Chapter 1: "Howl of the Carrion King"
by Erik Mona
Hear the cry of war!
In the exotic nation of Katapesh, a land of fortune and wonders, heroes are those with the courage to command their destinies. Such wisdom leads a daring band to the abandoned village of Kelmarane with the hopes of reestablishing the once prosperous community. But buzzards still feast upon the secluded settlement’s corpse: a savage tribe of gnolls and their bestial allies hold the town in the name of a merciless master known only as the Carrion King. Can the PCs retake the village from its feral conquerors, or is Kelmarane but the first bastion of civilization to fall before the hordes of the mysterious warlord?
This volume of the Pathfinder Adventure Path begins the Legacy of Fire, and includes:
“Howl of the Carrion King,” an adventure for 1st-level characters, by Erik Mona
An investigation into the savage gnoll tribes of the Brazen Peaks, their brutal culture, and their merciless members, by Eric Haddock
Ruins once sacred to the god of magic have become the lair of a living curse in “The Refuge of Nethys,” a Set Piece adventure by James MacKenzie
The adventures of druid Channa Ti begin in “Dark Tapestry,” a new chronicle in the Pathfinder’s Journal, by New York Times bestselling author Elaine Cunningham
Five new monsters by Adam Daigle, James Jacobs, and F. Wesley Schneider
For characters of 1st to 5th level.
Pathfinder Adventure Path is Paizo Publishing's monthly 96-page, perfect-bound, full-color softcover book printed on high-quality paper. It contains an in-depth Adventure Path scenario, stats for about a half-dozen new monsters, and several support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Because Pathfinder uses the Open Game License, it is 100% compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game.
ISBN–13: 978-1-60125-159-6
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
This is probably the best first-level module, and first Adventure Path installment, that I've run. I loved it, the players loved it, they still talk about it today.
The characters are hired to meet up with a trade caravan and reclaim an Arabesque city from gnolls, in order to restore it to a functioning trade hub; while the path goes to bigger and greater things later, here, it's low-level town reclamation and gnoll slaying. In fact, the module is kind of a low-level guerrilla assault on the gnoll-occupied village, where the players have the freedom to choose how and where they strike. Likewise, there's a lot of room for gnoll counter-attacks, or an assault on the PCs' monastery base.
And not just gnolls; there's a great variety of monsters at play, leading to some interesting and memorable combats. Best of all was the introduction of some gremlins as introductory villains. These little guys are pushovers stat-wise, but exude an aura of unluck which makes them really tough to deal with. Plus, they have a habit of hiding out in areas that have dangerous terrain features---cactus patches, for one---that has great synergy with their aura.
Granted, there's a lot more than just killin'. There's a lot of places to explore, including some interesting adventure seeds, and a set-piece mini-dungeon later in this book. The module introduces a batch of NPCs with the caravan, with plenty of opportunities to roleplay; on top of this, there's options for several of the "bad guys" to be talked/bribed into the PCs' side. And there's several locations, including the entire town, for the PCs to reclaim and occupy.
All in all, a very memorable module with a lot of grit and detail. The enemies are challenging without being overpowered, the setting is great---the art design in these books is simply stunning---and the plot is interesting and engaging. Add in the standard Path features---a bestiary, an overview of the gnoll tribes in the area---and you have a lot to work with adventure-wise. I highly recommend this Path; even alone this module is worth it.
Howl of the Carrion King é uma excelente aventura inicial, completa, cativante e com uma trama instigante, de uma forma como não se via desde Rise of the Runelords. Infelizmente ela tem uns probleminhas de ter de pausar a estória para os personagens irem ganhar XP, mas nada que um mestre habilidoso não já tenha aprendido a lidar. Os artigos suplementam muito bem a aventura, sendo indispensáveis ao sucesso da mesma. Os monstros novos são muito divertidos e criativos. Realmente uma edição recomendada. Parabéns Paizo.
Legacy of Fire has a good story but the encounters fall short because the adventure path series waste too much space on non essential material. Like fiction that has nothing to do with the series except it take place in the region. Monsters that are not used in the adventure path. A "extra" filler adventure that is in most of the books is lower level then the actual book that is should be played in. Pretty much all the encounters are basic thug attacks with underpowered opponents and no variety. Some encounter are good and can be deadly but most are just a waste of space. The party quickly adapts to these basic thug attacks. These thug attacks turn into a exercise in dice rolling with hardly any challenge. If Paizo spent more time on the adventure and less wasting the extra space on non essential fluff and rules this series could have been so much better.
This adventure path series tries to do too much. Paizo needs to focus more on the adventure then adding a bunch of extra fluff and rules. Save that stuff for the rule books and regional books.
The paper in the books is really nice but the bindings are poor quality. After one use the pages start falling out. Almost all of the six books lost some pages after one use.
Pathfinder Adventure, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Elaine Cunningham?
Awesome~
Provided it doesn't focus on the elves, pansy tree hugging sissies, they get too much spotlight I say! When are the dwarves going to get their turn huh? HUH?!
AP 4! now, that's some good news. I saw it coming though, becuse there were some clues about it in the last CoTCT AP, in the preview by the writer of each volume.
AP 4! now, that's some good news. I saw it coming though, becuse there were some clues about it in the last CoTCT AP, in the preview by the writer of each volume.
We should be getting the full preview for this AP in Pathfinder Volume 12 coming out for subscribers in the next week or so. I am really interested to hear what the "end goal" of this AP is. We've stopped the return of a mad Arch Wizard, we've saved a city from the chosen blue dragon warlord of Zon-Kuthon, and we will be stopping the drow from pulling a star down from the sky to destroy the world. What nefarious enemy will we face now. I can't wait to find out.
