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?
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.”
Illustrations by Andrew Hou. Wallpaper design by Crystal Frasier.
We Love Goblins!
Friday, February 4, 2011
We definitely love goblins here at Paizo. In fact, more than anything we love them blinded, helpless, and fascinated. And with this new wallpaper, you can too! This wallpaper uses artwork from the soon-to-arrive Condition Cards, the latest Game Mastery card set from Paizo. With these cards you'll be able to easily keep track of the Pathfinder RPG's most common conditions, making it so you'll never miss a modifier again!
For some time now James has been warning the rest of the office of his general cheeriness or crabbiness with a printout of the goblins from the GameMastery Condition Cards and a Post-It arrow hanging on his door. Without the cards themselves, though, some of the meanings have been mysterious. Like the goblin below, for example: are his ears loose? Is he using mind powers? Could he be trying to keep the demons out? Yesterday it was hard to say, but not today, with the printer proofs of the Condition Cards that just drifted in.
Illustrations by Andrew Hou
Deafened, James? If only it was that easy to make the screaming stop.
This weekend designers Jason Bulmahn and Sean K Reynolds will be prowling the Las Vegas strip under the pretext of being guests at Neoncon. If you're planning on attending Neoncon, make sure you seek those guys out and say "hi!" If you have pseudo-celebrity paralysis, though, and need more of an icebreaker, I've included some suggestions along with their schedules below. And don't worry, while he looks scary, it's the other one you need to worry about.
Jason Bulmahn's NeonCon Schedule
Friday
Friday, 10 a.m.: Game Designer 101
Friday, 11 a.m.: Pathfinder RPG Design Time
Friday, 2 p.m.: Designing Content for the Pathfinder RPG
Friday, 7 p.m.: Game Designer 101
Saturday
Saturday, 10 a.m.: Game Designer 101
Saturday, 11 a.m.: Pathfinder RPG Design Time
Saturday, 2 p.m.: Designing Content for the Pathfinder RPG
Sunday
Sunday, 10 a.m.: Game Designer 101
Sunday, 3 p.m.: Game Designer 101
Icebreakers:
I hear you're doing an early playtest of "Words of Power" from Ultimate Magic here at the show. What's the deal?
What happened to the kangaroo that used to be on your desk?
Why, Jason? Just why?
Sean K Reynolds's NeonCon Schedule
Friday
Friday 2 p.m.: Designing Content for the Pathfinder RPG
Friday 4 p.m.: Deities and Your Campaign World
Friday 6 p.m.: Miniatures Assembly 101
Friday 9 p.m.: Stories We Only Tell In Person
Saturday
Saturday 10:30 a.m.: Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
Saturday 2 p.m.: Designing Content for the Pathfinder RPG
Saturday 4 p.m.: Filing Off the Serial Numbers
Saturday 6:30 p.m.: Miniatures Painting 101
Plus crashing other seminars
Icebreakers
What's the coolest thing in Ultimate Magic that I don't know about?
Who's your favorite Pathfinder deity?
How's your weekly lunchtime painting group going?
I heard you're a scary germophobe. Is this true?
Why does your office look like you're moving... and then an earthquake happened... and then the apocalypse hit?
First: NEW FORMAT! Starting with Map Pack: Shops and going forward we'll be employing the same technology that makes our Flip Mats erasable wonders, resistant to wet-erase, dry-erase, even permanent markers. One of the things we heard again and again at conventions over the summer was that folks loved the Map Packs, but wished they could write on them. Great idea! And for everyone who wished for this: wish granted!
Second: They Sync Up! Look at your Map Pack: Shops. Now look at Flip Mat: City Streets. Now back to Map Pack: Shops. Notice anything? Map Pack: Shops shows the insides and multiple floors of the buildings on Flip Mat: City Streets! Confused? Just look at the clever little illustration Crystal put together showing exactly how these two useful map tools become even handier when used together.
Cartography by Corey Macourek. Graphic by Crystal Frasier
Third: Look at Map Pack: Shops. Close. No, real close. See that? Yeah, that's a little symbol of Desna, just like the one that showed up in the Rise of the Runelords Item Cards. Tricky huh? Since these are shops, cartographer Corey Macourek threw in a few bits of inventory from our past Item Card sets. They're really tiny, so it's still up to you what these shops carry, but for all of you now in the know, it's just a cool Easter egg.
So just a few new ideas to keep your game fresh and your gaming table looking great! We've also got a few more tricks in store for the Map Pack and Flip Mat lines coming down the road, so keep your eye out for what's ahead!
Sometimes, when we're trying to push a big book like Bestiary 2 out the door, it's five o'clock before anyone realizes we didn't put together a blog. So no one out there thinks the cave raptors finally got loose and gobbled us all up, please enjoy a new goblin from the upcoming Pathfinder Condition Cards and this picture of Sutter hard at work editing Plague of Shadows!
Aside from a metric ton of advice, new rules, charts, tools, and the like, one thing the GameMastery Guide has in spades is awesome new art! As you might have seen on the snippet from the credits page last week, a horde of fantastic artists contributed to this tome. We also did something a little unusual. Rather than illustrating every topic with our iconic heroes or scenes of battle or whatever have you, Andrew Hou created a host of murderously adorable little mascots. A host of murderously adorable little goblin mascots. So, guiding you through the ins and outs, the perils and the pleasures of the GM's art, you'll find these mischievous little menaces causing all sorts of trouble.
Illustrations by Andrew Hou
But the goblins aren't alone. We've got an entire gallery full of incredible art, with quite a few familiar faces, to preview over the coming weeks. For now, check out a few of our mascots' hijinks, along with a sampling of some of the GameMastery Guide's other full-body illustrations.
Illustrations by Eva Widermann
Illustration by Florian Stitz
Next week, check in for a first look at one of the things sure to get you GMs drooling, a preview of the GameMastery Guide's expansive NPC Gallery.
Things continue to be very hectic around here as we ride the wave of the convention season tsunami. So much so that a few stealthy projects have slipped through the cracks here on the blog. For example, Plot Twist Cards. So here's a brief gallery of just a few of the deck's dozens of awesome illustrations, all from the delightfully demented brush of illustrator Matt Dixon. Enjoy!
I'm playing an alchemist in Josh Frost's Tuesday night game. Though I've played many caster characters in my day, including some with item creation feats, the alchemist class is very reliant on consumable items—the mutagens, bombs, extracts, potions, and alchemical items it creates. Inspired by Crystal Frasier's use of our GameMastery Item Cards for her character's scrolls, I started to assemble a collection of potion and alchemical cards for my character, Maro. However, given the number of formulas he knows, plus three mutagens, bombs, and the many alchemical items already in the game (plus more to come with Adventurer's Armory later this month), I ended up with more than 20 cards, and given that on any round I might be using any of them, sorting through them wasn't as efficient as I'd like. So I built a one-page alchemist tracking sheet.
