At the onset of Season 5, the means by which characters earned Prestige Points changed dramatically. No longer was fame tied to performing faction missions, but rather its award would be tied to secondary success conditions—"secret" missions that were tied to going above and beyond the primary success condition or seeking out additional, perhaps unforeseen ways to further the goals of the Pathfinder Society. As part of this change, we retired the existing model of faction missions, but the earlier scenarios did not have any secondary success conditions established already as replacements.

A few months ago, when I started thinking about what figures to include in the specifically Pathfinder Campaign Setting-themed Legends of Golarion set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted fantasy miniatures, I came upon a revelation. We seem to really like monkeys, gorillas, and apes. And since we decided to include several of these creatures in the set, I thought it would make for a good theme for a Friday preview blog. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a sensational simian sneak peak to last you through your Saturday and Sunday!

October is looming nearer, and with it comes the promise of new Paizo books that deal in the horrific, the supernatural, and the downright creepy. Chief among our offerings this year is a book I am very much excited for—the much-anticipated Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of the Moon! This spiritual sequel to last year's Blood of the Night contains everything players need to know about werecreatures and their distant descendants, the skinwalkers, including rules for this all-new race of lycanthrope-kin and dozens of new mechanics to complement bestial adventurers of any race or path. Whether your skinwalker heritage emerged amid an assuming rural village or you were a human raised by wolves to become an animalistic barbarian, Blood of the Moon provides infinite inspiration and options for characters who have more than a tinge of the wild side running in their blood.

As Vencarlo Orisini led Orkatto's men on a noisy chase, I strolled out the front doors with my "bodyguard." In the darkened museum, and without his mask and cloak, which I carried folded under my arm, Master Raneiro did somewhat resemble the younger man who had accompanied me into the museum. I placed my hope in the bravo's topknot and the noisy diversion behind us.

Ultimate Campaign provides a lot of useful rules for customizing your game. So much, in fact, that I challenge a GM to not find something of use throughout its pages! Need to come-up with a background and traits for a character quickly? BAM! Ultimate Campaign. Your world is at war and you need rules for army combat? BAM! Ultimate Campaign.

Approximately six weeks ago when the web team sent out the August Scenarios to GMs to prepare for Gen Con, I envisioned the expanse of days between releases would be a leisurely break in which to develop a pair of scenarios and get ahead on work. In fact, in that time I've stayed quite busy with new projects and initiatives as well as a finishing up a few pieces that had to wait in preparation for that huge convention. Spoiling exactly what's happening behind the scenes will have to wait for a future blog.