Cartmanbeck's Best Character Ever—Alahazra

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Hello all! I've been reading the "Best Character Ever" blogs for a while. Watching. Waiting. Biding my time until I got the perfect chance to explain why every one of them has been completely and utterly wrong (except Tanis's: goblins are pretty cool, after all.) [I did not add that aside, but I applaud the author's good sense. -Tanis] But even goblins do not compare to the awesome might that is Alahazra.

If those white and red robes remind you of a certain classic video game character... trust me, she's not quite so forgiving.

Alahazra, the iconic oracle, made her first Adventure Card Game appearance in the Skull & Shackles Base Set. She may look weak at first, with her paltry d4s for Strength and Dexterity, but she sees things that others can't, and uses that information to beat down on enemies, acquire cards, and close locations like a boss. You see, S&S Alahazra has a d12 for her Charisma, and she also uses that for her Divine checks. This means that when it's time to cast an offensive spell, she's often going to deal a ton of damage, especially with her final power giving her an extra +2 on all spells that have the Attack trait. She also has a great chance of recharging her spells with that high Divine check... but even when she fails a recharge check, she gets to trade any discarded card with the Divine trait for any other one (so a blessing for a spell, perhaps?) at the end of her turn.

Alahazra's other main power is the ability to recharge a card with the Divine trait to examine the top card of any location. This means that Alahazra can scout for everyone as long as she has a few blessings or spells in her hand that she doesn't mind recharging. (And she starts with 2/3 of her deck being spells and blessings!) In my playthrough of Skull & Shackles, I found that a perfect turn for Alahazra entailed recharging enough cards to look at the top card of every location deck, leaving just a spell in her hand, and then exploring and hopefully killing a monster with that spell.

Now, I'm not going to try to act like Alahazra has no weaknesses. If she's dealt damage, since she starts with no armor, she'll usually be taking all of that damage from her large hand size. With her ability to fish Cure spells back out of her discard pile, though, this generally doesn't end up being a huge problem. Our S&S Damiel was at risk of dying way more often than my Alahazra was. (Though our Damiel player was a fan of living dangerously... this might be an Alchemist trait.)

If Alahazra isn't gazing into the stars, she might as well be destroying them.

For roles, I'm going to start with the Tempest. This role is all about damaging enemies with her spells. In fact, she likes spells that have the Attack trait so much, she can even cast Arcane spells as long as they have that trait! She also adds up to 4 to each of her combat checks when using the Attack trait, so she can dole out some serious punishment.

But while Alahazra's Tempest role is great, her Stargazer role is absolutely amazing! This role gives her several powers that build upon her examine ability, allowing her to recharge cards for other characters or—and this is the important one—encounter boons that she examines at any location! This means that, for the price of recharging a blessing or a Divine spell, Alahazra can examine a card at another location, and if it's a boon, she can attempt to acquire it. If she makes the check, awesome, new boon for her! But even if she fails the check, she has just removed a card from the top of another location deck without risking fighting a monster. By the end of Skull & Shackles, my Alahazra was spending her whole turn recharging blessings to rip boons off the top of every deck, leaving all the monsters for other combatants to face.

The Skull & Shackles version of Alahazra was amazing, the best character I've ever played... and now in the Oracle Class Deck, we're getting a NEW version of her! This Alahazra is tougher and more combat-oriented than the S&S version, so I imagine she'll appeal to a different group of players. Don't worry, though, she still has the ability to examine cards and scout ahead.

Just as beautiful, and even more deadly.

This new version of Alahazra still has paltry d4s for her Strength and Dexterity, but her Constitution is a respectable d8, as is her Intelligence. She still has a bonus to Knowledge, which will be very helpful if you play her through Season of the Righteous, and her awesome d12 Charisma with +2 Divine bonus is still there in all its glory. However, this time Alahazra can shirk other Attack spells to use her own holy fire on enemies, getting a respectable 1d12 + 2d4+2 right off the bat by discarding the top card of her deck. This means you can feel free to load her deck up with Cure spells to get all those discarded cards back without worrying about whether you have the resources to fight.

Oracle Deck Alahazra still has a power that involves examining cards, and in this case it lets her examine an extra card whenever she examines. This pairs incredibly nicely with the promo card that came with the Alahazra mini in Pathfinder Battles: Iconic Heroes Set 3, allowing her to examine yet another extra card. Make sure to pick up an Augury spell!

It may not be comfortable, but at least it's lighter than Shardra's!

The last power listed on Alahazra's card uses a new term you might not have seen before: "invokes". The term will be familiar to those playtesting the upcoming Mummy's Mask Base Set, but this is the first time a card bearing the word is seeing the light of day. A check invokes a trait if it has or is against a card that has that trait, so if either your check or the card you're encountering has the trait, you're good. A bane invokes a trait if it has that trait or if it deals only damage of the type that matches that trait.

As you can see, this "invokes" power applies to Alahazra's first power, letting her burn evil away with her holy fire and then move away afterward. Perhaps you examined the top three cards of your current location, saw a monster that you could easily destroy, but then found an important boon that Alahazra just doesn't have the correct skill to acquire? Just kill off that pesky monster and move away to another location to explore some more, leaving that sweet magic pistol for Lirianne to pick up on her turn instead.

Before I leave you, let's examine one of Class Deck Alahazra's roles. This happens to be my favorite of her two new roles: the Wandering Prophet.

When Alahazra shows up in your village, you should probably ask her about your future. It might just save your life.

Why do I like this role? Well, mostly because it brings back some of that seer-y goodness that I loved so much about her in Skull & Shackles. First off, you don't always have to discard a card to use your holy fire anymore—if it's a spell or a blessing, you get to recharge it instead (and let's face it, most of her deck is going to be made up of spells and blessings). She also gets to move other characters when she invokes the Fire trait, which is useful. But it's those new powers at the bottom that I'm most excited about. First, you get to evade barriers, which are in all honesty a challenge for both incarnations of Alahazra. You can even let other characters evade barriers eventually.

My favorite new power, though, is that examine power. You get to examine the top card of your location deck, at the end and eventually also the start of your turn, at no cost. Combine this with her earlier power (and her headdress!), and you're examining most of the deck in just a few turns. You can plan out every step of your turn before encountering a single card!

Now I know you can agree that Alahazra is the best character ever. She doesn't need brute strength, fancy weapons, or armor. She knows what's coming before it arrives, and can prepare herself accordingly. She can look into the future and see the answer to a question before it is asked... and when necessary, she can rain down some serious divine wrath on an enemy or two. As much as I love Lini, and as much as I'm looking forward to seeing Ramexes in action, the best character ever released (so far) for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game is, without question, Alahazra.

Tyler Beck
Freelance Writer and Human Geneticist Extraordinaire

I Made You a Wereshark But it Eated You

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Welcome to the final blog of Skull & Shackles! Yay! You did it! You made it to the final adventure, Skull & Shackles Adventure Deck 6: From Hell's Heart, and it's basically the best thing since sliced bread. Scratch that, I don't really like bread... it's the best thing since Grumpy Cat. Yeah, it's really that good.

Anyway, I'm really excited for you to play these scenarios and I'm really excited to be done writing blogs for a while. Like, so glad that I don't remember that there's a blog to write until the night before I have to hand it over. Zomg, editors who deal with me are the best people ever. EVER. Anyway, this is my last chance to make you all read about a bunch of nonsense mixed in with some useful info about Skull & Shackles. These are the things you need to know about RIGHT MEOW that may or may not be related to the game in any way.

1. Mangroves: These are the most amazing and remarkable plants. They do so much for our world and have been getting destroyed at an alarming rate. Seriously, learn about them and help protect them.
2. This video of Billy Eichner, Michelle Obama, and Big Bird.
3. GameStorm: Some number of us (including me) will be at this convention in the middle of March. Come see us and play games!

All right, now that that's out of my system, let's get into the part where I talk about the game.

OSS (Obligatory Shark Section)

We now live in a post-Left Shark world. If you didn't watch the Superb Owl (bwahahaha, I'm such a hoot!) and also didn't watch the halftime show (which was a hoot-and-a-half!) and somehow you live under a gigantic rock and missed out on the whole Left Shark phenomenon, let me teach you about that.

This is the video of the whole show. Now, if you're smart, you'll just watch the whole thing. But if you're pressed for time you can skip ahead to 4:23. And bask in the glory of the sharks. BASK, I SAY! Anyway, this caused me to purchase some cookie cutters and learn that I am as bad at frosting cookies as Left Shark is at memorizing dance sequences.

After I made three abominations, I decided an eye and a frown were enough frosting.

But anyway, we now live in a world that has seen the glory of the Left Shark and because of that (and because last time you didn't get a shark in the shark section) consider this an Obligatory Super Sized Shark Section! OSSSS!

Is it a man? Is it a shark? EVEN BETTER, IT'S BOTH!

It's a Wereshark Pirate. Is this not the best? Well, I guess it's not the best if you aren't ready for a fight. You can't evade Wereshark Pirates, and if the top card of the blessings discard pile isn't a Blessing of the Gods, well, you can kiss that 26 goodbye because now it's a 32. Whoa. You also better have your buckles swashed because if your check to defeat doesn't have the Swashbuckling trait, the Wereshark Pirate won't be impressed with you and he'll knock the top card off the blessings deck. Not cool, brah.

And if that wasn't enough shark for you... here's another!

RWARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRCHOMP

I could hear you guys through the Internet before I even finished writing this and I know half of you were like, "Bawbawbaw, the Wereshark Pirate is too easy" and so I got you this. Good old Cap'n Riptooth. Like the normal Wereshark Pirate, he cannot be evaded and if the top card of the blessings discard pile is not a Blessing of the Gods, the difficulty is increased by 6. So, that could bump him from a 28 then 32, to a 34 then 38. THEN. Did you see that "then"?! DID YOU? Well, it's there. Anyway, there's that. And then there's also that last power. "Before attempting each check, randomly choose another character at your location" is almost never the start of something good. Maybe this time you'll be lucky and that will end with "to recharge a card from their discard pile." Except you aren't lucky and that doesn't happen. What actually happens is that the chosen character recharges a card and their Strength die is the amount by which you increase the difficulty of the first check against ol' Rippy—pardon me, Cap'n Rippy—as he picks up that character and bashes him into you. And then you do that again for the second check. Best case scenario, nobody is there and nothing happens. Worst case scenario, you're standing next to Oloch and the difficulty is increased by d12. Oofda. Of course, maybe Oloch is standing next to you and you're Lem and Oloch can take on one of these checks and only add d4 points of Lem-bashing. Still, that's a whole lotta nonsense, isn't it? Good luck!

Ok, for the two of you out there who still feel like this shark section isn't super sized enough, maybe this will convince you.

YOU get a shark head, and YOU get a shark head, and YOU GET A SHARK HEAD!

It's less scary if it feels like Oprah is giving you the shark heads, right? I don't think she can do anything about the tentacles, though. Anyway, this is a Lusca. It comes with three checks. THREE. And boy is it a real jerk if it is undefeated. Everybody at your location gets damage and then (there's that pesky "then" again!) everybody better make a Constitution or Fortitude 11 check, which should totally be easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy because this is Adventure 6, or bury 1d4 cards from the top of his or her deck. Yipes. I hope you put your shark-beating pants on this morning.

Other Sweet Stuff

This set has more ridiculous things than a Lusca has heads and tentacles. Seriously, trying to narrow down cards to show you is harder here than it has ever been before. So I'm going to show you one scary thing and one happy thing. Scary first.

Dear reader, meet Brinebones. Brinebones, meet your snack.

I love Brinebones. I don't think he counts as a scary thing to show you but that's because he and I are pals. And I'm totally sane. At any rate, he's kind of terrifying. 32 then 32 is no joke. And neither are those immunities. Least jokey of all is the damage he is going to deal to characters at the randomly occupied location that get chosen. You want to know the real reason Brinebones zaps you? He just wants to give you a little jolt that makes you all jittery. That way, when he actually gets around to eating you, you're all spazzy in his mouth like Pop Rocks. True story.

And now for the happy!

*squee*

This wonderful little Baby Triceratops, who I have named Clompykins, just galumphs around giving you 3d6 to combat checks during an exploration. And then everybody at your location buries a card because THEY CAN'T HANDLE THE GALUMPH! Anyway, if you can't figure out that Clompykins is crazy useful when you know that a multi-check monster is ahead, then you don't deserve him. He'll stay with me. Clompykins likes me best anyway.

Scenario Learning Time!

Here we are in the penultimate scenario of Skull & Shackles. You have no idea how much I wanted to show you what was in store for you in "Last Stand of the Hurricane King" but I really think it's important for you to be scared and excited and all the emotions when you open the box at home. So, again, penultimate scenario. This is a good one to show you though. You've already met Brinebones who plays an exciting role here. Before we get back to him, let's introduce you to my favorite lounge band, Tsadok Goldtooth and the Draugr Captains!

He may be a half-orc barbarian pirate, but he sure is a sharp-dressed one!

Mr. Goldtooth is not here to make friends or help people. In fact, before anything else happens, two of the characters at your location are going to be dealt 1d4+1 Ranged Combat damage. This is a lot more fun if there's a group of you and you're all bunched together because let's face it, when there are two or fewer of you, "two random characters" becomes a whole lot less random. And don't even think about using your spells on him, as that Arcane and Divine stuff is just a nuisance to him and makes everything more difficult. And of course, whether not you succeed at those two checks to defeat, he's going to pick two more random people to deal some Ranged Combat damage to.

At least this guy only has one check to defeat?

Remember how you're really good at this game and you got yourself a perfect hand for dealing with big fights? Well, the Draugr Captain doesn't. You can just go ahead and recharge all but one of those perfect cards and draw as many as you recharged. Now, instead of that hand that you knew exactly how to use, you've got a bunch of cards you didn't plan on having. Unless of course you didn't have any cards left in your deck. Then you'll just draw all the cards you recharged. That's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for you. (Pro-tip: It probably doesn't, but good for you with that high-risk, high-reward craziness!)

Now, I know you're thinking that dealing with Tsadok Goldtooth and the Draugr Captains seems pretty straightforward. And some of you probably thought, "That sounds easy" which is why we are BRINGING THE WRATH OF BRINEBONES DOWN UPON YOU. You won't know when and you won't know where.

That's right, while you're busy trying to close locations and corner the villain, Brinebones is lurking inside the blessings deck. He could show up at any time and there's no limit to how many times he might show up. Brinebones has an all-access pass to watching you fumble around trying to shank Tsadok Goldtooth. Isn't it terrifying to know that on any turn it doesn't matter where you are or what you have in your hand because Brinebones might show up and turn you into his latest round of Pop Rocks? I think it's glorious.

I think this is a good place to end this blog. It's been a pleasure writing for all of you and I hope that the end of Skull & Shackles is as fun for you to play as it was for us to write!

May the winds blow favorably upon you!

Gaby Weidling
Totally Sane Adventure Card Game Developer

Shiver Me Timbers, It's Cold in Here!

Tuesday, January 27, 2014

Ahoy, me hearties! It's been a while since I've written something for you scabrous dogs... since last year in fact! (That's my stupid New Year's joke, which is something I will try to refrain from doing for the rest of this blog. No promises, though.) Anyway, I'm super stoked about what's in adventure deck five—it's the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: The Price of Infamy Adventure Deck—so there will be none of my usual blah blah blah at the beginning of this post because the less I write here, the sooner we get to the sweet stuff. Onward to the Obligatory Shark Section!

OSS (Obligatory Shark Section)

I have a confession to make. A long time ago, I told you there was a shark in every adventure. That was maybe not totally true. There is no shark here. However, there is something even better. Something so good it deserves its very own one-time super special deluxe section. Ready?

Do you want to build a Galvo?

I have another confession. I just saw Frozen. No really, not like you, who watched it last week for the fifteenth time. I just saw Frozen FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FOREVER. And by forever I mean, for the first time ever. EVER. So, there's gonna be a little bit of that going on in here. I'm sorry, but I won't stop. Honestly, I probably couldn't even if I wanted to because holy sea cucumber, those songs are catchy. So, on to the Galvo...

Question: Is anything greater than a mass of electric eels that forms a humanoid shape and works together to destroy things it doesn't like?
Answer: No.

The Galvo is my favorite thing in all of Skull & Shackles. Just like the Wendigo is my favorite from Rise of the Runelords (#teamwendigo4evs). But what makes the Galvo so great? Everything. My love of galvos began when I read this line from The Price of Infamy, "There is no true Galvo society." I mean, how do you not love that? Anyway, it just gets better from there. Baby galvos are called "tangles," which is stupid cute. I mean, seriously.

So, what about the actual card? Well, you've got that "before you act" check. Yeah, Galvos sometimes just spring out of the water and attack people, kind of like—SPOILERS!—Azog in the newest Hobbit. Seriously, if you didn't see that Jaws moment coming, well, I'm very disappointed. We have you make a Dexterity or Acrobatics check to see if you can dodge that, or you'll be taking a little bit of damage. ZAP! And of course, there's that swarm power. Galvos are nothing if not persistent. I think they get that from Malvo. Fargo on FX, anyone? (Watch it, seriously, so good. It's also got a Hobbit in it.)