Using a combination of item card art, public domain art, things I drew myself, and some manipulation with a graphics program, I now have a sheet that shows Maro's three mutagens, his bombs, bottles for his known extracts, and bottles for 12 of the most common alchemical items he may make, buy, or carry. Now when he prepares a Dexterity mutagen (which he calls his "snake potion"), I draw one box by the green mutagen bottle, and mark it off when he drinks it. Each day, I draw a box by his bomb bottle for each of his daily uses and mark them off as he throws them. Boxes go by the alchemical items he has and are likewise marked off. The last section is extracts and potions, which serves a dual purpose as he can create an extract or potion from any formula he knows. If he makes a potion, I draw a box by it and write "P" in it so I remember it's a potion (usable by anyone in the party); if he makes an extract that day, I draw a box with an "E" in it so I know only he can use it.
This tracking sheet also makes it easy if the other PCs need to grab a potion while Maro is unconscious; presumably he's explained which potions are which or labeled them, and any ally trying to find a cure wounds potion on his unconscious body can immediately tell what to look for and if he has any available. It also prevents the ally from trying to drink his extracts (which don't work for anyone but him).
The tracking sheet I use actually has the names of Maro's mutagens ("bear potion," "gorilla potion," and "snake potion") and formulas (cure light wounds, disguise self, enlarge person, expeditious retreat, jump, shield, and true strike) on it. I thought as a generic tool for any alchemist the sheet is more useful without those names so you can customize the list for your alchemist (or potion-brewer) PC, so the version here has blank spaces in those areas. If you want to type your potion names onto the tracking sheet instead of writing them by hand, the font I used is "The Alchemist" by S. John Ross's Cumberland Fontworks (see page 2 of that link). He has some really cool fonts on his site (and some other gaming stuff). The fonts are free for noncommercial use, and he gave permission for Paizo to use the font in this blog post. Thanks, S.J.R.!
This week Paizo posted new product descriptions for dozens of products to be released in the third trimester of 2010, including new hardcover books, a revision of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting, and a brand new line of Pathfinder novels!
We've been hard at work on these items for months, and even though you'll have to wait until at least September before they hit your game table, we're thrilled to finally be able to discuss some of this stuff in public. The suspense has been killing us!
Folks are already discussing some of our new releases on the paizo.com messageboards, but as the commentary has been flying fast and furious over the last couple days, I figured it might be helpful to post a broad overview of our new offerings here on the blog, with direct links to the products in question.
So without further ado, let's plug ourselves into the future-caster time machine and take a journey forward to September through December 2010. Bring your dice and a few character sheets. You're going to need them!
PATHFINDER FICTION
The biggest announcement is a brand new line of Pathfinder novels written by some of the biggest names in fantasy fiction! The first book, Winter Witch, by New York Times best-selling author Elaine Cunningham, explores the tale of a barbarian shield maiden who ventures from Varisia to the winter-locked land of Irrisen to rescue a possessed sister—and the canny young cartographer who follows her into that haunted land. The book formally releases in September, but we'll have copies on hand at this year's Gen Con Game Fair as a special preview. October sees the release of Prince of Wolves, by former Amazing Stories and Dragon editor Dave Gross, which revisits the Pathfinder agent Varian Jeggare and his tiefling assistant Radovan, last seen in the Pathfinder Journal section of the Council of Thieves Adventure Path. Additional novels will follow in 2011 from well-known authors including Paul S. Kemp and other familiar faces. Stay tuned for more info!
NEW HARDCOVERS
Following up on the forthcoming GameMastery Guide
and Advanced Player's Guide, 2010 will see the release of one more hardcover rulebook in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game line: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2! Like the first Bestiary, Bestiary 2 will include more than 300 monsters for use with the Pathfinder RPG, including old favorites like the hippogriff and new planar creatures like the aeons and proteans. This book will cover most of the standard monsters from the history of the game that we couldn't fit in the first Bestiary, as well as tons of other great monsters you've never seen before. Each monster will receive a full page or a 2-page spread, using the same format as the original book.
Supplies of the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting hardcover are dwindling faster than we can count, so in September we'll release a revised edition in the form of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting World Guide: The Inner Sea. Fully updated to the Pathfinder RPG rules and with expanded coverage of nearly every nation, the latest version of this book contains a new cover from Wayne Reynolds, an updated map, fixed errata from the first edition, and more than 300 pages packed with tons of information about the lands, peoples, beliefs, and cultures of the world of Golarion. Paizo Creative Director James Jacobs is giving this project his personal finish, making sure our campaign setting book is a solid bedrock of our publishing operation for years to come. We're really pleased with the early development of this book, and think it will be an ideal resource for all Pathfinder players and game masters.
PATHFINDER CHRONICLES
In addition to the revised campaign setting, in late 2010 we'll release the Inner Sea Map Folio, a massive 32-panel map of the Inner Sea region containing all "canonical" locations from every Pathfinder product published to date! This monster is sure to brighten up the gaming room or man-cave of any Pathfinder enthusiast, and its "four poster" format will even allow for easy reference at the game table for those lacking the wall space to do it justice. The Campaign Setting product line will also see a new Classic Monsters-style book in the form of Misfit Monsters Redeemed (and you won't believe what that's about until you read the description, believe me) as well as Lost Cities of Golarion, which explores six adventure locales from throughout the world of Golarion.
PATHFINDER PLAYER COMPANION
We can't let the GMs have all the fun, after all, so we've also planned a couple of sure-fire player's guides for the last third of 2010 that will be must-buys for Pathfinder RPG players. October sees the release of the Inner Sea Primer, a slimmed-down overview of the Pathfinder world designed specifically for players. This book will include tons of new character traits tied to the regions and religions of Golarion, and will provide a perfect "gist" of the setting for those looking to dip a toe in the water without needing to buy a big hardcover book. December sees the release of Halflings of Golarion, which rounds out the player's guides to the standard "demihuman" player character races in the Pathfinder RPG with plenty of details on how to integrate them into Golarion campaigns. Lots of fun equipment and lore in this one for fans of halflings (and everyone else, too)!
PATHFINDER MODULES
Gamers have been asking for a high-level Pathfinder adventure since the very beginning, and now I'm pleased to report that the time has come at last! Shipping in September, The Witchwar Legacy takes 17th-level player characters to the snow-shrouded witch kingdom of Irrisen to thwart a plan by the Ice Queen involving the insidious Baba Yaga herself! If that's not enough, in November we'll release a brand-new 1st-level starter adventure called The Godsmouth Heresy, set in the shadowy city of Kaer Maga, site of June's City of Strangers sourcebook!
GAMEMASTERY ACCESSORIES
Paizo's popular map products keep on coming in the last part of 2010, including the first-ever crossover between the Map Pack and Flip-Mat lines! Everything starts innocently enough in September with the release of Flip-Mat: Forest, but things really get interesting in October, with Map Pack: Shops. This 18-tile map set includes the interiors for several different stores, apothecaries, taverns, and the like, but things become super-special when you combine this pack with November's Flip-Mat: City Streets, which details a mercantile district suitable for use with other city Flip-Mats. The roofed buildings on this Flip-Mat (suitable for rooftop chases) correspond exactly to the interiors presented in Map Pack: Shops, providing a uniquely immersive tabletop experience. And if that's not enough to impress your jaded players, spring December's Map Pack: Ambush Sites on them. They probably deserve it.
