Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Strategy #9—Fighting the Banes

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

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

It seems obvious that you want to beat banes, because they can hurt you ... but it turns out that the calculation shouldn't be that simple. It's about knowing when to be brave.

Be brave if you have armor

Fighting monsters and leaping through barriers is dangerous, so there's the temptation to massively overinvest in a way that you wouldn't for other encounters—to increase the odds to an almost certainty.

You should avoid this temptation if you have armor. Most armor (but not shields) allows you to bury (or banish) the card to reduce all damage to you. You should consider this armor's main use: it lets you take chances when you're fighting monsters, without large repercussions.

Yes, you potentially lose a turn, because you may have to fight that same monster on a future turn. But no matter what the results, if the alternative is to use one or more blessing, you probably come out ahead: maybe you win despite the lack of blessing or maybe you won't encounter the monster again. Either way, you potentially gain a turn. And if you were going to play a couple of blessings, you came out way ahead.

So that's what being brave means: take the chance of being defeated by the bane.

Be even braver if you have no cards

Similarly, you shouldn't worry too much about losing to monsters if you have few or no cards in your hand. In this case, there's almost no downside, other than the potential to lose an exploration if you must fight the monster again. But since the alternative is usually to burn blessings ... give yourself a good chance, but don't worry about making it a sure chance.

Corollary #1: Empty your hand if you're going to lose. Sometimes, you might choose to create the situation where you have few or no cards. This is particularly applicable if you think you're going to lose the fight. Recharge everything that you legally can, so that those cards don't get discarded. Then play all the discardable cards that might give you a bonus on the check. It might seem a waste to spend cards just to give yourself a very unlikely chance of beating a bane, but if you're going to lose your cards anyway, then you might as well try. (If a bane isn't actually going to empty your hand, such as the Charmed Faceless Stalker or many barriers, then obviously this advice does not apply.)

Be the bravest if you are encountering a summoned bane

These rules about being willing to lose when faced with damage are especially true when you're fighting summoned monsters that you don't actually benefit from beating. This doesn't include summoned monsters that you must beat to close locations or to defeat barriers like Zombie Horde. But it does include those annoying skeletons that are summoned by the Skeleton Horde barrier or the bandits that are summoned at the Guard Tower. If you don't need to beat them, then don't expend any resources if you have another out (like armor or an empty hand).

The one caveat to this approach is that sometimes those summoned banes are summoned by other banes, and you usually need to beat the summoners. Getting your hand wiped before you do is rarely a good strategy.

Be less brave otherwise

If you don't have armor, if you have lots of cards, and if you're not fighting a summoned beast, then you should be less brave; in other words, worry more about beating the beast.

Still, you shouldn't consider victory over the bane a necessity. Think about what you would lose in your hand if you got beat up, add in the possibility of a lost turn if you encounter the bane again, and weigh that against the turns and other opportunities that will be lost from played cards.

Maybe you'll decide that the bane must be beat or maybe you'll decide that it's acceptable to take a chance. The important thing is to consider it as a choice—not a fait accompli— just because you're meeting a scary monster or bane.

Corollary #1: The more blessings you spend, the more blessings you should spend. Whenever you decide to spend resources rather than bravely taking the chance of being defeated by a bane, you need to make sure that you spend enough. That's because you're now spending turn-resources and you don't want to waste them. So if you're playing no blessing, because the circumstances warrant it, that's fine. But if you're playing one blessing, then consider whether playing two would increase your chances enough to be worthwhile. Every turn and every blessing is an investment: spend them wisely.

Be even less brave against annoying monsters

You should work even harder to beat a monster or a barrier if it's particularly annoying for some reason. The Enchanter is a prime example of an annoying monster, because she does 1 Force damage before then 1 Fire damage after every fight. Similarly, Collapsed Ceiling is definitely an annoying barrier, because it can do damage and sticks around. There are even more annoying banes at higher levels.

In general, if a bane has other costs every time you meet it, particularly if those costs are high, or if a bane sticks around on top of a deck or next to someone's character, be a little less brave when fighting it—not because you're afraid of it, but because you want to get rid of the darned thing!

Be the least brave against villains and henchmen

Finally, don't be brave at all when fighting villains and henchmen. They're the critical-path banes in PACG because defeating them lets you close locations and eventually win! These are the fights where you should be quite conservative, making your odds as good as you possibly can (within reason).

Corollary #1: Don't spend too much on henchmen. With most henchmen, however, be aware of what's on the other side. Usually, you must do something to close the henchman's location. If you spend your last blessing on the henchman, and then need to banish a blessing to close the location, you did all that work for nothing.

As for villains...

Next month: Fighting the villains.

Shannon Appelcline
Game Historian

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Strategy #7—Attempting Your Checks

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

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

The heart of PACG is attempting checks to acquire boons and defeat banes. And every check starts with dice that need to be rolled.

Know Your Dice Results

Checks are all about rolling dice, so the heart of managing a check is knowing your dice. Obviously, if the results of a check aren't that important, you should just throw your dice and see what happens. However, if you really want to gain a boon or defeat a bane, then you should understand your odds.

You can calculate the odds of your dice in a number of ways. This listing goes from least conservative (you might lose!) to most conservative (you won't lose!):

• Count dice + sides then divide. Add up the number of dice and all their sides, then divide by 2, then add the modifiers. For example, if you're rolling 1d8 + 1d6+2, add 2 (the number of dice) + 8 (the number of sides on the first die) + 6 (the number of sides on the second die) to get 16. Divide that by 2 to get 8 (that's the expected value of your roll), then add 2 (the modifier) to get your expected result: 10. If the difficulty of your check is also 10, your odds of succeeding are a bit better than 50%. (The example given has 48 possible die combinations. 21 of them give a result less than 10, 6 equal to 10, and 21 higher than 10, so the odds of succeeding are 27 in 48, or just over 56%.) So if your expected result is the same as the difficulty of the check, you will succeed more often than not, but you will still lose often. This method of calculation is also a bit cumbersome for quick counting.
• Count half the sides. This author's preferred technique is to just count half the sides on each of the dice, then add the modifiers. For the 1d8 + 1d6+2 example, add 4 (half the sides on the first die) + 3 (half the sides on the second die) + 2 (the modifier) to get an expected result of 9. Not only is this quicker to count than the dice + sides technique, but it also underestimates a little bit: You'll be under the average by half of the number of dice, so it's a bit more conservative. (Using the example above, you'll want to look for a way to add a +1 to reach the difficulty of 10, which would increase your odds to 33 in 48, or nearly 69%.)
• Count every die as a 2. It may have been Obsidian's Nathan Davis who suggested that you should assume every die you roll comes up a 2. With this method, our 1d8 + 1d6+2 example gets you an expected result of 6 (2+2+2), so if the difficulty you're looking for is 10, you'll want to add 2 dice (of any size) to make up the difference. (Adding even 2d4 improves your odds to above 95% in the example.) This is a very conservative method, but if you use it for the most important stuff, you're rarely going to fail.
• Count every die as a 1. There's only one way to be 100% sure of success: your number of dice plus your modifiers must be equal to the target you're shooting for. Yes, this is ridiculously conservative, but you might want to use this criteria occasionally, particularly at the end of a game.

It's easy to use these methods as a basis for an even more conservative estimate without requiring much more work. Just look at the results in a more ad hoc manner: "I estimate these dice will get me a result of 12 and I need 11 to succeed, so if someone could throw in one more blessing, I'd feel a lot better about it" or "I need an 11 and I expect that from 3 dice, so an extra 2d4 will probably push me over.")

Corollary #1: More dice move things toward the average. If you're rolling just one die, the odds are spread evenly across all the possibilities, but if you throw a whole bunch, the odds will cluster toward the middle. For example, trying to get 5 or more on 1d12 has an 8-in-12 chance of succeeding (almost 67%). But trying to get that on the seemingly similar 2d6 results in a 30-in-36 chance, or just over 83%, while 3d4 gives you a 60-in-64 chance, or almost 94%. So if your expected result is a just a little bit above the difficulty, but you're using a lot of dice, you're more likely to be okay.

Corollary #2: Rerolling dice changes the average. Some monsters, like the Giant Hermit Crab, force you to reroll on success, while some weapons, like those that have the Polearm trait, allow you to reroll on failure. The math is tricky, but if you're going to have to reroll on a success, you want to be sure you can succeed twice in a row. In such a case, an average only a teeny bit over your target probably isn't going to cut it. On the other hand, when you get to reroll failures, you can be more comfortable with marginal averages.

"So... best 2 out of 3 then?"

Know What Blessings Can Do

Checks involve not just the dice that the cards say to roll, but also the benefits applied by various players, which often come in the form of blessings. Some checks are hard, so blessings can be the difference between having a poor chance of success and a decent chance.

The trick is that blessings also usually represent a potential extra exploration. Don't be afraid of using them, because you don't necessarily need a lot of extra explorations to succeed. But do ask yourself, "Is using this blessing to improve the odds on this check more valuable than having an extra exploration?" Often losing a card, losing a hand of cards, or losing out on a chance to gain a boon turns out to be less valuable than an extra exploration, in which case it's not worth spending a blessing for that check.

Corollary #1: Keep an eye on the blessings deck. Many blessings recharge if the same blessing is atop the blessing deck. Keep an eye on that and the blessings in your hand. If they match, be much more willing to use your blessing. It defers your extra exploration, as you usually have to go through your deck to get it into your hand again, but if you're playing aggressively, it's not lost to you.

The exception is, of course, late in the game. If you're not going to cycle through your deck and you're not going to get your deck shuffled by healing or some other means, then you should treat discarding and recharging the same (and burying too, for that matter).

Corollary #2: Don't bless low skills. Don't waste your blessings on d4 skills unless things seem quite dire. A blessing just doesn't add much to a bad skill. (To be precise, it adds an average of 2.5 to a roll, where spending that blessing on a d12 skill can be over twice as good, adding an average of 6.5 to the roll.) Heck, it can feel wasteful to spend a blessing on a d6 skill.

If a low skill needs help, look instead to powers and spells. If you need to help someone with a bad skill, it's more effective to use certain spells and abilities. Lem can often add up to 1d4+3, while an Aid spell can add a d6 and a Strength spell might add a +3.

Corollary #3: Don't bless excessively (or otherwise overcommit). Whether you're playing blessings, spells, ranged weapons, allies, or some other boon, you don't want to overdo it, yet there's a tendency for players to put too many dice into a pool. When you roll two or three times your target number, and the check wasn't to close a location or defeat a villain, you probably wasted resources that could have been used to take extra explorations or to give a player better odds on another check.

If you count your expected value and you're over your target by more than half, or you've got more than a few extra dice, consider if you really need everything that's in the pool, especially if getting there required discarding or burying cards.

Next time: Managing your encounters.

Shannon Appelcline
Game Historian

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Strategy #6—Closing Your Location

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

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

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

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

Visit the Hard-to-Close Locations First

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

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

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

Save the Impossible-to-Close Locations for Last

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

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

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

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

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

Warning: No lifeguard on duty.

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

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

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

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

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

Abandon Your Location If You Fail to Close It

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

Abandon Your Location If You Chase Away the Villain

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

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

Abandon Your Location If You Temporarily Closed It

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

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

Next time: Rolling your dice.

Shannon Appelcline
Game Historian

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Strategy #5—Moving to New Locations

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

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

There is a tendency to go to a location and then to grind through it until you've closed the location. Don't give in to this! If there are reasons to move, then move. You're not stuck at a location just because you went there. (Unless it's the Shimmerglens, the Cell, or a similar location. Then you might be stuck!)

Move to a Location Based on Your Hand

You might move to another location based on what's in your hand—and specifically based on your desire to rapidly cycle your hand. If Valeros has a handful of weapons or Kyra has a handful of attack spells, then it makes sense for them to move to locations with more monsters to kill, while a character with Thieves' Tools should move somewhere with barriers (or to Junk Beach), while a character with a Crown of Charisma would do well to move somewhere with allies (or to the Prison).

In short: If your hand clogs, see if there are locations that would help unclog it.

If you can't find the right tool for the job, find the right job for the tool.

Move to a Location Based on the Deck's Top Card

Sometimes you might get to see the top card of a deck, thanks to Harsk or Alahazra or courtesy of boons like Augury, Scrying, or even the humble Spyglass. If this reveals a difficult bane or a valuable boon, and a specific character can make quick work of it, send them there to face just that card.

Corollary #1: Move to help with a check on the top card. You might move just to help someone else with the top card of a deck—either to take one of the checks on a two-check bane, or to provide support against one of the wackier villains like Erylium or Justice Ironbriar (who summon a monster that someone must face) or the Skinsaw Man (who gets tougher if you face him all alone). Or you could be a character like Valeros or Lem who can offer support with character powers.

Two swords are better than one.

Move to a Location Based on the Deck's Undefeated Banes

Precognition isn't the only way to learn what's in a deck. Sometimes you fight a bane that you just don't have the right cards or attributes to defeat. This calls for an emergency intervention from another party member. Sure, that newcomer will probably have to grind through the deck to find the bane in question again, but it's still worth sending Seoni to burn up the Troll or Lem to disable the traps, lest you have to keep facing those banes again and again.

Corollary #1: Move to a location to sort the deck if the undefeated banes are undefeatable. Sometimes you'll get really unlucky and face a bane that no one can deal with. This is a problem for smaller parties that don't have every skill represented, but it also is sometimes an issue when a flammable monster shows up and you don't have any fiery spells or weapons. To solve this problem, send a character to the location to sort the deck. The Augury and Scrying spells do this best, though there are also a number of less efficient methods to get cards to the bottom of the deck, or at least reshuffle them.

Sometimes the way to win is not to fight.

Move to a Location Based on the Number of Cards Left

Abandoning locations leaves decks with fewer cards in them. That's fine when you're bouncing around early on, but later in the game it can become a missed opportunity. If you're at a point in the game where permanently closing a location with just a few cards in it would allow you to temporarily close all of the locations next time you find the villain—or if you think a villain is in one of two decks, or something similar—then it's worth moving to the smaller deck. A deck that has 9 cards gives you an 11% chance of hitting the villain or henchman with each exploration, while a deck with 5 cards ups that chance to 20%!

Move to a Location Based on the Characters That Are There

Irrespective of what's in a deck, you might move to a location because of who else is there.

Most obviously, you might need to heal someone. Since the discard/heal cycle is a perfectly viable method to keep your deck moving, healers should always be thinking about where they can go to help other people out. This means that they should move early and often.

Alternatively, you might move to give a player a boon. This might be something you just picked up that can serve them better—but this is of limited importance, because you can usually give them the card at the end of the game. But sometimes you might be able to give them a boon that they really need right now. Perhaps they don't have a weapon and you have extras. Perhaps they could use Father Zantus more than you in this scenario. Perhaps they need Thieves' Tools because they'll be exploring a barrier-heavy deck. There's a little bit of reluctance in PACG to give up a card from your deck because it defines your character… but as long as you remember to get it back at the end of the game, all should be well.

Corollary #1: Beware of moving to a character if the location is ill-fitting. When you move to help out a character, you don't want to waste your turn—you also want to explore the location if you can. This means that you shouldn't go to a location if your character is a terrible fit for it. If you're unable to close the location or if you're going to interact badly with a location's special power, you don't want to go there. So the Mountain Peak (where you can lose a card) or the Cell (where you can get stuck) are often right out. (There's some wiggle room here. If you're bad—but not terrible—at closing a location, and it's still got a lot of cards in its deck, then you might give it a shot: You're unlikely to get to close the location in a single turn, and if you do get the opportunity, maybe you can deal with it.)

Move to a Location Because You Have a Bonus Move

Amiri gets a bonus move at the end of her turn. Items like the Boots of Teleportation, allies like the Celestial Unicorn, and spells like Teleport can duplicate this ability. This should encourage a player to move for even the smallest reasons—to reduce the number of characters at a location, to get away from a start-of-the-turn effect, or to temporarily support another character.

If a character or boon can move other characters too, then they should be even more willing to move—not just if it would benefit them or the state of the game board, but also if it would benefit the other character, for any of the reasons described herein.

Move to a Location Because of Where the Villain Is

Of course, another reason to move is to find the villain—or to get away from the villain. More on that next time.

Shannon Appelcline
Game Historian

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Strategy #4—Choosing Location Decks

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

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

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

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

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

Does not play well with others.

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

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

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

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

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

Choose Based on Your Character and the Locations' Challenges

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

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

You gotta get in to get out.

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

Yep—the answer to altitude is Wisdom.

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

Choose Based on Your Character and the Locations' Benefits

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

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

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

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

Anybody got a light?

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

Next time: Moving to new locations.

Shannon Appelcline
Game Historian

Obsidian Tells a Tale

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

With Pathfinder Adventures' imminent release—Thursday, April 28!—it's time we talked about the core strength of both Pathfinder and Obsidian: storytelling.

When Obsidian Entertainment and Paizo started talking about Pathfinder Adventures, I was most excited about the prospect of bringing the story of Rise of the Runelords to life. A little background: I started at Obsidian in 2007 working on Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, and one of the first things I did was join a group of coworkers playing Rise of the Runelords. The story stuck with me. And when I started playing "Burnt Offerings" in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, it all came flooding back. I loved the way Mike Selinker, Chad Brown, and all of the designers at Lone Shark Games used the mechanics of the cards to tell a story. Local Heroes stood out to me right away, as did Foul Misgivings later. Since story has always been a priority at Obsidian, I knew that we could bring the theme and drama of the Adventure Path to the forefront of the digital version.

As mentioned in my first blog, one of the first things we did was put all of the location decks on a map. This helps gives the game instant context and setting without a word being written. As an example, throughout "Burnt Offerings," you were playing in bright and sunny Sandpoint, but when you start "The Skinsaw Murders," things look a little different...

Workin' on our night moves (yeah, you just got Bob Segered).

It's Sandpoint's nighttime look! And it's a good one. Since "The Skinsaw Murders" is a ghost story and a murder mystery, we decided to set the mood.

Where PACG uses text descriptions on the cards to convey the story, we use dialogue. Most of these conversations are driven by the iconic heroes that you choose to play with. Each of the iconics has a distinct voice, so a party of Ezren and Valeros experiences different dialogue than a party of Seoni and Amiri.

Before setting out to write dialogue for RotR's 11 iconic heroes, I worked with Erik Mona and James Jacobs at Paizo (with some helpful insight from Chris Avellone and Matt MacLean at Obsidian) to develop a Character Bible. I use it as a touchstone each time I write to make sure the characters are always true to themselves. Each character has a set of style and story notes to remind me how they speak and how they will develop.

I'll pull back the curtain and show you (most of) Lini's entry:

Style

Having an intimate relationship with animals, Lini sees the world from an animal's perspective. She has a hard time understanding people and their complicated schemes, but she is curious about them. She has tremendous instincts and will trust or mistrust NPCs with a high level of accuracy ([REDACTED] will always smell wrong and Ameiko will be a fast friend). She does not emote in half-measures. She's excitable and fiery, using short declarative sentences for just about every occasion. Dank dungeons make her uncomfortable, but she'll never abandon her pack or the mission in front of her.

She will have a habit of interrupting villainous taunts to attack with an "Aaah-Kii-Yeee!"

Story Notes

She will seem naive at first, not understanding man's cruelty. Her curiosity will continue to drive her though. She will grow to see mankind and those with powers as complex, yet simple as any other force of nature. In Chapters 5 and 6, Lini will have a very specific understanding of what she sees and experiences and will always know with certainty what she must to do to flow with or fight against anything she is faced with.

