Feast Your Eyes on the Island of Empty Eyes (and the Feast of Spoils)!

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Once upon a time, there was a girl who had to write a blog. And she really didn't want to because she was sick and could only see out of one eye and because it was Thanksgiving morning. She turned on the parade (because that would help productivity, obvs) and things didn't get any better. Apparently "parade" now means listening to the hosts attempt to make witty banter in between random performances of Broadway songs. She had signed up for giant balloons and marching bands, not this random showcase of songs from Broadway shows that paid money to be featured. She had reached the point where she was a) angry at a parade and b) had not actually written more of her blog because she was TOO BUSY BEING ANGRY AT A PARADE. Great Googly Moogly! Just as she realized that the marching bands and balloons probably hadn't reached the witty banter station and the performances were just filler until then, the marching bands and balloons showed up. And she lived happily ever after and kindly elves wrote her blog for her.

By now you've probably figured out that I am the girl in that (mostly true) story. And you're thinking, "Surely you weren't sick on Thanksgiving or dividing your attention between work and fun?! And surely-er, you wouldn't be the sort of person who gets mad at parades?" Sadly for me, the part about being sick and the part about being a person who gets mad at parades is true and the part about kindly elves finishing my writing is a complete fabrication.

Even with many of these things being true (I mean, seriously, what kind of person yells at their TV because the parade is wrong?!), it is still the holiday season and there are still many things to be thankful for. I'm going to focus on things related to the Adventure Card Game because that's what we're here to talk about. I am extremely thankful that you are taking some of your time to read this blog (even if you're only reading it to procrastinate doing work). And I'm thankful that you love this game that we all work so hard on (and I'm thankful I get to work on it!). I'm also thankful that it is my eye that is not working properly and not my fingers because that would make typing real tough. Enough with the warm fuzzies. Let's jump into the awesome stuff to look forward to.

Obligatory Shark Section

Hold on to your peg legs, kids—The Island of Empty Eyes has the biggest, baddest shark we've ever had!


She's got more teeth than you've got... well, anything.

This shark is not going to put up with any of your nonsense. None of it. And if you bring any nonsense, she's going to eat you and your ship. Speaking of eating...

Other Awesome Stuff Section

These are things to be thankful for. Even if some of them hurt you. And all of them are delicious. Or they find you delicious. Small details.

You guys ever listen to the Beach Boys? They actually put out a fantasy-themed album. It featured a track called "Koko, NO!" Seriously. They did.


(sing) Off the Fever Seeeeeeeeas, there's a tree called Koko, no! For the love of Besmara, stop pelting me with coconuts!!!

So, I love Koko. Koko lobs first, and asks questions later. And if you let her ask questions later, she'll just throw some more coconuts at you. It's not the best for people who intrude on Koko and her domain. If you've managed to keep your wits about you and have the wherewithal to use Fire against Koko, that'll help. But you better knock her out or it's more coconuts to the noggin' for you! When life, or Koko, gives you coconuts, there's only one thing to do. You put the lime in the coconut and drink 'em both up...

I don't know if you like dinosaurs as much as I do but if you're cool you probably like dinosaurs at least a little bit. So check this out—an entire location ALL ABOUT DINOSAURS! And a dinosaur Henchman!


Rampaging Triceratopses are just the buckin' broncos of the Dinosaur Corral. Yee-haw!

I hope you loaded up on Animal allies. And hopefully, you haven't been burying very many cards. If you don't have Animal allies to help you out and you've been burying cards left and right, who cares? Sweet dinosaur cards will make up for that! Unless you get eaten because that jolly little orange dinosaur finds you delectable. It's pretty hard to come back from being devoured. Your fault for being tasty!

There are also some good things in this set. I mean, I gotta give you some reasons to be thankful for the game. Check out this Saltbox.


A salty gun for a salty sea dog.

As you can imagine, this gun is similar to the Pepperbox (which is totally awesome, right?) except it's even better against monsters with the Aquatic trait. Because, just like a Pepperbox shoots pepper and makes things... um... sneeze, a Saltbox shoots salt and gets water things all shrivelly. Nevermind that they live in saltwater. That's none of your business.

