Rise of the Drow (PFRPG)

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Rise of the Drow (PFRPG)
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If absolute power corrupts absolutely, Matron Maelora best beware; her plans for total domination of the Underworld are already close to satisfactory completion, while attacks on the Upperworld have become increasingly successful. The other power-hungry drow families of Holoth may despise her but they know a true leader when they see one, and House Gullion has been revealed as the family to lead them all on the path to glory. With the entire Underworld in chaos and the Spider Goddess regularly communing with her chosen Matron, far greater dreams than mere regional conquest are within the grasp of the drow, as Maelora prepares her grand dark elf army for victory!

With other mystical allies standing firm with the Matron, other Underworld races beneath her heel or cowering behind fortified walls, and every drow ready to play their part when she gives the word, what could possibly stop her from achieving her final triumph and fulfilling her destiny?

But even the greatest of plans has a flaw if you look hard enough, and a party of stout heart and strong resolve can make a difference. At first, such a party may well believe it is on a smaller adventure, perhaps to win a few baubles or some small acclaim by rescuing a few kidnapped villagers. Soon, however, those adventurers will realise that much more is at stake, and that they are the ones who will need to make moves against the evil Matron Maelora and her increasing dominance if both the entire Underworld and Upperworld are to be saved. But how will they go about it? Can they ensure their own success when an entire city is standing against them? Only they have the chance to halt the Rise of the Drow!

"Rise of the Drow" is a standalone 'mega module' of almost 500 pages. It is designed for starters of 6th level and takes players up to around 18th level. It can be played in conjunction with "The Darkness Arrives," the prologue to this adventure that support PCs of level 1 to 6, and "The Commander of Malice," an epilogue to "Rise of the Drow" that takes those same PCs to level 20.

"Rise of the Drow" contains:

  • Brand new illustrations by Mates Laurentiu, Rick Hershey, Jacob Blackmon, Jen Page, and Satine Phoenix
  • New and revised maps by three time ENnie award-winning cartographer Todd Gamble
  • Beautiful page design by Rick Hershey of Fat Goblin Games
  • The dwarven trade city of Embla fleshed out in even greater detail
  • A fully expanded Fungi Forest spanning over 50 pages with new spells and items
  • Three main paths for the PCs to explore with options to take your adventures even farther
  • The dwarven capital of Stoneholme by Kevin Mickelson, author of "The Mask of Death"
  • Jorumgard, the deep dragon lair by Owen KC Stephens of Rogue Genius Games
  • Vethin's Hold, a new underground city of trade and treachery by Jason Stoffa of Fat Goblin Games
  • The foul drow House Invidious by Brian Berg of TPK Games
  • Holoth, the mighty drow city of the Underworld completely revised and expanded by Christina Stiles of Kobold Press, Rogue Genius Games, and Christina Stiles Presents.
  • The gargantuan Temple of the Spider Goddess by Joshua Gullion of AaW
  • House Gullion’s home, Tolgorith Tower which spans across 6 maps and includes over 30 different locations for your PCs to explore
  • Supplemental histories on each member of House Gullion
  • The demiplane of Venom
  • Multiple ways for the PCs to end the adventure and many more ways to continue with the "Rise of the Drow Epilogue: The Commander of Malice" or new adventures in the Underworld!
  • New artifacts like the powerful soul-stealing Vidrefacte
  • New Traps like ochre jelly dust
  • New Special Abilities such as the third eye of fear
  • New Feats including Fused Weapon Fighting
  • New Items like giant green-spored parasol mushroom poison and Fungi Forest kombucha
  • New Magical Items such as the coin of singing and mycelosuits
  • New Mushroom and Drow domains
  • Loads of new spells perfect for adventuring underground
  • New Monsters, too numerous to list
  • and so much more!

Foreword by Ed Greenwood
Written by Stephen Yeardley, Jonathan G. Nelson, Mike Myler, Joshua Guillon, Ed Greenwood, Owen KC Stephens, Christina Stiles, Brian Berg, Jason Stoffa, Kevin Mickelson
Cover Art by Kerem Beyit
Art by Jen Page, Satine Phoenix, Todd Gamble, Kerem Beyit, Mates Laurentiu, Rick Hershey, Jacob Blackmon and more!
Pages: 494, full color

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Video review

5/5


Great campaign, my players loved it!