When each scenario starts and ends, you'll get dialogue that's reactive to the characters you have in your party. Likewise, when you fight the villain for the first time, you'll get some banter determined by who's fighting the villain.

Let's take Crow Bait as an example. Harsk is adventuring solo and having a productive discussion with Ameiko about the Sihedron rune when Maester Grump interrupts with terrible news.

They even ate the dogs!

Harsk will get down to the bottom of it! At various points throughout the game, we'll check to see what cards you have and add a little extra flavor. The game does a quick check of his deck and notes that he has the beloved Deathbane Light Crossbow +1. So he adds:

Nothing beats the old Deathbane!

Harsk comes upon the Farmhouse location. In most scenarios, it's just a country home. In Crow Bait, it's a gruesome scene with a creepy note addressed to Harsk.

The letter reads, "You, and you alone, have brought this fearful harvest. They are dead because of you, and more shall join them soon."

Soon enough, he finds Rogors Craesby, who discusses his ugly intentions:

Harsk is no creature's breakfast.

When all is said and done, Harsk considers what has happened and how it relates to the larger plot:

Harsk thinks in terms of tactics and the hunt.

Where there are opportunities for flavor or exposition, we take them. Certain henchmen will talk with you before they fight. Some ally cards in your deck provide good opportunities as well.

And the haunts in Foul Misgivings! Let me tell you about the haunts. Better yet, let me show you!

In case you didn't know, RotR gets dark! Credit for this amazing art goes to the incomparable Lindsey Laney.

There are eight unique haunts throughout the Foul Misgivings—so many that it's impossible to see all of them in one play through the scenario.

You can be sure that there are a great number of things that I've left out for the sake of spoilers and easter egg hunts. I will say that we track a specific action in Burnt Offerings that has implications in The Skinsaw Murders. And I can't wait to show you what we do with Here Comes the Flood!

Nathan Davis
Game Director, Obsidian Entertainment
@nathan_J_davis
(Previously Harsk in Rise of the Runelords and Ranzak in Skull & Shackles; currently Alain in Wrath of the Righteous)

Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Simultaneously

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Hello, Pathfinders, Tanis here! This week we've got two fantastic blogs for you in one jam-packed edition. First up is Organized Play Coordinator Tonya Woldridge with a con report from Con of the North and Winter Fantasy, and the launch of Season of the Runelords. Then, we've got Adventure Card Game Lead Designer Mike Selinker with an announcement and a tease for Obsidian's digital Pathfinder Adventures. But enough from me. On with the show!

Season of the Runelords is Here!

The past two weekends, I've been attending conventions and spending much of my time at Adventure Card Guild tables previewing Season of the Runelords. This season is set after the events of Rise of the Runelords, and examines the question of what the other Runelords are doing. Starting with the first scenario ("Goblins? Gross!"), it's obvious that Tanis and the developers at Lone Shark Games turned up the witty titles, exciting adventures, and variety to suit different character's abilities.

So far, each session brought full tables, and many players rearranged their schedules to return to the Adventure Card Game area and play more. Over the next few months, many conventions will boast ACG tables including GaryCon (Lake Geneva, WI), Conflagration (Brookfield, WI), Gem State Convention (Boise, ID), and of course, PaizoCon! PaizoCon will host a boatload of Season of the Runelords tables, as well as exclusive ACG events. You can keep up on announcements for PaizoCon on the blog or by watching the main PaizoCon page.

Outside of conventions, many local Pathfinder Society chapters host ACG events. Last weekend I learned that the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul region has three stores running Season of the Righteous and Season of the Shackles, and are trying to figure out when and where to run Season of the Runelords. I'd like to give a big shout out to Erica Lopnow, Sean Pearson, and the rest of the team at Con of the North for all of the time they spent organizing ACG activities this weekend and throughout the year. To find a local Adventure Card Guild game or start your own, read through the Adventure Card Guild Guide or contact your local Venture-Officer for more information.

Speaking of the Guide, it is my pleasure to officially open the Season of the Runelords, and announce that the new version of the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide is now available. You can also find an ongoing schedule for the scenario and adventure releases on our forums. I encourage all of you to return to Sandpoint with me and visit our favorite NPCs and villians—Mayor Deverin, Father Zantus, and Gogmurt!

Watch out for gross goblins!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

What's It Like When Obsidian Makes a Digital Version of Your Game?

It's great! And that's all I'll ever say about that.

KIDDING. I've got a bunch to say about that, but there's only so much I can say today. That's because the Obsidian guys and I have a Reddit AMA Wednesday at 10:30 am PST, and they want me to save some stuff for that. But I will be showing off some really cool info about the all-digital port they call Pathfinder Adventures next week, ahead of the official release on March 29. So immeasurably stoked. See you over on Reddit.

Mike Selinker
Adventure Card Game Designer

What's New With Obsidian's Adventure Card Game?

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

We've been admittedly pretty quiet since we showed the game at Gen Con and then PAX back in August. There's been a fair bit of speculation about it. So I guess first I'll clear some stuff up.

We won't be releasing the game in fall 2015... and that's a good thing!

Time for context!

Back when we started this project, I worked out the scope of the game with the execs at Obsidian. André Nguyen created a great mockup of gameplay in Flash that helped get everyone at Obsidian and at Paizo on board (I may share some screens from that version at some point). We agreed on a pretty limited set of features to begin with—enough so that you could play through the Base deck of Rise of the Runelords. I knew a three-scenario game would be enough to prove the game out, but not enough to bring to market. As development continued and our confidence in the product grew, we kept building upon what we had piece by piece, carefully increasing the scope over time. With each additional piece, we added a lot more content and improved presentation—well beyond our original plans.

So that brings us up to today, and more importantly, a release date that we're moving to early 2016. Why is that a good thing?

Well, behind the scenes at Obsidian, we are now planning a better, stronger launch than ever before. And I gotta tell you, I'm excited! There are so many cool things in the works, including some that will let you experience the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game in new ways. First, there's this cool new...

Feargus (CEO, Obsidian Entertainment): Davis! Not yet!

Ah, right. There's a whole plan for talking about this.

In the meantime, I think there are some new things I can "leak."

We've been working closely with Paizo and Lone Shark to make this game as awesome as possible. In most cases, that means staying true to the original rules and intent. There are times where the limitations of interface (over a tabletop) mean it's better if we change the mechanics of the card to fit our game. A simple example of this comes from the "Cloud" spells.

"Don't you know that you're toxic?" ...yep, the card game blog got a Britney reference.

From a mechanics perspective, we removed the "when a character encounters" part of the spell and made it work more like other displayed spells such as Strength and Glibness. It’s a minor change in functionality, but a large benefit for our interface: instead of stopping gameplay whenever a bane is encountered in order to see if the character with this spell wants to play it, it’s now available before or after an exploration or on a combat check. You’ll also notice that we've made some changes to the card layout; for the most part, we've done this to give the card art a bit more room. We also introduced icons for the different card types, as there are places where our user interface really benefits from that. And Paizo has updated the wording where appropriate.

The folks at Paizo have also given us opportunities to add cards here and there that are unique to the digital game. Here are some of my favorites so far:

Rusted Chain doesn't care about your armor proficiency.

The original game has a lot of standard chain mail. We switched out some of them with minor mechanical changes and art revisions. As you know from playing the game, anything that adds to the thrill of discovery is a good thing.

And speaking of thrilling, our artist, Lindsey Laney, was inspired to create the art for a new card in her free time. I can only describe it as a move for gender equality.

In case you ever wondered what a half-orc with high Charisma looks like.

Now let me tell you about who's playable in the tutorial...

Feargus: Davis! Back to work!

Alrighty! Gotta go! More information to come.

Nathan Davis
Multiclass Designer-Producer
Obsidian Entertainment
@nathan_J_davis
(Previously Harsk in Rise of the Runelords and Ranzak in Skull & Shackles; currently Alain in Wrath of the Righteous)

We're Not Staying Mum(my) Any Longer

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

During PaizoCon 2015, we stood onstage with designer Liz Spain and revealed that the next Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Adventure Path would be Mummy's Mask. And we said that we'd be releasing it in February. As it turns out, we're right an even 50 percent of the time.

Since the announcement, we've received a lot of feedback from customers, retailers, and distributors that our release schedule is outpacing all but our most enthusiastic players. People are still playing Skull & Shackles, or even Rise of the Runelords, and they aren't ready for a new set yet. So we've decided to delay Mummy's Mask until we feel the market is ready. That may mean July, and it may mean October, but it definitely doesn't mean February. When we commit to a firm date, we'll let you know. But fear not—it will come.

But wait a minute, you say—what if you are one of our most enthusiastic players? No worries. There's going to be plenty to keep you busy. We'll continue to release Class Decks: In the first five months of 2016, you can expect to see the Oracle, Alchemist, Inquisitor, Witch, and Gunslinger decks. We're even increasing the number of newly designed boons in some of those decks. (Hint: Damiel gets a pet giant slug.)

Yikes!

So great! That's a whole lot of new characters and boons, but what are you going to do with them? Where are the new scenarios to play through? If you've played through Rise of the Runelords (maybe a couple times), completed Skull & Shackles, and sailed through Season of the Shackles, you're probably just waiting for us to release the end of Wrath of the Righteous and Season of the Righteous... and you need MORE!

Well, we have just the thing. We're pleased to announce the next Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild season:

Season of the Runelords

Imagine that you decided to release a game based on a system you created, and you wanted the most sweeping story to go with it. Some full-on epic thing. It's no accident that the Rise of the Runelords base set was one of the biggest sellers in Paizo's history—that story is really, really good. It's chock full of giants and dragons and ogres and all manner of malevolent things.

So we're going back to the well. A whole lot of you own Runelords, and we want that to be something you can play for a long, long time. We're making a brand-new, epic Season of the Runelords, spanning the entire length of the story. But we might mix things up a little bit. Okay, a whole lot. Because you can only burn down Sandpoint Cathedral so many times. (Ten, fifteen times, tops.)

And hey, remember this ol' horsey-monster? And this bad mamma-jamma?

The original Odd Couple.

Remember how we never actually used them as villains for a scenario? Well, we've got plans for them. Big, big plans.

This will also harmonize with Obsidian's release of the PACG digital game, which (surprise!) will start with Rise of the Runelords. So we've been looking back at Runelords to see where we can improve it a little bit for the digital version. Nips and tucks, mostly. But we think you'll like what you see. And it'll tie in nicely with what we do in the Adventure Card Guild.

Season of the Runelords will begin early next year. It'll be glorious! Come play!

Mike Selinker and Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designers

Note for Adventure Card Guild Fans: We've designed a fifth scenario in Season of the Righteous Adventure 5, so 5D will come out this week, 5E next week, and Adventure 6 will begin one week later than originally planned, during the first week of November.

Now Available—Rise of the Runelords for Hero Lab!

Friday, April 24, 2015

Well met, adventurers! I travel here from the far-off lands of Hero Lab, bringing good tidings for GMs and players alike. Sit by the fire and heed my tales, and you shall discover how Hero Lab makes it easier to run your games!

As a GM who's been running Pathfinder and its forebears for almost 20 years, I'm always on the lookout for new ideas and stories to share with my players. Luckily, Paizo has the answer -Pathfinder's Adventure Paths have become indispensable tools for GMs like me, with nearly 100 pages of story, background information, and combat encounters released every month. We already include player content from each Adventure Path for free, and we're excited to announce that we're now bringing the encounters to Hero Lab!

The first Adventure Path up for release is the classic Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition. This new add-on package for Hero Lab gives you everything you need to run the combat encounters from Rise of the Runelords, including full details for every NPC and monster—even those referenced from other sourcebooks.

That means if a monster comes from the Bestiary, or an NPC uses a class from Ultimate Combat or gear from Ultimate Equipment, no problem! Hero Lab provides all the information you need to run the encounters, all included in this one convenient package. No more worrying about whether you have the right books or Hero Lab packages, or looking up statblocks during the game—this new package provides everything you need for use in all the Rise of the Runelords encounters. Every encounter and NPC is available to view, print, or use within Hero Lab's integrated Tactical Console.

And there's more! Are your players over- or under-levelled, or has an extra player unexpectedly dropped in to your game? Hero Lab has you covered - not only are all the Adventure Path encounters pre-built and ready to use, you can customize them to your heart's content by bumping up (or down) each adversary's challenge rating in seconds. With just a few clicks, you can add and remove templates, class levels, or even entire groups of enemies with our built-in Encounter Builder. Hero Lab automatically recalculates all the NPC and monster stats based on your changes, and the encounter is ready for use in seconds.

GMs (and players!), don't delay—Rise of the Runelords released for Hero Lab this week, so order your copy today! We're also planning to release a second Adventure Path in May—so GMs, keep an eye on our news page for more details, and players, tell your GMs to be on the lookout!

Not a Hero Lab user yet? Now's a great time to try Hero Lab for free, on Windows, Mac, and even the iPad!

Happy adventuring, and don't let those Runelords get you down!

Colen McAlister
Lead Developer
Lone Wolf Development

A Look at Obsidian's Adventure Card Game

Thursday, April 16, 2015

I have the distinct pleasure to be part of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game digital team at Obsidian Entertainment! We are progressing towards an initial release this year starting with the Rise of the Runelords Base Set.

As fans of the physical version of the game, we are having a lot of fun bringing it to life on iPads and Android tablets. In some cases, we highlight the game's hardcore RPG roots. I think character selection brings this to life.

When we played the card game, it was clear that most of the character powers were in some way analogous to class powers, feats and skills you'd find in the Core Rulebook. And in Kyra's case, her powers matched the domain powers Sarenrae gave her (Rebuke Death and Sun's Blessing).

For those of you studying this screenshot, the page also has toggles for pass-and-play and permanent death. Though I am sure that all of you play by the book and destroy characters when they die in the physical game and will continue that time honored tradition on the tablet, we are giving new players the option to play a more forgiving version of the game. That being said, there will likely be specific rewards or achievements for playing through the game as Selinker intended, but that's a topic for another day.

When we started working on the concept for this game, we knew that we had a lot of tools at our disposal to amplify the "adventure" part of the card game. To that end, we are including things like MAPS! I've always loved Pathfinder's beautifully rendered maps and we have a perfect opportunity to use them to help tell the story.

Most of the time, Location Cards are analogous to specific spots on a map, and we are trying to match the lore as closely as possible (the farmhouse pictured has since moved to the outskirts of town). When you go to Magnimar or Thistletop, you'll encounter new maps.

When you visit and explore one of these locations, enhanced versions of the location card art become the backdrop for your looting and fighting.

One handy technical flourishes can be seen at the top left corner. As you encounter cards, the numbers underneath the Card Types tick down.

Before, I sign out, I want to give big ups to the team members bringing this bad boy to life! Kevin, Andre, Lindsey, Stephanie and Kristian, y'all are making a great game!

Nathan Davis
Producer
Obsidian Entertainment

Previously, Harsk of Rise of the Runelords
Currently, Ranzak of Skull & Shackles

How Syrinscape Brought the Red Dragon Roaring to Life

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Reckon you've got the growl to make the perfect Pathfinder Red Dragon? Have you got the depth in your voice, the rattle in your throat, the fire in your breath? No, me neither. Now, imagine you had to create a Red Dragon in all its airborne, fiery fury. That's what I had to do, and it was awesome fun! My family surely thought I was out of my head as I growled and roared into my studio microphone. Thank goodness for the modern digital wizardry I was able to employ, turning my little voice into the coolest, most epically massive Dragon roars you could imagine.

Next time you play the Pathfinder RPG, grab a tablet or a laptop, download the free Syrinscape Player, purchase the Fortress of the Stone Giants SoundPack, or become a Syrinscape Adventure Path Subscriber to unlock absolutely everything in the Syrinscape Fantasy library. Then, plug-in to your stereo system, or a portable Bluetooth speaker, and blow your players' minds! Your Pathfinder game will never be the same!

Watch the Fortress of the Stone Giants demo video below to see how you can incorporate these fabulous, officially licensed sounds into your Pathfinder game.

Have fun, good gaming. Now go make some noise!

Benjamin Loomes
Creative Director
Syrinscape

P.S. Syrinscape is still looking for YOUR sounds for the forthcoming Peasants' Revolt SoundSet. Submit a crash, or a yell, or other sound associated with an uprising. You'll get a free copy of the SoundSet, along with a name credit on the product!

With a Blade in Your Hand and a Song in Your Heart

Friday, June 27, 2014

Syrinscape has recently announced that their first group of Paizo-licensed Soundpacks will follow the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path. To start, they have released the Burnt Offerings Soundpack, containing everything you will need to fill your players with dread and terror! Whether you're already playing the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, or planning how best to run this classic adventure, you'll find the perfect atmospheric setup in this Soundpack. It's stuffed full of audio goodness for use in any Pathfinder game—there are goblins, a town festival, catacombs, mercenaries, and even an evil priest!

Are you wondering how well these sounds work at a gaming table? Well, if you're coming to PaizoCon, then you're in luck! Syrinscape will be set up in the Paizo store, and members of the Syrinscape team will be running encounters at one of the two Dungeon Delve tables on Friday and Saturday afternoons. So come by and let them arbitrate your doom! They have promised to try their hardest to kill you, while providing an atmosphere that will have you on the edge of your seat!

For more information on Syrinscape and the Pathfinder-licensed Rise of the Runelords Soundpacks, visit: http://syrinscape.com

Free at Last, Free at Last, the Runelord of Greed is Free at Last!

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Warning! Spoilers ahead for the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path

If you don't want to be spoiled on the details of the adventure path, you probably want to skip this preview post, or perhaps just scroll down and look at the pretty card art.

Very soon, the final chapter of our year-long Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords will be hitting shelves, stores, and front steps. In Rise of the Runelords Adventure Deck 6: Spires of Xin-Shalast, our heroes have mastered the lore and magic of the Runeforge, and are now ready to take the battle to the ultimate force behind their troubles to date: an ancient master of magic, the Runelord of Greed, somehow returned from the long-lost Thassilonian Empire. Armed now with Runeforged Weapons, you need but find the secret redoubt of the Runelord, and you will be able to end his threat once and for all.

Where might it be? I'll give you a hint.

When I said "scale the mountain face", that's not what I meant!

The legends say that Mhar Massif is the final resting place of a colossal entity that attempted to force his way into Golarion from some alien realm. Mhar was stopped, somehow—stories vary—but his titanic face still adorns the top of the great peak. Guess where you need to go?

Regardless of which parts of the story are true and which are fancy, one thing is certain: scaling the Mhar Massif is a deadly undertaking. There are many paths, but only one actual choice. Climb into and through the Death Zones, defeat or negotiate with the otherworldly creatures that dot the mountain, and reach the top... if you can.

I'm sorry, did someone say Death Zones? As you ascend, the air supply ranges from thin to non-existent, and soon enough altitude sickness will set in. Though heat and air may be in short supply, the other legacy of Mhar's petrified presence—the thin veil between Golarion and the nightmare realm of Leng—is all too present. In the Death Zones, the surreal spectacle of strange creatures and freak magical happenings is punctuated only by the occasional avalanche.

Well, it's not called the "Puppies and Sunshine Zone".

Speaking of strange... Strange alliances abound, as these mammoth-sized spider creatures demand that you destroy the enigmatic Leng Device, or become spider food. They won't tell you exactly what the device does, but they do insist that its destruction will distress their enemies in a most pleasing way. Should you refuse the demand or negotiate badly, the Leng Spider's unnatural poison will cause terrible paranoia and hallucinations. Just ask your friends!

"I spy... something gigantic, 11-legged, and Not From Around Here!"