Did I mention sweet dinosaur cards? This one is even friendly!


This is my Pteranodon and I shall call him Pterrence.

So, this flappy fellow will pick you up and drop you off somewhere else and let you explore. Plus, there's a d6 in it for you if you have to fight something. I'm pretty sure Pterrence's strategy is to make a loud, squawky sort of sound to distract your opponent. He doesn't really look like a biter. [Ed: I don't see any teeth in there. He must be a gulper.] Anyway, he's adorable and he helps you win. AND HE'S A DINOSAUR! Be careful though, he'll probably try to eat the pturkey at your Pthanksigiving dinner. His ptable manners leave something to be desired.

There's something else that fits in the category of awesome stuff, but I don't want to spoil the surprise. I don't use this word lightly (or ever, except for right now) but seriously, it's amazeballs. If things go well, it'll be the first thing you see when you open your boxes. I so wish I could see people's faces when that happens.

Scenario Preview AKA The Important Stuff

H'okay. So here we are in the part of the blog that is supposed to give you useful information and not just the ramblings of a crazy person.


These cards really make me want mustard.

By now you've realized that I'm going to walk you through The Feast of Spoils, which really is a feast of spoils. So many plunders! And some pretty ridiculous loot to boot. And all this food stuff is making me really hungry for our Thanksgiving feast. Probably I'm going to stop writing until after I eat. Food-coma writing is a little easier to understand than hunger-pang writing.

Some time later...

If you haven't noticed already, the blessings deck is a little wacky for this adventure. I am a big fan of messing with the blessings deck so I'm particularly excited for this. The Shipwrecks also happen to mostly be good things. You still get your turn (and who cares about any bad lycanthropes you might encounter on that turn—there's no blessing on top of the blessings discard pile to pump them up) and you get a chance to add some plunder to your ship. In a six-player game, that's eight chances! You might not hit them all if you burn through the game really fast, but you've got a good chance to add a fair amount of goodies for your party at the end of the scenario. Of course, if you don't succeed, you'll have to encounter The Pirate Council. You remember them, right?


The Pirate Council, or as I like to call them, the plunder plunderers.

Yeah, it's these guys again. Hopefully you don't fail at repairing a ship, and if you fail at that hopefully you don't fail at being charismatic or diplomatic. Just, don't fail. It's really that simple. So, that's just the nonsense with the blessings deck. Let's take a peek at what's actually happening in the rest of the locations.

The locations aren't anything to be too preoccupied with, but they will contain a Ruffian henchman or The Eel.


These guys are why we can't have nice things.

Eventually you'll get a few of the Ruffians out of the way and be able to finish off The Eel when you meet him. He clearly took lessons from Koko on how to lob stuff at you and your ship. Except he's not throwing coconuts. He's tossing bombs around like there's no tomorrow. If you aren't careful all that hard-earned plunder will just float away. So, be careful... which is like telling a triceratops not to rampage. Not as easy as it looks.

Anyway, here's hoping that was a fun preview of The Island of Empty Eyes and I'm crossing my fingers that your brain won't melt when you open it and see our special surprise for all of you. Oh, at the end of this scenario you'll get a class 4 ship feat, so I might as well show you one of the cool new ships.


Aren't you thankful for a ship full of werewolves? I know I am.

As always, thanks for reading and for those of you who celebrate, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends eating tasty foods (I know I enjoyed my Tofurky!) and playing some games. No, happy elves did not get me to finish this during the parade. I decided writing with a food coma would be a better choice. And since I don't have a clever piratical way to sign off...I'm just going to leave this here.


*mic drop*

Gary Gaby Weidling
Adventure Card Game Developer

More Paizo Blog.
Tags: Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Skull & Shackles

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Nice work there, Gary. I can see some people arguing about who gets the genie's wish (aka skill feat) in the near future :). Also, Pterrence looks like a pretty sweet card, especially with the new Lini. With the right power feat, she can fly between locations and get an extra explore every turn. But *Dinosaur geek mode*, pteranodons aren't technically dinosaurs, just flying reptiles that live around the same period as dinosaurs did *Dinosaur geek mode off*. Anyway, I look forward to getting my hand on this pack too.

