A year ago, Pathfinder Modules were sanctioned for play in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. As Atlanta Venture-Captain for a year, I appreciated the fact I could offer the sanctioned modules to local players, especially those who had played every scenario that had been released. But the rules that were established bothered me. No negative effects carried over from module play, even death or consumable use. Many players I talked with felt that sanctioned module play was not as good as it could be because of the rules put into place. One of my top goals when hired as Campaign Coordinator was to reevaluate sanctioned modules and see if we could change the way they worked to make them a more valuable part of the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign.
What I would like to see in the comments to this blog are what you do and don’t like about the below proposal. How will this proposal affect your game in both a positive and negative way. Once I review feedback over the next few weeks, the Venture-Captains, Venture-Lieutenants, and I can decide what changes we want to make in the upcoming 4.1 update to the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play.
Spoiler:
Pathfinder modules are produced for a wider audience than just Pathfinder Society Organized Play. Because modules are structured differently from scenarios, the specific rules changes needed for playing sanctioned modules in Pathfinder Society Organized Play are presented below.
How to Play
Sanctioned modules are generally three times the length of a standard Pathfinder Society scenario and will likely take players two or three 4—5 hour sessions to complete. They do not contain Pathfinder Society faction missions, nor are they tiered for play by characters over a wide range of levels. Thematically, modules do not assume the characters are members of the Pathfinder Society. GMs and players are encouraged to create a reasonable plot hook for their characters’ participation.
Legal Pathfinder Society Characters
Players have the following three options when playing sanctioned modules for Pathfinder Society:
A player must use an existing Pathfinder Society character (without modification) within one level of the module’s starting level.
For modules below 9th level, a player who does not have a character in the correct level range may use a Pathfinder Society pregenerated character available on paizo.com. In this case, the chronicle sheet must be linked to an existing Pathfinder Society character and applied when that character reaches the level of the module. The linked character must be declared before play begins and recorded on the scenario reporting sheet.
As mentioned in Chapter 5 of the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, if you have already played the sanctioned module and wish to play it an additional time for any reason, you must inform the GM that you have already played the sanctioned module. If you spoil the plot for the other players at the table, the GM has the right to ask you to leave. You are free to replay the sanctioned module in order to meet a minimum PC requirement (see Chapter 7), but if you already have received a player Chronicle for this sanctioned module for any of your PCs, you do not earn any additional rewards beyond having a good time. The Tier 1 exception still applies for Tier 1-—2 modules.
Conditions, Death, and Expendables
Whether playing your own character or a pregenerated character, all conditions (including death) not resolved within the module carry beyond the end of the module. Likewise, any wealth spent or resources expended during the course of the adventure are tracked and must be recorded on the Chronicle sheet.
If you are using a pregenerated character, calculate the cost of any consumables used and mark this cost on the Chronicle sheet. Any remaining conditions are applied to the linked character when the Chronicle sheet is applied to that character.
The one exception is when a character remains dead at the conclusion of the module. In this case, the linked character is permanently dead and removed from play immediately. In resolving any conditions on a pregenerated character, Prestige Points and gold from the linked character may be used to pay for the cost of the raise dead or resurrection spell.
Applying Credit
All players receive a Chronicle sheet unless, at the GM’s discretion, they are replaying the module for no credit. If a player uses an existing Pathfinder Society character for the adventure, he must apply the Chronicle sheet to that character immediately. A player who uses a pregenerated character must apply the Chronicle sheet to his linked Pathfinder Society character when that character reaches the starting level of the module.
A GM who runs a module may likewise apply the Chronicle sheet to one of her Pathfinder Society characters. The GM must decide which of her characters will receive the Chronicle sheet when the module is completed and the Chronicle sheets are filled out. Playing a module from beginning to end earns a character 3 XP and 4 Prestige Points if that character is on the normal advancement track or 1.5 XP and 2 Prestige Points for characters on the slow advancement track. There are no day job rolls when playing a sanctioned module.
If a character dies and is brought back to life, the GM must determine the rewards for that character. The minimum possible reward is 0 GP, 1 XP and 1 PP on the normal advancement track or 1/2 XP and 1/2 Prestige Point on the slow advancement track. If a character participates in more than 2/3 of the module, he should receive full rewards. GMs and active players are encouraged to hasten the return of a character waiting to be raised from the dead.
Players who do not complete each game session earn 1 fewer XP and Prestige Point for each session missed. This also applies to players who join later sessions; they receive 1 fewer XP and Prestige Point for each session missed. In both cases players earn a minimum of 1 XP and 1 Prestige Point (or 1/2 XP and 1/2 Prestige Point on the slow advancement track). If a character earns more XP than she needs to reach her next level, she may not choose to switch advancement tracks at the new level earned.
As always, each player may receive credit for each module once as a player and once as a GM, in either order. Players must accept a Chronicle sheet for their character the first time they play a module. A player may replay a module at the GM’s discretion, but the player may not receive more than one player Chronicle sheet per module. The only exception is Tier 1—2 modules. A player may only play a Tier 1—2 module for credit once with a 2nd-level character, but may use additional 1st-level characters to replay the same module for credit.
Running Multi-Session Modules
Since sanctioned modules can be multi-session events, Pathfinder Society characters may not be used in other Pathfinder Society events until they receive a Chronicle sheet for the module. This does not apply to a player using a pregenerated character until the linked character reaches the starting level of the module.
GMs are advised to work with players who miss the final session of the module in order for those players to receive their Chronicle sheets.
Retirement and Beyond
In the interest of allowing Pathfinder Society characters to extend their adventuring careers, and to utilize sanctioned Pathfinder Modules to their fullest enjoyment, I would like feedback on allowing Pathfinder Society characters to advance past 12th level for sanctioned module play only.
The level cap for the campaign is still 12. There are no current plans for us to publish any Pathfinder Society scenarios of 13th level or higher. However, there are more modules on the schedule that are 13+ levels. We do have some stand-alone, Tier 12 scenarios on the radar for those that do not wish to play Eyes of the Ten, but wish to play three additional scenarios at 12th level and then retire. Just as with every other Pathfinder Society Scenario, Eyes of the Ten is not open for replay and that isn't going to change. So, the addition of more Tier 12 scenarios, or another retirement arc, allows for players to have options.
This part of the proposal would allow people to play a “retired” character through higher-level sanctioned modules, receive credit, and not have to play an artificially leveled character. This also helps to balance the wealth-by-level curve as presented currently at the end of Eyes of the Ten that presents 13th-level wealth for 12th-level characters. Right now it is difficult for us to plan special retirement events for 12th-level characters mentioned 3 years ago because characters’ wealth-by-level is so imbalanced.
Mark and I have discussed this and here is how I plan to incorporate advancement for 13th level and higher. This will open up the extended career of Pathfinder Society characters if people want to utilize modules in that manner.
Spoiler:
Once you reach 12th level, it would require 3 XP to advance to 13th level and beyond as normal. We will adjust the Eyes of the Ten arc so you receive 2 XP after Part 1 and 1 XP for Parts 2, 3, and 4. Once you complete Parts 1 and 2 of Eyes of the Ten, you may advance your character to 13th level. Mark and I reviewed Parts 3 and 4 and all CRs are higher than 13 so there shouldn't be a significant effect on the play of either of those. Once you complete Eyes of the Ten, you will still be 13th level and one XP short of advancement of 14th level. This will allow you to roll right into playing Academy of Secrets at level for the module. Any character who has completed Parts 1 and 2 of Eyes of the Ten may advance to 13th level.
At 13th level, you can then play your Pathfinder Society character in Academy of Secrets and receive full credit as normal, but you may play it at 13th level. We will be adjusting the gold received at the end of Academy of Secrets.
Upon completion of Academy of Secrets, the character would receive 3 XP and be one short of 15th level.
In the future, Paizo will release additional high-level modules that will also be sanctioned for play. We will eventually sanction The Witchwar Legacy once it is possible for someone having played everything to reach 17th level. We will make gold adjustments accordingly for those Chronicle sheets.
To help GMs and players use their Pathfinder Society characters in retirement and beyond, both the wealth and Fame tables will be extended beyond their current limits.
The above changes would not go into effect until version 4.1 of the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play is released. Also, I am very aware that people might be in the middle of a multiple-play session for a sanctioned module, or be involved in a play-by-post game that takes months instead of one or two game sessions.
If these changes were to go into effect, I plan to grandfather in modules caught in the middle of multiple sessions when this goes live. I also plan to assign a Venture-Captain as the coordinator for this endeavor. Players and GMs will have a month to register their games as "grandfathered" games. After that time, no new module play should begin under the old rules. These registered "grandfathered" games have until the start of Season 4 to complete their games and report such to the Venture-Captain.
So there you have it. This is a proposal to modify play of sanctioned modules to bring them more in line with standard scenario play, as well as open options for players to extend the life of their Pathfinder Society characters. As mentioned at the beginning of this blog, I would like to hear what you do and don’t like about the above proposal, and how this proposal would affect your game in both a positive and negative way if put into place.
Mike Brock Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
Tomorrow marks the official launch of RPG Superstar 2012, Paizo’s annual open-call RPG design competition! That means a lot of excitement here at the Paizo offices, because if this year’s Superstar is anything like the previous four, we’re about to discover some serious design talent that will help us years into the future.
And while winning the chance to write a published Pathfinder Module is great, it’s also important to remember that RPG Superstar offers value to more than just the single winner. This year, the three finalists will also earn a contract to write a Pathfinder Society Scenario, a downloadable adventure sanctioned for play in Paizo’s worldwide Pathfinder Society mega-campaign. The first Pathfinder Society Scenario from last year’s finalists, Jerall Toi’s The Edge of Heaven just came out last week, and the two additional sequels that make up the “Quest for Perfection” campaign arc are all being written by RPG Superstar finalist and semi-finalist alumni.
Speaking of prizes for finalists, did you know that Pathfinder Adventure Path developer Rob McCreary first came to our attention as a finalist in the first year of RPG Superstar? He didn’t win the final challenge, but his hard work and excellent creativity made him a natural choice when a staff position opened a few years ago, and he’s now one of the most important elements of Paizo’s monthly editorial effort here at the Paizo offices.
This year’s competition begins tomorrow with an open call that asks you to submit an original wondrous item by January 6, 2012. If you can use your 300 words wisely (and awesomely) enough to earn a place in the judges’ Top 32, you’re on your way to what might just become a RPG design career! As a special treat, we plan to include selected wondrous items from this year’s Top 32 in 2012’s Ultimate Equipment Pathfinder RPG hardcover, which will also include selected favorites from previous years.
See paizo.com/rpgsuperstar for more details, a complete RPG Superstar calendar, and rules for Round 1.
So start sharpening your pencils and shaking up your creativity. The next RPG Superstar could be you!
One of the things I often heard complained about over the past year was that players did not have enough scenarios to play. Many times, they had played every scenario of a particular tier and were in a holding pattern to continue adventuring with their favorite characters.
The problem was noted and added to my list of to do items, and getting the remaining Pathfinder modules sanctioned for Pathfinder Society play was one of my top priorities. Thanks to the help of JP Chapleau, John Compton, Nick Gray and Joseph Caubo, (who combed through the modules to provide me with lists of items, as well as flavor text and ideas for Chronicle sheet boons) Pathfinder Society now has seven additional modules for sanctioned play. The list includes: Carrion Hill, City of Golden Death, Crypt of the Everflame, Curse of the Riven Sky, Masks of the Living God, Realm of the Fellnight Queen, and From Shore to Sea.
Additionally, the Chronicle sheet for Feast of Ravenmoor has been updated to include a new boon.
For those who have not had a chance to play through Carrion Hill, I highly recommend it as a Halloween weekend game. Enjoy and good gaming!
Mike Brock Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
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!
Illustrations by Yngvar Asplund and Dmitry Burmak. Widescreen version here.
Don't Be Late for Your Very Important Date with the Harrowing!
Friday, June 24, 2011
It's no surprise that our childhoods influence who we are today. That's especially true for writers, since everything we do gets stored in our brains to be mashed together and filtered through our experiences, ready to jump out when the Muse strikes. The Harrowing, an adventure written by Crystal Frasier and designed for 9th-level characters, is such a mash-up: one part Time Bandits, two parts Alice in Wonderland, with a dash of a David Bowie-styled Labyrinth. In this adventure, the long-dead bard Sonnorae feared that her collection of stories would be lost when she died, and so she created a demiplane within her personal harrow deck to contain them. Over time, these stories took on lives of their own, and melded with the images on the cards themselves. But not all stories have happy endings, and the storykin who live in the Harrowed Realm have their own motivations and plots for power and some have even escaped into the real world. When the PCs find themselves drawn into the Harrowed Realm in search of a disappeared scholar, they must use all their wits and steel to navigate the landscape and politics of this strange wonderland and make it home again.
This adventure features an entire plane of fanciful locations and characters inspired by the popular harrow deck of the Pathfinder campaign setting. In addition, you'll find a brand-new monster and an optional rules subsystem allowing players to bend reality to their wills by using all 54 cards in the optional Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Harrow Deck to manipulate the strange demiplane in which they adventure.
We'll be shipping this adventure next month but until then, we hope this wallpaper fills you with Wonder.
Tomorrow, retail stores around the globe will open their doors and hand out free RPG materials from some of the game industry's most well-known companies. Why? Well tomorrow is Free RPG Day and once again Paizo is taking part in this great program and has produced We Be Goblins, a most unusual (and fully sanctioned for use in the Pathfinder Society) adventure for 1st-level goblin characters.
In this adventure, the Licktoad goblins of Brinestump Marsh have stumbled upon a great treasure—fireworks! Yet unfortunately for them, the tribe member responsible for the discovery has already been exiled for the abhorrent crime of writing (which every goblin knows steals words from your head). To remedy this situation, the Licktoads' leader, His Mighty Girthness Chief Rendwattle Gutwad, has declared that the greatest heroes of the tribe must venture forth to retrieve the rest of the fireworks from a derelict ship stranded in the marsh. In order to prove themselves as the Licktoads' bravest goblins, the PCs must complete a series of dangerous dares, from swallowing bull slugs and braving the dreaded Earbiter to dancing with Squealy Nord himself. Yet even once they've proven their mettle, the adventure is just beginning. For the ship in question is far from uninhabited, and Vorka the cannibal goblin would like nothing better than a few tasty visitors...
Check out the Free RPG Day website for more information and a link to participating retailers. Here in the Seattle area, Pathfinder Lead Designer Jason Bulmahn will be running a few sessions of We Be Goblins, at his local store—Card Kingdoms out in Ballard. Stop on by, say hi, and then roll some dice!
Illustrations by Jared Blando and Ryan Portillo. Widescreen version here.
Anybody Have a Mirror Handy?
May 20, 2011
One of my favorite movies as a kid had an awesome medusa put on the silver screen by Ray Harryhausen, a true master of physical special effects magic. The medusa in this wallpaper, from Tomb of the Iron Medusa reminds me a lot of that iconic one and now I really want to make a fighter with a divine heritage to chop her head off, in order to win the hand of the princess.
Orcs, Giant Scorpion Robots, and Barbarians: An Interview with Tyler Walpole
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
A couple of weeks ago we interviewed Ed Greenwood, our Guest of Honor at PaizoCon 2011. This time I had the pleasure of interviewing Tyler Walpole, our Artist Guest of Honor this year.
Tyler is one of those artists who just gets it. I don't think he's created a piece I don't love and it's going to be awesome to see him at PaizoCon this year. From orcs battling giant monsters single-handedly, to lone barbarians taking on giant arachnid robots, Tyler's art is dynamic, detailed, and just plain awesome. Tyler's definitely on the list of artists I want to paint murals in every room of my future mansion when I win the lottery.
And he's an illustrating machine, doing work for us (seriously, look how awesome the Master of the Fallen Fortress cover is), IDW on the D&D comic, Hero Games, and a ton of other high-profile companies. We're lucky to have him with us at PaizoCon, and if you're coming out, you should definitely see if you can buy him enough drinks to get a sketch.
And now, on with the interview!
1. A brief bio, where you are from and how you started in the industry?
I am a self-taught illustrator who lives in Des Moines, Iowa. I spent several years trying to break into the comic book industry as a penciler. That ended up being a bit like pounding my head against a brick wall. Lots of offers to do work for free, but no professional (i.e., paid) work. In 2000 I decided to forgo my annual trip to Wizard World Chicago, and instead created a portfolio of black-and-white interior illustrations and went to Gen Con. I talked to every art director I could find on the showroom floor. When I got home, I had an offer to do some work for Palladium Books, and that worked out pretty well, so I kept pursuing more and more game work (and added color into the mix) until I had enough coming in to make the jump to full time. I've managed to stay pretty busy ever since.
2. When did you discover your creative talents?
I've been drawing since I could hold a pencil. I spent a lot of time in grade school being told not to draw on my homework... now drawing is my homework!
3. What inspires you?
I take inspiration from everything. Movies, games, books, walks in the park, all of it! I have a pretty active mind, and almost anything can germinate in there and come out as something useful for my art.