GameMastery Cards keep coming as well, this time in the form of new GameMastery Condition Cards, handy reference cards for all of the various conditions in the Pathfinder RPG rules.
PATHFINDER ADVENTURE PATH
And, of course, we haven't forgotten the date that brought us to the big dance in the first place. The last trimester of 2010 will see plenty of action in the Pathfinder Adventure Path line, as the Serpent's Skull Adventure Path takes a jungle trail toward its stunning conclusion! Ruined Azlanti cities, Red Mantis assassins, monkey-men, the Pathfinder Society, ancient serpentfolk, and one very, very angry Gorilla King are all in store in a quartet of adventures by Tim Hitchcock, Kevin Kulp, Greg A. Vaughan, and Graeme Davis! The Serpent's Skull is a return to classic-style adventuring in the Pathfinder tradition, and we can't wait to get you guys into the jungle!
I'm saving our Planet Stories releases for tomorrow's blog, so be sure to tune in then for some of the biggest Planet Stories news we've had yet!
So much is happening here at Paizo these days that it's difficult to remember the uncertainty and horror of the last few years, with major changes to our business, our game system, and our lives. All of us really appreciate the support you have shown us so far, and we look forward to more exciting products in the months and years to come!
There's some nonsense about face cards coming out. On the one hand, I GM, and would find them very nice to have. On the other hand, my players tend to lump NPCs into two groups, one of which is rated R but not for violence, the other is "dismemberable." They are motivated by things like money and loot, and if an old lady on a card asks them to get her cat out of a tree, they'll write "hobo, no money, hope cat dies," and then write a number which represents her physical attractiveness on a scale of 1–20. The kinds of notes they'd leave on the back of my treasured face cards would hopefully be written in pencil.
Illustration by Udon
Illustration by Imaginary Friends Studios
Illustration by Andrew Hou
That said, if you're like me and hope to one day train your players into the kind of people that are generally nice, roleplay with accents, and take feats which give bonuses to social skills, then, by all means, let them scribble on the back of something. You may be pleasantly surprised to find a card with "cool dude," or "super nice, wish her the best in Mendev," written on it. These kinds of idle hopes drive GMs to buying so-called, "nice things," and I, for one, am tired of hearing the responses my couch-seated group of closeted anarchists comes up with when I say, "blonde, good-looking, wears leather armor." I guess it's good they're just face portraits.
The dash toward the 2009 ENnie Awards has begun with Paizo accepting nominations in six categories, including a fan nomination for Best Publisher! These acknowledgments start off the process of honoring the best products and ideas in the last year of tabletop gaming, but in the end it all relies on you! Be sure to check back in with the ENnies this Friday when voting begins, giving you the chance to cast your ballot for your favorite games and accessories.
Here's this year's rundown of Paizo Products up for honors:
Check out all the publishers at the ENnies Awards homepage, and be sure to check back this Friday for your chance to cast your vote! Thanks to ENWorld and all of you for this year's nominations and the endless support!
Water trickles across the floor and drips from the ceiling. Skittering sounds echo from somewhere up ahead and around a corner. The pungent stench of mildew emanates off the wet dungeon walls.
This art sample is but a whiff of what these map tiles may inspire you to tell your players about the dank, dark caverns that they will be traipsing through! The newest addition to the Map Packs line takes adventurers deep into the belly of the world with Map Pack: Caverns. Featuring twists, turns, and troubles for your group, this map pack is the perfect accessory for that delve you've been planning. Map Pack: Caverns will be in stores early July.
Well, not exactly, but the lovely armor worn by Queen Ileosa's Gray Maidens—from the Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path, and thus the Curse of the Crimson Throne Item Card deck—is for women only. Make no mistake, though: you do NOT want to mess with them, no matter how good their armor looks.
On the even less subtle side, the Hellknight Order of the Nail stomps around Korvosa in their less stylish but far more intimidating apparel. As befits an organization with "Hell" in its name, the Hellknights dress to inspire fear and wonder in those who meet or oppose them. Unlike the Gray Maidens, though, the Hellknights are open to people of both genders.
They've delved Dungeon Chambers, braved Haunted Mansions, explored Cities and the Countryside, but nothing has prepared Map Packs for the their latest venture: a look into the dark underbelly of urban life in the Slums. Presenting what is likely the highest rat-to-map-grid ratio of any GameMastery Map Pack, Slums is already available in stores and paizo.com.
The original Adventure Gear proved to be both well-received and successful. By popular demand we have now released Adventure Gear 2. Check out some of the new things you can expect to find in the set!
The Critical Fumble Deck is due to hit our warehouse any day now. As promised, here are a couple aof additional sample cards and a look at the optional rules card. This card gives you some extra tools for fitting critical fumbles into your game. Take a look. Feel free to post up your optional rules for using this deck in our forums. This Critical Fumble Deck is a sequel to the extremely popular Critical Hit Deck that hit store shelves early last year. These two decks can be used together to add a new element of surprise to your combats.
With the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path underway in the pages of Pathfinder, we have recently sent off the Curse of the Crimson Throne Item Cards to the printer. This set includes a wide variety of the items you might encounter while taking the fight to the foes of Korvosa. Inside you will find such gems as totem spear, the doctor's mask, and the mysterious harrow deck. Need more proof that this is shaping up to be a great set, take a look at these cards. The Curse of the Crimson Throne Item Card deck consists of 54 cards and is compatible with any fantasy roleplaying game (such as the Pathfinder RPG). This deck is due to hit stores in May.
Here is a sneak peek inside our GameMastery Map Pack: Slums. Whether you're tromping the streets of Old Korvosa, any of the other cities in Golarion, or a city of your own making, it's bound to have slums. Take a look at our map tiles for the really-low-rent district.
Everybody loves the stories about the critical hit that brought down the dragon just when all seemed lost. Unfortunately, combat is not all about the best hits. Sometimes, it is about the most horrible misses. The Critical Fumble Deck is expected to hit our warehouse here in just a few weeks. This deck of cards is a sequel to the immensely popular Critical Hit Deck we released last year. Although you do not need the Critical Hit Deck to use the Critical Fumble Deck, the two can work in harmony together, bringing both joy and sorrow to your players. Either way, you're in for a good time. Next week, we will take a look at a few more cards and some of the optional rules for using the deck.
From the journal of Mike Selinker, the first harrower:
The story of Harrow starts as all good stories do, with Erik Mona and a portent of doom. "You, Master Selinker," he foreshadowed, "are being hunted by a undaunted band of brothers. A band that cannot be daunted by the mightiest of daunters. I speak, perforce, of the strapping young men of Pathfinder. They are coming for you."
I sought an exit, but these are Pathfinders, you see. They can find anyone, and since I am anyone, they found me. From me they demanded a boon: a tarot deck they could call their very own. Messrs. James and James and Jason and F. Wesley believed that the world thirsted for such a deck. I was the humble peddler of games that could slake this thirst.
