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Pathfinder Battles Preview: Opening Big

Friday, August 10, 2012

We're tying up all the final loose ends before heading to Indianapolis for Gen Con next week, so because I'm so busy, I'm going to let my favorite freelancer write a fun description of the creature depicted in today's blog:

"It was a paw, fully two feet and a half across, and equipped with formidable talons. After it came another paw, and after that a great black-furred arm to which both of the paws were attached by short forearms. Then two pink eyes shone, and the head of the awakened gug sentry, large as a barrel, wabbled into view. The eyes jutted two inches from each side, shaded by bony protuberances overgrown with coarse hairs. But the head was chiefly terrible because of the mouth. That mouth had great yellow fangs and ran from the top to the bottom of the head, opening vertically instead of horizontally.
"
    —H. P. Lovecraft, "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath"

Yes, today's featured miniature is the Gug, subterranean terror of Lovecraft's Dreamlands. This horrific monstrosity is the centerpiece of an epic encounter in the Shattered Star Adventure Path. That campaign kicks off this month, with the new Shattered Star Pathfinder Battles prepainted miniatures set currently slated for January.

That's a pretty sweet looking monster, eh? It has cleaner teeth than Lovecraft's version, and yellower eyes, but this miniature captures the essence of the description that inspired it, and it's sure to strike terror into the hearts of your player characters. The quality of the sculpt and paint job have a lot to do with that, but to me the most impressive thing about this figure is its size.

This guy TOWERS over player characters, pushing the very limits of the Large size category.

And the blood in his mouth is shiny.

He's great, and I can't wait to build a little shrine in my office with like eight of this guy.

Next week we're at Gen Con for the official release of the Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles set, as well as a sweet new booth display of every Pathfinder Battles miniature released to date.

Stop by the Paizo booth to claim your very own limited edition Festering Spirit figure (free with $50 purchase), and don't forget to seek me out and say hi. I'd love to hear what you think about the Pathfinder Battles line (or any of Paizo's products), and what you'd like to see us do in the future.

Regular Shattered Star Pathfinder Battles preview blogs will continue in two weeks. Until then, see you at Gen Con!

Erik Mona
Publisher

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Tags: Miniatures Pathfinder Adventure Path Pathfinder Battles Shattered Star
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Wow! And I mean WOW! That is awesome!

My wife and I are refinancing and we close next Friday, so I will finally be able to subscribe to the minis...Can't wait!
Liberty's Edge
Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Awesome!

This is one of my Favorite Monsters, and it is used so much in the games I run... Or to be more accurate, Pazio Uses the Gug a lot in the games I run.. ;)
Contributor

Sweet beautiful rending gugs! Awesome!

My first reaction when I read the quote: "ITS A GUG!!!!"

My second reaction when I saw the picture: "Oh it looks to skinny! I would have liked it beefier and wider"

My third reaction when I saw the pic of a gug next to other minis: "Its huge! Never mind that mini is freakin awesome."

Well done Paizo......well done. :)

That is one huge large! Never seen that monster before, to be honest, but I like it!

And will be picking up my Festering Spirit on Thursday. :)

Dream Quest is amongst the most ridiculous of Lovecraft's released works (and, as much as I adore Lovecraft, I have to admit that that's really saying something), but I love that Gug. Nicely sculpted, and it is BIG!

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this on the Paizo boards before, but if you're a Lovecraft fan you really owe it to yourself to listen to the H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast (www.hppodcraft.com). The guys who run it really love the work (even when it's bad), they fun, and they occasionally get some great guest hosts (S.T. Joshi, Ken Hite, Stuart Gordon, etc.). They've reviewed all of Lovecraft's published work, and they've now moved on to other wierd fiction and horror, but the Lovecraft episodes are all in their archive.
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

That Gug model looks AMAZING. Will it be on display next week? I'd love to see it up close!

Honestly, that may push me over the top to subscribe to the line...
Grand Lodge

Is the Festering Spirit included in the subscription, or do we need to add it separately?
Thorkull wrote:
Is the Festering Spirit included in the subscription, or do we need to add it separately?

From how I've understood it, it's seperate.

The blog says it is free with $50 worth of merchandise. But the question is, if you want more than one, can you buy it seperately, as well?

