Happy Anniversary, Korvosa!

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

The Founding Festival is upon us, and what better way to celebrate the city of Korvosa than with a preview of the updated Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path that made it (in)famous?

As with the hardcover edition of Rise of the Runelords a few years ago, one exciting element of revising Curse of the Crimson Throne was the opportunity to look through all the comments people posted on our messageboards over the years. Feedback, observations, obituaries for dead PCs, obituaries for dead villains, complaints, misunderstandings, corrections, and so much more awaited discovery as I made my way through all those posts in the early days of work on the revision project. But one thing stood out over and above everything else—folks had fallen in love with the city of Korvosa so much that they hated leaving it!

While the journey into the Cinderlands and the exploration of a certain infamous castle very much remain integral elements of Curse of the Crimson Throne's hardcover revision, I took to heart the complaints folks had about leaving Korvosa behind for two adventures. The fact that this occurred after your player characters likely gain access to fast travel spells like teleport, wind walk, shadow walk, word of recall, transport via plants, and so much more only further complicated the issue. After spending half an Adventure Path defending a city, why would heroes abandon it when returning is often just a spell away?

There's all sorts of tiny new additions to the campaign, the single largest addition to Curse of the Crimson Throne takes place between books 4 and 5. I won't go into great detail about what this addition consists of, but it DOES involve a return to Korvosa to take care of two particularly vexing groups that your PCs will grow to love hating during the campaign. Expect to encounter some familiar faces, some brand new foes, and at least one established Korvosan NPC who may or may not have a brand new secret (and a lot of brand new powers) to be surprised by!


Illustrations by Miguel Regodón Harkness, Bryan Sola, and William O’Brien

And while showing you illustrations of some of the foes your characters will meet in this new section will spoil those surprises... I can't NOT show off some of the new art from the new book! See if you can recognize some of the new looks for old friends and enemies!

James Jacobs
Creative Director

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Tags: Bryan Sola Curse of the Crimson Throne Miguel Regodón Harkness Pathfinder Adventure Path

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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

I am SOO looking forward to this!


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*Much undignified capering and whining and wanting it to be out already*


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... Man, Lamm looks horrible. Like, he wasn't a good looking guy before, but he looks like he's... Oh, I don't know... About seven days from his grave?

But seriously, excellent art! I'm looking forward to this so, so much.

Dark Archive

Can't wait!!!!

Dark Archive

Thank you for all the great work, James.

I will definetly buy this, although i already have AP 7-12.

11 weeks to go!


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Extremely excited for this! Especially because I am currently running the original Curse and by the time this book comes out, we should be right around the part that saw the mentioned overhaul!

However, I'm a little surprised to see Gaedren.

Spoiler:

From my what I gathered on the messageboards, the beginning of the first chapter was also a major flaw of the campaign for a lot of people. Most parties would get very excited about the premise and the mysterious note, finally gaining a lead on an old illusive enemy. They get ready for an epic and twisting hunt for revenge or justice and then...
It's all over within minutes after storming the Old Fishery.

That whole story is also entirely irrelevant to the rest of the AP. All it does is get the characters together. I definitely thought that this would be done differently in the revised edition.

Silver Crusade Contributor

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Nullpunkt wrote:

Extremely excited for this! Especially because I am currently running the original Curse and by the time this book comes out, we should be right around the part that saw the mentioned overhaul!

However, I'm a little surprised to see Gaedren.
** spoiler omitted **

I believe there's an added element to that in the hardcover.

CotCT:
If I recall correctly, Rolth is Gaedren's son, and bears the PCs a bit of a grudge for their actions. This keeps that story rolling a bit farther than in the original edition.


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Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
Kalindlara wrote:
Nullpunkt wrote:

Extremely excited for this! Especially because I am currently running the original Curse and by the time this book comes out, we should be right around the part that saw the mentioned overhaul!

However, I'm a little surprised to see Gaedren.
** spoiler omitted **

I believe there's an added element to that in the hardcover.

** spoiler omitted **

Ha! That is a small, but clever change that makes the beginning a lot less disconnected! Kudos!


