Creative Director
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So you’d think that building Adventure Paths would get easier in time, but no, as it turns out, it doesn’t. Fortunately, it doesn’t get any less fun! As with Age of Worms and Savage Tide, I’ve taken all that I learned in the crafting of previous Paizo Adventure Paths and applied them to the new campaign. For example; I’ll make sure that rogues have something to do in the final battle this time around (Kyuss was indeed a bit unfair to them, I suppose). And as awesome as demon lords are, the main bad guy in Rise of the Runelords is a completely home-grown (as in Material Plane native) menace. And no major NPCs whose motivations are unclear and who take 3 Adventure Paths before we get her statted up (AKA: Celeste WILL have a full stat block before Savage Tide is over!).
There’ll still probably be an animated statue in the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path somewhere along the way, though. Those guys are hard to quit cold turkey.
I think that this adventure path does indeed sound interesting, and I will be sure to check it out, even if the magazine costs $19.99 (and I live in Canada). I am not sure if I will buy them, but at least check them out.
Good Luck to you all and your new adventure path!
Bruce
Please let us in on the campaign setting for this AP as soon as you can. My first instinct is to try to convert to Greyhawk.
Please let us in on the campaign setting for this AP as soon as you can. My first instinct is to try to convert to Greyhawk.
Heh, my first instinct is to try to convert to Scarred Lands...
Otherwise, if you don't mind some half-baked first impressions off of scant and incomplete information:
Looking forward to contributing to Pathfinder and to reading all the cool new stuff. By the way, James (or most likely, Vic), do you mind correcting the spelling of my name in the preview for Pathfinder #5? It's S-T-E-P-H-E-N. Not Stephan. Thanks :)
Please let us in on the campaign setting for this AP as soon as you can. My first instinct is to try to convert to Greyhawk.
Sounds like it already is in Greyhawk, at least in the minds of those who set it in, dare I surmise, the Corusk Mountains and Ratik? And the fabled lost city of Xin-Shalast sounds much like the (non-Canon)Grey Elven city of the Corusk-based 'Aliador' realm lost to Vecna's armies...? Perhaps Karzoug is Vecna's avatar reborn...? Or perhaps I should lose a hand and an eye for even suggesting such things so early in the game...? ;)
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Creative Director
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Please let us in on the campaign setting for this AP as soon as you can. My first instinct is to try to convert to Greyhawk.Sounds like it already is in Greyhawk, at least in the minds of those who set it in, dare I surmise, the Corusk Mountains and Ratik? And the fabled lost city of Xin-Shalast sounds much like the (non-Canon)Grey Elven city of the Corusk-based 'Aliador' realm lost to Vecna's armies...? Perhaps Karzoug is Vecna's avatar reborn...? Or perhaps I should lose a hand and an eye for even suggesting such things so early in the game...? ;)
While our campaign world is certainly inspired by Greyhawk in places (it can't not be, given who's designing it), it's not going to be Greyhawk. It'll be in the Greyhawk spirt of the game, thoguh. If that makes any sense.
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Creative Director
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Will the Pathfinder serieses follow a chronology like the Adventure Paths did? For example, will Pathfinder vol. 2 take place after Runelords and reference events from that series? I've really grown to appreciate the world development that comes from having such a timeline.
Yes. The Pathfinder Adventure Paths will build off of each other in the same way Shackled City/Age of Worms/Savage Tide did. At the same time, each Pathfinder Adventure Path will develop our new campaign setting as well.
One of the traits of Savage Tide that makes it so appealing for a long campaign is the wide variety of adventures it contains. City adventures, sea voyages, jungle wilderness, underground, etc. Runelords seems to be very heavy on the 'dungeon' type adventures. Is it really as repetitious as the blurbs sound (with only the monsters changing from episode to episode)?
While dungeons are certainly present in Rise of the Runelords, they are by no means the overwhelming majority. The first adventure is about half dungeon, half urban. The second one is probably going to be the same. The third one has a LOT of wilderness stuff, including a fairly large section involved with running a castle. The fourth one's probably 1/3 wilderness, 2/3 dungeon. Part five's a lot of dungeon. Part six is mostly "explore the lost city" with a fair ammount of mountaineering stuff. Of course, none of the adventures are done yet (we're getting close on the first few), but it's certainly not going to be dungeon after dungeon after dungeon.
$20! Yikes!
When compared to one magazine, maybe. Less jarring when compared to two (whcih is basically what Pathfinder is replacing). And a pretty good deal when you compare it to what it's closest analogue is ("Red Hand of Doom").