4. How would you describe your style?
Oh man, I have no idea. John Romita, Jr. once described his work as "Deadline Style"... its as much as I can get done by the deadline. Working in a publishing environment has sort of dictated that I also have a "Deadline Style." One of these days I'm going to spend just as long as I please on something. I'll go back to you after that happens. ;)
5. Do you have a favorite story or character?
Let see... I'm pretty satisfied with most of the covers I've done, my favorite is probably the Orcs of Golarion. It's essentially a Conan vs. the Monster illustration... only in this case Conan is an Orc, and he's dual-wielding axes. Sarah pretty much let me do my own thing on that one, in design terms, and I really enjoyed it.
6. Who are your favorite artists, writers, and/or influences?
Well, here again, it could be just about anybody. Some of my favorites include Donato Giancola, Dan Dos Santos, Todd Lockwood, Greg Manchess, Frank Frazetta, James Jean, Phil Hale, Mike Mignola, Kevin Nowlan, Adam Hughes, Bill Willingham, and Jim Butcher.
7. How do you juggle freelance work and life?
I skip out on a lot of sleep. No, seriously, I skip out on a lot of sleep. I love my job, but I'm married and have two sons. I do my best to make it to every family function, school event, and baseball game. But, many nights, once everyone is in bed, I sneak back to the studio to make sure I'm on top of my deadlines, and squeeze in some time to develop my own projects.
8. Describe yourself in 5 words.
Living the dream. So grateful!
9. What's the best thing to happen to you recently?
Besides being Artist Guest of Honor at PaizoCon 2011, you mean? I found a publisher for one of those projects!
10. Any advice for aspiring artists?
Practice your art. All. The. Time. Whatever you decide to do, whatever voice emerges through your art, or writing or music, honor it, and do it the best you can... the business part of it will follow. People are drawn to excellence in many forms, so don't try to be like the other guy. And keep at it!
So, we just shipped The Harrowing off to the printer. An adventure where you get sucked into a magical deck of harrow cards and end up interacting with some of the strangest characters we've published yet! Check 'em out! (Those of you who are familiar with the Harrow Deck will probably recognize these three folks...)
Illustrations by Dmitry Burmak
Also, you can tell when I forget to write a blog post until we get to a point where I have only 20 minutes to do a blog before heading into a supersized meeting that'll take up the rest of the day, can't you? Cause there's not many words? Guess I should put up a third picture from The Harrowing to further distract you from the lack of words... hope it works!
Paizo challenged amateur game designers from around the world to show off their skills in RPG Superstar 2011, the fourth season of Paizo's search for great undiscovered game designers. Judges Ryan Dancey, Sean K Reynolds, Mark Moreland, and Neil Spicer narrowed the field to 32 would-be RPG Superstars, and guest judges including Paizo designer Stephen Radney-MacFarland, cartographers Jared Blando and Robert Lazzaretti, and Paizo's Creative Director James Jacobs provided their advice as the contestants answered each new challenge.
In the final round, we asked this year's Top 4 to propose a 32-page Pathfinder Module for use with Paizo's Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Contestants Cody Coffelt (Boise, ID), Jerall Toi (Port Elizabeth, South Africa), Sam Zeitlin (Arlington, VA), and Sean McGowan (New York City, NY) responded with four excellent submissions, but there can be only one RPG Superstar 2011, and so after the judges offered comments, the general public selected one winning proposal to be published by Paizo in early 2012.
Congratulations to Sam Zeitlin for his victorious proposal, Grasping at Shadows which will be released as The Midnight Mirror. Here's a brief description of the adventure from Sam Zeitlin's winning RPG Superstar 2011 submission:
A horror and investigation adventure for 4th-level characters.
In shadow-haunted Nidal, the denizens of the Plane of Shadow intermingle with the common man. Now people are disappearing, and it falls to the PCs to stop the terror. Faced with terrible shadow creatures, an unruly mob of scared citizens, and an unpredictable creature of light, can the heroes undo a greedy and uncaring noble's self-serving mistake?
The Midnight Mirror is an adventure for 4th-level characters, written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world's oldest RPG. In addition to the adventure, this volume also features a brand-new monster and a gazetteer of a brand-new location in the shadow-tainted nation of Nidal.
Written by Sam Zeitlin, the winner of Paizo Publishing's RPG Superstar contest, which allows unpublished authors to compete before a panel of celebrity game designers and legions of their peers for the chance to write a Pathfinder Module.
Pathfinder Modules are 32-page, high-quality, full-color, adventures using the Open Game License to work with both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the standard 3.5 fantasy RPG rules set. This Pathfinder Module includes new monsters, treasure, and a fully detailed bonus location that can be used as part of the adventure or in any other game!
As RPG Superstar 2011's Grand Prize, Paizo will contract Sam Zeitlin to write The Midnight Mirror, which we will release as a Pathfinder Module in January, 2012.
But you don't have to wait until January to reserve your copy! Head over to the new The Midnight Mirror product page here on paizo.com to preorder your copy of Sam Zeitlin's winning adventure! If you're already a Pathfinder Modules subscriber, The Midnight Mirror will arrive as part of your subscription.
On behalf of our judges as well as the whole Paizo Publishing family, congratulations to Cody Coffelt, Jerall Toi, and Sean McGowan. Though only contestant one earned the title of RPG Superstar 2011, for the first time in Paizo history, the runners up will be contracted to write a scenario for the Pathfinder Society, Paizo's organized play program. Keep an eye out in the months ahead for when these scenarios will be released.
And we'd like to offer one final thanks to you, the readers of paizo.com, and to anyone who submitted an entry or voted during RPG Superstar 2011.
And for those of you who didn't, RPG Superstar 2012 is less than a year away!
Among the Licktoad Goblins, fame doesn't come easily. If you want to be taken seriously by His Mighty Girthness Chief Rendwattle Gutwad and allowed to undertake a dangerous mission—such as retrieving a load of fireworks from a goblin cannibal—you need to be ready to prove yourself. That means engaging in any number of deadly and disgusting dares, from eating a bag of bull slugs or braving the dreaded Earbiter to the most fearsome challenge of all: attempting to ride the infamous Squealy Nord himself! (Presented above is an artist's rendition of one such attempt. Images of the aftermath have been deemed too graphic for public display.)
For more information on Squealy Nord and your chance to join the Licktoad heroes on their epic quest, be sure to stop by your local game store on June 18th to pick up your free copy of our Free RPG Day adventure, We Be Goblins!
As we find ourselves deep in the midst of RPG Superstar 2011, it is fitting that last year's winning adventure proposal is shipping out to subscribers this week. Matthew Goodall's Cult of the Ebon Destroyers pits the PCs against a despicable cult of assassins and murderers from the distant land of Vudra. Among the many new Vudran elements featured in the module is the book's new monster—the garuda. These avian native outsiders typically inhabit rugged hills and sometimes serve as protectors of isolated human settlements. Due to space constraints, we had to cut much of the garuda's world flavor from its write-up in the adventure itself, but it seemed a waste to simply leave it in my ever-growing cut text scrapbook file. What better way to show off Matt's debut adventure than feature his winged creation on the Paizo blog?
Garudas are distant descendants of the goddess Janasini, the mother of birds. Legend tells that Janasini made an unwise wager with her sister Ravithra, the goddess of nagas and snakes. Ravithra cheated, and Janasini lost and became the slave of Ravithra's naga children. Sudachala, the first of Janasini's garuda children, offered to complete any task to free his mother. The nagas demanded a legendary bowl of nectar said to rest atop the tallest mountain in Vudra. Sudachala flew to the mountain and overcame many obstacles to retrieve the bowl, as detailed in the Azvadeva Pujila.
As Sudachala flew back, the god Gruhastha appeared and told Sudachala that the nectar was the elixir of immortality. The wicked nagas had tried to trick Sudachala into stealing the elixir from the gods' hiding place so they could drink it and live forever.
Sudachala alighted in front of the waiting nagas, placing the bowl on some sedge grass, and the nagas freed Janasini from servitude. But when the nagas tried to drink from the bowl, they cut their tongues on the sharp grass, for as Sudachala and Gruhastha had planned, the god had whisked the true elixir away, leaving only an illusion in its place.
Since then, garudas have been the mortal enemies of nagas. Only the most depraved and outcast garuda would knowingly associate with any kind of aberrant serpent.
Additionally, we've released rules to run the module as part of the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign, complete with a unique Chronicle and advice on running it within the organized play format, available as a free download here.
One of the hardest things about working at Paizo is not talking about the awesome products that are being worked on but haven't been announced yet. Especially when you're the marketing guy and it's your job to tell people about the awesome products that we're working on. This year's Free RPG Day release, We Be Goblins! is a perfect example of this; it's been in the works for months but I haven't been able to say anything until now.
Cover Illustration by Tyler Walpole
We Be Goblins! is an adventure by Richard Pett for 1st-level characters in which you get to play a horde of malicious and murderous goblins that have stumbled upon one of the greatest treasures in goblindom—fireworks! Unfortunately, the tribe member responsible for the discovery has already been exiled for the abhorrent crime of writing (which every goblin knows steals words from your head). To remedy this situation, His Mighty Girthness Chief Rendwattle Gutwad has declared that the greatest heroes of the tribe must venture forth to retrieve the rest of the fireworks from a derelict ship stranded in the marsh outside Sandpoint in order to prove yourselves as the Licktoads' bravest goblins. And yet even once you've proven your mettle, the adventure is just beginning—for the ship in question is far from uninhabited, and Vorka the cannibal goblin would like nothing better than a few tasty visitors...
We Be Goblins! is a complementary adventure to August's Pathfinder Player Companion: Goblins of Golarion (which I also just announced right there—sneaky, eh?) and an optional prequel to Pathfinder Adventure Path's upcoming Jade Regent Adventure Path. This special 16-page Pathfinder Module will initially be made available as Paizo's contribution to Free RPG Day on Saturday, June 18. Print editions will be available for sale exclusively on paizo.com beginning the following Monday, and a FREE PDF will also be released that day.
Illustrations by Carolina Eade and Mike Sass. Wallpaper design by Crystal Frasier. Widescreen version here.
Ebon Destroyers!
Friday, January 21, 2010
As I was contemplating which wall paper to put up on the blog this week, Warehouse Will made it super easy since he came by to drop off advance preview copies of our upcoming products. The Inner Sea Poster Map Folio (3-1/2' × 5' of map goodness) and Condition Cards are awesome, but what really got me excited were my copies of Cult of the Ebon Destoyers. Written by RPG Superstar 2010 winner Matt Goodall, the module pits 8th-level PCs against a murder-cult of terror set against the backdrop of Jalmeray and its capital city of Niswan. Can the PCs wipe out the Ebon Destroyers before the beloved ruler of Jalmeray is beheaded? You'll be able to find out in a few weeks! Until then, enjoy this fabulous wallpaper depicting one of the many members of this evil cult of Vudrani assassins.
Tomorrow at 2pm PST the first round of RPG Superstar™ 2010 will end. The judges will go over the entries and pick the best 32, and the winners will move on to Round 2. Ultimately, we'll get down to the Top 4, who will all receive a contract to write for us. The ultimate winner will get to write a Pathfinder Module, while the remaining members of the Top 4 will get to write Pathfinder Society Scenarios.
Last week, Sean told you we'd give you a sneak peek of the Round 2 rules, and here they are: In no more than 450 words, design an archetype for one of the 11 core classes in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook or the 6 base classes in the Advanced Player's Guide. Note that we mean actual archetypes, not new domains, subdomains, alternate classes or subclasses (such as the antipaladin), sorcerer bloodlines, or wizard schools.
Don't know what an archetype is? Check out page 72 of the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide, or start reading here in the free online Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document (PRD).
There is no twist in Round 2! We'll reveal the full rules next week, but first things first—you can't compete unless you pass Round 1!
If you've ever wanted to be published in the RPG industry, this is your chance. Three hundred words isn't a lot, and if your dream is to write for Paizo, you owe it to yourself to get that idea in before time runs out. And really, what do you have to lose?
Besides, you don't want to make the Kobold King angrier than he already is...
How About Some Pathfinder Society for the Holidays?
Thursday, December 16, 2010
It's a crazy busy week here at Paizo HQ, as we all strive to get a jump start on the holiday season. At the moment, we have the Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide hardcover in the final approval stages before it heads to the printer, as well as the first wave of Ultimate Magic showing up on the editorial wall. Despite these major projects and the impending absences of many staff members as people head home for the holidays, we managed to slip a few little Pathfinder Society projects in between the cracks!
While we generally release Pathfinder Society scenarios the final Wednesday of the month, this month we've got two scenarios ready to go live weeks early, in anticipation of the hectic nature of that final week of the year. It's not yet clear when they'll go live for sale, but keep an eye out for Pathfinder Society Scenario 2–11: The Penumbral Accords by Owen K.C. Stephens (which sees the Pathfinder Society return to fan-favorite location Blakros Museum for yet another adventure) and Pathfinder Society Scenario 2–12: Below the Silver Tarn by Crystal Frasier (which pits the Pathfinders against the imprisoned spirit of a pit fiend in a rugged mining village) within the coming days.
If two new scenarios aren't enough to sate your hunger for Pathfinder Society over the holiday break, why not get in on a game of The Godsmouth Heresy, the first adventure in the Pathfinder Modules line sanctioned for Pathfinder Society credit. It's a longer adventure and doesn't conform to many of the standards of Pathfinder Society scenarios, and thus requires additional rules to supplement its play for PFS credit. We've put together a free PDF document that includes these additional rules and the module's Chronicle, which will be available on the module's product page by the end of the week.
Finally, we've made a few changes to the Heresy of Man series by Greg A. Vaughan and Kevin Wright based on customer feedback. These revised and clarified scenarios will be replacing the existing PDFs, so if you've purchased any of the three scenarios already, you'll get an email detailing what changes we've made and be able to download the updated version from your My Downloads page.
What are your holiday PFS plans? Drop by the Pathfinder Society messageboards and let us know.
Paizo Publishing, LLC® is proud to announce RPG Superstar 2011, the fourth season of its popular RPG design contest. The search for the newest talent in RPG design begins December 3, 2010 on paizo.com.
"We’ve been blown away by the success of the contest,” said Lisa Stevens, CEO of Paizo Publishing. "Each year the contest gets bigger and better. This year not only will we publish the winner’s entry as a Pathfinder Module, but the remaining Top 4 contestants will each get to write a scenario for our Pathfinder Society organized play program. It’s going to be an exciting year, and I can’t wait to see what gets submitted."
Paizo has selected four judges to oversee the competition. For the first time ever, Ryan Dancey, one of the fathers of Open Gaming, will be an RPG Superstar judge. Returning from the previous season is Paizo’s own Sean K Reynolds, author and developer extraordinaire. Joining them will be Mark Moreland, Pathfinder Society developer and continuity editor; and former RPG Superstar winner Neil Spicer, who debuted as a guest judge for the initial round last year. These judges will critique each round’s entries before the public vote.
Last year Matt Goodall’s Cult of the Ebon Destroyers emerged victorious as 2010’s RPG Superstar winner after a week of public comment and fan voting at paizo.com. His winning adventure releases in January as a full-color printed Pathfinder Module.
Starting at 2 PM Pacific Time on December 3, 2010, contestants will be able to submit their RPG Superstar entry at paizo.com/rpgsuperstar/previous/2011. For the first round, that entry will be a wondrous item designed for use with Paizo's Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Each entry must be 300 words or less, and must include all of the proper mechanics and flavor. Contestants must submit their entry by December 31, 2010. Judges will select the top 32 entries to be announced on January 18, 2010; those 32 contestants will be assigned a new design task and their entries will be posted on paizo.com for the public to read, critique, and vote on. The designers garnering the most votes in each round will continue on to subsequent rounds, and the ultimate winner will earn a paid commission to write one of Paizo's upcoming Pathfinder Modules, while the remaining top 3 designers will earn a paid commission to write an upcoming Pathfinder Society scenario!
Specifics for each challenge will be announced as each round begins. The winner of RPG Superstar 2011 will be announced on March 22, 2011. Complete rules and a submission form are available at paizo.com/rpgsuperstar/previous/2011.
Do you have what it takes to be the next RPG Superstar?
Just this week, I finished development of RPG Superstar 2010 winner Matthew Goodall's awesome Pathfinder Module, Cult of the Ebon Destroyers. One of the best parts of the process was seeing the final art come in for the evil cultists who make this such an evocative adventure. So do what I did while poring over Matt's turnover and set your Pandora station to sitar music, get yourself a tangy curry or some buttered naan, and check out these pieces from Carolina Eade. Cult of the Ebon Destroyers is currently anticipated in stores and on paizo.com in January 2011.
A few weeks ago we announced 13 Regional Coordinators that we're calling Venture-Captains. Since then, Mark and I have been going through the entire Pathfinder Society program and starting the process of making sure Season 2 ends with a bang you'll all remember, making plans for Season 3 (which will be awesome, trust me), and going through all of the rules for the Society program itself. In between all of that, I've reviewed a number of Venture-Captain applications and chosen a few new Coordinators. We're still not finished naming new Venture-Captains, but rather than sit on these names I thought it was more important to get them announced and out there building the Society in their area. And so, without further ado, here are your new Venture-Captains!
