There's something really cool about the fifth volume of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, Stephen S. Greer's “Sins of the Saviors.” After venturing through volumes loosely themed around goblins, ghouls, ogres, and giants, this fifth installment kicks the campaign backstory into high gear, with the player characters exploring a vast dungeon known as the Runeforge, a relic from the era of the ancient Runelords themselves.
In fact, during their adventure in the Runeforge, the PCs even get a chance to meet with survivors from that distant era, making this adventure an important pivot point for the campaign, essentially shifting things into the endgame to come in the final sixth volume.
What that means in a practical sense, especially because the PCs are now 12th level themselves, is that they finally get to face off against some pretty kick-ass bad guys who pack a powerful punch. In this week's blog, I'd like to reveal two of those bad guys. While they don't quite qualify as the Big Bads of the adventure (we'll get to them next week), these guys play key roles in important encounters, and are sure to be remembered by your players for a long time to come.
Coincidentally, both also make excellent player character miniatures themselves!
First up is the Warrior of Wrath, the result of centuries of genetic breeding and intense training in the Halls of Wrath, one of the most challenging of the seven sinful sub-dungeons of the Runeforge. These angry eldritch knights are the last of their long line, so it's a good thing the player characters show up to give them a target upon which to vent their rage and aggression! Because you'll need at least 6 Warriors of Wrath to pull off their encounter, we've slotted this figure in the common rarity.
Wrath isn't the only sin to get a sub-dungeon in the Runeforge. In the Shimmering Veils, pride is the sin that rules that day, and perhaps none in all of Golarion are so prideful as the illusionist Vraxeris, once among the most trusted servitors of Xanderghul, Runelords of Pride. Through cunning and the mastery of cloning techniques, Vraxeris has managed to survive in the thousands of years since the fall of the Runelords' ancient empire. Now, his mad simulacra wander the halls of the Shimmering Veils, eager to defeat intruders and certain that they have what it takes to keep their weird dungeon free from interlopers. Vraxeris is slated at the uncommon rarity.
We're nearing the end of the Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles set (though a few super-awesome figures still remain to be revealed!), so I'm slowing things down a bit here in the blog, and plan to show only two figures a week from here forward. My head is already in the NEXT set, about half of which will be showing up at the Paizo offices later this afternoon for final sculpt approval.
The actual final production figures for Rise of the Runelords have started rolling into my office, and I'm pleased to report that the figures match the paint masters with amazing fidelity. Looking at these little pictures on the blog and holding the actual minis in-hand simply don't compare. I can say with honesty that I think the Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles set will be the best and most consistently awesome set of prepainted plastic miniatures released yet for hobby gaming.
We're getting to deep into the previews for the Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles set that I've almost run out of pictures to show you! A handful of minis remain yet to be revealed, but I'm pleased to report that some of them are among the coolest in the set!
Today I'd like to show off two Small miniatures from the set that leave a very big impression.
Up first is the dreaded Kobold Champion! This lizard-like warrior woman might look a bit like a rank-and-file kobold, but she's in fact encountered late in the campaign, and boy does she ever pack a surprising punch! Although the Rise of the Runelords campaign contains only one Kobold Champion, we decided to slot this figure in the common rarity, reasoning that game masters can always use more well-sculpted kobolds to swarm over their players at any level!
It's probably a bit difficult to tell from the small photos here, but this figure has a remarkable number of paint steps for both a common miniature and a Small miniature, making her really stand out despite her diminutive size. From the paint gradient on her legs and tail to the bright blue tongue, this is one of several minis in the set where I think to myself "I can't believe this awesome mini is a common!"
Up next is the Redcap, a fey menace from real-world mythology with a long history in fantasy gaming. To my knowledge, no Redcap has previously appeared as a prepainted plastic miniature, which makes it a great addition to the Rise of the Runelords set. This little guy comes with the appropriate metal boots, oversized scythe, and the eponymous red cap. As fitting the Redcaps' role in the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path Anniversary Edition campaign, we've slotted the Redcap in as a common, so you can easily collect a bunch of them.
That's it for this week's preview. The set contains at least two more size-Small figures, as well as a few more exciting surprises.
There's lots of great stuff yet to come! Enjoy the weekend, and don't forget to get in some gaming!
Pathfinder Battles Preview: The Gross, the Bad, and the Ugly
Friday, May 4, 2012
We're getting close to having revealed all of the miniatures in the upcoming Pathfinder Battles set, Rise of the Runelords! It seems like only a few weeks ago that I started showing of sculpts and paint masters, but in fact it's been months, and as I type this the production run of miniatures is trundling through the factory. All of the paint schemes have been approved, all the decisions have been made, and now all that's left is the waiting for the early August release.
Well, the waiting and a few more previews, that is!
Two weeks ago I promised something ugly, and today I'm fulfilling that dark pledge with three figures from the murkier side of the set. These are nasty dudes you definitely don't want to run into in a dark alley, and all three of them make creepy additions to your game table.
Up first is the Ogrekin, a nasty in-bred half-ogre whose clan is the centerpiece of “The Hook Mountain Massacre,” the third chapter in the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path. With rippling muscles and a deformed (really gross) head, this bruiser wanders the wilderness looking... well, let's just say he's “looking for love,” and leave it at that. This common miniature is technically Medium-sized, but he's pushing the top-end of that scale, and makes for a really intimidating figure.
Faceless Stalkers were created in ancient times by the mysterious aboleths as interlocutors with the various air-breathing races of the surface world. Via a painful biological process, the creatures can warp and contort their form to take on the appearance of an enemy. When not pretending to be your wife or best friend, these guys run around in the gross, misshapen form revealed here. The photograph above doesn't quite show off the nasty detail of reddish ink in all of the nooks and fleshy crannies along this guy's skin (especially on his back). The Faceless Stalker is statted up in Bestiary 2, but even if you don't have that resource, this common figure doubles as any kind of hideous humanoid. Ick!
Last up today we have a friendly neighborhood initiate in the local cult of homicidal slasher maniacs, known to the denizens of Varisia as the Skinsaw Cultist! This common figure makes a nice rank-and-file cultist. His skinsaw mask and war razor root him firmly in the Pathfinder Campaign Setting, while his robes and general creepiness make him a good troop-builder for a wicked cult in any campaign.
That's it for this week. I've only got a few more sculpts to show off, but I promise that some absolutely amazing stuff is still waiting to be shown! Come back next week for another early look at Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles miniatures!
Pathfinder Battles Preview: Behold the Black Arrows!
Friday, April 20, 2012
I'm on the road this week, so today's preview will be short and sweet.
In recent weeks, we've showed off a lot of monsters and villains from the Rise of the Runelords set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted miniatures. This week, I'd like to show off a trio of key NPCs that might prove to be enemies OR allies in the course of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, the notorious Black Arrows rangers!
I'm really pleased with how awesome these minis turned out. Best of all, they make for great player character minis, and perfect stand-ins for whatever kind of warrior-types you might need in your campaigning beyond the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path.
First up we have Jakardros Sovark, an uncommon human ranger who happens to be the stepfather of Shalelu Andosana, Varisia's famed elf ranger protector. Jakardros lost an eye somewhere along the way, but I assure you that hasn't hurt his skill with the bow and arrow!
Next up is Vale Temros, an uncommon human ranger/fighter with two axes and a whole lot of hurt to unleash on his enemies! I'm thrilled with how well Vale turned out, and in-hand I think he's one of the best miniatures in the set. I'd certainly love to put him on my table as either a PC or NPC!
Last up we have Kaven Windstrike, an uncommon ranger/rogue who might not turn out to be quite as helpful as his Black Arrow fellows. Unfortunately, Kaven's sword snapped off before we could grab a good photo of him (the paint masters are made of a much more brittle plastic than the final figures), so you'll have to use your imagination to see his supremely awesome sword. (Ok, it's pretty much just a normal sword, but as long as we're imagining...).
