Jeggare in the Jungle

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

With all the excitement of last week's Meet the Iconics post for Hayato, our new iconic samurai—who we unveiled ahead of schedule as part of our auction to help tsunami relief efforts—we unfortunately didn't have a chance to talk about the new web fiction story that started that Wednesday. Which is really too bad, because the new story is awesome on several fronts!

	Illustration by J. P. Targete

In "A Lesson in Taxonomy," Dave Gross brings us a glimpse of Pathfinder Varian Jeggare, the longstanding co-hero of Pathfinder Tales novels, journals, and webfiction stories, as he was in his early days as a Pathfinder, well before he became a venture-captain or met up with his bodyguard Radovan. Just two episodes long, this story takes us through historical Sargava and into the heart of the Mwangi Expanse, where Dave sheds some light on the not-always-amicable practices of competing Pathfinders.

If you're a fan of Wayfinder—and how can you not love free, high-quality, fan-created Pathfinder material?—then this story might look a little familiar. When the Wayfinder folks originally told us that both Dave Gross and Elaine Cunningham had agreed to write new short stories for the zine's Mwangi-themed issue, we were all excited, yet the deal raised some sticky issues regarding continuity and the community use agreement. The solution? We bought Dave and Elaine's stories and let them run first in Wayfinder as a preview before bringing them here to the website for the world to see, thereby making them official Pathfinder Tales content. Everybody wins!

This week represents the final chapter in Dave's safari adventure, and next week we'll have Elaine's fabulous one-shot story "The Illusionist." And after that, we'll be starting a story by one of our very own Paizo staffers. Who could it be, you ask? For the answer, stay tuned...

James Sutter
Fiction Editor

Illustration by MuYoung Kim

The Future of Pathfinder Society Organized Play, Part II: Where Once There Were Five...

Monday, March 28, 2011

Since Hyrum and I first joined the Pathfinder Society Organized Play team last fall, we've had huge goals for what we wanted the campaign to be. Hyrum has coordinated organized play for huge networks of people in the past while working for Upper Deck Entertainment and had hopes of seeing Pathfinder Society reach the same number of players. Meanwhile, I began my foray into Pathfinder Society as a player and GM and wanted to see the concerns of the average participant addressed and the overall quality of the campaign continue to increase, and to explore the setting I loved to a whole new degree.

So we started plotting.

And after months of subtle hints and minor alterations to the status quo, we're ready to start announcing the larger changes that are on the horizon with Season 3. We started last week with announcements of the conclusion of the Year of the Shadow Lodge metaplot and the First Steps intro adventure arc to be released in July. Every Monday between now and August 8 (the day after Gen Con ends), we'll have a new Pathfinder Society-related blog about some of the new or changing rules elements of the campaign.

First up: Factions!

When Pathfinder Society was announced roughly three years ago, players were promised in-world consequences for their actions within their factions. This competitive aspect of the campaign was abandoned at the end of Season 0, but we're bringing it back... sort of. Factions will matter more in the overall metaplot of the season, and successes reported in certain scenarios within a small window of time after release will influence future scenario development. Each faction will have its own storyline over the course of the season involving specific NPCs, locations, and events. If you want cool stuff to happen to or within a particular faction that season, complete your missions and report the results; if some factions have less than stellar performances, their stories may be less positive, but players' actions will still influence what does occur.

Also, there will be ten factions next season to expand the options available to players. The five existing factions aren't going anywhere (though those that didn't perform as well in the last three seasons may see some shakeups) and mechanics for existing members to change factions will be outlined. We'll be dedicating a blog post to each of the ten factions in the coming months—beginning in two weeks with the most successful faction to date.

Be sure to check back here next Monday for another big announcement about the future of the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign involving the official campaign rules documents.

