My players are mostly of the "Sunday Sandy Monk/Rogue wooo what does this button do?" type so 6 PC groups are a good idea. Less TPKs ;-)
'less' ... yeah, that's the ticket, 'less' TPKs! ;)
*sigh* mine hasn't been shipped yet :/
Downloading! Wooohooo!
Holy S***! The pic on page 4 is just, just... *shivers*
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It did come out gorgeous. I can't wait to see the next one!
Holy S***! The pic on page 4 is just, just... *shivers*
Sets the tone, don't it? :D
I tried to favorite the foreword by Rob.
It didn't work out too well, but that's how much I enjoyed reading it.
** spoiler omitted **
You can either......
1. Save the hag.
2. Doom the world into an eternal ice age.
Beware though if you choose option 1 things will be back to their same old schedule. Choose option 2 and the whole world becomes Irrisen, but even worse.
Your choice.
But I'm guessing Paizo already thought about that and made it not work out so well.
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** spoiler omitted **
But I'm guessing Paizo already thought about that and made it not work out so well.
Or maybe that'll be an option in the "Continuing the Adventure" section of Book 6. Een if it isn't, I do hope that there's something there for groups that want to play straight-up "Big D*** Heroes" and do something besides restore the status quo ante.
RoW is so far stacking up to be seriously hard core AWESOME.
Again, three knives up to Neil Spicer and the development team for making part 1.
^_____^
Whoaah, watch the knives, gentlemen!
Whoaah, watch the knives, gentlemen!
If you can't take the damage, get on with your stoneskin!
That's what my DR 10/magic is for.
Whoaah, watch the knives, gentlemen!
I most certainly am. They are going exactly where I wanted them, yeeessssss.
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I can't gush enough for both the individual AP book and the story line. Both look awesome.
I do, however, have a complaint on one of the maps.
Just my two bits. Like I said, super small thing. LOVE. THIS. BOOK.
Agreed, there's some very cool art in this one. Ugh, pun not intended.
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The items in this book are pretty awesome. Given the author, I did find it pretty funny that one of the items was one you attuned to and let you communicate long distances. I never thought I'd have flashbacks to this year's RPG SS wondrous item voting :)
An excellent book and suddenly playing a cold-based character is near the top of my list!
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The items in this book are pretty awesome. Given the author, I did find it pretty funny that one of the items was one you attuned to and let you communicate long distances. I never thought I'd have flashbacks to this year's RPG SS wondrous item voting :)
Don't think for a moment that I didn't ruminate over including those elements for awhile before I went forward with it. Attunement really seemed appropriate for how the attentive mirror would work. And, in terms of communication, it isn't the item so much that enables it. All it can do is send an alert to the person who attuned themselves to it before giving it to a minion to carry. They still have to use the Irriseni mirror sight spell (as opposed to the item) to actually enable the long distance communication.
So, in the grand scheme of enabling an attuned wondrous item to aid long distance communication, I felt like this was the most appropriate way to do it. One of the things the judges always talk about during Round 1 of RPG Superstar is knowing when and how to bend the rules a bit while still doing something awesome. I'm totally biased here, but from a flavor and mechanics standpoint, the way I approached this design just felt intuitive and right to me, for some reason. I liked the final outcome and I think it adds a lot to the campaign setting to see how the White Witches of Irrisen use them. It kind of gives them (and their agents) an "edge" that other organizations lack. That's what I was striving to create, at least.
Just my two cents,
--Neil
And I found it a wonderful way to pull it off. Requiring a spell to use it is a really nice touch, and I feel there's some mythological precedence for witches using magical mirrors to communicate. Thanks for the peek behind the designer's veil; it's always fascinating.
And I found it a wonderful way to pull it off. Requiring a spell to use it is a really nice touch, and I feel there's some mythological precedence for witches using magical mirrors to communicate. Thanks for the peek behind the designer's veil; it's always fascinating.
Oh, there's plenty of mythological precedence for witches with mirrors. The wicked queen from "Snow White" is the most famous, but in this case, Irrisen mirror magic pulls most heavily from the trolls' mirror right there at the start of Andersen's "Snow Queen."
Mirrors? Maybe some mirror monsters in next bestiaries of these ap's? hope so!!