Atop the Mhar Massif stands the ice-covered tower known as the Pinnacle of Avarice, seat of power for every Runelord of Greed in the ancient Thassilonian empire. Recently awakened from thousands of years of frozen stasis, the well-equipped denizens of the Pinnacle await the return of their master.

You climbed the great mountain, survived the Death Zones, and "convinced" the Leng Spiders to let you pass—and what do you find? Something else to climb!

Whether you negotiated through or negotiated with the Leng Spiders, your path forward will eventually cross the Leng Device. Constructed through an alliance between the immoral arcanists of Xin-Shalast and the inhuman denizens of Leng, this recently-reactivated device seems to be warping time—and something is coming through!

"The last one in is a rotten..." "Nope."

An unearthly howl echoes around the Pinnacle as this enormous hound-shaped creature ripples in and out of reality. A malign intelligence peers out of bulging black eyes as the creature clacks forward on razor-sharp talons, and a long, tentacle-like tongue darts back and forth, tasting the minds nearby. Beware the Thing From Beyond Time, or you might find your own time running out!

No. Seriously. Bad Doggy!

But wait, there's more! While it is certainly a threat, the Thing From Beyond Time is really more of a houseguest. Before you deal with the master of the house, you'll need to deal with the welcoming committee.

First up, the Wardens. These blue-skinned, rune-covered giants send arcs of lightning through the area before taking up titanic blades easily capable of slicing through the entire party at once.

It's got giants in it! You like giants!

Only recently awakened from stasis, the First Apprentice of the Runelord of Greed has fallen out of favor. Destroying your party seems like just the opportunity he needs to remedy that situation!

Oi! Ten thousand years will give you such a crick in the neck!

The favored champion of the Runelord, Viorian Dekanti, has given herself over to the artifact weapon known as Chellan, Sword of Greed. If you can overcome their combined threat, perhaps you might take the sword for your own!

"Who's next?"

Finally, only one gatekeeper remains. Even the dreaded lamia matriarchs bow to the unholy oracle Ceoptra. Her strikes leave withered destruction which cannot be healed by normal methods, so we recommend that you not fail. Should your first attempt provide a worthy challenge, she will fully prepare for the second round.

"This better work, or there won't be enough left to heal ..."—Kyra

As we approach the final confrontation of the Rise of the Runelords adventure path, there are still some boons to go along with the banes. For example, our heroes are now powerful enough to invoke the aid of the gods directly against the advancing plots of their enemies (i.e. the blessings deck). In dire circumstances, the truly desperate—and the truly prepared—can call upon the power of the gods to give themselves that extra chance to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Turning "almost" into "just enough"!

You might find this buried amongst the trappings of the Pinnacle of Avarice, or worn on the finger of an opponent. Either way, this protective ring can prove a lifesaver when enduring the elements, be they natural or (more often) not.

Whether facing dragons (yes, plural), ancient Azlanti wizards, or rune-covered giants, this ring is sure to come in handy.

Even in these rarefied heights, it is possible to find help in unlikely places—or is that unlikely faces? Gyukak is a resident of Xin-Shalast who isn't exactly your friend or your enemy. Rather, this Oni has disguised and ingratiated himself with several stone giants in Xin-Shalast, with the goal of eventually leading them to greener pastures. A potent distraction like the PCs might be just the sort of thing Gyukak needs to make his move, so he's willing to help out—for a while.

"Very dangerous! You go first."

I hope you've enjoyed this peek ahead into Rise of the Runelords Adventure Deck 6: Spires of Xin-Shalast. If you can make it through this, there's only one place left to go: the Eye of Avarice, for the final confrontation with Karzoug the Claimer. Not far now.

Thanks for playing!

Chad Brown
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Developer

Friday Publisher Preview: The Runes Shall Rise Again!

Friday, January 17, 2014

One of my favorite things about the "open" theme of November's The Lost Coast set of prepainted plastic Pathfinder Battles figures is that it allows me to do pretty much whatever I want. Unlike sets based on a specific Adventure Path, The Lost Coast does not require a certain number of Russian soldiers, or very specific and unusual monsters key to an important encounter in a campaign. The loose theme of "wilderness area in Varisia" is enough to play home to high-utility figures based on amazing drawings, with pretty much no other restrictions on what to include in the set.

That said, setting the set loosely in Varisia means that it shares territory with several of our popular Pathfinder Adventure Path campaigns, including Curse of the Crimson Throne, Shattered Star, and Rise of the Runelords. The latter two campaigns have already received a dedicated Pathfinder Battles set, and they include some of my favorite figures we've produced to date.

They also, unfortunately, have some holes. Today's preview focuses on three figures that fill specific holes from Rise of the Runelords, and there are more coming (sadly, Shattered Star holes will have to be filled with a different set some time in the future). While the theme of the set allows for some revisiting old friends and foes, that isn't the primary point of the set—I've got to be careful with my choices.

The elf cleric Justice Ironbriar is a member of the ruling elite of the city of Magnimar, making him travel in some of the same circles as last week's Lord Mayor Grobaras. He plays an important and spoiler-filled role in the finale of Richard Pett's popular adventure, The Skinsaw Murders, and it's always bothered me that we never made a miniature of him. Quality art for the character came in while we were putting together the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition hardcover, making it too late to make the cut for the Rise of the Runelords miniatures set. Now, with The Lost Coast, I finally have a chance to rectify that omission. Justice Ironbriar is suitable for any knife-wielding cultist, for a well-armed elf dignitary, or even for a player character. Justice Ironbriar is a Medium, rare figure.

We've done a lot of goblins so far in Pathfinder Battles, but to date we've never done a proper Goblin Mutant. Goblin Mutants play an important role in the first arc of the Pathfinder Comic: Dark Waters Rising, and of course they also play a role in the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path. In particular, this specific Goblin Mutant is Koruvus. Koruvus's original illustration, to put it kindly, was nearly impossible to translate into a little plastic figure, so I was really pleased when a much-easier-to-sculpt drawing of the character came in for the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition hardcover. Again, however, it arrived too late to make it into that set, so the poor Goblin Mutant has had to (somewhat impatiently) await its turn. The Goblin Mutant is a Medium (yes, Medium—he's a mutant!), uncommon figure.

This here is Malugus Kreeg, one of the ugliest members of the Kreeg clan (his brother, Jaagrath Kreeg also appears in the Rise of the Runelords set). Honestly paunchy old Malugus is in this set simply because I love the looks of him. I hope you'll indulge me one more ogre in the Pathfinder Battles line. The art was so awesome I couldn't resist. Malugus Kreeg is an uncommon, Large figure.

Speaking of irresistible art, I unfortunately was not able to get a good picture of the infamous Mammy Graul in time for this set, so there's at least one more ogre in the offing before I close the book on them. That will have to await a future set. Something to look forward to!

Speaking of looking forward... we've got three more The Lost Coast figures to preview next week. I'll see you in this space in seven days!

Until then, I remain,

Erik Mona
Publisher

Let No Savior Go Unpunished

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Heading into the fifth adventure in the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, we've already saved Sandpoint (again), discovered and solved some disturbing problems with a variety of giants (hill, stone, -kin, undead, etc), cornered and defeated a pair of lamia cleric twins what seemed like a dozen times, and met the stone giant necromancer Mokmurian (and hopefully taken his club)! Looking around the ancient library lair, you find important-looking references to a lost storehouse of Thassilonian magic known as the Runeforge.

Meanwhile, back in Sandpoint, a mysterious sinkhole has opened up a new area of the ruins underneath the unassuming coastal town. Suspiciously close to the area where you found your "old friend" Tsuto Kaijitsu delving for trouble back in the first adventure, we finds signs of recent activity, along with a pack of nasty braying beasts befitting the moniker of the Mother of Monsters. You're sure to hear their maddening howls before you see the Hounds of Lamashtu, but even if you strike one down, you'll still need luck or mettle—or both—to close the location.

Bad Doggy!

These hounds don't have a keeper, but that doesn't mean that they're on their own. Caught between the Thassilonian masters of Wrath and Greed, the thaumaturge once known as Xaliasa fled the consequences of his treachery and swore eternal devotion to Lamashtu. With the resurgence of the runewells, the Mistress of Insanity has raised her late cleric and bound him to the runewell. But Xaliasa is no more—instead we find the broken thaumaturge endlessly scribing Lamashtu's wisdom on the walls, floor, and ceiling of his shrine, and also on the flesh of its visitors. Are you ready to receive the wisdom of the Demon Mother?

Whatever shall I use for ink?

If you do manage to corner the Scribbler—a couple of times, at least, since he keeps Word of Recall and Heal ready—you might be able to discern from his scattered writings an ancient secret. In his former service to two different Runelords, the Scribbler managed to discover an entrance to the Runeforge, a secret library, laboratory, and foundry of Thassilonian magic — the same place mentioned in Mokmurian's library at the end of Adventure 4. Here and there among the maunderings covering the Scribbler's shrine, you piece together the location of an entrance to this lost foundry. In a cold, remote place known as Rimeskull, you seek an ring of ominous, carved stone monuments.

I wonder what these things do?

Before you can harness the power of the Sihedron Circle, you'll have to master the standing stones. Incredibly old but still bearing powerful enchantments, each stone head much be disabled, broken, or appeased in turn. Not the simplest task anyone has ever attempted, and probably not the safest. Your reward for success? You get to meet Arkrhyst, the Freezemaw. Lucky you!

Apparently, they shoot lightning. And summon dragons. Yay?

While that's quite a bit of bad news, it's not all bad news in Adventure 5: Sins of the Saviors. I've showed you the first few threats, but there are also plenty of new boons to help you out. On the combat side of things, we have a nasty crossbow that can inflict massive damage, as long as your target cares about things like circulation and respiration. It's good against most creatures you might happen to trip over, and it can be downright lethal to fleshy targets like The Scribbler.

Meanwhile, Disintegrate packs both utility and destruction into one glowing green package. Whether you want to blast your way through locks and walls, or dust a pesky dead, undead, or about-to-be-dead creature, this spell is for you. It's useful in the scroll-tube of a collector or dabbler like Merisiel or Harsk, and it can be devastating in the hands of Ezren, Lem, or Seoni—and even if you don't manage to finish it off before it can get to you, the beastie will trouble you no more.

Those two don't look friendly.

Shooting and blasting are all well and good, but what about those of a more… material mindset? Put another way, killing the bad guys and taking their stuff is good, but maybe we can optimize away that first step? If this interests you, I have a card for you: the unassuming but unbelievably tasty Wand of Treasure Finding. Some people will want to use it to increase the odds of finding the key boons in a scenario, while others will be more interested in examining the location deck. I say "Why choose, when you can have both?"

Knowledge is power, and loot is awesome.

Finally, I have one more little helper for your adventures into the ruins of the ancient magical empire of Thassilon. Whatever you think of her size, shape, or various movie appearances, I assure you that she is indeed a very clever girl. On top of all that, she's Gaby's favorite card in all of the Rise of the Runelords: Velociraptor!

RAAAAAAAAWWR! Velociraptor!

These are a few of the denizens and delights waiting for you as you begin Adventure 5: Sins of the Saviors. Starting underneath the normally quiet, currently battered town of Sandpoint, you'll end up exploring ruins of Thassilon lost almost a hundred centuries earlier. If you're brave, clever, and lucky, you will explore the lost halls of the Runeforge and survive—and perhaps learn how to harness rune magic yourself, to turn it against its former masters.

I assure you, you're going to want every advantage you can get.

Thanks for playing!

Chad Brown
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Developer

Pathfinder Legends: A Visual Companion

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Right after the debut Pathfinder Legends full-cast audio drama was released, my wife and I got stuck in an unexpected traffic snarl (which shouldn't have been too surprising, living in Seattle, and all). To kill the time, I put on the CD, and my wife—Shelyn bless her—obliged me by listening. It didn't take very long before she was getting into the story and following closely. There were a few instances when she made me pause playback, however, so that I could explain what certain locations, creatures, and characters looked like. It hit me then that not everyone listening to Pathfinder Legends may play Pathfinder or be familiar with some of the fantasy tropes that those of us who've been playing D&D or variants thereof for decades can sometimes take for granted. One of the reasons the audio drama is so captivating is that it doesn't include a lot of exposition dumps or narration, meaning some of the physical descriptions one might expect in a novel or RPG experience just aren't there.

Thus, I put together this quick visual guide for listeners new to the Pathfinder universe to aid you in acclimating to some of the elements encountered in Burn Offerings. The following images and descriptions could be considered a spoiler, so if you aren't familiar with the Burnt Offerings story, I recommend scrolling down the page as you're listening to the audio drama.

First up we have the town of Sandpoint, where the adventure begins. This is a settlement of about 1,200 people in the nation of Varisia, in a coastal wilderness region known as the Lost Coast.

Illustration by Noah Bradley

Among the personalities the heroes encounter during the Swallowtail Festival are Mayor Kendra Deverin, Sheriff Belor Hemlock, and Lonjiku Kaijitsu (all pictured below).

Illustration by Andrew Hou and Maichol Quinto

Lonjiku's daughter, Ameiko, has a prominent role in the adventure, serving as their hostess at the Rusty Dragon, Sandpoint's finest inn and tavern (she appears on the cover of the third Pathfinder Legends release, The Hook Mountain Massacre). Her half-brother, Tsuto, also makes an appearance. It's pretty clear from the dialogue in the audio drama that he's a half-elf—here's what he looks like.

Illustration by Eric Belisle

One of my wife's most pressing questions toward the end of the adventure was, “what's a bugbear?” The character Bruthazmus plays a large role in the adventure's conclusion, as does his boss, Nualia Tobyn. They're both depicted here. He's a large-yet-sneaky goblinoid (bugbear), while she's a demon-tainted human with angelic ancestry (making her both beautiful and ugly at the same time).

Illustration by Eric Belisle and Eva Widermann

That should take you right up to the adventure's end. Does having images to accompany the audio heighten your listening experience? We can't add visuals to the audio itself, but if this is the sort of thing listeners like, we may make a habit of this sort of blog for future Pathfinder Legends releases. Comment on this blog and let us know your thoughts, both about this visual companion as well as Pathfinder Legends in general.

Mark Moreland
Developer

A Sound of Goblins

Thursday, March 27, 2014

When I was writing "Burnt Offerings," I was focused mostly on the daunting task of setting up an adventure that would not only present goblins as monsters you love to hate, but also to launch an entire new product line. I was focused on how to make the adventure simultaneously introduce the world to a new world while at the same time feeling old-school enough that it felt nostalgic and familiar and comfortable. I wanted readers of the first Adventure Path installment to enjoy the innovations, but to feel more than ever that this was the same game they've enjoyed playing for years.

I think it's fair to say that I never really stopped to think what the characters sounded like, or how a 50 page adventure could translate into an hour long audio drama.

When we sealed the deal with Big Finish to produce Rise of the Runelords as a full cast audio adventure, though, those were among the many questions we had to answer. We worked closely with Big Finish from the start on both determining what iconics should be featured in the story and what parts of the adventure needed to be represented in the hour-long running time for each installment.

Choosing the characters, in retrospect, was relatively easy. The important NPCs would be determined by what parts of the adventure we chose to adapt, so it came down to the PCs as the main choices we had to make early on—we knew we wanted four adventurers, since that's the basic assumption we make for the game... but which four? In the end, we knew that just as the visuals of all our iconics are so distinctive, we needed the voices to be distinctive as well. The first-time listener needed to be able to tell the four heroes apart just by listening to their voices. Furthermore, we wanted to choose the four iconic heroes from those who were actually featured on the covers of Rise of the Runelords. Harsk and Ezren made a lot of sense, because their voices—an old man's and a gruff dwarf's—were so distinctive. Valeros was an obvious choice since he was the first iconic we'd illustrated he's as close as we have to a "main character" among all the iconics. And that was it for the initial party—but we needed one more. I pushed hard for Merisiel, and not only because she's my favorite iconic—she's also an elf AND a female character, two elements that were missing from the current lineup.

Ezren	Download the sample! (147 KB MP3/zip)
Harsk	Download the sample! (143 KB MP3/zip)
Merisiel	Download the sample! (123 KB MP3/zip)
Valeros	Download the sample! (143 KB MP3/zip)

That DOES leave the heroes without a dedicated healer in the group... but fortunately, when you get to control all aspects of the story and don't have to worry about dice and chance throwing curve balls at you, you can write the story so that the lack of a healer isn't an issue.

And that brings us to the second part of the question—how do you condense an adventure that can provide for hours and hours of game play over the course of several days of gaming sessions into a single hour?

And it's here that Big Finish's writers stepped up big time. For each installment, the authors write out a brief outline of what elements they want to focus on, and then we at Paizo would go over the outlines and approve some elements and make suggestions for others. Deciding what parts of the adventure are important to cover and what parts are not made for some tough choices—the reduction of Nualia's henchmen in number or the entire catacombs of wrath would have been great to hear, but the storyline works without them as well. Once we approve the outline, then the next step is for us to approve the full script—we'd go through page by page, giving feedback from "Harsk is spitting too much" to "Ameiko wouldn't say that," and much more... and once that stage was done, the task of actually recording the dialogue came next.

Ameiko Kaijitsu	Download the sample! (86 KB MP3/zip)
Nualia	Download the sample! (135 KB MP3/zip)

The final step—approving the final recording—was the most fun though. It's pretty cool to sit in your office at work, listening to goblins run amok!

Goblin	Download the sample! (180 KB MP3/zip)

James Jacobs
Creative Director

Like a Rolling Stone...

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Having run into some friendly rangers, not-so-friendly rangers, downright unfriendly rangers, and even an ex-ranger in the Hook Mountains, the party heads back down from the mountain peak to the bucolic coastal city of Sandpoint for some much-needed rest and relaxation. Just one problem: all the stone giants.

Good ol' rock. Nothing beats rock!

The defenses of Sandpoint are clearly no match for these giants, but we're sure you're up for the challenge. While it might seem like the best way to beat a creature of great size is with overwhelming numbers—and certainly neither an inspirational song from Lem nor a helpful sword blow from Valeros would be refused!—canny giant-hunters like Harsk can tell you all about the dangers of grouping up against giants. Much better to find a good vantage point for a well-placed shot. The eyes, throat, and knees are all excellent targets... if you can hit them.

But let's back up a second (if we can afford a second) and find out what's going on here.

Doesn't anyone STAY saved?

While you were up in the Hook Mountains ending Barl Breakbones' threat to the area (along with his life), the giants apparently had plans of their own. The stone giant warlord Teraktinus is leading a host of giants against the city, bombarding it with flung boulders and literally tearing apart Sandpoint's walls, buildings, and citizens. As you arrive, the siege is already underway, and the pressure is on. The giants' apparent aim is to reduce the city to rubble, and you'll need to hurry if you want to stop them and save Sandpoint.

Down here, tracking and sniping giants is all well and good, but some people prefer to do their giant-slaying up close and personal. For those people, we present the giantbane dagger.

Merisiel-recommended. Harsk-approved.

Though it's perfectly capable of stabbing goblins, humans, elves, ranger-wights, and dragons, this little beauty prefers to dine on a steady stream of ogres, trolls, ogrekin, and giants of all flavors. Err, kinds. As Ameiko's brother Tsuto once said, "The death of a thousand cuts need not require a thousand blades." Or, as Merisiel often says, "Mine!"

Killing, stabbing, shooting, and bashing are all fine, but sometimes things don't go your way. When that happens, you want Kyra, Lem, Seelah, Lini, or maybe even Harsk to have one of these, and they want it too.

