Way of the Wicked—Book #4: Of Dragons and Princesses (PFRPG) PDF

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BECOME A MASTER OF DRAGONS!

The king of Talingarde must die! Your dread master commands you to carry out this errand of blood. Do you have what it takes to assassinate the king of the most noble, virtuous realm in all the world? Are you ready to seek out the most wicked and powerful of dragons and treat with him to destroy the king’s only heir—the fair princess Bellinda?

Welcome to the fourth chapter of the critically acclaimed, Ennie-nominated “Way of the Wicked” adventure path!

Inside you’ll find:

  • "Of Dragons and Princesses,” an adventure compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game designed for 13th-level villains by Gary McBride
  • Full color art and maps by Michael Clarke
  • A gazetteer of the noble city of Matharyn, capital of Talingarde
  • Rules for playing vampire and lich PCs
  • Everything you need to run a city sacking sandbox
  • And More!

Sack a city! Terrorize a nation! Kill a king! Ride a dragon into a battle! All of this you must do if you are to walk the Way of the Wicked.

Who wants to be a hero, when it’s so much more fun to be the bad guy?

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

FRM1004E


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4.00/5 (based on 7 ratings)

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Filler, Filler, Interesting Climax.

2/5

This book is filler. It's not *terrible* filler mechanically, but a good two thirds of it could be replaced by just about anything and be just as relevant to the plot.

Seriously, I don't have too much to say about it, positive or negative. There are two...

- Black dragons are notoriously anti-social, hating all intelligent life, even other black dragons. Why does saving his son allow the PCs an audience with a black wyrm?
- The king should be well aware of his daughter's power, since hit dice is a real, calculable thing in the world of Pathfinder. She's a sorcerer 19, three levels higher than he is; anything that threatens her isn't going to be meaningfully impacted by his presence.

Again, subtracted 1 star from my actual score due to the whole 'fraud' thing.


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


Holy Guacamole

5/5

You're only half-way through and your group of terrors are already 13th level? Oh myyyy.

This chapter fully expects your villains to use the mighty magics and killing power at their disposal. Lacking access to 6th and 7th level cleric/wizard spells could severely hurt your ability to wreak havoc and unleash further mayhem.

One of the pleasant surprises during the later chapters of the Way of the Wicked is how long circle of death and similar spells remain viable offensive spells, which is a first in my experience with published 3e/3.5/Pathfinder campaigns.


Of Dragons and Princesses Review

5/5

Warning: Potential spoilers. Written from a GM's perspective. I ran this for 6 PCs.

This installment of Way of the Wicked was a pleasant surprise for me. After running through three great books, I shouldn't have been surprised when this one turned out to be a blast. However, on paper there were a few things that worried me about this book.

My first concern was the first act of the book. It is a sandbox style sacking of the city of Daveryn that is quite long and seemed like it would risk being stagnant. I still do believe that this is potential weak spot in the campaign. However, this weakness was easily navigated by cherry picking the sections that I thought would be interesting to my players and having Fire-Axe bring them up to the players. The rest of the events, I just held in reserve in case my players decided to explore. Personally, I ran the Duelist Academy event, because we had a Swashbuckler who loves challenging people to duels, the Baroness's encounter, because she is the cousin of one of the PCs and I merged the prison and the rebellion into one encounter, because I knew my PCs would love the opportunity to recruit prisoners and Ifran had useful information. I also ran the Duke's encounter via minion quest. All of these events seemed enjoyable for my players.

My second concern for this game was that the story seemed very reliant on the players making specific choices. I feared that players would decide not to bother with Chargammon or try to kill the princess. However, I did not face any issues with this. Thorn's plan offered enough intrigue for my players and Dessiter was a useful tool for persuading the players out of inadvisable plans, like trying to take Thorn out immediately.

In addition to the above areas, there were some other really great parts of this book. Eiramanthus in particular turned out to be a great boss battle. Spells like Mislead and Reverse Gravity made for a memorable and cinematic feel, while his melee prowess and anti-magic field had a reasonably optimized party of six fearing for their lives. The battle was so good that the happiest player at the table was the one who died, because she thought her death was epic.

The characters continue to be excellent. Chargammon was appropriately terrifying. Jeratheon is a fun addition. His dysfunctional relationship with his father opens up a lot of interesting RP opportunities that I think will continue to pay off after Chargammon's death. Also, even though Dessiter was introduced in the last book, I feel obliged to acknowledge him again, because he is such an excellent character. Every time he says something I can tell my players aren't sure whether to laugh, buy him a drink or punch him in the face.

