Review: Pathfinder #7 - Edge of Anarchy

Introduction

This is the first installment of the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path, and I will be writing up reviews on all six parts with a final wrap up, very similar to what I did on first Adventure Path series. This adventure path returns to Varisa and centers around the city of Korvosal, with its troubled monarchy. It is interesting that I just blogged a bit about Cersei from Martin’s work, as there is some similarities between the two Queens. This adventure path has a number of tie in products to support it, which offers creative GM’s a number of add in options, which should enhance play. This series also contains quite a few special features that I think should raise the interest level for groups that like to try new stuff.

Nick Logue

I wrote a bit about Nick in my review of Pathfinder #3, which he wrote, so I will try not to repeat what I wrote earlier. It was about a year or so ago now that he accepted his current job with a college in England, which has taken him away from writing. This Pathfinder represents his last adventure write up for Paizo, but I would not be surprised to see him surface again. Right now he is a bit behind on his publish of Razor Coast that has a number of us chanting, “just write the book Nick.”

Layout

The layout for the new series offers a new and improved look. From its crimson red cover, to the new font, the layout is a lot nicer than the first series. The font on the earlier AP took a bit of criticism and it has been adjusted, which makes it a bit easier to read. The book itself is very similar to overall terms with the earlier series in that it is 96 pages not counting the covers, with the actual adventure taking up 51 of these pages, with an approximate word count of ~40,000 words. The book is divided up into several sections including the main adventure, two supporting articles (Harrow and People of the Road), the Pathfinder Journal, bestiary (six monsters) and the pregens.

One of the layout features that I like is the different colored heading bar and footer bars to differentiate the different sections of the book. The previous series had a color tab on the side, but I like the header and footer bars better.

It is also worth point out that the Pathfinder Journal is a bit cleaner in look than the first series.

Artwork

As with all Pathfinders published to date, this one is in full color. Wayne again is the cover artist and has drawn up an otyugh bursting out of the sewers with the ionic paladin taking center stage. The interior art is excellent, and I do want to call out a couple of specific pieces. I like the shark on page 14, but then again Discovery Shark Week is a must see for me. The art in the bestiary is very good and is probably the best section of the book from an art stand point. It is also worth pointing out that the size chart at the beginning of the bestiary is discontinued, and is replaced by a specific art piece, which in this case is a devilfish attacking a small boat.

Summary

This first module in the series is an urban adventure and the campaign kicks off with the characters hired to go after a local criminal. The characters then discover a mysterious Harrow Deck that will stay with them throughout the campaign. Things pick up as they find a brooch that belongs to the queen. The characters find out that the King has died, and they are recruited by the Korvosan Guard to apprehend a woman named Trina Sabor. In the last part of the adventure the characters need to recover the missing body of a Shoanti warrior in order to stop a war. In the final moments of the adventure, the characters witness a heroic rescue by the legendary Blackjack and mysterious black ship approaches Korvosa.

Key features

There are a number of features that this module provides that I am going to list out below:

1. The Harrow Deck, which provides more than a bit of flavor to the adventure.

2. A fully mapped out city, which is supported by the Pathfinder Chronicles Korvosa supplement.

3. Imps and Dragons. This is just wonderful flavor that defines Korvosa.

4. A roof top chase, along with rules on how to play it.

5. Six new monsters, of which the reefclaw and the raktavarna are two of my favorites of the Pathfinder monsters.

6. The Pathfinder Journal, which continues the chronicles of Eando Kline.

Final notes

Let there be no mistake in that this is an urban adventure. Folks looking for a traditional dungeon crawl will be a bit disappointed. There is a lot of fluff included in the adventure write up, which supports more role play than roll play. Some may be turned off by the heavy story elements, which are significantly stronger than in the first AP. On the flip side, this AP hangs together better than the other series, with well defined tie ins to the following adventures in this series. The Harrow Deck and roof top chase provide something a bit different for the experienced group, and I applaud the Paizo team for adding these features into this adventure. The Harrow Deck will continue to be used throughout the campaign, and I think it is a very interesting feature. There is one small dungeon in the adventure that is at the end. Most groups should be able to finish it within a session or two, as it is not very big.

Overall, I do give this module a thumbs up, but I recognize that this particular adventure is a bit of a mixed bag. Groups that really like story heavy urban adventures are going to be really happy with this one, while groups that enjoy the traditional dungeon crawl are probably not going to like it. I personally really like the way in which the Harrow Deck is used, and that makes this a more intriguing adventure to run.

Rating: 3.5 Dragons (on a scale of 5)

Legacy of Fire

I spent the majority of this weekend reading Pathfinder 20 & 21. The mail to China is a bit dodgy, and one can never tell how long it is going to take to get something in the mail. I have had my Pathfinder shipments take a week to get to me, and I have had them take over 3 weeks. Pathfinder 20 took well over 3 weeks, and Pathfinder 21 took about a week so they arrived a day apart, even though they shipped 3 weeks apart. UPS ground is something I miss being here in China. In the US, I know that my UPS shipment will arrive on my doorstep in 5 working days, and I can check on the progress on the UPS website. I am not suggesting that UPS is the best, but it is only slightly more expensive than priority mail, and I can track my packages. For my China packages I have no idea and when I am going to get them. I will say that so far, I have received every Paizo and Amazon package that has been sent to me. Now when it comes to magazines, I have no idea where they are going, as I have yet to receive one of my subscriptions. Brutal.

