As political tensions propel the Inner Sea to the edge of continental war, the elf queen of Kyonin has asked you to represent the elven nation in an important diplomatic alliance. When an unexpected act of violence threatens to sabotage the alliance before it begins, you must swiftly learn the truth—a truth that promises terror and devastation and the start of an all-out-war with the demonic armies of Tanglebriar!
Whispers in the Dirt is a Pathfinder adventure for four 11th-level characters. This adventure begins the Spore War Adventure Path, a three-part monthly campaign in which a group of adventurers fight armies of demons, corrupted fey, and fungal monsters in the defense of the elven nation of Kyonin. This adventure also includes information about the elven lands of Kyonin, several new magical items to discover and elven ancestry feats to explore, and several new monsters from the fungal to the fiendish.
ISBN-13: 978-1-64078-639-4
The Spore War Adventure Path is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle Sheets are available as a free download (653 KB PDF).
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I don't share the opinions previously mentioned. To me, "Whispers in the Dirt" is an exceptional scenario. The first part leads the PCs into a negotiation worthy of a game of "Diplomacy", with great moments of roleplay. I particularly appreciate the care given to each NPC, as well as the in-depth use of the influence mechanics.
The next part of the scenario plunges the PCs into Xer, with an atmosphere reminiscent of "The Last of Us", and introduces a first memorable major villain. Finally, the last section truly kicks off the Spore War.
I enjoyed the scenario’s gradual escalation—it takes the time to establish the setting before launching into catastrophic events. The scenario is substantial (over 60 pages long) and extremely well written. It provides many tips and suggestions to help get the adventure back on track, which is always greatly appreciated by the GM.
In short, we're about two-thirds of the way through the adventure, and everyone at the table is having a fantastic time — which, to me, remains the best indicator of a good scenario.
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber
Aaaarrrrgh. I've been waiting for an adventure invlving treerazor but now I will have to wait a while to run this I just finished running a home brew adventure where the players had to free an ancient city from the grasp of cyth-vusag. Lots of fungal and plant monsters, spore bats, demons and undead. Level 5-15 adventure set in every part of the city. I will wait though and tun this in late 2025 -2026. Can not wait to see the bestiary sections.
I NEED to hear more about this brewing continental war, holy cow.
Intimations of an Inner Sea general war and the building of an alliance system to fight in it are likewise relevant to my interests—but I suspect the larger war will be derailed somewhat, or that Kyonin will be too distracted or exhausted to fight in it thus weakening the bloc with which it is aligned, by the more local Spore War.
I NEED to hear more about this brewing continental war, holy cow.
Intimations of an Inner Sea general war and the building of an alliance system to fight in it are likewise relevant to my interests—but I suspect the larger war will be derailed somewhat, or that Kyonin will be too distracted or exhausted to fight in it thus weakening the bloc with which it is aligned, by the more local Spore War.
From the office of Expectation Management...
Spoiler:
This Adventure Path is NOT about the actual "brewing continental war" so much as it is potentially foreshadowing something that might or might not be coming soon; the primary focus of Spore War is on a conflict between Kyonin and Tanglebriar during which the powerful PCs do focused missions and quests with the war between these two forces happening in the background.
Also from the same office: There's no "on screen mass combat" going on in Spore War, but the PCs' triumphs and failures during their adventures will impact the direction of that war.
I hope you guys are finally bringing out the “Armies of Golarion” supplement that has been discussed before. The game needs it, and with all the wars you have planned, now is the time for it.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
CULTxicycalm wrote:
I hope you guys are finally bringing out the “Armies of Golarion” supplement that has been discussed before. The game needs it, and with all the wars you have planned, now is the time for it.
Battlecry is next summer's big GenCon release. It will debut the Commander and Guardian classes. I would assume that the Imner Sea is going to war some time around then.
I hope you guys are finally bringing out the “Armies of Golarion” supplement that has been discussed before. The game needs it, and with all the wars you have planned, now is the time for it.
Battlecry is next summer's big GenCon release. It will debut the Commander and Guardian classes. I would assume that the Imner Sea is going to war some time around then.
Spore War comes out half a year before that too, so it's deliberately not created or written to take advantage of Battlecry's contents (although you can certainly play commanders and guardians in Spore War, just as you can any Adventure Path, if you start your Spore War game after Battlecry is out).
What we might be doing later in the Adventure Path line after Spore War is not yet announced.
I'm wondering if this adventure will use the brand new mythic rules that will come out in War of Immortals.
The mythic rules in War of Immortals weren't complete enough (which also meant that I as the developer wasn't savvy enough with them to responsibly do mythic content) in time to be used in Spore War, but there is some vaguely "mythic adjacent" stuff in there, since an ongoing theme is "power up the PCs more than others of equal level in other Adventure Paths because Treerazer is a badass."
Part of me kinda wishes I'd held off on Spore War until 2025 or later so it could take advantage of both the mythic rules in War of Immortals and the rules for the upcoming Battlecry! book... but at the same time, this is an Adventure Path I've tried to get off the ground numerous times before and for various reasons it never did, so when this opportunity struck, I pounced!
I'm wondering if this adventure will use the brand new mythic rules that will come out in War of Immortals.
The mythic rules in War of Immortals weren't complete enough (which also meant that I as the developer wasn't savvy enough with them to responsibly do mythic content) in time to be used in Spore War, but there is some vaguely "mythic adjacent" stuff in there, since an ongoing theme is "power up the PCs more than others of equal level in other Adventure Paths because Treerazer is a badass."
Still nice. Appreciated the Stolen Fate ap with the power ups in form of the different artifacts based on the harrow cards. I'm sure I'll love even this high level "elven" adventure.
Whether or not any or all of those will e "good and not circumstantial" will be up to folks' individual tastes, but I worked with the author and tried to develop these in particular that they'd all be pretty great choices that will see some use in Spore War. They might not all be the best choices for every elf in every campaign, though; keep in mind that these feats are first and foremost for Spore War PCs.
Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
aouar wrote:
Is it possible for subscribers to get their PDFs before Christmas break, very much looking forward to the elf-themed adventure path!
Subscribers gets their PDF when their books ship.
+++ WARNING: SHAKY SPECULATIONS FOLLOWS +++
So, last years, shipping start, shipping end, and street date for the January releases was this:
January 2024 subscriber schedule wrote:
•Begin Shipping Estimate: 1/15/2024
•End Shipping Estimate: 1/26/2024
•Street Date for Paizo Products: 1/31/2024
This year, the release date is almost a month before! On the 8th of January!
That makes it hard to speculate, cause in normal cases, as you see above, shipping start and end are respectively 2 and 1 week before~ish release. BUT, this time, that would put the start at around the 23rd of December and the ends around the 3rd of January. That put TWO holidays in the middle of it, which is... not great... so there's chances that they will do something different?
But worst~ish case, I'd say you have about 2 days of hope to get it before XMas, and would put lot of potential delay in shipping for pretty much everyone. >_>
It's possible that they could start shipping a week earlier, in expectation that the holidays would disrupt it all a LOT. But we don'T know. And I would manage my expectations.
Just realized this is the second AP in a row where the PCs are sent on a diplomatic mission. And based on levels, the PCs from Triumph of the Tusk might actually play this one.
Will this be society legal? That would be amazing if it is as there is not much content past level 10 at present. Also, where can I find a copy of the Treerazer mini?
Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Prince Setehrael wrote:
When will this be shipping and when will we get the Player's guide?
It says above: Preorder, expected approximately 8 Jan 2024; so probably 1-2 weeks before for subs and then Players Guide likely in 2-3 weeks mid to late December, but I’ll keep checking just in case