Season of the Plundered Tombs, The Story So Far

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

We are officially halfway through the Season of Plundered Tombs!

Brave Pathfinder Agents have investigated lost tombs, translated hidden runes, smashed undead guardians, and dispersed elementals, all in service to the Pathfinder Society. There may have been some amount of plundering also happening, based on the fine historic artifacts exhibited by those agents, but that is clearly secondary to the far more altruistic pursuit of knowledge.

BEWARE: Spoilers Ahead. You were warned.

Adventure 1: Serpents in the Deep

First, you earned the appreciation of many local merchants by ridding the world of a tribe of Gnoll bandits. You then snuck into the Aspis Consortium's dig site to appropriate their research. Unfortunately, you weren't the only person with this idea. You were soon hot in pursuit of a Taldan spy. That pursuit led you to dive into the underwater ruin of Shotep-Kara. There, a doru div turned the city's constructs and elemental wards against you. Eventually, you overcame all obstacles, defeated the Taldan (twice!), and recovered a set of ancient tablets. The tablets proved to be a map to an ancient pyramid capable of flight. Possession of such a sky pyramid could greatly assist the Pathfinder Society. It slipping into the wrong hands might give enough power to terrorize thousands and destabilize nations.

Fantastic archaeological wonder or best Pathfinder Lodge ever?

Adventure 2: Secrets Below the Sands

Outnumbered and outmaneuvered by the Aspis Consortium, you had no choice but to work with them on locating the pyramid. You put together an expedition, despite the best efforts of a number of thieves, and set out into the desert. There, you were not so gently greeted by quicksand and pairaka divs. You then rescued elementals from enslavement by undead and used their help to excavate the buried pyramid. Inside the pyramid, you carefully worked past its traps and defenders to discover its secrets. Alas, your alliance with the Aspis Consortium then came to a crashing end and you were forced to flee the pyramid.

The Aspis sure were useful when they weren't trying to kill you...

Adventure 3: In Search of a Sage

With the pyramid seized by the traitorous Aspis Consortium, you realized you were going to need some assistance—specifically, the kind of assistance only an ancient Jeweled Sage can give. You searched the forgotten (and very trapped) stacks of the sages' stronghold and set out on the trail of the Spinel Sage, Mnesoset. In Katapesh, you ran into and promptly removed some more gnoll brigands, then bargained with Grandmaster Torch, an infamous information broker. With his advice, you allied with the alchemists of the Hidden Flame to follow the sage's trail past lamias and summoned sandstorms to a Thriae Hive. At the hive, you made a fateful decision to assist either your new alchemist friends or their thriae victims.

Those sandstorms sure packed a punch.

Adventure 4: Tomb of the Godless Host

Now, the fourth adventure in this path kicks off at full speed, with a PACG chase to escape the Rahadoum Pure Legion. From there, you'll get to tangle with divs (yet again) and Jistkan constructs of all kinds in your quest to find the Spinel Sage.

Those Jistkans really made some amazing golems. I'm sure this one's friendly, too.

Plus, you might finally learn something about that Mythopoeic Sphinx you've been wondering about. Maybe not everything, but something.

After that, it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to reclaiming the flying pyramid the Aspis Consortium stole from you. Smooth sailing from here on out. Yep.

Keith Richmond
Adventure Card Game Developer

OPC Wants You for PaizoCon 2017!

Monday, February 27, 2017

Writing this blog made me reflect upon last year and trying to plan a convention I hadn't had the fortune to attend. Fortunately, I had two leads, Bob Jonquet and Todd Morgan, who knew the ropes and helped me out. Alas, this year Bob is not part of the team. But in this case, despair is fleeting, as we recruited Walter Sheppard to be co-lead with Todd. Walter brings enthusiasm, energy, and new eyes to PaizoCon 2017. And since this is the 10th PaizoCon, the pressue is on to make it bigger and shinier than ever. We've got industry superstars, we've got leadership, and now we need you, the volunteers, to help make the event a success!

While there's more events and exciting PaizoCon happenings up our sleeves, I'll leave that to Sara Marie to announce as we get closer to the show. For now, I'll give you a hint of what's in store for Pathfinder Society events run out of the HUGE ballroom on the main floor, full of gaming goodness.

The Roleplaying Guild tables will be offering the later portion of Season 8 Year of the Stolen Storm scenarios, starting with #8-06: Reaping What You Sow (and maybe we can even tempt Linda into offering a table or two of this adventure she wrote). When scheduling games, we try to balance the focus on the season's metaplot while also offering a variety of games for our players. Sunday evening, we'll be debuting a new special: #8-99: The Solstice Star. This news is so new, that there isn't even a product page ready for it yet!

Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild returns with Season of Plundered Tombs. We will start at the beginning and offer all published scenarios, which should take you most of the way through the series. We will also offer back seasons, such as Season of the Runelords, available on demand. We still have a few weeks to finalize the schedule, so expect to hear more about ACG offerings.

One big change this year is the handling of games in the midday slot. In the past, this slot was unofficially overseen by Venture-Captain Louis Manko Levite (yep, he got promoted!). Unfortunately, this caused some logistical issues as well as confusion for attendees, and this year we will be closing the ballroom during this slot. Instead of unofficial games and paper-based signups at the show, if a GM wants to run a game in this slot, they will need to submit the information to our open call for events. Submitted events will be put up as part of our overall event schedule so that PaizoCon attendees may sign up as they would any other during event registration. Keep an eye out on the blog, as Sara Marie will be putting the call out for event submission soon!

Additionally, we will not be scheduling separate Core Roleplaying Guild tables. If you wish to play a Core session, find a table of like-minded friends and sign up during event registration. When you sit down to play, let your GM know that you wish the play a Core game.

We estimate needing over fifty GMs and Card Guild volunteers to ensure Pathfinder Society at PaizoCon runs smoothly. We also have a very limited number of HQ slots available. Due to the limited number of places, space fills up quickly, so I recommend signing up as soon as you know you can commit to the event.

Volunteer slots are scheduled as follows:

Slot	RPG/ACG GMs	HQ
Friday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Friday Evening	6:45 PM to Midnight	6:30 PM to Midnight
Saturday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Sunday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Sunday Evening	6:45 PM to Midnight	6:30 PM to Midnight
Monday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM

The breakdown of what benefits are available for each tier are:

Tier	Badge	Print Product	T-Shirts	Store Credit	Boon/Reward
Tier 1 (6 slots)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Tier 2 (5 slots)	✔	—	✔	✔	✔
Tier 3 (3 slots)	—	—	✔	✔	✔
Tier 4 (1 slot)	—	—	—	✔	—

The details of each benefit are as follows:

• Badge—A free 4-Day PaizoCon 2017 badge
• Print Product—A FREE copy of one Paizo print product of your choice valued at $59.99 or less (excludes preorders or backorders).
• T-Shirts—Limited release t-shirts given every other year.
• Store Credit—Paizo.com store credit at $10 per slot
• Boon/Reward—An PaizoCon exclusive boon (RPG) or reward (ACG)

Those interested in volunteering, please complete the PaizoCon 2017 volunteer questionnaire. My plan is to review the emails around March 6th, and begin responding then. I will consider every email, but reserve the right to select volunteers who have worked at PaizoCon in prior years.

Thanks to all who give of their time and resources to help make Pathfinder Society the largest organized play program in the world. You rock!

For now, I'm off to Emerald City Comic Con this weekend here in Seattle. Anyone else headed out to a convention or got a game planned? Tell me about them!

Until next week—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

War, War Never Changes!

Friday, February 24, 2017

Conflict rages across many portions of Golarion, but no two nations are defined and shaped by the war that rips through them quite like Molthune and Nirmathas. More than 8 decades of bitter unrest and violence inextricably links these two countries; imperialist Molthune seeks to bring rebellious Nirmathas back into its fold, while fiercely independent Nirmathas can't help but rabble-rouse even when peace seems at hand.

Beyond these basic details from the Inner Sea World Guide, though, we've said little about Molthune and Nirmathas—until now. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lands of Conflict is just hitting shelves now, and it contains 64 pages about these two complex nations. I couldn't be more proud about how it turned out.

For the first time, we provide an in-depth look at the inner workings of these two lands, including the complex governmental structure of Molthune and the disparate populace of Nirmathas. The illustrious Amber E. Scott—our superstar author guest of honor for this year's PaizoCon!—did a phenomenal job fleshing out both nations, their history and motivations, the ongoing conflict, and the wild adventures you could set there. Amber has turned Molthune and Nirmathas into living, breathing places that Game Masters could use as a setting for years to come.