Animated mirrors that cause something like a pugwampis unluck aura when they're destroyed?
Or maybe that'll be an option in the "Continuing the Adventure" section of Book 6. Een if it isn't, I do hope that there's something there for groups that want to play straight-up "Big D*** Heroes" and do something besides restore the status quo ante.** spoiler omitted **
But I'm guessing Paizo already thought about that and made it not work out so well.
Overall, just having read what I have in a few minutes I am totally psyched to run this! However, I'm going to wait for two reasons.
1. I am already running a White Wolf game that I don't want to just end, I want to finish out my campaign plotline.
2. If I wait, I can have all 6 books plus the Poster Maps Folio, which usually doesn't come out until the end of the Adventure paths run... :)
Still doesn't mean the waiting isn't going to drive me crazy! :)
I have NOT purchased this one yet (at the rate my group plays, it will take another three years to finish our current AP). I did download the Player's Guide and was perplexed about the match - or mismatch - between the sort of characters who would thrive in the setting and the starting point of the campaign. Does the 1st scenario make this work?
Here's what I mean:
The Player's Guide makes it very clear that being capable in the frozen wastes is very important. BUT the players are not from the frozen wastes. They are from the much warmer lands to the south. This would be an apparent mismatch between scenario start and the sort of PCs who would do well. What are winter witches or whatever doing in the warm lands of southern France...er, Taldor? Doesn't this just make for PCs who are all oddballs where they live?
And another thing - has the Horizon Walker prestige class been deprecated? I don't recall seeing anything mentioned about it in the Player's Guide. Seems like this would be a good time to mention it, if there is any good time.
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I have NOT purchased this one yet (at the rate my group plays, it will take another three years to finish our current AP). I did download the Player's Guide and was perplexed about the match - or mismatch - between the sort of characters who would thrive in the setting and the starting point of the campaign. Does the 1st scenario make this work?
Here's what I mean:
The Player's Guide makes it very clear that being capable in the frozen wastes is very important. BUT the players are not from the frozen wastes. They are from the much warmer lands to the south. This would be an apparent mismatch between scenario start and the sort of PCs who would do well. What are winter witches or whatever doing in the warm lands of southern France...er, Taldor? Doesn't this just make for PCs who are all oddballs where they live?
It does, 4 of my 5 PCs are from Northern Countries and are just in town. I have a line about fate that I have an opportunity to play up about halfway through the book that I will use. But I definitely scratched my head when all the builds were passed by me.
Just got my physical copy, and saw something AMAZING in the artwork that I missed in the PDF...
The artwork in the inside of the front and back covers.
It looks like an Irriseni children's storybook full of pro-White Witch propaganda, as if illustrated by an evil Jan Brett!
I LOVE IT!
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I bellieve that was Adam Daigle's idea. He wanted storybook art similar to what was done in the Legacy of Fire AP, only steeped in the Russian folklore style for something like a Baba Yaga-themed AP should have.
Has anyone tried playing through this yet? I have heard rave reviews of the art. Maybe it is too soon.
Speaking of art, does Paizo sell the various "cover quality" art pieces from publications in any sort of collection? I get to play so little that at this point adding more things to my library is just for reading and art pleasure - I only am able to play 4 or 5 hours a month.
The art reminds me of Ivan Bilibin's artwork. Good stuff!
Mirrors? Maybe some mirror monsters in next bestiaries of these ap's? hope so!!Stay tuned!
YES! I take that as a yes!
I really hope to see a Fetch (D&D) like creature! Something that comes from a mirror, some mirror demon or devil or maybe a hag that does so.
A creature like the Nerra or a doppelganger that hunts from mirrors is also a good thing.
And then there is Bloody Mary and the Candy Man.
I hope the artwork of the creature makes it step/craw/merge out of the mirror, there isn't even ONE artwork to be found on google or deviantart about a demon/monster/character which steps out of a mirror, and the black/white artwork of the 2nd edition Fetch doesn't apply, so pathfinder needs to be first!
Developer
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The art reminds me of Ivan Bilibin's artwork. Good stuff!
Yay! That was precisely the thing we were trying to evoke with those pieces.
