Is it too early to request a that Age of Ashes have its own board?
....Well, I guess it's not that exciting of an Adventure Path.
I think everyone atm is a bit more concerned and into the rules of the new system for the AP then the AP itself. However I think hype will grow and a good bit had been revealed from the paizocon panels.
Not at a place I can re check them now but all 6 parts have been named. The AP will involve going through portals hidden under an abandoned Hellknight fortress to stop some evil plan by Dahak and a cult/slaver group called the Scarlet Triad who works with/for/similar plans as him. Each book will highlight one of the 6 core ancestories in the core rules.
Book one seems to likly be Goblin based which as they are the new ancestory is unsurprising mixed with it being in Isger. The following books I THINK were in this order but don't have the time to check atm.
Book 2 take the PCs to the Mwangi expanse to hang out with jungle elves.
Book 3 to the newly formed nation of Ravounel to help halflings in the bellflower network out. Players will likly gain access to unique class feats that help fight slavers this book as part of that idea that aps will grant access to adventure specific boons and as a slaver group is one of the main bad guys makes sense.
Book 4 take the pcs to the five kings mountains to a buried Dwarven ruin that was sealed up with a LOT of undead in it.
Book 5 takes them to Katapesh to help a group of gnomes out and finally take the fight to the Triad.
Book 6 takes them back to Isger, their castle headquarters (which you may be able to rebuild throughout the ap as a downtime system thing) to stop the bbeg's plan. Who the bbeg is has not been said but as you back to Isger I bet its Daralathyxl, as location makes him the obvious choice.
(Which btw James is that the question you were surprised no one asked you at Secrets of Golarion? Had I been watching live would have loved to ask on Twitch as was surprised no one did there or in the Adventure Path QandA.)
Creative Director
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Yeah, no one asked more info about the climax of Age of Ashes, and it's delightful that it's still not revealed. At this point, I'm fine waiting for that reveal to happen organically when folks get the book in their hands at Gen Con. That way, if potential players get spoiled on the plot twist after reading it themselves or seeing folks talk about it online... it's not my fault for potentially ruining someone's game! :-P
The actual amount of new rules content and the like we ended up putting in this first AP is smaller than we originally intended, since the design team was too busy in the early days of developing the adventure actually working on the rules themselves to help with additional rules, but going forward in the later half and into the next Adventure Paths beyond things should start to be more on par with the original plan.
Who the bbeg is has not been said but as you back to Isger I bet its Daralathyxl, as location makes him the obvious choice.
Hmm, I hope for you guys it is not Daralathyxl, because my players just confronted and killed him last week. Sorry.
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The actual amount of new rules content and the like we ended up putting in this first AP is smaller than we originally intended.
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Not trying to speak for anyone else but this is good news for me.
The AP sounds pretty good, but none of my three groups are switching to PF2 -- so a Crunch-lite (as much as it can be, obviously it's still Crunchy) Age of Ashes is more likely to keep me a subscriber.
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Anyway, keep the Spoilers coming!
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Book 3 to the newly formed nation of Ravounel to help halflings in the bellflower network out. Players will likly gain access to unique class feats that help fight slavers this book as part of that idea that aps will grant access to adventure specific boons and as a slaver group is one of the main bad guys makes sense.
Fascinating. So either slavery isn't abolished in Ravounel - which would make sense, it was a transshipment center - or the state is so weak that its writs don't carry throughout its territory even five years into the new regime.
Bone-deep reaction indeed.
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Disappointed that no one at the panel asked what Mengkare's roll in the AP was.
Probably a 20.
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Not at a place I can re check them now but all 6 parts have been named.
The names of the books per wiki, and their corresponding descriptions, are:
Hellknight Hill: "When mysterious fires begin to burn atop the towers of a nearby citadel long ago abandoned by an order of Hellknights, a group of local heroes heads out to investigate. What they discover within the ruined castle and in the dungeons below its foundation will not only reveal an unexpected invasion and a long-forgotten magical wonder, but will propel these heroes forward into a continent-spanning conflict against cultists, slavers, and a fiery draconic devastation that could unleash an Age of Ashes upon the world!"
Cult of Cinders: Book 2 take the PCs to the Mwangi expanse to hang out with jungle elves.
Tomorrow Must Burn: Book 3 to the newly formed nation of Ravounel to help halflings in the bellflower network out. Players will likly gain access to unique class feats that help fight slavers this book as part of that idea that aps will grant access to adventure specific boons and as a slaver group is one of the main bad guys makes sense.
Fires of the Haunted City: Book 4 take the pcs to the five kings mountains to a buried Dwarven ruin that was sealed up with a LOT of undead in it.
Against the Scarlet Triad: Book 5 takes them to Katapesh to help a group of gnomes out and finally take the fight to the Triad.
Broken Promises: Book 6 takes them back to Isger, their castle headquarters (which you may be able to rebuild throughout the ap as a downtime system thing) to stop the bbeg's plan. Who the bbeg is has not been said but as you back to Isger I bet its Daralathyxl, as location makes him the obvious choice.
