Pathfinder Online: Thornkeep (PFRPG)

3.50/5 (based on 11 ratings)
Pathfinder Online: Thornkeep (PFRPG)
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The Pathfinder Online MMO will put YOU in command of your very own kingdom in the treacherous River Kingdoms of the Pathfinder world. Get an early start on conquest with Pathfinder Online: Thornkeep, a complete gazetteer of one of the upcoming game’s starting towns and the deadly dungeons that sprawl beneath it!

A co-production of video game developers Goblinworks and Paizo Publishing, this fully illustrated adventure sourcebook slots easily into any Pathfinder RPG campaign, and provides a tantalizing glimpse at the early production of the Pathfinder Online MMO, with behind-the-scenes accounts, sneak peeks at characters and environment images, and new details about the upcoming game.

This 96-page book also includes complete original dungeon levels designed by a who’s-who of adventure design: Richard Baker, Jason Bulmahn, Ed Greenwood, James Jacobs, and Erik Mona! With enough gaming material to advance a character from 1st to 8th level, Thornkeep brings the action and excitement of the Pathfinder Online MMO to your tabletop!

    Thornkeep contains the following complete dungeon levels:
  • The Accursed Halls (by veteran RPG designer Richard Baker): Buried beneath the castle of Thornkeep lie strange passages and chambers that once belonged to a cruel Azlanti wizard of eons past. Goblins have begun excavating the so-called Accursed Halls in hopes of finding a lost goblin artifact, though their constant battles with the undead that haunt these corridors has left them blind to the dungeon’s other myriad wonders.
  • The Forgotten Laboratory (by Pathfinder RPG Lead Designer Jason Bulmahn): The goblins of the dungeon's upper level took more than one trinket from the ancient laboratory that dwells beneath them. The wizard that created these items also performed dangerous experiments, many of which have gone out of control over the years. Stranger still, someone appears to be using the ancient equipment with sinister results.
  • The Enigma Vaults (by Paizo Creative Director James Jacobs): In ages past, the mad wizard who dwelt in these halls collected many strange items in his travels—and the strangest of those he put on display here, in a museum-like complex he called the Enigma Vaults. When a group of thieves made their way into the vaults in hopes of a huge payday, they released something far beyond their capacity to control, and now they serve as the thralls of a sinister influence from a dark and distant world.
  • Sanctum of a Lost Age (by Paizo Publisher Erik Mona): Scholars claim the dungeons below Thornkeep were built by the Ancient Azlanti, but how do they know, really? If Rozimus of Tymon speaks true, one level of Thornkeep’s dungeon holds survivors of that long-dead empire eager to return to the world and share the lore of their glorious age. They’re not undead, Rozimus claims, or illusory phantoms, but true living and breathing High Azlanti! But why does Rozimus know so much about them, and why is he so eager to return to the dungeon he claims almost killed him 5 years ago?
  • Dark Menagerie (by RPG legend Ed Greenwood): In life, the wizard who ruled this realm kept many trophies, mementos, and even captured pets from his journeys, both to entertain his dark sensibilities and to cow his business associates and coerced allies. Now, kept alive all these years via stasis-inducing magic that's recently failed, the unfettered beasts of his magical menagerie run amok.

Don't miss the Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Thornkeep Dungeons 2-Pack, which contains minis-scale battle maps of the four lower dungeon levels!

By Richard Baker, Jason Bulmahn, Ed Greenwood, James Jacobs, Erik Mona, and the Goblinworks Staff

ISBN: 978-1-60125-519-8

Thornkeep is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. Its Chronicle Sheet and additional rules for running this module are a free download (147 KB zip/PDF).

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

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A Mixed Bag

3/5

Ah, Thornkeep! I think many who experience it will have a love-hate relationship with it. On the plus side, there’s a great town ripe for exploitation by homebrew GMs who need a perfect place to launch a sandbox campaign. In addition, the five dungeon levels within can be raced through in PFS for a full 3 XP each! On the down side, those dungeon levels are of such inconsistent and often unfair difficulty that sudden PC deaths and even TPKs have become notorious. I’ve run all five dungeon levels, and I can testify they can be a group-destroyer!