Canada – Ontario (Toronto)
Neil Shackleton
VCNeilOnt@gmail.com
Oh, before you head over to the messageboards, you should scroll down a little to check out what my new desktop image is. Isn't it amazing? It's the cover to Matt Goodall's RPG Superstar adventure Cult of the Ebon Destroyers done by a good friend of mine, Kieran Yanner. And speaking of RPG Superstar, we're hard at work preparing for the 2011 round, so start getting ready for it. Who knows, this time next year I could be putting the cover to your adventure on my desktop.
Crystal: Stuff from the future, huh? Sounds neat! Open it and see if a paradox destroys us all! Hedgehog.
Sara Marie: Wow! These are amazi-- ...Umm... I just heard a "click" sound. Is that bad? Porcupine.
Crystal: You've either stepped on a mine, or else let her lucky cricket out of its cage. Possibly both. I'm not certain if the cricket explodes. Hedgehog.
Sara Marie: PORCUPINE IS LEAVING THE NEST! REPEAT PORCUPINE IS LEAVING THE NEST!
...
Crystal: Sara? Sara, are you okay?
...
Crystal: SARA?!
...
Sara Marie: I'M OK! COPY THAT? I AM OK!
Crystal: Stop yelling or the cave raptors will find us again. Hedgehog.
Sara Marie: Where ever you are... Watch out! These people know how to lay traps! On the up-side, I made it out with two incredible pieces of artwork!
Have you ever wondered just what is inside those siege castles outside Absalom? Have you ever smelled the heady stench of troglodytes in the morning? Have you always wanted to join the Pathfinder Society, but could never figure out just how to impress them? Or do you want to know just a little more about the Advanced Player's Guide?
Well, you're in luck! Free RPG Day is almost upon us! On Saturday, many of you can go to your Friendly Local Game Store and pick up all sorts of free RPG products, including Paizo's own offering, Master of the Fallen Fortress, by yours truly. Check the official Free RPG Day Retailer Locator to see if stores in your area are participating.
(PaizoCon attendees will each get a free copy of the module at the show, and, starting Monday morning, everyone will be able to download a FREE PDF or buy a $5 print edition right here at paizo.com, so no need to despair if your store isn't on the Free RPG Day list!)
So what's all the hoopla about? Master of the Fallen Fortress takes a group of 1st-level PCs into one of the ruined siege castles that litter the Cairnlands outside Absalom. While it's a standalone Pathfinder Module, the adventure can also be used as an introduction to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, Paizo's constantly evolving, worldwide mega-campaign. And even better, it gives a preview of the six new iconic characters from the upcoming Advanced Player's Guide, statted up as pregenerated characters to get you right into the action!
Adventure is coming your way this weekend, just around the corner and down the road. Defeat the Master of the Fallen Fortress, rescue a captive Pathfinder, and on the way, say hi to Alahazra, Alain, Balazar, Damiel, Feiya, and Imrijka for me!
(To allow GMs to prepare to run Master of the Fallen Fortress on Free RPG day, we're releasing the Chronicles Sheet and pregenerated character sheets as a free download here (1.2 MB zip/PDF).)
Developer's Diary: They Came From Beneath the Sea!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
As Wes mentioned a couple of weeks ago, our Open Design partnership project From Shore to Sea has had a few problems on its way through development and editing. But I'm happy to tell you that we are now in the final stages of getting this thing out the door and into your hands!
Senior Art Director Sarah Robinson found a great artist, Damien Mammoliti, to pick up where the last one left off, and once that art came in, she put everything together in record time. Finally, there are some faces to go with the names (some of them pretty creepy, but faces nonetheless!). Coupled with Andrew Hou's fantastic, action-packed chapter openers, this adventure is finally coming together. And once we had the art, editorial questions like what is the correct plural of octopus (octopi? octopuses? octopodes?) were easily resolved. Here's hoping that the ocean between here and China is safely free of giant cephalopods.
Illustration by Andrew Hou
For a final sneak peek at From Shore to Sea, take a look here at Valeros trying to save some hapless (and disturbingly fishy) villagers from more of those pesky giant tentacles. And be careful when you go swimming. You never know what might be lurking beneath the waves!
Who am I kidding, I relish airing our dirty laundry in public, but professionalism and good taste often makes doing so... "inadvisable." But this is a special situation and in this instance it's easy to talk around the specifics so to protect the innoce—well, in this case, to protect the guilty. As we've been trying to show off our editorial processes with this project, even more reason to let you all in on how things sometimes play out around here.
The product in question: From Shore to Sea, our Pathfinder Module partnered with Wolfgang Baur's patron-fueled Open Design venture.
The topic: Sometimes we get screwed.
So, let's backtrack a little bit. Here's something most folks didn't notice—unless you've been getting emails from me or really enjoy reading the credits pages of our projects. Around October of last year my title here at Paizo totally didn't change. What comes after that title did, though. Thus, "Managing Editor of Pathfinder" became "Managing Editor of Paizo Publishing." The distinction: now I'm not just in charge of making sure everything runs smoothly for Pathfinder Adventure Path, but everything else we publish too. And, as a special bonus challenge, that it all happens in a timely manner. That's been the real trick. It's like telling someone to build a number of towers (one for each product line) but, hey, for fun, let's start at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon, in this case, is our "schedule debt," a sizable hole with depth markers called Dragon and Dungeon magazines, the Pathfinder Campaign Setting, the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, and other beautiful fiascos that have gradually meant nearly everything we publish has fallen off its intended tracks. A real nasty peril when you've got thousands of gamers rightly demanding the products they've subscribed to and expect from month to month. But with my shiny Paizo-brand carrot and Paizo-brand stick, and the incredible efforts of our insanely talented and even more dedicated designers, editors (with a special nod to Judy Bauer, Chris Carey, Rob McCreary, and James Sutter), and folks at all levels of the company who have sacrificed nights, weekends, sleep, and meals to write and edit, those towers have reached up and up toward the light. The first tower to break the surface was the Pathfinder Module line with From to Shore to Sea, scheduled to go to print, on time, March 5th.
Or rather it would have, if the art we ordered actually came in. Oh, I don't just mean came in on time, I mean, was going to come in at all. What we got on the due date instead of a half dozen illustrations was an apology from Joe "You'll-Never-Work-in-this-Town-Again" and a very empty "good luck!" Lame. Now, art directorix Sarah Robinson is a goddess for a variety of reasons, but the power she employed in this particular crisis was to bat her eyelashes via email and coax a whole host of fantastically talented artists to take up the slack, and in record speed. What that did mean, though, is that instead of going out on time, From to Shore to Sea is now going out next week, three weeks behind my precious schedule. Ugh.
Illustration by Dan Scott
Wolf set us up with this great plan, author Brandon Hodge pulled together a fantastic adventure, the Open Design patrons made a host of inspired suggestions, and Rob developed this thing into a fine addition to our Pathfinder Modules line in record time. And Dan Scott, our ever reliably awesome cover artist, did the incredible cover I’ve attached here. (Again, Dan: great and timely work. We love Dan’s stuff.) Yet despite top-notch materials and everyone who touched the adventure doing heroic work, sometimes things still don't work out the way they should. Sometimes it makes things frustrating and stressful, but never, ever boring.
From Shore to Sea will be awesome, there's no doubt about that, and I'm more excited about this one than I am about most. But, sadly, this one has had a bumpy journey, and my first tower breaking the surface will likely have to wait for City of Strangers in the Pathfinder Chronicles line later this month. Missing a deadline sadly isn't something new, so don't go adjusting orders or rechecking release dates; this happens sometimes and no one outside this building ever hears about it. Our website and warehouse teams are also quite adept—to our chagrin—at picking up our slack. And, should all our plans continue to work and there are relatively few additional catastrophes, you shouldn't ever hear me griping about our "editorial debt" again.
So just a heads-up for all the folks who have been invested in and keenly anticipating Open Design's From to Shore to Sea: it's awesome and it's coming, but sometimes the path from author to your hands has some unanticipated adventures. And expect a very boring blog post from me in a few months announcing that all our product lines are, at last, shipping to the printer on time. It might not matter much to folks outside these offices, but here, it's going to be cresting the top of a very tall hill.
Here's some more bonus material for the Pathfinder Module Realm of the Fellnight Queen. The RPG Superstar 2009 adventure by Neil Spicer originally included some additional random encounters at the beginning of Part 2: Lost in the Mist, but they were cut for space reasons. Adding these encounters helps to reinforce the eerie atmosphere of the mist.
Mist Random Encounters
Roll on the following chart to generate a random encounter for each day spent in the mist.
Roll
Type of Monster
CR
1
Desperate Townsfolk
—
2
Missing Lumberjacks
—
3
Spirit Moss
—
4
Amnesiac Elf
—
5
Pit Trap
3
6
Unicorn Sighting
—
7
Giant Bees
6
8
Will-o'-Wisp
6
9
Dire Bear
7
10
Fellnight Spriggans
8
Amnesiac Elf: A half-elf named Carith (N male half-elf warrior 2) wanders this part of the forest. He had the misfortune of falling victim to a pixie memory loss arrow (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 228) and now finds himself lost in the mist. If the PCs escort him to a safe place (for example, leaving him in the care of other good-willed forest creatures), award them experience for a CR 3 encounter.
Desperate Townsfolk: A Perception check (DC 20) detects cries for help in the fog. If the PCs respond, they discover a family of four with a stuck wagon fleeing Bellis. A DC 30 Strength check can get them moving again (multiple PCs can assist in moving the 10-foot-by-10-foot wagon, one per square adjacent to the wagon). A Diplomacy check (DC 20) convinces them to return to town for their own safety. If the PCs free the wagon or convince the family to return to Bellis, award them experience for a CR 2 encounter.
Dire Bear: The PCs blunder into the path of a dire bear that a short time ago hungrily raided a giant beehive. Unfortunately, he's still hungry and can smell the PCs through the fog.
Fellnight Spriggans: Four Fellnight spriggans deserted Rhoswen's army to explore and pillage on their own. They attack the PCs on sight (see page 7 of Realm of the Fellnight Queen).
Giant Bees: A nest of giant bees has recently had its hive disturbed by a dire bear. Three of the bees now angrily search the mist for creatures to attack.
Missing Lumberjacks: The PCs happen upon a ruined Lumber Consortium camp littered with debris. Thorn darts riddle the tents and supplies. A DC 15 Survival check determines at least nine lumberjacks have gone missing from the site. A search of their belongings discovers 38 gp, 42 sp, 118 cp, a brass cup engraved with the likeness of Cayden Cailean worth 25 gp, and a masterwork throwing axe.
Pit Trap:
Devarre the druid has laid traps to capture animals. Along a narrow deer trail lies a camouflaged pit trap (see Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook 420) designed to catch a bear, covered by leaves and baited with a honey-covered shoe.
Spirit Moss: A patch of spongy gray-green moss covers the sides of a massive log. A Knowledge (nature) check (DC 20) identifies the substance as spirit moss (Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting 217). Those consuming it suffer 2d6 points of Strength and Dexterity damage (no save), but temporarily gain the ability to speak with dead (CL 10th). A character who makes a Survival check (DC 16) may harvest enough for two preparations.
Unicorn Sighting: Any character making a Perception check (DC 20) notices a horse-like figure in the mist. As some of the fog drifts past, a unicorn meets their gaze and then gallops away, teleporting if the PCs try to pursue it.
Will-o'-Wisp: A will-o’-wisp uses the fog to mimic the voices of desperate townsfolk trying to leave Bellis, pretending to be lost in the mist or stuck among the thickets. It draws unsuspecting victims into a patch of brambles, a ravine, or a swampy area (see Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook 427).
Here's a bit of bonus material for the Pathfinder Module Realm of the Fellnight Queen. The RPG Superstar 2009 adventure by Neil Spicer originally featured this character in one encounter, but she ended up on the cutting room floor to make the adventure fit the page count. Now she's back and ready to annoy some PCs!
Spoiler:
Arvormeigh originally appeared in the Upper Pool area of the Dead Man's Drop encounter, along with an allied Large water elemental (CR 5), for a CR 7 encounter. If your PCs are especially tough, you could add her to the encounter as presented in the adventure, resulting in a CR 8 encounter.
ARVORMEIGH CR 5 XP 3,200
Female nixie rogue 5; (Pathfinder RPG Bonus Bestiary 15)
NE Small fey (aquatic) Init +6; Senses low-light vision; Perception +8 DEFENSE AC 18, touch 18, flat-footed 11 (+6 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 size) hp 43 (7 HD; 2d6+5d8+14) Fort +3, Ref +13, Will +4 Defensive Abilities evasion, uncanny dodge; DR 5/cold iron; SR 12 OFFENSE Speed 20 ft., swim 30 ft. Melee short sword +11 (1d4/19–20) Ranged+1 shortbow +12 (1d4+1/x3) Special Attacks lure (as harpy's captivating song, DC 16), sneak attack +3d6 plus 3 bleed Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th; concentration +16)
3/day—charm person (DC 16)
1/day—water breathing TACTICS Before Combat Arvormeigh observes intruders from the pool while in fish form to discern their intent. Then she reverts to her natural form to drink her potion of resist energy before swimming to the water's surface to speak with them. A Sense Motive check (DC 22) detects the nixie stalling for time during the conversation—she waits only long enough for the next obscuring mist from the wardstones before attacking (see Hazard). During Combat Arvormeigh knows the pool well enough to time the waves of mist to her advantage. On any round while her vision remains unimpeded, she keeps her distance, rising from the water to shoot opponents with her bow and making sure to use her Deadly Aim feat and bleeding attack ability if possible, selectively targeting spellcasters with sleep arrows. During rounds with the obscuring mist in place, Arvormeigh uses her lure ability instead, drawing victims into the pool and the waiting vortex of her elemental ally. She uses sneak attack underwater on anyone left in the pool. Morale As the final guardian of the wardstones, Arvormeigh fights to the death, only temporarily retreating to drink her potion of cure moderate wounds before resuming the attack. STATISTICS Str 10, Dex 22, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 21 Base Atk +4; CMB +3; CMD 19 Feats Deadly Aim, Dodge, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Weapon Finesse Skills Acrobatics +14, Bluff +12, Craft (jewelry) +5, Diplomacy +12, Escape Artist +15, Handle Animal +12, Knowledge (nature) +10, Linguistics +5, Perception +8, Perform (dance) +12, Perform (sing) +12, Sense Motive +8, Stealth +17, Swim +17 Languages Aquan, Elven, Sylvan SQ amphibious, change shape (Small or Medium aquatic creature, beast shape I), rogue talents (bleeding attack, combat trick), trapfinding, trap sense +1, wild empathy +13 Combat Gearpotion of cure moderate wounds, potion of resist energy (electricity) ; Other Gear+1 shortbow, sleep arrows (6), cold iron arrows (20), short sword, aquamarine necklace worth 250 gp with matching bracelets worth 50 gp each
This week Paizo posted new product descriptions for dozens of products to be released in the third trimester of 2010, including new hardcover books, a revision of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting, and a brand new line of Pathfinder novels!
We've been hard at work on these items for months, and even though you'll have to wait until at least September before they hit your game table, we're thrilled to finally be able to discuss some of this stuff in public. The suspense has been killing us!
Folks are already discussing some of our new releases on the paizo.com messageboards, but as the commentary has been flying fast and furious over the last couple days, I figured it might be helpful to post a broad overview of our new offerings here on the blog, with direct links to the products in question.
So without further ado, let's plug ourselves into the future-caster time machine and take a journey forward to September through December 2010. Bring your dice and a few character sheets. You're going to need them!
PATHFINDER FICTION
The biggest announcement is a brand new line of Pathfinder novels written by some of the biggest names in fantasy fiction! The first book, Winter Witch, by New York Times best-selling author Elaine Cunningham, explores the tale of a barbarian shield maiden who ventures from Varisia to the winter-locked land of Irrisen to rescue a possessed sister—and the canny young cartographer who follows her into that haunted land. The book formally releases in September, but we'll have copies on hand at this year's Gen Con Game Fair as a special preview. October sees the release of Prince of Wolves, by former Amazing Stories and Dragon editor Dave Gross, which revisits the Pathfinder agent Varian Jeggare and his tiefling assistant Radovan, last seen in the Pathfinder Journal section of the Council of Thieves Adventure Path. Additional novels will follow in 2011 from well-known authors including Paul S. Kemp and other familiar faces. Stay tuned for more info!
NEW HARDCOVERS
Following up on the forthcoming GameMastery Guide
and Advanced Player's Guide, 2010 will see the release of one more hardcover rulebook in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game line: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2! Like the first Bestiary, Bestiary 2 will include more than 300 monsters for use with the Pathfinder RPG, including old favorites like the hippogriff and new planar creatures like the aeons and proteans. This book will cover most of the standard monsters from the history of the game that we couldn't fit in the first Bestiary, as well as tons of other great monsters you've never seen before. Each monster will receive a full page or a 2-page spread, using the same format as the original book.
