Pathfinder #12 Preview: Draconic Dining at its Best!

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Black Fang is back for this week's release of Pathfinder #12, and now adventurer is on the menu! Will the black dragon gorge on sweet, sweet player characters? Or will the Pathfinders inflict some mythic-tier indigestion?

Subscribers to Pathfinder comics through paizo.com receive a 20% discount off the cover price, 15% off back and special issues, a special subscriber tag for the paizo.com messageboards, and a limited-edition collectible paizo.com exclusive cover for each issue.

Tech-saavy goblin fans can also pick up their digital copies of Pathfinder Goblins! at comixology.com!

Jenny Bendel
Marketing Director

Pathfinder Special #1 Sneak Peak!

Tuesday, November 13, 2013

Magnimar is a city of mythic architecture and colorful occupants. When Merisiel and Kyra decide to 'hit the town' and explore their new home, they end up with more trouble than they bargained for—cutthroat thieves, betrayal, swashbuckling swordplay and much more are found in Pathfinder Special #1, a super-sized story that couldn't be contained in the regular Pathfinder series. Check out the preview below!

Subscribers to Pathfinder comics through paizo.com receive a 20% discount off the cover price, 15% off back and special issues, a special subscriber tag for the paizo.com messageboards, and a limited-edition collectible paizo.com exclusive cover for each issue.

Tech-saavy goblin fans can also pick up their digital copies of Pathfinder Goblins! at comixology.com!

Jenny Bendel
Marketing Director

Pathfinder: Goblins! #4: Mean and Green

Saturday, November 9, 2013

My adolescent comic book dollar was not well spent.

Growing up, we were terminally out of milk, meaning the circuit for any errand inevitably included a trip to the local convenience store. As much as my brother and I enjoyed the opportunities any store presented for squirming and line standing, my mother usually preferred to let her hellions run flailing to the nearby comic shop.

The baleful Comic Keeper had little patience for tweens in his store, and certainly not among the titles kept in mushy white-brown boxes on and under the store's mismatched folding tables. Rather, I was directed to a metal rack crammed in a back corner, one that displayed titles united by the Archie Comics logo: Archie & Friends, Jughead's Time Police, Koosh Kins, The Wild West Cowboys of Moo Mesa, and the like. I can't say I was terribly discerning at the time, but I certainly didn't scoff at what direction I received—the two dollar price stickers also went a long way to pique my interest (I was trying to make ends meet with a five dollar a week allowance after all). So I got in the habit of picking up the best from this collection, something I was familiar with both from television and mangled piles of action figures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures.

To clarify, these were not the Mirage Studios, 1980s, Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Rather, these were the the gritless and never grim, pizza loving, cowabunga crowing interpretations of Saturday morning cartoons, Nintendo classics, and KB Toys. I checked for the new monthly issue probably twice a week, and poured tens of dollars into that store over months and months, not resting until my 10 volume back issue collection was complete.

Eventually, though, the system failed. One day, unsuspectingly, I went into the comic shop planning to leave with something garishly colored, but instead got into the back of my Mom's van with pages of black and white. I don't remember why I picked up one of the Eastman and Laird volumes—maybe I just had fresh allowance burning a hole in my pocket, maybe I was more curious than I remember. Regardless, in this volume Raphael was dead (I think it was him, I was thoroughly confused on how to tell the turtles apart in black and white), being tormented through some horrible spire-filled afterlife by a foul-mouthed bone faced vulture.

This was not my comic. It also certainly wasn't from the cartoon. I was even fairly sure it wasn't the plot of the recently released TMNT movie. This couldn't have been from anywhere else, so what the devil was this?

That answer was something of a revelation. It was it's own thing—something that would never fly in any other format. These comics could tell stories other mediums couldn't. They could be visually bold and expressive beyond novels, but also mature and experimental in ways film and animation (that I was aware of at the time) couldn't be. Comics were different, and had unique tricks and potential. It wasn't a realization I expected for my $1.99, but it's stuck with me in the few years since 1990.

When the opportunity came around for Erik, Sutter, and I to contribute stories to Pathfinder: Goblins, I knew I wanted to tell a story I couldn't with a Pathfinder adventure or in a piece of fiction. It had to be a goblin story, but it couldn't just be goblins being quirky and fail-ready, it had to use the medium. That's where my story's main character got the personality trait that would land him in so much trouble, because Xoff—that's my gob—is a total liar.