Thornkeep is a 96-page book that includes a full gazetteer of the eponymous town and the surrounding area, a full description of each of the five dungeon levels under the town, and then a lengthy discussion of plans for an online Pathfinder game. The artwork within is great, and there are some nice maps. It’s worth mentioning that there are several associated products: flip-mats that make running four of the dungeon levels much easier, a novel (Crusader Road) that fleshes out a lot of the setting and NPCs, and even a granite plaque that reproduces the cover art.

The book starts with a two-page introduction from Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens that explains its origins as a Kickstarter incentive. The Kickstarter was to raise funds for Pathfinder Online, a massively multiplayer online RPG. The town of Thornkeep was designed as one of the three starting locations in the game, and this book and its expanded content was the result of several Kickstarter stretch goals being met. There's a sidebar that provides an overview of the five levels of the dungeons under the town, including suggested level ranges. The sidebar explains that because each was written by a different author, "all five dungeons have vastly different aesthetics, inhabitants, and dangers." That's an understatement!

The first major part of the book is an 18 page gazetteer of Thornkeep. Thornkeep is a small town--just 600 residents--but it definitely doesn't have "small town charm"! Instead, it's a dangerous place used by bandits and gangs of thieves. Locals protect themselves by hiring protection from mercenaries, as the town's current ruler doesn't particularly care what happens in the town. Nonetheless, it's not a completely chaotic "pirate's den" type of environment, as some order is provided by the multiple factions in the town. These take the form of guilds--a mercenary guild, a hunter's guild, a wizard's guild, and a thieves' guild. I'm guessing this design has something to do with the online game, and that the players could have their characters join a guild for advancement.

Thornkeep has an interesting backstory and there's plenty of flavourful fodder for role-playing in the description provided here. There's a full map of the town and a description of 38(!) locations within, many of which have little adventure hooks. I assume today most readers just gloss over this and head to the dungeon levels, but I'm really impressed by the detail in this section. It provides a good, classic overview of a group's "home base." It'd be a perfect location for an open-ended sandbox campaign, and a believable base for a group of PCs to start becoming major players in the River Kingdom. I used as much of it as I could even when running the dungeon levels in PFS, as the locations and NPCs provided make for some good role-playing and keep those sessions from being pure dungeon-crawling.

The next part of the book provides detail on Echo Wood, the larger area in which the town of Thornkeep is located. Although the section is only eight pages long, there are several great locations for adventures, though a GM would need to flesh them out from the brief descriptions provided. For example, there's Mosswater, an entire town overrun by merrows decades ago--who knows what treasures the fleeing residents left behind? Echo Wood also contains the Emerald Spire, but that's a whole other topic! There's a brief random encounter table that could have used expansion (and it suffers from the common problem of threats ranging all the way from CR1 to CR8, which means it'd be a potential TPK generator if a GM really rolled randomly on it). But all in all, this chapter's a good complement to the chapter on the town, and adds to the book's usefulness in setting up a classic, open-ended sandbox campaign.

The next five chapters of the book are eight pages in length each and devoted to the five dungeon levels under Thornkeep. As a sidebar in the Echo Wood chapter explains, each dungeon level is designed for PCs of different levels, and there's probably not enough XP in one level to get the PCs ready for the next. Thus, side quests will be necessary, and it'd be a really bad idea for a group to try to tackle the levels one after another without doing some adventuring elsewhere. I only ran the dungeon levels via PFS, where this wasn't a problem (apart from some awkwardness in making it clear that certain staircases were effectively off-limits), but in a regular campaign the GM may need to do some fancy footwork to keep groups from exploring areas they're just not ready for. As I mentioned above, each of the five levels is written by a different author, and even for PCs within the appropriate level ranges for them, the challenge levels vary dramatically. What they do share is a unified backstory about an ancient Azlanti wizard named Nhur Athemon who was exiled from his homeland and came to the Echo Wood to build a complex for his research and experiments. The gazetteer sections of the book do a decent job providing some lore and adventure hooks to get PCs into the first level of the dungeon, and there's a little bit of connection between the dungeon levels themselves, though for the most part they're pretty independent. Before moving onto each of the levels, I'll just note that the Thornkeep Flip-Mats cover the second, third, fourth and fifth levels, but a GM will have to draw their own map for level one (and it's not an easy one to draw).