Overall, this whole adventure path continues to be excellent and I have yet to find a good reason not to recommend it.


5/5

I've reviewed this book over on RPGGeek.com.


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Silver Crusade

Must have it!


Thank Asmodeus payday is tomorrow!


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Must buy :)

... Still need to pick up the hardcopies of the older ones when I get a little extra money.


Asmodeus be praised! My prayers have been answered! Now I must clean up the the pentacle before the blood stains the stone...


Not available on drivethru yet...
MUST HAVE IT!


It's submitted on DriveThruRPG, they are just not as awesomely speedy as Liz on Paizo.com.

Gary

Contributor

Aww yeah. \m/

Spoiler:
Speediness may or may not be caffeine-induced.


Could you explain the print copy available on Paizo? Is it the same as the other 3 print copies that were available elsewhere?

Silver Crusade

I think I'll grab the print copy of this one. That'll induce me to go back and buy print copies of the previous three too.

Grand Lodge

Fire Mountain Games wrote:

It's submitted on DriveThruRPG, they are just not as awesomely speedy as Liz on Paizo.com.

Gary

No kidding. It's still not up there. I hope it's not going to be an issue like last time. That would suck.


Bought the PDF through Paizo, downloaded it, am reading it right now :)

Dark Archive

*does the little happy dance of joy*

Dark Archive

3 people marked this as a favorite.

So... it's been a while since part four came out (almost 24 hours, man!!!), when are we going to see part five?

;-)


Options for vampire and lich PCs? Yikes.

Oh, but this looks great. I am so looking forward to getting this one.


Eric,

This is the first part of the article that deals with advice on integrating Vampire and Lich PCs into your party. In Book V, we get the crunch, alongside the first part of Jason Bulmahn's Hellbound article with new options for followers of Asmodeus specificly and evil PCs in general.

Matthew,

Hah. We are still shooting for having Book V out by the end of August. But I think the chance of a week or two delay are high. We'll see. I'll be sure that paizo's messenge boards and our facebook page have the latest news.

Midnight Angel,

After you've read it, tell us what you think. We love feedback.

Kevin_video,

I prefer to worry about the things I have any control over. But I will note I submitted to Paizo.com and DrivethruRPG within like three minutes of one another.

PathfinderFan64,

The print copies for sale here are exactly the same as the print copies for sale at DriveThruRPG. They are POD sent to Paizo on consignment. I hope that answered your question.

I think that caught me up with questions. Thanks for all the enthusiasm everyone and thanks for supporting "Way of the Wicked".

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


Isn't book 5 a little bit late für new pc options? :(
I hope we (my group and others who already started wotw) can still use this stuff.

Silver Crusade

The lich thing is soon coming to a headpoint in my home game. I have one PC who wants to take that route, and another who is worried that him becoming one will trivialize the other PCs. I'm interested in seeing the information presented.


Patrick Kropp wrote:

Isn't book 5 a little bit late für new pc options? :(

I hope we (my group and others who already started wotw) can still use this stuff.

Better late than never!


Patrick Kropp wrote:

Isn't book 5 a little bit late für new pc options? :(

I hope we (my group and others who already started wotw) can still use this stuff.

Patrick,

For us, due to the demanding work schedules of Jason, it was basically a choice between never publishing the material and publishing it in Book Five and Six. So, we took option two.

However, some of the magic items are quite high level and will be useful even in the later chapters. And of course the feats and spells could be introduced at any time. If you already running the game, the archetypes...well, probably not.

That said, none of this is make or break. Book One is a complete adventure that needs no more outside material. But we are trying, by the end of Book Six, to create the best adventure path we can.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games

Liberty's Edge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

My initial pass has maintained my excitement about running this campaign. This one does seem to be a little heavier on the "In order to do X, you must get Y on your side, which requires you to do Z," but that very structure should, hopefully, incite the PCs to do what needs to be done in Book 5!

Marsember will make a fine stand-in for Daveryn. About time someone burned that town to the ground anyway.

Grand Lodge

Fire Mountain Games wrote:

Kevin_video,

I prefer to worry about the things I have any control over. But I will note I submitted to Paizo.com and DrivethruRPG within like three minutes of one another.

Gary McBride

Makes me wonder what they're excuse is. I'm seeing tons of new stuff come out, including Pathfinder books, but none of it is your new one.

Hopefully they'll have it by next week.

Grand Lodge

Book 4 is now available at DriveThru.