Once Paizo has finished with their Legacy of Fire series I will post my more in depth product review. However, I will say that they are very attractive looking books, and their art director Sarah Robinson has done an amazing job. By far, this series is one of the best looking RPG products on the market.

News from Paizo

A couple of updates from Paizo that I am finding news worthy. They have released the official covers of their Pathfinder Role Playing Game, and the Pathfinder Bestiary, which I have included below. Both covers were created Wayne Reynolds.

Paizo earlier today released this announcement on their PDF sale. I also received an email from Lisa Stevens, Paizo’s CEO, promoting this sale, which is a not so subtle jab at WotC. While I am specifically mentioning Paizo, there are a number of other companies that are running similar sales, and I think the message is fairly clear from the gaming community on this subject. Lisa gets it, and she was very quick to react to the public relations mess that WotC created. There is no mystery on why Paizo in five years since its founding has become a leader in gaming industry. As a final note, check out the PDF love that Paizo and a number of other publishers are offering!

News release as follows.

Paizo Gives PDFs Some Love: 35% Off!

We at Paizo Publishing understand how important PDFs have become to most roleplaying gamers. We know that PDFs allow you to easily carry around a large library of books on your laptop, PDA, or cell phone. We know that PDFs are great for searching for that piece of obscure information. We know that PDFs are a great way to keep out-of-print products available. And we know that PDFs provide a great way to check out new products.

At paizo.com, most of the roleplaying books we publish are available in both print and PDF editions. We take pride in the high quality of our PDFs and think that they are some of the best in the industry. And we would love to show you how cool they are by allowing you to buy our Pathfinder PDFs for 35% off the regular retail price through the end of April. This offer includes Pathfinder Adventure Path PDFs, Pathfinder Modules PDFs, Pathfinder Chronicles PDFs, Pathfinder Companion PDFs, and Pathfinder Society Scenario PDFs.

Just add the Pathfinder PDFs you would like to buy into your cart, and when you are checking out, type the promotional code "PDFLove" in the appropriate box. The 35% discount will be applied to your Pathfinder PDFs at that point. You can use this code as many times as you like until the end of April, and feel free to share this code with your friends.

We also invite you to check out the FREE PDF products available at http://paizo.com/store/downloads/free. These include several of our own products, such as the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beta, our adventures Hollow's Last Hope and Revenge of the Kobold King, and our Player's Guides for Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne, as well as dozens of PDFs from other publishers.

We would also like to remind you that subscribers to our Pathfinder Adventure Path, Pathfinder Modules, Pathfinder Companion, and Pathfinder Chronicles lines get FREE PDFs when the corresponding print editions of their subscription products ship just another way in which we thank our customers for their support!

So drop by paizo.com and check out all of the downloads we offer at http://paizo.com/store/downloads. The digital age is here, and we are proud to be your provider of amazing digital products for years to come.

Review: Rise of the Runelords – Final Thoughts

I have spent the past two months or so reviewing Paizo’s first Pathfinder Adventure Path individually, and I thought I would provide some overall commentary on the entirety of it.

It is well known at this point that when WotC pulled back the Dungeon and Dragon magazines, Paizo had to come up with a replacement. While I am not sure what the revenue numbers were, I suspect that it was substantial, and I will go on to theorize that Paizo really needed something to replace the magazines in order to continue to grow as a business. This lead to the decision to launch the Pathfinder AP, and with it came a number of other related products.

While Rise of the Runelords was not the first AP ever created, it represents the first dedicated effort to launch a sustained effort to promote the AP model with a series of specifically designed books. One can go back to the days 1E, and look at the GDQ series, which I believe is the first attempt at creating a campaign arc. When they were first published, the link between them was rather loose, and then with the publish of Queen of the Spiders in 1986, the link was strengthen with additional material, and there was an effort made to make it a follow on to the A series, which was a much smaller campaign arc that was based on a series of tournament modules.

The 1980’s also saw the rise of Dragonlance, which I believe created the story driven plot lines, and was clearly very successful, with numerous modules being created. Fast forward to 3rd edition, in which Paizo coined the term Adventure Path with their publish of Shackled City, followed by Age of Worms and Savage Tide in their Dungeon magazine, which were also very popular with the fans.

Looking back over this history, we see that while D&D started with the sandbox campaign, the Adventure Path has gained considerable popularity among the fans, and made its case as a viable adventure design. I would even go as far as to say that even in the old days, there was talk about combining modules or adventures in order to create a super campaign in which to take characters from 1st level to a much higher level, providing they survive the journey, and the players continue to stay disciplined in playing with a particular set of characters. It is a natural desire of players to see their characters rise in power, and I would argue that this is one of the reasons to play the game as a player.

Now we come to Rise of the Runelords, which represents the latest attempt to create a campaign arc in which characters can go from 1st level to 15th level. Based on today’s sales figures, which are quite a bit smaller than the Golden Age of D&D in the early eighties, it has proven to be very popular. There was a poll on Enworld a year or so ago, asking which 3rd edition product was the most popular. While the poll cannot be taken as an extremely accurate assessment of the entire fan base, it is worth mentioning that Rise of the Runelords did very well, getting into the final rounds. I think this does re-enforce the notion that there is considerable fan support for quality adventure paths. With all this said, I think that this does lend legitimacy to the adventure path as a valid design method.

Looking over Rise of the Runelords, I have given the individual books fairly good reviews, and there is a lot to like about the series.