Will the Pathfinder campaigns share a world with your Gamemastery stand-alone modules?
Yes.
With your newfound ability to use OGL sources, are there any resources you have a preference for that you're looking to include? I've been intentionally limiting myself to the core books + the sequels (DMGII and PHBII) (plus Scarred Lands...yay!!). What extras can I expect to find in the Pathfinders?
Well... the door's wide open, really. Any OGL/d20 product that has open content is fair game. Personally, I'm partial to Necromancer and Green Ronin stuff (Advanced Bestiary, Book of Fiends, Tome of Horrors I...). It's a much larger pool than just the WotC books to choose from, so we'll probably be limiting it to the ones I and the Pathfinder authors are most familiar with at the start. In any case, whenever we use something that's not from a core book, we'll be reprinting all necessary information in the adventure in the same way that we treated non-core material from sources like Fiend Folio or Stormwrack in Dungeon (except, of course, we'll be mentioning those products we use material from in our OGL license in that particular volume of Pathfinder as well).
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James,
My group is mired in AOW right now, and I intend to run ST when it is over.
You mentioned that the Runelords AP is--at least in the beginning, half dungeon-half urban. We all know that, for obvious reasons, this city is not in Greyhawk gameworld.
However, for those of us who like to foreshadow such things, could you tell us the name of the urban centre that you’ve alluded to, and possibly make suggestions on where some of us might place it or substitute it in a GH/FR/EB campaign. Doing the same for the “lost city” you mentioned would be helpful too.
BTW: Does the AP involve dwarves in any significant way? (Just thinking, runelords...)
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Chief Technical Officer
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Looking forward to contributing to Pathfinder and to reading all the cool new stuff. By the way, James (or most likely, Vic), do you mind correcting the spelling of my name in the preview for Pathfinder #5? It's S-T-E-P-H-E-N. Not Stephan. Thanks :)
D'oh! I thought that looked funny, and didn't double-check it. My apologies. It's fixed now.
-Vic.
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Guys I for one am truly looking forward to the new APs. The quality of adventures we have all come to expect from Paizo will only get better, now that you will be out from under WoTCs watchful eyes.
I have already converted my extra issues over to Pathfinder and have set up my month to month subscription for it. A couple questions though:
Will the setting for Pathfinder be a seperate source book, or will be the setting be presented in the Pathfinder books?
Will the AP or setting come with Prestige classes, feats, spells, and affliations specific to the setting? Such as the affliations from Savage Tide, prestige classes from Shackled City.
Will there be a preview of Pathfinder at GenCon this year?
Well although I am sad to see the end of Dragon and Dungeon mags, I am eager to see the awesomeness that will be Pathfinder.
While our campaign world is certainly inspired by Greyhawk in places (it can't not be, given who's designing it), it's not going to be Greyhawk. It'll be in the Greyhawk spirit of the game, though. If that makes any sense.
Of course, of course...but I'd love it if my wild guess was even halfway true. I know we've seen fig leaves aplenty like 'The Free City' and 'Maanzorian', alongside the genuine likes of 'Alhaster' and 'Iuz' all together in the pages of Dungeon. Dyed-in-the wool Greyhawkers like myself (With our 1980's GH folio maps which we bought in, well, 1980!) however would love a tip o' the hat here and there in this new publication, from time to time. Call 'em the 'Crag, Rock, and Mountain Barbarians', profile the 'Archbarony of Sandpoint', and make 'Xin-Shalast' the primordial surface Drow city, throw in 'five swords' (quenched in that new damage-reduction bypassing whatsis...)to face the evil archmage reborn...and we'll all rest easier waiting for the new AP... :)
Well I'm looking forward to a new campaign setting from Paizo. I think it is about time.
Sir K the Almighty Master of the Mid Pac Seas
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While I have my personal doubts on the quality (and inherent balance) of muchof the non-WotC D20 material out there, I do want to put in my vote of confidence for Paizo's venture.
Personally, I believe WotC has comitted a travesty in dropping your fantastic magazines, and I want you to know you have my full support (i.e. emotional and financial ;)) in this whole shindig.
Now, having "brownnosed" sufficiently, will you guys be recruiting adventure writers from the Dungeon pool? How about those of us who submitted queries just a bit too late for consideration/publication/notice? :) Any way we can work to prove our worth? ;)
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Creative Director
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James,
My group is mired in AOW right now, and I intend to run ST when it is over.
