Harrow: Past, Present, and Future

Tuesday, May 27

Illustration by Cristian Chihaia

For years the Harrow has been the domain of home games, literature, and lore, but due to a combination of the soft time limits inherent in organized play, the range of ways in which someone might cheat with a deck-based mechanic, and a wealth of other considerations that predate my work at Paizo, most Harrow-based options were never allowed. When Mike and I heard that Pathfinder Player Companion: The Harrow Handbook was on the product schedule, we started pondering how we might share as much of this book as possible with the campaign. We bounced ideas off a lot of folks, and in the end we decided to make legal nearly everything in the book as well as several previously banned Harrow character options such as the harrower prestige class from Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide and the oft-requested Deadly Dealer feat from Pathfinder Player Companion: Varisia, Birthplace of Legends. Expect an update to the Additional Resources page that includes these additions.

Excited? Me too!

Let's discuss some ground rules for Harrow use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. These are intended to keep Harrow use from bogging down gameplay while also providing GMs some assurance that everyone's playing fair and showing off the beautiful new version of the Deluxe Harrow Deck.

1. Using a Harrow-based character option that involves drawing one or more cards at random requires a physical Harrow deck. Substituting another deck of cards or using the dice-rolling option (such as the one presented in the harrower prestige class) is not an option. If you aren't using a character option that does not change based on which card you draw (such as just throwing cards with the Deadly Dealer feat), you do not need to have a physical copy of the Harrow deck.
2. When you are using a class ability that involves drawing one or more cards at random, the GM always has the option to cut the deck before you draw from the top. This is just a quick consideration to minimize cheating. The GM can also examine your deck at any time, particularly if she believes there's anything wrong with your deck.
3. Be considerate when performing a Harrowing. Many Pathfinder Society games are run in 4—5 hour time slots, so taking 10 minutes to perform an in-character harrowing might not be an option. Be prepared to flip cards, record results, and move on if the group is operating on a time limit. So long as you're exercising common sense and courtesy, there shouldn't be anything more to discuss here.

Lots of great options are about to be available. Go make something fun!

Happy gaming,

John Compton
Developer

More Venture-Captains Added to the Ranks

Monday, September 17, 2012

As we continue to expand Pathfinder Society to areas where players are looking for organization, it is important to me to find the right people to serve as ambassadors of the game, to present a positive light for new players, and try to bring veteran players who have left back into the fold. Ten more Venture-Captains have been chosen to fill those roles.

Illustration by Dmitry Prosvirnin

First, I want to thank JP Chapleau for his tremendous efforts in building the Denver area Pathfinder Society. Not only was he the caretaker of Denver, but he oversaw Pathfinder Society in all of Colorado and expanded into parts of New Mexico and Idaho. He has taken a position as Creative Director for Neo Exodus and will be building the organized play program for that game. I wish him the best and look forward to watching the growth of Neo Exodus organized play. Taking over in Colorado is Venture-Captain Jacque Woods. She comes into the position extremely motivated to continue the awesome job that JP did where he left off. She mentioned she was looking to centralize all Pathfinder Society activity into a website to help foster a greater sense of community and I look forward to seeing it blossom. She also mentioned to me she is willing to travel to help support Pathfinder Society in and around the region, including southern Wyoming and northern New Mexico, east into Kansas and west into Utah.

I also want to thank Doug Daulton for all he did for Pathfinder Society in Las Vegas. I met Doug at Neon Con last year and he ran a good watch. Due to his hectic and very busy work schedule, he has taken a step back. One of Doug's Venture-Lieutenants, Chris Clay, has stepped up and taken on the mantle of Venture-Captain. He mentioned several challenges and goals for the next 6 to 12 months and I look forward to seeing how Las Vegas reignites its interest in Pathfinder Society under Chris's watch.

