The Stars Are Right

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Dear Reader,

The light from Aldebaran and the songs from the Hyades fall upon our brittle planet, and I'm pleased to share with you that in the coming weeks the Strange Aeons Adventure Path will be slinking out of our warehouse and making its way into game stores, distributors' warehouses, and your homes. After much research and many an occult ritual, this Adventure Path steeped in the cosmic horror of the Elder Mythos has broken free from the Dreamlands and become a reality—a sentient thing, perhaps.

Now, this is no reason for concern. I assure you that the Strange Aeons Adventure Path is fairly benign. You will not go mad from reading it; the books won't flap themselves from your shelf and scuttle about your home in the stygian hours of the night while you slumber—dreaming of things far more horrific, no doubt. It will, however, provide hours and hours of creepy excitement for you and your friends.

Illustration by Caio Maciel Monteiro

While this Adventure Path is perfect for experts on the Lovecraft Mythos, don't feel like Strange Aeons isn't for you if you're not familiar with or well versed in the literature that provides the inspiration for this campaign. If you enjoy creepy cultists, bizarre monsters, forgotten lore, and accursed locations, Strange Aeons is a good fit for you.

I will, however, bestow upon you a small warning that this campaign starts off in an atypical way, perhaps our most non-standard Adventure Path opening to date. The characters wake up in an asylum with no memory of how they got there and only hazy recollections of who they are. This kind of start requires a fair amount of trust of the GM and of the Adventure Path. You can still create a character with a complete backstory, but know that some things happened in your character's past that are beyond his or her control. The upcoming Strange Aeons Player's Guide provides advice on how to make the best of this strange (but fun) situation.

If you are eager to play through or run the Strange Aeons and want to gather some associated materials to help spice up your campaign, consider checking out some of the following items. As this is a cosmic horror campaign, picking up the newly released Pathfinder RPG Horror Adventures is a great idea. In addition to great advice on running horror games, the book provides plenty of great character options for GMs and players both. I also advise using the new alternate fear rules included in this book, as I feel it will really help set the mood for the campaign. Similarly, grabbing a copy of Pathfinder RPG Occult Adventures provides plenty of character options and new rules that fit the tone and flavor of the Strange Aeons Adventure Path.

Illustration by Ramon Puasa Jr.

Strange Aeons kicks off with Pathfinder Adventure Path #109: In Search of Sanity by our own Editor-In-Chief F. Wesley Schneider, who puts his own brand of horror on the Adventure Path right out of the gate. I cornered him in his office and got him to jot down a few thoughts about his opening adventure.

"As soon as it was clear that we were returning to Ustalav, I was pretty vocal that I wanted in. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Rule of Fear established Versex county as Lovecraft country, and Thrushmoor already had dozens of threads dangling for cosmic horror plots, so I was instantly stoked that Strange Aeons was going to be playing in that sandbox. The fact that the first adventure was set in an asylum was just icing on a really big pile of also icing (I might have written a couple of fictional asylums in past works).

Now, it's been nearly a year since I wrapped up work on In Search of Sanity. I wrote it on something of a binge after finishing my novel, Pathfinder Tales: Bloodbound (also set in Ustalav), and the first volume of Hell's Vengeance, "The Hellfire Compact." As a result, "In Search of Sanity" features as few subtle nods to both. I won't give away too much, but if you're interested in learning more about Ustalav's royal accusers or about the tribulations of Longacre's Lieklan family, the first Strange Aeons has more to say.

You'll also have the chance to join an asylum revolt, surf a blood tsunami and give a ghoul a shower.

I seem to remember that some Lovecrafty stuff happens too.

Y'all like bholes, right?"

If you're eager to get into the right feel for Strange Aeons and want to do some reading, I've compiled a brief reading list of some of the stories that capture the feel of and have inspired the Strange Aeons Adventure Path.

• "The Shadow Out of Time," by H. P. Lovecraft
• "The Dunwich Horror," by H. P. Lovecraft
• "At the Mountains of Madness," by H. P. Lovecraft
• "The Call of Cthulhu," by H. P. Lovecraft
• "Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath," by H. P. Lovecraft
• "The Doom that Came to Sarnath," by H. P. Lovecraft
• "The Repairer of Reputations," by Robert Chambers
• "The Yellow Sign," by Robert Chambers
• "The Great God Pan," by Arthur Machen
• "The Wendigo," by Algernon Blackwood
• "The Willows," by Algernon Blackwood
• "The House on the Borderland," by William Hope Hodgson

In a few short weeks the ritual to properly summon the Strange Aeons Adventure Path will be complete! Keep your eyes on this blog for the Strange Aeons Player's Guide, which you will see soon enough.

Adam Daigle
Developer