Way of the Wicked—Book #1: Knot of Thorns (PFRPG) PDF

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BE THE BAD GUY!

The Kingdom of Talingarde is the most noble, virtuous, peaceful nation in the known world. Herein is the story of how you burned this insipid paradise to the ground.

It's only fair. They burned you first.

They condemned you for your wicked deeds. They branded you. They shipped you to the worst prison in the kingdom. In three days, you die. In three days, the do-gooders pray they'll be rid of you.

They've given you three days. The fools, that's more than you need to break out. And then, it will be their turn to face the fire.

Welcome to the first chapter of the "Way of the Wicked" adventure path! Inside you'll find:

  • "Knot of Thorns," an adventure for 1st level villains compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game by Gary McBride.
  • Full color art and maps by Michael Clarke
  • A gazetteer of brave, noble, doomed Talingarde
  • Advice for running a successful villainous campaign
  • Rules for creating wicked PCs
  • A 100-page full color PDF (including printer friendly version) full of vice and villainy.
  • And more!

You've saved the world plenty.

This time, the world needs saving from you.

Product Availability

Fulfilled immediately.

Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

FRM1001E


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4.50/5 (based on 24 ratings)

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The only good book in this AP.

3/5

The title says it all. Book 1 of Way of the Wicked is fantastic, with a great and memorable starting setpiece, So is the Watch Wall, with a lot of options for the PCs.

-1 Star from my overall rating, with the whole Kickstarter fraud thing others have mentioned.


Fraud

1/5

I would love to give this product a higher rating but it has been written by a fraudster, Gary McBride, who tricked 315 people into giving him $40,000 through Kickstarter and refused to communicate with them for 4 years now. Despite multiple appeals from backers he has backed over 520 other kickstarters since then, logging in every week though seemingly unable to respond to his backers products. Shame on Paizo for selling the products of a con man and allowing him to continue profiting from rpg fans.

For details of the swindle and Gary McBride’s backing record see https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/730004812/throne-of-night-a-pathfinder -rpg-adventure-path/comments


Written by a fraudster

1/5

I would love to give this product a higher rating but it has been written by a fraudster, Gary McBride, who tricked 315 people into giving him $40,000 through Kickstarter and refused to communicate with them for 4 years now. Despite multiple appeals from backers he has backed over 520 other kickstarters since then, logging in every week though seemingly unable to respond to his backers products. Shame on Paizo for selling the products of a con man and allowing him to continue profiting from rpg fans.

For details of the swindle and Gary McBride’s backing record see https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/730004812/throne-of-night-a-pathfinder -rpg-adventure-path/comments


Excellent campaign

5/5

This is more of a review of the entire AP. I just finished running it after a long run. It is one of the best AP's I have run, some bits of some modules are a bit weak , I think book 5 has some problems with player actions and planning. However if you are willing to deal with all the problems a very high level party can cause and expand a bit over the last 2 books were this power gives the pc's so many options that the books cannot cover them all then this works well.

An evil party gets the chance to become the evil overlords of the land and show their true natures , mine were suprisingly subtle and restrained but it can be fun to see how things turn out.


It has begun

5/5

Despite the relative age of the Way of the Wicked it holds up very well.

Provided the players understand and buy into this campaign's concept they will have a Hell of a good time.

This chapter packs a lot of material from start to end. You get a lot of adventure for your money and the maps are well done. There are a lot of player handouts that you may want to review and re-do for the vision-impaired players (or yourself!).

Especially for the price point the campaign is worth every penny so long as everyone buys in for the long haul.


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Contributor

Any chance of the print version through Paizo?


donato wrote:
Any chance of the print version through Paizo?

I'll never say never, but for now DriveThruRPG is the only place the print version is available.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, it is a fire to be kindled" -- Plutarch


I ordered the print version. I thought that was how you would release a print version. This will be my first print on demand book. Curious how it looks.


PathfinderFan64 wrote:
I ordered the print version. I thought that was how you would release a print version. This will be my first print on demand book. Curious how it looks.

I have a proof copy and it looks great!

