In the sleepy coastal town of Sandpoint, evil is brewing. An attack by crazed goblins reveals
the shadows of a forgotten past returning to threaten the town—and perhaps all of Varisia.
The Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path begins with this goblin raid and takes players on
an epic journey through the land of Varisia as they track a cult of serial killers, fight
backwoods ogres, stop an advancing army of stone giants, delve into
ancient dungeons, and finally face off against a wizard-king in his
ancient mountaintop city. This hardcover compilation updates
the fan-favorite campaign to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
rules with revised and new content in more than 400 pages
packed with mayhem, excitement, and adventure!
Celebrating both the fifth anniversary of the Pathfinder
Adventure Path and the tenth anniversary of Paizo Publishing, this new
edition expands the original campaign with new options and
refined encounters throughout, incorporating 5 years of
community feedback.
The Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition contains:
All six chapters of the original Adventure Path, expanded
and updated for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
Articles on the major locations of Rise of the Runelords:
sleepy Sandpoint, the ancient Thassilonian city of
Xin-Shalast, and others.
Revelations on the sinister magic of Thassilon, with
updated spells, magic items, and details on tracking sin
points throughout the campaign.
A bestiary featuring eight monsters updated from the
original Adventure Path, plus an all-new terror.
Dozens of new illustrations, never-before-seen
characters, location maps, and more!
The Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition is not part of any subscription.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-436-8
FAQ:
Q: Will you be doing hardcover compilations of all of your Adventure Paths? A: No. This is a special celebration of our very first Adventure Path on its 5th Anniversary. Several of the original volumes of Rise of the Runelords have been unavailable in print for a long time, yet it remains one of our most popular adventure paths; that circumstance presents a unique opportunity for us to expand and update it for use with the Pathfinder RPG, and to apply lessons we've learned about making Adventure Paths over the last half-decade. Our other adventure paths are largely still in print, and many of them were designed for use with the Pathfinder RPG to begin with; we have no plans to recompile them.
Q: Is there anything missing from the original AP volumes? A: Yes—otherwise, this book would be more than 600 pages long! Some of the monsters and other things created for Rise of the Runelords are now part of the official Pathfinder RPG rules, so they're not reprinted here. The original volumes also included monster ecologies, bestiary entries, and other campaign setting material that isn't directly used in the adventure itself; those items are also not present in this collection. The Pathfinder Journal fiction featuring Eando Kline is not presented here either, but it has been compiled—along with the installments from the subsequent two Adventure Paths—as The Compass Stone, now available in ePub form. We have also replaced some of the artwork from the previous edition, and replaced the six individual introductions with one new one.
Q: What is included in the digital version? A: In addition to the full version, the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition download includes the Interactive Maps and a Lite version for reading on portable electronic devices.
Bring your campaign to life! The Rise of the Runelords Mega SoundPack from Syrinscape is a complete audio solution for playing through the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path.
Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules and Chronicle sheets for running this Adventure Path are available as a free download (438 KB zip/PDF).
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
The first product must be able to capture the market's attention; Rise of the Runelords did that. Now, the six adventure paths are bound together in one volume. I love this, however, I do have two bones to pick; one, some of the articles from the original were extremely helpful, and they are not here. Second, some of the monsters are not detailed, meaning you will require Bestiary 2 and 3. Outside of that...brilliant. Check out my full review: Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition
The good stuff has been covered in all the other reviews, so I won't bother with that stuff. I'm a new GM and unfamiliar with the old ROTR so I can't make any comparisons there either.
My only complaint is the amount of outside material you need to run the campaign as it is written. You need the GM guide of course, but you also need all three Bestiary books, a pretty sizable investment. However, only a few creatures are taken out of the second and third books, which really feels like they just slotted them in as an excuse to make people buy the extra books. I know I can just fake it with reasonable replacements from Bestiary 1 if I want, but it rubs me the wrong way.
It's also a good idea, though not strictly necessary, to have the Advanced Players Guide. And, you'll also want the ROTR player's guide, though that can be downloaded for free, so that's okay.
All in all, I bought this expecting an "all-in-one" package but didn't exactly get it. I'm still very pleased with the book, but wish it didn't require quite so much extra stuff to use.
So this was a birthday gift and really the "Gift that keeps on giving." We are only on the second chapter but I can not say enough great things about this.
The layout is fantastic and easy to read. The artwork is wonderful. The NPCs greatly detailed. And the easy to read - but complex - nature of several of the strategies of the antagonist allow for a varied and sometimes hard to predict resolution.
