Whether they are knights of chivalrous causes or nobles scheming nefarious designs, the movers and shakers of Golarion need strongholds to host their forces and to serve as a headquarters for launching their various plots and goals. Perhaps no strongholds are more suited to this challenge than the mortar-and-stone castles, keeps, and fortresses that dot the world, whether they are entrenched on grassy baileys or built into the sides of sheer mountain ranges.
Castles of the Inner Sea provides a thorough exploration of six different castles set throughout the Inner Sea region of the Pathfinder campaign setting. Detailed descriptions of the castles examine their histories as well as their most important features and structures, breathing life into fully realized maps of the castle grounds. Rundowns of castle denizens and stat blocks for key NPCs give players reasons to fear the dangers of these soaring fortifications, and a sample adventure location for each castle makes it easy for Game Masters to drop castle encounters into any game.
This book contains details on the following castles:
Castle Everstand: A borderland stronghold standing between the pastoral lands of vigilant Lastwall and the vicious orc hordes of Belkzen.
Castle Kronquist: A haunted Ustalavic fortress that is home to one of the Whispering Tyrant’s most dreaded vampire minions.
Citadel Vraid: A wicked castle founded as a gift to the Hellknights’ Order of the Nail and rumored to be cursed by ancient magic.
Highhelm: A cultural and trade capital of the dwarven empire that stands as a testament to the glorious achievements of this industrious race.
Icerift Castle: An unfinished keep, ruined by the frigid winds of the north and supposedly haunted, that plays home to monstrous arctic denizens.
Skyborne Keep: A floating cloud castle ruled by a malevolent storm giant, who uses it as a vessel to plunder various merchant ships and trade caravans.
Hmm..I'd go with that overblown thing if I didn't recall reading something on kobold quarterly's sight several months ago where you listed them as a pet peeve, along with overly loud players and players who surf the internet during games. I mean, what else can a dwarf-loving RPGer deduce???
Glad to see the market speaking.
Chakka shok! Chakka kor!
(Dennis L. McKiernan dwarvish)
As an owner of Judges Guild's Ravenscrag, great to see a book on castles in Pathfinder. Best of luck with it.
There's a difference between them being something that isn't a particular favourite of his, and there being shock when something dwarf related is announced, with a presumption that it's only happened because James wasn't around whilst it was being designed.
Highhelm? Awesome! Is James Jacobs and his unreasonable dwarf hatred on vacation?
James's hatred of dwarves is far overblown by, of all things, the internet! (I know, it surprised me as well to learn that the internet can sometimes do this.) And said "hatred" pales in comparison to James's knowledge that the game is not just for him.
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Cities of Golarion had a companion Map Folio. I'd be really pleased if Castles did too. Castles are big. I'd really like these castles to be 100% mapped out, but only small scale overviews are going to fit in the book itself. A companion book with larger, more detailed maps would be great.
I for one am scandalized -scandalized!- that these castles refuse to wear pants! It's one thing to be unbreachable -- one desires that from a fortification -- but to be unbreechable is just ignoring common decency!
Cities of Golarion had a companion Map Folio. I'd be really pleased if Castles did too. Castles are big. I'd really like these castles to be 100% mapped out, but only small scale overviews are going to fit in the book itself. A companion book with larger, more detailed maps would be great.
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Mosaic wrote:
Cities of Golarion had a companion Map Folio. I'd be really pleased if Castles did too. Castles are big. I'd really like these castles to be 100% mapped out, but only small scale overviews are going to fit in the book itself. A companion book with larger, more detailed maps would be great.
I'd like this too. I also would have like something similar for Dungeons of Golarion.
I think I know why this book won't be released until April. Obviously, the book has bee stolen by a malevolent Kappa King, and it's up to James Jacobs to wander across the world defeating King Kappa's minions to reach the book, but every time he thinks he's close, it turns out that... the book is in another castle.
I'd rather have a blueprint of the castle. The major NPC would be nice, but so long as I know if it's a (Warrior 5/Paladin 2) or a (Expert 15) I can probably stat out my own NPC. Flavorful stuff and overhead Views of the castles from the air? Complete with Sections labeled? Those are more interesting to me.
I'd be getting this one just for Castle Everstand. It'll be interesting to see what a castle made (originally) by a draw from the Deck of Many Things looks like!.
I'd just thought to myself tonight that Castle Kronquist would be a great thing to have mapped out with some good suggestions for how to stock it appropriately. I'd not even heard of this book until I stumbled across a reference to it on PathfinderWiki. Looking forward to this one!
Wasn't this originally supposed to come out before Chronicles of the Righteous? I've seen plenty of books have their release dates moved back, but this is the first time I've seen the order shuffled up.
If I were to guess, they're holding those two until the unholy combination of an AP in the area and the respective people are free to write a part...
You are wise. But sometimes we mention things so that they know that we think they're cool and hope to see them some day. ;-)
Nothing inspires more than knowing people dig your stuff.
But all of these Castles look pretty damn awesome too.
Well, I'll admit that to me Kronquist sounds more like the grocery store owner in a story by Hjalmar Bergman or August Strindberg than the looming keep of some gothic horror story. Luckily that's not a problem for most customers, I bet. ;)
The thing is, in the Castlevania games, Dracula's real name is Mathias Kronquist. (Vlad Tepes was just a noble he killed and impersonated long after becoming a vampire.)
...So I suppose if you fused Castle Kronqvist and Bastardhall, you'd get one reasonable approximation of the Demon Castle itself :)
You had me at Castle Kronquist! This could come in handy for wrapping up Carrion Crown in a few months.
Definitely, right now I'm working on a three part sequel to Carrion Crown,
Heirs of the Tyrant,
Players race across Taldor, Nirmathas, and Lastwall trying to stop an unknown power from breaking the lesser seals. They succeeded in defending the seals and fortifying them with a wardstone created by an ally of the heros. Gain 2-3 levels of mythic.
The BloodWar
A vampiric ally of Tar-Barphon rises from his slumber in castle Kronquist desiring to kill all the vampires who betrayed his master and reconquer Ustalav for his lord. After the vampires are defeated an ally of the heros betrays the party and using a flaw in the wardstones breaks all the lesser seals at the same time! Gain 2 Mythic levels.
End of an Eternity
The heros must now race to the Gallowspire and stop the necromancer from breaking the final seal and releasing Tar-Barphon. They defeat him but the seal breaks and they must assemble the shattered shield and face off against Tar-Barphon and his apocalyptic army of the dead. Gain 2 mythic levels.
This will progress the heros to the full 20 levels and 6-7 mythic levels.
Stratagemini
Mosaic
xorial
Cuàn
Mr Baron
