And We're Back Again

Friday, December 30, 2016

Only another day remains of 2016, and in these last 360-some-odd days, we've released almost 100 new products into the world! Ranging from rulebooks to classic adventures, character reference and card game action, the year has been jam-packed with new and exciting projects for Paizo. Let's take a look at some of the highlights!

A world of intrigue holds endless possibilities! This year the new vigilante character class was added to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game lineup, as well other subtle and devious gameplay options, in Ultimate Intrigue, Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Intrigue, and Pathfinder Player Companion: Spymaster's Handbook. And to challenge your cunning heroes, we provided a library of foes to drop into your encounters with the Villain Codex!

Speaking of foes... what about your PCs? Some of you took up the opportunity to be the bad guys in this year's Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path, where each character had the role of being an evil character in the diabolical empire of Cheliax.

If you weren't down with Thrune, perhaps your group made the decision to test their sanity in Pathfinder Module: Gallows of Madness, or our current Adventure Path, Strange Aeons? We've unleashed a number of terrifying options in this summer's hardcover release Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Horror Adventures, as well as Horror Realms and the Haunted Heroes Handbook.

And, if that weren't enough, we decided to revisit an old classic and update Curse of the Crimson Throne in a new hardcover edition! This fan-favorite rereleased with new gorgeous artwork, is now compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and has a number of additions that make it a gem for any roleplaying game collection. This wasn't the only adventure we decided to make the trek back for, though! Pathfinder Adventure Card Game fans have begun to journey through the sands in Mummy's Mask!

With this many projects, 2016 had something for everyone! Other releases included: Pocket Editions of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook and Bestiary, RPG Superstar winning modules Down the Blighted Path and Seers of the Drowned City, as well as new and old discoveries in Planes of Power and The First World, Realm of the Fey.

Don't worry, I didn't forget, a new chapter began this year with the announcement of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game! While we don't have anything new to show off right this moment, be sure to keep your eyes out in the coming months and get ready for Starfinder's launch in August 2017.

For now I leave you with a selection of artwork from some of our releases over the course of 2016. And, from everyone at Paizo, have a Happy New Year!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

Seasons Greetings—We Made You a PACG Puzzle!

Thursday, December 29, 2016

It's the most puzzlable time of the year, and, as we may have accidentally mentioned, there's a hidden puzzle in the Mummy's Mask set of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. I won't give you any clues to that, except to say that you probably need more than you have right now to solve that puzzle. When you do, the first person outside the design team to email me the answer will get a free virtual high-five from me.

But I'm in a festive mood, so I made you this puzzle to solve by the fireside. The following words are all anagrams of PACG characters with one letter added. For example, the word AERIFY is FEIYA with an extra R, while MILKIEST is MELISKI with an extra T. Extract those letters and you'll spell a cheerful message.

1. HELM
2. RELIABLE
3. SPUMONI
4. IMPAIR
5. LAYOVERS
6. HONKER
7. AIRHOLE
8. LOANER
9. INFLATE
10. MIDLANDER
11. DERMAL
12. MISLAY
13. SCHOOL
14. LIFESTYLE
15. HEALERS
16. REZONE
17. ANIMAL
18. RIPSAW
19. NAHUATL
20. RITALIN
21. ERSATZ
22. LOATHES
23. ARRIVAL
24. SHRANK
25. ONSIDE
26. TRIENNIAL
27. GHANA
28. STOOGE
29. MISLEAD
30. HATER
31. NOWADAY
32. METAPHOR
33. ROADKILL
34. SAMOVAR

Don't post spoilers! We'll see all you PACG players in the new year.

Mike Selinker
Adventure Card Game Lead Designer

That Notorious Haunter of the Holidays

Friday, December 23, 2016

Illustration by David Melvin

Krampus has nabbed the Publisher Preview! Stay tuned for updates on miniatures and more after the holidays!

Happy Holidays from Paizo!

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

What a year 2016 has been! The latter half of the year is always a time where we reflect upon the wonderful support of our community, customers, and fans. And while many of us are still hustling to get the outstanding last-minute goblins in check before taking a much-needed break, we realize that without you, it wouldn't be nearly as awesome!

While we plan on recapping this years releases in another blog, some of the highlights of 2016 include: journeying back to a much-loved Adventure Path in the hardcover edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne, beginning sanity-bending adventures in Strange Aeons and Horror Adventures. And in the summer, we announced our next great adventure in gaming with the upcoming Starfinder Roleplaying Game for release in August 2017!

The most amazing experience of 2016 had to have been February's Humble Bundle benefitting Extra Life and Camden's Concert. At launch, members of our Creative staff pushed through a 12+ hour gaming marathon to raise awareness of the bundle, and words cannot express the palpable excitement and awe as we watched the amount of people who participated tick ever higher over from the start of the stream and over those two weeks. Members of our Community, Customer Service, Tech, and Warehouse teams pulled out all the stops (and many hard hours) to provide support this initiative, and we are so grateful to everyone who chipped in to support both organizations. This effort brought many new faces to our community, saw the launch of our new Twitch channel, and opened the door for new opportunities for our games.

You are what makes it possible for everyone at Paizo to keep reaching for bigger and better goals. To show our appreciation, you can now use the holiday17 promotional code at checkout to receive a discount on an order from paizo.com.*

Once again, thank you! We wish you all safe travels, natural 20s, and all the wonders that the holiday season brings!

Best wishes and happy gaming,
The Paizo Staff

*The holiday17 code stacks with Pathfinder Advantage. This discount does not apply to subscriptions, backorders, preorders, or third-party downloads.

Pathfinder Comes to Virtual Tabletop!

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Paizo is pleased to announce that we've now officially partnered with Mesa Mundi Inc (D20PRO) and Smite Works (Fantasy Grounds) for Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Virtual Table Top content. Both will be offering full access to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game line, along with Adventure Paths and Modules! This new partnership will allow gamers from across the globe play the Pathfinder adventures they want, regardless of which service you prefer. With our expansive collection of amazing artwork, maps, and stories, these VTT platforms are a perfect fit for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

We're super excited to be working with Mesa Mundi and Smite Works, and to be able to bring the magic of Pathfinder to virtual groups in the next year!

Mike Kenway
Director of Licensing

Worldscape Workbook—Under the Moons of Mars

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Issue #3 of Pathfinder Worldscape, Dynamite's blockbuster all-star sword & sorcery supergroup crossover, hits newsstands TODAY, so I figured now would be a perfect time to peel back the curtain a bit and let you know about some of the decisions that went into the Pathfinder RPG rules appendix found in the back of the issue.

