The Mummy's Mask Player's Guide gives players all the spoiler-free information, inspiration, and new rules they'll need to create characters prepared for delving into the adventure and intrigue of the Mummy's Mask Adventure Path.
Within, players of this campaign will find everything they need to create character backgrounds tied to personalities and events vital to Pathfinder Adventure Path's exploration of some of the many ancient tombs and vast deserts of Osirion, along with new campaign—specific traits to give bold adventurers the edge they'll need to take on the strange and deadly threats faced on their quest. This player’s guide also features a view of the city of Wati where the adventure begins, as well as various class options and advice for heroes ready to explore the nation of Osirion’s many ruins.
Adventurers don't need to delve forgotten tombs unprepared! Gather your allies and let the Mummy's Mask Player's Guide start your trip into the thrill and danger of the blistering desert.
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
Overall, I would consider the Mummy's Mask Player's Guide to be one of the best adventure path Player's Guides so far. It gets straight to the point and provides players with the information that they need to create characters that will fit into the Mummy's Mask Adventure Path.
this player's guide is great, it tells you what to expect of the adventure without going into any details, it also provides some helpful tips for creating a character that fits into the adventure,its beautifully illustrated,helpful and free so what else can i say
The last couple of AP guides have been kind of disappointing, but it looks like a return to form with the Mummy's Mask guide. It gives player's an idea what to expect and the campaign traits are, for the most part, inspiring and useful. More like this please.
Quite Possibly the Best of all the Player's Guides to Date.
For an explanation of how I use the five star review method, see my entry on So What's the Riddle Like Anyway?HERE.
This is my first review of a Paizo Player’s Guide—I did review The Freebooter's Guide to the Razor Coast, but that is a supplement for use with the setting as much as a Player’s Guide. Player’s Guides are free supplements designed to help players going into a given Adventure Path the insights they need to make characters that will work both thematically and mechanically throughout the campaign. Mummy's Mask is a highly anticipated AP thematically based on the classic adventure setting of ancient tombs and monuments of Egypt.
Right up front we are given the information that the party has already assembled for the express purpose of exploring the tombs of the Osirion city of Wati and are awaiting the results of a lottery to determine which tombs they are allowed to explore. This is a great in media res style opening, and gets all of those awkward intros out of the way. The party is encouraged to select a name for themselves to let them stand out from the other adventuring groups with a sidebar making a number of good suggestions.
The next section covers tips on character creation: which selections of traits, feats, skills, and abilities will work well thematically with this AP without tipping the players off to what awaits them. This is a traditional section of every Player’s Guide, but this one is especially well done. In the early days of these guides each race and class was given a write up, but with Golarion now well established in its own right it was felt that was a lot of work rehashing what had already been said. So they cut that section down to a few suggestions for classes that would have significant choices made blindly otherwise. Unfortunately the sections became so short they weren’t as generally useful as they could have been; fewer classes got helpful suggestions and though they still fulfilled the job, it wasn’t clear how well these suggestions would work or how they would fit into the campaign.
Not so this time. This guide has individual sub-sections on archetypes and class options, bloodlines and mysteries, familiars and animal companions, favored enemies and favored terrains, character origins, languages, races, religion, skills and feats, and finally traits. There is even a sidebar telling us where we can find Pathfinder rules for the Old Egyptian gods. They still don’t cover all races and classes in detail like they used to, but a lot more information about good thematic choices are presented than any of the guides since they stopped doing that. I think this is the best balance and provides endless ideas for character creation in and of itself.
The next section covers appropriate equipment for the campaign, even some suggestions for purchase after the party gets some money. This is excellent for setting the appearance of the party and the image of a well-equipped expedition over looters.
Next up is a brief overview of the city of Wati so the players will know the town before the start of the first adventure. We have a brief history and a description of the districts. A map can be found on the last page of the guide. This is great for establishing where the players are likely staying, where they can find information and goods, etc. This makes it easier for the players to visualize their surroundings and for the GM to not have to explain as much and slow down the gameplay. A sidebar here allows GMs & players to get their hands on even more information about Osirion and extra tools for running and playing in this campaign.
The next section gives us ten different Campaign Traits for the AP. I am amazed at the wide breadth of motives and origins presented here. We can have native Osirions descended from royalty or serfs, foreign scholars, tomb raiders, and undead slayers all well situated to enjoy the campaign! These many diverse options allow people to make the sorts of characters they want to play rather than one dictated by the needs for a tight plot. This may very well be the most imaginative group of Campaign Traits I have ever seen. Excellent work!
Then the guide does another very useful thing: it reprints all the essential desert wilderness survival rules altogether for easy reference. Considering how often these are going to be used in such a campaign, this is a time saving gift. Finally an exploration hex-map is provided for later on in the campaign when the opportunity for desert exploration comes up. A great set of tools all in one place so that cracking open heavy books and slowing down play is all but eliminated beyond that for any game.