- Well laid out, all color books
- A number of well written supporting articles
- Gazetteers of the key towns involved in the adventure path
- Lots of variety of play, ranging from a small seaside village to a lost city up in the mountains
- A number of dungeons for exploring
- A haunted house
- A fully mapped out fort
- A very logical goblin-ghoul-ogre-giant monster progression
- Solid adventure hooks linking the books together
- Very active message board with over 16,000 posts on this Adventure Path

On the downside, Adventure Paths do lock the characters into following a specific plot, and has a tendency to pull the characters along, rather than having the characters create their own destinies. This specific Adventure Path is very guilty of that, as it has a very strong overall pace, which does not leave a lot of room for side adventures. This is not to say that there could not be any, but a heavy handed GM can make this seem like the characters are on an E-ticket ride at Disney.

Taken as written, and considering the adventure path genera, this is one of the stronger entries in this class. For the players and GM’s that like this type of adventuring, this particular series is very good. The strength of design and the diversity of the modules are such that it should keep players interested for the entirety of play.

For those GM’s and players that do not like the Adventure Path concept due to its forced execution, can still take away bits and pieces, as I think this series is very modular, and sections can be broken off and fit into existing campaigns. In particular, the dungeons are small, which means that they can be ported off and used in a number of different ways. The towns that are described can also be used elsewhere. The haunted house in PF#2 would make a great one shot Halloween special.

Overall, I do recommend this Adventure Path, as I think there are enough good ideas contained within, to make up for any short comings that exist.

Rating: 4 Dragons (on a scale of 5)

Review: Pathfinder #6 The Spires of Xin-Shalast (Part 2)

Continuing on with the review from yesterday.

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Artwork

As with all Pathfinders published to date, this one is in full color. Wayne again is the cover artist and has once again drawn up the giants, this time swinging the big sticks at the iconics. The interior art is excellent, and I do want to call out a couple of specific pieces. The opening picture on page 6, really sets the tone of the adventure with a shot from downtown Xin-Shalast. Its mountain top local, and along with its Asian flare are clearly visible in this work. Considering my current location, I am very fond of this piece. In addition, all the monsters in the bestiary have been drawn with a certain style, that I just really like. I am somewhat embarrassed to say that I am not sure which of the artists actually created them, and I wish that the artists names were more clearly indentified. I have to give props to WotC for listing out the artist next to their art in the 4th ed books, as I do think this is a nice touch, and it gives clearly gives credit where it is due.


Summary

With the completion of Pathfinder 5, the characters are well equipped to challenge Runelord Karzoug, in his mountain top abode. The only problem is that the exact location of Xin-Shalast is a bit of a mystery. A series of clues with lead the characters up to a dwarven outpost up in the Kodar Mountains. The characters arrive finding the place deserted of living creatures, and haunted by some dwarven ghosts. After defeating the an ancient terror of the mountains, and a bit of sleuthing, the characters find the map to Xin-Shalast. The trail takes them up through the mountains to a hidden trail that leads into the lower section of Xin-Shalast. Finding unexpected allies, the characters take to ascending the spires of Xin-Shalast to the final showdown with the Runelord.

Key features

There are a number of features that this module provides that I am going to list out below:

1. A lost city adventure, taking a new spin on a classic theme

2. A high-altitude adventure, with specific rules on how to give flavor to adventuring in this environment.

3. An expanded set of Lamyros (Lamia-kin), which greatly expands upon the fluff of the Lamias.

4. A fully mapped out lost city.

5. A bit of Lovecraft mythos included with a number of references to Leng.

6. The Pathfinder Journal, which continues the chronicles of Eando Kline.

Final notes

I really want to like this module more than I do. As I stated earlier, I have a lot of respect for Greg, and in general I really like his work. Clearly he put in a lot of effort on this one, as he practically wrote the entire thing. The lost city theme is a classic, and one that continues to be used in just about every entertainment media from movies, to books and everything in between. I really like the concept, with the Asian flavor. I also like what Greg did with the rules around adventuring in the mountains. I would be remiss if I did not mention the bestiary which is excellent. I can really appreciate the theme of the monsters as they are all excellent.

However, there are a couple of parts that seem a bit disjointed to me. Even though I am a fan of Lovecraft, the Leng story line feels a bit out of place. Likewise, the dwarven outpost encounter which is required to find the map to Xin Shalast feels a bit forced.

Overall, I do give this module a thumbs up, as there are a lot of things I do like about the module, which offsets some of the other items that feel forced.

Rating: 3.5 Dragons (on a scale of 5)

Review: PF#6 The Spires of Xin-Shalast (Part 1)

I was planning on just doing this in one blog post, but the finished write up came in at over 1400 words, so I thought I would split it in two parts to make it easier for the reader. I will post part two tomorrow.

Introduction

This is the final installment of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, which is the first in the Pathfinder product line, which I have been reviewing over these past two months. I have been looking at these modules singularily, and in my next product review I will do a holistic review of the entire adventure path, and give my perspective of it.

For this last module, the focus is two things; the exploration of a lost city, and the final battle with Runelord Karzoug. These two focus points dominate the book from front to back. The lost city of Xin-Shalast, with its double entendre of an Asia city and its pronunciation of “sin-shall-last,” is meant to foster images of ancient city teeming with gold and lost treasures. Lost cities are a classic in the lore of pulp adventures, and it always seems as though the hero is stumbling on to a forgotten city, with an ancient evil beginning to stir. Whether the lost city is on a deserted island, deep in a dense jungle, in the underdark, or high on a secluded mountain top, one does not have to look very far to trip over numerous examples located in all of these remote locations. The old school modules in the early days of D&D, made ample use of this concept, and I cannot fault any new designer for following this well established trend. The challenge is to provide a different twist on this old idea.

