Since we're getting dangerously close to starting actual work on Pathfinder's second Adventure Path, Curse of the Crimson Throne, I figured it'd be a great time to reveal some information about Pathfinder's third Adventure Path. This one's still quite early in the development stages, but nonetheless we've got a fair amount about it nailed down. And it's those things I want to talk about in today's blog post.
The Name: The third Adventure Path is called "Second Darkness." Yes, that does imply that there was a First Darkness. Keen-eyed blog and messageboard readers might be able to figure out what that First Darkness is talking about, and rather than say here, I'm inclined to let people guess and talk for a bit.
The First Adventure: I'll be writing the first adventure in Second Darkness—and it's going to be called "Shadow in the Sky." It'll be set in and around Riddleport in northwest Varisia. None of the other adventures in the campaign have names yet, but by the time we're in adventure #4, the campaign will have moved from northwest Varisia into the vast network of caverns deep below the surface world. When the campaign comes back up for air on the surface, it'll be somewhere rather far away from Varisia.
The Edition: I can't say yet if Second Darkness will use the 3.5 rules or the 4th edition rules, simply because we haven't seen the 4th edition rules yet and have no way of knowing if they'll do the job for what we've got planned for this campaign. The only thing I can guarantee is that whatever edition of the rules we use for "Shadow in the Sky," we won't be switching editions halfway through the Adventure Path.
Level Range: Like Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne, Second Darkness starts your PCs out at first level. I'm not sure what level they'll end up being, but chances are pretty good that, since Second Darkness is a 6-part campaign, it'll be pretty similar in that regard to Pathfinder's first two Adventure Paths.
The Plot: I don't want to give away too much about the plot of Second Darkness, but I can say this: readers of Pathfinder and GameMastery Modules have no doubt noticed the absence of one of the more iconic RPG bad guys. That's because we were saving them for this Adventure Path. That's right: Second Darkness reveals the role of the drow on (and under!) Golarion.
Drow of Golarion: Drow are certainly a hot topic among fans of the game. A lot of people actively hate them for various reasons, it seems, but nonetheless, every time a drow ended up on the cover of a magazine, that magazine sold incredibly well. More to the point, drow have been (and remain) one of my favorite villains for the game. There's just something so delightfully warped about elves who live in non-elven areas deep underground, who worship demons, who have a sadistic matriarchal society, and who have all sorts of creepy magic items and tricks up their sleeves. The old D&D adventure "Queen of the Spiders" remains my favorite D&D adventure of all time in large part due to the drow, who were of course first introduced in that series as an evil mastermind race of bad guys. Eclavdra, Erelhei-Cinlu, tentacle rods, death lances, the Elder Elemental Eye, temples that were actually called fanes, and the demons the drow trafficked with are where I'll be going for inspiration for Second Darkness. Don't expect any angst-ridden heroic loner drow in Second Darkness—these drow will be villains through and through. We've also got some new angles for drow in Golarion as well, something that I'm not allowed to reveal quite yet, but it does have something to do with where drow come from.
Other Elements: Of course, the drow aren't going to be the only villains in Second Darkness. You can expect one or more of the following creatures to have important roles in the campaign as well: dragons, derro, giant arachnids and insects, demons, tieflings, and maybe even some aboleths. And as you might be able to tell from the first adventure's title… not all of the monsters will be coming up from below. The skies above Golarion spawn dangers of their own that are more than a match for anything the caves below can disgorge up into the world!