Speaking of, if you're interested in adventures that take place here, you'll want to check out the upcoming Ironfang Invasion Adventure Path, developed by Crystal Frasier, in which a hobgoblin army invades Nirmathas!

Illustrations by Sandra Posada and Lewis Jones

But deep lore and context is not all this book offers. We've also included a new militia system designed to allow any party to build, advance, and lead their own band of fighters. It's particularly appropriate for the Ironfang Invasion Adventure Path, though this subsystem can easily be used in any game. The militia system marks the debut of author Lissa Guillet, who is also Paizo's own systems administrator. Lissa did a great job building and parsing rules that can slot seamlessly into any appropriate backdrop.

Beside all of the above, Lands of Conflict includes a host of new Molthuni and Nirmathi troops, large gazetteers of each nation, robust nation and settlement maps, and much more. And check out these all-new character shots below!

Amanda Hamon Kunz
Developer

The Dead Walk

Friday, February 24, 2017

Happy Friday everyone! This week we will be exploring what happens when necromantic energy and humanoid soldiers mix in Crown of Fangs. All of the miniatures this week are based off of art from Curse of the Crimson Throne. Specifically, the original cover artwork (and character artwork) for Pathfinder Adventure Path #11: Skeletons of Scarwall. First, we have the Skeleton Infantry. The Skeleton Infantry is full of great detail and can be used as your standard skeletal swordsmen or a graveknight.

Next, we have the Skeleton Spearman, made to accompany the skeleton infantry figure. Together, you can accurately represent a diverse mix of skeletal opponents in any undead encounter. I really like the spearman's pose! Both the Skeleton Infantry and Skeleton Spearman are medium common figures.

Finally, we have the Skeleton Champion. Distinct from his minions, with a head that flames with the power of evil, he's a must have figure for anyone looking to field skeletons against their players. The Skeleton Champion is a medium uncommon figure, and frankly, looks like a rare.

Stay tuned for more miniatures reveals next week!

Michael Kenway
Director of Licensing

Through the Gate in the Sea Sample Chapter

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Mirian Raas and her faithful crew make their living salvaging lost treasures from sunken ships along the coast of tropical Sargava. While retrieving riches from the bottom of Desperation Bay, Mirian and her friend Jekka, one of the last of his lizardfolk tribe, unexpectedly run across the wreck of an ancient magical ship. The discovery leads them on a quest for an arcane artifact called a dragon's tear, which may be the key to locating Jekka's vanished people. But a vengeful sorcerer and a zealous agent of the Child-God Walkena also seek the dragon's tear—and they'll stop at nothing to get it. Can Mirian and her crew pass through the legendary gate in the sea and find the tear before it's too late?

Chapter 2: The Black Ship

As she played the glow stone over the hull, Mirian imagined the vessel surging along the waves in its glory days, full canvas spread from the trio of towering masts, the dragon-shaped prow rising and falling with the ocean current.

And then she was once more staring at a sunken hulk.

She was swimming slowly toward the bow, wand at the ready, when Jekka joined her. She gave him the hand sign for caution. There was no telling what might be using the wreck as its home.

The figurehead was even more lovely than she'd supposed, carved with that minute detail she'd seen on many lizardfolk objects. Upon closer inspection, Mirian recognized it as a stylized rendition of one of her least favorite creatures: a sea drake. She scowled at the thing. One of the monsters had stalked her when she was a child, and another had chased her expedition through the tunnels of a lizardfolk city before killing her friend Ivrian's mother.

Her hand tightened around the wand and she came perilously close to blasting the serpentine image into floating chunks.

But she had better sense. Provided they could get the figurehead free, they'd probably get a tidy sum for it from some collector. As a member of the Pathfinder Society, she knew not to let personal feeling interfere with a historical find.

Mirian drifted away from the figurehead and back along the narrow bow, light from her glow stone glinting off something half hidden in scum. She swam closer to investigate.

A lumpy object was set into the ship's side six feet below the rail and about the same distance from the bowsprit, in the approximate place that Osirian mariners painted eyes on their ships.

Often she wore gloves on salvage runs, but having anticipated recovering nothing more than a ring down here, she'd dived without them. She reached to touch the object gingerly with her left hand, wiping fingers through grime to reveal a large violet jewel.

At that her eyebrows rose. If this were a real gem, it could easily be worth thousands of gold sails.

Realizing she'd been focused single-mindedly upon her discovery, she checked behind, above, and around her. Her father had taught her not to be so intent you forgot your surroundings. Nearly everything under the water is a predator, he'd told her, and some of them are larger than you.

She saw Jekka's light still playing farther back. Time to confer. She swam over to him and the lizard man's slit pupils contracted in her light beam. She shined the light at her hand so he could see her signal to surface.

His tongue extended, as it sometimes did when he was thoughtful or uncertain, but he followed as she kicked up, and in a few moments they were drifting in the darkness under the stars. Mirian's instinctive sense of direction told her the Daughter of the Mist lay to her left, but she couldn't see it, or even hear the lap of the ocean against its side.

"Isn't it amazing, my sister?" Jekka asked. "A ship of my people!"

"It is amazing. I'd give a lot to know what they painted on the hull to preserve it so well. But there are two things, my brother. Listen well."

Sometimes, when she spoke with the lizard man, Mirian found herself unintentionally adopting his formal diction. She supposed she was learning some of his habits, just as he learned some of hers.

"You have my attention," he answered.

"You must always signal me. And be watching for me, underwater. Don't dart off like that."

He nodded, an exaggerated bob on that long neck.

"We have to watch for each other," she went on, "because there may be something watching us."

"So you have said. Forgive me, Sister."

"No harm done—yet. Don't forget, you need to swim back to the ship and report in. Tell Rendak what we've found and borrow his air bottle."

"I don't need it."

"You damned well do. You can't keep popping up and down the whole time. I want to go inside the hull and look around, and I want someone to back me up. You could get trapped in the hull and drown."

"I don't need it," he repeated stubbornly.

"You promised to defer to me in salvaging. Are you going back on your word?"

He hissed. "You shame me, Sister. Very well. But how am I to watch you if you're going alone to the wreck?"

"You're going to come back quickly. And I'm going to continue my inspection on the outside." Not the safest option, admittedly, but Mirian was an old hand at this, and the seas seemed pretty calm at this drop.

"I will do these things."

"Thank the druid while you're there," she continued, "and apologize to her for the delay. Tell Rendak to turn four points to starboard and come a half mile before dropping anchor. And when he asks if he or Gombe should drop, tell him I'll let them know when we're done scouting."

"I will remember," Jekka assured her.

She was fairly certain he would. The lizard man had an amazing ability to retain oral information and repeat it word for word. Habits, like those of salvaging routines, however, were different from rote memorization.

"Get it done and come find me. I'm as eager as you to see what lies aboard."

Then she raised a hand in farewell and dove below.

On her return trip to the wreck, she wondered what would have happened if she'd descended for the ring alone, or with Rendak or Gombe. Nothing, probably. She'd chosen Jekka in part because he needed to get used to what a salvaging run was like, but also because he'd been so excited to become a salvager. She guessed that was because he now saw the crew as part of his extended clan and wished to contribute to its well-being.

While she waited for Jekka, she carefully surveyed the ship's perimeter, familiarizing herself with the length and breadth of the vessel and searching for telltale warning signs that something large and unpleasant lurked within. Ocean predators weren't especially noted for their intellects. If there were anything nasty living here, there'd likely be discarded carcasses nearby, each crawling with bottom-feeders.

She saw no such indications. That didn't rule out the possibility of more intelligent creatures like aquatic ogres or sea devils lairing there, but she saw no sign of tracks or prints along the rail or upon any of the closed cabin doors leading into the bowels of the ship.

Mirian almost missed the large gash at the vessel's stern, in the shadow of the hull. She studied the damaged wood and realized she was probably looking at the ship's death wound. Most likely the ship had struck a reef.

Illustration by Igor Grechanyi

After a careful examination, Mirian had a pretty clear picture of the ship. It was half again as long as a typical three-master, but perhaps a third shallower across the beam. The decks were high and rose steeply at the prow. Probably there were a good three decks below, and back of the quarterdeck were two more above. Two masts were forward and a mizzenmast stood broken off almost to the deck, right through the wheelhouse itself.

Mirian was looking at the wheel when Jekka finally rejoined her. He took hold of the wheel with one hand to steady himself. Straps of a haversack crossed his chest.

