.

After a week or so of listening to input from players, GMs, coordinators, and store owners, we brought all the discussions back to the Venture-Captain messageboard. We held firm to some of the changes we believed in, but altered other proposed rules changes where all of you made very good points. Once we had all the rulings in place for after a final review, I wrote them into the new Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, Version 4.1.

I will post a complete list of changes, additions, and deletions that vary from version 4.0 to version 4.1 on the Pathfinder Society General Discussion messageboard. However, I did want to list some of the bigger changes here.

1. We added all current Paizo shirts as available for a reroll.
2. We have changed the way pregenerated characters work. Gone are the days when playing a pregenerated character in a scenario for the first time left the player empty-handed. Now, if the player is playing a non-1st-level pregenerated character, he or she may choose instead to apply the Chronicle sheet to a newly created 1st-level character.
3. We added a new chapter titled, Chapter 6: Sanctioned Modules. There are big changes to sanctioned module play. Gone are the artificial leveling up or down of a character. Now, the sanctioned modules must be played by a character within one level of the module’s starting level. I know this is not a popular decision for some. However, campaign leadership feels this change is what is best for the campaign. Death and use of consumables now have consequences. New Chronicle sheets have been completed for all 15 sanctioned modules that adjust the wealth received to be in line with wealth received when playing the equivalent number of scenarios. These Chronicle sheets are available for download on their respective product pages.
4. We have opened up play beyond 12th level. While there are no 13th-level or higher scenarios on the schedule, a retired Pathfinder Society character may play and continue to advance in levels utilizing the sanctioned modules. To facilitate the higher-level advancement, the Fame and Item Purchases chart has been expanded to an upper limit of 99 points of Fame and 800,000 GP. Guidelines for purchasing scrolls of levels 7, 8 and 9 have also been included.
5. A section on alignment infractions has been added.

There are a few more changes and those will be detailed in the post on the Pathfinder Society General Discussion messageboard. I want to thank Mark, the Venture-Officers, and the fanbase for input into the new guide. I think the changes are what is best for the campaign, will help to strengthen the campaign for the future, and make the overall organized play experience a better one for new and veteran players alike.

On a side note, the guide’s numbering system is off due to the first season of Pathfinder Society Organized Play being labeled Season 0. At Gen Con this year, we plan to align the guide’s version number with the current season. Instead of listing the Season 4 guide as version 5.0, it will be titled Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, Version 4.2. Once Season 5 is upon us at Gen Con 2013, the guide will then be titled as version 5.0 and we will move forward from there.

Mike Brock
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator

Pathfinder Battles Preview: A First Look at Rise of the Runelords

Friday, January 27, 2012

These last few weeks it’s seemed like even the weather has been conspiring to delay a big preview of Rise of the Runelords, the next set for our Pathfinder Battles prepainted miniatures line. I snuck an image of the shaggy Yeti in last week’s preview blog, but until today, the stars have not quite been right to begin our previews in earnest.

No longer! The Runelords have been slumbering for too long, and they demand to be unleashed upon the world! Our long wait is finally at an end, and I’m ready to blow the lid off the first batch of preview images from this upcoming set!

WizKids is still finalizing the specific details about when specifically the set will release, how it will be packaged, and how much it will cost (which is why we haven’t posted a product page yet). Yesterday, we finally revealed the first Pathfinder Battles Encounter Pack, Champions of Evil, which features repainted figures from Heroes & Monsters in a convenient non-random format. You know exactly what you’re getting in this new set of 6 miniatures, which includes three Zombies, an Evil Cleric, a Succubus, and the evil Scarlet Gargoyle. The whole pack ties into our Free RPG Day adventure, Dawn of the Scarlet Sun, which releases in June. If you haven’t seen the Champions of Evil sculpts and paints yet, hop over to the product page and check them out! They’re really cool!

You know what else is cool? The Human Ranger from Heroes & Monsters! This guy is probably my favorite player character-appropriate figure from the first set, but thanks to a series of mix-ups we never managed to reveal a good picture of him here on the blog. Because I’ve been promising it for a couple of weeks now, I thought I’d sneak him in here, even though he’s not a Rise of the Runelords miniature.

Heck, if you like the way this figure looks, you can order him directly as a single. While you’re doing that, feel free to browse the other Heroes & Monsters singles to fill out your collection or simply pick up your favorites from the set without worrying about the randomness of individual boosters.

But you didn’t come here for Heroes & Monsters images. You want the new, fresh meat. You want RISE OF THE RUNELORDS!

And I am here to deliver. This first batch focuses on paint masters of several creatures from the first half of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, which releases in June as a deluxe hardcover Anniversary Edition that compiles all six adventures and key associated material from Paizo’s very first Adventure Path. We’re thrilled to get a chance to go back to where it all started, and update everything to the new Pathfinder RPG rules.

We’re also thrilled to be working with WizKids to present prepainted plastic miniatures to support the campaign. The full set includes a nice mixture of “generic” creatures drawn from the campaign’s encounters as well as specific NPCs from the adventures themselves.

One of the greatest encounter areas of the campaign’s first installment, Burnt Offerings, is the goblin enclave of Thistletop. While the goblins themselves will appear in a future preview blog (and there are some really awesome ones in this set), today’s preview starts with a look at some of the locale’s other denizens.

Up first is the Bugbear Hero, a common figure that represents the bruiser Bruthazmus, the bodyguard of the adventure’s arch-villain, Nualia (more on her in a future preview). Of course, when you’re talking about a bugbear that wears a necklace of elf ears, “Hero” is a relative term!

Up next is the fiendish spirit of Thistletop, the evil Malfeshnekor! This uncommon figure comes on a Large base, and towers over the goblins who honor and fear him.

On your journey back to the town of Sandpoint from Thistletop, be sure to watch the skies for this screeching Harpy, a common figure. This Medium creature has beautiful wings, nasty claws, and sharp teeth. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

One of the coolest things about the Rise of the Runelords set for those of us here in the Paizo offices is that it offers us the first chance to create prepainted miniatures of creatures that are uniquely “Pathfinder”. Here we have a common Sinspawn, the servitor slaves of the ancient Runelords, stirred once more to life with the reawakening of Runewells all over Varisia.

Speaking of sin, check out this amazing fiend we like to call the Treachery Demon! If you thought the Ettin from Heroes & Monsters was big, you’re going to choke when you see this titan hit the table. I have a new-ish GI Joe action figure on my desk, and the Huge Treachery Demon towers over him. It probably goes without saying, but this guy is a rare.

Speaking of rares, check out this Young Red Dragon! As a Large figure, this guy looks down on your player characters with childlike innocence, ready to engulf them in its fiery breath! The sculptors perfectly captured the likeness of this dragon’s illustration. The only thing that makes me happier than this dragon is the OTHER dragon in the Rise of the Runelords set, who is even BIGGER and even AWESOMER.

“Awesomer.” That non-word is probably the best summary of the entire Rise of the Runelords set. We’re enormously proud of the final figures in Heroes & Monsters, but WizKids really upped their game with this second set. Every single mini in this one is a winner, and we haven’t even shown you some of the absolute coolest miniatures in the set yet!

But we will.

Starting next week!

Erik Mona
Publisher

RPG Superstar: Item Feedback

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Tuesday, we announced the Top 32 for RPG Superstar. Now those lucky, skilled gamers are hammering away at the Round 2 task of designing a new Golarion organization. Their submissions are due Friday, secretly reviewed by the judges over the weekend, and go live for voting on Tuesday, January 31. Good luck to the Top 32!

If you submitted a wondrous item and didn’t make it into the Top 32, don’t lose heart! One, not winning your first RPG Superstar is a fine tradition upheld by 2009’s winner Neil Spicer and 2010’s winner Matt Goodall—you now have a year to practice and hone your craft for the next competition. And don’t forget to stop by the Official Critique My Item Thread to get some feedback on your item from the community and perhaps the judges!

I’m also doing something new this year. During the selection process, the judges set aside items that may be suitable for the Top 32, usually ending up with 40–60 items that they winnow down to just 32 plus four alternates. If your item is on the following list, your item was on that longer list but didn’t make that final cut. To help improve your skills, if your item is listed here and you’d like me to give you feedback from the perspective of a Paizo developer, reply to this blog post and I’ll repost your item with my feedback—the same sort of feedback I’d give to a new freelancer.

Note: Only the items in the following list get this special treatment... I don’t have time in my work schedule to give feedback on hundreds of items. Also, requesting feedback means you won’t be able to submit this item next year, as the judges will know who you are and therefore your item won’t be anonymous anymore. Fortunately, a true superstar has more than one awesome idea, and you should be able to take what you learned this year and create something even better next year!

Bracers of Versatile Channeling
Compass of the Void Shaper
Darklight Candle
Dust of the Shaitan
Facsimile Stone
Gloves of Theurgy
Gunhunter's Coin
Meridian Needles
Mirror of Monstrous Echoes
Necklace of Mirrored Alignment
Orb of the Dawnflower
Periapt of Continuous Haleness
Ponderous Pebble
Scatterself Stone
Shelyn's Thrush
Stubborn Nail
Torc of Zealous Tenacity
Vest of Second Skin
Viperfang Scabbard
Walking Stick of the Revered Elder

Sean K Reynolds
Developer and RPG Superstar Judge

Illustration by Eric Belisle

More Monsters!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Every GM knows you can never have enough monsters, and yesterday the risk of ever running out got way slimmer with the addition of Bestiary 3's more than 300 menaces to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document. Check them all out for free and our online PRD right here!

F. Wesley Schneider
Managing Editor

The Perfumer's Apprentice

by Kevin Andrew Murphy

Chapter One: The Flowers of Calistria

They say the wickedest thing about the old nobles was that they were always coming back from the dead, 'cause folk never came back quite right.

They don't know the half of it.

I swore.

"None of that, Orlin," my brother corrected. "We're in Isarn now. Remember your manners."

"But Norret!" I pointed. "Look! She's at it again!"

Indeed she was. One of the little bouquets from my tray had floated in the air, high over the crowd waiting for the executions, and up to one of the windows of the House of Joy.

That's what they call the temple of Calistria in Isarn. Back in Dabril, Calistria's temple was just the beekeeper's house, and no one besides him did much in the way of worship. In Isarn it was one of the old palaces. But instead of nobles, each window had a beautiful woman or a half-dressed man.

Each also had a window box of carrots instead of flowers, since the Revolutionary Council had recently declared that everyone, even the temple of Calistria, had to grow vegetables, and use horse manure besides.

It made the city stink even worse than usual. That's why we were selling nosegays.

Norret swore too, an expression I'd never heard before. I guessed he'd picked it up soldiering. He followed it with a growl: "Rhodel..."

That was the name of the old strumpet back in our town before I died. Before she died, too, and went off to serve Dabril's patron goddess, Shelyn.

I should probably have mentioned the dying bit.

I died, I guess. All I know is I had a fever and I had this dream. There was a beautiful lady who wanted me to come with her, and a grave lady who said that I couldn't because there was someone else coming for me. Then the beautiful lady made me a bed of roses, told me to sleep, and I did.

I swear they were Shelyn and Pharasma, the actual goddesses. I mean, who else could they be?

The next thing I knew, I was being woken up by a pretty girl a little older than me, maybe sixteen summers, and she definitely wasn't Shelyn or Pharasma. She said she was Rhodel, and she looked sort of like the old Dabril prostitute, only young and pretty. Rhodel told me she was a friend of my brother's, and I should come because he was waiting for me.

So Rhodel took my hand, and next thing I'm standing in the town graveyard, it's winter, and Norret's there, but he's all grown up. Last I saw him, he was barely older than I am.

