Created for Pathfinder fans by Pathfinder fans, the cursed thirteenth issue of the ENnie Award-winning Wayfinder fanzine explores the haunted countryside of Ustalav! This free fanzine includes dozens of articles, including original fiction, new monsters, adventures, classes and options, magic items, and even PFACG scenarios—this is just a small portion of what awaits you!
Contributing Authors: Charlie Bell, Dylan Brooks, Jake Burnett, Jeremy Clements, Ryan Crossman, Kalyna Conrad, Sarah Counts, Matt Duval, Jeff Evans, Christoph Gimmler, Wojciech Gruchala, Garrett Guillotte, Bran Hagger, Andrew Hoskins, Kiel Howell, Jason Keeley, Joseph Kellogg, Joe Kondrak, Cole Kronewitter, Thomas LeBlanc, Jeff Lee, Christopher Lockwood, Nate Love, Ron Lundeen, Ben Martin, Matthew Medeiros, Alex J. Moore, Matt Morris, Mark Nordheim, Nicholas S. Orvis, Michael Riter, Matt Roth, Laura Sheppard, Joe Smith, Neil Spicer, Stephen Stack, Jessie Staffler, Jacob Trier, Ian Turner, Andrew Umphrey, Christopher Wasko, Nick Wasko, and Scott Young.
Contributing Artists: Becky Barnes, Catherine Batka, John Bunger, Darran Caldemeyer, Paul Chapman, Gabrielle Clark, Tyler Clark, Paige Connelly, Jeremy Corff, Emilie Cormier, Andrew DeFelice, Jess Door, Lynnette Fetters, Crystal Frasier, Erin Frye, Bob Greyvenstein, Frank Hessefort, Michael Jaecks, James Keegan, Jason Kirckof, Danny Hedager Krog, Clay Lewis, Mike Lowe, Dio Mahesa, Dave Mallon, Taylor McKeown, Alex J. Moore, Allen Morris, Brian Patterson, dodeqaa Polyhedra, Basil Arnould Price, Tanyaporn Sangsnit, Hugo Solis, Carlos Torreblanca, Todd Westcot, and Stephen Wood.
Cartography by Liz Courts, Crystal Frasier, and Alex J. Moore.
Cover Art by Erin Frye and Basil Arnould Price.
Wayfinder #13 is a 88-page full-color PDF suitable for printing or viewing on your computer. It is released under the Paizo Inc Community Use Policy.
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Disclosure: Like the first reviewer, I too have a contribution in this issue of Wayfinder.
I am running Carrion Crown right now, so I've had Ustalav on the brain and was eagerly awaiting this issue. I was wicked pleased! I could go through every single entry and find lots of great things to say, but such a thorough review would (as they say) take years and cost millions of lives. I'll just pick out a few things for time's sake, but know, contributors, if I didn't mention your entry specifically, it is still awesome.
Artwork
Wow. Just... wow. The look and feel of this is outstanding. From the cover art (love the Grinning Moons lurking in the Pharasmin stained glass) to the individual pieces, the whole thing evoked Ustalav. A few of the pieces I even wanted in poster form (am looking at dodeqaa's creepy skip-rope Ustalav girls... shudder)
New Rules/Mechanics
I can't believe the Lycanthrope bloodline isn't already a thing. That's how good an idea it was, and it was really well executed. This needs to be an official thing, seriously.
Likewise the archetypes. I'm a big fan of witches, and the Geist Warden is a great character option, while the Afflicted is on my list of villains-to-be (a disease for a familiar! Only in Ustalav!) The Operatic Duelist is a great option for the prima donna (in a good way) swashbuckler at the table. It ain't over till the Operatic Duelist stabs, as they say...
Speaking of opera, I loved the idea of bardic masterpieces dedicated to the Old Ones cults. Of course a pleasant evening at the theatre in Ustalav would wind up driving one mad with the power of Hastur!
Items
The Folk Charms of Ustalav are great low-cost items that fit the flavor of the country very well. I'm a sucker for superstition-driven magic items, as well as options that lower level characters and common folk.
The Forbidden Tomes I also really enjoyed and look forward to placing here and there in hordes. Nothing like a good book to take you far away... far, far away to the unholy darkness between the stars as it turns out... Muhahaha...
Lore, Stories
All three gazeeters were very useful and filled in some of the sketched out parts of the official canon nicely. It is going to be hard not to find reasons to alter the Carrion Crown AP to make the party go to Kavapesta, Ardagh, or Chastel, if only to look around and learn more about the world as presented by those writers...
Side Quests and the Rest
Forgive me contributors all, for cutting this review short and not individually praising every one of you. Sadly, I have not yet discovered the secret to lichdom and therefore time presses on...
Suffice it to say, for those of you considering downloading this product, the side quests are a great way to bump XP during Carrion Crown or just to give your players some wicked creepy thrills in the Immortal Principality. And if you're looking for inspirational, fun reads, the fiction is spot on.
Disclosure: I have an article in this issue. My first ever, so I immediately started paging through the PDF to find it, instead of reading it cover-to-cover like I have the other Wayfinders. I found I just couldn't do it, though - I spotted so many awesome bits in the titles and pull-quotes that I had to stop and read close to a dozen articles before finally jumping ahead to find mine. Then I went back and re-read everything.