In Pathfinder: Goblins! #4, along with Jeremy Holt's awesome tale "The Gobbling Goblin," you'll find "Horsechopper," a dual account of Xoff's encounter with the Lost Coast's most infamous inhabitant, none other than the Sandpoint Devil. I say "dual account" because Xoff's narration recounts his grand battle, while Jainai Jeffries's brilliant illustrations depict a somewhat less flattering reality. It's a creepy encounter about a goblin, a dashing hat, and—of course—one trusty horsechopper. I won't give away the ending, but things get messy and along the way a frog almost gets gobbled. Writing this, now I really wish I'd made that frog a turtle.

Pathfinder: Goblins! #4 is on sale now, a creepy pair of tales to share along with your other Autumn ghost stories, and one that backs up your Pathfinder game with an appendix including stats for our "hero" Xoff and details on a distinctly goblin haunted house. Order it here, or hunt it down at your local comic shop now!

Just remember, it's the one with the hairless green ruffians who aren't ninjas.

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief

Pathfinder Comic #10 Preview

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

When the Pathfinder adventurers are hired to scare away bandits who've taken over the abandoned outpost prison called Raven's Watch, they get a lot more than they bargained for! Pathfinder #10, the newest issue in the hit Pathfinder Comics series, hits stores on Wednesday. Here's a sneak preview of the adventure awaiting our heroes!

Subscribers to Pathfinder Comics through paizo.com receive a 20% discount off the cover price, 15% off back and special issues, a special subscriber tag for the paizo.com messageboards, and a limited-edition collectible paizo.com exclusive cover for each issue.

You can also find digital issues of Pathfinder and Pathfinder: Goblins on Comixology.

Jenny Bendel
Marketing Director

Goblins! #3 Sneaksie-Peeksies!

Thursday, October 3, 2013

The third issue of Pathfinder Goblins! is now available! This new issue features two goblin tales written by Ron Marz and Ray Fawkes. Check out the preview below!

Subscribers to Pathfinder comics through paizo.com receive a 20% discount off the cover price, 15% off back and special issues, a special subscriber tag for the paizo.com messageboards, and a limited-edition collectible paizo.com exclusive cover for each issue.

Jenny Bendel
Marketing Director

Behold the Magic Pig

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Alternate cover for Pathfinder Goblins #2

I've always loved comics. From the moment I learned how to read as a child, I would often dedicate whole days over summer break to reading the entire catalogue of strips like Calvin & Hobbes, FoxTrot, or Bloom County. For a while I dabbled in superhero comics, but it wasn't until a friend showed me Sandman after college that a new world opened up and I began devouring graphic novels. Around the same time someone introduced me to webcomics as well, and I discovered yet another passion (one that eventually ended up with me being involved in the infamous Machine of Death, alongside some of the giants of that field). To this day, Paizo Editor-in-Chief Wes Schneider and I have a tradition of buying each other comics we think the other should read (or more often, that we want to read ourselves), and Publisher Erik Mona frequently unbars the door to his comic vault to educate us youngsters what clearly don't know nothin' yet. ("Grant Morrison? Who's that?")

Yet as much as I adore comics, not since high school days spent tracing friends' sketches during class (yes, I was one of those weirdos who wanted to be an inker) had I ever considered the possibility of someday being involved in comics. That whole industry was forever a mystery to me.

That curtain began to pull back, however, when we partnered with Dynamite Entertainment to do the Pathfinder comic. Suddenly, I was getting to edit real, honest-to-god comic scripts, see how words become sketches and then finals, and meet some of the awesome creators and editors who make it happen. Talking with the people involved, I started to see how things worked. And I knew, without doubt, that if given the chance, I would be all over that.

Fortunately for me, that chance came with the announcement of the Pathfinder Goblins! miniseries. Erik and Dynamite were kind enough to give some of us at Paizo the chance to pitch story ideas, and as luck would have it, Wes, Erik, and I all found ourselves added to the writer lineup alongside comic heavy-hitters like Adam Warren, Charles Soule, Ray Fawkes, and more.

I was there. I was writing part of a comic book.

Now I just needed to learn how to write a comic book.

Fortunately, I knew just where to turn. If you didn't already know, in addition to writing the main Pathfinder comic, Jim Zubkavich also does Skullkickers, one of the funniest and most creative fantasy comics around, as well as a wide variety of other work. More importantly, he's also a really nice guy. So nice, in fact, that he's written up a whole series of tutorials on how to write comics professionally. With his tips and tricks guiding me, I sat down and took my shot.