Yeah - but only the pdf. Not the POD-Bundle. As much I like to see more than the preview and as much I like the path - I´m not going to pay 10$ more for having a preview. I hope this time the POD-Bundle doesn´t take so long.

Grand Lodge

Patrick Kropp wrote:
Yeah - but only the pdf. Not the POD-Bundle. As much I like to see more than the preview and as much I like the path - I´m not going to pay 10$ more for having a preview. I hope this time the POD-Bundle doesn´t take so long.

I got the pdf subscription so I'm okay with what I've got right now.


If you would prefer hardcopies I think you would see things different. :D

Dark Archive

Patrick Kropp wrote:
If you would prefer hardcopies I think you would see things different. :D

Drive Thru print copies charge me UK postage (rather than US postage like Paizo understandably does) so I am holding out for the hardcopy from them. It is a bit irritating that they are taking longer than Paizo to have them available for sale though.

Not that I am actually in any rush - I never run an adventure path until I have all the parts, so in my case feel free to put whatever "starting" material you like in books 5 and 6.


I just kill a few more pc... then they han use it for their new pcs. ;-)

Ps. Mott is a Killer. He took the maxed, buffed Eidolon of my pcs apart in round 1.


Amethal,

Sorry for the delay. We are pushing this forward as fast as we can.

And actually there is wisdom to what you say. You can run a fine adventure using a book or two before whole AP is published, no doubt.

But to truly get the whole experience and have the chance to experience every nuance, yeah, it's a good idea to wait to the whole AP is published.

*shrugs*

Still, as a publisher, I've appreciated reading all the actual play of Book One and Book Two while working on the later chapters. I think its helped me grow as an adventure designer.

I guess am I of two minds on this issue.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games

The Exchange

amethal wrote:
Patrick Kropp wrote:
If you would prefer hardcopies I think you would see things different. :D

Drive Thru print copies charge me UK postage (rather than US postage like Paizo understandably does) so I am holding out for the hardcopy from them. It is a bit irritating that they are taking longer than Paizo to have them available for sale though.

Not that I am actually in any rush - I never run an adventure path until I have all the parts, so in my case feel free to put whatever "starting" material you like in books 5 and 6.

If you don't mind me asking how much does one hard copy plus uk postage cost amethal? I am thinking about getting a friend one as a present.


Appr. 30,-$

The Exchange

Hmmm thanks. So roughly £20 for the UK. Not bad at all.

Cheers


Matthew Winn wrote:

So... it's been a while since part four came out (almost 24 hours, man!!!), when are we going to see part five?

;-)

Any day now, no doubt. :)

Gary "Sleep is for the Weak" McBride
Fire Mountain Games


I just finish reading thru book4. i fully expected i am going to lose some of my players on this one. a high lvl princess that is just evil. hehe it is all good. i just waiting for the printed copy be for calling the hord to gather


A little confused by the ending. Are the PCs expected to witness the "scripted" confrontation between dragon and princess (in which case it would probably go off the rails quickly), do observers tell them later, or do they simply not find out about it until sometime next module?


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Evil Midnight Lurker,

A good question and I should have put in a note in the adventure to clarify this. However, the answer is...

Spoiler:

Highly dependent on the PCs and where they are. The death of Chargammon is something they will definitely learn about at the beginning of Book 5. If they find Chargammon's corpse, a cowering servant could tell him what he saw.

Or they may be gone all together and learn about in Book V.

I'll say this, Book V once more picks up right after the events of Book IV so we'll be dealing with the aftermath in depth in Act One.

This book was about killing King Markadian and ends with his death and the death of Chargammon that happens simultaneously to that murder.

Hope that helps and I hope you enjoy the book,
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


Is there any reason you didnt make Markadian into a knight?

Grand Lodge

Patrick Kropp wrote:
Is there any reason you didnt make Markadian into a knight?

I always thought a fighter was a knight. Or did you mean a cavalier, the 3pp knight, paladin (also considered a knight), or something else?


I thought the first three sections were awesome. I especially enjoyed the

spoiler:
copper dragon's island.
It had some very cool, creative encounters, and was a very neat set piece. Alas, that made the last section all the more of a let down.

spoiler:
The Adarium was flat and a bit boring. Mostly empty rooms, a handful of guards, one or two named NPCs, and some golems. I understand why the place was mostly abandoned, but it could have still been an interesting set piece. Also, the only room that made me say "huh, that's cool" was the description of the fountain. By contrast, I think nearly every place in the dragon's island was somehow interesting.

I definitely hope future locations are more like the former, less like the latter.