In general, Wayfinder is an awesome publication, and just because it is fan-generated content doesn't mean it is somehow lesser than the "real" stuff. Obviously you won't be using it in the Pathfinder Society organized play campaign, but for anyone running home games, this issue is full of great reasons to add a trip to Ustalav(this issue's theme). Statted NPCs, gazeteers of villages ready to drop into your game, monsters, class options, and some great fiction to help bring the campaign setting alive... you'll find it all here. There's enough in hereto jump-start an Ustalav campaign without having to depend on the Carrion Crown adventure path at all (or to supplement the heck out of that adventure path). Well done to the great team of folks who put this together, both as a venue for fan authors *and* as a great source of gaming goodness.
Wow, what a great issue! Flipping through quickly to see my own (first ever) article, I had to stop half a dozen times to read the awesome stuff that caught me eye. I'm incredibly proud to have been able to contribute something amongst such illustrious colleagues.
Wow, what a great issue! Flipping through quickly to see my own (first ever) article, I had to stop half a dozen times to read the awesome stuff that caught me eye. I'm incredibly proud to have been able to contribute something amongst such illustrious colleagues.
(And my article got ART! SQUEE!)
Ahem. Yes. Well done, Wayfinder folks!
Hey GM Lamplighter, I'm John Bunger, the artist that did the illustration for your Tarn Thrice-Cursed article. Thanks for writing such a cool piece! I really enjoyed working with it.
Did anyone mention anything about writing a review yet? <Looks up>. No? OK, please leave a review when you get a chance to digest all the material in this issue of Wayfinder.
We love reviews! And if you're at PaizoCon, we're often hanging out at the Wayfinder booth (right next to the checkout) with print copies of Wayfinder #12 and our back print issues. Come say hi!
We love reviews! And if you're at PaizoCon, we're often hanging out at the Wayfinder booth (right next to the checkout) with print copies of Wayfinder #12 and our back print issues. Come say hi!
Do you have any of issue 6?
Could I beg for a print copy of that, and/or this to be slid into my next subs package?
I nearly got a full set, but I got missed off the list for 6, and wasn't in this one (sad face).
We love reviews! And if you're at PaizoCon, we're often hanging out at the Wayfinder booth (right next to the checkout) with print copies of Wayfinder #12 and our back print issues. Come say hi!
Do you have any of issue 6?
Could I beg for a print copy of that, and/or this to be slid into my next subs package?
I nearly got a full set, but I got missed off the list for 6, and wasn't in this one (sad face).
I'd check with Tim on both counts. It sounded like any leftover print copies of #13 would be available from the store soon after PaizoCon.
We love reviews! And if you're at PaizoCon, we're often hanging out at the Wayfinder booth (right next to the checkout) with print copies of Wayfinder #12 and our back print issues. Come say hi!
Do you have any of issue 6?
Could I beg for a print copy of that, and/or this to be slid into my next subs package?
I nearly got a full set, but I got missed off the list for 6, and wasn't in this one (sad face).
Pretty sure that #6 is gone now. That is an Even numbered one, so any copies we did print were very limited in number.
Here here to Scott Young for being the first to review Wayfinder #13!
I'll give a big "Rarin!" to that, too!
In fact, I decided that his initiative should be rewarded. I posted about his review on Facebook and specifically called out his article "Tales from the Vales" as being part of Issue #13's content that people should check out. (Besides...it's an excellent article. ;) )
That brings up a good point.....how should we be getting the word out? I have announcements on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and here on the messageboards. Any places we should be going?
Hm. I was thinking about maybe the PFSOC (Pathfinder Society Online Collective) Google Group... I'm sure quite a few people wouldn't mind downloading copies of it.
That would be great, Michael. I would certainly love to get more PFS players interested in what we do. It's sometimes tough to convince Organized Play folks to take an interest in material that isn't legal for PFS.
Press release, Tim, press release. It should be picked up by all major news services. ;)
And I am thankful to those who took on my "we want reviews dagnabbit" post duties early on as well as those who have given this issue reviews, dagnabbit. :)
I just made a post on the PFSOC. They have shown support for 3rd Party Content and non-PFS products before, so I certainly hope they are interested in a FREE magazine filled with excellent artwork and content all laid out by wonderful editors like a nice Christmas present :3
Hey, I just downloaded Wayfinder #13 today. I was planning to get it anyway but the Paizo Store Blog (front page) mention made it that much easier.
I would like to be able to print some of it but don't want burn all my ink on that brown vein-textured background. I would recommend updating the PDF so the background is on its own layer that can be toggled on/off. That preserves the appearance of the document by default, but should allow disabling the background layer for printing. The document doesn't appear to have any layers presently.
I'm not sure if that's a big task or little task, but I thought I'd mention it. I'd love to be able to print some parts of the book to keep with my game binder, and preserve the layout and graphics. (Admittedly I can still copy&paste the text into a text document and do it that way.)
Love what I'm seeing in the book so far. I was surprised at how long it was, and it made me wish I had submitted something. (Ustalav is my favorite country in the setting.)
That brings up a good point.....how should we be getting the word out? I have announcements on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and here on the messageboards. Any places we should be going?
I am glad that my occasional bout of insanity can bring good into this multiverse.
PaizoCon Founder, Wayfinder Editor-in-Chief
Contributor
