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Winter's Reign Nears!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

On Monday the Paizo offices were visited by a praying mantis (something rare in western Washington from what I hear), so I thought I'd share the cover image for the first volume of the Reign of Winter Adventure Path.


Illustration by Craig J Spearing

Some of you who were at PaizoCon, Gen Con, or read these messageboards religiously already know a thing or two about this Adventure Path. For those who don't—next year in Golarion is 4713 and that syncs up with the centennial visit from Baba Yaga where she puts a new daughter on the throne of Irrisen to rule for the next 100 years (something that's been going on for the last 1,400 years). Though her heralds have been seen riding throughout the countryside, no one has spotted Baba Yaga just yet. What exactly is the problem? What trickery has Queen Elvanna put into place?

Well, beginning this coming February you'll find out! For a taste, here are the titles to each of the adventures in the Reign of Winter Adventure Path:

The Snows of Summer
The Shackled Hut
Maiden, Mother, Crone
The Frozen Stars
Rasputin Must Die!
The Witch Queen's Revenge

We have some fun things planned for this coming Adventure Path, so I hope you'll join us on this world-spanning campaign. Also, to prepare for the journey check out Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Irrisen, Land of Eternal Winter. Don't forget your mittens!

Adam Daigle
Developer

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Liberty's Edge

Well, if the Rasputin in the AP is anything like the real life version, killing him will not be easy.
4 people marked this as a favorite.

Why am I not surprised to see Daigle post a picture of a giant mantis? ;)

Likewise, eagerly looking forward to Rasputin and Baba Yaga.
Liberty's Edge
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Orthos wrote:

Why am I not surprised to see Daigle post a picture of a giant mantis? ;)

Likewise, eagerly looking forward to Rasputin and Baba Yaga.

There are many takes on Rasputin, from portraying him to a sinister influence on a court to someone who favored the people. Considering other aspects of the historical Rasputin, such as the reputed number of his descendants, I wonder if he will follow Calistria?

I want to know what CLASS he is. I can think of justifications for several.
9 people marked this as a favorite.

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY PAIZO. TAKE IT ALL.

Out of curiosity, will Reign of Winter be evil-PC friendly?

I think I'm most interested in Maiden, Mother, Crone. I'm a big fan of the three-aspect goddess figure and can't wait to see Pathfinder's take on it.
Sovereign Court Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

This one looks awesome. If they would just figure out how to put in my favorite demon lord (Kostchtchie) I would be sooo happy!
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2009, RPG Superstar Judgernaut
2 people marked this as a favorite.

::thumbs up::
Paizo Employee Director of Narrative
OmegaZ wrote:
Out of curiosity, will Reign of Winter be evil-PC friendly?

No more so than any other Adventure Path, and certainly less so than Skull and Shackles.

So, yeah, the assumption is that the PCs are going to be the good guys in this one.
Contributor
4 people marked this as a favorite.
Drogon wrote:
This one looks awesome. If they would just figure out how to put in my favorite demon lord (Kostchtchie) I would be sooo happy!

Done. Be happy.

Paizo Employee Director of Narrative
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Drogon wrote:
This one looks awesome. If they would just figure out how to put in my favorite demon lord (Kostchtchie) I would be sooo happy!

You will be happy. :)

Edit: Ninja'd by 20 seconds!
Silver Crusade
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

But but but giant mantises on snow are not REALISTIC! ;-)
2 people marked this as a favorite.

Oh my, that's a BIG Daigle! :)
Gorbacz wrote:
But but but giant mantises on snow are not REALISTIC! ;-)

What if that's Achaekek?

Cthulhudrew wrote:
Gorbacz wrote:
But but but giant mantises on snow are not REALISTIC! ;-)
What if that's Achaekek?

That's quite a dye job.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
Gorbacz wrote:
But but but giant mantises on snow are not REALISTIC! ;-)

In this case, that's the point. And the explanation for it is, indeed, "magic!"