"Sa-ha!" I vocalized to all who would hear, "I shall call this deck 'Harrow,' as it speaks of travels through the inferno, and it rhymes with 'Tarot.' And I shall not be alone in this undertaking! If I am to walk this road, I will have a mighty illustrator to illuminate my path." This depicter of souls would be Kyle Stanley Hunter, he who could pluck from the darker planes the disturbing images that would force legions of gamers into hiding betwixt carpet and bed.
"I need one card," I posited to Mr. Stanley Hunter, and his expression of relief was palpable, and just as fleeting when I continued: "One card for each of fifty-four intersections of alignments and abilities laid upon an imperceptible grid. This is what I command. But what shall they be?"
"There may be a prince of rabbits," Kyle pronounced, "and a cricket with a melon, and a queen with six legs, and...." I left him to his prattle, and hearkened for a woman who could detail our method of beckoning that would strip the truth from the past, the present, and the future. This woman was the oddly-named Teeuwynn Woodruff, an oracle of (Phila-)Delphi(-a). "Tell me of my future," I beseeched Mistress Teeuwynn, "the future which involves you writing most of this rulebook."
She set her laptop to such a divinatory task, and I returned to Squire Bulmahn, he of the boisterous laugh and unbending stomach. "From you I do exact a concept for a cutthroat gambling game," I invoked. He had been warned of his destiny. "There shall be towers," he declaimed. "Oh, yes, there shall be towers."
Could there be a pair of stalwarts to weave all this together, I conjectured? There could. We would enlist yet another Mike (McArtor) and still a third James (Davis) in the editing and graphic design of this most epic of decks. From hither and from yon, they weaved.
Now it was done. The past, present, and future were divined. All that remained was the ritual sharing of the stomach-turning soda pops, and the recounting of the glories, and the filling of the requisite 500-word count. Which is now complete.
Pathfinder #14 Second Darkness Chapter 2: "Children of the Void"—A star has fallen from the sky, destroying the island known as the Devil's Elbow. Tasked by a group of elven bounty hunters to investigate a dark elf assassin tied to the catastrophe, the heroes travel to the blasted island only to find it crawling with prospectors, merchants, and mercenaries eager to salvage the legendary "skymetal" sure to have fallen from space.
Pathfinder #15 Second Darkness Chapter 3: "The Armageddon Echo"—Evidence recovered from the devastated island known as the Devil's Elbow indicates that vile dark elves have infiltrated the ruined elven city of Celwynvian. The heroes join forces with the valorous elves of Crying Leaf in an attempt to reclaim the city from darkness.
Pathfinder #16 Second Darkness Chapter 4: "Endless Night"—Disguised as evil dark elves, the heroes penetrate a hidden city in the subterranean Darklands in an effort to discover the drow plan for the coming apocalypse. The possibility of a traitor among the goodly elves of the surface world and the discovery of the heroes' ruse leads to a race through treacherous caverns in a desperate effort to warn allies of impending doom.
Pathfinder #17 Second Darkness Chapter 5: "A Memory of Darkness"—Armed with the knowledge that an elven traitor supplied the drow with the magical means to call down the stars and devastate Golarion, the PCs arrive at the elven nation of Kyonin to find their claims falling on deaf ears.
Pathfinder Chronicles
Pathfinder Chronicles: Gods & Magic—This comprehensive 64-page guidebook provides an overview of the 20 "core" Pathfinder Chronicles gods and their religions, with an emphasis on rules and information players can use at the game table, whether they're playing a zealous cleric, brave paladin, or simply a faithful member of any character class.
Pathfinder Chronicles: Into the Darklands—Delve the deep secrets of the Darklands, a subterranean realm frequented by dark elves, shadow dragons, and worse! This comprehensive sourcebook provides an overview of the cavernous realms below the surface of the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting.
Pathfinder Chronicles: Guide to Absalom—The largest and most important metropolis in the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting comes alive in this comprehensive guide to the City at the Center of the World!
GameMastery Maps
GameMastery Flip-Mat: Darklands—features a maze of interconnected underworld tunnels. The Flip side features a huge, cavernous chamber.
GameMastery Flip-Mat: Desert—features a majestic desert filled with blowing sands and massive dunes. The Flip side features a desert oasis centered on a small pond and teeming with life.
GameMastery Map Pack: Elven City—Locations include: Treehouse Dwelling, Mystic Arch, Statuary Garden Temple of the Four Winds, and Council of Chambers.
The Dark World, by Henry Kuttner—Henry Kuttner's Sword and Sorcery classic returns to print at last! World War II veteran Edward Bond's recuperation from a disastrous fighter plane crash takes a distinct turn for the weird when he encounters a giant wolf, a red witch, and the undeniable power of the need-fire, a portal to a world of magic and swordplay at once terribly new and hauntingly familiar.
Death in Delhi, by Gary Gygax—A giant ruby and a plea to rescue the purloined crown jewels of Delhi arrives at the villa of Magister Setne Inhetep, philosopher-wizard of the Pharaoh of Aegypt!
A couple of weeks ago, we previewed a number of cards for Adventure Gear 2, the new set of GameMastery Item Cards due out next month. Since we are going to be starting up a contest next week in celebration of the Critical Fumble Deck, this is going to be one of our last chances to take a look at this exciting sequel to Adventure Gear before it hits the streets. Take a look.
One year ago, we released Adventure Gear, a set of item cards designed to depict most of the common items adventurers carry with them deep into the bowels of the earth. There was only one problem: You can never have enough gear to bring with you into the bowels of the earth. Enter Adventure Gear 2, a new 54-card set of item cards depicting even more of the common items your adventurer carries with them... ah, you get the idea. Anyway, enough of my talking, take a look at some of these cards from the set.
The Harrow Deck has a wide variety of uses, from a divination tool to a common game played for coppers in taprooms across Golarion. The game is known as Towers, and it is included in the Harrow Deck.
Towers is a simple gambling game for two to four players. At the start of the game, six special cards are laid out from the Harrow Deck, forming the base of the towers. Each player is dealt a hand of three cards. Players take turns placing cards from their hand onto the towers, trying to rid themselves of as many cards as possible while blocking the way for opponents to do the same. If you can't play some of your cards, they accrue as debt owed to the other players. As the game progresses it becomes harder and harder to play your cards and your debt can really spiral out of control. The game comes to an end when no one can play any more cards. At that point, each player's debt is tallied and players must pay the difference to those with a lower value.
The game is simple to learn, but has some complex strategy for those who are eager to fleece their opponents. A word of caution: This game can be addictive and I would hate to see someone lose a vorpal sword over a few bad hands.
With all the hustle and bustle around here with installments of Pathfinder and GameMastery Modules going out the door, it is easy to forget some of the other projects we have cooking here at the Paizo Labs. One such product has been called for since the moment its predecessor hit store shelves. So, without further ado, I am here to announce that the GameMastery Critical Fumble Deck is off to the printers (and has been for a couple weeks). We are hoping to see this product sometime next month and we will be running some previews as we get a bit closer. Until then, here is an image of the box to tide you over. Take a good look, but be careful: If you fumble, you just might "Shoot Your Eye Out: The attack hits you and is a critical threat. You must roll to confirm the critical hit." Enjoy!