This month's appendix is a bit of a doozy because the issue's story features the first appearance of one of the major stars of the series, John Carter of Mars! The great Virginian steps onto our pages to join the likes of his green Martian ally Tars Tarkas, the she-devil Red Sonja, Frank Frazetta's jungle hero Thun'da, and more (to say nothing of Pathfinder stalwarts Valeros, Kyra, Merisiel, and Seoni).

Of all Worldscape's superstars, John Carter's star shines the brightest in the firmament of fantasy literature. Carter first appeared way back in February, 1912, in a serialized story entitled "Under the Moons of Mars," by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The story appeared as a novel entitled A Princess of Mars, in 1917, and it's been in print ever since.

Carter helped to define the "formula" for adventure story heroes (especially in a science fictional setting). He and Burroughs's Barsoom (Mars) also launched an entire sub-genre of fiction that arguably includes stories like Star Wars, but absolutely 1000% includes stories like James Cameron's Avatar, which borrows heavily from the tropes established in "Under the Moons of Mars."

Like many of the sub-genres we're touching on in Pathfinder Worldscape (including mainline "sword & sorcery" and especially jungle adventure stories), the heroes of "sword & planet" stories present an interesting challenge for the Pathfinder RPG, because none of them ever wears a scrap of armor. Indeed, John Carter's world probably reveals more flesh on a regular basis than even the Tarzan stories and their various knock-offs, which star a guy wearing a loincloth.

So, as I did with the sword-devil archetype in Pathfinder Worldscape #1 (which covered Red Sonja, so to speak), this month's appendix presents a brand new archetype called the warlord that allows players to run around in their briefs and kick just as much ass as John Carter did without a massive sacrifice to their Armor Class. From my perspective, it really stinks when the rules don't allow you to play a concept you want to try out, or even worse punish you for it. This archetype (and really all of the rules presented over Worldscape's six issues) creates new space for players to play heroes like Red Sonja, John Carter, or Tarzan without getting hit multiple times every round. The Pathfinder rules don't really handle characters wearing no armor and going toe-to-toe with monsters and fully armored enemies.

At least not until this series, that is. If I accomplish nothing else from writing all of the stories and appendices for this series, I hope that Pathfinder Worldscape develops a reputation as the Catcher in the Rye of no-armor martial archetypes.

The warlord is a fighter archetype, a particularly challenging breed of archetype because, unlike so many other classes, the fighter doesn't have a ton of class features to "swap out" as most other classes do. That's partially by design. When we sat down to create the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook, we thought it very important to include at least one class that was easy to understand and easy to play. The fighter has traditionally played that role, so we carried that forward into the final Pathfinder rules. This was, of course, a year or two before we came up with the idea for archetypes, so only after their introduction in the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide did we realize that this might turn out to be a bit of a problem.

That's the reason that you don't see as many fighter archetypes as you see for other classes. There just isn't as much design room to make interesting options.

The class isn't without ANY options, of course, but things are a bit more challenging. I knew this going in, but I didn't really care. John Carter is obviously a fighter. One of his books is called A Fighting Man of Mars, for Pete's sake. So I had to make him a fighter archetype, design space or not!

First off, I modified the fighter's usual class skills to include Barsoomian staples Acrobatics and Knowledge (nobility), which replace Swim (not super useful on a desert planet) and Knowledge (dungeoneering). Fair trade, in my book.

Barsoom doesn't offer the same sort of weapon options we have here on Earth, so I significantly tailored the class's proficiency list to include only weapons that appear in the John Carter comics and novels, including the radium pistol and rifle included in the RPG appendix for Pathfinder Worldscape #2. This helps to keep warlord characters "on model" and representative of the way they appear in the source material, which is the overall goal of these adaptations.

The most important power the warlord has is likely Evasive Dueling, which allows a warlord to add a +1 dodge bonus to his AC in lieu of one of the MANY bonus feats fighters get throughout their careers. This means that the player gets to decide how important AC is to his warlord, and doesn't deny him the opportunity to drop some bonus feats into his weapons or other combat abilities. He can always come back for some more Armor Class when he really needs it.

And in case he needs more AC (which he will, because he's not even proficient in armor and a lot of his powers don't work when he's wearing it), I also created a power called Battle Bravado, which (at 3rd level) allows the warlord to add his Charisma bonus to his AC when unarmored and unencumbered, so long as he is not wearing armor or carrying a Medium or heavier load. This power even comes with a few more dodge bonuses spread out over the full 20 levels.

He also gets some weapon type-specific modifications to Weapon Training, and by the time he hits 19th level, he unlocks DR/5, the benefit of a life spent surviving against impossible odds in a hostile world.

So there you have it, a broad overview of the warlord archetype from Pathfinder Worldscape #3! You can order your copy from paizo.com right now, or you can pick up a copy in person at your game store.

To make sure you never miss an issue of Pathfinder Worldscape, consider setting up an ongoing Pathfinder Comics subscription today.

I'll be back in two weeks with a look at John Carter himself. Until then, keep rolling 20s!

Happy holidays to you all!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Down in the Darkest Stacks: A Librarian's Tale

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Designer Liz Spain continues her breathless romance-novel previews of Mummy's Mask, here showing off the bounties in Adventure Deck 3: Shifting Sands.

Stepping through the heavy marble doors, Alahazra felt the jeers and laughter of the crowd ringing in her ears. Next to her, the surly elf breathed heavily with exertion. The air wafting past him took on the heavy salt note of sweat below the sharp metallic tang of the potions he carried. The camel race had been more difficult and dangerous than expected and, worst of all, had been deeply embarrassing. But empires are built on the vulgarities of those in power. Muminofrah, who had the ear of the Ruby Prince himself, was exceptionally petty. Still, camel spit and grimacing flattery were the price for their prize: a piece of serpentine—a stamp carved with a name better than any key. Well, when it came to dealing with Osirion bureaucrats, anyway.

Shh!

Dark and quiet, the twisting chambers of the Great Library of Tephu echoed with the footsteps of curators and the hush of papyrus turned by diligent students. Alahazra remembered the sound from a sunny afternoon long ago—before the gods struck her eyes—spent with her tutor learning ancient script. Sometimes she missed reading. This vast repository was only the public face of the library, the oracle knew. Below the stacks that held dull histories, philosophies, and trade records lay a trove of terrible secrets. More than a thousand years of renovation had pushed these chambers deep underground, where the human librarians dared not tread.

Footsteps approached. They held the certainty of a library curator. "We have the permission of Muminofrah herself to enter the Vault of Hidden Wisdom," Alahazra said as she held up the stamp of favor, her low, soft voice husky with dust from the chariot race. The curator coughed, "You need Governor An-Keret for that. No one enters those chambers without her approval."