Grand Lodge

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ooooOOOOoooooo!!!!

I will yell at my TV on your behalf the next time it is on, Gary. Hope you feel better soon.


3 people marked this as a favorite.

I too was very confused by the parades this year. At one point, one of the hosts seemed to really struggle with his witty banter, even failing to complete sentences or thoughts. I'm sure it was partially because a producer was talking to him via an ear piece and saying "you need to stall, Garfield is struggling to make a tight turn" but I honestly began to wonder if he was having some sort of stroke.

I think next year Paizo should investigate getting a giant Ranzak balloon for one of the Thanksgiving day parades. That would be almost as awesome as this blog post.


3 people marked this as a favorite.

Did you guys know that you can't hear a Pteranodon use the bathroom?

...

...

The p is silent, you see.

Eh? Eh? ...No one? Okay...


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Gaby, I think you win the award for most amusing blogs on Paizo's website :P

Silver Crusade

Just an observation, but shouldn't The Pirate Council read "... And not go diving off the nearest pier," ?

Or is "diving off the nearest pier" a test of something (sorry, havent played S&S)?


So, is the exciting surprise the Loot ally? - or is it the other thing people have been getting confused by on the forums?

also +1 for the giant inflatable Ranzak...


MightyJim wrote:
... also +1 for the giant inflatable Ranzak...

I vote for plush paizo goblins. Lots lots of them.

My 22 year old son as a bed covered by plush Gizmos from the Gremlins movie and I'm SOOOOO jalous.

Grand Lodge

Frencois wrote:
MightyJim wrote:
... also +1 for the giant inflatable Ranzak...

I vote for plush paizo goblins. Lots lots of them.

My 22 year old son as a bed covered by plush Gizmos from the Gremlins movie and I'm SOOOOO jalous.

You're in luck, then.


That's awesome. I may get one.

The Exchange

So that ally is uber powerful...does that wording mean that you put the card away for the duration of the entire adventure path? Or just put back into the pile with the possibility to draw it again? And by pile i mean back into the box for the next scenario :)


teweller wrote:
So that ally is uber powerful...does that wording mean that you put the card away for the duration of the entire adventure path? Or just put back into the pile with the possibility to draw it again? And by pile i mean back into the box for the next scenario :)

Remove from game is the same wording used for basic boons and banes after the start of AP 3. The prevailing theory is that it was worded this way so that a group of players can't do this scenario solo, each earning it, using it, and returning it to the box to be gained by the next player to solo it - this way, only one player gets it, period.


Vailea is cool.... See above

I would read the card in this way:

Discard Vailea, examine the top card of your location deck. Remove this card (top of location deck) to gain a skill feat....

Woooot!

Then heal and again ;-)))))


Beginners mistake...

The Exchange

Frencois wrote:


I vote for plush paizo goblins. Lots lots of them.
My 22 year old son as a bed covered by plush Gizmos from the Gremlins movie and I'm SOOOOO jalous.

That is one way to prevent unauthorized sleepovers

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.

That opening for the blog was pretty much a word-for-word replication for how I was feeling as I watched the parade that morning (minus the blog writing). I read it to my wife and she laughed, saying that was exactly my reaction. I'm very glad I was not disappointed by the parade turning into complete crap.


Clever idea for the treant!

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I'm only reading this blog to procrastinate doing work.


But I thought you also appear at odd times, Vic. Times when you're not actually doing work :)

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Waitaminit.... this *is* work! I've been tricked!


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Vic Wertz wrote:
Waitaminit.... this *is* work! I've been tricked!

If this is work for you then I want your job.

Pathfinder ACG Developer

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I'm only reading the comments to procrastinate work.

That's not completely true...I'm reading it because I love you fine folks. The procrastination is just a bonus.

