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Pathfinder #1—Rise of the Runelords Chapter 1: "Burnt Offerings" (OGL) PDF
Paizo Publishing, LLC
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
Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at
webmaster@paizo.com.
Product Reviews
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The bestiary is excellent, but that's about all of the dragon type content. The rest is the adventure and two campaign specific articles. Production values are great.
This is an excellent rpg product, but it remains to be seen if it will work as a flip through on the couch every month type product.
First off, let me agree with others on the quality of the materials (ink, pages, etc.). And the modules (old terminology, I know) seem solid. Also, I realize that it must be very small run printing, which drives up cost. Having said that, while I think they may be charging what they have to charge for this, I'm not sure as the customer that I get $20 worth of value out of it. The adventures also seem to be strongly tied to setting, which would make adapting them to your world tougher than many old Dungeon adventures. If the discount for subscription is large (50-70%), it might make it an okay deal. But sadly right now when the transfer of my old subs to this runs out, I don't think I can justify buying this at $20/ish. EDIT: just saw it's 30% off...probably not deep enough for me.
Beautiful production values, even at the cover price of $20 has a lot more to offer than WOTC adventures, both in terms of page count and content quality. The adventure itself features memorable villains, neat locations, and a cool twist on an old monster. Sandpoint is a gem of a "home base" town.
A few minor problems: One page was designed with a nigh-unreadable font, but luckily it seems to be an isolated incident. There are also a few stat block errors, but they are for the most part obvious, and certainly not excessive.
If you are a 3.5 DM (sorry: GM ;-)), you are crazy not to subscribe to this. Watermarked PDFs for subscribers are the icing on the cake. Bravo!
I won't go into excessive detail (as others have said most of what I'd say anyway), but this product definitely lived up to my expectations. The production values are fantastic, and the book is chock full of not just content, but great ideas that can be built upon for furture stories/campaigns. Absolutely fantastic- way to go, Paizo.
This is amazing. High quality paper, high quality adventures, SIX new monsters, and designer comments. Paizo has outdone themselves, and I eagerly await the next issue. If you are a GM, you should buy this. Totally worth it.
I just received my copy in the mail today and I was stunned at the quality of this book. Beautiful artwork & layout, high quality maps and enough background info to give a savvy DM all the answers to player's questions. It makes me want to stop my current campaign and start a new one set in Golarion. <sigh>
And the Goblins abso-frickin-lutely rock!
To comment about the price. $19.99 doesn't seem that excessive when I consider the discount for subscribing, that there's a $13.99 pdf alternative, and that the list price for a typical hardbound WotC book runs about $30 - $35. The book is the absolute best quality I have ever experienced for a softcover. For a complete, campaign setting and story arc, this book delivers excitement, creativity, and fun.
The first part of the Rise of the Runelords has more than lived up to its hype. The book gives its locations a rich and detailed background. It gives the NPC's distinct personalities and motivations, and provides tons of opportunities for side quests and adventures.
This is the farthest thing available from orc-in-a-10-foot-room-with-a-chest that I've ever seen in a published adventure. The re-imagining of D&D staples is nothing short of brilliant. I haven't run it yet (that comes in a couple of weeks) but it looks like it's going to be great fun. I'm thrilled to be able to watch this world unfold along with Paizo.
I've just gotten done reading ALL of the PDFs and all I've got to say is that I am extremely impressed with the amount of detail and thought Paizo has put into Pathfinder. I love how Sandpoint and its populace has been miticulously detailed. Aswell as the background information and foreshadowing of ancient ruins across the land itself. The layout itself is expertly done and easy to follow. The stat blocks help GMs manage the enemies easily, which should provide for a quicker prep and setup then normal as it all flows together quite well. The reimaging of the goblins and usage of OGL content to bring new life into the game aswell as seperate it from other campaign worlds to make it special and exciting.
To say that I'm impressed would be an understatement. This opening module is exceptionally strong in all aspects I consider important key elements to any campaign. Engaging Plot, Detailed Background, Wonderful Art, Flowing setup, New Imaginative ways to use tried and true mechanics and monsters, Exceptional Quality, and most importantly I know that my players will LOVE playing it.
Product Discussion
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I'm rabbidly awaiting my copy of Pathfinder #1, but in the meantime my friend has graciously let me borrow his copy he picked up at Gen Con '07 this year. I think it has the potential to outstrip Dungeon magazine. In your face WotC. Sadly it doesn't have as many crunchy bits as Dragon magazine. But that is what GameMastery Item cards are for.
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I agree with everyone who says that this is a gorgeous product. And the $19.99 pricetag (less if you subscribe) is very reasonable considering all the 32-page modules out there for $10-$13.
I also have to agree about the tiny print being a problem, though. I'm glad that the staff is cramming as much info as possible into the available space, but the tiny type is off-putting. (At least I also get a free PDF of the issue, so I can view the text at larger size on my PC if I have to.)
I picked up Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale yesterday, and the font in that module is much easier to read. I would love to see Pathfinder use the same layout as the GameMastery modules.
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The font, the font, oh my... the font! After years of reading a magazine with the same size font, one would think that the complaints about font size would have occurred prior to their subscription running out. If the font size is that much of a factor, Paizo sells a magnifying glass, as does the local pharmacy (hint, pick one up). Most everything in the module (I began in the eighties, I use old school terminology, deal with it) creates an atmosphere and setting that is unique, above all that is essential for creating a long term game. Some of the elements are left open for questions to allow people to go their own route or await further development. It works rather nicely, although creation of a new world is difficult, it seems to be handled rather well by the people at Paizo. Well done.
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The only thing that makes me sad about the new Pathfinder is that Paizo has to keep reinventing the wheel by building an entirely new game world and wasting so much space fleshing out a new world. If only they had a setting that was already in existence, as they were able to do with the Dungeon and Dragon magazines, there'd be a lot more substance for the gaming material. I give them a ton of credit for relegating much of that background to the Player's Guide, however. The adventure looks like it'll be a lot of fun to run, the art is beautiful, and the whole thing is well-worth the value for a person who just wants to pick up an adventure and run with it. I hope the next one is worthy of it; I have no doubt it will be.
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Can we ask questions about the material in Burnt Offerings here? I don't think any of them are spoilers, just have some background questions I'd like to ask.
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PZO9001E
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Ptolus Nights and Dungeon Days (IC Ptolus pbp thread),
37 seconds ago
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Railina
The eternally unanswered question,
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Guthwulf
Only You Can Prevent Gamerspeak (Kill Colloquialisms Before They Strike Again),
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Shuriken Nekogami
Dear Paizo, please give us a gish base class!,
3 minutes ago
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pres man
Son of Forums are Way Too Long!!!,
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flash_cxxi
Fall Anime 2009,
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