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Hideous Laughter Productions Presents: Bestow Curse!

May 21, 2021, 10:45 am

Hello again Paizo-verse friends and family alike! It’s Steve from Hideous Laughter Productions, and I’m so thrilled to present to you all an exciting new project our team has been working on for a while now. It’s called Bestow Curse, and let me tell you, we couldn’t be more excited for you to hear about this.

Hideous Laughter Productions Presents: Bestow Curse!

Friday, May 21, 2021

Hello again Paizo-verse friends and family alike! It’s Steve from Hideous Laughter Productions, and I’m so thrilled to present to you all an exciting new project our team has been working on for a while now. It’s called Bestow Curse, and let me tell you, we couldn’t be more excited for you to hear about this.

Bestow Curse is a brand-new podcast from Hideous Laughter Productions, an officially licensed partner of Paizo, where we’ll be taking a classic Pathfinder Adventure Path, updating it to the Pathfinder Second Edition ruleset, and producing it as a podcast on its own dedicated feed, completely FREE to listen to. This podcast will feature Griffin of the Hideous Laughter podcast once again in the GM seat, taking us through the adventure “Curse of the Crimson Throne.” Many of you might be familiar with this adventure, having played it in its original 3.5 iteration or the anniversary 1e edition. However, Griff’s sure to put his own spin on it, and I promise it’ll be like nothing you’ve heard from out of the Paizo-verse before! Returning to this adventure as well will be Emily, Haley, and myself (all of the Hideous Laughter podcast), and we’ll be introducing our good buddy Chris as a full-time player to round out the party.

So what can you expect from Bestow Curse? When developing this show, we wanted a heavy focus on the city of Korvosa and its inhabitants. We’ll be diving into lore, exploring deep personal connections with NPCs, and fighting to save a city on the brink of anarchy from a tyrannical ruler! It’s a story you’re not going to want to miss, and with the slick action style that 2e is known for, I can’t wait for you all to hear it. The Bestow Curse feed went live May 21, 2021, with our show’s trailer. Since then, we’ve been uploading player/character profiles to catch you up on who we are and who we’ll be playing. On June 4th, 2021, the show begins in earnest with three full episodes and will be releasing biweekly on Fridays afterwards.

See you all in Korvosa!

Steven Straple
Hideous Laughter Productions Player & Sometimes GM, Paizo-verse Enthusiast, and Life Oracle of Aroden

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The Path

May 22, 2020, 10:25 am

Zellara sat at the table in her small house, her Harrow deck centered on the red tablecloth. The lantern light cloaked as much as it illuminated, leaving deep shadows to gather in the corners of the room, in the spaces behind furniture and under cupboards.

The Path

Friday, May 22, 2020

Zellara sat at the table in her small house, her Harrow deck centered on the red tablecloth. The lantern light cloaked as much as it illuminated, leaving deep shadows to gather in the corners of the room, in the spaces behind furniture and under cupboards.

Fatigue made her eyelids heavy and blurred her thoughts. Zellara knew she should go into a Harrow reading well rested. She likewise knew that rest would not come. Ever since Eran died, sleep eluded her. The toll of daily living—waking, eating, breathing—exhausted her. Her work tracking down her son’s killer added to the burden.

She passed a hand over the deck. Today had been spent at the local guardhouse, presenting her case to an indifferent Korvosan captain. She laid out her evidence like it was a Harrow spread, setting each piece in its place to show the pattern. His eyes remained closed, and this latest defeat on top of a year of defeats wearied Zellara further.

She picked up the deck and shuffled. The cards felt strange, as if she were a novice again, training at her grandmother’s knee. She shuffled until she felt an energy awaken in her fingertips.

There were many spreads available to her. The Tapestry, showing the nuances and influences in past, present, and future. The Bridge, providing guidance and insight toward her chosen plan—if she had one. But her meeting today had been the last resort. All doors seemed closed to her now. All avenues exhausted.

The past would not help her. She needed to look to the future. To leap ahead into the unknown.

Zellara set the deck back on the red tablecloth and drew the first card.

Zellara’s Reading, illustration by Mark Molnar.

She had learned long ago to respect the cards, not fear them. All the same, she recoiled at the image of the bound man hanging above a bubbling cauldron. The Waxworks. A card of great distress, of helplessness and torment.

Was the man in the image hanging helplessly? Did unseen hands lower him into the wax? Or was he on the verge of escape? Zellara instinctively found an interpretation.

At the most basic level, this card represented her life. She was the one in torment, suffering every day as she hunted her son’s killer. Every night when she closed her eyes, the last image she saw before sleep was the memory of her son’s severed head and hands. A message from his killer.

On a deeper level, the Waxworks encompassed all the humble streets under Gaedren Lamm’s influence. Zellara’s neighbors struggled to get through each day while the petty crime lord wreaked havoc. He stole, extorted, and slaughtered his way through the district, and none seemed able to stop him. The people were trapped, dangling over the boiling cauldron of Lamm’s evil.

“I know this,” Zellara whispered. She knew to be patient during a reading. The Waxworks could be necessary to properly interpret the rest of the cards.

She still hadn’t decided what spread she was using. It was dangerous to read a Harrow without a clear framework in mind, but caution had taken her as far as it could. She was leaving the shore, swimming into deep waters.

Zellara frowned. Water… there was something there. The hanging figure above the cauldron looked shadowed in the faint light, dusky of hair and skin as Eran had been. Was it wax he descended toward, or murky water?

Leaving the image of water to linger in her mind, she drew the next card.

The colorful image showed a man with the head of a crow, staring at a table covered in wealth. Two masked figures sat to either side. The Crows.

Another seemingly obvious card. The Crows signified murder and loss, especially of that which was loved. Zellara tried to stay patient, but a bubble of frustration rose within her. Why were the cards showing her what she already knew? Gaedren Lamm, the crime lord who used murder and theft to acquire his wealth. What was she missing?

She went back to the Waxworks. The victim, Eran, descending toward death. Wax—or water? The bubbles of boiling wax could be the froth on the waves. Water and crows. She’d seen flocks of black-winged scavengers clustering by the docks last week. A lead drew her to the water’s edge, a rumor that Lamm worked out of a shabby tavern catering to fisherfolk. Zellara’s inquiries turned up no sign of the crime lord.

As she stepped out of the tavern, she startled a flock of crows. They rose from a pile of fish guts and discarded bones, their rough cries cutting through the still morning air.

“Loss of something loved.” Zellara spoke the words aloud, trying to fit them into the pattern. The loss of her son, yes, but beyond that?

She’d discovered several of Lamm’s previous lairs during her investigation. Always too late. Destitute businesses or abandoned buildings where Lamm had run his operations and terrorized his crew of street urchins. Buildings that had once been the hope of their owners, locals who had poured all their money and hard work into their craft. Now sad and empty, the gold that should have filled their coffers instead spilling over Lamm’s table.

Water. The crows at the docks. A place that once held industry and hope, now full of broken dreams.

Zellara reached for the deck, but hesitated. She’d laid the first two cards side by side. Their faces showed Eran’s death in the past, her search for Lamm in the present. The pattern implied the next card would show the future.

The first rule of Harrowing was to always spread a branching path. To cast a single future card was not only foolish, it was dangerous. It left no recourse for turning aside or following a different current of fate. To lay a third card now would be to end the spread and commit herself to this path.

Perhaps that was the price the cards required. To avenge Eran, she would make any sacrifice.

Zellara turned the third card up. Her eyes widened.

A stout woman held a screaming devil-child by the leg. Her other hand pointed up, two fingers extended and bathed in a blue flame. Behind her, a transparent figure hid his face.

Zellara had not been expecting the Midwife.

A disturbing card, but also an optimistic one. The Midwife heralded arrivals and indicated the discovery of new information. The ghostly figure could be Eran, mourning his own fate—or a fate yet to come. Zellara herself was the midwife, channeling her discoveries into the world. But who was the child?

A new companion, perhaps. A stranger instrumental to her quest for vengeance. Possibly a literal child. Lamm was well known for using orphans and street children in his organization. “Lamm’s Lambs” the locals termed them.

Zellara had seen such a child not long ago. A starved, sickly-looking imp with a mop of dark hair that reminded her of Eran. The boy had offered dock-dumplings for sale, lumpy and smelling of fish and decay. Zellara had bought one out of charity and tossed it to a street cat on her way home.

She traced the image of the child on the card with one finger. Water. The docks. The crows feasting on fish guts. A dead business, a place of broken dreams. Lamm’s Lambs. A thin child selling dumplings made of old fish.

A thrill of excitement rippled through Zellara. The Harrowing had been a risk, but it had been worth it. She had what she needed.

She picked up the cards and returned them to the deck, hesitating only for a moment over the Midwife. New arrivals. She felt with a Harrower’s instinct that a stranger or strangers awaited in her future. Ones with an important role to play. She would remain alert for those who could offer aid.

Zellara wrapped the cards in her kapenia and put them away. She donned her cloak and took up her walking stick. It was a dark night, perfect for exploring the docks under cover of shadow.

The cards had guided her true. Now she took the final steps on her path to revenge.

About the Author

For over a decade, Amber Scott has worked as a freelance RPG writer. Her most recent Pathfinder titles include Pathfinder Adventure Path 132: The Six-Legend Soul, Pathfinder Adventure Path 115: Trail of the Hunted and Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lands of Conflict. Her greatest writing joy is marrying traditional fantasy elements with modern game design elements. A lifelong Tarot hobbyist, Amber drew on her experience reading cards to develop "The Path." She lives in Vancouver, Canada and tries to never close off her futures.

About Curse of the Crimson Throne

Curse of the Crimson Throne is among the most popular Pathfinder Adventure Paths, having appeared in both the 3.5 and Pathfinder first edition rules sets, and has been adapted into a card game and an audio drama series. The softcover pocket edition of the Adventure Path is available now. In the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path, the heroes delve into the depth of urban adventure in order to stop riots, combat a plague, root out organized crime, and rescue political prisoners, all in an effort to depose Korvosa’s evil queen and free the city from her tyrannical reign.

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Casting Curse: The Harrow Deck Comes Full Circle

May 31, 2019, 03:00 pm

Lemme tell you why Curse of the Crimson Throne is my favorite Pathfinder Adventure Card Game set yet. It's totally self-indulgent. You've been warned.

Casting Curse: The Harrow Deck Comes Full Circle

Friday, May 31, 2019

Lemme tell you why Curse of the Crimson Throne is my favorite Pathfinder Adventure Card Game set yet. It's totally self-indulgent. You've been warned.

Back in 2007, I was helping Vic and Lisa launch the board game line that included Kill Doctor Lucky, Stonehenge, and (my personal favorite) Yetisburg. I got to be around Jason Bulmahn, James Jacobs, James Sutter, Wes Schneider, and the rest of the original Pathfinder RPG design team. One day, Wes came to me with a query.

"Mike, do you know how to design a tarot deck?" Wes said.

In fact, I had waited years for someone to ask me that question. In those days, I owned over a dozen tarot decks, and I had long wanted to make a divination deck that could stand up next to Ravenloft's tarokka, Discworld's caroc, and Everway. I'd just never had the chance.

Wes told me that the new RPG Adventure Path they were planning, Curse of the Crimson Throne, would feature a storyteller deck, but nobody in the company knew what to call it or how it could work. Or even how many cards it had.

"Fifty-four," I said. "The nine alignments times the six abilities. Done."

"Uh," said Wes. "Yeah, you're designing our tarot deck."

So we began work on what I dubbed "The Harrow Deck."

The original Harrow packaging, designed by James Davis with art by Kyle Hunter.

Now, this wasn't one of these everyone-in-the-world-figure-out-this-thing projects. It was too niche of a design for that. Instead, Wes, the Jameses, artist Kyle Stanley Hunter, and I just holed up and riffed for a couple of hours.

"What if there was a giant, but he was juggling?" Wes would say.

"Juggling an elephant?" Kyle would reply.

"And a unicorn," Sutter would answer. "Not juggling a unicorn. A different card with a unicorn."

"But with a pear on the end of her horn, and she can't get it off," I'd say.

"I have an odd idea for The Marriage," Jacobs would say, and we'd keep going till it was done.

I'm sure we were sober when we thought of these.

I had the mechanics worked out from the get-go, tasking Kyle with envisioning six symbols we could float over the art in nine different alignment positions. But, we needed more heft to this thing. We brought in my design partner Teeuwynn Woodruff to create a divination mechanic and to write dozens of fascinating interpretations of the nutball ideas we had come up with. Jason brought over an idea for a gambling game called Towers based on my card alignment array. Mike McArtor (we miss ya, bud) took on the editing and James Davis the graphics.

It was one of the very few projects where nothing ever went backward. Everything anyone said made it in. Because nothing—nothing at all—was too weird for the Harrow deck. You can read more about the creation of that deck in this ridiculous 2008 blog of mine, and I encourage you to do so.

In 2013, two card sets of mine came out. The first was the Deluxe edition of the Harrow deck.

The Deluxe Harrow Deck.

In this re-envisioned product, the cards became tarot-sized and the overlay suit icons got replaced by alignment dots around the edges, freeing up Kyle's art even more. It still functioned the same, with the same names and imagery, but it sure looked a bit different.

"How you gonna do neutral?" I asked. They figured it out.

Also in 2013, we had just finished core design on the first Pathfinder Adventure Card Game set, Rise of the Runelords. Already, a buzz was building about what we were concocting. Soon, we'd need to know what the second PACG set would be.

"It's Curse of the Crimson Throne," I said as a final pronouncement. "Because I want to make a totally new timer mechanic based on the Harrow deck."

The finality of that pronouncement lasted about 20 seconds. "Whoa there, hoss," my collaborators said. "We just spent a year making your dumb thing work, and you want to start it over? Nope, and also nope."

OK, so Skull & Shackles. Fine. But, the third set for sure...

I brought on Keith Richmond, as recounted in this blog of his, because for sure we were doing Curse real soon now. Except we didn't. Wrath of the Righteous would be our plane-spanning epic tale, so Keith cut his teeth on that. Then Mummy's Mask led us into the sands, and Keith helped make that a reality. Also multiple seasons of organized play. Keith was working on a lot of these game projects for us, but not the thing I actually brought him on to make.

After Mummy's Mask, we needed to recalibrate. In 2018, with many thousands of PACG cards out there, we wanted to cure some of the lingering roughness in the game and give it a real cleanup. Finally, I said, "Now. We're doing Curse now. I'm getting my Harrow set."

Vic and Lisa agreed. So we started in on Curse. I cannot tell you how liberating it felt to crack open a Harrow deck and reimagine it a decade later. All of Kyle's mind-bending art, all of those odd concepts that Wes and the Jameses and I kicked around, all the ethereal meanings that Teeuwynn ascribed to every card—all of that was about to become real. Cards now had to function. They had to mean one thing, not everything.

New design by Sonja Morris, and a darn pretty one, says me.

Liz took the first pass on the Harrow blessings. She looked at every weird idea that made it onto those cards and wrote whatever madness popped into her head. Keith and Chad reworked her cool concepts. Aviva figured out how everything should be said. I went through and made everything fit that original Harrow vision.

