In just over two weeks, Ultimate Campaign should hit your local game store or your mailbox. In the build up to the release of this new 256-page hardcover expansion to the Pathfinder rules line, we are showing off some of the things you will find inside.
This week, we are taking a look at Chapter 3, which is absolutely packed with new systems for GMs to use in their game. Each one of these sections is designed around one theme and they are easily added to any existing campaign when the story calls for that particular theme. For example, if the player's travel to a kingdom where honor is valued above all else, Ultimate Campaign includes four pages of rules on honor and how it can be incorporated into the game. Are the heroes tasked with exploring a great, uncharted wilderness? No problem, there are six pages detailing rules for exploration in a wide variety of terrains, covering everything from hazards of travel to random map generation!
Illustration by Sam Burley
All told, this chapter contains 15 sections detailing various rules systems you can add to your game, including rules for alignment shifting, making contacts, developing relationships, and retraining. This last section is sure to be popular at your table, allowing characters to spend some time to change almost everything, from feats and skills to class features and archetypes. You can even retrain your class levels, given enough time and a suitable teacher!
One of my favorite sections of this chapter includes rules for playing young characters, before they start their adventuring career. It includes rules for young members of all of the core races, guidelines for available classes, and tips for roleplaying and the types of encounters young characters might face. While this is only a short section at the end of the chapter, I can think of a number of games that would have greatly benefitted starting the story before the PCs became the heroes they are today.
That about wraps up this week. Next week, we are going to take a look at the final chapter of the book, dealing with kingdoms and war!
Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
