As Taldor's entire capital city gathers to celebrate, few realize that conspiracy and royal rivalries are about to shake the empire to its core! When a high-minded cabal of senators and nobles tries to steer the nation away from disaster, Emperor Stavian III orders a bloodbath in the senate halls, trapping neophyte spies inside layer upon layer of magical security. As tensions rise and the emperor falls, can the heroes escape the forgotten halls beneath the senate and save the heir to Taldor from an assassin's blade? And even then, can anyone prevent a civil war that will tear one of the Inner Sea's oldest nations apart at its rotting seams?
"Crownfall," a Pathfinder adventure for 1st-level characters, by Thurston Hillman.
A gazetteer of Oppara, crown jewel of Taldor and center of Inner Sea culture, by Eleanor Ferron.
A closer look at some of the primary movers and shakers within the Taldan senate, who make for ideal allies, patrons, or rivals to politically minded players, by Thurston Hillman.
A collection of some of Taldor's most exotic and unusual threats, from the unsettlingly doll-like fantionette to the freewheeling onyvolan, by Thurston Hillman and Adrian Ng.
IBSN-13: 978-1-64078-015-6
"Crownfall" is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle sheet are available as a free download (922 kb zip/PDF).
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
Crystal Frasier unfortunately made such a caricature stand-in for her own opinions out of Eutropia Stavian that my group still refers to her as "Princess Highground". God bless the authors that tried to salvage this, but the developer kept trying to smother them.
There are also some odd anachronistic elements in the writing that jumped out at me. "Peace-bonding" weapons in the Senate. Service animals allowed....an editor probably should have caught these.
I feel very torn about this AP, because there's so much to like, but there's some really fundamental things which have consistently irritated me while running it.
First of all, I want to echo another reviewer by talking a bit about terminology.
I get a strong sense in this AP that the writer(s) was extremely excited by the notion of kicking back against the patriarchy, ABOLISHING PRIMOGENITURE and really making a strong change in Taldor.
That's fine, lord knows the stuffy nation could use a kick up the backside. I'm British, so I know how that feels.
But, honestly, it would have taken 2 minutes on Google to understand these core, fundamental terms that you're dealing with here. Rather than 'abolishing primogeniture', what you actually want to do is bring in Absolute Primogeniture. It's a lot less exciting isn't it? But still, it's correct. The thing we don't want here is called (as another reviewer noted) Agnatic Primogeniture, which means the first born male inherits. Absolute Primogeniture is when the first born inherits. Princess Eutropia is the first born, and so neatly altering the law to include all heirs is all that needed to happen.
In fact, if you did indeed 'abolish' primogeniture, what you'd have on your hands is a complete and total sh*tshow. There wouldn't be an heir at all! The claim to the throne would come down to a billion other factors and poor Eutropia would probably be pushed out of the running altogether.
It's really simple, but I can't tell whether it was overlooked because it didn't fit the 'punching up' narrative, or whether the writers heard the term, got excited, and did no further research at all. I wouldn't mind, but it's repeated so often throughout the AP, and it just feel like facts and terminology have twisted to fit some imagined narrative.
I understand that Paizo are a US company and that this kind of stuff isn't common in their culture. I admit that even for a British person I'm a little more into this than the norm, but I would have thought that if you were going to write a whole AP about thrones and monarchy, you'd do your research.
Unfortunately, it also shows that the setting of Taldor wasn't really built to withstand this level of noble intrigue. Quite simply, I don't think Paizo really understands how the aristocracy actually functions in the places of the world that have it. The way they handle titles and land ownership is spotty at best, and requires GMs to just run with what they're given in most cases because there's a severe dearth of facts and consistency when dealing with noble families and monarchy. This one has a lot in common with Ironfang Invasion in that it prioritizes style over substance too often, where lots of detail is given to NPCs and their personalities and motivations, and very little to the kind of concrete details GMs need in the heat of the moment.
This brings me to my second issue with this AP as a whole - tone.
In the mission statement for War for the Crown, it was sold very much as more nuanced experience than Hell's Rebels, where the PCs would work within the system to enact change, working with established hierarchies and affecting a steady, non-revolutionary change. Also, it would not be a glory seeking AP where the PCs are great heroes who overthrow the system.
So far so good, I was very interested by that mission statement and had high hopes for a truly complex, intrigue experience. My group was very interested in the idea of playing primarily Lawful characters in this case. We'd had a great time being Chaotic revolutionaries in Hell's Rebels, but this sounded like something very different.
It's not that the AP doesn't deliver on the intrigue side of things, but I couldn't shake the sense throughout that it would much -rather- have been about virtuous and chaotic revolutionaries who constantly seek glory by donning on masks and sticking it to the man. I mean, there's literally an entire subsystem about building cults of personality around the PCs, so I don't think it's fair to say this is about working behind the scenes simply because you're not using your own names.
Within the very first setpiece, there's a strong expectation that the PCs are supposed to lie, cheat, steal, and defraud their way through problems. Of course, GMs are always free to make any changes they see fit, but I feel that there is a constant tension between what the AP said it wanted to be, and what it ended up being.
The first installment was a fun mix of intrigue and challenging combat, and I have no problems at all with how it played out. There's just an irritating lack of care for the details in a story that really just wants to pit a compassionate woman against a stodgy, patriarchal man. There's nothing wrong with that narrative, but let's at least get the facts straight first.
I'm not seeing a pdf option, are these handled differently than the player companions? I get that it isn't quite time for the official release, but there is usually an "pdf expected" time, at least for the companions, I think.
Pathfinder Companion, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Pawns, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
psychie wrote:
I'm not seeing a pdf option, are these handled differently than the player companions? I get that it isn't quite time for the official release, but there is usually an "pdf expected" time, at least for the companions, I think.