And it didn't even take my whole turn!

Oh, one more thing: Did I mention that the stone giants brought a dragon?

Giants smash, dragons burn.

Yeah. They brought a dragon. It's sure to get toasty around here (unless you're Sajan. Sajan cheats.), but with a bit of luck, or perhaps some magic, you might be able to fight dragon-fire with dragon-fire.

What could possibly go wrong?

Now, sometimes you're happy to gain a boon if you roll well, and content to make progress if you don't. Other times, you really want to succeed. This ally is worth the investment (and not only because he doesn't like it when you fail!)

That's just a sampling from the start of Fortress of the Stone Giants, where you finally get to try out those shiny role cards you've been looking at for months. You'll go on the offensive, taking the fight to the giants of Jorgenfist and learning a little something about the forces behind all the troubles of the previous adventures. But please, remember one thing: when you hear flapping wings and screeching in the tower, that wasn't my fault.

Well, maybe a little.

Thanks for playing!

Chad Brown
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Developer

It's a Christmas Massacre!

Monday, December 23, 2013

December's Pathfinder Adventure Card Game release is The Hook Mountain Massacre, the third Rise of the Runelords Adventure Deck. In this chapter of the story, the stalwart heroes are asked to investigate Fort Rannick, a ranger outpost near Hook Mountain. Fort Rannick is home to the Order of the Black Arrows, a cadre of rangers that have kept the local ogre problem at bay for decades, but now the outpost is ominously silent.

Striding boldly (or not) into the foothills near Rannick, the players quickly find themselves in conflict with the first of the area's "looming troubles."

Let's take a moment to dig into the first scenario of the adventure, Them Ogres Ain't Right—a card that still regularly wins Mike's vote for "Best Card Title"—and preview some of its giant-sized participants.

Though you might not normally associate an ogrekin matriarch with necromancy, Mammy is happy to change your mind. Ancient Skeleton henchmen aren't a major threat to the characters at this point, but every little bit hurts, and Mammy's habit of using the dimension door spell to escape the fight and heal up doesn't help.

From a mechanical standpoint, we don't often ask you to remember specific details from turn to turn, but Mammy provides a rare exception. Though you may not remember if you tried to recharge that Lightning Bolt spell last turn, we're pretty sure you'll remember whether or not the gracious Ms. Graul has already escaped your best efforts.

Of course, Mammy's going to want some help, and not just from some puny skeletons; luckily, there are plenty of Graul Ogrekin to go around. In fact, there are so many Graul Ogrekin that we didn't think a single static card would do them justice.

When you're bred (and re-bred, and re-re-bred) from fine stock like most ogrekin, you're bound to see a few… changes… pop up here and there. You never know exactly what to expect from a Graul Ogrekin. Some have especially thick skin, while others have massive, oversized arms. A few have an extra head or even a vestigial twin keeping an extra 1d3 eyes out for trouble. One thing is pretty common to the Graul Ogrekin, though—they live in small groups, so when you've beaten one, there might still be another cousin, nephew, or really ugly relative waiting just around the corner.

Next up in our giantkin parade, let's look at the current occupants of Fort Rannick itself, the Kreeg Ogres. In case the ogrekin you've already seen weren't big enough, "Pappy" Jaagrath Kreeg has brought you some new friends to play with.

Combining all the fun of a whirling barbarian with the sheer entertainment value of an ogre (and showing off our basic ogre power, the ability to hurt everyone at its location), Jaagrath also has a special hate-hate relationship with humans. He's not so bad to start, but once his rage kicks in you might need to dig deep for that Combat 23 check, especially since you might have already lost a card from your hand.

Lest you think Hook Mountain Massacre is just about simple giantkin doing what simple giantkin do, there are always a few subtler opponents moving around behind the scenes. Given that the Graul Ogrekin and the Kreeg Ogres have been held at bay for decades by the work of the Black Arrows—and the on-again, off-again Kreeg-Graul feud—you might wonder why things have suddenly changed.

If you ever find yourself lacking for temptation with just a touch of silver-tongued treachery, look no further than the friendly local lamia matriarch. These shapechangers are known for their malice as well as for their spellcasting prowess. Lucrecia's presence definitely suggests something more than ogres run amok.

Good News from the Front

Luckily, it's not all bad news on Hook Mountain (heh). In addition to the new playmates, there's also some potent new help on offer, including members of the Order of Black Arrows themselves.

Jakardros is a grizzled veteran of the Black Arrows, and with his help, anyone can have a little ranger-flavored assistance. Whether you're trying to make your Ezren more of a team player, or just trying to make Harsk win all the battles from the next location over, Jakardros can lend a bow. He's lived in Fort Rannick long enough to learn to hate giants of all types, a talent that I promise will not go to waste. For those of you who enjoy the story of the Adventure Path, Jakardros has a not-so-public relationship with someone you have probably already met… someone who might even be with your party at this point.

While rangers are all very well and good, we all know that if you want a job done right, you do it yourself, with magic. If that's more your speed, I have a little something for you.

This one works for both kinds of spellcasters, Country and Western... I mean Arcane and Divine. Swipe's versatility doesn't stop there, oh no! It can be used to help out a comrade in a fight, to put up a decent fight of your own, or to seal the deal on that nice weapon, armor, or item that you just happened across. That's plenty of potency for our part-time finger-wagglers who might have spent some attention on other shiny things (looking at you, Lem!), while still rewarding the dedicated magic-is-my-life spellslingers. It's a great way to make your blaster a little more party friendly, or to pick up that Vicious Trident +1 for your friendly bear.

Finally, just to reinforce the idea that every cloud can have a silver lining, and anything with a silver lining can be stripped for parts and sold, I bring you a blessing from the God of Greed:

Sure, Norgorber has a dark side—or 3, or 4—but who's counting? You know who likes acquiring boons? You do. And everyone else does, too. When you break out the PACG and play over the holiday, this card will help you get that gift that you really wanted.

That's it for The Hook Mountain Massacre. I hope you enjoyed reading about it, and I hope that you enjoy playing it! Thanks again!

Chad Brown
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Developer

Something Wicked Arrives Soon!

Thursday, October 17, 2013

With the release of The Skinsaw Murders fast approaching, Paizo has once again let me peel back the curtain a little to show off the new Adventure Deck. Since last time, we all have a great deal more experience with the game, and some of you have even started to speculate on what you might see in the second Adventure.

Those of you familiar with the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path—or who've pored over the box for The Skinsaw Murders—know that there's going to be some creepy undead action ahead, perfect for an October release. Keeping with that theme, we'll jump right in with a little Undead Uprising. During this scenario, the restless dead keep rising all around Sandpoint until the adventurers manage to defeat a most unfriendly chap that we'll meet in a moment.

Our goal here is to create an ever-rising wave of undead all around town, combined with a sense of urgency without overwhelming the party. Adding henchmen to locations helps keep the undead presence high while making it more likely that the adventurers will close the locations before time runs out.

While the adventurers are probably in good shape to deal with a simple farmer or shopkeeper risen as a zombie, there are more menacing threats lurking in the dark places of Sandpoint, including these vile fellows:

Hiding ghouls inside the numerous scarecrows that dot the farms and fields outside of Sandpoint? Genius! Experienced Pathfinder players already know what a tremendous pain ghouls can be, and we think we've lived up to that promise here. In addition to the typical undead immunity to mental and poison effects, losing a fight with a ghoul scarecrow doesn't just hurt you; it also leaves you paralyzed for a short time. In PACG terms, in addition to taking damage from the Ghoul, you'll lose the ability to explore any further that turn.

What might be causing these undead uprisings, anyway? By the end of The Skinsaw Murders, you'll no doubt figure that out, but along the way, you might run into a particularly gruesome example of evil afoot, a Skinsaw Ritual.

During these macabre events, several cultists attempt to carve and mutilate the heroes as part of a grisly offering that hurts everyone present, including the cultists. If you've encountered cultists before, you already know how they advance the villain's plot—unless you can stop them.

Not all the news is bad, of course. Now that the adventurers have proved themselves heroes, the people of Sandpoint lend a hand, as best they can. For example, the noted sage Brodert Quink can be very useful, especially if called upon at just the right time.

Some characters will be able to call upon Brodert's sagacity more than once, but any of the adventurers can put the sage to good use. Changing the order of cards in a location deck is a very powerful ability, and Brodert can give you a peek at part of location deck that's otherwise very hard to see.

With the help of the estimable sage, you might find one of the new items, spells, blessings, armor, allies, or weapons added for the adventure. One especially thematic example is the Scythe +1:

In trained hands, this weapon can make quick work of any Ghosts or Spectres that might have plagued you in Burnt Offerings. As a "high crit" weapon, the scythe can land some devastating blows, adding as much as 16 to a combat check!

Speaking of devastating, let's take a peek at the troublemaker behind the uprising, and see what new tricks our villains have learned. Unsurprisingly, there's a necromancer behind it all (at least for now), and Caizarlu Zerren doesn't disappoint.

In addition to being constantly surrounded by a cadre of mindless undead, Zerren has picked up one of the favored tricks of the heroes: a mirror image effect! To top it off, the foul necromancer deals poison damage, neatly bypassing many forms of protection. All in all, we're hoping that Caizarlu is someone that you'll love to hate, and he's just the first of many. You'll also encounter ghosts, ghouls, ghasts, haunts, strange abominations, and more ghouls (more ghouls!) as you unravel the riddle of The Skinsaw Murders.

Thanks for playing!

Chad Brown
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Developer

The Better Part of Valeros: Brashness vs. Caution in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Saturday, August 3, 2013

For this installment of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game blog, game designer Mike Selinker and developer Gaby Weidling stake out positions on whether it's better to be brash or cautious in the game. We join them in mid-session.

Gaby: My turn! Smashy smashy!

Mike: Hold on there, buckaroo. I know you want to break everything in sight, Valeros. Let me tell you why that's not always a good idea.

Gaby: No, let me. Less thinking, more doing. You get to jump right into the action, and you don't spend all your time talking like you do in an RPG. Instead, you just wade right in because you're Valeros, and you smash whatever you find. You've loaded up on cards that make you nearly invincible, so why waste your time acting like you're… um, vincible?

Mike: And then you run into an Explosive Runes and your hand is in the discard pile.

Gaby: There's like two Explosive Runes in the whole game! And so I lose four cards? Baw-baw-baw. I'm Valeros. And I've got some wimpy-ass healer who can put those cards back in my deck whenever I want.

Mike: No, whenever she wants. Saving your bacon is going to cost Kyra a turn. She has to burn an exploration to heal you.

Gaby: I'm the only thing standing between her and disaster. "There's a big scary thing over at the Old Mill, and oh no, I looked ahead and there's another one in the Woods!" Who's gonna go beat that up? They're not calling Ghostbusters. It's always Valeros.

Mike: Kyra can bristle up with monster-killing cards just like Valeros can. She's just smarter if she doesn't. OK, let me ask you another thing. What happens when you blast through the door and find a Wand of Shield? It's just gonna go in the garbage, because you're not smart enough to acquire it.

Gaby: I don't need no sticks!

Mike: I think I win that argument. You're on the side of the party, right? You want Kyra's turns to be effective, and you just made her worse by not knowing there was something she wanted.

Gaby: I'm on the side of the party if the party is on the side of winning.

Mike: Sigh. Let me see if I can explain a simple concept called opportunity cost to you. Let's say you take one of those item slots and put a Spyglass in there. Spyglass says, "Discard this card to examine the top 2 cards of your location deck and put them back in any order." Then, when you find the monster and the wand, you can crush the monster and leave the wand for the spellcaster.

Gaby: Let me explain opportunity cost to you. You're wasting a slot that could be used for an active item and replacing it with a passive item. What good's knowing what's there if you can't beat it when you find it?

Mike: It doesn't always have to be passive. Consider Ilsoari Gandethus, who—

Gaby: Yes, let's!

Mike: —is an ally with the text, "During your turn, reveal this card and put it on top of your deck to examine the top card of your location deck; if it's a monster, you may shuffle that monster back into the location deck." Even you'd admit there are monsters you'd prefer to shuffle back into the deck when you find them.

Gaby: Read the rest of the card.

Mike: I'm not sure that's—

Gaby: "After you play this card, roll 1d12; on a 1, summon and encounter the villain The Sandpoint Devil." Remember the time Paul Peterson was so careful about what he was doing that he summoned The Sandpoint Devil three times. Valeros is all about fighting the monsters that are there, but not about making extra ones.

Mike: To be fair, Paul did live through that. Barely. But okay, I admit you have a point.

Gaby: Yeah, you also have a point. Sometimes you need to know where the villain or a henchman is, and flailing about blindly isn't always the best way. It's not always about the smashing. It's often about knowing when to smash.

Mike: And who needs to be smashed. So we can agree we're both right.

Gaby: Finally. Can I take my turn now?

Don't Need Be No Sissy Bard, Get You Promo Goblin Card!

Friday, July 26, 2013

The release of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game is just a few weeks off, bringing the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path to your game table in an entirely new way. Of course you can expect murderous cultists, inbred ogres, armies of giants, slithery seductresses, ancient dungeons, and all the rest of the deadly monsters and evil schemes that make Rise of the Runelords one of the greatest fantasy adventures ever. But I know what you're really waiting for: more goblins... and by extent, more goblin songs.

Yeah, we've got those.

In fact, we've got a whole brand of special promo cards designed to link into the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, each one adding a new goblinly piece of equipment, blessing, spell, creature, or half-sane something to your game. Each one also includes a brand-new goblin song that James and I threw together, so you know that what you're getting is 100% legit, goblin-approved noisemaking. Just check out a few of these promo cards and the goblin hits included on each.

We've made a total of 8 promo cards for Rise of the Runelords. The Fire Sneeze card will debut at Gen Con, and will also be available at major PFS events throughout the year. Dance with Squealy Nord will be released in the November 2013 issue of Game Trade magazine. The remaining six will be sent to retailers, one every two months starting in August, matching our bimonthly release schedule for the Base Set and follow-up Adventure Decks. We'll also be inserting them into randomly selected paizo.com orders during the month that they're available at retail.

But if you'd like to make sure you get your hands on all of them, subscribe to the Adventure Card Game! Each subscription shipment will include the cards associated with that month's release, so Fire Sneeze and the August promo card, Poog of Zarongel, will go out with the Base Set next month; the October promo card, Blessing of Zarongel, will go out with The Skinsaw Murders Adventure Deck in October, and so on. So make sure your raspiest singing voice is good and out of tune and get ready to make some noise with the goblins of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, marching on your game store this August!

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief

Note: This blog originally announced the ship date of the Squealy Nord promo card as September. It has been updated with the correct shipping date for the Squealy Nord promo card, which will arrive with the November issue of Game Trade magazine, and will ship to subscribers in December.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Preview: Upcoming Developments

Thursday, June 27, 2013

As the August 15 release date, and the July 5–7 demos at PaizoCon approach, I've been given the opportunity to pull back the curtains and talk about the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game a bit. As a developer for the game, I've spent much time and effort translating the Rise of the Runelords storyline and elements of the Pathfinder rules and campaign setting into a new medium. One of our biggest challenges was keeping the flavor of the world and of the RPG intact while keeping the card game fun, exciting, and respectful of the established traditions of Pathfinder.

Though much of my focus involved adapting the Rise of the Runelords storyline, the PACG Base Set also offers three introductory scenarios that take place around the town of Sandpoint before the actual Adventure Path kicks off. One of these, Black Fang's Dungeon, was inspired by the introductory adventure in the Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box, and in this blog, I'll use that scenario to illustrate how we developed elements of the PACG to evoke the flavor of the Pathfinder RPG and the Pathfinder campaign setting while meeting the needs of a new kind of Pathfinder game.

We'll start with the Black Fang's Dungeon scenario card itself.

Scenario: Black Fang's Dungeon

The dragon Black Fang lairs in a cave connected to a network of ancient ruins inhabited by undead. The card back—that's the image on the right—lists a variety of locations that characters will explore during the scenario, and offers some flavor text to set the scene.

On the front of the card—the image on the left—you can see that Black Fang is the villain for this scenario, while the "Henchmen" list indicates that the players will also encounter a number of Ancient Skeletons. The "During this Scenario" text effectively changes each skeleton that a character encounters into a small cadre of undead that attacks everyone at the location. The bottom of the card describes the reward that the players will receive after completing the scenario.

Let's take a look at Black Fang's undead allies.

Henchman: Ancient Skeleton

Fights against animated skeletons have been a staple of adventure roleplaying since its very earliest days. We designed the pieces of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game to fit together in a multitude of ways, for the benefit of the scenarios and adventures we design, and also for any you might put together yourself. The Ancient Skeleton henchman is a great basic opponent for a low-level scenario.

Let's look at the Ancient Skeleton's powers. As befits a creature of animated bone and steel, the Ancient Skeleton is completely unaffected by poison or by magic that targets the mind. And as in the RPG, it's not impossible to take out an Ancient Skeleton with a longbow or longsword, but a savvy adventurer will reach for the mace or sling first. This is represented by increasing the difficulty to defeat the Skeleton—listed in the circle at the upper right—from 8 (which isn't too difficult for even starting characters) up to 11 (which is considerably harder on the unprepared) if you're using a Slashing or Piercing weapon.

In the upper left corner, you'll see the Ancient Skeleton has both the Undead and Skeleton traits. Traits give us ways to have cards interact without being overburdened with special cases. For example, Kyra, the iconic Cleric of Sarenrae, gains a bonus to checks against cards with the Undead trait, and the item card Holy Water will help you deal with any undead you may encounter.

The characters will explore several locations in their hunt for Black Fang, but one in particular is likely to cause trouble: the Desecrated Vault.

Location: Desecrated Vault

In the Desecrated Vault, even after the undead are overcome, they might just rise from the dead again. The PACG rules make it simple to handle things like monsters rising, resurrecting, or magically escaping: they are undefeated, which means they're shuffled back into the location deck; if you continue to explore there, you may face them again.

Each location card in the PACG represents a different part of the Pathfinder world. Some locations are very specific, such as the Sandpoint Cathedral, while others, like the Desecrated Vault, serve multiple duties. The vault is a great way to add some undead flavor to a scenario. While exploring Black Fang's Dungeon, adventurers are very likely to run into at least one undead monster here—perhaps more than one, and perhaps more than once.

Now, let's take a look at the scenario's big bad, Black Fang himself.

Villain: Black Fang

In developing the PACG, we looked at various ways to represent the complex, detailed conflicts found in Pathfinder campaigns. Many encounters are handled with a single check, but some are more complicated. Villains such as Black Fang have a very real chance to injure the characters, even before combat.

Dragons have always been tricky challenges, both to design and to defeat, and even a young dragon like Black Fang doesn't disappoint. With a Check to Defeat 50% higher than the Ancient Skeleton, you can tell right away that this fight won't be easy. Black Fang is a young dragon, but he's still a dragon.

Black Fang makes his presence felt before you even begin the fight, spewing acid at every character at his location. While particularly hardy characters such as Valeros or Harsk might withstand the acid with ease, those who are less hale—or just unlucky—might be in serious trouble. Damage in the PACG removes cards from your hand, so those who succumb to Black Fang's acid breath might find themselves ill-prepared for the fight to come.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you like the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. We're all very excited to see you playing it!

Chad Brown
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Developer

Return to the Runelords

Thursday, May 23, 2013

My favorite part of the new Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords is the opportunity it gave us to revisit Rise of the Runelords in art form. There was only so much room for art in the original adventures, and while we were able to order a bunch of new art for the Anniversary Edition of the book, there was still more that needed to be illustrated. This card game gave us a chance to right that wrong!