5/5

Just wrapped up running this campaign with my group. It’s a huge book with gobs of content, all ready to use in the publisher’s setting. It is not overly difficult to drop into any setting tho, as I did for the collaborative shared-world setting I’ve got going on with two other DMs.

There were only a couple of hiccups during our play through, and I can’t blame them on this book. One, the starting point in the book is the small town of Rybalka. That just wasn’t going to fit with our setting, but it was easy to tweak. Two, my group just wasn’t ready to move underground… humans that didn’t bring light sources, that sort of thing. And the fact that large portions of this book takes your PCs underground shouldn’t be a spoiler, given the title!! :)

This book is huge, with gobs of content, art, maps, locations, and NPCs with personality and tactics write ups! I have some of the very old original PDFs from when Rise of the Drow was a pack of separate adventures. The editing, art, and especially maps are greatly improved!

All in all, a very fun, challenging-but-survivable quest, definitely worth the money and the 5 stars!


An Endzeitgeist.com review

5/5

This massive tome of a module is 494 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page designer signatures, 1 blank page inside front cover, 1 page editorial, 5 pages ToC,2 pages of SRD, 2 pages of backer-lists, 12 pages of advertisements (all in the back), 1 page back cover, leaving us with 469 pages of content...that's A LOT, so I'll better get going!

First, let me preface this review with a disclaimer: I reviewed the original Rise of the Drow-trilogy back in the day, and it already was a very good array of modules then. When this kickstarter happened, I was asked to be a stretch-goal and I agreed. I did receive compensation for my contribution to this book, small as said contribution may have been - an ecology (I'll point out in the review) was penned by me, but I had no influence over any other part of this book. I do not consider my judgment in any way compromised and if you've been following me, you'll have noticed that I'm just as adept at criticizing my own work, so yeah - this book, if anything does not get an easier standing with me. Still, full disclosure in regards like this is a necessity to maintain my integrity. If you are still in doubt, feel free to check my original reviews for the trilogy, posted quite some time before even the announcement of the kickstarter that made this book to verify this.

Next up, since this is an adventure-review, here's the warning - the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players should definitely jump to the conclusion.

Still here? All right!

If you're familiar with "Descent into the Underworld", Part I of the original Rise of the Drow trilogy, then you'll realize one thing from the get go - you get your money's worth in this tome. The AAW crew has NOT skimped on the art budget, quite the contrary - from a one-page panorama of the starting village of Rybalka to the copious amounts of artworks in lavish detail (and color!), this is more than the sum of its constituent parts - take the keep the PCs are to investigate in the beginning - its whole surrounding area has now been properly mapped and expanded to include some gruesome remnants of the ancient fields of battle - including a couple of rather deadly creatures stalking the place...Have I mentioned that chaotic remnants of magic infusing the area (in case screaming skulls and diseased, mad treants did not drive home the point that this is unpleasantville...) or the rather problematic new residents of the keep?

From a panicked "prisoner" (you'll see...) to the exploration of the creepy place, the PCs have a neat array of threats ahead of them - and intelligence to gather. Rather nice here would be the module actually taking into account that the PCs probably will (and should!) regroup at the village sooner or later - if only to do some legwork. The exploration of the dungeon beneath the keep has also been upgraded with a much needed (and useful!) place - a kind of teleport nexus (hard to use, but players probably will find a way...) of a cabal of drow/undead, the so-called ossuary collaborative. Here, people knowing the original trilogy will look a bit puzzled: Yes, Yul, the nasty drow mhorg can still the "boss" of this dungeon - but the AAW-crew took one of my gripes with the original trilogy, the relative weak tie-in of the first module with the rest, and slew two brutes with one stone - the PCs receive powerful gifts from a mysterious drow female as they explore the complex - the lady Makinnga seems to be looking for an alliance and her extremely powerful items indeed are nothing to scoff at...plus, this alliance may be a shadow of the things to come for your players.

