Pathfinder Adventure Path #193: Mantle of Gold (Sky King’s Tomb 1 of 3)

[Evan Tarlton]

This is a very promising start to this AP! I love the balance of combat and social encounters, the look at dwarven history (it turns out that the dwarves weren't just bad to the orcs during the Quest for Sky), the hints that the metaplot will advance, and the looks at what the Rivethun could be mechanically. The NPCs are engaging, and the political commentary is both welcome and on point. I can't wait for the rest of it. Well done!

[Aaron Shanks]

The video trailer looks complete and we should release it to you early this week on the AP landing page and YouTube.

[Mythraine]

Is there a reason why the blurb to the book says "Written by: John Compton, Crystal Frasier, and Caryn DiMarco" but the cover attributes it solely to John Compton?

Not a criticism, just interested.

[Aaron Shanks]

Mythraine wrote:

Is there a reason why the blurb to the book says "Written by: John Compton, Crystal Frasier, and Caryn DiMarco" but the cover attributes it solely to John Compton?

Not a criticism, just interested.

Generally, the "blurb" is a solicitation to the industry written about 9 months before the product goes live. It is an idea rather that a product. The final cover should reflect who actually did the writing. Specifically, in this case, I don't know. I'll ask.

[James Jacobs]

Traditionally, we only give cover credit for an Adventure Path to the author of the adventure. That's because there's not enough room in many cases to list ALL of the authors who worked on that volume, but also because the adventure author is the one who wrote the majority of the book and thus did the most work of all the authors.

For non-cover credits, like you see on this page, we're increasingly trying to be more inclusive of all of the writers who contribute to each volume, be it a single monster or a backmatter article or whatever.

[Mammoth Daddy]

James Jacobs wrote:

If folks want us to do more 6-part Adventure Paths... PLEASE let us know! The 3 part ones seem to be engaging people more and allow for more stories to be told in a year, and I'm hoping that we'll be able to settle into a rhythum that allows for more frequent higher level 3 part arcs, but if people do still want 6 part ones... we need to know. (And that includes seeing evidence in sales and reviews and the like for parts 4–6 of those Adventure Paths, not just requests at the front end.)

I know this was almost a year ago but as a mate who can only find complete (but wonderful) newbies for potential campaigns- the shorter campaigns were all much more attractive to my family members, as they were all pretty intimidated by the length of the longer adventures.

[MAGDrop]

I'm unsure if there is something that's in the works because a ton of posts here, but is there going to be a foundry premium for this as the other ones?

[Elfteiroh]

MAGDrop wrote:

I'm unsure if there is something that's in the works because a ton of posts here, but is there going to be a foundry premium for this as the other ones?

Yes. They are still doing one for evey new AP books. That have not changed yet. :3

They have said these have worked very well, and now it's not a question if they do them anymore for some times.

[JJGYET]

Having read through Book 1 I'm very excited to get the ball rolling on a campaign, it will be interesting to see how the next book takes the reigns on this one.

[SatiricalBard]

Hi, does anyone know if there has been an update on the ETA for the Foundry module for this?

Pre-release the advice was 'usually within a day or two of the AP release', but that obviously hasn't happened and I haven't seen anything since.

I'm not stressed about it, just wondering for planning purposes.

[Cori Marie]

It might take a little longer this time because of GenCon.

[CorvusMask]

BTW, was this ap going to be in roll20 once all parts are out?

[Aristophoenix]

James Jacobs wrote:

silversarcasm wrote:

Oooooooh im so excited, i was talking recently about how excited I was a certain story thread form legends was brought up again in Impossible Lands and now it seems we're getting a whole ap about it? Lets gooooo

Am sad to see its not a 6 parter though, hope they havent been completely abandoned!