Be sure to get your own Black Arrows by preordering a Standard Case of Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles minis, or set up an ongoing case subscription to ensure your best chance of getting all 65 figures in the set!
That's it for this week. Next week, I promise something gross and monstrous!
Up first is the Lamia, a creature with ties to ancient Greek mythology and a strong pedigree in fantasy roleplaying games. Appropriately placed on a Large base, this nasty creature has a hateful streak you've really got to look out for. The common miniature also a great likeness of the art from the Pathfinder Bestiary.
Here we have the Lamia Kuchrima, the weakest of the lamia-kin. These flying creatures flock to the mountain skies of Varisia, as they have since the distant days of the ancient Runelords. Many dwell there still, and player characters in the Rise of the Runelords campaign will be facing several as they hack their way to the hidden city of Xin-Shalast at the campaign's conclusion. We've placed this figure at the common rarity, making it easy to gather a whole flight of them.
This figure isn't a lamia, but we think she's plenty cool. This Huge Storm Giant towers over player characters. The creatures feature heavily in the final encounters of the Rise of the Runelords campaign, and this powerful warrior is ready to usher things to a thunderous climax.
For my money, that three-verse song from the opening encounter of "Burnt Offerings," the very first Pathfinder Adventure Path adventure, is as responsible as anything for the huge success of the Pathfinder Adventure Path line. Over the years (and really more or less immediately), gamers began to equate Pathfinder with goblins, and the creepy little critters (as envisioned by artist Wayne Reynolds and Paizo creative director James Jacobs, the song's author) soon became a sort of unofficial mascot for the Pathfinder brand.
The Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles fantasy miniature set gave us a great opportunity to revisit the first Pathfinder adventures, and we knew we needed to include as many goblins in the set that we could.
This week, I thought I'd show off most of the goblin miniatures from the Rise of the Runelords set to celebrate the fact that at long last, we're ready to reveal the set's product descriptions, prices, and case configurations!
I'll get to that a bit later. First, let's talk about goblins!
First up we have the common Goblin Commando, an elite goblin troop to supplement the Goblin Warrior or Goblin Hero from Heroes & Monsters. As you'll note in the Goblin Song above, goblins are no fans of horses, which is why this trooper's makeshift pole-arm is called a horsechopper.
Mounts beware!
Speaking of Goblin Commandos and mounts, here we have the vicious Goblin Commando on Goblin Dog, an uncommon figure that plays prominently in several encounters of "Burnt Offerings," especially in the raid on the town of Sandpoint that kicks off the entire campaign. August's Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition expands this encounter, working Flip-Mat: Town Square to set the scene. All you need to make it perfect is to add miniatures, and this guy is designed specifically for that purpose.
Here we have the leader of the goblins harrying Sandpoint, Warchief Ripnugget on Stickfoot. This teensie tyrant barks orders at his tribe from the back of a giant gecko, making the PCs' encounter with him (and with this rare miniature) one they won't soon forget.
There are at least two more goblin-related miniatures coming in later previews, so if you can hear one of the twisted verses of James Jacobs's Goblin Song echoing over the horizon, it's because we're not quite done with goblins yet!
The Nitty Gritty
We've been teasing product details for months, and I'm pleased to report that everything has finally fallen into place so that we can reveal all of the little details about the size of the set, when it will come out, and how the cases will be packaged. Click through to the various product pages for price and additional details.
Pathfinder Battles: Rise of the Runelords Set Details
Release Date: August 2012 Set Size: 65 prepainted plastic miniatures
The Standard Booster
Rise of the Runelords Standard Boosters contain four collectible miniatures. Each blind box contains a random selection of miniatures from the set, including one Large figure and three Medium or Small figures. Many figures feature colored clear plastic spell effects, crystals, and the like, and these figures range from monsters to important NPCs to Pathfinder iconic characters like Seoni and Harsk.
Standard Boosters come in the following configurations:
Single Standard Booster
8-ct. Standard Booster Brick
32-ct. Standard Booster Case (4 bricks)
The Huge Booster
The Rise of the Runelords set contains four Huge figures, from the Treachery Demon to the Lamia Harridan (shown below) to two figures we haven't revealed yet. The large size and relatively small number of these figures makes it impractical to include them in the Standard Booster, so WizKids created a new product configuration: The Rise of the Runelords Huge Booster. Each blind-boxed Huge Booster contains a single Huge figure from the Rise of the Runelords set.
Huge Boosters come in the following configurations:
Single Huge Booster
6-ct. Huge Booster Case
The Rune Giant
As we revealed last week, the biggest miniature in the set is the towering Rune Giant, our first Gargantuan miniature! The Rune Giant has been produced in extremely limited quantities, and is available for purchase only to retailers (from their distributor), paizo.com Pathfinder Battles case subscribers, and customers who pre-order a Standard case (while supplies last). For more details, visit the Rune Giant product page.
Subscribers
Customers with an Ongoing Pathfinder Battles Case Subscription receive the right to purchase the Rune Giant at 75% off the listed retail price, and are guaranteed access to this extremely rare figure at a rate of one per case ordered. They'll also receive a coupon code good for 20% off the purchase price of one Encounter Pack (such as Champions of Evil) and the standard 20% case subscriber discount on all Pathfinder Battles singles purchases made on paizo.com.
Completing the Set
We've worked hard with WizKids to pack the cases in such a way that customers who purchase a case of Standard Boosters, a case of Huge Boosters, and the Rune Giant can reasonably expect to complete the entire 65-figure set. While we cannot guarantee that this will happen due to the unlikely potential of packing errors at the factory, the intention is that a full line of cases will get a nearly complete set.
So that's it! The long-awaited full details on the long-awaited Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles set!
Next week we'll be mack with more previews and more exciting miniatures reveals!
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!
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)!
Pathfinder Battles Preview: From Digital Renders to Final Product
Friday, December 30, 2011
When we first started revealing images from the Pathfinder Battles Heroes & Monsters set, all we had to show off were the very earliest computer-rendered images from the first few weeks of production. These gave a good idea of the quality we were shooting for with this first set of prepainted miniatures, but the digital renders lacked some of the depth and paint steps of the final miniatures.
Now that we’ve revealed the complete set in one way or the other and we stand on the precipice of the actual release, I wanted to go back through the set and update a few minis that you’ve only seen in digital form thus far. Below are actual photos of actual miniatures from the Heroes & Monsters set.
This little guy was one of the very first digital renders we revealed way back in August. Here’s the wily Gnome Fighter in all his final glory, complete with a tankard on his belt and bright orange hair to terrify his enemies. This uncommon miniature comes packed with the Dire Rat we showed off two weeks ago.
Next up is the rare Half-Orc Barbarian, one of the set’s most complex figures in terms of pose and detail. This figure looks wonderful in-hand, and makes a fantastic mini for the archetypal, well, half-orc barbarian. Good? Bad? He’s the one with the axe.
This rare Vampire, on the other hand, is all bad guy. WizKids did a great job bringing out the complex detail on the Vampire’s stylish armor. Whether he gets you with his upraised sword, his nasty fangs, or his essence-draining touch, the Vampire will get you one way or the other.
This sexy lady with red demon wings is looking for a good time, and promises a kiss you will never forget (note: do not actually make out with your Pathfinder Battles figures). She’s the rare Succubus, and she’s not pleased with your remark that Bettie Page hairdos are so 2002.
This bad boy, the rare Troll, leaps off the cover of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary to menace your gaming table. Sure, he looks a little like he’s got his hands in the air like he just don’t care, but those jazz hands will tear your player character to shreds, which will then be devoured by his jazz tusks. He will kick your azz.
Also awesome: The more than 25 paint masters for the next set, Rise of the Runelords, that WizKids brought over for approval this afternoon. I won’t be revealing any of those until after Heroes & Monsters is out, but when I crassly mentioned how I thought you guys would react upon seeing them, James Jacobs was friendly enough to offer two G-rated corrections. In his words, you will “poop your pantaloons,” or “brown your britches.”
