Pathfinder Tales: Lord of Runes

4.80/5 (based on 14 ratings)

Print Edition Unavailable

Non-Mint Unavailable

Facebook Twitter Email

Some Secrets Should Stay Buried

Count Varian Jeggare and his hellspawn bodyguard Radovan are no strangers to the occult. Yet when Varian is bequeathed a dangerous magical book by an old colleague, the infamous investigators find themselves on the trail of a necromancer bent on becoming the new avatar of an ancient and sinister demigod—one of the legendary runelords. Along with a team of mercenaries and adventurers, the crime-solving duo will need to delve into a secret world of dark magic and the legacy of a lost empire. But in saving the world, will Varian and Radovan lose their souls?

From best-selling author Dave Gross comes a fantastical tale of mystery, monsters, and mayhem set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

384-page trade paperback
ISBN-13: 978-0-7653-7451-6

Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Sanctioned Content
Lord of Runes is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild.

Download the Chronicle sheet — (395 kb zip/PDF)

Lord of Runes is also available as a digital edition on the following sites:

Product Availability

Print Edition:

Unavailable

Non-Mint:

Unavailable

This product is non-mint. Refunds are not available for non-mint products. The standard version of this product can be found here.

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

PZO8527


See Also:

1 to 5 of 14 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | next > last >>

Average product rating:

4.80/5 (based on 14 ratings)

Sign in to create or edit a product review.

As Good as It Gets!

5/5

NO SPOILERS

"So much fun!" "clean, clear writing", "fantastic!" "so good!" are all notes I made while reading Lord of Runes. It really is a gem of a Pathfinder Tales novel. Varian and Radovan are back, and this time they're adventuring through some locations and interacting with some characters that are near and dear to my Pathfinder heart. It's funny, exciting, surprising, shows a love of the setting, and is an all around good novel. I give it my highest recommendation.

SPOILERS!:

Having literally just finished running a multi-year Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign and running the Pathfinder Module Academy of Secrets for PFS, I was both jazzed and frustrated that Lord of Runes spends several opening chapters in Korvosa! Jazzed because I love the setting and it's fantastic to see NPCs like Vencarlo Orisini (he and Jeggare are old drinking buddies!) and locations like the Acadamae (Headmaster Toff Ornelos' niece is a major character) brought to life. I was frustrated because if I had known earlier, I good have incorporated some of the novel's great flavour into my running of the adventures! But that's just how the cookie crumbles. In addition to Korvosa, the novel features more of Varisia, such as Kaer Maga and the Cenotaph, and the plot (as the title might indicate) has to do with an ancient Thassilonian Runelord: in this case, Zuthra, the Runelord of Gluttony. Fans of Eando Kline should also read the novel, as he's a major character as well.

For me personally, it's a little weird to have finally read Lord of Runes. I remember seeing it in a bookstore very early in my immersion into Pathfinder (circa 2016) and buying it despite knowing it would be years before I read all the ones published before it. I think I'm in the last quarter or so of the existence of the Pathfinder Tales line. Bittersweet, but ever onwards!


Liked it the more I listened

4/5

I listened to the audio book on Audible as my first Pathfinder Tales listen.

At first, the novel rubbed me the wrong way. The plot takes a long time to really get going, and the author begins the book by throwing tons of exposition, names, and terms at you. This feels like it accomplishes nothing other than the author trying to show off their lore knowledge (even though they get a few details wrong). Someone unfamiliar with the setting would feel lost or confused. For someone familiar with the setting, it feels pointless and patronizing.

However, the longer the book goes, the more interesting it gets. Most of the characters are quite likeable, and I grew to enjoy the main duo.

However, one of the main characters is absolutely insufferable with few admirable qualities and don't really serve much purpose in the story. The book also makes a really massive revelation that makes absolutely no sense and does nothing but make the main character feel more like a Mary Sue.

Despite these misgivings, I enjoyed Lord of Runes.


4/5

This might be tied w/ Queen of Thorns for my favorite of the 5 novels. Though maybe it's a 3-way tie w/ Master of Devils, I don't know.

I'm getting worried the author will run out of variations on his titles, though ;-) So far we've had Prince, Master, Queen, King, and Lord.

Anyway, I loved the latest adventures of the dynamic duo, and am happy to see Jeggare finally moving beyond riffle scrolls to something more interesting.