"Couldn't you show us the way?" Alahazra purred, reaching out to stroke the cheek of the nervous librarian. The curator's skin was soft, unweathered, and suddenly warm as she blushed. "Follow me," she whispered. Past several creaking doors and down an uncountable number of marble stairs, the curator's feet stopped. "The Head Librarian went back here. We will have to wait."

The Symbol of Fear inscribed upon the door hummed with arcane malfeasance. Damiel set his bag on the ground with a clatter. "I have something for this," he mumbled, more to himself than anyone. "So do I," Alahazra replied, stretching sensuously as her limbs lengthened into cloudlike tendrils. A heartbeat later, the door clicked open as if unlocked from behind.

We said you had to be quiet, not intangible.

The lack of light in the deeper rooms of the library didn't bother Alahazra, but her companions stumbled and kicked loose rocks as they navigated through the labyrinthine shelving. The hard sound of claws on stone stopped her in her tracks. "Shhh," she snapped. But it was too late. The undead thing, home among the dark, and hungry for knowledge itself, had found them. Its massive leonine form wrapped in immaculate linen, Alahazra could hear the bones of the mummified sphinx creak as it approached.

The little librarian scampered to safety as the oracle and the alchemist prepared their attack. They would have to be careful: any destruction of the library would bring down its protectors upon their heads.

We used to say "Never trust a trader till you can look her in the eye," but this time we'll make an exception.

As the last bits of the necromantic abomination fizzled away in holy light, another set of footsteps approached from the furthest corner of the room, followed by the soft slither of scaly things. "You were not looking for my friend there, I take it." The medusa's voice was filled with gravel, and without mercy. "I can show you tomes. Secret things. For a price." Her forked tongue glided over her teeth.

Behind Alahazra, the little curator clutched her robes and squeaked, "She's real." The elf stood back; diplomacy was not his forte. The burns from the last time he attempted to impress someone were yet healing.

"Deka An-Keret—we need to see her," Alahazra boomed with authority.

"Come," the medusa hissed, leading them even deeper into secrets so dark the parchment had never seen the light of day.

Liz Spain
Adventure Card Game Designer

Where Winter is Always Warm

Monday, December 19, 2016

Illustrations by Enrique Barajas and Sebastian Gomez

This is the time of year when I hear requests for wintry scenarios that involve trekking through Irrisen, delves into ice caverns, or toboggan-jousting (sounds dangerous—please don't hurt yourself trying it). While there are no doubt tales yet to be told of misfit toys that (in the true spirit of Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild) come to life and take over a tribe of gnolls, I'm not a big fan of cold weather—much less reinforcing how nippy it's getting in much of the northern hemisphere by playing an adventure that culminates in getting eaten by an icicle ooze. No, we're instead fleeing the frosty climes by vacationing in the elemental planes: the Plane of Air and the Plane of Fire, to be precise.

The aerial metropolis of Armun Kelisk is positively lovely in the winter, and the Pathfinder Society has a djinni friend who's happy to provide a team a place to stay. That's especially helpful because a thief is on the lam after stealing from the Society, so it's up to the PCs to track her down while keeping up appearances. In the Tier 1-5 adventure Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-10: Tyranny of Winds, Part 2: Secrets of the Endless Sky, the PCs must navigate the city's rich social scene and chase mysteries while barely knowing which way is up. Watch out, though, as it's all too easy for a first-time visitor to find new enemies, instead!

Things are heating up on the Plane of Fire, where the Pathfinder Society has made a dangerous deal with an influential efreeti named Qalkami Mishalq. She's called in her last favor, intended to seal her triumphant return to the City of Brass, the monumentally wealthy capital of the fire genies. In the Tier 5-9 adventure Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-11: Forged in Flame, Part 2: Cleansed With Fire, the PCs must strike down a once-mighty efreeti household that once even tormented the Inner Sea region. Watch out, though. The PCs may enjoy temporary privileges, yet the City of Brass is a tyrannical and merciless destination where one misstep could be an adventurer's last.

A lot of us are taking some time off for the holidays, but we're making these scenarios available before the last Wednesday of the month so that you have new material to play. Season 8 is going strong, and there's a lot more exciting content planned for 2017. See you then!

John Compton
Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

Down the Path of Madness

Thursday, December 15, 2016

With this month's release of The Whisper Out of Time the Strange Aeons Adventure Path is two-thirds of the way through a twisted journey through horror and uncertainty. By the time the PCs begin this month's adventure, they have reclaimed their lost memories and figured out what happened to them—something that will hopefully motivate them to track down those responsible. Let see what mind-shattering dangers await the PCs as they move into the last two volumes of the Strange Aeons Adventure Path.

In Pathfinder Adventure Path #113: What Grows Within (written by our own John Compton), the PCs journey to the mysterious and (mostly) abandoned alien city of Neruzavin where they hope to catch up to Count Lowls, but they have to survive a dangerous desert trek and the otherworldly dangers within if they hope to be successful. In addition to the adventure, this volume contains an article about the Great Old One Xhamen-Dor as well as a look into the blasphemous Necronomicon.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #114: Black Stars Beckon (written by Jim Groves) brings the PCs to dreaded Carcosa as they frantically attempt to unravel the tendrils of the city that grip Golarion and seek to draw it into its alien bulk. Will the PCs draw the attention of Hastur before they can complete their task or will they remain forever shattered in lost Carcosa? This volume also contains a number of ways to continue the campaign—in strange ways—as well as the final installment of the Pathfinder's Journal (written by yours truly).

Illustrations by Mikael Leger

Illustrations by Alexandur Alexandrov, Kent Hamilton, and Jorge Fares

There's still more to come in Strange Aeons, so keep your eyes open for the final two adventures. I'll leave you with a few art teasers of what to expect for the final third of the campaign. Best of luck to all the PCs in this Adventure Path!

Adam Daigle
Developer

New Starfinder Interview!

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

More exciting Starfinder work continues to churn around these parts, and with that, more information about the upcoming roleplaying game has made it's way to the masses! In an interview with Matt Miller over at Game Informer, our own James L. Sutter divulged more details about the process behind Starfinder (and creating this all-new core rulebook full of gameplay and setting material). I've snagged some of the new artwork and other information (including captions from James) to show off here, but you should check out the whole interview for all of the new juicy bits.

First up is our next iconic character, Iseph, the iconic operative!

Illustration by Remko Troost
This is Iseph, our iconic operative. The operative class is all about stealth, speed, and agility—whether you want to be a smuggler, a scout, an intrusion agent, or a black-ops assassin, this is the class for you. You'll also notice that Iseph is an android. Androids in Starfinder were originally created by humans as servitors, but in recent centuries fought for and won independence and recognition as full citizens of the Pact Worlds. While they have some interesting physical properties—they don't age, they handle vacuum much better than humans, and they have internal circuitry that glows when they're stressed—they also strive to distinguish themselves culturally from their former oppressors. One way in which some androids—like Iseph—do so is through the rejection of gender, which they see as an unnecessary mark of their former bondage.