I couldn’t have said it better (or cleaner) myself!
The official release date for Heroes & Monsters is now only a few weeks away, and by this point I’ve revealed every miniature in the set in one form or another. Later today our friends at WizKids will be bringing over first-run outputs of the approved sculpts for the next set, Rise of the Runelords, so my mind is already on the next amazing set. But those previews will have to wait until next month, as I want to take one more pass through Heroes & Monsters to show off some of the final versions of minis you’ve only previously seen as computer models or unpainted practical sculpts.
First up we have the uncommon Dire Rat, one of the earliest miniatures we revealed for the set. Your comments (and our own impressions) said that the computer-generated 3D sculpt of the rat looked too “clean,” so I asked WizKids to add a layer of filth over the whole guy to really sell the idea that he just stepped out of a sewer. I’d say they nailed it. Gross!
Speaking of early reveals, next up we have the rare Lich, previously seen only as a computer sculpt. The final production-run miniature shown below reveals nice metallic effects on the shoulder pads and chestplate, while WizKids’ talented paint operations have added a cool speckled highlight effect on what originally appeared to be a flat black cloak. This guy really looks like a badass, and I love the way the detail at the hem of his cloak gives the whole thing a sense of texture. I can’t wait to put this guy on the table and see my players run for cover.
Next up we have the common Lizardfolk Champion. This is your first look at this guy in color, and honestly, I’m not sure our camera is up to the challenge of showing off how good the Champion looks, especially for a “common” figure. I count eight different colors, from his black toenails to the touch of blue at the top of his crest. The Lizardfolk’s curved tail and weapon pose give it a great sense of three-dimensionality. We call him a Champion, but at the common rarity, he makes a great troop-builder figure for a Lizardfolk squad. More Lizardfolk will certainly follow (with plenty of variety within the types), but this guy gets us off to a good start.
Speaking of amazing commons, the Orc Warrior is one of my absolute favorite figures in the set. Not only is he an amazing likeness to the illustration in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, but he’s got more detail and a better paint job than most prepainted orcs that preceded him (although I also really like the Orc Brute from this set). There will DEFINITELY be more orcs in the future, and we’ll be careful to match the skin tones, size, and general “look” to make sure all of them work well together.
Lastly we have the only iconic character in Heroes & Monsters, the rare paladin Seelah. Although the way this photo frames her face makes her seem like a bit of a Popeye look, the mini looks really nice in hand. The metallic silver and gold of her armor really pops, and I love the design WizKids pulled off at the hem of her skirt. There will, of course, be more iconic characters to come, with Rise of the Runelords getting two, bringing the total (including the four in Beginner Box Heroes) to 7. Only 14 to go before we’ve covered them all!
That’s it for this week! WizKids is bringing a pile of new minis over later today, and I can’t wait to start planning preview blogs for the next set! Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to know about Heroes & Monsters, and I’ll do my best to help out!
These things are almost in your hands! I can’t wait to hear what you think of them once you get to see them for yourselves!
Pathfinder Battles Preview: A Gaggle of Goblins and Gargoyles
Friday, December 8, 2011
Today’s preview blog marks an important milestone for the Heroes & Monsters set of prepainted Pathfinder Battles miniatures. With this preview, we’ve revealed all 40 miniatures in the set! In the few more weeks leading up to the formal release of Heroes & Monsters (looking like very early January, at this point), I’ll go back through the set and show off painted versions of early unpainted preview sculpts and digital renders, but with the images below, you will have seen (in one form or another) every single miniature in our first Pathfinder Battles set.
The most elusive preview image for Heroes & Monsters has been this Gargoyle, based on art from the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary. Like his counterparts perched upon gothic buildings, the Gargoyle blended in well with his surroundings, and I never managed to add him to the preview pile until now. There’s no reason we’ve been holding him back—he’s a really cool miniature, with sweeping wings and big curved horns. If you’re feeling adventurous, a coat of paint on this guy could make him into a demon or devil too.
Next up we have all four goblins in the Heroes & Monsters set. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that we had to remove the Goblin Mystic sculpt for quality control reasons (his noggin was way, way, way too big), leaving us in a significant pickle. Unfortunately, there was no time to add a full-on new goblin sculpt, so we made the best of a bad situation, and decided to add a re-decoed Goblin Hero in place of the badly sized Mystic. The four goblins in the set, from left to right in the image above, are Goblin Warrior, Goblin Hero, Goblin Hero, and Goblin Warrior.
We’ve painted these similar miniatures in two distinctive paint schemes, making it possible to imagine them as members of different goblin tribes. The two Goblin Warrior sculpts are very minor variations with very slight pose differences. The Goblin Heroes are the same sculpt painted differently.
The goblin minis come two to a pack, so you should be able to start your goblin horde fairly quickly. The next set, Rise of the Runelords, has several more goblins on the way, including a Goblin Warchanter, Goblin Commando, Goblin Commando on Goblin Dog, and a goblin chief astride a giant gecko.
The official release of Heroes & Monsters, our first Pathfinder Battles prepainted miniatures set, is approaching! Over the last few months, I’ve used this weekly space to reveal sculpts and final images from the set, and with this post, I will have revealed all but one of the miniatures here on the blog! (You’ll have to wait for the Gargoyle, alas, as I forgot to ask the art department to photograph him this week. Sorry!)
After that, I’ll show off a few painted versions of figures we have only seen in sculpt form, and after THAT I’ll begin showing off sculpts from the NEXT set, Rise of the Runelords. I’m very pleased with what we’ve seen so far from Heroes & Monsters, but holy moley, Rise of the Runelords takes things to the next level. I can’t wait!
But that’s the future. Onward to today’s previews!
First up we have the Wolf, a common miniature sculpted in a nice leaping pose. Note the haunting red eyes and the nasty teeth! Aside from this being a solid miniature of a wolf, I’m pleased to report that the paint scheme used on its fur is identical to that used on the Werewolf I previewed a few weeks ago, making this a perfect choice for the “wolf” version of that creature. Throw a pack of these bad boys at your party and they’re sure to be barking at the moon!
Next up we’ve got the Mummy, an uncommon undead menace lurching its way toward your campaign. When we originally added the Mummy to this set, he was pegged to the “rare” rarity, but when the final sculpt came in he struck me more as a “rank and file” Mummy than a super awesome end-of-the-campaign undead overlord, so I busted him down to uncommon, making it easier to rack up a few of these guys for a nice higher-level encounter. Some day soon I hope to get that Mummy Overlord to make the perfect “captain” for a squad of these guys, but in the time being I think this one packs a suitable punch.
Next we have the Chimera, which I must confess has been one of the most difficult and frustrating models in the entire set. Some of you may recall a digital Chimera sculpt we released as part of our initial publicity push for the line. We were never really satisfied with that sculpt. It wasn’t based on Pathfinder art, and it just looked too cartoony and “not right,” no matter how many times we modified it. Worse, it lacked a critical part of a Pathfinder Chimera’s anatomy—wings. That was the death knell for that sculpt, but just when we thought all was lost, WizKids came to the rescue! It turns out they weren’t satisfied with the original look, either, so they green-lit a resculpt behind the scenes to see if a different artist might be able to come closer to what we needed. The final Chimera pictured here is the result of their effort, wings and all.
So there you have it for today’s previews. I’m off to approve more amazing sculpts from our next set, Rise of the Runelords!
Pathfinder Battles Preview: A Frosty Black Friday!
Friday, November 17, 2011
The Paizo offices may be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, but nothing can stop the relentless march of preview images for the upcoming Heroes & Monsters set!
This week’s preview blog is a special treat in that it features only one miniature. But for my money, I think it’s the coolest miniature in the entire set! I’m talking about the Frost Giant!
The Frost Giant towers over the other miniatures in the set, raising his nasty axe high for a deadly blow to the head of any player character within his considerable reach. The larger size of the miniature really helps to accentuate the fine details of the sculpt, and this figure looks great standing next to his kin from other companies miniature sets.
