Pathfinder #1—Rise of the Runelords Chapter 1: "Burnt Offerings" (OGL) PDF

Uh, thank you very much. i didn´t seen that.

Just got through reading my first Pathfinder AP purchase - just as thrilled, maybe more, than as with Shackled City. A sheer extraordinary amount of detail on the town and NPC motivations, ranging the gamut of personalities.

My only complaint, and this is minor, is the font used on the map numbers is sometimes very hard to read. Having not read later issues (yet!) I don't know: was improved later?

If I get Rise of the Runelords AP, does it describe enough of the setting (both descriptive and visual) to show my players? Or will I have to eventually purchase the campaign setting book?

Has anyone played this in a different campaign setting like Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms?

I am preparing to run the adventure in FR. I am setting Sandpoint about 100 miles NW of Waterdeep (along the coast and tucked next to the Sword Mountains) - it fits surprisingly well, with Luskan as the "lawless city to the north", and Waterdeep as the cosmopolitan metropolis nearby.

I wanted Netheril to fill in for the Thessalonians, so I had to stretch the expanse of their empire and ruins, but it is not unbelievable to think they had outposts essentially in Illefarn.

It was tricky converting some deities, as not everyone meshes up nicely, but FR has more choices than Greyhawk, so I feel the end results capture the spirit, if not exact nature, of the Golarion Pantheon. And luckily, Lamashtu is a demon lord for FR anyway!

My only crutch so far is that I feel Xin Halast should be part of Thay, but I am concerned this might create some problems with later modules...any thoughts?

Looks like it's no longer available.. bummer.. now where am I gonna find it..

Looks like it's no longer available.. bummer.. now where am I gonna find it..

Hey Jason:

Yep, we are really low on almost all of the Rise of the Runelords AP. I know that I do have some copies of #1 that have some dings and scrapes on them, but nothing more than using them would do anyways. We inventoried them on Friday and I will get them up on the website on Monday for your consumption. But we are only talking about maybe 30 copies at the most there, so you are going to want to buy early.

Also, we still have a few of the Alternate cover version available, so you can get the 1st volume that way!

-Lisa

Jason Beardsley wrote:

Looks like it's no longer available.. bummer.. now where am I gonna find it..

Hey Jason:

Yep, we are really low on almost all of the Rise of the Runelords AP. I know that I do have some copies of #1 that have some dings and scrapes on them, but nothing more than using them would do anyways. We inventoried them on Friday and I will get them up on the website on Monday for your consumption. But we are only talking about maybe 30 copies at the most there, so you are going to want to buy early.

Also, we still have a few of the Alternate cover version available, so you can get the 1st volume that way!

-Lisa

Looks like I failed my spot check! I completely forgot about the Alt cover! Thanks!!

Anybody record the goblin's song on MP3 yet? Thought that would be nice to play in the background as I slaught- *ahem* start the adventure with my players...

Anybody record the goblin's song on MP3 yet? Thought that would be nice to play in the background as I slaught- *ahem* start the adventure with my players...

Have you tried to search these awesome messageboards...? Well here is one goblin song :)

mattdroz wrote:

Anybody record the goblin's song on MP3 yet? Thought that would be nice to play in the background as I slaught- *ahem* start the adventure with my players...

Have you tried to search these awesome messageboards...? Well here is one goblin song :)

Thank you very much. That's exactly what I was looking for. ;)

Aaaaaaaargh! Are there not anymore of these?!?!?! I checked on sunday and there were still 10....... any one.... Please?

EDIT: Darn...that was on the 7th... Anyway, the quetion stands.

Aaaaaaaargh! Are there not anymore of these?!?!?! I checked on sunday and there were still 10....... any one.... Please?

EDIT: Darn...that was on the 7th... Anyway, the quetion stands.

If it helps, Amazon.com still has PF1 listed on two separate pages, actually, the first of which has only 1 left, so I'd order it now if I were you, because the other page says that it ships in 1-3 months, and in my experience that basically means that you're not going to get it from them. Amazon also has 10 or so used copies, some of which look like they're being sold by stores and are in pretty good condition (of course, that's what the description says. It could be misleading). Ebay has one auction, which also includes PF4 (only 1 day left, though!) Link to the auction. Barnes & Noble has a single copy of it, but its used and is selling for close to $70.

Completely off topic so to speak, but I saw there is a movie called Burnt Offerings and it is about an evil possesed mansion... kind of like in the sequal to this adventure.... Any relation or shout out there? :P

Hugo Solis wrote:

Aaaaaaaargh! Are there not anymore of these?!?!?! I checked on sunday and there were still 10....... any one.... Please?

EDIT: Darn...that was on the 7th... Anyway, the quetion stands.