I could talk about Galvos for probably an entire blog but I should move on to some of the other sweet stuff this adventure contains. Anyway, you'll know me at a convention if you see me wearing a Galvo Society shirt. But you can't join because there is no true Galvo Society. I'm the only member.

Other Sweet Stuff

There's a lot to love (and be afraid of) in this adventure. Here are a few more things you should keep your eye out for.

Albatrosses are better than people... just like reindeer!

The good news is, the Albatross allows you to defeat a non-villain bane. The bad news is, it flies away and you have to bury 1d4 cards from the top of your deck. If you don't get why the Albatross does you some harm, you should read "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" which honestly, you should read anyway, because it's amazing. You get 5 Cool Points if you've already read it, and 3 if you read it after reading this.

A man goes to a restaurant and orders albatross soup. He takes one bite and immediately kills himself. Why?

I have to confess, Mike and I really wanted this card in the game because we're really big into puzzles and riddles, not because there is some big part of the Skull & Shackles story centered around albatross soup. [Mike says: Click at your peril.] That doesn't mean this card is something you don't need to take seriously, though. You will banish or bury at least one card when dealing with this. Banishing one of your allies will make this go away, but banishing your friends isn't very nice. They're your friends, so why would you do that? Or, you could just bury the top card of your deck and really hope you don't blow it when you try to make the Constitution or Fortitude check and also hope that the card you bury isn't that one card that you need that would make everything totally groovy, if you had it. If you bury, roll, and lose, even more people will get to decide how they deal with this troubling soup.

Groot + cigar = Kapre. Sort of.

Kapres are basically the cigar-smoking tree-huggers of Skull & Shackles. No, literally, they can meld with trees, which is basically the ninja level of tree-hugging. These guys go around smoking cigars and defending nature. How badass is that? Very. Anyway, if you wander into some Kapre territory, they blow some cigar smoke at you and you get all confounded and wander away, leaving the nature natural. Plus, you can use your Charisma or Diplomacy to befriend the Kapre, but even though the Kapre likes you now, its cigar smoke is still enough to persuade you to just leave the location you're at. If you're not wise and just blunder around ruining the Kapre's territory, it's gonna deal you damage, and if you're smart, you'll get the heck outta Dodge after that. I like the Kapre, and I think you should not fight them and instead be their friends.

Scenario Info

There are some things that are just better when served cold. Ice cream, for one. I'll be honest with you, I pretty much like almost all leftovers cold and unheated. Spaghetti, pad thai, mattar paneer, pretty much anything goes. Unless it's supposed to be crispy, then you gotta heat that in the oven. There's one other thing that is also better cold: revenge. Why all this talk of serving things cold? Well, it just so happens that the name of the scenario I'll be telling you about today is called "Best Served Cold." And it's pretty bonkers.

You best get ready to buckle some swashes. There are some scary things ahead.

Replacing all the allies with monsters isn't really what you want. Less friends, more baddies? NO THANK YOU. Although, it does mean you have better chances of finding a Galvo, which I think is great. And after all I've told you about Galvos, don't you want to meet one? No? Well, you're wrong. Stop being wrong and get with the Galvo program.

We also have three named henchman plus the Erinyes Devils. Let's meet them now, shall we?

This is Luccaria and she doesn't like you.

Luccaria basically isn't interested in dealing with you until she has to. As in, unless there are basically no cards besides her in a location, she's going to do some damage to you and dip out until later. Once you manage to get her to pay attention long enough to fight you, she's going to be real unhappy about any of your Divine spell nonsense. Bury ‘em. And then beat Luccaria, so she goes away forever.

This guy gives me some serious heebie-jeebies.

Gilbrok's a bit of a fixer-upper. Nobody gave him etiquette lessons when he was a kid, so he doesn't know it's rude to stick his tongue out like that. Also, it's seriously icky. If you aren't Swashbuckling when you go after Gilbrok, you won't scare him with your piratical prowess, and you'll have to subtract 1 from each die you roll. Oofda. And then, when you don't defeat him because his freaky-deaky tongue throws you off your game, you'll get to encounter one of these curses.

Curse is pirate for "wah wah."

It's just better if you can beat Gilbrok, so he goes away forever.

This Kipper is very different from the dog in the children's cartoon. Very different.

There's a children's cartoon out there with a dog named Kipper, and it's about this sweet little dog and his friends. This Kipper is not sweet. And you've read about his friends—they're jerks. This Kipper shoots first and doesn't ask questions later. He's doesn't care who you are or where you are. When somebody runs into him, he's just gonna shoot someone. Not cool, dude. Plus, if you don't impress him with your swashbuckliness on your check to defeat, any damage he deals to you is going to be increased by 6. It's probably best for you to avoid Kipper if you can, or just pound him into the ground, so he's gone forever.

Bye bye, blessings!

When we were writing this game months and months ago, we needed to add another power to the Erinyes Devil, and I suggested that perhaps these Divine-hating ladies should banish any of your boons with the Divine trait. And now they do. Oops. #sorrynotsorry. I am sorry that I just used #sorrynotsorry, though. Anyway, watch out for the Erinyes Devils. Hopefully, you can fight them without needing help from your friends. By the way, if I was in your party, I probably wouldn't help you. Those are my blessings, and I worked hard to get them, and I'm not gonna banish them just cause you bumped into an Erinyes Devil. This game is more cooperative for some than it is for others. Anyway, smash the devil, and send her away forever.

You may have notice by now that there are lot of small confessions in this blog. Well, I have one more. When I told you that you should get rid of Luccaria, Gilbrok, Kipper, and the Erinyes Devils, I was maybe sort of not telling you everything. When I said they would go away forever, what I meant was "they will go in a henchman pile, and when you encounter Barnabas Harrigan, each character will have to summon and encounter one of them." That's pretty much the same thing, right?

Ring, ring, ring, ring Barnabasphone!

So, even though those henchman are really awful to fight, it's still probably better to deal with one of them than to have to deal with Barnabas. First, you're going to have to succeed at a Wisdom or Perception 14 check or the checks to defeat him are going to be increased by 6. And you've lost the opportunity to evade him. Then, before any check to defeat him—note: there are 2—you must recharge an armor or 1d4 other cards. And if you were dumb enough to think you could go barging up to Barnabas with a big group of friends, you have to discard those cards instead. Yipes. Then, when you're done with all that and you've made checks to defeat him—which, let's be honest, you probably failed—you have to knock some cards off the blessings deck. Or, if you're swashbuckly, just the top card. Yowza. Like I said earlier, lots to be excited about and lots to be afraid of.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this blog and have been enjoying the game. I know I did. I also have one last confession for you. Best Served Cold might be our revenge against all you who said the game was too easy.

Until next time, you salty sea dogs! I gotta go sing more botched Frozen lyrics to myself.

Gaby Weidling
Adventure Card Game Developer

[Mike says: Seriously, Gabs, let it go.]

Season of the Shackles: The Halfwayish Point

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The inaugural season of the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild is underway, and players across the globe are testing their mettle against not-so-lone sharks and a very frisky dragon turtle. Curious about the story so far? You’ve come to the right place!

Before I get to that, though, you should be aware that weekly scenario downloads will resume in January, as the goblins in the Paizo workshop take a much-needed holiday.

Beware, me hearties—story spoilers for Adventure #1 of Season of the Shackles lurk below.

Adventure 1 begins with normal, friendly, totally not-a-pirate you, innocently hiring passage on a Shackles ship for what you thought was a, well, perhaps not a three-hour tour, but a nice safe voyage from island to island. The ship’s navigator, one Jemma Redclaw, had other plans.

She seemed friendly. No hint of dastard to be seen.

Your first night aboard, as you slept the sleep of the naive, Redclaw and her hand-picked band of sailors mutinied. You woke up on a pirate ship as esteemed guests. Guests who were forced to participate in a seemingly endless series of near-fatal encounters with sharks, a brine dragon, a disgusting undead former captain, sharks, every angry animal on this side of the world, a lady who seemed to be one-third octopus, one-third seacat, and one-third humanoid. You’ll be having nightmares about that last one for a while.

After dispensing with Captain Redclaw and her scurrilous band, you realized that a pirate’s life can be a good one. You’ve got your own ship, your own crew (who seem to understand the laws of personal hygiene in a way that Redclaw’s mates, unfortunately, did not), and your eye on the horizon.

Next week, we’ll talk about Love Plots and the naming of scenarios.

Before we go, though, a note from Vic Wertz about Skull & Shackles Adventure Deck 4:

Due to a printer error, adventure deck 4 of Skull & Shackles, Island of Empty Eyes, included 6 copies of the henchman Gholdako and 1 copy of the henchman Ghol-Gan Obelisk; it should have had 6 Ghol-Gan Obelisks and 1 Gholdako. And due to our own error, it has 1 fewer Blink Spider than you’ll need when you have 6 players.

We’re going to solve this problem by making a pack of cards that includes 5 Ghol-Gan Obelisks, 1 Blink Spider, and—in the interest of turning lemons into lemonade—The Land of the Blind, a brand-new scenario that makes use of those extra Gholdako cards.  We’ll be providing that for free to customers who purchased Island of Empty Eyes from paizo.com, and we’ll also be sending copies through our distributors as well. With luck, we’ll have them in time to send them out along with January’s release of Adventure Deck 5, The Price of Infamy.

In the meantime, when you play the scenario "Home Sweet Home," we suggest proxying with Buccaneers (that is, setting the Ghol-Gan Obelisk to the side, adding Buccaneers to the location decks instead, and referring to the Obelisk whenever you find a Buccaneer).

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Feast Your Eyes on the Island of Empty Eyes (and the Feast of Spoils)!

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Once upon a time, there was a girl who had to write a blog. And she really didn't want to because she was sick and could only see out of one eye and because it was Thanksgiving morning. She turned on the parade (because that would help productivity, obvs) and things didn't get any better. Apparently "parade" now means listening to the hosts attempt to make witty banter in between random performances of Broadway songs. She had signed up for giant balloons and marching bands, not this random showcase of songs from Broadway shows that paid money to be featured. She had reached the point where she was a) angry at a parade and b) had not actually written more of her blog because she was TOO BUSY BEING ANGRY AT A PARADE. Great Googly Moogly! Just as she realized that the marching bands and balloons probably hadn't reached the witty banter station and the performances were just filler until then, the marching bands and balloons showed up. And she lived happily ever after and kindly elves wrote her blog for her.

By now you've probably figured out that I am the girl in that (mostly true) story. And you're thinking, "Surely you weren't sick on Thanksgiving or dividing your attention between work and fun?! And surely-er, you wouldn't be the sort of person who gets mad at parades?" Sadly for me, the part about being sick and the part about being a person who gets mad at parades is true and the part about kindly elves finishing my writing is a complete fabrication.

Even with many of these things being true (I mean, seriously, what kind of person yells at their TV because the parade is wrong?!), it is still the holiday season and there are still many things to be thankful for. I'm going to focus on things related to the Adventure Card Game because that's what we're here to talk about. I am extremely thankful that you are taking some of your time to read this blog (even if you're only reading it to procrastinate doing work). And I'm thankful that you love this game that we all work so hard on (and I'm thankful I get to work on it!). I'm also thankful that it is my eye that is not working properly and not my fingers because that would make typing real tough. Enough with the warm fuzzies. Let's jump into the awesome stuff to look forward to.

Obligatory Shark Section

Hold on to your peg legs, kids—The Island of Empty Eyes has the biggest, baddest shark we've ever had!

She's got more teeth than you've got... well, anything.

This shark is not going to put up with any of your nonsense. None of it. And if you bring any nonsense, she's going to eat you and your ship. Speaking of eating...

Other Awesome Stuff Section

These are things to be thankful for. Even if some of them hurt you. And all of them are delicious. Or they find you delicious. Small details.

You guys ever listen to the Beach Boys? They actually put out a fantasy-themed album. It featured a track called "Koko, NO!" Seriously. They did.

(sing) Off the Fever Seeeeeeeeas, there's a tree called Koko, no! For the love of Besmara, stop pelting me with coconuts!!!

So, I love Koko. Koko lobs first, and asks questions later. And if you let her ask questions later, she'll just throw some more coconuts at you. It's not the best for people who intrude on Koko and her domain. If you've managed to keep your wits about you and have the wherewithal to use Fire against Koko, that'll help. But you better knock her out or it's more coconuts to the noggin' for you! When life, or Koko, gives you coconuts, there's only one thing to do. You put the lime in the coconut and drink 'em both up...

I don't know if you like dinosaurs as much as I do but if you're cool you probably like dinosaurs at least a little bit. So check this out—an entire location ALL ABOUT DINOSAURS! And a dinosaur Henchman!

Rampaging Triceratopses are just the buckin' broncos of the Dinosaur Corral. Yee-haw!

I hope you loaded up on Animal allies. And hopefully, you haven't been burying very many cards. If you don't have Animal allies to help you out and you've been burying cards left and right, who cares? Sweet dinosaur cards will make up for that! Unless you get eaten because that jolly little orange dinosaur finds you delectable. It's pretty hard to come back from being devoured. Your fault for being tasty!

There are also some good things in this set. I mean, I gotta give you some reasons to be thankful for the game. Check out this Saltbox.

A salty gun for a salty sea dog.

As you can imagine, this gun is similar to the Pepperbox (which is totally awesome, right?) except it's even better against monsters with the Aquatic trait. Because, just like a Pepperbox shoots pepper and makes things... um... sneeze, a Saltbox shoots salt and gets water things all shrivelly. Nevermind that they live in saltwater. That's none of your business.

Did I mention sweet dinosaur cards? This one is even friendly!

This is my Pteranodon and I shall call him Pterrence.

So, this flappy fellow will pick you up and drop you off somewhere else and let you explore. Plus, there's a d6 in it for you if you have to fight something. I'm pretty sure Pterrence's strategy is to make a loud, squawky sort of sound to distract your opponent. He doesn't really look like a biter. [Ed: I don't see any teeth in there. He must be a gulper.] Anyway, he's adorable and he helps you win. AND HE'S A DINOSAUR! Be careful though, he'll probably try to eat the pturkey at your Pthanksigiving dinner. His ptable manners leave something to be desired.

There's something else that fits in the category of awesome stuff, but I don't want to spoil the surprise. I don't use this word lightly (or ever, except for right now) but seriously, it's amazeballs. If things go well, it'll be the first thing you see when you open your boxes. I so wish I could see people's faces when that happens.

Scenario Preview AKA The Important Stuff

H'okay. So here we are in the part of the blog that is supposed to give you useful information and not just the ramblings of a crazy person.

These cards really make me want mustard.

By now you've realized that I'm going to walk you through The Feast of Spoils, which really is a feast of spoils. So many plunders! And some pretty ridiculous loot to boot. And all this food stuff is making me really hungry for our Thanksgiving feast. Probably I'm going to stop writing until after I eat. Food-coma writing is a little easier to understand than hunger-pang writing.

Some time later...

If you haven't noticed already, the blessings deck is a little wacky for this adventure. I am a big fan of messing with the blessings deck so I'm particularly excited for this. The Shipwrecks also happen to mostly be good things. You still get your turn (and who cares about any bad lycanthropes you might encounter on that turn—there's no blessing on top of the blessings discard pile to pump them up) and you get a chance to add some plunder to your ship. In a six-player game, that's eight chances! You might not hit them all if you burn through the game really fast, but you've got a good chance to add a fair amount of goodies for your party at the end of the scenario. Of course, if you don't succeed, you'll have to encounter The Pirate Council. You remember them, right?

The Pirate Council, or as I like to call them, the plunder plunderers.

Yeah, it's these guys again. Hopefully you don't fail at repairing a ship, and if you fail at that hopefully you don't fail at being charismatic or diplomatic. Just, don't fail. It's really that simple. So, that's just the nonsense with the blessings deck. Let's take a peek at what's actually happening in the rest of the locations.

The locations aren't anything to be too preoccupied with, but they will contain a Ruffian henchman or The Eel.

These guys are why we can't have nice things.

Eventually you'll get a few of the Ruffians out of the way and be able to finish off The Eel when you meet him. He clearly took lessons from Koko on how to lob stuff at you and your ship. Except he's not throwing coconuts. He's tossing bombs around like there's no tomorrow. If you aren't careful all that hard-earned plunder will just float away. So, be careful... which is like telling a triceratops not to rampage. Not as easy as it looks.

Anyway, here's hoping that was a fun preview of The Island of Empty Eyes and I'm crossing my fingers that your brain won't melt when you open it and see our special surprise for all of you. Oh, at the end of this scenario you'll get a class 4 ship feat, so I might as well show you one of the cool new ships.

Aren't you thankful for a ship full of werewolves? I know I am.

As always, thanks for reading and for those of you who celebrate, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends eating tasty foods (I know I enjoyed my Tofurky!) and playing some games. No, happy elves did not get me to finish this during the parade. I decided writing with a food coma would be a better choice. And since I don't have a clever piratical way to sign off...I'm just going to leave this here.