Anyway, they say a picture's worth a thousand words, so I'll let the images speak for themselves. See if you can recognize all of the iconic Rise of the Runelords locations and events pictured!

Illustrations by Paolo Puggioni and Bryan Sola


Illustrations by Tim Kings-Lynne

James Jacobs
Creative Director

The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Gets Ready to Fly!

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

As I write this, the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game (which I described in an earlier blog) is getting ready to go to the printer. We're incorporating the last bits of feedback from playtesters and developers, templating the cards for consistency and flavor, and rearranging the rulebook so that it's fun and easy to read. This is the end of the development process, the point where a game designer gets ready to bid farewell to his design as it walks out the door for a rich new life.

As you can tell, I'm a little sad to see it go. I mean, I know it will do great things. If, as they say, it takes a village to raise a child, then this child got one mighty fine upbringing. Even if it started as a very different sort of child indeed.

Conceived out of mad science in my lab, born of the unholy union of Epic Roleplaying Game™ and Cooperative Card Game™, the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game was not destined to go unnoticed. The first clue was its larger than average size. At 1,155 cards released over a year, it's a colossus. At the point I learned that all of them would fit in the same box, I thought, "Man, that is some box." All of Rise of the Runelords packs into more than 30 epic adventures. That is a lot of adventures.

The front and back of the adventure Burnt Offerings, and both sides of its scenario Attack on Sandpoint.

But it isn't a hulking brute. This game has moves. It plays with a catlike grace, whipping along and keeping you in suspense as you play. If you're the kind of person who looks at a polar bear and thinks, "I'll bet that big thing can't catch me," you're gonna get caught by this game too. Once you set up a session, the game will guide you through a thrilling adventure, ticking down to a moment where panic will set in as to whether your party will win or lose. And just like that cuddly polar bear, make no mistake: This game might just kill you. It's sure gonna try, anyway.

Oh yeah, the whole village thing. This game went through a stellar development team, both in my group (Chad Brown, Paul Peterson, Gaby Weidling, and Tanis O'Connor) and at Paizo (Vic Wertz, Wes Schneider, James Jacobs, and Jason Bulmahn). At some point, I convinced the Paizo team to run a "semi-open alpha test," where we gave it to more than three hundred Pathfinder Society members and said, "Break this thing."

Boy, did they. Over three months of testing, we received thousands of pieces of feedback. A single card might have 30 forum comments about it; put two cards together and a vigorous debate about card combos would break out. My favorite thread title: "Harpy + Treacherous Cave raises suck to a new level."

The monster card Harpy, both sides of the location card Treacherous Cave, and Teleport, the spell you wish you had when you encounter the former in the latter.

Everything got sanded down and reshaped. Vic, Chad, and I were on the super-secret playtest forum every day, answering questions and updating the game at a breakneck pace. The Pathfinder players made our game into their game.

The game has been through an epic journey over a year's time, just like you will make when you play it. And now, it's getting ready to leave the nest. I'm going to miss it. But it's coming home for summer, and I'm keeping its room open.

Mike Selinker
Lone Shark Games

Rise of the Runelords Deluxe Collector's Edition Unboxing!

Thursday, November 28, 2012

The Rise of the Runelords Deluxe Collector's Edition pre-sale promotion has been extended! From now until Sunday, December 2nd at 11:59 PM Pacific Time, active Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscribers who order will receive a free PDF edition of this book when the print edition ships.

Join Paizo Publisher Erik Mona as he gets his hands on the first available copy of the Rise of the Runelords Deluxe Collector's Edition and gives a rundown of its awesomeness. The edition is very limited, so order yours today!

Mike Selinker on the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

So, there is an announcement on the Paizo blog about the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game going into semi-open playtests. The "collaborative deck-building game" (which is neither completely collaborative nor completely deck-building, but work with me) is probably the best game system I've ever designed, and I'd like to tell you a little bit about it.

The basic concept is this: It's a cooperative game for one to six players. Each player has a unique character composed of a deck of cards and a set of stats. Roleplayers will find the stats very familiar—characters have roles and numbers that define their abilities and skills. As you go through adventures, you'll improve your deck by acquiring new items, allies, weapons, and other cool things as you explore and overcome challenges; over time, you'll be customizing your deck to suit your own individual vision of your character. All adventures are composed of infinitely usable cards and decks. There's no Game Master, no recordkeeping, no expository dialogue. It's everything I want to do in a roleplaying game without the workload. It plays in an hour to an hour and a half.

These playtest cards were designed for single-sided, black-and-white printing. In the finished game, card borders will have colors instead of just shades of grey, and the charts that currently overlap the images on "Them Ogres Ain't Right" and "The Rusty Dragon" will move to the back of the card.

How We Got Here

About a year ago, Rian Sand came to me with a theoretical idea of a design space that hadn't yet been explored much: a card game that mimicked many of the behaviors of a traditional RPG, but without a lot of the time and administrative burden. I had also been thinking about some mechanics for a system like that, and Rian's enthusiasm and support made me invest serious design time into it. There were a lot of problems that had to be solved—persistence, goal development, game speed, and so on—and I'm pretty sure we solved them all.

The original game was for a new intellectual property that I'm not prepared to talk about yet. Suffice it to say that it's really cool, and Mike Vaillancourt and Matt Forbeck had a lot to do with making it cool, and you'll see it someday soon. Not sure when, not sure how, but soon.

But as we were doing this, we were thinking about what our first licensed game had to be. Various ideas were tossed around, but for Rian and me, there was only one choice. Rian was a major fan of the Pathfinder RPG, and I... well, I was a major fan of Paizo. Owners Vic Wertz and Lisa Stevens have shown considerable benevolence and respect my way over the past years, leading to such awesome projects as the Harrow Deck, the Kill Doctor Lucky color edition, Yetisburg, and the American version of Key Largo. Lone Shark has done more games for Paizo than for any other company, and if they were interested in following us down this garden path, they were going to get to do so.

It turns out that after a discussion with Paizo's Publisher Erik Mona and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Alvarez at the GAMA Trade Show, they were very interested. Pathfinder Lead Designer Jason Bulmahn saw a version of the system at the first unveiling at Gamestorm, and brought back much appreciated words of praise. I showed it to the Paizo team back in Redmond, including James Jacobs, Sarah Robinson, and Wes Schneider, and we were underway within a few weeks. And over those weeks, we were bombarded with very heavy books and offers to help from everyone on the Paizo staff. It became a project all of Paizo could participate in.

The game continued to grow and change under the Paizo stewardship. My talented developers Chad Brown, Paul Peterson, and Gaby Weidling quickly came to understand the magnitude of the challenge ahead of us. Pathfinder is huge. Paizo had given us the now-classic Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path as a template for our games, which meant we had to adapt an incredibly deep and involving series of stories into the few words and concepts that fit on cards. It was not so easy, but it made us examine and reexamine every aspect of my system to make it work. It's now much tighter and much more fun.

Under the codename "Project Swallowtail," we showed off a very raw version of it at PaizoCon, and a more robust version at Gen Con. And now we're going into a massive playtest with the Pathfinder Society to get the game exactly right. It's got a ways to get there, but it seems pretty good now. Time will tell.

How the Game Plays

You start by creating a party of adventurers. Each of you gets a character card such as Valeros, Seoni, or Merisiel. That card tells you what cards your deck consists of. A wizard might have more spells than weapons, and a fighter will likely have more weapons than spells.

You'll select an Adventure Path, which consists of several adventures, which consist of several scenarios. A typical scenario tells you what villains and henchmen you'll face (if any), and the locations in which you'll face them. Each location has a deck of cards, drawn at random from appropriate stacks, and then shuffled in with a villain or henchman. You won't know where the villain is until you find him.

Throughout the game, you'll explore locations, encounter monsters, and find new weapons, items, spells, and the like. But you're racing a clock. The adventure deck is a stack of cards that you'll flip one card off of every turn. If the adventure deck runs out of cards before you find and defeat the villain, you lose. If your character deck runs out of cards, you die.

But if you don't die, then you'll advance your character. You'll get to put new cards in your deck, expand your powers and abilities, and rebuild your deck for new adventures. If you defeat all the scenarios in the game, you'll be a mighty adventurer indeed.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you like the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. I can't wait to see what you think.

Mike Selinker
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Designer

Playtest the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Friday, October 12, 2012

Paizo is pleased to report that in just a few short weeks, we're expecting to begin the playtest for next year's Pathfinder Adventure Card Game (known to some of you by the code name "Project Swallowtail"). Because playtesting a card game isn't quite as simple as letting everybody download a PDF, it's not going to be quite as open as our RPG playtests have been, but if you'd like to get involved, read on to find out how that might be possible!

First, let me tell you a bit about the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game.

The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game is a cooperative game for 1 to 6 players designed by Mike Selinker and his team at Lone Shark Games, which Paizo intends to release at Gen Con 2013 (if not PaizoCon 2013).

Each player has a unique character comprised of a deck of cards and a set of stats. Roleplayers will find the stats very familiar—characters have classes such as fighter, wizard, and rogue; they have numbers that define their Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, etc.; they have skills and proficiencies.

As your player adventures, you'll improve your deck by acquiring new items, allies, spells, and weapons as you explore and overcome challenges; over time, you'll be customizing your deck to suit your own individual vision of your character.

The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game product offerings will begin with the Rise of the Runelords Base Set, a big box containing more than 400 cards including the "Burnt Offerings" Adventure Deck. Your party will explore locations such as the Sandpoint Cathedral, the Rusty Dragon, and the Glassworks; you'll meet helpful NPCs like Ameiko Kaijitsu or friendly Aldern Foxglove; you'll visit the Swallowtail Festival, delve into the Catacombs of Wrath, and invade Thistletop. You'll fight goblins, sinspawn, Warchief Ripnugget, and maybe even face the Sandpoint devil, and eventually, become the heroes of Sandpoint! The Base Set supports 1 to 4 players; a 110-card add-on deck will expand the number of players to 5 or 6, as well as adding more character options for any number of players.

We'll follow the Base Set with bimonthly 110-card Adventure Decks presenting the subsequent five chapters of Rise of the Runelords and, if all goes well, we'll adapt other Adventure Paths after that!

The Pathfinder Adventure Game plays in an hour to an hour-and-a-half; it's easy to learn, yet offers a lot of variety in play. Mike Selinker and his team did a stunning job capturing the feel of the Pathfinder Roleplaying game, the Pathfinder campaign setting, and the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path in a fun card game.

But to make this game is as fun and exciting as possible we're going to need playtesters—lots of playtesters. If you're interested in being one of them, find out how on our messageboards!

Vic Wertz
Chief Technical Officer

Pathfinder Battles Preview: Rise of the Runelords Round-Up

Friday, July 27, 2012

We're still in the process of photographing the paint masters for the next Pathfinder Battles set, which ties into the Shattered Star Adventure Path. The first installment of that campaign debuts in just a few weeks at Gen Con Indy, where we'll also debut the Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles set.

While our cameras are clicking in anticipation of future blogs, I thought it was high time to reveal the complete official set list for the Rise of the Runelords set, complete with collector numbers and rarities.

I am really excited to hear your feedback on this set later this month. I think you're going to love it. And for the first time, here's a complete, official list of the set for your collecting pleasure.

More next week, including honest-to-goodness images of the first Shattered Star set. I swear!

But for today, here's the list!

Rise of the Runelords Set List

Common		Uncommon
1  Bugbear Hero 2  Goblin Commando 3  Goblin Dog 4  Goblin Warchanter 5  Kobold Champion 6  Faceless Stalker 7  Ghoul 8  Harpy 9  Ogrekin 10  Yeth Hound 11  Denizen of Leng	12  Redcap 13  Sinspawn 14  Sinspawn Axeman 15  Skinsaw Cultist 16  Alu-Demon 17  Lamia Kuchrima 18  Shining Child 19  Warrior of Wrath 20  Wraith	21  Goblin Commando on Goblin Dog 22  Jakardros Sovark 23  Lyrie Akenja 24  Ameiko Kaijitsu 25  Harsk, Dwarf Ranger 26  Lamia Matriarch 27  Malfeshnekor 28  Orik Vancaskerkin 29  Tsuto Kaijitsu 30  Vale Temros 31  Kaven Windstrike 32  Khalib	33  Ogre 34  Ogre Brute 35  Seoni, Human Sorcerer 36  Shalelu Andosana 37  Viorian Dekanti 38  Dire Bear 39  Stone Giant 40  Stone Giant Champion 41  Vraxeris 42  Lamia 43  Wendigo 44  Yeti
Rare		Huge	Promotional (Gargantuan)
45  Aldern Foxglove 46  Jaagrath Kreeg 47  Lucrecia 48  The Scribbler 49  The Skinsaw Man 50  Highlady Athroxis 51  The Mithral Mage 52  Runelord Karzoug	53  Stone Golem 54  Azaven 55  Lamatar Bayden 56  Mokmurian 57  Forgefiend 58  Nualia 59  Warchief Ripnugget 60  Young Red Dragon	61  Karzoug Statue 62  Lamia Harridan 63  Storm Giant 64  Treachery Demon	65  Rune Giant

Good luck completing your collections!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Pathfinder Battles Preview: Spirit of the Season

Friday, July 20, 2012

With the glories of PaizoCon behind us, the Paizo editorial department finds itself deep in the throes of that fabulous annual event called Gen Con Prep. The office is abuzz with the work of getting ready for the Big Show. All of Gen Con's big releases (Ultimate Equipment, the Bestiary Box, etc.) were finished long ago, of course, but there's still a ton of stuff to do before we can head to Indianapolis next month. We've got catalogs to finish, signs to complete, Pathfinder Society events to edit, and a million other tasks that are probably invisible to Gen Con attendees, but which are absolutely critical to making sure the show goes off without a hitch.

That's all a very long and elaborate way of saying I've been too slammed this week to write a proper blog introducing the next set of Pathfinder Battles miniatures, which ties into August's Shattered Star Adventure Path. We've seen about 2/3rds of the paint masters for this set already, and they continue the tradition of steady and amazing improvement we've been shooting for with each new release in the Pathfinder Battles line. The WizKids production manager is bringing over a bunch more paint masters tomorrow, and I'm hoping we'll have seen almost the complete set within a few short weeks.

The first pictures of some Shattered Star minis will come next week. This week I want to show off a miniature that fits in between the Rise of the Runelords and Shattered Star sets. And it just so happens that this miniature ties into the general theme of Gen Con Prep, as it's the official 2012 convention promo figure: The Festering Spirit!

The Festering Spirt made its debut at PaizoCon, where we included a complimentary figure in every attendee's goodie bag. We'll also have the figure at Gen Con, available for free with any purchase of $50 or more.

Many of you may recognize the base sculpt of the Festering Spirit as the Spectre from the Heroes & Monsters set. This time, we've cast the undead horror in clear plastic, and then drybrushed the figure with shades of opaque green. The mini really shines when held to the light, and the whole thing adds a very "toxic" luster to what is already a spooky miniature in any color.

We'll have singles of the Festering Spirit available following Gen Con here on paizo.com, so those of you who weren't able to make PaizoCon or Gen Con will still get a chance to get your hands on this very cool figure.

And with that, it's back to the salt mines for me! Next week, we'll take our first real look at the Shattered Star, and you guys are going to be blown away!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide

Thursday, July 5, 2012

With the imminent release of the new Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition (and its super-special Deluxe Collector's Edition), we've released a free Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide PDF! Within these pages, you'll find new traits for your characters, a thorough gazetteer of Varisia, and... well, why are we even talking about it? It's free—go download it already!

James Sutter
Senior Editor

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

Burnt Offerings

Sun, Jun 20, 2010 at 02:11 PM Pacific

The audience fills in for the final event at PaizoCon 2010: a video showing of Burnt Offerings on Stage.

Ross Byers
Assistant Software Developer

Trollin' on the River

Friday, February 19, 2010

We've had the cover for Pathfinder Adventure Path #32: "Rivers Run Red" (written by our own Rob McCreary) up for sometime now, but it bears another mention, as this cover sees the climax of a long and interesting evolution. It's little surprise that we were only three months into the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path—and Pathfinder's life in general—when it came time to order art for our first troll. How to handle this got a little tricky, though, as it's important to us that our creatures walk the line between familiarity and distinctiveness when it comes to earlier incarnations of the game. What we ended up with was the gnarled, lanky, long-nosed fellow from "The Hook Mountain Massacre". Neat! And totally a cool piece of art. But definitely nothing ground breaking.

Illustration by JZConcepts

Several months later, against all odds, we found ourselves ordering a cover for a Bestiary. Attempting to follow in the tradition of the "a whole bunch of monsters about to getcha!" covers from classic gaming bestiaries, we wanted a swarm of little monsters, one or two medium monsters, and a big monster. Creature ideas went around and around, then sketches did their circles, and what we ended up with was goblins, a maralith, and WHAT THE HECK IS THAT! OMG, that's a TROLL! Awesome! You don't get an incredible Wayne Reynolds cover and then say, "That looks amazing, but could we get this guy to look a little ganglier." This was our new look for the troll.

Illustration by Wayne Reynolds

Flash forward a few more months and we're ordering Kingmaker covers. So we want a cool bandit and a sexy fey and a barbarian dude and a—hey, how 'bout a troll boss! Okay, that'd be cool. And thanks to Vincent Dutrait, here he is.

Illustration by Vincent Dutrait

So our trolls have come a long way over the course of the past few years, but without a doubt, things are settled now. And if that nasty claw-claw-bite wasn't enough to send your PCs running for their alchemist fire, just wait for "Rivers Run Red" to see all the nasty tricks Chief Hargulka has in store for the Stolen Lands.

Looking back, trolls actually had it pretty easy. You should have seen the backstage identity crisis the ogre had before its debut. But that's a story for another day…

F. Wesley Schneider
Managing Editor

Dogslicer vs. Cantaloupe

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

James Jacobs came home from the Burnt Offerings play with his very own metal dogslicer prop. In the interest of science and general vengeance against hostile melons, we decided to test how effective this (unsharpened) dogslicer is.

Behold, the innocent cantaloupe. It looks so happy!

Behold, a hideous goblin. (Burnt Offerings goblin mask courtesy of Wes.)

Chop!

Midair chop!

Dogslicer wins! Not bad for goblin craftsmanship!

Sean K Reynolds
Developer

Da Vinci Arts Middle School ROCKS!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

So, last Saturday was one of the most surreal days of my life. Not because I spent it all in Portland, Oregon. Not because I watched Jason Bulmahn eat a doughnut that was topped with bacon. Not because I spent an hour in an arcade filled with all the best videogaming the '80s had to offer. And not because I had a hard time finding Lovecraft books that I didn't already have at Powell's World of Books.

What made it surreal was watching da Vinci Arts Middle School's stage production of my adventure, "Burnt Offerings," the first adventure in the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path.

I'd seen photos of the set and costumes already, but I still wasn't sure what to expect. Three cars full of Paizo employees and significant others made the day-trip down to Portland, but while everyone else spent the day eating Voodoo Doughnuts and playing videogames and shopping for books and stuff, I couldn't stop wondering what that night's performance was going to be like.

In a word, it was INCREDIBLE!