He used to be fun, too, but now he's all learned and trained in alchemy, which is what he used to bring me back. Of course my brother doesn't know everything, since he didn't expect he'd get Rhodel in the bargain.

He spent what coin we had to talk to some necromancers, and they told him stuff about "psychopomps" and "spirit guides." Even Norret was confused by all of it, which is saying something. Me? All I know is that I came back from the dead and now I'm being haunted by a dead harlot.

A dead harlot, I should add, who was currently taking one of our boquets to a living one. Not that you're supposed to call the priestesses of Calistria that, since they're "sacred prostitutes," and when they're not turning tricks or playing them, they're getting revenge, and they ride around on wasps the size of ponies. This one was tarted up in a gown of yellow-and-black oiled silk, and even had a fuzzy black-and-gold-striped muff to match. Except that it wasn't. It took wing, and I realized the muff was a bumblebee the size of a lapdog.

The bumblebee bumbled around the nosegay, caught it with its claws, then brought it back to its mistress. She took a whiff, smiled, then looked down from her balcony and gestured for Norret and me to come up.

The guards let us use the outside stair, and next thing the sacred dollymop was rising from her divan. Excepting my dream-Shelyn, she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, with honey-blonde hair done up in patriotic Galtan braids and three patches shaped like daggers rayed around her right eye. She was dressed a lot sluttier, too.

"What a delightful tussie-mussie." She smelled the flowers again. "These blossoms are mere tissue paper, but their scent is fair enough to fool a bee." Hers sat on her shoulder, eyeing the bouquet with eyes like perfume-bottle stoppers. "How can this be?"

I half expected Norret to explain how he'd found the secrets of the perfumers' guild hidden in the diary of the Duke of Dabril, and how we'd been using them to make fake flowers, but all he said was, "Ah, fair lady, the flowers are false but the scents are true. Floral essences from the fields of Dabril..."

She laughed lightly. "I've heard tell of the legendary artisans of some Mwangi queen, able to craft false blossoms so lifelike that they fooled all but Calistria's bees. You, it seems, have done them one better. But I wonder... can your false flowers be used to encode a message like a true tussie-mussie?" She looked at the bouquet, inspecting the blossoms. "Ah yes, here's honeysuckle, for ‘the bonds of love'... And vervain—that's ‘sorcery,' yes?" She looked at Norret and then at me. Rhodel had picked up another of the nosegays, and it was floating. I reached out and grabbed it back. "Ah yes, definitely ‘sorcery.' Your assistant is far too young to be a wizard, but definitely has the mage's hand."

She was wrong on both counts, but not by much as I realized both of my actual hands were still steadying the tray, while my spirit's hand was on the tussie-mussie and was playing tug-of-war for it with Rhodel. It must have looked like two invisible bridesmaids wrestling for the right to be the next one married.

Like I said, people never come back from the dead quite right. The overpriced necromancers told Norret stuff about spectral hands and phantom limbs. All I know is that my soul isn't tied to my body as tightly as it should be and that's not good.

The Calistrian dollymop sniffed her bouquet. "And lavender... That's either ‘devotion' or ‘distrust'... I forget which. I'd have to check my floral dictionary." She looked closer. "Or is this sea lavender? And what is that?"

"‘Sympathy,'" Norret supplied quickly. "And you are correct. It is sea lavender."

"The ‘sympathy' that's used by sorcerers or the type that goes with tea?"

"Does it matter?"

She dimpled. "Always." She tucked the nosegay into the front of her bodice, between breasts each bigger than her giant bee. "A worshiper of Blackfingers, I take it?"

"What makes you say that?"

She winked and gestured to Norret's face. "It's not a mask, but a patched eyed gives an air of mystery..."

"Just a war wound," my brother explained self-consciously, leaving important bits out, like the fact that he'd since used alchemy to heal it, or that he'd also got some magic mercury in it, making it look a bit odd. And in Galt, odd was not good unless you were looking for a place in one of the tumbrel carts headed for the guillotine.

One of those was finally headed through the crowd now, and a cheer went up.

"Oh come, join me," the woman said. "Only the tricoteuses have a better seat..."

"The knitters," Norret explained to my baffled expression. "The market women there."

I looked. Right in front of the Monolith, Isarn's prison and Hall of Justice, was the guillotine with its famous Final Blade known as Madame Margaery. And right there before Margaery's basket with the very best front-row seats was a group of women like you'd see at any market, with aprons and white caps fitted with ribbons. Every last one of them was knitting.

"How might we address our hostess, O beauteous demimondaine?"

Norret liked big words and flowery talk, but from the way she laughed and smiled, I guessed that this was a really nice word for ‘dollymop.' "You may call me ‘Mistress Philomela.' And this," she said gesturing to her giant bumblebee, "is Honeybun."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mistress Philomela. I am Norret Gantier and this is my brother and apprentice, Orlin."

"A Calistrian priestess can be a good friend to have, but you don't want to get on her bad side."

I tugged my forelock. "Pleased to meet you."

She made space for us on the divan, which was feathery soft and upholstered in yellow silk, the brocade done with a pattern of vines and blossoms and what looked like skulls. "The fell and fabled creeper," Mistress Philomela explained, seeing Norret's interest in the floral theme. "The pollen produces the most fabulous yellow dye and is of great use in charms of passion and fascination."

"Truly?" asked Norret, touching the silk.

"So I've been told," the dollymondaine admitted. "It's from before the Revolution. It might be saffron from Jalmeray or just common dyer's weld." She smiled conspiratorially. "I've also been told that if you can obtain honey from that particular vine, you can make a mead that acts as a love philtre." She reached for a decanter filled with a pale golden liquid and poured each of us a crystal flute full, as well as a shallow dish for Honeybun. The bee crawled off her shoulder and began to lap it up. "This hydromel comes from the flowers of Calistria, the honeysuckle that we... used to grow here," she finished lamely, looking at the window boxes filled with carrots and horse apples.

Her look continued beyond. Ever heard the expression "to look daggers" at someone? Well, these weren't just normal daggers, but Calistria's, tipped with all of the revenge goddess's wasp venom, and they were aimed straight at the line of knitting women in front of the guillotine. I half expected the three little patches on Mistress Philomela's face to go flying after them.

"A toast," she said, raising her glass, "to the wisdom of the market wives who convinced the Revolutionary Council that every citizen, regardless of station or vows, should grow a victory garden of vegetables, to feed themselves and the hungry folk of Isarn..."

"To victory," said Norret, raising his glass.

"And horse apples," I said, raising mine.

Mistress Philomela nearly choked, then added smoothly, "Yes, and to the wisdom to use the effluence of the streets to fertilize our gardens..."

She and Norret both drank, and I did too, after checking for poison.

I don't quite understand it, but Norret said he used unicorn horn in the potion to bring me back to life, so some of the unicorn's magic must have stuck to me. Which means I can tell if there's poison in something.

There wasn't any poison in the hydromel beyond a bit of alcohol, so I drank it. Then I drank some more. And a little more after that. It was good. I was only able to watch a couple beheadings before my own head hit the pillow at the top of the divan and I fell sound asleep.

I awoke in a room that was definitely not the balcony of the temple of Calistria. Instead of soft silk and swansdown, my pillow was linen over bedstraw, and the room was plain and a little cobwebbed. My brother was there as well, talking to one of the market women. She had her knitting put away, but the bag was by her feet, and she looked very old—at least fifty.

"So who told you I had a room for let?" the woman asked.

"Someone in the crowd," Norret lied. I know when my brother lies—the corners of his eyes go all crinkly. "I gave them a nosegay and they gave me some advice. Said you ran a boarding house with good food and weren't averse to alchemy or magic since you had some skill yourself."

The woman clicked her front teeth together. "Well, that much is true, but—" She paused, and then her small black eyes met mine, magnified and multiplied by little half-moon spectacles that made her look like she had four or more eyes. "Ah, he's awake."

She turned to me and I became acutely aware that my bed was in the corner of the room. "Young citizen, your brother informs me you're called ‘Orlin.' You may address me as ‘Madame Eglantine' or ‘Grandmother Eglantine,' as you prefer, or just as ‘Madame' or ‘Grandmother.' I will not answer to ‘Eglantine' by itself, for only my husbands addressed me as such, and they are all now dead." She smoothed her skirts. "Aside from that, a few other rules: I serve breakfast a half hour after sunrise and supper an hour before sundown. If you arrive at other times, you must make do with what's on the sideboard. The only exception is on days when there is an execution, when I shall be joining my fellow ladies for our knitting circle. On execution days, I set out a cold buffet. Take what you need but leave the rest for the other guests. Don't be greedy but don't expect there will be anything left by suppertime either."

She placed her hands on her hips, her long fingers digging into the fabric of her apron. "As you're from Dabril, I also expect you to be of great help to me in the garden." She fixed me with a steely glare. "Beyond that, both I and my guests value our privacy. That means that locked doors are to be respected and keyholes are not to be peeped through. This goes especially true for my private apartments in the attic. If you pry, you may get what you deserve. That said, if someone breaks into your chambers and blows themselves up with, say, an exploding book, you are responsible for both the damage and the cleaning."

She paused then, placing a finger to her lips, then added, "As for cleaning, I expect you to tidy up after yourselves. The only thing I forbid is harming the spiders, both in the garden and in the house. They are here to catch the dirty flies and those nasty wasps. Leave their webs alone and let the little darlings do their work. Any questions?"

I could only shake my head dumbly.

"Good," she said. "Welcome to my house. I expect to see you tomorrow at breakfast."

With that, she left, and the door latch clicked shut behind her.

Norret turned to me and I said one word. "Poison."

"What?" said Norret.

"Poison," I repeated. "I'm detecting poison."

Norret didn't normally question the new sense I'd picked up, but he glanced to the door and then back. "The old lady? She has poison, or she's been poisoned?"

"Neither," I said. "She is poison."

Coming Next Week: Magical investigations gone awry in Chapter Two of Kevin Andrew Murphy's "The Perfumer's Apprentice."

Kevin Andrew Murphy is the author of numerous stories, poems, and novels, as well as a writer for Wild Cards, George R. R. Martin's shared-world anthology line. His previous Pathfinder Tales stories include "The Secret of the Rose and Glove" (also starring Norret) and "The Fifth River Freedom," the fourth chapter of Prodigal Sons in the Kingmaker Pathfinder's Journal. For more information, visit his website.

Illustration by Carlos Villa.

RPG Superstar™ 2012 Top 32 Revealed

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Paizo Publishing today announced the finalists for RPG Superstar, the largest open-call tabletop roleplaying game design contest in history. Judges Ryan Dancey, Clark Peterson, Sean K Reynolds, and Neil Spicer selected the Top 32 from hundreds of submissions in an initial contest to design a wondrous item using the rules from the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, available in stores and in electronic form on paizo.com. The Top 32 wondrous items are now on display at paizo.com, complete with judge commentary and additional comments from 2011 RPG Superstar finalists Sam McGowan, Jerral Toi, and winner Sam Zeitlin. Gamers are invited to contribute their own comments to the entries.

"RPG Superstar is a unique opportunity for gamers to become professional designers and for Paizo to discover new, talented writers," said judge and Paizo game developer Sean K Reynolds. "As a developer who regularly works with about a dozen notables from previous competitions, I look forward to seeing these designers grow and improve over the next four challenges. Congratulations to this year’s Top 32!"