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Any reference to The Deadly Mantis is aces in my book.
Paizo Employee Creative Director
Gorbacz wrote:
But but but giant mantises on snow are not REALISTIC! ;-)

Hmmm... I wonder... could that be a deliberate choice on our part?

Sovereign Court Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds
F. Wesley Schneider wrote:
Drogon wrote:
This one looks awesome. If they would just figure out how to put in my favorite demon lord (Kostchtchie) I would be sooo happy!
Done. Be happy.

My head has exploded...

Sovereign Court
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Adam Daigle wrote:
OmegaZ wrote:
Out of curiosity, will Reign of Winter be evil-PC friendly?

No more so than any other Adventure Path, and certainly less so than Skull and Shackles.

So, yeah, the assumption is that the PCs are going to be the good guys in this one.

That being said, I wouldn't say it's evil-PC UN-friendly. Evil PCs would probably be able to go through Reign of Winter with just a few modifications.

Sovereign Court
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Gorbacz wrote:
But but but giant mantises on snow are not REALISTIC! ;-)

Yes, he does seem like he's out of his normal terrain. Funny, that. I wonder why.

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2009, RPG Superstar Judgernaut

::whistles innocently while watching a video of swirling snow::

I wasn't thrilled with Skull and Shackles (pirates not my thing) and am lukewarm about Shattered Star (mega dungeon not my thing), but this I suspect will be my thing. And the thing after it too.
1 person marked this as a favorite.
James Jacobs wrote:
Here's a for-real photo I took of The Great Disruption.

All hail The Great Disruption.

On a possibly related note, anyone cared to do a "where are they now?" thing on this little green man(tis)?
Rob McCreary wrote:
Gorbacz wrote:
But but but giant mantises on snow are not REALISTIC! ;-)
Yes, he does seem like he's out of his normal terrain. Funny, that. I wonder why.

Possibly same reason I see druid companions in an area other than it's home region... So... Giant Praying Mantis animal companion?

1 person marked this as a favorite.

The praying mantis is there because

spoiler:
the adventure deals with winter-like conditions in a non-winter place. All the native wildlife would be in summer mode, meaning bugs like mantises are out and about as opposed to hibernating. I'm assuming it's summer of course, based on the title of the adventure.
4 people marked this as a favorite.

Can I just say, as a Slavic folklore specialist...this is going to be AWESOME!!!! It will be my first game DMing as well, so I'm super excited. Please tell me if/when the mini set is released for this pack we'll get a GIANT chicken hut to play with! PLEASE!
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Squee! Giant Mantis! My favorite!

Oh, giant mantis, how I love thee so, let me count the ways...

1. They fly.
2. They can grapple.
3. Small druids can ride them at level 1 (at least, there's a good chance you could stick a saddle on that midsection there). Medium druids have to wait until level 7.

:)

Why isn't that Lini's animal companion, and they're fighting some giant cat monster?
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

OMG THAT'S SOME AWESOME ARTWORK!

Seriously that kicks ass. I'm so happy for Neil to get such cool artwork for his chapter.

I really can't wait to see Chapter Two art too!
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

New computer wall paper!
Tsiganka wrote:
Can I just say, as a Slavic folklore specialist...this is going to be AWESOME!!!! It will be my first game DMing as well, so I'm super excited. Please tell me if/when the mini set is released for this pack we'll get a GIANT chicken hut to play with! PLEASE!

I never buy miniatures. Never. I've been playing for close to 30 years and I own no actual miniatures.

I would buy a good dancing Chicken Hut.
Paizo Employee Director of Narrative

Also, my mention of mittens in the last sentence of the blog post was totally in reference to Judy's awesome knitting!

I hear they're magical.
Contributor

It's an important part of the Irrisen ecosystem.

Chickens eat bugs. Giant chickens eat giant bugs. Giant chicken-legged huts?

Very much looking forward to the books.
Adam Daigle wrote:


Don't forget your mittens.