You mentioned that the Runelords AP is--at least in the beginning, half dungeon-half urban. We all know that, for obvious reasons, this city is not in Greyhawk gameworld.
However, for those of us who like to foreshadow such things, could you tell us the name of the urban centre that you’ve alluded to, and possibly make suggestions on where some of us might place it or substitute it in a GH/FR/EB campaign. Doing the same for the “lost city” you mentioned would be helpful too.
BTW: Does the AP involve dwarves in any significant way? (Just thinking, runelords...)
Sure: The Rise of the Runelords starts in the town of Sandpoint. It moves on from there to the city of Magnimar, but Sandpoint's going to be the home town for the Adventure Path. Sandpoint's about 50 miles north of Magnimar. They're both on the west coast of a large continent, in a temperate zone. Think Oregon or Washington, really, or Northern California.
The "lost city" is high up in the mountains. Himalaya style mountains.
In Greyhawk, the best bet's Perrenland, or maybe Ekbir? For FR, the northern Sword Coast is just about perfect.
The AP involves giants in a big way. Not so much dwarves at all. The Runelords themselves are a different menace alltogether, one we'll be revealing more info about in the coming days. (Hint: The creepy guy on the Pathfinder homepage at paizo.com/pathfinder might just be one of the Runelords in question...)
Looking forward to contributing to Pathfinder and to reading all the cool new stuff. By the way, James (or most likely, Vic), do you mind correcting the spelling of my name in the preview for Pathfinder #5? It's S-T-E-P-H-E-N. Not Stephan. Thanks :)
Just go with it, it has a good sound, although you can ditch the "ph" for an "f" to be more European.
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Creative Director
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Will the setting for Pathfinder be a seperate source book, or will be the setting be presented in the Pathfinder books?
At first, the development of Varisia, the region Pathfinder's Rise of the Runelords takes place in, will be explored in the Pathfinder books; there'll be a fair amount of information about it in the Player's Guide as well.
Will the AP or setting come with Prestige classes, feats, spells, and affliations specific to the setting? Such as the affliations from Savage Tide, prestige classes from Shackled City.
Yes. New rules elements like spells, magic items, new types of magic, new monsters, prestige classes, feats, and the like will be a staple of Pathfinder, althoguh we'll not be making up new content just for new content's sake. It'll have to be justified by the adventure and the setting's needs. Crunch should be born from flavor, after all!
Will there be a preview of Pathfinder at GenCon this year?
Yes. I believe the goal is to have volume 1 out in time for GenCon.
Looking forward to contributing to Pathfinder and to reading all the cool new stuff. By the way, James (or most likely, Vic), do you mind correcting the spelling of my name in the preview for Pathfinder #5? It's S-T-E-P-H-E-N. Not Stephan. Thanks :)D'oh! I thought that looked funny, and didn't double-check it. My apologies. It's fixed now.
-Vic.
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Thanks, Vic!
Looking forward to contributing to Pathfinder and to reading all the cool new stuff. By the way, James (or most likely, Vic), do you mind correcting the spelling of my name in the preview for Pathfinder #5? It's S-T-E-P-H-E-N. Not Stephan. Thanks :)Just go with it, it has a good sound, although you can ditch the "ph" for an "f" to be more European.
LOL.But I don't waaaaaaant to sound Euro.
The AP involves giants in a big way.
That's just not fair. I have a weakness for giants.
[
althoguh we'll not be making up new content just for new content's sake. It'll have to be justified by the adventure and the setting's needs. Crunch should be born from flavor, after all!
James...just a warning. I may hug you at GenCon this year.
...just FYI.
Give him a hug for me too...just don't grab his ass, okay? :)
That's just not fair. I have a weakness for giants.The AP involves giants in a big way.
I second that. After having played a half ogre warmage in Red hand of Doom, giants are fun.
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Chief Technical Officer
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Will your UK distributor have volume 1 by GenCon UK (end of August?) Obviously, I'm trusting to the gods of international postage to receive my copy, but it would be nice to be able to point it out to people in the Trade Hall etc.
Yes. I believe the goal is to have volume 1 out in time for GenCon.
If all goes well, it should arrive at retail in the UK in the second half of August...
We should also have the Player's Guide at pretty much the same time.
I just wanted to say thank you so much for this, I am looking forward to discorving this new world.
Alright! Finally some Prime Material foes at the end of an AP! I can't wait!
Seconded. My biggest criticism of high-level adventures has always been that the real threat always came from some other plane. It'll be exceptionally fun for me to see some prime material high-level opponents this go around.