Fifty-four new blessings, all themed to suits, was the largest amount of blessings we'd ever designed at once. Not only did they all need different play powers, but they also needed different "when this is the hour" powers, and they all had to be different from the ones in the Core Set. Most importantly, they needed to match whatever stories our original Harrow deck put in your head.

After quite a bit of work, we had a new Harrow deck for a whole new audience.

Except... we didn't have a harrowing, per se. We had a few spells called various versions of Harrowing, and we had allies called Harrowers, and we even had items called Harrow Decks.

Plus lots more Harrow cards.

But, we didn't have any divination.

Keith figured that out. Well, he figured a version of it out, but it was too big and complicated. Through many iterations, we finally got down to something nice and simple. Each adventure, you'd gain a Harrow blessing of the adventure's suit, which would affect your checks of the related skill. Your harrow would follow you throughout the adventure, loading itself into your hand at the start of each scenario. Sometimes you'd be thrilled by what blessing governed your play; sometimes you'd be less thrilled. But, it was yours for the adventure, like it or not.

Now and then, some of the Harrow blessings were in players' decks, making the harrowing less fun. The "impossible rule" covered this situation, and we made a rule that if we ran out of blessings of the appropriate suit, we'd use ones of other Harrow suits. A simple enough hack, but we wanted another approach.

So we tried something else. We cracked one of my old Harrow decks to play the divination similarly to the way Teeuwynn imagined it years earlier. Then we used the rules in the storybook applying to whatever card each character got (assuming it was available). You sure don't need a real Harrow deck for that purpose, but if you can get your hands on one, you'll feel more deeply immersed in the adventure.

Along with the whole team, Keith finally got Curse of the Crimson Throne done like he wanted, and as a "reward," I made him be the president of my company. Me, I got my Harrow set. That time a dozen years ago, when we made a crazy deck of cards that a generation of Pathfinders interpreted in every possible way, was now part of my most adventurous project for Paizo ever.

Sometimes Fate is a cruel mistress. But, sometimes, if you just give her a chance, she smiles on you.

Mike Selinker
Adventure Card Game Lead Designer

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Curse of the Crimson Throne Comes to the Pathfinder ACG

May 10, 2019, 10:00 am

Almost a decade ago, I ran the RPG version of Curse of the Crimson Throne for a group of players that included my friends Chad Brown and Tanis O'Connor. It's a fantastic adventure that starts you as a group of characters all wronged by a deranged dealer of drugs and kidnapper of kids, drawn together by a mysterious gypsy fortune teller to bring him to justice. From there, you become embroiled in saving the city of Korvosa—often from itself.

Curse of the Crimson Throne Comes to the Pathfinder ACG

Friday, May 10, 2019

Hey, it's Chad. In today's blog, designer and brand new Lone Shark Games president Keith Richmond takes a break from talking about Core Principles to wax nostalgic about his long journey shepherding Curse of the Crimson Throne. I'll comment along as needed.

It has everything that makes for a great urban adventure full of morally ambiguous allies and enemies. You parkour over, under, and through the city to defeat criminal and political plots, a healthy mix of mundane greed and murder alongside mystical rituals of mass murder. As you investigate, you interact with such a fantastic cast of characters that you feel like the city becomes yours to protect, not just a backdrop for the dungeon of the day. When you finally end it by stabbing your magic sword into the heart of a centuries-old curse that's plagued the Crimson Throne, you feel a genuine sense of accomplishment at having changed the city's fate. It's the only adventure path I've GM'd multiple times, the anniversary hardcover is excellent, and I'd cheerfully encourage you to play it.

Back to the card game: about five years later, when I was looking for a new game project, Chad and Tanis lured me onto the PACG team. (After I'd introduced Keith to everyone, I casually mentioned to Mike that he'd GM'd Curse... three times.—Chad) Once I'd proven I could be helpful, one of my first big projects was to help architect the Curse of the Crimson Throne set. I still have spreadsheets from 2014 with some of the initial ideas. I'll admit that 5 years more experience designing, the help of the full team, and being able to leverage Core were tremendous improvements over those nascent ideas. Still, it is with great happiness and pride that I look forward to seeing this box, with our names on the front, make it into your hands. (What he said!—Chad)

Aged to perfection.

But more than enough about why I care about this product, and on to why you should!

Save the Base for emergencies or spend a couple turns hanging out with friends. We don't judge.

One of the defining features of the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path is how it centers around Korvosa. Throughout several adventures, you work to save the city from crime, madness, plague, traitors, and ancient dark forces. At the same time, the city is there for you when you need a helping hand, perhaps to procure new equipment, gather information, or heal whatever injury, disease, or even death that has befallen you. (Even more helpful than going through your pockets looking for loose change.—Chad)

The very first scenario rewards you with your first supporter, Field Marshall Cressida Kroft (She's the best!—Chad), commander of Korvosa's guards. Impressed by your heroism, and sorely in need of help, she'll happily provide you all manner of armor and weapons. If you want her help obtaining spells, you'll need to check off that box on the card by spending a supporter feat on her. You'll receive a steady supply of supporter feats throughout your adventures, so the city of Korvosa levels up alongside you. Just like in the RPG, supporters in the ACG can change in and out, gain power, and even die. Each group will favor different supporters, and you may eventually need to make tough decisions about which supporters to obtain or save from calamity.

Any resemblance to Zorro or Batman is strictly coincidental.

Curse of the Crimson Throne also introduces you to Korvosa's Hero, Blackjack (Also the best!—Chad). Blackjack is a masked hero who has fought for Korvosa's poor for centuries. Fortunately for you, the current Blackjack is ready to give up his mantle to a worthy successor. Someone heroic. Someone adventurous. Someone who also fights to save the people of Korvosa. (Sound like anyone you know?—Chad)

This special role can be earned by any one character, adds to your existing character powers instead of replacing them like a normal role, and comes with several wonderful toys.

Varian is ready to become Blackjack to save Korvosa. Are you?

Harrows have a very different art style from traditional blessings. Also, apparently a Hag with an eyeball in her mouth. Ick.

Curse of the Crimson Throne makes extensive use of the Harrow, a Tarot-like deck of cards used to predict the future and play card games. Folks familiar with the Harrow Deck that Mike helped design several years back will not be surprised that a very similar deck has ended up in Curse, in the form of special Harrow blessings. There are 6 suits (Hammers, Keys, Shields, Books, Stars, and Crowns) representing different metaphysical concepts and also mapping to six familiar attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma). Each of those suits has 9 cards that correspond to the classic 9 alignments that describe the struggle between Good and Evil, Law and Chaos. Mechanically, this means that some Harrows are a lot kinder than others and they cover a wide variety of effects, both when played and when they show up as the hour (that is, are faceup on the hourglass discard pile). Also, following our design principle of more unique cards=good, you get 54 unique Harrow blessings in Curse of the Crimson Throne. More than enough to keep things interesting!

Every harrowing adventure has a Harrowing to start, so get to heroing.

Each adventure in Curse is themed to a particular Harrow suit. For instance, the first adventure is themed to the suit of Keys, and it cares a lot about chases, criminals, finding lost treasures, and other dexterous undertakings, so you get an automatic 1d4 on Dexterity non-combat checks. At the start of the adventure, each character will draw an appropriate Harrow and get to use it throughout the entire adventure, getting a special benefit each time they play it. And if you're seeking a little bit of extra challenge or just more Harrowing flavor, each suit has a wildcard you can add that evokes the right kind of flavor and actions.

My forum avatar has been the Harrow Rabbit Prince for years because of fond memories of Tanis's barbarian calling Chad's paladin "Bunnyman" for an entire campaign after he got it. (Yeah, she totally stopped after the campaign.—Chad) We even put out a promo card in Chad's honor.

Tanis would approve.

I'm in no way suggesting that you should use the Harrows as an excuse for silly nicknames, but I can confirm that it's hilarious.

Keith Richmond
Adventure Card Game Designer

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The End is Nigh

May 12, 2017, 12:00 pm

Happy Friday! To polish off Pathfinder Battles: Crown of Fangs set, this week we are starting with the Reclamation Squire, a medium common. This gal take putting down evil seriously. Based off of art from the Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path, the shield and chainmail detailing are awesome. It is also always nice to see a woman warrior in combat appropriate armor, with a combat appropriate haircut. Bad to the bone.

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Dressings for the Dungeon

May 5, 2017, 12:00 pm

This week I will be showing you the Dressing pieces for the Crown of Fangs set. They are all really cool, and will add to the environment of your game, whether your players are in a dungeon, or in the great outdoors. The Dressings are split into two sizes, medium, and large. Ill start with the medium's. First, we have the Totem. This could also work as a marker, statue, or whatever else you feel would work

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The Queen's Court

Apr 29, 2017, 01:30 pm

This week we're showing off the Court of the Crimson Throne Case Incentive for next month's Crown of Fangs set! Fully stocked with food and dressing, the Court of the Crimson Throne lets you set the scene for a decadent evil court. Starting with your own plate of food and an entire cooked turkey.

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Here Comes the Cavalry

Apr 21, 2017, 03:00 pm

Happy Friday, everyone! This week in Pathfinder Battles, we start with the reclamation cavalry miniature, which is a large rare in the upcoming Crown of Fangs set, and is based off of art from the Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path. I love the in motion look of this miniature. It makes an awesome miniature for any armored fighter, or cleric, war priest, or paladin of Iomedae!

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They Come in All Shapes and Sizes

Apr 14, 2017, 12:00 pm

Happy Friday, and welcome back. This week we are starting with the Wereboar, a Medium Uncommon figure. If you like Lycanthropes, then you definitely need to big the big guy up so that he can give your players a hug. This figure is based off of art from the Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path.

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Diamonds in the Ruff

Apr 7, 2017, 12:00 pm

Happy Friday. As there may, or may not (there was) some confusion on my part as to what had already been revealed in previous posts, this week you all will get 4 unveilings. Remember to not judge by appearances, as beauty is within. On that note, lets get this week's Pathfinder Battles: Crown of Fangs show off session going!

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Here Comes the Riffraff

Mar 24, 2017, 12:00 pm

For this week's unveiling of fantastic Pathfinder Battles: Crown of Fangs miniatures, we are starting with the Emperor's Thug. This mini is a medium common in Crown of Fangs, and is highly versatile. Easily useable as a fighter, ranger, rogue, woodsman, trapper, of whatever you need a gruff, slightly bedraggled miniature for.

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The Darkness Looks Back

Mar 17, 2017, 06:30 pm

Hello, and welcome to your weekly download of Pathfinder Battles: Crown of Fangs reveals. This week I'm starting with the Deacons of the the Horseman of Pestilence. Everyone in the office is sick, anyway, so what's the worst that could happen? The Leukodaemon is a large, uncommon, and looks fantastic. If you ever tire of giving your players nightmares with devils, we suggest using this guy. You are welcome.

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The King is Dead! Long Live the Queen!

Mar 10, 2017, 12:30 pm

Welcome to the next installment of Pathfinder Battles: Crown of Fangs reveals. This week, I'm starting with the Gray Maiden Captain. This figure is based off of art from the newly released Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path Omnibus. WizKids did a great job in getting the details right for her plate mail. Great for anyone looking to play a female badass, whether it be cavalier, fighter, inquisitor, cleric, or war priest. The Gray Maiden Captain is an uncommon medium in the Crown of Fangs set.

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Dirty, Cheating Halflingsesss

Mar 3, 2017, 06:00 pm

This week in the lead up to Pathfinder Battles: Crown of Fangs, I will regale you with tales of second breakfasts, elevensies, and supper, along with a miniature that would likely enjoy man flesh (if it wasn't a miniature). To start, we have the Halfling Rogue. This dapper fellow is based off of art from the Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path, and was a member of the Bellflower Network. But whether you are battling the house of Thrune, or merely picking your party member's pockets, this miniature is highly versatile for any small folk character or NPC. The Halfling Rogue is a small common.

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The Dead Walk

Feb 24, 2017, 02:30 pm

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.

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Creepy Crawlies

Feb 17, 2017, 12:30 pm

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.

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The Dead, the Big, and the Evil

Feb 10, 2017, 06:26 pm

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!

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Bring Out Your Dead

Feb 3, 2017, 03:00 pm

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.

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Servants of the Mantis God

Jan 20, 2017, 02:00 pm

Alright folks, looks like I made it to round two. I am sure that Erik being out of the building has nothing to do with it! This week will be a treat, as long as you haven't recently done anything to anger He Who Walks in Blood. If you don't know who that is, then that is a start, but not likely to be a full proof out.

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The Grey Maidens Have Arrived

Jan 13, 2017, 04:30 pm

Well, hey there! You're all in for a treat. Erik is out on vacation (we make him do that every so often), and he has asked me to let you all see some of the awesome miniatures coming out in Pathfinder Battles: Crown of Fangs. Buckle up!

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A First Look at Crown of Fangs

Dec 2, 2016, 05:30 pm

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

A First Look at Crown of Fangs

Friday, December 2, 2016

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

Happily, our next set, April's Crown of Fangs, ups the ante in ways that will take me several weeks to fully explore. It's an exciting time for Pathfinder Battles, with lots of new figures and set features unlike anything we've done before.
It's become a bit of a tradition that the first image I post from a new set is that set's limited edition case incentive figure, but in the case of Crown of Fangs, the Court of the Crimson Throne incentive playset is so awesome, so packed with value that I don't have enough time today to go into it in full, glorious detail. Instead, I'd like to show off four figures (including two from the incentive) that give a nice taste of what's in store.

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

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

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

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

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

You guys are the best!

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

Until then, I remain...

Erik Mona
Publisher

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Pathfinder Adventure Path: Curse of the Crimson Throne (PFRPG)

By Thunder and Fang!

Nov 7, 2016, 12:30 pm

The Serpent's Skull and Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Paths—both of them based around their respectively infamous sets of fangs, to say nothing of one's use of a famous Shoanti fighting style—are now sanctioned for the Pathfinder Society Organized Play program. You can find the rules for running these Adventure Paths as well as Chronicle sheets on the Additional Resources page and on their respective product pages.

By Thunder and Fang!

Monday, November 7, 2016

Illustration by Roberto Pitturru

The Serpent's Skull and Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Paths—both of them based around their respectively infamous sets of fangs, to say nothing of one's use of a famous Shoanti fighting style—are now sanctioned for the Pathfinder Society Organized Play program. You can find the rules for running these Adventure Paths as well as Chronicle sheets on the Additional Resources page and on their respective product pages.

The more that Linda and I work on these sanctioning projects, the more interesting we can make the experience. You'll find some handy guidelines for running the sanctioned parts of the adventure volumes and retaining more of the story in each of these sanctioning documents. We're also pretty pleased with the boons in both of these, which allow PCs to ally with clashing factions, redeem cruel villains, affect one or more of your other Pathfinder Society characters, and even dissolve one of the underlying assumptions of the campaign in a way that lets the character still enjoy in the organized play experience. Curse of the Crimson Throne is also an excellent reason to acquire a Harrow Deck, which features in one or more of the boons on each volume's Chronicle sheet.

Have you already started one of these Adventure Paths in your home group? Awesome! Much like we did with Giantslayer and Iron Gods, we're allowing some retroactive credit. If you are still in the middle of playing one of these Adventure Paths but have not yet concluded it, you can receive retroactive credit for all of that Adventure Path's earlier volumes the next time you earn a Chronicle sheet for that campaign. To answer a question that arose in the Hell's Rebels sanctioning blog, yes, this allowance also extends to Hell's Rebels.

