Sounds interesting to me.. but who am I kidding I have purchused every module so far so why stop now.
Thanks for the props, Asgetrion!
Oh. Wait. Paizo wants me to WRITE this thing? Like, type it out and all that? I wasn't sure that's what they meant when they asked me to if I wanted "a shot at the feast of Ravenmoor." I thought they were inviting me over for tequila...at a big dinner...and "ravenmoor" was just an RPG slang euphemism for "eat more chicken."
I suppose I'd better get to work. =-)
Does the tax collector get burned in a wicker man?...
Well it is the "feast of ravenmoor" so i would say he was eaten.
Creative Director
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Does the tax collector get burned in a wicker man?...
No. Not really.
Of course, "The Wicker Man" was one of the big inspirations for this adventure. "Feast of Ravenmoor" is actually based on a short story I wrote many years ago that I've been wanting to turn into an adventure for almost as many years—it's why I put Ravenmoor into Varisia in the first place back at the start of it all. And while that story was partially inspired by "The Wicker Man," it was also inspired by Lovecraft, by Stephen King's "Children of the Corn," and by all the creepy old shacks in the woods I've seen in my life.
I can't wait to see what Brandon does with the concept, in any event! :-)
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Franchise Manager
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"In addition to the adventure, this book features a brand new monster and a regional gazetteer detailing the Ravenmoor hinterlands."
Is this going to be standard in all up coming modules? A new monster and a regional gazetter?
A new monster per Module has been pretty standard since the very beginning. Starting last summer, we standardized the format to always include 1 new monster and a two-page spread on a Golarion location. It might be a regional gazetteer in some, a city writeup in another, or a specific location like a magic academy or Varisian caravan in yet others.
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A new monster per Module has been pretty standard since the very beginning. Starting last summer, we standardized the format to always include 1 new monster and a two-page spread on a Golarion location. It might be a regional gazetteer in some, a city writeup in another, or a specific location like a magic academy or Varisian caravan in yet others."In addition to the adventure, this book features a brand new monster and a regional gazetteer detailing the Ravenmoor hinterlands."
Is this going to be standard in all up coming modules? A new monster and a regional gazetter?
Clearly I haven't been paying attention to them enough. Thanks.
Does the tax collector get burned in a wicker man?...No. Not really.
Of course, "The Wicker Man" was one of the big inspirations for this adventure. "Feast of Ravenmoor" is actually based on a short story I wrote many years ago that I've been wanting to turn into an adventure for almost as many years—it's why I put Ravenmoor into Varisia in the first place back at the start of it all. And while that story was partially inspired by "The Wicker Man," it was also inspired by Lovecraft, by Stephen King's "Children of the Corn," and by all the creepy old shacks in the woods I've seen in my life.
I can't wait to see what Brandon does with the concept, in any event! :-)
Cool. Thanks James.
There's a funny sidenote about having me write this adventure, though I'm not sure James remembers. Back when we were first plotting From Shore to Sea, the initial village scenes were heavily influenced by a recent repeat-watching of Children of the Corn and Village of the Damned, not to mention way more parallels to Shadow over Innsmouth. The focus was a lot more on what was going on in the creepy village of Blackcove, and the island was really reserved for the final encounter/secret bad-guy base.
When James saw that initial outline, he had me yank a lot of that stuff to focus on the island, and told me to save all that other stuff for later. Of course, he was right, and we got a fantastic adventure in the end.
And now, about a year later, James shows up with a killer outline, and absolutely turns me loose on the creepy village theme he denied me the year before. There is certainly something about the inspirations of old shacks in the woods, and James must have remembered that I grew up in the sticks of Southeast Texas!
And so far it is all shaping up beautifully. It is really a tough, delicate balance to strike to get just the right amount of participation by PCs (no fun if they are scared to touch/do anything) and misdirection as to what the real threat is (does no good if everything is evil and they just start torching the place!). So far it is turning into a really killer adventure that should make players have a lot of icky fun while GMs give them the creepy-shudders. =-)
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Creative Director
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There's a funny sidenote about having me write this adventure, though I'm not sure James remembers.