Well now you guys are just showing off and being arrogant....That Gug looks AWESOME. Haven't even got my RotRL mini's yet and I'm looking forward to this set. To bad I will probably never use them due to my lame gaming group but like a trusty Titan III missle, they will be there ready for duty should I ever call on them.

Awesome. It is as bizarre as it should be, and even larger than expected, looks like the new set is gonna be good!

Any other Lovecraft beasties working their way into the Shattered Star set/AP?

Oh and $50 gets you the festering spirit....what does $300 get which is about what I spent last year at your booth at Gen Con. I hope you have a bunch of them cause I will make like five purchases of $50.
Paizo Employee Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
IxionZero wrote:

Any other Lovecraft beasties working their way into the Shattered Star set/AP?

Yes. Well, Mythos creatures, anyway.

Paizo Employee Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
Oozi McOoze wrote:
Oh and $50 gets you the festering spirit....what does $300 get which is about what I spent last year at your booth at Gen Con. I hope you have a bunch of them cause I will make like five purchases of $50.

We will have lots and lots.

Paizo Employee Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
Thorkull wrote:
Is the Festering Spirit included in the subscription, or do we need to add it separately?

You'll need to add it separately. Look for a product page after Gen Con. it is NOT a subscription item.

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Erik Mona wrote:
IxionZero wrote:

Any other Lovecraft beasties working their way into the Shattered Star set/AP?

Yes. Well, Mythos creatures, anyway.

Yay.

Anything to help out a CoC Keeper in diagramming which part(s) of the loathsome, squamish beast is(are) currently flaying a player's poor investigator is always welcome.
Grand Lodge

The Gug looks great!

For those of us picking up subscriptions at Gen Con, will the value of those items (over $150 in my case) count towards getting a Festering Spirit or three?
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Wow! Pretty(ugly)!

I'll admit I didn't realize gugs were so big until I saw the 2nd pic.

-Kcinlive
Liberty's Edge

HOLY GREAT GOOGILY MOOGILY! That looks sweet!

Wow, that's a gorgeous sculpt!
Erik Mona wrote:
Oozi McOoze wrote:
Oh and $50 gets you the festering spirit....what does $300 get which is about what I spent last year at your booth at Gen Con. I hope you have a bunch of them cause I will make like five purchases of $50.

We will have lots and lots.

Erik, will they be available to purchase as singles at the con?

I really hope the only option isn't having to spend 50$ for each Festering Spirit.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

What rarity is the Gug? I am hoping at least Uncommon as I would want more then 1.
Grand Lodge

I am reading this most recent blog post in my usual fashion, slowly scrolling down line by line. I see the first pick. I click for a larger view. Nice! "That's a creepy monster", I said to myself. I like creepy monsters. I continue to read on. See the second picture. Click to make the image larger. Then after lifting my jaw up from off the floor and stuffing it back into my mouth, I decided I need to write about this experience. The comparison pic is literally out-of-this-world good. What a preview! You're showing off all the good stuff first? Right?

Cheers,

Mazra
Scarab Sages

Does anyone know if purchasing/picking up all of your subscription items at the booth counts as a purchase towards getting the promo mini?
Sczarni
Heather Goodman wrote:
Does anyone know if purchasing/picking up all of your subscription items at the booth counts as a purchase towards getting the promo mini?

it did last year, but the decision was made on te spot and not thought out beforhand, so it may be different this year

Paizo Employee Creative Director
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I'm actaully VERY pleased with how big the gug looks, because if we'd really stuck to Lovecraft's original description... they probably should have been Huge instead of just Large. We ended up making them Large because they had to be able to fit into the dungeon room we were putting them in back in Pathfinder #11, but we certainly pushed the boundaries of that size category.

Also, saying "Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" is ridiculous? Them's FIGHTIN' WORDS!!!

(puts up dukes)
James Jacobs wrote:
Also, saying "Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" is ridiculous? Them's FIGHTIN' WORDS!!!

Indeed. TDQOUK was when I realized that I really loved HPL heart and soul. Good job bringing one of the most amazing works of fantasy to life!

(and I can't wait to see more of TDQOUK in the Shattered Star - you make staying subscribed a no-brainer with the Leng connection)
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 8
2 people marked this as a favorite.

I have been longing for a gug for many strange eons and now the stars are right! I am gibbering with unwholesome delight.