I was greatly concerned about quality and we made sure this was up to our standards. And I confidently feel that it is.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


PathfinderFan64 wrote:
I ordered the print version. I thought that was how you would release a print version. This will be my first print on demand book. Curious how it looks.

Ditto here :) Just bought it and downloading the pdf now.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

Any chance of a hardback compilation of the series?


Kvantum wrote:
Any chance of a hardback compilation of the series?

I will take a page from Paizo here and say "we have no plans currently or in the foreseeable future."

I'll never say never. But if it does happen it will far far FAR in the future. If you want "Way of the Wicked" you need to buy our books and PDFs.

Honestly, we are a small company. If you want more deluxe products to even have a chance of eventually materializing, our books must sell now.

Regardless, thanks for your interest!

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games

Grand Lodge

How's Book 2 coming along?


kevin_video wrote:
How's Book 2 coming along?

Book two closes in on completion. We will definitely make our goal of having it out this month but not in the first two weeks. A few art pieces and maps left to finalize.

Work is already ramping up on Book 3.

If I were giving the "elevator pitch" for the first three books, this is what I'd say:

Book One -- the birth of a villain, escape and then your first taste of vengeance
Book Two -- Dungeon Keeper for Pathfinder
Book Three -- Angel slayer! The Book where you get to get to craft magic items out of angel bones.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


Those all sound awesome. I absolutely loved Dungeon Keeper (well 2 anyway, don't think I played the original)

Will books be available as PoD through Drive-Thru straight away on release, or am I going to have to wait for my hardcopy again?


I was very likely going to buy this anyway, but you got me with the Dungeon Keeper pitch.

What additional materials -- gazetteer and such -- are you planning to include with Book 2?

Doug M.


Peanuts,

Thanks for the kind words. Glad to hear you are as excited about upcoming releases as I am.

We are going to try to coordinate the print release and the PDF release on the next book so you should be able to get them simultaneously.

Thanks for your interest!

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


Doug,

Glad to hear your excited about the next book. I am eager to get it out the door.

First, take this with a grain of salt. Layout is still being finalized so there could be changes, even extensive ones.

That said, you'll likely get three appendices with this product:

1) A Farholde Gazetteer -- a gazetteer and full color, full-page map of the most remote, northernmost part of Talingarde on the edge of the great Caer Bryr.

2) Masters of Evil -- An optional system for making the leadership feat a more playable, practical part of an evil game and rules for building your own island-spanning evil organization. The Knot of Thorns takes root and grows!

3) Deeper Shades of Darkness -- An essay about campaign variants besides your typical evil campaign. For example, how would run "Way of the Wicked" as an all-cleric campaign.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


More preview art.

The fearsome gorgimera by Michael Clarke arrives. This three-headed monstrosity will appear in full color in our forthcoming book "Way of the Wicked Book Two: Call Forth Darkness" which drops this month!

Book One: Knot of Thorns is for sale right now both as a PDF and a full-color softbound book.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled" -- Plutarch


That needs to be a tattoo :-)


Herbo,

Gorgimeras aren't unintelligent. I think the beast would be flattered if you had a tattoo of the it. The monstrosity might pause, admire the workmanship and briefly hold off from bathing you in a searing spray of caustic vapor.

Briefly.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


Fire Mountain Games (both myself and artist Michael Clarke) will be panelists at Gamestorm near Portland, Oregon in March.

I will also be running demos of "Way of the Wicked : Prison Break!"

If you're there be sure to stop by the booth and say hello!

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


Picked up the preview, loved the concept and went forward with getting the full module. I get to run it Monday, I'm intriqued to see my players trying to bust out of prison. Group is comprised of:

A human witch, shadow patron (NE), guilty of the crime of consorting with dark powers

A half-orc armor master archetype fighter (LE) guilty of the crime of dessertion

A dwarven (LE) monk guilty of murder

An elven bladebound magus (LE), guilty of dueling to the death

A half-elven knife master rogue (NE), guilty of high theft

A gnome pyromaniac oracle of flame (NE), guilty of arson (shocking!)