From the stage dressing to the costumes to the props (real metal weapons!) to the special effects (they included the giant hermit crab!) to the acting (including songs!) to the directing, it was all jaw-droppingly amazing to see what director Tom Beckett created. Looking at the program, I see that there were almost 50 roles in the play—and at times, it felt like half of them were all on stage at once! One thing in particular that I was incredibly impressed by was how Tom's adaptation of the adventure kept a lot of the more mature elements in place—suitably downplayed in some areas, but I never really felt like anything was missing. In fact, some of Tom's additions to the story (giving Belor Hemlock a son who wants to become a hero, or adding a few Skinsaw cultists to the dungeons of Thistletop) were really cool, and I wish I'd thought of them to put into the adventure myself!

All in all, it was a fantastic time. We took a few photos after the play was over, and the smoke in the air from the special effects or maybe remnants of rain on the camera lens made the pictures a little spotty, alas, but you can see in the first one how many folks were waiting in line to see the play before it began (Note the table with gaming supplies for sale, including several Pathfinder products, that local game store Guardian Games set up in the hall!). And in the pictures of the cast posing with several of us from Paizo, see how many characters from the adventure you can recognize!

Also cool: they gave me my own dogslicer.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

GameMastery Guide Cover!

Monday, October 5, 2009

I may have mentioned this before, but the main villain of Pathfinder’s first Adventure Path, Karzoug, was no stranger to tormenting PCs. He was one of my homebrew campaign’s major recurring characters—a powerful wizard who served as the true menace behind the throne of an evil warlord. In my homebrew, Karzoug wielded a scythe and had already made the transition to lich and wasn’t as concerned with greed, but he was very much still the campaign’s poster child for “evil wizard.” He eventually met his end when a pair of heroes, the barbarian Verik and the wizard Zefram, confronted Karzoug in, of all places, Baba Yaga’s dancing hut. Karzoug was trying to claim the hut’s legendary power source for his own evil purposes, and while this certainly annoyed Baba Yaga, she wasn’t about to give the PCs uncontested access to her magical fortress. And so these two high-level PCs snuck through the depths of the dancing hut filled with fear about breaking or even touching anything, avoiding every single encounter and trap through an uncharacteristic caution that, in the end, served them quite well. I’d intended them to finally reach Karzoug and have the final battle with the evil wizard after the PCs had depleted much of their resources dealing with the natives of Baba Yaga’s hut, and when they reached Karzoug with much of those resources untapped, I figured they deserved the advantage. Turns out, they needed that advantage anyway. Even in the 1st edition of the game, Karzoug was a menace.

And so, when it came to deciding on a villain to inflict upon Golarion, it was with quite a bit of pride and nostalgia that I resurrected old Karzoug. He’d changed specializations (necromancer to transmuter) and weapons (scythe to glaive) and got a promotion (from the power behind the throne to the guy who sits on the throne), but in a lot of other ways he remained the same. Of course, getting Wayne Reynolds to illustrate him was one of the more surreal moments of my gaming career... and now, seeing him on the cover of our upcoming GameMastery Guide, that sense of surreal pride has returned. Wayne Reynolds has done a fantastic job making Karzoug epitomize the role of "super-powerful wizard." Take a moment to look through all of his stuff! Caged imp, pet blue dragon, throne manacles for prisoners, spellbooks casually stacked to the side, crazy crystal ball with some sort of apparatus wrapped around it, a throne that can probably see—and that doesn’t even touch all of his fancy magical equipment he’s got ready to ruin the next PC to step his way!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Hellknights Unleashed

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Illustration by Kevin Yan

More than two years ago it fell to me to write the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide, setting the stage for characters to take part in a world that was, at the time, painted not even in broad strokes but more in generally tossed bucket-sized splashes. Over time and through hundreds of thousands of words, though, what started as made-up names have transformed into some of the better-known characters, organizations, and locations in Golarion. But probably the passage that folks have grabbed onto most zealously comes from the description of the paladin on page 8, "Korvosa—in its traditional ties to Cheliax—enthusiastically supplies Citadel Vraid, bastion of the Hellknight Order of the Nail. The Chelish Hellknights pay homage to no deity, but rather bend the rigid law and infernal traditions of Hell to their will."

For years now folks have asked for more details on this iron-shod order of enforcers, even beyond their details in the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, but the time has never seemed quite right to give away the entire farm—I admit, I've been kind of precious with my pet antiheroes. At the same time, rules for running or playing Hellknights have always been vague, largely because I didn't want to work up a class that would immediately have to be updated to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. But now, with the PF RPG rules in circulation, my blasphemous baby Book of the Damned Volume 1: Princes of Darkness nearing the shelves, and the Council of Thieves Adventure Path being set in the very city where the Hellknights were formed, the time finally feels right.

So, as of Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #27, the Hellknights finally march forth, that volume revealing everything characters need to confront, research, and even join the numerous orders of Hellknights. That's right, that does mean there's finally going to be a Hellknight prestige class—and one of the largest ones I've ever seen at that.

But that's not all: in Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #28, expect the other side of the coin, with a GM-focused inside look into the mindset, citadels, and history of these infamous orders.

So that's back-to-back months of Hellknight action coming at you, finally answering many questions about the deadly knighthood, yet also revealing dozens of new mysteries. For example, taken from Pathfinder #27, presented here are just two of the several new lesser Hellknight Orders detailed therein. But that will have to do for now—not surprisingly, the Hellknights frown upon spoilers.

Lesser Orders

Despite the cull of 4639, numerous lesser orders of Hellknights still exist. Most of these orders work at the edges of Cheliax's sphere of influence or within the countries once within the Chelish empire's thrall. Despite their smaller size, the majority of these factions uphold the same code as their elder, better-established brethren, though many uphold practices that subtly deviate from the core knighthood. Most are careful not to defy the mandates of the Measure and the Chain (the core philosophies of the Hellknights; detailed in Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #28), however, as the larger, more powerful orders are mindful of those who would use the Hellknight name to opposing ends.

Order of the Crux: One of several bands of mercenaries dubbed Hellknights during the Chelish civil war, the skull-clad Order of the Crux refused to disband after the revolution. Hunted down and destroyed by the Order of the Scourge in 4663, the butchers were slaughtered and their fortress, Citadel Gheisteno, put to the torch. However, 25 years later, three graveknights clad in scarred Hellknight armor rose from the ruin. Calling themselves the Order of the Crux and led by the venomous Lictor Shokneir, the undead triune lurks upon the border of Nidal and Molthune, seemingly biding their time.

Order of the Coil: Among the smallest Hellknight factions, the Order of the Coil maintains holdings near the Sargavan city of Eleder, from where they viciously seek to tame the tribal natives of the country and put an end to their backward pollution of the outside world. Seeing the efforts of scholars and adventurers—particularly Pathfinders—as spreading a disease of savagery by carrying curios from the jungles into the world beyond, the Coil hunts down and destroys such explorers and artifacts, notorious for ending these perceived corruptions with poison and flames. The favored weapon of the Order of the Coil is the greataxe.

Wes Schneider
Managing Editor

Road Map to the Runelords

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

In the office campaign, Erik Mona once tore a page out of the published adventure he was running because he grew too frustrated at having to flip back and forth from the page the map was on to the page where the various room encounters were described. Visions of frustrated Pathfinder readers doing the same prompted us to release the key maps from Rise of the Runelords in a stand-alone product—now you can run your party through the haunted houses and dungeons and cities without having to mutilate your books!

Also included—poster maps for Sandpoint and Varisia. Because who doesn't like poster maps?

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

More Magic of Thassilon

Monday, Jaunary 28, 2008

For Pathfinder #5, we asked a small army of authors to send us some spells and magic items that had a "Thassilonian" feel to them. As it turned out, we got about twice as many as we really had room to print. Rather than just cut the second half out and throw it away, we decided to cut the second half out and throw it into a free web enhancement for Pathfinder #5. Pictured here is just one of those items—a fragment of the Gluttonous Tome, a powerful artifact that has some pretty major ties to Zutha, the undead Runelord of Gluttony. WARNING: Some of the magic items may not be wise for your PCs to use. They were, after all, invented by the runelords and their minions!

To download a free PDF of the Pathfinder #5 web supplement, click here (180 KB zip PDF).

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Words of Wisdom from "Two Toes"

Monday, January 14, 2008

Back on November 14th, we had a sort of cryptic post here on the blog. Well, more of a warning, really: "THE YETI IS COMING!" Well, later this month, the yeti will arrive—just one of many dangers awaiting the PCs in "Spires of Xin-Shalast," the final adventure in Rise of the Runelords. Pathfinder #6 also presents a short article that talks about other dangers that await any who dare explore the Kodar Mountains, one of Golarion's most inhospitable regions. This article opens with some words of advice from one of Varisia's most widely traveled explorers—the currently missing Ronagard Roteshield.

"The cold's not your enemy. No, when you get it in your fool head to go gallivanting up to the top of the world, there's plenty else to be worried of. Up there, there's mountains that roar and try to eat you alive. There's air that quits caring and does you about as much good as trying to breathe a lake. There's rock that's solid as a fortress wall 'til it's the only thing holding you over a gap a mile deep. And then there's the things. The snowy, hungry things that don't let anything made of meat just pass on by.

"The cold, though, it'll kill you slow and quiet. It'll be there when you're fallen and broken, half-eaten at the bottom of some ravine. It'll make the hurting stop, wrap you up in that dull, soft numbness, and make your forget any thought of climbing back down.

"No, the cold's not your enemy. Up there, it's the best friend you've got."

—Ronagard "Two Toes" Roteshield, Mountaineer Extraordinaire

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Meet Freezemaw!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

One of the early lessons I learned working on adventures for Dungeon was that RPG players have an extra level of demands when it comes to dragons. You can throw pretty much any other monster into an adventure without worry, but if you want to include a dragon, you'd best be sure said dragon has a history and personality. And honestly, the readers are right (as they often are). Dragons shouldn't be throwaway encounters. They shouldn't just wander by as a result of a wandering monster result. In Pathfinder, I'm going to try to make sure that whenever we have a dragon appearing in the adventure, he or she has a story. Especially, as in the case of Pathfinder #5, when the dragon appears on the cover.

The white dragon on the cover is Arkrhyst—called Freezemaw by the Shoanti—an old white dragon who has lived on Rimeskull for 50 years. In his youth several centuries ago, Arkrhyst was a great and hated enemy of the Shoanti; his raids on the nomads of the Velashu Uplands and the western Storval Plateau were legendary, and many of those tribes still sing of these dark times, and of the countless heroes who sought out his home on Rimeskull to defeat him. None accomplished this goal, but as Arkrhyst grew older, his urge to raid grew less. Content now with the reputation he earned, he sleeps for years at a time on his considerable store of treasure, dreaming of his youthful rampages.

Of course, Freezemaw's only one of many menaces that wait for PCs brave enough to seek out the legendary dungeon of Runeforge in Pathfinder #5—but he's certainly one of the adventure's more memorable villains!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Happy New Year

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

And now, here we are in 2008! We've got a lot of exciting stuff planned for 2008, but there's just as much that's still evolving. Now's a great time to head on over to our messageboards and let us know what kind of products and adventures and blog posts you'd like to see from Paizo in the coming year. Who'd like to hear a Paizo Podcast? Is anyone interested in seeing a sequel to a particular GameMastery Module? Is there a market for Pathfinder miniatures? Don't be shy! We can't make things you want if you don't tell us you want them, right?

Anyway, I don't have all that much to say or show off today. The Paizo offices are closed, and I got the honor of writing today's post. And I'm too distracted by New Year-related shenanigans to write much more, so check out my favorite picture from Pathfinder #5—some foolish runelord calling upon the dread Oliphaunt of Jandelay!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

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

Oh no! Otyugh!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Wayne Reynolds continues his streak of brilliant artwork for Pathfinder—this background for the cover of Pathfinder #7, the first installment in the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path, shows us that there are much worse things than alligators living in the sewers.... I particularly love the little details, like the inn's sign  or the Hellknight about to take the monster out singlehandedly before the iconics get the chance. Click on the image to download a larger version.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

KARZOUG FHTAGN!

Friday, November 30, 2007

I've mentioned before my fondness for H. P. Lovecraft and his mythos of insane and malignant Great Old Ones, and starting in Pathfinder #4, the world of Golarion gets its first real taste of the Cthulhu Mythos—pictured here is a hound of Tindalos, one of the new monsters in this volume's bestiary.

These strange time-traveling, soul-eating monstrosities were invented by Frank Belknap Long back in 1929 in his short story, "The Hounds of Tindalos," but they should be no strangers to those familiar with the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game published by Chaosium (itself one of the longest-lived continually-in-print RPGs ever—check them out at chaosium.com). Any self-respecting gamer looking for more inspiration on the hounds of Tindalos (or cosmic horror of any flavor) should certainly check out the huge line of books and adventures that have been produced for Call of Cthulhu for more. The actual game stats for the hounds as they appear here are pretty different than those from the Call of Cthulhu version, of course, but flavor transcends rules.

We'll be returning to Lovecraft country later on in Rise of the Runelords, getting a glimpse of the realm of Leng and unknown Kadath in Pathfinder #6, and now and then you'll be seeing other name drops occur. Yet don't expect don't expect Golarion to fall too completely into the clutches of the Great Old Ones. When the mythos rears its ugly head (or tentacles, or tongue, or color—whatever passes for a "head" in each monster's case) in Golarion, they have to be justified by the adventure's story and needs. In addition, that particular element needs to be something that doesn't feel out of place in the sword and sorcery genre. It also needs to not be tied to Earth. For example, Cthulhu himself is pretty much stuck in R'lyeh, which itself is located at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean (at South Latitude 47° 9', West Longitude 126° 43' for those of you with boats and death wishes)—it doesn't make sense to have him show up on Golarion, so don't expect his wiggly mug to pop in any time soon. Things that travel through the dimensions (like hounds of Tindalos) or come from remote corners of the universe (which are equally as far from Golarion as they are from Earth, really) or are from other realms entirely (or, in the case of Leng or Kadath, are other realms) are all fair game.

Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!

James Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief, Pathfinder

Rise of the Item Card Contest, Part 4

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Three Runelords have grabbed a deck of these cards using the powers of sin. With the Rise of the Runelords Item Card decks now hitting our warehouse and the holiday weekend before us, this week has an extra special prize, with an extra difficult question. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Rise of the Runelords Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases... plus with this being the final week, we will also throw in a signed copy of the alternate cover version of Pathfinder #1! Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com. Make sure to put the phrase "Runelords #4" in the subject line of the email.

For this last preview, we wanted to show you some of the cool items from the rest of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path. You can expect these items, along with a host of other treasures, to appear in parts 3 through 6.

Question #4: The journey from Skull's Crossing to Urglin requires you to travel through about 48 miles of the Wyvern Mountains, and 120 miles of the sandy Cinderlands. Assuming you went there and back again, traveling for 8 hours per day at a speed of 30 without a path, how many pounds of salt, on average, would you have when you returned? Note that your chance of running into an encounter is roughly 20% per hour and you always seem to run into four creatures whenever one occurs (and each one has 5 items in its bag). Please round your answer to the nearest pound.

All answers for Question #4 are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, November 29th. Good Luck!

Question #3 Solution: Congratulations to Jonathan Cruz who correctly answered "10th" to last week's question. We got a number of creative answers (some that involved level drain), but "10th" was the correct answer, as Kyra would need to pick up two feats to qualify for the Spherewalker prestige class.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Rise of the Item Card Contest, Part 3

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Two Runelords have grabbed a deck of these cards using the powers of sin. I'll let you guess which ones. Will you be next?

With the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path well underway in the pages of Pathfinder, and a special Item Card deck tied specifically to those adventures soon to be released, we here at Paizo Publishing have decided to give you a chance to score one of these great accessories.

One question about Pathfinder will be presented each week. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Rise of the Runelords Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com. Make sure to put the phrase "Runelords #3" in the subject line of the email.

This week we're taking a look at items from the second part of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, "The Skinsaw Murders." These items in particular are not ones you might want to bring to the next royal ball you attend, but their power makes them valuable nonetheless. Next week, we'll wrap up our contest with some cards from the third installment, "The Hook Mountain Massacre."

Question #3: Using the version of Kyra presented in "The Skinsaw Murders," at what level could she take her first level of the Spherewalker prestige class (assuming she had a change of heart concerning her deity and stuck with the cleric class)?

All answers for Question #3 are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, November 21st. Good Luck!

Question #2 Solution: Congratulations to Bobby Nichols, who gave an answer to question #2. We realized upon attempting to determine the winner that the Iron Golem has had different prerequisites over the years (and in recent books... I'll get you, polymorph any object!) so we decided to accept all of the entries.

Jason Bulmahn,
GameMastery Brand Manager

The Yeti is Coming!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Rise of the Item Card Contest, Part 2

Friday, November 9, 2007

The first Runelord has grabbed a deck of these cards. Will you be next?

With the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path well underway in the pages of Pathfinder, and a special Item Card deck tied specifically to those adventures soon to be released, we here at Paizo Publishing have decided to give you a chance to score one of these great accessories.

One question about Pathfinder will be presented each week. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Rise of the Runelords Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com. Make sure to put the phrase "Runelords #2" in the subject line of the email.

This week we're going to take a look at some of the cards that represent tools for your arcane character. As it turns out, when you're dealing with runelords, items like these are bound to be plentiful. Next week, we move on to look at items from "The Skinsaw Murders."

Question #2: If all 7 runelords sent a 16th-level wizard apprentice to craft an iron golem, using only the spells they possess, without any outside assistance, which runelords would have to execute their apprentices for failure?

All answers for Question #2 are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, November 15th. Good Luck!

Question #1 Solution: Congratulations to Kevin Reynolds who gave the correct answer of 39 to question #1. Note that we also accepted 40 as an answer if you assumed that Tsuto was still alive.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Downloadable Pathfinder #6 Background

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Your desktop icons will never know what hit them. Click the image above to download.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

They're Huge!

Monday, November 5, 2007

At this point, what more can really be said about Wayne Reynolds? I mean, after one awesome Pathfinder cover, we were excited. After two we were elated. But now here we are at Pathfinder #6, and they just keep getting better. Not only are the giants great, but it's the little things—the architecture of Xin-Shalast behind them, the totally original yet authentic-feeling swords—that really make this piece for me. Plus, if you look closely, you'll see that our newest iconic, the wizard Ezren, has popped in just in time to get clobbered. Let's hope he survives long enough to get on a few more covers...

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Rise of the Item Card Contest, Part 1

Friday, November 2, 2007

With the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path well underway in the pages of Pathfinder, and a special Item Card deck tied specifically to those adventures soon to be released, we here at Paizo Publishing have decided to give you a chance to score one of these great accessories.

One question about Pathfinder will be presented each week. Answer it correctly and get entered into a drawing to win a free deck of Rise of the Runelords Item Cards, shipped to you when the set releases. Just send an email with your answer, your name, and your paizo.com screen name to contest@paizo.com. Make sure to put the phrase "Runelords #1" in the subject line of the email.

This week we're going to take a look at some of the items your PCs might encounter in part 1 of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, "Burnt Offerings." While many of these are wielded by pesky goblins, a number of them might end up in the hands of your adventurers.

Question #1: How many creatures in all of Thistletop can speak the goblin tongue?

All answers for Question #1 are due by 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, November 8th. Good Luck!

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

How to Stage a Haunt

Monday, October 29, 2007

With Halloween coming up, we thought it a good idea to look back to the Foxglove Manor chapter of Pathfinder #2 (which, incidentally, would work extremely well as a standalone haunted house romp for All Hallows' Eve) and explain a bit more about one of the spooky innovations introduced there.

In "The Skinsaw Murders," we present a new way to handle an old classic—haunts. The mechanic for haunts is cool because it allows us to present really atmospheric encounters in a way that combines crunchy game play and creepy flavor. It also allows for a lot of flexibility in ways that classic haunted house monsters like ghosts don't really work. You want a room with walls that bleed? A haunt can do that. With a ghost, it's a little trickier.