There's more sanctioned adventures on the way, though not for a few more weeks. Other adventures like Kingmaker, Council of Thieves, Strange Aeons, and Seers of the Drowned City are still on our schedule.

John Compton
Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

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Faces of Korvosa

Oct 27, 2016, 12:00 pm

Now that the hardcover edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne is out, countless groups of adventures are going to have the chance to meet the vast cast of NPCs featured in this campaign. The images in this blog post serve to highlight several, but not all, of the individuals you will be encountering or at least hearing a bout during the Adventure Path. For the player, consider the following information as common knowledge to anyone who's spent a few years living in Korvosa, while for the GM, the accompanying illustrations are great play aids to show during the game when the PCs are interacting with the NPC in question!

Faces of Korvosa

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Now that the hardcover edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne is out, countless groups of adventures are going to have the chance to meet the vast cast of NPCs featured in this campaign. The images in this blog post serve to highlight several, but not all, of the individuals you will be encountering or at least hearing a bout during the Adventure Path. For the player, consider the following information as common knowledge to anyone who's spent a few years living in Korvosa, while for the GM, the accompanying illustrations are great play aids to show during the game when the PCs are interacting with the NPC in question!

Those familiar with Curse of the Crimson Throne will doubtless note that certain key and important NPCs are missing from the following list, and that others might not have a significant role to play at all in the adventure—remember, this is a list of notable faces of Korvosa, and NPCs who only rise to prominence or arrive in the city after the campaign begins simply aren't logical choices to include here. Also, the presence of a few famous Korvosans on this list who don't play significant roles in the campaign should help to obscure for the new player exactly which NPCs have significant roles and are destined to play key parts! And of course, many of the NPCs presented below have secrets, hidden agendas, or surprises in store. In order to solve these mysteries, though, you'll need to play the game! (Or in the case of the GM, read the book—if you're having trouble finding an NPC in the text, don't forget the index of primary NPCs that appears on pages 438-439 of the book!)

King Eodred Arabasti II, ruler of Korvosa, is rumored to be in ill health.
Queen Ileosa Arabasti's popularity in Korvosa among the commonfolk has never been strong—many see her as a petulant spoiled young woman.
Ausio Carowyn is one of Korvosa's many nobles—an aristocracy increasingly out of touch with the commonfolk.

Boule is a successful businessman, but has long been rumored to be the leader of Korvosa's thieves' guild, the Cerulean Society.
Captain Cressida Kroft is the leader of the Korvosan Guard.
Archbanker Darb Tuttle is the leader of the faith of Abadar in Korvosa.

Darvayne Gios Amprei is one of many Chelish ambassadors who dwell in the city.
High priestess of the Cathedral of Pharasma, mysterious Keppira d'Bear is one of Korvosa's most powerful clerics.
Marcus Endrin is the leader of the Sable Company—Korvosa's elite hippogriff-mounted defenders.

Ruan Mirukova is a talented musician who finds his skills in rising demand for aristocratic galas.
Thousand Bones is a Shoanti shaman who has recently become a spokesperson for his people in Korvosa.
Toff Ornelos is the headmaster of Korvosa's world-renowned magical university, the Acadamae.

Trinia Sabor is a young but talented artist who's recent commission to paint the king's portrait has brought her increased fame.
Zellara Esmeranda is a talented Varisian fortune teller.
Arbiter Zenobia Zenderholm, known locally as the “Hanging Judge,” is well known among Korvosa's citizens for her harsh stance on criminal activity.

Illustrations by Kremena Chipilova, Julie Dillion, Andrew Hou, Irina Kuzmina, Nikolai Ostertag, and Imaginary Friends Studios

James Jacobs
Creative Director

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New Adventures Against the Crimson Throne, Part 2

Oct 20, 2016, 01:30 pm

Last week, I started running down my favorite new additions to the hardcover edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne—and this week I'll be doing more of the same! This time, I look at some of my favorite new additions to the campaign that appear in the final two chapters of the Adventure Path, as well as explore the contents of the extensive appendix that rounds out the book.

New Adventures Against the Crimson Throne, Part 2

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Last week, I started running down my favorite new additions to the hardcover edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne—and this week I'll be doing more of the same! This time, I look at some of my favorite new additions to the campaign that appear in the final two chapters of the Adventure Path, as well as explore the contents of the extensive appendix that rounds out the book.

Chapter 5: Skeletons of Scarwall

Filling Up Scarwall

Scarwally is one of the largest dungeon crawls to ever appear in a Pathfinder Adventure Path. So large, in fact, that in its original incarnation I ended up having to cut several encounters and replace them with generic and uninteresting storerooms and kitchens and the like. When I started developing the text for the hardcover version, I went back to Greg's original turnover and found all sorts of old encounters that got cut for space. And so of COURSE I put them back in! Now, the saga of the undead orc chieftain Ukwar is there for your PCs to unravel, along with several other restored encounters. But even putting all of those encounters back in didn't do the trick; there were still empty rooms! And so I made up several brand-new encounters to spice things up even more, including a new category of haunt called a phantasm. I'm eager to see how folks react to phantasms, since they exist primarily to both fill in backstory and provide hints to solve the castle haunting, but also to mess with the players themselves, so they never no exactly what's going on. Phantasms generally ask that the GM have a specific player roll a skill check or saving throw or other die roll, but then advice the GM to make a show of noting the result without saying why. Other phantasms cause a PC to experience a vision that other PCs don't, but suggest the GM impart this information individual to players so the players themselves don't have the benefit of knowing the full picture of what's going on. It's a pretty meta way to handle haunts, and should help to infuse Scarwall with a sense of dread that will put even the most hardened players on edge.

As an example, here's a sample phantasm taken directly from the text:

Phantasm: The first PC who moves to investigate the strip of cloth must attempt a Will save. When you know the result, write it down and tell the player (regardless of the result) that his character feels a sudden panic at being caught in the arrow slit while trying to escape a murderous orc that's right behind him! Of course, there is no orc, and the Will save has no significance beyond being an attempt to unsettle the players.

(This particular phantasm is a haunt left behind by a castle servant who was indeed chased by an orc; when the servant tried to escape by squeezing throw an arrow slit, he got stuck and then murdered by the orc. In this way, the phantasm gives the players a brief glimpse into one of the numerous atrocities that occurred in Scarwall in the past, but also tinkers with their sense of safety and comfort by having a player roll a Will save that has no obvious immediate result.)

As noted early in the chapter, not all tables will be entertained by phantasms, and in fact I suspect some players will be more frustrated than entertained by them—and as such, you should feel free to omit them from your game if you see players reacting with frustration at their inclusion. They're meant to add to Scarwall's overall sense of haunting menace, but removing them won't cripple the plot at all.

Chapter 6: Crown of Fangs

Bolstering the Opposition

Unlike Castle Scarwall, Castle Korvosa was fully detailed in its original publication. It helped, of course, that Castle Korvosa wasn't intended to be a hyper-detailed dungeon crawl, but an active and occupied castle meant for several swift strikes rather than meticulous exploration. There's not a lot of new content in Castle Korvosa, as a result, but in the last part of the adventure I did add a few brand new encounters, both to mix things up a bit and to give Queen Ileosa more allies to call upon if things go bad. Among these additional threats in the Sunken Queen are two entities that have eldritch links to Runelord Sorshen—a scarlet walker (an extraplanar menace first detailed in the Anniversary Edition of Rise of the Runelords) and an immortal ichor that formed not from a god's blood but of seepage from the Everdawn Pool. And of course, there's one more monster at Ileosa's side in the final encounter!

Appendix

We've seven appendices in this book, each of which is intended to help the GM run her Crimson Throne game, or to expand it beyond the scope of the adventures as written.

Appendix 1: Continuing the Campaign

This short appendix suggests seven additional plots that can be expanded by you, the GM, to continue your Crimson Throne game, including one variant that sees Ileosa come back as a vampire! (And yes, of course we gave you art of vampire Ileosa!)

Appendix 2: Korvosa and Beyond

The adventures themselves present all the information about Korvosa you'll need to run encounters key to Crimson Throne's plot, but as in any urban game, your PCs will wander. This appendix presents a detailed gazetteer of Korvosa as it exists under Ileosa's rule, and serves as an expansion to the original Guide to Korvosa we published long ago. While owning that book will certainly help you run a Crimson Throne campaign, I strived to include enough information in this appendix that it's not necessary. In addition to all sorts of adventure hooks and location descriptions for the city, this appendix presents multiple city stat blocks for Korvosa as it undergoes numerous changes during the course of the campaign (from a healthy city to one on the edge of anarchy to one in the grips of a plague to one under martial law). Nearly three pages of rumor tables will help you drop hints to your players to foreshadow upcoming events, and advice on places where the PCs can rest and recuperate, shop for magic, or secure spellcasting services rounds the appendix out, along with some additional notes on the surrounding lands (including the Cinderlands themselves).

Appendix 3: The Harrow

The Harrow has always held a powerful role in Curse of the Crimson Throne, and this appendix not only provides you advice on how to use Harrow readings in your game and a mechanic for the PCs to use those harrow readings to influence fate, but also includes a list of what every single card in the Harrow deck symbolizes in the context of Curse of the Crimson Throne, so that when you pull a card during a reading, you'll know precisely what that card means for the PCs and their destiny.

Appendix 4: Blood and Pain

This short chapter is a sort of catch-all—here you've got rules for the plague that wracks Korvosa, but also rules for a kyton eidolon subtype. Why the subtype? Well, in the original version of the Adventure Path, we had an NPC named Shadowcount Sial, who had levels in a prestige class called "thaumaturgist"—a class that allowed a character to gain the services of an extraplanar minion. This prestige class, alas, was not one we updated into the Pathfinder rules, and while I initially toyed with doing so in this book, I settled on something better. I translated Shadowcount Sial into an unchained summoner, which gave me the perfect opportunity to give rules for kyton eidolons—something that there was no room to include in Pathfinder Unchained but which I know many folks have been asking for!

Appendix 5: Equipment and Magic

There's a few new items of equipment and many more new magic items to be found in this campaign—and they're all presented in this appendix. While some of these are updates from the original campaign (such as the third eye, Zellara's Harrow Deck, or the Crown of Fangs itself), others are brand new or have been quantified as items for the first time, including full details on the Everdawn Pool and rules for the strange poison known as "fool's leprosy" that Ileosa uses on her husband!

Appendix 6: NPC Codex

Curse of the Crimson Throne relies heavily on its NPCs, be they villains or allies. This appendix begins with an index that lists all of the significant NPCs in the adventure, along with their role and the page number you can find their stats on. But the meat of this appendix are the twelve significant NPCs presented in two-page formats. Here's where you'll find information on key NPCs like Laori Vaus, Blackjack, and Ileosa herself, along with a few newcomers—we've included statistics for Kazavon himself, for example, in case your PCs are unfortunate enough to let the mighty blue dragon come back to life! Many of these NPC entries include additional rules options utilized by these characters, such as new spells or feats—and if the PCs play their cards right, they'll be able to learn these new options from NPCs they encounter!

Appendix 7: Bestiary

Finally, we've got the bestiary. Here, we've provided several random encounter tables for you to roll up wandering monsters to spice up play, but have also presented full stat blocks for several new monsters: the soul-powered akaruzug, the tragic chained spirit, the malevolent danse macabre, the immense and alien havero, the plucky house drake, the pain-infused pharmakos, the lumbering red reaver, and two types of vermin that infest the city of Korvosa: drain spiders and dream spiders.

More Art!

And of course, I don't want to leave you without showing off some more of the new art we ordered for the hardcover edition. Check out these new interpretations of classic fights from the original adventures!

Illustrations by Caio Maciel Monteiro, Subroto Bhaumik, and Kent Hamilton

And that's enough for this week—tune in next week the last of our Crimson Throne blog previews, where I'll provide a player-friendly post that lists many of the faces of Korvosa—NPCs your characters can expect to encounter or at least hear about during the campaign. Of course, I'll leave it to your actual game play experience to find out which of these NPCs is your friend or foe!

James Jacobs
Creative Director

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New Adventures Against the Crimson Throne, Part 1

Oct 13, 2016, 06:30 pm

Now that copies of the hardcover edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne are shipping out and we've provided the players with a mini player's guide to help create their characters, it's time to turn the attention to the new content in this version of the classic Adventure Path. All of you who are intending to play in this campaign, be warned, there be spoilers below!

New Adventures Against the Crimson Throne, Part 1

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Now that copies of the hardcover edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne are shipping out and we've provided the players with a mini player's guide to help create their characters, it's time to turn the attention to the new content in this version of the classic Adventure Path. All of you who are intending to play in this campaign, be warned, there be spoilers below!

Those GMs who ran Curse of the Crimson Throne in its first incarnation will find a lot of new content in the hardcover edition, but most of this content is relatively well-integrated into the text of the adventure. In some cases, this new content is simply material that we had to cut from publication the first time around, due to space limitations. But in others, it's brand new material that I created during the project's development—new content that may have been suggested by customer feedback, or may have simply been something that I was inspired to include to make the campaign more exciting, fresh, and memorable. One such addition was revealed last week—the Betrayed campaign trait gives players an option for characters who might be a bit less reputable than the classic campaign traits assume. But of course, that's only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Here's a sampling of my favorite new additions to the first four chapters of Curse of the Crimson Throne!

Chapter 1: Edge of Anarchy

The Lamm Legacy

Folks were disappointed the first time around that the villain built up by the Campaign Traits, Gaedren Lamm, didn't have a stronger presence in the campaign overall. While the hardcover edition doesn't expand Gaedren's role significantly (he was never meant to be a recurring villain, but a convenient foil to help bring the party together in the first place), it does give him a son—Rolth, the vile necromancer the PCs first learn about later in this chapter and first encounter in Chapter 2. By making Rolth Gaedren's son, this villain has a built-in reason to hate the PCs—he may not have loved his father, but he can certainly ache for revenge against those who bring him to justice! Further increasing Rolth's role in Korovsa, I decided to make him into the notorious Key-Lock Killer, a murderer only barely mentioned in the "Guide to Korvosa" as being the city's most prolific serial killer. The PCs will be able to find clues to Rolth's connection to Gaedren, as well as to his secret life as a serial killer, among the various treasures they can loot in Gaedren's den.

Chapter 2: Seven Days to the Grave

A Chance at Redemption

In addition to expanding on Rolth's role in the campaign, in this chapter I was able to expand a bit more on the role of the crazy elf Jolistina. In the original, she wasn't much more than a lunatic for the PCs to fight, but this time around, the PCs can do much more than just fight her. If they're careful or caring, they might be able to get Jolistina on their side and perhaps even help her along a path of redemption!

Chapter 3: Escape from Old Korvosa

More Rakshasas

In the previous edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne, the rakshasa had something of a glass jaw, and as such we were able to use a large number of them in the adventure without worrying about overwhelming the PCs. But with the publication of the Pathfinder Bestiary, we updated the basic rakshasa so that it more properly filled its role as a CR 10 monster. Which was good for the rakshasa, but not so good for Arkona Palace, which had a large number of these foes spread throughout the manor. My solution wasn't to remove rakshasas, but to swap some out for less powerful but still frightening marai rakshasas. Not only does this keep the dungeon's original themes in place, but it gives it more variety in the foes your players will face.