In July, I had the pleasure to meet Diego Winterborg when I traveled to PaizoCon UK and Viking Lodge Summer Games. Diego was one of the 13 original Venture-Captains chosen on October 4, 2010 and I had the honor of working side-by-side with him for a year as a fellow Venture-Captain, and the last 8 months as Campaign Coordinator. Diego did a fantastic job introducing Denmark to Pathfinder Society and growing it. Unfortunately, he had to step aside as Venture-Captain at the beginning of August due to hectic a life schedule and he will be sorely missed. Stepping up to fill his shoes is Erik Ingersen. He will center his initial activities out of Ringsted, while he works with current Venture-Lieutenant Jacob Trier in Jutland to start growing Pathfinder Society again. He mentioned he would also be looking for Venture-Lieutenants in Copenhagen, Holbaek, and Roskilde. If you have an interest in helping grow Pathfinder Society in Denmark, please send Erik an email. I'm sure he would greatly appreciate it.

Eddy and Stephanie Roberts started Pathfinder Society coordination in Salt Lake City, Utah, but have since had to step down for a hectic work and life schedule. Taking over the reins for Pathfinder Society coordination and growth is Phillip Willis. He had some very exciting and interesting ideas to restart Pathfinder Society in Utah and I look forward to watching as Pathfinder Society grows by leaps and bounds. He advised me he considers his region the entire state of Utah and possibly northeastern Nevada, so if you live in those regions, make sure to reach out to Phillip with any questions, advice, or help you can offer.

My first week on the job last year, Doug Miles informed me he was having to step down due to a new family and hectic work schedule. Not only was Doug one of the original 13 Venture-Captains selected, but he was Pathfinder Society's first five-star GM. When he stepped down, it was a huge blow to the Detroit area. Daniel Luckett and Eric Clingenpeel have done their best to help fill the void while I have searched for someone to step into Doug's shows. After almost a year without a Venture-Captain, Detroit is finally getting their second one! Mason Whitlark is excited to fuel the fire once again in Detroit and hopes to expand his area from Fenton to Ann Arbor, and down to Toledo, Ohio. With Mason in place, joined by Daniel and Eric, the entirety of Michigan should pretty much be covered.

Chris Jarvis did a phenomenal job in Seattle over the course of 9 months. He took over the Seattle Venture-Captain position the same week I started at Paizo. Under his watch, a website was created to bring the community together. Multiple weekly game days were established in more than eight cities across Washington. And he coordinated and oversaw the smooth operation of Pathfinder Society at more than seven local conventions. He also went above and beyond his duties and was a tremendous aid to me with the coordination of PaizoCon in July. His shoes will be tough ones to fill. His Venture-Lieutenant, Kyle Elliott, has stepped up to the challenge and has hit the ground running, coordinating Pathfinder games and demos at Pax Prime. The Washington Pathfinder Society player base is in very good hands with Kyle at the helm.

I am also excited to add four new areas to our Venture-Captain regions. The first is Memphis, Tennessee. Phillip Goettsch already has some plans on how to kick-start coordinated Pathfinder Society play in the western Tennessee region. He also advised during his interview process that not only was he going to facilitate the establishment of coordinated Pathfinder Society play in the greater Memphis area, but he was going to try to reach as far north as Dyersburg, TN, northern areas of Mississippi, and eastern Arkansas to include Little Rock, until a Venture-Captain or Venture-Lieutenants could be found to coordinate Pathfinder Society in those regions. Please contact him if you are able to assist him in western Tennessee.

The second new region is Jacksonville, Florida. James Apostolou comes highly recommended by several local Venture-Captains and Lieutenants, as well as local players and GMs. Jacksonville is an area ripe for tremendous growth, and with the fairly recent addition of the Pathfinder Society of Florida website and the three current forums for Jacksonville game locations alone, it looks like James has plenty to work with to grow and expand Pathfinder Society in northeast Florida.

I met Matt Clay at Gen Con, as he was one of my GMs. He did an outstanding job at Gen Con as a Tier 1 GM and I look forward to seeing what he has in store for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Western PA has just been waiting for someone to step up and take charge and Matt is the man for the job. Not only will Matt oversee Pathfinder Society in the Pittsburgh area, but if there is interest he will also cover Washington, PA; Wheeling, WV; and possibly Somerset, PA. I am very interested to see the growth of Pathfinder Society play and look forward to working with Matt again.