If folks want us to do more 6-part Adventure Paths... PLEASE let us know! The 3 part ones seem to be engaging people more and allow for more stories to be told in a year, and I'm hoping that we'll be able to settle into a rhythum that allows for more frequent higher level 3 part arcs, but if people do still want 6 part ones... we need to know. (And that includes seeing evidence in sales and reviews and the like for parts 4–6 of those Adventure Paths, not just requests at the front end.)

Even though this is an older post, put me down for still hoping to see 6-part APs in the future. I have appreciated the story and theme variety afforded by the 3-parters, but I do miss the epic feel of the longer, carefully crafted, interconnected stories. Personally I am more likely to be interested and invest in a 6-part AP than a 3-part, though I recognize that I might be the exception. I'm going to second earlier suggestions that you guys try to do a little of both if you can; the 2 3-part, 1 6-part a year rhythm seemed to be working ok.

[Anchor89]

Aristophoenix wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

silversarcasm wrote:

Oooooooh im so excited, i was talking recently about how excited I was a certain story thread form legends was brought up again in Impossible Lands and now it seems we're getting a whole ap about it? Lets gooooo

Am sad to see its not a 6 parter though, hope they havent been completely abandoned!

If folks want us to do more 6-part Adventure Paths... PLEASE let us know! The 3 part ones seem to be engaging people more and allow for more stories to be told in a year, and I'm hoping that we'll be able to settle into a rhythum that allows for more frequent higher level 3 part arcs, but if people do still want 6 part ones... we need to know. (And that includes seeing evidence in sales and reviews and the like for parts 4–6 of those Adventure Paths, not just requests at the front end.)

Even though this is an older post, put me down for still hoping to see 6-part APs in the future. I have appreciated the story and theme variety afforded by the 3-parters, but I do miss the epic feel of the longer, carefully crafted, interconnected stories. Personally I am more likely to be interested and invest in a 6-part AP than a 3-part, though I recognize that I might be the exception. I'm going to second earlier suggestions that you guys try to do a little of both if you can; the 2 3-part, 1 6-part a year rhythm seemed to be working ok.

I agree, 3 parters are nice but should not replace 6 partners? CAn you comprise and do a split of 3 and 6 parters? I mean some stories are EPIC and need the room to be told. The rules are what drew me to Pathfinder but the AP's are what keep me in the end.

[SatiricalBard]

SatiricalBard wrote:

Hi, does anyone know if there has been an update on the ETA for the Foundry module for this?

Update: Foundry module is LIVE!

[profounddark]

Aaron Shanks wrote:

Mythraine wrote:

Is there a reason why the blurb to the book says "Written by: John Compton, Crystal Frasier, and Caryn DiMarco" but the cover attributes it solely to John Compton?

Not a criticism, just interested.

Generally, the "blurb" is a solicitation to the industry written about 9 months before the product goes live. It is an idea rather that a product. The final cover should reflect who actually did the writing. Specifically, in this case, I don't know. I'll ask.

I'm a bit confused now. Who ARE the authors of this product? The credit here (on the website) says John Compton, Crystal Frasier, and Caryn DiMarco. But the actual adventure (at least the physical copy I have) lists:

AUTHOR
John Compton
ADDITIONAL WRITING
Caryn DiMarco and Vanessa Hoskins
DEVELOPERS
John Compton, Adam Daigle, and Vanessa Hoskins

[Rysky]

John Compton wrote the adventure, and the others wrote the articles and bestiary entries.

[Elfteiroh]

Rysky wrote:

John Compton wrote the adventure, and the others wrote the articles and bestiary entries.

I think the confusion come from the web page saying Crystal Frasier, and the book saying Vanessa Hoskins.

And it's not talking about main writers for future books, as they are Scott D. Young and Jessica Catalan.

[Grankless]

It is possible the article on darkness in the players guide was meant to be in the book proper at one point, since I believe Crystal wrote that.

[Aaron Shanks]

The newer, in print, info is correct.