Exploring successfully the dungeon beneath the keep, the PCs are next off to a trip into the bowels of the earth, the wondrous realm called underdark. Or rather, in AAW Games' setting Aventyr (Norwegian for adventure, btw.), the world called underworld - and no, you won't (yet!) find Lethe or the like, but seriously - this is a world in itself. One of my grand disappointments with most 2nd and 3rd edition underdark/world-supplements of our game and, to a lesser extent, Pathfinder, is the lack of claustrophobia, of wonder, of strange horizons unconquered. The good ole' Dungeoneer's Survival Guide, one of the best resources I've ever read, is a rare exception to this - and the second module of the series garnered high praise from me initially, trumping the whole Second Darkness AP in one fell swoop. So AAW could have just left that alone. They didn't - they vastly expanded the whole section. Not only do we get tables of underworld hazards the players will have to adapt to, random and special encounters to face while the explore the vast network of tunnels - this time, they get to save a dwarven caravan from drow raiders and then, explore the vastly expanded dwarven city of Embla. Studded with crystalline Gonjolas, fully mapped and vastly expanded to provide a vast political panoply for exploration, interaction etc. - all while maintaining believability. What do I mean by that? Fungus farms, trade routes - the city feels alive, realistic and still thoroughly fantastic. Embla was great before, but ultimately only a grandiose backdrop - now, it's a vast sandbox to expand, develop and play in - complete with a creation myth, prices for beard-jewelry and trimming (YES!!! Now if that ain't dwarven, what is?), notable NPCs, different stores, taverns, banks and even a recipe for dwarven bread. Now, if your players don't bite, you can guide them through the story-threads rather easily here, but I literally, for my life can't imagine a group of players who wouldn't at least be intrigued by this strange place.

Beyond Embla, a short primer of some interest for the city of Stoneholm (tangential to the module - just there if your players want to check it out - now that's detail!) also can be found herein. While in Embla, the PCs will have to thwart an assassination attempt on the ruling council of the mercantile dwarves (after they've been thoroughly introduces into the intricacies of dwarven hospitality) and then, follow one of three paths to pursue in the aftermath of the drow's cowardly attempt at destroying the back-bone of the dwarves. Or at least, 3 paths are assumed and depicted - overall, the whole chapter is mostly written as a sandbox and thus offers quite an array of tough choices - two of which, though, have dire consequences: Returning to Rybalka to warn the village will see Embla fall to the drow and the PCs consequently will have to navigate either the ruins of the gorgeous city or avoid it altogether - sample encounters and the like are provided. A direct assault on the city is also possible, especially if your players are all about kicking the door in, murder-hobo style - and the battle indeed will be epic. The most detailed of the 3 paths, though, and the one the players should imho choose for maximum enjoyment, would be the one to Holoth's back entrance.

This choice will also change the final adventure in the trilogy, mind you. But back to the exploration trip through the wilderness. This trip, in the original, constituted the very best in underworld wilderness I've seen in ANY Pathfinder module. That was before the addition of the dreadful underworld dragon Nidh-Cthon and his demesne Jorumgard. And before the addition of Venthin's Hold, a truly despicable, extremely dangerous city hidden in the bowels of the earth, where no appetite, no matter how depraved, may be satisfied or the caves of the bat-like humanoids, the ahool. This would also be a good time to mention that the settlements get full settlement statblocks. And then, a gorgeous one-page illustration of a fungus jungle starts with what can be considered a herbarium of giant fungi of the underdark - what for example about a giant fungus that makes perception checks easier when adjacent due to its funnel-like shape? What about moonlight-like-radiance emitting mushrooms that imbue powers to e.g. reverse gravity to those drinking parts of the shrooms in alcohol. Especially impressive here - all fungi and molds herein get their very own full-color artworks (most including a humanoid figure as a frame of reference) and beyond these plants and wondrous hazards, mycelosuits are also introduced. These suits can essentially give you a mushroom suit that coats most of your body, rendering you weird, but also providing some very cool bonuses.