Mark Moreland
Developer

Tracking Sheet Doodles

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Every book we work on has a folder with a tracking sheet, which helps us monitor the progress of each article in the book—design turnover, developer's pass, edit 1st pass, edit 2nd pass, layout, edit 3rd pass, copy edit, and final approval. Because the schedules for these books overlap, I usually have multiple folders on my desk at one time (currently I have seven). As I'm a visual person, I find it's easier for me to locate which folder I want if I put a big recognizable doodle on each tracking sheet, rather than having to read the handwritten title. Some of these doodles are pretty simple (a dragon's head for Dragons Revisited, a pyramid for Osirion, Land of Pharaohs, and so on). Some of them get a little strange.

The doodle for Blood of Dragonscar is a weird, pallid, white-eyed face with a scythe, as weird, pallid undead play a role in much of the adventure. I had to get more creative with the doodle for the Legacy of Fire Player's Guide, as it relates to Katapesh and I didn't want to confuse it with the folder for Dark Markets, so I made a bit of a rebus (LEGO + C + FIRE = Legacy of Fire). The third is for Beyond the Vault of Souls, and requires a bit of backstory. The author of that adventure is my friend Colin McComb, who wrote for (among other things) TSR's Planescape setting. One of the Planescape adventures was called Well of Worlds, and the cover art featured a man being pulled into a pit by a weird slime creature... and the model for that illustration was Colin. So my doodle for this Colin-authored planar adventure is of Colin-as-art-subject from an entirely different, older planar adventure.

Sean K Reynolds
Developer

Osirion Art Day!

Friday, November 7, 2008

One of the most interesting things to see come out of Osirion, Land of the Pharaohs is some of the art. Osirion had always been, in my mind, "Golarion's Egypt." And that meant that it kinda looked like Egypt in my mind—but with more mummies and giant scorpions. But now we've got some art coming in, and now Osirion looks more like its own place—elements are familiar, but at the same time the region is starting to look uniquely its own. Check out these two illustrations for examples—one depicting a hidden valley of pyramid tombs and another a busy day market in Sothis.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Welcome to Osirion!

Friday, October 3, 2008

Our third Pathfinder Companion takes us south into the legendary sands of Osirion. And what is pretty much the number one thing you need to watch out for in Osirion? Mummies, of course! But to me, it's not the mummies in Ralph Horsley's cover to Osirion: Land of Pharaohs you have to worry about... it's whoever built that freaky sphinx in the background that would have my characters nervous!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Headlock!

Monday, September 29, 2008

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.

Jacob Burgess
Online Retail Coordinator

Pact Stone Capstone

Friday, September 19, 2008

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!

Jacob Burgess
Online Retail Coordinator

One Faction to Rule Them All!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Rather than spend a lot of time in today's blog wowing you with words, I thought we'd skip right to the brand new icons designed for the Pathfinder Society Organized Play factions by Paizo's own Art Director, Sarah Robinson. You may not know her name, but you certainly know her work, as she is the mastermind designer behind the layout for the Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes landing in your mailbox monthly. Sarah has put together five fantastic representations of the factions based on their national flags (soon to be debuted in the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting hardcover.)

Once the Pathfinder Society website is running at full functionality, your faction choice will be represented as one of the above icons resting comfortably next to your name on the paizo.com messageboards. You'll be able to show off your faction choice with even more pride once we launch our line of faction-specific T-shirts in the very near future. Rumors that you get a small benefit at the game table when you wear your faction shirt to an official Pathfinder Society Organized Play event should be started immediately.

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

Exploring Paizo's Pathfinder Society Organized Play, Part 3

Thursday, June 12, 2008

As for your life and limb I make no promises, young novice. Rest assured that you shall never succumb to boredom and your exploits will be sung and scripted for the common folk to marvel.
—Venture Captain Alissa Moldreserva

In Part 1, we unveiled our first faction, Andoran, and spoke a little about the faction system we'll use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. In Part 2, we unveiled our second faction, Cheliax, and we talked briefly about faction prestige, how it's earned, and what it means for the world of Golarion as well as what it means for you as a member of the Pathfinder Society. For Part 3, we unveil the third faction for Pathfinder Society Organized Play: Osirion, Land of the Pharaohs.