For character creation we used something similar to the Focus and Foible methond in the module, but slightly modified. I figured with six characters it could be fun, so the six attributes were tossed in a hat, each player drew one out, that became their focus, then back in the hat and they drew out their foible. Then each picked a remaining stat and I rolled the remaing stats and they went down the line, so everyone started with the same base stats, just in different places, not adjusting for race. Should be interesting to see things play out.


I was intrigued enough to pick this up. I haven't read it in depth, but it looks great. It might even tempt me back into running Pathfinder at some point in the future.

I still want to reserve a bit of enthusiasm until I can really pick this apart with a good read through.

I'm not sold on the Focus and Foible thing, but I love the traits being based on the character's crime.

Grand Lodge

We're about ready to do our game. Just need to finish with the character creation part. So far, this is what we've got...

A LE shadow gnome assassin (Kobold Quarterly base class) that's guilty of murder.

A N half-succubus vishkanya spell-less ranger (Kobold Quarterly variant) that's guilty of trying to summon her incubus father back onto the material plane (consorting with dark powers).

A LE kitsune ninja that's guilty of attempted murder.

A LE dhampir swashbuckler (Tome of Secrets base class) that's guilty of dueling unto death and piracy.

A N human cleric that's guilty of blasphemy and heresy. Mostly because he's delusional believes himself to be a god and that everyone should worship him. (In secret he's actually descended from a godly outsider.)

A N tiefling fire elemental wizard pyromaniac that's guilty of arson (oh the originality).

Since a couple of these guys have resistances, I'm taking the advice that I asked for from Gary, and having acid burns and tattoos put on them. The pyromancer has made it his life long duty to make sure to mark everyone responsible, right back. The cleric agreed, and is considering doing the same thing. It will be their side revenge scheme.


Out of curiosity, what are people's thoughts on what the PC's see on the way in? Do they arrive with hoods on their heads until they reach the branding area or do they get a chance to see some of the guardposts (and possibly the password)? Also, do they get a last meal (these being LG jailors and all) or no food or drink period (they are all pretty much scheduled for execution in three days, might not bother)?

Grand Lodge

I'm having them come in on a coach, much like a prison bus. Then they'll all be led to the branding area, no hoods. Everyone will see everything so that they know what's coming for them next. Since they're in a chain gang, it's only worse because you know who's first and who's last. I'll have them make exhaustion checks for standing on their legs all day while the acid burning and tattooing is taking place. That'll take a considerably amount of time.

I'm not giving them a chance to see the password. They'll have to investigate that on their own. If they don't get out within the first few days, they'll be given a last meal.


4 people marked this as a favorite.
John Malueg wrote:
Out of curiosity, what are people's thoughts on what the PC's see on the way in? Do they arrive with hoods on their heads until they reach the branding area or do they get a chance to see some of the guardposts (and possibly the password)? Also, do they get a last meal (these being LG jailors and all) or no food or drink period (they are all pretty much scheduled for execution in three days, might not bother)?

You know, this is the bit that if I ever do a special edition of this adventure that I'm going to add a page or two to flesh out.

Here's what I would do until that happens (and to be fair, it may never happen).

Spoiler:

I would read this to the players:

They brought you to the prison in the back of a rickety wooden wagon, hooded and shackled. What could you hear but the crack of the whip, the neigh of the team? What could you see but the inside of your hood, faint traces of light? What could you feel but cold iron and rough sackcloth? You were bound for the worst prison in Talingarde. You were bound for Branderscar. No one had ever escaped from that hell hole. What more did you need to know?

I would then have the PCs roll a Perception skill check. Whoever rolls the highest has a hole in their mask.

I would hand that PC a crude drawn version of the Branderscar map complete with a few tantalizing details and great big gaps everywhere. I would make sure that the PC with the map isn't the same PC as the one Tiadora gives the veil to.

I definitely wouldn't give them the password for free. They have to earn that on their own (hopefully in an appropriately evil way).

And then cut to them in their cell and run as written at that point.

As far as feeding the prisoners, if they remain in their cell long enough, they get fed once a day. It might be a great time to break out, except the guards are most ready for trouble at feeding time.