Heh... I do indeed remember. And it was precisely because of "Feast of Ravenmoor" that I wanted you to focus away from the creepy village elements. Even though it was a year or so before we had "Ravenmoor" on the production schedule, I knew I wanted that adventure to come out at some point.
The fact that you did such an awesome job with "From Shore to Sea" (and everything else you touch) really made it a no-brainer to me to get you working on "Feast of Ravenmoor." So... yeah! Glad everything worked out! ;-)
A new monster per Module has been pretty standard since the very beginning. Starting last summer, we standardized the format to always include 1 new monster and a two-page spread on a Golarion location. It might be a regional gazetteer in some, a city writeup in another, or a specific location like a magic academy or Varisian caravan in yet others.
I happen to think the module line is probably the most under-appreciated of the Pathfinder lines. There's lots of good stuff in every book. I swipe stuff all the time for use in my games, even though I've only ever managed to run one of the modules intact in my game.
I can see that happening very easily with this adventure. =-)
The copy for this item uses the word "remote" a lot!
It would be good to fix that before it goes to the printer.
The copy for this item uses the word "remote" a lot!
It would be good to fix that before it goes to the printer.
That's funny! I'm prepping the final document right now, and just searched for "remote" and discovered I didn't use that word once in the adventure!
In any case, these blurbs often change after the adventure gets finalized, so I'm pretty sure that isn't back cover copy at this point or anything -just the teaser text.
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Groovy. I remain ever vigilant against the menace of linguistic ticks.
Groovy. I remain ever vigilant against the menace of linguistic ticks.
Also funny. This adventure may or may not contain a menace of malignant ticks. Remain vigilant. =-)
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Chief Technical Officer
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The copy for this item uses the word "remote" a lot!
It would be good to fix that before it goes to the printer.
That's the original solicitation text, which was probably written before Brandon was even given the project. It'll be replaced with the real back-cover copy after it's finalized.
Ravenmoor... that very name evokes thoughts of classic horror and mystery! And what makes me even more excited is that this will be written by Brandon "Madman" Hodge! :)
I thought the raven always wanted less, not more. Quoth the Raven "never more," right?
*listens attentively for the groans through the Internet*
I really think The Raven poem is where a lot of the "horror" sense of stuff with ravens in the title comes from, but the immediate association with Ravenloft that springs to mind doesn't hurt. It wasn't lost on me that the town in the first Carrion Crown adventure was Ravengro either.
I think there's a castle/dungeon in Ustalav (from Rule of Fear) with Corvus in the name too. Well, actually a variation. Corvischoir, I think. (Corvus corax is the common raven.)
I want to see something mention a murder of crows or an unkindness of ravens. I mean who thought that up? A group of ravens is an unkindness? That's cool and true, though probably archaic now because people have to know it to say it, right?
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I think there's a castle/dungeon in Ustalav (from Rule of Fear) with Corvus in the name too. Well, actually a variation. Corvischoir, I think. (Corvus corax is the common raven.)
A choir of crows?
I want to see something mention a murder of crows or an unkindness of ravens. I mean who thought that up? A group of ravens is an unkindness? That's cool and true, though probably archaic now because people have to know it to say it, right?
You might want to take a look at The Skinsaw Murders' bestiary. If I remember aright.
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Ravenmoor... that very name evokes thoughts of classic horror and mystery! And what makes me even more excited is that this will be written by Brandon "Madman" Hodge! :)I thought the raven always wanted less, not more. Quoth the Raven "never more," right?
*listens attentively for the groans through the Internet*
I really think The Raven poem is where a lot of the "horror" sense of stuff with ravens in the title comes from, but the immediate association with Ravenloft that springs to mind doesn't hurt. It wasn't lost on me that the town in the first Carrion Crown adventure was Ravengro either.
I think there's a castle/dungeon in Ustalav (from Rule of Fear) with Corvus in the name too. Well, actually a variation. Corvischoir, I think. (Corvus corax is the common raven.)
I want to see something mention a murder of crows or an unkindness of ravens. I mean who thought that up? A group of ravens is an unkindness? That's cool and true, though probably archaic now because people have to know it to say it, right?