Next, travelling to new worlds is a given in Starfinder—perhaps your future galaxy-hopping group may find themselves on a journey to either Liavara or Verces starting next summer?

Illustration by Leon Tukker
Liavara is a gas giant, with no solid surface at all, and those terrestrial races who come to mine its gasses or trade with the native creatures are forced to live on massive floating arcology platforms like this one. Much of the planet is held as a nature preserve by the Brethedans—gelatinous dirigible-like creatures who can alter their own DNA to produce whatever tools they need, from simple chemical compounds to tailored viruses. What's more, the Brethedans can actively merge together to create linked consciousnesses more intelligent and powerful than the sum of their parts, and some Brethedan biotech corporations are actually single massive entities consisting of millions of merged Brethedans.

Illustration by Sebastien Hue
Verces is a tidally locked world, with one side always facing the sun, the other always facing away. Civilization exists primarily in the narrow band of habitable terrain along the terminator line, where day meets night, and the massive cities that have grown there ring the globe in a single massive urban sprawl. In addition to being at the forefront of Pact World technology and industry, Verces is also the birthplace of the Stewards, a police-like organization of warrior-diplomats sworn to maintain the Pact, who hunt down interplanetary criminals and preserve peace between the sometimes fractious worlds of the solar system.

As always, keep your eye out on the Paizo blog for Starfinder news! You can also keep track up interviews and other features by following us on Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr.

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Strategy #4—Choosing Location Decks

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

This is the fourth installment of our strategy blog written by game historian Shannon Appelcline. You can read all the installments here.

When you start playing a Pathfinder Adventure Card Game scenario, the first question you need to answer is which locations to send your characters to. You must decide whether to congregate (group the characters together) or separate (keep them apart).

It's usually better to keep your characters apart, to avoid the multiplicative effects of barriers and monsters that either damage everyone at a location or that cause everyone at a location to fight monsters. Spreading out also gives you the opportunity to temporarily close more locations when you find a villain. This is critical at the end of the game, but it can still be helpful early in the game since it limits the number of places that a villain can flee to, and limits the number of cards removed from the blessings deck if you lose the battle.

It's also better to keep specific characters apart from others if they're built to work on their own. Harsk is able to help characters at other locations, and Merisiel is a better fighter when she’s alone. Characters that have the Ranged skill generally tend to be better by themselves.

Does not play well with others.

It's sometimes better to keep your characters together, particularly if they have cards or powers that allow them to help other characters at their location, or if they need to face a monster or barrier that requires multiple checks to defeat. In particular, many villains require two checks, so it's often helpful to attack a villain with two characters.

It's also better to keep specific characters together if they're built to work with others. Valeros and Lem are the prime examples of this, since Valeros automatically adds to combat checks at his location, and Lem can recharge cards to add to any check at his location.

One is the by-the-book veteran one week from retirement. The other is the wise-cracking maverick with nothing to lose. Together, they fight evil.

Corollary #1: Consider splitting up when you've closed two locations. If you have been keeping your characters together, consider splitting them up when you've closed two locations, because you should now have one character per open location—enough to temporarily close everything when you find the villain. Otherwise, really consider splitting up when you've closed three locations, because you now have enough characters to double-team one location or to keep helpers like Lem and Valeros with someone else.

However, the question of choosing location decks goes beyond whether you should congregate characters or separate them: you also need to select which characters to put at which locations!

Choose Based on Your Character and the Locations' Challenges

When you initially choose where to place your characters, do it based on the skills and cards of each character and how they interact with the specifics of an individual location.

Corollary #1: Select characters able to deal with a location's closing conditions. Closing locations is one of the most important actions in the game. That's how you gain ground against the blessings deck countdown: by removing a location deck before you dig all the way through it, you reduce the total number of cards that you need to look at before you find the villain. This means the prime criteria for selecting where to put a character should usually be whether that character is good at closing that location or not. So you send Lem or Seoni to the Prison, because of their high Charisma skills, and you send Kyra or Seelah to hallowed (or unhallowed) ground, because of their high Divine skills.

You gotta get in to get out.

Corollary #2: Select characters able to deal with a location's effects. Some locations, such as the Mountain Peak, have really painful effects. If one character can deal with them better than the others, send that person there. (This usually also plays into the former corollary, because special effects and closing conditions are often linked.) Thus, you could send Kyra to the Mountain Peak, because she has the Wisdom to deal with both the special effect at the start of the turn (which could cause her to bury a card) and the closing condition. Amiri is a less traditional choice, but very helpful because she can disappear from the Mountain Peak at the start of each turn; as it happens, her survival skill is also good for closing the location.

Yep—the answer to altitude is Wisdom.

Corollary #3: Select characters able to deal with a location's cards. Finally, you can send a character to a location because they're the best able to deal with the cards there. If a location is full of monsters, send a bruiser like Valeros or Seoni rather than someone like Lini or even Harsk, who isn't as good at one-on-one combat. Similarly, if a location is full of barriers, Merisiel is often the best choice because of her high Dexterity and Disable skills (though specific barriers might call for Wisdom, Perception, or other skills).

Choose Based on Your Character and the Locations' Benefits

The flip side is that you can look at the benefits at a location and send the person who is most able to take advantage of them.

Corollary #1: Get the boons quickly! Quite simply: go to the locations with the most boons first, using the characters most likely to acquire them. If a location has a lot of blessings, send someone with a good Divine skill, such as Kyra; if a location has a lot of allies, send someone with good Diplomacy, like Seoni. This way, you can collect the good stuff before you fight the bad stuff... and if the game ends early due to excellent corralling of the villain, you'll have spent all of your time encountering boons instead of banes.

Corollary #2: Get the boons greedily! You can take a step further and go into full-on greed mode: send characters who are able to get the boons at a location even if they aren't that great at closing the location. This is a calculated risk, because it might keep you from winning the game. However, if a character’s deck is really lagging in a specific type of boon, it's often a good idea. And, you might get away with it and still win if you focus most of the other characters on challenges instead of benefits.

Corollary #3: Consider other benefits of a location. Very occasionally, locations will have beneficial special effects that are great for a specific character. The Old Light is probably the best example: it gives an extra d6 to checks that have the Fire trait, so it's a great option for Seoni, who has a power that adds the Fire trait to her combat checks.

Anybody got a light?

When choosing how to match characters to locations don't use just one criteria; consider all of these options!

Next time: Moving to new locations.

