There were some things I thoroughly liked about this book, but I cannot count it among my favorite Pathfinder Tales (Death's Heretic, Night Glass, anything by Dave Gross).
Only minor spoilers below:
The vengeance plot/theme was just a little too dominant for me, as though a single note was being played from the very first chapter to the last. It didn't leave room for character development or growth for much of the novel. My interest waned as the quest plodded along for the first half of the book - being exposed to the Darklands for the first time as a Tales reader couldn't make up for the fact that the plot was simply to track the antagonist from point A to point B.
My interest was once again piqued later in the novel when the protagonists started interacting with the human and orc tribal characters. It was here that I finally began to like Kagur, as she came into her own as a leader and softened just the slightest bit. I wish the journey to Orv could have been fast-forwarded, and we could have spent more time with the tribes.
Reading the other two reviews online at the time I write this, maybe I just wasn't the target audience for this one, not being a huge fan of Burroughs.
To leave on a high note... Things I liked:
- that you could not only identify one of the main characters as an oracle, but you knew exactly what curse he had. Continuing to highlight uniquely "pathfinder" classes (like the alchemist in City of the Fallen Sky) helps distinguish the Tales line from other fantasy stories.
- battles with strange creatures (like the gibbering mouther) that don't actually refer to the monster's name, especially when the fish-out-of-water characters wouldn't know what it was.
- strong female protagonist
- Mammoth Lords getting some love in the Tales line
As someone who has a full run of the old AD&D, Forgoten Realms, Dragonlance and Spelljammer comics, I can't tell you how happy I was to get my hands on Pathfinder #1!
It was a decent enough kick off to the story with a lot of character introductions and a nice cliffhanger, but what really set this issue apart was the extra content at the end. There was a map insert that would have been REALLY handy if I had it when I was running RotRL the first time, and will definitely get use if I run the new hardcover version of the AP. There was an evocative multi-page introduction to Sandpoint as well. Not much I haven't seen written up elsewhere, but I could see how this little taste of Golarion could get people really interested into Pathfinder. There were a ton of stat blocks and other content, too. So not only did I enjoy the comic as a comic book fan, but I got content I could use as a GM, and I could give this comic to non-gamer friends to get them into RPing. I hope this balance of content continues!!!
From the number of paint steps to the sculpt details to the dynamic pose, this is the most impressive common mini I've ever seen, going back to the DDM Harbinger set.
This review is based on a purchase of three boosters.
I am a long time collector of minis, going back to the Harbinger DDM set, but I had not picked up the Heroes and Monsters set, because for the last few years, I figured I had enough pre-painted plastic. The quality of the RotRL sculpts changed that.
The commons of this set are easily as good quality as many of the uncommons from DDM. The Bugbear Hero has got to be the best common miniature I've ever seen. The large uncommons (I got the lamia matriarch, stone giant champion and ogre brute) were all fantastic - I couldn't believe the stone giant champion wasn't a rare until I looked it up. The humanoid figures all had great poses and distinctive paint-jobs - easily distinguishable among the thousand or so DDM minis I have.
The only negative I can come up with is really minor in the grand scheme of things - the harpy was a little small, in comparison to the other humanoids in the RotRL set and the DDM harpies I have.
This was an enjoyable read. Alaeron and Skiver, especially, were fully realized characters. Skiver - he could carry his own trilogy. I've never played an alchemist or GMed for one, but it was nonetheless nice to see one represented so well on the page. Heck, Alaeron has got me wanting to play one now.
Without getting into spoilers, the antagonist of the novel didn't do it for me, but that's really just a nitpick. This was a solid book, just behind Death's Heretic and Nightglass in my mind. I'd happily read another offering by Pratt, with or without Skiver and Alaeron!
