Obsidian Tells a Tale

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

With Pathfinder Adventures' imminent release—Thursday, April 28!—it's time we talked about the core strength of both Pathfinder and Obsidian: storytelling.

When Obsidian Entertainment and Paizo started talking about Pathfinder Adventures, I was most excited about the prospect of bringing the story of Rise of the Runelords to life. A little background: I started at Obsidian in 2007 working on Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, and one of the first things I did was join a group of coworkers playing Rise of the Runelords. The story stuck with me. And when I started playing "Burnt Offerings" in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, it all came flooding back. I loved the way Mike Selinker, Chad Brown, and all of the designers at Lone Shark Games used the mechanics of the cards to tell a story. Local Heroes stood out to me right away, as did Foul Misgivings later. Since story has always been a priority at Obsidian, I knew that we could bring the theme and drama of the Adventure Path to the forefront of the digital version.

As mentioned in my first blog, one of the first things we did was put all of the location decks on a map. This helps gives the game instant context and setting without a word being written. As an example, throughout "Burnt Offerings," you were playing in bright and sunny Sandpoint, but when you start "The Skinsaw Murders," things look a little different...


Workin' on our night moves (yeah, you just got Bob Segered).

It's Sandpoint's nighttime look! And it's a good one. Since "The Skinsaw Murders" is a ghost story and a murder mystery, we decided to set the mood.

Where PACG uses text descriptions on the cards to convey the story, we use dialogue. Most of these conversations are driven by the iconic heroes that you choose to play with. Each of the iconics has a distinct voice, so a party of Ezren and Valeros experiences different dialogue than a party of Seoni and Amiri.

Before setting out to write dialogue for RotR's 11 iconic heroes, I worked with Erik Mona and James Jacobs at Paizo (with some helpful insight from Chris Avellone and Matt MacLean at Obsidian) to develop a Character Bible. I use it as a touchstone each time I write to make sure the characters are always true to themselves. Each character has a set of style and story notes to remind me how they speak and how they will develop.

I'll pull back the curtain and show you (most of) Lini's entry:

Style

Having an intimate relationship with animals, Lini sees the world from an animal's perspective. She has a hard time understanding people and their complicated schemes, but she is curious about them. She has tremendous instincts and will trust or mistrust NPCs with a high level of accuracy ([REDACTED] will always smell wrong and Ameiko will be a fast friend). She does not emote in half-measures. She's excitable and fiery, using short declarative sentences for just about every occasion. Dank dungeons make her uncomfortable, but she'll never abandon her pack or the mission in front of her.

She will have a habit of interrupting villainous taunts to attack with an "Aaah-Kii-Yeee!"

Story Notes

She will seem naive at first, not understanding man's cruelty. Her curiosity will continue to drive her though. She will grow to see mankind and those with powers as complex, yet simple as any other force of nature. In Chapters 5 and 6, Lini will have a very specific understanding of what she sees and experiences and will always know with certainty what she must to do to flow with or fight against anything she is faced with.

When each scenario starts and ends, you'll get dialogue that's reactive to the characters you have in your party. Likewise, when you fight the villain for the first time, you'll get some banter determined by who's fighting the villain.

Let's take Crow Bait as an example. Harsk is adventuring solo and having a productive discussion with Ameiko about the Sihedron rune when Maester Grump interrupts with terrible news.


They even ate the dogs!

Harsk will get down to the bottom of it! At various points throughout the game, we'll check to see what cards you have and add a little extra flavor. The game does a quick check of his deck and notes that he has the beloved Deathbane Light Crossbow +1. So he adds:


Nothing beats the old Deathbane!

Harsk comes upon the Farmhouse location. In most scenarios, it's just a country home. In Crow Bait, it's a gruesome scene with a creepy note addressed to Harsk.


The letter reads, "You, and you alone, have brought this fearful harvest. They are dead because of you, and more shall join them soon."

Soon enough, he finds Rogors Craesby, who discusses his ugly intentions:


Harsk is no creature's breakfast.

When all is said and done, Harsk considers what has happened and how it relates to the larger plot:


Harsk thinks in terms of tactics and the hunt.

Where there are opportunities for flavor or exposition, we take them. Certain henchmen will talk with you before they fight. Some ally cards in your deck provide good opportunities as well.

And the haunts in Foul Misgivings! Let me tell you about the haunts. Better yet, let me show you!


In case you didn't know, RotR gets dark! Credit for this amazing art goes to the incomparable Lindsey Laney.

There are eight unique haunts throughout the Foul Misgivings—so many that it's impossible to see all of them in one play through the scenario.

