Pathfinder #1—Rise of the Runelords Chapter 1: "Burnt Offerings" (OGL) (based on
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Paizo Publishing, LLC
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Chapter 1: "Burnt Offerings"
by James Jacobs
The Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path begins in the small coastal town of Sandpoint. In a time when rumors of rampaging dragons and massing armies of giants have everyone on edge, the people of Sandpoint eagerly anticipate the coming festival to commemorate the consecration of a new temple. Yet, at the height of the ceremony, disaster strikes. A band of goblins assaults Sandpoint, and it falls to the heroes to defend the new temple.
In the days that follow, a mysterious malady that leaves its victims monstrously deformed and dangerously insane spreads through the town. The PCs must not only determine what’s causing this strange contagion, but also discover the sinister connection between the plague, the goblin attacks, and the emergence of a strange rune from an empire thought to be long dead.
This volume of Pathfinder also includes extensive details on the town of Sandpoint, several new monsters, and information on the mysterious ancient empire of Thassilon, whose cruel and despotic rulers may not be as dead as history would have us believe.
For characters of 1st to 3rd level.
Pathfinder is Paizo Publishing's 96-page, perfect-bound, full-color softcover Adventure Path book printed on high-quality paper that releases in a monthly volume. Each volume is brought to you by the same staff which brought you Dragon and Dungeon magazines for over five years. It contains an in-depth Adventure Path scenario, stats for about a half-dozen new monsters, and several support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Because Pathfinder uses the Open Game License, it is 100% compatible with the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-035-3
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Layout, quality of production, art, maps, every single physical aspect of the product is outstanding. I understand some people with bad eyesight might be bothered by the small font. I'm not, personally.
The contents are solid, and provide what you need to run the first part of Rise of the Runelords. I find everything well done. There are two types of vanilla ice creams: the bland ones you can get everywhere, and the superior ones you know, with real bits of vanilla here and there, really complex flavor and so on.
Burnt offerings is "Vanilla D&D" in nature. It's great, superior Vanilla D&D. Outstanding.
I have been searching for my next campaign for a long time.
This arc looks is going to be the one I use.
It is well written, uses some standard monsters in a very new way. I tend to find Goblins blend with orcs, but the new little quirks make them memorable. I also like the low power setting, highest NPC in the village is not exactly god like and magic items are pretty rare. Who ever compared it to the origional village of homlet was spot on.
Overall I am very very impressed and can't wait for the next installment.
This adventure has more depth then you'd ever find in your standard issue of Dungeon. First off, it introduces us to a new campaign setting. One with people, history, and personality. All the characters presented in the adventure are memorable with personalities and personal motivations. The town of Sandpoint is one that you could easy lose your group in after the adventure is complete, even if you don't get issue 2. I like it.
I just wish it had more stuff for players, perhaps some fiction to make up for the loss of Dragon as well. Otherwise it's 96 pages of delight!
My six year old and my nine year old are playing D&D for the first time. This is the setting I have chosen to use. Reading this took me back to Hommlett and the Keep, and I was immediately struck by the strength of the narrative, the effective use of detail, and the authentic and rich NPCs.
I can't think of a better why to introduce my sons to the game. "WE BE GOBLINS--YOU BE FOOD!"
To which my nine year old days, "They're bad Daddy! I squish my cricket and cast sleep."
My six year old says, "Power attack for full. I don't want them eating ME!"
I have just read this new book,and I think it is very good. I am ready to run it for my group. I think it is very well put together. They have done a bang up spot on job with this book. I am ready for more. Thank you for the time that was put into it.
After being the DM for this adventure, I need to modify my rating. It is definitely a 5 star adventure. I still don't like some of the artwork and the print is a bit small. However the quality of the adventure makes me forget all about these dislikes.
Orginal review:
The content of Burnt Offerings is awesome. It's great to have so much extra background info (fluff) included in the same book as the adventure.
However, the artwork is lacking. It is very cartoonish. Also, as others have mentioned, the print is very small. These two issues are great enough that I couldn't give this product more stars. Without these issues, this product is a 4 or 5 star product. The content really is great.
Glancing over the other reviews, I see a couple complaints; small font size, unoriginality, etc... While the font size is a personal preference issue (I didn't have any problems at all), the originality point deserves attention.
Is any particular point in the plot really original or new? No, not really. But it is interesting and diverse, something that most published adventures aren't. Comparing this book to any of dozens of WotC modules that I've read over the years, I am immediately struck by the depth of characterization, the detailed descriptions, and the sidebars discussing how the players are feeling.
Coupled with the extensive background information and amazing art, Pathfinder is easily one of the best written gaming supplements out there, including non-WotC sources such as Exalted.
I received my first copy of Pathfinder, and I think it's awesome. It is well written, produced and intuitive. Most geeks out there I meet in these hobby stores are sad little people who are never completely satisfied, and will always have something negative to say. The font is too small?? Really?? Maybe you should update your prescription or subscribe to Readers Digest instead. Awsome job Paizo!
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.
My only complaint with the product was the long-eared elf pic, how the frick does she sleep?
Other than that it was a fun read and should be even more fun to play. I liked the font size since it showed that this was the opposite of padding, it was an attempt to get the most into limited space.