Generic Villain,

Thanks for the feedback and I'm glad you enjoyed the book.

We really appreciate you taking a moment to tell us your thoughts.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


kevin_video wrote:
Patrick Kropp wrote:
Is there any reason you didnt make Markadian into a knight?
I always thought a fighter was a knight. Or did you mean a cavalier, the 3pp knight, paladin (also considered a knight), or something else?

Cavalier. The path has a definitive lack of them. Sir Balin would have been a nice knight too.


Patrick,

It is a fair criticism. There has only been one actual cavalier in the AP so far:

Spoiler:

Sir Valin Darian in Farholde, the heir of the Victor, is a cavalier.

Personally, I think the fighter class can be shaped to be a fine representative of a knight (we use the dragon archetype several times to help with this). But, perhaps you're right.

Perhaps we should use the cavalier more. If you do convert any major characters into cavaliers, please post them here. I'd love to take a look at them.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Just finished reading Book 4, loved it. Two things jump to my mind, one relating specifically to the game I've been running (currently working through Book 2).
First, I'm excited to see my PC's reach this point, as the only rogue they have is a knife master, which means no trapfinding, which will make many of the traps in this and later modules wonderfully wicked.

Spoiler:
Amazingly, Tasker Twelve-Knives is almost a 100% clone of the knife-master in the PC's group, aside from Tasker being smarter and having different rogue talents.

Second
Spoiler:
I really like the two end set peices. Most of the confrontation between the princess and Chargammon I'll read out to the PC's, I think of it as a scene in a movie that'll play out at about the same time the PC's are taking on the king. I also plan to include the Battle of Fallingbridge, except I won't mention that General Barca is the 8th knot, just describe him hauling out the clay seal and breaking it. I figure it can coincide with the battle with the king as well.


3 people marked this as a favorite.

John,

First, I'm glad you loved the book. Take a moment and write a review! We love feedback. Regardless, thanks for the kind words.

Spoiler:

Not telling the PCs that Barca is a member of the 8th Knot, that's brilliant. So brilliant, I wish I would have thought of it. Here's my cleaned up stab at what that body of text might look like:

In the city of Daveryn, General Vastenus Barca leads the armies of Talingarde into battle against the forces of the Fire-Axe. He gives a rousing speech to his assembled throng before the battle about how “…in one glorious stroke we will free Daveryn and slay the monster that threatens us all!” His men gallantly raise their swords and salute their high-born general. General Barca orders these valiants en masse to attack the northern gate. “They think their flank conquered and pacified. They will never expect we men of the south and west to attack them from the north!”

Thanks to the infiltration of the city, Northgate was completely undamaged in the fighting as the city was taken. The gate house of Northgate and its two flanking towers are fully manned by the Fire-Axe’s most veteran troops as the battle begins. Every square foot of those ramparts is crammed with hardened killers.

Behind the gate waited a host of ogres and trolls kept in line by a mighty frost giant. Again and again, the men of Talingarde charged those
gate houses. Valiant knights, hardy yeomanry, and a thousand low-born volunteers here only because they believed in the dream that is Talingarde – charged those walls following the Sacred Banner of St. Theonas that had shielded them through the winter chill. And upon those walls they died. Not by the tens nor the hundred, but by their thousands. They hallow the ground with their sacrifice. Duty officers and lesser soldiers beg General Barca to stop the assault. “No,” he answers, “I can feel the enemy breaking. And once broken here, we shall break them everywhere.”

The slaughter continued unabated.

Northgate was Duke Martin’s masterpiece of fortification. The Duke knew that the Fire-Axe was coming for him and so he had dedicated uncountable resources to shoring up this gatehouse over the last winter to be ready for the northern invaders. Its walls were buttressed by
stone masons forced to work through winter nights. Its gates framed in iron by smiths heated only by their forge fires. Its armories stocked with tens of thousands of arrows made by every fletcher in the city.
Only a single bridge crossed the River Briden, here at its deepest and swiftest. This bridge was named for its architect – Sir Falstaff. The locals named the old stone crossing Fallingsbridge almost as a joke since it was so sturdily built. And upon that bridge, for hours upon one
fine spring day, did the armies of Talingarde give their lives for a king already dead.

It is almost shocking how well the men of Talingarde fared in a battle so horrifically stacked against them. They charged the gate house not once but seven times. They managed to push a battering ram up to the gate even under the most intense hail of missile fire imaginable. Even
as boiling oil poured upon their ranks like a black waterfall, they broke the outer gate and swarmed into the gatehouse. Past countless murder-holes and arrow slits they pushed. They broke the inner gate and there they met the frost giant king’s personal guard.