Jekka had slid an object used by the other salvagers in her crew into a side pocket of his haversack. The magic item was colloquially known as an air bottle, and once someone learned the trick of using one, it was possible to spend long hours below the water. Her grandfather had invested in two for the family's help, and hit upon the idea of a tube to affix to the bottle so the fragile object could be kept in a padded back satchel.

The tube worked much better if you had lips to close around it—something Jekka lacked. When he'd first attempted to use it, he couldn't pull air without water coming in as well, unless he jammed the tube so far down his throat he nearly gagged. She understood why he didn't want to repeat the experience, but he'd have to adapt if he was going to be a salvager.

A cool current buffeted Mirian as she examined a peculiar column rising beside the wheel. At first glance, it looked like another mast had been sheared off, but that made no sense. That would have placed it off-center from the rest of the vessel.

She scraped at a layer of blue algae. Instead of a broken mast, she uncovered a diagonal plate resembling a display in an expensive jewelry shop. An array of gems was set into its black metal. She scrubbed harder, exposing tiny symbols incised beside each jewel.

Jekka leaned close, running his scaly fingers over the letters.

The writing certainly resembled the same language Mirian had seen on the lizardfolk book cones, but she knew many languages looked similar to the uninitiated. She pointed to the symbols and then back at Jekka.

The lizard man nodded vigorously and touched a set of characters. "No wind!" he shouted, air bubbling out of his mouth.

He put his fingers beside a flat, violet stone, and it took him three attempts before she could understand him through the water: "Opener of the way."

Jekka paused to suck in the tube, then pulled it out, coughing more air bubbles.

There were four more gems with inscriptions. Mirian spread her hands apart in a silent question.

Clearly perplexed, the lizard man shook his head.

She traced the multifaceted ruby he'd told her meant "no wind." It looked like it might turn in its pitted housing.

Interesting. Slowly, carefully, she set her fingers on the gem and tried moving it clockwise. It didn't budge. When she twisted in the other direction, the gem lit from within.

Mirian looked to Jekka for explanation, but he merely shrugged.

She made a second twist and the deck shook beneath them. Clouds of silt billowed up, and from somewhere below came a loud scraping noise. It wasn't until she looked to port and turned her beam there that she noticed the landscape moving ...

No, the ship was! Mirian let out a colorful oath and quickly twisted the jewel all the way to the right so that it returned to its original setting. It ceased glowing and the ship slowed.

She looked at Jekka as if to say, What the hell was that?

The lizard man stared back at her, reptilian eyes blinking.

This was a major find, but there was no way they'd pry any of the gems out of here. "No wind" apparently meant the ship could be set in motion magically when there was no breeze. She marveled at that, wondering whether a skilled enough magic-worker could remove it from the ship and install it on another. Like, say, the Daughter of the Mist, or that behemoth Ivrian was so set on building.

She pointed to an opening into darkness and directed her glow stone onto a barnacle-encrusted ladder. Apparently only the hull had the special protective coating.

Jekka tapped his chest and pointed into the hold, letting her know he intended to lead, then brandished his own glow stone.

She almost objected, then decided he was at least communicating this time, and remembered he was both an experienced warrior and excited to be searching a ship made by his own people. She allowed him to swim in front, staying a few feet back from the swish of his whiplike tale.

Most of the hold's contents had shifted to starboard. Her light played over brown and green weeds dusted by occasional splotches of red and blue. They obscured the hold's contents in a soft, furry blanket.

Jekka floated above it all, shining his own light on something to the right, then pointed at a long segmented worm with pincers. Mirian's father had always called them rot worms, though to Mirian they looked more like oversized centipedes. Their bite was deadly poisonous and they tended to be aggressive when disturbed, so she moved quickly.

The arm-length creature shifted away at Jekka's spear thrust, rearing up and stirring the water with its legs. Mirian cut it in half with her cutlass. It floated apart, wriggling in its death throes.

Jekka brushed it out of the way and shined his light on the patch of growth where the rot worm had been hidden. It didn't seem to have any nest mates.

She floated on with Jekka, imagining the hold moving with robed lizardfolk, perhaps lashing down that stack of crates over there, or walking on through the narrow archway into the next chamber.

Jekka stopped beside three large chests resting against the hull, each rotten with age. As Mirian played her light over the area, tiny crustaceans swam frantically for darkness. Little silver fish flashed away in alarm.

Mirian signaled Jekka to keep watch and he turned from her to survey their surroundings.

She had never seen a lizardfolk chest before, but the one directly before her proved little different from those built by humans, save that the lock mechanism was inset along the top right. That in itself was of interest. She made a mental note to record the information in her Pathfinder journal.

Normally, she would have simply smashed open a chest this old and rotten, but it was such an odd, rare find she wanted to handle it with care.

The bronze lock was green with corrosion and looked as though it had been designed to accommodate a cylindrical mechanism rather than a key—far beyond her lock-picking abilities, but there were other ways. She removed a small pry bar from her pack and set to work on the hinges.

Illustration by Roberto Pitturru

The tool's teeth sank easily into the rotten wood, and in moments both hinges were floating free. After that, the lid came up easily. Mirian drifted back as she lifted it. There was no telling what might come crawling out.

Nothing did.

She again swam closer, her light settling on a rotted wooden frame inside the chest that kept a dozen blue cylindrical bottles upright and separate. Five were broken along their necks, but the others, though empty, looked intact—more tube than jar, with a peculiar fluted opening at the top.

Mirian played the light over the inside, then carefully lifted one of the vessels free and drew it closer it for examination.

Jekka drifted beside her. His long, forked tongue flicked with excitement.

She looked at him questioningly.

His head cocked in interest and he mimed drinking with it.

Mirian handed it to him to examine, then signed for him to put it in his pack. They could spend months clearing this wreck. It was probably time to fetch Rendak and Gombe.

Desna had truly blessed them. The wreck was a fantastic find. There was no telling what sort of oddities might be left aboard, let alone their value and historical significance. As a salvager, she depended upon scavenging sites like this. But as a Pathfinder, she was dedicated to uncovering the secrets of Golarion's past to preserve and disseminate knowledge. If the magical wind mechanism built into this ship could be understood and replicated, it might very well change the future of sea travel.

Jekka pointed to the chest next to the one they'd opened. He clearly wanted to see what was inside.

She decided to humor him and signaled for him to guard once more.

The hinges on the second chest were even more worn, and yielded with no resistance.

Within stood twelve rows of sculpted lizardfolk heads fashioned from a thin metal alloy and inlaid with jewels. Each eye socket was set with amber stones, the figures themselves rich with the minute symbols of Jekka's people.

The sight so thrilled her blood brother that his frill rose, and Mirian had to remind him to keep watch, though she did acquiesce to setting all two dozen of the sculptures within her pack.

The haversacks they wore had been gifts from Ivrian's mother, and were ensorcelled to contain more space on the inside than was apparent without. All of the sculptures fit easily without altering the haversack's weight in the slightest, another wonderful feature.

Jekka signed to indicate they should open the third chest, but she shook her head and pointed to the surface. Then she looked back to the chests and smiled, trying to reassure him they'd come back for all of it.

Mirian led the way out. Jekka trailed some length after, seemingly reluctant to leave.

Sooner than expected she found the anchor chain and, looming above, the dark bowline of the Daughter of the Mist.

Her hands closed on the familiar rungs of the ladder built into the vessel's side. She felt the magical gills fade the moment she thrust her head above the water and breathed deeply of the crisp salty air.

All was silhouettes and shadows against the lesser darkness of the sky, but she thought she made out Gombe's lean outline near the ladder. She grinned at him as she stepped forward, slinging her bag off her shoulder.

"You won't believe what we've found," she told him.

A man with a sword stepped around Gombe, the point of the weapon at the first mate's throat. "I'm all ears."

Purchase the whole novel here!

Heart of Stone

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Designer Liz Spain continues her sun-scorched preview of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Mummy's Mask set, here bathing in the mystery of Adventure Deck 5: The Slave Trenches of Hakotep. To the dunes!

Tef-Naju stirred within the walls of his great marble prison. It was day, not that it mattered in this subterranean place, but he could feel the element of fire heating the sands above. He did not sleep, not in the way that human men had described the pastime as such. But his mind had been wandering, dreamlike, through eon-old memories of the plane of earth and other shaitan he had once known. He reached out to rouse Aiveria, but the stone maiden was not beside him. She was practicing the motions of her kata. Over a thousand years it had become a dance of strength and deadly grace that had once made him weep to see. So, he waited and listened.