I am just slightly concerned about how the novel ended up. Without spoilers, I'm trying to figure out how future adventures will continue in the same vein, now that the friends are...well, no spoilers. But their relationship has changed in a quite meaningful way by the end.


THE BEST TALES BY THE BEST WRITER!

5/5

GOOD:
Book 5 of a series, but can be read on it's own. Incredibly good fantasy tale with very likeable characters and unexpectable twists and turns.
BAD: LESS THAN 25 LEFT! NO BOOK 6 ANNOUNCED YET!
UGLY: -

Get it while you can.


Outstanding!

5/5

What an outstanding book! Can I nominate Dave Gross for a major award from somewhere? All of his characters are amazing! I used to have the itch to write some fantasy fiction, but as I marvel at his work here, I realize again that I could never come up with his skill of description, of dialog, of character conceptualization or sheer artistry of prose. I count myself lucky to have the chance to read his stories.

By all means, though, read the four predecessor tales of Count Jeggare and Radovan. This is exemplary work!


1 to 5 of 14 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | next > last >>
151 to 177 of 177 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | next > last >>
Dark Archive Contributor

Thanks, Valantrix1.

Dragnmoon, I've found myself wishing I could see the spellings when I only listen to the audiobook.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Dave Gross wrote:
Dragnmoon, I've found myself wishing I could see the spellings when I only listen to the audiobook.

That is the only problem I have with the audio format, I find I have problems remembering proper nouns/names.

RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32

Maybe we could get the "digital edition on the following sites" blurb updated to mention audiobooks from various retailers?

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

I finished the Novel and left a Review on Audible. The only issues I had was that I have missed all the prior books (I did not take that into account with the review) and the pacing was a little fast for me, but that may be because I am so used to such slow paced novels.


Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

While I still hate the new price for e-books (see above), I really enjoyed the novel. Further adventures of Varian and Radovan will be on my buy list... I'll still grumble about the e-book price. I love those characters and their adventures.

Its unlikely I'll continue to buy every Pathfinder Tales book like I did in the past.


Dragnmoon wrote:
Dave Gross wrote:
Dragnmoon, I've found myself wishing I could see the spellings when I only listen to the audiobook.
That is the only problem I have with the audio format, I find I have problems remembering proper nouns/names.

Listening to a book with a lot of names from a foreign language narrated by someone who don't know how to translate those names properly when you yourself do can be pretty darn annoying.

Executive Editor

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Dragnmoon wrote:
James Sutter wrote:
Khonger wrote:

I just saw Lord of Runes on audible. I'm excited to pick it up. I really love these stories.

Does this mean that all future Pathfinder Tales will be released in audiobook form?

Vic is correct! It's a bold new world!

Couple questions James.

What are the chances of getting the older novels on Audible?

Outlook good. Ask again later. :)

Executive Editor

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Keht Jelicho wrote:
I just got a copy of this, my first Pathfinder Tales novel actually, and I had been wondering if I should read other books in the line first or just dive in, but after going through this thread I am going to get started on it when I finish this post. That said when I got the book I remembered that I had heard that Pathfinder Tales books had boons/chronicles for Society play, and I found where those resources are for the earlier books, but not one for Lord of Runes. My question is will there be one for Lord of Runes later or are they being discontinued for some reason with the move to Tor?

We'll definitely keep doing the boons! Things are a little bonkers as we head into Gen Con, but it's absolutely on our list.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

1 person marked this as a favorite.
James Sutter wrote:
Dragnmoon wrote:
What are the chances of getting the older novels on Audible?
Outlook good. Ask again later. :)

Wow—he's so excited he used the Magic 8-Ball TWICE.

Liberty's Edge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I've got a question about chapters 16-17.

Spoiler:
Did Kazyah have two scrolls of resurrection? I'm not clear if what happened is that the first spell was cast and Varian refused to come back, then Ygresta disintegrated the corpse and then (off-screen) the spell is cast a second time. Is that correct?

RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32

Nikosandros wrote:

I've got a question about chapters 16-17.

** spoiler omitted **

Spoiler:
My understanding Kazyah had several scrolls of raise dead, but only used one. Varian refused, so the spell failed. Then Ygresta disintegrated the body, removing any chance of trying again (it was implied they didn't have resurrection available.)

Then Varian had someone sort of divine intervention/mythic awakening that combined with the previously cast spell allowed him to resurrect anyway.

I could be mistaken or misremembering.