Thoughts?

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled." -- Plutarch


KnightErrantJR,

Thanks for the kind words and I'm glad you are enjoying the book.

After picking it apart further, I would love to hear what you think.

And to everyone who is running the campaign, would love to hear about the progress of your campaigns.

More is on the way.

Book two is so near to completion I can almost taste it...

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I wouldn't immediately cut to their cell. I'd have them go through the agonizing walk into the prison to the branding pot, where they'll be told how it works at Branderscar, then go through the turmoil they experience, and THEN put them in their cell.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
kevin_video wrote:
I wouldn't immediately cut to their cell. I'd have them go through the agonizing walk into the prison to the branding pot, where they'll be told how it works at Branderscar, then go through the turmoil they experience, and THEN put them in their cell.

Oh, even better!

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


Fire Mountain Games wrote:
donato wrote:
Any chance of the print version through Paizo?

I'll never say never, but for now DriveThruRPG is the only place the print version is available.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, it is a fire to be kindled" -- Plutarch

No doubt there's all kinds of complications and issues. Nonetheless, I'd be certain to pick up a print copy if it were available here, but almost certainly won't elsewhere (I'm not strictly rational when it comes to RPG purchases).

Grand Lodge

Fire Mountain Games wrote:
kevin_video wrote:
I wouldn't immediately cut to their cell. I'd have them go through the agonizing walk into the prison to the branding pot, where they'll be told how it works at Branderscar, then go through the turmoil they experience, and THEN put them in their cell.
Oh, even better!

I should probably explain the "works" part better. By that, I mean that they'll meet just who's in charge, and he'll list all of the stuff that they won't be doing or else they'll receive a paddling.


My print edition arrived today. It looks great. They did a great job printing it. Glad you added the print copy. I plan on ordering print copies for the rest of the series.


We've been throwing around character ideas and one that I've come up with is a human Mighty Godling descendant of Mitra. >:D

Silver Crusade

In a couple months we're going to be having a small local gaming convention and was thinking about running the preview adventure there. As such I'll probably be making up a handful of pre-gens for the players to choose from. Anyone have any recommendations on what to make them? Trying to make it a good showing, so characters that people would probably enjoy in this kind of scenario.

Grand Lodge

Geistlinger wrote:
We've been throwing around character ideas and one that I've come up with is a human Mighty Godling descendant of Mitra. >:D

So you're basically rebelling against dad?

@Xzaral -- For pregens, I'd honestly go with fairly core stuff. Have an infernal bloodline tiefling sorcerer, a halfling rogue, a half-elf fighter, a half-orc barbarian, a human cleric of Asmodeus, and an elf witch.


Xzaral,

What convention are you thinking about running the preview and how soon?

If there is time, Fire Mountain Games would be happy to provide some support for this endeavor.

I am already putting together a pack of six pre-gens (with original illustrations) for Gamestorm, the first convention that we will be offically supporting.

Once it is completed, I would be happy to send you a copy.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


PathfinderFan64,

Great to hear you are enjoying the book! And thanks for supporting the line.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


Steve Geddes,

RPGs, in general, are not a matter to be rational about. They are instead a matter to be passionate about. So, I completely respect that attitude. I hope to be able to sell you a book very soon.

But for now, the print version of "Way of the Wicked" is only for sale here.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games

Silver Crusade

Thanks for that!! It's called Xenocon. It's going to be held April 21-22 in the Quad Cities (Iowa side).


1 person marked this as a favorite.

:
Balentyne has burned. The PC's got there, spent a fortnight plotting, then struck. Killed the troupe of actors and left the desecrated remains on the road to draw out a patrol, then ambushed the patrol. Framed the dwarven Leader for theft, timing it so when the captains came to question him he'd be drunk and argumentative, leading to him quitting and taking his lads with him. Played Eddarly and Mott off against each other(Mott got a critical and beheaded him with the first swing of the duel). Lord Havelyn, the Magister, Mad Martin, Father Donnegan and Captain Barhold all died swiftly while in the radius of Silence spells, while a score of rank and file lay sick from poison in their barracks. Having opened the Gates, our vile villains stood on the bridge of death and took on all comers till Sakkarot and his lads cracked the seal and flooded through to take the defenders from the rear.