Movement sixteen—the swoosh of her sword cutting the air, then the soft tinkling of the coins that dangled from her hem as she placed her foot for the swift, jaw-smashing kick. She had come to his bastion to save the once-legendary shaitan from his eternal servitude and, finding the task impossible, chose to stay. In many ways, she had saved him. He had found peace and companionship with her. Their routine had become timeless, and the anger he once felt toward his captor had chipped away to a tiny flint in his heart.

Yes, you can lose to Tef-Naju and still be rewarded with his trove. Keep that in mind.

Above, the sands skittered with the rhythmic marching of feet. Not animals. These moved with the cadence of creatures of hurried purpose. Not shaitan or oread, either. The footsteps were too light, too fast. Humans, then. His suspicions were confirmed as the Elemental Trenches above crackled to life. Suddenly, the vast tunnels below the trenches hummed anew—arteries carrying vast elemental power, technology of the lost Shory people built to be turned against them. Built by a pharaoh who thought himself a god. A pharaoh who enslaved countless elementals and guarded his works with their corpses. The genie had thought the pharaoh would die like other men. This way, Tef-Naju assumed the contract would wither. And yet, still he had to protect this place. A genie could no more break a contract than a cricket could pull down the sun.

And so Tef-Naju whispered through the sandstone floor to awaken the hanshepsu nearest the entrance. Aiveria had taken it upon herself to repaint the guardian constructs a century or two ago. The iridescent black-beetle wings of their heads glimmered with a realism that would surely please Khepri, the craftsman god they honored. Moreover, the hanshepsu were tough. With a little luck, the uninvited guests would be stopped and he could join Aiveria on the balcony for conversation and sculpting, as they so often spent their pleasant days.

The Trenches can empty your hand and make you happy about it.

But alas, the shaitan groaned as he felt a sand elemental, not one of his own, envelop the hanshepsu, immobilizing it.

The smaller of the interlopers set a chest upon the ground and drew a weapon—an artifact of an ancient war between gods and elementals. The large stone rod animated and, unhinging its massive jaw, swallowed the hanshepsu whole. The stone maiden who had worked so lovingly to paint it would be unhappy. He would have to tell her later.

The largest of the guests, an orc-blooded that wore the crest of the tax-collector god walked through the massive doors to the tunnels and gathered power around himself. Locks and traps would not stop a Gatekeeper, the shaitan thought, his slate forehead cracking as it furrowed. He would have to slip by Aiveria to take care of them himself. Surrounded by tombs of his master's many other victims, Tef-Naju had lost the taste for death. And surely his lovely consort would rage upon discovering a favorite sculpture lost.

Pro tip: Nothing says you can't have multiple cards on the Chest, or that you ever need to draw them.

The spell coalesced around the half-orc cleric, its power released to quickly race through the tunnels. But it was a clumsy spell, the vision cracking a delicate seal upon one of the nastier curses stored amongst canopic jars. The cleric clutched his eyes, screamed, and sank his teeth into his armor, attempting to tear pieces away as his teeth chipped then broke.

The smaller guest fumbled with her mighty rod, startled as Tef-Naju rose from the floor.

"You are not welcome in the machines of Hakotep. I am sworn to protect this place until such time that Hakotep's wish is fulfilled," boomed the genie, crossing his arms in an intimidating gesture.

Be very, very careful with that spell.

"And what if we kill the Forgotten Pharaoh? What then?" The staff-wielder was clever, it seemed.

"Then I would be free," Tef-Naju replied. The word felt hard on his tongue. "But I am obliged to thwart you. I cannot let you pass."

She set her jaw as they willed power around themselves. Another magus, the genie thought. He had crushed a thousand elemental magi in his training a hundred lifetimes ago. He would have to be careful. Flesh was so weak compared to stone. He dodged and struck, the hard lines of the contract stopping him from pulling back too much. Nevertheless, she persisted. The law was satisfied and he could relent.

"I have no tea or water," he said, helping her panting form up from the painted stone floor. "But I can show you a lovely view of the sand waterfall and I'm sure my companion would be pleased to have someone else to discuss her sculptures. Come to my trove. I have a gift for you, such that your soft flesh might not tear when you stand before the pharaoh Hakotep."

Four is not a small number of boons. But it's worth it.

Bewildered at the sudden turn of hospitality, Ahmotep stood as best she could and braced herself for an afternoon of congenial company.

Liz Spain
Adventure Card Game Designer

Adventures in the Isles

Monday, February 20, 2017

2017 has been a busy year so far! Tonya recently announced our revised Retail Support Program to provide boon support to public, non-convention events. Linda and I are busily outlining and assigning the rest of Season 8, we've locked in Season 9, Linda's made tremendous strides in updating our FAQ, and we're preparing the next batch of scenario product pages—including at least one surprise for an upcoming convention. The team's also enjoyed incorporating significant crossovers between the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild and the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild, including some fun Adventure Card Guild developments to the Scarab Sages narrative in the ongoing Season of Plundered Tombs. On top of that, we're busily flying around the country to meet with organized play communities in person, with Tonya having attended DunDraCon in San Ramon, CA this past weekend and Mark and Linda attending TotalCon in Marlborough, MA next weekend. On top of that, I've been helping out on several cross-department collaborations that I imagine we'll announce a few months from now.

During this busy time, we're fortunate to have several guest developers helping us with scenario development: Thurston "Thursty" Hillman and Ron Lundeen, both veteran authors and familiar with the intricacies of Pathfinder Society. We're happy to have them collaborating with our in-house developers, and you'll find them featured prominently in the credits for recent scenarios.

Illustrations by Hannah Boving and Sebastian Rodriguez

Speaking of scenarios, we have two great ones due out this Wednesday. The first is Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-14: To Seal the Shadow by the talented Jason Keeley. Especially when we've introduced new races to the campaign, I've really enjoyed dedicating a scenario to meet a representative member of that species or visit a significant settlement. We've done so with nagajis, a samsaran, a kitsune, and even a bit for tengus, but the wayangs have enjoyed only a few paragraphs of ethnographic exploration so far. For more than a year I've been looking for the right time and right author to travel to Inahiyi, the hub of wayang culture in Minata, and Jason did a great job presenting a major festival that the PCs attend to commemorate one of the wayangs' great historical events in the shadow of an extinct volcano. My inner anthropologist is excited that we at last release this delightful Tier 1-5 adventure, which features several inspired wayang illustrations by Hannah Boving.

February also sees the third installment in the ongoing Gloomspires exploration (see Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-06: Hall of the Flesh Eaters and Pathfinder Society Scenario #7-19: Labyrinth of Hungry Ghosts for earlier scenarios) by Tom Phillips: Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-15: Hrethnar's Throne, a Tier 5-9 adventure. This scenario was especially interesting to outline with Tom, as it's this level of the site that first caught Mark Moreland's and my eyes during RPG Superstar, kicking off this entire series. The PCs return to the Gloomspires with Venture-Captain Calisro Benarry, having obtained a reliable means to overcome a lethal barrier and explore what lies beyond. Don't think this is a predictable dungeon-crawl, though; the Gloomspires is full of surprises and jealous rivals, including one of my favorite scenario opening scenes in a long while and this evocative hobgoblin pirate illustrated by Sebastian Rodriguez.

John Compton
Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

Mind Over Ghostly Matter

Friday, February 17, 2017

Illustration by Litos Lopez Rodriguez

Amanda Hamon Kunz and Jason Keeley are back to tell you more about the brand-new Player Companion, Psychic Anthology, a compendium of esoteric ideas and unusual choices for the occult classes.

Jason

When writing, editing, or developing a project, I often like to ask myself, "Is this disgusting enough?" Luckily for me, I didn't have to pose that query very often for Psychic Anthology. In a product that features a book written on the inside of a human skull and a tome bound in the hide of an extraplanar monstrosity, my favorite is the Encyclopedia Etherica, which is made entirely out of ectoplasm. A chronicle of spiritualists and their phantoms, the original version of this encyclopedia exists only on the Ethereal Plane. The only way for a copy to appear on the Material Plane is for a spiritualist's phantom to grasp it and then be harbored in the spiritualist's consciousness. The spiritualist then must vomit up the book, page by page. I don't think Amazon will be using this method of delivery any time soon.

But if you can stomach reading about the Encyclopedia Etherica, you can find all kinds of exciting options for spiritualists! The first is the addition of a new phantom emotional focus—kindness. A kindness phantom excels at aiding others and can even provide a small amount of healing. This section also includes archetypes that grant spiritualists phantom animal companions or allow them channel positive energy to harm the undead. Or, if you want to ditch the whole phantom thing and instead wield a sentient ectoplasmic sword, then the phantom blade archetype is for you. Not only does the phantom weapon get more powerful as you gain levels, it can also be reshaped into different weapon types and, eventually, eat souls. Not convinced? Just ask Estra, who seems pretty satisfied with her giant gooey battleaxe.