Chapter 4: A History Of Ashes

Deathhead Vault

While the additions to the previous chapters were largely in the realm of bits and pieces here and there to add flavor or clarify, we reach our first significant amount of new content in chapter 4. Not only did I rebuild the format of the original adventure to be less linear and more of a sandbox (without that distracting "Shoanti going to war" subplot that ended up going nowhere), but I added an entire new section. In large part spurred by customer feedback that players were disappointed to leave Korvosa for two whole adventures, but also because I was never satisfied with how the Gray Maiden's stronghold was handled "off camera," I added a whole new set of encounters as a third part to A History Of Ashes. Here, the PCs return to Korvosa after their allies are contacted by Boule, the guildmaster of Korvosa's thieves' guild, who has information on how the PCs can infiltrate the stronghold of the Red Mantis assassins AND the Gray Maidens. Doing so will not only allow the PCs to rescue Marcus Endrin from his fate, but explains exactly why the Gray Maidens and Red Mantis assassins mysteriously relocate their headquarters to Castle Korvosa in the campaign's climax. Of course, there's a lot more going on in Deathhead Vault, the underground complex the assassins and maidens use as their headquarters—pet catoblepases, creepy outsiders, and an undead arbiter are only a few of the dangerous foes the PCs get to face off against in this significant addition to the campaign!

More Art!

And of course, I don't want to leave you without showing off some more of the new art we ordered for the hardcover edition. Check out these new interpretations of classic fights from the original adventures!

Illustrations by Bryan Sola, Richard Suwono, and Subroto Bhaumik

And that's enough for this week—tune in next week for a preview of the new content in the last two chapters and the extensive appendix for the hardcover edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne!

James Jacobs
Creative Director

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Curse of the Crimson Throne Player's Guide

Oct 6, 2016, 02:00 pm

All the information you need to start and run a Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign is included in the new hardcover edition, but what if you're planning on being a player in the campaign instead? Well then, this blog post is for you! Alternately, you can check out the original Curse of the Crimson Throne Player's Guide we produced back in 2008 for even more details—most of the rules mechanics in that book have long since been updated to the Pathfinder RPG, with one notable exception—the Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign traits. These traits are presented in full detail in the hardcover edition, but they are also reprinted in this blog post for you to peruse with ease.

Curse of the Crimson Throne Player's Guide

Thursday, October 6, 2016

All the information you need to start and run a Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign is included in the new hardcover edition, but what if you're planning on being a player in the campaign instead? Well then, this blog post is for you! Alternately, you can check out the original Curse of the Crimson Throne Player's Guide we produced back in 2008 for even more details—most of the rules mechanics in that book have long since been updated to the Pathfinder RPG, with one notable exception—the Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign traits. These traits are presented in full detail in the hardcover edition, but they are also reprinted in this blog post for you to peruse with ease.

Illustration by Miguel Regodon Harkness

Character Tips

Curse of the Crimson Throne is primarily an urban-based campaign set in the city of Korvosa in southeastern Varisia, although there are a few lengthy portions of the Adventure Path that take place outside of Korvosa's walls. To a certain extent, these portions of the game are intended to force urban-themed PCs out of their comfort zone, but the reverse certainly holds true. You can absolutely play a barbarian or druid or other nature-themed PC in Curse of the Crimson Throne, but you should come up with an in-character reason to explain why your non-urban character is in Korvosa at the start of the campaign, as well as why you'd want to stay in Korvosa as things inevitably start to go bad for the city. Building strong links to other player characters is a great solution—your druid or barbarian might normally just abandon the city, but not when a close friend or relative or other ally who lives in the city is in danger!

Character Races

Korvosa is predominantly a human city, although all of the PC races in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook are welcome within its walls. Korvosa itself was founded many years ago by Cheliax, and most of its human citizens are of the Chelaxian ethnicity today as a result, although there are large numbers of Varisians, Taldans, and Vudrani present within the city walls as well.

Shoanti are also quite common, although they tend to be less welcome in certain parts of the city and face the specter of racism that lingers still in Korvosa, thanks in part to the city's unfortunate history of Chelaxian conquerors claiming the land from the Shoanti and forcing them to flee to the northeast to the harsh Cinderlands. While a Shoanti character may be subjected to bigotry from some of Korvosa's more narrow-minded citizens, having a Shoanti PC may open up other advantages later in the campaign. Other ethnicities are rare but not unknown in the city.

Dwarves mostly hail from nearby Janderhoff, many of whom have ties to robust trade and mercantilism between Korvosa and the nearby Sky Citadel.

Elves and gnomes are relatively rare in Korvosa, but not so much that they'd turn heads when spotted walking down the city streets.

Halflings are relatively common in the city; many have escaped from lives as slaves in Cheliax to the south, and many of Korvosa's shipping concerns have large numbers of halfling sailors on their payroll.

Half-elves and half-orcs are present in the city as well, but while half-elves can generally pass uncommented upon, many of Korvosa's inhabitants (particularly the Shoanti, who have a long, bitter history with orcs) react poorly to half-orc presences; bigotry and fear are unfortunately not uncommon against these oft-misunderstood folk.

Character Classes

Curse of the Crimson Throne, as an urban-themed campaign, presents numerous opportunities for intrigue-based characters to shine, yet there remain plenty of old-fashioned dungeon crawls and dangerous combats awaiting as well. As with all campaigns, having a balanced party with regards to combat prowess, magical ability, and intrigue skills will go a long way toward success.

Character Classes:

Alchemist, Arcanist, Magus, Sorcerer, Summoner, Witch, Wizard: Korvosa is welcoming to those who specialize in arcane magic, and there are numerous opportunities for an arcane spellcaster to flourish in the city—and being an adventurer is certainly one option for prosperity! One important thing to keep in mind, though, is that Korvosa's most well-known school for arcane spellcasters, the Acadamae, does not play a significant role in Curse of the Crimson Throne. If you wish your character to be associated with the Acadamae, speak to your GM or build your character so those links are relatively minor. All of the standard familiars are good choices in Korvosa. There is a long-standing feud in the city between imps (who've escaped servitude to Acadamae students and teachers) and pseudodragon-like creatures called house drakes. Both of these are classic choices for improved familiars. (A spellcaster must be 7th level and chaotic good to gain a house drake as a familiar; full statistics for these tiny dragons appear in Curse of the Crimson Throne.) Other commonly seen improved familiars in Korvosa include dire rats, lyrakien, nosois, and pseudodragons, but anything approved by your GM could serve.

Barbarian, Bloodrager, Druid, Hunter, Shaman, Skald: These classes are not normally associated with urban regions, but as long as you have a reason for your character to live in or be on an extended visit to Korvosa, the campaign will accommodate such characters (and in fact, when the plot moves beyond the city walls, such characters may well be particularly helpful!). A character associated with one of the Shoanti quahs might provide some additional advantages or opportunities as the campaign progresses, particularly if the PC hails from one of the quahs that dwells in the Cinderlands (the Lyrune-Quah, the Sklar-Quah, or the Skoan-Quah)—although if your PC is a member of one such tribe, don't assume that you'll be automatically welcomed back into your tribe's arms after spending a significant amount of time in Korvosa! Classes that take animal companions should be able to function normally in Korvosa—after all, this is a city where defenders mounted on hippogriffs exist. The sight of someone with an exotic animal companion is unlikely to raise many eyebrows, provided the animal companion is well behaved. Nonetheless, there are certain types of animal companions that are more commonly encountered in this part of Varisia, including alligators, badgers, bears, birds, boars, dogs, horses, ponies, small cats (mostly firepelt cougars), wolverines, and wolves.

Bard, Investigator, Rogue, Slayer, Swashbuckler: These intrigue-focused characters make excellent choices for an urban campaign like Curse of the Crimson Throne. Korvosa has a wide range of organizations and groups that characters like this can belong to, but the campaign works best for "freelancers"—intrigue-based characters who haven't yet selected a group to associate with, be they underground guilds or high society. As the Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign progresses, you'll encounter several groups with which your intrigue-themed character might ally with or oppose, and coming to these groups without having a strong affiliation at the outset makes for a more rewarding play experience. Of course, there's one group your intrigue-focused character should start quite loyal to—that of the player character party! If you want to associate with a particular group, speak to your GM before the game begins. Note also that any of these intrigue-focused characters could benefit from the specific information provided below for vigilante characters.

Brawler, Cavalier, Fighter, Monk: As with intrigue-focused characters, there are numerous options for martial classes to flourish in Korvosa. The most appropriate group to ally with in this campaign would be the Korvosan Guard, which serves as the city's police force and plays a significant role in the campaign. Other groups, like the Hellknight Order of the Nail and the Sable Company have specific roles to play in Curse of the Crimson Throne that make them poor choices for PCs. If you wish to associate with one of these two groups, speak with your GM before the game.

Cleric, Inquisitor, Oracle, Warpriest: All four of these divine spellcasting classes are well known and welcome in Korvosa—provided they do not use their religious beliefs and zeal to cause trouble. Consult the Religions section below for further details.

Kineticist, Medium, Mesmerist, Occultist, Psychic, Spiritualist: There are a few opportunities for psychic classes to particularly shine throughout the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path, be they links to the deep themes of spiritualism associated with the Harrow or explorations of particularly notorious haunted sites. Make sure your GM is familiar with and comfortable with options from Pathfinder RPG Occult Adventures before choosing one of these classes for your character.

Paladin: Paladins are an excellent choice for Curse of the Crimson Throne—with one caveat: do not let the lawful portion of your alignment rule your play choices. Things rapidly get out of control and go bad in Korvosa as the campaign unfolds, and your paladin's choices should put her or him firmly on the side of the PCs. Speak to your GM before playing a paladin in this game. As a general rule, it's probably better to play a paladin of a neutral good deity than of a lawful neutral deity in Curse of the Crimson Throne.

Ranger: If you choose to play a ranger, make sure to consult the information above for other nature-themed classes (barbarian, druid, etc.), including advice on animal companions. Note also that while Korvosa has a ranger-themed organization that operates within its walls (the Sable Company), that group is not a great choice for association with as a player character. If you wish to be associated with the Sable Company, clear it with your GM before play. The best options for favored enemy are animal, humanoid (human), undead, and vermin. These choices remain strong in the later parts of the campaign, but outsider (evil) and outsider (native) grow stronger as options. Most other favored enemy choices will be represented now and then in the campaign, but not nearly as often. The best favored terrain choices are (in descending order of importance) urban, underground, desert, swamp, and plains.

Gunslinger, Ninja, Samurai: These three classes are all but unknown in Korvosa. While samurai and gunslingers can fit in well with other martial-focused classes and ninja fit in well with intrigue-focused classes, there are no specific themes in Korvosa tailored specifically for these exotic class choices.

Vigilante: Korvosa's current political climate is ripe for the attention of a vigilante. In fact, the city already has one notorious legend in this category: Blackjack, a figure at once beloved and reviled, is a masked hero who has fought for Korvosa's downtrodden for many decades. Rumors about his or her identity, race, and gender are across the board, as are opinions as to whether Blackjack is one person or a role held by several over the course of the city's growth. Whatever the truth, Blackjack has been lying low of late, perhaps retired, perhaps dead, or perhaps (as the downtrodden hope) merely waiting for the right time to burst back onto the scene. Of course, this means the city is potentially ready for a new vigilante to look up to or to fight against. Your vigilante could even be interested in taking on the role of Blackjack, although if you do so, speak to your GM first to determine how that might be worked out.

Prestige Classes: The Harrow plays a significant role in Curse of the Crimson Throne, and as such, the harrower prestige class from Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide would make a particularly interesting choice for anyone who can qualify for it. Certain prestige classes are associated with key organizations in Golarion, and some of those organizations have key roles to play in Curse of the Crimson Throne. As such, these prestige classes are inappropriate for use in this campaign, but in order to avoid spoiling too much, those classes are not called out here. If you wish to build your character toward a specific prestige class, make sure to let your GM know as soon as possible so that she or he can either approve or deny your choice based on whether it makes sense to take levels in that class for Curse of the Crimson Throne.

Languages

The Common tongue is the most appropriate language for this campaign, but two others that will see a lot of use are Shoanti and Varisian. Beyond these three obvious choices, Orc, Thassilonian, and Vudrani will have some sporadic uses here and there. You can expect to encounter the typically wide range of creatures in a lengthy campaign, with more common languages (such as Dwarven, Elven, and Draconic) likely being more useful than obscure ones (such as Azlanti, Cyclops, or Orvian), which may not have much use at all.

Religions

Korvosa is tolerant of a wide range of religions and doesn't favor any one faith over another. The city's largest and most publicly active temple is the Bank of Abadar, but the city also hosts temples devoted to Asmodeus, Pharasma, Sarenrae, and Shelyn. Beyond these temples, the Pantheon of the Many in southern Korvosa represents 17 of the core 20 deities of the Inner Sea region—the only three deities who are not represented here are Gorum, Lamashtu, and Rovagug. While worship of Gorum isn't illegal in the city, his following has never been strong in the region (even among the Shoanti, who prefer a more shamanistic or druidic form of worship). While the faiths of Zon-Kuthon, Urgathoa, and Norgorber are represented in the Pantheon of the Many, their shrines are generally unused and neglected. When choosing a faith for your character, it's best overall to avoid worshiping an evil deity—if you do wish to worship such a deity, speak to your GM as your choice may be inappropriate (for reasons beyond alignment!) for this campaign.

Campaign Traits

Korvosa, like any city, has its share of undesirables. Cutpurses, thugs, thieves, burglars, assassins, and lowlifes of every sort can be found in waterfront slums, creeping in the sewers, or hiding in the tangled rooftop-scape known as the Shingles. The Korvosan Guard does what it can to keep the city's criminals from causing too much harm, but the cold reality is that crooks will always outnumber the law. And that means some crimes go unpunished and some criminals see great success.

The worst of these, perhaps, are the city's crime lords. Dozens of them operate in Korvosa today, from the scheming leader of the Cerulean Society all the way down to the Varisian Sczarni thugs who preside over a gang of a half-dozen friends and cousins. These minor crime lords are often, ironically, the ones who do the most damage to Korvosa's law-abiding citizens, as larger organizations have little need to bother commoners. One such undesirable is Gaedren Lamm, a despicable wretch who missed his chance at being somebody big in Korvosa's murky underworld. Well past his prime, the decrepit thief abducts orphans and forces them to support his parasitic lifestyle with petty crime. Many members of Korvosa's lower class have had dealings with Lamm, and even a few of the city's middle class and nobility have had their lives complicated by this foul old man. Yet no matter what he does, he always seems to slip away from the guards and avoid answering for his crimes.

Gaedren Lamm's luck is about to change, though. For among those his actions have recently touched are men and women destined to become some of Korvosa's greatest heroes—your player characters!

