Pathfinder Adventure Path #19: "Howl of the Carrion King" (Legacy of Fire 1 of 6) (OGL)

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Chapter 1: "Howl of the Carrion King"
by Erik Mona

Hear the cry of war!

In the exotic nation of Katapesh, a land of fortune and wonders, heroes are those with the courage to command their destinies. Such wisdom leads a daring band to the abandoned village of Kelmarane with the hopes of reestablishing the once prosperous community. But buzzards still feast upon the secluded settlement’s corpse: a savage tribe of gnolls and their bestial allies hold the town in the name of a merciless master known only as the Carrion King. Can the PCs retake the village from its feral conquerors, or is Kelmarane but the first bastion of civilization to fall before the hordes of the mysterious warlord?

    This volume of the Pathfinder Adventure Path begins the Legacy of Fire, and includes:
  • “Howl of the Carrion King,” an adventure for 1st-level characters, by Erik Mona
  • An investigation into the savage gnoll tribes of the Brazen Peaks, their brutal culture, and their merciless members, by Eric Haddock
  • Ruins once sacred to the god of magic have become the lair of a living curse in “The Refuge of Nethys,” a Set Piece adventure by James MacKenzie
  • The adventures of druid Channa Ti begin in “Dark Tapestry,” a new chronicle in the Pathfinder’s Journal, by New York Times bestselling author Elaine Cunningham
  • Five new monsters by Adam Daigle, James Jacobs, and F. Wesley Schneider

For characters of 1st to 5th level.

Pathfinder Adventure Path is Paizo Publishing's monthly 96-page, perfect-bound, full-color softcover book printed on high-quality paper. It contains an in-depth Adventure Path scenario, stats for about a half-dozen new monsters, and several support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Because Pathfinder uses the Open Game License, it is 100% compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game.

ISBN–13: 978-1-60125-159-6

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Archives of Nethys

Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscription.

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The pugwampi ruined this adventure

1/5

The encounter in the monestary with the pugwampi is so incredebly unfun, that it completely ruined the whole evening for our whole group.

Does not live up to the standard ive gotten used to from Paizo.

I will not reccomend this to others


One fantastic beginning

5/5

This is probably the best first-level module, and first Adventure Path installment, that I've run. I loved it, the players loved it, they still talk about it today.

The characters are hired to meet up with a trade caravan and reclaim an Arabesque city from gnolls, in order to restore it to a functioning trade hub; while the path goes to bigger and greater things later, here, it's low-level town reclamation and gnoll slaying. In fact, the module is kind of a low-level guerrilla assault on the gnoll-occupied village, where the players have the freedom to choose how and where they strike. Likewise, there's a lot of room for gnoll counter-attacks, or an assault on the PCs' monastery base.

And not just gnolls; there's a great variety of monsters at play, leading to some interesting and memorable combats. Best of all was the introduction of some gremlins as introductory villains. These little guys are pushovers stat-wise, but exude an aura of unluck which makes them really tough to deal with. Plus, they have a habit of hiding out in areas that have dangerous terrain features---cactus patches, for one---that has great synergy with their aura.

Granted, there's a lot more than just killin'. There's a lot of places to explore, including some interesting adventure seeds, and a set-piece mini-dungeon later in this book. The module introduces a batch of NPCs with the caravan, with plenty of opportunities to roleplay; on top of this, there's options for several of the "bad guys" to be talked/bribed into the PCs' side. And there's several locations, including the entire town, for the PCs to reclaim and occupy.

All in all, a very memorable module with a lot of grit and detail. The enemies are challenging without being overpowered, the setting is great---the art design in these books is simply stunning---and the plot is interesting and engaging. Add in the standard Path features---a bestiary, an overview of the gnoll tribes in the area---and you have a lot to work with adventure-wise. I highly recommend this Path; even alone this module is worth it.