But his “look” isn’t the only thing that makes the Frost Giant stand out. He’s got a trick up his sleeve. Literally.
Look closely and you’ll notice that this version of the Frost Giant holds a different weapon in his left hand, a mighty sword! Given the difference, you might think that Heroes & Monsters contains two different Frost Giant miniatures, but you’d be wrong!
The Frost Giant comes complete with two different left hands, each holding a different weapon!
WizKids sculpted the Frost Giant with an empty socket at its left wrist. The miniature comes with a choice of two different weapons, which you can snap in and out with ease. I’ve seen prepainted plastic miniatures with different parts before (a necklace here, a chain there), but I’ve never seen anything like the versatility of this mini before, and I think it bodes very well for future sets, which could hold similar surprises of their own.
Making big miniatures like this more modular is a nice way to diversify your doubles, and I’ll confess that it’s simply cool to play with this thing, changing one weapon for the other or adjusting the wrist to pull off the coolest pose.
So if you’re lucky enough to find the Frost Giant in your Heroes & Monsters booster and a friend asks “Did you get the one with the sword or the one with the axe?” you can answer:
“I got them both!”
That’s it for this week. We’re back to at least three previews next week, and we’re getting close to a complete set reveal! Happy Black Friday, everyone!
With the very first Pathfinder prepainted miniatures, Pathfinder Beginner Box Heroes, in stores now, interest in the Pathfinder Battles miniatures line has really heated up. Now that many of you have our first four miniatures in hand, it should be clear that WizKids is shooting for very high quality sculpts and paint jobs on all of the Pathfinder Battles miniatures. I think Heroes & Monsters keeps up (and in some cases exceeds) the high quality standards set by Beginner Box Heroes, and in a few short weeks, you’ll be able to see what I’m talking about with your own eyes.
Until then, we’ve got more previews to reveal! The early January release date for Pathfinder Battles Heroes & Monsters is fast approaching, and I find that we’ve pretty much announced all of the 40 miniatures in the set. I wanted to include at least one complete surprise this week, and this penultimate look brings us a single miniature away from a complete set reveal. We’ll get to that last one next week or beyond, but for now, let’s look at some creepy critters from Heroes & Monsters!
First up we have the Giant Spider, a nasty, poisonous fellow who clocks in at the common rarity. Bright red coloration is nature’s way of saying “I’m going to kill you,” and in this regard the Giant Spider is just as deadly as the bright red Venomous Snake we showed off a couple of weeks ago. Don’t forget your antivenom!
This Skeleton makes a good buddy for the Giant Spider, in that they’d both probably feel at home in the same sort of desolate dungeon environments. They also both make excellent adversaries for low-level adventurers. Both of them are commons. Many of the folks here in the office who see the Skeleton say, “wow, he looks just like he stepped out of a Ray Harryhausen movie!” Which is nice to hear, as it’s exactly what we were going for. If you look closely you can see a nice inking effect that WizKids added to the Skeleton’s shield to better sell the wood grain. It looks wonderful in person.
Sure, a Medium Giant Spider is cool, but take it from me. A Large Giant Caveweaver Spider is much, much cooler. This guy absolutely towers over lesser spiders, and he’s even been useful in scaring a few of our “adult” employees who have a very childish reaction to spiders (I’m looking at you, Bulmahn). Heh, heh, heh. Though you can’t quite see it in these photographs, the Giant Caveweaver Spider has a really cool red design on its back that is sure to have your player characters (and Jason Bulmahn) scampering for the exit. Everyone will be glad to hear that this is a rare miniature, so it’ll thankfully be a long time before these guys overrun the Earth.
Lastly, I wanted to provide a group photo of this week’s previews, so you can get a sense of just how huge that Giant Caveweaver Spider really is. Imagine that the Skeleton is the same height as a normal man, and you’ll get a strong idea that messing around with the Giant Caveweaver is a really, really bad idea!
Ok, ok, ok. I hear the skeptics already. There’s nothing terribly revolutionary about spiders and skeletons, no matter how cool they might look.
To which I say, fair enough. So next week, I’m going to show you a Heroes & Monsters figure with a feature unlike anything you’ve seen before in a prepainted miniature! I still can’t believe how awesome and innovative it is, and it’s been sitting on my desk for a month!
As usual, I’ll try to monitor the discussion thread here on the blog. Let me know if there’s anything in particular you’d like to see from the set, and I will make sure we cover it shortly!
Just yesterday, the fine folks from WizKids stopped by the Paizo offices to drop off the final batch of Pathfinder Battles Heroes & Monsters miniatures. I now have, sitting on my desk, actual production-run copies of all 41 miniatures in the set, from the lowly Goblin Warrior to the mighty Huge Black Dragon. Looking at them all lined up on my desk, I’m very impressed with the quality WizKids brought to bear on this set, and I think players are going to be absolutely thrilled with them. As much as I like sharing these images with you every Friday, there’s just something special about holding these miniatures in your hand that can never come through on a photograph.
I’ll begin revealing images of these final miniatures starting next week. This week’s batch is the last of the pre-production samples. Generally speaking, these look identical to the final versions except they haven’t yet been attached to the bases. I’ll see about showing off the bottoms of the bases next week, too, as they look a little different from prepainted plastic miniatures you’ve probably seen from other companies, in that you can actually read the name of the monster and other helpful information. More on that soon.
Today I want to focus on some of the common miniatures in the Heroes & Monsters set. When I first came into the prepainted miniature business, my understanding was that common miniatures often had very few paint steps, and were basically created as “cheaply” as possible as a way of subsidizing the more complicated miniatures pegged to the more scarce rarities. While there is some element of that in the Pathfinder Battles line (very complex minis are indeed more likely to be rarer), I was very pleasantly surprised to see the amount of quality and detail WizKids put into even the common miniatures in the set.
When I’ve showed the production samples around the office, it’s often been commons like the Orc Warrior or Lizardfolk Champion that folks identify as their favorites. With Pathfinder Battles, we let game utility dictate rarity more than things like sculpt complexity or paint steps. If you might want a ton of a certain creature in your game, we did everything we could to put that creature at the common rarity. If you only needed one, we made it a rare, and so on.
Here are preview images of three such common creatures, starting with the friendly (or not-so-friendly) fellows who tend to show up every time your player characters get into trouble in a town or city: the watch!
Here we have the lowly Watch Guard, the rank-and-file police or guard who peers through the darkness with his lantern and impales criminals with his simple spear. You can almost hear him say, “Wot’s all this, then?” as he advances toward your criminal player characters, with very little sense that they might have six or seven levels on him and weapons that cost more than he will earn in a year of cleaning up the city.
Every good gaggle of guards needs a leader, so when we were first planning this set, I asked WizKids to add a Watch Captain to the list. The guy they came back with looked pretty cool, but I thought he was a bit too regular-looking to fully pull off the “captain” rank, so I busted him down. He’s now the Watch Officer, nervously looking over his shoulder for a future set that might include his direct superior.
Or perhaps he’s nervous about an attack from this next common, the mighty Orc Brute! WizKids did an awesome job with the set’s two orcs (the Orc Warrior, taken directly from the Pathfinder Bestiary illustration, is even better than this one). This guy is ready to knock your head off with a nasty club capped with a bunch of nails. If it came down to the fight between the Orc Brute and both of the Watch figures put together, my vote goes to the orc. As Wesley Snipes once famously said: “Always bet on green.”
That’s it for this week. With a full set of finished minis to show off, next week’s preview will be the cream of the crop. Let me know what you’d like to see, and I’ll be sure to add it to the list!
All-Hallow’s Eve is almost upon us, so I’ve decided to shake up the regular preview regime and show off a few spooooooooky Pathfinder Battles miniatures from the forthcoming Heroes & Monsters set, regardless of their distribution rarity within the set.