Plus: Seriously, how awesome is walking around covered in a weird suit of fungal fibre? Especially if the fungal suit constantly ejects tendrils and he like to propel you forward in e.g. forested environments? Oh, and then there would be the mushroom domain - one of my favorite domains currently available for Pathfinder. Why? Because you learn to generate explosive caps and kill your foes with force damage dealing mushroom caps. Not cool enough yet? What about entering shrooms and exiting through the same species? Or about the array of exclusive spells introduced? What spells? Well, what about fusing your legs with a mushroom and ride it? No, really. There's a spell here that fusing a hopping shroom to your feet, making you ignore difficult terrain and nigh invincible against most combat maneuvers, but also providing a severe hindrance to your spellcasting? Yes, picture it. Glorious. Especially if you evoke carnivorous shrooms erupting from the floor to eat foes?

What about special weather conditions like fungi sweat and spore storms? Yeah - and then there would be the new, superb map of the fungal jungle and the already by now (at least in my game) cult mushroom harvesting mini-game, with a cool makeover. Oh, and the jungle itself has MUCH more going on inside as well... This section of the module was great before - it's stellar now. Here is also a good place to note one of the smartest layout decisions I've seen in a while: Each of the 3 parts has its own, distinct, unique and gorgeous layout in full color. And I'm not saying the following due to Joshua Gullion (also known as fellow reviewer KTFish7 and a true friend) being responsible: The layout in this book is friggin' Paizo-level, depending on personal preferences even beyond that. Each of the various styles used just is stunning, complements well the full color illustrations and is just downright gorgeous. My girl-friend is professionally involved in layout and LOVES what he's done here - even though she usually has only complaints regarding my RPG-books. Better yet - the herbarium gets its own distinct layout - and in the context of this vast tome, that means if you just want to use the fungal jungle rules, you can immediately see where the section starts - flip it open, done. The same holds true for the 3 modules etc. - rendering this tome rather user-friendly. I am not engaging in hyperbole when I say that the layouts used here are among the most beautiful I've ever seen.

That out of the way - I know what you want to hear about - the vast drow city of Holoth and what is going on there. Well, let's start with a cohesive and concise gazetteer to the city - including detailed houses, power-structure, produce etc., allowing a DM to portray a very vivid depiction of the place. Each noble house (including two shadow houses)gets a full write up to inspire DMs further/expand the place, while each member of the main antagonist-house of Gullion actually gets a massive, full background story - making them come alive and potentially offering smart PCs way to use/trick/defeat the opposition. Speaking of which - roleplaying opportunities to strike deals with demons or devils, staging a slave revolt against dinosaur-riding drow taskmasters.

Chaos reigns in the city of Holoth, as the drow and the vidre wage war around the central fortress containing the dread artifact Vidrefacte - and to stop the threat once and for all, they will have to navigate the spider-shaped temple of the drow and enter via the temple Tolgrith tower. Here, the level of detail has once again been upped significantly - what about a 1-page table of quasi-magical herbs, all with different effects for one or 3 doses? Favorites like the mosaic tile golem or the book golem also make a triumphant return to form here. And the PCs better hurry, for each effect of the vidrefacte demands the power of souls to fuel it - and life is cheap in the underdark. Literally every day the PCs dawdle costs between 200 and 500 HD of creatures their lives...Yes, these drow are capital "N" Nasty genocidal megalomaniacs... If the PCs are smart, though, they'll return to an alliance with the undead-affine Makinnga that, via her magic and items might have helped them time and again (and is a great way to keep players on track): She proposes an alliance to destroy the vidrefacte: If the PCs can get 3 personal items from each family member, Makinnga can use her talents to distract that family member...and delay the collapse of the tower upon destruction of the artifact. The PCs have to essentially create their own ticking clock in the end and are responsible for what happens - greed for magical items versus survival instinct - brilliant. And the PCs better damn well heed this advice and alliance, unless they're buffed up and maxed out to the brim. Why? Because the tower and its foes are BRUTAL. We're talking Frog God Games level, mixed with TPK Games-style boss battles. What do I mean by that? Navigating the tower is brutal in itself - but in order to stop Matron Mother Maelora, the PCs will also have to escape the friggin' demplane of venom (now fully depicted and containing one of the most iconic boss battles I've seen in ages!) and final defeat the mastermind of the genocidal drow in a massive, chaotic free-for-all that lets them reap the benefits of their deeds and puts them in direct confrontation not only with the matron mother, but also her strongest allies and the dread vidre in a deadly free-for-all of epic proportions. A round-to-round breakdown helps the DM track all the complex interactions here and then, the collapse of the tower makes for a truly deadly escape - and, as for magic and the like - unlike most high-level modules, this one actually takes teleportations, flying and similar escape tricks into account and provides sensible explanations why the PCs should better damn well run on their own two legs...