SPOILERS BELOW

Level One is "The Accursed Halls", written by Richard Baker, and designed for 1st-level PCs. Frankly, I don't think it's a great start. Apart from the sprawling and confusing map, there's a video-game style requirement to obtain seven crystals of different colors scattered throughout the dungeon in order to open the door to the next one. PCs can easily be lulled in to a sense of complacency through multiple fights against goblins and the like, before suddenly being hit with some genuinely unfair encounters against wights, a shadow, and surprisingly nasty fungal crawlers. If you read the forums, there are a *lot* of complaints about this level and the number of PC deaths, and I can testify that when I ran it, there was the same result. A group of six min-maxed PCs might be fine, but a group of four average PCs should expect casualties.

Level Two is "The Forgotten Laboratory", written by Jason Buhlman, and designed for 2nd or 3rd level PCs. As the name implies, this level was where Nhur Athemon conducted arcane and alchemical experiments. Although the wizard himself is long dead, the labs have since been taken over by a half-orc alchemist beautifully named "Krenar Half-Face." There are some really fun bits in this dungeon, including mutated goblins, a goblin with alchemical vials embedded in his head (love the pic of Snarltongue!), and some clever traps. But compared to Level One, it was a breeze for the PCs and they finished it quickly.

Level Three is “The Enigma Vaults”, written by James Jacobs and designed for 3rd or 4th level characters. Stylistically, this level is great—it’s a sort of museum where Nhur Athemon stored and displayed artifacts from other planets. There are a lot of cool links to setting lore that doesn’t get much attention because it involves worlds other than Golarion. But it’s the boss of this level, a mi-go cleric named The Visitant, that I’ll never forget, as he pretty much broke my gaming group! He has claw four claw attacks—not a big deal. He has grab—not a big deal. He has sneak attack—a bigger deal, especially since he summons allies to help with flanking. He has a special power called evisceration, which means every time he succeeds on one of those grab checks, he inflicts sneak attack and ability score damage—a very deadly deal! Following most forum GMs, I went with the catch-and-release style when running the Visitant (dropping every grapple as a free action to continue the series of attacks), but this proved incredibly deadly—a couple of PCs were killed, one was permanently damaged, and one fled. There was real anger at the table afterwards, and the whole situation got escalated up to real-life PFS oversight in an attempt to reverse things. The players thought I was a terrible GM, I thought they were overreacting, and the group never really recovered. Suffice it to say, I was off to play-by-post to run the next two levels!

Level Four is “Sanctum of a Lost Age” by Erik Mona, designed for 7th level PCs. This is a good example where you can see what separates a skilled, professional writer from the lazy “drop a bunch of random monsters in rooms and call it good” type. The story involves Nhur Athemon’s three traitorous apprentices imprisoned in a time-stasis field indefinitely. The level is very interesting and dynamic, and the order in which PCs do things can change the entire way the situations play out. For example, when I ran this, an NPC who joins the PCs got himself killed in a trap, and his death created a paradox that destroyed the time-stasis, which in turn instantly destroyed every living creature and organic thing that had been trapped there! The apprentices themselves are definitely manageable, but there’s one potentially-lethal room where multiple high-CR monsters can be released every round if the PCs aren’t smart about how they deal with things. Overall, I thought this was probably the best written level in the book.

Level Five is “The Dark Menagerie” written by Ed Greenwood and designed for 5th level PCs. I have no idea why they put this adventure after the previous one (both in the book and in terms of moving down through the dungeons), as the PCs’ levels are supposed to be lower here than in “Sanctum of a Lost Age.” I think it was considered quite a coup at the time to get Ed Greenwood of Forgotten Realms fame to write a level, but unfortunately this is by far the least-inspired one in the book. The concept is that Nhur Athemon had created a zoo of exotic living creatures and engineered illusory environments to place them in, and all of this has been in stasis until the PCs arrive. The problem is that the creatures aren’t particularly rare and, apart from negotiating with a sphinx, there’s really nothing to do besides step into each room and fight the monsters within. I expected a lot more from a legend in the field. It does play fast if you need to quickly level up some PCs, but that’s about it.

The last section of the book is essentially promotional puff for the Pathfinder Online game, and it comes in at an absurdly long 26 pages (the longest chapter in the book). There’s little enduring value in this section now, but even at the time it came out, the assorted interviews when the game designers delivered little more than some of their early ideas, concept art, and discussion about the tech demo they were putting together. Frankly, this is the sort of thing that should be offered for free on a website to spruik the game, not printed in a sourcebook. I’ve never played the game (my understanding is it never really got off the ground in the sense of having paid subscribers), and there’s not a lot here that makes it sound particularly special or appealing compared to the many other sword and sorcery MMORPGs out there.