First up is the Zombie, one of the most iconic horror creatures of all time. We figured that most GMs would appreciate a horde of these undead critters, so we’ve placed him in the common rarity—the better to overrun your player characters, of course!
This guy was a real struggle to get right. The first digital sculpts we received had his hands in the air like he was some kind of dancing fool, but after a bit of tweaking I think he’s finally in a correct “grasp/lunge” sort of stance. The photo doesn’t quite do justice to the details on this figure. Parts of his skull and ribcage are peeking through holes in his rotted skin. Yuck!
Next up we have the Werewolf, a fearsome foe from myth and legend. This lupine horror lunges straight at your player characters with one set of claws up in the air for a killing strike! I especially like the way that the Werewolf still has remnants of his human outfit, such as the torn bits of his pants around the waist and the single leather bracer on his left hand. WizKids has also added a nice drybrushing effect to highlight the contours of the rare Werewolf’s fur. And though I don’t have a photo to show this week, gamers will be happy to know that the regular Wolf in this set has exactly the same color fur, meaning that you could use both miniatures to represent different stages of the Werewolf’s lycanthropy.
Lastly we have a creepy rare critter that you definitely don’t want showing up outside your door whispering “trick or treat.” Keeping the door shut won’t keep him out, because he is incorporeal and can walk right though! Beware, the Spectre!
Super-dedicated Pathfinder fans might notice that this Spectre miniature is not based on the Spectre illustration in the Pathfinder Bestiary. That’s probably OK, I reasoned, since the illustration of that creature in the Bestiary wasn’t originally a Spectre either, and its wispy bottom half and dwarf upper half didn’t strike the right pose for a miniature, anyway. Knowing that we needed a Spectre in our set, we looked through our entire art archive and pulled the best-looking “spectral dead” image we could find. Thus was born this nasty critter, who can double for just about any type of incorporeal undead in the game.
Yes, it would be an even cooler miniature if we’d figured out some way to incorporate transparent plastic into the figure, but for this first set we didn’t have the time to do that kind of trickery.
I’m happy to report that that isn’t the case for future sets, however, and plenty of creepy and cool minis with see-through bits are just over the horizon
So there you have it. Three of the creepiest minis from Heroes & Monsters, soon to be appearing on your gaming table. They won’t make it in time to share Halloween with you, but since they’re scheduled for a December release, I suggest making room for them at Christmas dinner.
I hear they’re ravenous.
Next Week: I reveal photos of some of the set’s amazing common creatures!
I’m pleased to report that I have now seen preproduction samples of all 41 miniatures in the Pathfinder Battles Heroes & Monsters set, and I am thrilled with how they look! At long last we have discovered the “perfect” goblin skin tone, and the big meaty Ettin finally has the proper ink wash to make him a truly menacing brute. Things are really coming together, and folks around the Paizo office are blown away by the quality of the sculpts and paint jobs of the entire line. The commons in particular are amazingly impressive, with far better paint jobs than most gamers are used to at that rarity. WizKids has done a tremendous job both in the initial execution, and in keeping up with a bewildering amount of changes and suggestions from Paizo aimed at making these minis as close to perfect as possible.
To that end, we’ve been shaking up the rarity scheme a bit, so while I was planning to reveal the entire uncommon list today, we’re going to have to wait another week since a few minis are moving around and I don’t want to reveal anything that might change later.
But I do want to share some uncommon images with you! As I explained last week, we see the uncommon rarity as the perfect landing point for player character miniatures (the “heroes” in Heroes & Monsters). While everyone needs multiple orcs and goblins, you probably don’t need a whole army of human rangers or dwarf clerics or what have you.
Today’s blog shows off three of the uncommons (that won’t be changing rarities) no one outside the office has seen yet. Two of them are player character types, while the third is a creature you’ll use again and again.
Our first miniature this week is the Dwarf Fighter, a doughty dude in plate armor and a fancy winged helmet. If you’ve got a copy of the Inner Sea World Guide you probably recognize this guy from the back cover. He means business!
Next up is our Half-Elf Cleric, in this case a crusading warrior of Iomedae. I really like the way WizKids emblazoned her holy symbol on her tabard. And since she’s using a sword and wearing plate mail armor, this miniature easily doubles as a fighter or paladin.
Last up this week is a nasty Venomous Snake, whose image comes straight out of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. A bright red coat is nature’s way of saying “I am going to murder you,” and it’ll be fun to watch your players squirm like Indiana Jones when this little guy hits the table.
That’s it for previews this week! But here we are at the end of the post, and I can’t spoil that uncommon list I was planning to, and I feel terrible! So, in order to make up for this egregious slight, here’s a list of a few rares in the set that we haven’t previously announced!
There are a lot more rares than that, but I’ve got to hold onto some of my cards. The set doesn’t come out until December, and we’ve got plenty more blogs to go before the set releases!
So let me know if there are other topics you’d like me to cover on these Friday blogs, and I’ll do my best to do so!
Pathfinder Battles Heroes & Monsters Preview: Getting Into Character
Friday, October 14, 2011
Things are moving rapidly on the Pathfinder Battles front! This week, our partners at WizKids sent us 13 pre-production samples from December’s Heroes & Monsters 40-miniature set. These figures are very similar to the final production-run, so we’re within 95% of the final look of the miniatures. These figures are not yet attached to bases, but beyond that, they’re pretty close to done. We’ve spent the last couple days looking over every millimeter of these miniatures, getting our final feedback to WizKids so they can make minor adjustments before the figures start coming off the production line.
For today’s blog, I thought it would be fun to show off brand new photographs of three of these miniatures. Unlike the monsters we revealed last week, these three figures are designed to represent NPCs and player characters, and each belongs to a race and class found in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
Our first miniature is the sneaky Human Rogue. This little guy wears a long, dark cloak with a cute pointed hood, but his hidden short sword shows he means business. This figure doubles as a good urban thug or even an assassin.
Next we’ve got an Elf Wizard, caught in the act of casting a deadly spell. Though it doesn’t come through particularly well in the photograph, the elf’s robes have a neat color gradient that blends from bluish-gray at the shoulders down to purple at the hem of the robe.
Lastly we have a Human Druid from the deep jungles of the Mwangi Expanse. Who knows what powerful ritual is inscribed on her huge scroll? As much as I like this picture, it’s difficult to appreciate the detail on this figure without holding it in your hand. With metallic blue shards hanging from the strap on her side to the cool texture of her hair, this is a fantastic-looking miniature.
There you have it. Three adventurers ready for your game table, and we haven’t even gotten to the set’s iconic character yet!
All three of these figures are at the Uncommon rarity. Next week I’ll reveal more of the preproduction samples, and I’ll also list several more Uncommons we have planned for the Heroes & Monsters set.
Pathfinder Battles Heroes & Monsters Preview: Common Courtesy
Friday, October 7, 2011
I don’t have any color previews to show you today, so instead I’ve decided to share three “behind the scenes” shots of unpainted preliminary sculpts for miniatures in the forthcoming Pathfinder Battles: Heroes & Monsters set. The complete set features 40 miniatures plus the premium Huge Black Dragon miniature. Of those 40 minis, 13 are packed in the common rarity.
When deciding which miniatures to assign to which rarity, we thought about how the miniatures would be used on the game table. If you generally encounter a single example of a given creature (say, a manticore), we assigned that miniature to the Rare rarity.
For creatures that come in larger numbers in game play, we were more likely to assign them the Common rarity. Stuff like orcs, goblins, city watch guards, and the like fit easily into this category, because everyone needs more than one. Our partners at WizKids put a lot of work into creating amazing sculpts even for the more common figures, as you can see below.
For starters, here is a nasty-looking Orc Brute, complete with a big club and plenty of need for good dental work. Note that this early sculpt has the wrong number of toes on each foot, something we fixed for the final sculpt.
Next we have a slightly more civilized Orc Warrior, whom you might recognize from the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary.
Lastly (for today), we have another nasty humanoid, the savage Lizardfolk Champion! Beware his trident!