If it helps, Amazon.com still has PF1 listed on two separate pages

Thanks Izank. Got my copy from them, brand new and included a Players Guide...so, not a big loss. I would have prefered to get it from paizo...but lost my chance.

Thanks again!

Just wondering how long this takes to play through? I know it differs for everyone, but could someone who has played it share how long it took them? (Then I can double it to accomodate us novice players looking through the Player's Handbook for every second roll we have to do!:P )

My group usually meets once a month for a long 12 to 14 hour day and we have been playing for a bit over a year and are just ready to move into the sixth installment. The early adventures (first 3 chapters) took us about 30 hours of play each and then in the fourth it was more like 40-50 hours. The fifth (not quite done) was probably about the same as the fourth.

Hope that helps.

I am running this one right now and I am having a blast taking my pc's through Thistletop.

In response to Abe's question, we play biweekly for about 6 hours. It will take approximately a month and a half to finish one module, eight months to finish one whole adventure path.

I am trying to talk my Sunday group, which has the same players as my Wednesday group, into going over to pathfinder. That way it would allow us to finish these adventure paths at a much faster rate.

Thanks eirip and Shem.

Any word on when these will be available again? By the looks of things, they've been out for a while now.

Thanks eirip and Shem.

Any word on when these will be available again? By the looks of things, they've been out for a while now.

If you mean the print edition, we have no plans to reprint it anytime soon.

Hello

I am looking to GM something for my Players this winter and I have been looking around alot on the old web and stumbled over this AP (rise of the runelords)A lot of good things has been said about it and I have the first path of the campaign on PDF now and I've been skimming it. Now for some questions for you who already have played it.

I'm not a big fan of those cartoonish goblins, seems a bit childish even though the are evil. Does it work to exchange them for some more evil looking goblins, Moria style maybe, or does that ruin this setting/style/adventure in any way?

I've never liked race-heavy RPG settings so I wanna ditch gnomes, halflings, half-orcs/elves. Just keeping dwarfs, humans and elves, do you see that workable in this setting?

Happy for any answer

I've played through the first book; I think the clownishness of the goblins helps magnify their wickedness, but I think playing them straight wouldn't take anything away from the experience necessarily.

I don't know if all that ditching would be a bad thing necessarily either. However, I'm usually against it from a standpoint of letting players play what the hell they want to play within reason, nothing to do with setting per se.

Thanks for the quick answers

It's a rare day when my players decide to roll anything except a human so I'm not worried about their likings ;) I wanna ditch those races entirely from the setting, just not as playable characters. I guess I have to re-race some of the NPCs. But if this path later on turns out to evolve about the gnomes and their history or something I've messed up if I thrown them out from the setting so I just wanna be sure that it works.

Still I am in for some heavy tinkering anyway as I wanna use most of the rules from True 20 mixed with the Beta... Maybe I just should play a computer game instead ;)

I would say that eliminating elves from the Golarion setting would be hard (although it wouldn't hurt RotRL that much, so far as I can see). Of course, it wouldn't be hard to forbid them as player races (most PC elves in Golarion aren't typical elves, in any case, having grown up in human society).

I think he was talking about ditching half-elfes - not elves - not so hard as far as I see. Ditching gnomes is no problem for this AP as well, but I'd advice to read about pathfinder gnomes first - the gnomes of golarion are more or less a fey race with a lot of "otherworldly" potential, so even or especially in a world with fewer races they might be appealing (as kind of spooky fey npc).
I see no problems in changing what you want to change in the first (or second) AP - third (second darkness) might be a different story as it seems to resolve around elves and drow - might be a bit harder to adjust.

Oh yeah, you're right.

The last time some dm decided to ditch gnomes on me....
my mom got me 4 garden gnomes for a Christmas gag, so the was set up around the game table for atmosphere.

I'm a newb here, and I was flipping through the first pathfinder book and this was my question. The Fighter in the back has quite a few feats for a 1st lvl fighter. Is this new or variant rules?

I'm a newb here, and I was flipping through the first pathfinder book and this was my question. The Fighter in the back has quite a few feats for a 1st lvl fighter. Is this new or variant rules?

He's a human so an extra feat for that and one for 1st level fighter and one for 1st level character and I think that in the volume there's some Varisian feats from which you can take one as a freebie.

I remember being a bit confused at some of the sorceror's skill bonuses, but that might have been an error on my part.

I am considering starting a campaing that uses the pathfinder D&D3.5 rules and maybe also use these adventure paths.
With this book being labeled #1 it would appear the natural choice to start out with.
But is has been published a way back.. Is it still worthwhile using to start fresh or would I better get a subscription and go with the stuff that's put out right now?

I am considering starting a campaing that uses the pathfinder D&D3.5 rules and maybe also use these adventure paths.

