This invaluable resource for Pathfinder's first Adventure Path reveals how best to customize your character so that he'll fit into the realm of Varisia with ease. Inside this guide you'll find:
An introduction to Varisia, the frontier region that serves as the setting for Rise of the Runelords, and a brief exploration of your PCs' new hometown of Sandpoint.
Notes on how humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, half-elves, and half-orcs exist in Varisia.
Details on what roles each character class can expect to fill in Rise of the Runelords, including suggestions for animal companions and familiars, favored enemies, character backgrounds, and more.
Domains and more for twenty new deities comprising the core pantheon of the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting.
New weapons, armor, and equipment.
New feats to give your PCs a distinct Varisianfeel.
As my long-running Rise of the Runelords campaign has finally hit the last chapter, I realised that one of the things I've never reviewed is the original (3.5 edition) Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide. This 16 page book was sold with a cover price of $ 2, and (I think) usually came bundled in packs of five so everyone at the gaming table could have one. It's a high-quality product that comes on glossy paper and with colourful artwork and design. They're pretty hard to find nowadays, but I was lucky to spot one on eBay for a reasonable price. Anyway, with no further ado, let's get into it.
The cover is very cool, and, although players won't be quite aware of why yet, sets the tone for the campaign perfectly. The 7-pointed Sihedron star takes prominence, and the page borders are designed as if the reader is about to open an ancient, eldritch tome. The inside front-cover is a map of Sandpoint (the town that serves as the PCs' homebase), with detail sufficient to make out individual buildings, street names, and geographical features. It's exactly the map that players should have at the table to better envision where their characters are, and players could, as they explore, make their own key to go along with the map. The inside back-cover is similarly useful: an attractive map of Varisia that includes tons of marked locations and clear geographical features. The vast majority of these locations aren't visited during the campaign, so there's no spoilers here--and in addition, the GM can make good use of this map as well.
The first page, "Welcome to Varisia," emphasises the usefulness of having PCs designed specifically for the region and the campaign. Varisia is a frontier wilderness, and many of the challenges in the campaign involve surviving the land, not just monsters. PCs who think about feats like Endurance and skills like Climb will find themselves better placed than PCs who care only about combat. Players who ignore the Player's Guide very well may find themselves having a harder experience than they should in the campaign, but it's probably their own fault!
The next three pages, "Races of Varisia," discuss how the Core races fit into the region. This is especially important for players new to Golarion who have probably never heard of Shoanti, Chelaxians, and Varisians. Stories are best when they're grounded in interesting, believable settings, and this requires investment by the players in trying to make characters that reflect that setting.
Pages 6-9 are "Adventurers of Varisia." It contains a couple of paragraphs on how each of the Core classes fits into the region and to the campaign more generally. It's also chock-full of useful sidebars on things like native fauna, the deities of Golarion, and suggested familiars for sorcerers and wizards of different backgrounds. In short, there's a ton of flavour and little bits of detail that help to situate a PC in the setting.
The next two pages are "Equipment of Varisia", and it focusses on weapons and armor used by the native Varisian and Shoanti peoples. There are illustrations and statistics for things invented specifically for this setting, such as starknives, earthbreakers, bladed scarves, and more. Many of these pieces of equipment were later included in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook and other sources, but often in a way that strips them of a lot of the flavour that is presented here.
The next three pages are titled simply "Varisia." The section contains a brief overview of the region and its history--a crucial theme of the Adventure Path. Several feats for PCs who hail from the region are included. Because this was designed for 3.5, I won't go into great detail on them, other than to say they're probably low-powered compared to modern Pathfinder feats. This book came out before Paizo had the concept of campaign traits, which is probably the only thing really lacking here. A sidebar describes the languages often spoken by inhabitants of Varisia.
Last up is a two-page description of Sandpoint. Sandpoint is extremely important for the campaign--if the PCs don't care about it, the campaign doesn't really work. So getting the players invested in the town early is one of the GM's biggest tasks. This book doesn't really emphasise the necessary connection as much as it should, however.
I love the idea of Players Guides, and they're one of the things that drew me to Paizo Adventure Paths to begin with. They're a great way to sell players (in a non-spoilery way) on a new campaign, and to give them a chance to customise characters for it. The original Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide was a concise but interesting and useful preview of the campaign, and surely contribute to the success of the Adventure Path as a whole. It's still worth using today and I think it's far superior to the (PDF only) Anniversary Edition Player's Guide (which I've reviewed elsewhere). I'd recommend making the substitution, just linking to the updated traits for the Pathfinder RPG.
This is a small (only 16 pages) guide to the world in which Pathfinder is set- the continent of Varisia, part of the world of Golarion.
It purports to be the guide to start the players out on "Rise of the Runelords" but it's a great guide for any who adventure in that world.
Sections on races and classes of Varisia, including a great chart on the local Deities , including Portfolios, Domains and even favored weapons.
There's also a handful of local weapons and other gear, including the Starknife and War-razor.
I also like the local feats, here included for a free background feat. In power, they are moe like "traits" than feats, but still they add a little local flavor and some roleplaying ideas, but also are somewhat useful.
There's great color maps of Sandpoint and Varisia, too.
All in all, this is a fantastic value for the price.
Uma ótima primeira introdução ao cenário de Varisia, mas não prepara tão bem os personagens para a campanha quanto player guides futuros. De qualquer forma é muito bem escrito e vale a pena para qualquer jogador de Rise of the Runelords.
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It is now 10:30 am 3 Aug here in Germany... Where is My Player's Guide PDF :-p
Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
daysoftheking wrote:
1241 hrs in Iraq.
*taps foot impatiently*
*while holding a loaded rifle*
Yes support us in the Military!!
all jokes aside.. you guys do a great job at that.. you just need to work on your shipping cost to APOs :-p
glad to hear this is definitely going up today, I've been chomping at the bit to read it & now my players are starting to as well, mainly to see what kinda characters will feel at home in the setting (so far I've opened the PH races & classes & the various Completes Book classes) but with options to nullify any if needed.
Instead of refreshing every 5 minutes, I think I go play Oblivion. I'll be able to bear it that way. I'll check back every hour or two. It's still before 9 am out here on the west coast.
I plan on buying 6, plus the one that I will be getting from my subscription. That way all my players can have one. Plus, for $2.00 a pop, it is worth it.
Please keep in mind that I'll be selling these to stores in packs of five, so if you order your books from your FLGS ask for a pack plus one :-) THey will, of course, be available individually on paizo.com.
Excellent, I'll be happy to scarf up a set or two of packets of these - well, three, since our group is a tad on the bloated size end of things.
As a rule, I generally do not care for PDF gaming materials. In fact, I'm not the biggest of 3.5e fans either, truly preferring simpler systems like C&C.
Despite those things however, here I sit anxiously awaiting this PDF being posted. Truthfully, I can little recall another RPG product that has had me so hyped up awaiting its release.