Supplies of the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting hardcover are dwindling faster than we can count, so in September we'll release a revised edition in the form of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting World Guide: The Inner Sea. Fully updated to the Pathfinder RPG rules and with expanded coverage of nearly every nation, the latest version of this book contains a new cover from Wayne Reynolds, an updated map, fixed errata from the first edition, and more than 300 pages packed with tons of information about the lands, peoples, beliefs, and cultures of the world of Golarion. Paizo Creative Director James Jacobs is giving this project his personal finish, making sure our campaign setting book is a solid bedrock of our publishing operation for years to come. We're really pleased with the early development of this book, and think it will be an ideal resource for all Pathfinder players and game masters.
PATHFINDER CHRONICLES
In addition to the revised campaign setting, in late 2010 we'll release the Inner Sea Map Folio, a massive 32-panel map of the Inner Sea region containing all "canonical" locations from every Pathfinder product published to date! This monster is sure to brighten up the gaming room or man-cave of any Pathfinder enthusiast, and its "four poster" format will even allow for easy reference at the game table for those lacking the wall space to do it justice. The Campaign Setting product line will also see a new Classic Monsters-style book in the form of Misfit Monsters Redeemed (and you won't believe what that's about until you read the description, believe me) as well as Lost Cities of Golarion, which explores six adventure locales from throughout the world of Golarion.
PATHFINDER PLAYER COMPANION
We can't let the GMs have all the fun, after all, so we've also planned a couple of sure-fire player's guides for the last third of 2010 that will be must-buys for Pathfinder RPG players. October sees the release of the Inner Sea Primer, a slimmed-down overview of the Pathfinder world designed specifically for players. This book will include tons of new character traits tied to the regions and religions of Golarion, and will provide a perfect "gist" of the setting for those looking to dip a toe in the water without needing to buy a big hardcover book. December sees the release of Halflings of Golarion, which rounds out the player's guides to the standard "demihuman" player character races in the Pathfinder RPG with plenty of details on how to integrate them into Golarion campaigns. Lots of fun equipment and lore in this one for fans of halflings (and everyone else, too)!
PATHFINDER MODULES
Gamers have been asking for a high-level Pathfinder adventure since the very beginning, and now I'm pleased to report that the time has come at last! Shipping in September, The Witchwar Legacy takes 17th-level player characters to the snow-shrouded witch kingdom of Irrisen to thwart a plan by the Ice Queen involving the insidious Baba Yaga herself! If that's not enough, in November we'll release a brand-new 1st-level starter adventure called The Godsmouth Heresy, set in the shadowy city of Kaer Maga, site of June's City of Strangers sourcebook!
GAMEMASTERY ACCESSORIES
Paizo's popular map products keep on coming in the last part of 2010, including the first-ever crossover between the Map Pack and Flip-Mat lines! Everything starts innocently enough in September with the release of Flip-Mat: Forest, but things really get interesting in October, with Map Pack: Shops. This 18-tile map set includes the interiors for several different stores, apothecaries, taverns, and the like, but things become super-special when you combine this pack with November's Flip-Mat: City Streets, which details a mercantile district suitable for use with other city Flip-Mats. The roofed buildings on this Flip-Mat (suitable for rooftop chases) correspond exactly to the interiors presented in Map Pack: Shops, providing a uniquely immersive tabletop experience. And if that's not enough to impress your jaded players, spring December's Map Pack: Ambush Sites on them. They probably deserve it.
GameMastery Cards keep coming as well, this time in the form of new GameMastery Condition Cards, handy reference cards for all of the various conditions in the Pathfinder RPG rules.
PATHFINDER ADVENTURE PATH
And, of course, we haven't forgotten the date that brought us to the big dance in the first place. The last trimester of 2010 will see plenty of action in the Pathfinder Adventure Path line, as the Serpent's Skull Adventure Path takes a jungle trail toward its stunning conclusion! Ruined Azlanti cities, Red Mantis assassins, monkey-men, the Pathfinder Society, ancient serpentfolk, and one very, very angry Gorilla King are all in store in a quartet of adventures by Tim Hitchcock, Kevin Kulp, Greg A. Vaughan, and Graeme Davis! The Serpent's Skull is a return to classic-style adventuring in the Pathfinder tradition, and we can't wait to get you guys into the jungle!
I'm saving our Planet Stories releases for tomorrow's blog, so be sure to tune in then for some of the biggest Planet Stories news we've had yet!
So much is happening here at Paizo these days that it's difficult to remember the uncertainty and horror of the last few years, with major changes to our business, our game system, and our lives. All of us really appreciate the support you have shown us so far, and we look forward to more exciting products in the months and years to come!
As I write this the finishing touches are going in on our newest Pathfinder Module, City of Golden Death, the climactic conclusion to the Price of Immortality campaign arc. Written by our own Events Manager, Joshua J. Frost, the adventure takes the PCs to the notorious Isle of Terror, where they'll face agents of the Living God Razmir, ageless menaces from ancient Thassilon, the undying machinations of the Whispering Tyrant himself, and even greater perils! Here's a sneak peak of some of the scenes your PCs can expect to face when the module releases in just a few short weeks. Enjoy!
As one of my new duties here in Paizo's editorial pit, I've been asked to take on the development for the upcoming Pathfinder Module From Shore to Sea, designed and developed with the assistance of the patrons at Wolfgang Baur's Open Design Studio . The adventure is a fun-filled romp (some might say a terrifying delve) through sunken ruins, with ancient Azlanti technology and undersea abominations thrown in for good measure, and I thought now was a good time to share a little bit of the process that goes into developing a Pathfinder Module.
We've already done the art and map orders for the adventure, helped in no small part by author Brandon Hodge's detailed and descriptive turnovers. Which leads us to the adventure itself. I'm still wading around in the shallow waters of the module (just getting my feet wet, so to speak), but I've already ventured into spooky, seaside villages, dealt with their insular, ichthyic inhabitants (some preliminary sketches appear below), and wrestled with giant tentacles from beneath the waves. From Shore to Sea has already had extensive playtesting as part of the design process at Open Design, so most of my development work so far has involved arranging things in a more Pathfinder-friendly format, clarifying rules issues, and making a few minor adjustments here and there to make a cool adventure even cooler.
It's looking like a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to diving even further into the adventure to see what ancient Azlanti wonders and eldritch horrors come to light from out of its abyssal depths. Maybe I'll even get a chance to run some unfortunate players through it myself eventually. Now all I have to do is keep James Jacobs from throwing a tylosaurus into the adventure...
Ramping up to Tuesday's announcement of this year's RPG Superstar first-round winners, I wanted to remind everybody what all the hype is about. Here we see the cover to Realm of the Fellnight Queen in all its splendor, part of the "trophy" for 2009's Superstar winner Neil Spicer. Neil's winning proposal debuts in just a few short weeks, and it looks absolutely incredible. So that's the prize folks! The chance to bring your villain, hero, monster, story, or whatever to life with some of the best artists and editors in the biz. So check back on Tuesday, and we'll see if this is the year your adventure comes to life!
Masks of the Living God is expected in our warehouse later this month. Written by Jason Bulmahn as a sequel to Crypt of the Everflame, it can be used as a standalone adventure, and helps set the stage for City of Golden Death in March 2010.
Masks of the Living God is a bit of a change of pace for Paizo adventures. While it has the usual elements of travel and combat, much of the adventure is a freeform or "sandbox" environment where the PCs are able to set their own pace and agenda for dealing with the Cult of Razmir—from the inside! In the adventure, the PCs join the cult to see what's really going on behind the locked doors of the temple. Is the Church of Razmir as benevolent as it claims to be? Are its good works and charitable efforts just a front for a gang of thugs and extortionists? Is there something even more sinister going on?
Ever wanted to contribute to a Golarion-based adventure or submit your spells and monsters to a Pathfinder RPG supplement? You can with the creative and award-winning folks at Open Design. Their official Golarion adventure From Shore to Sea is on track for a spring release, and right now they are playtesting that adventure—and soliciting game design from the project's supporters for the Sunken Empires sourcebook. The Sunken Empires book is a 64-page collection of hooks, tools, spells and monsters to support water-based adventures using Pathfinder RPG rules. Join as a patron and your design contribution just might get you into the credits! Find out more about patron projects and how you can contribute at Open Design.
Also, stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes looks at the creative process involved in taking From Shore to Sea from patron project to printed publication right here on the blog as Paizo's designers continue the open-door creative process already in the works at Open Design.
The Pathfinder RPG Bestiary has reached our warehouse, and we've loaded it with hundreds of updated monsters for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. However, some of our favorites didn't quite make the cut and had to be left out of the book. Fortunately, we're clever and sneaky, and found a way to get one of the extra monsters into the Pathfinder Module Carrion Hill. After all, in an adventure with Lovecraftian horrors, this shapeshifting creature should feel right at home.
Carrion Hill is a 5th-level urban horror adventure in the style of H. P. Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror. Chock full of mythos goodness, this book has references to the Outer Gods, underground ghoul societies, and (of course) the spawn of Yog-Sothoth. Here's a quick peek... avert your eyes if your will is weak!
Greetings, dear readers—as the Golem busies itself crafting the deadly artifact known only as the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, the Preview Purloiners have struck once again deep into its fathomless Vault. Today we bring you Ralph Horsley's cover to Pathfinder Module J5: Beyond the Vault of Souls. The foolish minions of the Golem won't even known it's missing! But what is that pounding on the door...?
Vadid and Nahk Preview Purloiners
A wizard is capturing souls and binding them to magical gems to keep the spirits of the dead from departing to their just rewards, and the church of Pharasma, goddess of death, has had enough of his meddling with the afterlife. When a magical security feature in the wizard's tower sends the gems spinning off to several different planes, the church calls on the PCs to track them down. From the vault of the gods in the planar nexus of Axis, to the fields of Elysium where righteous heroes battle endlessly even in death, and on past the gates of Hell itself, the PCs must race through portal after portal to recover the lost souls before sinister outsiders can beat them to the prize.
The last year at Paizo's been really hectic and busy. I think I ran one whole session of my Call of Cthulhu game in 2008, and as for actual D&D office games, we pretty much haven't done any gaming. That's no good. Fortunately, now that we're heading into 2009, there may be a change in the air. Either we're finally getting caught up, or we're finally adjusting our sleep cycles to accommodate the new reality—whatever the reason, office games at Paizo are starting up again. I'm hoping to get my own Sandpoint campaign off the ground in February, but Jason's even more on the ball than me. We started the first game of his new campaign last Monday! We're starting out by playtesting the adventure he's writing for the upcoming Pathfinder Module, Crypt of the Everflame. Check out this thread on our messageboards for the gory details! I'm playing Merisiel in this one, and I haven't quite decided yet if I'm gonna do a big detailed journal yet—I'm not sure Merisiel's the type to keep a diary. Maybe a kill list, though. Maybe even a "still needs to be killed" list. Hmmmmm...
Turns out that we haven't been the only ones busily bustling away to bring you new Pathfinder brand insanity. A quick glance across the boards turns up Hugo Solis's (aka Butterfrog) currently Unofficial Paizo Comic Strip. The first is featured above, but check out his awesome comic thread here.
Also, Paizo—or more specifically Entombed with the Pharaohs and the Critical Fumble Deck—got a subtle shout-out on this week's commodoreHUSTLE by the web comedy troupe over at LoadingReadyRun.com. Be sure to check it out—hilarious stuff. I promise that Tukanem-Hanam, the mummy dragon in question, doesn't always suck that bad. And don't worry, we're totally hooking them up with the sequel, The Pact Stone Pyramid, to give Jeremy a chance to get his revenge.
So yeah! Great work to everyone out there making Pathfinder their own! And if you've been inspired by adventures in Golarion, be sure to show off your talents here on the message boards. We can't wait to see what you've come up with!
It's been many, many months since Leandra Christine Schneider won the first RPG Superstar contest, but we're finally almost there—her module, Clash of the Kingslayers, is going through its last bits of editing as I type this. To celebrate, check out some of the art from the adventure!
Once more, I reveal unto you some great art for Pact Stone Pyramid by Bento Box Studios! Nothing much more to say than pictures of paladins headlockin' mummies. Paladins headlockin' mummies.
In this interior piece we have a girallon covered in glowing magical hieroglyphics battling Seelah and Kyra, set in one of the interior areas of the Pact Stone Pyramid. Well, it's not really a girallon, it's a magical curse in the shape of a girallon, but when the thing is quadruple-punching your face the subtle difference probably isn't your biggest concern....
A new addition to the Pathfinder Modules is coming down the pike, and with it of course comes new art, a cover in fact. It is, once again, a pleasure to bring you, right off of Drew's desk, one hot cover (it's in a desert, ya know) for The Pact Stone Pyramid.
Enjoy!
It's been a while since we've talked about a Pathfinder Module on this blog, for the simple reason that they were the unfortunate sacrifice to the Deadline Demons that had to be made in order to get everything else on schedule. The good news is that the modules themselves are back on schedule as well now, and with the upcoming release of Hungry Are the Dead you can expect to see a new Pathfinder Module once every other month.
To celebrate, I figured I'd show off art not from one, but from two upcoming modules. See if you can correctly guess which of these illustrations is from the nautical-themed Treasure of Chimera Cove and which is from the grisly undead-themed Hungry Are the Dead!
It is speculated that Asmodeus spawned the first crepitus devils, sometimes called magewretches, to tempt and corrupt mortal wizards into damning their souls. Yet while it is true that the crepitus is a highly intelligent creature with a gift for spellcraft and all things arcane, its great intellect is countered by its foolishness and inability to competently lure mortals to Asmodeus's will. As a result, specimens seen on the Material Plane are more often slaves than fiendish tempters.
Ecology
A crepitus stands 3 to 4 feet tall, with bright eyes in a saurian head that appears too large for its gaunt, rune-covered body. Its shoulders sprout bat-like wings that allow it to fly with ease, and its sharp talons are surprisingly nimble and capable of fine adjustments when conducting magical rituals. A typical crepitus weighs 30 pounds. Though, like other devils, crepituses don't require food, they take particular joy in consuming wizards' familiars (and sometimes the wizards themselves.) Crepitus devils are native to Hell, and many lurk around Asmodeus's infernal palace, often serving as messengers.
Habitat & Society
Left to their own devices, crepitus devils are cunning, malicious pranksters, content to while away their days flitting about Hell and tormenting lost souls and devils alike. Yet crepituses are rarely left alone for long, and it is likely from this fact that their long-standing racial hatred of wizards stems. Highly valued for their spell-like abilities and intuitive knowledge of magic, crepituses are frequently bound into contracts or enslaved outright by mortal wizards and other fiends, a situation the intelligent devils find exrtemely demeaning. This situation is not helped by the fact that crepituses are frequently the first gifts handed out by higher-ranking demons attempting to seduce mortal magic users. If given an opportunity, a crepitus goes well out of its way to destroy a wizard and burn his precious spellbooks to ashes (not necessarily in that order). Chelish wizards regularly bind crepitus devils as servants, and view having an enslaved crepitus as a mark of prestige.
Crepituses enjoy lording their power over their significantly weaker impish cousins, and referring to a crepitus as an imp is the gravest possible insult.
We're all crazy busy here today making sure you get the awesome products you've come to expect from us. While we're at it, here's a pretty picture of the ever-popular Seoni from Pathfinder Module LB1: Tower of the Last Baron. Enjoy! :D
Time again for the blogging! This time it is my pleasure to reveal, with all due fanfare, the One True Cover for our upcoming module W3: Flight of the Red Raven!
Last year, we ran a contest to determine who would write for us the module W3: Flight of the Red Raven. We received more than 150 entries. The eventual winner, frequent Dragon-contributor David Schwartz, handed over a great adventure. We look forward to working with David again in the future.
Presented here is the Red Raven as he appears in the module, which will be available in May!
The muddy waters of the great Vanji flow past hundreds of miles of dark jungle. As it flows through the darkness, the river drinks deeply of the blood of thousands of creatures, from the lowliest lizard devoured by a river crocodile to the human sacrifice drowned to appease the dark jungle gods to a battlefield where neighboring tribes rip out each other's throats in casual displays of wanton brutality. The terror and death along the dark banks sometimes gives birth to monsters. Horrifying amalgamations of jungle detritus and human souls, they float along the river, as serene as flowing water, until they encounter a living creature to add to their tranquility.
In early November Paizo challenged amateur game designers from around the world to show off their skills in a revolutionary online contest called RPG Superstar. From more than 850 submitted wondrous items, celebrity judges Erik Mona (Paizo's Publisher), Wolfgang Baur (Editor-in-Chief, Kobold Quarterly), and Clark Peterson (President, Necromancer Games) narrowed the field to 32 would-be RPG Superstars, and further rounds have narrowed that field in the intervening weeks.
The final round asked the four competing finalists to propose a 32-page GameMastery Module for ultimate publication by Paizo as the Grand Prize of RPG Superstar. Contestants Clinton Boomer (Macomb, IL), Rob McCreary (Prague, Czech Republic), Jason Nelson (Seattle, WA), and Christine Schneider (Neu-Isenburg, Germany) responded with four excellent proposals, each worthy of publication in its own way.
But there can be only one RPG Superstar, and in the end after the celebrity judges had a chance to offer comments and criticism and the general public had their final vote, one proposal stood out as the clear winner.