Illustration by Veli Nystrom

Illustration by Veli Nystrom

Amanda

Aside from its very theme, the most exciting part of Psychic Anthology was, for me, the opportunity to present psychic versions of concepts that have long been Pathfinder staples. One of my favorite ways that we accomplished this was by creating psychic versions of tried-and-true magic items.

The in-world framework the book uses to introduce these items is the Infinity Scroll, an enigmatic work that only holds a tiny fragment of the Akashic Record—or perhaps a few manifestations of the Dark Tapestry's impossible truths. The scroll was lost long ago, but the fragments that scholars recorded led to the creation of the truly noteworthy items detailed in Psychic Anthology.

For one, the book presents the ring of mysticism, which works much like a psychic ring of wizardry in that it doubles the wearer's psychic spells per day for one specific spell level. We also present the robe of the overmind. I won't spoil exactly what it does, but think a more psychically appropriate version of robe of the archmagi.

There are so many other goodies in Psychic Anthology, but you'll have to pick up the book to find out more!

Creepy Crawlies

Friday, February 17, 2017

Hellooo! With this week's Crown of Fangs preview I decided to try and trigger as many of your arachnid responses as I possibly could. If you don't like alien creatures that need to be purged with fire, I'd skip this week.

With that out of the way, I'd like to introduce you to the Dream Spider. These lovely abominations secrete a venom that causes hallucinations, up until they eat you. The Dream Spider is a small common figure in this set, and can be used for all of your nightmare inducing needs.

Speaking of nightmares, next we have the Giant Spider. Just your standard, run of the mill, killing machine with an exoskeleton. Whenever I look at this miniature I have flash backs to the Lord of the Rings with Frodo creeping through Cirith Ungol. The Giant Spider is a medium common figure.

I would say I saved the best for last, but I guess that is only if you like the Fallout series. Here, we have the Giant Scorpion. It can grab and constrict two of your players while stinging a third. All in good fun, of course. Wizkids knocked it out of the park with this guy. I "love" the texturing of the carapace and the hunting stance they set it in. The Giant Scorpion is a large uncommon figure.

In other Pathfinder Battles news, if you like painting your own miniatures, then you should check out Deep Cuts. These plastic unpainted miniatures release this spring and are now available for preorder here on paizo.com!

Until next week!

Michael Kenway
Director of Licensing

As Aeons End

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Illustrations by Kent Hamilton

This month the Strange Aeons Adventure Path wraps up, and by the time this blog goes live some subscribers will have already dug their claws into the adventure while others have to wait for stores to put them on the shelves next Wednesday.

Over the course of this Adventure Path, readers have seen how subtle corruptions can boil over into dangerous territory, leaving those that witness them to gestate further horrors in their own minds that can threated the world at large. Within this Adventure Path, we got a look at the Great Old Ones and Elder Gods that make up the Elder Mythos. We explored Hastur's cult and had a glimpse into what might happen if that Great Old One was to rise as an Outer Gods. We got to look deeper into the vile evil of the Necronomicon, and explored the strange world of the Dreamlands. We ventured to forgotten locations in Golarion and stepped beyond the gap between worlds to set foot on lost Carcosa. In the Adventure Path bestiary, we got to show you new statistics for a Great Old One in each installment, as well as a double handful of other Mythos creatures throughout. It's been a strange journey to say the least.

I'm terrible at picking favorites, be it a favorite color, favorite song, favorite food, whatever. However, since I had so many great writers on this Adventure Path, I felt the need to pick my favorite thing that they created in each of the six adventures. Like always, it's difficult picking my favorite things that I liked about each one, so in some cases I just went with my gut when picking from my lengthy lists. Here goes!

Pathfinder Adventure Path #109: In Search of Sanity

Favorite Thing: The whole first act.

The starting encounter with the PCs asleep and encountering the Tatterman and the fugue state set up of the whole AP seemed challenging in the outline, but Wes Schneider killed it in a way that was better than I could imagine.

Honorable Mentions: That attic whisperer illustration; the Argus Wall; and Red Destiny.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #110: The Thrushmoor Terror

Favorite Thing: Thrushmoor's weird townsfolk.

Tito Leati is great at writing character that interconnect, so I loved his backstory of Nemira Lowls and how she tied in with Clymes Prett and the history of Thrushmoor's leadership, as well as the other characters he introduced.

Honorable Mentions: Fun Star Stelae mechanics; the Hastur article; and meeting Weiralai the first time.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #111: Dreams of the Yellow King

Favorite Thing: The adventure's entire structure.

I love that this adventure takes place in two worlds during a long river journey, and with most of it in the Dreamlands Ron Lundeen was able to give out powerful treasure and present some nearly impossible fights (I'm looking at you, Bokrug).

Honorable Mentions: Abdul Alhazred; Skywin Freeling as a breath of fresh, positive air; and fighting yourselves.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #112: A Whisper Out of Time

Favorite Thing: Creepy derro madness.

Rich Pett is a master of the weird and unsettling, and I really adored what he did with Miacknian Mun's house (and his weird experiments that look like him).

Honorable Mentions: The derro leader Twain; the weirdness of the Mysterium; and betrayal and blood in Okeno.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #113: What Grows Within

Favorite Thing: The strange allies you encounter.

This trip into a forgotten and inhospitable location in Golarion was made extra fun and interesting with the rich characters John Compton introduced. I adored Hoshbagh, the otyugh tome eater occultist and the frightening Mother Grim Moon, as well as the broken soul manu and the Saffron Prince.

Honorable Mentions: The return of Weiralai in her advanced form; the Necronomicon article; and the child of Yog-Sothoth template.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #114: Black Stars Beckon

Favorite Thing: Packing varied locations into one adventure.

It was a tough challenge to show different parts of Carcosa in such a tight space, but Jim did a great job of it. I especially liked seeing the Paris element of Carcosa, but getting to see Azlanti vampires and an elder thing "ghost town" was delightful as well. Man, I really love this cover.

Honorable Mentions: The cast of familiar characters like Erich Zann, Cassilda, and the Pallid Mask.

The Sounds of Madness

Today we're also excited to announce that our partners at Syrinscape have released the first Strange Aeons SoundPack! Ben has, yet again, worked his magic on bringing "In Search of Sanity" alive in all of its delightfully creepy beauty. After listening to it at my desk, I nabbed Wes so he could get a chance to hear the demented sounds of his adventure. This SoundSet really captures the fear and uncertainty of trying to survive an asylum that has descended into monstrous chaos. I loved hearing the sounds for the argus wall, and the encounter with what Debis Lieklan has become is especially unnerving. Listening to this also made me realize that I need to put more dialog in adventures, as it was great hearing the NPCs in this adventure come to life.

The first volume in the new Strange Aeons Adventure Path, "In Search of Sanity", is a fantastically intense and ghastly adventure needing equally fantastic and horrible sounds. You can get a peek at the process behind how the Syrinscape team worked their magic to bring this adventure to spine tinglingly disturbing 3D life on our YouTube channel. (Who would have thought you could voice a Nightgaunt with a fur seal?)

With the In Search of Sanity SoundPack you'll be able to carefully and finely tune your player's discomfort. Subtly ramping up or down from one so-called "Tension Level" is simply a matter of touching a single button. Your players probably won't even notice just how intensely immersed and involved they've been in the adventure session. Not until you stop Syrinscape to take a break and the mood weirdly drains from the room will they know just how you've been masterfully you've been controlling the ebb and flow of this horror adventure with a few subtle mostly subliminal tones.

Watch the demo below and grab the first Strange Aeons SoundPack here! If you're looking for more creepy sounds, check out the whole range of Syrinscape products.

Benjamin Loomes
Creative Director
Syrinscape

Illustrations by Miguel Regodón Harkness

Crossing the Streams

For those of you who want more Call of Cthulhu chocolate in their Pathfinder peanut butter (or vice versa—it's your metaphor to manipulate as needed), James Jacobs worked up a clever system in the Continuing the Campaign article to merge your Strange Aeons characters with investigators working against the sinister machinations of the Mythos in this final Strange Aeons Adventure Path volume, Pathfinder Adventure Path #114: Black Stars Beckon.

When using this system, at the climax of the Adventure Path, the PCs don't return to Golarion, but instead a magical vortex opens in Carcosa that blasts their consciousness out to the stars where they arrive in the minds of humans on a planet with a strong connection to Carcosa—Earth.