One of the most innovative things I've seen in D&D occurred back in the original Ravenloft, where the villain's motivation, treasure placement, and adventure goals depended upon the results of an in-game fortune-telling session. Even years later, I still recall that feeling of surprise and excitement when I first looked through that adventure. With Curse of the Crimson Throne, Pathfinder's second Adventure Path, we'll be trying something similar.
The Harrow deck is our fortune-telling tool for this Adventure Path. The deck itself is a 54-card deck broken down into six suits of nine cards each. While, in-game, these six suits and the card images themselves are "in character," it draws a lot of its inspiration from the mechanics of the game as well. The deck's six suits each symbolize one of the six basic attributes all characters are built around: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. And in each of those six suits, we have nine different cards for each of the nine alignments. Therefore, we have a chaotic evil Wisdom card, a neutral good Strength card, a lawful neutral Dexterity card, and so on.
Of course, the actual art on each of these cards hides its genesis in the rules behind symbolism and metaphor, so you don't have to worry about any weird self-aware metagame strangeness popping up (I doubt very much you'd ever hear a Varisian say something like, "that chaotic evil king has a really low charisma!"). The Harrow deck itself is an ancient divination tool used by the Varisians to tell the future and divine fortunes. Think of it as an RPG-version of the tarot deck.
Each of Curse of the Crimson Throne's six adventures are also tied in theme to the six suits of the Harrow deck, and as you play through this new Adventure Path, Harrow deck readings can provide valuable insights, helpful bonuses, or even unexpected perils and dangers. You can expect to see some recurring themes throughout the Adventure Path tied to the Harrow deck, but we'll be going beyond that. Players will be able to select a feat, "Harrowed," that'll let them use draws from the deck to hopefully tip fortune in their favor. Visit a rough-and-tumble bar down on the waterfront in Korvosa and you'll be able to gamble away your treasure in a game of Towers, a gambling game created by lowbrows and scoundrels using the Harrow deck (and designed by industry veterans Jason Bulmahn, Mike Selinker, and Teeuwynn Woodruff). And just as the infamous Deck of Many Things was inspired by the tarot deck, there might be a powerful magic Harrow deck waiting to bring all matter of mayhem to your group at some point in Curse of the Crimson Throne.
And the best part? We're making a Harrow deck you can use yourself, whether as part of your campaign, in readings of your own, or just as a fun fantasy-themed card game. Over the next several weeks, we'll be showing off Kyle Hunter's artwork for the Harrow deck here on our blog. Keep an eye out, and see if you can figure out which image goes with the chaotic evil strength card versus the one that goes with the lawful good one!
The Rise of the Runelords Item Card contest is finally over, and before I launch into the lengthy explanation about question #4 from last week, I would like to show you the complete set list. This deck should be arriving in stores soon, so make sure to grab a copy from your favorite local retailer.
Question #4 Solution: This week's question was incredibly tough, but congratulations are due to Rob McCreary, who gave the correct answer of "7 pounds." Rob will receive a pair of Rise of the Runelords Item Card decks and a signed copy of the limited edition alternate cover version of Patherfinder #1.
To solve this riddle, you need to know a couple of things. First, you need to know that Pathfinder #3 contains a wandering monster chart for Varisia on page 71. Second, you need the overland movement charts from pages 162 and 164 of the PH. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, to correctly answer this question, you need to remember that giants have a chance of carrying salt in their bags (MM page 120). Taking the information given, the journey there and back requires a total of 8 days in the mountains and 20 days on the plateau. With a 20% chance of encounter per hour (and not just while traveling, but more on this below), you would run into 38.4 encounters in the mountains and 96 while traversing the plateau. Of these encounters, 20% of the mountain encounters would be with giants, while only 10% of those in the plateau would be against these salt-carrying behemoths. If each encounter was against 4 giants, each with 5 items in its bag, you would gather a total of 345.6 items from their bags. Of these, 1 in 50 would be a 1-pound bag of salt. So, upon returning to Skull's Crossing you would have 6.912 pounds of salt, rounded up to 7. Due to the phrasing of the question, some of you assumed that encounters only occurred while traveling, which would cut the number of encounters by 2/3. Due to this confusion, I also decided to accept any answer of "2."
We received a total of 37 entries for this particular question, with a wide variety of numbers, from 0 to 68,000. What was more interesting, though, were the answers by those who assumed it was a trick question or just decided to submit a joke. The first answer we received was simply, "potato." We knew we had a good question when that one popped into the inbox. In the following days, we got answers such as "as much as you started with," "rock salt or sea salt?," and my personal favorite, "I would have zero pounds of salt on me, upon my return, since I'm trying to cut down on my intake." A hearty congratulations are due to all seven entrants who managed to get the correct answer on this one, and I think you can all look forward to more twisted puzzlers like this one in future contests.
Three Runelords have grabbed a deck of these cards using the powers of sin. With the Rise of the Runelords Item Card decks now hitting our warehouse and the holiday weekend before us, this week has an extra special prize, with an extra difficult question. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Rise of the Runelords Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases... plus with this being the final week, we will also throw in a signed copy of the alternate cover version of Pathfinder #1! Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com. Make sure to put the phrase "Runelords #4" in the subject line of the email.
For this last preview, we wanted to show you some of the cool items from the rest of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path. You can expect these items, along with a host of other treasures, to appear in parts 3 through 6.
Question #4: The journey from Skull's Crossing to Urglin requires you to travel through about 48 miles of the Wyvern Mountains, and 120 miles of the sandy Cinderlands. Assuming you went there and back again, traveling for 8 hours per day at a speed of 30 without a path, how many pounds of salt, on average, would you have when you returned? Note that your chance of running into an encounter is roughly 20% per hour and you always seem to run into four creatures whenever one occurs (and each one has 5 items in its bag). Please round your answer to the nearest pound.
All answers for Question #4 are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, November 29th. Good Luck!
Question #3 Solution: Congratulations to Jonathan Cruz who correctly answered "10th" to last week's question. We got a number of creative answers (some that involved level drain), but "10th" was the correct answer, as Kyra would need to pick up two feats to qualify for the Spherewalker prestige class.
Two Runelords have grabbed a deck of these cards using the powers of sin. I'll let you guess which ones. Will you be next?
With the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path well underway in the pages of Pathfinder, and a special Item Card deck tied specifically to those adventures soon to be released, we here at Paizo Publishing have decided to give you a chance to score one of these great accessories.
One question about Pathfinder will be presented each week. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Rise of the Runelords Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com. Make sure to put the phrase "Runelords #3" in the subject line of the email.
This week we're taking a look at items from the second part of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, "The Skinsaw Murders." These items in particular are not ones you might want to bring to the next royal ball you attend, but their power makes them valuable nonetheless. Next week, we'll wrap up our contest with some cards from the third installment, "The Hook Mountain Massacre."
Question #3: Using the version of Kyra presented in "The Skinsaw Murders," at what level could she take her first level of the Spherewalker prestige class (assuming she had a change of heart concerning her deity and stuck with the cleric class)?
All answers for Question #3 are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, November 21st. Good Luck!