You can be sure that there are a great number of things that I've left out for the sake of spoilers and easter egg hunts. I will say that we track a specific action in Burnt Offerings that has implications in The Skinsaw Murders. And I can't wait to show you what we do with Here Comes the Flood!

Nathan Davis
Game Director, Obsidian Entertainment
@nathan_J_davis
(Previously Harsk in Rise of the Runelords and Ranzak in Skull & Shackles; currently Alain in Wrath of the Righteous)

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Tags: Obsidian Entertainment Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Pathfinder Adventures Rise of the Runelords
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Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

7 people marked this as a favorite.

One thing I'd like to say is that Nathan did such a great job capturing the characters that when I was reading the dialogue from Harsk, Ezren, and Valeros, I could hear the voice actors who play them in the Pathfinder Legends audio adventures speaking their lines in my head.

Also, everyone is going to love Lini. I might never not play Lini again.

Developer, Obsidian Entertainment

5 people marked this as a favorite.

The feels when Nathan sings one of the Goblin songs, from memory I might add...

10/10 will work on Pathfinder Adventures again.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

OMG! Yet another reason to get Pathfinder Adventures the second it comes out. Our PBF group just finished Foul Misgivings. Because we aren't face-to-face, we have more storytelling, more moments where the cards tell a great story. But this app looks set to add greatly to the story possibilities.

Silver Crusade

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Will this be playable on the iPhone 6s, or is it iPad only?


Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

I thought it was being released today?

Edit: Never mind, I see they pushed it back to the 28th.


It's coming out on April 28th? Oh, I hope so!

I feel there is a lack of information on this. Does anyone know what this will cost?

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Wow! I wasn't really interested in this version, but seeing how the story plays out is really cool! Also "I worked on NWN2" always a selling point for me.


Super awesome that even cards in your deck add story elements. It gives you more incentive to play over again. Totally loving it.

Dark Archive

4 people marked this as a favorite.

*Still waiting to hear about a non-card game Pathfinder/Obsidian RPG*


I just wanted to play the card game without all the shuffling. This goes above and beyond! Can't wait.

It's also giving me some ideas as I prepare my group to move from the card game to the RPG with Rise of the Runelords.


FattyLumpkin wrote:

It's coming out on April 28th? Oh, I hope so!

I feel there is a lack of information on this. Does anyone know what this will cost?

The core of the game (first adventure and two characters) is free to play. Then there is unlockable content (other heroes, aditional cards, etc) you can get either with cash, or an in-game currency.


Efreeti wrote:
FattyLumpkin wrote:

It's coming out on April 28th? Oh, I hope so!

I feel there is a lack of information on this. Does anyone know what this will cost?

The core of the game (first adventure and two characters) is free to play. Then there is unlockable content (other heroes, aditional cards, etc) you can get either with cash, or an in-game currency.

Thank you, Efreeti.

DragoDorn mentioned "this version of the game." Is there another non-card version?


2 people marked this as a favorite.
FattyLumpkin wrote:
DragoDorn mentioned "this version of the game." Is there another non-card version?

I believe he meant he was waiting for a classic CRPG, like Baldurs Gate or Planescape Torment.


3 people marked this as a favorite.
DragoDorn wrote:
*Still waiting to hear about a non-card game Pathfinder/Obsidian RPG*

I'm eagerly awaiting Paizo to announce both a classic CRPG (Baldur's Gate) as well as an action RPG (Diablo, Grim Dawn). Please Paizo folks... make it happen! ^_^


... 6 iPads in front of me just waiting to start downloading ...

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.
LoreKeeper wrote:
DragoDorn wrote:
*Still waiting to hear about a non-card game Pathfinder/Obsidian RPG*

I'm eagerly awaiting Paizo to announce both a classic CRPG (Baldur's Gate) as well as an action RPG (Diablo, Grim Dawn). Please Paizo folks... make it happen! ^_^

They said in their Reddit sometime ago that they have the license for a Pathfinder CRPG as well and were thinking about it.

Silver Crusade

Hawkmoon269 wrote:
Super awesome that even cards in your deck add story elements. It gives you more incentive to play over again. Totally loving it.

So do i, i bought the first base set to also experience the storyline, but although the game does give the feeling of a RPG lite experience, it kinda falled short on the story department.

Getting more and more enthusiastic about this.


Also it gives good wibes when trying different companions, just to see different conversations!
So Many combinations so Little time ;-)


PRuano wrote:
Hawkmoon269 wrote:
Super awesome that even cards in your deck add story elements. It gives you more incentive to play over again. Totally loving it.

So do i, i bought the first base set to also experience the storyline, but although the game does give the feeling of a RPG lite experience, it kinda falled short on the story department.