The Top 32 finalists (and their winning wondrous items) for RPG Superstar 2012 are (in alphabetical order):

Chad Bartlett Gloves of Reconnaissance Alexander Bennett Dustings of Darkness Jim Callaghan Cloak of the Swashbuckler Will Cooper Ghostvision gloves Adam Donald Flask of Liquid Sunlight Bob Drouin Figurine of Familiar Power Anthony Guillotte Bottled Time Mark Hart Spellblight Cage Dan Jones Claw of the Crawling Spell Mikko Kallio Vexing Spirit Lamp Jacob Kellogg Cloak of Energy Reversal N. Edward Lange Sunblossom Thomas LeBlanc Metamorphosis Saddle David Ludwig Basilisk's Eye Sight Andrew Marlowe Cayden's Cup Benjamin Medrano Chalice of Eternal Fire Jacob Michaels Haunting Glass

Steve Miller Night Monarch Vardo Greg Monk Shadow Box Eric Morton Boots of the Phantom Staircase Joshua Murphy Gloves, Charlatan Jason Neals Binder of Unbound Forms Andrew Newton Sticky Pugfoot James Olchak Rajah's Silhouette Tom Phillips Feywhisper Crown Sam Polak Moonlight Flute of the Ghost Hunter James Raine Spellbreaker Gauntlets David Ross Clockwork Conscience Daniel Rust Elixir of Resurgent Flame Chris Shaeffer Scent of the Savored Sting Ian Studebaker-Grey Silhouette of the Phantasmagoria Jacob Trier Sunrise Shawl Russell Vaneekhoven Chimaeric Mantle Mike Welham Raptoring Gloves

2012’s alternates are Benjamin Medrano, Andrew Newton, and Alex van der Kleut.

UPDATE: Anthony Guillotte, a Top 32 contestant, elected to drop out of the competition, and Jason Neals failed to complete an organization, allowing Andrew Newton and Benjamin Medrano to advance from alternate to the Top 32.

The Top 32 will now be required to design a concept for a new organization to the specifications of the RPG Superstar judges and submit that concept by 2:00 PM Pacific time on Friday, January 27. These round two submissions will be revealed to the general public on January 31 with judges’ comments and the public will then get to discuss the entries and vote for their favorite. Voting ends on February 6 and the Top 16 by votes will move on to round three.

The ultimate winner of RPG Superstar, announced April 3, 2012, will write a Pathfinder Module to be published in early 2013. The 2011 RPG Superstar champion module, Sam Zeitlin’s The Midnight Mirror, releases in April 2012.

Design Blog: Flashbacks

January 24, 2012

Illustrations by Emrah Elmasli

This week we’re shipping Game Mastery Plot Twist Cards: Flashbacks, a sequel to the original Plot Twist Cards deck. The point of using Plot Twist Cards is to break out of the mindset that you have to have a precise rule for everything that happened, happens, or could happen in a game. You don’t have to explain why the paladin never mentioned his days as a street thief, or how the “Abyssal bloodline” sorcerer is suddenly manifesting nagalike powers. In a world where magic is real, genetics are subservient to magic, and a spell can create or alter memories, revealing a previously unknown backstory is easy.

Designer Rob Heinsoo and I call this the “soap opera reveal” of character development—as in, “your grandfather wasn’t a powerful sorcerer—he was actually a demon!” Amnesia, secret plans for vengeance, evil twins, clones, demonic possession, dream sequences, mind control, undiscovered siblings, psychic visions, and characters coming back from the dead are all perfectly plausible elements of a Pathfinder campaign. James Jacobs used a derro lab full of clones of Wes Schneider’s character in the Shadow under Sandpoint campaign. Monte Cook used a memory-erasing witch to have his Praemal campaign PCs re-explore a lair they had already explored. Chris Perkins played identity-switching twin elf brothers in Monte’s original Ptolus campaign. I used a dream sequence orchestrated by mi-go to retcon some campaign-derailing events in my Exiles of Zirnakaynin campaign caused by “evil sibling” Rob McCreary and James’s demon-possessed bard.

Using narrative tools like this, even though there aren’t specific rules for them (What’s the saving throw DC to resist a dream sequence? What’s the Perception DC to realize your ally is actually her evil twin?) lets a GM create interesting story arcs for a campaign. Likewise, a player can use these tools to explain gaining an unusual ability, feat, spell, or even something as mundane as suddenly investing 5 skill ranks in a new skill. For gamers hesitant to go outside the bounds of the rules, Plot Twist cards give players and GMs a way to fiddle with bits of the story under agreed-upon constraints.

(As a side note: The woman in the Shadenfreude card illustration is based on Paizo Art Director Sarah Robinson. I can neither confirm nor deny that the illustration is based on an actual event.)

How have you used flashbacks, amnesia, twins/doppelgangers, and similar “soap opera reveals” in your campaign? Would you like to see more examples of doing this, or rules establishing a framework for doing so?

Sean K Reynolds
Paizo Designer

More Venture-Officers On Board

Monday, January 23, 2012

With the coming of the new year, we continue to grow Pathfinder Society at a tremendous rate. With that, I want to make sure we have good leadership in place so that continue to grow and expand. Over the past few months, we added three more Venture-Captains who have not yet formally been introduced, and today we are adding even more to the growing list of Venture-Captains.

I am excited to add three new areas to our Venture-Captain regions. The first is Kansas City, Missouri. Seth Brummond fills an important role in an area ripe for growth and that has been wanting a Venture-Captain. Not only will he be serving western Missouri, but will also be able to help organize and coordinate growth of Pathfinder Society in eastern Kansas.

The second new area is Albany, New York. The capital region of New York has seen an explosion of growth in Pathfinder Society activity over the past several years and I look forward to seeing the direction Evan Whitefield takes Pathfinder Society.

The third new area is Houston, Texas. I know that Houston has seen sporadic Pathfinder Society play and is just waiting for someone to step in and get things organized. Robert Vaughn is just the person to hit the ground running as we watch the Houston Lodge grow.

We also have had two Venture-Captains step down due to real-life responsibilities. I wish fair winds and following seas to both Rene Ayala from Arizona and Neil Shackelton from Toronto. Both of them have done an outstanding job establishing a foothold for Pathfinder Society in their regions and the new Venture-Captains have big shoes to fill.

Assuming Rene’s responsibilities, Jason Leonard has been appointed as Venture-Captain of Arizona. Assuming Neil’s responsibilities, Robert Trifts has been appointed as Venture-Captain of the Ontario region of Canada.

In addition to the new Venture-Captains above, we have added the following Venture-Lieutenants to help some of our current Venture-Captains reach out to areas in their regions that are either too far away to cover on a regular basis, or are too numerous to cover at all. They include the following:

• Albany, NY – Brett McLean
• Arizona – Cody Lucas
• Central/Southern Illinois – Shaun Burton
• Indiana – Chris Bonnet
• Oregon – Todd Tepper
• San Diego, CA – Terence Brawley
• Virginia – Jeremy Hitchcock
• Wisconsin – Matthew Starch
• Melbourne, Australia – Ryan Koetsveld
• Ontario, Canada – Jeff Mahood
• Denmark – Jacob Trier

We are still in need of additional Venture-Captains in some regions and you can find the list here. If you are interested in applying, please contact me after reviewing the application process in the previous link.

Mike Brock
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator

Pathfinder Battles Preview: When Hell Freezes Over

Friday, January 20, 2012

Say, how long does it take to thaw out a goblin?
Illustration by Liz Courts

With the arctic devils locking Paizo HQ in sheets of ice and the staff responsible flung to the far corners of snow-locked Seattle, I'm afraid to report that there can be no Pathfinder Battles preview blog today (or blog of any kind, sadly).

Pray for the weary souls of Paizo, cut to the bone with cold, trapped within their mountain fastnesses.

We will reward your patience with a double-sized Pathfinder Battles preview blog next week, with the first amazing images from the next set: RISE OF THE RUNELORDS!

Watch out for yetis (which, by the way, are in the set!).

...Although it looks like this Yeti seems to have escaped!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Snowsplosion!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

It snows in Seattle every now and then. Usually not much, but when the entire region is on a 90 degree incline, a little goes a long way… toward sliding your vehicle into a freezing body of water. Some of you might remember the mixture of caution, fear, and hilarity that lead to my own snow-stranding last year. That totally had no influence on the fact that I now live amid the apartments typically referred to here as Paizo East, a whopping three blocks from the office. So, when the Great Flurry of ’12 hit, I sledded down the hill to collect the blizzard of “Out of the Office” e-mails. Lets see what we’ve got:

Not even the Paizo golem is immune to the snowmageddon!
Illustration by Liz Courts, Snowed In Specialist

Jerome Virnich, Editorial Intern
Wes. Unfortunately I'm under the weather, both literally and figuratively. Still planning on being there on Friday. Hope you're well!

Mike Brock, Campaign Coordinator & Survivalist
Hi all. After sliding backwards down the 150 yard hill in my apartment complex, I gave up trying to drive to work. I hear Seattle has a great bus system so went to their website. My results from here to work:

Trip Planner
Error Planning Trip
(#20007--Trip not possible)
Modify Trip

So, looks like I'm working from home today.

Judy Bauer, Disaster Opportunist
Mutinying for Snow Days! In a shocking twist, I'll be editing from home again today. Currently rolling on the AP adventure.

Jason Bulmahn, Senior Snowman Wrassler
Yetis stole my car. I am pretty sure they are doing donuts in the intersection. Sean, Judy, and I are going to be staying home today. I've got work banked up still and will be taking breaks to yell at those damn yetis. Stay warm everyone.

Erik Mona, Snowscarred
Folks. After last year's 520-ocalypse, I'm playing it safe with the snow this year. I've got a pile of work to do here at home today, so I'll be editing and working on emails all day today (and possibly tomorrow, given the way people on the radio are freaking out). If you need me, please call.

Lisa Stevens, Lives on a Mountain
You Redmond folks don't know what snow is! And this with the snowpocalypse major snow not even fallen yet! You may not see us until spring! :)

[Picture of Hoth omitted]

From the incomplete nature of this list I can only assume that many others are wandering about disoriented or huddled cozily in their tauntauns. Some though—like James Sutter who owns a parachute and had a toboggan delivered to the office last week—we might never see again.

Stay frosty everyone.

F. Wesley Schneider
Managing Editor

Fingers of Death—No, Doom!

by Lucien Soulban

Chapter Four: Caught Red-Handed

"We let them out!" Fife said, his voice edged with panic. They dashed through the tall grass, Fife following in Darvin's wake.

"You can't be sure of that," Darvin said, though he suspected the truth of it.

"We've as good as killed that village!"

"Fife," Darvin said, spinning around to grab his brother by the shoulders, but the halfling ran a good dozen paces behind the longer-legged human. Darvin dropped his hands. "By the Gods, your voice carries."

"Darvin!" Fife protested.

"Fife," Darvin warned, and kept pace with the halfling as he whipped by. "As you said, the creatures had already venturing out to slit the throats of farmers. They could leave the manse."

"Then why not kill everyone?" Fife said, "I'll tell you why. Because they only murdered those who stole from their master. But once you broke the seal on the door..."

"So it's my fault?" Darvin demanded.

"You just had to kick down the door."

"It was in the way!"

"It had a handle!"

"Oh." Darvin slowed down a touch. "That part won't be in the tales, will it?"

"Come on, you egomaniacal yak!"

The pair had reached the stables on the edge of the village, the Andoren draft horses within snorting and tramping the ground in their anxiety. All around them, shouts and cries of terror sounded from villagers driven out of their homes by the things that crawled through their windows. Villagers gripped pitchforks and sickles tightly, a few hefting rusting blades of a more martial nature.