This week is also the first in which we begin to reveal the final set list. In the spirit of the Common creatures revealed above, I thought I’d reveal the entire list of all 13 Common creatures in the Heroes & Monsters set! They are:
COMMON CREATURES
Goblin Warrior
Goblin Hero
Dire Rat
Gnome Fighter
Orc Brute
Orc Warrior
Skeleton
Watch Guard
Watch Officer
Lizardfolk Champion
Zombie
Giant Spider
Wolf
Next week I hope to show more color images, as well as reveal the 10 Uncommon figures in the Heroes & Monsters set! Come back to see what else we have in store, and look for Pathfinder Battles: Heroes & Monsters in stores this December!
When we put together the set list for our first major Pathfinder Battles set, Heroes & Monsters, we knew it needed to contain several goblins. Ever since James Jacobs and Wayne Reynolds reimagined these classic monsters in the very first Pathfinder Adventure Path volume, “Burnt Offerings,” these little green-skinned bastards have been sort of unofficial mascots for the Pathfinder brand. They just had to be represented in the set.
The behind-the-scenes images below show the unpainted master sculpts of two of the goblins included in the Heroes & Monsters set. As WizKids’ sculptors pretty much translated our critters directly into three dimensions, we did not require any changes to their look.
The image below shows the goblins in their full-color glory. We asked WizKids to darken the greens a bit on these little guys, so the final production models will come off a little less day-glo than they appear here, but you can get a good sense of how nasty the goblins will look when they come chomping into your life in December!
They be plasticrack, you be food!
Next Week: I have no idea which images we’ll preview next week, but I am confident they will look awesome. Let me know what minis or Pathfinder Battles information you’d like to see, and I’ll do my best to reveal it here in seven days!
Pathfinder Battles Preview: Heroes & Monsters Behind the Scenes
Friday, September 23, 2011
So far we’ve revealed the digital sculpts for 11 of the prepainted miniatures in our Pathfinder Battles: Heroes & Monsters base set, including the mighty Huge Black Dragon! Digital sculpts give us the chance to see what a miniature will look like in full color, and allow us a chance to make minor (or even major) adjustments to ensure that the miniatures accurately model the characters and creatures that inhabit the Pathfinder world.
But digital is not the only way to sculpt a miniature, of course. Even though our partners at WizKids use the most modern methods to create their beautiful minis, sometimes the best way to make a miniature is to sculpt it by hand using precision tools and modeling putty. This is the same process by which most metal miniatures come into the world. Because the epoxy putty used by most sculptors is usually green, minis lingo refers to these preliminary miniature sculpts as “greens,” no matter what color they turn out to be.
Below you can see the green of the tallest miniature in the Heroes & Monsters set, the two-headed Ettin. The pose is an amalgamation of a black-and-white ettin image from a Pathfinder’s Journal fiction piece and the ettin entry in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. When WizKids provided this image to Paizo for approval, Senior Art Director Sarah Robinson and I thought it captured the creature perfectly, and gave the sculpt our stamp of approval almost immediately.
Once a sculpt has been approved, WizKids technicians use the green to form the basis of the mold from which the entire production run will come. At about the same time this is being done, painters must determine what the final paint job of the miniature will look like. In the case of digital sculpts, general paint guides come with the sculpt itself. In the case of traditional sculpts, however, the artists must interpret colors from the original art, and take their best shot at how they think the final colors should look.
Just this week, WizKids sent over the proposed paint deco specs for the Ettin, which looked like this:
Like the sculpt before it, the paint deco sample passed inspection with very few changes. We like the way this guy looks. That said, from experience with the Beginner Box Heroes set, WizKids improves the painting with each step, so the final miniature will likely look a little more “weathered” than this one, giving it a slightly more realistic look.
So the Ettin went very smoothly, transitioning from art to green to mold to paint deco with virtually no hitches. I’m happy to say that this has been the case for most of the miniatures in the Heroes & Monsters set, but a few have been somewhat more stubborn, requiring more substantial changes at each step in the process. A good example of this is the Human Ranger.
When we decided to put the Human Ranger in the set, we provided this great illustration by Eric Belisle to WizKids.
Their sculptor’s first crack at this miniature captured a lot of what we thought was important about the character’s costume and general demeanor, but Sarah and I were concerned that the pose was too two-dimensional, and wasn’t as dynamic as Belisle’s original illustration. Our WizKids counterparts agreed, and came back with the following major improvement:
We really liked this approach, and approved the sculpt. Now here was a bowman we could see people really wanting to play, and the pose really tells a lot about the character. We were excited! But things got a lot more exciting earlier this week, when WizKids sent over the following paint deco for approval:
And that, as they say, was a bulls-eye.
From here the paint decos will be turned into “masks” that go over the unpainted miniatures, allowing paint application to go in all the right places. Add some hand-finishing to bring out the tiny details, and the Ettin and Human Ranger are on their way to production!
Ever since we announced our Pathfinder Battles prepainted fantasy miniatures line in partnership with WizKids, members of the Paizo community have wanted a way to subscribe. Due to the special nature of randomly assorted blind-packaged miniatures produced by another company, it’s taken us about a month to pull together the appropriate website code to make it happen. I’m pleased to announce that today we are ready to reveal the Pathfinder Battles subscription plan, as well as some associated details about how you can make sure you don’t miss the exciting (and extremely limited-edition) Huge Black Dragon premium miniature from December’s Heroes & Monsters set! Best of all, the entire system is ready immediately, and you can begin your Pathfinder Battles ongoing subscriptiontoday!
Our new Pathfinder Battles ongoing subscription allows you to specify the number of cases you would like to receive of each major Pathfinder Battles set release. The first set, Heroes & Monsters ships in December, with a follow-up set, Rise of the Runelords, in June. We currently anticipate that future sets will appear about every 4 months.
In addition to major randomly packaged sets, WizKids plans to release several nonrandom Encounter Packs. These packs are not included in your subscription, but your subscription will allow you the opportunity to purchase them at reduced cost.
Each major Pathfinder Battles set will also include at least one limited-edition premium miniature. For Heroes & Monsters, the premium miniature is the fearsome Huge Black Dragon ($14.99), usually available only to retailers on a 1-per-case basis.
Your ongoing Pathfinder Battles subscription provides the following benefits:
The right to purchase one limited-edition case premium miniature at 75% off its normal retail price per case ordered.
Discount code good for 20% off our price on one Encounter Pack per case ordered.
20% off our price on paizo.com purchases of loose, unpackaged Pathfinder Battles miniature singles to help you fill in your collection.
We expect all of our Pathfinder Battles sets to sell out relatively quickly, as the red-hot demand for this product has exceeded our expectations. An ongoing Pathfinder Battles subscription is your best chance to get the latest figures before they run out!
Sign up today to ensure that your Pathfinder Battles ongoing subscription starts with the very first release, Heroes & Monsters. Only those who preorder by October 1st and subscribers will be guaranteed a chance to purchase the Huge Black Dragon premium miniature, so we encourage interested parties to preorder or subscribe as soon as they can. We will continue to offer Heroes & Monsters as the starting point of your subscription as long as we can guarantee that we will have enough premium miniatures to cover subscriber demand. When this is no longer the case, we will shift subscriptions to begin with the following release.
We’ve assembled a handy Frequently Asked Questions to cover the subscription plan in greater detail, and plan to monitor the comment thread of this blog post to handle any questions we haven’t thought of yet.
Thanks for your patience with us as we’ve put this new subscription option into place. We hope you’ll consider it worth the wait. You won’t have to wait much longer, though, for the Heroes & Monsters are on the march!
ENnie Awards: Product of the Year (for the Advanced Players Guide)
Whew... another Gen Con over and done with! We had a great time at the show, in no small part due to the incredible support of our fans and customers. You all are the BEST!