Congratulations to Christine Schneider for her victorious proposal, "Clash of the Kingslayers." Here's a brief description of the adventure from Christine's winning RPG Superstar submission:
This module will set the heroes against the gods' blind wrath in defence of a dwarven city-kingdom. During the course of the adventure the PCs will cross swords with dwarvish valkyries, fight giants freed from the underworld, unravel an ancient secret, and explore a remote monastery.
What starts as a casual dungeon crawl, will turn into a frantic pandemonium as the monastery is imbued with divine life to wage war on the city the heroes might choose to protect or even aid to destroy.
Ultimately, the PCs get the chance to slay not one, but three kings in attempt to end this madness and write the final lines of an ancient tragedy. This adventure is intended for characters of 10th-level and will yield enough experience to advance them to 11th-level or even half-way to 12th-level.
As RPG Superstar's Grand Prize, Paizo will contract Christine Schneider to write "Clash of the Kingslayers," which we will release as GameMastery Module S1 in January, 2009.
But you don't have to wait until January to reserve your copy! Head over to the new "Clash of the Kingslayers" product page here on paizo.com to preorder your copy of Christine's winning adventure! If you already subscribe to GameMastery Modules, "Clash of the Kingslayers" will arrive as part of your ongoing subscription.
On behalf of judges Wolfgang Baur and Clark Peterson as well as the whole Paizo Publishing family, congratulations to Clinton Boomer, Rob McCreary, Jason Nelson, and Christine Schneider.
Remember those names, folks. You'll be hearing from all of them in the months and years to come. Though the contest produced only one true RPG Superstar, it also turned up a huge number of fresh voices we plan to work with for a long time to come.
And I'd like to offer one final thanks to you, the readers of paizo.com and to anyone who submitted an entry to this year's RPG Superstar contest. The event has been enormously popular here on the site, and even the wizened old judges learned a thing or two along the way. Something this successful is certain to return, so in the meantime sharpen your pencils and start working on some wondrous items.
The next GameMastery Module, River Into Darkness is off to the printer. This adventure features a great trek through the dark and mysterious jungles of the southern continent of Garund (part of the Pathfinder Chronicles world for those of you not in the know). To top it off, there are angry natives, deadly monster, and questionable friends. What more could you ask for? Not much I say. Not much. Need more proof? Here is the back cover copy:
A vast merchant consortium has a simple job for you—one that pays extremely well. All it asks is that you stand guard over one of its outposts for a few weeks until reinforcements arrive. The problem, of course, is that the outpost is in the middle of a vast and dangerous jungle and the natives seem intent upon putting an arrow in you at every turn. If the journey there doesn't kill you, though, you might just learn what is worth risking your lives over.
River Into Darkness is a wilderness-based adventure for 4th-level characters compatible with the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. This adventure includes all in information you need to send your heroes on a fantastic journey through the heart of the deep and mysterious jungle, including encounters with terrible monsters and hostile natives.
This adventure is set in the Mwangi Expanse, the largest jungle in the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, but it can be easily adapted for use in any setting. For more information on this environ, check out the Pathfinder Chronicles Gazetteer.
Here is a sneak peek into one of the living nightmares that you will encounter in the Lost City. Enjoy this evocative art, representative of what is featured in Crucible of Chaos.
During Ulduvai's final days, when its citizens were caught in the slow but inevitable decline of their once-great civilization, as one by one the other flying cities fell to decadence, disease, conquest, or other misfortune, a strange wanderer arrived in the city and brought with him a relic of uncertain origin but undeniable power. This mysterious outsider found within the city fertile soil: citizens both corrupt enough to submit to perversions that others would find unthinkable, and desperate enough to try anything to escape a fate that seemed as certain as the stars.
Before long, the cult had grown to control much of the city, and at its head were three powerful sorcerers. On a dark night when the time was right, these three leaders brought the cultists together and channeled arcane power through the artifact, seeking to unlock the mysteries of creation and become living gods. The results were not what they expected.
Now, centuries later, these three cultists still linger amongst the ashes of their former civilization. Each controls a separate area of the city, and each is convinced that, given the right tools and enough time, he can return Ulduvai to its former glory and banish the chaos that has warped the city almost beyond recognition. Yet no matter what they do and what secrets they unlock, they are no closer to the answers they seek now than they were on that fateful night centuries ago.
"We had expected, upon looking back, to see a terrible and incredible moving entity if the mists were thin enough; but of that entity we had formed a clear idea. What we did see—for the mists were indeed all too maliguly thinned—was something altogether different, and immeasurably more hideous and detestable. It was the utter, objective embodiment of the fantastic novelist's 'thing that should not be...'
...It was a terrible, indescribable thing vaster than any subway train—a shapeless congeries of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous, and with myriads of temporary eyes forming and un-forming as pustules of greenish light all over the tunnel-filling front that bore down upon us, crushing the frantic penguins and slithering over the glistening floor that it and its kind had swept so evilly free of all litter. Still came that eldritch, mocking cry—'Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!'"
Crucible of Chaos has been sent to the printer and is due to come out next month. This module features a number of really cool locations, including a crashed sky city. To get you salivating for this dangerous adventure, here is a look at the final cover and the info from the back of the module.
Uncover the ruins of the flying city
Legends speak of an ancient culture that drifted through the clouds atop immense floating cities. These same tales speak of a horrible catastrophe that brought them low, but no one has discovered the true cause. Now, a mystical compass has been discovered that seems to point to an unexplored valley, one that just might hold the secrets of this lost empire. But will the same catastrophe strike again?
Crucible of Chaos is a journey-based adventure for 8th-level characters compatible with the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. This adventure contains details on the valley containing the crashed sky-city, including the natives who live there, as well as information on those who brought about the city's downfall.
This adventure is set in the unexplored reaches of the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, one of the nations in the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, but it can be easily adapted for use in any setting. For more information on this area, check out the Pathfinder Chronicles Gazetteer.
Last week, we introduced four of the eight suspects the PCs will have to investigate while they are trapped in a haunted courthouse with time running out. Here are the other four candidates for the Hangman's Noose:
The Fool: Ebin Blithoddle is a peculiar gnome who dresses in motley and has a stupid joke and a bad pun for every occasion. Despite the fact that he couldn't make a hyena laugh, the poor old sod refuses to quit, dancing and capering around the courthouse in fits of manic hysteria. Still, a sinister air hangs around the smiling and dancing fool—at times, his eyes seem glassy and his smile looks fixed. Even for Ebin, there is something about this courthouse that is not funny at all.
The Curious: Of all the suspects, Killian Paltreth is perhaps the most normal. Of course, in this adventure, anything normal is automatically cause for suspicion. The alchemist seems like a decent enough fellow genuinely interested in getting to the bottom of the mystery. But who knows what this seemingly honest old man is cooking up in that laboratory of his? And how did he get mixed up in this nasty business?
The Bully: Malgrim Hurkes is one of the most notorious figures in Absalom. The leader of a gang called the Grindle Street Shades, this ruthless hobgoblin has his fingers in much of the violent crime around the seedier districts of the city. Unfortunately, he doesn't take too kindly to being questioned by upstart adventures.
The Innocent: This cute, athletic halfling named Madge Blossomheart was little more than a girl when the crimes were committed, and she retains much of her youthful charm. This unfortunate maiden doesn't even understand most of what is going on... or at least that's what she claims. But what dark secrets could she possibly be concealing behind that glowing smile?
Hangman's Noose is the first real murder mystery adventure set in the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting. As such, it includes a host of suspects, both charming and nefarious. And while each one might have had a hand in the mistrial that caused the haunting in this adventure, one of them truly deserves to hang. If your PCs can't uncover the culprit by dawn, their necks might hang in the murderer's place. Here are just a few of the suspects.
Halgrak: (at right) Known as "Five Toes" due to his mangled foot, this menacing half-orc is a local smith by trade. When things begin to turn sour, though, he quickly becomes certain that everyone is doomed.
Patrissa: Despite her overindulgences, this former adventurer is still quite attractive, wearing a fine dress and expensive jewels. Once locked inside the courthouse, she is certain to turn to the heroes for protection.
Sir Rekkart: (above) This staunch, aging paladin of Iomedae was a part of the jury ten years ago, and is certain that justice was served. Persuading him otherwise might just be an impossible task without solid proof.
Tablark: This grizzled old dwarf has held just about every job one could have in the city of Absalom. When things seem grim, the heroes can count on this dwarf to remain steadfast and confident in victory.
Is one of these jurors to blame? Maybe it was one of the others. Next week, I'll be back to give you a few more suspects to investigate.
With Guardians of Dragonfall about to hit our warehouse, the time grows near to take a look at our next GameMastery Module. So, in preparation, here is the cover to U2: Hangman's Noose. It sure looks like Seoni has just about had enough of adventuring... maybe even breathing. Need more info? Here is the back cover copy.
GameMastery Module U2: Hangman's Noose
Ten years to the day after the most horrible injustice in Absalom's history, an implacable spirit returns to have his vengeance upon those who sent him to the gallows. Unfortunately for the heroes, they are among the jury of the damned, and come dawn they will all hang if they fail to find the true culprit.
Hangman's Noose is an urban-based adventure for 1st-level characters compatible with the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. This adventure includes details on the terrible crime, those who took part in its cover-up, and the crumbling courthouse where the crime, trial, and execution all took place.
Long ago, before the Age of Darkness, in a time when powerful empires of magic ruled the land the arcanatons were first seen on Golarion. Drawn by the confluence of magical power, these creatures are the raw stuff of arcane energy given life and form. Powerful in their own right, when given a source of magic upon which to feed, they become nearly unstoppable.
But times change and empires fall. In the darkness that followed Starfall, much was lost, and as power left the world these creatures of arcane energy withered and died, deprived of the magical power that they needed for sustenance. Only a few linger still, tied to the rare relics of power that still remain from those ancient times.
Long the self-proclaimed masters of magical power, the many races of dragons thrived on Golarion while humanity was still little more than savage beasts. It was they who learned the secrets of summoning and binding these creatures of elemental magic, and they yet remain the dragons' servants, ever watchful for arcane adepts that would plunder the treasures of their masters. When it came time to construct an important symbol of their power, it was inevitable that they would choose to include arcanatons among the Guardians of Dragonfall.
With GameMastery Module E1: Carnival of Tears shipping out to all of your waiting hands, it is time to turn our attention to the next module, J2: Guardians of Dragonfall. Over the next few weeks we will be previewing some of the monsters and villains behind this draconic plot involving one of the more interesting locales in the Pathfinder Chronicles world, but for now, here is a look at a great piece of art from the module. Stay tuned.
When flipping through GameMastery Module E1: Carnival of Tears, one thing immediately jumped out at me. There is a creature, known as a quickling, in the module with a speed of 240 feet. At first I though this must be a misprint, but Jeremy assured me that it was correct. This fey, called Prig in the module, is so blindingly fast that catching him is half the encounter. Fortunately for you, he is in the mood for mischief, not evasion. To celebrate the upcoming release of Carnival of Tears, I thought I would give you a few fun facts concerning this speedy antagonist.
1. Looking back at D1: Crown of the Kobold King, if Prig started at the beginning of the dungeon, he could make his way all the way down to the king, slap him in the face, and make it back to the surface in four rounds with time to spare.
2. If he had an open road, Prig could run from one end of the Bloodsworn Vale, featured in W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale, and back again in a little over one hour, since he has a land speed of just over 109 mph.
3. With a running start, Prig could easily jump over the underground lake featured in D2: Seven Swords of Sin.
4. Check out U1: Gallery of Evil—Prig could run 16 complete circles around the Gauthfallow Mansion in exactly 1 minute.
5. Using his Spring Attack feat, if Prig started out 100 feet away from Scepter (from J1: Entombed with the Pharaohs), he could run up, pinch his nose, and then run away, ending his movement outside the range of every single one of Scepter's spells and his wand rifle.
6. In E1: Carnival of Tears, Prig can use his Jump skill (+100) to easily clear 25-foot-tall tents and cause no end of havoc for your PCs.
The fey of Darkmoon Vale were not always evil. For decades they lived and played under the spreading branches of the forest, content to remain close to the land that sustained them. But recently, things have changed within the forest. The establishment of the lumber mill in Falcon's Hollow has given rise to a veritable army of woodsmen bent on leveling the forest and plundering its wealth of darkwood. Hunters and trappers have descended into the forest, seeking furs and trophies to take back to the markets of Andoran. Slowly but surely, the creatures within the forest began to change. Anger and fear replaced the capricious playfulness of its fey guardians, and the icy grip of hate descended on the land. Far away, in her frozen palace in Irrisen, the Witch Queen sensed opportunity, and dispatched a cold rider to Darkmoon Vale.
With the first breath of winter's frost he arrived in the forest, and as ice and snow descended upon the land, his corrupting presence wormed its way into the hearts of the fey, transforming them into creatures of nightmare.
In E1: Carnival of Tears, the PCs must face off against this implacable foe who seeks to drive the humans from Falcon's Hollow, and in so doing, gain an unbreakable hold over the fey creatures that live there. Cold Riders are terrifying armored majesties, clad in sable cloaks of frost, a pair of almost ridiculously large crystal-blue antlers cresting their dread helms of ice and steel. These dark monsters were once princes of the forest. Brought living before the Witch Queen, she stole their songs and their love of green and beauty and replaced them with cold hate. The riders are her knights gallant and her favored minions in her war on the sun, the green, and all things that recoil from her frigid touch. They delight in perversion, slaughter, and the corruption of other fey. It is their solemn duty to bring fresh souls and candidates for transformation into cold riders back to their queen's court, and they relish this charge. The paired mini-whirlwinds of effervescent frost swirling in their visors can chill the hearts of the most stalwart with a frigid glance, and the vapor-fog floating from them often takes the shape of their former fair features, screaming in silent agony and twisting into malformed wisps in the rising wind.
No, seriously, they kinda creep me out. This is not some sort of abject terror that makes me run screaming anytime I happen upon the "spokesclown" of a certain famous fast food restaurant, but it does make me shudder. Suffice to say, when we started planning out adventures, I knew that having one populated by horrible carnival folk would be a winner (or if you prefer... a "wieenahh"). Anyway, GameMastery Module E1: Carnival of Tears is scheduled to hit our warehouse soon, so now seemed like a great time to show you some of the horrors this festival has to offer. Let's see: Horrible sideshow freaks, check. People slaughtered by the dozens, check. Carnival games that get more than a bit deadly, check. And of course, evil little clowns (well, sort of), check. To top it off, the entire adventure is set in Falcon's Hollow, the starting point for D0: Hollow's Last Hope and D1: Crown of the Kobold King. While these adventures are not necessary for play, they do add a great bit of continuity and background to the area.
Need a bit more convincing? Here's the back cover copy from E1.
IT'S ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL SOMEONE LOSES HIS SOUL
On the eve of a terrible winter, the carnival comes to Falcon's Hollow, bringing with it one last chance for fun before the long cold nights to come. But when mirth turns to murderous mayhem, only the heroes can stop the terror-filled ride.
Carnival of Tears is an event-based adventure for 5th-level characters compatible with the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. This adventure includes details on all of the carnival's many attractions, both playful and deadly, as well as the shadowy assailants bent on slaughtering the townsfolk.
This adventure is set in Falcon's Hollow, a small town nestled near the boughs of the Darkmoon Vale. This area is also the site of GameMastery Module D1: Crown of the Kobold King, available online or from your favorite local game store.
"Psst... you. Yeah, you! I've got a secret to tell ya. You gotta keep this one quiet, though, because they'll kill ya if'n you know about it. Who? Dragons, of course!
"Word is that when most dragons are close to death, the make a pilgrimage to this place called Dragonfall, where their bones are laid to rest with those of their kin, regardless of color or creed. There they wait, for the gods only know what reason. This is no ordinary boneyard, though—oh no. It's watched over by ferocious protectors who slay any who so much as lay eyes on it. Rumor has it that most of these wyrms take all of the treasure with 'em when they die, piling it up into one gigantic horde. That'd be enough scratch for you and me to buy ourselves a crown or two, eh? Of course, I'm not sure I can tell ya without getting a bit of coin in return. For my wife and kids you see... this secret is about all we have. I think a thousand gold crowns should be enough." —Conversation with a shifty beggar in the alleys of Kaer Maga
After combing through more than 150 initial queries and almost a dozen detailed outlines, we have finally found our winner of the GameMastery Open Call contest. The winner will write GameMastery Module W3: Flight of the Red Raven. Scarce information about the plot was given out, and the entrants had to combine that, along with the title, to come up with a compelling adventure full of exciting encounters and memorable villains.
In the end, David Schwartz came out on top. David's proposal hit a nerve with the staff, as his submission was both well-written and full of evocative scenes. This adventure is slated to hit store shelves in May 2008. While you might not see any more news on this one for a while (as David will be busy writing it!), here is a revised blurb describing David's adventure, along with our mock-up cover:
The Vernal Key has been stolen from the town of Azurestone and the notorious Red Raven is the culprit. With a terrible winter setting in, the small community faces a gruesome fate without its protection. To recover the Key, the heroes must face off against brazen outlaws, freezing weather, and dangerous predators, but the trail leads to even greater peril. For the Red Raven's path heads straight into the Jarl's Prison, a maze of ice and snow from which there is no escape!