Too much, Darvin thought. He slowed and stopped, the horror of it driving stakes through his feet. He watched numbly as Fife ran to people, trying to get them to move, to act, to do something to pierce the same fear that poisoned Darvin. Nobody heard the halfling, however; to them all he was a child to be set aside with both hands, even when he kicked and pulled the crawling thing off a terrified farmer who rolled around in the dirt.

Fife looked to Darvin for help, but Darvin backed away—one step, then two before he forced himself to stop. Only one thing mattered, he forced his fear-addled brain to concede. Only one person.

Darvin grabbed Fife by the shoulder.

"We have to go," Darvin whispered, and began pulling Fife along as the halfling bucked and screamed...

∗∗∗

"No, Darv!" Fife said, trying to free himself from his brother's iron grip.

"Come on," Darvin said, hoarsely, pulling the struggling halfling against his will.

"No! Stop!"

"We have to go!" Darvin shouted, dragging Fife off his feet, but the halfling managed to jerk away, ripping his shirt in the process.

"We have to save them," Fife said, staring up into his brother's eyes.

"We can't!" Darvin said, looking around.

Fife hesitated a moment. "Darvin, the hero of the Mad Necromancer's Wars, pulled his trusted blade from its sheath."

"What?" Darvin said, blinking.

"He set his eyes upon the imperiled village, ready to leap into—"

"What are you doing?" Darvin said.

"In—into the fray," Fife continued staring all around him as cries shot from the shadows like arrows.

"Stop it! That's just make-believe," Darvin shouted. "This isn't one of your blasted stories!"

"Everything's a story!" Fife shouted back with a voice that felt ready to tear itself apart. "Who says my stories aren't the ones we haven't lived yet?"

Darvin stared down at the halfling as though studying an alien, unfathomable thing. Then suddenly, he shook his head, his eyes focusing. "By the gods, you are mad."

"Only a little," Fife said, smiling sadly. Then he continued. "Darvin, hero of the Mad Necromancer's Wars and champion of plump maidens, princesses, and swordswomen everywhere, unsheathed his trusted blade and leapt into the fray...."

A small smile flickered on Darvin's lips. He inhaled sharply. "Right. Hero. Just make sure it's a suitably epic recounting." Then he darted into the crowd, forcibly pulling the men and women into fighting circles around the children.

Fife nodded gratefully and then set to kicking and stabbing at the hands that scrabbled after them. A handful of villagers fought to remove a hand about the throat of another man—the merchant Cullins, Fife realized. Harvander was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he was already dead, or fled.

The halfling gripped his small dirk tighter and ran toward the men. He jostled for place and edged the blade for the hand about Cullins' throat. The bladed fingers were squirming for the merchant's jugular.

"No, you'll hurt him!" someone yelled, but Fife ignored him. He deftly sliced the first dorsal tendon between the thumb and forefinger, and the hand came loose easily. The men stamped it into the ground as Cullins coughed for breath. He rose to his feet with a heavy hand on Fife's shoulder and checked his neck with the other. It bled, but not so fiercely that he'd die.

Fife looked around, desperate for a solution as they ran for the nearest circle of armed farmers. The hands darted in and out of the shadows of the buildings, nicking and slicing with their blades before vanishing again. Several bodies lay where they had fallen, still and no longer bleeding. Others crawled or were dragged to safety, and yet the hands galloped fearlessly on the tips of their sometimes broken digits, eager for mayhem, unfeeling of pain.

The realization thundered inside Fife like a storm overtaking the plains. He grabbed Cullins' arm just as they reached the circle of men and women.

"Is the temple sanctified?" Fife asked.

"Well, the priest diddled Farmer Hoskin's daughter there," one of the men added helpfully.

"Once!" a slender, bearded farmer (who Fife could only assume was Hoskins) replied.

Cullins ignored the other. "It should be," he said.

"Get everyone there. Go! It should protect you!"

Cullins nodded and shouted at the others to join him as they ran for the simple stone building at the crest of a small hill. Fife let them go and turned back into the town to find his brother.

∗∗∗

Darvin knew he was no hero, but argue that with the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He noticed the villagers running for the hill, the cry carrying through the crowd to "Fight your way to the temple!" Though instinct screamed at him to run, Darvin helped with the retreating stragglers, fending off the hands that leapt and flew at them.

He heard a cry from a nearby house—a woman's voice, or perhaps a child's. Two men glanced at the home, but continued retreating. Darvin wanted to join them, but forced himself to remember Fife's words.

"Darvin, hero of the Mad Necromancer's Wars..." he muttered. The phrase was oddly comforting. He ran for the doorway, crushing a hand that scampered near—far too near—under a hard boot.

The unlit, one-room, wood-and-mud home lay disheveled. Straw bedding was scattered underfoot, the stone hearth gasping out its last ember warmth. Backed into the far corner, a young woman grabbed whatever lay in reach—wood figurines, serving plates, clay cups—and lobbed them at the three hands that advanced on her like a pack of jackals.

Darvin acted before he could talk himself out of it, stabbing the closest hand perched on the small table through with his blade. The impaled hand wriggled and jerked on the end of his dagger, and the other pair turned on him instantly.

Furiously trying to whip the dying hand off his dagger, Darvion grabbed the table and flipped it over between him and the advancing monstrosities. It barely slowed the pair down as they sprang over the wood.

One hand leapt for Darvin's shin, nicking it as he tried to sidestep. Hot pain flared up his body and his pant leg grew wet; he fell backward as the other hand tried to run between his splayed legs.

Darvin slammed his foot down again and again on the nearest hand, trying to crush it, then settled for pressing it down into the floor with his heel. The impaled hand continued to jerk at the end of his blade, and Darvin slammed the dagger into the ground, pinning the monster to the irregular slats of the wooden floor. But he'd lost track of the third hand that had drawn blood while the one under heel struggled to free itself.

Darvin couldn't move. He heard something behind him and craned his head around as a shadow moved in the corner of his eye. Fife materialized into view like a ghost, stabbing the third hand through with his dagger, continuing to slam his tiny blade home until it stopped moving.

"Help me," Darvin said as he struggled to kick the trapped hand under heel with his other boot, pain shooting along his wounded leg. Fife set about helping Darvin dispatch the two pinned creatures before both men had a chance to stop, breathe, and finally stare at the wide-shouldered, wide-hipped woman huddling in the corner.

"A plump maiden," Fife whispered to him. "I told you my stories just hadn't happened yet."

"Indeed," Darvin said, grinning at the woman and straightening his clothing.

∗∗∗

"Perhaps Darvin might one day prove a hero after all."

As Fife suspected, the hands couldn't cross the temple's threshold. And slowly, the men and women of the village dispatched the single-minded hands, with rocks, pitchforks, and scythes.

When Darvin and Fife approached the temple gate with the woman, however, Cullins stepped in the way and whispered, "You two best be going."

Fife, full of heroic charge and heart thundering with nervous excitement, said, "But we just saved you!"

Cullins studied the halfling, his eyes hard. "You brought those creatures here, did you not?"

Fife and Darvin exchanged quick glances. "Not deliberately," Fife said. "And they were already escaping before, weren't they? Because the townsfolk looted the manor."

"You sent us there," Darvin said quietly, a dangerous new note in his voice. "You have equal guilt in this."

Cullins nodded. "Perhaps," he said, looking at the bewildered villagers. "But you're outsiders here. This is the only courtesy I can give you. Go, before they regain their senses enough to blame you for this mess. Frightened people do that."

Fife wanted to argue more, but he felt Darvin's hand on his shoulder. "Let's go," Darvin said.

∗∗∗

Dawn touched the horizon, a passing glimpse of what the day could be, and Darvin watched his brother carefully. The halfling had a tendency to brood, weighed down by his thoughts and crushed by self-criticism. Unlike most people with his disposition, however, Fife had turned that brooding into a fine art, and Darvin could see the parables of disappointment in his brother's stories, the roads of regret for paths not taken except, perhaps, in longing dreams and sidelong glances. The business of the village weighed even heavier on him for that.

Darvin nudged Fife.

"What?" the halfling demanded sourly.

"Are you getting shorter?" Darvin said.

"What?"

"Isn't that how it works with halflings? The older you are, the shorter you get?"

"Are you mad, you self-involved moose?"

Darvin shrugged. "Then maybe it's just you," he said cheerfully, and continued onward despite the pain in his bandaged leg.

∗∗∗

They walked in silence a bit further, Fife glaring up at Darvin. The human's chirpy attitude and perpetual grin suggested that all trouble was destined to flow off his back. But Fife knew better. His brother needed anchors in this world, an emotional connection to guide his feet along the path. Darvin tended to hurdle obstacles, attracted by bright shiny things, almost entirely self-involved. The number of times Darvin nearly got himself killed staggered and frightened Fife. If Fife hadn't been there, to give Darvin pause, to remind his brother that they shared in the repercussions of Darvin's actions, then Darvin would have suffered for his enthusiasms. For that alone, Fife was glad to be a burden that only brothers shared.

Still, it didn't mean that his brother didn't get on his nerves occasionally.

A wicked thought occurred to him.

"Say, Darvin," Fife asked casually, "do you know what the word ‘incontinent' means?"

"Sure," Darvin replied. "It means spanning multiple continents, right?"

"Absolutely. I was thinking that my next story of your adventures might involve some jungle exploration in Garund."

Darvin grinned broadly and gripped the halfling about the shoulders. "See, that's why you're the writer!"

Fife nodded. "And you the hero," he said. "Oops—I meant the incontinent hero."

Darvin accepted the title with a bow and a flourish, and the pair continued on toward the next town, the rehearsing of another tall tale under way.

Coming Next Week: The return of Norret the Galtan alchemist in Kevin Andrew Murphy's "The Perfumer's Apprentice."

Lucien Soulban is an accomplished fantasy and science fiction author who's written shared world fiction for White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, Black Library, and more, including the novels Blood In, Blood Out and The Alien Sea. For more information, visit his website at www.luciensoulban.com.

Illustration by Daniel Masso.

Mapping the Path

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

I’ll be honest with you. I love maps. I always have, so when Erik, Wes, and Jason asked me if I wanted to start designing the Map Packs and Flip-Maps for the GameMastery line, I just yelled, “Gimme!” Then I ran away, laughing manically with my new toy.

This is a section of the “artwork” I sent to Jason for Flip-Mat: Pirate Ship. It’s ugly, but gets the point across, which is the purpose of the sketch.

By designing maps, I don’t mean that I actually do the cartography. That’s a job for far more artistically savvy folk, like the talented Jason Engle, who is currently doing the artistic heavy lifting for these products. But before we can have Jason do his magic, there is a lot of work and planning that goes into each of these products. This week, I’m going to hijack the blog to shed some light on the process of designing a GameMastery Map Pack or Flip-Mat product.

Each map product starts out as a vague concept on the product schedule. I say vague concept, but there is actually a lot of thought that goes into the concept phase. A few of us sit around the table, look at the current map products we have available, determine which ones sold well, which ones didn’t, and rifle though the Paizo messageboards about such products and see what kind of things the fans liked, what they didn’t, and what kind of things they would like to see in the future. Often, a Map Pack or a Flip-Mat is meant to complement Pathfinder products set for release around the same period of time.

For instance, both the upcoming Map Pack: Ship’s Cabins and the Flip-Mat: Pirate Ship were expressly designed to complement the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path. Sure, each of these products features cool ships that you could use in any campaign, but each one also details ships that the PCs actually use in that Adventure Path. Because of this dual purpose, I worked closely with Rob McCreary (Adventure Path developer extraordinaire) to make sure that each map product would have everything that he and the AP designers would need for that project. This give-and-take started with Rob giving me preliminary information about the AP adventures, particularly encounters taking place on the various ships. From there, I put together rough sketches of the maps and had Rob give me feedback on them. That feedback often forced me to go back to the drawing board, create a new round of rough sketches, and then we would start the process all over again, iterating until everything was right.