To end quickly because I’m running out of space, overall there’s some value in [b]Thornkeep[/b-—but just be careful how you use it!


Dungeon Crawl

4/5

Played this under PFS.

Thornkeep is simply a large dungeon crawl. If you like that sort of thing where it is more combat and trap searching then you'll probably really enjoy this. If you want role play then best to avoid as there isn't much interaction down here.

I rather enjoyed the whole experience apart from one character death (he was restored to the living thankfully). The problem with this adventure is that some of the encounters are far too powerful for the levels of adventurers delving those levels. Once again Paizo authors need to consider appropriate encounter levels and challenges.

But even with that, I fully enjoyed playing this module.


Some of the best play I've experienced in PFS

5/5

I've played all these scenarios as a player, and I own the paper for GM purposes. This is a perfect mini-campaign, just the sort of length I prefer and I wish they would make more of this size. I find full adventure paths to be on the long side, often taking more than a year to complete, and modules to be on the short side. Thornkeep is perfect. You can wade through these short, varied adventures and take a group through several levels in a month or two.

The adventures themselves were interesting and difficult; combat-oriented for the most part. You'll never be forced to endure two-hour session of listening to the bard describe how he's romancing some noble woman before he rolls his D20 at last.

I will say on the downside that the last scenario was weak. GMs should take license with a few of the details to make it play coherently. Also, the dungeons are cramped with larger groups (probably so they could fit it all on a flip-map). I had to declare a pet moratorium to fit people into rooms.


Do not buy or play

1/5

Poorly designed. Makes me really think hard about buy anything written by the so called "Allstars of game industry" ever again . The play experience is bad, nothing but TPK . To many over powered CR monster for the level.


Keep the setting; nuke the rest from orbit

3/5

This review is based on reading the entire book, playing one level of the dungeon (The Accursed Halls), and running two others (The Forgotten Library and the Engima Vaults)

The layout, art, and cartography in this product are excellent. The material on town of Thornkeep and environs is useful and well-done. Points of interest in the surrounding countryside, NPCs, town locations, etc. -- it's all here. There is even a full-page rumors table. Overall, things are very reminiscent of the better classic D&D products.

Once we head into the dungeons below town, however, things begin to unravel quickly. The whole dungeon feels like a series of disjointed encounters strung together with little pretense of a coherent story. Admittedly, this is to be expected to a certain degree in a project of this nature, but much of the material simply defies logic.

The last chapter is a behind-the-scenes of the upcoming Pathfinder MMO. I personally couldn't care less, and largely ignored this section, but if you're following the development of that the game, this chapter will likely be of great interest to you.

Overall, Thornkeep provides an excellent base of operations, then squanders it on a disjointed, sub-par dungeon crawl. Only the sheer excellence of the first half of the book saves the product from a lower rating.

(***--)


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Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Announced for January! The product image is a mockup; though it uses the finished cover art, details will likely change prior to publication.

Note: This product is not part of any Paizo subscription.

People who backed the Pathfinder Online Technology Demo at the $15 level or higher will get the PDF of this product in late October, and backers who pledged at least $50 will be shipped the print edition in January.

PDF editions will be available for sale to the general public upon retail release in January.

Dark Archive

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber

So the $24.99 price is for the PDF in January?

ShaneG.

Scarab Sages

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Huh. I thought this would only be available to PFO Kickstarters. Any word on when the Kickstarters will be contacted for reward redemption by the way?


Thought that the latest update indicated that the the fulfillment tool would ready in the next week or so.

Dark Archive

Is this print of pdf?

RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16

Pagecount? I don't have a good grasp of how big this thing is.


Stratagemini wrote:
Huh. I thought this would only be available to PFO Kickstarters.

Yes, I thought that was the case, as well. At least I had the impression it would be at first. However, I guess that has changed.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8

Erik Freund wrote:
Pagecount? I don't have a good grasp of how big this thing is.

IIRC, it's 96 pages. Might be bigger, I can't find it on the kickstarter page.