I'm pretty sure they had extra resurrection scroll that they used after the disintegration and luckily after Varian's special moment with SPOILER.

Spoiler:
What I'm currently interested in is if he still has special heart. Apparently the effects stayed around when he resisted the vampire's touch, but the celestial dragon heart is a cool memento (besides the Shadowless Sword) of his time in Tian-Xia.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I dont have time to read this thread right now, so apologies if this has been asked before...

I like buying all my stuff from Paizo as pdf / ebook and love that I can see what I have (in your downloads) and what I dont have (no in your downloads) ...

So, as we cant buy the ebook from Piazo, please, please, please, can you implement an "I own this" button on products with no pdf, so I can mark them as "owned" in the product list pages?


Is this the end of the boys journeys or do I get more stories?


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I'm such a Thassilonian junky, one should think I should have been an archeologist.

Will there be more of ancient Thassilon for these two, along with encounters and/or references to Lissala in the future?


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I have to say, i find the new format particularly bad.
First, many of the ebook options are not available outside U.S.
Second, the one that is as far as i can see makes them cost nearly double the price.
Third, all options seem to cost more than the 9.99$ price tag here.

I don´t know, but for a pdf to cost nearly as much as a paperbook, that seems a bit wrong to me. And also joining those high prices on the book market.

Grand Lodge

Sadly most eBooks now do cost as much as paperbacks. I agree, they shouldn't, but they do.

Liberty's Edge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

The eBooks are luckily available in Italy, but they always cost more than $9.99 (not by much though).

Dark Archive

Less than 25 physical copies left in stock! :-)


Any chance this and other Pathfinder Tales novels published by Tor will eventually receive Trade Paperback Editions? I would really rather have these in the same size as my other books in the series.

Dark Archive

Dave Gross wrote:

Thanks, Valantrix1.

Dragnmoon, I've found myself wishing I could see the spellings when I only listen to the audiobook.

Dave, when can we expect a new text by you?

You have become my favorite writer and i need something new.
The Egorian Gazetteer in AP #106 was great by the way.

Congratulations to "Master of Devils" selling out.
Lord of Runes will follow soon with less than 25 copies left. :-)

Dark Archive Contributor

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Marco Massoudi wrote:
Dave Gross wrote:

Thanks, Valantrix1.

Dragnmoon, I've found myself wishing I could see the spellings when I only listen to the audiobook.

Dave, when can we expect a new text by you?

You have become my favorite writer and i need something new.
The Egorian Gazetteer in AP #106 was great by the way.

Congratulations to "Master of Devils" selling out.
Lord of Runes will follow soon with less than 25 copies left. :-)

Thanks for the kind words and for the effusive review you left for Lord of Runes. I'm glad you liked the Egorian Gazetteer, too. That was a lot of fun.

There are no new Radovan & the Count novels in the works, but my next novella will be unleashed in February 2017. If you like "the boys," I bet you'll also like "the girls" in the new piece. As with Prince of Wolves and "The Devil's Pay," it launches a new line, and I can't wait to read the stories that follow. You may recognize a few familiar names on the covers.

That's all the detail I can offer now, but if you follow my web site or twitter feed, you'll be among the first to see the title and description once it's ready for mortal eyes.

Dark Archive

Dave Gross wrote:
Marco Massoudi wrote:
Dave Gross wrote:

Thanks, Valantrix1.

Dragnmoon, I've found myself wishing I could see the spellings when I only listen to the audiobook.

Dave, when can we expect a new text by you?

You have become my favorite writer and i need something new.
The Egorian Gazetteer in AP #106 was great by the way.

Congratulations to "Master of Devils" selling out.
Lord of Runes will follow soon with less than 25 copies left. :-)

Thanks for the kind words and for the effusive review you left for Lord of Runes. I'm glad you liked the Egorian Gazetteer, too. That was a lot of fun.

There are no new Radovan & the Count novels in the works, but my next novella will be unleashed in February 2017. If you like "the boys," I bet you'll also like "the girls" in the new piece. As with Prince of Wolves and "The Devil's Pay," it launches a new line, and I can't wait to read the stories that follow. You may recognize a few familiar names on the covers.

That's all the detail I can offer now, but if you follow my web site or twitter feed, you'll be among the first to see the title and description once it's ready for mortal eyes.