*mic drop*

Gary Gaby Weidling
Adventure Card Game Developer

Tips for Holiday PACG-ing

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Can you smell the season's tidings in the air? No, not the crisp-cold scent of pine logs in your neighbor's fireplace in the wintry morning breeze. It's the smell of fresh ink and cardstock. Welcome to that special time of year, boon and bane to gamers everywhere.

With BGG.CON behind us, we wave goodbye to another convention season as all the treasures they promised now appear in Friendly Local Game Stores across the land. Our arms are laden with new games to play and hope for a long snow day lingers on our bright, eager faces—board game season is here!

As holiday schedules wreak havoc on dedicated adventuring groups, there's treasure to be snatched from Old Man Winter's icy grip... if you dare! Or, to put it another way, no one wants to spend another family gathering sulking in the corner and searching her pudding for plums when there's adventuring to be done!

Tip 1: Play with Strangers! (or as strange as you can get)

Have you played PACG with strangers yet? I highly recommend it. It's the fun of Pathfinder in bite-sized, no-DM-needed pieces in a handy, portable box. Organized play through the Adventure Card Guild also has the magical power to be more fun than it should be, even with the most incongruous of game groups. This is where I could ramble on about the nuances of the cooperative game design principles that guided the game's development, but let's just say a wizard did it. And no, Mike Selinker is not actually a wizard. (He's a sorcerer—it's a nuanced but important distinction.)

One of the best parts of my job is getting to play games with all kinds of people. BGG.CON was especially delightful, getting to play with fans of the game and new players alike. I got to outrun ghosts with a power gamer whose character deck is tuned like a well-oiled machine. I hammered Hammerheads with a father and daughter pair who, much to their delight, won with a pirate (as Jirelle the swashbuckler) and uncovered buried treasure while sporting both an Eye Patch and a Parrot.

Little known fact: any single character can win Skull & Shackles by displaying perfect pirate fashion sense.

Tip 2: Try Organized Play

So your regular gaming group is in shambles this month because one does not simply incur the disappointment of grandmas. Or, locked in your wintry fortress, you've already played through the S&S adventures so far. Enter the glorious balm of Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild scenarios, played in your very own home!

Slip them into your Base Set on their own (for an off-the-books experience) or play with Class Decks and the Guide to Adventure Card Guild Organized Play. You can break out Card Guild scenarios for a quick dose of fresh PACG without the guilt of cheating on your regular adventuring group. Would Sir or Madam enjoy a shark-hunting rampage? Might I suggest Season of the Shackles Scenario 1-B: The Lone Shark?

Tip 3: Snow Day Marathon!

Forget the cold and gloom outside; spend your snow day with hot toddies and hours free to chase down villains all over the Shackles. How far can you get through the Skull & Shackles adventure path in one day?

Don't have a snow day? No problem. 'Tis the season for holing up with friends on a weekend once the gilded lights come down. (Who am I kidding? I consider it an accomplishment if I clear up the decorations by Valentine's.) Happy Board Game Season, everybody!

Liz Spain
Adventure Card Game Designer

Designing for the Adventure Card Game

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Greetings! I'm Liz Spain, the newest game designer press-ganged to join the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game design team. It's electrifying to work with such an amazing team and get to play with adapting such a rich world. You might know me as the mad mastermind behind the steampunk exploration game, Incredible Expeditions: Quest for Atlantis, which hits wide release in January.

Since the work I'm putting into the next set for the Pathfinder ACG remains tightly under secret protection by blood-oath and ninja guards, it seems like a good time to wax rhapsodic on game design.

Designing the Aesthetics of Gameplay

Even the thinkiest of games can be considered an aesthetic experience. The feeling of rolling smooth, cool dice, the laughs you share with friends, and the calculations you run in your head all add up to the experience of the game as a whole. A well-crafted game design builds highs and lows into the gameplay.

The first scenario of "The Wormwood Mutiny" executes this idea beautifully. The adventurers have finished the base scenarios; they've defeated a number of villains and scavenged some good equipment. Spirits are running high. Everyone's excited to open the box of Adventure 1 to continue kicking pirate butt. Instead the table goes quiet as they read the first scenario and it's implications become clear:

Where I come from, the DMs call this "a kick in the teeth." The tricks the players have learned won't help them here. Each person has only the one precious thing they managed to slip in a boot before being captured. A cadre of tough henchmen before you, with one card in hand you feel exposed and desperate. The sudden transition from the highs of finishing the base set to losing nearly everything is a cold-water shock. Starting with only one card in hand makes the stakes of every card draw more intense.

Suddenly, scavenging and cooperation are paramount to the group's survival. Of course, holding this tension is nerve-wracking, so, if successful, the characters ramp back up to their expected power quickly. If our heroes survive, they'll be all the stronger for it and proud of their victory. From high to low and back again. The timing of these feelings is something game designers work to create. And if they're really good, we experience it as a seamless whole, without ever realizing their intent. Mwah ha ha ha!

Events at Board Game Geek Con

Board Game Geek Con in Dallas starts tomorrow! I'll be at Paizo's area running demos and games of Skull and Shackles. We have brand new Organized Play scenarios to test even the briniest of souls, so bring your Class Decks along and get spiffy promo cards. See you there!

Liz Spain
Adventure Card Game Designer

Writing Flavor Text for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Flavor text is a critical storytelling tool in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, but we don't have room for a lot of it. In an RPG book, you can pontificate for pages on the cleverness of your plot, but in a card game, you've got a few lines at best to say what you need to say. Thankfully, we've got a lot of brilliant writers. I write some of the game's flavor text, with much more written by Brian Campbell, Wes Schneider, Jessica Price, and Rob McCreary, among others. I'll talk about mine, and maybe some of the other folks will chime in down the road. Here are some principles I use.

Principle 1: Set 'Em Up, Knock 'Em Down

When I have a limited amount of space, there's no trick more trustworthy than setting up a concept in your mind and then inverting it immediately thereafter. Here are three one-liners from role cards, from the Skull & Shackles Character Add-On Deck, Sorcerer Class Deck, and Wizard Class Deck.

Those are immensely satisfying to me, because the language bends to create alternate meanings. It can take a long time to make one of those work, but they're worth the effort.

Principle 2: Cross-Reference Like Mad

The big ol' dragon turtle Hirgenzosk is one of the most fearsome opponents in the card game. Henchmen don't generally get flavor text, though. But we want to make sure you know just how big Hirgy is. For that I circled back to him in Skull & Shackles Adventure Deck 3: Tempest Rising. Release the Kraken!

A couple things are happening here. First, now you know how big Hirgenzosk really is. Second, you know there's a wise fellow called the Master of the Gales, and you might want to meet him. He'll be waiting for you in Skull & Shackles Adventure Deck 6: From Hell's Heart.

Principle 3: Threaten the Reader

Some people think the highest goal of flavor text is making people laugh. I think the highest goal is to make people squirm. Here are a couple of different approaches to that, from the Skull & Shackles Base Set and Skull & Shackles Adventure Deck 2: Raiders of the Fever Sea.

Jirelle is a lot more subtle here than Seltyiel, but both are taking control away from you. The Thresher even attempts to intimidate you by suggesting you're losing something in the process of reading the card. It all works. After all, a little aggression never hurt anyone. Well, except for all the times it did.

Principle 4: Punch It, Chewie!

In the Class Decks, we introduced a bunch of characters who are not exactly the folks we want over for dinner. Necromancers, gamblers, and other reprobates are now available for play. The not-nicest of this crew are the aforementioned necromancer Darago from the Wizard Class Deck, and Wrathack, a half-orc angel-killer from the Ranger Class Deck.

That last line matters a ton. A punchline is crucial to exiting a card with the reader liking you. It's the reason you can have nice things.

Principle 5: When All Else Fails, Be a Goblin

I seem to have a natural aptitude for writing doggerel. My novel The Maze of Games* is filled with it, I write spell limericks and parody songs, and, every now and then, I get to be a goblin. Here's the retail promo card Goblin Weidling.

If you aspire to anything in life, make it getting paid to write things like that.

Mike Selinker
Pathfinder ACG Lead Designer

*Developed by Gaby, edited by Tanis. Because they're the best.

Bizarre Love Triangle Isn't Just a New Order Song Anymore

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Ahoy, me hearties! It seems like only yesterday that I wrote a blog for you, but here I am again. In actuality it was three weeks ago, but I have an incredibly bad concept of time that has passed so I had to check. And if you don't believe me, you can check here.

Anyway, we're nearly on to Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Skull & Shackles Adventure Deck 3: Tempest Rising! We're zipping through these adventures faster than a flying fish on uppers. As usual, I'll be sharing some of my favorite cards and giving you the inside scoop on one of our scenarios. But first, I must apologize. If I seem a little distracted to you, it's because I am. Somehow, a gigantic fly has gotten into my house and is buzzing around me. Every time I get focused, this fly dive bombs me and I flail around trying to bat it out of the air like some sort of drunk cat. And sometimes I drop my laptop. Le sigh. But this is what I go through to get you some insider info on Skull & Shackles. You may be thinking that it would just be better for me to head to a coffee shop down the street but that would be LETTING THAT BUZZY LITTLE JERK WIN. And that, I simply can't stand.

On to a happier place... sharks.

OSS (Obligatory Shark Section)

Dun... dun.

Dun... dun.

Dun dun dundundun. That's right, you scallywags, we've got a great white shark.

It might be easier on everyone if you just gave up now. This won't be getting any easier.

It make look like some blood vapors are escaping his mouth but I think he's been smoking some sort of weird hookah with red smoke. It's definitely not blood. Because the Great White Shark would never hurt you. Unless you encounter him. Which you will because you can't evade him. Wah wah. It's hard to be you, isn't it?

Some Other Totally Rad Stuff

The Great White Shark is as great as his name says, but there are some cards whose names aren't quite so obvious.

Look at him in his stripey pants, Look at him! LOOK AT HIM!

You're in serious denial if you don't admit to loving this Werecrocodile. You best hope the moon isn't out or ol' stripeypants is gonna take a little bit more to defeat. But, seeing as how he's a reptile, he's a little sensitive to the cold, and adding that trait to your check will help you a bit. Unless somebody gets him some mittens and a hat. He'd look pretty great with those though, right?

Right.

This scenario also features a new type of card. We call it a Curse but you'll likely give it a different name. Probably a curse word. Aahahaha. But seriously. Don't get stuck with one of these. I'm not going to say more about it because I think it pretty much speaks for itself.

This is not really what you want.

Up until now, Structural damage has sort of been a thing but it's been pretty manageable, right? The days of manageable Structural damage are over. This adventure has a lot of particularly nasty barriers that are all about the Structural damage. Take for instance, the Cannonade.

KABOOM!

Yes, dear readers, you read that correctly. The Cannonade is a Veteran barrier and you're not getting away without taking at least 2 Structural damage. That's not all, though! There are several more barriers just as nasty as this one. And a couple are even henchmen so you know you'll get to see them a bunch! Huzzah!

I admit, rubbing your face in those barriers was a little mean. So, here. Take a look at this loot blessing.

Monkey in a scarf alert!!!

There's something funny about those traits... what is it though? Oh right, it's our first blessing without the Divine trait. That's pretty crazy! And you might be able to play a second blessing on the check you use this on! And just look at all those ways to recharge this thing! This blessing should rock your socks. And if you're not wearing socks, put some on so you can have your socks rocked. For reals.

Bizarre Love Triangle

It's a story as old as time. Boy goes to grocery store. Girl goes to grocery store. They do their shopping, almost bumping into each other multiple times, but always just missing until they both reach for the same sea cucumber. Meet cute. Boy and Girl fall in love. Boy and Girl get in a fight. Boy and Girl take a break. Boy meets Gal. Boy and Girl upgrade break to break up. Boy gets house. Boy and Gal are happy. Boy ditches Gal to pursue other interests. Girl hates Boy. Gal loves Boy. Boy is busy pursuing other interests.

I know, I know. Right now you're thinking, "You silly goose in the rigging, that doesn't really seem bizarre at all." You know what? You're right. Aside from the fact that Boy, Girl, and Gal are all water nagas and "pursuing other interests" actually means "killing any people that cross his path," that story is not bizarre in any way.

Sorry, Shonda Rimes, this crazy drama is already taken.

So. Let's get down to business. What actually happens in this scenario? Well, if you'll note on the scenario card, there aren't real henchmen in this scenario. We just have you shuffle some random monsters (even more chances for Stripeypants to be encountered!) so closing locations will be a bit more challenging than normal. Plus, you have to get these three crazy kids in the same place so they can sort out their issues. That's right, this scenario is an intervention.

I can hear you scoffing through the internet, "So what if we have to burn through all the cards in a location deck and there are three villains? We're rockstars at this game!" Scoff no more, dear readers. Did you catch the part on the scenario about how if the villain can't escape to an open location you shuffle it into a random location and open it? I mean, obviously there's a strategy on how to do that properly but that's up to you to figure out. There's also the part where if all three villains aren't in the same location deck, you haven't defeated the villain...no matter how good your roll was. Toodle-loo blessings deck! It was nice knowing you!

We’ve sort of been ignoring our three villains thus far and if there’s one thing I know about water nagas, it’s that they hate to be ignored. Let’s start with Boy, or as you will come to know him, Munarei. Munarei is probably smarter than you. He’s gonna deal you some Mental damage before you even act and after that you’ll have to try and outsmart him. I don’t know about you but I would rather punch Munarei rather than try to make an Intelligence or Knowledge 10 check. But wait, there’s more! If your check isn't at least a 7, the top card of your deck, you know, the one you’re just itching to draw, well, that gets buried. Oof. Maybe Girl and Gal will be nicer.

Girl, AKA Sarlis, is a little peeved with Munarei. The good news is, this means she’s sort of willing to accept your help to get back her lair. All it takes is a Charisma or Diplomacy 10 check! I mean, she’s still going to deal you some damage before you act (Force damage, to be accurate) and if you fail by 3 or more you’re going to be burying that tasty top card of your deck. Hell hath no fury like a water naga scorned.

And last, but not least, there’s Selissa, who we’ve called Gal up until now. She’s still completely enamored with Munarei for some reason. And you trying to fight her and herd her over to the same location as the others is only distracting her from mooning over Munarei. So yeah, she’s a little mad at you too. She’ll be slapping you with some Poison damage, and of course, the top card of your deck is still quite vulnerable. But, after a Wisdom or Survival 10 check, you’ll be sitting pretty (but not as pretty as Munarei!).

So, we've now given you a murdery, monster-filled soap opera to play through. At the end you'll get a card feat, though. And we all know how deliciousssss card featsss are. Umm, sorry. Been spending a little too much time trying to think like a water naga. At any rate, I think you've got a pretty decent look at what's heading your way in Adventure 3 and I only dropped my laptop twice! As always, thanks for reading and here's hoping to a mutiny-free month for you!

Gaby Weidling
Adventure Card Game Developer

Yo, Scurvy Dog, I Heard You Like Villains...

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Yarrr! Pirate sounds and words! Yarrr! Dear readers, before we start looking at cards from Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Skull & Shackles Adventure Deck 2: Raiders of the Fever Sea, I want to take a couple of moments to share some thoughts about the comments on my last blog. I'm sort of curmudgeonly for a woman in her twenties, so some of these thoughts may seem a bit harsh, but deep down, I'm actually a marshmallow. If I had more coffee in my system, all my thoughts would be rainbows and kittens, but alas, I'm out of java.

Curmudgeonly Thoughts

1. My name isn't Gary, it's Gaby. I commend you for fixing your error and for making a mistake that didn't result in my name being spelled Gabby or Gabbie. That's just the worst. Gary is a much better error. [Editor's note: We all call her Gary now.]
2. For those of you that thought Hirgy was not in the spirit of the game...I see that there are words written there but all I can read is "baw baw baw." The Hirgzster is great. Just give him a chance.
3. For those of you who figured out that the Goblin Weidling is my favorite card because its name is my last name, congratulations! You've scored a gazillion bonus points, which are redeemable for absolutely nothing!!! But you're smart, so, you've got that going for you.
4. A lot of you said really nice things about my blog and now the pressure is on to keep you entertained and happy. YIPES. This is a way scarier than fighting Hirgenzosk, but I'm going to try.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

OSS (Obligatory Shark Section)

BONK!

Fun fact: That's what bull sharks actually do. They swim around waiting for some unsuspecting pirate to decide it's a nice day for a dip, and then the bull shark just goes BONK with its nose, like some sort of toothy battering ram. And after it goes bonk, then it goes chomp and that's the end of that.

This shark, like all our other sharks, can't be evaded. Of course, you have to make a check to find out if you're a decent and alert swimmer, or you'll get bull sharked.

Bonus fun fact: Bull sharks can live in either salt water or fresh water. You aren't safe anywhere. Then again, neither are bull sharks. That's because Mike forced upon the game a really bad, really awesome pun, and then we turned it into one of the scariest promo cards ever. Witness the Owlbeartross.

