The Mechanics Behind the Comics

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

The final issue of Pathfinder: Hollow Mountain releases today, written by yours truly and drawn by the illustrious Sean Izaakse! Can Pathfinder's most heroic and villainous iconics overcome their differences long enough to defeat the demonic Castellan? Will Ezren teach Seltyiel the true value of friendship? Will Oloch and Valeros finally kiss? There's only one way to find out, and it's hitting your local comics shop as we speak!

It's been a blast writing this series with Erik and Wes, and while all three of us worked closely together to chart out the storyline and character arcs, it was extra fun to get to write the first and last issues—both setting the stage and then tying up all the loose threads. But writing a Pathfinder comic isn't all fun and games—or rather, the games aren't all fun. A lot of work goes into making sure that everything the characters do in the comics fits within the game rules and character abilities, and the review board of me, Wes, Erik, and Jacobs is merciless when it comes to making comic authors toe the line.

This issue in particular has a lot of magic flying around—so much so that Wes suggested I take a page of the raw script and post it up here for you to see what goes on behind the scenes. So if you've ever wondered what a comic script looks like, here's an example! (I guess I should add a spoiler warning, but this particular page was chosen to avoid revealing too much. Unless you consider "folks beat the dickens out of other folks" to be a revealing too much.)

Hope you enjoy this peek behind the curtain, and thanks for supporting the comics!

James L. Sutter
Executive Editor

Let's Be Bad

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

The second issue of Pathfinder Hollow Mountain just debuted, bringing along with it an unsettling revelation. As it turns out, Seoni, Valeros, Kyra, Merisiel, and Ezren aren't the only adventurers exploring Thassilon's ruins. Demons and undead, deadly traps and lethal magic fill the ancient halls of Hollow Mountain, but those threats pale in comparison to four of Pathfinder's most unscrupulous iconics: Meligaster, Damiel, Oloch, and—of course, my personal favorite—Seltyiel.

In outlining the Hollow Mountain comic series, Erik Mona, James Sutter, and I all had preferences on which issues we wanted to write. Dividing things evenly, we knew we each had two parts to play with. Erik had great ideas for the densest, most dungeony meat of the story, while Sutter wanted the bookends. As for me, I wanted the issues with the bad guys.

As you can see from the cover, Hollow Mountain #2 reveals that the iconic heroes aren't alone in the dungeon. Fresh from their faceoff in Pathfinder Origins #3, Seoni and Seltyiel butt heads again, now as leaders as their respective adventuring parties. To his side, Seltyiel's recruited several of Pathfinder's most morally flexible iconic characters, leading them in a quest for gold and glory—but mostly gold.

Talking brass stats, though: we've known for a long time that Seltyiel's not a nice dude—past character sheets clearly note his lawful evil alignment. Clearly greed, charm, and great fashion sense go a long way when it comes to being an able member of any adventuring group. Seltyiel's the organizing force behind these rival adventurers, but he doesn't have any illusions about his team's loyalty: they don't work for him, but rather for a promised payday. It's not secret that Seltyiel's my favorite of the iconics, so I'm absolutely loving getting another opportunity to give him a voice—especially the smirking, sarcastic one I always imagine him having.

By the same sinister token, Meligaster is chaotic evil. As a manipulator, he's climbing his way to the top on the backs and shoulders of enemies and allies alike. And what his ambition won't win him, his mesmerist powers will. At his heart, I think Meligaster's a coward, but unfortunately for everyone around him he's trained his entire life (and his considerable occult powers) to assure that no one ever finds that out.

Damiel's an interesting case, as he's chaotic neutral. He's brilliant, but also arrogant, utterly self-serving, and not interested in making friends. Damiel brings his mastery of alchemy into Hollow Mountain, curious about what ancient insights and strange reagents it might hold. Despite not being evil, though, he might be the most calculating and inhuman (in-elven?) of the explorers. This makes him a fascinating character to write, as what he's feeling never enters into his motivations.

Lastly, there's Oloch, another chaotic neutral character. With his battle fervor and devotion to Gorum, though, actual Pathfinder players might find him the most relatable member of Seltyiel's team. He's along for the treasure, sure, but there's also glory and adventure to be had, placing him staunchly on the line between brutal foe and potential ally. We've all had a lot of fun with Oloch, and the Star Trek fans among us have had to be careful not to write him too "Klingon."

As the shadows of Seoni and her team, Seltyiel and his troupe are every bit as clever and driven. Hollow Mountain #2 kicks off the two groups' clash, a rivalry running the rest of the series and that promises to leave our heroes wondering what's worse: an ancient wizard's deathtrap dungeon or other adventurers.

If you're like me and always find yourself rooting for the bad guys, you're going to dig the newest, nefarious issue of Hollow Mountain. Pick it up right here at paizo.com or at your favorite place to buy comics!

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief

P.S. Have you SEEN issue #2's special edition, movie poster cover? Seltyiel Bowie is pretty much the best thing ever! :D

Hello, Mountain!

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

It's November, and you all know what's special about this month, right?

No, not turkey. (Though I guess eating an evolved dinosaur is pretty cool, in a "mammalian pride" sort of way.)

No, not elections, either. I mean, democracy's great and all, but let's get our priorities straight here, people.

No, November's special because this is the month when the first issue of Pathfinder: Hollow Mountain releases!

I'll give you a moment to catch your breath and clean up the coffee mug you just dropped in your excitement. Ready? Okay.

Pathfinder: Hollow Mountain is the new comic series from Dynamite, written by me, Wes Schneider, and Erik Mona. We're the same team who brought you Pathfinder: Origins, but this time instead of doing six mostly independent stories from the iconic team's past, we're hopping back to the present and taking them on a brand new adventure.

But where to take them? When we got the go-ahead to pitch a new series arc, we pretty quickly came up with two key criteria. First, the series should involve a dungeon—given how central the idea of a dungeon is to our game and to RPGs in general, it seemed like we were well overdue for a true dungeon crawl. And second, we wanted to do something continuity-heavy—something that a lot of fans of the game would recognize. After all, one of the advantages of having three of Pathfinder's lead creators writing the scripts meant that we could probably be trusted to play with some of the big toys. We wanted a megadungeon that would be instantly recognizable to longtime players of the game.

Immediately, our thoughts turned to Hollow Mountain. That giant face on the side of a mountain had been taunting us since Pathfinder Adventure Path #1. While we'd already published a high-level overview of it in Dungeons of Golarion, we'd never actually sent characters face-to-face with its horrors. Plus, the chance to illustrate Runelords in the comics? Hell yes!

Yet as much fun as it is to see some of our most notorious villains come to life in the pages of issue #1, the biggest appeal for me was much more personal.

See, back before the comic series and the Big Finish audio dramas, the only time we ever got to hear the iconics actually talk was in the little chapter opener fiction snippets in the hardcover books. And with a handful of exceptions, I've written every one of those for the last 6 years. (If you've ever wondered why the characters seem to be constantly making fun of each other, it's because I find it hilarious!) So after spending more than half a decade helping to develop the iconics' personalities in 100-word bursts, it was a joy to finally get to write scenes with the whole team, showing how they work together in combat, express affection for each other (under that armor, Valeros is a big ol' softy)—and, yes, make fun of each other at every possible opportunity.

Of course, it's not just the main iconic team I'm excited to write. There are some other very familiar faces you're going to be seeing over the course of this series. But I'll let Wes talk about those next month...

See you all at the comics shop!

James L. Sutter
Executive Editor