Yes, Ravenloft (along with Poe's classic poem) is what I had in mind. As for "unkindness of ravens", this noun dates back several centuries, and it's not widely used anymore. The first known literary reference I could quickly find is in 'The Book of Saint Albans' (or 'The Boke of Saint Albans') published near the end of the 15th century. This book also lists other collective nouns for birds, such as "a siege of herons" or "a badling of ducks". Some of them were invented by hunters, while others may be based on old legends -- which is exactly what James Lipton writes on "unkindness of ravens" in his book 'An Exaltation of Larks' (published in 1968). Why were ravens thought to be "unkind", then? According to Lipton, it is mentioned in 'The Folk Lore of British Birds' (back in 1885) that this "term of venery" comes "from the legend that ravens pushed their young from the nest to be ‘nourished with dew from heaven,’ until the adult birds ‘saw what color they would be.’"
Answers.com mentions two other such nouns: "a constable" and "a conspiracy". Quoted from the site: "A constable of ravens refers historically to the group of ravens that congregated around the Tower of London; they were thought to be 'keeping watch' over the monarchy. Therefore, any time a grouping of these birds seems to be watching or guarding something, the group can be referred as a 'constable.' They can also be called an unkindness or a conspiracy - likely for similar reasons. If a flock is driving off other predatory or carrion birds, or 'picking on' another species either because it is competition or prey (although they feed largely on already dead animals, they are known to work together to hunt if need be since they are extremely adaptive birds), then these are apt terms."
That is a quick search on the etymological roots of this particular term; I'd be more thorough if I were at work and it wouldn't be 2AM over here (I'm off to bed soon).
Can I see that catalogue online somewere?
Yes, you can. It's the first link on that page.
Those are some freaky pink things.
Indeed! Cover and description have been updated. :D
Yeah they look like stirges to me and a lot of them at that.
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Do we know when we'll have docs for pfs play. I've got a table of players crazy for this. One of them is my wife, so I'm driven by a dual imperative.
PDF's are going out to subscribers already. It started yesterday, I just got access to mine a couple of hours ago. So if you are a subscriber you should have yours maybe tonight or likely tomorrow or friday at the latest.
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Franchise Manager
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Do we know when we'll have docs for pfs play. I've got a table of players crazy for this. One of them is my wife, so I'm driven by a dual imperative.
All Pathfinder Society resources for playing Pathfinder Modules for credit within the campaign should be released on the adventure's street date, which is September 14. At that time, we'll update the Additional Resources page to include it and put the Chronicle sheet download both on that page and on this product page.
Call me OCD-afflicted, but is the title of this module ”The Feast of Ravenmoor” (as listed here) or ”Feast of Ravenmoor“ (as it appears on the cover and inside the module itself)?
Let's go with what the cover says, shall we? I think it is probably easier for Vic and the crew to change the page listing than to recall thousands of printed modules and pdfs. =-)
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Creative Director
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Call me OCD-afflicted, but is the title of this module ”The Feast of Ravenmoor” (as listed here) or ”Feast of Ravenmoor“ (as it appears on the cover and inside the module itself)?
The name of the adventure is indeed "Feast of Ravenmoor." I'll see if we can get the title for the product page updated.
Call me OCD-afflicted, but is the title of this module ”The Feast of Ravenmoor” (as listed here) or ”Feast of Ravenmoor“ (as it appears on the cover and inside the module itself)?The name of the adventure is indeed "Feast of Ravenmoor." I'll see if we can get the title for the product page updated.
Fixed!
...Please don't send the cave raptors after me.
Fixed!
...Please don't send the cave raptors after me.
We'll keep the raptors in check.
The stirges, on the other hand...
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Fixed!
...Please don't send the cave raptors after me.
We'll keep the raptors in check.
The stirges, on the other hand...
...Crap.
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Blood Sausage, anyone? ;-)
Blood Sausage, anyone? ;-)
Hey Brandon!
I just wanted to say that so far, this module has really grabbed me. I'm only about a third of the way through it, but has everything I look for in a module:
* A believable premise.
* An interesting storyline.
* A clear good vs. bad plotline, even if who is who is not clear.
* Lots of opportunities for both combat and non-combat gaming.
* Well-written text that's enjoyable just to read.
Bravo!