Greg A . Vaughan

Greg is another one of the group known as the Werecabbages, whose elite membership includes some of the more active writers/free lancers in the role playing industry. Paizo has had a history of tapping into their talent pool, and has continued this trend through the Pathfinder lineup. I can remember seeing the term thrown around on message boards and in chat rooms, and I had no idea of what the story was behind the group. Eventually I stumbled upon their website, and was immediately impressed with the number of names that I recognized. Their current membership stands at 42, and I think most active and well read members in our hobby would at least recognize at least a name or two.

Greg recently caught my notice with his publication of The Skeletons of Scarwall, in Pathfinder #11 which is just brilliant. Since then, I have been backtracking through some of his other works, and I have been impressed with a number of his works. James Jacobs raves about his map cartography, which he claims is just stunning. He compares this with some of the other Cabbages, whose map work is less than stellar. I will protect the guilty and not mention any names. James in the forward of Xin-Shalast, has some nice things to say about Greg’s map turn over for this particular module. In light of this, I can see why he continues to be featured heavily in the Paizo rotation. I would go as far as to say that in this particular adventure, he wrote almost the entire book, including the supporting articles and the bestiary.

While I have never personally met him yet, he is one of the writers I hope to run into at Gencon. Based what I have seen from his comments on the Paizo message board, I suspect that he is quite the prankster and has a good sense humor. His frequent poking at Nick and Rich always leaves me chuckling.

With that, let me start in with the review of the book.

Layout

Not much new to add on here. The layout is very similar to the earlier Rise of the Runelord Pathfinders, and I am including the text here for completeness. The book comes in at hefty 96 pages not counting the covers, with the actual adventure taking up 56 of these pages, with an approximate word count of ~40,000 words. From strictly a page count perspective, this is one of the longer adventures of the first series. The book is divided up into several sections including the main adventure, two supporting articles (Karzoug the Claimer and Hazards on the World’s Roof), the Pathfinder Journal, bestiary (seven monsters) the pregens, and a teaser for the Curse of the Crimson Throne.

This adventure shares the same criticism as the other in the series with regards to the small font and the ease of reading. I personally did not find it that bad, but I can see how this could be a valid criticism. There have been a number of modules created with small font, and this module is not any worse than some of the others that I have seen.

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For tomorrow, I will continue with the review and post my final thoughts along with my overall grade for this module.

Review: Pathfinder #5 Sins of the Saviors

What if the players had to use evil things to defeat the bad guys? Does the means justify the ends? Interesting question. In a game setting, maybe it is not much of moral dilemma. In real life, this is a completely different story. In a novel or a movie, moral dilemmas are what make the movie. Seeing the hero come to grips with choices and how they will effect the end result is why we are watching the film or reading the book. Throw the hero a set of crappy choices and see how they react is what pulls us into the story, and this is how we can identify with the main character. Life is not always about easy situations and easy choices. We can relate to the main character when things go badly.

But in a game, it is entirely different. A game is a different form of entertainment. For players that are not invested in their characters, moral dilemmas may not be that interesting. For players that are very invested in their characters, and have been playing them for awhile, moral dilemmas may become very interesting to role play through.

In Pathfinder #5, Sins of the Saviors, Paizo is attempting to create a moral dilemma for the characters. The adventure revolves around the characters attempts to create special magic items in order to defeat the Runelord, the only problem is that the weapons are created by a corrupt instrument of the Runelords.

Layout

The layout is very similar to the earlier Rise of the Runelord Pathfinders, and I am including the text here for completeness. The book comes in at hefty 96 pages not counting the covers, with the actual adventure taking up 50 of these pages, with an approximate word count of ~40,000 words. The book is divided up into several sections including the main adventure, two supporting articles (Magic of Thassilon and Lamashtu), the Pathfinder Journal, bestiary (six monsters) and the pregens.

This adventure shares the same criticism as the other in the series with regards to the small font and the ease of reading. I personally did not find it that bad, but I can see how this could be a valid criticism. There have been a number of modules created with small font, and this module is not any worse than some of the others that I have seen.

Artwork

As with all Pathfinders published to date, this one is in full color. Wayne again is the cover artist and has drawn up a great action scene showing a white dragon attacking Paizo’s iconics. Being a fan of dragon art work, this is a winner in my book. The interior art is solid, with the color maps of the dungeon areas dominating the adventure section. The artwork and layout of the Magic of Thassilon is very good, and I found this to be one of the high-lights of the book.

Summary

With the defeat of the giants, an earthquake hits Sandpoint opening up a hidden dungeon that is really a shrine of Lamashtu. The Characters investigate and find the location of the Runeforge, and with it the secret of defeating Runelord Karzoug. Following the clues, leads the characters north to the mountain Rimeskull and the massive dungeon underneath, which contains the Runeforge. The characters quickly realize that the dungeon is not empty, but is still tended by the Thassilonian wizards from an earlier era. As the characters move through the dungeons of sin, they uncover the secret of creating weapons using the Runeforge to use against Runelord Karzoug.

