The first Munchkin sets were sold at Gen Con 2001. Starting in January 2016 and going right through Gen Con 2017, we're celebrating Munchkin's 15th anniversary! (Yes, for more than 18 months. What's the point of having an anniversary if we can't Munchkin-ize our own party?) As part of the celebration, we've released a series of Guest Artist Editions of many of our Munchkin titles, and we certainly didn't want to leave Munchkin Pathfinder out of the lineup.
I had the enjoyable task of combing through issues of the Pathfinder comic books to find an artist whose style was suitable for Munchkin Pathfinder. After I got to look through a number of issues (translation: I got to read comics for work, because my job is awesome), we decided on Shane White, who has a strong visual style that's perfect for Pathfinder and for Munchkin. Luckily for us, Shane was just as excited by this project as we were and knocked it absolutely out of the park. We were so thrilled with Shane's work that we've contracted him for some more projects, including a new booster pack, Munchkin Pathfinder: Truly Gobnoxious, and the long-delayed Munchkin Pathfinder 2, scheduled for Summer 2017.
There are 168 cards in this game, so picking just a few to show off Shane's fantastic work was nearly impossible. I pared it down to three that I really love.
First, the Blog Goblin, who absolutely embraces his anachronism with a jaunty hat, sunglasses, completely generic coffee, and a laptop whose logo deserves a second look. Watch your fingers! Writing all the Goblins in Munchkin Pathfinder and its expansions was fun and challenging, and even now I find myself coming up with more Goblin ideas than I have space to use them. (So far, anyway... no telling what the future might hold!)
Next up is Goblin Sweat. I admit, I wasn't thinking about a bartender when I saw this Item in the Pathfinder books and included it in the game, but I'm glad Shane did! It puts a new twist on an already fun item. (Pun totally intended.)
Finally, Firegut is one of the many Curses in Munchkin Pathfinder that I took from the various diseases found in Golarion. This one is especially nasty in canon and Shane's art captures it perfectly. Special kudos on this and all the cards in this set to the SJ Games layout and production team; this game looks fantastic because of their hard work.
