More from the Rusty Dragon

Friday, September 4, 2015

It's a gorgeous Friday afternoon in Seattle, and I'm on vacation. After an utterly amazing PAX Prime weekend in which we ran more than 3,000 Pathfinder demos in four days, I'm exhausted and reveling in a genuine four-day weekend away from work.

But almost nothing can keep me from sharing my enthusiasm about our Pathfinder Battles line of prepainted fantasy miniatures. Not vacation, not sleep, not even my brand new Xbox One. I've got the goods, my friends, and I feel compelled to share them!

This week started with a bang on Tuesday, when I returned from PAX to spend a couple of hours looking over the paint masters for the entire The Rusty Dragon Inn set of miniatures, which releases in November. Sometimes paint masters arrive in the Paizo offices a few at a time, but every once in a while we get the while thing all at once, and it's possible to get a "big picture" of what the entire set will look like all together.

And I'm here to tell you, the entire set looks GLORIOUS. The Rusty Dragon Inn is filled with useful figures, from bands of ghouls and bugbears to horses, bar staff, monsters, and NPCs galore. On a production note, we had far fewer changes and comments on this set than any previous offerings. From the sculpts to the paint masters, I feel like the Paizo and WizKids teams are really gelling together better than ever before. These figures sailed through our approval process.

Although the set contains several savage humanoids, genuine monsters, and undead beasties, the theme of the set emphasizes characters and creatures you might expect to find in a fantasy tavern, the titular Rusty Dragon Inn.

We've already seen tavern denizens like the Serving Girl, Merchant, and Half-Elf Bard, but that Dancing Girl we revealed several weeks ago has got to have something to dance to if the tavern's really going to be a top night spot, and today's duo of previews is here to oblige.

First up this week is the Dwarf Bard, a drum-banging buff-master who marches to his own beat. He's also got a stringed instrument across his back when the situation calls for more subtlety. He's slated at the uncommon rarity—I figured two or three dwarf drummers wouldn't look out of place in a band of dwarves—perhaps accompanying a noble or command unit. The Dwarf Bard is a Medium figure.

This Half-Elf Enchanter isn't really a musician, but the way she wields her wand and her fancy outfit give her the demeanor of an orchestra conductor. During the approval meeting I put her alongside the set's other musicians and the dancer, and she looked right at home. Her look—wild hair color and all—comes from the NPC Codex. The Half-Elf Enchanter is a Medium, rare figure.

That's it for previews this week. I wish I could tell you about our in-office meeting with WizKids's president on Wednesday afternoon, and about the absolutely amazing ideas and developments we discussed there, but it's getting late, and after all, I am supposed to be on vacation today.

It'll have to wait for future Friday Publisher Previews!

Until then, I remain...

Erik Mona
Publisher