Oh, come on. That's the funniest thing you've heard today.

That poor little Riptide Grindylow. He's just derping along, minding his business and then for basically no reason, you come along and whack him. Now you've done it. This makes the Owlbeartross pretty cross, since Grindylow is his favorite snack food. It's likely that Mr. Tross will now fly off and shuffle himself into a deck you really don't want to see him in, and also likely that he'll go find another monster to beak-chomp. See, he's a big ball of cuddles.

Things that Actually Matter

We've got some wacky stuff going on in our scenarios. One of them has two different ships bopping around. And if you're lucky, you'll end that scenario with a *ton* of plunder.

Devilish due-giving abounds. Rickety Hake abides.

You'll also have the opportunity to help out Rickety Hake, our first ever loot ally. He's this totally nice dude with terrible teeth who fixes up ships in his ship chop shop (say that three times fast!). He's a helpful guy to have around.

In The Secret of Mancatcher Cove, there's sort of a lot going on. It seems pretty normal at first, though. You build out your locations like normal. There's a villain, who I call Inky Izzy, and a named henchman and then some generic Buccaneers. It's sort of weird that there's one less location than normal though. That probably won't be part of some horrible surprise.

It's part of some horrible surprise.

You're playing along and things are groovy gravy. You've closed some locations, and somehow, luck's going your way. You've encountered Inky Izzy and you're even in a position to banish her if your fights go well. And because I'm feeling reasonably nice as I type this, let's say they do. You summon and encounter the ship Thresher. It's not the nicest ship in the world, but again, your fight goes well, and you defeat it. Huzzah for you! Now it's time to fight Inky Izzy. And yet again, in a display of stunningly good luck, you beat her. You take your 1 Acid damage, but that's OK because you've just won. Right? RIGHT?!

Wrong. Hold on to your eye patches, kids, it's about to get crazy.

Remember that scenario card that I showed you a picture of but just sort of glossed over? Turns out that when Inky Izzy goes away you get to build a new location. It's called Mancatcher Cove. It's not the nicest place in the Shackles, but it is by no means the worst. So, what happens when this place gets built? Oh, that's right. You add a villain to it. The Matron is not your friend.

It's not like you didn't see this coming.

Turns out that when you eventually get around to fighting her, she summons a Sea Devil. And if you're lucky enough to beat her, then you get to add the villain Krelloort to that location. Krelloort may have a funny name, but he's not a funny guy. He's kind of a jerk. And he summons somebody to fight if there are cards left in the location deck! Like I said, kind of a jerk. The good news is, if you can get past Krelloort, you're done! You've won!

If you can handle at least three villain fights, countless ship fights, and countless henchmen fights, you've definitely earned the loot for this scenario.

I'm going to leave you on a positive note and just let you bask in the awesomeness of that loot. Speaking of loot... Here's some awesome wallpapers for your computers, if any of you crazy cats still use those.

Illustration by Daryl Mandryk. Download the widescreen version here.

Enjoy your adventures on the seas, mateys, and keep your eyes peeled for bull sharks!!!

Gaby Weidling
Adventure Card Game Developer

IT'S ALIIIIIIIIVE!

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Hey, Pathfinders.

I'm pleased, proud, and exhausted to announce that the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide to Organized Play is now available for download! The card game team and our estimable Venture Officer community have put in many hours to bring this document to you, so we hope you enjoy it. We'll have printed copies available to read for those of you playing in the program at Gen Con, but for now, grab the PDF and get to reading!

If you're coming to Gen Con but don't have tickets for the sold-out Adventure Card Guild events, we might still be able to seat you with a generic ticket if you come to room 232 in the convention center. I recommend coming 15 minutes before slot start time to see if we can accommodate you.

Gen Con 2014 Adventure Card Guild Event Schedule

Thursday: 8:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 2:00 PM, 4:00 PM, 7:00 PM, 9:00 PM
Friday: 8:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 2:00 PM, 4:00 PM, 7:00 PM, 9:00 PM
Saturday: 8:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 2:00 PM, 4:00 PM, 7:00 PM, 9:00 PM
Sunday: 9:00 AM, 11:00 AM, 1:00 PM

As announced last weekend, due to a necessary delay in Class Deck shipments, Adventure Card Guild play will begin on Wednesday, September 3 at a store near you, with new scenarios released each Wednesday (except for Christmas and New Year's Eve Day) for the rest of the six-month Season of the Shackles! Don't see your store in the locator? Then they're not part of the program yet! Tell them to sign up and make sure they check the box to tell us they want to participate in the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild!

One more thing...

This arrived literally minutes ago.

See you all soon!

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Think Different: A Look at Some Changes to the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Apologies in advance, as this blog entry is going to get a bit arcane. No, I don't mean it's not rechargeable by a Divine spellcaster—I mean this article is meant for Pathfinder Adventure Card Game rules enthusiasts. I'm going to define the differences between the PACG rules a year ago and the ones we have now, possibly in excruciating detail. You've been warned.

When we set out to design the new Skull & Shackles sets and the Class Decks, we had heard many players pointing out ways our game could improve. We were faced with a fork in the road. Choosing Path One meant leaving everything alone and forging ahead with what we had created as is. That was the path of least resistance, requiring very little explanation, but keeping in place some things that were confusing about our game. Choosing Path Two required us to change those things and explain them in a blog like this one. I think you folks are good enough pathfinders that you know which one we picked.

So, yeah, some things are going to look a little different from now on. These are not the kinds of things we're going to issue errata for; everything works pretty much the same as it did in Rise of the Runelords. But the new cards will look just a bit different. Here are some of the highlights.

To start out, let's look at two versions of the weapon Longbow: the first one is from Rise of the Runelords, and the second is from the Ranger Class Deck.

There are some minor differences here. The first is the replacement of the phrase "roll your Dexterity or Ranged die" with "use your Dexterity or Ranged skill." In Skull & Shackles, "skill" always refers to your base die (say, a d8) plus any skill feats or bonuses you might have. If Harsk is using the Longbow with Ranged: Dexterity d8+2, and he has two +1 skill feats in Dexterity, his Ranged skill is d8+4. The concept of the "unmodified" die is also gone: when we say "die" now, we always mean just the die. So if Harsk is using the Longbow, and he has Strength: d6 and one +1 skill feat in Strength, adding the Strength die to his Ranged skill means he adds the d6 and ignores the feat, just as before. The wording is more specific, but the math hasn't changed at all.

A subtler change on the card is replacing the word "a" with "any" in the last power. This makes it a bit more clear that it applies to checks other than your own.

Okay, now for a couple of spells. Here's the Runelords version of Force Missile and the new one from the Wizard Class Deck.

There are two big changes here. Most visibly, the recharge box is gone. Players seemed to get confused by the recharge box, including figuring out when to apply that power, so we built the recharge power into the powers box. With luck, people won't be baffled by that any more.

Reading the text, you'll note that the power no longer tells you to apply the Force trait. That's because this rule is clearly stated in the rulebook:

Some cards may allow you to replace the required skill for a check with a different one. As part of this action, you may play only 1 card or use only 1 power that defines the skill you are going to use. When you play a card that does this, add that card's traits to the check.

So Force Missile still adds the Force trait to your combat check (along with the Magic, Arcane, Attack, and Basic traits)—it just doesn't spell it out in a way that suggests it's somehow different from those other traits.

Now let's compare two scary ladies: the Hook Mountain Hag from "The Hook Mountain Massacre" and the Sea Hag from the Skull & Shackles Base Set.

In Runelords, things that happened "before the encounter" really happened during the encounter, after you had a chance to evade the card. In Skull & Shackles, there’s a new step called "acting," which includes everything that happens after you choose not to evade a card up until the encounter is resolved. Things can happen before you act, while you act, and after you act. Here’s the rulebook text on the "before you act" step.

Apply Any Effects That Happen Before You Act. If any powers on the card you're encountering happen before you act, they take effect at this time. You may also use powers or cards that state they can be used before you act.

Another change here is replacing the phrase "spells with the Attack trait" with "spells that have the Attack trait." The meaning of "with" was not clear enough: did it mean you couldn't play a spell that itself had the Attack trait, or did it mean you couldn't play a spell in conjunction with any card that gave the Attack trait to the check? The new wording makes it clear that the intent is the former.

A side note on henchman cards: The rule about henchmen automatically allowing you to close a location after you defeat one is gone from the rulebook. If a henchman allows you to close the location when it's defeated, it says so in its power; if not, it doesn't. (I expect you won't like the ones that don't. They're called Curses, and we'll leave them for another day.)

Here are two boons: the ally Jakardros Sovark from "The Hook Mountain Massacre" and the item Ring of the Beasts from "The Wormwood Mutiny".

In Runelords, you'd occasionally see a card that helped a combat check "against" a monster. That term "against" was never defined, but it benefited from some definition, because it could also apply to checks of other sorts. Now, the new phrase "check against a card" applies to any check the card mandates. The rule is:

If a card refers to a check against another card, that refers to any check required by that card, whether it's a check to defeat, a check to acquire, a check to recharge, or any other check.

Here's the Collapsed Ceiling, a card I kinda wish we didn't put in Runelords, because it needed rules support that the game did not provide. That's been solved, so you'll see a lot of cards like Goose in the Rigging from "The Wormwood Mutiny".

It was frustrating not to be able to answer all the questions associated with Collapsed Ceiling. For example, it wasn't clear what happened when you had two faceup cards on the deck or when something suggested you shuffle one of them into the deck. The Skull & Shackles rules now tell you how to handle cards like this.

Faceup Cards: Sometimes a card is left faceup on the top of the location deck (for example, most barriers with the Task trait work this way). The card is still in the deck, but it can only be shuffled into the deck when the condition that caused it to be left faceup on the deck has been resolved. If such a card tells you that you must encounter it on your first exploration on a turn, then after that exploration, ignore it for the purpose of additional explorations that turn; however, it still counts as the top card of the deck for any other purpose. If multiple cards are left faceup on the same deck, you may place them in any order and encounter them in that order.

Finally, let's look at one of the most bizarre cards in Runelords: the Runeforged Weapons loot card from "Sins of the Saviors".

You see that word SPECIAL? You see it twice on the card? Protip: That's a sign that a game designer hasn't made up his mind what he's doing. This card quite honestly had no idea what it was. That's because we designed it before we had the rules tech to make it work. But now we do. If Skull & Shackles had existed before Runelords, Runeforged Weapons would certainly have been a support card. Support cards are a new type of card that's neither bane nor boon. We talked about them in our last Skull & Shackles preview; basically, their job is to sit on the table and affect the game. This is what Runeforged Weapons might look like if it was issued today.

We've also made a number of less obvious changes to the rulebook—reorganizing things and rewriting things—that make it clearer and easier to use than the Rise of the Runelords rulebook. We recommend that you use it as your main rules reference even if you're still playing Rise of the Runelords—just ignore all that stuff about ships.

Download the Skull & Shackles Rulebook PDF here! — (6.2 MB zip/PDF)

Mike Selinker
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Designer

Skull & Shackles: All Aboard for Adventure

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Ahoy, maties! Ye be embarkin' on the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Skull & Shackles preview blog with me, developer Gaby Weidling! YARRR! Okay, seriously, enough with the pirate talk. I just can't keep that up for a whole post. A few of you might remember my Skull & Shackles announcement blog from a while back, and if you don't, you can find it here. I'm almost sorry for all the pirate puns I put in there. In that blog, I mentioned some cool stuff you should expect from this set, but I was pretty vague—partially because, well, you know, we didn't want to spoil all the surprises, and partially because we hadn't finished writing everything yet. But now is the time for some details and probably some more piratical puns.

Sharks

All right, so I talked about sharks in that last blog. Twice. They're not actually the be-all and end-all of this set, but sharks are pretty darn cool, so let's spend a moment on them.

We've got at least one shark per adventure. The thing about sharks is that you can't evade them. Any of them. Ever. But it's okay. Look at that Tiger Shark. He's smiling! He totally doesn't want to eat you. Anyway, that was the obligatory shark section of this post, because my boss at Lone Shark Games demanded it, and you know how he can be. Let's move on to some of the newer and wackier stuff.

Guns

I can pew-pew-pew and so can you-you-you! Pirates wouldn't be anything without some sweet guns.

Here you can see the Blunderbuss and Pepperbox. The thing about guns is that they're pretty unreliable—misfires all over the place. They pack a pretty good wallop, but on a bad roll, you might end up burying your gun, and then you might be weaponless. That's not what you want as a pirate...

... unless you're Lirianne the Gunslinger, one of the new characters in the set.

Lirianne is never going to lose a gun as long as she's got a backup plan. And Lirianne always has a backup plan.

Swashbuckling

Swashbuckling is an important part of being a pirate. Sometimes Swashbuckling is helpful, and sometimes it isn't. Some cards, like the Shackles Pirate, are easier to beat if your check has the Swashbuckling trait. For this card, you'll get an extra d4.

Other cards, like the Marine, are unimpressed by your Swashbuckling and are actually harder to defeat with it.

Whether or not you want to swashbuckle can be a bit of a gamble. And you're not just inherently full of Swashbuckling awesomeness. You'll have to gain it in some way, usually from a boon. One of the best ways to get it is by playing an ally to explore again. For example, if you discard the jaunty gnomish pirate Giffer Tibbs, she lets you explore again, and she adds the Swashbuckling trait to all of your combat checks during that exploration.

Hirgenzosk

Some of you may have already heard tell of the fearsome Hirgenzosk. He's only a Combat 30 to defeat, and he isn't dealing damage to you, just your ship. Oh, and he has this text: "If Hirgenzosk would be defeated, he is undefeated." So there's that. He's just a big bundle of cuddles that wants to eat you and your ship.

Ships

There's a lot going on with ships, so I'm just going to dive right in. Meet the Merchantman.

This is the ship your party has when you start Skull & Shackles. On the right side, it's got some Check to Defeat numbers. Note the Wisdom and Survival check. That's going to be a recurring theme with ships. It would be unwise to be unwise in this set, or at least, that's the word on the stree- ... I mean, the word on the sea. To the left of the lovely ship art, you'll see the words "Class 0". Pretend you didn't see that yet. Just trust me.

On the bottom of the card, you'll see two boxes. One says "WHEN ENCOUNTERING THIS SHIP", and the other says "WHEN COMMANDING THIS SHIP". The easiest way to explain all this is to introduce you to some ship combat. That's right. You have a ship, and you can use it to fight other ships. Pretty rad! Anyway, sometimes you'll be bopping around locations, and you'll encounter another ship—which means it's time for ship-to-ship combat. Merchantman, meet the Shackles Pirate Ship.

They aren't friends. Time to fight! Let's look at one example where you lose and another where you win.

Losing at Ship Combat

The first thing we want to do is take a look at how to defeat the Shackles Pirate Ship. Surprise! One of the options is a Wisdom or Survival check. We'll do that one. Now look at the "WHEN ENCOUNTERING THIS SHIP" power. Having the Swashbuckling trait on your check adds 1? Sounds great! Let's say you have that. Now take a peek at the "WHEN COMMANDING THIS SHIP" power on the Merchantman. Oh, that's about plunder. That won't help you here. That only helps if you win. We'll revisit that in the section about not losing at ship combat. Guess it's time to roll the dice. Oh, no! Horror of horrors! You totally flubbed your roll and got a 3. Even with the 1 from having the Swashbuckling trait, you still don't have enough to beat the Shackles Pirate Ship. Looks like the Merchantman is going to take some Structural damage.

Like damage from monsters, Structural damage is determined by the difference between your roll and what you needed to roll, but it's dealt to your ship, not to you. You had a total of 4 against a 6, so your ship is going to take 2 Structural damage. And your armor can't help you here, because you're not the one being dealt the damage. But don't fret, Dear Readers! There is a way to protect your beloved Merchantman. Any character can discard cards to help alleviate the damage your ship takes: Structural damage is reduced by 1 for each card discarded.

So if you and I were playing, and my hand was empty because I'm the worst, it would be up to you to discard 2 cards, or our ship would be wrecked. So let's say you discard 2 cards and save the ship. Good job! The encounter ends. The mean ship would go back to wherever it belongs and the game would keep going. But what if you and I were playing and I had no cards in my hand because I'm the worst, and you had no cards in your hand because you're also the worst? Well, the poor old Merchantman would be wrecked. Which means we would flip that card over.

Holy sea cucumbers, there's a back? Indeed there is. Our ship is now wrecked and sad and sepia-toned. But fear not, there is a way to repair the ship. You can find that in the Check to Repair box. In this case, it's a Craft 6 check. Remember when I said Wisdom and Survival were a recurring theme? So is Craft. You're going to want to be crafty if your ship takes damage. At the start of each player's move step, if the ship is wrecked, that player can attempt a check to repair the ship.

