I have long purchased a wide range of 3.0/3.5 products from a number of 3rd party publishers and I must say that this is by far the best module I have read. I am currently running a small 4-man group through this module and they are loving every minute of it. With 2 of the members being brand new to role playing games this AP is going to serve as a great way to introduce them to the hobby.

Paizo, you guys have made me a believer.

I am a charter subscriber to Pathfinder and have found that pathfinder is a well made and thought through product. The art is wonderful, and the side bars help a great deal to running the adventure, but what I would like to see added in the future is a side bar on how to convert the adventure to different levels or maybe different worlds. I understand they can't mention anything from other printed worlds but generic reference might help out. All in all I look forward to my issue of Pathfinder if nothing else for the great art work.

I am absolutely loving Rise of the Runelords. Burnt Offerings has completely reinvented goblins for me and I actually want to use them again. The antics evoke images from 'Gremlins' and 'Labyrinth', just the right kind of dark humor that I enjoy. The Adventure is also very well structured and written and doesn't place too much on the PCs shoulders. A perfect starting adventure.

In this, the very first of Paizo's Pathfinder adventure series, the Introduction sweeps you up from the outset, explaining how - due to the death of a god about a century ago - a land once comfortable in the certainty of oracles and prophecies which charted their future has been thrown into chaos, and that it is now time for heroes to stand forth and stamp their own order on the land. Those heroes are, you've guessed it, your characters; and as well as an adventure this book contains background material to make the whole setting come to life. Oh, and there's a cute list of '10 Fun Facts about Goblins'... who feature large in this particular adventure.

The main body of the book is taken up with Burnt Offerings, the first adventure in this campaign. Set in the town of Sandpoint, which is assumed to be your characters' hometown (or at least, where they live at the moment), the resurgence of powerful ancient magic is causing turbulence to the once sleepy town... beginning with a plague of violent nightmares that caused sleepers to awaken in a fit of blind rage. While for most the rage faded with the light of day and reason, some found a resonance and committed terrible acts. These are known as the Late Unpleasantness and are, to the relief of the good folk of Sandpoint, now behind them... this is where the adventure begins, with a rich background that foreshadows what you will place before your players as the adventure proceeds.

Overall, this is an excellent beginning to what promises to be a memorable campaign. The cartography is beautiful, as are many of the 'scene-setting' paintings, although the NPC/monster illustrations are rather too cartoon-like for my taste. Presentation both visual and in terms of organisation of text is well done... looking forwards to the next one!

Read the full review at http://www.rpg-resource.org.uk/

I like the content. It's cool stuff, with plenty of background material, that really brings the villains, places etc. to life.
In fact the whole thing would have gotten a much higher rating from me if not for two things.
The interior art is of varying quality. It may be chalked up to personal taste, but I really dislike the chunky style (p. 19 & 23 for example) by one of the artists, and the weirdly colored stuff (p. 12 & 29). The maps and other illustrations are fine! (or more than fine actually).
Finally there is the font. I see other people here mocking those, who find the font too small (check your prescription etc.). No, there is nothing wrong with our eyes! The font setting is too small. I really hope you fix this for the next books.
Looking forward for the rest of the series.

I am still reading and absorbing Pathfinder 1, but I can say now with certainty that this book offers intriguing reading and spectacular production quality.

The craftmanship and detail put into this project is producing results greater than I imagined, and I imagined an elaborate work. (Combined with my GameMastery Module subscription, I'm happier now than when I was just reading Dungeon and Dragon every month.)

Thank you, James, for all of your creative ideas, and thank you Paizo for making this happen.

And another thank you to Paizo for the great bonus PDF with my subscription!

This book just oozes quality. The production, artwork, and writing quality are superb. There's a lot packed in there and the presentation shows every inch of the professionalism I would expect from Paizo. I love the differently themed chapters and the mix of writing talent is a stroke of genius. I marked it down only because the adventure needs a bit more 'bite' to it, but I have no hesitation recommending Pathfinder to anyone looking to start a new campaign in a rich setting.

I don't give ratings unless the product deserves it. This is a great read, and I LIKED THE ART. the goblins, obviously a highlight, but the so-called Cartoonish style is excellent (like Ameiko, madame mvashti, brusthamus, but especially the main villain was well accomplished). I hope they keep this style of art and hire the artists again (as seen in, I believe, d20 apocalypse). It's high-quality cartoonishness, frankly, and I hope to see more.

James Jacobs did a heck of a job, and I am now a fan.

the setting likewise is fun, so I'm continuing the subscription.

Buy this book! As to the art, the maps and symbols are beautiful. Perhaps reducing or eliminating the character cartoons might free enough space to solve the text size issues. Until then, those suffering from this may solve the problem with a large magnifying glass.

I am really pleased by the quality and information in this first installment, and look forward in Issue #5 to more elucidation of Sin Magic. Other attempts have been made at using the Seven Deadly Sins, but an entire magic system based on that fills me with...anticipation.

In the interest of equal representation, it would be nice if ancient tomes on Virtue Magic (or some such) might be also found in suitably dangerous places, so that entertaining conflicts erupt as the texts are dug up and translated by ambitious and foolish characters. The Positive Runes and Neutral Runes illustrated in the Thassilon chapter of this book look like fertile territory for this sort of development. Keep up the great work!

Not to be overly critical, as from what I could read it seems good - but the font is so small it gives me eye strain to read. And my vision isn't bad.
Seriously, please fix the font size and line spacing to make easier.

I'd happy lose information to be able to read it more comfortably - expecially if GM'ing and need to see things quickly at a glance.