The PDF always shows up on the street date so they don't bother posting the date. If that differs for Player's Companions, there is probably some obscure reason for it.
Pathfinder Companion, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Pawns, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Oh, and it appears the fourth iconic is the psychic, Rivani. So healing falls to Quinn*.
*The party I'm currently running through Iron Gods has no cleric and an investigator as the primary healer. This actually works well with the infusion talent; just expect most healing to be done outside of combat and plan accordingly.
Hey folks, I just wanted to pop in here and address the Player's Guide question that's been floating around. Due to illnesses and other production-related issues, the Player's Guide for this Adventure Path is going to be delayed longer than normal. While we try to have them out by the time subscribers start getting their PDFs, that isn't going to happen this time around. I still endeavor to have it out as soon as possible, but I have no firm estimates at this time.
Hey folks, I just wanted to pop in here and address the Player's Guide question that's been floating around. Due to illnesses and other production-related issues, the Player's Guide for this Adventure Path is going to be delayed longer than normal. While we try to have them out by the time subscribers start getting their PDFs, that isn't going to happen this time around. I still endeavor to have it out as soon as possible, but I have no firm estimates at this time.
Thanks for your patience.
2017s first player´s Guide was out on march 16th, so no worries there and get well soon! :-)
Street date is the last day of february, so that should suffice. ;-)
Hey folks, I just wanted to pop in here and address the Player's Guide question that's been floating around. Due to illnesses and other production-related issues, the Player's Guide for this Adventure Path is going to be delayed longer than normal. While we try to have them out by the time subscribers start getting their PDFs, that isn't going to happen this time around. I still endeavor to have it out as soon as possible, but I have no firm estimates at this time.
If it's that new flu-bug flying around, take vitamin C supplements in the morning, Something Spicy for lunch for Viruses or Non-spicy Curry if it's more fatigue related.
I know lots of foods that actually help with different variants of Colds and flu's.
Sorry, I wasn't clear. What I meant was that I can't tell from the art in Chapter 1 who that character is. It might be someone completely new to that volume.
Hey folks, I just wanted to pop in here and address the Player's Guide question that's been floating around. Due to illnesses and other production-related issues, the Player's Guide for this Adventure Path is going to be delayed longer than normal. While we try to have them out by the time subscribers start getting their PDFs, that isn't going to happen this time around. I still endeavor to have it out as soon as possible, but I have no firm estimates at this time.
Thanks for your patience.
Thank you Mister Daigle! I will now curb my enthusiasm (or at least my expectations) on getting the Player's guide before the end of February.
Pathfinder Companion, Pawns Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Skeld, PDF Prophet wrote:
I got my shipping notice a few minutes ago, so...
...it has begun!
-Skeld
Me too. This is the first time I got mine on the first day. I'm stoked. And I'm also behind on my CoCT and Ironfang note generation. Too much reading to do this week, coupled with all the wine I have to finish... ARGH! :)
is the woman on the cover of the second adventure look like princess Eutropia or is that someone else?
According to the file name for the image on artist Hugh Pindur's ArtStation page, the woman on the cover of War for the Crown #2: Songbird, Scion, Saboteur is indeed Princess Eutropia.
is the woman on the cover of the second adventure look like princess Eutropia or is that someone else?
According to the file name for the image on artist Hugh Pindur's ArtStation page, the woman on the cover of War for the Crown #2: Songbird, Scion, Saboteur is indeed Princess Eutropia.
Me too. This is the first time I got mine on the first day. I'm stoked. And I'm also behind on my CoCT and Ironfang note generation. Too much reading to do this week, coupled with all the wine I have to finish... ARGH! :)
For the record, I like the maps.
I meant to mention the maps; they're great. I especially like the inside cover map, with the various regions/loyalties highlighted.
Me too. This is the first time I got mine on the first day. I'm stoked. And I'm also behind on my CoCT and Ironfang note generation. Too much reading to do this week, coupled with all the wine I have to finish... ARGH! :)
For the record, I like the maps.
I meant to mention the maps; they're great. I especially like the inside cover map, with the various regions/loyalties highlighted.
-Skeld
Skeld,
-can you share how large the gazetteer of Oppara is and how detailed the map (as we´ll get that one as one of the three in the map folio)?
-Can you elaborate on the inside cover map (of Taldor and it´s counties, i assume)?
-Lastly, how many "primary movers and shakers within the Taldan senate" are in the book and are stats or CR given?
is the woman on the cover of the second adventure look like princess Eutropia or is that someone else?
According to the file name for the image on artist Hugh Pindur's ArtStation page, the woman on the cover of War for the Crown #2: Songbird, Scion, Saboteur is indeed Princess Eutropia.
Paizo Charter Superscriber; Pathfinder Companion, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Marco Massoudi wrote:
Skeld,
-can you share how large the gazetteer of Oppara is and how detailed the map (as we´ll get that one as one of the three in the map folio)?
-Can you elaborate on the inside cover map (of Taldor and it´s counties, i assume)?
-Lastly, how many "primary movers and shakers within the Taldan senate" are in the book and are stats or CR given?
I'm not Skeld, but here you go:
The Oppara gazetteer is 10 pages, with one page the usual intro and one page with a map. The map is basically the same map from the Player Companion, but redrawn, but there are some other numbered locations this time.
The inside cover map is very much in the same style as the inside cover maps from Ironfang Invasion and it shows "succession loyalties". If you want a map of Taldor's "counties" (which are called prefectures), there's one in Taldor, the First Empire. This is not it.
The "Faces of the Senate" article details 12 senators that may be important in this campaign, each with half a page. The get abbreviated Ultimate Intrigue social stat blocks that list alignment and classes, but no level or CR or other stats. ("This allows you to further flesh out these characters based on the needs of your campaign.")