The art reminds me of Ivan Bilibin's artwork. Good stuff!Yay! That was precisely the thing we were trying to evoke with those pieces.
Good job. Also here's a little Reign of Winter music for your gaming usage.
Baba Yaga ends at 3:20, but The Great Gate of Kiev starts right up and is just an amazing piece.
Enjoy :)
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My prediction was fulfilled! My gamers went totally Godzilla on this module after...
They do plan to get the girl brought back to life...I said when you can cast wish get back to me...their mage wrote my comment down in her ingame journal! (okay, I now have another adventure thread for them!)
The ice tower was dropped with lots of grunt work...alchemists fire...and a very busy very small dragonet fsmiliar ( think pseudo dragon with a 1d8 fire breath instead of that silly tail stinger)Yes it's only a 1d8 fire breath...but it's still dragon fire...I flipped a silver dollar and they won the brief debate! It made a better story.
Funny Moment! My gamers discovered that Radosek and Nahzena had separate bedrooms...odd since they were supposed to be lovers...
Then their mage announced that since Radosek was a witch he had to "commune" with his familiar daily to get his spells...and since his familiar was a FEMALE goat, that explained the separate bedrooms...
"No one who 'communes' with their girl goat once a day is EVER going to 'commune' with me!" Kaijia WinterSteel.
Still waiting to pick my copy up from my FLGS but now I'm even more excited for reading this. The feedback so far seems to be fantastic. Way to go Neil!
On another note, since this is the actual product thread and not the GM thread the post above mine should probably be spoilered.
It's good to see the (mostly) positive reactions to this one so far. Since it's my first low-level adventure for Paizo...with the added pressure of kicking off an AP with such an interesting premise as the Reign of Winter (and doing it justice)...I poured a lot into it. I tried to make it as interesting and immersive as possible with lots of fiddly story bits for GMs to highlight and touch upon. Hopefully, that comes through at the gaming table and widens the experience for the players and PCs. I'm now trying to do the same with my current assignment.
The great thing about what you did with this, Niel, is that it ports extremely well to other parts of the world. I've moved the opening from Heldren to Falcon's Hollow (and Darkmoon Wood) in Andoran and it all still lines up nicely, with the added benefit of having callbacks to the previous modules set there.
I'm a huge fan of this first book and hope it sets the bar for the other chapters to come.
(it also doesn't hurt that a grand-daughter of Baba Yaga once lived in Darkmoon Wood too)
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The portability factor was something Rob built into the original outline and the Paizo developers discussed here for quite sometime after the initial adventure summary was posted. So, give kudos for that to their instinctive foresight. My part just focused on including a sidebar explaining why Heldren was chosen as a starting point and then trying to build in connective elements to its location in Golarion that made sense for the adventure...like:
- The bandits of the Border Wood and their clashes with the High Sentinel rangers--an organization which originally formed to keep a watchful eye on the forest for Qadiran aggression.
- Lady Malasene's bethrothal trip to Zimar as the catalyst for calling attention to the bandits and their wintry allies in the forest.
- The doppelganger intent on replacing Lady Malasene as part of the White Witches' plan to stymie Taldan military responses to their forces emerging from the wintry pocket.
- Radosek's background as the least child of a Taldan noble who willingly gave him over as a baby to Nazhena's mother in exchange for some witchcraft. Plus, his eventual corruption by Nazhena and the culture of Irrisen, which helped formed his vengeful intent in returning to Taldor as their agent and provisional governor.
I like lining up stuff like that to better round out the rough edges of a plot. And, I think including stuff like that in the adventure gives GMs even more material to work with or play off within the backgrounds of their PCs. In other words, always strive to give folks more plot points which they can customize for how they choose to run their individual campaign. And yet, don't make any of them so integral that they can't be ported into a home campaign or somewhere else in Golarion. The goal is "cool stuff with adaptable use."
The goal is "cool stuff with adaptable use."
Goal exceeded, Neil. :)
Excellent work Neil! I had no problem dropping the module into my setting.
My players are hell bent on vengeance and destruction, I heve a way to cost them a wish later...getting the child brought back...
Plus...I am getting non stop goat jokes from all the players now!
It brought a bit of humor into a grim adventure.
As I said before...Well Played Neil...Very Well Played Indeed!