In a Gen Con filled with highlights, though, for me one of the most incredible moments came about 15 minutes after the Ennie Awards wrapped up, when we went up to the Pathfinder Society Organized Play room to announce to a room of several hundred gamers that we’d won. The uproar of cheers that filled the room when Erik climbed up on his chair and made that announcement was overwhelming. Pictured is one of those many awards—the trophy for Product of the Year (Advanced Player’s Guide) held up with an enormous room of hundreds of Pathfinder Society GMs and players in the background.
We also made a large number of announcements at Gen Con for products coming out in the months ahead. Most of these announcements can be found here and there on paizo.com, but I thought I’d group them all up here in this post so everyone can find out about them at once.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Coming at the end of the year is Pathfinder Bestiary 3, followed next Spring by the Advanced Race Guide (a big hardcover book that’ll give you new options for ALL of the zero Hit Die races we’ve published to that point, as well as rules for building your own races of any power level), and then next Gen Con with Ultimate Equipment (a hardcover filled to the brim with new toys and magic items for any Pathfinder character).
Pathfinder Adventure Path: At long last, we’ve started the Jade Regent Adventure Path! But once you’re done traveling over the frozen Crown of the World and exploring Tian Xia, be ready next February for some good old-fashioned plundering and mayhem with the pirate-themed Skull & Shackles Adventure Path. And then, next Gen Con, we celebrate five years of Pathfinder and ten years of Paizo by returning to where it all began—the Shattered Star Adventure Path brings it all back to Varisia with a frantic search to be the first to recover and rebuild an ancient Thassilonian artifact—the original Sihedron Symbol—before it’s too late!
Pathfinder Player Companion: After debuting Goblins of Golarion at Gen Con, we’re ready to finish out the three-part exploration of the faiths of the Inner Sea with Faiths of Corruption. Two months later, the Dragon Empires Primer gives players all they need to know to make characters from Tian Xia. And early next year, Pirates of the Inner Sea will finally let you unleash your inner buccaneer!
Pathfinder Modules: We’ll be heading back to Varisia even earlier than Magnimar: City of Monuments and the Shattered Star Adventure Path, though, with Feast of Ravenmoor, a low-level module set in the Varisian hinterlands. Two months later, test your mettle in The Ruby Phoenix Tournament, and then next January find out what our latest RPG Superstar winner, Sam Zeitlin, has in store for you in The Midnight Mirror!
Pathfinder Battles: After WizKids releases the initial set of prepainted plastic Pathfinder miniatures of Merisiel, Kyra, Valeros, and Ezren (Pathfinder Beginner Box Heroes, which ties into the upcoming Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Box), you can look forward first to the 40-miniature set of Heroes and Monsters, to be followed up later next year by the Rise of the Runelords set.
And finally... the announcement that I was the most excited for: a 420-page hardcover compilation of Rise of the Runelords, fully updated to the Pathfinder rules and expanded with new encounters and tons of new artwork, due for release at PaizoCon 5 next June!
TMBA was showing off its newest and upcoming prepainted terrain pieces. (Monte has a bunch of these, they're really amazing.) http://www.miniaturebuildingauthority.com/
Some minis companies, such as Iron Wind Metals, sell old minis, damaged minis, bulk minis, and bits by the pound. Often you can find very unusual pieces in these bins, such as the stone panther statues, nightmare, and giant war-wagon skull I nabbed.
Saw this mini while browsing the Reaper booth and am so excited to paint it! Especially with Jade Regent and Tian Xia products being released! I'm imaging it with bright, primary colors and gold accents.
As a miniatures fanatic, I'm always encouraging other people to try painting. Many people complain they don't have enough time, it's hard to paint at home because they have kids or don't have space, and so on. For a time, we had a weekly painting group meeting in the evening after work, but since Gen Con 2009, the move to the then-new building, and due to the frantic pace of publishing increasingly popular books, that fell by the wayside. Recently we started up a lunchtime painting get-together, meeting every Tuesday from noon to 1 in the upstairs conference room. Why Tuesday? Because my high-level drow game is on Tuesday nights, and this gives me an opportunity to get some last-minute painting done for the upcoming game!
Clockwise from the lower left we have Ross (painting some 40K marines), Liz (painting a serpentfolk for the Serpent Skull Adventure Path), Crystal (working on a Privateer gun-toting troll), Sara Marie (painting her PC for Rob's game), Rob (painting his badger mini an appropriate shade of "Rummy Tum Tugger purple"), Andrew (showing his art skills on a Reaper imp), Hyrum's hand (also working on some 40K marines), and the back of my head (applying some metallic base coats to some deep ones).
It's nice to work in a place where painting weird monsters is normal. It's also nice to have a regular schedule to get some painting done, even if it's just a little bit. Even if you don't work for a game company, maybe you can find a time and place to paint. And you might get someone else interested in gaming!
Gen Con 2010 Promotional Paizo Mini from Reaper Miniatures
Monday, August 16, 2010
Not only did Reaper Miniatures bring miniatures of the six new Advanced Player's Guide iconics to Gen Con, they brought a promotional mini of half-elven venture-captain Varian Jegarre—a Pathfinder of Egorian and protagonist of Dave Gross's Pathfinder Tales novel Prince of Wolves—which con guests got for free if they spent $50 at the Paizo booth. If you couldn't get one at Gen Con, though, don't worry—we'll have some for sale here at paizo.com in the near future.
One really nice thing about this mini (above and beyond the nice sculpt and detailed face) is it's a one-piece mini, which makes it nice for people new to painting minis—there's no assembly required!
Painted miniature by Meg Maples
Sean K Reynolds
Developer and Miniatures Aficionado
As you may have seen in recent blogs, I like miniatures and props when running a game. As my office is on the ground floor of the Paizo office and my Exiles of Zirnakaynin game is held in our large conference room upstairs, I have to carry this stuff upstairs for every game, and down again afterward. An interest in efficiency and expediency has resulted in me building a set of compartmentalized, easy to carry "units" of game materials. From back to front, the picture shows:
A cardboard box containing five large cavern terrain pieces created out of extruded polystyrene foam (painted brown, drybrushed light brown to show details, with patches painted green and glow-in-the-dark to represent phosphorescent fungi).
A craft kit containing cheap plastic minis, wooden tokens representing camping gear and building furnishings, various tokens from Litko Aerosystems, colored magnetic bases for miniatures, cheap plastic animals and bugs for summons, and miscellaneous map scenery like cages, barrels, and skull piles.
A large plastic storage bin holding my Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook, Bestiary, five foam miniatures trays (containing the PC minis, various NPC minis, monster minis, and common summonable creature minis such as elementals), two GameMastery Flip-Mats, a Pathfinder RPG GM Screen with binder clips to hold stat block pages, dry-erase markers, pens, and more Litko Aerosystems tokens, topped with four smaller foam terrain pieces (the ovoid brownie-looking things) and five larger dinosaur toys for summon monster spells.
Wednesday night we finished session #3 of Exiles of Zirnakaynin, my high-level, all-evil, all-drow-noble campaign. This session started with getting James Jacobs and Rob McCreary caught up to the rest of the group, as they missed session #2 due to bad cases of the sicky sickies. Once sisters Alivorah (James) and Ylvirixna (Rob) reached the pleasure-haven drow city of Far Parathra, they were attacked by mysterious creatures that crawled out of the angles formed by the walls and floors of their hotel rooms. Similar creatures attacked the rest of the PCs at the end of session #2, and most of Wednesday's game involved six individual, simultaneous battles against these creatures, as all the PCs had split up for the night.
Things I learned in last night's session include:
Even a creature of the Mythos can succumb to a baleful polymorph if you try enough times (ook ook!).
Remembering you have Combat Casting can be the difference between successfully casting a ground-zero flame strike and eye-rolling failure.
14th-level fighters and inquisitors can deal a horrendous amount of damage in one round.
Fast zombies make fine litter-bearers but poor obstacles against CR 9 opponents.
Letting a demon possess a PC sometimes means the PC goes crazy and destroys her sister's undead lackeys.