Before your Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign begins, look through the following Campaign Traits and select one that works well for your character. These traits detail how your PCs has been wronged by Gaedren Lamm, and set up the initial events for the Adventure Path—events that may well allow you and your fellow PCs to see that Gaedren Lamm answers for his terrible crimes, be that in a court of law or at the edge of a vengeful blade.

The campaign traits all tie Gaedren to a PC, and represent historical snippets that explain how this detestable crime lord has affected each PC in the past. Each trait is categorized into one of six unique themes with two separate choices for each campaign trait. In addition to selecting one of these campaign traits, each player should select an additional character trait; see Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide for more rules on character traits.

Campaign Traits:

Betrayed

You were hardly a model citizen as a child or young adult. Your reasons for turning to a life of crime may be varied, but what matters is that you eventually fell in with a certain well-connected and notorious crime lord named Gaedren Lamm. His reputation as a snake and a treacherous scoundrel was known to you, but for reasons of your own, you chose not to turn him down when he offered you a chance to work for him. You may have assumed you were an exception, or that you'd be able to handle him, or perhaps even planned to betray him. As it worked out, though, Gaedren got the upper hand and took you down you first. You may have served time in jail, may have been beaten by his thugs and left for dead, or could simply have had your profits stolen out from under you. Whatever the cause, Gaedren wronged you, and you are eager for the chance to get revenge.
Choose one of the following benefits.

Hungry for Revenge: You've never forgiven Gaedren for his betrayal, and have vowed to make him pay for what he did. Whether that's seeing him rot in jail or a shallow grave, you hope to taste vengeance someday. Whenever you deal damage with a melee weapon on a creature that is flat-footed, you gain a +1 trait bonus on the damage roll.

Reformed Criminal: You've given up the life of crime, and managed to talk your way out of any repercussions such as jail time or fines. You've told yourself that you would rather leave your past behind, yet the concept of seeing Gaedren Lamm pay for his crimes still appeals to you. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Diplomacy checks, and Diplomacy is a class skill for you.

Drug Addict

Someone you know has become addicted to shiver, a drug distilled from the venom of tropical arachnids known as dream spiders. The drug induces sleep filled with vivid dreams, during which the user's body shakes and shivers, giving the substance its street name. You've always thought of shiver as a problem of the lower class, but then someone you know overdosed on the stuff. You've done a bit of investigating and have learned that the villain who got your friend addicted in the first place was a crime lord named Gaedren Lamm. Unfortunately, the guards seem to be focused on the bigger dealers. They don't have time to devote many resources to what they've called "a bit player in a beggar's problem." It would seem that if Gaedren's operation is to be stopped, it falls to you.
Choose one of the following benefits.

Addicted Friend: The addict is a friend or lover who might or might not have survived the overdose. Your research into the drug scene and local politics has given you a respectable education in street knowledge. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (local) checks, and Knowledge (local) is a class skill for you.

Personal Addiction: You were the addict. You blame Gaedren for your brush with death and hate how his drugs are causing similar problems among other youths. Fortunately, your body recovers quickly from toxins, and you gain a +1 trait bonus on Fortitude saving throws.

Framed

Someone you know and love was accused of murder. A supposed eyewitness account from a local fisherman seemed to be enough to seal the case, but the accused had enough alibis that sentencing wasn't immediate. Someone confronted the fisherman and discovered he was intimidated into providing false witness and forced into planting the murder weapon by the actual murderer—a local crime lord named Gaedren Lamm, whose thugs killed the fisherman before he could recant his testimony. Although this removed the key witness and resulted in the accused being set free, the stigma was enough to badly damage the accused's reputation. If you can find Gaedren, you're sure you can find evidence that ties him to the murder and can clear the accused's name.
Choose one of the following benefits.

Dropout: You were the one accused of the murder. Although you were eventually freed when a friend confronted the fisherman and got the truth, the damage had been done. You were forced to leave your school or church. As a result, you were forced to self-train and promised yourself you would become better at your chosen profession despite the spurning of your peers. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Spellcraft checks, and Spellcraft is a class skill for you.

Family Honor: The person who was framed was a family member, perhaps a father or sister. You managed to trick the fisherman into revealing the truth with your skilled tongue. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Bluff checks, and Bluff is a class skill for you.

Love Lost

Someone you loved was knifed to death in a dark alley one night. You were called to the scene by the Korvosan Guard to identify the body, and as rough as that was for you, you also noticed a ring was missing from your loved one's finger. Whoever murdered your loved one stole that ring—you're convinced of it. You've done some investigation on your own and recently found the ring for sale at a local merchant's shop. To your great frustration, you can't yet afford the 500 gp to buy it back, but the merchant did tell you from whom he purchased the ring: a man named Gaedren Lamm. It seems likely this criminal killed your loved one, or at the very least, he knows who did. The only problem is finding him.
Choose one of the following benefits.

All Alone: The murder victim was a lover. With your lover's death, a part of you died as well, leaving you haunted, grim, and prone to dark musings. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Intimidate checks, and Intimidate is a class skill for you.

Orphaned: The murder victim was your only surviving parent. You had to work hard to make ends meet for yourself and any siblings, and often had to scavenge for food. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Survival checks, and Survival is a class skill for you.

Missing Child

You suspect that a child you know has been abducted by Gaedren Lamm. Whatever the relationship, you've heard rumors about "Lamm's Lambs," and of how the old man uses children as pickpockets and agents for his crimes. You've even heard rumors that the child you're looking for has been spotted in the marketplaces in the company of known cutpurses and pickpockets. Although the Korvosan Guard has been understanding of your plight, it has its hands full with "more important" matters these days, it seems, and has not yet been able to learn anything more about Gaedren. No one else is interested in bringing Gaedren down and rescuing his victims—that task falls to you. Yet where could the old scoundrel be hiding?
Choose one of the following benefits.

Missing Sibling: The missing child is a brother or sister. Although everyone else has given up hope, you believe your sibling still lives. Your constant search for the missing sibling has developed into great skill at rumormongering and finding out information from others. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Sense Motive checks, and Sense Motive is a class skill for you.

Missing Son or Daughter: The missing child is your own son or daughter, a niece or nephew, or a child you were charged with protecting. The child was abducted during a trip to the market or other daily event. Your stubbornness and long hours spent searching for rumors grant you a +1 trait bonus on Will saves.

Unhappy Childhood

You spent a period of time as one of Gaedren Lamm's enslaved orphans, doing all manner of dirty work for him. Maybe you were abducted from your parent's home or during a trip to the market. Perhaps the irresponsible matron who ruled your orphanage traded you to him in return for a desperately needed financial loan. Or perhaps you, like most of Gaedren's slaves, were merely a child of the street who succumbed to his promise of regular meals and a roof in return for what he said would be "a little light work." Whatever the case, you spent several years of your life as one of "Lamm's Lambs" before escaping. You've nursed a grudge against the old man ever since.
Choose one of the following benefits.

Religious: One day, while on a job for Gaedren, you found a holy symbol of the god you worship, and intrigued by it, you snuck off to attend services. When Gaedren found out, he beat you to within an inch of your life and broke your holy symbol. Your faith let you block out the pain, and you escaped his control and took shelter in the church, where you spent the rest of your youth. You gain a +2 trait bonus on concentration checks and Constitution checks to stabilize at negative hit points.

Tortured: After you made one too many errors, Gaedren tortured you and left you for dead in a garbage heap. Your scars and memories have motivated you to hone your reaction speed and make you rather jumpy. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Reflex saves.

James Jacobs
Creative Director

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Tags: Curse of the Crimson Throne Miguel Regodon Harkness Pathfinder Adventure Path

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A New Look for Classic Encounters

Sep 29, 2016, 12:00 pm

This week, on my preview for the hardcover edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne, I wanted to talk a little bit about the new art. When preparing this book, Sarah Robinson and I realized something pretty quickly—we were going to have to order a LOT of new art. First of all, for modern Adventure Paths, we've moved away from vertical half-page illustrations, so all of those we used for scenes the first time around were going to have to be re-ordered and recreated. Second of all, in those early days, we were still experimenting with what the "Pathfinder Look" was going to be for our art, and not all of the art styles we tried out in those early days are ones that we've stuck with, so that made for MORE art we had to re-order and recreate. And finally, we didn't want to reprint much art that we'd since used in hardcover books—a fair amount of the artwork from Curse of the Crimson Throne actually ended up in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook, such as the fight against the giant devilfish (page 185 of the Core Rulebook), the Red Mantis Cinnabar (page 203), or Eva's first design for the Gray Maiden (not only on page 198, but on the back cover of the book).

A New Look for Classic Encounters

Thursday, September 29, 2016

This week, on my preview for the hardcover edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne, I wanted to talk a little bit about the new art. When preparing this book, Sarah Robinson and I realized something pretty quickly—we were going to have to order a LOT of new art. First of all, for modern Adventure Paths, we've moved away from vertical half-page illustrations, so all of those we used for scenes the first time around were going to have to be re-ordered and recreated. Second of all, in those early days, we were still experimenting with what the "Pathfinder Look" was going to be for our art, and not all of the art styles we tried out in those early days are ones that we've stuck with, so that made for MORE art we had to re-order and recreate. And finally, we didn't want to reprint much art that we'd since used in hardcover books—a fair amount of the artwork from Curse of the Crimson Throne actually ended up in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook, such as the fight against the giant devilfish (page 185 of the Core Rulebook), the Red Mantis Cinnabar (page 203), or Eva's first design for the Gray Maiden (not only on page 198, but on the back cover of the book).

In short, we found it really easy to find excuses to add artwork to the new book.

Seelah and Harsk do some crowd control and Harsk learns how to dance.
Illustrations by Ben Wootten and Caio Maciel Monteiro

Turns out that this town is not big enough for these two! They ought to look to Seelah's diplomacy as she settles this local dispute.
Illustrations by Caio Maciel Monterio and Ben Wootten

Ezren and Seelah make new friends while Harsk prepares to make his point.
Illustrations by Roberto Pitturru and Richard Suwono

The amount of new artwork in the hardcover edition is enormous, with most of the significant NPCs now getting a full body illustration instead of a simple portrait, and with additional half-page illustrations for key encounters and scenes in the story. And it's those new half-page illustrations I'm going to show off today, without context (so as to minimize spoilers) and in some cases illustrating brand new encounters in this version of the Adventure Path. One thing I will say, though, is that each of these illustrations is taken from one of the six parts of the campaign. If you've played Curse of the Crimson Throne before, see if you can guess which illustrations come from what part! And if you've never played Curse of the Crimson Throne, consider these six images as teasers for the perils and excitement that await you!

James Jacobs
Creative Director

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Tags: Ben Wootten Caio Maciel Monteiro Curse of the Crimson Throne Pathfinder Adventure Path Richard Suwono Roberto Pitturru

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Curse of the Crimson Throne is Back!

Sep 22, 2016, 06:00 pm

In the coming weeks, I'll be previewing all sorts of incredible art and exciting new elements of the upcoming Hardcover edition of the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path, but before I get into all of that, I wanted first to show off one of my favorite new pieces of artwork from the book—an incredible illustration that opens the book up in its introduction. Feast your eyes!

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Tags: Curse of the Crimson Throne Lie Setiawan Pathfinder Adventure Path

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Pathfinder Adventure Path #109: In Search of Sanity (Strange Aeons 1 of 6) (PFRPG)

Look Into the Unknown

Aug 5, 2016, 03:30 pm

While our compliment of awesome Gen Con-bound comrades are steering the Paizo booth, running games, and working various panels, the Paizo skeleton-crew is continuing to assist customers, get packages out the door, and bringing you new content on paizo.com.

Look Into the Unknown

Friday, August 5, 2016

While our compliment of awesome Gen Con-bound comrades are steering the Paizo booth, running games, and working various panels, the Paizo skeleton-crew is continuing to assist customers, get packages out the door, and bringing you new content on paizo.com.

But, before everyone hopped on a plane, Adam Daigle sent over a few Pathfinder Adventure Path previews that I get to share with you all! In just a short time, the Strange Aeons Adventure Path will release. Until we get into the finer details that will be featured later this month on the blog, here's a sampling of art that is featured in the first volumes:

Illustrations by Michal Ivan and Damien Mammoliti

Illustrations by Damien Mammoliti, Crystal Sully, Caio Maciel Monteiro, Ramon Puasa Jr., and Kremena Chipilova

If you've been tracking #paizoatgencon, or following us on social media, you might have caught that we unveiled some pretty awesome images of the upcoming Curse of the Crimson Throne hardcover (and the limited edition version—details to come after Gen Con). Check 'em out!

Adam also just announced the Adventure Path following the Ironfang Invasion in this afternoon's Adventure Path panel. Look out for the Ruins of Azlant Adventure Path starting next summer! In Ruins of Azlant, PCs join an expedition to the shattered remains of old Azlant, explore its mysteries and dangers, and face a veiled master who wants to get its tentacles on an Azlanti doomsday device. Titles include (but are subject to change before release):
Spoilers!

Pathfinder Adventure Path #121: The Lost Outpost by Jim Groves

Pathfinder Adventure Path #122: Into the Shattered Continent by Robert Brookes

Pathfinder Adventure Path #123: The Flooded Cathedral by Mikko Kallio

Pathfinder Adventure Path #124: City in the Deep by Amber E. Scott

Pathfinder Adventure Path #125: Tower of the Drowned Dead by Ron Lundeen

Pathfinder Adventure Path #126: Beyond the Veiled Past by Thurston Hillman

More information about Strange Aeons, the Curse of the Crimson Throne hardcover, and Ruins of Azlant to come as we get closer to their release dates!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

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Tags: Caio Maciel Monteiro Crystal Sully Curse of the Crimson Throne Damien Mammoliti Kremena Chipilova Michal Ivan Pathfinder Adventure Path Ramon Puasa Jr. Ruins of Azlant Strange Aeons

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Happy Anniversary, Korvosa!

Jul 13, 2016, 06:30 pm

The Founding Festival is upon us, and what better way to celebrate the city of Korvosa than with a preview of the updated Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path that made it (in)famous?

Happy Anniversary, Korvosa!

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

The Founding Festival is upon us, and what better way to celebrate the city of Korvosa than with a preview of the updated Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path that made it (in)famous?

As with the hardcover edition of Rise of the Runelords a few years ago, one exciting element of revising Curse of the Crimson Throne was the opportunity to look through all the comments people posted on our messageboards over the years. Feedback, observations, obituaries for dead PCs, obituaries for dead villains, complaints, misunderstandings, corrections, and so much more awaited discovery as I made my way through all those posts in the early days of work on the revision project. But one thing stood out over and above everything else—folks had fallen in love with the city of Korvosa so much that they hated leaving it!

While the journey into the Cinderlands and the exploration of a certain infamous castle very much remain integral elements of Curse of the Crimson Throne's hardcover revision, I took to heart the complaints folks had about leaving Korvosa behind for two adventures. The fact that this occurred after your player characters likely gain access to fast travel spells like teleport, wind walk, shadow walk, word of recall, transport via plants, and so much more only further complicated the issue. After spending half an Adventure Path defending a city, why would heroes abandon it when returning is often just a spell away?