We should be getting the full preview for this AP in Pathfinder Volume 12 coming out for subscribers in the next week or so. I am really interested to hear what the "end goal" of this AP is. We've stopped the return of a mad Arch Wizard, we've saved a city from the chosen blue dragon warlord of Zon-Kuthon, and we will be stopping the drow from pulling a star down from the sky to destroy the world. What nefarious enemy will we face now. I can't wait to find out.
No we'll be getting a full preview for the Second Darkness AP in Pathfinder 12. And if you're subscribing you'll be getting the first part of that at the same time.
What Character levels? What Character levels?! Is it set in a desert based environment?
Since this adventure launches the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path, it will start at level 1. PCs probably get to between 3rd and 4th by the end of it. As for being a desert setting, I think that's pretty guaranteed, as it's set near the Katapesh/Osirion border, and gnolls (who appear to be the primary enemies here) are typically desert-dwelling creatures. James has said in the chat and posts here that the AP will have a strong "Sinbad" feel to it, so expect a lot of desert.
We should be getting the full preview for this AP in Pathfinder Volume 12 coming out for subscribers in the next week or so. I am really interested to hear what the "end goal" of this AP is. We've stopped the return of a mad Arch Wizard, we've saved a city from the chosen blue dragon warlord of Zon-Kuthon, and we will be stopping the drow from pulling a star down from the sky to destroy the world. What nefarious enemy will we face now. I can't wait to find out.
No we'll be getting a full preview for the Second Darkness AP in Pathfinder 12. And if you're subscribing you'll be getting the first part of that at the same time.
Yikes!! You're right. Got my AP's crossed in my head there for a minute. Thanks for catching it.
Provided it doesn't focus on the elves, pansy tree hugging sissies, they get too much spotlight I say! When are the dwarves going to get their turn huh? HUH?!
Provided it doesn't focus on the elves, pansy tree hugging sissies, they get too much spotlight I say! When are the dwarves going to get their turn huh? HUH?!
I agree! Enough of the sissy elves. All bravado and no guts. Couldn't even stick it out on Golarion when the chips were down and ran home to mommy.
I vote for kicking the elves out of Golarion entirely and letting dwarves take their rightful places!
Provided it doesn't focus on the elves, pansy tree hugging sissies, they get too much spotlight I say! When are the dwarves going to get their turn huh? HUH?!
Agreed, dwarves never get any respect in modern fantasy.
And if this series will be covering gnolls, then I'm already there. Gnolls are some of my favorite monsters!
It would be nice to have an AP centered around a Dwarven Clan and their home.
Aren't you following the blog? They announced it, Paizo even published a trailer (start at 4:20).
And for those seeing too much of the fair folk, not to fear! Get your Sneak Preview of "Golarion: Redesigning the Elves, but damn-it right this time!" right here (start at 6:44). Golarion elves will have CHA -2, and players will be obligated to speak with a German accent. I must say, I wasn't sold on Golarion until now.
It's for levels 1-5. Players will probably be halfway between 5th and 6th at the end, assuming they take a scorched earth approach and go kill-krazy on everything.
I am delighted to see Erik Mona's name on a product again. The Whispering Cairn is my favourite Dungeon adventure from the Paizo years. I would not be here if it weren't for that module getting me started running a game again. I would happily buy an entire adventure path by him.
I am delighted to see Erik Mona's name on a product again. The Whispering Cairn is my favourite Dungeon adventure from the Paizo years. I would not be here if it weren't for that module getting me started running a game again. I would happily buy an entire adventure path by him.
Oh yea, I loved Burnt offerings and Edge of anarchy, but as a campaign starter adventure, nothing has won The Whispering Cairn. This is a must buy just because the author of it...
Something tells me that I'm going to love this path. And no, I'm not judging the book *solely* by its cover. I might have to get someone to run me through this one, though. It seems like it'll be a fun one to experience from that other side of the table.
I've just checked out Jesper's website and she's got a really interesting artistic style. Not really sure whether or not it'll suit pathfinder but should be something different at least. That being said I'm not really that keen on this cover the cover gal's left hand (on the right side of the page) just looks deformed though the scene (for lack of a better term) looks ok. Though those gnolls don't really look all that gnoll-ish in my opinion.
I've just checked out Jesper's website and she's got a really interesting artistic style. Not really sure whether or not it'll suit pathfinder but should be something different at least. That being said I'm not really that keen on this cover the cover gal's left hand (on the right side of the page) just looks deformed though the scene (for lack of a better term) looks ok. Though those gnolls don't really look all that gnoll-ish in my opinion.
I don't like the cover for this one as much as I did the first three AP's covers. That said, it could grow on me. I am looking forward to this path, although not as much as I am the one after it.
I really love the cover and I like the hyena-look of the gnolls. The patterns in the background and the frame of the scenic picture is awesome! This one looks really, really nice! I can't wait for it to be released! :-)
Now I see what looks like a new player character on the cover. Will future Pathfinder issues continue the tradition of having interesting pre-generated characters. Or is that done now that all the iconic classes have been covered?
Now I see what looks like a new player character on the cover. Will future Pathfinder issues continue the tradition of having interesting pre-generated characters. Or is that done now that all the iconic classes have been covered?
According to James Jacobs in a post in the Persian Princess Blog thread:
"She's the lady the PCs will be working for in the first adventure. Her name is Almah Roveshki."