Escaping from a city in chaos, the PCs will probably never, ever forget how deadly those damn drow are...and if even my players did so with PCs either fallen or severely battered and bruised, they still talk about the original module in reverent tones. This one is even better. So go figure! Different results, different end-game scenarios...all provided here...though, if you're like me, you want to go for the high-level epilogue module next!

Beyond the epic modules (at this point, we're on page 394 of the book!), we get the ecology of the enigmatic vidre, written by yours truly. I'm, of course, biased as to how this turned out, so feel free to tell me whether you liked it and why/why not! (And yes, I managed to point towards Rogue Genius Games great research rules in this one as an optional rule...) and also have a strange affliction and power components (inspired by Rite Publishing's 101 Special Material and Power Components) in here, though you need neither book to (hopefully!) enjoy the article.

Now not all is great in here - I'm e.g. no fan of the new drow domain - I consider its crunch somewhat flawed - gaining sight-based powers for negative energy damage falls apart with undead casters immediately and the other spells provided here didn't blow me away either - so this one is a definite "pass" for me. Then again, there is the gloriously whacky (or disturbing, depends on how you play it!) mushroom domain, so one flop, one top evens out for me. We also get a handy page of general drow traits for both 3.5 and PFRPG for the DM and then are off to the crunchy bits, i.e. the statblocks of the creatures and NPCs herein, provided for both Pathfinder and 3.5, each with its own index for convenience's sake and easy navigation - nice!

Part II of my review in the product discussion, post no 85. See you there!


Rise of the Drow - A hardback campaign

5/5

First review here, so hopefully it's an okay one. I haven't played through the entire campaign yet, so most of this are my impressions from thumbing through the Rise of the Drow.

The first statement I want to make is if you like the hardback campaigns of Shackled City and Rise of the Runelords, you want to take a good LONG HARD look at Rise of the Drow.

It didn't hit me until after I got Rise of the Drow that there are some similarities between the title of it, and that of Rise of the Runelords. What's more striking, is that on the shelf, side by side, they look of the same design and make, as well as about the same length.

The cover of Rise of the Drow seems to be a little bit more loose than the one I have on Rise of the Runelords and the Shackled City, but otherwise seems to be of the same design considerations.

Rise of the Drow has an interesting story (no spoilers here, or I'll try not to put any, though there are some obvious ones simply from reading the title), which is probably on par with Shackled City, and has some interesting ideas which can be incorporated into any campaign.

The artwork and design is pretty good, as is the layout. Most of the art reminds me less of Paizo's current offerings (and hence less like the Rise of the Runelords Hardcover) and more like Shackled City (so more like the original Rise of the Runelords paperback AP...though even there, I'd put it even earlier with the original AP's like Shackled City).

It would fall more in line with what I see in my Shackled City campaign book than in the Rise of the Runelords book. This would also apply more in how I'd see the adventure design and how it flows (just reading, not playing through it yet).

The appendixes are also nice, and there is plenty of setting information which probably could be dropped into most campaigns (so specific in nature, but generic enough that it could be used in most campaign settings). It also has 100 monsters in an appendix, though this is misleading as some of those are specific types of enemies rather than the generic monsters you can drop into any other adventure you wish (though there a multitude of those as well).

The stats are for both PF and 3.5 from what I could see, so you could run it in either format.

Overall, it's a very impressive book, on par with the other two hardback campaign/AP types I have (Shackled City and Rise of the Runelords). It is NOT like Rappan Athuk (which I also have for PF), but more in the style of a Paizo type writing, rather than the old style (which I'd say Rappan Athuk is more like).

IF you have and have enjoyed Shackled City or Rise of the Runelord Anniversary edition, I'd say take a good long look at Rise of the Drow as another hardback campaign you may want to add to your shelf.