The resulting story, "Magic Pig," has just released in Pathfinder Goblins! #2, and I couldn't be happier. At one level, it's a story about a pig. At a deeper level, however, it's about a magic pig. And at another, deeper deeper level, it's a story about the problems with giving goblins magic items. Getting to work with artist Sean Izaakse to bring that story to life was a joy, and I can't tell you what a thrill it was to open the sketch file for that first page and see Magic Pig in all his ceremonial finery.

An exclusive in-process look at the finished but unlettered art from Page 1 of "Magic Pig"

I hope you all enjoy the story as much as I have, and if you haven't already, go check out Erik Mona's pug-tacular goblin adventure in issue #1 and Wes Schneider's encounter with the Sandpoint Devil in the upcoming issue #3!

James L. Sutter
Fiction Editor/Senior Editor

Art by Sean Izaakse

Pathfinder: Goblins! Preview

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Goblins are pint-sized psychopaths, wreaking havoc across the land. Infamous for unpredictable attacks, catchy raiding songs, hatred of dogs, and fear of horses, goblins blend mischief and murderousness like no other monsters. The first issue of Pathfinder: Goblins! is now available for purchase, which features two goblin tales written by Adam Warren and Erik Mona. Check out the preview below!

Subscribers to Pathfinder comics through paizo.com receive a 20% discount off the cover price, 15% off back and special issues, a special subscriber tag for the paizo.com messageboards, and a limited-edition collectible paizo.com exclusive cover for each issue.

Jenny Bendel
Marketing Director

Pathfinder Comics #8 Preview

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

The mysterious monster known as Black Fang has taken refuge near Sandpoint and the Pathfinder adventurers must brave a treacherous dungeon to hunt it down. Pathfinder #8, the newest issue in the hit Pathfinder Comics series, hits stores on Wednesday. Here's a sneak preview of the adventure awaiting our heroes!

Subscribers to Pathfinder comics through paizo.com receive a 20% discount off the cover price, 15% off back and special issues, a special subscriber tag for the paizo.com messageboards, and a limited-edition collectible paizo.com exclusive cover for each issue.

Jenny Bendel
Marketing Director

Pathfinder Comics #1: Part 6

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Get settled and check out the final installment of the Pathfinder comic. We've been posting the comic from issue #1, for free, with a few cliff-hanging pages each week. Enjoy!

Subscribers to Pathfinder comics through paizo.com receive a 20% discount off the cover price, 15% off back and special issues, a special subscriber tag for the paizo.com messageboards, and a limited-edition collectible paizo.com exclusive cover for each issue.

Part 1    Part 2    Part 3    Part 4    Part 5

Pathfinder Comics #1: Part 5

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Get settled and check out new next installment of the Pathfinder comic. We'll be posting the comic from issue #1, for free, with a few cliff-hanging pages each week. Enjoy!

Subscribers to Pathfinder comics through paizo.com receive a 20% discount off the cover price, 15% off back and special issues, a special subscriber tag for the paizo.com messageboards, and a limited-edition collectible paizo.com exclusive cover for each issue.

Part 1    Part 2    Part 3    Part 4

Author Jim Zub on Pathfinder Comics

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Adapting source material to different mediums can be really difficult. Each form of entertainment has its own strengths and weaknesses. Movies aren't books, games aren't prose, and comics aren't video games. When you move between mediums, you need to understand what the essence of the source material is and do all you can to keep that core intact while adjusting the rest around it.

When Erik Mona invited me to pitch Paizo a plan for the Pathfinder comic series I was thrilled and intimidated at the same time. The Pathfinder setting is robust and detailed, filled to the brim with incredible story potential. Thousands of gaming groups have taken the world of Golarion and made it their own, populating it with characters and events from the sourcebooks while using it as a canvas for their own creativity. How could I filter all that great material down into a cohesive and engaging comic that would work for longtime fans but also be new-reader friendly?

I banged it around in my brain for a while and honestly thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew, until I realized the essence of what makes Pathfinder, and tabletop gaming as a whole, so great.

It's the characters. It's always been the characters.

We play these wonderful games because we want to connect with characters and with each other. The characters we make, PCs or NPCs, are storytelling avatars that empower us and entertain us.

If I could create a cast of characters that felt genuine and had the kind of playful interaction I enjoy so much around the gaming table, then it could work. Of course, all the details and rules would find their way into the comic too, but they'd be there reinforcing that core of character interaction.