But why do you care if your ship is wrecked? Well, if you're greedy and like getting new cards for your character, you'll want to right that ship pronto because your hard-earned plunder will start to float away, starting at the end of your turn. There's also a "WHEN COMMANDING THIS SHIP" power on the back that's not as helpful as the one on the front, so if you encounter another ship while yours is wrecked, your ship isn't really going to help out. It's too busy trying to keep its masthead above water. In some cases, the new power is downright nasty. Check out the Merchantman's. You might fail to defeat a bane with the Pirate trait—you've already proven you aren't good at fighting, since your ship is wrecked—and then you'd have to bury a card! And worst of all, there's the thing that happens when your ship is wrecked and your ship takes damage again… well, let's just save that horror show for when it happens, okay?

I am now pretty bummed because of all the losing we've just done. Let's talk about what happens when you win at ship combat.

Winning at Ship Combat

Ok, so we're doing the same thing, but this time when you roll, you succeed. That Shackles Pirate Ship is toast! Toast, I say! Several things happen now. The first is that you gain a plunder card for beating a ship. Huzzah! But what is plunder? And what does the "WHEN COMMANDING THIS SHIP" power on the Merchantman mean?

Plunder is a reward you can earn in Skull & Shackles. Things will often tell you to "roll on the Plunder Table," which is pretty meaningless until you look at this card.

You get plunder from being good at pirating. When this happens, you get to roll a d6 and put a random card of that type facedown under your ship. (No peeking!) While you command the Merchantman, you get to choose the plunder type you want… if you are willing to discard a card from the blessings deck. Well, I'm willing to do that, so let's toss one and select "weapon" for our plunder type, because Gaby needs a new cutlass. Hopefully that's what we'll draw… but we'll never know, because this is all hypothetical. Sorry to leave you hanging.

So what's that plunder do? Nothing yet—it's part of your reward for winning the scenario. And there are ways you can lose it, so keep it safe, or it's going back in the box!

Back to beating the other ship. Besides gaining plunder, you may have the opportunity to seize the ship you just trounced. That doesn't mean you get to check it off on your fleet card (which I haven't told you about yet), but it does mean you can use the seized ship for the rest of the scenario. Sometimes you'll be happy with the ship you have, and sometimes you'll want to seize the ship you just conquered. If you seize the Shackles Pirate Ship now, the next time you encounter a ship during this scenario, you'll be able to discard a card from the blessings deck when your check has the Swashbuckling trait to add a 1d12 to your check to defeat that other ship as per the Shackles Pirate Ship's "WHEN COMMANDING THIS SHIP" power.

Ship Things That Aren't Combat

Ships also have some uses outside of combat, like helping you move characters around. You know that move step at the beginning of your turn? In scenarios where your ship isn't anchored (which means it can only stay at one location and can't move), the ship goes with you when you move and so can anybody else at your location. Pretty handy, right? Of course, you don't all have to move with the ship.

Of course, I can't forget about the thing I told you to ignore earlier: the part that says "Class 0" on the Merchantman and Shackles Pirate Ship. For that, you'll need the fleet card that is conveniently located on the back of your Plunder Table. (Or is the Plunder Table on the back of the fleet card?) Anyway, take a look at this card.

All ships have a class, and as you play your way through Skull & Shackles, you'll occasionally gain the reward of selecting a ship from a specified class for your fleet. When you gain a Class 1 ship, you can put a check mark next to the Man's Promise or the Truewind. And when you start the next scenario, your party can choose any ship you have checked.

A Final Note about Ships

I'd be pretty mad at myself if I didn't include a sneak preview of one of the promo cards. This is my favorite card in the whole set. Bonus points to you if you can figure out why.

I mean, look at it! It's awesome. Steal some stuff from your friends in true goblin pirate fashion! Hint: that's not why this is my favorite card.

But hey, let's go ahead and spill the beans about a bunch of promo cards! Tanis already told you about Ranzak a while back, but as they say in the Shackles, that's just the tip of the Hirgenzosk.

This month, along with Paizo's July product releases, retailers should be receiving a packet officially announcing the Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild Organized Play program, and to make sure we got their attention, we stuffed it with copies of the second S&S promo card, the goblin ally Mogmurch. So tell your retailer to keep an eye out for it, and let them know you want one of those promo cards!

At Gen Con in August, we'll be debuting our convention promo for the next six months: a barrier called Goblin Keelhaulin'. You can get it just for demoing Skull & Shackles at the booth. Oh, and customers who buy the Skull & Shackles Base Set at the booth will get our August retail promo card for free.

So what's a retail promo card? Well, every month, we send a different card to retailers along with their shipment of that month's goodies. Here's the retail promo card schedule for the duration of the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path.

Goblin Weidling — August 2014
Owlbeartross — September 2014
Goblin Pegleg — October 2014
Magpie Princess — November 2014
Mistmourn — December 2014
Goblin Buckler Gun — January 2015

And that's not even all of the promo cards for Skull & Shackles. We have three more that we're not ready to talk about just yet!

As always, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game subscribers will be shipped promo cards along with their subscription orders. Ranzak, Mogmurch, Goblin Keelhaulin', and Goblin Weidling will all ship with the August shipment. Owlbeartross will ship with the September subscription shipment, and so on.

I think I've shared enough about Skull & Shackles with you now. You know about ships, sharks, swashbuckling, guns, dear ol' Hirgenzosk, and a bunch of the promo cards, so you'll just have to wait until the next PACG blog (hint: check back next Wednesday!) to learn more. Thanks for reading, and have a wonderfully piratical day!

Gaby Weidling
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Developer

Free RPG Day is Here!

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Today is the day! Across the world, game stores are currently participating in Free RPG Day, and Paizo has two exciting products that are being released just for this event. This year we are releasing Pathfinder Module: Risen from the Sands and Ranzak the Goblin Raider for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game as we get ready to release the Skull & Shackles Base Set. You can learn more about these products and download the Pregen Characters for the module in our blog from this past Thursday. If you've already picked up Ranzak from your local game store, we have put together downloadable character sheets so you can drop him into your game right now!

Download Ranzak's Character Sheet - (377 KB zip/PDF)

And if you haven't made it to Free RPG Day, don't worry! On July 1, Risen from the Sands will become available as a free PDF and a $5 print product while supplies last, exclusively at paizo.com—and at PaizoCon and Gen Con! Ranzak will also be for sale at PaizoCon and Gen Con, and on paizo.com (while supplies last) after Gen Con begins. Pathfinder ACG subscribers will also get Ranzak free with their August shipment, along with a few other promo cards.

We hope you're enjoying Free RPG Day, and look forward to sharing more about the Skull & Shackles Base Set as we get closer to release this year at Gen Con!

Chris Lambertz
Digital Products Assistant

On Completing 14 Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Products in Two Weeks

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Illustration by Daryl Mandryk

Protip: That is insane, and don't ever do it. There. Don't say no one ever warned you.

But after sending the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Skull & Shackles Base Set, its Character Add-On Deck, the S&S Adventure Decks #2—6, and the first seven Class Decks to the printer, I have some observations that I'd like to share. I'll ask Tanis, Chad, and Gaby to go deeper into the details of each product in the coming months, but I'd like PACG fans to hear some more global thoughts from me.

First off, we're all in. This is an immense product line now, and we're going to do everything we can to keep it on your gaming table. We're deep in design of the third Adventure Path, and we're plotting out the fourth. Our job is to keep giving you reasons to keep playing, and we take that job very seriously.

That means not resting on our laurels. We don't want a carbon copy of Rise of the Runelords with some different chrome on top. Skull & Shackles will require you to strategize differently, to use skills and make checks differently, to build your decks differently, and to advance your character differently. Where Runelords had one scenario per adventure that was atypical in its format, S&S has quite a bit more. You won't see what's coming, and that's going to make it harder to win the game, and we hope you'll like that.

We also want you to see yourself differently. Instead of just our base 11 iconic characters, these products will get us up to 40 uniquely named characters—and even the new versions of familiar faces will play differently from those of Runelords. As of August, you'll have more than 100 role cards available. And there's a personality shift as well: As a general rule, our base 11 iconics are pretty nice people. Not all of our new characters are nice. Some are borderline nasty. We want you to be able to play whatever you want.

We're going to give those characters a lot to play. The weekly organized play scenarios will roll out starting in the summer, and the character/scenario combinatorics are off the charts. (Seriously, we made those charts, and we're off of them.) We care a whole lot about our friendly local gaming stores and game conventions, and want to bring our brand of entertainment to all those places. Wherever you're surrounded by gamers, we'll be there.

We're making more things people want for the game. There are more S&S promos, including our first and most insane promo character. Ultra Pro is making character mats, card sleeves, adventure mats, and cases for the serious PACG player, all of which have subscriber discounts. These definitely change the play experience in positive ways. There are more fun things in the works, but Vic would hit me with a gaffi stick if I said anything about them.

We're also making a commitment to a living rulebook. We've now got more than 1,500 uniquely named cards for the game (roughly equal to the first four years of Magic: The Gathering), and they all interact in fascinating ways. So that means the rulebook needs to handle everything the game throws at it. That means it's getting bigger, and is unlikely to get smaller any time soon. It'll be updated a few times a year, and each set's rulebook will supersede the previous set's rulebook, modulo any rules unique to that set (e.g., S&S's ships). We want everything to work with everything else, and so we'll stay on top of the forums and address any issues people come across, changing the rules as needed. If you make that kind of commitment to us, we're going to make a similar commitment to you.

So that's it. After almost 2,000 cards passed through my hands in less than a month, I can see the future of this game. If you like it as much as I do, it'll be very bright indeed.

Mike Selinker
Designer, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Goblins Ahoy!

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Obviously we're not the only ones with pirate goblins on the brain! While we've been putting the final touches on Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Skull & Shackles, Pathfinder reader Jason A. Legg put together this awesome papercraft diorama. Check out the amazing detail on the little kobolds defenders, the goblin invaders, the bamboo field, and the shaman's fearsome dragon magic!

Thanks a ton Jason! The whole raiding party has found a proud home in Boss Lady Lisa's office.

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief

Adventure Card Game Developments, and a Goblin Scalawag

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

We've got three new people to introduce to you today. Two are real, and one is a vicious killer. Can you tell which is which?

Salutations.

My name is Brian Campbell, and I'm writing to you as the new Lead Editor for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. I am ancient. "I have crossed oceans of time..."

Okay, so maybe I'm not so ancient, but I've been working in the game industry as a writer and editor for the last twenty years. One of my first jobs was editing trading card games for a company down in Renton, Washington, one that shall remain nameless here, although it is known for being magical from time to time. It has a lot of magic, and some of its cards are magic cards, but I won't tell you which company it is.

I first started playing Pathfinder around the same time I was working in a different department of that company, one that made roleplaying games with dragons and dungeons. Since then, I indulged in my obsession with massively multiplayer online games by writing for a few of them, but I kept playing Pathfinder. I now spend my time sequestered in an arcane realm scrutinizing the wording on cards, which is precisely where I should be. In my spare time, I play different types of games, read books on my Kindle, and contemplate the mysteries of the universe while drinking various microbrews. And of course, you might see me playing cards.

∗ ∗ ∗

Hello, Pathfinders!

I'm Tanis O'Connor, the new adventure card game designer here at Paizo HQ. I work with Paizo's incredible staff of designers, developers, and editors, and also with the PACG design team at Lone Shark Games. Alongside Brian Campbell, introduced above, and the estimable Vic Wertz, I'm doing my best to make the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game the best game possible. I'm also working on a few other goodies which will be the subject of a near-future blog post.

A little bit about me: prior to signing up with Team Paizo, I was a developer on the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game for Lone Shark Games, and worked on both the Rise of the Runelords set and the Skull & Shackles set. My involvement in the RPG community goes back over a decade, including a stint as a developer and rules editor at Wizards of the Coast, and several years as an author, developer, and organizer for the March of Bissel in the RPGA's Living Greyhawk Organized Play campaign. I'm psyched to be working with the amazing and creative team here at Paizo.

Enough about me; let's talk about you! We have a bunch of good stuff in store for you with the upcoming Skull & Shackles set, beginning with an entirely new playable character for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, to be released as a promotional card set for Free RPG Day on Saturday, June 21. Everyone, meet Ranzak:

Character Art by Ben Wootten

Ranzak is a nasty little bugger who likes eating, stabbing, and stealing (not necessarily in that order). Like any other character, he comes complete with character, role, and token cards, and he can be used with any Pathfinder ACG set, so feel free to let him pillage his way through Rise of the Runelords while you're waiting for Skull & Shackles to come out! There will be a few different ways you can pick up Ranzak:

• Go to a store that's participating in Free RPG Day on June 21 and get yourself a free copy while supplies last. Find your local store here.
• Subscribe to the Adventure Card Game here on paizo.com, and you'll get a free copy of Ranzak (as well as a couple other promo cards) along with your Skull & Shackles Base Set and Character Add-On Deck in August.
• After Skull & Shackles is released in August, buy Ranzak on paizo.com, while supplies last.
• Buy Ranzak from us at PaizoCon or Gen Con, while supplies last.

Below you'll find Ranzak's story, in his own words.

∗ ∗ ∗

Ranzak not always pirate. Ranzak not always Ranzak either. One time, Ranzak be Longlung diver named Squidbreath. Other Longlungs eaten by biggest sea monster of all—Swirly Doom. Squidbreath fierce and Squidbreath brave, so Squidbreath flee Swirly Doom and paddle mighty Longlung ship away. Years pass. Squidbreath stab. Squidbreath steal. Squidbreath eat good Squidbreath meal!

Art am made by Ranzak (who is best artist duh, so why me even have to tell you?)

Squidbreath make friends to do battles on goblin ship. Friends eat many pirates, get many loots. Squidbreath see longshanks chiefs all have magic bird that eat cracker and tell true secret. Squidbreath and friends sneak sneak sneak to longshanks cave, wait for longshanks sleep, and steal magic bird. Magic bird squawk, "Ranzak! Ranzak! Ranzak! Ranzak! Ranzak!" Magic bird maybe talk too much.

Squidbreath know magic bird always squawk true, so Squidbreath make name Ranzak. Ranzak now have great magic, and friends jealous. Friends have bad luck on many ends of many knives. Now Ranzak need new friends to help get more plunder!

You need friend?

Shiver Me Timbers! A New Pathfinder Adventure Carrrrrrd Game Experience!

Monday, November 18, 2013

Ahoy, landlubbers! I'm Gaby, one of Mike's developers on the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. I'd be remiss if I didn't begin by thanking you all for your support of the game. Thanks to you, the game is doing so well that we're already working on another set! Developing this game has been a total blast, and it's been so much fun to watch everyone enjoy something I got to help create.

If you haven't guessed from the awesome Daryl Mandryk cover art, the new set is going to be adapted from the popular Skull & Shackles Adventure Path! A private playtest is starting soon, and the game will launch at Gen Con Indy in August of 2014. So, now that the catfish is out of the bag, what exactly is there to look forward to in the Skull & Shackles set of PACG?

New character classes: We're bringing seven new character classes from the Pathfinder RPG to the Pathfinder ACG. The Oracle, Gunslinger, Magus, and Swashbuckler will debut in the Skull & Shackles Base Set, along with the returning Bard, Fighter, and Rogue. The Skull & Shackles Character Add-On Deck will introduce the Alchemist, Witch, and Warpriest, along with the Druid. (Not familiar with the Swashbuckler or the Warpriest? They appear in the upcoming Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide—check tomorrow's Paizo blog for more on that!)

Guns: There's going be a Gunslinger, so we'd better have some guns for her to sling. Big guns, little guns, sneaky guns! Pew pew pew!

Pirates: Now with piratical accessories! Our pirates may be helpful or they might be the sort of scallywags who will make you walk the plank. Your character may even be a pirate! Of course, pirates need pirate gear, so you can expect to find eye patches, tricornes, and the like.

Sharks: Dunnn dunn.… dunnn dunn… dunnndunnndunnndunnndundundundundundun. Being that I work at Lone Shark Games, I'm pretty stoked about sharks appearing in this game.

Ships: It's pretty hard to have adventure on the high seas without ships, so there might be a ship or two in this set. But watch out: there might also be some sea monsters that like fish and ships.

Booty: I don't want to say too much, but we're definitely going to have some pirate booty in this game. It'd be wrong not to.

Swashbuckling: Many times, your character will be swashbuckling. Sometimes that will help you and sometimes it won't. The pirates you meet will care quite a bit about whether or not your buckles are swashed.

New challenges: With new adventures come new challenges. Ships and seas are full of perilous and rewarding tasks. (Protip: I just told you a new type of barrier.)

Sharks: Did I mention sharks? There are going to be a lot of sharks.

There are a couple other very exciting aspects to PACG: Skull & Shackles. First, you'll be able to play Rise of the Runelords characters in Skull & Shackles and vice versa. Yeah, we're totally backwards compatible. Second, Adventure Decks will be released MONTHLY, which means less waitin' and more keelhaulin'! And don't forget the part where you can save money! Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Subscribers get 20% off of MSRP, free promo cards, and discounts on Ultrapro's upcoming PACG character mats and other Ultrapro PACG accessories yet to be announced!