James...just a warning. I may hug you at GenCon this year....just FYI.
Please tell me you mean Indy. I'd love to meet everyone at Paizo. And not just because the mags are going away- more because the mags have been spectacular and I want shake hands with the talent.
C'mon guys, GneCon Indy? You'll be there? I'll buy you some nachos.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Responding to Fletch's:
"$20! Yikes!"
James Jacobs had this to say:
"When compared to one magazine, maybe. Less jarring when compared to two (which is basically what Pathfinder is replacing). And a pretty good deal when you compare it to what it's closest analogue is ("Red Hand of Doom")."
But, James, RED HAND OF DOOM managed to tell a story from beginning to end, in a single 96-page adventure. A six-part saga, where each part is 96 pages, is really a different kind of thing.
I think the nearest equivalent is --depending on what aspects of Pathfinder people think are important-- probably either the "Ashardalon" series of adventurs for D&D 3.0, or the PTOLUS hardcover.
By the way, I see two advantages of an Adventure Path that takes six $20 books, rather than parts of twelve $7.00 magazines:
One: The DM can see where everything's leading more quickly. As a DM, I would never run an adventure path before the last installment was published, because I'd want to know what's going to be important later on, which NPC's to portray in what kind of light, and so on, in case I need to modify something for my particular PC's or campaign.
Two: The high price point is going to push casual players away from buying the books. As a D&D fan, I have bought issues of DUNGEON which include three adventures I'd never run, because I'm willing to gamble $7.00 that there's *something* in there (maybe a "Dungeoncraft" article...) that I'll use, and since I've bought it, I'll probably read through the adventures, and that would discourage any DM's from someday running me through them. But if I'm not interested in running a particular AP, I won't be tempted at all to buy a $20 product devoted to that content.
The "lost city" is high up in the mountains. Himalaya-style mountains.In Greyhawk, the best bet's Perrenland, or maybe Ekbir?
Okay, so I was off by half a continent-no big deal... ;)
The Yatil Mountains, then. Yak Folk, Exag (So nicely detailed already by Paizo), Stone Giants, horse nomad barbarians, Perrenlander mercenaries, and (Aha!)Iggwilv returned-or perhaps her right-hand Sorceror usurping things using her hidden caches of lore and items from long ago. With Grazzt waiting in the wings at the end of 'Savage Tide' and with the whole Vesve between Iuz and this area (If it were in Greyhawk), extraplanar influences are kept to a minimum. But I'd love to see a cameo by some 'vampire'daughter, cultists of a lost god in black and purple, Baklun Imams on horseback or anything else to show us some GH love under all the layers this new campaign setting will be clothed in. And don't forget Lake Quag!
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Creative Director
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But, James, RED HAND OF DOOM managed to tell a story from beginning to end, in a single 96-page adventure. A six-part saga, where each part is 96 pages, is really a different kind of thing.
Fair enough... but also, Red Hand of Doom only covered about a third the level range we're covering in Rise of the Runelords. And Red Hand was cramped for space. I know; I wrote about 75% of it. There was a LOT of cool stuff that I had to cut. The city of Brindol, for example, is a shadow of what it could have been. And there's no new monster section at all; people had to wait months before they found out what the new monsters in Red Hand looked like.
But in any case, the comparasion to Red Hand of Doom isn't about content at all. It's about physical qualities. Pathfinder isn't a magazine, and until it's actually out and people can see and feel that, it's tough to convince people that it will be much more resilient and long lasting than the magazines, which had flimsy covers and flimsier pages.
James...just a warning. I may hug you at GenCon this year.
...just FYI.
I do like hugs!
However... GenCon's heat and atmosphere and all around hectic crazy makes me sweat like a lawn sprinkler, so any hugs might be unexpectedly awkward as a result.
...just FYI right back at ya.
If he looks anything like his avatar you might not want a hug from him. :)
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Chief Technical Officer
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it just stinks to have to pay S&H - take the '30%' discount down to '10%' in all fairness.
Part of the reason for that is that we've always had people saying they'd be willing to pay extra to have their subscription shipped faster. And so now they can!
Though I'd also like to add that, since we're not using Periodicals rate anymore, the standard shipping ($4 US, $5 international) should already be faster than the magazine subscriptions were.
There’ll still probably be an animated statue in the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path somewhere along the way, though. Those guys are hard to quit cold turkey.
The United Golem Labor Union is happy to see that you are in compliance with all contractual arrangements.