Jason Engle’s final product using my rough sketch and area descriptions as direction. The final product is beautiful and spot on. Jason rocks!

While the maps connected to the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path were a little more cooperation-intensive than most map projects, every early map product process starts with brainstorming, rough sketching, and making sure all the stakeholders are happy with the initial map design. Once that’s achieved, the next step is to make those rough sketches something more concrete—more than just a bunch of pencil scribbles on graph paper. They have to be something that an artist can understand clearly and easily. This involves cleaner maps sketched with my set of gaudy-but-striking colored pens and a map order that lists all the important details of the map. These refined rough sketches and the map order then goes to the art department. The art director, Sarah Robinson, then takes a look, makes sure it is as clear as possible, asking me questions about things that seem vague or somewhat questionable, revisions are made again if necessary, and then she sends it to Jason for beautification.

The process does not end there, though. Jason sends us his preliminary work on the maps, usually in the form of a black-and-white “sketch,” which is nearly complete, except for the color. We then take a look at his work, making sure that all of the details presented in my initial drawings and map order are all there, and take a critical eye at the often wondrous details he provides. Once that’s done, we either send a list of small changes or—more often than not—just let Jason know that his work is spot on and then move on to the next step: final or nearly final turnover by the artist.

With the color maps in, we look over them carefully, making sure everything looks gorgeous and the details are correct, and then move on to last-minute approvals from all the stakeholders and the business team. On rare occasions, the map goes back for some last-minute tweaking. When we are all happy with the final result, packaging is designed, and the files get sent to the printer. Lastly, the product gets shipped out to subscribers and distributors. It’s final journey ends with the “ooohs” and “aaahs of players” as GMs everywhere plop the finished product on the game table before uttering that magical phrase, “Roll initiative.”

Stephen Radney-MacFarland
Designer

Exploring the Worldwound

Monday, January 16, 2012

With a continuing effort to strengthen the entire Pathfinder Society program, as well as to continue tying up lose ends, The Worldwound Gambit by Robin D. Laws has now been incorporated into the Pathfinder Society.

Because of the differences between reading a novel and playing a game, there are specific rules needed for using sanctioned content from a Pathfinder Tales novel during play and we'll be providing a Chronicle sheet for players to use with their characters.

Sanctioned novels you ask? How do you sanction a novel? Because Pathfinder Tales novels are stories first, there is no easy way to sanction items, spells, feats, or other special abilities whole cloth. Therefore, the Chronicle sheets use the following rules.

1. Only items, feats, boons, or abilities found on the Chronicle sheet are legal for play.
2. Each player must have a copy of the Chronicle sheet with his or her character at all times.
3. In order for the Chronicle sheet to be considered legal for play, the player must show to the GM a copy of the Pathfinder Tales novel, either in printed or digital format.
4. A Chronicle sheet may be applied to each character the player currently has or creates in the future.

GMs are advised to work with players to make the sanctioning of Pathfinder Tales Chronicle sheets easy and fast. As long as the player has her copy of the book, she should be able to use the Chronicle sheet just like any other.

If you would like to learn more about the Pathfinder Tales line, please visit paizo.com or your local bookstore. Other novels in the line include Master of Devils by former Dragon Magazine editor Dave Gross, and Plague of Shadows by Andrew Jones.

Also, don’t forget the awesome Pathfinder Tales Three-for-all sale that is continuing through the end of January. For every two Pathfinder Tales novels you purchase—whether in print or PDF/ePub—you'll get the third for free. Or purchase any two Pathfinder Tales short fiction ePubs and get the third for free. Just add them to your cart, and we'll discount the lowest-priced qualifying item at checkout.

Click here to download the Worldwound Gambit chronicle sheet.

Mike Brock
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator

Pathfinder Battles Preview: A Last Look at Heroes & Monsters

Friday, January 13, 2012

The first set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted miniatures, Heroes & Monsters, formally released this Wednesday. Many of you probably already have your miniatures, or are eagerly anticipating their arrival. Looking over the previews we’ve posted over the last few months, there are still a few minis we haven’t yet shown off in their final form, so if you’ll indulge me, I’d like to take one more pass through this first set before revealing the goods on the next set, which will support the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path.

Last week, I went through final images of several of the monsters from the set, but I managed to miss the nasty Orc Brute, which is actually one of my personal favorite figures from the set. I’m astounded by the detail WizKids got into the commons in this set, and this guy is no exception. As an aside, some folks have asked me about the names of some of these figures. I decided to call this guy an “Orc Brute” because he looked bulkier than the Orc Warrior. If you’re looking to emulate this figure with Pathfinder stats, I suggest adding the advanced simple template to the orc warrior and swapping his weapon to a club. Voila!

Speaking of commons, I’m quite pleased with how the Watch Guard turned out. His lantern lights the way through dark city streets, and he’s sure to come running 3d6 rounds after your player characters scream out for his help.

This common Watch Officer started out life as a Watch Captain, but I didn’t quite feel that his pose sold the “awesomeness” of a captain, so I busted him down a rank or two. I do hope to get a genuine Watch Captain into the line at some point. When that happens, you can expect him (or her!) to share the same color scheme and costume details of these two watch figures. Making “like” creatures look alike is a big goal for Pathfinder Battles, and one I hope we can continue to build on in future sets.

This “hero” doubles quite nicely for a villain, since he looks like he’s about to emerge from his hiding place in the shadows to stab you in the back. We call him the Human Rogue, and whether you use him as a player character or a common thug, he definitely comes with the right tool for the job.

Is the item in the hands of this uncommon Human Druid a bedroll? A really big scroll? I’m honestly not sure, even today, but I do think she looks pretty nifty. This figure doubles nicely as a noncombatant townsfolk or tribal character, though those blue crystals hanging from her belt have got to be worth something!

The uncommon Elf Wizard is captured in the act of casting a spell. The figure features a neat color gradient on the skirt of the robes that gives it a nice texture effect.

The uncommon Dwarf Fighter is pulled from the back cover of the Inner Sea World Guide, making him a sneaky actual Pathfinder NPC masquerading as a simple player character figure. Don’t tell the high court of the Five Kings Mountains, but High King Borogrim the Hale has been slumming it!

This uncommon Half-Elf Cleric worships the crusader goddess Iomedae, and comes complete with a holy symbol and a cool graphic on her tabard. She also works great as a paladin or fighter, depending on your mood. Just don’t make fun of her bowl haircut. I hear she’s pretty touchy about that subject!

And that’s it! Looks like my art team forgot to take a picture of the Human Ranger (one of my favorites in the set), so I guess next week we’ll just show a picture of him and put off the Runelords previews again.

JUST KIDDING!

We’ll add him as a special bonus image to next week’s blog, which I promise is going to melt your brains with awesomeness. I can’t believe how great these Runelords minis look! Best of all, we’ve photographed paint masters of almost the entire set, so we should be able to jump right into the good stuff immediately.

That’s not too difficult, because as far as Rise of the Runelords is concerned, it’s all good stuff!

I hope you’ve enjoyed these Heroes & Monsters previews. We’ve now posted singles for sale to help you complete your sets (don’t forget that case subscribers get a discount on singles orders!). If you haven’t yet placed your Heroes & Monsters case or brick orders, I suggest doing so soon. These minis are moving much faster than we anticipated, and they will not be around forever!

See you next week!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Words from the RPG Superstar Trenches

Thursday, January 12, 2012

As the four judges whittle down the RPG Superstar wondrous item “keeps” pile from about 60 to just 32 + 4 alternates, I thought we could take some time to hear from two of our guest judges for Round 1—Sean McGowan and Jerral Toi, who made it to the Top 4 last year. Take it away, gentlemen!

Sean K Reynolds
Designer and RPG Superstar Judge

∗∗∗

RPG Superstar has, over the past few years, become as much a part of my holiday season as any family traditions I may have grown up with. It’s just not a proper winter wonderland ’til there’s a big, pretty link to the Superstar forums on the left side of the Paizo page. (Plus, it serves as a reminder that I need to start getting some shopping done.)

Paizo has created a great annual event with this contest, and much like the Macy’s parade or the New Year’s Eve ball drop, I hope it never goes away, but just stretches on into the future leaving an infinite number of superstar winners in its wake. Leaving aside the fun factor (and that’s a lot to leave aside...) it’s a great experience to just be able to see new RPG writers developing.

The first two years of the contest, I had a blast just being a spectator and kibitzing from the sidelines. The next two years I was lucky enough to make it in as a contestant. As one of the Top 4, I was thrilled at getting the chance to write a Pathfinder Society Scenario for Paizo, and loved the experience. This year, I’m enjoying the role of guest judge for Round 1. I’m very much looking forward to participating in the contest in this new fashion, not least because I’m a deeply impatient person and getting to see the Round 1 entries a week before they’re public is awesome.

Sean McGowan
RPG Superstar Guest Judge

∗∗∗

2011 was a crazy year. The RPG Superstar contest was one of the most stressful, yet fun and exciting times of my gaming history. In the end, I placed in the Top 4 and was given the opportunity to start edging my way into game design freelancing. In addition to working with Mark Moreland on Pathfinder Society Scenario #3–09: The Quest for Perfection—Part I: The Edge of Heaven, I also infiltrated the kobold mines and snuck an article featuring alchemist archetypes into Kobold Quarterly 19. Right now, I am working on a series of steampunk-themed projects for Nevermet Press.

Publication, however, is only one of the many good things to emerge from competing. The contest forced me to reexamine several previously engrained thoughts and habits pertaining to writing and gaming. During the contest, the judges and broader audience shared a lot of information and advice about gaming, writing, and the RPG industry, as well as personalized and individual feedback. Where else can you get good and immediately applicable advice like this?

I am looking forward to learning even more in 2012.

Jerral Toi
RPG Superstar Guest Judge

Fingers of Death—No, Doom!

by Lucien Soulban

Chapter Three: Hands Off

Darvin cursed himself for not thinking, for not realizing how Fife would react. He'd raced halfway across the circular chamber, running for the door, when he realized something was amiss. He couldn't feel Fife's familiar presence, that steady pressure by his side. Darvin turned to see Fife frozen near the collapsed passageway. All around them, from the shadows of the laboratory, a legion of amputated hands rushed forward on blade-sheathed fingers, skittering like spiders in a mad dash for the intruders.

"Spider," Fife said breathlessly as Darvin ran back to him, scooped him up, and dropped the halfling over his shoulder.

"Not spiders!" Darvin said, hoping to cut his friend free from his terror.

"Spider!" Fife yelled, and batted at Darvin's back.

"Ah!" Darvin cried, surprised, and a hand dropped away from his backpack. He booted it away quickly, before it could spring back up onto its fingers.

"Runrunrun!" Fife screamed.

Darvin hesitated. The hands converged on them the same way water flows down the slope, their fingers blurs of galloping motion and the opportunity for escape gone in an instant. Two more hands appeared from the hole through which they'd entered the room.

Darvin leapt into action, taking long strides, hurdling amputated hands that leapt and grabbed for them. He spun this way and that, clumsily avoiding attackers as his companion's weight threatened to topple his balance. Fife protected his back, wildly swinging his bag of notebooks at the hands lunging at them from behind. One such assault thwacked Darvin on the backside.

"Ow!" Darvin yelped. "That was a corner!"

"Run!" Fife replied.

The hands closed in, barely heeding or pausing at the blows that sent them careening back. They outnumbered the pair, and Darvin could only react, not make any real progress. He threw Fife on the high workshop table, breaking vials and scattering jars and books, before leaping atop it himself. The hands scrambled up the sides of the table.