With the way this summer's been, I never took them off!

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4
Kevin Andrew Murphy wrote:
Very much looking forward to the books.

And your contribution to them!

***************
On a side note, I'd love to see a chicken legged mini too.

I don't collect the mini's- do they come in Huge size? Cause's technically it should have a 15-ft.-by-15-ft. "footprint".
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Oh you just HAD to drag me back in, didn't you, Paizo??

This might very well be the BEST adventure path yet!
Orthos wrote:
Cthulhudrew wrote:
What if that's Achaekek?
That's quite a dye job.

It's a god. Colors mean nothing to it.

Generic Villain wrote:
The praying mantis is there because

... the PCs better be praying to their gods to survive this module? :)

Contributor
2 people marked this as a favorite.

Baba Yaga's Hut miniature you say? Here you go. (I have one on my desk at home. It's about 2 inches tall and the roof comes off.)
Silver Crusade
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

This AP has the best/most evocative titles of any AP so far.
Gorbacz wrote:
But but but giant mantises on snow are not REALISTIC! ;-)

Yeah, my response to that illustration was, "Um...okay..."

Dark Archive
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber

Check out update #7 for the Dungeon Crawler Minis Kickstarter. If it goes high enough the hut will be offered.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1941357427/dungeon-crawler-minis-tidal- wave-dcm/posts

Seems 3000+ minis just is not enough for me... I say bring them all on.
Dark Archive

Very cool to see Craig Spearing as cover artist for an adventure path. I'd have prefered it to be for the Wrath of the Righteous adventure path but still, very cool. :)

The more I hear of this AP the more I like it.
Contributor
Jim Groves wrote:
Kevin Andrew Murphy wrote:
Very much looking forward to the books.
And your contribution to them!

Thanks!

Turned the novella in this week. I hope everyone has as much fun reading it as much as I did writing it.

Jim Groves wrote:


On a side note, I'd love to see a chicken legged mini too.

I don't collect the mini's- do they come in Huge size? Cause's technically it should have a 15-ft.-by-15-ft. "footprint".

As I understand from the Artifacts and Relics book, Baba Yaga's hut is like a certain blue police box.

As for where it may be placed outside this adventure, I will note that there are replica dancing huts ringing Irrisen's borders. If you wanted to hide it, it would be an easy purloined letter trick to just swap it with one of the knock-offs.
Silver Crusade
2 people marked this as a favorite.

Love the cold weather clothing variations on the iconics. This is something I hope continues to show up across different environments and cultures.

Orthos wrote:
Cthulhudrew wrote:
Gorbacz wrote:
But but but giant mantises on snow are not REALISTIC! ;-)
What if that's Achaekek?
That's quite a dye job.

Arctic Ninja Camo Achaekek.

Paizo can sell more action figures that way! Personally I'm looking forward to Aquatic Action Achaekek and Lego Achaekek. :)
Silver Crusade
Generic Villain wrote:

The praying mantis is there because

** spoiler omitted **

Huh. That notion could lead to some very interesting encounters.

I figured there was just some sort of ice devil connection going on.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4
Kevin Andrew Murphy wrote:
Jim Groves wrote:
Kevin Andrew Murphy wrote:
Very much looking forward to the books.
And your contribution to them!

Thanks!

Turned the novella in this week. I hope everyone has as much fun reading it as much as I did writing it.

Jim Groves wrote:


On a side note, I'd love to see a chicken legged mini too.

I don't collect the mini's- do they come in Huge size? Cause's technically it should have a 15-ft.-by-15-ft. "footprint".

As I understand from the Artifacts and Relics book, Baba Yaga's hut is like a certain blue police box.

But even that box has an exterior size, in those-you know, relative dimensions. :D

I got that from the Artifacts and Legends book!
Paizo Employee Director of Narrative
Generic Villain wrote:

The praying mantis is there because

** spoiler omitted **

This doesn't not make sense.

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