Stay tuned in the coming months for more news about PACG: Skull & Shackles! Here's hoping you and your salty crew have smooth sailing ahead!

Gaby Weidling
Developer, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Pathfinder Battles Preview: A Last Look at Skull & Shackles

Friday, August 2, 2013

We've finally revealed all 55 figures in the Skull & Shackles set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted plastic miniatures. It seems like only a few short months ago that we raised the sails on the first reveal and set out upon the open seas, and yet here we are at our final destination, with the set's formal release at Gen Con Indy less than two weeks away. Time really does fly when you're keelhauling scallywags!

Before we move on to showing off figures from our exciting NEXT set, Legends of Golarion, I want to take one more quick tour of some of cool bits from Skull & Shackles to put it all into perspective.

First up, let's take a closer look at the Gargantuan Skeletal Dragon limited-edition case incentive figure. Customers who subscribe or preorder a case get the right to purchase this very rare sculpture at a rate of one per case ordered. Here he is in all his treacherous glory.

The Gargantuan Skeletal Dragon cuts an imposing figure on the tabletop. Here's a close-up to get a nice view of some of the sculpt's details.

And for size comparison purposes, I decided to pit the Gargantuan Skeletal Dragon against our iconic heroes Valeros, Seoni, and Kyra. I'm glad they brought the cleric along, because they could use a good prayer right now.

One of my favorite things about building the set lists for Pathfinder Battles is when I get a chance to do affiliated sculpts in batches. Above we see the set's three grindylow figures. From left to right they are the Brinebrood Queen, the Whale, and the standard Grindylow. The first two are rare, and the last is common, meaning that folks who pick up a case should get one of each rare and a small handful of Grindylows to bulk up their undersea encounters.

Speaking of bulk, get a load of The Matron, the rare leader of the Sea Devil “faction” in the Skull & Shackles set. As both the Sea Devil and Sea Devil Champion are commons, case buyers can expect to get a good number of each. I think they look great together, and are a good starting point for any Sea Devil-themed encounter or adventure.

I've said it before in this space, but getting the scaling right on these creatures is probably the most difficult aspect of producing miniatures, especially when like creatures are spread out over several sets. Nowhere has this been more apparent than with trolls. Our very first Troll, from the Heroes & Monsters set, came out quite small, and didn't quite cut the imposing figure we were hoping for. With the Shattered Star set, we swung the pendulum far in the other direction with the incredibly imposing Troll Champion, who towers over most of the true giants we've released in the line so far. That's all well and good for a champion, after all, but it didn't really solve the sweet spot of the average height of the average troll. For that, we've got the Skull & Shackles set's Sea Troll, pictured in the middle here, which is a good representation of an “average sized” troll. Expect future rank-and-file trolls in upcoming sets to fall closer to the Sea Troll in size than the other two, who are outliers.

That's it for the Skull & Shackles set! Looking over the full set here on my desk, I'm enormously proud of the work we and our partners at WizKids put into these wonderful figures. The set gave us a chance to fill in some gaps that have never been produced in prepainted plastic, which is something we will continue as the line moves forward. I'd also like to thank YOU, the Pathfinder Battles faithful. Your suggestions, criticisms, and requests help to guide the decisions we make on these figures every day. If you think our miniatures are cool, there's a good chance you or a gamer just like you is responsible for their awesomeness just as much as those of us who work on them every day. We couldn't do it without you!

There's still time to set up an Ongoing Case Subscription to make sure you don't miss a single figure! Make sure to put your name on the crew list for Skull & Shackles before we unfurl the sails and leave port, potentially never to return!

See you next week for some brand new Legends of Golarion reveals!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Pathfinder Battles Preview: Final Reveals!

Friday, July 26, 2013

The August release date of the Skull & Shackles set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted plastic miniatures is getting closer and closer! We've already showed off 52 of the set's 55 figures, so this week we're going to finish off the set with the final three reveals!

Up first this week is our iconic magus, Seltiyel! This rakish eldritch warrior with the open shirt, curved sword, and come hither look first appeared representing a prestige class in the Core Rulebook, but we liked him so much that we decided to bring him back when we did a fighter/wizard base class for real in Ultimate Magic. This version is from that later source, and honestly I think he's one of the best iconic characters we've done yet in prepainted plastic. The details on this figure are just amazing. You'll find something new on it every time you look. And who doesn't need a cool long-haired dude like this in their minis collection? Seltiyel is a rare figure.

Here we have one of the set's worst-kept secrets, since I mentioned it months ago and images of it leaked online last week when our partners at WizKids included the Hammerhead Shark in their awesome Pathfinder Battles San Diego Comic Con display. I recently opened a case of Skull & Shackles figures and ended up with three of this Large, uncommon figure. With the three regular sharks that also came in the case, I have now pretty much sealed up my lifetime need for prepainted sharks, and I couldn't be happier with the figures. The normal guy is pretty great, but this larger shark is really impressive on the game table, and I know you'll be thrilled to have him.

Our final Skull & Shackles reveal is a figure almost no one guessed, the Giant Wasp! From the cool clear wings to the shiny carapace, the Giant Wasp is a very impressive figure that towers over player characters, threatening a sting you just know you want to do whatever you can to avoid! At the uncommon rarity, you'll be able to amass a whole nest of this Large figure (or at least a small handful). Just watch out for that stinger!

That's it for this week's previews, and that's it for the entire Skull & Shackles set! As I mentioned above, I just cracked an entire case of this set, and was really impressed with the production on the figures. I definitely felt like each brick, and even each four-figure booster, was a good value for the money, and I'm really happy to add the whole set to my personal collection. In just a few short weeks you'll have the same experience opening your figures, and I'm more certain than ever that you're going to be thrilled with the way WizKids keeps raising the bar with each Pathfinder Battles release.

Next Friday we'll take a look at the final painted version of the Gargantuan Skeletal Dragon limited-edition case incentive figure, as well as a few group shots and other thoughts about the Skull & Shackles set.

And then we're off to the NEXT set, Legends of Golarion, and we start the whole crazy preview cycle all over again with a set that pushes the quality even further into the stratosphere.

See you then!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Pathfinder Battles Preview: Ladies, Ladies, Ladies

Friday, July 19, 2013

We're only a few weeks away from the August release of the Skull & Shackles set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted fantasy miniatures, and we've saved some of the coolest figures for the last few previews!

We're going to cover five miniature reveals this week, as we have to get cracking to preview the whole set before its release. I've got piles and piles of figures and images from the next two sets I'm also dying to show you, but that will come after Gen Con and the release of the Skull & Shackles set.

Up first this week is the Lady Ghoul, a common figure you've already seen as an Undead Horde Builder Series repaint. Here we have the original article in all her bloody glory. Teamed up with the ghouls from the Undead Horde and Rise of the Runelords sets and you've got more than enough figures to make a really compelling series of ghoul encounters.

A fellow crewmember shanghaied aboard a pirate ship with the PCs in the very first Skull & Shackles adventure, Sandara Quinn is one of the most important NPCs in the entire Skull & Shackles Adventure Path. WizKids did a great job with the magical effect on her hand, and I dare say this is the best pipe-smoking pirate yet produced in prepainted plastic. Sandara Quinn is an uncommon figure, as she also works to bulk up pirate crews and would make an interesting choice for a player character figure.

This shadowy seductress is Luccaria, high priests of the evil god Norgorber. This ally of the Cheliax faction has plenty of nasty surprises for your player characters. While the campaign features only one Luccaria, we put her at the uncommon rarity because we think she makes a cool-looking cultist in general, and you can never have enough of those.

Some of the ladies in the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path are not so alluring, at least visually speaking. Daughters of Imerta are cyclopean fiendish harpies, and what they lack in looks they make up for in captivating songs sure to drive your player characters to distraction. The Daughter of Imerta is a Large rare figure.

Last up this week is Isabella Locke, a foul pirate captain who just happens to have a treasure map tattooed on her skin. I confess that when I added her to the list of figures for this set, I had no idea how and even if WizKids could pull off the map tattoo effect. It's not tremendously visible from the photos, but they managed to absolutely nail the visual effect, and you can actually see the point on her back where X marks the spot on a little island. Oh, and the figure also has a super-cool clear plastic spell effect on one of her hands. This is definitely one of those figures that gets cooler ever time you look at it, and in terms of complexity of design, the tattoos make it one of the highlights of the set. Isabella Locke is a rare figure.

That's it for this week! Join us next week as we finish off reveals of all the standard figures in the Skull & Shackles set!

Until then,

Erik Mona
Publisher

Pathfinder Battles Preview: The Good Ship Pathfinder Battles

Friday, July 12, 2013

Avast, me hearties! The Good Ship Pathfinder Battles has passed the intriguing Isles of PaizoCon and soon we will be upon the great continent of Gen Con. We've recently seen the release of the We Be Goblins! Builder Series, the White Dragon Evolution Encounter Pack, and the Konkrud convention special promotional figure (which we'll also have at Gen Con). Just this last weekend at the PaizoCon Preview Banquet we announced the next full set of 55 figures, entitled Legends of Golarion, scheduled for release in October. Rumors abound of an additional set by the end of the year, and the sea-salt smell of new announcements is in the briny air.

But forget all of that for a moment, because we've still got a few images to show off from the Skull & Shackles set, which will come out in August. With all of the other exciting things happening with Pathfinder Battles these days, it's important to remember that Skull & Shackles rises the bar from its awesome predecessor Shattered Star. On its release, I'm confident folks will consider it among the very best prepainted plastic miniatures sets ever released. And with a ton of aquatic and pirate-themed monsters that have never previously appeared in prepainted plastic, I'm confident that most of you are going to adore these figures as much as I do.

But enough preamble. Raise the mainsail! It's time for previews!

You can't have a pirate Adventure Path without a bunch of pirates, and our first preview this week reveals a rank-and-file female buccaneer we like to call the Pirate Sailor. It goes without saying that this common figure easily doubles as a player character or any kind of nautical NPC.

Pirate holds are filled with all kinds of scumbags and reprobates, and as far as Pathfinder creatures goes, it's hard to get more scummy and reprobatey than a Wererat. Whether paired with the Rat Swarm in this set or the Dire Rat in Heroes & Monsters or simply encountered on his own, this hybrid-form Wererat is a common figure, making it a great foundation of an entire encounter based around wererats. He's pretty great in-hand, and a very useful rendition of a frequently encountered creature, in the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path or otherwise.

Last up this week is Paeta, an unusual spider creature encountered in the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path. To my knowledge, this type of creature has never come out in prepainted plastic, and we think she makes a wonderful debut. This Large figure is slated at the rare rarity.

That's it for this week. Only a few more figures to show off before we shift over to Legends of Golarion in a couple of weeks!

See you here in seven days!

Captain Erik Mona
Publisher of the Shackles Isles

Pathfinder Battles Preview: Back Into the Water!

Friday, June 28, 2013

After two weeks of focusing on the Undead Horde, it's time to get back into the water for more previews from August's upcoming Skull & Shackles set of 55 prepainted plastic miniatures!

Up first this week is a terror from below the seas, an undead creature known as an Elder Brykolakas. This shapechanging undead menace appears in Pathfinder #59, and if the player characters aren't very careful, they may end up facing hordes of them. Accordingly, we've assigned this figure to the common rarity.

Here we have the pirate lord Barnabus Harrigan, the cover-model for Pathfinder #55 and the captain of the good ship Wormwood. Your players will have plenty of reasons to hate Captain Harrigan, so we thought it important to include a miniature for the inevitable battle against him. The figure doubles nicely for any kind of pirate, thug, barbarian, or even a player character. Barnabus Harrigan is slated at the uncommon rarity.

Not all pirate lords of the Shackles are right bastards like Barnabus Harrigan. A few of them might even turn out to be allies. Such is the case with Tess Fairwind, Mistress of Quent and captain of the sloop-of-war Luck of the Draw. Tessa turns out to be one of the most valuable allies in the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path, making her a must-have figure. She also makes a great figure for a swashbuckler PC. We've put her at the uncommon rarity.

BOOM! The impressive Cannon Golem leaps off the pages of Bestiary 3 and into your Skull & Shackles campaign with this amazing miniature. Clocking in at CR 15 and packing a hell of a gunpowder punch, this menace is one your players will not soon forget! This Large figure is slated at the Rare rarity.

That's it for this week. Tune in next Friday for a very special “from the PaizoCon floor” post with new reveals we hope you'll really enjoy! In the meantime, please consider setting up an Ongoing Pathfinder Battles Case Subscription to make sure you don't miss a single figure!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Rescue in Riddleport

Monday, June 24, 2013

Venture-Captain Sheila Heidmarch confidently strode into the wharf district's 27th warehouse to find it nearly packed with Pathfinders of all stripes. Hellknights grudgingly rubbed shoulders with buccaneers, twitchy humans bent over their traveling alchemical laboratories, and a small menagerie of trained war beasts looked about hungrily as if more eager to start the mission than their humanoid companions.

"As you know, Pathfinders, more than a month ago a band of Riddleport pirates captured our shipment of Chronicle sheets, determined that they had little resale value, and announced an impossibly high ransom. This is a mistake they shall regret," she promised her motley army. The crowd responded appreciably by waving blades, cheering, and shouting grim vows. Motioning for everyone to be silent, Heidmarch continued, saying, "Fortunately, in the intervening time our long-time friend Guaril Karela has been asking questions around the city to determine exactly when we should strike our enemies. He assures me," she added as the slick Varisian flashed a crooked smile and twirled his moustache, "that his methods were clean enough to make a paladin weep in admiration." Guaril Karela smiled reassuringly for a moment, but his grin melted away in horrified mock innocence when nearly half of the assembled troubleshooters all spat in disgust and disbelief.

With a glance to ensure that there would be no trouble, the venture-captain continued. "I am glad to have this intelligence, for it shall make the operation a safer one. As you well know, I would never send you into dangerous territory underequipped or uninformed—"

Illustration by Daryl Mandryk

Mouths fell open in incredulity. More of the seedier Pathfinders spat upon the floor to express their displeasure, a few tore back sleeves to point at terrifying scars acquired on recent missions, a tall human warrior pointed at the venture-captain and shouted "doppelganger" in open accusation, and a tearful gnome waved a sheet of parchment that bore the names of no less than a dozen deceased animal companions—each name differentiated only by a different ordinal epitaph. As the mutinous din grew louder, Guaril stood and quickly laid out the plan. "There are two ships—The Sanguine Sahuagin anchored in the harbor and the Bog Nixie at a dock to resupply. We know that the Chronicle sheets are evenly split between the two vessels, so we're sending in two teams."

As the Pathfinders' display of defiance died down and a few put away their banners bearing the slogan "Shadow Lodge for Life," Sheila Heidmarch picked up where Guaril had left off. "We intend to put an end to these villains' piracy, so it is your job to run them off or run them through as quickly as possible before they can destroy the cargo. Secure the ships, and from there return the Chronicle sheets here for distribution."

Their orders received, a handful of Iomedaeans and Hellknights shouted their vows to deliver justice, competing with the projected confidence of a halfling who challenged all of the offending pirates to single combat. As almost everyone prepared for the upcoming bloodshed, a Taldan lady reached the front of the crowd, flicked open a fan, began questioning much of the operation's premise, and proposed an alternate solution that might secure a nonviolent resolution. Her well-reasoned oratory began to calm her colleagues, and several of the Iomedaeans began to look somewhat sheepish as if questioning their rash announcements earlier. Nonviolence enjoyed a brief period of popularity before a powerfully built man raised his sword in a battlecry to Gorum and rallied the more bloodthirsty Pathfinders to join him in striking out at the Sanguine Sahuagin. Wayfinders held high, they marched out to board the personal ship of one of the Pathfinders.

Amused, Guaril leaned over to Sheila Heidmarch and inquired with some amusement, "Are they always this rowdy and uncontrollable?" Out of her sight he slipped a handful of faction missions to one of his loyal agents.

"Almost every time," the venture-captain sighed with exasperation. "Sometimes it's a wonder that they listen at all."

Only a handful of Pathfinders remained behind, including the orator, a few delicate spellcasters (both humanand elven), and a handful of others with more exotic lineages who were debating when it is right to kill, what the pirates' motivations might be, whether redemption was out of the question, and the merits of judging others at face value. The small entourage worked its way to the docks and hailed the Bog Nixie's crew, where the three diplomats and their philosophically inclined bodyguards presented a small purse of 50 gold pieces in exchange for all of Chronicles.

The assembled pirates drew cutlasses and shared in a hearty laugh at the paltry offer before one of the pious Pathfinders cradling a heavy scimitar shot back, "If you cannot agree to our terms, and do not wish to seek redemption for your vile acts, then you shall have but one last chance to surrender before we are forced to give you redemption of a different sort."

The pirates simply sneered evilly at the small group before one of them pointing out into the harbor. "Just remember that we only has to signal our pals out there, and all your bits of paper will go sinking straight t'the bottom!" The villains chuckled and shared a few iconic "yarrs" to remind everyone just who was pirate and who was prey.