Hearty congratulations go out to all of our finalists. Picking one of them as the winner was not easy task, as any one of them might have made for a great adventure. And don't forget, for all those who didn't win this contest, there's still plenty of time to enter RPG Superstar and make your big break that way!
The new GameMastery Module J1: Entombed with the Pharaohs has arrived in our office and is about to ship. In anticipation, I have decided to turn you all into terrible undead servants, forever bound to the tomb of the Four Pharaohs of Ascension. Are you ready? Great! Please look at the following four images:
There! Does your skin itch a bit? Do you have the urge to wrap yourself in linen bandages? Feel the need to go "Urrrrrrr?" Congratulations, you are now one of hundreds of terrible mummy guardians bound to the pyramid for all of time! Anyone who sees all four of these images is cursed and transformed into a horrible mummy. This, of course, includes any unfortunate player characters that dare to explore this ancient tomb.
Happy Halloween everybody. Now get out there and spread some undead menace—you don't even need your mummy's permission.
Welcome to Sothis, capital of the great desert nation of Osirion, gateway to the mysteries of the sands. Centuries ago, the legendary ancient pharaohs ruled over a nation of sorcerers and slaves with an iron fist, wielding godlike magical abilities unlike anything in the modern world. Now they are gone, and all that remains of their wonder and terror lies buried beneath the dunes, concealed in vast stone pyramids and protected by traps and curses that reflect the height of their terrifying ingenuity. But the prospect of being eaten alive by beetles in the dark corridors of some lost tomb doesn't seem to bother the myriad adventurers, guides, soldiers, mercenaries, swindlers, thieves, and noblemen that have come from all over the world to get a chance to plunder the lost treasure of the pharaohs.
Among those who have recently arrived to stake their claim on these treasures is a group of adventurers led by a Chelish noblemen named Paracount Julistar, who just happens to be one of the most famous Osiriontologists in the world. Fanatical, yet suave, Julistar is an archetype of his fellow countrymen, and has carefully assembled a private team of profiteers from across the globe to race the PCs to the Find of the Century.
Collectively, this group of specialists is known as Her Majestrix's Expeditionary, and includes Xaven, a hardcore, wisecracking tomb raider who has spent so much time outwitting the traps of the dead he's begun to lose his grip on reality, Scepter, a brooding ex-Pathfinder sharpshooter who sports a bandolier of custom-crafted magic wands and employs a specially built wand-rifle, Hrokon, a half-orc shock trooper, and Lonicera, a drop-dead gorgeous liar and master of the long con. Together, they are prepared to give the PCs as much as they can handle and more as the two groups pursue the prize that awaits them in J1: Entombed with the Pharaohs.
So, we're not going to have time to send out detailed feedback to everyone who failed to make it to the second round of the Open Call for W3: Flight of the Red Raven. But I know that people want to know what they did wrong, or how they can improve for the future, for the next open call or for other endeavors. With that in mind, here are the five most common mistakes people made that caused me to reject the submission.
1. Novel-writing. An adventure is about the PCs. People who had experience submitting to Dungeon had an advantage here, as it's something I've been saying for years. No matter how fascinating your backstory is, no matter how many tangled plotlines you have between complex NPCs, in the end, the most important thing I want to learn from your proposal is: what happens to the PCs during this adventure? That is what most of the adventure will be about, it's the only thing the players really care about, and it's the basic quality upon which all adventures are ultimately judged. For that reason, the most important questions were: "What are the two obstacles?" "What does the final encounter look like?" and "What is the new monster?" The "Who took the object and why?" question, while important, was probably the least interesting question from my point of view. If you spent over half your proposal answering this question, that's bad.
2. Details, details. The module failed to meet the minimum standards for either: following instructions, writing quality, or some other "mundane" detail. Several of the queries I read did not make any sense. Several more were rife with grammatical errors, spelling errors, or other fundamental problems. And there were a few that were written almost entirely in passive voice. Any of these things really hurt your chances. Also, I'll throw one more mistake in this category. Several people based their adventure around monsters, classes, or concepts that are Wizards of the Coast's IP. If your main villain was a hexblade, or your most important monster was a nerra, your proposal didn't get far.
3. Been there, done that. The module simply wasn't very creative. This is a hard one to quantify, and subject somewhat to individual taste, but nevertheless, if your plot was straightforward, your challenges predicable, your "moral quandary" at the end clichéd, and your villain pulled straight from a movie or book, then we weren't that interested. The best proposals, the ones that got passed through to the next round, all contained at least one element that provoked some kind of emotional response from the editors. Whether we thought it was funny, tragic, romantic, creepy, exciting, or mysterious, the important thing was that we got involved in the story. That's probably the hardest thing to pull off with any proposal, but its also the most important. If you can draw us into your adventure, we are going to want to print it.
4. Overly ambitious. The proposal was inappropriate for the level. There are two ways this could happen. First of all, if your proposal involved monsters or challenges that were clearly beyond what 4th-level characters could handle, it was an easy pass, since it demonstrated that you didn't really know how the CR system works. But there was another way you could trip up here too. 4th-level characters are not equipped to save the world. If your plotline involved ancient demons emerging from the Abyss to destroy the planet, or a mad lich plotting to undo creation, you missed the point, even if the monsters themselves were the right CR. At 4th level, the PCs are still just beginning their careers, if they are facing epic forces and saving the world now, what will they be doing at level 12? That's not to say that the PCs shouldn't be doing important things, but saving the world is not in the cards, at least not yet.
5. Breaking the toys. The adventure created or modified a large amount of campaign setting continuity. This is a simple matter of practicality. We don't want to blow up cities or nations, destroy mountains, or make major shifts in the campaign setting in the context of these modules. Especially when the writer doesn't have a lot of history working with us.
I hope that gives you guys something to go on for the next time around. In closing, I just want to thank you all for submitting. There were lots of great ideas, and it was difficult, in the end, to narrow it down to the right number. This won't be the last open call we do, and I hope to see many of you again for the next time around.
The results for Round 1 of the GameMastery Module Open Call are in. It may have taken a marathon meeting, about half a dozen cans of Diet Dr. Pepper, and a host of minis to play with while we chatted... but it's finally done. In the end, we couldn't settle on 10 candidates as initially promised, and instead decided to go with 12! Those who advanced will have a little more than two weeks to submit a full outline, including sample encounters and monsters.
All of the acceptance and rejection emails have now been sent out, so you might want to go check you inbox right about now. Congratulations to those who got accepted. For those of you who did not make the cut, do not despair: we're combing through the entries to see if any of the monsters might make suitable entries into the Pathfinder bestiary section.
We got a lot of really great entries, and trimming them down was not an easy task. There were a large number of proposals that probably would have made for a great module, but unfortunately cuts had to be made. So keep an eye out for future writing opportunities, for both the GameMastery Modules and Pathfinder alike. Next time, we might pick you!
We've received quite a few questions about the GameMastery Treasure Chest over the past several weeks and I thought I would take a moment to give you the skinny on this box full of goodness.
This box gives you a wide assortment of our most popular GameMastery products, including an original adventure (TC1: Into the Haunted Forest) that ties together all the products into one "deluxe" game experience. Here's what the box contains.
Now, if you happen to own a bunch of these products, but still want the module, no worries. TC1: Into the Haunted Forest will be available separately for just $5 (note that this module is not part of the subscription deal, so if you want it, you will need to order it as normal). As for the module itself, you do not need these products to run the adventure, but they do include all the maps and treasure cards used in the adventure. (Incidentally: TC stands for "Treasure Chest," in case you're wondering.)
Hope that clears things up, but if you have any further questions, feel free to post them to our messageboards.
The first round of the GameMastery Module Open Call closed yesterday at noon, and let me tell you, there was quite a rush there at the end. Can an email program smoke? I think mine did a little yesterday.
All told, we received 168 entries over the course of nine days, with most of them coming within the final 48 hours. Following the closing of the contest, I have gone through and stripped the names from files, assigning them all a number. After printing them and sorting them into three even stacks, Mike McArtor, Jeremy Walker, and I have dug in, reading all about wondrous dragon eggs, stolen town icons, missing children, and a veritable swarm of red ravens.
Of interest to me (and perhaps only to me), the shortest entry clocked in at just 245 words while the longest came in at 1,405. The word count limit only caught 7 proposals, but other problems (such as incorrect format or lack of name) nabbed another 11, bringing the final total down to an even 150.
Mike, Jeremy, and I are all feverishly looking through our stacks of 50, picking out what we feel are the best to bring to a contest meeting later this week, where we will narrow down the search to ten finalists. For those of you who are anxiously waiting, expect word late this week or early next. Feel free to send bribes, but since this is a blind review, I am not sure it will help you much.
While seeing folks play in our campaign world is of course the biggest compliment we can receive, here at Paizo, we understand that many people have been playing in alternative game worlds for a long time, and simply aren't interested in switching over. As a result, we're always excited when we hear about someone getting jazzed enough about our products to mine out ideas or convert them over to their favorite setting.
Thus it was with great enthusiasm that we stumbled across this article over at the fan site Dragonlance Nexus, all about converting the kobolds introduced in D1: Crown of the Kobold King for use in your Dragonlance game. If you're a Dragonlance fan—and there are certainly a few of them around here—hit it up and check out the author's thoughts on the kobolds' religion, subraces, and more.
And if there's something else from the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting that you've been using in your Dragonlance game... why not submit it to the Nexus and spread the wealth?
In his years of studying magical art, the sinister Imron Gauthfallow has collected a number of unique pieces from across the continent. But when he looted a spectacular piece from the abandoned mansion of a dead elven scholar, he got more than he bargained for. When he unveiled the painting in his own gallery, he unwittingly released a shadowy lurker.
These undead spirits of darkness were once the celebrated elven artisans. Betrayed by their own pride, ages ago they were tricked by the fey of the First World and bound away into shadow. Twisted by their hatred and loneliness, they were transformed into stunted, shadowy versions of their former selves. In time they discovered portals back to the real world. Ironically, these "portals" were in fact the paintings they had crafted so many centuries before, collected in galleries all across Golarion. Obsessed with their lost lives, the shadowy lurkers found their own works, and jealously guarded them from being seen by lesser beings. Over time, the shadowy lurkers have learned to manipulate the minds of people in the same way they used to play with paint and brush. Masters of light and illusion, they can be a deadly trap for the unsuspecting art enthusiast.
Paizo has a long-standing tradition of bringing new authors into the gaming industry. We hope to continue that tradition with the GameMastery Module Open Call. With the Open Call, we're giving you your chance to join our stable of experienced authors who bring Pathfinder and the GameMastery Modules to life. All you need to do is download the guidelines here (40 KB zip PDF), give them a read, and warm up your keyboard. The guidelines document includes a brief synopsis of the adventure we're looking for, rules on how to send a query, and an overview of the Open Call process. One skilled author will be chosen to write W3: Flight of the Red Raven, due to come out next year.
This is your chance to write for us. Let's see what you've got.
The idea of paintings coming to life is certainly not new. It's been excellent fodder for horror movies for years. It's surprising, therefore, that not much has been done with the concept in classic fantasy. The upcoming edition in our GameMastery Modules line tries to fill in that gap somewhat by bringing you Imron Gauthfallow and his Gallery of Evil.
Some of Imron's most useful discoveries in his quest for revenge are the painted creations. These creatures are crafted from nothing more than paint and imagination. Crafted as facsimiles of real creatures, they posses the mindless obedience and indomitable nature of automations. Perhaps their most frightening quality, however, is that a painted creation can replicate almost any creature and, to the unobservant, can easily be mistaken for the real thing.
With Seven Swords of Sin now out the door and arriving in mailboxes everywhere, it's time to start looking at September's new GameMastery Module. This month we are releasing U1: Gallery of Evil. This module is our first urban adventure (hence the U code), so we thought we would start out proper by exploring one section of Golarion's most important city: Absalom. This vast metropolis sits on the isle of Kortos in the great Inner Sea, making it of vital importance to the region.
Gallery of Evil specifically focuses on the Ivy District, known as being home to many of the city's most influential artists and craftsmen. It's only natural, then, that the adventure focuses on the darker side of art, with one crazed master turning his works loose on his unsuspecting critics. Over the next few weeks, we will explore some of this module with a bit more depth, but for now, here's one of our favorite art pieces and the teaser text from the back of the module.
Art for Murder's Sake
The great city of Absalom is known as a center for trade, education, and art. Inside the Ivy District reside dozens of famous artists, but one has the talent to bring his paintings to life and uses paint to conjure terrible monsters bent on destruction. Can the player characters stop the mad painter before he perfects his art?
Gallery of Evil is an urban adventure for 8th-level characters, compatible with the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. This adventure includes details on the metropolis of Absalom's Ivy District, as well as the home of the diabolical artist and his twisted works. The PCs must track down the deadly paintings and discover the true identity of the artist behind it all.
This adventure is the first to feature information on the metropolis of Absalom, one of the largest cities in the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting.
Gen Con was a great show for Paizo, as usual, but this year had a new addition to our booth presence. It all started with a little contest around the office to determine who could design the most deadly dungeon chamber. While this idea was all well and good, we would need some "test" subjects to run through our gauntlet of pain, and thus the idea of running a delve at Gen Con was born.
Using the fabulous Master Maze 3D dungeon terrain pieces produced by Dwarven Forge, along with our Critical Hit Deck, Combat Pad, and item cards, we set out to murder as many unsuspecting visitors to our corner of the booth, and murder we did. Of course, we also gave out some great prizes to those who managed to succeed, including free production, discounts at the booth, and even some real swords.
Every unfortunate soul who met his end in the depths of Tirana's death trap became a red dot on our oversized delve maps, as a warning to others. Of course, that didn't seem to help much, as by the end of the show there were 255 red dots on the maps. Considering that we ran roughly 1000 players through the delve, a 1-in-4 death rate is pretty respectable (mental note: make next year deadlier). Of course, part of the fun was figuring out whose rooms caused the most deaths. Phil Lacefield's rooms certainly had the most kills as a whole, but no individual room had more kills than Publisher Erik Mona's doom-filled Vrock chamber. Congrats to Erik for having the least compassion toward poor player characters.
If you missed out on the delve, never fear. Many of its chambers were used as inspiration for GameMastery Module D2: Seven Swords of Sin, which should be hitting your store shelves any day now.
If there's anything that the other editors and I butt heads about around here, it's the amount of science that should be present in our fantasy—or rather, the amount of science fiction. I make no bones about the fact that I'm a huge sci-fi fan, and if given my druthers I'll almost always err on the side of too much rather than too little. Which means that, given the overall traditional RPG fantasy feel of our campaign setting, it usually falls to Jacobs, Wes, or someone similar to rein me back. (For instance, no matter how much I lobbied, neither of them would budge and allow me to put a magical particle accelerator or space elevator in the Varisia backdrop... which is perhaps for the best.)
In D2: Seven Swords of Sin, the setting of a research facility abandoned by the mysterious Council of Truth allowed me ample opportunity to blend fantasy and science to my own peculiar tastes. The generator room (magic-powered and water-cooled!), the recycling unit (where corpses turn into valuable potions!), the incinerator (get rid of those undesirables!), and the turbines that supply the dungeon with air all scratched an itch that rarely gets addressed in a lot of fantasy settings. By far the most sci-fi element, however, was one of the new monsters: nanites (which were promptly renamed the construct swarm by the Powers That Be).
Few current trends in science capture my imagination more than nanotechnology. Just reading about all the advances in medicine and manufacturing that are coming about as we speak due to tiny, autonomous robots makes me giggle and start expounding loudly on how We Live In The Future (which, as Jacobs will tell you, happens on a regular basis). And while writing D2 I got to thinking: most of the reason we've taken so long to get where we are with nanotech is due to manufacturing limitations. But with magic, construct technology is already in place, and size is changeable at a whim. It seemed to me like a natural choice. And if it allowed me to put in a hermetically sealed "clean room" and a man transformed by a horrible, intelligent swarm that prefers to fight its battles in your bloodstream... well, more's the better. So, fully prepared to have to rewrite that room, I threw it in.
And, to my great surprise, it stayed. For that, I give many thanks to the GameMastery team. May they not regret their decision.
Now just wait until we start talking about Golarion's moon....
We'll have the scores for Paizo's Deadliest GenCon Delve Room contest up soon, but it's taking us some time to tabulate all the character deaths... it seems the majority of valiant PCs went down like field mice under a rotary mower. Until then, here's the first of several YouTube videos people took of fan favorite author and messageboard regular Nick Logue introducing delve players to his unique (and decidedly kinesthetic) brand of game mastering.
We're all back from Gen Con, and aside from the launch of Pathfinder and our new Planet Stories novel line, the hot news at the show was the announcement of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, from Wizards of the Coast. Messageboards across the internet, from paizo.com to EN World and Wizards of the Coast's own site, are abuzz with discussion of what was revealed at the show, what changes are in store for our favorite game, and what the future may hold.
Naturally, lots of folks want to know what the announcement means for Pathfinder and for our line of monthly GameMastery Modules.
Right now, the answer is this: It's too soon to tell.