Using the beautiful visual designs established for the iconics by Wayne Reynolds, I started to brainstorm who they were: their goals, mannerisms and idiosyncrasies. Once I figured that out I felt confident I could create a comic that felt like gaming with friends, regardless of where the actual story went.

When I get a chance to meet readers of the Pathfinder comic at conventions and they tell me they enjoy it because it reads like a great gaming session, I know we've done our job well. The essence is intact even though it's been adapted to a new medium. I'm proud of the series and excited about our second story arc arriving in 2013. If you haven't had a chance to check out the Pathfinder comic, I encourage you to browse the free samples posted here online (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) or order the upcoming hardcover collection for Dark Waters Rising.

I hope you enjoy reading the Pathfinder comic as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Getting the chance to flesh out the Pathfinder iconics has been a real honor. I can't wait to level them up for many more adventures to come.

Jim Zub
Pathfinder Comics Author

Jim Zub is a writer, artist and art instructor based in Toronto, Canada. He juggles his time between being a freelance comic writer, Project Manager for UDON Entertainment and Program Coordinator for Seneca College's award-winning Animation program. His current projects include Makeshift Miracle, a modern day fable, Skullkickers, a sword & sorcery action-comedy, and Pathfinder, the comic series based on the best-selling tabletop RPG.

Pathfinder Volume 1: Dark Waters Rising, the first Pathfinder hardcover graphic novel, is available to pre-order now and will be released June 2013.

Pathfinder Comics #1: Part 4

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Get settled and check out new next installment of the Pathfinder comic. We'll be posting the comic from issue #1, for free, with a few cliff-hanging pages each week. Enjoy!

Subscribers to Pathfinder comics through paizo.com receive a 20% discount off the cover price, 15% off back and special issues, a special subscriber tag for the paizo.com messageboards, and a limited-edition collectible paizo.com exclusive cover for each issue.

Part 1    Part 2    Part 3

Pathfinder Comics #1: Part 3

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Get settled and check out new next installment of the Pathfinder comic. We'll be posting the comic from issue #1, for free, with a few cliff-hanging pages each week. Enjoy!

Subscribers to Pathfinder comics through paizo.com receive a 20% discount off the cover price, 15% off back and special issues, a special subscriber tag for the paizo.com messageboards, and a limited-edition collectible paizo.com exclusive cover for each issue.

Part 1    Part 2

Pathfinder Comics #1: Part 2

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Get settled and check out new next installment of the Pathfinder comic. We'll be posting the comic from issue #1, for free, with a few cliff-hanging pages each week. Enjoy!

Subscribers to Pathfinder comics through paizo.com receive a 20% discount off the cover price, 15% off back and special issues, a special subscriber tag for the paizo.com messageboards, and a limited-edition collectible paizo.com exclusive cover for each issue.

Click here to read Part 1.

Pathfinder Comics #1: Part 1

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Grab a bowl of Cheerios and settle in for our new Saturday morning blog featuring the Pathfinder comic. We'll be posting issue #1 in it's entirety, for free, a few cliff-hanging pages each week. Enjoy!

Subscribers to Pathfinder comics through paizo.com receive a 20% discount off the cover price, 15% off back and special issues, a special subscriber tag for the paizo.com messageboards, and a limited-edition collectible paizo.com exclusive cover for each issue.

Secrets of Sandpoint Revealed

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

When Erik Mona asked me if I'd be interested in writing additional content for the Pathfinder comic, I nearly giggled with joy—this would be an excellent place for me to finally get some of the information about the Sandpoint hinterlands out there that I've been building up over the years. I've managed to get some more Sandpoint goodness into the Adventure Path line now and then, most significantly recently with the first installment of Jade Regent and the two goblin-themed Free RPG Day adventures (make sure to check out the upcoming We Be Goblins Too! coming soon to a friendly local game store near you!), but I've always got more to say about my favorite town on Golarion and the region surrounding it.

One way I've been scratching that itch was to set my in-house campaign in Sandpoint. For several years, I ran my "Shadow Under Sandpoint" game for nine (whew!) fellow Paizonians, and during that campaign they began to learn about the sinister machinations of the Red Bishop, the local ghoul population, secrets hidden in certain Sandpoint mansions, the truth behind the serial killer known as Chopper and the mysterious Sandpoint Devil, and more.

But now, that group's split into two groups, and both of them have moved on to Osirion to fight against the rising cult of the Scorpion God Rovagug, leaving Sandpoint behind.

Which brings me back to the Pathfinder comic.