Question #2 Solution: Congratulations to Bobby Nichols, who gave an answer to question #2. We realized upon attempting to determine the winner that the Iron Golem has had different prerequisites over the years (and in recent books... I'll get you, polymorph any object!) so we decided to accept all of the entries.
The first Runelord has grabbed a deck of these cards. Will you be next?
With the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path well underway in the pages of Pathfinder, and a special Item Card deck tied specifically to those adventures soon to be released, we here at Paizo Publishing have decided to give you a chance to score one of these great accessories.
One question about Pathfinder will be presented each week. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Rise of the Runelords Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com. Make sure to put the phrase "Runelords #2" in the subject line of the email.
This week we're going to take a look at some of the cards that represent tools for your arcane character. As it turns out, when you're dealing with runelords, items like these are bound to be plentiful. Next week, we move on to look at items from "The Skinsaw Murders."
Question #2: If all 7 runelords sent a 16th-level wizard apprentice to craft an iron golem, using only the spells they possess, without any outside assistance, which runelords would have to execute their apprentices for failure?
All answers for Question #2 are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, November 15th. Good Luck!
Question #1 Solution: Congratulations to Kevin Reynolds who gave the correct answer of 39 to question #1. Note that we also accepted 40 as an answer if you assumed that Tsuto was still alive.
With the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path well underway in the pages of Pathfinder, and a special Item Card deck tied specifically to those adventures soon to be released, we here at Paizo Publishing have decided to give you a chance to score one of these great accessories.
One question about Pathfinder will be presented each week. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Rise of the Runelords Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com. Make sure to put the phrase "Runelords #1" in the subject line of the email.
This week we're going to take a look at some of the items your PCs might encounter in part 1 of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, "Burnt Offerings." While many of these are wielded by pesky goblins, a number of them might end up in the hands of your adventurers.
Question #1: How many creatures in all of Thistletop can speak the goblin tongue?
All answers for Question #1 are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, November 8th. Good Luck!
We've received quite a few questions about the GameMastery Treasure Chest over the past several weeks and I thought I would take a moment to give you the skinny on this box full of goodness.
This box gives you a wide assortment of our most popular GameMastery products, including an original adventure (TC1: Into the Haunted Forest) that ties together all the products into one "deluxe" game experience. Here's what the box contains.
Now, if you happen to own a bunch of these products, but still want the module, no worries. TC1: Into the Haunted Forest will be available separately for just $5 (note that this module is not part of the subscription deal, so if you want it, you will need to order it as normal). As for the module itself, you do not need these products to run the adventure, but they do include all the maps and treasure cards used in the adventure. (Incidentally: TC stands for "Treasure Chest," in case you're wondering.)
Hope that clears things up, but if you have any further questions, feel free to post them to our messageboards.
Having a product go out of print is a strange experience. On the one hand, it might mean you've done something right and your product was a success, selling through the entire print run. Yet on the other hand, it's strange to think that something you've worked on and put a little bit of yourself into is going to disappear forever (except, of course, from the gaming tables of all those who purchased it, and perhaps eBay or a particularly well-stocked FLGS).
Why do I bring this up? Because as of this writing, there are only 52 copies of Map Pack: Countryside left in our warehouse, and we don't currently have any plans on reprinting this particular set. That means that when they're gone, they're gone. If you haven't already, hit up the product page and see if your game could use things like a coaching inn, ambush site, or roadside shrine. (The rope bridge, in particular, seems to have generated a lot of excitement.)
I don't know about you, but I have a love/hate relationship with maps in RPG gaming. Back in middle school when I first got into the hobby, we might have had a few miniatures to represent characters, plus "terrain" made from dice, pencils, and those little plastic tables that come in the center of your pizza box. It wasn't until much, much later, when someone introduced me to D&D 3.5, that I finally saw the light and realized that things like battlemats add immeasurably to the roleplaying experience.
With that realization, however, came a new problem: mapping is hard. Even after years of practice, it's still annoying to have to stop right in the middle of a crucial scene and scramble to count squares and draw out a new room in its entirety each time PCs go through the door. (I also have a tendency to spill drinks on the battlemat, but that's really my own fault.)
Which is where something like our new Flip-Mat: City Market comes in handy. Every village worth its salt has a market, so why waste valuable game time drawing it out over and over? With City Market, the work's already done for you, and your PCs are free to look through every door with impunity. Plus, if you decide you want to switch up the layout, just flip it over and use the blank paving beneath the grid to build your own town. As with all our Flip-Mats, you can draw on the durable, laminated cardstock with wet erase, dry erase, or even permanent marker and still wipe it right off when you're done.
All of which means that if I were about to run, say, the first section of "Burnt Offerings," I'd definitely consider checking out City Market and using the time saved to pack in even more goblin-related activities....
The new GameMastery Item Card set, Elements of Power, should be burning a path to your local store as we speak. As promised two weeks ago (sorry about the delay, Gen Con tends to get in the way of schedules), here is a complete set list for those of you hoping to delve into the mysteries of the elements.
Mystery of Water Solution: Congratulations to Andrew Garrett, who figured out the correct answer that a 12 HD water naga would need to start making checks to avoid nonlethal damage from thirst after 1 day and 22 hours. Of course, as an aquatic creature, it would suffocate outside of water long before that.
Well, that is all for the Elements of Power set. We will begin previews for our next card set, Rise of the Runelords, in a few months. What's that? You want a taste right now? Okay, take a look at this sketch... hopefully it'll tide you over for a month or two...
The four elements—air, earth, fire and water—have fascinated man for thousands of years. All of the mysteries have now been solved, save one: Water. Elements of Power—the next set in the GameMastery Item Card line—is due to show up in game stores any day now, and if you can solve some of the mysteries of the elements, you might just score a free deck.
One elemental mystery has been presented each week. Answer this week's correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Elements of Power Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com. Make sure to put the phrase "Mystery of Water" in the subject line of the email.
This week we take a look at the element of water. Often referred to as the giver of life, no other element is more revered and valued than water. There are a number of items in this set with a water or cold theme to them, including armor, weapons, potions, and a wondrous item or two. Look for these and other items like them in the upcoming set. Next week, we'll reveal the final answer and a complete set list.
Mystery of Water: How long would it take before a 12 HD water naga would need to start making checks to avoid taking nonlethal damage from thirst?
All answers for the Mystery of Water are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, August 16th. Good Luck!
Mystery of Fire Solution: Congratulations to Thomas Oakland who figured out the correct answer that a goblin wearing chainmail would need to roll a natural 20 to avoid taking the heat damage (because a 20 always succeeds).
The four elements—air, earth, fire and water—have fascinated man for thousands of years. Yet, there are still many mysteries that have yet to be solved. Elements of Power—the next set in the GameMastery Item Card line—is due to release next month, and if you can solve some of the mysteries of the elements, you might just score a free deck.
One elemental mystery will be presented each week. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Elements of Power Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com.
Make sure to put the phrase "Mystery of Fire" in the subject line of this week's email.