Shannon Appelcline
Game Historian

I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane!

OPC Log—12 Kuthona 4716

Monday, December 12, 2016

With only a couple of weeks left in this year, the Pathfinder Society team finds itself working feverishly to wrap up loose ends before taking a few days to relax and visit friends and family. I'm heading out this week, with Linda and John a few days behind me. But never fear! Come January, we all will be diving back into work, finalizing plans on Season 9 and getting the rest of Season 8 ready for our players!

One of the loose ends we tied up neatly was our first quarter 2017 travel. This year, we shared some of the traveling so that everyone on the team has the opportunity to meet and greet our players.

First up, John travels to Columbia, South Carolina to attend S.C.A.R.A.B the weekend of January 13th-16th. This is one of the 5 largest conventions on the Pathfinder Society calendar. Organized by RVC Del Collins and his team, this convention offers a full slate of Pathfinder Society goodies. On offer, a variety of Roleplaying Guild scenarios and quests, as well as the pregenerated character scenarios #7-98 Serpents' Ire and #7-99 Through Maelstrom Rift. The Season 8 interactive special, The Cosmic Captive runs during the Saturday 8 PM slot. New this year, offerings of the Adventure Card Game and Adventure Card Guild play. Check out their website at here for more information.

Attendees of TotalCon in Marlborough, Massachusetts, get a double header of Paizo Staff. Designer Mark Seifter accompanies PFS developer Linda Zayas-Palmer to the convention occurring from February 23rd to the 26th. Besides a full slate of Pathfinder Society activities, two offerings of retired scenario #21 The Eternal Obelisk. Venture-Captain Ray Diaz, who is organizing the convention, has information on how seats at Linda & Mark's tables will be allocation. Visit theTotalCon website for full details on this convention.

My first trip is to Nevada and the Las Vegas Open the weekend of February 3rd to 5th. While predominately a war-game and miniatures convention, organizers branched out to roleplaying in their offerings this year. We have a full slate of activities organized by Venture-Captain Ethan Cline. I'll be running the retired scenario #09 Eye of the Crocodile King on Sunday afternoon, as well as participating in other Pathfinder Society games. For more information on the convention, check out their website.

We hijacked designer Stephen Radney-McFarland and named him an honorary Pathfinder Society team member as well. Stephen travels to Everett, Washington, from January 13th to 15th for OrcaCon. Besides his normal shenanigans, he is running a table of #19 Skeleton Moon, another retired PFS scenario. Besides Stephen, you can catch up with several other Paizo staffers participating in a variety of panels. Come out to the convention, say hi, and join in some fun! More information for OrcaCon may be found on their website.

Speaking of conventions. There still is time to submit an application to be a 2017 convention lead or sub-lead for some of our biggest shows, including PaizoCon, Gen Con, and PAX West. Check out last week's Pathfinder Society blog for the specifics!

Next week, John gives us a peek into the December scenarios #8-10 and #8-11. I'll be back once more before the end of the year, with tales of sun, dice, and loads of Pathfinder Society. So happy holidays to all and see you on the 26th!

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

Order of the Amber Die—The Strange Aeons Experiment, Part 3

Friday, December 9, 2016

Despite waking from the nightmare of what sounded like a tough but exciting marathon session, the Order of the Amber Die folks bring up a report from their experience with the third adventure in the Strange Aeons Adventure Path, Pathfinder Adventure Path #111: Dreams of the Yellow King. This adventure promised to bring the weird and surreal into the campaign, and from what I've heard from the Order of the Amber Die, it succeeded.

What follows is their brief report. As always, proceed with caution, as spoilers abound.

So far in The Strange Aeons Experiment we've been stumbling through the horror with the naivety you'd expect from four players who are Lovecraft-ignorant. Dreams of the Yellow King would be no different, and we were determined to fully immerse ourselves for our rookie excursion into the dimension of dreams. We blacked out our walls with floor-to-ceiling panels, dialed up a soundtrack that included plenty of psychedelic trance, and even passed around a miniature staircase just as our characters did for each Dreamlands occult ritual. For the real-world ride on the Sellen River, we created 3-D boats from Rob Lazarretti's maps, with one member managing to create a fully functional sail for the Sellen Starling. Lastly, for the massive amount of research that we'd be performing in this adventure, we borrowed a collection of antique books and piled it around our play area.

This marathon was unique, because joining us at the table for the three-month voyage to Cassomir was a special guest: Paizo former intern, author, and editor Savannah Broadway flew from Seattle to New Jersey to take on the role of NPC Winter Klaczka. Savannah bunked in the command center of the Order, a room we call "The Lair," and it was an honor to game alongside her. We clocked 60 session hours, and even had Savannah with us for the longest day of the AP: a nearly 20-hour run. Her live tweets kept us laughing throughout the marathon and helped present the experience for our fans. Not only will we miss Savannah's perfect accent for Winter, but she did something unprecedented by naming our first party after an NPC: Winter's Wolves! We were also very grateful to add the talents of an Order member (a Boston NBA and NHL cameraman) to help us best capture the occasion.

Highlights from Dreams of the Yellow King

• We tried nearly everything we could to cure Quinn of the ghoul corruption he picked up during In Search of Sanity. Horrible as it may seem, isolating a manacled Quinn in a barn for a week actually worked. You can imagine his face during this adventure when we discovered a race of ghouls even more powerful and intelligent than any we knew existed: Leng ghouls.
• Powerful treasure was as abundant as danger in the Dreamlands. We came across our first vorpal blade since 6th grade in '89. And yes, we took off some heads.
• Dying in the Dreamlands had its price: madness. While we managed to cure some of them along the way, by the end of our trip we had acquired nearly every lesser and greater madness listed in Horror Adventures. Trying to roleplay these over the course of a weekend spent in the same room was a challenge that certainly pushed the envelope of immersion.
• We attended a grand ball in a city called Celephais, where guests were routinely murdered every few minutes. Only Feiya stayed for "The Sunset Waltz," where the viscount danced with a Leng spider to Shostakovich's "Waltz No. 2." Creepy on so many levels.
• While in the Dreamlands, we were surprised to face a dragon—a nightmare dragon. Our GM slammed the mini down on the table like we were back in Stranger Things, then woke us with a TPK.

The Experiment

• This AP doesn't feel like our other Pathfinder campaigns. Others have had highs and lows, but this one just has us run down, freaked out, and anxious. We can't help but wonder if this is what Call of Cthulhu is like.
• The monsters just keep getting scarier. An indescribable creature, known only as a formless spawn, massacred us in our dreams with what our GM called "a masterpiece of a stat block." At least we got to use our Pathfinder Map Pack: Swallowed Whole as it sucked us down one by one.