In each issue of the comic, I've been able to present more information about the hinterlands surrounding Sandpoint. Compared to the Inner Sea region, the Sandpoint hinterlands are really quite small, but as I've proven to the rest of Paizo, they're more than large enough to run an entire campaign from 1st to 11th level or so. I drew upon several of the plot threads I developed for that campaign when I was writing content for the comics, but also took the chance to get into print some other ideas and concepts I'd been toying with in the back of my head about the hinterlands over the past several years.

So! If you're looking for more adventures for your characters to have in and near Sandpoint (perhaps as supplementary encounters in your Rise of the Runelords campaign), or if you simply want to know more about one of the first locations we ever developed for the Pathfinder campaign setting... look no further than the Pathfinder comic! Below, I've built a handy table of contents for the first six issues of the comic, and since not every issue is out for sale yet, this doubles as a sneak preview!

Pathfinder Issue #1: The first issue kicks off with a gazetteer of the town of Sandpoint—if you don't have Rise of the Runelords, this is a great place to pick up information about Sandpoint a new PC might want to know. For the GMs, there are three pages of Adventure Hooks, including more information about the Sandpoint Devil, the serial killer Chopper, and the ruins of the Old Light. Full stat blocks for Sheriff Belor Hemlock and Father Abstalar Zantus, as well as for the stars of the comic—Seoni, Valeros, Ezren, and Merisiel—round things out.

Oh! I almost forgot! Each issue of the comic comes with a short encounter area supported by a foldout 10" x 16" battle mat! In this issue, the encounter takes place on Sandpoint's Junk Beach, where a band of goblins are up to no good...

Pathfinder Issue #2: In the second issue, the attention turns away from Sandpoint into the Hinterlands, settling fully on the small forest known as Shank's Wood. A two-page gazetteer of the region begins the section, followed by an encounter in a creepy building the local goblins have taken to calling the "Shankshack," since one of their enemies, a man named Shank, dared to move in. Of course, as visitors to the Shankshack quickly learn, an enemy of goblins isn't necessarily a friend to you! Stats for the last two stars of the comic, Kyra and Harsk, finish this installment off, and the battle mat depicts the creepy Shankshack and surrounding forest in all its glory.

Pathfinder Issue #3: This time around, I dig into my notes from my old "Shadow Under Sandpoint" campaign and pull the curtain back on Paupers' Graves, a lonely, not-so-abandoned graveyard found on the Lost Coast not far from Sandpoint. As far as graveyards go, Paupers' Graves isn't all that great at keeping its dead in the ground, and the included battle mat and encounter present the domain of Jediah Kheln, the region's ghoulish master. As a bonus, you'll find stats for some undead dogs I've been calling "ghoul hounds" for several years. I've been trying to get them into a bestiary for a while, but they kept getting cut, so I just threw them in here. I'm happy to report that they managed to paralyze the characters of some of the folks who shall remain unnamed who saw fit to cut them in the first place. Ahhh... sweet revenge.

Pathfinder Issue #4: Now we head on over to Mosswood, at the very eastern edge of the Sandpoint hinterlands. This issue features a gazetteer of these goblin- (and worse) infested woods, focusing on four significant encounter areas within. One of these, a lost shrine to Gozreh known today as the Spider Stones, is featured in this issue's encounter. I'll give you one guess as to what kind of monsters you can expect to fight at the SPIDER Stones. As a bonus, our iconic druid Lini and her faithful snow leopard Droogami get stat blocks too!

Pathfinder Issue #5: This time around, a shocking plot twist in the comic gives me a chance to go back to "Burnt Offerings" and expand upon something that I didn't have time to fully explore in that first adventure—the evil and mutation-causing waters of Lamashtu. Rules for what happens when you drink too much of this stuff are presented, and then we have a four-page encounter with the Bloodfang Goblins of Mosswood, including stats for their commander, Big Chief Wortus, a cleric of Lamashtu who might just have some plans for those evil waters of Lamashtu.

Pathfinder Issue #6: The first story arc comes to a close in Issue #6, and since Lamashtu's cult has played such an important part in the comic (and indeed in "Burnt Offerings" as well), I'm taking this opportunity to explore something I've been hinting at in print for years—the reason the demon lords Lamashtu and Pazuzu are so interested in the Lost Coast. Also included is an encounter area for a shrine of Lamashtu—a shrine that happens to be the personal temple to one of the most powerful clerics of the Mother of Monsters in Varisia!

The first six issues of the Pathfinder Comic will be available in graphic novel format, in stores April 2013!

James Jacobs
Creative Director