This provides an option to play adventures with the Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game where the investigators have the spirit essences of the characters the players controlled throughout the Strange Aeons Adventure Path inhabiting their minds on Earth. These spirit essences want to return to Golarion, but can't make the transition until they achieve some goals on Earth such as preventing the rise of eldritch forces and fighting against Mythos influence. With enough successes, the characters' spirit essences are freed from the human investigators and can safely return to their selves on Golarion.

This is an interesting approach to merging two different games and campaigns, and I'm interested in seeing how folks use it.

This month's Pathfinder Adventure Path closes out the Strange Aeons Adventure Path and I hope that you've enjoyed the weird ride as much as we've enjoyed bringing to you. Stay tuned to this blog for deeper looks into the Adventure Path as we bring you more reports from the Order of the Amber Die as they run marathon sessions of the remaining adventures in this campaign. You're not getting this Adventure Path out of your head that easy.

Adam Daigle
Developer

Onward To Adventure!

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

February has the tendency to sneak up on you when you least expect it, and fly right by! This first month-and-a-bit of 2017 has been chock full of exciting projects and new announcements, including our latest Humble Bundle initiative in partnership with Dynamite and our lineup of Starfinder products launching at Gen Con 2017. Since it's been a minute (or two... possibly three) since we've given folks an update on our product schedule, let's take a look at what the next few months have in store.

The next Pathfinder Adventure Path kicks off in just a few weeks with the first two volumes of the Ironfang Invasion—Pathfinder Adventure Path #115: Trail of the Hunted and Pathfinder Adventure Path #116: Fangs of War. The Ironfang Invasion Adventure Path calls back to classic adventures, focusing on exploring the unknown and confronting the fantastic, all to stop a monstrous enemy from wiping out the good people of Nirmathas and Molthune. The PCs will delve into dungeons, siege well-guarded keeps, explore the wilderness, and battle some of the most iconic creatures from the 40-year history of fantasy RPGs.

Speaking of "iconic creatures", how many of you are excited for even more monsters? This April, pick up Bestiary 6! This sixth monstrous-tome for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game includes over 200 monsters like archdevils, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, play-character-suitable races, and even the creepy and horrific Krampus himself. While previews for Bestiary 6 are still a few weeks away, I snuck some artwork out for you to feast your eyes upon...

Illustrations by William Liu, Jorge Fares, Jim Pavelec, and Roberto Pitturru

But there are more options for your Pathfinder campaign rolling through! For me, summer means backpacking and in the months leading up to it, geeking out over the latest gear. What better than to prep your next character or tailor your next campaign with with the Adventurer's Guide releasing this May? And, if you're trying to cut gear weight like me, we just announced that both the GameMastery Guide and Advanced Player's Guide will be available in the travel-friendly Pocket Edition format.

To recap, here's the lineup of Pathfinder products releasing March:

• Pathfinder Adventure Path #115: Trail of the Hunted
• Pathfinder Adventure Path #116: Fangs of War
• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Mummy's Mask Adventure Deck #6
• Pathfinder Player Companion: Monster Hunter's Handbook
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Forbidden Jungle
• Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-16: House of Harmonious Wisdom
• Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-17: Refugees of the Weary Sky
• Pathfinder Legends—Curse of the Crimson Throne #3: Escape from Old Korvosa

August 2017

If you're heading to Gen Con later this summer, you can expect a full compliment of Pathfinder and Starfinder excitement! To get more details about the Starfinder products in this list, you'll want to read James L. Sutter's blog about their announcement. And of course, since this is months in the future, titles are subject to possibly shifting (or being added) to this list.

• Pathfinder Adventure Path #121: The Lost Outpost, the first volume in the Ruins of Azlant Adventure Path
• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Magus Class Deck
• Pathfinder Player Companion: Elemental Master's Handbook
• Pathfinder Map Pack: Village Sites
• Starfinder Core Rulebook
• Starfinder Adventure Path #1: Incident at Absalom Station
• Starfinder GM Screen
• Starfinder Player Character Folio
• Starfinder Core Pawn Collection (and Base Assortment)
• Starfinder Flip-Mat: Basic Starfield
• Starfinder Flip-Mat: Basic Terrain

As we begin the slow-roll into a jam-packed convention season, more announcements are sure to come! Keep your eyes out, and until next time!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

We're So Fancy, You Already Know

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Developers Amanda Hamon Kunz and Jason Keeley teamed up as the lead developers of Heroes of the High Court, a Pathfinder Player Companion that takes adventurers to the royal courts and noble houses of Golarion. Let's see what they have to say about the lords and ladies of high society.

Jason

This was the first book that I did a major amount of development on, having spent a few years in the word mines of editing—a place that holds a very special place in my heart and to which calls to me still. And I have to give major thanks to Amanda, who made sure I didn't spend my whole time on this project alphabetizing everything. It was exciting to take the glittering ideas fresh from our freelancer's minds and altering them to fit the needs of the product, much like a bespoke tailor creating a velvet doublet for his noble patron.

Illustrations by Bryan Syme and Javier Charro

Speaking of clothes, we all know how much those courtly types enjoy their fashion, so of course Heroes of the High Court touches on this important facet. From mundane attire such as long, silk gloves that grant bonuses against contact poisons to magical accessories such as a fashionable shawl that provides the wearer with her own illusory entourage, you'll be able to dress to impress. Once so attired, you might look half as nice as the silksworn, an occultist archetype that trades dusty ancient implements for ostentatious garments and expensive magic items. A silksworn casts spells as a spontaneous arcane spellcaster, and actually gets a few more spells per day than the regular occultist. He even gains a bonus on Bluff and Diplomacy checks depending on how much fancy clothing he's wearing. I mean, just look at Mavaro here! Isn't he fabulous?!

Amanda

For me, one of the most fun parts of character creation is coming up with a deep and intricate origin story. It might never come up in play, but my characters always have weird reasons for adventuring, and for being in specific locations when their adventures start. More than one has had traceable ties to a legendary hero (or has just made up a story and passed it off as fact!).

Regardless, Heroes of the High Court is rich in mechanical tools for building nearly any specific noble character you can imagine. The book accomplishes this in a lot of ways, but one of the most interesting is an expansion of the Noble Scion feat from the Inner Sea World Guide. The original feat gives you a mechanical benefit at 1st level based on the broad flavor of your character's noble family, but in Heroes of the High Court, we go a step further. With this expansion of the feat, characters can gain a mechanical benefit based on the actual nation from which their noble family hails.

Is your character, for instance, a member of frosty noble family from Irrisen? If they take the Noble Scion feat, they can reduce the amount of nonlethal damage taken from exposure to cold by 4 points (minimum 0). If they're from shadowy Nidal, they can gain low-light vision, or a +2 bonus on Perception checks in areas of dim light, and if they're from Taldor, they can gain a +2 bonus on Charisma-based checks when interacting with nobles or members of a noble court.

The Noble Scion options are really just a drop in the bucket of mechanical options that Heroes of the High Court offers to noble characters. Check out the book to find out more!

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Strategy #6—Closing Your Location

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Before we jump in to Shannon Appelcline's latest strategy blog, we'd like to let you know that we're now offering promo cards from Rise of the Runelords and Skull & Shackles for sale here on paizo.com. These cards are not reprints—they are the very same printings that we shipped to subscribers a couple of years ago (so the cut and color of the RotR promos in particular is slightly different from the cards we print today). (So, why haven't we put up promos for newer sets? Being a subscriber has its privileges!)

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

The main goal for almost every Pathfinder Adventure Card Game location is closing it. Though you may send characters to locations due to other challenges or benefits inherent in them, closing conditions should weigh heavily in your decisions. But there's a flip side to closing locations: abandoning them. Sometimes you'll realize that a location just got much harder to close, and that should make you consider moving away from it. Closing and abandoning: they're the final yin and yang of working with locations in PACG.

Visit the Hard-to-Close Locations First

It may seem counterintuitive, but it's usually helpful to visit the hard-to-close locations first. If a character is going to need a high roll or a blessing to close out a location, go there first.

This is because you only want to close these locations, at whatever high cost or low odds, once. And you don't want to do it when you're concentrating on other things. If you visit a hard-to-close location first, then you should finish with it well before you're fighting the game's final villain, so you won't need to mess with it while you're also trying to collect together blessings to fight the villain, and you won't need to temporarily close it multiple times if the villain manages to escape.

(Yes, you might still face the villain early in the game, but if so he's going to get away anyway, so temporarily closing that hard-to-close location isn't a do-or-die requirement.)