Portuguese (br) review

4/5

Howl of the Carrion King é uma excelente aventura inicial, completa, cativante e com uma trama instigante, de uma forma como não se via desde Rise of the Runelords. Infelizmente ela tem uns probleminhas de ter de pausar a estória para os personagens irem ganhar XP, mas nada que um mestre habilidoso não já tenha aprendido a lidar. Os artigos suplementam muito bem a aventura, sendo indispensáveis ao sucesso da mesma. Os monstros novos são muito divertidos e criativos. Realmente uma edição recomendada. Parabéns Paizo.


Could be so much better. Poor quality books

2/5

Legacy of Fire has a good story but the encounters fall short because the adventure path series waste too much space on non essential material. Like fiction that has nothing to do with the series except it take place in the region. Monsters that are not used in the adventure path. A "extra" filler adventure that is in most of the books is lower level then the actual book that is should be played in. Pretty much all the encounters are basic thug attacks with underpowered opponents and no variety. Some encounter are good and can be deadly but most are just a waste of space. The party quickly adapts to these basic thug attacks. These thug attacks turn into a exercise in dice rolling with hardly any challenge. If Paizo spent more time on the adventure and less wasting the extra space on non essential fluff and rules this series could have been so much better.

This adventure path series tries to do too much. Paizo needs to focus more on the adventure then adding a bunch of extra fluff and rules. Save that stuff for the rule books and regional books.

The paper in the books is really nice but the bindings are poor quality. After one use the pages start falling out. Almost all of the six books lost some pages after one use.


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Liberty's Edge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Adventure Subscriber

Lots of good announcements today!

I could not resist taking the first post on AP4!

Sovereign Court

Free an enslaved village from Gnoll marauders?
Awesome!~


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Elaine Cunningham?
Awesome~

Provided it doesn't focus on the elves, pansy tree hugging sissies, they get too much spotlight I say! When are the dwarves going to get their turn huh? HUH?!

Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

Aarrgghh! Too much interest piquing for something sooo far away!!!


What Character levels? What Character levels?! Is it set in a desert based environment?

Us Blue Dragons love deserts. :-)

The Exchange

AP 4! now, that's some good news. I saw it coming though, becuse there were some clues about it in the last CoTCT AP, in the preview by the writer of each volume.


Lord Snow wrote:
AP 4! now, that's some good news. I saw it coming though, becuse there were some clues about it in the last CoTCT AP, in the preview by the writer of each volume.

What clues?

Contributor

No tree-hugging elves this time around. :)

Dark Archive

We should be getting the full preview for this AP in Pathfinder Volume 12 coming out for subscribers in the next week or so. I am really interested to hear what the "end goal" of this AP is. We've stopped the return of a mad Arch Wizard, we've saved a city from the chosen blue dragon warlord of Zon-Kuthon, and we will be stopping the drow from pulling a star down from the sky to destroy the world. What nefarious enemy will we face now. I can't wait to find out.

Sovereign Court

No, we will be getting the full preview for Second Darkness.

The Exchange

Brent wrote:
We should be getting the full preview for this AP in Pathfinder Volume 12 coming out for subscribers in the next week or so. I am really interested to hear what the "end goal" of this AP is. We've stopped the return of a mad Arch Wizard, we've saved a city from the chosen blue dragon warlord of Zon-Kuthon, and we will be stopping the drow from pulling a star down from the sky to destroy the world. What nefarious enemy will we face now. I can't wait to find out.

No we'll be getting a full preview for the Second Darkness AP in Pathfinder 12. And if you're subscribing you'll be getting the first part of that at the same time.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

BluePigeon wrote:
What Character levels? What Character levels?! Is it set in a desert based environment?

Since this adventure launches the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path, it will start at level 1. PCs probably get to between 3rd and 4th by the end of it. As for being a desert setting, I think that's pretty guaranteed, as it's set near the Katapesh/Osirion border, and gnolls (who appear to be the primary enemies here) are typically desert-dwelling creatures. James has said in the chat and posts here that the AP will have a strong "Sinbad" feel to it, so expect a lot of desert.