Every giant, ogre and troll who barred their passage died that day. The knights of the Alerion led the final charge that rode down the last of the ogres and even slew the frost giant commander. And just as it seemed this might be the most horrific sort of triumph – The Fire-Axe himself took the field leading his cadre of lieutenants and their personal warbands. And with one charge, every hero left
alive beneath the Northgate died.

The Fire-Axe raised the fallen Standard of St. Theonas that had marched at the armies fore. With his infernal weapon he set it aflame and cried victory loud enough for even hell to hear.

Far away across the field, Vastenus Barca broke a clay seal. His work was done. Tiadora and her furies teleported to his location and slew all that remained of his high command. Tiadora approached General Barca,
covered in the blood of his most trusted subordinates, and bowed.

“Well done, Lord of the Cainite Knot.”

Hope that helps,
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games

Scarab Sages Reaper Miniatures

Just grabbed mine over the weekend, and hoping I get to sit down and read it tonight!


@ Generic Villain.

Spoiler:
Regarding the Adarium, the gazetteer piece on Matharyn helps to bring some "oomf" to the palace by placing it in context with the rest of the city. From that viewpoint, Matharyn really is the set-piece and the Adarium is but a portion of that. The villains should have some infiltration and planning to do, within the city as a whole, when they first arrive to properly depants King Marcadian IV as presented in the adventure. That being said, if one were to simply compare texts from 'the isle' to that of the Adarium as presented within the adventure-propper, I could fathom how a bit of lopsidedness could be seen.
In the end I dare not question the dark master's grand plans...I merely run upon the dynamo-cog that powers his fortress.


The Adarium is a very important place in the course of the campaign for several reasons:

Spoiler:

Brigit of the Brijidine and Ara Zandra, powerful outsiders, are there both waiting for the PCs and it's where you get to kill the king.

But almost as important as that in my estimation is the sheer amount of information you learn about your enemy. Within the Adarium the PCs come close to who will be their ultimate enemy in the entire campaign.

Add into that the climactic death of Chargammon and ... well, it's an important place.

I'll grant it lacks the otherworldly weirdness of Eiramanthus isle, however.

If you enjoyed that place, next book we will have the dead ice-elf fairy realm of the linnorm Nithoggr and my take on the Temple of Elemental Evil -- the Agathium.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


I would agree that in terms of weird awesomeness, Chez Eiramanthus takes the palm. The Horn of Abaddon was fun and kind of freaky, but this was just over-the-top-but-I-mean-in-a-good-way.

In fact, both the dragons come out of this pretty well -- Chargammon's place of residence was one of the creepier, more atmospheric lairs I've seen. Some nice descriptive text there, along with a single line that made me LOL. (In the box text on the monster's parenting skills.)

Since I'm currently campaignless, there's no telling when I'll ever get to run this. But I would have one concern in Chargammon's lair:

Spoiler:

I'd be a little concerned about Chargammon's hair-trigger temper. Pretty much every group has at least one wise guy who can't resist making a smart-alecky comment in the middle of a dramatic scene. More generally, players tend to hate being intimidated in-game. So I'd be a bit worried about someone trying to push back against the dragon.

One way to deal with this might be to add some more encounters and wear down the PCs some more. Another, subtler one would be to emphasize Chargammon's alarming trophies. (Which are a great idea, by the way.) If the players see that the dragon has killed an entire platoon of storm giants and has decorated his front door with the skeletons of a couple of mariliths, it should at least make them thoughtful.

Anyway, great work with the dragons generally.

Doug M.


Doug M.,

Hey thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you're enjoying the adventure and the two different dragon lairs.

Spoiler:

About Chargammon's hair trigger, you're probably right. Ultimately, it is up to the GM to decide how close Chargammon is to attacking the PCs. However, I would say by this point the PCs are 13th+ level. They've had Tiadora's warning. Dealing with Chargammon should be terrifying and dangerous.

You can give them a break and have them make a Sense Motive check (with a very easy DC) to sense just how close this elder wyrm is to attacking them. That should emphasize how serious the situation is.

But ultimately, the PCs have to deal carefully with a dragon as old, arrogant and evil as Chargammon. That is the challenge of this encounter.

Hope that helps and thanks for your support and assistance,
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Reviewed here and at RPGNow.


I read the review, and it's making me want this book more than ever, but I do have one question if it can be answered without completely spoiling everything: just who and what are the three 'concubines' of Eiramanthus the planehopping copper dragon?

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