[NocteDraco]

I'm reading through the physical book at the moment and getting confused by the Guldredge section. The workshop heights and lower Guldredge maps as they appear in the back cover don't seem to align with the descriptions in the text. It almost reads like the map labels are backwards.

Anyone else experiencing this challenge?

[Jarvis125]

I believe the two maps for F - Workshop Heights and G - Lower Guldrege, are labelled in reverse and incorrectly numbered. Reading this chapter is breaking my brain. Two silos clearly seem to be G3 - G4, Thenur's home is most likely G5-G7. But I can't make sense of the G2 buildings on the map.

Mapping Lower Guldrege isn't any easier, as the AP only describes G1 to G4, and except for maybe G2 and G3 don't quite seem to map to visual cues of F1-F4 on the map. G5 through G7 aren't mentioned at all.

[Aristophoenix]

NocteDraco wrote:

I'm reading through the physical book at the moment and getting confused by the Guldredge section. The workshop heights and lower Guldredge maps as they appear in the back cover don't seem to align with the descriptions in the text. It almost reads like the map labels are backwards.

Anyone else experiencing this challenge?

Yep, I also noticed that. It's not just the physical book, the pdf has the same maps. Hopefully they can provide corrections (are maps errata a thing?) in a blog post or something.

[Curmudgeonly]

Jarvis125 wrote:

I believe the two maps for F - Workshop Heights and G - Lower Guldrege, are labelled in reverse and incorrectly numbered. Reading this chapter is breaking my brain. Two silos clearly seem to be G3 - G4, Thenur's home is most likely G5-G7. But I can't make sense of the G2 buildings on the map.

Mapping Lower Guldrege isn't any easier, as the AP only describes G1 to G4, and except for maybe G2 and G3 don't quite seem to map to visual cues of F1-F4 on the map. G5 through G7 aren't mentioned at all.

Yea, this one seems pretty severe

[SatiricalBard]

Adding to the above comments about the upper and lower Guldredge maps being reversed, but not in a simple way where we can just swap F and G every time - eg. I think the Hunger Stone marked as G1 in the book is meant to be F4 on the map, while locations marked on the map as F5-F7 are entirely undescribed, as are the two buildings marked as G2 on the map, as Jarvis125 notes.

It is also left completely unclear HOW one moves between Workshop Heights and Lower Guldredge.

Incidentally, the Foundry module maker said on discord that they spoke to Paizo and got it fixed for the module, so Paizo is aware of the problem. Hopefully they can let us all know the corrections soon :-)

[NocteDraco]

SatiricalBard wrote:

Adding to the above comments about the upper and lower Guldredge maps being reversed, but not in a simple way where we can just swap F and G every time - eg. I think the Hunger Stone marked as G1 in the book is meant to be F4 on the map, while locations marked on the map as F5-F7 are entirely undescribed, as are the two buildings marked as G2 on the map, as Jarvis125 notes.

It is also left completely unclear HOW one moves between Workshop Heights and Lower Guldredge.

Incidentally, the Foundry module maker said on discord that they spoke to Paizo and got it fixed for the module, so Paizo is aware of the problem. Hopefully they can let us all know the corrections soon :-)

I'm glad to hear they are aware. Also good to know one of the formats is already fixed.

Looking forward to an update! Thanks for the info.

[Nameless Henchman]

I just got to Guldredge section a couple days ago while reading and was confused about the maps as well. Funny that this conversation started around the same time.

[SatiricalBard]

Can someone at Paizo please escalate the map issue and get back to us with a timeline for errata?

[mikeawmids]

I have attempted to streamline the plot of Mantle of Gold for conversion to Savage Worlds;

:

PCs in dwarven city of Highhelm.
PCs meet furtive/hooded dwarf Elbert Glassgrinder (WC), who wants to mount expedition to recover Skysunder (long lost clan dagger of First King Taargick) from the Darklands.
(Elbert is really Krohan Veldollow, who was previously exiled for stealing - and losing - the dagger. He hopes returning the relic will end his long banishment).
Elbert believes the lost dagger is located in the abandoned gnome enclave of Guldrege, which was abandoned after being destroyed by a giant crimson worm.