Finally, Michael Seales will be taken over all of Alabama, operating out of Birmingham. He is currently coordinating and organizing Pathfinder Society on Wednesday and Friday nights at three different Birmingham stores and looks to expand further. He is also planning to attend and coordinate Pathfinder Society for Birmingham Game Days in March, Alabama Phoenix Festival II in May, and Play On Con VI in July of 2013. Additionally, he is looking at the possibility of attending Kami-Con, MOBICON, and Con*stellation as well. It looks like Alabama could be the next hotbed of activity for Pathfinder Society growth.

We are still in need of additional Venture-Captains in some regions and you can find the list here and the first phase of the application process here.

If interested in applying, please contact me after reviewing the application process in the previous link.

Welcome aboard to all my new captains!

Mike Brock
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator

Golarion Day: Prepare to Get Harrowed!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

So, we just shipped The Harrowing off to the printer. An adventure where you get sucked into a magical deck of harrow cards and end up interacting with some of the strangest characters we've published yet! Check 'em out! (Those of you who are familiar with the Harrow Deck will probably recognize these three folks...)

Illustrations by Dmitry Burmak

Also, you can tell when I forget to write a blog post until we get to a point where I have only 20 minutes to do a blog before heading into a supersized meeting that'll take up the rest of the day, can't you? Cause there's not many words? Guess I should put up a third picture from The Harrowing to further distract you from the lack of words... hope it works!

Illustrations by Dmitry Burmak

James Jacobs
Creative Director

A Harrowing Experience

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

From the journal of Mike Selinker, the first harrower:

The story of Harrow starts as all good stories do, with Erik Mona and a portent of doom. "You, Master Selinker," he foreshadowed, "are being hunted by a undaunted band of brothers. A band that cannot be daunted by the mightiest of daunters. I speak, perforce, of the strapping young men of Pathfinder. They are coming for you."

I sought an exit, but these are Pathfinders, you see. They can find anyone, and since I am anyone, they found me. From me they demanded a boon: a tarot deck they could call their very own. Messrs. James and James and Jason and F. Wesley believed that the world thirsted for such a deck. I was the humble peddler of games that could slake this thirst.

"Sa-ha!" I vocalized to all who would hear, "I shall call this deck 'Harrow,' as it speaks of travels through the inferno, and it rhymes with 'Tarot.' And I shall not be alone in this undertaking! If I am to walk this road, I will have a mighty illustrator to illuminate my path." This depicter of souls would be Kyle Stanley Hunter, he who could pluck from the darker planes the disturbing images that would force legions of gamers into hiding betwixt carpet and bed.

"I need one card," I posited to Mr. Stanley Hunter, and his expression of relief was palpable, and just as fleeting when I continued: "One card for each of fifty-four intersections of alignments and abilities laid upon an imperceptible grid. This is what I command. But what shall they be?"

"There may be a prince of rabbits," Kyle pronounced, "and a cricket with a melon, and a queen with six legs, and...." I left him to his prattle, and hearkened for a woman who could detail our method of beckoning that would strip the truth from the past, the present, and the future. This woman was the oddly-named Teeuwynn Woodruff, an oracle of (Phila-)Delphi(-a). "Tell me of my future," I beseeched Mistress Teeuwynn, "the future which involves you writing most of this rulebook."

She set her laptop to such a divinatory task, and I returned to Squire Bulmahn, he of the boisterous laugh and unbending stomach. "From you I do exact a concept for a cutthroat gambling game," I invoked. He had been warned of his destiny. "There shall be towers," he declaimed. "Oh, yes, there shall be towers."

Could there be a pair of stalwarts to weave all this together, I conjectured? There could. We would enlist yet another Mike (McArtor) and still a third James (Davis) in the editing and graphic design of this most epic of decks. From hither and from yon, they weaved.