No one at Paizo has seen a copy of the new rules yet, nor have we seen a draft of the Open Game License for it (yes, there will be one). We have plenty of reasons to believe that the new game will include lots of improvements over the current system, and that the new OGL will, if anything, be even more permissive than the one for 3.0 and 3.5.
Ever since the announcement of the end of Dragon and Dungeon magazines, we've been careful to say that Wizards of the Coast and Paizo are still on good terms, that we're still communicating with one another, and that we hope to work together in the future. This is not just so much blown smoke. The guys at Wizards have been very forthcoming with information on the new edition, and we look forward to learning even more in the weeks and months to come. I am personally optimistic that this will, for the most part, be a welcome change at my gaming table.
But it's way too early to say what Paizo will be doing about 4th edition. Please give us some time to take a look at the new rules, to take a look at the new OGL, and make an informed decision. We promise we'll let you know what we're planning just as soon as we figure it out ourselves.
For the time being, both the Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Paths will be released as announced for the 3.5 rules set, as will all GameMastery Modules at least up until May of 2008, which is when Wizards will release the 4th edition Player's Handbook.
All of our announced products for the first quarter of 2008 are "rules-light" and should not be adversely affected by the change in edition whether we convert or not. We will be making no significant changes to the announced product schedule.
I'm aware that many Paizo customers will not be converting to 4e. Honestly, before I heard some of the things I heard at Gen Con, I wasn't sure I wanted to convert either. So I sympathize.
Pathfinder currently plans to support officially sanctioned conversions for Castles & Crusades and True20, so assuming we do convert, I suspect it is very likely that we (or some affiliated partner) will provide 3.5 conversion guidelines.
Or we might stick with 3.5. We haven't seen the rules yet, and can't make the decision until we do.
One thing I can say for sure: As a gamer I would be a lot happier with a game that doesn't require two hours of prep-time for four hours of play. I have heard that the new system addresses this problem, and that strikes me as excellent.
If Wizards of the Coast can streamline the rules without robbing the game of its variety and complexity, I will be very impressed.
Now that D2: Seven Swords of Sin is starting to make it out into people's hands, I'd like to talk a little bit about my favorite part of writing it: designing the city of Kaer Maga.
Going into the project, there were two different ideas for where the adventure should be set. For me, it seemed to call for an urban setting, a crazy city where anything went and the law was sketchy at best. Publisher Erik Mona, however, was eager for Varisia to have an iconic castle, a massive dungeon complex that we could return to again and again as we saw fit. The solution? Push the two together and build a city inside a castle—an enormous Thassilonian ruin of unknown function, to be exact. At this point Erik and the rest of the GameMastery team gave me the go-ahead and, armed with the working title "Dark Market," I sat down to write.
As anyone who's played in one of my adventures can probably tell you, I like to play with morality. To me, the interesting thing about evil is that it's so rarely self-identified as such. One of my biggest peeves in adventures, fiction, or film is what we around the office refer to as "moustache-twirling"—villains that are evil simply because they enjoy being evil. (Shortly after that comes my disdain for boring ol' "insanity" as a villain's motive.) In real life, things are usually much more gray and fuzzy—no evil deed exists in a vacuum, and even the most "evil" people I can think of tend to have reasons why their actions make sense in their own minds.
This aesthetic was at the front of my mind when writing about Kaer Maga. To me, all big cities are by definition neutral—get enough people together, they'll balance each other out. In Kaer Maga's case, this neutrality is the result of a free market taken to the extreme, an anarchist, libertarian utopia where people are left to sink or swim entirely through their own machinations. While many would look at the gritty streets, where every shameful vice is yours for the purchasing, and call it evil, I'd point out that Kaer Maga is also the freest of the free cities of Varisia. In rooting the city's "evil" in an ideal many of us share, I hoped to make the scene feel a little more familiar and organic.
Along with the questionable morality, it was important to me that Kaer Maga be a monstrous city, a place where we could get a taste of the alien delights that Golarion has to offer and remind the folks who inhabit Varisia that there's far more beyond the mountains than they might imagine. For those purposes, a city of refugees and squatters seemed perfectly poised to capture the sort of cultural mish-mash that I love in places like Star Wars' Mos Eisley or China Miéville's New Crobuzon. Knowing that I wouldn't have space in a 32-page adventure to truly detail many of the residents, I took a page from some of my favorite sci-fi and fantasy authors and tossed in a bunch of allusions and off-hand references with only the barest explanations. Wormfolk? Bloated Ones? Sweettalkers? When I first wrote those names, at 3:00am in a darkened room, my bleary brain didn't know any more than their names. As soon as I went back and read them, however, my imagination went into overdrive trying to think up what they could be... which is exactly what I hope happens to everyone else. While I couldn't resist from detailing some of them in the Pathfinder Journal for The Hook Mountain Massacre, I promise I'll try to leave at least a few of them alone.
If you're a regular reader of this blog, you likely already know about Paizo's delve event at this year's GenCon, in which convention attendees will have the chance to run through part of a deadly, trap-filled dungeon, potentially winning fabulous prizes. You also probably know that the delve is closely related to the new GameMastery Module we'll be releasing, D2: Seven Swords of Sin. But what most people don't know is exactly how one became the other...
The Paizo delve was written as part of an informal internal contest to see who could write the deadliest, most creative dungeon rooms for a set map within a certain EL range. Each of the interested staff members (after deciding the pecking order by rolling initiative, of course) took turns choosing until all of the chambers were parceled out, then took their best shots. The resulting mishmash of horror was then edited, judged highly entertaining, and pronounced ready to be Paizo's first GenCon delve.
But somewhere in the early stages of the project, an idea began to form. Suppose someone had a really good time with the delve, and wanted to take it home to their own party? What if we could have an adventure module there at the show that incorporated most of the delve, plus a bunch of extra material? The decision was made, and I was tapped to give form and structure to our cruel meat grinder of a dungeon.
It wasn't always easy. A delve, for instance, needs only the barest plot—when each party's only playing for a few minutes, it's hard to get much roleplaying in. For a writer like me who is, admittedly, more of a story fan than an out-and-out brawler, it was an interesting challenge. Where in our world, for instance, could adventurers reasonably expect to find such a varied an eclectic collection of rooms? The answer, as it turns out, is the anarchic squatter's paradise of Kaer Maga, a cliff-top city housed inside the walls of an enormous Thassilonian artifact. Possibly the freest of Varisia's fiercely independent cities (if the most morally questionable), the background material on Kaer Maga remains my favorite part of this module—so much so that we return to it in the third installment of the Pathfinder's Journal. But more on that next week.
Even with a location, however, we still needed a story capable of tying fiendish dinosaur-riding goblins to eladrin warriors and vampire bladepriests. Once we figured out that Tirana was trying to combine the weapons of the Runelords' ancient champions for her own personal gain, it seemed to me that the natural setting for such a bold experiment would be in a secret, abandoned research facility. Armed with that knowledge, the next step was to trim off the rooms that just didn't fit and retool the ones to make them work together as a unit. Following that came the writing of the new rooms—because you didn't think we'd just repackage the delve, did you? No, if you get a chance to go to GenCon and see the massive tables covered with three-dimensional dungeon terrain, be sure to keep in mind that all of those rooms amount to about half of the actual adventure. For many of the extra chambers, I enjoyed playing up the research facility aspect, complete with incinerators, recycling units, turbines for proper air circulation, and laboratories with strange new monsters run amuck. And, of course, no module set in a city is complete without at least one gang turf war.
All told, writing D2 was a unique experience, and I hope that those of you who read through it have as much fun as I did. Next week I'll be back with a bit more information about Kaer Maga.
GameMastery Module W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale has arrived in our warehouse and is about to ship to subscribers (although if you sign up now, you can still get the module and a free PDF). Although I've chatted about fey before, now is as good time to look at the fey in this module with some detail. If you plan on playing this module be forewarned—spoilers lurk below.
Here are some facts about the Roseblood Sprites, presented as a Knowledge (nature) skill check.
DC
Information
13
Roseblood Sprites are evil fey that live in an area known as Bloodsworn Vale. They are a menace to travelers and workmen alike, and even to adventurers if encountered in a large group (known as a bushel).
18
These fey have the ability to transform into ordinary rose bushes, and have a penchant for using the beautifully thorny plants in their armor and weapons.
23
Roseblood Sprites have a number of magical abilities involving trickery, and can pass through wooded areas with ease.
28
Roseblood Sprites who congregate in large groups are often led by a king who is far more powerful than his kin, with the ability to awaken rosebushes and turn them into sprites.
Beyond this basic information, the fey living in Bloodsworn Vale have another nasty habit. As of late, their victims have been found mutilated, missing one or both of their ears. Rumors hold that this is some sort of trophy gathering by the malicious sprites, but some say that something far more sinister is afoot.
Well, that's all for Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale. If you've not checked out this module, stop by your local game store, visit our booth at GenCon, or take a look through some of the other posts on this blog. Next week, we'll start "delving" into D2: Seven Swords of Sin.
First things first—if you haven't already checked it out, D0: Hollow's Last Hope is now available as a free PDF download right here. What are you waiting for? It's free!
Ahem. We now return you to the topic at hand: module letter designations.
Well, no, actually. D2 is completely unrelated to D0 and D1. On the other hand, E1 is set in Falcon's Hollow, the settlement that serves as the starting point of D0 and D1. Confused yet? Let us help sort out things a bit.
These alphanumeric designators hearken back to the old way of numbering modules from the earliest days of RPGs. With a few exceptions (the A, D, G, and Q series, for example) the older module lines used their alphanumeric designators to denote adventures of a similar nature that aren't related. Don't think of any series designator we've announced so far as being a set of sequels you can run one after another. Consider each adventure separately unless it specifically calls itself a sequel to an earlier adventure. The designator is just there to tell you what kind of adventure to expect, with the number telling you the order in which we published it.
What, then, do the designators mean?
D is for Dungeon. These adventures take place primarily in a dungeon, whether that means an underground complex or some other kind of self-contained area for PCs to explore.
E is for Event. These adventures focus on some kind of event you can place anywhere you want, such a jousting tournament, a royal wedding, or (as in the example of E1) a carnival. Although all E adventures will be set somewhere in our campaign setting, they are the easiest to place anywhere you want or need them.
J is for Journey. These adventures either focus on a journey to some exotic locale or else deal with what you find once you get to such an interesting place. (J1 takes place in Osirion, the Egypt analog of Golarion.)
U is for Urban. These adventures take place in cities and focus on the kinds of adventures you can only have when surrounded by thousands of other people. (U1 occurs in a wealthy district of Absalom, one of the largest cities on Golarion.)
W is for Wilderness. These adventures occur in the wild places of the world. You might have a hint of civilization in a W adventure, but the main focus is on the untamed areas. (PCs in W1 attempt to civilize Bloodsworn Vale.)
C is for Cookie. That's good enough for me.
At some point in the future we will undoubtedly release modules that belong together in a series, at which point we'll likely give them their own designators. There have been whispers of an M series, for example, wherein Erik Mona creates several linked adventures set on our southern continent. And, of course, sequels to previous adventures in a series might occasionally crop up. We'll make sure to make that very clear when it happens.
With GameMastery Module W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale just about to ship out to subscribers, it's time to introduce your PCs to their new home: Fort Thorn. This small community is the only bastion of civilization in the Vale and, as such, makes for the most likely home base for explorers. The following are descriptions of a few key places:
A3. Keep
Aside from the shrine, Fort Thorn's keep is the only other stone building in town. This massive two-story structure is home to Sir Gyrad Tolgrith (NG male human fighter 4/ranger 2) and all of his men. The first floor of the structure contains the meeting hall, armory, mess hall, kitchen, and storage rooms. The second floor contains a smaller, private meeting hall, the barracks, the planning room, and Sir Tolgrith's private quarters.
Fort Thorn's current staff includes 40 soldiers (LG male human warrior 2), 4 scouts (NG male human ranger 2), 2 sergeants (LG male human fighter 4), and Sir Tolgrith.
A6. The Boar's Bones
Shortly after settling the fort, the soldiers faced their first crisis when the food caravan was late and their supplies ran low. Sir Tolgrith sent out his scouts to forage and hunt, but after three days they had not found much. On the fourth day they scored big, dragging the carcass of an enormous dire boar back into camp at the same time the supply caravan finally arrived. During the evening's festivities, the boar was picked clean and the fort's cook, Orrend, kept the bones.
A month later, Orrend (CG male halfling expert 3) opened up the Boar's Bones, a small inn and tavern, to serve the off-duty soldiers, workers, and visitors who happened to stop by. The bones were carefully reconstructed with wire and wood, and the now-intact dire boar skeleton sits in the middle of the tavern with a pouch hanging from its tusks. Orrend insists that any tips given to the boar are sent to its grieving kin.
The food at the Boar's Bones is of good quality (4 sp per meal), combining local ingredients with caravan supplies. Orrend has yet to perfect his rose petal ale, so whenever he has a new batch ready, all tankards of it are half price (2 cp). Rooms at the Boar's Bones are simple, with only a single cot, washbasin, and cupboard apiece, but clean and free of vermin (1 gp per night).
A8. Shrine to Erastil
Every morning, the lone bell of this stone shrine tolls twice to start the prayer service. The shrine is dedicated to Erastil (LG god of hunting, trade, farming, and family), also known as "Old Deadeye." The shrine's lone cleric, Father Apar (LG male human cleric 5), tends to the spiritual needs of the community, including healing and other minor spellcasting. Father Apar offers these services for free to the soldiers, but all others must pay the usual price. Father Apar also has a number of divine potions and scrolls for sale, but none worth more than 300 gp.
Father Apar's morning sermons are usually quite calm affairs, with the elderly cleric reading from holy scriptures and addressing current concerns. Sir Tolgrith makes sure to attend twice per week, but never on a regular schedule. After the morning prayers, Father Apar walks around town, talking to the locals about their problems or tending to the sick. Once per week, after the day's labor is over, Father Apar invites all to an archery challenge in front of the fort. To the winner he gifts a potion of his own creation (usually cure light wounds).
There are, of course, many more places to visit in Fort Thorn, but I'll leave those secrets for you to discover.
Those are the rewards promised to those who conquer the Bloodsworn Vale. In just a few weeks, you might be able to claim those prizes.
Since we are getting pretty close to the release of this module, we realized we have yet to show off a map of this large, untamed wilderness. To avoid spoilers, the map is untagged (and might just make for a good player handout, if you're thinking of downloading it). That said, there are a couple of points of interest on the map that bear some explanation.
Fort Thorn: As the only settlement on the map, Fort Thorn (the small dot near the center) is of vital importance to the region. Although its commander, Sir Tolgrith, hopes one day to make it self-sufficient, it currently depends upon a steady stream of caravans for provisions and other basic supplies.
The fort is a walled community surrounded by a 20-foot-tall palisade of tree trunks, upended and carved to points. Beyond this security there is nothing but wilderness. Tall trees and endless thickets of wild rose bushes cover much of the surrounding terrain. There are no farms or outlying buildings affiliated with the fort—any who dwell outside its walls are hermits, monsters, or worse.
The Path: This trail is being cut through the vale to establish a vital trade route with Varisia's neighbors. It is currently under construction and time is running out to meet the king's deadline.
The Petal and Coldrun Rivers: These two slow-moving rivers provide fresh water to those in the region, although the Petal (which runs past Fort Thorn) has a nasty tendency to foul every few weeks, causing sickness in those who drink from it at those times.
Mist Lake: The calm waters of this lake are perpetually shrouded in mist that moves overland to cover the nearby swamps. The residents of Fort Thorn avoid this area, as they say it is haunted.
There is, of course, much more to explore in the vast reaches of the vale, but to learn about it you just might have to journey there yourself.
In celebration of the release of the free PDF of GameMastery Module D0: Hollow's Last Hope, the start of our Module Subscription Service, and the eminent release of D1: Crown of the Kobold King, we thought it was high time that we gave you some information about the small town featured in both modules: Falcon's Hollow. For more information, make sure to check out the appendix in Crown of the Kobold King.
Falcon's Hollow makes an excellent base of operations for a party of PCs seeking adventure in Darkmoon Vale and the dungeons beneath Droskar's Crag. In addition, the schemes of crooked politicians, lumber tycoons, and flesh-peddling crime bosses in Falcon's Hollow offer a breadth of opportunities for conflict and action. The party may become embroiled in local politics as this fledgling settlement grows and factions arise who seek a formal government in hopes of throwing off the crushing yoke of the Lumber Consortium. Additionally, the party may become involved in religious struggles between various sects devoted to all manner of strange deities, some merely against the grain of common theocracy, others downright evil and bent on corrupting the souls of the simple folk who call the Hollow home. Finally, crime is one of the largest sources of revenue in town, and gangs of organized thugs engage in every illicit activity imaginable. Good heroes residing in Falcon's Hollow won't go long without rubbing these syndicates the wrong way, and the PCs may be swept up in street wars with local criminals before they even have the chance to venture into the Vale and seek their fortunes.
Places of Note:
Church of Iomedae: With all the downtrodden to preach to in Falcon's Hollow, missionaries of Iomedae, Goddess of Valor and Justice, have established a foothold in town. Many other religious sects who fled to the Hollow to escape the Church of Light's persecution resent Iomedae's followers, and tensions run high between congregations, often resulting in less-than-holy brawls on the muddy thoroughfares of Worship Way.