I also recall it being available to non-patrons, but patrons are/were supposed to get goodies (frex at the $100 level (my level) it's signed, get a T-shirt and the flip mats.)

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

The print edition, listed here, is $24.99. The PDF edition, not yet listed, will be $17.99.

It is 96 pages; I'll make sure that's added to the listing in a moment.


Oh, ok. So the Techo Demo contributors do get the flip-mats. I saw the product page for the flip-mats as well, and couldn’t remember if they were a stretch goal/additional reward.


We were suspose to get the print editions in October but I guess that has changed as well. I have yet to see a gaming related kickstarter deliver exactly what they say and on time. I thought Paizo would be the first to change that. I guess 3 months late is not too bad. I guess those extra levels slowed things down. The kickstarter supporters still get a good deal. Just a little later than expected.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Hobbun wrote:
Oh, ok. So the Techo Demo contributors do get the flip-mats. I saw the product page for the flip-mats as well, and couldn’t remember if they were a stretch goal/additional reward.

The Flip-Mats are also available for preorder here. Yes, they were a stretch goal.


Hobbun wrote:
Oh, ok. So the Techo Demo contributors do get the flip-mats. I saw the product page for the flip-mats as well, and couldn’t remember if they were a stretch goal/additional reward.

The print flip-mats were added in to several of the award tiers, but not included in all of them. According to the Kickstarter page:

The $15 tier gets you a PDF of the Thornkeep book.
The $30 tier gets you a PDF of the Thornkeep flip-mats.
The $50 tier gets you a hardcopy of the Thornkeep book.
The $100 tier gets you hardcopies of the Thornkeep flip-mats.

Reference for Thornkeep book info.
Reference for flip-mats

Contributor

PathfinderFan64 wrote:
We were suspose to get the print editions in October but I guess that has changed as well. I have yet to see a gaming related kickstarter deliver exactly what they say and on time. I thought Paizo would be the first to change that. I guess 3 months late is not too bad. I guess those extra levels slowed things down. The kickstarter supporters still get a good deal. Just a little later than expected.

We're working on getting it to you as quickly as possible. :-)


Jessica Price wrote:
PathfinderFan64 wrote:
We were suspose to get the print editions in October but I guess that has changed as well. I have yet to see a gaming related kickstarter deliver exactly what they say and on time. I thought Paizo would be the first to change that. I guess 3 months late is not too bad. I guess those extra levels slowed things down. The kickstarter supporters still get a good deal. Just a little later than expected.
We're working on getting it to you as quickly as possible. :-)

That's ok. There were so many things added to the kickstarter it just slowed things down. 3 months is not a problem. Getting the pdf early is nice though.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8

PathfinderFan64 wrote:
Jessica Price wrote:
PathfinderFan64 wrote:
We were suspose to get the print editions in October but I guess that has changed as well. I have yet to see a gaming related kickstarter deliver exactly what they say and on time. I thought Paizo would be the first to change that. I guess 3 months late is not too bad. I guess those extra levels slowed things down. The kickstarter supporters still get a good deal. Just a little later than expected.
We're working on getting it to you as quickly as possible. :-)
That's ok. There were so many things added to the kickstarter it just slowed things down. 3 months is not a problem. Getting the pdf early is nice though.

At least they didn't offer dice as part of the kickstarter *ducks*


I was very upset when I realized I had missed being able to help with the Kickstart, and losing the chance to get Thornkeep as I have been collecting Paizo books since the start. I was afraid that I'd have a hole in my collection, so it is great to see we can buy this book now.

Now just to eventually get a new powerful computer so I can run the MMoRPG lol.

Shadow Lodge

Matthew Morris wrote:
At least they didn't offer dice as part of the kickstarter *ducks*

:P

Given the insane amount of swag that got thrown onto the RA Kickstarter, I would have been amazed if there hadn't been some sort of hiccup. And it's still got to be one of the quickest turnaround times for an RPG Kickstarter.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Hmmn, got an email saying to check my downloads page, which says it's been added but is not available for download. (pdf/kickstarter booster)


Just checked mine and it says it will be available in the near future.

In the near future, backers who pledged at least $15 will be given access to the Thornkeep PDF, and backers who pledged at least $30 will also be given access to PDFs of the Thornkeep Dungeons Flip-Mats. The rest of the rewards, including the printed products, are on track to ship in January.