Now it was done. The past, present, and future were divined. All that remained was the ritual sharing of the stomach-turning soda pops, and the recounting of the glories, and the filling of the requisite 500-word count. Which is now complete.

I mean, now.

Mike Selinker
Titanic Games Designer

Forging a Connection

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

The 54 cards of the Harrow do not only portend sunderings and strife. Indeed, the cards can also express creation and unity.

The Forge, for example, represents strength through great diversity. It is a test, and those who pass the test are the stronger for it. The Marriage is a union—of people, of countries, or even of ideas and thoughts. Mergers portended by The Marriage cannot be parted.

Note how both the Forge's hammer and the Marriage's crown are positioned in the middle of the left-hand-side of their respective cards. As hinted at in the past, the alignment of each icon and the icons themselves all mean something specific for the cards. Where the position of its icon determines the card's overall demeanor, the icon itself keeps score of an ability the card represents.

Harrow releases in only a few weeks. When it does, I foresee in your future years of enjoyment.

Mike McArtor
GameMastery Editor

Beware the Ravages of the Cyclone!

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

The 54 cards of the Harrow do not tell you what you want to hear. No no. They tell you what was, what is, and what will be. Sometimes, a card comes up in your reading you do not want to see.

One of the cards nobody wants is the dreaded Cyclone. This dire card expresses destruction and cataclysm. Worse yet, it symbolizes disaster wrought by thinking minds, and not the oft-random tragedies wrought by Nature.

All is not lost, however, when the Cyclone appears in your reading. At times, when it appears in specific places of the spread, this card of chaos and evil actually signifies renewal and rebirth after a blustery, trying ordeal. You must still endure suffering and tragedy, for the Cyclone never portends good tidings, but you shall survive the challenge put before you.

What other dark omens await you in the Harrow deck? Only time will tell...

Mike McArtor
GameMastery Editor

All Hail the Rabbit Prince!

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008

Within the 54 cards of the Harrow deck live your past, your present, and your future. Like you, each card is unique and has its own story to tell.

Take, for example, the Rabbit Prince. He tells stories of battle. Glorious, bloody, horrific battle, with opponents facing off in chaotic melees doing all they can to kill one another with sword and spear and axe. The Rabbit Prince relishes hand-to-hand combat and, like it, he is both quick and capricious.

Let's take a quick look at the card itself. The broken sword indicates the singular purpose of battle: to destroy. Anyone who engages in combat—regardless of courage, experience, or skill—can be maimed or killed. As a member of royalty, the prince himself can represent young aristocrats, whether royal or noble. And what meaning has the key? Does its placement on the card affect its importance?

Well, there are some things one must wait to discover. For while the Harrow knows all, it is not necessarily quick to share its knowledge...

Mike McArtor
Editor

Harrowing Divinations

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

It's not every day you get a chance to create a means of time travel. Some might argue that divination isn't really time travel, but the way I envision it, a harrower—one gifted in the use of the Harrow deck—uses her deck of 54 cards to travel the paths of time, catching glimpses of the past, present, and future along the way.

With this in mind, I had to imagine myself as a harrower. Each card must be defined broadly enough to cover a number of situations, yet narrowly enough for those conducting harrowings—and those running adventures—to get some real information. Once some of Kyle's evocative art began to come in, I tweaked the cards' meanings to enhance their connection to that art.

The divinatory system itself needed to be easy to run, create the proper mystical mood, and fit into the roleplaying milieu. We gave every card a symbol of one of the six abilities in a position of one of the nine alignments; for example, The Unicorn is a chaotic good Charisma card, as shown by the crown in the upper right corner. The harrower lays the cards in a three-by-three divinatory grid matching time (past, present, and future) to the Law/Chaos alignment axis. After all, the past (represented by Law) is most fixed and difficult (although not impossible) to change, while the future (represented by Chaos) is infinitely changeable. Similarly, the Good/Evil axis came to represent positive, neutral, and negative situations for the person whose questions the harrower is answering. The good section of the grid represents the positive, while the evil section reflects negative outcomes. This basic grid presents the harrower with a solid framework to begin doing readings, but the nuances of the cards are evocative and expansive enough to let a capable harrower use them in many situations—both in game and out. Take a look for yourself and see if you agree.