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Kalindlara wrote:

I believe there's an added element to that in the hardcover.

** spoiler omitted **

Interesting! Where did you get that information?

Silver Crusade

[wry]Yeah, Trinia doesn't look like an assassin at all now. Nope. Not in the slightest.[/wry]

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
Rysky wrote:
[wry]Yeah, Trinia doesn't look like an assassin at all now. Nope. Not in the slightest.[/wry]

In fact, she probably only uses that painter's knife to clean her fingernails. Ah, the hard life of the always misunderstood artist.


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Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Nullpunkt wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
Nullpunkt wrote:

Extremely excited for this! Especially because I am currently running the original Curse and by the time this book comes out, we should be right around the part that saw the mentioned overhaul!

However, I'm a little surprised to see Gaedren.
** spoiler omitted **

I believe there's an added element to that in the hardcover.

** spoiler omitted **

Ha! That is a small, but clever change that makes the beginning a lot less disconnected! Kudos!

James talked about it in the Curse of the Crimson Throne seminar at Paizocon. You can listen to it here if you are interested.

Silver Crusade

Such a good adventure. Look at Trinia, like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

I have to ask about changes and updates.

Is the one and only BlackJack now a Vigilante? He has to be, doesn't he?

Do the Plague Doctors now have a level of Alchemist?

I so want to play this new version. But as what? Cartomancer Witch? Korvosan superhero Vigilante? Hell Knight bringing in some proper police work? City Investigator? Shoanti Bloodrager? Rakshasa Sorcerer? Thassilonian Enchanter bringing sexy back? (joke)


I like the artwork so far, except for Trinia... She looks a little less innocent than before.

Community Manager

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mourge40k wrote:
... Man, Lamm looks horrible. Like, he wasn't a good looking guy before, but he looks like he's... Oh, I don't know... About seven days from his grave?

I see what you did there.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Nullpunkt wrote:

Extremely excited for this! Especially because I am currently running the original Curse and by the time this book comes out, we should be right around the part that saw the mentioned overhaul!

However, I'm a little surprised to see Gaedren.
** spoiler omitted **

Regarding your spoiler. I was certainly aware of that complaint, and I think I might have figured out a way to make it an advantage that the AP starts this way rather than a disadvantage... Not gonna spoil it entirely here, but...

Spoiler:
There's more than one Lamm in the AP now...

EDIT: Heh, I guess I did talk a bit more about this in the seminars. Yes. The Gaedren Lamm element of the adventure plays out pretty much the same, but there's links now to Rolth, who is Gaedren's son, and his role in the AP and in Korvosa's history is MUCH larger... in fact, while Rolth is no fan of his father, the PCs taking out his father gives him excellent motivation to want vengeance against the PCs! Rolth is one of the 12 NPCs who gets a spread of their own in the book's appendix, and there's extra info there for how he can continue to be a thorn in the PCs' side as a recurring villain, along with a few custom-designed spells of his own that are... creeeeeepy.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Duamatef wrote:
I like the artwork so far, except for Trinia... She looks a little less innocent than before.

Intentional.

She's supposed to be a scapegoat, after all, and if she looks TOO innocent, then it's harder to pin the blame on her. ALSO making her look more self-confident and capable and less like a little kid or a damsel in distress was important as well.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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0o0o0 O 0o0o0 wrote:

Such a good adventure. Look at Trinia, like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

I have to ask about changes and updates.

Is the one and only BlackJack now a Vigilante? He has to be, doesn't he?

Do the Plague Doctors now have a level of Alchemist?

I so want to play this new version. But as what? Cartomancer Witch? Korvosan superhero Vigilante? Hell Knight bringing in some proper police work? City Investigator? Shoanti Bloodrager? Rakshasa Sorcerer? Thassilonian Enchanter bringing sexy back? (joke)

Some spoilers below...

Spoiler:
For the most part, I avoided the temptation to completely redesign entire stat blocks; I want the players of this version to have as close an experience to the original as possible after all. That said...