We're surrounded, Darvin realized.

∗∗∗

Fife swung his bag like a mace, shattering glass and dislodging metal fingers that crested the lip of the table. Behind him, Darvin stomped digits and booted away hands, but the crawling horrors possessed a heedless relentlessness. They landed a few feet away on the stone floor, recovered almost instantly, and scrambled back for the table.

"We're dead!" Darvin screamed. "We are so very much dead!"

Fife wanted to respond, but hearing his brother's panic only tightened its grip around his own throat, stopping him from speaking. The hands had them trapped, a dozen feet away from the other door and under the relentless assault of their diminutive foes. This is all my fault. He had dragged them into this misadventure. "I'm sorry," he managed.

A pair of hands grabbed Fife's waist, and before he realized what was happening, Darvin had hoisted him up, toward the wagon-wheel chandelier above their heads. Fife barely had time to grab it before Darvin let go.

"Save yourself!" Darvin said.

The wheel swung on a rusted chain, creaking and groaning. Particles of dust trickled down from the chain's anchor in the ceiling. Fife managed to slip upward through the spokes and atop the wheel before he looked down. The table looked like an island in a relentless sea of moving hands. The smell of rotten eggs and decaying flesh drifted up from the mess.

"Darvin! Climb!" Fife extended his arm down to pull up his brother. Darvin busied himself kicking the hands away, trying to keep track of the table's four sides. His movements grew frantic and wilder as exhaustion weighed more heavily upon him.

When Darvin didn't respond, Fife stretched down and grabbed for his brother in desperation, catching only a handful of the man's long, sandy hair.

"Ah!" Darvin cried, trying to kick the hands, maintain his balance, and not have a halfling-sized fistful of hair torn out by the roots.

"Jump up!" Fife ordered.

"My hair!"

"Damn your hair! Jump!"

One of the amputated hands grabbed Darvin's ankle, and he kicked it away before jumping up. He grabbed the spokes. The wheel creaked, the chain groaned, and the pair swung ponderously to and fro. The hands jumped up on the tabletop and jockeyed for position. A few of them tried springing up to grab Darvin's feet, but he pulled his legs up quickly and threaded them through the spokes.

"Now what?" Darvin asked, whispering and looking at Fife through the gap.

"I have a plan," Fife whispered back.

"Why are we whispering? They don't have ears... do they?" He craned his neck to look back down at the hands.

"Climb up," Fife said, even as something in the ceiling creaked loudly.

"It won't take my weight!" Darvin hissed.

"Exactly," Fife said, grinning. "Now climb!"

∗∗∗

Darvin remained dubious as only an older sibling could. Now atop the wheel, he froze and grimaced as more dust poured through the ceiling bolts and the wood complained beneath them.

They would fall. That much he knew, looking down at the table with all the hands jumping up, trying to grab at them.

"Now what?"

Fife grinned in response and pushed himself up from his belly before thrusting himself down. The chain screeched in complaint and the wheel wobbled.

"Wait!" Darvin said. "What're you—"

Fife pushed again. "Help me!" he said.

Darvin suddenly understood. "The gods save us from your lunacy!" he said, and braced against the ceiling, pressing down against the wheel with his legs.

"Are they tiny gods?" Fife asked.

The chain didn't snap, but instead broke from the ceiling anchors and dropped them, heavy wheel, unspooled chain, and all. The chandelier struck the tabletop with a crash of falling mortar, breaking glass, and the squish-thud-crack of pulped hands. The impact hammered the air from the brothers' lungs.

"What fell force created and compels the bladed hands?"

Hands crawled away, their fingers snapped, small bones exposed. Some lay dead like curled-up spiders. Others rolled away to safety.

"We killed them," Fife whispered, but Darvin pulled him away.

"C'mon! Let's go!"

They bolted for the door even as the surviving hands sprang or wobbled to their digits. Ignoring whatever shock or injury the intruders had meted out, the hands immediately set after them in hot pursuit.

Darvin pulled at the door and sighed gratefully when he realized it wasn't locked. In fact, the passageway angled upward. The two brothers ducked through and Darvin slammed the door shut behind them, laughed despite himself—a desperate, exhausted bark of triumph and relief.

Then he caught Fife's expression. Following his brother's gaze, Darvin looked down and saw the small square at the bottom of the door, crowned by a hinge. Darvin knew he should understand what it meant, but his adrenaline-addled brain wasn't quite up to the challenge.

"What is—?" he began, but Fife interrupted him.

"It's a dog door!" the halfling cried.

That's silly, Darvin thought. "But I didn't see a—"

The first hand barreled through the swinging door, and Fife stamped desperately on it. The door shuddered as multiple thuds struck it, and several hands wedged at the small access as they all struggled to get through next.

Darvin acted, kicking the hinged flap and scattering the hands back into the room. He turned to find Fife no longer kicking the hand in question, but instead jumping up and down with both feet, knees as high as his chest, vigorously stomping the amputated monstrosity into the ground.

"Die, spider!" Fife screamed. "Die, die, die!"

"It's already dead, dead, dead," Darvin said, and grabbed Fife, pulling him along the passageway. The human did pause, however, and stomp heavily on the hand one last time before the pair bolted.

They ran hard, past shadowed corners and down strange passageways. Fife glanced through doorways, almost distracting himself once when he spied ancient tomes lining long bookshelves in one study. Darvin, however, grabbed Fife and pulled him along; he knew well how the halfling's natural curiosity overcame his survival instincts.

Finally, the corridor dead-ended at a doorway, the wood etched with strange arcane patterns of sweeping, curving meridian designs. Darvin glanced back behind them, but the stampede of hands was nowhere to be seen. He raised a foot to kick open the rune-marked door.

"No!" Fife screamed, and tackled Darvin's thigh.

Darvin grabbed the wall for balance and tried to shake his friend loose. "Do you mind?" Darvin asked, calmly.

"You don't know what those markings mean!" Fife said, arms wrapped tight around Darvin's leg. "It could be trapped!"

Darvin sighed. He just wanted to get away from here, from the village, from this entire ordeal as soon as possible. "Why would anyone trap their home?"

"Why would he lop off hands and animate them?" Fife asked, letting go.

"Maybe he couldn't afford a full staff?" Darvin offered.

"The point is, who knows what he was thinking?" Fife said. "Remember the Tale of the Moaning Virgin's Ghost?"

"You mean the one you wrote?"

"Yes."

"Actually," Darvin said, "I've been meaning to talk to you about that one. I don't think you thought the title through."

"Darvin!" Fife said, eyeing the door. "What I mean is, I research my material for authenticity. The wizard in that story trapped the door to keep something inside. It's based on a real spell!"

Darvin thought for a moment. "Alright," he said. "In that story, how did I open that door?"

"You..." To Darvin's satisfaction, Fife hesitated.

"I kicked it open, didn't I?" Darvin demanded.

"Yes," Fife said. "But that was a story. And you got cursed in it."

"Right," Darvin said, and kicked open the door.

The runes splintered under the breaking wood, glowing brightly for a moment before fading from the frame. Fife groaned in worry, but Darvin shoved his way through.

Fresh air swept across them, driving away the pungent, earthy smell of decay and replacing it with the dewy wetness of night and grassy hills and wind-ruffled trees. Moonlight filtered through the branches and the pair pushed forward, thrashing their way through the bush that hid the doorway and its rocky outcropping. The air felt infinitely better than the stink of death behind them.

Darvin collapsed on the grass, staring up at the night sky and laughed gratefully. Fife did not join him. Instead, the halfling peered back through the shrubs, checking the passageway they'd left.

"We lost them," Darvin said. "Stop worrying."

"They're tireless," Fife said thoughtfully. "Single-minded. Why'd they stop?"

"Maybe they can't leave the ruins."

"They've killed local farmers. They go out."

Darvin sighed and struggled to sit up. "Then why, oh great storyteller?"

Fife shook his head. Darvin could tell he didn't know, but the halfling examined their surroundings. Darvin glanced around as well.

They rested on the side of a great hill, one wave in a sea of green rolling dunes that stretched out in all directions. The clouds had rolled away, the face of the moon showing at full light this evening. Even Darvin could see clearly, though he trusted Fife's eyes more in the darkness. He peered into the countryside, noting the green and rocky landscape, this cluster of stones one of many among the companion hills.

Further south, below them, lay the dotted lights of the village, silent and tranquil in the distance. Then something caught Fife's attention and he waved frantically, pointing down the valley.

Between them and the village, the tall grass rustled and small dark things scrambled over the rocks, some slower than others.

"The hands," Fife said, horrified.

Darvin followed the line of movement, projecting their path until his eyes came to rest on the sleepy collection of buildings in the distance.

"We have to go," Fife said. "They're going after the village!"

Coming Next Week: A chance at handy victories and handsome rewards in the final chapter of Lucien Soulban's "Fingers of Death—No, Doom!"

Lucien Soulban is an accomplished fantasy and science fiction author who's written shared world fiction for White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, Black Library, and more, including the novels Blood In, Blood Out and The Alien Sea. For more information, visit his website at www.luciensoulban.com.

Illustration by Daniel Masso.

Analyzing a Magic Item Stat Block

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Illustration by Damien Mammoliti

As Ryan Dancey, Clark Peterson, Neil Spicer, and I work our way through the last wondrous item submissions for RPG Superstar, I've come to realize two things. One, magic item stat blocks convey a lot of information, and two, many people don't understand what goes into a magic item stat block. In this blog, I'll dissect a magic item stat block and explain what goes where, and why.

Item Name: This section is self-evident. The magic item name header in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook looks like this is in all caps, but it's just a text style—don't type yours in all caps!

Aura: This section exists so the GM can quickly tell a player what schools of magic the item uses. This is noteworthy only if the PC fails the Spellcraft check to identify the item and needs an idea of what it may do. Auras are always written as "faint," "moderate," or "strong," plus the appropriate school or schools, and perhaps a subschool if relevant.

CL: The caster level tells you what caster level the item operates at. This means you don't have to specify a caster level in the item's description—if you find an orb that can create a fireball, it doesn't need to say "fireball (10d6)." Unless otherwise specified, the item uses this caster level for all of its abilities. The caster level should include the ordinal abbreviation for that number: "CL 1st" instead of just "CL 1," "CL 2nd" instead of just "CL 2," and so on.

Slot: This slot tells you which of the magic item "body slots" the item uses (Core Rulebook 459). If you have to hold the item in your hand (like a rod of wonder) or if it doesn't use a slot at all (like an ioun stone), it's listed slot is "none." (Paizo used to put a dash there for slotless items but no longer does it that way.)

Price: This is the item's market price—how much you'd pay for it if you bought it from an NPC. This is never expressed as a fraction or decimal; "12 gp, 5 sp" is correct, "12.5 gp" is not, nor is "12 1/2 gp." If the item costs more than 999 gp, put a comma in to separate the thousands ("20,000 gp" instead of "20000 gp" or "20.000 gp"). If your item costs more than 200,000 gp, it's probably an artifact rather than a regular magic item. If the item has several types (like a figurine of wondrous power) with different costs, each is listed here, separated by commas.

Weight: This is how much the item weighs, in pounds (abbreviated "lb." for 1 pound or less and "lbs." for 2 or more pounds). Most common items in the game have a specific weight, just for consistency. For example, boots weigh 1 lb., so players don't have to remember different boot weights. Some light items, like gems, headbands, and rings, have a standard weight of "—," which means individually their weight isn't important (though the GM can rule that a chest full of them has weight). When in doubt, find a similar item in the Core Rulebook and use the listed weight.

