I'm looking forward to the streamlined mass combat rules!
Woot! Go, Jason!
"War of the River Kings," eh...?
Cool.
Of course you know...
This.
MEANS.
WAR!!!
get your quotes right!
it was..of course you realise...
this means war!
Great cover!
One question: this volume does contain the mass combat rules, doesn't it? Because they are not listed in the contents.
One question: this volume does contain the mass combat rules, doesn't it?
It does. You'll get introduced to a beginner's version of the rules in Pathfinder #34: Blood for Blood, but Pathfinder #35: War of the River Kings will contain the full, detailed mass-combat rules.
Creative Director
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Great cover!
One question: this volume does contain the mass combat rules, doesn't it? Because they are not listed in the contents.
The mass combat rules do indeed appear in this volume, but they're not their own article. They're a 4 page appendix to the adventure because while they're important, they're not THAT complicated and weren't long enough to justify a full article of their own.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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The mass combat rules do indeed appear in this volume, but they're not their own article. They're a 4 page appendix to the adventure because while they're important, they're not THAT complicated and weren't long enough to justify a full article of their own.Great cover!
One question: this volume does contain the mass combat rules, doesn't it? Because they are not listed in the contents.
Sadly, that meant four pages of sweet, delicious adventure went snikty snikty to the copy room floor, but there should be plenty enough to fulfill your kill-quota for the month!
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Creative Director
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Sadly, that meant four pages of sweet, delicious adventure went snikty snikty to the copy room floor, but there should be plenty enough to fulfill your kill-quota for the month!The mass combat rules do indeed appear in this volume, but they're not their own article. They're a 4 page appendix to the adventure because while they're important, they're not THAT complicated and weren't long enough to justify a full article of their own.Great cover!
One question: this volume does contain the mass combat rules, doesn't it? Because they are not listed in the contents.
Actually... it would have fit fine—the plan more or less was to include the mass combat stuff as part of the adventure for quite some time. What sent pages of the sweet, delicious adventure to the floor was the fact that I needed to add in alternate sweet, delicious adventure that gave people who wanted to explore the final region of the Stolen Lands something to explore. :-P
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Creative Director
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Awww, you're just sayin that cuz it's true... :P
Also! This gives you a great out! If anyone notices a typo in the adventure or an error, it's all about, "Hmm... in my original turnover, the words and math were correct. Must have been an error introduced during development or editing!" ;-)
Also! This gives you a great out! If anyone notices a typo in the adventure or an error, it's all about, "Hmm... in my original turnover, the words and math were correct. Must have been an error introduced during development or editing!" ;-)
I know I'm sticking with that excuse! :-D
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Awww, you're just sayin that cuz it's true... :PAlso! This gives you a great out! If anyone notices a typo in the adventure or an error, it's all about, "Hmm... in my original turnover, the words and math were correct. Must have been an error introduced during development or editing!" ;-)
I am so using that EVERY TIME!
Great cover! The character looks like a true warrior king. Could you tell us who is depicted? Or is it just a generic "PC king"?
That would be King Castruccio Irovetti, lord of Pitax.
That would be King Castruccio Irovetti, lord of Pitax.
Wow, something must have happened to the bard that was described this way in the "Guide to the River Kingdoms":
"A small, slight man who walks with a pronounced limp, Lord Irovetti is not physically intimidating or particularly handsome."
The Irovetti on the cover looks like King Conan or Kull or something and VERY intimidating. I like THIS Irovetti more than his alter ego in the guide.
;)
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That would be King Castruccio Irovetti, lord of Pitax.Wow, something must have happened to the bard that was described this way in the "Guide to the River Kingdoms":
"A small, slight man who walks with a pronounced limp, Lord Irovetti is not physically intimidating or particularly handsome."The Irovetti on the cover looks like King Conan or Kull or something and VERY intimidating. I like THIS Irovetti more than his alter ego in the guide.
;)
:-) LOL
Well, some time has been assumed to have passed for Irovetti by PF #35 compare to when he's been depicted GtRK to explain how he's become tougher then the level depicted there it was mentioned. So there is time to have shaped himself up more during that interim too. Can always blame that fey lady manipulation for the changes too.
Well, some time has been assumed to have passed for Irovetti by PF #35 compare to when he's been depicted GtRK to explain how he's become tougher then the level depicted there it was mentioned.
+1
I believe James took pains to explain the discrepancy in the actual adventure. Basically, when you look at it, Irovetti as described in Guide to the River Kingdoms is how he appears at the beginning of the Kingmaker AP. And, if your PCs have time to adventure all the way from 1st level to somewhere around 13th level...and build their own kingdom along the way...then, you've got to figure Irovetti has had plenty of time to advance, as well.