Dark Archive

Mark Peyton wrote:
Brent wrote:
We should be getting the full preview for this AP in Pathfinder Volume 12 coming out for subscribers in the next week or so. I am really interested to hear what the "end goal" of this AP is. We've stopped the return of a mad Arch Wizard, we've saved a city from the chosen blue dragon warlord of Zon-Kuthon, and we will be stopping the drow from pulling a star down from the sky to destroy the world. What nefarious enemy will we face now. I can't wait to find out.
No we'll be getting a full preview for the Second Darkness AP in Pathfinder 12. And if you're subscribing you'll be getting the first part of that at the same time.

Yikes!! You're right. Got my AP's crossed in my head there for a minute. Thanks for catching it.

Dark Archive

Mr. Slaad wrote:
No, we will be getting the full preview for Second Darkness.

You're right. Sorry about that. Got my AP's crossed in my head. Thanks for catching it.

Sovereign Court

Elaine Cunningham wrote:

No tree-hugging elves this time around. :)

gutted.

Scarab Sages

yoda8myhead wrote:
Since this adventure launches the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path, it will start at level 1.

While that is probably true, it is not necessarily so.

James has mentioned before that some APs may start at levels other than 1.


The Adventure Path will be 3.5 or PRPG?

Liberty's Edge

Hurricane wrote:
The Adventure Path will be 3.5 or PRPG?

If my calendar is accurate, path #5 will be PFRPG, since its first adventure will be released as or after the PFRPG final hits the shelves.

Everything before that, including Legacy of Fire, will be 3.5.

Shadow Lodge

Devil of Roses wrote:

Elaine Cunningham?

Awesome~

Provided it doesn't focus on the elves, pansy tree hugging sissies, they get too much spotlight I say! When are the dwarves going to get their turn huh? HUH?!

they dont cause no ne wants to read bout dwarves!

And sense when are drow tree huggin sissies?

Shadow Lodge

Elaine i just finished reading your starlight and shadows series and i hope to find more liriel baenre books. Elves are the best!

Grand Lodge

Devil of Roses wrote:

Elaine Cunningham?

Awesome~

Provided it doesn't focus on the elves, pansy tree hugging sissies, they get too much spotlight I say! When are the dwarves going to get their turn huh? HUH?!

I agree! Enough of the sissy elves. All bravado and no guts. Couldn't even stick it out on Golarion when the chips were down and ran home to mommy.

I vote for kicking the elves out of Golarion entirely and letting dwarves take their rightful places!

Shadow Lodge

Foolish Dwarves, Golorian is for big people!


Devil of Roses wrote:

Elaine Cunningham?

Awesome~

Provided it doesn't focus on the elves, pansy tree hugging sissies, they get too much spotlight I say! When are the dwarves going to get their turn huh? HUH?!

Agreed, dwarves never get any respect in modern fantasy.

And if this series will be covering gnolls, then I'm already there. Gnolls are some of my favorite monsters!


BluePigeon wrote:

What Character levels? What Character levels?! Is it set in a desert based environment?

Us Blue Dragons love deserts. :-)

Um, yeah.......Being that it is a brand new adventure path the character levels would be 1-3.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Maps Subscriber

It would be nice to have an AP centered around a Dwarven Clan and their home.

Dark Archive

Shem wrote:
It would be nice to have an AP centered around a Dwarven Clan and their home.

Aren't you following the blog? They announced it, Paizo even published a trailer (start at 4:20).

And for those seeing too much of the fair folk, not to fear! Get your Sneak Preview of "Golarion: Redesigning the Elves, but damn-it right this time!" right here (start at 6:44). Golarion elves will have CHA -2, and players will be obligated to speak with a German accent. I must say, I wasn't sold on Golarion until now.

Liberty's Edge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Adventure Subscriber

When should we expect the final cover art to be posted?

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Mr Baron wrote:
When should we expect the final cover art to be posted?

Maybe in a month or so.

Paizo Employee Chief Creative Officer, Publisher

It's for levels 1-5. Players will probably be halfway between 5th and 6th at the end, assuming they take a scorched earth approach and go kill-krazy on everything.