With this book being labeled #1 it would appear the natural choice to start out with.
But is has been published a way back.. Is it still worthwhile using to start fresh or would I better get a subscription and go with the stuff that's put out right now?

The adventure paths are not dependent upon other adventure paths. So you can start with any of them and it would be just as valid. As for Rise of the Runelords specifically, it's just as worthwhile, fresh, and vital as it was when it was published last year. So the bottom line is... start with any one of the adventure paths that you want to start with. And have fun! :)

Thanks for the answer.
What I find to be a problem is that the #1 is not available as a printed version from paizo any more, and amazon and ebay have proven rather expensive for my taste..too bad..

Thanks for the answer.

What I find to be a problem is that the #1 is not available as a printed version from paizo any more, and amazon and ebay have proven rather expensive for my taste..too bad..

Try #7 instead ... that's the 1st issue of the Curse of the Crimson Throne AP.

-Skeld

Each adventure path is 6 issues - so Curse of the Crimson Throne starts at 7, and Second Darkness starts at 13, and Legacy of Fire will begin at 19 in February. I think that you will love them and once you start you will want everything you can get. I agree with the above - start with #7 because experience says that they will go out of print in the next six months to a year and you will want them. You have more time with the others.

Once you get into these you will want to find issues on ebay or buy the PDFs. Personally, I keep mine in pristine shape and print out the PDF's to do my gaming from. I have a large binder for each adventure path. The supplemental material may go into the same binder (with tabs) or may go into another binder for a certain subject like the dieties. I have them all together in a binder.

I even printed out the BETA rules and use them in a binder with tabs to find things easier. I am very happy getting the PDFs. Life is good.

Drope me a line when you become a true believer (supersubscriber)...

Came across both a solution and a new problem..
Luckily I found an online store that still sold AP #1 and following. Since they ship to germany I am a happy camper.
I would however love to have the pdfs, but since I don't have a credit card nor am I a US resident there seems no (legal) way to get those...

I don't have a credit card

You can get quite decent offers for a card, and they're quite useful.

It'll carry you over until Paizo gets around to offering PayPal.

You will need that card because once you get your Pathfinders you will want to subscribe. Subscribers get the hardcopy for the cover price and the PDFs for free (which would start when you subscribe). Also, there are many subscribers from outside the US.

Thanks. I will be looking into the credit card issue in due time. Until then:
According to an employee of one of the many shops I contacted in search for them, AP#1 and #3 would be going to reprint sometime soon. Anything official from Paizo on that?

Thanks. I will be looking into the credit card issue in due time. Until then:

According to an employee of one of the many shops I contacted in search for them, AP#1 and #3 would be going to reprint sometime soon. Anything official from Paizo on that?

Paizo's official stance, for the present, is no plans for reprints for the past Pathfinder volumes. They did reprint Pathfinder 2 but I do not think they will be doing any more at least through the end of 2009.

But one can always hope ! And if you manage to do order from Paizo directly, make sure you take advantage of the Pathfinder discount, it will save you up to 30 % off there current issues and an additional 15 % past volumes. There is an additional 10 % holiday discount through the end of January, that saves quite a little bit on top of the other discounts if you get an entire adventure path.

Best of luck !

...but since I don't have a credit card nor am I a US resident there seems no (legal) way to get those...

Thom, I don't have a credit card either. However, if you have a Visa cashpoint card, or suchlike, that can be used to subscribe, or make any other internet purchases that you wish. Ask at your bank if you're unsure whether it can be used.

Thanks. I will be looking into the credit card issue in due time. Until then:

According to an employee of one of the many shops I contacted in search for them, AP#1 and #3 would be going to reprint sometime soon. Anything official from Paizo on that?

The currently do not plan to reprint them.

This is why up above we suggested starting with #7 which starts a new adventure path - Curse of the Crimson Throne. You can always buy the PDFs from the Paizo site for those early issues, but they do not plan to reprint. I would say buy what you can of issues 1-6 and when you have the money buy the back issues on ebay or amazon but for now start with #7 and join us. Also, Second Darkness started with number 13 and the last issue of that path comes out this month. And next month the 4th adventure path begins - Legacy of Fire. They are all good and fairly self contained.

Shem is correct, we don't have any plans to reprint any of the out of print volumes. It just doesn't make financial sense because you need a large portion of the reprint to go out the door within the first 30 days, or you suffer a big cash flow drain. Reprints tend to trickle out the door slowly, thus causing that much hated cash flow drain. On top of it, reprinting sold out volumes of Pathfinder causes competition for current APs, which we DO have stock of. One thing I learned from my tenure at WotC when we bought TSR is that giving too many options divides the consumer base and leads to the collapse of a business. I would really only like to have about 3 APs available in full at any given time. Hopefully by this summer, Curse of the Crimson Throne will start to sell out just as Council of Thieves starts.