My only complaint is this - so much effort was clearly put in to the creation of these wonderful PC handout. While I didn't pay for this myself, as it was a gift, it would be great if those that paid the extra money to have a physical copy were rewarded with a PDF of the Handouts.
Maybe one exist - and if there is - this baby goes to 5 stars. But that is my only complaint, that my players do not get to enjoy the fantastic art and handouts that I do, and they need to settle for my shoddy imitations.
To start off with, I have to say that this is an absolutely gorgeous book. I mean that both in terms of its physical appearance and its contents. Every page is like a work of art, from the background colouring which gives it a parchment-like look to the sihedron star underlaid with each page number. The top right corner of every right-hand page contains a tab indicating which section of the book you’re in while the left margin of every left-hand page contains identifying artwork from the original cover of the particular instalment. If there’s any problem with the layout, it’s that it looks so good that it makes you want to flip through the book to just look at it and ignore the writing! Of particular note are the maps. While they’re mostly the same maps as before, they’ve been relabelled and are much clearer as a result. I particularly like that stairs now indicate which way is up and which is down. Most of the time, this is pretty obvious, but there have been times in the past when I’ve been unsure which way stairs are going in some Paizo maps. It’s good that it’s clear just in case of any doubt. Also, full stat blocks and abbreviated stat blocks have a new way of showing XP, CR, and HP. It’s a small change, but it makes them stand out just a little more, thus making them just a little clearer. However, as I said, there’s more that’s beautiful about this book than just its layout. A lot of work clearly went into it and it shows.
"Expanded articles on the locations of Rise of the Runelords: Sandpoint, Magnimar, Turtleback Ferry, and the ancient Thassilonian empire of Shalast and its sprawling capital."
Hardcover + PPM mini set = wallet self-destructs. ;D
Will this be part of the AP subscription?
According to the write up above: "The Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition is not part of any subscription, but Pathfinder Adventure Path subscribers who preorder this book will receive a free PDF edition of this book when the print edition ships. (Note that you will need to have an active AP subscription at the time the Anniversary Edition ships in order to receive the PDF for free.)"
Something to consider, Paizo trimmed the fat from the AP by removing some needless items, EXPANDED many parts in-turn, will sure to have GREAT production value, and is at the affordable price of $60!
I could have easily seen the product priced at $100 but $60 is awesome! That's like buying 3 issues of any other AP. Instead you get a whole campaign.
Kudos to you Paizo, for listening to fans and producing something I'm sure will have a large number of pre-orders by the end of the weekend.
It is rare that I am willing to fork out for physical product from the Paizo store... that pesky international shipping just isn't much fun, but for this I WILL MAKE AN EXCEPTION.
Actually I do have a question. Will the players guide be part of it as well? And will the players guide be expanded and updated like the more recent ones?
Hope for something like this has been lurking in the back of my mind since the day I got sucked into Pathfinder.
When you guys announce a new product, my initial reaction is usually "This is exactly what I wanted and I didn't even know it." This time, you have actually given me exactly what I wanted. I love you guys.
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber
Scott Betts wrote:
Oh, great.
Now I have to buy this, and a new, structurally-reinforced coffee table for it to sit on.
That's nothing compared to Ptolus, Pathfinder Core Rulebook, or Tome of Horrors Complete. Of course, if you want to play Runelords with the Core Rulebook... Maybe you should pick up that industrial strength table...
I hear Monte Cook just re-published Ptolus in two-volume format. Apparently you don't even need a flatbed pickup to take it home from the store anymore.
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber
Scott Betts wrote:
deinol wrote:
That's nothing compared to Ptolus,
I hear Monte Cook just re-published Ptolus in two-volume format. Apparently you don't even need a flatbed pickup to take it home from the store anymore.
Yes, I quite recommend picking it up. I already have the original version, so I won't be.
For extra fun, replace Magnimar with Ptolus when you run Runelords again.
Maybe I'm just hopeful or have my references mixed up - but is there a complete mini set to go with this?
There are a set of RotRL minis coming out next year in combination with this, but I don't know how 'complete' it will be. I think the press release said there would be 60 different minis in the RotRL set.
Is this part of any of the subscriptions or do I need to add it?
From the product description:
Quote:
The Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition is not part of any subscription, but Pathfinder Adventure Path subscribers who preorder this book will receive a free PDF edition of this book when the print edition ships. (Note that you will need to have an active AP subscription at the time the Anniversary Edition ships in order to receive the PDF for free.)
I know that it states that they stated they don't plan on doing this with other APs but it would be really awesome if they did this for at least the APs before the release of the PFRPG.