Finally we have the art and layout, which beautifully capture the feel of adventurers dealing with ancient Egyptian themes. I’m especially taken with the images of two Garundi in North African-style nomadic dress, one on the cover and one on page five. Really amazing!
Final Thoughts: What more can I say about this other than I’m amazed that it is free? This PDF sets a very high bar for Player’s Guides and what information they should provide. I really can’t think of anything that was included here that would not be of use in making a great and appropriate character for the Mummy’s Mask AP. This level of helpful information and cultural inspiration is just about perfect. 5 out of 5 stars.
This is really well made player's guide, maybe the best so far. I'm digging the return to more detailed recommendations (favored enemies and the like).
This is really well made player's guide, maybe the best so far. I'm digging the return to more detailed recommendations (favored enemies and the like).
Yes, that is what I like too. Useful and thematic archetype suggestions from all the core books, favored terrains, favored enemies, familiar choices, even common sense equipment choices for the start of the game. Not spoilers, but stuff that makes sense.
There's also a nice section about how the campaign starts, and suggestions on how the party of PCs might come together. Mummy's Mask has a different introduction than many of the others. (The Player's Guide refers to this)
Adam really listened to the feedback! The art and presentation is also superb.
I am honestly evenly torn between a bunch of those campaign traits. Descendant of pharaohs? Adherent of the old gods of Osirion? Wati local? This is gonna be hard.
The Wati primer is really appreciated. :)
looks at page 13
UH OH! :D
I was wondering if this was going to happen back at the Gencon AP panel!
I really love the art design of the player guide. Make me remember Legacy of Fire, but is so much mature and harmonic. Also, thank you very much for african love in character design, i apreciated the take on faux-egyptian fantasy adventurer types. Makes me really wonder how could be an Arcadia AP character design with fantasy faux-native-americans.
Yeah, I can't decide between wanting to play an Ustalavan archaeologist who studied under Professor Lorrimor there to learn about the undead, or the descendant of an ancient dynasty trying to prove my family's heritage, or a Magaambyan Arcanist there to meet sphinxes, or a local street urchin looking to make a quick buck, or...
It would be inappropriate for me to review this, but I encourage others to do so. Offer details. If this is what you want a PG to be like, give your feedback in a review, so that it doesn't become lost on the message boards.
What i do miss more about the players guide is a lets-assume-the-player-know-nothing-about-Golarion approach. Even without giving extra words, writing the player guide with some basic info about gods involved, the region politics and the monster types. A lot of players i give the PG didn't understand it very well (i am talking about the Reign of Winter one and it was very well done). Most players that already know Golarion can play with only the relevant companion, but new players have a hard time getting into Paizo style and more simple info player guide could help.
*blink* There's a shout-out to Professor Lorrimar? If so, that's cool. I don't think I'll be playing in this AP, but I'll need to read this later.
Is the guy in the center of the cover a Pharasmin inquisitor? He looks bad-ass.
No, sorry, I made that detail up myself. But there *is* a reference to explorers coming from as far away as Ustalav, which is what gave me the idea. ;)
And there's a strong connection to ancient Osirion for the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye, the Masons-esque secret society from Ustalav. Who knows; that might show up in an NPC or something later on in the AP.
Well, I already posted my praise but I hadn't realized it was just the Blog thread about the Player's Guide rather than the product thread itself.
Anyway, at the risk of repeating myself, I must say that this is the best Player's Guide to date. Hands down. It's clear that Daigle and McCreary listen to feedback since they did everything right with this one (for me at least). This Player's Guide is a winning formula of awesome compounded by the fact that it's done for free and without diminishing the production value. Between the obvious effort that's put into a free product and an ever-improving presentation based on customer feedback, it's pretty apparent that the designers (and, assuredly, all the people at Paizo) care about the consumers and making sure they deliver the best product they can. This may come across as a bit sycophantic but I truly am impressed with how spot-on this Player's Guide is after seeing iteration after iteration over the years, not all of them great but always improving. Player's Guide 14 has nailed it completely.
Well done, Daigle and McCreary!! I'm excited more than ever to see what secrets under Osirion's sands will be revealed in the pages of Mummy's Mask. A perfect start to what will undoubtedly be an Amazing 6-part journey.
Now, if you'll excuse me, my nose is feeling a little too brown (must be the mud from the River Sphinx).
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Jim Groves wrote:
It would be inappropriate for me to review this, but I encourage others to do so. Offer details. If this is what you want a PG to be like, give your feedback in a review, so that it doesn't become lost on the message boards.
Just a question... Does this AP have a PFS Sanctioned section with Chronicles???
If it did, it would appear here as well, and it would have a commentary regarding "being sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play" with a link to the Chronicle sheets. I'm not sure if it's planned to be sanctioned or not, though.
Edit: It does appear that it is sanctioned for play, just wasn't added to that particular store category. :)
Cool... it has been added and I downloaded the chronicles already. Now to go to my local game store and buy the series.
TYVM Liz, I appreciate your quick response!