OSIRION
Land of the Pharaohs

We must find the strength of mountains buried in our past and bring it to bear on those fools who think we are nothing but dust in the wind.
—Amenopheus, the Sapphire Sage

Osirion was once the most glorious empire of Golarion. Pharaohs ruled as gods on earth, their monuments towered over even Thassilon's mightiest, and their armies could churn a kingdom to mud and blot out the sun on wings of death. Now, Osirion ages from millennia of foreign rule under the rulership of the youthful Ruby Prince Khemet III, who hearkens back to the ancient days of Osirion's glory. One year ago, Khemet opened the vast deserts of Osirion – long closed by the Keleshite overlords who held the nation as a satrapy of Qadira – to foreign exploration. Today the great treasures and arcane formulas of the living gods of ancient Osirion are unearthed for the entire world to see, and the ascendancy of the Land of Pharaohs is at hand. Most Inner Sea nations view Osirion as a relic from a bygone age. In truth, Osirion is a slumbering giant that, when awakened, could wash away all fledgling challengers with the power of its traditions. The Osirion are wise people who look deep into the past for answers to present troubles. Their sense of history gives them a unique perspective on the ebb and flow of power in the political landscape of the modern Inner Sea. Many folk of Osirion are of old Garundi blood, bronze—skinned, and gifted with the noble bearing of the ancient pharaohs. It would take a special brand of fool to ignore this semblance of power and dismiss the Osirion faction as less of a threat than any of the other four factions clamoring for control of Absalom.

Goals: Uncover the Power of the Past

In bygone ages, the pharaohs of Ancient Osirion created wonders beyond reason. They concocted potent arcane plagues to decimate their enemies and erected mighty monuments capable of entrapping the souls of deities. Let the other factions jockey for meager political fancy or table scraps like favorable economic sanctions. Osirion is interested in rediscovering the powerful artifacts of its heritage, and preventing their theft by aggressive powers such as Cheliax. Once these powers are returned to their rightful hands, no one shall dare breach Osirion's borders again.

Methodology: Hide Your Power, Lest the Enemy Seek to Take It from You

The grasping hands of petty thieves cannot take what they do not know you have.
—Amenopheus, the Sapphire Sage

For centuries now, the other powers of the Inner Sea have regarded Osirion as an impotent nation of conquered people. Osirion wouldn't have it any other way. Since the Ruby Prince ascended the ancestral throne a few decades past, Osirion has been gathering its power and preparing to make a bid for supremacy on the Inner Sea. Most of the Osirion faction's missions involve quietly undermining the power of their enemies. Osirion agents in Absalom plant the seeds of dissolution with a whisper or a poisonous draught, never with a naked blade, and never with a witness. Just as most of the Great Emerald Sphinx is buried beneath the sands of Osirion's deserts, so is the nation's power carefully hidden in secret brotherhoods and spies loyal to the pharaonic throne. When Absalom sits firmly in Osirion's grasp, then Khemet III shall declare himself Pharaoh in the tradition of his ancestors and Osirion's Second Golden Age shall follow.

Check the blog again on Tuesday for more information on Pathfinder Society Organized Play!

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Sales & Marketing

Nicolas Logue
Organized Play Coordinator

Gazetteer: Osirion

Thursday, February 28, 2008

The Pathfinder Chronicles Gazetteer is off to the printer, so here is your first look at what you can expect this juicy 64-page book to contain.

Osirion

LAND OF THE PHARAOHS
Alignment: LN
Capital: Sothis (111,989)
Notable Settlements: Ipeq (12,730), Totra (52,360), Shiman-Sekh (6,680)
Ruler: The Ruby Prince Khemet III
Government: Celestial Monarchy
Languages: Osiriani
Religion: Nethys, Sarenrae, Pharasma, Lamashtu, Irori, Norgorber, Rovagug

For almost 2000 years after the Starstone fell from space to create the Inner Sea, chaos and ruin defined Golarion. The old empires were cast in ruin, strange creatures born of darkness and fear stalked the land. It was a time of barbarism and terror, a slow decline into extinction for humankind. But humanity rose again in the jungles and deserts of the south Inner Sea coast. Osirion, a land of living god-kings and monolithic pyramids, rose as a beacon in a world ruled by barbarism, the first of the great kingdoms of man's Age of Destiny.