You can expect haunts to show up now and then in Pathfinder—when they do, we'll reprint the basic rules so you don't need to always have a copy of Pathfinder #2 on hand. But one thing became clear as I started reading messageboard posts about "The Skinsaw Murders": what's missing is a section that talks about how haunts play out in the game. I posted the rest of this blog post on the messageboard, but I think it's important enough to "graduate" into the blog, so here it is! (WARNING: A small spoiler for "The Skinsaw Murders" is built into the rest of this post!)

The best analogy for a haunt is a trap. Treat them in play as traps, but traps that are evil and freaky and have a malevolent guiding intelligence behind them.

Take the first trap, the Burning Manticore, as an example. The PCs may smell burning hair the first time they pass through the room. The second time, the haunt manifests. Ask the PC who's haunted by burning to make a Spot check. If he fails the DC 20 check, the haunt manifests, makes its attack on him, and if he's hit he makes a Reflex save to avoid catching on fire. If he catches on fire, to his friends it looks like he just spontaneously combusts—he's the only one who can see the haunt, remember. Once the haunt's done its thing, that's it. It's done for a day; it can't be triggered again for 24 hours.

If the haunted PC makes that DC 20 Spot check, have him roll Initiative. Describe to him the image of the manticore lurching to life, its face shifting and its fur igniting, but don't have the haunt do its thing until initiative count 10. If the PC alerts his friends that something's going on, they get to roll Initiative checks as well. Anyone who goes before 10 gets to do something about the haunt (but remember, only the haunted character can SEE what's going on). This includes attempts to turn undead, to run out of the room, to cast resist elements (fire) on the haunted character, and so on. At initiative count 10, the haunt triggers (unless its target is gone, in which case it fades away and can't activate again for 24 hours) and does its thing, then fades away.

James Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief, Pathfinder

Beware the Mother of Oblivion!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

You've heard the legends, now witness the awesome glory of Black Magga! Read all about her interdimensional horror in this sample spread from Pathfinder #3's Bestiary section: 552 KB zip PDF.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Wayne Does It Again!

Monday, October 15, 2007

Wayne Reynolds just delivered the cover painting for Pathfinder #5: Sins of the Saviors, and man, is it a doozy! Looks like Valeros has learned a valuable lesson about what it means to play meat-shield for the party when there's a dragon involved.... Click the image for a larger version.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Welcome to Riddleport!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

By now, Pathfinder readers are getting to know Magnimar (detailed in Pathfinder #2). And when we launch the second Pathfinder Adventure Path, Curse of the Crimson Throne, there'll be all sorts of details on Korvosa. But what about Varisia's third city, Riddleport? While we do indeed have plans to eventually present Riddleport in greater detail, for the foreseeable future there's not going to be much about the notorious port town at the northernmost edge of the Lost Coast.

In Pathfinder #3, we'll be presenting a gazetteer of Varisia. Remember all of those names and locations on the map from the inside back cover of the Player's Guide? They all get, at minimum, a paragraph of descriptive text. Riddleport gets a little bit more—it gets a picture to go along with the following entry:

Riddleport: Varisia's northernmost port, the infamous city of Riddleport is renowned as a haven for scoundrels, outcasts, and worse. Cutthroats fill its harbor and dockside brothels, with Riddleport's officers of the law being just another gang of thieves (and hardly the most powerful one at that). Yet even in such a den of inequity and vice, scholars and historians abound, attempting to decipher the runes of the great arch known as the Cyphergate, which spans the mouth of the harbor and looms over each vessel that passes into the city. Although any progress on the inscription has been kept quiet, recent excavation hints that the massive arch might actually be just one segment of a ring that extends into the cliffs surrounding the port.

James Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief, Pathfinder

Free Pathfinder 2 Download Supplement!

Friday, October 5, 2007

It's a fact: sometimes there's just too much good stuff to fit in a given volume of Pathfinder. While we here on the Paizo staff squeeze and condense as much as we can to make sure that each book is 100% concentrated awesome, print still has certain limitations... after all, sliced tree can only hold so much ink. That's why, from here on out, you can expect to see free supplement downloads to go along with specific volumes of Pathfinder popping up irregularly on paizo.com. Whether it's an alternate version of a map, an extra stat block, or a new item, whatever we put online will add to the adventure without being essential—just us doing what we can to offer a little bit extra to the gaming community.

Today, that's an alternate map of Magnimar, tagged with 30 new streets and places of interest, courtesy of mapping fiend Wes Schneider. We hope to shortly have a spot on the Pathfinder homepage where you can easily check to download the latest free content, but until then, click here (1.1 MB zip PDF) to download a high-res version of the map.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Bidding Adieu to Volume 2

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

So after what felt like years of waiting (it was more like weeks), we finally got in our office copies of Pathfinder #2 today! Which also means that we'll be shipping them out to subscribers and distributors very soon. I actually walked by a pallet of them down in the warehouse earlier today, and seeing "SKINSAW MURDERS" written on a stack of boxes as tall as me was strange. The Skinsaw Man came out of a game I ran back in college set in my own campaign world, and seeing the word on those boxes really brought it home—the word may have been born in central California, but then it went up to Seattle, then over to England, then back here, then over to China, and now it's back here and ready to begin its final step in global saturation. It's exciting. And a little surreal.

In any event, that's about a wrap for Pathfinder #2! We'll have an alternate map of Magnimar to show you on Friday's blog post, and then starting next week we'll start revealing tidbits about Pathfinder #3: "The Hook Mountain Massacre." Demented ogres, haunted campfires, castles and gazetteers and lake monsters, oh my! I can't wait to show some of it off!

In fact, I don't want to wait. Check out this sneak preview of one of the pieces of art from Pathfinder #3. Who could this dwarf be? Does he have nefarious plans for our heroes? Why is his ass so tiny?

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Kyle's Magnificent Menagerie

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Some of you may have already noticed a striking stylistic similarity between the fun cartoon goblin illustrating Pathfinder #1's introduction and those strange little monsters that used to appear in Dungeon to illustrate the Dungeoncraft column and the table of contents. That's because both series are done by one of our favorite artists and creative minds, Downer creator Kyle Stanley Hunter.

Much as he did in Dungeon, each month Kyle will be giving us his unique take on a key monster found in that month's volume of Pathfinder. For "The Skinsaw Murders," for instance, he's produced a fearsome ghoul, and future adventures will bring ogres, giants, and more.

We're all super-excited to have Kyle onboard for this and some other super-exciting secret projects a bit farther down the road, and for those of you unfamiliar with his work, I highly recommend checking out Downer: Wandering Monster or his personal website at www.superunicorn.com/kyle/, both of which contain galleries featuring dozens more of his trademark "mini monsters."

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Pathfinder #2 Art Show!

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Pathfinder #2 is off at the printer, which means it's time to give you all a sneak peak at some of the fabulous art we've got going into this volume. From the lamia matriarch to the skinsaw cultist with his fearsome war razor, we're really proud of the visual element of Pathfinder #2, and these are just a drop in the bucket when you consider how much art we have jam-packed into this book. Enjoy!

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Pathfinder #4 Cover... and Desktop!

Thursday, August 30, 2007

In the past, each time we've shown off the cover to a new volume of Pathfinder, we've been immediately deluged with requests for it as a downloadable desktop background, which we inevitably put up a few days later. This time we figured: why wait? After all, there's a long weekend coming up, and we wouldn't want your monitor to have to go without new Wayne Reynolds art for all that time. So here it is: the cover to Pathfinder #4, featuring everyone's favorite butt-kicking cleric of Sarenrae, Kyra. Looking at the stone giants Wayne's dreamed up for us, it's kind of amazing the heroes ever win, isn't it?

Click here to download the image at desktop size.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

First Peek at Pathfinder #2

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

With Pathfinder #2 currently on the proverbial slow boat from China, here's a sample spread from the bestiary to whet your appetite. Introducing: the boggard! Download the 528 KB zip PDF.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

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

By Popular Request

Monday, August 20, 2007

And now, by popular request... Pathfinder 3 wallpaper!

Pathfinder 3 Cover

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

We're currently in the middle of working on The Hook Mountain Massacre, the third volume of Pathfinder, but we just couldn't wait to show off the new cover, courtesy of fantasy art superstar Wayne Reynolds. We've already introduced Merisiel, our iconic elven rogue, in a previous blog post, but just take a look at those ogres! With those flat teeth and crazy jaws, something about them just screams "Muppet gone wrong." As for how wrong... well, some of that is still up in the air, but let's just say that readers will no doubt conclude that author Nick Logue should probably be in a straightjacket somewhere. Fortunately for us, however, he was still at large and writing as of this posting....

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Magnimar

Friday, July 27, 2007

Making its grand debut in Pathfinder #2, I hereby give you Magnimar—City of Monuments.

1 The Irespan 2 Alabaster District 3 Marble District 4 Bridgeward 5 The Capital District 6 Naos 7 Vista 8 Grand Arch 9 The Arvensoar 10 The Bazaar of Sails

11 Dockway 12 The Rubble 13 Keystone 14 The Marches 15 Beacon's Point 16 Rag's End 17 Silver Shore 18 Kyver's Islet 19 Ordellia

For a more detailed view, click on the image.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Sean Signs On

Thursday, July 12, 2007

The Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide reveals the twenty core deities of our new campaign setting, including their alignments, portfolios, domains granted, and favored weapons—everything a player needs to know to create a cleric character. Yet there's much more to each of our deities than just this.

Starting with Pathfinder #2, we'll be presenting detailed write-ups of all twenty core deities. Fans of the Core Beliefs articles that have been running in DRAGON magazine for the last three years will find themselves on familiar ground here, especially with fan-favorite author Sean K Reynolds at the helm. His first installment details Desna, the goddess of dreams, stars, travelers, and luck, a faith that plays a central role in many of the adventures in Rise of the Runelords. You can look forward to information about Desna, her church, her faithful, new spells, new magic items, prestige classes (like the starknife-throwing priest illustrated here by Ben Wootten), and more—everything a believer of the Song of the Spheres will need to know to bring Desna's word to the masses. We're planning on detailing four deities a year (two per Adventure Path), with Lamashtu, the goddess of monsters and madness, coming next in Pathfinder #4.

James Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief, Pathfinder

"Burnt Offerings" Ships to the Printer!

Monday, June 25, 2007

Now that the first volume of Pathfinder is out the door to the printer, take a few moments to check out this gorgeous sample spread (284KB PDF), pulled from one of the volume's supplementary pieces on ancient Thassilon. And remember—there are 94 more pages where these came from...

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

First Look at Pathfinder

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Pathfinder #1 and the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide ship this week, and as such, we thought it a good time to unveil a sample spread from the guide. Presented here for your perusal are two pages full of new animals, local takes on the core classes, and a full chart detailing all of the core gods of our setting. So what are you waiting for? Click the image to download a full-size version and dig in!

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

The Sandpoint Devil

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

The real world is a great resource for monsters. Many of the game's critters come from real-world myth and legend, but one venue that seems to have been largely ignored are cryptozoological accounts. I'm talking about Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, of course, but also about more obscure creatures like the hodag, Mokele-Mbembe, and the Yowie. And, of course, the Jersey Devil, the inspiration for one of Pathfinder's first new monsters. Rumors and legends of a rarely seen but terrible monster have preyed upon the fears of Sandpoint's populace for decades. The rumors listed below comprise the most common—though oft-conflicting—tales regarding the famed Sandpoint devil.

Bad Omen: It's bad luck to see the Sandpoint devil. Any who do are cursed to suffer an ill fate. Before tragedies, murders, and shipwrecks, it's said the devil flies unseen by all but the doomed through the night sky.

Devil-Spawned: The Sandpoint devil is the son of a widow named Agatha Leeds, a woman who used to live north of town and was said to practice dark magics and consort with evil beings. When she wandered into town round with child, she ignored all questions about her pregnancy. Weeks later, her home was found reduced to cinders with its mysterious owner missing. It wasn't long thereafter that the first sightings of the Sandpoint devil began.

Disappearances: Evidence of Sandpoint devil sightings often disappears before it can be examined. Tracks, bitten animals, weapons dripping with its blood, and similar such evidence simply vanish, no matter how well watched or guarded. In fact, even those who have sought to catch or kill the Sandpoint devil have disappeared without a trace, both during their hunts and in the weeks after returning home from a failed attempt.

Fire Starter: Paintings and reports of the Sandpoint devil mysteriously catch on fire, sometimes burning entire homes to the ground.

Immortal Protector: Some Varisians claim they Sandpoint devil has lived along the Lost Coast for thousands of years, and that it protects the coast's resources from those who seek to exploit the land. Its modern misdeeds are merely its way of fending off the most recent encroachment of civilization.

One of Many: The Sandpoint devil is sometimes seen in the company of other local legends and spooks, most commonly a white stag, the ghost of a young girl, and a zombie with missing feet.

James Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief, Pathfinder

Sandpoint

Friday, June 8, 2007

Last week we showed you the map of Varisia, the region in which the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path takes place. This week, we're zooming in to focus on Sandpoint, the quaint fishing town that provides the backdrop for the first adventure in the path, "Burnt Offerings." See if you can spot which street names and city features were snatched wholesale from Editor-in-Chief James Jacobs's childhood!

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Humans of Varisia

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

As mentioned in previous blog posts, the Varisian region contains three prominent human ethnicities:

Chelaxian: Monument-haunted Magnimar and imperial-minded Korvosa vie for control of southern Varisia. In these cities and the numerous vassal settlements of each, the majority of the populace can trace their ancestry to the sharp-featured people of Cheliax. Those of Chelish descent possess dark hair and eyes contrasted by pale skin—along with a taste for artistic fineries and high art.

Shoanti: Across the northeastern reaches of Varisia, the seven ardent tribes of the Shoanti make their homes. A turbulent people adhering to traditions unchanged in hundreds of years, these natives live harsh lives, preying upon predators and eking what they can from an unforgiving land.

Varisian: Passionate and fiercely independent, Varisians (shown in the sketch presented here) lend their name to their homeland. While these clannish wanderers can be found in many lands, nowhere are larger populations found than in the land of their ancestors.

Insular and adhering to an ancient, nomadic way of life, extended families of Varisians form wandering communities, traveling wherever fate directs them. Varisians don't believe in claiming land and thus see no hardship in their nomadic lifestyle. While nature provides for most of their needs, these wanderers often visit the cities and towns of settled people to trade art and curios from their travels, earn coin by entertaining and performing small jobs, and sometimes to con and steal from the unwary—a practice indulged often enough to make Varisians widely distrusted and unwelcome by those not of their society.

The typical Varisian possesses deep olive skin and hair that ranges from black to auburn, often worn long by both men and women. Customary tattooing leads most to exhibit complex patterns and symbols significantly different from those worn by the Shoanti who share their homeland. As wanderers and often entertainers, Varisian dress tends toward extremes, from functional garb fit for traveling to wildly impractical dress meant to accentuate their dancing, exotic tattoos, and naturally fit forms.

Wesley Schneider
Associate Editor, Pathfinder

Varisia

Friday, June 1, 2007

Presented here for the first time, in all its glory. We could say more—and believe me, we will—but for now we'd like to let Rob Lazzaretti's beautiful map speak for itself. To zoom in, click the image above.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Points Unknown

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Since we just got in some great rough sketches of notable Varisian landmarks courtesy of Andrew Hou, we thought we'd introduce you to some of Varisia's more infamous adventure sites. Presented below are but a few—look forward to more in the upcoming Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide.

Bloodsworn Vale: A fey-haunted pass to southern lands which played an integral role in Varisia's break with the crumbling empire of Cheliax.

Celwynvian: The doom-haunted capital of the Mierani elves, abandoned by its people.

The Face Pyramid: A great, timeless stone edifice rising forth from the Mushfen's murk.

Hook Mountain: A peak of dark repute, bent to resemble a colossal hook and the ancestral home of several tribes of inbred, brutish ogres.

The Mobhad Leigh: A vast and deep pit, which the Shoanti say has no bottom.

Riddleport: A depraved and lawless city whose ancient harbor bears a massive, rune-carved arch.

The Storval Stairs: Titanic steps cut into the face of the Storval Rise, the cliff face separating the lower half of Varisia from the eastern plateau.

Viperwall: The Citadel of Snakes, its walls of carved serpents endlessly leaking a venomous gas.

Kaer Maga: A city built inside the ruins of a single great structure of unknown function, perched atop the Storval Rise and renowned for its anarchic population of squatters and outlaws.

Wesley Schneider
Associate Editor, Pathfinder

Founded on Murder!

Monday, May 21, 2007

The foundation of a new town is not a matter to be taken lightly, nor one to be funded by one soul. Four powerful families from the city of Magnimar had designs on settling a region 50 miles to the northeast, and rather than work against each other, they consolidated their efforts and formed the Sandpoint Mercantile League. These four families, the Ameikos (glassmakers and jewelers), the Valdemars (shipbuilders and carpenters), the Scarnettis (loggers and millers), and the Deverins (farmers and brewers), sailed north to claim their land after securing the rights from the Magnimar Charterhouse. Yet when they arrived, they found the place already settled by a particularly large tribe of Varisians, who held the region as a traditional place to spend the winter.

Unwilling to change course, the Sandpoint Mercantile League began a series of talks with the Varisians, promising them an important place in the new township. Unfortunately, after a week of talks seemed to go nowhere, an impatient man named Alamon Scarnetti took matters into his own hands. Rounding up a group of his brothers and cousins, the Scarnettis mounted a murderous raid on the Varisian camp, intending to kill them all and leave evidence implicating local goblins for the deed. Yet the Scarnettis, too drunk and overconfident, only managed to kill five Varisians before they were themselves forced to flee, leaving behind three of their own. The incident caused a several-month delay, but eventually amends were made and the town of Sandpoint was born.

Despite these violent first months, in the forty-odd years since Sandpoint was founded, things have been rather calm and quiet. The late unpleasantness, involving Chopper's murderous spree and followed closely by the Sandpoint Fire, constitute the worst thing that's happened to the town. Yet Sandpoint's current mayor, Kendra Deverin (female human aristocrat 3/expert 4), can't shake the feeling that the unpleasantness was but a preamble, and that dark times indeed are coming to her home town.

The excellent headshot accompanying this post is one of several Andrew Hou's worked up for Pathfinder—Kendra Deverin herself. Kendra has served as Sandpoint's mayor for the past five years. Lawmaker, judge, and general peacemaker, she has proven to be both an adept diplomat and stern hand when need be, both skills honed during her youth in Magnimar. With a personal—some say sisterly—style of governing, most of Sandpoint's citizens hold deep respect for their fiery-haired mayor.

James Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief, Pathfinder

The Late Unpleasantness

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Though he's too busy statting up Orcus and Iggwilv for Dungeon 149 to make a post himself, Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief James Jacobs thought you might be interested in a bit of Sandpoint lore he's been working on for "Burnt Offerings":

When Jervis Stoot made clear his intentions to build a home on the island just north of the Old Light, locals paid him no mind. Jervis had already garnered something of a reputation as an eccentric for his one-man crusade to carve depictions of birds on every deserving building in town. Stoot never made a carving without securing permission, but his incredible skill made it a given that if Stoot picked your building as the site of his latest project, you seized the opportunity. Sporting a Stoot soon grew to be something of a bragging point, and Jervis eventually extended his talent to include ship figureheads and even carriages. Those who asked or tried to pay him for his skill were rebuffed, Stoot telling them, "There ain't no birds in that wood for me t'set free," and going on his way. Stoot often wandering the streets for days before noticing a hidden bird in a fencepost, lintel, steeple, or doorframe and securing permission to "release" it with his trusty carving knives.