Character Deaths

On our first attempt, we botched the Dreamlands occult ritual and allowed an animate dream to follow us out into the real world. It took down Alahazra with a phantasmal killer, and the fight spilled out onto the deck of the Sellen Starling. Skywin Freeling, the ship's captain, came to our aid, but was put to sleep forever with a crit from the Amber Die. The room was silent when it was over.

Best Quote from Marathon 3

Quinn: "Let's assess, it's been a few minutes: Two of us are blind, one can't speak, and Feiya was already ripped out of this dream."
Winter: "Can we leave zis place? I do not like zis place!"

Current Situation

We reached Cassomir, but with the Sellen Starling whittled down to a skeleton crew and our party riddled with madnesses, we'll be spending a couple of months to recover. After that, we're headed off again in pursuit of Count Lowls!

More Content

Read through the entirety of The Strange Aeons Experiment.

For character builds, questions about Strange Aeons, content and more, see our thread here on the messageboards.

Give Order of the Amber Die a Like on Facebook and follow us on Instagram for more!

Mike is 2nd from the left, in his black OAD attire with the well-known Sihedron medallion.

A Tough Goodbye

We wanted to take a moment to say some words about a recent event that has deeply touched all of us here at Order of the Amber Die. This past weekend, the Order lost one of its most respected and admired members to a hard battle against cancer. Mike Dappolone had been with us since 7th grade in 1990, and was one of the earliest members of the group. As kids, Mike showed us how to secretly pack our D&D books and dice in our backpacks during Boy Scout trips so we could play in the tent at night. In college, Mike was pivotal in helping to launch our organized "marathon" method of gaming, so that when we were all together twice a year we could put away an entire module in a sitting. In our adult years, Mike created many of the intricate set pieces that can be seen in our playthroughs (including the fully functional sails on the boats here), and his painted miniatures have always been featured heavily in our game. Throughout his recent struggle, Mike loved the days that he could escape into long Pathfinder sessions, starring as Seltyiel in our Runelords campaign—even brazenly wearing a Sihedron medallion. This fall he spent some peaceful time introducing his young son to the joys of the game. Mike's seat cannot be filled, but the Order and "Seltyiel's Seven" will continue on in his name.

I want to give my heartfelt sympathies to the crew of the Order of the Amber Die and to Mike's friends and family. It's never easy to lose someone.

The crew of adventurers in this Strange Aeons campaign have made it down the river and through the Dreamlands, now they look forward to more research and mystery before they can catch up to their former associate. Keep your eyes on this blog for more reports from the Order of the Amber Die.

Adam Daigle
Developer

Illustration by Nikolai Ostertag

First World Preview—The Places

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Last week, I showed off one of the Eldest write-ups from our upcoming campaign setting book, The First World, Realm of the Fey. This week, I thought I'd give you a taste of some of the bizarre adventure locations you'll find inside.

My philosophy with gazetteers has always been to squeeze as many ideas into an article (or in this case, book) as possible: give GMs just enough fun details to get their minds spinning, then go off in an entirely different direction and leave them (or future adventures) to fill in the rest. These short shotgun blasts of ideas are also one of my favorite thing to write, and thus I try to carve them out as much space in my books as possible! As a result, this book has a heaping helping of encounter locations, ranging in size from a mere paragraph for random adventure sites to an entire page for the Eldest's seats of power or cities in need of maps. Presented below is just one of these locations, plus its awesome illustration!

Cobyslarni: The gleaming domes and steeples of this magical academy would be impressive anywhere, yet instead of standing atop a mountaintop or in some bustling city, the Traveling Academy of Cobyslarni roams the plains of the First World, riding like a howdah atop an enormous, three-eyed elephantine beast. The university's charter holds that its founder, Cobyslarni, decided the best way to foster independent thought was to be constantly moving, never able to be claimed by any given Eldest or city government. In the academy's halls, some of the greatest arcane and occult scholars of the First World gather to teach promising students, peruse the school's extradimensional libraries, or debate the finer points of occult theory upon floating disks in the school's open-air auditoriums. Overseeing the day-to-day running of the school is Headmistress Bofika Nemesan (NG female human wizard 11/occultist 6), chosen from among her peers by the school's illustrious founder. As for Cobyslarni himself, any student or traveler may ask him questions, yet he rarely deigns to answer these days, busy as he is contemplating the mysteries of the multiverse and carrying the school upon his vast back.

For dozens more locations like these, please check out Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The First World, Realm of the Fey, coming later this month!

James L. Sutter
Creative Director

Walk the Path of Virtue

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

So, earlier in the year, the ebb and flow of product workflow had me swooping in to serve as the lead developer for a few installments of the Pathfinder Player Companion line. Two of these products (Haunted Heroes Handbook and Divine Anthology) had already been outlined and assigned to authors, but one of them was completely up in the air and left to me to create. I kicked around a few ideas, but time and time again those ideas were pretty much 100% inappropriate for a player-facing product (they may or may not some day see the light of day in the Campaign Setting line or elsewhere). And then I had an epiphany.

We hadn't done a book about prestige classes in ages.

I love prestige classes.

And so Paths of the Righteous was born. My overwhelming preference for prestige classes is that they should tie into world flavor and reward players for actually bothering to invest in said world's flavor. I knew I didn't want to build a book that just randomly threw unrelated prestige classes out there (since I'd already built that book with Paths of Prestige), and tying the flavor to various religions made a lot of sense, since I've long been a champion of the concept of "every religion should have its own specialized class."

Prestige classes are the perfect solution to this, and so in Paths of the Righteous I decided to focus on the good-aligned faiths of the campaign setting. All of the good aligned core deities got a prestige class, along with two of the good-aligned "other gods"—Kurgess and Milani. That left five spots for prestige classes associated with empyreal lords (of which we had more than enough to choose from!). Once I had the 14 faiths chosen, I also wanted to make sure that these classes would work with as many different character themes as possible. That meant building several prestige classes that suggest non-divine spellcasting classes—there's options for wizards and fighters and swashbucklers and much, much more in this book!

Illustrations by Kent Hamilton and Graey Erb

But enough about the words... what about the arts? As a preview, here's images for the Devoted Muse of Shelyn, the Sacred Sentinel of Torag, and the Sphere Singer of Desna! Oh... and the Stargazer of the empyreal lord Pulura, because KITTY!!!

James Jacobs
Creative Director

Such a Deal—A Tour of Traders in Mummy's Mask

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

In the spirit of the holidays, it's time to go shopping! Designer Paul Peterson can be found hawking his wares below, describing the trader mechanic in Mummy's Mask. You ain't never had a friend like Paul.

Ah, gentle travelers. To what noble purpose may an unworthy guide such as myself be put for you on a morning so clearly blessed by Ra himself?