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Webstore Gninja Minion

Now available!


What?!

Pages: 494, full color

HOLY CRAP!


Is this going to be physically published?

Webstore Gninja Minion

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Bwang wrote:
Is this going to be physically published?

I am discussing with the publisher how to make a few copies available on Paizo.com. :D


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

That is an expensive PDF. Yeah I get the high page count and being full color is a major factor, but still. I shudder to think of what the physical copy will cost.

Doesn't make it any less tempting though. Holy crap look at that list!


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Do we know what level it takes the PCs through?


chavamana wrote:
Do we know what level it takes the PCs through?

Rise of the Drow takes four to six PCs from 6th-8th level up through 16th-18th level, but to be perfectly straight here, this is an entire setting book hidden as an enormous adventure. ;)


MikeMyler wrote:
chavamana wrote:
Do we know what level it takes the PCs through?

Rise of the Drow takes four to six PCs from 6th-8th level up through 16th-18th level, but to be perfectly straight here, this is an entire setting book hidden as an enormous adventure. ;)

They are also producing a prolgue and epilogue, essentially making it 1-20 I believe. I think the prologue and epilogue will also be available to those outside the initial kickstarter.


Carter Lockhart wrote:
MikeMyler wrote:
chavamana wrote:
Do we know what level it takes the PCs through?

Rise of the Drow takes four to six PCs from 6th-8th level up through 16th-18th level, but to be perfectly straight here, this is an entire setting book hidden as an enormous adventure. ;)

They are also producing a prolgue and epilogue, essentially making it 1-20 I believe. I think the prologue and epilogue will also be available to those outside the initial kickstarter.

You are correct! All that material is either entering or exiting layout now. ^_^


Is there a printer friendly version?

And as an aside, it disinclines me to purchase the product when the first few bullet points were about art; not content. Function first, friends, not form.


ZenithTN wrote:

Is there a printer friendly version?

And as an aside, it disinclines me to purchase the product when the first few bullet points were about art; not content. Function first, friends, not form.

Alas, Zenith, there is not.

Rise of the Drow is predominantly the book that AdventureAWeek.com set out to print; the PDF is only provided for the comparatively few folks that wanted a digital copy from the Kickstarter. No plans exist for a printer friendly version.


Is this a printed book then, or a PDF? Looks like a hardcopy that you buy.

Webstore Gninja Minion

GreyWolfLord wrote:
Is this a printed book then, or a PDF? Looks like a hardcopy that you buy.

It says "PDF" in the product name.


GreyWolfLord wrote:
Is this a printed book then, or a PDF? Looks like a hardcopy that you buy.

You can pre-order the hardcover w/pdf on the adventureaweek.com website. $99. It looks awesome. Artwork and layout are great. Tho a lot of pages for stats for 3.5 AND pathfinder.


macabre dragon wrote:
GreyWolfLord wrote:
Is this a printed book then, or a PDF? Looks like a hardcopy that you buy.
You can pre-order the hardcover w/pdf on the adventureaweek.com website. $99. It looks awesome. Artwork and layout are great. Tho a lot of pages for stats for 3.5 AND pathfinder.

Thanks!!


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
MikeMyler wrote:
Carter Lockhart wrote:
They are also producing a prolgue and epilogue, essentially making it 1-20 I believe. I think the prologue and epilogue will also be available to those outside the initial kickstarter.
You are correct! All that material is either entering or exiting layout now. ^_^

Will this book be updated with the prologue/epilogue material or will there be a different product that includes it (or was that a Kickstarter exclusive)?

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16

Ah, it's coming to the Paizo store! I got the Kickstarter edition, and I'm not sure if I should say what I think of it.


chavamana wrote:
MikeMyler wrote:
Carter Lockhart wrote:
They are also producing a prolgue and epilogue, essentially making it 1-20 I believe. I think the prologue and epilogue will also be available to those outside the initial kickstarter.
You are correct! All that material is either entering or exiting layout now. ^_^
Will this book be updated with the prologue/epilogue material or will there be a different product that includes it (or was that a Kickstarter exclusive)?