Just at that moment, the Sanguine Sahuagin's sails burst into flames, and its crew quickly followed suit before diving into the water. The barely perceptible glimmer of wayfinders about the necks of those souls who then climbed aboard and made for the cargo hold were all that the Bog Nixie's crew needed to see to know that their plan had failed. One of the negotiators flicked open her fan to hide her look of disgust at her fellows' tactics before repeating her offer to the befuddled buccaneers.

"Fifty gold?"

Well, it seems we were able to reclaim what was rightfully ours, and the Pathfinders gave a fine thrashing to the pirates on one ship and an inspired proselytizing to another. The Chronicle sheets for the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path are either already up on the Additional Resources page and respective product pages.

I had a good time reading the posts that people made in character, and I was certainly impressed by some of the character profiles attached. Seeing some names that I haven't see around the Pathfinder Society forum was also good fun.

Thanks for participating!

John Compton
Developer

Pathfinder Battles Preview: It’s All My Fault

The August release of the Skull & Shackles set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted fantasy miniatures is only a couple of months away. WizKids has delivered final production samples of all 55 figures in the set, and it's pretty amazing how they continue to raise the bar on sculpting and painting with each Pathfinder Battles release. It's always amazing to see creatures and characters we created in our minds finally taking form as three-dimensional full-color objects we can hold in our hands. I often consider it one of my greatest powers as a publisher, in fact, and this week's preview fittingly covers four figures that probably would never have existed if it wasn't for yours truly, even if I did not directly invent any of them.

Let me explain.

The devil-binding empire of Cheliax, a major nation in the Golarion campaign setting of the Pathfinder RPG, has a long and storied history that predates the founding of Paizo Publishing and the creation of Gen Con.

It all started more than 20 years ago, when my folks took me and my brother on a special vacation to see the Final Four NCAA tournament being hosted that year in Seattle. It was my first trip to the city, and as far as the basketball, the museums, and the monorails were concerned, it was a highly enjoyable trip for the whole family, and Seattle was a great city (little did I know then that I would end up living here a couple of decades later).

The problems started after the tournament, when my father had to stick around for some business meetings in the city while my mom took me, my brother, and my grandmother to a timeshare unit in a lakeside resort community called Lake Chelan to spend our final week in Washington state in a gorgeous, rustic stay in a tourist-oriented town filled with lake activities, waterslides, and other fun attractions. The only trouble was that we arrived in late March, whereas all of the town's fun activities were scheduled for the summer tourist season.

We arrived to find the lake mostly drained, the "resort" part of our accommodations flooded, all of the waterslides closed, and even the local bowling alley booked solid for the high school "bowling unit" (!!!). For a little kid of 13 years, that immediately qualified the trip for "WORST EVER" status, and it soon became a legend in our family, a source of laughs years later but something that actively and truly sucked for every hour during which it was actually taking place in what seemed like slow motion.

The word "Chelan" soon became synonymous with the depths of evil in my teenage mind, and as I moved on to college in the early 90s, I'd taken to using Chelan as the name of the evil kingdom in most of my fantasy fiction. By the time I moved to Seattle in 1999, I realized that everyone in my new home knew Chelan as a classy resort destination, and since they didn't share my teenage loathing for it, it just stuck out, like calling a kingdom Bellevue or Redmond or something. It didn't work.

But man, I still hated Chelan, and wanted to continue my literary revenge upon it. When it came time to design an evil kingdom for what would become the Pathfinder Campaign Setting, I decided to incorporate much of the creative work I'd done on Chelan, only I decided this time to mask it a little more with a slightly modified name: Cheliax.

So yes, I'm afraid Chelaix is all my fault, at least in concept. Others took the concepts I laid down and added significantly to them (especially Wes Schneider, the demented mind behind the Hellknights). One of the great things about being in on the creation of a huge part of the campaign setting is seeing where others have taken "my" original ideas. Cheliax has come a huge distance from my freshman year scribblings, and every time I see some new bit of development for it, I can't help but feel like a proud parent.

And the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path gave me plenty of reasons to play the proud papa, as Cheliax plays heavily in the background of the campaign and in its resolution.

Today I present three miniatures associated with the Chelish faction, intended to help you stage epic Skull & Shackles encounters but usable in any fantasy RPG. I didn't create any of these characters, but I was responsible for a big part of their background and I'm ultimately the one who decided to include them in the set. This close to Father's Day, I'll call that close enough and declare them my twisted progeny by proxy.

Up first we have the leader of the Skull & Shackles Chelaxians, the insidious Admiral Thrune! This diabolical naval "hero" and her crew play a huge role in the campaign's endgame, and her heavy mace, crossbow, and noble costume make her an ’interesting choice for a player character, as well. But in the campaign, I'm afraid you're going to have to fight her. And her companions, too! This medium figure is slated at the uncommon rarity.

Here we have one of Admiral Thrune's most trusted allies, the Scourge Hellknight Paralictor! This fully armored female polearm master Hellknight does everything in her power to protect the leadership of House Thrune, including pole-axing your player characters in twain. The medium figure is also uncommon, and while she is the first Hellknight we've produced in the Pathfinder Battles line and the only one in this set, it's fair to say she'll soon get a fair amount of company from others in her order…

A navy needs officers, of course, and the Skull & Shackles set is ready to deliver in the form of this figure, the Chelish Marine. His smart uniform matches that of his admiral, making them look great together. Because you'll probably want more than a single crewman, we've slated this medium figure at the common rarity.

And that's not all for this week! Last week I accidentally previewed only two figures, so I've decided to make up the difference by revealing what is probably my personal favorite figure in the entire set. Open your eyes, me hearties, and behold the SEAWEED SIREN!

The hideous creature is a CR 13 Large magical beast that inhabits islands and coastal regions, luring sailors with its three false heads. These bad boys (or girls, I suppose) have a host of cool powers, from a gaze attack to a curse power to bolts of sonic energy. Mostly, I just thought it looked amazingly cool. Even though the Seaweed Siren does not technically appear as a monster in the six adventures of the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path, its game statistics do appear in the Bestiary section of Pathfinder Adventure Path #60, technically making it qualify for inclusion in this set. And really, I just love the way it looks, so I used a rare bit of publisher fiat to include it in the set simply because I wanted it.

So blame me. Indirectly speaking, all four figures this week are my fault!

That's it for this week. Tune in to this space next week for a big announcement and an even larger preview of figures… from something other than the Skull & Shackles set. What? A NEW set of Pathfinder Battles minis? Whatever could it be?

Well, come back next week, and I'll tell you.

In the meantime, don't forget to set up an ongoing Pathfinder Battles subscription to make sure you don't miss a single figure!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Pathfinder Battles Preview: On the Road!

Friday, May 31, 2013

Greetings, Miniatures Fiends! I am on the road in New York City for the annual Book Expo America show, where Paizo joins the ranks of hundreds and hundreds of publishers to show off its wares to book buyers and librarians. That means I'm about 3000 miles from my archive of Pathfinder Battles photos, but mere distance is not sufficient to keep me from the holy calling of showing off new Pathfinder Battles prepainted fantasy miniatures sculpts from August's Skull & Shackles set!

Last week our friends from WizKids brought over production samples of the entire set of 55 figures, including the massive Gargantuan Skeletal Dragon. Many a squee was heard from the Paizo conference room, as all in attendance agreed that WizKids has raised the bar AGAIN, producing a set that exceeds the standards of its predecessors in both sculpt and paint quality. The final paint jobs are just amazing. "THIS IS A COMMON!??!?" was probably the most-heard phrase of the meeting, and we're all very excited to spread that enthusiasm for the final product beyond the hallowed walls of Paizo when the set releases in August.

So let's move on from the bragging and pride and get to the reason you came. Let's look at a couple new minis!

In the Skull & Shackles campaign, the Master of the Gales serves on the Pirate Council of the Shackles and captains his own pirate ship, but to me this bearded fellow with an imposing staff works great for a HUGE variety of NPCs or PCs, from your nasty druidic hermit to your unkempt grumpy wizard. This Medium figure is slated at the uncommon rarity.

Sometimes, pirate lords stick around long after they've died. Such is the case with the insidious Whalebone Pilk, a skull-collecting cursed undead pirate who makes for one of the spookiest opponents in the Skull & Shackles campaign. Accordingly, we've worked with WizKids to make him as spooky as possible. With plenty of clear plastic to depict the miasma in which he floats, a nifty pirate outfit, and a nasty spear, this is one encounter your players will never forget. Whalebone Pilk is a Medium-sized rare figure.

And with that, I'm back to the Book Expo. Now that we have the full set's production figures in house, expect some amazing treats in store over the next few weeks! Some of the best figures in the set are still yet to be revealed!

Make sure you don't miss a single figure by setting up an ongoing Pathfinder Battles subscription today!

We'll see you next week!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Pathfinder Battles Preview: More Monsters of the High Seas

May 24, 2013

With the sun high in the sky here in Seattle, it must mean that summer is just around the corner. And summer means the release of the Skull & Shackles set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted fantasy miniatures! This week I'd like to show off three more monsters coming your way this August!

Here we have a figure long requested by miniatures fiends, albeit under a slightly new name. We call this six-legged critter a Golden Guardian, and he'd love to spend some time chewing on your coins or guarding your treasure hoard. Just make sure to keep it away from his huge mouth. The Golden Guardian (which, I should point out, James Jacobs saved me from naming the Gold Digger) is a Small figure at the rare rarity.

One of the great things about publishing a pirate campaign set in a fantasy world is that it gives us the opportunity to create interesting nonhuman pirates. Here we have one of my absolute favorites from the Adventure Path, the tengu pirate Jakaw Razorbeak. This Medium figure is slated at the uncommon rarity.

Last up this week is one of the set's weirder miniatures, an undead creature known as a Duppy. This creature comes from the monster appendix in the Isles of the Shackles sourcebook, and also appears in the Skull & Shackles campaign itself. A Duppy is the spirit of a cruel sailor who died on land away from his ship, and thus was unable to receive a proper burial at sea. Duppies have control over spectral dogs, which we see sculpted into the base on the figure itself. WizKids did some amazing work with clear plastic on this figure, and I think it looks like the most incorporeal beastie we've created for Pathfinder Battles so far. The Duppy easily proxies for any kind of spooky undead ghost-like villain. It is a rare figure.

That's it for this week, my faithful scallywags! Check back next week for another exciting look at the Skull & Shackles set!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Pathfinder Battles Preview: Devils of the Sea

Friday, May 17, 2013

The Skull & Shackles Adventure Path features a lot of "proper" devils from the Hells, but it also features a LOT of SEA devils. While these aquatic menaces are not lawful evil outsiders proper, their sharp teeth and evil looks make the name fit quite well. WizKids did a great job translating these creatures into prepainted plastic for the Skull & Shackles set of Pathfinder Battles figures, and I'm thrilled to show them all to you today.

As we continue to do these sets, it becomes more and more clear to me that I should take the opportunity to do as many of the same type of creature at the same time that I can. That way, similar creatures look "of a kind" to one another because they're based on unified art, and are often sculpted by the same sculptor. Likewise, all similar figures are painted based on paint masters painted by the same artist (in this case the excellent Chris Hart, who also did all the masters for the Shattered Star and Rise of the Runelords sets.

Here's an early look at three of those paint masters for the Skull & Shackles set!

Here we have the Sea Devil, a common rank-and-file member of this hideous undersea race. Watch out for his trident. It's pokey. This is a Medium common figure.

Liven up the ranks of your Sea Devil invasion force with this Sea Devil Champion, also Medium and also common.

Every invasion force needs a leader, and in this case we've got The Matron, one of the greatest figures in the Pathfinder Battles line according to yours truly and all the folks here at Paizo who have seen it. Chris really did a great job on the painting for her, and you guys are going to freak when you have her in hand. This Large figure is slated at the rare rarity.

That's it for this week. Set up an ongoing Pathfinder Battles subscription today to make sure you don't miss a single figure! The full set is slated to release this summer!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Ransom on the High Seas

Monday, May 13, 2013

Illustration by Craig J Spearing

The sunny skies that Paizo has experienced over the past week have provided a great opportunity to get outside and enjoy the weather. Apparently we weren't the only ones thinking that, and true to form, the pirates of the Shackles paid a visit, boarded the vessel carrying our latest shipment of Chronicle sheets, and spent the weekend roistering just beyond our reach. As I have learned in my move from a relatively landlocked area to the Pacific northwest, such is the price we must pay for good seafood.

Once the pirates realized just what a prize they now hold—I hear the boons are the stuff of legend—they offered to ransom the Chronicle sheets back for the paper's weight in gold! Villains! What I propose is more devious and hopefully far more to the liking of the swashbuckling sorts that frequent the Pathfinder Society. We shall build up our strength and launch a daring raid to take back what is rightfully ours.

So hone your blades and sharpen your wits as you do battle with the foes in Season 4 of Pathfinder Society Organized Play. If we see in our reports that you have soundly beaten all that Varisia can throw at you, then we shall launch that raid, share the spoils, and tell stories about it for years to come. If not... I know that the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path promises adventure on the high seas, but I cannot imagine our Chronicle sheets would survive walking the plank.

Rules for sanctioning the Skull and Shackles Adventure Path for Pathfinder Society Organized Play are ready to launch, but we await your reporting of Season 4 scenarios. Play and report as much as you can. The more activity we see, the sooner you shall see rules for new Adventure Paths. Comment in character here, and so long as I see that you have participated in at least one Season 4 scenario since, you may be one of the characters called out in a later blog's narrative should we perform the raid.

John Compton
Developer

Pathfinder Battles Preview: Strange Cargo

Friday, May 10, 2013

The summer release of Pathfinder Battles: Skull & Shackles is just over the horizon. Already you can hear the sea shanties of pirate crews carried on the salt-saturated air, and was that a shark fin that passed by just now? We've previewed almost half of the 55-figure set so far here on the Paizo Blog, and excitement is building for what is shaping up to be one of our best Pathfinder Battles sets yet! Designed to support the popular Skull & Shackles Adventure Path, the set includes creatures encountered in that campaign as well as aquatic and pirate-themed figures usable in any fantasy adventure.

This week I want to show off some of the set's stranger figures in the form of three unusual passengers we think will add a lot to your sea voyages.

A long ocean voyage is going to require a lot of food to feed the crew, and who better to provide that provender than Ambrose Kroop, "star" cook to pirates, smugglers, and heroes alike? Over the course of several sets, it's our intention to provide all sorts of "menial" NPCs, from barkeepers to bouncers to barmaids, from watch captains to politicians. When I first saw the art for Ambrose Kroop come through during the course of publishing the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path campaign, I just knew I had to include him in a set. Ambrose Kroop is an uncommon figure.

And what do you think the "mystery meat" is on the tenth week at sea? Why, bilge rats, of course! Here we have a Rat Swarm ready to eat your feet or feed your belly in case things get desperate. We've put the rats on a Small base and made them a common figure so it'll be easy to build up enough to have a reasonably sized rat horde.

Here we have the menacing Gilbrok the Tongue, a chief lieutenant of one of the Adventure Path's key villains. When I saw the illustration for this character, I added it to the list for this set as a sort of challenge to our partners at WizKids, because I honestly wasn't sure they'd be able to pull off such a complex sculpt. You can't quite appreciate all of the detail from the tiny photograph above, but you're going to have to trust me that, in terms of complexity, this is one of the most elaborate figures we've done to date. He's got a glowing spell effect in clear plastic coming off his right hand and a monkey witch familiar on his shoulder. His staff is, for lack of a better term, "very three-dimensional," and his windswept robes had to be captured just perfectly. He'll work great for any crazed hermit, rowdy druid, gross witch, or just plain old weirdo you need for your campaigns. That said, we know you won't need a ton of him, which is why we made him a rare figure.

That's it for this week! Come on back next week for a look at three more figures from the Skull & Shackles set! And if you haven't seen them yet, check out the upcoming Pathfinder Battles releases White Dragon Evolution and We Be Goblins!, also coming this summer from Paizo and WizKids! Set up an ongoing Pathfinder Battles subscription today to get discounts on Encounter Packs and make sure you don't miss a single figure!

Until next week,

Erik Mona
Publisher

Pathfinder Battles Preview: Big Fish

Friday, May 3, 2013

We're so deep in a state of relief here at Paizo after shipping all of our August/Gen Con releases to the printer this afternoon that I almost forgot to write this week's Pathfinder Battles preview blog! And since we certainly can't have that going into a gorgeous weekend filled with lots of stuff OTHER THAN work (for the first time in months!), I thought I'd take a few minutes to reveal some more cool minis from this summer's upcoming Skull & Shackles set of prepainted plastic fantasy miniatures!

Up first we have the Cyclops, a monocular giant whose folk once controlled a vast kingdom not far from the Shackles Isles. I have a soft spot for this particular monster, as I featured a Cyclops in my Pathfinder Tales free webfiction story, "Two Pieces of Tarnished Silver". I've long awaited the chance to bring our version of the Cyclops to Pathfinder Battles, and since cyclopes feature prominently in the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path, this set was my best chance. A Large figure, the Cyclops is slated at the uncommon rarity.