I am delighted to see Erik Mona's name on a product again. The Whispering Cairn is my favourite Dungeon adventure from the Paizo years. I would not be here if it weren't for that module getting me started running a game again. I would happily buy an entire adventure path by him.


Taliesin Hoyle wrote:
I am delighted to see Erik Mona's name on a product again. The Whispering Cairn is my favourite Dungeon adventure from the Paizo years. I would not be here if it weren't for that module getting me started running a game again. I would happily buy an entire adventure path by him.

Oh yea, I loved Burnt offerings and Edge of anarchy, but as a campaign starter adventure, nothing has won The Whispering Cairn. This is a must buy just because the author of it...

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

I've added the final cover art!

Liberty's Edge

Vic Wertz wrote:
I've added the final cover art!

Wow, very cool. Who's the cover artist for this AP?

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Mothman wrote:
Vic Wertz wrote:
I've added the final cover art!
Wow, very cool. Who's the cover artist for this AP?

Jesper Ejsing.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Vic Wertz wrote:
Mothman wrote:
Vic Wertz wrote:
I've added the final cover art!
Wow, very cool. Who's the cover artist for this AP?

Jesper Ejsing.

Something tells me that I'm going to love this path. And no, I'm not judging the book *solely* by its cover. I might have to get someone to run me through this one, though. It seems like it'll be a fun one to experience from that other side of the table.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
Vic Wertz wrote:
I've added the final cover art!

I like the tile-like background pattern. It looks cool. The right leg of the foreground NPC, though looked like a giant hand to me at first.

Liberty's Edge

I've had the weirdest idea... I wonder how feasible this AP might be to run using AEG's Legend of the Burning Sands RPG...


I've just checked out Jesper's website and she's got a really interesting artistic style. Not really sure whether or not it'll suit pathfinder but should be something different at least. That being said I'm not really that keen on this cover the cover gal's left hand (on the right side of the page) just looks deformed though the scene (for lack of a better term) looks ok. Though those gnolls don't really look all that gnoll-ish in my opinion.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Cheddar Bearer wrote:
I've just checked out Jesper's website and she's got a really interesting artistic style. Not really sure whether or not it'll suit pathfinder but should be something different at least. That being said I'm not really that keen on this cover the cover gal's left hand (on the right side of the page) just looks deformed though the scene (for lack of a better term) looks ok. Though those gnolls don't really look all that gnoll-ish in my opinion.

He. Jesper is a man.

Dark Archive

I don't like the cover for this one as much as I did the first three AP's covers. That said, it could grow on me. I am looking forward to this path, although not as much as I am the one after it.

Silver Crusade

Nice new cover.

Dark Archive

I really love the cover and I like the hyena-look of the gnolls. The patterns in the background and the frame of the scenic picture is awesome! This one looks really, really nice! I can't wait for it to be released! :-)


Yoda8myhead wrote:
He. Jesper is a man.

Oops. That was a pretty dumb mistake especially considering Jesper is a guys name and there is a picture of him on his webpage.


This adventure path might be useful for some of my Dark Sun campaign I'm running :)


so excited about this Path.
bring it on!

Liberty's Edge

Now I see what looks like a new player character on the cover. Will future Pathfinder issues continue the tradition of having interesting pre-generated characters. Or is that done now that all the iconic classes have been covered?

Scarab Sages

Tikon2000 wrote:
Now I see what looks like a new player character on the cover. Will future Pathfinder issues continue the tradition of having interesting pre-generated characters. Or is that done now that all the iconic classes have been covered?

According to James Jacobs in a post in the Persian Princess Blog thread:

"She's the lady the PCs will be working for in the first adventure. Her name is Almah Roveshki."

Sovereign Court

Way to go, Erik!


Any one can give me this one for christmas, 2009 christmas maybe


Looking forward to it ;-)...
.... actually, I 'd like to see an entirely Gnoll centric AP at some point....

The arts great but....Um....can I ask who picked the yellow for the cover ?

In the words of Q2..."Ewww...what a dreadful colour!"

The orange tone looks much nicer !!

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