I checked out this "The Devil's Pay" stuff, but it seems to be only available as kindle or audible, which is just not my thing. ;-(

Is the new stuff digital only or will there also be an actual book?
I will buy every actual physical product written by you (like the Black Wolf & Stormweather books).
So, the february release won't be Pathfinder or Iron Kingdoms but something all-new?
I hope you will write a Pathfinder Tale again in the future, but i will buy other books too and wish you the best of luck for the future! :-)

Dark Archive Contributor

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Marco Massoudi wrote:

I checked out this "The Devil's Pay" stuff, but it seems to be only available as kindle or audible, which is just not my thing. ;-(
Is the new stuff digital only or will there also be an actual book?
I will buy every actual physical product written by you (like the Black Wolf & Stormweather books).
So, the february release won't be Pathfinder or Iron Kingdoms but something all-new?
I hope you will write a Pathfinder Tale again in the future, but i will buy other books too and wish you the best of luck for the future! :-)

The new novella's something all-new, and it'll be in print with a gorgeous cover. It's in a setting for which I've long wanted to write, and

I once heard that the Iron Kingdoms books might one day see print, but that was a while ago, and I've had no concrete info on that front.

If you're looking for something to tide you over, I've stories in Champions of Aetaltis, Shattered Shields, and Gods, Memes, and Monsters--the latter of which got a nice nod from Ellen Datlow in the annual summary to her Best Horror of the Year.

Of those, the Champions story is the one closest to a Pathfinder Tale, and the one in Shields is the darkest--and the one I'm most likely to revisit one day. Both anthologies also include terrific stories by other Pathfinder Tales authors.

Dark Archive

Dave Gross wrote:
Marco Massoudi wrote:

I checked out this "The Devil's Pay" stuff, but it seems to be only available as kindle or audible, which is just not my thing. ;-(
Is the new stuff digital only or will there also be an actual book?
I will buy every actual physical product written by you (like the Black Wolf & Stormweather books).
So, the february release won't be Pathfinder or Iron Kingdoms but something all-new?
I hope you will write a Pathfinder Tale again in the future, but i will buy other books too and wish you the best of luck for the future! :-)

The new novella's something all-new, and it'll be in print with a gorgeous cover. It's in a setting for which I've long wanted to write, and

I once heard that the Iron Kingdoms books might one day see print, but that was a while ago, and I've had no concrete info on that front.

If you're looking for something to tide you over, I've stories in Champions of Aetaltis, Shattered Shields, and Gods, Memes, and Monsters--the latter of which got a nice nod from Ellen Datlow in the annual summary to her Best Horror of the Year.

Of those, the Champions story is the one closest to a Pathfinder Tale, and the one in Shields is the darkest--and the one I'm most likely to revisit one day. Both anthologies also include terrific stories by other Pathfinder Tales authors.

Thanks for the quick answer, Dave.

I checked on amazon.de. Champions is only available on kindle, but i ordered Shattered Shields and Gods, Memes, and Monsters.

What´s up with "Tales of the far West" & "A Knight in the Silk Purse"?

Greetings from Germany.

Dark Archive Contributor

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Marco Massoudi wrote:

What´s up with "Tales of the far West" & "A Knight in the Silk Purse"?

Greetings from Germany.

FAR WEST is a crazy mashup of wuxia (kung fu), westerns, and a little bit of steampunk. My story in that anthology pits a group of misfits against the rail baron who injured them.

A Knight in the Silk Purse is the second in an anthology of Mesoamerican fantasy stories. My story in that one is a little dark.

In both of them, you'll recognize at least one other Pathfinder Tales author among the contributors.

And return greetings from Canada.


I thoroughly enjoyed Lord of Runes just as much as all of your Pathfinder fiction, thank you Mr. Gross.
I've read all in order to date and unfortunately for me find that I'm craving for more of Varian and Radovan.

There were two situations though that puzzled me towards the end of Lord of Runes, which I feel could have used a little more detailed descriptions and information about what was happening from the moment the group entered the Cenotaph until the very end.

I understood that Zora had left with Kaid and the Gray Maiden mercenaries to go back to Korvosa or even potentially Kaer Maga if the ladies were feeling merciful towards the thief/mage.

But the two unexpected occurrences for me were that Zora was with Radovan and the group when they were in the Cenotaph and then later on Kaid and the mercenaries came to the rescue when the group was attacked by Orcs.

Can you please explain the surprise appearances as I seem to have missed the explanations ?

151 to 177 of 177 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Paizo / Product Discussion / Pathfinder Tales: Lord of Runes All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.