I hope this clarifies our position on reprints and WHY we are doing what we are. Thanks for your interest!

-Lisa

I just checked ebay and they have issues 2-6 at reasonable buy now prices and you can use paypal. I am sure if you keep checking back you will find one eventually.

Hopefully you will forgive a bit of shameless self promotion but ...

I happen to have a few of these on Ebay right now, including the first volume, Burnt Offerings:

Pathfinder RISE OF THE RUNELORDS AP set of 3 books
(Burnt Offerings, Fortress of the Stone Giants, Spires of Xin-Shalast)
Item number: 200297522500

direct link

... end shameless self promotion :)

Hi all,

Just wanted to let everyone who might be interested that this auction ends tomorrow (Sat, Jan 17th) so, if you need any of these volumes, please feel free to check the auction out!

Thanks!

I had posted this over on the GM Discussion thread, but, perhaps it'sore appropriate here?

May seem minor, even real trivial to some, but, its pretty important for a project deadline I'd like to meet.

Late night random thoughts about reprints and the Adv. Path books.

Well I suscribe to the adv. paths, but I did miss the first 8 issues. I'm getting them slowly, but my copy of issue 1 has some shelf were. So I was thinking of getting another issue and saw that there was no plans for a reprint. I see the logic sort of, and the PDF option is nice to have but it does bring up some issues I've been wondering about.

1. Say Paizo decides to reprint like they did with issue 2,(got a first editon up in canada so its not a issue for me, now) but do their 2nd printings say ehhh 2nd Printing? Just wondering for collecting reasons.

2. As I understand it Paizo has no intention of collecting the adv. paths into a single volume due to the fact it would hurt subscription sales. Not sure if I agree with that but fair enough, at lest Paizo comes right out an says their positon and why. My only major disagreement with that is that the paths are 3.5 up until the 5th(?) adv. path starts. A collective set could be updated to Pathfinder RPG new norm.

3. In any case wouldn't a Print on demand option be a viable solution, when an Adv. Path goes out of print (not just the individual issues but a series as a whole like say Rise of the Rune Lords?).

4. Also in a related issues (and please don't give be greif for lack of knoweldge in these matters since I'm not in the publishing game myself and just discovering PDF books which don't impress me but I suppose they are the brave new world) but I've heard posters say stuff like, "I got it printed at kinkos" or "I got it professionally printed" I guess I didn't know you could print a pdf file at such places but is that a. legal, and b. if so what is the quality like compaired to say a Pizo printed work?

P.S. hope I'm making anyone angery at paizo if you guys look down on question #4.

PPS Anyone I offended for killing a lot a trees with all my book purchaes I say "hey the Tree was Asking for it. Shouldn't have been there."

TTFN DRE

1. Say Paizo decides to reprint like they did with issue 2,(got a first editon up in canada so its not a issue for me, now) but do their 2nd printings say ehhh 2nd Printing? Just wondering for collecting reasons.

Our goal was to make them indistinguishable. If our printer did anything to distinguish them, we didn't notice.

2. As I understand it Paizo has no intention of collecting the adv. paths into a single volume due to the fact it would hurt subscription sales. Not sure if I agree with that but fair enough, at lest Paizo comes right out an says their positon and why. My only major disagreement with that is that the paths are 3.5 up until the 5th(?) adv. path starts. A collective set could be updated to Pathfinder RPG new norm.

While you're not wrong about that, another issue is that we have limited resources, and it makes more sense to spend them on new products that we can sell to all of our customers instead of revisiting a product that many of our customers already have and aren't interested in repurchasing.

In any case wouldn't a Print on demand option be a viable solution, when an Adv. Path goes out of print (not just the individual issues but a series as a whole like say Rise of the Rune Lords?).

Though print-on-demand quality has improved quite a bit in the last few years, I have yet to see a POD book that's of sufficiently high quality to be comfortable selling.

Also in a related issues (and please don't give be greif for lack of knoweldge in these matters since I'm not in the publishing game myself and just discovering PDF books which don't impress me but I suppose they are the brave new world) but I've heard posters say stuff like, "I got it printed at kinkos" or "I got it professionally printed" I guess I didn't know you could print a pdf file at such places but is that a. legal, and b. if so what is the quality like compaired to say a Pizo printed work?

We don't mind you printing a single copy of a Paizo PDF for your personal use. I'll let others tell you about the quality—you already know what I think!

Hey thanks for the quick feedback and info Vic.

Anyones thoughts on POD would be welcomed, as for myself I've only gotten one thing this way KoK setting from Lulu, I thought it was very good quality, but thats lulu not kinkos so I still up in the air on that.

Again thanks, Dre.

Any plans on reprinting it, because PDFs kind of suck.

Any plans on reprinting it, because PDFs kind of suck.

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