Is this stuff the reason for all the maintenance lately? Looking forward to getting it, but it's still caused a whole lot of fuss if that's the case :s

Dark Archive

I think it's a mix of this, GameSpace, and a general major upgrade of the site's code to better handle the current demands on the site (such as usage on portable devices). Major upgrades usually means bugs that need to be sorted out.


Am assuming the email telling me the order has been processed and the pdf awaits in my downloads section is premature...as I do not see anything new in my downloads section...

Scarab Sages

It shows in my downloads but says it is not yet available.


I am excited! I hope it becomes available soon. :)


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Is it possible to decide on upgrading to print edition after we've looked through the PDF?
When I put it the code, it gave me the option to upgrade, not sure how long that option will last.

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

Can't wait to hear what people think of the dungeon levels!


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

Any ETA on when the link will go hot to access this in our downloads?

Dark Archive

It's my understanding that the PDFs will be unlocked as soon as the printing proofs have been approved by Paizo. So it really depends on the printer Paizo uses.


Any news on the bookplates from the Kickstarter? Is not listed on my product purchases.

Dark Archive

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I have to say that although being able to buy this book is nice, I am very Disappointed! I thought the point of the kickstart was to get something that would not have been available elsewhere. Had we been told that I could simply purchase this book in January I would not have wasted 50 bucks on the kickstart. No offense but I have ZERO interest in ANY mmo and only wanted the book. I have to say I for one feel cheated!


They said from the beginning that extra copies would be made available to non-backers. I know I was fully aware of that fact when I pledged. I also am fully aware of all the other great stuff that came with my pledge in addition to the book.

Dark Archive

I never saw that info anywhere. I asked that question on the goblinworks page and got no answer. It's possible I missed it but it sure was not well publicized.

The Exchange RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

Mine, all mine ...

I can appreciate that feeling, but it's not economically viable for Paizo to build a print run of a 96-page book of only 1600 copies and sell them at a price point most of us would feel to be reasonable.

You might want to take a look at Wolfgang Baur's Open Design projects. Patrons get the materials as an exclusive for some time before they're open to the public.

Dark Archive

I actually am a big fan of Mr. Baur's projects and usually have to wait until they are open to the public for budget reasons. I also understand what you are saying with print costs ect.. however I paid for what was basically advertised as an exclusive,and I really had to wrangle my budget to keep my collection complete only to find out I didn't have to. It should have been very clear that this book would be available to everyone down the road and it wasn't. All the other perks are fairly meaningless to me as I have stated I have no interest in the MMO, what's done is done but in the future I will avoid any kickstart programs until I know what the whole story is. I am not trying to be difficult but I really do feel like I was misled, and the folks at both Paizo and Goblinworks need to know that.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

I pledged to get a signed copy, and to support goblinworks. Your pledge at the very least made the book better by adding more levels to the book. Also, there's no guarantee that you can get a copy of the book after the fact. at least, not a physical copy. And if the kickstarter wasn't funded there'd be no book (or flipmats) at all.

Dark Archive

The thing is, though, thanks in large to the pledges we made and the level of our pledges, the book became much more than it was originally supposed to be, as I understand it. Originally it was going to be a book a la the Pathfinder Campaign Setting line but thanks to us Kickstarters, it grew in size and content, giving us more Golarion-specific content in the form of more dungeon levels written by some of the best in the business.


Excellent! Finally! =D

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Maps, Rulebook Subscriber

I don't see any notification on my download page.

I do, however, see the printed copy in my sidecart.

Is there anyone who will be getting the printed copy who can see a mention of the PDF on their "My Downloads" page?

Digital Products Assistant

JohnF wrote:


I don't see any notification on my download page.

I do, however, see the printed copy in my sidecart.

Is there anyone who will be getting the printed copy who can see a mention of the PDF on their "My Downloads" page?

The PDF will be showing up as available for download within 10 days as indicated in the Goblinworks blog. An email will be sent to you automatically to let you know it is available for download.

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Maps, Rulebook Subscriber
Chris Lambertz wrote:
JohnF wrote:


I don't see any notification on my download page.

I do, however, see the printed copy in my sidecart.

Is there anyone who will be getting the printed copy who can see a mention of the PDF on their "My Downloads" page?

The PDF will be showing up as available for download within 10 days as indicated in the Goblinworks blog. An email will be sent to you automatically to let you know it is available for download.