In addition, given the harsh environment and conditions of the River Kingdoms in the first place, Irovetti also had plenty of reason to hone his skills, increase his intimidation factor, and bulk up as a combatant. Magic could have done away with his limp. Dealing with barbarians and trolls in his backyard could have increased his strength and endurance. Ruling an opportunistic kingdom like Pitax would almost certainly allow him to take on a greater level of charisma and intimidation. And even the influence of the fey could have resulted in some changes.
Put simply, Irovetti evolves and becomes tougher and more experienced. Just like the PCs will.
I believe James took pains to explain the discrepancy in the actual adventure. Basically, when you look at it, Irovetti as described in Guide to the River Kingdoms is how he appears at the beginning of the Kingmaker AP. And, if your PCs have time to adventure all the way from 1st level to somewhere around 13th level...and build their own kingdom along the way...then, you've got to figure Irovetti has had plenty of time to advance, as well.
In addition, given the harsh environment and conditions of the River Kingdoms in the first place, Irovetti also had plenty of reason to hone his skills, increase his intimidation factor, and bulk up as a combatant. Magic could have done away with his limp. Dealing with barbarians and trolls in his backyard could have increased his strength and endurance. Ruling an opportunistic kingdom like Pitax would almost certainly allow him to take on a greater level of charisma and intimidation. And even the influence of the fey could have resulted in some changes.
Put simply, Irovetti evolves and becomes tougher and more experienced. Just like the PCs will.
Probably. But I prefer to think that it was just a blooper by Paizo. That makes more sense than the evolution of a level 9 bard that bought Pitax "with a silver tongue and a sack filled with gold coins" and who needed a "rod of rulership" like artifact to rule to a mighty warrior without any physical flaws. My players wouldn´t accept that, so I have to decide whether he is a "charming fellow" and a bard as in the "Guide" or the warrior and intimidating personality like that one on the cover.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Probably. But I prefer to think that it was just a blooper by Paizo. That makes more sense than the evolution of a level 9 bard that bought Pitax "with a silver tongue and a sack filled with gold coins" and who needed a "rod of rulership" like artifact to rule to a mighty warrior without any physical flaws. My players wouldn´t accept that, so I have to decide whether he is a "charming fellow" and a bard as in the "Guide" or the warrior and intimidating personality like that one on the cover.I believe James took pains to explain the discrepancy in the actual adventure. Basically, when you look at it, Irovetti as described in Guide to the River Kingdoms is how he appears at the beginning of the Kingmaker AP. And, if your PCs have time to adventure all the way from 1st level to somewhere around 13th level...and build their own kingdom along the way...then, you've got to figure Irovetti has had plenty of time to advance, as well.
In addition, given the harsh environment and conditions of the River Kingdoms in the first place, Irovetti also had plenty of reason to hone his skills, increase his intimidation factor, and bulk up as a combatant. Magic could have done away with his limp. Dealing with barbarians and trolls in his backyard could have increased his strength and endurance. Ruling an opportunistic kingdom like Pitax would almost certainly allow him to take on a greater level of charisma and intimidation. And even the influence of the fey could have resulted in some changes.
Put simply, Irovetti evolves and becomes tougher and more experienced. Just like the PCs will.
Two things we get along with an AP assignment is a paragraph or so of text about what needs to happen in big picture terms in the adventure and a thumbnail description of what the cover illo is. A lot of what happens in the final form of adventures is connected with art orders, because art needs to be ordered well in advance.
So, we have an art order to work from, but then we also have the rest of our Paizo canon to work from. Sometimes those two don't get along so well. :)
In this case, we had the Guide to the RK article on Pitax (plus the Campaign Setting entry on Pitax, which wasn't much but still leaned more toward the weaselly guy side), and I had the draft for that, but then I also had the art order where he's a tough guy. I asked Wes & James which way to go in statting up Irovetti - tough guy or weaselly guy (and Numerian rod of rulership or no, etc.). After some consideration, we went with tough guy, and I statted up several variations of Irovetti, finally settling on a Ftr14/Brb1 with a bunch of crit feats.
As I've said before, though, you need to write what you write and then let it go, cuz things can change. After reading the whole mod they may have decided that this version of Irovetti was too similar to another NPC in the AP, or that there were too many contrary sources out there leaning towards the weaselly guy side to just do a total changeover to tough guy Irovetti. Guide to the RK was already in the pipeline and it may have ended up being too late to change the specification of Irovetti's bard levels. Could just be a "we think this way will work better" kind of moment.