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It seems as though the AP is three things:
1) A Dragon BBEG (which has been in huge demand since ‘Burnt Offerings’)
2) A six volume look at “Core” Ancestries (step one of introducing the depth of the new system mechanic)
3) A six volume gazetteer of locations in The Inner Sea
If #3 is accurate then there would be a four-or-so-page article in each (or most) of the six volumes on these locations:
-A good look at Isger for the first time
-A new look at Mwangi, which has been tremendously popular since The Inner Sea was still 3.5 but hasn’t gotten development in years
-A description of the ‘new’ Cheliax region after events in APs have occurred
-A first real look at Five-Kings Mts which is long overdue for the setting
-A return to Katapesh for the first time since The Inner Sea was 3.5
All in all, if this setting gazetteer is part of the AP, it sounds really promising.
DOES ANYONE KNOW IF the volumes are going to include heavy-setting/Fluff articles?
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Bump....
Okay I just got the email regarding my subscription to the new AP coming a bit early, but there’s still grossly too little info on Age of Ashes to help me decide on whether to keep or cancel my subscription.
Please, Paizo, since none of the fans are talking up the new AP, can you guys talk about it?!
What’s a good bit of teaser info for each volume? What articles are in each volume? What’s a dynamic NPC that’s going to be introduced? What are some novel setting flavors to be illustrated?
You can also check out the product pages of the individual volumes, which are all up now, and are quite spoilery. Let's just say this AP pays off some stuff that was set up more than 10 years ago, and I'm stoked for it.
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Creative Director
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Bump....
Okay I just got the email regarding my subscription to the new AP coming a bit early, but there’s still grossly too little info on Age of Ashes to help me decide on whether to keep or cancel my subscription.
Please, Paizo, since none of the fans are talking up the new AP, can you guys talk about it?!
What’s a good bit of teaser info for each volume? What articles are in each volume? What’s a dynamic NPC that’s going to be introduced? What are some novel setting flavors to be illustrated?
There's a lot going on about these volumes, as the link upthread provides.
But if you've been a fan of our prior adventures, you'll be a fan of this one. The same people who write and produce and develop them are doing this one, and while the rules are changing, the way we tell stories and the kind of stories we want to tell are unchanged. There's a certain amount of me wanting to keep the actual plot of this one quiet for as long as possible, but the nutshell is: This is the Adventure Path where you stand up against a powerful dragon. Which is a plot that folks have been asking us to tackle almost from the start.
And there will be several setting/lore/flavor heavy articles in there as well. (Not a fan of the word "Fluff" since fluff's definition implies something of immaterial or inconsequential value. It's like saying the flavor and world lore are of no consequence and are disposable, to me.)
That said, here's a handy all in one place quick list of the contents of the six volumes:
2: Adventure, Ekujae elf article, castle repair/maintenance rules, other PC options, monsters
3: Adventure, regional gazetteer for Ravounel, dragon article, rules and monsters
4: Adventure, town gazetteer for Kovlar, Droskar deity article, rules and monsters
5: Adventure, aiudara article, witchwyrd article, rules and monsters
6: Adventure, town gazetteer for Promise, beyond the campaign suggestions, rules and monsters
Every Single Volume will have plenty of world flavor and lore to explore. If only in the adventures themselves. As per the norm.
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That said, here's a handy all in one place quick list of the contents of the six volumes:
** spoiler omitted **...
1. Abolition of slavery (confirmed);
2. Relatedly, at least one town with a large freed and/or runaway population, possibly on the site of Deepmar Penal Colony for irony's sake;
3. Proper writeups for towns that never got any, including Cypress Point and Whiterock;
4. Writeups for towns and locations that were explored in Hell's Rebels, including Acisazi, Kitkasiticka, Terapassilion and Oakrib Inn, showing developments since 4715 (including the founding of towns around the latter two sites);
5. At least one new town on the Yolubilis River itself - this was described as the center of mainland Ravounel's population outside Kintargo;
5. Land reform, at the very least on the Andoren model;
6. Relatedly, a population boom in the cities;
7. Relatedly, development of industry, including but not limited to textiles (wool, flax, cotton, etc.), salt, glass, fuel, and iron;
8. Relatedly, young trade unions (I realize this is perhaps the most far-fetched of these, but you've referred to them as recently as Return of the Runelords);
9. Abolition of titles of nobility, again at least on the Andoren model (this is complicated by the Board of Governors, but there's nothing that says the five families have to have a particular status or wealth, just that they have to exist);
10. Municipal and national councils elected by universal, direct suffrage with delegates subject to recall;
11. A description of the factions/parties active therein, including notes as to the contemporary social base of the Silver Ravens;
12. A description of the new regime's discontents, from Thrune restorationists to restive Norgorberites;
13. Some indication of what happened to Anchor's End after 4715 - whether it is currently independent, whether it remained Ravounal, whether it reverted to Cheliax, or whether it reverted to one of its neighbors; and
14. A confirmed adjectival form for the country. I've been using "Ravounal" (see above), but I'm not sure about it.