A dwarven patrol recently went missing near the ruins of Guldrege, the gate guards ask the PCs to keep an eye out.
Krohan provides a giant beetle to serve as a pack animal.
The way to Guldrege is blocked by a fungal forest, the party can press on (A), or seek another path (B);

A: fungi release poisonous/mind-altering spores. Most of the missing patrol have been turned into fungal zombies (2x per PC, plus 2). Fungal zombies explode when they die.

B: Survival rolls to navigate winding tunnels and remain on course (Dramatic Task). Success results in an uneventful journey to Guldrege. Failure results in the party getting lost, consuming their rations and arriving in Guldrege Fatigued.

The ruins of Guldrege surround a gaping hole in the floor.
A tribe of troglodytes (4x per PC, spread out among the ruins) have claimed the ruins as an outpost, who sacrifice prisoners by tossing them into the pit. The dagger is in the possession of troglodyte priest Hhrulkaz (WC), and has become tainted by its use in sacrificial rites.
Captain of the missing patrol Elga Longbraids is chained to a rock, pending sacrifice.
A basilisk nests nearby and occasionally prowls the outskirts of Guldrege for an easy meal.

Before anything else, the cursed relic must be cleansed. Elbert knows a young priest called Heldin who can perform the necessary rites. During the ceremony, vengeful spirits (1x per PC + 1) emerge from the blade and try to disrupt the ritual. Elbert is possessed, as are any PCs who fail to resist.

After cleansing the relic, the party should present themselves before High King Borogrim the Hale. Elbert reveals his true identity and asks for his long exile to be ended. The PCs (and Elga Longbraids) may speak up to sway the King's decision.
High King Borogrim leads party into highly secure vault full of dwarven artifacts. They present the dagger to statue of First King Taargick, which animates and instructs them to find his lost tomb.

The party need a guide to help them find Zogototaru the Avernal Worm, who will lead them to King Taargick's lost tomb. The only guide mad enough to brave the crimson worm's tunnels is a deep gnome called Jirelga. Unfortunately, she is currently in the clutches of the Black Noon Thieves Guild after she attempted to rip them off. The guild is lead by tattooed brute Tuom Molgrade (WC), and consists of many Black Noon Thieves (3x per PC, spread across the area). The guild have set up shop in an abandoned foundry.

I am curious how Jirelga is supposed to know the whereabouts of the Avernal Worm though. Is it a case of "Hey, this thing ate you once, where is it now??" I'm guessing it'll be some kinda 'the trauma of being eaten alive formed a strong mental bond with the beast' nonsense, but I suppose we'll find out next week when the PDF drops.

[Aaron Shanks]

SatiricalBard wrote:

Can someone at Paizo please escalate the map issue and get back to us with a timeline for errata?

Please let us know at [e-mail].

[Curmudgeonly]

Aaron Shanks wrote:

SatiricalBard wrote:

Can someone at Paizo please escalate the map issue and get back to us with a timeline for errata?

Please let us know at [e-mail].

Appreciate everything you do Aaron. I understand the desire to push folks to customer service, but that ultimately results in a 1 on 1 conversation with whomever submitted the ticket, leaving the rest of the community wondering what's happening.

Would it possible for Customer Service or a Social Media person to be tagged in the forums or have a CS/SM rep keeping an eye on the product threads so that the community at large can be informed of things instead of specific individuals?

I believe this is fairly common practice in other places / industries.

[SatiricalBard]

Aaron Shanks wrote:

SatiricalBard wrote:

Can someone at Paizo please escalate the map issue and get back to us with a timeline for errata?

Please let us know at [e-mail].

I did, and got a reply that "After discussing the Mantle of Gold issue with our Art Team, they confirmed the maps are indeed correct."