Teeuwynn Woodruff
Harrow Designer

Towers: A Harrow Game

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

The Harrow Deck has a wide variety of uses, from a divination tool to a common game played for coppers in taprooms across Golarion. The game is known as Towers, and it is included in the Harrow Deck.

Towers is a simple gambling game for two to four players. At the start of the game, six special cards are laid out from the Harrow Deck, forming the base of the towers. Each player is dealt a hand of three cards. Players take turns placing cards from their hand onto the towers, trying to rid themselves of as many cards as possible while blocking the way for opponents to do the same. If you can't play some of your cards, they accrue as debt owed to the other players. As the game progresses it becomes harder and harder to play your cards and your debt can really spiral out of control. The game comes to an end when no one can play any more cards. At that point, each player's debt is tallied and players must pay the difference to those with a lower value.

The game is simple to learn, but has some complex strategy for those who are eager to fleece their opponents. A word of caution: This game can be addictive and I would hate to see someone lose a vorpal sword over a few bad hands.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

The Harrow Deck Cometh!

Friday, December 7, 2007

One of the most innovative things I've seen in D&D occurred back in the original Ravenloft, where the villain's motivation, treasure placement, and adventure goals depended upon the results of an in-game fortune-telling session. Even years later, I still recall that feeling of surprise and excitement when I first looked through that adventure. With Curse of the Crimson Throne, Pathfinder's second Adventure Path, we'll be trying something similar.

The Harrow deck is our fortune-telling tool for this Adventure Path. The deck itself is a 54-card deck broken down into six suits of nine cards each. While, in-game, these six suits and the card images themselves are "in character," it draws a lot of its inspiration from the mechanics of the game as well. The deck's six suits each symbolize one of the six basic attributes all characters are built around: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. And in each of those six suits, we have nine different cards for each of the nine alignments. Therefore, we have a chaotic evil Wisdom card, a neutral good Strength card, a lawful neutral Dexterity card, and so on.

Of course, the actual art on each of these cards hides its genesis in the rules behind symbolism and metaphor, so you don't have to worry about any weird self-aware metagame strangeness popping up (I doubt very much you'd ever hear a Varisian say something like, "that chaotic evil king has a really low charisma!"). The Harrow deck itself is an ancient divination tool used by the Varisians to tell the future and divine fortunes. Think of it as an RPG-version of the tarot deck.

Each of Curse of the Crimson Throne's six adventures are also tied in theme to the six suits of the Harrow deck, and as you play through this new Adventure Path, Harrow deck readings can provide valuable insights, helpful bonuses, or even unexpected perils and dangers. You can expect to see some recurring themes throughout the Adventure Path tied to the Harrow deck, but we'll be going beyond that. Players will be able to select a feat, "Harrowed," that'll let them use draws from the deck to hopefully tip fortune in their favor. Visit a rough-and-tumble bar down on the waterfront in Korvosa and you'll be able to gamble away your treasure in a game of Towers, a gambling game created by lowbrows and scoundrels using the Harrow deck (and designed by industry veterans Jason Bulmahn, Mike Selinker, and Teeuwynn Woodruff). And just as the infamous Deck of Many Things was inspired by the tarot deck, there might be a powerful magic Harrow deck waiting to bring all matter of mayhem to your group at some point in Curse of the Crimson Throne.

And the best part? We're making a Harrow deck you can use yourself, whether as part of your campaign, in readings of your own, or just as a fun fantasy-themed card game. Over the next several weeks, we'll be showing off Kyle Hunter's artwork for the Harrow deck here on our blog. Keep an eye out, and see if you can figure out which image goes with the chaotic evil strength card versus the one that goes with the lawful good one!

James Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief, Pathfinder