Goose'n'Gander: The local general store in Falcon's Hollow is run by the only gnome resident, named Brickasnurd Hildrinsocks, who sells everything from standard amenities such as grain, lamp oil, ink, and mining supplies to such rare oddities as alchemist's fire, antitoxin, a fat petrified pseudo-dragon, and stuffed nixies (all the rage this season).
Hollow Tribunal: This is where the diminutive halfling Magistrate Vamros Harg dispenses merchant licenses, stamps mining and lumber claims, and passes judgment on criminal and civil cases. Most Falconers enjoy the irony of the Hollow Tribunal's name, since the justice meted out there is rarely equitable. The fact that Harg is firmly in Gavel Thuldrin's pocket is well known, but rarely uttered in public by those who value their lives.
The Sitting Duck: Located a little too close to the town palisade for many folks' comfort, the Duck is the local hotspot for adventurers, explorers, and other rapscallions looking for adventure. The tavern serves a potent local brew of fermented darkwood leaf that can floor an ogre in a few tankards. Raucous games of "knivesies" and "mig-a-mug-tug," two dangerous local recreational activities, both with a high rate of maiming injury, often rage late into the night. Many adventurers share tales of Darkmoon Vale and information on Droskar's Crag, and other surrounding locations can be gleaned here for the price of a mug of ale.
Tomorrow, June 23rd, is the first annual Free RPG Day, where you can stop by your local game store and pick up a free product. As mentioned in the post from April 24th, you can pick up the very first GameMastery Module, D0: Hollow's Last Hope tomorrow as part of this exciting event.
Hollow's Last Hope is a prequel to D1: Crown of the Kobold King and covers much of the lead-up to that adventure, taking brand-new 1st-level characters up to 2nd level and getting them ready for the challenges the kobold king has in store. The adventure also features a plot that allows it to be run as a stand-alone event. Here is some of the text from the back cover:
The Town of Falcon's Hollow Needs a Miracle The plague has come to the town of Falcon's Hollow, and not even the town's priest can abate its wretched course. With the coughs of the sick and the wails of the dying echoing through town, the local herbalist uncovers a cure, but she needs some brave heroes to retrieve the ingredients. Finding the cure means risking the dangerous Darkmoon Vale, infiltrating a witch's haunted hut, and delving the ruins of an abandoned dwarven monastery.
Due to its smaller size, Hollow's Last Hope does not include pregenerated characters. We wanted to make sure you could run the adventure as part of Free RPG Day festivities, though, so to help on that end, we've put together four ready-to-play PCs. You can download a PDF of these PCs right here.
To find a game store near you that is sponsoring the event, go to freeRPGday.com. If you miss out on Free RPG Day, but still want to get your hands on the module, you can order a physical copy through our store (for a small fee) or you can download it as a free pdf starting Monday.
Starting today, you can sign up for an ongoing subscription and ensure that you don't miss out on a single sneaky kobold king, forgotten vale, or sinful sword. Sign up now and once D1: Crown of the Kobold King releases, it will be shipped to your door and you'll be able to download a PDF of the adventure (an $8.99 value) for free. The subscription continues with W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale next month, and D2: Seven Swords of Sin in August. Each module includes a free PDF and your choice of shipping options.
Now for a couple of conditions. The ongoing module subscriptions are at the normal cover price, but soon you will be able to combine shipping with your Pathfinder subscription to save a few bucks. You will even be able to choose which one waits each month until the other is ready to ship. If you want your Pathfinder right away, it will ship with the previous month's module, or you can choose the opposite. Look for these options in the coming weeks (although you can sign up now and make your choices later). Note that this subscription does not include D0: Hollow's Last Hope due to extremely limited supply (although you can score a copy at Free RPG Day on June 23rd, check out www.freeRPGday.com for further details).
We want to send 32-pages of evil to your mailbox every month. All you have to do is ask.
Say what you will about their morality, the rulers of ancient Thassilon knew how to govern. Knowing the horror that a full-scale duel between them would unleash, the Runelords settled on an elegant means of solving disputes. Each of the seven wizards created a unique blade imbued with the barest shadow of his might, and whenever two disagreed, each would bestow his blade upon a chosen champion, whose job it was to decide the matter in bloody arena combat. To be a champion for one of the Runelords was the greatest honor a warrior could aspire to... though generally a short-lived one.
While most of the great Thassilonian wonders were shattered or lost in the empire's fall, there are those who whisper that the swords themselves remain, hidden and awaiting hands to wield them. To the Thassilonians, they were known as the Alara'hai, the Seven Blades of Conviction. Given the Runelords' reputation, however, most scholars today know them by a different name. —Pathfinder Chronicles
A while back, it was decided that Paizo would run a delve at this year's GenCon—an enormous three-dimensional dungeon that would allow participants to walk up to the booth and play 15 minutes of D&D for free, battling an array of cruel traps and monsters and collecting keys that could potentially win them real-world treasure (the exact nature of which I'm not allowed to reveal yet, but trust me—it's some quality loot). In keeping with the spirit of things, we decided to make the creation of the delve into something of a game itself—each interested member of the Paizo staff was assigned a few rooms and an EL range and told to fill it with unique traps and monsters, with the goal being to see whose room could kill the most players at the convention. People went to work with gusto, and soon the delve was a bizarre menagerie of deadly encounters, each stranger than the last. But as the idea germinated, we came to realize that this delve was too cool to be a one-shot deal—there had to be a published product. We could take the established rooms, add enough new dungeon encounters and plot elements to double its size, and weave a storyline that tied it all together. Everyone agreed that it was a good idea, and soon the adventure had a vague concept, a title, and a slot on the release schedule. Time went by, and the process rolled onward without issue. Then one day in a product meeting, someone asked who was going to be revising the rooms and writing all the extra content.
"Oh," said GameMastery Brand Manager Jason Bulmahn. "Sutter is."
I was drinking at the time, and promptly coughed tea into my sinuses. "What?" I squeaked.
"Surprise!" Bulmahn said. "I thought it would be more fun to tell you this way. You'll have a month to write it. Get to work."
Thus was born GameMastery Module D2: Seven Swords of Sin. In the weeks that followed, we faced several unique challenges in developing this adventure—things like finding a narrative that made sense of encounters like fiendish goblins riding dinosaurs and living cauldrons spewing boiling magma, or coordinating the numerous tie-ins with the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path—but at the end of the day I'm really happy with how the adventure turned out. In Swords, PCs discover that a powerful sorceress named Tirana has stolen numerous powerful magical weapons dating back to the days of ancient Thassilon, and are contracted by the Church of Abadar to recover them before she figures out how to unlock their full power. To do so, the PCs track the thief back to Kaer Maga, an anarchic outlaw city built entirely inside the ruins of a great Thassilonian structure (and my favorite part of the module, but more on that in later posts). Once there, they have to locate Tirana's headquarters and descend into an abandoned research facility filled with traps and monstrous guardians, finally coming face-to-face with the wizard herself, who wields the legendary Sword of Lust.
With several new monsters and magic items, a squatter metropolis on a cliff, a deadly dungeon with an old-school, Tomb of Horrors feel, and pages of art as gorgeous as the cover shown above, I'm hoping this module will have something for everyone.
Since we have sent a number of modules out to the printer, we recently came to the realization that it was high time to show off the new stat block. Mind you, there are a lot of things you are going to find familiar, but some things are brand new. When it came time to start working on Pathfinder and the GameMastery Modules, we took that opportunity to improve and tinker, while still trying to retain the easy-to-use format everyone has come to know and love.
Specifically, we tried to streamline the information a bit, so that you can more easily get at what you need. For example, AC, hit points, and saves now come first in the defensive section. All other abilities (such as immunities, resistances, and so on) get grouped together beneath these (as evasion is in the example). The offense section gets a similar treatment, with the information you need most grouped toward the top.
Next is the tactics box. Instead of having a tactics section in the encounter, it made more sense to include that with the stat block, so that each monster could have its own information. You get a section for what it does before and during combat, as well as a small bit on its morale telling you if it ever decides to run away from the fight. Some kobolds make great use of this particular section.
The last section in our examples covers the creature's statistics. This information is not generally vital to every combat situation and thus gets referenced far less often. This is not always the case, though, so you might see some of these statistics noted in earlier section so you don't miss them. For example, if a creature has improved grab, you can be sure that we will note its grapple bonus up in the offense section.
The two particular monsters in our sample page from D1: Crown of the Kobold King do not have any special abilities that require in-depth explanation. If they did, this information would go at the very end in its own section. The slurk, for instance, has a pair of abilities describing how its slimy belly grease and sticky back goo work (and no, those aren't the real ability titles).
As always, we want to hear from you. What do you think about the new stat block? Let us know in the forums, and remember that tonight is also the weekly GameMastery and Pathfinder chat. Check out the blog post from 5/02 to learn how to join in.
In Crown of the Kobold King we introduce the dwarven deity Droskar, God of Toil. Droskar's following began as a reaction against the bon vivant trends that pervaded the dwarven society of their day, instating a dreadful dogma of salvation through endless toil and brutal subservience to the Dark Smith, as Droskar was often called. The dwarves became slaves to their own industry, producing heaps of weapons, armor, and gear to appease their dark god. The wilderness around them was fed to Droskar's fires of industry, until the dwarves choked on their own black fumes and starved in the dust.
The rise of this new religion also saw the first appearance of a new undead monster associated with such endless toil: the forge spurned. When a dwarven worshiper of Droskar perishes, he is brought before his divine lord and judged. If the Master of the Dark Furnace finds him unworthy, he is pierced with burning barbs and returned to the world as a tormented undead creature on an accursed errand to gather souls for Droskar's Furnace. Forge spurned are consumed with their need to forge their soul chains, and prey upon any creature they feel they can easily best. If a forge spurned is felled and its chain taken by another, it seethes with dark fury. A forge spurned stops at nothing to retrieve its chain, lest it be forced to forge another, extending its period of burning torment.
Forge spurned resemble hulking dwarves wrapped in heavy steel chains. Their faces, hands, and bodies are riddled with glowing hot hooks and half-melted razor wire. Black smoke rises from their smoldering beards, framing a freakishly contorted face covered in ash and soot. The tormented beings heft black iron hammers in both hands, and the chains that drape their forms possess the malevolent life of angry metal serpents.
I've never been the biggest fan of fey. Every time I use one in a game, there tends to be a quiet undertone of giggles and cheap jokes. Today, for example, when discussing this very blog post, we came upon the idea of chatting about the fey that play a part in W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale. Within seconds, Wesley Schneider called out that I like "pretty, pretty princesses." Suffice to say... you can see why I don't like fey.
That said, when we plotted out Conquest the idea of using fey as one of the villains just made sense, and I set out to make fey something players might fear instead of mock. There is a dark side to nature, a savage side that these fey, known as roseblood sprites, fully embrace. You won't catch them frolicking through the forest or tending to a grove of flowers. These fey are more likely to paralyze you with poisoned rose thorns, murder you, and cut off your ears for their demented king. The illo sketch above is just one of the sketches from this module, showing the moment that our hero stumbles upon their grim feast (that hunk of meat might just resemble a human thigh). That ought to keep players from giggling.
And now I toss the question back to you—are fey pint-sized hippies, unhinged nature spirits, or something else entirely? Post on our messageboards and let us know what you think.
Just wanted to drop by and give you all a sneak preview of some brand new cover art we got in just in time for the weekend. They say a picture's worth a thousand words, but I'd wager that this one's worth about 22,000... which, incidentally, is how long Jason Bulmahn's W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale module will be when it's all finished. In this 32-page adventure, heroes will be pitted against twisted, evil fey as they fight to reclaim Bloodsworn Vale and reestablish overland trade routes between Varisia and the world beyond. But as this beautifully executed painting from WETA and Savage Tide alumnus Warren Mahy shows us, evil fey are just the beginning of the adventurer's problems....
Kobolds have been around for a long time. From the ratlike little dog-men of the early editions, to the more recent incarnation as draconic lizards, these guys remain one of the game's favorite foils. Usually depicted as sneaky, conniving trap-makers, they also have a history of being cute, pathetic monsters struggling to find their place in the dungeon, usually at the bottom of the local food chain. When we went looking for an iconic monster to kick off our line of 32-page modules, the kobold was an easy choice.
We couldn't just settle for the traditional kobold, though. Not when we had the chance to do so much more. When we asked Senior Art Director Sean Glenn to redesign the stale old monster and give it a fresh look, what we got back exceeded all of our expectations. (Sean, for his part, readily admits to sending Sam, the World's Ugliest Dog, along as reference. Can you see the resemblance?) Meaner, nastier, and definitely more evil, these guys have that special something that sets them apart from the pack. They have style. To give you an idea, here are some of the kobolds from "Crown of the Kobold King."
The reign of Merlokrep, first of his name, all-mighty Dragon King of the Truescale Kobolds, has suffered misfortune from the day of his coronation. But the sturdy resolve that saw him through the murder of his eighteen siblings and cleared his path to the throne has held his tribe together through the accidents, attacks by their new monstrous neighbors, and the king's own homicidal outbursts of rage over both. Merlokrep is always happy to offer visitors an honored place as Great Sacrifices to the Crown, ready to wine and dine them before ripping them open and pulling out their hearts.
Vreggma, Chief Consort and Only One Allowed to Nag-Nag His Greatness, loves to gaze at her own reflection. Her continued pursuit of shiny good-good causes an endless amount of trouble for her King, resulting in a third of her tribe perishing in haphazard mining excavations over the years. She immediately attempts the coquettish seduction of anyone that enters her lair, but if her advances are rebuffed or her collection of shiny good-good is threatened, she flies into a spitting rage that belies her sweet veneer and attacks viciously.
Jekkajak, called by many "He Who Forgets More Than You or He Knows," is the Truescale's shaman. His mysterious prophecies are taken very seriously by the rest of the tribe, at least when he is awake. Jekkajak is a walking corpse of a kobold, whose withered old white scales are stretched tight over bone. His puny skeletal snout contains a lone tooth and constantly dribbles drool. His milky eyes focus intermittently on his surroundings.
Merlokrep's cruel mining foreman, Lekmek, works a gaggle of slaves to death in search of "shiny good-good" for Vreggma. Sadly, gold is not on the menu in his glum mines, whose walls are riddled instead with veins of iron ore. Vreggma's displeasure at the lack of gold is the source of many headaches for Merlokrep, who in turn takes out his frustrations on Lekmek. The foreman vents this mounting aggravation through harsh beatings administered to his digger-slaves on an hourly basis.
Finally, its never really made sense that all kobolds should be brownish gray. Since there are five colors of chromatic dragon, we created five differently colored kobolds. But when we got the art back from our artist, we discovered that we had not five, but six colors. Which begs the question: what do we do with this guy?
What's better than a high-quality, full-color, 16-page adventure? A free one, of course!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
On June 23rd, gamers celebrate a whole new holiday just for us: Free RPG Day. On that Saturday, gamers across the country can stop by their friendly local game shops and pick up free roleplaying products. Seeing how much we love free stuff here at Paizo, we couldn't help but get involved. Come the 23rd, the first GameMastery Module, D0: Hollow's Last Hope, will be available for free at these stores.
When we first heard about this event, we were pretty excited, but pulling it together in time turned out to be a real challenge. While we kicked around several ideas, we quickly decided that, since D1: Crown of the Kobold King is for 2nd-level parties, it only made sense for us to get players to that level with an introductory adventure. In fact, the plot of Crown seemed to beg for it, as the adventure takes place in a forbidding forest and a ruined dwarven monastery but doesn't spend a lot of time getting the PCs there. But therein lay a new roadblock—we didn't want the free adventure to be mandatory for full Crown enjoyment, and vice versa. So we thought hard, and hit upon a unique plotline for Hollow's Last Hope—the quest for a plague cure—that could stand alone and still allow DMs of Crown to strip out the free adventure's plot and tack the extra encounters seamlessly onto the beginning of D1.
Once that was figured out, the biggest hurdle became the time crunch. Because we found out about Free RPG Day late in the game, we all—particularly Wes Schneider and me, who teamed up to write it—had to pull together and work hard to get the writing, art, layout, etc. finished in half the time normally allotted for such a project. (And believe me, the work difference between a 16-page module and a 32-pager isn't as large as you'd think.) But in the end, we didn't cut any corners, and managed to put together a product that looks as great as it reads—cartographer Chris West and the artists over at UDON continue to astound us with their work, particularly on such short notice.
As for what you can expect to find in the module itself, I won't spoil things too much, but manipulative worgs and animated cauldrons that dance around and swallow people whole sound like fun to me. We also made a concerted effort to sprinkle the module liberally with details tying in with Crown of the Kobold King, as well as tidbits that'll go farther toward building up our game world. For instance, though the hut you search in Hollow's Last Hope belongs to a relatively low-level witch, rumor has it that she actually studied under a much more notorious hag from the north... someone whose name you might just recognize...
For more information on Free RPG Day, go to www.freerpgday.com. If you somehow miss out, check back here soon for more information on how to score your own copy of the module.
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