Illustrations by Damien Mammoliti and Maichol Quinto. Widescreen version here.
Deep, Dark, and Deadly!
July 15, 2011
It's been awhile since we've had a wallpaper, and this one's a doozie. Featuring some stunning artwork by Damien Mammoliti and Maichol Quinto, and themed around Dungeons of Golarion, it showcases Alain venturing into the Red Redoubt of Karamoss, a massive siege-fortress outside Absalom constructed by a combination of the machine-mage Karamoss's mechanical minions, powerful magic, and Numerian technology.
In the forefront is the leader of the kobolds living in the Candlestone Caverns, deep beneath rural Andoran. You definitely want to watch out for him!
In the buildup to our print deadline for Gen Con, we saw a fair amount of book schedules get a bit of "compression," with books that should be being worked on (and thus previewed) a month apart being separated by a few weeks. Or in this case... ONLY a week. Last week we previewed some art from Dungeons of Golarion, but the Pathfinder Society Field Guide is right on its heels! And what kind of field guide would it be if it didn't have a section that talked directly about the things eager new Pathfinders might face in the field? Challenges like daemon-spawning portals, angry dinosaurs, and vengefully violent six-armed animated statues?
Well... no one ever said that being a Pathfinder was easy, I guess.
Golarion Day: Report From Kintargo—Dungeons of Golarion
Thursday, June 23, 2011
If they weren't such an excellent place to make quick money, I doubt I'd ever want to go into an actual dungeon. As it stands, I try to make it a practice to only venture into the ones that are worth the trouble. I'm not a fan of slinking through sewers, skulking about in guano-reeking caves, or sneaking through a ruin that's been picked over by thousands of lesser explorers. Give me a megadungeon any day, though. Not only are these things immense (and thus filled with immense amounts of treasure), but they also tend to be dripping (sometimes literally) with history and lore and stories that can date back hundreds or even thousands of years. When you get skunked in a dungeon in the treasure department, it's nice to at least come out of there with a wider appreciation of ancient Thassilonian art, experience with strange Numerian technology, or tales of close calls with primeval wonders and horrors.
The Egorian vaults have a fair amount of information about the megadungeons of the Inner Sea region, but there are six of them that someone seems particularly interested in. Hollow Mountain in Varisia, the Red Redoubt of Karamoss just outside of Absalom, the lost dwarven mines of Zolurket, Andoran's Candlestone Caverns, the mysterious Pyramid of Kamaria in Osirion, and, of course, Gallowspire. The files include several maps of specific levels found in all six of these megadungeons, along with sketches of cutaway views of the complexes as well. And extensive notes on the monsters, traps, and (oh yes!) treasures said to be found within.
Some neat stuff. So of course I stole it all. I've sent the notes on to a contact in Magnimar, and she's going to see to it that they're bound and distributed. They should be arriving soon—within the month. Until then, though, I thought folks would be interested in perhaps a few images of some of the critters said to dwell in the dungeons.
I don't know about you, but they certainly look like the type of monsters who would keep a lot of treasure in their lair! I've got my fingers crossed!
Illustrations by Emile Denis, Maichol Quinto and Damien Mammoliti
The Future of Pathfinder Society Organized Play Part XI: Pick Your Pace
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Well, loyal Pathfinders, I have returned from a weeklong adventure in which I conducted an ancient ritual at the prophesied time to eternally bond me with an intelligent magic item of incredibly high Charisma that now occupies my left ring slot. And whether the Rapture came or not, I'm in heaven (though there's little time to take in the sights as we scramble to get the finishing touches on all the great new Pathfinder Society material debuting at PaizoCon in little more than a week).
But enough about me and my new cohort (or am I the cohort?). Let's talk about one of the biggest changes coming to Pathfinder Society Organized Play next year: variable advancement tracks!
Illustration by Maichol Quinto
Currently, all Pathfinder Society PCs level at the same rate: 3 XP to level up, which breaks down to three scenarios per level, or at the most 37 scenarios between character creation and retirement after a completed 12th-level adventure arc. For someone playing only a handful of scenarios a year at large conventions, this means they can play the same PC for years and years and still feel like they're actually getting something out of those few sessions they play at Gen Con or PaizoCon annually. But for players who participate in the campaign on even a bi-weekly basis, they will have leveled a character from inception to near retirement in just over a single year.
We’ve listened to the feedback, and feel there's a simple solution already present in our rules system. The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game includes several different advancement tracks to allow GMs to run their campaigns at the pace that works best for them and their players. While most of our products to date assume the medium advancement track, some groups prefer using the fast or slow progressions to move more quickly to higher-level play or to savor each step along the way to 20th level. Pathfinder Society Organized Play will be implementing a similar optional advancement track beginning in Season 3.
Players who enjoy the three-scenario-per-level pace don’t need to do anything. For you, nothing will change. But for those who want a slower progression, you can opt instead to move at half-speed, earning only 1/2 XP, 1/2 the total maximum gold, and a maximum of 1 Prestige Point per scenario. Because the net gain per level will be the same whether you use the slow track over six adventures or the normal track over three, PCs will be able to choose which progression they'll use for their next level each time they gain a level.
In addition to allowing individuals to operate at their own pace, this plan should allow small home groups or even growing store and convention groups to cooperate to ensure that higher-level PCs slow down enough for new players or replacement characters to catch up, condensing the level spread to make things easier for event coordinators. I'm sure there are other benefits to these new options that we haven't even thought of in-house yet. What most excites you about this new development?
Be sure not to miss next week's Monday blog for a look at the fifth of the existing factions: the decadent empire of Taldor. Anyone who's already played The Dalsine Affair likely already has an idea of at least one change that will be coming to this faction—a change that players of the four new scenarios at PaizoCon are likely to notice right away.
New Blog Entries