Shopping, you say? Perhaps the blessing of generous Wadjet would be more appropriate for those seeking new objects of wonder and delight. There are many fine traders in and around the most wonderful city of Wati, noble souls. Gaze upon our most voluminous bazaar!

Your access to more exclusive shops comes as your reputation grows. Just like life.

But now that I look more closely at you, I perceive that you must be adventurers, here to participate in the lottery! It is most fortuitous that we have met today, for I may be able to guide your way with what meager wisdom I possess.

It is said that every party that comes back from a successful journey in this world may exchange the prizes they discover for those that a trader can provide. If you have lost your way on this road, there will be no trading in your future. And as with all things, there are rules that must be obeyed.

Before any of you begin trading, you must settle the record of your accomplishments. If your adventuring has given you rewards, gather those together with all the rest of your possessions before you arrive. Then you are ready to bargain!

And there is so little time and so much to see in the markets! The haggling alone all but ensures that each of you will only be able to visit one stall when you come.

Also, many of the places you may visit will not wish to deal with money. There are unfortunate taxes to any monetary transactions that can be... avoided, if participants simply exchange objects. So after you have chosen the undeserving merchant you wish to bargain with, trade amongst yourselves to ensure that each person has what they want to give away for clearly more magnificent treasures. However, these are not charity booths. The merchants are masters at bargaining and will be willing to trade only objects of roughly comparable quality. But cheating adventurers can shorten a trader's lifespan, so you can be fairly sure that you are getting value for your trades as well.

Equal value? Close enough.

We could begin in the Sunburst Market. The selection there is unparalleled, and you will have your pick of anything you desire... so long as what you desire is a common gewgaw. However, the merchants there are so simple that they will take almost anything you have about your person in trade.

For all your Basic needs.

Oh, peerless explorers, how could I have believed that such trash would satisfy the appetites of such as you?! Let us speak of it no more. The treasures you surely seek are more likely found with more specialized shopkeepers. Each tends to carry a very specific type of good, so if you find the right one, you are much more likely find your needs fulfilled.

It is a funny thing about these merchants, though: If you approach them by yourself, then no matter how many objects you see displayed, you will only find exactly two that are of any interest to you whatsoever. However, if you bring others with you, the seller will miraculously find another object for each of them. Then you will all be free to decide amongst yourselves which object each of you will take, with the leftovers being consigned to the dusty part of the tent forever. If you have trouble doing so, I'm sure a quick dice throw could sort out who gets to choose first.

Open 24 hours a day.

As I said, each trader has their own specialty. The Smiths of Wati hammer away at their forges, crafting the weapons all the lottery winners need. But Falsin Deek over here does not like to deal in objects of war such as weapons, armors, and spells. He instead carries a fine selection of more utilitarian fare: potions and books, rings and amulets—these can all be found within his walls.

But if unlocking the mysteries of the arcane or divine is more to your liking, just next door you will find Hadden Hoppert, perhaps the finest scribe in all of Osirion. He is only too happy to share his secrets for just a couple of similarly powerful boons.

While these three are happy to meet with any and all adventurers, other traders are more selective. They often only contact you after you have done some great service to their shining selves or to the city as a whole.

Be careful or you may rot in the belly of a sand kraken for 1000 years.

If I may also offer more humble knowledge, do not think that such simple shopkeeps as you see here are all that you will find in glorious Osirion. Many more exotic traders may be willing to barter what they have for what they want if you are brave enough to seek them out. But beware that the more specialized the goods, the dearer the cost.

For example, you might find some troublingly large footprints over by that glassblower's shop. I expect that you'll be able to trade a few glittery curios for the weapons of the fools who decided to follow them.

What happened to "never make a deal with a dragon?"

I pray to Wadjet the most divine that my paltry knowledge is of some minor benefit to your glorious selves. It is always an honor to help those who are so clearly the chosen of the gods. Perhaps you shall even choose to reward my efforts, if they please you, but we can deal with such matters later.

For now the question is... What do you seek?

Paul Peterson
Adventure Card Game Designer

OPC Log—5 Kuthona 4716

Monday, December 5, 2016

Over the past few months, I processed quite a few Venture-Lieutenant to Venture-Captain promotions, as well as some shifts in geographical location. In some cases, we created new regions, in others just changed titles to better reflect the region each volunteer covered. One Venture-Captain is currently listed "At Large" as he is in the middle of moving to the United States and we didn't want to ask him to step down before we knew where he was landing. As so many shifts occurred, I thought I would take a moment and post them here.

Moves in the VC team...

Nikolaus Beattie—Sydney, Australia
Markus Hyytinen—Finland
Alexander Lenz—Rhein-Main South, Germany
Harald Schlang—Cologne, Germany
Nils Janson—Rhein-Main, Germany
Sebastian Hirsch—Aschaffenburg-Wurzburg, Germany
Harmeshver Singh —Malaysia, Malaysia
Mario Grande de Prado—Leon, Spain
Andrew Staples—Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Alistair Rigg—San Francisco Bay Area North, United States
David Santana—Nassau County, United States
Jack Brown—Minnesota West, United States
Keith Apperson—Minnesota North, United States
Kelly Brummond—Kansas City, United States
Luke Poeschl—Iowa City, United States
Michael Kirk—Oklahoma City, United States
Michael Labny—At Large, United States
Rigby Bendele—Richmond West, United States
Stephen Wight—Knoxville, United States
Tiffany Henneburger—Athens, United States
Todd Mackall—Chattanooga, United States
Troy Schnack—Quad Cities, United States

With 2016 coming to a close, we would like to say thank you to all the volunteers that helped organize games, plan conventions, and spread the love of the Pathfinder Society and games in general. Without you, we would not have such a thriving community. To those continuing to volunteer, I look forward to working with you. For those that stepped back from their positions during 2016, we appreciate your efforts and energies. May you find some time to roll dice and play as the new year turns.

5 Star GMs

Fortunately for players across the world, our GM team keeps busy running games in venues everywhere. This month, five more individuals achieved their fifth star by running 150 games, including 10 special events, and running an observation game for a Venture-Captain. Thank you to these individuals for donating such a large amount of time to our hobby. We are much richer for all the gifts you bring to the table!

Brandi Green
Marcel de Groot
Sebastian Hirsch
Reyn LeBeau
Tim Watkins

2017 Conventions

Though we haven't wrapped 2016, we've already started working on the 2017 conventions. Heck, we started working on some aspects before the conventions completely wrapped, but now preparation speed moves up a notch. The PFS team submitted a tentative travel schedule and now must wait for it to work through the approval process. We've looked at the scenario schedule and started thinking about our special events.