This week we take a look at the element of fire. Perhaps no other element has fascinated man more than fire, and for good reason. Whereas fire can destroy, its cleansing can also lead to new life. There are a number of items in this set with a fire theme, including weapons, potions, staffs, and a wondrous item or two, each one looking like it might just burn you to a crisp. Look for these and other items like them in the upcoming set. Next week, we'll take a look at the final element.
Mystery of Fire: What would an ordinary goblin wearing chainmail need to roll on its Fortitude save to successfully avoid taking damage during his second hour spent in 114 degree heat?
All answers for the Mystery of Fire are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, August 9th. Good Luck!
Mystery of Earth Solution: Congratulations to Joshua Blazej, who figured out the correct answer that a stone giant could only throw a Small earth elemental (as it weighs 80 pounds, the maximum allotted weight for a rock thrown by a Huge giant).
The four elements—air, earth, fire and water—have fascinated man for thousands of years. Yet, there are still many mysteries that have yet to be solved. Elements of Power—the next set in the GameMastery Item Card line—is due to release next month, and if you can solve some of the mysteries of the elements, you might just score a free deck.
One elemental mystery will be presented each week. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Elements of Power Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com.
Earth is the focus of our investigation this week. There are a number of items in this set with an earth theme, including items made of stone and metal or etched with acid. Each one of these items is of sturdy construction, with the power of earth behind them. Look for these and other items like them in the upcoming set. Next week, things get hot.
Mystery of Earth: What size Earth Elemental could be thrown by a stone giant of Huge size (assuming the elemental was willing and counted as a rock)?
All answers for the Mystery of Earth are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, August 2nd. Good Luck!
Mystery of Air Solution: Congratulations to Mike Davis, who figured out the correct answer that an air mephit (which counts as size Tiny when flying for the purposes of wind effects) would be blown up to 120 feet.
The four elements, air, earth, fire and water, have fascinated man for thousands of years. Yet, there are still many mysteries that have yet to be solved. Elements of Power—the next set in the GameMastery Item Card line—is due to release next month, and if you can solve some of the mysteries of the elements, you might just score a free deck.
One elemental mystery will be presented each week. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Elements of Power Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com.
This week we start off by investigating the powers of air. Not surprisingly, this set includes a number of magic items with an air theme, and those presented here are just a sample. Of course, air has long been associated with storms, wind, and lightning, so you might just find a few weapons and suits of armor with what appear to be those qualities in the set as well.
Mystery of Air: With a wind of 42 mph, what is the farthest that a flying air mephit could be blown in 1 round, without it moving at all under its own power or attempting to resist?
All answers for the Mystery of Air are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, July 26th. Make sure to put the phrase "Mystery of Air" in the subject line of the email. Good luck!
Four brave adventurers have stolen from the Riddling Dragon's Hoard, the last one barely escaping with his life. Now the beast is awake and flying to a store near you for vengeance. Dragon's Trove has been released and you should be seeing it in your local game shop within the next week or so. As promised, here is the complete set list for the GameMastery Item CardsDragon's Trove set.
Week 4 Winner: Congratulations to Chris Cumming, who correctly answered the Riddling Dragon's question with "52.5," which happened to be the exact number we were looking for (although we accepted any answer between 50 and 55). Chris scored a free deck of Dragon's Trove. For those of you who might not have puzzled it out, the town we were heading for was Wolf's Ear, with a distance of roughly 315 miles between it and Urglin. Note that a wyvern can fly 6 miles per hour at an ordinary pace.
That wraps up our previews of this set. Next month, we'll preview some of the cards from the next Item Card set, Elements of Power.
The Riddling Dragon's hoard has been plundered three times now, and he grows restless. Soon he might wake. Not surprisingly, his riddles have grown incredibly difficult. Dragon's Trove—the next set in the GameMastery Item Card line—is due to release soon, and in anticipation we are showing off the set and giving you a chance to score a free deck of cards.
The Riddling Dragon has asked one question each week, and this is the last. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Dragon's TroveItem Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Answer incorrectly and your entry will be burned to a crisp. Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com. Make sure to put the phrase "Dragon's Trove Contest 4" in the subject line of the email.
Last week, I mentioned that I would show off some cards everyone has been waiting for. What I meant was that I would show of some items that have been near the top of the list of items not yet represented. Adding the 110 cards from Dragon's Trove, there are now about 400 unique cards in the Item Card line. Some of the items in this set, such as the glaive, goggles, hat, and kukri, have been a long time in the coming and frequently asked for by fans. Next week, we'll announce the last winner and post a complete set list.
Week 4 Riddle: Assuming you started your journey in Urglin and went south, you would run into a river. By boat, you might travel down this river, making your way down a steep drop before proceeding on through a large lake. After the lake, you might head down the same river for almost 100 miles before venturing north by boat to continue through another body of water. On the north edge of this lake is a small town. If a wyvern flies at an ordinary pace directly between Urglin and this town, how many hours will it take to make this journey?
Here is a hint: The answer can be found in one of our blog posts and in your 3rd grade math book. All answers for the Week 4 riddle are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, June 28th. Good Luck!
Week 3 Winner: Congratulations to Todd Johnston, who correctly answered the Riddling Dragon's question with "7" and scored a free deck of Dragon's Trove.
Two have now taken from the Riddling Dragon's hoard. Such disturbances might wake him, and his riddles grow more troubling as a result. Dragon's Trove—the next set in the GameMastery Item Card line—is due to release soon, and in anticipation we are showing off the set and giving you a chance to score a free deck of cards.
Each week, the Riddling Dragon will ask one question. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Dragon's TroveItem Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Answer incorrectly and your entry will be burned to a crisp. Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com. Make sure to put the phrase "Dragon's Trove Contest 3" in the subject line of the email.
This week, I promised we would take a look at the riches hiding in the dragon's hoard. There are a lot of cards in this set that look quite a bit more valuable than just simple magic items. When ordering these cards, we asked for a lot of them to "gem encrusted" and made from precious metals. To show off this wealthy set, take a look at the ring, scroll, lamp, and harp cards. Next week, we'll take a look at the cards that everyone has been waiting for.
Week 3 Riddle: What would a dark talon hunter need to roll in order to successfully save against Kerrdremak's burning hands spell?
Week 2 Winner: Congratulations to Franz Lunzer who correctly answered the Riddling Dragon's question with "Horses and Dogs" and scored a free deck of Dragon's Trove.
Here is a hint: The answer can be found in one of our blog posts. All answers for the Week 3 Riddle are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, June 21st. Good Luck!
We've been doing GameMastery Map Packs for a while now. They started out as a way for us to give you full-color, miniatures-scale maps that you could arrange and set up however you like. While they still fulfill that function, we're always looking for ways to improve upon them to give you more great maps.
The upcoming set Map Pack: Sewers is just one example of what we're trying to do. This set of eighteen 8" x 5" tiles (set to release later this month) is probably the most adaptable set of tiles to date. Using sewer corridors of various sizes, dead-ends, corners, and a host of other grime-filled passages, this set can be set up in dozens of different combinations. We made sure the artist, the incredibly talented Corey Macourek, gave us maps that not only set up some interesting chambers, but also allowed for as much flexibility as possible.