There's all sorts of tiny new additions to the campaign, the single largest addition to Curse of the Crimson Throne takes place between books 4 and 5. I won't go into great detail about what this addition consists of, but it DOES involve a return to Korvosa to take care of two particularly vexing groups that your PCs will grow to love hating during the campaign. Expect to encounter some familiar faces, some brand new foes, and at least one established Korvosan NPC who may or may not have a brand new secret (and a lot of brand new powers) to be surprised by!

Illustrations by Miguel Regodón Harkness, Bryan Sola, and William O’Brien

And while showing you illustrations of some of the foes your characters will meet in this new section will spoil those surprises... I can't NOT show off some of the new art from the new book! See if you can recognize some of the new looks for old friends and enemies!

James Jacobs
Creative Director

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Tags: Bryan Sola Curse of the Crimson Throne Miguel Regodón Harkness Pathfinder Adventure Path

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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Horror Adventures

Pulling Back the Curtain—PaizoCon 2016 Announcements!

May 29, 2016, 06:00 pm

Last night's PaizoCon Preview Banquet was an amazing event, full of exciting new reveals and announcements, including the unveiling of Paizo's next roleplaying game project, Starfinder, the next hardcover volumes of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and where Pathfinders will be headed next in Pathfinder Adventure Path and Pathfinder Society organized play. I cannot stress enough how fun and palpable the excitement is during the Banquet, and how cool it is to see folks react in person. But, if you didn't make it out to the show, read on!

Pulling Back the Curtain—PaizoCon 2016 Announcements!

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Last night's PaizoCon Preview Banquet was an amazing event, full of exciting new reveals and announcements, including the unveiling of Paizo's next roleplaying game project, Starfinder, the next hardcover volumes of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and where Pathfinders will be headed next in Pathfinder Adventure Path and Pathfinder Society organized play. I cannot stress enough how fun and palpable the excitement is during the Banquet, and how cool it is to see folks react in person. But, if you didn't make it out to the show, read on!

Dark Things in the Deep, and Shadows Around the Corner

While we're a couple weeks out from showing off the thrilling contents of Pathfinder RPG Horror Adventures, rest assured, the forces of darkness and a tenuous grasp of sanity are abound for your game!

We also announced the next *two* Pathfinder Roleplaying Game volumes at one time! Look out for the Pathfinder RPG Villain Codex, full of villainous gangs, demon knights, merry outlaws, sinister cults, new rules for each organization, and tips for using these foes in your own game later this year! And in Spring 2017, you'll have no problem pulling together an encounter on the fly with the Pathfinder RPG Encounter Codex, which will contain encounters from levels 1-20, with more details to come.

Straight on 'Til Morning

James Sutter announced a new chapter for Paizo last night as we head into worlds unknown in the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. You'll want to read his announcement blog for more details about Starfinder, which will release in August 2017.

A Return to Korvosa, and a Journey to Dungeons Yet to be Found

Fans of the classic Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path may recognize a few familiar faces in the lineup below, found in the new Curse of the Crimson Throne Hardcover compilation, releasing this September.

The Strange Aeons Adventure Path launches in just a couple months at Gen Con 2016. In Strange Aeons, heroes will be up against cosmic horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos, new monsters, mind-shattering terrors, and explore far beyond the known lands of Golarion. More information and previews will be available on the Paizo blog as we get closer!

We also announced the Adventure Path that will be following Strange Aeons at the Banquet, and I got some help from star story-teller and Developer Crystal Fraiser to give you an introduction to The Ironfang Invasion:

When the PCs witness their hometown of Phaendar destroyed in the first steps of an all-out war of conquest, they begin a quest that leads them from desperate survival to heroes of legend as they push back against the monstrous Ironfang Legion. This ruthless army—helmed by the hobgoblin General Azaersi and empowered by an ancient artifact known as the Onyx Key—intend to claim both Nirmathas and Molthune while the isolated nations bicker with one another. The heroes' quest will take them deep into the fey-haunted Fangwood Forest, to the craggy bluffs of western Nirmathas, and delve deep into the earth to explore the Darklands. Can a small band of refugees grow into champions and push back against Azaersi's horde, or will the Ironfang Invasion give way to and Ironfang nation?

The Ironfang Invasion 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.

Society Happenings

Organized Play Coordinator Tonya Woldridge proudly announced Season 8 of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild: The Year of the Stolen Storm. Beginning at Gen Con 2016, Pathfinders of all levels will be able to travel to the Elemental Planes, clash with extraplanar rivals, and harness the raw energies of the Inner Sphere. Joining the Society in this endeavor will be a host of genie-kin as ifrits, oreads, sylphs, and undines become always available for play in the organized play campaign. To help kick off Season 8, the team will also release a complete set of updated Faction Journal Cards. Also look for new Pathfinder Academy—an updated and expanded Kids' Track program for young gamers—debuting at Gen Con!

The Adventure Card Guild's Season of the Runelords is in full swing, including a host of new rewards to distribute at upcoming conventions. Once we've defeated the Runelords, we're launching a new mini-season, Season of the Goblin, that follows the events of the We Be Goblins adventures. The much-anticipated Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Mummy's Mask Base Set hits stores shortly after that, and the team has announced that the Season of the Mummy will be quick to follow. Several new authors are lending their talents to the upcoming Adventure Card Guild scenarios, including Amanda Hamon Kunz, Jason Keeley, Tonya Woldridge, and Linda Zayas-Palmer.

Pathfinder Society agents, stay tuned for a more detailed update from the PFS team about these announcements on Tuesday, June 1st!

Publisher Previews

During the Banquet, Erik unveiled a number of new sculpts for the line of Pathfinder Battles miniatures. However, folks are going to have to sit tight for his preview blog this upcoming Friday for images of the just-announced sculpts from the upcoming Deadly Foes release.

We've still got another day of PaizoCon 2016! Until we meet again!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

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Tags: Adventure Card Guild Curse of the Crimson Throne Pathfinder Adventure Path Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Pathfinder Society Starfinder

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The Queen Returns—New Pathfinder Products Announced!

Apr 13, 2016, 02:30 pm

All around the Paizo office the return of the sun and leaves and greenery are a reminder of upcoming trips and conventions (including PaizoCon 2016, May 27-30!) ahead this spring and summer. This time of the year is one that the Paizo staff, fans, and our community really look forward to—getting to meet many of you face-to-face, game together, and the announcements of Pathfinder products to come that we've been keeping under our hats!

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Tags: Conventions Curse of the Crimson Throne PaizoCon Pathfinder Adventure Path Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Wayne Reynolds

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Find the Path with Wayfinder!

Feb 21, 2013, 10:26 am

One of the nicest things about being a Paizo fan is getting inspired to create things from the world of Golarion, and before I was hired at Paizo, Hugo "Butterfrog" Solis and I hatched a mad crazy scheme to produce something for the hard-working Paizo staff—a fanzine, to capture that same sense of excitement when the latest Dragon and Dungeon magazine got into your hot little hands. Wayfinder has been called a love letter to Paizo, which is probably the best compliment I've ever gotten on anything I've ever helped come to fruition. It was always a real treat to see how happy Paizo staff are when reading new Golarion material that they didn't have a hand in making—now they were the ones waiting for spoilers and new ideas!

Find the Path with Wayfinder!

Thursday, February 20, 2013

One of the nicest things about being a Paizo fan is getting inspired to create things from the world of Golarion, and before I was hired at Paizo, Hugo "Butterfrog" Solis and I hatched a mad crazy scheme to produce something for the hard-working Paizo staff—a fanzine, to capture that same sense of excitement when the latest Dragon and Dungeon magazine got into your hot little hands. Wayfinder has been called a love letter to Paizo, which is probably the best compliment I've ever gotten on anything I've ever helped come to fruition. It was always a real treat to see how happy Paizo staff are when reading new Golarion material that they didn't have a hand in making—now they were the ones waiting for spoilers and new ideas!

But now the tables have turned, and now I'm the one eagerly awaiting Wayfinder to appear on my desk! With the eighth issue now available, I'm just as excited to read it as I was to help make the first four issues. But the very best part is that Wayfinder is completely FREE, and full of incredible art, maps, adventures, NPCs, new magic items, and original fiction from authors familiar and new! The latest issue of Wayfinder takes a nautical bent, with enough additional material for any coastal or seafaring campaign such as the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path, or anytime your game gets close to the water. It includes a short adventure (suitable for a side trek for some additional XP), new prestige classes like the Ulfen sea captain, new magic items like the grappling hook hand or peg-leg of stability, archetypes like the argonaut and marine, new material for kingdom-building rules from the Kingmaker Adventure Path, how to properly pay obeisance to Father Dagon, how to the run Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path as an aquatic game...

Have I mentioned yet that this is all completely FREE, made by fans just like you, and all you gotta do is go download it?

If this free fan-produced material has whetted your appetite to craft some of your own, Wayfinder Editor-in-Chief Tim "Timitius" Nightengale has thrown down the gauntlet! He wants to see your submissions for Wayfinder #9, the theme of which is all about what dwells in the dark caverns beneath the surface—the Darklands! Made by fans for fans and with the same level of dedication and quality you would expect out of any professional publication, this is a challenge to strut your game design stuff with the next Wayfinder, which will debut at PaizoCon 2013! Check out the call for submissions here, and check out all eight issues of Wayfinder (and the Pathfinder Chronicler Anthology) here!

Liz Courts
Webstore Specialist

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Tags: Community Curse of the Crimson Throne Kingmaker Skull & Shackles

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New Books and Epubs!

May 18, 2011, 10:00 am

New Books and Epubs! Wednesday, May 18, 2011It's an exciting day over here in the Pathfinder Tales department! Not only does today introduce the final chapter in Erik Mona's Two Pieces of Tarnished Silver (which you can read right here for free), but it's also the release date of two things that folks have been anxiously awaiting for a while now. ... Illustration by Daren Bader ... The first is Robin Laws' The Worldwound Gambit, a rollicking heist novel set in the demonic madness of the...

New Books and Epubs!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

It's an exciting day over here in the Pathfinder Tales department! Not only does today introduce the final chapter in Erik Mona's "Two Pieces of Tarnished Silver" (which you can read right here for free), but it's also the release date of two things that folks have been anxiously awaiting for a while now.

Illustration by Daren Bader

The first is Robin Laws' The Worldwound Gambit, a rollicking heist novel set in the demonic madness of the Worldwound. Hitch a ride with veteran con man Gad as he gathers the perfect team of scoundrels and thieves to infiltrate a cult's living tower deep in demon-held territory. Together they'll attempt to pull off the biggest job of their lives, saving their home from destruction and keeping business booming. Along the way, they'll have to deal with insufferable paladins, a dangerously seductive priestess, their own quirks and faults—and of course, plenty of demons. By turns hilarious and disturbing, Robin's new book is a dark, witty romp that will show you Mendev and the Worldwound like you've never seen them before.

Illustration by Jason Engle

The second thing we're proud to unveil is the latest batch of Pathfinder Tales ePubs, which includes not just several of the web fiction stories, but the first three Pathfinder's Journals from Pathfinder Adventure Path, available now in compiled electronic form, complete with all their original illustrations! For years, people have been asking for compiled versions of the journals for ease of reading and transportation—in fact, before he worked here, Mark Moreland compiled all the Eando Kline stories into a self-printed chapbook to read on his commute—and we're glad to finally be able to oblige. Appearing in this first batch are "Hell's Pawns" by Dave Gross, which marks the first appearance of Varian Jeggare and Radovan; "Dark Tapestry" by Elaine Cunningham, which follows the adventures of half-elven Pathfinder and desert druid Channa Ti; and "The Compass Stone: The Collected Journals of Eando Kline," which presents the entire epic journey of Pathfinder Eando Kline from his first appearance in Pathfinder Adventure Path #1 to the stunning conclusion in #18. Much longer than a typical web fiction story, both "Hell's Pawns" and "Dark Tapestry" are full-length novellas, while Eando's story is roughly as long as a Pathfinder Tales novel! "The Compass Stone" also comes complete with a new foreword by yours truly, discussing the evolution of the Pathfinder's Journal, and of Eando's story in particular. Joining these journals are the compiled web fiction tales "Lord of Penance" by Richard Lee Byers and "The Secret of the Rose and Glove" by Kevin Andrew Murphy.

And this is just the beginning! We hope to unveil the next novel in the Pathfinder Tales line fairly soon, and you can look forward to seeing further batches of web fiction stories and Pathfinder's Journals compiled for your electronic reading enjoyment at regular intervals. Because when it comes to Pathfinder fiction, more is better!

James Sutter
Fiction Editor

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Tags: Council of Thieves Curse of the Crimson Throne Daren Bader Dave Gross Elaine Cunningham James Sutter Jason Engle Legacy of Fire Pathfinder Adventure Path Pathfinder Tales Rise of the Runelords Robin D. Laws Second Darkness Web Fiction The Worldwound Gambit

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Pathfinder Adventure Path #29: Mother of Flies (Council of Thieves 5 of 6) (PFRPG)

March of the Damned

Nov 20, 2009, 12:00 am

... March of the Damned Friday, November 20, 2009Well, we're wrapping up the Council of Thieves Adventure Path here and along with it my series of new devils in each month's Bestiary draws to a close (on our end at least). At long last, let me reveal my ulterior motive. The new devils in Council of Thieves, when combined with those in Princes of Darkness: Book of the Damned Vol. 1, the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, Pathfinder #12, and two stragglers from another project I'm still keeping mum...

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Tags: Andrew Kim Council of Thieves Curse of the Crimson Throne Devils Monsters Pathfinder Adventure Path Pathfinder Campaign Setting

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Crystal's Story Time: Sacrifice

Nov 10, 2009, 12:00 am

... Crystal's Story Time: Sacrifice Tuesday, November 10, 2009 ... Illustration by Crystal Frasier ... Cave raptors are sated; it's time to blog! ... My father taught me a very important lesson as a young goblin: never try to eat a live cat. He also taught me that anything that is truly important to you requires sacrifice. And not the fun sort of sacrifice, where you get the family together for dinner and grandma bakes stollen and we all sacrifice a bound-and-gagged human for the greater...

Crystal's Story Time: Sacrifice

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Illustration by Crystal Frasier

Cave raptors are sated; it's time to blog!

My father taught me a very important lesson as a young goblin: never try to eat a live cat. He also taught me that anything that is truly important to you requires sacrifice. And not the fun sort of sacrifice, where you get the family together for dinner and grandma bakes stollen and we all sacrifice a bound-and-gagged human for the greater glory of Lamashtu. No, it demands the unpleasant sort of sacrifice.

Gaming is important to me, and this weekend, it took its sacrifice. While running my favorite Pathfinder campaign, Curse of the Crimson Throne, and pantomiming the grisly death of a moderately important NPC, I took a pratfall that resulted in the unthinkable: my glasses were snapped like so much optometric seagull bone.

With my uncanny goblin skills (and a healthy supply of glue and wire), the break was easy to patch, but the damage has been done. I now sport the Prometheus Unbound of eyewear, and my shame is without end. No longer am I the office beauty, as any goblin should be, but rather a misshapen and hideous creature, no better than a common kobold. My game took a sacrifice of my dignity...

It also made a sacrifice of the 2d6 copper pieces I have jealously guarded since I was declared a 'combatant' at adolescence, but until we get into silver pieces, money just doesn't compare to dignity.