With the greatest respect to them, this is ridiculously false.

I am replying to customer service with an extremely detailed listing of the problems. But this is really basic stuff, that we should not need to do. I cannot imagine how the very talented people at Paizo could look at this section and claim, as was done in the reply from customer service to me, that "we can assure you that the adventure and maps are correct."

Curmudgeonly wrote:

Appreciate everything you do Aaron. I understand the desire to push folks to customer service, but that ultimately results in a 1 on 1 conversation with whomever submitted the ticket, leaving the rest of the community wondering what's happening.

Would it possible for Customer Service or a Social Media person to be tagged in the forums or have a CS/SM rep keeping an eye on the product threads so that the community at large can be informed of things instead of specific individuals?

I actually asked Customer Service to have a response posted right here, for that reason.

[Jackson Wood]

We're looking into this issue, but it seems to be more complex of an issue than it first appears. Rest assured that it is now on the relevant folks' radar and we'll post here when we've come to a resolution.

[Aaron Shanks]

Curmudgeonly wrote:

Aaron Shanks wrote:

SatiricalBard wrote:

Can someone at Paizo please escalate the map issue and get back to us with a timeline for errata?

Please let us know at [e-mail].

Appreciate everything you do Aaron. I understand the desire to push folks to customer service, but that ultimately results in a 1 on 1 conversation with whomever submitted the ticket, leaving the rest of the community wondering what's happening.

Would it possible for Customer Service or a Social Media person to be tagged in the forums or have a CS/SM rep keeping an eye on the product threads so that the community at large can be informed of things instead of specific individuals?

I believe this is fairly common practice in other places / industries.

There is not a way to tag Paizo Staff in our current Forums. We are looking into new Forum software. We'll put it on the discussion list.

We are also talking internally about the ways CS should or should not be involved in the Forums.

[Ed Reppert]

If you decide that CS should not be involved in the Forums, then you've reduced us to one way -- email -- to connect with them. That's probably a bad idea.

[The Raven Black]

Ed Reppert wrote:

If you decide that CS should not be involved in the Forums, then you've reduced us to one way -- email -- to connect with them. That's probably a bad idea.

It has been this way for some time now.

Email-only helps immensely with Ticketing, which is the modern efficient way to deal with receiving many many customers' varied requests.

[thejeff]

The Raven Black wrote:

Ed Reppert wrote:

If you decide that CS should not be involved in the Forums, then you've reduced us to one way -- email -- to connect with them. That's probably a bad idea.

It has been this way for some time now.

Email-only helps immensely with Ticketing, which is the modern efficient way to deal with receiving many many customers' varied requests.

Some kind of web based interface would help even more.

It's long frustrated me that we can start subscriptions through the store, but have to email to stop them.

[The Raven Black]

thejeff wrote:

The Raven Black wrote:

Ed Reppert wrote:

If you decide that CS should not be involved in the Forums, then you've reduced us to one way -- email -- to connect with them. That's probably a bad idea.

It has been this way for some time now.

Email-only helps immensely with Ticketing, which is the modern efficient way to deal with receiving many many customers' varied requests.

Some kind of web based interface would help even more.

It's long frustrated me that we can start subscriptions through the store, but have to email to stop them.

IIRC a new website is coming. We can hope.

[Curmudgeonly]

Aaron Shanks wrote:

Curmudgeonly wrote:

Aaron Shanks wrote:

SatiricalBard wrote:

Can someone at Paizo please escalate the map issue and get back to us with a timeline for errata?

Please let us know at [e-mail].

Appreciate everything you do Aaron. I understand the desire to push folks to customer service, but that ultimately results in a 1 on 1 conversation with whomever submitted the ticket, leaving the rest of the community wondering what's happening.

Would it possible for Customer Service or a Social Media person to be tagged in the forums or have a CS/SM rep keeping an eye on the product threads so that the community at large can be informed of things instead of specific individuals?