Save the Impossible-to-Close Locations for Last

If a location is nearly impossible to close (because it doesn't correlate to the skills of your characters) or if it's undesirable to close (because it requires you to do something like banish a card or take damage), then follow Paul McCartney's advice: Let it be.

The reason is that you are less likely to find a villain in the early locations: at the start of a standard scenario, the odds of finding a villain at any random location are 1/(n+2) where n is the number of players. As you close locations, a random open location will be more likely to contain a villain, either because that's where the villain started or because that's where he fled to; by the time that it's possible to actually beat the villain, the odds of the villain being at the impossible-to-close location are 1/n, and the odds continue to increase as you close locations. And, if you defeat a villain at the location in question, then you don't have to close it via the normal means!

(Yes, you might still have to try and close that nasty, nasty location, but you're minimizing the odds as much as possible.)

Don't Close Locations You Don't Want to Close

Hold on a second, though. Do you actually want to close a location? There's no choice when you beat villains, but when you defeat a henchman you can decide whether or not you want to try.

Warning: No lifeguard on duty.

There are only a scant few situations where the answer might be no:

• You might defer closing a location if you have no chance of closing it or if doing so might cause characters damage. For example, you might not close Junk Beach if you're unlikely to defeat the Poison Trap, because failing would damage you, and possibly your friends.
• You might not close a location if you really want a type of card or even a specific card that you spied at that location.

There are also some situations that might strengthen your resolve not to close:

• If a location deck contains just a few cards, there's less concern about finishing it off.
• If you've already decided that you've lost the game, you might as well keep the location open if there's any reason to do so.

However, the answer should almost always be yes: you should usually close locations given the opportunity. Quite simply, if you choose not to close, then you've massively increased the odds that you're going to lose this session of play. So make sure that you understand that it's probably a trade-off versus winning the game.

Abandon Your Location If You Fail to Close It

Absent some of these reasons to stay at a location, when you beat a henchman and fail to close the location, you should also beat feet. That's because there's no longer a way to close the location early, which means that you're going to have to dig through the whole deck. Unless you really want the boons there, don't bother. You'd do better to go to another location that you might close easier, then return to the hench-less location only (1) when you need to be stationed there to temporarily close it to trap the villain or (2) after you chase the villain there, making it possible to close the location easily once more.

Abandon Your Location If You Chase Away the Villain

You should similarly abandon a location if you fight a villain there and lose. Yes, the fleeing villain could return to his original location, but unless it's the only location that was open, he might have gone somewhere else instead—and if he did, your current location just got really hard to close.

Imagine that you have two other open locations when you lose to the villain. Each of those other locations now has an average of 1.33 cards that can close the location: the deck's original henchman (there's your "1") and the 1-in-3 chance that the villain fled there (there's your ".33"). However, since the villain's original location didn't have a henchman, it now has only the possibility that the villain fled there, so it has an average of just .33 cards that can close the location. Obviously, that makes it less desirable, barring other factors.

Abandon Your Location If You Temporarily Closed It

There's one other closure-related reason that might lead you to abandon a location: when you temporarily closed it during a fight against a villain, and the villain fled somewhere else. Clearly you don't want to leave your temporarily closed location if you have enough coverage to close everything down again next time you fight the villain. But if you've still got one or two extra locations, then you'd do better to visit the locations that weren't closed. That's because the location you temporarily closed has just one card that can close the location: the henchman. But the n locations that were open when the villain fled have a higher average: the henchman and a 1/n chance of a villain.

Of course, you need to decide if you actually want to encounter the villain or not, and either go to the unclosed locations or not based on that decision.

Next time: Rolling your dice.

Shannon Appelcline
Game Historian

Announcing the Regional Support Program!

Tuesday, February 13, 2017

Happy Monday! Reading over social media posts, it looks like Pathfinder Society events last weekend went wonderfully and those that attended them had a great time! OwlCon in Houston, Texas, saw a return of the Skeleton Moon, run by designer and honorary PFS Team member Stephen Radney-McFarland. No deaths, but some difficult combat and a few sticky situations. From all accounts, LodgeCon was successful as well and many people enjoyed playing PFS in Illinois this weekend.

Last spring, we rolled out a Game Day initiative for the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. Our intention was to respond to player requests for boons outside of conventions, for those that could not afford time or money to attend a show. From the outset, the program had issues. From it's unfortunate name, which was already being used to refer to a one day function where Pathfinder Society was played, to the convoluted system of goals and rewards, the Game Day initiative caused more headaches than it solved.

We went back to the drawing board and discussed the issue quite a bit. As a result, we changed the name to Regional Support Program (RSP), which better describes the program, and overhauled the requirements. What emerged is sleek and simple, aimed at maximizing the programs reach while keeping administration to a minimum.

This time the Regional Venture-Coordinators will oversee the program. Any location running public games may apply for RSP event status, provided they have a venture-officer associated with the location. The venture-officer may be any rank, from agent to regional coordinator. Once the RVC receives the information necessary to log the event, such as location, organizer, dates, and number of sessions, the RVC will update the log form and will send the package of boons and cards out to the organizer. The overseeing venture-officer will advertise the event as a RSP event, so that players and GMs know if events are participating or not.

As a RSP event, the overseeing venture-officer receives a package of player boons to distribute to the players, as well as a GM boon. Each venue determines their method of player boon distribution and provides that information to players. The basic criterion is that a player has a 10% chance per game played of earning a boon. For the GMs, they have a tiered boon three levels of rewards. If a GM runs 6 games at qualifying events, they earn Reward A. If they GM 12 games at qualifying locations, they earn Reward B. If they GM 24 games at qualifying events over the course of the year, they earn Reward C.

The portability of the program becomes an asset. GMs count games run at any advertised RSP event towards their total, but may only earn one check box per game ran. Our graphic designer, Emily, made a fantastic tracking card that the GM may slip into their wallet and carry with them. Thus they are always ready to chart their progress and work towards their chronicle.

The full policy is posted on the Pathfinder Society policies page. Any questions should be directed to your local venture-officer. If you would like to have the RSP program in your area but do not have a local venture-officer, consider joining the ranks of volunteers. To do this, contact your Regional Venture-Coordinator (you can find a listing of regions and their respective RVCs here).

I'm off for San Ramon on Thursday, to visit the lovely Bay Area Pathfinder Society Lodge and attend DunDra Con. While there, my plans include running a few games, playing a few games, and hanging out with fantastic people. If you're in the area and don't have anything planned, consider coming out and joining in on some games. Information for the con is on their website.

With February being a short month, scenario release is almost upon us. Join us next week for John's sneak peek at February's scenarios!

Until then—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

The Dead, the Big, and the Evil

Friday, February 10, 2017

So we had half a foot of snow here, and the first official snow day that I can remember. But here at Paizo we like to say "neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom..." Anyway, this for this week's Crown of Fangs preview we start with the Fungal Guardian! This guy can be used as any type of skeleton you like, or even as an undead genie... He is a medium common figure in the set, and I love the mushrooms growing on him!

Next, we have the Red Reaver. Whenever you need an alien esque creature to throw a kink in your player's plans, this big baddy fits the bill. The Red Raven is a large uncommon miniature, and they like warm hugs.

Finally, we have the Rakshasa. I think this miniature looks spectacular, and is based off of one of my favorite pieces of art from the Curse of the Crimson Throne Hardcover. I like it so much it is my chat avatar and business card image. This figure could be used as a were tiger, a cat folk monk or spell caster, or a tiger headed demon. The rakshasa is a medium rare figure, and no, you should not try and pet him.

Until next week!

Michael Kenway
Director of Licensing

Hooked On Class Decks

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

By now you may have heard that we're restarting the class decks line in August. We took a break after the Summoner Class Deck to reassess the decks we wanted to make, making sure we could come up with fresh new concepts in the wake of our success with Goblins Fight! and Goblins Burn! We think we got there.

We've been playing around with some of the older classes lately. We debuted a new Rogue, Cleric, Druid, and Magus in the Mummy's Mask Base Set and Character Add-On Deck, giving new life to some older playstyles. We decided to keep that trend alive in the next wave of three decks.

Is It "May-gus" or "Maag-us"? Or Maybe "May-juss" or...

"I make everything look good."

First up is the Magus Class Deck, starring our emo elf Seltyiel. You know he was saying, "What does a pasty-skinned heartthrob have to do to get in a class deck? Put on a shirt?" Wait no more, Selty. You'll be showing up in August.

Magus was the biggest oversight in the first 20 class decks. At no time in all those decks did we make a decent Melee/Arcane deck. The closest we got was the Bard Class Deck, and that wasn't very close. But now not only do Seltyiel from Skull & Shackles and Ahmotep from Mummy's Mask have a deck they can call home in the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild, but it probably won't be long before you read the words "Each player unlocks the ability to play Crowe" in an organized play scenario near you.