Just take a look at these sample tiles from the set, and prepare your group for a whole new (and honestly, rather disgusting) journey.
One brave adventurer has already stolen from the Riddling Dragon's hoard. Will you be next, or will his mighty fires burn you to a crisp? Dragon's Trove—the next set in the GameMastery Item Card line—is due to release soon, and in anticipation we're showing off the set and giving you a chance to score a free deck of cards.
Each week, the Riddling Dragon will ask one question. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Dragon's Trove Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Answer incorrectly and your entry will be burned to a crisp. Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com. Make sure to put the phrase "Dragon's Trove Contest 2" in the subject line of the email.
This week, I promised a look at some of the more "scaly" cards of the set, and by that I meant items with an obvious dragon theme. Take a gander at the dragonhide, fang dagger, scroll, and scepter cards. Each one of these scaly cards (and there are many more) is either made from dragons or sculpted to look like one. Next week, we'll see what riches hide in the slumbering wyrm's vast mound of loot.
Week 2 Riddle: What two animals are hated by all of goblinkind?
Week 1 Winner: Congratulations to Kevin Maschler who correctly answered the Riddling Dragon's question with "Merlokrep" and scored a free deck of Dragon's Trove.
Here's a hint: The answer to this week's riddle can be found in one of our blog posts. All answers for the Week 2 Riddle are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, June 14th. Good Luck!
The Riddling Dragon is asleep and now is your chance to steal from his hoard! Dragon's Trove—the next set in the GameMastery Item Card line—is due to release soon, and in anticipation we're showing off the set and giving you a chance to score a free deck of cards.
Each week, the Riddling Dragon will ask one question. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Dragon's Trove Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Answer incorrectly and your entry will be burned to a crisp. Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com. Make sure to put the phrase "Dragon's Trove Contest" in the subject line of the email.
This week, we're starting the previews by showing off some of the great weapons featured in Dragon's Trove, including the bastardsword, falchion, morningstar, and pistol cards. We made sure to include a wide variety of cards in this set that have not appeared before in any of our other Item Card products, and these four are just a small sample. Next week, we'll take a look at some of the more "scaly" cards in the set.
Week 1 Riddle: Who is the "all-mighty Dragon King of the Truescale Kobolds"?
Here's a hint: The answer can be found in one of our blog posts. All answers for the Week 1 Riddle are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, June 7th. Good Luck!
The GameMastery team recently got together to hash out the next theme for our Item Card product line. While tossing around thoughts of undead scrolls and elven bows, it occurred to me that it might be fun to talk about how we come up with themes for our future sets. First, a bit of history.
The very first item card set, Item Pack 1, was specifically designed to be a starter set, with a wide variety of items so GMs could use the cards right away (for those of you unfamiliar with them, Item Cards are generic treasure cards that you can hand out when the PCs find loot, with a blank space on the back for writing in what the item does). While that first set was a big success, we needed a means for GMs to get a few more potions, scrolls, and other disposable items without having to buy a whole new deck of cards. Hero's Hoard was born soon after as a set of booster packs. This set had more items in line with those presented in Item Pack 1, but came in a booster pack with a set assortment (2 potions, 2 weapons, 2 wondrous items, 1 armor, 1 wand, 1 scroll, 1 rod/staff/ring, and 1 foil card in every pack).
It was at this point that we decided to do a themed set. Item Pack 1 and Hero's Hoard covered all your basic items, so we wanted the next set to branch out in new directions. Relics of War was our first foray into this arena, with all of the cards in the set themed to either good or evil. While you can't exactly tell this with some of the cards, others in the set, such as the "demonhide" and one of the "longswords," further the theme nicely.
By this point in time, the fan base for Item Cards had really started to take off, and the one thing everyone clamored for was a set of cards for the items that characters might typically carry, such as rope, a backpack, or rations. This made choosing our next theme easy. Adventure Gear came out late last year to give characters all the thieves' tools, holy symbols, and lantern cards they could handle, with the nice bonus that many of the cards in this set work well as magic items to boot. By popular demand, this set moved back to the deck format.
When it came time to plot out the fifth set, the idea of doing themes became much more solidified. Dragon's Trove, a 110-card deck, pulls out all the stops, is packed full of all the golden baubles, lamps, crowns, and swords you might expect to find in the hoard of a great wyrm. The set also includes a number of items made from dragons, to round out the theme. As this set just went off to the printer, I thought I might give you a few sneak peaks (with more to come soon).
Fortunately for you, the work of the Item Card team never ends. Our next set is called Elements of Power and should be out later this summer—I'll bet you can guess what the theme might be. Look for some cards tied directly to Pathfinder and the GameMastery Modules in this 54-card deck set as well.
Beyond that, however, the set themes are still malleable. Got any ideas for a set you'd like to see? Post it to our forums.
Here at Paizo, we've been using our new GameMastery Critical Hit Deck in office games for a while, and while it's provided a number of awesome moments, I thought I'd take a minute to share a few anecdotes that stand out above the others in my mind.
Early in the process, Thursday-night GM and Paizo Publisher, Erik Mona, was running his campaign with most of the editorial staff in attendance. Up to this point, the deck had only been used by the players, but Erik—notoriously unafraid of killing off characters—decided to let every monster have a go at it as well, to our collective horror. My character, a gruff, magic-using dwarf fighter named Gar, tends to be a front-line fighter and caught the brunt of Erik's angry dice that night. After two critical hits to the face and neck, Gar was drained of 1 point of Charisma and nearly decapitated. I think this is the first time since the new edition of the game that I have had to redraw a character portrait based on in-game action.
The deck also saw some action with my weekly Monday-night game, running the Savage Tide Adventure Path. During a face-off against some rather angry bullywugs, Jufas Greenbottle, the halfling rogue in the group, managed to score a critical hit with his rapier. He drew "overreaction," causing the unfortunate monster to draw attacks of opportunity from all adjacent foes. The poor frogman was finished when Jufas scored a second critical hit, dealing triple damage after drawing "perfect strike." I think that group fell in love with the deck right then and there. I, personally, can't wait until they reach a big fight where I get to use the deck against them.
I've been using the deck in my Wednesday-night game as well, with some of the folks from Wizards of the Coast. Fortunately for my players, I generally don't allow the monsters to draw cards from the deck unless it is a boss-monster fight. In one particularly harrowing encounter, my group managed to crit a nasty half-ogre barbarian, but after drawing "spun around," the fighter only dealt normal damage, with the brute being flat-footed for one round. Suffice to say, some in the group were not very pleased with the result. The rogue was off fighting another foe and the only character engaging the half-ogre was badly hurt and hoping to drop him with that hit. As the round progressed and the players got to think about it a bit, the flat-footed status of the barbarian ended up being a great benefit. The fighter pulled a potion and drank it without provoking an attack and the rogue pulled away to sneak attack the barbarian with his bow, forcing him to flee. After that exchange, I realized one of the great things about the deck: it lets you play just a little differently and forces you to really think on your feet to get the most out of your critical hit.
All of which leads us to wonder what kind of havoc we're causing in other people's games. If you've had a run-in with the deck, post your own "Tales from the Crit" on our messageboards and let us know!
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