Considering that I recall the pro/epilogue were add-ons for Backers, if I recall correctly, I imagine they will also be separate products in themselves as well.


Cyrad wrote:
Ah, it's coming to the Paizo store! I got the Kickstarter edition, and I'm not sure if I should say what I think of it.

What do you think of it?


First want to thank Paizo for letting me know about this product, it really looks great. That said, you guys lost a sale since you had no hard copy to go with it. I went to the Adventure site and bought from there. Why? I like hardcopy and really didn't want to pay 50bucks for simple data.

Sales for stuff like this is obviously good for both of you. Maybe Paizo can offer a hardback combo deal as well? If you had I'd have bought here and not over there. Just sayin'.


Interesting

Webstore Gninja Minion

Vexous wrote:
Sales for stuff like this is obviously good for both of you. Maybe Paizo can offer a hardback combo deal as well? If you had I'd have bought here and not over there. Just sayin'.

Whether or not a print copy is available on Paizo.com is solely the discretion of the publisher (unless I can get it from distribution). Print costs are no laughing matter, and sometimes it doesn't make business sense for a publisher to offer print on our website. I am discussing it with the publisher, though, and I hope to have something to sell on Paizo.com—but I'm sure that AdventureAWeek will appreciate your business no matter where you take it. :D


chavamana wrote:
MikeMyler wrote:
Carter Lockhart wrote:
They are also producing a prolgue and epilogue, essentially making it 1-20 I believe. I think the prologue and epilogue will also be available to those outside the initial kickstarter.
You are correct! All that material is either entering or exiting layout now. ^_^
Will this book be updated with the prologue/epilogue material or will there be a different product that includes it (or was that a Kickstarter exclusive)?

The prologue [The Darkness Arrives Trilogy] and epilogue [Commander of Malice] are indeed separate products. Currently the layout master (Joshua Gullion) is on the task, but he did leak a few choice photos of what to expect on Facebook somewhere...hopefully this link works!

The prologue is a grand triple adventure that takes PCs from 1st level up through 6th (ranking in somewhere in the realm of 100 or so pages). The first part [The Darkness Appears] is written by the minds behind Rise of the Drow (Jonathan G. Nelson and Stephen Yeardley), the second [The Darkest Dawn] was put together by none other than Steven Helt, and the final piece before the big AP [The Darkness Revealed] was composed by Michael McCarthy.

Expect to see The Darkness Arrives Trilogy sometime very soon (perhaps even before April—last I heard, Joshua was waiting on two pieces of artwork). This product will be a particular steal and sold at a bit of a discount compared to other modules from AdventureAWeek.com, and is absolutely not something to miss out on!

Also, to any of the KS backers that are wondering where the two new races are in the book (batpeople and corrupted dwarves), you can find a bit of info on the ahool on page 125 of Rise of the Drow but there are two entirely separate (and totally awesome) books coming your way soon. :D

Liz is correct—print costs are a complicated business, especially for premium-quality books like Rise of the Drow! AdventureAWeek.com absolutely appreciates every single purchase, and is definitely trying to find a way to bring the hardcopy into Paizo's store; as soon as that happens, know that I'll be screaming about it from the highest hilltops!

We are also collectively blushing from everyone's interest in the book; all those months of toil weren't just for otherworldly drow slavers after all (that, or you are all very, very clever dark elves ;)).

Dark Archive

Does anyone else have problems when looking at the Pdf (Computer seems to really struggle with it.)


No problems looking at it here


is this adventure path geared to certain types of characters i.e. races and/or classes?


Sedric the Hero wrote:
is this adventure path geared to certain types of characters i.e. races and/or classes?

Not in particular, no. It is largely subterranean though, so if your PCs are savvy in caves and what have you, they're a bit better off.

Any type of character should be able to enjoy Rise of the Drow though! :D

Shadow Lodge

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Guys. Just a thought, but I'd actually expand on the description of this product as it really isn't 100% clear what you get for your cash and leaves more questions than answers...

Sure - it looks brilliant and its Drow and the Underdark - amongst THE most exciting encounters for any RPG party, and the list of big names in on the production and artwork reads like a who's who... The problem is that the description really leaves a lot out about the adventure which has had to have been answered in 20+ comments...