A prophet of Nethys known as Azghaad unified the warring tribes along the River Sphinx, initiating Osirion's first pharaonic dynasty in the city of Sothis, which still bears titanic statues carved in the image of Osirion's first ruler. The Osiriani folk honored their pharaohs as gods in the flesh, acceding to their every whim and marching upon their grand ambitions. Within 500 years Osirion controlled vast territories in Thuvia and modern day Rahadoum and Katapesh, as well as a lost colony that eventually became the kingdom of Geb. This First Age of Osirion generated pyramid tombs and temples for scores of pharaohs and their servants, many of which remain undiscovered (and well trapped) to this day.

A succession of lesser pharaohs and temporary foreign conquerors ruled Osirion in the middle centuries of the Age of Destiny, erecting cities and temples of their own in an attempt to leave a permanent mark on history. Most are forgotten today, and during this period Osirion waned in influence throughout the Inner Sea, ceding its marginal colonial territories.

Four competing warlords known as the Four Pharaohs of Ascension halted Osirion's decline about two centuries before the foundation of Taldor, restoring the nation's influence and holdings through using force and guile. The resulting prosperity fueled a rebirth in the nation's spirit, marking the birth of Osirion's Second Age.

In 1532 AR, foreign influence ended Osirion's pharaonic era when Qadiri agents toppled the corrupt government of Pharaoh Menedes XXVI, establishing Osirion as a satrapy of the Keleshite Empire of the East. Over the centuries migrants from Kelesh changed the ethnic character of the nation, crashing many of the old monuments and structures to the ground in an effort to chart a new destiny for Osirion.

This destiny brought the sun-focused religion of Sarenrae to Osirion, whose own religious traditions had always centered strongly upon the movements of heavenly bodies. As the cult of the Dawnflower achieved greater popularity among Keleshite and Garundi alike it became a threat to the satrap, who banished the dervishes to the deserts of Thuvia.

Members of the Dawnflower cult murdered the Satrap of Osirion in 2253, establishing the first in a long series of independent Keleshite sultans who ruled from Sothis. The last of these dictators fell to rebellion exactly 100 years ago, handing the nation to Khemet I, a Garundi prince who traced his lineage back to the Azghaadi Dynasty of Osirion's First Age. Thousands of years of oppression and decline made the people eager for a savior, and Prince Khemet offered them hope. Today, Khemet's grandson rules Osirion, calling himself the Ruby Prince. Some say that he might one day change this title to pharaoh, but such a shift would seriously trouble the desert nation's neighbors.

The youthful Prince Khemet III has opened the borders of Osirion to treasure seekers from around the world, offering a high bounty to those who uncover the hidden wonders of the past. As a result, Sothis is filled with treasure hunters of all shades. While the guards are keen to watch for anyone stealing the heritage of Osirion, there are plenty of ways to smuggle these ancient artifacts out of the country, and Osiriani relics have become a valuable commodity in markets across Avistan.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Terrifying Transformation

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

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.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

How big is it?

Thursday, October 25, 2007

For some time now, people have been asking us how big Golarion is, and many have had the misconception that Varisia, being our most detailed region so far, comprises the majority of our setting. Nothing could be further from the truth, and to give you an idea of scale, Jason Bulmahn has pulled out the coastal outlines of the two continents that comprise the first Golarion world map (which will appear in the Pathfinder Chronicles Gazetteer) and dropped in our maps of Varisia and Osirion (from J1: Entombed with the Pharaohs). Don't let the rough sketch fool you, though—the map itself is very close to being finished, and you can expect a load of new world-related tidbits on the blog in the weeks to come. Stay tuned!

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Meet the Competition

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

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.

Jeremy Walker
Assistant Editor, GameMastery