But I am not alone. Any serious gamer has had to make at least one sacrifice or compromise for the sake of roleplaying, and if I have to wear my sacrifice on the bridge of my nose for a few days, so be it! That delightful Tom Hanks fellow sacrificed his dignity for gaming, and look at him now! Sacrifice is an important element in the stories we tell around the table: it adds the cost that makes a victory valuable or the pathos that makes an encounter memorable. And the little sacrifices we as players make are no less important or memorable than the spectacular tragedies our characters make, and probably mean more to us in the end.

Roleplaying is worth a little hassle now and then for the happiness it brings, the friendships it forges, the occasional romance it inspires, and the birth of Warduke, who will unite us all beneath his iron fist. My sacrifice amused my friends and made their table experience that much more real, and I'm sure it will give my coworkers a few laughs as well. So as oxymoronic as it may be, I'll wear my wounded dignity with pride until I can get to the optometrist this weekend.

But until then, I can't see jack.

Crystal Frasier
Production Specialist

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Tags: Crystal Frasier Curse of the Crimson Throne Goblins Monsters Pathfinder Adventure Path

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Pathfinder Swag!

Aug 11, 2009, 12:00 am

... Pathfinder Swag! Tuesday, August 11, 2009It's already starting to feel like a ghost town here at Paizo headquarters as the majority of the staff packs up and heads off for Gen Con Indy. With the debut of the Pathfinder RPG, we're totally excited, but also expecting the convention to be four days of absolute madness. So what are we doing? Oh, we're adding fuel to that fire, of course! There's already going to be tons of opportunities to get Paizo swag just by stopping by our booth, but in...

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Tags: Curse of the Crimson Throne Gen Con Goblins Iconics Monsters Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Pathfinder Society Seoni Sorcerers

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Pathfinder #12—Curse of the Crimson Throne Chapter 6:

All Hail Mobogo!

Jun 9, 2008, 12:00 am

... All Hail Mobogo! Monday, June 9, 2008Pathfinder #12 is off to the printer, and with it a block of four more new monsters! Of those four, three have roles to play in this volume's adventure, Crown of Fangs. So to avoid spoilers, let's check out the fourth one—the dread mobogo! We first mentioned these immense frog-like monsters way back in Pathfinder #2 in the boggard entry, and I knew then that sooner or later we'd be seeing these monstrous lords of the swamp. Check him out! Doesn't...

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Tags: Curse of the Crimson Throne Monsters Pathfinder Adventure Path

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Pathfinder #11—Curse of the Crimson Throne Chapter 5:

Visiting Belkzen

Jun 2, 2008, 12:00 am

... Visiting Belkzen Monday, June 2, 2008In Pathfinder #11, we journey into the hostile, orc-infested Hold of Belkzen. While the adventure “Skeletons of Scarwall” itself is primarily limited to one single ruin in this savage land, we also have a gazetteer of the Hold in case you want to do some sightseeing along the way. All manner of surprises and dangers await discovery therein—check out the following two sample locations excerpted from the article as examples! ... The Brimstone...

Visiting Belkzen

Monday, June 2, 2008

In Pathfinder #11, we journey into the hostile, orc-infested Hold of Belkzen. While the adventure “Skeletons of Scarwall” itself is primarily limited to one single ruin in this savage land, we also have a gazetteer of the Hold in case you want to do some sightseeing along the way. All manner of surprises and dangers await discovery therein—check out the following two sample locations excerpted from the article as examples!

The Brimstone Haruspex: Though highly independent, even proud orc chieftains sometimes seek advice. When this happens, most warlords send their seconds-in-command to the Brimstone Haruspex, the temple complex high in the caldera of a smoking volcano. Here a group of ancient and inbred orc monks offer guidance in exchange for massive tribute. In addition to maintaining the only supposedly complete record of orc history—a lengthy series of cave paintings stretching all the way back to the orcs’ initial emergence—the monks are also oracles, breathing in the vapors from the active fumaroles in order to spin weird and bloody prophecies. Unfortunately, the fumes that give them their insights are highly caustic, permanently scarring their faces and lungs. It is for this reason that most leaders choose to send their seconds-incommand with questions, as the cruel and prudent priests frequently opt to dangle petitioners in the sulfurous pits to gain the revelations firsthand.

The Skittermounds: These tall, sandy mounds stretch for miles across the foothills of the Mindspin Mountains, and are avoided by all but the truly desperate, as they represent the openings to a vast and complex series of ankheg nests. For the most part, the warring ankheg armies are content to battle each other in their leagues of underground tunnels, noticeable to those above only as a low buzzing, though foolhardy travelers might occasionally witness a colony raising a new mound entrance with frightening speed and efficiency. Every few years, however, runoff from intense storms in the mountains floods the plain, causing the colonies to erupt from their holes by the thousands and press eastward, consuming all in their path.

Sech Nevali: Also called the Hanging Monastery, Sech Nevali is a relic from Thassilonian times, a vast stone temple complex suspended over a mile-deep chasm by immense chains running between three high mountain peaks. Originally dedicated to the Peacock Spirit, the monastery is now inhabited by an order of secretive, isolationist monks who believe (correctly) that not even orcs would brave the most treacherous mountains in Belkzen in order to disturb their solitude. Yet what their ultimate purpose could be in such a remote and inhospitable place remains a mystery beyond Sech Nevali’s swaying walls.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

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Tags: Curse of the Crimson Throne Monsters Orcs Pathfinder Adventure Path Portraits

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Pathfinder 11 Art Preview

May 23, 2008, 12:00 am

Pathfinder 11 Art Preview Friday, May 23, 2008Pathfinder #11, Skeletons of Scarwall presents the 5th exciting chapter in the Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path. Here's a sneak peek at some of the incredible art you'll see when it releases next month! ... Mike McArtor ... Editor ...

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The Korvosan Cards

May 22, 2008, 12:00 am

... The Korvosan Cards Thursday, May 22, 2008One of the highlights of working in a gaming company with product lines as closely related as Paizo's is to see an idea you presented in one product show up in another. In fact, even though James Jacobs is systematically destroying the city I lovingly and painstakingly crafted in Guide to Korvosa, it is immensely satisfying to see features of Korvosa I created presented in our flagship product. Along those same lines, two of the excellent cards in...

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Tags: Curse of the Crimson Throne Korvosa

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Pathfinder #10—Curse of the Crimson Throne Chapter 4:

Meet The Artists: Concept Art House

May 19, 2008, 12:00 am

Meet The Artists: Concept Art House Monday, May 19, 2008So, it struck me that we haven't spent much time on this blog talking about art. We've shown off plenty of it, but remember, it all has to come from somewhere! Sometimes we go to specific artists to get illustrations for Pathfinder products, but we also work with several studios of artists as well. One of our favorites to work with is Concept Art House. ... Concept Art House is an international art studio/outsourcing company whose...

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Tags: Concept Art House Curse of the Crimson Throne Portraits Wallpapers

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His and Hers Full Plate

May 14, 2008, 06:47 pm

... His and Hers Full Plate Thursday, May 15th, 2008Well, not exactly, but the lovely armor worn by Queen Ileosa's Gray Maidens—from the Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path, and thus the Curse of the Crimson Throne Item Card deck—is for women only. Make no mistake, though: you do NOT want to mess with them, no matter how good their armor looks. ... On the even less subtle side, the Hellknight Order of the Nail stomps around Korvosa in their less stylish but far more intimidating...

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Tags: Cards Curse of the Crimson Throne GameMastery Hellknights Vincent Dutrait

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The Cinderlander

May 12, 2008, 12:00 am

... The Cinderlander Monday, May 12, 2008In A History of Ashes, you'll be introduced to a wide cast of misfits, troublemakers, heroes, anti-heroes, and outright villains. The complicated part? For many of these NPCs, which of those roles they'll end up playing will depend on how the PCs interact with them. One such character is the mysterious Cinderlander, a man whose family was slaughtered by the Shoanti, leaving him with nothing but a burning need for vengeance. He abandoned his former life...

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Tags: Cinderlands Curse of the Crimson Throne Portraits

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Peer into Pathfinder #10

May 9, 2008, 12:00 am

Peer into Pathfinder #10 Friday, May 9, 2008 Take a look with me into the future as art from Pathfinder #10—Curse of the Crimson Throne: A History of Ashes.Jacob Burgess ... Online Retail Coordinator ...

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People of the Cinderlands

May 6, 2008, 12:00 am

People of the Cinderlands Tuesday, May 6, 2008As inhospitable as the burning plains of the Storval Plateau are, several species actively seek to claw a life from the hard clay and lifeless ash. ... Gargoyles: Bands of savage gargoyles have long made their home on the Storval Plateau. In the Cinderlands particularly, the ashen and brick-colored gargoyles of the Ashwing tribe soar from aerie to aerie, snatching up whatever meals they can and taking wing when the fires of the land grow too near....

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Tags: Cinderlands Curse of the Crimson Throne Wallpapers

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Pathfinder #9—Curse of the Crimson Throne Chapter 3:

Quarantine!

Apr 11, 2008, 12:00 am

... Quarantine! Friday, April 11, 2008Queen Ileosa quarantines Old Korvosa! Bridges destroyed! People separated from their families! The shipments of supplies grind to a halt! Chaos ensues! Check out the great art that tracks the quarantine of Old Korvosa, from Pathfinder #9. ... Mike McArtor ... Editor ...

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Tags: Curse of the Crimson Throne Korvosa Portraits Wallpapers

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Who's up for a game of BLOOD PIG?

Apr 7, 2008, 12:00 am

... Who's up for a game of BLOOD PIG? Monday, April 7, 2008We've introduced several Varisian pastimes in the pages of Pathfinder, ranging from the goblin favorite of Killgull to the dockside fun of Knivesies. Well, in Pathfinder #9 we've got a new game for your characters to play: Blood Pig! ... The basic idea of Blood Pig is pretty simple. Two teams face off against each other. Each team controls a goal and a pig. The object of the game is to get the other team's pig, then run it back across...

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Tags: Curse of the Crimson Throne Korvosa Wallpapers

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Curse of the Crimson Item Cards

Mar 26, 2008, 12:00 am

... Curse of the Crimson Item Cards Wednesday, March 26, 2008With the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path underway in the pages of Pathfinder, we have recently sent off the Curse of the Crimson Throne Item Cards to the printer. This set includes a wide variety of the items you might encounter while taking the fight to the foes of Korvosa. Inside you will find such gems as totem spear, the doctor's mask, and the mysterious harrow deck. Need more proof that this is shaping up to be a...

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Tags: Cards Curse of the Crimson Throne GameMastery Vincent Dutrait

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Imps and Pseudodragons

Mar 24, 2008, 12:00 am

... Imps and Pseudodragons Monday, March 24, 2008 While Mike was working on the Guide to Korvosa, he and I brainstormed ideas for what kind of perils might be dwelling in the Shingles. We'd both seen plenty of monster-infested city undergrounds, but we wanted something more with Korvosa; we wanted a monster-infested rooftop. Sort of. We didn't want things like dire bats or manticores stomping around up there—whatever ended up in the Shingles had to be relatively small and agile. Nick...

Imps and Pseudodragons

Monday, March 24, 2008

While Mike was working on the Guide to Korvosa, he and I brainstormed ideas for what kind of perils might be dwelling in the Shingles. We'd both seen plenty of monster-infested city undergrounds, but we wanted something more with Korvosa; we wanted a monster-infested rooftop. Sort of. We didn't want things like dire bats or manticores stomping around up there—whatever ended up in the Shingles had to be relatively small and agile. Nick Logue's adventure already had a pseudodragon in it, and I liked the idea that these little dragons were perhaps native to the region and adapted to the rooftops as the city took over the landscape. And Mike had all these rogue, castaway imps flapping around. From there, the image of periodic imp-on-pseudodragon sky clashes popped into my head—it was too awesome an image to resist, and so the imp and pseudodragon battles became a part of the city's flavor.

This wasn't really meant to be much more than flavor; just something that makes Korvosa unique. But we got a little carried away, and suddenly two huge pictures in the book were of this supposedly rare event. With the extra weight lent by the illustrations, the imp and dragon clashes became THE iconic Korvosan event. Problem is, of course, that the game rules get in the way of this flavor. Pseudodragons can't actually hurt imps, so logically speaking, such huge battles should only ever happen once and after that, it's all imps all the time, right?

Not really. If you want more rules to back up how these battles work out, it's a relatively simple thing to come up with variants and additions for both sides to even things up a bit. Of course, you can just fake it, saying that with enough pseudodragons piled onto you, no amount of damage reduction will really help. Alternately, you can rule that Korvosa's imps have lived on the Material Plane so long that they're now considered native outsiders and have lost their fast healing and damage reduction as a result.

My preference? The Impslayer feat! Give it to all your Korvosan pseudodragons as a bonus feat, and watch the imp ichor fly!

New Feat: Impslayer

Many of Korvosa's nobles decorate their roofs with tiny amounts of precious metals, among them silver-lined weather vanes, shingles, and gutters designed to catch the sunlight to give their homes a distinctive sparkle in the sunlight. By spending years sharpening stings and teeth against these silver-enhanced decorations, or sneaking drinks of holy water from outdoor fonts at various temples, some pseudodragons have effectively transformed themselves into deadly weapons against the city's imps.

Prerequisites: Pseudodragon

Benefit:Your natural weapons bypass an imp's damage reduction. In addition, your great skill at fighting imps allows you to apply your Dexterity modifier to damage done with natural weapons rather than your Strength modifier, as your blows are delivered with great precision rather than force.

Special: Pseudodragons born and raised in Korvosa's Shingles gain this feat as a bonus feat.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

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A Harrowing Experience

Mar 11, 2008, 12:00 am

... A Harrowing Experience Tuesday, March 11, 2008From 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...

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

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Pathfinder #8—Curse of the Crimson Throne Chapter 2:

Three Times the Evil

Mar 10, 2008, 12:00 am

... Three Times the Evil Monday, March 10, 2008 We've always kind of known what role devils and demons play in the game. In Pathfinder we'll be using the classic categories for the evil outsiders. Lawful evil outsiders are devils—these are the monsters interested in corrupting and destroying the mind. They infect faith, politics, and scholastic pursuits, and strive to turn mortals into traitors and heretics against their own nature. Chaotic evil outsiders are demons—creatures of...

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Sneak Peek: Escape from Old Korvosa

Mar 7, 2008, 12:00 am

... Sneak Peek: Escape from Old Korvosa Friday, March 7, 2008Enjoy this art sneak peek of a NPC in Pathfinder #9 — Escape from Old Korvosa. That's one lucky kitty. ... Carolyn Mull ... Paizo Sales & Marketing Assistant ...

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Bring Out Your Dead!

Feb 25, 2008, 12:00 am

... Bring Out Your Dead! Monday, February 25, 2008 In Pathfinder #8, we explore what happens to a typical fantasy city when the plague comes to town. The plague in Seven Days to the Grave is called blood veil, but it's primary inspiration is, of course, the bubonic plague—the Black Death. To supplement this volume's adventure, we present an article that discusses all sorts of diseases, plagues, how epidemics work, and what can be done to combat them. Rules for several diseases beyond...