It's not the fact that the PDF isn't yet available that confuses me; it's the fact that I don't see any text on the "My Downloads" page saying that the PDFs have been added to the account, but are not yet available. My wife (who also signed up, but at a lower pledge level) does have that text on her page.

I've received the initial Goblinworks email. That instructed me to go to a page to register an account (my kickstarter pledge used a different email address from the one associated with my Paizo account), but as I was already logged in to my Paizo account everything appeared to link up automatically. I entered the claim code from the email in the "My Pledge Drives" box, and this appeared to generate Paizo order #2287083.

Assistant Software Developer

John, I gave your account a nudge: You should see the correct information on your account now.

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Maps, Rulebook Subscriber
Ross Byers wrote:
John, I gave your account a nudge: You should see the correct information on your account now.

Thanks, Ross - everything looks fine!

I seem to have a knack for exercising edge conditions. I suspect that clicking on the link in the notification email (sent to an address that wasn't the one used for my Paizo account) from a tab in a browser session that was already logged in to my Paizo account might have been responsible. The fact that I'm a subscriber to the flip-mat line (and so will qualify from that as well) adds another complication, too.

But, as we have learned to expect, Paizo customer service sorted it all out. Thanks again!


Mine all mine...don't touch wrote:
I actually am a big fan of Mr. Baur's projects and usually have to wait until they are open to the public for budget reasons. I also understand what you are saying with print costs ect.. however I paid for what was basically advertised as an exclusive,and I really had to wrangle my budget to keep my collection complete only to find out I didn't have to. It should have been very clear that this book would be available to everyone down the road and it wasn't. All the other perks are fairly meaningless to me as I have stated I have no interest in the MMO, what's done is done but in the future I will avoid any kickstart programs until I know what the whole story is. I am not trying to be difficult but I really do feel like I was misled, and the folks at both Paizo and Goblinworks need to know that.

Overall, I think you make a fair point. However, I don't think the bolder is quite true. As I understood things, the kickstarter was the only way to guarantee a copy. They did say there'd be some left over for sale via paizo.com I got the impression it wasn't going to be a huge print run, though.

I definitely knew what the deal was, but I'm not sure where I read it. Probably on the paizo message boards.

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Maps, Rulebook Subscriber
Damon Griffin wrote:
I do not recall getting an email like the one JohnF describes, with a link to register using a claim code . . .

I suspect you only get that if the email address for the kickstarter is not the one you have associated with your Paizo account

Damon Griffin wrote:
Wasn't there supposed to be a goblin icon or something added to the "...Subscriber" titles of PF Online Kickstarter supporters as well? Maybe that was just raised as a possibility. It's been months, and I could easily be misremembering.

The goblin icon only shows up on the PathfinderOnline subforums, not across the whole of the Paizo site.


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Is there a possible problem when my Paizo account email address differs from my Kickstarter account email address?


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber
Zaister wrote:
Is there a possible problem when my Paizo account email address differs from my Kickstarter account email address?

It is my understqnding that what you mention is one of the resons for sending you a code to your Kickstarter email. You use this code to "attach" your Kickstarter rewards to your paizo account.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I have the text in my download section saying I have this item, but I never got an email with my code on it. I've looked through all of my emails from paizo, kickstarter, and the gobliinworks guys. BTW, I use the same email for paizo.com as I do for kickstarter.com.

Dark Archive

TClifford wrote:
I have the text in my download section saying I have this item, but I never got an email with my code on it. I've looked through all of my emails from paizo, kickstarter, and the gobliinworks guys. BTW, I use the same email for paizo.com as I do for kickstarter.com.

I'm fairly certain the code is only relevant for those of us who don't use the same email addy on both sites.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Re: Exclusive.

Well lets see, my $100 pledge got me...

an *exclusive* signed copy.

PDFs of the book and flip mats.

An *exclusive* T-shirt (that it's too small is another rant)

And a unique tag if I ever go into the goblinworks area.

Even buying the dead tree copy (unsigned) flipmats and (too small) T-shirt, I'd peg that at roughly $75. So I consider my $100 for that + signatures and the tag (and argueably the PDFs) well spent.

Heck it means that I contributed $25 to a game I won't play. That's less than I spent on sending toys to a child I met once.

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