Awesome campaign, players are loving it, plotting like loons and cackling randomly.
Can't wait for book two, DEFINITELY buying it.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Derfelcadarn wrote:

** spoiler omitted **

Awesome campaign, players are loving it, plotting like loons and cackling randomly.
Can't wait for book two, DEFINITELY buying it.

That, sir, is awesome. Thanks for your report.

You just made my day.

Your villains may have burned Balentyne, but can they hold the Horn of Abaddon?

Book Two is almost here.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


Fire Mountain Games wrote:
Book Two is almost here.

But when will then be now!?


Herbo wrote:
But when will then be now!?

Soon!

But seriously writing is in,initial layout is done, playtest is done, art is in, cartography is a couple of days away. I really want another editorial pass. And then final layout and export.

And then... Book!

And I'm already up to my armpits in book three.

You've burned Balentyne, you've held the Horn, but are you prepared for the anger of angels?

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


Ran Act I on Monday. We were down a player due to illness, which hindered the groups' tactics on account of the missing player is also the most tactically-minded.

Spoiler:
I believe they waited approximately two hours before busting out, in a clumsy but frenetic escape attempt. It did not help things that the rogue was having one of those nights where rolling above a 5 is rare event. There was no bloody handed revenge, either, with the PC's running for their lives while being peppered with arrows. Highlights of the evening include:

The witch charming the guard in the prison guard room while the fighter, monk, magus and rogue went to work on the guard checking on the noise coming from their cell (after the rogue botched quietly removing the chain shackling their legs. After he dropped the lockpicks three times). The best part was the witch's charmed statement to the room guard "It's okay, the other guy is giving us our beatings for being disorderly. Go back about your business."

The other highlight was the gnome oracle being lowered upside down, down the chimney to cast murderous command on the servants, once on each. Then they ran for the guards, which pulled on guard away from the main hall and through the use of a message spell and a disguise check, eventually pulled the second guard off the main hall as well. Then it was the sprint to freedom.

We ended with them reaching the manor house. More to come on Monday.


Okay, it's official. I actually want to run another Pathfinder campaign, and I want it to be this one. Don't have time to do so yet, but I wanted to see another adventure or two before we get going anyway.

Really impressed.


KnightErrantJR wrote:

Okay, it's official. I actually want to run another Pathfinder campaign, and I want it to be this one. Don't have time to do so yet, but I wanted to see another adventure or two before we get going anyway.

Really impressed.

Excellent! Great to hear! Thanks for posting and thanks for your review.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


John Malueg,

Thanks by the way for the play report. I love to read these. I look forward to the next.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games

Grand Lodge

Hey Gary, could you keep us up to date if you're able to do up some pregen characters for this? I was asked to do a game at our local PrairieCon convention, and thought the initial prison break adventure might be good to do. Don't know if I can do it in the 2.5 hour mark that we're restricted to though. I haven't run this for my local group as of yet, but I will have by the time the convention hits in June. I'll get a better feel then.


kevin_video,

Absolutely. I will post here when the pregens are done (sometime in March) and will send them to anyone who asks. If you do end up running the adventure, please let us know and we will send you some prize support via snail mail.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games

Grand Lodge

Fire Mountain Games wrote:

kevin_video,

Absolutely. I will post here when the pregens are done (sometime in March) and will send them to anyone who asks. If you do end up running the adventure, please let us know and we will send you some prize support via snail mail.

Thanks. About the prizes, I wasn't going to ask, but I know the committee was going to. The fact that you're offering saves time. Again, thanks.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Been sitting with this on my wishlist for a while. Placed the order for the pdf today.


kevin_video,

No problem! Thanks for buying and help promote our book!

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


Squeatus wrote:
Been sitting with this on my wishlist for a while. Placed the order for the pdf today.

Excellent! Thanks for buying the PDF. Please let us know what you think of it.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games

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