Key features

There are a number of features that this module provides that I am going to list out below:

1. A number of fully mapped out dungeons for exploration

2. A cunning white dragon that is sure to cause a party fits

3. The puzzle of the Runeforge and the ability of the characters to make special weapons.

4. A very well written article on the Magic of Thassilon, along with a web supplement on this topic.

5. An article on Lamashtu.

6. The Pathfinder Journal, which continues the chronicles of Eando Kline.

Final notes

The main focus of this adventure is the dungeons of sin, which should provide 3+ game sessions for the characters to go through. I will say that the main dungeon is fairly flat, and I think the author should have created more vertical movement possibilities. While the dungeon is separated into sections, I would have liked to have seen some vertical separation included. The Runeforge and the possibility to create special weapons is a plus, which the characters should enjoy piecing together on how to accomplish this. The moral dilemma that I opened the review with, adds an additional twist to the adventure, although most parties will probably not think about it too much. Over the course of the adventure path, this is something that the GM can build up to, but it does require a fair amount of upfront work to successfully pull off.

Overall, I give this module a thumbs up, as the design is solid.

Rating: 3.5 Dragons (on a scale of 5)

Review: Pathfinder #4 Fortress of the Stone Giants

Introduction

Every weekend, I am going back through my massive collection, and it seems to be getting bigger each week, of D&D goodness and reviewing some of the adventures and supplements that I have enjoyed throughout the run of D&D. I started with some old school classics, and then mixed in some new school stuff. I have found a great deal of satisfaction flipping through the dusty tomes in my library, and I look forward to continuing to do this on a weekly basis. One of the ultimate classics is the G-series from early in the life of AD&D. It starts with Hill Giants, then moves to Frost Giants and finishes up with Fire Giants, and it is literally a tour-de-force of giant proportion. I must admit that the Frost Giants are hands down my favorites, as I am a giant Viking fan (not to be confused with the football team). When it comes to frost, fur and fang, I am signed up.

This brings us to this week’s review which is Pathfinder #4 Fortress of the Stone Giants, Wolfgang Baur. This Pathfinder is a new take on the older concept, which was by design. The Paizo team was looking to create a new spin on the older giant modules. Stone giants were left out of the early trilogy, and they never seem to have broken free of the shadows cast by the giants featured in the earlier series. As it turns out Wolfgang has a thing for giants, so this was a perfect fit for a re-imaging of an older tale.

Wolfgang Baur

Wolfgang is a bit different from the previous two authors, Nick and Rich, who I high-lighted in my previous Pathfinder write ups. Wolfgang started out his gaming career working on Dungeon and Dragon magazines. He then switched jobs and went to work for Wizards of the Coast. As he states on his web page, the constant layoffs drove him crazy, so he set off on his own. In addition to the numerous side gigs that he does, he is the editor and chief of Kobold Quarterly and he started up his own design shop called Open Design, which is adventure writing for paying patrons. He strikes me as someone that is incredibly organized and methodical when it comes to designing dungeons. Having never seen him work, I may be totally off on this last assumption, but based on his work with KQ and OD, I think it is a safe assumption. I am going to plug his KQ magazine, as I agree with many folks that this is the spiritual successor to Dragon magazine. This is not to take anything away from the fanzines that are in production at this moment, as the work done on those smaller fanzines is also very good.

Layout

The layout is very similar to the earlier Rise of the Runelord Pathfinders, and I am including the text here for completeness. The book comes in at hefty 96 pages not counting the covers, with the actual adventure taking up 46 of these pages, with an approximate word count of ~40,000 words. The book is divided up into several sections including the main adventure, two supporting articles (Born of Stone and Dragons of Golarion), the Pathfinder Journal, bestiary (six monsters plus one template) and the pregens.

This adventure shares the same criticism as the other in the series with regards to the small font and the ease of reading. I personally did not find it that bad, but I can see how this could be a valid criticism. There have been a number of modules created with small font, and this module is not any worse than some of the others that I have seen.

Artwork

As with all Pathfinders published to date, this one is in full color. Wayne again is the cover artist and has drawn up the giants doing what they do best, which is throwing rocks! The interior art is excellent. Holistically, the art in this Pathfinder is the best of the series so far by a comfortable margin. Considering that the art in the other modules is very good, goes to show how much I think of the art work in this one. There are a number of evocative pieces that capture the theme of the adventure. The supporting art in the article on dragons is just plain sweet. The Paizo team really hit their stride with the art work on this one.

Summary

The action starts with the characters taking part in defense of Sandpoint, which is coming under attack from a group of Stone Giants and their allies. As it turns out, this was just a scouting party and the full army is gathering at the giant fortress called Jorgenfist. The characters launch a daring raid against Jorgenfist hoping to defeat the leaders and stop their assault on Varisia. During the course of their raid against the Stone Giants, they find out that the giants are pawns of the Runelord Karzoug, and that they must destroy the runewell to truly defeat Karzoug.

Key features

There are a number of features that this module provides that I am going to list out below:

1. An adventure starring the Stone Giants, which is a new spin on the classic Against the Giants adventure.

2. A full scale assault by giants on the village of Sandpoint, which the characters play a major role in Sandpoint’s defense.