Seltyiel will be accompanied by a couple of new Magus associates—though to quash some speculation on the forums, Ahmotep will not be making a second appearance here. We like her just fine in Mummy's Mask, and we've got some more wrinkles we'd like to try with the Magi.

And that's the only deck in this first wave that features exactly one iconic character.

As You Can See from My Example, Persistence Has Its Rewards

We're finally getting to do something I've wanted to do since we started working on the game. At the early stages of expansion, we limited ourselves to decks based around the iconic characters that Pathfinder fans have come to love.

Every now and then, though, we'd grab a character from our favorite pieces of Pathfinder fiction. First up was James Sutter's Salim from Death's Heretic and The Redemption Engine, by way of the Inquisitor Class Deck. I am a head-over-heels Elaine Cunningham fan, so when we got the green light to do non-iconic characters in Mummy's Mask, her druid Channa Ti from Dark Tapestry was the first in the door. We also dropped Howard Andrew Jones's cleric Drelm from Stalking the Beast into that set as well.

But with the Wizard and Rogue Class Deck already out, it seemed I wasn't going to get to include my favorite Pathfinder novel characters unless we came up with something very clever. So, we did. For our September deck, we're unveiling a new theme concept: the Pathfinder Tales Deck. It stars the only two characters ever to merit the phrase "the new Fafhrd and Grey Mouser": Dave Gross's Count Varian Jeggare and Radovan Virholt.

I'm just here with the boss.

Dave and I go back almost a quarter century, back when he was the editor of Dragon Magazine and I was but a humble freelance writer. (I'm still a freelance writer, of course. Just less humble.) He's since distinguished himself as one of the most talented writers in the game industry. With these two characters, he's created something legendary. It's about time you get to play them.

And here's the best part: Dave's coming along for the ride. It's his third time dropping in with us: He did a brilliant fill-in for me as the story writer for Season of the Righteous's Adventure 1-3—Lexicon of Paradox, which featured Varian and Radovan as cohort cards. Dave also wrote the flavor text for his character Alase in the Summoner Class Deck. I'm excited that we're finally going to bring his great creations to PACG character form. Thanks, Dave!

Oh, there's a third character—one that's not Dave's—from the Pathfinder Tales novels in the deck along with Varian and Radovan. When we began to consider all the possibilities from the series, the debate was over when I said only two words to the team. More on that in a few months.

Enough with All This Hero Nonsense

Finally, here's a quick look at our third class deck in this wave. In Season of the Runelords, we spent a lot of time with the Hollow Mountain comics, in which Seltyiel, Oloch, Meligaster, and Damiel are a bad-guy team. The writing team on that series (Messrs. Mona, Schneider, and Sutter) clearly had a blast writing from the villainous perspective. As we designed alongside them, we thought we want that too.

So, I'm happy to announce that we're taking a break from all this "goody two-shoes" stuff and donning our best, um... "baddy no-shoes" stuff? for October's Hell's Vengeance Class Deck. Wait, scratch that: It's the first of two sets of those. (Eventually, anyway.) For now, we're focusing on three of the six iconic villains from the Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path, lovingly illustrated by our deity-status artist Wayne Reynolds.

Left to right: the human Hellknight Linxia, the pitborn assassin Emil, the human torturer Zelhara, the human cleric Lazzero, the dwarf antipaladin Urgraz, and the dhampir necromancer Nyctessa.

Which three are we doing first? Well, I need to keep some secrets, don't I? After all, telling you would probably be the good thing to do, and with this deck, I have no business doing that. But if you have a favorite, go ahead and list your top choice in the comments. We'll be watching.

Mike Selinker
Adventure Card Game Lead Designer

OPC Log, 6 Calistril, 4717

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Making my way back from the Las Vegas Open to spend some time in the office before heading out to DundraCon in a few weeks. The Open is a small con with large growth potential. Currently focused on war gaming, they are looking to expand into tabletop RPGs. I look forward to seeing what they can do for 2018.

Once back in the office, the team and I will be putting final polish on some items in preparation for announcing them to our players. Keep an eye on the blogs throughout February for some exciting news!

Convention Travel Schedules

With the launch of the 2017 travel season, the team will be setting out for locations around the world. Consider coming out to one of the conventions below to say hi and roll some dice with us! Besides the list below, some of the Pathfinder Society staff will be at Origins and the team will see you at PaizoCon and Gen Con 50! I'm asking Chris to post the list on the website and will add more as we have confirmations.

Tonya

• 2/17-2/20 DundraCon, San Ramon, California
• 3/2-3/5 Emerald City Comic Con, Seattle, Washington
• 3/31-4/2 Who's Yer Con, Indianapolis, Indiana
• 6/4-6/7 UK Games Expo, Birmingham, United Kingdom

John

Keeping him busy with writing Season 8/9. He did get to attend SCARAB last month!

Linda/Mark

• 2/23-2/26 TotalCon, Marlborough, Massachusettes
• 4/22-4-23 Quad Cities GameFest, Davenport, Iowa

Other Paizo Staff

• 2/10-2/12 OwlCon, Dallas, Texas
• 3/23-3/26 GaryCon, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
• 6/4-6/7 UK Games Expo, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Interactive Specials

It is our pleasure to announce two interactive specials for this year's convention season. The first will debut at PaizoCon, with its European Debut at UK Games Expo. It will be on limited release until Gen Con, after which it will be available for conventions worldwide. This special, titled "The Solstice Scar" is a multi-table RPG interactive for levels 1-11. There are a few twists, but I'll leave it to John to tell those tidbits in a later blog.

The second special will debut at Gen Con and will be a multi-table interactive for both RPG and ACG. Once again, I'll leave it to John to reveal the details.

5-Star GMs

Another month means more GMs reaching the 5-star goal. The following GMs successfully ran 150 games, including 10 special scenarios and 50 unique adventures. They also ran a game for a Venture-Captain, who confirmed they know what they are about. Thanks for the hours and hours of effort that went into completing the tasks. Congratulations on reaching your 5th star.

• Brent Bowser
• Chris Brockley-Blatt
• Brian Brumbaugh
• Geoff Griffith
• J Michael Neal
• James Risner

Gen Con Volunteer Update

So far, 231 volunteers completed the questionnaire. But there is still space on the volunteer roster. This year, we have over 160 tables of games scheduled for each slot at the Gen Con! Which translates in to loads of GMs and volunteers. I'm starting the task of emailing potential volunteers today and hope to have them all completed by Thursday morning. If you haven't gotten a status update by Thursday evening, and you checked your inbox, your spam filter, and your cat (because we all know cats have mysterious powers), then send me an email (genconpfsvolunteer@paizo.com) and we can sort things out.

If your interested in volunteering, check out the Call for Vols Blog and click on the questionnaire link at the bottom.

Also, snow has arrived in Seattle! Good thing I still have my winter boots. But that asks the question—where is your next game? Do share your exciting Pathfinder Society plans! The team may find a new convention to attend!

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

Bring Out Your Dead

Friday, February 3, 2017

It's official—I will be your main point of miniature unveiling! Erik may jump in from time to time in the future, but it looks like you all are stuck with me. :)

This week in our previews of Pathfinder Battles: Crown of Fangs, we are going to turn (too soon?) to undead, starting with the geist. The geist is basically my favorite undead miniature. It shows you just enough to get your own imagination to creep you out. These things can control haunts, as well as panic you with their terrifying laugh (always necessary). This miniature is good for any campaign were undead are featured, and can be used as wraiths, specters, poltergeist, or whatever creepy incorporeal thing you are throwing at your characters. The geist is a medium, common figure in this set.

Next, we have the banshee. These grief maddened ladies have held a special spot in my heart since I first got into fantasy roleplaying games back in my early teens. I love it whenever they are featured in an adventure, and love the dichotomy of their rage fueled evil, and the tragedy of their creation. They feature in several of our recent adventure paths, and will make your players', and their characters' hearts skip a beat when you put them on the flip mat. You could also use them for ghosts or other wakeful spirits. The banshee is a medium uncommon figure.

Finally this week, we have the figure named Death. It could go by many names, such as The Grim Reaper, The Harvester of Souls, or Dance Macabre. Use it to invite your players to the dance of their lives. Revel in the inevitability of their deaths. It really doesn't get creepier than this. This embodiment of all creatures' weakness is a large uncommon figure.

See you next week!

Michael Kenway
Director of Licensing