Several weeks ago we revealed Selissa, an off-size Medium Aquatic Naga NPC from the Skull & Shackles campaign. Fans of correctly-sized monsters will be pleased to learn that this set also includes a regular Large-sized Aquatic Naga, ready to terrorize the waterways of your campaign. This figure is an uncommon.

And last up this week we have the Sea Cat, a venerable monster of fantasy all dolled up in a shiny new Pathfinder version. Sea Cats are among my favorite aquatic monsters, and I'm thrilled to finally bring them to prepainted plastic. Like the Cyclops and the Aquatic Naga, the Sea Cat is also slated at the Uncommon rarity.

And that's it for this week. At long last the sun is shining down on Seattle, and I'm headed out of the office to do almost anything other than work. I hope your weekend is as fun as the one I'm planning to have!

It's not too late to set up an ongoing subscription to make sure you don't miss a single Pathfinder Battles release!

See you next week! I'll be the one with the suntan!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Pathfinder Battles Preview: The Devil in the Details

Friday, April 26, 2013

Today is a crazy busy day at Paizo, as the entire staff works to finalize the last little details of nearly a dozen books, all within a week of being shipped off to the printer so that we can get them to you in time for Gen Con Indy in August. It's our last chance to make sure these books are absolutely perfect in every detail. As a celebration of our meticulous, lawful activities, I've decided to dedicate today's Pathfinder Battles preview blog to devils.

The Skull & Shackles Adventure Path includes plenty of lawful evil fiends, especially in the later installments when the devil-binding nation of Cheliax enters the fray to do battle with the player characters. As such, the Skull & Shackles set of Pathfinder Battles figures contains a nice handful of devils ready for use on your tabletop.

Up first this week is the hated Sentinel Devil, a barbed inhabitant of the Nine Hells tasked with guarding the plane's most deadly prisoners. From time to time, wicked spellcasters summon Sentinel Devils to the Material Plane, where they make great adversaries (and effective guardians). The Sentinel Devil is a common figure.

Here we have the Greater Host Devil, first introduced in Book of the Damned Volume 1: Princes of Darkness. These warlike devils are tasked with retrieving souls for their infernal masters in the court of Hell, and when they venture into the Material Plane, they generally do so in large numbers. Accordingly, we've slated the Greater Host Devil in the common rarity.

What is there to say about the Drowning Devil, first introduced in Pathfinder 60: From Hell's Heart, the stunning conclusion to the Skull& Shackles campaign? Weighing in at 600 pounds, this CR 8 fiend freely travels the waterways of Hell, spreading infernal designs as far as Golarion and beyond. A truly stunning figure in one of the most garish paint schemes imaginable, this guy definitely calls attention to himself as a fearful foe. Just like bees and venomous snakes, you've got to watch out for the bright-colored ones. The Drowning Devil is on the Large side of Large, and he's slated at the uncommon rarity.

And with that, I've got to get back to work on our Gen Con releases before the project management devils here at Paizo pull me away into a lake of fire!

The Skull & Shackles set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted plastic figures releases this summer. Set up an ongoing subscription today to make sure you don't miss a single figure!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Pathfinder Battles Preview: Small Wonders

Friday, April 12, 2013

They say good things come in small packages, and in the case of this summer’s Skull & Shackles set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted fantasy miniatures, they’re definitely right!

This week I’d like to put the spotlight on four Small figures from the set, each of which packs a punch considerably tougher than their statures might otherwise suggest.

Up first we’ve got a nasty winged pest we like to call the Bloodbug. The southern seacoasts of Golarion swarm with these guys, who have appeared in many of our adventures since the very beginning. I’m thrilled to finally have this figure available through our Pathfinder Battles line, as it’s one fans have been demanding for some time. And I must say, getting the size correct was a real chore that involved three different sculpts before we got it perfect. I think you’ll love him (and, predictably, your players will probably HATE him). Of course, you’ll need a lot of them, so we’ve slated the Bloodbug at the common rarity.

Bloodbugs also swarm in the jungles of Garund, where they are far from the greatest of an adventurer’s worries. Bugs are one thing, but you’ve got to look out for an environment where even the plants try to kill you. Such is the case with this fine fellow, the Vine Choker. He’s not actually a plant, but Vine Chokers have adapted natural camouflage that helps them blend into their environments, making it easier for them to sneak up on you and wring your neck. Because these guys often attack in groups, we’ve slated this figure at the common rarity.

Since we started the Pathfinder Battles line, folks have been asking for more halfling miniatures, and I’m pleased to report that this set has two of them. The first is the ever-charming Rosie Cusswell, a fellow crewmate press-ganged into the same crew that the PCs find themselves on as the Skull & Shackles campaign begins. With her fiddle in hand, Rosie doubles as a great player character figure for a female halfling bard. She is slated at the rare rarity.

Not all halflings are so much fun as good old Rosie. Here we have a slippery little miscreant known as the Eel, a male halfling alchemist with a penchant for chucking bombs. I don’t want to give away how and when this character appears in the campaign, but rest assured, he arrives with a bang. The Eel also doubles as a great PC figure for a male halfling alchemist, and is slated at the rare rarity.

And that’s it for this week. There are still a ton of awesome figures just over the horizon, so until next week, man the crow’s nest and keep your eyes peeled. There’s pirates in these shark-infested waters!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Pathfinder Battles Preview: Shark Week

Friday, April 5, 2013

This summer's upcoming Skull & Shackles Pathfinder Battles prepainted fantasy miniatures set contains scoundrels and scallywags from the water's surface, but some of my favorite figures in the set actually live below the waves. One of the reasons we wanted to create this set in the first place was to finally get some aquatic creatures into the world of prepainted plastics, and WizKids has done a great job bringing the briny deep to life before our eyes.

Time is very precious on what looks to be a crazy busy Friday (I snuck out of a meeting just to write this, in fact!), so I'm going to keep today's preview short, sweet, and to the point.

Today we're going to talk about fish. It's shark week!

Up first we have, well, a Shark. This guy is Large (though not as large as another shark we'll show off in future weeks). He's mounted on a clear peg so he looks like he's swimming right for you when his figure is placed on the battle grid. You can't tell from the photo, but some of the detail inside this creature's mouth is really remarkable. The Shark is an uncommon figure.

That was a cool shark, man. And here's a cool sharkman. The Wereshark Pirate is a Medium common figure, suitable for building an entire wereshark crew.

A crew of wereshark pirates needs a wereshark captain. Here we have Captain Riptooth, as nasty a pirate lord as you're likely to serve under in the Shackles Isles. Beware! Captain Riptooth has quite a temper, and if you cross him, he's likely to bite your head off! This fine fellow is a Large figure at the rare rarity.

The set also includes an uncommon Hammerhead Shark that had to go back to the sculptors for some minor cosmetic surgery and seems to have escaped photography in the meantime. We'll get an image up of him as soon as we can capture one ourselves.

Don't forget to preorder your Skull & Shackles minis today to make sure you don't miss out on any of these exciting figures!

And that's it for the week. It is now officially safe to go back in the water!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Pathfinder Battles Preview: Shoot 'em Up!

Friday, March 28, 2013

With its piratical theme, the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path is a perfect campaign for gamers looking to add a little gunplay to their fantasy. This summer's Skull & Shackles Pathfinder Battles miniatures set therefore includes a few pistol-packing figures that will help you bring your black powder fantasies to life on the tabletop.

Guns are controversial in fantasy gaming, so you won't see a TON of them in this set (or in the campaign itself, if you don't want ‘em), but they are a great thematic match for pirates on the high seas, so we couldn't resist including at least a few of them here.

Up first is our very favorite gun-wielder, Lirianne, the iconic gunslinger we first introduced back in Ultimate Combat. Lirianne has an incredible amount of detail sculpted into her outfit, and her costume motifs bring a hint of the Old West to the High Seas. This Medium figure is slated at the rare rarity.

Here we have Tsadok Goldtooth, the first mate of Kerdak Bonefist, Hurricane King of the Shackles Isles and probably the toughest pirate lord of the southern seas. Old Tsadok here is a half-orc in a fine coat with a cool pistol and a nasty snarl. Our photo accentuates the colors on this figure and makes them look a little more primary than they look with the figure in hand. The green of Tsadok's flesh, for example, matches that of other orcs and half-orcs already produced in the Pathfinder Battles line. Tsadok is an uncommon, Medium figure.

And last up this week is the Hurricane King himself, Kerdak Bonefist! Take a close look at that pistol hand, folks. Let's just say Mr. Bonefist earned his last name the hard way. This Medium, rare figure is absolutely phenomenal in hand, easily one of the best in the set and one of the most finely detailed and well painted Pathfinder Battles miniatures to date.

Our partners at WizKids continue to outdo themselves with every aspect of these miniatures, from sculpt to paint application. I'm amazed every time they bring new figures to the office, which has been happening at an almost weekly pace lately. (For example, we're half-way through approving sculpts for the NEXT set, and have seen all but about three figures in this one).

What I'm trying to say is that it's a great time to be a prepainted figure collector, and it's a great time to be collecting Pathfinder Battles! Now I'm off to go shoot a gun into the air in wild celebration of awesome miniatures.

See you next week!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Pathfinder Battles Preview: Grindy High, Grindylow

Friday, March 22, 2013

This week I'm in Las Vegas for the GAMA Trade Show, an annual meeting of game manufacturers and retailers wherein game publishers show off their new stuff, hatch massive conspiracies with one another, and work with retailers to be better partners in getting our cool game products into the hands of consumers. This year's show has been a wonderful experience, and over the last few days I've spoken with hundreds of retailers with questions, comments, and criticisms about Paizo's products. That's meant a lot of chatting about the Pathfinder Battles miniatures, and I'm pleased to report that the word from folks here is that customers are really loving our figures. The trade show has been an educational experience, and it's convinced me that the next few years are going to be even more exciting for Pathfinder fans than the last few!

And while I've been away from the office, the Pathfinder Battles forces have been marshaling some amazing new figures from the upcoming Skull & Shackles set, scheduled for a summer 2013 release!

This week I'd like to show off three of these neat new minis, the insidious (and probably a little leaky) grindylows!

Grindylows play an important role in the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path, as they make great aquatic adversaries for low-level characters. Without the risk of spoilers, I think it's fair to say that your players will be seeing a lot of these guys over the course of the campaign.

With heads and upper bodies that resemble those of goblins and bottom halves more reminiscent of a greasy octopus, grindylows aren't actually goblins, but their teeth and crazy culture make them just as lovable.

But don't take my word for it. Have a look for yourself!

This little critter is the Grindylow, a rank-and-file warrior of his undersea race. Armed with a coral-studded poker and ready to bite your hand off, the Grindylow is a Small figure. Because you'll want a good number of this guy, we've slated him at the common rarity.

Here we have the evil Brinebrood Queen, an appalling grindylow matriarch. You'd better hope she's not pointing at you, because wherever she commands, a swarm of grindylows is likely soon to be!

This figure has a great sculpt and looks amazing in hand (especially the tentacles along her bottom half). She is a Small creature at the rare rarity.

And here we have The Whale, a genetic throwback to a primeval era in which grindylows could grow to any size. Grindylows like The Whale never quite stop growing, and can eventually reach size Huge. This charming gentleman is "merely" Large, and makes a great centerpiece to any grindylow-themed encounter. The Whale is a rare figure.

And that's it for this week. Stay tuned to this space next week for more piratical and aquatic beasties from the upcoming Skull & Shackles set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted figures!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Pathfinder Battles Preview: A Motley Crew

Friday, March 15, 2013

WizKids secret agents have been making multiple weekly trips to Paizo these days, and each time they show up they have a chest full of pirate's treasure. Ok, that's not true, but for nerds like me it's pretty close. In fact they've been bringing over the latest paint masters for figures in this summer's Skull & Shackles set of Pathfinder Battles miniatures, and man, they shine like the brightest gold to these old pirate eyes!

The new set supports the popular Skull & Shackles Adventure Path, and provides a host of creatures that have never before appeared in prepainted plastic (many of which, I might add, came from suggestions from the Pathfinder faithful—so keep those requests coming!). This week I present a motley, more or less random assortment of figures from the set.

Up first is Selissa, a young aquatic naga pushed into the "civilized" lands of the Shackles isles by unusually dry conditions in her usual river habitats. That means she's hungry and desperate, and ready to bite a chunk of refreshing meat from your player characters.

Selissa is an interesting figure because she's size Medium, one step smaller than standard aquatic nagas. One of the cool things about basing these sets on actual characters from actual adventures is that it gives us a chance to do some oddball figures that maybe wouldn't make sense in a more "generic" set.

The figure looks amazing in hand, with vibrant blues and greens and an aquatic shine that adds an extra layer of creepiness.

"But she's the wrong size!" some might exclaim. "Why didn't you include a Large aquatic naga in the set?"

To which I'd reply. "She's the right size for Selissa, and a cool figure to boot. You'll just have to wait a bit longer to see the Large version that's ALSO in this set!"

Up next we have a classic creature of fantasy gaming that to my knowledge has never before been produced in prepainted plastic. We call this Large abomination Shimerae, and in the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path she's the beloved pet (and convenient poison source) for a nasty alchemist.

In the real world, she's an amazing, amazing miniature that I can't wait to throw up against my hated enemies (by which I mean my players).

But it wouldn't be a proper Skull & Shackles preview without a kick-ass pirate, and this week we've got a baddy who you really don't want to run into on the open sea. I give you Arronax Endymion, Lord of Hell Harbor and renegade former commander of the Fourth Fleet of Imperial Cheliax. That didn't turn out for him, and now he ranks among the most powerful pirate lords of the Shackles Isles.

I think he also makes a nice sub for any kind of naval officer or player character with a naval background. By the time we're done with this set, you'll be able to pair him up with tons of different pirate lords OR team him up with Chelish naval officers, all of whom will be sailing into view in the coming weeks.

You can make sure you get all of these figures by setting up an Ongoing Pathfinder Battles Subscription today!

The set is scheduled for a summer release, so start getting your sea legs. There's a long and exciting voyage ahead!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Pathfinder Battles Preview: Hoist the Black Flag: Skull & Shackles!

Friday, March 8, 2013

I am pleased to announce today that the next major Pathfinder Battles release will be a full 55-figure set inspired by Paizo’s popular Skull & Shackles Adventure Path! Skull & Shackles casts players in the role of a gang of pirates with their own ship, struggling to make a name for themselves in the treacherous southern seas of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting!

The new Skull & Shackles Pathfinder Battles prepainted fantasy miniatures set provides players and GMs with legions of figures to kit out their seafaring campaigns, from pirates to aquatic menaces to undead horrors from the briny deep!

Our partners at WizKids have been delivering amazing new sculpts and killer paint masters on a weekly basis, and things are moving very rapidly with this set as we head toward its summer 2013 release (more later on the specific date when WizKids locks down a few more details on the manufacturing side).

As with previous major Pathfinder Battles releases, the Skull & Shackles set features a special limited-edition figure available only to folks who purchase a case. This time around, it’s the Gargantuan Skeletal Dragon Brinebones, a major antagonist in the campaign that easily stands toe-to-bony-toe with our previous Gargantuan dragon releases (and other Gargantuan dragons yet to come). Check out these very early behind-the-scenes photos of the Gargantuan Skeletal Dragon from WizKids’s factory!

Of course, the set contains a fair share of Small, Medium, and Large figures as well. Let’s take a look at a few of these water-logged beasties for just a hint of what’s in store when the set releases this summer.

Here we have the squamous Sea Troll, a deadly denizen of the deeps eager to munch your player characters into chum. He stands with a bit of a curved spine, making him a little smaller than the Troll Champion from the Shattered Star set. But when you get this figure in hand, you’ll agree that he fits right in with his big land-dwelling brother. Only I think he may be a little bit cooler, which is saying something, since the Troll Champion is my favorite figure from the last set. When WizKids brought the Sea Troll to our office, everyone agreed that it was a step forward for the line. You guys are going to love it.

Of course, the set includes lots of pirates, with this guy here being just the first of several we’ll show off in the coming weeks. The sculpt detail on this fellow is amazing, and I suspect he will see lots of use by GMs as well as players looking for a cool swashbuckling figure.

There are, of course, lots more figures to show off in this set, but we’ve got a lot of weeks between now and the summer and plenty of time to show them all off.

In the coming months, look forward to more pirates, more aquatic creatures, more creatures never before produced in prepainted plastic, and more figures specifically demanded by you here on paizo.com.

And while you’re checking out the Skull & Shackles set, keep in mind that WizKids is hard at work on the NEXT set after that. With the set-to-set improvement we’ve seen on paint steps and sculpts we’ve seen so far, I can’t even imagine how amazing THAT one is going to be!

More next week, you scallywags!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Find the Path with Wayfinder!

Thursday, February 20, 2013

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

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

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

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

Liz Courts
Webstore Specialist