Description (Header): This is a text format we call a "breaker"—the all caps and lines above and below the text are just an applied style. Like the title, don't type this line in all caps, and don't add underlining.

Description (Paragraph): The paragraph description of a magic item should say (1) what it looks like, (2) what the item does, and (3) how often you can use the item.

Normally, using a magic item is a standard action. You shouldn't give an item a shorter activation time than that because it messes with the "action economy" of the combat round—a player who tries to create a faster item is trying to do more than one magical thing per round.

Whether or not using an item provokes an attack of opportunity is built into how it's activated (Core Rulebook 458). This means for command word items you don't need to say that it's a standard action to activate and that it doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity—that's assumed for all command word items. In fact, the assumption is if an item doesn't say how you activate it, it's a command word item.

Magic items that have effects requiring saving throws should include those saves in the item description. If it's duplicating a spell, the default save DC is the minimum for casting that spell: 10 + 1.5 x the spell's level.

If you refer to specific spells, italicize them, like fireball or pearl of power. If you refer to feats or skill names, capitalize them, like Power Attack, Weapon Focus (longsword), Perception, or Knowledge (local). There's very little else in the game that always requires capitalization—you don't capitalize class names (cleric), race names (dwarf), combat maneuvers (grapple, trip), or other specific rules (breath weapon, drowning, trample, poison).

Construction (Header): Like the Description header, this is not all caps and not manually underlined.

Requirements: This section is all the stuff a character needs to create the item using an item-crafting feat. List the crafting feat first (capitalized), followed by spell names (italicized), followed by any other requirements such as needing ranks in a skill (capitalized) or an ability like channel energy.

Cost: This is the item's sale cost—how much a PC could get for selling it to an NPC. This is always half the item's Price (with the exception of magic weapons, magic armor, and items with expensive material components or foci, because the extra cost is factored in differently). If your item's Cost isn't half its Price, you've done it wrong. All rules for the Price apply to the Cost (no decimals, no fractions, separate variants with commas).

Phew! That's a whole lot of nitpicking, but it can make the difference between a professional-looking item and an amateur-looking one, and between a reasonable item and an overpowered item.

Sean K Reynolds
Designer and RPG Superstar Judge

Official Call for PaizoCon 2012 Volunteers

Monday, January 9, 2012

For PaizoCon 2012, we plan to make this the biggest and best PaizoCon yet! I am scheduling 150 tables of Pathfinder Society over three days. In addition, we are bringing back the Grand Convocation interactive. Finally, we are debuting the GM 101 sessions that will hopefully be a hit so we can continue to offer it at future shows. It should be an awesome time.

I need a minimum of 45 volunteer GMs for Pathfinder Society games and I'll keep taking volunteer GMs until the slots are filled! I also need 2 Volunteer Assistants for the show—these folks will not GM, but will instead help me run Pathfinder Society HQ and will be our go-to guys and gals for all things Pathfinder Society. There may also be special or unique roleplaying opportunities to play the part of a NPC in the Grand Convocation, so please let me know if that is something that might interest you. However, do not narrow your choice to a specific NPC as it may remove you from consideration.

Below you will find the reward structure for volunteering at PaizoCon 2012. Keep in mind that you're volunteering for slots, not a specific event. We will let you know the slots you have been assigned to before the lottery goes live. This should allow you plenty of time to plan a schedule with your friends who are also attending PaizoCon 2012. Please let me know via email which days you will be at the convention and how many slots you are volunteering for at PaizoCon 2012.

Volunteer Tiers and Rewards

Volunteer Assistant: 2 needed, treated as a Tier 1 GM

Tier 1 GM Volunteers: Tier 1 GM volunteers are my everyday GMs. They are invaluable to making the show a success! Tier 1 GMs must select and volunteer for a MINIMUM of 5 slots. Tier 1 GMs may feel free to volunteer for more than 5 slots if they so desire. I only have room for 20 Tier 1 GM volunteers so don't delay in volunteering for this tier. Volunteers will be chosen on a first-come, first-served basis, though I reserve the right to select volunteers who have previously worked for Paizo over new volunteers. Please do not volunteer for Tier 1 if you have any doubts that you'll be able to attend the show. Tier 1 GMs receive:

• A FREE 3-day PaizoCon 2012 badge
• A $10-per-slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions.
• A FREE copy of Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition hardcover at PaizoCon.
• A special Pathfinder Society GM boon available only at PaizoCon.

Tier 2 GM Volunteers: While the rewards for volunteering for this tier are smaller, the majority of my volunteers will come from Tier 2. Tier 2 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 4 slots. Tier 2 GMs receive:

• A FREE 3-day PaizoCon 2012 badge
• A $10-per-slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions.
• A special Pathfinder Society GM boon available only at PaizoCon.

Tier 3 GM Volunteers: This is the minimum volunteer level. Tier 3 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 2 slots. Tier 3 GMs receive:

• A $10-per-slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including subscriptions.
• A special Pathfinder Society GM boon available only at PaizoCon.

While we will gladly accept anyone who wants to run just one slot during the show, there are no rewards for doing so other than our thanks.

When volunteering, please be specific about what days you are volunteering for. I will assign folks to scenarios on an as-needed basis, so you really only need to tell me the day(s) you're volunteering for. I will update the needs in the thread below as I receive volunteers, so you may look there to remain up to date on where we still need help. Lastly, you must have a paizo.com account and you must include your paizo.com email in your email or I won't be able to get you a badge (obviously this is only for volunteers who are volunteering for 4 or more slots).

Slot 1: Friday 8 AM to 1 PM
Slot 2: Friday 1 PM to 6 PM
Slot 3: Friday 7 PM to 12 AM (Grand Convocation Interactive)
Slot 4: Saturday 8 AM to 1 PM
Slot 5: Saturday 1 PM to 6 PM
Slot 6: Sunday 9 AM to 2 PM

All PaizoCon 2012 volunteers please email me at mike.brock@paizo.com with the subject line PaizoCon Volunteer.

Thanks in advance for volunteering, good luck, and have a great spring convention season!

Oh, and one more thing! Don’t forget, next Monday Paizo Fiction Editor will be hanging out in the Paizo chat room at starting at 6 PM PST. Come talk fiction!

Mike Brock
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator

Pathfinder Battles Preview: One More Look at the Bad Guys

Friday, January 6, 2012

January 11th is the official release date for Pathfinder Battles: Heroes & Monsters, our first big set of prepainted miniatures produced in cooperation with WizKids! That means we have only two more chances to show off the final sculpts of minis we've previously revealed only as digital renders or pre-production samples. A few commenters on last week's preview blog also suggested some size comparison shots, which we've thrown together below.

Two weeks from today, we'll begin to reveal some of the amazing miniatures in store for our next set, Rise of the Runelords. We now have photos of paint masters for about half of that set, so you can expect to see some amazing, full-color images pretty much immediately.

But that's the future, and the first set isn't even out yet. It deserves just a little bit more time in the sun.

Once again, these are photos of actual miniatures from the Heroes & Monsters set. Enjoy!

Up first we have the Zombie, a common menace that can't wait to sink its teeth into your player characters. As I chronicled several preview blogs ago, this guy started out with a kind of goofy "dancing" pose, but his revised look is more of an undead lunge, and I'm really pleased with how he turned out.

This rare Werewolf retains very little of his original clothing, and almost none of his humanity. The black paint scheme perfectly matches the common Wolf in this same set, giving you both bestial forms of a lycanthropic menace.

This haunting fellow, the rare Spectre, is enormously spooky. The detailed sculpt of his wispy bottom half looks really great in-hand, as many of you will no doubt discover only a few days from now.

Here we have the uncommon Venomous Snake, looking like it's slithered directly off the page of the Pathfinder Bestiary. Ssssssweet!

Speaking of snakes, who better to accompany the Venomous Snake than the rare Medusa, one of the best sculpts in the set? WizKids did a great job capturing the likeness of this iconic creature, and I'm willing to bet she becomes one of the break-out favorites of the set.

And here's my absolute favorite of the bunch, the rare Ettin. I don't think there's ever been a better prepainted mini of this two-headed giant, who absolutely towers over the other figures in this set.

Don't believe me? Check this out:

See what I mean? This guy is huuuuuge. Ok, he's actually Large, in game terms, but he really pushes the envelope, and is sure to elicit gasps from your players when you plunk him on the table!

Of course, the special promotional Huge Black Dragon (who actually is Huge) is the real masterpiece of the set. Here he is standing next to the Medusa, who really ought to start fast-talking soon. Acid breath cuts right through stone, so I imagine it does a good number of filmy white cloth and slightly scaly skin...

That's it! The final look at the monsters of Heroes & Monsters. Next week, we'll take one more look at the heroes, and after that, we're off to Varisia to take a very early peek at the Rise of the Runelords!

Only five days until the official release of Heroes & Monsters! Order your copies today before they are gone forever (something I suspect will be happening sooner rather than later)!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Round 1 Deadline is Tomorrow!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Greetings, potential superstars! This is just a warning that the deadline for your Round 1 wondrous item submission is tomorrow at 2 PM Pacific Time!

What's that? You say you haven't submitted an item? Why not? You have nothing to lose by submitting an item. Every year, most of the competitors who advance to Round 2 planned their item ahead of time, but we always have a few who decided at the last minute to participate. There's still time tonight to prepare yourself and submit a cool item.

• Read the contest rules.
• Read the Round 1 rules.
• Read my wondrous item advice thread.
• Listen to the RPG Superstar judges giving advice in a PaizoCon panel.

Even if you don't think you're going to win, you should submit something anyway. Your wondrous item may have exactly the sort of creativity the judges are looking for. You may end up writing professionally for Paizo. Wouldn't it be cool to get your name on a Pathfinder RPG book? Wouldn't it be cool to get paid to write roleplaying games? This is an incredible opportunity, and if you don't submit something by tomorrow, you'll have to wait until December next year to try again.

Good luck!

Sean K Reynolds
Designer and RPG Superstar Judge

Fingers of Death—No, Doom!

by Lucien Soulban

Chapter Two: Idle Hands

"Ohhh," Fife groaned. He tried moving, but the world refused to comply, spinning underneath him the way it did. His bones ached and his skin felt like someone had rubbed it with the uncomfortable side of a bar of pumice. He opened his eyes and stared up at the sky—specifically, at the distant hole in the ceiling that revealed the wet gray skies of Andoran.

"That's right..." Memories began to fall back into place for the halfling. The desperate townsfolk who bought their fake luck charms. The murder of farmers. The ruined necromancer's manse. And...

"The hand!" Fife sat up from his throne of rubble, looking for the amputated hand that had sheared Darvin's rope and sent them both tumbling through the weakened floor into the darkness below the manse's basement. He saw no sign of the hand in the brick-lined cistern, but dark waters and shadows lapped at the islands of debris and ribs of shattered timber. Darvin lay atop one of the mounds, eyes closed and body utterly still.

"Darvin!" Fife scrambled over to his compatriot. Darvin didn't respond, even after Fife pulled at the lapels of his beaten leather coat. Left with little recourse, Fife drew back his arm and slapped Darvin hard enough for the sound to echo through the cistern.

"OW!" Darvin shrieked, his eyes flying open. Fife, however, did not let go. "Fife! What in—?

"You know those moments in the story when one hero thinks the other dead, begs him not to die and shares some deep personal truth?"

"Vaguely," Darvin said.

"And then it turns out the other one was only faking his injuries?"

"Oh, yeah?" Darvin said, this time a touch sheepishly.

"This is not one of those moments," Fife said, shaking his brother.

Darvin did nothing to stop him. "But I love those moments."