Getting more and more enthusiastic about this.

Try

https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/106306/rise-runelords-adventure-guide-v1 68

You will love it!


Frencois wrote:
... 6 iPads in front of me just waiting to start downloading ...

Dude???


Is there an expected release time?
(I know it's tomorrow, just wondering when to set my alarm ^.^)


DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:
Will this be playable on the iPhone 6s, or is it iPad only?

This is most important for me, really want to play this, but iPhone 6s Plus is my only option, so make it happen!

Grand Lodge

Efreeti wrote:
FattyLumpkin wrote:

It's coming out on April 28th? Oh, I hope so!

I feel there is a lack of information on this. Does anyone know what this will cost?

The core of the game (first adventure and two characters) is free to play. Then there is unlockable content (other heroes, aditional cards, etc) you can get either with cash, or an in-game currency.

Don't forget the Season Pass option. $25 unlocks all 6 adventures (as they come out) and all of the standard characters immediately. In-game currency (earned by playing) can still be used for other unlockables.

Pick what works best for your situation.

Pricing, offers, and release date subject to change.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

I've just received official word that April 28 is indeed the confirmed release date (and adjusted the blog opening to say so).

Adventure Card Game Designer

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Hey, look, a US iTunes link...


Yay! More story for people who want it. Plotting out interactions like this would have been very challenging in a pen-and-paper format; but I did see some people making an attempt. I'm glad now there's a product offering to satisfy those customers.

As Hannibal said earlier, check out the Community Use Registry for Adventure (story) guides for all three PACG titles: Rise of the Runelords, Skull & Shackles, and Wrath of the Righteous.

Adventure Card Game Designer

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Google Play link is here.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Tanis O'Connor wrote:
Hey, look, a US iTunes link...

Any word on Australian iTunes release?

#EagerlyAnticipates


I purchased the Bundle to get access to all the characters and just completed the tutorial with Ameiko and Orik. Now I can make a party of 6, but only Merisiel and Kyra are available to me. Should I have access to everyone at this point?

Edit: Speaking with a friend of mine who downloaded the game the same time as I did, he has access to all the characters right after the prologue, so something went wrong on mine. There's no button for restoring purchases. Any advice on who to contact to get this fixed?

Developer, Obsidian Entertainment

Dulcee wrote:

I purchased the Bundle to get access to all the characters and just completed the tutorial with Ameiko and Orik. Now I can make a party of 6, but only Merisiel and Kyra are available to me. Should I have access to everyone at this point?

Edit: Speaking with a friend of mine who downloaded the game the same time as I did, he has access to all the characters right after the prologue, so something went wrong on mine. There's no button for restoring purchases. Any advice on who to contact to get this fixed?

Check your private messages. Thanks!


Looks like you can download it now a bit early. At least on iTunes in the US.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I can't seem to find a place to sign in. It keeps saying I won't earn gold without signing in, but I can't for the life of me figure out how.


I think in the top left there is a button or something to indicate if you are logged in if you click it.


Gleaming Terrier wrote:
I can't seem to find a place to sign in. It keeps saying I won't earn gold without signing in, but I can't for the life of me figure out how.

If you're on iOS, you have to sign in to Game Center separately.


On Android you should check the Play Games app.


David Lockwood wrote:
Dulcee wrote:

I purchased the Bundle to get access to all the characters and just completed the tutorial with Ameiko and Orik. Now I can make a party of 6, but only Merisiel and Kyra are available to me. Should I have access to everyone at this point?

Edit: Speaking with a friend of mine who downloaded the game the same time as I did, he has access to all the characters right after the prologue, so something went wrong on mine. There's no button for restoring purchases. Any advice on who to contact to get this fixed?

Check your private messages. Thanks!

I have this same problem on my iPad. I bought the bundle the game knows I did but it will not let me use the characters. In addition after successfully finishing the tutorial I have 0 gold and no treasure chests. I used to have one treasure chest and based on dialog would have guessed I earned gold


DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:
Tanis O'Connor wrote:
Hey, look, a US iTunes link...

Any word on Australian iTunes release?

#EagerlyAnticipates

Its available on Australian iTunes (I just finished playing the intro missions).


So I got it and played the tutorial on both my galaxy note 4 and my samsung galaxy note, 2014 edition (can you tell which product I like? no cheating!)

Both times the tutorial was very enjoyable. I've played RotR as the ACG, so this was all familiar ground. Well done - keeping the feel of the card game while making it digital. My 10 year old (who has also played ACG) had no trouble following along. Two thumbs up.