Pathfinder ACG Developer

Reptilian wrote:
Nice work there, Gary. I can see some people arguing about who gets the genie's wish (aka skill feat) in the near future :). Also, Pterrence looks like a pretty sweet card, especially with the new Lini. With the right power feat, she can fly between locations and get an extra explore every turn. But *Dinosaur geek mode*, pteranodons aren't technically dinosaurs, just flying reptiles that live around the same period as dinosaurs did *Dinosaur geek mode off*. Anyway, I look forward to getting my hand on this pack too.

I appreciate your dinosaur geek mode.

Pathfinder ACG Developer

MightyJim wrote:

So, is the exciting surprise the Loot ally? - or is it the other thing people have been getting confused by on the forums?

also +1 for the giant inflatable Ranzak...

The Loot ally is an exciting surprise but there's an EVEN MOAR EXCITINGER surprise. I believe the thing people have been confused by on the forums is what I'm talking about. But I might be confused about their confusion. Anyway, you'll know it when you open your card packs.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Gaby Weidling wrote:
MightyJim wrote:

So, is the exciting surprise the Loot ally? - or is it the other thing people have been getting confused by on the forums?

also +1 for the giant inflatable Ranzak...

The Loot ally is an exciting surprise but there's an EVEN MOAR EXCITINGER surprise. I believe the thing people have been confused by on the forums is what I'm talking about. But I might be confused about their confusion. Anyway, you'll know it when you open your card packs.

Just to clarify, the EVEN MOAR EXCITINGER thing is the only card of its type to ever be in anything other than a base set, character add-on, or class deck, right? And the one that makes me ask the question, "where in the insert am I supposed to store this?"

And it isn't a boon, nor a bane, nor a location, nor a scenario, nor an adventure, nor a support card. Right?


Having open my card packs, I am confused by your confusion about your confusion over our confusion.


I'm in the UK. I won't be opening the pack for a while...

Sovereign Court

Hawk it goes in the same slot as the rest!

Awesome card

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Designer

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Gaby Weidling wrote:
Reptilian wrote:
Nice work there, Gary. I can see some people arguing about who gets the genie's wish (aka skill feat) in the near future :). Also, Pterrence looks like a pretty sweet card, especially with the new Lini. With the right power feat, she can fly between locations and get an extra explore every turn. But *Dinosaur geek mode*, pteranodons aren't technically dinosaurs, just flying reptiles that live around the same period as dinosaurs did *Dinosaur geek mode off*. Anyway, I look forward to getting my hand on this pack too.
I appreciate your dinosaur geek mode.

It is important to understand that I almost changed this in Gaby's original draft, but I didn't want to rob the forums of the opportunity to correct her.


We have spoiler tags if you want to refer to any specific cards without spoiling for people who haven't received their cards yet.

Spoiler:
We're talking about ghost wizard, right? You'd just store the role card with your other character cards.


Don't read these if you haven't seen the cards.

Spoiler 1:
Come one, you shouldn't have clicked this if you haven't seen the cards yet!

Spoiler 2:
Yeah. That's what were are talking about. And that is where I'm storing it too. It was just an easy way to highlight which card it was.


Mike Selinker wrote:
Gaby Weidling wrote:
Reptilian wrote:
Nice work there, Gary. I can see some people arguing about who gets the genie's wish (aka skill feat) in the near future :). Also, Pterrence looks like a pretty sweet card, especially with the new Lini. With the right power feat, she can fly between locations and get an extra explore every turn. But *Dinosaur geek mode*, pteranodons aren't technically dinosaurs, just flying reptiles that live around the same period as dinosaurs did *Dinosaur geek mode off*. Anyway, I look forward to getting my hand on this pack too.
I appreciate your dinosaur geek mode.
It is important to understand that I almost changed this in Gaby's original draft, but I didn't want to rob the forums of the opportunity to correct her.

I personally believe that in the Golorian system of science, pteranodons are dinosaurs. Also, in Golorian there is a chimpanzee named Monkey.