3. Fully mapped out giant stronghold, complete with a dungeon underneath it.

4. A very well writing article on Stone Giants by Wolfgang.

5. An article on the dragons of Golarion, which is excellent.

6. The Pathfinder Journal, which continues the chronicles of Eando Kline.

Final notes

Wolfgang has done a descent job of breathing life into the Stone Giants, and to create an adventure that hangs together well. This adventure includes what I would consider the big reveal in that the Runelord Karzoug is the BBEG of the series and that the characters have to arm themselves with special weapons if they hope to defeat him. While the adventure is decent, I think the real strength of this Adventure Path is in the supporting material. The articles on the Stone Giants and the dragons elevate this module to a higher grade than I would have assigned it without them. I really liked both articles, and they add considerably to the final product. The bestiary is big, coming in at six monsters plus a template, so all the monster fans out there should enjoy that.

Overall, I give this module a thumbs up, especially considering the support material that is included. The adventure is solid, and it does satisfy the nostalgic itch for another giant adventure. Fans of the original G- series, should like the new school spin on the classic adventure.

Rating: 4 Dragons (on a scale of 5)

Beta testing and Feedback (part 2)

I was reading through my blog from last night, and I want to expand upon an idea that I do not think I emphasized enough, and that concerns feedback.

The biggest advantage by far to beta testing is feedback. Feedback is a powerful tool by which we can make improvements to products, systems and processes, but it does not have to stop there. Feedback can also shape behaviors. As I stated yesterday, in this information age that we live in, we can get immediate feedback on just about anything. In order for feedback to be effective, an individual or organization has to be receptive to this feedback. They have to put themselves in position to accept this feedback, as constructive feedback is not always pleasant to read about. Soliciting feedback is the easy part. Reading through it without getting overly defensive is something else entirely.

I think there is a natural reluctance for organizations to share too much and to open themselves up for feedback. The fact that Paizo did this is significant, which is the point of my blog yesterday. It was an ambitious under taking. WotC also did testing, but it was on a smaller scale. It was not very ambitious.

Today I as arrived at work, I saw several examples of feedback at work. Which I will highlight below:

1) As I booted up my computer, the MSN news page popped up, and there was an article about Facebook. Facebook is a very popular social networking site that facilitates information sharing. Recently they tried to change their policies on the ownership of user content. The users immediately sent tens of thousands of complaints, and Facebook went back to the older policy.

2) Product quality is another example. When there is a quality issue, it immediately pops up on blogs, message boards and YouTube. Companies need to understand how this impacts them, and how to quickly respond to this feedback.

In this age, companies that can take advantage of customer feedback and learn how to utilize the feedback potential will find themselves better positioned in the market place. While a lot of companies say that they put customers first, I wonder how many really know how to do that.

Pathfinder Beta Testing

Beta, pilots, prototypes, and models. None of this is new or cut edge stuff. A lot of companies release early versions for testing. Sometimes it is released to a large test group, and sometimes it is only released to a small test group. But, I think something significant happened last year with regards to beta testing.

Back on March 18th 2008, Paizo announced that they were not going to use 4th ed for their adventure paths, and instead they were going to publish a new set of rules compatible with 3.5 ed, which they were going to call their Pathfinder Role Playing Game (PFRPG). They announced that they were going to conduct an open play test and set up forums in which fans and play testers can provide feedback. They promptly published an Alpha version, and several subsequent updates to this. In August, they published their Beta rules which represented most of what we should expect.

This past Monday, they completed the open play test, and have closed down most of the forums for comments. The results are impressive with over 45,000 individual downloads and well over 100,000 individual comments. Now, we will not see the final results for another six months, but I suspect that Paizo will be providing teasers, and they will probably have the finished version to their printers by April or May, to ensure that they have copies for the big roll out at Gencon 2009. I also suspect that their PFRPG launch at Gencon will be the big event this year.

So what does all this really mean? Good question. Let’s dig into it a bit.

It is interesting to compare what Paizo did with PFRPG what WotC did for 4th ed. Paizo did an open play test. WotC did a very limited play test, with their testers under NDA’s. WotC came under intense criticism for the way they conducted their marketing, as the fans were not happy with the lack of information and the tight control with which they bound the non-WotC play testers. For the most part, Paizo received favorable fan reaction to the open play test, even if not everyone liked the direction that Paizo was going. No one could fault them on their openness of information.

It is interesting to note that we live in an information age that is radically different than what has previously existed. We have access to data and information that is only a few key strokes and a click away. Fans get rabid about information flow. With the creation of the internet message boards, millions of posts are made each day on the zillions of message boards that exist on the web. Amazing stuff. While we can acknowledge that this is true, does it really matter?

Even though WotC received more than its fair share of criticism prior to launch, initial sales of the 4th ed books hit solid numbers with well over 100,000 books sold. For the sake of argument, let’s say that WotC did sell 100,000 sets of books. This far and away out performs any RPG on the market by leaps and bounds. Clearly it is still less than what TSR sold of the early editions, but 100,000 sets sold is nothing to be ashamed of. Overall these are solid sales numbers. The negative buzz did not seem to hurt the initial sales out numbers.

For Paizo’s PFRPG, the numbers are a bit different. The book is not released yet, so the following discussion is purely speculative on my part, and based on stats thrown out by the Paizo team. One of the staff members mentioned that the target numbers for Pathfinder are around 10,000. This is a rounded off number, and I suspect that the actual sales numbers are slightly lower, although over time, they could reach 10,000, and that may indeed be the size of their print runs. Paizo mentions that the Beta had 45,000 downloads. Considering that the download was free, that probably generated downloads that would not have happened with a $50 book. I suspect that if the Pathfinder AP is targeted at 10,000, one can assume that projected sales of the big book will be close to this number. If this book remains in print for 10 years or so, sales numbers could climb to 15,000. When one compares the 15K Paizo number to the 100K WotC number it hardly seems like a fair comparison.