It seems like I’m the guy who usually ends up running the game, so when Sean announced that he was going to run a high-level campaign where all the PCs would be demon-worshiping drow nobles, I jumped at the chance to play. After all, high-level play, demons, and drow are three of my favorite things! You got a first look into the mayhem of our first session last week when Sean showed off his creepy black light, but today I’m going to tell you about my character. Like it or not!
Photography by James Jacobs
Alivorah Azrinae (CE female drow noble bard 7/demoniac 6) is something of a troublemaker, even in drow society. She's gotten in hot water with the Azrinaes many times in the past for cavorting and fraternizing with other houses—she thinks of herself as a spy, and loves learning secrets about other people and organizations. Her main problem is that she doesn't follow orders well and doesn't like divulging secrets without learning a secret in return—a trait that makes her not very helpful as a spy to anyone but herself. As a demoniac, she bears the mark of Abraxas on her right shoulder as a pale tattoo-like marking. Currently, she's a bit agonized by the fact that she actually knew a few secrets about the attack on the Azrinae family—had she divulged them, she could have possibly saved her house from being exiled. Her main goal now is to see that the Azrinae family gets to return to Zirnakaynin in a greater position of power than before. And if she gets herself a promotion in the family to a position of greater power, all the better!
The attached picture features the miniature I’m using for Alivorah, standing next to her entry on the family tree chart that Sean provided us. The mini (which was painted for me by the always-awesome Stephen Radney-MacFarland, who’s mini-painting skills are SIGNIFICANT) is one I originally used for Jason’s campaign a year or so ago, but since Jason quit running that game, I saw this as a great opportunity to use my cool drow mini again, even though she doesn’t really match the type of gear Alivorah carries. Also, those with keen eyes will note that Alivorah is the sister of Rob McCreary’s character, and that Josh is playing her uncle and Crystal her aunt. Should make for some interesting dynamics around the table!
As for that bit about being a “demoniac,” well... that’s a prestige class I’m taking the opportunity to playtest during this campaign. Originally presented as the 5-level demonic initiate prestige class in Pathfinder Adventure Path #15, this class is being upgraded to a 10-level prestige class and renamed to “demoniac” (the noun definition of which is “a person seemingly possessed by a demon or evil spirit”—it’s not a prestige class for characters who make smart decisions regarding the well-being of their immortal soul). Full details on the demoniac prestige class will appear in the upcoming Lords of Chaos: Book of the Damned Volume 2.
And for those readers who don’t care about my new character (you’re dead to me!), here’s a quick preview of some of the content I’m working on for Lords of Chaos—the beginning of Abraxas’s entry in Chapter 1: The Abyss and its Lords! (Note! The following hasn’t even been through development yet—some elements are certain to change by the time it sees print later this year.)
Abraxas
Master of the Final Incantation
Male demon lord of magic and forbidden lore
Cult
Temple libraries, reliquaries, vaults
Worshipers drow, sorcerers
Minions mariliths, xacarbas (see Pathfinder Bestiary II), serpentine creatures
Sacrifice spellbooks, magic scrolls, those who reveal secrets
Obedience Self-flagellate with a small whip or tree branch, punctuating each stroke with utterances of mystic words of power. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against written magical effects, such as sepia snake sigil or symbol of death.
Boons
1: Secret Lore (Sp) Gain one of the following spell-like abilities: identify 3/day, augury 2/day, or illusory script 1/day
2: Heretical Revelation (Su) Up to three times a day you can whisper terrible secrets to an adjacent target as a standard action. The target can resist with a Will save (DC = 10 + 1/2 your HD + your Charisma modifier). If the target fails its save, it is stunned for 1 round, then confused for 1d4 rounds, and then nauseated for 2d6 rounds. This is a mind-affecting effect.
3: Penultimate Incantation (Sp) You affect a single creature within 60 feet with a targeted greater dispel magic. Each spell or effect dispelled inflicts fire damage to the target equal to the result of your caster level check made to dispel the magic.
In a fit of madness, I decided to run a high-level playtest so we could have an ongoing idea of how high-level play works in the Pathfinder RPG. In a fit of double-madness, I decided it would be an "evil" game. Triple-madness means everyone is playing a drow noble from House Azrinae in the Darklands. The result is Exiles of Zirnakaynin.
As I'm a miniatures geek, this meant painting up a bunch of dark elf PCs and NPCs, plus other Darklands monsters and underground terrain. As I'm a science geek, I painted many of these things with fluorescent paint highlights, glow-in-the-dark paint, or glow-in-the-dark varnish so they react to a black light.
This photograph is from our first session, where the PCs (and associated undead and eidolon minions) and soldiers of House Azrinae line up on the eastern wall and tower of the House grounds (with the riding-lizard stable in the foreground) to defend against an attacking force of half-fiend minotaurs, enemy drow soldiers, some treant-like fungus creatures, and a few other surprises not yet on the map.
As the new Reaper Pathfinder minis roll into (and just as quickly out of) the warehouse, it makes me appreciate how crafty Paizo fans can be. With all the miniatures, sets, props, and stage plays we've seen kitbashed together around here, it's easy for even the unstoppable Paizo warband to feel humbled. And of all these projects, miniatures occupy a special place in most gamers' hearts. Something about having that 25mm scale representation of your character touches a special, squishy place in every geek's heart. My own collection of painted minis rivals even that of Czarina Catherine the Great (little known fact: Cat was gonzo for 1st Edition, and ran a game of Traveller every other Thursday), but EPA lead regulations and simple goblin humility prevent me from sharing them here.
To get you geared up for your brand new Pathfinder Reaper minis, here's a quick collection of links to help teach and inspire every crafty Paizo fan.
In the last few weeks, the Paizo messageboards have been buzzing with painting tips, tricks, and (most of all), examples. With active discussions and a welcoming group familiar with the Pathfinder line, this is your best place to get started and learn from a friendly group you might already know. Even the official Paizo Paintmeister, Sean K Reynolds contributes to the discussions and offers insider tips. If you don't need to pick up the basics, it never hurts to hobnob with fellow Paizonians, show off your work, bask in the admiration of the faceless masses, and know for just a brief moment how it feels to be a world-famous goblin blogger and production specialist. Also it facilitates that sense of community that makes Paizo fans the best of the best.
If you love the idea of having a tiny metal avatar of yourself, but don't know where to start, then one of the best places to learn is the Miniature Painting Guild. They feature several handy tutorials for all skills levels, as well as forums and a large gallery. My personal favorite: a catalog of "restored" miniatures, rescued from terrible paint jobs by the Guild's loyal members. And if you're simply one of the Paizonians with more time than money, the Miniature Painting Guild also offers professional paintings services on commission.
Once you're comfortable with the basics, Reaper Miniatures offers some of the best figures in the industry, covering hundreds of niches and character archetypes. Searching the Reaper catalog the old-fashioned way, while exciting, can take weeks, so be sure to try out their Figure Finder to pick out exactly the right miniature for your character needs. Or just browse through their Inspirational Gallery for ideas to customize your own painting work. Once you know what models you want, you can order most any of them here in the Paizo storefront and combine them with the latest Pathfinder supplements and GameMastery items you'll doubtless be using with them.
Of course, old-fashioned pewter miniatures are only the beginning: everything from repurposed game tokens and children's toys to your favorite illustrations can be turned into prime gaming minis with a little creativity and know-how. I've seen a man run a game with nothing but miniatures molded by his own, gnarled hands from Sculpy, and my great-grandmother ran tactical table wargames with an entire Napoleonic regiment made from the piled entrails of her fallen enemies. The smell was horrendous, but it gave her a certain psychological edge. As gamers, we share a lot of creative outlets, but few that are so easily appreciated and constantly in play as our minis. For some of us, minis were even that neat little gimmick that first got us into gaming. So lay your hands on some lead and show off your skills in the forums, and let us revel in this common facet of gaming culture. As the immortal Steve Martin put it: Let's get small.
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