Vic Wertz wrote:
Waitaminit.... this *is* work! I've been tricked!

Waitaminit.... I'm only reading this blog to procrastinate doing work, and in my case it's not even considered work. I've been double tricked! Bloody Paizo Pirates.

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

Seriously, spolier for those who haven't gotten their cards yet!!:

I'm storing mine with the scenario cards, since as of right now it's only used in one scenario. We should totally include it in our community adventure path that we were talking about in the other thread, though!


Hawkmoon269 wrote:
Mike Selinker wrote:
Gaby Weidling wrote:
Reptilian wrote:
Nice work there, Gary. I can see some people arguing about who gets the genie's wish (aka skill feat) in the near future :). Also, Pterrence looks like a pretty sweet card, especially with the new Lini. With the right power feat, she can fly between locations and get an extra explore every turn. But *Dinosaur geek mode*, pteranodons aren't technically dinosaurs, just flying reptiles that live around the same period as dinosaurs did *Dinosaur geek mode off*. Anyway, I look forward to getting my hand on this pack too.
I appreciate your dinosaur geek mode.
It is important to understand that I almost changed this in Gaby's original draft, but I didn't want to rob the forums of the opportunity to correct her.
I personally believe that in the Golorian system of science, pteranodons are dinosaurs. Also, in Golorian there is a chimpanzee named Monkey.

Well, I'm a strong believer in descriptive grammar. Since the majority of people don't know/care that a chimpanzee isn't a monkey by taxonomic standards (same for pteranodon as a dinosaur), then it pretty much is a monkey, at least in a casual sense. Unless you're in a zoology convention, the majority of people are fine with calling a chimpanzee a monkey.


Mechalibur wrote:
Hawkmoon269 wrote:
Mike Selinker wrote:
Gaby Weidling wrote:
Reptilian wrote:
Nice work there, Gary. I can see some people arguing about who gets the genie's wish (aka skill feat) in the near future :). Also, Pterrence looks like a pretty sweet card, especially with the new Lini. With the right power feat, she can fly between locations and get an extra explore every turn. But *Dinosaur geek mode*, pteranodons aren't technically dinosaurs, just flying reptiles that live around the same period as dinosaurs did *Dinosaur geek mode off*. Anyway, I look forward to getting my hand on this pack too.
I appreciate your dinosaur geek mode.
It is important to understand that I almost changed this in Gaby's original draft, but I didn't want to rob the forums of the opportunity to correct her.
I personally believe that in the Golorian system of science, pteranodons are dinosaurs. Also, in Golorian there is a chimpanzee named Monkey.
Well, I'm a strong believer in descriptive grammar. Since the majority of people don't know/care that a chimpanzee isn't a monkey by taxonomic standards (same for pteranodon as a dinosaur), then it pretty much is a monkey, at least in a casual sense. Unless you're in a zoology convention, the majority of people are fine with calling a chimpanzee a monkey.

The problem with that, though, is that English, in its status as a trade language, pretty much takes what it can from other languages so everything is actually descriptive - as long as you know another dozen languages to figure out the roots.

The other problem with that is that you get people using the casual usage of a term as if it were fact, and then trying to argue seriously with that mistaken fact.

(pterandon, as opposed to the misspelling of Gaby's name to Gary?)


I'm spoilering this since it is off-topic, but as a linguistics major, I feel strongly about this :P

Spoiler:

zeroth_hour wrote:
The problem with that, though, is that English, in its status as a trade language, pretty much takes what it can from other languages so everything is actually descriptive - as long as you know another dozen languages to figure out the roots.

That's not entirely relevant here, and not entirely true either. English isn't any more of a "descriptive" language than, say, Spanish.

Quote:
The other problem with that is that you get people using the casual usage of a term as if it were fact, and then trying to argue seriously with that mistaken fact.

That's not a problem with descriptive grammar, that's a problem with people being silly. It's like how toddlers think that rabbits only eat carrots, despite that not being true; it's just part of how we assimilate knowledge, which will happen regardless of whether we view languages as a prescriptive or descriptive process.

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