I would point out especially the fact that this is a standalone 'mega module' and it is set for starters of 6th level and takes players up to around 20th level, and there is in production right now a 'prequel' which will help for players of levels 1-6.

The way the first paragraph reads in the description leaves the reader with the impression that this is the second or third release in a series or something...

Just a thought!

Shadow Lodge

Looks kick-ass though.... :-)


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Yeah, the description is good about all the side-goodies, but the main event is not really talked about at all.


Really looking forward to a review of this!


Well crap, I feel slightly ripped off. I bought the pdf before there was a hardcover/pdf offer in the wind.


Gonna wait for the price to come down a bit.


Captain Moonscar wrote:
Gonna wait for the price to come down a bit.

I could be wrong. But pretty sure you'll be waiting for a very long time.


Probably.


Is the hardcover printed via POD or a "true"/traditional printer?


Bardadin wrote:
Is the hardcover printed via POD or a "true"/traditional printer?

This is the result of a kickstarter. I imagine the physical books offered here will be produced by the kickstarter print run. So, should be a traditional printer.


Hi guys, Stephen here, one of the folks on the front cover. Whilst Mike Myler deals with the nitty gritty of the questions, I thought I'd jump in with comments on some of the aspects that I work on. Going backwards from the latest posts, for which we thank you profusely as they all help us...

Carter Lockhart: yes, it is a traditional printer. If you listen very carefully, you can here all of these books settling as the ink steadily dries.

So... Bardadin, you will eventually see a real hardcover available for you to drop on your gaming table and scare your players witless!

Captain Moonscar: At present, the cost of the book is just that; what it costs to produce. The Kickstarter was very carefully costed, and the price point worked out so we could achieve all we wanted to (plus just a little more, as it turned out), and ensure that all the additional people we wanted involved could be paid properly for their efforts. Not wishing in any way to sound like a whiner, I have to say that for the core AaW team, this is a "labour of love" that will allow us to get going with the next Kickstarter we have planned. Having said that, as I think Mike has pointed out, we've looked to make additional materials more "price pleasant". But for a small company, printing hardcovers of around 500 pages is an...interesting...endeavour.

Asmodeus: unless Mike or Jonathan have already approached you, you are more than welcome to contact me directly with your concerns and someone will look into your particular situation - stephenyeardley@aol.com is my working email.

Magnuskn and RoystaDoysta: I was responsible for the overarching descriptio of the adventure, and wanted to try and keep some elements cloaked to avoid player spoilers. However, in light of your omments and another on another site, I WILL be re-writng this to include more "main event events". Thanks for the helpful views on what might make this more eye-catching.

Cyrad: We want people to love this book, of course we do, but are not daft enough to believe that there won't be many different views. We respect what everyone feels about our products and always take their thoughts forward. If you wish to let me know directly, please use the email above. I'll leave it at that.

All in all, we hope this is something you will all enjoy, however you receive and use it.


For those of you who are curious about the art work in "Rise of the Drow", there are some more images posted on its Facebook page, and some in Adventure-a-Week's page. Why not check them out?!

Silver Crusade

Url for facebook page?


Danubus wrote:
Url for facebook page?

The Facebook page for Rise of the Drow is located here and AdventureAWeek's page is here! :D


When is the preorder available for this? I am in!

Webstore Gninja Minion

Swashbucklersdc wrote:
When is the preorder available for this? I am in!

We have a limited number of preorders available for Rise of the Drow on Paizo.com, but we are awaiting the arrival of our print stock for firm numbers. :)


Very tempting......


Is that why if I hit preorder button, I get the spinning star but it doesn;t appear in my cart?


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Liz Courts wrote:

We have a limited number of preorders available for Rise of the Drow on Paizo.com, but we are awaiting the arrival of our print stock for firm numbers. :)

I need to Preorder the Preorder! :)

Webstore Gninja Minion

mach1.9pants wrote:
Is that why if I hit preorder button, I get the spinning star but it doesn;t appear in my cart?

Correct.

Sczarni

So do you know when we should expect to be able to pre-order this?


The books arrive in June! :)


In time for my birthday! Yeah!!

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