Blackjack is a vigilante. That was just too obvious and perfect a change.

The plague doctors do not have any alchemist levels, but one of the characters in that adventure does—makes sense that he was called in as a specialist since he's the only alchemist in the group...

AND: Play a harrower!!!!


James Jacobs wrote:
Duamatef wrote:
I like the artwork so far, except for Trinia... She looks a little less innocent than before.

Intentional.

She's supposed to be a scapegoat, after all, and if she looks TOO innocent, then it's harder to pin the blame on her. ALSO making her look more self-confident and capable and less like a little kid or a damsel in distress was important as well.

After I thought about it a while, I realized that innocent wasn't the right word as much as.. Young. But.. The artwork is good either way, just clashes with my mental image of her a bit. :)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Duamatef wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Duamatef wrote:
I like the artwork so far, except for Trinia... She looks a little less innocent than before.

Intentional.

She's supposed to be a scapegoat, after all, and if she looks TOO innocent, then it's harder to pin the blame on her. ALSO making her look more self-confident and capable and less like a little kid or a damsel in distress was important as well.

After I thought about it a while, I realized that innocent wasn't the right word as much as.. Young. But.. The artwork is good either way, just clashes with my mental image of her a bit. :)

That too. She was never intended to look like a child or teen. I do get what your saying, but as fun as her previous art was... it was never "right" for the character. This version is.

Grand Lodge

I love the art!


Jam412 wrote:
James talked about it in the Curse of the Crimson Throne seminar at Paizocon. You can listen to it here if you are interested.

That is indeed where I heard it. ^_^

(I sound like such trash on recordings.)

Dark Archive

Will there be a "continuing the campaign" article including the relics and what's and who's under Castle Korvosa?

Silver Crusade Contributor

While the relics are up-to-date as of Artifacts and Legends (as I'm sure you're aware), they're already reprinting enough stuff that it's certainly possible. ^_^

It'll be interesting to see if there's anything new about the Grand Mastaba as well.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Marco Massoudi wrote:
Will there be a "continuing the campaign" article including the relics and what's and who's under Castle Korvosa?

A little. About 2 pages. Not a lot. The relics have already been super-detailed in Artifacts and Legends and doing more about them isn't really appropriate for the campaign. And what's going on under Castle Korvosa is very much a topic that deserves its own adventure, and as such we play it pretty coy in this book, which is indeed focused more on the campaign rather than what's after. Look at how we handled things in the Continuing the Campaign for the hardcover Runelords... expect something on that level of detail... so again... 2 pages.


I'm very excited for this. Can't wait! (Too bad my PCs are on Book 6)

Grand Lodge

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Adventure Path Charter Subscriber

I'm really looking forward to this. It might be the next campaign I run for my group.

-Skeld


Sadly, I held off on running it until earlier this year (a couple of months before it was announced). Still looking forward to it - it played really, really well at the table and all the (minor) issues I had with it have been explicitly called out by James as things he's addressed.

This is going to go from my favourite AP to my "even more favourite" AP.


Definitely on my "to buy" list! :)


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I am starting this in about two weeks. So we may be through book one by the time this comes out. Really, really looking forward to it.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Paizo Blog wrote:
[...]at least one established Korvosan NPC who may or may not have a brand new secret (and a lot of brand new powers) to be surprised by!

Here's my guess as to who and what:

New Secret:
Trinia is, or becomes, the next Blackjack. Either she's already training with Vencarlo, or she becomes his apprentice after the events at the end of Chapter 1. If I ever run this campaign, at least, that'd be my fallback to continuing Blackjack's legacy if none of the PC's want to go vigilante.

Whether I'm right or wrong, I'm ecstatic to see this getting a hardcover, and Pathfinder, remake!


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This is coming out right about when my group will be either wrapping up, or at least getting through book six.

I'm still probably going to buy the hardcover though. Just to have it. It's been a great year and a half running this campaign, so this is going to be like a souvenir for me.

I love the Queen Ileosa cover art. Can probably forget about players believing in her for the first couple books though, if they see that ;)

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