Having said all that, the game has a few issues. On the note-phone, the pen is unusable. that's a bit of a problem as the game does not really scale well to phones (they cram so much into the screen, I'm not sure how that would be remedied). I can play it on the phone, but my fingers are frequently too big for the buttons - and the Note 4 is borderline phablet. The pen would be a boon (see that - pun!) for the phone.
Related to this I've noticed also that maneuvering characters into a party before starting an adventure is difficult to do on the phone. I thought it wasn't possible until I did it on the tablet. Once I figured it out on the tablet, I was able to do it about 50% of the time on the phone. Some UI redesign might be a good idea here.

Of course, the game is a power hog. It ate like 20% of my battery on the phone and 10% on the tablet. Like many others, I experienced connectivity issues playing on one device (the phone) but none on another device (the tablet). The connectivity issues zeroed out all my gold received from treasure. Not sure how to re-do the tutorial (if that is even possible) to regain all that.

So, while there's a few issues, the game is overall solid. I plan on picking up the whole RotR package in a week or so, after the first patch comes through. At $25- its far more cost-effective than picking up the actual card game (with less set-up time!)


The game was not developed for the phones so ui issues Are what you can expect. But it can work, if you Are lucky.

I have had problems with Bluetooth keyboard, similar that you have with a pen. So there Are some things that could be polished!

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Folks,

Discussing the game here is fine, but please remember that if you need technical assistance with the Pathfinder Adventures app, or find any bugs, you should post on Obsidian's forum: http://forums.obsidian.net/forum/97-pathfinder/.

Sovereign Court

Seeing how far I can grind out just replaying scenarios at higher difficulty to unlock adventures and characters with in game gold pieces only! Just got Burnt Offerings. Kyra and Merisiel are really good choices for the free PCs to start. Healing and the ability to evade encounters is very handy with only two.

--I wanna Vrock!

Silver Crusade

Hannibal_pjv wrote:
PRuano wrote:
Hawkmoon269 wrote:
Super awesome that even cards in your deck add story elements. It gives you more incentive to play over again. Totally loving it.

So do i, i bought the first base set to also experience the storyline, but although the game does give the feeling of a RPG lite experience, it kinda falled short on the story department.

Getting more and more enthusiastic about this.

Try

https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/106306/rise-runelords-adventure-guide-v1 68

You will love it!

Thks, didnt know about those.

Are these type of files available for other sets?


2 people marked this as a favorite.
PRuano wrote:
Hannibal_pjv wrote:

Try

https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/106306/rise-runelords-adventure-guide-v1 68

You will love it!

Thks, didnt know about those.

Are these type of files available for other sets?

Yes.

Go to the community use registry and search for Autoduelist, who is the author.


Just want to add my appreciation for this product. Obsidian + Paizo sounds to me like a winning combo! (Loved Pillars of Eternity.)

When I first brought the Pathfinder card game to my FLGS as a pre-release product, everybody wanted to play, and we all sensed the power of a true "character based" game. We have since played all three releases. The card game came close to what we wanted, but didn't quite get there.

Now, reading the descriptions of Lini and Harsk, and seeing the excellent graphics and overall presentation, I believe this app will be at least as popular at my FLGS as the card game.

One of my friends already has it DL, can't wait to see it in action!

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Dusted off my 3 year old Nexus, and spent a full day updating all the firmware, software and the like. With that done I got the game up and running with little trouble, I'm enjoying myself a lot, managed to beat Brigandoom, and bought the entire RotRL set, still have yet to beat the first adventure in Sandpoint.

Liberty's Edge

It's pretty buggy but I'm having a blast so far.

My biggest beef with the ACG has always been that setting up/cleaning up is a chore. This digital version is great!


DragoDorn wrote:
*Still waiting to hear about a non-card game Pathfinder/Obsidian RPG*

I want this very badly.

I just hope they go full on Pathfinder with it, like what BG was to 2E and NWN was to 3.X, and dont simply reskin the Pillars of Eternity mechanics/gameplay onto a game set in Golarion (I enjoyed PoE overall, but wasn't a fan of its various 4Eisms).


Obsidian tells a tale of neverending bugs.

I was lucky to find black fang with the spyglass. Closed all other locatons but one.
So one player was at black fang, the second player was in the other location for temporiliy closing it. I confronted black fang, for temporarily closing i mistakenly chose banish a blessing. I tried to cancel this choice and chose die roll, but canceling this banish action automatically stopped the temporal close action, so ....

Damn!


Twice I've had the game crash on the turn on which I was going to win, and then be so confused on restart there was literally no option I could take but forfeit.

Still, I'm enjoying it.


Is quest mode hanging in the load screen for anyone else?

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