I believe this is fairly common practice in other places / industries.

There is not a way to tag Paizo Staff in our current Forums. We are looking into new Forum software. We'll put it on the discussion list.

We are also talking internally about the ways CS should or should not be involved in the Forums.

Great, thank you!

[mikeawmids]

mikeawmids wrote:

I am curious how Jirelga is supposed to know the whereabouts of the Avernal Worm though.

Oh. Ok. She "heard about [it]". Wow.

*'It' being the titular Worm Cult from book 2.

[SatiricalBard]

Jackson Wood wrote:

We're looking into this issue, but it seems to be more complex of an issue than it first appears. Rest assured that it is now on the relevant folks' radar and we'll post here when we've come to a resolution.

I was emailed by someone in customer service about the errata 3 days ago and immediately replied asking them (again) to also post the information here. Could you please post the corrections here? I mean, I can do it, but I think people would prefer such information coming directly from Paizo.

[Curmudgeonly]

SatiricalBard wrote:

Jackson Wood wrote:

We're looking into this issue, but it seems to be more complex of an issue than it first appears. Rest assured that it is now on the relevant folks' radar and we'll post here when we've come to a resolution.

I was emailed by someone in customer service about the errata 3 days ago and immediately replied asking them (again) to also post the information here. Could you please post the corrections here? I mean, I can do it, but I think people would prefer such information coming directly from Paizo.

Yes, would be good for the community at large to be informed :)

[Jackson Wood]

I am sorry no one posted those notes here when they were made. As has been noted, Customer Service doesn't spend much time in the forums currently so I was personally unaware that something was not posted here for folks. You can find those notes on the FAQ page located here: https://paizo.com/pathfinder/faq down near the bottom.

For ease, I have copy/pasted that information in a spoiler below for folks just as it is a decently sized list.

Spoiler:

Some areas of the Workshop Heights and Lower Guldrege maps do not match their descriptions in the text of the adventure. Make the following adjustments:

The map labeled "Lower Guldredge" actually portrays Workshop Heights, and vice versa.
F2 is the area in Lower Guldrege where the Workshop Heights are located.
F3 is G3: The Stonemaker's Shrine.
F4 is G2: Sacrifice Point.
F5 is G4: Xulgath Camp.
F6 is G1: The Hunger Stone.
F7 has been cut.
G1 is actually F1: Crumble Yard.
The G2 areas are just empty spaces.
G3 and G4 are actually F3: Coal Silo and F2: Ore Silo.
G5 is actually F5: Living Quarters.
G6 is actually F6: Workshop.
G7 is actually F7: Annex.
Toppled Entrance is supposed to be the door into Living Quarters. The PCs have to unearth the way into Thenur's home.

[Curmudgeonly]

Jackson Wood wrote:

I am sorry no one posted those notes here when they were made. As has been noted, Customer Service doesn't spend much time in the forums currently so I was personally unaware that something was not posted here for folks. You can find those notes on the FAQ page located here: https://paizo.com/pathfinder/faq down near the bottom.

For ease, I have copy/pasted that information in a spoiler below for folks just as it is a decently sized list.

** spoiler omitted **

Thank you!

Will the PDF be updated by chance?

[KawasakiNinja]

Mika Hawkins wrote:

Announced for July! Product image and description are not final and may be subject to change.

The Player's Guide is still not listed on the AP page listing (https://paizo.com/store/pathfinder/adventures/adventurePath/skykingstomb). I had to google it to find the blog that had it.

[Aaron Shanks]

KawasakiNinja wrote:

Mika Hawkins wrote:

Announced for July! Product image and description are not final and may be subject to change.

The Player's Guide is still not listed on the AP page listing (https://paizo.com/store/pathfinder/adventures/adventurePath/skykingstomb). I had to google it to find the blog that had it.

Thanks, we'll get that added.