Pathfinder : Rise of the Runelords

This magazine has ceased to be!

I was a subscriber to Dungeon and Dragon magazines when they recently became Ex- Magazines. As a way of saying “our bad” Paizo set me up as a charter subscriber to the new Pathfinder series of adventure paths.

Each adventure path is for all intents and purposes a campaign, and, from what i can tell , each will be set in the same overall place, a world called Golarion. The first installment,  Rise of the Runelords ,  will be set in the mysterious Varisia.

I really like the new world setting so far. It is just enough real world medieval and just enough high fantasy to suit my tastes. I really love all the ancient mysteries that are strewn about the world, like the city built under what looks like a collapsed god-sized bridge leading out over the open ocean, or the mysterious stargate like ring that is covered in runes that leads into a notorious port city, or the dungeon that takes place in a really cool location I will not spoil. I think exploring those mysteries and learning more about them will be as fun as the normal combat and adventure.

I like my adventure like I like my coffee. With a spoon in them..

So far,  Rise of the Runelords is much darker than I expected. There are numerous serial killers, murderers and sociopaths, and I have heard one of the adventures described as “torture porn”. I am really glad to see them taking a chance and really challenging their audience right out of the box. I think the feel is just right for me and my group so far (although I am curious if it will be too much later as things get more intense). Each issue comes in a nicely bound softcover, somewhere between a magazine and a book, but leaning much closer to book. I feel like this will last as long as any of the soft cover DnD books did.

The artwork is amazing and everything about the book is beautiful. My only complaint would be the apparent rush to get it to press that allowed a few too many errors in the text. Nothing major, just a few clumsy sentences or poorly structured descriptions, and a few out right errors. My writer friends will cringe more than I will.

I have read through the first adventure pretty thoroughly and found myself really impressed with it. By being thrust into a situation of losing access to all of the non Open Game License material that Wizards of the Coast had licensed to them for the magazines, they were forced to create their own world and populate it with a number of and interesting new creatures. So far, I think this is for the better. First of all, your players are not going to immediately know what to do every time they see a monster and remember his stat block, but more importantly there will be a true sense of excitement when moving around such a fresh new world.

We Be Goblins! You Be Food!

My favorite new addition is without a doubt the goblins. I love them! I think I am more excited about running these wonderfully twisted gremlin wannabes than anything else in the adventure. I am already working up little fun episodes to throw in with them to show just how crazy the little bastards are. I honestly think the book is worth purchasing just to read about the newly imagined goblins! (and the catchy new goblin song!)

So here we go!

I have convinced a few people to let me try it out this weekend with them and I am really excited to run it! I will post periodic updates on the sessions and let you know how things go.