However, I do think there are some additional considerations. I think Paizo benefited from having an open play test, with generally favorable attitudes. This favorable word of mouth probably resulted in additional downloads and additional interest that would not have been there otherwise. While it is hard to quantify how many folks downloaded due to the buzz created by the numerous message boards, such as Enworld, I suspect that the number is significant.

To come back to the concept open beta testing, while this is not a new concept, it is not usually used in the RPG industry. Usually the testing is done with small groups. With the relative success that Paizo is enjoying at the moment, I suspect that we may see more of this on the bigger projects. I would not expect to see it used on the smaller projects. I think WotC was probably taking some notes, and it will be interesting to see if they open up the beta testing on 5th ed, so we know it is coming eventually. If we set WotC aside, there are a number of mid sized RPG game companies such as FFG, Mongoose, White Wolf, and there are probably some others that I am forgetting, that may adapt to the open beta testing.

I applaud Paizo for making such a bold move, and I hope it turns out well for them. I will be watching them closely in the upcoming months, and I do think that it is interesting to compare what Paizo has done and what WotC did for 4th ed. It will be also interesting to see if any other companies follow the trail blazed by Paizo.

Review: Pathfinder #2 The Skinsaw Murders

Background

This is the second module in the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, and it is the best of first series. The adventure was released in October of 2007, which I think was very fitting considering the tone of the module. This module was the first Pathfinder to sell out, and Paizo did reorder this one, and I suspect it may the last time they do this, which says something about the popularity of this particular adventure. In this review I will look at it as a standalone product, and then once I have completed the reviews on the rest of the adventures in the series, I will do a final wrap up and look at the series as a whole, and offer my commentary on the entire AP.

Richard Pett

Normally I would not have a section on the author, but in this case, I feel I would not do the review justice if I did not provide at least a couple of comments on the author. To put it bluntly, he is warped, twisted and creepy..err…I mean his writing style is warped, twisted and creepy. As a big fan of Lovecraft, Ravenloft, and gothic horror, his writing style resonates well with me, and he is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. James Jacobs writes a vivid description of Rich’s writing style in the introduction that captures the essence of what his writing is about. I am hoping that the Paizo team will give him more chances at writing gothic horror.

Layout

The layout is very similar to Burnt Offerings, and I am including the text here for completeness. The book comes in at hefty 96 pages not counting the covers, with the actual adventure taking up 49 of these pages, with an approximate word count of ~40,000 words. The book is divided up into several sections including the main adventure, two supporting articles (Magnimar Gazetteer and Desna), the Pathfinder Journal, bestiary (five monsters) and the pregens.

The first adventure path drew a number of critics on the font size and the ease of reading. I personally did not find it that bad, but I can see how this could be a valid criticism. There have been a number of modules created with small font, and this module is not any worse than some of the others that I have seen.

Artwork

The artwork in Pathfinder #2 is notably better than Pathfinder #1, as most of the cartoonish art has been removed. The cover is by Wayne Reynolds, and he has created a wonderfully evocative piece that really captures the spirit of the adventure, and he has included the manor in the background, which plays a prominent role. The interior is full color, and fits in with the tone and theme of the module. The cartography is excellent, and I am again reminded how far we have come with regards to the presentation of maps in adventures. They really have moved beyond simply being maps and are an integral part of the overall art scheme.

Summary

There are three main parts of this module. There is the introduction, in which the sheriff asks the characters to investigate a series of murders that are occurring in the Sandpoint area. The investigation leads up to part two which is the haunted manor. Upon completing the exploration of the manor, part three of the adventure has the characters head to Magnimar to chase down the Skinsaw cultists and ultimately confront the BBEG, which is taken from the bestiary found in the back of the book.

Key features
There are a number of features that this module provides that I am going to list out below:

1. A gothic horror style adventure

2. The fully mapped out haunted manor

3. Haunts, which is a new look at traps.

4. The gazetteer of Magnimar.

5. The Pathfinder Journal, which has the feel of the older pulp sword and sorcery writing. This particular Journal officially starts the chronicles of Eando Kline, which is one of my favorite parts of the book, and one of the first sections that I read.

Final notes

Simply put, this adventure rocks. I really liked the mood and tone of the adventure. The haunted house is wonderfully writing and is small enough that one could easily pull it out and use it for a one day mega adventure or split it up over a couple of nights. In one of the opening side bars Rich writes the following.

It’s true—not everyone wants to run Adventure Paths. Some people don’t even want to run entire adventures. In my own campaigns, I like using elements of published adventures mingled with my own adventures. Having access to PDFs of adventures really fired my imagination—and one thing I’ve tried in “The Skinsaw Murders” is to include “mini-adventures” tied to the overall plot. You can run this adventure either as part of the whole Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path or as a standalone. You can also dip into the adventure and extract segments of it, using the Hambley Farm encounter as a one-evening side quest, for example.

I think it is this type of design philosophy, which is one of modular construction that is the real strength of the adventure. It is easily adaptable, and has the strength to stand on its own, and not have to be tied to the overall adventure path.

As a criticism, one can easily argue that the plot is too linear, and that there is a natural progression to the adventure that makes it tough to go out of sequence. I agree that his is true; however the strength of the encounters and the modular design makes this easy for me to over look.