One of the most important parts of convention planning is getting a team of leads and sub-leads in place that work well together, as we will spend quite a bit of time working together to make the convention a success. I've reached out to prior year leads for Gen Con, PaizoCon, and PAX West to confirm who is returning, but I am also looking to add to the teams for each of the convention. There is at least one lead position available at each convention, as well as a few sub-leads.

So, if you are interested in being a lead or sub-lead for Gen Con, PaizoCon, or PAX Prime, please send an email to tonya.woldridge@paizo.com with the subject line "Application—Convention Name." I've included questions in the spoiler. All emails need to be received by December 31, 2016 at 8:00 PM Pacific time. All emails will get an email acknowledging receipt. Potential lead/sub-lead candidates will be contacted the first week of January to arrange a group call with the leads of the convention they applied for. Decisions on who gets the positions will be made and announced by mid-January.

Spoiler

Name:
Paizo.com email:
Convention(s) you're applying for:

Do you want a lead or sub-lead position? If sub-lead, what is your preferred area of focus?
Have you attended the convention you are applying for?
Do you have enough vacation, if needed, to arrive a day early or leave a day late to help with setup?

What is the largest convention you have attended?
List two things you liked about the convention:
List two things you would change:

What is the largest convention presence you were responsible for as lead organizer?
What programs have you planned at your conventions (IE: PFSRPG, PFSACG, Kid's Track?)
List two things you did well:
List two things you wish you could do differently:

How many hours a week can you donate to planning activities?
What is your preferred method of correspondence?
What hours are you usually available to chat?

Describe skills and interests that would assist your leading a convention:
Describe one time you had to resolve a conflict between volunteers:

Tell me three things I don't already know about you:

What is your favorite drink (alcoholic or non)?
What is your favorite treat?

Tell me anything else you think I should take into account with your application:

For those interested in volunteering as GMs or HQ staff for Gen Con, PaizoCon, PAX West, the calls will go out mid-January once the lead & sub-lead positions are filled. Keep an eye out in the January blogs for more information.

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

A First Look at Crown of Fangs

Friday, December 2, 2016

By now I hope you've had a chance to check out Deadly Foes, the hot new Pathfinder Battles set of pre-painted plastic gaming figures from WizKids that's in stores and shipping from the paizo.com warehouse RIGHT NOW! Deadly Foes contains a wide variety of commonly encountered creatures from the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and looking at the production-run figures, I think it's one of our finest sets to date. In fact, following up Deadly Foes is a bit intimidating.

Happily, our next set, April's Crown of Fangs, ups the ante in ways that will take me several weeks to fully explore. It's an exciting time for Pathfinder Battles, with lots of new figures and set features unlike anything we've done before.

It's become a bit of a tradition that the first image I post from a new set is that set's limited edition case incentive figure, but in the case of Crown of Fangs, the Court of the Crimson Throne incentive playset is so awesome, so packed with value that I don't have enough time today to go into it in full, glorious detail. Instead, I'd like to show off four figures (including two from the incentive) that give a nice taste of what's in store.

For starters, Crown of Fangs is a bit of an unofficial companion to Paizo's popular Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path, now available in a special collected hardcover edition! The set includes many key NPCs, factions, and creature types encountered in that classic Pathfinder campaign, but the set also includes plenty of "generic" figures useful for any fantasy campaign. Today's preview shows off both types of figures.

First up today is the imposing Queen Ileosa Arabasti, wearer of the titular Crown of Thorns and a major, let's say character, in the Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign. Ileosa previously appeared in a different outfit in our Legends of Golarion set a few years back. I'll leave the reasons behind her costume change to the campaign itself, but suffice it to say we thought it would be fitting to include an "after" figure to Legends of Golarion's "before." Queen Ileosa Arabasti is a Medium, rare figure.

Here's another look at Queen Ileosa seated upon the eponymous Crimson Throne itself, the centerpiece of the Court of the Crimson Throne case incentive playset. The seated version of Ileosa seen here also comes in the incentive playset, and is fully removable from the throne, which stands alone as an amazing piece of dungeon dressing.

But it's not just Crimson Throne and Ileosa all the time. Crown of Fangs also includes tons of in-demand figures for commonly encountered foes such as this awesome Bone Devil. The Bone Devil is a Large, uncommon figure, and I simply cannot wait to add a couple of handfuls of these to my personal Pathfinder Battles collection.

Speaking of Pathfinder Battles collections, the best way to make sure you never miss a single figure is to sign up for a Pathfinder Battles Ongoing Subscription, which delivers Pathinder Battles goodness directly to you as it is released. Your subscriptions are the single most important factor in keeping the line healthy with lots of robust offerings, and I'd like to offer a heart-felt "thanks" to all current and future subscribers.

You guys are the best!

Next week, I'll have more awesome Crown of Fangs figures to reveal!

Until then, I remain...

Erik Mona
Publisher

First World Preview—The Eldest

Thursday, December 1, 2016

With the release of Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The First World, Realm of the Fey rapidly approaching, some kind folks on the forums have been asking for a taste of what you'll find inside. And what better place to start than with the godlike Eldest of mysteries and secrets?

It's no secret that this book is special for me. Not only have I been working on it sporadically for so long that the original paper pagination I wrote out has started to look like an antique treasure map, but the First World has always captured my love of the weirdness of Pathfinder. A place where anything can happen, there's infinite variety around every corner, and beings great and powerful can toss you into an adventure in an instant! It's the same draw that led me to first start work on Kaer Maga (following in the gonzo footsteps of folks like China Miéville and Richard Pett), or to follow trailblazers like Wes and Jacobs into the Outer Planes with my novels. For me, the more bizarre oddities you can pack into a setting book, the better.

And one of the things that excited me most about this project was the prospect of getting to give all of the Eldest a full Book of the Damned/Chronicle of the Righteous-style write-up. Ever since Wes did the first Book of the Damned, it's been one of my favorite campaign setting books, and I shamelessly ripped off that format for The First World. Each of the Eldest in the book gets their own spread—the left page a write-up about the god (like this one for Ng), and the right detailing that Eldest's seat of power—in Ng's case, the fabled Palace of Seasons. As with Inner Sea Faiths, all of the Eldest come with boons and obediences that work with both the prestige classes in that book and the new feysworn prestige class presented in this one.

But of course, the true best part of this book for me is finally getting to see the Eldest illustrated! Ever since their first introduction in Pathfinder Adventure Path #36, I've wanted to see them brought to life, and this version of Ng is everything I had imagined and more, perfectly capturing the aura of mystery and menace that should accompany any of the fickle fey lords!

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for future blogs, where I hope to do at least one more preview before The First World launches!

James L. Sutter
Creative Director