Kingmaker Update

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Since a bit before all of us at Paizo transitioned into work-from-home mode back in early March, my primary job has been all things Kingmaker. The upcoming 2nd-edition update is one of the largest single print projects we’ve ever attempted at Paizo, with about a thousand pages represented between the 640 page Adventure Path (compare that to, say, the 432 pages in the Rise of the Runelords hardcover compilation), the 128 page Companion Guide (which brings in all 12 companions from Owlcat’s computer game version of Kingmaker), and a pair of Bestiary companions to help folks run the Adventure Path using 1st edition Pathfinder rules or even 5E rules. And this doesn’t even touch the various accessory products—maps and screens and more!

Unfortunately, the magnitude of getting this all done means that we’re not going to have it out for folks anytime soon. At this point, we’re targeting a release sometime in the second half of 2021—we’ll keep everyone updated as we get closer to the finish line, of course, but until then, work proceeds apace, with it being pretty much the only thing (other than meetings and product approvals) that I’m focused on right now.

As soon as I’m done writing this blog post, I’m jumping right back in to development—I’m midway through Chapter 7: Blood for Blood, working my way through Fort Drelev. I’ve finished development on the Kingdom management rules, the Settlement building rules, and the narrative Mass Combat rules. We’ve got over 300 pages of content in edit as I race to stay ahead of that curve.

But there’s more than words in an adventure, and now we come to the exciting part of this blog post! We’re ordering a mountain of new art for this project, both to illustrate scenes and characters and creatures we didn’t have the budget or time or pages to do in the first printing of Kingmaker a decade ago, along with lots of art for brand new content that’s never before seen print.

Some of that art’s already coming in, in fact, as you’ve no doubt already noticed!

First, we’ve got an image from the new introduction to the Adventure Path, based on the prologue from Owlcat’s version of the game when the brand-new PCs gather at Lady Jamandi Aldori’s estate for a feast and to be assigned their charters for exploring the Stolen Lands. Of course, even at first level, Amiri’s not gonna take any guff from midnight killers trying to ambush her while she’s resting up from a night of feasting!

Pathfinder iconic barbarian Amiri taking on a would be assassin with a chair An armored half eld holding a sword and buckler

And speaking of Lady Jamandi, we’ve got a brand new illustration of her—she’s essentially your patron for the first part of this entire campaign, and her role throughout the Adventure Path is a bit more involved... unless, of course, the players at your table decide to cut ties with Rostland and go off on their own to build a kingdom. It is a sandbox campaign still, after all!

Being able to finally illustrate a certain enormous and angry owlbear in his own illustration had to happen, obviously.

And finally, have a mutant chimera that may have gotten a bit too close to a volatile mix of planar energies from the First World and the Abyss. I won’t tell you where this last critter shows up, but he’s certainly a handful!

A wild owlbear with arrows sticking out of its back a mutant chimera with the heads of a bird, snake, and beetle.

In closing, thank you again to all of you out there who played Kingmaker and helped make it one of our most successful, most popular Adventure Paths of all time. Again, apologies for it taking longer to publish and get it all into your hands than we’d anticipated, but I think it’s going to be well worth the wait!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Creative Director

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Tags: Kingmaker Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Pathfinder Second Edition
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For those interested, just spotted a full slate of preorders on Gamenerdz, with a target release date of Oct 26, 2022.


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Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
AJCarrington wrote:
For those interested, just spotted a full slate of preorders on Gamenerdz, with a target release date of Oct 26, 2022.

The crowdfunding page at gameontabletop updated yesterday letting everyone know the prints were being delivered to Paizo's warehouse now. Exciting stuff! Wonder when the store page will go up. Eager to preorder this thing and read more about what's in the Companion Guide, specifically how much content in there will be useful for any campaign.


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Opsylum wrote:
The crowdfunding page at gameontabletop updated yesterday letting everyone know the prints were being delivered to Paizo's warehouse now. Exciting stuff! Wonder when the store page will go up. Eager to preorder this thing and read more about what's in the Companion Guide, specifically how much content in there will be useful for any campaign.

With the deadline to update shipping addresses being Aug 03, I'd expect them to start fulfilling later in the month/September. Quoting Aaron from another thread:

Aaron Shanks Marketing & Media Manager wrote:
Yes. Backers should receive products in September. Retail and Paizo Store sales should start around Halloween. The product pages will go up prior to that.


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Just so I am clear, if using 2e rules all you need is the AP and companion guide correct? The bestiaries are for 1e PF and 5e D and D.


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Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti wrote:
Just so I am clear, if using 2e rules all you need is the AP and companion guide correct? The bestiaries are for 1e PF and 5e D and D.