Fife let go of Darvin's coat and stood. "You weren't unconscious."

"Fife is rarely the hero of his own stories."

"I'm hurt you'd think that," Darvin responded, propping himself up on an elbow and cradling his aggrieved cheek.

"Darvin," Fife warned, looking around. They were well and deep under the manse, the walls too sheer to scale. He leapt to another small island to get a look at a nearby passageway.

"I just want to be held!" Darvin called after him.

Fife ignored his brother. "The hand...?" he asked.

"Somewhere up there, no?" Darvin stood and dusted himself off. Fife could tell he was trying to act unworried, but it was still an act.

"Let's hope so," Fife said; a shiver tore through him.

"It's not really a spider, y'know." Darvin said gently.

Fife waved away his friend's concern. They weren't supposed to talk about the incident—before Darvin's mother adopted Fife as her own and the pair became siblings. He had never told Darvin how his own mother died, but his brother knew it involved a... a....

"It's close enough," Fife said, his voice cracking. He sniffed the air, smelling the earthy stench, and pointed down the rounded corridor. "There's a breeze coming from that direction."

"You mean the breeze with the slightly pungent aroma of rotting meat?" Darvin grabbed the collar of Fife's jerkin and spun him in the direction of another corridor. "That's why we're going down the one that doesn't smell like Death's warm armpit"

"Darvin—"

But Darvin made his way, rather awkwardly, along the small islands to the other corridor. He jumped into the cold water at the head of the corridor and tried not to grimace as the brackish liquid sloshed around his waist. "Oh look!" he said. "I can stand here." He grinned back at the halfling.

Fife glanced at the other corridor. Something scrapped against rock with a light echo, the sound dying quickly. Darvin seemed not to notice, but the halfling suddenly doubted the wisdom of his own choice. Fife turned, took a few quick strides, and launched himself onto his brother's back.

"Changed your—" Darvin began.

"I'm keeping the books dry, you oaf," Fife grumbled.

"Of course." Darvin said as they waded into the waterlogged corridor with its irregular bricks.

The corridor eventually ended at a brick wall with a sluice gate at one end and a moss-covered brick platform with a door to the right. The water reeked of stagnation and decaying sewage. The door bulged out, the wood splintered and cracked under weight.

They stood well to the side as Darvin struggled to pull the wedged door open. When it finally gave, it popped with a rumbling force that slammed Darvin into the wall. The stone and wood spine of a collapsed ceiling tumbled out.

The pair examined the landslide a moment, noting the gaps between timber beams and under larger rocks.

"You can crawl through there," Darvin said, pointing to one of the larger rabbit holes.

"What?!" Fife shouted, barely stopping his voice from squeaking. "Why me? It's large enough for you, too."

"Because you're tiny," Darvin announced.

Fife glared at him. "The gods curse you for that."

"Are they tiny gods?" Darvin asked, grinning.

Fife didn't bother bruising his already soiled dignity, and instead removed his backpack, shoving his cloak inside. "Remember, if I die, it'll be on your head."

"It'll be a tiny funeral," Darvin said cheerfully.

The tunnel was small. Not so tight that Fife felt pressed in, but not so wide that his breathing didn't rabbit faster. Darvin would have a hell of a fit inside, and that made Fife smile.

Obstructions jutted out at sharp angles. Fife crawled over and under them, elbow over elbow, pulling and scraping skin, snagging clothing and tearing fabric in small nicks. Every foot deeper into the burrow tightened a fist around his chest, and panicked thoughts butterflied in his head. He stopped, almost gasping, wanting to crawl back out before the tunnel snapped its teeth around him.

He stared ahead and squinted; did the passage open up, or was that the illusion of desperation? Fife wanted to push forward, but as he watched, a shadow moved against shadow, pebbles clattering in its wake.

Something waited for him just past the opening. He froze.

∗∗∗

Darvin considered lighting a torch to see better; Fife had vanished up ahead, the darkness swallowing him up.

"You okay up there?" Darvin shouted down the throat of the tunnel.

"Shh!" came the response.

"You ‘shh!'" Darvin cried back.

"SHHH!" Fife hissed more urgently.

Darvin almost shouted back at his companion, but a splash caught his attention. He spun around as more splashes followed, echoes that danced along the walls of the tunnel and up his spine... then nothing.

Darvin tiptoed to the edge of the platform. The dying ebb of waves lapped against the stone. Something coursed under the water, casting ripples, heading straight for him.

Unbidden, his memory suddenly offered up a crystal-clear image of the severed hand dancing on the fraying rope, finger-blades flickering.

Darvin bolted for the small hole, shoving Fife's bag in first and crawling after it. Rocks and the tips of broken timbers poked and jabbed him. The bag snagged and he struggled to push it forward despite the tearing sound that followed. The tunnel pressed against him, and he wrenched his shoulder pushing himself through.

"Fife!" Darvin shouted.

"Shh!"

"Move!"

"For the love of our mother, shh!" Fife cried back.

"Stop telling me to shush! The hand's behind me!"

"No it's not," Fife shouted, far closer than Darvin would have thought. "It's in front of us."

"Behind!" Darvin insisted. The bag hit resistance, and Darvin looked up at the blackened soles of Fife's feet. Something scampered in the tunnel behind Darvin, and more stones tumbled from their perch. He couldn't see past his own body, however, and opted to push instead.

∗∗∗

Fife felt something press against his feet and almost shrieked in terror. He raised his head to see Darvin shoving his bag—shoving Fife—toward the opening a handful of feet away and the noise that had turned into an impatient clicking, like the tapping of metal fingers.

"No, Darvin!" Fife shouted. He pressed his hands against the rocks and kicked at the bag.

"Stop that, you lout! Something's behind me!"

Before Fife could protest, Darvin gave another shove, sending the halfling toward the hole and pinning his hands under his body, squashed tight against rock.

The mummified hand leapt into the opening, its tensing fingers covered in blades. Fife screamed. Darvin screamed in response, though unlikely for the same reason. Or maybe it was. Fife didn't care.

The hand scampered forward on its fingers, and Fife struggled to free his arms. Darvin pushed him another inch closer. The hand was, for the lack of better measurements, only a handful of feet away.

Fife rolled to his side, pressing his back painfully against the rubble until his arms popped free, his fingers aching and bruised. The hand sprang toward him, fingers propelling it forward. Naturally, Darvin pushed him again, screaming something about the thing at his feet and life having failed his expectations. Fife couldn't reach the dirk at his belt, but in the attempt his hand rubbed against the bamboo quill in his breast pocket. He grabbed it and swung hard, stabbing the amputated hand as it came within an inch of shaving his eyebrows.

Fife stabbed the hand again with the sharp quill, his vision red pinpricks of focus and flushed hot with blood. Suddenly, the lip of the tunnel loomed and he found popping free like a cork, shoved out by a panicking Darvin. He barely had time to roll nimbly away before his human companion came crashing down as well, almost crushing him.

∗∗∗

Darvin pushed to his feet quickly, pulling on his sheathed dagger to defend himself, the stuck weapon flopping uselessly against his leg. The skittering in the tunnel grew louder.

Darvin glanced up just in time to catch a scurry of movement and the gleam of red eyes. It took him a second to register that second part before several large and frightened brown rats tore out of the tunnel, screeching in protest. They ran past Darvin and a prone Fife, who pulled away from the rodents, before scrabbling through cracks in the wall.

"Rats!" Darvin exclaimed, laughing in relief. "All that nonsense for rats!" He noticed the amputated hand, its fingers curled up like the legs of a dead spider. "When did I do that?"

"You?" Fife stood and drew himself up to his full three-foot height. "That was me!"

"Really?" Darvin said. "That sounds more like something I'd do."

"I killed it!" Fife said, then seemed to startle as he realized what he'd said. "Me! I did that! I killed it! I'm the hero of the village." He held his bamboo quill aloft like a champion wielding a blade, or at least a really big turkey leg. "The quill is mightier than the sword!"

"Now that's just silly," Darvin said. "Hyperbole will get you killed. Especially in a sword-versus-quill fight." He looked around the chamber.

The world seemed to slow, dread flowing back into him like cold water into an empty cup. "Fife," Darvin said quietly, "don't turn around."

Of course Fife turned around. As soon as he said it, Darvin realized how foolish the statement was. Turning is precisely the first thing one does when told "don't turn around." It was an inherent contradiction, much like when someone says, "This tastes horrible... here, try it."

They stood in a circular domed chamber, a door against the curve of the opposite wall. In the center rested a huge table with its sides flanked by drawers and the top covered in beakers, jars, books, powder packets, measuring tools, and innumerable other instruments. Above the worktable hung a wood-wheel chandelier crusted in wax.

Twenty tables lined the curving walls, and upon each lay a corpse in some advanced state of decay.

"Darvin," Fife whispered.

Darvin touched his brother's shoulder. "I told you not to turn around." In retrospect, though, Darvin wasn't sure how he expected Fife to continue without turning around.

"No," Fife said, nodding to the bodies; all manacled, Darvin now noticed. And all missing their hands.

"Oh," Darvin said.

And from all the dark places in the room and the large cracks in the floor came a scurrying of movement.

Coming Next Week: Things get further out of hand in Chapter Three of Lucien Soulban's "Fingers of Death—No, Doom!"

Lucien Soulban is an accomplished fantasy and science fiction author who's written shared world fiction for White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, Black Library, and more, including the novels Blood In, Blood Out and The Alien Sea. For more information, visit his website at www.luciensoulban.com.

Illustration by Daniel Masso.

New Year, New Goblins

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Illustration by Miroslav Petrov

Everyone loves goblins, right? And by extension, folks are keen on their goblinoid brethren, the militaristic hobgoblins and the sadistic bugbears. Well, this month we introduce a new goblinoid subtype humanoid to Golarion—the kijimuna, a native of the Dragon Empires of Tian Xia. These CR 2 creatures are known for their wild, bright red hair and their wide, mischievous grins, and enjoy fishing almost as much as playing pranks and practical jokes on unsuspecting targets. Much like their Inner Sea cousins, kijimunas have a deep-seated fear of a single creature, in this case the octopus, and when faced with an octopus, a kijimuna either flees in terror or desperately fights. Unlike the other goblinoid races, however, kijimunas are not innately evil, and typically have chaotic neutral alignments.

The kijimuna receives a full write-up in the forthcoming Pathfinder Adventure Path #53: Tide of Honor, due to hit stores and subscribers’ mailboxes later this month, and appear in one of the two new Pathfinder Society Scenarios released last week—Pathfinder Society Scenario #3–11: The Quest for Perfection, Part II: On Hostile Waters—in which the intrepid Pathfinders journey through kijimuna territory as they sail down a great river.

Mark Moreland
Developer

Here's to a Wondrous 4712

Monday, January 2, 2012

The Paizo offices are closed today as we all celebrate another orbital cycle around the sun, and it’s likely many of you fine Paizo blog readers are off today doing the same. But that doesn’t mean everyone should relax. No, the fine RPG Superstar judges are working hard to pare down the entrants in this year’s contest to the 32 best submissions, and since their judging duties are in addition to their everyday jobs, a day off is a great time to make headway on the daunting task.

For those of you playing at home, a holiday is also a great time to get your Round 1 entry polished off and submitted. There are only a few days left to submit your wondrous item for review and a chance to make the Top 32 and move on to Round 2 of RPG Superstar 2012, so don’t miss out! The deadline is this Friday, January 6; see all the rules and submission guidelines here.

May 4712 AR be the best year yet for Paizo, RPG Superstar, and all of you—our faithful fans and constant customers. Desna smile upon you!

Mark Moreland
Developer