Stoot's excuse for wanting to move to the isle seemed innocent enough—the place was a haven for local birdlife, and his claim of "Wantin' ta be with th' birds" seemed to make sense. So much, in fact, that the guild of Carpenters (with whom Stoot had maintained a friendly competition for several years) volunteered to build a staircase, free of charge, along the southern cliff face so that Stoot could come and go from his new home with ease. For fifteen years, Stoot lived on the island. His trips into town grew less and less frequent, making it something of an event when he chose a building to host a new Stoot.

Sandpoint was no stranger to crime, or even to murder. Once or twice a year, passions flared, robberies went bad, jealousy grew too much to bear, or one-too-many drinks were drunk, and someone would end up dead. But when body count suddenly began to mount, the town had no idea how to react. Sandpoint's sheriff at the time was a no-nonsense man named Casp Avertin, a retired city watch officer from Magnimar, yet even he was ill-prepared for the murderer who came to be known as Chopper. Over the course of one long winter month, every few days brought a new victim to light. Each was found in the same terrible state, bodies bearing deep cutting wounds to the neck and torso, with both hands and feet severed and stacked nearby and the eyes and tongue missing entirely, plucked crudely from the head.

Over the course of that terrible month, Chopper claimed 25 victims. His uncanny knack at eluding traps and pursuit quickly wore on the town guard, taking particular toll on Sheriff Avertin, who increasingly took to drinking. Many believe that he even took to beating his wife and daughter, and that, in its own way, may have been the genesis of the Sandpoint Fire. In any event, Sheriff Avertin himself became Chopper's last victim, slain when he finally caught the killer mutilating his latest victim in the side street that would come to be known as Chopper's Alley. Yet in the battle that followed, Avertin managed a telling blow against the murderer. When the town guard found the sheriff dead with another victim several minutes later, they were able to follow the bloody trail left by the killer.

A trail that led straight to the stairs of Stoot's Rock.

At first, the town guard refused to believe the implications, and feared that Chopper had come to claim poor Jervis Stoot as his 26th victim. Yet what the guards found in the modest home atop the isle, and in the larger complex of rooms that had been carved into the bedrock below, left no room for doubt. Jervis Stoot and Chopper were the same, and the eyes and tongues of all 25 victims were found in a horrific altar to a birdlike demon whose name none dared speak aloud. Stoot himself was found dead at the base of the altar, having plucked his own eyes and tongue loose for a final offering. The guards collapsed the entrance to the chambers, burned Stoot's house, tore down the stairs, and did their best to forget. Stoot himself was burned on the beach in a pyre, his ashes then blessed and then scattered in an attempt to stave off an unholy return of his evil spirit from beyond the grave. And in the months to follow, Sandpoint did its best to forget the terror, although even today, children who remember the dark times only six years ago sometimes wake with nightmare visions of Chopper hiding under their beds.

Weapons, Varisia-Style

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Hot off the server come three of the latest Pathfinder sketches, this time for the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide. See what Player's Guide author Wes Schneider has to say about each of them:

Dog Slicer: A savage weapon created from castoff bits of sharpened waste metal, goblins named these small swords after the act for which they're most commonly employed. Holes drilled in the blade make them easier to heft by enthusiastic but weak-armed murderers. Most dog slicers are size Small.

Varisian Scarves: Well known as entertainers with a flair for the dramatic, Varisians often employ seductive garb and entrancing props in their performances. Scarves of colorful cloth and transparent silk, or bearing elaborately embroidered scenes, are thus favorite accessories of the wandering folk. Aside from the mundane variety, though, clever Varisians have subtly repurposed these iconic tools for a variety of covert uses. The Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide features three types of modified scarves to aid Varisians in their adventures: bladed, pocketed, and reinforced.

Star of Desna: An ancient weapon favored by Varisian wanderers, this weapon has been adopted by the church of Desna as a second holy weapon. From a central metal ring, four tapering metal blades extend like points on a compass rose. Wielders can slash with the star or throw it like a less-aerodynamic chakram.

Excited yet? The above are just three of the twelve new Varisian items we'll be introducing in the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide, which will be available in printed form for just two dollars and online for free at our website. For information on things like the earth breaker, barbarian chew, or ogre hook, you'll just have to stay tuned...

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Mark of Sin

Friday, May 11, 2007

As you can see, I've just received the final go-ahead to reveal to everyone the rune designs that artist Jeff Carlisle has created to go along with our new system of sin magic, which we'll be introducing as a primary theme in the first Pathfinder campaign. Needless to say, they look fabulous and we're all pretty excited about them. Jeff and Senior Art Director Sean Glenn spent a lot of time working together to create this unique look, with Jeff pulling inspiration from Wayne Reynolds' intricate tattooing and embroidery on the images of Karzoug, Rise of the Runelords' big baddie, and Seoni, our iconic sorceress.

Even beyond their sheer visual impact, I think my favorite thing about these runes is that they're practically puzzles—even without knowing which rune is which, you can still figure them out easily once you know what you're looking at. Which, while I'm fairly certain I understand the reasoning and symbolism behind each one, is why I'm curious to read your explanations. See if you can tell what led Jeff to draw each symbol the way he did, then post on our messageboards and let us see if your answer is better than ours!

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Varisia: Players Welcome

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

One of the biggest challenges when starting a new campaign is getting your players invested in the world. Sure, you may have set up the adventure and prepared all your notes, memorized your maps and picked out accents for the various local NPCs the party will meet... but what about your players? They can't exactly read the same source material you are without tripping over spoilers, and sitting down for a three-hour lecture about the local history and customs of their home region isn't most groups' idea of a fun first session. So how do you get that information across?

For Pathfinder, we've made it easy. Instead of all that hassle, you can just hand your players the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide (which you get as a free bonus if you sign up as a charter subscriber before the first book ships in August) and let them go to town, entirely spoiler-free. What's more, each Adventure Path to come will have its own specific player's guide filled with information to help players get their bearings in the world and craft unique, interesting backstories for their characters... so much so that DMs will probably want to pick a copy up for themselves as well.

Inside the player's guide, you can expect to find:

• Full-page maps and art of Sandpoint (the starting town from "Burnt Offerings") and Varisia (the whole region the Adventure Path takes place in), plus detailed write-ups on both.
• World-specific information on the core races—the things that make elves, dwarves, and all the rest unique in Pathfinder and GameMastery Modules.
• How to tailor the core classes to Varisia, and specifically to the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path. Trying to decide which deity or favored enemy to pick? Unsure what your wizard's motivation to go adventuring is? This section's for you.
• New world-specific feats.
• New non-magical items and weapons popular in Varisia. (What the heck is a "star knife" or a "dogslicer," anyhow?)

Since this is one of the first detailed looks the public will be getting at Varisia and our campaign setting as a whole, all of the information in the player's guide will eventually be available online for free download in addition to the printed version. But after seeing the amount of art and information presented in this 16-page booklet, you might not want to wait... particularly since it's likely cheaper than any of the snacks at your gaming table (and free to subscribers).

Still not excited? Pathfinder editor and Adventure Path veteran Wes Schneider, who's writing the guide, kindly offered this preview quote which shows that, despite its mysterious monuments, rich adventure, and fierce independence, the land of Varisia isn't for everyone:

Savagery and regressivity epitomize the disfigured lands of Varisia. Jagged mountain chains break the worthless, dusty clay at queer and reckless lengths. Tangled forests grow wild with titan weeds—the flora of these fecund briars little more than tenacious brambles. Blasted reaches of cracked earth and rolling scrub form the parched paradises of all manner of backward savages, including the doomed final generations of humanity's brutish ancestors. And everywhere the land bears the scars of a forgotten people whose eroding ruins and savage attempts at artistry litter a landscape already scarred by its own geological leprosy.
—Darvayne Gios Amprei, Merciless: Abendigo, Belkzen, Varisia, and Other Hells

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Pathfinder backgrounds

Monday, April 30, 2007

And now, by popular request... Pathfinder desktop backgrounds! While a desktop is obviously a totally different size than a book, and certain design elements are still being finalized, these three images are perhaps the best preview to date of what the first three Pathfinder covers (including the alternate cover for volume 1) will actually look like. So while you're waiting for "Burnt Offerings" to release, why not download one of these and throw it up as your wallpaper? After all, as far as we're concerned, everyone could use a little more Wayne Reynolds art in their lives...

Desktop #1: 1024x768, 1280x960

Desktop #2: 1024x768, 1280x960

Desktop #3: 1024x768, 1280x960

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Raising The Runelords

or, "How To Recover From a TPK and Make It Look Like You Planned It All Along"

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Once upon a time, I was running one of my favorite adventures, White Plume Mountain, for my players. They messed up good, got split up, and ended up all being dominated by a certain vampire charged with guarding a certain hammer. Now, I didn't want to admit I had a TPK on my hands, so I took a cue form another favorite adventure, "The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb," and introduced a whole ancient society of primeval necromancers over the span between game sessions, and next time we gathered, I had the now-dominated PCs sent by their new vampire lord to release the first of several slumbering wizards from a forgotten age. They let one out, but then escaped their charm and spent the rest of the campaign trying to undo what they'd done. But the idea was too cool to let my players fix. They defeated one of the ancient wizards, but once one woke up, the others came back in a chain reaction. Today, my world has several new nations ruled by these reborn necromancers, all because back in college a few friends of mine blew their saving throws.

And now, that fateful happenstance extends to Pathfinder. The ancient Runelords of Thassilon have developed into their own unique force, but they certainly owe their conception to that fateful day deep under the game's most famous volcano. Reproduced below are some of my notes on the nature of the Runelords and Thassilon. Warning for those who plan on playing in the Rise of the Runelords campaign: serious campaign spoilers ahead!

The Runelords

In the first Pathfinder blog post I mentioned how we needed to build a new region to set Rise of the Runelords in. In fact, it's more complicated than that. We actually had to create TWO regions. The first of these is Varisia, the realm in which the new Adventure Path takes place. The other is Thassilon, the ancient empire that once sprawled across much of this corner of the world. An empire that was, at its height, ruled by seven powerful wizards known as Runelords.

Thassilon was a sprawling empire that covered an area about as large as the western half of the United States. The Runelords were maniacal arcanists who used magic to fuel their own decadent vices. They forged alliances with dragons and enslaved giants by using secrets of rune and glyph magic stolen from the aboleths. With their enslaved giant armies, the wizards of Thassilon built massive tombs, enormous magical constructs, and staggering monuments that survive today, mute testimonies of a mysterious age long past. Yet as all evil empires must, Thassilon fell. The reason for this fall remains a mystery, but as the end drew near, the seven Runelords retreated into the depths of their greatest monuments, entombing themselves with orders for their minions to release them later to reclaim their empire. Alas, Thassilon's minions were enslaved or slaughtered. No one was left to waken them, and so the wizard kings of Thassilon slumbered for countless ages. Virtues of Rule, Sins of Magic

At Thassilon's dawn, the Runelords held that wealth, fertility, honest pride, abundance, eager striving, righteous anger, and well-deserved rest were the seven virtues of rule—rewards that one could enjoy for being in a position of power. But the Runelords soon abandoned the positive aspects of these traits, instead embracing greed, lust, boastful pride, gluttony, envy, wrath, and sloth as the rewards of rule. Today, long after the fall of Thassilon, the original seven virtues are held as the great mortal sins, although only a few scholars who have studied ancient Thassilon know of their true sources.

The Runelords' magic was closely tied to these seven categories, to such an extent that they developed their own schools of magic. All of the Runelords were specialist wizards. They recognized seven schools of magic (lumping divination magic into the universal school), and each school was associated with one of the seven sins. A Thassilonian wizard selected one sin when he became a specialist, and that determined his prohibited schools, as detailed below.

Envy
Focused on the suppression of magic other than your own.
Specialty: abjuration
Prohibited Schools: evocation and necromancy

Sloth
Focused on calling agents and minions to perform your deeds for you, or used magic to create what you needed as you needed it.
Specialty: conjuration
Prohibited Schools: evocation and illusion

Lust
Focused on using magic to control and dominate others to force them to satisfy your desires, and in the control of other creatures' minds, emotions, and wills.
Specialty: enchantment
Prohibited Schools: necromancy and transmutation

Wrath
Focused on the destructive powers of magic, and the use of magic to channel destructive forces.
Specialty: evocation
Prohibited Schools: abjuration and conjuration

Pride
Focused on using magic to perfect your own appearance and your domain through trickery and illusions.
Specialty: illusion
Prohibited Schools: transmutation and conjuration

Gluttony
Focused on the use of magic to manipulate the physical body in order to maintain an unending thirst for continued life.
Specialty: necromancy
Prohibited Schools: enchantment and abjuration

Greed
Focused on the use of magic to transform things into objects of greater value or use, and for the enhancement of the physical self.
Specialty: transmutation
Prohibited Schools: enchantment and illusion

The Big Bad End Guy

Although Rise of the Runelords touches upon many different aspects of the ancient empire of Thassilon and its evil rulers, we knew from the start that we wanted to focus on one Runelord as the main bad guy for the campaign. Not only is it better to have a single villain for PCs to obsess over and hate, but by leaving the other six Runelords more or less undeveloped, we're leaving lots of room for further expansion to this Adventure Path and our campaign setting as a whole. We also knew that, in order to realize his evil plot, this Runelord would be harvesting the souls of creatures that had succumbed to his favored sin.

But still—which sin to pick?

Wrath seemed like the obvious choice, because who can't get behind an explosion-launching bad guy who has fire for blood and lightning for hair? (That's probably a little over the top, but you get the idea.) Wrath certainly fit well with the giants we wanted to use, but it broke down when you applied the themes to the second adventure, which requires a group of murderers who are murdering prominent citizens. If we went with wrath, they'd just be killing themselves off.

So then we looked at lust. Also a great sin to build a villain off of, and it certainly works well with the second adventure in a Jack the Ripper sort of way. But then we get back to our giants. These guys are huge menacing brutes. Not really known for being sexy and what not. So lust was out the window too (though it shows up in the GameMastery module Seven Swords of Sin).

That was when we hit upon greed. With the Runelord of greed, we had a big bad end guy who had a built-in way to tempt and gain his minions; he was filthy rich. Giants are certainly easy to see as greedy, and having our murderers stalking and killing merchants and politicians (and maybe even adventurers like the PCs!) worked perfectly. It also gave us some interesting options when designing his look. Gemstones embedded in his knuckles and forehead! Tattoos made out of gold! And if we do our job right, and our Runelord of greed ends up being a really effective villian, you get to see the looks of worry on your players' faces when, at the end of the Adventure Path, you remind them that there are six more Runelords still out there. Runelords associated with far more violent sins than greed…

And that's how we ended up with Karzoug, Runelord of Greed, becoming the first megavillian of Pathfinder. That's him up near the top of this page. He's lookin' pretty good for a guy who's probably over a thousand years old, eh?

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Cover illustration for volume 2. Click to enlarge.

What's Pathfinder All About?

Thursday, April 19, 2007

By this time, you've probably heard all about Pathfinder, Paizo's brand-new Adventure Path series. (If you haven't, of course, you should drop whatever you're doing and go check out paizo.com/pathfinder.) Yet even now that you know what's going to be in Pathfinder, you're probably wondering what it's all about. The vision behind it. Where its heart's at. And to answer that, we've brought in James Jacobs, Pathfinder's Editor-in-Chief. Says James:

"Pathfinder's at once the most exciting and the scariest thing I've worked on here at Paizo. On one hand, it's a chance to dive headfirst into a brand-new world and craft a story from scratch for you to run your players through. And on the other… it's a chance to dive headfirst into a brand-new world and craft a story from scratch for you to run your players through. There's no convoluted canon or established game history to work around and make sure that we've got right, but that also means there's no awesome nostalgia or tradition to build off of. We have to start completely from scratch... right?

"Well, not quite. There are still an awful lot of classic monsters and other material we can use in the SRD. And while we can't really build directly off of established canon, we can certainly draw upon themes from the early days. We can also do the same thing that Gygax, Kuntz, Arneson, and the others did back at the game's dawning—we can draw upon real world myth. So as you read through Pathfinder's first Adventure Path and begin to uncover the sinister conspiracy that has driven the stone giants of the Storval Plateau to war, you might also see a few familiar names and themes from real-world myth popping up now and then, like Lamashtu, Baba Yaga, the seven deadly sins, and even Asmodeus.

Welcome to Varisia!

"The first step to building a new Adventure Path was a doozy, though For Pathfinder, we didn't have the luxury of a pre-existing game world to set our campaign in. Before I could even start writing the first adventure to Rise of the Runelords, I needed a world to set it in.

It all started with Erik Mona building up an enormous T-shaped map over the course of several sheets of graph paper. What he ended up with was several continents; way too much room for a single campaign. So I chose one relatively small (small as in "about the size of California") section of his map and started filling in the blanks. At the same time, the rest of the Pathfinder team—F. Wesley Schneider and James Sutter—and I began to work out the plotline for the inaugural Adventure Path: Rise of the Runelords. To a certain extent, the shape of this new region was dictated by the plot we came up with: we needed a mountain range to rival the Himalayas, a vast cliff face stretching hundreds of miles, and remnants from an ancient empire.

The result is the realm of Varisia.

During the course of Rise of the Runelords, we'll visit six major locations on the map of Varisia, including two cities, two legendary mountains, a fortress of giants, and a lost city. Yet those account for only six dots on a map—at current count, Varisia's got approximately 40 locations (including cities like lawless Riddleport and ruins like sinister Brinewall) and 20 sub-regions (including the inhospitable Mushfens, haunted Ashwood, and the giant-ruled Storval Plateau) waiting to be explored. Some of these might get some exposure in Rise of the Runelords, others will be the focus of GameMastery modules, and some are destined to be the stars of future Pathfinder Adventure Paths. But the point isn't to build just what we need for the next few Paizo releases—there's enough adventure in Varisia to set dozens of campaigns.

"Over the next several days, I'll be revealing more about Varisia, Rise of the Runelords, and other exciting developments on the Pathfinder front here on this blog. Want a taste? Then check out these notes I've jotted down for one of those mysterious locations on the regional map of Varisia—the remote island of Chorak's Rest.

Chorak's Rest

Although the Varisians have no name for this tiny and remote island, the giants of the Gnasher Mountains do. They call the place Chorak's Rest, after the legendary warlord said to be buried in a great tomb there. The giants of the Storval Plateau were not always the barbarians they are today; this much is obvious from even a brief perusal of the texts stored in the History Wing of the Great Library of Magnimar. Yet the giants of Chorak's Rest seem to have retained more of the old ways than their brutish cousins in the Gnashers. Whispers hint that these island giants are the descendants of King Chorak's honor guard, and that they've remained guardians for the past several centuries, preventing approach to the island by giant and human alike. Boats attempting to land on the island are quickly bombarded with boulders and spears, and aerial approaches are shot down with massive ballista bolts carved with strange runes or blasted from the sky by bolts of lightning. Yet for all these defenses, none have approached close enough to determine what, exactly, is behind this prodigious defense. What awaits the lucky (unlucky?) souls who finally manage to reach the island's shores is unknown, but many treasure seekers are sure it would be well worth the trouble.

For daily news breaks, sneak previews, and behind-the-scenes insight into Pathfinder, the GameMastery product line, and other Paizo projects, stay tuned to this blog!