Woot finally a GUG!!!!!!!!!!

Erik Mona: Hey James looky what we're making.
James Jacobs: *Eyes pop out of his head: I'll be getting a dozen of those!!!
Erik Mona: Do you really need a dozen gugs James?
James Jacobs: Do you want to get involved in my new pathfinder campaign? :evil grin:
Erik Mona: Ummmmmmm......... NO!!!!
James Jacobs wrote:

Also, saying "Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" is ridiculous? Them's FIGHTIN' WORDS!!!

(puts up dukes)

Put your money where you mouth is: Put out a flying moon-cats vs. zoogs Adventure Path.

I should probably point out that I kind of love DQoUK, despite its ridiculousness. The impression that I get is that Lovecraft never intended for it to be released, and so he threw in a lot of silliness that he wouldn't have put in a story intended for publication. It's a fun read, for sure, and the aspects of it that I find a little bit laughable are entirely harmless (as opposed to, say, The Street or The Horror at Red Hook).
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
Erik Mona wrote:
Thorkull wrote:
Is the Festering Spirit included in the subscription, or do we need to add it separately?

You'll need to add it separately. Look for a product page after Gen Con. it is NOT a subscription item.

Pathfinder Battles subscribers *will*, however, get the 20% discount that regularly applies to loose, unpackaged Pathfinder Battles miniature singles (even though the Festering Spirit actually comes in a plastic bag).

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
Heather Goodman wrote:
Does anyone know if purchasing/picking up all of your subscription items at the booth counts as a purchase towards getting the promo mini?

It does.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
Hobbun wrote:
Erik, will they be available to purchase as singles at the con?

They will not be available for sale at the con—only as part of the promotion—but they will be available on paizo.com after the show.

RE: Gug
Any idea on what the rarity of this mini will be, or is it too soon to know for sure?

RE: Festering Spirit
I probably won't be buying much at the Paizo booth at GenCon as I am a monthly subscriber. My monthly subscriptions total is well over $50, so is there anyway I am able to just show up at the GenCon booth and just ask them to refer to my account so that I can pick up my mini?
Paizo Employee Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
Hobbun wrote:
Erik Mona wrote:
Oozi McOoze wrote:
Oh and $50 gets you the festering spirit....what does $300 get which is about what I spent last year at your booth at Gen Con. I hope you have a bunch of them cause I will make like five purchases of $50.

We will have lots and lots.

Erik, will they be available to purchase as singles at the con?

I really hope the only option isn't having to spend 50$ for each Festering Spirit.

If we have some left over after the show (which I anticipate), we'll sell them on paizo.com for a reasonable price (far less than $50).

We will not be selling them individually at the show, however, as they are a promotional item first and foremost.
Paizo Employee Chief Creative Officer, Publisher

Kor:

It's too early to speak to definite rarities on the Shattered Star set yet, so I can't answer that at this point.
Shadow Lodge
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

That is freaking awesome! I have been waiting, and dreading, a Gug since you started. I feared it would kack that creepy, scary quality that makes them one of MY favourite, and my players least loved, creatures. This is beyond expectations, hats off to you and wizkids. A real triumph and the size is just perfect. All he really need is a long, hideous, glossy pink tongue loling out of that mouth!
Sczarni

Amazing Mini.
You guys are doing your darnedest to get me hooked on plasticrack.

This is fantastic. I am sooo running this AP. Now to see if I can hold out for January.
Shadow Lodge
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

The other good thing about this preview is the size comparson - I know it's to emphasize the gugs' awesome size, but it makes it so much easier to appreciate the mini. I hope this becomes a regular feature.
Paizo Employee Chief Creative Officer, Publisher

I'll probably add them when I think a size comparison would add a lot to the blog, and probably won't for the majority of the minis.

Happily for you guys, there are several more "enormous for size Large" figures in this set!
Shadow Lodge
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

Like perhaps a dark young?
Owner - House of Books and Games LLC

Holy mother of poo! That's one mini that I'll want a goodly number of.

Can't wait to drop a half-dozen of those on the table for my Friday night group.

Bravo!!

Has it been 2 weeks yet?
Are we there yet? No.
Are we there yet? No.

Are we there yet? ...

FFG's Dark Young is awesome. Here's to all the Pre-paints we can get.
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