James' final resolution of it was to keep Irovetti's bard levels intact as a basis, but to build him up as a tough guy FROM THERE, so adding on his fighterish badassery on top of his bardicness. You'll see the results in a couple of months, whenever WotRK drops, and at that point anyone interested in the "brawny tough guy" model of Irovetti is welcome to post or email a request for my "director's cut" version. :)
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Creative Director
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That would be King Castruccio Irovetti, lord of Pitax.Wow, something must have happened to the bard that was described this way in the "Guide to the River Kingdoms":
"A small, slight man who walks with a pronounced limp, Lord Irovetti is not physically intimidating or particularly handsome."The Irovetti on the cover looks like King Conan or Kull or something and VERY intimidating. I like THIS Irovetti more than his alter ego in the guide.
;)
The Irovetti on the cover is the right Irovetti; he matches the Irovetti we talked about in the Pathfinder Campaign Setting, and matches the one we've been planning to do all along.
Guide to the River Kingdoms kind of got it wrong, alas. But we managed, I think, to make things mesh up pretty well with Guide to the River Kingdoms and Kingmaker. Especially since the Irovetti in Guide to the River Kingdoms is not the same one the PCs'll encounter in Kingmaker, since by the time they meet him in Kingmaker there's been enough time for the PCs to reach 13th level. That may just be six months in some games, but in Kingmaker it's more likely to be six or more years since the PCs will be taking time out to build their kingdom often.
In other words, the King Irovetti that is in Pathfinder #35 has gained some levels too over the baseline stats and description we gave him in Guide to the River Kingdoms. A 9th level character is no match for a party of 14th level characters (which is likely what the PCs will be when they confront Irovetti), and so he's had plenty of time to bulk up and use national resources to fix his limp and such.
In other words being an absolute monarch in a world with magic means you can be whatever you want to be.
It's good to be the king.
Yes! I got my "ship next week" mail!
I can't wait to see the mass comabt rules.
And as I am a subscriber since the beginning of this AP, I'm sure this mail is not that cruel glitch that made the system send me a wrong "ship next week" mail for the APG when I subscribed for PFRPG...
I'm cool with the explanation about how and why Irovetti has changed from the man described in Guide to the River Kingdoms, to the man we see before us, I think it fits perfectly.
*Years ago, with Marvel Comics, they had a "thing" that if a reader caught an "error" but gave a plausible explanation about why it was different, that person got a coveted "No-Prize".*
Now, granted, I believe it was Jason Nelson (and James Jacobs) who basically gave us the reasons/explanations for Irovetti's changes... not a member of the Paizo-Community (and by that I mean someone who doesn't work for or regularly contribute to) Paizo Publishing's adventures or supplements. (So... no "No-Prize" for one of us).
In the spirit of that... Pathfinder by Paizo Publishing, that's what I PLAY!
(Instead of Make Mine Marvel) :)
Dean; The_Minstrel_Wyrm
Two words: Disguise Self.
Can I just go on the record and say I love tournaments in RPGs? They just bring out a certain excitement. Maybe it's going to Medeval Times as a kid, or just to lots of county fairs.
But whenever they've come up in other RPGs (Artesia & Pendragon come to mind) it's been special. Thank you for the Rushlight.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Can I just go on the record and say I love tournaments in RPGs? They just bring out a certain excitement. Maybe it's going to Medeval Times as a kid, or just to lots of county fairs.
But whenever they've come up in other RPGs (Artesia & Pendragon come to mind) it's been special. Thank you for the Rushlight.
I hope that people enjoy that part of the adventure - it seemed like something traditionally old-school D&D that Paizo hadn't really done before, and perfectly in line with what Kingmaker is all about.
With the permission of James & Co., I might be at liberty at some point to either post or email some of the other tournament events and activities that got snipperized in the development process, for people who want to expand the tournament events in their KM game.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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In the interest of keeping things all in one thread, I have gone ahead and posted up one of the "Lost Events" over at this thread. Behold, the TOWER OF JEWELS!!!
As I have time, I may post up some of the more wild and crazy events, but for now enjoy, and may your tournament be grand!
What is the creature illustrated on page 92 for next month's preview? A jabberwock? A catoblepas?
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Creative Director
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What is the creature illustrated on page 92 for next month's preview? A jabberwock? A catoblepas?
That is indeed a jabberwock!
What is the creature illustrated on page 92 for next month's preview? A jabberwock? A catoblepas?That is indeed a jabberwock! ** spoiler omitted **
I was wondering when one of those weapons would make it into one of the AP ends. Ship volume 6 soon please!
What is the creature illustrated on page 92 for next month's preview? A jabberwock? A catoblepas?That is indeed a jabberwock! ** spoiler omitted **
Awesome!
:)...
Will there be slithy toves, borogoves being all mimsy and mome raths outgrabeing as well Richard?