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The Doctor is In

Feb 18, 2008, 12:00 am

... The Doctor is In Monday, February 18, 2008 How sick would you have to be before you'd drink the tonic this man is offering you? ... In Pathfinder #8's Seven Days to the Grave, your characters get to find out. The cheery chap pictured here is one of the Queen's Physicians, part of Queen Ileosa's official response to the plague that strikes Korvosa in the second installment of the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path. Of course, we can't take full credit for the costume design for...

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Pathfinder: Curse of the Crimson Throne Player's Guide (OGL)

Free Player's Guide!

Feb 15, 2008, 12:00 am

... Free Player's Guide! Friday, February 15, 2008 In a few short weeks, we'll begin shipping the first part of Pathfinder's second Adventure Path—Curse of the Crimson Throne. As with Rise of the Runelords, we've created a 16-page Player's Guide to help you not only build your characters for the new campaign, but also to help introduce you to the city of Korvosa, where the majority of Curse of the Crimson Throne takes place. ... And as in the case of the Rise of the Runelords Player's...

Free Player's Guide!

Friday, February 15, 2008

In a few short weeks, we'll begin shipping the first part of Pathfinder's second Adventure Path—Curse of the Crimson Throne. As with Rise of the Runelords, we've created a 16-page Player's Guide to help you not only build your characters for the new campaign, but also to help introduce you to the city of Korvosa, where the majority of Curse of the Crimson Throne takes place.

And as in the case of the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide, the Curse of the Crimson Throne Player's Guide is free as a PDF. Even better? You can download it right now! (7.6MB zip PDF)

This 16-page product is packed with all sorts of flavor and crunch. An overview of the city of Korvosa, the largest city in Varisia, starts things off, including notes on the various districts and the important NPCs your characters might rub shoulders with. Notes on how all the core races and classes are represented in Korvosa come next, followed by some new equipment, weapons, and armor (some of which first appeared in the Runelords Player's guide, but others, like the sawtooth sabre, the doctor's mask, or the xxx, are brand new!). Several new feats are sprinkled throguhout the PDF as well (including one that gives fans of the crossbow some badly needed attention). The last few pages present several different background traits you can select for your new character to give him a instant "in" into Curse of the Crimson Throne's first adventure, "Edge of Anarchy." Oh, and the Golarion calendar is finally in print here as well—no more sifting back through blog posts to find out what day of the week and what month it is!

So go download your free Player's Guide, break out the six-sided dice, and start rolling up some stats! Korvosa's going to need all the heroes she can get before this Adventure Path comes to its concludsion!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Sneak Peek: Seven Days to the Grave

Friday, February 15th, 2008

Enjoy this interior art from Curse of the Crimson Throne Chapter 2: "Seven Days to the Grave." Just don't breathe too deep...

Carolyn Mull
Paizo Sales & Marketing Assistant

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Forging a Connection

Feb 13, 2008, 12:00 am

... Forging a Connection Wednesday, February 13th, 2008The 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...

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Pathfinder #7—Curse of the Crimson Throne Chapter 1:

The Chase is On!

Feb 11, 2008, 12:00 am

The Chase is On! Monday, February 11, 2008 One of the problems I've seen with most game systems is the necessity of nailing down and quantifying a creature's speed. While this is certainly an important value, especially when combat begins, it carries with it an unfortunate implication—you're either always faster or slower or equally quick when compared to anything else. In other words... chase scenes are big problems in RPGs, since those static Speed statistics imply that you're either...

The Chase is On!

Monday, February 11, 2008

One of the problems I've seen with most game systems is the necessity of nailing down and quantifying a creature's speed. While this is certainly an important value, especially when combat begins, it carries with it an unfortunate implication—you're either always faster or slower or equally quick when compared to anything else. In other words... chase scenes are big problems in RPGs, since those static Speed statistics imply that you're either guaranteed to catch a slower foe or that you'll NEVER catch a faster foe or a foe that's as fast as you. Which is a shame, since chases have such promise to be exciting encounters (as anyone who's seen The French Connection, Raiders of the Lost Ark, or any of the Bourne movies can attest.)

Countless game designers have come up with different ways to simulate chase scenes in RPGs over the years—some of their solutions are quick and elegant, while others are needlessly complex and dull. In my opinion, chase rules should be fast and simple and exciting, and when I realized there's a scene in Nicolas Logue's "Edge of Anarchy" that had an exciting chase across the rooftop slums of Korvosa (a region called "The Shingles" by the locals), I knew that here was a chance for me to take a stab at coming up with some chase rules of my own.

Alas, I don't have room to go into the details here, but the basic concept is this: the region in which the chase takes place is represented by several pieces of paper on which are listed skill checks to navigate obstacles. A character can opt to just move one piece of paper a turn, or can utilize several different skill checks to move two or three pieces in a turn, thus risking a fall or other delay in order to close the gap between himself and his quarry. It makes for an even more abstract simulation than combat, sure, but in the end, the haste in which it all plays out goes a long way toward establishing the high-speed thrill of a chase through dangerous terrain. The last thing you want during a chase, after all, are bored players!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

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Sneak Peek: Edge of Anarchy

Feb 8, 2008, 12:00 am

... Sneak Peek: Edge of Anarchy Friday, February 8, 2008Sneak a quick look at the mayhem that has transformed the usually peaceful streets and seas of Korvosa! ... Carolyn Mull ... Paizo Sales & Marketing Assistant ...

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Beware the Ravages of the Cyclone!

Feb 6, 2008, 12:00 am

... Beware the Ravages of the Cyclone! Wednesday, February 6th, 2008The 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...

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Introducing Gaedren Lamm

Feb 4, 2008, 12:00 am

... Introducing Gaedren Lamm Monday, February 4, 2008 See that wretched fellow over there? The creepy old man with the ratty clothes and the pet alligator? That would be Gaedren Lamm, one of the first villains your PCs will be facing in the new Pathfinder Adventure Path, Curse of the Crimson Throne. One part criminal mastermind (like Fagin from Oliver Twist), one part feeble but bitter and evil old man (like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons), and one part classic RPG guild master of thieves,...

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All Hail the Rabbit Prince!

Jan 23, 2008, 12:00 am

... All Hail the Rabbit Prince! Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008Within 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...

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Sneak Peek: Curse of the Crimson Throne

Jan 4, 2008, 12:00 am

... Sneak Peek: Curse of the Crimson Throne Friday, January 4, 2008 ... Pathfinder #7 kicks off the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path. Here is a sneak peek of the interior art. ... Carolyn Mull ... Paizo Sales & Marketing Assistant ...

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Harrowing Divinations

Jan 2, 2008, 12:00 am

... Harrowing Divinations Wednesday, January 2, 2008It'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...

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

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Pathfinder Adventure Path #6: Spires of Xin-Shalast (Rise of the Runelords 6 of 6) (OGL)

Pathfinder in 2008!

Dec 31, 2007, 12:00 am

... Pathfinder in 2008! Monday, December 31, 2007Wow. Here we are at the end of 2007—I don't know about you, but it kind of snuck up on me. Things have been crazy busy here at Paizo over this last year, between the end of one era of monthly product and the beginning of another. Launching Pathfinder was great fun, but it was also a lot of work. Fortunately, Team Pathfinder has just about recovered from the triple duty of working on magazines, launching Pathfinder, and going to Gen Con—all just...

Pathfinder in 2008!

Monday, December 31, 2007

Wow. Here we are at the end of 2007—I don't know about you, but it kind of snuck up on me. Things have been crazy busy here at Paizo over this last year, between the end of one era of monthly product and the beginning of another. Launching Pathfinder was great fun, but it was also a lot of work. Fortunately, Team Pathfinder has just about recovered from the triple duty of working on magazines, launching Pathfinder, and going to Gen Con—all just in time for our second Adventure Path to begin!

There are a lot of "Best of 2007" lists out there on the internet, and I suppose I could do something along the lines of "James's Favorite Moments of 2007" here, but to tell the truth I'm more excited about what we've got planned for 2008 in Pathfinder. We've got the contents planned out to volume #18, and even though a lot of those adventures and articles haven't yet been written (or even commissioned!), I do have a pretty good idea of what's coming next year for Pathfinder. And after reading the following list, you will too!

Listed here are 12 exciting things you can expect to show up in the pages of Pathfinder over the course of 2008. I'm only going to list one thing for each month, and as we get further out, details are more and more likely to change, but at this point they're pretty set in stone. Some of these details I might have mentioned on the Tuesday night chats, while I'm pretty sure I mentioned a few others last week at the book signing, and at least one of the following is something I haven't talked about outside of Paizo yet at all.

January: The Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path ends with a trip into the Kodar Mountains, and inevitable confrontations with abominable snowmen, giant-sized giants, dragons, and worse, in the ancient ruined city of Xin-Shalast, pictured here.

February: Pathfinder's second Adventure Path begins! Curse of the Crimson Throne is a much more urban campaign, filled with politics, plagues, and peril above and below the streets of Korvosa, the largest city in all Varisia.

March: Our exploration of Golarion's deities continues with Abadar, Master of the First Vault, written by Sean K Reynolds.

April: Want to know more about the rakshasas of Golarion and find out what role they play in Curse of the Crimson Throne? Then be sure not to miss the April Pathfinder!

May: There've been quite a lot of requests for more information about the Shoanti—Varisia's tribes of barbaric nomads. Those questions will be answered this month, in "The Shoanti Way of Life."

June: Check out your map of Varisia. Particularly, that little note in the east that says "To the Hold of Belkzen" and has an arrow pointing off the map. In June, we reveal where that little arrow is pointing. HINT: Belkzen involves orcs. LOTS of orcs.

July: The final adventure in Curse of the Crimson Throne, "Crown of Fangs," appears in July, marking Adventure Path master Tito Leati's first appearance in Pathfinder. I've looked at his maps of Castle Korvosa, and all I can say is wow. Actually, I can say more, but I'd better move on to August before I do.

August: Pathfinder's third Adventure Path begins! The Second Darkness Adventure Path answers the question of what Golarion's drow have been up to, and starts out in the lawless city of Riddleport. Assuming I ever finish writing this volume's adventure, that is…

September: Not everyone in Riddleport's out to rob you. A lot of the folk there just want to have fun. Worshipers of Cayden Cailean would fit right in, which is why in September we'll be exploring his faith in detail. Bring your tankards!

October: There's something sinister afoot in the Mierani Forest in western Varisia, particularly in the abandoned elven city of Celwynvian. Alas, you'll have to wait until October to find out exactly what waits for your PCs here!

November: By now, you know that Second Darkness features the drow as primary antagonists. And as logic dictates… that means the campaign should eventually head down below. We still haven't quite settled on a name for the vast reaches of caverns that riddle Golarion's underworld, but by November we will. I hope. Because that's when we're running a Gazetteer of the regions below that pertain to this month's adventure!

December: This MIGHT slip into January, depending on if we come up with a few different ideas, but before Second Darkness comes to an end in early 2009, you can expect to see a big, juicy article that talks about the demon lords of Golarion. They're who the drow worship, after all! And one or two of them might just be trapped here on the Material Plane with your characters…

So there you go! Something (hopefully) to look forward to each month for the entirety of 2008. Of course, the list above just scratches the surface of the adventures and supplementary articles and monsters you'll discover in Pathfinder in 2008—the bestiary will keep going strong, as will Eando Kline's adventures in the Pathfinder Journal. Cayden Cailean and Abadar are only half of the deities we'll be examining in 2008, and the drow are certainly not the only (or even the most dangerous) foes your PCs will face in the deep below.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

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Long Live the Queen!

Dec 28, 2007, 12:30 pm

... Long Live the Queen! Friday, December 28, 2007Queen Ileosa Arabasti, the beautiful young wife of Korvosa's current monarch, isn't very popular among the nobles and citizens of her city. Not that she cares all that much about what those lesser fools think of her. Keeping the rabble happy is her husband's job, after all—Ileosa's got more important things on her mind. But what could those things be? ... Stay tuned in to Pathfinder, for as we begin our second Adventure Path, Curse of the...

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The Harrow Deck Cometh!

Dec 7, 2007, 05:00 pm

The Harrow Deck Cometh! Friday, December 7, 2007One 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...

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

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4th Edition

Aug 24, 2007, 07:00 pm

4th Edition Friday, August 24, 2007We're all back from Gen Con, and aside from the launch of Pathfinder and our new Planet Stories novel line, the hot news at the show was the announcement of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, from Wizards of the Coast. Messageboards across the internet, from paizo.com to EN World and Wizards of the Coast's own site, are abuzz with discussion of what was revealed at the show, what changes are in store for our favorite game, and what the future may hold. ......

4th Edition

Friday, August 24, 2007

We're all back from Gen Con, and aside from the launch of Pathfinder and our new Planet Stories novel line, the hot news at the show was the announcement of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, from Wizards of the Coast. Messageboards across the internet, from paizo.com to EN World and Wizards of the Coast's own site, are abuzz with discussion of what was revealed at the show, what changes are in store for our favorite game, and what the future may hold.

Naturally, lots of folks want to know what the announcement means for Pathfinder and for our line of monthly GameMastery Modules.

Right now, the answer is this: It's too soon to tell.

No one at Paizo has seen a copy of the new rules yet, nor have we seen a draft of the Open Game License for it (yes, there will be one). We have plenty of reasons to believe that the new game will include lots of improvements over the current system, and that the new OGL will, if anything, be even more permissive than the one for 3.0 and 3.5.

Ever since the announcement of the end of Dragon and Dungeon magazines, we've been careful to say that Wizards of the Coast and Paizo are still on good terms, that we're still communicating with one another, and that we hope to work together in the future. This is not just so much blown smoke. The guys at Wizards have been very forthcoming with information on the new edition, and we look forward to learning even more in the weeks and months to come. I am personally optimistic that this will, for the most part, be a welcome change at my gaming table.

But it's way too early to say what Paizo will be doing about 4th edition. Please give us some time to take a look at the new rules, to take a look at the new OGL, and make an informed decision. We promise we'll let you know what we're planning just as soon as we figure it out ourselves.

For the time being, both the Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Paths will be released as announced for the 3.5 rules set, as will all GameMastery Modules at least up until May of 2008, which is when Wizards will release the 4th edition Player's Handbook.

All of our announced products for the first quarter of 2008 are "rules-light" and should not be adversely affected by the change in edition whether we convert or not. We will be making no significant changes to the announced product schedule.

I'm aware that many Paizo customers will not be converting to 4e. Honestly, before I heard some of the things I heard at Gen Con, I wasn't sure I wanted to convert either. So I sympathize.

Pathfinder currently plans to support officially sanctioned conversions for Castles & Crusades and True20, so assuming we do convert, I suspect it is very likely that we (or some affiliated partner) will provide 3.5 conversion guidelines.

Or we might stick with 3.5. We haven't seen the rules yet, and can't make the decision until we do.

One thing I can say for sure: As a gamer I would be a lot happier with a game that doesn't require two hours of prep-time for four hours of play. I have heard that the new system addresses this problem, and that strikes me as excellent.

If Wizards of the Coast can streamline the rules without robbing the game of its variety and complexity, I will be very impressed.

So far, I am optimistic.

Erik Mona
Publisher
Paizo Publishing, LLC

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Tags: 4th Edition Curse of the Crimson Throne Pathfinder Modules Rise of the Runelords

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