Overall, I give this module a solid thumbs up, and it is perhaps the best of the Pathfinder books that Paizo has published thus far.

Rating: 5 Dragons (on a scale of 5)

Review: Pathfinder #1 Burnt Offerings

Background

I believe that it was during the summer of 2006 that WotC informed Paizo that they were pulling back the licensing for Dungeon and Dragon magazines. For a company that these magazines were the bedrock for, this was not a good thing. After numerous discussions and brainstorming sessions, and I am probably minimizing the chaos of the WotC decision on them, they came up with the Pathfinder concept. They recognized that one of their core competencies was adventure paths, of which they had successfully launched three of them with their flagship magazines. With this direction established, James Jacobs was appointed the lead on the Pathfinder Adventure Path, and he took on the task of writing the first installment of Rise of the Runelords.

Layout

The book comes in at hefty 96 pages not counting the covers, with the actual adventure taking up 47 of these pages, with an approximate word count of ~40,000 words. The book is divided up into several sections including the main adventure, two supporting articles, the Pathfinder Journal, bestiary and the pregens. For the most part, the first two adventure paths would follow this layout, and with the third adventure path they would make some changes to this basic format.

The first adventure path drew a number of critics on the font size and the ease of reading. I personally did not find it that bad, but I can see how this could be a valid criticism. There have been a number of modules created with small font, and this module is not any worse than some of the others that I have seen.

Artwork

In the 1970’s and 1980’s D&D art was strictly black and white, with the only color art being on cover. A number of us old timers have nostalgic memories of the early art, and some were actual very good; for the most part it was fairly basic. As the editions rolled on, the art stayed black and white, but more fantastic elements were added, and there was additional complexity in the subject matter of the artwork. By the time we arrive at the late 3rd edition period, more and more adventures and supplements were turning to color, and a number of published products were full color. Monte Cook’s publications are a good indicator of this, as his early stuff is black and white, and with the publish of Arcana Evolved and Ptolus, he is now publishing full color.

Keeping with this art direction, the Pathfinder is full color, and for the most part it is very good. The cover is design is an action sequence drawn by Wayne Reynolds, along with an iconic fighter taking up the space slightly right of center and this has become their trademark presentation for the Pathfinder AP line. I realize that not everyone likes the style of Wayne, but I like the action and detail that is invoked in his art. I agree that it is very much a departure from the roots of D&D, however enjoy flipping through his work. The interior art is done by a number of artists, and it ranges from excellent to cartoonish. In particular, I am very fond of the illustrations on pages 28, 57 and 72. The style that is on pages 12 and 42 is not to my taste, but I am willing to look past this.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the cartography, which is amazing. While I like the old blue maps from the early days, and the simplicity that is contained with in them, the new generation of color computer cartography is just stunning to look at. I love maps, and I have a noted weakness for complex fully color maps. While I can appreciate the hand drawn maps, and I have made my fair share of them, the things that can be done now days with the latest mapping software never cease to capture my fascination.

Summary

The characters are present in the village of Sandpoint, when a host of goblins invade the town, that shows an unusual amount of organization that is atypical for goblin tribes. With the initial goblin foray defeated, the effects of the attack linger on. Clues lead the characters to a goblin hideout on Thistletop for the final showdown with mastermind behind the attacks.

Key features

There are a number of features that this module provides that I am going to list out below:

1. A large dungeon adventure with 2 dungeons for the characters to explore.

2. A fully mapped out village of Sandpoint, along with a gazetteer detailing the village.

3. An interesting article by Wolfgang Baur titled The History of Thassilon.

4. The Pathfinder Journal, which has the feel of the older pulp sword and sorcery writing. Now the first one is more of a general introduction, and in the next books, it follows in a first person narrative. While there are a number of folks that consider this a flaw in the design, I consider it a feature.

5. A re-imaging of the classic goblin monster, that is both a bit comical and horrific. Count me as a proponent of the new image. I have always like their image as the small monser in the closet, that struggles in the realm of planning, but can still cause significant distruction due in part to their number.

Final notes

While the revoking of the Dungeon and Dragon magazine in my mind was huge mistake, and I can not but think that with this, there would be not be the Pathfinder AP and the other fan created magazines that have popped up to fill the void. Now I will say that Pathfinder is an Adventure Path, and comes with a defined story arc, which may not sit well with the older crowd that prefers more of a sandbox campaign in which the characters tell the story, not the other way around. I do agree that is a valid concern, but the initial sales numbers for Paizo have re-enforced their decision to move forward with the adventure path concept. I also would agree that there is something to be said for completing an entire adventure path, as it does feel like a badge of honor to say that I made it through and defeated the villain at the end. I will not comment more on this topic, as I will save it for a future blog entry. Suffice to say that first installment is very solid, and there is plenty of information provided to allow for quite a bit of role playing and adventuring around the town. For a low level adventure, there is a good amount of action, and note worthy combats to be had.

Overall, I give this module a solid thumbs up, and it is one of my favorites in their Pathfinder lineup.

Rating: 4 1/2 Dragons (on a scale of 5)

As I write this, Paizo is out of print on this book, with no near term plans to reprint this. I suspect that there are still a number of outlets available to get the actual physical copy, including e-bay and other collectors and game stores. The PDF is still available. It is interesting to note that there was an alternate cover version available at GenCon 40 (2007), that showed the protagist (Karzoug) of the series on the cover, and that version is also sold out.