Seems that way, based on everything I've read. 1e and 5e Bestiarys contain statblocks for companions, important NPCs, and special monsters those systems don't have statblocks for, making the adventure easier to convert. I don't think Companion Guide is necessary, although it seems like it adds a lot of flavor to the adventure, with deep NPC dives (w/ accompanying loyalty quests), expanded kingdom management rules, fun campfire and tavern side activities, rules for things like cooking and weather hazards, etc. Not essential, but when you run the adventure, it's really nice to have, seems like! I love running travel adventures myself, so seems like there's a lot in there for me to pillage for my own campaigns. Also interested to see how easy it would be to scale kingdom management rules down for something smaller, like running a crew or caravan.

If any devs in the know are looking at this, a few store pages for Companion Guide are only mentioning support for about 6-7 companions in this book. I know the crowdfunding stretch goals only unlocked side missions for a few companions, but will the rest of the Owlcat companions still be covered in any way? Octavia and Regongar were my favorite Kingmaker companions, and I was intrigued to see what a 2e Kineticist statblock looked like, in Kaessi's case. Jaethal's Inquisitor, too.


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Opsylum wrote:
Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti wrote:
Just so I am clear, if using 2e rules all you need is the AP and companion guide correct? The bestiaries are for 1e PF and 5e D and D.

Seems that way, based on everything I've read. 1e and 5e Bestiarys contain statblocks for companions, important NPCs, and special monsters those systems don't have statblocks for, making the adventure easier to convert. I don't think Companion Guide is necessary, although it seems like it adds a lot of flavor to the adventure, with deep NPC dives (w/ accompanying loyalty quests), expanded kingdom management rules, fun campfire and tavern side activities, rules for things like cooking and weather hazards, etc. Not essential, but when you run the adventure, it's really nice to have, seems like! I love running travel adventures myself, so seems like there's a lot in there for me to pillage for my own campaigns. Also interested to see how easy it would be to scale kingdom management rules down for something smaller, like running a crew or caravan.

If any devs in the know are looking at this, a few store pages for Companion Guide are only mentioning support for about 6-7 companions in this book. I know the crowdfunding stretch goals only unlocked side missions for a few companions, but will the rest of the Owlcat companions still be covered in any way? Octavia and Regongar were my favorite Kingmaker companions, and I was intrigued to see what a 2e Kineticist statblock looked like, in Kaessi's case. Jaethal's Inquisitor, too.

That is what I am thinking as well.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti wrote:
Just so I am clear, if using 2e rules all you need is the AP and companion guide correct? The bestiaries are for 1e PF and 5e D and D.

Correct.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

9 people marked this as a favorite.
Opsylum wrote:
If any devs in the know are looking at this, a few store pages for Companion Guide are only mentioning support for about 6-7 companions in this book. I know the crowdfunding stretch goals only unlocked side missions for a few companions, but will the rest of the Owlcat companions still be covered in any way? Octavia and Regongar were my favorite Kingmaker companions, and I was intrigued to see what a 2e Kineticist statblock looked like, in Kaessi's case. Jaethal's Inquisitor, too.

Only the companions who were unlocked get the full treatment of stats and new player options and personal quests, which is about a dozen pages of content or so for each. The other companions, including Octavia, Regongar, Jaethal, etc. each get two pages that gives information about the character and some advice on how they can help you out when you're camping or running kingdoms, along with a single new spell or magic item or the like that they "unlock" in various ways. No stats; this is not and never was intended to give any "sneak previews" for players on how inquisitors or kineticists (or the magus, for that matter) work as player characters.


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How many pages is the companion book?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti wrote:
How many pages is the companion book?

128 pages.


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Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

Hm. I thought I had signed up for this kickstarter, but I can't seem to find a record of it. No big deal, I'll just wait until stuff is available in Paizo's store.


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Ed Reppert wrote:
Hm. I thought I had signed up for this kickstarter, but I can't seem to find a record of it. No big deal, I'll just wait until stuff is available in Paizo's store.

Maybe you can't find it because it's in GameOnTabletop, not Kickstarter?


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James Jacobs wrote:
Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti wrote:
How many pages is the companion book?
128 pages.

Thank you.


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Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
Totally Not Gorbacz wrote:
Ed Reppert wrote:
Hm. I thought I had signed up for this kickstarter, but I can't seem to find a record of it. No big deal, I'll just wait until stuff is available in Paizo's store.
Maybe you can't find it because it's in GameOnTabletop, not Kickstarter?

Nope, not in GoTT either.


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Man, this has obviously been a long time coming, but my hype levels continue to be off the chain.

Can't believe it's only a couple months out!

Going to be running this for the second time, this time as an evil campaign.


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Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

I suppose I should at some point go back and finish my Kingmaker computer game. As I recall I got stuck somewhere in the last third of the game. So I moved on to Pillars of Eternity, and now I'm stuck close to the end of that. Doggone Abbot is *tough*. :-)


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*something something grumble* Harris was robbed *grumble something something* it's all meaningless anyhow.


As I head back to Kingmaker and prepare to run it, I was looking for an alternate picture of Jamandi. This is perfect, all those sashes and items will fit a description emphasising her experience, magic item repertoire, that she can fight, but is hiding plenty about her true power and past.

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